Let the Little Victories Commence.

Little Victories, friends.  Little things add up to such big things.

As I've talked about in this here blog many times before, one of the truest of the most true things I can relay to you (even when I'm not doing it myself...) is this:  I will never cease to be repeatedly amazed at the mighty things that can happen when you simply choose to "do."  

Pyramids weren't built in a day, blah blah blah, insert cliche here, etc.  You get it.
(Speaking of pyramids, Fat Archaeology is SO happening again.)

While I most certainly have not been perfect since my last post, here's what I have been:

Honest.

With myself, that is.

Today, I didn't stick to my calorie goal.  But, I logged it.  I put it all in MyFitnessPal and I made sure to burn off what I ate.  My workout today may not make me lighter, but it will make me more fit, and I won't gain anything.  And working out most certainly did one of the things for which I love it the most:  it made me happy.  I ate a cookie, I had a piece of cheese pizza, I drank two Whitsuns with my work team, and I am still happy.  Not beating myself up, not angry about my poor decisions - content.  And even though I didn't stick to my 1500 calories, you know what I still am?

Happy.

Little Victories are so huge.  I have a tendency to concentrate on the very large, overall picture of where I know things need to and can be, and forget that it takes many a little goal to get there.  If we constantly think about the end result without breaking it down into smaller, regular, attainable and realistic goals, we set ourselves up for a feeling of perpetual failure.  I drive myself absolutely nutty and get nothing accomplished.  It feels infinitely better to meet lots of little goals.

If memory serves me, I think I may know a girl who did just this and lost about 130lbs once upon a time...

Here are my goals for the next week:
I will work out 5 times.
I will stick to my calorie goal a minimum of 4 times.
I will make a new, kickass installment of my Sweaty Beats playlist.
I will spend a half hour per day until Saturday tidying my bedroom.  My closet kind of threw up all over...
I must see How to Train Your Dragon 2.  Seriously, though.  It has to happen.

What've you got up your sleeve?  What would you like to tackle over the next little while?  Pick a little victory in your sights, or perhaps you've already had one recently!  Share away, friends.

Feeling good feels good.

It's impossible to not feel slightly more good after listening
to this.  Walk down the street playing this in your earbuds
and tell me you don't smile.  Impossible!

It's funny how life has its ebbs and flows.  This is nothing new, but somehow it seems like an epiphany over and over again.  When you're in the thick of it, some part of you is very logical and aware that it will most certainly pass, but another part of you just can't see past it.  It's hard to remember how to get back to feeling good again.

Once I got the hang of tracking my food, eating healthier and exercising regularly, it got to be second nature. It seemed so easy.  It was the norm.  It wasn't a challenge.  It was my way of life.  It was all so simple and so good.  

I forgot how easy it can be for that to not be the norm.

After a summer and an autumn of struggle, things are finally getting back to normal.  Being the person of extremes that I am, I expected to just start back up and rule the world as I remembered doing before.  But, therein lies the problem!  I had to break my mindset of trying to get back to where was.

I

am

not

THERE anymore!  That was then.  This is now.  Move along.

A lot has changed since then.  But, things have settled down and I'm in a better place in every way now.  I love it when you finally feel something break, something give way, and you know that you're on the right path again.  Well, it's not even that you're on the correct path again - you're at a great pace and making some serious headway towards whatever intersection, bend, bridge or whatever might be on the way.

I met up with a friend last Sunday who is a dietitian.  The initial plan was to talk about food, get some good ideas for new ways of eating, and new things to eat.  It ended up being a great conversation about where I'm at in life in general and what I've got to do to progress.  

It was a healthy dose of divine intervention.  Even though the things we talked about are things I already knew, it sometimes takes the right person at the right time saying something they didn't even know they needed to that hits you, breaks you down, builds you up, and propels you all at once.

I keep forgetting that life is a process.  Things don't magically find a perfect groove forever.  You may have a good stretch, but you'll have rough ones, too.  And they will come and go, and then come and go again.  

I'm finally starting to get it.  

