Accountable

Well, it's been a wacky few days, I got hit hard by carb cravings, but I'm committed to writing down the good, the bad, and the ugly. I figure even if it doesn't stop me from indulging every time, knowing I'm going to write it down does deter me from total pandemonium most days. I haven't gotten brave enough to publish my food diary from MyFitnessPal just yet, but I'm working on it.

I seem to derail mid-afternoon and I suspect boredom is the culprit not real hunger since I'm a later luncher. Something about 3:30 just makes me hungry. Maybe I should try taking a short walk instead of stuffing my face with snacks. I'm still making some teeny victories along the way, making better choices over all even on the "bad days." Monday, I got half way to the vending machine when I turned around and marched to my bag full of veggies instead. Veggies and hummus is way yummier than anything in the vending machine. I also find that I like crunchy foods. It almost doesn't even matter what it is, as long as there is some crunch to it. Crunchy or sweet. Yep, that pretty much describes my two favorite food groups!

Here are two of my favorite snacks:

Snack veg. Usually there's hummus, not Ranch.

At least 3 days a week this is my breakfast and often an afternoon snack.

What do you love to snack on?

It Happened...

So it happened. I turned 40.

It was so much fun! For my birthday, instead of a somber event I decided to combine my graduation party and birthday party for one big silly bash with a Grumpy Cat theme. Grumpy Cat is so much better than an over-the-hill theme. Ptooey on that.

The invitation

Me practicing being grumpy for the "photo booth".

The photo booth was a huge success in that lots of people took photos with grumpy cat, but the construction was seriously lacking. I forgot about wind. Oh the elements, you are a harsh mistress! Oh well, fun was had! 

The super awesome cake thanks to my buddy, Sira.

People, a Grumpy Cat Cake? Come on, so awesome. Ask and you shall receive.

Some of not very grumpy friends.
This is what you get when you meet people on the internet.
Reddit, specifically. Aren't they adorbs?

That last photo represented the Reddit section of my party. Those yahoos are all about ten years younger than me and mostly don't make fun of my age too much. They are still fairly new to me and already adored.

This is my friend Diane. She's really sick, like the kind I don't want to talk about and she took time to come to my party. Keep your fingers, eyes, and toes crossed that she's feeling better soon. Her lungs are being jerks and I love her so much. She is an amazing person who deserves to have every one of the days she has left pain-free and full of joy.


So basically, my day was super awesome. I think people had fun and I know I did. There were presents (I got a coloring book of unicorns and lots of other cool stuff), cake, snacks galore, and lots of laughter. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Thanks to every one of you who came to celebrate with me.

XOXO

Hobble Holly - Part II

Gimp report: things are improving. Lots of physical therapy and good improvement. I'm sick of being broken though and would like to be able to return to my "nomal" activities with ease.

This is the knee squish. There's a pillow under my knee and I have to squish it with force 20 times.

I'm going to attempt to minimize the whining, because, of course, it could be worse and some people don't have the luxury of being able to go to PT. I still reserve the right to hate it though.

Pain meds. Hoping to make these a thing of the past soon.

In more joyful news, this hummus is pretty rad. I have a confession, I'm an addict. I eat three or four containers of hummus every week. I love it. Anyhoots,this can of stuff isn't bad in a pinch, at all. It's got a really nice creamy texture, perfect for dipping veggies.

I've been pretty good about counting calories lately and logging them on MyFitnessPal. Only a couple days have been over the maximum allotment of calories, so not too bad after all! YAY! I'm down a couple more pounds and wearing my "skinny" pants and not dying. 

Tomorrow is my gradubirfday party. I turned 40 on the 10th and we're celebrating my recent graduation from grad school and my 40th. It's a bit of a big deal birhtday. I'm excited! More later, taters.

Let's Get Physical (Therapy)

I started Physical Therapy and it's kicking my ass. I can't believe a few tiny exercises are so exhausting! Even though the doc says I can do the elliptical, my physical therapist says only for five minutes and suggested waiting anyway. Based on how hard it's been, I'm going to heed her advice. My physical therapist's name is Allison and she's a cute little thing and has already warned me that she's a bit of a task master in a nice way. Bring it on, kid!

The last exercise is my favorite. It is a really great hamstring stretch and I can actually walk less like the Hunchback of Notre Dame for a few minutes after I do it!

In other news, eating has been going well this week. I feel like I've really gotten into the groove of things. I'm just doing old fashioned calorie counting with MyFitnessPal (southcitystudio if you want to be my pal!) and I can already tell a difference in how I feel and I'm less bloaty for sure. One thing I am doing differently though is changing my breakfast. The last couple days I have been eating a whole wheat muffin with turkey sausage and egg. It's been a much more filling choice than my usual Greek yogurt and almonds and is a fewer calories. Egg sandwich = 300 calories, Greek yogurt/almonds = 380.

