Good/bad day

So this morning was enough to make me wanna pull all my hair out in individual strands. It sucked. But then came lunchtime when I got D registered for afterschool care (ie, no more of the day care where he always gets injured!), then we got some good news, and I found out I won a drawing on dam, and I was able to bless someone else with the majority of it, and well, the day just got AWESOME. I'm going to get in bed early tonite in preparation of walking 9.3 miles tomorrow morning. Yup, you read it right. We're walking the rock! White Rock, that is, and going to walk all the way around it. I'm guessing it will take about 3 hours.

I tried to hydrate today to prepare but it didn't go over so well, but I will be certain to take my propel tomorrow plus water just in case.

Ok on to food. Breakfast today was a Fiber One bar. Then I had some cheese crackers midmorning. Lunch was a late one of a Lean Cuisine pizza, so no yogurt for me today. Dinner, was Taco Bell, mainly because Stacy drug me there at lunchtime and I resisted then, but kept thinking about it...lol. I was good enough and just got a chicken quesadilla. They gave us free cinnamon twists, but I had only two of those, to end my day at 1220 calories.

Output: NONE! It was a freebie day and I'm enjoying every little bit of it before tomorrow.

Longgggg day

It began with not going to bed til super late last night, then awakened by a nasty storm this morning and the day just went from there. I got off work early to take D to the ENT where we found he's going to have to get tubes put in, due to still having no pressure in his ears, meaning there is fluid in there. I expected it, but it just makes me so mad to think that despite having NEVER had any ear problems previous to all this mess, that due to the carelessness of one individual, that he's gotta go through all this. Urgh. We will get that scheduled tomorrow.

After that we met our friends Amanda and her two beautiful kiddos for dinner. We had a great time but then decided to go to Target to finish school shopping, so we did not get in a walk tonite. It's ok because my legs were feeling odd after last night, so I kept it a half day.

Food today was a bit higher than usual, which is ok, I've been doing really good lately staying low, and don't mind a day here and there where it goes up. I can't say the dessert I had with dinner was a great thing, but it was good...lol Breakfast was a Fiber One bar. Then I had a tbsp of peanut butter mid morning. Lunch was a Weight Watchers Ziti meal. My afternoon snack was a fat free yogurt. Dinner was at Chilis. I had a little chips and queso, and then I got the quesadilla explosion salad, but minus the corn, tortilla strips, etc. So basically, a grilled chicken salad with a side of a kids quesadilla...lol and ranch on the side. Our dessert (we got the 2 people can eat for $20, so it came with the appetizer, meal and dessert) was a Sweet Shot, and mine was warm cinnamon roll...YUM! It totally hit the spot, and yeah, it was some emotional eating after the doc appt. I kept the rest of it in check though once I got home, ending my day at 1744 calories.

Output: about 30-35 minutes of cardio dance this evening. We are allowed 3 half days, 3 full days and 1 off day, so tomorrow will be my off day, and then sat and sun will both be at least one hour days to finish off the week.

Speedwork

It was suggested to me, to help work on my walking pace, to start doing speedwork in the shorter walks each week. Basically, try to walk faster than usual for 5 minutes, then slow your pace way down until your heart and lungs feel like they are feeling better, then try it again, for as much of the 4 miles as possible. With less than 2 months now til the half marathon, I def need to be working on this, along with the really long distance bumps once a week, so I'm going to start on that tonite. Heck, I figure if I already dropped almost 5 minutes in two months, there's a good chance of dropping another couple of minutes at least. So that was my plan for tonite.

I realized very quickly that I had made several key errors though. #1: We went earlier than usual, at 6, rather than at 730. My hope was that we could go before dinner and get it over with. #2: We were doing this speedwork, in my neighborhood, where there are inclines. #3: I miscalculated how hot and sunny it was. When we got home, I thought it was cloudy and cooler than it was, so I wore a tanktop (though I did use sunscreen). So I did 5 easy minutes, then 5 as fast as I could, 5 easy, etc. Needless to say, by the end of the first mile I was whooped. I stopped the speedwork at 1.5 miles and walked normal. I decided to finish up and go home, which would be 2 miles total. At the 2 miles, I was passing my alley, but decided to suck it up and walk one more mile normal to make 3. I'm quite proud of myself for that!! (Oh and tomorrow, we're going to try it again at Bob Woodruff where its flatter!! lol

I'm also starting to look for new walking shoes. I want to get them within the next 2 weeks so I can have them broken in by the half. I've already gotten a suggestion for these Easy Spirit ones, and I have contemplated going by Luke's Locker or Run On one day at lunch to get fitted. But if you have any good suggestions, please let me know! I need to get on this soon. My current ones, at 7.5 miles last weekend, my feet were HURTING, in a way that they had not for any previous walk. They need to be fairly affordable and in wide widths.

