HIATUS

I am on workout hiatus--not "blog reading at work" hiatus. There are numerous reasons for this little break. But let me tell you. I am NOT happy about it. It's just life. I figure to be the most stressed out person when this week ends, because my workouts are the stress relieving part of my day. Oh well. What can you do?

Here are the reasons:
1. I have the flu. The kind where food does not stay in body--I have thrown up like 5 times today already. Correction. I have dry-heaved 5 times because there is nothing in my body.
2. I am taking a grad school entrance exam on Saturday and I must re-read my manual and make last minute changes to how I take it. Yeah right. Like it's gonna work. Anyway, that test is priority number one.
3. I am working like 12-13 hour days this week and frankly until April 15th. A gold star to the person who can guess my profession.

I actually think these are pretty good reasons. Now, I may sneak in a workout or two this week, but 75 minutes of cardio is NOT going to happen 6 days this week.

Tonight, I plan on taking a long nap.

Now we can ALL be winners!!

I am not lucky. Period. I never win anything. But it hasn't stopped me from trying!!

Women's Health Magazine is my absolute FAVORITE health magazine. And their website is full of tons of good information!! This month, they have a contest every day that you can enter to win free stuff!! It's worth a try!!

When I logged on this morning, to sign up for the prize, I thought of Katie and all of her outside/cold/winter/ridiculous running!! BRRRR.....

You wouldn't catch me doing it!! That girl is crazy!!

Anyway, here's the link. Check it out. Try and win!!

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/contests

Correction!!

Okay so the other day I said there was a difference between the magazine and the website, but apparently I just can't add.......my ending up being very close to the same thing.

Here is is in the magazine.

**Take your height in inches and multiply it by itself. (I am 65 inches tall so 65*65=4,225)
**Take this number times .031 (4,225*.031=130.98)
**If you have a small frame, take this number times .95--medium frame, keep the number--large frame *1.05 (I call myself medium)
**Add one pound if you have a sibling or parent that is obese. (I don't)
**Add 2 pounds for each decade you are over 20. (I am 25--can I add a pound because I am halfway?? Kidding.)
**Add 5 pounds if you have had children. (That's a negative)
**Subtract pounds for excercise:
1 pound for excercise and weight train once a week
2 pounds for excercise and weight train twice a week
3 pounds for excercise and weight train 5 or more times a week (This is me.)
**Add 4 pounds if you smoked at least a pack a day for a year or more and have quit. (Nope)
**Add 1 pound if you allow yourself a treat now and then. (Well hell yes. I dare you to find me someone who doesn't.)

MY HAPPY WEIGHT: 128.98 LBS!!!

What do you think about this??

Happy Weight

Self magazine has this thing this month called "Happy Weight" asking women what their happy weight is compared to their current weight. Well of course, I want to find out my happy weight!! Who doesn't??

Go here for it: http://www.self.com/fitness/nutrition/calculators/happyWeight

What do you think?? Is this what would make you happy?

The website has my happy weight at 130.0 even, however when I used the magazine with all of the complicated formulas and such, it had my "happy weight" at 122??!!

What is the difference in the two formulas? Maybe when I get home from work, I will post the formula from the magazine........

Leave comments if you choose!!

Weekend Workouts

Hey there! So this weekend I have been very good at my workouts AND my eating!!
Saturday: Cardio of 90 minutes--mixture of walking/running for 75 minutes and then 15 minutes on that damn crazy bike thing (see below)--when walking and running, I walked 10 minutes at 4 incline and 4.0 mph, then ran 2 miles at 6 mph, then would do run 5 minutes/walk three minutes, and then towards the end, changed my incline from 2-8 every 4 minutes to finish up to 75 minutes. And then that crazy mountain bike thing. Basically sooo sweaty!! I gauge my workouts by how much I sweat!!
Food intake Saturday:
Breakfast--Oatmeal--I eat this every morning with a dash of skim milk, cinnamon, and Splenda
Mid-morning snack: a banana
Lunch: Open faced turkey sandwhich on whole grain bread with avocado, tomato, ane lettuce
Post-workout snack: Berry Protein smoothie
Dinner: Salad with tomato, reduced fat cheese, salsa, black olives, 1/2 chicken breast, and onion
Evening snack: Tangerine
I added up all of the calories for the day: 1,300

