Because SparkPeople makes food logging so easy, I do it there and will be includeing my daily food log after the cut.

Today’s cardio was LAME. I don’t know why but I felt so self-defeated before I even got out of bed.

I popped in Turbo Jam which only lasted 5 minutes
Then I went to the fitness room and jogged/walked for 15 minutes
I came home did crunches (2×15), back extensions (2×15), and stretched.

Not much but…I got moving which was half of the battle.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Breakfast
	Calories	Fat	Carbohydrates	Protein
Oranges, 1 small (2-3/8″ dia)	45	0	11	1
	45	0	11	1
Lunch
Fettucine Alfredo w Shrimp (10 oz), 0.4 serving	308	11	17	11
Zatarain’s Jambalaya Mix, 1 serving	150	0	32	3
	458	11	49	14
Dinner
Dominos BBQ Buffalo Wings (1 wing), 8 serving	400	20	16	48
Budweiser Beer, 8 fl oz	98	0	7	1
	498	20	23	49
Snack
Pop Tarts, Strawberry, 2 pastry	410	11	74	5
	410	11	74	5
	1,411	42	157	69

Today is a new day, though. Right? I weighed this morning at 160 even. Let’s hope that number sticks come Sunday, my official weigh-in day.

Meal 1:
Organic Flax seed cereal and soy milk
Snack:
Maybe 7 olives
Bowl of popcorn
Meal 4:
Abut 2 cups of spinach

Meal 1
About 1.5 cup oatmeal (225 calories)

Then I did some homework. Then I repotted some plants around the house. But once I ran out of things to do…I said screw it! And popped in my Turbo Jam DVD. I did 45-minutes of cardio. And you know what? I do believe I’m building endurance because I wasn’t nearly as exhasted as I was the first couple times I did the routine.

Meal 2
1/2 Cup Vegan Turkey & Beans (120 calories)
Spinach (50 calories)
Cabbage (50 calories)
Slice of honey wheat bread (70 calories)

Snack
Popcorn (120 calories)

Meal 3
Sprouts Curry & Basmati Rice (200 calories)
About 7 crackers w/ PB (280 calories)

* * *

My friend Stef called me out of the blue to see if I wanted to got to a workout class with her.  Of course I said yes!  So I ended up getting another FULL HOUR of intense, cardio and strength training in.  My body’s going to be sore tomorrow but I CAN’T WAIT!

Meal 4
Soy milk & Frosted Shredded Wheat (300ish? calories)

So my goal is to drop 1 lbs by next Sunday. I can do that. If I make tiny goals like this, I can meet them. I will work out 4 times this week. I will eat clean and healthy. I will limit my alcohol intake. I’m going to start working in some type of calisthenics, even if it’s just push-ups. Using your own body resistance is a great way to tone when you don’t have access to a gym.

So breakfast this morning was:
Meal 1
Banana, 2 waffles w/ lite syrup
Meal 2
1 baked chicken thigh (so much for eating vegan today :P), orange, a couple bites of red beans & rice
1 reese’s cup (my chocolate fix) - 80 calories

Today I have another busy day.  I have to run my car to the shop to get the tires worked on.  Then I have a ton of homework to do after that.  I hope I can get it done.

I’m glad to see the numbers heading in the right direction. Sometimes I get bummed out that my weight has gone up and down so dramatically over the years. Then I realize throwing myself a pity part will do nothing for me and get my head back in gear and focused on what I need to do now…which is eat healthy and exercise. And do my best to enjoy life while I’m doing it.

Today my plan is to do my Turbo Jam 45-minute DVD, head to the coffee shop to finish homework and drive down to see my mom and nephew. How is it, that even on days off, things still seem so dang busy?

Meal 1:
Raisin bran w/ extra raisins and soy milk (300 calories)
Exercise:
45-minutes Turbo Jam Cardio Party
Meal 2:
About 1 cup of my leftover tofu scramble stuff from yesterday (maybe 200 calories)
Tofu salad sandwich on 2 slices of wheat (I ordered it from this local vegan restaurant. Of course they don’t have calorie content so again, I’m going to probably overestimate another 300 calories).
2 amber bocks (332 calories)
Meal 3:
Apple, banana, 6 crackers w/ PB (295 calories)
Snack:
Soy milk and popcorn (140 calories)

Total Calories: About 1800

1. The parking sucks, and
2. There’s so many people!
3. They close down main streets on campus because there’s so many people. Which is good but a pain for people like me.

