Sunday, February 28, 2010

21 Days

They say if you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit. I wish they would add a sentence to it that it becomes easier to fight those old habits. Diet Coke and Coke Zero are so missed in my life. WaWa Coffee is so missed but more importantly what I miss is being alert. I feel great and the great blood pressure is telling me I am doing the right thing but god I miss those small little bubbles that fizzle when you pour it over ice. Tomorrow is 28 days!

So I am on the last day of February and if you remember I am trying to get through it without drinking alcohol. I drank 2 times. Once on a date and the other after a disastrous day of dealing with a school budget that is my favorite local. On the date he ordered the bottle of wine before I could say "oh I am a wild child and trying to see if I can make it through a month without drinking" needless to say I only had 2 glasses but god it was great. The other night was wine as well and only 3 glasses but after the day of dealing with budgets and for those of you know how I am challenged with Math you know it easily could've been three bottles. I didn't make it the whole month but I am pretty proud of myself.

My friends are ready for me to drink tomorrow since it will be March 1st but I am not sure if I will or not. I've enjoyed waking up and feeling great. There were a couple of times being with friends that were rough and down right uncomfortable but the month is over and the friendships are still there so mission accomplished.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Cheating doesn't pay off and I am in the danger zone!

So here is the deal:

23 days I've gone without soda and no wild parties. Holy Miracle Batman! If you remember my nutritionist is making me give up coffee and I am struggling. I went one week and I had to get gas and I only try to get gas at WaWa. I am very aware that it is not normal to love a gas station like I do but after I get this fitness thing down I will work on that obsession. I gave in and said "Hello" to my friends and said "One cup won't hurt" and it didn't. So in my twisted mind I said "a cup once a week won't hurt". Once again I was wrong. I've been a nightmare all day. My head hurts, I feel like I have a bulldozer in my stomach and I've been jittery. I think it is done because if I am going to feel like this then it is going to include some milla lites, good music and a hot man making me jittery instead of just coffee. I wonder if I put water in a WaWa cup if I could get the same warm and cozy feeling?

Danger Zone = people are starting to notice I am losing weight. I guess I am losing weight because remember the debacle of weighing week 1 and accusing Molly she had no clue how to work the scales. I am not weighing till March 26th and honestly I don't give a rip what it says. I am noticing in my clothes, face and ummmmmmm Hello blood pressure is rocking! Anyway, this has always been my downfall in the past. When people notice I start to tell myself "oh I can tone it down a notch because I am doing so well" or "I can skip a workout because I've had great success." Thank God I have another month of boot camp.

Awesome news- The trip to Cancun is planned to celebrate the end of boot camp and to unwind from this disastrous General Assembly that will ruin public education in Virginia. www.supportvirginiaschools.com I leave after I finish the Monument Avenue and I return before Boot Camp 2 starts.

Tomorrow night is Powerball. My favorite class by far. Wonder which politician will be on the first ball that I throw into the ground?

I'm Famous!

Click here and who do you see??????????

http://endorphinfitness.com/weight-loss-challenge.php

Monday, February 22, 2010

reunited......

with 2 friends today. Costco...I love them. My checking account hates me but my fridge and my library love me. I am into plums these days and you can get them cheap and ready. I got the rotisserie chicken for my other reunion.

Today is my 22nd day without sodas. I am happy but I do miss them. I got to the point I needed something other than water with lemon. I am trying the Fuze Slenderize. I wonder what Tina will have to say about them. Yay for following something for 21 days Ra!

Sorry I haven't been updating. Work blows right now with the budget. If you don't believe elections matter then follow what is going on with our budget!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

so excited

so we're halfway thru boot camp according to Molly! I went to the doctor today for my eye infection. I got it by touching the treadmill and then rubbing my eyes. At least that is what the gorgeous doctor told me today. I got a shot of steroids in the arse and I start taking them tomorrow and I have jock itch cream on my eyelids. kid you not.

after waiting in the waiting room for over 30 minutes to be processed and then another hour to see the doctor and the whole time worrying about whether this is what public option health care would be like I went back with the nurse. the scales......why the hell does she need to weigh me if it is my eye. she said it is what had to happened. down 3 pounds from weigh in at boot camp and i have on very different clothes than what i wore to get weighed. she then proceeded to wrap the dreaded cuff around my arm. i've had border line high blood pressure for years. 140/90 well guess what people NOT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was 126/72. I was so excited. I couldn't wait for her to get away from me so I could text my trainer, Rusty! I am so freaking proud. Who cares I look like a scary monster with an eye infection......my blood pressure rocks baby!

