Sometimes It's Hard for a Busy Bee to Also Bee A Good Bee

The other day, on the 2 Guys Named Chris Morning Show, they were talking about Carmello Anthony.  Now, I'm not a big sports follower, but I did enjoy them talking about his name.  And the candy named for him.  So when I told Kyle about some of the funny things they said about his name, Kyle started talking about the Carmelo candy and how good it was.  Surprisingly, I had never had the candy before.  Kyle began to describe the candy to me: "It's chocolate with a caramel center.  When you break off a piece, the caramel stretches slowly between the two pieces, seeping out and dripping from the chocolate.  You can hold the chocolate up above your face and just let the caramel fall into your mouth.  The caramel is soft, sweet, delicious..." and so on. He did this on purpose and I was salivating like a Pavlov dog.  After having gone out to eat, my lovely Irritable Bowel had flared up (more on that later), and I was feeling really horrible. After a hot bath, I came out to the bedroom to read for a while before falling asleep.  And that's when my sweet, loving, amazing husband came into the bedroom with a Carmelo that he had just gone to pick up so I could try it.  I ate two pieces of it, and was in love! 

And that's the story behind my splurge for the day.

Now on days like today, I have to be really careful with what I eat, even though I didn't know the day would end the way it did.  School was an early release day for the kids so I did not actually find time to eat lunch due to having to take the kids home and then attending a meeting when I got back.  For breakfast, I had eaten a sausage on english muffin from Starbucks along with a Soy Chai Tea Latte.  Then I had a Special K Strawberry granola bar for snack.  I did end up having some sweet potatoes around lunch time, and right before leaving work, I had a Lean Cuisine Chicken Alfredo meal and some chocolate skim milk.  For dinner, we had a surprise outing for my niece's birthday and ended up at East Coast wings were I got a Baja Salad: lettuce, pico, grilled chicken, cheese, and black beans. I vowed not to eat the tortilla shell.  I broke that vow shortly after.  Because of some fluke of nature where everyone and their cousin went to East Coast wings at the same time as us, we ended up being there from 6:30 to almost 9 pm.  That left little time for me to recover from my Irritable Bowel flare up and still get to bed before too late.  Lovely. I missed a work out.  And Friday night may not be different because we are taking Jala bowling (which we had planned to do tonight but because of East Coast Wings' total lack of time management, it did not happen)!  So Friday will be another careful day where I know I won't be able to eat very frivolously. 

So what lesson did I learn today?  That you can't just eat everything you want and plan on burning it with a heavy work out later, because you never know what might happen later.  Dinner with the family was a spur of the moment thing that was great fun, but left me work out-less for the second day this week.  But I'm not beating myself up, I'm just planning on a late night Friday work out followed by a vigorous Saturday. And some really really good-for-me food.  And I am proud of myself for the fact that, even though I splurged a little with the Carmelos, at least I did not overindulge with it and only had two pieces. 

Besides, bowling is exercise, right?

Numbers

Everywhere you look, there are numbers telling us how we should look, what we should do, what standards we should measure up to, etc.  They can make you crazy.  How much do you weigh? How tall are you? What size are you? What is your BMI? Well, my BMI tells me I'm obese.  Not just overweight. Obese! (Or at least it did at my highest weight of 188).  And the funny thing is, these numbers don't really TELL you anything.  BMI takes no consideration for muscle, which weighs more than fat! My body type is an athletic build so, even at my lowest weight (around 160), I was still considered overweight, even though I was the smallest I've ever been and as fit as I could possibly be! So these numbers are really annoying me right now.  I feel like numbers are telling me I'm not being successful.  How many calories did you eat? How many did you burn?

Here is my fitness manifesto: DO GOOD AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT DOING IT!

