Vegging out.

Today was an unplanned rest day.  No real reason except for laziness.  SwimSis and Coach decided to take a day off and I quickly followed suit because they were going out to eat.  I know, I know.  I am sooo swayed by food! 

So I vegged out today.  I was home at 8pm and had nothing to do!  Which happened to be a bit of a good thing.  I have lunch ready for tomorrow, as opposed to today where I did not have any breakfast or lunch.  I stopped at Starbucks and got a protein plate (seriously getting a bento box and making this myself!) and then we had a bit of shredded chicken left over, I tossed in some black beans, corn, and salsa and ripped a few romaine leaves off the hearts and scooted out the door!

I have seriously been missing my veggies tho!  My last Green Bean Delivery was only fruit (seems to get eaten faster that way!) and although I'm still working my way through it, it has cut down on my veggies :(  I knew I had a yellow squash in the fridge, so I did a little salt, pepper, and splash of terriyaki sauce made it in the microwave.  Excited!  Then SwimSis must have bought the biggest bag of baby carrots I have ever seen, I grabbed a lot of those too!  I had leftovers from eating out tonight, so that will be my main thing tomorrow.  Glad the "Vegging Out" is chilling at home, but also including more veggies!  Here's to hoping I actually plan my meals next week!

P-FREAKING-S....EASTER IS THE WEEKEND!!!  Guess what that means?!?  CHOCOLATE!!!!!   I gave it up for Lent.  Chocolate  was seriously out to get me.  I'm fairly certain I've day dreamed about chocolate every day.  Well, did sacrificing something (chocolate) get me closer to God?  Probably not.  But it did get me closer to speaking like a sailor if you know what I mean! :) 

Yesterday at the Y, I walked 1.31 miles in 27 mins (inc warm up and cool down).  And I biked 4 miles in 23 mins.  I was also going to swim 500 yards, but I grabbed the wrong bag on the way out the door!  All my swim stuff was at home!  Walking and biking (and abt 10 mins of weights) felt good enough, so I went home and showered.  Which was weird because the last time I had a shower at home was Friday morning!  I didn't realize I shower at the Y a lot

Week thus far in pics:

Too happy for 8am

 I don't have a key to my office (I'm a temp) so the security guard lets me in.  But on Tuesday, HE GAVE ME THE KEYS.  Oooh what trouble I could get in!  haha riiiight.

Hot Mess.

 I was looking for my debit card (not in there).  But I did dump my whole purse out.  I could CLEARLY win any game where ladies have to find scavenger hunt items by looking in their purses.

Yummy!

 This date box hold 3 lip gloss/balm/chapstick.  Love it!

Don't love.

 The boss actually went through some of the things on her desk.  And then they ended up on mine! Gross!

So brown :/

 This was on Tuesday, the 4th day of pizza.  Wait, what?  I had leftover pizza for MORE THAN 24 hours?  Victory for the healthy side of life!  I am ALMOST done w/these pears (Bosch pears).  They have a slight alcohol taste to them, but other than that they are pretty good!  And I totes at that kiwi with a plastic spoon and knife!

Good, but expensive!

 Starbucks kept me full till 1:30 this afternoon!  But $7.42?  Not cool.

I wanted more!

 My shredded chicken, black beans, corn, and salsa salad creation.  Pretty good for a last min meal.  Remind me to tell this blog about one of the first times I had black beans.  That's a good one.

MY FAVORITE

 Oh SwimTot.  I just call her "My Favorite".  I tell my siblings that even if they have other kids, they won't be my favorite :)  She is so sweet!

APRIL FOOL!

 And silly!  At dinner she kept calling us "April Fool".

Aunt Em and SwimTot, windblown.

 SwimSis thought her windblown hair and outfit from playing outside needed a quick change before dinner.  See below!

Princess!

Seriously adorable.  It's hard to believe that 2 years ago I was living in another state and when I would come home she would ask "who's that?".  Makes me cherish the time my wonderful niece puts her arm around me and says "Best Friends!".

Wow, I didn't know this would get so sappy!!!  Till next time amigos!

Why I Wear 3 Swim Suits

Whew, before shot?  Yikes can I look any less enthused?

I thought I would give an explanation to my madness.  Yes, 3 swim suits.  Why?

Short story:  Because I am cheap.

