The great Barbie Binge and Two a Days!

This morning I finally managed to get myself out of bed at a decent time  On my way to the bike, I walked through the game room and saw this. It made me chuckle.

My first thought was, "How cute the girls have been playing Barbie." Then I thought, "No WONDER we all have unrealistic expectations!" Even if we ignore the debate on the effect Barbie has on body image, look at what she's eating!

A whole turkey, nachos or a strange pizza?, cereal and milk, a two layer cake, 2 tortes and a huge banana split. At least there is a little salad as well. And I'm not sure, but I think they've already eaten an entire dozen
muffins or cupcakes. I'm pretty sure nobody that looks like Barbie would eat like this, even on a holiday.  Unless of course she plans on purging after. Silly I know, but it did make me think about mixed messages our children must be getting about food.

So I rode my stationary bike on a medium difficulty program. It felt really good to get a workout in to start my day. My legs were working hard and they were still a little sore from the elliptical yesterday. Yesterday I hit the gym at lunch. I did 40 min on the elliptical. I am able to do up to level 22 now! Pretty proud about that. Of course I can't do the whole workout there. I do intervals of high resistance and low resistance with sprints. I burned about 600 cal yest. My trainer had the nerve to come up to me and tell me I had to do it all backwards when I was done. HA! I laughed in his face. But, then I did do some weight lifting and core work. Sit ups with the 20 lb medicine ball has my abs aching today.

In TKD class today, we are getting close to the next test so we're doing lots of review and working through material. That of course means lots of extra kicking. My hips are going to be super sore tomorrow. I'm still learning that turning crescent kick and it requires a lot of stretch in the hips. The 100 crunches we did also didn't help my ab issue!  The instructor thinks I'm going to be ready for the test, so blue belt here I come!  Still have another week to prepare so I'm trying to squeeze in a few extra classes between now and then.

Food has been pretty good so far this week. Yesterday I had a shake for breakfast and a high fiber oatmeal muffin for breakfast (these are made with yogurt instead of oil and are about 110 cal a piece.) For lunch I had another shake and I had a yogurt with 1/8cup granola (yes I measured it. That stuff is calorie dense and tastes so good I have to be very careful.)  And speaking of granola, someone sometime posted a recipe for homemade granola. I had a conversation with my Nanny yesterday that you can make your own. Whoever you are, if you're reading this or if you have a good recipe for granola, can you send me a link? Thanks!

For dinner, I had homemade beef stew with a salad on the side. I had some fresh cherries as a snack later in the evening. My calories were 1214. 

Today I had yogurt with granola and one of my muffins with coffee (of course) for breakfast. For lunch I had this:

Half a cup of 1% cottage cheese topped with chipotle tabasco. I know it sounds weird, but it's very very tasty. On the side I had

Tomato slices and cucumber slices with a few carrots. The cucumbers are from my garden. The tomato is not. Our tomato plants have not been very productive at this new house. I'm wondering if it is the heat. See what a difference a small lunch sized plate makes? Looks like WAY more food that way. I had light ranch on the side. MEASURED carefully of course. 

I just love these little cups from tupperware. They have marks to measure out one serving, 2 tablespoons, which is 70 calories. I just can't do fat free ranch. Tastes nasty. And the little cup has a lid for travel if needed.

I have no idea why I took so many pictures today. Just in the mood I guess. Tonight, I do not know what we're having for dinner. I'll figure it out when I get home in a bit. My hubbie is working late so it very well may be something a lot like lunch.  I feel really good about my 2 a day workout today. I'm hoping to get the same in tomorrow. Who knows if the kids insist we may end up in the pool tonight.  Or doing some TKD practice. My son plans to test for his red-black belt which is just one belt from black. He's working really hard on it.

And speaking of my son. Can I just say what a joy he is right now? He's 13 and there are of course "issues" with that age, but he is so funny and has such a great sense of humor we have some really cool conversations these days. And so far he's not above hanging out with his mom....yet.  He's been in a summer conditioning class for football. (This IS Texas people.)  He's so proud of himself because he's trimmed up this summer, loosing some of his belly and able to lift some significant weight. I just love seeing him proud of his fitness level. We talk more about that than the weight. I love to see him look forward to exercise and approach it with such a positive attitude. I SO SO SO wish I'd learned about exercise when I was his age. Well....it's never too late, right?

