Cruisin’

I know I haven’t written on here in a while, but it is a new year and time for some new stuff! And what better way to kick it off than with photos of a nice warm time on a boat! This was our first time on a cruise and I enjoyed it so much. Really wish I could go back.

We went on the Princess cruise line out to the Eastern Caribean. We flew to San Juan and set sail from there. We hit St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, Dominica, and Barbados. There were plenty of sights to be seen.

We saw….

Other cruise ships…

Islands and water so pristine from our balcony..

And lizards abound, sunbathing on rocks.

Big rocks amongst “baths” in Gorda…

Beautiful beaches and skyline amongst huge rocks…

Wild Chickens…

And the biggest hermit crabs you will see…

Shipwrecks…

Monkeys in cages…

Pirate ships full of booty…

Waterfalls…

Dancing with the natives…

And sand turtles.

We had a blast. We did something nearly everyday. barbados was a bust due to it raining all day. And we didn’t do anything in San Juan when we got back because of our flight schedule, but I still had so much fun. It was especially fun because we went with three other couples and it made for more of a good time. I love Brian, but when it is just the two of you on vacation, you quickly run out of things to say. Our group kept things interesting and fun.

I will definitely go on a cruise again. Maybe not the same cruise line. To see the rest of my photos I put on flickr, you can go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rchilly/sets/72157628930615027/

Picked the Wrong Week to Quit Sniffing Glue

I know my posts have been few and far between. It has been hard to find time to write anything lately, but I have some time now!

This weekend is Jessina’s wedding. Over the years, I have been to my share of wedding. With Brian in a fraternity, there are a lot of frat brothers weddings that we have been to. The one thing I enjoy the best is seeing people who love each other and getting to share their special day. I don’t like to brag, but I have found my soulmate. The one thing I did right in my life was marry Brian. Life is hard, but finding someone to share your life somehow makes the burden lighter.

Scott is a great guy and I am so happy for both of them. This wedding is going to be great! I will take lots of photos, although, I have been out of practice. I am sure it will come back to me, though.

For Jessina, I crocheted a purse. I will post photos of that too.

In other news, I stopped taking the medicine that was given to me after my colonscopy. It was helping with the pain, but the side effects were too numerous. The biggest problem is I was too tired every day. I would be exhausted before the day would even begin. And the worse part was when I was at work. I felt so fuzzy and tired that I couldn’t focus on anything or learn anything new. I haven’t taken this medicine in about a week now, and my head already feels so clear. The pain has come through a day or two this week, but I have been taking my celebrex which does help somewhat. I don’t see my doc until late December and there was no way that I could continue taking that medicine for another month. I know that the longer you take a medicine, the more used to the side effects you become, but in this case the side effects outweighed the good effects.

In other news, Christmas is just around the corner! Those of you who know me, know how Scrooge-like I become around this time of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching miss Mia get excited about Santa. I just hate the commercialization of it all. And no offense to my family, but I hate spending money. So many people go into debt around this time of year just so they can get their kids presents. I can definitely see me turning into one of those aunts that sew/crochet gifts. Mia will be gracious and nice, but then “Do I have to wear this?” Half-joking.

I don’t mind spending money on miss Mia, but I think there is a certain age you reach where you don’t need to have all these gifts. Sure, I have been guilty of asking for items that I really want but can’t really justify spending money on it. Video games, for example. And I appreciate what I get, but I certainly am not deserving.

The biggest thing I hate about Christmas? The music. Funny, being that I love music. I used to play Christmas music on the piano whenever family was over. But I could certainly do without the caroling, the usual movies on TV, the radio station and sounds in the shops that get taken over by Xmas music…sigh. I definitely will aim to be less Scroogey this year. I know that most people enjoy Christmas and they certainly don’t deserve to put up with my baggage. One secret? I do enjoy putting up the tree.

Now that I am done with Jessina’s purse, I can finish a project I was in the middle of. Bunny slippers! I am still having a hard time crocheting things to a specific size. I seem to be great at making purses, but these slippers could end up being too small. Oh well, I am sure I can find someone willing to wear them.

