Weigh In and Sick (Again)

Weigh-In Day
Previous weight - 196
Current weight - 194.8
Difference - lost 1.2 pounds

Total weight lost - 50.2 pounds

Activity
Saturday - Zumba (60 min.)
Sunday - C25K Week 2; Day 3 (1.65 miles)
Tuesday - Zumba (60 min.)

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Currently on day five of being sick. Be back soon.

Weigh In and a Quick Hello

Weigh-In Day
Previous weight - 196.8
Current weight - 196
Difference - lost .8 pounds

Total weight lost - 49 pounds

Activity
Saturday - C25K Week 2; Day 2 (1.61 miles)
Monday - Zumba (60 min.)

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I only have a few minutes before my lunch hour is up. I wanted to post my numbers from Friday. Finally I showed a loss. My scale has been all over the place lately. I'm so ready to be out of the 190s - I've been stuck there since the end of October and I'm ready to move on.

Last week was all about things not going as planned. Jim was out of town, Gracie was sick and I didn't make my planned gym times. I'm a wuss when it comes to the single parent thing. Jim is such a great husband and dad and I always struggle when he's gone.

Clueless in the Kitchen - 15-Minute Vegetarian Chili

It's been forever since I've tried a new recipe. I found this one on the Weight Watcher web site and was sold by the "15-Minutes" in the title.

I stopped by the store before picking up the kids from school and got the ingredients I needed and spent around $8.

We got home and I sauteed the garlic and started dumping in the tomatoes and beans and before I new it dinner was ready.

And what you've all been waiting for. The thumb count.

No surprise here:

Big thumbs down from Gracie. She saw the beans and it was a done deal.

And from Jacob:

Thumbs up although it was too spicy for him in the end.

I gave it a thumbs up.

It had a very unique taste and I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it was the red pepper flakes.

Jim had the rest of the chili when he got home from a late meeting.

Two big thumbs up from Jim. He said several times that he really, really liked it. He liked the kick to it.

This will definitely make a reappearance at our table. The price is right and I can't beat the quick turn-around time.

Ingredients
1 tsp canola oil
1 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
14 1/2 oz stewed tomatoes
15 oz canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained
15 1/4 oz canned yellow corn, drained
15 oz canned tomato sauce
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup(s) dehydrated onion flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 Tbsp low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, sharp-variety

Instructions
Heat oil in a large, nonstick, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, beans, corn, tomato sauce, chili powder, oregano, red pepper flakes, onion and pepper; stir well.

Increase heat to high and bring chili to a boil; cook, stirring frequently, until chili is thick and flavors are concentrated, about 5 minutes. Spoon into serving bowls and sprinkle with cheese. Yields about 1 1/4 cups chili and 1 tablespoon cheese per serving.

PointsPlus™ Value: 8

Servings: 4

A Little Bite of Heaven

Let me introduce you to my new favorite food.

Peanut Butter & Co.'s No-Stir Natural Dark Chocolate Dreams (peanut butter blended with rich dark chocolate).

And this is what I've been doing with it.

This has replaced my daily Weight Watcher ice cream bar.

Now that fruit is zero points, I can have a banana and 1 Tbsp. of this chocolate peanut butter for 3 WW+ points.

Ingredients: peanuts, evaporated cane juice, cocoa, cocoa butter, palm fruit oil, vanilla, lecithin (from sunflowers), salt.

No hydrogenated oils. No high fructose con syrup. Pure deliciousness!

Random Thoughts While Jogging

C25K: W2D2

Thoughts while on the treadmill this morning:

1. Man, it's really crowded in here. I can't believe I had to wait for a treadmill. What do they have like 30 treadmills in here?
2. You know, maybe I should have made the trip downstairs to get a pair of real socks instead of the ones I'm wearing that I got at the dollar spot from Target.

