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Friday, January 29, 2010

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow!

Or at least I hope so. Now that I check weather.com, it looks like Hale Freezes Over will be a toasty 21 degrees and overcast. I must stay positive about this experience. This is the first step to a major life change.
Wednesday I did the 3k on the treadmill at the rec center, so I know I can do this, but Andy has gotten very sick this week and won't be able to do the race with me, so I'll be running alone. Thankfully, a few of my friends have offered to come & cheer. I also know that you'll be beside me in spirit. I won't be alone at all.

So in addition to the secret fantasies I divulged to you in the last post, I've started making some more definitive goals.

Jan 31: Run my 1st 5k
Feb 1: Start official couch to 5k training
Mar 1: Run 1 mi nonstop
Apr 1: Run 5k under 30 min, start couch to 10k training
Jun 1: Run 10k, start couch to half marathon training
Aug 1: Run 8 min mile
Sept 23: Run half marathon by my bday
Oct 1: Start Marathon Training
May 2011: Run Marathon (I am looking at the Utah Valley Marathon as my candidate, but it's held in June)
Summer 2011: Train for Susan G Komen 3 day, 60 mile race for the cure
Fall 2011: Run Susan G Komen 3 day, 60 mile race for the cure
Spring 2012: Qualify for Boston Marathon
Spring 2013: Run Boston Marathon

And somewhere in there I'm having kid #2. Yes, I'm crazy, but we already knew that.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Crazy & Life Altering Decisions

This morning I woke up with sinus gambu. Now, it may be the foggy head and sinus pressure talking, but I've come to a crazy and life altering decision. Not only am I going to drop 100 lbs or more, but I'm also going to start training for the Susan G Komen 3 Day, 60 mile Race for the Cure in 2011. This plan includes working from a 5k, to a 10k, to a half marathon over the summer, the Utah Valley Marathon next spring, and finally the Big Mama Susan G Komen by the end of 2011. I have asked my mom to do it with me. Her sister, and my favorite aunt, who shares a birthday with Grace, has cancer. I was thinking it would be really amazing to get the whole family involved, as there are locations all over the country. That's not just the final destination though. I'm going to put my heart on my sleeve here. It is a secret desire of mine, ever since I was a fat little kid, to run in the Boston Marathon. My goal is to run it for my 30th birthday (probably after, in spring 2013). That gives me 2 years to qualify. The qualifying time for my age group is 3 hours and 40 mins. Seeing as I can only run 1/4 of a mile at a time before feeling like I'm going to die, it's going to take a lot of hard work and perseverance. I firmly believe I can do it.
Now, mind you, I didn't say WIN the Boston Marathon. I just said run in it.
Why is this a secret fantasy of mine? Because I was born not far from Boston. How amazing would it be to say "3 years ago, I was almost 250 pounds, slept 16 hours a day, and now I'm a marathon runner"?
That seems like a pretty big deal to me.
I know I'm out of my mind. It's a pretty big, and crazy idea. You don't have to tell me. Just support me in my dream, and push me to achieve it.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Disaster & Chaos

Tonight I was making raviolis from scratch, using ricotta & won ton wrappers.

DISASTER AND CHAOS!! The raviolis looked so beautiful going into the pot. They were perfect. I even crimped the edges with a fork. They all fell apart as soon as I started stiring them. ARGH! I'm not even sure there's any left in tact now that the tomatoes and sauce is in.

Oh, but that's not all. I'm also making garlic & herb bread from scratch.

My dough was perfect the whole way through. Lovely little ball. Well, I'm obviously doing something wrong with my breads, because this is the 2nd batch that came out like melted MARSHMALLOWS!
I turned it out on to the counter, and it just came out in a stringy, goopy mess. That's not it, either. I started trying to form balls, and the dough stuck to my hands. I looked like the swamp creature! I couldn't get it off. I didn't know what to do! I had to wash my hands and waste half the batch to get it off. When my hands were clean, I threw a TON of flower on to the counter and took a deep breath. I refused to let this beat me! It finally cooperated and I was able to form 3 small loaves, and several bread sticks.
I put them in the oven, turned around, and realized I completely forgot to glaze them with olive oil. Quickly, I tried to hunt down the lone hot pad we own that Grace took off with, and grabbed the dough from the oven, glazed them, and put them back in.
*Big huff*

Mind you, I'm not beating myself up. I just needed to vent cuz it frustrated me.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Adventures in Cooking!

There's something about making more complex bread things from scratch that gives one a sense of real accomplishment. Sunday night I made some delicious dinner rolls from scratch, and last night... last night we ventured into the world of BAGELS!

