Monthly Archives: April 2011

(source)

 How awesome would that have been?!  Anyway, I like William and Kate and I sincerely hope their marriage will be a happy one that will last.

So, onto the weigh in…this morning the scale read 186. Yay!!! Why a “yay” you ask? Wasn’t I complaining about weighing 184 a couple of weeks ago? Yes, yes I was, but I’m supremely happy with 186 today because on Monday (the day after Easter) I weighed in at 190 pounds. As soon as I saw that number, I was freaking out in a state of turmoil and panic a tad bit concerned, so I guzzled some water and decided to just get over myself and count some calories. I wanted to track my calories online and since there are lots of different sites for this, I signed up for several and spent some time logging my info to see which one I liked the most. My account was still active at iChange, so I already knew what that was like. If you want everyone to know what you are eating and you want feedback, then iChange is great for this. But for right now, I want to keep things private, so I also checked out Sparkpeople, Livestrong, and Calorie Count.  Sparkpeople is just too overwhelming for me – there’s too much happening on the homepage for me, so I nixed that one. Livestrong is okay, very much like iChange in format so I was pretty comfortable using it, but I didn’t like the layout of the food log – I found it to be a little too busy as well. I had used Calorie Count in the past, so I went back to it, and was happy to see they had updated a little bit and tweaked some things here and there. The layout is easy to read and concise, the food is fast and easy to enter, plus what really sold it for me is that they give each food a grade (Strawberries get an A, Hershey’s Chocolate Drops get a D, etc) plus you get an overall grade for the choices you’ve made altogether. Also, there is lots of information on what vitamins and minerals you are lacking, and how you can get those into your diet better. I feel like this site not only wants to help you lose weight, but it wants to help you learn how to make better choices as well. I’m happy to say that yesterday I earned a B grade for my choices, which I was totally happy with. So I’m going to try this for awhile and see if I can get things moving in the right direction.

Debby mentioned in her post yesterday about the President’s Fitness Challenge. You can sign up here and log in your workouts and win virtual medals and trophies and awards and such. It’s an 8 week program, where you try to get in 30 minutes of activity for 5 days a week. Actually to win an award, you only have to get 6 weeks in, but you have 8 weeks to do, so if you have an off week and don’t get all your exercise in, you still have 2 weeks to fudge with.  It’s easy and fun, and just another way to get motivated to work out for a little bit each day. Join us, won’t you?  :)

Okay, well I’ve got lots to do today, so I should probably get to it. Have a great weekend!!

Posted by Jill in fitness

I’ve got activities coming up in the next couple of weeks that  tend to put my stress level on high alert, so I hope that by getting them out into the open here, I won’t be so prone to eating it all away.

My 14 year old son  is leaving for a band trip on Thursday. They leave on a bus at midnight Thursday and will return at 3am on Sunday morning. I don’t like it when my chicks are out of the nest. Makes me nervous and I worry the whole time. Thankfully he’ll have his phone with him, so I can text him 395720o957 times a day, just to make sure he’s okay. This is the first time he’s been on any kind of trip like this, and I know he’ll have a blast, but I won’t relax until he’s back home safe and sound.

The first week of May (holy monkey that’s next week!) is going to be super busy and I’m already dreading it, even though it will be filled with fun stuff. Here’s what’s going on:

Monday – son has ortho appointment (rescheduled because I totally blanked on the one that was supposed to be last Tuesday. Mother of the Year award is mine for sure.)

Tuesday – whole family has dental appointments. It’s easier to do all 5 of us at once than to have make multiple trips to dentist office.

Wednesday – daughter has girl scouts – she has that every week, so that’s really not a big deal

Thursday – Youngest daughter’s birthday, also Son has a band concert that night. Not sure how we’re going to deal with that.

Friday/Saturday- Couples’ fishing tournament. I really wanted to do this one, but I imagine that we will have to do Youngest’s birthday on Saturday. I think in order to save my sanity, I’m going to have to skip this tourney, although the hubs can still fish without me. Yes, for some reason they will allow only one half of the couple to fish.

Sunday – Mother’s Day. Hubs will be gone for a different fishing tournament, so will probably spend the day with my mom.

I don’t do well with having lots of activities crammed altogether within a few days like that. I like my chaos spread out a bit. Plus, I always want the kids’ birthdays to feel special so I tend to put extra pressure on myself to make it a good day for them.

(And no, in case you are wondering, I’m not upset that the hubs will be fishing on Mother’s Day. In the past it would have really bothered me, but since I’ve stopped relying on him for ALL my happiness, things like this don’t upset me. Let me clarify that because I made it sound like he’s unreliable – in the past, I wanted him to make days like this SuperExtraSpecial!!! I had such high expectations, but of course I didn’t tell him that, I just wanted him to read my mind.  So you can see where there would be some disappointment and hurt feelings. A couple of years ago on my birthday, I decided to just spend the day doing whatever I wanted by myself and it was one of the best days I’ve ever had. Realizing I could make my own SuperExtraSpecial days, meant letting him off the hook (mostly). Him being gone on Mother’s Day isn’t a big deal to me because 1) I know he’ll make it up to me,  and 2) I’ll get to spend it with my mom and my kids. So it’s all good.)

Okay, getting all that out there where I can see it does help. But now I’ve got to jam in order to figure out a birthday party for the almost 6 year old! For some reason I thought I had a couple of weeks, but I guess not.

Definitely a shoo-in for Mother of the Year. Definitely.

