bye bye

The extra weight was gone today. Weird, but I'll take it! I'm sure the fact that I only consumed 200 calories yesterday may have helped. LOL. I didn't mean to, but I had a light breakfast and lunch, and I ended up skipping dinner. I also had no salt, as planned.

It's so strange that my weight fluctuates so dramatically. I had a good work out at the gym yesterday. I'm kind of snowed in currently, so I'm not sure what I'll do for a work out today, but maybe I'll do yoga.

Wii Dance Dance Revolution

I have wanted this game since I got my Wii, a year and a half ago! I finally got it for Christmas this year, and I love it! I just cracked it open this morning, and it's a great work out! It has a fitness program where you input your weight (like Wii fit), and then it tracks your movement on each song and tells you how many calories you have burned based upon your weight and movements. I'm so excited, because the thought of doing all of my cardio on a hamster wheel at the gym all winter long seems quite depressing!

Speaking of the gym, I did not work out yesterday because I was in the car all day, and I just wanted to relax when I finally got home, but I do need to go today. I need to reschedule my session with my personal trainer that I had to postpone due to the storm. I'm really looking forward to that!

As I mentioned, 2009 is going to be the year of the sculpt for me, and I'm going to post some Biggest Loser style photos shortly. WARNING: they are not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. ;-)

As you can see from some of the pictures I've posted, I can look pretty good in the right clothing, but I obviously have a good deal of weight left to lose, and I need to continue to tone. After losing 160 lbs, my body needs time and exercise to get to a firm place, and whatever my workouts can't accomplish, a surgeon can, but not until I do my best first. :)

Toooooo much salt

I feel like I drank 64 oz from the dead sea yesterday. We were in the car all day, and we ate fast food each meal, and I gave each meal a healthy dose of salt. I don't know what I was thinking. It was gross, and according to my scale, I'm up 12 lbs today. I have 2 scales, and the other one has me up 9, which seems more like it. When I bloat, I BLOAT. I'm probably up 6-7 lbs of water weight and another 2-3 actual lbs from not eating at home for the past week and a half, not to mention from the fast food I ate yesterday.

Today I am cleansing my system. Not a silly cleanse, but just a water cleanse. For drinks, I will only consume water (and crystal light), and I will drink a gallon today. I will not add salt to anything, and I will only consume low sodium foods. I will work out, and sweat as much as possible. If I know myself they way I think I've grown to, these extra lbs will be gone in a few days.

I think most people would probably freak out at the sight of a scale up 9 lbs, but I have never seen any one's weight fluctuate from bloating like mine does. I used to have a VERY sodium rich diet, and for the past year +, I have cut down on salt tremendously. Now when I go overboard with salt (which used to be an every day thing for me), I balloon up like a puffer fish:

That's what I look like right now, only it's my feet and legs and hands and face that are all puffed out. Not for long, my friends! :)

The Last Supper

We had our last meal in DC last night. We went to The Front Page restaurant, and as you can see, I had their special, the prime rib. It was the best prime rib I have ever had. Normally, prime rib is good because it's a tender cut of meat, and the au jus completes it nicely, but I don't recall ever having a prime rib that was quite so flavorful as the one I had last night. It was seasoned perfectly and deliciously. Darcy enjoyed her pasta dish very much as well.

The prime rib was a 14 oz cut. At least a third of it was fat. (Gross) I ate about 4 oz of it, and probably about a half cup of the mashed potatoes. The waiter teased me about not doing a good job on it, and I told him it was huge! It's still funny for me to think of these things as huge. I could have polished away all 14 oz before, plus an appetizer, salad and all of the potatoes - easy.

I haven't had a fill in about four months. Right now, my level of restriction is what it will be when I have exhausted all of my fills, and I think it's going to be perfect for maintaining. I can definitely eat much more than I could have when I was getting fills regularly, but it's still less than the average sized people I know. It's not so small that it's annoying because I get full so fast I can never enjoy a meal, and it's not large enough so that I can do any amount of huge damage with my portions (as long as I don't try to trick the band, which some people do).

I'm going to schedule a fill, but I may wait until I'm back from Key West. I've gotten used to having this low restriction level, and I know I can stay within my calories as I am currently, so rather than being on vacation with a baby bird appetite, I may wait. We'll see. Either way, I'm going to get a fill in January. It will be nice to have the change, but I'm glad I've had this time to practice what life will be like when I am maintaining.

We are heading out shortly. The front desk folks told me my best bet heading north out of DC on a Monday AM would be 9 AM, so 9 AM it is. In all of our walking yesterday, I didn't see a single gas station. Strange. I will probably wait to find one in MD when we stop for a quick breakfast to go. I can't wait to return to my home cooked meals. We bought a few books on CDs last night, so that should help this last leg of our journey go as quickly as possible. We are 475 miles from home. Mapquest says that's 9 hrs with no stops. I'm going to try to make it in 7, with stops included. Wish me luck!

These dogs are tired!

Today we walked and walked and walked and walked! I know it was at least six miles, but it could have been as many as eight. We walked for at least three hours (not to mention standing for five - including the time walking), and my dogs are BARKING! :)

Poor Darcy was non-verbal by the time we sat down for lunch:

We walked from our hotel, north of Dupont Circle, to the White House (which was surprisingly small to Darcy - in fact she asked me if it wasn't indeed the Vice President's house - LOL - she is a funny one!), then onto three of the Smithsonian's, including the Museum of Natural History that was WAY cool. We saw an IMAX show about the ocean, and it was amazing! We walked the National Mall, then onto the WWII Memorial, to the reflection pool...we saw the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Capital building, and everything from the EPA HQ to the Department of Commerce...

