I'm Back!

I am back! And I'm tired. But it was SO worth it. All I can say is I know some amazing people and have some amazing friends. I had a blast! I haven't uploaded pictures yet because I just got back at 5:30 PM yesterday and had to work today. Oh and I have class tonight.

I didn't worry about my weight at all. That is a good vacation.

Oh and I consumed two jars of Nutella with in 2.5 days of arriving in Paris. Now that folks is the start of a great vacation.

Details to follow...

Sometimes Others Can Just Say it Better

I LOVED *Bitch Cakes* post today about choices.

I have made some pretty poor choices the last few days. Mainly eating Mexican for dinner Wednesday night and for lunch today. Eating in the cafeteria for lunch yesterday and eating a Strawberry Shortcake from Cheesecake Factory for dinner last night. I didn't go to the gym this morning either or on Tuesday. I am not crazy about the class I was taking and I will probably switch up my schedule when I get back from Europe.

It's been an unhealthy few days. But I ate a healthy dinner and I won't be snacking after class tonight. I will be going to the gym tomorrow morning. I will be making my dinner at home.

I am working on some changes. Slowly, but surely...

Pick 3 (and Vote For Your Favorite!)

So, since about 2006 or so I have wanted to go to the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz in Paris. 5 years ago I would have wanted to go, but wouldn't have ever dreamed of going because of my weight. Now, I want to go and I am still apprehensive about going, but that is only because I have never been there before. But this happens with most new places I have never been to before. I worry about entering the wrong way or not knowing where the bathroom is, etc.

So I will have a few nights in Paris and I want to go. My dilemma? I am fully prepare to throw down 25 Euro ($35 US) for a drink, but what should I wear? I have picked 3 base pieces, 4 if you count the bracelet and created several different looks. I need your help. Lurkers and regular commenters alike I DARE you to let me know what you think. Do you like any of the outfits or do I need to start all over? Questions about a specific outfit? Let me know!

the 3: a black skirt, pink heels, and a pink belt



Outfit 1




Outfit 2







Outfit 3







Outfit 4







Outfit 5







Outfit 6







Outfit 7







I know my favorite, but I want to hear from YOU! Check back in a few weeks to see which one I wear!

Child's Play

I am finally good at something in my boot camp classes. I would go as far as to say better than everyone else. What is it? Jump Rope. Yes, I kick butt at jumping rope. Multiple people have commented on it over the past two days at class.

I know my mom must be proud.

What I Ate On Monday

So I feel I made some really great choices yesterday and ate some yummy foods. I have been thinking a whole lot more about what it is that I am putting into my body as far as processed foods, sugar, fruits, veggies, etc.

So I thought I would do a time line of my day. No pics though.

4:30 AM: Wake up, get ready, and drove to boot camp. I usually always lay my gym clothes out the night before so I don't even have to think about it in the morning. Does anyone else do that? I also can't eat before I have a heavy workout. Even when I eat late the night before and exercise early the next day, my body is not happy.

5-6 AM: Boot Camp

6-7 AM: Arc Trainer

7-8:25 AM: Get ready, maybe check my e-mail, and eat breakfast. Yesterday's breakfast was plain old fashioned oats and whole strawberries. Strawberries were not mixed into oatmeal. And lots of water.

8:30 AM: Work, Work, Work.

10 AM: I thought about not eating a snack because I was going to get an early lunch. I decided to have one anyway. I had a 100 calorie pack of baked cheetos in my desk and a diet. Talk about the most unnatural snack possible.

11:20-1:30: I took a long lunch at Pei Wei with a co-worker and a former co-worker. Former co-worker was almost 25 minutes late because of traffic, so didn't end up eating until later than expected. I had the Thai Dynamite Chicken with brown rice, a side of steamed veggies, and some edamame. I only ate about half my meal. Leftovers!

1:30-5 PM: More work and a snack around 3:30 of cherries. Cherries are my new obsession. They weren't on sale this week, so I paid about $9 for a bag of them. So worth it though.

5:30ish: A snack of strawberries

5:30-6:30: I was more tired than hungry so I took a nap.

6:30: Dinner of mixed greens, cucumber, tomatoes, a few craisins, and light champagne vinaigrette dressing. A serving of jalapeno Kettle Chips.

7-7:30: Homework.

7:30-8: Started to pick out clothes for my upcoming trip to Europe.

8-11 PM: I hung out with a friend. Ate some Peanut M&M's probably about the size of a regular pack you would get at the gas station, probably a little more actually, but not binge worthy at all. I probably didn't even need to eat them.

