Vandy’s Losin It

I hadn’t worked out since all the walking I did at our Convention last week… So yesterday I decided I would have to do something. It was a rainy day, so walking was out. I pulled out a Nintendo Wii workout game called: Fitness Coach that I bought awhile back but had not used yet.

This was a fun adventure I must admit. The game took my stats.. age, sex, activity level, etc. Then it had me get up on my “wii board” and it weighed me. (ugh) Then it ever so politely asked me if I wanted to know my weight…lol. If so push the A button, if not then the B button. (Yes, I chose the A button and got the bad news.) I got to pick my trainer from four different computer generated trainers…. 2 men, 2 women. I picked a man .. because I never would have in real life. And I was having fun at this point.
I got to pick my two main Fitness goals… weight loss, and toning my butt, hips, thighs. Then I was able to choose my workout location from four choices. I chose the beach… how could I not choose the beach?
My computer generated coach took me through a warm up, 20 minutes of exercises targeting my trouble areas. He made me do a 30 second plank… which I really did not think I could do. But I did, and he even gave me a wink and a thumbs up! One thing I like about using the wii fitness board is that it senses my exertion, balance and timing of each move. It tells me if I am not doing the move properly.. such as the push ups. Once I adjusted my movements… I could feel the difference in the impact it was having. Then it grades you on each exercise you do.. bronze, silver, and gold stars. At the end of the workout it averages all of them together for a total grade… I got an 86% which is a silver star.

This game has generated a short workout for every day of the week for me. It will weigh me and track my progress each time and increase the workouts accordingly. I think it is pretty cool… man, technology is amazing.

Yesterday I did fairly good with my eating, and I did meet my water challenge goal! Here is my menu and stats for yesterday. My fat is a little too high… due to eating too much cheese on the spaghetti… and the nachos too. But, my fiber levels were really good… thanks to the black beans and shirtaki noodles.

Wednesdays Food
B: Scrambled Eggs, Tomatoes, LC Yogurt
L: Veggie Salad with No Fat Italian Dressing
D: Shirtaki Tofu Spaghetti
Snacks: Black Bean, Cheese, Salsa Nachos w/LC Tortillas and 2 glasses Wine

Calories:1482
Fat: 72
Carbs: 139
Protein: 77
Fiber: 38

Water: 80 ounces

This morning I finished up a personal handwritten journal that I have kept for the past two years. Before I put the last entry in, I scanned through it and was amazed at the turns my life has taken in the last two years……
The first thing I noticed, was that I have gained a little more than 20 pounds!! I started gaining during our trip to Disney World in October 08.. and then it was just a continual upward climb. A pound here, a pound there. Right after Disney… my Dad took me on a cruise. Yeah, I think that was the double kiss of death.

My Grandmother was in the hospital twice in the last two years, and finally placed in a nursing home. She died about three months ago. I bought a new house, and moved. My son started Kindergarten, my youngest daughter just graduated High School.

So many things have happened, some very sad and some quite happy. I guess that is life in a nutshell. It is just eye opening to look back and see it all on paper.

So, I am starting a new, journal tomorrow. I am determined to see my weight going back in the other direction. If I can slowly bring it up over two years… then there is no reason I cannot take it back down over the next two years.

Yesterday I worked out for 30 minutes. I had a ton of veggies… for some reason I was craving them and I am trying to empty the fridge before we leave town tomorrow. I ate healthy all day… but I just ate too much. I overshot my target calories by a couple hundred.
I am going to not obsess about that… just do a little better today.

Now to drink my coffee and jump into the housework. Hey, I just read that coffee actually revs your metabolism up by 10 percent! Since I need all the help I can get, I might need to have two!

I set a goal to walk every morning for the five days before we leave town for the weekend.  So far I have walked the first two mornings. Yesterday was a sweltering morning.. It was in the 80’s and very humid, so the walk was more of a chore than a pleasure. But, since my dh was walking with me it was easier. We stopped along the way and looked at an estate sale, which was a nice break in between. This morning, I was trying to come up with some excuse not to walk… I just did not feel like it. ( It is so much easier to get a cup of coffee and sit at the computer) Then, I remembered my goal.. and made myself get around. It was so worth it. This morning was a quiet, cool beauty. The temps were around 68 degrees, no wind… just perfect. My legs were letting me know they were still tired from yesterday.. but I ignored them.

I know if I stick with my goal this week, I will feel better going into next week. If I do not, then I will just use the failure to reinforce my self defeating negativity. So number two is not an option for me.