Long story:  (1) Blue suit underneath.  Acquired 05/2007.  Size: 40.  Shape: Decent
(2) Orange Lifeguard Suit on top (it is orange with blue lining) Acquired: Summer 2004/2005?  Whatever summer our lifeguard suits were orange!  Size: Unknown. Shape: Almost in pieces.
(3) Swim shorts.  Acquired: 05/2010.  Size: 2x.  Shape: Good!

The blue one underneath covers all the basics...pretty much.   If you can tell on the side view, my orange suit is necessary for covering the tatas on the side.  Swim shorts -- 25% to cover my inner thighs, 75% I'm too lazy to shave.  (Don't hate!)

So I could lie and say that 3 suits are for extra drag (resistance), but I am waiting to buy something better.  Swimoutlet.com?  I love that site!  I also want to check out 2 local swim stores (the only 2 I know in this area!)  1 I have been buying from since I was little (they would sell at swim meets) and the other is relatively new (to me).

Sunday I went to the Y and walked 1.03 miles on the treadmill in 24 minutes, including cool down. 0.5 incline.  I then swam 1700 yards.  (Couldn't let the treadmill out do me!).  The swim was rough!  My arms are still sore from that set on Thursday!  I am hoping to find my swimming instruction book (it is by 2 Olympic swimmers -- husband and wife).  The name is not coming to me right now!  They details some sets that I will not have to make up...yay!

Today, SwimSis and I went to the Y, dropped Swim Tot off in Childcare, and hit the treadmill.  I did 1.06 miles in 22 minutes with 1.0 incline, 3.13 miles in 15 minutes on the recumbent bike, and several sets of free weights and different weight machines.  Honestly, I would not have done any weights ever is SwimSis wouldn't have been there!  There were all these macho men lifting weights and she just marches right over and picks some up and goes to town.  Go girl!

I brought up a challenge to her today:  Triathlon.  Not a real one.  But one where the two of us set a day and do a certain amount of biking, running, and swimming for time.  The date  we (read: she) chose is May 24th or 25th.

Of course, we would do it in the YMCA as neither of us have bikes in town and there is not suitable running distances around the YMCA.  One thing is for sure:  swimming will be last!  It is the easiest for us and really, why not keep the dip in the pool till the end?

I know how hard it is to get a swim suit on when one is sweaty, especially over my stomach!  I have been wearing my swim suit and putting a sports bra under it to do the treadmill, etc.  It works, for now.

But guess what happened again today:  SLIGHTLY SOGGY SWIM SHORTS!!!!!
Well, sort of.  I wore my Adidas shorts to walk in and forgot my swim shorts.  We took a dip in the therapy pool, lap pool, and hot tub, so I just wore my shorts, used the spinner to dry them (mostly) out, and then had some slightly soggy shorts.  :)

Life is Exhausting!

I wanted to post on Thursday, but when I turned on my computer, the screen looked like this:

Yeah...problem!

Turns out it is an easy fix.  (AND POTENTIAL EASY APRIL FOOLS JOKE!)  Just hit Ctrl + Alt + one of the arrow keys.  Apparently I had hit Ctrl + Alt + Up.

Thursday was great though!  I went to work (blech), went to the eye dr. (first time in 5 years!...and now I have astigmatism).  On Wednesday SwimSwis and TeenSwimSis and myself had packed our workout stuff in order to go to the Y after shopping, but we were shopping FOREVER!!!  Thursday morning, I made sure to put my already packed bag in the trunk of my car.  No excuses not to go work out!

I walked a mile + 5 min cool down (28:48 mins).  0.5 incline.  Would have been faster, but I could not figure out how to work the machine, so I just did a quick start and figured it out from there. 

Then of course I had to swim!  Ended up with a lane to myself = <3!!!  I was worried I would be bored because I did not look up a set beforehand and would probably have to make it up.  Miraculously, there was a set stuck to the wall of my lane!  It was 3100 yards and faster than I would like, so I modified it to my liking:

Warm up: 1 x 200 freestyle (all freestyle.  Freestyle tends to be painful, but if I can push through this 200, I find myself being able to do a lot more!)
5 x 50 kick (2 freestyle, 1 breastroke/butterfly, 2 freestyle)
4 x 50 ( 12 yds all out, 38 easy recovery.  Mine was more of 60% for 12 yards)

Main Set:

x 4
1 x 100 (25 drill, 25 swim, 25 d, 25 s)
1 x 100 (focus on technique)
1 x 100 (FAST)

I alternated freestyle and backstroke for 1200 yards on that main set.

