Yeah...

I started off doing great when I got here - working out each day, putting my foods into fitday, etc... The days got to be so busy, I didn't have a chance to work out, and it got harder and harder to make the best choices when I was eating out alll the time.

We finally get to go home today!, so I'll face the music of the scale when I get there. It's never easy when you're away, but I can't wait to go grocery shopping and make my own healthy meals. I feel gross from all the restaurant food I've been eating for the past week and a half.

I miss my Wii personal trainer, too!!!

Slipping...

I didn't have a chance to exercise yesterday. We got started early, and I didn't get back to the hotel until 9 or 9:30. I was sleep walking at that point. I did...okay...for eating yesterday - not great, but not terrible. I think I had:

1.5 eggs for breakfast
1.5 pieces of toast
1/2 cup hashbrowns
2 slices of bacon
230 calorie dinty moore lunch thing
steak fajita salad

I guess it was closer to terrible than great. LOL

I switched hotels, and I have every intention of doing laps in the pool today, and I want to check out the fitness center as well.

We are having breakfast with the producer at 7:30 AM, and then I'll finish up the last 2 tracks, and I think I'll be done for the day after that. The CD won't be done, but I don't think I'll need to be at the studio for the mixing part, unless he wants me there to hear what he's doing to make sure it's what I want....I don't know.

Either way, I'm thinking I'll be back at the hotel by early afternoon for a nice workout and relaxing afternoon.

Yoga before the big day

I will be exercising my voice all day long today, but that doesn't burn as many calories as I would like, so I got in a good yoga workout this morning in the hotel room. I've had a chance to exercise every day since I've been here, so I'm glad about that. Yesterday's workout was very brief, but I took a few walks too, and I'm hoping the HEAT is going to make me sweat some more off too.

I had about a half an egg, a little bit of potatoes and a cup of melon for breakfast this morning. I have no idea if i have a lunch break, so I brought a gross dinty moore dinner (only like 250 calories) for lunch because I have to have *something*. I can't survive on just carbs or fruit - I need protein.

I am meeting with the producer in a few minutes, so I have to run, but be well!

And the bloat is back

Well, I went from deflated to severely inflated in a matter of days. Between the travel and the heat, I'm missing that nice deflated feeling I had last week.

I got in just 10 minutes on the elliptical this morning. I had a lot to do before heading out to the recording studio, but I wanted to at least get something in - I burned 120 calories, so it's better than nothing.

I have great optimism about finishing my workout in the pool tonight, but I have a feeling I'll be utterly exhausted after my day in the studio. We'll see, though.

For breakfast, I had a tiny bit of scrambled eggs, a piece of bacon, and a piece of wheat toast. I was trying to avoid dairy because it's not good for the voice. I don't think we'll break until 1PM at the earliest, which is later than I normally eat lunch, so I brought some healthy snacks with me to hold me over.

I can't let myself get too hungry or I make bad food choices - a lesson I've learned too many times.

Shoney's!

We went to Shoney's for breakfast. It's kind of like a Bickford's/Denny's type place...so it's classy. ;-) They had a breakfast buffet, which I glanced at and thought I saw lots of healthy things, and I proceeded to order the buffet for my breakfast.

I started off with the salad above - a very optimistic serving. I covered it in fat free ranch dressing because I've been getting a lot of things stuck lately (PMS does that too - bloat related - fun!), and I detest fat free ranch. They had the Kraft kind, and I'm quite sure it's the absolute worst. I drizzled a little Balsamic Vinaigrette on top to try to mask the flavor, but no such luck.

I only made it through a few bites. Next up, I had melon, half a pear and some eggs. The eggs were *drowning* in butter. I had a few bites, but I couldn't bring myself to consume the butter/egg soup. Determined to get some lean protein in, I found a bit of rice, and I combined some ham chunks from the salad bar, and some melted cheese to get it down. It wasn't bad.

I ordered a lime grilled chicken sandwich on a ciabatta roll at the airport yesterday. It was actually delicious, but I couldn't get it down to save my life. I got so sick - I had to run to the bathroom. I'm a wonderful dinner companion if anyone is interested. :)

So I skipped lunch, but I had a low fat cereal bar that I had brought with me. By dinner time, I was starving. It was 9PM EST, and I had a feast...for me. LOL - I had a slice of bread with herb butter, 5 oz of prime rib, a salad, and about 3/4 cup of mashed potatoes. I was at 1500 calories for the day yesterday, thanks to my big dinner.

