Preseason...

I’ve decided to treat the next few days leading up to D-day like preseason football. (Especially since D-day is September 1st and the last preseason game is on September 2nd.. see where I’m going with this… huh…. Get it..) Anywhooo, it’s not real interesting but you find out where you stand before the season starts and are able to make a game plan with what you’ve got. I’m using this week as a preseason game to see where I am, figure out where my pitfalls are and a way to combat them. Here’s a few of things I’ve noticed…

1st & 10) Starting off with probably my worst vice.. I’m a salt-a-holic. I LOVE salt. I put it on everything before I even taste it. I have salt cravings in the morning around 10. I usually head down to the vending machine and find whatever salty goodness they may have in there. Usually it’s Cheezits or peanut butter sandwich crackers. Ohh the salt in the peanut butter crackers. If they had gum that tasted like salt that could help me kick this habit I’d probably try it… and like it.

2nd & 8) Tackling this one may help me get a little closer to the goal since I can control what I have around me and it’s probably the easiest workaround if I really put my mind to it: Sweets. & I’m not talking chocolate and sodas I mean full on sugar. Cakes, cookies, candy you name it I’ll crave it at least once a day. I give in to that fickle mistress too, I can’t pass up a brownie or a cupcake with icing, and ice cream, forget it, if it’s there I’ll eat it. This past week I even stopped to buy a bag of sour Skittles! Like, I wanted those damn Skittles and walked around Wal-mart until I found them not thinking “oh, it’s just a craving and you don’t need them anyway” I never do that, that’s how I’m know I’m outta control!

3rd &15) Uh oh, here’s a setback and one of my bigger pitfalls: Portion Control “Mama didn’t tell ‘em like she told me.. Girl you need portion control! Aahhhhhh Portion Control” *See all this sugar is getting to me and I’m channeling the little purple man.* I have no portion perception. If I like it I eat it, and lots of it. An open bag of chips/box of crackers/sleeve of cookies is an empty bag of chips/box of crackers/sleeve of cookies. It’s not like I eat everything in a sitting, only a fatty would do that, nooo way I’ll spread it all out in a day or maybe 2 and wonder where it went. Like that makes it any better…

4th and Goal) I know this one will rush me down the field but I don’t eat near enough fresh vegetables. I like them and think this should be something easy to add back in and help me stay on track. I know they’re low in points so you can eat as much as you want and the fiber should help you stay fuller longer. Here’s where the excuses come in…”but fresh vegetables go bad if you can’t cook them in time”, “they can be expensive if they’re not in season”, “they take longer to cook than other preservative laden canned vegetables”, “it’s so much easier to just pick up some mashed potatoes or fried okra from our local chicken place.”

Great, now I know what I need to work on before the season starts. Much like the Cowboys.. I know what my cravings are and need to plan ahead for better choices throughout the day. I need to pack healthier alternatives so when any of my pitfalls are sitting out waiting to be shared by everyone in the office I can have something else. If it's a sweet I'll have a sweet alternative, if it's salty I need to have portioned out what I can have so I won't feel deprived. I know there has to be a workaround for just about any kind of craving, I just have to figure out what works for me. Happy Hump Day People! Oh and if you can't tell...



I CAN”T WAIT FOR FOOTBALL!!

