Come Rain or Come Shine
18 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
I have to go for a run. I might have to hit up the dreaded treadmill at the gym but it must happen. I have been procrastinating all week for one reason or another and mostly none of them are good enough. It’s just easier not to and today of all days it seems there is going to be a big rain storm…well anytime it sprinkles in LA it’s a big deal but this one just might be a good storm. I have to get going on my 1/2 marathon training or I will never make it. So run it is! Maybe a run in the rain?? On a side note I must say I did not meet my water consumption goal for yesterday! I made it to 5 glasses only. So today I am going for the goal again. I am also having yummy soup for lunch and will need the extra water. So let’s see what happens!!
A simple goal
17 Feb 2011 1 Comment
to drink more water! That’s my little goal for the day. It’s a struggle to drink water but I figure it’s good for me. I’m always a little thristy. I think because I probably consume just a little too much sodium and simply don’t drink enough water. I’ve also been on a soup kick for the past week and they are full of salt! But they just seem to hit the spot and keep me full for the afternoon. I’ve also been weening myself off Diet Coke even the caffeine free one. I don’t mind water so much and I find it better than most of the “flavored-water” drinks that are out there. Either they are full of artificial sweeteners or sugar (yes evaporated cane juice /sugar…is sugar” so water it is going to be. I’ll be having soup today but I’m hoping between the extra water drinking and the low-sodium (if you can call it that) soup I should be good. I am also hoping it will help with the weight loss as well. Ok back to work and Cheers to water!!
It only got worse
03 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
even after the Halloween candy was gone. The temptation to overeat was something I could not manage to resist and it has come back to bite me a big 10lbs. 
Yikes! What the hell happened? I know what happened. It was overeating, lack of exercise, and quite frankly I just didn’t feel like doing much of anything. I always seem to have this problem during the months of November and December. I give in to it all and say what the heck indulge in that 50th workplace potluck, bake a pie and make some cookies. All the rationalizations coming in the form of just waiting to make yet another New Year’s resolution to get back to the basics. I did manage to get a little motivation in the form of a note on the Hollie Self, BL4 Facebook page. She has intiated a challenge to run a 5k in the month of March, specifically the weekend of 12-13th, her birthday weekend. I already signed up for a 5k in Malibu and might even get a friend to join me and even hubby maybe?? We will have to see on both counts. Even though I have done several 5k’ s and even a handful of 10k’s I feel it is the perfect way to get back to exercising. I am still not quite in the mood to exercise. It’s been cold and the idea of a treadmill bores me, something I will have to work on. Really they are just excuses and not really good ones at that. I just have all these things I want to get done around the house and generally organizing my life. Exercise is taking a back burner even in this new year already. I have in the meantime cut back on my eating and am working on getting some healthy lunches going. I am realizing that it can’t be a diet it has to be a lifestyle. So small steps! I think I need to get some goals, something I think and talk about but I end up getting overambitious and then just give in when I don’t follow through. I am my own worst enemy. Boo! I have to stop that. More to come. Time to leave work almost! I’m not a fan of Mondays but they actually are the quickest day of the week usually. I saw the cartoon below after publishing and had to add it.
Happy New Year…
01 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
…well sort of. I just finished year-end where I work. So I was thinking October 1st might be a good time to start fresh…well start again…towards improving my fitness and eating habits. I’ve been struggling with severe back pain for close to a month and have just started to feel better this past week….but during the past month I was feeling sorry for myself and would say to myself what the heck you can’t exercise….what’s the use…just have that extra serving or go ahead and eat that doughnut. I know it was really bad thinking but I was making so much progress in feeling stronger and having more endurance. I just felt so defeated in how my body let me down. I know it makes no sense to push yourself further down that hole but I did! Well now it’s time to make a change and for the better.
On a little bit of a side note but relating to my “justification” for eating poorly…I was listening to an episode of a really cool podcast called Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone. One of the questions the fit chicks answered was a question about self-sabotage. I think I suffer from that. Carla talks about how some fear success so they do anything to make them not succeed and others fear failure so they do things to ensure they fail and then they know! I think for me it’s more about a fear of succeeding. I have never been one to take praise very well so if I would succeed there would be all this attention that I just can’t deal with. I need to work on this.
So now I am hoping to accomplish a few things starting this “new year”. I would like to continue to lose some weight. Specifically I want to get down to 130 for this first goal…so that’s about 10lbs give or take at this point. I’m not sure my exact weight. I will track it tomorrow. I think realistically this might take me about 2 months. I want to have a positive take on this but my back comes and goes. So exercise could be limited but I am learning that I might have to take preventive measures to ensure my back stays strong…like lots of stretching, especially the hamstrings all the time now and I’m prepared to do that. I also don’t want to risk further injury. So I think a pound a week is a good start.