Ok on to food for today...breakfast got switched up a bit. I had a Fiber One oats and apple streudel bar (YUM!). Lunch was a Lean Cuisine 3 meat deep dish pizza, and then for an afternoon snack I had most of a banana and a fat free yogurt. Dinner was a slice of cheese right after my walk while cooking, and then a Birds Eye 3 cheese chicken skillet meal...yummo! For a lateish snack, I had half a baggie of Pirate Booty to end my day at 1204 calories.

Output: a 2.97 mile walk that took us 56 minutes. I was warned that it'd be slower at first with the speedwork, and I'm ok with that. Then I did about 5 minutes of slow stretching to finish my hour.

Stressing sucks

Things have been so tight financially lately, that I've really been stressing over it, and frankly, it all sucks. So I haven't been sleeping well, and I know I've been low on cals, but not much other choice. I got a smidge of breathing room today with it all, so we had a really good dinner, but the rest of the day was super light.

Breakfast was a Nutrigrain bar. Lunch was chicken noodle soup and baked chips. No afternoon snack. After a grocery store visit, while cooking dinner, I had a baggie of Pirate Booty. Dinner was shake n bake chicken nuggets, over spaghetti, with sugar snap peas and strawberries. I had a little mango ice cream to end my day at 1222 calories.

Output: with the MUCH needed grocery store trip, we ended up not having time to walk. I think it worked out though, I still did about 35 minutes of cardio dance this evening. I'll have two 4 mile days together tomorrow and Thursday, then a day off on Friday before our long walk this weekend.

One long monday

It really did drag today. Doesn't help that I did not get much sleep last night. I'm thankful that I woke up not sore. I was starting to get worried that I had pulled a muscle in my groin/upper leg with all the walking, since I was pretty sore in between my hip and thigh on Saturday evening, and then again after the 5K on Sunday. But yay, I woke up this morning with no problems and have not felt it all day, so I'm guessing it was just soreness. I made sure to rest my legs today.

Food was light today. Breakfast was a Nutrigrain bar. Lunch was a pbj and a bag of kosher dill chips. Dinner was mini hamburgers with some miracle whip on whole grain bread, corn, and frozen strawberries. I had an evening dessert of mango ice cream to end my day at 1205 calories.

Output: today was a half day for me so I did all arm work in three 10 minute segments through the day...bicep curls and shoulder presses with 2 lb weights, and then tricep dips. I added in 50 crunches late in the evening.

Heels and Hills 5K

D and I got up at the ungodly hour of 430am to be out the door by 5:15am to join our friends at a Heels and Hills event. It was a Dollar Per K 5K/10K/15K. Dina and I walked the 5K, Jenn walked the 10K, and Holly ran the 15K. I'm proud of us, we all (as Jenn puts it) "showed up". I know for me, I would have had a great excuse to not do it, as I just walked 8 miles yesterday, but I knew it needed to be done. It was something I wanted and needed to do for myself.

And I'm glad I did because I got to compare times! I did the Red Nose Run 5K two months ago at the start of our training, and my chip time was 58:25. They posted the results for today's 5K already, and my chip time was 53:41!!! That's an almost 5 minute different in just two months!! I couldn't believe it...yeah, I DEF needed to be there this morning to know that.

Food today has been decent, though high cal, which is fine. I needed it with two walks this weekend, gotta feed my body! Before the race, I had a pbj. Afterward we went to Steak and Shake where I got a kids breakfast (scrambled egg, bacon and toast). It was super cheap and just the right amount! Lunch was at my grandma's. We had bbq (no bun for me!), cottage cheese, a few chips, salad with light ranch, and half of a corn on the cob (no butter). After that, my aunt treated us to a movie (G Force...cute for D...corny as all get out for mommy) and D and I split a small popcorn. I had a serving of butter noodles (no butter added) that I made with dinner, but other than that I didn't eat much. I had a big lunch. I'm going to have a bit of mango ice cream this evening which will end my day at 1645 calories.

Output: an almost 54 minute 3.1 mile walk this morning, plus a few minutes of stretching, and then I did a few more minutes of light stretching at my grandma's as I got stiff after lunch.

8 and 100 rocks!

This morning, D and I got up to be out the house at 6:30am to bust out...8 miles...yup, you heard it right. We hoofed it (well, I hoofed it, D rode it) up to the Santa Fe trail and then across plano to Bob Woodruff and back. It was freaking hot outside, and I started feeling it around mile 5, then 6, but was still going strong...until mile 7.5. My feet were KILLING me by then and it was all I could do to get home, but hey...I did it. And in...decent...time. Decent enough anyway.

