The Bright Side

Sorry for not posting this past week. To be perfectly honest,I have no excuse, except I was lazy. And tired, and stressed. A lot of changes are possibly happening right now, and it's scary. It's putting myself out of my comfort zone, which I hate doing but at the same time know I need to do more of.

Basically, without getting into too much detail, I'm feeling stuck right now in a lot of ways with my life, and I'm trying to better my situation. Because in reality, only I can. I'll divulge more when everything is more concrete :-)

To start, I have bursitis in my hip (which I think I mentioned). The pain got a lot better ( like I was able to walk haha) but was still nagging and there, you know? I saw the ortho on Monday, he was really great, and fast! They did an X-ray, made sure nothing serious was wrong, and then gave me a cortisone shot, and a prescription for vicodin, and sent me on my way :-)It still hurts a bit, but he told me it could take 3 days for it to fully feel the affects, so I'm assuming feeling a little better is a good sign :-)

He also told me to stay away from most exercise for awhile. Blech. That means no running, or eliptical, or anything repetitive. I can walk, and probably do videos as well. So It'll  be fine. I'm not messing around with this, or trying too soon. I'm taking this week off, and starting sunday I'm going to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill 3 days next week, and then starting up my 10 minute circuit training at home, as it's mostly upper body related.

It was sent to me by a boardie, and I'm really excited about it! I planned on starting before I got sore, so it's long overdue! Here is what it entails!

Bodyweight exercises:

8 pushups-if you can do real pushups, GREAT.  I can't.  So I started with 7 'girl' pushups and 1 'real' pushup.  I'm up to 15:5 now.

FOLLOWED BY

20 lunges-10 each leg.  You will notice yourself not going as deep towards the end of this, but keep the lunge as deep as possible.

FOLLOWED BY

10 squats.  A basic squat, but make it deep

FOLLOWED BY

20 bicycle kicks.  Which look like this:

FOLLOWED BY

10 bridge dips. 

FOLLOWED BY

After you do those, raise your pelvis back up off the ground and do 10 'butterflies' with your legs.  You are going to feel this in your inner thighs.  Again, making tiny movements and keeping your core very strong, instead of dipping down, you're going to move your knees out then back in.  I'll try and get a video for this too. 

FOLLOWED BY

Then you're going to do 10 combos of what you did up above, dip down, up, knees out, knees in, dip down, up, knees out, knees in.  Teeny, tiny movements.  This don't have to be huge for them to be effective.

FOLLOWED B

Also 10x-Laying flat on your back, balance the medicine ball in the air with your legs straight up above you (so you're making a right angle).  I prefer the medicine balls with the handles because it is MUCH easier to hang onto the ball with my feet.  Raise your shoulders off the ground, point, and try to touch the ball with your fingertips WITHOUT moving it closer to you.  So you're essentially doing a crunch, with your legs straight up in the air-but you have the added goal of balancing the ball and trying to eventually tap it with your fingertips.  

 

 

Sounds cool, huh? My plan is to start unning again the begining of April and go from there. I'm okay with it, at least I can still get some exercise in. And I'm happy to report I've been awesome about avoiding candy and cookies. I've really focused on my eating and am super proud of that :-)

On The Bright Side

Toby Sunday. Sick, lethargic, not feeling well.

Toby today. Totally back to normal, running around, barking. the dog has two speeds. And if only he would just take his medicine instead of acting like were trying to kill him, he could always be running on the good speed :-)

Buh.

Guess who's hip decided to feel like it wanted to die on Sunday, and got progressively worse to the point where walking was bearly an option, nevermind spending the day at work, sitting in chairs (which effing hurts) and walking around (also hurts).


You guessed right, it's me. I have bursitis in my left hip (which my doctor diagnosed within seconds of pushing at it, and me screaming out in pain. I normally keep my cool in the docs office, but that effing hurt) I have to get in touch with an orthopedic surgeon, who she wants to give me a cortisone shot. Now if only they would call me back... I have a funny feeling they are out today, because the line still goes to voicemail. Buh.

