Fast Food Fat

Hi all,

Stay away from the food courts if you're doing any last minute shopping. I just read this...
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/21396/americas-worst-mall-foods/

Check out the fat content on the cinnabon!

Keep it up

You're doing well, Deb. I went to my class on Monday but haven't done much since. I haven't really had a whole lot of time, but whatever. No excuses. I do plan to go to the class tomorrow morning so hopefully it will pan out. I'll report back. No excuses for tomorrow!

quickie

had a hellacious day with kids today but ran this evening instead of vegging out or drinking. felt good. also did push ups and sit-ups.

Update

I just wrote a long post and it got deleted. arrgh. So I'm gearing up for Jamaica in less than a month - that's very good motivation. I've run the last 2 days and done push ups and sit ups and have been eating well - tossed a bunch of junkfood in my house. And a miracle happened at work - when I was going to the vending machine for a candy bar in the afternoon - bad habit - it was gone. The vending machine was GONE. I was sooo happy - no more having it call my name in the afternoon. So overall, I'm feeling good right now. :)

Did you run, Deb? I actually went back to my class again today. Woohoo me! Can I count that as my 100 crunches for today? I'm sure we did at least that many. Unfortunately I am in serious need of chocolate right now. I can't tell if it's a good thing or not that we don't seem to have anything in the house. It means that I can't just get something and get it off my mind. It's the cover of Cooking Light this month. It looks so good! I think I'm going to try it for Christmas dessert this year. But I can't wait that long for chocolate.

Motivation

You're right Jen - I need to get back into it. I was out with mastitis and then was really busy but I need to find a way to get into some sort of rhythm. Especially since I may be going to Jamaica or someplace warm in January - which isn't that far away.
Okay, I'll offer up a small challenge. 100 sit-ups a day for a week. Do them however you'd like. Whenever you'd like. Break them up or do them all at once. How's that?

Now my aim is to run while the kids are napping today. You've motivated me!

That's great about your class Jen! Keep up the good work - sounds challenging!

Another Decision

Way to go Ab! Decisions are good. You need to set a goal though. Do you have any travel plans? Then you could say by the time you go to...

Anyway, my decision was to find something else since my jazz class was cancelled. Actually that was a rather old decision, but I actually did find something else. I officially went to my first "Dailey method" class tonight. It is essentially the "Bar method" except run by a different person. Have you guys heard of the bar method? I actually picked it because they do have some classes with child care so I can attempt to go on one of my days off with Noah. It's also only an hour. It was an hour that completely kicked my a*s though. Actually my whole body. I suppose that's a good thing. My arms are actually hurting while I type. I'm not sure what i'll feel like tomorrow. The bummer is that it's on the opposite side of town unlike my dance class which was a 5 min walk. But it was for sure a good workout. My goal is to go twice a week and to continue going to my core strength class once a week.

I wonder if anyone actually reads this anymore. Come on, motivate ladies!

I need a challenge...

I've been bad.

Yes I have. So bad. We celebrated Andrew's birthday last night with ice cream cake - although we had sushi first and that can't be too bad, right? I had another piece of the cake tonight. No excercise. Once we were done with dinner and putting Eli to bed it was already 9:15 - too late to run. Maybe tomorrow. I can get back on just like Jen!

Back from break

Hi all,

Last week was not a good week in the exercise and eating world, but at least I anticipated it. It wasn't like I set myself up with some huge goals to accomplish while on vacation. I did survive 2 5 1/2 hour plane rides with Noah on my lap, so I suppose I can claim Debbie's theory of "exercising my patience."

But I'm back on the wagon now. No excuses! In the midst of unpacking, laundry, and a quick trip to the grocery store tonight I fit in my usual floor stuff of some leg stuff, abs, some push ups, and some butt stuff. Nothing really spectacular, but I'm happy that I made time for something.

Now I will make time for sleep. Goodnight!