Did you work out when you were a teen? Or were you like me and did as little as possible, only when forced to in gym class? Did people in your family workout as you were growing up? I honestly can say I never remember exercise being a topic of conversation in my household.  How do you encourage your kids to be active?

I am NOT a Sweetie!

Lately there have been a few things on my mind. Now it's time to get them off my chest. A lot of these things have to do with doctor stuff.

1.  I am NOT a sweetie!  Last week I received a call from another physician to discuss a patient. At the conclusion of the call this male physician says, "OK. Thanks. Bye, sweetie." and hangs up. I sat there looking at the phone trying to decide if I heard what I THOUGHT I'd heard......yep....I did. Are you freaking kidding me? I did not spend 11 years in training and 12 years in private practice to be called sweetie!  Then.....I thought maybe it was one of those oops moments that happens at the end of phone calls. I mean, I've dealt with this older male physician many times and he's been nothing but respectful. Have you ever ended a phone call with someone and said, "Bye. Love you." before you realized it was out of your mouth? I have. I said it once to a random telemarketer who called and was rambling on. I was hanging up fast and my standard "Bye. Love you," came out. I laughed at the time wondering what the look on that woman's face must have been. I'm giving this doc the benefit of the doubt and assuming his, "Bye sweetie, " was a similar mistake. But, if it happens again, all bets are off.

2.  Family Medicine IS my specialty!  So we are at that wedding from hell a couple of weeks ago and I'm talking to the wife of my husband's good friend. She asks if I'm still in practice. I said yes and it was going well. She asks, "So do you specialize in anything?" I answered that yes, my specialty is Family Medicine. So later she asks again if I have a specilaty. Sigh. Yes. It is Family Medicine. "Oh so like general practitioner?" Sigh. No. Being a General Practitioner in the old days meant that you finished medical school, did one year of internship and opened a practice. Back in the day you could do this and be able to do office AND surgery AND deliver babies. Scary, right? Well, not so much back then. There was a serious shortage of docs and most of these docs went to rural and under served areas.

These days, there are no GPs any more. We all have residencies. I spent 3 years after medical school learning how to be a Family Medicine Specialist. That means I can manage everything from runny noses to diabetes, congestive heart failure to poison ivy. I see all ages from newborns to grandmas and grandpas. I do women's health AND men's health. It's my job to do preventative care for all my patients and direct all their care. When specialists are involved it's my job to monitor what each specialist is doing and make sure that they are talking to each other and not prescribing meds that won't work together. Remember your heart doctor could care less about your vagina and your urologist doesn't care about your heart. I have to look out for ALL your parts. Think of me as your CEO of your health. That my friends IS something that takes SPECIAL skills.

3.  Why do patients not take the medicine I recommend and then come in surprised when they are still sick? Sigh. And why do they just decide to adjust their medicines on their own? Sigh. I mean, I don't mind if a patient is uncomfortable taking a medicine or has questions. I'm not one of these paternalistic overbearing docs that says, "I'm the doctor. You must do what I say." I always ask if patients understand. I always ask if they are comfortable with the plan for managing their health problems. Why do they not just tell me instead of showing up for the follow up and say, "Well....I didn't think I really needed the medicine so I quit taking it." OR they have a side effect and instead of calling me so I can help them they just cut the med in half or take it every other day which, BTW, can sometimes make said side effects worse. Sigh.

4. Why do people have unrealistic expectations? So I saw this patient a while back who had been watching her diet (Yeah!) exercising (double yeah!) and lost weight (YES!).  She is morbidly obese and I was very pleased. Over the last 6 weeks she'd lost 10-11pounds. Good weight loss. But she was upset and thought something was wrong. She thought it should have been more.  I spent some time explaining that I was happy with that loss and that she was doing great. The last thing you want is her stopping her efforts because of unrealistic expectations. We went over her diet plan and exercise plan and I praised her for how well she was doing.  I've been there and I know how easy it is to get thrown off course.  I think it's very sad that sometimes we set ourselves up for failure without even realizing it.

