Category Archive

Whoa Nelly!!!!!!!! What the hell did I do today? Now before I tell you how much I ate and you see the proof let me preface this by saying that we went to a restaurant and I am totally guesstimating with that meal, although I don’t think I’m too far off since I did have 2 glasses of lemonade and we shared the spinach and artichoke dip that was served with bread instead of crackers or chips and I totally forgot to ask for dressing ON THE SIDE when I ordered my salad.My only saving grace is that I worked out twice today and we did walk a bit. Looking back, I didn’t need the PowerBar but they were giving them away free at the event that we were at and at the time that I ate it, I had no idea that we would be eating a meal less than 1 hour later. I also realize that I didn’t need to gorge myself of fucking popcorn, but it was the old school Jiffy Pop that you cook on the stove and I love that kind. I also didn’t need to eat so much bread at dinner but oh well it’s over with now and tomorrow I will have to actually get my ass on the elliptical so that I don’t slowly begin to blow up and no longer fit into my clothes. The good thing about getting back into logging all y my food is that I realize that even though it didn’t feel like I ate very much, clearly I could have made some better choices.

So with that here is today’s damage for ALL TO SEE!
(click images to enlarge)
2470 calories! OMG!!! I typically eat that in 2 days.

Today’s exercise:

WOOHOO, I so need to stick to this. I realized yesterday that I have shrunk and I’m finally starting to see the skinny me again instead of the fat me that had moved in temporarily. The only problem is that I noticed the skinny me is also a squishy me. My legs are great, doing stairs daily has really made a difference, and my arms are slowly toning back up thanks to belly dance but I have a soft center and it ain’t pretty. I had on some yoga pants and a fitted tee on Wednesday and felt a little sausagy which I hate. I hate seeing my belly button through my t-shirt. I rally hope that I can stick to doing abs 3x a week. It really isn’t very much so we shall see.

As for my personal monthly goal for the challenge. I want to do 1850 minutes of cardio. In March I did 1783 minutes and in April I did 1612 (the husband was sick so we couldn’t take any weekend walks) but I went and had a New Leaf Test done at the gym on Wednesday and am supposed to add 3 days of cardio to my routine, 15 minutes each day and I need to track my heart rate so that I can burn more fat longer. As of right now my Active Metabolic Rate is good as long as my HR stays between 110 -139, at that rate I am bu ring 3.5 fat calories for ever 4.5 minutes worked, which is pretty good, especially since I seem to stay in that range for most of the exercises I do (walking, stair climbing and dance), but the higher my HR goes the lower the ratio goes so the goal is to get me burning the most fat all the time in order to lose more weight. I still don’t get what all the numbers mean but I was glad to know that for now and the exercise that I am doing, that I am burning fat the entire time I am working out. This definitely explains why I can eat crap and not really gain but it also explains why I haven’t been able to loose anymore. So I need to cut the crap and sweat some more LOL.

The exact numbers from the Active Metabolic Training test were:
HR: 110-139, 3.5 cal fat for every 4.5 mins = good
HR: 139-151, 4 cal fat for every 6.6 mins = pretty good
HR: 151-159, 3.7 cal fat for every 7.3 mins = eh
HR: 159-169, 2.1 cal fat for every 8.9 mins = not so much

And just in case I haven’t already bored you with my stats, here is my food from today…

And of course my exercise. I’m a little bummed that for an hour and a half hula class the teacher decided to talk about Lei Day for like an hour and so we only got to dance for 30 minutes. I did learn something new, but I wanted to DANCE! Good thing I decided to be crazy and do 3 sets of stair climbing instead of the usual 2!

Thanks to the amazing Tina I now have the ability to take screen shots of my SP food logs too! Unfortunately I have yet to figure out how to capture the screen and scroll down at the same time so that I get everything in one shot (guess I eat too many things) but oh well, I got it all anyway. SO here it is people. Day 1 wiht my new talent. Clearly not the best day but whatever Tom is here and I can’t turn down free Chinese frood from this particular place. It’s not a chain so these calories are total guesses based on what SP has listed. At least I got in an hour and 45 minutes of exercise to hopefully off set it a little.

WOW! I can’t believe it. I’ve exercised every day except 4 out of the entire month of March.

