The Ups and Downs of dieting while doing theater

Firstly, I apologize for being so slow to getting a new post up. Since we open in a week with our production of "The Music Man" I've had little time to do anything but do theater stuff or work.
So I'll start it off with, I lost a pound this week (on Tuesday). If my scale keeps it up, I hope I will lose more this coming Tuesday as well if I can help it.
However I was very surprised I actually lost a pound, considering the gigantic cupcake and yummy goodies I had at my friend Cat's Bridal Shower. I mean, look at this wonderful Vanillabean cupcake! (I have a Dulche de leche one waiting for me in the fridge, but I can't bring myself to eat it by myself, so I'm waiting to share it with my hubs).

 (vanilla bean cupcake)

 (dulche de leche cupcake)

 (the bride to be, Cat and me)

 (some of the amazing food spread displayed on my fun array of cake stands!)

 (more food- tarts, apricot things and cucumber sandwich things)

 (these were quite amazing- apricots, goat cheese, and nuts)

(The redish orange dress I wore to the bridal shower. I picked it up when I lost about 45 lbs just for this occasion, so luckily it tightens around the waist, so it still looks fab, if I do say so myself)

Doing theater is so difficult on my diet. Why? Because theater people (ok, community theater people) like to go out to eat after practice. We are all too tired to pack lunches before or cook dinner after practice, so going out to eat is easier- and more fun to hang out with your castmates. Going to diners and chain restaurants that stay open late becomes a weekly thing. So I've been having to be VERY careful in what I order- so as not to break the bank or my diet.
Here are some highlights of my meals since I got back from my CHA trip.

 (This has become my staple if we go to a few of the places- quiche and soup)

 (board meeting bbq- so difficult to give into hot dogs and hamburgers. I think I broke down and had a single burger, but then had lots of fruit)

 (Gigantic zucchini co-worker gave me. We turned it into many loaves of bread-below)

 (zucchini bread!)

 (had a glass of wine on Saturday evening. I gave into temptation)

 (my hubs does makes some of the best pizza. It's all in the crust)

 (nom nom nom)

 (screen shot from my restaurant app- I decided to go with the create your own pasta at the Macaroni Grill with my friend. It totally helped me stay within the points I had saved for that meal)

 (I ended up having wheat pasta with chicken and spinach in the spicy pomodoro sauce- was 17 points plus for the entire dish, I had half there and half left over for another meal)

 (At Denny's. You can get fruit with their slim breakfast items- I was missing fruit for the day, so I actually asked for a second fruit cup later in the meal! Helped fill me up when my slim omelette with 2 strips of turkey bacon didn't do the trick).

 (my numbers for this week)

 (Last night's dinner at the Diner. Beef stew over egg noodles and green beans on the side after a salad. I actually was so full- This wasn't too bad of a meal, lots of vegs. Not the best meal point wise, but I was really tired of salads and soup. It kind of looks gross, but it was pretty good tasting.)

I also was surprisingly getting slightly more comfortable in my 2-piece bathing suit. I was invited over to my friend's house to go swimming, so again the bathing suit issue came up. I just sucked it up and put the 2-piece on and prayed that I didn't look too balloon-ish in it. Luckily it was so darn hot and the pool was so nice that I forgot all about my insecurities long enough to enjoy the pool. I would show you a picture, but I don't want those floating around the inter-webs (as my friend calls it).

(This was taken during the promo shoot for the second Music Man promo- taken by our assistant stage manager Natalie. It's become one of my favs, since normally I don't like pictures of myself, it is nice to have one that you actually like. haha)

Anyways, I am hoping to keep up the good losses this week, as I am working tonight, tomorrow and Saturday, so I have to pack my meals accordingly. *crossing fingers* for another good loss of a week and the next time I post will probably be either during or after tech (hell) week for the show. *squee!*
Oh, and for those that care, here is another promo for our show, this one with me singing in the beginning. :D

Later.
-M

trucking towards my goal

Ok, so I'm writing this on Saturday (so over mid-ways through my next week), however this past week (on Tuesday) I had lost 2.4 lbs! Hooray! Making total loss at 54.4 lbs.
However, I forewarn you, I can't guarantee that this week will be as good- I blame the dreaded Friendly's ice cream.
See this:

This is my my weakness- peanut butter ice cream, shared among friends. I couldn't pass it up. I've been SOOOO good for so many months, it was just CALLING my name. So if I gain or don't lose anything, this is why.

As far as other things, I have come to realized it is so darn tough to find healthy within my point values at restaurants. Chain foods- easy, I have an app for that- the ITrackBites app I use to track my points came out with a $1.99 restaurant guide app here, and I couldn't pass it up. So far it has been SUPER helpful. These are my cheap knockoff Weight Watchers apps that I've been using since November, as I can't afford the monthly fee for Weight Watchers online. Basically I just take what I learned from the 10 weeks I went to meetings (and whatever my mom tells me about her meetings) and do everything else with the above two apps. So far it's worked great for me. But the hardest part is family owned restaurants that you don't have nutritional information on...you have to guess- and for me, I SUCK at guessing- because I never guess correctly- I'm usually way off in either direction. Either way too many points or way too little. That's why as much as I'd like to eat at these more often, I never am sure of what I downed.

