Chaos

I feel like everything is pretty chaotic right now. We're moving in a couple of weeks and while I am thrilled beyond belief with the house we're moving to and the extra space we'll have and the nice neighborhood and our so far fantastic new landlords, I'm a little stressed by the big pile of mess that is our home.

I've learned that we have many, many books. MANY books. Books have to be packed in small to medium boxes so that each box doesn't weigh 500 pounds, and those little boxes fill up so fast. The stacks of boxes are officially taking over the living room. Despite the number of boxes we've already filled, there's still a lot more to pack. Well, there's still the kitchen and the dining room china cabinet to pack, which are going to take awhile, what with the number of breakables that have to be wrapped and packed securely.

In the meantime, work is CRAZY. We have several filings with the Department of Health that I'm working on, and one of our clients is under investigation and I'm organizing the documents they're sending to the government. One of our clients is totally breathing down my neck about the filing I'm doing for them. It would really help if they would actually read the documents I've sent them and realize this isn't going to be a quick process, despite them wanting it done right this second. I've been the first one to the office every morning for the past few weeks. I make myself take a little time off for lunch every day just to decompress a bit. I really do prefer to be busy, but I'm starting to feel it. Particularly in my right shoulder, where I store my stress.

Then I have to leave a little on the early side because there's so much to get done outside of work. By "early" I mean 6 or 6:30.

And in the meantime, the Young Women's President has left for the summer and I'm kind of in charge. There's another counselor, and she's a great help, but she works nights and is often unavailable, and I really feel like if things are going to get done and organized, it's up to me to take the initiative.

So, for instance, yesterday I worked from 8-6, pretty much straight. Then I went to the grocery store to buy food for the Young Women's camp fundraiser this Sunday (PS Since this is the only Sunday between now and camp that me and the other counselor will both be at church, we're doing it this week. However, the girls are at a retreat until Saturday night and the other counselor is working Saturday night, so I'll basically be prepping the food by myself. Which I can do. It's just another thing on the list). Then I came home and we ate dinner (grocery store sushi. Not the best choice. Not the worst.) Then I dropped off 3 sleeping bags with one of the Young Women for her, another YW and her brother to use at the retreat. Then I came home and needed to pack, but instead, I went to bed.

Tonight there's Jason's lab potluck. Friday night we said we would go see a Shakespeare play with some people. Saturday is an air show that Jason looks forward to all year and that I promised I would go to with him this year. Saturday night I have to cook. Sunday is the YW fundraiser. I know I could cut out some of the social obligations, but Jason is a social animal and he was really concerned that moving would ruin our summer so I'm trying to make sure it doesn't. And I know he'll be sad if I don't go. He'll get over it, but I know he likes me to be at stuff with him.

And it's not like I don't want to be social. There's just a lot going on.

I'm writing about all of this on this blog as some sort of paltry rationale for why my only exercise lately has been packing, and why I've been eating where and when I can, without much forethought, which is the death knell for healthy eating.

So here we are. I'm trying to decide if I should cut myself some slack, or cowboy up and get to the gym already.

Exercise!

I did it! I got up early and did something moderately active!

For some reason, I woke up all on my own at 5:30 this morning. So I got up, got into my workout clothes, and headed out. (I also managed to finish up by 7 and get to work early. I love this whole "getting light at 5 AM" thing. So much easier to wake up and feel alive than those cold winter mornings when it's dark until after 8 AM)

My plan was to go to the Brown stadium around the corner from our house and do stadiums. I'm trying to get my quads and knees psyched up for a summer and fall of hiking (not to mention our move in a few weeks). Only the stadium was locked up tight. I don't really understand Brown's reasoning. All last summer it was open and lots of people in the neighborhood used the track. This summer it's been hit or miss as to whether you'll actually find it unlocked.

So instead I went for a 50 minute walk around the neighborhood. It was already pretty muggy, so I worked up a nice sweat at least. Not really the workout I was hoping for, but at least I did SOMEthing.

And I just love my neighborhood. There are so many lovely houses and gardens. I'm happy we're moving into another nice little neighborhood where we can go for walks and oo and aah over the pretty. I'm also absolutely thrilled to be moving into one of the pretty houses. I feel so lucky!

Moving

So I'm not really exercising, but we are going to be moving. I think the thrill I'm feeling over the new house has to be burning at least a few calories.

Farm Share Week 2

The Farm Share bounty is pretty impressive so far. If this keeps up, I think we'll be drowning in zucchini later in the summer.

Today's haul:
1 giant head of red leaf lettuce, 1/2 pound mesclun mix, 1 pound garlic scapes, 1/3 pound of mizuna and 2/3 pound kale. I had a big salad with dinner and tried making something using scapes, mizuna, sesame oil and teryaki sauce that turned out meh. Not horrible, but not great either. I'll experiment more later.

The lettuce was as big as my head.

No, seriously

Slacker

We are going hiking and camping again this weekend, this time with Jason's lab. The hike we're going on gains about the same amount of elevation, but not quite as quickly as our last hike, and uses more switchbacks rather than going straight up as many rock faces.

My plan over the last 2 weeks was to a) break in my hiking shoes, and b) (which is related to a) walk up and down the steps in the Brown stadium to get my muscles more used to climbing and descending. The first problem was that my legs hurt for an entire week after the last hiking trip. Last Saturday I finally felt like I could walk down stairs like a normal person.

This week I have no excuse, other than being a slacker and staying up too late. Take last night. We went out to dinner with some friends who are moving and didn't get home until 10:30. Then we watched the season finale of Glee because you must have your priorities. Then I sat on the couch until almost 1 AM, just reading blogs and stuff online.

Why is it so easy to get out of a good routine? When I'm in the midst of being healthy, I can't imagine breaking that pattern because I feel so good. But over and over again, I write posts like this, talking about how I'm having a hard time getting motivated after something managed to knock me off track.

I really don't have an answer for myself. The ONLY thing to do is just get back on track already. Tomorrow is the only morning I will have before we leave for the mountains to do any exercise. I just have to do it, even if I'm feeling tired and lazy.

I will do it.

Return of the Farm Share!

(Also posted on my other blog, if you think you're seeing double)

Today was the first pick up for this year's farm share. I'm excited to see what this year has to bring, especially since (fingers crossed) there won't be any tomato blight and it won't rain for the ENTIRE month of June like last year.

(Though it's supposed to rain for the next 4 days and this had better not be a trend. You hear me, June!)

Today we got 5 farm share dollars to "spend" and two potted plants. It's the beginning of the season, so there are mostly greens. I got a head of lettuce, mesclun mix and some fava greens, as well as two black eyed susan plants that I'm going to plant outside.
Farmer John told us to try the fava greens because this is the only week he'll have them. Apparently, you use the greens like fresh spinach. I'll try throwing some in my lunch salad tomorrow and see how they taste.

Kitty wanted to get in on the farm share action:
Tonight I also planted my container plants for the season.

In the white bucket are 2 pepper plants that Sam, one of the Brown freshmen, started from seed in his dorm room, but then had to get rid of since the school year ended and he's going on a mission in August. So we got his peppers. We don't know what kind of peppers they are since Sam wasn't sure himself. They already have some blossoms on them so we'll see.

In the orange containers are a zucchini plant and a cucumber plant. I don't know which is which, because their leaves look surprisingly similar. (Despite my seed labeling, I have a sneaking suspicion they might actually be the same kind of plant...) These are the only two seedlings I got from the 12 seed starters I planted this year. They're thriving so far.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went camping and hiking. I almost considered calling in to work due to my inability to walk down stairs.

So Proud

Jason ran his first 5K on Saturday! I am so proud.

I wish I could have run with him, but the C25K plan didn't really agree with my knees. Not that I've gone to a physical therapist or anything, but the general consensus among my running friends is that it's probably my IT band (or bands, since it was both knees).

I don't feel all hot and bothered about finding out what the problem is officially and getting a fix for it. C25K appeals to me because it's nice to have a concrete goal, and I'll probably go back to it eventually. But for now I'm content to keep doing the weights/elliptical/swimming/walking thing.

In other news, inspired by Jason, on Saturday morning I worked out for the first time since coming home from Hawaii. I worked up a good sweat. Now I just need to keep it going.

Need to Find My Exercise Mojo...

...because apparently I left it in Hawaii.

What I Should Have Been

As of tomorrow it will be a week since I got back from Hawaii and I have to confess, I haven't been to the gym once. I had great intentions to go at least 3 times over the past 5 mornings, but it just hasn't happened. Part of the reason is because it took me a lot longer to get over jetlag than I thought it would. Hawaii is 6 hours behind us. When we traveled there, I was basically awake for 24 hours and easily got adjusted to the time. I thought I had managed to trick my body the same way when I came back since I was able to fall asleep at 11 PM on Wednesday night (5 PM Hawaii time), but the next few nights I had an awful time getting to sleep. Saturday morning I slept in until 11, which I never do.