Total minutes: 1783, that’s just under 30 hours
Total calories: 7552, that’s a little over 2 pounds kept off
APs earned: 97
Distance in miles: 28.8
Flights of stairs: 405 or 810 depending on how you count the flights

Exercises done: walking, stair climbing, dance class (hula and flamenco), hula DVD, some planks and weighted side bends

Starting weight for the month: 136.8
Ending weight: 136.2
Highest: 137
Lowest: 134.4
Change from previous month: Higher starting and ending, same low

So even though I have totally sucked on the March Exercise Challenge I have been logging the exercise that I have done and so far this month I have kicked ass!

I have done some type of exercise every day this month except 3!
Between daily stairs, walking, dance class, the Exercise Challenge and DVDs, I have exercised;
19 out of 22 days
1333 minutes
5590 calories burned (assuming SP is accurate)
65 APs earned
22.14 miles walked
260 flights of stairs going up AND down so depending on how you count it, it could be 260 or 520

This might explain why I haven’t really gained considering my eating has been out of control this month.

I’ve started so many posts in the past week, but then I never finish them. So this one may be really random but I’m going to try and just post a couple things.

First off I want to compare January and February #s. You all know that I weigh every day right? Well, I also both use google15 and Roni’s graph to help with my #s obsession. For as much as my weight fluctuates day to day, it seems that I truly am maintaining. Which is great, except for the fact that I still want to lose.

Starting weight January 2, 2008 - 136.4
Ending weight January 31, 2008 - 134.8
Lowest weight in January - 133
Highest weight in January - 137
Overall +/- for January - +.2

Starting weight February 1, 2008 - 134.6
Ending weight February 29, 2008 - 135.6
Lowest weight in February - 134
Highest weight in February - 136.8
Overall +/- for for February - +1

We have started the March Exercise Challenge in our Spark Team, only this month we are stepping it up a bit with a group challenge along with everyones individual goals.
We are doing an ab challenge for the entire month which includes 10 planks a day, 5 days a week and Weighted Side Bends, 30 on each side 5 days a week. I vote for/suggested 5 days a week with 2 days off, mainly because the 2 exercises combined will take 10-15 max and everyone voted for abs so why not kick it into high gear and get ready for Summer.

The challenge starts tomorrow so if anyone is interested you can still join us as long as you comment or email me by 10pm PST tonight so that I can add you to the team (it’s a private group on SP).

Last weekend I made 2 new meals, Creamy Pesto with Turkey Balls (5 pts) and Nachos Sin Carne (7pts). Click on the links for the full recipes.


Yesterday I did over 3 hours (220 minutes) of exercise throughout the day and loved it!

• Walk to and from Flamenco class - 10 minutes total
• Flamenco class - 60 minutes
• Hula Buns & abs DVD - 30 minutes
• Approx. 6 mile walk with the husband - 120 minutes

Lastly, I’m sure everyone has seen either the latest HG’s newsletter or the commercials about the calories in Glacéau VitaminWater. Well I found a cheaper alternative at Costco. They call theirs Vita Rain and it has 0, that’s ZERO, calories per serving/bottle and it tastes pretty much the same as far as I’m concerned.

I get suckered into these damn DVDs every time I see them on TV. I got the Bender Ball only to lose the DVD and now I just have the stupid ball. But I will admit that the few times that I got to use both the ball and DVD I did feel it with just a few moves. This past weekend I saw a commercial for Crunchless Abs that piqued my interest. I know it is possible to work your core without site ups or specific ab moves because we used to do it in Belly Dance all the time but the subliminal messages in these commercials reach into my head and make me want to make an impulse buy. Has anyone else seen the commercial? Does anyone else have them?

They advertise that you get the set for $9.99 but it’s really $12.99 unless you want the VHS, then you can get them for $9.99. Now for $12.99 it looks like you get 3 DVDs and some random soup meal plan which seems like a decent deal, after all most DVDs are at least $14.99 in the stores. HELP! Please comment if you have these and let me know what you think.

I ended up going to yoga which makes twice in 4 days! WOOHOO! That is 20 APs right there (10 per class). I’m so glad I went because I had the best nights sleep. I haven’t slept that good in ages, I even struggled to wake up because I didn’t want it to end.

Not really that sore today, I think going actually helped restretch things so that I would not feel so sore, although it’s still early, who knows what tonight or tomorrow will hold. The good thing is that this isn’t the first time I’ve done Bikram. I’ve been doing it off and on since 2001. I g through spurts of all the time and then nothing at all. This year I am lowering my bar/goal to once a week this way if I go more then I exceed the goal and feel even better. In previous years I’ve set the goal to 3-4 times a week and I do it for about 2-3 weeks and slowly fall off the wagon. I realize that 3-4 times is far better than 1 but 1 time a week is far better than none. This week I exceeded my goal and have gone twice!

