Healthy vs. Skinny

here it is

2009-10-20T16:20:00.004-04:00

here's the address of the new blog...http://lovinlosing.wordpress.com/

Please change your readers and blog rolls!

New Blog Address

2009-10-20T10:41:00.003-04:00

Sorry I've been away so long! I am moving this blog to WordPress, which has a much more user-friendly interface especially when it comes to inserting media like pictures.

Expect a post within 24hrs with the new blog address.

Thanks!

Return of the Blogger

2009-09-15T21:13:00.007-04:00

Sorry for being gone so long. I've been trying to finish up work on my part-time job before we leave for the cruise. Can you believe it's only 3 days away! We leave for New Orleans on Friday, the cruise goes S-TR, then we return from New Orleans on Saturday the 26th!

So...what have I been up to?

A little of this...1/2 can of Amy's black bean soup with 1/2 packet of Uncle Ben's Vegetable Harvest microwaveable rice.

And this...a huge salad with romaine, spring mix, black beans, chick peas, broccoli, carrots, ham, egg whites, and ranch dressing.

And of course some of this...a trip to the park.

I had personal training yesterday evening and this morning. Yesterday morning I did week 5, day 3 of the couch to 5k program. This one consisted of 5 minutes of walking, 20 minutes jogging, 5 minute walking cool-down. I am very proud to say that I only stopped twice. Once at the 10 minute mark for 1 minute and once at the 4 minute mark for 30 seconds. Using MapMyRun I figured out that I did a total of 2.55 mi.!!! Woohoo!!

Before personal training yesterday I did 30 minute on the upright bike. Yesterday's training session was going to be circuits with running interspersed. But, since I mentioned I ran that morning, here's what we did:

narrow squats with ball on wall
wide squats with ball on wall
bicep curls with the body bar (1 set of 12)
upright rows with the body bar (1 set of 12)
push ups (1 set of 5 modified)
shoulder press with the body bar (1 set of 12)
20 crunches on the ball (1 set of 12)
Lay on mat and hold body bar straight above chest. Keep arms straight and lower them over head. (1 set of 12)
Jackknife on ball (1 set of 10)
Repeat steps 1-7
hold medicine ball b/w legs w/ heels touching floor. Crunch whole body together and take ball with hands. Reach arms straight back with ball and touch heels to floor. Repeat (12 times)
flutter kicks (1 set of 12 each side)
Legs straight in air. Hold medicine ball and crunch to touch feel w/ball (1 set of 12)
hold medicine ball b/w knees w/ legs @ 90 degree angle. Let knees fall to one side (1 set of 12 ea.)
wrap arms around knees and lift shoulder off ground. Extend arms to ea. side while at the same time extending legs straight out w/o touching the floor (1 set of 8)
lie on back with legs in air. Reach above head to hold something stable (a person's ankles). Lower legs half-way and bring back up. (1 set of 10)
Get in push-up position and then bring knee to chest and back. (1 set of 10 ea. side)

Wow! That was a long one!

For breakfast TODAY I had a strawberry smoothie: FF milk, vanilla 0% Greek yogurt, ice, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 c. strawberries, and a bunch of fresh baby spinach.

I had personal training at 7:30 AM. Here's what we did:

wall sits (6 sets of 10 seconds)
bridge lifts on ball (3 sets of 12 holding for 2 seconds
one leg bent and the other leg straight up. Lower extended leg down to side. (3 sets of 12 ea. side)
triceps on machine (2 sets of 12)
Pull-ups on the machine (2 sets of 8, 1 set of 10)
use ball like roman chair to do oblique lifts (2 sets of 12 ea. side)
Chest press (3 sets of 12)

I know I've got to be missing something with the one above, but we got a late start and finished a couple minutes early, so who knows. Afterwards, I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes on the treadmill.

The smooothie held me over until lunchtime when I had a grocery store version of Shrimp Tempura Sushi. I don't know why I waste my money on these. It never tastes like the real thing. :( I also had an orange mango Honest Tea and a packet of peanut M&Ms (I ate half at lunch and the other half around 4PM).

Dinner was baked spaghetti. Whole wheat pasta covered in lean ground beef with tomato sauce, garlic, italian seasoning, mushrooms and 2% cheese. I had 2 pieces of garlic bread with it.

Dessert was a serving of Edy's Light Slow Churned Vanilla with Peanut Butter Cups.

On another note! I received my sample of Kashi cereal today. The website was a little misleading about the size (though perhaps I wasn't paying attention). I placed it next to the Ibuprofen bottle (large bottle) to help demonstrate the size. I'll give it a try tomorrow and let you know how I like it.

I remembered!

2009-09-09T16:59:00.003-04:00

I remembered to take a picture! Yay!

At lunch I went to the gym and did Wk5, Day 2 of C25K (for the 3rd time) and then did 10 minutes of elliptical. (+3 points) I wanted to do 20, but I still had to grab lunch and get back to the office for a workshop.

My lunch consisted of a salad with romaine lettuce, cucumber, mushrooms, carrots, egg whites, broccoli, and a little ranch dressing. They didn't have a single light dressing available! I also got some pineapple and cantaloupe on the side. (salad = 3 pts., fruit = 1 pt)

I had a chocolate chip cookie provided at the workshop, too. (guesstimate is -5 pts.)

I took a pictures of my snack, but for some reason it didn't save. It was an apple with a little almond butter (total = 2.5)

For the day, I now have 9 pts left.

Assessment Day

2009-09-09T09:25:00.002-04:00

Morning!

Today was my the assessment to evaluate my progress over the past 6 wks or so of personal training.

My body fat percentage went down 1 percent, the circumference of my waist and thigh stayed the same. My hips went down 1/4 inch. I did 3 push ups instead of 1, and 8 sit ups instead of 4. My weight went down 1/4 lb.

I can't say I'm particularly pleased by the results. :( But, I have no one to blame but myself. As you've read here, I've started WW a couple of times only to not follow through. It's high time, I stop making excuses and get it together. It's an unfortunate time to decided to re-commit with the cruise coming up next week. But...it's important to eat right all the time, not just when you're at home, so it will be a good challenge for me. :)

I also plan to ramp up the cardio to more 45-60 minutes sessions rather than 30 minutes.

Now, here's today's workout.

narrow wall squats with ball (2 sets of 12)
wide wall squats with ball (2 sets of 12)
lunges (2 sets of 5 each leg)
leg press (2 sets of 12)
bicep curls (2 sets of 12)
tricep kickbacks (2 sets of 12)
shoulder press with free weights (3 sets of 8)
jackknife on ball: feet on ball and arms in push-up position on floor, bring knees to chest (1 set of 8)
crunches on ball (1 set of 20)
chest press (3 sets of 12)
plank (hold for 20 seconds)
side plank lifts (1 set of 10 each side)

I'll do my best to remember to take pictures of my food today!

For breakfast I had two pieces of toast (2 points), B&B butter (.5 pt), and some tea (2 pts.).

Finding your niche

2009-09-04T11:39:00.003-04:00

Here's last night's workout. I first did 27 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and upright bike. I get bored easily so I like to switch it up. Sometimes I'll do three different machines in a 30 or 45 minute period.

lat pull down (3 sets of 12)
1 arm row (3 sets of 12 each side)
back raises on ball (3 sets of 12)
crunches on ball (1 set of 20)
upright rows (3 sets of 12)
jackknife on ball (1 set of 10)
straight leg lifts w/ reverse crunch (1 set of 12)
bicycle (1 set of 20)
flutter kicks (1 set of 10)

Today would be my day to finish week 5 of the C25K program, but my legs are KILLING me still from Wednesday's workout. I thinking I'll do the cardio machines for 30 minutes along with a 1 hr. yoga stretch class.

Tomorrow I'll jog outside before going to my massage (OMG, I can't wait!). There's a massage school in Virginia Beach so I'm getting one hour for $40 and it's a graduate, not a student.

Now, on to what prompted the title of this post...

As you have probably noticed in the blog roll on the right, I subscribe to a lot of health eating blogs. I enjoy reading them and learning about different people's habits. Some eat mostly raw and don't eat white anything, some are vegetarians, some try to eat healthy most of the time and indulge for special occasions.

I have to say that my favorite blogs are Carrots N ' Cake and Roni's Weigh. These are just regular women who do their best to eat healthy, but occasionally veer off and make mistakes. They recognize this when it happens and get back on the right track.

