The Good, The Bad, The Sugar

I’m in a sour mood. Its Saturday and I have nothing going on in my life, nothing. The last few weeks I feel like seasonal depression has taken over. I feel super blah. I have nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to hang out with. I’m super poor, which is more of a permanent thing, I don’t make enough money and I don’t know how I can make more. I have little to no motivation to craft or clean or do anything. I miss my friends back home, I miss my mom. I want something new to happen. My weight loss is sucking, I feel like I can’t even go out to eat without gaining five pounds, not that I could afford to even if I wanted to. I wish it was summer. I wish my trip home was sooner. I wish I was still losing weight. I wish I wasn’t so pitiful. Today is a crappy day. Don’t worry, I’ll get over it.

I made this my Desktop picture! I LOVE V-DAY!

Ok I was about to post this and then I figured I should snap out of it and write a list of good things:

1. It’s almost valentines week! I love valentines day. I’m going to make Mr. Gaunt an AWESOME valentine card.

2. We are going to hopefully get a new kitten this coming weekend. I want to name her Olive, Mr. Gaunt does not.

4. It is 46 days till I go to Washington to Celebrate my Mom and Friend Rita’s Birthday!

5. This morning I was at my lowest weight yet.

6. My house is only kind of dirty, not too dirty.

7. Im going to make an indian shrimp dish for dinner.

8. We are going to Costco. Hopefully before 5 so I can snack on samples. Samples don’t count.

9. I found a place to get Mr. Gaunt’s Valentine gift. I just have to wait until friday when I get paid.

10. I talked to my mom, Kelli, and Pro today which is very nice.

11. I organized all of my photo folders on my desktop today.

12. Im going to make No Pudge Brownies shaped like hearts for V-day. I also want to make lemon bars from scratch, died pink.

A Skinny Dress and Couples Therapy!

So my lovely Pro has been more or less two sizes smaller than me throughout our weight loss journey. This has been a huge PLUS because that means she gives me her pants that she grows out of just in time for me to start shrinking into them.  Pro (that skinny bitch!) decided to skip a whole size recently so now there are no pants for me to work into…damn you Pro! When I started my weight loss journey I had a fair amount of SKINNY CLOTHES that I needed to shrink into (my New York Dress FITS! My Red Pea Coat FITS!) but now I can fit into all of them and most of them are too big. At this point I have nothing really to shrink into (Kelli if you are reading this, save any pants you have and give them to me in March when I come!) so I’m lacking in motivation.  I actually heard on the radio around Christmas time, that reasearch shows the best way for women to lose weight is to buy an outfit in a smaller size. You see I LOVE LOVE LOVE clothes! It’s probably my biggest motivation in Weight loss, fitting into more clothes! I would be a crazy Lindsey Lohan Clothing Hoarder if I could!

Tonight Mr. Gaunt and I went to Savers and I found the perfect SKINNY dress! It is actually…..hold your breath….a size ELEVEN! Yes that is right 11! I case you didn’t know, I do NOT wear an eleven! In fact a size 10 is my goal size, so eleven sounds pretty damn good. The dress currently kind of fits, but its tight, too tight to wear in public….panty lines anyone? I would love for this dress to fit comfortably this summer, its perfect for Mr. Gaunt and I’s July photo shoot! When I put it on the first thing Mr. Gaunt said was “Its kind of like a casual wedding dress” which it is, in a beachy sort of way. I really love it.

So that is my current goal, to make this dress fit!

In other news Mr. Gaunt and I have decided to go to couples therapy! Why you ask? Are we having problems? Well no not really, but there are definitely things we could stand to work on. The last year has definitely been our best year yet, but there are definitely the occasional communication struggles. Also Mr. Gaunt and I plan to get married in the near-ish future, and I want to make sure we are discussing the right things: Kids, Raising a family, jobs, roles…etc. So that when we are married we don’t suddenly realize we have completely different ideas on how things should go. Anyway we are actually going to a therapist that Mr. Gaunt and his mom have both gone to a lot in the past (although not in a few years) this pleases me because he will already know a lot about Mr. Gaunt’s family dynamic and his relationship with his mom. I’ve never been to therapy, but I sure do love to talk about myslef…ha! So we have a tentative appoint for next thursday. I will keep you updated on how this goes!

