Chocolate Beer Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Buttercream

To be honest...

Since I wrote the post on things to cut out of my diet until August 10, I have had two pasta meals. I decided that I need to write down my goals and have them in front of me at all times. Today is a new day and a fresh start, so here are my goals (which I will literally write down and keep near me always):

1. Stop eating 3 hours before going to bed. In The Kind Diet, Alicia talks about how it's better for digestion and a restful sleep to go to bed on an empty stomach. For me, I should stop eating by 7:30 each night. The issue is that I have a second job in the evenings. I leave work at 5 and start my 2nd job at 5:30, so I eat dinner at 5:10ish. By the time I get home at 9 or so, I'm hungry again. This leads to my next point.


2. Portion control. I have always been a big eater, meaning I eat a lot of food at each meal. I need to have more snack foods around so I'm not starving by the time I have my meals. I need to concentrate on eating my meals at the usual times, but snacking in between. One snack at 10am, another at 3pm, then another right before the cut-off at 7:30. It's 10am right now and I'm having one of my amari and seaweed rice cakes!


3. Drink more water. The last few days I've had some serious dehydration headaches. It's starting to get hot here in Utah (finally!) so drinking tons of water is key. I get these headaches and then I start drinking water. I need to drink water before the headaches start and avoid them.


4. Stay Superhero. I've recently taken on a full superhero diet, but haven't been doing very well with it. I need to be much more strict and really cut out processed foods, eat tons of whole grains and veggies, cut back on fruits, nuts, and soy milk. I might need to get back into this next week since I'm dog sitting and working so much this week, that I don't really have time to cook these healthy meals. I've been resorting to the Simply Asian microwaveable noodle bowls and Near East couscous.

That's it! It's good to write these things down. And now that I'm thinking about it, I'm going to go get a big glass of ice water!

Lundberg's Amari with Seaweed

Lundberg's Amari with Seeweed Organic Rice Cakes are delicious! I saw an blog post on The Kind Life about them, so I thought I'd give them a go. I am always looking for healthy snacks to have at 10am and in the afternoon before dinner.

TRY THEM!

Until August 10...

Last night I decided that in order to meet my goal weight by August 10 I need to give up a few things.

• Bread -- which I rarely eat any way, but I'm including tortillas, pitas, chips, stuff like that
  
• Pasta -- this is going to be the most difficult part for me...pasta is my go-to food!
• Alcohol -- now I might not give it up entirely (I've already stopped drinking on weekdays), but I plan to scale way back. I know I will still need my brewski on Friday nights after work.

I've already given up so many other foods this year, so why not a few more?

I'm really really really going to try to give up sweets, but sugar shows the body that it's full. I might need to find something extra super healthy and sweet to snack on after meals.

Jillian Michaels

There's something about The Biggest Loser that makes me want to run on the treadmill. When I was doing treadmill workouts, I would put that show on and it would make me incredibly inspired. To think that those obese people are running and working out for five hours each day to make themselves healthy and happy and I'm sitting at a desk all day, maybe getting in a 30 minute run, is kind of depressing.

I'm constantly looking for inspiration. I think I have plenty of extrinsic motivation, but I struggle with the instrinsic, which is the most important.

Jillian Michaels can be very motivational. I just read this article from Fitness Magazine and Jillian has a really great quote after being asked what's the best way to motivate yourself:

"Ask, What do I want? For a twentysomething, it might be to wear a bikini. For a 70-year-old, it might be to live to 100. Next, form an emotional connection to your goal. Then when you choose between a bagel and egg whites for breakfast, you make the choice with your goal in mind. That's what I do. I'm extra­ordinarily mindful about making decisions."

I think this is good instrinsic motivation. I want to look good in a bikini and I know that eating unhealthy things will not help me with that goal. I know that sitting on the coach instead of going trail running will not help me with that goal.

I wrote another post on Jillian back in January. I just re-read my answers to the questions she asked. I think it would be beneficial to go back to those answers every week.

Another show I'm totally into is Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. It's on Monday nights right after I get home from work, which is slightly inconvenient because it's too late to workout. It's the same basic idea as The Big Loser as far as helping obese people understand nutrition and the importance of exercise except the host, Chris Powell, concentrates on one person for an entire year.

So, my devoted followers, tell me what motivates you, both extrinsically and intrisically.

Kale Chips

I recently read that kale chips are one of the most healthy snacks out there, so I bought some kale and made some at home.

They were pretty delish! They are super easy to make. All you need to do is:

-Buy a bunch of kale
-Tear off the leafy part
-Place the leaves on parchment paper on a cookie sheet
-Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt
-Bake at 350 deg. for 15 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges.

Done! They're nice and crispy right out of the oven!

Lately

Lately I've been trying to be a superhero vegan. That means eating entirely organic veggies, nothing processed, no tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant, more whole grains, and cutting back on fruit and sugars. I have been doing pretty well, but I think I'm stuck at my current weight and I don't know why. I've been working out like mad lately. I pump iron 2-3 days each week, trail run about 3 times per week, and try to get out for an hour and a half to two hour hike on the weekends. I even did one of those cable pilates and yoga classes. The weight is still hanging out at the same spot, not going down at all. I understand that I'm probably gaining muscle, but I don't feel like the fat is going away.

GOAL: 145 lbs. by August 10, 2011

Current weight: 155...last time I checked, which was a few weeks ago. Yes, it's up 6 lbs. from May 14.

Wish me luck!