The awesome news...is that this 8 miles threw me over the 100 miles of walking in training!!! See the ticker on the right...it put me at 103 miles actually, that I have walked in two months. Holy cow!

Ok so that's the good news...no real bad news. I did come home after the walk and pretty much promptly pass out in the bed for a good nap...lol I had just enough time to cool down, have a quick bite of cheese, and get D a snack before I did. Before the walk though, I had half a pbj. Then a bottle of Propel during the walk. Right after was the small piece of cheese. When I got up, I made lunch for us. A cup of mac n cheese and the leftover porkchops from earlier in the week. Dinner was a smoked turkey sandwich with miracle whip before I headed to my cousin's baby shower. I had a tiny piece of cake there, plus one sugar cookie and a small cup of punch to end my day at 1827 calories.

Output: one long freaking walk...lol It took me 2:40 exactly. I'll admit I was kind of hoping for 2:30 but knew that my last 7 mile was 2:15, so 2:30 wasn't very feasible...lol I'm happy with it though, and paid for it the rest of the day with soreness.

Finally friday!

It has REALLY been a long week with AF hanging around, so I'm glad its about over!

Breakfast today was...yup...another Nutrigrain bar...lol They've had them in the machine at work and I figure they are better than those darn baked chips (same cals too!) Lunch was a Lean Cuisine deep dish pizza that I grabbed at lunchtime at Walmart. I had an afternoon snack of two slices of whole grain toast with reduced sugar jelly. Dinner was spaghetti with a hamburger patty crumbled up in it and apple slices. My evening snack was mango ice cream to end my day at 1252 calories. I'm pretty proud of us, we've eaten at home every night this week except Monday. Albeit, money has been super tight, but still. It'd be way easy to grab tacos or something cheap but we haven't done it. I planned ahead last week to make sure we had meals for this week.

Output today: nada, its my off day. Well aside from a walk around walmart getting school supplies and a lunch frozen meal...LOL Getting ready to walk 8 miles tomorrow!

Oops!

I so totally forgot to post this til Friday. I went to bed early tonite (Thursday) to get some much needed rest. Too bad I didn't STAY asleep all night between my own dreams and D waking up, but it was good to have a head start on it all. lol

Breakfast was a Nutrigrain bar. Lunch was a PBJ and bugles. Dinner was Stouffers Easy Express Cheese manicotti, 1 light hotdog, and broccoli. I threw in the hotdog cause we had 2 left and D was beggin...I compromised, and he ate every little bit of every bit of food we had, including a cup of steamed carrots...yeah, I was in shock too. Hmmmm me thinks a growth spurt is coming. I had some mango icecream a bit later to end my day at 1254 calories.

Output: we really did try for a walk. I got to the end of the alley and AF gave me a rude reminder of her continued presence... :( So we had to hurry back home. Booooooo. So I ended up doing 30 minutes on the bike last night. Today only needed to be a 30 minute day anyway since tomorrow is my off day, and then Saturday is my 8 mile walk and Sunday is the 5K I'm doing (so that will be about an hour).

The Dirty 30 NOLA Trip - Day One Highlights

As promised, here are some highlights pics of our first day in NOLA, which also just happened to be on my actual birthday, July 17, 2009.

Stacy and I in front of our hotel shortly after we got there so please excuse the dazed, drugged looks...we'd been driving all night.

More dazed, drugged looks...hehe...since we got there so early and had time to kill til we could get our hotel room, we decided to go ahead and take the city tour we wanted to do. It was a couple hours long and took us through the French Quarter, off the bus into a cemetary, and then through the worst of the Katrina hit areas. These included the 8th, 9th, and lower 9th Wards.

The markings on some of the houses was still there from when search teams came through. Notice Katrina was in August 2005, this home was not searched til 911 (Sept 11th), the empty space at the bottom was for number of fatalities. I think we only saw 2 houses with fatalities, but I have a feeling that there were a lot more where the houses were no longer standing and just empty lots. :(

Saint Roch's Cemetary. They fit whole families into those tombs, and its quite an interesting story of how its done.

A Katrina hit house. Notice in the upper right corner of the house, the hole in the ceiling, most likely used as an escape from the rising waters. We saw quite a few of these and I think it was what most disturbed me.

A close up of the holes

Part of the Katrina monument - symbolizes how high the water went in that area

I didn't catch what this part of it symbolized

One of the Brad Pitt Make It Right homes, designed to be entirely "green"

A FEMA trailer with a memorial outside of it

One of the empty lots, the home was just...gone...

