Well, not me. TeenSwimSis is going to weight loss camp. And before anyone cries foul, this chick WANTS to go. A couple of scholarship/contest opportunities fell through and I was done trying to get her there because they are MEGA EXPENSIVE. Well unbeknownst to us, she called about 5 different camps asking if they have scholarship opportunities. Ha! I could barely talk on the phone to people I didn't know at 13. Another contest fell through, but SwimSis asked the director if a certain dollar amount for a certain timeframe would work and he said yes!
It is still a lot of money though. Personally, I am fronted the $100 deposit and will contribute my entire paycheck this week. My family has been very supportive as well so we got a good chunk of dough from them and we had the garage sale 2 weekends ago and the profits are going towards her camp. And we might have more from additional items we sell (a sectional couch, dressers) if my dad freaking stops giving them away. He "gave" a pool ladder and 2 end tables to a neighbor and said the guy is good for it. Lord have mercy! Sometimes that man needs to get a dose of common sense. He really sparks me to say "That really frosts my balls!"
Anyway, tonight I will be loading up SwimSis' SUV, driving 2 hours to the hometown, packing up TeenSwimSis, heading out bright and early to the state where the weight loss camp is located, hanging out for the evening, and dropping her off early Sunday morning, only to turn right back around, drop my dad off in the hometown, and then back here so I can go to work on Monday. And SwimSis has an interview on the other side of the city at 8am Monday morning, yikes! Good thing I sleep like a baby while on the road! (On my last road trip to FL in Sept, I slept sooo much and definitely missed the entire state of NC on the way there!)
Obviously I have concerns. teenage kids can be cruel, even at "fat camp". Believe me I am going to be giving her a lecture on the way there about treating everyone the same and not teasing or making fun of anyone. That's another thing that really frosts my balls. I also have concerns about some of the camp rules. No cameras? I don't understand that. Silly camp pictures are the best. And of course, we want this to be a tool for her. We know Weight Loss Camp is not a cure. Home is the real test.
I joked that we were leaving my dad at weight loss camp too. He, at most, is slightly overweight, but has super unhealthy habits. And since my mom passed, he is the only one who can influence her on a daily basis. No matter how many healthy meals and snacks SwimSis and I provide that house with out of our own pockets, he gets fast food and gives in her wants all of the time. I'm certain he did not picture himself a widower and thus a single parent of a pre-teen at age 58. I acknowledge this and would do anything to make the situation different. But the reality is that the child he is responsible for is around 100 lbs overweight. She is heavier than SwimSis and I was not that weight until I was in college and making my own bad food decisions. In fact, she needed tshirts for camp (that fit) and I found a box of tshirts from college that were perfect for her.
She's really a great person. Typical teenager w/the boy obbsessed and moodiness (Dear God, please don't make me listen to Justin Beiber for the 10 hr drive!). Hilarious kid. Probably just wants to fit in. Is so freaking pretty. Doesn't she realize jr. high kids are supposed to have awkward looks? But I digress...
So please, any tips for healthy living for her and my dad would be appreciated.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Blogger Award :)
Oooooooh. Blogger Award. So Shiny and New. haha
Thanks OverWeight in Sunny SoCal, that was very nice of you to think of me!
The rules are as follows;
* Nominate 10 fellow bloggers who are relatively new to blogging
* Let them know you have nominated them
* Share 7 random facts about yourself
* Thank the bloggers that have nominated you
* Add the versatile blogger award to your post
Seven Random Facts About EmDub:
- I have a hard time caring about what I look like too much. (hello 280lbs!). This means I may or may not go to work with my hair unbrushed at least once a week. I'll then put it up or braid it, but really Em?
- There's only one guy at work whom I might want to impress. I see him so rarely, I usually don't go to the trouble. He works closely with one of my co-workers on several projects, so I may or may not ask about her projects occassionally :)
- Soooo...another one about work. I've been a temp since the beginning of the year and they are considering hiring me. I feel like I have to much to learn that if I ask them about it they will say no. And no one wants to be rejected! But then a temp in a different department got hired department this week, so I'm pretty much going to be forced to ask about it in the next couple of day :/
- My favorite alcoholic beverage is jack and coke :) Mmmmm! I'm a whiskey girl!