Path to Self Destruction

For the past couple of months, I’ve been on a path to self destruction. The past couple of weeks that path has taken a hard left turn and headed straight down hill. As I’ve said before, I’m not a good dieter if I’m not working out. The Janky ol Ankle has kept me from working out and I’ve been blaming my lack of working out as to why I’ve been eating so horribly. Eating horribly = LBs gained. I didn’t know snowballs could stand this heat but I’m rolling up a pretty big one as I go round and round with excuses. I mean, isn’t that how everyone ends up gaining weight? Excuses, excuses… I’m to the point now where I have no regard as to what I’m putting in my mouth. It’s almost like if I keep eating I’ll eventually be at my heaviest and I’ll have no where to go but down once I start Weight Watchers right? I mean my 1st week’s loss is likely to be 20lbs by simply eating right a doing a few workouts huh? Umm right, I didn’t get this way overnight, I’m not going to be back to a comfortable size overnight either. I keep telling myself “Self, just wait until you have your kitchen back, then you can cook good for you foods, it’s not your fault you have to get fast food for almost every meal” “Self, if you eat leftovers, there’s like half the calories in it than when you got it from that restaurant since you paid for those up front” “Self, you better enjoy that chicken fried steak and peach cobbler cuz once d-day gets here and you can start working out again all this mess will be ovah!” I’m sick of excuses, I’m sick of eating out, I’m sick of feeling bloated and gross, I’m sick of putting on clothes that are too tight and hoping that a button flies off to give me some relief!



The ortho doc officially released me, we have a fridge and all my cooking supplies moved in, so now there are no more excuses. D-day is upon us my friends. My goal this week is to go to the grocery store and stock that fridge and cull out all the bad stuff in there and get started anew. I’m working on a post that logs where I am now and where I’m headed, and goals I’d like to meet along the way. I’m really thinking it through this time and feel good about getting a game plan together.



Happy Monday All!

What to do..

I’m working on a plan of action for my new journey. I’ve decided to call September 1st D-Day. We should have all the moving done except for a few boxes but for the most part actually LIVING in the house. I can start grocery shopping again and filling the house with good for me foods. I’m going to try to surround myself with only good snacks and things in the house that make my choices pretty easy.

I’ve also decided I’m going to start Weight Watchers. I’ve tried it in the past, albeit half heartedly, but this time I’m going in head on. I’ve read so many success stories and know people who have done great, it just has to work. The little bit of time I’ve used it, I believe if you follow it, it helps you make the right choices. Obviously you can eat more of what’s good for you so you really have to strategize on your daily intake. I can track online and on my phone so I like that.

I understand the science of weight loss, burning more calories than you take in = weight loss. I also understand how I work. I won’t diet or watch what I’m eating if I don’t workout. That may not be the healthiest stand to take but it’s my stand just the same. Hence, the situation I’m in right now. So, eating plan – check, workout plan – well, this is where it gets tricky… I have to admit I’m a little scared of the ankle. While I like miles of jogging outside that’s probably not the smartest for me just yet. I need to start small and work my way back up. I’m going with Jillian’s 30-day Shred, with a little modification. I like it because it’s only 20 minutes or so, probably the right amount of time for me to get started. My goal is all 5 workday mornings to get up and get my Shred on. I’ll start with Level 1 for week 1 and level 2 for week 2-3 and level 3 for week 4-5. After 5 weeks I’ll need to switch to something else. Anything I do outside of that will be bonus. I may try walks after work, or hitting the elliptical or bike. Either way, I just need to get my body moving. I’m going to try to use this as my daily diary to look back on and see my progress, and to log the good days and bad.

Hello Strangers!

I’m baaaaccckkk! Yes, I know I’ve been gone a while but I’ve had this thing called life get in the way. Here’s a quick update

•  I’m tying the knot! We’ve even set a date! April 16, 2011. ~ My simple country wedding sure takes a lot of planning.
•  I sold my house in da Hood!! ~ I put it up for sale on a Thursday and got an offer the next Friday. I didn’t even have to put the hard sell on them by telling them the 2nd Tejano Band in Waco practices right across the street every Sunday!
•  Kb and I bought a house! I closed on the house in da Hood on a Tuesday and we closed on the house in the country the next day
•  We’ve been remodeling the house in the country! We busted up and replaced tile in the game room and kitchen, stripped all 3 layers of wall paper off the walls in the whole house, painted the entire interior, ripped off wainscoting to find mold behind it, replaced the moldy sheet rock, rewired the electricity and bought all new fixtures. ~ that too takes a lot of time and effort. While all the remodeling was going on Kb and I lived in a 31-foot travel trailer for about 6 weeks. Nothing keeps the love alive like a 31 foot trailer with a slide out.