Last night I was FINALLY able to get to sleep at a regularish time, but I was still exhausted when my alarm went off for the gym this morning and I just shut it off. Maybe tomorrow.

Also, I think I'm suffering from a minor depression based solely on not being in Hawaii anymore.

The older I get, the more I realize what I should have done with my life. For one, I should NOT have a desk job. My continually restless leg all day long as I sit at my desk should have told me that. I absolutely adored being out and about every day, being active and soaking in the sun. Two, I should have followed my gut when I was 19 years old and been a marine biologist. I said that to Jason last night and he said, "I don't think it's as exciting as you think it is..." I told him I don't think it's some exciting glamorous job or something. But when I think about what I truly love and could probably study the intricacies of all day long and find it fascinating, it's the ocean and ocean life. During my sophomore year of college I took an environmental biology class and was absolutely enthralled when we studied the ocean ecosystems.

Oh well.

When I have these life crises, I promise myself that I will somehow teach my children to figure out what they love and to pursue that in life.

Being Healthy in Hawaii

I'm back from Hawaii (though Jason is still there. I made him promise not to tell me about anything fun that happens in his 3 extra days until he gets back).

Hawaii has jaded me. Today is lovely and sunny and 60-something in Providence and all I can think is, "but it's not Hawaii..."

This was one of the most active vacations I've ever been on. We swam and hiked and snorkeled and swam and snorkeled some more. According to online calorie counters, snorkeling burns an insane amount of calories, but I'm not really sure I buy it. Or maybe I was just enjoying myself so much that I didn't notice the calorie burnage.

The pool at the first condo we stayed at on the Big Island had markings for lap swimming. Though I only got to swim laps one morning since we were out and about fairly early the other days, swimming in an outdoor pool again was heavenly. The pool in Maui was more of a resort spectacle with grottoes and waterfalls and slides. It was super fun, but not really good for laps.

For the record, my new favorite activity is swimming in waterfall pools. Particularly ones that are tucked away and you have to hike to for a bit. I need to find some local waterfalls. The water is probably a lot colder in New England, though, and it was pretty darn cold on Maui. So cold that I commented to Jason that the water feels fine - once your skin goes numb.

We stayed in a condo with a full kitchen and cooked most of our meals, which was fabulous. I have a reputation with Jason's family as a cook - in that, I suppose, I like to cook and I can make vegetables taste good - so on our first day on the Big Island I went shopping with Jason and his dad (who is usually the cook in their home). I suggested meals that focused on protein and vegetables. There was usually a rice or potato side as well, and I figured some of that wouldn't hurt since usually I was eating it after a full day of activity. I got a ton of eggs on sale and made scrambled eggs almost every morning. We had piles of papayas.

I got more lazy once we got to Maui. First off, we didn't cook as much at the condo there and went to a luau one night. Drinks were included in the luau price and since we don't drink, we took advantage of all the virgin drinks we could handle. Tip: virgin pina colada with passion orange juice is divine. As are the taro leaf-wrapped pork packets.

The family didn't make it to the grocery store until the 2nd or 3rd day we were on Maui so we were kind of improvising food for the other meals. I'm glad I brought snacks. Jason griped about the space they took up in my bag, but me and the rest of the family ate most of them. I figured there would be some times when getting a meal wasn't convenient, and I wouldn't want to be hungry and cranky on Hawaii. I got hungry and cranky when we were in Paris a couple years ago and it wasn't pretty. My mainstays in Hawaii were a big bag of almonds and Larabars.

Basically, during week one in Hawaii I was pretty successful with the healthy living. The few days I got on Maui during week two were not as regimented. I'm pretty proud of how I ate for most of the trip, chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and coconut M&M's nothwithstanding.

By the way, they have coconut M&M's. Each one is like a teeny Mounds bar. I brought some home.

And How Are You?

Pre-Hawaii Assessment

Back in January, I set a goal to lose 19 pounds, or 10% of my weight in an effort to reset my set point and feel more confident in my body for our trip to Hawaii.

Well, I didn't quite lose 19 pounds. As of this morning, I am down 7 pounds from that January starting point. If you've been reading, you know why. Suffice it to say, I kept getting sick and wasn't really up to regular working out status until February. Then, despite workouts and eating relatively well, the scale refused to get out of a 4 pound range and definitely didn't show signs of going down. This is the plateau I've been fighting for almost 2 years.

The 7 pounds I've lost have all been in the last 3 weeks. The ONLY thing I've done differently, as I also mentioned, is stop taking the birth control pill for the past 2 weeks. I've been eating the same foods (higher protein and fat, lower carb) and doing the same workouts (HIIT elliptical, strength training a couple times a week, lap swimming). I haven't yet determined if there is a true connection between the weight and the synthetic hormones, but after showing 183 on the scale this morning, I'm tempted to point the finger squarely at that little green pill.

Despite not having lost 19 pounds (which would have been AMAZING!) I feel great with 7 fewer pounds. I feel more toned and fit. I feel healthy. I feel comfortable in my clothes.

I am hopeful that I'll be able to stay in my healthy routine while we're in Hawaii. Jason and I have both scoped out the places we're staying and noted that they both have gyms, and the whole family plans to have a very active trip full of hikes and snorkeling and all sorts of fun. I'm taking a big bag of almonds and a bunch of Larabars for snacks on the go.

Plus, I feel like there's just been a change in my mindset lately. I find myself really evaluating whether I truly want to eat something, or if it's just boredom or laziness talking. Today I got a big salad for lunch and it came with a bunch of onion rings on top. In the past, I have LOVED onion rings. I ate one, deemed it super greasy and not worth it, and removed the onion rings to get to the yummy salad. An hour later, I could STILL feel the grease of that one onion ring coating my mouth. Gross.

When I'm full, I stop eating. I usually have leftovers now wherever we go.

I've even found that I can eat a square of dark Ghiradelli chocolate or a Lindt ball and I'm all set.

The key is to remember this focus, and to not be enticed by a big bowl of M&Ms, which, if I'm being honest, really aren't that good anyway and not worth the slightly sick feeling I get now if I indulge in too many sweets.

I will say one thing - I'm looking forward to the produce in Hawaii. Yum!

Can It Be True?

This morning the scale said 183.2.

Granted, yesterday I had a very bad day. So bad that I never ate lunch and only kind of nibbled at my dinner.

Still, though, I haven't seen anything below 185 in I can't remember how long.

Today has been a more normal eating day so we'll see where I stand tomorrow. I usually weigh and measure on Saturday, but since we'll be on a plane Saturday morning, I'll be doing it tomorrow.

Regardless of weight, my waist and hips are already measuring less than last Saturday. I'm feeling thinner (even if it's all in my head).

So, not to overshare, but I stopped taking The Pill. It's only been a couple of weeks, but I'm starting to think that might have been the key to my 2-year plateau. Stupid synthetic hormones. I'll keep you posted.

Busy Weekend

(Saturday night dinner. A HUGE dosa. It was fantastic, but rest assured, I didn't eat the whole thing. For Boston people, I highly recommend the lamb dosa at Diva in Davis Square.)

So I wrote a whole post about how weekend workouts are great and then I didn't workout on either Saturday or Sunday. Saturday morning we took off for Warwick and Cranston to get some last minute shopping done for our Hawaii trip. We don't leave until Saturday, but we have a busy week ahead of us and Saturday morning/afternoon was the best time to be out and about.

Saturday night we went to a concert in Boston that we thought would be done at 10, but which didn't end until 11, meaning we got home at 12. It was a fantastic show, but the late night meant I just couldn't wake up to get to the gym before church. We did a lot of cleaning yesterday so that counts for something, right?

The good news is, it looks like I'm finally doing something right. I was down 2 pounds this week to a new low I haven't seen in over a year. And after a carbtastic Saturday and Sunday, I'm up today, but my water-retaining baseline is now 187 rather than 190.

Also, I lost a half an inch off both my waist and my hips this week, but my chest seems to have stabilized. I'm thrilled to finally be seeing a change in my lower body.

Weekend Workouts

Do you work out on the weekend?

I know a lot of people take weekends off, but I'm discovering that Saturday and Sunday mornings may be my absolute best guaranteed times to work out.

First of all, I can sleep in a bit more on Saturdays and Sundays. Working out at 7 or 8 AM is WAY different than working out at 6 AM. It's so easy for me to turn off the alarm on the weekday mornings and let myself sleep through my allotted workout time. Sometimes I turn off the alarm in my sleep (like, ahem, this morning). It's just hard to get to bed before 11 or 11:30, what with busy days at work, cooking dinner, trying to keep some semblance of a handle on cleaning and wanting to spend at least a couple of hours hanging out with Jason.

Because I get some extra sleep on the weekend mornings, I find my workouts are more effective and I can go longer and harder. I've never had a problem with working out on Saturdays, but have always shied away from Sundays because of the whole religious thing. Suffice it to say, in my religion, we're taught to "keep the Sabbath day holy." What "holy" means is generally left up to personal interpretation, though some people have VERY SOLID IDEAS on what that means. But I don't think working out is necessarily anti-holy.