- I would not have fallen in love whiskey if it were not for a trip to TN where I got a taste of Jack!
- If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it might just be garlic bread. It is not something that I include or exclude from any particular meal. But when I have it IT IS THE BEST THING EVER. New diet of jack and cokes and garlic bread? It could work, maybe.
- I love couponing at CVS. I get a high from getting good deals there. I could do this at other stores, but really only that one store is so time consuming! I usually use the CVS forum at www.weusecoupons.com where other people look up the deals and post them. I just clip or print the coupons needed.
- I have a thing about doing popular things. Or rather not doing them. Popular tv shows? I'm too cool. Color Run - eh, everyone does that. Select 10 bloggers to get this award? Murh, no thanks. But out of appreciation to OWISoCal, I did this post :)
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Non-scale Victories
When I started this blog, I knew I wanted to focus on fitness levels and anything else that happened aka weight loss would be icing on the cake.
However, I did note that it is easy to track weight, but other NSVs, as the blog world has dubbed them, are a little bit harder to notice. Also, you have to do something semi-consistently to even remember any of what you did before (such is my case).
Pilates
I've done beginner Pilates every Monday night since the beginning of June. I really enjoy it because it is challenging and a workout, but not high intensity. If I am overly tired or have a headache, I like the calm challenge of Pilates, as opposed to a class where the music is so very loud and the teacher has to yell over the music. (I do intend to do one of those classes someday!). I like the feeling of balance and strength. I like sitting up tall and just being more aware of my body.
The move that we do often in class is called "the hundred".
I'll be honest, I can't get my legs straight yet! But if you look at my post about my first Pilates class, you can see that my legs were shaking terribly during this exercise. I noticed at last Monday's class that my legs only shook a time or two. That made me very happy!
We also tried something new - the mini-ball of Pilates (yeah, I don't know the actual name!) We put it behind our backs, as she does in the video. And put our feet on it and lifted our rears off the ground. She also asked us to put them under our rears at one point. I didn't do this because this ball was so little and I was VERY afraid I was going to pop it! That was like putting all my weight on it, so I just did the modified version :) Hopefully that will be another non-scale victory someday.
I've also been doing water aerobics, which has been pretty fun! I have only gone twice, so that will be fun to see where that takes me. I have not swam laps in 2 weeks, but after all I ate this weekend, I decided I needed to have some major swim time! Also, I know runners do their long runs on the weekends, so I have been toying with the idea of a long swim on the weekends.
I find my workouts on this wonderful website. I do the "50 swim workouts" and did Number 10 today. I usually do the workout with the lower yardage because it is an adequate workout and any times that need to be met (like 50 yards freestyle in 1 minute) are easier for me to accomplish. I had to adjust the times to be higher on some things, like the 8 x 125s. Butterfly was kind of painful, in a good workout way. Early on in the workout I thought there was NO WAY I was going to get this done, too many yards, too tired, too soon. But I did, and I loved it! The easier workout usually takes me between 50mins and an hour to complete, so I figured this would take me 1.5 hours. I clocked in at 1:29.03, pretty much right on the money. All I wanted to do then was sit in the hot tub and finish my gatorade, but of course it was closed :(
I have come to LOVE the parks in my town and specifically this one nature preserve. Overall it has 2.25 miles of trails, which go through woods/dirt trail, gravel trails, and meadow trails. Honestly, it is nothing special, but I really have taken a liking to it. I started running a bit of the trails a couple of "hikes" ago, when I didn't have SwimTot with me.
By the way, she LOVES going on hikes! We talk about and explore nature and I have taught her that we have to run all the uphills! haha She adores it. The gravel loop I ran 4 minutes, then the next time I went farther and ran 5 minutes, and this last time I decided to run a dirt trail and I ran for over 6 minutes! Previously to this month, my longest continual run was 4 minutes. I was ecstatic to see that progress! And to run for such a time and feel really good about it. My goal of running a mile straight is coming into sight!
I was getting discouraged because I wasn't consistent with weights/other training, but I shrugged it off because it is summer! Why lift weights inside when I can be outside enjoying nature??? :)
And last but not least, some more pics!
