I hate the gym. Hate. Loathe. Want to burn it down. I dislike going to the gym immensely. I've signed up for the gym in the past telling myself that I can get over it. Work through it. But, every time I'm there I find myself looking for matches. A dear friend of mine is currently in Hawaii visiting her mom. She had recently said that she hasn't really been trying to lose weight, but in all the activities they are doing, she's lost 11 lbs.
It takes time to figure out what it is that drives you. What it is that works for you. You cannot fit a square peg into a round hole. Unless you're the Hulk or maybe Optimus Prime. Then, you can force whatever you want into whatever size hole you want to.
I went through phases where I told myself going to the gym was fun... motivation rallied... I get there, and before I walk in the door I was already discouraged. Some people do well at the gym in that type of environment. I discovered the hard way I am not that person. I tried. I really did! I failed valiantly. I really did! I set myself up for failure trying to conform to societies go-to way to lose weight.
What I did learn was what inspired me. Surprisingly, I found that I could walk for the better part of a few hours and not be fatigued. I also found that between that and eating better, I lost weight. My walks gradually turned into jogs, and my jogs gradually turned into runs. That was my time; my time to relax, to think, to put things into motion. I found myself looking forward to that alone time with my thoughts. And, the weight was coming off.
I also tried signing up for Krav Maga classes. If you want a good workout, a way to beat the ever loving crap out of people and a great way to lose weight... this is for you. It is a very hard core self defense class that not only will help you tone up, but will also help you defend yourself in a potentially life threatening situation.
Now, imagine doing that for an hour every night. Guess what? You lose weight. In the three months I did this, I lost 27 lbs. Asinine. But, its also very, very aggressive. Its somewhat the same concept as the gym, but its going to a studio that the primary focus is only Krav and Kickboxing. I almost died in the first class, huffing and puffing it out. But, by the time that the end of my three months came around, I was able to do an hour of the Krav and an hour kickboxing class. I started seeing definition on my arms and legs. I did this in addition to walking 2 or so miles every other few days. I was determined to lose weight. And, I did.
You can lose weight if you put your mind to it. You have to focus and find your outlet. Don't be disappointed if you don't like going to the gym, you don't like running... You have to experiment and find what works best for you. For me, I've found that walking is my go to. If I can't walk- I love mountain biking. I love being outside. I hate being locked on a treadmill at the gym. The reason being is very simple. If I am three miles from home on my bike, there is only one way for my happy ass to get back home. It doesnt include pressing stop on the treadmill and walking to my car. The only way I can get home is if I pedal my butt back home.
There are tons and tons of things for you to try to decide what works best for you... Yoga, Pilates, Kickboxing, Mountain Biking, Running, Dancing... the options are limitless...
Your only deterrent to losing weight is yourself.
What's your favorite way to exercise?
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Keepin' it real
I have had a mad craving for black licorice the last few weeks. Not any black licorice. Red Vines brand black licorice. I do not like Twizzlers. They are like a shellacked chewable licorice flavored wax.
I stopped at the store on the way home from work on Friday and found exactly what I was looking for. I bought the pound bag (not because I intended to binge, but because they didn't have the small box I was looking for). I got in the car and immediately opened the bag. Yes, I wanted it bad enough to open it in the car. I was thinking to myself. Man, this can't be good that I'm not even waiting to get home to eat this. I had to open it now (instant gratification). Then, I happened to glance over at the car next to me. Some guy had a slice of apple pie on a plate and was eating it in the car with a real fork. I know we are all in a hurry and all, but this guy had the actual pie he cut the slice off of on the dash. My thoughts immediately went to thinking that of all dicey situations you can get yourself into, travelling with a pie and the utensils to cut said pie whilst travelling down a road. I tell this to a few friends. One of them said he was probably trying to eliminate baking time and just put one of those frozen pies on the dash, cooked it during the day and was enjoying the fruits of his labor on the way home. Now, that is one multitasking dude!