5. What is my damn problem with getting up in the morning? I am having the worst time waking up lately. I'm just tired, tired, tired. Every day I go to bed I tell myself that tomorrow I'm getting up early to work out and every day I don't. WTH? I know school is coming and soon I won't have a choice. I've got to kick this habit of snoozing late. I know my thyroid issues and breathing issues are affecting it. Add to that my allergies. HEY! Maybe it's the Benedryl I've been taking? Dumb ass.......so stupid. no more of that crap.

6. Why do people think that because we've met and I'm a doctor they can ask me random health questions? There is one person in my life right now, really just someone I know through my kid's school who keeps calling and texting me questions.  I'm not their doctor. Sigh. I don't want to be rude, but I don't think it's right either.  I've tried not calling back, delayed responses. You'd think they'd get the hint. Next time maybe I'll give the standard, "You'd should probably talk to your doctor about it."

7. Football is back! And now the mad compacted free agency thing is making me crazy trying to keep up with all the signings and trades and such. AHHH! Don't get me wrong I'm excited and I loves my football. I'm so excited. But, it's wearing me out with my phone's ESPN alerts every 5 min. On the bright side, it's more fun than work. Only15 days until the first pre-season game for the Boys. Yippee! And McNabb to Vikes? What about that Michelle? Say bye bye to Hasselback, Alan. What do you think about him to Titans? Looking forward to what happens with Plaxico and what about Tiki? Will they get another chance? The drama, the excitement! It's awesome. And my Sooners first game is only 38 days away. Not that I'm counting, ha ha.

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So yesterday TKD class was really hard. We did free sparring for 1minute. That doesn't sound like very hard, but take it from me, one minute is a long time. When you are kicking and punching continuously and constantly moving, it is hard. We did that and practice sparring several times. We are just a little over a week out from the next test so we're gearing up for that. We have to spar on the test for 2-3 times 1 min each. In addition to all the other skills and breaking the boards. I realized yesterday that I am probably going to have to go back on steroids to make it through the test. I'm not happy about it, but I don't think I'll do as well if I don't. My breathing has just gotten worse. Dang it. So now I find myself wondering when I can get the surgery done.

Last night after I got home, the girls wanted to roller skate. So After dinner I took each one for a walk on skates we went down the block and back. I spent most of the time holding one or the other up trying to teach them how to balance. Needless to say my arms were a bit sore this morning. It was hot even at 8pm! And I was so sweaty. So I'm counting that as my second workout yesterday.

Food was good yesterday. I had a shake for breakfast, small yogurt for snack. At lunch I had tuna and some veggies. At dinner I had grilled chicken with peas and carrots and a small salad on the side. I had a sugar free jello for snack and a Popsicle for snack after our roller skating adventure. My calories were 1156. I drank a lot of water, at least 128 oz. 

Today I had planned to go to the gym at lunch, but on the way to work I got a warning light in my car about tire pressure, so now I'm off to make sure I don't have a slow leak. If I have time, I'll try to workout. If not, the day is still young and I'll do something tonight. No excuses, my friends.  I'm trying to stick to the routine I set in motion during Alan's June Boom. My goal is to workout everyday, somehow. Hope you all have a productive day. And thanks for the veggie suggestions yesterday. I plan on trying them out.

What a weekend! And Lots of pics and....call for recipes.

What a wonderful weekend away I had!  We left town Friday at noon and arrived in Huntsville in time to eat BBQ at a very famous hole in the wall place there. This place has been on the Food Network and Travel channel multiple times. We have tried to stop here several times in the past, but it's only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11-6pm.  It's actually next door to a church and run by the members there. It's called New Zion Baptist Church BBQ.   We got there just in time before they closed. I had one rib. It was the best I've ever had. It is NOT fine dining, but it was super yummy.

We arrived in Galveston just in time for sunset. We checked in to the hotel and then headed right out to the beach for a walk.

