Biting the Bullet

Here I am again today-as promised! I even sucked it up and got on the scale this morning. I'm still down 12 pounds from where I started. I did get on the scale after my workout this morning (yes, you heard right, I went to the gym this morning too!) and I heard somewhere that you're not supposed to weight yourself after you workout b/c you're always heavier. As I write this, I'm actually wondering if that's true or if I just made it up. I'm going to go google it. Hang on...

Ok, so thats kind of BS. It really doesn't make that much of a difference and our body weight fluctuates throughout the day (including before and after workouts) so I'll just accept it and say I'm down 12 pounds still (which means I've gained back about 8 pounds). But hey, I've kept it off for months and months so that's something right? RIGHT?

And I logged my food yesterday all day, like I promised I would. I've decided that I'm going to just take this one day at a time.

We haven't been grocery shopping in awhile so we've been eating a lot of non-perishable food (and eating out..but hey, it was restaurant week AND I got a new job) and my body is definitely missing the roughage. I felt like my stomach was waging war against me yesterday, shouting "Give me vegetables! I need a banana!" We didn't have much in the way of veggies at home so I gave it a Trader Joe's chicken burrito and some sauteed portabella mushrooms. It wasn't psyched. I'm making up for it today with lunch.

I made us some tasty healthy turkey spinach wraps for lunch (plus a bag of carrots and peppers for me) and insisted that Andrew not forget his apple. (He'd eat 2 bags of microwave rice for lunch everyday if he could..) I actually really enjoy packing lunches for us. Mostly because it gets me out of doing the breakfast dishes, but also because I feel like I'm contributing to our health in a productive way. Plus, it saves money. And who doesn't like saving money?!?

Two and half weeks till my birthday! I'm going to be 25 (again!)

A Streak (?)

This morning I got up early AGAIN to work out! I only did the Shred (I've been on and off with this lately) but it was better than nothing. I've noticed that even when I do a short workout in the morning, I burn WAY more calories by the end of the day.

But,
TWO DAYS IN A ROW!!!! I think this is the start of an awesome morning workout streak for me!
I'm told it takes 21 days to break or begin a new habit. WOO! 19 more days to go!
(And yes, I do realize how ridiculous I sound getting excited about 2 days in a row. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.)

But why I REALLY wanted to post was because I read an AWESOME post over at MizFit today on children and role models and respecting our bodies. It really raises an interesting issue. I left her a ridiculously long comment that resembles a therapeutic rant, but you don't have to read that part.

I really feel very strongly about this issue and I know that it was my mom's unhealthy relationship with food and non-existent relationship with exercise that played a major role in spawning my eating disorder. I mean, it its not her fault. I don't think she could have possibly known how it could have affected me years down the road. And even if it were her fault, she didn't force me to stick my fingers down my throat. (Someday I will write a post on how how weird it was for me to be totally cognizant of how ridiculous my eating disordered behaviors were. Sorry. Off topic.)
Anyhow, check it out. Let me know what you think. This is cheaper for me than therapy :-)

Oh the Irony..

Okay, so I have decided that I LOVE going to the gym first thing in the morning. I like it for several reasons:
1) hardly anyone is there = no wait for equipment
2) I've burned 1000 calories by the time I get in the shower at 8am
3) I have my WHOOOOLE night free (to cook dinner, do laundry, read my book, watch tv, bake cookies-whatever I fricken FEEL like, basically. Happy Hour, what?)
4) I have my whole MIND free (as in I don't spend the whole day dreading the gym and the things I hate about it and instead I can focus totally on blogs and gossip rags. and occasionally work.)
5) I feel basically awesome all day long (as long as I have a cup of coffee for my mid afternoon after-lunch slump)
6) No creepy TV watching guy (there is this guy at my gym-kinda old, always wears black sweatpants-and I've NEVER seen him work out. All he does is stand by the treadmills and ellipticals and watch TV. For HOURS. Its weird. And annoying. And when he's there, I get SO distracted on the treadmill thinking about why he never works out and why he doesn't just wacth tv at home....but I digress)

Great, right? With a list like that, I should have NO PROBLEM going to the gym in the morning.

Except....
I HATE getting up early and I HATE mornings.
But other than that, I'm totally sold on the morning gym visits.


We had a really low key weekend. I ran some errands, grocery shopped, read my book, had lunch with Andrew's mom...it was really nice. This week I have a million things to do: planning for our holiday party next weekend whilst trying to find our foster dog a new home, fix the leak in the roof, do 7 million loads of laundry, clean, bake cookies for my office-mates, and prep for our travel next week. (I yawned just WRITING all of that!) I'm in for a CRAZY week, I guess!


