Instant Gratification

I realized yesterday that because of modern technology, everyone not only wants, but expects instant gratification.  Case in point.  My boss needed some new flight times.  I was at the gym when she tried to get a hold of me.  She called me six times and sent me three emails in a matter if 15 minutes.  I got back to the office within 15 minutes of the last email, and in a matter of minutes, had her booked on a new flight.  I literally hung up the phone with the travel agent, only to get an email from her asking how come she hadn’t gotten her new itinerary yet.

But I find myself expecting it too – if I call Tony and he doesn’t answer and then send him a text and he doesn’t reply right away, I think “oh my gosh, something must be wrong!”  Or, he could just be picking up the mail outside!

This is how it goes with weight loss too I think.  It’s January, we’ve got our “I can do it” pants on and now we in the second half of the month and you may already be thinking “is it worth it?”  I am not seeing the huge results yet!  But hang tight.  You need to make each day count, and when you string enough of those together, you’ll see the results you are looking for.  Before we know it, it will be June 1 and then you can look back and see how far you’ve gone because you stuck with it.   Just take it one day at a time.

Before I get onto my day, I found a new product that has helped me immensely.  Every winter I get cracked hands. Especially around my thumbs – so much so that I usually have to wear bandaids because when I work with paper all day it makes them worse and digging into files they can actually bleed.  I saw an infomercial about this product, and was surprised to see it at Bed Bath & Beyond.  I decided to give it a try.

I put it on at night and in the morning and within ONE DAY my cracks are completely gone.   Totally worth the $6.99 price tag, and it doesn’t smell bad either – just a nice fresh clean scent. 

More awesome blood sugars.  Before working out, it was 81 – I only took 2 units of insulin and ate another Balance Bar – this one tasted like a thin mint cookie!

Cardio  #1 – 20 minutes on the treadmill at 5.0% incline:

Then it was chest and triceps.  This set took me 20 minutes too.  I was actually using 15 pound weights for my failure sets on the flys!

Then finished up my second Cardio – 20 minutes on the bike:

You would think that after a 60 minute workout, I would be starving, but those balance bars really stick with me.  I think maybe I’ll eat only half, because Heather told me that to get the most out of your workout, you need to refuel within 30 minutes of working out.

When I got back to my office, I went to test my blood sugar and I got this weird error message:

I had my insulin bag in the car during my workout at the gym – turns out that means it’s too cold to work!  I ended up sticking it under my armpit for about 5 minutes.  My after workout blood sugar – 136 – nice!

I had more potato crusted broccoli quiche and 4 baby clementines. 

One of the secretaries at work was out, so I was pretty busy – made the morning fly by.  I went back to the gym at lunch – you all will be so jealous – empty pool just for me!  I swam for 30 minutes in solitude.  Love.

When I was putting my food together yesterday, I saw in the freezer that I had some of Tony’s tex mex soup leftover so I just threw that in a bag and tossed in a container of chicken broth to add when I heated it up.  On the side I had a chicken avocado wrap.

Well, sad to say, once this soup was reheated, the rice tasted all funky.  The flavor was still spicy and good, but I couldn’t get over the taste of the rice.  But I had already taken enough insulin as if I HAD eaten the soup, so I cut up an apple and scooped out 2 tablespoons of this amazeball peanut butter for dipping.  So fricken good – it’s cinnamony, crunchy and just plain delicious – worth the 180 calories for 2 tablespoons!

When I was leaving the office, the moon looked so cool – this picture doesn’t do it any justice, I wished I had had my telephoto lens with me!

I left my camera setting on that last setting.   I made Cincinnati Chili over the weekend to make a super quick weeknight meal.  Just have to boil and cook the pasta and you are good to go.   Tony loves this chili because it’s not too spicy and there are no beans.  But after scooping out his portion, I added the rest of the black beans and corn leftover from my chipotle chicken bowl.   I had mine over 3/4 cup of pasta, 1 cup of chili, 1/2 ounce of shredded cheddar cheese and fresh chopped cilantro.  LOVE cilantro on chili!

I was thrilled with this picture because usually my night time, fluorescent lighted kitchen takes crap ass pictures.   But I realized that I had left the settings the same as when I took my moon pictures – f/4, exposure speed was 1/60 and the ISO was 800.  Yep, I’ve had my DSLR camera for over three years and I am still learning how to use it! 

Tony had some MMA fights he wanted to watch, so I got to catch up on Biggest Loser.  I think the finale is in three weeks?  Rachel is my favorite – so glad that she found the athlete she once was again!  

And since Tony’s been back home, I have no desire to eat any crap after dinner – so weird, but now that he’s home and I am back into my routine, everything just . . . fits.   And the food I am eating is satisfying, so I don’t find myself looking for something else to eat.

Today is a rest from strength training – just cardio, so I’ll do that at lunch.  I think I’ll do the stair master for a nice sweat at lunch today.

I haven’t done any link love in a while! If you are having trouble meal planning, Andrea has it down to a science.  Check out her Meal Planning 101 here.

And Nicole made this delicious Sweet and Spicy Pork with Noodles soup that is definitely going on my lunch menu next week.  The only thing I think I’ll add is some lemongrass to the broth – I love the citrus note lemongrass adds to broth.

And as soon as I saw Ally’s Smothered Italian Chicken Breasts with Garlic Buttered Spaghetti, my mouth completely started to water.  I have leftover spaghetti and I have an idea of making chicken parmesan spaghetti nests in my muffin tin based on her recipe.  In my mind it works out, but we’ll see! 

I have time to do 20 minutes of stretching before putting my stuff together.   Make it a great day!