July - Part II - The Calorie Monster

By the end of July, I had lost 11.2 lbs for a total of

34.4lbs

I feel really good in July. My BFF is schlepping me to all these bridal boutiques and conventions, and I'm having a ball because I can fit into old clothes that didn't have a chance last July. I'm going out more, and I'm feeling really good about myself.

In the picture above, we were at one of the aforementioned conventions, and they had free hypnotiq, which is a very fruity and tasty cognac. I had two small cups, not even considering the calorie value. It wasn't until I was midway through the second cup where I got curious and checked. hypnotiq is 103 calories PER OUNCE!

HOLYFUCKINGSHITOMFGWTFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

PER. OUNCE. and those cups were like 6-8oz a piece! I went berserk. Absolutely. Insane. When I got home, I Zumba'd my ASS off, and I was strictly on program for the next few days (meaning no meal on my own, no healthy outside food). Luckily I didn't gain anything from that, other than to be cautious from that point on and check the calories before I put anything in my mouth (hehe, that's what she said).

Strategy tip:

Now at this point, the Jenny dining out book has become my friggin bible. I live and survive by this little book whenever I'm not at home and unable to cook my Jenny food. I also downloaded a calorie counting app on my EVO phone, so I can track while I'm not home. I use Calorie Counter by Fatbusters as well as My Fitness Pal. Counting my calories is VERY VERY important. It's because of counting that my eyes were open to the horrors that are fast food restaurants. You have no idea how dangerous something is to weight loss until you look at the calorie count.

For example, in the past I would go to T.G.I.Fridays and order the Cajun Shrimp & Chicken Pasta, along with an appetizer, maybe some Fried Mozzarella, and I'd get a drink like the Ultimate Long Island Iced Tea. Let's add up those calories!

Cajun Shrimp & Chicken Pasta.......... 1490 calories

Fried Mozzarella.................................. 760 calories

Ultimate Long Island Iced Tea.......... 520 calories

2770 calories total

Are you seeing this?

I. Would. Eat. This.

As. One. Meal.

Heaven forbid I have a dessert! Then I'm in 3000 land! It's amazing to see, I would eat that amount of calories over the course of 2 days. Looking back when given that kind of information, it's amazing that I haven't had any serious medical problems. I should have diabetes, hypertension, something! I got very lucky, and I never want to go back to that. Ever.

July - Part I - Party in the USA

So July was a month of freedom, and not because of Independence Day.

I work at a public school, so when they have summer vacation, I do as well. At this point I've been enjoying my summer, healthy style. I went to 3 barbeques, including my own with my family at home, and I made pretty decent choices when faced with temptation.

My co worker invited me to her family 4th of july BBQ that was being held on the 2nd. When I'm invited to things like that, if I'm really close with them, I'll have no shame and bring my Jenny food with me and eat it there. However, this was my co-worker, and although we were close, we weren't THAT close (yet). So I spoke with my consultant about it and she advised me once again that my best options were to either (a) eat my jenny food beforehand and just eat a small salad, or (b) make smart choices and stick with the greens and a super small portion of an entree.

i chose b.

which was kind of easy. I ended up getting some salad with some yummy sausage on top. i brought Jenny salad dressing (luckily I did, because they had creamy dressings).

two days later on the actual 4th, my cousin invited me to her other family's barbeque in Hempstead. I made similar choices there, but it was painful trying to avoid the "other" salads (potato salad, macaroni salad, seafood salad). Those were the best things about barbeques to me in the past, but I was able to come out on top.

here's what I looked like at this point.