Oh well. I needed it. I'm going to go swim off some of the calories in the pool and see if there is a scale in the fitness center.

And here we go again...

I never really noticed PMS when I was heavier. I think it's because I always ate whatever I wanted - I never noticed that STARVING feeling that comes for a few days or a week (or more!) every month. I never noticed the bloat either - I was too big to notice!

Now, every month like clockwork, I gain 6-10 lbs of water weight, and I get HUNGRY. Sometimes I try to ignore the hunger and stay on track, but often that makes matters worse and I end up eating junk.

This month, I decided if I feel hungry, I'll eat until I'm full, but I need to make sure it's all healthy. I did that yesterday, and I ended up consuming 1600 calories. Not terrible, but 400 over where I want to be.

Today I was up 3 lbs from yesterday. I don't know if it's the food or the bloat, or a somewhat salty dinner I had, but it's not fun.

I'm hoping this doesn't last long, because I don't want to be out at restaurants with my starving self while I'm traveling. It's not a good mix! :)

Tootsie Pops!

After using fitday for about a year, sometimes I would take shortcuts and leave off one piece of candy or one cracker. It just got tedious, and I figured it was all close enough. Since I've been back on the fitday wagon, I've been very strict about entering each bite of food. Sometimes the little nibbles throughout the day can equal 200 calories...or more!

I was feeling sick to my stomach, and sometimes a little sugar helps, so I had a tootsie pop. I entered the calories in, and found out that it had 60 calories! That's a lot for a lollipop! I'm glad I entered it in, because now I know - next time, I'll reach for a mint. :)

Heading out to Nashville

We leave for Nashville tomorrow. I hate to be on the road for so long, because no matter how hard I try, I never lose weight when I'm traveling. Even if I make healthy choices when I eat out, it's just never as healthy as if I prepared it at home.

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I was hoping to find some Planet Fitness locations near me, but there are none in all of TN! I'm stuck with the hotel fitness center which is never ideal. Part of me is actually considering bringing my Wii with me - not the balance board, but the rest of it...it's pretty small... I'll take another look at the hotel fitness center and decide.

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Being away from my Wii personal trainer is totally going to mess up my 30 day challenge with Bob Greene! He'll be so disappointed in me! :)

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I hope there's a scale in the hotel room, but I'm not going to obsess. I've just been working so hard at doing the right thing since I fired WW this week, and I'm pleased with every day I've had. I've worked out, usually for an hour or more, I've been within my 1000-1200 calories per day, with well balanced meals, and even though the scale isn't plummeting downward, I feel great.

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I want to keep up that momentum while I'm gone.

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I was telling Darcy last night that I can't believe the change in my body in just 1 or 1.5 weeks with my EA personal trainer. The squats and lunges that were so difficult last week are now much easier. Thankfully, there are all different levels of intensity for the workouts, so it should have me getting in shape for months to come - it's just amazing to see how quickly I'm responding to new workout techniques.

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I haven't been doing lower body at the gym since I started with the EA personal trainer because I don't need to. The exercises they have for lower body are very comprehensive, and when I'm working out with all the extra weight I have, it's building muscle! Upper body I still get to the gym for every other day, and I've been doing cardio on the Wii - way better workout than cardio at the gym, at least for me.

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I'll keep you posted on my phat loss as I'm on my trip - be well!

Poor Mii

Every day, I log into my Wii fit, and I step on the balance board/scale. I'm greeted by a snooty little voice that almost always says "ooooooooh" when I step on...like I'm hurting her because I'm so fat.

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Then I do the body test, and I get to watch a skinny Mii (caricature of myself in Wii) get fatter and fatter until it reaches my BMI. Then the snooty little voice says to me, "That's obese!" Yeah, I know. I'm WORKING on it!!

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The other day, the little twit asked me if I'd seen Dee (Darcy) lately, since she hasn't checked in with Wii fit for a while. I said I had. She asked me if Dee was smaller, heavier or about the same from the last time she checked in. I thought it would be funny to say heavier, even though she's really the same, so I did.

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The little voice said, "Oh My! Well, I wouldn't say that to her, but perhaps you can tell her that you've noticed she sure has been living large lately!"