Hey

Hi Ladies,
I'm still here. I just haven't had time to post. I did try some of the ab workouts. I didn't like #8 it felt goofy and I didn't feel like it did anything. Maybe I did them wrong. I went on to regular crunches.
Jen you always mention leg lifts so I gave them a whirl after running before my final stretch. They felt good, like an old friend. oldie but goodie!
I been doing very well running. I bumped it up to 3.5 miles from 3.
Jim is on vacation so we have been doing a great walk while the kids are in school. It's 3.5 miles and has killer hills! My gluts are killing!
Thanks for keeping me inspired!
Renee

bummer

No excercise for me right now. I have mastitis - an evil breast infection that kills like crazy and makes you feel like you have the flu on top of it. And now I have to get on antibiotics which will make Harper a little fussy and give her bad poops too.
That's my post and I'm sticking with it.

I have been to a spinning class. I think just once in college. And it was really really hard. So good luck!!! But I suppose I hadn't been training before the class, so you should be fine. But good plan if you're not. :)

So I've done pretty well since we last talked. I took a hilly walk with Noah to the park on Thursday afternoon. Even though he was screaming the whole time we were getting ready to go so I really just wanted to skip it. Luckily I stuck with it and he stopped screaming as soon as we got outside. And then Thursday night we needed milk and a few other things, so I pushed myself to walk to the grocery store to get them. The store is actually not that far, but the walk back is straight up hill so it definitely involves some exercise. I almost didn't make it out the door because my zen (poor man's ipod) wasn't charged and I really wanted music. So I got out my "diskman" and made myself go with that. I put on some old school counting crows to match. Luckily no one commented to me.

On Friday we walked for errands, which of course involved pushing a stroller up hills. Then another walk on Saturday. This morning I went to my core strength class.

I do have to admit that I have forgotten to do my Abby Abs a bunch this week. Boo me. I think I've only done them twice. I will try to just add them to my challenge of the week. Amanda is it your turn for a challenge? Of course this week should be a particulary bad one with our trip. But maybe we can have Danielle lead us Mel style through some abs on Saturday. Do you guys remember Mel with the teeth?

Okay, that's enough for me for now. See you soon!!!

PS

PS-
Wasn't that episode of 9-0 completely terrible? I mean really really bad. The last minute somewhat saved it, but overall really bad.

3 issues of Woman's Health? That's scary.

Sadly tonight is my first night of not having my jazz class since it's been cancelled. I am determined to do something anyway. I made plans with a friend to walk tonight and she has bailed. Still determined. In fact, I made plans with a different friend to walk on Monday night and she bailed too. Perhaps they are telling me something.

I will do some of Abby's abs today. Go motivation!

Wednesday night

I have to admit I was feeling very unmotivated tonight. But then I thought "just put your running pants on - that's the hardest part." So I did it and it worked. I went downstairs, turned on the TV and got on the treadmill. As I was flipping through the stations, I noticed we had a FitTV station - and guess who was on it? Gilad!! Doing pretty much the same workout in Hawaii that he has always done. I was tempted to get off the treadmill and do the workout but decided to just run and watch it. Have you guys done any TV workouts lately?
Anyway, then I flipped some more and caught the end of 8-Mile - that's the best for running, it totally pumped me up.
After running I did 10 push-ups and started doing my ab(by) workout but then Hilary Duff came on the TV and I decided to leave. And that's my workout.
Eating - not so good. Had some ice cream before I ran. booo. Need to get this stuff out of my house!

Tonight

Well I ran again tonight and did the ab workout and the push-ups. 90210 is a great way to motivate me since I figure I'm going downstairs anyway to watch it so I may as well run. And the good thing about it is that my treadmill is a bit too loud for me to hear everything being said even when I have the TV turned all the way up but it doesn't really matter because everything they say is so predictible.

That said, after the workout, I came upstairs and had a piece of cheesecake - because Andrew forgot to bring it to work today. I did make a good turkey curry dish for dinner from Cooking Light - it was a nice way to use up leftover turkey! And I also bypassed the meatball sub special at the cafe at my work and instead had chicken and rice soup.