Enter the justifications:
1) We're supposed to take care of our bodies (the body is a temple, etc). Exercising makes my body healthy.
2) Exercising ultimately puts me in a good mood, helps me stay focused on the things I need to do and is a stress-reducing and relaxing start to my day.
3) I find exercising on Sunday mornings peaceful because there is seriously no one else out at that time of the morning. It's me and maybe 2 other people at the gym. No one is on the street.

I suppose I don't have any more justifications. I know some people who would probably argue with me, and others who are thinking, "I seriously don't get what the big deal is." But I think I'll keep working out on Sunday mornings because it makes me feel good and it is really a good time for me to get it done.

New Suit!

Not a swimsuit this time, but a real lawyer suit.

So, I'm not really the kind of lawyer who goes to court much, and our firm has a business casual dress code (except on Fridays since I single-handedly instituted "casual Fridays" in the Providence office. Yay jeans!) So I own one suit. I have a notoriously hard time finding suits that fit me well because of my body shape. Two main problems: 1) it's hard to find suit separates and I am two different sizes on the top and the bottom, and 2) my booty fits horribly in pencil skirts, which make up 99.9% of the bottoms available with women's suits.

Let's not even get started on trousers. I've determined that once I'm too small for the Lane Bryant trousers, I can never wear pants again. Regular stores just don't make pants for women whose hips are 12 inches bigger than their waist. Even when I was my thinnest, I had an awful time trying to find pants or shorts that fit because my hips were still 12 inches bigger than my waist. I always had huge gaps at the waist.

Anyway, yesterday I was at a hearing for most of the afternoon, in my suit, the pencil skirt stretching TIGHTLY across my hips and thighs. The hearing was continued until today. Crap. I can't wear the same suit 2 days in a row.

So I dashed over to Macy's after work to try to find something before the Young Women's activity. Now, the last 2 or 3 times I've tried to find a suit, I have left empty-handed. They just don't make suits for a girl shaped like me.

Or do they?

Yesterday I found the PERFECT suit. Calvin Klein suit separates. Kind of a medium charcoal gray with a slightly A-lined flared skirt. A-line? Yes, please!

Only the largest skirt they had was a 10. I tried it on, just in case I had magically shrunk. It was just a touch too small. Oh, if only they had a 12! Then I swear to you, a voice in my head said, "Go look through the sale racks and see if someone dumped a size 12 skirt there." Sure enough, I walked up to the sale racks on the other side of the suit department and perched right on the end of the long line of skirts, was the size 12 gray Calvin Klein A-line skirt.

I am not kidding.

Jason joked that it must have been the Holy Spirit guiding me. I am not above claiming that. Why wouldn't God want me to look good in front of my colleagues in court?

So I got my suit. Sadly I'm wearing it with an old shirt because apparently Macy's doesn't think it worthwhile to carry shells to go with its suits. Seriously, could someone just make a plain scoop-necked shirt? Why is that so hard?

Nutrition Night

Wednesday nights are activity nights for the Young Women (age 12-17) at church. Tonight my friend Rachel is coming to talk with the girls about nutrition. I'm hoping that the fact that she's young and peppy will keep the girls interested and that they will take in some of what she says.

A few months ago, one of the teachers gave a lesson on Sunday about nutrition and being healthy. She asked the girls whether going to McDonald's would be a healthy option. Obviously, the answer is no and we discussed why. Then one of the girls piped in and said, "Well that's ok. I go to Burger King." And she was completely serious. So then we took a few minutes to talk about how all the fast food places are the same.

But that kind of shook me a little. I know not everyone is into nutrition and has the knowledge base that I do. Although I wasn't always as into the whole foods idea as I am now, I tried to be mindful of what I was eating - with varying degrees of success. I shudder to think about the number of Lean Pockets I consumed just a mere 4 or 5 years ago.

However, I always thought that everyone had a certain foundation of nutritional knowledge. Fruits and vegetables should be eaten. Whole grains versus white bread. And so forth. These girls have shown me, though, that not everyone has that foundation. Although we ate a lot of processed food in my house when I was growing up, in many ways my parents made a lot of efforts to get good food into me. We always had fruit around, we ate fried and battered food only occasionally, we ate whole wheat bread. I'm learning that not every house is like that.

After work I'm going home and fixing snacks to bring. Bananas, apples and celery with natural peanut butter dip. Celery and carrots with hummus. Another leader is bringing whole grain crackers and cheese. The goal is to show the girls what a simple and healthy snack looks like, and how easy it is to make.

So Proud

Jason has lost about 20 pounds since he started running and watching what he eats. "Watching what he eats" basically means not eating everything in sight, not cleaning other peoples' plates, and not eating the cookie and the chips with his Subway footlong.

Seriously, trying to lose weight at the same time as the guy in your life is frustrating business.

Sour grapes notwithstanding, I am super proud of him and his efforts. He can jog 3 miles without stopping! Amazing!

I'm still bobbing around a 4-pound spread, however I am starting to notice some changes in my measurements. Mainly in my chest. Yes, in the almost 2 months since I started measuring, I've lost 2 inches off my b**bs. Um, isn't part of the consolation of being a chubby girl that you have an awesome rack?

I've also lost almost an inch off of each of my thighs, which is fantastic. I've lost maybe half an inch off of both my waist and my hips, so those are moving more slowly.

So I'm not losing weight, but at least I seem to be losing fat. Mostly in my chest, but still.

Pasta and Sprouts

First off, Rhode Island, can we stop with the rain already? I had a morning meeting in Boston today so no work out in the morning. I thought maybe I could go swimming tonight, but then I realized I forgot to put my house keys back on my key ring last night after my walk. So I stopped at Jason's work to get his keys and then walked the rest of the way home. The 10 minute walk took me about 20 minutes as I fought the wind and rain. Umbrellas are only so useful when it's windy. By the time I got home, my shoes and skirt were soaked through. All I wanted to do was to change into my pajamas. So I did.

Then I proceeded to make a fabulous dinner for us, in my humble opinion.

First, I browned some ground beef with a chopped onion and several minced garlic cloves.
Then I added two jars of my canned tomatoes from the end of last summer.
Finally, I threw in some chopped baby bella mushrooms, some dried thyme and a splash of red cooking wine. I then let the sauce reduce down to get rid of most of the liquid.
I put the sauce over Dreamfields low carb pasta (I can't tell you how thrilled I am with the low carb pasta!) and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top.

In the meantime, I made what is now my second favorite vegetable recipes: Shredded & Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Almonds & Parmesan.
I've been looking for a great brussels sprouts recipe, and I found it. Fabulous! Seriously, Kalyn's Kitchen is the best source for great vegetable recipes. Jason and I devoured the sprouts and I'm looking forward to making them again.

Working It Out

There are some days when I feel like I'm just not very good at my job. Today was one of those days. I felt defeated and close to tears when I left the office.

I decided that I wanted to walk. Ellipticaling was on my schedule today, but I needed to be out in the open air. I wound up walking for a bit less than an hour and a half and kept my fleece on the whole time so I was a sweaty beast when I got home.
I also felt a bit better.

And kitty seemed to miss me.
I sat down on the floor to take off my sneakers and Tiny flopped down next to me and stretched out alongside my leg, purring and rolling back and forth on his back until I patted him.

Mid-way through my walk, I started getting hungry. I was craving a big pan of roasted vegetables. Like these:
Delicious. Not to mention better than drowning my bad mood in a pint of Ben and Jerry's.

I like that my instincts tell me that after a bad day I need to take a walk and eat some vegetables.

90 Degrees!

It's 90-freaking-degrees!

In Providence!

Rhode Island!

Last week we were being flooded and this week the National Weather Service has a fire warning out because the winds are high, the temperature is high and the humidity is low.

Please. I grew up in Arizona. We laugh at your 90 degrees and 30% humidity.

I went out for a walk on my lunch hour and it was fantastic. Until I got hot and sweaty. And realized my building's AC isn't on yet. Well, the walk was still nice.

I also swam this morning for a half hour and felt like a total lane nazi when a girl asked to circle swim and I said no. But see, I was in the slow lane because it was the only one available when I came in and was consistently swimming 3 times faster than the other lady in the lane. And I've seen the girl who wanted to get in and know that she and I swim at about the same pace. So the two of us would have had to repeatedly slow waaaay down and try to pass the other woman pretty much every lap. I pointed that out to her and she said, "Yeah..." and looked disappointed. Also, I was almost done, so I knew she'd be able to get in soon. But I still felt mean.

Although, there were 2 other lanes with only 2 people in them, all of whom were swimming at paces closer than me and the lady in my lane. So I guess I don't feel too mean.

Challenges

Remember back when I started the 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 200 squats challenges? In case you're wondering whatever happened to those, let's just say that I am really, really inconsistent with actually getting them done. Basically, I'm doing the workouts 1, maybe 2 days a week, but definitely not the 3 per week that they call for. I'm trying to get better, though. I did sit-ups and push-ups on Friday morning and will do them again tonight when I get home from work.

