Wednesday

I woke up to my grandma yelling that breakfast was ready. She doesn’t usually cook breakfast for me. But hey, I wasn’t going to complain. Awaiting for me was a bowl of grits, oranges, sour dough toast, and coffee. When I’m in Georgia, I always eat grits with scrambled eggs, and definitely not a huge bowl of it. But I don’t complain about free cooked food for me. I salted and peppered it and it was great. A little too much though. Also, I usually only eat wheat bread, but the sour dough bread was a nice treat. 

When I got to work, there was a disgustingly huge bowl full of every kind of sweet and candy imaginable. There was sees candy, peeps, reeses...just EVERYTHING. So, I grabbed a sees caramel pop. Yeah. 

And THEN, my Aunt Kelly brings in a Monkey Cake. Yeah. A monkey cake. Those things are pure deliciousness and butter. I had a slice. 

I ate lunch about 1:00. I had one slice of leftover pizza, 1 small piece of cheesy bread, and 1 apple. It was definitely filling. 

At about 4:00 I was starting to get a lil bit hungry again. So I ate my grandma’s home-made red velvet and cheesecake cupcake...yeah.

I wasn’t hungry when Bubby made dinner at 6:00. I decided to Zumba today before dinner. Bubby found a whole Zumba dvd set at the library. I always enjoyed Zumba when I went with Jessie, Lorraine, and Melissa at UGA’s rec center. I have to admit that Zumba is a million times more fun when you’re doing it with friends. I usually mess up, but as long as I’m moving, I don’t really care. I don’t think I can do Zumba everyday. As much as I love the Spanish language, I’m not a huge fan of hispanic music. And I know being politically correct it’s not “all the same”, but really...I’m not a fan of any of it. So, as of right now, (and this will probably change since I changed my mind from doing p90x everyday), I want to alternate between Zumba and jogging. I actually like jogging. It’s relatively “easy”. Wait...maybe that’s not a good thing...If anybody is reading this, what are the benefits of jogging to...other stuff? And any jogging tips?

At 8:00 I ate dinner. It was about a cup of alfredo noodles and a leftover piece of cheesy bread. 

I watched So You Think You Can Dance tonight. I love that show. These girls are gorgeous. Dancing is neither a talent nor a hidden talent for me. But what I wouldn’t give for a dancer’s body!

Anyways, between commercials I did sit-ups.

That is all. 

Monday and Tuesday sucked.

Monday 6/27/2011

Breakfast:

-2 poached eggs on top of a plain waffle (I was getting creative)

-OJ

-Coffee

Lunch: 

-2 pitas with tuna fish on top.

Dinner:  (P.S. I have no idea why this section is formatted so differently. Dinner just wanted to be different. 

• baked potato
• 1 bbq chicken breast
• 1/2 cup of squash (from grandma and grandpa’s garden!)
• 1 slice of apple pie

Snack:

-chocolate chip granola bar


I had absolutely no desire to exercise today. 

Tuesday 6/28/2011

Breakfast:

-toasted pita with butter on top

-1 apple

-cup of coffee

lunch:

-leftover BBQ chicken

-leftover squash

-applesauce

Snacks:

1 chocolate chip granola bar

Sun beam snack bar thingy


For Dinner Bubby ordered a pizza from Papa Murphy's. For you people on the East Coast, Papa Murphy's is a Take and Bake place. You get a "raw" pizza that you cook in your own home. We got a large Cowboy pizza. Which is 3 types of meat (which are all pork) mushrooms, and olives. I asked that they make one side with no meat.

I only ate a bowl of salad, 2 slices of pizza. I was super proud of myself. But then...Bubby ordered cheesy bread too. I had 3 pieces and felt disgusting. And to top it off, Bubby had made red velvet cake cupcakes. Yeah...thanks!
Diet RUINED! haha

Of course, I had no desire to exercise. 

fail.

