Day 28: Foods & Fashion Show :)

First of all, I didn't post yesterday so I have some food photos to share from yesterday :)

Looks delicious, right? Well, it was good in theory but it just didn't quite work out. I used plain oatmeal and tried to mix some of my chocolate protein powder into it. It was tough to get a good consistency AND it didn't sweeten in like I thought it would!! I also added sliced almonds and raisins. That part was good. But I think in the future I'll stick to getting my protein on the side (see sausage patty hiding on the side) and not try to mix powder into my oatmeal.

This is my meal from yesterday at Atlanta Bread Company. This was also a bit of a lesson. I hemmed and hawed over the menu looking things up in MyFitnessPal while Ian patiently waited for me. I thought hmm that soup is 300/400 calories... hmm that sandwich is 800 calories. I was thinking even 1/2 sandwich around 400 cals and a 300 calorie soup was just SO MUCH... so I was trying REALLY hard to find something suitable. I settled on the chicken noodle soup (130 calories) and the 1/2 turkey sandwich (something like 280-300 cals).

What happened? Well... DUH! I had to take 1/2 the sandwich bread off to finish it and I only ate 1/2 the soup. So I didn't consume all the calories and THEN my meal was too LOW!!!! SILLY ME. I completely forgot the whole "oh yeah, I won't finish it' part. Plus Ian made a good point... I shouldn't stress myself like that trying to make sure I stay under all the time because there are so many days that I'm way UNDER my net calorie goal that going over a day or two in the week would probably actually help balance things out. See... that's why I married him. He's smart. :)

I made it up to him by having a tall (small) frappuccino WITH whipped cream. Although I have to say, I was a little disappointed. I don't know if they just don't taste as good to me as I remembered... or if this one just wasn't made well. It was just "okay" and definitely didn't leave me feeling like I want another one anytime soon.

A little something I tried today. It's a Pillsbury product called Egg Scrambles. It cooks in the bag in the microwave, kind of like stem-in the bag veggies. I will say this was "okay". I tend to like my bacon super crispy (even overcooked/burned) so i didn't care for it s little soggy like that and I also thought this had a bit of a "fake" taste just from being prepackaged and frozen... but it may not be too bad to someone else. I've been getting more and more sensitive to it. So I still wanted to post it because it's probably worth a try. Ian got the sausage one and really liked it. The whole package is just 290 calories so not too shabby for breakfast. I wasn't able to finish it, I ate about 3/4 of it. Ian is able to finish one.

Now on to the fashion show part!!!! Well.... as some of you know.... I can't stand showing my arms right now. Had no problem with it when I was bigger but now that I'm smaller and my arms are still big and super flabby with extra skin, I just hate it because I feel like they don't go with the rest of my body and it's REALLY noticeable. Someday I want to get surgery (if it's still needed after I strength train for a while) but the earliest that would ever be is next winter or spring, so I have at least this spring/summer/fall to go. It has been unseasonably warm here in Colorado this month (87 today!!) so I have been realizing how much I need more summer stuff.

Last year I did a lot of tank tops with a light cardigan or crocheted piece over it. I don't mind it but I get kind of tired of it and sometimes it's just too hot for 2 layers. I would rather have a longer sleeve and have it be just one lightweight layer. It's just so hard to find a sleeve to the elbow or a 3/4 length sleeve in a lightweight fabric. Usually they do those for spring/fall and they are heavier fabrics.

I recently tried Old Navy, JCPenny, Maurices and a few other stores and came up empty handed. Nothing fit me right and the things that did were either totally see through or way too long.

Today I hit the jackpot at Kohl's! I have had luck there before too so I don't know why I didn't try sooner. Well I was able to get 9 shirts today all with longer sleeve and all lightweight. They are all Sonoma brand and all size Large. Enjoy the show!

These 3 are the same shirt in a couple patterns and colors.

 

By the way, I love stripes. I love HORIZONAL STRIPES AND I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS!!!!!!!! I am the size I am and I think if you look at those 3 pics my size looks the same in the solid/printed one as it does in the stripes. So there, naysayers LOL. I love my stripes and I'm gonna wear them. I wore them all the time at my biggest. I just never cared about that.

