That used to be me…

Dan and I had our season tickets for the Round Rock Express on Tuesday evening.  So we tried dinner at Morelia Grill.  It was ok.  May have to try the new location near our house to try more items.

It was hot, really hot.  I wasn’t sweating in the front, but total swamp ass in the back.  I am sure people were thrilled when I did the chicken dance, lol.  Then again, I am sure everyone was hot.  It was over 100 degrees!

As I was sitting in my seats, I did some people watching.  Not easy, since our seats are right on the dugout and I needed to be alert as not to get smacked with a ball.

I’ll be honest, what you do or don’t do is YOUR OWN BUSINESS.  But as I looked around, I saw many of my bad habits.  Some of them were short-lived, some were not.  Made me step back though and realize that even though I am far from perfect, I have really come a long way.  Especially from the habits I picked up in college.

I saw a group of girls, very pretty girls, all very overweight.  They looked like my friends and I in a box of photos I found from 2004.     Eating footlong corn dogs, drinking “yard” margaritas, eating funnel cake.  (I am not saying any  of that is wrong, in moderation, but like these girls, I would do it with no moderation at all).  That used to be me….

The boy and his father eating ice cream in the 6th inning.  Blue Bell pints, 1 each.  Once upon a time I thought a serving of ice cream was the whole pint.  I don’t think before Weight Watchers I ever ate a pint of ice cream without eating all of it.   That used to be me…..

I walked up to bathrooms and passed the burger stand.  Lady loading the mayo on.  I mean LOADING it.  I was once a mayo lover, now, I can’t even stand the smell of it (I have other condiment loves these days).  My BFF and I used order a side of mayo for a burger that already had mayo.  That used to be me…..

I observed on trips back down the stairs, how many people were out of breath going up the stairs.  That used to be me…

Even before Weight Watchers came into my life in 2007, between 2005-2006 I started making small changes.  I started running in 2006.  I started making better food choices and actually reading labels.  My portions were still insane and my treats were too often, but it was a start.  But my small changes weren’t enough, I wasn’t consistent, I wasn’t educated enough, I wasn’t fully committed.

What you do to lose or manage your weight is your own choice.  But it was like I was telling someone last weekend, Weight Watchers changed my life.  I needed structure, I needed guidance.  Small price to pay for my health and well-being.  It changed my lifestyle.  It turned me into THIS IS ME!

Meltdown Monday

WORKOUT

Stairmill after work.  Lots of stress from work, had to get rid of some of it.

LIFE

People at work are going to be the death of me.  Stress city.  Oh and if you throw my belongings/work on the floor and expect me to not get upset, you are sadly mistaken.  Yes, I have a coworker who does this daily.  I finally scolded them yesterday, which resulted in them shouting at me.  NICE.  I love when people disrepect you and your stuff, but when you actually finally say something, then it becomes your fault!

It’s these individuals who make my life at work hard.  Childish grown-ups.  I am not a baby sitter.

FOOD

Mediterranean Crunch Salad

Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) can no salt-added garbanzo beans
1 cucumber, chopped
1 cup small broccoli florets (I  used extra)
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup finely sliced kale, tough stems removed  (I  used spinach, 3 cups)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped Kalamata olives (I skipped)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Chill at least 1 hour before serving.
Serves 4.  Per serving: 130 calories (35 from fat), 4g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 140mg sodium, 21g total carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 3g sugar), 6g protein

Source:  Whole Foods

*I liked this, but it didn’t keep me full long at all.  Just not enough protein from the garbanzo beans.  I may add a little meat or an egg in there tomorrow to see if that helps.  I added my EVOO to it also before serving.

