Word of the day is..............

Foodie

What is a foodie you ask?  Well there are many definitions.  Here are some examples:

The Definition of Foodie From Wikipedia
Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook.

Distinguished from gourmet.  Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news.  Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food.

Typical foodie interests and activities include the food industry, wineries and wine tasting, breweries and beer sampling, food science, following restaurant openings and closings, food distribution, food fads, health and nutrition, and restaurant management. A foodie might develop a particular interest in a specific item, such as the best egg cream or burrito. Many publications have food columns that cater to foodies. Interest by foodies in the 1980s and 1990s gave rise to the Food Network (one of the many reasons why I don't have cable!) and other specialized food programming, popular films and television shows about food such as Top Chef and Iron Chef, a renaissance in specialized cookbooks, specialized periodicals such as Gourmet Magazine and Cook's Illustrated, growing popularity of farmers' markets, food-oriented websites like Zagat's and Yelp, publishing and reading food blogs, specialized kitchenware stores like Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table (I love to look around stores like this and dream of when someday I'll have my own kitchen), and the institution of the celebrity chef (love me some Rachel Ray and The Take Home Chef, Curtis Brown!)

The Definition of Foodie From Urban Dictionary:
1.  A foodie is not necessarily a food snob, only enjoying delicacies and/or food items difficult to obtain and/or expensive foods; though, that is a variety of foodie.

2. Simply put, a foodie is someone who loves everything there is to know or learn about food.
3.  A foodie is a person who loves or has a deep admiration for food and eating food. Does not necessarily have to be fat, but like eating. They might feel happy or very at peace when being around food.

4.  If you like food, you are a foodie.


So why am I giving the definition of a foodie?  Well a couple of weeks ago, I came to the realization that I AM A FOODIE.  There, I have completed the first step, admittance.  While driving to the Jazz basketball game, one of my friends and I pointed out restaurant after restaurant for places we liked to go, wanted to go, or recommended never to go.  Countless times, my friends and I have discussed making a list to put in our cars or purses for restaurants in the SLC area that we would like to eat at.  Many times, my weekend activities revolve around food.  Hardly ever do my friends and I spend time together without going to get something to eat.  I just got a community education booklet for classes offered this summer and of the 5 classes I am interested in attending, 2 are about food. 

I think my foodie characteristic is something that I need to change to help me be successful in my weight loss goals.  This past week and a half I have been sick w/ bronchitis, a sinus infection, and double ear infection (refer to my previous blog post on my feelings about this).  With being sick, I actually have not eaten out except for one day w/ my coworkers for lunch.  It's been like my foodie has been buried under a pile of Puffs Plus tissues.  With not eating out so much, I have saved A LOT of money over the past week or so.  I also have lost quite a bit of weight since all that I have at home are healthy food options.  I have lost 4 pounds in the last week with being home sick.  I haven't been able to work out, but the weight has still come off with eating better.  That makes me happy and makes me realize how important it is to limit eating out.  But, can I keep the foodie in me pushed aside for very long?  That is a good question. 

 

Here are some solutions I came up with to tame the foodie inside me.  I am going to suggest to friends that we eat on our own before activities.  Or I can even meet up with them AFTER they get done with going to dinner/ lunch/ brunch/ etc.  If we do want to eat together, maybe we could just cook together.  I have a huge dining room table, we might as well use it.  When eating out, I could possibly share my entrees w/ my friends which would result in an automatic caloric intake reduction and portion control.  Also I can again try to make the better decisions on what I eat when eating out.  I could choose a salad w/ dressing on the side instead of pizza.  In general, I want to eat out only 1-2 times/ week.  This should be easier now that I live close to work and eat lunch at home when working.  I will then utilize the above solutions to help take care of eating out for dinner.  We'll see how this goes.  If this doesn't work than I may need to start a Foodies Anonymous group to overcome my foodie characteristics. 

It's Going To Take A Little Mind Over Matter This Week........

I have a fun little story to tell you but first I have to explain the title for the post this week.  So I have been planning to hit it into high gear this week.  Last week I was doing pretty good, but not 100%.  All week I kept saying that I was going to build back up to 100% for this week.  I think I cursed myself.  It always seems that when I get in the groove and start doing really well w/ my goals that something happens, usually I get sick, go on vacation, etc. and get off track.  Well I have had a little set back already to start out the week.  Time for a story.......

