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!

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.

Why is "healthy" tracked by WEIGHT?

Short answer:  Because weight is something tangible that a hop onto a small platform can tell us almost instantaneously.

Moreover, I've really been thinking about my want, need, desire to get healthy.  Here are some things I have been thinking:

-I want to be HEALTHY, not skinny.  Skinny implies (to me) that you look a certain way, fit into a certain mold.  Even with this current, morbidly obese body, I can tell you that even if when I reach a "size", it won't look the way other people's do.  Seriously, top heavy & stomach heavy!

-I can't make large goals (like 'lose 100 lbs').  Sure, that may be something I want to do, but if I claim 100 as my goal, I will fail before I start because that task seems insurmountable.

-I want to fit into some pants and shirts that I have been holding onto (hello, orange shirt from college fitness center opening 5 years ago!)

-I'm glad I joined sparkpeople.com  I like tracking things.  (This said until the novelty wears off)


I've been reading a ton of weight loss blogs and running blogs lately and I'm totally inspired.  Real people, real struggles, real triumphs.  I'm not so keen on the running part (aka Faster in Water THAN ON LAND) but they inspire me just the same.

My weekend trip out of town was fabulous.  That city that I love so much welcomed me home with my first stop at the bar!  LOL  $2 drink specials, can't beat that!  I had 4.  Which included more pop than I've had in a while!

The next morning, I went to this amazing indoor, open, food market.  I got blueberries and apples, and some popcorn too (um, it's cheese popcorn and carmel corn mixed...favorite!).  Then on to the birthday party!  My old "NannyFam", as I call them, was doing it up big, Star Wars style!  Here's a backside pick of the cake:

Yep, R2D2.  There were more knobs on the front and a flashing light!  So impressive!  However, I did not eat any.  No, I was not a "dieting saint".  I just gave up chocolate for Lent and this was a chocolate cake.  I don't really like chocolate cake anyway!

After the party, I went out with some friends.  This place was fairly fancy schmancy for my taste and the service sucked.  I ordered a long island, and eventually a "French 75" which contained gin, champagne, pure care sugar.  Yeah it was terrible.  And $8 in a champagne flute.  RIP OFF!

I also had their "pomme frites", yeah I called them french fries when ordering because I can!  :)  My friends each got a pizza.  One was mushroom and leeks, the other was prosciutto and sunny side up eggs.  Delicious, but I was burping up eggs for 2 days!

The next day, I woke up with a hangover and cried at watched Extreme Home Makeover.  Then I went to see the nanny fam again.  The new baby (whom I never nannied for, but I was there when she found out she was pregnant!) cried whenever I looked at him.  Geesh!

During this time, I let a sandwich, fries, and some ranch sit out in my car, for like 4 hours.   Can we say mild case of food poisoning?  Yeah, I'm an idiot, and no, it's not the first time!  I then drove a couple of hours and met another friend in another city and we went out to eat.  I had some onion rings and pop (I was so sleepy and had another 3 hrs to drive home!).  But I packed my sandwich to go.   By this time, my stomach knew that something was peculiar.

On the way home, my stomach felt gross and for some reason, I kept burping.  I RARELY burp!  I just chalked it up to having pop.  I get home and go to sleep, and hour later wake up with gas...like HUGE BELCHES!  I would wake up every 15 mins and just let a belch rip!  SwimSis has the flu and went to the ER, I thought SwimTot was passed out, but very soon I heard "I throwed!" (aka she vomited).

Being temp of the year, I got up and went to work the next day because there were MANY contracts to be processed that were urgent.  My tummy issues weren't painful, but just consisted of burps and, uh liquid BMs.  (Sorry!)  I told myself I could leave when the contracts were done, but I ended up feeling better and the contracts didn't get finished until today.

Today was good at work, and I was able eat more! (Compared to the 5 crackers and a sandwich I had yesterday).  Daylight savings is awesome and I went on a walk after work!  1 mile around the neighborhood, 20 mins, so nice!  Here is a pic of me beforehand!