I had the most delicious Halibut at a restaurant Saturday night.. It was grilled and then topped with a lemon sauce, artichokes, tomatoes (dried?), and spinach. I am thinking this topping would be delicious on chicken breasts too…… Also, my new summer side item right now is cottage cheese with chopped cucumber and tomatoes. I can’t wait till my Dad’s garden starts putting out  fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. He is growing me zucchini too, one of my all time faves! Just one more reason to love summer!

So, after my rough start yesterday and run in with the dreaded puddle… I was back in the saddle again this morning. I mean.. I really can’t let the puddle win, can I? I considered wearing rain boots and knee pads… but I settled on something a little more subtle.

I went out and bought new walking/workout shoes yesterday. I am always buying the cheapest Walmart tennis shoe.. and my feet are always hurting me when I walk. My husband keeps telling me to buy better shoes… so yesterday I finally listened to him. I couldn’t bear to buy the hundred dollar pair of shoes that are supposed to give you a work out when you walk… I can’t remember what they are called now. But, I did look at them. Impressive, but I simply could not go from a 15 dollar wallyworld shoe to hundred dollar shoes. So, I settled on a pair of Sporty Skechers for fifty. I figure that is a decent compromise.

I strapped my new shoes on this morning and headed out for my walk this morning. Wow… they really do feel much better. I strolled right past the dreaded puddle.. (yes, the sprinklers were going again this morning and it was back) and many others on my path. My feet never did start hurting me during the entire walk. I guess my hubby was right after all these years.. imagine that…..

I even bumped my exercise up to 60 minutes yesterday instead of my usual 30. I did a workout DVD in the afternoon on top of the morning walk. I think doing something in the morning got my metabolism moving… and then more activity in the afternoon kept it going throughout the day. My energy levels were much higher throughout the day. So, I am going to repeat that again today. It is a beautiful sunny morning… and will be a hot summer day so I will get out to the pool after my workout!!

Some days you just have to laugh at yourself and enjoy it. …
This morning I got up early, determined to start the day with a walk. My youngest dd was wanting to walk with me despite having to get up early which is a big deal for a seventeen year old in the summer. So we head out the door and are chatting a little… we get two driveways down the street and I completely wipe out. You know, the kind of wipe out where one minute you are upright and the next you are watching your feet go up over your head…. I fell on the street before I even knew what happened with my rear end landing in a muddy little puddle. It seems that my neighbors sprinkler system had gone off and created this one silly little puddle on our street. There was just enough dirt in the gutter to cause a slippery batch of mud…. so when I stepped on it with my heel, well I was a goner.

So, here I am in shock on my street, rear end landed flat in a mud puddle. Oh yeah… I was wearing my WHITE capri sweats… just to add to the comic effect. I stand up… and I can see my daughter is trying so very hard not to crack up. So when I started laughing…. she broke loose too. We laughed all the way back to the house where I put on my black sweat pants. As we are walking she says…. you’ve got to let me take a picture of this. No Way…. I may be laughing but I am not that crazy. I do not want my muddy butt posted on facebook..lol.

We enjoyed our walk and pondered how many of the neighbors witnessed my glorious wipe out… and wondered what on earth could cause such a thing to happen.  The little mud puddle was gone now.. I had absorbed the entire silly thing with my sweats…lol.  I figure I did my community service to the whole neighborhood by getting rid of that nasty puddle…

Today started out like Monday did…. I woke up to a steady downpour of rain. It was dark, dreary and quiet… so after I got dh off to work, I crawled back in bed. I hardly ever do that, and when I do.. I can’t usually sleep anyway. But, this morning I crashed out for two hours!

So, I find my energy levels very low, and my mood a bit dark to match the day. But, I pushed myself to do a thirty minute workout since I haven’t walked for a few days due to the rain.
I pulled out my Jillian Michaels 30 day shred dvd and dusted it off. I made it through level one.. barely. Every muscle went into shock and by the time I finished they were all shakey..lol.
That tells me that I need to keep doing it until my body can handle it. I am debating whether I should do it again tomorrow, or alternate in between days with a Bob DVD. It is still pretty challenging.. but in different areas of the body.

This morning I had a glass of my coconut milk.. but I added a squirt of my Divinci’s sugar free caramel syrup. It was perfect. I am wondering now if I couldn’t freeze that and make myself some low carb frozen treats…hmmm.   I may try that.
I have decided I definitely do not like Walden Farms no carb Marinara Sauce. I will just use a little bit of plain old tomato sauce. I would rather have a few carbs than… eat that stuff again..
Now that I got the blood moving in my body I think I feel motivated to get up and start working around the house.   I think I even see the sun peeking through a couple of clouds…

I recently wrote about the Shirataki Tofu Noodles that I found, loved, and then could not find again. I found them at Super Target… but only bought one package because I was not sure if I would like them or not. I really enjoyed them and went back to buy more… but they did not have them anymore. I knew I could order them online… but since they have to stay cold, the shipping costs were pretty steep.

