Oysters Rock My World!

Today we took my mother in law to lunch for her 70th birthday celebration. We went to Wintzell's Oyster House. I have debated for several days back and forth about what I would order when we went. Part of me wanted to try to be really good and get some grilled fish and vegetables or something of the sort, but most of me really wanted the Oyster Sampler Platter.

Ultimately I decided to compromise and order oysters, but to order only 6 instead of 16. I started with Sauteed Crab Claws. I thought I was doing good by ordering sauteed instead of fried crab claws, but I totally wasn't thinking about the fact that sauteed most likely means it will be sitting in a pool of butter. So one strike against me already! I tried to just eat the meat and stay out of the garlic butter.

Then I had a side salad with Light Ranch dressing on the side. Yes, of course it was covered in shredded cheese, but atleast it didn't have bacon or croutons.

For my entree I order a half dozen Oysters Rockefeller with a side of broccoli. I forgot to take a picture of my broccoli, but it was also sitting in a pool of butter. I was really disappointed, it didn't say anything about butter on the menu. I guess thats what I get for not asking.

The oysters were awesome! I definitely could have eaten 16 of them if I had let myself. All of that stuff would have probably been fine if I hadn't eaten about half of my son's fried shrimp and french fries that he wouldn't touch. Oh, and garlic bread ... my god, the garlic bread!

This was the real "the world is out to get me" moment though: Tim went to the restroom and while he was gone my mother in law ordered herself and him Bread Pudding. I told her I didn't want any. Well, when he came back he stopped by the counter and asked the waitress if we had already ordered dessert and she told him yes, that we ordered 2 bread puddings. So he told her to put in an order for him one too! So to my suprise she brought 3 HUGE servings of bread pudding to the table. Talk about a test of willpower! I failed!

This afternoon we took Lincoln over to my grandmother's house to visit with my mom, sister, Aunt and cousin that were in town to celebrate my Aunt's birthday. Of course there was cake and icecream! On the back of the lunch we had, it was really easy to say no to the cake and icecream though. I wasn't even tempted in the least, which I'm pretty sure pissed my grandmother off. She is one of those types of people that takes incredible offense if you don't eat what she provides.

Instead of eating we dumped Lincoln off on the family and decided to go for a run around my grandparent's neighborhood. I intended to run 7 miles, but I kept saying "I'm going to try to run 7 miles". I wasn't convinced that I could actually do it, even though I've done it once before ... especially after that big lunch.

I actually ended up running 8.16 miles! A new personal distance record. I intentionally made myself run at a slower pace than normal so that I could stretch out my run. It also helped that I got absolutely and utterly lost in the neighborhood. I just kept running until I found my way back.

I had planned on not eating again today, but after such a long run I really felt like I needed something. So I made what I'm gonna call "Boca Taco Pita". Basically it was a pita stuffed with a Boca Burger, lettuce, green onions, salsa and sour cream. I also had a side of baby carrots and Fat Free Ranch Dip. It wasn't very photogenic, but it actually tasted really good!

What is your favorite thing to do with a Boca Burger?

What A Difference A Year Makes!

A couple of weeks ago I posted my family picture from October 2008. If you don't recall, this is what it looks like:

We picked up our new family pictures yesterday. Exactly one year later this is what we look like:

The photographer took a picture of just Tim and I without Lincoln, and that picture turned out waaaay better than this one. But I just couldn't see the point in buying a picture that didn't have my son in it. So we only bought these.

Its Finally Fall!

Thats right, its finally fall in Alabama! I walked outside this evening and it was a chilly 55 degrees. This is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love everything about it: the cooler weather, football, sweaters, pumpkin pie, the colors. Its all wonderful! I think I'm even generally in a better mood in the fall than I am any other time of the year.

To make matters even better there are only 12 days left until our Gatlinburg vacation. I can't wait to get up in the mountains and see the beautiful scenery, relax in the hottub with some wine, eat some good food and just have a great time. I really need it!

Tomorrow morning is the Chili Trot 5K. I've got my playlist all ready and all my clothes layed out. The only thing left to do is figure out exactly where I'm suppose to go.

My friends Nicole and Kelli are running with me this time, and my husband Tim of course. I'm not looking to set any personal records this time, just hoping to have some fun. After the race there is a chili cookoff. I haven't decided yet if I will participate in the judging or not. I had a few weak moments with some Oreos at work the other night that I'm still trying to repent for.

Tomorrow night we have the Fall Festival at the YMCA. I'm not sure what all will be involved but I'm excited to dress Lincoln up in his Halloween costume! Oh ... we also get to go tomorrow to pick up the proofs of our family pictures that we had made a couple weeks ago. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Sunday we are taking my mother in law out for lunch for her birthday (which was actually today). We are going to Wintzell's Oyster House. I'm absolutely infatuated with oysters. They are one of my most favorite things on earth. I still haven't decided if I'm going to make an honest effort to "be good" or if I'm just gonna say F it. I really want the Oyster Sampler, but I'm sure it will set me back about 1000 calories or more.