I stopped at the store on the way home from work on Friday and found exactly what I was looking for. I bought the pound bag (not because I intended to binge, but because they didn't have the small box I was looking for). I got in the car and immediately opened the bag. Yes, I wanted it bad enough to open it in the car. I was thinking to myself. Man, this can't be good that I'm not even waiting to get home to eat this. I had to open it now (instant gratification). Then, I happened to glance over at the car next to me. Some guy had a slice of apple pie on a plate and was eating it in the car with a real fork. I know we are all in a hurry and all, but this guy had the actual pie he cut the slice off of on the dash. My thoughts immediately went to thinking that of all dicey situations you can get yourself into, travelling with a pie and the utensils to cut said pie whilst travelling down a road. I tell this to a few friends. One of them said he was probably trying to eliminate baking time and just put one of those frozen pies on the dash, cooked it during the day and was enjoying the fruits of his labor on the way home. Now, that is one multitasking dude!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Happy Friday!
Yesterday was the first day of the preseason for football. In honor of this day, I wrote a little poem.
T'was the afternoon before football when all through the house, everyone was preparing, even the chips to douse. The nachos have been prepared with precision and care, don't eat them early! Don't you dare! There are no children to distract our attention, for Football season has arrived, I must mention. With visions of cheese dip and beer in my head, the first thing said today was, "GO BIG RED!"
Yes, I am an Arizona Cardinals fan. My man is a Minnesota Vikings fan. As such, it has led to bets resulting in something humiliating for the other party. We didn't bet last year because, well...football sucked last year. Hard. The year before though, I won a bet.
T'was the afternoon before football when all through the house, everyone was preparing, even the chips to douse. The nachos have been prepared with precision and care, don't eat them early! Don't you dare! There are no children to distract our attention, for Football season has arrived, I must mention. With visions of cheese dip and beer in my head, the first thing said today was, "GO BIG RED!"
Yes, I am an Arizona Cardinals fan. My man is a Minnesota Vikings fan. As such, it has led to bets resulting in something humiliating for the other party. We didn't bet last year because, well...football sucked last year. Hard. The year before though, I won a bet.
The picture above is my love, in my pink and white, glittered Arizona Cardinal Larry Fitzgerald jersey. Ahh, the wonder of football season.
I am not sure about you, but football season is a great time of year. Almost worse than the holidays, diet wise. There is always someone having a get together for a game, there are always calorie laden choices to snack on and there is most certainly beer. Now, you can prepare for the holidays by ramping up your work out routine for a month or two, so the shockwave doesnt hit you at once. But, lets be realistic, football lasts until the beginning of February. Thats a lot of nachos, chicken wings and beer to avoid.
I'll usually have one meal during the week that I don't count calories, fat or anything. I just eat what sounds good. And after several years of eating right, its usually not too bad. For example, I had two chicken tacos yesterday at lunch. It wasn't necessarily healthy, but it wasn't what I used to order-a chimi slathered in a jalapeño cream cheese sauce filled with cheese. Or, last Friday we went out with friends to Yardhouse for dinner. I picked the veggie burger and fries. I ate all of the veggie burger and 1/4 of the fries. You just need to decide what exactly you want and the calorie equivalent- then find something that might be a titch better for you.
I find no shame in checking a menu online for a restaurant, looking at the calories and fats and then trying to pick something better based off of the good choices (Did you know that TGI Friday's turkey burger has a thousand calories and absolutely no veggie burgers?!?) I tend to know exactly what I want to order prior to going out. Yes, it makes me weird, but it also prepares me for what I want so I don't get distracted and lean to the bad choices. If I put in my head what I want it becomes something of a craving, if you will. Then, it becomes harder to be tempted to eat the bad stuff. Except for chips and salsa. I could eat 14 bowls of home made tortilla chips and the same with salsa. I usually have to stop myself. And when I say stop myself, I mean tell the server to take the bowl away post haste to avoid injury to herself. The same can be said about ice cream but my work around on that is cones. If I get the small cones at the store, there are usually about 10 calories in the cone. And, you can only fit whats equal to about one serving in the cone so once you're done you're done.
