You're So Hypnotizing - Could You Be The Devil - Could You Be An Angel?: Clean Eating Challenge Day 12

- Katy Perry, E.T.

And now I have the Kanye rap stuck in my head.  Awesomesauce.

Speaking of awesomesauce, my friend Carrie and I signed up to do the Color Me Rad 5K at the end of October and our team name is Team Awesomesauce!  Yes, with the exclamation point.  It should be fun and I hope the weather cooperates.  I read Young House Love daily (ps - I am SUPER excited about their book coming out) and John did a color run not that long ago.  After the race, him and his wife Sherry framed his newly colorful t-shirt and hung it up.  Since I like to show off my race bibs, I thought this could be something cool to add to my race bib wall.

My race bib "wall" over the guest bed.  The map in the center is of downtown Raleigh where I do most of my races.

I used to have a TON of bibs but when I moved a few years ago, I got tired of packing so I just threw everything away.  Whomp whomp.  The bibs displayed are from the last year alone so I am excited to add to them.  I am doing this race in October, then the Turkey Trot again in November, then the Jingle Bell run in December, then the Krispy Kreme Challenge in February, and finally a half marathon in March.

Crazy, right?  I love to torture myself.

Boot camp was good today - it was a mix of HIIT and tabatas so naturally it kicked my butt.  My back is finally starting to feel better and loosen up.  I am not kidding when I say I brought my heating pad to work with me today and used it for the better part of the day.

Foodwise I am doing better - I had a small weakness and had some soy-free all natural butter (gross I know but seriously this ish is so good).  I just have to get back on the train.  My challenge is supposed to last until mid-September and I know I can make it.

One of my coworkers took me out for lunch today as a thank you for referring her to a position in our company (that she has now formally accepted) and we hit up a local cafe that is in the business park we work at.  They are a catering company that is open for lunch and they have the BEST food.  Everything is made from scratch and healthy.  You can get salads, sandwiches, and hot dishes.  They always have chicken, salmon, spanikopita, and vegetarian quiche, and then rotate through specials of the day.  When you pick a meal you get the option of 2 sides - today I got double fruit and had the mango salsa chicken (grilled chicken with homemade mango salsa on top).  Eating out isn't hard if you look for the right kind of options.  And a lot of times restaurants can answer questions (like if anything is jarred or canned in my case) and help me out or make it to my liking.

Here is what I wore to work today:

Don't you love my geek badge?

Or how about the bags of clothes/shoes for Tiff?

OH YEAH and my hair - I cut 6 inches off last Friday!

Halter Tank: H&M

Cardigan: Banana Republic

Belt: Tart

Jeans: Paige Jeans

Shoes: Navy Blue Tory Burch Flats

And here are some items I bought online.  What do you think?  

New black fitted skinny jeans from Victoria Secret

Size 2 - They're the Sexy Siren I believe

Here is my concern - they sit LOW and it gives me unnecessary muffin top.

So the jeans feel great and fit well everywhere but OMMG they sit so low on my waist that I get a little spillage if they get too low.  So I am worried what I should do.  I think if they stretch just a bit (they're not tight around my stomach but I wish they sat a tad higher) they can sit higher and then I'll be fine.  I might do a trial run and wear them during the day when I am home on Friday and see how they feel after a while.  If they feel comfy then I'll keep them but if not then I'll return them.

ASOS Gray Tulip Dress - US Size 4

Holy wrinkleness!

More wrinkles in the back.

Close up

I am seriously in love with this dress.  The last photo does it some justice but I think the wrinkles distract the eye from seeing how it fits on my body.  It's not too snug or tight (or short!) and the color is more of a periwinkle/blue-gray than a true gray which is fine because I feel like the color suits me well. I am going to plan to wear the dress on Saturday when we hit up some birthday parties and hopefully can stop downtown to say hi to some girl friends from boot camp who are going out.  

What do you think?  Do you think I should keep the jeans?  

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself (and Your Diet)

Can we start this post with some sweaty, nasty pictures of myself? I just finished the Bodyrock.tv work out that I posted HERE and 14 minutes later, I look like this.  EEK!

So gross and sweaty

Hey those kind of look like abs...

