Day 33 - 39

Ok guys, this past week has be seriously frustrating.  Let me tell you why.

1. I'm bloody sic of Nutrisystem.  The food is still good, but it's the same thing day after day.  There's not a whole lot of variety for vegetarians (it's awesome that there's a veggie menu, there's just very little on it) then you add in the fact that I'm incredibly picky and that cuts my choices dramatically.  There are maybe 5 items from the lunch menu, and 3 from the dinner menu that I like, so I'm eating the same thing day after day after day.  It's getting really old.
2. I'm tired of not working out.  Especially right now.  I'm not working, so I'm at home all day sending out resumes.  I'd like nothing more than to go for a morning run and then maybe something else at night.  Not only would it burn some calories, but it would alleviate some of the monotony of my day.  
3. I keep giving in to my cravings.  A lot of this is because I'm sick of my diet, but no excuses.  I'll eat something I know I shouldn't then I spend the next few hours, days, weeks, berating myself for it.  You know, I read somewhere that naturally skinny people never think about food.  When they're hungry they eat, when they're not they don't, and the time in between is not spent thinking about what they will eat next.  I want to be that person.  But instead of being that person, I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about food, especially now when I have nothing else going on.  I think about food and my weight and my desire to be thin non-stop.  

So I'm changing things up once again.  Some days I'll do the Nutrisystem, some days I won't.  The days I don't I'll workout and I won't eat the crap I shouldn't.  I've been looking through my cookbooks and I've earmarked some recipes to try.   So I'm gonna do some grocery shopping and start cooking.  Maybe I can get my folks to eat it too.  Not to make them vegetarians, but to keep them out of a drive-thru.

Day 39 Weight: 182.6  Down 9.8 Pounds.  Not bad for 5 weeks, but I feel like it should be more; like it could be more.  My weigh has fluctuated so much that in all actuality I've probably lost somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds, but they've been duplicates.  I mean, at one point I was down to 180.something.  I'll never make my goal if I keep being weak and giving in to my cravings.  Gotta be stronger than this!

Day 39 Food:

Breakfast - Nutrisystem Granola Bar

Lunch - Taco Bell Bean and Cheese Burrito (FAIL)

Dinner - Whataburger Fish Filet Sandwhich and fries (Double FAIL)

Day 39 Workout: Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred level 1 workout.  I've been using this DVD for awhile and I really like it.  Cardio, strength, and abs in a 30 minute workout.  Very good.  The only problem is that Jillian Michaels is the host.  You know who she is, the mean trainer from The Biggest Loser.  I really, really can't stand her.  I don't like her on that show and I don't like her on the DVD.  So I set up my iPod, play my own music and put her on mute.  So it was nice.  A little Goldfrapp, David Gueta, Neon Trees and a whole lot of butt kicking.  

If you've not laughed yet today, scroll down.  I'm gifting you with some pics from tonight's workout.

As always, thanks so much for the support and for all of those who keep asking for new posts.  I appreciate it.

Days 25 - 32

OK wow.  I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted.  But I think I'm going to turn it into a weekly deal.  We'll see.

I've been pretty good about my food intake lately, eating only what's on my diet.  I will admit, yesterday I had a bean burrito from Taco Bell.  I was out of town and had to eat something, so that's what I chose.  But I only ate the one where as a month ago I would have had two tacos and a Mexican pizza with beans substituted for all the meat.  So the fact that just one taco filled me up is a good thing.  Plus, it only has 370 calories, so that's not too bad.

Day 32 Weight: 184 (-8.2 pounds)

Day 32 Food:
Breakfast - Nutrisystem Chocolate Chip Muffin
Lunch - Nutrisystem Homemade Mashed Potatoes
Mid Afternoon - Orange
Dinner - Nutrisystem Pizza
Dessert - Nutrisystem's version of a Snickers Bar

Workout: I've stopped working out completely.  Other than a walk through the neighborhood every now and then, I'm doing nothing.  Which is very odd for me.  I've always gone the workout route for weight loss and not going running or doing some cardio or lifting weights is just strange to me.  But I understand why I can't workout right now and will continue to just go for walks and just watch the weight fall off.