So my next sit-ups set will be Day 2 of Week 5. I have a sneaking suspicion I could probably do 200 sit-ups right now, but I'm going to continue with the program.

I'm still on Week 1 of the push-ups. My arms are weak and puny, that's all there is to it. I don't really want to go on to Week 2 until I can honestly complete Day 3 of Week 1. "Honestly" meaning no halfway push-ups. On Friday I came the closest to actually doing it, but my arms failed at push-up number 3 on set 5.

(I have fallen on my face more during the few weeks I've been doing the push-up challenge than I have in probably the last 10 years.)

As for the 200 squats challenge - I quit. I got really, really bored doing that many squats. Plus, I did 60 for my initial test and, frankly, I'm fine with being able to do 60 squats in a row. I think that's pretty good actually.

New Week

We're always so busy on the weekends that I never seem to make a Monday morning workout. Jason fell asleep on the couch last night at 10:30 and when I woke him up he said, "Let's go to bed" so we did. And somehow I still had a hard time getting up in time to catch the 8:48 bus which gets me into work just a smidge after 9. Not ideal, but man, was I tired.

Jason had a big week with singing up in Boston for Holy Week. He sang Wednesday and Thursday, Friday we went to a Good Friday service at another friend's church, and then Jason sang Saturday night and two services on Easter Sunday. Then we had a friend's birthday party yesterday afternoon and our own Easter dinner with other friends in the evening. He also managed to run a few times this week. No wonder he was tired.

I made lamb for Easter, which I am pleased to learn this morning via SparkPeople is actually a pretty low-calorie meat. I LOVE lamb, but had never made it before. It's surprisingly easy. I used a recipe for Roast Leg of Lamb with Root Vegetables and added minced garlic and fresh sage by rubbing them on the lamb and sprinkling them over the vegetables. One tip: steam the vegetables a bit prior to adding them to the roasting pan. The lamb cooked surprisingly quickly. The potatoes were just barely done, but the carrots didn't cook through at all and the onions were still a bit crunchy.

I really need to get better at taking pictures of the things I make. I meant to take a picture of the lovely leg of lamb surrounded by the vegetables, but then forgot when we actually pulled it out of the oven. Trust me, it was fantastic.

Sensitivity

As I mentioned before, last weekend we went hiking. We woke up, ate breakfast, then hit the road down to Connecticut. An hour and a half later, we made a pit stop and I realized I was STARVING. I thought the rest stop would have a little store and I could buy some nuts or something like that, but the only thing selling food at this particular stop was McDonald's.

(Have you ever noticed that there's ALWAYS a McDonald's at rest stops. They are brilliant with the total market saturation.)

So I got some chicken selects, got Jason a burger and got us some fries to share. Yeah, I could have gotten a salad, but (a) they didn't have the salad I like (Mandarin Chicken), and (b) we were almost there and needed to eat fast.

Here's the thing: it was awful! As I was eating the chicken selects, I could feel the grease coating the inside of my mouth and it felt disgusting. I ate maybe 7 or 8 fries, before I declared Jason could have the rest. I asked him if he thought they tasted weird and he said, "They just taste like fries." Apparently, McDonald's fries don't do it for me anymore.

I find this kind of funny since as a part of low carb, I have upped my intake of saturated fat. I use butter pretty much every day and don't sweat eating the dark meat (which I prefer) rather than the white meat. The natural fats I am absolutely fine with. It's whatever McDonald's uses (soybean oil?) that my body is revolting against.

Easter Eggs

This morning I had planned to go swimming for 40 minutes. Instead, I fell asleep with the beginnings of a migraine and woke up with the same migraine. Note to self: it's better to just take the two dollar migraine pill initially than to down 8 Excedrin migraine over the course of 16 hours in the hopes that maybe this time the Excedrin will do the trick.

Why did I have a migraine? Well, my right shoulder is doing its whole stiff thing again. That means it's time for a massage. I think I'll try to get one before we leave for Hawaii.

Also, last night we had an Easter activity at my house for the Young Women at church. Within the course of 24 hours, the activity switched from being at the church to my house and then went from 7 girls and two leaders to 4 girls and one leader (me!). Also, I had to go pick up all 4 girls and one of them wasn't there when I first got to her house and texted me 5 minutes after I drove away and told me she had fallen asleep and asked if I could still get her? Since she had been so excited to do this activity, I said sure and turned the car around.

Then we came to my house and dyed eggs and made little Easter baskets. Dinner for me was about 15 Reese's peanut butter eggs. Healthy! When I got home from dropping everyone off at 9:30, I had some chicken. But the sugar and the tension had done their trick and my head hurt.

Should have just taken the migraine pill. Then I would have gotten in a swim this morning. Oh well.

But, and here's the important part, I think the girls had fun.

Also, the two dozen hard boiled eggs in my fridge. Deviled eggs, anyone?

Swimsuit

I got a swimsuit for Hawaii! Land's End won't let me copy their picture, so I'll give you the link. I wound up getting this one not so much for its slenderizing properties, but because I thought the criss-cross back was cute and I liked the way the rouching in the front looked. Plus I love the color: teal blue.

The suit arrived last week and I tried it on Saturday, assessing myself from every angle in the full-length mirror. First off, Land's End is NOT KIDDING about the whole "control" thing. I wrestled the suit up and over my thighs. It was a bit of a struggle. But once it was on, it fit great. Actually, they have the same suit modeled at another place on their site by a super skinny model type with no discernible hips and, frankly, I think it looks better on me (you know, if you ignore the cellulite on my thighs). The suit really works for someone curvy, in my opinion.

I also like that the front isn't too low and it stays in place. Thus, I feel like I'll be able to snorkle in Hawaii without giving everyone a peep show.

I also ordered a tankini at the same time and learned that tankinis don't really work when your hips are a good 12 inches bigger than your waist. The pieces fit right up until the top hit the shelf that is my bum. Then it folded and bunched and looked horrible. Oh well. That one will be going back.

Tried To Run...

Well, after a little more than a week since the last time I tried running, I thought I would give it a try this morning. I managed to do 1 jogging interval and that was it. My knees were killing me.

Sigh.

So I stopped the treadmill and got on the elliptical instead. I forgot how easy the elliptical is on the knees. Compared to the treadmill, I felt so light and airy.

I did a HIIT session on the elliptical with 6 1-minute intense intervals followed by 1 1/2 minute recovery periods. I was a sweaty beast by the end of it, so I think it went pretty well. As I was leaving the gym, though, my knees were aching.

This past weekend we went hiking with some friends who are runners and I asked their opinion about the knee thing. They speculated it might be the IT band and showed me a couple of good stretches, which I did when I got home today. I'll try jogging again in a week and see what happens.

Oh, I also did 20 minutes of strength training this morning. I know no one else can see it, but I am totally seeing some new definition in my upper arms.

The Pill

I emailed Rachel, my nutrition and healthy living guru*, about this and thought I would post and see if anyone has any thoughts. Is it possible I'm not losing weight because I'm on The Pill?

*Everyone needs one of these in their lives. I'm just lucky she's my friend and not, like, someone I have to pay.

I did a little googling this morning on my brand and it turns out there are LOTS of women who have posted about having problems with gaining weight and/or not being able to lose weight. For some people, it was immediate, for some people it took awhile for these side effects to show up.

I've been on the same Pill since January 2008. In 2008 I managed to lose some weight with healthy eating and exercise. Then I gained it back over the holidays because I ate what I wanted and stopped working out for 4 months. Understandable.

In 2009 I rededicated myself to the healthy living and I ate well and exercised and didn't lose any weight. Frustration abounded. Then I got sick over and over and over again throughout the Fall and beginning of Winter. Only this time, I tried to be a bit more careful and over those sicko months, I didn't gain any weight.

As you all know, I got back on the exercise horse a couple months ago. I have swum, ellipticaled, jogged, walked and lifted weights. No change in weight.

I have recorded the food that goes into my mouth diligently and, with the exception of one or two days, I have stayed within a reasonable calorie range. Even on my unreasonable days, I was maybe 200 calories above where I wanted to be. No change in weight.

I have restarted low carb. No change in weight.

I bounce around 187-191 and that's where I stay no matter what I do.

I know some people have mentioned the Pill made them gain weight or prevented them from losing weight and I wonder if that could be what's going on. I know how to lose weight. I've lost almost 40 pounds and kept it off for 7 years.

I figure maybe it's the pill, or maybe I really do have the most picky metabolism known to man and a brownie at the end of the week has the ability to completely derail 3-5 workouts and eating healthy and within a good calorie range ALL WEEK LONG. I prefer to think it's the pills.

KettleWorx

I want to win the KettleWorx Ultra set, which is why I'm giving a plug to this contest on Endurance Isn't Only Physical.

Seriously, my arms are weak.