I didn't think smiling would be appropriate here

Ok so there are a few photos.  There are more but I just wanted to point out how much a 14 (yes I said FOURTEEN) minute work out could kick my ass and I'm in pretty good shape.  Can I just say, I used to LOVE these work out shorts.  Well I still do - I love wearing them because the band is actually like sweatshirt material so it doesn't dig into my skin but taking pictures while wearing them (with no top on and just a sports bra) is a completely different story.  They do nothing for my shape.  Whomp whomp.  

Here's some more pics for you to make fun and laugh at me.

I'm Popeye the sailor man

Some side angle....not as attractive as side boob

I like my legs.

Now that's out of the way....moving on.  

I also found some pictures from this past Saturday night that I snapped before we went out so I have an outfit to show you. YAY!  Although, this one isn't as particularly snazzy as the one I posted from last week, it is one of my faves and I get a TON of compliments on the shirt (which is surprising because I really don't think it's that special).  

Also, please note how long my hair is.....and that I am getting it cut on FRIDAY!! Whoop!  I am so excited.  I have been wanting to cut my hair for months but my hair dresser threatened to disown me if I cut it prior to the wedding.  Normally, I grow my hair out in the summer and cut it in the fall.  Well, my husband and my hair dresser must have been scheming because we got engaged in the fall and my hair was super long then.  When I went to try to get it cut, my hair dresser said no way Jose and I have had to keep my hair this length since LAST OCTOBER.  AHHHHH.  It's really pretty, I will give it that but it is such a pain in the butt when I am working out and when I sleep.  I don't know about you but I get cold sweats a lot (okay like every night) and it's so gross to wake up with wet hair stuck to the back of my neck.  blech.  

Without further ado....

Dirty mirror - I cleaned it today. 

Okay I lied, I wiped it down with a clean towel...but I will clean it tomorrow!

Shirt: Splendid

White Tank (underneath): LOFT

Jeans: Citizens of Humanity

Shoes (that you can't see GRR): Navy Blue Patent Leather Tory Burch flats

Okay so finally to the topic I wanted to talk about in this post - checking yourself when it concerns your diet.  Everyone has heard the term.  Bethenny Frankel devotes a whole chapter to it on one of her books but what does that phrase mean to me?  Well, since I don't calorie count it means that sometimes I have to sit down, write down everything I am eating day-to-day (which doesn't vary much, I am a creature of habit), go on a calorie counting website, figure everything out, and make sure I am eating within my caloric range.  I found this particularly helpful when I felt like my weight was plateauing.  Most of the time there was something I was eating that was sabotaging my efforts.  For example, a few months ago I got hooked on those LARA Bars.  They're delicious.  I bought a few to keep around the house for a quick snack or when I was out and needed to eat something quickly to hold me over. Then I started buying enough to last me through the week because I was literally eating 1-2 of them a day.  Then I did one of my caloric checks and realized those little yummy bars were 250 calories EACH!  One bar!  Holy shitballs.  Yeah, I haven't had one since.  I guess I learned my lesson.  

But it just goes to show that we all make mistakes when it comes to dieting and eating and that's okay.  This is why I check my calories periodically.  I know for a fact if I tried to keep track of my calories everyday I would drive myself insane.  And I drive myself insane every day anyways so you know, it's one less thing to worry about.  Plus, I found when I did use the calorie apps, I was lying to myself about the portion size of what I was eating.  I would look something up, see how many calories it was, freak out and then try to reason with myself by saying I really didn't have THAT much.  Yeah, that doesn't really work for me.  

This is why having food goals is appealing to me.  I eat the correct portion size but focus on meeting my goals for the day.  And then every now and again, I check my calories to make sure I am somewhat on track and not eating something that is just horrible for me (I had a similar story with pine nuts).  

So my point is this - do what works best for you.  Some people are honest with themselves and do just find calorie counting via the smart phone apps.  Some people do better on a points system like Weight Watchers.  Others do better with food goals.  I cannot stress enough that you have to find what works for you.  Obviously, what most people can eat does not work for me and I stopped trying to compare myself and my diet to others a long time ago when I realized I am a special case (never mind the fact that I am just SPECIAL) and will need to take particular kind of care with myself beyond what others might have to do.  Stressing about what diet this celebrity is doing or what this friend is doing and it's working for them but OMG why isn't it working for me will get you nowhere but face down in a pint of Ben and Jerrys.  My suggestion: start slow.  Again, this is why Jackie Warners' This is Why You're Fat worked for me.  She tells you to incorporate a few changes slowly over the course of two weeks and then tweak from there.  When you go full monty right in the beginning, you have a higher chance of failing.  Miserably.  

