[Azure]

Victoria-- Thank you so much for dropping back by to encourage me It's nice to have a little sympathy. I am typically an "excuses-making" person and a procrastinator but I really have been busy this past week. I'm hoping that with next week being less hectic and with new courses at school starting after that, that maybe they'll be less time-consuming in homework than last session's classes were. If I want to meet my Challenge goal, I've got to work my butt off for the remainder

Brian A-- Unfortunately, I have no choice about baking the muffins! When your parents own the restaurant you're baking for, and you're the only one who can "do it right", it's expected My main baked goods temptation is yellow cake with buttercream frosting...I LOVE buttercream frosting. My sister's birthday was Monday and I've resisted that exact kind of cake (which has been in the fridge) since then. The BEST thing is, I haven't even desired it. That recipe you mentioned sounds interesting, though If my sweet tooth starts to nag at me again, I'll definitely try it! Thanks for the encouragement!

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Today was yet another hectic day. I got up at 6AM and went to work at my parents' restaurant. I brought my food with me, I always do these days. The only meal I can really eat there is breakfast--because there's eggs and protein. The other meals I need to bring because by lunch time, my options involve lots of refined junk. It's surprisingly getting easier to work around the greasy foods we all love to chow on: fries, chicken fingers, onion rings, mozzarella sticks and (the one I most fear) fried dough. Not to mention the chicken quesadillas... Yeah. It used to be much harder. I actually think that eating so low carb and sticking to veggies and fruit for the most part is REALLY helping me with that. I've been getting less impulses when I'm around starchy or sugary foods--and working used to be really hard.

I've also managed to get more vegetables in. It -really- helped the last few days making 3 meals' worth of stirfry in advance. Just being able to nuke it and go is SO nice, especially since my summer is so busy. I'm going to have to make another batch tomorrow night . I've also discovered celery. Slowly, but surely, I'm going to make myself eat raw vegetables. I've never been a fan before, but the celery/peanut butter combo in good and someone suggested using a soft cheese/celery combo, too.

As for workouts, I did my second TT session tonight. My hands are actually shaking as I type...these workouts are brief but brutal. Tomorrow I'll do the HITT. With how my schedule is working, it's better for me (right now) to alternate the TT sessions with the HITT. I fortunately have hot tub access, so I'm going to jump in there for ten minutes or so before bed, I think--in hopes that I'm not going to be in excruciating pain for the next two days, as I was after TT session #1. I know my body needs time to acclimate to working hard--but I'm hoping acclimation comes sooner rather than later.

Tomorrow night, I'm going to meet a friend I haven't seen in awhile to watch her friend's band play. I don't often go to bars...in fact, I never do. I can't afford to drink any booze, so bringing some Almonds along with me to snack on and drinking diet coke and water is my game plan. I'll be updating on Sunday or Monday, as I may be away until then

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(Total Calories: 1325 ; Net Carbs: 27)

7:30: 2 Eggs, 5oz Ham steak
10:30: 3 celery sticks, 1 tbs peanut butter
12:30: 1oz Almonds, 1oz Cheddar Cheese
3:00: Veggie/Chicken breast stirfry
8:30: 5 oz pork chop, 2 cups zucchini