Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I'M BAAAAACK!

WOW. I just had the most amazing weekend EVER. No joke. But it didn't have much to do with food, fitness or weight loss so I will spare you all too many of the details.

I spent all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday in a seminar that didn't end until midnight. Needless to say, I blew the whole weekend off exercise-wise. I did the best I could with my food, but we didn't have much time to eat so it ended up being mostly granola bars, fruit, some veggies, handfuls of Terra chips (LOVE these!), and pb & j sandwiches. I had a couple Naked Green Machine drinks to supplement all the fruits and veggies that I normally get but didn't this weekend. I must have done pretty well, becuase I FINALLY lost that stubborn pound and am now back to minus 14 pounds (which is where I was 2 weeks ago). So it begins again. I'm too excited for Thanksgiving to worry that the three pounds may come back and I am DEFNITELY not going to obsess about it for the 5 days a year I get to spend with my family. I'm trying EVERYTHING on that table! I'll just bump up the exercize a bit and enjoy in moderation. :-)
I'm traveling tomorrw and my HS reunion is Friday but I will try to post at least once over the weekend about my first real holiday with my Body Bugg and commitment to weight loss.
I hope everyone gives themselves a break and really, really enjoys themselves.
Yay organic, grass fed turkey and PIE! (my step mom makes the BEST pecan pie!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Oh Whatever....

I lost two of those stupid pounds that I gained back but I'm still back to having that one stupid pound hanging around.
Whatever. It's been such a crazy week that I'm too drained to even worry about it. (I'm sure Andrew will appreciate that)
I had to wear a suit to work today because I had to speak at an event and my Isaac Mizhari for Target pants (which cost $7, by the way) are nice and loose. And so was the stretchy t-shirt that I JUST BOUGHT LAST WEEKEND (both awesome and annoying). I guess I should just stop buying clothes until I'm done losing weight. But at this rate, I won't be buying any new clothes for the next 14 months. I always say that I have nothing to wear (despite a full closet of clothes) but this time, I really am telling the truth. I genuinely have very few things that don't look a little weird on me. On a positive note, I'm hoping I'm not too far away from getting back into my skinny jeans!

Also, I'm back on the Shred. I jumped back in a level 2 and was juuuust a little bit sore the next day. Oh Jillian, even when I've done your workout so many times that can recite every word you say for the entire 26 minutes, you still kick my ass. It is still the best workout you can do in 20 minutes. I did some other ON DEMAND workouts just for fun and none of them are as good at keeping me interested as Jillian. But maybe because I have a girl crush on her and her hot body.

My gym has a chiropractor and I had my first appointment with him tonight. I have been having some recurring lower back and shoulder pain that are residual from old rowing injuries and occasionally require some treatment. He has this wonderful bed with massaging vibrations and water that is so warm and cozy. I think it was the most enoyable 10 minutes of my entire week. I NEED one of these beds! It puts memory foam to shame! I did a short run after my appointment and I felt GREAT! I cannot wait to go back and get some more massagey treatments and lay on that bed!

I'm about to spend the next 3 days sitting on my ass in a conference that goes until almost midnight each night, so I'll be doing my workouts in the morning (insert fake enthused cheer here).

I'll be back on Monday. Have a SOOPER weekend! And if anyone has any ideas for creative ways to re-invent my too big clothes, I'm all ears, er, eyes. :-)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Beyond Frustrated



I keep gaining and losing weight! On Monday, I was down an extra 2 pounds and now I'm back up 3!! WTF!?!?! I'm going insane and I'm taking my boyfriend with me!
I'm counting every calorie, working out like a mad woman...ARGH!
I haven't done the Shred in awhile, maybe that's the issue. I haven't done much weigh training at all, really, in the past month. Instead. I've just been a cardio-fiend. This is primarily because cardio burns more calories for me in the short term and that helps me meet my daily calorie burned v. eaten goal. But its doing CRAP in terms of weight loss. Annoying. Seriously annoying.

Tomorrow, I lift weights.

Monday, November 17, 2008

BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!




<---This is what I felt like this morning!



Its finally that time of the year when I begin to seriously debate putting my bike away for the year. This morning was FREEZING!! And they're calling for snow later this week. Even though I was born and raised in upstate New York, the mild Maryland winters and slushy Philadelphia streets have made me kind of a weather wimp. I still LOVE the snow, but I am getting soft on cold. Sorry, Syracuse.

Somehow, Andrew managed to get me out of bed this morning to go to the gym with very minimal effort. Maybe I haven't mentioned this before, but I HATE mornings. HATE. HATE. Yes, I was in fact a rower in college. Yes, I did spend the better part of my college career getting up at 4:15am. I did it out of necessity then and I guess it backfired because now, I really HATE mornings.
I think Andrew was pretty shocked when I not only got out of bed, but proceeded to put on my gym clothes and wash my face (admit it, you TOTALLY thought I was going to skip it).
I was actually surprised at me, too. Even while I was walking to the bathroom, I was thinking "do I REALLY want to be up right now?"
We biked to the gym all bundled up and I gave the treadmill the best 40 minutes that I could, given my creaking knees and tight muscles. I'm not going to lie, the run pretty much sucked. But I did it and I'm glad I did. Now when I get home tonight, I can relax and make us a nice dinner before we have to run out the door again. Maybe I'll try to make this morning work out a regular thing. But that would require us getting to bed quite a bit earlier, so we'll see.

