Grazing.

Cows do it and I guess I will too. I have always been one to eat all day. Every few minutes. Or few hours. I felt the need to be chewing, or nibbling or hell even devouring something. That's a part of who I am. It won't change I just have to admit it CAN be an issue and change it slightly.

Hello. My name is Valecia. And I. I am a grazer.

Generally with a day at the restaurant. (I'm a waitress/manager) It's some a pancake, a glass of chocolate milk, some fries (with mayo and hot sauce or ketchup and ranch), chicken strips, or a burger. All day until I go home and say, "Baby...what's for dinner?" Not knowing that I have probably went over my day's allotment of calories before I even punched out and came home. FYI I generally stop at Mrs. Fields' for a cookie or Target for a snickers on my way home from work. It makes my fight with public transportation a bit easier.  Until yesterday.....

So I became conscious of my grazing and realized it was a big part of who I was and I wasn't going to stop it. I was just going to get far better at it. Yesterday morning I got to work a bit early so I could enjoy a bowl of mixed fruit (cantaloupe, honeydew melon, banana slices and red grapes) topped with strawberry go-gurt and a low-fat granola. As the customers came in in droves and waitressing kicked into gear I found myself hungry about two hours later. My choice? Half a cup of fruit. Two hours later? A side salad topped with two ounces of salsa and 2 tablespoons of light ranch. Two more? A bowl of cream of potato soup topped with a light sprinkle of cheddar and a tablespoon of sour cream. With that I had finally made it through the work day. I steered clear of Mrs. Fields and Target for the obvious reasons. I came home and snacked on an apple. When the scary question of dinner arose for me and the beau he immediately said, "Hamburger and fries". Which lit up in my head turkey burger and baked sweet potato fries. Oh and a tasty side salad.

It was a very difficult day but I made it. One day at a time. In a restaurant full of greasiness. I made it as an unhealthy grazer on the pattern to reform. I'm proud of yesterday...now onto today.

Friday's Eats!

It hasn't been a spectactular day, but it is my only day off. I am excited to hang aound the house in my pj's and just get some things done. Here's what I've been munching on today:

Breakfast:Bear Naked's Fruit and Nut Bar

I ate that in my local Sentry while doing a tad bit of grocery shopping. I bought a few fruits (apples, oranges, pomegranates, and grapefruits), some veggies for soup, chobani (honey flavored), and a few deli items. My fridge was starting to look extremely empty. I had a snack of two walnut halves and 2 Hershey's kisses. (Sorry....no picture)

It's pretty darn cold here in the dairy state. So I decided to make soup. The only soup that I can make lol, The infamous Weight Watchers Garden Vegetable soup

Lunch was...

Tuna Salad on Arnold's sandwich thins, a bowl of the garden soup, and nice navel orange

I snacked later on.....another bowl of soup and a chobani honey yogurt. Dinner was a delicious, but once again not pictured Jimmy John's #5 Vito Sub and BBQ Kettle Chips. I'm pretty full and finished. No more food for me!

Calorie total: 1,683
Fruit/Vegetable Servings: 7
Water Intake: 125 oz.
Feeling: tired

Yeah!!! The weekend is finally over!

Hello blogland! I hope all of you had boatfuls of family and shopping fun this weekend! I on the other hand had other things to do. Like work, work, work, and did I mention I worked a lot?! Moments like these I wish I had invested in a pedometer. I did about ten hours of restaurant managing, but I logged in about twenty-five hours of serving this weekend. When I say serving I don't mean I took a table here or there. I mean frantic non-stop flow of people will it ever stop serving. As I punched out of my final shift this week my computerized time card read 51.46 hours! Now time to prepare myself to do it all over again. Based upon my gladiator six day a week schedules I will have a day off this coming Friday! I guess I can't be really mad. I asked for this torture!

Anyway my eating habits have not been very good at all this past week. My super employee antics have me eating whatever I can when I can. That leads to quick, stuff in your mouth, convenient, not so healthy choices. Lots of fried crap, and very few fruits or veggies insight. Honestly I ate about 2 meals a day. Some of them were swallowed (yes swallowed, not eaten) within five minutes. I feel bad, because I KNOW that I knew in advance that this schedule and weekend were going to be ridiculous, so I could have put in more effort to plan my meals. Hmmm don't know if my activity outweighs my bad food choices or not. We'll see what the scale says Wednesday. Either way every meal is a new chance to make better choices! Stay healthy and Beautiful!