I think that's the niche where I'm the most comfortable. If I make eating healthy too hard, it will end up backfiring on me. I want try to eat healthy most of the time without beating myself up every time I crave fast food or sweets. That's not to say I don't want to stop trying to improve my habits, because I will.

What about you, where are you at in your journey?

hungry, hungry hippo

2009-09-03T14:47:00.004-04:00

Good afternoon! First things first I'll try to remember yesterday's workout. It was mostly legs and I am hurting today.

lunges on the Bosu ball (3 sets of 12 each leg)
squats w/ a body bar (3 sets of 12)
calf raises (3 sets of 12)
calf raises w/ toes pointed out (3 sets of 12)
calf raises w/toes pointed in (3 sets of 12)
Wall sits while holding out medicine ball (3 sets of 10 seconds)
bridges on the ball (3 sets of 12)
hold ball b/w feet and squeeze legs together (2 sets of 10)
flutter kicks (1 set of 12)

As usual I feel like I'm forgetting something. If it comes to me I'll update the post.

For breakfast this morning I had raising bran w/ granola clusters and FF milk.

Lunch consisted of one of these...
...with a salad (romaine, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and ranch dressing).

I had a handful (7?) peanut M&Ms also.

Around 2:30 I was starving so I had Oikos greek yogurt with a nectarine, blueberries, and some Bear Naked cereal. I've got to make it through personal training again tonight and some cardio!

QOTD: I'd love to hear if any of you have tried some of the workouts I've posted! How'd you like it!?

Free Stuff!!

2009-09-02T13:50:00.004-04:00

Good Afternoon!

I had the exact same breakfast this morning as I did yesterday. 0% plain Oikos Greek yogurt with blueberries and BearNaked cereal.

Around 11:30 I went to the gym and did week 5, Day 2 of the couch to 5K program. Only a couple more weeks until I'm up to jogging for 25 minutes straight.

After the gym I cam back to the office to have lunch which consisted of V8 tomato soup and a salad with romaine, cucumbers, shredded carrots, tomatoes, grilled chicken and one boiled egg. I had ranch dressing with it.

Of course, this is me, so I forgot to take a picture, but here's what it looked like afterward...

I've got personal training at 5Pm and Ill let you know tonight or tomorrow what the workout consisted of.

And now what you've all been waiting for.

Free Samples:

BearNaked is giving away free samples of their cereal.
Kashi is giving away a free BOX of their cereal.
Quaker Oats is giving away samples of their chewy granola bars.
Nature Valley is giving a nut cluster sample, trail mix bar sample, and coupons if you sign up for their Eat Better American newsletter.

Have fun!

Good afternoon

2009-09-01T12:35:00.005-04:00

First things first, I'm going to try to remember yesterday's PT workout:

shoulder press w/ body bar (3 sets...12, 10, 8)
front lifts w/ body bar (3 sets of 12)
bicep curls w/ body bar (3 sets...12, 10, 8)
lying down, body bar straight up (hands facing front), drop arms (straight) above head (3 sets of 12)
narrow hands on body bar, hold straight up, touch forehead with bar (3 sets of 12)
oblique leg drops with medicine ball b/w knees (2 sets of 12 each side)
flutter kicks (2 sets of 10)
oblique medicine ball touches (2 sets of 12 each side)

Today I had to unexpectedly teach a workshop so I had to rush through breakfast. I had a single serving of plain oikos (can you believe I found it at Wal-Mart) with blueberries and cereal.

After the workshop I had a leftover half of a burrito from last night's dinner. I got it from a locals place called Machismo. Here's what was in it:

Roasted Chicken
Wheat Tortilla
Black Beans
Brown Rice
Enchilada Sauce
Pinto Beans
Baby Spinach
Lime Squeeze
Medium Salsa
Romaine Lettuce
Yellow Corn

Here's what it looked like:

Right now I REALLY want to go get some frozen yogurt b/c I feel like I'm coming down with something. You know a little chilled, scratchy throat, etc. But classes have started back up and I'm scared I won't get my parking spot back. :(

Friday, Friday, Friday!

2009-08-28T09:47:00.003-04:00

Whew! What a busy week! I don't know how those full-time bloggers do it in addition to their regular jobs and lives. Next weeks promises to be just as busy. I don't mind, though, because the faster the weeks go by, the faster the cruise gets here. :) Three weeks from today we'll be in New Orleans!!!!

I had personal training last night, so I will try to remember what we did.

Lat pulldown (3 sets of 12)
Obliques on the roman chair (3 sets of 10 on each side)
single bent over row with free weight (3 sets of 12 each side)
upright row (3 sets of 12)
crunches on the ball (1 set of 20)
obliques on ball (1 set of 20)
heel touches with reverse crunch on mat (2 sets of 10)
flutter kicks (2 sets of 10)
lower back lifts on the ball (2 sets of 12)

I have been counting points this week and it's been an adjustment. I'm already out of weekly points and I still have to get through the weekend. :( The longer I keep it up, though, the more I'll remember some of the techniques from back when I first started and was so successful.

Tomorrow, we're hosting a party at our house for the pastor, her husband, two other young couples, and their 5 kids (under age 5). Tonight and tomorrow promises to be full of cooking and cleaning!

For today's breakfast I had a smoothie. We're out of spinach, though, and I forgot to put yogurt in it.

It had 1/2 c. of FF milk, 1/2 frozen banana, frozen berries, 1/2 packet of strawberry Spirutein, and ice.

I'll give you an update after lunch if I have time. I made chicken salad!

Back to It!

2009-08-25T10:12:00.005-04:00

I can't believe I took 3 days off! Sorry. :(

As I said before, I'm not much for being on the computer on the weekend if I can help it. Yesterday I spent all day filming a video for a course and then I had personal training and part-time work to do.

Last night's work out consisted of:

leg press (3 sets of 15)
leg lift (3 sets of 15)
leg curl (3 sets of 15)
bench press (3 sets of 12)
lat pulldown (3 sets of 12)
straight leg lifts on the ab stand (3 sets of 10)
pull ups on the machine (2 sad sets of 8ish)

If these workouts sometimes seem short to you, remember they are only 30 minutes sessions and there is rest time between each set.

I had a follow-up dentist appointment this morning to have the temporary filling replaced with a permanent one. On the way I had half a bottle of Honest Tea.

Once I made it into the office I had fruit salad (strawberries, blueberries, and banana) with Vanilla Chobani.

I'm probably going to go work out at lunch for some cardio and try out my new armband for my phone. :) I have personal training again at 5PM so I'll let you know how that goes.

Daily Points = 22
tea -1 = 21
yogurt -2.5 = 18.5
fruit -1 = 17.5

Almost time to go home

2009-08-21T14:49:00.004-04:00

I had a seriously sweaty workout at lunch with a one hour step class. I rebelled at the end when the instructor wanted us to do push-ups and plank. I already did them today! :)

I was VERY hungry and ready for lunch when I got back to the office. Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich with light mayo on whole wheat bread with baked cheetos and a 100 cal. coke.

(Do they put crack in coke? I read an article today talking about how you could use coke to clean rust off of tools. Does this change my addiction to coke at all? No.)

Dessert was three Hershey's kisses.

P.S. I REALLY want to stop for froyo again after work. Give me a reason not to!

UPDATE: I forgot I ate a nectarine around 3:00 or so. YUM!

Friday!

2009-08-21T09:15:00.004-04:00

What a morning! I overslept and didn't have time to eat anything before PT, so I threw a bagel in my bag to eat on the way, which I then promptly forgot about until my PT told me she was going to have me run laps today between strength training sets. LOL

Wall squats with the ball (1 set of 15)
run 1 lap
5 modified push-ups
run 1 lap
wall sits (squats on wall while holding a medicine ball straight out--4 sets of 10 seconds)
run 1 lap
upright rows with the body bar (15 reps)
hold body bar at chest level in the horizontal position and push straight out (15 reps)
run 1 lap
15 crunches on the ball
10 oblique crunches on the ball
run 1 lap
plank (2 sets of 15 seconds)
repeat 1 & 3
run 1 lap
repeat 5, 7, & 8
run 1 lap
repeat 10, 11 & 13

I'm pretty sure that's right. I was just trying to get through it. I was rocking my new jogging skirt, though. LOL!!

I had planned on doing Wk 4, Day 2 of C25K, but since I hadn't eaten and we had such an intense workout I just did 15 minues at level 7 on the elliptical machine and tested out my headset. Two thumbs up!

I'm going back at lunch to do a step class.

Once I finally made it into the office I had a blueberry Chobani, raspberry white tea (80 cal.), and half a whole wheat bagel with PB on it.