Speaking of my awesome ability at making purses, I could definitely see me starting a small business of making purses. One thing I want to try is making veils. You can buy a roll of tulle for really cheap. And with my embroidery and glue skills, I could make some awesome veils. Keep an eye out for that!

Oh and for those of you who are completely clueless, the title of my post is from the movie Airplane. I do not nor have I ever sniffed glue.

Busy Bee

I have been uber busy. Which has been hard because I am so utterly exhausted all the time. Yes! More complaining!
Seriously, though, I have been taking new medicine that one of my docs gave me even though he didn’t find anything in my lovely colonoscopy escapade. I always find it weird when they don’t discover anything wrong, yet they want to give you meds for something you may or may not have and just see what happens.
This medicine makes me feel very tired. Actually, it is a very weird feeling. There is a layer of exhaustion, but then at times my heart is beating really fast and it is very easy for me to get hot. My face is always red anymore. I really don’t know how much longer I can take this medicine. It seems to be helping painwise, but I think you could have any kind of pain(not just what these pills are prescribed to treat) and you would be feeling good after taking them. I would rather go back to the Celebrex and deal with some pain, but at least be awake and alert.
So, what else have I been up to? Plenty. First, I have been working on Soon-tobe-Mrs. Collins’ purse for her wedding day. I finished the crocheting and lining parts. She gave me some feather and other little trinkets to add to it. I will take a photo of the finished product before giving it to her. I think it turned out quite nice! It is a very ivory,wooly/soft yarn and I ended up using tulle(like they use for wedding dresses and veils)for the lining. I also need to add some kind of closure like a button or snap.
Speaking of Jessina’s wedding, I was in Chicago this past weekend for her bachelorette party(and Brian for Scott’s bachelor party). It was fun. I took some pictures of our first stop, but I think those are best kept just between us and the other partiers. *We went to a male revue. The first one I had ever been to. It was lots of fun!!*

In other news, I definitely fell off the wagon hard as far not eating processed foods. I had done well, but shortly before my colonoscopy, I had some pizza. Not such a big deal if it happened only that once. After the colonoscopy,this medicine zapped all my energy, so the thought of trying to plan meals and buy all the non-processed food – it just got to be too much. Plus, I love comfort food when I am depressed which is really the state of mind I have been in lately because of this stupid medicine. So, yes I have had lots of fast food and pre-packaged food. I am going to try and eat the best I can, but the non-processed diet is really hard! Yes, I knew it would be getting into it, but the hardest part is actually eating enough. I don’t have the money to buy the amount of food I would need to get to get the amount of calories I need in a day(especially with the amount I work out).
Speaking of working out, I have added some cross training exercises to my routine. I am sure you have seen the stuff on tv. They have tons of competitions and there have been a couple of those mudd obstacle courses that have come through the area. All the obstacles are built on the cross training principles.
It has been hard lately to be motivated to work out because of, yes – you guessed it! – the new medicine. I can’t count how many times I have set my alarm to get up early and workout before work. I have never been a morning person, but before I started taking this medicine, somehow I was motivated enough to get up and go for a jog at least. Now, I try to make every minute of sleep count. Last week, I seriously could have slept all day on Monday. I was sooooooo tired.
In other news, I have

• been learning new stuff at work.
• Trying to figure out if I even still like my new job.
• Trying not to think about xmas just around the corner.
• Have lots of crocheting ideas, but just don’t really have time to implement just yet.
• Getting excited for my first cruise coming in January.
• Not wanting to believe that it will be winter here soon. BRRR…I hate cold weather!
• Counting down days til the new Twilight movie. Yes, I am a big dork.

