Confession: Chili and Other Setbacks

image source

I fell off the horse.  I've not been monitoring my calories, and waaaay over eating.  I know this, because I feel like crap right now.  My tummy is screaming at me.  Here are the things I let derail me:

1) Andrew's birthday was Feb 6 and we celebrated all week with multiple special birthday dinners with friends, family members, and the customary romantic dinner at a steakhouse on my dime.  I took this opportunity to treat the week as though it were my birthday.  Not good.

2) This past weekend Abby and I took our moms with us on a weekend away in the San Juan Islands where Abby made fresh-baked bread, her mom made scones topped with her own freezer jam, and my mom kept the wine flowing.  Despite the 13 miles I covered over the weekend, it was not enough to come out ahead calorie-wise.  Also not good.

3) Most recently, our office threw its second annual chili cook-off.  Eight competitors, including myself, entered their best recipes.  First prize is not much more than bragging rights, but we get a great turn-out because we have many accomplished home cooks who know their stuff and like to go toe to toe.  It's a peer-voted blind taste test, so each "judge" must taste all chili versions in order to really make a fair choice.  I am very thorough in my research prior to casting my vote.  Granted, I had maybe only 3 tablespoons of each kind, but it really adds up when you think of how rich a chili can be.  And one word: beans.  Needless to say I'm hurtin' right now.

So with all of those confessions out on the table, I'm kind of relieved that I won't be able to give you a stats update tomorrow.  Instead of weighing myself tomorrow morning, I'm getting up super early to run from my house into work.  It is a long story, but come March 1 I will no longer have my wonderful garage parking spot in my office building and so I'm testing out different commute options.  I do have a bike, and I know the bus route, but I think running the 3.9 miles from home to work is my top choice.  When all is said and done, it will be 7.8 miles total.   I know I can do this, because I did an 8-mile loop on Guemes Island on Sunday after taking a wrong turn on one of the island's four roads and ended up halfway up the length of the island instead of running along the south shore like I'd planned.

Wish me luck as I'm trudging up the east side of Capitol Hill tomorrow.

Weekly Update

I am not happy to give today's update.  As you can see, I gained almost an entire pound and it all went straight to my ass.  I used to say I am lucky because I'm an all-over weight gainer without some unfortunate localized telltale area.  No, folks, I was wrong.  I apparently do have one and it's my ass.

I made some bad decisions over the weekend, drinking a lot of wine, eating sweets, and generally eating too much, resulting in feeling bloated and over-salted.  So despite my best efforts to get out and be active every day, my poor diet choices came back to bite me in the... well... ass.

Today I made sure I got out and pounded the pavement for five miles at lunch.  I took a coworker with me and she had me sprint the last two blocks, which I hate doing but it feels awesome as soon as I stop.  Plus I don't want to look like a sissy.  Overall, it felt really good and I didn't feel sluggish, so maybe I'm on the mend.  Here's to a better update next week.

Regrets and Regressions

The past week has been one long over-indulgence and disregard for what I know is good for me.  in addition to enjoying the culinary side of life in excess, I ignored my promise to my body to stop eating wheat products.  When I stepped on the scale a few days ago I confirmed what I already knew: much of my hard work was undone.  I was even chided by my wii fit, not that I didn't deserve it.  You can see how puffy I am in the picture; most of it is due to wheat consumption.  I regret my absence of will-power and lack of determination to stay on track, and the way my body felt as a result, but we're here to admit our mistakes and move on to focus on positive progress, so let's look ahead.

Sunday evening I paid for what I've done with a long walk in my neighborhood, and then vowed to do better the next day.  I did.  I got some brisk, low-impact exercise in at lunch, skipped snacks and sweets, drank no empty calories, and had a lovely (gluten-free, thankfully) sushi dinner.  I feel a whole lot better today.

Yesterday:

Total Calories: 1627

Net Calories: 1424 (45 under)

H2O Intake: 40 oz

Total Exercise: 45 min

Cardio: 0 min

shame

 image source

I must shamefully admit, I haven't been that nice to my body this week.  In addition to skipping my workouts all week, my dinner last night was a collection of passed appetizers from Seastar (so delicious!!), and I had an undocumented number of glasses of white wine, followed by two double-shots of espresso in Bailey's.  I feel awful, both in spirit and physically.

In about an hour I'm going to run across the street to the gym in an attempt to try to redeem myself in some way.

quick and dirty

I'm embarrassed about how bad I was to my body over the weekend.  I ate fast food twice, drank A LOT, and sat around snacking.  I don't regret it, but I'm well aware of how my body is affected.  I felt ill.

Just out of curiosity I estimated what I ate on Friday night, and it ended up being more than double my calorie allowance.  Ugh. When I think about how often I did something like that over the past couple years, I cringe.  No wonder I gained back 15 lbs.  Sheesh.

I don't have the stats for yesterday, but I did jog for 40 minutes, so at least I'm redeemed a little in that way.

Digressions

My cousin works for Frito-Lay. Last summer when we were all camping, he pawned off boxes and boxes and boxes of these single-serving bags of chips on us. I thought I might eat them but realized they were all disgusting except for this chile piquin - nice and spicy! However, they were sitting in a box in my bedroom since April, and I wasn't eating them, because why would I eat potato chips? Empty calories, and I don't even love them that much. I was going to take them to movie night at my brother's house (weekly gathering of ~20 of our friends, I make dinner and Mike picks a crap movie) but I forgot them. I drove to work today and you know that people in an office will eat anything, so I left them in the breakroom.

I had a deadline today and didn't get a second to breathe until 3 pm. That's a long time since my breakfast of cold cereal at 730 am. It's raining outside though, and I'm in heels and my hair looks pretty good, so I don't feel like going anywhere, especially since there's not much on offer 'round these parts. So I'm choosing to eat this bag of potato chips and a diet coke for lunch, and wasting these 300 empty calories on a whole lotta nothing. From a caloric standpoint, I am partially accepting it because it's INSTEAD OF and not IN ADDITION to real calories, but in a way that makes it worse because I'm not getting any actual nutrients. I am making dinner for Monica and Ani though, so I still have a chance to redeem myself.