3. Yep, these socks were a mistake, my feet are a soggy mess.
4. Crap, I forgot to stretch out before. That's kinda important.
5. I'm glad I borrowed Jim's mp3 player, I really need to get an iPod or try and put music on my phone
6. How do people not sing out loud while they're working out. It's taking everything I can not to belt out "Breath" (Pearl Jam) and if you know me at all, you know I do not sing out loud, so this is saying something.
7. Although this Back to the Future t-shirt that I stole from Jim and am wearing right now is very cool, I just can't do sleeves while I'm working out.



Post work-out. (t-shirt courtesy of Goodwill)

8. This workout is a lot harder than the one I did after Zumba on Thursday. I wonder why? Is it because I had been doing cardio already for an hour?
9. I feel like I could do this all day if I had someone else's lungs.
10. Maybe I should start taking my Advair for my asthma and see if that helps.
11. Man, I feel like a bad@ss when I start to jog. This must be why people run.
12. I'm glad I hung on to these spandex Champion pants from college. Although they're making me hot wearing them under yoga pants, they sure are helping with the jiggly mess thing.



Don't mind Maggie, she wanted to be in the photo.

13. Last 90 second jog - this wasn't too bad. I'm still scared to death of Week Three - jogging for three minutes straight.
14. I sure do think about a lot of stuff while I'm doing this. What the heck does my brother think about when he's doing this for four hours straight.
15. HOW DOES ANYONE DO THIS FOR FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT?

Weigh-In and Today Is My Jan. 1

Weigh-In Day
Previous weight - 196.2
Current weight - 196.8
Difference - gain .6 pounds

Total weight lost - 48.2

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Let's review: I'm back from my trip from Arizona, I need to get off the 3.2 pounds I've put on since Dec. 3 asap, I've got the exercise high going for me and I'm ready to gain control over this WW Points+ system.

So today is my Jan. 1.

This image below is a beautiful thing.

Clean slate and I'm so excited to do things right. Remember my word of the year from 2010? CONTROL. It's all about control. I am in control and I have big things in store for me this year. I will embrace this new WW system and learn to make it work for me.

The two things I'm focusing on right now are exercise and water. Both of these things are things I've done extremely well in the past and I am making them a priority again.

First of all, I think it's essential to track your fitness accomplishements. I do it by marking off the days I exercise on a calendar.

My 2010 Zumba exercise calendar I started in March

2011 exercise calendar. Blue = Zumba; Black = C25K

I'm going to start adding a fitness log on my blog along with my weigh-ins on Fridays. So from now on you'll see this breakdown under my Friday weigh-in information

Sunday - C25K Week 1; Day 2 (1.57 miles)
Tuesday - Zumba (60 min.)
Tuesday - C25K Week 1; Day 3 (? miles - photo didn't save)
Thursday - Zumba (60 min.)
Thursday - C25K Week 2; Day 1 (1.57 miles)

Last night was my second night back at Zumba since the holidays. I was excited all day thinking about going to class. Gracie hasn't been feeling well so I made arrangements with my parents for them to watch the kids since Jim had a meeting and I didn't want to take Grace to the Y's child watch since she was sick. Sometimes it's a huge accomplishment just to make it to class! I was able to catch up with some of my other Zumba friends before class started. Beth and Heather are training for a half marathon and they had just gotten finished with their run before class. On the days I do both Zumba and C25K I've been doing my runs after Zumba since it's just better timing for me. It was a tough Zumba class, but I was determined to get my C25K session in while I was at the gym.

Week two of the program consists of alternating 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes. I went back to my 4.8/2.5 pace and did just fine. Those are the speeds I'm most comfortable with right now and I can always work on increasing speeds later on. I was surprised that I handled the 90 second jogs as well as I did. I think maybe because there were only six jogging parts instead of the eight, 60-second jogs in week one or maybe it was the two minute recovery time. Anyway, I was proud to check another session off my belt and the only "problem" was a hot spot on my second toe which is fine today.

It did get a little crazy in the fitness room though. I had two women on either side of me on treadmills. The young girl on my right punched her speed up too high and couldn't keep up and went right off the back of the treadmill and went down pretty hard. She seemed to be ok and got back on for a few minutes. About 10 minutes later the woman on my left was finishing up her workout and was panting pretty hard and she lost her ballance and tried to jump on the sides of the machines but missed and landed on her knees. She said she was ok and left. I was a little worried after that and was extra careful to stay upright.