Monday, February 8, 2010

An Afternoon with Tina

so I arrived for my consultation with Tina and it was much different than when she spoke to our class. Redhead showed up and it was an adventure. I went over what I had been eating for breakfast "The Ellie McMuffin" and she loved it. 3 proteins and a carb. She wants me to have a mid morning snack of fruit and nuts specifically almonds or walnut halves. For lunch she wants me to have protein, veggie and maybe a carb. I told her for lunch I had chicken, black beans, diced tomatoes and cut up avocado and she loved it. She wants me to add a mid afternoon snack of 2 oz of protein and a fruit. For dinner she wants me to have a protein, veggie and a starch i.e. rice and hopefully beans of some type. She cautioned me on corn because of the high glacemic index. NO SNACKS after dinner = buzz kill.

Here are the bits of information she gave me.

1. Cheese is 50% saturated fat so be very careful. 1/2 ounce of cheese = protein.
2. I can only have 2 fruits a day.
3. Take your body weight and divide in half. This is how many ounces of water you're suppose to have a day. If you don't do it you do harm to your body.
4. I can only have 1 cup of coffee. She immediately identified me as Type A and said that we create 80% more adrenaline and that generates so much insulin in my pancreas and my body can't handle it. How horrible is that? If I do have a cup of coffee I am suppose to have 2 cups of water to replace the coffee.
5. I am definitely going organic with my meat. Americans eat 35 pounds of antibiotics when they don't go organic because what is put in animals. Tonight we're starting with organic hamburgers. There was no difference in the cost.
6. I am to focus on lots of veggies and proteins and have a few carbs preferably before 3pm.
7. Bad news on the alcohol. I told her I was going alcohol free for February and she said "it takes your body 1 day to say goodbye to alcohol, 3 months for your brain to get it." Redhead almost choked and I was worried she was going to send us to AA. 12oz of beer, 4 oz of wine and 1.5 oz of liquor all equal 2 fats. Your body absorbs it drop by drop and when it can't absorb any more it stores it as fat. That is why men have beer bellies and all of that good stuff.
8. She recommends all vitamins that are made of whole foods not the store Whole Foods but actual foods, not added chemicals. She is researching one she wants me to take.

It was mind opening and crazy. She could look at you and tell your body type. She asked about our body temperatures. Redhead told her he runs hot so she is limiting his chicken intake. She told us that chicken is a hot temperature food. I am normal so I can eat whatever protein but only have beef maximum 2 times.

I definitely recommend going to talk to someone. Tina is at Whole Foods every other Monday at Ellwood Thompson. What a great service they do for their customers so check your local area.

Happy Shopping!

Da Bomb!

Just checking in real quick. I am working at home today and probably being the most productive little worker ever!

I've made it for a FULL week of no sodas!!!! I made it through the weekend with no beer, wings or fries. Also no mac and cheese that I love as comfort food when I am snowed in at my house. I am sooo proud of myself. I didn't venture to my neighbors for beer and wings....woooooohoooooooo!

I have a 3:45 meeting with my nutritionist and that should be interesting!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Temptations


they're freaking everywhere and I've kicked them all in the arse...except snow cream! I made it out to Target today after shoveling for 2.5 hours (I burned 1865 calories according to discoveryhealth.com) and I didn't even go near the beer or food aisle and guess what greeted me when I checked out...if you know me then you know this was about all I could take!!!!!

I shoveled four neighbors walkways plus mine and parking places for them because 1. I need to get in good to make up for the noise that my cookouts have been known to have 2. I needed a good workout 3. I have a pregnant neighbor and 2 old neighbors and 4. My parents were great role models on how to take care of your neighbors. Where I come from your neighbors are your family but hopefully when we thaw out they will think about what I did when they hear some noise from the first spring cookout!

I am trying to forget that one of my neighbors said come on over tonight I am making 2 kinds of chicken wings, cheesecake and I will have that "special lemonade" you like....I said "no offense Mark but I am going to try to forget you exist tonight."

Ok I am off to shower and get comfy before half time. Rock on and I hope you're all having chicken wings, fries and most of all full on homemade ranch dressing on everything!!!!!!!

New Quote

"Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live." ~Eckhart Tolle

I am scanning blogs this morning and I found this quote. Yesterday was rough not hitting the bars but there is no way I would've made it with how crappy I felt. I kinda felt that way just like let me get through this weekend without drinking and eating all the right food I will be fine. So for the rest of this journey I am going to make the most of it!


Saturday, February 6, 2010

I have a new crush!