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LOL - can you imagine? I can't believe I need to buy an expensive video game to get insulted and given passive aggressive tips. Too funny.

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Today I weighed in, and I was up 1 lb from yesterday. I don't know why other than it's normal for weight to fluctuate a bit. I ate under 1200 calories, I worked out, I didn't eat late, I watched my sodium intake...there was no reason that I should be up a lb other than it just happens.

The Wii fit program asked me to choose from a list of reasons I may have been up a lb, such as eating too much, eating too late, etc, or I don't know. I picked I don't know because they didn't have normal fluctuation of weight as an option.

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It then told me I need to be more cognizant of my habits so that I can understand why I gain weight when I do. I wanted to strangle the game. LOL - I don't know anyone more aware of their exact habits than I am. I can tell you exactly how many calories I consumed and burned yesterday. Not many people can do that!

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Anyway, it's just a game. LOL - but not a great one. Wii fit is fun, and it's worth buying so you can have the balance board to use with the EA personal trainer game. The EA personal trainer is still completely awesome, and it's a fantastic supplement to the gym, but some people even use it instead of the gym. It will help you lose weight and be in better cardiovascular health, but if you want to build more than just a little muscle, you'll need to use weights or other techniques in addition.

Yum!

Darcy made a fabulous dinner tonight! We had pork tenderloin (all natural, grass fed, etc...) in a garlic, herb and wine sauce. It was so moist and tender! It's important not to overcook pork. It's safe to eat at 137 degrees, but even the FDA says 160 degrees, not over 17 as we were told decades ago. You don't have to take my word for it, check it out!

She also made roasted red potatoes with onions, fresh basil, olive oil and sea salt. Wow, were they good and goldened to perfection!

I had 3 oz of pork and a half a cup of potatoes. My dinner was about 300 calories, and I loved every bite!

Thanks, Darce!!!

On my way

I'm down 4 lbs since I quit WW 2 days ago. It's nothing to rejoice about since it's weight I've lost 10 times on this journey, but it still feels nice to be losing. The true test will be if my weight stops yoyoing, and if I move past my lowest point, which is still a ways off. The next few weeks should be interesting.

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I was chasing Henry around the house last night for fun, and I slid onto the floor and twisted my knee. I guess that means I'll be working out upper body today!

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It's a nice day out, and for my workout, I'm going to do weights at the gym, a quick 20 minute session with my Wii personal trainer, and later I hope to go kayaking as well.

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I have a ton to do today, so I'm signing off. Be well!

Deflated...but in a good way

One day off WW, and I feel like the balloon I've been pumping up under my skin for the past few months is finally deflating. LOL - I don't know how else to describe it. I've felt bloated and fat and icky, and today I am starting to feel myself again.

I realize that one day off WW isn't fully the reason - I've really stepped up my work outs, and I've been much better about doing them regularly too. I don't see any change on the scale yet, but even Darcy, who sees me every day, said she thinks I look like I'm losing weight.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about faking it until you make it, and I think that worked for me. I feel like I'm at a point with my workouts that I've made it. It's part of my life again - something I look forward to, something that is a habit, and something that I feel gross if I don't do!

I know that my muscle is building, and my body is changing, so I may not see a change in the scale immediately, but I will.

Candlepin Bowling

For those of you not from the Northeast or Canada, Candlepin bowling was the predecessor to ten pin bowling that is now more popular. The main differences are a much smaller ball, thinner pins, and 3 frames instead of 2.

Tonight, we went candlepin bowling with my Mom. I can't remember the last time I had been, but we had a great time. According to fitday, I burned 84 calories - not a huge amount, but much better than sitting at the movies on this rainy night!

It was fun, and it's something I'd like to do more of. I'm always trying to find more active things to do with my friends, like pedestal jousting, laser tag, etc.... it's so easy to spend the rainy and snowy days sitting around, and that's just not conducive to weight loss!

For exercise today, I lifted weights for 45 minutes at the gym, and then I did 20 minutes of cardio on the Wii. I can't tell you enough how much I love the EA Personal Trainer - it's a million times better than Wii Fit, but Wii Fit is good to have too for the balance board that works with the EA Personal Trainer game, and it has some good points too - I'm glad to have both. I also walked a quite a bit today as we went shopping for a while. Between all that and the bowling, I'm pleased with the amount of calories I burned today.

