Using my Anger...

I have been completely reticent in my blogging due to my inability to stop shoving carb filled treats into my mouth. I am wracked with guilt and although I have not weighed myself, I am fairly certain that any progress I made a couple of weeks ago has disappeared. Its like the self-sacrifice never happened. I have eaten garlic bread, pizza, pasta, chicken nuggets, mcdonalds fries and chocolate in such excess that one would think I have an extra camel- like stomach where I am hoarding food for the winter (or this century's great depression - take your pick).

I feel AWFUL. There are no words to describe the guilt and anger I feel. I think I have hit rock bottom. There is no where else to go but up. With new, steel-like determination, I have made a promise to myself and to you, my steadfast supporters, that I will not fail again. It is NOT an option. If I am ever going to be happy with the way I look and the way I feel fitness-wise, I need to grow some gumption and willpower. I need to learn that food is not a comfort for stress. It may feel GREAT short-term but then when you get on the scale, the stress triples with the additional weight. My self-confidence plummets and I feel so lost again. Its depressing, disheartening and worst of all self destructive because not only am I decimating my self-esteem, I am actively destroying my health and well-being. I am done. Done feeling like a pretty girl trapped in a tub of lard. I am tired of being lazy. I am tired of feeling like this is who I am. Its NOT. I am better than this. I need to stop making excuses and just hit the ground running. I need to do this for ME. I have placed myself back at square 1. Nothing will get in my way now. Its GO time...

Wedding Weekend = Whale

For future reference, please note it is IMPOSSIBLE to be good while away at an out of town wedding. There are too many irresistable temptations and situational circumstances working against you. Here is an abridged list of what I had to work with:

- Nothing but greasy or carb filled airport food in my 2.5 hour layover in Chicago (to and from PA mind you)

- Rehearsal dinner menu consisting of mac n cheese, potatoes, polish sausage dogs, cookies and cake

- Wedding dinner menu consisting of sauce laden chicken, potatoes, pasta, bread and grilled veggies

- An open bar

- A hotel situated with only diners and a Chili's within a reasonable distance for breakfast and lunch options

- An indescribable hunger for all foods native to PA (sticky buns, fried ravioli, etc)

Is it any wonder that not only did I completely cheat the entire weekend but I crashed and burned? It was a failure of epic proportions. I WAS able to limit my beer consumption and that is literally the only dietary success that I can report at this time. Everything I ate this weekend is about as bad as you can imagine. I am not kidding. I refuse to go into the details. It will only work to make me even more miserable. I must now come to grips with my reality: I am a whale, a baby beluga that is currently beached on the shore. Someone, ANYONE, please push me back to sea. I am dying here.

Off the Ledge

Thank you to my wonderful support group who successfully talked me off the ledge. I am still on track and now very committed to getting results. Last night I ate a small Cobb salad with MINIMAL blue cheese. I had a fudgesicle for dessert. Today I had my requisite latte for breakfast and black bean soup for lunch. I am feeling pretty good about my consumption thus far but don't worry, disaster awaits. Here is my current dilemma. There is an MBA alumni event that I really want to attend but its an all you can eat-all you can drink sort of thing... The only thing worse than setting me free at an open bar is setting me free at an open bar with copious amounts of free food. Let's face it. If I attend, I am completely screwed. I will fall so far off the wagon that you will need to use a crane to lift me out of the hole I will create when gravity conspires with my increasingly supple ass as I hit the ground. I'm just sayin.'