Despite what the numbers say, I am going to keep doing what I'm doing to make myself feel better.  Now I'm not saying that 181 (which was my weight in the pictures I took earlier) is a healthy weight for me.  I know it's not. But I can't focus on that number because then it becomes all about that number and less about getting fit the right way.  From a health stand point, you should only lose about 2.5 pounds a week.  And it takes getting used to.  You're not really going to immediately look different but you will FEEL different!  I feel so good on the days that I get in a really good work out.  And the next day? I want to do it again!  So when I do get on the scale, no matter what the number is, I know that I'm still changing.  I'm no loger focused on losing weight as much as losing some area haha. 

Here's an example of how numbers are driving me crazy:  I am currenlty wearing a size 6 jeans that I got at Gap years ago.  Now size 6 at gap will not pull up past my knees.  I tried on a pair of pants (as you will see from Monday's entry) at Target that were size FIFTEEN that fit me.  So how is it that I can wear anything from size 6 to size 15?  Some shirts I currently wear are smalls while sometimes I'll try on a large that will fit me way too tight.  It's enough to make you C-R-A-Z-Y!

So now, off of my numbers rant (because I just needed to get that out!!), here's how yesterday went:

Breakfast - Oatmeal with cinnamon sprinkled in it and a banana mashed up (looooove this breakfast!)
Snack - a handful of Wasabi Soy Almonds - HIGHLY recommend this as a snack!!!
Lunch - Kashi lunch entree (can't remember what it was called) that consisted of plantains, black beans, and a lot of other vegan goodness in it (it's Mayan something Bake, I think, and it's my favorite!)
Snack - cup of clam chowder with a biscuit
Dinner - Kyle and I made pizzas. Mine had pepperoni, mushrooms, and green peppers, thin crust. And a salad with spinach, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and pears. No dressing (didn't even miss it!)

Now I realize pizza is not the best meal nutrition wise.  That is why I ate the salad first, and then had two small slices of the pizza.  The salad was so good, I probably could have added some more to it and filled up on just that!

As for my work out, I ran with the puppies.  Now I have to admit, my work days have REALLY been draining me this week so I've been a little slack on the work outs.  This was the worst day for that so far because I knew I HAD to do something.

Here's what worked:  I took Sydnie for the first run and did a nice portion of actual running.  I really didn't want to go on the route again, but I can't NOT take my Bongo baby!  So I took Bongo on half of the regular route, then went a different direction to keep things new and mixed up.  Made the walk not-so-bad.  What also worked?  Being creative with a healthy option for my meal.  Look in your cabinets and fridge, see what you have, and throw things together!  You'll be surprised at what you can create!

What didn't work: Negative thinking and numbers.  Maybe weighing myself EVERYDAY isn't working for me.  Maybe I should hide my scale for a little while and just weigh in monthly.  I KNOW I'm making progress because my pants are fitting looser and looser.  I KNOW I'm making progress because I feel so good (and so sore) a lot of the time.  But when it's been a hard day at work, getting home with zapped strength makes me feel less and less like actually working out.  And I keep focusing on how tired I feel.  The thing is, I tell the kids at work everyday: THINK positive, then you will FEEL positive, then you will DO positive! Maybe I should take my own advice??

Now for my next secret weapon:

CHOOSE YOUR SHOES!

Here's the story behind my favorite shoes ever:  I told myself that once I lost 10 pounds I would reward myself with a new pair of shoes.  Then I decided (when I was having trouble dropping the weight) that I needed some running shoes to motivate me and help me lose faster.  THEN I went to Rack Room, where shoes are buy one, get one 1/2 off.  Well, you can't NOT get the second pair! So I got two pairs.  One of which changed my running life:

The reason these shoes work so well for me is because they are toning shoes.  I started out my running only able to run a few feet before I was out of breath.  So even after a long route, my legs felt nothing because I couldn't work them long enough to feel a difference because I had to work up my lung capacity first.  After getting these shoes, I felt EVERY run/walk/jog/trip to Wal-Mart!  I love them so much! They are definitely one of my secret weapons and I even wear them when I'm doing other work outs, like kick boxing or pilates.

