Wait! Wagon! Come Back!

I fell off the wagon. Well, that's not necessarily true. I jumped off the wagon and thought I could have a few hours of fatty fun and then hop back on the Eat-Right trail. No such luck. By the time I was done gorging myself on Thin Mints (damned girl scouts) and Pizza Rolls (damn sell-out Italians), the wagon was gone. Disappeared. And I was left to drown my failure in Dr. Peppers and friend chicken.

It should have been easy to see coming; I went home last week to the fat-farm. My mother, sweet woman that she is, has battled with her weight problems for almost twenty years. She is an excellent cook, when she cooks, and an unrivaled order-er at every restaurant in central Texas. In theory, Mama knows exactly what she should and shouldn't eat, what portion sizes are best, and how to make fantastic meals on a tight budget. In practice, we ate out almost every night that I was with my family - which was 10 nights!

My family is incredible; I always have SO much fun with them. But we are creatures of habit, so even though we all talk about how we can eat better when we are on the road for Rangers baseball or spending Katy's birthday out on the town, we all opt for alcohol, french fries, and the smallest portion of exercise possible while still calling it exercise. All was not lost though. Here are the health/fitness high-points of the vacation:

• Instead of sitting on our butts while Dad was at the baseball game the first Saturday we were in Arlington, Maggie and I went window shopping at a nearby mall. Involved a good bit of walking.
• I spent Tuesday afternoon with my Dad outside on the four-wheelers checking out the range. My lower abs definitely got a little work out because we had to force the four-wheelers through some really rough areas.
• When Ben and I stayed at Katy's, we played Wii Fit (so fun) and went for a walking tour of the Dallas Arboretum.

I drove back to College Station Sunday night and, after indulging (AGAIN!) in a little Layne's chicken, was extremely aggravated with myself. Despite the high-points, I had done a lot of unhealthy things and I made a few April resolutions. Let's just say that I am chasing the wagon down. I WILL get back on and I WILL succeed in making better choices!

(Secret Weapon: I got P90X! If I survive it, I might lose weight. We'll see how it goes.)

Basketball Jones

What I Ate Yesterday
- Blueberry Muffin (250 calories)
- Coffee with Creamer (200 calories)
- Lean Cuisine Bar-B-Que Chicken Pizza (375 calories)
- 2 Cups of Grapes (130 calories)
- 1 Weight Watchers Chesse Wedge (30 calories)
- 7 Wheat Thins (65 calories)
- 2 Bowls of Tortilla Soup (640 calories)
- 1 White Russian (175 calories)

Total Calories: 1865

Exercise: 35 minutes on the Elliptical, 1.5 hours of Basketball

Today is ANOTHER short post. Sorry everyone, but the office is just not that interesting. I did, however, do a double workout yesterday and feel great today! The elliptical is so much nicer than running on a treadmill. I like to run outside, but inside I feel like I'm just not getting anywhere (hehehe, that was a joke. Obviously I can't GO anywhere on a treadmill). I played basketball with Logan, Ryan, and my Ben last night and it was a good workout - though not as excruciating as the game I played last Saturday. We played three half-court games and then two rounds of 21. Its so much fun to be playing sports again .

To The Point

What I Ate Yesterday
- Blueberry Muffin (250 calories)
- Coffee with Creamer (200 calories)
- Waldorf Chicken Salad (300 calories)
- 35 ounces Tap Water (0 calories)
- Bananna (100 calories)
- Pei Wei Teriyaki Kids Meal (275 calories)
- Skinny Cow Truffles Ice Cream Bar (150 calories)
- White Russian (175 calories)

Total calories: 1450

Exercise: none

Hello all! I know my posts have gotten shorter over the past couple of days, but I just haven't had much to write about. Yesterday was a good day; I ate well and stayed full for the better part of the day. I was supposed to work out with Ben after work, but when I got home, he and I had a really serious conversation about our plans for the future. Let's just say some changes are being made. After that, we didn't really feel like working out, so we got Pei Wei (our go-to healthy option for fast food) and watched "Monsters vs. Aliens". Tonight, though, I'm cooking Tortilla Soup and we are playing basketball with a couple of friends; it should be a nice, relaxed evening.

