Claire: Lovin' Today!

I've been having swimming withdrawals for a while now. Today Laila and I went to this sweet outdoor pool and had a blast! Must go there again soon! Now I've been to a tanning salon like one time before but since the wedding is tomorrow I thought I'd give it another shot. So we found this tanning place and once I got home my youngest brother said, "you look like you've been living in Hawaii!" Which means that it must have worked. :) But since I was hanging out with Laila and then came home to a big ol'bbq with friends and family I really didn't/couldn't keep track of my calories or foods today. But here's what I remember:

Food: pbj; 2 scrambled eggs with a 1/4 cup of low fat shredded cheddar cheese in a tortilla; a slice of cantaloupe; a chocolate special k protein bar, two chocolate chip Sunbelt granola bars, a light and fit peach yogurt, about a half dozen cherries; watermelon chunks and a slice of cantaloupe; more watermelon and some macaroni salad; a diet root beer and a half along with a good handful of chips with some salsa.

So I'm just gonna "guess" but I'm pretty sure I went WAY over today. :( No idea about my protein either.
Exercise: swimming around, laughing, some walking around, blah blah blah..

Tomorrow is the wedding! I still can't seem to wrap my head around the FACT that he's getting married! The first of us kids. I probably won't be posting anything tomorrow-just sayin', after all I'm leaving around noon, the wedding starts around 3pm and the reception is in the evening is bound to go late that night. Have a good day tomorrow- I know I will!

Oh yeah, almost forgot! I tried on one of Laila's new dresses and it's a size I thought would be too small, especially in the bust area and it's too big!!!! This means I've lost like two dress sizes now!!!! WOOOO-HOOO!!!!! (Yes, I'm that happy and excited about it! Who wouldn't be?)

Claire: Today Ended Very Well!

All I can say is my Boyfriend is super amazing, even when he's far away. Things started out a little stressful today, so I painted for some stress relief!I'm really liking how it's turning out.
Thankfully everything was resolved this evening. And no work today!!!! YAY! Plus on the scale I saw a new low too! How awesome is that?!

Food: a slice of toast w/two scrambled eggs; a low-fat toasted mozzarella cheese sandwich w/pineapple; pbj sandwich (big surprise right?); more pineapple; and a half-pbj for dinner.
Calories: 1301
Protein: 54.5 g
Water: almost enough
Exercise: LAZY day! Felt so good!

Claire: I'm Loving This Summer!

Between hanging out with Anaya and laying out in the sunshine drinking a Smirnoff's Ice and listening to 90s rock/pop and having dinner with longtime best-friend, Jessica at her new apartment- today was great. So relaxing and summery!

Anaya and I went to do some window shopping and we popped into Dress Barn (what a horrible name, right?). There I tried on two different tops and for the first time in my adult life I fit into Medium tops!!!! (And they weren't from the plus size section either!) I still can't believe it! YAY! Also I fit into some clothes from my JUNIOR year in HIGH SCHOOL!!!! Remember how I had mentioned a few weeks ago that I had found a box of clothes from high school? At that time I could fit into like 3 of the 5 shirts in the box. Well I can fit into ALL of them now!!!!! Happy dance!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!! Even my shorts from high school are really loose on me, I mean like "pants on the ground" loose! YAY! WOOT-WOOT!!! (Seriously, this has been one awesome "I'm actually losing weight- not just numbers on the scale!")

Speaking of the scale- this morning I've finally broken past the last number I've been at for this last several days! Not by much but it still counts!

Food: watermelon and cantaloupe w/a slice of bread w/pb; a Smirnoff's Ice; cottage cheese and pbj; cheese ravioli and strawberry lemonade.
Calories: 1292
Protein: 34 g (way low)
Water: not enough
Exercise: not much of anything besides walking around with Anaya.

Claire: The End of One Sweet Week!

Laila and I spent the day chasing the sun, trying to get tan. Our goal of getting a little sun didn't really work out. We met up with the guy I've gone on a few dates with, he brought his little brother and his son, (this kid is so adorable). We had lunch and played around a local park. Since I drove with Laila and she had to babysit, he offered to drive me home. That man is so sweet, really.

Getting home was particularly funny because we caught my dad napping on the couch in front of the TV, I've never seen my dad look so surprised. You could tell he wasn't sure about what was going on! The look of sheer puzzlement was hilarious! So the introductions were made and after he left all my dad could say was, "He sure is tall! Does he shoot?" After telling Dad he does shoot, he tells me to invited him to join him for some skeet shooting sometime, this really threw me for a loop.