The next 3 are all the same cut as each other as well but in different colors and different patterns. They are super comfortable!

Yellow!! It's kind of a subdued medium yellow and I wasn't sure if I could pull it off but it looked good I think!

Orange! Hard to see the pattern in the photo. It's some scrolly stuff around the neckline and some at the bottom, in a lighter orange.

This one is a dark grey and again it's hard to tell in the photo... the colored parts are feathers.


Then I got this VERY lightweight blue top. This will be my saving grace in those 90-100 degree summer days...

It's a little short on me, but will look good with my shorter shorts. Usually I can't see my stupid shorts hardly at all so it will work well with those. Which I would be wearing on a hot hot day anyway :)

Last but  not least, more stripes!

These are a little loud for my hubby's taste... but too bad lol because I love them. I love the varying colors and I love that the stripes go DOWN the arms the way they do. I just think they're awesome.

If you like any of these, go to Kohl's ASAP. Just got them today.

I feel very lucky I found this many things A) with the sleeve lengths I wanted.... B) in my size .... C) in colors I like .... D) with open or v necklines .... E) on sale! $17.99 for most of them .... F) The right length on my body unlike everything I tried on yesterday which were all too long.

I can't wear t-shirt necklines and usually not boat necks or even scoop necks. The scoops are open, yes, but they tend to be too open and loose and show my bra straps or even the top of the cups.  All of these necklines were perfect.

There is one more shirt I tried on in white that I LOVED the shape of AND it was so so comfy, but I just can't stand the see-thru white. They didn't have my size in any other colors. So I might see if I can find them online. Similar shape to the top 3 shirts, but in solid colors and with some embellishing around the neck line.

NOW.... I have to go reorganize my closet. I'm out of room, there's tons of stuff I don't wear and i need to reorganize my pants, my pjs, and arrange my shirts by sleeve length and get the warm stuff toward the back.

Of course... it's supposed to be back in the 40's tomorrow :( So I'll be back in a hoodie and unable to sport my new stuff.

Tomorrow is weigh in!!!!! :)

Day 26: I LOVE Curves Smart

Well the title says it all. I love Curves Smart :) Today I went in a bit early to do a weigh and measure... Mainly I just wanted to do that so my calorie burn would stay accurate. I couldn't remember exactly when I started using the Smart program, turns out it was March 12.

So in the 18 days since then (and only 7 Curves Smart workouts), here are my stats: Down 5.5 pounds and 4.4 lbs of that is fat! She said usually the loss is more water. My body fat decreased from 38% to 36.9% and I lost an inch overall off my body. Most exciting: 1/4" off my arms which haven't gotten smaller in ages! I swear I was floating after that. I was never expecting so much change in just 2 1/2 weeks of using Curves Smart. I can't believe that!

 I really want to continue for a while before attempting heavier lifting with a personal trainer. I still love the idea but right now this is working and I am definitely both building muscle and losing fat. When it stops working, then I can try something new :) I'm thrilled with this progress.

 Still can't get on board with high calorie when I work out. I just can't eat enough to make up the calories. I have almost 900 calories left over today and only 1 more meal to eat (probably 300 max). But I do the best I can without choosing to eat junk. Again it's working so I won't try to adjust too much more unless I have a solid reason to.

Day 25... I Think?! & NSVs!

So, some really interesting things happened today.

First of all,  I got up early to head off to AquaZumba. I was in a bit of a stupor because I slept really horribly last night. I grabbed the wrong swim coverup and I was in my bathroom getting ready and went to put it on. Realized it was the wrong one... it is one that I bought for Hawaii, but when we went to Hawaii and I was trying everything on before the trip, Ian and I both decided it was too tight on me and didn't look good. It was really tight around my hips & lower tummy. It had been tight when I bought it but it was months before Hawaii and I thought it might fit, well it never did. However..... today, it did! And I still weigh 7-8 lbs above what I weighed in Hawaii. My shape must be changing a lot more this time!