Now to end on a positive note: Despite the number, love yourself and you'll want to treat your body right!

Again...

DESPITE THE NUMBER,

LOVE YOURSELF

AND YOU'LL WANT TO TREAT YOUR BODY RIGHT!!!



It's Only Tuesday...

I realize I'm writing Tuesday's post on Wednesday but... Tuesday was a really strange day! Work really zapped ALL of my energy and I considered getting coffee after work, just so I had the energy to make it through a work out, but I kind of forgot to stop and grab some at Micky D's and by the time I got home, all I wanted to do was take a nap. 

So I did. For a glorious hour and a half.  It was amazing. Bongo curled up right on top of me and took a nap too. I guess she agreed that we did not want to go for a run!

When I got up (I probably could have slept through the night!), I cleaned up a little in the kitchen, made some chocolate chip cookies for Book Club, and then we had our Book Club meeting.

I just decided when I got home that Tuesday would be my one day of rest for the week where I did not do a work out.  Maybe I had decided it was my treat day, too because I had the cookies :)

So here's what I ate:
Breakfast - 4 egg whites (first time SUCCESSFULLY separating 4 eggs!) scrambled mixed with mushrooms and spinach and sprinkled with some cracked pepper
Snack - steamed edamame sprinkled with a little salt
Lunch - leftover "naked" burrito from Monday night, except all of the steak was gone because I ate it all Monday haha, and a peach greek yogurt
Snack - a fiber 1 chocolate chip bar
Dinner - Kyle made home made clam chowder... sooo delicious! and a biscuit

and, of course, two yummy gooey awesome fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.  I definitely resisted the urge to eat sweets all day at work :)

And, of course, no work out. But the nap was sooooo worth it!

Almost Defeated by a Pair of Five Dollar Jeans!

I want to start off by saying I don't know how much I will write tonight because I am EXHAUSTED! But in a very very good way! This weekend was a little iffy on the food front, and saturday and sunday involved NO work outs (aside from scraping a ceiling on Sunday which, is certainly a work out, but is not in my CardioTrainer for me to log haha).  As far as food goes, it was mostly comfort stuff Saturday and Sunday because I was STILL sick, but I did start taking my prescription so I'm definitely feeling much much much better! I'm probably at 98% now so that's great news!

I mostly want to write about what did NOT work on Friday.  Here's the situation:

I'm currently in a size 10 jeans (please understand, I'm not endorsing that numbers are that important, but you have to have these details for the story to make sense) and they are getting loose! However, 8's are still a little snug.  So it would make sense that a 9 would fit, in theory.  Well I decided to go to Target to get a couple of pairs of jeans just so I have a few more to wear without having to do laundry twice a week.  I go in and, lo and behold, there are FIVE DOLLAR jeans on the clearance rack! Hallelujah! However, they are "junior" sizes, or, the odd sizes.  Know full well that odd numbers generally don't fit me right (and I checked and the even numbers were NOT on sale at all), I grabbed a couple of pairs of 9's and happily picked out a dressing room. Pair one: no good.  Pair two: wouldn't go past my knees. Pair three: don't even know why I tried them but, history repeated itself and they didn't fit. So, I swallowed my pride and went back for some 11's and 13's.  Now, if you've ever been shopping with me, you will know that I generally do one trip to a dressing room and if nothing fits, I give up.  But five dollar jeans were just too luring and I went back.  Size 11: no go.  Size 13: you've got to be kidding me.  In a last ditch effort to buy jeans for only five dollars, I grabbed a pair of 15's and quite unhappily trudged back into the dressing room.  And they actually went over my hips.  And buttoned.  And zipped.  Problem being: I could take them off without unzipping or unbuttoning them.  The waist was WAY too big.  So... I was slightly discouraged by the fact that my hips required a size 15 to accommodate them.  However, I reminded myself that I have been working VERY hard and that the number doesn't matter.  If they don't fit, they just don't fit.  So I left Target with a smile on my face and empty hands.  Next Friday I may try Kohl's.