Swim-A-Thon Results

Goal: 60 laps

Completed: 64 laps!

Or, in other words, 3200 yards.

My legs are tired.

Of Bums and Swimming

No swim this morning after all. I was up lateish and I know this weekend I'll be extremely active. First the swim-a-thon, then we're going hiking with our friend who does crazy things like trail races in the Alps. Though to be fair to him, he totally waited back with me when I thought I was going to die hiking in September because my lungs weren't fully healed from bronchitis. I told everyone to go ahead, but they wouldn't. Nice people.

My knees are still hurting some when I walk, so I'm just going to swim and maybe throw in some elliptical along with strength training for the next week. My friend Rachel mentioned a 5K that she wants Jason and I to run in June (I think. June, right? Rachel?). Jason will be able to do it, no problem (he's doing so great!) and I would love to, but I don't know if my body is going to cooperate.

As I was hobbling around last night, I could see the worry in Jason's eyes and I know he's wondering if I'm going to end up with severe arthritis like my mom. The thing is, my mom started having problems when she was much younger than me. Plus, even though I look exactly like her, I'm built like my dad's side of the family. Like my Nana, actually, with what she always called "The Puckett Butt". The Puckett Butt is defined by an arched back and a bum that sticks out for all the world to see. (Puckett was her maiden name) Sadly, I didn't get her height. She was 5' 10". I always thought 5'9" would be nice...

Anyway, here's hoping that this is just a minor setback and not an indication of something more serious.

In other news, Jason broke into the 100's yesterday morning! Down from a high of about 216, he's now 199.

I'm looking forward to the swim-a-thon tomorrow and psyching myself up to jump in, keep a steady pace, and finish all 60 laps in an hour.

Water Baby

Last night after work I went for a swim and managed to do 60 lengths of the pool in 30 minutes. Exactly the pace I'm shooting for on Saturday at the swim-a-thon. I started out slowly, so I think if I start out at a medium pace, I can definitely get it done.

I can't begin to express how natural I feel in the water. I've always felt that way. When I'm done with a swim, I feel peaceful and confident. Last night, I ached a little, but I loved that familiar aching of the muscles I use to pull myself through the water.

I'm really looking forward to our trip to Hawaii and getting back into the ocean. I used to go to Florida every year to visit family, but haven't been there in a few years now. My favorite thing is to dive down below the waves and stay under as long as I can, swimming out as far as I can.

I took this morning off from the gym, but walked to work. My knees are still sore. By the end of the walk, they were really hurting. I'm going to take a week off from running and then start C25K over. I told Jason, this will be my third try. If I get sidelined a 3rd time, I may have to admit that running just isn't for me.

Tomorrow I'll do one more prep swim and then Saturday is the swim-a-thon.

Chubby Babies

Babies are adorable. Chubby babies even moreso.

That's why articles like this one, stating that maybe the chub on your baby could indicate an early slide into obesity, make me so mad! It's not the only article of its kind.

They're babies! Please, let's let the babies be chubby if that's the way their bodies want it.

I only have my own empirical evidence here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and state that baby chubbiness has little to nothing to do with your weight later in life. For instance, I was a skinny baby and a skinny little girl. Then I hit puberty, sprouted hips and boobs, and gained an extra layer of fat (or two) that I've been fighting ever since.

My mom used to watch babies in our home. We had this one baby who was HUGE. She made us giggle with her roli-poliness. We fed her exactly what the other babies got, she just carried it in big, squeezable rolls. I saw her a few years later when she was probably 6 or so and she had leaned out completely. Not even the little six year-old belly remained. I don't think there's much rhyme or reason because babies and kids develop in completely different ways. Maybe Kate Moss was a chubby baby. There's no way to tell.

Our obsession with obesity is out of control! I have seen kids who are severely overweight and who are probably not eating good food and not getting outside and playing much. However, I think by and large some kids are skinny, some kids are chubby, and that's just how it is.

All these scary articles about the obesity epidemic are using that word as defined by the BMI, which I've mentioned before I think is a big load of hooey. I personally want to lose weight, but I know I'll never get out of the the "overweight" category according to the BMI. And, frankly, I'm fine with that because I've been "normal" weight before and I looked unhealthy.

I do realize that many people eat unhealthily and that we are constantly inundated with the extreme side of obesity in shows like The Biggest Loser. However, as Tom Naughton pointed out in his awesome movie Fat Head, in reality our average national weight has only gone up around 10 pounds. AND the key point is, our average national age has gone up by 10 years, from 25-35. The slowing of the metabolism as we get older can easily account for those extra 10 pounds.

Telling us our babies' chubbiness is just the slippery slope to obesity leads to babies being denied health insurance and parents starving their children because they don't want them to be fat. When I start a family, my plan is to feed my children healthy foods and if they are chubby, fabulous. I refuse to give my infant body image issues.

Knees

Apparently now my knees are rebelling. The rebelliousness is just moving up my legs, I guess. The next couple times I run, I expect my hips will hurt.

Last night after work I went to the gym, planning to do some strength training and to get going with Week 2 of Couch to 5K.

Of note: my arms are getting stronger. First, I upped the weight on the bicep curls machine and did 3 sets of 10. Which means I actually get to use the pin now! 20 pounds is the default setting, but now I'm up to 35 pounds! (I did mention my arms are weak and piddly, yes?) Second, when I took the big baking sheet with the roasted broccoli and asparagus on it out of the oven and used my left arm to tip the sheet over a mixing bowl to dump the veggies in, there was no struggle. Sometimes I can't hold the sheet up for quite as long as I need to. Last night, no problem.

So I did some arm and leg weights for about 20 minutes and headed over to the treadmill. My legs felt a little sore from our hike/walk in the woods on Saturday, but it wasn't so bad during my 5-minute warm-up walk. The second I started the jogging interval, my knees felt like they were going to fall off. I did 60 seconds of jogging instead of 90 seconds, walked for 90 seconds, and tried another jogging interval. Same thing. I managed to eke out 4 jogging intervals, but finally stopped after 15 minutes.

I was sore all night and the few times I woke up during the night and tried to roll over, it was a struggle because my knees hurt so bad. So no swim this morning. Heck, I couldn't really walk very well. Having to run to catch my bus didn't help things. After walking from the bus to the office (all of like 200 feet) I felt a little nauseated.

They seem to be feeling better now, but I think I'm going to take Jason's advice and stick to swimming for the rest of the week. It's just bizarre.

After the gym, I made a great dinner: Broiled Lemon Caper Mahi Mahi and Roasted Broccoli and Asparagus. Fabulous!

Active Weekend & Low-Carb Pasta

My first bit of news is I did not get up and go to the gym Saturday morning. I was inadvertently* up until 1:30 on Friday night and had to be somewhere at 10 AM on Saturday morning, so a run in between waking up and picking up some people at 9:30 AM was not happening. However, Saturday was GORGEOUS and Jason and I went for a long walk in the woods near Foxboro, Massachusetts. It was lovely. We used a coupon and went out for dinner Saturday night, where I had a steak and veggies and a salad, with two small pieces of bread.

*Seriously lost track of time while watching TV with Jason and knitting a baby sweater.

Yesterday, I went for a swim before church. Generally I don't exercise on Sundays, but I need to get in a bit more time in the pool before the swim-a-thon on Saturday. Besides, swimming for me is relaxing. It's a nice way for me to decompress a bit.

So food and exercise was good this weekend, until the brownies last night. We have a friend who has an MA in Art History and who is also a fabulous cook. She gave a presentation last night on art at our church AND she made brownies for it. I grabbed a small square and took a bite. And my eyes rolled back in my head. And my knees went weak. Seriously, I usually don't get these kinds of reactions from food, but these brownies were probably the most divine things I've tasted.

Dangerous, yes?

I had 3. Well, 2 1/2 since Jason ate a big bite out of my third. Thankfully, she had cut them into smallish squares so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But not ideal. The thing is, looking back, I'm ok with it. Despite my desire to eat healthy, I really don't want to have missed out on the most divine brownies ever.

I'm going to ask her for the recipe and then only cook them once a year when I know that I'll be giving them away to other people, but I can have one after they're done cooking.

Oh, also last night, Jason and I tried Dreamfields low-carb pasta. We were tired and bleh and didn't want to cook so I suggested spaghetti since I knew I had just gotten the Dreamfields. It tasted great! I don't know how they do it, but somehow they have formulated the pasta so only 5 grams of the 41 grams of carbs per serving actually get digested. Maybe it's all smoke and mirrors and not true at all, but I'm going to believe them for now. Jason and I both noticed it was less starchy than regular pasta.

Jason and I also both noticed that neither of us can handle two servings of pasta. My second bowl was actually half a bowl, and I only ate half of that, but even so, we were both uncomfortably stuffed afterward. I definitely should have stopped at one bowl. I'm actually pretty excited that Jason is noticing these things about himself and not liking how he feels when he stuffs himself. He's lost about 10 pounds and is just about to flip from 200 to the 190s. Pretty exciting!