So that is the current decision of the day. If I don't go to the alumni event, I can go home and watch the debates and drink by myself. Uh.... did that sound horribly depressing to anyone else? Anyway, I need to decide and fast; I still have some errands to run before funtivities begin so please reply with suggestions or general chastisement for the predicament in which I currently find myself. Mwah :)

Willpower Hanging on by a String

I weighed myself this morning. The scale has not budged. I feel like no matter how much I sacrifice, I am just not getting the results I want (and feel I deserve). In fact, I feel like that there isn't much point in putting myself through this misery. I am tired, irritable and hungry all the damn time. If this is the way its going to be, I would rather just accept my propensity to be rotund and get back to Thai noodles and cheeseburgers asap. I know I need to be patient but I have not had any changes in 5 days. FIVE DAYS. That is obscene and ridiculous. But worst of all, beyond demoralizing. Let's add to this abortion of a day by my finding out that all my work in generational demographic research and workforce planning has rubbed some of the more "mature" and "talented" employees in HR the wrong way because they think they are being made obsolete by younger workers. I am sorry but when 93% of your workforce is under 45, it just makes fiscal and practical sense to focus on the majority of your workforce and the workforce demographic you are anticipating in the future. You have to change with the times! Ugh. I got quite the email after my presentation yesterday when I talked about how T-Mobile should look at leveraging learning solutions that resonate with the Gen X and Gen Y workers. Somehow we should instead allocate a shitload of funds for 7% of the population that will be retiring in the next few years. Uhh... seriously? Grr.

I am clearly holding on by a thread and it is frail. Please friends, tell my why I should continue this charade when I am sooo obviously failing and unhappy? :(

Not a Horrid Day But There's Still Time Left...

Hello lil blog buddies. I am back for another installment of why I should be shot in the head and left in a gutter. No. Not really. I wasn't awful for dinner last night. I consumed a chicken taco salad (sans tortilla) around 6PM and some light lemonade (5 calories bitches). Today I drank my latte and had a yogurt. Of course during the department meeting they were handing out breakfast pastries like they were going out of style and I caved. I had one of those mini poppy seed muffins. How bad was that? Be honest friends. Its terrible. What was I thinking? I was punished by the gods by having a HUGE poppyseed stuck in my front teeth through the entirety of my presentation to the department. And in case you are wondering, yes, I still hate everyone.

Anyway, I am having tomato soup for lunch, assorted nuts as a snack and a piece of white meat with veggies for dinner. I must also publicly commend Riz for her exceptional results that will allow her to get the HOT dress for the wedding. Me = jealous. Just fyi. As a result, the Wii Fit and I are going to duel this evening and I will win.

Welcome to my Weekend Confessional

1. I had BK Chicken tenders on Sunday. They were delightful. Not gonna lie.
2. Last night I had 3 glasses of wine. I was drunk and started a fight with Chris for not taking me to Hula on a Sunday night. Claaaaaassy.
3. I had Thai food for lunch today and had a few noodles. This was also delightful and now I hate myself profusely.

I feel AWFUL for my slip-ups. I really hope this has not impacted my progress too much. I don't know what got into me but I just felt like letting loose a bit. This was probably butressed by the fact that:

A) Liz ate tasty goodness on Friday and drank on Saturday
B) Erica ate tasty goodness and enjoyed alcoholic beverages the entire weekend

I guess I was feeling quite left out in the weekend caloric carnival but don't worry. It appears I have made up for it all on my own. God I hate everyone. HATE. Why must chicken tenders be so incredible? Why is drinking white wine like smoking crack for me? Why the hell did I ingest Thai noodles that I could have easily ignored???!!!

Ok Thai noodles are now being digested. I am back on track. I guess it will be broth for dinner and Wii Fit for penitence. Everyone should also plan on shunning me for the rest of the day. Shun. Shuuuuunnnnnah.

Peace out.

I no longer crave carbs... I am over the hump!

My latest update is actually quite monumental. I have stopped craving carbs. Just straight up stopped. The protein is now satiating and satisfying me. I am happy. I am drinking water. I am not getting headaches and I am looking less beachball like. Weight loss to date? 5.5 lbs! And I will continue to live in my little world of delusion and claim it is not all water weight. Yesterday was pretty decent for eating. As Er mentioned in her post, we had a chicken and broccoli extravaganza for dinner last night and it was magnificent.

