Losing Weight The Crazy Way

I'm still alive

2006-07-11T20:31:00.000-04:00

I had no idea it's been so long since my last post. Reality is, I've been keeping busy, and really haven't been online all that much.

As I put in my last post, I really can't do a workout in front of my roommate, so I'd been going to the gym. And I did stick to the every other day cardio, and alternating days the weight routines. The thing was, I started feeling like I'd hit a plateau. I wasn't thrilled with my progress.

So what I started doing was going to the cardio classes every evening - for about the last month or so. The class is at 5:30, so I take my workout clothes with me and leave the bag in the car. Then head there after work. In addition, I did start going to the step class on Saturday mornings. And since I don't want to give up the strenth training, what I've been trying to do is to go to the gym in the mornings before work, usually 2x in the weekdays, and doing a weight routine. Sundays do not have a cardio class, so I head to the gym during the 4 hours it's open (noon til 4).

I've not been able to follow that totally faithfully - sometimes things interfere - like 4th of July, I went to the Saturday morning class, had to skip Sunday because of a birthday party, then Monday I went to the weights in the morning because I had a family thing that night, and Tuesday the gym was closed. I missed the gym this past Sunday, but my roommate and his daughter (who was in town the past couple weeks) had gone to his parents, so I did the Jillian Michaels workout dvd. Today I had to skip the cardio because I was going to dinner with the two of them and my daughter.

Anyway, I'm not sure about my weight loss, as my scale isn't the best. However, if my scale is right and I compare it to what I was before, I believe I've lost about 25 pounds so far. However, my clothes fit a lot differently. I've dropped down to between a size 8 and 10, depending on the clothes and fit. I just bought some Laura Ashley clothes (on sale) in medium. According to my goal, I have about 15 more pounds to lose (that's if my scale is right).

While I'm still striving for my goal, I was looking at my naked self in the mirror this morning. It's much easier to tolerate now - I don't see creases in my back, it's now a smooth curve rounding to my butt. I've got much better tone in my butt now, all those lunges paid off! I'll never be happy with my butt - there is cellulite that I know won't go away. My waist is very well defined now. I'm not happy with my arms, or my thighs. But those may never be as thin as I'd like, even if I got the fat sucked out.

Do I have enough body fat to lose 15 more pounds? I don't know. We'll see. But I am not being complacent about it. I lost weight before, but with depression and all the stuff going on in my life, it came back. What I do know is that I'm much more reliant on exercise now, and less on cutting so much out of my diet. It's not that I wasn't working out, and in fact I never stopped, but I wasn't working out as intently. I don't plan to keep up this routine permanently, but I don't want to fall back into a lightweight routine either. I haven't been as good this time around about cutting out sugars. But I've tried to be sensible about it.

Take, for example, cookies. I love dark chocolate, and I've always liked chocolate chip cookies. But I took the recipe for chocolate chip cookies from my old Betty Crocker cookbook, and I substituted Giardhelli 60% cocoa content chips for regular, and I am using the Splenda brown sugar blend & the Splenda baking sugar blend, instead of the regular brown & white sugars. Now, mind you, there's still a lot of sugar in them, but it's half the amount. The great thing is - no one can tell! Even my roommate thinks that they are the best cookies he's ever had, and has no idea that it's half the sugar. He's someone who could stand to gain weight, even.

So I've tried - things like that. Then again, the other night at the store, I really wanted this Godiva Chocolate Raspberry Truffle ice cream. So I bought a pint. And I had some last night and the night before. But I didn't scarf down the whole container, and I have worked my butt off in cardio.

There's some stuff coming up that might cut into my workouts for a bit, but I'll detail it more in my other blog. I'll just say here that thanks to my working out, I discovered a problem, but fortunately not one that's a life-threatening or untreatable problem.

Last thing for now, I signed up for the email list at Jillian Michaels' website. I really recommend it. They mail out every day an email with weight loss tips. I haven't signed up for her new weight loss program, but with all the stuff she sends out, and the fact that she clearly knows her stuff, I bet it's worth it.

I'm going to try to work in my posts a LOT more often than I have! I think it's important to keep up with it better, it's just been hard to motivate myself at the end of the day.

