A wedding show to bring me back to life

I thought when you had no time to eat that you lost weight. 

Turns out you simply seek out quick bursts of food, not always making the healthiest decisions. 

sigh

But the gooey slice of 3-cheese pizza was sooo worth it. mmm.And saved me from having to chop and prepare veggies for a salad.

What's taking up my time these days? Event planning for The 2011 Perfect Wedding show! I'll drop a shameless plug right here on this blog too since its the reason I have not made time to eat properly or plan healthy meals in advance:

The event is in 2 weeks and once that happens I'll be free, Free, FREE to blog once again. I'm still doing the once weekly thing over @ http://nelleytimes.wordpress.com/http://nelleytimes.wordpress.com/ but I miss the pressure and expectation of this blog. April 18 (or the week of at least) will be the return to the blog! 

This summer will be the summer of near nudity, AKA bathing suit season! I have no excuse. Its do or die time. Get into the bikini (or a cure tankini and g string bottomed suit) or give up the fight and let the bulge win.

We're gonna have to put some money on this thing too since its seems that's how I work best. ;)

Gotta go.

'till next time my dears. In the meantime...

Happy eating! :)

Coconut chicken & rice betrayal

First off, in weighted news: I’m teetering @ 180 lbs this morning on the scale. Woo!

I’m super happy to read it but I should technically be @ 178lbs this morning so in reality I’m 1.5 lbs off and should be sad and disappointed.

Ah well. Ate lots of sweets and such this weekend (followed by milk chocolates and shortbread cookies) but I went mountain biking for 5 hours on Saturday and that is definitely what saved me from a worse fate (like 180.5, gasp! Lol!)

By doing a google search of the calories burned, I burned anywhere from 2000 to 3500 calories (depending on which calorie burner you believe. I believe the 3500 one!)

So close to being in the 170’s I can taste it. This Friday will get me there for sure.

In other news:

My friend did something that both annoyed and frustrated me. She’s a great cook and creates exotic dishes for everyone to enjoy (curries, coconut milk flavoured chickens, savoury rice dishes, etc).  She always makes delicious stuff but as with most ethnic dishes, the dishes are shiny (my term for lots of oil – think Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc).

There’s no stopping her as well because she'll cook and bring her dishes whether I want her to or not.

She offered to cook for us (a coworker and I) and make a chicken curry with rice dish, and I said sure thing, but told her I’m trying to eat healthier so please just make sure you use brown rice and I’m in.

She refused, saying it tastes better with white rice.  I replied fine, fine and mentally cut my portion down by half and planned to include a garden salad in the meal instead to supplement the rest.

Asking if she would be joining us for lunch too (she was coming in to my workplace from a couple cities over) she said, get this:

“Oh no, not for me. I can’t eat that stuff, I’m on a diet. “

GASP!

Can you believe that??

Mmmm. Shiny!

Oh and by the way, the dish of food she dropped off for a friend and I, was enough to feed the whole team (7 people ate a full lunch)

Humph!

Get in that dress

September 14th! What a great day to re-launch the blog. Yes, I've been away for a few months. I would like to promise that I will never take a hiatus again, but that'd be about as honest as when I told my ex I didn't cheat on him (for the record, he cheated first!). Oh dysfunctional relationships, eh? They're so much fun when you're bored. 

Moving on. remember that beautiful teal dress I tried on in March 2010 for my good friend's wedding? 

Tried on the size 12...

....decided I could be a size 10 by September!

Well it's arrived!.....and its too small. lol!

I know I shouldn't laugh but its just too funny!  The wedding is October 23rd and I will have to wear a dress that I can't do up in the back down the aisle and to the reception.....

This stuff might be my only hope!

 LOL!

I haven't told the bride yet cuz well, I'm sure she has a lot going on, what with the 400 person wedding and all in a month or so and all the European in-laws flying in to stay with them for a few weeks. 

Ok, well in the meantime, I have been eating better quality stuff (all natural, MSG free) and lots of water so hopefully, HOPEFULLY, in a month I'll be able to easily slip into this dress.

Oh gawd!

My biggest setback is what to have for dinner? I  want to eat something that takes less than 30 minutes to make and isn't a salad. I have salads for lunch all the time and don't want another one when I get home from work.

Ideas, links, all welcome!

Happy, eating!

Drinking from Camels

Their milk at least...

my friend sent me this link earlier today:

 http://www.diet-blog.com/06/camel_milk_anyone.php

Soy milk and rice milk are old hat. So why not try Camel's milk - or maybe some camelbert cheese?


Nutraingredients reports that Camel milk may soon appear in European supermarkets. The milk is three times higher in Vitamin C than cows milk (src) - and lower in saturated fat.