After dinner, I went to the ball game and was SOOO tempted. I caved a bit and got some dipping dots but did not drink any alcohol (ice cream can be ok in small doses and on rare occasions yes?). NO??? Shut up. If I say it is, then it is. I am justifying this with the walking that went down last night. We walked from Pioneer Square, to the International District, to the stadium and back which I surmise in total to be about 1.5 miles of walking. This morning I also got up and did 20 minutes on the Wii Fit before I went to work. Woot! Today's menu consisted of a latte, soup and salad for lunch and assorted nuts as a snack. I may have also had a tiny bit of chocolate but I think I will be ok. I am planning to have a light dinner (lean cuisine) and a lot more water. All in all, I did pretty darn good and I feel FANTASTIC. At this point in the blog you should not only be impressed and loving my dedication, you should also feel an irrational urge to lick me in startled delight of my awesomeness. Just FYI.

Would You Like Some Cheese With Your "Whine?"

I am not going to lie. I drank last night. I had 3 glasses of sauvignon blanc and got a little tipsy. It was delightful, especially after such a craptacularly long and busy day. I must admit that I feel very little remorse. I felt a bit sheepish this morning until I got on the scale and saw that I had lost another 1.5 lbs. WOOT. In addition my dinner was very light with two tiny chicken fillets and a green salad at 6:00PM. There was NO late-night dining which I believe makes a HUGE difference in dieting success. So there you have it: I drank, I had more than one glass and I still lost weight. I am not sure what the lesson learned here is except that you cannot succeed by completely denying yourself of all delectable pleasures. I am strict with everything else but have found that a glass of wine here and there will not break me. This morning I have had a non fat latte and for lunch some chicken chili. I am going to the Mariners game tonight and will likely consume diet coke. I will try to eat BEFORE the game so I am not tempted by the caloric catastrophe that are garlic fries and pints of beer. BLAH!

Anyway, wish me luck and I will stop whining about the game. It will be fun and I will succeed in saying no to the tasty delights of the baseball park. Mwah :)

Day 3: Stickin' to my Flabby Guns

So my diet is going well. I have lost 3lbs and please don't tell me its all water weight and let me live in my delusional world of weight loss ok? I am psyched and its keeping me motivated. My food consumption was the same as Day 2 except I had peanut butter instead of a no sugar added fudgsicle for dessert. I also had sessy time so that counts as some exercise right? Woot! Today my MBA program starts up again and we are going out for drinks tonight. I am going to try my darndest to not drink and get an iced tea instead. Will I succeed? Will I cave? I need help ladies because the last thing I need is to get into a tequila shot competition with the boys just to show them I can still hang. There will also be dinner served at school today and I didn't have time to pack my dinner so I will need to use all of my willpower to not indulge in a caloric carb fest at the buffet line. I am hoping they will at least have some salad and grilled chicken so I can make-shift a healthy dinner option. Hearts!

My Thinspiration

Ok so she is no Puerto rican but she is Cuban and that will have to do. She is also no great actress but she is smokin' hot and Chris has a huge thing for her which brings two persuasive components to her nomination as my thinspiration. She is also curvy with a pudonk-e-donk which creates an attainable goal for me to pursue. Say hello to the lovely Eva Mendes!


She has a smaller frame than me but is height-weight proportionate which is the key for all of us diet divas to keep in the forefront of our minds. Being Kate Moss is not reasonable or realistic for most women and in my mind, not attractive. Men want curves! They just also want us to have a waistline. I can't argue with that.....

Day 2 - Headache and Feeling Un"Fit"

So I made it through the entire first day without killing someone which is a major accomplishment. Trust me. I had a non fat latte, yogurt, lentils for lunch, string cheese and turkey pepperoni as a snack, no sugar added hot cocoa, a cup of soup and a 180 calorie grilled chicken and spinach lean cuisine for dinner. I also drank about 80 ounces of water. I had to pee approximately every 30 minutes. BAH!

I also got a headache later on in the evening and am growing concerned. I think I am going to start taking vitamins to ensure that I am getting the nutrients I need to maintain this craziness. I got a solid 10 hours of sleep last night and felt like complete ass this morning. I know the first few days are supposed to be rough but sheesh, this better improve soon or I will be pillaging the pasta bar at Whole Foods like no one's business. Just FYI.