SUNDAY!!
Workout: 75 mins of cardio basically mirroring the above workout, without the crazy bike thing that makes my butt muscles hurt. I did the treadmill for an hour, and then rode the normal bike for 15 minutes.
MEALS
Breakfast: Duh--oatmeal
Mid-morning snack: Banana and Starbucks regular roast with a little skim milk
Lunch: Open faced turkey sandwhich--basically the same thing as yesterday, except yesterday I ate it at a restaurant
Post-workout snack: Banana-peach protein smoothie

The rest of my meals will be updated shortly--when I eat them. I think it's funny because I didn't realize how redundant my meals have been the past two days!! I had the same lunch, except one was yesterday at work, and the other was today at home!! And I don't usually eat that many bananas, I just don't want them to go bad!!

Crazy! Writing it down makes you feel like you eat so much. But when I discussed with Corrine my calorie intake for weight loss for how much cardio I do, she suggested 1,750 calories on the days I workout! Thats about 450 extra calories I should have eaten yesterday, but I wasn't ever hungry!!

Holy cow--this losing weight thing is tough to figure out!! Thank god for the internet!!

The Results of the Past Week

Quickly I am going to post my workouts for the past week--I decided to do the "Crazy Cardio" schedule that Robin talked about on her blog!!

I wish I could post what I have done for each workout, and my food log, but I just haven't had time this week!! It has been a crazy work week!! I know excuses are a dime a dozen, but it really has just been a weird week!! Anyway, I am supposed to do this crazy cardio 5-6 times a week, and I did miss two this week becauses I worked a 17 hour day on Thursday, and I had a previous committment Monday night! Other than that, I have been good!!

Friday 90 mins cardio
Saturday 75 mins cardio/15 mins weight lifting
Sunday 75 mins cardio
Monday nothing
Tuesday 75 mins cardio
Wednesday 90 mins cardio
Thursday nothing!!
Friday 60 mins cardio (This is today)

Hopefully next week I will have enough time to be able to post specifics on the exact workouts that I have been doing. I have basically been walking for 10 mins at 4.0 mph and 4% incline, and then running anywhere from 1-2.5 miles at 6.0 and then walking/running and changing the speed and incline and just switching it up. Then I have been doing this new bike thing that has a screen. I have doing the mountain one, and I swear to god, 15 minutes on that thing, and I am absolutely dying!!!

Good luck to everyone else!! Hopefully next week I get better at posting!!

UPDATE!!

Just a quick update--

Time: 12:53 AM central standard time (yep--that's right. I should have been in bed 3 hours ago.)
Workout tonight: 11:00-12:20 (yep, right again. I am loco.)
Study hours: 9:00-11:00

Tomorrow I am going to write a day long explanation of the crazy day that I have had......and include what I have eaten and all about my workout!!

Peace out!

Frustrations.......

Point number one: I am NOT giving up. I am just a little frustrated.

Frustration number one: My scale. I know that I shouldn't look at the scale every morning. I know that! But it's like a train wreck. I can't help it. No matter how much I don't want to, I still do it. And I am usually disappointed. But that isn't quite my frustration. I just don't really understand weight loss. On 11/30/07 I weighed 144.4 pounds. However, that is EXACTLY what I have stayed at throughout this time period until 1/14/08. You can't tell me that doing crazy cardio for an hour 5 days a week, with 3 weight lifting sessions, and eating between 1,400 and 1,600 calories a day, and I can't lose a damn pound. Not even .1 of a pound!! And then this morning, I climb on the scale, and I apparently weigh 145.8??!! How do I gain 1.4 pounds overnight after ALL that working out? Is there something WRONG with my scale? It also changes my body fat every day from anywhere from 30 to 19.......yeah right!! I know that my body fat is high, so the day it said 19.8 I think I just laughed..........probably hysterically. What is going on? What am I doing wrong?

My New Recipe to Try......

Real quick I want to post this recipe that I saw yesterday on the Food Network Channel--

by Giada DeLaurentis--skinny chick who makes fatty dishes ALL the time, yet never gains a freaking pound

1 cup ruby red grapefruit segments (about 2 grapefruits)
1/4 cup grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon grapefruit zest
1 fennel bulb, trimmed
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons pitted nicoise olives, halved
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 (6-ounce) pieces halibut
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In small bowl combine the grapefruit segments, juice, and zest. Halve the fennel bulb lengthwise, thinly slice and add to the bowl. Add the olive oil, olives, parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.
Meanwhile, place the fish on a parchment-lined roasting dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper and bake for 10 to 12 minutes depending on thickness.
Gently transfer the fish to a serving plate. Top with the grapefruit and fennel salsa and serve immediately.

