The Lobacious Life: Back on Track!

Hello everyone,

I have had a super fun few days and even managed to finally lose a couple more pounds. I have been tracking my nutrition on paper and recently transferred to my old favorite, Sparkpeople (or Sparkpeeps, as Jessy says!)in order to see where my trouble areas are. Dang, there were some glaring errors. I don't eat fried foods and have sworn off french fries while dining out. I almost never eat real ice cream (fat free frozen yogurt, sorbets and dairy-free for very special treats once in a while). I don't buy fried chips and have given up pretzels because I eat too many at a time - but what else has been the weight-loss hold up? Peanuts and very large portions of what should be healthy foods! The peanuts must go. These are not one of the healthier nuts - they are high in saturated fat and can lead to candida, causing bloating, gas, skin irritations and often leaves you craving sweets. Yikes.

But aside from peanuts, my other major issue has been portion control. Eating until stuffed is silly and bad for me, I know this, but just can't stop myself when the food is too good! So I have taken it upon myself to actually measure out my portions, in order to get a clearer picture of how many calories I'm consuming. I have a food scale and a measuring cup and I'm following the portions on the packaging of my food. It's such an easy thing to do and so logical - my laziness is all that's been stopping me from eating normal portions. Laziness and my not wanting to know exactly how much I've been overeating all this time.That being said, yesterday would have normally been around a 2300 calorie day, but by using the suggested servings on the packaging, it was about an 1800 calorie day. Amazing! I feel really dumb for not doing this all along. And all this portion watching coupled with ample gym time has resulted in a few more pounds scratched off the scale! Yay! Slow and steady...

But food aside, I had a fantastic weekend. Scott and I had a lot of quality time. First at the Richmond Dragway where he raced his '69 Camaro (Bethany) for the first time. It was eventful, to say the least!

Bethany, pre-race:

Scott's first run (he's the one in the lead):

Scott's second run (doh):

And the pit crew burning off the stuff they used to put out the MAJOR FIRE in his transmission line.

I'm not totally clear on the details, because I have no working knowledge of transmissions (or cars, for that matter), but something was too close to something hot and something caught on fire in a big way. I have never seen someone get out of a car so fast! So the drag race ended early, but it was fun no less. We saw some fun cars. I saw a Pinto race and several Novas, a surf-style woody Jeep raced a Yaris. Awesome! And there were lots of sport bike races. Those things are super fast.

Let's see, in other news, we went to the Farmer's Market (South of the James) and among other things, I got the biggest head of lettuce I've ever seen! I'll be eating salads all week for sure. Thank you Victory Farms.

We also spent some time introducing Scott's new dog/puppy, Lulu, to my two fatty cats. Mr. Miles wants nothing to do with Lulu at the moment, but he's getting braver and less angry every time he sees her. He even hopped in the bed with us for about 30 seconds on Sunday night when Lulu stayed over for the first time. Bella, on the other hand, is fast friends with anyone who comes with new snacks.

Sunday night we took Lulu for her first playdate with my friend Carver's doggie Baxter. He's such a good boy - he loves other dogs and he is good at sharing his bones and toys. They ran around like crazy dogs for probably two hours and Lulu slept it off all of Monday.