Bunch 'O Halloween!

Good evening, muah hah hah.

Was that Halloweenie enough? Hehe- well it's right around the corner, so I figured I might as well get into the spirit of things. To be COMPLETELY honest... I don't love Halloween. I don't like things that are scary... I don't like candy that will give you cancer.... I don't like pranks (we were egged last year).... bah humbug!

So, to go along with my bah humbug-ness... here is what will be out on my porch on Thursday evening:





Hehehe- that's right... we're not going to be contributing to the ADHD and Diabetes of children, no sir! No Hydrogenated crapola from this house! This year, I'm handing out (ok... I'm not really 'handing' because I'll be making raw pumpkin and raw apple pies... so they'll be helping themselves) little tricky games where you have to get the 4 little balls in the holes at one time. Just about impossible- you bet I tried it! Hours of fun. HOURS. These little guys were pretty cheap. I got them from Factory Card Outlet, 50 for $4.25.

That said, my student workers (college age) will be 'trick or treating' on Thursday around the office, so for them, I got Trader Joe's Organic Lollipops. 27 lollipops for $2.99.



Look at these ingredients!!! Fantastic!



Soooo much better than the normal candy that's handed out!!! I may (MAY) even be tempted to try one...

Even though I don't LOVE the holiday, I do like decorating the house with cute Halloween things, and we DID carve pumpkins this weekend.



Mine is on the left, and my brother/sister in law's is on the right. We should go into business. I'm even, like I said, will be making a raw pumpkin pie for the first time on Thursday- so I'll be sure to let you know how that goes. I'm a little leery of eating a raw pumpkin, but I'm sure it'll be good.

Speaking of eating, check out ye olde dinner tonight!



So, I was going to make shepherd's pie again, but ran out of time because Brenton had an MBA chat online tonight. So, I made the filling (all I did was cook on the stove some Morning Star Veggie Crumbles, some frozen bagged organic soup veggies, a dash of salt and pepper, some water, and a little bit of tomato sauce, and poured it on top of 1/2 of a small spaghetti squash (cooked in the microwave... shame on me... in 1/2 c water for 9 minutes). VERY TASTY!! I have the other half of the spaghetti squash in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner concoction... which is yet to be determined. You should try it! You'll like it! It gave me tons of energy- and I actually did Jillian's 30 Day Shred, ironed clothes, did the dishes, emptied the dishwasher, AND made lunches for tomorrow, all within 3 hours. I think I deserve an Epsom salt bath!

Yep, I do. Good night everybody!

Operation 'Lose 9 Pounds'

Good morning bloggies!! Today marks day 1 of 170 of "Operation 'Lose 9 Pounds' ". Let me tell you a story-

Last year, I competed in our office 'Biggest Loser' competition. At the very end of the competition, thanks to some water manipulation and other factors, I lost 22 lbs. Of course, since most of it at the end was water weight (around 5 lbs...), I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep it off. And since I knew that going in, I was ok with it. Today, a year from when I first started the competition, I am still 15 lbs. lighter. (YAY!). Since I've been able to maintain weight for this long, I have decided that I want to drop one more dress/pants size. I'm going to lay it all out here- I want to be a size 6. I haven't been a size 6 (consistently- not including the brief pilgrimage to that size when I had an anxiety disorder my first year of college) since I was probably in middle school.

So why 170 days? We're going on vacation to Miami in October!!!! WHOOO HOO!!!! So, since this will be the first time in a bathing suit in a LONG TIME, and I'm not in a 'lose as much weight as fast as you can' type of competition, 9 pounds over 170 days should be MORE THAN MANAGEABLE!!

I know that your anticipation is rising, so here is my plan--

My BMR is 1521. I'm going to eat at my BMR, and exercise 180 to 200 calories off every day (or, eat 200 calories less on my off days). This will make a deficit, by the end of my 170 days, of around 34,000 calories. Crazy!! This is about 10 lbs... give or take.

As far as exercise goes, here's what we're going to be doing-

Day 1- Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred

Day 2- Run for 30 min

Day 3- 30 min of Weights

Day 4- Billy Blanks Bootcamp (an hour long)

Day 5- Run for 30 min

Day 6- Denise Austin Yoga

Day 7- REST!!, then repeat the next week

As far as eating goes, here's what today's food plan is-

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of Oat Groats (soaked overnight) with Mashed Banana, 1 T Almond Butter, and 1/3 cup thawed Blueberries and Raspberries. ...and a cup of hot tea.

For a snack, I'm going with my trusty Larabar- in Cherry Pie. YUM!

Lunch today is a cup of Bean Soup that I made yesterday (thank you Trader Joe's Bean Soup Mix!), Celery and Tomatoes, an oz of Low Fat Cheese, a Small Apple, and a square of Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate. YUM!

Dinner tonight will be Chicken on top of a salad made of Spinach, Tomatoes, Onion, Celery, with a spritz of Lemon for dressing. It's not made yet... but my Chicken is cooking in Trader Joe's Chicken Broth in the Crock Pot as we speak!

This time around, losing weight should be pretty easy. We only eat quality foods anyway- not that crap that diet plans endorse (you know, the fat free, chemical laced death "food"...). It's all about the math, people!

Until next time, count your calories and get up and move. Namaste.