Recipe Review: Pineapple-Chicken Kabobs with Quinoa

Pineapple-Chicken Kabobs with Quinoa

1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts (I used toasted almonds instead)
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey (not a honey fan, used a little sweetener instead)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces (I used breasts)
1/2 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces (I used canned)
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
16 cherry tomatoes
8 (12-inch) metal or wooden skewers
Rinse quinoa in a fine sieve until water runs clear, then drain and transfer to a medium pot. Add 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until water is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside off the heat for 5 minutes; uncover and fluff with a fork. Stir in parsley, pine nuts, lemon zest and salt.

Prepare a grill for medium heat grilling. In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, honey, lemon juice and pepper. Thread chicken, pineapple, pepper and tomatoes onto skewers. Remove 1 tablespoon honey-mustard mixture and brush skewers with it. Grill, turning occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender, 12 to 14 minutes. Arrange skewers on a platter over quinoa and serve with remaining honey mustard on the side for dipping.

Serves 4.  Very easy, tasty and points friendly.  The way I made it, was 8P+ a serving.  Next time I think i’d also add red onions.

SOURCE:  Whole Foods

Per serving: 340 calories (70 from fat), 7g total fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 95mg cholesterol, 420mg sodium, 37g total carbohydrate (6g dietary fiber, 16g sugar), 27g protein

Sweaty Saturday

GETTING THERE….

Drove North to grab the sister, to drive south to see the parents for belated Father’s Day.  We arrived around 6:15 pm.  I told my parents to please eat without us, because they like to eat at 5:30.  They refused, so we ended up at Coras.  They have the best nachos ever.  I watched my family devour the nachos, I miss cheese 😦  They don’t have a huge menu, but I was a happy girl.  Their grilled chicken was actually very good, tasty salsa, baked potato, salad bar (pickled okra, YUM!). 

SATURDAY

Because my room was being remodeled, I had to sleep with sister in her room. My parent’s room is being done too, so they were both in the 2 living areas on the couches. 

RUN

Did not sleep at all.  I don’t really get hot, in fact, I am always cold.  I was SO hot, they keep their house too warm.  I ended up just getting up and starting my run.  I had a hard time finding my groove for the first part, but it actually turned into a decent run.  About halfway through, I decided to try a new route which I knew would be challenging.  Proud of myself, decent pace, even with lack of sleep and high humidity. 

LIFE

Painted my old room with my parents.   My parents are remodeling with the hopes of putting the house on the market.  They really need to downsize, they should have done it years ago.

The original color was pink, yes pink.  Picked out in 1984 by my 2 year old sister.  Mom said we had to have the same color.  I am still bitter, I wanted lavender.  The walls, trim, and carpet are all pink/rose.  BARF. 

The new color is a taupe.  It needs another coat.  Did I mention my room is HUGE?  Yeah, I had a pretty rocking room as a child.  The whole 2nd story of their house is 1 bathroom, 2 giant children’s bedrooms, and an even bigger playroom. 

My sister had not cleaned out her old room (mine was done years ago).  So she did that.  We took a whole truckload of stuff to Goodwill in San Antonio after that (I wanted to ensure the stuff actually left the house and didn’t get thrown in a garage sale).  Mom has another load to take to the women’s shelter of linens, toys, and children’s clothing.   I know getting rid of stuff was upsetting to my mom and sister, but the clutter and unnecessary items really needed to go. 

FOOD

That evening, we put my dad’s new grill to use….and some calamine, because I literally got ants in my pants 😦

BBQ’d sirloin steaks, mesquite chicken breasts, and garlic peppercorn pork tenderloin.  Served with multi-grain Central Market baguette (for them), grilled corn, and 10 pounds of grilled vegetables fresh from dad’s garden (zucchini, yellow squash, red and yellow onions, and eggplant).  Meant to try grilling okra too (which was suggested by my WW leader, but I forgot).

Apologies for the crummy photo, it was over 100 degrees and I took any shade I could get.  Strawberry shortcake for dessert for them.  I had strawberries and cantaloupe from dad’s garden.

