Sexy Sexy

Yesterday was a bit of a relaxed diet day. Not awful, but relaxed. I had been to the gym for 5 straight days before that, so I really needed a break anyways.

I still had my breakfast bar for breakfast. Then we had that big meeting with "breakfast". Who ever decided that bagels and pastries constitute breakfast. I grabbed an OJ and a cup of coffee instead. Good thing I ate my breakfast bar before getting there. I do hate that I wasted 140 calories on OJ though.

I did not bring my snack to work like I have been trying to do, so I did succumb to the pressure of pastries sitting in the kitchen area. Too bad. Blew it right before lunch. I should have just eaten lunch, but no. I had this delightful blueberry thing. I'm sure it was awful, but I decided to just be careful the rest of the day. I got a salad from au bon pan. I really love that place. I just don't like how much dressing they put on my salad. I will ask for half dressing next time. They have good salads there, but they also have a lot of healthy snack items - along with a lot of non-healthy snacks. I got this cute little bag of baby carrots for my afternoon snack.

For dinner, I met some friends at Royal Oak Brewery. I think I drank a few pints. My friend and I shared two appetizers. One was Thai Chicken Skewers. I think these were pretty healthy, but we didn't really love them. We also got Chicken Cheese Quesadillas. All in all, I don't think it was too bad of a dinner. Could have been much worse.

Now for the fun part...

After dinner, we were walking to Noir Leather when we saw this little boutique shop with dresses hanging up outside. I've really been wanting to diversify my closet lately, but I've never thought I could pull off a dress nicely. My friends saw this cute little dress that they wanted me to try on. I was like, no no no... let's just keep walking. They insisted, so I went with it. It totally fit me, but I'm very pale and it would have looked a lot better on someone tan. The owner of the shop went and got me a different dress though. It was this beautiful flowy chocolate thing with a tie around the neck thing. It was so cute and sexy - even on me. ME! It needs to be shortened, but seriously this thing looked so good with my coloring. I totally bought it, and I so canNOT wait to wear it. Of course, I will post a pic when I do.

That's about it. I think I might be heading down to Indiana for a party/camping thing tonight. I'll weigh in sometime tomorrow for the Challenge. I can't wait to lose 10 pounds next month - even though I'm not confident that I can. That's a lot to lose at this point in the game. I will at least lose some pounds and improve my mile time. Go team!

Full Body Pic (well...missing some parts)

I made my kids take pictures of me tonight after my workout...

Ok, I just have to say it. I knew I was feeling good, but I did not know that I was looking this good. I'm totally getting there. Watch out, Erin. haha.





















*Edit*

I just found a full body shot from last summer (the week before I joined the gym). I'm the second from the left. Btw...this was the puke in the mouth picture.

Comment from yesterday's blog

Ok, I really should have waited to post that blog last night. I really truly fell asleep in the middle of writing it. I just noticed that I said I had clicking at my new joint. For the record, I have not grown a new joint. This is an existing body part that has started clicking when I run. It's on the back side of my leg (is that still called the knee back there?). Does anyone know what might be causing this clicking and if there's anything I can do to fix it? It doesn't happen when I'm on the elliptical.

Even better the second time...

I went to the gym tonight and ran into the trainer that took my measurements the other day. I demanded to have my hip fat measured again. He said no problem and took me over to the measuring station. I was standing there just waiting for him to say something like...Oops or uh yeah, it was a bit off. Instead he said...take a look. I looked down and saw 8mm. Yay! So, according to his measurements, I am officially at a 21.9% body fat percentage (not to be confused with BMI...thanks, Billy). He told me again that I just need to lose 2 lbs to be where I need to be. He also got on me about only doing cardio and needing to be on the other side of the gym and blah blah blah. He said I can eat 1645 calories a day and still lose a pound a week - add in exercise and I can eat more or lose more. Yeah yeah...we all know the drill by now.

That was one cool thing. The other cool thing was that I was in the locker room and saw these fabulous black thighs (the girl was bent over getting something from her locker). I thought - wow, she has thighs just like April (my trainer). Well, looks like April grew her hair out got extensions. Funny that I recognized her by her thighs though. I think I like them, because April is about my height and I think I could attain that build if I put enought effort into it. rambling here...

