My friend Ann sent me a link to this video. It looks like a great workout for those of us who are time-pressed. All you need are a couple of hand weights and your own body. I can't wait to try it out!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Taco Night on the Dock
Ok so abstaining from alcohol hasn't really been happening, but I've been successful in cutting out Coffeemate entirely and cutting waaaaay back on my salt. So far today I've had about half the recommended sodium intake and I've already eaten breakfast, morning snacks, and lunch. Go me.
This photo is last night's dock picnic (we ended up not opening the Rainier (pronounced "rah-nyay," if you're fancy... or "Renoir" if you're Andrew and classin' up the beer even more) in favor of wine out of plastic cups). It was a fantastic balmy evening on the dock - perfect for sitting out in our shorts and chowing on gourmet dogs. We decided, shortly after this picture was taken, that the following evening (tonight) should be a dock potluck. I am currently slow cooking some pork for tacos. Our guests are all bringing a taco topping. I love taco nights. Taco taco taco. Taco.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
I'm a Salty Dog
I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down another three and a half pounds from when I pouted about my weight, making it a total of 5.5 pounds that I've lost in just a couple days. Looks like that excess salt came with a lot of excess water weight.
Yesterday was my first day of not additionally salting anything, and according to the Daily Plate, I was still over my recommended sodium intake by about 350mg. This might sound like a fail to you, but when I looked back over my nutrition intake from the last couple weeks, I was averaging about 1000mg to 2000mg over my recommended dosage. Some select days I was up to something like 4000mg of sodium in a day. Yowza.
Today is day-three of no Coffeemate. I had two cups of French press coffee, black, and not an ounce of me wanted to break down and buy creamer. My two slices of peanut butter toast may have had something to do with that - the peanut butter was sweet and creamy enough that it almost felt like I needed the black coffee to cut the richness.
Tomorrow evening I leave for Sacramento for a friend's wedding. Wish me luck in staying on track!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Coffeemate and a Check-In
This morning I woke up and I was a little sore, undoubtedly from yesterday's spill. I don't feel like running today. I'm not gonna. I'm tired and my ribs/everything hurts. I feel like it's hurting more as the day progresses.
Today is day-two without Coffeemate, and so far I'm not really missing it. My co-worker Jeff calls it "white death." I have to admit, that was part of my decision (maybe the nail in the coffin) to give it up. I think I might be able to go cold turkey, but I'm not going to commit to that route just yet. I think I need a full week of success before I call it out as a sustainable goal.
So I've been getting Jillian Michaels' e-newsletter, and one of her articles was How to Take Off Those Last 10 Pounds. Her advice is simple, direct, and not at all what I want to do. But I'm going to try... at least a little. I drink plenty of water and I work out (but I guess I could more), and I try to stay away from processed foods, but the drinking and the salting are where I definitely over-indulge. I am going to try really hard over the next several weeks to cut down on both A LOT and see how I feel. I typically eat about twice the recommended sodium in a day, so this will be an interesting experiment.
Today is day-two without Coffeemate, and so far I'm not really missing it. My co-worker Jeff calls it "white death." I have to admit, that was part of my decision (maybe the nail in the coffin) to give it up. I think I might be able to go cold turkey, but I'm not going to commit to that route just yet. I think I need a full week of success before I call it out as a sustainable goal.
So I've been getting Jillian Michaels' e-newsletter, and one of her articles was How to Take Off Those Last 10 Pounds. Her advice is simple, direct, and not at all what I want to do. But I'm going to try... at least a little. I drink plenty of water and I work out (but I guess I could more), and I try to stay away from processed foods, but the drinking and the salting are where I definitely over-indulge. I am going to try really hard over the next several weeks to cut down on both A LOT and see how I feel. I typically eat about twice the recommended sodium in a day, so this will be an interesting experiment.
Monday, June 14, 2010
A Belly Flop and Breakfast
I'm not going to tell you about how much I ate and drank over the weekend, but I will tell you I felt like a salt-cured pig by last night. I weighed myself and pouted about it, not that I was surprised. Usually I can tell if I'm retaining water because I feel it in my fingers, but I was feeling it all over my whole body, even my shins. Before I went to bed I chugged a ton of water and over night, I kid you not, I sweat out two pounds of water. Maybe more. I have no idea what the weight of the water was that I had between when I stepped on the scale and when I went to bed. The biology nerd in me is thinking, "Whoa! That's awesome!" But also, truthfully it's kinda gross.