And my other goal is water. I've been drinking way too much Diet Dr. Pepper lately. Some days I don't get more than one glass of water in a day. That's no good, so I'm going back to basics. This old friend is going with me everywhere.

My Favorite New Songs from 2010

My Favorite New Songs from 2010. Links go to the band's MySpace page.

1. Sick Sad Morning by The Dig (Electric Toys)
2. This to Shall Pass by OK Go (Of the Blue Colour of the Sky)
3. Mexico by The Soft Pack (The Soft Pack)
4. Hide It Away by Retribution Gospel Choir (Retribution Gospel Choir)
5. Promises by The Morning Benders (Big Echo)
6. On the Ocean by Guster (Easy Wonderful)
7. January Wedding by The Avett Brothers (I And Love And You) not quite 2010, but close enough
8. The High Road by Broken Bells (Broken Bells)
9. Just Breathe by Pearl Jam (Hit Collective)
10. DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love by Usher (DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love) I had to throw in a Zumba song ;)

This was extremely difficult for me to put together. I had to narrow it down and then narrow it down again and the hardest part was to put them in favorite order. I dare you to do it!

Come on, tell me your ten favorite songs from 2010!

I'm also thinking about my other favorites from 2010 like books, movies, food I've never tried before, etc. We'll see what I come up with.

Zumba is Awesome; Not Loving the Running Yet

I finally got back to the YMCA tonight. I was a little worried about not being able to keep up since I hadn't been to a Zumba class since Dec. 18 - that's way too long for me. I was going to take a comfy spot in the second row, but when I saw an empty spot in the front row next to Ashley, I couldn't help myself and moved up.

It was Tina's class tonight and she had some great new-to-me routines that I enjoyed. She even did my favorite song "Shake" when I requested it at the end of class. I barely made it through that song, but man, I love it. Another instructor, Lisa, did some fun routines during class tonight. I love all my instructors.

Here's a photo of me and Tina after class. My friend Heather said we should have taken it before class, but I kind of like showing off how much we work in her class!

After Zumba, I went in the fitness room at the Y, jumped on the treadmill and completed week one, day three of c25k. I'm not sure how I feel about doing this training after Zumba, but I'm not really sure how to fit both in.

I tried bumping up my run speed from 4.7 to 5.5 after chatting with my sister-in-law, Kim. I did four runs at 5.5 and was about to die at the end of all four of them. By the time my 90 second recovery walk was over I was ok, but it was really, really hard to finish those 60 second runs. The fifth and sixth runs I went down to 5.1 and the last two I went back to 4.7 which I was able to handle.

While I'm running I'm fine with my feet and legs and all that; it's my breathing that I have difficulty with. Anyone have any tips?

It's nice to get back into a routine and I'm really happy to be back to Zumba. I'm about to head off to shower and bed, but my old dog Maggie is making it hard for me to get up. Here's a photo of her from tonight. You can usually find her like this - resting her head on whatever object is convenient - in this case glue.

Here's a little something about me not all of you know. Jim and I named our dogs Cicely (passed away a few years ago) and Maggie after our favorite television show we watched when we were dating, Northern Exposure. We always said we were going to get a Pug and name him Maurice, but it never happened.

Today my brother ran a marathon and I ...

... ran 60 seconds eight times. Woo hoo!

Congratulations to my brother Erick who ran his first marathon today. He ran the Disney marathon in 4:19:45! I'm so proud and inspired by his accomplishment.

Today I completed week one, day two of the c25k program.

Thanks to some advice my brother gave my mom, who is also doing the c25k program, today's workout went much better than my first workout. He told us our walking speeds were too fast. He said the purpose of the walking portion is to recover from the run. Made sense so I gave it a try and it was much easier and I didn't hate the run portions as much as the other day.

It All Came Down To This Moment

On Friday night I graduated from my training program. This program is where I decided to make a change with my diet and lose weight.