Darcy has never been to DC before, and she was asking me what everything was. She pointed to puddles on the street (practically), and asked me what significance they had. I have only been to DC for bleeding heart causes I love, so I just wasn't quite the tour guide she was hoping for. She asked me what the point of the reflection pool was. I didn't know. I told her it was probably a place for us to reflect upon...something... She asked me why Washington was the District of Columbia...did it have to do with Columbia? Yeah....no clue. I must have skipped US History class that day.

I did some research, and the answer was slightly harder to find than I imagined. Apparently, there are a lot of people confused about this, as I was. It's named after Christopher Columbus, in the feminine. In fact, here is a picture of him/her that was created for a WW1 poster:

So there you have it.

Tonight, when we are up for walking again, we are going to head out to find a lovely dinner, which shouldn't be hard. DC has some great restaurants! I'm in the mood for something vegilicious, so I'm going to look online for menus ahead of time.

The original stairmaster

Stairs!

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I worked out in the hotel gym this AM, and I decided to take the stairs up to our 7th floor room. I am out of shape! I was completely winded. I had a good work out, but I pinched a nerve somehow, and my back is really annoying me right now.

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The hotel we are staying in is fabulous! We have a little suite, and it's so cool and urban. Love it! I love funky hotels.

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I didn't end up working out yesterday. We were on the road for 10 hours, and we checked in, got ready and headed out. We ended up finding an unbelievably good italian restaurant - so authentic! Everyone there was italian, even the customers...we were surrounded by waitstaff and customers speaking italian while we enjoyed our *phenomenal* meals.

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We started off with beef carpacio, and it was tender and oh so flavorful. We each ordered specials. Darcy had the lobster risotto, and I had the porcini risotto. They were both AMAZING. I think Darcy's lobster risotto was the best italian dish either one of us has ever had, and that is saying a lot! The restaurant was called Al Tiramisu. If you are ever in DC, it's a must.

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We are about a mile and a half from the sites, and we are going to travel by foot today. I didn't tell Darcy it was a mile and a half because I think that sounds a little worse than it is. :) She's a trooper, and she'll be fine. If anything, I'm the one who has to worry. I ended up wearing a new pair of shoes out last night, and I got three blisters walking around town. I have a bandaid on, and some foxy sneakers today, so hopefully that will do the trick. If not we can always take a cab or the metro...it is the cleanest subway system I've ever seen in my life, after all.

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I think all of the walking will be a nice compliment to the weights work out I did this AM. I feel like a flabby mess, so 2009 is going to be the year of the sculpt, but more on that later.

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I will also be publishing a list of secrets to my success, so stay tuned for that excitement as well! ;-)

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Today I took Darcy, my Dad and my Mom to the YMCA with me. My Dad enthusiastically agreed to come, but my Mom quickly refused when I suggested it. This was strange to me...she's usually up for anything, *especially* if it has to do with me getting healthy...she must be taking my new found commitment to fitness for granted! Deftly, we borrowed a page from her book, and guilted her into coming with us. ;-)

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We had fun at the gym, and after our work out, we went into the pool and hot tub. As I suspected, both parents said they were very glad they came, and they really enjoyed it. They are going to look into joining, which would be a GREAT thing for them.

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My Dad has been telling us about the fries at some burger joint all week long, and he was dying to take us there. He even went there for his birthday dinner this year! We were happy to check it out, so after our workout, we went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries. It was every bit as good as he had been telling us! Darcy said it was the best burger and fries she had ever had in her life!

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I ordered the Little Bacon Cheeseburger, which is not exactly little. It has 600 calories, according to their web site, so thankfully I only ate about half of it. I had about one serving of fries, which is about a quarter of their large size, and that was another 122 calories. I was pretty lucky to escape that adventure, only logging in 422 calories worth of damage. 422 is a lot for one meal, but it's not terrible.

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I'm going to my sister's tonight, and we are doing pizza and a movie with the boys. I can have 2 pieces (depending on the size and toppings) and still be within my calorie range for the day. Today wasn't the best use of calories, but I will be home soon, and filling my plate with fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean servings of protein.

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Sometimes it's not always easy to eat a well balanced meal, but portion control can usually save the day. :)

Movin' on up

It's been great getting back into my workout routine, now that my injuries are healed. When I first started back to the gym a few weeks ago, I eased into my upper body work out using machines only, but I started again with the free weights when I worked out at the hotel gym on Tuesday, and I was amazed at how low I had to go on the weights. When I was last doing free weights, I was using 25-30 lb dumbells for my exercise, and I had to use 15 my first time back.

Yesterday, I used my sister's free weights, and I moved up to 20 lbs, so that was just after one work out at 15, which leads me to believe I'll be back to 25-30 in no time, but it was very interesting to see how quickly muscles forget and then remember.

With the weights I'm lifting in general, I'm movin' on up, like George and Weezy, and I think I'll be back to my previous routine within 2 more weeks.