With the show, we have practices 4 times a week- this makes meal time difficult, as we 90% of the time want to go out to eat afterwards (either because it is super late when we get home, or we need to kill time before I have to head to work on the Saturday rehearsals.). This means, money spent more often at restaurants and much harder to be healthier. But we're trying our hardest to order cheaply all the while being health- means LOTS of water with lemon and LOTS of salads (*tears- I hate salads all the time).

 Though this beef vegetable soup and spinach quiche was AWESOME from Isaac Newton's in Newtown.

The other problem with this week- battling a sinus infection. Yeah, I know what you're thinking...AGAIN!? I agree- I feel like I'm sick all the time. After this one goes away, I'm making an appointment with my family doctor (I went to the minute clinic for this as it was over last weekend it started to get bad) and telling them they NEED to test me for allergies or something- this singer's voice can't handle all the phlem!

Anyways, had a good loss week. Tried on my corset from my wedding and it was too big!- It had the hooks on the back, and I would probably need to get a tighter row added if I was to wear it. yay! I also tried on my outwear corsets I used to wear in college, and they fit- I had to loosen the back a tiny bit, but that's at least a start.

*crossing fingers* for an ok week.
M

two week updates

Sorry I didn't update last week (I only lost 0.2 lbs the week I forgot to post, so not a lot to report from that week. haha) This week however I lost 1.2 lbs, so I'm down 52 lbs thus far! Only 10 more lbs till I get to my goal of 150. I might keep going if I feel like it when I hit 150, but it won't be as important to me to get to a number under that when I hit it.
Basic updates- Enjoyed some theater friends' Tony Awards party- lots of foodies, which is probably why I didn't do so well that particular week. My hubs' famous buffalo chicken dip went so quick (didn't even make it to the table- it was gone before you could announce it was brought right out of the oven), that I didn't have any, therefore luckily didn't have to use the points I saved for it- and got to use it for something else- like the awesome hummus someone brought.

 (we each got these cards, and if one of your nominees won, you got a prize)

(Hubs made alcoholic juice also for the party. I loved the apple one.)

This week has been filled with rehearsal for Music Man, meeting with people for the housing situation, and lots of work and such. Last week I worked 6 days straight (one of the days was a swap so I could have a day off in July for a friend's bday). Also did some Salvation Army/Walmart shopping and scored some great stuff which I'll show off on my MadcapFrenzy site later.

Saturday after practice we went to Tony's Place with theater buds and I had a bbq chicken sandwich and a salad (instead of fries). Their fat free sesame dressing was amazing. It was the first salad that I've had in a long time where I actually wanted to have more of! haha. If we go back there ever, I'm just getting a salad (I can't believe I'm actually saying that, since I'm not a huge salad person). All of their food looked and tasted amazing. One of our friends got a stuffed pepper with crab meat, and it look amazing (and I don't even like peppers or crab).

On Monday after meeting with the Bucks County Housing Group to apply for stuff for our house, the hubs and I went to The Green Parrot restaurant and enjoyed a good lunch before running errands and going to another theater practice. I had their personal Tomato pie. They did it perfect. Even though mostly the traditional tomato pie is served cold, I like my sauce to be at least room temperature and to have a good spice, which they excelled at. The hubs got a potato soup and a large salad.

On Tuesday (my weigh in day where I saw I lost 1.2 lbs) we went to Friendly's with some theater buds after practice for Music Man (does this seem like a trend- practice followed by food?- that is why I gained most productions I was in, but I'm determined to eat good while out). They actually have a 550 calorie menu, so I had the half turkey club melt and salad with fat free italian dressing. Was a good deal. Also got two scoops of sugar-free ice cream (I couldn't resist because we were at Friendly's after all, but sugar free ice cream is only 2 pp per scoop. So 2 scoops wasn't bad for 4 pp total).
Wednesday we went to a diner after practice and I had chicken noodle soup and salad with fat free italian.
So it has been a very Salad kind of week- that's the problem with going out to eat a lot- not a lot of options when it is the end of the day and you have not a lot of points left. So Salad it is.
It's kind of been a lot of microwave time at work in the past few weeks. As much as it gets a little boring, it really does help me portion control and since I am lazy in packing my lunch, it works for me.

 (a typical lunch/dinner at work- sugar free jello, diet soda, smartone/leancuisine/healthychoice, just one veg side and/or fruit- which I ate the fruit before this picture. Sometimes I throw in a string cheese)

(My jello matched my nails! haha)

Anyways, down 52 lbs, only 10 to goal! Hoping these last 10 aren't extremely horrible and hard to lose.
Happy weight loss!
-M