Creative Exercise

I still haven't been able to find any decent places to run in Gatlinburg. I'm sure there are some, but I don't know where to look. I even tried to find a gym that might let me come use their treadmill without a membership for a few days. I can't even find a gym!

So after not working out yesterday and eating entirely too much last night for dinner (10 oz steak, bleu cheese grits, baked macaroni, spinach and cheese, side salad, spinach artichoke dip with tortilla chips, and 2 Long Island Iced Teas), I decided I definitely needed to find a way to exercise today. The best thing I could come up with was climbing the stairs in our cabin. So thats what I did ...

I made those stairs my bitch for 45 minutes! It was actually a really decent workout. I was afraid that my heart rate wouldn't stay high enough going down, but it stayed right around 160 the whole time. I burned 441 calories. It wasn't nearly as fun as my 7 mile run would have been today, but atleast its something and now I don't feel as bad about indulging last night.

So when I finished my stair climbing and was absolutely drenched with sweat, I came into the kitchen to talk to my husband about what he decided we should do for our last day in Gatlinburg. He says, "I want to go hiking!". DOH!

Goals for The Week

First of all, there is something that has been on my mind that I want to discuss. For all you Biggest Loser fans, last night on the episode when they had to order all of their food out, did you notice that they said to make sure their fruit didn't contain any: bananas, melons, or grapes? I keep thinking that maybe I misunderstood what they were saying. Surely they don't have them on such a strict diet that they can't eat certain fruits! Or do they?

My personal philosophy on fruits and vegetables is that, I didn't get fat eating them and they aren't going to make me fat now. Unless of course, you fry them or saute them in butter. I don't normally count points for fruits and vegetables that I eat raw or cooked without additives.

Every week I like to set a couple goals for myself. My weeks start on Monday (as far as weigh-in goes), so I'm a little late blogging these but thats ok. My goals for this week are:

• To only weigh on weigh-in day.
• To track everything I eat on Weight Watchers and Spark People.

I signed up for Spark People several months ago, but I stopped using it because I felt like it was too time consuming and redundant to track my food on both Weight Watchers and Spark People. One thing I did like about Spark People though that Weight Watchers doesn't have is that you can track all of your nutrients. You can actually see a breakdown of your calorie, carb, fat, and protein intake and measure it against the recommended daily amounts. You can track any other nutrients you are interested in as well.

Lately I've been really interested in not only losing weight, but also healthy living. By this I mean that I'm more interested in the nutritional value of what I'm eating than the Points value. So that is why I wanted to start using my Spark People account again. So far I'm doing really good at staying in the correct ranges for calories, carbs, fat and protein.

My other goal for this week is to only weigh on Monday. When I was younger I was completely scale obsessed; I would weigh when I first woke up, after I went to the bathroom, after I ate, after I exercised, anytime I went into the bathroom. You get the idea. I think this stems from growing up in a househould with someone that had eating disorders. My mother struggled with anorexia and bulemia when I was a child. For that reason its really important to me not to be scale obsessed anymore. I usually want to weigh myself every morning when I wake up, but I realize that there will be normal fluctuations from day to day and that weighing on a weekly basis is much more reliable.

My eats for today included:

Kashi GoLean Crunch with Vanilla Oikos Greek Yogurt


A Gala apple, my fave!


Leftover spaghetti squash with meat sauce, and a side salad.


1/2 of a Green Monster (Yep, thats yesterday's pic again)


Steak with mushrooms, green beans, roasted cauliflower, and
a twice baked potato.

I also had a handful of Quaker Quakes Mini Rice cakes, a Crab Delight snack, and a piece of garlic toast. It really seemed like I ate alot today, but I came in at 1450 calories.

I ran 6 miles this afternoon, and it was extremely hard for me today. I don't know if it was because I ran in the afternoon and I normally run in the morning, or if I was just having an off day. I literally felt like I couldn't have taken one more step though, and I felt all weird and dizzy afterwards. I think my body needed the extra calories tonight because I felt much better after dinner.

Jillian is Hardcore!

Daily Activity: 36 mins of Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones (2.5 APs)

So today was a strength training day for me. I bought Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones DVD so that I could do it at home instead of going to the gym to do Body Pump. I only made it through 36 minutes of the DVD. I don't know if it was because it was really that hard, or if its because I suck. We all know how I hate doing weights. But when we get into pushups and planks, I just literally give up. And thats what happened today.