I consumed 1192 calories, so now that I've kicked WW to the curb, I'm hoping to see some results soon. Tomorrow AM would be nice, but I'm not going to be greedy. It will all happen as long as I keep doing the right things.

Weight Watchers, You're Fired!

I joined WW a few months back, because I wanted to try something new. I had been on a plateau for a while, and I thought maybe a different program would shake things up a bit. For the past few months, I've been good about entering my food in my online food journal at least 95% of the time.

I have followed my points just about perfectly, and I'm not losing any weight. I'll lose some, but then I gain it back. My weight goes up and down and up and down, and it's slowly starting to creep up. What a wonderful weight loss program you folks have!

LOL - I kid. I think WW can be a great program, but I just entered my points from yesterday into fitday.com (that I haven't been using), and I had 1800 calories for the day, but I was within my points! 1800 isn't terrible, but it's 50-70% more than I had been eating. No *wonder* I wasn't losing anything!

My trainer, and some others, told me that I needed to eat more to move past my plateau. Maybe that should be true, but it clearly didn't work for me. If any good will come of this experience, it's that perhaps I'll start losing again now that I'm going down to my 1000-1200 calorie/day diet!

Also, when it's time to maintain, maybe I'll try WW again. Alas, dear readers, it is most definitely NOT time to maintain now, so on I go, back on the fitday.com. It's funny to think that a weight loss program was a detriment, but it make sense if you think about it.

My daily points allowance was based upon my weight. What they were telling me to have would probably be a lot less than most people my weight, but for me, since I was on the way down, it turned out to be quite a bit more.

Fitday, I don't know why I ever strayed. I'm coming home now! :)

Death by Chocolate

Since Darcy's 40th birthday was a bit underplayed this year (HA), my Mom decided to continue the festivities while she is in town. She made a fabulous cake called _Too Much Chocolate Cake_ with a chocolate glaze and fresh strawberries. It was served with a delicious vanilla bean ice cream.

I just had a sliver, but it was probably 1000 calories nonetheless! I don't know how these people expect me to lose any weight around here. :)

Thankfully, I'm able to resist sweets for the most part. The cake was delicious, and I'm so glad I had some, but I'm just fine letting the girls finish the rest of it up. It was a perfect treat for Darcy, and she LOVED it.

My Mom also made Darcy any meal she wanted for her "birthday," so she picked chicken broccoli casserole. I don't eat broccoli, and I was just going to have something else, but when they realized my plan, they switched the recipe to chicken asparagus casserole. It was *really* good, and my mom made it with low fat sour cream, 98% fat free cream of chicken soup, light mayo, low fat cheese, lean chicken and a little bit of breadcrumbs, with the asparagus.

So for a fairly light meal, it was very flavorful, filling and scrumdilyumptious. Thanks, Mom!

Fat Suit

(If you haven't taken my healthy living survey yet, please do! http://tinyurl.com/mv8mlq )

I was talking to my Mom the other day, and I was saying how I wanted to lose the rest of the weight I have to lose, but even if I didn't, I'd still be happy because I can shop in normal stores, be active, feel healthy, feel good about myself, etc...

I do mean that, but after my work out today, I'm not so sure I'd truly be content staying this size. I had a lot of energy, so I did 3 workouts on the Wii Personal Trainer. The first one was my standard one, the second one was a custom one I made, and the third was a "hard" one according to the game.

If I had done the hard one first, maybe I wouldn't feel like jello quite so much, but alas, that's not what happened. The hard workout had me doing rotating jump lunges, jump squats, lots of running with high kicks and back kicks and I honestly felt like I had a fat suit on.

Hot, I know.

I burned a lot of calories, though, so that's a good thing.

The other day, when I was reflecting with my Mom about how much better I feel now than I used to, I told her I couldn't imagine feeling even better than I do now. Well, today I stand corrected. LOL. I can completely imagine how great it would feel to be doing all these exercises without this fat suit on, and I can't wait to achieve that.

Dream. Envision. Achieve.

Caprese Salad

(If you haven't taken my healthy living survey yet, please do! http://tinyurl.com/mv8mlq )

Depending on Alison's activities due to her upcoming homelessness, we may be going to a party at her friend's Sharon and Tommy's house tonight. They are the most amazingly gracious hosts, and boy, do they throw a party!