A camel dairy in Mauritania even makes a soft cheese from the milk - called 'camelbert'.


Not to be outdone, a chocolatier from Vienna is using powdered camel milk to make the world's first camel chocolate. The manufacturer intends to ship 50 tons of the chocolate back to the middle east - targeting wealthy tourists staying in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.



"Milk is money" says the United Nations FAO dairy expert. I'm sure the (cow) dairy industry would agree.

Cool! I would totally try that.  If you read the comments too they talk about making chocolate from camel's milk.  I like cow, sheep and goat's milk so camel milk is just the next logical step! 
I'm placing my order today...where to place it, not really sure. Not many  (actually ZERO) camel farms in Vancouver.

Hmmmmm...
 
 
Image source:

How to lose weight (5 tips)

I've gotten several emails asking how I did this (I'm still trying to do it!) and even co workers and friends want to know.

As I weighed myself this week (183.5, up 4 lbs from May, argh!) I figured it's time to remind myself how I WAS doing it as well as how I can continue in my quest to slim it down:

SLIMMING DOWN: 5 TIPS

1. Eat more: if you do nothing else, add veggies and fruits to every meal and snacks during your day. Then start to cut out the other stuff and increase your veggie/fruit intake
2. Battle it out: Every day will be a battle until it stops being a battle. Accept it up front then you won't feel frustration when you question "Why is this so f#$king hard!??" It's hard cuz fat's a mean SOB that's holding onto your thighs for dear life. Battle it out. You're guaranteed to win in the end!  
3. Move your ass: Do whatever you love: I love fitness classes and personal training cuz I like people to tell me what to do for an hour so I can just shut my brain the feck off for 45 to 90mins and burn calories
4. Bargaining is key: Last night I wanted a cheesy slice of pizza but told myself if I ate nothing at night then I could have whatever I wanted for breakfast. In the morning, I'm typically not hungry so I would have a regular, balanced breakfast anyway (ie no cheesy pizza), but I'm ALLOWED to have whatever I want and that mentality is key!
5. If you don't succeed....: Every meal, every snack, every offer of "Hey, do you want some of this (insert unhealthy snack here)?" is a challenge and a chance to start again. Don't let a lunchtime slip-uip affect the rest of your day. Plan a delicious, healthy dinner and start again!

to be continued...

What are your best  - eat healthy/stay healthy tips?  write em below or send them to nelleytimes@gmail.com

How to create a great Friday 'to do' list

TO DO:

1. Discover
2. Read
3. Dream
4. Imagine
5. Learn
6. Expand
7. Encompass
8. Encourage
9. Accept
10. Challenge
11. Grow

As an addition - this is a sign I see all over my neighbourhood. Who the heck buys USED mattresses? Is it just me or is this the most disgusting thing you've ever seen!!?!
I'd rather sleep on the floor, THE FLOOR!!!!

How the scale can (almost) lead you astray...

I weighed myself on Thursday morning to see- 180.5. 

Fine, fine. weekly and daily fluctuations but I was sure it would go back to normal (normal right now is 179.5).

No sweat.  Not a problem. "See you tomorrow scale!"

Ran late on Friday and forgot to weigh in and instead weighed myself on monday morning.

186.5

In pounds.

W.T.F.

There's not enough water a person can drink to make THAT number happen (oh its just water weight!). 

6 lbs in 3 days?? I better be 5 months pregnant (Jesus's baby, obviously).

Sure I  had movie popcorn with butter and chocolates on friday followed by a BBQ smorgasbord on saturday and then butter chicken sunday with friends but SIX POUNDS!!

One thing to say about pregnant women is that at least they're GUARANTEED to drop 10lbs in 9 months.  This last 20 is taking me forever! That's like 2 babies, wah!

How was I supposed to wedge my butt into my size 9 jeans with 6 extra pounds down there?

How was I supposed to wear the form fitting slinky dress/shirt over leggings when I had a muffin top to get rid of first?

How people, how???

Luckily, I didn't have to worry. In fact, everything is actually fitting BETTER than before. 

Huh?

I don't know why, I don't understand it either and I sure as hell ain't gonna question it either. 

However, to be on the safe side, I'm still going to keep the healthy eating going till this Friday's OFFICIAL weigh in.

Amen,

Oh and lunch today was this! 
Avocado, strawberries, poppyseed dressing, spring mix salad, carrots and cucumber.
mmmm
Added two boiled eggs on the side (protein) and 3 cups air popped popcorn (fibre)
Yay to salads! we're best friends again. ;) ...for now.

Happy eating!