Updates from the Land of the Lost

That about sums it up. I definitely feel lost lately. I don’t know if I am coming or going and I really don’t know what the future holds in any area of my life. Well, I do know that Brian will be there so I guess that is a plus!
Let’s start with the most obvious. I have fallen out of love with photography. It all started with quitting the weekly photo challenge. I did that mostly because I was just too busy to put in the time and effort I felt it deserved. But I have pretty much put the camera down since and it is quickly collecting dust. Don’t get me wrong, I will always take photos of momentous occasions and of course of Miss Mia who grows way too quickly. But, I don’t find myself going out and about and looking for that perfect photo anymore.
Why? Well I think I made a decision internally without even knowing it. I could be a jack of all trades, or perfect one or two of my skills. I chose the latter and have been crocheting like there is no tomorrow. Maybe one day I will find my muse for photography again, but for now she has left me. I have never been very artistic, at least the art kind. I was musical and I wrote poems and stories, but I could never draw or even think outside the box very often when it came to pictures. The closest I come to art is through my tattoos and sewing. At least with sewing, I can still create something stylish and almost artsy.

In other news, I am still not any closer to discovering this mysterious ailment that has plagued me for two years now. Two years of abdominal pain with no clear solution or cause. *NOTE* I am going to get real personal here, so please don’t read if you don’t want to know certain things about me.
I had a colonscopy on Wed. The actual procedure was not that bad since they put me out. I don’t even remember it being done. I lost like an hour of time and that left me feeling really confused. The worst part started two days before where I couldn’t eat anything but liquids and Jello. And I had to take two different medications that…well let’s just say it cleaned me out.
And after all that, they didn’t find anything. Not that I want them to find something seriously wrong with me, but a clue would be nice. The doctor who performed the colonoscopy gave me a prescription for bowel spasms stating “I still think it is IBS.” How many times do I have to tell these doctors that I have no problems with my bowels? The pain does not worsen with any food I eat. It is the most random pain I have ever had. Whatever. I will try these pills out until I see Dr. H in December. If they don’t help, at least we can finally put IBS to bed.
I have another symptom. I have debated putting the photos on the Internet. I doubt anyone wants to see it, but I have acne like bumps that have appeared on my right side. They spread pretty quickly too – from my armpit almost all the way down to my waist. They itch, but I haven’t come into contact with anything I am allergic to. This happened almost two months ago on my face. It wasn’t acne because none of my acne stuff made it go away. I had to use this eczema lotion that has aloe in it before it finally started to disspate. I know it isn’t eczema, but it does look like a version of rosacea. (Yes, I have been researching on the Internet.) I also found blogs for people who have rosacea which is linked to their stomach problems. That, of course, set off light bulbs for me. I have an appt. with my dermatologist. Of course, by then, these bumps might be gone, but I have taken photos. I hope this will provide some clue because otherwise, I am right where I started – bupkus.

Another aspect of my life where I feel lost is my career. I am very grateful, first and foremost, that I even have a job. I know there are lots of people out there struggling. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that this isn’t the job I want to do for the rest of my life. The people here are great and the pay is great, but I can’t stand sitting on my butt for 8 hours a day basically being chained to my cube, staring at a computer screen. I know, I know. Why did I get into computers if this isn’t what I want? Believe me, if I could go back in time, I probably would have chosen a different major. Not sure what that would be, though. I can’t believe I am going to say this, but I miss interacting with people. At Ticketmaster I dealt with clients almost daily. I actually enjoyed talking to them and just shooting the breeze so to speak. Here, I can go all day without seeing or talking to anyone. I just put my nose to the grindstone and there isn’t much need for interaction.
What I really want to do is teach. I taught a few classes at National College for a very brief time, but everytime I think back to all the jobs I have had, that one stands out. I enjoyed teaching. It would also free up some time so I could pursue the idea of selling some of my crafts(sewing stuff).

So, as you can see, a lot of my life is kind of up in the air right now. I do plan on putting a photo of my new tattoo on here. I am going to wait until it is done healing because right now it is a big scabby mess. I should’ve taken a picture as soon as it was done. Anyways, it is a blue heart made to look embroidered with the needle hanging off it. It is on my right arm. Nice, huh?
I do want to write on here more, but honestly it has taken a back seat to everything else.Plus, I always hesitate to write anything lengthy(like this post) without photos for people to look at. And, I don’t know how many people actually read these things!! Oh well, it is place where I can vent my feelings and frustrations so I guess that is all that matters!!