Oops, I did it again

We had a delicious dinner yesterday. My sister made a fresh herb crusted beef tenderloin on the grill (aptly grilled by hubby Jeff), and she served four delicious dipping sauces with it: wasabi cream, mustard sauce, Bearnaise mayonnaise and Gorgonzola cream. Um, yum. We also had creamed spinach, crash hot potatoes (naughty), Christmas Salad, and of course egg nog pie and holiday praline pie. I portion-controlled my way to a total of 1379 calories for the day, which isn't so bad for a Christmas day filled with goodies.

My sister's family headed off to see Jeff's side of the family, and Darcy, my parents and I decided to go to the movies. This was quite a quest, as everyone else had the same idea. We finally secured tickets for a 7PM showing of Marley and Me (very sweet story), and naturally, I gave into my popcorn adoration. I just loooove popcorn. I don't know why, but I do blame my Mother. ;-) I had a small, but of course, that added another 600 calories to my daily total. Yikes.

I know that under 2,000 calories for Christmas is still not that bad, since that's the recommended daily intake (actually, less) for a female my age, but it wasn't necessary. I wasn't even hungry, I just really like it. :)

Anyway, I had a very special Christmas, and it was really nice to be able to spend the day with my family, since they abandoned me to move south many years ago. (I kid!) Watching the little boys open presents was hilarious, and so much fun.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well.

Donner, party of five?

I have been meaning to start having some dinner parties, or just people over for dinner, since it's been colder out...and since Darcy and I are looking for things to do now that I'm working from home and she's looking for work. It's a nice thing to do in the winter when we aren't spending every free waking moment outside.

I got a LOT of new cook books today, and I'm excited to try the recipes. My sister got me the new WW cook book, and I know I'll like that. I have the original one, and I always got great ideas from that. I love cook books with the calorie information as well. My Mom and Dad gave me several cook books, and one of them has all snacks and meals that are 100 calories or fewer. I can't wait to try that out.

My top priority will be getting our floor fixed when we get back from ATL, but after that, we're breaking out the real silverware (no more plastic stuff - haha), and I'm going to try out some new dishes on my guests. Who wants to come first?!

I've been meaning to get back into the groove of having Sunday dinners as well. It's a nice time to get together with friends/family and to make a big meal with lots of leftovers for the week! This is just the time of year. I probably won't attempt this until we get back from FL, but we'll see...

I will keep you posted on the recipes as I try them, and I'll post the good ones (with my edits) once I complete them. Meanwhile, stay tuned for a dinner invitation in the near future! Sorry, TJ, I won't be serving fritos, but you can suffer through whatever I make. You really don't eat much anyway. ;-)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas!

I hope you are all enjoying your wonderful, fattening holiday. :) I have only made it through one meal, and I'm already over 800 calories for the day. Yikes.

We got up at 6:30 with the boys and we opened presents until 9:30. Yep, that's right, three hours worth of presents. LOL! I think the boys were actually getting sick of opening presents after two hours. ;-) There were 6 adults (loose use of the word for some of us) and my two nephews. I would guess there were about 120+ presents. I'm not even a kid (sort of), and I had at least 20 presents. Wow! My family is very generous, and I got a lot of great presents, and I also was given a treasure from my sister. She made me a scrap book of the last three years that the boys have visited NH/MA. It is PRECIOUS.

After all the presents were open, we started making breakfast. Correction: my sister finished cooking the breakfast/brunch she had prepared yesterday. I just cut up some fruit...see how quick I am to steal her thunder? ;-)

She made a ridiculously good breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls (sugary, moist and covered in frosty goodness), and a fruit salad with a brown sugar yogurt dressing. Everything was delicious, but we didn't eat until about 11ish. That's late for me, and I was hungry, so earlier in the morning, I had 2 mincemeat foldovers that my Mom made (a holiday favorite of mine), and a piece of sea salt taffy my sister made (YUM - of course!). For brunch, I had a piece of the egg casserole, a cinnamon roll and some fruit salad. I didn't have huge portions of anything, but as you can see, that is how I reached 800 calories in one meal!

I did manage to work out this morning, so at least I burned SOME of the calories. We are having beef tenderloin for lunch, and, no doubt, some sinful sides to go with it. Not to mention, the egg nog cream pie my dad made, and the holiday praline pie my mom made... My sister is a phenomenal cook, and she goes all out for every meal she makes, let alone if it's a holiday! I'm not going to freak out if/when I go over my usual 1000-1200 calories for the day. I will just make sure to have an extra light day tomorrow and to put in a good work out to make up for it. It's all good.

I hope your holiday is as special (and yummy) as mine. XO

The daily weigh in

I read in Reader's Digest that 82% of all people who lost weight kept it off if they weighed themselves daily. Wow. That's quite a statistic - especially when you consider that only 2-5% of dieters keep their weight off long term. I like the daily weigh in, but I know it's not for everyone. I'm pretty sure I won't wake up one morning and realize I gained my 160 lbs back if I'm weighing myself daily, though! :)

Heart Attack

I worked out at the hotel gym yesterday, and it was really neat! The cardio equipment each had an individual tv screen built in, but the cool part was that you could dock your iPod right into it directly and watch any TV shows or movies you have on your iPod, right on the screen. Very cool. The hotel we stayed in was fantastic, and we had a great time walking around downtown ATL. Everyone is so friendly - it's a riot.

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This morning, I went down to the gym, but I was having trouble with my key card, and I couldn't get in. I was going to go to the front desk for help, but then I decided I would go for a jog instead. I love early morning inner city jogs...apparently. :) I've always liked the idea of them, and now I know I like the act as well, however when I started, I headed straight up a hill and I thought I was going to have a heart attack! :)

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I have to run, because we are meeting the fam at the aquarium in 28 minutes! This should be fun, and I think we'll get a bit of walking in as well.

Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier Island

The picture above is the snowflake bridge at Lake Lanier Island where we saw a giant light extravaganza last night. I don't know how else to describe it - it was amazing. They had a live nativity scene as well, and my dad took this picture of the camel they had!:

Neat-o!

At the end of the 6.5 mile light display, there was a holiday carnival with shops, rides and games. I played the games, naturally. We had a great night.

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Yesterday afternoon, I went online to track the rest of my shipment from Amazon.com, and I couldn't find any information about the remaining 20+ items that hadn't arrived yet. I called customer service, and they said the orders were cancelled, but they weren't sure why. Naturally, there wasn't time to place the orders again in time for Christmas (even though they said some of the items could still make it - as if I would trust them again!!!), so I had to start shopping for 2/3rds of the presents I needed yesterday afternoon, 3 days before Christmas, with a 90 minute window. Fun! :)

Thankfully, I was able to find a lot of what I needed at the outlets nearby, and I'm in good shape again. I still have 5-6 more presents to pick up this morning, but I know what I'm getting and where to get it, so it should be easy. I'm hoping to wrap all my presents this morning (except for the ones that I ordered on another web site that are due to arrive tomorrow), because I'm going to be quite busy between now and 12/25.

Darcy and I are heading into Atlanta today to see the sites. I want to visit CNN and Coke, and then I'd also like to find some local yocal places, because I always love those. I know it will be hard because I don't have much time, but it will be a fun quest. We are staying overnight at a cool hotel (blog more later once we've stayed there), and tomorrow AM, we are meeting up with my parents and sister's family to go to the aquarium. That will be fun!

When we get back tomorrow night, we are going to try to make the Christmas Eve service at a nearby church, and then we are all spending the night at my sister's house so that we'll be there when the boys wake up on Christmas morning. They are such cute little guys, and I can't wait to see them on Christmas morning. :)

The hotel we are visiting today appears to have quite an equipped fitness center, so I'm planning to work out when we check in, and hopefully I can get my work out in tomorrow AM as well before we check out.

My sister has some equipment at her house, so I could at least get an elliptical work out there on Christmas AM (not sure if I'll have time), or I can use the exercise bike at my parent's house on Christmas night. On Friday, I will probably head back to the Y or Planet Fitness. I'll play it by ear.

For our trip to FL, in a few weeks, I found 2 Planet Fitness locations that are fairly close to the house we are renting, so I'll be sure to build a workout into that location as well.

Be good.

YMCA

Yesterday we drove to Lawrenceville to go to the gym. It was quite a hike, but well worth it. I had a great work out on the elliptical, and I did upper body as well. I'm still sore today! After that, we went out to lunch and then headed into Atlanta with my parents for a holiday field trip! We had a nice time, and we went to Atlantic Station where they had a European holiday shoppes marketplace set up outside (brrrr!), and a giant tree...after that we headed to the famous Varsity for dinner, the world's largest drive in. I had a hot dog and a few fries, but I still managed to stay within my calories for the day.

Before heading home, we checked out the lights at Centennial Olympic Park. It looked great!
When we got home, my dad brought us some of the saltiest popcorn I have ever had (naturally, I loved it), so later, while we watched a movie, I hopped onto their exercise bike and burned about 160 calories, almost equal to the amount of popcorn I consumed.

This morning, we were meeting up with my sister's family for breakfast, so I wasn't going to have time to make it to my gym. I called the local YMCA to see if I could buy a day pass, and they said they didn't have those, but I could just come for free. OKAY! Thanks!

Darcy and I did legs, and then we went swimming and in the hot tub. Awesome! The place was great, and I can't believe none of my family members go there. Silly people.

I have to run, because it's time for moooore shopping, and tonight we are headed out to Lanier Island Lakes or Lakes Island...something like that...for the largest interactive light display on earth...I think. We are hoping to get there early so that we don't have to wait too long, but it should be pretty neat!

Stay warm. XO

Not a big fan

I hadn't weighed myself since Thursday AM, and I was expecting to be up a few lbs from the junk food and sodium I had consumed since hitting the road on Thursday night. I weighed myself on my Dad's old MD scale this AM, and it was *much* higher than anticipated. I expected to be up a few lbs, but not this much...I'm really hoping it's wrong. LOL

Actually, it's not physically possible for it to be right. I know my scale at home is about 2 lbs higher than both of my MD's scales (which must be right), so I'm hoping the gym I go to this AM has a scale there I can use. If not, I know my sister has one, so I'll be heading over to weigh in! :) I feel bloated and gross, so I'm sure I'm up a few lbs, but I never gain weight for more than a day or two. As soon as I do, I just make sure to drink lots of water, avoid an unhealthy amount of sodium, stay on course with my eating, and make sure to work out. I've been on a plateau for quite some time, and eventually, I will start losing again, but I'm certainly not going to allow myself to start going in the wrong direction with my weight! :)

It's about 8AM, and I'm going to see if Darcy wants to get up and come to the gym with me. That will be a big no, but I may bribe her with shopping after, which will most likely turn that big no into an enthusiastic "OKAY!!!" :) Let's see if I'm right...

*****

Well what a good girl she was today! I woke her up and asked her to go to the gym, and she said okay without any bribery! I'm impressed! I guess I don't have to take her shopping after all! Juuust kidding!