As for today:

Meals:

Breakfast - McDonald's fruit and maple oatmeal (highly recommend!) and a medium coffee (black, of course!) then I had a NutriGrain bar later in the morning

Snack - Steamed Edamame!!!! one of my FAVORITES! even let some of the kids at work try it (they approved!)

Lunch - Sandwich on Pita thins consisting of turkey, spinach leaves, and mixed veggie hummus (great sub for mayonnaise!)

Snack - unfortunately, everyone at work has a birthday so, VERY small sliver of cake, and 2 dum dums (don't ask... I had a reason for getting a horrible taste out of my mouth after someone unsuccessfully tried to clean the water cooler and did not clean out all of the soap!)

Dinner - WELCOME TO MOE'S! unsweet tea, some chips and green salsa, and a "naked" burrito of steak, guac, cheese, rice, and black beans

confession: I have a food crush on the man who made my burrito, and I don't even know who he was, but it was the best one I've had yet! And big enough that it will be lunch tomorrow :)

Now, normally I would feel a little guilty about eating so much for dinner BUT...


As soon as I got home, my pups and I went on a nice, nice, NICE run that I could feel in my legs AS we were running (an amazing feeling!) and then returned to get in some kick boxing.  I did 20 minutes, 10 focusing on buns and thighs (yeah my legs are going to hate me tomorrow) and 10 minutes focusing on abs.  I absolutely LOVE the abs workout!  THEN, I sanded the ceiling in the garage to prep it for painting.  I now have a new respect for Michaelangelo, the painter, for having spent so much time on a ceiling! (I also have a new respect for Michaelangelo, the TMNT, for being able to eat so much pizza and still maintain those washboard turtle-abs!)  So I have sore legs, arms, and abs to look forward to tomorrow, but I know I'm going to feel GREAT!!!

Overcoming the "I'm Not A Runner" Excuse (AND the "I'm Not A Cook" Excuse!)

Well I was quite the shiny happy person today.  I could have gone through the day singing! Felt a LOT better than I have in a while and I want to start this blog off talking about the work out :)

I came home and Sydnie immediately began eyeballing me, realizing it was gorgeous and warm outside and that days like this result in some form of outdoor activity involving her. So, I went into the bedroom, with Sydnie hot on my heels, and changed into my work out clothes (which she immediately recognized)!  We get outside (after I took some Mucinex to clear up some of the ugly green guys they show on the commercials) and I decided that it was INDEED time for a good run! I have finally worked up the lung capacity to get in some honest run time so I have begun designating certain areas of my neighborhood as "run" zones.  I got through the whole neighborhood with Sydnie (1.5 miles) doing ALL of my run zones!  I was pretty sure that when it was Bongo's turn, I would be doing the majority of the neighborhood at a brisk walk pace, but, ended up PUSHING THROUGH and completed the whole neighborhood AGAIN hitting all of my run zones!  I was so proud of myself and SO ready to hit the kickboxing set! I got through the abs work out (which is amazing and impossible and perfect!) and then... just as I was beginning the Ultimate Buns and Thighs part... gasp... the projector stopped working!  So... I got in a little less of a work out than I expected to, BUT the run was simply fantastic!

Now for meals:
Breakfast - a bowl of Cheerios followed by a chicken biscuit from McDonald's (more on that later!)
Snack - Greek yogurt with blueberries
Lunch - leftover porkchop from last night with baked apples and sweet potatoes
Snack - 2 dum dums (haha... it's true, and they were yummy!) and... a caramel frappe from McDonald's :(
Dinner - Blackened Ahi Tuna Steak, Mango Salsa, Asparagus, and Brown Rice

This was my first time trying to blacken anything and the lesson I learned was... a little less pepper but Kyle said it was cooked perfectly! Here's his plate below. He got two tuna steaks, I only ate one and will have the other for lunch tomorrow!