I skipped work today. Gots myself a Dr's note for that ish. My mom felt bad for me and made me lunch :-) Matt is making me taco cupcakes (with my instruction). And I may have taken a muscle relaxer to help the pain. Which it kinda did, but not really.

I'll live, It just sucks. I hate lying around, feeling like this. It's always something isn't it? First my knee, then my stomach cramps,  and now bursitis. Like W.T.F. body?And I probably won't be able to work out for a few weeks, which sucks even more. I'm taking it as an opportunity to work on my eating more, and making it healthy.

Lying down hurts but more achey than pain, which is a step up I guess. I'm just hoping resting tonight helps. I feel better than yesterday, but it still hurts like a mother. So I'm hoping It'll feel good enough for me to function at work tomorrow.

I'm just not a happy camper right now.

Moving Onward, Moving Forward

Up this week, to 199.4. To be expected, from all the sweets I've snuck over the past two weeks, and the extreme lack of exercise that has been done on my part.Am I upset still? Sure, a loss would have been a pleasant surprise. But I don't deserve it, and its a whole new week, so I'm going to work at achieving mah goals :-)

Goals for this week:
- Get in some activity Saturday and Sunday. Even if it's just walking, or a video. DO SOMETHING MARIE!
- Pretrack as much as possible. I have today all planned out, complete with the 3 beers I plan on having tonight while out. I need to take the time to plan ahead, because when I do I always do better.
- Stay away from chocolates, candy, dessert in general. Treat them like what they are- treats

Here is my plan for the weekend (tentatively)
Friday night- Dinner out- I plan on getting the fish, because I feel like it's a safer option. Fish, baked potato, and a veggie. And I'm going to request they don't cook em in oil :-)
Saturday Lunch- BLTs! I'm toying with making mine a tuna fish sandwich, well see how I feel!
Saturday Dinner- undecided. I might stop out for a slice of pizza
Workout- Cardio Max video, start my daily 10 minute ciruit training.

note:  Yesterday on the boards a girl offered up her body weight schedule. It looks fun and totally doable, 10 minutes a day, in addition to your regular cardio. I'm definetly going for it, and I'm excited!

Sunday morning- possibly out for sisters birthday brunch. well see
Sunday Dinner: unsure, at my parents :-)
Sunday Workout- hit the gym for at least a little bit!

I don't have a whole lot of plans this weekend, so hopefully I'm able to stick to this plan, and see it through! Happy Friday everyone!

Resisting Temptation

Contrary to what it may seem like sometimes, I do have some parts of the weight loss thing down.

I'm pretty good at remembering what I ate, and being mindful of what I eat (now at least, maybe not back when I started)
I am good at estimating portion sizes, and measuring out foods.
I've gotten a ton better at being honest with myself.

So Why am I not a goal, you may ask? Because there is a huge aspect of my weight loss success that I still struggle with constantly.

Resisting Temptation.  And even worse, I'm the best at convincing myself I need that temptation, to satisfy a craving, or, better yet, because I deserve it.

A great part of weight watchers is that it's flexible. But my biggest problem is I've been counting points and eating like I do normally, and taking treats/snacks when I want them, instead of cutting back. Just because you can eat anything on weight watchers doesn't mean you should eat anything on weight watchers. See the distinction? That is what I'm missing my friends.

I remember my birthday October 2010, I allowed myself to have a pumpkin donut to celebrate. I ate half 1 day and half the next. I hadn't had a donut in so long, because it was on my "not worth it list.

I need to get back to that. To saying no to things, and sticking to my plan. So, for Lent (which starts next Wednesday, isn't that wild?) I've decided it's go big or go home time: I'm giving up multiple things.

They say if you can do something for 21 days consecutively, it becomes a habit. My thought is if I do it for 40 days, at some point my cravings will stop, and the not giving into temptation thing will become a habit. And it's so much easier to say "I'm going to stop doing this", than it is to actually do it. And If I publically announce that I am giving up XYZ for Lent, I feel l will be a lot more compelled to actually do it, if that makes sense.

