Coke has how many carbs?

I think the most frustrating part of a diet and exercise plan is the lack of instant gratification. I officially started doing this late last summer but moving/finals/holidays almost completely disrupted our exercise routine for the rest of 2012. The only progress on my measurements has been the 2" off the waist before everything got temporarily suspended. I suppose I should be grateful I didn't put it back on in that time but it's still frustrating. Sometimes I think I look pretty good but if I look from the right angle all I can see is my lack of progress. The worst part is knowing this lack of progress is completely my doing.

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit which in my opinion might need some readjusting. My current plan is to do three days of weightlifting and three days of cardio on the elliptical while keeping my carbohydrate consumption under 100g per day. This level of exercise/dieting should be a sustainable level for me. My last real attempt at dieting involving tracking everything I ate but weighing everything, calculating the calories in each ingredient, and logging it was just far more effort than I could hope to keep up with everyday. However, it was very enlightening to see how I ate for a couple weeks. My overall calorie intake is actually pretty reasonable but carbs are my main offender. Soda is one vice I'm not willing to completely give up which is unfortunate since I seem to be intolerant to all artificial sweeteners. Right now I allot myself one soda a day which eats up a little over a third of my daily carb allowance.

I am really hoping to see some more progress now that I am being stricter with my exercise. My diet could also use a bit more work. Most days I am meeting my carb targets but some days, like today when I cook something like quesadillas, I overshoot it significantly. I am also trying to add in more fruits and vegetables which will require further adjusting to compensate for these new additions. In a sense, getting married has provided the motivation I needed to really take a look at my habits and be completely honest with myself. In the past I have made a lot of excuses like "Oh, well I don't eat sweet things so I can't be doing that bad" or "I just have a muffin top because the rise is too low" (which is half true, my days of super low rise are over most likely) and that is how 30 pounds steadily added themselves to my frame while I justified my inaction.

I do hope that even if I haven't see the results in the measuring tape yet that there still are changes happening. Increasing my weights has been slow with the break and I'm still not lifting a lot but I think I'm getting stronger. I hope that by my next fitting in March the dress will have to be taken in even more at the waist. I hope that I can train myself to drink at least one glass of water a day (I really hate water and it does have a taste - previous attempts at using a filter have failed to entice me to drink more). Finally, I hope that I can start marginally enjoying exercise. For now we will start with 21 days of keeping the exercise rotation and go from there.

It's Bacon!

Today we learned a valuable lesson about recipes that involve a bacon lattice - don't. About a month or so ago I saw a picture of a bacon wrapped turkey and just knew I had to make it. One turkey and a pack and a half of bacon later we had this masterpiece:

All bacon, all the time

I apologize for the low quality of the picture since I used my phone. Once again I forgot to take that plastic thing off the legs. One of these days I will actually remember to a) buy twine, b) take off the plastic, and c) tie the legs like I'm supposed to.

Overall this was a fairly simple recipe. I sliced some of the bacon and put it under the skin over the breast, salt and pepper with onions and celery in the cavity, and then wove a bacon lattice over the skin. Because a bacon wrapped turkey wasn't decadent enough, I served it with mashed potatoes and stuffing topped with gravy which was of course made using the bacon fat laden drippings. One bonus of the lattice was that I didn't need to baste the turkey since the rendering fat did it for me. I put it in the oven for about 3.5 hours at 350 degrees.

The turkey itself was moist and the bacon flavor apparent. However, at the end of it all I think a regular brined turkey is a better choice. This was quite decadent and we ended up paying for it with a feeling of unpleasant, greasy fullness not long after finishing. I think Eric might actually be afraid to tackle these leftovers despite his general enthusiasm for turkey. It was a good you have to try this once dish but too much. It might have worked better with lighter vegetable sides but I don't think I will be making it again.