Friday night I got the opportunity to go up to my friend Monty's cabin up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  This cabin and I have a love/ hate relationship.  The first time I went to the cabin I got major rope burn (blisters, cuts, the whole 9 yards) on both of my hands after falling off their homemade zip line.  I live in Utah, so of course there is still a lot of snow up there in the middle of March.  We went early and trudged a path in the snow to the cabin.  Just on the side of the road there was enough snow piled up that it was taller than me.  Since we were the first people going to the cabin, it was a little rough walking through the snow.  We kept sinking, in fact multiple times I went down in the snow up to my hips.  But we made it!  The problem arose on the way back to the cars.  It was late and dark.  We were using our friends cell phone for a flashlight.  Luckily all the people that came after us compacted the snow better, so we didn't sink in as much.  Right at the end we had to go down a 3-4 foot drop and around the pile of snow on the side of the road which then  led to the road.  As I took my first step down the drop, my purse started sliding off my arm so I went to adjust it, lost my footing, and fell head first down the hill into the hard compacted snow from the road.  As I was hitting the snow, I thought to myself "ah crap, this is going to hurt" and heard my neck pop, followed by belly flopping against the rest of the snow.  It hurt.  It still hurts.  Luckily I didn't break anything (especially my neck) and I can still move, it just hurts to move.  I have been taking it easy the rest of the weekend, but things are getting more sore and stiff at work today.  I can't let this stop my progress though.  I still want to be 100% for this week.  Darn cabin and working out curse! 

So here's the plan:  I am going to eat healthy everyday.  No goof ups.  Next week, I am going to post my food intake on the blog to keep me on track.  That way it'll keep me from goofing up even more because I have to tell you all what I ate.  I am going to still work out, but things that will be low impact on my back and shoulders/arms/ neck - so I'm thinking it's going to be a recumbent bike week.  We'll see how it goes.  I am going to break this curse one way or another.  I'll check in with you next week! 

Thanks for all your support.  I have about 2 months until my 1 year mark for starting this whole weight loss adventure.  It's time to kick it into high gear.  Hopefully I won't have any more things come up to side track the progress.  Until next week!

Time to Report!

So in my last post I came up with the idea to be accountable to all of you on a daily basis for 14 days to help me build healthy habits again.  I was making daily status posts on Facebook about whether I had a healthy habit or bad habit day.  It was considered a healthy habit day if I stayed in my calorie range and worked out.  Bad habit days were when these didn't happen.  So here are the results:

The first 6 days ROCKED!  I worked out for 1- 1 1/2 hours each day and I ate within my calorie range.  On day 7, I had a continuing education dinner for dietitians at a fantastic restaurant.  I ate a delicious meal including a chopped salad and salmon.  But the side dishes were augratin potatoes and creamed spinach.  And then the killer, creme brulee.  I LOVE CREME BRULEE!  So I ate unhealthy that day and did not work out since we got done late and I was too full to workout after.  This is when everything started going down hill fast.  I started having half good habit and half bad habit days.  It was like I would eat healthy but then not go to the gym.  Or I would go to the gym and then eat terribly which counter acted the progress I made at the gym.  And then the ultimate habit killer occurred, I went on a last minute road trip to California.  I was stuck in a car w/ delicious (not so healthy) treats for 12 hours each way.  Plus we ate at Jack in the Box at least 3-4 times (since we don't have those in Utah).  And we ate out for every single meal and I did not figure out my calories once on the whole trip.  When I got home I should have reported bad habit days all across the board for Thursday through Sunday.  AND I gained 5 pounds over the weekend.  Booo!

Luckily I have been able to kick it back into gear over the past week and I've taken 4 of the 5 pounds off so far.  I've been better at going to the gym and I've been trying to make better food choices.  But I still need to be even more consistent with the gym and start tracking my calories again.  I have been debating whether or not to start the good habit/ bad habit day posts again for another 14 days.  It was working really well when I was doing it.  I think I will, so I hope you all don't get annoyed with it.  Sorry this post wasn't very inspirational or anything like that today.  I mostly just wanted to let you all know what was going on with my weight loss progress and what happened with the last challenge.  I'm going to add in some fun pictures from my trip so you can at least see how beautiful it was in California.  I hope you all are persevering with your weight loss (and weight gain!) goals.  Just keep swimming! 

 Me in a tree! 

 Beautiful Santa Barbara California! 

5 reasons why I gained weight with the trip.  Delicious treats from a Danish bakery in Solvang, California.

Camile and I in front of the waterfall outside of Solvang, California.

And cute, quaint downtown Solvang, California.  I adore Solvang!

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming. Swimming.......................

I have been MIA in a lot of things lately, especially with updating my blog.  Which I apologize for, sorry.  There are a lot of explanations for why I haven't blogged.  The biggest two explanations would be the fact that I have been MIA from the gym over the past month or two.  The other explanation would be the fact that I have been MIA from eating very healthy too.  Both of these explanations have caused bad results in my overall weight loss journey.  Too be more blunt, I have gained weight instead of lost weight and I pretty much haven't wanted to write about it. 

