Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving: the aftermath

Long Weekend Recap


Hello there, faithful readers! I’m back after a long, relaxing weekend. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving holiday with your families :)

My weekend was very quiet, which I guess was much needed. Wednesday night, J and I met up with a couple of friends for sushi at Origami in Minneapolis. We went there for J’s birthday back in September, and I was again very pleased with our food. It’s still a tad on the pricey side, but we had some awesome sushi.

Thursday morning, we got up and made our way to Lake Como for a Thanksgiving 5K. Last year, we went downtown for the Lifetime Fitness Turkey Day 5k, but wanted a less crowded experience this year, so we opted for the Lake Como run, which has around 700 participants vs. the 7,000ish that were at the Lifetime run. We were also enticed by the fact that a few of our friends were also doing the Lake Como run. This run is put on by Charities Challenge. I’m not really sure what this organization does (aside from collect the can goods we brought on race day), but smooth coordinating of races is not one if its strong suits. I expected that with less than 1,000 participants, everything would run like a well oiled machine, but that was really not the case. I think they were really working with what they had, but what they had was not much. Regardless, it felt good to be outside getting our bodies moving in the cold wind, and that in itself is a success.

J and I didn’t have any Thanksgiving plans, so after the race, we headed back home and lay like vegetables the rest of the day. We did make some appetizers to graze on throughout the day (bruchetta as well as hot artichoke dip), and then we had a very nice fancy meal of king crab, asparagus, homemade bread, and sparkling wine for dinner.

Friday was more of the same – lounging around, not doing much but stopping to eat every once in a while. We skipped the Black Friday tradition this year because we didn’t see anything we really wanted to buy.

Friday afternoon, we went to see a matinee presentation of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Great movie. Really fun, good story, awesome animation. Not for the littlest of kids though – I would suggest kids that are at least able to read at a fairly quick pace, as there were several parts in the movie where I heard a kid say, “What does it say?!” and then a mom shout/whispering the words on the screen to the kid. Also, since it is based on a Roald Dahl book, you must expect that the content is not cutesy like Disney.

I wish I had more to report on the weekend, but alas, Saturday and Sunday were filled with more lying around, watching tv, and eating. In that respect, it was a relief to get back to work today, just to be back out in the world.

Mississippi Ten Miler

An update, as promised on the MTM. I did not run this weekend after the 5K – and just to make sure I’m not misleading you, I did not, in fact, run the entire way. No, I jogged about the first half mile and then mostly walked the rest, with small spurts of jogging in between. But, I was sore as hell for the next two days, so I did not run again on Saturday. I do have a planned run for tomorrow, Tuesday, however and I WILL let you know how it goes…I pinky swear.

The License, The Ring, and The Stairs

After hearing about my weekend, none of us should be surprised at what was on the scale this morning. How about a 4 lb gain? Honestly, I think I’ve come out of other Thanksgivings much worse, but as we had no family obligations, and I should have been able to get right back on track, I feel particularly unhappy about this one. For further evidence of my fatness, I present for your consideration:

My driver’s license. You see, my birthday is in two weeks, and it happens that this year, my driver’s license is set to expire on my birthday. I should have gotten a new driver’s license when we bought the house and moved, but I put it off and put it off because I really like my driver’s license picture and I do not want to have it retaken. I had it taken right after we got married and I legally changed my name. It was the only time I was able to put my *real* weight on my license and not be ashamed of it. I look at that picture and see 150 lb me smiling very happily back. I do not want to replace that picture.

Then, there’s my wedding ring. J and I have been married for 3 and a half years, and then engaged for about a year and a half before that, so I’ve been wearing this ring for the last 5 years. Over the last year, I’ve been having some problems with my finger getting sore and itchy underneath my ring, something that never happened in the previous 4 years. It finally dawned on me what else has happened in the last year: I’ve gained 20 lbs! My ring is too tight!! Holy Freaking Shit. This is how much weight I’ve gained now. I’m so fat, that my RING doesn’t fit anymore. Nice.

Finally, there is The Stairs. Today I decided to go over to the YMCA and check out what they have to offer. I’m sort of waffling about joining up, you see. A choice that should be crystal clear to me as of this moment, and I’m waffling. But, I digress. So, I get to the Y, and am very disappointed to learn that I have to climb a flight of stairs to get to the membership desk. It really was more like 2 flights, but whatever. The point is, guess who was winded after climbing 2 flights of stairs? You got it: Me. Huffing and puffing like I want to blow the place down.