I went off to AquaZumba in my correct coverup (mainly for its pockets lol) and met up with my friend April for the class. Unfortunately we had a sub and the sub wasn't trained in Zumba, so it was just a regular water aerobics class. We tried to be positive and just enjoy it but one main problem I had with it was that it was not very tough cardiovascularly... had some good strength training in it, but this was supposed to be a cardio day for me. The other thing was she kept making snide comments about her class being better than AquaZumba... get over yourself! Not true! LOL.

However one awesome thing came out of it. She had us do push ups on the edge of the pool... and I did really well at them. This led me to wonder if I could do regular, real pushups. I have NEVER been able to do pushups... I've always had to modify and be on my knees or stand at an angle against something or whatever it may be. I got home and tried it. I did 5 pushups!!!!!!!!! I think I could have done more but I was tired from the class lol. I was just so thrilled I can do REAL honest pushups!!!!!

Then I got to thinking, if that swim coverup fits, maybe my size 14 jeans fit again??? I went to my closet, slid them on and effortlessly buttoned and zipped them. They are actually a tiny bit loose. They fit pretty much how they did before... again, several pounds heaver but apparently leaner!

I still dont' LIKE these jeans that much because they are too low-cut for me and my tummy hangs over which actually makes me look & feel bigger instead of smaller. But, I will deal. The important thing is they fit again!!

I snuck a peek at the scale this morning and was actually up a pound, not sure why... but all these NSV's made me absolutely not care one tiny bit!!!!! :) :)

Ian and I went grocery shopping today also and we are all stocked up with good stuff and some recipes for the week.

Then we went out to buy him some new pants since he starts his new job this coming Monday. Its business casual and at his last job he was able to wear jeans. We found a great pair at one mall store and on clearance for dirt cheap... but just one pair. We found out another store had one 45 mins away so we went down there and snagged them! But then it was super bad traffic time so we just hung out at that mall, had some early dinner, walked allllll around the mall shopping & shopping. We took off to REI also because we were looking for some bags for our trip but we didn't find anything.

When we got home, my FitBit gave me over 400 more calories to eat from walking all over the place!! I did my best and had a big PB&J sandwich. That got me pretty darn close :)

Back to Curves tomorrow morning! Gonna keep building these awesome muscles that are making me stronger and slimmer :)

Day 23 - Oops!

Sorry I forgot to post last night!

First of all I snapped this photo at Curves on Monday, from the computer... this is all the workouts I've done at Curves since starting the Curves Smart program. Check out these calorie burns!

Yesterday I decided to go for another 5 mile walk. This time instead of going 2.5 miles and then turning around, I walked the entire 5 miles one way because it dumps me into a park where I was able to get picked up :) SOME DAY I'll be able to walk all the way there and back, right? :)
It was a beautiful day... only took one photo though:

I had my hydration pack and it sure did help! However I still felt just as tired at the end, so maybe hydration wasn't my only problem. I'm ABLE to do 5 miles but it is still pretty much max exertion for me. But I will just keep doing it as often as I can and it will get easier! The great thing is when I do 3 miles now I am left feeling like I could do more, and that used to be just as tiring as 5 miles feel now. So I don't need to rush it, just be happy that I am gaining more endurance and more muscle.

My back did get really tired this time so I iced my back last night and I elected not to go to Curves today. I feel like I COULD... but with my back it's better to just take the day off. I am planning AquaZumba tomorrow, Curves Friday and I don't know about the weekend but something then too definitely.

Had a tasty fish dinner last night. Parmesan crusted Tilapia with green beans...

Sorry, I forgot to take the photo before I started om-nomming my fish :) This was a very tasty dinner.

I had a lot of trouble meeting my calories yesterday, I just wasn't that hungry. I even opted for a hot fudge sundae at Dairy Queen last night (was really craving it) and still had like 900 calories left after that lol. So my last meal of the day was bumps on a log (celery, peanut butter, raisins) and a colby jack cheese stick so I got a lot of calories and protein in at the end there... still over 400 calories below my target... but that's how it goes sometimes! The nice thing is if I go over today (since no exercise) it's okay because I am usually under.

I have some exciting news to share too!!!!