The fair is in town this week, but we have decided instead of going to the fair and spending a bunch of money that we don't really need to, that we will forgo it. Instead we are going to take Lincoln to Zoo Boo on Sunday night. Another Halloween costume opportunity! Yes!

So the question of the day is ... should I be good at Wintzell's or should I go all out with the Oyster Sampler? Take a look at the menu and tell me your vote for my entree.

Goals for The Week

First of all, there is something that has been on my mind that I want to discuss. For all you Biggest Loser fans, last night on the episode when they had to order all of their food out, did you notice that they said to make sure their fruit didn't contain any: bananas, melons, or grapes? I keep thinking that maybe I misunderstood what they were saying. Surely they don't have them on such a strict diet that they can't eat certain fruits! Or do they?

My personal philosophy on fruits and vegetables is that, I didn't get fat eating them and they aren't going to make me fat now. Unless of course, you fry them or saute them in butter. I don't normally count points for fruits and vegetables that I eat raw or cooked without additives.

Every week I like to set a couple goals for myself. My weeks start on Monday (as far as weigh-in goes), so I'm a little late blogging these but thats ok. My goals for this week are:

• To only weigh on weigh-in day.
• To track everything I eat on Weight Watchers and Spark People.

I signed up for Spark People several months ago, but I stopped using it because I felt like it was too time consuming and redundant to track my food on both Weight Watchers and Spark People. One thing I did like about Spark People though that Weight Watchers doesn't have is that you can track all of your nutrients. You can actually see a breakdown of your calorie, carb, fat, and protein intake and measure it against the recommended daily amounts. You can track any other nutrients you are interested in as well.

Lately I've been really interested in not only losing weight, but also healthy living. By this I mean that I'm more interested in the nutritional value of what I'm eating than the Points value. So that is why I wanted to start using my Spark People account again. So far I'm doing really good at staying in the correct ranges for calories, carbs, fat and protein.

My other goal for this week is to only weigh on Monday. When I was younger I was completely scale obsessed; I would weigh when I first woke up, after I went to the bathroom, after I ate, after I exercised, anytime I went into the bathroom. You get the idea. I think this stems from growing up in a househould with someone that had eating disorders. My mother struggled with anorexia and bulemia when I was a child. For that reason its really important to me not to be scale obsessed anymore. I usually want to weigh myself every morning when I wake up, but I realize that there will be normal fluctuations from day to day and that weighing on a weekly basis is much more reliable.

My eats for today included:

Kashi GoLean Crunch with Vanilla Oikos Greek Yogurt


A Gala apple, my fave!


Leftover spaghetti squash with meat sauce, and a side salad.


1/2 of a Green Monster (Yep, thats yesterday's pic again)


Steak with mushrooms, green beans, roasted cauliflower, and
a twice baked potato.

I also had a handful of Quaker Quakes Mini Rice cakes, a Crab Delight snack, and a piece of garlic toast. It really seemed like I ate alot today, but I came in at 1450 calories.

I ran 6 miles this afternoon, and it was extremely hard for me today. I don't know if it was because I ran in the afternoon and I normally run in the morning, or if I was just having an off day. I literally felt like I couldn't have taken one more step though, and I felt all weird and dizzy afterwards. I think my body needed the extra calories tonight because I felt much better after dinner.

Family Pictures

Every year we donate money to our local Volunteer Fire Department and in exchange they give us a free sitting for family portraits. They called today to tell us that the photos will be taken tomorrow afternoon.

I got to thinking about how different we will look in our photos this year than last year. Most years we didn't even take photos because I never wanted to see a picture of myself.

This is our family photo from last October.

I honestly don't hardly recognize those people. Its hard to believe that was only one year ago. Hopefully this year we will have some pictures that we can actually be proud of. Who knows ... maybe we'll make Christmas cards with photos this year.

Callaway Gardens Trip

We got up early yesterday morning to drive to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia to spend the day. It was about a 2 hour drive, but it went by really fast. I haven't been to Callaway since I was a small kid so I really didn't remember anything about it, but I saw on the website that they had a 10 mile bike trail that I wanted to try.

It was almost lunch time by the time we got to Callaway, so we decided to eat at one of their restaurants in the gardens. I was really hoping it would be a nice little deli type place, but they only had just a very few items on the menu. Hamburgers, hotdogs, paninis, french fries ... things like that. They did have veggie burgers and veggie hotdogs, but I didn't know what kind they would be. So I ordered what I thought was probably the healthiest thing there.

After lunch we got our bikes all set up and cruised around the park for a while. We never could find the beginning of the bike trail, but we managed to get on it somewhere in the middle and just rode around to the different attractions.

We ended up riding just under 13 miles for the day. It was great! Lincoln was really good riding in his trailer behind my bike and he slept alot of the time. We stopped at the Butterfly Gardens and the Vegetable Gardens. I wanted to go see the chapel, but every time we rode by Lincoln was asleep. My favorite thing was the sundial, I was suprised at how accurate it was.

