Sorry For Not Posting Yesterday! Some Low Calorie Meals

Hello everyone out there in cyber space today is Day 2. I have been woke up Monday at 7:30am to get to the gym at 9:30am. Today, I woke up at 9am to get to the gym at 11am. (This week, because it is still considered "finals week" the gym has weird hours so it didn't open until 11) I made a lot of food at the beginning of the week so I could just grab and go. 2 of these recipies I will post here and I will try to post more throughout the week.

I am sorry that it is turned upside down, I am not sure how to rotate it. Anyway, this is the smoothie that I made Monday morning (with my magic bullet!) This one consists of 1/2 cup pineapple, 1 1/4 cup strawerries and 1 cup of organic skim milk. (Two things that definitely taste better organic; milk and strawberries) just hit the button mix for a few minutes and enjoy. My only qualm is that pineapple is a little stringy when you blend it.

Amount: apx 12. oz smoothie
Calories: 210

This morning (because I wanted to use the rest of the pinapple to roast on the stove) I made a strawberry banana smoothie. Because the banana took up more room in the cup I only used 1/2 a banana and 1/2 cup strawberries with 1 cup organic skim milk. It yielded the same about of smoothie for 165 calories.

Note* - This is up to you  but I normally add 1 Truvia 0 calorie sweetener packet.

This is the entire plate of chicken salad (which includes 8 oz. of chicken breast) but a serving would be about 4 oz. This includes:

- 4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast (I used Nature's Promise; Giant's organic brand. It was about 5 dollars for 1 lb. Worth it because it did not include nitrates, added sodium or growth hormones) - 140 cal
- 1 celery stalk - 5 cal
- 1 1/2 oz. grapes (5-6 big red grapes) - 30 cal
- 1/2 tbsp. low fat mayo - 50 cal
- 7 almonds - 40 call
Just put it in a bowl and mix it up. You can also just used can chicken breast but I cooked the whole packet of chicken at the beginning of the week and have been using it in different recipies. For 1/2 the amount in this bowl, it's 265 calories.

I hope this helped. I decided instead of posting once a week I will just post as much as I can, but at least once a week. My best friend and I who are remaining at school for the summer are cooking our way through a cook book. So, when I use one of their recipies, I will reference the source.

Happy eating!

~eraserdusters

Starting Tomorrow

I spent a few days at home after my finals ended so I could get some groceries and spend time with my family. I have to say that if I had to be there the entire summer I think my head would explode. I can't believe that I just spent all that time doing nothing virtually every summer of my life. The worst part though, is I felt myself slipping back into that pattern even from just being there for a few days. I didn't visit anyone, all I wanted to do was sleep, tracking my food was difficult because my mother eagerly encourages me to eat while commenting on my weight. (Word to the wise - DO NOT I repeat DO NOT involve your mother in your diet. Don't do it. If you have any sort of relationship issues with your mother, I seriously recommend the book, "Are You Wearing That?" by Deborah Tannen. Mind. Blown.

I decided for this particular diet I would try two new things to force myself to experiment with cooking. Number 1: no junk food. Not even healthy junk food. My snacks will consist of at the worst whole wheat crackers and cut up vegetables dipped in hummus. Everything in my refridgerator has fewer than ten ingredients. I want to experiment to see if my overall well being increases with this type of diet.

Number 2: I left my microwave at home and got a toaster oven. I have a bit of a fear with the oven and I felt that the toaster oven was a good place to start. A toaster oven is basically just a mini oven and does not have the same harmful effects that a microwave has on food.

This is preliminary post number 2. I will post tomorrow to give pictures of some food and give stats. Normally, my posts will be on Sunday giving a summary of the previous week.

Normally, I wake up an hour before I have to go anywhere and I am considering waking up two hours early so that I may add some positive components to my regime:

- Washing my face with a cleanser
- Stretching
- TAKING MY TIME

The last one being the most important. I want to be awake when I leave to exercise, not stumbling out barely able to keep my eyes open. I also downloaded some up beat music to listen to when I jog to the gym. (I am wary of how difficult this task might actually be.)

I also start the first of my two jobs tomorrow as a librarian, which won't be until 2pm so I have to get my exercise done in the morning. I am hoping at best to wake up at seven and leave at nine, at worst wake up at eight and leave at ten.

Tomorrow is my first day of the new summer diet! Wish me luck!

~ Eraser Dusters

Preliminary Post

My last final was yesterday. A part of me is, of course, thrilled; I am about to start an incredible journey. This will be my first summer away from home. I will be working two jobs and I will have four internships....it sounds more crazy than it is. 3 of my internships are online; I submit articles each week that get published on the web. I am hoping I will be able to acquire recommendation letters, connections and resume fodder. This is a preliminary post to the start of my summer regime. Today, I am 194.5lbs. I have not lost much since the last post. I have kept track of what I have been eating but not being able to buy groceries during those last, stressful weeks has hindered me slightly. But I have not gained. I will write an official post on Sunday, but I wanted to make sure I updated.

