Survivor

I survived. It was torture, but I did it. I had to take a lot of little mini-breaks, but I did it. I felt like I was gonna die, but I did it.

Here's what we did: Running laps, squat thrusts (burpees), wall sits, sprints, tons of ab work, kickboxing, and the usual take-out-all-your-frustration-on-the-heavy-bag punching combos, pushups, planks, and some weird sit-up and punching combo that was hella hard. I'm sore and it's not even 3 hours past my workout! I can't even imagine what it's going to be like tomorrow. I'm glowing with pride:) It only took me about 5 months to get back, but I'm finally there. My head's in the right space now. I even have war-wounds. Well, one. A bruise on my elbow from doing elbow strikes on the heavy bag. It's ok, it makes me look tough:)

BOXING!!!!!

Yay! It's my first day of boxing. Finally! I'm nervous as heck, but I know I'll feel so good and proud of myself when I'm done. I have my bag all packed and in the car. My pink boxing gloves:) So girly. Nothing like having your butt kicked by a girl wearing pink gloves, ha.

Now on to other non-inspirational news: I laid out my food plan yesterday, but didn't stick to it. Too much beer, and I didn't eat all my veggies. I ended up at 1800 calories, so the damage wasn't too bad, but still. I wish I had gotten in more nutrition and less alcohol-ey goodness. Oh well, moving on....

The eats today:
-watermelon (last of it)
-athena melon
-romaine, tomato, and cuke salad w/ lemon tahini dressing
-borscht
-green smoothie (apple, banana, and baby spinach w/ water.....mmmm)
-yogurt, apple butter, and flax
-Dinner: Homemade baked ziti with eggplant. Vegetarian, but cheesy and oh so delish.

Total: 1627

I'll be back with the gruesome details of how my trainer kicked my heiney:) I'm planning on going again tomorrow, but the fiance-type man thinks I'll be too sore. Well, now, that kinda makes me wanna prove him wrong:P

Ideal CR Weight

Crap. I did a little research online. It's not pretty, people! I'm 5 foot 8 inches tall, and my ideal weight without CR would be anywhere from 155-165. I decided 162, and so with a 10% reduction for CR, that puts me at 146!!!! AAAAAHHHH!!! I haven't weighed that in a looooong-ass time. Like early high school.

I can do it. I'm just going to focus on getting to my healthy weight, and then we'll take it from there. That's all I can do.

Distracted

I had all these good intentions of posting when the hubbub died down, then I didn't. I sat on the couch with a whiskey and vegetated:) And yes, I added the calories.

Well, Ivan (my 3 yr old) had a physical. I have never really given all the details on just what we went through with him. He was born at 27 weeks and spent the first six months in the NICU fighting for his life, then another six months at a rehab hospital upstate. He was trached, had a gastric tube, and every central line he EVER got ended up infected. It got so bad that at one point they had the crash cart by his bed. His electrolytes were all screwy and they thought he'd go into cardiac arrest w/in 24 hours. We had to sign a DNR (Do Not Rescuscitate) form for him and everything. SO....for his 3 yr old annual physical, he came out great. His liver, which had been enlarged due to IV nutrition that gave him cirrhosis, is back to normal size! That kid amazes me. He's a peanut (only in the 25% percentile for weight, and the 10th percentile for height), but he's my healthy peanut! His hearing, eyes, body is all good. You do not know how great that feels to just hear how normal he is. There was a little concern that he'd have some long-lasting effects, maybe even brain damage, but other than being a little delayed (hey who wouldn't be after spending a year in a crib on their back?), he's going to be fine.

I got my first extra-special request for a recipe! Yay! I have to warn you though, I make it by 'feel' now and don't measure anything, then when I went to the recipe box, I saw that Mark's mom didn't measure either!!! So you get the basic ingredients and just do the add-and-taste method. I like mine pretty sweet and sour, so I always add a little extra sugar and red wine vinegar.....
So, onto the goodness!

Borscht-
Beets
Onions
Carrots
Celery

boil in a pot with chicken stock (that's the recipe, I use water sometimes), til tender, then add lemon juice, sugar, and red wine vinegar to taste. For the wegelya (sp??? again), you take out the solids and serve the clear broth. But for borscht, we just use an immersion blender and make it smooth. It's great with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt and a hard-boiled egg. Yum. Sorry it's not all measured, but that's the way us real cooks do it;)

Here's the chow I'm eating for the day:
-coffee w/ sugar and 1/2 and 1/2
-watermelon
-pineapple
-plain organic yogurt w/ apple butter and flaxseeds
-Borscht
-melon
-banana
-spinach, tomato, cuke salad w/ lemon tahini dressing
-broccoli w/ sesame seeds, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar
-whiskey

Total so far=1441

BTW, stepped on the scale yesterday, and since Monday when the Dawn Project kicked off, I'm down 6 pounds!!!! I can't believe it. Today's plan is to research a little about what my ideal weight might be, and then what my 10% reduction of that would end up being. I'm scared! I'm worried that it might be unattainable. I know it's not, but I'm nervous about seeing some scary low number that will mess with my head, you know?

Today's workout is day 4 of the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michael's. She's annoying me now, but the workout is good. I rested on Wednesday, since I had class and couldn't work out in the morning. And we all know what I'm really waiting for tomorrow: BOXING!!! I'm also scared of that. It's gonna hurt. But it must be done. And I ain't punkin' out.