(PS: Don't worry, O faithful support group, Ben and I are not breaking up)

O What A Beautiful Sunday

What I Ate Yesterday
- Bananna Nut Muffin (200 calories)
- 2 Glasses of Chocolate Milk (400 calories)
- 1 Bananna (100 calories)
- 2 Glasses of Pomegrante-Raspberry Green Tea (100 calories)
- Migas for Dinner (1000 calories)
- 1 Glass of White Wine (100 calories)

Total Calories: 1900 calories

Exercise: 2 miles walking/jogging

Sundays are my favorite day of the week and yesterday was especially wonderful. I slept in late, took Oscar to the park, got in some exercise, spent a few hours reading a book out in the wonderful sunshine, and made dinner with Ben and went to bed early.

Dinner was my interpretation of migas, a Mexican dish consisting of ground beef, various chopped vegetables, scrambled eggs, and salsa all wrapped in a corn tortilla. Kind of like an awesome breakfast burrito. I had it for the first time at Cafe Brazil in downtown Dallas. I had five of the tortilla-filled goodness, which is why the calorie count is so high. I substituted ground turkey for ground beef, and it was pretty good!

Ben and I have become something of winos. We have made it our crusade to find the best sweet white wine for under $10, and we've come up with some good ones. Our favorite: Vino de Fratelli Moscato, $8.99 at HEB. Nice, light, sweet - everything I have trained Ben to like in a wine! Now he brings home bottles of wine for us to try together instead of a six pack of beer - not that he doesn't drink beer still, but he knows I don't like it. What a sweetie.

Chevelles and Apples

What I Ate Yesterday:
- Glass of Milk (110 calories)
- Bananna Nut Muffin (+/- 200 calories)
- 30 ounces Tap Water
- Fat Free Yogurt from Jason's Deli (+/-50 calories)
- Diet Dr Pepper (0 calories)
- Dinner *will detail later* (+/- 500 calories)
- 2 Glasses of White Wine (+/- 200 calories)
- 1 White Russian (175 calories)
- 11.5 ounces of Red Mango Fat-Free Yogurt & Toppings (+/- 500 calories)

Total Calories: 1735

Exercise: 1 hour of basketball


Yesterday was AWESOME, but since it's Sunday and I've got out-doorsy things to do, I'm going to keep this post short again. I got to sleep in yesterday until 11, then woke up and ate a leisurely breakfast while watching HGTV. My lovely friend Lauren called me and invited Oscar and I on a puppy date with she and Bailey the cocker-spaniel and we all played at Veteran's park for an hour before she went to get a haircut. My theatre friends rang as soon as Oscar and I got home, so I decided instead of hitting the treadmill, I would go play some b-ball. It was great! I got to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while and I got in a really good workout since we played full court. I also realized that I am most out of shape! A sprint workout is going to be making its way into my exercise regimen from hence forth.

After basketball, I came home and took a quick shower before Ben and I drove his '70 Chevelle over to what was supposed to be a classic car show at Jason's Deli. We were the ONLY car there. Apparently, the guys who scheduled it didn't check what else was going on in the area because there was a huge car show in Carlos, which is a town about 45 minutes from C-Stat and Pinks All-Out was in Dallas. They gave us free yogurt and drinks for showing up and we meandered through World Market after that.

When we got home, Ben and I decided to throw a dinner party. We didn't have anything else to do really. So he cleaned the apartment while I cooked baked chicken, asparagus, and pasta with rosemary-cream sauce for a few of our friends. They came over, we enjoyed the food, took a field trip to Red Mango in the Chevelle (there were 5 of us packed in there - SO fun) and we all played Apples to Apples until midnight. It was an awesome Saturday!