Back at 2008, when I attended my first graduation ceremony, I watched the women cross the stage to accept their certificates and I imagined myself up on that stage and what I saw was an insecure girl, dressed in an oversize dress trying to hide her weight and wanting to get off the stage as quickly as possible.

What I saw on Friday was this:

As I was getting ready for graduation I couldn't help but be emotional. The accomplishment of having attended this training for four years and putting in 96 hours of classroom learning is enough to make anyone feel proud, but the fact that I had lost 50 pounds and proved to myself that I could lose the weigh made me really excited.

Friday night, I became my favorite.

Here are photos of my me and my classmate Dave from 2008, 2009 and 2011
I couldn't find one of us next to each other from last year :(

P.S.
Liz, I know you're reading this. I've missed you so much the last two years at training, but I'm so glad our friendship has remained strong. I could have never done this without your support.

Pretty things

This is the orange tree I look at when I'm on the phone talking to Jim during breaks. *smile*

Getting noticed

I've had a couple of people sit me down this week and tell me "how great I look" after losing 50 pounds.

Honestly, getting that  kind of reaction was a big motivator to me in the beginning, and although that is not my main motivation now, it never gets old to hear it.

Having people notice your weight loss is a fantastic feeling and I'm always grateful when friends take the time to tell me they've noticed.

I've shared with you before that this training  I'm at this week is where it all started. Four years ago I came home from this training wishing to be thinner the next year. My second year I was at my heaviest weight to date. My third year I had lost 30 pounds and this year I'm down another 20.

It feels great to know I don't have to wish to be thinner. When you really want something and put in the effort you can make things happen. No wishing required.

P.S. I had on a pair of size 16 jeans today. Four years ago when I was here I was wearing size 22s.

Good times

I had a good time last night catching up with old friends and meeting new friends and missing old friends that didn't make it back this year. I should have taken more photos but I did manage to get this one with my classmate Dave.

Jiggly mess

I have an hour before my training stuff starts so I wanted to share my gym story from this morning.

Let's go back to this time last year. I was at the same hotel and was working out at a hotel fitness center for the first time ever. A few minutes into my workout a guy came in to workout too and it was all I could do to not leave the room. I do not do well when I think people are watching me workout.

I used to feel the same way at Zumba which is why I always wore baggy shirts in the beginning but I quickly realized once I was in the front row that those baggy shirts just made me look heavier. I had lost a significant amount of inches in my waist and I wanted to see it when I worked out so I switched to tank tops. Now that doesn't take away the fact that I'm very bottom heavy but I just came to terms with the fact that I couldn't care about the girls behind me at zumba being offended by what I looked like from behind during class. Honestly I don't think any of those girls from class care what I look like and if they do, I really don't care to call them my friend anyway.

So that brings us back today. I put on my gym clothes and reluctantly went down to the fitness center. I opened the door with my room key, took a step in and realized that the two main guys in charge of the training I go to here every year were in there lifting weights.

Now normally I would have backed out of the room before anyone saw me and went running back to my room, but somehow I managed to keep walking forward (while forgetting to pick up a towel) and go to the front of the room to get on a treadmill. (why are treadmills always set up at the front of the room where everyone can see your business from behind?)

I turned on my c25k app and started walking. I knew I had a five minute warmup to do before the 20 minutes of run/walk started, but I was dreading the count down until I started my first run. Not because I was worried I couldn't do it but because I knew those guys could see all my jiggleness from behind and I was embarrassed.

But I kept going.

During my first 60 second run my mantra was - don't leave, don't leave, don't leave. During my second 60 second run my mantra was - don't think about your butt, don't think about your butt, don't think about your butt.

Around this time I convinced myself the guys had completed their workout and left but I never turned around to be sure, but it did help me relax a little.

I thought a lot during that short 30 minute workout. I thought about the fact that I would have been there even if it wasn't the fourth day of january of a new year. I saw the reflection of my neck in the machine and thought about how much thinner it was this year. I thought about how I was the only girl in the there and how kick butt I was. And I thought about you guys and how you all would be cheering me on telling me I could totally do this.

And I did.

And I'm proud.

I did day one of c25k.