I'm back

2006-04-08T10:51:00.000-04:00

I didn't mean to drop off the face of the earth, but I've been so busy trying to save my ass at work, that I haven't had time to do anything like blogging.

That said, one thing I haven't done is let the weight loss attempts slide. I've actually increased my activity - one thing that helped was getting a roommate recently. There's just no way I'm going to do my workouts at home in front of him. I'd look too much like a dork. Now granted, it's only been this week that he's been in here, but I've started doing the cardio workouts in classes at the gym (in addition to the alternating days I do strength training). I also finally got to meet with the personal trainer. Once so far, but it looks like he'll be able to meet up with my daughter and me again on Monday.

I had a follow-up doctor's appointment at the end of March. I'd lost 9 pounds at that point. According to my scale at home, which I know isn't exactly the most accurate, I'm actually about 16 pounds lighter than I was when I started this blog. It would be nice if that's right! I do feel better. I feel like I've got better muscle definition.

I was afraid of the cardio classes - like what if I can't actually make it through a class? But I've been keeping up, even if I end up with sweat pouring off of me. The one yesterday was interesting. The teacher (she's this tiny little thing, teaches like 8 cardio classes a week - often two classes a day - in addition to her full time job) had us using those exercise balls in cardio routines. Holding the ball in front of you and doing squats for example. And the traditional way of situps and stuff on it.

Anyway, I'll try to get some more blogs in here and there. I've got a bit of breathing room, but I still have to keep on my toes, so we'll see.

Please tell me this isn't a cold :(

2006-03-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

I swear, I hate that feeling you get in your throat, where you just FEEL it turning into that dreaded illness. The freakin cold. I can't deal with colds. I'm such a wuss.

Today wasn't too bad with food. Could be better, but I'm working on it. I did a modified Jillian Michaels workout - read: I did the exercises from it a bunch of times and worked up a sweat, but didn't follow the DVD because I was watching CSI instead.

Tomorrow's supposed to be a gym day, but I don't know if I'll make it. My daughter talked me into going to the circus with her, her friend, and her friend's parents. That means getting to the civic center at 6:30. Doesn't sound like quality gym time! So maybe I'll just hit it Friday and let tomorrow be a rest day.

Doctor day

2006-02-28T23:03:00.000-05:00

Finally got the exam over with. I admit, I felt a bit silly when my doctor said, "Now I need to feel your belly", and he kinda laughs and said, "That's new" about my belly-button ring. I got all embarrassed, but he said it was cute.

Anyway, he's got me set up to get an ultrasound next Monday to rule out fibroids causing my problems. If that gets the all clear, I'll probably start on birth control pills for the next 6 months.

All my lab results were good, so that is nice. They'll call with the pap results - although I should tell them not to call my home number, since I don't have an answering machine hooked up anymore after it kept falling until it no longer worked.

My doctor agreed with me that I need to do something about my weight, so I'll be working with him on it. I go back after the results from the ultrasound, I think. Get the pill prescription done and what not.

Whew

2006-02-25T20:36:00.000-05:00

Today was the second (and last) part of the RAD course. It was interesting. I'm not sure I am too keen on the fact that I went ahead and agreed to be part of the group that was filmed for the news. Apparently they'll cut and splice and put it on the local ABC news on Monday. They asked for someone to be interviewed by the newspeople, but I didn't want to do that. My co-worker thought for sure I would, lol. But I'm like - doing it from a bit of a distance is one thing, doing it up close is another. Plus wtf would I say. Sure it might have been my only chance to be on tv like that, but bleh. I've been in a lame-ass carpet commercial, so that and being in the background is enough.

I don't even know if I'll see it. It's not the same as when my daughter was on the news. One of the other moms called to tell me about that, so I taped it. I still have it.

I did the Jillian Michaels kickboxing workout after I got home. Well after Wal-Mart and after I got home. It was pretty intense on top of what I already did earlier. At the class, we followed up by doing scenarios. We had to put on all this sparring gear and walk into a room with a couple hefty guys wearing all sorts of padding. They'd attack you - you'd know you were going to be attacked, but not really how. One of the scenarios involved standing there with your eyes closed, while they taunt you, and not open your eyes until they actually attack.

The scenarios were taped, but only so that we could watch them all after. Of course, waiting half an hour while they figured out how to make the camera display on the tv was quite long. It was so weird to see myself on the tape like that. I was really using the "hammerfist" on the one guy, even when he dropped. They drop when you score a good hit or so on them.

