Can't Be Trusted.

There are a few foods that I just can't be trusted around because I will eat and eat until it is all gone.

*Honey Roasted Peanuts

*Ice Cream

*French's Fried Onions

*Any type of chocolate

*Tortilla Chips

*Any type of crackers

If I buy any of the above food with the intention of eating just one serving size at a time, I last about a day and then something stressful happens or I'm just bored or even really hungry and it all goes out the window.

Most of the things you can buy in individual servings, which is PERFECT for me. I get a treat without going crazy with calories. Except tortilla chips. I love love love love tortilla chips but I can't buy a big bag of them and they just don't have snack size bags of tortilla chips around here.

UNTIL NOW!

Look at what Marc found at his work last night!! My loving husband snagged me 7 bags of these babies! Woo Hoo!!

110 calories

2.5g fat

19g carbs

2g protein

I can live with those numbers for a little delicious tortilla treat!

I have one lovely bag waiting for me after I finish the post and the other 6 are going to live in Marc's truck until I'm ready to eat one serving at a time.

You gotta do what you gotta do. I'm aware it's completely ridiculous the scrumptious morsels must be kept in Marc's truck. But I know myself and in a moment of weakness I will get of track and be so mad at myself, so into the truck they go!

It's tortilla chip time!

Yummy Lobster Sliders

I posted about these DELICIOUS Lobster Sliders I made on Friday on my other blog and figured I should share it over here. Now, it may not be the most healthy recipe with the bread and butter but let me tell you, this is yummy enough where you don't need the rolls. In fact, it was so yummy that I made these for lunch yesterday at my Mom's. She wanted to try them and they were even better the second time around.

Ingredients:

*2 Lobsters

Steamed by the grocery store, they usually don't charge for it and

it's way easier than cooking them yourself then having to wait for them to cool.

*Mayo

I used light mayo

*Lemon

*Pepper

*Chives

*Thyme

*Butter

*Dijon Mustard (not pictured, last minute addition)

*Dinner Rolls

First shell your lobsters. No easy way to do this, just have to put your strong fingers on and do it.

While Marc was shelling the lobsters, I made the mayo mixture.

I probably used between 2 and 3 tablespoons of mayo.

Then I diced up some chives, not a whole lot as you can see. It's really a judgement call for what you want yours to taste like.

I squeezed some lemon juice into the mayo as well as a few grinds of pepper. Again, no exact measurements. I just eyeballed and tasted to get the flavor I wanted.

After I took this picture, I added in a very small amount of Grey Poupon mustard. I don't think regular yellow mustard would have worked as well. As for the mustard quantity, I would say I added less than a teaspoon of mustard.

In a saucepan I put 1/2 a stick of butter and some thyme leaves, I heated the pan on medium so I didn't scorch the butter or thyme.

I used "I can't Believe it's not Butter" but I think you could use another butter substitute and it would taste just as good if you want to watch those calories.

While the pan on was, I would move rotate/shake/not sure of the cooking term the pan to incorporate the thyme into the butter.

Liberated Lobster Meat.

Action shot of chopping lobster into smaller pieces.

Those are Marc's hands, he is not handy with a camera.

Once the Thyme/Butter mixture was melted, I brushed onto my dinner rolls that I cut in half.

I put the oven on broil and popped them in while I did the last few steps of the lobster mixture.

Nicely diced Lobster.

I had leftover butter & thyme after brushing the dinner rolls so I poured that over my lobster meat first.

Then I added the mayo mixture.

Crispy and delicious rolls.

Voila! Lobster Sliders!

When I made them the second time, I left out the chives I didn't like the taste of them with the thyme, luckily we added so few that the chives didn't ruin the taste of the first batch.

Out of the 2 lobsters, I was able to fill 4 sliders. It was a perfect band portion for me and if you just had the lobster mixture with a side veggie without the roll it would be a delicious meal.

You could make more of a mayo mixture to make your lobster go further, but I wanted a subtle mayo taste.

Challenge Time!

Who is ready for a Spring Challenge??

Nikki @ Chasing Skinny is hosting. Head on over & sign up! Click on the picture to head over to the challenge.