After forming into a neat dough ball in my bread machine, the dough eerily became soup-like. I held my breath and hoped it would be okay, reminding myself how tasty the uncooked dough was.
The machine beeped at me, and I turned out the dough... or tried to. It came out like a giant, ooey-gooey sienna marshmallow! Stringy and partly cooked. Like mozarella clinging to your lips from a slice of za 2 feet away in your hand. I persevered and rolled it into flour. Andy helped me form them into doughnut looking objects. One by one I placed them in a pot of boiling water and waited 30 seconds, then flipped them, watching them float to the top, and waited another 30 seconds. I turned each one on to a pan and put them in the oven.
They're cooking now. Andy just commented how good they smell.
It's so hard not to open the oven & check on these bizarre rolly-polies!
Finally they're done. Andy & I split one.
I bite in, then cry out "I'M A DOMESTIC GODDESS!!"
These are better than the store. Gosh, that's another $10/month we'll be saving.

Andy thinks they're almost as good as the store, but doesn't like the golden raisins I used. Noted.

To further our adventures in cooking, I'm making Pork A L'Orange tonight for dinner. I didn't realize it takes such a long time. I also accidentally skipped a step & added liquid to the rice too soon. The rice was supposed to brown in the critter drippings, and then you add orange juice & water. After that comes to a boil, you toss in 1/2 a cup of apples & 1/2 a cup of raisins. I used the same golden raisins that went into the bagels. They are a little spicy. Kinda fun!
When I turned it out into a baking dish, it smelled AMAZING. I wanted to eat it right then and there. I put it in the oven, only to discover you're supposed to cover it first. DOH! Grab dish out of oven. Ask hubby to put tinfoil on it for me, as I tend to be really accident prone around hot things. Put dish back into oven and reset timer. Now we have to wait 40 mins. Yargh. I'm used to eating at 6, and we won't eat until 7.
I bet it will be worth the wait!

Haven't had the opportunity to workout today, and I really want to go to the rec center, which we recently got year round passes for. I'm trying to decide whether to hit the track there tomorrow or the treadmill. I guess it will depend on how Grace feels since she's had a bout with the sniffles.

Tomorrow's adventure: Slow cooker shredded chicken taco salad.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Eat More to Weigh Less

It may seem counter-intuitive, but I recently discovered that I need to be eating more than I am to weigh less than I do. MFP always talks about eating back the calories you burned during exercise. I didn't see the point. Weren't you SUPPOSED to burn calories?
Not exactly. The light bulb finally came on on Sunday when I really sat down to think about it. I was eating 1200 calories a day, and burning 500 of those in workouts. If I didn't eat back my cals, that would be a 500 calorie deficit, putting me well below 1200 calories. You're not supposed to do that. Your body will go into survival mode if you go any lower than 1200. It's just not a good idea. To make sure I had this right, I posted my question on MFP. Several people confirmed my notion, and I upped my daily calorie intake to 1400. I had been feeling exceptionally hungry lately, especially since I started spacing my 3 meals out into 6 very small meals, since that's supposed to rev up your metabolism.
Well, this morning I did my daily weigh in on Wii Fit Plus. My wii scale is only a pound off from my real scale, and it said I was at 222. So I get on my real scale, and sure enough-- 223.4! I was 225.8 on Friday. That's a 2.4 lb weight loss in 4 days. THAT'S AMAZING! I hope my body does that again when I officially weigh in with a few of my MFP groups on Friday. Can't wait to see Clarene on February 3rd. Hoping to be at 30 lb weight loss when I see her. 35 lbs would be even better. If I can get to 35 by the 3rd, I'll have gotten down to my pre-baby weight in 3 months.
She'll be floored!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Time Out

Grace just had her first time out. She was making our video cabinet wobble. We don't have it bolted to the wall, because we move it often, so bolting isn't really an option, which leaves it as kind of a dangerous play thing for Grace. We've told her no, but after her 18 month checkup yesterday, her doctor said now is the time to start time outs. So we had one. I gave her a warning "One... two... TIME OUT!" and stuck her in the corner between our front door, bedroom door, and closet door. It seemed perfect. It took about 10 minutes of us putting her back into the corner and telling her she was in time out, but she eventually got it. She stayed for 1 minute. We then went to her, told her why she was there, taught her the sign for sorry, and gave loves. In a few months I will bring her up to speed of 1.5 minutes, since she's 1 & 1/2 now. I think the minute for each year of your life is the way to go. And in a few months, she'll be a pro at time out, and I think ready for 1.5 mins.
Boy, parenting is fun! I was really proud she picked up pretty quickly and stayed where she was told. I have the best baby ever!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Nobody Panic

Okay.... NOBODY PANIC!