Lastly, the new foster babies are being adorable like usual and I feel it's important to share their cuteness with the universe. Meet baby Ellie (8 weeks) and Reilly (10 weeks). Two little adorable fluffy princesses. Ellie is the sweetest little snuggle bug and Reilly is too, but ornery like her big sister Fifi. She's been running laps around the house day and night. Both are available for adoption through Tenth Life Cats www.tenthlifecats.org.

Ellie, she was telling me a really juicy story.

Reilly is a funny and sweet brown tabby with white socks.

Hobble Holly

I don't seem to be very good at not getting injured. As soon as I got some steam going for getting in shape again, I blew out my knee. :(

It started with a fitness test with the trainer I hired. My doc suspected I tore my meniscus doing a wall squat. (not her fault, just crummy luck) That's the squishy stuff that sits between your knee joint. I felt something burn, but I figured I was just being a wuss and I probably needed to walk it off or stretch more, or something. So, that weekend I still felt hurty, but I had hiking trip at Taum Sauk mountain planned with my friend and I didn't want to miss it being a sissy. Let's just say by the end of the hike (4,000 ft down, then back up 4,000 ft) I pretty much wanted to die. Again, I figured I was just being overweight and out of shape and told myself to buck up.

By the following Monday, Memorial Day, I couldn't walk at all and spent the afternoon in the ER. If I can't get from my bed to the potty to pee, I will finally surrender.

The Devil a.k.a the leg immobilizer. Don't let all that velcro fool you, that
sumbitch won't stay up where it should more than ten minutes at a time.

This saga ends with me having surgery to remove a cyst, torn meniscus, spurs, and arthritis in my right knee.

This sexy outfit was free of charge at the surgical center.
My photos aren't cooperating today, but trust me, it doesn't improve if you flip it right side up. 

Surgery was last Wednesday and I'm coming along pretty well. There was a full 7 days of captivity on my couch/bed. I'm back to work today and finally off the heavy-duty pain meds. I can put together coherent thoughts again.  I am on crutches, but only one most of the time. The past 36 hours have seen great improvement. YAY!

My follow up with the doctor is next Monday and I'll find out how soon I can start going to the gym again and if I'm going to need physical therapy and whatnot. The anticipated healing time is 6-8 weeks and I'm hoping I can shave a couple weeks off that. A girl has things she wants to do! :)

Later taters.

Hello, again. Looking Ahead.

I won't waste time with excuses for why I've been absent, that just frustrates me, frankly I'm sick of listening to myself make excuses, and besides is probably nothing you haven't heard before -- busy, work, school, blah, blah. Well, my school excuse has officially run out, I graduate on Friday! *happy dance*

Tonight was day #1 back at the gym and it felt good. I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical and burned about 475 calories. Which makes up for the crummy snacks I had earlier in the day, or mostly anyway. The gym felt like a big victory in a lot of ways, it's been that thing I'm not doing that I know I need to do sort of looming in the background. I'll admit peer pressure is playing a role in my motivation, I seem to be surrounded by health nuts at the moment. However, I must say, it's definitely a positive and encouraging vibe. On Thursday I meet with a trainer and will put together an plan for gym time. I am thinking also that I'll rotate in some belly dancing classes again and yoga. I know I like both of those things and hopefully that will help battle the boredom.

I'm formulating an action plan. That's right where I'm at. Also, it's good to be back. :)

Curry in a Hurry

Yesterday, Parker and I had a healthy cooking day and whipped up a few things to start stocking out freezers with healthy quick foods. We pinned recipes all week, then picked out three to make. We settled on three hearty vegetable crammed recipes: turkey chili, sweet potato and turnip curry stew, and cabbage and chicken sausage stew. Once we decided what we wanted we made a list and headed to the Farmer's Market for supplies, then hit Aldi for the remaining items. We spent a total of $30 and ended up making about 36 cups worth of lunch stew and chili plus a nice vinegar slaw to use for a side dish. Nice! Less than $1/serving for preservative and chemical free delicious noms. We ended up adding brown rice to both stews and some cream cheese to the curry to thicken it and ease the heat (I may have been overly generous with the curry paste, oops!). Our little cooking adventure was really motivating and I'm excited to have some fast food that's good for me and my wallet! I'm also eating curry for lunch today and I might actually be breaking a sweat...that's good for my metabolism, right?