I never did tell you guys about our fallout. Remember when I missed the last day of demf? I had some serious shit going on and I missed my personal training session. Then she called to tell me that Saturday's session was moved to Sunday @ noon. Well, I showed up at like 12:10, and I couldn't find her. I thought that maybe they were working out outside or something. Anyways, probably the next day, I listened to the voicemail that she had left me about 6 days earlier, and it said we were meeting at 11:00. (She had called and left a vm, but I had just called her back before listening to the message...I do this a lot.) Anyways...I completely forgot to call her to let her know I was going to be in Chicago for the Tuesday night session and I forgot to call to ask when we were meeting over the weekend. Basically, I thought I'd lost my last paid session. She had said something like that in the voicemail (if you no show again, i'll have to charge you...) I understand this.

Then I got another call the next Tuesday night that said...look I warned you that I'd have to charge you. you haven't been here and you haven't called, so i have to charge you for your remaining two sessions. By the way, I'm moving to Indiana in July, so have a nice life (or something along that line). Maybe we can work something out for your last two sessions if you give me a call...

I didn't think I had two sessions left, but I felt horrid that I'd blown her off for several weeks, so I called and left a voicemail. I basically apologized and said I would like to work something out if possible. If not, I'd understand.

Well, I never heard back from her and I hadn't seen her until tonight. She accused me of never getting back to her. I know for a fact I did, but it's beside the point now. I am going up there tomorrow night for my last session. I will miss that girl.

She said my shoes were way cute (my new running shoes). I told her the exciting news about my assessments - and then I pointed at my thigh to show her the muscle. Here's the payoff for listening to this dreadfully long and boring story. Ok, so it's probably not payoff to you all, but it is to me. She said (with big eyes)...you're looking smaller. So, here's the deal. We all know that I haven't lost any weight in a long time, but she recognized that I'm smaller. I swear that the running is really really paying off big time. I don't care what anyone says...I'm gaining muscle mass and losing fat. I can see it and I can feel it. BTW...it's been just about a month since the last time she saw me.

I was looking at the mirrors today while I was on the elliptical, and I was mesmerized by the shape of my thighs. Ok, ok...i'll stop...don't puke.

I really think that my home workout last night made me a little tired to really push myself tonight on the machines. Plus, I haven't been getting nearly as much sleep as I should, and I haven't been drinking enough water. The guy trainer really wants me to start eating healthy snacks a couple times a day. I might actually give this a shot - even if it's just an apple or something.

I chose to use the hill option on the treadmill tonight. Felt good that I set the level at 15 (out of 20). I kept my speed at about 5.0 for about 15 minutes. I then wanted to just run a straight mile, but that clicking at my new joint returned right away. Does anyone know what this is? It's like at the bottom of the hamstring. Anyways, I took myself over to the elliptical to finish my workout. I am trying to mix it up, because I am getting a little bored with the cardio stuff. Plus, each minute seems to take a long time to get through lately. Maybe it's my music. Need to get another good set.

Ok, I'm so tired that I actually fell asleep writing this...

Good night!

Something new for me...

I took a break from the gym tonight. I was just going to sit here and relax, but then I was looking at workouts online and got motivated to workout while watching tv. Great move! This is definitely a good supplement to going to the gym.

I first did a "bikini tune-up" from Women's Health. This is not to say that I will be wearing a bikini (this year), but it's a pretty good session for someone like me that hasn't done much in the way of strength training. Then I wanted to keep going, so I moved onto "the guide for your backside". More than anything, I want a perfectly luscious bottom, so this was fun. It's so cool to see and feel my muscles when doing these sets. I swear I even notice my thigh and ham muscles when I'm just walking now. I attribute this to the running and the elliptical of course.

That's about it. I had my Fiber One bar for breakfast along with a Starbucks low-fat double shot and creme. 70 calories. I had my Kashi Southwest Chicken for lunch. Dinner wasn't so pristine, but I think I'm still fine. I didn't get any protein in though - just a serving of mac&chz and a piece of cornbread.

Whatever, I feel good about my workout. Good night!

Woot!

Ok, bad news and EXCELLENT news!

I went to the gym today and finally got assessed again. This was my first assessment since last November, but the numbers I'm going to post are from last August.

Bad news first: My weigh-in was 149. This is much higher than what I see on my scale - even if I calculate in the 5 lb differential that I've been doing since day 1. I don't even really care - because of the EXCELLENT news:

Ok, this might get a little clinical, but please read and celebrate with me.

***modified***

can't seem to get a table in here, so go here:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcjgjtgd_3fgjbtd


OK, so the table might be a little ghetto, but you get the point. One thing I haven't said yet is that my BMI is supposedly at 21.9% now. Last August it was 31.7%. According to Lifetime Fitness, I only have 2 pounds to lose to get to where they'd like to see me. I know that I can still lose more to be within range, but it's still comforting to know that they don't consider me a fat-ass anymore. For the record, I'm really not sure about the 8 mm number above. I'm sure I'll have to go in and revise these numbers once I confirm that it should have been 18 mm. We'll see.

