This weekend has been perfect. Exactly what I needed – a quiet weekend at home with nothing to do … yet tons of time to get some stuff accomplished.

We slept in each day (well, until 7AM), the house is clean, the dog has been bathed, we went to see a movie (Julie & Julia), we shopped, Jon cooked, the yard has been mowed, we spent some time with Jon’s child #2 and his girlfriend, we’ve both talked to our family members who live in other cities/states … and we both spent a bunch of time sitting and reading.

Bonus = the weather has been fabulous. We’ve had the windows open just about all day today.

We were supposed to go out of town to attend a birthday party for a family member of mine, but we didn’t.

I woke up Friday morning with an incredible stomachache. I had a session scheduled with the trainer at 6AM, so I took a tums and went … hoping for the best.

I couldn’t take it – left after 25 minutes. I’ve been working out with my trainer for a year and a half and have never had to cancel or stop mid-session because of illness … this was WAY beyond the sickness I feel when I eat before a session … seriously thought I wouldn’t make it home.

I made it home, took a pepto-bismol pill (a freakin’ miracle drug, in my opinion), crawled back into bed and slept for 20 minutes before getting up to get ready for work. I worked half a day, came home and slept on the couch off and on the rest of the day. I ate nothing until 3PM – then I ate two T of natural PB and some applesauce. Then … I canceled the trip.

I’m sad I missed the party, but I couldn’t stomach (ha!) the thought of driving 6 hours feeling like total shit.

I needed the break, too. I feel better – recharged – after the shitty week of issues and shitty end of the week stomach ailment.

I took just a couple pictures yesterday (Saturday). We rolled out of bed and went on a breakfast date to a place we’ve never been before – a cute restaurant that used to be a house, I think. I think it’s called The Old Home Place. Can’t find a website, but I found a review.

I had a spinach, bacon and tomato (and lots of cheese) omelet – that’s it. I ended up giving a lot of it to Jon and trading for some of his bacon lover’s omelet. I passed up the all-you-can-eat pancakes despite the strong desire to cave.

Lunch was a salad – made by Jon.

I tried to convince him we should have chocolate cake for dinner, but he wasn’t going for it. Lesson learned yesterday: a movie about food – really GOOD and beautiful and tempting food – will result in madness. We had homemade nachos (while watching a movie at home) instead.

Today’s breakfast was very, very good. 3 scrambled eggs with about an ounce of cheddar cheese on top. 2 pork sausage links. Concoction of black beans, asparagus, onions, mushrooms and red pepper flakes – the highlight of the meal.

Jon roasted the weekly chicken – he does this just about each weekend and pulls the meat/stores it for easy use on salads.

I stayed full from breakfast for most of the day, so I had just a little bit of the roasted chicken for lunch.

I was craving a cookie while we were grocery shopping this afternoon, so I ate one. Jon picked oatmeal, cranberry, orange and I picked chocolate chip PB. We split each, as usual – ate them in the car on the way home from the store.

Dinner tonight = chicken cordon bleu (created by Earth Fare, grilled by Jon) and spinach.

Jon had a steak.

I’ve had zero exercise this weekend – unless traipsing through 3 different grocery stores counts.

I am ready to take on a new week. Goal #1: cardio @ some point tomorrow unless I’m dead. Period.

I’m having issues today.

#1) I haven’t worked out a new workout routine. I’m meeting with the trainer twice a week … and I’ve been going to pilates (except this week) … but no cardio. It’s bugging me, but I’m just tired and/or busy ALL. THE. TIME. (it seems). I thought I just needed to rework my priorities, but it turns out there are some things higher on the list now. Disappointing.

#2) I am pissed that I’m not progressing easily toward my weight loss goal. I have 24 pounds to lose (as of today) by the end of the year to meet my self-imposed goal. Still possible, but not looking probable.

#3) Someone once asked if I was planning to be a professional student. Ha, I said. HA! In addition to that being ridiculous, I am SO READY to be done and back at work like a normal person.

