'stuff' happens

As much as I'm an advocate for planning ahead, stuff happens. Yesterday was a TERRIBLE day for many-a-reason. I had too much on my figurative plate and was trying not to put too much on my literal one. I nearly broke in to tears when I found out we forgot to turn the crock pot on, and that meant dinner wouldn't be done until 10 pm. 'Lets order a pizza!' I blurted. My always loving husband said, 'What about Taco Bell? They have some better selections then pizza, but I'll leave that decision up to you.' So with a little encouragement from the hubs, I chose a couple things off the Taco Bell Diet menu. Like their website says, I ate better. Lets face it, not the best- but given the circumstances, I ate better than a pizza, and for that I'm proud of myself.

Another reason I'm pleased with myself today is because I hopped on the scale this morning to see a loss of 4 pounds! I am very happy about that! So that's 4 pounds down, 93 to go. I try not to look at the big picture too often, need to set mini goals. Lets do a lil' goal right now. To get down to pre-preggers weight. I'm only 37 pounds away from that. Ah, now doesn't that sound not as overwhelming???

Here's my discovery of the day: Nutella. I've heard of stuff, had never tried it. Read about it recently in one of my cheapie magazine finds, and decided to give it a shot. Now there's a lot of debate as to whether or not Nutella is a healthy snack. I personally haven't done any scientific studies or anything, but I will tell you one thing - it's delicious. Put the serving size amount on a piece of whole wheat bread, or top some fruit and I'm in snack heaven. It's actually very similar to peanut butter. Only tastier. It's made with hazelnuts and provides some proteins. So in the 'battle of the spreads' its team Nutella for me!

Buttermilk Pecan Chicken

What I thought would turn out to be a horrid day, turned out awfully good! I made my return back to work. For some silly reason, I decided it would be a fantastic idea to bring muffins for my co-workers. Sure it was a nice gesture, but what was I trying to do? Commit diet suicide? There were 24 assorted flavors of over sized muffins staring at me from the conference room, with their yummy aroma in the air all morning. Oy vey! However I am proud to say that I didn't partake of any muffins. It was a banana and granola bar, FTW! I'm working part time now, so I'm free to do what I'd like in the afternoons. Today, my sister and I decided to enjoy the weather, and take a stroll outside with the baby.

Apparently a lot of other people had that idea too. I was particularly impressed with one elderly fellah. Here I am, 25 years old, getting tired from WALKING. But this guy was up in age, and was walking with the assistance of two forearm crutches, struggling with each step. If I didn't think he would think I was stalking him, I would have taken a picture to show you the true inspiration that he was. He helped motivate me to do another lap, so 1.5 miles accomplished today. Hoo-rah!

Next: dinner. Buttermilk pecan chicken. This recipe is a keeper, and its SUPER easy, and CRAZY delicious. All you do is lightly pound 4 chicken breast between some plastic wrap, and then marinate in a cup of buttermilk in the fridge for an hour. Then, a cup of panko bread crumbs & a cup of toasted pecans get chopped in the food processor. Then take the chicken out, coat with pecan mix, bake for 30 minutes @375. Enjoy!

So tomorrow is Tilapia Thursday. Here's a snippet of my conversation with my husband this evening:

Jessie: I'm scared of the tilapia. I don't like seafood unless its battered and deep fried.
Matt: It's a replacement. Like Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth. Obviously it's not the same thing, its a replacement.

Well, honestly I miss you and your hush puppies Captain D's! But I'm going to turn a new leaf tomorrow and see if I can create some healthy seafood that I actually like.

DCBA

I love Half Price Books stores! You know, the name is kind of misleading, because they don't only just have books, they have magazines too (and well for the record: cds, records,and movies too)! In the back you can find old issue magazines for a steal of about fifty cents a piece. So I stocked up on some Health, Fitness, and Shape magazines. I've already collected some fantastic recipes, and some really great ideas. For example - I found this acronym I plan on living by.

DCBA. Diet first, Cardio second, Building muscle third, and Abs last. This comes from Myatt Murphy, author of 'The Body You Want in the Time You Have.' How brilliant! So he says spend 60 minutes a day preparing healthier meals. Spend 20 minutes a day three-five times a week doing cardio. Spend 15 minutes a day three times a week strength training. Lastly, spend 5 minutes a day three times a week doing ab exercises.

How doable and practical is that? I haven't been 'cleared' from the doc yet to do anything more than lifting the baby. Thinking happy thoughts that when I go see her tomorrow she'll clear me to do whatever I darn well please! So because of my restrictions, tonight's 'cardio' will be walking with the fam, enjoying this crazy 70 degree weather in November.

Always Be Prepared

First of all, welcome back, me! Yup, I know it has been almost a full year since I've posted. And in that time I whipped up an adorable little baby, who is now just over a month old. That being said, I need this blog and your support now more than ever! A lot of my pre-preggers clothes aren't fitting, and they were already freakishly large before. So let us not waste any time, and get down to business!

