Portion Control is KEY!

I really enjoy veggie straws. They're salty, crunchy, delicious, and keep me from going on a spree of indulgence with other bad things... like Cool Ranch Doritos or those awesome chips from Panera that go so perfectly in their Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

One of my fellow coworkers has been munching on veggie chips, which is the Aldi version of Veggie Straws. Aldi is my BFF. We're sweet on each other. Aldi is so very kind to my "pocket book". I will sing Aldi's praises for years to come. I think the only downfall Aldi's has is not selling Lean Cuisine, Diet Coke or Fat Free Ranch Dressing. It's alright though, nothing is perfect, God didn't make us or things that way. Except for Chris Pine... and maybe Orlando Bloom. Scratch that, he's married, let's add Vinny D/The Rock :) Cover a wide range of men.

Back to the veggie chips. I had to get some. Every time she opened her bag and crunched on another chip, my mouth watered. I get distracted quite easily by the thought of those tasty little buggers, and it was effecting my work. (Affect or Effect? I can never remember! Damn you 8th grade english class! If you hadn't been so boring then I would know the answer to this question!) I also had to get something chocolate oriented because I've been stealing her peppermint bark dove dark chocolate after lunch for the past three days. So a box of 100 calorie snack packs and a bag of rice cakes are now sitting next to my chips. You might think this is the end of this mundane and completely irrelevant post, but it isn't.

Observe:


Portion Control baby. I'm not gonna lie, once the bag is open and in front of me, I can be a machine. I get that from my dad. So the solution to that is making sure each and every little treat I eat is portioned out to stop the over eating.

I hit the gym for the third day in a row and got in my cardio and some weights. I was so hungry that I immediately boiled some noodles, steamed some broccoli, sauteed some chicken and combined that all with some spinach and fat free ranch dressing. I would have taken a picture but it was gone before I could sit down... I'm sorry!!

I'll leave you with one last image. One that my words can't describe but that you need to see for yourself.

Enjoy.

90 days and crampy feet!

As the title states, 90 days left in the challenge... 3 months or 12 weeks. If I were to only lose 2 pounds a week then I'd be 12 pounds short of my goal.

People... this is going to be harder than I thought.

I can't skip one day or make one bad choice.

:::gulp:::

In other, less depressing news: I got 24 Lean Cuisines at Meijer for $40. Before you reel back in disgust, let me explain to you that not all of them taste horrible! I really love their pizza, it hits my pizza craving... which is a HUGE craving. I also got some paninis, butternut squash ravioli, mushroom ravioli, cheese ravioli, chicken carbonara, chicken fried rice.


Also, I keep getting cramps in both feet... I'm drinking plenty of water but don't have any bananas in the house. Does anyone have any suggestions on non crampy foot food?

Dr. Oz says...

I'm addicted to lip balm.


Apparently, lip balm is BAD.

How do you know that you are addicted you might ask. Well, Dr. Oz told my mom to ask me three questions:

1. Do you apply lip balm more than twice a day?
To which I say, 10 and 2 both start with T's, I don't see the big difference?
2. Do you have multiple tubes of balm hidden in your purse, nightstand, drawers and car?
Again I say, why not be prepared for anything? Who knows if I'll pass someone in the office who lost their own lip balm, I could then donate to their cause! Or, what if your sister is a ganker, and ganks my balm? It's a good thing to have back ups handy!
3. After you kiss a guy, is your first thought, "need to reapply that lip balm"?
Yeah?

After this question and answer portion of the show, my Mom hit pause, turned in her chair, and stared at me. I, of course, stared right back. He's wrong, I totally am not addicted to lip balm... just Carmex. Ok, so I'm addicted BUT it's because my lips dry out really fast. Apparently lip balm blocks our dead lip cells from flaking off and allowing the new cells to emerge. The dead cells build up and then the new stuff dies even faster... endless cycle of death and pain. Sound familiar?

Soo now I'm trying to kick a habit that I consider even more difficult than losing weight... not using lip balm.

On a more Fit Goal note, yesterday's adherence to the diet was good. I enjoyed my season fruit choice of clementines. A cutie, because I'm a kid and cuties are for kids... fool proof and easy to peel. We all know I'm a klutz, so the ease in which these peel ensures that I don't cut my fingers off or poke an eye out. PS - Have you ever tried to brush your teeth with your eyes closed while wearing 4 inch stilettos? It's hard... I almost fell over trying to walk out of the bathroom.