#4) My house goes to hell each week and it drives me INSANE. I haven’t developed a new routine during the few weeks since the crazy busy new schedule started and I’m feeling antsy about it. We start the week strong with a spotless house and it degenerates rapidly until I’m ready to burn the place down and start over by Thursday night. The dishes aren’t getting done, the laundry is piling up, the floors need to be swept, etc. Realistically, it’s not too bad. The dishes never stay in the sink longer than a day and the laundry never overflows the smallish basket we have. I am a tad obsessive, I know … not a big deal … usually.

I am really having to battle the urge to eat out/eat junk each meal. I woke up this morning at some insane time (approx 4:30AM) and contemplated giving up making breakfast and lunch in lieu of McD’s (even though I can’t remember the last time I’ve had or desired that kind of thing). I came home today and almost talked Jon out of cooking.

Life is feeling out of control, so why not spiral all the way on down?

The crazy food shit is coming back and it’s because I’m busy and stressed and just … I don’t know … I start to want to cope by sitting in a booth eating a bunch of comfort food that’s brought to me and cleaned up by someone else and enjoyed outside of the (admittedly limited) chaos of my house.

I am resisting … so far.

Breakfast = fruit/yogurt. No eggs because I was busy and didn’t want to deal with it.

I packed a standard lunch.

Jon came home and cooked dinner – coconut shrimp and asparagus. I’m pretty sure he initially saw the coconut shrimp at MDA, but I don’t think he used a recipe.

He coated the shrimp with almond flour, coated with egg and then coated with unsweetened coconut before frying in coconut oil.

He mentioned that the post he saw listed a recipe for a mayo based dip of some kind, but he didn’t feel like taking the time to deal with making homemade mayo. I dipped some of mine in spicy mustard, but he didn’t use anything. Honestly – they were fabulous without a sauce of any kind. Seemed fairly easy to make, too, although I just stood around and watched and talked to him, of course.

Tomorrow is another day, right? I guess I should be glad I’m still looking forward to new ones.

So, I’ve been reading about the “Smart Choices” program drama lately – and I know this is going to sound bitchy – but seriously? Are we so apathetic and willing to be manipulated that an f-ing checkmark on a food package is going to sway us?

Don’t know about this program? It’s the one that mostly promotes highly processed products as “smart choices” in exchange for $100,000.

I know I’m a cynic – I embrace that. Thinking I might be swayed to purchase a product because the manufacturer tells me it’s the “smart choice” … opposed to the competition? Well … uhhh … again … seriously?

I’m not immune to the insanity. I very vividly remember the day I picked up a “healthy” and “whole grain” version of a cereal before I spotted my beloved junkier brand/type on a lower shelf. I picked up the “junkier” version and imagine my surprise when I found that they were virtually nutritionally identical. I think that’s the day I stopped buying cereal altogether.

I’m not going to pretend I know a ton about this. I know I didn’t wind up weighing 272 pounds eating what I eat now – I wound up at that place eating highly processed junk on a consistent basis while telling myself I was making “smart choices.” Interested in learning about this from someone who actually knows something? Here’s where I started: Food Politics

Anyway. I was SO not ready for this week to start … but it did.

Jon boiled a bunch of eggs this morning, so I had one for breakfast with my fruit/yogurt. I added a little unsweetened coconut to the fruit/yogurt this morning and am planning to keep doing that. Not quite as good as the sweetened version, but good nonetheless.

I packed a salad and a babybel and some unsweetened applesauce … and the 1/2 of the peach I didn’t use in my breakfast yogurt. The applesauce is pretty heavy carb-wise, but I like it … it’s easy to pack.

I was hungry when I got home, so I raided the hard-boiled eggs again to make a little egg salad. We haven’t had actual bread in our house in months, but I swear I would’ve eaten some had I had it. I LOVE egg salad sandwiches. Turns out I like the egg+mayo+salt+pepper part the most – I started with one egg, then had another. Also had some (cold) leftover beef.