Lunch is going to be a ham and cheese sandwich with light mayo on whole wheat bread with some baked cheetos and a 100 cal. coke. I'll try to take pictures before I eat it. ;)

Great Birthday!

2009-08-21T00:03:00.003-04:00

I'm blogging from my phone in bed.

I had a wonderful birthday thanks to all my friends and family. I received a card in the mail from my mom and she generously included a check which I promptly went out and spent. ;)

I bought some new workout tops and bottoms. Some of them will be going back because I was in a rush and couldn't try them on.

I bought a running skirt but I'm a little self conscious to wear it because I'm not a fan of my legs, plus all they had was a medium so I've got a little love handle action going on. We'll see. It pretty much looks like the picture below only with lavender instead of black.

Another awesome present was the Motorokr S9 bluetooth headset for my phone. It's pretty awesome and easy to set up. The only feature that doesn't work is voice dialing and that's a limitation of the phone.

This was a gift from my awesome husband who got me exactly what I wanted. Thanks, honey!

The only thing I have left to get is an armband holder for my phone (the T-Mobile HTC G1).

Sushi lunch

2009-08-20T14:08:00.002-04:00

Okay, I was bad and forgot to take pictures until I was done eating. I was SO hungry!

I went online and found some pictures so you get the idea. I had two shrimp tempura rolls and one spicy California roll plus a house salad with ginger dressing.

My friend Kim came along and ended up treating. :) Thank, Kim, for a great birthday lunch!

29

2009-08-20T09:03:00.003-04:00

That's how old I am today! :)

The first person to wish me HB today was my sister-in-law calling from Malaysia! Now, that's commitment! LOL

Next was my mother-in-law in South Carolina, a bunch of people on FB, and my good friend Catherine in Florida. Thanks everyone!

Moving on....

First thing, I'm going to try to remember yesterday's workout.

chest press (3 sets of 12)
bicep curls (3 sets of 12)
tricep kickbacks (3 sets of 12)
shoulder press with body bar (2 sets of 12)
lie on back and hold body bar up at chest level, drop bar above head and then bring back up to chest level (2 sets of 12)
Hold body bar straight out in front vertically with two hands. Move it in a circle 4 time to the left and 4 to the right, repeat.
ab crunches on the ball (1 set of 20)
Oblique crunches on the ball (1 set of 20)

At dinner last night, I didn't take a picture because I felt self-conscious with so many people around. It wouldn't have come out well, anyway because the lighting was so dim.

I had two pieces of focaccia bread as an appetizer. Someone else ordered it, but I was happy to help them eat it.

For dinner I had a turkey burger with a few different types of nuts in it. On the side were roasted potatoes. I ate about 1/2 the burger (it was pretty blah) and 3/4 of the potatoes. I also had 1/2 a piece of ice cream cake. I didn't eat more because I had plenty of sweetness with my froyo earlier (refer to previous post).

For breakfast I had a seriously Green Monster. It had vanilla almond milk, vanilla greek yogurt, half a scoop of Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Spirutein, 1/2 frozen banana, a tray of ice, and a bunch of spinach.

I'm treating myself to sushi for lunch so I'll make sure to include pictures for you.

frozen yogurt

2009-08-19T17:56:00.001-04:00

Who doesn't love dessert before dinner?

"Birthday " Celebration

2009-08-19T16:53:00.005-04:00

Quick post before heading home for the day. We're celebrating a friends b'day tonight. :)

Last night we went to Abuelos. It's a chain, Mexican restaurant that considers itself upscale.

While we waited for our food, I had chips. A bunch. I was SO hungry. I should have taken a few out of the basket and savored them. They were very thin and light.

I ordered chicken medallions with chorizo and beans inside. It came with rice and pinto beans. I didn't enjoy it very much because the outside was very dry and only a few of the medallions had any filling. :( I think I ate 4 pieces, 2/3 of the beans and rice, and then I ate most of Josh's tamale.

We had a coupon for a free entree, but we had to get another one and two beverages. I got the Sangria Swirl. I enjoyed it, but all that food combined with the alcohol made me very lethargic.

We didn't want to be rushed for dinner, so we skipped the free movie (I have more free tickets for next week) and went to see District 9 instead. I enjoyed it, but oddly enough the husband didn't.

Tonight we're headed to a local Italian place to celebrate a friend's birthday. It's not one of my favorite places, so it shouldn't be too hard to be good. I might have to get some Frozen Yogurt on the way home, though to beat the heat.

I'll post tonight about today's food choices and early morning workout.

Good morning (barely)!

2009-08-18T11:53:00.004-04:00

It's a new day!

Before I left the house today I picked up a banana (2 points) to eat on the way to personal training at 7:30 AM. Here's what she had me do today:

Squats against the wall with the ball (2 sets of 12 narrow and then wide)
Bridge lifts on the ball (2 sets of 12)
Lying leg lifts with the body bar (2 sets of 12)
Lunges on the Bosu ball (2 sets of 10 each leg)
calf raises (2 sets of 12)
heel tap crunches (1 set of 12)

I definitely feel like I'm forgetting something. If it comes to me I'll update the post. I did 15 minutes on the upright bike afterwards.

For breakfast I had Bear Naked cereal with 2% milk (it's all I had) and a 110 calorie OJ (8 points total).

I had plans to go do another 30 minutes of cardio at lunch, but it is scorching out and I have to teach a workshop at 1:30.

Instead I'll make up for it with a light lunch. Romain lettuce, carrots, black beans, chick peas, and hummus (3 points). On the side is half a bottle of Honest Ade (1 point).

I think we're going out for an early celebration of my birthday tonight. I have free tickets to Adam and we have a free entree at Abuelos.

I want a re-do

2009-08-17T22:55:00.001-04:00

What is it they say the definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

Label me insane. Every day I do well until dinnertime. Tonight it was the "something went wrong so I deserve it" excuse.

I am so bloated and frustrated. I dont want to put all this work into training and exercising only to sabotage it again and again with poor eating habits. I want to enjoy my cruise in 32 days without hiding from the camera.

It's time to stop thinking negative thoughts about the foods that are good for my body and appreciating their benefits.

Tomorrow is a new day and even though we're going out a lot this week I won't let it be about the food but about the people and the celebrations.

Like my 29th birthday is Thursday! Woo hoo!

Bad Food Blogger!

2009-08-14T09:06:00.007-04:00

I'm going to try to describe yesterday's training workout.

Lat pull down (2 sets of 12)
Seated row (2 sets of 12)
Don't know name, but here's a video. (2 sets of 12 each arm)
Obliques on the Roman Chair (2 sets of 12 on each side)
Abs and lower back on the Roman Chair (2 sets of 12)
20 crunches on the ball
straight leg lifts in the lying position. Our gym has a raised table with a mat on it. She had me reach above my head and hold on to the edge of the table while doing this. (2 sets of 12)
bicycle crunches (1 sets of 12 each leg)
bended knee oblique drops (1 set of 8)
Modified plank for 30 seconds

I was bad and didn't take any pictures of food yesterday. I DID, however, keep track of my points and ate much better than the day before. It's difficult getting used to counting points again.

This morning for breakfast I had a single serving of Cheerios with 2% milk and a 110 cal. box of OJ.

See you later!

What a mess!

2009-08-13T10:10:00.004-04:00

Yesterday did NOT turn out as planned. More on that later.

Here's what we did at personal training:

Leg Curls (3 sets of 12)
Leg lifts (3 sets of 12)
Calf raises (3 sets of 12)
Chest press (3 sets of 12)
Ab crunches on ball (1 set of 20, 1 set of 15)
Bicep curls (3 set of 12)
Tricep kickbacks (3 sets of 12)
shoulder presses (3 sets of 12)

I feel like I'm forgetting something...hmmm...I'll let you know if I remember.

The area I live in floods really bad when it rains really hard or for a really long time. It took me 1.5 hours to go the 8 miles from work to Olive Garden. I had to turn around 5 times due to high water. If you want to see pictures, go to http://hamptonroads.com/2009/08/rushhour-rainfall-swamps-region-flooding-roads.

I was starving by the time I got to the restaurant. I started well, but if you see the tracker below, you'll see it didn't end well. The wine added a lot of points AND contributed to fuzzy thinking when deciding to get a Frosty. Lesson learned.

I'm still a little self-conscious about taking pictures of food at restaurants when out with other people. The only pic I got was of the Pasta Fagioli. What you see if what I didn't finish eating.