Oh and I leave you with some dresses that were cute but I didnt purchase.

T’was a Drive-By Blogging!

Well nothing much to say this week. I wanted to stop by though and just fill you in on a few things.

1. LOOK UP! Theres a new RECIPES! Tab where I have linked everything I have cooked and blogged about by category! Its your own little Morgan Cookbook!

2. Weigh-in SUCKED! We wont talk about it ———–>

3. I plan on seeing The Lovely Bones on Saturday. I read the book.

4. We are setting up all the patio furniture at work…SPRING IS COMING!

5. I’m still milling over what to make for Super Bowl Sunday. So many yummy options!

6. A Mr. Gaunt update is coming soon!

Well thats all for now. I promise to post some new more interesting posts soon!

Weekend Meals

POACHED EGGS & TOAST : Protein (22g) Fiber (4g) Calories (242) Fat (11)

MACARONI & CHEESE : Protein (18g) Fiber (10g) Calories (309) Fat (6g)

SALMON DINNER : Protein (47g) Fiber (11g) Calories (582) Fat (23)

DAILY NUTRITION CONSUMED: (please note I only counted the large food and did not count oils, seasonings, and drinks)

CALORIES: 1133  DAILY REQUIRED: 2000

PROTEIN: 87 grams  DAILY REQUIRED: 46

FIBER: 25 grams DAILY REQUIRED: 25-30

FAT: 40 grams DAILY REQUIREMENTS : 65

These werent actually eaten in one day, they are parts of two days meals. The above chart also does not include any snacks or beverages I consumed. This is just a good way to show you what kind of nutrition my main meals have.

Looking at this though, it shows that I am in fact lacking in FRUIT! Grrr I cant wait for summer! Today I am planning on getting a big bag of Grapefruit and peeling them all and putting them in Mason Jars to eat throughout the week. I love fruit, and I get sad when I don’t have it. Other than that each meals includes Whole Grains (the toast, the Orzo, The macaroni) and a healthy Protein (Organic Eggs, Low fat turkey Sausage, salmon) I also managed to get veggies in two of the dishes (Kale in the Mac-n-cheese and Asparagus).

Obviously all the meals do include carbs.  I usually do at least one meal a day without carbs, but the carbs were all whole wheat. The Mac-n-cheese is a “were too lazy to cook and we want comfort food” meal for Mr. Gaunt and I. I get the Back To Nature 100% Whole Wheat macaroni and White Cheddar at Sunflower market or Whole Foods. We almost always add a lean chicken sausage to give us a little protein, and yesterday I chopped up some kale and threw that in (I’m pretty much convinced you can throw Kale in anything). As soon as I did this (added the Kale) it got me thinking about Kids and feeding them vegetables. Teaching my children good nutrition is really important to me, and I plan on doing a post on this at a later date.

The Salmon is also a new thing. I have been purchasing Tilapia because its cheap and easy and lower in fat, but have recently heard poor reviews on its nutritional values. As a kid growing up in Washington I was always the odd man out because I hated Salmon and people cook a ton of it there. As I’ve gotten older my taste buds have changed greatly and now I really like Salmon. The cost is a lot higher (almost twice as much) for frozen Salmon Filets at Costco versus Tilapia, but investing in my health is what this year is all about! So Mr. Gaunt and I bought the Salmon and we attempted to grill it (on our cooktop grill) last night. Things started out well but then flipping the steaks caused them to break apart, so Mr. Gaunt just chopped them all up. It was actually quite yummy because it has a bunch of crispy parts. We put it on a bed of Orzo with some sesame asparagus, delish.

Anyway I just wanted to show some good healthy meals that are pretty damn easy if I do say so myself. Now Im off to get Grapefruit!

Shoe-Years Resolution!