After the tour and naps for both of us, we headed to dinner at a restaurant called Rum House in the Garden District. I had never tried fried plantains before, but Stacy talked me into it, they were pretty good! Of course, you can't go to a place called Rum House without getting...RUM...or in our case, Rum Punch.

After that, we walked down to the Riverwalk to look around and explore. This crawfish got a bit fresh with me, I had to put him in his place. *grin*

Then we got on the ferry to go across the Mississippi River and see Sin City from a distance. What a gorgeous site to behold!

Stacy and I on the ferry

Ya know, policemen really shouldn't leave their cars unattended on a ferry. We had to pose a bit...this particular pose, I dubbed "The Po Po Ho" (shout out to Madea!)

After wandering around a bit, we went to a place overlooking the river called the Crazy Lobster for another drink and some dessert for my birthday. Stacy talked these poor musicians into singing Happy Bday to me...lol they were getting ready to GO...but they obliged. So sweet.

And on our way back to the hotel, we skimmed in and out of some souvenir shops, just goofing off. As you can see.

I think I look good as a red head! What do you think?

A light day

I told y'all I was keeping this week light and I meant it. I have no regrets from this past weekend, but definitely not weighing anytime soon!! lol

Breakfast was a Nutrigrain bar. Lunch was a PBJ and a bag of baked chips. No afternoon snack as I ate lunch pretty late. Dinner was hamburger pattys, mashed tatoes and ranch style beans. I had an evening snack of mango ice cream to end my day at 1207 calories.

Output: today is a 30 minute day, so I did arm work (bicep lifts, tricep dips, shoulder presses) using 2 lb weights and 50 crunches this evening. The tricep dips kill me still so those take time. I think it prolly ended up being about 45 minutes total.

Back to work

It's nice and not so nice. I'm pretty tired today, but it's good to get back into a routine. D wasn't so sure about going back to daycare, and he ended up not having a great day. He did fine behaviorally, but at naptime, did a nosedive into a toy shelf, busting his lip and giving himself a bloody nose. So graceful. Oy.

Breakfast this morning was a nutri-grain bar. I had a mid morning snack of a tbsp of peanut butter. Lunch was tuna salad (with Miracle Whip) and baked chips. My afternoon snack was a slice of whole grain toast with some reduced sugar jelly on it. Dinner was Shake N Bake porkchops with some bbq sauce, plus broccoli/cheese rice. For an evening snack, I had a frozen capri-sun to end my day at 1262 calories.

Output: I got up this morning and did 35 minutes on the bike (part of why I'm so tired, I SO didn't get in bed til late last night either, BUT I didn't wanna have to do an hour tonite). Then at lunch, I took a 15 minute walk around the building, sticking close to the bathroom as AF is still being a total PITA. I did 10 minutes this evening of cardio dance, which was about all I could do anyway. But I got my time in.

What a weekend!!

We are back from our whirlwind trip to New Orleans for my birthday! It was such an awesome trip, and its hard to believe that its over! Stacy and I ate a lot of really awesome food, walked miles upon miles upon miles, and laughed ourselves silly half the time. I'll start slowly adding highlight pics here once I get caught up.

In the meantime, its back to the grind. We're starting up the exercise challenge again today, which is now 3 days of 30 minutes, 3 days of an hour and one off day.

I'm going to keep this week pretty low calorie wise to balance out the indulgence of the weekend, and will come back later and update my food for today. So far I've had half a pbj on whole grain bread for breakfast, and then lunch was light hotdogs and noodles with a teaspoon of olive oil and some Tony Chacheres seasoning. We're at home today since D woke up with poo ALL over the place. I think its how his body processes lots of changes. :( He's been pretty quiet today so I know he needs a rest day. Dinner was at Jasons Deli. I had a big salad with lowfat ranch, grilled chicken, apples, 2 pickle slices, and then a choc ice cream cone from there. I had some goldfish crackers late in the evening to end my day at 1219 calories.

Output: I did 30 minutes on the bike today (AF is kicking BOOTY today so these next few days will be mostly bike plus other stuff)

Less than 24 hours to go...

and I have completely checked out of ANYTHING work related. It's a good thing I don't have much to do, other than answering the phone/checking the support email, etc.

I ate decently today. My breakfast was a banana. Lunch was a Sonic grilled chicken sandwich (I had to run by the house at lunchtime today) plain with just a bit of ranch to dip in, and then a baggie of baked chips back at work. No afternoon snack. Dinner was at Blackeyed Pea where I had the grilled chicken with bbq sauce, rice, and a house salad with ranch dressing, plus one wheat roll to end my day at 1338 calories.