Food has been a weird struggle. I know that I’m not over eating, am afraid that I may be under eating again since that is my pattern but am really trying to figure out what I need to do to lose this final 7 pounds. I’m afraid to just count points for fear of not knowing how much fat and protein I’m eating. Just counting calories is keeping me at the same weight. Maybe I’m really at the point where exercise is the only thing left. It kinda makes sense. I am doing exercise daily (stair climbing) but I think I’m at the point where that is just my maintenance, meaning it is helping me eat a little extra junk (in moderation) and stay the same. I need to up it. God I want the exercise motivation. The challenge has managed to get everyone else moving but me, not that I’m not moving but I need more. I NEED dance again, that is what I did for years and it totally worked for me. I was able to eat whatever and not gain a pound. There are 2 classes in my neighborhood that I need to look into. One is Flamenco, which I have never done but always wanted to and the other is Belly Dance which I did for years (performed and taught). If I could just get into the swing of those again I know it would help. I emailed the Flamenco teach er today to get more info and hopefully I can check it out on the 2nd. Belly Dance is on Tuesdays but that too will have to wait a bit since it’s at night and the husband is having surgery on Monday so I need to stay home with him at least for the first few days. So maybe February is going to be my month to dance LOL.

Can I just start by saying that everyone should pamper themselves on a regular basis. As mentioned a few weeks ago, I am always getting my nails done and getting waxed and doing facials at home and taking care of myself but think of it as maintenance really. Things that have to be done. They are part of my budget and regular schedule. I also go to acupuncture and a chiropractor on a regular basis to treat different ailments and both include a massage as part of the treatment but I’ve only ever had one pleasure massage prior to this weekend. Pleasure meaning that I scheduled it to enjoy it, not that it was part of a therapeutic treatment. Well the spa that I go to for waxing also does facials and massages (my last professional facial was days before my wedding in 2006). Every year they offer specials during certain holidays and it is basically a package deal for services and you save a fair amount. So last year I bought myself a gift certificate for one of these packages, a facial and a massage. I also still had a massage left over from a precious gift certificate that my sister gave me for my wedding so I technically had “credit” for 2, 1 hour massages and an enzyme facial. Well I finally decided to cash in since the husband had a day with the boys planned. I got up early and headed on over to the salon. OMGthe massage was AMAZING, AMAZING!!! I am so glad that I have another one left on the 2ne GC because I am ALL OVER IT! And I’m going to get myself another GC during the next special because I think this needs to be more of a regular gift to myself. She did my legs, my arms, my neck, my back, it was amazing. I’ll admit it was slightly painful but only because I said that I wanted deep tissue and that I had a bad back and knew I had some kinks. I walked out of that room feeling so relaxed and just like mush, the only think better would have been to have that same massage on Hanalei beach in HI. After my massage I was escorted (wearing a fuzzy wrap towel and robe) to another room for my facial. AAAAAHHHHH! All I could think was “this is the life!” And that was when I realized that I deserve this type of treatment at least a few times a year, specifically the massages. Since I take such good care of my skin at home I don’t really need regular facials. Even the esthetician was shocked that she had given me my last facial in 2006. So my new pampering goal and budget will include 2 professional facials a year and hopefully 3-4 massages. After my pamperng morning I decided to go to my parent’s house and hang out with my puppy. My sister was working and my parent’s were running errands so he was home alone. My original plan was to go to Costco but after being so relaxed I decided that Costco could wait and that I needed to keep with the relaxation so what better thing to do but go hug on my doggie. Just me and him, it was awesome! Eventually everyone came home and then I called the husband and the 5 of us went out to dinner. Then yesterday my little sister and I went to Bikram Yoga. WOW, I really do miss going. I felt great and earned me 10 APs to boot. All in all I am really sore today (Monday) and I know it’s a combo of Yoga and the massage but damn I feel great. I plan to go to yoga at least once more this week if not twice and I want to try and get back into it but I’m setting the bar low so that I don’t get discouraged and give up. My goal is to try and go to yoga at least once a week, more is a PLUS but at least once a week.
Between Saturday and Sunday I feel like I got new skin, new muscles and new found relaxation. WOOHOO! =)

So for anyone who is trying to find ways to reward themselves, try a massage! It is so therapeutic and I think everyone deserves to feel absolutely pampered and relaxed.

