There Is No Tooth Fairy, and That's Okay.

It's been quite a week or two for TheFabJG...you guys know.  But it's time to spill and share what's been going on with me bloggy-style.

So I've been reworking some of our favorite recipes to make them much lighter than usual and so far (with the exception of the previously mentioned turkey spaghetti) it's been going very well!  One item that I'm especially proud of is a new pizza recipe that even David enjoyed!  Now, let it be said that David doesn't believe in pizza without sausage on it.  For my sweet sweet husband, sausage-free pizza is like Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, and the one eyed one horned flying purple-people eater (spoiler alert!).   So when I found this recipe for Pesto Chicken Pizza I was excited but leery that the hubster would not approve.  Boy was I ever wrong!  Y'all...you have to make this pizza.  Like NOW.  Go to the store this instant...I'll wait.  Yummo!  I do have to admit that I served this on homemade pizza dough, because any pizza crust that does not come out of my bread maker is just sacrilegious to me...which reminds me I need some wheat flour.  Hey, when you go to pick up stuff for YOUR pesto chicken pizza, will you grab me some wheat flour?  I'll hitcha back.  You're swell.

I also reworked one of our favorites, King Ranch Chicken with virtually fat-free soups and cheeses, substituting corn tortillas for crushed corn chips. I'm sure it's still not the healthiest dish, but my general take on all this is that I can't stop loving what I eat.  So I need to figure out how to still enjoy our favorites but to feel better about them at the same time.

Speaking of: found a new treat that I would love to share with you as well!  My current favorite dessert consists of 1/2cup Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla yogurt, one sliced banana, 1/2 cup Special K Low-Fat Granola cereal.  toss these ingredients in a bowl and prepare to be amazed.  I bet if you mixed it up before dinner and tossed it in the freezer it would be even better....tryin it!  I estimate this around 325-350 calories or so, but it's fillllllling.  Like hard-core.


Now, let's talk for a moment about how David runs circles around me on this whole healthier living thing.  He resists all temptation but one day a week.  He gets up at 6 o'clock in the frickin morning to go and ride his bike 20+ miles and then takes the Bear on another bike ride every evening that he can.  I, on the other hand, have been on my bike twice for a total of about 5 miles and my lady bits are sore for two days after each ride...I've done my workout DVD once, with a promise that I'm going to start it up again...I swear!  Maybe at lunch time today?  Ehh, who knows.  But all that to say that while generally speaking, David is much more athletic than I am, it really grates me when he's on a health kick because it makes glaringly obvious my lack of true commitment to the cause.  

On a final and completely unrelated note: I am looking to branch out, at least a little bit.  Here pretty soon you may find new pages at the Cupcake Chronicles.  Including at least Photography and ZeroDay Accomplishments...so keep an eye out for that.  That's really all I've got for today!  Deuces...

Smorgasbord of Randomness

One of my favorite people on earth sent me this little e-card one day, and it totally sums up my relationship with dairy.  I claim myself to be "Lactose Irritable" because sometimes we're cool...other times it mops the floor with me.  Thursday evening, I took Christopher out for some ice cream and had a delightful scoop of Cappuccino Chunky Chocolate...fewer calories and lower fat than my regular Twist...look it up!  Anyway, that "accidentally" wound up being my dinner....and boy did I regret it.  Lesson learned: ice cream for dinner equals working Sudoku puzzles on the can for dessert.  you're welcome.

On a separate, and completely unrelated, note:  Since I've made this list of "things to do to make me a better person", I've been seeing a lot of changes.  Not in myself, mind you, but in others.  Case in point: I popped by the Red Box last night to do a little perusing.  I loves me some Red Box these days.

Anyway, I pull up my little buggy and park it next to a gal who is using the kiosk.  Kiosk is a great word, try to use it in a sentence this week.  Anyway, she asks me if I am renting, and I said yeah but go ahead because I don't know what I want to rent yet, thinking that she thought she was in my way or holding me up or whathaveyou.  So she asks me if I have a code for a free rental, and I'm all "meh?" and she's all "yeah I got this code for a free rental and it works!"...so she leans over and shows me this 7-digit unrepeatable code...I select my movie, swipe my card and hit the button for PROMO and viola, nooooo monies were charged!  I couldn't believe it!

Sometimes I wonder if I got extra Jesus-points for just putting "do random acts of kindness for others" on my to-do list and I'm already reaping rewards.  This is possible, no?  Just sayin.