Do you like my new fancy pants layout? I love it! I'm still tweaking it a bit but I really really love it.

I've exercised two more times, so I'm down to three times by Tuesday March 1st. I've been thinking about my March goals and I'm almost ready to commit them to blogland.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Because Everyone Else is Doing it.

And because I stayed home sick today. My stomach is bothering me, I think I ate too much junk yesterday. Boo.

(A) Age: 28
(B) Bed Size: King
(C) Chore You Hate: Switching over the laundry, I don't mind starting the laundry or folding it but I HATE switching from washer to dryer, dryer to couch.
(D) Dogs?: No thank you, I'm a cat person but Marc is slowly convincing me to get a dog in the future, the far far far away future.
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: A Shower.
(F) Favorite Color: Sage
(G) Gold or Silver?: Silver
(H) Height: 5' 10"
(I) Instruments You Play: I had a disastrous turn at the clarinet in middle school. I am not musically inclined.
(J) Job Title: Information Center Assistant
(K) Kids: Soon I hope!
(L) Live: Massachusetts but I'm from Maine and will always be a Maine girl at heart.
(M) Mom's Name: Angela
(N) Nicknames: Lallie, Beanie
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays?: Only for my Band surgery, one night.
(P) Pet Peeve: The term HUBBY. I hate it, it makes me want to puke.
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "I carried a watermelon". First person to respond with what movie that is from gets a cyber high five from me.
(R) Right or Left Handed?: Right.
(S) Siblings: One younger brother.
(T) Time You Wake Up?: Anywhere between 5 and 6:30, depending if I drag my butt to the gym.
(U) Underwear: I'm a big fan of underwear, everyone should wear it. :-)
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: Peppers
(W) What Makes You Run Late: Nothing really...I hate hate hate being late, if anything makes me late it's snowy weather or a car emergency.
(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: A lot, ankles, kidneys for my kidney stone last year, tons before my band surgery.
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: Scallops with a mint pea puree.
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: Rabbits

Eye on the Prize

My scale was very happy today....but it was probably because my band was cranky yesterday and I couldn't keep any food down. It read 323lbs, it's exciting but I'm super hungry!

Isn't it weird how some days your restriction is so tight? It's crazy to me. Then you have troubles with some food and then other times you can eat like you don't even have a band. It's so weird how persnickety the band and restriction can be.

I struggled a bit this past week with eating not so great things. Marc & I have not been very good about cooking dinner every night and we so badly need to get back into that routine. It is getting to the point where I'm sick of getting wraps from take out places, when that happens you know you are eating take out too much.

I need to get my head back in the game. I also need to come up with a concrete exercise routine. I didn't do any exercising this weekend and I had plenty of time to do some, I was just lazy. I need to work out 5 more times before the end of February.

I really really want to get under 300lbs. I just need to stay focused. I think today on my extra day off, gotta love those bank holidays, I'm going to make a list of times that I can exercise and stick to that plan this week. I do much better when I have a plan to follow. Maybe I should start writing out my plans for the week and then just follow it even when I'm tired, cranky or just being lazy. Once I figure out my plans I will post them here so you can all help me stay accountable.

Exercise, Internship, Oh My!

Did you see my exercise ticker??!!

Yep! I'm halfway to meeting my February exercise goal.

Marc & I bought a Wii Fit last January. We hadn't quite made the weight limit yet but we figured it would be a good motivator for us....I was just finally able to use it this week. Yeah, a year later. It's pathetic how side tracked I was this past year on my weight loss but I'm kicking butt again so I'm not going to dwell on it.

The Wii Fit is amazing. I really didn't think I'd get that good of a work out on it because essentially you are playing game but I've exercised with the Wii Fit three times this week and my arms and legs are feeling the burn! I've done a variety of games but right now my favorite is the RhythmKung Fu. It's so much fun and playing it doesn't feel like I'm exercising. Plus I'm really really competitive so it's easy for me to get wrapped up into beating my highest score. I think this is a good way for me to get into an exercise routine so I'm going to stick with it. I have even tried some of the yoga poses and even though they are really hard I like trying them because I'm only going to get better. Someday I'd really like to take a yoga class so this is all going to get me to meet my goals.