My favorite things

I know, I know. I haven’t been writing much on here lately. Not only am I busy, but I don’t always know what to write about. It was easier when I was participating in the weekly photo challenge because I could talk about my photo and anything related.
First, let’s discuss my news. I saw my doctor on Wed. We both decided the best course of action would be for me to get a laposcopy. I don’t necessarily want to have any kind of surgery even something light like a scope, but I’d rather start ruling everything out possible. I have been taking Celebrex which has definitely helped with the pain. But there are still days where the pain comes through so you can imagine it must be pretty bad. It is going on two years now without any kind of diagnosis. Why exactly do doctors get the big bucks? I really need a House!
In other news, I got to hold a butterfly! Other than my wedding day, I have never held a butterfly. Most fly by me but never let me come close or touch them. Brian and I went to the butterfly exhibit at the zoo years ago. They all landed on Brian, but none of them seemed interested in me(sad face). I went outside and saw the dogs interested in something on the ground on the back patio. I went over to look and saw a butterfly. I shooed the dogs away and picked up the little guy. I yelled at Brian to grab the camera.

It was pretty evident that there was something wrong with his wings. He couldn’t fly. I was so worried about him. I had a feeling Leo might have bat at him which was why he was hurt. I put him in my garden because I figured if he was going to die, at least he would do it peacefully on some flowers. It ended up storming overnight – that night it just rained all night long. I was so worried about him. I couldn’t find him in the morning, so i am just going to pretend that he flew to safety rather than wonder if he got eaten.

I do like this time of year. Halloween is an important holiday for us Wiccans – the Celtic New Year! I have already begun to add decor to my house.



I can’t wait for Halloween. I am going to a party for once this year so I need to start working on my costume. Not going to tell you all what it is, you will just have to wait and see!! I am also going camping this weekend, probably for the last time. I just hope it isn’t too cold!

And then the weekend comes…

So, I was really proud of myself last night. Why? Because I went to Olive Garden and the Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen.
Ok. You might read that statement and my previous posts and think there is something amiss. Let me elaborate. I didn’t pig out at either place. It was also the first time I had gone out somewhere since I started this whole crazy diet.
It was Brian’s dad’s birthday, so I felt it was ok to out to eat for that. Olive Garden is exceptionally evil because I love their breadsticks and pasta…and well anything bread like.
I got a dish that had very little carbs on it. It wasn’t a pasta dish, but it was still delicious. And it had lots of veggies. It was chianti braised shortribs with mushroom risotto. There were a couple of dishes without any risotto,pasta, but they had potatoes or the chicken was breaded. So unless I just ate salad, I wasn’t going to get out of there without some kind of carbs. I had had salad for lunch otherwise I might have just done that.
Carbs are not bad, but I do try to limit myself. I have to earn them. There are carbs in my after workout drinks(powder mix) and I sometimes eat whole grain bread or rice with some of my meals. I will only eat bread/pasta that have whole grains or are gluten free.
I did give in and have some chocolate ice cream at the pie kitchen. However, this is the one exception to my whole new outlook on food: CHOCOLATE.
I am a baker, so I have always had a weakness for sweet goodies. I am way better at baking than cooking. It comes so naturally to me to just start baking some cupcakes or cookies. (GREAT, now I am making myself hungry.)
Like anyone else trying to improve their health and diet, I try to avoid all that stuff. For most people, eliminating processed foods means getting rid of most sweets anyway. Cookies, muffins, brownies, etc that are store bought have the most preservatives and high sugar content than anything else. My problem, however, is I can make most of those baked goods at home.
What I have decided is that since you have control of what you are putting into these baked goods, that it is ok to have every now and then. Especially chocolate. If I denied myself chocolate from here to forever, I would already fail my diet because I just can’t stay away. I love bread, but chocolate is definitely my weakness.
Chocolate isn’t necessarily evil either. You can use dark chocolate that has anti-oxidants and a lot less calories and sugar than milk chocolate. I have also found these choclate bars at Rainbow Blossom market that has Acai berries and other things in it. It makes a perfect addition to my protein smoothies.
My point is that sometimes denying yourself something can make you binge later when you have access to it. I don’t have any flour left in the house(thank god) so I can’t make any baked goods. But if I did, I would make some healthy baked goods. And yes there is such a thing. Part of the secret is to use brown sugar, especially dark brown sugar. And not so much butter.
So, let’s sum up the sweets I am allowed and not allowed:

• Chocolate is always welcome, especially dark chocolate. But like everything else, don’t pig out and eat more of this than any other food group!
• Baked goods from Little Debbie are evil. And I will never voluntarily buy those again. If there was a gun held to my head, I would probably pick Oatmeal Cream Pies because they are the least evil.
• There is such a thing as Wheat Flour. If you divide the amount of flour in any baked good recipe in half and add wheat flour for the other half, you are reducing the gluten and adding whole grains to your treats!
• Ice Cream can be fatty. But items like sherbets and frozen yogurt are actually pretty low on the calorie scale. I bought these popsicle holders that you can fill with whatever and throw in the freezer. I am going to play around with some recipes and see what I can come up with!
• If I need a baked good fix, it is always fun to bake treats for others. Spread the evil!
• If I am going to cheat, there are those few days every month where it is hard to argue with the monster inside me.
• Biggest tip: Do not hold it against yourself if you do slip and have a cookie, or three hundred. The great thing about the fact that I work out 6 times a week is that I can usually burn a cookie away pretty quickly. But if you do that everyday, it adds up. And it is not just about calories. Sugar, white flour, etc are not healthy.

I will leave you with a bit of irony. Did you know that the baked good with one of the highest amount of calories is the carrot cake? Go figure. Just shows you can’t make something healthier just by adding veggies.

5 day itch

Ok. I’ve reached that point so far in this new lifestyle revamp where I am craving those things I am denying myself. Part of the problem is that I have a husband who enjoys his whiskey and cokes. So, there are cokes in the fridge in the garage. Luckily they are in the garage so I don’t have to look at them everytime I open the fridge in the kitchen. But I know they are in there. So, yesterday they kept calling out to me while I worked from home. I almost gave in. I say almost because I was walking towards the garage and stopped myself.
I almost had a weak moment this morning as well, but with working out. I got up and I felt so tired(as I often do when my alarm first goes off.) I so wanted to just roll over and do my workout later. As in after work. But I got up anyways and forced my way through it.
Whenever you make any changes to your life especially diets, there is always that point where your will power has to kick in to keep you going. Not many people can make it past this 5 day itch. And what do I mean by this? Well, if you rid your diet of a lot of sugars and bad carbs, you will get to a point where you will be depressed and tired. Especially if you work out regularly. This is because your body was relying on that bad stuff to keep it energized. If you can get past this phase, then you will start to feel better. Even better than you did before starting this whole thing because you are eating good foods.
Will power is a strange thing. I have it sometimes when I really need it, but there are some bad habits I have that I just can’t kick no matter how much will power I seem to have for dieting and working out. I quit smoking two years ago but only with the help of Chantix.
You might say, but Rachel, smoking is a hard thing to quit for anybody. Nicotine is highly addictive and hard to kick. True, but all the bad processed foods are almost as addictive. There is still a lot of debate on that, but look at the amount of obese people there are in the world – especially America. The feasibility of fast food and packaged quick dinners from the super market are one of the big reasons for this obesity epidemic. Not a lot of kids even sit down to home cooked meals anymore. Everyone is so busy running around that a stop at McDonalds or a quick macaroni meal is all they get. And the lunch served in schools is not really any better.
Things are changing though. There is a lot of initiative to improve school lunches. It is also “trendy” to eat organic or all natural. I am glad for this because eliminating processed foods has been easier than it would have been say even 5 years ago. I am actually surprised at the amount of foods that I can find packaged that don’t have any extra preservatives and the ones they do are all natural, not chemical. This is the way it should be.
Even if supermarkets only carried this kind of natural, organic foods; our society would still have a hard time losing weight because of the availability of fast food. It is also a lot cheaper to eat fast food and the heavily processed foods. Therefore, the less money you have, the more likely you are to be fat.