Did I mention it was also my parent’s 34th wedding anniversary?  I actually stumbled across a huge box of their wedding napkins that morning, so we used those for dinner 🙂  I suggested they use them every year on their anniversary.

They had enough leftovers for Sunday for sure.  Plus I’d taken the leftover chicken and put together Guenther House’s Champagne Chicken Enchiladas for them to cook up on Monday or Tuesday when contractors are coming to work on parts of the house that they will not be doing themselves.

That was the theme of the weekend, trying to help the parents and make this remodel/downsize/sale easier on them 🙂

Free foot gear Friday

SUPER HUGE thanks to Felice at The Happy Runner  and Online Shoes.  I won a blog giveaway a few weeks ago.  I got to select any Saucony shoe.  I selected the Omni 9, which i’d been previously fitted for, but never purchased. 

Up until this spring, I never ran in another shoe other than my Asics Kayano.  In the spring I got 2 pair of Brooks.

Took my kicks for a test-run yesterday.  Loved them.  Missy loves them too 🙂

Things I like Thursday: bowls

I’ve been on a kick for things in bowls lately….Or maybe because I really love the shape and openness of my new bowls. 

Like chicken-berry salad bowl (spinach, leftover chicken breast, red onions, feta, sunflower seeds, EVOO, cranberries, strawberries, and cucumbers).

And my dinner shrimp taco bowl.  (mexican shrimp cocktail over Alton Brown’s Baked Rice and salad greens)

For the mexican shrimp cocktail I combined: juice of 1 lime, 1 diced avocado, 1 can of drained extra spicy Rotel, diced onion, diced jalapenos, 1 lb of diced cooked shrimp. 

I HATE cleaning shrimp.  I used up the last of my “fresh off of the boat” Port Aransas shrimp for this.  No more warm-fuzzies from buying off the boat, i’d rather pay extra for them to be cleaned for me.

Spicy Oriental Bowl.  GF Noodles, ton of veggies, and egg  that I stir fried in canola oil with soy sauce alternative and sirracha.

Joy

It rained last night.  1.25 inches.  This is a big deal, the drought is severe.  I hear about it all day long every day.  Please God, give us more.  It’s rained twice, yes TWICE since the fall.  And of course, people were watering their grass this morning.  That amount of rain is enough to sustain a lawn for a week.  Wasting water and improper irrigation system usage are pet-peeves of mine.  Maybe i’ll do another Captain Planet blog later in the week.

My run was cut short this morning due to lightning.  I’d made it a mile before I saw it, ran .5 more and turned around.  3 is better than nothing or getting struck by lightning. 

I had a good day on Tuesday.  I actually made it a full day without having most symptoms.  No, i’m not saying i’m cured, i’m saying that at least I had 1 good day.  I used to have a few a week,  but lately, none.  A good day is a good day.  I’ll take it.

Meetings are going to be the death of me.  Meetings all day, all week long.  They even overflowed through my lunch and past the time I usually get off on Tuesday.  Since I missed the Weight Watchers meeting during lunch and was late leaving work, I went ahead and drove north to Round Rock for a meeting there.  My first evening meeting ever.  Good meeting.  And the “free fruit” topic wasn’t beat to death, which I appreciated.

Headed over to Sprouts afterward to get a probiotic which the Dr. suggested I start.  I did some studying of dairy free options (many of which were only lactose free).  I did notice that many of them still contain other dairy proteins (like casein), which was a little annoying.  Some things I think I can just learn to live without.  I did buy a small block of almond cheese, which tastes just like soy cheese to me.  All of the yogurt options were loaded with added sugar, which I wasn’t wild about, so I didn’t buy any.

I don’t really like or use milk, so I am not really concerned about a substitute except for cooking.  That and i’ve tried rice, almond, coconut, and wasn’t really wild about any of them in lattes, which is about as much milk as I drink.  Maybe in other things they’d be better.  I did make pudding out of coconut milk over the weekend and it was good, so maybe that’s a possible yogurt substitution.