I'm not gonna let this get me down though. I'll just have to do better. Really the problem isn't that I couldn't or didn't finish the workout, the problem is that I gave up on myself. So my goal is to do that DVD from start to finish on Monday.

Tomorrow I'm not going to exercise, I'm going to take the day off and sleep after I get off work tomorrow morning at 7:00. Then tomorrow night I'm gonna go out to dinner with my hubby and son. Maybe to Bonefish Grill. I realized I've worked out almost every single day this month in one form or another and I need a break!

Saturday I will be back at it though. I'm going to take my running outside and see how I do. I need to get ready for that 5K in September. I'm excited but nervous. I haven't run outside since I started working out. I'm curious to see how its going to be compared to the treadmill. The good news is though that I'm gonna have a super cute Camelbak to wear. I'll definitely post pictures!

Weigh-In

Daily Activity: Get Chiseled Firm DVD and Ran 2 Miles (5.5 APs)

I wrote last week about how I had a feeling that I was about to hit a plateau. Well, I guess I was wrong. I lost 3.6 pounds this week and am at 172.4 pounds now.

I debated on going to Body Pump class tonight, but I ultimately decided not to. First of all I couldn't find anyone that could go with me. I'm such a wimp. I wish I was a more independent person, but so far I haven't found that inside myself. And second of all, I was so sore for so long last time that I really don't think I'm ready to go through that again just yet.

A fellow blogger that I read has been raving for days about Jillian Michaels DVD called No More Trouble Zones. So I decided I'd give it a try. It was only a little over $11 on Amazon and I have free shipping with our Amazon Prime account. So there you go, I should get it on Wednesday. It looks like it might be a good strength training option for me. And I'll definitely feel more comfortable working out in my own home rather than infront of a class of experienced Body Pumpers. Atleast for now.

Since I don't have the DVD yet I decided today to pull out one of my Firm DVDs. I went a little crazy a while back buying up every Firm DVD that I could get cheaply from eBay. Most of them I haven't done even once. But today I did one called "Get Chiseled". It was pretty good. It was definitely no Body Pump class by any means, but I don't think I'll be as sore tomorrow for it either.

After the 40 minute DVD, I decided I wasn't satisfied and 245 calories wasn't nearly enough for me today so I ran 2 miles on the treadmill. I had on the wrong shoes and I wasn't wearing my normal spandex so my fat thighs were rubbing together in a very uncomfortable way, but after I finished I had the feeling of satisfaction I was looking for.

Speaking of Jillian Michaels, I found out the other day that The Biggest Loser premiere is coming up in just over a month (September 15th). I can't wait! That show has been so inspirational for me and I'm sure millions of other people.

Just Overweight!

Daily Activity: Ran 5 miles (6.5 APs)

I have always hated exercising. My entire life I can remember doing this diet, or that diet, counting fat grams, counting calories, counting carbs, etc. Of all the times in my life I've tried to lose weight the large majority of those times I focused strictly on controlling what I ate (or didn't eat is more like it). I rarely exercised. There was one point when I was in high school that I ran a little bit, but I hated every second of it. I have always had the outlook that I would "rather starve myself than workout".

When I started Weight Watchers (this time around) I originally started only paying attention to what I ate, as usual. I wasn't working out, or even being active in any way other than the walking I do up and down the hallways at work. For some reason I got really interested in Wii Fit though. I thought maybe it would be a way that I could get in some exercise that might actually be fun. So my husband bought it for me and I "played" so much the first day that I was actually sore. I kept that up for about 2 months, and between that and Weight Watchers I started really losing some weight.

Once I realized that exercising can actually be fun, I decided I needed to step it up a notch. So we joined the YMCA and started doing the elliptical and eventually spinning and running on the treadmill. But the point is that I would have never made that step without the thing that originally sparked my interest in exercise. Which was the Wii Fit.

It seems silly now because I doubt anything I could do on Wii Fit would bring my heart rate above 100 these days. But I loved getting up and weighing in everyday and doing my 30 minutes of boxing, hula hoop, or the step aerobics (my personal fave). When you step on the scale it tells you your weight and BMI and then tells you if you are underweight, normal, overweight or obese. Mine of course always said "That's OBESE!"

I stopped using the Wii Fit a long time ago, but occasionally I still like to get on and weigh and see how my weight and my BMI have changed over time. Today I got on just for the heck of it and I got a nice suprise, instead of obese it said "Thats Overweight!" As a matter of fact my BMI has dropped from 40 to 29.

I never thought I'd be happy to be overweight, but atleast its just overweight and not obese.