Mmk.  That's it for now.  Thanks for reading!

Days 22 - 24

I've been a vegetarian on and off for the last 10 years or so.  Let me say first off, Animal Rights have never, ever been a reason for my not eating meat.  I love animals.  I grew up, like most people, having family pets; dogs, cats, guinea pigs, fish, and even pigs and cows (the cows were on my grandfather's ranch and were named by a grandchild chosen by age - a younger cousin named his cow Jessica after yours truly, thank you James).  And I've never had a problem with people who hunt dear or quail or whatever.  Again, growing up my father was a dear hunter who killed the random turkey or snake here and there.  There's even a picture of me floating around somewhere of a twelve-ish me kneeling between two dear I'd helped kill and gut. I have no problem with hunting as long as the animal is killed for food and not for the pure thrill of killing a breathing creature.  

So I'm an animal loving vegetarian who is ok with killing animals for food.  Actually, let me qualify my killing animals for food statement.  I'm ok with killing animals for food as long as it's humane.  I think that an animal should be treated right.  Raise it on a free range farm, let it roam around, feed it well, and when it's finally time to slaughter it, do it in the most painless way possible.  Force feeding geese until they literally die from overeating just so that you can have a nice foie gras is not ok with me.  By the way, there is one farm in Spain that humanly raises geese for foie gras, so if you're a fan, please look into where you're getting yours.

So the reason for this whole rant - Today I watched the episode of Oprah where she and a large group of her staff went vegan for a week.  It was a fairly interesting program, but didn't introduce me to a whole lot of information I hadn't already been aware of.  The one part of the episode that struck me though was a video of Lisa Ling taking a tour of a Cargill's slaughter house, a facility that uses the Temple Grandon design of a completely painless slaughter process.  Just about any meat you buy commercially is going to come out of a Cargill's plant and you have to give them credit for letting cameras into their plant to film the process, most plants wont.

Anyway, back on topic, that video really got to me.  Like, really got to me.  Like, made me cry.  Just watching those cows being lead to their death really upset me.  And I'm not sure why.  If what the general manager of the slaughter house said is true, and if Temple Grandon knows her stuff, (which obviously she does if her biographical movie won so many awards) and these cows died in the most unaware, peaceful, and easiest way possible, why am I so upset?  It really threw me.  Like I said, I am fine with people humanely eating meet.  I don't know why this upset me so much.  Odd. Guess I'm just a softie?

And the reason for my vegetarianism is the fact that I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to meat.  My stomach just can't handle it.  It knots itself up and cramps until my body gets rid of the meat either through vomiting or going poo.  I was talking to my best friend's sister who told me that I may be allergic, so I checked it out online and turns out, I do have the symptoms of someone who's allergic to meat.  I never went and got tested, but I did cut meat out of my diet.  I still eat dairy and eggs, just no meat.

I feel like this post is kinda rambling and not very well written, so I apologize if you feel the same.  Now on to today's stats.

Day 24 Weight: Forgot to weigh this morning.

Day 24 Food:
Breakfast - Nutrisystem Peanut Butter Granola Bar
Lunch - Amy's Kitchen Vegetarian Chili turned into Frito Pie
Mid Afternoon - Mom brought me some Mrs. Baird's Chocolate Donuts.  She thought about writing Nutrisystem on them, but didn't.  Don't think bad thoughts about my mom.  She does not condone my bad eating, but I've been talking about these donuts for days, DAYS, so she finally let me have them.
Dinner - Shakeology Greenberry Protein/Meal Replacement Shake with added milk and banana

Day 24 Workout: One of mom's walking videos again, but running instead of walking.

My protein shake - tastes much better than it looks.

See?

Thanks for reading guys!  Have a lovely night!