In other news, my Wii Fit is an asshole. She yells at me when I don't use her for a few days. I haven't used her since I (re)started my diet and she even yelled at Chris when he was playing with the Fit to go find me and ask me where the hell I have been and why am I being so inactive? What a cu**.

I am not working out yet. I just don't feel the energy. I am sure this will change but in the interim, has anyone found a way to tell your Fit (in the nicest way possible of course) to kindly shut the f*** up or she will soon find herself at the pawnshop, sold off for her parts? Thanks.

Reward for Losing First 10lbs

I know these are way trendy but I think I could rock them:

Dolce Vita 'Tori' Slouch Boot
Velvety suede boot is designed with inset elastic goring at the wide banded top while the shaft features gorgeously slouchy volume. Hidden platform style is perched atop a skinny stiletto heel for a sassy finish.

Price: $249.95 from Nordstrom

Do we think this is a good reward for losing the first 10? Please discuss.

Back on Track

There is no way to sugar coat this so I am just going to say it - this last weekend was a diet disaster. There is no excuse for the excessive amounts of pure, unadulterated lard I injected into my body. I should be shot. Repeatedly. Perhaps in the stomach so I can stop filling it with greasy food. Just so that you can have an idea of what was consumed, take a look at this sampling:

• Enchilada
• Burrito
• Nachos
• Chicken Tenders
• Fries
• Ice Cream
• Fudgsicle

Does this sound like a person that is on a diet? I don't think so. I sat down to think about this turn of events last night and realized that I will be at my boyfriend's brother's wedding in less than 2 weeks. If that doesn't inspire me to lose 10 lbs on Southbeach Phase 1, I don't know what will. Recognizing that I am on a short timeline really helps me put things in perspective. Seriously. I am soooo gung ho. I refuse to be the porker in all the wedding pics. It will not happen. Last night I had a greek salad and a cup of butternut squash soup. Today I will be consuming yogurt, coffee, vegetable soup, string cheese and an assload of water. I am done dicking around.

Finding the Motivation

Hello world. It is I - the rolly polly ball of rican mush. Yes I am feeling quite discouraged due to my eating of a burrito and a sandwich yesterday. I have been good today (eggs and non-fat latte for breakfast) so far but what I really struggle with is staying away from booze and bread. Why were burgers and sandwiches invented? I could eat the things stuffed in a burrito or in a sandwich and be FINE!!! But instead I insist on a panini. There is just something magical about wrapping melted cheese, meat and veggies into a delightful, carb-based wrapper that negates the need for silverware. The other issue is booze. I am currently getting my MBA. There is a plethora of social networking events that require schmoozing and cocktails. I am a social person. I am also a cocktail person. You can see where this headed - no where good. I HATE the thought of giving up wine or cocktails for a diet. HATE it. But what can I do? How can I grow the willpower to say no? How can I stay away from the tasty goodness of burgers and sandwiches? Pizza is not a problem, pasta is not a problem. Even rice is not a problem (although I will miss handrolls). Why must I be burdended with a bread moratorium? I need help. I need my support group. I need someone to tell me that I shouldn't go to Happy Hour this afternoon. But if one of you brave souls attempts to do as such, be forewarned, I will likely tell you to go f*** yourself and go drink anyway. Its Friday, I'm bored and I need social lubrication to make friends. Just sayin'.

Why One Should Pack a Lunch...

Here are my options for BUYING lunch at work:
- Greasy Thai
- Greasy Chinese
- Greasy Indian
- Greasy Mexican
- Greasy American (a la Applebees)

Do you notice a trend here? Is it any wonder that I am not losing weight? In fact - it is a miracle that I have maintained. By all calculations, I should be sporting 2 additional fat rolls and an extra chin. Thoroughly disgusted and uninspired by my purchasing options for lunch, I am now committed to bringing a lunch that fits within the low carb-no sugar sort of lifestyle. Bring it on.