My Mom made these oatmeal breakfast squares that are delicious (I've heard), and I believe they are 3 points, so I'm going to have to figure out what that means for my calorie entry on fitday.com. It's probably 175 calories, 2 grams of fat, and 2 grams of fiber, but that's just a guess. It's probably close enough.

My parents are going out to brunch with their friends from church, so I'm not sure what our plan is. I'm really in the mood for a big salad, so I'm going to see if there is a salad bar place around here that they recommend, or a restaurant that has big salads. After all the salt and junk I've consumed these past few days, my body is craving water and fresh fruits and veggies.

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To all my peeps up north, hang in there with your 2 feet of snow. Summer will be there soon enough.... HAHAHHA - as if! I may just stay in the south through our FL trip. Then I'll miss five weeks of the terrible winter...better than nothing...if only I didn't have that darn cat!

Road Trip!

Due to the pending storm, we ended up leaving for our trip last night. I got home at 5PM (from a very busy day), cancelled all the hotel reservations, changed the rental car reservation, got everything ready, packed, picked up the rental car, loaded up the car, and we were on the road by 7:45. I feel like I must have forgotten...everything!

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I was so tired. We drove until about 1:15 or so. We finally settled in at a hotel in Bethlehem, PA, and I was asleep by 2AM. I got up at 7AM, and we're going to hit the road by 8...hopefully. I don't know why the GPS sent us this way. It seems off the beaten track. We picked fasted route, not shortest route, so maybe that's why. There was a ton of construction, so perhaps that's why it chose this route...who knows. We have 355 miles down, 787 to go, so we're almost a third of the way there...almost. ;-)

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We didn't have time to pack food or anything, so we are limited to fast food choices. Ick. I'm going to try to make as healthy choices as possible, but there are not many choices! Oh well...it's temporary. Next time, I'm going to pack a cooler ahead of time. It would be a much better idea!

PA is expecting this storm too, and it hasn't started yet, but I want to get out of here before it does! Hopefully the GPS didn't add time to my already lengthy trip. :)

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Be safe!

Oh thank heavens

I overdid it at the gym last night, and my arms were shaking when I got home. I am trying to gradually get back to where I was, but I guess it's going to take more than a week or two. :) I was so sore, but later last night, Darcy and I went in the hot tub. Ahhhhh....

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I'm sore today, but a thousand times better than I would have been. Thank God for tubs of 103 degree weather and powerful massaging jets!

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I have my first appointment with my personal trainer tomorrow at 2. We are just doing a consultation, I think. I found out the closest gym to my parents house in GA is 23 miles away. Mapquest says it's 37 minutes away, but I'll give it a try and see if I can do it in less. I want to continue working out while I'm away. Most of the hotels we are staying at along the way have fitness centers, so I will be all set on the road.

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I have a lot to do before we leave on Saturday morning, so I better get crack-a-lackin!

Guilty pleasures

I stumbled upon Snoop Dogg's Father Hood show on E! recently, and I've been watching it lately. It's mildly amusing, but more unbelievable than anything else. Reality shows are so staged and scripted these days, it's really more like American viewers decided they would rather see non-actors perform in sitcoms. It must be related to self loathing somehow...why else would we want to see such awkward, terrible tv shows?

I've been a Snoop Dogg fan for 15 years, and seeing him play the role of a father and husband is the only amusing part of the show. On a recent episode, the family decided to get healthy. Shante, Snoop's wife, was saying how she needed to lose weight, and her (probably about) 7 or 8 year old daughter said, "Just get the surgery!"

Oh dear. Snoop and Shante cracked up laughing, and it was funny, but it's scary to think that today's young kids are starting to think like that. I'm not surprised - it makes sense. We are in an instant gratification society, and why wouldn't young kids just see it as though you can eat whatever you want and when you get fat, you can just get a quick surgery and be thin. What's the problem?!

I'm hoping our society makes a shift toward the healthy soon. This economy isn't going to help, though. It's so much cheaper to buy junk food at the grocery store or fast food restaurants than it is to buy healthy food. If we are really in for a long term economic drought, I think the government should supplement the food industry, or provide tax breaks for healthy living/eating. After all, bad food and unhealthy living cause a significant drain on tax payers when it comes to medical care. It's only going to get worse, as people have less and less money to feed and take care of themselves.

It's not a bad idea...

Yo, where the veggies at?

Darcy and I have been going out to eat more lately, as something to do that's outside of the house. With Darcy out of work and me working from home the majority of the time, it gets very boring seeing the same scenery...constantly! :)

There have been several times recently when I have ordered a meal that didn't come with a vegetable. In fact, I've noticed the majority of restaurant meals don't come with vegetables. I find this so strange. They are happy to load you up with potatoes or rice pilaf, but where are the green beans?

If a meal doesn't come with a vegetable, I usually order one on the side, most often salad because I love salad so much, or sometimes I will try to get a vegetable instead of the starch they are offering.

Were restaurateurs raised differently than I was? I never heard of a meal without a vegetable...especially if it's dinner. Isn't that a fairly common theme? I feel like in years past, the vegetable was a given, and now it's not anymore.

I wonder if restaurants stopped including them because they threw too many sides of gray broccoli out. Whatever the case, I'm going to start asking restaurants why a vegetable isn't standard with an entree. Hopefully, if enough people ask the same question, we will start seeing more of them on our dinner plates when dining out!

:)

Which way will it go?