Output: I did more arm work (bicep curls, tricep dips, shoulder presses), plus 50 crunches. We will likely be starting the exercise challenge up again on Monday, so stay tuned for details on THAT. We are modifying the rules just a tad more.

The countdown has begun...

Well it already began, but needless to say, I am SO counting down the minutes til the big day on Friday!

Today was a lightish day again. Breakfast was a banana. Lunch was a can of Annie's Bernie-Os (basically, organic spaghetti-os...lol). My afternoon snack was 2 slices of whole grain toast, with some reduced sugar jelly. Dinner is going to be at Olive Garden. I have planned for salad with some low fat dressing, 1 breadstick, and then the kids grilled chicken meal, which is grilled chicken, broccoli and spaghetti. Beth brought carrot cake for my birthday so I had a piece of that to end my day at 1353 calories. Yum! Thanks again Beth!

Output: we went home first to do our 3 mile walk (53.5 minutes, and it was the last 3 mile we'll have ever in this training! It's ALLLLLL 4 (and long walks) after this, baby!), then we went to eat after that.

A lightish Monday

Knowing that I have a big weekend coming up, I'm tryin to keep the majority of this week fairly light. Breakfast was a banana. Lunch was Chef Boyardee 98% fat free ravioli, plus 2 slices of whole grain bread with a bit of reduced sugar jelly. My afternoon snack was a fat free yogurt. Dinner was 2 mini hamburger patties with ketchup, mashed tatoes, and broccoli, and then I had a 100 cal minibag of popcorn to end my day at 1279 calories.

Output: today was an off day workout wise for me, so I did some arm work. Bicep curls and shoulder presses with 2 lb weights, and then tricep dips.

Mexican food and my fave cake...woot!

My family treated D and I to lunch today for my upcoming birthday, and my aunt made my alltime fave cake. It was a darn good day til this evening...I'm mad at myself this evening about some things. I'll get over it, just sucks.

Food today was pretty high, but I stuck to my guns and stayed just barely under my limit. I was given wrong info on where we were eating, but fortunately it was the same "type" of place, Mexican food, so I got basically the exact same thing! But first breakfast. Before our walk, I had a banana, and then after our walk, I had a fat free yogurt. Lunch was at La Calla Doce, a lil mexican seafood restaurant in Oak Cliff. And all I gotta say is, YUM. I got the lunch chicken fajitas, which came with a small amount of cheese and sour cream. I was glad my portion was so controlled! My aunts split a regular fajitas and their side of cheese/sourcream was ginormous! I used a lot of salsa (their's is DA BOMB) to really wash down the lack of c/sc. It made it easy to calculate cals though. I did have some chips/queso, but really tried to make sure I moderated it. After lunch, we headed to my grandma's where my aunt had baked my fave cake, CARROT CAKE. I knew this ahead of time, so was prepared for it, and it was delish!! Dinner this evening was a Birds Eye Chicken alfredo skillet meal to end my day at 1868 calories.

Output: a 7 mile walk that took us 2 hours and 15 minutes. I'm glad I have tomorrow off working out! I'm tired! I'll prolly do some arm work tomorrow though, but will def be resting my legs. We bump to 4 miles on Tues, Thurs and Sats now, so I need to take advantage of my days off.

Happy Birthday 7-11

We really enjoyed your free slurpees today, 7-Eleven!!! Happy birthday to you! lol

It was a good day for us, and I def ate well to make up for low days this past week! Before our morning walk, I had 1.5 slices of whole grain toast with a bit of butter. Lunch was CFA, I had a chicken sandwich and fries with ketchup. Our afternoon snack was a small (well, smaller than their small...7.11 ounces) coke slurpee...yummy! Dinner was at Chilis...I got the half portion of the chicken quesadillas with some sourcream, and then a side salad. I did splurge having plenty of extra cals and got a Sweet Shot...warm cinnamon roll...DA BOMB!!! And I ended my day at 1850 calories.

Output: a 4 mile walk which took us just under an hour and 14 minutes.

And we have a winner!

I haven't announced this to her yet, nor have I posted it on DAM (will do that next). But as of today, Jamie has officially won the exercise challenge that she, Teresa, and I began a LONG TIME AGO (our official start date was April 6th!!!). Teresa was out a couple weeks ago, and I bombed out today. I used a half day on Wednesday, but only did 30 minutes on Thursday, so had to use that as my full day off. And today I didn't get in an hour. :( I knew that I had to do 4 miles on Sat and 7 miles on Sunday so I just couldn't motivate myself to push through it.