Today, all I've had so far is a banana and it actually held me over pretty well. We're having a farewell lunch at work and it's going to be at a Mexican restaurant. I JUST found out about it. Now I have to plan out what I'm having so I don't have to have lettuce for dinner. LOL.

I'll take suggestions. :)

Luckily I'm doing a 45 minute step class at 5:15 and personal training at 6:00 so I'll get some activity points in.

Treat Night!

2009-08-12T16:04:00.004-04:00

We're going to Olive Garden tonight and I've been looking forward to it for days. I mean who doesn't love their salad and breadsticks!?

A friend's e-mail today made me want to pay a little more attention to how much I'm eating, not just what, so I'm going to try to go back to counting Weight Watchers Points.

My daily allotted points are 22.

I had a banana this morning before going out to do Week 3, Day 3 of C25K. On my way to work I picked up a bagel and....a pepsi. I know, I know! Soda, and at 8:30 in the morning. I just love it SO much. You can tell me until I'm blue in the face about how bad it is for me, but I love it. I was so thirsty and it looked so good.

We had no computers for a long while, so I went over and did a Yoga Stretch class at 11.

Lunch was V8 tomato soup, a Babybel cheese, and some water with raspberries in it.

Around 2:30PM I had a banana and then at 4 I had half of a Gingersnap Larabar. I need to stay fueled for Personal Training at 5PM.

Here's the point breakdown/plan for the day. Sorry it's so small. If you click on it, it should get bigger.

Yum!

2009-08-11T11:17:00.002-04:00

First things first...Ouch! I am sore! But...I love being sore. I love feeling like I've done something. :)

It's been a pretty good food morning.

I had a Green Monster (this is what I call any smoothie I add spinach to) for breakfast. It had 2 things of brown cow Greek yogurt (1 strawberry and 1 vanilla) because the expiration dates were up and I didn't want to waste it. Also included was a mix of frozen peaches, mangoes, and strawberries along with 1/4 c. vanilla almond milk, 1/4 c. V8 Splash, handful of spinach, and some ice.

Looking at this ingredient list, I'm thinking it's time to cut back on the sugar. Plain yogurt instead of flavored and plain almond milk instead of vanilla plus cutting out the V8 splash.

Here's lunch which I'm eating as we speak. Black forest ham on a piece of French baguette with light mayo, 1 Babybel cheese, an Honest Tea (Orange Mango), and half of a chocolate muffin.

This bottle of Honest Tea is 100 cal., but it isn't carbonated, it's organic, and it provides 100% DV of Vitamin C!

:)

Delicious New Finds

2009-08-10T20:51:00.004-04:00

Evening everyone!

Here's the rundown for the day. I finished the Larabar after lunch and had a Starburst and Hershey's miniature while sitting in a meeting.

About 4PM I knew I needed to eat something before I went to the gym at 5, so I had a 100 cal. bag of popcorn, 110 cal OJ, and a piece of toast with almond butter.

It was really too much. I felt pretty full when I started Week 3, Day 2 of Couch 2 5K.

Afterwards I had my meeting with the personal trainer. I'll try to be descriptive and accurate, but this was a rough workout and it was extra tough since I'd been out of commission for nearly a week. I wasn't too focused on the number of reps, just getting it done.

Lunges on the Bosu ball (2 sets of 10 reps per leg)
Turn Bosu ball over. Hold the sides while in plank position. Alternate bringing knees to chest. (2 sets of 10 reps per leg)
Side arm lifts (2 sets of 12)
Front arm lifts (2 sets of 12)
Hold weights together around pelvic level and then lift in a "v" (2 sets of 8)
Leg press machine (2 sets of 12)
ab lifts on an ab stand: straight out, knees to chest, obliques (1 set of 8 each)
triceps machine (2 sets of 12)

UPDATE: I forgot one exercise...

Turn Bosu ball over and hold sides in plank position with feet together. Alternate tapping each foot out to the side. (1 set of 10 per leg)

I was really struggling today and was frustrated with myself. It was a combination of recovering from the past week paired with harder moves. I was really sad on the ab stand. I felt I was using my arms more than my abs.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home. I was going to pick up some of my triple berry granola when I noticed this instead.

Check out the difference in Nutritional Information.

Farm Fresh's Organic brand: Wild Harvest Triple Berry Granola

Bear Naked Cranberry Raisin Cereal

Check out the difference in fat content and calories and then look at the serving size! Granted, the Bear Naked cereal has a lot more sodium, but other than that, not bad. Now, for those who think I'm comparing apples to oranges, here's the NI for Bear Naked's Triple Berry Granola.

Dinner was a strange combination but it sounded good to me. I had a piece of French baguette with a Salmon burger, tomato slices, and an egg on top. It was good, but it needed something. Salsa or cheese maybe.

Dessert was an exciting find!

Notice the 100% Whole Grain part! :) I substituted half of the oil for 2 tbl of organic, unsweetened applesauce. They turned out awesome! I had two with a glass of Stoneyfield's organic milk. I'll save one for after lunch tomorrow and put the rest in the break room. They'll be gone lickety-split!

Nighty night!

Back among the living!

2009-08-10T11:37:00.002-04:00

I'm baaaaccckkk!

The root canal went well thanks to 3 Xanax (prescribed of course), antibiotics, painkillers, and Ibuprofen.

I have an appointment on the 25th to have the permanent filling put in. Luckily I have extra Xanax. LOL

I spent yesterday trying to get back on track.

Lunch was a Morningstar "chicken" patty on an Arnold sandwich thin with Flat Earth veggie chips, and a diet coke with lime.

Dessert was three Reese's Pieces.

Josh made dinner. He tends to be a bit experimental when cooking, so I'm not entirely sure what all was in it. Shrimp, rigatoni, cream of chicken soup (98% FF), and diced tomatoes. I sprinkled a little parmesan on top.

A friend came over for out weekly True Blood get together and we had some wine, Mary's Gone crackers, hummus, and I may have had a couple too many peanut butter cookies that she brought over. They were awesome!

Breakfast was a strawberry greek yogurt with fresh strawberries and blueberries.

Mid-morning snack was half of a banana bread Larabar.

Lunch was leftover pasta and some V8 tomato soup.

I have a personal training appointment at 5:30PM so I'll let you know how it goes. I'll also do Week 3, Day 2 of Couch 2 5K.

For your viewing pleasure...

Here's the last member of out furry family: Monster.

root canal

2009-08-06T20:30:00.002-04:00

I probably won't be blogging much until the weekend. I was able to get into the endodontist today rather than Tuesday so it's all taken care of. I should be good as new by Saturday.

Thanks for the well wishes!

Painkillers are awesome! :)

2009-08-05T08:58:00.002-04:00

Morning! Yesterday's dentist appointment resulted in a Tuesday morning endodontist appointment for a root canal. Despite my anxiety about the procedure, I'm happy to have some resolution.

The painkillers kept me a little loopy yesterday, which is why I didn't get a chance to post.

Josh and I went to see The Collector. He wanted to go see that with friends rather than go see a free screening of 500 Days of Summer. Let's just say once the movie was over I was even MORE irritated to have wasted free tickets.

Before leaving the house this morning I had a blueberry Chobani with triple berry granola.

This morning I had my training appointment and here's what we did (the reps are approx. as I was still a little fuzzy from the painkillers):

chest press machine (3 sets of 12)
shoulder press machine (3 sets of 10)
chest fly machine (3 sets of 12)
seated bicep curls with free weights (3 sets of 12)
tricep kickbacks (3 sets of 10)
bicycle crunches (1 set of 12--each side)
slow reverse crunches with knees bent (1 set of 10)
oblique leg drops...she also applied pressure on the way back up each time to make it harder (1 set of 10)

After training I did Week 3, Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program.

I'm thinking that on my lunch break I'm going to go do a yoga stretch class. I definitely need it and maybe it will help relieve some of my stress about next week's dentist appointment.

Talk to you this afternoon!

Please Stop!

2009-08-04T09:32:00.002-04:00

That title is referring to my jaw/tooth pain. I have another dentist appointment this afternoon and I'm hoping to get some resolution.

This morning I stopped at the grocery store to get some breakfast and lunch items. This was easier than having to use my pain-addled brain to figure out what to put together from the fridge. I bought a bagel, some Chobani greek yogurt, an Amy's Vegetable Lasagna frozen meal, some OJ, and 13 doughnuts. I ate one of the doughnuts (still warm...mmmm) and put the rest up in the break room for others. Usually I try to bring in healthier items (vegan chocolate chip cookies, FH Krusteaz blueberry muffins, etc.) but every now and then it's a doughnut day.