Which brings me to my third and final point for this evening.  Here I sit alone in my house for the weekend.  David and Christopher went up to Normantown and I have been officially left to my own (battery-operated) devices.  Naw, just kiddin y'all.  But seriously.  Can I just say out loud that I accomplished more today than I probably have in the past year??  I mean, all I did was shampoo the carpets and push stinkin laundry through,  oh and got a coat of amazingly badASS red paint on muh kitchen door, but that's it.  I did that and I was like "um, when do I get to just sit and goof off?  OH...I start now." and that's about how it went.  I'm about as productive as can be until my attention gives out, then we might as well just call it a day. ...which sounds pretty good right about now so I think I wi

Facelifts and Tummy Tucks

This week I find myself doing all kinds of things to spruce up this blog to my liking.  All two of my followers out there, let me know what you think.  Do you approve?

Amazingly the scale budged!

...and I do mean amazingly!  The past two and a half days have been spent in Norman which translated in to:
1. Hamburgers, fries for dinner.
2. Sausage Egg biscuit for breakfast.
3. Enchilada meal for lunch.
4. Tacos for dinner.
5. Donut for breakfast.
6. Pizza for lunch.
7. Turkey sandwich for dinner....can you tell this is when I came home?


So rather than sit here and say "I'm not making excuses"....I am making excuses and each one of them is malarky.  It's like I lose all sense of drive when I'm away from home.  Goodness me it is a good thing that my job doesn't require much travel.  I'd be as big as a house!  I talked my office buddy in to buying a small fridge and microwave this week, though...so the "plan" is to start taking my lunch to work on my travel days.  Not only will I save a solid 800-1300 calories per day, but I will save at least $40 a month!  That's something that I can totally get on board with.  So let's see how it goes next week, shall we?

Anywayyyy.  On to other news.  Last week I worked out TWICE!  That sounds so pathetic, but hey, it's two more times than I can claim in the past 5 years for sure.  So Tuesday afternoon I started a new work-out DVD, The Biggest Loser: CardioMax.  What I like about it?  There are real people doing these exercises with me, not Betsy Bodybuilder who gets paid to live at the gym and thinks that the workout is a joke.  It's a fairly simple program that is designed to be a six-week guide to a better me.  Weeks 1&2 are a total 30 minute workout with 5 minutes of warmup and cooldown with a 20 minute session with Bob in between.  Weeks 3&4 adds in a 10 minute session with Jillian, and weeks 5&6 adds a third 10 minute session with whats-her-face.  I dig that.  It's not intimidating, it's manageable and the results can be seen quickly enough to hold my interest.  Of course, that six week program entails doing the tape 4-5 times per week, so I can't say that I'm officially on the program just yet.  But hey, this could be my week, right?  


Workout #2 was really a lovely evening bike ride with the family.  It was the first time that I had been on a legitimate bicycle in years.  Years.  So I was pretty proud of myself for going 2 1/2 miles and not feeling winded.  I could have easily gone 5-6 miles before becoming uncomfortable I believe.  David will be home this weekend and I'm hoping that we can go on one of his famous 10 mile rides with the Bear.  I know that would test me even more, and I will probably want to die afterward, but I'd love to get to where I can ride close to 30 miles.  My sister in law can do it, and I like to think that I'm at least in her league of physical capabilities.  Ideally, David and I would get to where we could go on those rides in the early morning before it got really hot...the sun goes to bed too early for us to be able to do so after it cools off in the evenings.  But we'll see.

By the way, this is my new bike.  Ain't she a beaut??   I think she's purdy!  Oh, and while we're on the subject of my pretty new biiiicycle.  I would like to take a quick second to officially go on record as saying that I, at the age of 28, now own my very first bike helmet.  Ever.  And I feel like a complete f-tard having to wear it now when I never did before, in all the thousands of miles that I rode a bike in my youth.  F. Tard.  But I can't very well expect to set an example for the Bear that "we always wear our helmets" if I, in fact, do not wear my helmet.  I hate when I get called out on those types of technicalities.


So that's a little update on what's new in my world.  Thanks for stopping by.


Exes and Hos!
JG

Grad School

Well, kids.  I've officially marked one of my DayZero tasks off my list.  I have applied to Grad School at Cameron University!  My degree will be a Master's of Science in Education Leadership; the rough equivalent to a Student Affairs degree.  What will I do with this, you ask?  Well, I'm not totally sure.  Ideally, I would like to continue working for OU and nab an adjunct teaching position while somehow finagling a full-time location in SW Oklahoma as a continuing education liaison.  You know, work with adults in this part of the state who are interested in starting or completing a degree program get pointed in the right direction.  Sounds swanky, huh?  What can I say, it's how I roll.