We just booked a cruise for October, and are about to book a cruise for April of next year. Can't believe it! The one this October is just us for Ian's 35th birthday. Italy, Greece, Turkey, France, Croatia and Spain. We are so excited! And Ian really needs something to look forward to right now. We are going on Royal Caribbean.

The one in April 2013 is going to be my whole family (us, my dad, grandma and aunt) for my grandma's 95th birthday. It's very different... a river cruise instead of ocean and on a small ship where everybody gets a nice big window. It goes through Holland and Belgium at tulip time!!

We're very excited. I just wish my mom was going to be here to join us.

Day 22

Hey guys! Thanks for your nice comments on the last post. Feeling a bit better today but this is going to be a long road! Weigh in this morning... 208.6 :) That's 1.8 lbs down from last Monday. It's slowing a but but that's to be expected I feel so great about everything I am doing and I know I'm on the right track. All the exercise is making me feel great. Although my Curves session today seems like I did tweak my back a little, not too bad. Will have to see how I feel tomorrow because I'd like to do a nice walk tomorrow. I really don't have a whole lot to share today health and fitness wise! Curves was great. Food was on track except today was a little too high carb. A few hundred calories left over. I think I'm really tired tonight lol... More tomorrow :)

Day 21: Product Testing & Sad Thoughts

I tried out my new goodies today on a morning walk! I am so thrilled too because hubby went with me. He has been sore & tired since our hike Wednesday and hadn't exercised again. He was finally ready. We went for a 3 mile walk this morning and I tried out my new hydration pack and heart rate monitor.

The hydration pack is SO comfortable. Even all full of water it is not a hindrance whatsoever. It was convenient and awesome!!! As far as comfort against the skin, I can't speak for that yet because it was chilly and I was wearing my jacket. I did notice I was the ONLY person wearing any sort of hydration pack. Everyone out walking/running/biking either had a water bottle in their hand or nothing at all. I still have a hard time with anything that people might think is "weird" because I don't like to draw attention to myself lol. But I am trying not to care because I loved it so much!!

 

See how small it is? Very light and comfortable.

Do I look like a weirdo out walking? I hope not lol. But I loved wearing this today and having hands-free hydration!

When I got home I checked out my heart rate monitor's results:

So. My FitBit calculated the walk at 353 calories (but it only counts my # of steps). My iPhone app, which doesnt use my steps but rather my distance and elevation, calculates higher at 390. My heart rate monitor calculated 446... and I really think this would be the most accurate because it's calculating it on how hard **I** am working... not some fake "me" that is figured out from statistics.

I love all my devices for different reasons. But I think having this heart rate monitor is KEY!

Also I thought the chest strap was super comfortable. I did wet it as instructed and since it basically hits where the sports bra band hits, you don't even feel it after a couple of minutes. I could easily see forgetting it was there after a workout and accidentally wearing it all day LOL.  I still haven't delved into setting up my "target zones" or anything just yet.

By this time I was negative 250 calories for the day and I wanted pizza so we grabbed a slice at Marco's. Remember last time I got a much smaller piece? And I wasn't sure if his was bigger than normal or mine was smaller than normal. Well now I know! Mine was smaller. Today they were both huge. I wasn't able to eat the crust of mine because I got full. But it sure was a delicious piece of pizza.

We also ended up going to see a movie - The Hunger Games. I haven't read the books so I am not even clear on if the movie is of just the first book, or all 3. At any rate we liked it and thought it was really interesting. 

Normally going to a theater movie is major snacking time for me but we had just eaten that pizza so I just bought water to have later on in the movie. Ian bought a box of Dots and I had one serving (11 dots) and half the big bottle of water and that's it. And I really didn't feel like I was missing anything.

By the time we got out of the movie, though, it was after 5pm and I hadn't eaten much. I had 1,300 calories or so left to eat!!!

We ended up going to Tokyo Joes which I thought would be sort of a "splurge" since I had so many calories left.

