I ate *what*?!

This one just cracked me up, especially since this week has had lunch out not once, but twice! Monday was at Macaroni Grill and today we went to Claim Jumper. MG has their nutritional info listed on their site, but after looking at it, I wish they hadn't. There's some stuff that you want to delude yourself into thinking that it's healthy (it's got chicken and veggies! that's healthy, right?! ::ignores the words "smothered" and "cream sauce"::) And then there's info like this that makes you doubt even the reassurances by the restaurant: elasticwaist.com/2008/07/how-
many-calories-are-realllll.php (note the reference to MG's not-so-skinny-Skinny Chicken.)

Then you go somewhere like Claim Jumper that goes straight to the "you don't want to know" attitude towards the calorie/fat/sodium content of it's food. Considering all the food (including dessert!) comes on a plate bigger than your head, you can pretty much figure that what's on it is more than you should consume for the day... or the week. And I'm ok with that. I don't go out to eat very much any more, so it's a nice treat, and it's straight forward in my book, no hiding behind the 'healthy' curtain... until today. They revamped their menu and have a section called 'sensible fare' or some such nonsense. This has items that are 'less than 650 calories' which, after reading the above, I doubt, not to mention it's still more than one /should/ consume at one sitting.

Maybe I'm just bitter because I had my heart set on having the Boca Burger and they were out. I settled on the quiche which, oddly, seemed to mess with my blood sugar. ::shrug:: but the salad was yummy so all is good and right with the world. :)

Technorati : food, sparkpeople, thoughts

Happiness is a warm rice bag

Ok, a bag filled with dry rice and heated up... very much helping the sides and back feel better. Took me forever to remember that I had it but makes life better. :)

Still feeling a bit off and not sure why. ::eyes noisy co-worker who's hacking up a lung:: Hopefully it's not catchy. Either way a hot bath and yoga are in the stars for me tonight. :)

Technorati : sparkpeople, update

Whiny Wednesday

Yeah, usually it's Cranky Wednesday, which it is by default, but feeling more whiney than anything.

I'm sore from the weights yesterday - but it's actually the 'good' sore because 1) I can function and 2) I'm feeling musckles that I obviously haven't used in years, but bad because I felt it every time I rolled over or moved last night and the alleve/ibuprophen I've taken has barely taken the edge off.

Then I barely got any sleep last night because my kitten who hardly ever ventures upstairs (the other kittens are bullies and chase him off) got very brave and was VERY needy last night and was either walking, mooshing, or flopping on me for the better part of the night. And then the Wacky Bobo(tm) dreams when I /did/ sleep didn't help at all.

Oh yeah, and have a headache from all the funky pressure systems/rain storms we've got going on.

Needless to say, I finally woke up enough to realize that my alarm had been going off for 10 minutes, there was no prying me from the bed. It's been a while since that's happened. And no where in the foggy brained thought process did I think, "the soreness will go away if you get up and move." Heh, I think my body was scared that I'd make it do another 40 min HIIT workout and rebelled. Oh well, the gym shall just have to pine for me till I get there tomorrow. :) Till then, I think some serious stretching will be in order tonight - in between foldling laundry, unloading & loading the dishwasher, and cleaning up the living room a bit. ::flop::

Technorati : Exercise, health, motivation, sparkpeople, update, weight

Learning curve

Life is constantly about learning limits, pushing them, working with them and avoiding them. The last couple of weeks I've been trying to figure out my physical ones and it's sort of frustrating but interesting at the same time.

Food:
I'm working on really sticking to my macronutrient ratios and so far so good... Not sure if it's really helping anything anywhere because its the first week or so that I'm proactively doing this. Although I'm learning that 1) if I keep my calories around 2,000-ish, I feel and do better through the day and 2) it's actually difficult some days to get to even 1,800 calories. It's weird, but an interesting challenge to figure out how to add in some extra food without greatly increasing the amount of fat, cuz my first instinct/desire is to go for the peanut butter. nummmy peanut buttery goodness. :) It's been nice that I've sort of streamlined my grocery list so while I don't have as much stuff in the fridge/freezer, I have what I eat regularly and enough variety to keep me from getting totally bored.

Exercise:
Doing fabu with it and being very consistent, but learning that less is probably more. Last week and this week, I'm attempting to a do the 40 minute interval program. I say attempting because while I'm able to get through it, it totally kicks my a$$ for the rest of the day.

Yesterday was awesome because I broke the 400 calories/workout barrier (my own personal thing - not sure why it was a big deal but I'd get close several times but not go over.) Well the problem is that I totally paid for it - couldn't get enough to eat, felt a bit wobbly and weak the rest of the day and had a headache. So... it's a question of do I push myself to build the endurance, or do I cut back so I don't burn myself out? I'm leaning towards the latter, especially since my knee has been a bit tweaky the last couple of days, to the point where i had to switch from the treadmill to the elliptical this morning. I know I'm overdue for new shoes, but it's still a bit worrisome and don't want to risk really hurting myself.

I'm also concentrating on adding in strength training a couple of times a week, but being careful to stop just short of the fatigue/exhaustion level because I know that I will be totally miserable of I don't. There's the good sore and there's the 'body filled with lead and can't function for 3 days' sore. I did the little workout generator and today I ventured into the 'Cage'... you know, that sectioned off area where the big huge buff guys do the grunty, clangy weigh lifting? Yeah, that was me in there with my baby 8# weights. Go me! So in addition to cutting back on the time I spend doing cardio, I'm hoping the weight training will help speed up/restart the fat loss... which leads me to...