Other than that, my eating was much better today. At the gym, I did intervals again. 7.0, 7.5, and 8.0 sets with resting in between...pretty much the same deal as yesterday. I'm really sore today...some of it is a good sore, some is a little bit of a worrisome sore. I stopped when I felt that. I am going to take tomorrow off from the gym to be safe, but I'll be doing upper body strength training here at home.

Goodbye, Venti Soy Chai

I have a feeling that my soy chai's have been sabotaging my weight loss. 350 calories really adds up. The one thing that makes them not so bad is that they probably provide about 2 dairy servings. I think that's about the same amount of calories as 2 servings of milk?

Anyways...no more of them during the month of July. In fact, I have to vow to bring my lunch to work every day too. I really need to get back to only going out to lunch once per week. It's killing me.

I went to the gym this morning, and I had the lower arm sweat thing going again. In fact, I was pretty much drenched. I'm starting to think it's due to ovulation. It's only happened to me twice - today and about a month ago. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I was even having a hard time getting my HR up to where I like it. The other difference was the time of day that I was working out. I usually go there in the evening, but today I went in the morning. This was the same situation as the last lower arm sweat day.

On a positive note...my stomach was looking a little flatter. I've heard that running helps women get rid of belly fat. My legs are looking more toned. It's a good day.

Finally, today I did interval training. Beck's speeds have given me inspiration. Brace yourselves...

*Stealing Beck's format here*

Cardio: Treadmill
warmup:
2 mins at 3.5 MPH 2% incline
1 min at 4.0 MPH 2% incline
1 min at 5.0 MPH 2% incline
1 min at 5.5 MPH 2% incline
interval:
90 sec at 6.5 MPH 2% incline, 60 sec rest; 3 sets.
90 sec at 7.0 MPH, 60 sec rest; 3 sets.
60 sec at 7.5 MPH, 60 sec rest; 3 sets.
30 sec at 8.0 MPH, 60 sec rest; 3 sets. (+30 sec burst of 8.5 MPH at the end of the final 8.0 MPH)

While I felt that I was working hard, I know that I could have probably gone faster. Next time I'm starting at 7.5 MPH working up to 8.5 MPH.

This whole thing took about 30 minutes or so, so I hopped on over to the elliptical for 20 minutes. This was where the lower arm sweat happened.

Now, I have to go clean the house. Have a great rest of the weekend.

Awwww....

I finally went to see my brother yesterday. A little background here. I'm 13 years older than he is, and we never really got along too well. I thought he was a punk. He thought I was stuffy. We were both right. However, during his last year of high school, we both changed a LOT. I started to find myself again, and he straightened up his attitude (for the most part). We started talking, and we realized that we really liked each other. Underneath all that punkness, he really is a sweetheart...and he now knows that I am far from stuffy.

Anyways, he has been my biggest cheerleader during my whole weight loss journey. In fact, he was probably my biggest cheerleader before that. He's always told me that I am so cute and blah blah blah. I've always pretty much set my weight loss goals around the times that I would be seeing him, and for some reason, this plan really worked. I met every single one of my goals along the way. When he saw me at Christmas, he was in awe and told me I looked hot. Ok, this might sound creepy coming from my brother and all, but I really needed this. I was in my 30's with 4 kids, and I was feeling old and ick. He's helped to change around my attitude and see that I am young and cute and all that.

So, yesterday...I saw him for the first time since Christmas break. I have lost somewhere between 20 - 25 lbs since then. Let me set the scene. JK...

He was talking on the phone when I got there, and he told the other person that I had just gotten there and that I was looking absolutely beautiful. Now, you gotta think back to your high school years for the next part...

He said: Man, I wanna take her to the mall with me.

AWWWWWWWWwwwwwww.......

My 19 yr old brother wants to show me off at the mall. Creepy? maybe...but I think it's so sweet and adorable.

I know I was looking good yesterday, because this car full of young guys were winking at me and blowing me kisses. HI-larious. Me and my minivan full of kids. I just laughed and rolled my eyes. kids. Ok, I'll admit I'm blushing thinking about it.

I must be putting out vibes or something, because there was a lot more of that kind of stuff going on today. I don't think it's related to my weight necessarily, but I am feeling really good right now. OH. I have never worn a spaghetti strap top out before, because I'm totally embarrassed of my arms and shoulders. Today, I wore a cute red top with skinny straps. It must not look as bad as I've envisioned?

