Still at home

We are still snowed in here! Off work three days in a row now. We did make it out last night and today but we didn’t go too far. Even the main roads are still pretty lousy and there are tons of trees, limbs and power lines that have fallen so it’s hard to tell what streets or businesses will be open and whatnot.

Basically, we got 2-3 inches of snow and then freezing rain on top of that. Then another snow storm that dumped another 2-3 inches on top of the ice. layer all within 48 hours. There are also I think 200,000 homes in the state without power and they are having a hard time restoring it because everything is covered with ice and it hasn’t been above freezing here in a few days now.

We’re getting a little restless but we’re safe, warm and definitely well fed. Unfortunately I have not gotten much exercise other than walking the dog (which is a workout in 5 inches of snow with ice in between) and some massive house cleaning that I did because I got bored 😉 But it’s hard to complain under the circumstances.

Hope wherever you all are that you are safe. We have some friends coming to stay with us tonight because they are without power. We were lucky this time (we lost ours for a week in August when we had a really bad wind storm) so we feel it’s only right to help out those who were not.

Sorry this blog has been lame this week, it will be better when things get back to normal around here!

Snow day!

Howdy y’all!

Here is good ol’ Kentucky, we got 4 or 5 inches of snow with a coat of ice on top of it, woooo weee!

My husband and I both got the day off work, so we’ve been catching up on sleep, tv shows and old movies we haven’t seen for a while…Jaws, anyone? Haha.

I have taken a couple of walks with the dog and spent almost an hour cleaning off my car earlier, so hopefully I have burned some calories. I really need to get to work on a new routine so I don’t feel so unmotivated to exercise like I have been these days.

Hopefully we’ll be back to work tomorrow, so I can hit the gym at lunchtime as planned. Today I was actually going to get there early in the morning but that didn’t pan out 😦

Oh well, tomorrow is another day! How about you guys, any snow? K, I know you’ve always got it, haha.

Be back soon!

Hot yoga?

Saturday afternoon, my best friend Courtney and I decided we would try out  Bikram or “hot” yoga for the very first time. We are both fans of yoga and have driven past the building several times in the past few months wondering what it is all about. Finally, we looked it up online and chose a day and time to go.

Let me just say, hot yoga is not for the weak! Imagine getting into a giant sauna with 30 other people and then doing some very challenging Bikram yoga moves. I don’t know the exact temperature, but if I had to guess, I’d say the room was kept somewhere around 100 degrees fahrenheit. It wasn’t steamy, it was more of a dry heat. At first, it didn’t seem so bad. We worked on deep breathing, which sort of put me off at first because they encourage making “noises” when you breathe in and out which really distracts me.

We started with a half-moon pose on each side and did two “sets” of each pose that we went through. About 15 minutes into the class, I took off my shirt (I had a tank top on underneath) and noticed my heart beating pretty fast. At one point, the teacher said “You are going to feel like you are having a heart attack, but you’re not.” WHAT?! Haha. Other poses I actually remember doing were chair pose, tree pose (differently than I’m used to though — instead of your foot being place on your inner thigh, you hold it with the opposite hand), and some of the warrior poses. The Bikram link above actually has a pretty good list of what we did. 

Throughout the class, we had frequent water breaks. I think I had a total of 60 ounces of water, just in a 90 minute period. We also had towels over our yoga mats and I brought a hand towel to wipe my face off with. By the time we left, everything, including me, was completely drenched! I have never sweat that much in my life, not even when I ran the mini-marathon last year. At certain times, sweat was running in my eyes, mouth, nose, etc. It was kind of gross, but also kind of neat because I knew my body was working hard.

That being said, I don’t think I will be doing hot yoga again for a while. I find it to be a very interesting concept and I really did feel good afterwards (released some toxins perhaps?) but it was just a little much for me. I do think if I go back again, I will try a different class — I think  I prefer hatha and vinyasa styles of yoga better. It’s not something I could do long term because the intense heat does take it’s toll on your body. But maybe once a month or something, just to sweat it out.

Afterwards, we treated ourselves to Whole Foods for dinner and laughed about the crazy things we get into sometimes. Hope you all had great weekends too!

Six weeks to go!

Since I live in the home of the Kentucky Derby, of course we have a series of races called the Triple Crown of Running! They include a 5K, 10K and 10-miler that all lead up to the Derby Festival mini-marathon; all races I ran last year. It’s hard to believe sometimes, but I did.

I got an email Saturday morning that says the 5K is just 6 weeks away! I couldn’t believe it, I am so behind in my training. But at the same time, it has given me motivation — instead of focusing on the long race, I am going to use the next 6 weeks to train for the 5K and see if I can beat last year’s time. I think I can!

Yes is the new no

My husband and I went and saw the Jim Carrey film “Yes Man” last night and it was quite hilarious! It was also a neat portrayal of how some people are just too afraid to live their lives, so they say no to everything; then there are people who say yes to everything and end up doing things they don’t want to do. Very, very interesting. But funny as heck!