So here goes nothing. Wish me luck. If I fail again, I’ll still do Turbo Jam or something.

Meal 1:
About 1/2 cup of oatmeal
Bowl of raisin bran w/ soy milk
=Guesstimating 300 calories (better to guess over than under right?)

* * *

So much for that great idea. I spent about 30 minutes circling about 3 blocks trying to find a freaking parking space while avoiding running over unassuming students. I do believe today is the day I give up driving onto campus unless I absolutely have to.

So I started doing Turbo Jam Cardio Party and about 10 minutes into the apartment maintenance guy showed up to fix my toilet. So I had to stop my workout, go chat with him for about 15 minutes and now…I’ve lost all the motivation I had to work out. Ugh! Today is full of frustrations so far. I’ll try again tonight I guess.

* * *

Meal 2:
I cooked up this tasty vegan stirfry mix out of the junk that was about to spoil in my refrigerator. I’m not exactly 100% on some of these calories so I’m guesstimating here also.

The entire dish consisted of :
1 package of vegan ground turkey
1/2 green bell pepper
1 small can of mushrooms
1 can of kidney beans
Spaghetti sauce

I ate about…hmm…not even 1/8 of the dish. I’m going to have to guess around 400 calories, counting the 2 slices of bread I ate along with it. 1 Amber bock which is 166 calories.

I also had a small salad…so let’s say that’s about 100 calories? SO total calories SO far today is: 966. I feel like I’m guessing a little too high. I’ll have to remember to actually read the calorie content on labels before I trash them.

I’ve got class in 30 minutes so I’m out of here

* * *

Meal 3
I cookie during class (probably what?  120 calories?  )
1 slice of bread with PB & Jelly about 150 calories?

Total calories for today: 1236.

Much better than yesterday.

I’m off work today, no class until 3PM so I’m going to work out this morning at the gym and get it out of the way. I’m aiming for a good 30-minutes on the elliptical. It’s a start.

Breakfast:
About 1.5 cups of oatmeal - 221 calories (according to calorieking.com)
Exercise:
20-minute Turbo Jam
Meal 2:
WestSoy Tempeh (1/3 block) cooked in EVOO, topped with green bell peppers - About 200 calories
1 slice honey wheat bread - 70 calories
Baked zucchini in Italian sauce - 60 calories
Meal 3:
Kashi Black Bean Mango & Rice bowl - 320 calories
Meal 4:
1/4 Tempeh patty and a slice of honey wheat bread - 220
Soy protein bar - 240 calories
Soy milk 30 calories
Bowl of raisin bran in soy milk 150 calories

1/2 glass of wine & 1 Amber Bock beer - 246 calories

Total calories = 1757
Clearly not a good day calorie-wise.  I guess this is why I started counting, right?  I kind of scarffed down everything in sight after class.  I had a late night study group and wanted to eat so I wouldn’t be tempted to buy a bunch of crappy coffee house food.  Hmm… I’ve got a ways to go still.  This will only get better.

I’M TRAINING FOR MY FIRST 10k.

I’m so stoked to say the least. I know it’s going to be a lot of hard work but I can do it. Plus… training like this keeps me from wanting to eat the crappy foods and from wanting to smoke cigarettes. There are a couple events in the area.

• October 9, 2008
• November 8, 2008
  Cranberry Crawl 5k/10k

That’s what? About 12 weeks from now for the October race . That is MORE than enough time. My greatest hurdle will be this suffocating heat. I cannot run of treadmills to save my life. So it’ll be early morning or late evening runs from here on out if I plan to go outdoors. Anybody else training for any marathons?

Breakfast: Oatmeal, orange juice
Lunch: Salad w/ Italian dressing
Meal 3:  2 slices whole wheat bread, about 8 small meatballs