In other VERY exciting news....I have found myself an internship for school!! I'm going for Medical Billing & Coding and right now my classes are on a break until March 31st (it's a small program and they have to have 3 people in class so that is why I'm on break). Well as you know Marc & I really want to start a family soon and with my classes going through August 26th and then a 160 hour internship I was freaking that we wouldn't even be able to start trying this year. NOT ANYMORE! I found an internship that is willing to take me BEFORE I finish my classes!!! It's a family friend of Marc's Aunt so I had an inside advantage but the lady was super nice when I talked to her and I'm going to start at the beginning of March. I'm thrilled, relieved, happy, and 1,000 other happy adjectives. I think it's adjectives, now I'm doubting my brain power. I found out on Tuesday that it was going to happen and let me tell you something, I was so happy that I stopped eating my dinner and exercised for 45 minutes and I felt so good after.

Happy Leslie = Exercising Leslie.

It helps that Marc & I could technically start trying to have a baby at anytime because I will be done with classes and internship by the end of August. I'm THRILLED. BEYOND THRILLED. It's a huge huge huge weight lifted off my worrying shoulders. I go see my ob/gyn on March 18th so I'd really love love love to be under 300lbs and I'm going to try to kick butt. I'm thinking that the doctor told me last year to be around 280lbs before we started trying and that is a little over 40lbs away, I can do that! I can SO do that. I'm going to wait to see what she officially says in March and then we will be good to go. I'm so excited!

How is everyone else doing out in Blog Land?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! I hope you all have someone special to share it with.

I barely get to see Marc today but we had a good weekend so I'm not complaining.

I am even more sick than I was on Saturday. I feel miserable but I can't leave work, we are shorthanded and overloaded in work. Boo.

I'm happy to report a new scale low this weekend. 323.5lbs! Woo Hoo!! I also exercised twice this weekend, only 7 more times in the next two weeks. I can totally do that.

I'm off to drink more orange juice in hopes of getting rid of this stupid cold!

Sharing Simple Sweetness

I'm sharing my new craft/home/diy/etc blog with all of you!

Check it out.

Stupid Sickness

I have been battling a sore throat since yesterday and not to be gross but I think it's post nasal drip....which means that my band is not cooperating with the added nasal drip.

I spent most of the month of December sick, dealing with this post nasal drip not being able to keep anything down!

Blahhhh.

I take a daily allergy pill so I don't know what my problem is.

Do any of you have this problem? I guess in all my whining do you have a product you take? I can't take many pills because they make me sick with my band. So any suggestions you have would be most appreciated!!

Lobster & Crab Rangoons.

Even though I have been weighing myself every morning today is the official move the ticker day.

The scale read 325.8lbs today! That is 4.3lbs for the month of February and 2.3lbs for the week.

I'm very happy with that.

I'm sad to say that I have NOT exercised at all since that 1 time on Feb. 1st. I must do better, I have 9 times left to do this month and I will meet that goal.

Eating has been going really well. We did take out a few times this week but I got sandwich wraps, so I'm not eating that evil fried food. Why do bad things taste oh so very good!? You know what I have been craving...?? CRAB RANGOONS. What is it that they put in chinese food that makes you crave it like freaking crazy? Oy.

As a treat tonight I am having lobster. Ahhhh, lobster. My one true food love. I'm so happy that my band allows me to eat lobster as that was the ONE food I was worried about never being able to eat again with my band. Phew. What can I say? I'm a true Maine girl. I have got to have my lobster!

I'll be honest, I really want to order crab rangoons to go with my lobster. Yes, it's excessive but it's a delicious combination. I will resist though. I want that scale to keep moving down.

It's been almost a month since I had lobster so I'm really looking forward to it. Yayayaya!