I started feeling really achy and tired yesterday...just not myself. I didn't sleep well at all last night, and so this morning I feel tired and achy too, but I'm not sure I'm coming down with a flu, or if it's just because I didn't sleep well.

I'm going to try to get lots of vitamins in today (and yes, Zicam, Mom!) :), because I can't afford to be sick. I have so much to do this week before we leave for our holiday travels on Friday or Saturday. Also, I have some follow up interviews this week, and I don't want to be sick for those either.

I missed the gym on Saturday because I did upper body on Friday, and my legs were still wobbley from Thursday. Yesterday, I skipped it because I wasn't feeling well. I really want to go today. I left a message to meet up with the personal trainer, so I'm hoping I'll hear from her shortly.

If I'm not feeling better, I may skip it because I don't want to push it (and expose myself to all the gym germs) if I'm fighting off a cold or flu, but I'll wait until later in the day when I know which way this thing is heading.

I hope you all stay healthy for the holidays!

A little taste of sunshine

It is a miserable day in New England. There's been a bit of a storm! :) Trees are down, huge areas are without power, roads are blanketed with ice...it's just an icky, icky day.

For breakfast, I had a pink grapefruit. It tasted so fresh and sweet, and it was so juicy. I loved it. It made me think of my upcoming trip to Florida.

Also, Alison emailed me that she downloaded a picture of the pool at the house we're staying as her wallpaper, and so subliminally, I'm sure that got me thinking of the trip as well! I think this is the picture she was referring to:

I cannot wait to get to Florida! We've had a rough run of it these past few months, and we are more than ready to relax in the sun, swim, tan, ride ocean waves, flop by the pool, eat tropical fruits, and enjoy life.

This will be my first trip to Florida when I'm unemployed. If I didn't own two houses that are impossible to unload in this market, I think I'd be pretty tempted to abandon the rat race for sun sets and straw huts.

I would loooove to have some island job and live in the Keys full time. I could do boat tours, or run a B&B or a restaurant or shuck crabs, for all I care. That would be the life! Hey, I'm 32...there's time. :)

I'm looking forward to a very active, yet relaxing trip. There are so many things I can do now that I couldn't have before, and I want to do all of them!

Changing things up a bit

I'm going to be signing up with a personal trainer at my gym. I have been doing the same routine for so long...I just want to change things up a bit. If you do the same work out, over and over, your body stops changing - it gets used to it.

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Now, I haven't been working out at the gym much since my surgery and my knee injury, but even still, I'm ready for a change.

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I didn't work out yesterday. My legs were completely sore from the work out the day before, and my upper body was sore from the 150 push ups from two days ago. I took advil in hopes that I could be okay, but it didn't help at all.

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Today I'm feeling much better, so I plan to do upper body at the gym.

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Yesterday's calories:

Calories - 1155

Fat - 54

Fiber - 11.2

Protein - 71

Notes from the gym...

I injured my knee this past summer, and I haven't done a legs work out since then because of the injury. It's been about 5 months! Yesterday, I finally did legs, and boy, was I wobbley after! I took it very easy, but my legs were jello after. It felt great!

My calorie intake yesterday was:

Calories: 1051

Fat: 28

Fiber: 18 (getting better!)

Protein: 55

Enough with the fat girl magazines!

When you are a fat girl, you have to buy fat clothes. The plus size sections of normal stores don't even cut it for the really big fatties, as I was. I ordered all my work clothes online from the Avenue (a fat girl store) and all my casual clothes from Ralph Lauren and Old Navy (both with really big men's size sections). I think the Avenue sells their list to every fat girl catalog out there, and so each month I get mailings from The Woman Within and many other lovely and large companies.

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I will never order fat girl clothes again! Stop sending me this stuff!

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Hi, yes, can you please take me off your mailing list? I refuse to need to buy your clothes ever again. Thanks.

Um...ouch

I can't imagine what it took to get those abs. I would love to have six pack ads some day, but it's just not in the cards for me. I can certainly try, though!

After my blog yesterday, talking about how I'm going to work out at least 6 or 7 times per week, even if it's just for 10 minutes, I almost didn't work out yesterday! Loser! :)

I have been quite busy, and I was working until about 9PM. I didn't feel that great, and I just wanted to flop in front of the TV when I finally finished. Thankfully, I sucked it up and I did 700 crunches and 150 push ups. I didn't have it in me to go to the gym.

My abs are SORE today! It's a good pain though. I love the feeling of muscle pain when muscles tear from working out, right before they grow and become stronger. I can't wait to do a good weight lifting work out. I definitely feel as though my body is healing.

Yesterdays food intake:

Calories: 1074
Fat: 37
Fiber: 9
Protein: 75

I'm supposed to schedule a fill. I'm months overdue. I suppose I should do that today.

I also rescheduled my root canal. I would have to pay $300 out of pocket, and I'm not in pain, so it's hard to justify. I know that's dumb, and I should just get it over with, but it hasn't bothered me since my initial flare up, so I'm thinking of getting a second opinion before that hassle (and expense).

The home work out

Yesterday I worked from home all day, went shopping briefly, went out to sushi for dinner (Yum!!), and came home and did a home work out before going to class. I did stair push ups (as pictured above), 300 crunches (my first crunches since surgery - they didn't bother me a bit), and a bit of cardio: running up and down the stairs over and over and over...why is this so much harder than a stair master? That makes no sense to me.