OH...another way cool thing. I was hanging out with a couple of my sisters last night, and we were trying on each others' clothes. Mary actually gave me a couple pairs of pants that were a little too big for her. Plus, they were "S". She didn't realize that stood for Short. They fit me quite nicely.

After 5 years of being completely way huger than my sisters...you can only imagine how good that felt to be able to do a clothes swap. Mary wanted me to try on a couple of her skirts. I almost didn't, because I think shorter skirts look awful on me. I think the running is paying off big time, because they looked so cute. I canNOT wait to go buy a couple of cute little skirts. By little, I mean bottom of the knee. You probably don't know that the skirts I've worn in the past usually go almost to my ankle.

Finally, my youngest brother, Ben, told me today that I am skinny. I know this is not exactly true, but it still feels good to hear it. Ben is one of those kids that really isn't capable of giving a false compliment, so I know he meant it.

Ok, now I'm going to hang out on the deck with my husband and get my drink on. Good night...

New Shoes or Energy Bar? You Decide!!!

Rob's 5k story inspired me to go out and buy me some proper running shoes today. Up until now, I've been using these not so awesome cross-trainers that I bought a long time ago. They have served me well enough, but when I decided to come up with some real fitness goals, I knew that they were no longer good enough.

I hadn't eaten anything since lunch, so I stopped at the Life Cafe to grab an enery bar. I know that these often have a lot of calories, but I wanted my run to be a good one. I knew that I wouldn't be able to accomplish this without energy.

My trip to the shoe store cut my workout quite short, so I decided to just go all out from the first little bit. My warmup started at 3.8. At 2 minutes, I bumped it up to 4.5. At 3 minutes, I went to 5.0. No sweat. Literally. I decided to kick it up to 6.0. As a matter of fact, I did not break a real sweat for about 6 minutes at 6.0. Pure craziness. I went an entire mile at 6.0. At the end of the mile, I went down to 4.0 to drink some water and recover a little, because I knew I hadn't even pushed myself really and I wanted to do much better on my next mile. Are you feeling the suspense yet?

I started my mile at 6.5. This was a lot harder after a couple of minutes, but I pushed on. Oh, the side cramps were killing me. I know that I was breathing right (I was in choir and I know all about breathing with the diaphram), so where do these come from and why? Anyways, for the last tenth of the second mile, I just wanted it to be over, so I decided to go faster! 7.0 MPH! I did it, and I loved it! Don't get me wrong...it really hurt, but I am so utterly impressed with myself at this moment. Can you tell? :)

So, is it the new shoes or the energy bar or is it just me and my coolness or a combination of all three? Seriously, I didn't even think that I could go 5.0 until last week.

The body is truly an amazing thing. Require more of it, and it will give that much more.

Next goal is to go 3.1 miles straight at 5.0 mph. This will be a good gauge of where I stand in the endurance category for running a 5k. If I do this well, then maybe the next time I'll increase it to 5.5 mph. Maybe I'll alternate these runs with some interval training? I don't know yet as this is all new to me still.

I'm curious as to what incline you guys are using on the treadmill when you're running. Please post here if you don't mind. I've always used 2% or higher, but I'll admit that I've kept it at 0% in the past week to see how fast I could go without an incline. That obviously makes a difference in my speed, but for perspective...I had a hard time going over 3.3 mph @ 0% incline when I went to the gym for the first time last July. One of the trainers actually approached me and told me I should be using an incline and going faster if I wanted to lose any weight.

What keeps me going...

I know it doesn't really fit in with the whole HIIT culture, but here goes...

As I've mentioned before, music keeps me moving during my workouts, but what really pushes me is something that I read a few years ago...I think I actually read it a few places. Fat burning is highly accelerated from minutes 30 - 45 during a high intensity workout. Sure I want to quit at minute 30 a lot, but I just remind myself that if I can stay in for another 5 - 10 minutes, I'll be getting much better results. This usually turns into another 20 - 30 minutes, but mainly because of the music at that point.

I think there was only one day since I've been going back to the gym where I actually stopped at 30 minutes. This was the day I thought I was going to die because of lower arm sweat. I did not like that at all! So I'm a bit of a girly girl...

That's all that I wanted to say this am. Debate away if you'd like :)

Not the greatest day, but...

Ok, so I stopped at Dunkin Donuts this morning for coffee and a breakfast sandwich. It was enough food to tide me over until I got home from work though. Then I pulled out the tortilla chips and melted some cheese on them. This was all that I ate today, so it could have been worse. I did not exercise like I wanted to, but I accidentally installed some nasty spyware on my desktop, and I had to remove it before my husband saw it :) It only took me about 5 hours to fix it, but it's gone now...cross your fingers... At least I was able to get caught up with Entourage while I scanned my computer about 20 times trying to eliminate that bastard.

