savoring breakfast

Last year I found a beautiful piece of ceramic on Etsy to eat my oatmeal in for breakfast.  I liked it so much, I bought a second one and leave it at work.  On Tuesdays, a chef in the cafe makes steel cut oat "stirfry" and adds in the mix-ins of choice.  It's a yummy way to start the day for only $1.99.  It's actually so much food that I split it between two days.

Today my oats include:  blueberries, peaches, raspberries, walnuts & cinnamon.  Yum!!

Third week of skipping my usual muffin for breakfast, with only breaking down ONCE since the start of this DietBet challenge.  See, normally I would have something at 7 am and another something at 9:30 am, both carb-related and probably not the healthiest choices.  Feeling like I've conquered the need to get more than one "breakfast" from the cafe, and saving money in the process.

it comes down to choices

Finally made it back into the gym today over my lunch hour - biked 5 miles and added a few machines for a total of 50 minutes exercise.

Healthy choices for lunch, but I really, REALLY want a candy bar right about now.  What is it with me and wanting a sweet after a meal?! I mean, really.

I opted for this instead...  and it tastes good.  And is obviously a much healthier choice than the 280 calories and 100 pennies I would have spent on a Snickers bar from the vending machine.

yeah me.

it's the little things.

dietbet challenge

Tomorrow starts the challenge!  Today I weighed in and adjust my MFP weight and begin tracking food again.  No more junk.

I started a post on the DB website to get my Day 1 thoughts in order. Not sure if I'll keep up with posting in so many locations for 28 days, but maybe that will help me stay accountable.  Guess I'll see how it goes and how busy this month will be.

Ready...  set...  go!  Excited to be taking this month (my birthday is in two weeks) to get back to me. Some bad eating habits crept back in this year and I cannot wait to kick them to the curb.  They say it takes 21 days to start a new habit.  I'm ready!

Kids are back in school and it's time to focus on packing better lunches for myself while I pack theirs. I even started today with a protein packed smoothie for breakfast instead of my normal muffin.

I actually stopped weighing myself daily this summer so it wasn't a whole lot of fun to step on the scale this morning for the weigh-in photo.  I also started boot camp last month and know that muscle gain is part of the reason my scale is up...  so I am hoping that with my eating habits back in check and the continued exercise, I can meet my 4% loss for this challenge.

Interestingly enough, my goal weight for this challenge is slightly more than what I weighed last summer, before the creep began! The hard part is going back in to MFP and admitting the weight gain.
Oh well, here we go...
Carpe Diem!

Just joined another challenge that also starts tomorrow - why not!  Double-down against myself and really make these habits and weight loss stick!

I can.

5 stations today:

• 3 rounds of high intensity, 3 of secondary movement. Each station.
• 75 attempts to get it right, keep moving and push to the last rep. 

Don't stop.
Don't lose your lunch.

3 more sessions and I'm on my own again.


I can and I will. 

only slightly overheated on this humid day!

fitbit & fit body boot camp

While it may seem like I've fallen off the face of the earth once again, it's only in blogLand that I cannot keep up with life.

Since completing a work competition, I've been wearing my "awarded" FitBit religiously!  Received it sometime toward the end of May and it has helped spirit my mood into walking a few more {thousand} steps a day - as well as tracking my {interrupted} sleep every night.

I've also purchased a 15-day pass to Fit Body Boot Camp. Two friends also joined me in this quest and we've been having a grand time challenging one another (and our aching, creaking bodies) to yet one more day!

Thirty minutes of some intensive training and my body is ready to head home after a long day and put my feet up!

It has been fun.  Yes, exercise can be fun.  I've now seen enough familiar faces to know that this type of exercise works. They've shown proof with their before/after photos.

Will I continue with this 15-day pass is finished?  Probably not in this formal setting due to the cost of the program.  I will, however, have gleaned enough knowledge to continue working these types of exercises into my daily routine.  Mixed with yoga and cardio, I think I'm on my way to finally reaching my weight loss goal.  If I'm being totally honest with myself, it probably won't happen by my birthday, as I had hoped, but at least halfway there is attainable!

Biggest downfall?  Still trying to cut the SUGAR cravings and intake.

 It's not a torture chamber.  Honest.  It feels good.  It does a body good.  The mind too!

