Before...

Before...
Las Vegas May 2011

Monday, September 5, 2011

Tough Tailgating

I have to start out with how happy I am that I started this blog. I really feel accountable and based my decisions this past weekend on thinking, "I have to stay strong...I have to keep the blog going to keep myself on the right track."  It helps that I got some tweets (I love Twitter) from David Garcia who has been seen on my all time favorite day time talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Talk about an inspiration there -- he's 32 and melted off 164 pounds!!! Check out his blog. I also got a retweet from Chris Powell's crew (Seen on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition). Chris started "Reshape the Nation" -- also an inspiring man. I'd say that was a good start for one blog post!  My friend, Stephanie Mansour from Step it Up with Steph said she wanted to help me along the way as well and hooked me up with her 30 day program. It's a deeper look and holistic approach to becoming a healthier you. So far, so good :)

One thing that I have been looking forward to is football season. I'm a graduate of THE Pennsylvania State University and currently live in State College, home of the Nittany Lions. After really starting to push myself to lose 100 pounds, I found myself almost dreading the start of the season. What was once a happy word made me start to feel sick. Tailgating. Waking up early with friends to drink and grill all day, watch football, then go back out to the fields and continue on with the party. Can I be strong enough to say "No thank you" to all the fattening foods associated with tailgating?

It started Friday night when my friend and I went out to dinner. We decided on Ruby Tuesday's. As soon as I sat down I felt like I had just won the Biggest Loser and this was my first meal out on my own. I was a little scared reading the menu but I saw they have quite a few healthy options. My friend wanted to split an appetizer of their new shrimp fondue thing. I told her I'd only have a bite or two because I'm really trying to watch my weight. I stuck to it!!! She asked me to eat more and I declined. Score one for me! For dinner I went with the zucchini sliders -- YUM!!! Went for grilled green beans instead of french fries and the salad bar. I forgot to ask for mayo on the side, but luckily it was a light spread. The green beans were slathered in some sort of oil. Bummer. Let's hope it was EVOO.

Now it's time to hit the bar. I decided to be DD. 1.) so I wouldn't take in extra calories and 2.) so my friends could enjoy their night out on the town. I had one Miller Lite. Score two!

Saturday was a little bit harder with tailgating. But, I did bring a fruit and veggie tray and munched on that. Had a few bites of a taco dip my friend made. Same as the appetizer from the night before, I allowed myself a few bites but that was all. Fruit the rest of the night.  Dinner time, everybody was craving Olive Garden's endless pasta bowl. I said, "Sure, let's go...but I'm not eating the endless pasta bowl!" They said they thought they had whole wheat pasta I could divulge in. Nope. Nooooo thank you. I went with the grilled Mediterranean chicken dish. It had a ton of flavor.

Glad we did a lot of walking on Saturday so I was able to burn off some of the calories since I wasn't able to "fully exercise." It's Monday, and I'm back on track again. Went for a nice walk in the rain and am about to put on my Jillian tape. I'm trying not to get on the scale every day -- maybe once a week. I'm thinking Wednesdays will be my weigh in days. As promised, here is another inspirational quote:

"Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip." -- Arnold H. Glasgow

3 comments:

  1. congratulations on resisting temptation at Ruby Tuesday's! And don't get sucked into the whole "oh just have the last one....one won't do much damage". While that may be true, a lot of "just this one time" WILL eventually have an impact, but we just don't see it that way.

    Could you eat the BBQ at the tailgates before they add the sauces? or, this might sound crazy, you can bring fish to fire up the grill! lol

    and drinking: my trainer said that the "healthiest" alcohol options are whiskey and vodka. But you should have them with perrier, or diet sprite, and a lemon wedge. And, of course, just have one or two, instead of 300. Plus, they're hard liquors....beer doesn't do anything to me anymore (of course, I went to Penn State :P). To get slightly buzzed from beer, you'd have to drink at least a six pack. You get a buzz from whiskey or vodka almost right away. So you know, drink, slight buzz, always rehydrate, and you're done for the night :) Of course, the best drink to have though is water on the rocks...lol (god, how lame was that). But it's true...

    if you can do the first 10, you can do the next 90. You'll hit plateus, but, do not get discouraged. And if you wanna talk, just comment on my blog or, you know..you have other methods of contacting me :P

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  2. thanks for the tips girlfriend!!! at the grill it was burgers and grilled "piggles" -- a recipe we got from the penn state tailgating book. i'll move on to vodka for the tailgates ;) i took a jug thing of water for everybody, too. gotta have that h2o!

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  3. Just think about Ohio State, and you'll lose your appetite...

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