Shred Days 15 & 16

Okay, here’s my second double-day post for the week!  I worked another 16 hour shift yesterday!  I know, I’m crazy, but I love the money…I can’t help myself.  Thursday, the wig I ordered off Amazon.com arrived in the mail.  It looks amazing, don’t you agree?

And it was less than $20…including shipping costs!!!  That’s the best part.  The same company sells a wig that is a dusty pink (aka-mauve) color in the same style as this one that I want to buy.  Since I also want to make a blue pixie skirt to wear, I will also be buying a blue wig.  I already have a green pixie skirt, so I’ll need a green wig to go with that one!  I’ll wear this wig on Sunday when I go to the festival with Mark.  I’ll also wear it the following Sunday when I go with Amanda in my xmas pixie costume.

 

When I was getting ready for work yesterday morning, I was sort of checking myself out in the bathroom mirror.  I do this frequently, as I’m sure most women do…especially women that are in the process of losing weight and are looking for changes to how their body looks.  I’ve relost 4 of the 9 pounds I regained after the close of the fitness challenge on August 1^st.  (It may be another pound or so on top of that, I’ll find out after I weigh in again Sunday morning.)  I can see what a difference just 4 pounds makes in how your mid-section looks.  It’s a huge difference.  My stomach is back to being somewhat flat and my love handles are considerably smaller and my hips aren’t as lumpy.  So, the next time I think that 4 pounds doesn’t make much of a difference, I will remember this and think again…because it really does. 

 

Yesterday was the 50^th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy.  I was watching the special news report of the ceremony they were conducting in Dallas at the site of his shooting and they played some clips from his famous speech “ask not what your country can do for you…”  There’s a part of that speech that I want to paraphrase and get tattooed on me: “We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”  That will pair nicely with the other quote I want to get tattooed: “They didn’t say it would be easy, they said it would be worth it.”  I will get one on the underside of each of my upper arms.  I’m hoping to get that done next month while I’m on my birthday vacation for at least a week.  I’ll see about making an appointment with my artist on the 8^th or 9^th to get it done.

 

My friend Amanda made pumpkin spice muffins and brought them into work yesterday.  I, of course, grabbed one as her baked goods are famous at work.  Anyway, I allow myself one “cheat” item a day.  Thursday it was a cookie from Tiff’s Treats, yesterday it was the muffin.  I got the muffin from her at about 3:45pm.  I didn’t want to eat it until 4:30 so it would make my meal/snack spacing for the remainder of my 16 hour day at work much easier for me to make it through.  I sat the muffin on the desk in front of me and I could smell it.  Hardest 45 minutes of my day, let me tell ya.  But it was worth the wait.  Like I said, her muffins are famous at work. 

 

FRIDAY

 

Meal 1:

• 1 cup lemon water (8 oz water hot or cold, juice from ½ lemon, 1 packet sweetener)

• 1 piece fruit: banana

• sugar free cereal

• ½ cup grapefruit juice

 

Snack 1 (100 cals):

• 40 Goldfish

 

Meal 2:

• fruit smoothie

• 1 serving veggies: peas

 

Snack 2 (150 cals):

• 3/4 cup edamame

 

Meal 3:

• protein shake

 

Meal 4:

• Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness

• bowl of soup: Campbell's Homestyle Mexican-style Chicken Tortilla

• 1 piece of fruit: apple

 

Snack 3 (100 cals):

• tropical cottage cheese (1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup mango & pineapple)

 

The sweetened lemon water was pretty good.  I didn’t use a squeezed lemon to make it, just store bought lemon juice and I used the serving size suggestion on the bottle to measure how much I put in the water.  1 tsp.  It was perfect in my opinion.  I used 8 oz of bottled water, the 1 tsp of lemon juice and 1 packet of stevia.  I finally ran out of canned peas and had to cook up my frozen peas I bought at Trader Joe’s a couple weeks ago.  Just as good…probably a little better. 

 

I was getting my food ready for work yesterday and realized I was almost out of cottage cheese, so I had to run to the store real quick and buy another container of it.  D’oh!  But, I got it done and all was well.  I bought frozen mango instead of fresh for a couple reasons.  1 – I don’t eat mango a whole lot so fresh will probably bad.  2 – have you ever tried to cut up a mango?  Yea, it’s not easy.

 

SATURDAY

 

Meal 1:

• 1 cup lemon water

• protein shake

 

Snack 1 (100 cals):

• 2 oz lobster

 

Meal 2:

• fruit smoothie

• 1 piece of fruit: plums x3

 

Snack 2 (150 cals):

• 1 low fat yogurt w/1 tbsp granola

 

Meal 3:

• bowl of soup: Campbell's Homestyle Mexican-style Chicken Tortilla

• 1 piece of fruit: apple

 

Snack 3 (100 cals):

• 4 slices fat free bologna

 

Meal 4:

• protein shake

• 1 serving veggies: Brussels sprouts

 

My verdict on the bologna...while I grew up eating bologna and loving it, I have to say I don't care for this version of it.  Good thing I didn't buy a couple/few packages of it and only got 1 package.

 

I spent a good amount of time last night on the overnight shift I worked typing up my meal/snack plans for weeks 4 through 6 and deciding all but what fruits and veggies I will eat.  I already decided what choices I want for each meal and what snacks I will partake of.  I love that I can do that…decide what I’m going to eat long before it’s time to eat it.  I just love the feeling of being in total control like that.  But, yea, I spent the first 2.5 hours of the shift typing all that up.  Great way to make the time just fly by!

 

Tomorrow is the renaissance festival with Mark.  It’s going to be COLD.  Like 47° cold.  Eeep!  I’m going to be a hardcore rennie and still wear my costume.  I mean, my costume isn’t scant or anything, but it’s not warm, per se.  It’s a long dress and I’ll be wearing a pair of my running tights underneath.  The shirt I’m wearing under the dress is long sleeved, but it’s a thinnish material.  I have a shawl that will keep me mostly in costume that I can wear.  It’s made of a sweater-like material, so it should be warm enough.  I’ll take my galoshes just in case I need to wear them, but I’d really rather wear a pair of my regular over-the-calf boots.  I’ll wear my black ones that should be easy to clean if they get dirty.  Should…that’s the operative word there.  And, of course, I’ll slip on my pixie ears I bought when Amanda and I went a few weeks ago.  I plan to eat funnel cake (as per usual when I go to any of the festivals) and I think I will eat some fried alligator.   I haven’t had that in years and I’ve been wanting some.