Today was the first day in ages that I tracked EVERYTHING in SP. If I can keep this up for 7 days then I think I can go back to tracking both in SP and WWO. It was a good day food wise and exercise wise. We took a walk through the neighborhood for an hour and 20 minutes and walked just under 3 miles and we had a great time doing it. Starting tomorrow the focus is on more fiber and more F&V!

Warning this may be LONG I have so much to blog about that I think I may just put it in one long random post as opposed to a bunch of shorter ones like I usually do. Sorry if I lose ya! Today is the last day of the first week of the January Exercise Challenge! So if you haven’t already, don’t’ forget to send me your results (I’ll email a reminder too). As for me I got 2 days in so far and we’ll see about today. I’m working from home due to weather/storms (more on that later) so I won’t get in my 2 sets of stairs but maybe I can do a DVD or some ellipticalness. I did the first half of my Yoga Booty Ballet: Abdominals & Core on Wednesday and used 5lb weights for the arm portion. BIG mistake for the first time in a long time, towards the end of the work out I had to drop down to 3lb weights and let me tell you my triceps are not too happy with me today but oh well, at least I know they still work and I must test them again today/night. Then Thursday morning woke up and did 5 push-ups using our new Push Up Pro. The husband’s goal is to do 10 every morning so I thought I’d give it a shot too. Even on my knees those things are tough. I have no idea if I did them right but at least I tried. Then I did 2 sets of stairs at work (15 flights and then 17 flights) so I have 5 APs for the week so far which is A LOT compared to what I was NOT doing during the break. Food yesterday got a little out of control (see below), but that’s okay, today will be back to normal.

The scale number is slowly creeping back down. I had gotten down to 132.2 on the 26th and stayed between that and 133.6 until NYE day. We went to Cambria and Hearst Castle for New Years which means a 3 hour road trip and even though I packed TONS of water and a couple healthy snacks we still ate crappy. I realized that I don’t drink much water when we do road trips because I hate having to stop in general more or less to use some nasty gas station/public restroom. There is not enough seat covers and toilet paper to protect me from the grossness that breeds in those places. Sometimes you have to but I always get skeezed out and then stop consuming fluids. Last WI for 2007b was 133.6. I didn’t WI on January 1st because we got back late but January 2nd decided to be a little mean coming in at 136.4. I realize some of that was water retention and some was crappy food intake and TOM deciding when it would really make its formal appearance but come on, I said GOOD-BYE to that number long ago. Today I’m back to the 134s but TOM is also here so I should be back down early next week. Either way I am still at or under my Lifetime goal of 135 so all is well in the land if size 6 :).

Storms, now this may not be something totally unfamiliar for a lot of you, but for us here in CA and more specifically the Bay Area/North Bay, we are NOT that familiar with them nor are we very prepared for them. Our weather isn’t great but it’s not bad either. It rains on occasion during rainy season and we have fire seasons because it gets dry and sure we have the occasional earthquake but those of us who are natives aren’t really fazed by them. We don’t get snow unless we want to drive approximately 4 hours north to the mountains (Tahoe area) and we sure as hell don’t get storms on a regular basis. Shit we freak out during the first “rain,” and according to the husband it’s the same way east coasters freak out during the first snow (in relation to driving). We just aren’t used to extreme weather. I am now sitting here typing on batter power and by candle light because we lost our power at around 9:30am but if you clicked on either of the links above or watched the Today Show you may have heard about these storms that are hitting us out here. It’s BAD people. So bad that the news even said to stay home and telecommute if you can, which is exactly what the husband and I decided to do. It took a bit of convincing to get mister “I’m used to this weather and can drive in anything” to stay home, but once the wind got so strong that it shook the house AND the coffee table that his laptop is on, he decided it was probably best to not drive in. He’s only lived in CA for 6 years but you’d think by now he’d realize that even though he may be an expert bad weather driver, the rest of the Bay Area isn’t and all hell breaks loose at the sign of a few droplets of water more or less POURING rain AND high winds (50-70 MPH). It’s like we all get retarded, me included (hope I didn’t offend anyone by using that term) and forget how to drive. According to the news, the last time we had storms like this was in 2005 or 2003, now I can’t remember or even look it up, but it’s been long enough that we all forgot what to do again. The good thing is that they have been warning us and encouraging people to prepare for flooding that seems to always happen in wine country and oh yes, let’s not forget the mudslides, we have a season for that too apparently. So anyone who has ever visited here and been awestruck about all the beautiful houses built on the side of the hills and mountains. This is about the time that those home owners are not so happy about the gorgeous views. Yup, you got it, some of those homes have fallen off or slid down or even started sinking in the past. It’s insane.