I was told that I could find them in asian markets.. but there are none in my area. So yesterday I tried a health food store, and BINGO, I hit the tofu noodle jackpot!! I bought fettucini, spaghetti, and angel hair styles. I was so excited, and the prices were about half what I paid before!

So, last night I fixed some Fettuccine with chicken in a lemon garlic butter sauce. I was in low carb heaven!

I guess these noodles are made from a type of root that is in the yam family, and is quite healthy.

Here are the stats:
LOW CARB - only 3g of carbs per serving - 2 of these are fiber!!
LOW CALORIE - 20 calories per 4 oz serving
# NO CHOLESTEROL
# NO SUGAR
# GLUTEN-FREE
# DAIRY-FREE
# CONTAINS 10% CALCIUM
# VEGAN

Seems like these are perfect for low carb or low cal…. I never could eat pasta without taking in a ton of calories. Now I can eat the entire bag of these and only have 40 cals!
I can think of many ways I will be using these…..

Oh, I also bought some unsweetened coconut milk… it was a bit bland for me, but I think I could add a little splenda and have a sweet treat.

I made it through the weekend… cheat free. I even said no to margaritas… which is very hard for me to do. I drank iced tea instead and had fajita’s minus the tortillas. Still the scale does not budge…grrr. But, it did not go up either and it would have if I had indulged my cravings. So I will take my victory, and my noodles and keep on with my plan.  I really need to get myself a workout routine, and that is what I will start to focus on now.

Today is a day for catching some things up around here that didn’t get done during the floor installation. It is nice to just have a catch up day sometimes. No plans, no obligations….
I got up and took my morning walk with my youngest daughter. It was a beautiful morning and we had fun talking along the way. She is 17 now… so I cherish such moments that we share.

I ate on plan all day yesterday.. so that was good. I grilled some chicken breasts last night and used a new marinade made by Weber… Tequila Lime. It was excellent. I had that and a big, cool salad. Then we sat out on the deck and talked for an hour.. very nice.

Here are some before and after pics of my kitchen/dining room floor. It had a very busy floral pattern carpet in it… which was nice, but I felt like I was walking in a movie theater or something! I have never had a wood floor before, so this will be a whole new experience for me.

BEFORE

……and AFTER!!!

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.”

I am not sure whose words these are… it is a quote I saw this morning that rang true in my head. I am finding that I am needing to practice patience in several areas of my life…
My kitchen has been out of commission since Tuesday, because we have been getting a wood floor installed. ( I should have it back by tonight) It is so much easier to run to the Sonic a couple blocks away and grab some fast food then to work at getting a healthy meal together… But, I have been very careful to keep to my Salads and lean Proteins. I took my son to Applebees for lunch. I had a most delicious, low carb friendly salad. It was a California Shrimp Salad. It had a bed of spinach and lettuce with grilled shrimp, black olives, tomatoes, bacon and avocado. Yum.

The other area I desperately need patience in is…. my weight loss. I am stalled again at my typical resistance weight for the past week. This is the point where I usually start questioning my eating plan… or just go off of it all together since I am not getting the results that I want. Not going there again…. patience. I am not going to be passive either as the quote brought out. Here is my plan of action.

1. Stick to my plan.. it is a good one.
2. Stop Weighing daily.
3. Drink More Water.
4. Cut out the wine.

I will do these things this week and see if it helps…. I think they will. I know I will feel better for doing them. The floor guys just got here… and I am going to get out of the house for awhile.

This morning started off badly. I went to the garage to bring some stuff in from the second fridge…. and found it had stopped working and all the food in it was lost. GRR. The fridge is about eight years old and we brought it along from our old house when we bought this one. We noticed the compressor acting up when we first moved, but then it came out of it. Until yesterday that is. Sadly we had stocked it’s freezer with organic grain fed beef and all the fish that hubby and kids caught a few weeks ago. Twenty pounds of beef and 15 pounds of striper.. gone. I did manage to salvage three rib eye steaks that were thick enough that they were still cold. So I will be grilling them up this morning.

On a good note.. cause I hate to be only negative..lol. I tried something new last night and loved it. I tried some Shiratake Tofu Noodles… these things are only 20 calories and one net carb per serving!! I stir fried them with some steak, red pepper, and spinach. It was so good!! So now I am researching where I can buy them at. I found these at Target for $3.89 per bag (2 servings). But, I can order them online @ 10 bags for $17.99!! Only drawback is they must be refrigerated and I am limited on my space now…grr.