This week will be sessions 8 and 9 out of the total package.  I will finish up the 15 before the kids go back to school in August, and will establish a new routine then.

Always busy, but never too busy to exercise!

35 miles

Not bad if I do say so myself!  A total of 35 miles on the stationary bike and weight training 3x this week. Tomorrow is yoga for 90 minutes at the Hindu Temple.  Still waiting on my FitBit to arrive.  I'd be curious to see how it tracks my day for me, including sleep.  I've had a bit of an anxious week and haven't slept well.

Friday

I biked every day this week.

snowstorm - ghost town in the gym today!

Now if only it would stop snowing, so maybe I could get OUTSIDE and get some exercise too!

just be

i love this quote by Steve Maraboli

“There is nothing more rare, 

nor more beautiful, 

than a woman being herself; 

comfortable in her perfect imperfection. 

To me, that is the true essence of beauty.”

three years ago today,

I gave LIFE for the final time

to a beautiful baby boy

today,

I honor him and his family

for the JOY they have

unknowingly

given me

by allowing me

to be a part of their story

and for all of the imperfections

that now adorn my well-loved & journeyed body

I shout,

"Amen, job well done!"

a great start

1 C kale

1-1/2 C frozen berries

1-1/2 C lowfat yogurt
rice milk

blend into yummy goodness!

continuing to bike

I biked four days this week for a rough total of $6 that was donated to the cause.

Couldn't find the energy on Friday to make my way down to the fitness center.

Update from week's grand total:
Fitness center members travelled 2,513 miles on the cardio machines last week,
 earning 25 cents per mile ($623.25)
to be donated to the Feed the Need fund drive. Way to go! 

exercise tally

I biked further today...  but didn't burn as many calories. Huh!?  To top it off, I went earlier to guarantee a recumbent bike and didn't get one.  My arse is numb and I cannot ride that style ever again. Ouch!

Another $1.50 to the food shelf!

feed the need

a tale of two scales

My scale at home tells a slightly different story.  It also showed a loss today, but I always seem to be a bit heavier than this scale.  My scale at home is digital.  I wonder which is closer to the truth?

Today, I'll take 156*.  It's the closest I've been to my first goal weight in ages.  With a few weeks to go until Spring and a few months until Summer, maybe this is finally the year I get back to ME after all of the baby weight.  Still working on whatever the magic move, cure, exercise is to get rid of the "pooch" after three c-sections in 5 years...  so if anyone knows, clue me in?!

I've given myself one more week to get all of my sugar cravings out of my system.  Come Saturday, if you see me with a soda in my hand, slap me.  I need a bit of an intervention where that's concerned and won't mind the added support.  That said, I do realize that not many people read my blog, so I'm actually talking to myself and need to hold myself accountable.  Ha!

Alright, alright...  workout logged for today.  I'm good.

*This shows slightly higher because I grabbed my phone to take the picture, adding weight to the scale.

A year behind me

Found this picture on my phone (with the date to actually reference) and was proud that I have maintained a pretty good weight loss since it was taken back in January 2013.  Still down and hovering on the 10 lb. loss since the weight shown.

My body composition has also definitely changed and maintained as a lot of the pants/skirts I have had in my drawer for winter no longer fit me around the waistline and have joined the donation box!

Lately, however, I've failed lately in staying on track with much of anything else.  Life and busy-ness has gotten into my way.  My eating habits have fallen by the wayside (going on vacation a week ago didn't help that) and my exercise has also waned.  We did manage to walk from sun up to sun down the whole five days we were in NYC though, so I came back to a scale that remained stable.

My attempt at the 100 days also failed.  I'm trying to decide if I should just delete my efforts from the website. One more tracking tool was apparently not what I needed to keep me on track.  Ha!  Too much effort trying to remember to videotape something every day, especially if it was the "same thing" day after day.  I may use the site for something in the future, but it won't be weight loss related.

This week...  I got back up, and in the seat after a couple of weeks away...  and biked my booty off yesterday!  Well, now that I am looking back at other photos of my biking progress, I guess I took a rather slower pace yesterday instead of biking 7 miles in 40 minutes.

Donated blood today at work and forgot that I cannot work out after donating.  Guess I'll take a day of rest and get back into the groove again tomorrow.