Eating the doughnut made my jaw hurt really bad so there was no danger of me eating more than one. I did have a tiny piece of the bagel and a 110 cal. OJ box.

Wish me luck at the dentist!

Soon it won't be Monday!

2009-08-03T20:11:00.005-04:00

Evening everyone!

Today's mid-afternoon snack was a Kiwi Watermelon FlavorH20 and 1/2 a bag of 7 eleven popcorn. I didn't drink all the drink and saved 1/2 the popcorn for the next day. It's pretty high in calories and fat (for popcorn) so I wanted to exercise some portion control.

On the way home I got the stuff to make meatloaf.

Preheat oven to 375.

1 lb. of lean ground beef (already thawed in the fridge)

Fine bread crumbs

1 can of Campbells Vegetable Soup

I put it in a loaf pan and topped it with ketchup. I baked it for a little over an hour.

On the side were some red potatoes, boiled with a little Brummel and Brown and salt and some green beans with almonds.

This was really yummy! I think I've only made meatloaf once before, but I think this will become a favorite. Other than how long it had to cook, it was pretty quick.

I'm off to work on my part-time job! Have a good night!

Quickie!

2009-08-03T14:09:00.007-04:00

Another quick post because I have a ton of work today.

Last night, while a friend and I watched True Blood, we drank some white wine and ate cherries, True North Pistachio crackers, and hummus. It was a good episode. Unfortunately I don't have time to do a recap for you. Here's a quick one from "The Frisky."

This morning I didn't have personal training because her schedule conflicted. We'll be meeting W, TR, F at 7:30 AM this week.

For breakfast I had 2 blueberry pancakes. They were so dense I had to cut them in half before putting them in the toaster so they'd thaw all the way through. On them I had some Brummel and Brown yogurt spread and a little light Mrs. Butterworth.

(old picture)

Mid-morning snack was some hot chocolate and a piece of toast with almond butter. The hot chocolate turned out to be a HUGE mistake because my tooth started hurting like hell. Hot and cold are PAINFUL. :( Back to the dentist tomorrow. I need to get this taken care of ASAP so I can enjoy my cruise in September.

The older I get, the more afraid of the dentist I get. A friend says she knows one who will work with a anesthesiologist and put you completely out. I am a little worried about the added risk (plus I don't know if insurance will pay for it). WWYD?

At noon I went and did a step class for an hour and from there headed over to Subway for a sandwich. When you can't eat anything cold, hot, or hard it's difficult to find anything. Today I had light potato chips, diet coke, and a turkey flatbread with lettuce, tomato, spinach, pickle, banana peppers, pepper jack cheese and southwest sauce.

While writing this blog, I decided to do some research about the Olestra found in light potato chips. I've never had any discomfort from it, but after looking around this site: http://www.cspinet.org/olestra/ I think I'm going to avoid it from now on. Healthy is winning out over skinny this time. :)

Goodbye weekend!

2009-08-02T17:25:00.003-04:00

Hello! This will be quick post because I have to get a bunch of work done before people come over to watch True Blood.

This morning I had two piecesof Ezekiel Cinnamon and Raisin toast with yogurt spread and raspberry preserves. I ate it in the car on the way to church.

As soon as I got home I mowed the .5 acre front lawn and I was pooped! I went in and took a shower before grabbing some food.

Lunch was a Morningstar "Chicken" patty on an Arnold's WW sandwich thin with lettuce, tomato, pickle, light mayo, mustard and ketchup. On the side were Ore Ida "fast food" fries. I was a bad blogger, though, and didn't take a picture.

I had to run out in the rain to get dog food and on the way back I got Josh and I each a Frosty! Yum!! I wish we had a frozen yogurt place close to our house. That would have been a lot better.

Now I'm doing some work for my part-time job before I get ready to have friends over to watch True Blood. It's been a fun weekly thing, but unfortunately the guys have to head back to work tonight (they have rotating days off and now they're no longer off during the weekend). It'll just be the girls tonight.

Have a good night! I have to get up early for personal training at 7:30 AM. :( :)

Good Morning!

2009-08-01T11:55:00.007-04:00

First things first! The winner of the Spirutein giveaway (using Random.org) is.....

Liveloveeatandplay!!!!

Here's what she had to say:

"hmmm, how to choose...chocolate PB, cappuccino, cookies and cream, chocolate chip cookie dough. All sound like yummy desserts to make my smoothies delish!"

Congratulations! Thank you everyone for entering.

This morning I got up at about 7:30 (as Josh was going to bed) for garage sales. Didn't find anything, though, and headed back to the house to make pancakes.

Along with the pancakes I had two eggs and some light Mrs. Butterworth's syrup (no artificial sweeteners). I made enough to freeze some and have them next week, too. :)

See you tonight!

P.S. Since you enjoyed pictures of Rusty here's a picture of our most recent addition, Asheville.

P.P.S. I am quite sore form the pull ups and leg presses.

Weekend Opener

2009-07-31T21:54:00.007-04:00

Hello!

First things, I want to thank everyone who entered the giveaway. I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow.

It's been a long week and I am very ready for the weekend!

I had my training appointment at 11, and so around 10:15 I had a slice of toast with some peanut butter and almond butter.

Here's what today's training session included:

leg press machine (3 sets of 15)
triceps machine (3 sets of 12)
pull up machine (3 sets of 8)
calf raises (2 sets of 12)
calf raises w/ toes pointed out (2 sets of 12)
crunches on the ball (2 sets of 15)
lat pull-down (3 sets of 12)
The last one I don't know the name of. Lie on your back with your knees raised at 90 degree angle. Drop your knees to one side and then bring them back up slowly using your obliques. Do the other side. (1 set of 8)

Afterwards I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and 25 minutes on the stationary bike.

Lunch was some V8 tomato soup with a little leftover brown and wild rice, a piece of bread, and a peach.

My mid-afternoon snack was a 100 cal. bag of popcorn and a diet Pepsi.

On the way home from work I had a 100 cal bag of craisins.

Josh had a bad day at work so I took him out to Buffalo Wild Wings so he could get some Mango-Habanjero boneless wings. I had a veggie burger and side salad.

Afterwards we stopped at Sears and I used a gift card we had to buy a couple of bags. I bought a dressier purse and a more casual tote. I'm gonna use the tote for daily use and hopefully it will keep me from wearing out my purses as quickly as I do now.

We came home to watch a little TV and eat some Oreos (dessert!) before Josh left for work.

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. My phone doesn't have a flash and my digital camera is too big to carry around all the time. I really need to get a nice pocket size one. I got the bigger one for the 12x zoom.

I'm gonna head off to bed soon so I can get up early for garage sales. Wish me luck! Maybe I'll find a Rembrandt for $50 or something. ;) LOL

It's Friday!

2009-07-31T08:51:00.004-04:00

Don't forget to comment on the "First Training Session" post to enter the Spirutein giveaway. You have until noon EST today! I will announce the winner tomorrow.

Good morning! I apologize for no evening post last night. My tooth was still hurting and giving me a headache so I went to bed as soon as Josh left work last night.

This morning I got up a little early and did the Week 2, Day 3 of the Couch to 5K program. For the first half I took my dog, Rusty, with me.

He was slowing me down a little (wanting to mark his territory, sniff everything, etc.) so about halfway through I put him back in the house and finished my "run."

After a quick shower I made myself a smoothie. This had 1/2 frozen banana, almond milk, frozen blueberries, strawberries, peaches, and mango, as well as a bunch of raw baby spinach. It was quite delicious! I just wish I had some greek yogurt to put in. Gotta go stock up this weekend.

I have my second training appointment at 11AM so I'll let you know how it goes. I'm glad I got the C25K out of the way because now I can fit in another half hour of cardio after my appointment. :)

See you all tonight!

Confession Time

2009-07-30T10:02:00.003-04:00

First...Don't forget to comment on this post to enter the Spirutein protein mix giveaway. You have until Friday at noon EST to enter.

1.) I had McDonald's for breakfast. I've REALLY been craving pancakes, but I didn't have time to make any at home.

2) I am proud of my choices this morning. Wait, say what!? You're proud of going to McDonald's.

No, I'm proud of this:

I really only wanted eggs, a biscuit, and pancakes. There's no meal like that so I ordered the Deluxe Breakfast and told them to hold the hasbrown and sausage. I knew that if they were there I would eat them. As I was eating it I realized the eggs sucked (big surprise!) so I didn't eat them. All I ate were the pancakes and the biscuit. What could have been a 1200 calorie breakfast was half that (still a lot for breakfast) and I am satisfied and don't feel deprived.