I haven't been in years, but Alison always tells me stories of the lavish spreads, top notch entertainment and good times shared in their home. It's no surprise they are great entertainers since they run a very successful DJ company.

I wasn't sure what to bring, but then it occurred to me that Caprese salad was just the thing. It's made with all natural, healthy ingredients (if you allow yourself the natural fat of EVOO and fresh buffalo mozzarella - I do), and it's always delicious. Lanie makes it quite frequently, and I think that's why we all love her so much. ;-)

It's easy to make - all you need are tomatoes (the higher quality, the better), fresh buffalo mozz, fresh basil, olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, and salt and pepper. It's a fresh, delicious treat that can be made in minutes.

*****

On the work out/weight front: I'm down another lb today, but it's still weight I was up earlier this week. I'm doing *almost* all I can - I had some low fat/sugar free ice cream at 8PM last night, after I told myself no foods after 7. I was hungry, and I had lots of points left, so I did it...

I had a very rigorous workout yesterday, and the Wii personal trainer gave me a run for my money! We mainly focused on quads and glutes and I'm walking around my house like an 80 year old this morning. It was a great workout!

Today, I know I'm going to need to focus on upper body. I'd like to go kayaking for my cardio, but it's raining like crazy. At the very least, I will go to the gym and do an upper body work out with weights.

I think one more area of focus for me should be sodium. That's something I should have been better with all week. It makes such a big difference. I'm going to make a conscious effort to eat low sodium foods and use as little salt as is possible today. Even if it doesn't make an immediate difference in the scale tomorrow, if I watch my salt intake, stay within my WW points (or under as I have been), work out vigorously on a regular basis, drink lots of water and get plenty of rest, I will move past this plateau.

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On the health front, I feel better today than I have all week. I finally got up at a more normal hour: 5:30. I slept for 7 or 8 hours, and I woke up feeling refreshed. Yesterday, it seems I had a touch of the stomach flu. Nothing major, but I did get sick a few times. I'm wondering if that's related to all the build up of being so tired and achy all week, or if it was a biproduct of my allergy issues. Who knows. I'm just glad to know it's 7:15 AM, and I've already accomplished a lot for the day!

Please take this survey!

Please click on this link to take a completely CONFIDENTIAL healthy living habits survey: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB229B23QZ9QJ

I will publish the results on this site, and I'm hoping it gives us all some new insight on why thin people are thin and why bigger people are big.

There are 20 questions, so it shouldn't take too long to complete. Thank you!

Something is not right...

I have been completely exhausted all week. I have a flexible work schedule, so I can sleep in if I want to, and I have been. I think I've averaged 10-11 hours of sleep a night the past three nights.

I know my allergies have been really bad this week, and I'm guessing that has a lot to do with is, but it's just really strange, and naturally, it's happening at an inconvenient time. I have so much work I need to do before leaving for Nashville, and so much preparation I need to do for the CD. I don't have time to be sleeping 50% more than usual!

Yesterday, my whole body was so achy and I was so exhausted so I took the day off from working out. I am trying to work out 6 hours/week, which my new Wii Personal Trainer measures for me, so I'll just need to make it up.

So far today, I'm feeling a bit better, but not all the way there yet. I know I need to see a doctor about my allergies because they are so bad, and I get them so often. I think there's a shot I can probably get that will help a lot...

When I get back from TN, I will find an MD closer to my house, and I'll make an appointment for a physical. Yuck. I'll also make an appointment for a fill. I'm long overdue for both, but I need to make time for my health.

My weight is all over the map. I ate junky on Monday, and I was up almost 7 lbs from that one day. I'm down about 5 since then, but I still have 2 more to lose to be even with where I was on Saturday morning, and this coming Saturday is my 2 week anniversary of Wii fit. My goal was to lose 10 lbs in the first 2 weeks (because I was already up to begin with), so I have like 5 lbs to lose in the next 2 days to reach that goal.

I really need to stop with the night eating. I ate healthy meals, well within my points yesterday, but I decided to have some whole grain goldfish at 10PM because I was hungry. I know there are worse snacks, but it's carbs and sodium right before bed. Dumb move. I knew it at the time, but I did it anyway.

I need to really work at getting back on track with my no foods after 7PM rule. I know it makes a big difference. I'm going to take it one day at a time, and today, I won't eat anything after 7PM. Let's hope it shows a difference in the scale tomorrow morning!