When there's a will, there's a weigh

I have been faking myself out for awhile now. Every since I canceled my gym membership I have been working out at home. But how do you know what kind of progress you're making if you don't weigh or measure yourself? The answer is.......you don't. I always knew I was getting in workouts, I knew some days I ate great and others I did not. I knew clothes were fitting differently, but honestly I didn't have a number to connect to the journey. I think at times I was glad I didn't. Reason one: because I have a tendency to go scale crazy. Once I get into my "mode" I can weigh myself upwards of 10 times a day! (I know very unhealthy) and Reason two: I was just too damn cheap to buy a new one. Reason three: I was scared of what it would read. Well I'm not saying I wont have the scale crazy moments I had before, but I'm not cheap and I'm not scared

...and that is the number which is my NEW beginning. Am I overjoyed that that's what I weigh? No it's 26.3 pounds lighter than where I began. Am I saddened by that number? No! It's where I pick up the pieces. It's the number I will look at months from now and beam with pleasure seeing how far I've come.

On a super-off topic I had the most fantastic dinner:

3 oz. of BBQ boneless skinless chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts with parmesan cheese, coconut cashew basmati rice, and acorn squash topped w/ baked cinnamon apple
It might not look that appetizing, but it was delicious!
Lately I've been working six days a week, hopefully I have a chance tomorrow to get in a workout. Take care!

Friday's Eats!

I've been trying to work at doing meal pictorials, but I have learned one thing about myself...I'm a hungry little princess and when the hunger strikes...I normally don't wait long enough to say grace, let alone pull out my camera! But I tried really hard and Friday (for the most part) I got it done!

Breakfast: McDonald's Egg McMuffin w/1 packet of strawberry jelly/reserves and apple dippers w/ Caramel Dip

Lunch: Grilled turkey bacon and cheese w/tomatoes, stone ground mustard, and spinach on Ezekiel Bread; Side salad w/ tomatoes, cucumbers, and mixed herb greens with Newmann's Own Light Italian and a small apple

Dinner: ....and under all that spinach is Subway's Black Forest Ham on 9-grain Honey Oat w/ Swiss Cheese and Fat-free Sweet Onion Sauce

Not pictured: The 3 miniature chocolate chip Mrs. Field's cookies I ate at the mall so fast I didn't even realized I devoured them!

Totaling: 1700 calories...not necessarily my best record, but I'm proud of how many veggies I got in there! There is always tomorrow!

CoMinG SoOn!

(ignore the caps issue I was just being....zany!) There are soooo many things I have discovered or Re-discovered online this past week. I am excited about all the new purchases I will be making soon....which leads to......that's right! REVIEWS!!!! Those up and comers are:
HAIR:
Avocado Oil
Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea Restructurizer
ORS No-Lye Olive Oil Relaxer
Healthy Fare
Pumpkin Oats (they look so yummy)
Vita-Tops (preferably the Mint Chocolate Chip ones)
Make-up
L'Oreal HIP Chrome Eyeliners (especially in Blue Spark)
Mac's Shale e/s
Essie nail polishes
Sigma Brushes
MAC's LE Comet Blue Dazzleglass (I will go through hell and high water to get this)
MAC's Bell Bottom Blue (discontinued), Blue Brown, Platinum, Milk (from HK collection) pigments
....and the perfect pink lipstick for my NW50 shade cuz this princess is in LOVE with pink!
Clothing
oh WOW!!! have I been clueless to all the great places a plus size barbie/princess like myself could get hot finds! Wet Seal(online), Faith21 (online-with 3x's coming soon!), Torrid(of course a staple), DebShops (a staple as well, cute clothes, but ehhh quality), Old Navy.com and my new overseas fave.....Dorothy Perkins!!! OMG why am I just knowing about Dorothy Perkins??!! That website is like....heaven!

Can't wait to start w/ these! Until then....stay beautiful ladies!

7/13/09

I'm a girl that likes adventure I get bored easily and boredom has talked me into some really really really dumb things. So when it comes to my workouts I try very very hard to keep boredom at bay. My current solution??? Using random and switching my speed intervals on the elliptical and the treadmill. Today I woke up pretty late for my workout and I didn't really get to the gym till about 9:45am! I didn't feel like strength training and since my trainer was busy with other clients I figured I could get on the treadmill furthest in the corner and do my thing unnoticed. Once a got on I was feeling a little more than brave. I hit a couple of magical buttons and lo and behold I began a 45 minute trek that had moderate speeds and intense varying inclines. What kinda damage did I do in my 45 minutes you ask??? 512 calories and I'm pretty freaking proud!