I decided, after much thought, to take pictures. This was scary for me. I haven't taken a picture of myself in years, especially not in a bra and underwear. But I felt that this was important. The progress that I would be able to physically see; to have documentation of, is vital. I think that this will make me feel prouder, "Look at where you have been, look how far you've come, look at where you are going."

I am keeping a hope chest of clothing, some of new clothes that I have bought a few sizes small and some old ones. I buy clothes very carefully now, will I use this when I graduate from college? Will this be something versatile that will last when I am poor and eating nothing but 17 cent bananas? Also, as of right now I am not tracking my daily food log on here. If anyone wants to know what I eat in a given day tell me. I want to be consistent, so I know tracking my food in two places will be difficult for me.

These are the aspects I want to include in this blog:

Weekly Weight:
Weekly Food:
Best Recipe of the Week:

I will take pictures of the food I make that I think is the best during the week and upload it here.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. I am not going to sleep, because I have to leave my house at 5:00am, but I am trying to download some upbeat music to use for work outs.

- Eraser Dusters

A Journey to the Center of My Stomach

I, as with many people who are influenced by this vast universe of social media pressure, am trying to lose weight before I graduate from college. As a Writing Major, I am going to be entering a field that has a microscope on everyone, including the reporters. Since I want to work in the magazine/publishing industry in a big city, I feel, perhaps superficially, that I need to look a certain way in order to be competitive in this field. It is an undeniable fact that people who are deemed beautiful by societal standards obtain more from their jobs; opportunities, salary increases, bonuses etc. This is not to say that I have become a mannequin for the industry to try their critiques on, nor do I think I am unattractive. But I want to be healthy, have more energy, and be able to be a strong competitor in a sea of pretty, privileged women.

To give some background, when I was in my freshman year of high school I was at a very reasonable weight. At 5’6” I weighed 135-140 lbs. It was at this time that my sister developed an eating disorder, and as the years progressed I wanted to be everything that she wasn’t; the embodiment of a body that did not look emaciated and ill. I gained a small amount of weight up to this point, maybe ten lbs. in two years. In my junior year, I was sexually assaulted, and then was diagnosed with trichotillomania, a hair pulling impulse control disorder, and later bipolar II. I was a very popular, likeable, social person, but at this point, I did not want to be pretty, I wanted to be invisible.

By the time I reached the second semester of my junior year in college by weight had skyrocketed to 217 lbs. I had tried many diets before but continuously failed. For my New Year’s resolution this year, I promised that from January 1^st on, there would be no excuses. I was going out into the real world soon, and I needed to be in a good emotional place in order to be able to succeed in a world full of criticism. I wanted to define my weight; I did not want my weight to define me.

I decided to keep a food journal and every day I would write what I ate. I started at 1200 calories a day. About three weeks into it I was taken to the hospital because I was malnourished. I did not do this on purpose; I read articles that said that this was the smallest amount of calories one could consume without being in a dangerous zone. But, for my body type, this amount was too small.

I increased my calorie intake to 1350-1500 calories. Today I weigh 195.5lbs. I decided that I want to keep a summer weekly blog, in order to track this journey for myself. The food diary will not be enough for me to explain the emotional, mental and physical struggle it will take to return to a healthy weight. I want to also be able to help others, any I encourage anyone who needs a friend to contact me. I am sure that at this point, I need a friend too.

I will not be able to post regularly until May 10, when my finals end. When that day comes I will post my weekly entry on Sundays. I will try to include anything I can find, tricks, tips and anything that I think that has worked for me that I think will work for others.

I don’t want to starve myself. I don’t want to rush it. I don’t think I am ugly. I don’t want to be perfect. At worst, I would say that I am prideful. I was very athletic in high school and want achieve that level of athleticism once more. Most of all, I want to be proud of myself and I want to be happy.

Please, talk to me. Contact me, question me, critique me, laugh at me, and laugh with me. I’m a dork, I am sure I need more psychological help than I’ve been given. Help me revel in my successes and help console me in my failures. I will do the same for you.

-         Eraser Dusters

Here is a weight loss break down of each month. When I post regularly, I will do one of each week:

2012

Starting Weight: 217lbs.

Goal Minimum Weight: 127lbs.

Goal Maximum Weight: 145lbs.

Need to Lose: 90lbs.

January 1 - 217lbs. (-0lbs.)

February 1 – 207lbs. (-10lbs.)

March 1 – 204.5lbs. (-12.5lbs.)

April 1 – 198.5lbs. (-18.5lbs.)

Today (April 24) – 195.5lbs. (-21.5lbs.)