Staying with Fam for the Week

I'm here in Houston with my mom this week. I'll be carless (in the suburbs) and have a few big projects to work on, so I went grocery shopping tonight and that's it.

So I dont plan on getting much swimming or exercise in (except if i happen to head over to my sister's place and her pool), but I really won't be able to go get any fast food or do much damage beyond what's in the house. So I think this week should be good. May do some neighborhood dog walks if it's not in the 100s.

So we'll see how I fare weight-wise once I get back to Austin. I'll be here for 7 or 8 days through the 4th of July weekend. I'm looking forward to lots of downtime at my mom's. I have some photography projects and have promised to completely organize her office. Basically it was never unpacked when she moved and since then, it's become a catch-all room, so I have my work cut out for me!

Down 4 lbs on my yo-yo coaster

I got on the scale in a funk this morning. Haven't weighed myself in more than a week, and for whatever reason, was just like "Oh great" my weight's going to be up too.

Yes, it's one of those mornings.

However, the weight wasn't up. It was DOWN 4 lbs!! Now granted, I think that the number was UP last time I weighed given my TOM or something. However, I'll take what I can get. It wasn't up, it was DOWN. And DOWN 4 lbs! So the swims and eating at home and eating more veg must be helping!

My yo-yo coaster is at least headed in the right direction. Woooooo!!! (That's me, arms up, going down in a roller coaster).

A Belated Honeymoon!?!? Tahiti!?!?

My husband is Mr. Internet deal, and he's just found an amazing trip to Tahiti for a steal!

It's been about a year and a half since our wedding. Originally, we thought we'd put off the honeymoon for a few months, but then Alex lost his job, and we moved to Austin, so it all got put on hold.

Now that we're trying more seriously to get pregnant, Alex and I discussed the fact that if things work out as planned, this could be our last chance to take our honeymoon which is really important to me, and we still have savings from the Honeymoon Registry we did for the wedding. And now, I have some extra cash from a freelance job I just did, so we're looking at Labor Day!!!

We've debated on Spain, France, Italy or Tahiti but really thought the South Pacific was just completely unrealistic. That is until we found this deal.

I want to research it and make sure it's the right decision. Plus, Alex will need to clear it with his boss.

Fingers crossed! That'd be a fun weight loss goal to have!

Avoiding Fast Food - What Do You Cook at Home?

You'd think just being vegetarian would help me avoid fast food. It's not like there's tons that I can eat, but I manage to find things. It's easy, cheap and convenient.

Being at home these days, I have decided to refocus on getting healthy. So one of the first steps is no fast food. I've allowed myself diet sodas as an exception when running errands, shopping.

So I made up a meal plan for the week, and I've done all of my coffees at home (my FAVORITE thing is going out for a morning coffee!). The trick is just making my coffee at home good enough to compete with what I get when i go out. So iced coffee is the thing for me. Lots of ice, with a straw.

We've already been on a salad kick, and had been trying to eat in more both for budget and health. So this week I put together our meal plan, and so far so good.

However, we're trying to avoid relying too much on pasta. We already do tons of mexican food. A couple of people replied to this question on Facebook, but I'd love to hear more ideas.

What do you guys like to cook at home for lunches/dinner?

Even if it's meat, i can usually make a substitute version. My favorite suggestion so far was bangers and mash! I can do those soy, Alex can do his meat and i can add some veg. So easy!!

Any go-to at-home meal ideas you can share?

Who else gets sleepy after a workout?

I went for another swim this morning, in my new swimsuit which i love! And now, 2 hours later, I'm getting. very. sleeeeeepy.

Do you guys get sleepy after a workout?

I lost a ton of weight a ton of years ago and at the time, tried many times to do morning workouts and then go to work, but I just couldn't get anything done because I'd be either feeling week, way too relaxed and always very sleepy. I was in pretty decent shape at the time, so I'm thinking it's not a weight issue.

Or on the weekends if i tried it, it would just kill the rest of my day.

So i took to a nighttime workout which worked well because i'd go on the way home from work and then sleep well.

These days, I'm at home, and schedule-wise, it's just better to work out in the morning first thing, then shower and go on with my day. Then i can spend my evenings with my husband. I'm also afraid if i leave the workout to the evening, it might not happen.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any thoughts?

Today I decided to respect the band

It might seem so obvious to other bandsters, but today I made a conscious decision to respect the band and to stop eating right away when I felt restriction.

This led to a total of 6 mini-meals, but overall I think it worked quite well. I definitely wasn't at all hungry. It was just about fighting that urge to feel like you wasted food. Some of what I had at home, I could just put back. And at lunch I had 1/2 a small side salad and 3/4 of a piece of bruschetta. It seemed like a waste to be in a restaurant and not eat what I ordered, but I took the other bruschetta home. We'll see if it gets eaten though. The topping came separate from the bread for some reason, so it might get repurposed into another meal, who knows!?

The problem is that later in the day, the band is always much looser. So for dinner, I ordered this big plate of veggies and rice from one of my favorite restaurants and was able to eat half of it before getting full. Veggies seems like a great choice, but the problem with this dish and why it's SO GOOD is that its made with a ton of butter and cheese. I figured it was better to eat lovely, lightly cooked veg even with the butter and cheese than the enchilada alternative. Despite the fat, I'm at least also getting the health benefits of all that veg and brown rice.

I might avoid that dish in the future however, or order it with way less cheese and butter.

But today's experiment was less about what I ate and more about stopping when I'm restricted, and I think I did a good job at that. I'm going to keep at it and slowly make healthier choices. We're already eating at home much more often despite eating out today. I had a friend in town so things were a bit different than usual.

What do you get stuck on?