Breakfast: Yoplait light yogurt in Strawberry Banana and a large peach
Lunch: Qdoba Mango Salsa Chicken Salad
Snack: Green Monster incl. 1 c. spinach 1/2 banana, 1/2 tsp. flax seed, 1/2c. original almond breeze, and ice
Dinner: 4 oz. Tilapia 1 c. brocolli and a side salad
Snack: 1 c. green grapes and a Snicker's Marathon Nutrition Bar in Dark Chocolate Crunch

Rambling 101

I have so many unrelated topics to spew that I'm going to do a ramble. Haven't done one of these in a while and it doesn't require me to think hard about it LOL. Here WE GO!

* I weighed in yesterday at 252 Yeah!!! I had stalled for a while this really put a smile on my face!

*Friday I went to the gym twice! YEP Twice! I know you're thinking so what! But for me that is like life...a song worth singing!

*I've realized that I have FINALLY broken up with meat. We are cordial and see each other every once in a while, but we are no longer tied to the hip as we used to be.

*I have a photo shoot in exactly 10 days! I am excited, nervous, anxious, and all the things that come along with it. It's also my first shoot. I will show the world that I am beautiful at 252...damn near gorgeous even!

*I really want to be a plus size model. I came to this conclusion after a lot of urging from my ex, unfortunately how much modeling do you think I can do at 27 that's considered elderly!

*I feel like it's my healthy lifestyle duty to take everyone I know and love to Whole Foods Market. I took a co-worker Sunday and I loved watching her face light up at food she had never experienced before. I felt like a proud mama!

*Lately my stamina has been off the Richter scales. My trainer said, "That's what good eating and exercise do to you...I know he's right

*OMG I bought kale and flax seed meal and I'm using it!

*I bought coconut water....never again!

* I use olive oil, red wine vinegar, sea salt and fresh ground pepper on salads now. WOW I was addicted to Hidden Valley Ranch for years!

* I don't know if it's the veggies and fruits or the new Clinique regimen or both but my skin is like dark chocolate goodness now...clear and smooth...not flawless, but clear and smooth!

*I haven't done some super crazy out there MAC shopping lately. I have an appointment there next Sunday. Pre-shoot to show me how to duplicate a look since I'm my own make-up artist for that day. I hope I don't buy the counter!

* I applied at the new sephora in my area today. I hope I get it. It would be a great part-time job! Selling pancakes is getting old. I've been doing it for four years now!

* I hope you all in blog land are doing well. I can not tell you enough how much you all inspire me!

The WL Journey

I have been doing great with staying in my caloric range! I'm pretty dang proud of that and actually yesterday I stayed on the lighter end of the scale. It wasn't a problem until I woke up this morning freakin famished!!! Yeah that 1,336 calories is Just NOT enough!! But according to the great super computer of SPARKPEOPLE I was a lil low on carbohydrates. Maybe that had a little to do with it. But anyway this morning the furnace was really in need of some wood. LOL (Oh God that is soooo messed up) LMAO so I had a Big breakfast.



This was this mornings breakfast....excuse the toast I am actaully a great cook but I ALWAYS burn toast!! Go figure!:) 465 calories of furnace burning fuel....LOL just an update!

This is my salad......

Without it I am nothing. Without me my salad is nothing.


So I have been pretty diligent about my caloric intake these last two weeks. I try not to go over 1650. I must confess I haven't been anywhere near the gym (which I partially blame on the BF. I believe he threw away both of my IPODs in the move process) But I've been kick ass about what I put in my mouth. Everyday I track my food on sparkpeople.com and realize that I don't eat nearly enough fruits and vegetables. Mainly veggies. It's not that I hate them. It's just that I kinda "forget" to incorporate them into my meals.


So I introduce to you the big ass lunch salad. It helps, and keeps me full longer than anything else I would have chose to eat instead, and I filled it with all my faves: grilled chicken breast, tomatoes, cucumbers, Saladena's Mediterranean Feta Cheese Crumbles and Kraft Fat Free Italian dressing.. I am known for demolishing a healthy salad with loads of dressing, but I nabbed the kraft light packets from work last night and 4 packets is still ONLY 60 calories!!! How hot is that. I paired it with a 1/4 c. of blueberries and a Quaker True Delight Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut Bar (Gotta try them they are to DIE for) and with all that being said my lunch was only 454 calories.