Well this obviously wasn’t one of my main New Years Resolutions, but I did make it. This year I decided I want to wear more high heels, well more stylish shoes in general. See I’ve always been a purse gal, I have about a million purses and I love getting more! I think I love them because it doesn’t matter what size you are, a purse always fits. Shoes are a whole nother thing. As far as I can remember I’ve been a size 10, which sounds big, but a lot of  women are right around there.  Since losing weight though my feet have shrunken to about a 9.5 (how the heck does that work?) so some of my old shoes don’t really fit that well. Most of my adult life I have religiously worn flip flops, year-round. I love them! They are cheap and comfy! I also have always had this weird thing where I like a shoes that makes my feet look wider. I know it sounds crazy, but when I would wear tiny shoes (like high heels and even some tennis shoes) that made my feet look narrower I always felt like it made my body look huge in comparison. Wide feet match a wide body! Ha…my own neurosis!

Anyways this year I’m giving it an honest effort to upgrade my shoes and try to wear less flip flops. Here are a few shoes I have acquired over the last month or two:

From Savers

From some trashy shoe store in the mall

From Target

From Plato's Closet

I LOVE YAHOO HEALTH!

I’m not a big online news reader, in fact I don’t read much news at all unless it’s from Perez Hilton...lol. My main email account is through Yahoo, so once a day I go to Yahoo.com and then log into my email. Well in the 2 seconds it takes me to hit the Email Log in button I often notice the main article Yahoo is promoting. I like these articles because they are usually short and in list form (I find I like reading lists way more than paragraphs) and simple to read. They often have really fascinating topics, especially on health!

Today when logging in I notice this headline:

4 Must-Know Restaurants Secrets!

and immediately I clicked! I actually thought it would be about restaurant cleanliness or how to save money, but it was actually about calories! You can click the headline above to go to the article, or I have taken the best part and copied it below. It’s crazy fascinating…really do read it! The bottom paragraph in bold is the best part!

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Secret #1: Don’t get “supersized”
Sure, it feels like you’re getting a bargain because you’re getting proportionately more food for proportionately less money. But a “value meal” is only a value for two sets of people: the corporations that make the food and the corporations that make liposuction machines and heart stents. Because food is so inexpensive for manufacturers to produce on a large scale, your average fast-food emporium makes a hefty profit whenever you supersize your meal—even though you’re getting an average of 73 percent more calories for only 17 percent more money. But you’re not actually buying more food. You’re buying more calories. And that’s not something you want more of.

Secret #2: Remember, the waiter is a salesperson
A 2005 study published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services found that you’re more likely to order a side dish when the server verbally prompts you. (“Do you want fries with that?”) Restaurants know this, and now you know it, too. When the waiter makes a suggestion, remember his job is not to make you happy. His job is to extract money from your wallet and insert fat in its place.

Secret #3: Don’t get too excited
You eat out all the time. A 2008 study in the International Food Research Journal found that people are less likely to make healthy restaurant choices when they feel that they’re dining out for a “special occasion.” And as we said, dining out used to be special. But before you head out to your next meal, really take stock of how many times you’ve eaten out this week. If you’re eating every meal at home and dining out truly is a once-a-week splurge, then don’t worry about it so much. But if you’re like most of us, eating out is probably more like a once-a-day splurge. And if that’s the case, remember, there’s nothing special here. Eat smart today because you’ll have to do it again tomorrow.

Bonus tip: Download our free Eat This, Not That! guide to shopping once and eating for a week—and save calories, time, and money!

Secret #4: Start small
Here’s the good news: No one is going to stop you from ordering seconds. So be like any good businessperson, and start small. Here’s exactly how expensive it really is whenever you go for the “bargain”:

• 7-Eleven: Gulp to Double Gulp Coca-Cola Classic: 37 cents extra buys 450 more calories.
• Cinnabon: Minibon to Classic Cinnabon: 48 more cents buys 370 more calories.
• Movie theater: Small to medium unbuttered popcorn: 71 additional cents buys you 500 more calories.
• Convenience store: Regular to “The Big One” Snickers: 33 more cents packs on 230 more calories.
• McDonald’s: Quarter Pounder with Cheese to Medium Quarter Pounder with Cheese Extra Value Meal: An additional $1.41 gets you 660 more calories.
• Subway: 6-inch to 12-inch Tuna Sub: $1.53 more buys 420 more calories.
• Wendy’s: Classic Double with Cheese to Classic Double with Cheese Old Fashioned Combo Meal: $1.57 extra buys you 600 more calories.
• Baskin Robbins: Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Kids’ Scoop, to Double Scoop: For another $1.62, you’ve added 390 calories.

