You are what you eat...

So last year I really put effort into working out and getting healthier. This year...not so much. I was ok with this until a little while ago. I had lost about 18 pounds before our wedding last June and had kept it off until the Holidays, of course :( Well I have since been feeling "heavier", although I've only gained about 3 pounds back my body isn't as toned as it was and feels "jiggly-er". 

Well I remember a friend of mine had found this website, My Fitness Pal, to help her track her eating and exercising. She said that it's completely free and pretty handy...so I thought I'd give it a shot.

First you create an account and choose if you want a millions emails sent to you (I declined). Then you enter your "stats": height, weight and neck, waist, and hip measurements and you decide if you want to lose, maintain, or gain weight (I chose "lose"). And also how much weight you want to lose/gain by your chosen date.

Based on what you decide it calculates how many calories, carbs, fat, protein, and calcium you should consume each day to meet your goal. Then each day you log what you eat and how much water you consume, also what you do for exercise. Well yesterday I did awesome, except for the water (only 1 glass, but it's because I left my water bottle at home)! I was so proud of myself for staying within my dietary goals and I didn't exercise (which I usually don't do Mon-Thur because of my work schedule).

                         Calories    Carbs      Fat    Protein    Calcium
Daily Goals:         1200         165       40        45           100
Today's Total:      1189         122       35        99             94
Remaining:             11           43         5       -54              6     (for the most part you want positive #s here)

Well...today at work we had decided to have a potluck lunch during our weekly meeting. And I caved...big time. There was just sooooo much good food. I mean really good food: chicken fettuccine alfredo, glazed meatballs, taco dip, spinach dip, pasta salad, 2 kinds of brownies! There was also fresh strawberries, shrimp cocktail, hummus, and fresh veggies (my contribution)...but the other things were just so good. During lunch I dutifully made a mental note of what I was consuming in order to record it afterwards. And when I did, EEK! Big time EEK! Apparently I ate almost ALL of today's AND tomorrow's calorie allotment just during the potluck!

So without even having dinner yet this is my "standing":

                         Calories    Carbs        Fat    Protein    Calcium
Daily Goals:         1200         165         40        45           100
Today's Total:      2761         375       101        89           146
Remaining:          -1561       -210        -61       -44           -46

I'm really trying to look for "silver linings" in situations (because I can easily lean towards grumpy and negative) and today's is that now I realize just HOW much I eat during potlucks. Note to self...little bits add up, FAST!

Tomorrow's a new day, right?

Weekend Plans

So many things to do, so little time to do them. I have recently gone back to working 5 days/week (I used to work M-Th, 4 10's). I thought it would be ok...but I'm really missing Fridays at home...I mean really missing them. :(  And now that the weather is FINALLY getting warmer, I am kicking myself for agreeing to this change. sigh.

Well I have been trying to plan my weekends (as in Saturdays and Sundays) better now that I only have 2 days instead of 3. So this weekend's plans include:

tonight: dinner and/or movie with my little sis. My sister is amazing and I love her so very much. She is 5 years younger than me and we are finally at similar stages in life. So it's been really fun to hang out with her now that she is less like "my little, baby sister" and more like "my peer".


No, she's not THAT much taller than me. I was in
flip flops and she was still wearing her 4 inch heals.


tomorrow: Let's Dish date in the AM with my very good college friend and likely lunch together afterwards because honestly after putting all those meals together I am famished! And then I am going to visit hub's aunt. She has a cute little store in Stillwater and I haven't been there for months! I love her tons and she's like "my" aunt. I know she's my aunt through marriage, but she feels like an aunt from "my family". She's great and her store is great!

And by Sunday night: my big goal is to have our guest bedroom cleaned up...at least a little bit. It is atrocious and embarrassing...and yes, I will take before and after pics. I have grand ideas for that room and need to just get going on it because it plays into my P.L.A.N...more on that later.

So in a nutshell that's my life this weekend, some fun, family, and friends mixed in with some grown up responsibilites.

I'm also going to work on getting the my post and photo area to widen...I got the design to be wider but can't figure out how to allow larger photos to be fully shown...hmmm

Turkey-loaf

Being from the Midwest meatloaf was a staple meal growing up. The standard ingredients included ground beef, ketchup, mustard, saltine crackers, etc. Meatloaf was always a meal that I didn't mind eating the 1st time, but never made efforts to eat the leftovers. I wasn't a fan of how dry it got after that 1st meal.

So when Matt and I started living together I naturally started thinking of meals that I grew up with to start to incorporate into our "menu". Well I tried to make meatloaf and...it was not good. I don't know what I did and didn't do right, but it wasn't the same. And that recipe card still sits in the recipe box.