I don't have to do it all at once!  There are so many things I need to do, both at work, and for myself.  But I've been working on a few things at a time.  This week, my goal was to go grocery shopping and return to my regular eating and exercise habits, remembering that even if I only get a half hour of something in, it is better than nothing.  I've also tried starting my days with 10-15 minutes of some kind of exercise.  One morning, I did a 10 minute Pilates video.  Another morning, I did a bunch of core exercises.  I've overcome my urge to buy peanut butter, because if that's in my house, well - it's over.  

I've also done necessary but boring things like scheduling appointments with doctors and insurance agents, rethinking my spending habits and reworking my budget, getting organized, and figuring out a regular schedule of exercise.  I just might start going to bed earlier, too.  

You've heard me say this before, and I will say it over and over again.

It is amazing what happens when you make calculated, boring, conscious choices to simply do things.  

I'm learning that feeling good and being content is not as simple as "feeling" good.  Right now, I've got a lot to work on.  But feeling good is a choice, and it's choosing to make good decisions that will lead to a life of good, not a season of good.  

It's a new kind of goodness, but nonetheless, it feels good to feel good once again.

Restart - Take 2

I just got hit by a rogue shell.
Fire power gone...
No worries!  There's a box with a question mark.
It better not be a coin...  I need a "big."  Right.  Now.
Great!
Wait...
NO.  No.
PAUSE!
Okay...  I can be little Mario and try to finish the level, orrrrrr...

Annnnnd I'm dead.

Meh.  Restart...

If only starting over were as simple as smacking a button on the top of my brother's Super Nintendo system...  So many times I'd get to a point where I'd try the same level over and over, and in a fit of frustration, "SMACK!!!!!"  Reset.  Do over.  Restart.  "Stupid moving pipey things with fireballs coming at me and a wizard that just keeps appearing...  OVER IT."

I said I'd start over in my last blog.  I did, for a couple days.  Then blew it...  Then I did again for a couple of days!  And then I blew it for a few days...  I'm not sure what my problem is, but I am all out of sorts lately!  It seems like every few months, I've got to sit down and hash out a game plan.  Get organized.  Get back on a schedule.  Plan out my eating.  Clean my abyss of a bedroom.  Oh, Lordy - here we go...

Step 1 
Pre-planning my food again as usual.  As I mentioned before, a key to my progress has been making sure that I have good food available to me, things that are quick and easy to grab, and often planning out what I'm going to eat for the whole day either that morning, or the night before.  I haven't been buying groceries as thoughtfully as I used to. I've got to be honest with myself.  For whatever reason lately, I've had a very difficult time sticking to my guns and I have to make sure there is nothing in my cupboard that will allow me to splurge thoughtlessly.  Usually, I've got it down. I've got control.  I don't have as much control lately, and I've got to keep things away from me that will tempt me to do the wrong thing.  It's about to get real.

Step 2
The bedroom!  They say messy house messy mind, yeah? This is true.  I'm a bit of a discombobulated thingamabob right now trying to sort out quite a few aspects of life. When I get frazzled, I let my room get uber-frazzled.  It is time for a top-to-bottom clean of my room, and a purging of the wardrobe.  Anything that doesn't fit must go.  What will I do with all of those clothes?  I will have a garage sale at my parents' - date TBD.  I've got a lot of great stuff in very gently/never used condition.  I'll keep you all posted.

Step 3
I love flying by the seat of my pants.  But, I've got to have structure.  I need to get to bed earlier, get up early and work out, and make the most of my day.  Structure may seem restrictive, but oh no, no, no, it is not.  Structure allows you to get done what must be done in a timely fashion so you can do more with the time you have left over.  I spend too much time trying to figure out what I'm going to do and how, easily distracted by - well, I'm easily distracted period, and end up spending too much time on random minutiae instead of just getting to it.  I'm a list-maker extraordinaire.  I will tackle lists like nobody's business, but if it doesn't make the list...  Bad news, bears.  I've got to give myself guidelines, timelines, lists, and things of the like or else it all goes to pot.  I'm better at this at work than I am with my personal responsibilities, and this is a change of the most critically imperative nature.

Now, if only I had a Yoshi I could ride around - everything would be sorted.  How? I don't know, but I've always wanted to ride a dinosaur with a shell on its back that can reach things from long distances with its tongue.  Haven't you?!