Off day eating

Just throwing out my meals for the day just seeing it printed makes me feel more accountable.


Breakfast
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. soymilk
3 TB of Nature's Path Pumpkin Granola
1/2 sliced banana
10 frozen blueberries
1 TB brown sugar



LUNCH:
Subway foot long subway Veggie Delite


DINNER:2 chicken wings
1/2 c. red beans and brown rice
1 c. okra

And that's where I'm gonna end it tonight

Food, hair, Beauty finds and other mumbo jumbo

FOOD



First yesterday was AMAZING!!!!! I planned out my meals meticulously!

B: frosted strawberry shredded wheat and soy milk

S:Luna Morning Vanilla almond Bar and apple slices

S2: (I worked a 10 hour management shift and it was busy too busy for a real meal) string cheese and apple slices

L: 1 chicken wing, 1/2 c. red beans and rice, and 1/2 c. okra

D: Qdoba naked chicken burrito no rice, sub lettuce and a brownie yum!!!!


and I was done for the day or so I believed until a late night phone call to my BF had us running out at 11 pm to some random club in Milwaukee with his friends! alcohol consumption *sigh* ruined my ever so thought out plan not to mention the rueben I ate at 4 am when we moved over to the next location...the casino! *sigh* I think those calories kinda roll over to today's since it was past midnight so I don't have a lot of options today good thing it's 2pm and I'm just getting up. I think I'll stick to H20 all that alcohol made me dehydrated.

MAKEUP


last night I was feeling rather hmmmm...unattractive, and BROKE! I was thinking about my make-up purchases and how I gotta curb my spending and still put forth effort to look hot. That clinique I have is a tinted moisturizer. My friends say I don't need foundation at all, but I just like the coverage. There's a girl I work with who has never paid more than 12 dollars for any makeup she's purchased and she was the most adorable well put together manager in our crew. She told me she uses Dream matte mousse foundation. I decided to look it up and check it out. Of course around 9 pm I was at walgreens making the purchase so far I like it I used it for bar night last night. We'll see how it looks at work today if it's not hot...RETURN! I also bought Maybelliene shiny-licious in Raizn' Razzle, and a wet n' wild lip liner.


HAIR

This is just a picture of some of the items in my new hair care regimen. Not pictured is my infusium 23 and olive oil mix I spray in my cornrows. I do that in the morning and at night, or whenever I feel moisture is needed. I keep my hair braided so I can't see major difference yet, but I can say I don't get anymore shedding at the nape and ends. The back used to feel horribly brittle and broken. Anytime I touched it I'd have hair in my hands. That's only after week 1! I am 17 weeks post relaxer (wow) and I get one sometime this coming week. Boy oh boy I can't wait to see what it looks like. Hope I'm not disappointed.

well that's all my ramble today toodles!

Addictions (not for the hungry or faint hearted)

I believe that every person that has an weight problem has some sort of addiction. Some food that is there trigger food. I have many. Some have been there as long as I can remember, others are things I picked up along the way. So let's get the list started shall we?????


I think the pic and the happiness on my face speaks for itself. I have a hard and I mean HARD time leaving the grocery store or any store for that matter without one. The combo of smooth milk chocolate and creamy peanut butter makes more sense to me than PB & J (don't get it twisted I love those too:) Yep 230 of my calories go to these sinful decadent treats and honestly it's hard to stop.

Then there are the other ones I picked up in life. Working as a high end conference center server I gained a love for all things exotic and decadent. Things I could only have at work or at super great restaurants rarely or just things I didn't ordinarily eat the number one vice was paella.

Paella (IPA: [pa'eʎa]) is a rice dish which originated in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Valencia near lake Albufera, a lagoon in eastern Spain.[1] Spaniards consider paella to be one of their national dishes.
There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella (Spanish: paella valenciana), seafood paella (Spanish: paella de marisco) and mixed paella (Spanish: paella mixta); but there are many others as well. Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat, snails, beans and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood and sometimes beans.
The varieties of rice used are usually Calasparra[2][3] or Bomba[3]. Other key ingredients include saffron, and olive oil.
This dish has gained considerable popularity throughout most of the Spanish-speaking world, including the Hispanic regions of the United States. It also enjoys moderate popularity throughout Western Europe.