However, I did note that it is easy to track weight, but other NSVs, as the blog world has dubbed them, are a little bit harder to notice. Also, you have to do something semi-consistently to even remember any of what you did before (such is my case).
Pilates
I've done beginner Pilates every Monday night since the beginning of June. I really enjoy it because it is challenging and a workout, but not high intensity. If I am overly tired or have a headache, I like the calm challenge of Pilates, as opposed to a class where the music is so very loud and the teacher has to yell over the music. (I do intend to do one of those classes someday!). I like the feeling of balance and strength. I like sitting up tall and just being more aware of my body.
The move that we do often in class is called "the hundred".
We also tried something new - the mini-ball of Pilates (yeah, I don't know the actual name!) We put it behind our backs, as she does in the video. And put our feet on it and lifted our rears off the ground. She also asked us to put them under our rears at one point. I didn't do this because this ball was so little and I was VERY afraid I was going to pop it! That was like putting all my weight on it, so I just did the modified version :) Hopefully that will be another non-scale victory someday.
I've also been doing water aerobics, which has been pretty fun! I have only gone twice, so that will be fun to see where that takes me. I have not swam laps in 2 weeks, but after all I ate this weekend, I decided I needed to have some major swim time! Also, I know runners do their long runs on the weekends, so I have been toying with the idea of a long swim on the weekends.
I find my workouts on this wonderful website. I do the "50 swim workouts" and did Number 10 today. I usually do the workout with the lower yardage because it is an adequate workout and any times that need to be met (like 50 yards freestyle in 1 minute) are easier for me to accomplish. I had to adjust the times to be higher on some things, like the 8 x 125s. Butterfly was kind of painful, in a good workout way. Early on in the workout I thought there was NO WAY I was going to get this done, too many yards, too tired, too soon. But I did, and I loved it! The easier workout usually takes me between 50mins and an hour to complete, so I figured this would take me 1.5 hours. I clocked in at 1:29.03, pretty much right on the money. All I wanted to do then was sit in the hot tub and finish my gatorade, but of course it was closed :(
I have come to LOVE the parks in my town and specifically this one nature preserve. Overall it has 2.25 miles of trails, which go through woods/dirt trail, gravel trails, and meadow trails. Honestly, it is nothing special, but I really have taken a liking to it. I started running a bit of the trails a couple of "hikes" ago, when I didn't have SwimTot with me.
 |
| Before the mudhike |
 |
| during... |
 |
| After! Love that girl! |
By the way, she LOVES going on hikes! We talk about and explore nature and I have taught her that we have to run all the uphills! haha She adores it. The gravel loop I ran 4 minutes, then the next time I went farther and ran 5 minutes, and this last time I decided to run a dirt trail and I ran for over 6 minutes! Previously to this month, my longest continual run was 4 minutes. I was ecstatic to see that progress! And to run for such a time and feel really good about it. My goal of running a mile straight is coming into sight!
I was getting discouraged because I wasn't consistent with weights/other training, but I shrugged it off because it is summer! Why lift weights inside when I can be outside enjoying nature??? :)
And last but not least, some more pics!
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| After the storm - beautiful! |
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| What SwimTot did on the 10 min drive to the Nature Preserve |
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| Splashin' |
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| Loving summer! |
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Left Out
Soooo, I wanted to title this post something like "Workplace Size Discrimination". But I thought about it for a couple of days. It is not discrimination. I am not being treated different in concern to work matters. I am still an equal in that regard. I am just feeling left out and jealous.
So anyone who stops by this blog every now and again can appreciate the fact that I've been working harder when it comes to my fitness (singing a little Fergie "i'm up in the gym, just working on my fitness"). I have done pilates every Monday for the past 6 weeks (go me!). So, when two of the other women in my department start talking about pilates and how much they like it or want to try it (depending on which person was speaking), I felt like I had experienced enough to put in my two cents.
What usually happens is my comments politely get skipped over. Or get a general polite comment and then they move on. Some people might lie or exaggerate about working out, but dangit, I don't!!! I hear them talking sometimes about pilates or talk back and forth from their offices about working out, etc. Basically, I think they don't believe me.
Heck, I know I'm a good 261 pounds right now (ohhh yeah!), but that does not discount any activity or class that I do. It does not make me lesser in conversation about pilates or workouts or losing weight. It is quite frustrating. I am doing well at working out and am happy with my improved fitness and subsequent weight loss. But how do I fit in conversation about it?