But...so that I'll be better prepared for the next time I want pancakes on a weekday I'm going to make a big batch (Fiber One mix is awesome!) and freeze them. Then, when I want them on a weekday I can just pop them in the toaster. True story! Try it!

To keep my balance for the day I will be working out and having light meals the rest of the day. Maybe soup for lunch and a salmon burger over salad for dinner.

In the meantime, I have a toothache and have to go to the dentist after lunch. Wish me luck!

quick post

2009-07-29T23:25:00.002-04:00

First...don't forget to comment on today's earlier post to earn a chance to win a 1.2 lb. container of Spirutein!

The rest of this is gonna be a quick post as I'm blogging from my phone in bed. It's past my bedtime.

On the way home from work I ate 1/2 a banana bread larabar.

Dinner was organic, whole wheat spinach and cheese ravioli with 1/4 c. Sundried tomato alfredo sauce. I had two small pieces of organic multigrain bread with yogurt spread (Brummel and Brown) on the side.

For dessert I wanted a special treat so I had an Edwards single serving chocolate pie slice. It was about the same calories as a candy bar. Much better than some of the other single serving desserts I saw. One was nearly 800 cal with 54g of fat!! OMG can you imagine!

I did a little unnecessary snacking before bed...chips and chocolate milk. Gonna have to give myself a food bedtime of 9PM from now on!

I'll post the times with my meals so YOU can help keep me accountable!

First Training Session Today!

2009-07-29T12:35:00.003-04:00

Afternoon, everyone!

This morning I made my first "green monster" smoothie in a while. This one had 1 scoop of chocolate peanut butter swirl Spirutein, 1/2 frozen banana, two handfuls of raw baby spinach, 1/2 c. of vanilla almond milk, a spoonful of Naturally More peanut butter, and 1/2 of a tray of ice.

Honestly, I didn't enjoy this one very much. I don't usually use a full serving of Spirutein (usually half a serving) and it really overwhelmed the smoothie. I drank 1/2 of it, which still kept me full until lunch (other than the 1/2 Ginger Snap Larabar I had before my training session).

The training session went well. I'm doing half an hour of strength training, three times per week and cardio on my own. Today we did:

wall squats with the ball (3 sets of 12)
straight Leg Bridge Lifts on the ball (3 sets of 12)
chest press machine (3 sets of 12)
chest Fly machine (3 sets of 10)
bicep curls with the body bar (3 sets of 12)
shoulder press with the body bar (3 sets of 12)
crunches with legs lifted at 90 degree angle (2 sets of 12)

After the session was over I did Week 2, Day 2 of the Couch to 5K program.

Now I'm eating my lunch, which consisted of what The Fitnessista would call a "salad beast." it has a mix of greens, extra Romaine, 1/2 a tomato, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, black beans, and hummus. Dessert will be the other half of the Larabar.

This is my first foray into eating a salad with no dressing. I gotta say, the hummus does a pretty good job of flavoring everything. I still love Ranch, though! ;)

Giveaway Opportunity!!!I will be giving away a 1.2 lb. container of Spirutein protein mix ($20 value). You get to pick the flavor. All you have to do is comment below with the flavor you want to try and how you plan on using it (drinks, smoothies, milkshakes, etc.). You have until Friday, July 31st at 12PM EST. I'll randomly pick the winner and announce it on Saturday. Good luck!

Almost Hump Day

2009-07-28T21:22:00.003-04:00

Happy almost hump day!

This morning was a lesson in preparation. I didn't bring breakfast to work and just assumed I would get a bagel from the building next door. Except when I got there, they were closed. So I walk a few more blocks down to Dunkin Donuts to get a bagel. Closed. At this point, I am more than a little peeved. I ended up with blueberry muffins from 7 eleven and an orange juice. Not horrible, but not very healthy, althought it did hold me until 1:30.

I went and did a 20/20 class again. More strength than cardio unfortunately. It might make tomorrow's training session a little rough.

I didn't get a picture of lunch because I had to eat it during a meeting. It was ham on a sandwich thin with light mayo, an apple FlavH20, and some watermelon.

Afternoon snack was tea and 3 squares of dark chocolate.

On the way home I stopped at the health food store to get some chocolate peanut butter swirl Spirutein for my smoothies. I also picked up some Larabars and I tried the chocolate coconut bar on the ride home. It was pretty good, but there wasn't very much coconut flavor.

For dinner I made pork chops with leftover blueberry sauce, yucca fries, and peas.

Dessert was an orange sherbert push-up and some watermelon.

Our post-dinner excitement made me feel I deserved the push-up. We recently moved to a new house and haven't been able to afford a fence, yet. Our dog is obsessed with playing so if you take him out that's all he wants to do, not his "business." So, we have to put him on a rope and then go inside and watch him until he gets the job done so we can bring him in. He doesn't know how to do it on a leash.

Tonight, I put him on his rope and went inside. I was watching him from the living room window. Well, I saw him see a rabbit and before I could get out the door, he was gone! The rope came untied from his collar and he was chasing the rabbit. After a few minutes we noticed him down in the marsh behind our house. Surprise, surprise. He is half lab and LOVES swimming. We finally lured him out after having a little fun in the mud. He was so filthy my husband had to put him in the shower.

Anybody know a good fence company?

Tune in tomorrow for a giveaway announcement! Night!

Monday, bleh!

2009-07-27T21:14:00.007-04:00

Evening, everyone!

Yesterday was spent getting a little sun at the beach.

Today was back to the grind. For breakfast I had Oceanspray oatmeal with cranberries.

It didn't fill me up very much at all and I had the meeting with my personal trainer so I had some blueberry greek yogurt and a peach.

The meeting with the trainer went well. This was just the initial assessment. I had to do the sit and reach, sit-ups, and push ups. She took my measurements and did the pinch test. It will be exciting to see my progress. I'm having my first training session Wednesday. I'm gonna start out doing cardio on my own and doing 30 minute strength training sessions with the trainer. If I'm not progressing I'll have her do cardio with me, too.

After the assessment I did Week 2, Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program, and then headed back to the office to eat lunch. It was an Ezekiel tortilla with a little rice, a spoonful of 7 layer dip, black beans, and a few strips of steak.

The tortilla was hard enough the it ended up working better as almost like a chip, eating it in pieces with toppings.

I gave into the sugar craving and had a bag of peanut M & Ms. If I had been better prepared and brought a few squares of dark chocolate it would have been better.

Before leaving work I had some watermelon with cantaloupe and blueberries.

For dinner, the hubs and I went to Joe's Crab Shack. I got the steam pot with shrimp and crab. I ate all the shrimp and crab (no butter) and half a potato.

Dessert was a 100 cal choc chip granola bar.

Now we're home watching Blood Diamond. I'll let you know how it is! Have a good night!

Busy Day

2009-07-25T19:02:00.013-04:00

Last night I was very productive. I finished re-upholstering 2 of the 4 chairs we got last weekend (a table and 4 chairs for $5).

Here's the before and after. The green is before, the off-white is after.

I got woken up about 7AM this morning by my husband, just home from work, reminding me that I wanted to go to garage sales this morning. After a few choice words and a lot of grumbling, I stumbled out of bed to eat this:

After checking out local sales on Craigslist and mapping a route we headed out around 8AM or so. We got a few odds and ends (a lamp, casserole dish, and plastic bag holder) and were headed to a third sale, when the car started overheating. Not wanting to tempt fate we headed back to the house.

This car is 20 years old and has 200k miles on it so it's not a big shocker. Luckily my husband is VERY mechanically inclined so I'm sure he'll have her good as new in no time. If not, we'll get some $500 car that he'll put a little work into and it'll run for a long time. I gotta say, it's nice not to have to worry about car payments or wonder what we'll do if something happens to our cars. Love you, hon!

We were going to pick up the other car and go back out, but the neighbor kid came out to talk cars with my husband. While waiting on them, I ate some watermelon. The Puffins didn't keep me full very long. After waiting around for the husband to stop talking, I finally gave up (it's cars, how can garage sales compare...LOL) and headed out on my own.

I got this table for $2. I'm planning on sanding it and painting it either white or black.