Skype-ing It Up

What I Ate Yesterday
- Coffee with Creamer (+/- 250 calories)
- Bananna Nut Muffin (200 calories)
- 1 ounce Beef Jerky (80 calories)
- 40 ounces Tap Water (0 calories)
- Grilled Eel Sushi (245 calories)
- 6 Milano cookies (420 calories)
- 2 glasses of milk (220 calories)
- Potato Soup (+/- 500 calories)

Total Calories: 1915

Exercise: None


OOOOOOOOK. Since it's Saturday, I'm going to keep this post on the short side. Yesterday I got off work early. The plan was to eat a healthy lunch before going with Ben to sign the lease for our new apartment. That played out like I wanted it to, but when I got back home around 4:45, I called a friend of mine to chat for a few minutes - which turned into 4 and 1/2 hours of phone convo, Facebook/Google chat, and then we discovered Skype when we started talking to our other good friend. So the Milano cookies crept into the evening before dinner because I was STARVING! Ben's shift didn't end until 8:30 and we had no butter, so I couldn't start dinner earlier. We finally ate around 9:15 while watching "Boondocks Saints II" - terrible movie.

Today working out is a must! I didn't start off the weekend right yesterday, so getting back on track is imperative today. Wish me luck!

Phonetically Speaking

What I Ate Yesterday:


- Coffee with Creamer (+/- 250 calories)
- 1 ounce of Beef Jerky (80 calories)
- 30 ounces of Water (0 calories)
- Taco Bell (630 calories)
- Raspberry Iced Tea (+/- 100 calories)
- Dinner *will detail later* (+/- 750 calories)
- 5 Double Chocolate Milano Cookies (350 calories)
- 1 glass of milk (110 calories)

Total Calories: 2270

Exercise: None

OK. Yesterday did not go as planned, but it wasn't a bad day. I went home to play with Oscar (who was EXTREMELY happy to see me) at lunch but forgot my Lean Cuisine in the office fridge, so I grabbed Taco Bell on the way back from my break. I know, I know - I'm awful. Trust me, I felt bad about it. Then I devoured taco-y, cheesy goodness and I forgot to feel bad. Oops. Coffee with my friend was great in two ways.

1) I did NOT order a Mocha Frappe. I ordered an unsweetened raspberry tea and thoroughly enjoyed it!

2) Taher taught me how to write my name in Hindu and in Arabic! So fun! He spent a long time explaining to me how they are both phonetic languages, which confused me at first, but as we got into writing names and letters, I understood it more and more. It's absolutely fascinating!

My awesome coffee-date with Taher ended up taking a little longer than I had anticipated, so I had to decide between buying groceries or working out. I opted for the groceries. You can't lose weight if you're eating fast food all the time. So I took the list I made at work yesterday and headed for the HEB. I stuck to the grocery list for the most part; I only added a few essential things like Double Chocolate Milano cookies and Wheat Thins. A girl's gotta have some snack food! An hour later, I headed to the apartment to make dinner for me and Ben. You remember that dinner plan I wrote about yesterday, with the baked chicken and green beans yadda yadda yadda? That, like my work-out, got triaged because of time.


Stir-fry made from brown rice, chicken breast, red bell peppers, green beans and awesome tequila mango coconut marinade was what we ended up eating last night. I am a big fan of the one-bowl-wonder meals, especially since Ben and I don't have a dining room table as of right now. So when stuck eating on the coffee table, meals that don't require a lot of cutting are choice.


I know what you're thinking and no, the 5 Milano cookies I ate as dessert weren't absolutely necessary last night, especially since Taco Bell claimed another victory over my lunch habits. However, I've heard that any time you tell yourself you are not allowed to have something (Milano cookies), you're more likely to gorge yourself on them. Therefore, in the interest of NOT gorging on the entire bag of scrumptious cookies, I allowed myself 5. There's a method to the madness, people. I promise.


Since my workday is over and I have literally NOTHING to do the rest of the day or weekend, I am resolved to knock out three solid workouts over the next three days. Laziness and couch-potato-iness will not prevail in this apartment! I have also decided that, since I am headed for 6 glorious weeks in San Francisco this summer, I will spend a little time planning outfits for the summer. Be prepared, O faithful support group, for poorly drawn pictures of clothing I intend to put together. It may be brutal to watch, but I am excited. Also, I may begin construction of a new yoga bag. I've already knitted one, only to realize the first time I used it that I did supply myself with any gym clothes storage. New bag will remedy that.


On the menu for tonight's dinner is baked potato soup from one of HEB's fresh express kits. All fresh ingredients = super awesome meal! Hopefully some of our friends will come over and eat with us and watch "Boondock Saints II" as Ben and I celebrate our partial Irishness. Should be good times!