I’m going to definitely spend more time educating myself and planning ahead.  I’ve gone gluten-free 7 weeks before and learned a great deal, but I am going to keep reading up.  Dr. said to strictly follow the gluten and dairy free diet for 2 months and visit him again to re-assess. 

I took myself off of the chemical stuff the GI specialist had me on since September (did that Memorial Day weekend).  This new Dr. said he didn’t see a reason for me to stay on it, if it really wasn’t helping.  Plus it may have actually been hurting me, because my body became dependent on it (that and I had to pee every 30 minutes).  It was so bad right before I stopped taking it, that the chemicals would make me gag even though it’s “odorless and tasteless”.  I don’t miss it one bit.

Every day is another step in hopefully trying to figure this all out.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good:  my test results were all normal. Cholesterol is fine.  He says from knowing my diet and exercise it’s not something i’m doing. With my family history, he’s not worried where I am and it’s certainly not needing medication.  *WHEW!*

The bad:  nothing was turned up by test results.  But things are getting worse.  My lip started quivering when he was talking about my results.  I was hoping for something.

The ugly: have to try Gluten Free for a longer period of time.  I was only GF 40 days during lent, then for a stint of 2 weeks after that before having to add it back.

Celiac/gluten panels are only 20% accurate.  I may have not had gluten back in my system long enough.  Or that possibly I am one of the people who isn’t Celiac but still has a sensitivity or intolerance that won’t come up on panels.

He really thinks that if I cut it out for a longer period of time and give my stomach time to repair, that I will notice a difference in most of my symptoms.  Go back in August and assess the situation.  At that time, retest my thyroid, because I was on the edge of being abnormal.

So not only am I GF now, but I have to try to be dairy free too.  WHAT!?!  Yes, many people who are gluten sensitive/intolerant, are also lactose or casein intolerant.  Soy is also not suggested.  I like cheese.  and yogurt. and cottage cheese 😦

I also need to add in a new probiotic.

Here we go!  It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s worth it to possibly feel better.

Happy Father’s Day!

But I was buying a card for my own dad and saw this one and I couldn’t quit laughing.  It was so silly, I had to get it for Dan, especially since I always buy him cards with cats on them as a joke…card from the cat is even better.    It’s funny, because it says something about Dad and his warm lap and that is Missy’s favorite place to be.  He also pointed out that cat looks just like Missy but with green eyes.   Think he’s on to something…

I think my Missy is cuter though 😉

LIFE

I’d done the laundry Saturday to help speed up Dan’s trip packing, so that left my Sunday more open.  That and I decided we didn’t really need groceries since he was going out of town.  In that extra time I hit it hard at the gym, came home and mowed the grass, cleaned, and did some reading. 

FOOD

Lunch was another twist on a taco salad bowl.  Lined a bowl with tostada shells spread with refried beans, filled with salad, sautéed veggies, avocado, and queso.  Easy, tasty, and filling 🙂

 

Wish I’d taken photos of dinner, it was pretty awesome.  Sauza tequila rub on split chicken breasts, salad, green beans, mixed veggies.

I cut up the leftover chicken for Monday and Tuesday’s lunches.  Wish i’d made more!  I also wish it wasn’t 100+ degrees outside and I could use the grill, but the oven roasted chicken was pretty darn good too.

Hope

I have a Dr. appt this afternoon to go over my condition/bloodwork.  I cannot wait.  Who gets excited about going to the Dr? 

THIS GIRL!

I have hope for this guy helping me.  It’s almost been a year since I first started having issues.  Started out once or twice a week, then daily.  Even since I saw him a month ago, it’s progressively gotten worse.  I don’t sleep.  I have a hard time with running.  I’m an emotional wreck.  Still not sure how Dan can stand to even be around me lately.  (He probably wishes he was traveling even more)

I’m open to whatever Dr. wants to try.  I miss feeling good.