Bend & my gut feeling...

I went to BEAUTIFUL Bend, Oregon for the long Memorial Day weekend with my hubby, one of my best friends & her boyfriend. We had never been, they had. We rented a little house a few blocks from downtown and definitely fell in love.

Sabrina is GF/DF because of Rheumatoid Arthritis and we eat healthy normally so we decided to bring a little bit of our own food! I brought fruit, Mary's Gone crackers, bacon, and 2 bottle of wine :) Sabrina brought veggies, hummus, chips/salsa, and eggs. During our trip we walked over 8 miles on both Saturday and Sunday on hikes and around town. It was so great to walk almost everywhere we went and I managed to get in a barre3 Bend class {or course}!!!

PDX storms barre3 Bend!

My plan for the weekend was to enjoy myself, eat what I wanted but not go crazy. Since it was our first time in Bend, which is known for great restaurants and even better breweries, I knew I'd drink beer and have a few foods off my normal plan. I don't consider this "cheating" because the definition of cheating is: getting a reward for ability by dishonest means; finding an easy way out of an unpleasant situation; or breaking the rules. Sure, I was "breaking" the barre3 challenge rules and how I eat most of the time but I believe in the 80%/20% rule and stick to it almost every day. So a few days "off" wouldn't be too bad...right?!

Sam, Sabrina, Jason & Me

My food for the weekend went a little like this...

Friday - Driving down
- 1/2 a wrap from NS and 1 pint worth of two sides from NS.
Saturday.
- Homemade eggs, bacon, fruit
- Pulled Pork with potato salad from Crux Fermentation Project
- 1 piece of pizza from 10 barrel
- 4 beers over 6+ hours
Sunday
- 3 eggs baked omelet & a bowl of fruit from Victorian Cafe
- Snacks of veggies/hummus/chips/salsa
- 1/4 of a hamburger & 1/2 serving fries from Worthy
- 3 beers over 4+ hours
Monday. Drive home
- 2 eggs with Veggies & a cup of steamed almond milk

Smith Rock

We hiked around - not up & down {risk of falling too great}

barre3 after the hike. 

I promise I did not ever have that pole in my hand during the hike!

I want to talk about my dinner on Sunday {and the real reason for this post} which left me with a weird feeling in my gut. Literally and figuratively. We went to the gorgeous brewery Worthy which is a few minutes drive away from our house & downtown Bend. They had a GORGEOUS outdoor area where we luckily got sat. It was in the sun, we had beers in our hand. And I'd been craving a cheese burger. But not any cheese burger, I knew the one I wanted from the Island Cafe in Portland but I thought any cheese burger would do. I debated for 15 minutes as to what I was going to have and decided to order a burger & fries "because I'd been craving them". Before I even ate the burger I was full from the water on our hike and snacks I'd had after it.

What I believe now is that I was craving what the old Annie would have wanted in that situation. There is still a huge part of my psyche that is the old Annie, especially when it's something I can't have often - a certain restaurant that isn't local, a beer that is only available in one location. It's the thought of not being able to get it again that drives me crazy. And that is crazy. Because feeling like crap isn't worth any food and I think I learned my lesson last weekend.

I'm going out of town for 2 full weeks {plus any additional weekends here & there} so I'll have plenty of practice eating out and making good choices. What makes me the most upset is that my barre3 family gave me SO many great ideas of healthy places to eat and since the people we were with wanted to eat at the breweries, I chose to also. I know I could have chosen something else but I didn't. Maybe next time I will...

Fingers crossed {that my choices keep getting better & better}...

PS. We cannot wait to go back to Bend ASAP!!!

Viva Las Vegas!

{warning: long post} enjoy!

It wasn't until I was 2 days into my Vegas trip that I learned what "Viva" meant! Live Las Vegas. While we did not live Las Vegas in the typical sense (drunk & ridiculous) we did have a very, very good time!!! Not only will I be telling you about our trip...but what we ate! While it definitely wasn't "all healthy" we never intended it to be. We tried to make smarter choices and I'm very proud of how we did.

The reason we headed to Vegas was because my Father in Law was getting married to his girl friend of 14 years...Penny! They made the meaningful date of 11.14.13. They got married at 14:00, on the 14th, of the month they met 14 years ago.

We headed out on Wednesday night after work and got into Vegas at about 10pm which was about 3 hours later than we were supposed to be there! It was fun flying in at night!

 

Wolfgang Puck at the MGM Grand. The only restaurant open at 11pm.

THE FOOD: We split a pizza, each had a salad, and one beer.

 

Bright and early Thursday morning I took a taxi to the most magical place on earth ;-) Before class I had an apple. Then when we pulled in I saw that Whole Foods was right in the parking lot so I headed over and got some grilled veggies & eggs before class.