My mojo has once again been lost!  I feel like this is happening more frequently too.  I haven't wanted to work out and when I do I haven't really put in a lot of effort either.  I also haven't been cautious or even that aware of my food intake either.  Just ask my Mom, we started a little competition back in January to track our food intake and exercise and whomever had the greatest caloric deficit won the competition.  Well, I failed at doing that too.  (Sorry Mom!) 

Luckily Angie has come to my rescue!  She has been helping me stay on track for the past week.  I am trying to make healthier food choices (which has been a slow go but I am getting more and more motivated now) and we are trying to get in physical activity at least 4 times per week.  These are our goals until the 28th of February, which is not a long time frame at all.  I am hoping that this small short term competition will help me get back into the habit again.  They always say that it takes only 14 days to make a habit.  Hopefully this will be the case for me. 

But I want to make it public on a daily basis for how I am doing.  I need some personal coaches out there.  So my plan is to post on facebook every night when I go to bed for the next 14 days whether I am building a good habit or bad habit.  My status will say good habit today or bad habit today.  Sorry, you may get sick of seeing these posts for the next 14 days, if so then just hide me until the end.  If we aren't friends on facebook, then request me (I can't believe we aren't friends yet!).  I need to check in with someone on a daily basis. I need people to yell at me when I am making bad decisions.  This is where all of you come in.  And I am willing to reciprocate the coaching too.

I also have hung up some inspiration in places around my bedroom and car.  I have a picture of Jennifer Hudson (She has lost a ton of weight doing Weight Watchers and looks FANTASTIC!  I want to look like her when this is all over, toned and curvy!) in my bathroom.  I have put the weight I want to be on my scale, so every time I step on it (or even look at it) I can remember my goal.  Oh yeah, I want to be down to 50 pounds by May 31st!  That means I have 30 pounds to go in 14 1/2 weeks.  Which is 2 pounds per week.  Which is on average what I was losing when I was being a good girl.  I have been eating lunch in my car a lot lately (I need to get away from the office for at least an hour each day so I eat in my car instead of at the office) and so I am going to put the weight and a skinny picture of me in my car so I see it everyday when I am on my lunch break.  This too should help me make better decisions when eating out because it should be hard to go to Taco Bell when your weight loss goal is staring you in the face.   

I know all of these things are simple and some may and may not work.  But I found a great quote today.  I don't know who it is by but it's fantastic.  It says, "you don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there."  Seriously, that is awesome!  I am going to keep treading through the water until I reach the finish line.  I know I am going to get tired from time to time and other times I am going to swim through the water like an Olympic champion.  Sometimes I will be only waist deep in the water and sometimes my head will be barely sticking out, but I am not going to be submerged.  Weight loss is hard.  It's an ongoing battle that I know I am going to have to deal with the rest of my life.  If I give up and just let myself stay "in the water" I could end up like one of those people who have to have a wall cut out of their house so they can go to the hospital.  Luckily, I know I can never ever give up (I'm a stubborn girl from time to time).  It's time to start swimming instead of treading.  Now where are my goggles and swim cap?

It's a New Year, so it's time for new resolutions..........

But I'm sorry to say that I actually didn't make any resolutions related to my weight loss challenge.  Don't get me wrong, I did make resolutions this year but just none related to weight loss.  I made resolutions related to my work life, social life, and personal life.  The new year came and all I thought I needed to do for weight loss was to stick with working towards my overall goal. 

Through this whole process I've been able to figure out what I need to do to be successful and what I shouldn't do too.  This whole experience so far has been very challenging.  It changes day by day and sometimes even hour by hour.  I can be on track and motivated in the morning only to end up way out in left field by the end of the day.  I've been making different weight loss resolutions each week for the past seven months.  And that is the beauty of it all.  I'm lucky to have realized to be successful in my weight loss goals I have to be flexible.  If I wasn't flexible, I've would have given up a long long time ago.  I've failed at many of my different resolutions along the way.  I still drink Diet Coke regularly.  I still don't get physical activity daily.  I still eat unhealthy things.  BUT I exercise more than I did before.  I still say "no thank you" to things that I know I shouldn't eat.  And I am still working towards my overall goal.  And that is AWESOME!

The year mark for my weight loss challenge is Memorial Day weekend.  I am sitting at 27 pounds lost (had some bad weeks with vacation/ holidays/ illness/ etc).  I hope to be able to say on Memorial Day weekend that I am at 50 pounds weight loss.  That's the current goal and I hope to achieve it and then keeping going down from there.  So to all of you who have made New Year resolutions, keep up the good work.  If you are failing at your goal so far, don't give up.  Be flexible!  Re-evaluate your plan, make some adjustments, and keep going.  If you never try then you will have to accept defeat in the end.  Accepting defeat is not fun, so get to work!  We're all awesome and I know that together with each other's support (I'm so lucky to have all the support and followers with this blog) we can achieve anything! 

