Comparing

Perhaps it's because I had a donut for breakfast and Chick-Fil-A for lunch... but I feel like I need to remind myself of the progress I've made. I did a little searching for some old photos and here's what I found.

Oldest:
Oh my, will you look at that? My shirt and pants hardly cover my stomach! Though I do miss that kitchen... my avocado green and bright orange kitchen. But I certainly don't miss looking like that in my clothes!

Middle: I might still have this shirt. If I do I'm going to put it on and take a picture wearing it. My oh my... check out the bra lines in the back. I think my boobs are also half the size now. But that's ok because I think my stomach might be as well. I'll take the good with the bad!

This Weekend:
Granted it's not the best shot to compare to the other ones. But I think you can still see that at least my midsection seems to be somewhat under control. Even if I AM ordering soft serve ice cream in the picture. At least I got a kids size!

Today:

I figured since I had my camera at work I'd try to snap a shot. I got two.... they are both headless. But yall know what my face looks like. (Though I AM having a super good hair day that you're missing out on). But this is much better. Now I need to stop eating donuts so I don't go back to looking like picture number 1!

So to recap.....

Thorn Birded

I've been walking around with my head stuck in a book the past few days. I know... it's so unlike me. But when a coworker (turned friend... love that!) found out that I had my very own 'priest scandal' in my family she was both shocked and appalled (no, not that there had been a priest scandal in my family but...) that I'd never read or seen The Thorn Birds. It's a 500 some page epic novel and a lot of it is a little Jane Eyre-esque in that there are just full pages of descriptive stuff. I'm more into books for the dialogue. Let's be honest, 97.3% of the books I read are beach read romances. But I just skip over the descriptive stuff. I don't really need 6 pages on the weather patterns of Australia. But I digress...

Said friend told me to give it to page 100 and if I wasn't hooked then I was allowed to just watch the mini series. But alas, I got to page 100 and have been forging on ever since. I'm totally smitten with Father Ralph for those of you who do know the story. I'm on page 319 and am hoping to finish soon because it's due back at the library in a few days. Oh the pressure!

But moving onto to food and stuff. I finally (kind of) remembered to do weekend food pictures! I had some good eats. And by good I mean naughty! heehee. Check them out here if you feel so inclined.

Triathlon #1 is less than a month away. It's on June 27 to be exact. Eeekads. Let's move onto another topic before I stress myself out too much. (Have I mentioned I haven't been on my bike since FEBRUARY?)

Yesterday I went to Sonic for the first time. I've seen commercials for this place my entire life. They run tv ads in Philly even though there isn't a sonic within 50 miles of where I grew up. And then I moved south where there are plenty, but I was always scared/intimidated by it because I didn't know how the 'drive up' worked. But it was really quite fun. The server even brought the food to our car sporting some sweet roller skates.

Tonight I'm hitting up the Melting Pot for half price cheese and chocolate fondu. Be jealous. Be very jealous.

Boot Camp has been going well this week. I have mastered balancing on the swiss ball. It's so fun to be the best at something there. Because let's be honest, other than the swiss ball I'm still the slowest at a lot of the stuff we do (especially running). Remember the night I actually cried at boot camp because I was the weakest and slowest? Well I may still be the slowest but now I use the heaviest weights out of all the girls! It's an amazing feeling.

And as for TV, is anyone else as geeked up for this season of So You Think You Can Dance as I am? I love this summer time show. I can afford to have a 2 night TV show in the summer since there's nothing else on. So tonight, after I indulge in a healthy serving of fondu I'll be watching that. It doesn't get any better than this folks!

Really Doing This

I think one of the reasons I might be neglecting my blog so much is because I'm not really all that crazed about eating right and my weekly weigh ins right now. I'm just kind of doing it. I'm certainly not perfect, nor at my overall goal weight. But I am actually happy with my body. I have MUSCLES. Yes, if I flex my arms there's actually muscle there. I still have big thighs, but you know what? I think I'm always going to have big thighs. Such is life. But today I was in the middle of cleaning and looked up in the bathroom mirror and thought, "damn I look good." Now you guys know me... I do NOT ever think that. And I wasn't even decked out! I was cleaning the bathroom! But I'd gone out this morning so my hair was curly and I had make up on, and was wearing a white tank top and black (pajama-esque) shorts and I have a little tan going on and I just felt good. And that's what I saw in the mirror. And I can't even tell you what a great feeling it was!