So, starting Wednesday 2/22/12, I am giving up:
Cookies,
Chocolate (that includes chocolate bars, and chocolate candy)
Cake,
Donuts
Muffins
pasteries

I am not including ice cream on the list, because that is the one thing I am good at controlling myself with, and find it to be an (actual) good way to control sugary cravings, by having a small serving at night. It may seem like an extensive list, but it's not things I actually need. And I feel like by giving it up for 40 days, I'll stop "needing" it, and be able to enjoy it occasionally without having it be a self destructive thing.

I'm sure I'll have slip ups, but that's part of the process, right? I'm excited for this, and plan on starting to cut down my consumption this weekend, and being mindful of my eating habits.

Because I need to get serious. for real this time.

The Dreaded Food Hangover

Full Disclosure? I indulged A LOT last night. -Healthy Steak and Cheese Subs (so freaking good)
- 2 large glasses of wine
- 1 beer
-1 chocolate chip cookie (which is local! And the nutritional information said they were 50 calories each! woo hoo for delicious low calorie cookies!)
-1.5 blondies (which is a feat in and of itself, because there was a ton leftover.
- homemade potato chips (amazing btw)
-shared dark chocolate orange flavored bar. (likewise amazing)

Ok, so not too terrible now that I look at it, but I feel like it was more (maybe its the wine giving me the hangover feeling haha)

But I have to say, it was the perfect Valentines Day. And you know why? Because It was so free of the stupid pressure you get on Valentines Day. To go out for a fancy meal, or brag about the flowers, presents, chocolates, etc you got from your boyfriend, to prove that he loves you. I let myself get so wrapped up in it last year, it completely ruined the holiday. Who cares what other people know and think about you and your relationship? Facebook/social media is not the end of be all of happiness, and just because I don't post every detail of how much I love said boyfriend, has absolutely no reflection on who we are as a couple, and how happy we are.

In fact, (dare I say it), whenever I see people post on facebook bragging about their relationship, I normally think that it sort of proves they aren't happy. Because they need that validation from others instead of keeping things private, you know? Every friend of mine who has been overtly PDA and showy in her relationship has admitted to me after the fact that there was a lot of problems, and it was more of a cover than anything.

/endrant.and I'm sure there are plenty of people who this doesn't apply to. They just post everything on facebook because they want to, not because they aren't happy. Its just something I've noticed.

I think this past year has been so full of realizations. Of how much I do to please others, instead of doing what makes me truly happy. Of being nervous of what others think of me, instead of just saying screw it and being me. Of putting time and effort and thought into relationships that in reality aren't great, and recognizing that I am not doing my part in the ones that are/could be. I've realized that I need to concern myself with the great things that happen in my life, instead of harping on the bad stuff, if that makes sense.

So last Valentines Day I got caught up in facebook, and all the stress that was going on in life, and ended up causing a fight with Matt, that was stupid and fruitless (over how he doesn't try enough sometimes), especially when he got me gorgeous lillies.

This year? we're using a groupon on Friday as an excuse to go out to eat more than anything. Last night I came home and he had made steak and cheeses with a side of brocolli. I made oven potato chips (which were delicious and I will make them always) and we drank wine and watched Get Him to the Greek. It was seriously so perfect, and exactly what I wanted, a night just the two of us, no pressures or judgement on what we're doing to celebrate. Just us :-)

But enough sappiness, back to reality today. I need to desperately get back on track. I did hit the gym yesterday, but sadly my hip bothered me and my workout sucked as a result. blah blah blah. I'm going home tonight and doing a light cardio video. And yoga. Lots of Yoga. Hopefully this helps me out!

My plan for the rest of the week (Wed-Sunday)
-Pretrack!
-get in at least 3 workouts (tonight, tomorrow, Friday morning and sunday would be ideal)
-focus on avoiding sugary things (especially in the morning, as its normally a trigger)
- Starting Sunday, week long sugar avoidance will begin!

Happy February 15 everybody :-)

I've Never Been So Happy

For a rest day than I am today. For realz. I did some upper body strength and overall cardio yesterday, and my hip didn't hurt afterwards (success!) but today my arms are killing me! I guess that's what taking a week off does :-/

I'm also freaking exhausted, and was ready for bed around 10am this morning. blech.