I have been under an incredible amount of stress at work lately, but I think I've coped well enough with it. I did get quite a bit of positive feedback from several sources this week, so I think that I'll be feeling better about it all soon. Ah, new job stress is fun...

One piece of information in advance. I will be having surgery on July 24th. I know the challenge is going on in July, so I hope that doesn't screw it up too much up. Looks like I'll be losing my uterus, so maybe that will result in the loss of a few pounds at least - Yay team A!!! Is that considered cheating? Seriously, this is a good thing for me. I just hope that it doesn't throw me off too much. I'll be on a medical leave, and I don't want to start eating out of boredom. Plus, I probably won't be able to exercise like I've been.

Ok, I really have to get to bed.

Wait! One more thing...please be sure to support Angie and Sharon while they continue to make progress with their weight loss goals.

Yesterday

I had a piece of leftover pizza for breakfast yesterday. We went to the zoo, so there was a bit of walking. I didn't eat at the zoo...it was just way too hot. We got home and I made a fabulous dinner. It definitely was a lot of food, but overall I don't think it was as awful as it could have been. Steak, salad, asparagus, mushrooms, sauteed onions. Good Stuff!

Something in the back of my head kept telling me that I hadn't been to the gym all weekend. It also kept saying that I shouldn't go more than 3 days without working out, so I picked my butt up and went. After the steak and all the extras, I really didn't feel like exercising, so I was just going to do 30 mild minutes on the elliptical - just to say that I did it. I ended up doing those 30 and then I stepped on the Arc Trainer for another 25. Great workout altogether. Hey, any time you can burn a quick 500 - 600 calories...

Anyways, I felt a lot less guilty about the bad breakfast and not so great dinner after working out.

Did someone say "Body Shot"?!?!?!?

Pics from last night. (Don't know how well they can be seen, considering I'm wearing black, and it was night.)

As you can see, I'm not there yet, but I still feel great.













Here's my before pic for reference.













My eating has been fine. I'm going to try to hit the gym tonight, but it's very possible that it won't happen. If not, I'll go tomorrow morning. That's all today.

I did it!

I finally weighed myself here, and it's not so bad. It's still up, but I'm gonna be ok. 139. I am back on track, so expect that number to drop. I've been to the gym 3 days in a row, so I'm taking a day off. My legs really need a break. Plus, I'm a little shaky from a little party I had last night. There was no dancing, but there will be tonight.

One little cool note here: I was telling my husband about my run yesterday, and he was totally impressed. This is a rarity, probably because he's kind of one of those generally fit people. He said that 5.5 mph was about his max on the treadmill - and he's about 5'11". Seriously, he doesn't hand out many compliments, so I'm completely geeked about this. Plus, I still feel like I'm just getting started here. I never had fitness goals before I found you guys, and back then I would have thought that my long term goal would be 5.5 or 6.0 mph on the treadmill. Now I laugh at that number. ;)

Milestone hit

As I'm sitting here in some of my new clothes, I can tell that I've gained weight. It's fine really, but I hate that I feel it in my legs, stomach, and butt. That being said...I feel a ton better today than I did three days ago. TOM still hasn't arrived, so maybe there's hope that some of it is just related to that whole business.

On to the good news. Yesterday I posted that I ran/jogged a complete mile on the treadmill, starting at 4.5 mph and working my way to 6.0. Today I wanted to start at 5.0 and go a complete mile. I did that. No sweat...almost literally. My HR was right around 167 - 173. When I use the elliptical, I stay around 180 - 185. I decided to slow down and rest for a couple of minutes and then really push myself for the next mile. I started at 5.5 and stayed there until I had only 1/10 left. Then I kicked it up to 6.0. This mile was much more difficult than the first, but I still did it...and I only felt sick at the end. Next time I will start my first mile at 6.0 and see how it goes. I'm just curious if I've just been holding myself back a little. Even if I have to reduce my speed, I'll still be telling my body that I want more and it will give it to me in a few workouts.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I enjoy losing weight and getting smaller, I also have the desire to be fit. I'm done stressing over the weight and sizes for a little while. Right now my focus is to complete a 10 minute mile. That would be such a huge accomplishment for me, but I know I can do it.