So yes, I have off days (like today) where I eat crap. But I also have good days (like yesterday) where I eat quite well. And during most of those good or bad days I work out. And it all sort of just balances out. I've been at the same weight now for a year. But my clothes definitely fit better this summer than they did last. So one would assume I've lost some fat and gained some muscle. Which is why I've not been hopping on the scale as much. I'm just doing this based on how I feel this time around and it's working for me. So I'm going with it!

Moving along... I've had a fun weekend! Yesterday was a busy day! I got up and went to boot camp. It was so hot at 9am... I was dripping sweat like nobodys business! Ew! After that I stopped at Lowes on my way home to get some veggie plants! (Yes, I went to Lowes straight from my workout all smelly and gross). I got some tomato plants, pepper plants and planted cucumer seeds (hopefully they make it). But the veggie garden was a mess of weeds so I spent a good 2 hours cleaning everything out before I planted anything. I got some color on my back (I wore a halter to prevent tan lines heehee) and a second workout! Because I was dripping sweat again working out there! But I got the weeds out, turned the soil, and got some new dirt in there too. Hopefully my veggies will do as well this year as they did last! After that I hit up the grocery store and then came home to shower and get ready to go out. Went on a date but as much as he seems like a nice guy, he's just not the guy for me. Literally in 4 hours I didn't laugh once. Unacceptable! So back to square one we go :)

Today was perfect in so many ways. I was up at 8 and got ready for brunch at a friend's house. I made monkey bread and we ate a whole lot of carbs... but delicious carbs! All kinds of breads and casseroles. There was fruit salad, and that's the only thing I had seconds of, but I surely ate too much. I got home around 2 and was out in the backyard working on the front part of my tan by 2:30. I was all hooked up. I had a fan oscillating on me, a spray bottle to spritz myself with cold water, and my iPod hooked up to some computer speakers so I could jam while I relaxed. And as always a tall glass of ice water and a pup beside me. Here are three views. #1 - my legs, #1 - Maddie laying beside me and #3 - the tree in my backyard and a picture perfect sky



Around 4ish I went back inside to get some work done. I did 2 loads of laundry. Sweapt, mopped and vacuumed the downstairs floors. Made meatloaf, cut up all of my fruit for the week and also made pasta with sauce and veggies for the week. I also cleaned the bathroom, but you knew that already. Then I had some leftover monkey bread for dinner. And it was heavenly. (Yup, I had a carb loaded brunch and monkey bread for dinner... and that's it. Told you today was a bad one!) And finally around 7ish I sat down to just relax and watch some TV.

Whew! This post was much longer than I anticipated -- so if anyone's still reading thanks! I'm off to bed now before I go eat MORE leftover monkey bread!

10 Years

I really and truly can't believe it's been 10 years since my high school graduation! But it has been. So let's discuss, shall we?

• I had insane amounts of anxiety showing up alone, but decided to step outside of my comfort zone and go
• I thought everyone would be a size 0, married and have 2.5 kids and a white picket fence
• Apparently everyone else also had all of these thoughts!!!
• I had much more fun than I anticipated (see pictures below)
• It was like nothing had ever changed. No one had their husbands/bfs there (I went to a private catholic all girls school) so it was just the girls hanging out like old times. No one really looked all that different. And the people I didn't really like in high school I still didn't really like. And those that I loved I fell right back in step with like we hadn't missed a day.
  

Photos? But of course! (My camera died so I was relying on pictures posted on facebook)

Cocktail hour (I tried to lower my beer so it wouldn't be in the picture, but alas that didn't work)

Dinner - the food was terrible, but the company was nice!

This is my excited face (or maybe my "I just had 2 beers in 30 minutes" face)

Someone made me laugh right before taking this picture

And I really couldn't regain my composure

But I finally got it together, whew!

Since dinner was horrible we went to a local pub after... and ordered some fries! (not to worry -- 7 of us split this basket)

After a night out with old friends I was a bit reminiscent when I got back to my parent's house. I went through all of my old photos. I decided to bring them back with me to my house in NC. One of these days I might even post some here! Man oh man that would be entertaining. Let's just say my awkward years lasted longer than most people's. I also decided to try on my 2 prom dresses! Yes, they are still in my closet in my bedroom at mom and dad's. Want to know the best part? Not only did the both zip... but they were each actually a little lose! WHAT? My prom dresses from high school are a tad too big? What is going on here! Talk about putting me in a good mood for the 8 hour drive home! If my camera battery wasn't dead I would have taken a picture for proof! But alas, it was. So just take my word on this one, ok?

