Can't you just make me think I've been fishing all day?

It hasn't been a great week.

Monday - Tuesday - discovered a leak in my roof.

Wednesday - Friday - Had a tough time keeping calories even under 1400, much less between 1200 and 1300.

Saturday - I got to go hiking, and it was lovely, but it was a long day.  I went to my first party on this diet, and that didn't bode well for me calorie wise.

But, I need a plan to do some shopping today:

Sunday Dinner - Potato and Egg White fritata
Monday - Cranberry Chicken with roasted potatoes
Tuesday - Beef Stew and Rice
Wednesday - Ravioli and Garlic Bread
Thursday - Bacon Bread Crumb Pasta
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Going Out

Hmmm - so I need:

Bananas
Red Onion
White Onion
Potatos
Beef Stew
Ravioli
Bread Crumbs
Cranberry Sauce
Chicken Broth
Beef Broth
Onion Soup Mix
Tomato Sauce
Carmels
Quaker Oats

Blur

Water damage due to a tree branch hitting the roof - in the process of drying out my bedroom for the next 4 days.  Sleeping on the guest bed, which is not as comfy as my bed, but it will get me to appreciate, right?

1250 calories on Tuesday - did good

1400 calories on Wednesday and only 4 servings of fruit / veggies.  Didn't feel deprived, but certainly ate more than I wanted to in an effort to get to 5.  I have to put high calorie stuff on them, and still need my refined sugar to boot.

And now it's Thursday morning, and our alarm didn't go off, so I'm up 15 minutes late.  The dudes have to check my walls drying out around 7am for today and tomorrow.  Should be fun :/

Monday and Tuesday - Heading to October

I did really good on Monday.  The new weekly challenge is a doozy for me - eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies.  I did it Monday, but will fail miserably today.

I kept my calories at 1250 on Monday, and had 5 servings of the good stuff - but honestly, I felt deprived.  I can honestly say I'm a refined sugar addict, and it was challenging to replace a granola bar with a piece of fruit for me.  And veggies - I need to put high calorie stuff on them for me to like them.  Sometimes I wish I had no taste buds so I could more easily make choices I know are good for me.

On Monday I ate:
1)  1/2 Grapefruit
2)  Banana
3)  Arugula salad
4)  Applesauce
5)  I blended tomato sauce with pureed carrots to make a vegetarian lasagna - heavy on the garlic and cheese

Tuesday - well, it's been a rough day

The typhoon that hit over the weekend has caused water damage in my bedroom - and I'm waiting on an estimator to assess the damage and figure out how to fix it.  I want to eat a chocolate cake - but have none in my house.  It's saved me honestly... my caloric intake has been on the low side.  But I've made no effort for the fruits and veggies - nothing satisfying about them to me.  It's definitely been a granola bar day.

Off to make Jambalaya for dinner.

Measurements Help Motivation

Sunday came with 20 minutes of exercise (including 10 stairs... on stair 3 I'm always like "this is easy" but by stair 5 I'm dying).  I ended around 1350 calories - not as terrible as it's been other days out of this week.

I've lost a total of 5 pounds in 4 weeks - again, not terrible.

Phil took my measurements.  I considered pictures - but it's too cold!

Waist is down from 35 inches to 32.5.

Hips are down from 42.5 inches to 40

So I seem to be losing proportionately... 2.5 inches from my hips and waist.  I'm not measuring bust because losing there would make me sad, so I'd rather not record it.

That was certainly more motivating than 1 pound a week.  Here we go week 5.

Rainy Weekend

I had really wanted to hike today.  It isn't going to happen at all.  It's probably the only exercise I actually enjoy these days, and it's raining.  Not sprinkling either - constant gross, dark, cold rain.

Despite my lack of exercise and a few splurges (yesterday I also ate close to 1500 calories) - I think I'm maintaining my 1 pound a week trend here.  Good to know that there is some wiggle room in the plan, I really need it.

We had beef stew and mashed potatoes for dinner yesterday - and will have chicken tortilla soup tonight.  Phil's carrot cake is good, but not awesome, so it should be easy to stick to 1/2 pieces one time a day.  What I really want to do is just curl up and sleep, but there is a lot of other stuff I want to do too.

Oh yeah, Friday happened

I didn't exercise (oh surprise) - I did keep calories to around 1300 for the day.  A dessert of stale Kix for 80 calories... not even worth it I don't think.

A huge case of the "I don't wanna's"

How much does it cost to go to one of those spas where a nutritionist works with you and plans your meals (and someone else cooks them), you are forced to exercise 2 times a day, and the rest of your time is spent reading, watching tv, and getting facials and spa treatments?  Is it too much to ask to go there for just 1 week?  A week with no kids, no cleaning, no cooking, no schedule other than focusing on being healthy, getting a full nights rest.  Heck, I'd even bring my husband, though he'd get bored.

Speaking of him, he just made a freaking carrot cake.  I do need dessert every night - but I've been trying to keep it to 200 calories or less, a normal sized piece of carrot cake is around 350.  Will have to keep these on the small side, and it could be worse.  It's not chocolate cake.  He just figured since he picked all the carrots from the garden...

I've lost the weight that was making my pants tight - that's a good thing.  But this is always the place where I just don't want to keep going.  Tracking food is getting old.  Exercise is never something I "want" to do, but gets even less frequent.  I've exhausted every ounce of adventure forcing myself to eat veggies - this week's meal plan is back to old stand bys because I just want to eat what I like.

Almost a month in, and I have one month of challenge to do.  It's getting tough to stay motivated.