After picking up a couple of other things, I decided to head home. Then, I remembered that I saw a Five Guys Burgers and Fries near the house. So I stopped in and got a burger with a small fry and water. This is NOT health food! This is a special treat. I haven't eaten there in about 3 years or so, but I was just really craving a juicy burger. I got my food home and realized they, like so many places, give ridiculous portion sizes, at least with the fries. I put a few on my plate and threw the rest away. Wasteful, but the best plan for my waistline. Here's how much I threw away:

Trust me, it was more than it looks. I'm proud of eating a reasonable portion and getting water instead of soda. :)

Now, you may wonder why I'm writing about this on what is supposed to be a healthy eating blog. Basically, I'm trying to be honest about what I eat. I AM striving to eat healthier and will do my best to eat healthy most of the time, but I love food! All food, including burgers, french fries and soda. My challenge for myself is to eat those things in moderation. I'm hoping that this blog will work as a food journal so I can look back each week and know that I need to work on. (Reducing sugar intake!)

After taking a pretty long nap I decided to hit up a thrift store I'd been eyeing. I found this table for $18.

Love it! This will probably become black, too, though I am digging the red!

Tonight I plan on finishing re-upholstering the other two chairs and maybe frost the glass on the table that came with it.

Tomorrow's schedule is Couch 2 5K, church, and beach!

Have a great Saturday. :)

Pizza Night

2009-07-24T19:15:00.006-04:00

Happy Friday!

So I had some watermelon, cantaloupe, and blueberries before I left work.

Once I got home I made pizza with the following toppings, pizza sauce, feta, ham, mushrooms, 2% shredded mexican mix cheese, and some pizza seasoning. Here's what I used for the crust:

After we went to Best Buy to get a new SD card (It's working!) I had a handful of Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins! Yum! If you haven't tried those, yet, you definitely should.

I think it's gonna be a quiet night at home for me. The hubs has to work tonight so I'll probably just watch TV and play around on the computer! I hope you all have a nice Friday night! :)

phone issues

2009-07-24T13:51:00.002-04:00

Arrggghhh!! I am still having problems with the SD card in my phone therefore I have no camera here at work today. Very annoying!

Today's lunch consisted of Pad Thai with Tofu and a Wild Cherry FlavH20. Gotta say I like the Watermelon Kiwi more.

After lunch I had a Hershey's bar, which I am regretting. It didn't really taste that good and made me feel blah! I should have just eaten the fruit salad I brought. No more sweets today.

I think dinner tonight is going to be homemade pizza (with pizza sauce, feta cheese, spinach, pine nuts, and maybe some green olives) and a side salad.

Now, I'm gonna close the office door and do some yoga. Namaste!

TGIF!

2009-07-24T09:30:00.003-04:00

Good morning! This morning I had a banana before leaving for work.
Once I got there I grabbed my phone and when off to do Week 1, Day 2 of the couch to 5k program. Why did I need my phone, you ask? Well, I have one of those awesome G1 Android phones and on it I have an app for the C25k program. It cues you when to jog and when to walk based on the guidelines for that the particular level you're on. Pretty awesome! You can play music at the same time, which is good, though it did cause me to miss one cue.

After my run I ate 1/4 c. granola with a single serving of Brown Cow Blueberry Greek Yogurt.

I plan on doing a yoga class at noon, but if I get too hungry I may have to skip it and do yoga in my office later in the afternoon.

I have an appointment on Monday morning to meet with my personal trainer! Yay!

If you haven't read about last night's dinner, scroll down and check it out!

bedtime

2009-07-23T21:57:00.009-04:00

It's bedtime now, but before I head off I'm making sure to do my dinner post tonight.

I skipped the greek yogurt before leaving work because for some reason it wasn't appealing at all. Instead I had a FlavH20 and some popcorn. I headed off to Wal-mart to get a replacement sewing machine and in doing so left my phone at work. :(

After an extremly irritating Wal-Mart visit I headed home to make dinner. Blueberry Almond Chicken with Yucca Fries.

Tip: If you forgot to defrost your meat, put the frozen meat in a ziploc container and then put it in a bowl of water. Put the bowl in the fridge and you'll be amazed at how fast it will thaw out.

This meal turned out fantastic. Here's some pictures to prove it.

The yucca was a little tough, but overall I was very impressed. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the other half of it. I guess mashed yucca is on the menu for tomorrow!

P.S. Please forgive the horrific countertops. We moved in pretty recently and we're debating whether to spend the $ on countertops now or wait til we have the whole kitchen re-done (with a different floorplan).

Dessert was about 3/4 c. of Edy's Slow Churned (light) Chocolate ice cream with some almonds sprinkled on.

A pretty healthy day! Tomorrow is day two of the Couch to 5 K program!

snacky mcsnackerson

2009-07-23T15:27:00.005-04:00

One of my afternoon snacks today was a mug of Arizona pomegranate tea and 3 squares of Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint. I like this brand because they donate 10% of their profits to help the environment.

After this I headed to the gym for my 20/20 class. Unfortunately, the instructor never showed up. Instead, I did 20 minutes of the seated elliptical machine and 10 minute of the stair climber. Next, I did 16 reps each of the following:

bicep curls
side raises
front raises
tricep kickbacks
shoulder press
lying fly
tricep lifts

I plan on doing abs tonight. Hopefully telling you all that will motivate me to do it. :)

After the gym I ate a Cranberry delight snack bar. Pretty good. It's Food Lion's organic brand.

I'll probably have a Brown Cow blueberry Greek yogurt right before I leave work to tide me over until I get home since I have a couple of errands to do. I really want to make a specific new recipe tonight, so....stay tuned!

Cruise and Bikini Confidence.

2009-07-23T10:34:00.006-04:00

I just got an e-mail from the State Department telling me that my passport was complete and had been mailed back to me. It only took 2 weeks! I already had a passport, but I needed to change the name since I got married in October.

That e-mail prompted me to tell you that part of the reason for this health and fitness kick-in-the-butt I'm giving myself is that we're going on a cruise in September! Woo-hoo! I can't wait. We leave from New Orleans and go to Mexico. It's a 5 day cruise and we get all the fun of the Big Easy, too! Another added bonus is that my brother and his fiancee live just outside the city so I get to hang out with them for a little while. :)

Right now the idea of being in a bikini around other people does not instill me with joy and I do NOT want to spend the whole time feeling self-conscious. I want Bikini Confidence ala Meghann. Therefore, I will continue to strive for healthier eating habits and more regular, intense workouts. I'm thinking the 5K will give me a goal to work towards for aerobic fitness and the personal trainer will help me tighten up.

On to the fun stuff: The suits I just received from the VS sale...

The one below I got in the green color.

Good Morning!

2009-07-23T10:05:00.008-04:00

Hello! I know, I know. No dinner post last night. That's mainly because I didn't eat dinner. I had a bunch of errands to run and by the time I got home it was too late.

For breakfast today, I had a PJ's Organics breakfast burrito. I tried to find a picture online, but I couldn't find one. It has eggs, turkey sausage and potatoes in it. I like it a lot more than the Amy's burritos I've had because the tortilla stays soft and it has more flavor.

Another item I've recently fallen in love with is FlavH20. Normally, I hate flavored water, but this is different. It's similar in taste to a soda, but has about half the calories. So far the only place I've found them is at 7-eleven. But, you can buy them on Amazon. A little pricey at about $1.50 a piece, but a good alternative to soda.

Lunch today consists of a Morningstar Prime Griller "burger" on a whole wheat Arnold's Sandwich Thin. I didn't bring any condiments so I'll probably put some Taco Bell sauce on it that I found in my desk. LOL :) I had a picture but my phone messed it up and by the time I realized I had eaten it all.

On the side is some watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, and cottage cheese that I got at the salad bar yesterday, but was too full to eat.

Yay! for a great balance of healthy and skinny, today.

On the exercise side of things, yesterday I started the Couch-to-5k program. Let me tell you I am sore today. Legs (obviously) and abs mostly. I have a friend who wants me to do a 5K at the end of August with her. While I'm not sure I'm going to do that one (running in August?) I would like to do the Susan G. Komen one in October. My biggest challenge will be getting up early enough to do some of the training outside before it gets hot. Otherwise, I'll be doing it on the indoor track or treadmill and that really doesn't prepare you for running outside in my experience.

Also, I got an e-mail from my trainer and hopefully we'll be able to get something set up so we can get started next week. :)

Today I'm going to do a 20/20 (twenty minutes cardio, twenty minutes strength) class and tomorrow it will be couch to 5k again.

Excited!