Back to Basics

I got sick last week. I fell off the wagon big time. I haven't had strep in a long time. When I was younger it would suck, but after being on the antibiotic for 24 hours I was good as new. Well apparently it wasn't quite so easy this time. It took me 48 hours to get back to work and almost 5 days to get my ass back to boot camp. Basically... it took me out! For days I lived off of ginger ale, MILKSHAKES, pasta and eggs. And laid on the couch watching TV or sleeping. If you're curious what this will do to your weight loss efforts I'll fill you in. It'll derail them. Completely. In 5 days I gained 5 pounds. (179.6) Yup.

However yesterday I was feeling 100% better. I went to boot camp and it was actually fun. I could tell that my cardio was hurting but that's ok. Of course it's going to take me a few days to get fully back in the game. I tracked my calories (more on that later). I ate fruits and veggies. I drank water like it was going out of style. And this morning I'd already dropped 2 of those 5 pounds. So if I keep it up all week long I should hopefully be right back to where I started. I can do this. And I WANT to do this.

I've also decided to look at tracking calories instead of points. Well more than that really... to focus on my protein intake. Weight Watchers is amazing, however I can easily eat 23 points worth of prepackaged carbs. Sure if I follow the system I'll still lose, but it's time to take it to the next step and really look at what kind of stuff I'm eating. So I'm giving The Daily Plate a try. My friend has been using it for a few weeks and likes it so I figured I'd give it a go. I've got nothing to lose (but wieght!) First... it's free! Second the data base of foods seems to have almost everything it it... it's a lot better than SparkPeople in my opinion. And there are charts and breakdowns and all sorts of fun stuff. It tells you how many calories you should eat to lose a certain amount of weight per week. I have it set up to lose 2 pounds per week. You can also track your workouts so it figures out how many extra cals you can eat each day (yes!).

Here's my breakdown from yesterday (click on it to enlarge):
Not too shabby, I went over by about 30 cals. And I think I underestimated my workout. I just haven't figured out how to record boot camp yet. But I'll figure it out eventually.

Here's hoping I can do the same for today! I just had a massive bowl of cereal for breakfast. Check it out.
If this doesn't keep me full for a while we've got a problem!!

On today's agenda is the following:

1. Hang pictures (I don't have any pictures hung up in my bedroom! Unacceptable)
2. Perhaps this should be first... buy some picture frames at Hobby Lobby
3. Possibly buy a new bike upon which I could COMMUTE to WORK when the weather is nice!
4. Grocery shopping
5. Gym
6. Laundry

Completely doable. But I better get started!!

Wall Sits

I forgot to mention that we did WALL SITS at boot camp on Monday. I hadn't done this since April of last year. Back in the good old days where I only met with TB once a week at the gym. That day I was able to do a total of 55 seconds... but not all at once. On Monday I was able to do 3 one minute long wall sits!!!! My left leg would start to shake around 45 seconds and it would literally start to burn around 50 seconds... but I did them. And I was so very proud! So I just wanted to share.

I might be sore tomorrow...

We survived! Maddie and I that is. We survived our first official hike. It was actually a lot of fun. Took me about 50 minutes to get there and the trails start right at the parking lot. We did the Crowders Trail (this moderately strenuous 2.5 mile (one-way) trail begins at the Visitor Center and ends at the backside trail before that trail reaches the summit. The trail includes one state road crossing.) and then caught up with the Backside trail (A strenuous, .9 mile (one-way) trail that starts at the Linwood Access Area and ends at the summit of Crowders Mountain. Just before reaching the summit, hikers will climb up 336 wooden steps.). Those 336 steps? Yeah kind of brutal. Maddie would have run up them at full speed if she weren't on a leash. I'm always amazing at how tireless she is!

As promised here are pictures!

I packed lunch to eat when we got to the top. A pb and banana sammy, 2 choco chip cookies and some homemade trail mix. I only at 1/2 the cookie and the sandwich. (Though not to worry I finished off the cookies on the car ride home ha!)

It really was perfect weather. A light breeze, Carolina blue skies, and SUN!!!

Not part of the 336 stairs.

Rocky Path

Yes -- I was wearing a tank top for part of the hike! And yes -- I'm also slightly obsessed with my right shoulder in this picture! Is that strange?

Tree shadows. We're getting close to the top!

Start climbing!

Maddie at the top. She was happy because she got a bite of my sandwich AND a treat.

You can see the Charlotte skyline in the distance -- it's really faint though
Coming back down -- almost done. Just getting bored haha.

Feel free to peruse all of the pictures I took here.

Insanity

I spent my night last night at a Pure Romance party. This isn't anything like a Tupperware party!! It was sheer insanity. Let's just say I was bright red for the duration of the party... but still volunteered to do everything. I can't turn down a dare! And 09 is the year of stepping outside of my comfort zone right?? hahahaha.