Always Be Prepared! Not just the scouts motto, but its mine too when it comes to food. In the past I've learned that meal planning is key to healthy eating. Otherwise you find yourself frustrated not knowing what to cook, and the next thing you know you're being asked if you want that super-sized!

So here it is: my menu for the following week and my grocery list. I went to both Aldi's and Wal-mart - viva savin' monies! I found everything I wanted EXCEPT for whole wheat bread crumbs. Imagine that, Wal-Mart not stocked with what I need... oh well, c'est la vie.

PS - if you don't understand why my blog is called negative equals positive, please refer to my first post!

the bike challenge, part 2

What a difference a day makes! I did it! See, 13.18 miles! Matt did it too! It took 46 minutes. We feel great (and sore). I couldn't be any more of a happy camper right now.

Shout out for my fam: My brother lost 12 pounds this week, and my mom lost 9. We're all on a mission!

the bike challenge, part 1

I've been pumped since I saw the season premier of The Biggest Loser this past Tuesday. I was astounded that the first challenge on the show was for the contestants to ride 26.2 miles on their stationary bikes. I kept thinking to myself how easy this sounded, and if they could do it, so could we.

We went to the gym today, I was antsy, ready to start this challenge with my husband. We did a 5 minute cardio warm up, some stretching, and then came time for the great bike race. I've been going to the gym, religiously, for well over a month now. I'd like to think of myself as somewhat fit. Well, more fit than The Biggest Loser contestants at the first day on the ranch anyway. I usually do either Zumba classes, the elliptical, or the treadmill. I've found these exercises work best for me, I like them, and they burn the most calories. Using the bike today was something I wasn't used to. I made sure everything on the bike was a good level for me, iPod on with awesome work out jams, and then we counted down - 3. 2. 1 - GO! And we went off with a bang! Our rpm ranged anywhere from 111-120 (that's fast). Matt and his crazy strong legs, of course he was ahead of me but at this point at mile 1, I was okay with that. At about mile 2 my feet started hurting (again, have I mentioned this bike thing wasn't something I normally do?). So then my rpm pace slowed down to about 90. I kept going, but then started calculating how long it would take me to do 26.2 miles on this bike. On the show, some fast contestants were finishing at about an hour. At the rate I was going, it would take me two entire hours to finish 24 miles. So mentally, I started giving into my worries. I kept at it though. At mile 3, I told Matt I wished we would have used the taller bikes, instead of the bikes that have the back chair you can lean into. At mile 4 I started thinking about what all we had to do today, and that we couldn't possibly do 26.2 miles today. So I resigned to only doing 10 miles today. However, I didn't even make it to 10 miles. I only made it to 5, and got off the bike.

I was going to switch to the taller bike I wanted, and try to keep going on that. But, the one I selected was broke. That was the last straw for me today at the gym. The broken bike had sent me to a place emotionally that I didn't want to be. By the time I got to my locker I already had tears streaming down my face. By the time we got to the car, I was in full boo-hoo mode. I cried all the way home. I felt like a failure. I felt like I gave up without a fight. I kept thinking over and over, if they can do it, why can't I? My wonderful husband helped me to reason out a few things. First, they're in a room of people who are trying to do the same thing. And, each person on the team had to cover 13.1 miles, not BOTH covering 26.2 miles (thinking to myself, duh Jessica!). So, maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew at the moment. Next time we try this challenge, I'm going to use the taller bike, and I'm going to do 13.1 miles. Next time, I WILL finish. I'm looking forward to the bike challenge, part 2.

with the good in life, comes the bad

I haven't wrote for a while because my husband's grandpa passed away. I wasn't sure if I should even talk about this in my blog post. It's just a difficult time for everyone, and we all deal with the grief differently. Thankfully the majority of our family has a firm hope for the future and in what God promises, which definitely helps ease the pain. In the past, as an emotional eater, I would have turned to food to get me through and provide me comfort for challenging situations. There wasn't anything that a giant chocolate bar couldn't fix. But believe it or not, I've found that exercising is helping me cope with some of the stress that I have. Exercise is like medicine for the mind. It improves your mental health and emotional strength. You focus on something else for a couple hours, all the while helping your body too.

So we've entered 2010, and a lot of people are making new years resolutions- the most common one, to get in shape. I went to the gym last night and it was swamped. I knew this before I even entered the gym, with the massive amount of cars parked outside, a lot of them illegally in the firezone. As I waited for my Zumba class to begin, I watched a sea of bopping heads: power walking, jogging, running, cycling, and climbing. I wondered how many of them were dealing with the loss of a loved one too, or something else that would cause them suffering. I'll never really know, but I am glad that we all were there.