I will describe the past two days as a FAIL! Basically, I didn’t get a chance to record anything I ate because I was helping with Relay and Life. So I pretty much sncaked all day. And I didn’t get a chance to do the P90x Aerobics on friday, or Saturday. 

Which brings me to today. I didn’t record what I ate today either, but I will definitely start again fresh Monday. 

I decided to finally do the P90x aerobics today. I was really looking forward to it. I got 30 minutes through it and it froze up on me. I couldn’t watch the last 20 minutes of it. After a few well deserved curse words, I grabbed my ipod and went for a mile jog. 

I don’t usually bring my ipod when I jog, mostly because it’s my iphone and i don’t want to drop it. But jogging with music was super epic. the first song that came on was Black & White. Listening to music while jogging made me feel like, I was in the montage sequence for a romantic comedy....which gave me more incentive to keep jogging. haha. 

It was so hot. I wanted to jog for 30 minutes, but only made it for 20 minutes. But combined with the 30 minutes of aerobics that was an hour of exercising. 

I actually enjoy jogging. I’m not very good at it. But my body craves it. I’ve never been able to run a straight up mile without stopping. So, that’s another summer goal that I have. Run a mile. 

Endorphines. 

I think they are like unicorns. 

I’ve never seen ‘em. 

I’ve never felt ‘em. 

But people assure me they exist. 

Has anyone else ever experienced these “endorphins”?

goals.

So what exactly are my goals?

Well, longterm would be to be 160 pounds and a size 12. Honestly, I don’t think I could ever be below 150 pounds. I like curves in a woman. I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. I tried looking for a woman who has my ideal look, but I couldn’t find any cuz it’s just a bunch of nasty looking skinny girls. But I have noticed that there are some girls on So You Think You Can Dance who have amazing bodies. They are big-er, defintely not a super model, but they exude power and elegance. I’ll try to find some pictures.  

And short term goals...hmm...well, I’m in California until mid-August. My goal is to come back to Georgia without obvious cellulite and without my thighs touching. I have no idea how realistic that is. I don’t want to give a weight number, because I don’t even know if my grandparents own a scale. I probably should invest in one. It might be encouraging...but then again...

What am I saying? Of course it’ll be encouraging, because the pounds are going to fall off this summer. 

Peace & Blessings

Thursday, June 23rd.

Today wasn’t bad. 

I took two iron pills before breakfast hoping to minimize another body crash like I had yesterday. Well, it worked, because I felt fine all day. I didn’t crave any unnecessary foods either.  

Deciding what to eat for breakfast was suuuuper tough. We have run out of fruits and vegetables at my grandparent’s house. But Bubby promises that she can get a few things from the grocery store while I’m at work. I politely request more fruit. 

So For Breakfast I had 2 fried eggs, toast with butter on it, and coffee with a tablespoon of cream in it. 

I ate a handful of baby carrots as a snack between breakfast and lunch. 

For lunch, I brought to work two pitas and a side of tuna salad. I was running late this morning, so the tuna salad was kinda dry. I wish I added just a teensy bit more of mayo. I was surprised at how filling this meal was. 

About 20 minutes later I ate a banana. 

After I got home from work, I knew it was time to start my P90X training. There are approximately three different work out plans or schedules, rather, that you can pick depending on what you want P90X to do for you. I want more of a cardio to burn fat. If you don’t know how P90X works, then I’ll do a crummy job of telling you. Basically, it’s designed to get you fit in 90 days. The key to the program is not letting your body or exercise cause your body to “plateau”. This may happen because your body gets “used to” the exercise. But P90X has you change your exercise up about every two weeks. So there are about 10 or 12 different workout routines. You’ll do a different one everyday for a week. 

I really disliked the first one today. I think it was called Core Synergist. Like most chicks, my upper body strength sucks. I can’t do regular pushups. Most of Core Synergist was working my upper body. It sucked. On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being I sucked and 10 being exercise beast, I probably was a 4.5 with this exercise. I really just want to do cardio everyday, but whatever. They know what they are doing. But tomorrow I will do Cardio X. 