Today I'm continuing outside of my comfort zone and I'm taking the pup on a REAL hike! I've been wanting to go to Crowders Mountain for over a year now.... have just never made it there for one reason or another. But it's supposed to go up to 60 today and be beautiful. So why not spend it outside??

My plan is to do the following trail:
Crowders Trail: blazed in white diamonds - this moderately strenuous 2.5 mile (one-way) trail begins at the Visitor Center and ends at the backside trail before that trail reaches the summit. The trail includes one state road crossing.

Then depending on how I feel I might get super adventurous and take the Backside Trail to the summit.
Backside Trail: blazed in orange hexagons - A strenuous, .9 mile (one-way) trail that starts at the Linwood Access Area and ends at the summit of Crowders Mountain. Just before reaching the summit, hikers will climb up 336 wooden steps.

Though 336 steps alone would be a lot let alone with my dog dragging me up them! We'll see :) I can always go back and do that if I don't feel up to it today. I mean a 5 mile hike is a bit extreme for this beginner. Don't worry -- I'm bringing my camera to take pictures.

I'm excited though. I'm going to run to the grocery store (on Super Bowl Sunday... ugh what kind of novice am I?) then clean out the car and hopefully get on the road by 10:30! Wish me luck.

Also... eating yesterday was good. Did a little too much snacking at the party (there was chocolate and I was nervous... it happens!!!) but counted it all. Woo!

Short and Sweet

Most of my eats for the day are posted here. Other than mindlessly eating some trail mix I did pretty well! No work out today though... but back to some hard core boot camp tomorrow so I'm not all that worried.

I didn't really have a choice in where I was going to dinner. It was a first date with a guy from eHarmony and I told him he had to pick the place (I hate making decisions). He chose Italian. Both good and bad. Good because it was close to my house and well who doesn't like Italian? Bad because uhh not too healthy.

Let's start with the small victories. I got my dressing for the house salad on the side. I just got the house balsamic. And didn't really even end up using much -- just dipped in it. The salad (minus the 1/4 tsp of dressing) was totally free. Pretty much just iceberg lettuce and one piece of tomato. It was a funny salad. Also, and this is a huge also, I didn't eat any bread!!!! This is usually my downfall. I can't resist bread but I did tonight. I knew my meal would be more than filling.

For my entree I got the following:
Capellini Primavera
Sautéed zucchini and other vegetables with a light cream sauce over angel hair pasta

I was trying to steer clear of a cream sauce but it was pretty hard. There really were not all that many healthy choices on this menu! So I figured at least this one had veggies. It was heavenly. Though not nearly as heavy on the veggies as I'd like. The serving was massive. I ate about 1/3 of it and stopped when I was full. Also a major victory. I can probably get 2 more meals out of the leftovers. I figure I'll have some for dinner tomorrow night and most likely throw the rest out. I don't need to be eating THAT much cream sauce... even if it is 'light' ha! I estimated my dinner to be 12 points. It's a total estimate but I figure since I only ate 1/3 that means the whole dish would be 36 points which seems to be an ok estimate. Even with a 12 point dinner I still only used 4 flex points. I still have plenty for the week. I LOVE when I'm on plan on the weekends. Just makes it that much easier to keep up the good work during the week.

And also... the date went well :)

In other news I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow because I have an appt at the derm tomorrow at 9.15. So instead of leaving the house at 8:15 I get to leave at 8:45. Score!


... I titled this Short and Sweet because I thought it was going to be a quick post. It totally wasnt. Sorry for the false advertisement.

Mini Hike!

First things first... weigh in. Nothing too exciting - down 0.2 (177.2). I'm not complaining given the amount of alfredo and cookies I ate this weekend while at a family party. A loss is a loss so I'm happy. Hopefully next week will bring a bigger one as well :) 175 would be nice hahaha.

The weather is finally warmer here in NC. It got up to 58 yesterday and is in the low 50s today. Adding on to my 09 To Do List, I decided I need to get out of my comfort zone a bit more and meet new people. This isn't the easiest thing for me... but it's time to just dive in there. So today I was supposed to meet up with a group to hike at a local park. This was a big step for me. Going somewhere and not knowing anyone... and on top of that going somewhere to do something somewhat athletic. All very much out of my comfort zone. But alas, I was either in the wrong spot or late or something because I couldn't find them. Instead of being annoyed with myself I figured I'd just venture out on my own. Still a bit of a leap for me! It was drizzling a bit when I started but I had my rain coat with me and I figured Maddie would rather traipse through the woods than do our regular route at home. So off we went! I ended up doing 3 miles of trails in an hour. We certainly weren't going at a fast speed just kind of enjoying the morning.