11:30ish: bed

I live an exciting life. I know you are all jealous ;)

The rest of the week will be a little bit crazier.

Tonight: Cee Em Tee Award show. Yeah for free tickets!
Tomorrow: Eddie Vedder at the Ryman
Thursday: Class
Friday: Morning: Volunteering at the Local Public Radio Pledge Drive and then a meeting about my board internship with the station President/General Manager.

Friday Evening/Afternoon: leave for my Cincinnati weekend with my blog buddies Krissie, Nikki, and Fat Bridesmaid!

How I Was Tricked Into Running Almost 3 Miles

Friday morning I arrived at boot camp at 5 AM. I ran a few warm up laps before class actually started. The trainer called the group over to give us our instructions. But instead of exercising stations they told us we were going to do a little more running than usual. We would be running to the Hill Center (specifically Hillsboro RD so through the entire center) and back 5 times. At the end of each lap was a nice hill, you know just for some added fun. They told us this was about 1.5 miles. I was thinking it wouldn't take me more than 15 minutes max since I just ran an 8 minute mile earlier in the week. I was pretty much in the middle of the pack the entire time 5/6 out of ten. As I was running I thought it had to be more than 1.5 miles, but I refused to stop running. I finally finished and walked inside to get a medicine ball and it was 5:35. I thought I must have been running really slow. I started talking to some of my classmates about how that mile and a half took a long time. Turns out the trainers tricked us and new we were running almost 3 miles. I can say I probably wouldn't have ran it all or had as good an attitude as I did about it. I am not the biggest fan of running, but I love that it allows me to prove to myself that I can do things.

I was off on Friday and spent part of the day at the pool and part of the day at the pool on Saturday. I made it to the gym yesterday and went on a 3 mile hike today. My eating has gotten back in check. But, I did have a dipped cone today and Friday. I really hope this dipped cone eating is a summer thing :)

Summer Treats

So I have had my fair share of chocolate dipped cones from McDonald's over the past few weeks. Ever since Memorial Day weekend I have been craving them. I think I have had about 4 since Memorial Day. And of course they don't list the nutritional info on the website for the dipped cone. Only the vanilla cone. The vanilla cone isn't too high in calories. However, I just found the nutritional info for the chocolate dipped cone at Dairy Queen...not so good.

Dipped cones just remind me of childhood summers. I specifically remember loving cherry dipped cones or Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen. What are your favorite summer treats???

14 Positive Statements

So last week in my negotiation class when talking about performance, the professor told us that is takes 14 positive statements about performance to make up for 1 negative statement about performance. I am sure that this study was conducted in some sort of workplace environment, but I think it could translate very easily to the weight loss world. Seriously? 14 statements? That's a lot. But I think it really illustrates how important positive self talk about ourselves is. I am going to try really hard to think more positively about myself. Don't you want to give it a try too??

Some positives I came up with this morning:
1. I made it to the gym the past 3 mornings.
2. My jeans fit this morning. I was a little nervous, because when summer time rolls around I tend to wear what I call "easy skirts" or cotton skirts with an elastic waist. While they are super comfortable, they don't provide too much indication of weight gain.
3. I ate my dinner at home even though I really wanted to eat out last night.
4. I didn't buy that sheet cake I had thought about buying this weekend, just so I could eat it all by myself. Who eats an entire sheet cake?? Or would buy one with the intention of eating it?
5. I have not been procrastinating with my negotiations homework this week.

That's all I've got.

Am I Really That Desperate?

Am I really that desperate that I would respond to this e-mail from the same guy who also wrote this post?

From: Missed Connection
To: Phatgirl
Subject: What up yo

Hope all is well whitcha. just deletin contacts, thought i'd say what's up.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Why yes, yes I would. As soon as I told my roomie about it I realized how ridiculous it was to respond. But in my defense I am kind of curious about the Palm Pre. I didn't even think about why someone would send someone an e-mail if you were deleting contacts. It could imply "If you don't respond to this e-mail, I am deleting you." His other e-mails were grammatical gold mines as well, but I will refrain from posting those.

I am laughing right now that I even responded. If he does e-mail back I won't respond, but I may post for your enjoyment if it is a good one. For any guys out there, I really am not a b*tch. I swear.

Not a Personal Record

My timed mile run this morning was not a personal record, but I will take it. I ran a 7:59 mile. I don't remember my exact time from last summer, but I do know that it was a little bit below that. A boot camp class started at work today on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I don't think it will be as good as the one at the Y on M-W-F (that I will do through the end of June), but it is free. I plan on going back on Thursday. If you would have asked me in the 6th or 7th grad if I would be running in 8 minute mile I would have laughed at you. And now look at me!