Cool down: 1 x 150 Eeeaasy

Did you catch that that was 2000 yards?  Slightly under 1.25 miles.  I couldn't let the treadmill outdo my swimming!

After the eye appointment and 2 hrs at the Y, I got home at 9pm.  So tired!  This is what I whipped up for dinner:

Gourmet, non?

Here are some other things that I captured with my 6 year old camera this week:

Don't mind my dirty clothes there at the bottom.

 I got another Green Bean Delivery.  Specifically fruit because TeenSwimSis was in town for her spring break and alone at the house all day.  Had to make sure she ate well!  We got pineapple, mangoes, kiwi, limes, oranges, pears, apples, bananas, avocados, and I ordered extra Medjool Dates!  I love Medjool Dates :)

Uh oh spaghettios!

 I left the coffee pot on at work all night.  That DID NOT smell good.

Not a lotta latté

I got a latté as usual, because Tuesday is "Two punch Tuesday" for rewards cards.  One more Tuesday and I will have earned a free latté!  However, wtf, what happened to my 16 oz latté?  It felt a little light!  Did they make it a 12oz?  Hmph.  Just figured the universe was telling me not to drink so many lattés!  In reality, I only drink 1/2 latté on the day I get it then finish it the next day!

I felt so exhausted again this week that I spent yesterday (Saturday) sleeeeeping!  I went to be bout 11:30 or midnight on Friday night, woke up shortly before 10.  Took a nap around 2-4, and then went to be around 11:30 or midnight again!  I was really tired!  Thank God for the weekends!

Well, SwimSis should be back from the store soon and we are going to the Y.  Look for my next set sometime soon!

Slightly Soggy Swim Shorts

I love alliteration.  Don't you?

Well, I've been house/dogsitting.

Bad poodles.

Now, I've dog-sat before, but I can tell you, this dog on the left is BAD.  She's a puppy, almost 1 year old, I guess.  But really.  Has "potty pads" in the house, has probably used them twice in the 5 days I've been here.  Other than that she poops NEXT TO the potty pad, or on the rug by the front door.  And when I am here all day, like yesterday, and let her outside...she just goes out, chases geese, eats their poop and MIGHT come back if I tell her she will get a treat. Psssshhhh, I've been saying "treat"for the past 5 days, and I never give that B one!

On Friday, I went to see The Hunger Games (so good!).  I let them out twice after work, then went to dinner and the movie.  I got home at 1am.  Guess who peed on a pillow and the couch at approx 12:59.59?!?  That was the LAST thing I wanted to deal with!  Then yesterday, after a shower, I left my clothes in a pile in the bathroom sink.  Somehow, she pulled my clothes onto the floor.  And chewed a pair of good underwear!  What a B****!!!!!!!  I was soooo pissed!  One of my top pairs of cute underwear.  The dog on the right isn't that bad, she's old and likes things her way. aka bites my shoe when I try to scoot her out of the way when she is eating the other dog's food (after she finished hers of course!)

Whew, I should have asked to be paid more!  Yesterday, I was just hanging out all day.  Here's how my day went:

-Wake up
-Let dogs out
-Eat breakfast
-Fall back asleep
-Sleep
-Sleep
-Sleeeep
-Watch TV
-Make food
-Eat
-Fall back asleep
-Realize it's too late to go to the Y
-Watch rom coms
-Commiserate the fact that I'm single
-Shower
-Dog chews underwear
-More rom coms
-Sleep

Yeah.  Soooo lazy.  But it was nice to sleep so much!  Today, i was still commiserating that I am single (cue "All by Myself"), and was nearly ready to join an online dating site, when I decided to go to the Y.  Thank God.