Naan Margerita Pizza

That's a ridiculously off centered picture. LOL - my apologies, blogosphere!

I've made this before, but not for a while, and it is easy, healthy and delicious.

Ingredients:

• Multigrain Naan (Indian flatbread)
• Diced tomatos
• Fresh basil
• Fresh buffalo mozzarella
• EVOO

Spread just a little bit of EVOO over the Naan, cover with basil leaves, diced tomatoes, and about a quarter cup of fresh buffalo mozz per piece of Naan.

It works out to be 6 WW points and about 300 calories for half of one piece of the Naan flatbread. It's whole grain, so it's very filling, although if you're like me, you're going to want more even if you're full. :)

Be sure to have a nice side salad or some fruit to accompany your pizza, and enjoy this quick, easy and healthy meal!

Tomato Cream Sauce

I picked up some all natural, fresh tri-colored tortellini at the store the other day. Tonight I decided to make a low fat tomato cream sauce to serve over it.

I was making it up as I went, so I can't tell you how much of everything I used exactly, but here's my best guestimate:

• 2 cups fat free milk
• 3 tbsp EVOO
• 1/4 cup of water (I used water that my fresh mozz. balls were floating in)
• 1 tsp fresh minced garlic
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• salt
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 cup of diced tomatoes
• 5 broken up leaves of fresh basil
• 3 tbsp low fat butter
• tbsp parmesan cheese

It has some fat in the recipe of course, but for a cream sauce, it's light, and Darcy agreed - you'd never know it was made with fat free milk and low fat butter. We loved it, and it's the first time I've tried making a low fat cream sauce, but it was well worth it. It probably only took 12 minutes from start to finish.

Mangia.

EA's Personal Trainer for Wii

I just bought this over the weekend, and it is GREAT. It doesn't have some of the cool things that Wii fit has, but the workouts are entirely better. I'm glad to have both tools.

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It even comes equipped with a 30 day challenge designed by Bob Greene. It measures the goals you set, monitors your techniques, provides a personal trainer to help you with the exercises (and to encourage and push you), and based upon your weight, the intensity of your work out, the length, etc., it tells you *exactly* how many calories you are burning, which is totally cool.

So far, I've done the running, walking, squats, lunges, inline skating, bicep curls, shoulder curls and boxing. I LOVE the boxing one. It's a great aerobic workout, and it's so much fun.

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They have what seems to be 50 preset workouts you can do, based upon the intensity, time length, areas you want to work on, etc, and you can also design custom workouts. The more things you add to your custom work out, it can tell you about how long it will take and about how many calories you've burned.

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I completed the "easy" 22 minute workout, and it was really a great work out. I can tell because I was drenched in sweat after. Gross, yes, but effective. I designed a 35 minute custom workout, and I got about 8 minutes into that and realized I needed to take a break - I was getting sloppy!

You can also record exercises you did outside of the Wii to track your fitness progress and goals, so that's a plus too.

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So far, I highly recommend this product, and I think if you read the online reviews, you'll find that most people agree completely.

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Again, with all things, you get out what you put in.

WW Sensible Fresh foods

Weight Watchers has a new line of "fresh" foods that are prepared meals that aren't frozen. They are available at select Hannaford and Kroger stores. I picked up a few the other day, and I tried the macaroni and cheese for lunch today. It was atrocious. It has just as much sodium as the frozen option, but it would have needed half a salt shaker of salt to somehow fix the taste.

I choked down as much as I could with some chicken, but it was nasty. The "cheese" was broken down into chalky granules, bearing no resemblance to food whatsoever.

Save yourself some money - DON'T buy this item. :) I'll keep you posted on the other meal I purchased when I try it later this week.

Farmer's Market

We took my Mom out to Assiaggio's in the North End on Saturday, and it it was fantastic. As always, I didn't bring my leftover's home because I never do if I order something that's unhealthy.

After, we went to the very crowded farmer's market in Boston that was infused with local color, as the vendors yelled at the customers in the thickest of Boston accents. The food was so cheap - I got a bunch of asparagus for $1.50!

We bought a ton of fresh produce, and we spent very little money. I'm looking forward to using it, but a lot of it already seems to be rotting. That's not good.

It was a lot of fun, and if I lived near Boston, I'd definitely do it again soon.