Anyway, long busy day. I'm glad I went through the program, and I'm glad it's over!

Not really doing much tonight. I really need to get a life!

It's almost Friday!

2006-02-23T14:59:00.000-05:00

And boy do I need it.

I've done iffy with my eating habits. I really have to make a change. I'm ok with the exercise part. Going to the gym and using the nautilus equipment every other day. The alternating days, I've been doing cardio - right now the Jillian Michaels Kicbox.

Doctor on Tuesday. I'll get the results of the blood test, and I'll be able to go over my concerns with him. I may have to get a referral to a specialist for some of the problems, so we'll see.

Meanwhile, if you go to Movie Gallery, here's a coupon for you, expires 3/31/06:

Another weekend over..

2006-02-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

I ended up going to an Italian restaurant nearby with my daughter for lunch. Funny thing is, it was totally unexpected. I'd tried to get a hold of her, but it turned out she'd left her cell at a friend's house. I get this call as I'm pulling into the parking lot of the grocery store, and realize it's a call from my house. It baffled me for a moment. I'd actually wondered if the cats somehow knocked over my phone and hit redial - although I wouldn't have called my cell from my house. Anyway, it was my daughter, and she wanted to go to lunch, and had stopped by my place. So after a moment of decision - subs from Publix, go somewhere, what? I said I'd get the groceries, go back and pick her up, and we could go to the italian place.

So we do that, we walk in, and as we're heading to a table, I happened to look up and see the guy that I've been seeing for a while. We said hi. It was a bit of a surprise to say the least. He was there with his parents and some family friends. I am always at a loss when it comes to guys' parents. I didn't think we should just go over to their table, so we sat down a few tables over, and had our menus. I was debating going over to their table, but figured I would after we ordered. Instead, D came over to talk to us, sat down for a bit. And we exchanged pleasantries and what not. I said oh man, I should bring L over to meet your parents. And they were both like nahh, that's not going to be fun for my daughter.

Anyway, he headed back to his table, we were going over the menus, then his mom came over and gave me a hug and sat down to talk to us as we were ordering our drinks. Brief weirdness as I tried to order a diet, the guy asked me which one, I got confused and asked him if there was more than one, and he was saying they were listed, and I'm looking, and I'm like - you have more than one diet soda? And he said no, just diet Pepsi. And I said, ok, then diet pepsi.

Anyway, that was just thrown in there as an aside. D's mom talked to us a bit, told my daughter she was very pretty, which my daughter was kind of like, um... thanks. It was nice, it was brief, his family wasn't going to be there much longer. She went back. They left not long after, D came by to talk again before he left.

Anyway, just a long bit of a story there. It was just that the timing was really funny, if I'd taken 10 minutes longer at the movie rental store, or the grocery, or if I'd gotten my brows waxed like I'd wanted to, we would have totally missed them. My daughter asked me what was going on with us, and I really didn't have a good answer for her. I said that he was going through a lot right now, and it's just made things tough. She said it felt a bit funny, that she always feels funny about compliments (probably my fault, I'm the same way). I said that I liked his mom, she's really nice, and she's NOT crazy (like my mom). It was nice seeing them, but it's also a bit saddening. Because I do care about him, that hasn't changed. And because he does have great parents, which I'm a bit envious of.

As for food, I got the eggplant ziti. I ate half. I have the rest as leftovers. I guess I'll save it for tomorrow. I'd eaten this kashi cereal for breakfast. Haven't really had anything dinner-wise.

I watched "Just Like Heaven" as I digested. It was a good movie, I liked it a lot. Then I did the Jillian Michaels kickboxing workout. Man do I work up a sweat with that!

Boy it doesn't feel like Saturday..

2006-02-18T16:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, a friend from work asked if I'd go with her to this all day training class today (and next Saturday). Seems a friend of hers was going to go with her, but ended up not committing, I suppose. Anyway, it's called Rape Agression Defense RAD Systems. It was free because they're just starting it up at the local PD. In fact, the class we're in is the first one they're doing there that is for the community, not other law enforcement. They've been teaching it at the university, just not the local community.