 

 So.. what didn't work today:

Eating just cereal for breakfast. It takes me 35 minutes to get to work and I was starving by the time I got there! I have to have a pretty hefty breakfast (which is okay because you have more time to burn it off throughout the day), but a fried chicken biscuit is not really the best thing for me to have.  And... I did end up treating myself later to a Frappe, planning on working out a little extra to burn it off. Lesson learned: you can't always eat whatever you want with the plan to work out more because you never know what might happen. Like what happened to me today, not getting to work out as much because the projector messed up.  Anyway, I'm over it and not dwelling on it! The frappe was DELICIOUS!

What worked:

TWO THINGS worked great today.  Number One: Running downhill/flat areas, and walking the inclines.  For my route through the neighborhood, that puts me at 50/50 walking/running. And my neighborhood has some pretty killer hills to trek up when you're not running.  Number Two: Steam Fresh veggies. It took me hardly any time at all to cook dinner since I could just pop the veggie bags right in the microwave and they still taste amazing!  Makes cheating at cooking a little easier and we don't have to do as many dishes later!

So... I am coming to the conclusion that I might, actually, very soon, be able to consider myself a runner. And after Kyle's compliment that I cooked the tuna perfectly (despite the pepper overdose), I can probably start to consider myself a cook as well!

Last Day of Recovery (PLUS Secret Weapons 2 and 3!)

Well it is my official last day of recovery, meaning that I did not REALLY push myself today (and I probably won't do too much pushing for the rest of the week), but I did definitely get some cardio in! For some reason, my pedometer did not track the entire work out, but I walked 3 miles and took 2 of my secret weapons (which I will reveal later) to help me!


As far as the rest of my day, I did not go to work since I'm still getting over this sore throat/cough thing (which my medication pamphlet informs me is a bacterial infection) so I mostly laid on the couch for the first part of the day and napped with the pups. When they are in snuggle mode, it's very difficult to disturb them!

I woke up late (which was wonderful!) and ate a bowl of multigrain cheerios with fat free soy milk.  Then napped for a verrrrry long time.  When I got up, I wasn't very hungry but I had a 100 calorie snack pack of popcorn, then ate a small bowl of pasta with mushrooms and tomato sauce before going on my run/walk.  For dinner, Kyle and I went out because we had a gift certificate for Tripp's. We had never been there before but it was pretty good! I had a pork chop with sweet potatoes and apples :)

What worked today:
2 things went well :) I only ate half of the dinner so the leftovers will be lunch tomorrow and I am pleasantly full!  The other thing was putting my arm band on my ankle to more accurately track my work out! The difference was significant.  With my pedometer on my arm, it tracked that I went an astounding three yards.  Compare that to the three miles it tracked when I put it on my ankle instead!  It also tracked my calories and speed, but I'll go more into what all it does and where I got it tomorrow (it's my secret weapon #4 so you're kind of getting a sneak peak!). 

What didn't work:
Being sick. Plain and simple. Finding it difficult to breathe without going into coughing fits makes any work out a pain, but working through it anyway definitely helped!

So finally: my secret weapons two and three! (Beware, they are the cutest secret weapons ever!)

A while back, I began taking Sydnie and Bongo around the block separately.  Then the route started getting longer and longer until I got to the three miles that I now do (1.5 miles a piece).  I started out calling Bongo "Bong" for short, until I realized that my neighbors would think I'm a pothead if they overhear me calling my dog "Bong."  So I got used to calling her B for short instead.  Now I'm tracking around the neighborhood with something strapped around my ankle, hoping I don't look like an alcoholic on house arrest! But, regardless of what my neighbors think of me, my two special secret weapons, Sydnie and Bongo, keep me motivated! Although I should probably train Sydnie to not bite my feet when we walk, it is a great way for her to remind me that she wants to RUN! She's super cute because I will stop walking, look at her and say "You wanna GO?" and she'll get down in her "starter" stance ready to run with me. The only problem being that we have to be careful using the G word in normal conversation or she gets really excited.