Of course, if he keeps losing this fast and I keep NOT losing, I'm going to be very miffed when he's officially lighter than me.

The Buddy System

Last night I had the thought while I was reading other peoples' health and fitness blogs for inspiration that it would be awesome to have a gym buddy. I really do appreciate all the motivation I get from everyone on here and through reading other blogs, but to know that someone will be waiting for me to show up at the gym at 6 AM is some great motivation because I am very susceptible to guilt.

My last year of college, my friend Nikki and I would meet up at the gym and go together. I knew she would be there so I had better show up. And she knew I would be there. It was such a good way to be accountable.

While I was mulling this over, I remembered my gym had posted signs all over the place a few months ago about gym buddies. You could post your info on a bulletin board to get connected with potential gym buddies. So this morning I checked out the buddy board. There wasn't a single posting on it. So much for that idea. (I kind of hope that this just means that everyone got all matched up with their buddies a couple months ago, not that the Y's buddy plan was a sad failure that just faded away).

Well, until Jason magically stops being nocturnal, I'll just keep posting my gym trips on here and being accountable to you. At least Jason and I go to the gym together on Saturday. Also, he's actually an awesome cheerleader when I tell him what I did to work out on any given day.

Gym Report 3/19 - Swim

40 minute swim. I did 70 lengths, which is ok, but not as fast as I want to be. Next weekend at the swim-a-thon I want to do 120 lengths in 60 minutes. I don't know if I'll be able to, but that's my goal.

Last night I was griping to some friends about how I didn't really feel like swimming. Now that I'm doing the Couch to 5K, I have this concrete goal that I'm working toward and I want to work on that. I know I can't run every day, though, and I do need to get in at least a little preparation for the swim-a-thon.

Then I hit the water and remembered, oh right, I LOVE swimming.

Gym Report 3/18

I did it! I got up and went to the gym! It was hard because, I don't know if you noticed, but since Sunday it's dark in the early morning again. I can't wait until the sun is up when I am.

I did workout 1 for week 2 of the Couch to 5K. Actually, to be honest I'm going to say I did workout .8 for week 2. Workout 1 is a 5 minute warm up, then 6 intervals of 90 seconds of running and 2 minutes of walking. During the 5th interval I got a stitch in my side. I tried to jog through it, but finally stopped running at 75 seconds. I intended to make the 6th interval 105 seconds, but the stitch came back and that one was only 75 seconds as well. So I'm not counting the workout toward the Couch to 5K progress. I still have 3 workouts for week 2 to do. I'm not on any sort of deadline and I'm fine with easing into this and making sure I'm really ready to move forward.

The fabulous news is, my ankles didn't hurt! They were a little sore afterward, but I stretched and hopefully they'll be ready for more running by Saturday morning, when I'm totally going to own workout 1 for real.

I also did a 20 minute weight machine circuit. Does anyone else have aimless gym people you have to navigate around? There was this guy there this morning who was just kind of wandering from weight machine to weight machine. He would sit at one, put the weight really high, then do one really fast set of 10 or so reps, looking like he was going to die the entire time. Then he would get up and aimlessly wander to another machine.

When I do weights I like to bounce between two different machines between sets so that I'm never just sitting there doing nothing. Since there were 3 people in the weight area this morning, I thought there wouldn't be an issue. Only, the aimless wanderer cut me off 3 times. It was no big deal, I just went to a different machine and then came back to the one he used, but the other guy in the weight area saw this happen each time and after the 3rd time, we made eye contact and he smiled and rolled his eyes at the wanderer. I love gym solidarity.

In addition to the gym time, this morning I walked to work. I felt energetic and it's an amazingly beautiful day here. Perfect for a 2 mile walk!

Seriously, I Have Issues

Today I'm wondering what is wrong with me?

Get this. I woke up ON MY OWN at 5:30 this morning. I figured I would lay in bed until 6 or so and then get up and go for a swim. Only, that didn't happen. I cuddled with the kitty (who has determined that the best way to get fed in the morning is to be snuggly and purry. MUCH more effective than standing on the headboard screaming at us, which was his previous m.o.) and kept checking my clock. Then I fell back asleep and woke up at 6:25. Still time to get up and go, right? Yes.

But then I fell back asleep and finally got up too late to go to the gym or to walk to work.

I'm having a major mental block involving rolling out of bed in the mornings. Once I am OUT of the bed, putting in my contacts and getting ready to go, I'm fine. I'm even better than fine because then I go work out and I have endorphins and I feel proud of myself for working out.

This is my pledge to you: THURSDAY! FRIDAY! SATURDAY! I will be out of bed and at the gym in the morning. In fact the first thing I will do when I log on my computer in the morning is come on here and check in and let you know what I did.

Hmmm, that's not a bad idea. Maybe I should do that every day. If I have to actually tell someone about it (other than Jason and the cat) then that should motivate me to not slack off. Keep me accountable, my friends!

On the up side, eating has been stellar this week. Many people say it's 80% about the food, so at least I'm 80% on target. And that's not bad.

I Was Run-ning

So I kind of like this running thing so far.

I know, I'm shocked too.

Of course, in the first week of Couch to 5K I only run a grand total of 8 minutes per workout, but for those 8 minutes I like it. The only problem is, my ankles are KILLING me. I don't know if it's a joint thing or if it's because I have weak ankles or what. I'm hoping someone else knows what I'm talking about because Jason seems befuddled by my ankle pain. He said when he started running, the muscles attached to his ankles were sore, and mine are too, but this is something different.

I ran Saturday morning and again last night, officially completing week 1 of C25K. I almost quit mid-workout last night. I would feel ok while I was actually running, but when I slowed down for the 90 seconds of walking, my ankles hurt SO. BAD. I had to slow down my walk pace from 3.5 mph to 3.0 mph for about 30 seconds and hold onto the arms of the treadmill for a bit to take some of my weight off my ankles. By about the 4th running interval I was seriously considering stopping, but I talked myself into stopping after the 6th and then at that point I figured I was so close to doing all 8 intervals, I might as well finish.

My theory is that I have insanely weak ankles and until they get stronger, I'll have ankle pain when I run. Thoughts?

In case you're thinking it's my shoes, I actually have been fitted by a running pro who owns a running store for the correct shoes (my sister-in-law's dad. And he gave me a fat discount!). Last year I tried to run in my regular sneakers without seeing a pro and I definitely suffered for it. In a different way than this ankle thing, though.

The bummer part is, I am enjoying this, which is not something I ever thought I would say about a running program. I kind of want to do workout 1 of week 2 tonight after work. Don't worry, I won't. I'll let my sore bones rest. It's just annoying.

What Have I Done Today?

The Biggest Loser theme song sings, "What have I done today to make me feel proud?" The Television Without Pity recapper for The Biggest Loser* always starts her recaps with what she has done that day to make her feel proud, with a healthy dose of snark thrown in for good measure.

*Who also lives in Providence and since everyone here knows everyone else, I'm sure I've met or at least seen her at some point over the past 2 1/2 years and I wish I knew who she was so the next time I see her I could tell her how much I love her recaps. I always think the same thing as her when TBL toys with us. Like this past week with the long drawn-out drama of how Sam forgot his lunch which wound up being a long lead-in to a Subway product placement. Her response: "Those f***ers." Not exactly my words, as the asterisks will tell you, but my sentiment exactly!

So what have I done to make me feel proud?

Wednesday night I drove ALL THE WAY to southeast Rhode Island for a meeting that wound up being canceled. So then I drove ALL THE WAY back and needed to stop at 2 stores before I could go home. I had planned to bake some chicken for dinner, but when Jason and I both got home at about 7:30 I announced that I didn't want to wait an hour and a half for dinner so we were getting take out. Jason suggested we use our 2 for $20 Bugaboo Creek coupon, which got us an appetizer sampler and two entrees for $20.

At the end of the meal, Jason commented on the detritus of carbohydrates left on my plates. First, we had bread, and I LOVE their bread. So I had 2 small pieces, but by no means half of the mini loaf they gave us. Then came the appetizer sampler: buffalo wings, chicken strips and mozzarella sticks. I had one wing and then peeled the breading off one chicken strip and one mozzarella stick and ate those. I ordered an extra side salad for myself and the croutons joined the pile of breading on my plate. I got the rib eye steak with steamed vegetables, which unbeknownst to me came on a bed of fried onions. Ate the steak and veggies, left the onions.

Ta-dah! Next morning, down another pound, so apparently I managed to stay on course.

Last night I went out for Mexican food with a friend (Hi, Annie!) and indulged in tortilla chips, a tamale and half of some enchiladas verdes. I knew we were going out so I had been watching my carbs during the day. I know I went over 100 g, but it wasn't major.

FYI, if you like Mexican food and fear there is none to be had in New England, I recommend El Rancho Grande. Their salsa is actually spicy! Un milagro! Ay dios mio!