I think we even have uniforms!!  Can you just imagine?! 


I do have to be completely honest, though, and admit that while I do love school--no, truly, I do!--my motives for Grad School are not completely pure and self-fulfilling.  A number of people that I know, love and admire have either already completed their master's degrees while working so I know that it can be done, or are currently entering or have already taken some graduate courses, so again, I know I can do it.  But....


more importantly, two people that I cannot stand are also entering grad school this fall.  And I cannot and will not be one-upped by either of these individuals.  Cannot and will not happen.  Motivation is motivation, that's all there is to it.  It's just the same with the defattification--ultimately, I'm in some unspoken contest with an individual who I see as beneath me who is working very diligently on her weight loss journey. It is simply unacceptable to me for her to beat me at anything, let alone self improvement.  Unacceptable.


Signed,
Definitely Not Beatrice

No more unicorns?

I'm really thankful that David is on this health kick with me.  Last week I packed him a lunch...two turkey sandwiches (he cannot survive on one sandwich, go figure) some baked lays potato chips, a low fat yogurt, aaaaaand a package of Nutty Bars.  Nutty Bars?!? you say?  Yeah...well, I'm just trying to get rid of them and if I'M not going to eat them, and I'm not going to feed them to the bear, they have to go in David's lunch right?  Apparently wrong.  He wound up giving them away, but here's the moral of the story.  When David starts getting healthy, he goes all out.  He doesn't half ass it like me other people, and he actually inspires me to take myself and my defattification process more seriously.

New philosophy on food:  If I wouldn't feed it to the bear, I won't eat it myself.  Period.  Except on holidays.  PERIOD.


So I decided to try to make a healthier spaghetti last night.  Whole wheat pasta and ground turkey, as well as a heart-healthy no sugar whatever spaghetti sauce.  I ground up my turkey and toss in some garlic and spices and it smells wonderful....mix in the sauce while the pasta finishes cooking...throw in a dash of garlic salt and a pinch of sugar because the manufacturer clearly left it out on accident and the sauce tastes great?  I keep telling myself that anyway.  Then put it all on a plate and it was like eating sadness one excruciating bite at a time.  As if I took one of my favorite meals and stripped away all the goodness in the world.  No more kittens, no puppy breath....Grey's Anatomy, bubble baths and unicorns existed no more.  Seriously.  No bueno.  The bear wouldn't hardly touch it!

My bossman tells me I went wrong with just using plain ground turkey breast...shoulda used turkey sausage she says.  So that's been duely noted in my noggin.  We'll try it again.  David did not request leftovers for his lunch.  Shock.

Anyway, all this to say that there's not much to report.  I'm muddling through new recipes to find what we like (and clearly what we don't) but I'm officially another pound down!  7 down, 70 to go!  It sounds like a big number, but having eased in to this transitioned state of mind, I am not intimidated by 70 pounds.  Nope.  Not one bit.

A Better Version of Me

I know that there is a better version of me locked up inside.  I'm currently tinkering with the lock on the gate that keeps her contained...and have decided that The Cupcake Chronicles are not only going to document my slow and painful trudge down the path to weight loss and improved health, but also be my real sounding board where I can reveal the new and improved me one little tidbit at a time.  But let's talk more about this BVOM shall we?  You game?  I almost picture this BVOM as a completely separate person, shall we call her Beatrice?  (Beatrice is a pet name I've obtained from my ILs, and it just seems easy enough to remember on my end, and really she does embody all that I strive to be.)

Beatrice is a delightful young woman.  She volunteers her time to public service projects, bakes for her neighbors, takes her family for picnics, and would never dream of presenting her husband with slice and bake cookies...no, no, no, Beatrice only makes homemade goodies for her man.  She keeps a neat and orderly home (just short of vacuuming in high heels and pearls), enjoys gardening, photography, and seeks out an adventure in every single day that she is given.  Beatrice wakes up at 6am every day to make time for an exercise regiment, and has time to have breakfast for her boys to boot!  She is not boring, she is not vanilla; no one is want for conversation in her company.  She can strike up a delightful banter with anyone, and is well-read on current events and all the classics.  She never loses her patience with her children or her husband, but when she loses her patience with those outside her circle she has a tongue that will crack a spirit like a whip.  She's pretty much a bad ass.  I heart Beatrice.