And here are pictures of secret weapons two and three (after a nice run, of course!):

Princess Bongo

Ms. Sydnie

Pushing Through the "Pain" (and My Secret Work Out Weapon Part I)

Well... today I found myself at the doctor's office. I went in and told the doctor that I had been coughing a lot and had a sore throat for about ten days. The doctor does some routine taps and tickles, then tells me, in her expert opinion, that I have a sore throat and I am coughing. She gives me a prescription and tells me to WAIT TWO DAYS and if it hasn't gone away on its own, start taking the prescription. Oh. And the prescription may cause upset stomach, nausea, and vomiting. Awesome.

So I got home and took the pups for a run (read: "walk")! This weather is not going to keep me from at least trying to get some calories torched! So we went on the "short" route around the block, not the entire neighborhood which, considering I take them one at a time, equaled a mile of walking in fifteen minutes. Not too shabby for someone who has been diagnosed with "sore-throat-and-coughing."

I am soooo ready to hit the "gym" (aka our spare room) with some major amounts of kickboxing.  Thankfully, due to eating better and getting SOME cardio in each day, I've been consistently weighing in a little less each morning. Now, I have heard conflicting reports on whether or not you should weigh daily. Maybe whoever reads this can add some input? Some say it's depressing because, really, you're not going to notice the change on a daily basis. But, when I hop on that scale each morning and see any minor variation, it makes my day go better. And if the variation is in the wrong direction, I blame it on water weight haha. Anyway, the best part is that the number IS going down and I will reveal the numbers at my next weigh-in (March 9).

So now for today's meals....
Breakfast: Venti Soy Chai Tea Latte (made my throat feel reeeeeeally good!!!)
AND Starbucks Veggie/Egg Breakfast Sandwich (woke up late and did not feel like making breakfast, poor sick baby!)

lunch: hahahaha. lunch. I had a true sick person's lunch of going home early from work and eating leftovers from last night (which were, amazingly, home made mashed potatoes and mixed greens!!!) and since my man made them, you KNOW they were gooood!

and dinner: honey mustard whole wheat chicken helper. I added mushrooms to this mixture of honey mustard chicken, whole wheat rice, and veggies... delicious and nutritious!

SO SECRET WEAPON REVELATION TIME!!!!

My secret weapon to reveal today is....



NETFLIX!!!!

While it's been cold, it's been impossible to get out much for my walk/run/incline routine around the neighborhood with the babies (which is a three mile trek).  So I've been using the treadmill. While on the treadmill, I watch TV shows straight through on Netflix.  Right now I'm watching Weeds and my next selection will be Desperate Housewives from the beginning.  This takes my focus off of "29 more minutes!!" and keeps my focus on the hilarity of the situations that Nancy seems to get caught up in!

Also... and this is the best part... Netflix has work out videos! Right there on Watch Instantly!  Ten Minute Solutions are my favorite because you can break them down into ten minute segments, or do the entire fifty minutes if you want to!  This definitely makes canceling my gym membership totally worth it!

So I'm leaving you with that, for now, and the promise that this blog will keep getting better as time goes by and as I am feeling more like myself and less like a frog (in case you haven't heard me talk, my voice is just a croak right now due to my super ingenious diagnosis)!

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments and encouragement!

Weekend Update/Valentine's Torture

Okay, okay. I can't really say today has been torture. I was able to resist all evils EXCEPT for a piece of homemade cheesecake a teacher brought in today. Um... did I mention SNICKERS cheesecake? Yeah. It was Snickers Cheesecake.