We left Callaway when they closed and headed back home. I was starving after riding so much on the bike, so we stopped for dinner at Mimi's Cafe. I went in planning to eat something light and healthy, but somewhere along the line one thing turned into another and I ended up with: a steak, potato, salad, bread, 2 beers, and dessert. For dessert I had the sampler thingy with bread pudding, a brownie and apple crisp.

I literally felt sick. I haven't felt that bad after I've eaten in a really long time. I can't believe I used to do that to myself pretty much every single day. And why I chose to do it the night before weigh-in is beyond me. Thankfully I was still down this morning when I weighed in, but not as much as I was the other day when I cheated. I weighed in at 159.8, putting me at 100.2 lbs lost!

A Very Sad Day

On this day two years ago, one of the most important people in my life passed away. My Granny was an amazing woman, and she was always there for me even when it seemed like no one else in my life was. Her death was especially hard on me because she died when I was 10 weeks pregnant. I actually hadn't even told her that I was pregnant yet, although I suspect that she already knew.

I can remember every time we went to visit we would stay up late at night, laying in her bed and she would tell me story after story. I loved listening to my grandmother's stories of her life when she was a young girl. I remember her telling me about when she got the family cow so drunk on moonshine that it couldn't stand up and how she was so afraid that she had killed it. That was always one of my favorites.

I always loved the way my grandmother talked. She was from the deep south and lived way out in the country. She called paper towels - towlin' paper, and eggplants were called vegetable eggs. It still makes me smile to remember trying to figure out what she wanted when she asked for a piece of towlin'.

Granny always worried about me and my sisters. She'd call us every year and remind us when it was almost time to get our driver's licenses renewed. I still don't know how she kept up with all those dates.

I hope that I never forget all these things about my grandmother. It scares me to think that in 20 years I might not remember all these great memories. Its only been two years and I already feel like I'm forgetting things. It also makes me incredibly sad to know that my son will never get to meet my Granny. I can't wait to tell him about her when he gets older.

RIP Granny - You are loved and missed everyday!

Family Visit

Daily Activity: Ran 4.4 miles (5 APs)

As I mentioned earlier, we went down to my parent's farm for my niece's 5th birthday party this weekend. We drove down last night after Tim got off work and arrived about 9:00 pm. When we got there my niece, nephew, and Dad were all already in bed. Only my sister was awake.

I walked into the house first and my sister looked at me like I was an intruder. When my mom walked in behind me, my sister said "is that Amanda?" When she realized it was indeed me, she started bawling like a baby. I don't know exactly why she reacted so strongly, but she definitely did. At first she kept saying that she was so proud of me, and that I looked gorgeous, etc. But after a few minutes she kinda started interrogating me. She asked me: how much I weigh, how did I lose weight, how fast did I lose weight, how much I exercise, what exercises I do, what I eat, etc. It was almost like she was berating me. I'm not sure what that was all about.

We ended up having a pretty decent time though. Tim and I got up early this morning and went for a run around the dirt roads near my parent's house. We intended to come back home and put the kids in my bike trailer and take them for a loop around the 3 mile circle after we ran, but we had bike issues. At first my tire was flat, so we went to Walmart to get the stuff to fix it. Then when we came back Tim tried to fix the gears on my bike and ended up messing them up to where I could barely move the pedals. Then we noticed that his tire had a huge hole in it. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. It pretty much sucks that we made the effort to get a bike rack and haul our stuff all the way down there and then couldn't even ride.

For lunch my family planned on grilling out hamburgers and hotdogs. I was worried about what I would eat because I knew they didn't buy lean beef or lean hotdogs. I went to the store and bought all kinds of vegetables to marinate and make skewers to grill. I ate one hotdog, alot of vegetables, a small salad and a couple spoonfuls of baked beans. I felt like I did pretty good .... and then came the cake. I ate waaay more cake (and ice cream) than I needed to. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Although my family is probably wondering why the hell I made such a big deal about making sure I had healthy options to eat for lunch if I was gonna chow down on cake and ice cream for dessert.

Loving my Bike Rack!

I bought a bike rack this week from Amazon, and it came in yesterday. Tim set it up for us this morning. I love it! It seems really sturdy and stable. It will actually hold 4 bikes even though we only have 2 right now. He drove around for a few minutes with our bikes attached and said that the rack didn't move or sway at all.

We are going out of town this weekend to visit my family in south Alabama. It will be my niece's 5th birthday, so we are going to celebrate. My family lives way out in the country on a dirt road and there are great places to hike, bike and run. I'm really excited! Usually when we go to visit I get bored very quickly because I've always been an indoorsy person. I don't know too many fat people that like to get outside and do much. But now I'm really looking forward to exploring new things to do on our trip.

We are also planning on taking our bikes when we go to Gatlinburg in 61 days, 19 hours, and 8 minutes ... give or take. I think we are really going to get alot of use out of the bike rack and the bike trailer that we bought for Lincoln.

I'll post some pictures of our trip when we get home tomorrow night. I'm planning on doing some fishing, grilling out, spending time with my niece and nephew, and of course biking and running.