 

 

barre3 Henderson!!!

Jackie, barre3 Henerson's owner, and myself!

I took a class by Meredith and she taught a really fun class.

THE FOOD:Eating my Whole Foods salad in the window of our room at the MGM.

 

barre3 Henderson is in the same parking lot as a whole foods! Amazing!! I headed over before class and got two big salads for lunch before the wedding, apples, and a few other healthy treats!

A little barre3 in the background!

barre3 ball plank!

 

Thursday afternoon Penny and Mike got married!! Jason was the best man.

 

All the Eeds!!

The whole group that came down for the wedding!

 

I wore this tight dress without Spanx!! NON SCALE VICTORY!!!

I did wear tights but they were a size to big!

 

After the wedding we headed back to our hotel changed and headed back to the Bellagio to do our one day of gambling & drinking before their wedding dinner. I don't have any pictures from inside the casinos because I was told we couldn't take pictures (by someone) and I didn't want to get in trouble! Though, I can now officially say I understand how people can get "the Hangover" drunk in Vegas!! We sat at a video Roulette table and made a bunch of "safe" bets and drank way too much wine. Then we headed into dinner where we ate WWAAYY too much. We had a salad, this amazing chicken & potato entrée, and then cake of dessert. I was SO full I couldn't even finish dessert which is pretty much unheard of! I figure, if we only did that for one night in Vegas we aren't doing too bad!

Jason's first time seeing the Bellagio Fountains!

 

Friday morning we decided to head out to see the Hoover Dam! Jason, Matt, Chris & Alex had never been. I had been once but it was 2 months after 9/11 so we couldn't go on a tour.

 

For breakfast I honestly can't even remember what we had! Heehee. We were busy trying to get the rental car!

 

Jason looks pumped to drive us hooligans to the dam Dam!

Ps. I had to have heard over 50 DAM jokes that day. UG!

barre3 at the Hoover Dam!

 

There was water in that tunnel. I was scared.

We don't use the "leak" word here. We use the "seep" word. Same different. The rocks were wet!

The turbines.

That's a L O N G way down!

US <3

Hoover Dam from the lookout on the new bridge!

 

This wasn't here when I went in 2001 so it was fun to see it from a new vantage point.

THE FOOD: We had sandwiches, apples, almonds, and water for a picnic lunch by the dam.

barre3 core ball warrior 3

 

Once we got back from the Hoover Dam we headed up to Fremont Street to see what that was all about!

It was fun to see the giant ceiling TV in person! Fremont Street definitely wasn't our thing.

 

BURGR by David Ramsey. AMAZING!!!

 

We headed back to the strip before we made our way to see "O"! We happened upon the restaurant BURGR and it was SO worth the wait!!

 

Burgers at BURGR!

 

THE FOOD: We each had a burger (DUH) and split the fries. We also each had to 2 beers. This was definitely our one night to go all out, well, maybe there was the wedding dinner too ;-) I wish I could go back there tonight!

 

The "O" curtain! This show was definitely worth the money!!

 

Saturday started out with sleeping in followed by lunch! We ate at a Japanese restaurant in our hotel and each had some kind of rice meal! Then...

 

sunshine & beer!!! It was about 75 degrees and we needed a little Vitamin D!

Side Note: We make a quick mess of hotel rooms. It's quite humorous!

 

Saturday night we were hanging out with Jason's brothers, Alex, and their friend Ethan. We had a BLAST at the Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas. I'd definitely recommend you go there if you like lots of beer! Mine was so big I couldn't even finish it!

Jason in beer heaven.

 

It was a 2 hander!!!

The group minus Alex!

THE FOOD: Beer, bread, brats.

Where'd I go?!?!

 

Then we went to something I wish I hadn't paid $60 to go see - Tournament of Kings. The boys all wanted to go and they had a good time but the whole time all I could think of was "Where is the GD silverware" and "Horse poop is going to fly into my food".

Last night. Exhausted.

I'd say we did a lot of walking!!!

Monday after Vegas. Gym time at 6:00 am.

 

All in all we had a great trip but I would have been okay with it being 2 or 3 nights, not 4! I gained about 2 pounds while there but lost it within a week so I determined that is also a success!

 

Fingers crossed {that our next vacation is to the beach}!!!

{30 thoughts} food for thought...

Tomorrow morning we are heading back to Jason's alma mater and the place where we met, Washington State University.

2004 ~ our first picture together

As we were starting to plan our journey I came to the realization that everything I wanted to do revolved around food. The bean dip at Casa Lopez, ice cream & cheese at Ferdinan's, breadsticks at Sella's, beer at My Office & The Coug, and last {but the most important}, wine at Camas Prairie Winery.