I had a regular size bowl with white chicken, teriyaki sauce, brown rice, carrots, edamame and water chestnuts. I had calculated it online as somewhere around 600 calories before we went.... and even after ALL this time it never even occurred to me that OH YEAH I WON'T EAT ALL THAT..... lol! So I ate all of the chicken but only about 1/3 of everything else in the bowl. Except I calculated full amount of sauce because I thought it was skimpy and I asked for more sauce, so not sure about that one. Anyway.... only 350ish calories in the end. LOL I left there saying to him... well there went that plan.... I still have 1,000 calories left to eat!

In retrospect NOT the best idea considering it was VERY VERY HIGH SODIUM and tomorrow is WEIGH IN! Silly me. But that's alright... it's just a number and it will change.

I ended up having a protein shake a little later because I was running low on protein for the day. My final meal was a bowl of cereal. I am still 380 calories under my goal for the day, but that's the best I can do today. No more food. I'm trying to get down one more glass of water before bed (had about 12 cups so far today) to try and counteract some of the sodium.

All in all it's been a pretty good day.... except my poor husband is really sad tonight :( His mom was texting him how she has been crying more lately and feels Ian's dad isn't going to be here much longer. We all know this but just bringing it up and keeping it in his mind really had him down tonight. Just out of nowhere he said "I just hate this feeling every day, just waiting for my dad to die". I had no idea he was thinking about it tonight. We talked for a while and he ended up just wanting to go to bed early at 9:00 (this is 2-3 hours early for him). I worry about him and being depressed... but very glad at least that he went on that walk with me today.

I can't understand how he's feeling, even though i lost my mom so recently (can't believe we are coming up to 7 months now).... because I had no warning. Of course that has it's own shock and tragedy, but waiting for it like he is must be just absolutely terrible as well. That's what my cousins went through with my uncle for over a year. My husband, his sister and their mom are all just waiting. It's hard now and will be extremely hard when it actually does happen.... and I know it will be hard for a long time. Here I am at almost 7 months since I lost Mom and I cry almost every day. I think about so many little things. Today when we went to the movies a mom and daughter crossed the street heading to the theater and I recalled how she and I used to do that together ALL the time when I was that age and she was still in good enough health to do those things with me. I wish her surgery had worked and she had gotten better so we could do things together again.

Sorry to be a downer just feeling so sad tonight... for my own loss, the things I'll never have with my Mom... and for watching my husband go through all this... and what I have yet to watch him go through. THAT part I know how it feels and I hate that he will have to feel it too. I'm 28, he's 34 and we are both already losing a parent.... and we are not yet parents ourselves. Sometimes it's just too much.

He starts his new job next week and I'm really hoping it will help him to have something to focus on. But when he does, I will be spending Tuesdays with his dad in his place, and I am so nervous as I know it will make me even more sad, but I know it will be a blessing to spend some time with him.

Day 20: Some New Gear!

I can't believe I'm 2/3 of the way through my 30 day commitment. I will say... I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I am happy tracking my calories and exercise. Probably for the first time in my life!! I don't feel constricted by it. Instead I feel strangely free and in control. It's wonderful. If anything I am becoming more concerned with accurate calorie counts.... not because I want to make sure I don't eat too much... but because I want to make sure I eat enough... and of the right TYPES of foods (really trying to get higher protein again and go for the 40%carb/30%protein/30%fat ratio). It's HARD! I've been really under the protein this week. Need to keep trying. I mean I'm getting like 80-90 grams per day so it's not super low, but it's about half what I "should" get!

This morning I had some protein rich cereal (Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax)... 9 g protein. Plus some almond milk and canteloupe.

 

Late lunch/early dinner ended up being at Panera Bread because we were out shopping all afternoon. I opted for a 1/2 tuna sandwich with black bean soup. VERY good soup!

I ate the 1/2 sandwich and about 1/3 of the soup. Saved the rest of the soup and my apple and brought them home.

4+ hours later I was finally hungry again (so unusual for me to go that long) so I ate the rest of my soup with a little one-tortilla cheese quesadilla I made. I used a whole wheat tortilla, one slice of havarti cheese and one slice white american cheese.

Let me tell you it was YUMMY! Also, this one is a photo of the one Ian made for himself.... his has some roast beef and some chicken inside of it with his cheese, so he packed a lot of protein into that. (For the record, I could have done that and often do if I'm not pairing it with something. But since I wanted my soup I had to go with something a little less dense). He had some berries and a pickle with his as well as topped it with some salsa.