Finding My Groove

I was pretty good again today. As I said in a comment on Kevin's blog...last night I decided to get back to the basics. No more crash dieting techniques. Less calorie intake and more calorie expenditure. 1 solid pound a week is better than 5 lbs in 1 week that comes right back the next. Billy talked about starchy carbs this week. I have let those get out of control. I stayed away from them for the most part for the past year, but in the past month, I've allowed them to creep back into my lifestyle. I've turned to them repeatedly for the past couple of weeks. No more. I'm done with that. I did allow myself a pita at lunch today, but it was with a salad. I didn't feel too guilty about that.

I went to the gym today after work, and I tried a new course on the elliptical. I'm pretty sure I've done this one before, but I never noticed the part where it asked me to pedal backwards. Today I noticed it and decided to go for it. Wow! What a difference in everything. It took me a good 4 or 5 minutes to get used to it. I couldn't go as fast, but my HR stayed right up there. It completely utilized different muscles than when I was pedaling forward. When I returned to pedaling forward, my muscles were confused yet again. I think this was an excellent way to mix up the routine. I also got bored after about 30 minutes, so I decided to hit the treadmill. This is probably the first time that I've turned to the treadmill to finish out my workout. I started at 4.5 mph, and I wanted to be done after 10 minutes; however, after a half mile, I really just wanted to do 1 complete mile. I was limited on time, so I turned it up to 4.7, then 5.0, then 5.3, then 5.8, then for the last tenth of the mile, 6.0. I must say that I couldn't believe how effortless it all seemed. Ok, not effortless, but I didn't feel like I was about to die. I really think that next time I'll start at 5.0. I remember the first time I stepped on the treadmill at the gym last July. I felt like I was going to die when I was going 3.5 mph. I now have a realistic goal of running at 6.0 mph for one complete mile. I know that I can do this if I continue on this path.

A side note here: music plays a vital role in my workout. I know I've talked about this a lot, but I have several tracks that ensure a great workout. I wasn't using them today, so I was having trouble finding my groove. Then one of The Wizard's sets came on and he was mixing "Push It". Yes, by salt n pepa. I know that they weren't really talking about working out, but it did make me push my limits anyways. Hey, whatever works...

You may have seen this before, but I thought it was funny and reminiscent of many salads I've been guilty of eating in the past:

I can't believe I fell for that AGAIN!

Every month I seem to go through this same slump - and then every month I remember that I went through this last month - around the same time. I start to see a pattern and remember TOM. Believe it or not, identifying this problem does help me to stay focused. Of course, the real problem is emotional eating, but TOM messes with the emotions...making me want to eat. Then I get depressed because I screwed up...and then I eat more. Well, today is the end of that for me...for this month at least. I ate much better today - not perfect, but better. I also went to the gym and went a half hour on the treadmill - stayed around 4.5 mph. Then I went to my old fave, the elliptical, for another half hour. One good thing is that my endurance is still there. I feel proud of my cardio health - I still think I'm in the best shape of my life right now...in this area. I may not be able to run yet, but I've never been able to jog before either. Now I can go on and on...with the hopes of being a runner one day.

I know that the body gets used to it when you do too much of the same thing, but sometimes I just need consistency. I was going to the gym regularly when I was just using the elliptical. I always stop going when I try to mix up the routine. So, if my two choices are to overuse a machine or stop going, I think I'll stick with the elliptical for now. (I know that this is faulty logic, but I need it.)

My bubble belly is back for now - which sucks. Hopefully it's just TOM-related, but I deserve it if it's truly there. It's only a matter of time before it's gone either way.

Before Rob Calls Me Out...

So, I've lost 18 pounds this week.

JUST KIDDING.

I've completely fallen off the wagon. I am getting back on track tonight. So close to the finish and I just throw it all in.

THAT'S IT.

- Kristen

An Accidental Weigh-in

Despite my efforts to avoid the scale, I got a glimpse of the horror yesterday. I had a doctor's appointment, and evidently they like to look at things like how much you weigh and stuff :)

Honestly, it wasn't too awful, but I'm not posting it yet. On a positive note, it was 10 pounds less than the last time I was there.

Kirsten is here for the weekend, and so far it's gone quite well in my opinion. We had a fabulous dinner last night and lots of red wine. Then we watched Best Week Ever together. Then I fell asleep about halfway through.

I woke up when Vince got home from work. He's never met Kirsten before, but after about 10 minutes, she said the funniest thing: "Hey Vince...so what's your favorite thing about me so far....?" Cracked my sh*t up. I love that girl. Vince told me this morning that my friend is funny. This is huge. It's not that he doesn't like my other friends, but he went out of his way to let me know that he likes this one. Awww...