Either way I look at it, I woke up this morning feeling a lot better. Not 100%, but at least I didn't feel like Violet Beauregarde anymore. Since I was awake at 5:30 and there was no chance I was going to fall back asleep, I decided to go for a run. It felt fantastic to be running, so I increased my speed a little. Michael Jackson came on my ipod and I went into the zone. I was rockin' and rollin' around a tight corner when my toe caught on some rockery. I desperately tried to catch my balance, but it was all in vain... I had too much forward motion, and I was going down no matter what. As I watched the pavement rush toward me (in slow motion, of course), I had to decide how exactly I wanted to take the impact. With the footing I had left, I hurled myself forward in an attempt to miss as much of the concrete as possible and land on the parking strip.
Now as if that's not enough of a visual, picture this: as I'm plummeting toward the ground I'm thinking, "I don't want to hurt my wrists," so I throw back my arms. Then I realize I'm about to face plant and get all worried about my teeth, so I throw my head back, lock open my mouth so my teeth don't bite down, and stick out my midsection to bear the brunt of the impact (yes, this is all going through my mind in the half second it took to actually fall). So I belly flop onto the grass, mouth open, looking skyward. I think I let out a noise that sounded like "huah!" when I hit the ground. I can't remember; my adrenaline was pumping pretty good.
Stunned, I sat up on my knees and surveyed the damage. Grass stains all down my front, a hole in my coat, and part of the plastic zipper shredded. Otherwise, I was golden. The woman who was parking her car as I was diving toward the grass leaned her head out the window. I have no idea what she said, but I'm assuming she was asking if I broke anything. Just my pride, girlfriend. I was still catching my breath, so I gave her a thumbs up and got to my feet. I was only about a half mile into the run, so I thought I'd finish it. When I got back to the apartment, I snapped a pic with my phone so you could see the damage. It's grainy, so I've embellished it for you:
Awesome, right? I really wish you could see all the levels of green in the grass stains. They're all over the front of the jacket, but it looks like the camera on my phone only picked up the darkest parts. I can't believe I wasn't hurt at all. Looks like this girl knows how to fall.
Then I made myself a delicious breakfast of egg white tacos with black beans and zucchini. No added salt. For those of you who know me well, you also know that me not add a shake or three of salt is HUGE. I thought the tacos would be bland and boring but they were actually delicious.
Also, as you can see today was day-one without Coffeemate. I'm going off it. It's not good for me and I don't need it. I haven't decided if I'm going to allow a weekend cup or not. Right now I'm going to play it by ear and definitely abstain on week days. Wish me luck.
Either way I look at it, I woke up this morning feeling a lot better. Not 100%, but at least I didn't feel like Violet Beauregarde anymore. Since I was awake at 5:30 and there was no chance I was going to fall back asleep, I decided to go for a run. It felt fantastic to be running, so I increased my speed a little. Michael Jackson came on my ipod and I went into the zone. I was rockin' and rollin' around a tight corner when my toe caught on some rockery. I desperately tried to catch my balance, but it was all in vain... I had too much forward motion, and I was going down no matter what. As I watched the pavement rush toward me (in slow motion, of course), I had to decide how exactly I wanted to take the impact. With the footing I had left, I hurled myself forward in an attempt to miss as much of the concrete as possible and land on the parking strip.
Now as if that's not enough of a visual, picture this: as I'm plummeting toward the ground I'm thinking, "I don't want to hurt my wrists," so I throw back my arms. Then I realize I'm about to face plant and get all worried about my teeth, so I throw my head back, lock open my mouth so my teeth don't bite down, and stick out my midsection to bear the brunt of the impact (yes, this is all going through my mind in the half second it took to actually fall). So I belly flop onto the grass, mouth open, looking skyward. I think I let out a noise that sounded like "huah!" when I hit the ground. I can't remember; my adrenaline was pumping pretty good.
Stunned, I sat up on my knees and surveyed the damage. Grass stains all down my front, a hole in my coat, and part of the plastic zipper shredded. Otherwise, I was golden. The woman who was parking her car as I was diving toward the grass leaned her head out the window. I have no idea what she said, but I'm assuming she was asking if I broke anything. Just my pride, girlfriend. I was still catching my breath, so I gave her a thumbs up and got to my feet. I was only about a half mile into the run, so I thought I'd finish it. When I got back to the apartment, I snapped a pic with my phone so you could see the damage. It's grainy, so I've embellished it for you:
Awesome, right? I really wish you could see all the levels of green in the grass stains. They're all over the front of the jacket, but it looks like the camera on my phone only picked up the darkest parts. I can't believe I wasn't hurt at all. Looks like this girl knows how to fall.
Then I made myself a delicious breakfast of egg white tacos with black beans and zucchini. No added salt. For those of you who know me well, you also know that me not add a shake or three of salt is HUGE. I thought the tacos would be bland and boring but they were actually delicious.
Also, as you can see today was day-one without Coffeemate. I'm going off it. It's not good for me and I don't need it. I haven't decided if I'm going to allow a weekend cup or not. Right now I'm going to play it by ear and definitely abstain on week days. Wish me luck.
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