Here are my goals/tips for the next week:

• Need a juicer. My blender is going to take a beating with all the smoothies and juices I have been making.
• Remember, just because it is organic/natural does not mean it is entirely healthy. It can still be full of calories.
• Need to up the cardio part. I’ve been jogging once a week and doing the bodyrock workouts. But i need to add more. I want to walk the dogs more and weather permitting, try the circuit at Perrin Park.
• Kayaking is always a good workout.
• Need to start making meals ahead of time like on Sunday for the week. I am spending too much of my night making dinner and we eat very late which isn’t good. Plus, it would be nice to have something other than salads for lunch. And I need different snack ideas.

Tips and Life Lessons

I don’t know that there can be an official start date to this whole life changing revamp of my food intake. But I have done pretty well this past week(call it week 1?) and I would like to share some things I have learned along the way.

• Read the package. I am surprised by what doesn’t have a lot of perservatives or really any kind of additives and surprised by what has a lot. I am starting out slowly, so I have been sticking to things that have a small list. I haven’t completely wiped my palatte clean of processed foods, but I definitely ate mostly fresh last week.
• Applesauce is a good one. Has nothing but apples and ascorbic acid.
• The hardest meal time to plan for is breakfast. I can only eat eggs so many days in a row. Fruit would be good for breakfast, but I do eat smoothies for lunch every other day. They are my recovery drinks for after I workout in the gym at work. Since I spent my lunch in there, a smoothie is perfect because I am not spending even more time eating something. I can drink on it while I work.
• Fruit is something that should be taken in small doses when trying to lose weight. I am not trying to lose weight, just get healthy. But fruit has a lot of natual sugars in it so if you are actually trying to lose more than 10 lbs, limit the fruit and juices.
• It may take a while sometimes, but making a meal/snack from fresh ingredients is the way to go.
• For instance, I made corn chowder, tomatillo gazpacho with shrimp, sticky rice with fruit, and steak tacos this weekend.
• A surprisingly not so processed item was the hard taco shells. The soft ones had more peservatives. So I stuck with the hard shells because I am not certainly not going to be making my own shells anytime soon. So, like I said, slow but sticking to the minimal amount of processing as possible.
• The farmer’s market in my hometown of New Albany is way better than Jeffersonville. I do plan on trying some in Louisville to compare. I bought a lot of peppers, onions, and garlic. I wish I had started going to farmers markets earlier in the year! It is definitely worth the trip. Cheapest, freshest produce I’ve seen!
• If you are married and are changing your diet, your husband inadvertently is on the diet too. I should stop calling it a diet though, because this is a lifestyle change. This is not something I am going to stop doing. Sorry baby. I know how you like your frozen dinners. I can still buy some of that for you, but it would help so much to not have any temptations in the house. You will just have to fill up on beer.
• Snacks are a little difficult because this is usually where people buy Little Debbies or packaged peanuts or trailmix. I have found a few items at places like the Rainbow Blossom Market, but I tend to go through snacks rather quickly. I need to find some recipes of things I can make a head of time.
• Homemade pickles by Rachel are the shiznit!
• I am being easy on myself despite all this removal of good food. I have not stepped on a scale since starting this. I also am not beating myself up if I have a slip up. For instance, I did not work out this weekend. I worked out on Friday. I worked out in the yard Sat but didn’t do an official workout. I proceeded to lay around and do absolutely nothing yesterday(despite my list of chores). But I am not going to beat myself up about it. I am going to face forward to this week of working out and try to add at least one day this comimg weekend to work out(not just some kind of activity like weeding the garden).