So, what’s the point? I don’t know. There is no point really. None of this leads me to a conclusion that I didn’t already know. …

Monday, November 23, 2009

And...we're back!

Hello my loyal followers! I know, it's been ages since I've posted and I sincerely apologize for that.  I had an insanely busy couple of weeks at work and literally didn't have a moment to stop and blog.  I work at a computer all day and so when I get home, blogging is really the last thing I want to do, so I like to do it at work. 

I was all ready to get back into the groove last week, but it was a very sad week for me.  Unfortunately and unexpectedly, I had to put my kitty, Paris, down last Monday.  He was my very sweet friend and companion for 16 years and I miss him terribly.  The house is very empty and it's been an emotional time trying to adjust to life without him.  I would say more, but I'm already starting to cry again.

However, while I'm on the subject of Paris, I feel like mentioning that although the folks at the Animal Emergency Clinic were very kind and patient with me as I sobbed uncontrollably, they had a difficult time understanding that a boy cat could be named Paris.  Let me just say this: Paris is a boy's name.  Just ask Shakespeare or Homer (as in writer of the Iliad and Odyssey, not as in Simpson). 

But, now, just in time for Thanksgiving, things have calmed down enough for me to resume my blogging life.

Thanksgiving Plans

J and I don't have any family within 3 states of us, and since the family we do have is visiting at Christmas, we are on our own for Turkey Day this year.  Actually, I think this is the third year we've done our own thing.  I do kind of miss the traditional Thanksgiving celebration with annoying relatives and baking smells and busy-ness, but it's nice to have our own time too.  We usually have kind of a fancy meal (November is a great time for good king crab) and skip the normal turkey dinner stuff.  We haven't really decided what exactly we're going to do this year...yet.  It's kind of fun to drive around on Thanksgiving day and see if you can find one restaurant or coffee shop that is open.  When I was a kid, I used to have fantasies that everyone else in the world had vanished and I had it all to myself.  Most of the time, in these fantasies, I would go to the grocery store and eat whatever I wanted...imagine that, even as a kid I fantasized about food.  Anyway, if you don't have plans for Thanksgiving or Christmas day and you just drive around, you sort of get the feeling that you are the last person on earth and it is kind of neat. 

We are going to participate in a 5K on Thursday morning around Lake Como with a friend of ours who has agreed to run/walk it with me.  And, although I'm feeling very out of shape, I'm really looking forward to it. 

Mississippi Ten Miler

That reminds me, you need an update on my MTM training.  Well, honestly, there has been no training happening these last two weeks.  It's a good thing I padded my schedule because I really needed some down time.  I do have a run planned tomorrow (W4D1), and then Thursday's 5k also, so I'll update you on how those go. 

Time Flies

Doesn't time go by so quickly?  I look back on this last year and can hardly believe how fast it went.  In the last 12 months, I started a new job (This week is my one year anniversary with this company.  They've put a yellow star with the number "1" in it on my cube.  :), we bought a house and moved into it, thought about trying to get pregnant for a second, then J lost his job, and now Paris-cat died.  And through all of that, in the back of my mind has always been my weight...literally weighing me down.  Sometimes I wonder what I would be like if it wasn't one of my main concerns.  Where would I direct all the energy that I expend worrying and thinking about my weight? 

Friday, November 6, 2009

Friday!

Whoo-hoo! We made it to Friday! This week has been really busy for me at work, so it's actually gone by really fast, but I'm always grateful for a Friday. :-)

Mississippi Ten Miler

I successfully completed W3D1 (week 3, day 1) of my C25K training schedule last night! It felt really good to get some activity again and I am so glad that I have you to keep me accountable.  I was really motivated knowing that you would be reading this today and knowing that I didn't want to post a "punk out". 

Next run will be Saturday morning. :)

Weekend Plans

We have a free weekend, which I am so excited about.  The weather is supposed to be beautiful.  After such a long, cloudy, cool October, I'm so happy to have temps in the low 60s. 

On Saturday, we're trying to get a group together to do a little winery tour down in the St. Croix Valley.  It might end up being just the two of us, but that's fine. 

Other than that, just normal house type stuff.  I'd like to get the garage cleaned out before it gets really cold, but that's about it. 

Ok, I've got a bunch of work to do today, so I've got to get to it and earn my Happy Hour tonight! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

"Sweet Jesus! It's ON!"