We learned a lot of interesting techniques in self defense, and combinations to do them in. A lot of it I understood right away, because they use a lot of the moves you do in kickboxing (and some from when I took judo).

The killer was having to get up so early, and be there so long. It started at 9am. It's at the mall, so when we broke for lunch, I got some food at the the cajun place. Then we went back, and it lasted until about 3, which was actually an hour early. Then I left there and went to workout at the gym, doing the strength training.

Last night I did the Jillian Michaels kickboxing dvd. It really is a workout. I probably blew that by having a couple vodka drinks, lol. And today, I HAD to go to the gym, because I caved and bought a brownie at the cookie place.

Last night I ended up chatting (and later talking on the phone), with this one guy that I've known for a few years. Well, really, we met back in high school, but I ran into him a few years ago. We actually went out on a few dates then, but for one reason or another, things just didn't workout, but we kept in touch. I think we might try seeing each other again. We'll see how it goes. We chatted and talked on the phone for what I realize now had to have been about 2 hours. I missed watching House last night because I was talking to him! We were going to try to see if we could get together tonight, but he had to try to talk his sister into taking over an obligation. That didn't work, so now we're going to shoot for next weekend.

He hasn't seen me for a while, though. And I feel so out of shape :( I told him that I didn't want him to be disappointed when he sees me, and he said it hasn't been THAT long since the last time we saw each other (maybe a year since that one time we hung out for a like an hour). Anyway, I'm kind of excited about it, but don't want to read too much into it. We'll see.

Long week..

2006-02-16T11:59:00.000-05:00

I haven't been eating as well as I should. I know yesterday I was a mess with cravings, for some stupid reason.

When I bought the Jillian Michaels DVD set (Biggest Winner..), there was a rebate form, send $3.95 and you'd get her cardio kickboxing DVD. I just got it on Tuesday, which really surprised me at how fast it arrived (it also said wait like 8 weeks like normal stuff does). It didn't take that long at all.

So I decided to try it last night. It was a really good workout. And she's tough. My daughter was over and watched some of it while I was working out, and she said that she likes Jillian Michaels - she tells you it's tough while you're doing it. She said that being mean or pushing like that, it's what works.

Today's a gym day, but man I've had a migraine all day, even with meds.

Today was a lazy day

2006-02-13T23:48:00.000-05:00

Well, not entirely. I mean, I was busy. Busy at work (meetings, bleh), busy after, what with picking up my car (yay!) and dropping off my dad's, and then coming back. I not only didn't work out today, but I had pizza.

Tomorrow's a gym day, though.

And the blood work was done this morning. Results back at my physical in 2 weeks. In talking to the nurse as I was picking up my lab paperwork, it probably won't tell anything, or at least only a couple of the tests will. She mentioned a couple of things the doctor might suggest trying, which I've tried before. Other than that, it may take me going to a specialist, so we shall see.

Yuck, weekend's almost over

2006-02-12T19:17:00.000-05:00

Since I didn't get to pick up my car Friday (details in the other blog: Life's Ups and Downs), I did go to the gym after work. I ordered delivery of Eggplant florentine. And I was terrible and ordered a chocolate mousse with it :(

Yesterday I ran errands. I had leftover eggplant for lunch. And then I was really bad at the mall and ate a cinnabon. But I hardly ever go to that mall. And I could smell it as we got towards the food court. And I hadn't had one of those in forever! So I got one, and I ate it sloooowwwly, so I could savor it. And when I got home, I did that biggest loser high intensity workout.

Between the cramp meds, and probably lower iron, I guess I just haven't had much energy lately. So I didn't manage more than that 20 minute workout yesterday. I want to do the low intensity one after, but I just get tired.

Today I went to the gym, then ran errands. Now, I don't know if it was increasing the weight that I was using, or just being rundown, but it went slower. I had to pause a bit more between reps.

I picked up a sandwich while I was out. I ate ok for breakfast, just didn't want to eat right before going to the gym, so had to wait until after.

Tomorrow morning I get bloodwork drawn. My doctor runs a battery of tests two weeks before my annual exam. That way he has the results back to go over with me, and can order additional ones if necessary. Last year, for example, he had to run follow up liver tests. There was some kind of abnormality in my liver function. It turned out ok the second time. But the interesting thing was that I tested positive for immunity to hepatitis B AND A. The B made sense - I'd gotten vaccinated for it, figuring what the heck, might as well make sure I can't get it. But the surprise was the A. And I think I know when I had it. I think it was when we were staying with my ex-mother-in-law not long after my ex got out of the navy. I got really sick. I blamed it on being around her too much, since she is such a bitch.

