A Valiant Attempt...

I was having lunch with a friend the other day, when the topic of my new diet came up. We were eating some chicken caesar salad when he asked what I planned to accomplish by going on South Beach. I told him that I wanted to get healthier overall and hopefully lose some weight in the process. I started to tell him about how I went on South Beach about two years ago and lost a crap-ton of weight, when he, being the type to love word-play, jokingly asked, "Oh? Did you find it?"

And yes, yes I had. In fact, that was the problem and my entire reason behind going on it again! Two years ago, right after I graduated from college, I started a new health regimen that involved the South Beach Diet, Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, and my first pass at my Couch-to-5k program. I got addicted to fitness magazines and spent most of my time obsessing over workouts and meal planning... and it totally paid off. Within four months, I lost about 30 pounds, dropped two clothes sizes, and for the first time ever, was able to go into the dressing rooms of Forever 21 without crying (just kidding, I didn't always cry, sometimes I just complained loudly and obnoxiously). More than that, though, I finally felt strong and confident.

After a while, however, I grew complacent and started to fall out of my healthy habits. Where I had grown accustomed to eating some delicious apple salad or baked chicken for dinner, I gradually, then predominantly, started turning back to fast food. Where I had been working out and running nightly, I started playing more video games and going out to movies or bars. Now, over a year and a half later, I've completely undone my progress from before. I've found all the weight I lost.

All thanks to Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Cheeseburger

And so, having decided that it was definitely time to act, I started the South Beach Diet again on Monday. When I tried this in February, it only lasted a few days before I thought I was going to die. I had been drinking a lot of soda, so I kind of forgot to eat (like, legitimately forgot - not an eating disorder thing). By the time I realized I was ravenously hungry, I couldn't eat anything comfortably because my stomach was so full of Diet Coke. I was so nauseated and terrified that I quit the program that day. This time, I'm already on day 5 and haven't felt like vomiting even once! Improvement!

I think the big difference is that I'm trying to be more realistic this time around. I know that I'm going to screw up (heck, I already have a couple times thanks to freaking dinner meetings and Thanksgiving potlucks at work), but I keep reminding myself that one mistake doesn't mean I should give up, nor should it be an excuse to splurge too much. I also know that if I never indulge in anything, I'll make myself miserable and end up binging on junk sooner or later. Going in with the mindset that I don't have to be perfect but that I do need to make a valiant effort is proving to be very helpful and has kept me motivated.

In addition to South Beach, I'm planning on really stepping up my game in the activity department. I've signed up for a race in January that I'll start training for here shortly. Also, a friend from my kickboxing class and I both decided to get Groupons for Jazzercise, which I'm pretty pumped about.

Although, I'd really prefer to do Jazz Kwon Do

Now, if I can just start getting up early to run or do yoga before work, I'd be set!

Does anyone else ever feel so hungry they want to vomit? It doesn't make sense to me, but that's how I feel sometimes. Do you have any tips on how I can start getting up earlier that don't involve me going to bed earlier? Anyone have any leotards and leg warmers that I can borrow for Jazzercise?

Egg Muffins and My Ability to Always Stay on Track with Diets Always

Remember when I was all "Oh, I'm totally going on South Beach Diet, and it's going to be super awesome and successful and I'll totally not give up after the first day!"

Well good news! I didn't give up after the first day! However, I may have given up after three days. What? I couldn't help it! The best part of Lent (food-wise) is enjoying grilled cheese sandwiches on Fridays!

However, before I quit the diet, I did manage to try out a new grab-and-go breakfast recipe: egg muffins.

Egg Muffins
Recipe courtesy of Kalyn's Kitchen

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

15 eggs
1-2 tsp. Spike Seasoning
1-2 cups grated low fat cheese (I like sharp cheddar)
3 green onions diced small (optional)
Other chopped vegetables (optional)
Diced canadian bacon or lean ham (optional)

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.
2) Spray muffin pan with nonstick spray.
3) In the bottom of the muffin cups, layer diced meat, veggies, cheese, and onions, as applicable, until muffin cups are about 2/3 full.
4) Break eggs into large bowl, add Spike Seasoning, and beat well.
5) Pour egg into each muffin cup until it is 3/4 full and stir lightly with a fork.
6) Bake 25-35 minutes or until muffins have risen and are slightly browned and set.

Voila!

Even though I made some modifications to the recipe (I didn't include any vegetables or Spike Seasoning, partially because I have no idea what Spike Seasoning is), I like to think that they turned out pretty well! While the two I made with just egg and cheese were pretty bland, the ones with ham were delicious!

You can make these ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator. Just 2 minutes in the microwave and you're good to go!

What's your favorite grab-and-go breakfast recipe? Has anyone had much success staying on the South Beach Diet? Are you angry and confused as to why I haven't been here in over a month?

As we always say, " 7 free pizzas isn't enough."

"Remember before when we you were talking about hitting low points in your life?" "Yeah. Why do you ask?" "No reason..." Teddy Westside replied just before I dove back into the trashcan inside my apartment's mail room.**

Earlier that week, when looking through my mail, I had noticed a free pizza coupon stuffed inside the regular Wednesday coupon pack. With the exception of the occassional Tom Thumb coupon for lunch meat or whatever, I don't usually find anything interesting. This time, however, I realized that I had hit metaphoric gold when I saw a coupon for the Pie Five establishment that was about to open about a mile away from me. To bring in new business and introduce themselves to the community, they had sent out coupons for a free personal pizza with as many toppings as you'd like and no strings attached. There were no "with purchase of..." or even "only one per customer" stipulations. It was just a free pizza.