I had an appointment with my awesome nutritionist yesterday. She is always so supportive. She did use tough love and told me to amp up the exercise. I'd really love to be under 300lbs for my March 18th doctors appointment with my ob/gyn and she told me if I exercised and kept going with my good eating habits than I could reach that. I really want to do that. It would be so awesome to go to that appointment under 300lbs because that is what I have to be at to be able to deliver at that hospital. We also talked about me doing a half marathon and she again said if I got serious that I could be ready to do one by the summer. I'm going to mull on that for a bit more but I do need to get moving exercise wise. That is what I'm going to focus on in this next week.

It's All Good.

I feel like I'm in a really good place with my band, weight loss and eating. I've had two very successful eating weekends, which is normally my downfall and I'm consistently seeing weight fall off when I weigh myself...everyday. I know it's a bad habit but it's keeping me motivated currently so I'm going to keep it up.

I've been trying to get organized in other aspects of my life. We just bought a much needed new computer, we moved the computer desk into the living room since we can now use the wireless connection. Our old computer had to be in our bedroom because that is where the internet router was.

We have a spare room that has become a dumping ground for miscellaneous items, mainly my craft supplies. I need to put up some shelves in the closet and I think I'm going to organize all of my crafty things. One of my goals this year is to open an Etsy shop. I really want to have that as a part time hobby/income. I think it would be a good outlet for me, keeping busy with something that is not related to food. I think I might start a craft blog soon to post my creations. I've been finding craft blogs on blogger lately and it just amazes me at what people can create!! They have given me a lot of good ideas and I want to start doing more.

The one thing I do need to work harder on is exercise. I've only exercised once this month so far, so I need to get my other nine times in. I've contacted a personal trainer that comes to your home and shows you a routine that you can do right in your living room. I'm very tempted to do it, I just hate spending the money. If I can't get myself into some kind of exercise routine then I will do the personal trainer route, I will need the motivation.

Fat Be Gone Fridays.

I've decided to update my weight loss tickers only ONCE a week. I've decided that Fridays are going to be the day.

Drum roll please.....

I weighed in this morning on 328.1lbs.

I will take it! Especially since yesterday I was up 4lbs on the scale, something screwy was going on there.

So I've lost 2lbs this week and I'm back in the 80's for total weight loss....81.3lbs to be exact!

I do not not not not want to go back to the 330s ever again, that is my goal this week. I have been doing this yo-yo thing where I reach 327 or 328 and the rocket back up to the 330s. Not anymore! I am going to keep repeating this to myself over the weekend when I'm bored and want to eat bad things.

Back to Work Blahs.

My vacation is officially over.

Boo.

Coming back to work has been especially hard today. Marc & I are working very hard to pay off our debt so that when we do have a baby that I can stay home or at least only work part-time. With that in mind, it's even harder to be at work. I'm ready for the next chapter in my life but I still have things to do before I can reach that.

#1 - Continue to lose weight
#2 - Pay off all debts except car and student loans.

Both of those seem like GIGANTIC obstacles but we are getting there. Sometimes I feel like more pressure is on me to get Marc & I ready for a family. I have to lose the weight and I'm in charge of paying all the bills. Marc gives input on the bills and he helps by keeping me motivated and not buying frivilous things but again, I'm the one who is in charge and I have to lose about 40ish more pounds before we start trying.

I'm just ready for the next steps, I want to be there already. I feel like I'm in a waiting zone just killing time, and for a super impatient person like me this is torture!!

February Mini-Goals/January Results.

I was very nervous for my weigh in today. Yesterday I was over my January Mini-Goal of 10lbs lost so I didn't have a lot of hope of meeting it this morning....

I'm happy to report that I did!!!

In fact, I lost 10.5lbs for the month of January. I will take it! Yayayayayayaya!!! I contribute a really good day of eating and some exercise this morning. I'm so happy that I made it.

Now it's time to make the February Mini-Goals. Yes, I said goals.

Goal #1 - Lose 8lbs in February.

Goal #2 - Exercise 10 times in February.

I'm happy with these goals, I think they are very attainable. In fact, I've already exercised this morning so I'm down to 9 more times in February. With how much I loathe exercising I think 10 times is a good goal to strive for.

I'm so happy that I had progress on the scale this month. It makes me very happy and I look forward to having a successful February!