I did the yellow circle, blue triangle and green square trails. They are each a mile long. Maddie had a blast. I let her off the leash for a little bit (shhhh don't tell anyone!!) and she would run ahead a bit and then come back and walk right next to me. She is currently passed out on the bed :)

My plans for the rest of the day include getting Maddie groomed (she really needs her nails trimmed), hitting up Target and Trader Joes and maybe doing some cleaning.

Eats are up in the air. So we'll see what I end up having!

Jumping on the Wagon

The Nike Plus wagon that is! I bought one right around this time last year. I used it 3 times... loved it... and then the battery on the sensor died. Totally annoying, I know. I kept meaning to get a new sensor, but never got around to it.

Fast forward a FULL YEAR. I finally got a new one!!! I've used it 3 times since I've had it and am again totally hooked. I missed Boot Camp last night (long story involving Wallmart and me being stupid) but I still went to the gym. And I RAN for 26 minutes straight. Thats right... I RAN for 26 minutes straight.

Let's take a moment to read what I wrote on Jan 18, 2008:

Oh! And in other big gym news I ran for TWO MINUTES straight last night. I realize it doesn't sound like much, but considering when I started on Jan 7 I could barely run for 30 seconds at a time I was so pumped that I pushed through the one minute mark, and the 1.5 minute mark and went for 2 minutes! I'm will be a runner someday :)

I was so excited about running for 2 minutes. Just TWO! And one year later I'm doing 26. Maybe does this mean by next year this time I'll be doing 45 minutes?! Let's hope so! I'm so close to running a 5k nonstop. My goal is to do it by the end of Feb.

Anyway -- here's my run via Nike Plus (click to make larger)!

Stats:
2.79 miles
31 min 42 seconds
11 min 19 sec mile (avg)
374 cals burned

The first 5 minutes of the workout were a walking warm up. I did do another 5 minutes of walking to cool down but stopped my workout before that :)

Ok... menu for today!

Breakfast:
2 low fat waffles w/ strawberries and blueberries - 3

Snack:
vitamuffin w/ pb - 3

Lunch:
1 cup veggie soup - 0
sandwich thin w/ laughing cow light - 2
apple - 1

Snack:
soft pretzel - 3
applesauce plus fiber - 0

Snack before boot camp:
banana w/ pb - 3

Dinner:
2 eggs - 4
turkey sausage - 2
broc - 0
toasted sandwich thin - 1

Snack:
pudding w/ berries! - 2

Small Victories

I went home at lunch today to throw in a load of laundry. I have No workout clothes clean so I figured I'd go home, put it in and switch it to the drier right before I left. Hopefully when I get home I'll have some clean clothes for boot camp!

But dirty laundry aside... I went home on my lunch break. I hadn't really packed a lunch so I didn't know what my plan was gonig to be. I cut up a sweet potato and threw them in the oven to make fries. But for dinner. I figured i'd get them mostly done then just toss them in the toaster oven while I'm showering tonight to crisp them up. Then I remembered I had a Red Barron deep dish single pizza in the freezer. AWESOME! I thought. I whipped it out, ignored the fact that it was NINE points and put it in the micro. But when I took it out I thought... do I really want to eat 9 points for lunch? I didn't. So what did I do? I just ate HALF. That's right... I ate HALF of an individual frozen pizza. 4.5 points. Totally acceptable. I was so very proud.

I'm thinking tonight I'll have the other half and the sweet potato fries with a side of veggies. It will be a 6 point dinner and so freaking delicious.

So here's to the small victories!

Posting Fool

Don't you love how I post like 12 times a day when I'm being all good and eating well and all that other crap? But then the entire month of December I posted 9 times total? Whatever we all do it :)

I ended up eating 29 points today... so I used 6 flex points. But it's ok because I still have 24 left for the week since I didn't use many a all over the weekend. Woo! Also had day one of boot camp. I literally didn't do anything over the break. Unless you count taking Maddie for walks, which I don't. If I don't work up a good sweat and can do it without putting a sports bra on, it just doesn't count! I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be one of those days where I have to use the handicapped bathroom... because I won't be able to sit on the toilet without holding onto something to help ease me down! Oh the joys of working out. We did all kinds of crazy quad stuff and a fair amount of running. And for a split second I thought I might throw up about halfway through but somehow worked through that. But it's amazing how much energy I had when I got home though. From eating well (aka not sugar for breakfast, lunch and dinner) and also working out you would have thought I had a double shot of espresso! I was bouncing all over the house.