Well, she may not have been responsible for me being so sick (I'd have a high fever alternating days with vomiting), but she sure didn't help things, so I don't feel bad for blaming it on the stress of being around her.

Anyway, tomorrow bloodwork. Two weeks, exam. I've been holding off on going to see my doctor until then, because I already have the appointment. I probably should have gone anyway. Bleh. At least this way we'll have something to go by to start with.

Almost Friday

2006-02-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

Exercise-wise, I'm doing ok. Although I've been feeling really rundown. I was worried I might not be keeping enough iron in me, but I'm already taking the max dose you should.

I guess my doc appointment can't come soon enough. I'd have pushed it forward if I could, but with the bloodwork they are doing, there wouldn't have been a point.

Food, though, eh. I could do better.

Not sure if I'll make it to the gym tomorrow or not. Really depends on what happens with my car. If not, I'll exercise from home, go to the gym either Saturday or Sunday - depending on if I do hand weights at home tomorrow.

I did talk to the personal trainer guy yesterday. I really meant to find out his name. Anyway, he has a few openings probably next month. This one client will be out of town alternating weeks, so he'll have Monday/Wednesday evening appointments available. That will work, hopefully!

Sighhhh

2006-02-07T23:13:00.000-05:00

Well, I've kept up the exercising/gym. I don't know if I'll make it to the gym tomorrow. It depends on my car, and if it will be ready or not. Seems the dealer sent the wrong version of the part, and it's to be sent tomorrow, and I still will have to return my dad's car and all. I'm just really hoping that the hose is the only problem, and that I didn't like totally screw up the pump driving it with the leak.

Food-wise, it's up and down.

I go on Monday for bloodwork. Then at the end of the month, a doctor's appointment. My sister saw an ad on tv for NovaSure. I'd talked to my doctor a couple of years ago about edometrial ablation, but at the time the techniques were a bit different and only had about a 25% success rate. I'm going to print out the info, and the name of the doc in town that does it, and see what mine says. He's a pretty common sense guy.

I'm also going to talk to him about all the medical stuff we've found out about my mom, see how much a risk I am for it. And see if there's anything wrong that's been causing some of the problems I've been having.

What a weekend

2006-02-05T17:28:00.000-05:00

Sucks that it's almost over :(

I had car issues, I managed to get my gym workout in yesterday before that, though. And since I was able to borrow my dad's car until mine is fixed, I should be able to go tomorrow, although Wednesday might be iffy, depending on how much time it takes to pick up my car (hopefully it will be ready!!) and run my dad's back and stuff.

Today I did the high intensity Biggest Loser workout. Then I had to go pick up my dad's car and do some errands.

I came across some stuff I'd printed out about weight loss, way back. It came from my old doctor's site. He was a really good doctor, but I switched companies, and couldn't continue as his patient, then I moved anyway. At any rate, he has some good health info, including weight loss stuff, on his site: http://www.drblythe.com, so feel free to check it out. It's also in my blogroll.

What a day

2006-02-01T22:55:00.000-05:00

I was late to work because I woke up with an awful migraine. I had a headache all day yesterday, took something for it, but it was only a nagging one. I even made it to the gym after work, no problem. Today was full blown pain. Then I took a migraine pill before heading into work and I was much better. Come late afternoon, it started slamming me again, and I had to take another migraine pill around 4.

Because I was kinda loopy, when I got home I watched a movie - In Her Shoes, I liked it, then some CSI, and Bones. In between commercials, I did some jump roping, and then those tire and military run in place things from the biggest loser, and lunges. I alternated between each.

Tomorrow is Groundhog's day! And a gym day. I've got my bagged packed for after work.

As for food - I made myself wraps, with fruit on the side, for lunch yesterday and today. Dinners, eh. I really need to do better with meals!!

The beginning of a long week

2006-01-30T23:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I hit the gym, ran some errands, slacked off. Today, I was really busy at work, although it felt a bit like I was treading water. Spent a lot of time on things that had to be done, and I still have more to do than I have time to do it. I guess a lot of us do, really.