Jon made dinner tonight – salmon and kale.

I ate a snack a little while later – yogurt, some almonds Jon roasted tonight, some unsweetened coconut and a few blueberries.

I had a session with the trainer at 6AM – Jon went to the crossfit place. We were planning to go to pilates tonight, but we were both too tired. I was in my pajamas by 6PM.

2,204 calories, 145g fat, 117g carbs, 109g protein. The snack put me over the edge calorie-wise and stuffed-wise.

I know I shouldn’t go to bed at 8:30PM, but whatever. I don’t handle the 5AM wake-ups very easily.

I slept until 9AM today – woke up only because Jon woke me up (he had been up for several hours and was hungry). I think I really needed some decent sleep and a lazy morning after the crazy few days we’ve had.

Breakfast was typical.

We were busy most of the morning, so we didn’t have a large lunch. I ate just an apple with some almond butter.

I’m not happy about my normal fruit going out of season, but I’m trying to learn to love apples.

Dinner was fabulous, as usual – a roast with potatoes, carrots and onions and fried okra.

It didn’t seem complicated (just watched, though). Jon coated it with some salt, pepper, garlic, a little bit of almond flour, etc. before browning it and adding the rest of the stuff.

The final result:

The BEST freakin’ part – and the part I was prepared to hate = the fried okra (thanks to a bunch of okra sent home with us from Jon’s mom’s garden).

He used almond flour and coconut oil (also used for browning the roast).

Chopped, coated with egg, rolled the slices around in a mixture of almond flour and parmesan cheese and then fried them.

The final result:

I threw in some tomato slices (also compliments of Jon’s mom’s garden) …. had to eat dinner on a big plate.

Yum. I can’t believe I was prepared to hate the okra.

Looks like I’m going to go back to tracking at fitday (at least sporadically) and am planning to try a little harder. I lose … and I maintain easily … I’m just not losing quickly enough. I’m ready to be DONE.

So ready.

It’s 11:45 PM (!) …. Jon just walked in the door with a pizza.

Long day.

We left Atlanta mid-morning and drove home, had maybe two hours at home, left again to go to boomsday, just got home.

Breakfast happened at Jon’s mom’s house again.

Lunch happened on the way home around 2PM. We stopped at our favorite Chinese take-out place and picked up some stuff to bring home with us – salt/pepper shrimp and egg drop soup.

I ate a small cup of ice cream at the boomsday thing – maybe 1/4 cup? It was a sample sized container of vanilla that was given out free. That was it.

I had no plans to eat again tonight, but I caved. The pizza was picked up for Jon and his child #3 – I specifically said I wasn’t going to eat any – but I’m weak. It’s cheese, not my favorite … not really even sure why I’m eating it. I’m fairly hungry, but I could easily just go to sleep.

(Note the small glimpse of the 10 year old (seriously) – 2 sizes too large – pink pajamas pants that are covered with some kind of game pieces and dice and phrases like “you snooze, you lose” that were given to me by one of my brothers after he wore them as part of a costume – Jon’s a lucky man, huh?)

We walked all over creation tonight – my foot is throbbing. Will definitely be icing it before bed.

I am doing NOTHING tomorrow.

We’re out of town again this weekend – part of the weekend, anyway. My plan has been to eat as well as possible, as much as possible. I am trying to stop the derailment that seems to happen just about every weekend – and every time we’re away from home.

Yesterday was ok. I had an earlyish session with the trainer, so I split up “breakfast” and ate the yogurt/fruit fairly early and then waited on the eggs until A) it was actually light outside and B) enough time had lapsed since working out to prevent sickness.