But enough about her, and back to just plain ol' "me".  I came across this "Day Zero Project" last week and it has really been an inspiration.  The gist is that you set 101 goals for yourself to achieve within 1000 days. This is exactly the kind of thing that I need!  I always have these tentative and loosely defined (read: generic and totally intangible) list of "things" that I want to do someday or am planning on getting around to.  This website gives me more structure in my quest to get off the bench of my life and get back in the game.  Feel free to take a peek at my list.  For me, it reads very much like a backyard swimming pool--from shallow to deep and everywhere in between, it's all relative.  Obviously, I'm only about a third of the way through my list.  Here's why this site is so great.  It's structured, but the timeline is not too aggressive, nor is it too wide open.  I'm totally diggin it right now.

So, now it's time to fess up.  JG tooooootally did not follow through with her ambitious (albeit foolish) goal to resist temptation in all its forms over the holiday weekend.  But, all in all, I'd give myself a solid C+ for my efforts.  Avoiding second helpings of my meals and being conservative with my sweets landed me with a big +1 on the scale just a few minutes ago.  This +1 is also after lunch, though I don't believe that there is a full pound of food in my belly right now...it's just me trying to say that weight fluctuates throughout the day and this is not my "typical" weigh-in hour.  So meh.

All this to say, Operation Skinny Jeans is still on.  A minor hitch in the road, yes, but we're right back on track.  Aaaaaand go!

I'm a saboteur...what the bloody hell??

Having just sat here and boasted about my (suspicious, but I swear I didn't make it up) 6 pound weight loss in just over ehh, two weeksish with no true focus and just living by three words, "make good choices", I find myself already plotting a sabotage.  I want to eat bad things...I want to make a cake and leave the other half of it for the hubbs to fight me over.  A battle to the death, 'twould be.  I'm already salivating over upcoming holiday cooking goodies for the weekend.

Whyyyyyy do I do this to myself?  I really don't know.  I seem to always do it though.  Make a little progress, a fraction of "notable" in my overall goal, and I start thinking that I've earned some kind of right to slack and splurge and go back to my old habits.  My thought process literally sounds like this "well, I've lost __lbs, no biggie to gain a couple back for ________.  It's (insert special occasion here) for crying out loud!".   Sigh.  How about NOT THIS TIME!!!?

The plan?  Well, 1) I'm totally going to use my leftover doctor-prescribed-speed diet pills over the weekend as a crutch.  Noooo, I don't really take them with any sense of routine, but they definitely give me the energy boost I want and the appetite suppression I need all in one glorious little easy to swallow pill.  Just sayin.  B) How's about I increase the proportion of greenage on any plate I serve up over the intoxicating (and thus very dangerous) hamburgers/hotdogs that are inevitably in the line up?  And III) I don't really have a third item...well, okay, increase water intake.  I think that 'll just about do it.

Next week, we're back home again...hopefully for a good long while.  I lust to be home for the next three full weekends or so just to take a break from all the travel.  Gives me a chance to plan out some yummy and healthy meals on a more consistent basis, right?

Anyway, gawd this blog is so boring...how's about I try to punch it up a little bit in the future, eh?  Clearly I should not quit my day job in hopes of becoming some pheblogmenon.  Honestlyyyy....

Time to check in...

Well, I do hang my head in a bit of shame, but I've got a glint of pride in my eye at the same time.  Somehow, when I checked the scale at the beginning of the week, I'd managed to lose 4 pounds since my first weigh-in.  Did I read the scale wrong when I first weighed over a week ago?  Perhaps...well, most likely.  Am I still going to "count" the 4 pound reduction I saw when I hopped back on on Monday morning?  You bet your sweet petunia I am!

I've basically been away from home for over a week.  From spending the work week in Norman to a weekend trip to Dallas to a turn-around-travel-day, my environment has been working against me.  I have felt out of control of my environment but things are settling back down.  Being home this week has made my journey to better choices much easier.  In fact, yesterday I shall boast that I only consumed somewhere around 850-900 calories.  Not on purpose, mind you, but just happened to work out that way...and I wasn't feeling destitute!  Eh, it's the little things.

Anywhooo...hopped back on the scale this morning to see that I was another 2 pounds down.  I totally call shenanigans on the whole deal...but yes, yes I am going to count them!  So, 6 pounds down with an erratic schedule?  I'll take it!