Went to the gym, did 30 minutes on the elliptical, 30 on the treadmill and was totally struggling. Amazing what two months of non activity will do to you! Overall, great start to day 1!

---

Let's move on to this morning... it's weigh in Wednesday, and I can't pretend I didn't see this coming. I am going to own up to my horrible truths. I gained 6 pounds in the past two months. I ate like a pig, didn't work out and stopped drinking water. All my good choices were thrown out the window and I suffered for it. The good news is, this morning I wasn't depressed or mopey. I just thought, "Self, you really screwed up this time. The good news is, you're motivated by money, so go win this competition so we can pay off some credit cards!" Sooo my dear and few readers, I have 36 pounds to lose now :) I'm so up for the challenge and I'd like you to hold me accountable!

Love,
Lindsay

93 Days!

Anyone still with me? I wouldn't be if I was attempting to follow a blog that went dark for over two months.

:::crickets:::

It's ok, I'll win you back with the same boring workout and recipe updates that I did last time ;) Maybe I'll even sprinkle in a few disaster stories relating to my single life and living with that destructive beast otherwise known as Colbie Jack.

Let's start this year off right with an inspirational photo, brought to you by one of my ICC VPs, Scot Burdette and his trip to Florida over the holidays.


:::crickets:::

Again with the crickets! Geez! Do I need to spell everything out? How do you not get that the coffee mug is inspiration?!? Peace Love and Happiness! I know that instantly makes you think of flowers, bell bottoms and afros. Who wouldn't be inspired by mile high hair? I kid, I kid. At this point my mom and sister would say "NOT FUNNY" in our weird Ramhoff women kind of way (I will demonstrate that in my next video.)

Anywho, the inspiration is in the shells my friends. Those shells represent bikinis, and my goal to wear one this summer. I won't be one of those fool women who buy the bikini and hang it from my wall, taunting me every time I walk by. I also will not sacrifice a meal for one small, runny yogurt. Take that Yoplait!

Instead, join me on my journey, part II, in attaining my healthy goal weight via ICC Biggest Loser. I skimped on taking advantage of my two month head start and am now playing catch up. I have 93 days to loss 30 pounds/5% body fat to hit my goal and hopefully win the challenge.

ICC Biggest Loser begins again!

It's that awesome first day again :) I set out at 7:20 this morning, hoping to be early for my appointment so I could get to work a bit early. I should have known, that even though I knew where I was going... I got lost. I'm getting really sick of knowing where I need to be, but somehow not getting there on the first try. My ability to copilot myself or anyone else has gone completely down the tubes.

Bodpod. Let's chat about it again. You get down to your skivvies, put on a swimming cap over your hair and sit in the egg. Observe below;


Now, she looks happy and has hair, instead, the person sitting inside is cold, uncomfortable and lacking hair.

Since the last weigh in back in April, I've lost 6.4% breaking down to 28.6 pounds, 24.8 of that was fat and 3.8 was lean mass... meaning, get back to the weights girlfriend. That muscle is my best friend in burning up calories, so I'll be pumping some iron tonight :) When I lost the 5% I need to for this new competition, I'll be in the "Acceptable" rang of health, which is exactly where I want to be. Goal weight is 175. Here we go!!

Also, let's recap the weekend, because, what a weekend it was... if you think that that statement sounds exciting and fun, NO, it was the exact opposite. I made a COMPLETE fool of myself and am vowing that after this Biggest Loser Contest, I won't go back to drinking that much, ever again. EVER. I'm going to gloss over the nitty gritty while still giving you the drama.

I went to a family friend's wedding in which a lot of my high school classmates attended, along with my parents, sister, and parent's friends. Some of these people have known me since I was in diapers. The ceremony was great, the bride was beautiful and the groom was beaming. After the ceremony everyone headed over to a nearby hotel for happy hour before hitting up the reception. I thought we had more time than we did and ended up having to shoot my second vodka tonic down pretty quickly. By the time the short walk to the reception site was done, I was feeling a bit heated. By the time dinner was served, I was on my way to tipsy. One of my mom's friends wanted me to meet a guy she knows that she said was super nice and key word, single. I really, really don't enjoy match making, especially during an event like this, but she's so nice and knows me so well, I thought, surely this can't be bad, right?