Day 19-21

Day 21 Weight: 186 - Down 3 pounds (6.2 total)

Day 21 Food: - I ate horribly today.  Feel free to judge me.
Breakfast - Nothing.  Woke up late and new lunch would be soon, so I skipped it.  Shame on me.
Lunch - Taco Salad with refried beans, iceberg lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole, shredded  cheese, and jalapeño. We went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, but I did not have any chips and queso.  Even though that is probably my favorite pairing ever, I didn't have any.  Even though it was already on the table (complimentary, not left over)  when we got there.  I didn't have any!
Mid Afternoon - Vanilla ice cream, raw peanuts, and Magic Shell chocolate sauce.  I know, I know.  But it's Super Bowl Sunday, a day of national gluttony.  I felt it was my duty as an American to partake in this tradition.
Dinner - Amy's Kitchen Vegetarian Been and Cheese Burrito. I'm out of Nutrisystem dinners that I like, so I had to improvise.  

I finally looked into it, and Yes, you can return the food items you don't like in exchange for something you do.  Good to know, but I should have looked into it earlier cause I can't send in the stuff I have now.  It has to be returned within 30 days and I don't think I can hit that goal.  Actually, maybe I can.  If I'm on day 21 of the diet, then I've only had the food for 22 days.  Ok.  Gonna take care of that tomorrow.

After some more discussion with my father, my workout routine has been modified once again.  3 days a weeks I'm going to either run, or do some form of cardio.  2 days a week I'm going to work on muscle definition; 1 day upper body, 1 lower.  I'm going to slow down the pace of the weight lifting and take the cardio aspect completely out.  The reason I'm taking out the cardio is because I don't want to burn too many calories.  Funny thing to say, I know, but there is some science behind it.  If you burn more calories than you consume, your metabolism is going to slow itself down - just like when you don't eat enough calories.  And since cardio is what burns the calories, I've got to make sure I don't over do it.

I'm having a really hard time concentrating on what I'm writing.  Fergie is in the middle of butchering Sweet Child o' Mine. Which has me wondering.  Who owns the rights to that song?  It was a collaboration of the whole band, each person writing their own part, so I'm wondering if they all still share the rights.  I can't imagine that if it's solely owned by Axel that he would have allowed it being used by Slash and Fergie.

Also, Slash.  You lost some cool points tonight.

Thanks for reading!

Days 16 - 18

So a few months ago, I'd been done right now.  I'd have gone to Austin, eaten horribly, not worked out, and come home and just said, "Sod it all," and fallen right back into the old habits of eating Taco Bell five times a week and whatever else I could find the rest of the time.  But not this time.  Admittedly, it took me a day or two to get back on the strict diet, but I'm doing it.  Yay me!

Day 18 Weight: 189 Not as bad as I thought it would be.  I thought that last weekend would have really done me in and put me right back where I started, if not worse, but it wasn't too bad.

DAY 18 Food:
Breakfast - Nutrisystem Banana Nut Muffin & a raw banana
Lunch - Nutrisystem Black Beans and Rice (didn't finish it, it made my stomach roll for some reason)
Mid Afternoon - Cherries (are there seedless cherries?)
Dinner - Nutrisystem Vegetarian Chili that I turned into Frito Pie with some Fritos and shredded cheese
Dessert - A package of the mini chocolate donuts.  I know, I know.  You don't have to tell me.

Day 18 Workout  None. This cold weather does NOT motivate me to get up and move my booty.

Nutrisystem Food I Do Not Like:
Vegetarian Sloppy Joe Mix
Vegetarian Sausage Pasta
Cinnamon Bun
Vegetarian Lasagna
Cheese Puffs (fake)

My second month of food is in route as I type.  I made some changes to it.  You'll notice that my dinner is going to consist mainly of  Pizza.  Hopefully I don't get sick of it too quickly.

I just want to say thank you again for all the people who view this blog.  I know I haven't responded to any comments, but I read them and I appreciate them.  Love you guys!