Pictures

You know what's not helpful in losing weight? When you look at recent pictures of yourself and think, "Meh, I look fine." Of course, then I put on my jeans and remember that it would be nice if they were just a wee bit looser.

Starting a modified South Beach today. I have some grapes I don't want to waste, but I figure a little fruit won't kill me when everything else I eat all day is South Beach compliant.

Soreness

Yeah, so C25K did not happen Saturday. Neither did the strength training class this morning. My triceps are still so sore from Friday's class that it's kind of hard to dress myself. Well, I'll make it to class this Friday at least. Hopefully tomorrow morning my inner thighs will be recovered enough that I can go for a walk/run. Did I mention the sadistic version of sumo squats that the instructor had us do Friday?

I was at Sara's house for a little party last night and we were commiserating on how we should have started the strength training class 6 months ago. (We're not going to discuss the fact that she's done a half marathon recently, while I've been doing next to nothing. The class kicked both of our butts so I don't feel like too much of a loser.)

Sara's moving next weekend so I'll have to go it alone from now on. At least everyone else in the class was really friendly. I got the feeling there is a core group who I'll be seeing on a regular basis if I keep going.

1st Strength Training Class

This morning I went to my first strength training class at the Y. I guarantee it will not be my last.

Sara, one of the girls who works in Jason's lab, and I have been threatening to work out together for a few months now since we both belong to the Y. Our workout schedules are kind of opposite, though - in that I usually go early in the morning. She is not a morning person. Neither am I, really, but I have to be by necessity since I work a job with normal office-type hours.

Early this week I emailed Sara and asked if she was in for the Friday morning strength training class. She agreed.

But then last night Jason and I went to see the Indigo Girls in Newport, RI with Sara and her husband. It was a great show. We got back around 11. Then I woke up at 4:45 to drive a friend to the airport. I was seriously considering backing out, but I pulled myself out of bed again to make the 6:30 class (with a little encouragement from Jason who told me how proud he would be if I went).

Well, it kicked my butt. My legs and arms were a little shaky by the end. Tonight I'm trying really hard not to do anything that uses my pecs or my inner thighs.

It was really fun too. I definitely don't push myself hard enough when it's just me with the weight machines. In my opinion, classes are the way to go if you're looking for motivation. Between the instructor ordering you to do stuff and not wanting to look like an idiot in front of the other 15 people in the class, you get the job done.

So I think I'll make the class my regular Monday and Friday morning thing. It's an hour-long class, so that's about all I can squeeze in on those days, but the other days I'll do some cardio.

If I can walk when I wake up tomorrow morning, I'll do another day of C25K.

Now to just get my eating back on track. Half price cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory today! Yeah. Not helpful.

C25K - Again

Saturday morning I did Day 1 of Week 1 of Couch to 5K. Today my ankles HURT. I was hoping to run again tomorrow, but I may push it off to Wednesday to give my body a bit more time to recover. Maybe I'll do some elliptical tomorrow morning.

Sometimes I think about all of those very, very large people on The Biggest Loser and how much the trainers push them from day one. It's amazing that there aren't more stress fractures and heart attacks on that show. I ran for 8 bursts of 60 seconds in my slightly hilly neighborhood and was gasping by the end. And I have worked out a lot more recently and weigh anywhere from 100-300 pounds less than the average Biggest Loser contestant.

Saturday was muggy around here, so I was drenched by the end of my little excursion, but I kind of love that post-workout, super sweaty feeling. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something.

I loved checking out the new neighborhood a bit too. There are so many cute little houses and pretty gardens to look at as I walk/jog by. So far the new house is awesome and the new neighborhood adorable. I met a neighbor the other day who has lived there for 40 years. 4 - 0. That's amazing to me.

I planned to go to a strength training class at the Y this morning, but life got in the way. We're picking up my couch in Cambridge tonight* and I had to drop Jason off at the U-Haul place to get the van right when it opened. That plan didn't really work with the class schedule. There's another class on Friday morning and I'm determined to get there. With a C25K run (or two) in between.

Slowly but surely, I'm getting back into the exercise.

*I bought a couch several years ago that has spent the last few years being baby-sat by friends since there was no place for it in our old apartment. It's comfy and nice-looking so I didn't necessarily want to give it up. Now we have a living room with a big empty space in front of the window just perfect for my couch.

Mid-July Status Update

So far July has been full of lots of packing, unpacking, hauling things up and down stairs, and eating out. Although most of the manual labor has been done in hot (or at least warm) and muggy circumstances, I think the eating out is negating any calories burned. Also, there's a fantastic homemade ice cream place about 45 seconds from our new house, which is dangerous. We've been there twice. Need to ration ice cream trips.

My plan was to get back to the gym this morning, but I got to bed late. Drat! Tomorrow it is! The fact that I now have to drive to the gym is a bummer, but I do need to get there. Despite Jason calling me "pretty" and "sexy" all the time (hello, fantastic ego boosts!), I feel doughy and lethargic.

I did manage to make 2 homemade meals in our kitchen this past weekend. They were both crock pot meals, so I have leftovers for lunches this week. Now I just need to get to the store and stock up on eggs and Greek yogurts so I can stop buying my breakfasts every morning. In addition to not eating the most healthy stuff lately, my credit card bill is a little crazy this month. Eating out just costs more.

Here's looking to a more healthy second half of July!

New Month

I decided to start July off right. I walked to work and then went for a 40 minute walk at lunchtime.

Tonight is more packing. We're in the home stretch.

Exercise of Late

As I mentioned before, my exercise right now is packing and getting ready for our move. We pack and pack and pack some more. The apartment is completely trashed, but I swear all of the cabinets and drawers are empty, whereas before they were jam-packed full of stuff. Given the amount of sweat I have shed in the past few days of heat and humidity, I really think it counts for something.

I feel like I should be taking advantage of the fact that we live across the street from the Y while we still live across the street from the Y. After our move, I'll have to drive to the gym, which is a definite bummer and not conducive to wintry early morning workouts AT ALL. However, in our new place, I'll have more space to try out my fitness DVDs, which I'm looking forward to. My few feet of space in front of the TV right now is constantly being encroached upon by electronics and cat toys. I think the exercise DVDs will be just the ticket when there's too much snow, or it's -10 degrees out and I just can't bring myself to go outside

I'll tell you something, though. I am definitely feeling doughy. Do not like! My muscle definition is fading away and I'm starting to hate all of our take-out food options. I will be so happy to be in a new house, cooking again, and back on a regular workout schedule.

Farm Share Weeks 3 & 4

Rather than double-post, I'll just tell you that the Farm Share latest is over here.

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?