2/28/2013

catching up

I've definitely been more engaged in my job lately, so that's a plus.

Unfortunately I did not become more engaged in my healthy lifestyle.  This may be one of the saddest graphs I've ever had at the end of a month...The only thing I got right was eating out, LOL!
I have higher hopes for March though.  Joe is in a biggest loser contest at work so it'll be harder to cheat when he's not on board.  I've also started going to the gym with my friend Meaghan and I always find it harder to bail when I know someone is waiting for me.  Nicole and I have big plans to start going for walks as the weather gets warmer, we may even give C25K another go!  There's not much else I can do but try.  Plus I have this fancy new pink gym bag from Thirty-One that I had GO WORK OUT embroidered on, if that doesn't kick my butt out the door I'm not sure what will!

In other news around these parts...

I started a book club!  A few of my friends had mentioned joining one but no one really ever made a move so I went for it!  We're going to meet the last Friday of each month to review our book (though I won't be surprised if we spend more time gossiping & drinking wine than discussing literature).  For March we're reading Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.  I've heard great things about it from pretty much every blogger I follow!

So, what's new with all of you?

2/14/2013

getting engaged...with myself

Something has been off with me for a while now and I've been ignoring it...

I'm just not interested, in anything.
 
Lately, my day consists of waking up, complaining that I don't want to go to work, going to work and sleep walking through my shift.  Then driving straight home after work and spending the evening on the couch playing games on my iPad/iPhone.  Those of you who have followed this blog for a while know that's not like me...

I had a long talk with someone I consider to be a mentor last night and she basically told me to snap out of it.  No one is going to hand me a magic pill that will make me happy.  I need to get engaged.  I need to try harder, to go the extra mile at work, ask for more, put myself out there.  I need to eat right and exercise regularly.  


I'm going to try a new mantra that I picked up from another blogger, Go Do!  

Instead of thinking about things, plotting & planning things I'm going to get up, say something, do something.  I'm still going to take time for myself and time to connect with Joe on a regular basis but no more sitting on the couch for hours alone eating candy and bitching/moaning.

I know it's not going to be easy, I've been harboring some bad habits for a while and it's so easy to take the low road.  But I've got a great support system that wants me to be happy and succeed.

Do you have any advice on how to shake off a major funk?

2/06/2013

it's about the destination, not the journey?

I'm pretty sure that's not the way the saying goes but it's more appropriate when talking about weight loss.  Who cares if you have one bad day as long as you keep your eye on the goal!

Keeping that in mind, I didn't do so great over the weekend...  I think I set my goals a little too high for the first few days of a new month, not to mention I was coming off a 34 day hiatus.

Saturday:  I didn't move off the couch too much after I posted, in fact I only got 1,912 steps the whole day.  Not my finest moment...  I only drank 4 glasses of water which doesn't make sense, I was just sitting around, I could have at least been drinking...  I did manage to stay within my calorie goal and we didn't eat lunch or dinner out.  Another 50/50ish day.

Sunday:  I attempted to keep things healthy when we went out to breakfast with Joe's parents by ordering turkey sausage eggs benedict with the hollandaise sauce on the side.

Joe & I spent the late morning/early afternoon deep cleaning the house since we were having a few friends over to watch the Super Bowl, that's counts as exercise right (it got me the majority of my 5,294 steps)?  Oh how times have changed, we used to have people over and get drunk and stay up late for the big game.  Now, Lorie spent the majority of the evening on the floor with Alayna & Jack playing games and I was asleep on the couch by 10pm.
  
I pretty much stopped counting calories around 4pm on Sunday.  It's not that I went crazy or ate anything really terrible, I just grazed through an awful lot of junk food and didn't drink much water.  The cherry on top of an evening full of delicious food was my favorite dessert, dump cake!

Monday was a new day.  That's one of the only good parts about not having a particular event that you're losing weight for, it's not the end of the world if you mess up one day!  I think I mentioned that I've decided that I'm only going to the gym on days when Joe works late.  This way we have more time together instead of always running around.  I'm hoping when the weather warms up this will translate to running or playing tennis together.  

This Monday Joe was out early so no gym for me.  I made myself a shake for breakfast, packed a healthy lunch and headed out to work.  A friend reached out and asked me to meet her for lunch so my healthy lunch stayed in the fridge and I used a meal out in the cafeteria.  For dinner we munched on Super Bowl left overs and then headed to bed early.  We are serious party poopers now that we're married.  I kept my calories in check but didn't get my water, I didn't work out but I got 6,600 steps.