Onto the eats! Yesterday was a much “better” day than Wednesday; I think my hungry-monster finally left and I’m back to my idea of normal, haha.

Instant pumpkin oats, 1% milk, banana, pecans, cashew butter

 

My usual...just one though!

Ate this after class

Best...Taco...Salad...Ever!

Seriously, you all, this was amazing! I used the leftovers from the night before from the Veggie Burritos we made for girl’s night. This was so tasty, filling and low in calories. I felt full and energized most of the rest of the afternoon, which is saying a lot because I’ve been dragging lately.

This salad contained:

– About 3 cups of romaine lettuce

– 1/2 cup veggie taco filling (heated)

– 1/4 cup black beans

– 1/4 cup diced tomatoes & chiles

– 1/4 cup 2% Mexican cheese blend

– 1 tbsp hot taco sauce

– 2-3 tbsp fat free sour cream

YUM!

Peppermint bark...so much better than peanut M&M's, less cals too!

Snack of champions - Yogurt + Go Lean crunch

One thing I have noticed is that I think I prefer the regular Kashi Go Lean (with fiber twigs and all) in my yogurt as oposed to the Kashi Go Lean Crunch varieties. I think it’s the consistency of the cereal, plus the Go Lean has more fiber and protein and I think that makes a little bit of a difference. Or it’s all in my head, haha.

Chicken, broccoli, wheat bun with Promise spread

We had some buns left over from when we made sausages, so I decided to use on in place of bread or toast with dinner 🙂

I was hoping to go for a walk/run after dinner, but I go home about 30 minutes later than normal and by the time I was ready it was pitch black outside and I chickened out. I think if I could’ve convinced my husband to go with me it would’ve been great. But he’s a bum sometimes, it’s true. I must drive him crazy!

Dessert numero uno - SF jello pudding with cool whip

Dessert2/Snack - Honey Nut cheerios x 2 (second with 1% milk)

I don’t know if you can tell from the pic but I estimate that is a cup’s worth per serving. I don’t know why I love cereal so much but I do. Sometimes I like to eat it for breakfast, in yogurt or just as a snack by itself. But I need to keep my portions in check!

Lastly, I had some more Lipton herbal tea, this time the orange. It was very good and I had another fun message given to me:

Hope everyone had a good night. Happy Friday and weekend 🙂

We’re having a heat wave…

So, it might hit 50 today, which for Kentucky in January, is pretty freaking awesome. Unfortunately it’s not staying, so I will be getting out there to enjoy it while it lasts!

Anyway, trying to keep this brief, so here’s a quick look at what I ate yesterday:

Waffles, banana, SF syrup, PB, scrambled egg, low sodium V8

Honey roasted peanuts

Went for a 4-mile walk/run before lunch…I think in the end, I ran 3.25 miles and walked 0.75; I just went with what my body told me and didn’t push too hard or go too easy. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but the machine said I burned 460 calories. I really need a heart rate monitor!

I also had a cup of coffee with Equal & 1% milk before my snack 😉

Tuna wrap, edamame, grapefruit, chocolate milk

Behold the amazing grapefruit spoon! I don’t know how I ate them without this thing…I picked it up in Gatlinburg, it has serrated edges, plus a cute grapefruit design on the handle. Hehe!

 

Okay, so what happened was, I wanted some of these on Tuesday, don’t know why; but when I went to buy them, they got stuck in the machine (should’ve taken it as a sign) and so I bought another one to make sure the first one came out and I ended up with 2! But they are gone now and I enjoyed them while they were here 😉

I tried to avoid my mid-afternoon snack to compensate but I actually got hungry around 4:00 before I left work.

Lite yogurt w/ Kashi Go Lean Crunch

I also had some tea during the day…I really like the Traditional Medicinals brand, I’ve used them for when I had colds in the past. This type is called “Women’s Liberty” and is supposed to promote healthy hormone balance. It tastes pretty spicy too!

Women’s Liberty tea w/ Chicks Rule mug? Ha, if only I’d planned it.

Last night was awesome! We ended up having vegetarian burritos…I cooked up some Fantastic Foods Vegetarian taco filling, which had a very good taste and consistency. I’m not a veggie but a friend of ours is, so usually our girl’s nights remain meat-free as well 🙂 On the side were some chips, questo and guacamole. YUM!

Burrito, chips and dips

 

Mine contained veggie filling, lettuce, tomatoes, black beans, guac, 2% cheese, ff sour cream

It was also a friend’s birthday, so we enjoyed some chocolately cupcakes with whipped icing, double YUM!

When I crunched the numbers, I went a little overboard on calories today but thankfully I burned a nice chunk off and I will strive to balance it out the next few days.

Happy Thursday all!

FYI – I checked the remaining PB Larabars when I went home and mine matched the number on the list, eek. I’m going to call today. They said this affects all of the PB flavor since they were first released in June of 2008, so just because you purchased it a while back doesn’t mean you are safe. If you have any of the Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars or Jamfrakas PB bars, please throw them out, don’t take a chance. You don’t want to get sick. Just try another flavor for now! I highly recommend cinnamon roll and ginger snap 😉

I just need a new plan

Hey guys!

