Failure is Not an Option

Just one more day to join the DietBet!  First WI is tomorrow and the game begins on July 13.  Lucky to have this great group join in the last couple days!

Jacky, Julie, Debbi, Carol, Sam, Mari, Randi, Ann, Peggy, Bryan, Anna.  We are doing to kick some ass these next 30 days!

Yesterday was a busy morning!  I couldn’t say anything yesterday, but we were having a surprise bridal luncheon for one of the attorneys who’s getting married next month and guess what?  I catered it!  So it was a whirlwind of activity yesterday morning before I left work – I am usually pretty organized when it comes to doing stuff like this, but the fact that I live 30+ minutes from my office, I was just afraid I’d forget something.

But in the midst of all the flurry, I still managed to make a batch of pancakes for breakfast – yep, what’s one more thing – ha!

My lunch menu for 12?

• Italian pasta salad
• baby spinach salad with strawberries, goat cheese and raspberry vinaigrette
• Caesar salad
• steak and mushroom kebobs with horseradish sauce
• sausage and pepper kebobs with a spicy honey mustard sauce
• chicken and zucchini and baby potato kebobs with a roasted red pepper sauce
• grilled homemade garlic bread

So everything was going great.  My time line was good, I was getting things together in our work kitchen.  Right before I am about to grill?  Downpour.  My boss asked me what I was going to do and I said “I am a professional – failure is not an option!”  So she loaned me her rain coat and out I went!

I go light the grill, lay out the chicken and steak kebobs (I pre-cooked the sausage beforehand so it was 80% cooked already), then came back in the kitchen to finish putting the salads together.

Our office grill is really super fast to heat up, so my timeline was that I was only going to be grilling for about 10 minutes to serve lunch at noon.  When its time to flip the chicken and steak I realize my grill temp is at 200.  Noooooooo!!!!!!  The grill is out of propane. 

Of all the lists and checklists, menu planning, etc. that went into putting this together, running out of gas on the grill never crossed my mind.   There was talk of running out and getting another one, but that would take too long, so I did a MacGyver, and between the microwave (heating up the sausage kebobs) and the toaster oven, I completed everything and lunch was served at 12:30.  Whew!

Those are my kebobs, ready for the grill.  Just so you know, I don’t think its possible for me to ever make “just enough” food.  There are leftovers for today!

That pasta salad was delicious – I wrote the recipe while I was putting it together, but I haven’t figured out the nutrition yet, so I’ll post it later this week.

My plate:  1 sausage kebob, one steak kebob, pasta and Caeser salad and garlic bread.  I am happy to report that even though I served up the cake for dessert, and it sat right in front of me, I didn’t even have a lick of it!   My guess is my plate is about 600 calories.

Everyone cleaned their plate, so I guess that’s a good sign!  And the bride to be was very surprised by the whole thing – I really like her – she and I have the same sense of humor and we are constantly joking with each other.    And the best part?  All the food for the event (except the cake) only cost $93 – so I did it for $7.75 per person!

I ended up with a couple leftover chicken breasts (that marinade will come in a second post too – it was marinated in Chobani plain yogurt, lemon juice, and rosemary).  I was going to grill it outside last night, but it was just too hot, and then Tony suggested fried chicken sandwiches.  Done!  I butterflied one breast, so each half was 4.5 ounces.  I just tossed the marinated chicken in about a tablespoon of flour and fried for about 8 minutes.

I, of course, made it amazeballs by dipping it in Frank’s wing sauce (love that shit!) and had 1/2 a cup of the leftover pasta salad on the side.  It’s weird but there are no calories at all in Frank’s wing sauce – how can that be? 

On tap for my Month 2, Day 4 Insanity was “Max Recovery.”  Which means that it’s all strength and no cardio.  I thought, “wow, I’ll get a break tonight!”  Um, no.  This was hard. 

Try doing squats on your toes!  My legs were shaking on that one!

Not only did you have to do the squats on the toes, but then staying on your toes, you had to then do a twist reaching your hand to your foot – and then switch to the other side, so there was no break.

But I was surprised that I rocked the oblique crunches in a plank position!

Yep, I’ll be bikini ready by … er…. next summer?!

Stats for the Day:

• 1689 clories, 79 fat, 166 carbs, 10 fiber, 77 protein
• 40% of calories from carbs, 42% from fat and 18 from protein
• 47:14 minutes of Max Recovery

Looks like a clear day so far, so I hope to hit the outdoor pool at lunch today.  I just peeked and tonight’s Max Cardio Interval of Insanity is 60 minutes long – eek!   #icandoit!!

So today is the last day to join the DietBet – here is the link – maybe this is just the push you needed like me!

Please join me for Helen’s DietBet Summer Part 2 starting on Jul 13. We are playing in a 4-week challenge to lose 4% of your starting weight. The bet is $25 and everyone who wins splits the pot. Come join the fun!  Click here to play with me:
http://diet.bt/1a3Cqqf

On our vacation in May in Austin?  I wore a size 14 pants and shorts.

While I’ve lost 8.2 pounds since that photo was taken, yesterday I wore a size 11 pants that I haven’t worn in at least a couple years.  Woop!

What’s your motivation going to be?  Why not start today, instead of Monday, next month, next year.  You are strong, you deserve to be healthy because you are worth it!  Failure is Not an Option. 

Make it a great day!