I was in luck because as soon as I finished exercising, Bubby had made dinner for Papa and I. It was burritos! I love burritos. Last time she made them I ate 2 or 3. I can’t remember. But today, I only had one.

Dinner: 

1 burritos with rice, black beans, home-made salsa, grilled seasoned chicken strips. a handful of chips and salsa. I left the table with my stomach satisfied. I didn’t feel gross and stuffed like I usually do after a dinner meal. 

Like I said in another post, the lifestyle changes I’m making have less to do what cutting calories and such and more to do with actually listening to my body. Even after two days, I feel like I’m a lot more aware of what my body wants. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Breakfast: 

An omelette with 2 eggs, purple onion, spinach, tomatoes. A piece of toast with butter, and a cup of coffee with about a tablespoon of half and half cream. 

Everything was great until I got to work. at about 10:00 a.m. I got really hungry. I was pretty confused, because I had only just eaten breakfast two hours earlier. “Perhaps, I’m just thirsty,” I thought to myself. (Well, to be honest, I don’t think I would ever use the word “perhaps” in my mind.) So, I drank 2 bottles of water. But that didn’t work. So I started looking for a snack. In my Aunt’s office I found some delicious cracker pretzels. Don’t worry, I checked the ingredients. I was surprised to see that they were all pretty normal ingredients. I ate a handful.

I wasn’t satisfied. So I found some dried pomegranate raising looking things. I had a handful of those. 

By Noon, I was super hungry. I took my lunch break.

Lunch:

2 cups of white rice with teriyaki sauce

a handful of baby carrots

I was really excited to eat my teriyaki rice. However, I was sorely disappointed. I put way too much sauce on it that morning. It was on it’s way to becoming a soup. But, I was actually just full. It was a great feeling. I didn’t feel gross from being too full or stuffed. I was satisfied. 

At about 2:00 I started to feel it. 

I’ve never been tested for anemia, but I suspect that I am anemic. My mum is anemic. I crave ice. Every once in a while I’ll lose every ounce of energy I have. That’s what it felt like today at 2:00. My body was crashing. It’s a terrible feeling. I’m a big believer in listening to what your body wants. If I didn’t eat something, I probably would have passed out at work. So...I got M&Ms from the vending machine in the hopes that they would give me some sort of energy. I felt guilty. I swore off processed sugars. I barely made it out of work at 5:00. When my grandpa came to pick up to go home, all I could think about was sleeping. I came home and layed on the couch.

I had every intention of exercising today. But stupid anemia had other plans. 

For dinner, my grandma cooked.

Dinner:

steak sandwich on a hoagie with tomatoes and a pickle, a handful of kettle cooked potato chips dipped in hummus, 1/2 cup of corn, and then I ate an extra thin piece of meat hoping it would boost my iron.

It was just enough. I left the table feeling satisfied. I didn’t eat any seconds. 

The day wasn’t a total disaster, I found out that my aunt has p90x. Soo...starting tomorrow...I’ll be a p90x girl. I’ll definitely be blogging about my experience with that. 

Good bye, cheese! I shall miss your deliciousness.

For every diet plan, there are a half a dozen that contradict the science behind it. There’s the Atkins diet (low carb diet), the low fat diet, zone diet, low calorie diet, eat-till-you’re-full-diet, cut-everything-delicious-out-of-diet diet, the anorexic diet, the bulimic diet...meh, it’s enough to make a girl dizzy. 

Even the amount of water a person should drink is highly disputed. Some say drink 8 cups of water a day, drink half your weight in ounces, drink 2.2 liters of water a day...

Here’s what I know to be true:

1. in order to lose weight, burn more calories than you take in.
2. Drink water....like a fish...and that’s a lot of water.
3. Pork and shellfish are dirty meat. ( I don’t eat it!)
4. If you can’t pronounce an ingredient in a packaged food product, and that ingredient isn’t typically in your spice cabinet, then it has no business being in your body.
5. The more colorful your meal is, the healthier it is.