So about this weekend:

I have been battling a cold/allergy/sinus/something for a little while now and it's REALLY trying to rear it's ugly head today. This weekend I gave in and got a burger from Burger King on Saturday (600 calories for the jalepeno stuffed burger... totally worth it!) but made sure to get in a good run as well as getting a salad instead of fries as my side and drinking a diet soda (I know, I know... it's still a soda).  Then on Sunday we had Indian buffet for lunch so no clue HOW many calories I consumed but i DID stick to a lot of healthy things like salads and fruit. I do so adore Indian food!!  Other than that, my weekend was filled with salads and 100 calorie snacks. Oh. And running :)

As for today, my day is going pretty good meal-wise. And I DID manage to get up at 4:45 am for some early morning kick boxing which was AMAZING (got in 20 minutes) and went for an outdoors walk this afternoon with the pups (could not bring myself to run with this evil congestion making it very  hard to breathe).  Because it IS valentine's day, I am not getting any other kick boxing done since I'm going to be spending the evening with my sweety.  Since I don't know what my darling dearest is making for dinner for me yet, I can't report on my meals, but it smells extra yummy, so I'm going to get off of here to go investigate. Posts will be more accurate and interesting starting tomorrow :)

BUT FOR NOW: happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Hope it's great no matter what Facebook says your relationship status is :)

Slow Day

So this will be a short post, specifically because I did not exercise today, but did get some interesting news! I read a while back that, in order to lose a pound, you have to burn 3,500 MORE calories than you eat! This news stunned me and was, quite frankly, a little depressing in the plan to lose weight. But never fear! I already knew that you burn calories simply by existing and, turns out you burn about 2000 calories a day without exercising! So luckily, if you are limiting your caloric intake (which by NO means limiting how much you eat) along with exercising, you really will lose weight! :)

So on for today: today I decided to take my day off of exercising. However, here are my meals for the day:

Breakfast - Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal with soy milk and I added dried cranberries

Green Tea :) :) :)

Snack - Chili Cheese Fritos (okay... I packed a snack size popcorn which managed to burn AND not pop at all in our wonderful little staff microwave, therefore I could not even TRY to eat that, but was still hungry. Surprisingly, the Fritos were only 130 calories!)

Lunch - Cafe Steamers Chicken Maranara with brocoli, cup of veggie soup, and fat free greek yogurt with strawberries

Snack - 100 calorie smart pop popcorn (somehow worked in my own microwave!) and a handful of dark chocolate pomagranates (oh yeah... and a tootsie pop... do I have to include that??)

Dinner - Thai Salad made with lettuce, cashews, tomato, carrot, red onion, crispy duck, pineapple, apple slices, and a really spicy/awesome dressing (I probably left out a couple of ingredients, it was soooo good!)



And just to leave you on a funny note, I will include the story of how I acquired the Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal. It was a Sunday afternoon at Costco.  I needed a few simple things for Kyle's Super Bowl party and a couple of things for the rest of the week.  The place was packed and people acted like their carts and feet were cemented into the floor conveniently at the end of every. single. aisle. The last thing on my list was the Kashi Go Lean Crunch. I searched all over the cereal section until I finally found a shrink wrapped palate of the stuff up high on a shelf that two previous people had busted into, apparently also unable to find it elsewhere themselves.  I feared for my life as I attempted to pull out a third box from the bottom row without pulling down the entire palate.  Obviously, as I was alive to eat it for breakfast this morning, I was successful.  And that's the incredible tale of the Kashi Go Lean Crunch.

Most. Embarrassing. Pictures.

Well it is officially day 1. Actually, it is the end of day 1. Which means I am exhausted. But am I hungry? NO! And am I feeling overwhelmed? NO! Both very good things! So onto...

What I did:
50 minutes of kickboxing, burning 650 calories
and 30 minutes of incline walk workout, burning 175 calories

What I ate:
Breakfast - Two waffles covered in mixed berries (probably my FAVORITE breakfast!)
and... a soy chai tea latte costing me 230 calories (hey, the skim milk one was 200 calories so I'll pay 30 calories to have the yumminess of soy milk in my latte and not have to suffer through the tummy ache milk causes me!)