So I would say I was about even today.

quickly

I ran, did sit-ups and the bridge thing from Abby's selection of Ab workouts. And now I'm eating a piece of chocolate cheesecake. Which I will have the remainder of into work tomorrow.

A fresh week

Yes, after eating all of Deb's delicious food, it's time to get back on the healthy track! Ab, thanks for the abs...how did I know you were going to pick that area to work? ha, ha. I am heading to Denver tomorrow for work, so probably won't have time to post much, but I'm planning on working out each morning before my meetings. We'll see how that goes. Travel always makes it hard...but, I've got the time difference on my side, so getting up early should't be too hard. Will report back later (and knowing I have to, should help).

Challenge, etc.

Maybe we can do our weekly challenge in alphabetical order - so Abby would you be able to give us one for the week - either excercise or eating?

I'm getting back on the wagon today - I'm going to run tonight - or I better! And I'm not going to eat any more chocolate cheesecake or pumpkin pie - I'll have to give those away to Andrew's work - along with the leftover Oreos. Too many dangerous things here for a binger like me!

Have you been squatting as you cook, Deb? Just try to fit it in anyway you can. Do leg lifts across the kitchen if you need to.

I did pretty well for me this week. I made sure to at least do some sort of leg lifts, crunches, pushup type things everyday. On Thursday I walked Noah to the park - about 20 minutes each way including hills. On Friday, I challenged myself to go to the park further away. It was about 35 minute walk there and about 45/50 on the way back uuuuuppp hill. And I went to my core strength class this morning. We worked on arms and I am so very pathetic when it comes to upper body strength.

We did go to the Olive Garden on Saturday though. That's part of the reason I made myself do the longer walk on Friday - I knew we were headed there. I got short ribs which can't be very good for you, but maybe at least a little better than Fettuccine Alfredo. Maybe?

Okay, what's the challenge for the week?

Sorta off track

Hey guys,
I've been a bit off track the yesterday and today. Eli was really sick yesterday - bad cold and cough - and so yesterday was somewhat difficult and I had to go food shopping yesterday with the kids so Eli was in the cart screaming and coughing at Harper hanging from my chest. I guess you could say I excercised my patience for that trip. Last night, we went to the movies (Role Models - funny) and Andrew and I shared a small popcorn and water. And then we went out for burgers afterwards. I did look at the bacon bbq cheeseburger but opted instead for the regular cheeseburger and didn't eat all my fries. So that's as good as I could. That and 2 1/2 beers. I've started cooking for Saturday so there's some tasting going on and wine drinking and no excercising. I don't see excercise until Sunday now. Maybe I'll squeeze something in. But maybe I'll do some lunges while I cook! That's it from here!

Deb

12

Hey Ladies!
Hope everyone is doing well. Did everyone get some exercise in yesterday?
Thank you Jen! My arms sore! But... I did my 10 push-up today rather easily so I went to 12. Yup, 12! Hey, 2 more is 2 more.

Started the day off with a run. I do mine on a treadmill downstairs and watch the news or videos but I still have times when I can't stop watching the clock. I read in my Shape magazine to repeat something like left, right left, right because repetition relaxes you & helps you focus. Well left, right didn't work for me but I tried counting to 100 over and over and I shout out the 10's. It really works for me. I think 100 is just long enough and time flies by. Then I challenge myself to the next minute or finish off the mile or something. It has pushed me further and longer. Thought I would pass that on for those on a treadmill.

Happy "Goodbye Flab" day!

Renee

Hello Ladies

Well, yesterday was a good eating day, bad exercising day.

I didn't get a workout in but I took the girls to Deer Island in Winthrop so they could ride their bikes. My mom and I walked, it wasn't brisk walking but it was moving and there was a really good hill. I did give Chloe a piggy back ride which almost killed me and I did break out in a sweat. Maybe I did burn a few calories after all. Not many though.