 

Anyhoo.... enough about my food for the day. Let's talk about WHY I WENT SHOPPING!!! :) Well, yesterday when I ended up going for a 5 mile walk WITHOUT ANY WATER, I realized I probably needed to do something about that. I'm not gonna carry a bottle that whole time. I do have a hydration backpack, but it is large and holds a lot of stuff. It seems silly to carry that for only the water aspect, and would be much hotter to wear also. Ian reminded me that they made smaller ones that are pretty much only for the water.

Did I mention I LOVE the store REI? I am a member there. My $25/yr membership already saved me $300 this year when I traded in my used-for-a-year snowshoes for brand new ones just because I didn't like the straps. Then they sent me my DIVIDENDS.... $75!!! As well as a 20% off one item coupon.

So off to REI we went and I ended up with this AWESOME backpack-type device which they actually call a hydration VEST because of the pockets in the front. Whatever it's called, I LOVE it...

That's the back view. The largest pocket holds the 70oz water bladder (same size that goes in my BIG backpack, wow)... then there is a smaller pocket for personal items. It's big enough for me to carry sunscreen and even a snack or some other small items.. so I could EVEN use this hiking when I don't want to carry the bigger one!

Here's the front view, or what goes on your chest. There's a sternum strap which is VERY comfortable and you clip your "straw" into it. Then on each shoulder strap you have a handy pocket you can reach without having to take the backpack off. The zippered pocket is big enough for my chapstick, a pack of tissues, and probably a couple other small things as well. The bigger drawstring pocket is even big enough for my PHONE, or even on occasion if I want to carry one of those small gatorade bottles for extra hydrtion.

Now you might be wondering about the meshy looking material the straps are made out of. Here's a closeup of mine...

It's sheer, lighweight, breathable, SOFT and extremely confortable. The outer edges are super soft like velvet. I would think even against bare skin wearing a tank top this would be extremely comfortsble. Which is great because in the summer I often walk/hike/bike in a tank top.

I'll have to let you know what i think once I actually USE it.... but right now I am pretty sure I'm in love!

The other things I was after at REI... a heart rate monitor. I think it will be a nice compliment to my FitBit for a more complete view of everything I'm doing. I love the FitBit for many reasons and it does many things a heart rate monitor and regular pedometer can't do. But I wanted the heart rate monitor especially with considering going into more strength training, going biking, and other things the FitBit can't really track.

I went with the Polar FT7 with chest strap.

I set up my basic settings in it tonight and wet the chest strap, tried it on and went for a little jog around the house and up and down the stairs. It seemed pretty accurate and worked well. I still have to figure out the whole fat burning zone/cardio zone thing because I think I accidentally set it myself instead of letting it set it for me and I set it at my resting heart rate LOL! I have some reading to do.

I also found this little bonus goodie at REI:

Isn't that great? I totally need this. My headphones are always a MESS. i try so hard to put them away neatly and yet EVERY time I get them out for a walk or at the gym, it takes me 5 minutes to untangle them. This is great, you can unwind some at both ends, don't even have to take the whole thing off. Should be very convenient.

I LOVE buying these bigger ticket items at REI because of my membership. If I am unhappy with them for any reason, I just take them back ANY TIME and get something else. No receipt, no matter the condition, no questions asked. So even though the backpack or heart rate monitor might be slightly cheaper on Amazon or somewhere else, you can't beat a guarantee like that.

The backpack was $90 and the HR monitor was $109. However I had a 20% off for my HR monitor and my $75 dividend so it ended up being around $100 for BOTH! We got some other goodies too so I spent a bit more. Very happy with my purchases.

By the way, stayed right at my calorie goal today with eating back my extra calories... although I didn't do planned exercise, FitBit said I got about 230 extra calories from all the extra walking I did out shopping at REI, Best Buy and 2 Targets (I didn't buy anything else but Ian needed something at BB and I needed something at Target but they were out). Yay for walking and YAY for my FitBit!!!!