MMMmmm...it looked so good. Grapefruit. Good. Halibut. Good. What could be wrong with it??

Weekend Update

This weekend I did very good with my goals:

3 workouts of 600 calories each!!
Good eating!!
Lots of studying!!
No drinking!!

Could I get any better?? How proud am I of myself!! I also cleaned my house and did laundry!!

I have definately moved myself forward this weekend! I hope that all of the next few weekends go so good! I just need to figure out now how the whole situation of calorie cutting/working out together to lose weight works!!

New goal: WEIGHT LIFTING!! I never actually finish it--I always start at the gym and think I am going to use my dumbells at home, but I NEVER DO......

FRIDAY!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

I don't think I can stress how excited I am that it is Friday. I fully plan on going home, relaxing, cleaning up my house, working out (LOTS), making good meals (I have had enough Subway this week, thank you very much), and studying for that inevitable test!! Basically the three week countdown!!

Some things I am excited about:
1. Mexico in 7 weeks!!
2. The weekend!
3. Knowing that the second week of January means that spring training baseball starts in less than two months! It has been a long draught.
4. Knowing I am down 10 pounds since I started!!
5. LIFE IN GENERAL!!

Some things I am stressed about:
1. Mexico in 7 weeks! Need to lose some LBS!!
2. The approaching tax/audit season. I am not ready for it. Didn't it just end??
3. Knowing I still have 22 pounds to lose before goal weight.
4. Approaching grad school entrance exam. Yuck.
5. LIFE IN GENERAL!!???

Basically--what stresses me out, apparently makes me happy as well!!

I am definately having issues. This calorie count thing kinda has me down in the dumps. For example:

Apparently, my body at it's resting, during one days burns:
1400-1600 calories
For a grand total of: 9,800-11,200 a week
Add in: 5 workouts of one hour of cardio burning approximately 600 each workout for a grand total of: 3,000 calories
TOTAL BURN: 11,800-14,200

In order to lose 2 pounds a week, I must burn an additional 7,000 calories than I consume.
11,800-14,200
minus calories needed to lose 2 pounds 7,000
leaves me with 4,800-7,200 per week???? divided by seven days??

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO EAT!!!
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???

Small Goals

So in order to full-fill my goal of being skinnier by that time I go to Mexico, I must make smaller goals. Baby steps. In order to get to the bigger picture, I need to make sure I take the steps to get there. Setting one big goal keeps from doing it for some reason!! So these are weekly goals!!
1. Carido workouts for at least an hour--5 times a week.
2. Weight-lifting and Pilates abs--3 times a week.
3. Yoga--minimum of two times a week.
4. Good eating--one meal of cheating.

This is until Mexico. After that I can do whatever I want as long as I am keeping up with the long term goal!! 20 pounds lighter!!! And more importantly--a healthier lifestyle!!

I must eat based upon a lower carb/good carb and multiple fruit and vegetable diet!!

I think I can, I think I can............

UPDATE: I went to the gym tonight and did the treadmill for an hour--almost all running with sporatic walking. YAY!!! I also did some weights and was going to finish when I got home, but of course, I had too much to do!!
Here is what I ate today: a Caribou Coffee of the Day, one HUGE cucumber, some raw cauliflower, an apple, an orange, a piece of bread with turkey, lettuce, tomato, and onion, 10 baby carrots, and 10 whole grain wheat thins with reduced fat cheddar cheese. I have had a LOT of water, and no diet coke!!! Oops and I had two dark chocolate covered cherries at work! Oops!! Is that too much to eat?? It didn't seem like it at first, but when I think about it, it sounds like alot!

Reflection: Never assume you can get anything done at home when it comes to sit ups, weights, etc. There's always something "better" to do! Eat less and earlier in the day.

New Years Goals

Hhmmm......this is the time of year when people get all crazy with their New Years Resolutions. I have decided to make a couple of realistic goals and hope to hell that they come true.
1. Lose 20 Pounds
2. Get into Law School
3. Figure out what I want to do with my life!!

Hopefully these are realistic! My original goal was 30 pounds but I am 1/3 of the way done!!

I will check back.