Hopefully the energy stays!

And now I'm going to bed. There's already a little brown dog sleeping on top of me practically. Why she thinks she's a lap dog I have no idea :D

Lunch Break Woes

I only get a half an hour for lunch. Which isn't much time. Generally I'll skip my 'break' 2 days out of the week so I can have an hour break 2 other days during the week.

But here's my problem. I pack my lunch and like to eat at my desk. Breaks up the day you know? So on my actual lunch break what do I do? It's rainy today so I can't go for a walk. And I don't want to BUY lunch (bad for the wallet and hips), nor do I want to go shopping. I don't really have any errands to run. And so here I sit... pondering what to do with my half hour break. I'll most likely just skip it today... but if anyone has any suggestions for cheap things to do on an hour or half hour lunch break PLEASE let me know!

In other news I'm doing well with temptations at work. I did give in and had a hershey's kiss, but that's ok. I'll count it and I just had ONE. I got back from a staff meeting and there was a big bag of chocolate TURTLES sitting on my desk! I have no idea who put them there but you bet your ass I picked the bag up right away and took it to the kitchn... which is far away from me.

Menu for today looks something like this...

Breakfast:
Homemade waffle w/ 1/2 banana and pb - 4

Snack:
Motts plus - 0
a few cherries - 0.5
kiss! - 1

Lunch:
home made chicken noodle soup - 2
1/2 slice double fiber bread w/ 1 hard boiled egg and mayo - 2.5
apple - 1

Snacks:
WW yogurt - 1
apple cinnamon rice cakes - 1
ONE piece of chocolate - 1

Snack before BOOT CAMP (yikes!):
kashi crackers w/ cheese - 3

Dinner:
LC lasagne with meat sauce - 6
cucumber spears - 0
light english muffin - 1

Snack:
cup of tea - 0
1 pb ball - 2

APs: 3 (boot camp)
Total points: 26 -1 (AP - I dont' like to use them all) = 25... 2 Flex used

Feels like a long weekend

I know I had to work on Friday, but for some reason this feels like a 3 day weekend! And I'm not complaining. Working a full week come Mon is going to be a rude awakening. Ugh!

I had another on track day today. Still need to work on more fruits and veggies, but I'm getting there. I ate exactly 23 points and saw the (super high) 170s on the scale today. Woo! I knew I could get out of the 180s quickly. And I'll say it again that it's been so much easier than I expected. Like tonight my big treat was a peanut butter ball. My boss made them for Christmas and gave me a bunch. I put them in the freezer so I could savor them. Normally I'd have one then go back for another or even two more! Tonight I took my one out of the freezer, let it thaw a little while the water for my tea was boiling and then had it with my tea. Did I have the urge to get another one? Yes. But was it easy to say no? Yes! I don't know what's going on but as long as this willpower lasts I'll take it.


In other news, my poor little puppy totally got violated at the dog park today. Three other dogs (a yellow lab, chocolate lab and bulldog) totally gang banged her. Poor little pup was all submissive just laying on the ground while they all sniffed, licked and humped. She was slightly traumatized at the time but naturally got over it when someone threw a tennis ball. Ha!

I'm off to read a bit and get to bed. I'm thinking about actually going to the gym tomorrow morning! EEEK. It's been too long and Boot Camp starts up again on Monday. I'm in for a rude awakening I fear!

Menu for today...

Bfast:
3 pancakes (made w/ TJs multigrain baking mix) and real maple syrup - 6

Lunch:
2 slices 2% Kraft singles on light flat out wrap - 3
fried egg - 2
banana - 2

Snack:
cherries - 1
bite of homemade trail mix - 1

Dinner:
leftover risotto w/ 2.5 oz chicken - 5
WW lemon cake bar - 1

Snack:
tea - 0
pb ball - 2

Total: 23 woo!

Day Two

So far so good! It's 7.23 and I still have 3 points left. What is going on? Why does this seem - dare I say it - somewhat easy? I mean I never have 3 points left after dinner. I only get 23 points a day people!

Granted I was going light today because I was supposed to go out tonight (but the stupid boy got sick and canceled on me grrrr) but instead of going crazy I still had a somewhat well balanced meal! Menu for today looks like this:

Bfast:
High Fiber Quaker Oats (Maple and Brown Sugar) - 3
Tea w/ honey - 1

Snack:
Homemade trail mix - 3

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine Stuffed Rigatoni (love this one!) - 4.5
2 clementines - 0.5
Motts Plus Applesauce - 0

Snack:
ONE piece of chocolate (I JUST HAD ONE!) - 1

Dinner (very random):
chicken cake - 2
Light Flat Out wrap w/ 2 slices light cheese toasted - 3
fried egg - 2

Snack (since I still have 3 points):
1 pb ball - 2
light hot chocolate w/ ff whipped cream - 1

Also - random victory. I was unpacking my lunch bag (the stuff I didn't eat) when I got home from work and there was a 1 point WW choc pb bar in there. I mindlessly opened it and almost took a bite when I realized a) I wasnt hungry and b) I really didn't want it! So I just threw it out! I know, amazing.

