Cheap Cheap goes the Chicken

I have done this experiment twice now. I buy baked chicken from the deli when it gets marked down for a quick sale. I have twice bought two containers of baked chicken for $4.13 per box. The full price is $6.99 per container. Each box has two breasts, two thighs, two wings, and two legs. I will then de-bone them as well as take the skin off. I break them up into containers to freeze for homemade chicken soups or other dishes requiring cooked, chopped chicken. After I do this you can see these results on my counter:

As I work to de-bone and de-skin the chicken, I usually nibble at the wings as they are too hard to strip the meat off of. I actually build this in to my lunch as part of the meal. So those three containers to the right are just meat and are mostly from four legs, four thighs, and four breasts. The pile on the left is the skin and bone.

Those three containers cost me $8.26. I weighed them and did the math. I am paying about $3.30 per pound for that chicken. Remember, this is for TWO birds. Now when I see organic chicken on sale that is already de-boned and has the skin removed, $4/lb doesn't seem as expensive. Keep this in mind when you buy whole chickens, whether organic or not. There IS a lot of waste. Chicken really isn't all that cheap when you compare this way, to boneless beef or pork cuts, or ground beef or pork.

I DO still like the convenience of the cooked chicken. I will not pay the full price for it ever! I would be paying close to $10 a pound then!!!

In other notes, we went for a walk today. We went on the trail to see if it was still blocked by the trees that came down during the Christmas storm we had. The trail had mostly been cleared. The huge fifty foot pile of debris in front of our house though, has NOT been picked up yet. We are not amused.

I was down another pound this week. I am not even trying hard to do anything. I am just living a nice normal life and giving myself some down time to relax once or twice a week. Guess what? I am doing just fine! Even I find it amazing to think I can live life this way! It is so easy! And boy do I get off on the men who seem to go out of their way to hold doors open for me! hahahaha My sweet husband has nothing to worry about though. He is still and always will be the love of my life. I just am not used to being treated with respect from strangers. That is kind of sad, isn't it? Hopefully I am helping others to become as happy and healthy and fit and just normal as I am!

Till next week...walk on!

Zippity Do Da!

Ahhhhhh, it feels soooooo good! Yes, after weeks of being way OFF track, I am finally back ON track! Zippity do da, zippity yay, my oh my, what a wonderful day!

I was all over the place for a while. I didn't give up but I sure was worried for a while. Silly me. I think part of the problem that it took so long to recover from the holidays was our weather here. One day we are in the cold and the next we are in spring like weather. I must admit that walking in the sunshine today was invigorating!

I even dropped a couple pounds. I am always curious to see if that trend stays on the downward slide or not. I would still like to get down another ten or so pounds.

I went back to the pool for the first time in months. My skin was so dried out afterwards! I put lotion on it and I smelled like chlorine. Yuck! I had showered afterwards, but I guess my skin had absorbed more chlorine that I had expected.

It has been fun to have new folks in our weight loss support group. I am always so hopeful that some of them will stick it out and gain control of their lives, learning to live healthier and to maybe lose a few pounds in the process.

I recently found another older photo of me. This couldn't get any more real because both photos were taken in the month of October. The one on the left was in 2007 and on the right October 2012. Gads, was I really THAT fat!!!??? And gads, am I really THAT skinny???!!!

I know this isn't the most interesting posting and is pretty much all about me. I don't have any new tips or tricks to share. I will say though, that giving up is never an option. You might have to side step to get around that big old tree in front of you, but just go forward as soon as you can get around it. You can do it. Shoot, I DID!

Walk-on my friends...see ya on the trail!

Reality Check

Ok, the holidays are over. The yoga classes are back in session. The last of the holiday treats have been consumed. The weight has gone up four pounds since just before Christmas.

I have not been exercising very hard. More like hardly at all. I have kept up with my yoga twice a week and I have walked 3-6 miles per week for the past ...oh, week or so. I have also not done much of anything for a few days in the middle of the week. I used to make it a point to do something six to seven days a week.