My goal weight is still in sight and with a new Go Giant FITBIT reward coming soon from my employer, maybe the daily wrist reminder will be just what I need to jump into Spring 2014!  You can follow along with our progress on Twitter under #gogiant if you're interested in seeing how we've managed to make this program work at the General!

Feelin' Fine

Made it to the fitness center all but one day again this work week. Finished up today with a little over 7 miles on the stationary bike.  Feelin' fine and looking forward to the weekend.  Tomorrow I am taking a two hour yoga class at the Hindu Temple and hoping to feel refreshed & renewed!

 

continued eating well #gogiant

 

 

I was feeling a little guilty about not making it to the gym yesterday.

The article in my Health magazine helped ease the guilt today!

 

"..be sure to take regular breaks, whether it's every other day... or once a week."

 

 

100 days

Today's attempt at recording 10 seconds for my 100 days project.  Posted about this project yesterday on my other blog.

I did manage a short yoga session after I let the dogs outside!

this is how you do "down dog" Mom!

and this little piggie

went wee wee wee all the way to the gym!

157

Give or take a little. 

{with cell phone in hand and towel wrapped around me}

Back in the saddle...

2nd Sunday

It's been quite some time since I've been back to the Yoga Center in St. Louis Park.  They are part of YCM and have some great space and classes.  A few of us have committed to going to the following class on the 2nd Sunday of every month this year.

Yin, Restorative & Yoga NidraYin yoga is a form of Chinese yoga and works the six major meridians from the navel to the knees, this strengthens the immune system while stretching the connective tissue to release chronic held tension. The postures are all practiced on the floor and are held for 3 to 5 minutes. This enables one to harness the mind together with the breath to release more deeply into the body while tapping into the vast reservoir of vital energy within us all. Restorative yoga, developed by B.K.S. Iyengar, is a form of therapeutic yoga and is considered to be an antidote for stress and stress related diseases. It too, is practiced on the floor with longer holds using the support of props to more fully relax. A restorative class moves the spine in every direction and counters the effects of gravity through supported inverted poses. Like yin, it accesses the life force and builds energy to heal and nurture oneself from within. Whether you are new to yoga or an established practitioner, these styles of yoga offer a wealth of benefits. The class ends with Yoga Nidra, a form of guided meditation.

Tonight was a great way to get myself back on track and thinking of ways to mix it up again!  The floor was full with mats and it seemed most of us had been there before, as I didn't hear too much instruction given. What I did hear, however, was plenty of snoring.  Not my own, mind you.  And I was reminded that I truly have a love/hate relationship with this class in particular.  It's a very soothing way to finish the weekend/start the week, but holding these poses seems to put many into a slumber.  They generally awake every 3-6 minutes when our instructor chimes in and lets us know it's time to change positions.  That said, and if you know me, you'll know I have plenty o'opportunity to hear snoring elsewhere...  I really really dislike hearing it in a yoga studio.  To me, it means that the individual has gone beyond awareness and centering straight into oblivion!  Okay, well, you know what I mean.  Oh well.  Suck it up, Julie, and find a way to get over the fact that you're going to hear snoring in this class. I really enjoyed my practice and the depths to which my body could stay, even in inversion for 10 minutes.  The positive definitely outweighs the negative.

I cannot go in February due to a travel conflict, but will be back in March!  That much closer to spring and hopefully an early thaw?!  A girl can dream.

If I haven't scared you away, join me if you're local and give it a try!  I promise you'll feel refreshed, and even make a few new friends.

2014

Off to a walking start!  The fitness center wasn't too busy today, but I'm not surprised.  With the crazy cold weather we've had, we all seem to be in the slow-mo gear of getting back into a regular fitness routine. The usual suspects were on the treadmills and elliptical machines.  The lunch hour fitness class was full and loud.  I grabbed the December issue of the latest magazine and walked a good two miles.  Finished off by weighing myself on the fitness center scale and the numbers were kind to me.

I haven't worked out much in the last two months, but that's okay.  I've been eating well and watching the scale only occasionally, instead of my usual daily check-in.  

Happy.

Content.

Exercising for health & wellness.

All with another 5 pound loss in mind.

Before Spring.

But it's not a resolution.  No, really. 

Next up:

Fitness center tomorrow over lunch.

Yin yoga on Sunday evening.