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I had forgotten that before I became ill, and before I had been prevented from working out due to my recovery from surgery, I had committed to working out every day (or was it 6 days a week?), even if it was only for 10 minutes. My work out last night lasted about 30 minutes, but that's not the point... The point is, if I can be consistent with exercise, even for just 10 minutes a day, I'll be ahead of the game, and it will prompt me to work out more.

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When I'm at goal, I can probably relax to working out five days a week, but while I'm trying to get back into the losing weight groove, I should really try for six or seven days a week, even if it's just for 10 minutes one or two of the days.

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I caught a little of Ellen recently, and she was talking to a slightly overweight actor. He said how hard it was to get into the groove of working out, and how he never has the energy. She replied that she works out at least five times a week - doing all different things to work out- and it's what gives her the energy she has. I can't believe she can dance up and down all those stairs and then talk immediately after without catching her breath. She is in *great* shape, and she has a very high energy level.

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I feel like my energy has waned since I've been out of the groove of working out, and I'm looking forward to getting it back. I know I'm still in the process of working my way back into the rigorous work outs I used to do, but I'm looking forward to getting back to that point.

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Yesterday's food consumption:

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1128 calories

34 g fat

10 g fiber

84 g protein

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I've been doing well with my calories (except for on Saturday), and my protein, but I really need to work on increasing my fiber. If I'm not conscious of that, it just falls off the radar screen. I wish I hadn't realized that those fiber one bars had high fructose corn syrup in them, because they were a very tasty way to knock 10 g of fiber out of the way each morning. Oh well!

We must have been much smaller then...

Yesterday, Darcy and I went to Shaker Village for Christmas at Canterbury. It was a very charming event. The pathways between antique buildings were lit with hundreds of luminaries, and the light dusting of snow on the ground gave it that holiday feel.

We attended a play, talking about the history of the Shakers, as well as the history of their Christmas traditions, a 1900's magic show, while sipping hot cider, we saw fiddlers play while families danced in one of the buildings, we toured a most impressive gingerbread showcase, saw how the shakers made their own brooms, visited the sugar house and sampled a gingerbread candy, toured their original kitchen and pantry and saw the dining rooms decorated in a traditional Shaker Christmas manner, and we also toured a building with the traditional furniture that they crafted.

I couldn't believe how small the chairs were. The adult chairs looked like chairs that would be made for children today. The picture above doesn't even capture it fully. I know we get bigger and bigger as the years go by, but this is quite a significant change to happen in the past 200 years. I would guess that the average adult today (in the US) would crush one of the Shaker chairs! :)

I read a menu of their average day of food. They would have potatoes and fish for breakfast with butter gravy, the mid day meal (dinner) consists of meats, vegetables, fruits, bread and dessert, and supper was often a meat hash with potatoes, bread and vegetables, washed down with a heaping serving of buttery apple pie.

I can't imagine how many calories they must have consumed every day, but from all the pictures I saw, they were very thin! They worked hard all day, and they burned every calorie they consumed. It's an unfortunate state of our society today when we have to eat next to nothing not to gain weight because we are so sedentary. Our lives revolve around sitting or laying down for often 22 hours/day or more. We sleep for 7-8 hrs/night, we commute for 1.5 - 2 hrs/day, we sit in meetings or at our desks for 8+ hrs each day, and when we get home, we sit in front of the tv or in a recliner to read. It's no wonder we have to go to gyms to get on hamster wheels to try to burn off a few of the measly calories we have consumed.

I wish my life was more inherently active. I used to paint houses one summer, and I loved it. It was great to be active. I would love to have a job that was physical labor, that could also pay my bills. Unfortunately, my bills are quite high, so I haven't found that match quite yet.

The Shakers believed that hard work was good for the soul, and I agree with that sentiment, although I don't know it personally. :) I work very hard at my job, but it's just not the same as hard physical labor that helps provide for sustenance.

*****
I didn't exercise as much as planned these past few days. Friday I worked all day, and then I had homework that I worked on until 11. Yesterday was the only day I got any exercise in, and it was a stretch because it was in the form of house cleaning. I decided to count it though, because I purposely kept an aerobic pace, and I cleaned for three hours.

I'm trying to stay between 1000-1200 calories per day. I did that Friday and Sunday, but Saturday we ate out each meal, and I went quite a bit over. Still, it was less than the average recommended daily intake of 2,000 calories, so it's not like I ate the farm...I just didn't make the best choices.

Friday:
1199 calories
29.8 g fat
13.3 g fiber
108 g protein

Saturday:
1574 calories
78.2 g fat (yikes)
14.7 g fiber
53.1 g protein

Sunday:
999 calories
44.7 g fat
9.8 g fiber
77.5 g protein

My weight is the same.

So put on a happy face!

I've had a tough past few weeks, but boy, did I have a wake up call yesterday. I visited my friend Matt in the hospital. He has been fighting cancer for the last 20 months. Originally, they thought the chemo had worked, and he had a clean bill of health, but shortly after, the cancer returned. They had to be much more aggressive the second round.

Matt is currently undergoing a bone marrow transplant. He's been in the hospital for the past 17 days, and he can't leave his room. The drugs are so intense, his whole body is covered in a rash, he's lost his hair, and he's constantly sick. When I saw him yesterday, he was having a good day, and he should get better each day moving forward.