Weight:
This is probably the most frustrating part of it all. It's up, its down. I'm bloaty, I'm svelte. Pants are loose, top is tight. Top is loose, pants are tight.

::flop::

The body fat % hasn't really changed much which is good on one level - gaining musckles instead of losing it. But frustrating because the darn calipers are difficult enough to read, and when there's only a slight change I'm not sure if it's me or if it's the way I measured.

I'd switched from daily weighing to weekly then monthly. I joined my Firecracker challenge and went back to weekly then daily weighing and started the anxiety/frustration again. I'm glad to be part of the challenge but will be glad to go back to monthly weighing and, by default, doing BF measurement. And hopefully there will a significant enough change that it'll be easier to figure out the measurement. It's the theory, anyway. :)

It's all about learning what works to get the desired result, but also keeping up with my body when it decides to change what works. Silly body. :P

Technorati : Exercise, food, goals, health, motivation, sparkpeople, thoughts, update

I should know better

Knowing my inner brats is kind of fun, and occasionally they make sense. But I'm old enough to know that, when it comes down to it, their ideas are more self-serving than selfless, and yet there's times when I give in. And more often than not, I regret it.

This morning was one of those times.

I've been feeling a bit more run down than usual, and I think it's the whole change of season cold/sinus thingy showing up. I've got the low grade fever, headache, scratchy throat, stuffy head, achiness going on. Started taking my super vitamins last night and attempted to go to bed early but that didn't happen. Was restless all night and when my alarm went off at 5:30, Veruca & Stevie went into full whiny mode. While I agree that skipping the workout (especially since it was gonna be the heavy duty HIIT one) was a good idea - don't want to wear my system down any more than it already is right now - the falling back asleep was not. I don't know why I can't remember that. I usually feel decent enough when I first wake up, but if I go back to sleep for more than 5-10 minutes, I feel worse. It's like my body is fine with the initial shock, but if I don't take advantage, it rebels. Blah.

Lesson learned - regardless if I'm not going to the gym, get up, enjoy the sunrise or something, but don't go back to sleep unless it's going to be for 4 more hours!

So here I am feeling icky and in need of a nap, but not enough to rationalize being home. Meh.

Worst thing - I have a dentist appointment this afternoon. I usually have no problems with going to the dentist - I was lucky growing up to have a really nice one, and my current one is about the same. But right now money is extra tight and I swear they like to invent stuff that I need done... hello! of course my gums are bleeding! you're using the floss like a mafia hitman would use piano wire! And since I'm already extra sore, I have a feeling it's going to be even more uncomfortable. But alas, too late to change the appointment without incurring a 'late cancel' fee. Grrr...

::breathing:: Why is it so much harder to deal with the little things when you're not feeling that well?

Technorati : Exercise, health, life, motivation, sparkpeople

Better!

Friday's Supah-stah! feeling didn't last (and no, T, I didn't sniff my pits! LOL!!!) and I'm blaming it on a visit from heck from AF. Yesterday I was having the lowest of low energy. I finally figured out it was partly a low iron thing, and basically my body was dealing with the usually rough start of her visit... I was worried that I was getting sick, but feeling _way_ better today. Not 100%, but good enough to do a short pilates routine when I got up.




I think I was also feeling very overwhelmed yesterday - I realized that my social life has gone from fairly active to pretty quiet. Well, yesterday that was blown out of the water to the point of having too many choices and not being able to deal with it because I wasn't feeling that great to begin with. It also brought up an interesting feeling:




'Dieting' makes me antisocial.




I mean, when your finally in a groove and have great routine of what and when you're eating, the prospect of having a major disruption to that is very daunting. I finally realized that some of it could be addressed by bringing food along (I got a spiffy little cooler just for things like that - short trips, day events, etc.) but wasn't quite prepared for yesterday. I was starting to feel resentful of the activities and invitations, to the point where I had the passing thought of "I love my friends but feel like I need ones that are sharing my same interests right now." Then I realized how fracked that whole thought process was. Here I had an opportunity to spend with my friends and I was feeling resentful because they want me to do things?! Yeah... needing to address that. I don't think I've got it completely resolved, but I'm working on it.




When I'm making progress, the last thing I want to do is stop or go backwards. On the other hand, if I'm to truly create a sustainable lifestyle, me living in my sheltered, tiny piece of reality is really not living. I've realized, too, that I've been avoiding pursuing other interests (ie my artsy stuff, sewing, and getting involved in a home based business my DH and I started before we got married). I couldn't figure out why I was avoiding it like the plague, because I had bits of time here and there to devote... then it hit me: I was worried that it'd distract me or split my focus. For right this moment, I don't want that. But I also know that it's making me very one dimentional, which can lead to me getting very bored very quick.




So over the next couple of months I am going to continue my focus on my health and fitness, but learn reincorporate the other elements in my life that I enjoy. I acknowledge and accept the fear that I'm feeling, but will do it anyway.

Friday!!!

You know those annoying people who come into work that are bouncy and happy and act like they've mainlined espresso to have energy coming out their ears?

Yeah, that's me today. Supah-stah!

Not sure whats up, and I'm thinking I just pi$$ed off the DH because of it, but not gonna question it. I am, however, going to work on dialing it down a notch so I don't crash and burn later on.

Technorati : motivation, sparkpeople