Progress

I am enjoying trying out new recipes.  I just made the beef stroganoff recipe from the Sparkpeople Cookbook yesterday.  It’s not the best stroganoff I’ve ever had (I’m guessing that is due to there only being ¼ cup of reduced fat sour cream for 4 servings instead of a ¼ cup of full fat sour cream for each serving), but it’s still really good.  I would make it again.  The only tweak I did with the recipe is that I used ground venison instead of cut up steak. 

I need to find a new recipe to try out on Monday.  I just bought another cookbook, this one is a Weight Watchers one, so the recipes are healthy and balanced, like the Sparkpeople recipes are.  There was one in there that really caught my eye, spinach and feta triangles.  I love spinach and feta together.  I don’t know if those are an actual meal item, like a healthy hot pocket or whatnot or if they’re a side item that I could eat for a snack.  If they’re something that I can just eat for a snack, then I will have to find something else to cook for my lunches.

It’s just such a great thing that I love to cook.  Makes putting together meals so much easier.  It also helps that I only have myself to worry about.  I don’t have to worry about anyone else’s pickiness or what they may or may not feel like eating.  I don’t know what I’d do if I had a boyfriend or husband who wanted to eat something different than me.  I’d probably have to cook twice as much because I would cook for me and for him separately.  I’m also glad I don’t have children because they eat all sorts of stuff that isn’t good for adults to eat.

I’m getting a good rhythm down as far as my eating, which I’m really happy about.  I have a few different items for me to choose from for breakfast.  There are the Jimmy Dean D’lights turkey sausage and egg whole wheat bagel sandwiches that come in at only 260 calories.  There’s a whole wheat English muffin with dark chocolate almond spread.  And then there’s high fiber, low sugar cereals with 2% milk.  I need to cut the milk back to 1% at the highest, which I will do when I’m done with the milk that’s in my fridge.

I’m getting a good rhythm down with my exercise too.  I’m still enjoying working out.  I’m still not dreading it, even in the smallest amount.  I’m doing a pretty good job of keeping my workouts varied so that I’m not doing the same thing too often.  I bought 2 more workout DVDs over the passed couple of days.  One is a Biggest Loser one that has a great strength training segment.  The other is one that I was hoping to find, but wasn’t sure I would…it’s a strictly upper body workout, uses a resistance band instead of free weights.  And yesterday, I ordered 3 more workout DVDs online.  One is a Jillian Michaels, and the other 2 are Bob Harper, one of which is another kettlebell one.

Speaking of kettlebell…I bought myself a second kettlebell.  I had bought one last week that came with a kettlebell workout DVD by Bob Harper.  That one was 7 pounds.  This new one is 12-pounder.  So that will help me up the level of my kettlebell workouts. 

I got a nice compliment today from a co-worker.  He told me that he could see in my love handle/lower back area that I had lost some weight.  He said I looked slimmer.  YAY!  And it was a completely unsolicited compliment too, which made it even better.  He had come by my desk to give me a workout plan that I can add to what I’m already doing with my workouts.  It involves circuit routines with free weights and cardio bursts.  I’m looking forward to adding it into the mix.  I’m looking forward to doing it on Monday for the first time.  I’m going to add it on my days off to my AM workouts.  I was thinking that I would just make it my morning workout, but I want to do more than just that.  Of course, we will see how I feel after doing it Monday morning; I may not feel like doing more in the AM workout.

I bought a new scale last night.  It’s a Biggest Loser scale.  It measures not only your weight, but also your body fat, body water, and bone density.  It also tells you how many calories to consume to maintain those stats.  I will use it for the first time on Sunday when I do my weekly weigh-in.  It’s bound to weigh me a little differently than the scale I have been using, so I’ll weigh myself on the old scale and then weigh myself on the new one and then adjust my previous weigh-ins accordingly.

I find myself feeling guilty if I don't exercise.  I guess you could say that I'm afraid that if I don't exercise for a day, that I will lose my motivation and think, "hey, one day off isn't so bad, what's another day off?"  Sure, I'm afraid of that possibility.  So, anyway, I had completely planned for today to be a day of rest.  But I really wanted to exercise, so I did.  And I feel great.  I did the low intensity cardio segment from my new Biggest Loser workout DVD.