Busy, Busy, Busy

So I have been pretty busy the past week and it kind of all seems like a blur. So I originally didn't think I had anything planned for Thursday night. Then I remembered I am auditing an advanced negotiations class on Thursday nights for 10 weeks. The first meeting was on Thursday.

I haven't really blogged about it much, but I have put myself on a bit of a spending freeze for the months of May and June very similar to that of Sally over at Aprovechar. And by spending freeze I have taken cash out for dinners and lunches out and groceries. Also, my trips to Target have pretty much come to an end, because I always seem to spend at least $50 and walk away with a whole lot of nothing. I also cut out my mani/pedis. They had become an expensive habit. I will be getting one right before my trip though! I have made a few purchasing exceptions: the new DMB album, some travel clothes, and a new suitcase ($39 on super clearance at Marhsall's!) The reason for this spending freeze? Well my trip to Europe was a last minute thing. Thus I had very little time to save money. I don't keep a balance on my credit card, thus the need for a spending freeze. And I successfully saved up my airfare during the month of May. This trip is RIGHT around the corner too!

Work has been busy and slightly stressful. But stressful in a good way.

Eating, not so great, but what's new?

Oh, and I made Krissie's Tortilla Pie last night for dinner. Do yourself a favor and make it too :)

"Fat" Jeans

I have my "skinny" jeans that I am still a few pounds away from fitting back into. But, I also have my "fat" jeans which were the jeans I wore almost daily at my highest weight. They are a size 22 Tommy Hilfiger. I actually had 2 pairs of the exact same jeans. Finding jeans that fit when you were overweight and tall was no easy task. It has been a few years since I tried them on. I think at times I forget how big I was.

(sorry for the smirky smile)

Summer Clothes

I am finally starting to switch out some of my winter clothing. So, I am trying on summer clothes from a few years ago. If trying clothes on that fit 3 summers ago, but are a little snug isn't motivation. I am not sure what is.

Oh I went to a step fusion class this morning which was a mix of pilates and step. I am HORRIBLE at step, but I still had a good time.

I'll Back You Up

In case you didn't know or maybe you just forgot, I really love the Dave Matthews Band.

I am SO excited for their new CD!

I am SO excited I will be seeing them in Europe a MONTH from today! (OMG I feel like I have so many things to do before I leave.)

I stayed away from them for a bit last year. But you know what? Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

In health related news, I went to boot camp this morning. Ate a healthy breakfast. Ate a not very healthy (but yummy) cheeseburger and fries. And then lots of candy in the afternoon... But I went to the grocery store and did a good job of sticking to my list. I also made it back to the gym for an additional 30 minutes of cardio on the stair machine.

So eating hasn't been amazing, but I am keeping up with the gym. Hopefully I can make wise choices the rest of the week.

My schedule so far:
Tuesday: Staff retreat including eating lunch out, location TBD
Wednesday: Happy Hour drinks with a friend.
Thursday: No plans
Friday: My BFF who lives in LA comes into town for 3 weeks!
Saturday: COLDPLAY! and Honky tonks downtown!

Who Says You Can't Go Home?

I had a blast at my brother's graduation. I am so very proud of him. We are so different, but we share a similar sense of humor and time with him (and my parents!) always results in quite a few laughs. My eating was so/so. Can you say mom's sugar cookies and homemade buttercream frosting? I ran one morning and went to the gym another day. Two out of four days of exercise is a lot better than none at all.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

We decided to reenact the same post from my high school graduation 9 years ago. But with switching the places of my brother and I. Since my brother was in the 3rd grade he was quite a bit shorter than the rest of us, my parents insisted I sit down.



The graduation ceremony was 2+ hours and I was bored.



My brother, the high school graduate:



The high school graduate and I:



My parents ended up driving to Lexington on Monday with me. We got lunch together and did a little more shopping. I went down the road to Nashville and they went back to Charleston. It was a great weekend and I am really glad I was able to celebrate my brothers big day with them all.

Game On

I leave for Europe a month from today.

The plan:
workout daily
watch my spending

Help!

Help! I am trying really hard not to beat myself up about the fact that I have literally been eating crap for the last week and I have no excuse but my lack of self control. Oh and I don't know what to wear to my brother's high school graduation. Umm, high school? AND he is turing 18 tomorrow. Where did the time go?

Maybe I can wear a paper bag or a matte trash bag with a belt and give it a high waist? I have been wearing a lot of belts lately I might be able to pull it off. If I go with the paper bag, you can just call me the paper bag princess.

This trying to figure out what to wear thing would be a whole lot easier if I was 10 or so pounds lighter.