Before all the remodeling took place I had a set back in my new found running hobby. I sprained my ankle during a floating trip to the Guadeloupe River at the beginning of June. I mean, it was bad. It still is. I went from crutches to a walking boot/cast and am now in a sport type ankle brace and going through physical therapy. The therapist said absolutely no running until I’m 8 weeks out of the boot. *YIKES!* That puts me sometime around October, but as wonky as it is I don’t see that happening too soon.

 

Between the injury, living in the trailer and between houses, I haven’t been able to work out and Kb and I have to eat what we can when we can which has resulted in A LOT of eating out, which has resulted in A LOT of lbs gained. Not good for someone trying to look good in a wedding dress in a few months. I’ve had a few unflattering photos taken recently that have highlighted the position I’m in. I’ve seen those creases from when the fat rolls over for too long, soft arms and shoulders that used to be more firm and even the wiggly flying squirrel arms. Umm.. not pretty and not how I want my wedding photos to turn out.

   

So I’ve decided with the new house comes a newly improved me. I go back to the Physical Therapist and Ortho Dr this week and I’m hoping to get the all clear from both to start getting back to a workout program. I’ve tried to take a few 30 minute walks but the wonky ankle puts my knee all out of sorts and I have to take off a day or 2 to get back to right.

  

I’m working on my strategy to get fit, eat right, and look smoking h-o-t in my wedding dress. Stay Tuned!

 

Gym Rats

The past couple of weeks I've been to the going to the gym to really focus on some strength training & cross training on the elliptical and bike. I've been to the gym and all different times of the day, depending on my schedule. Mostly it's been in the morning, but I have had some evening and even middle of the day workouts. At these workouts, I've been taking notes of all the different gym rats that frequent my gym and thought I'd a little bit of an open letter to the ones that stand out. Here goes....

Hey skinny guy lifting about 20 pounds more than you should - There's no need for that painful grunting that early in the morning.

Dude that smells like you just walked out of the bar and came straight to the gym - maybe if you lay off the smokes, you'd have a better result with your workout.

Musleman in the shorty shorts - At least I hope you had shorts on under that t shirt. It was hard to tell.

Guy stretching in the shorty shorts - that's enough stretching for today, thanks

Hey Lady all beefed up looking like a roided up man - shades at 6:15am in the gym? really? is that necessary?

Dudes on roids - work out your bird legs for a change. You're starting to look a little freaky

Attention ALL you SKINNY LITTLE SLUTS that roam the gym floor never breaking a sweat, in your matchy matchy outfit and your perfect braid with your lip gloss on - go home! or work a street somewhere else. You're taking up some of my much needed air

ANYONE on a CELL PHONE - Are you really getting that good of a workout yapping away on the phone while your're walking 2.3 miles an hour on the treadmill.

Trainers - yeah I know who you are. Stop looking at yourself in the mirror while you're trying to train some poor fatty

Guess that'll do for now. I'm sure you know some of these people at your gym.

Redneck Recap

Kb and I went to the deer lease this weekend to do some work around the ranch and maybe trying to get a  turkey hunt in at some point. Fancy Chancey went too as guard dog. Don't even THINK about touching my Miller Lite!!

Work happened, turkey hunting did not. In fact, we went fishing at one of the tanks with no intention of hunting, no gun, no camo, no decoys and what did we hear?? The gobble, gobble, gobble of a big 'ol Tom. Actually the only gun we had was Kb's pistol so over the tank dam in his shorts and crocs he went in search of the turkey. No luck, but that's how it goes. We did, however, have better luck at fishing...