Obviously, Teddy Westside and I had no choice but to try to find more. Because I knew that other residents wouldn't be so diligent in scanning through the coupons as I am (thanks to my couponing guru of a sister), we knew the first place to look would be the recycle bins around the complex. That's when I was taught the hard lesson that not everyone respects the rules of recycle bins. We had been looking through the bin for coupons (successfully) when we came upon our first show stopper of a McDonalds bag. While I have nothing against McDonalds, I do have something against touching someone else's mystery food trash. We stopped there and moved to the next bin.

After a little more success, we hit another road block of an overturned soda. (Seriously people, it's the recycle bin! I don't care if you don't recycle, but don't ruin the recyclables that everyone else contributes to!) At that point, we had gathered a total of 7 free pizza coupons, when we coined our new motto "7 free pizzas isn't enough," and kept digging (making the gold analogy from before all the more apt).

By the end of the day (or after probably 20 minutes), we had gathered a whopping total of twelve pizza coupons. All of which we used in the span of a week. Granted, Teddy Westside and I were not the only two using the coupons. We also shared them with Teddy's lovely lady friend, as well as Maddy and Hannah. Regardless, that is still a lot of pizza for me to eat in a week (and what a delicious week it was). Not only did we get delicious pizzas, but Pie Five also sells Pie Holes, which are basically donut holes covered in cinnamon sugar with frosting dipping sauce (that's right, all of your dreams have come true).

Anyway, the whole point of this story is that after that delicious week, I realized that my healthy eating was totally out of whack. Between Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras, it didn't get any better either. As a result, I'm going back on South Beach, sort of. More info to come later.

While dumpster diving for pizza coupons might have been one of the low points in my life, what are some of the hilarious lows you've hit? Have you tried my favorite specialty pizza, the Pie Five High Five? Are you concerned that South Beach is one of those fad crash diets? Because don't worry, it's actually very healthy when done properly, and is really good for people with inherent blood sugar issues like myself.

**Note: my poor memory means that these are not direct quotes from the conversation between Teddy Westside and myself, but rather what I can best recall from the incident. Though the wording may have changed, the gist and the spirit of the conversation are still intact.

Motivation

Staying motivated is one of the most difficult obstacles for most people trying to get in shape. Sure, we can picture where we want to be, and we can plan for how we are going to accomplish our goals, but follow through? That's a completely different story. I know in my case, I can have the best game plan (I use the term "best" very liberally), but sooner or later (usually sooner) I will see something shiny and get distracted, forcing me to yet again start from square one. This could potentially stem from the fact that I love the mere planning of it. In fact, during the Great Fitness Competition of 2010 (so dubbed just now, by me), I took a week long break from both the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and my running program (the first time I attempted it) so that I could create a planner and corresponding spreadsheet that would track my progress. To be fair, it is a fantastic planner that is the subject of much admiration, but still. I don't know how many times in the past year I have embarked on the same running program, always starting from the beginning, but never reaching the end (actually, I do know, it has been 3 times). How many times in the past year have I started the South Beach Diet never to finish (also 3)? If I could just stay motivated, think about how much I could accomplish!

Which brings me to my next point: how to stay motivated. According to fitness magazines, blogs, and common sense, people use a number of different motivators in order to stay on track. Some people put pictures of when they were fit on their fridge. Others hang a dress/jeans/bathing suit they wish they could fit into on their door as a visible reminder of their goals. Sometimes, after people make progress, they keep around some of their larger clothing as a reminder of where they don't want to be again (I, on the other hand, relished throwing away my big jeans and never want to see them again).

Personally, there are only two things that really keep my focused: competition and camaraderie.

Competition:

When I moved to San Antonio, I did not have much camaraderie. I didn't know anyone in town, and as a result, had a hard time making myself be active. I am pretty shy, and was nervous about joining classes, going swing dancing, or even using the gym at my apartment! It probably didn't help that it was the middle of June in Texas, and all I wanted to do was sit comfortably in the air conditioning while eating ice cream (which is strange considering that I don't particularly like ice cream all that much). Knowing that something had to change, my friend back home and I started the Great Fitness Competition of 2010. Because I am extremely competitive, I was actually able to find the beans to get up and do something! Of course, it didn't hurt that we had some pretty high stakes on the line (if I lost, I had to read Tek Wars by William Shatner and tell everyone how much I loved it; if she lost, she had to read the Last Song by Nicholas Sparks and tell everyone "wow, I thought the movie with Miley Cyrus was great, but the book is a million times better"). I started the South Beach Diet, did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred at least 4 days a week, and went running regularly. My competitive side took over, and since I didn't have much in San Antonio to distract me, I was able to keep my focus.

In October, the 90 day contest ended, and so did my progress. I was still doing the occassional workout, and not eating nearly as many chicken nugget meals as before, but I was pretty much at a motivational standstill.


Camaraderie:

In February, my company transferred me back to my hometown. Now, I am surrounded by family and friends galore! The best part is that when I moved back, my friends were all itching to get active again. I was worried that we would end up spending our free time watching movies and eating junk food (much like when a few of us lived together in college). Instead, we started up the running program again and we've started rock climbing nearly every other day. Maddie taught us how to slack-line, Kirsten just participated in the Warrior Dash, and Hannah is teaching me how to boulder! We've made plans to go kayaking, yoga-ing, and swing dancing. This also means that I now have partners that will hold me accountable when I want to do a challenge. Kirsten has motivated me to sign up for the Warrior Dash next year. Maddie and I will be participating in the Official Stair Climb next February. We're even doing our first 5k in the coming weeks! I know that without the encouragement, enthusiasm, and accountability of each other, none of us would be nearly as active as we are today.


The only way this could be better, would be if we could somehow combine the comraderie and competition... What do you say?


What do you do to stay motivated? How likely is it that my kayak will flip over, considering my lack of experience? Have you read Tek Wars by William Shatner, or any of his other post-Star Trek, pre-comedy books?