Weekend went well. Date night on Friday turned into order food and go to some local bars because we did not plan on the restaurant being busy the Friday before V-day (silly), but it was still nice :-) We're opting to go this Friday instead, and earlier this time. I'm not a big Valentines person, so the day we celebrate doesn't matter to me, I'm just looking for a fancy date out. We could celebrate in April for all I care :-)

 Did not get my workout in on Saturday, instead I opted to go see the Vow with my friends (which I liked a lot more than I thought I would, and which also made me entirely depressed, like what a sad effing movie). I'm okay with my choice, my hip was hurting me, and I was in the mood for a lazy day, especially since I had blisters all over my feet from walking on Friday night, that counts for something, right? I also tracked all movie snacks, which is a total win.

Sunday I babysat, and hit the gym, as much as I didn't want to AT ALL. I procrastinated instead by following around my dog and taking pictures. And I spent some quality time with my mom/sister. Another bonus of going home and procrastinating? I found out my sister made a large amount of minestrone soup, and my mom was dying to get rid of it. The fabulous daughter I am, I took it off her hands :-) It was really thick, so I added some broth and slow cooked it with spinach for a bit when I got home. The results were amazing! I'm so excited for my lunches this week.

Here's my menu. Any breakfast Suggestions? I'm thinking about trying the microwave egg cups that hungry girl does, or I may check out pinterest for ideas. I need on the go options!

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	workout
Monday	yogurt/special k	minestrone soup	italian sausages	yoga/rest day
Tuesday	yogurt/special k	minestrone soup	steak and cheeses	gym-cardio
Wednesday	yogurt/special k	minestrone soup	shepherds pie	AM workout
Thursday	unsure	minestrone soup	chicken tikka masala	AM workout
Friday	unsure	minestrone soup	Fox And Hound Take 2	off
Saturday	egg, turkey bacon, toast	n/a, snacks	noodles?	video
Sunday	egg, toast	pre /post gym snack	home	gym- cardio, weights

I'm also incredibly ambitious this week and plan on getting up early 2 days to workout. Hopefully I follow through. I'm so excited for our menu though, I have a lot of good dinners to look forward to!

And to cheer up your Monday, Adventures with Toby:

Toby the Hunter

Oh hai Marie, um this is awkward, I figured since Mom turned your room into a storage arena, I could set up camp too...

Striking a pose, one paw 




2 pm naptime, time for me to go home. I think showing me all his things all day tired him out :-)

 

Wiped Clean

I weighed in this morning knowing it wouldn't be pretty. I made myself feel better last night in the form of beer and hershey kisses.  That isn't exactly the recipe for success. I think my scale needs a new battery, but the number I got ranged from 197-198, so I'm gonna say I maintained and call it a day. This week sucked, and I'm ready to wipe it clean.

Weekend Plan
Friday night:
Dinner and drinks out for Valentines Day (because we're classy and do it ahead of time). I'm so excited, we're going here, I've been once before and our service was lackluster, but the food itself was pretty good. Funny story, they were on the Phantom Gormet a few weeks ago and interviewed the manager- totally our server that night. He needs to work on his people skills, that's all I have to say. Not a bad experience, he was just a bit rude, not attentive at all, or apologetic. Which got me more than the rest. But moving on, hopefully our meal will go smoother :-) I'm either getting steak tips or schrod. I can't decide. Either way it's going to be delicious, and awesome as we haven't had a fancy night out in awhile.

We are following this with a trip to Beer Works, because what would our Valentines Date be without a good beer? My goal is to not over do it, and plan ahead :-)

Saturday
-Get one workout in- video style
-Lunch- either homemade BLTs or at the food court in the mall, as I have some mystery shopping to do. either way, I'm planning ahead and making good choices!
Dinner- M and I are making peanut noodles! healthy style :-)

Sunday
- Eat a healthy breakfast, bring fruit with me babysitting!
-hit the gym after babysitting
-home  with my family for the rest of the day, and lately this has been a deterrent in staying OP. My goal is to not snack, get out of the house, or do something to stay out of the kitchen :-)

Pretty good plan I think, aand go! Happy Friday! I've never been so happy to have a week be over, seriously :-)

What's Cooking Wednesday (On a Thursday!)