I didn't achieve these fitness and health goals in one day - they took almost 2 years and I'm still in "progress mode."  I probably will be forever in progress mode.  Just focus on yourself and finding a way to make it work on your schedule, with your lifestyle, with your own budget, and on your own time.  And the rest just kind of falls into place. 

Saving Money

So my husband and I are in the process of house hunting.  Ultimately, we would like to build a house but knowing that means we need to figure out now what we like and don't like and what we can and cannot afford.  This has been an interesting experience to say the least because we both see ourselves in different kind of "forever" homes.  While we both love open floor plans and generous upgrades, I have found myself fawning over smaller homes (2700 - 3000 square feet).  There is a new community being built in the area that capitalizes on "urban living."  This means homes are closer together and property is much smaller.  My husband, on the other hand, thinks bigger is better.  Eventually, we will meet somewhere in the middle.  But for the time being, we are trying to save money for our down payment.  We are lucky we both make good money so it won't be too difficult but obviously if we can save extra money along the way, all the more better.

So here we are on the money saving plan.  I put together an estimate of how much I can contribute per month into my savings sparing any major disasters (like more HVAC problems at my condo) and part of this plan includes nixing lunches out with coworkers and friends, nixing shopping sprees, and trying to stick more to my grocery budgets (food is so freaking expensive, especially with my food allergy).  Granted, I am not giving up everything (dear boot camp I can't give you up, I won't let you down) but I am trying to be more cautious.  So far I am doing remarkably well.  I think because I have a rough number in my head of how much I could potentially save, I haven't felt the need to say, "F this" and go on a major shopping spree.

Plus, I spent so much money on clothes in the last year that I am actually trying to be more creative with what I own (kind of like those 30 by 30 challenges a lot of bloggers do).  I went from a size 12 in 2010 to a size 2 in early 2012.  And at this point, I haven't really lost anymore weight so I think it's safe to assume I do not need anymore clothes.  I actually still have a lot of nice stuff that I bought when I got to a size 6 and didn't think I would lose more weight (whoops) that I wore maybe 1-2 times.  So part of this saving money/being creative goal is to also get rid of stuff I don't actually wear so I can better visualize the stuff I should be wearing.

Another thing to note is that work attire is so ridiculously casual at my company it should be a crime.  We can wear jeans and t-shirts every day if we so please and since I work from about 7 to 3, this makes my life a million times easier.  It also makes it easier for me to dress schlumpy so I have been trying really hard to put together cute outfits that still look nice.  I draw a lot of inspiration from Pinterest.  I don't try to replicate the outfit entirely, but rather study the picture and see what kind of similar items I own and could pair together.  This has helped me put together two outfits that I would have never thought of pairing.  Exciting!

I forgot to take a picture yesterday but feast your eyes on today's outfit.

Cardigan: Banana Republic

Belt: Tart

Blouse: The Limited

Jeans: Citizens of Humanity

Shoes: Belle

PS - I am just noticing how dirty the mirror is that I took these pictures from.  My apologies.  Also, I think the mirror is propped to make me looking slightly bigger than I am.  Yeah, this will be fixed ASAP.

I also might or might have not bought $30 worth of scratch off tickets for my husband and I to try to win some money.  I think we won $8 but we had fun and it's not often that we do something like that.

Anyways, I will be back, probably tomorrow, with another update.  Did I mention that I sliced my finger open on Sunday which required some liquid stitches and part of the deal I made with the MD at Urgent Care was that I wouldn't work out for 5 days so my finger could heal.  Yeah, part of me is regretting that deal but it's okay I guess.  This week is forcing me to be strict about my diet, something I have not been recently because I would then make the excuse "well it's okay I worked out."  Because you know eating something with sulfites will somehow balance out by running that extra mile.  Who am I kidding?