So for football season, I tend to let my I-don't-give-a-rats-behind meal be on Sundays.
I was recently cruising through a craft beer magazine (Draft) and saw a pretty neat little gadget. I will add that this "little gadget" is almost $300. I can't justify spending that much on this one little thing. However, if there are any of you that purchase it or have purchased it, please let me know how it works. I'd be interested to hear a real persons candid review. Its called the Actifry. It claims that it can make two pounds of "genuine delicious home made french fries" with ONE TABLESPOON of oil and two pounds of fresh potatoes. This, is amazing. Like the equivalent of no calorie no fat chocolate in my book. Or, catching a purple unicorn named sprinkles that craps nothing other than sprinkles red velvet cupcakes.
I did make a home made green chili recipe the other night that is super easy and not bad for you at all. I will preface this by saying that my level to tolerate spicy food is probably relative to licking the sun. My man refers to it as "blow fire out of your ass hot" You can modify this recipe to your liking, as the ingredients put into it are available in the little girls with ringlets in their hair versions (with no heat factor)
Green Chili (this was enough for two people and enough left over for one more serving)
One can of Macayos Green enchilada sauce (I use this because there is no MSG in the sauce)
One can of Rotel Hot tomatoes with habaneros (also in mild)
One can of Ortega Hot roasted green chiles (also can get just plain roasted green chiles)
Two large chicken breasts
Cumin (to taste)
White pepper (to taste)
Mexican oregano (to taste- warning: a little goes a long way. I'd keep it a tablespoon or less)
Cilantro
Salt
Garlic powder
Chili powder
Ok. This is where it gets SUPER hard to make (I jest). You open the cans, put the chicken breasts in a crock pot and place all the stuff from the cans (including juice) and the chicken breasts into the crock pot. We have a crockpot that defies all logic. High on this crock pot for two and a half hours is the same as all day long on low in my other one.Turn it on, add your own personal preference of spices- I used the above spices and did a dash on each one. Probably about a teaspoon of cumin, white pepper, salt, garlic powder and chili powder. I like the taste of the mexican oregano so I used about a tablespoon. Then let it simmer until the chicken is shreddable. This was about two and a half hours for me on high in our nuclear crock pot. I put the chicken back in after it was shredded, tasted the sauce and made sure it was to my liking. I let it simmer about another half hour before I added two tablespoons of corn starch. I like it thicker (more like a stew) I used some of the sauce, put it in a cup, added the cornstarch and stirred until there were no lumps and then put it back into the pot.
You can serve it in a bowl, with a tortilla as a burrito (they do have low calorie tortillas now) garnished with fresh cilantro and not feel bad. The enchilada sauce only has 390 calories in the entire can. The rest of the stuff is more or less veggies. I don't feel bad about eating it- the chicken breasts are good for you, veggies are good for you- the sauce is the worst component and coming in at less than 400 calories for two people to have a dinner and leftovers isnt something I'd be fretting over.
This was the finished product.
Happy Friday!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
NEW POST! NEW POST!
I'm going to make a resolution with myself to blog at the bare minimum once a week, because I've built a fanbase now. My extreme apologies to those who have been looking forward to new posts every day (Mom) and I haven't been following through.
The last few weeks has been rather ridiculously crazy. I have been again, searching for jobs. Its been quite a struggle to maintain any sort of schedule given the interviews, searching, running errands, etc. I am quite hopeful one opportunity works out. I've been on a few interviews and conducted a few tests for them. The opportunity sounds amazing... its more in line with what I've done in the past as well as plenty of opportunity for advancement; even after my degree. BOOM! I hope to know sometime this week what the status of my application process is.