Tuesday:  I went to the gym!  I came pretty close to bailing a number of times throughout the day but the tightness of my dress pants kept reminding me it was time to go back.  I had planned on taking a Cardio Kickboxing class but the regular instructor was out and I'm not a fan of her sub so off to the elliptical I went.  I'm extremely proud of myself for staying when there were so many easy ways out.  Like, oh darn, my class is cancelled and I don't have my headphones.  It felt really great being back, I really missed all of the staff that had become like friends while I was getting in shape for the wedding.  I felt really good even after just a quick 30 minutes on the machine and now I'm excited to get back at it!  It was a banner day all around, I got my water, I kept my calories low, I worked out, I didn't eat out and I got 10,032 steps!

Wednesday:  So far so good, I had a pear and a Lara Bar for breakfast, I've got my lunch packed, Joe's taking something out for dinner and I'm attempting this new "class" at the gym tonight.
It's called SPARK training and from what I've been told it's a maximum of 11 people at a time with one personal trainer moving through stations of cardio and strength training exercises for an hour.  Something tells me I'm not going to be able to move tomorrow...

2/02/2013

50/50

Things did not really go according to plan Friday afternoon/evening.  I had big plans to go to the gym and make a healthy home cooked meal for dinner but after a long afternoon at work and a hard to refuse offer from a friend I shelved that plan.

Anne was going shopping for a dress for an event next week and invited me/I invited myself to join her for a date night.  We met at the mall after work and wandered through a couple of stores before finding dresses on sale at JC Penney.  This little number only cost me $20 and is perfect for the fundraiser next week!
Once we'd accomplished our main goal for the evening we headed to dinner at Famous Dave's.  I love that most restaurants offer low calorie sections of their menu now, I ordered the Citrus Shrimp for 480 calories.  Luckily they weren't too busy for a Friday night and the waiter didn't complain when we spent more then an hour chatting after we finished eating!  It was so nice to get to catch up with Anne, because we work together our conversations are usually quick and easily cut off by phone calls and meetings.
I'm not totally disappointed my goals for the day.  True, I didn't work out, but I did get almost 8000 steps which is a vast improvement over last month.  I did go out to eat, but only once for the day and I kept within my calorie goal!  Plus I got my water!  Not a bad first day back if I do say so myself.

Nothing much to report for today yet.  Nicole dropped Jack off first thing this morning as usual and we went to breakfast at Fitzpatrick's.  I kept my calories under 500 which isn't bad for breakfast out and we don't have any other meals out planned for the day.  Joe & I had a little conversation about careers and the future which must have bored Jack so badly that he actually ate all of his meal without a fight!  We've spent the rest of the morning hanging out around the house, played with some Play Doh, the boys painted a bird house before we all retired to the couch with our various iPads.  EveryDayMatters is probably so disappointed in us :-)
I don't know what else we have planned for today.  I'm not sure any serious exercise is in store but I can definitely get my water, keep my calories in check and try for my steps!

2/01/2013

not making it any easier

So this is happening outside right now... (and we took down the 2 trees out back so I am no longer terrified of the next big storm)
We're expected to get somewhere around 2 inches of snow this morning.  I realize that in other parts of the country that's no big deal, but here in South Jersey it's a mess.  The parking lots aren't treated so people are sliding all over the place, my anti-lock brakes kicked on as I went around a few corners, it's not pleasant.

It's also not conducive to getting my butt to the gym.  All I want to do is sip hot chocolate under a blanket on the couch, but that's not an option.  I'm already off to a good start today and I plan to stay on track.  I have chicken defrosting for dinner with a bunch of fresh veggies ready for roasting.  I packed my lunch (mostly yogurt and fruit), I made a protein shake for breakfast and I am going to the gym after work for an aerobic kickboxing class.  I've reached out to my gym buddies for support but plan on going alone in necessary.

I weighed in this morning at 155 pounds which means I'd like to lose at least 15 pounds and would be thrilled with 20 or 25 by Memorial Day weekend, which is in 16 weeks.

I don't have any plans for the weekend and Joe is off!  I'm hoping to cook all of our meals at home and maybe we can do some kind of work out?  It's supposed to be cold and snowy so I don't think we'll be running outside but maybe I can convince him to play on the WII or something.

How do you work out when the gym and outdoors aren't really an option?