Toasted Sesame Spaghetti Squash

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I was quite pleased with myself that, after being thrilled to hear that I'd hit a momentous benchmark, I made a very healthy dinner for my roommate and I!  We often take turns experimenting with healthy new recipes, and she recently bought Trader Joe's toasted sesame oil.  So, I felt it necessary to try it!  I looked up some Asian recipes online that included toasted sesame oil, and below is my pleasantly delicious concoction.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
1tbs Trader Joes Toasted Sesame Oil
1tbs sunflower seeds
1/2tsp ginger
1/2tsp garlic powder
1tbs white wine vinegar
1tsp franks hot sauce
2tbs chopped green onions
3tbs low sodium soy sauce
1/2cup edamame
10 spears asparagus
4oz mushrooms (chopped, sliced, however you like)
2 medium 6-7" carrots
1/3cup peanuts
1 3lb spaghetti squash
1/4 cup bean sprouts

Combine toasted sesame oil, sunflower seeds, 1/4tsp ginger, 1/4tsp garlic powder, white wine vinegar, hot sauce, green onions, 2tbs soy sauce, and edamame in bowl.  Stir, and let sit.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176C). Chop spaghetti squash in half.  Remove seeds and place open side down on baking sheet.  Cook for one 1hr 15mins or until fully cooked through.  In my experience, it's better a little overdone so that it's not too moist and runny.

Saute asparagus, mushrooms, peanuts and carrots with 1tbs soy sauce, 1/4tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp garlic powder until asparagus is tender.  I left the carrots a bit crunchy because I wanted the texture.

In large bowl or pan, mix together the sesame oil mixture, spaghetti squash, and vegetables.  Divide into 3 servings, add about 1/4cup bean sprouts on top.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 292
Carbs:  19
Fat:  17
Protein:  13
Sodium:  515
Fiber:  10
Weight Watchers Points Plus (minus free vegetables):  5

Bangers & Mash

When I lived in England, one of my favorite comfort foods was bangers & mash, proper old-school-pub-style.  A giant mound of mashed potatoes and a big ol' sausage with gravy on top...  Yeah.  That pretty much screams winter, cozy, comfort food. It also screams 3.9 bajillion calories.

I decided to see if I could satisfy the craving without the guilt for under 350 calories.  As far as I'm concerned, it was a TOTAL SUCCESS.  It's still a little heavy on carbs and sodium, but it's a pretty great alternative!

The trick?  Smoked turkey sausage, parsnips, and cauliflower.


Serves 4.


1 Hillshire Farms Turkey Smoked Sausage
1lb parsnips
1/2 a large head of cauliflower
1 packet brown gravy mix (I used Spartan)
4oz of mushroom
1 medium whole yellow onion
1/2 tsp rosemary
2 tbs light salted butter
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp powdered garlic
1tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce



Prepare your gravy mix as directed on package.  Peel & chop parsnips, and chop cauliflower with a fair bit of the stalk cut off.  Chop sausage into 4 even sections. Slice mushrooms and onion.

Pour your prepared gravy mix into a sauce pan, then add garlic powder, rosemary, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms, and onions.  Let cook on medium low heat while everything else is cooking.

Put your parsnips in a large pan to boil for about 10-15 minutes, until tender but not fully cooked, then add the cauliflower and boil for about 10 more minutes or until tender, but not mushy.

Put sausage in the oven after you add the cauliflower, and broil on each side for about 5-7 minutes, or until each side is a bit crispy and it is cooked through.

Drain your parsnips & cauliflower.  Combine butter, salt, cauliflower and parsnips in a mixing bowl and mash to desired consistency.

Now, for the fun part...  Place approximately 1 cup of parsnip/cauliflower "potatoes" on each plate, dole out a portion of sausage, pour your mushroom onion gravy on top, and voila.  Enjoy.