Next I hope to keep this blog more updated at least for my own accountability. Then I hope to start back at exercising. I hope to actually try that tomorrow. I will take my bike out for a ride along the lake. I usually do lots of hills for the cardio but it does put a strain on my back. So I have to take another cue from the Two Fit Chicks and START, specifically the S which stands for “S”etting yourself up for success. If I push myself and fail then its no good for me and it’s too easy to go down that self-destructive path and that’s not the path I want! So against my fear of success I will take it slowly and feel good about it. Finally I want to keep to eating more healthfully. More posts to come later on all of this, hopefully tomorrow.
a long weekend
28 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Food, Goals, Hubby, Outings, Websites
and I neglected my blog and generally did not do so well with my goals at all. I am not going to beat myself up too much but I can do better Here’s how it started. Friday was a good day but lunch at Topper’s was a bit much and then a Tutti Fruitti Yogurt with my niece was over the top. I suppose I shouldn’t feel too bad…I am an Aunt who likes to spoil…but I did more than spoil my niece I spoiled my diet or my lifestyle…trying to make better choices but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. I get into this mode where I say to myself…it’s not fair that everyone else gets to eat what they want…”well life’s not fair” my daddy would say. So anyway Saturday was decent but Sunday was another bad day foodwise. Hubby and I went to The Getty. After wondering the magnificant pavillions of artwork, artifacts, and sculptures, we had a nice lunch at The Restaurant. I had the braised short ribs in a mashed Yukon Potato with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach in a red wine reduction. Not exactly light for brunch, but the meat was so tender and juicy and delicious. Kept me full for hours. I am bummed I have no pictures as I misplaced my camera. It did bum me out a lot but I tried to turn the day around and I think I did. I hope so for my hubby’s sake. Well today is a new day and I am excited to get going to my Total Body Cuts class tonight after work. Well off to get some work done, change and get the heck out of here!! Back tomorrow with more. Week 2 is almost done.
Week 1 I did it…well sort of
23 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Goals
Most of the daily goals were met on a daily basis with the exception of 2 calorie-laden days 
and now for the weekly goals achieved for week.
I accomplished the goals for week 1.
1. I worked out 3 times per week
2. I planned my workouts a week ahead.
3. I attended my body cuts class
4. I limited alcohol to 2 days per week. And
Under my monthly goal
5. I lost 1 lb. per week (or 5 lbs in 5 weeks) 140-139
I am feeling a bit tired this afternoon and getting home to take a nap is going to come first before some errands I had planned on. See you tomorrow.
A busy weekend
21 Jun 2010 1 Comment
in Food, Goals, Hubby, Websites, Wineries
I wanted to post progress on my daily goals dailyJ but the weekend was a busy one. Saturday was supposed to be a day of catching up at home on chores; cleaning, laundry, sorting and throwing crap out, etc. It turned into a perfect beach day nice day in Hermosa. Last minute plans called me to the beach and I was so happy it did. Well partly happy, the good part was Karen and I enjoyed a nice long bike ride along the beach however we needed to after indulging a little bit too much on the Happy Hangovers and Mimosas along with a
pizza for me and a turkey burger for her. This pizza was huge but loaded with good stuff: red and green bell peppers, black beans, mushrooms and some cheese. I ate all of one half and then scraped the veggies and cheese on the other half, leaving the bread behind. I thought it would save me a few calories and compensate for the alcohol a little. All in all a great lunch! Then on for a 12 mile or so bike ride back and forth from Hermosa to Marina Del Rey. It was just an awesome day at the beach. I needed to head back home to hubby and to an anniversary 
dinner no less. We like to have a nice dinner on our anniversary each month. I knew I would be feasting on some delicious food hubby prepared and it was indeed yummy. First up rib-eye steak, twice-baked potatoes, some broccoli but I have to say I am blanking on that part, then a nice sesame ginger dressing salad nicely topped with some shrimp. Then it was a scrumptious lava cake from Trader Joe’s topped with some premium vanilla ice cream also from TJ’s. Oh and least we not forget a nice dessert wine we bought from Red Soles Winery on our Valentine’s weekend in Paso Robles.
On to Sunday and it’s not much better at least as far as calorie counting goes. The morning started off with a nice bowl of Oat Revolution oatmeal and a peach along with a mini luna lemon zest bar on our drive down to the LA County Museum of Natural History.
We headed down there for hubby’s class and spent a couple of hours looking at the many exhibits there. I’d have to say my favorite was the North American Mammals Hall. The dioramas were so realistic and beautiful. I even learned a few things too.
After spending a few hours there and the drive home we decided to have some Thai food which consisted of delicious crab cheese wontons and some traditional pad Thai. A nice and filling lunch but I was hungry 
after the museum and I have to say I was well satisfied for most of the afternoon. Took a nap, woke up and got ready for the next stop, the in-laws for Father’s Day dinner, which consisted of fried chicken, cornbread, a salad topped with eggs, bacon and some tomatoes and then for dessert a chocolate frosted marble cake along with a little ice cream. I truly went overboard this weekend. I haven’t even gotten on the scale but I am ready to take on the week and speaking of that I need to head out to go to my Total Body Cuts class. The first goal week ends tomorrow so I will have weekly goals to recap too tomorrow night or the next day.