A Hodgepodge

I've been bad a posting recently. But figured I should get an update!! So here goes....

• Lost another 0.2 (171.8) this week. It's not much but I was just pumped I kept off last week's loss!
• I have to be SUPER good this week because I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to see 160 something on the scale before I leave for Cancun (Fri Morning!!)
• I'm doing another 6 weeks of BOOT CAMP! (Which will be known as TFA going forward -- stands for TopTeam Fitness Academy) I cannot wait! Starts on Monday. Wooo!
• They posted more pictures from the last session. I'm in some of them... and don't look like I'm dying which is an added bonus!
  
• Went shopping yesterday and bought TWO pairs of pants at the Banana Rep. outlet... both are size 14s. I've slowly been throwing out (well donating) my 16s so I don't have the excuse of going back into them if the holidays are rough... you know?
• Did I mention I'm going to Cancun in less than a week? Only for 4 days but hey I'll take what I can get!
• The dating situation is up in the air... I've got on quite a few dates with one guy and like him but am not sure he's all that into me. Such is life! But I'll keep everyone posted haha.
• My TFA trainers have banned carbs after 5pm. We have to turn in a food journal and that's what I have to work on. No carbs and absolutely NO sweets after 5pm. It's SO FREAKING HARD! But I told them I'd try... so I'm trying. I've been eating tons of spag squash for dinner.
  
• I made Pumpkin Oatmeal Thingies yesterday. They're so scrumptious. I love them!
• It's TRIPLE coupon day at the grocery store. I can't wait to go use all of my $0.75 coupons.. they turn into $2.25 when you triple them. Can you say savings?!
• Last year this time is when I started WW hardcore again. Since then I've lost 24.2 pounds. Granted it's taken a year but hey I'm not complaining! I'm still 24 pounds lighter than I was last year at this time so I'll take it!

I think that about sums up my week. I probably wont' be all that good at posting this week again because we're moving to a new office in our building so I'll be packing up all week long... then off to Cancun Fri morning. Yippee!!

Feeling Good

It's been a while.... ok 6 weeks or so... since I've felt GOOD about my weigh in. I'm FINALLY down this week!!! Weighed in at 172.

So why did I finally lose? Well for one I tracked points. Actually wrote down everything I ate. And I went to boot camp 4 times this week (Mon-Thurs everyday). Add it all up and you get a loss! I'm so happy. I just feel like I've been working out but my eating has been dreadful so it's good to be able to rein it in a little.

Also -- yesterday I wore my size 14 jeans and had 2 shirts layered... they were BOTH mediums! Who am I wearing a size medium shirt!?!

As for Halloween it was a bit of a lonely night. My roommate went to her friends house and I was home alone with the pup. All the cute kids and families that kept coming to the door being all Halloweeny and happy just made me feel a bit lonely. And yes... I did take some of that loneliness out on the huge bowl of candy. BUT... I realized what I was doing about 6 pieces in and put a stop to it. I CHOSE to be alone on Halloween. I could have gone out -- I had invitations to 2 different places but turned them down because I wanted to be home, relax and give out candy. So why was I feeling sorry for myself? I have 8 pieces of candy left. If I feel as though I can't not shove them all in my mouth at once I'll chuck them. If I have some willpower they'll hang around for treats. I think it'll go in the freezer regardless.

In boot camp news I skipped today. My cough is still bad (even though I've been on steroids for 4 days now!) and it gets worse after I run a lot. So I figured it was best to be lazy, hang out in my PJs and not go to boot camp this morning. The bad part about that is that it was the last day!!! BOOOOO. I'm so bummed it's over. But I came a long way. I kicked ASS on my standardized test on Wednesday. The test was as follows:

- jog 2 laps around soccer filed
- 20 pushups (i did girlie ones on my knees)
- jog a lap
- 30 situps
- jog a lap
- 20 squats
- jog a lap
- 20 pushups
- jog a lap
- 30 situps
- jog a lap
- 20 squats
- jog a lap

Time week 1 - 28:11
Time week 6 - 22:16

Assuming my math is right (which it may not be...) I was 5 min 55 seconds faster! I was hoping to just be at least 1 or 2 minutes faster. I was totally blown away with my improvement. Now I just need to KEEP IT UP even though I wont have TB kicking my butt. I'm thinking maybe in the spring I'll sign up for another 6 weeks. But for now... it's me and the gym. Ugh. I do NOT want to go back to the gym after my fun boot camp workouts. They were different everyday and I was never bored with them. I need to figure out how to shake it up at the gym. Take more classes and be more daring.