Motivation is coming back..........

thanks to my friends, one in particular.  My dear Stacey Lou Freebush helped my progress a lot this last week.  She helped me make healhier choices when we ate out.  We went to the gym together.  She encouraged me to work out at home when I didn't want to go to the gym.  She rocks!  It was also helpful that Kate's wedding was this weekend.  I wanted to make sure I looked a little more trimmed in the dress I bought for her wedding, so that helped a lot too.  Thanks for getting married Kate and Alex.  It was a beautiful wedding. 

So here's this weeks results:
Weight loss = 6 pounds
Total Weight Loss = 32 pounds
Total % Weight Loss = 11.43%

So through this whole competition, our overall goal is to go to Italy once we get to our final goal weight.  While this is great to think about, it's so far away.  In fact, it's 73 pounds away.  In the past, I've used some good short term goals to help motivate and push me along.  But right now I am kind of out of ideas.  So that's where you all come in!  What are some short term goals that I could work on and reward with?  Here's a list of what has been used in the past to give you some ideas to work with:

-  Once all three of us got to 15 pounds weight loss we went and saw Iron Man 2 (we all really wanted to
    see it).
-  Once Angie and I got to 20 pounds weight loss we went and got our hair cut.
-  I wanted to take new pictures at 30 pounds weight loss.

Some things I have been thinking about:
-  I love the store Anthropology.  I've always wanted to buy clothes there but it's a little bit expensive and I know the clothes would look better if I lost more weight.  So I've been thinking that I could buy a cute outfit there when I've lost another 20 pounds.

-  I could find a concert that is coming to SLC that I really want to go to, buy tickets, and then go if I lose to a certain amount of weight.  If I don't get to the weight goal, then I have to give the tickets to someone else. 

-  My friends and I want to go to Disneyland in February over President's day weekend.  So I could set a goal to be down 20 pounds or else I don't get to go.  This may help my friends push me a little bit more too. 

What do you think?  Any other ideas?!?  I appreciate your ideas and things that have worked for you in the past. 

Dear Blog Following Friends..........

I suck!  Sorry to be so blunt but it is true!  I have let myself and you all down lately.  In fact, it's kind of like I have dropped the ball and kicked it under the bed where no one can reach it.  Things are NOT going well right now with my whole healthy living plan. 

#1 reason - VACATION!!!!!!!!

I went on vacation.  It was fabulous and marvelous.  We ate at great places, and for the most part I tried to order healthier options.  I had a turkey burger instead of a regular hamburger, a side salad instead of double the mashed potatoes.  I tried not to over eat on Thanksgiving, and did rather well.  I only had two small pieces of pie, but I did have a slice of pie pretty much every day after.  I bought an exercise video to use on the vacation, a Jillian Michael's workout that is only 25 minutes - it stayed in my suit case.  For half of the trip we were really active walking all over Baltimore, New York, and Washington DC.  It was just the other half of the trip when we weren't out sight seeing that I should have been using the exercise video.  With that all said, I actually maintained my weight on the vacation, Thanksgiving and all.  Good job, right?

WRONG! 

Even though I am no longer on vacation, my mind seems to have stayed on vacation.  I am very much lacking the motivation right now.  Since being home, I haven't gone grocery shopping until tonight.  So I have been pretty much eating out at least 1-2 times/ day (calorie trap!).  I've only worked out once and broke a sweat (I know, I suck!).  I am still having one treat per day (unnecessary calories!).  Oh, and I've been pretty much having a diet coke every day too (yes, there are no calories in diet coke, but for some reason it seems to empare my weight loss efforts!  I know better.).  You can only imagine the results of my recent effort.  That's right, I have gained four pounds in one week!  Suck!  The motivation has just hit me like a rock!  I have got to get back on track!

Challenge: 
One week of awesome healthy McHealthyness
(I am aware that is not a real word, but I like it!)

Challenge criteria:
#1:  No more eating out until next Wednesday.  Sorry friends, we are going to have to do something more constructive with our time.  Gym, anyone?
#2:  No diet coke or carbonated beverages.  Who ordered a water?
#3:  Exercise!  1 hour or more each and every day for the next week.
#4:  No more treats!  (I am going to throw away the half eaten carton of ice cream, tonight!)
#5:  I must ride the stationary bike while watching TV.  Goodbye comfy brown couch! 

Challenge witnesses:  My friends, roommate, and coworkers

Goal:  Lose the 4 pounds I gained by next Wednesday. 

The challenge is set.  The motivation is here.  I must stop typing now and go to bed so I can do my 30 minute Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred in the morning.  So ta ta for now.  I won't let you or myself down anymore!  I promise!