Day 6 & 7: Where did my hip go?

...I can't find it. I think I must have dislocated it sometime yesterday while I was shakin' what my mama gave me.

Who knew that intentionally acting all loose and hippy could be so freakin' painful! *LOL* I got nothin' on Shakira, lemme tell ya, the woman must not have any bones or vertebrae or something! My hips can't possibly lie, they're dislocated.

Okay, so whining aside, the class was actually pretty AWESOME! I think I got more cardio in than I did with the kickboxing/martial arts class - or it could have been that I had a tiny bit more energy/stamina to give 'er a little more. Whatever the case, I was movin' and a-shakin' and a-shimmyin' like nobody's business! I think I must have shook too hard though because things were starting to hurt halfway through class! It's weird too...there were some moves that the instructor was wanting us to do that I found a lot harder in a class...although much easier to do in a dance club...with alcohol. Maybe next week, we can get slightly smashed first and then go to the class. I'll out-shake that instructor then! *LOL*

Anywho, Day 6 of the three-step diet was actually pretty hard for me. I think after the weekend of being slightly naughty, I was having a hard time. I ate breakfast and sensible snacks throughout the day, but I wanted MORE!

Confession: I ended up eating POTATO CHIPS! *gasp* I know...and worse than that, I ate more than what the package said to eat for 140 calories. *winces* Ah well, the extra salt helped me down more water, but of course, more salt helps my body RETAIN more water, so it pretty much cancels each other out.

I did find that I did much better yesterday (Day 7) and didn't need to snack extra. I did my breakfast (sausage breakfast sandwich), snack (one snack slice of cheese) and for lunch I had two pieces of chicken from Mary Browns and with that I ate a salad that I brought from home which was DELICIOUS! Normally when I eat Mary Browns I go for the whole shebang of chicken, TATERS and GRAVY (oh my gosh...) and a pop, but eating JUST the chicken left me feeling pretty good. So all in moderation to help me build up to being even better at choosing the right foods! Trust me, for the crap that I USED to eat, just those two pieces of chicken is already like, a breakthrough for me. *LOL* Anywho, had four glasses of water throughout the day and another bottle at the gym (again, I had to resort to my trusty "go-for-water-breaks-to-stop-the-BURNING-PAIN-in-my-muscles" technique. For those who are new to exercising, I highly recommend this method...) and of course on my breaks at work I was able to jog around on the trampoline in my co-worker's office. So all in all, I'm feeling pretty good about Day 7! I know if I can keep this up, little by little, I can get better and better!

Anywho, here's an idea of the "recipe" for the salad I had at lunch today:

Catherine's Sweet Cranberry Salad
(by sweet I mean sweet-tasting, not just me loving all over myself and naming my recipes with ego-boosting names...)

Lettuce blend with julienne carrots (this was already pre-packaged, I got it from Costco, I think)
Dried cranberries
Chopped walnuts
Light raspberry vinaigrette dressing made from extra virgin olive oil - or EVOO as Rachel Ray likes to say (Kraft)

That's it! Nothing else needed and it is soooo YUMMY! I didn't mix the salad and the dressing together. I had the dressing in a separate container and kind of just dipped my fork into the dressing before grabbing up a bunch of the salad. The dressing is flavorful enough that a little really does go a long way - and that's ALSO saying something because remember, this girl is a more is MORE kind of girl. I like EXTRA sauce on everything!

And here's another recipe that came to mind when Marti busted out with her awesome salsa! I'm not a big fan of salsa the regular ol' way (like the Old el Paso stuff in the jars *wrinkle face*) but I do like this version:

Catherine's Strawberry-Mango Salsa
I don't know why I'm calling all the recipes "Catherine's" I didn't invent them...but I figure it's half my blog, I can name them mine if I feel like it - plus these recipes do come with my form of variation...

• 1 yellow mango (the sweeter the better, I usually use the small yellow ones and not the larger red/green mangos for this recipe) diced
• Strawberries - quartered
• Scallions - chopped pretty fine, it doesn't really matter, you can chop them however you like
• Finely chopped jalapenos (I get mine in the Old el Paso jars that are already pre-sliced. I usually use about 3 - 4 of those, but you can use it to your taste...the slightly spicy with all the sweet is SO GOOD!)
• Squirt of lemon juice (don't you love how precise my recipes are?)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Just like Marti's salsa, these are awesome with pita chips or tortilla chips or with fish (I love this with tilapia).

Confession: None of those pictures are actually mine, so that's not EXACTLY what my food looks like after I've done butchering chopping them. Photos courtesy of Google Images.

Anywho, that's it for me today, it looks like I've been going on for quite a while now with this post. It must be all the extra energy that I've got now that I'm on my way to living a healthier more active life! *LOL* If you've decided to try out this three-step diet business with Marti and I, I hope things are going just as swimmingly for you! Please definitely let us know how it's going! Marti and I looooove comments. Okay fine, I guess it's not really fair for me to speak for Marti (or hide behind her) so I'll go ahead and just say it: I LOOOOOOVE COMMENTS!

WORKING OUT TO:

Hips Dont Lie - Shakira