This morning, I had a meeting up in Boston then took the train back to Providence. You know what they have at South Station in Boston? An Auntie Anne's. I LOVE Auntie Anne's pretzels! Did I get one today? No, I did not. We're going out to dinner with some friends tonight for Portuguese food and while I know I can order smart, I'm also not quite sure what my options will be. I'd rather indulge in a new Portuguese carby delight than abstain because I already had the pretzel.

So I think I'm doing well. Also, I've determined that living this low-carb lifestyle is totally doable.

Eat On Less Than $35!

This morning I read an article titled "How To Eat On Less Than $35 A Week". I really don't know why I still bother with these articles. I'm hoping, I guess, that there will be some actual, useful tips, but there never are. Like the article about maximizing coupons, which consisted of telling us that if we just used coupons to buy our processed crap, all our money woes would be over. Well, duh. I use coupons. The only problem is, I don't buy a lot of stuff that you can use coupons for. Instead I buy produce and unprepared meat.

These types of articles are always geared toward highly-processed foods. This article is no exception. What it should really be called is "How To Eat On Less Than $35 A Week So Long As You Don't Mind Eating Processed, Non-Nutritional Crap". The shopping list consists of hot dogs, buns, bologna (gag!), chopped ham (gag!), ground beef, egg noodles, ketchup, condensed soup, cereal, spaghetti, etc. The one nod to health is 2 1-lb bags of frozen vegetables. They also suggest, as an afterthought, that you might try substituting a bag of apples for some of those noodles, you know, "if you have a lighter appetite or are health conscious."

Wait, shouldn't we be encouraging everyone to be health conscious? Not just as an afterthought?

Let's look at the menus the author sets forth:

Day One
Breakfast: 2 bowls of milk and cereal
Lunch: 1/2 pound buttered noodles and 2 sandwiches (your choice)
Dinner: 2 hot dogs, 2 potatoes 4 ounces vegetables
Snack: popcorn

Day Two
Breakfast: 2 bowls of milk and cereal
Lunch: 2 sandwiches and soup
Dinner: spaghetti
Snack: popcorn

Day Three
Breakfast: 2 bowls milk and cereal
Lunch: 1/2 pound buttered noodles, 2 sandwiches
Dinner: 2 quarter-pound burgers, potatoes and 4 ounces vegetables
Snack: popcorn

Yummmmm! Carby carb carb! Not to mention all that sodium in your bologna and chopped ham (again, gag!). Plus, the possible carcinogens in your bags of microwave popcorn. It is so cheap and easy to pop some real popcorn in a pan on the stove or a paper bag in the microwave without all the additives. Plus it tastes better. If we're going to have popcorn, let's cook it the good way.

The article is geared toward college kids living on a budget, which I can get behind. However, I think it would be much more useful to teach college kids how to eat healthy on a budget. I know I ate marginally healthy in college, with apples and bananas for snack, and multiple experimentations with ways to cook vegetables. I also ate my fair share of ramen and mac and cheese. Whatever, it was college. It happens.

After reading this article, I feel inspired to write a book to teach college kids how to eat healthy on a budget.

Ankles

It's amazing how jogging can make you keenly aware of your ankles. This morning I got out of bed and my ankles screamed at me to get off them already and who do I think I am?

I had a swim scheduled, but as I hobbled the 5 feet from my bed to the bathroom I made an executive decision to rest my weary bones and muscles. And tendons and ligaments.

Eventually I will be able to work out 4-5 times a week, but I'm trying to listen to my body and ease into it so I don't get injured this time around.

Everyone Else is Doing It...

Peer pressure is making me do the Couch to 5K.

OK, so no one's really pressuring me, it just seems like a lot of people are starting up. The weather has been awesome here the past couple of days so I went for a little walk/jog this morning. I can already tell my legs are going to be SORE. Jason and I have already agreed that if we get to the 5K point, we'll enter an actual 5K race.

Doing the C25K allows me to use my heart rate monitor and foot pod that I got last year and then only used twice before entering the Fall and Winter of Sickness. I realized a couple of weeks ago that it doesn't really work with the elliptical as far as telling me anything about distance or steps, which is kind of a drag. (Though I did discover that the elliptical's heart rate monitor on the machine itself is very accurate. Good to know.) So running/walking is the best way to use my new toy.

Today the first few intervals were fine, but by numbers 7 and 8 I was DONE. I can't imagine running a 5K straight, but I know if I keep on, I'll get there. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

On a good note, I felt fantastic afterward. I am discovering my body adores intervals (and, I'm assuming, the endorphins that come with them). I don't really adore the during part so much, but I always feel great when it's done and really pumped up for the day.

2 other good things:

1) As of this morning I'm 4 pounds lighter. Meaning the 4 pounds I was crying about on Saturday went away. We'll see what this Saturday brings, but I feel better.

2) Awesome smoothie today:

6 frozen unsweetened strawberries
1/2 banana
1 serving chocolate Amazing Grass
1/2 scoop unflavored protein powder
1/4 cup 2% plain Greek yogurt
1 cup unsweetened plain Almond Breeze
1/4 packet Stevia

Yum!

Shopping Bag Giveaway

Does anyone find it annoying when people blog about giveaways? I realize it's a plug for the company and all, but I happen to like this company, so here we are.

Mambo Sprouts is pretty cool because they have coupons for organic and other natural foods. I don't use many of their coupons because even though it's healthy food, it's still mainly processed food, and I generally don't use processed foods when I cook. But I support the idea and I diligently go through my Mambo Sprouts mailer to see if there's anything I can use.

(This is the problem with coupons in general. What we need are "Buy 1 apple, get 1 apple free" and similar coupons.)

Anyway, Mambo Sprouts is giving away some cute shopping bags if you pledge to give up plastic shopping bags. I already have a few reusable shopping bags and am trying to obtain a critical mass so that when I go shopping I actually have some of the bags in the car with me. When I bring them into the apartment, they never seem to leave. But there must be a magic number where they start migrating back to the car.

So go enter! Save the planet! Etc!

Positive

I'm trying to stay positive and not let the scale emotionally abuse me. So we'll talk about the good stuff.

This weekend was crazy! Saturday we had a birthday party, dinner with some friends, and a concert up in Somerville, Mass. Sunday we had church and Jason's choral Evensong service up in Cambridge. I meant to cook something in the crock pot, but was running late all morning. So we used the chicken to make a stir fry. Yum!

Overall, I have to say, my eating was pretty good. On Saturday, I did have some ice cream at the birthday party, but that was in lieu of ice cream and cake. (I suppose you could argue that the ice cream was in lieu of nothing, but it was better than it could have been).

Sunday, I made the coconutty pancakes for breakfast. They were okay. I can see the potential and am going to tweak the recipe a bit because it lets me have low-carb pancakes and, truth be told, I love pancakes. Maybe some cinnamon...

I drove up to Cambridge with my friend Rachel, who also sings in the choir, and she had brought lovely peanut butter sandwiches and apples for us to eat on the way. I had brought a peanut butter cookie Larabar and had meant to bring an apple, but forgot, so she wins the being prepared award.

After Evensong they always have a reception with great food, including these fudgey brownie bites that are divine. I skipped the brownie bites. And the cookies. And the pastries. So proud of me.

We had stir fry and salad for dinner, and I ate about 2/3 cup of rice with the chicken and veggies. I am okay with that.

I slept in a bit this morning thinking I would walk to and from work. Then, too late, I remembered I have a meeting later that I need my car for. So I drove in. BUT it is an amazingly gorgeous day so I went for a lunchtime walk next to the river, looping the path and the basin over by the mall twice. Not really a workout, per se, but definitely nice.

Tonight I'll get home a bit late from the meeting, but then it's straight to bed so I can get to the gym tomorrow.

Update from the Drama Queen

So I'm feeling a little better.

Still frustrated.

But I got up off the couch and went to the gym and did a half hour of weights and HIIT elliptical (I got there too late to swim laps. The pool has very specific hours for lap swimming.) Anyway, a good load of endorphins has improved my mood a lot.

I'm off to a day of parties and fun and I will stick to my food goals.

Fail

I am feeling utterly defeated.

I spend a lot of my spare time learning about health and nutrition. I find it fascinating. I think it is so interesting to learn the science and apply it to my life and my way of eating and exercising and living. I look for different and interesting ways to cook vegetables so that we don't get bored with the same old thing and so that I can cook healthy for us. I meticulously watch my carbs and try to eat healthy. I log my food and try to be smart about what I put in my body. I pack in a bag of meals and snacks to work every day. I lift weights and do HIIT.

I have gained 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks.

I've documented my lapses here. Last Sunday with the poor planning and the breakfast and lunch of pumpkin bread. Thursday with the high calories (though, like I said, in low carb calories aren't supposed to matter quite so much. You CAN overeat, of course, but 2100 calories isn't egregious, especially since by BMR is 1600 calories anyway).