Food-
Breakfast- was a bowl of Fiber One (I measured out 1cup with 1/2 cup milk)
Lunch- was a piece of homemade vegetable quiche
Dinner- baked-ziti that I loaded with spinach and carrots. I also used low fat cheeses.

Do you think that was a bad day? I feel like it was a lot of calories.

Today was a great start. I ran 3.5 miles, did my 10 sit-ups and my crunches.
I was pumped!!!
Then.....
We went Christmas shopping and didn't have to pick Chloe up until 2. My mom wanted to go to Chili's, I couldn't disappoint her and say no. So we had chips and salsa and split the egg rolls. I felt bloated.
When I picked Chloe up we went for a little walk around the block and I felt a little better.
Tonight I'm going to make a salad with chicken on top.

I'm totally in for the weekly challenge. Another great idea!

I have to say that knowing I had to report my sins to someone definitely played a part in my choices. They my not have been the best choices but they could have been much worse.

Thank you!

I had to skip over the 90 posts because we haven't watched it yet. Glad to see in the first sentence though that it's getting better. It's gotten so bad that Jeff is becoming obsessed with watching it too. But, I will do my crunches, leg lifts, etc while I watch tonight.

I definitely like to have a challenge every week, so I'm up for the idea of on Sunday having someone throw out a exercise/ food challenge for the week.

It was my dad's birthday this past weekend. That of course meant Marold chocolate cake. Luckily I got a small piece. We did take some home, but fortunately my pregnant friend came over yesterday and saw it. She wound up eating most of it and I even kept myself from having some while she was eating it. That left a tiny tiny piece for Jeff and I to split. Now it's all gone. No more cake temptation.

Back to Abby's very old post about having more small meals a day. That definitely doesn't work for me on the days I'm working, but I am going to make an effort to at least bring a yogurt for an afternoon snack. By the time I get home I'm starving and then more likely to eat whatever comes in front of me.

And I tried that same recipe in Cooking Light that Deb suggested. I substituted most of the ingredients, so it probably isn't really the same recipe, but still considered light and good.

Good luck today, everyone!

Blah!

Okay-I didn't work out yesterday, but I had a salad for lunch and for dinner I had grilled chicken with green beans. And I think I only had 2 kit-kats!! I have class after work today and then I get home around 6 and need to give Cam a shower and get her ready for school tomorrow. I am so wiped out by then...BUT I need to get on the treadmill...so hopefully I will do it!! Stupid excercise and diet!!

Leftovers...

Last night, Jay had a work dinner, which made it very easy for me to linger at the CDM gym, getting in my 10- push-ups and spending a while stretching and cooling-down. Then, I got home and made a bowl of pasta with fresh sauce and settled into a little bad tv (90210). I was enjoying my quiet, healthy evening when...all of a sudden... Jay pops through the door and hands me a bag. He tells me that there were left-overs and the people he was at dinner with insisted he bring them home to me. While opening the bag, I expect to find a 1/2 eaten steak with cold veggies or something. But, instead, there is an untouched (not even one bit eaten) POUND of delicious potatoes. I guess they went to one of those al-a-cart places and everyone was so full on other stuff, they didn't even touch the potatoes. So, I had to have some! But, I used Deb's trick and put a small portion in a ramekin and just at that. (good trick, Deb!). All in all, Tuesday wasn't so bad. I was weak with the potato deliciousness, but at least I had a good work out and didn't eat the entire pound of potatoes. And, the soccer team is coming over tonight (last game celebration), so I plan to serve the rest of the potatoes to them!!!

And for another inspirational picture...

90210 etc.