We're in love and I made it official when I signed up to get his live feed twitters. He knows I am following him so I can't get in trouble for stalking.

His name is Dave Zinczenko, who is the famous Eat This, Not That author. I stumbled upon him the other day from yahoo and I followed the link till I got to his twitter account. I love him. In fact I have his updates sent directly to my phone and I only ussally do that for the political candidates that I follow and RedHead when he use to use twitter.

I highly recommend it because he just will randomly send me great advice and it randomly comes when bad things are going through my head i.e. how good would that bacon french onion dip that I ran into while picking up my boring ass Fiber One yogurt. All the sudden Dave will text me a twitter update that says how the FDA is thinking about changing serving sizes because Americans are out of control and it brings me back into focus!

Also, Jillian is on twitter, Tara Costa (BL 7) and couple of other good sites. Highly recommend it!

Winter Weather Struggles


I will admit the first snow storm I was excited about because I usually love snow. 2nd storm and I was amused but now i am not at all amused. I am ready for the spring flowers, windows opened and being able to get out and enjoy but this weekend I am stuck in the house once again.

The night of our group run I realized I needed to step up training and get very serious about boot camp. I had been doing the right stuff and my homework but I want to see real results on March 26-27th so I decided for the month of Feb I was going party free. Little did I know we would have another snow storm.

Thank God I woke up not feeling good because a group of friends are heading to BW3's as we speak and I am staying in...I had the Devil and Angel on my shoulder but bottom line is I can barely breathe so I've decided to stay in and stick the promise I made to myself.

Yesterday was a struggle as well. I met 2 of my favorites for lunch. I met these girls when I first moved to Richmond and we try to get together for lunch a couple of times a year to catch up. It is always good to catch up and hear what is going on and talk political smack talk. They had both had trying times that morning and sat down and ordered a drink and I stuck with the water and lemon. A beer and a bloody mary right in front of me (remember I fell in love with them at New Year's brunch). I tried to focus what they were saying but I was thinking bloody mary is mostly tomato juice...that is a vegetable right? Their fries looked so good but a trip to the salad bar with tons of good veggies and a chicken wrap with no side and it came off their paper menu. Ruby Tuesday's will give you a paper menu with nutritional information if you ask for it. It includes calories, carbs and fat grams. I got out of there with about 55o calories.

If you know me you know I love cake icing and could care less about cake. Cheesecake I can take or leave but RedMama had the cake icing that was actually talking to me. I so wanted to stick my fork on her plate and scoop it up and eat it. Thankfully I didn't because all of the sudden the crackberry went off and this email came in from my trainer, Rusty. I would've felt so guilty if I would've given in to the icing. "I will be there! So glad you are using all the tools I'm trying to put in front of you guys :) I have a soft spot in my heart for you and the other 2 stooges. You're doing awesome, keep up the good work and success will surely come!" He is referring to me making an appointment with our nutritionist on Monday. She consults at a natural grocery store and I am meeting with her on Monday to begin the switch to organic.

It could be my imagination but I think I can tell a big difference in my bloatiness (if that is a word) in my body with just giving up sodas. I've been nazi like this week with what I've eaten. I am not eating any processed foods. I've gotten my fruits and veggies in and had great workouts. I am probably going to make snow cream here in a bit but everybody deserves a treat.

I am attaching pictures of the desserts I watched and the drinks. They totally knew I was taking it and please don't think I made them feel bad. They totally deserve it and chase children around and burn the calories off. They were very encouraging and excited to hear about boot camp. I would love to have both of them in our next session that starts April 7th. I could see the mulling it over. I think if we could have open house and have everybody go to last Wed's class it would be so full. Seriously it was the best class ever. The 3 Stooges are still talking about it!

Hope all of you are staying warm and enjoying the winter weather. I do have a very healthy recipe in my crock pot that I will share. My house is starting to smell good. I made some changes. Instead of salsa I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes and I added lime juice and cilantro and I didn't add the brown rice. I have the minute brown rice and if I am hungry for it when it is time to eat I will just put the chicken on top of it! Enjoy!
Black Bean Chicken

An easy slow cooker recipe that the family will enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
2 cans black beans
16 oz jar salsa
1/2 cup brown rice (uncooked)
1 lb chicken breast

DIRECTIONS
Place frozen chicken breasts in slow cooker.
Pour beans, rice and salsa over chicken.
Cook low 8-10 hours and serve.


Number of Servings: 6

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user LOSER1231.

