What Else is New...Day 29

Holy cow, I've been at this for almost a month now!  First of all beginning a health plan at the end of your last full semester of grad school may not have been my best idea, but I'm sticking with it.  End of the semester stress has set in, only five more weeks of classes and so much I need to get done!  I'm really hoping that I have learned to balance my time a bit by now so that I can work in some exercise time, study time, and me time all in one day!  As a matter of fact I'm multi-tasking now, lunch and blogging.  =)

Ok so there is going to be a lot in this post, I've got pictures, stories, and requests to make so I'm going to go a head and put the page break in early on...
Now on to the fun stuff.  As previously stated in the last blog post, my mother rocks!  She checks out my Amazon.com wishlist every once and a while and surprises me with a gift.  Well when the last package arrived I wasn't shocked to see the air purifier, or the DVD.  I had asked for those things.  What I was shocked to see was Rocco DiSpirito's cookbook Now Eat This!  I hadn't even heard of it, yet alone asked for it.  After looking through it though I was really happy to see that every recipe was under 350 calories and low in fat, great for my diet!  On top of that, there were foods that are notorious diet killers!  Pizza, brownies, mac & cheese, cookies, pasta, brownies, buffalo wings, and did I mention BROWNIES!!!  My chocolate craving rejoiced!  Maybe there finally is a way for me to eat the foods I love, and not feel guilty about it!  He took traditional comfort dishes and reworked them to be healthier for you, but still taste a lot like the originals.  I spent an entire evening going through the cookbook and marking pages of recipes I wanted to try...this may or may not have been every other page ;-)  Anyways I spent the next day making a meal plan for this month.  Yes I am that anal.  I figure if I have it all marked out for myself I'm going to be more likely to stick to it, not to mention it makes my one shopping trip a month so much easier and closer to budget.

My April Meal Plan

My next step was to go shopping.  Now there are two things I have learned about shopping.  The more time you spend on the outside aisles of the store the more expensive you bill will be.  Produce, meat, and dairy are not cheep!  Second I have learned that eating healthy means that a majority of your time will be spent in said locations.  This last trip I went a little overboard and went over budget, but it will be worth it.  I've felt better than I have in ages, and if that is all I get out of eating healthier than I'll take it!  Anyways, when I got home from the store I attempted to put everything away, I say attempted because I had a little problem with fridge, and produce storage space!

There used to be a kitchen counter under there!

Now you have to remember I only go to the grocery store once a month, so that is for an entire month.  Also I might add, I'm just feeding myself here!  I also cook a lot of food at the beginning of the month and freeze it to eat later in the month, so they don't spoil before I can eat them.  I think that once I try a lot of the recipes I'll see if I can used frozen veggies in some rather than the fresh since it will be cheaper and easier to store.  So far so good though, and I would highly recommend this cookbook to EVERYONE!!!

Chicken Caesar Salad, and French Onion Soup from Rocco DiSpirito's Now Eat This! cookbook

While I have brought up the topic of my Amazon wish list, allow me to be shameless and beg for gifts.  I know most people who read this won't even consider buying me anything, but hey you never know.  With so much cooking I've discovered that my kitchen is lacking in some needed items to make some of the dishes I'd like to try.  Other items are just not up to caliber.  The motor died in my blender yesterday making a fruit smoothie for breakfast for instance.  So if you are in a giving mood, and want to help me on my journey check it out here, Liza's Amazon.com Wish List.  (I know I'm shameless!)

In other news, while working out this week I decided to push myself a little bit, I decided to walk/jog a 5K on the treadmill.  Why you may ask?  Well first I wanted to see if I could do it.  It has been a really long time since I have been consistently working out.  Second I wanted to get a base line, this first time took me a little under an hour, which is great for where I am at now, but this will help me see how I improve as time goes on.  As the time it takes me to do it shortens, it means I'm getting faster, building stamina, and improving physically.  I never thought I would say this, but I think I may be becoming a runner, I really enjoyed that hour, even though it kicked my butt!

5K (3.11 miles) in under an hour!

Finally I finally got the pictures that my friend Natasha took of me a few weeks ago.  I think she is a wonderful photographer, but I don't like me in these pictures.  This isn't her fault, we're just all our own worst critics I guess.  Even though I swear I really was happy to be there, I don't look happy in general.  I think I just look sad, worn down, and like I'm going through the motions but don't really care anymore.  I don't like that I'm exuding that image.  The really scary thing is that if I'm noticing it, it must be showing to other people too.  I've asked Natasha to take some pictures of me as I continue this journey.  I'm really curious about how I'm going to physically change, but more how a mental change will show externally too.

Well tomorrow morning is weigh in day again.  I'm a little nervous since exercising has been hit or miss, but I have stayed right on track with the diet so hopefully that will help.  We'll find out tomorrow!  =)