I ended up not eating again until I was in the car leaving town around 3PM since my earlier eating was so random. I stopped at a place near Jon’s office (kind of far from home, so I couldn’t pass it up since I was in that area picking him up) and chose a falafel wrap and some pistachio baklava. Jon got a chicken shawarma wrap, so we ended up going half-and-half. I split the baklava with him, too, since I’m nice like that.

We went out to dinner last night at an Italian place with Jon’s mom. Too dark for pictures. I ordered some sort of tortellini that pissed me off. I have ZERO patience lately for food that is cheap quality-wise, overpriced, over/undercooked, etc. I (maybe unfairly) expect a lot from the meals I choose to eat that are eaten for entertainment/pleasure purposes vs. solely for nutrition. The tortellini was good, but wasn’t fabulous. The meal was enjoyable for other reasons (conversation, etc.), though, so it was totally worth it. I’m just turning into such a crank about this.

Jon cooked breakfast for me this morning (at his mom’s house).

Eggs and tomatoes from his mom’s garden (I think we went a little too heavy with the salt).

Lunch was a quick salad with 1/2 an avocado, a few cubes of colby jack cheese, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes and a little homemade oil/balsamic vinegar dressing. We picked up a rotisserie chicken, too.

We took a walk with the dog this morning, but I wouldn’t come close to calling it exercise.

So far, so good. Not sure about tonight, but I think some birthday cake might be happening.

I left this morning without having eaten breakfast and without a packed lunch for the first time in months, I think. I’m quite sure it’s happened, but I can’t remember a recent work/school day that I’ve been completely unprepared for both meals. I definitely didn’t set myself up for a decent day – procrastinated and had to finish something up at the crack of dawn. I am a crazy creature of habit and HATE messing up my routine, but I did.

I thought about fasting, but that’s laughable … at best. There is no way in hell I’d be able to function all day with no food.

Breakfast ended up being a banana and some (oily) cashews from a small store on campus. This store, I should add, is FULL OF JUNK. Seriously – never seen anything like it. I try not to be judgey – I really don’t care what other people eat – but GD. The options (for ME) were VERY limited. The person in line in front of me had a sausage biscuit, a cup of donut holes and a coke.

I went to Subway for lunch and got a salad. I think it was lettuce, ham, tomatoes, cucumber slices, olives, pickles and some oil and vinegar. I forgot to ask for cheese. It was pretty much pure hell to sit in there and smell the baking bread, but whatever. I got over it.

Jon made dinner. Peppers, onions and sausage – definitely our go-to meal when we’re tired and busy.

I think I’m going to have some yogurt and fruit later – just seems weird to skip it entirely.

No exercise today.

I’ve discovered this brilliant concept that seems to have perked me right up … uhh … the use of VITAMINS.

I’m not sure why I always forget, but I do. I start feeling crappy on a pretty consistent basis, then I start feeling sluggish and tired all the time, then the bruises start. I swear it takes finding multiple unexplainable bruises for it to dawn on me that’s it’s been a pretty long time since I’ve taken vitamins.

I’ve always had an issue with low iron, so iron (at least) should be a regular thing … but it’s just not. I’ve been taking them consistently since the weekend and (not) surprisingly, I feel great today. I really need to work on making sure they are a part of my normal routine. The issue? They kill my stomach. I have to take them after food … preferably at night … and I just forget.

Breakfast was typical.

Lunch was typical. (Packed in the dark.)

I ate a piece of candy that was given to me even though I just wikipedia’d the Twilight series and didn’t actually read the books despite the peer pressure and disbelief that someone would do that. Lots of fan at school. I’m almost thinking an intervention might be needed.

I came home and ate 1/2 a leftover pork chop.

Dinner was cooked by Jon – squash, turkey sausage, peas, yellow & red peppers, rosemary, olive oil and parm cheese. Do I even have to say this was delicious? Absolutely.

I had a session with the trainer at 6AM and had pilates at 6:30PM – classes (or otherwise occupied at school) all day in between. Going to be sore tomorrow.

I think I just might survive this semester.