Here's what I swam:

200 SKPS (Swim, kick, pull, swim=800 yards)
10 x  50 backstroke (1:30 x 2, 1:25 x 2, 1:20 x 2, 1:15 x 2, 1:00 x 2 = 500 yards)
2 x 100 IM, hard (200 yards)
1 x 150 cool down (150 yards)

And that there is a mile!  Then I treaded water for 10 minutes (2 mins tread, 1 min just arms, 1 min just legs, 1 min tread, 1 min just arms, 1 min just legs, 1 min tread, 1 min just arms, 1 min just legs)

I had it in the back of my head that it would be a nice idea to go on their trails around the Y.  Perfect!  On schedule, feeling good, etc.  Changing in the locker room out of my 2 swim suits and swim shorts...bottom of the bag...uh...where are my shorts?!?  I HAVE NO PANTS WITH ME!!!!!!

Oh yes, it happened.  I wore my swim shorts to the Y.  Uh, think fast Em!  Ok, well fine.   Luckily, they have one of those machines that spins the water out of your suit.  Usually quite modest, I had to walk right over to it in my shirt and underwear.  Oh well.  Then my shorts weren't sopping wet, just slightly soggy.  But I had to go home, right?  NOPE!

I thought back to the time when I was a nanny and the kids and myself were having a great time at this nature preserve, on the trails and such.  The toddler had this poop/diarrhea that was riddled with corn, overflowed her diaper, and soiled her pants.  Was I going to let that cut our fun short? NOPE!  I changed her back at the car, ditched the dirty pants, and tied a sweatshirt around her lower half that looked like an oversized diaper, then put her back in the stroller.

But back to the swim shorts story...

This is why I'm hot. (love that song!)

I put the shorts back on, went  out to my car to get my shoes, and I was on my way!  I'm going to estimate that it was about a 2 mile walk.  I took it easy, 35 mins.  And I'm pretty sure I have been reading too many running blogs.  All of a sudden, I had this inspiration to run.  WHAT? ME?!?  Ok...
I ran 3 short distances, totaling about 2 or 3 mins!  haha but it was still running!  It felt pretty good too.  Minus me wearing the normal bra, vs sports bra, nothing hurt.

Up this week, TeenSwimSis is in town bc its her spring break.  I told her that I will have to race her for bragging rights...I'll let you all know how it goes!

These Hips Don't Lie!

Oy.

I've stepped up my game in the exercise department.  Tuesday, I swam with Swim Tot for 45 minutes.  Probably 30 of that was treading water in the deep end.  That kid loves swimming just like the rest of us!  No fear either...which may have caused me to have a talk with her about swim safety!  Never can get rid of that swim teacher inside of me.

I am housesitting till Sunday in a west suburb of the city.  Takes me a whole freaking hour to get to/from work, but that is okay!  I got to check out the newest YMCA in the city and holy freaking crap it is nice!  I was going to check out the water aerobics class (something I've never done), but when I called the idiot person who answered said there was no water aerobics that night, so I just decided to go lap swim.  When I got there...the lane was open, SCORE!  Here is what I did:

1 x 200 swim (150 freestyle, 50 backstroke)
1 x 150 kick
1 x 100 pull
1 x 100 easy swim

10 x 50 freestyle (1:30 x 4, 1:29 x 3, 1:28 x 3)

1 x 100 freestyle, easy

2 x 100 IM drill

1 x100 IM, hard
1 x 50 (25 Butterfly, 25 backstroke)

1 x 150 easy freestyle, backstroke cool down

then I did 10 minutes of treading water, including 2 minutes each just arms and just legs (w/hand out of water...ouch!).

If you count that up...1650 yards = 1 mile!  Yay!  That was my goal and I got it in because I had a plan of what to swim.  My most common problem is being bored/doing the same stuff everytime.

Today, my hips hurt because of the Butterfly/kicking.  But not a bad hurt, the good kind...these hips don't lie, path to getting healthy yeah!

What was an even bigger victory was that I had told myself I wasn't going to swim becuase I was going to get a spray tan instead.  Well, it was hot and I was sweaty, which would ruin my spray tan anyway.  I even shaved my legs before I went swimming.  Victory!

However, I did have McDonalds for lunch.  With pop.  1400 calories for lunch?  SICK!  I am not on a "diet" and restricting my access to any foods, but I am watching my calories, trying to stay within a reasonable limit.  I hated spending most of my day's intake on lunch!   I ended up being 23 calories over my computerized limit.  And weirdly, the bite of rice krispie treat that I had was 23 calories! Totes worth it tho. 