Snack - Peanut Butter Crackers - 230 calories

Lunch - Rice, Zuccini, Onions, Squash, Terryaki Chicken, and Hibachi Steak with a hint of shrimp sauce

Snack again - (because I have to eat a LOT!) cherry/dark chocolate granola bar - 90 calories

Dinner - Lemon Pepper Tilapia (baked), corn, and white rice

...and with that being said, I'm probably going to have some dark chocolate covered pomagranate before bedtime, not sure yet but don't want to leave anything out :)

Oh yeah... and LOTS of water!

What worked today:
I'm finding that I'm craving soft drinks because a lot of people at work drink them. I read recently that we should embrace our cravings, not necessarily by giving into them (which is okay sometimes), but by imagining actually having what we crave. Think about the taste, the feel, the smell, all of that! So I tried it, and, sure enough, my craving for a fizzy, sweet, delicious, wonderful Dr. Pepper actually went away!

What didn't work today:
Piling an entire 50 minutes of kickboxing on top of each other. Although I had planned to do it differently, I certainly did not get up in time this morning to do any of it. So I am going to try to get into a habit of getting up in the morning and doing 20 minutes of kickboxing to get my morning rolling and to get some of it out of the way! This will take some getting used to, but I think it will work out better... we will see how tomorrow goes!

AND FINALLY... the part we've all been waiting for: the pictures of me "before" (aka now)... not flattering at all, but I'm being very brave and putting them up so that we can have something to compare me to!

Drum roll please...

February 9 Meals

And... just because I ate relatively "decently" today, I'm going to go ahead and add in my meals for the day. Usually I will just include this in my daily blog post, but I hadn't finished all my meals when I wrote the first one, haha. So...

Breakfast: McDonald's Fruit and Maple Oatmeal - 290 calories (I was running late... had to stop and pick up breakfast instead of making it at home

Medium black coffee

Snack - Smart Pop mini bag of popcorn - 100 calories

Lunch: Cafe Steamers Chicken Margherita - 330 calories
Fat free Greek Yogurt with Blueberries
Apple Slices (1 apple)

Snack - 3 mini hershey bars (gotta cut these out!) - 200 calories
ANOTHER mini bag of popcorn - 100 calories

Dinner - Small salad with tblsp of ginger dressing
Sushi Roll (mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!)

So... not entirely bad! But will be doing better :)

Tired of Putting It Off... And It Starts TOMORROW!

So I've been recently trying to get back in shape. I don't feel like myself since I've gained some and I HAVE successfully lost EIGHT pounds and then just maintained for the last month and a half. Keep in mind, those eight pounds were lost over the holiday season SO it was no easy feat. With that being said, I have realized that I need to really get focused! I'm definitely interested in fitness and nutrition, I just need a little extra motivation.  So I'm hoping that, by recording my meals and work outs, it will keep me motivated to do it more regularly and hopefully inspire others as well.  I know that the number on the scale is not the important part, but I would love to feel better like I do when I am in a good work out routine. So here's the plan:

Month 1: 30 minutes of cardio plus 50 minutes of kickboxing five days a week with Saturdays being a free fitness day (meaning I choose whatever I want to do for my work out)

Month 2: 30 minutes of cardio plus 50 minutes of pilates five days a week (same Saturday plan as above)

Month 3: 30 minutes of cardio plus 50 minutes of yoga five days a week (same Saturday plan as above)

I'll be updating my weight and pictures each month. I will also update things that have worked/haven't worked, things I've learned about myself and my goals, and other fun inspiring things daily. Please leave comments, encouragement, whatever! I'd love to hear from you!

And when I say I'm starting tomorrow, that means you can look forward to my "before" pictures and weight as well as my first work out/meal update tomorrow :)