I know I know, this should have been posted yesterday. Things got busy, and I wasn't going to post this week, but I got some crappy news today, and instead of binge-eating or snacking on sweets, I figured posting this would make me happy :-) Enjoy

Chicken Enchilada Cupcakes
(not really taken from anywhere, but adapted from the Emily Bites Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes )

So Last Friday M and I were planning on making buffalo chicken cupcakes. I got home, and the first words out of his mouth were "I don't want to cook. Lets use that coupon and get a pizza instead". And so we did.

On Sunday, when we were coming up with healthy things to cook for the Superbowl, I decided to experiment a bit. I had the wontons, and the chicken, so I added a few things and "winged it" so to speak. I am proud to say that these came out A-mazing. For the record, I only made half of the recipe, because there was 2 of us haha. But I'm doubling it here :-)

What You Need:
-2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
-32 wonton wrappers (I used two in each cupcake to make sure it wouldn't break, or be too thin.
-1 Cup light sour cream
-2/3 C light cream cheese
-1/2 C enchilada sauce
-1 tbsp taco seasoning (optional)
1 Cup shredded Cheddar (LF)

How to Make it:
- Preheat the oven to 350, and then I poached the chicken to start, to make it easier to shred. I then shredded it, and added taco seasoning to give it a bit of flavor. From there, I added the enchilada sauce, sour cream and the cream cheese, and stirred it all together, until it was well blended.

From there I sprayed down my cupcake tin, and pressed in two wonton wrappers to make the cupcake shape. I scooped out the chicken mixture into each wonton, until I had used up all my filling. I sprinkled cheddar cheese on top, and popped it into the oven for 15-25 minutes, or until crispy. Mine took about 17, and came out perfectly.

The Result:
As I said above, these are my new favorites. I loved all the flavor, and DBF and I both dipped them in salsa, which was just perfection. Plus they were super easy, and really low point for how filling they are. Recipe Win!

(makes 16 cupcakes, 3 PP per cupcake)

The Hungry Horrors

first of all, I've been avoiding you blog. Sorry. Full disclosure:

Last Friday's Weigh in: +1.2. Blech.
This weekend- went pretty damn good! I limited my drinking, got a workout in on Sunday (with a nice walk on Saturday), and stuck to my plan.

This week (so far)- not so great. There have been a lot of snacking, chocolates, and candy. I saw a gross number on the scale this morning, which was enough to make me feel bad about myself for about 20 seconds before asking myself "what are you doing Marie?" I also looked chubby but that may have been what I wanted to see (re: pity party)

Anyways, I'm back on track today. No chocolates, no candy. Dessert (1-2 scoops of ice cream, depending on what the food scale allows) if I have the extra points. Going to the gym (the OTHER hip started to hurt after my kick-a gym sesh on Sunday. Like only me guys) tonight and getting some cardio in.

Oh let's discuss that. My hip I mean. it really is the strangest thing. I would think it's an injury, but it seems to flip flop on what hip wants to hurt, which is infuriating. AAND cardio doesn't bother it. The strength training, and the squats and lunges are what makes it painful. I took Monday/Tuesday off and today I feel 100%, so I'm going to do soley cardio. And going forward my strength training will be focused mainly on the upper body. I may do a squat here or there but I'm definetly going to cut back on the lower body part of the workouts. see if that makes a difference and gives my hip some time to get over whatever is going on.

So my plan for today and tomorrow is to get in 2 workouts, stick to my plan, and NOT SNACK. hopefully I can avoid further hip pain, and still salvage a loss this week? I mean, It was 2 days. And In truth, I wasn't really terrible, I still have points left (activity style, not my weeklies, those are lonng gone), and I'll get in 3 good workouts this week. So here's hoping!

Musings

-The Walking Dead is an Amazing show. A-mazing. Matt and I stormed through the first two seasons in like a month. So addictive and Lost like, I love it!