Today I was tired. I knew I wasn't going to swim, but there were some work out videos at the housesitting house.  I wasn't really motivated to do it, but I told myself that if I worked out, that meant I could shower.  But not just any shower:

Insert Angelic sounding "Aahhhhhhhh!!!

Why yes, you can position the shower heads so they stream into, essentially, one big shower head.  I did 25 sweaty minutes of pilates (10 minute solution -- abs, pilates burn, half of of the stretching one).  I would have stayed in the shower longer if my legs didn't feel so shakey!  Dang pilates, you schooled me today! 

And I'm not going to work out tomorrow because I'm going to dinner and to see this:

Found it here
So freaking excited!!! I saw the preview during the Super Bowl (yeah I was watching a movie instead!) and knew I had to read the books!  Sooo freaking good. 

Mustard: Ketchup's Evil Twin

For as long as I can remember, I have hated mustard.  I have believed it to be quite nasty.  Well, welcome back to "Try It, You'll Like It" Tuesdays!

I have been having a problem of not bringing enough food to work.  Yesterday, I got a massive headache and felt super nauseous in the evening.  Today, I knew I didn't have anything for breakfast and tried to get to Starbucks so I could get a protein plate.  However, I was running to late.  I grabbed a muffin at work and swore I was getting a protein plate at lunch.  I called the nearest Starbucks and they said they had one left.  I waited an hour and left, hoping the best, but alas there was no protein plate to be had.  Knowing that I could not get fast food and be happy about tracking those calories, I got a turkey and swiss sandwich from the Starbucks without the protein plate.  And it came with light mayo and mustard.  I'm a girl who loves her mayo, but doesn't generally like mustard.  But why not give it a shot.  Here's my first try:

Just enough to get a taste, but not be overwhelmed.

Verdict: I LIKED IT!!!

Yes, it made this plain, boring sandwich tasty!  I put even more on the second half of my sandwich.  I'm a fan of small amounts of mustard, apparently.  This makes me happy because I do generally like my food plain and boring, but I also like expanding my palate.  I feel victorious!

Other exciting news:  I JOINED THE YMCA!!!
The YMCA in my area had a week where they waived the fee to join the Y.  I knew they also had a sliding scale for monthly membership.  I ended up paying $27/month with no signing fee.  Yay!  I was ecstatic and driving home I was like "Oh, $#!& I just joined the Y, I really have to go now!".  Yeah, that moment when every fat kid realizes they have to put their booty where their money is.  In equally exciting news:  SwimSis and SwimTot joined too!  SwimTot goes to preschool there, will go to summer camp there, does dance class, is going to do soccer, and has swim lessons on thursdays after preschool.  Whew!  Tonight SwimSis and her husband, The Coach, went to a movie (21 Jump Street...they said it was funny).  I took SwimTot to the pool.  Not the lap swimming I had in mind, but two of my favorite things are hanging out with my niece and being in the water.  We were swimming for 45 minutes and I estimate that I was probably treading water for 30 minutes.  Not too bad!  SwimTot is adventurous and we hung out in the deep end where she would belly flop in and swim to me, and they back to the wall.  Here is a picture of us before we left:

Not the best pic of us, but you can't capture AWESOME!!!

Back to my last post, talking about St. Paddy's Day.  I totally bombed at making good choices.  I went out to eat/drink Thurs/Fri/Sat/ Sun!  Baaad on the wallet too!  For some reason only God knows (A very large margarita at dinner Friday night) I was up at 7:30am Saturday morning.  Everyone else was asleep, so I snuck out for a little walk.  A mile around my apartment complex took me 20 minutes last time.  My only goal was to beat that 20 minute mark.  I headed out going quickly through the streets of the complex, and once I got to the trail my knee was not happy.  Not injured or anything, just whining.  I made it through the pain and when I got home I saw: 19 minutes!  Could have been 19:00 or 19:59, but I did it!  I was so happy!  Here is a pic of me afterwards:

Yes, that is the shirt of a race I have never done...but I might!

 I have a good friend who is pretty healthy and eats a mostly Paleo diet.  She made dinner for a group of us on St. Paddy's Day.  It was a spinach salad (w/pear and avocado), green beans w/toasted almonds, and Shepard's Pie with a cauliflower/potatoe topping.  Delish!  Then I went out with her friends.  Which ended up being awkward for me.  I was definitely the only fat one there, not the only obese, or morbidly obese person, the ONLY one with a body mass index that is considered overweight.  Slightly depressing.  Alcohol helped.  At least I wasn't that girl laying in the bathroom stall with puke all over me, having to be dragged out by a couple of waitresses.