Now in addition to the horrendous rain and winds it’s garbage day and you guessed it lots of cans have been knocked over and garbage spilled out. Well for the most part everyone in our area is capable of cleaning up their own garbage but we do have a little old lady (like 75+ yo) who lives across the street from us who is all alone and my husband, mister social, knows all the neighbors (I keep to myself) and likes to watch out for the lady. At one point we heard a BOOM that startled us so we looked out side to see what happened but didn’t see anything, although we did notice that the lady’s garbage cans had toppled over and some garbage had fallen out. Well what does my kind and wonderful husband do? He goes outside in the rain and wind (it had slowed and lightened a bit but he still got drenched) to pick up her garbage cans and clean up the debris. It’s those little things that make me realize why I fell in love with him. Who does those things anymore? Not many people in big cities that’s for sure, but then again I did marry a small town country boy from RURALL PA.

OMG before I forget, there is nothing more eye opening than watching the morning news while drinking your coffee and hearing about a 100 foot tree that has been uprooted and fallen and then realizing that it happened only blocks fro your home. Talk about a “HOLY SHIT” moment.

Okay, I think that’s enough rambling for now. Just got our electricity back at 11am and I want to post this before it goes out again. Good thing we love candles and have a ton as well as a gas stove to make tea and soup. Those of you who live in areas where this is typical Winter weather, I don’t know how you do it…

If anyone is interested to see how we’re doing out here you can click here and here for info and pictures. Hope we don’t blow away!

Him: Is there any desert?
Me: Something SMALL, we’re trying to get back on track remember?
Him: I was good today, how about one of those little WW cakes?
Me: Oh, good idea, they are only 1 point, chocolate or lemon
Him: Lemon (I like to let him pick since I always get to pick dinner)

I went and got the cakes and then started to log in the calories etc in SparkPeople half way through logging I looked over and saw an empty wrapper…

Me: Are you done already?
Him: Yea, they’re tiny
Me: Was it good? (I hadn’t opened mine yet)
Him: Yea, it was pretty good, but it would be better if there were 2 in a pack

I finished mine and it was pretty good. Before I put the box back in the kitchen I asked him if he really wanted a second one.

Him: Would it be really bad if I had another one?
Me: Not horrible since they are only 1 point and we (I try not to single him out) need to wean ourselves off the bad stuff but you can’t go eat’n eat 2 every day
Him: Okay, just today, I was really good today and I need to wean myself

(if you knew my husband you’d know that he loves to joke around and typing it out doesn’t do his actions/voice inflections justice)

I gave him a second one and then went back to reading and watching Wife Swap (I have a sick addiction to reality TV). I was waiting for a commercial to get up and put the box away and as I got up I saw an empty YoGo’s wrapper.

Me: Honey did you eat a YoGos too?!
Him: Oh shit, I guess I did
Me: DUDE!
Him: Shit! It’s like I don’t even remember eating them. I shouldn’t have have the 2nd cake thingie. How did that happen? I totally forgot that I ate those.
Me: When did you eat them and how can you not remember? (laughing my ass off by now)
Him: YOU MADE ME DO IT! (totally laughing his ass off at this point)

I think he ate them while he was on the phone. He is guilty if mindless eating like that. Hopefully this will make him more aware.

Day 1 of 3 for the Exercise Challenge: COMPLETE!

Today’s food (I need to get back to posting my food daily so here goes)

01/02/08 Wed. - Daily Points Target 23 Day 2 - in Week - Flex Points Remaining: 35 Morning WI - 136.4
Food	Points
B - coffee	1
B - 2 slices Wonderbread Light Wheat Bread and 1 TBS Better N Peanut Butter	2
L - 2 TJ’s Black Bean & Corn enchiladas w/1/8 C Tj’s Lite Shredded Cheese	6
S - 1oz chips	3
D - 2 Taco Dinner Kit tacos w/ lean ground turkey, mexican cheese, 98% FF beans and rice	10
D - WW Lemon cake	1
Total	23
Water (8oz glasses)   Fruits & Vegetables Milk x x x x x x x x x x x       x         x
Cal:1220-1550 Fat: 32-56 Carb: 163-236 Protein:60-127 Fiber:25-35 Sod.0-2300 1234 42 160 60 18 2604
Activity Duration/ Steps Pts./ Cals. Burned Distance Yoga Booty Ballet 20 min 1 pt N/A