I still hate running. But I did it.

P.S. Obviously I'm on the road this week. I'm in Arizona for training. I'm going to be blogging from my phone now that I've figured out how to do it. So expect more frequented, but shorter posts from me this week. I have more to say about today's workout, but I need to shower first. And sorry if the photo is sideways - I've always wanted to post one of those treadmill photos.

Oh, and mom - I waked at a 3.8 and jogged at a 4.6 if that helps you at all.

The treadmill is tempting me

I have the c25k app loaded on my phone and a perfectly good treadmill in the hotel fitness center waiting for me. I just need to get over my insecurities of having not worked out for a week and a half and just do it.

Weign In x 3 and Note to Self for November 2011

Weigh-in Day - Dec. 17
Previous weight - 195
Current weight - 194.8
Difference - lost .2 pounds

Total weight lost - 50.2

Weigh-in Day - Dec. 24
Previous weight - 194.8
Current weight - 195.6
Difference - gain .8 pounds

Total weight lost - 49.4

Weigh-in Day - Dec. 31
Previous weight - 195.6
Current weight - 196.2
Difference - gain .6 pounds

Total weight lost - 48.8

Note to Self for November 2011

Dear Self,

December is going to be really, really hard for you wellness wise. You'll breeze by Thanksgiving and think you'll have no problem with December, but you will be wrong.

You know you don't do well when your routines are out of sorts and during December routines are totally out the window. You will be stressed with too much to do and not enough time. You will feel guilty about not spending enough time with the kids and you will try to do it all and not succeed.

You will do fine at work. You will be able to resist the coffee cake and chocolate and cookies that are on the nook outside your office.

Your biggest temptations will be at home and with your lack of time. Don't buy cookies "for the kids" don't keep sweets from the party "for the kids." Because they won't stick around long enough "for the kids" to eat them.

Your word for the month of December should be "PLAN." Know you will be short on time and will be tempted to take the easy way out and go through the drive through. You'll give up your time at the grocery store for a fun evening at the local Mexican restaurant. Plan better than that.

The best thing you can do is to not take part in your "normal" weekly splurges like Five Guys on Friday night because of all the other parties that you will be going to.

You need exercise. You need it physically and mentally. You won't have time to go to your classes like you usually do. You'll work your calendar around so you think you'll be able to go, but life will come up and you won't go. PLAN. Get workout dvds in the house for the month of December so you can do them after the kids go to bed. You will feel better when you do.

And most importantly keep everything in perspective. You've felt like a wellness failure this entire month, but when you look back at your weight on Nov. 26 (194.4) and Dec. 31 (196.2) you only gained 1.8 pounds. Only 1.8 pounds. You can take that off in a week no problem. Maybe instead of waisting so much time beating yourself up you could have just accepted that December is a hard month for you, acknowledge that you'll never give up, that you'll never throw in the towel during December and just start over in January - that's just not your style. And instead, enjoy your crazy, busy life during the month of December for what it's worth.

Love,
Me

Happy New Year everyone. I haven't written in awhile, but I have been keeping up on blog reading. If there's one thing I've noticed is that December wasn't only a difficult time for me but for a lot of other people. I read a lot about guilt, hope, despair, determination and fear. If there was one post that helped me from giving up it was this post from Roni's Weigh. It was exactly what I needed to read. I mean, how selfish was I being that I was allowing negative thoughts about my lack of control affect my behavior and take away from the magically memories I should have been making with my family. Roni's right. Do you think my kids will remember the extra cookie I ate on Christmas Eve? No, they're going to remember waking up Christmas morning and seeing the aquarium and Harry Potter dvds Santa brought. Gracie will remember going to the Nutcracker and getting hot chocolate after with me. Jacob will remember how he asked Santa for a zebra and how Santa adopted a zebra in his name and brought him a zebra fish (which died two days later - RIP Bob).

Everything will be just fine.

I have lots more to share with you all. I hope I can find the time to post in the next couple of days. But for now I leave you with this photo of Jacob after opening one of his favorite presents Christmas morning - a Slytherine Harry Potter robe.