Those are the exact words of my best friend from HS.  She's coming to MN on Memorial Day weekend (that's May 30th, folks) and we are going to run a 10 miler.

"Wait a second", you say. "Is this another one of those things where you commit to doing a race and then don't train until the month before and then walk most of it?"

Now, now, I can see that it may sound like that, but I assure you, I really want to make a change here.  This is my chance to form a new habit - committing to a race...doing my training...and running it as I intend to.

So, from now on, every post will have an update titled "Mississippi Ten Miler" and I will update y'all on my training progress. 

It's ON!

Mississippi Ten Miler

For my first MTM post, since it's the middle of the day and I can't start running this very second, I'll tell you my plan:
1) Order back issue of Runners' World - a few weeks ago on my bus commute, I saw a girl reading a Runners' World issue for new runners.  I have dabbled in running a bit before, but I very much consider myself a "new runner".  It looked like a great issue and I totally wanted it when I saw it, so today I will order a back copy of it as part of my kick-off.
2) Couch To 5K (C25K) - I'm sure you've all heard of C25K.  It's kind of the go-to training schedule for new runners.  It's a 9 week schedule, but I'm going to pad that a bit in case I need to repeat any weeks, so I will allot 12 weeks to get through it.  Also, I'm going to start on week 3 because I feel I'm already at the fitness level of week 2. 

Here's my schedule w/ dates:
11/5-11/11 - Week 3 C25K
11/12-11/18 - Week 4
11/19-11/25 - Week 5
11/26-12/2 - Week 6
12/3-12/9 - Week 7
12/10-12/16 - Week 8
12/17-12/23 - Week 9
12/24-12/30 - Week 9
12/31-1/6 - Week 9
1/7-1/13 - Week 9
1/14-1/20 - Week 9
1/21-1/27 - Week 9

I plan to run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.  After I've completed week 9, I want to repeat it for a few weeks so I am really comfortable running 3 miles before I start up training for the 10 miler.  I will post a new training plan/schedule after I complete week 9. 

Tonight is a run night & I'll update you tomorrow!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Three Little Things

Hey y'all.  Just a quick update because I've got a bunch of work to do today!!

Biggest Loser Update

First let me say, YAY! The Witch is Dead!  Well, ok, she's not dead, but she was finally voted off.  I was so happy to see Crazy Tracey go home last night.  I really couldn't take anymore of those bug-eyed looks she gives the camera.  And then she was on Leno too - I was wondering, she looked heavier on Leno than she did in her follow-up at the end of the show, what's up with that, I wonder?  Maybe it was just what she was wearing, I don't know. 

One last bit on her:  I am totally bitter that she weighed less than I do the last two weeks she weighed in.

Declarations

A follow-up on my declarations from the other day:
1) Drink all my water - check!
2) Track what I eat on SparkPeople (SP) - check!
3) Post ugly Halloween picture - check! :-p

Three Little Things

So last night and this morning I did three little things that I haven't done in a while, but that I think are truly going to be the key to my success.
- Laundry - yes, I did some laundry last night and set aside my clean clothes to wear to work.  How could this be related, you ask?  Well, in the morning, I'm kind of crazy getting ready for work.  I could get up a half hour earlier and have a nice laid back morning, but I choose not to.  And one of the things that sucks up my morning time is finding something clean to wear to work and ironing it (sometimes just fluffing it in the dryer if I'm really in a crunch).  By doing that stuff last night, I saved myself a good ten minutes this morning, which gave me time to...
-EAT BREAKFAST! I was never a breakfast eater until J and I moved in together (6 years ago, or so).  He always, always eats breakfast and got me in the good habit of doing it too.  Now, I really can't function without a good breakfast, but lately instead of eating breakfast at home, I've been picking it up at the cafeteria at work.  They have some healthy options, but more often than not, I'm getting something with more calories than are necessary - and spending money that doesn't need to be spent.  So, this morning, with my extra time, I toasted myself a 100 calorie english muffin.  Added peanut butter and banana, and a glass of milk and I feel revved up and ready to go today.
-Pack Lunch - I've also been neglecting to pack my lunch as of late, which also means that I have not been packing my snacks.  So, while my english muffin was toasting, I packed up some leftovers from last night and 2 healthy snacks to eat during the day.  Today there will be no mental fight about where to go for lunch and what I should order vs. what I want to order. 

The moral of our story is, it only takes about 15 minutes in the morning to make and eat a healthy breakfast AND pack a lunch and snacks for the day - and those 15 minutes might make all the difference in this war.