Wrong. The reason 2 + 2 does not = 4 is because it went more like 2 + 8 shots of vodka = disaster. DISASTER I tell you. I was so drunk that I was dancing with this guy like I was at a club and NOT at a wedding attended by my parents. But wait, it gets worse... my drunk ass self decides we need to talk and its obviously quieter behind the pillar across from the dance floor. Everyone knows that pillars have magical powers that allow for conversation. Obviously this guy didn't know that pillar = conversation because instead of his tongue telling me what he does for a living and what color flowers he plants in his garden, it was down my throat. Wow... yeah, I just put that out there. I have to own it though, because EVERYONE knew I was "behind the pillar". Sorry Mom and Dad... definitely half made out with a guy I didn't even know, right in front of your eyes but behind the pillar.

After the lights came on, I somehow stumbled my way back to my parents, proceeded to chuck off my shoes and then walked to the car, through downtown, barefoot. We stopped to drop my sister off, I used her bathroom and drank water straight from the faucet and then got back in the car... I definitely don't remember that at all. First ever black out, go me.

Of course I finished up the evening and following early morning with my best friend, toilet. We're close, I even cleaned him twice in preparation for this event, I had had a sense of foreboding on Friday evening... I love throwing up in a super clean toilet :)


The only good thing out of this weekend was, my mom, sister and I got a great photo together and I get to frame it and put it on my desk... to always remember DON'T DRINK VODKA.

On a lighter note, here are the pictures I promised showing my mediocre cake baking/decorating skills;

Can you say Carb?

I am cursed...

with a ridiculous obsession with love! :::please refer to the opening scenes of Moulin Rouge


In reality, on top of being obsessed with the idea of love, I'm REALLY obsessed with eating carbs and starches and sugar oh my!

Which, brings me to another thing, that horrible Zanesville man that kept wild animals in cages... it was so awful to see the image of 43 beautiful animals shot to death in order to keep them from roaming the Ohio countryside. Hopefully a new law will go through that prevents stupid people from keeping wild animals as pets.


I haven't posted often, but Monday I weigh in for another session of ICC Biggest Loser... not only does the winner get $300 but if you meet the 5% loss/gain goal, you get double your entrance money back. I'm hoping that I can jump back on this bandwagon with minimal effort, but I know, deep down, that this second round will be a struggle.

I'm baking a cake tonight for a friend's birthday, HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY SARAH, and I'm way too excited to decorate it and then give her her PRESENTS;) and then devour it! WHOMP! Remember, I don't weigh in til Monday.

Happy almost weekend everyone and I look forward to sharing my dessert creation with you after the weekend :)

I'm Back!

So I took a month off, lived life without counting calories or hitting the gym everyday. I was really, really, REALLY dreading my Wednesday weigh in this morning. I mean, honestly? I ate pizza, I ate noodles, I ate candy and cake and plenty of other sweets. Sure I walked Colbie as much as the weather allowed, but it sure as heck wasn't everyday! I didn't drink enough water and instead drank more soda and wine and liquor :)After all that I thought, "Surely I've gained at least five pounds, or have jumped up past my horrid hurdle of 200."

Amazingly enough, I have only gained a pound or so... and in my opinion, that isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things. Gaining anything at all should not be celebrated, but what I am celebrating is that I think I've learned portion control to the point where I don't have to think about it anymore. I anticipate my stomach feeling full and stop three bites before.

But now I'm back, from outerspace... sorry, my mind went down a different path, but I am back on the wagon. I've gotten my cravings and fixes out of the way. I started back at the gym on Monday as well as logging my food in MyPlate.


My awesome little pup, (featured wearing the CONE OF SHAME) Colbie, managed to break my bank yesterday. I spent $275 at the vet after she tore her head apart and managed to get yet another double ear infection. As a way of working off my anger and sadness at being beyond poor yet again, I took her for a walk around my newly repaved neighborhood. After that jaunt, I had a Potbelly Chickpea Veggies Salad with Nonfat Vinaigrette dressing and a few pieces of my leftover Brio Margherita Flat bread Pizza. Delish!

But wait, I'm not done! I then went to the gym and kicked in up for a half hour on the elliptical. Biggest Loser came on and I felt like a dumb butt for saying, well, I'll just go home now. The show is so inspiring that I decided to walk on the treadmill on a slight incline and when the commercials came on, I ran until the show started again. Overall, I believe that I completed 6.5 miles between the walk, elliptical and treadmill :) I think the Wagon is behind me at this point. I feel refreshed and ready to grab this journey by the horns again!


Lastly, I'd like to finish with a few pictures of the event that led me to this weight loss. My best friend's wedding was this past Saturday. When I had to order my bridesmaid dress in January, I ordered a size 22. After it was altered and 12 inches had been taken out, this is what it looked like. I feel good. :)