I did the high intensity biggest loser workout this evening, combined with some lunges at the end. I totally digressed at lunch - ate a whataburger and some fries. It was yummy, though. Tonight I made myself a smoothie. Yum!

Hopefully I'll end the workday tomorrow feeling like I at least accomplished something. Now I'm off to bed in hopes of getting up on time.

Shopping day

2006-01-28T20:36:00.000-05:00

Well, I ate some peanut butter/oatmeal stuff for breakfast this morning. Then picked up my daughter around 2 and we headed out to get lunch. We ended up at Friday's. I ate way more than I should have, sort of. I had a few potstickers, some baby back ribs, then I caved and had a cinnabon cheesecake! I shouldn't have, but I went ahead and did.

We had some shopping to do, I got a new pair of reeboks. These have that DMX system, wow how cushiony! I wore them this evening while I was doing the biggest loser high intensity workout. They need a bit more breaking in, but other than that, they were great!

I am ticked off at Target. I bought this gym bag - it comes in a pouch. I got it home, opened it up, and it's the wrong bag inside. I think someone switched bags, put the more expensive one in the cheap pouch, and the cheap bag in the pouch I bought. Grr. Now I have to waste time going back out to Target tomorrow. I guess it's ok, there's something I forgot I wanted to get there, so I'll pick it up.

Tomorrow is gym day, I'm planning on hitting it in the morning. My shoulder is still iffy :( I don't know if it's like bursitis or what.

My stomach's a bit off tonight. From the food I ate 5 or 6 hours ago I suppose!

Friday - is there any better day?

2006-01-27T21:49:00.000-05:00

I love Fridays. Yes, I have to work all day, but the relief of leaving is uncomparable.

I went to lunch with a friend from work. We went to a pizza place. She got a salad, I got a slice as big as my head :) It ends up smaller than a small pizza, really. I ate half at lunch, half at dinner. Maybe not the best, but it was spinach & artichoke.

Work has been busy lately. Today I got back from lunch, and didn't have time to stop and think the rest of the day. I then went home, because I had to bring back perishable stuff (lettuce, wraps, etc), and then I went on to the gym, and did a full circuit.

My shoulder is still hurting, although not as bad. Still, I could only lift my arms so high in the arm lift deal, where it's like you're flying.

And tonight... vodka, you know? I don't drink it during the week, and come friday, I just want to relax. I suppose I need to work on it, but for now, I just like to buzz.

I've got a month before my doctor's appointment. This morning, I weighed 3 pounds lighter than I did this evening. Wtf? Bleh.

Thursday's log

2006-01-26T22:01:00.000-05:00

In reading the Jillian Michaels book, I should not only log what I eat, but what I'm feeling when I'm eating. Which makes sense to me. Since so much of the time food is used to make us feel better, best to be conscious about how we're doing it.

This morning, I ate on the way to work. I make some stuff up for the week or so, with oatmeal & peanutbutter, and it kind of globs together. I got the idea off this hershey's box (throw some cocoa in there as well). It's pretty filling, only eat a few on my way. I use natural peanut butter, no extra stuff. And I ate because I was hungry.

Lunch was around 12:30. I fixed a wrap the lo-carb tortilla, romaine, turkey breast sliced from the deli, one slice muenster cheese, balsamic vinagrette dressing with less than one gram of sugar per serving. Along with it, I ate two small clementines (oranges), and some blueberries. I ate it because I was hungry :)

Around 4:15 or so, I ate the rest of the peanut butter oatmeal balls from the morning (I put 6 in a bag, they're small), so it was kind of just a snack. I was feeling hungry and knew that I'd need a bit of food for energy to work out.

I worked out - doing the high intensity biggest loser workout, throwing in some lunges at the end on my own. After that, I ate the leftover multigrain pasta from the night before.

Now here's where I ate not because I was hungry, but because I love the taste. I ate some of the 60% cococa content giardelli chocolate bits. More than I should have. But I ate them one at a time savoring them. So it wasn't just cramming them in. Maybe it was because I was trying to make myself feel better. At any rate, I need to cut those out, or at least limit to specific days or something.