This weekend we planted trees with our neighborhood association on Sunday and met up with some of my old college friends on Saturday (SO fun! Everyone that went to my college is awesome and hilarious!). I ended up having to explain my Body Bugg to at least 5 people, because I wore short sleeves. but I got a couple compliments on how I was looking so I felt pretty good. (I'm not sure if the Body Bugg prompted them or not, it was hard to tell).
Friday night, Andrew had some of his boys over to bottle his hard cider (and watch a TERRIBLE movie called "The Warriors") so I went to bed early-ish.

I honestly forgot to weigh myself this morning (I was so distracted with getting my butt to the gym!) so I'll do that tomorrow or Wednesday. I did a LOT of snacking this weekend (although I did keep the booze intake at a very reasonable level) so I'm a little nervous about whether or not that had any impact.

I am beyond excited to go home next week for Thanksgiving! I haven't seen my family since August! Andrew and I are bringing an organic, grass fed turkey! YUM!

I actually forgot to

Monday, November 10, 2008

Take THAT, Stupid Pound!


Hoooo RA! Not only did I lose that stupid pound that I gained and have been chilling out with the past two weeks, I lost two more! And it's not even my weigh-in day! I don't know what possessed me to get on the scale this morning, even though its not even Thursday. Andrew and I both slept like CRAP last night thanks to our plethora of animals. The dog was whining because we ran out of food and she didn't like the egg/cornmeal concoction that Andrew made her for dinner. Then Mr. Puss was locked in the bathroom all night because we were trying to get another urine sample to take to the vet with him this morning (he's having x-rays and some tests done). So he was crying all night and making this awful squeaking noise (I discovered this morning that it was him pawing the mirror-the paw prints showed up post-shower, after the mirror got all foggy!) We both got up numerous times to deal with the pets and I had to use the downstairs bathroom all night so Puss wouldn't get out. After I walked up and down the stairs, I was ready to get up, not go back to bed.
We both skipped the gym this morning, on account of no sleep and crankiness. Even so, I still had to get up early to drop the cat off at the vet, where some jerk yelled at me because I wasn't an employee and couldn't open the locked door for him.
All of this before 8:15! needless to say, my morning did not start out well. Given my relationship with the scale the past few weeks, the LAST thing I should have done was get on it this morning. I guess I figured I would let it determine how my day was going to be. If the pound was still there: shitty. If not: a reason to have a great day, despite no sleep, annoying pets and a hillbilly jerk (who had his dog locked in a box in the bed of his truck, by the way).
I'm SO GLAD the scale was in my favor today! Now I'm officially 14 pounds lighter! I'm a little off track, and still a pound away from my Halloween goal, but after 2 weeks of maintaining, I'm very relieved to see ANY downward movement! (Especially since my sister called me on Saturday to tell me that she lost 10 pounds by "doing nothing." She has 2 kids under the age of 4 so that TOTALLY does NOT count. I told her that I was happy for her but that she was a jerk.)

Other reasons I feel awesome today:
*I got a sweet haircut and color (back to the natural brunette; it was fun being blonde while it lasted) for 60 bucks at the beauty school
*Andrew and I went shopping yesterday and I got a BRAND new pashmina for 9 bucks at the consignment shop, AND a new eyeshadow palette from MAC on SALE at Macy's AND a delicious dinner out (duck tacos with pineapple salsa-YUM! I should start taking pictures of my food...)
* I made my lunch last night so it was all ready for this morning (I LOVE when I plan ahead)
* I'm off work tomorrow for Veteran's Day!!!!

Yesterday I decided that I needed a tan so I ran down to the tanning salon (about 1.4 miles away). It was one of those mornings where you just can't get in a groove. You know what I mean? (When I said that to Andrew, he said "no." So I'm asking to make sure I'm not insane.) Anyhow, it was a rough start but I took it easy and finally got there. I haven't run outside in awhile because the cold really aggravates the arthritis in my knees. On the way back I did intervals, which was equally (if not more) painful. Then I did some quick wights when I got home. I skipped Saturday because I'm lazy and I was a little hungover.
Anyhow, here's to hoping that I'm back on track. It would be AMAZING to lose 6 pounds before Thanksgiving to make it an even 20! I think that will be my new goal. Here's to keepin on...

Friday, November 07, 2008

Working Through the Frustration (and other tidbits of inspiration)









Get it? Pound?