That is what I’ve learned so far. I feel good. I have had some abdomen pain in the past week, but I am hoping that the more healthy I eat and stick to my plan, the less often that will happen. Please post any comments about healthy tips you have discovered.

Hijinx

As promised, here is a highlighted update of last week into the weekend. *I just know there is so many of you all just waiting for this!

I went to the first UofL football game. I know, very shocking! I was on my best behavior and never booed once(at least not out loud).


Is it wrong that the best thing I took a picture of was the marching band? Yeah, I am a dork!
Then the weekend came. We went to our little cabin at Rough River, per usual. And a lot of the usual things happened:


Buster slept in a chair.


Lots of wildflowers.


We went out on the boat. Which, by the way, was great on Sat. when it was pretty hot. But Sat and Sun, it was way too gloomy and cold for that.

And, of course, hijinx.(Spelling?Is that even a real word?)The thing about Camping is you spend a lot of time talking and sitting. No TV. No Internet(seriously, you can’t get cell service down there either.)So, there is a lot of game playing and silly stuff going on.
The best part? Hanging out with friends. Especially those you seriously don’t hang out with enough.


Love you Jules!!

We do plan on going back down to the lake even with it being cold. With the cabin being insulated, we can put a space heater in there. And of course have plenty of campfires. Anyone who is interested is more than welcome to join us.
In other news, I have lots of crochet plans. One wedding purse. One pair of bunny slippers for myself. And plenty of halloween and xmas decor to be had. I finally stopped by this local yarn store in downtown Jeff. It is not huge by any means, but they had a better selection of wool and colors then I have found at Joann’s or Hancocks in Clarksville. I guess I could try some places in Louisville, but I like to buy local and help our economy!
I do still plan on posting pics of myself along with tips that I have come up with trying to kickstart my healthy butt!

Phase 1

So, this revamping of my diet is definitely slow going. I have spent the past few days researching. There are a lot of items out there that are heavily processed. Even the protein bars which you can find in the organic section. I was eating one of those a day during the week. No longer. I just ate my last one.
I did pretty well this past 3 day weekend being down at the lake. I brought tons of fresh veggies(some from my garden). But as is common when camping, lots of snacks are available. I had a few cookies(which those were actually pretty natural. They were from a company that makes snacks that both dogs and humans can eat. It only had a few ingredients in it.) I also had some beer. But all in all, I think I did great for being in the middle of nowhere without a whole lot of choice if I ran out of food.
I went to the store last night and avoided buying anything processed. The surprising thing is that stuff like applesauce and canned tuna are fairly untouched. So those make easy choices since I already eat that stuff on a normal basis. I didn’t buy any fresh produce, however, because I plan on attending the farmers market in my area on Sat morning.

This week will be hard. I have bowling tonight which means I won’t have enough time between work and bowling to eat. Last week, we stopped by Jimmy John’s and I got a vegetarian lettuce wrap. So it was nothing but veggies and some kind of sauce. Hopefully, I can find something similar tonight. Tomorrow is a team luncheon with all my fellow IT guys here at work. I know we will end up somewhere where it will be difficult to avoid fatty, processed foods. Like I said though, this will be a work in progress and unlike most dieting and dieters, I will not hold it against myself or make myself feel guilty because I had a slice of pizza or something. The important part is I am trying and I am also working out on top of it all.

In other news, I have a few photos from the weekend on the lake. I don’t have much because I actually left my camera in the cabin on the first day(the sunny day). Then the rest of the weekend was pretty gloomy and cold, so I didn’t snap very many photos.
I am also going to take some photos of myself as the before so I can see the progress(if any) I will make in the next few weeks. I don’t really want to shed pounds, I want to transform my body into a healthy,stronger image of itself.
OH, and countdown to UL devestation begins. 10 days until the Wildcats eat some cards for breakfast!!