Nutritional info (per serving):
Calories - 330
Carbs - 41
Fat - 12
Protein - 18
Sodium - 1650
Fiber - 10


Weight Watchers Points Plus:  7pts (calculated without "free" vegetables)


Please forgive me if my timing isn't 100% accurate.  I have to admit, I pretty much wing it, but I will start keeping track of how long I cook things!  If you're watching your sodium intake, this may not be for you.  If you try it, let me know how it worked for you or if you have any ideas or alternatives the rest of us might enjoy!

This is How We Do It: Part 3 – You are what you eat.

My sincere apologies for the dire lack of posts recently! The first couple weeks of 2012 have been interesting.  Aside from life throwing me a few quite unpleasant curveballs, it’s also been a time of my body getting back to normal after the holidays.  Don’t get me wrong – I thoroughly enjoyed many wonderful things over the holidays!  Peanut butter balls, puppy chow, prime rib, candy, potatoes, wine, beer, cookies, cheeses…  These are just a few of the things I indulged in.  And, boy, could I tell. 

Holiday treats, you slay me!

It turns out that the holidays proved to be the perfect catalyst in showing me just how much my habits have changed, and how much better it makes me feel!  You really are what you eat. 

When I began the weight loss process, I really didn’t give much thought to what I ate. 

It’s there.

I’m hungry.

It’s yummy.

I ate it.

Now I’m not hungry. 

That was really yummy…

I’ll have some more, please.

That’s about it.  There really wasn’t much purpose or thought behind it.  If I was hungry, I ate.  Sometimes I ate things because I was in the mood for them and they’re super yummy.  Sometimes I ate things because they were just there and required no effort.  Sometimes I ate when I was bored and fidgety and didn’t even really realize. 

Well, try losing weight behaving like that.

A typical day for the old Sarah probably would have consisted of no breakfast, sometimes no lunch or whatever was quick and easy, snacking like crazy while preparing dinner because of being so hungry from not eating all day, then dinner.  My meals weren’t terrible all the time, but I do realize how a lot of my bad choices were from lack of preparation and convenience.  Hot dog & fries from next door?  Sure!  Burger from a few storefronts down?  Fine.  I didn’t realize until I started tracking things that even the salads I’d create at the market down the street were easily 500 calories.   I once unknowingly put almost 200 calories worth of sunflower seeds on my salad.  Granted, it was about a ¼ cup, but I just figured, “Hey – it’s healthy, right?”  Too much of a good thing is still too much, it would appear.

What changed? 

I was driving home one day after having had my oil changed.  I spend a little extra on my oil changes because I’ve got leaky gaskets, but spending a little extra on really thick oil and some other oily thingamajiggy sealy treatment thingy keeps me from having to spend $1000 on huge, bad things.  I got to thinking about it all, especially the oily thingamajiggy sealy treatment thingy, and then wondered, “Holy cow…  If my car will die on me without doing something as simple as getting the oil changed regularly, then what on earth am I doing to my body?!  What on earth could possibly go wrong inside of me simply because I’m not doing routine maintenance?”  I guess I realized that I was pretty much slowly, irresponsibly setting my body up to just quit on me.   And I didn’t want that to happen.

Now?

BREAKFAST!  Chobani (anything but Greek yogurt just leaves me hungry), Special K, Bagel Thin, banana...

Snack – string cheese, fruit, vegetables, hummus, pretzels, try to keep under 100 calories

Quinoa, cherry tomatoes, 1/2 an avocado, basil, 
and sliced garlic.

Lunch – Lean Cuisine, Top Chef Healthy Choice, sandwiches, salads

Snack – same idea as above…

Dinner – usually around 300 calories, varies from 200-400ish.  Veggies and fish are my favorite!  Usually meat, vegetables, grains like quinoa or cous cous, etc.  If I've got calories leftover, sometimes I'll have a low calorie dessert like sugar free instant pudding!

I know we’ve all heard it before, but it’s so right…  Eating breakfast every day and eating a little something every couple of hours has undoubtedly made a huge, huge difference.  The interesting things will come, like getting better at cooking and having your new go-to/on-the-go products…  It’s not just about what you eat, but how you eat.  The combination of those two things is powerful!  

Our bodies are worthy of good fuel!  Cars?  Maybe they die, but there are plenty to go around.  We’ve only got this one life to live, and my life is certainly worth a little bit of healthy, routine maintenance.