Well last year a couple friend of ours invited us over for dinner and made meatloaf...turkey meatloaf. I had never had turkey meatloaf or as she calls it "turkeyloaf" and it was amazing! We have since made this recipe at least once a month and I have voluntarily eaten the leftovers. So to potentially help someone else's recipe box

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 - 3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp BBQ sauce
1 Tbsp mustard
1/2 tsp season salt
1/2 onion, chopped up
1 package (6oz) Stove Top stuffing

1) mush all together
2) form into a loaf, in a loaf plan

cook at 350 degrees:
shorter/flatter loaf: 40 min
thicker loaf: 45-50 min

Enjoy!

Broken Compass

I need a plan, a direction, a something. I feel like my compass has been spinning in crazy circles refusing to point North since we got married last year.

I am very much a "planner". I don't feel settled without having something to work towards. Just "being content and enjoying life" is not relaxing to me. I literally can.not.do.it and believe you me, since last June I have been trying to just settle in and enjoy the ride. But for me, it's like being on a roller coaster and not knowing if your going up, down, or around.

The silver lining: I found a husband who is very similar to me. I think he gets it, maybe not exactly how my internal cogs work, but he gets my need "to-do". He gets my very unsettled, restless (yes, I know that was redundant) ways because...he's is this way too.

The difference is that he just goes out and "does it". He makes it happen, whatever "it" may be, while I can get very caught up in the details: the how's, what's, when's of it all. And I then get frustrated with lack of progress.

Well this weekend I have decided to just go out, start walking, and find my North.

Blog Stalking

So I have decided to actively seek out blogs that are interesting to me and my current lifestyle. As much as I enjoy reading about others' pregnancies, babies, and kids...it's just not where we're at right now and it's too hard to keep reading about all the details. So I have actively been looking for blogs that do not revolve around these topics.

Let me say that there are a couple that I LOVE and will continue following no matter what, but otherwise I went through my profile and stopped following some. I know that's probably the equivalent of "defriending" on Facebook but it was necessary.

In the meantime I've found some AMAZING blogs that have to do with crafting, cooking, and organizing. yeah! So I will be blog stalking these new finds and hopefully learn some new things to try out on my own...and maybe tryout the whole "buttons" thing.

Happy Light = Happy Me

When a coworker joined my department last December she brought with herself a very unique "desk lamp". We were new coworkers so it was a little while before I asked about it. She shared with me that she, like sooo many Minnesotans, suffer from "winter blues" and bought this light a few years ago to help with it. She uses it for a few hours every morning at her desk and helps her body get the Vitamin D that is in such short supply in our wee winter hours (when the sun is only out while we're in the building).

Well for months I've been thinking that I could probably benefit from trying something like this but...her's was about $90. Ok it's not like we're "poor" or not able to pay our bills...I'm just really fruggle (thanks dad)! And I just couldn't bring myself to spending this when let's face it at some point summer was going to come.

Well earlier this week I had ordered some pics for the house from Walgreens. Well what was sitting right there on the clearance shelf... but a Happy Light! And for only $20! So I thought, "heck, why not?" Well I've been using it for the first 2 hours each day at my desk and you know what...

I haven't felt like slapping anyone! haha! Honestly I don't know if it's really working of if it's a placebo affect but I have felt more energy throughout the day and have noticed myself being more social with coworkers (something I'm usually too annoyed to bother with).

I actually bought the mini one which is slightly shorter, but you get the idea

Ugh...

I was so excited to start this blog but lately I have been feeling so boring and am at a loss of what to write about, which is why I haven't made a point to write since earlier this week. I don't want to fill this up with mindless nonsense just to say I wrote something that day.

But lately I have been exploring other peoples' blogs and have been finding some pretty good ones. I have found some that have to do with cooking, crafting, and fitness and have really been enjoying reading those. Unfortunately for me I am finding a lot, and I mean A LOT, of blogs about babies and parenting. I am not at that point and it's hard to want to read about someone else's babies, kids and all that goes along with that. It also doesn't do anything for me except make my "baby rabies" act up. For example I was caught up reading one mom's post about the amount of formula they have been going through since their attempts at breastfeeding aren't going as planned and I started thinking to myself, "well how much can a baby really eat?"

And I ask this because I literally have NO IDEA. I have always been the person in the room who very honestly admits I am NOT the person to ask anything about kids and their milestones. And I'm ok with this. I do not have a kid therefore why should I know what goes on at particular ages??? But because I have a weird love of learning anything (even if it doesn't pertain to my life) I found myself google'ing this question and ended up on a number of websites pertaining to kids and parenting. Ugh!

I have also been learning how to connect my blog with others' yet haven't made the leap to officially connect them together because honestly, I don't think I'm writing about anything that anyone else would want to read about at this point. And who knows, maybe I never will and I'll just keep this little blog to myself and continue with 0 followers.

And because I realize how boring posts can be without any pictures and this is how I've been feeling lately...