Okay so I ran, and did 10 push-ups and a bunch of sit-ups last night while watching 90210. So most of my post will be about that.
I was ready to give up on the show largely because it's awful but I figure that since I had to run at 8 anyway, I may as well watch it - and boy was I glad I did! This was definitely the best show yet. (It's still awful, but at least it's up to watchable now.)
I like how nobody thought it was strange how Naomi got the ex's number and Amy's parents didn't think it was weird that he came out. And I like how angry Amy got when she saw the exes kissing - why did she care? And I like how Ryan (the teacher) looks all disheveled the minute he leaves the school and still doesn't bother to brush his hair when he is leaving to take a trip with his new girlfriend. Really? He brushed his hair for school but not for her?
I like how the principal had to be the sub for the english class - because apparently there were no subs.
And I love Nabid's place! And how he was afraid to show his girlfriend the baby for some reason when he opened the door.
I love how easily everything falls into place at the end of the show (more or less) - the boyfriend leaves, Nabid admits he's a virgin, and black Brandon and Silver sing great kareoke. And I'm excited to see what happens with the half-brother. I'm sure it will be all settled in the next 1-hour episode.
Oh but why why why is Ethan so so so ugly?????? Why is he on the show.
That said, great running show.

Good job!

Great job Danielle on the soup. And EXCELLENT picture! That inspires me so much! I ran last night and did 10 more push-ups - on my knees (they were so hard) and some sit-ups - but I also had 3 small pieces of pineapple and pepperoni pizza. Today I had some leftover chicken pot pie for lunch and just now - while the kids are sleeping, I was really tempted to have some of Eli's Halloween candy but instead grabbed a box of raisins and some water. We'll see how lonog this lasts but I was happy about that.

I was thinking - if everyone's up for it - that each of us suggest one (relatively easy) healthy thing everynoe can try to do the following day - or for a week. (Like Jen's push-ups, but could be some other excercise or eating something.) What do you think? We could take turns with a suggestion each week. Let me know if you're up for it and we can start each Sunday. Could keep things new and fun. And I think it would be fun to try to do what other people suggest and then comment on it for the blog.

Tuesday, Tuesday...

I'm eating a healthy soup right now and enjoying it, so I thought I'd share that will all of you. I also had a good breakfast of yogurt and kashi oatmeal. And, of course when I eat anything kashi-brand, I always think of Eli and his obsession with kashi. So, that is a great positive association with something healthy and good for me. Thanks, Eli!

I have to admit - I did NOT do the push-ups last night. But, I did get on the treadmill for 45 minutes (combination of walking and running) and did some crunches. Tonight, I will tackle the push-ups. Any other challenge you want to through out there, Jens? By the way, I love that you are plural.

Now, I will leave you with one of my favorite pictures...

Hm.

well, i am very impressed with everyone else's getting in shape techniques, but i feel somewhat inadequate reading them - 45 minute walks, jazz, sit-ups, running.... 

my eating habits could use some work- i have no control when it comes to sweets, but luckily dont run into them all too often and actually dont normally seek them out. when i do run into them though, watch out! i never could have eaten a QUARTER of a whoopie pie, or even just one whoopie pie if there were 2 different kinds there. eating today wasnt so bad for me... tea and a luna bar for breakfast, 2 small pieces of chicken for lunch- but they were buffalo- how bad is buffalo sauce for you? and, oh crap, i forgot i ate them with bleu cheese. forget it- eating wasnt so great today afterall. i was going to make turkey sausage and peppers with pasta for dinner. how bad is that?

also, like i said, portion control is my big issue. i have gotten better in the past few weeks. i make a conscious effort when there's a lot of feel good food in front of me to not eat as much as i really want to eat. but i still have a bigger appetite than most women i know... i am sometimes amazed at how much i can down in one sitting. any suggestions?

 

and then there's my exercise routine, or lack of... i walk with bailey everyday, but those walks have slowed down a LOT in the past year. and have gotten shorter. we used to walk 4-6 miles/day at least 3 and usually more like 5 times per week at a brisk pace. now, we walk 1.3 miles per day a few times/week at a slooooow pace. she just cant keep up anymore. and that's the entirety of my exercise. joining a gym seems like a waste of money to me b/c i know if it's not convenient, i wont go- i am just being realistic here. i also want a gym with a pool so i can swim, and those are hard to come by. and i cannot run anymore or ride my bike. so i am not really sure how to get my activity level back up.... and i really miss exercising. i'd like to lift and swim. those are the 2 biggies for me. 

anyway, that's my contribution. and i havent dont the push ups.