Ready to rock this walk!

 I had all of 650 calories before dinner (because of food poisoning yesterday).  I was starving!  I admit I need to work on portion control, but I schooled this dinner!  Here it is:

Mt. Food

That right there is romaine, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, chicken from the grill!, cottage cheese and ranch.  With a side of macaroni.  I seriously smashed it.  I added a dessert to my food tracker (current weakness --> pretzels with icing.  blame: no chocolate for Lent), but I sat here long enough to feel super full and I'm good without it.

Movement for the day: 15 flights down
20 minute walk

Just another day in paradise...

And by paradise I mean sun shining so beautifully and a full moon to guide my way home...but not getting home till 10.  Ick!

However, I did get free dinner out of it!  I'm house sitting in a couple of weeks on the total opposite side of town (takes at least 45 mins to get from my house to there).  The person I'm house/dog sitting for took me out to dinner.  At a Mexican restaurant.  I HAD A MARGARITA.  Yes, I probably have not had alcohol since the night before Thanksgiving.  1 margarita.  ALMOST DRUNK.  Like tipsy, where there the lines of your vision get a bit foggy.  Luckily I had good conversation and a chicken burrito to keep me grounded. 

I had wanted to "binge", so to speak, since last week, but I could not find anything I wanted to binge on.  Yes, that is terrible and whatever, but that's the frame of mind I'm in now.  But a margarita and a meal did it for me.  I was soooo full.  And now I'm soooo thirsty.  Silly alcohol.

Something I'm coming to realize is that if I'm going to be healthy and lose weight, it has to be my own.  I've been reading A LOT of weight loss/running blogs lately (don't tell my boss!) and every person has their own method that works for them.  Some seek out the healthiest ingredients on the planet, others stick with local fare, but cut certain things out of their diet.  I can't tell you what is going to work for me, but here are a couple things I know:

-I'm doing this one day at a time
-Any way that I lose weight, whether it be any type/combination of diet and exercise IS NOT A CURE, it is a tool.
-I'm going to make mistakes and that is okay as long as I correct the pattern of behavior (see said "binge"above)
-I'm not going to see results immediately or lose an insane amount each week
-I can do this. 

One of the tools I have selected, as I have mentioned, is Green Bean Delivery to make sure I get my produce! 

Here is what I got today:
-1 lb of strawberries
-3 lemons
-2 grapefruit
-2 red onions
-1 lb green beans
-1 pound spring mix
-1 romaine heart lettuce
-1 pint sweet peppers
-1.5 lbs zucchini
-1 lb fingerling potatoes
-4 gala apples
-1 large bunch broccoli

It can be pricey, (this was $42), but it is a good tool for me.  And it gets delivered to my house.  All of this is local and/or organic.  Let me tell you, the strawberries look like they are just off the vine, can't wait!

For this Tuesday, I'm going to tell you about a vegetable I had for my newish "Try it, You'll like it" Tuesday: 

RAINBOW CHARD.

Yes, this was in a previous delivery from Green Bean.  At first I was like WTF do I do with rainbow chard.  After nixing make chips (ala kale chips) because I know I would burn them, I put them in an omelet.  IT WAS FANTASTIC.  Not all spinachy and wilty that makes me want to gag, but it soften enough to be so delicious with a hint of a bite still.  I used it to make breakfast sandwiches and the only downside is that it smells a little funky when you reheat it, but it's still delicious!

Up for next week's "Try it, You'll like it" Tuesday:  Grapefruit.  I wasn't a fan when I was a kid, but who knows...I might like it now!

And finally:  Movement for yesterday, 3/5:  20 flights down stairs, 2 flights up.
Today's movement: 18 flights downstairs, 15 min walk at lunch. 

That's no athlete, but it's a start...goodnight all!

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!!!