So for two weeks now I have been carrying around an extra pound that I had previously lost and now (apparently) won't go away. It's probably the most annoying pound I've ever dealt with. before I started using the Body Bugg, I really only counted pounds in significant numbers, maybe 5 plus. A pound here, a pound there never really mattered that much to me. Now I'm obsessed with a pound.
Suffice it to say, I did NOT meet my Halloween goal (despite an awesome costume) and instead ended up sick in bed for 4 days. I feel like I have been back on track since I finally dragged my butt out of bed on Tuesday, but I guess two days wasn't enough to kick that pound's ass before I had to step on the scale (ugh) on Thursday. These times of not losing are really tough.
I attempted a run on Tuesday, made it about 2 miles before my chest started to burn and my nose was running profusely, then called it a night. I did what I THOUGHT was easy yoga that I found On Demand on Wednesday but was really sore afterwards (and a little dizzy). It wasn't much but it was better than nothing, I guess. Yesterday was the first day that I really had close to 100% of my energy back. I ran 4 miles on my already sore legs and called it a night. It was a nice, steady state run that took me just about 40-45 minutes. I felt 150% better afterwards but my legs were definitely NOT. I was planning on doing some Shred level 3 tonight, but I may just settle for another easy run. Or whatever I can squeeze in before game night tonight! (yes, I am in fact a total nerd). I think we're ordering pizza so I've been munching salads and veggies all day. Also, I'm having wine tonight. Because I can. (Don't worry, I won't overdo it. I made that mistake 2 weekends ago).

Sooo about this election.



Whoah. These past few days have been so overwhelming and almost surreal. I think Andrew is still in disbelief because he keeps saying "Obama WON!" I read a story that two days before she died, Barack's grandma mailed in her absentee ballot. Her vote was the last gift she gave him. I was crying like a baby reading it. When CNN announced he won, it was like the Phillies had won the World Series all over again! People cheering in the streets, honking horns, fireworks. But this time, nothing got set on fire (well done, Philly!)
It feels like a new era. It really does. Even people who didn't vote for Obama can sense it. There's this intense undercurrent of ownership and pride everywhere. John Stewart remarked that the day after the Election, he was walking down the street and a weird thing happened: eye contact. Suddenly, people were looking each other in the eye, smiling, nodding. Foreign countries are cheering for us(now maybe they won't make fun of us in their newspapers). We finally have a leader that we can be proud of (not that I wouldn't have been proud of McCain, I would have. He's a great man. Sarah Palin on the other hand...)
My only fear now is that people are going to sit back and just expect change to happen. But I think that Obama made it very clear that change doesn't just happen; we are responsible for it happening. Casting a vote for a candidate is only the first step, the follow through is the hard part. I think what is unique is that Obama has empowered voters in a way unlike any other candidate before him. He reaffirmed our belief in the idea that our votes are powerful tools, and created a sense of ownership in our communities and our country. I hope it sticks. I hope people accept the responsibility and the ownership. Because these next few years are going to be tough. We here in Philly are having our libraries closed, firehouses closed, pools and ice rinks closed, our winter plowing cut back, just to name a few. I can only imagine that it will be even worse at the federal level. But we, as citizens, need to realize that these cuts are absolutely necessary. And that we, as a community, need to take responsibility to come up with creative ways to deal with all of it. I would encourage everyone to join their local community group, civic association, neighborhood meet-up, whatever you have. Get involved. Take ownership. Be responsible for your community.

“Everybody counts, everybody deserves a chance, everybody has a responsible role to play and we all do better when we work together.” ~Bill Clinton

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Yes we DID!!

I'm so totally exhausted/elated/moved/inspired right now that I couldn't put what I'm feeling into words even if I tried. But I do want to just take one hot second to express my sincerest gratitude to the fine citizens of Ohio and Virginia.

Dear Ohio and Virginia,
Thanks for coming through for us. You guys are awesome!
Love,
Becky

More tomorrow.....

:-)

Monday, November 03, 2008

Eating Healthy When You're Not

Ugh. I've been sick since Saturday morning. It feels like a mix of the flu and strep throat, complete with body aches and all kinds of congestion. I skipped a Halloween party on Saturday and spent the night with Nyquil. I woke up Sunday feeling even worse and spent the day moving between the bed and the couch.
I am burning maybe 1500 calories a day, which is like 1000 less than I should be. In addition to that, I'm ridiculously off target with my eating too. I know I should keep trying to eat healthy since I'm NOT healthy, but let's be honest, the last thing I want right now is a salad. Instead, I've had toast, yogurt, orange juice, an apple cider doughnut, mac and cheese, clementines and GALLONS of water. I tried to eat eggs this morning, but they tasted funny to my sick taste buds and I passed them off to Andrew.
I feel like I should be trying harder to eat better, but I just don't have the energy. So I'm trying to just eat as many calories as I burn and get better fast. At least then, I won't GAIN anything.
Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow and I can at least catch up on the laundry, cleaning and chores that have been neglected all weekend. I'm hoping to get in a light run too. I need to get back on track ASAP. I've already blown my goal for last week, I'll be REALLY upset if I blow it 2 weeks in a row.
I'm excited for Election Day tomorrow! I definitely don't want to be sick for that! I better keep chugging the OJ...