Jamie, you have been an AWESOME competitor in this. I'm so proud of you for sticking with it with us and rockin it!! And girl, you totally deserve the Wii Game prize considering most all of your workouts have been on the Wii!!

I will say, part of me will be kinda glad to only have to do 30 minutes on my 3 off days from walking, especially since we bump to 4 miles three days a week this weekend. Regardless, this challenge was so perfect for getting all 3 of us motivated to kick butt and take names.

Ok on to eating...it was a very light day and I struggled to get over 1200 cals. It's ok, I'll make it up tomorrow! My breakfast was peanut butter crackers. Lunch was hearty chicken noodle soup (though not really that hearty...lol) and two slices of whole grain toast with some reduced sugar jelly. No afternoon snack. Dinner was a thrown together casserole of rice, 2 chicken tenderloins diced, 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup, green beans, and french fried onions on top. Yum!! For dessert, I had 1/2 a cup of mango icecream to end my day at 1212 calories.

Output: about 25 minutes of cardio dance this evening.

A short walk is better than none, I guess?

I had a feeling tonite would be bad. With D injuring his eye yesterday, he was in pain this morning. When I picked him up from school, he conked his face on the car door, which opened UP the wound by his eye. :( Plus he was complaining of his ear hurting, the same ear that busted, so I'm def concerned about that. This evening, I could tell he was fading fast. He started to meltdown some, but I took him on our walk regardless. Yeah we made it about a mile before the first meltdown. I headed closer to the house and lapped the alley. Since it's private, I did work on jogging some, for another .4 miles til D finally fully melted down and we headed inside for him to go to bed. So I didn't get in my full 3 miles but I was glad we at least got out there. It was better than nothing, and geez it was so hot I was still drenched when we came in!

Food was decent today. I had 1/2 a pbj for bfast (and really hope you guys are glad it wasn't chips! lol). I did have half a tbsp of peanut butter around midday. Lunch was a Weight Watchers ziti meal, and my afternoon snack was a fat free yogurt. Dinner was frozen chicken nuggets with some ketchup, rice with a little butter in it, and broccoli to end my day at 1312 calories.

Output: I got in a 24 minute walk and nothing else :(. I've already used my half day this week so I'll have to consider this my off day. Not sure how I'm going to get in an hour tomorrow (a Friday) but I will do my best.

A very sore day...

Well ok it hasn't been just INSANE soreness, but I have had twinges in the oddest places at the oddest times. My thighs are not happy with me today...lol Its all good though, I really try to revel in the soreness. It means I did something RIGHT. Ha!

I was good today considering we are having pizza for dinner. Breakfast was baked chips, and THANK GOODNESS it was the last bag in the machine!! Oy. Ok anyway, I had half a tbsp of peanut butter midmorning, and then a South Beach pizza for lunch. (Yes, I didn't know we were having pizza for dinner when I got it). My afternoon snack was a fatfree yogurt. Dinner is some yumminess at Picasso's. I split a small pizza with D (hamburger thin crust) and then got a side salad with ranch, which will end my day at 1425 calories. Not too bad...but had more pizza than I intended on since it was thin, not regular, and I overestimated.

Output: I did 30 minutes of cardio dance this evening which is such a great stress reliever for me!

Bob's Challenge

Y'all know Bob, right? From Biggest Loser? He rocks...but I have a healthy hatred for him too...lol

I'ma fan of his on FaceBook and he posts challenges most every day. Today I decided to do his challenge since it included a 50 min walk which I already have to do tonite (well, 3 miles, roughly 54 minutes).

Bob's challenge today
50 shoulder presses
50 bicep curls
50 tricep dips
50 minute walk
100 crunches.

I did it all today. And let me tell you, I'm hurtin...the presses, curls and crunches went by easy enough. I struggled a bit with the crunches but did ok. The tricep dips...bout took me down. First of all, NEVER attempt them shortly after lotioning your hands. PSA for the day...and true story. Yeah, ouch. They KILL my thighs though, and I needed those thighs for a certain 3 mile walk tonite, so I ended up doing em in sets of 4 or 5...lol Hey, I got em done. That's what counts!

I'll post here whenever I do another challenge, depends on what it is! And I might repeat this challenge twice a week or so as a little extra lift on my walking days.

Food today...is decent enough. Breakfast was baked chips. Yes, again...lol they are the pickle flavored ones and I have a serious addiction to them! It's ok though, the machine at our work will run out of em within another day or so and I'll be detoxed til next time. I did have half a tbsp of peanut butter midmorning. I took my multivitamin and it made me incredibly nauseous! Lunch was a weight watchers ziti meal. My afternoon snack was a fat free yogurt. Before our walk this evening, I had a small bowl of rice and broccoli, lightly sauteed in a bit of zesty italian light dressing. And then after our walk, I had a pbj to end my day at 1244 calories.