Ah well, more on that later.  For now, here is  a picture of a cactus type plant I got my old hometown city I visited last weekend.  I figured I was responsible enough for a plant (as compared to a pet or boyfriend).  I had it sitting in the window sill, then I closed the window.  And wouldn't you know it, I chopped off part of the leaves while closing the window.  Plant owner fail!!!

Before being chopped in the window.

Not cool, not cool.

Oh, those things that I was going to do over the weekend?  Yeah not much accomplished.  I am still planning on deep conditioning my hair at some point, but I have to ask myself "Is there ever a good time to put mayonnaise in your hair?".  I have yet to come up with an answer that includes "Yes". 

I wanted to go to swimming yesterday, but I had such a headache, I could hardly believe it!  It was my neck that was outta whack and I almost went home from work early, but I stuck it out.  However, swimming just wasn't in the cards.  I'm upset I didn't go now, but last night I just wanted to close my eyes and have my neck feel better when I woke up (it does!).

I had SwimSis and her SwimTot wanting to go to swimming too, but they got back from SwimTot's dance class late and the dinner that she planned took forever!  Paninis are delicious, but they do take a long time! 

I want to work on my nutrition and weight loss, but planning is such an essential part for me.  I have been super hungry the past could of days.  In the past week, I have to worry if I am bringing enough food to work to get me through the day.  I usually do, but might have to have some pita chips at the end of the day, on the way home.  A typical day at work (food-wise) usually looks like this:
-Hot water with lemon
-Breakfast sandwich from home
-Coffee w/hot chocolate or some other mix
-Lots of water
-Frozen meal plus some extra veggies
-Fruit
-Granola and milk/or yogurt

I do see that that is not a ton of food, but seriously.  Planning to take more makes me feel like I'm a weight lifter who has to take a lot of food where ever they go!

I do have a hard time buying fruits and veggies from the store due to the fact that I'm really not that creative (as in, I can't think of what to get because I don't know what to make).  Well, if I have it delivered, then I have to make something with it!  Yes, having produce delivered is pricy, but I like it!  In the past I have only had it delivered once every couple of months, but my last delivery was 3 weeks ago.  I got to try rainbow chard for the first time and it was great!  Makes me want to start "Try It, You'll Like It!" Tuesdays on this blog.  I think I might.  There are several things in this world that I have not tried, esp of the healthy variety! Yep, I've decided.  Good idea right there! 

Oh, and if you were wondering, the delivery service I use is Green Bean Delivery.  They are pretty fantastic!   Have a great Tuesday everyone!!!

Back at it!

The last time I swam that hard was probably in high school.  Okay, realistically it was college.  Anyway you slice it, it was at least 5 years ago. 

But it felt amazing.  Swimming has been a part of my life for so long.  Even when I went years without swimming, I would still have dreams about it at least once a month.  There is nothing else like the calm, noiselessness of swimming.  Just you, your thoughts, against the water, against yourself.  I missed it!

I believe swimming is the key to getting my life back to healthy and under control.  I have confidence in swimming, unlike any exercises on land.  As I did my workout yesterday, I felt so strong and powerful moving through the water.  I even got complimented by some dads that were in the lane next to me on my technique and flip turns!

I'm keeping a blog so I will have some accountability to keep up the steps toward health, that will, of course, include swimming!

Here are a few things that made my day:

 Amazingly delicious Croatian water.  I used to hate water, but now I can't get enough!  This particular water is in a glass bottle and has a pH of 7.4.  It makes me a water snob.  I never knew water could taste so "smooth"!

 Favorite shoes to wear to work!  Gold and sparkley!

I have the LEAST creative job on the planet.  I am a creative person.  This little bit of creativity made me long for a creative job!

I got a foam roller!!!!!  I kept seeing other people blog about them.  I found this one at WalMart for $14.97!  It hurt (the good kind!) and I didn't have my hair up so I rolled over my hair...mistake I won't be making next time! haha one of those situations I am glad no one else saw happen :)