Moo Shu Chicken Recipe Review & Another Goal Met

Daily Activity: Body Pump (3.5 APs)

Well, I did it. I went to the Body Pump class that I promised myself that I would do. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I wrote in a previous blog about how I've been stuck in a rut with my exercise routines. I've done nothing but cardio, cardio, cardio because I absolutely HATE strength training and weights. But I made a goal for myself to go to atleast 1 Body Pump class during the month of August.

I went to the Y planning on doing my normal elliptical routine tonight. When I got there a girl that I made friends with in our spinning class asked me about coming to Body Pump. I initially said no, because I wanted to go to my first Body Pump class when Tim was there to go with me. But she told me how good the instructor was that was teaching and I remembered my vow to myself, so I agreed to go. She was so nice to help me get all of my weights together and everything that I would need for the class.

I was in the front row of the class, which I would have never done if I had made the choice myself. It was really hard and I felt really out of place most of the time. My form SUCKED! I was really trying to concentrate on just making it through without looking like a complete douche. Everything was going ok, until we started doing lunges. I don't know what the problem was but my legs were shaking so bad it was obvious and I kept losing my balance. You'd think I'd have more thigh strength considering how much I run, do the elliptical, and spin.

All in all, I'm glad I went. I know I need to keep going so that I can gain strength. I'm going to seriously make an effort to continue working on my strength on a semi-regular basis. And eventually maybe even a real regular basis.

Tonight for dinner I made Hungry Girl Moo Shu Chicken. If you have never heard of Hungry Girl, be sure to check out the website. There are also 2 Hungry Girl cookbooks availabe. I find the recipes to be really good for individuals who are cooking for themselves or for one other person. They aren't usually very "family friendly" recipes. Some of the ingredients are quite strange, some of the recipes are quite strange, but there are some real jewels also.

I won't go into all the details of how to make this recipe since I provided the link, but here are the ingredients you will need:

Chicken breast, Broccoli Slaw, Bean Sprouts, Pepper, Corn Starch, Straw Mushrooms, Garlic, Rice Vinegar, Soy Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, and tortillas (not pictured).

Follow the directions in the recipe and you will have something that looks like this:

Cut a couple tortillas in half and microwave them for about 15 seconds, then spread a little Hoisin sauce on them and top with 1/3 cup of the Moo Shu mixture. Don't skip the Hoisin sauce, it really makes the dish.

One thing I love about this recipe besides the fact that its just good is that it tastes really fresh and not heavy at all. It would be a great lunch if you have time to make it mid-day, or make the mixture ahead and just wrap up the tortillas when you are ready. It is also a great recipe to get your veggies in!

That is all for tonight.

Chicken Cacciatore Recipe, A Challenge and a VICTORY!

Daily Activity: Ran 5 Miles!!! (6 APs)

I'll start with the recipe I made for dinner tonight. It was Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore, which is a complete bitch to spell by the way. I'm still not even sure I got it right, but you get the point. Tim bought me this Slow Cooker book from Books-a-Million a while back that was in the super -super -extra clearance- like we might just give it to you for free -area. It has produced some really great recipes though and one of them is this Chicken Cacciatore.

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this dish:

A pile of chicken drumsticks, skin removed.

Diced tomatoes, Red wine, Tomato paste, Minced garlic, 2 onions, parsley, and thyme (last 3 not shown).

1. Heat 2 Tbsp Olive oil in a large skillet. Brown chicken on all sides for about 7-8 minutes total. Remove chicken to crockpot.

2. Slice 2 onions. Cook in remaining oil until onions become slightly golden brown.






3. Add minced garlic (I didn't measure, maybe about 1 1/2 Tbsp), 2/3 cup red wine, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, thyme (fresh or dried, again I didn't measure), and fresh parsley to skillet.

4. Bring all ingredients to a boil and add to crockpot with drumsticks. It should look something like that pile of delicousness to the left.

5. Cook in crockpot on low for 5 hours. I think this dish is traditionally served with pasta but I just served the chicken with the sauce and a side salad to reduce the points.

I didn't take any pictures of the finished product because honestly it didn't look very picturesque, but it tasted pretty damn good. Well ... I thought it was pretty good, but Tim made obscene noises while he ate so I'll round that out to .. pretty damn good. I also made some homemade potato bread in the bread maker to serve along side.

The Chicken Cacciatore is 4 points/serving. Each serving is one drumstick. Pretty decent!