2009-07-22T16:23:00.002-04:00

I'm very excited!! I signed up for personal training today. :) The university I work at has an 8 hour package (plus a free 1 hour start up session) for $246. (P.S. Josh, if you're reading this...Can I spend $246 for personal training? Okay, thanks!)

Though it's convenient, I think the price us a bit steep. I mean, these are students. I have a Masters and 6 years experience and my hourly rate here is a tiny bit less than they are getting.
I hope it turns out to be worth it. I really don't want them to just try to show me how to use machines. I can use the machines! I want real strength with free weights and other free exercises.

Anywho, I'm still excited. Just waiting for my trainer to call so we can get everything set up. I'm hoping to be able to split it up into 30 minute sessions 3 days per week. That will last me about 5 weeks and if I'm enjoying it, then I'll continue it if I feel I need to.

Now, onto the food...

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I tend to stay off the computer on the weekends and I wasn't feeling well Monday or Tuesday.

Breakfast was a whole wheat bagel with a tiny bit of almond butter and some orange juice.

Lunch was a salad from the salad bar. The highlight were the chickpeas and kidney beans. I did have real ranch dressing (maybe 1 tbsp). I find that the prospect of having FF or RF dressing will keep me from eating a salad so it's better to have a little of the real stuff.

My "dessert" was a bag of M & Ms. I had planned on eating half and having half after dinner, but that didn't happen. I'll be kicking myself when my sweet tooth kicks in after dinner. Hopefully the watermelon I'm planning on picking up on the way home will nip it in the bud.

I'll try to do better with actual pictures (I left my phone at home accidentally) for dinner.

BTW: If you have any great healthy recipes send 'em to me. I could use all the help I can get.

Happy Ending!

2009-07-17T21:36:00.007-04:00

No, not that kind! ;)

I made it through a whole day without having a food meltdown!

For my mid-afternoon snack I had a diet Dr. Pepper, 1/2 bag of M & Ms and a 1 pt. bag of popcorn.

Here's the story behind tonight's dinner:

A friend of mine brought me some zucchini and squash from his father's garden. Unbeknownst to him, I don't eat either of those thing. Usually. I hate the idea of wasting them so I decided to find some ways in which I could stand the idea of eating them. My first experiment was whole wheat pasta, diced zucchini and squash (really tiny), garlic, diced tomatoes, and olive oil. It was yum!

Tonight's was chopped chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, zucchini, squash, and more of the rice from lunch. On the bottom I put two cans of cream of mushroom soup (98% FF of course). Here's how it turned out:

I also had two small pieces of organic multigrain bread with a little Brummel and Brown yogurt spread on them.

Very satisfying. :)

----->Look there and you'll see I had some Sangria leftover from Sunday's weekly True Blood party. Just a little bit, though.

Dessert consisted of the second half of the M & Ms from lunch.

Today was a great balance of healthy vs. skinny!

Mid-Day Recap

2009-07-17T13:11:00.005-04:00

So, this morning I got up and made a smoothie. It was exactly the same as yesterday, only today I remembered to put spinach in it. It was definitely a green monster. It keep me full for about 3.5 hours so I could make it through a meeting until lunch.

The picture to the left is a pretty good representation of how it looked.

(And seriously, you really cannot taste the spinach.)

I was at a loss for what to have for lunch, but I knew things would end badly if I didn't take something so I grabbed some V8 Southwestern Corn soup and some microwaveable brown/wild rice.

When lunchtime came around I heated up 1 serving each of the rice and soup and them put them together. It was surprisingly yummy! I don't think I would have like the soup on its own because it had a strange aftertaste.

Here's a picture of what it looked like:

For dessert I had strawberries and cherries.

The plan for today might be to be skinny instead of healthy, i.e. the diet soda and popcorn I mentioned yesterday.

I'm more than out of weekly points and need to stick to my 22 daily points. Right now I'm down to 10, plus 3 if I work out at home tonight on the Transfirmer.

Bonus:

Here's some info on the Transfirmer: YouTube Infomercial. It comes with 5 DVDs. Of the two I've tried, one is frustrating because the teacher is really horrible about cuing you to get to the next move and it goes unreasonably fast. The other cardio one is much better and incorporates a lot of muscular strength.

Have any of you done "The Firm?" Can you recommend one of the videos?

Nightime Meltdown

2009-07-17T09:09:00.002-04:00

So, as you may remember, the plan yesterday was to go to a baseball game and have some popcorn. Things did not go that way, though.

I couldn't find my free tickets to the game, so the aunt decided we'd do dinner instead. It's restaurant week here so we chose a nice restaurant downtown that I know is awesome. It's called Bodega and they do tapas. At least, they normally do tapas. I went in January and it was their usual small (but plenty) plates. Last night it was HUGE plates!

I got focaccia bread, she-crab soup, ribs (with coleslaw and mashed potatoes), and cheesecake. Not exactly healthy. :( I ate maybe three pieces of bread, all the soup, all the cole slaw (just lettuce really with light dressing), half the ribs, almost none of the potatoes, and half the cheesecake.

I was stuffed and bloated afterwards, which made it hard for me to appreciate the meal. Mostly I just felt guilty. I think I ate about what I would have if they were still doing small plates. If I had realized they had increased their portions so much I would have skipped the bread for sure.

Despite all my whining, you should know that their food is AWESOME! I really wish I could get to the point where I could enjoy a nice meal out without feeling guilty.

A Day in the Life

2009-07-16T13:05:00.005-04:00

Today has been a busy day so far. I had to teach a workshop from 9-12 and then I ran to get lunch out of the fridge so I wouldn't feel too full at 2PM when I go to the gym for my aerobics class.

For breakfast (8:15AM) I had a smoothie with:

1/2 c. 0% fage
1/2 c. vanilla almond milk
1/2 frozen banana
1 tbsp naturally more peanut butter
1/2 individual packet of chocolate peanut butter swirl Spirutein

I don't have a picture of the smoothie, but this is what I use to drink my smoothies:

This smoothie was very good! It kept me going until lunch. I did have a quarter of a bagel that someone brought in, but I ate it more because it was there rather than because I was hungry. :( Bad Carolyn.

For lunch I had this:

(Two eggs + 1 egg white + 1 slice 2% american cheese + 1 slice Ezekiel bread)

1/2 bottle of OJ

cantaloupe and watermelon

I've done pretty well with eating healthy today, but...adding in my activity points for the aerobics class I'm going to soon, I only have 9 points left for the day. Not horrible, but I'm going to a baseball game tonight with the hub's aunt and I'm going to want some munchies. Specifically, popcorn.

That means I have to be careful between now and then (6 hours!). I can't go that long without eating ANYTHING!

Here's the healthy vs. skinny of it....diet coke and popcorn (1 pt bag) is only 1 point, but full of yicky stuff. Greek yogurt and granola is good for the body, but 4 pts!!! And therein lies the rub.

Inaugural Post

2009-07-15T17:54:00.000-04:00

I've been reading a lot of healthy eating blogs lately and I've come upon a dilemma that I think is probably common enough that it would be an interesting premise for a blog.

Being healthy vs. being skinny. They should go hand in hand, right? If you eat healthy you will be skinny*. To this I say, hmmmm...

I've been doing Weight Watchers off and on for 4 years now. I lost the weight by following the points system program. While it does emphasize getting in your daily servings of fruits, veggies, and dairy, other than that you can eat whatever you want as long as you stick to your points.

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge WW advocate. It works and doesn't feel like a diet.

BUT...

Is it healthy if to be at an ideal weight if you do it by eating 100 cal. processed foods and things full of sugar substitutes?

Maybe not. Unfortunately, it can be really hard to eat "healthier" items and still try to get to that ideal weight.

For example: It's 3pM and I need a snack. I could eat veggies or fruit, but I already had fruit with breakfast and lunch and veggies would make me feel like I'm on a diet. I could have a 100 cal pack of cheetos for 2pts or a protein bar for anywhere from 3-6 pts. Which would you choose if you were trying to lose weight? The 100 cal., right? BUT IT'S NOT GOOD FOR YOU!

Example #2: Light wheat bread is 80 cal. for 2 slices. Ezekiel sprouted bread (wheat and gluten free) is 80 caloriesfor 1 slice.

I see these skinny bloggers eating a ton of healthy food and I couldn't eat half of that for the number of points I get per day on WW. I think a lot of the problem is that most of them are runners and I am not. I am a gym person and my workouts are not always that intense.

So...this blog is going to focus on my struggle to balance eating healthy with being "skinny." I hope you decide to come along for the ride.

*skinny on this blog will always mean "healthy weight"