Week 2

...was not as good as week 1.

This past week was really tough for me. I was able to eat decently, but not being able to add exercise into the mix was frustrating.

After you enter in all of your food and exercise for the day, My Food Diary gives you a number - if every day was like "today," how much you'd lose per week. I aim to lose at least 1 lb per week. When I averaged out week 1, the number was -1.46/week. In comparison, when I averaged out week 2 it was only -.82/week.

I usually bring a Chobani or Fage Greek yogurt and an Amy's frozen meal (spinach/feta pocket, mac & soy cheeze, paneer tikka) to school every day for lunch. I think I'll try switching up the Amy's meal for soup. It cuts the calories in half, but I'm wondering if it will keep me full. I'm also concerned about the sodium. Some of Amy's meals are high in sodium too so maybe it won't be that much more. At any rate, I'll have to be very careful about my intake at dinner.

Onto the back front (haha)... I saw the chiropractor on Wednesday and Friday this week. I was feeling pretty good after I left on Friday. We had a discussion on exercises I can and cannot do (sorry, Katie - he ruled out a majority of yours due to my extra vertebrae and spondylolysis) and I made another appointment for Tuesday. He wanted to push it out two weeks, but that made me nervous. I'd like this thing checked in on sooner than that, just in case. Until then I am limiting myself to walking for this upcoming week, and not on a treadmill and most certainly not on an incline. Incline on the treadmill = BAD FOR AL.

I also found out this week that the temperpedic mattress would put me in the hospital. Good to know. Now I don't need to feel bad for not spending $2000 on a mattress. I prefer the rock hard variety of mattress. It's not fancy. It doesn't have a pillow top. It's simple and it keeps my back in alignment. What more could I ask for? I now know why Tutu slept with a board under her mattress. It feels darn good! One of the best night's sleep I had all year was actually on Rudi's dining room floor. Straightened me out from a long flight and an hour of bad sleep on her hammock of a mattress.

Free Fridays are what we're calling the four Fridays in January. Last night we went to Stanley's in Northeast Minneapolis. It's one of our favorite haunts, they make all of their food from scratch, and it's delicious! I had the tomato vegetable soup to start and then the veggie burger with a slice of gouda for the main course. The soup was packed with veggies and it was savory and scrumptious. The burger was made from lentils, had a bit of spice to it, and was super yummy. It came with a side of chipotle dressing, which Josh used for the sweet potato fries that came along with his walleye dinner. And what a dinner it was. Salad to start and then the best looking walleye I've ever seen - it was pecan-crusted! So even though we got to eat out, we still ate pretty well. And most of my meal was veggies, which was a double score.

Tonight I'll have to try and be good again, as we're going out to Bennett's. They have a free shuttle to the Red Bull Crashed Ice event that starts by the St. Paul Cathedral. The clips I've seen on the news have been absolutely crazy! I'll be sure to take pics. Watch the video on the website - that guy makes it look easy.