Posts Tagged ‘link love’
A Drop at a Time Weigh-In
This is most definitely a drop at a time weigh-in. This weight is slowly but surely falling off, one drop at a time. I feel like I’m doing everything right, so as long as this weight keeps coming off, I shall not complain. One pound a week is still 52 pounds a year.
January 20, 2012
Weight: 373.6
Change from Last Week: -1.0 pounds
Change from Highest: -29.2 pounds
Yes, it’s slow, and I continue to try and figure out why my weight loss is so slow. I’m a big dude. I should be able to lose faster.
But at the same time, I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
In the past, I’ve hit 370 and stalled. I do not want to do that again. Let’s keep going ahead!
Short post today, but I do want to announce the winner of the EatSmart Scale! Using random.org, the lucky winner was Entry #4, Sabrina Smith!
Congratulations Sabrina! Come back tomorrow for another (non-scale) giveaway!
And to show a little Link Love… including to myself…
At my food blog, Stellar Eats, I just posted my second pizza of 52 weeks of pizza, a Turkey Taco Pizza!
Skinny Emmie, who I had the pleasure to meet last year at the local Fitbloggin’ meetup in Nashville, posted this week about starting to exercise when you are an “ultra beginner.” I think many of us who started working out as the morbidly obese (or even super morbidly obese) can certainly relate!
And Brooke at Brooke Not on a Diet describes how she is once again finding herself on Weight Watchers, a sentiment to which I, too, can relate.
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A Surprising Weigh-In
Why am I making the human equivalent of this face right now?
Because I fully expected to gain this week. We had a late Christmas. I slacked up a bit on the eating front. (Stayed strong with exercise, though. Woo hoo!) I was fully prepared to see a gain of a pound or two.
Instead…
January 13, 2012
Weight: 374.6
Change from Last Week: -1.0 pounds
Change from Highest: -28.2 pounds
I’ll take it.
I’m a slow loser. I’ve known that for a while, and when I go off on tangents and eat too much, I am just exacerbating the problem. I spend too much time waiting for the other shoe to drop and for me to get on the scale and see an amazing gain.
But then I got to thinking about it – I would rather try hard all week and have again than goof off and KNOW why I gained weight. So I am pledging to do this week right.
My goals for next week:
1. Follow my points (including flex points) to a tee. Journal everything!
2. Drink plenty of water.
3. Exercise regularly.
Seems very doable.
And yes, I know that Weight Watchers no longer calls the weekly points Flex Points, but old habits die hard.
In other news, today is Friday the 13th!
If you are a horror fan, like myself, then today is practically a national holiday. I’m very excited that I get to work from home today due to the snow (finally!), and tonight, the missus and I are planning to pop some popcorn and snuggle up on the couch and watch Jason Voorhees disembowel some stupid teenagers. Good times.
One quick note – I held the vote last week to decide who would get the $100, and there was a tie between two organizations. Therefore, I’ll be giving each $50. The winners are the Elephant Sanctuary and 1500 Sanitary Pads for Ugandan Girls. Thanks to everyone who voted!
Let me also share a few links with you this week.
First of all, I finally made (last weekend) a pizza for my 52 Weeks of Pizza! You can read about it on my food blog Stellar Eats.
Josie at Yum Yucky offers proof that working out gives you swagger.
Kerri O at Fit Views shares a paleo mayonnaise recipe. I’m not quite brave enough yet to tackle making my own mayo, but I really do want to try eventually! It’s got to taste better than the chemical-laden stuff you buy in the stores.
Hanlie at Ordinary Abundance describes why she is a hippie. For what it’s worth, I’m apparently a hippie, too.
Come back tomorrow for a giveaway post!
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A Put Up or Shut Up Weigh-In
It’s Put Up or Shut Up time…
But first a weigh-in!
December 2, 2011
Weight: 374.2
Change from Last Week: -2.0
Change from Highest: -28.6
Woo hoo! A few things I have thought about this week. 370 seems to be my sticking point. I can’t get past it. That makes me a tiny bit sad, because earlier this year, I was lighter than this. But oh well. You can’t change the past, only the future, so upwards (er, downwards) and onwards, yes?
And secondly… every December of my life, every single one since 1978, I have gained weight. Every one.
Not this one.
I’m not going to go crazy and say I’ll lose ten pounds, because I know with Christmas and Vegas, it isn’t going to happen. Frankly, I’m proud of myself for pledging to lose any weight this month, because in years past, I would have just hoped to stay the same.
But this year, I am going to reach 369. The end. I WILL start 2012 lighter than I started December 2011.
And here’s how (I hope) you’ll help me out.
I’m going to give $100 to a charity of MY choice if I make it to 369.
I’m going to give $100 to a charity of YOUR choice if I don’t.
That means I may end up donating $100 to a charity that I don’t have the warm fuzzies for.
