Pregnant

I'm not sure if anyone is still following this blog, but three weeks after I started it, I found out I was pregnant, so my goal to lose fifty pounds isn't exactly realistic right now. :-)

Good luck this year!

I'll be back next January!

Breakfast!

How's everyone doing??

So I have the greatest breakfast, and it literally takes less than five minutes to make. It takes the same amount of time to heat up a Pop Tart, seriously.

• One slice multigrain bread, toasted
• One egg, scrambled, with a few pinches of cheddar cheese (I use the Mexican cheese blend.)
• Two tablespoons Guacamole (Make sure you get REAL guacamole, not crap. Read the label. I bought mine at Trader Joes.)

I spread the guacamole on the slice of bread, put the cheesy scrambled egg on top of that, add a little salt-and-pepper, and it's awesome.

Yes, whole eggs can be fattening. Yes, guacamole can be fattening. But this whole sandwich (and let me tell you, it's very filling) is only 250 calories, and very flavorful.

I've also put salsa on top, and that's delicious. I just didn't have any this morning. Mike doesn't like guacamole, but I bought a pouch of real bacon crumbles (NOT Bac-O's, those are NOT real bacon), and you get the bacon flavor without all the calories of three slices of bacon to make a sandwich.

Any favorite quick-and-dirty breakfasts you like to eat in the morning?


~

Tickers!

First off, please accept my apologies for falling off the face of the earth. We lost internet access for a few days, and it was like losing a limb.

S. K. Walker had a great recommendation that we could have tickers on the sidebar for our weight loss. I put one up for me, using the tickers at www.tickerfactory.com. It took me less than two minutes to make it.

If you'd like me to feature your ticker, go create one, email me the html (please email to brigidmary@gmail.com), and I'll create a box for you! You'll have to regularly log into www.tickerfactory.com to update your weight, and it will automatically update the ticker on my blog. Go give it a whirl!

Keep in mind, as with mine, you don't have to reveal your actual weight. (Though really, if you've been sticking with me and can do simple math, you've probably figured it out.) You can set it to reveal only your weight loss.

If you don't want to make it public, no worries! I'm still here, we're all still here.

Good company, good friends. I'm glad to have you guys along for the ride.

The calendar vs. the scale

The calendar says we're halfway to the end of the month.

The scale says I'm nowhere near my goal of losing five pounds.

You guys still out there? You guys still doing this with me?

Well, look, if you've fallen off the wagon and lost motivation as much as I have, you are not alone.

And you know what else?

IT'S NOT TOO LATE.

It's Sunday, it's the middle of the month.

Even if you have to change your goal to lose 2.5 pounds, that's fine. That's SOMETHING.

Look at the sidebar. No guilt, people.

It's a new day.

Let's put the past two weeks behind us, and start fresh, right now, this morning.

If you're sticking to it, if you're meeting your goals, then, HOORAY!!! Tell me all about it. I need some motivation, guys.

Help me out here. Let's make it so the calendar stops winning and the scale can give January the finger.

Who's with me?

Seriously, who's with me??

Here's a quickie...

My husband pointed me to this Yahoo Health article about fifteen common dieting myths. Usually I skim these because it's the same old crap.

This one's not.

Give it a read. It's by the same guy who did the "Eat This, Not That" books that are a staple in my kitchen. My favorite recommendation from this article? Eat your goal weight's worth of protein a day, in grams. (Maybe I could speak English.) If you want to be 150 pounds, eat 150 grams of protein a day. 

Any success stories to share?

33.

So yesterday was my birthday.

One of the guys I work with bought me a breakfast sandwich. The good kind, on a bagel, with sausage and super yummy thick sliced cheese.

Another guy bought me lunch at Chik-fil-A. A chicken sandwich. Fries. Oh, and a big, thick chocolate milkshake.

My mother-in-law brought over cupcakes and ice cream bon-bons after Mike and I had our dinner of meat loaf and mashed potatoes.

All of these people were inordinately generous, and they have my thanks. I appreciate the food, really. REALLY. I'm very touched that everyone thought of me on my special day.

Now that it's over, I'd like them to knock it off.

:-)

~

I can't count on this kind of luck all the time...

So let me just sum up the weekend:

Foodstravaganza.

Yeah, I made that word up.

So Friday morning was Nick's Christmas pageant. (Rescheduled from a snow day before Christmas break.) Donuts, cookies, brownies everywhere.

Nick wanted McDonalds for lunch, which I initially refused, but then he fell and cracked his head on the bookcase in my living room, and I felt so badly for him when he looked up at me tearfully and said, "Mommy, I just wanted to go get some French fries." So we did.

For dinner, my darling husband took me to Cheeseburger in Paradise, one of those chain restaurants where the food is awesome -- and awesomely bad for you. Blue cheese burger, meet Brigid.

Saturday: Costco pizza with Mom for lunch. Dinner was pretty good: chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli.

Sunday, I took the train to New York City to have lunch with my awesome agent, Tamar Rydzinski, and my awesome friend Sarah Maas. (I'll write about that on my regular blog later today.)

On the way to the train station, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts. At the restaurant, I had tri-colored gnocchi with gorgonzola cheese sauce, followed by a chocolate whiskey cake for dessert. Amazing? Yes. It was incredible. Low-cal? Hahahahahahaha. No effing way.

But I got on the scale this morning and it hasn't moved since Friday. I'm still down those 2.2 pounds.

I'm going to try to get on a treadmill this evening and see how it goes.

How about you guys? How did your weekends go?

And here, since I don't want to leave you with a useless post about my food intake (are you still awake?), here's a quick and easy way to make delicious chicken:

Brigid's Easy Chicken

Heat a deep frying pan to medium heat. (I use a cast iron skillet with high sides.) Add 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil.

Chop up a yellow onion and throw it in the frying pan. I don't even bother chopping the pieces tiny; just enough that they're small enough to cook.

Throw some salt and pepper in there, stir the onion around for a while until it looks like it's just starting to brown.

Lay chicken breasts or chicken breast strips across the cooking onion. (I use the Perdue Perfect Portions, since they're individually wrapped, or I get the 99% fat free chicken strips. If you live alone, the Perfect Portions are...um, perfect...because this recipe works equally well for one chicken breast or five.)

More salt and pepper. I've also added Rosemary, but my husband wasn't a fan.

Cook the chicken about 6 minutes on each side until it's cooked all the way through.

This entire recipe takes about 15 minutes total. It's faster (and easier, in my opinion) than making Shake-and-Bake. And even if you have someone who hates onion (like my husband), they don't have to eat them. They're just in the pan for flavor.

Give it a whirl. Let me know how it turns out.

If anyone else has some easy recipes, let me know. I'd love to post them on the blog. Feel free to email me at brigidmary@gmail.com.

By the way, I LOVE all the comments with ideas, encouragement, and just general chatting. I can't get into blogger from work, so I can't respond during the day, but I read all of them when I get home in the evening. You guys are AWESOME. Thanks for doing this right along with me!