"Hey, did you get that memo I sent you? Oh, by the way, I've lost 19 pounds."
"Geez, Killer Candice kicked my butt last night!...Can you help me decipher this legal briefing?"
"Can you approve this contract? I REALLY need it done so it stops distracting me from being aware of my core"
No? Dang.
And these two ladies are quite small themselves. Definitely not overweight. And they're talking about losing 2 pounds a week, eating healthy (but REALLY hating it), and how much they work out. They're not the type to exaggerate either. And I kid you not, the one lady says "I figure if I can workout 70-80 minutes a day, 7 days a week, I can get to my goal weight in a couple of months". Pardon my French, but SAY WHAT, BITCH?
Just kind of reminds me of DJ from Full House. Sorry about the video, I think the audio track is off. There shouldn't be laughing in serious places, but the rest is just fine.
Workout that much and you might lose the weight, but you'll probably be as tired as ever!
Thoughts? Suggestions? Xanax?
In other news...
I have been loving Refrigerator Oatmeal now that I picked up some chia seeds. Some people don't like them, but I like the crunch as well as the way they taste when they have been in the oatmeal overnight or even over the weekend.
Got my nails did again:
Eating a little better. Well, at least eating some yummy stuff:
Last, but not least, the world's most awkward picture of me. Trying to use the self-timer and back up to the wall, all while tripping over some shoes and trying to keep my balance.
Plus the flash bounced off the counter and made the pic a little blurry!
So anyone who stops by this blog every now and again can appreciate the fact that I've been working harder when it comes to my fitness (singing a little Fergie "i'm up in the gym, just working on my fitness"). I have done pilates every Monday for the past 6 weeks (go me!). So, when two of the other women in my department start talking about pilates and how much they like it or want to try it (depending on which person was speaking), I felt like I had experienced enough to put in my two cents.
What usually happens is my comments politely get skipped over. Or get a general polite comment and then they move on. Some people might lie or exaggerate about working out, but dangit, I don't!!! I hear them talking sometimes about pilates or talk back and forth from their offices about working out, etc. Basically, I think they don't believe me.
Heck, I know I'm a good 261 pounds right now (ohhh yeah!), but that does not discount any activity or class that I do. It does not make me lesser in conversation about pilates or workouts or losing weight. It is quite frustrating. I am doing well at working out and am happy with my improved fitness and subsequent weight loss. But how do I fit in conversation about it?
"Hey, did you get that memo I sent you? Oh, by the way, I've lost 19 pounds."
"Geez, Killer Candice kicked my butt last night!...Can you help me decipher this legal briefing?"
"Can you approve this contract? I REALLY need it done so it stops distracting me from being aware of my core"
No? Dang.
And these two ladies are quite small themselves. Definitely not overweight. And they're talking about losing 2 pounds a week, eating healthy (but REALLY hating it), and how much they work out. They're not the type to exaggerate either. And I kid you not, the one lady says "I figure if I can workout 70-80 minutes a day, 7 days a week, I can get to my goal weight in a couple of months". Pardon my French, but SAY WHAT, BITCH?
Workout that much and you might lose the weight, but you'll probably be as tired as ever!
Thoughts? Suggestions? Xanax?
In other news...
I have been loving Refrigerator Oatmeal now that I picked up some chia seeds. Some people don't like them, but I like the crunch as well as the way they taste when they have been in the oatmeal overnight or even over the weekend.
Got my nails did again:
 |
| Dark Grey with a little sparkle. |
 |
| Crockpot chicken, stir fry veggies + sweet peas |
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| Someone got certified in something, let's have something yummy at the office. (Fruit Pizza) |
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| Post Workout eggs, spinach and cheese, plus an expired granola thin |
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| sweet potato, sweet peppers, oregano chicken. Not the best but when hungry, it was 5 star! |
Last, but not least, the world's most awkward picture of me. Trying to use the self-timer and back up to the wall, all while tripping over some shoes and trying to keep my balance.
Plus the flash bounced off the counter and made the pic a little blurry!
 |
| Who wouldn't want to talk workouts with this chick? |
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