One note – I REFUSE to give to PETA or the Animal Liberation Front. I find both to be terrorist organizations, and I absolutely will not give to them. I’d rather burn it than give either organization a penny. Please note, I don’t have an issue with animal-friendly organizations or even an organization that is pro-veganism or otherwise opposed to eating meat. However, and I can’t stress this enough, I detest PETA and ALF (the terrorists, not the loveable alien) with a consuming, fiery hatred. I may write a post someday to explain my hate.
But if, on January 1st, I don’t weigh 369 or less, I’ll put up a poll and I’ll let you decide where my money goes. I’m even okay with it going to an organization that runs polar opposite to my political beliefs (which you’ll never hear me share on the blog, because public political talk is just ugly talk in my book). This is my motivation, and it’s charity in that I’m giving to an organization, even if it isn’t one I approve of.
Sorry, this turned into an almost-rant and I didn’t mean for it to.
So… yeah… put up or shut up time. I’m excited about this, and I think it will help me out.
Because five-ish pounds is DOABLE, even with a holiday and a vacation to Vegas in the midst. I’m still going to enjoy myself. Anyone want to join me?
And because I feel like doing a little bit of linking, let me share some of my favorite blog posts I’ve read this week! (Please note – I asked none of these bloggers for permission to share their links. I’ve never shown any link love. Is this bad netiquette?)
From Getting Fit: No Matter the Pain (actually, from a few weeks ago), Reinaldo wrote a great post about the different types of diets people follow and our attitudes toward them.
Roni Noone at Roni’s Weigh blogged about her new food journaling technique that I am going to try for myself, starting tomorrow!
Steve at 265andcounting BlogofSteve Running on Awesome Next Name Here just wrote about how old pictures can be motivational.
Oh, and the super awesome Josie from Yum Yucky is once again a celebrity!
And lastly, Brandon from A Healthy Dad is kinda-maybe planning a race I can barely wrap my mind around.
Of course, I read WAY more blog posts than this and enjoyed many, many, many of them, but these are just some that happened to stand out to me today. I think I’ll start doing this every weigh-in.
Any blog posts from this week stand out to you?
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Veggie Dish #2 – Savory Sweet Potato Chips
Sorry that I’ve been a little blog MIA this week. Not sure what happened, because this hasn’t been a particularly crazy week. I guess I just got a little caught up in the “is it snowing yet” anticipation that I really should have outgrown once I graduated high school. My gym etiquette series is not over, but I am taking a brief hiatus. In the meantime, read this post on gym etiquette by the awesome Jody at Truth2BeingFit who has logged WAY more gym hours than me and knows WAY more about fitness than I do, too!
As I stated last week when I reported on my veggie dish, I decided to change it from an entirely vegetarian meal into just a new vegetarian dish. That means it may or may not be the entire meal. My main reason for wanting to do this is to expose myself to new and interesting vegetables and dishes.
This week, I chose to make a concoction of my own creation – Savory Sweet Potato Chips!
I eat sweet potatoes at least once a week, so this isn’t a new meal for me. However, I’ll admit I usually eat them in a sweet manner. They have nutmeg or cinnamon or sometimes just plain. I’ve never made them savory, however, so I decided to try that tonight.
The result – delicious. I think I may like them better this way. Try it yourself; it couldn’t have been easier.
Start off with a sweet potato. Oh, and go ahead and preheat your oven to 450 degrees, because it really doesn’t take long to get them prepped.
I washed and peeled mine because this one was trying to start a sweet potato family and I wasn’t sure how that would taste.
After washing it, I sliced it into 1/4″-ish slices like chips. This could just as easily have been done as fries, but tonight, I thought chips sounded better. I then put them in a large microwave safe container and nuked them for three minutes to help with the speed of cooking. If you don’t mind waiting longer, you can bake the entire time. I wanted to expedite the process. (Side note – if you nuke your potatoes a bit before you bake them, they cook a lot faster but still taste from-the-oven baked.)
Then drizzle a small amount of olive oil (less than a tablespoon) and a small amount of cornstarch (around a tablespoon) on your nuked potatoes. They’ll be hot, so carefully toss them around to cover them with the oil and cornstarch.
At this time, you need to add some seasonings to make them savory. The cornstarch will make them crunchy but otherwise won’t add any flavor. For my batch, I used a little garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper. You could add smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder… the sky is truly the limit. (And if you wanted to do sweet instead of savory, just toss in some cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice or the like.)
When they are fully tossed, lay them out in a single layer on a sprayed cookie sheet. You want to spray the cookie sheet with some non-stick cooking spray or they are a beast to try and get up.
Slide them in the oven for about fifteen minutes, pull them out, flip each one, and put them back in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes. Watch closely and pull them out before they burn.
When they have turned nicely brown, remove them from the oven and serve. Simple as that!
The verdict – very good, but I should have used more spices. This dish will definitely be made again.
How do you like your sweet potatoes?
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