As far as the exercising goes- have you all been exercising?? Hmmm? I bet not. Its damn near excruciating outside after 9am. Well, I have been exercising. My man found me a bike path that was out of the way of traffic, for the most part. If I do a loop 4 times around, it equates out to about 10.5 miles. I load my Camelbak up with ice water and go. I strive to ensure I leave no later than 8:30, that way I am home in a decent time. My goal last week was to do 50 miles on the mountain bike, but that didnt happen. I did go on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday I wasn't feeling too froggy when I got up and didn't want to force myself (as I had gone Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday). Thursday was spent scrubbing our house and Friday I had a job interview early enough that I didn't want to rush getting ready. I'm one of those types of people that likes to research the company I am working for prior to the interview, so I can see if there are any questions I may have about what they do.
Friday night when my man got home from work, he noticed the AC didn't seem to be working so well. In fact, it got to be 10pm and it had been running consistently since 3pm... and was still 82 degrees in the house. No good. Now, I'll mention my man is from Minnesota so his delicate eco-system doesn't do well in climates above 100 degrees. Our thermostat is set (automatically) to start working down the temp at 3 until it hits 75. . . seven more degrees doesnt sound that much, but its the difference between say, 73 and 80. You'd notice that difference.
So, we talked about it for a bit and decided to turn it off since we didn't know what was wrong with it. We moved the fan that we keep in the living room (because out of ALL the rooms in the house, its the one that DOESN'T have a ceiling fan) into the bedroom. Cranked it up on high. Cranked the ceiling fan on high. And tried to sleep. Tried is the optimal word in that sentence. It was very warm. Saturday, my man had to work so he left early. I had some errands to run, but we had been waiting to hear back from the landlord. He was out of town until Sunday, with limited cell reception. We heard back from him on Saturday night (after calling his recommended guy and not getting a response) to call a different company. We did, but we also left and went out to dinner to try to escape the disco inferno that was slowly becoming a blaze inside our house.
Sunday we had the repair guy out, but he said the work that was needed was about a thousand dollars. We had to wait for the landlord to approve it. He did on Monday evening and I am now currently sitting in a house that appears to be cooling down. Fingers crossed.
How have all of you been doing diet wise? I've been doing alright. I was ecstatic that Fry's started carrying the Chobani Greek Yogurt. If you have not tried it, by far its the better of any greek yogurts I've had. The most of them that I have tried have the consistency of spackle. This has a thicker texture, but it also has great flavor. My favorite is the strawberry. Fresh fruit is also at its peak now, with peaches, cherries, cantaloupe, watermelon... all of it is in season. This is my favorite time of year, because I LOVE fresh fruit. Apples can be eaten any time of the year (not Honey Crisp ones out here though, my fave) but the strawberries, cherries and peaches are definitely summer fruits. I could eat them all day.
I challenge you all to do something active over the next few days that you would not normally do. I didn't think that I'd be able to do a ten mile bike ride, but sometimes you surprise yourself if you really try.
Today I will leave you with a recipe that is my basic balsamic recipe, adapted from a recipe I got from my mans dad on a trip out to Minnesota a few years back.
Basic Balsamic
One cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, minced
a dash of dried parsley
a dash of white pepper
a dash of crushed red pepper
a pinch of sea salt
I take all of the above and place it in a small pot on the stove. Bring to a slow boil, then turn off the heat. Once it is cool, place it in a refrigerator safe container. Before you are ready to serve, take the mixture and place it in a food processor. This emulsifies the oil/vinegar so it becomes almost creamy. Serve immediately.
If you have leftovers, a great idea is to buy the Good Seasonings Italian dressing mix from the store... you get a free cruet when you do. I use the seasoning packets for chicken recipes, not for dressing. So, it leaves the cruet open for me to store my home made balsamic with a lid. Just shake it before you are ready to use it again, or re-blend if the oil is too separated out from the balsamic. Enjoy!
Happy Tuesday!
The last few weeks has been rather ridiculously crazy. I have been again, searching for jobs. Its been quite a struggle to maintain any sort of schedule given the interviews, searching, running errands, etc. I am quite hopeful one opportunity works out. I've been on a few interviews and conducted a few tests for them. The opportunity sounds amazing... its more in line with what I've done in the past as well as plenty of opportunity for advancement; even after my degree. BOOM! I hope to know sometime this week what the status of my application process is.