-Nurse Jackie is a pretty BA show as well

-My gym isn't nearly as overcrowded as last year around this time, which is awesome. I know I should be happy for people getting fit and on board, but I think the experience is a lot more pleasurable when it isn't packed like sardines. There are a lot of new faces, and it's busy, but not crazy like last year. And it seems like all the girls who would sit on machines and talk on their phones (yes, this happened) decided to not join up this year. Which makes me happy.

-I peaked this morning and saw a number I really liked :-) which is inspiring me to drink gallons of water and stay OP today

-Resting was the best medicine. My hip feels ten times better. I did a lot of thinking over my mini rest break, and realized that I've always kind of had some slight hip pain after a workout, just not as intense as that was. So I'm focused on stretching, and making sure my posture is up to par. I ran 2.8 miles yesterday (20 min running, 20 min walking including the warm up and cool down, and the 5 minutes walking incline :-)) and while I ran I focused on how my feet fell. I realized that my right side was sort of swinging inwards when I landed, and I really made a point to run in a straight line. It helped :-)

-I worked out this morning for the first time in like 3 weeks, and it felt good. I'm energetic and feel awesome. Plus burning 345 calories doesn't hurt either :-) I may do it again tomorrow, so Saturday can be a total rest day/cleanupmyapartmentsoitslivable day :-)

-I need to start being as good at my WLJ after 8 and on weekends as I am during working hours. My goal for this weekend is to plan ahead. Here, my dears is my tentative meal plan for the weekend:

Saturday:

Breakfast: Wake up later, so banana/ workout?
Lunch: bacon egg and tomato sandwiches on sourdough bread (bread=3, egg=4 turkey bacon= 2, mozzarella cheese=2 not too shabby)
Dinner: Skinny chicken parm with linguine

Sunday-
Breakfast: egg and cheese on english muffin
Lunch: Small post workout snack, probably a banana/piece of fruit, maybe some cheese
Dinner:superbowl snacks! It's just us, so as of right now our menu includes:
- buffalo/bbq wings (baked)
-homemade nachos
-cheese and crackers (I may try and jazz this up a bit, make a dip or something)

Lots of snacky foods, but also ones that aren't awful for us! I'm so excited, and also plan on having a few beers to celebrate :-) Go Pats! I have a strong hatred for the Giants based on nothing involving football, and everything involving the team bringing up a memory of a person I'm not particularly fond of, and her ridiculous attitude about her favorite team. So To see them destroy the Giants would be just fabulous :-)

February Goals

Column1	Column2
By February 29
Goal 1	Earn 100 Aps
Goal 2	Loose 3 Pounds
Goal 3	Work out 4X a week (20 times in the month
Goal 4	Limit Drinking to 2X a week, Dessert over 4  points to 1X a week
Goal 5	Try a new activity

How Did I do for January?
Pounds lost: 3.8, probably my highest number in a long time!
Calories Burnt: 6180
Goal 3: 17/20 BUT I did miss a few workouts with my hip the past 2 weeks, so I think I did pretty well considering!
Goal 4: Most weeks I limited my drinking to 2 nights, and my dessert/indulgences have been pretty limited as well! Getting on track helps!

Overall, January was a really good month for my weight loss! I got back on WW, back on track, and feel really good about where I'm at. I hope to achieve at least that if not more in February. It's a slower month, with a lot less going on, so I definetly think it's achievable! I switched my activity goals back to activity points instead of calories, and changed my indulgence goal to limit drinking to 2X a week and desserts over 4 points to 1X a week. Which is fair, because I've found that having a small (2-4 point) dessert at night helps keep my cravings at bay and lets me feel like I'm indulging.

I also added a 5th goal- to try 1 new activity. I would like to buy a groupon deal at least once and try a class, something I've never done before/haven't done in awhile. I think that would be a fun way to get my activity in!

Happy February! As a warmer weather lover, I love when February comes around, because it brings us one step closer to March, which normally brings warmer weather and less chill! Although I can't complain, this winter has been very kind to us so far, and I will take this over the 18+inch snow storms of last year!

Also check out my 10 Things for 2012 page which I updated with January progress!