Ok, I've got to get some work done! Happy Wednesday everyone! :)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday, everyone!!

First, on Friday I left you with 3 declarations...let's follow up:
1) Drink all my water and then some on Friday - Accomplished! I drank 96 oz of H2O at work and then another couple of glasses at home in the evening - yay :)
2) Eat regular meals and healthy snacks while cleaning, cooking and decorating for party - This was a toughie, but I kept reminding myself of my declaration and forced myself to take a break from craziness and eat - Accomplished!!
3) Hungover or not, 40 minutes on the treadmill on Sunday - not accomplished...BUT, I have a good excuse, I promise! I skipped the treadmill because I spent 2 1/2 hours outside raking and bagging leaves! Whew! What a workout.  My back was achin'.  So, I give myself a pat on the back anyway :)

The Part-ay

I dare say, the party was a smashing success.  J mixed some great 80's and Halloween themed music and it seemed like everyone had a great time.  We had some awesome John Hughes characters including 2 John Benders (one of which was J), 1 Claire from Breakfast Club (me), 1 Allison AKA Basket Case from Breakfast Club, a Chet from Weird Science, Cruella DeVil from 101 Dalmations (Hughes wrote it, believe it or not), the naughty nurse from Ferris Bueller (complete with balloons), the Geek from 16 candles, and a few random 80's people. 

I fully intended to take some pics of the food, but I got distracted and didn't do it.  But, this is what we had:
Bat Wings - BBQ Chicken Wings
Eyeballs w/ crackers - Mozzarella balls with olives for eyes
Flesh on a cracker - Lox w/ cream cheese
Witch's Fingers - green cookies shaped like fingers
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Pumpkin Dip w/ applies and ginger snaps
Black Punch - Grape + Orange Kool Aid + Ginger Ale

I planned on making the jello brain that I make every year, but this year, it just didn't set up at all, so that was a bummer. 

Lemoncello Tasting

Everyone also tasted the lemoncello - I was so excited to see what people thought.  The overall opinion was that the grapefruit flavor was much more mellow and less alcohol tasting than the lemon, but several people liked the flavor of the lemon better.  We made a good dent in our supply, but still have 4 full bottles left.  I should have given one or two away as prizes...

Pictures

We took a lot of pictures of people in their costumes - me included.  I'm not saying this from a negative mental talk point of view (even though it may sound that way), but damn, I am fat.  I look like my mother's twin.  If my boobs get any bigger, they are going to need their own zipcode.   But, I am seeing a good side to this, really.  Drumroll please -

I feel ready to take action. 

I really do feel it, and even though it might be temporary, I'm going to grab on to it and hang on to this feeling for as long as I can.  Even though I've been having lightbulb moments here and there, and little glimmers of committment, I haven't felt really ready to make changes until now.  So, here we go...

SparkPeople

After hearing a couple of recommendations, I joined SparkPeople.  I've only been on for a day, but already I am feeling like I like it a lot more than WW's site.  In fact, I'm cancelling my WW subscription today. 

I've been struggling with my thoughts about WW for a while.  On one hand, it was the plan I was most successful on.  But, that was 3 years ago.  It worked for me because I made it work, not because WW has some magic system.  I got really tired of it.  I got tired of going to meetings every Saturday morning.  I got tired of listening to the sales pitch of overpriced WW products every week.  But, I think most of all, I just started feeling like I was paying money and wasn't learning anything new.  I was never trying to get to the root of my problems.  It was the same old thing week in, week out. Year in, year out.  My two favorite meetings each year were the meeting the week before the MN State Fair, when they tell you all the points for the Fair food and the meeting the week before Thanksgiving when they give you a paper plate and you draw how much food you are going to put on your plate and the points for those foods.  So, why do I still have an online subscription?  Because I felt like if I cancelled it, I would be giving up and resigning myself to be fat forever.   I don't feel that way today, in fact, I feel quite the opposite - empowered. 

I do think SparkPeople is a bit overwhelming - there are a lot of options.  But, I think that it will be a really good change.  I'll keep you updated on it.

Fun

This morning on the radio, they played this clip, which I thought was laugh out loud funny:



Declarations

So, my declarations went so well on Friday, I thought I'd make a couple more for today. 
1) Drink all my water today
2) Track what I eat on SparkPeople
3) Post picture of me at Halloween Party (this will be the hardest one for me to do)

I'll follow up tomorrow.  Have a great Monday!