The band has been acting up a fair bit the last 2 weeks. Or maybe I should say "working," which led me to thinking about the things I get "stuck" on. If I was smart, I'd cut them out of my life entirely, but until now I've been too _____(insert proper word here)______ to do that.

So, what is it I get stuck on???

- french fries (yes, I know, why am i eating these)

- tator tots (ditto)

- hamburger buns

- bread

- tortillas

- enchiladas

- quesadillas

- taco shells (I'm in Texas, LOTS of mexican food!)

- pita chips

- eggs

- dry nuts

- rice

- sushi rolls

- soy meats

- cooked tofu (the only way I eat it)

- pizza crust

- raw carrots (am actually afraid of them, won't eat them)

- bagels (i don't even bother trying)

Notice a theme here???

Since I don't eat meat, and unfortunately tend to lean on a fast food / takeout diet on occasion, carbs definitely tend to be involved in most of my menu options. Alex and I have a new commitment to eating at home and eating salads as a staple. Luckily, I never get stuck on salads. (Pasta never seems to be an issue either).

I need to rethink my diet and proteins however and let the band work. Of course i keep getting stuck if I keep making the wrong food choices.

If you know me, and i stop and pause during a meal. Kind of still and thoughtful. And then you see me stretch, you'll know what the deal is.

Getting stuck is deal-able, just not comfortable. On occasion more than uncomfortable. There will be a pain in my chest. Tightness. Tension in my back. If it's bad, a pain in my shoulder and a quick tension headache. It lasts a second and passes once I'm unstuck.

I don't PB much. If I do, I basically know i went too far. The inconsistency is surprising. One day or one meal I can eat the whole meal, another time, a few bites and that's that. The problems is that my trick is that I just wait, food passes, and i keep eating. Time to stop that too.

So what do you get stuck on? Do you have any foods you get stuck on that you for whatever reason keep eating? (if you don't mind sharing, any thoughts on why you still eat those foods?)

For me, I think i'm just *still* in denial that I can't eat certain things. Post-band it was like a point of pride that I could still be normal and people can't tell I'm banded. And sometimes I really am just normal. I just can't completely pig out and eat a full plate and then seconds.

Swimming!

I was super psyched when I found this cute retro little number IN MY SIZE and for $20-something dollars! The reviews all say it's got great support too. My old swimsuit was sadly (or sag-ily) lacking! I like the hip coverage too without having to go the awful plus-size swimskirt route.

Why do I need a new swimsuit?!? I've decided swimming will be a good way to ease back into working out. Beyond some nice long dog walks, it's been ages since I had a proper workout. Well except for my recent visit to our apartment's swimming pool which is super clean and really quite charming. That swim just reinforced how pathetically the old swimsuit fits. Or just entirely doesn't fit -- on top. It kind of made me understand a bit better how all these celebrity wardrobe malfunctions happen.

As for swimming, I found a particular time of morning when no one uses the pool, and it's a pretty big pool, so I started doing laps. I discovered it actually made my legs and lower back a bit sore. I noticed i had some odd posture while swimming, but it made me feel good to have gotten a good enough workout to be sore in a swimming pool. I'll have to watch my "form" in regard to my lower back though. But the sore legs were definitely from all the work, not bad form.

It did feel like work, but it was so enjoyable, it makes you wonder, how is this a workout!?! I was tired enough the rest of the day to know it definitely had some impact.

I think it's a good way to kick start some exercise! I'm looking at a women's gym by Alex's office that's pretty cheap and offers a short term summer contract. I'm still considering the financials, but I think it'd be a healthy option, both mentally and physically, to drop Alex off at work and get to the gym every morning. One of the job search books I was reading emphasized the importance of staying relaxed and happy and interested in life while job searching. It makes you a better interviewee and will help your confidence!

Great news today!

So I can let out a sigh of relief tonight. Despite all the negative-talk from the person I spoke to on the phone, I got an approval letter for Texas Unemployment. It's not a ton of money but just enough to make ends meet! Whew!

Life update

Hey everyone. So it's been a while, but I'm still here fighting the good fight. Sometimes (at least when it comes to food).

Lots has changed and lots is the same. The big news is that I lost my job. So I've joined the ranks of the nation's unemployed. After about a year of letting me work long distance, my company changed their mind. They talked about creating a new tech trainer job for me, but the funding didn't come through. And a few of our higher ups asked me to apply for a rep job that opened up in LA. I was on the fence about that but was trying to keep an open mind. They ended up switching things around and getting a rep for a different territory however, so that didn't work out. Now, I've been working on freelance projects for them which is a mixed blessing. It's great in that it pays (and the work is interesting)! But sometimes I feel like I can't really move on if I continue to be connected to this company that laid me off. Plus I find it to be a bit of distraction in terms of the job search. So...I'm just going to go with the flow for now and see what comes my way. Staying open to freelancing as maybe that's what's in the cards if it works out?

Assuming unemployment comes through, all will be okay, but so far I've been rejected by NY state because I live in TX, and TX told me on the phone that it should have been NY that paid me because I had a NY-based employer). So I'm expecting a rejection letter from TX any day now. I feel confident we can make ends meet in whatever ways we have to, but my husband gets stressed out about it, reasonably so. I think I'm just more naturally inclined to look on the bright side. However, it is certainly an added complication since I was the breadwinner. If TX does reject me, I'll have to go back and ask them to review my case again.

So we cut expenses, and I'm really proud that we were able to tighten our belts so much. The student loans all went on hold too which is a really big deal. The biggest thing we did though is move to a MUCH cheaper apt. We are in a more suburban area now. Bye bye beautiful downtown apartment. But this place has its plusses including way more storage and an office (which i LOVE!).

That's the big picture update. Now that I have more time, I'll be sure and provide more updates. Lots going on with weight loss efforts too. But I'll post all of that in other posts!