On to other news:

We cleaned out our deep freezer today, and we have a ridiculous amount of food we didn't even realize we had. I didn't count but I would say that we had about 40 or so Lean Cuisines, Lean Pockets, etc. We had countless packs of frozen chicken breast, thighs, tenders, porkchops ... and on and on. We decided we are going to try to make it to the end of the month without shopping for meat or frozen vegetables. At first I was going to try to not go grocery shopping at all, but obviously having a child in the house we are going to need certain things, and we'll definitely need fresh fruit and fresh vegetables from time to time. But I'm really going to make an effort to plan our meals around the things we have in our freezer.

I tried to make an inventory on this program that I downloaded called Living Cookbook, but it turned out to be way too time consuming and frustrating, so I gave up. Does anyone have any good programs they can recommend for compiling all my recipes into one program? I'd love something that tells you the nutrition info, makes grocery list, and keeps an inventory of items on hand. Is that asking too much?

I also ran 5 miles tonight!! I mentioned in a previous blog how I never could quite make it to that point. Well tonight I decided I was going to run 5 miles or die trying! Its amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day. So far things aren't looking so good for this week as far as the scale goes. But I'll let you know the official results in the morning.

Daily Activity: Bike riding in the park (4.5 APs)

Today was a very busy but wonderful day. I got up at 7:30 this morning (on Saturday!) to get everything packed and ready for our picnic/biking day at the park. Last night before bed I made turkey and ham wraps for our picnic with fresh vegetables and ranch dip, salsa and baked Tostitos, and fresh fruit.

Lincoln had Gymboree class this morning, so I rushed to get everything in the car and packed for that, plus a change of clothes and everything we needed to spend the day in the park.

Nothing every goes as smoothly for me as I feel like it should with all my planning and preparation. We were 15 minutes late to Gymboree (as usual), then after class I realized I didn't pack sunscreen so we whipped over to Target to get some, and I hit a car in the parking lot when I was pulling in to the parking space. Of course the woman would happen to be sitting in the car when I hit it. So we exchanged information and I set off to get my sunscreen. Lincoln screamed just about the entire time we were in the store. I've definitely learned to ignore all the stares from the childless people who are no doubt thinking, "can't you control your child?". Well no, I can't ... and good luck to you when its your turn!

Finally we make it to the park, and Lincoln is asleep in the carseat. We spend 15 or 20 minutes getting all the bikes out and setting everything up while Lincoln sleeps with the car running so he wouldn't get too hot. We test out our new bike trailer and as Tim is riding around I notice his tire is completely flat. Of course we forgot the tire pump at home, so Tim had to take everything apart, load the bikes back in his truck and go to the gas station to fill everything.

Eventually Lincoln woke up and we did get to ride our bikes. It was so much fun! We rode around for about 30 minutes, and then stopped for our picnic and rode about 30 minutes more afterwards. I burned 484 calories just riding around the park! I'm so happy that we did this. I know it seems like an incredibly simple thing, but I would have never done it in my "past life". I love my new active lifestyle!

Lincoln really enjoyed feeding the ducks. He laughed so hard at them while they attempted to choke down the bread we fed them.

After our day at the park we dropped Lincoln off at his grandma's and decided to go see the movie Julie & Julia. It was awesome! It was almost perfect except that I had to pee so bad I could barely take in a deep breath.

Tim and I were the youngest people in the theater by atleast 30 years. I guess that was to be expected though. I definitely recommend seeing this movie if you are a "foodie" like me. But a word of advice ... don't go hungry!

Stuck in a Rut

Daily Activity : 50 minutes on Elliptical (5 APs)

Well, its the end of another month. I'm setting new goals for myself for the upcoming month. I have decided to make my goal for August to earn 130 activity points. I didn't just pull this number out of a hat though. There are 31 days in August, I estimated that I will most likely exercise about 26 of those days, if I earn 5 APs for each exercise session that will equal 130 APs.

I really need to start focusing on strength training. I keep telling myself that, but I never do it. I think the bottom line is that I'm a cardio junkie. I don't get the high from strength training that I do from a cardio session. I know that more muscle will help me burn more calories at rest.

I've been wanting to try the Body Pump classes at the Y, but for some reason I have been too shy so far to go. I don't adapt to change well. I get in a groove and then I get stuck in a rut. I've done this all my life, with school, with work, with relationships. Its my MO. So now I'm stuck in a rut of cardio: running, elliptical, and spinning classes.

So ... with that being said, I'm going to make it another one of my August goals to go to 1 Body Pump class. There, I put it in writing!