Posted by Jill in fitness

So I’ve been emailing my new food therapist Dr. Debby, and in the midst of our discourse I mentioned that I no longer seem to be limiting myself anymore where food is concerned. A couple of years ago I wouldn’t touch mac and cheese with a ten foot fork, but lately I’m all about the cheesy/fatty goodness. I told Debby, “it’s like my food filter is broken”.

AHA!  Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Because that’s exactly what it feels like. The filter I used to use to limit the amount and kind of food I ate has been turned off for quite some time. But why? Why did my food filter break and how do I unbreak it?

I think the answer to the first question is twofold (I love saying “twofold”):   1) I just stopped caring and 2) I got out of the habit. I was under a lot of stress last year and food was my security blanket. I didn’t care that there were 1200 calories in the 3 bowls of ice cream I ate, I only knew that it tasted good. The less I cared about what I was eating, the further away my habit of limiting my foods got.

So how do I un-break my food filter? Well, I think in the reverse way that I broke it. I’m starting to care again (seeing your highest weight ever will do that) and I just have to practice limiting my foods until it becomes a habit again.  Sounds easy enough right?

Well, it ain’t.

But I think it’s doable. I’ve got my duct tape and my elmer’s glue and some string and I’m going to try and fix my filter the best I can.

Where’s that cute but annoying Ty Pennington when you need him?

(source)

Posted by Jill in fitness

184.

Again, not surprised, but disappointed.  I ate well this week, until last night, and I only worked out one day this week.  For some reason I have been extra tired this week and when my alarm went off I just didn’t want to get up.  I worked out on Tuesday morning and then went to Zumba Tuesday night – and I didn’t even want to go to that but two friends texted me and asked if I was going, so I went. What I really wanted to do was take a nap, but I Zumba’d instead, and I was glad I did. But that’s the only activity I got in for the week.

Food-wise I did well all week (mostly). Salads for lunch, light foods for dinner, no bingeing after work…I was patting myself on the back until last night. I had eleventy million errands to run after work and it was getting late, so I called the hubs and asked him if he wanted me to pick something up (big mistake ). I was hoping he would give me an idea of something quick we could fix at home, but instead he said “yeah, get some KFC.” Then he asked the kids, “hey do you all want KFC for dinner?” and of course they all said “YES!!!!”.  I had planned to eat just a small piece of chicken and some cole slaw, but once I got home I was STARVIN’ MARVIN (it was almost 7pm when I got home – had my late lunch at 2pm) and I inhaled a huge piece of chicken along with the sides.  I knew then that I had sunk my chances for a loss at weigh in this morning.

*sigh*

I’m also out of all my healthy staples so I’m going to have to go the store AGAIN – I swear I feel like I’ve been to the store 17 times this week – to stock up on healthy stuff AGAIN. Not sure what this weekend holds. Weekends are always hard, but I should be able to get in a work out.  Hey, here’s a question – Wii Fit:  do you feel like you get a good workout with it? I did a solid hour on that thing one night and never broke a sweat. I did all of the cardio games, but it just didn’t seem like it was intense enough. I’d like to put it into my workout rotation, but I feel like I’m wasting my time.  Any hints on how to get in a good workout with it?

Okay, well that’s all I’ve got for now.  Have a great weekend everyone!  :)

Posted by Jill in fitness

Hey everybody! Got big plans for the weekend?

Shawn asked me if I wanted to fish some couple’s tournaments with him, and I can’t imagine why he would want to take me fishing with him.  Surely it couldn’t be because of this:

here fishy fishy fishy

Yes, I caught that hog all by myself a couple of weeks ago. So of course now Shawn thinks I’m going to be a great fishing partner, and tomorrow we will be spending approx 10 hours in the boat trying to catch 5 big ones. First place wins $1500, so send lots of good fish-catching vibes my way! Even if we don’t win, maybe I’ll score some good swag at the weigh in. Here’s hoping.

You know what I hate? Coworkers who keep interrupting me!!!  Seriously, it’s Friday afternoon – I have no desire to hear about your former secretary and how she got her lawn mower stolen!!!  Go home, for crying out loud!!

Anyway, this week found me making all sorts of horrible choices regarding food. Why is it that in the very moment of consumption, my choices seem completely justified? “It’s cold and it’s rainy. Of course I need an apple pie and a caramel mocha from McDonald’s. That Subway sandwich just wasn’t very filling, anyway.” And yet, as soon as I wipe the crumbs away from my lips, I give myself a mental facepalm and realize how completely ridiculous that is.  Why can I not learn to have these moments of clarity before the sabotage begins?

The good thing about this week, however, is that I got in lots of good exercise.  Four days on the elliptical, one session of Jillian Michael’s Shred, and one Zumba class.  The Shred and Zumba were on the same day (Shred in the AM and Zumba in the PM) and I’m telling ya, it darn near did me in.  I was so tired and cranky all the next day, I was beginning to wonder if something wasn’t wrong with me.  Maybe I was just sweating out all the crankiness!

Okay well, let’s get to it. I weighed in this morning and the magic number is…

184.

Le sigh. I gained a pound.

I shouldn’t be surprised, and really I’m not. I realized that I haven’t been buying many of my healthy staples in the last couple of weeks (salad, yogurt, string cheese, etc) so I’m going this afternoon to replenish my supplies. Hopefully that will make it easier to make better choices next week. Got to fine tune my plan because I am ready to start seeing some results, no matter how small they may be.

I have to go and get all of my stuff ready to take with me tomorrow – and you bet your sweet petunias I’m taking Kindle with me. I’m going to need a break from all that casting and reeling!  Have a great weekend!

Posted by Jill in fitness