I had a meeting for church last night (I'm on the primary presidency), and I ran my first half mile. I went 1/2 a mile in 7 minutes... because I walked... a LITTLE! I can run from my house to the block corner, which is probably 1/3 of the way, then I walked a block, then I ran 1/2 a block, then I walked, then I pushed up a small hill at a jog. Boy, have I been strongly disillusioned! Running forward is NOT easier than running in place. It's not even on the same playing field. It's COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! The air has been real bad here, so knowing that, maybe I'm just panicking... my legs were not tired, I just couldn't breathe. When I got to the president's house, I sat down, enthusiastically accepted water, and in my mind kept thinking "Oh, no, what have I signed up for?! 3 miles of THAT! No, no, no, it's not possible. I'm going to look like a total fool."
But the 2 gals that were at the meeting have both run several races, and one gave me a ride home, even though I wanted to run. I told her my feelings, and she said it's cuz it's cold and the air is really crappy right now, and I'll do fine. Just run the hill every other day till the race, and that should build up the stamina I need. She even offered to loan me her jogging stroller for the day of the race if Andy signs up so we can take Grace with.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Uphill, Both Ways!

I did something crazy today.

I signed up for my first 5k!

The race is January 30th-- only 2 weeks away. The only training I've had thus far is running in place with my wii. Yes, I'm nuts, but we've previously established this fact. I feel pretty confident I can run for 30-40 mins, because I did a 20 minute "run" yesterday with the Wii, and then another 8. Today I'm resting my legs. No workout. Just staying under on my calories. Going to use the spare time to download some decent music to run to on my iPod, AKA Steve.

Also, I was very naughty. This morning I asked Andy for $20, which he thought over and then agreed to. I merrily went to Hale Center Theater, host of the race, and put in my $20 entry fee... then proceeded to Payless for running shoes... and KMart for decent, non-ugly sweats to run in. The last 2 were kinda unexpected expenses, but necessary. These shoes I found are very cool. When I put them on, I was floored. They fit like a glove... like someone designed them specifically for my weird, flat, duck-like feet. Yet they were soft and pliable and RUNNING SHOES! I've never felt a shoe like this before. I feel like I could LIVE in them. They were $30. The pants were $15. I can't believe I fit into a large pant. I've never fit into a large before! I guess I am losing inches, despite the tape measurer saying otherwise when I measured at the start of the month.

The last thing I will whine at Andy for is some new head phones, since I lost my marshmallows and can't find my other set which was kinda torched anyway, and an arm band for Steve, and some head bands to keep hair & sweat out of my face.

Random, but I've recently come to the decision that all cows are mutants based solely on the fact that they have only 1 boob, but 4 nipples.

Did I mention the race is going to be held over a 40% grade hill, both ways? And you thought those stories from your grandpa going uphill both ways was a tall tale.
Oh, yeah, I'm doing it!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

SUPERMAN!

So a big breakthrough for me today. I did my Wii workout, but lately I've been getting kinda fed up with boxing. It's just not FAST enough for me anymore. It's like my body is rebelling. My scores are totally sucking since my 1466 high score. It took an entire 10 mins to get my heart rate up to my target zone. After round 2, I said "screw it" and started looking for alternative exercises. The Free Run looked like it burned a lot of calories, but it was a 10 minute run. I had tried it before, when I first started MFP, and was done, ready to die, after 3 mins. I did it again today. It said I ran just over a mile & a quarter in 10 mins. I DID THE WHOLE 10 MINS!! I can't believe it. It burned 100 cals, too. Man, do I miss the days when boxing torched 100 cals!
Now, I know the Wii isn't the most accurate critter in the world, but it got me kind of excited. I've never been a runner, yet now I'm curious if I really CAN run a mile, and if so, how long it would take me. Andy has been working overtime as a project deadline nears, but maybe if he has the day off tomorrow, he can watch Grace while I go hunt down a running track & find out!

And you know what else? After that 10 minute run... I did MORE running. I think I went through 300 cals in 20 mins. I ALMOST feel like Superman!

Friday, January 8, 2010

BLAH

Put my Wii workout off till 9:30 tonight, and just did terrible. I wimped out at 200 cals when my goal is set at 310. I often do 350 even! Just not feeling it tonight. HRM said I burned 272, Wii was only 200 or so. I had a really hard time getting my heart rate up. I think my body is telling me it's time for a harder workout. I hope I have the courage. I did just enough to zero out my calories consumed for the day.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Fat Polar Falcons!