We're having a party tonight. I don't know what kind yet...maybe an open house of sorts. Some friends will be coming over for a cookout on my deck...some may come later... Basically, I don't quite know who or what yet, but it will be fun fo sho (because I'll be there).

The bottom line is that I'll try to not go crazy, but I'm going to roll with the menu this weekend.

Chicago Chicago Chicago

I am going to make this short and sweet I think.

My flight left Detroit @ 9 am on Tuesday, so I got to Chicago @ about 9 am. We decided to wait for our associates flight that was arriving @ 10:30. I was starving, so I ran to Dunkin Donuts and got a breakfast sandwich and coffee. I don't usually feel much guilt about the breakfast sandwiches, because of how much they fill me up. Sure it's a ton of calories, but at least I am good until about dinner. What I wasn't really counting on were the fully catered meals for both days. I was thinking that they'd give us box lunches, but no. Tuesday was fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, baked beans, more and more and more...kind of a bbq theme (everything had a theme). I was actually pretty good. I grabbed a chicken breast and just ate a little bit of the meat (pulled off the skin). I ate some salad and a very small portion of mac & chz. Then meetings, meetings, meetings for the next 3 hours - with a break for cookies and chips. I actually just grabbed a water. So far...decent. Then our fun for the evening was a team building exercise @ The Chopping Block. This was actually a ton of fun. It's kind of like a night of cooking classes. Everyone was divided into teams and each team was responsible for one course. My team made the onion tarts (excellent...btw). Lots of wine and appetizers throughout the evening. I just had a few appetizers, but I'm sure there were lots of calories - not including the 4 glasses of red wine. The meal was quite good, and I really only ate a moderate amount of each thing. Then I had one more drink in the hotel lounge before bed.

Wednesday: Had to be to breakfast by 8 am. Grabbed a Venti Soy Chai (no water) on my way out of the hotel. I love this, but I think there are about 350 calories in it. Still, it fills me up and gives me tons of energy. Breakfast was eggs, sausage, potatoes, pastries (I did grab a mini-muffin). Meetings meetings meetings. Lunch was this awesomely catered Southwest themed thing. I don't think I need to detail this one out. You get the point. More meetings, then it was time to go to the airport. Since one of our associates had an earlier flight, we just grabbed a cab with her. This gave us plenty of time to eat dinner at the airport. I really wasn't hungry, so why did I get a burger (10 oz at that) and fries. I don't know why I didn't just get a salad. I did take off the bottom bun and I didn't finish all of it, but still...I did eat the french fries. I am not used to this. The flight was fine, but Starbucks suckered me in with their double choc chip frap at baggage claim. I did, however, just get a tall instead of the venti. So, maybe I can still throw that under better choices? Ok, maybe not.

Another bad thing about this trip was the distance between all of our venues and the amount of free time we had. I always enjoy walking in Chicago, but I did almost none of that this time. Cabs for everything. I didn't even bother to take workout clothes, because I knew I wouldn't have time and I didn't.

I got up this morning and when I was walking out the door, I saw that someone had eaten all my breakfast bars. I was starving and needed coffee, so I stopped at Tim Horton's and got a breakfast sandwich and coffee. I ate a Kashi lunch. I went shopping for food tonight, and I think I was actually good when I returned. I had bought a rotisserie chicken, and I just ate some of that... no sides.

So, I'm sitting here just rubbing my belly now. It's distended and I hate this feeling. Everything is so crazy around here lately, and I haven't had time to go to the gym. I know it's more that I haven't made time to go to the gym, but whatevs. I will get back at it soon...maybe Saturday.

Something very exciting is happening this weekend. My bff Kirsten is coming to Michigan and she is staying with me. Yay! I can barely contain myself. I am keeping the menu a secret for now, but I think it'll be good. It's not the healthiest, but it's not the unhealthiest either. Ok, that's the only clue I'm giving :)

Btw...I'm never weighing myself again. I know I need to, but I'm afraid. I know for a fact that it's no longer 133. It's most likely closer to 140 (+ or -). I will wait till I've been a little good and do it then. Either way, 140 is not the end of the world to me. I would love to be a consistent 130 or 120, but it doesn't have to happen right away. 140 is my acceptable point - for now.

So much for my short and sweet blog. I think that's nearly impossible for me to accomplish - unless I'm just posting a quote. Just think how long this one would have been had I not been short and sweet. Is anyone still actually reading this...? I never even got to the part where my coworker was completely smashed and falling into tables and chairs and people (including the new boss). Poor thing...

Don't wanna talk about it...yet

So I'll just post a quote I saw today.