Another cool note: I'm officially down 14 pounds!!!!! And I just ordered a phone upgrade!! YAY!! All-around one SWEET week!

Food: a piece of harder-than-life toast w/pb; Spicy Anasazi Bean Burger w/cheese; raspberry yogurt; cantaloupe; pbj sandwich and a couple of baby carrots.
Calories: between 1350-1442
Protein: around 50 g
Water: lots, been drinking it all evening!
Exercise: lots of chasing the little kid around the playground! Lots of fun! Plus scaling a hillside, being a ninja going across a river and maybe a mile or so "hike" looking for a place near the river.

Claire: Bright and Beautiful Morning!

Everything started out pretty well. I had done some of my laundry the previous night and had sadly, put my work clothes in the wrong pile forcing me to catch a ride to work :) . On the way there I got a sweet phone call from the guy I have a date with tomorrow night. Apparently he's a morning person who gets up naturally around 5 am! Crazy, just crazy. Work was pretty good- people were happy, cheerful and nice with me! (Hey things can get messy working in retail!) Came home and blasted some music because I could and no one else was home and busted out my dance moves!!! Seriously so much fun!

Food: two Eggo waffles w/pb and sliced banana; a light pbj sandwich; some baby carrots and a lasagna Florentine; and finally 3 scrambled eggs.
Calories: 1225
Protein: 52.1
Water: Work makes it difficult to get enough of it, plus I left my water bottle at home :(

I've been on a happy-high all day now. Plus, like I promised, here's my news: I'm at an all-time weight low! Officially down 11 or 12 pounds!!! YEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Claire: 1st Day of Summer!

Hope the weather finally catches up to the season! We need sunshine here! Today I got the follow up call from the guy I went on the date with. A second date is coming Thursday night- pretty excited and a little nervous about it too. I need to work on dressing up all cute for these kinds of things! Like doing my hair all sweet like.

Food: blueberry waffles w/pb, a glass of soy milk and a peaches cup; 3 egg whites scrambled and baby carrots; a lasagna Florentine; baby carrots; and a toasted cheese sandwich.
Calories: 1251
Protein: 60 g
Water: lots of it!!
Exercise: nope, lazy day.

Also found a box of t-shirts from like high school and early college- I had stored them because they were too small to wear and guess what? Three out of the five shirts fit!!! YAY!!!!
(Another cool note: the guy told me I'm pretty- completely made my day!) :) I'm such a cheese ball!

L: Yippppe!!

I tried on a dress earlier tonight that I got for the Christmas of '08 but never seemed to fit right. It's a sleek little black dress, one that is hard to disquise the body under, meaning that I haven't even worn it outside the house yet.

And guess what.... IT FITS!!!!
Yahooo! Yay for results!

Also, I looked into the records of the adult swim team I'm on, and turns out I set a record for the top 12 in the mile swim I did last summer! All this time and I didn't know I made it (top 12 in the state. Way cool).
So I think that's the motivation I've been lacking.

Also (this is the last also. I promise) I was listening to the radio tonight and the topic was overweight teen girls and their self-esteem issues. I found myself nodding my head in agreement to nearly everything that was said. As I've said before, I have definite body issues, for accepting myself physically for what I am. I remember once taking someone's comment as "aren't you a curvy girl" as an insult, hinting that I was fat (granted, as I look back, this was the time where I was at my lightest weight and extremely fit). It's just so sad how I've let other people's comments bring me down over the years. Anyways, back to the talk show. Someone was saying that it's very popular to think that "if I could only look like THIS/ be THIS size, I would be happy", when infact, that idea is false. If one cannot accept themself for the way they are, no physical factor is going to boost that self esteem.

Now, while I have a certain size / weight that I would LIKE to be, I am no longer making that a priority. I am stepping back and working on accepting myself for who I am RIGHT NOW and going from there.

Just a little insight into my night.

Claire: It's Saturday?!

OK I've been acting and thinking like today has been Friday, and then it hits me today is Saturday. Where has the weekend gone???

