Jen's ramblings.

Well, as I recall, I never got around to posting last week. Probably because my weight was artificially inflated due to the time of the month (TMI?!). But I weighed myself today and I'm back down. I am five pounds down from my starting weight. I fluctuate a little bit within about a pound or two, but I'm determined to break through and get down this week. I've been fairly consistent with my workouts....I ran four times last week and did weights three times. Hoping to do a little better this week. I didn't work out all weekend (Fri-Sun) and I was really busy with work stuff, so I was eager to get back to it today and it felt great. I've been doing the workout plan that Bob Greene outlines in his Total Body Makeover...I may have already mentioned that. You increase the cardio by two minutes each week. So I'm supposed to do 38 mins of cardio 5 days this week, and then 76 mins of cardio on one day (so six days of cardio total). Then weights every other day. This is the 5th week that I've been doing the program.

I admire April's ambitious goal of 2 lbs. a week for the month of March. I'm certainly willing to work towards that. (I admit I'm skeptical of my ability to lose that much, but if I did, I would be ecstatic and getting very close to my final goal).

I've been doing reasonably well with my eating, but I confess I have been buying those 100 calorie treats to get me through. Hostess and Mrs. Freshley's have lots of fiber in theirs, so that is how I've justified it. I noticed that the 100 calorie Little Debbie snow puffs that I just bought don't have the added fiber, so that is a bummer! I did bake cookies last week, and when I totalled the recipes calories and divided it out, it totally depressed me how many calories were in each cookie, so I probably will be able to keep myself from making cookies for a while (unfortunately, I ordered Girl Scout cookies quite a while ago and I know they'll be showing up soon).

Anyone have any good healthy recipes to share? I need some inspiration. I have definitely been paying more attention to the "extras" I add that have a lot of calories...sour cream is probably the hardest for me. Love me some sour cream. I have been eating the Fiber One yogurts and Fiber One cereals. Both are surprisingly good. I was definitely happy to discover the cereals are so good. I've had the raisin bran and the honey clusters (good with a banana cut into it). I've been trying to add more and more beans into our diet for fiber and protein. As I track my macros, I find that protein is where I need to pay the most attention....I don't eat enough of it. I've been eating the Hillshire Farms oven roasted turkey as a snack (the deli meat that comes in the tupperware thingies with the red lid). I love that turkey, even just by itself, but I wish it didn't have quite so much sodium.

Eager to hear how everyone is doing. I know I could use some good accountability....it gets frustrating when you are just maintaining rather than losing, especially when you are working out.