Category Archives: Uncategorized

Day 808: Monday and Stuff

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Hello my reading minions!

(Okay… I guess you’re really not my reading minions. If you were, I would have commanded you to recreate the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters to fulfill my dream of assembling, then eating, the world’s biggest s’more of all time. I wonder how many calories that would be…anyway, where was I?)

Let me give you a recap of this past week: Christmas.

That’s right! Although it’s been in the mid to high 70’s and even the 80’s for the past few days, Megan and I have been deckin’ our halls like a couple of bosses! Like a lot of you, we are both Pinterest nuts but aren’t the craftiest people. (Even though I should be. My mom had her own craft business when I was little. I wonder if crafting is a recessive gene…) Anyway, we have been making different Christmas knick knacks and such for ourselves and others. It’s been nice to do something with my hands. It’s weird to have actual free time. I have spent the past 25 years studying, working, and up until a few years ago, eating and abnormal amount of calories. It’s nice to leave work at work and have a little time to twiddle my thumbs. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m trying to find a hobby, something physical or tangible. I love to write and I love to blog, but I do both for my job so I’m not sure this is really a hobby anymore. This blog has turned in to more of a lifestyle which is completely awesome!

So that’s where I’m at. I’m trying to find a hobby that I can do when I create a product. Something different. Something challenging. Any suggestions?

Anywho, along with all of this knick-knack-pattywhacking, I have been trying to lose weight. I don’t always make the best decisions, but I’m doing my best without going nuts. But the fact of the matter is I need to go nuts with weight loss. I’m in this weird place where if I would just push a little harder I would make some crazy strides. I have been in this 227-235 zone for almost a year, breaking through to the next level but then reverting back. The thing is, I know that I will look and feel so different in 30 pounds. The difference between 235 and 265 is insane so I can only imagine what I might look like and feel like. And I don’t mean that in a vapid way, more in the way of I want to be healthier way. Looking better is just an added bonus.

Not that this is an excuse, but it really has been hard not having a gym. It was just one of those things where getting a pass to the gym at FSU is more complicated than it should be. (Well, if you want the married discount. Long story.) Luckily, that’s going to change next semester so I’ll be able to play racquetball, lift and do other fun gym stuff very soon. On the other hand, it’s been bearable because I do run three times a week which has taken a lot out of me. The long runs on Saturdays are about to get longer too. It’s more of the toll they take on my joints. 10 miles of the same repetitive movement becomes painful. But on the other hand, if I was 30 pounds lighter, would my body heal quicker? As you can tell I’m dealing with a lot of chicken/egg scenarios that I have thought about a lot but haven’t put down on paper…or blogosphere.

My issue is that I have played the weight loss game for a long time. It’s like on the Biggest Loser when the players start the play the game where they know what to do that week to win. Granted sometimes that just means drinking a gallon of water the throw a weigh in. That’s been me. My trend recently has been to weigh in on Tuesday, get stoked and eat a lot of what I want, then do the same thing Wednesday through Friday, and then really hit it hard on Saturday and Sunday like drink a lot of water to rehydrate and eat what I’m suppose to eat. Because I’m up four or five pounds. Before I know it, I’ve lost a little to have a “loss.” So I’m not really losing, I’m just maintaining. The thing is is that I have proved myself that I can maintain..at around this weight. I have kept more than 100 pounds off since I hit the 100 pound mark in August 2011. I think I might be scared to take it to the next level. To break that 200 pound mark eventually. Even 225 pounds on is such unchartered territory that is excerifying (terrifying and exciting) for me to even think about. Time to keep counting, running and blogging. The rest will follow. See ya tomorrow.

Day 787: Weigh In

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I suck at blogging. Feel like I just need to get that out there.
Full disclosure time: my laptop is knocking on death’s door. It freezes up when I even try to blog on it. It’s a sad situation. No fun. So I’ve been blogging on my iPad recently which is okay since I have a nice case/keyboard, but posting pictures in to the WordPress app is a nightmare. It’s just not an intuitive app and the mobile site isn’t blogger friendly. Because of that, sometimes it’s easier just not to post. I know that makes me sound like a complete tool (I hope you don’t feel that way dear reader) but I’m doing the best I can to make this work because I flippin’ love this blog and I flippin’ love you guys!

Alrighty, now that the mushy stuff is out of the way…

So I’m running a 15k next Thursday. I’m so exercified (excited/terrified) about it at this point. My leg is still not 100% from wiping out last Thursday and my body has just been a little out of whack since. I was going to run tonight, but it turned in to a much-needed night of cleaning and resting because life has been cray cray at Casa De MacDonald. I’m going to run in the morning because I need that alignment in my life. Running (or any exercising) centers you so much. Since it’s already pretty much pitch black by the time I’ve been getting out of work (since I’ve been working late recently) it’s easy to just shove it off until later/some other time/never. Time to get things back in order.