Late night eating

It's never a good thing.

I had company over last night, but my food was getting stuck, and I couldn't really eat my dinner. Later on, I tried again, and I succeeded in getting it down, but it was 9:30 - not a good time to eat! I was hungry, though!

I was up 1.3 lbs today from the late night episode, even though I was well within my calories for the day yesterday and I did work out for an hour. I'm just going to keep on keepin' on, and hopefully if I don't eat anything after 7PM tonight, the weight will be gone tomorrow (plus more if I'm lucky!).

Aching Back

Actually, it's my shoulders, back, legs, arms, neck and abs. I am SORE! I made sure to spend time in the hot tub last night, so I'm hoping I minimized the aches somehow, but boy, am I sore. Good for me. I earned it. LOL

I did abs and lower body at the gym yesterday, in addition to my wii fit work out in the AM. I got more than my goal of an hour's work out in, and I did more reps, and slower reps than I used to do. I really worked my work out, and it felt good.

I don't mind being sore at all. I'm just trying to decide what I should do to work out today. Even though I did lower body at the gym, I did strength training for upper and lower with the wii fit, so that's why my arms and shoulders are sore. The thing has me doing push ups (but I cheat and do girl push ups which is allowed), and these sideways one hand push up things that make my arms shake, and now the whole thing (my body) is useless!

On days like today, I wish I could go swimming. I know I have every other exercise in the world available to me, but I need this one too. I'm going to work on that. In the mean time, I'm going to wait to see how I feel later in the day. If my upper body isn't too sore, I may go for a long kayaking trip, but we'll see. I'm having company for dinner at 5, so I'm not sure when I'll have time.

BUT I do need to make time for fitness, so I suppose I can justify a mid day's kayaking tour. Either way, hopefully as the day progresses, I'll be less stiff and it will open up more exercise choices for me.

According to the Wii Fit, I'm down 5.5 lbs since Saturday. Now, it's 5.5 lbs I've already lost many, many times before, but I'll take it! It didn't just fall off like the first few normally do, and I feel like I've been working really hard this week and I've been very careful with my food choices, so I'm claiming this loss as a loss, and I'm going to keep going until I break through this plateau once and for all! :)

More Phun with Wii Phit

It really is quite a work out...if you work it...just like anything else. You can cheat it, or you can try your hardest. Obviously, you get out what you put in.

I logged in 34 minutes of exercises this morning on the Wii Fit, and I was *tired* (and sweaty!) after. I think it's cool all that can happen in my living room, with my progress measured and judged! Some of the exercises are hard, and others are fun, so it's a nice blend. I still plan to either go to the gym or go hiking later, because I need to work out for an hour a day at least while I'm trying to get over this hump.

If you have a Wii, and you are trying to get fit, so far, I would really recommend the Wii Fit.

Scale on pause

Normally when I get back on track, I notice a change in the scale right away. I think my scale is on pause...or maybe it's calling my bluff!

Either way, I was up quite a bit last week, and I knew (thought I knew) it was all bloat that always comes and goes, but I have no reason to be bloated, and it's not coming off as fast as I would have expected.

With weight watchers, you get a certain amount of points per day, plus a certain amount of flex points you can use if you want something higher in calories than usual. I've also heard it's good to use the flex points so that you spike your metabolism from time to time, but I have no idea if that's true...it's never worked against me, so I do know that...

Yesterday, I had my high points day, and today, I was up either 4 or 5 lbs from yesterday! I am pretty sure it will be gone by tomorrow, but this is all just taking much longer than usual.

I think because I lost and gained the same 10 or 15 lbs constantly for the past 8 months, my metabolism is confused. This just means I need to work out harder, and jump start my metabolism into knowing we are in LOSING mode again. Capice?

In the mean time, I may avoid having any high point days until I'm down this extra weight. Today, I'm eating yummy but healthy meals. I had a egg, low fat cheese, and turkey sausage sandwich on a whole grain english muffin for breakfast. For lunch, I had steak salad with greek dressing, but I didn't use much of the dressing, and I only ate half the steak.

For dinner, we're grilling out, and I'm making ribs, cajun chicken, and either turkey keilbasa or chicken sausage. I'm grilling veggies and making a whole grain porcini and garlic cous cous on the side. It will be a well balanced meal, but it will be yummy and enjoyed with friends.

Salud!