I've been enjoying a few too many sweet treats, wine, breads, cakes, candies, and the like. I know why the weight crept back up.

My negative Nelly inner voice is saying, "Here we go, we are going to get fat again." My positive Polly inner voice is saying "No, this too shall pass and we will be back on track soon."
Nelly: "You can't do this long term. You are a fake."
Polly: "That's just silly! You've worked too hard...well not hard, because it was easy. But you've stayed with the plan and did the work needed to lose all that weight! Give yourself a break!"
Nelly: "That is just a bunch of BS. Once a fatty, always a fatty."
Polly: "Yes, it IS true, once a fatty, always a fatty. You will never forget you WERE a fatty. But you will not give back all those diamonds you EARNED girl! Now hush up and give yourself some credit here!"
Nelly: "You..." !!!SLAP!!!
Polly: "Shut up Nelly! She is doing just fine. Leave her alone. Come on Walker Lady, let's plan our week and get back on track."

See you next time. Till then, walk on!!!

Trail check

If you haven't heard, our area was hit by a pretty good winter storm on Christmas Day. Some folks were without power for over a week! Everywhere there are trees and limbs and broken branches that will need to be cleaned up. We had some damage here too, but the house wasn't hit.

We went out today to see what damages there were to the Levy trail we like going on so much. Most of the trail survived and all of it could still be traversed. There were a few tricky parts though!

Ziva let me lead the way so I could feel special.
She is such a brave dog. (coughcough)

New Yoga pose?

There was evidence of folks having cut up some of the trees and branches that were blocking the trail. There was a section of trail that I think of as the 'party' section that you could have driven on as it was so clean. Funny how all the trees and limbs seem to fall sideways along that part of the trail so it was still passable!

With changes coming to my exercise routine again, it was good to know that I still have my trail to fall back on, when all else fails.

Till next time, walk-on!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What's that? It's been a new year for a week now? Really? Gee, time flies! I should have known time was flying since I have been working on getting this post done since New Year's Day.

SO, we made it to another year! Time to celebrate! Time to get back on track if we've strayed off the healthy eating path or if we have not been doing our exercises as we should. (Don't look at me that way!) Of course I was PERFECT over the holidays. Why I exercised every single day! I didn't over indulge. Not me. I am perfect.

Does that all sound right to you? Of course not. I am human! I DID have a perfect holiday as far as exercise and eating healthy. I enjoyed indulgences. I used a lot of shopping in place of actually going to classes for exercising. (Not to mention many of the classes were not going on due to the holidays) I know I gained weight over the holidays. I had way too many carbs, mostly in the form of Chex mix. I had too much alcohol, mostly in wine. I gained about 2.5 pounds. I am not upset about this at all! Ok, I AM a little upset, only because it took so long to lose those same two pounds before! Will it take a long time to get them back off? I don't know yet.

I won't let this set me back though. In fact, I think this will be a great time to see if the theory of 'shocking' the system works. I might have inadvertently kick started a weight loss slide! Then again, maybe not. hahaha

Seriously, there are so many things in transition, it will be interesting to see what does and what does not change. Will the weight go off a little faster or will I be stuck on a plateau for months again? What new exercise regime will I do now that the weight training classes are no longer offered? Will I be walking the trail more? I have so many choices...it is actually exciting!

I haven't made any New Year resolutions. I don't need to. I am resolved to keep on eating right and exercising and enjoying it as much as I can! I will also try not counting calories for a while, to see how 'normal' I can become. Today is the first day that I am doing that.

Ok, if I don't get this posting done and published right now, it will be 2014 before it appears! Or you might think something happened to me and that I quit. Nope, not me! I am still here. I hope you are too! Get back with 'it' as soon as you can folks. It's a great life. Let's live it to the fullest!

As always, dear readers, walk on!