The bottom line on all this? For just a hair more than 8 bucks, you’ve bought yourself an additional 3,620 calories. If you ate each of these once a week, and you were to switch to the smaller size each time—again, still all your favorite foods, just in a more reasonable size—you’d save about $417 a year. It’s not going to buy you a new car, but it could put you on a plane to the Bahamas. But far more important than that is what it will mean to your waistline, because in saving that $417, you’ll also save 188,240 calories in a year—enough to shave a whopping 54 pounds of flab off your body! (Hey, take the 400 bucks and buy some new pants!)

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Im being forced to get hi-tech.

My phone broke today. I’ve had he same phone for umm…like almost three years. It was the free one I got when I last re-uped my contract. It was adorable and very basic. I don’t require much from a phone, but I also treat them well and they usually last me a good few years. Anyway at work today I noticed the hinge had broken and the phone was basically in two pieces. Normally this would cause a panic, but I had just received an email from Verizon telling me that I could upgrade, so I wouldn’t have to pay much for a new one.

My old phone. Red and cute.

Mr. Gaunt and I went this evening to check out the phones and see what my options were. I had only two requirements from a  phone, ONE I wanted a good camera (3 mgp or more) and TWO I didnt want internet. Not that I dont love internet (i really do) but I didn’t want to pay for it, and I didn’t think I would like surfing the web on such a tiny screen. Heres how things went down:

VERIZON: “welcome to Verizon what can we do for you today?”

ME: “Umm I broke my phone and I need to look into getting a new one”

V: “Sure let me put you in the computer to get you help”

(yeah it’s some weird thing where they put you on a list and you wait until they call your name)

(at this point Mr. Gaunt and I browse around and I find a phone I might like, but I like to get honest opinions from the experts)

DOUCHEY VERIZON GUY: “Hi I’m Vatim (yeah that was his name, wtf) what can I help you with?

ME: “Umm yeah I broke my phone (holds up old ghetto broken phone) and I need a new one, but I have few requirements. I dont want anything too fancy, no internet please and I want a good camera. I’m looking at this ENV TOUCH is this quality?”

DVG: “Well you have to have internet with that”

ME: “Oh no I dont want that, what can I get without internet?”

(he looks at me like I’m nuts)

DVG: “Umm well you can get these ones”

(he points to a small selection of phones labeled USER FRIENDLY PHONES! It might as well say PHONES FOR OLD PEOPLE WHO CANT EVEN TEXT! I mean these phones are super basic boring old school flip phones (ha remember when flip phones were cool!) I do not want these, I was really hoping to upgrade!)

ME: “Oh really, thats all? I was hoping to maybe get a slightly upgraded phone”

DVG: “Oh well then you have to get internet”

ME: “Ok well lets pretend I do get internet, is this (points to ENV TOUCH) a good phone, I mean is it quality? Do people like it? Is it durable? I work for Home Depot so I need a phone that can take a little wear and tear.”

DVG: “Sure.”

(really dude! Thats all your gonna give me?)

DVG: “But you know whats a cool phone…the Droid!”

(At this point he goes into a lengthy sales pitch on how bad ass the Droid is. Are you kidding me! I dont even want the internet! Why the hell would I need Verizons version of the Iphone!???)

ME: “Umm ok (your are obviously a dumb ass and I dont need to speak to you anymore) we will look around a bit, thanks.”

(so Mr. Gaunt and I spend a good 15 minutes looking over the phone, testing the camera and the internet. I call my mom and vent to her and try to get some advice. We discuss the money (after mail in rebate it would only be $50, but I have to put $175 upfront) and then I decide that what the hell, I’ve never had a cool phone, I should just do it.)