So for Christmas, Andy gave me a Heart Rate Monitor to help me better monitor my exercise and weight loss. Only problem was this one was evil and did not want to cooperate. It kept resetting itself, and even froze, similar to a computer's blue screen of death, when I tried to get all my stats back into it. So I took it back to the store, and whined at Andy for a better one. I did some shopping and found the Polar F7. I don't know why, but I always want to call it a Polar Falcon. Anyway, I ordered it just before New Years & it said it wouldn't be here till January 12th. I religiously checked the tracking on amazon.com where I bought it. This morning when I checked, I was surprised to see that it had been scanned in Orem. Now the problem was waiting. Often, our mailman doesn't get here till 5pm or so. I workout when Grace has her nap at 12:30. Would the mailman get here before I exercised? 10:30am I hear the familiar stop and go of the post truck and got all giddy!
IT'S HERE! I eagerly opened it and got it set up right away. It was extremely user friendly, with even better directions than the HRM I got for Christmas.
So as soon as Grace goes down, I start my workout. My little Polar Falcon beeps softly at me as I start exercising. After a minute, it goes quiet. I panick & look down. Oh, I reached my target zone. Okay, cool. I settle in and am pleased to see that the calorie count on my HRM is higher than what the Wii says. Y'know, I tend to believe the HRM since it's strapped to my chest and only a few inches away from my LIFE FORCE! It ticks away at me. I work extra hard to get into the middle range of my heart rate. I'm sore & sweaty, like a good workout should make you feel. In the end, my HRM says I burned 577 calories, while the Wii says 366. I punch in the minutes I worked out on to my exercise log on MFP. It comes up with 487. I feel it is a fair compromise between the two disparages.

Now to try it out with my Wii Biggest Loser game! That thing drives me bananas. I should not be dripping sweat & huffing & puffing & only have burned 100 calories! My new Polar Falcon is going to set the record straight once and for all!

It also said that the calories burned were 35% fat. Anyone have any suggestions on where my heart rate needs to be to burn 50% fat?

I hope my body keeps cooperating for the next 80 lbs!

Weigh in tomorrow (Friday). Keep an eye on that ticker. I'm hoping for it to say 22 lbs lost!

Friday, January 1, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year, Everybody! Heck... HAPPY NEW DECADE! Was the last 10 years a blast, or what?
I almost made it to midnight last night, but conked out in the middle of a very funny movie we were watching. For some reason, my limit is pretty much 10p. After that, I conk out during whatever show I'm watching. The movie we watched was called The Gamers: Rise Of Dorkness. You should totally catch it, especially if you have EVER played (or watched someone play) a D&D role play game. It was very clean. You know me, I'm a big fan of clean humor! The only dirty part was the bard constantly seducing every woman he ran in to, but it was more like "Hey, baby, wanna tune my mandolin?" *wink, wink*
That was it! LOL
We treated ourselves to a blu-ray player for Christmas, and we can download Netflix directly to it which is awesome. That's how we found The Gamers movie.

So I wanted to update you on my weight loss. My goal was to get down to 228 by New Years. The past week I was stuck at 230 or higher. I was getting frustrated, and was afraid I would not meet my goal. I step on the scale this morning, wait, then look down... 228.8!! YES! Goal #1 reached. Goal #2 is to reach 198 by March 23-- my half birthday. I honestly can't wait to see Clarene next month. If I continue dropping 10 lbs a month like I have been, I'll have dropped a total of 30 lbs by then. When she asks "How did you lose all that?" I will throw my head back and laugh, "Playing video games!"
Seriously, the majority of my weight loss has come from busting my butt on Wii Fit Plus. I do a lot of Rhythm Boxing, and burn off at least 300 cals a day. I try to keep my sodium under 1500, and my daily calorie intake (what I eat) to 1200 or so. For those of you concerned, no, I'm not starving. I eat when I'm hungry, I just make healthy choices. I think I explained you can eat a virtual mountain of fruits and veggies for the same amount as a cheeseburger, right? This doesn't mean I've gone vegan, it just means more fruits & veggies (and Nuts-- that's new!), and fewer cheeseburgers.

Now, like any fanatic, I've made New Years Resolutions for the first 6 months of the year. Maybe they will motivate you to make a few for yourself.

1) Declutter my life. I've decided less is more, and even noticed that I actually do laundry with Grace having a smaller wardrobe. Weeding out my own wardrobe (and Andy's) should result in similar results.

2) Organize the house. I think by doing the above, this should fall naturally in to place.

3) Finish all commissions in my studio by June 1. It needs to be done so we can transform the studio into Grace's bedroom by her birthday.

4) Paint the house. We bought all the supplies last year, but never got to it. This needs to happen by the end of June. My mom has mentioned bringing my favorite aunt out in July. She & Grace share a birthday!

5) Lose a total of 75 lbs by July 9-- Grace's birthday.

These are in chronological order, rather than order of importance. I've found the last few months that planning everything out REALLY helps me stay on track & meet goals I've set for myself.

Last of all: Continue clawing our way out of debt. I think the fact that we've dramatically reduced the amount we eat out each month will really help with this last goal/problem. We've gone from eating out 2-3 times a week, to 1-2 times a month. After mimicking restaurant stuff at home, it's just cheaper (and tastes better) to do it there!

Anyway, there it is. My New Year's plan. Got yours yet? Hop to it!