Thanks wikipedia!
anywho, this, Coke Zero, bruschetta on petit toast, giardineria, a great steak, homemade buttermilk ranch dressing, anything that combines mint and chocolate, a good Merlot, a great chardonnay, good Mexican food, and just unabashed food decadence are my trigger points. They immediately bring me to this happy, euphoric state. And then afterwards..it all comes crumbling down.

That's when I start to think and ask myself questions: How long do I really want to be the fat girl? How long do I want to buy my clothes in the higher end of the plus size section? How long do I want to have aches and pains that just aren't common for a 27 year old woman? How long do I want to be UNHEALTHY???

So I struggle with those addictions everyday, because they are the gates that separate me from my healthy body. I'm trying to move closer to my new found loves: roasted zucchini, portobella mushrooms, and eggplant, strawberry yogurt and granola, Greek salads, and egg whites with salsa. My addictions wont stop me from being as thin and healthy as I want to be they will just make getting there that much sweeter.

Not bad for a day off

So I have a new management schedule and oddly enough I have thursdays and fridays off now. Personally I think that's a pretty sweet deal. My eating habits are normally the worse on my days off. Actaully they are not that bad but I always have to find something to occupy my time so I wont randomly, mindlessly eat. I know that thing should be exercise, but today *sigh* it wasn't I was pretty busy though. BREAKFAST:
1 poached egg
1 piece of whole wheat toast with SF strawberry preserves
2 slices of Jenni-O extra lean turkey bacon
5 strawberries with 2 oz. 2% cottage cheese and splenda


That pretty much held me over for the morning I put enough protein in that meal to tide me over until I got the house clean and ran errands.


LUNCH:
turkey sandwich w/ lettuce, tomato, hummus and stone ground mustard on WW bread
1 claussen pickle spear
1/2 cup of Progresso Vegetable and Rice soup


Not much to say here wasn't in that hot of a mood so I took a nap after lunch. I decided to cook dinner. Actually I cook on all my days off. I have to. If my BF was in charge everything would have lard in it. So I made.....

DINNER:
Baked chicken wings (I had 2)
red beans and brown rice (a recipe I found on sparkpeople)
and okra


I don't think I actually want a desert tonight I've just been feeling really blah so a glass of sugar free lemonade will do me just fine.

a quick update

So I have to be up early in the AM so I'll make this quick
Food:
Breakfast: Nothing (I know I know) bad me, but I slept in so doesn't it kinda even out
Lunch: Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bol- (Romaine lettuce, black beans, chicken, pico de gallo, corn salsa, and very light cheese and sour cream) and 1 glass of Coke Zero
Snack: Reese's Peanut Butter cups
Dinner: Brown Sugar Salmon, Brocolli, and Bob Evans Mashed sweet potatoes
Calorie Total:1,544
yep I'm done

The aftershock

Soooo my boyfriend believes that he gets a WEEK to celebrate his birthday. I told him 21 year olds get a week to party. Thirty one year old such as himself get a day...maybe two. DAMN did we pack a lot in a day I'm sooo tired! My batteries died wish I had pics.

Yesterday I worked till 2:30 pm, came home, showered and changed and the adventures began. First we went to dinner at some lil cute Milwaukee diner he loves so much. Yeah my eating habits were SO NOT on point. We both had reubens with french fries. God I love those things:D I really miss not good for you food sometimes *sigh*

Next we moved on over to the bradley center for the Bucks game. Where the Bucks served up a whopper ass whoopin' to the Dallas Mavericks 133-99 I believe. I'm proud to say I didn't buy anything to eat(but that's because we shared a king size reese's peanut butter cups on the way there). Afterwards we headed out to meet his crazy friends for drinks. Which turned from let's get a few drinks to...."let's get completely smashed" Oh does my body feel it now. And somehow at 4 am we all were at a denny's eating burgers *sigh* yeah I know Not good at all, but I'll be back on track tomorrow. I'm fully aware that sometimes fun costs. They all decided to sleep over our place and in the morning we all took an impromptu trip to Chicago and I got home with just enough time to shower and dress for work. So yeah I'm pretty freakin' exhausted!!! Tomorrow it's back to the gym. Picking up where I left off.