Nutritional Info
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 298.9
Total Fat: 1.9g
Total Carbs: 40g
Dietary Fiber: 13mg
Protein: 30.8g

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

love balls.......

stop thinking perverted thoughts. tonight we did all of work with medicine balls, stability balls and we threw 12/10 pound balls up in the air and then we threw these 4 pound balls on the ground and picked them up with a squat. I had a lot of road rage when I started this class and throwing balls is a great release. A few of those balls had a few faces on them and god it felt good to smash them into the ground. I loved every minute of class and didn't say one bad word to Rusty. I will admit one time when he corrected my form that my tongue flew out when he walked away but no bad words were spoken tonight.

we did 2 circuits and each circuit we did 2 reps of 15 on 6 activities that involved some sort of ball took a water break and then we did it again. I loved tonight's class. I can already feel it, I worked up a sweat and I really hope we do this class again.

We had circle time and talked about our successes and if we were worried about anything. I just wish this snow would go away so I could get outside and focus on the Monument!

The 3 Stooges came back here and cooked pork tenderloin, corn and a strawberry spinach salad. No wine was had and I feel like a rock star.

Peace out I am tired and I have to go do cardio in the am. I heart boot camp!

Forgot 2 Very Important bits of Information

1. From the run the other night. I was asking Rusty about how to make it better and he suggested www.jeffgalloway.com and I really like him. Great info and I am trying to incorporate some of his stuff on the treadmill and hopefully this weekend if we don't get blanketed again with that white crap!

2. The nutritionist said "listen to your body and the seasons". In the winter you're craving warmth and in the summer you want salads....that is what we should be feeding our bodies. Stews in the winter and salads in the summer. It was interesting!

Day 4

of cutting out diet drinks from my life and I am starting to freak out a little. I love a Coke Zero and I am not saying I will never drink one again but I am trying it for 21 days! We had a nutritionist speak to our boot camp the other day and she basically told us that diet sodas are one of the worst things you could put in your body. The alternative sugars have huge molecules that it is very hard on your liver to process it. My liver needs no more challenges. Also, it makes your body crave other bad stuff....more sweets and all of that stuff. Rumor is that it takes 21 days to make something a habit so I hope these next few weeks fly by....I am doing pretty good with it but any change can be a little rough.

Also, she told us that organic meat is much better than regular meat. I will give that a try in a bit. I had already bought my meat for the weekend so I haven't tried it. I did watch Oprah the other day and she talked with Michael Pollan http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Truth-About-Food-with-Michael-Pollan and he solidified that it needs to be organic and especially pay attention if it has been grain or grass fed. Grass is better!

What else did she say....need to be very careful of reduced, light and all of that. Sometimes the real thing is much better for you!

Ok, I am off to eat lunch!

P.S. I am actually excited about boot camp tonight...we're doing work on medicine balls and stability balls...I think it sounds fun!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Running Night

I know I've been behind in getting this posted but I really haven't been into writing about it because honestly the night sucked and I dealt with it and moved on but I keep getting emails asking about it so here goes.

It all started when Molly sent out the email explaining what the challenge was going to be and you can find that in my archives. I was thrown for a loop when it had us incorporating running into the fitness challenge. I had been drawn to this challenge because it focused on nutrition and fitness so I agreed I would try it and go from there.

Wednesday was the first time we've run as a group. It started off with an intern that runs a 4 minute mile and completes all over the country for running. Immediately my nerves were shot and I just wanted to yell at this guy "i've only ever run in my adult life if we've realized we were almost out of beer and Food Lion is about to close" but he was telling us how not to run...my mind was mush and I was just ready to be outside and trying to get it done. I had major anxiety and my nerves were a hot mess.

It was dark, unfamiliar with the course and honestly couldn't run hardly at all which I knew I wasn't going to be like the intern but I thought I would be better than I was and that just made me want to kill the world. Even my play list wasn't given me the mojo I needed. I actually pretended Jillian was with me on the run and pushing me to make me go faster. I was walking as fast as I could and it helped pretending she was there.

I was a hot mess and felt like my legs weighed 400 pounds a piece. I wanted to quit, I wanted to sit down and throw a temper tantrum and I didn't. Some of the people from boot camp came for the last part...I loved that and made me so glad we don't have to vote anybody off like the Biggest Loser...I really like our group.

The 3 Stooges were all a little "blah" about how we did. I've decided to kick it up a notch to get ready for Monument Avenue. Do I think I will run/jog the whole way...Hell to the no but do I think I will push myself like I've never done before....yes sir!

So I am making some changes and kicking up the focus. I've kinda felt scattered with the rock climbing, group run and realizing I need to kick it up but I think I am on track right now to get a personal best on March 27th!