Aloha Friday
18 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in DVD, Exercise, Food, Goals, Recipe, Websites
I am so happy it’s Friday! I am looking forward to 3 o’clock when I get off work. I know it’s going to be a nice weekend. First up though is a quick stop by Trader Joe’s for some fruit, pita chips and maybe some rice or penne pasta. I saw a really good recipe I might want to try this weekend on Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet/Life blog website. I’ve really liked her since 
seeing her in Clueless and although I have NO plans on going vegan I can and do appreciate what looks like a delicious vegetarian recipe. Pasta alla Formiana actually came by way of Kind Life by way of Little House of Veggies by way of Giada De Laurentiis. I love that it looks simple, easy and feeds a lot. I think it will work for some lunches next week. Then home to attempt a workout from the new mytrainerbob dvds from Bob Harper I just received in the mail yesterday. I talked about these a few days ago and they finally arrived. After watching a good portion of them earlier today I’m not sure I should be so happy. These dvds look intense. 
One girl looked like she was going to cry. I am kind of excited though as I love a good workout. It’s not easy getting me there but I feel great after. Then a nice dinner cooked by hubby Robb and shared with Brad and my mom. It should be a nice evening. I know Mattie will enjoy a nice walk tonight too. And finally a progress report on goals for yesterday. All daily goals were met. I also mailed the registration form for the 4th of July race so we are set there…let the training begin. Next up plan workouts for week.
I was hungry
17 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in DVD, Exercise, Food, Goals, Stats
yesterday like I have not been in a long time. I am not sure why but I think it might have been the peach on the drive home. 
I love fruit but I think it makes me hungrier. Does this make sense? I think it’s my metabolism. So perhaps I am going to need to balance the fruit with some protein. I’ve read many times that each meal and snack should be a balance of carbs, protein and fat to keep one more satiated. So I guess I better start doing that. I struggle with this because of the limit on my calories and also not feeling satisfied and full with what I eat. Well something to think about. On to a review of the goals from yesterday. The only exception to the accomplishment of all the daily goals was the calories. My limit is 1600 and the total for the day was 1654. I say close enough and really good for me. 
I was happy getting on the scale this morning too. Down 2 lbs to 138. I have not been having a glass of my favorite Vihno Verde Espiral wine from Trader Joe’s with dinner. I think it is helping with the weightloss. So I might even have to cut out wine for awhile but I get to thinking that when you ban something you want it even more…like my dark chocolate snack so I treat myself to a little piece each day. I just really love it. So all in moderation. I snagged a pic of the wine to post. It’s not the boldest wine but I like it and it’s quite reasonable @ 4 bucks a bottle. Okay well I suddenly have a ton of work to do…so I better get to it so I can get home and see if mytrainerbob sent me a DVD well 4 actually. I am excited. I can’t wait to see what they are all about! I’m hoping for a good sweat!!
Day 1
16 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in DVD, Food, Food Diary, Goals, Workouts
Well I updated yesterday’s goal sheet. I wanted to be a little more specific and add some general goals. It mostly stayed the same. So on to the results for yesterday! I had a great day! I prepared a healthy breakfast (a smoothie), snacks (nectarine, blueberries and a mini luna bar), and lunch (salmon). I recorded all items on Livestrong.com and the total calores for the day were 1627. So a tad over my goal of staying under 1600 calories. Water consumption was good though. Veggie and fruit goals met as well. We had a nice dinner of chicken w/ ricotta and a basil marinara sauce and some broccoli.
Oh and a bike ride at lunch yesterday added to day 1 of at least 3 days of exercise. So all in all a good day yesterday! I did sort of reward myself with watching my new fav show Losing it with Jillian. I am thinking I want to change rewarding myself with TV but I am having a hard time figuring out a daily reward. Is it necessary? I think a weekly goal might be better but I can see that keeping motivated is key and a little perk is always good. Next up I have to send in the paperwork for the 4th of July run as no online registration is available. Then plan out the remaining workout days and post on a calendar to place in the kitchen.
On a side note I just got notified that Bob Harper’s new DVD set is going to ship today and I was given a tracking number. I was hoping to get it today but it doesn’t look like USPS has actually received the shipment yet. I have not been thrilled with the handling of the information regarding the shipping and billing of the dvds. I hope they are worth the delay. I ordered the 4 pack as it was the most economical. When I receive the DVDs I will complete a workout and possibly write a review. I am not sure I am any good at it but might give it a go. I look forward to a killer workout as that’s how it appears on the trailer on his site.
One more thing. I was listening to Rocco Dispirito today online on WOR radio in NY. He was filling in for another talk show host and he was talking about his new book Now Eat This. So on my way home I hoping to look it over. I am intrigued by the recipes being comfort food and all under 350 calories. All I ask is that there are pictures. I have a pet peeve about cookbooks not having photos. I better wrap this up as I need to leave work and get to Barnes and Noble.