Food: oatmeal w/pb, light peach yogurt, 2 cantaloupe slices, glass of soymilk, 1/3 of my grande skinny iced latte, a pbj sandwich, 3 eggs, baby carrots, and another serving of pb. (I eat a lot of pb don't I?)
Calories: 1417
Vitamin: yes- need to buy more
Water: Stopped counting this...
Exercise: play day also known as Fartleck- yes, it sounds funny. I went to the local HS did a lap around their field trail (1mi), did some sprints on the track while walking the whole track after each sprint (1.25 mi), and walked/ran home (3.8 mi+).

OK, I said I'd give a weight loss update today and here it is- the previous weeks my weight has been fluctuating which is fairly normal, albeit annoying. But as of this week, I've officially lost 10 lbs total now!!!! YAY!!!! I'm stronger, a little faster and feel better. I'm definitely a recreational runner but I want to become a Runner, an Athlete, a Marathoner, and one day a Triathlete.

This quote is pretty sweet:

"Workouts are like brushing my teeth; I don't think about it, I just do it. The decision has already been made."
-Patti Sue Plumer, U.S. Olympian

Claire: Getting Stronger

It's pretty cool when you finally start noticing some more changes. Like my arms- there's more definition and less "wiggle,"and my legs- definition and more endurance. I'm finally able to inhale through my nose while running, (weird comment right?). I was trained as a swimmer and we inhale through our mouths, exhale through our noses- it just doesn't work the other way around ya know? This week I've been really trying to work on my breathing and I can do it now! Also my weight has been pretty steady- not much loss, but no gains either!!

Food: oatmeal w/pb, green beans, apple sauce, Subway Veggie Patty Sandwich w/pepper jack cheese, apple, light strawberry yogurt, pb, 2 eggs.
Calories: 1440
Protein: 65 g
Exercise: 4 sets of 15: elevated lunges, stationary lunges, jump squats, ball press, torso twists, and reverse crunches. 4 sets of 20: body squats, regular lunges and hip thrusts. I also did some planks, my first two I could hold for a whole minute, the following two around 50 seconds.

Claire: Day 24

Trying to incorporate more protein into the mix is difficult for me since I'm a vegetarian living with my family. Their main source of protein is from meat and so they don't really think about buying other types of high protein foods. Grrr. Going to trying searching for some high protein vegetarian foods.

Food: oatmeal w/2tbsp of pb, soymilk, apple, pbj sandwich, banana, Florentine lasagna, baby carrots, apple sauce, 1 tbsp of pb and 1 tbsp of almond butter.
Calories: 1582
Vitamin: yes!
Water:10 glasses and counting
Exercise: nope.. :(

Also I forgot to mention that for the month of May I lost a total of 6 pounds. YAY! To recap on previous posts, I've also lost a pants size and a bra size too as well as have run my first 5k race.

Claire: Week End of Three!

Today was perfect weather for hiking, and as Laila said, we did. A lot. Yeah, it was crazy, but so much fun too!

Food: Oatmeal, light peach yogurt, slice of cantaloupe, low fat string cheese, special k protein bar, streamed broccoli, green beans and zucchini, baby carrots, a serving of wheat thins, refried beans, 3 tortillas, cheddar cheese, green beans, serving of wheat thins.
Calories: 1280
Water: not enough
Exercise: hiked 7.5 miles in 4.5 hours, body's gonna be feeling it tomorrow!

Can anyone explain to me why my body is gaining weight instead of losing it???? Over the last two days I've gained 3 pounds now??? It can't be all muscle can it?? I'm rather frustrated about it!

L: Day 15

Woot woot. I'm noticing more changes. YES!

I got some pants that I've had in storage for a few months, thinking they'd be too tight. Not. I can take them off while wearing a belt. Crazy. But a good kind of crazy. Plus I tried on a swimsuit I wore last year....almost fits! I never thought I'd get to this point without being on a really involved swim team. But I am. And it feels great.

Food:
1 protein bar, 2 cups yogurt, 1 banana, bowl fresh strawberries, "Healthy Choice" Mac & Cheese with sausage, 1 cup chocolate pudding, 1 salad (tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms, ham, ranch dressing), 1 bag 100-calorie chex mix.

Total calories: 1591
Water: 10 glasses
Vitamin: yes!
Exercise: 30 min stationary bike, 20 min lifting (mainly working on arms and quads / hamstrings).
*It's getting to the point that even biking is starting to hurt, so if there's any ideas on how to get cardio in without the use of my knee (excluding running, biking, walking, etc) it would be much apprectiated. I don't want to get to the point where I'm having to give up on all cardio because I've come MUCH too far to just let the weight come back on. We'll work on that....