Speaking of which…

So before I went on my super awesome Young Pro’s church retreat to Panama City Beach this weekend, I was down a pound or two from our trip to the N to the O. I was relatively good the majority of the trip! I ate a ton of fruits and veggies, swam A LOT in the freezing-cold Gulf of Mexico, and even got a solid barefoot run in on the beach. Then on Sunday I had some not-calorie-friendly Chinese food and then yesterday we went to Red Robin: home of the all you can eat fries. You read that correctly, they serve fries like they were chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant. It’s delicious but a caloric/sodium nightmare. When I weighed in this morning, I was up to 235.2 so I gained 2.6 pounds which is insane since I only gained .6 pounds at New Orleans, home of the deep fried breakfast pastries with a canoe-load of powdered sugar. I don’t get it. I’m not happy about it. I feel like I have reached critical mass. I was good today, but could have been better. Tomorrow is back to counting, mindful eating, drinking plenty of water, and just being awesome at being the weight loser I know I am. I’ve still come a long way, but I’ve got a long way to go.

#10poundsdownbyXmas

See ya tomorrow.

Day 780: Weigh In Day

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The elections are already over?

I voted for Mayor McCheese because he was delicious.

I’m going to keep this incredibly quick because I still have a bit of a toothache and I need sleep.

I only ended up gaining .6 pounds so I am up to 232.6. I am going to stay the course, eat less, run more, and drink a ton of water.

Beautiful photos of New Orleans on Wordless Wednesday.

See ya tomorrow.

Day 778: Reflections on New Orleans

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So unless we aren’t friends at all on any social medium, you may have noticed my awesome amount of statues from New Orleans this week! Megan had a conference in the Big Sleazy so I had to tag along for the ride. It was ridiculous on multiple levels. I had a blast walking around the town, checking out the street art on Jackson Square, exploring the little stores in the French Quarter…and then eating. So much eating.

Here’s what I learned on my trip…

Beignets and I have got a groovy kind of love. I ate them three times this trip…every morning. It’s hard not to just go down there and just soak up that quintessential New Orleans experience. There was something so calming about walking around a city before it wakes up, before it becomes the tourist trap that it kind of is. It was a delicious decision every morning to get powdered sugar all over your clothes while reading the local weekly newspaper and slowly drinking a cafe au lait in hopes that you wouldn’t sear off your tastebuds.

I’m more adventurous with food now than I have ever been. Although I think it helps that I was actually somewhere that deserves the label “a foodie town” (unlike Tallahassee…no offense Tally.) I tried some pretty exotic stuff from head cheese (Wikipedia it and the first sentence involves the term “meat jelly”) to rabbit jambalaya. Oh yeah… and smoked duck quesadillas, pork belly sandwich, pancetta mac n’ cheese and even duck confit ravioli. Like the beignets, it was hard not to just go nuts and try everything and anything that sounds rich and delicious.

Working out in a new city and while on vacation is a lot of fun! I’m going to do a big post about this later this week or so, but I still put 30-40 minutes in to exercising a day in to the hotel gym and running around the city this morning (although there is seriously nothing grosser than taking in a deep breath while running and inhaling the stagnant scent of last night’s vomit.) Granted I needed to spend about an hour or so more in the gym, but I still easily walked a good 5 miles a day around the city.

I have some awesome fans in Austin! I met up with Megan’s best friend Bethany who goes to school at UT which is where I met Heather. Come to find out Heather and her awesome co-workers at Capstar Parkers are big fans of the blog and have been doing their share of SAWSing it up and losing weight like ballers! It was so encouraging to know that I am hopefully helping people out there in the blogosphere! It really makes me want to be a more consistent blogger and to be more accountable because that’s what this blog is about. Thanks for reading Heather and gang! The next time I’m in Austin, let’s go for a run!

So I have no disillusions about how my weigh in is going to go on Tuesday. It’s going to be rough. But I learned from this trip about the importance of “treating yourself” when it is warranted. I truly feel like I would have missed out on a lot of the New Orleans experience if I hadn’t tried the local food which in this case is rich and delicious. On the other hand, eating stuff like cookies and a whole bag of chips isn’t treating yourself, it’s cheating on your diet and cheating yourself out of a healthier life. This trip made me want to be good so I can explore and try unhealthy stuff like on this trip. See ya tomorrow.

Day 771: Monday!

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Confession: I am addicted to Gossip Girl. Nothing better than irrational children dealing with adult problems.

So I’ll keep this brief because frankly it was a little boring. Overall, I was pretty good with food even though dinner was pretty high calorie.

For breakfast, I had a SmartOne breakfast sandwich and then had a banana and an apple for a snack. It kept my metabolism up throughout the day.

For lunch, I had two Boca chicken burgers on two english muffins. I also had a slice of pumpkin pie that Megan had made yesterday. It was even more delicious than it was last night!

So up until this point I had only had 15 points, so I was in good shape up until that point. For dinner, Megan and I went to Bella Bella, this awesome local Italian restaurant that blows the water out of your fly-by-night Olive Garden. Anyway, I had the blue crab ravioli with vodka sauce. I also had a salad with a gorgonzola vinaigrette. Yeah, it was probably on the unhealthy side, buy holy smokes was it delicious.

So tomorrow is a weigh in. It’s probably not going to be great, but I’m going to have the opportunity to work out pretty much every day the rest of this week…but more on that later. See ya tomorrow.