Output: see above for extra stuff. For the walk, I have good news and bad news. I used iMapmyRun for the first time for a full 3 mile walk (we've been using it for the long walks and its been way accurate), and realized I've only been doing 2.96 miles :( and in 54 minutes, which has been getting frustrating to see that 54 EVERYTIME. But tonite...I lengthened the walk by doing a few more circles in the alley to 2.99, in 52:40!!!! And I know some of that was slow down too from the circles I did, I think I could do it in 52 minutes flat if I tried. So I was excited! Less time and more distance. I like! I did really try to vary my walk tonite. I realized how I kinda sink my hips/knees down when I walk, I guess in a bobbing fashion, and that was slowing me down! So I made a concerted effort to straighten my body, shorten my strides and use my feet to keep me going. It burned in the first 1/2 mile, but evened out, and I could def tell I was going faster. The hills weren't any better, and I was DRENCHED when I got home in sweat, but I'll consider that a great workout!

Monday, Monday

And I was SO tired today. I had quite a long emotional evening last night, that I just couldn't relax my mind enough to sleep. I was still feeling kinda overwhelmed this morning, but was able to journal it and process through it.

Food today was decent. I had baked chips for breakfast. Lunch was a South Beach pepperoni pizza. My afternoon snack was a fatfree yogurt. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Routine works REALLY well for me, so having the same thing over and over, is not a problem. I thrive in that. Dinner tonite was a Birds Eye chicken alfredo skillet meal, plus two slices of whole grain toast with a bit of margarine on em. I do believe this skillet meal was my fave so far of the ones we've tried. For snack this evening, I had some Teddy Grahams snack mix to end my day at 1235 calories.

Output: today is my half day so this evening D and I did a 15 minute jam session, and then I biked 15 minutes to round it out. And then this evening I did cardio dance for an hour to work out some frustrations. Whew!!! Tired!

Over halfway there...

and another milestone down. Jenn and I got up this morning and in drizzling rain, hoofed it 7 miles. And D was such a trooper, riding in the jogging stroller. I was very proud of him, and I know both Jenn and I were super proud of ourselves. I ended up bawling crying on the way home when the reality of being over half way to something I never even thought possible hit me. It's an awesome feeling. I think it was just an emotional day for me in general with some other things that happened this afternoon/evening.

Foodwise, I did ok today. I wasn't super concerned with cals (though tried to keep it good). Before our walk, I had a slice of whole grain toast with a bit of butter. Afterward we hit up Dennys, where I got the senior omelette with salsa, had 1.5 pieces of toast and only half the hashbrowns with a bit of ketchup. In the afternoon, I had a PBJ sandwich. And after my meeting tonite, I was hungry, so went by Wendys. No, not a great choice, but it reallycould have been worse. I got the 10 piece chicken nugget meal (but gave D two of em even though he'd already eaten), small fries, and some ketchup to end my day at 1846 calories.

Output: a 7 mile walk which took us 2 hours and 17 minutes. It was exhausting, exhilarating, and every other term I can think of that compare to those. I felt really good afterward though. My legs got stiff while eating after it, but once we got home, I was feeling decent. Even ended up going to White Rock Lake park after that for 2 hours. It's 10pm and I'm at 4152 cals burned so far.

Happy July 4th!!

We want to wish everyone a wonderful July 4th, and we pray you were able to spend it with your loved ones!

Due to unforeseen car issues, we ended up not going out of town, and instead spent the day bumming around once I got a new battery for my car. After that, we met some friends for dinner and then some others at the playground to see fireworks!

I did good on cals considering I let myself have some crappy food. I figured I would have eaten crappy at the lake anyway (and I DID miss all that food!!!). Breakfast was merely a capri sun...lol Lunch was 3 slices of Mr Jim's Pepperoni Pizza (I had a free coupon), and then for dinner, we hit up Snuffers! I have not had a great burger in forever and that totally was satisfying for me! Teresa and I split a cheeseburger and fried pickles with ranch on the side to end my day at 1849 calories.

Output: I did not get up and walk but I did get in my hour, though just barely. D and I had a 30 minute jam session in the morning to work out some frustrations, and then I biked 30 minutes while he napped in the afternoon. I would have rather napped. :( And probably should have, but oh well.

Ikea and KaBOOM Town!

I wasn't sure how today would turn out, as AF has been being annoying today, but it really worked out! We did get up this morning and walked our 3 miles from yesterday, then we relaxed a bit til it was time to go meet up with some friends. Nick Jr had a Dora movie on, and I didn't hear from D for an hour this morning...lol that rocked!