Oh, and lest you say, well it's not really the scale that counts, I'm doing all over measurements as well. In the last 2 weeks I have lost half an inch off my bust. That's the only loss, and frankly, I'm none too pleased about it. Everything else is the same.

I had a long discussion with Jason last night, just venting my frustrations. I weighed myself yesterday morning and had a good idea what the news would be for my official weigh-in this morning. I talked about how frustrated I get when I read articles about people who lost weight who say things like, "Well, I realized I needed to stop eating that pint of Ben and Jerry's every night" or "I quit eating a dozen donuts every Saturday".

I find those types of comments so incredibly unhelpful because I DON'T eat like that. Jason even said last night, "No, you eat salmon and broccoli every night." That's an exaggeration, but his point is, I eat some protein and a big pile of vegetables every night. Then I might have a glass of milk or a tablespoon of peanut butter or a small smoothie for a snack. Maybe. Often it's just dinner and then I'm done.

I have 30 pounds to lose and I wonder if people look at me and think, "Pssh, just stop eating that ice cream every night!" People make comments like that on article and blogs about obesity. I can guarantee I'm not the only person with weight to lose who doesn't eat piles of candy and pastries every day.

Jason, however, has lost 10 pounds in the last couple of weeks. I am so pleased for him, of course, and so proud that he is making an effort.

His secret? When he goes to lab functions, he only eats 1 cookie instead of 10. He still eats his footlong from Subway every day. He eats whatever I cook for dinner (some sort of protein and vegetables generally). He went jogging a couple times this week.

In the past, low-carb has been my magic bullet. I lost 5 pounds in one week. This time...

I am at a loss and I am sad and I may have cried a little.

I feel like giving up. I'm supposed to go to the gym this morning and do weights and swim. I don't want to. I want to sit here and be depressed and just think about how futile it all is.

Smoothies!

I have two new blogs I've been enjoying: Pimp My Protein Shake and Smoothie Girl Eats Too. They have lots of protein smoothie recipes and other creative ideas for high-protein foods (Totally trying the coconutty pancakes soon). They have opened my eyes to the wonders of guar gum and/or xantham gum, which are natural products that make your smoothies creamy. In the summer, I usually make a protein smoothie at home and bring it to work for breakfast. One of my biggest complaints is how it separates by the time I get to work. Lo and behold, a little sprinkle of one of those gums equals no separation.

Last night I got home from work and immediately erupted into a cleaning frenzy because I hosted craft night and I haven't had people over for 2 weeks and we have a magical ability to destroy our home in that amount of time.

(And for those of you who were there last night and might read this and are thinking, "Wait, that was AFTER she cleaned...?", I KNOW. It's an effort just to keep the chaos at bay.)

So instead of cooking something time consuming for dinner, I made a protein smoothie (and also a bunless hamburger with muenster cheese). Inspired by my new smoothie friends, I made the following:

Chocolate Strawberry Smoothie

1 1/2 cups plain, unsweetened Almond Breeze
1/4 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt
10 frozen strawberries
1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 scoop chocolate Amazing Grass Green SuperFood (I found a single serving packet at Whole Foods and decided to give it a try because I've been hearing a lot of buzz about it)
8 ice cubes
1/8 teaspoon xantham gum

Fabulous!

I just figured out my calories in SparkPeople yesterday and I ate a lot, calorie-wise. About 2100 if I'm going to be honest. I was honestly hungry. According to the low-carb people, calories don't matter so much. I guess I'll see. It's hard to feel okay about bucking the Conventional Wisdom I've learned for so long.

Denied

Well, I didn't get to the gym this morning, nor did I walk to work. I woke up this morning feeling a bit like I had been run over by a truck (or so I imagine). Stupid TOM. The first day always knocks me for a loop. My legs cramp up so the idea of hobbling over to the gym to do the elliptical sounded horrible. All I wanted was more sleep. I'm pretty sure I can get in a half hour of either weights or elliptical tomorrow morning, even though my work meeting is kind of early.

I did get the sit-ups and squats done last night while watching TV with Jason. I told him he should come do some squats too, but he said no, so I squatted away with the neighbors probably laughing at me (we have no curtains or blinds in the living room and you can see RIGHT inside. We also have a million windows so spending all the money for window treatments in a rented apartment has been hard to justify).

I'm feeling a little annoyed right now by what the scale is telling me. I'm trying to be philosophical about it due to TOM, as previously mentioned in all its TMI glory, and the fact that I'm really getting going with the working out and sometimes I gain for a bit. However, my eating has been awesome the past few days and generally when I'm sticking to low-carb like a champ, I start losing immediately.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see what next week brings.

Giveaway

Andrea at Andrea's Wellness Notes is giving away a box of Amazing Grass protein bars! If I let you all know and then let her know I let you know, I get an additional entry into the contest.

However, but letting you all know, when you go enter, I'll just be canceling out my entries. Hmmm...

Maybe by letting you know, the good karma I am collecting will help me win.

Feeling Fit

Fitness Check-In: swam for 30 minutes this morning. 50 lengths. Out of swimming shape, but still got it done. Will do Day 2 of the sit-up, push-up and squat challenges tonight.

Also, I checked my heart rate earlier today while I was sitting at my desk and after only a couple of weeks of regular work outs, my resting heart rate is down to 54 bpm. It will probably be slower if I check it right when I wake up. Jason said, "I'm surprised you're able to stay alive."

At the beginning of my 8th grade year we had a physical check-up in PE. They weighed and measured us, did some other fitness gauges and finally had us sit still and take our resting heart rates. Mine was very low compared to everyone else - around 60, I think - and my teacher made me take it again. Since I had just weighed in as one of the heavier girls in class (in front of everyone, of course, which was mortifying), I'm sure he thought there was no way my heart rate could be so low. But I had just come off a summer of swim team so the joke was on him. The 2nd time around, it was exactly the same and he had to write it down on his little chart.

While swimming since I was 6 years old has resulted in huge quads that will never go away, it has also given me a very fit heart, which I love. It makes getting back into a workout routine that much easier.

Scheduling Exercise

I forgot to include another goal in my post yesterday. I'm going to schedule my workouts AND follow through, rather than just going back and deleting the scheduled workouts after I don't do them.

Here's what's on tap for this week:
Monday: Walk 4 miles to and from work, Day 1 of sit-ups/push-ups/squats challenges. Done and done. My abs were screaming by the end of the sit-ups. I did the right hand column of Day 1 of Week 3

Day 1 rest 60 seconds between each SET (longer if required)
	21 - 30 sit-ups	31 - 40 sit-ups	> 40 sit-ups
set 1	15	18	21
set 2	18	25	27
set 3	11	19	21
set 4	11	19	21
set 5	max (at least 14)	max (at least 25)	max (at least 30)

Today: 25 minutes HIIT elliptical and 20 minutes strength training (arms). Done AND I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. Ha!

Wednesday: 30 minutes swimming, Day 2 of sit-ups/push-ups/squats challenges. I will probably wind up swimming 40 minutes, but since I'm just getting back into it again, I'm scheduling 30 minutes so that I have an out if I need it.

Thursday: 25 minutes HIIT elliptical and 20 minutes strength training (legs).

Friday: Cardio rest because of AM work meeting, Day 3 of sit-ups/push-ups/squats challenges.

Saturday: 30 minutes swimming, 30 minutes strength training (arms and legs).

All of these workouts are entered into SparkPeople already. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Happy March!

I'm kicking off March with a bang. First, rededicating myself to low carb EVEN on weekends. Let's just say Saturday was fine, but Sunday... On Sunday my diet consisted mainly of pumpkin bread because we had a busy day with a lot of driving. I made pumpkin bread to take to our friends' house who had us over for dinner and ate several pieces beforehand since I didn't really get breakfast or lunch yesterday. Poor planning.

In a silver lining vein, I cut the sugar down by a third and the bread still tasted great. I think I could probably halve the remaining amount and it would still be good. It just makes the pumpkin and spice flavors shine through more. I also used half whole wheat flour.

So far today has been stellar. I have planned my meals on SparkPeople today and if I stick to that, I will have less than 50 net carbs today.

My second March goal is to get my regular gym routine back into gear already. Jason and I went Saturday morning. I didn't wake up in time this morning so I instituted a spur of the moment penalty for not getting to the gym: every day I don't get to the gym in the morning, I have to walk to and from work. Usually I really like my walks to work. But this morning the sky was dark and the wind was blowing hard and the whole way I was pelted with freezing rain. Yeah, dashing over to the warm dry gym an hour earlier would have been a much better option. The rain has now stopped and I'm hoping it stays that way through my walk home this evening.

Tonight after my walk home, I'm going to do day 1 of the squat/sit-up/push-up challenges. I get to start on week 3 of the squats and sit-ups, but I am at square 1 with the push-ups.

On a completely unrelated note, my sister-in-law is in the hospital right now in some stage of giving birth to my first niece! The parents are Jason's brother and his wife and she will be the first grandchild in Jason's family. As an only child, I am thrilled to be an almost aunt!