This picture is a NSV for me. I've never been brave enough to go out in sleeveless tops. But, it was hot and humid and although I don't care for how my arms look, I didn't think I looked terrible. The water felt great!
Saturday morning we got up early and hit the beach. We went for walks, swam, and spent time reading under the shade of our umbrella. It was a great day.  I was even brave enough to take a picture in my swimsuit.

It was very hard for me to post this. When I looked at these pics yesterday I realized (again) how far I still am from where I want to be. And you're right Allan, I need to step it up again. That's already in the works, back to basics on the plan this week and lots of exercise. I've come a long way, but I cannot take my eye off my goals. I have gotten distracted from the goal of losing weight at times by emotional turmoil when I lost my cousin, health issues and my exercise goals. But, the ultimate goal is to get this weight off and that needs to be priority. I'm proud of what I've done, but I'm clearly not done!

I tried to find a pic to compare, but no surprise, finding one of me in a suit was hard. I'm very good at avoiding the camera. Here's the two I did find.

I spent some time picking up shells. It struck me how each one is so different, but they are essentially the same in so many ways. Each one is pretty in it's own way. Not unlike us as people.

Saturday night we went out to our favorite restaurant on the island, Gaido's.  I had grilled shrimp and red snapper. It was wonderful. They also serve it with tomatoes grilled with Parmesan cheese, such a wonderful tasty and light side dish!

I didn't eat the rice or the sauce. It didn't need it. Just a little fresh lemon squeezed on is all.

Me being silly at dinner. Like my new beach hat?

After dinner we drove out to the end of the island near where the big ships pass through and took some pics of sunset.

Again, some silly pics. Another outfit I never would have worn before. It's  a light summer dress and comfortable in the heat. I got it for a bargain of $12 AND it's a size 14.

Yesterday it was back to work. I headed in with a great attitude for a Monday. It's amazing what a little time away will do for your outlook. I weighed in and I was the same as last week. I find that a decent achievement for a trip. This morning I'm down a pound and I'm dedicated to get that scale to budge and get back off that steroid gain I had from 2 weeks ago.

The office was chaos yesterday. Really crazy with lots of complicated problems. Patients showing up with what seemed like simple issues, but turning out to be complex ones. Hate that. So my lunch time workout got scrubbed for work. Last night I went home and swam laps for 40 minutes. Felt good and it was hard with my breathing issues. But, a good workout nonetheless. I had to give up and use the kick board for part of it so I could breathe. I woke up this morning and I was actually a little sore. My calories yesterday were 1008. I was hungry last night. I really wanted to snack late, but instead I ate a sugar free jello and drank more water. Gotta remember that will power is really just a simple choice.

Today I've had my breakfast shake and coffee and tons of water. TKD class in the works for noon. I'm hoping that between being off the steroids, back on track with the diet, exercise and back on lots of water, I can get the scale to head back down. Plus, I'm back on the thyroid meds so hopefully that issue will be straightened out. At least my energy level is starting to improve back on the meds.

I need some new suggestions for veggies. Any new ideas? I'm just getting bored with my veggies. I love them lots, but I'd like some new ideas. I'm really trying to include more of them. Give me some new ideas. I'll be reading and commenting as usual today. Can't wait to see what all of you are up to. You guys really help keep me going! Have a great day!

Saved by the Nana!!!

Weekend is finally here and boy am I glad. It seems like I've been nothing but busy this summer with something to do nearly every day and no time to myself. Enter SUPER NANAs. That's right ladies and gentlemen, my mom and god-mom are taking the kids for the weekend. Two nights with the hubbie no kids and I'm very happy. I know for those of you who don't have kids or whose kids are very young you might not get it. But, as a mom of 3 kids, 13, 6, and 5, a few days away is not just fun it is a necessity. Especially now late in the summer when the sibling arguments have hit their peak.

Today after I finish the morning at work, my hubs and I are headed south to Galveston. We are going to take a couple of days and lay on the beach, listen to the surf and relax. Shoulda seen the kids faces when they figured out we were going to the beach without them! HA HA HA!  This trip I'll only be building sand castles IF I want to. And if I want to nap under the umbrella all afternoon or quietly read my book while sipping a cool drink, then by gosh that's what I'll do!!!