Stress is a good diet technique...

Well, I just finished this big presentation I'm working on and I looked at the clock and it's 7pm! How did that happen?! Well, the good news is that I haven't eaten anything since lunch (even avoided that stupid sheet cake). And, normally, I would say "I worked until 7pm, I'm going home to some much-deserved couch time"...but, since today is motivation day, I'm actually headed down to the CDM gym (loosely called - it's just a basement room with a treadmill and some old, smelly free-weights) to work out for 45 minutes before heading home.

Day 1 = success. Hopefully, this blog will produce many more. I can feel my underarm flab shrinking as I write this. Ha - I wish!

Thanks again, Deb. Great idea.

Enjoy 90- (maybe you can somehow incorporate the storyline into tomorrow's goodbye flab post!)

Tonight

I just put Harper down and am going to go for a run again. And do 10 pushups again Jen! And then probably watch that terrible 90210!
Just so you know while I did have a half whoopie pie, I skipped my afternoon yogurt for it and feel really good about not eating the chips that were sitting out calling my name -- and the other whoopie pies. So I'm happy!

And I'm glad everyone's in for this - you guys are great motivation!

I just got home from doing a 45 minute walk. I felt really good after...and I had a turkey sandwich on a wheat wrap with lettuce, tomato and mustard today, plus a handful of peanuts and water. How the heck do I get rid of this chocolate craving?? Any suggestions??

Great job ladies!

Keep repeating....

"Nothing taste as good as skinny feels"

I don't know who said but I like it! I think I got it at W.W. a long time ago.

Good job Danielle!

Good job not eating the cake! You're my hero.

I will not eat the chips. I will not eat the chips. I will not eat the chips.

good news bad news

The good news is I didn't have a candy bar. The bad news is that there was a lunch here and a bunch of leftover whoopie pies. I had a quarter of a pumpkin one and a quarter of a chocolate one. But at least I didn't have a full one. And I will eat none of the chips. I will eat none of the chips. I will eat none of the chips. I will drink more water. (again.)

The dreaded office sweets...

Some evil person just put a 1/2 eaten sheet cake in the kitchen on my floor. Seriously?!? Right at 1:30, when I've just digested my healthy soup and apple and am starting to feel vulernable to the snack attacks?? Meanies.

But, you know what?... I logged on here for extra inspiration and it worked! I saw Deb resisting that candy bar, so I know I can resist the cake. Cake?! Please, cake is for whimps and fatties. And, I am neither. I am a strong woman who would rather do push-ups and eat wheat than eat cake.

So, thanks fellow bloggers! Who knows if it will always work...but, this blog has officially saved me from at least one peice of cake. Yay.

(And, I'm secretly hoping by the time I am done writing this the vultures on my floor will have already eaten all the cake, completely removing the temptation.)

Fiber

I always try to make my sandwiches on high fiber bread because I find that really helps fill me up and stay full-feeling. My favorite is Joseph's pita but the one made with flax, oat bran and wheat flour. They are only 60 cals. and 4g of fiber for one. I think they a lot softer and taste way better than the plain wheat. I'm enjoying one right now with lean pastrami and light swiss. Yummmmm.

Another high fiber item I just found and love are Fiber One light multigrain english muffins. They have 9g of fiber per muffin! They taste great too.

enjoy lunch everyone!

This is the tough part of my day

It's 12:16. I just ate my turkey sandwich and grapes. I have a yogurt in the fridge which I usually save until 3. I want to go to the vending machine and get a candy bar. But I will not. I will not get a candy bar. I will not get a candy bar. I will not get a candy bar. I will have more water instead and maybe step outside for a minute. Yeah, that's it.