(We pull DVG back over and go for it.)

Front of my new phone. Touch screen, and cute red case.

Flips open with a full keyboard.

Back side with nice 3.2 Camera and flash.

I splurged ($19.99) and bought the nice red shell for it so it will be protected. Its going to take some getting use to but we both really love it (ha sounds like we got a puppy!) and I’m VERY pleased with the camera. The major reason I wanted the camera was so I could take pics for my blog when I didnt have my real camera on me. Also I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a “What I Ate Today” picture post once a week here, and being able to take pics on my camera would be very handy.

After we were done at Verizon we went to Chipotle and had burrito bowls…yum! Here’s my first camera phone pics!

Not perfect, but way better than my old phone!

Us at the library. My new phone matches my coat!

Another Shitty Week.

waiting for summer

Oh yeah, I didn’t go to weigh-in!

Yeah thats because I’m a loser (and not in a good way) in fact I’m more of a gainer! Crap! No matter how many time I remind myself I always let “Fake Weight Loss” superficially please me. Oh what’s “Fake Weight Loss” you ask? Well basically its a term I made up all on my own, but it’s when you lose weight in a unatural way (natural being basic calories in calories out). There can be many things that cause “Fake Weight Loss” like:

-Abnormally extreme workouts, like climbing a mountain.

-Being stuck somewhere where you can’t eat for a very long time, like out at sea

-Giving Birth…ha!

-Fasting

-Excessive sweating

Or in my case last week, being sick for an entire weekend and chosing to sleep rather than eat. See although I was thrilled to drop 2lbs in a weekend, I should have known it wouldn’t last. Thats the thing about “Fake Weight Loss” it doesn’t last, it always comes back. Lame.

Anyways my “Fake Weight Loss” came back and I’m sitting uncomfortably at least 2lbs higher than last week. Therefore I took the easy way out and skipped my weigh in. I feel really shitty about it, but I just need to get back on track. The bad thing is, I have ZERO motivation. I keep telling myself to go to the gym, to stop eating salt, to not come home from work and sit on my ass for the rest of the night. None of it works.

I was feeling really blue yesterday about my weight, seeing a higher number than I’d seen in a while. Then I was talking to a coworker who told me that Blue Monday the most depressing day of the year had just happened, therefore I’m blaming this lull on the tail ends of that. January just kind of sucks. I’m also soooo done with winter! I’m so sick of the short days and how it’s too cold to be outside. Bleh! I can’t wait until I can go swimming in my pool every day after work, and Mr. Gaunt and I can go for walks and paddle boat! We are even thinking about riding bikes this summer!

So at this point I don’t know how to get my shit together. I really wanted to lose my 75lbs awhile ago, but if I don’t hit it by the end of January I’m gonna cry. Seriously. This has been my worst month yet. Alright I’m off to bed so maybe I wont be quite so tired tomorrow. Let me know if you have any good motivational tips, I could use them.

Things I LOVE This Week

Grapefruit with Stevia

Sharing a Tiny Chocolate Cake with a Friend.

Old Navy clearance Skirt for 49 CENTS!

Moving to Bollywood.

Chicken Masala

Sunday Mr. Gaunt and I decided to make this Indian dish that I’ve had on the menu for a while. I had tried last week to find garam masala seasoning at the regular grocery store but couldn’t, so Mr. Gaunt and I found an Indian Grocer near our house on Sunday. The Grocer we went to was suer small but had tons of cool Indian spices and ingredients. There was also a super sweet young guy working there that we chatted with for a while who gave us a great website to look up Indian recipes and videos. We found the one thing we needed and got some other fun items, including my favorite Naan Bread!

The Recipe I used was the easiest I could find, indian food often has a million ingredients. We of course did a few substitutes, instead of white rice we did Quinoa, and I only used 2 chicken breast dipped in Whole Wheat Flour. I also used half a bag of frozen red and green peppers instead of peas. It turned out really well, and pretty spicy (we did 2 tablespoons of the Garam Masala) both of really enjoyed it. Oh and incase you make this recipe note that it feeds at least 4 people, so you will have leftovers!