Friday, December 30, 2011

Aaaand ... paid

Today I saved myself nearly $200 by prepaying for my gym membership.  Every year around this time the gym sends out coupons to members for $99/year.  Last year I forgot to switch my membership over to this so I wasn't able to take advantage of it.  This year I did though.  I lose some of the benefits I had before (tanning, bring a friend, going to other locations) but I very rarely used them so I really don't care.  So now I'm good to go for the year and won't have to worry about paying again until next Christmas. 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Well that left me a wee bit sore

I mentioned that I received The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout (Kinect) for Christmas.  Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday I'm so messed up with my days this week!) I broke it out for a try.  Ho-ly Cow!  It hurt to walk today!  I only did 20-30 minutes (the fitness test + a quick workout), but the quick workout focused on lower body.  Yeah I am not a fan of squats and lunges so my body/muscles are so not used to those moves.  I do like the game so far.  One thing I really like is that it tells me to lift my legs higher when doing certain moves.  What I do not like is my little image down in the right hand corner.  The tv does put on 10lbs right? 

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The year to come

I've been thinking about the year to come and what I would like to accomplish in 2012.  Here is what I've been thinking so far:
- the year of no longer alling in the 'obese' category.  Only approximately 10 lbs to get there.
- try out other forms of exercise - especially classes which I tend to shy from.
- set new PR's for 5k & 10k
- run a half marathon.  I'm thinking the Philadelphia Rock & Roll in September.  I'm waiting to see if my parents give me cash for Christmas as they have in previous years to use that money to register.
- I am going to be starting the year off with a 3 week challenge of clean eating.  Hopefully that challenge is the beginning of a new lifestyle change for my eating habits.





 

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Year in Review

Wow.  Who can believe that 2011 is drawing to an end?  This year just flew by!

Looking back at my fitness year, I am very proud of myself.  Sure there have been a few times where I slacked off, but I had many successes. 

Weight - I need to buy a new scale battery (hence no weekly weigh-ins recently), but I'll be starting this new year off 25-30lbs lighter than last year.

Clothes - I'm fitting into clothes I haven't worn in years and into current styles.

Strength - I'm getting some pretty gosh darn good leg and arm muscles.  

Running - Last year at the time I was barely able to run a few minutes on the treadmill.  Now I can run over an hour.  I completed 2 5ks and a 10k. Running is something I look forward to. 

Most of all I'm feeling vibrant.  My skin looks the best it has ever looked.  I can keep up with my 2 crazy boys.  Life is good for me.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Meet my newest shoe

Santa brought me new running shoes! 

Saucony ProGrid Ride 4!  Apparently they stopped making the other model I had (progrid ride 3) but the owner of the local running store told Santa that these shoes are just an upgrade so they should work just the same. I'm so excited to head to the gym tomorrow and give them a try.   A few other fun workout gifts are: new running socks, The Biggest Loser workout for kinect, ear buds and capris. 
I hope everyone had a great holiday, whatever it is that you celebrate.  I'm very much looking forward to the new year because I have a feeling it is going to be a good one!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

It's back

This darn vicious cold of mine.   I ended up sleeping in this morning hoping it would help, and well it really didn't so I'm dosing up on some medicine since I want this to be gone!  On a brighter note - last night I signed up for a free fitness class in January sponsored by a local moms group.  One of my goals for the new year is to try out some other forms of exercise beyond running and gym machines.  I tend to be intimidated by these type of classes, but I want to stretch myself and put myself outside of my comfort zone. 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Customer Service Rave

Too often you only hear stories of poor customer service so I wanted to do one on good customer service! 

Back in March I bought a REPLAY band from S2h.com.  Basically you get points from working out using this band and cash the points in for various products.  (You can read the full review here).  During the Run the Bridge 10k in November the band stopped registering my movement.  Once I finally remembered to contact the company I found out that I had a defective band and they would be sending me out a replacement without charge.   So now I just need to take the time to get the new module set up to my account and I can start earning my points again.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Try it Tuesday

Here is another one of my Pinterest finds. This is a neat website where you click on a body part and it gives you workouts for that location in the body.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Surviving the holidays

I think I can honestly say I have been doing a pretty good job at surviving the holidays and not gaining the weight that I have gained in the past.  Of course getting a horrible head cold last week helped as I hardly had an appetite.  What else has helped is knowing my limitations.  I have ZERO will-power when it comes to my favorites.  Normally I host a cookie exchange and all the cookies (6 dozen!) are gone very quickly.  I normally also attend another cookie exchange which takes the cookie total up to 11 dozen plus whatever I make with the boys.  This year I said no to all of the above.  No cookie exchanges at all for me.  The one I couldn't attend anyways due to prior obligations anyways, but it has been nice not having that temptation in the house.  I did make these easy Peanut butter cookies last week with the boys and will make some kind of cookie on Friday in case the boys decide to leave cookies for Santa.  Right now they're opting to leave popcorn and milk.  And speaking of Santa, did you know he's going to be on the next season of Biggest Loser?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

3 out of 4

of us in this house are sick.  Sadly I'm part of that statistic.  Tuesday the boys started with coughing and a runny nose.  Yesterday I started getting that feeling in your throat.  I decided today would be a no go for the gym so I could hopefully sleep it off.  It ended up being anything but a sleeping it off kind of night since I was up almost all night with a coughing and restless 2 year old.  Hopefully this is short lived and we're back to our healthy selves again quick!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Biggest Loser Finale

So last night was another night of staying up to late and then having to wake up too early this morning for the gym.  Why?  The Biggest Loser finale.  I'm not going to post who won, because that would be mean for those who haven't watched it.  BUT I will say that I was hoping for other winners.  They all looked great and hopefully they will continue the healthy lifestyle to keep the weight off.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Try it Tuesday

Now that the weather is FINALLY starting to get on the chillier side here in NJ I am thinking soups for dinners.  When I was planning this weeks menu I decided on a delicious Broccoli Chowder recipe that I came across last year.