Food Log

I'm just going to give my food for the day. I have a pretty busy morning w/ doc appointments and schlepping the baby around (why do I still call him the baby??? He's 3). I'll be back with more later, gator.

-Banana/pineapple smoothie. Just whirled with water.
-coffee w/ sugar and half and half
-plain yogurt w/ apple butter and flaxseeds
-spinach, cucumber, tomato salad w/ lemon tahini dressing
-athena melon....new from the store, never seen it before, looks like a cantaloupe and a honeydew had a baby
-borscht (beets, celery, carrots boiled with a little water, little sugar, and red wine vinegar, then blended)
-pack of shirataki noodles
-marinara sauce
-broccoli
-homemade vinaigrette
-reduced fat feta
-loads of green tea and water

I'm trying to cut back on the sugar today, so I'm going to choke down the tea without sugar. Wish me luck!
Calories: 1249
On the low side, but it's a lot of food it seems, I'll figure it out later, maybe an apple with some peanut butter?

The Dawn Project, Day Three

Well, I've survived a few days. I have eaten right, exercised, and it's all coming together. My attitude's better. I don't feel like crawling under a rock anymore. Let the snowball effect begin!

Today I have my last class. YAY! Bio final. I'm relatively prepared, unlike my precalculus 1 class, which I will unfortunately be retaking in the fall. I didn't fail, but I want a better grade. Gotta focus.

Random: I write down an inspirational quote every day as a theme for the day. Today, I was looking for something about education, but I did that yesterday. So today, I'm feeling sassy and eager for summer break, so the quote I found today is this: "Life must be lived as play." Guess who wrote this gem? Plato! I'm going to try my best, between exams and grocery shopping and bill-paying and kid-schlepping, to get some play in today. I'd advise you all to do the same. My play these days is sewing, but I'm thinking I may have to get down and dirty with some crayons and paper today, maybe on the floor with my two boys. Heck, I may even break out the glitter and glue!

On to the foodie goodness. I'm trying to give myself a few hundred calories leeway, as we all know from previous posts that I struggle with nighttime snacking. So, this way, I have a few calories to spare for that. I don't include it in my totals til the next day, because I don't know what it is. It could be light microwave popcorn, more fruit, or some cheese. I've been doing better with the night, but I still crave something around 9-10. It's a work in progress, I'm just happy I'm eating healthy again and sticking to CR.

-Leftover ham and cheese quiche
-1 apple
-1 c watermelon
-1 banana
-1 c pineapple
-2 c spinach
-1/2 cucumber
-3 c romaine
-1 tomato
-Tahini Lemon Dressing over above veggies
-1 c plain yogurt
-3 TB apple butter
-1 TB flaxseeds (these three make a killer snack: yogurt, apple butter, and seeds!!!)
-1 mug coffee with sugar and half and half
-3 mugs organic green tea w/ little sugar
-Raw gazpacho (last of the batch)

Total is 1503 Calories!!!

Found some calories.....

Not that I was really in a dilemma or anything, but I found the rest of my calories for the day, and then a little more:) Only a little more. I made meatloaf for the family and couldn't resist a few small bites. Usually I'm ok with not eating the meat I make for them, but in my fragile, freshly-begun condition, I was weak. But the bulk of the extra calories came from a big bowl (2 cups) of steamed broccoli with a little reduced fat feta. Mmmm.

Today, I will stay under 1700. I WILL. I WILL. For my height and weight, the calculator I found online shows that at 1700 calories, it's 10% CR level. That's good for now.

In other academic-type news: I have a very stressful day ahead of me. As soon as my little one gets on the bus, I have a precalculus final to retake (thoroughly flubbed the first try) and I also have to study my booty off for my bio final tomorrow morning. Not too worried about the bio, will flip through my note cards and such, but the precal is a b*tch. I have not put the effort I should have into it, and I'm paying for it now. At least it's online, so I can sit there with my book and desperately try to find the formula I'm looking for:) This always happens: I start out all hotsy-totsy in the beginning of the semester, convinced that I'll get straight As. Then, I become a slacker in the topics that don't interest me and just do the bare minimum and have a "wait and see" sort of attitude. Then I end up panicking for the last month or so. Such a lame pattern. I'm striving for a better way after the summer. I was always a good student and learning comes fairly easily to me, so I sometimes rest on my laurels, thinking it will be easy for me, and then when it's not, I'm shocked! What a crock. I also tend to forget that life is not as easy breezy as it once was back in the day. I have 2 boys, a fiance, and a home to run. I really need the focus if I'm going to succeed. It's all related. Mind, body, and soul. Treating myself well physically will help mentally and snowball.

The garden is finally showing some sprouts. The tomatoes never grew past about 3 inches, so The Man is going to pick up some seedlings this weekend. But we've got peppers coming up, scallions, cucumbers, (we think) melons, and green beans. I really hope we get some stuff this year. Last year sucked. We are hoping to eventually grow enough of our own food, that we won't have to join the CSA. We love the CSA, but it's kind of expensive. Worth it, but expensive still.

OK, now for the food:
-1 banana
-1 apple
-raw gazpacho
-2 large eggs
-salsa
-1 c pineapple
-1 c watermelon
-meatloaf (it's part of the calories today, so I will just indulge in the red meat today)
-grilled cheese, no butter, whole grain bread, reduced fat american cheese
-2 c broccoli
-3 mugs organic green tea w/ a total of 1 TB sugar

Total= 1437 calories