Hope your Wednesdays have been glorious 🙂 How does Day 1 feel to you? I have to say, I woke up feeling rather inspired. Hopefully the new Prez managed to get a few winks in last night before his big first day on the job.

Thankfully, the weather is starting to warm up here too. I think we might reach 30-something today! It’s temporary though, as I see 20’s in the extended forecast. How many more days of winter?? Haha…

For some crazy reason, I decided to get on the scale this morning and you know what?…Not bad. I think I have finally found that healthy, appropriate balance in my life. Basically, I think I’ve finally accepted that what I put in, I have to put back out. If I eat healthy and exercise moderately most of the time, things will hold steady. If I overindulge a bit, I gotta pound out a few more calories to balance it out (like I did during Christmas using the Y).

I think it’s the fact that I maintained a weight loss for over a year now; I just feel more at ease, looking at things in the long term, instead of the short, as it was with my weekly weigh in madness. Doing that was more important in the past but now that I have found my “happy place” it’s no longer necessary. But it doesn’t hurt to check in once in a while, am I right? For the record, I was at 151.5 this morning. The old me would look at that and say “Dear Lord, that’s 7.5 pounds more than your lowest weight, what happened?” But I didn’t even blink an eye. It’s normal to fluctuate and my clothes still fit and I’m still pretty comfortable with how I look and feel (aside from Monday’s freak illness).

Unfortunately, I have broken my once a month weigh in promise twice this month now. But, I’m still adjusting!

The past few weeks have been sort of scattered. I am taking classes again, so my schedule has changed a bit and I am starting to train for the mini-marathon again, so that is going to take up most of my workout time. So I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I want to make a schedule so that I can have a good, balanced work, life and workout schedule that will flow well together. I don’t want to be doing cardio only for the next few months, I need to at least do some pushups, lunges, etc. at home or something a few couple a week. And I can’t forget yoga! I just need a new plan. ‘ll let you all know when I have one!

Any advice?

Inauguration day 2009

I’m so excited that I got to see the Inauguration live, we watched it on CNN in the auditorium here at work. I didn’t cry like I thought I would, but I was still very moved and I’m very hopeful that our country can start over again and get back to being the America we want to be 🙂

Here’s what I ate on the day Barack Obama officially became President of the United States of America:

Instant pumpkin oats, blackberries, cashew butter, pecans

 I had a cup of coffee with Equal & 1% milk when I got to work!

Yogurt + Go lean crunch

 

Veggie chili, wasa crackers, 2% cheddar cheese

No comment?

 

Another new tea!

 

Good tea, great message

Garlic-mozz sausage on lite wheat bun, green beans

After dinner, we went and played volleyball for two hours. Thank goodness because I hadn’t exercised since Saturday and I was starting to feel icky! I hate that.

When I got home, I watched The Biggest Loser on DVR and had a little dessert / snack…

Cheerio mix w/ Dark chocolate dreams PB

I had another spoonful of the PB because the jar was almost empty so I went ahead and finished it. I don’t know why but I feel a certain satisfaction when I use something up that I’ve had for a while. I guess it’s knowing that I got my money’s worth and it also makes room to buy something new 🙂

Hope everyone enjoyed this big day in history! If you didn’t, I’m sorry…I find it’s always better to be hopeful.

He had a dream

Happy belated Martin Luther King Jr. day! How cool is it that the next day, we inaugurated our first African American president? Very, very cool.

As I stated earlier, I was sick Monday morning when I got up and it took me about 2 hours before I felt like eating anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t get in any exercise either because I still felt kind of “weak” the rest of the day, but I got better. Anyway, here are the eats…

Honey nut cheerios, 1% milk, banana & PB

Lunch at Great Harvest - sandwich & sun chipsChicken salad on Dakota bread (with l, t & o)

 

Honey nut + Apple Cinnamon cheerios + Kashi crunch

Ahh, Salmonella?!

Attention Larabar fans!

I just read on Amy‘s blog that there has been a voluntary recall of peanut butter cookie Larabars and Jamfrakas peanut butter blisscrip snack bars! For more information, check the Larabar website.

I’m not just saying this, but most of you know PB cookie is my favorite flavor and I have eaten two this past week. On Sunday night, I ate one during the WWE wrestling event I was attending and the next morning at 7 a.m., I woke up with severe abdominal pains and diarrhea (sorry for the weak stomachs out there). I also felt feverish and nauseated the rest of the morning into the early afternoon but then I got better. I thought I just had a stomach virus that has been going around, but now I’m remembering I’ve had some digestional distress a couple of days this week, that was just the most severe. Anyway, whether or not it was the salmonella, thank God I’m healthy and have a strong immune system apparently.

If you have these bars at home, don’t eat them, throw them out and call the company for a refund. I plan to this afternoon! Hopefully they will get it all straightened out because this is my favorite flavor 😦

Happy Wednesday!