Broccoli Chowder

Makes 6 servings, 1 cup each
ACTIVE TIME: 45 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 5 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Moderate

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 14-ounce cans vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth
8 ounces broccoli crowns (see Ingredient Note), cut into 1-inch pieces, stems and florets separated
1 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/8 teaspoon salt

(I also threw in some cauliflower that we had that needed to be used up)


1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and celery; cook, stirring often, until the onion and celery soften, 5 to 6 minutes. Add potato and garlic; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in flour, dry mustard and cayenne; cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.
2. Add broth and broccoli stems; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Stir in florets; simmer, covered, until the broccoli is tender, about 10 minutes more. Transfer 2 cups of the chowder to a bowl and mash; return to the pan.
3. Stir in Cheddar and sour cream; cook over medium heat, stirring, until the cheese is melted and the chowder is heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt.


NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 205 calories; 9 g fat (4 g sat, 3 g mono); 21 mg cholesterol; 23 g carbohydrate; 9 g protein; 4 g fiber; 508 mg sodium; 436 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (61% daily value), Vitamin A (64% dv), Calcium (34% dv).
1 1/2 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 high-fat meat

from eatingwell.com

Monday, December 12, 2011

I haven't checked with the husband about his work schedule for the week, but this is how I'm hoping it will play out.  If I can't make it to the gym one day, then it will be replaced with P90X.

Mon- bike, short run, upper body
Tues-arc trainer, lower body
Wed -bike, short run, upper body
Thurs -elliptical, lower body
Fri - circuit train
Sat- long run
Sun- rest

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Saturday run




Today's run was great!  I woke up and got to the gym around 7:30.  5 min warm up walk and 55 min run.  Distance wise it ended up being just over 5 miles.  I wish I could have gone a little longer because I was really in the groove but 1) the treadmill stops at 60 minutes (you can restart it right away) and 2) We had a crazy jam packed day so I had to head home and get the troops around.  At one point I felt like walking briefly, but I reminded myself of the saying in the image.  I did watch 1 hr of My Name is Earl and felt like I was loosing brain cells along with fat cells, but at least the stupidity of the show made the time go by fast.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Half way there

Here we are at Wednesday already.  So far here is what has been going on in my fitness world and what is to come.

Sunday - rest
Monday -  bike & treadmill hill walking - abs
Tuesday - Arc trainer - lower body - abs
Wednesday - 2 mile run - upper body
Thursday -  P90x cardio (I'm pretty sure the husband said he has to go to work early if not then elliptical at the gym
Friday - bike, short run, lower body
Saturday - long run (we'll see how long/far I get done), upper body, abs
Sunday - rest

I had such a hard time falling asleep last night (why was Biggest Loser on until 11? ugh) and did not want to get up this morning.  But I did and once I was at the gym I am so glad I did.  I loved watching the Biggest Loser marathon last night.  I've been feeling a little blah the past week or 2 about working out/watching what I eat and seeing how far they've come really helped put a spark back in me.  As soon as I came home from the gym this morning and was making my breakfast I logged into MyFitnessPal so I could start logging again. 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Try it Tuesday

I found this idea somewhere in the internet world and gave it a try.  It seems to work as our bananas have not turned as quick as they have been

When you bring home your bananas from the store, separate them into individuals from the bunch.  It will keep them from ripening up too quick.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Whirlwind weekend

What a weekend!  I felt like I was on the go from the time I woke up Saturday morning and headed to the gym until late last night.  Gym, yard cleanup (yes sadly we're still working on it, the down part to having a decent amount of land), birthday parties, shopping, celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary, building tables to sell, and a family trip to ride the Polar Express.  I was very thankful the husband has today off, otherwise I'm sure I would have opted to skipping the gym to get a few extra z's. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from the gym and picked up some healthy food for the week so I feel like I'm prepared.  I stocked up on some of my favorite veggies.  Now I just need to cut them so they are a quick and easy grab when I'm looking for something to munch on.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Week in Review/Funny Friday

I've had worse weeks and I've had better. 
Eating:  The beginning started off shaky with having leftovers from our Sunday night Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws.  As the week progressed, I started getting back into the groove.  I found out that I really love green peppers!  I always picked them off my food because I didn't like the taste of them from when I was younger.  I recently gave them a try again and oh I can't get enough of them.

Workouts:  gym 3x.  One day I spent almost the whole day outside cleaning up the yard.  We have no trees in our backyard, but it's surrounded by trees and all the leaves seem to land in our yard.  I used my husbands backpack blower.  I always joked around that it's really not much exercise, but good golly that thing is heavy!  Tomorrow I'm hitting the gym first thing to get my long run in as this weekend is going to be a whirlwind for us. 

and now for Funny Friday