Here's our Christmas tree (we decorated last weekend):



























Oh, and I'm still in a fight with the scale. I'm giving it the silent treatment.

Oh Whatever....

I lost two of those stupid pounds that I gained back but I'm still back to having that one stupid pound hanging around.
Whatever. It's been such a crazy week that I'm too drained to even worry about it. (I'm sure Andrew will appreciate that)
I had to wear a suit to work today because I had to speak at an event and my Isaac Mizhari for Target pants (which cost $7, by the way) are nice and loose. And so was the stretchy t-shirt that I JUST BOUGHT LAST WEEKEND (both awesome and annoying). I guess I should just stop buying clothes until I'm done losing weight. But at this rate, I won't be buying any new clothes for the next 14 months. I always say that I have nothing to wear (despite a full closet of clothes) but this time, I really am telling the truth. I genuinely have very few things that don't look a little weird on me. On a positive note, I'm hoping I'm not too far away from getting back into my skinny jeans!

Also, I'm back on the Shred. I jumped back in a level 2 and was juuuust a little bit sore the next day. Oh Jillian, even when I've done your workout so many times that can recite every word you say for the entire 26 minutes, you still kick my ass. It is still the best workout you can do in 20 minutes. I did some other ON DEMAND workouts just for fun and none of them are as good at keeping me interested as Jillian. But maybe because I have a girl crush on her and her hot body.

My gym has a chiropractor and I had my first appointment with him tonight. I have been having some recurring lower back and shoulder pain that are residual from old rowing injuries and occasionally require some treatment. He has this wonderful bed with massaging vibrations and water that is so warm and cozy. I think it was the most enoyable 10 minutes of my entire week. I NEED one of these beds! It puts memory foam to shame! I did a short run after my appointment and I felt GREAT! I cannot wait to go back and get some more massagey treatments and lay on that bed!

I'm about to spend the next 3 days sitting on my ass in a conference that goes until almost midnight each night, so I'll be doing my workouts in the morning (insert fake enthused cheer here).

I'll be back on Monday. Have a SOOPER weekend! And if anyone has any ideas for creative ways to re-invent my too big clothes, I'm all ears, er, eyes. :-)

BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

<---This is what I felt like this morning!



Its finally that time of the year when I begin to seriously debate putting my bike away for the year. This morning was FREEZING!! And they're calling for snow later this week. Even though I was born and raised in upstate New York, the mild Maryland winters and slushy Philadelphia streets have made me kind of a weather wimp. I still LOVE the snow, but I am getting soft on cold. Sorry, Syracuse.

Somehow, Andrew managed to get me out of bed this morning to go to the gym with very minimal effort. Maybe I haven't mentioned this before, but I HATE mornings. HATE. HATE. Yes, I was in fact a rower in college. Yes, I did spend the better part of my college career getting up at 4:15am. I did it out of necessity then and I guess it backfired because now, I really HATE mornings.
I think Andrew was pretty shocked when I not only got out of bed, but proceeded to put on my gym clothes and wash my face (admit it, you TOTALLY thought I was going to skip it).
I was actually surprised at me, too. Even while I was walking to the bathroom, I was thinking "do I REALLY want to be up right now?"
We biked to the gym all bundled up and I gave the treadmill the best 40 minutes that I could, given my creaking knees and tight muscles. I'm not going to lie, the run pretty much sucked. But I did it and I'm glad I did. Now when I get home tonight, I can relax and make us a nice dinner before we have to run out the door again. Maybe I'll try to make this morning work out a regular thing. But that would require us getting to bed quite a bit earlier, so we'll see.

This weekend we planted trees with our neighborhood association on Sunday and met up with some of my old college friends on Saturday (SO fun! Everyone that went to my college is awesome and hilarious!). I ended up having to explain my Body Bugg to at least 5 people, because I wore short sleeves. but I got a couple compliments on how I was looking so I felt pretty good. (I'm not sure if the Body Bugg prompted them or not, it was hard to tell).
Friday night, Andrew had some of his boys over to bottle his hard cider (and watch a TERRIBLE movie called "The Warriors") so I went to bed early-ish.

I honestly forgot to weigh myself this morning (I was so distracted with getting my butt to the gym!) so I'll do that tomorrow or Wednesday. I did a LOT of snacking this weekend (although I did keep the booze intake at a very reasonable level) so I'm a little nervous about whether or not that had any impact.

I am beyond excited to go home next week for Thanksgiving! I haven't seen my family since August! Andrew and I are bringing an organic, grass fed turkey! YUM!

I actually forgot to