We hit up IKEA for 4 hours today, and really enjoyed that. Afterwards we headed to Kaboom Town in Addison with Jenn and her daughter. We got there at 5:30ish and very quickly realized the kids weren't gonna make it til 930 (fireworks!) without some intervention that didn't require swimming in VERY overcrowded fountains or spending money on food/bounce houses. So we wandered over to Addison Circle's restaurants and found that Greenz had an awesome patio where we could block the kids in and let em play. We sat there and relaxed (and were joined abit later by some other friends) for over 2 hours til it was time to head to where we had parked to see the fireworks!

D had some minor antsiness at IKEA, but the whole evening he was just awesome. He played, listened VERY well, and really gave me the time I needed to just be able to relax on the patio. I was so proud of him, and it was a much needed mental rest.

I did really good food-wise today. After our walk this morning I had two special K waffles with some light syrup on them. Lunch was at IKEA. I got the pasta marinara with meatballs. It also had a piece of garlic bread on the side. Before leaving IKEA, we got ice cream cones. Dinner was out at Kaboom Town but I had planned ahead and brought ours. I had a PBJ, some teddy grahams snack mix, a 100 cal cheeto pack, small apple juice box, and then later, a chicken strip that Jenn shared with us...lol I ended my day at 1593 calories.

Output: a 55 minute 3 mile walk this morning to make up for yesterday. It was slower but I also haven't walked since last Saturday due to AF. I also added in about 5 minutes of stretching afterward to work out the kinks. We walked IKEA for a LONG time...lol

Revelations

Last night as I was fixing dinner, I had a pretty big revelation hit me about why I do not like to eat at home much. When I was a kid, most every meal was fast food. We only ever ate at home when my mom was just BROKE. So I came to associate eating at home with that feeling. It all made sense. When I'm at my lowest money-wise, I end up eating out more. Because it helps calm that anxiety, that feeling about it. So now that I've recognized it, I need to figure out how to combat it and overcome it, mainly because I have never wanted D to grow up like I did, with fast food all the time. I do pretty good with keeping him balanced I think but we do eat out a lot. I try to make sure he has better choices than I did though. I'm not sure how I'm going to counteract this, but will be figuring it out. Knowledge is power, right?

On to food...we have a big weekend coming up so I kept today light as well. Breakfast was baked chips again. Lunch was a Weight Watchers ziti meal. Afternoon snack was a fatfree yogurt. Dinner is going to be at Tin Star. I'm getting a kids chicken quesadilla with some chips and salsa. And then D and I will be hitting up Braums on the way home for a kids cup of Capp Chunky Choc frozen yogurt to end my day at 1244 calories.

Output: nada...today is my off day. Since we have tomorrow off, I decided to cop my regular thursday walk on a Friday morning to avoid the heat of the day. I'll be walking Sat and Sun as well, so I'm enjoying today off!!! lol

Back in gear...I think...

It's been a rough few weeks mentally and emotionally for me. D's birthday and some other events kicked off what very nearly turned out to be another relapse, and I'm just now getting my head back in the game. I posted last week but didn't go into detail but I did binge on Tuesday evening. I've been barely hanging on since, doin ok on cals, but had let myself slip back into fast foods to avoid thinkin about it. And now I need to crack back down on that to really get my head on straight. I feel good about it today though as we come up on a holiday weekend (when I REALLY need to be strong!! lol)

On Saturday, we'll be at a family reunion where I know the food is going to be off the chain! The only redeeming factor is that I'll have walked 3 miles that morning, then we're coming home that evening, and the next day, I'll be walking 7 miles with my training buddy. So I'll burn that mess off. No, it does not give me leave to overeat, I'll still be logging it, counting and preparing. But it does give me a bit of leeway.

Today was a decent food day. Well ok, breakfast wasn't great. I just had some baked chips as nothing else sounded good! Lunch was a Lean Cuisine pizza, and then this afternoon, I had an Eating Right nutrition bar and a fat free yogurt. Dinner was grilled chicken sauteed in zesty italian light dressing, Lipton butter noodles (made without butter), and broccoli. My evening snack was watermelon and a frozen Capri Sun (slushie!!! lol) to end my day at 1211 calories. Yes, its low, but again, coming up on that holiday weekend, I think I'll be ok.

Output: I got up this morning and did 40 minutes on the bike. AF is still actin a fool so I have to be choosy. I walked Tom Thumb for 10 minutes at lunch before doing my shopping. And this evening, I'll get in 10 minutes somewhere.