Yesterday wound up a good day for the diet. I think I should have had a little more water because I woke up thirsty. This heat is a TRIP. A trip to hell, but a trip nonetheless.  I've had a lot of trouble breathing the last few days. Between the heat, ozone alerts and high pollen counts, the blockage in my airway has been an issue. Plus I'm off the steroids. Down 2 pounds, still up from before, but getting closer to where I was. I REALLY don't want back on them, but I do enjoy breathing.

I struggled a bit to get through TKD yesterday, but I did it. Not as easily as usual. But, I enjoyed it as we are beginning to perfect the material for the upcoming test. My abs are SORE! From all the crunches and planks and such I did this week. This morning I woke up to sore hips from the crescent kicks I've been learning. So no working out today. I've had 4 days straight of hard workouts. Today I'll rest. Tomorrow morning a walk/jog on the beach. Smile.

I plan to have plenty of fresh seafood from the gulf this weekend. I love gulf shrimp. So healthy eating should not be a problem. I have packed healthy snacks and our options for eating out are greatly broadened without the kiddies in tow. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids more than life itself, but a day or two away helps keep Mommy refreshed and able to be a good Mommy.

I don't know how much I'll be online this weekend. We'll see. But, if you don't hear from me, I'll be back here on Monday reading and commenting as usual. And....Stacia....I see a new swimsuit pic in my future. Finally. And while we're discussing that subject...everybody take some pics. I know those of you starting out don't like taking your pic, but down the road you'll be so glad you have pics to compare. If you dare, send swimsuit pics to Stacia over at Swimming it Off.

And all you out there, please comment. Not just on my blog but on anybody's and everybody's you can. I try to comment on at least 4-5 each day. It doesn't take long and those comments mean so much to your fellow bloggers. Even if it is a few words, they might be just what is needed to keep someone struggling on track or encourage someone to keep going. So please....more comments!

I don't WANNA! But I'm glad I did!!!

I made myself go to the gym today. I didn't want to. At. All. I did all kinds of self bargaining and whining to get out of it. Didn't work. I even wore a dress today. I have a meeting tonight. Generally, that means I won't be working out. BUT, I didn't get up and work out this morning. I had some work to do instead.  The deal was that I would workout either in the morning or at lunch. And I kept the deal with myself.

I didn't like it. In fact, I was downright grumpy as I marched into the gym today at lunch. Still thinking of a hundred reasons why I should do something else. In fact as I pulled into the parking lot I seriously considered driving right through and turning around. "That's so dumb."  I told myself. I'm already here. So I thought I'd go in and do just 30 min of cardio. That's not bad. And it got me out of my car.

I went in, changed into my work out clothes. As I walked up the stairs, guess who I saw? My trainer. Shit. And he says, "Going to lift some weights after your cardio today?" Dang it. NO. I wasn't going to. I was going to have a short workout and get the hell outta here because I DON'T want to be here. But there he was with his grinning face. I said, "Maybe." He smiled and said, "I'll be watching you." Dang it.

I hopped onto the elliptical. The only consolation is that I get to read my book. I did my 5 min warm up and then cranked it to level 20 and went to town. I was pissed and I took it out on the machine. Usually I crank it up and then turn it down a level every few minutes. Every time I turn it down I crank up the speed. It's a good workout. I did 30 minutes. As I finished I realized my mood was better and I had a few minutes.  So I decided to do some weights and core work. I did some weighted crunches, planks, chest presses, triceps presses. My abs are so super de duper sore. But I did some weighted v-ups also even though they suck. I even did those crappy ab roll out thingys I hate so much with the little rolling scooter thing.(I'm sure it has a technical fitness word, but I am still new in this world and haven't mastered all the lingo yet.)

After I was tired and sore. But, glad I'd finished and proud that I can say I did do weights next time my trainer asks. My deal for going to the gym today included a trip to the yogurt place for lunch. Sugar free, low fat strawberry frozen yogurt with fresh berries and a little almonds was my lunch and MAN it tasted good and was great in this heat. Made my day.