I mention this because his attitude was unbelievable. I'm a glass half full type of person, and I try to see the best in hard situations, but at some point we all break down. Matt has been through hell and back, and he was the same charming, hilarious, upbeat person I've always known. It was amazing, and I know his positive outlook is going to help his recovery tremendously. We could all learn a thing or two from Matty. :)

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Yesterday, I consumed 855 calories, 15 grams of fat, 14 grams of fiber, and 83 grams of protein. Darcy and I went to the gym, and I did arms. I took it very easy, and my arms still felt like jello when I was done. Pathetic!

I have some afternoon meetings today, but when I am done with them, I'm going to head back to the gym and attempt to do legs. I haven't done legs since I injured my knee, but I'm going to try it, going easy, and see how it goes. My knee is still not right, but I think it's much better than it was.

Tonight, I need to finish a school project I have. I have class all day Saturday and all day Sunday, so it should not prove to be a very fun weekend, but I will make the best of it. It's not like I'm having a bone marrow transplant, now is it!

Yikes.

That's how I feel today - 27 months pregnant. ;-)

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I ate junk yesterday - I'm not sure why. I started off the day well having a grapefruit for breakfast, and then I had turkey soup for lunch, but we went to the movies, and I decided to have a treat of popcorn, and then later we ordered in for dinner, and I had a prosciutto and mozzarella panini that had too much olive oil, and I ate it late, and today I feel really bloated and fat.

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Since we've been off our routine for so long, I've noticed that my bad food choices happen more frequently. Since I've been on a plateau, I've also noticed that my weight doesn't change whether I eat 600 calories a day or 2000, and perhaps that has made me lazier.

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I think it's just the lack of the routine that has lead to us eating out more and ordering in more, and that has gotten me off track a bit. I don't mind eating something fattening from time to time, but those times need to be fewer and farther in between then they have been.

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For now, I'm going to post my daily nutrition intake on my blog, as well as my exercise. Darcy is going to try to start eating healthy as well, so hopefully we can get rid of the junk food that is in the house. Normally, I stay away from her treats, but lately, I have been sampling some of them from time to time. Thankfully, I don't like most of what she likes, but I know it will be great for us if she eats healthy and starts working out with me.

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I just wish it were warmer so we could do our cardio outside. I really loathe the whole hamster on a wheel gym thing, although I do like the lifting part.

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When I get home from Boston this afternoon, we are going to go to the gym together. I'm not sure how much she can do with a broken arm, but she can certainly do something. :)

First day back

My surgeon called back yesterday with the instructions to take it easy - I ended up just doing 30 minutes on the bike. I only did level 5. My legs felt a little wobbly after, which is funny/pathetic, but it's a step in the right direction. My right knee is still bothering me, and it's extra creaky from my work out. I'm just hoping that working out is good for it.

I'm totally bloated today and up a few lbs of water weight from yesterday - I'm not sure why. I was well within my range of calories yesterday, but I'm sure the water weight will be gone by tomorrow.

On the job front, another hospital system reached out to me about an opportunity in their organization, so I will be lining up another interview shortly.

On the house front, we have damage from the floods, and I put a claim into my insurance company six months ago, because the floor is sagging below the refrigerator. The drywall in the corners of the house has started to crack, and now the floor below the refrigerator has actually separated from the wall.

Jimmy took a look under the house yesterday, and he found 3 broken floor joists, 2 of which will have to be replaced completely. I've reached out to my insurance company to see where they are with the flood claim. This is going to be a very expensive project, and I need to know if they are covering it.

I'm just glad I'm not carrying around an extra 160+ lbs with me because I probably would have fallen through the floor by now! :) Yikes.

For someone who is unemployed, I certainly am busy right now. I'm still working for my soon to be former company, and my side work is picking up quite a bit. In addition, my two classes are ending by next week, and I have a big project and presentation to complete for one of them. I haven't started it yet, but I better get going!

Back to the gym!

I followed up with my surgeon's office this AM, and told them it had been about 4 weeks since I had my surgery and I'm feeling great, and I would *really* like to return to the gym. They said they didn't think that would be a problem. I'm going to start easy, until I hear back from the surgeon directly, though. I'm so glad I can get back to the gym today!

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I've been feeling icky lately. I think I may be coming down with a cold, or my allergies may be bothering me. I know my body misses working out, and I haven't been eating as balanced a diet as I should these past few days...too many leftovers. I'm finally sick of turkey, although I will be making my turkey soup today (hopefully), so that will be a good thing.

The interview

I have two interviews scheduled this week. I was approached about both opportunities, which is nice. They are both fairly comparable to my former role, but one is actually much more extensive. I haven't started looking beyond these two roles yet, because I am very interested in each, and I am hoping one of them will end up working out. If that does not happen, I will launch a full search. For the positions I am interviewing for, it's not as easy as going to Monster.com because many of them are only listed through search agencies, so networking is a good bet for me. I will also need to work with some search firms, but for now, I'm focusing on the two opportunities at hand. I have time...for now. :)

I'm so glad I'm not going through this process a year ago, before I had lost the weight. I always had self confidence, but some people truly discriminate against bigger people, and while I'm still overweight, I think I'm now out of the range where I would be discriminated against. It's sad that it happens, but it's true.

Also, as a smaller and healthier person, I just feel that much better about myself, so when I'm going into an interview, I will have that much more confidence and self assuredness. It is important to look good and successful, and I think I can portray those things.

These are the times when I value my weight loss journey the most. Losing weight has opened so many doors for me. It's almost shocking to think about how difference life was before.