In all the research I’ve done up until this point I have found one constant: portion control. 

Normally, if something tastes delicious I have a second or third helping of it. But, that’s definitely a pretty big problem. Going hand-in-hand with portion control is stopping right before you’re full. This is because you’re stomach is full before you’re brain tells you...or something of that nature...I got a “C” in most of my science classes...  This will probably be the hardest thing for me. When I eat, I eat till I’m stuffed. It will be interesting to only just feel full, or even not quite full. 

So, this my current eating plan:

1. Cut out 95% of dairy from my diet. (I think cheese is my weight’s undoing. Oh goodness, it’s delicious).
2. Eat slower.
3. No seconds.
4. Stop eating right before I’m full.
5. Drink at least a gallon of water a day. (Hey, I’m in California, it’s super dry!)
6. No sodas or sugary drinks.
7. No refined sugars.

I’m sure my plan will be amended throughout the summer. I’m sure I might slip up. But it gives me something to start out with. 

I will be posting everything I eat to keep myself accountable.

What the hell is percolations?

I like the word muse. I even like it better when you add an -ing at the end of it. To muse is to meditate, or to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon. That is what I want this blog to do or be. But, I already had a blog titled "Musings of a Pasty White girl". Which, of course, means I can't reuse the word musings in my blog title. So, I did what any red-blooded-child-of-the-21st-century would do, I went to thesaurus.com. And then I saw it: percolate. It's a lovely word to say. Take a second and try it. 

There. 

You liked it.

So then, I went to dictionary.com. 

–verb (used with object)

1.

to cause (a liquid) to pass through a porous body; filter.

2.

(of a liquid) to filter through; permeate.

3.

to brew (coffee) in a percolator.

–verb (used without object)

4.

to pass through a porous substance; filter; ooze; seep;trickle.

5.

to become percolated: The coffee is starting to percolate.

6.

to become active, lively, or spirited.

7.

to show activity, movement, or life; grow or spread

Can there honestly be a more perfect word for my journey towards a more healthy lifestyle? (I had to switch to "align center" because it wouldn't let me completely "alight left")

1) Coffee is delicious.

2) to become active, lively, or spirited. Holy cow! I want to become active, lively, and spirited. I want my body to be active. I want to live a healthy, active lifestyle

3) I want to be more alive; I want to grow through this process. 

Thusly, I name my blog Percolations. I hope to percolate often.

I weigh in.

There's no turning back. Once I click "Publish Post" it's out there for the world to see. Of course, there is the technical truth that I could always delete anything I write...but I won't stoop so low :) hehe.

I'm just gonna say it. I'm an overweight 23-year-old. I'm a size 16. I probably weigh 195 pounds.

I admitted it. That's step one. As long as I can remember, I've been a little big bigger than the other girls. In 6th grade I went through puberty. I got womanly hips and thighs. Mum bought me jeans in the women's department. They were a size 6. But none of my friends were a size 6. They still shopped in the little girl's section. But it was Middle School. Everybody was unhappy with the way they looked. Those girls were probably insecure because they couldn't wear a bra. But that is irrelevant. I'll bring myself to the present.

It was a couple of days ago that I decided. Although I'm nowhere near the size of the contestants on The Biggest Loser, I know that this is not the weight I'm supposed to be. This is not what I'm supposed to look like. I'm completely dissatisfied with my body. Being overweight is one of those things that can prevent a person from living a life that is full of abundance and...well, life.

Blah, blah, blah. Everybody knows why a person wants to lose weight, so I wont post meaningless commentary.

The purpose of this blog is to post my thoughts, musings (that's redundant!), eating habits, fears, struggles and hopeful weight loss as I journey towards living a healthier lifestyle.

As they say...well, I'm not really sure who says it, but "Imma keep it real."