Yeah!!!

I'm so excited! Thank you Debbie for starting this. I've been really good about working out but my food intake has been the killer, this will help me shut my mouth!
So I ran this morning for 45 mins. (including warm-up/cool down) did my 10 push-ups (thank you Jen, knees down) and 3 sets of crunches (regular ones,side ones and reverse leg lift ones- love those).
Now for the food- I ate a banana on the way to drop Chloe off and I'm having a yogurt while I do this. Healthy carbs and good protein, right?

Great idea!

I think this is a great idea. Thanks, Deb! Just this last week I decided the pudge needed to go, so perfect timing, as I'm ready to begin the journey back to fit.

Last week I started entering everything I ate onto this site "sparkpeople.com" - you enter all the food and it calculates your calories, fat, and all the other nutritional info. It has a lot of the brand-name foods already programmed in, and then generic info for ingredients and stuff. Anyway, it was interesting because it helped me see my diet was lacking protein. So, I'm trying to cut fat and increase protein now. Anyway, if you're looking to understand your food intake, it might help (and it's free).

I ran on Saturday, but had a junk food day yesterday while at the Pats game - dunkin donuts breakfast sandwich, followed by bad snacking and beer. It's so hard to keep healthy on the weekends!

But, luckily I rocked out at Guitar Hero at Robyn's last Friday...so, that must have burned a million calories, right?!

Anyway, great idea. I look forward to hearing from everyone. I plan to run tonight and will try to do those push-ups.

Happy Fitness Everyone!

I just ran!

Yippee!

Speeding up your metabolism / energy

So, a friend of mine, a couple of years ago advised me to eat small meals throughout the day to keep my energy up and to speed up my metabolism. I can't say that I subscribe to it completely these days or even closely,but want to get back to it. I will say that when I was doing it - my energy level was way higher, I was never starving, never that "overly-full tired" feeling. I was trying to lose weight, so he suggested 300 calorie meals every 3 hours - 5 a day, but if you're just maintaining, I'm guessing you should up that to 400 for 2000 calories a day. So, for example, you could eat at 7:00, 10, 1, 4, 7. Of course trying to pay attention to the amount of protein, veggies, wheat as opposed to white, all of the usual guidelines people suggest for being healthy.

t was interesting because my body adjusted pretty quickly, and after 3 hours, I would find myself getting really hungry, but the small amount of food would fill me up pretty well. At least a bit of protein with each of these meals would be a good idea. I understand it's probably really difficult for those of you with kids and meal planning for your family, or working at a school, so it may just not work, but in any case, I would definitely suggest snacking through the day - a piece of fruit, a handful of almonds, so your body is never aching for food. You'll find yourself craving less bad stuff and your body will use the food as proper energy.

Like I said - I haven't even tried doing this for years, but maybe I'll try again!

I think it's a great idea. With so much bad news lately-I have definitely been eating more!! MOnday after the funeral for Bryan's mother, I had a bunch of Camryn's Halloween candy-too much!! I always have the best of intentions to walk after school or at night-but it never happens. I have a treadmill in my living room-right in front of my tv-but it's been 2 weeks since I've been on it. It's the getting on it part that's hard for me-once I'm on it I'm fine and I feel great-but it's getting past the first step of getting onto the treadmill. But, I did take a 40 minute walk today (a brisk one) in my parents neighborhood-so I was happy about that. I'm going to have a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow on a wheat wrap. BTW-is diet coke bad for you when you are trying to lose weight?? I don't drink coffee and I use the diet coke for my caffeine in the morning. HELP ME!! AND, I am going to do those 10 push ups before the week is ove...maybe 2 a day!!

Great idea!

I could use some motivation myself. I tried to get my college friends to start up our weekly workout reports again, but no one really got into this time. So I will hop happily onto this blog bandwagon for some serious motivation.