As far as the exercising goes- have you all been exercising?? Hmmm? I bet not. Its damn near excruciating outside after 9am. Well, I have been exercising. My man found me a bike path that was out of the way of traffic, for the most part. If I do a loop 4 times around, it equates out to about 10.5 miles. I load my Camelbak up with ice water and go. I strive to ensure I leave no later than 8:30, that way I am home in a decent time. My goal last week was to do 50 miles on the mountain bike, but that didnt happen. I did go on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday I wasn't feeling too froggy when I got up and didn't want to force myself (as I had gone Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday). Thursday was spent scrubbing our house and Friday I had a job interview early enough that I didn't want to rush getting ready. I'm one of those types of people that likes to research the company I am working for prior to the interview, so I can see if there are any questions I may have about what they do.
Friday night when my man got home from work, he noticed the AC didn't seem to be working so well. In fact, it got to be 10pm and it had been running consistently since 3pm... and was still 82 degrees in the house. No good. Now, I'll mention my man is from Minnesota so his delicate eco-system doesn't do well in climates above 100 degrees. Our thermostat is set (automatically) to start working down the temp at 3 until it hits 75. . . seven more degrees doesnt sound that much, but its the difference between say, 73 and 80. You'd notice that difference.
So, we talked about it for a bit and decided to turn it off since we didn't know what was wrong with it. We moved the fan that we keep in the living room (because out of ALL the rooms in the house, its the one that DOESN'T have a ceiling fan) into the bedroom. Cranked it up on high. Cranked the ceiling fan on high. And tried to sleep. Tried is the optimal word in that sentence. It was very warm. Saturday, my man had to work so he left early. I had some errands to run, but we had been waiting to hear back from the landlord. He was out of town until Sunday, with limited cell reception. We heard back from him on Saturday night (after calling his recommended guy and not getting a response) to call a different company. We did, but we also left and went out to dinner to try to escape the disco inferno that was slowly becoming a blaze inside our house.
Sunday we had the repair guy out, but he said the work that was needed was about a thousand dollars. We had to wait for the landlord to approve it. He did on Monday evening and I am now currently sitting in a house that appears to be cooling down. Fingers crossed.
How have all of you been doing diet wise? I've been doing alright. I was ecstatic that Fry's started carrying the Chobani Greek Yogurt. If you have not tried it, by far its the better of any greek yogurts I've had. The most of them that I have tried have the consistency of spackle. This has a thicker texture, but it also has great flavor. My favorite is the strawberry. Fresh fruit is also at its peak now, with peaches, cherries, cantaloupe, watermelon... all of it is in season. This is my favorite time of year, because I LOVE fresh fruit. Apples can be eaten any time of the year (not Honey Crisp ones out here though, my fave) but the strawberries, cherries and peaches are definitely summer fruits. I could eat them all day.
I challenge you all to do something active over the next few days that you would not normally do. I didn't think that I'd be able to do a ten mile bike ride, but sometimes you surprise yourself if you really try.
Today I will leave you with a recipe that is my basic balsamic recipe, adapted from a recipe I got from my mans dad on a trip out to Minnesota a few years back.
Basic Balsamic
One cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, minced
a dash of dried parsley
a dash of white pepper
a dash of crushed red pepper
a pinch of sea salt
I take all of the above and place it in a small pot on the stove. Bring to a slow boil, then turn off the heat. Once it is cool, place it in a refrigerator safe container. Before you are ready to serve, take the mixture and place it in a food processor. This emulsifies the oil/vinegar so it becomes almost creamy. Serve immediately.
If you have leftovers, a great idea is to buy the Good Seasonings Italian dressing mix from the store... you get a free cruet when you do. I use the seasoning packets for chicken recipes, not for dressing. So, it leaves the cruet open for me to store my home made balsamic with a lid. Just shake it before you are ready to use it again, or re-blend if the oil is too separated out from the balsamic. Enjoy!
Happy Tuesday!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)