And Redneck Safari did not disappoint. There were so many of us out there that we had to split up into 2 trucks while cruising the pastures, looking for varmints, drinking beer and checking traps. (LIVE raccoon and Hog traps so we can let them go somewhere else, away from the expensive protein we feed the deer to make then bigger, better, stronger. Get off my ass PETA people) I was in what was pretty much the shell of what used to be a Jeep Cherokee. At least it had doors and heat. My other option was an old GMC Jimmy that looks just like this...

Except the cover isn't on the back and in it's place was a lawn chair and an office chair. That made for an interesting ride through the cold, dark, wilderness. Glad I was watching it from the luxury of the aforementioned Jeep.

Sunday we sent the kids out with the guys while the moms and I hid easter eggs. Leave it to no-kid Jenn to drop an easter egg onto an ant pile. Luckily I saw it before the kiddos did and got all the ants off of it, before they ate too much chocolate.

I've been so busy lately, I really hope to get caught up on my blogs soon. Fingers Crossed!

Fabulous Vacay in Costa Rica!!!

Costa Rica was AWESOME!! We were staying at a friend's house so we weren't in any of the tourist part of Costa Rica we were with the Ticas. The Locals. Settle in folks, it's a long one. Here's the recap...

Tuesday - we flew in from Houston Tuesday night. It was dark so we didn't get to see much on the drive to Chat's house.

Wednesday - St Patty's Day!! We got up and dressed and Chat took us around a few of the towns. We grabbed a beer and burger at Marlin Bill's (yes, burger) it was awesome! Cruised around and checked out the beaches. I was waiting for the perfect moment to bust out all my St Patrick's Day gear so this was a nice way to spend the time. Korey told me he wanted to check out the sunset on our first night in Costa Rica so we borrowed Chat's car and went to a bar in "Downtown" Garza. Chat lives with the locals so "downtown" is dirt roads with chickens, kids, dogs, horses and cows roaming the streets. The bar was on the beach so we stopped in. I was still taking everything in and up snapping pictures of boats, the surf, the sand, the sunset. When Kb finally told me to "just sit down a minute" we talked about how beautiful and wonderful our first day in Costa Rica was and he said it was "almost perfect, except there's just one more thing... Will you marry me?" O geez, then came the water works, I cried, he cried, I didn't even say anything at first except.. "you're shaking!!!" he said "umm yeah!! well???" That's when I realized I hadn't said anything so of course I said YES!! After that we went back and had our St Patty's Day Party at Chat's

Thursday and Friday we hung out on a couple of different beaches and drove around. We saw the howler monkeys. Those suckers are loud!! If you didn't see how small they were you'd think you were in the middle of Gorillas in the Mist. SCARY. I guess I was just glad they didn't start throwing poop or anything.

Saturday it was Go-TIME!! We went fishing!! I've been deep sea fishing a couple of times but never caught anything big. I was hoping for a yellow fin tuna. MMMmmm good eats. Instead I caught this...

Yep! A Big ASS Sail Fish!! It was AWESOME!! They jump and fight trying to get the hook out. They're beautiful! In the water they're silvery blue. Alas, this is a catch and release fish so after the picture, back in the ocean he went. Thanks for a good fight buddy!

Sunday was a day of reflection and relaxing by the pool before we headed home on Monday. Kb and I really hadn't been able to talk to anyone but our parents after the Kb popped the question. (well, we were able to talk to Crack, he has some international set up so he can call Chat whenever he wants. So he knew, and I'm sure he told people, who told people and so on) We just really enjoyed each other with no distractions and knew that was coming to a close. Once we got back, everyone would want to see us and hear about the trip and how everything went down. When we got to the Liberia Airport Kb said "Oh yeah, there's just one more thing. We're going back first class. I can't fly my new fiance back in coach" Ha! Kb, you and that "one more thing" I SWEAR!!

Costa Rica was a fabulous trip, everything worked out perfectly, Chat was an awesome host, I left with a boyfriend and came back with a fiance, I couldn't ask for anything more.