I was thinking about it though, about it maybe feeling like a dessert. Funny thing is, I didn't grow up getting dessert on a regular basis. Or sodas for that matter. Dessert was for special occasions. Why did sweets become so important to me?

Midweek

2006-01-25T23:07:00.000-05:00

Whew, was a long day at work. I was bad and ate a grab bag of ruffles. I don't even like potato chips, let alone ruffles, but lately salty has been a craving now and then.

I hit the gym after work. I went through the nautilus routine. I ran into that woman from work, she was on her way to a class. It was called "boot camp", but looks about like most of the aerobic workouts I've done.

On the way home, I swung by the library because a book I'd requested had come in - Jillian Michaels, Winning By Losing: Drop The Weight, Change Your Life. I've read a little, skimmed some, but it looks interesting so far.

I tried the Barilla Multigrain pasta tonight. I was impressed. I'd tried whole wheat pasta before and it was horrible! But this tasted decent. Filling, too. It apparently has a lot of nutrients and even protein? Anyway, it was something different.

I'll have to delve more into that book. I need to create some long and short term goals. For sure, I want to get rid of this weight!!!

I finally opened up the dvd set

2006-01-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

I decided to go for it, and broke out the Jillian Michaels dvd set. Tonight I went with the Back dvd. I didn't use the weights as much, mostly because they involved muscle groups I'd worked out yesterday. However, it was a good cardio workout. For that set, you didn't really need the step. It only involved it in one part, and well - I just pretended I was stepping up :)

I do think she's cool. And while she's apparently a hardass on the biggest loser, I think she's obviously really effective. While I wouldn't want quite as much muscles going on, I do wish I was in somewhere near as good a shape as she's in.

I ate the leftover lo mein tonight. I went all out and had a diet red dew, caffeine be damned. But I really like a soda with chinese food.

Monday Monday

2006-01-23T22:07:00.000-05:00

I didn't get much done this past weekend, that's for sure. Although I did get the oil changed on my car, and a new battery because mine was apparently about on its last legs. I had to go back home to get a coupon, so ended up going back out again. Stopped by my brother's and my dad's.

Last night, I did the high intensity cardio workout on the "Biggest Loser" dvd. I should have done both low & high, but I ended up working in some lunges instead.

Today, I left work a little bit early to get a couple errands ran, then go on to the gym. I did the nautilus circuit. I was on one of the last machines I was doing when I saw someone from work come in. I just didn't feel like talking to her right then, so I ducked my head. I guess I'll run into her from time to time. She was my boss's boss until they did some reorganizing.

Then I went home and started getting settled in - tossing my work clothes in the hamper, getting the cats their food, emptying out a bag, and I realized I forgot to return the dvd's I'd rented that were due back tonight. So I had to head back out again, and decided to splurge on chinese food at the asian place near the rental store. I figure that for $12 (that includes the cost of crab rangoon), I can get two meals. I should have skipped the crab rangoon, but it's so yummy! And I know, I had lots of carbs, getting the beef lo mein. End result, I still have like 3/4 a carton of the lo mein left.

I'm still waffling on whether to return the Jillian Michaels set. I guess I should keep it. It says it's intense fat burning. And it might be more so than the biggest loser one. And since I am alternating going to the gym every other day, I need to do cardio on the days I don't go. So I guess I should give it a whirl, even without the step.

Saturday status

2006-01-21T15:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at work, I ended up doing a power walk with my workgroup. A spur of the moment thing, and not really anything to do with it being the group, just a hey, want to go for a walk? So I went. And it was a long one. Our office park has a lake in the middle, which I didn't realize. So there's actually a circular drive in the midst of the different lanes and such. I don't know the distance, but it's plenty long enough.

So given the power walk, I ended up just doing the high intensity cardio from the Biggest Loser dvd. I figured that would do. I ended up having a bit more of a cardio workout later, but given the amount of vodka I consumed, I'm sure I needed it.

This morning, I headed to the gym. I did a nautilus circuit. My shoulder is still hurting. I'm trying to be really cautious with it. I'm also making sure not to put my purse on that shoulder. I should really try to lighten the load in that bag anyway.