Also, I think I'm going to join the Y in January (when they'll hopefully have a promotion with no sign up fee) because they have a pool. I miss swimming, it's an awesome upper body workout.

Ok, I think that's all I've got for today. I'm laying low this weekend. The only thing on my agenda today is to take the pup for a walk, and swap out my summer and winter clothes.

Menu so far:

Bfast:
2 egglands best eggs (3.5)
1 light engligh muffin (1)
1 mini kit kat (my candy for the day) (2)

Lunch:
soup of some sort (1)
grilled cheese w/ tomato (4)

Not sure what else....

Title-less

Just checking in. Not much to say but it'll probably be a random post. Shall we bullet it? I think so to.

• I've been eating CRAP since Thursday. It's our pledge drive at work (gotta love public broadcasting) so we have had breakfast, lunch AND dinner provided. And none of it has been healthy. I decided I could eat the food here (silly to turn down free food) as long as I worked out.
• I've been kicking butt with boot camp even though I've been working 10-12 hour days. I try to get there before or after work whichever my schedule allows.
  
• I took some sort of liquid vitamin shot (Bazi?) this morning that Trainer Boy gave me... he's disturbed by the cough I've had for over a week... it made me all sorts of jittery today. Strange. Edit: A shot of liquid... like out of a cup... not an injection! I'd never let anyone shoot me up with some strange substance. Yikes!!
  
• I am excited for the food to be gone from work next week so I can start eating VEGGIES and FRUIT again!
• Had date #4 with Funny Boy last night. I think I have a little crush on him. But shh you didn't hear that from me.. or maybe you did :)
  
• I do not want to go to boot camp tonight since I've been at work since 6:45am and will be here til 5:30pm but I have to go. Then I can go home and sit on my ass all night
• I had a nice chit chat with my mom about how I'm dating boys these days... she cracks me up. But she's the best and of course just kept telling me she doesn't care who I date as long as I'm happy. Yay for mom.
• I have SO much TV to catch up on!!!!
• I need new workout pants. I only have 2 pairs that I really like and they are SO old and faded. Any suggestions?
• In less than a month I'm going to Cancun!!!

Ok I think I covered the basics. I'm going to go change for boot camp, make sure things here are good and head out! PJs and the couch is soooooo soon, but not soon enough.

Looking Back

I was just looking at what I was blabbing about on this blog a year ago... Shall we have a look?

Well here's a picture of me on last year's MS 150 ride:

Here are two pictures of me from this past weekend's Breast Cancer Awareness Ride:
I look better yes? I think I'm about 20 pounds lighter. If nothing else I at least look HUMAN and happy in the more recent pictures. The first one literally makes me cringe.

And then in my Dec 11 post of last year I wrote this:

Last night I had my first session with my trainer. He's adorable. A student at UNC Charlotte. Anyway, he KICKED MY BUTT. I almost threw up when we were done. I totally felt like I was on the The Biggest Loser. But it was a great kick in the butt! He even made me SWEAR that I'd go back today to do some cardio. I have until Monday to learn how to walk again!

Ahh yes, my first session with TB. I remember it well. And I do remember going to the locker room afterwards, sitting down, and thinking I was going to pass out. Not really knowing how I'd be able to get to the car.

Now I work out with him 3-4 days a week and can still walk!!! I rarely feel like I'm going to throw up (though it does happen still) but I'm so much stronger.

Then in January I wrote this:

Yes, you read correctly above. I did say Triathlete! Why? Because I'm going to be one in 2008! I put registration to the 2008 SheRoxTri in Philadelphia on my Christmas list and my brother signed me up! Yikes! But this is the kick in the pants I need to get back in shape. The MS 150 wasn't pushing me enough anymore since I knew I could do it... even if I did it slowly, I could still do it with minimal training. So on August 3rd I'll (hopefully) be swimming 0.8K, biking 25k and running 5k! Wish me luck as my training starts SOON!

Consider it done! Not only did I do one... I did TWO!

So even though I've been at a bit of a standstill... I'm at least headed in the right direction. I've made progress this year. And I'm proud of that.