Though no one can go back and make a new start,
Anyone can start from now and make a new ending!!!!!

Avoiding

I'm supposed to be sleeping now, but I still haven't packed or scoured the bathrooms yet. I'm supposed to be at the airport @ 7 am, and it's already after midnight here. Ick. I just couldn't leave without a final blog. Nothing too much to report, but still...

I did NOT weigh myself this morning. I might do it tomorrow morning though. I worked out on Sunday....tried to incorporate some of the HIIT stuff. I alternated between 2 minutes ultra high intensity and 2 minutes recovery...for about 35 minutes total. I'm just testing it all out for now. I will say that I was sweating like mad. I do not sweat perspire much in general, but even my forearms were wet. Crazy. I am pretty sure that the gym was a bit humid, but still...it did not make for a pleasant workout. This, on top of the fact that I did not have my ipod with me. So, 35 minutes + 5 minute cooldown.

I know I was supposed to be eating well this weekend, but I did have a piece of pizza for dinner last night. I could beat myself up over it, but the fact is that it was only 1 piece. Almost unheard of really. I was full and satisfied. I also had a small obvious realization too. As soon as I was done, I walked over to the sink and rinsed off my plate. I am going to use this strategy more often in the future. Sitting at the table and waiting for everyone else to finish is pretty much a recipe for diet disaster. (I know it's not a diet...blah blah blah)

Today I ate well. Breakfast bar, chicken caesar salad, and a delicious kashi adventure for dinner (lemongrass coconut chicken - check it out). I did splurge with a venti soy chai also, but it was well worth the extra calories today.

The next couple of days might be a struggle in Chicago, but I will do my best to stay on track after what happened last month. Ok - back to packing now. Lata...

La La La La...I'm not looking...

After my awesomely low weigh-in on Friday followed by my little carb binge, I've decided not to look at the scale again until Monday morning. In the meantime, I'm eating right and drinking tons of water. I'm going to the gym today for real.

I need to be on track by Monday, because I'm leaving for two days in Chicago on Tuesday. It's best to go there focused and just put my mind in another place until I leave. I'm going to try to workout there this time too, so that I don't fall into another slump when I return.

Pistons are done. They just didn't want it as much. They were unraveling, and then Sheed completely lost his mind. Then they completely unraveled. It was rather sad to watch. That's all.

Bread = Blech

I got my new driver's license in the mail this week, and I actually liked the picture. I liked my last picture too. It was taken right around the time that I'd lost weight before. It's nice to not have to carry around a fat pic of me all the time. My gym membership card has a fat pic. I would like to get a new one. Maybe it's better to have to carry around that reminder though.


I got my first "don't get too thin" comment yesterday. I see this as a good sign. I know that I'm nowhere near the point of getting too thin, but someone thinks that I'm approaching it at least. I honestly don't think my body type will allow me to get that way. I'll have to test that out. jk.

Yesterday, my daughter and I went to Panera for lunch. I really was feeling kind of weak, so I thought I needed something of substance. I decided to get half of the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad and a bowl of baked potato soup. The problem is that they give you a side with this. Three choices: Chips (no way), apple (boring), or french baguette (mmmm...). I couldn't not get anything, so I opted for the french baguette. Stupid stupid. I really started out well... just broke off a small piece. I offered the rest to my daughter, but she didn't want it, so yeah...I finished the whole thing. This would have been fine if I would have been good for the rest of the day. I was fine until dinner. The stupid thing was that I was the one to go shopping. I decided to get stuff for everyone else to enjoy, and I ended up indulging too. I'm talking carb overload. Mac&Cheese, macaroni salad, potato salad, the works. I'm really annoyed with myself about this. Once again...doing so well, then sabotaging myself at the last minute. Today will have to be better.


I should go to the gym today too.
Blech. bread.

Holy Crap!

This morning's weigh-in was 133. I think I'm going to buy a new scale. Mine is acting weird right now...not calibrating nicely. Still, it was consistently 133 this morning, and this is the scale I've been using all along. I just realized this morning that it's Friday, and I haven't been to the gym all week. Everything has been so crazy around here. My eating has been pristine though, so I'll take the loss either way. It just reminds me of what's happening to Billy. He just saw a huge drop in his weight even though he's been less dedicated for the past week (not trying to call you out, Billy). Does anybody have any thoughts on this? Could we be losing muscle that rapidly to cause this big of a loss? I pretty much lost 9 pounds in just over a week. That shouldn't be possible now that I'm this close to my goal weight. Could it actually be mostly fat and water?

Anyways, I hope the pounds don't come back when I return to normalcy.