After that, I went to eat lunch, a sandwich, pretty yummy, may not have been entirely healthy. Was going to get the oil changed on my car, but decided that the two hours they estimated before they'd get to me was too long to bother with. Perhaps tomorrow. Then I went on to Wal-Mart. While I didn't find that green can of friskies that the cats love so much (eggs and tuna?), I did get them other cat food. And I tried to only get healthy stuff for myself.

I bought low carb tortillas, romaine hearts, oven roasted turkey breast (no added flavors and stuff), a balsamic vinegrette dressing with less than 1g sugar per serving, some plain yogurt for smoothies, low fat milk, cheeses (have to give salads flavor), eggs - I had a dozen at home already but plan to boil them. Hopefully I can try to eat healthier!

I still haven't decided if I'm going to keep that Jillian Michaels dvd set. It was a great price, but I'm unsure about having to buy the step to do the workouts.

And now I'm just painting my toenails :)

First day back at the gym

2006-01-19T21:59:00.000-05:00

I'll tell you, I've had this awfully sore shoulder for days now. It was tough at the gym with some of the machines. I was trying to do chinups, and that was a bit wrenching, but when I was at that fly machine where you grip the handles and push the pads up and out, my shoulder was on fire. I'm not sure what's causing it. Maybe the way I was sleeping. I've been trying to lay on my right side or on my back, but my left side is where I usually lay, so it's tough.

My upper back is a little stiff, but other than that, so far I'm ok. Of course, when you feel it is really the next day or two. I worked through a whole circuit, trying to cover all the muscle groups. I had gotten the routine pretty well ingrained while going before, so it was pretty easy to pick up again.

The guy I would run into around town was there, training some people. I wish my tax refund was going to be more, maybe I could hire him for a few sessions. Unfortunately, it's a lot less than last year, for example. It could be worse, though. If I hadn't been able to claim my daughter this year, I'd OWE $1700.

Anyway, I need to grocery shop so I can eat a bit better, but I did ok at the gym. I took my time with each rep and machine, doing my best to get the movements right and maximize the resistance. AND HOLD IN MY STOMACH. That's important. Sometimes I forget that when following a dvd. Always pull it in.. they say that you get an indirect workout - isometric exorcise - when doing one workout that affects muscles without you using them directly.

You know what I hate about shopping? I buy fresh fruit/veggies, and they only last so long. Especially veggies. Then I have to shop again right away. And make sure I use them before they go bad. Right now, I have some clementine oranges in my refrigerator. They are yummy! I've been eating them at lunch before my sandwich, and sometimes at dinner time. I had one tonight. Yay vitamin C :)

Hump day

2006-01-18T23:10:00.000-05:00

And boy, these short weeks with Mondays off are tough.

Let's see, last night I did the "I Want That Body" workout. Nothing much else went on yesterday. Today I did the "Biggest Loser" cardio. I did the high-intensity workout first, then I did the low-intensity. It's kind of silly, but I wasn't sure if I'd do that or not, based on whether this Law & Order SVU episode that came on was one I'd seen before. If it had been new to me, I'd have gone out and jumped rope during commercials. But it was a repeat, so I started up the low-intensity cardio. Only I skipped a couple of parts to it. You already do the kicks and punches in high intensity, so I stuck with the ones that were new.

I took up my dad on his offer to pay for gym costs. My daughter and I picked the YMCA, I think I mentioned that she wanted that one, it's near her, has a pool. They also have a single parent family rate. I used to go to the one near my house. I'll go tomorrow after work, I have my workout clothes in a bag - I should really get a duffel bag for the gym, I only have big ones. If the same guy is manager there, and he's at the place when I go, then I should have no problems explaining to him. My daughter had gone to the other Y with my dad this afternoon and they said to bring in the receipt when we go, but she'd have to come by and I'd make a copy.

Speaking of her, she really needs to get a job, soon. I tried to tell her to get one at the gym! But she said that's not what she wants. Sigh.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be sore after tomorrow. It's different using the nautilus equipment than the routines I've been doing at home. That's probably what I'll go with, I know them, and it's easier than using the weights you have to take off and on.

If I can ever afford it, maybe I'll try a personal trainer for a couple sessions, although I think they have you sign up for like 5 session minimum or something. I used to run into this one guy from time to time around town - even at the Aerosmith concert - who would hire out as a trainer sometimes at the Y (not working for them, just he'd meet people there), but I don't think I'd get a cut rate deal or anything from him.