Claire: Yeah...

I've been lacking on keeping up with my posts. Sorry about that. It's been pretty crazy over here this past week. Between some very stressful events, working some ridiculous hours and the Boyfriend being back things have been all over the place.

I've lost another pound and a half since my last post too! Very cool, so now I'm at a new all time low.

Since I had the day off and so did the Boyfriend we got together and hung out at his parents' house, playing with his little boy and his siblings, and talking with his folks. He lives out in the country and we ended up hiking around the woods that are on the property. There's this huge tree that they call the "climbing tree" and the Boyfriend and I scaled up pretty high. The view from way up there was incredible, you could see for miles and miles. His mom made us dinner and we had a great time just being with his family.

Food: two bowls of Golden Grahams w/2% milk; 1/2 pb and honey sandwich and 1/2 an apple; some spaghetti; three graham crackers w/nutella; a small serving of brown rice and steamed veggies for dinner; and then I got home and had a couple of tortillas w/butter.
Calories, protein, water: unknowns.
Exercise: long steep high + running back; climbing a huge tree; running around the property; and playing around with the Boyfriend's siblings (all of them @ home are younger than him.

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!

Claire: I Feel Like A Zombie

Minus the wanting to eat people's brains of course, and being a non-human. I was asked to come into work early today so I did and then I was asked if I could stay late. How late? Till closing of course. So I had a 9 HOUR shift today. I'm beat. YAY- for a better paycheck though!

Food: basically had peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches all day today, because I 1) live with my carnivorous family and 2) didn't have $ to buy food at work. I did have a Yukon White Bean and Basic Burger from Burgerville (so good- especially after so much pbj!!)
Calories: 1435
Protein: 42 g
Water: more than yesterday.
Exercise: speed walking to work (3.5 miles in 45-50 minutes!)

At work they had a materials out in the break room for people to make their dads a father's day card. I did and it is so cheesy! He loved it. :)

Also remember how last weekend I binged and totally reverted to my old ways? Remember how I gained like 5.6 pounds? Well this week I'm back down to where I was before that odious weekend! The speed walking to and from work plus better eating habits does pay off.

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: 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!

Claire: Day 18

Woot! So I got the job! And.... I lost another 2.5 lbs too!!

Food: soymilk with Life cereal, light peach yogurt, refried beans, apple, baby carrots, oatmeal, florentine lasagna, an pb with a few pretzels.
Calories: 1225
Water: 13 glasses
Vitamin: still taking them :)
Exercise: ran 3.2 miles, walked 1.2 miles, + Cardio Max dvd

Sweet, sweet day!

Claire's Alive on Day 16

I am beginning to realize how exercise really does change my outlook for the whole day. Woke up feeling kinda lame and all. But once I started running, it was if the sun came out and music started playing like in a movie or something. Lol! Maybe it wasn't that dramatic. Nevertheless, one good choice does make it easier to make more good choices, and working out brightens my day. Came home and wanted to work out more! So I popped my "Cardio Max" dvd in and worked up a good sweat working out with it. Followed it up with a workout dubbed "Ab Flatteners" I got off the net.

Food: Oatmeal, soymilk, cantaloupe, light peach yogurt, cooked some broccoli and zucchini together, baby carrots, a gala apple, celery and some pb, cranberry juice, refried beans and some more pb.
Calories: 1101- too low..
Water: 10 glasses
Vitamin: yeppers
Exercise: Running (with some walking intervals) 1 hr, Cardio Max dvd 30 min, Pikes 15 reps, 15 reps of Crunchy frogs (who comes up with the names?), 15 reps of Tornadoes, 15 reps Corkscrews, 2 sets of Side Arm Balances.

I also joined the Pound for Pound Challenge to fight hunger in America. I recommend checking it out! I mean getting healthier and working out regularly will result in losing weight might as well as take part in an awesome organization too. :)

L: Day 14

Today went well. I'm down another pound!!! Woo hoo! Went to the gym today and was able to leg press 300 lbs 20 times. It was great. I'm STRONG :) Because I haven't been able to do much cardio (running, biking) because it hurts the knee too much, I've been focusing more on lifting. And noticing a big difference. My arms and legs are definetly slimming down more. It's great.

I can almost fit into a size 34 swimsuit...I have a 38 now that is getting a little loose. Plus, I got said swimsuit for a whopping $3 at a church garage sale. So sweet. Normally it would have been atleast $30.

Calories : 1600
Food: bowl special K cereal, 3 cups (total) yogurt, 1 protein bar, 3 pieces chicken, 1 cup esparagus, 1 big bowl fresh strawberries, 1 energy bar (at the hospital), 1 hot pocket, 1 large orange.
Water: 8 glasses
Exercise: 30 min stationary bike, 30 min lifting
Vitamin: Yup