I did do some crunches, leg lifts, and a 2-3 minute plank during Noah's nap yesterday. Unfortunately I couldn't go to my usual Sunday morning core class because I spent the night at my parents last night.

I also went to my Jazz class on Thursday (the dance, not the music). Unfortunately there will be class this week and then it's being cancelled do to low enrollment. Boo! So my goal is to find something else local that I can go to one night a week.

Okay, I challenge everyone to 10 pushups sometime in the next week. Good luck!

November 9

Okay, here's my first real post. I'll do a weekend recap. Saturday morning I was feeling good. I actually was pretty good about no junk food all week - I brought a turkey, cheese, and spinach sandwich, grapes and yogurt to work each day and didn't buy one candy bar even though I had a dollar in my walled just screaming at me to use it at the vending machine. That is a huge deal because lately I've been buying a candy bar a day - no good.

OH wait, but on Tuesday, I had to stop at Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee because I didn't have time to make mine at home and I was going to go to the drive through because then I wouldn't be tempted to buy any donuts but the line was long. So I parked and went in, repeating to myself "don't buy any food, you're not hungry. Don't buy any food, you're not hungry." And then I saw they had the munchkins with those little sprinkles on them and that ended it. I figured I'd buy a box of 25 for the office (to celebrate election day - yeah) and that's what I did. Of course I ate most of them. Bad bad bad. But after that day, I was better.

Although Wednesday, while flipping through Cooking Light with Eli to pick a recipe to make that night, he spotted a cake with merigne frosting and said he wanted that. So, of course, that is what I made for dinner - more or less. We baked cupcakes. But at least they were Cooking Light. After we each ate one, I packed up all the cupcakes except for 6 and sent them to Andrew's work the next morning. There's one left now which I will probaby throw away.

By the way, if anyone gets Cooking Light, there's a really great fish recipe in their superfast section with cilantro, toasted coconut and curry. It said to use flounder, but I used tilapia instead because it was cheaper. And I didn't have curry powder so I used garam masala. It was delicious. We had some broccoli and couscous and it was a great meal. (and a cupcake after.)

Friday night, we went to an African restaurant which was great. I figure African food must be lowfat since they're all skinny over there, right? And Eli loved it too because you pick up the food with this spongy bread instead of utensils.

Saturday morning, Andrew said we were going to the Y - they have child care. I was a little reluctant but decided now was as good a time as ever to work out so we went. I walked 5 minutes, ran 30 and then walked 5. It felt awesome. I was thinking the whole time that I'm going to do this regularly and start doing some sit-ups too because my stomachs pretty flabby. But this was a great start. I had a turkey melt for lunch which Andrew made - it was great. And some grapes. And a cupcake. And then we went to our friends birthday party - the triplets - and it kind of all fell apart there. Lots of snacky food and then 2 cakes - chocolate and ice cream. I had a slice of each. So did Eli. And in an effort to keep him from eating so much cake, I ate a bunch of his ice cream cake slice too. Not good. Oh well.

This morning, Andrew made a big breakfast of bacon, eggs and potatoes. and then I helped myself to leftover bacon about an hour ago. My plan is to run tonight after I put the kiddos to sleep around 8. Hopefully, next time I post, I can say I did that. :)

First post

Hey guys - I've been thinking about how to stop myself from endless junkfood binging and making up excuses not to excercise and I was thinking a great way woould be to simply write it out for my friends and family to see and maybe that would give me incentive to try harder to get in shape. Then I was thinking it would be fun if all of us (or anyone who wanted to) could all post things about what they're doing (or not) to stay in shape - new excercises, recipes, motivation, etc. And maybe it would motivate us all to try more - or at least make us feel better about not being the only person to snag two pieces of cake the night before! So here's my blog. I've made you all authors so you can write whatever you want whenever you want. And if you're bored, you can always check out the site. Or you can just ignore it. My goal is to keep it up to date on at least me - and I think maybe writing what I do on a regular basis will help me be better about eating better and excercising. We'll see . . .