And then as I started to think about where I wanted to go...I started to think about what I was going to eat. I know what the old me would eat...but should the new me eat that? Does the new me want to eat that? Will I feel deprived if I don't eat certain items I used to love? Will I feel cheated because we don't go back to Pullman often {this is the first time in 5 years we've been back}.

2008

Food is such an emotional item. It can remind us of good and bad times. Happy memories with fun people or memories we'd wish to forget. Looking back now it seems as though almost all of our memories are centered around food {and alcohol}!

Here is my plan. Friday go to Casa and have chips & bean dip {OMHell the bean dip is the best ever on the planet} and have the taco salad instead of the quesadilla. The quesadilla there isn't my "favorite" {that's at Chevy's} therefore I don't need to have it. Have one scoop of ice cream at Ferdinan's because it truly is the best ice cream ever {chocolate peanut butter}. I'm going to try to eat slowly, savor the flavors, and focus on the company we are with.

One of the best things about going back to Pullman is our friends. We are staying with a friend of mine who I met while teaching in Idaho and she is wonderful. I went to visit her last summer and even then she catered to my food needs. She called the other day to ask what I liked for breakfast! How amazing is that?!?! We are seeing Jason's old boss {who I used to babysit for} and she asked me what we could have for Friday night dessert! I feel so fortunate to have people who love me enough to ask what I need. How lucky am I?!?!

2008

I am so looking forward to a weekend away without my husband's work phone!! Since he is taking a vacation day tomorrow he gets to turn it off! WHOOP!

Here's to great friends, good food, and taking the time to enjoy them both.

Fingers crossed {for NO rain}!!!

-40 pounds....

...and a bit of looking back and forwards.

My exact words {out loud & alone in the bathroom} were F*** YES when I saw this on the scale...

I've been fighting this last 5 pounds for about 7 weeks. I know, it is good to lose 5 pounds in 7 weeks, but it was a struggle and I am happy to be there.

Why I struggled: Right after school got out I spent 5 days sitting in front of my computer working on my state ProCert, then I went to Spokane/Pullman for a long weekend to visit friends. I did okay when I came back from that and I've worked out also every single day but I was definitely snacking a bit more. Though not on too much bad stuff because I refuse to buy it! It was probably all the wine and cheese I bought while in Pullman ;-) Last week we were in MN for 9 days visiting family {ie. eating out}. But I think I did pretty good. I only had fries once and macaroni once. I skipped dessert multiple times. And I got fruit with my cheeseburger!!!

How I am going to MOVE FORWARD:

~ I need to focus on the food I am putting in my body. I want to go to a Dietitian. Not to be put on a "diet" but to really start to understand food. My PCOS specialist said I should watch the documentary called Knives Over Forks. He cautioned me to really thinking about trying to cut milk & cheese. That I am not mentally ready to do right now but I am ready to cut it back.

~ Working out. Our local Barre3 had a deal for teachers that we could pay ($99) for a one month unlimited for classes {normally $150}. My goal is to go to Barre3 3 - 4 times per week, depending on my back. I am going to still continue to train with my trainer but might start doing every other week. It is very expansive but it has been very helpful!!

~ Focus on a goal. My next weight loss goal is 170 pounds. My reward for that goal is going to be a Nike Fuel Band or a FitBit. I need to do more research about which one I want - more on that to come! They both are devices that help you monitor your calories and steps and all that good stuff. I figure when I get to the -50 pound mark I'm going to need something to keep me going.

On a positive note...I went to try on a bridesmaids dress for my cousin's wedding and I was a size 14...

almost exactly one year ago I was buying another BM dress in a size 18W and it was TIGHT.

WOW. I haven't compared these two pics before. It's harder to see because it isn't full body but man oh man I can tell {ps I"m wearing the same gurtle bra in both these pics}. My cousin's wedding this fall will be 1 day less than a year apart from when I was in my brother's wedding (purple dress). I can't wait to see those comparison pics!!!

back from bliss...

This is where I have been for the last 10 days...KAUAI!!!

It was a much needed, deserved, and blissful vacation.

We didn't watch TV the whole time we were there. I read 7 books (and only 1 PCOS related) the rest were just for fun!!!

I've read two good books on PCOS insulin resistance and I'll be reviewing them soon. I had some major "AH-HA" moments and feel pretty empowered.

I'm also happy to report that I didn't gain a pound on vacation. I didn't lose either. But I'm more happy that I didn't gain - especially considering how much we ate out. I also have a few tips and tricks that I used to help myself while eating out that I'll share.

First - I need to finish this week at school and I have a ton of homework to do. When I was dealing with all of THIS in February and March I definitely let myself get behind on my course work and now I have to pay for it. But back then my health was more important than my school work. Not that it isn't now - but I have to finish my school work...

Fingers crossed.