Sometimes I feel bad because I'm not always "gung-ho" like some people I read in blog land. I don't always look forward to workouts. I don't always feel great afterward. I don't always push myself as hard as I can. I don't always enjoy working out. I can't run 5 miles a day. I can't bike 20 miles a day. I'm not ready for marathons or tris or even half-marathons for that matter.   I don't have hours to attend classes and I can't spend lots of time learning new exercises or trying out new DVDs.

But, I'm good at being regular with exercise for the first time in my life. It's no longer a question of IF I'll exercise, it's WHEN. That's a HUGE accomplishment for me. It's a regular part of my life now. Whether I have to squeeze in a workout in the morning or at lunch or in the evening, I WILL be exercising regularly. In fact, most days. One way or another it will happen.

And even though there are days like today where I REALLY don't want to, I do it anyway because I like the way I feel when I exercise regularly. I hate the sluggish feeling I get when I don't work out for a few days. My body craves movement now and that's AWESOME.   I've discovered some new exercise goals, especially with my Tae Kwon Do. I'll be testing for another belt in a couple of weeks. I know I can't keep going if I don't workout on my off days. I have to keep my cardio going and get stronger so I can do the ever increasingly harder things they are teaching me.

I haven't always been this way. It was HARD at first to squeeze into my busy day. With 3 kids and a husband and a career and a house and laundry and cooking and all the other crap that is my life, I really had to sit down and schedule an appointment for exercise at first. And there was a lot of, "Oops can't do that meeting that day I have another appointment." That person needn't know that appointment is with a treadmill.

My husband has been supportive. Not perfect, mind you, but overall supportive. We've added my exercise schedule to our daily "what's happening" conversations. This used to revolve around the kids and work meetings now it includes exercise talk. Might go like this:

Him: So what have we got going today?
Me: I work until 5:30.  Kids have TKD, boy has horn lesson.  I'll have to go to evening TKD today since I have that office staff meeting at noon and I'll miss my regular class. Can you watch the girls while I go? I'll bring home the boy as his class is just after mine.

Him: No problem. But, I've got work to do tonight so after you get home I'll have to disappear for a while.

It's just part of our regular conversations now. Is it easy? No! Is it a ton of juggling? YES. Would it be easy for me to think, "Boy I'm tired after working all day. The last thing I want to do is drive across town, change clothes and get all sweaty and more tired." Of course. But nobody said this would be EASY.   Making a change in habits is one of the hardest things you'll ever do. But it can be done and it does get easier.

If you find yourself saying you "just don't have time" or "are just too busy" or "there aren't enough hours in the day", I say to you WHAT IS WORTH MORE TO YOU? There are plenty of hours in the day if you're honest with yourself, it's just a matter of how you choose to spend them. If you let yourself buy into the idea that your life is too busy, guess what......you'll find it very hard to get in your exercise.

If you have the attitude that exercise is just as important as anything else in your schedule, suddenly it becomes easier to squeeze out 30 min or an hour here or there. If you think about it, it's not really THAT big of a commitment. I mean most people make more of a commitment to their favorite TV show.  You know that one you just CAN'T miss. Guess what? You can! You just don't want to.

I'm asked all the time how I keep it up. How I keep myself going to the gym? The best advice I can give you is this:
1. You have to want it.  That's the truth. You have to want it. You have to find your own motivation. Mine is that I want to be around for my kids and grand-kids.  And I want to be able to move and be active for a long time.  I don't want to die young and I don't want to be unable to enjoy my life.  Fat will kill you and squeeze joy from your life. Why are you letting it?
2.  Just do it. Silly I know but so true. You won't like it at first. It will be hard. There will be days like mine today where you don't want to. But, over time it will be a habit. A part of your life and you will LOVE how you feel.  And keep doing it. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and.......
3.  Find something you really like and do it.  Try new and different things. You know better than anyone else what kinds of exercise you might enjoy. I never ever ever would have thought that I could do martial arts or love it as much as I do. I had the guts to try it and not only is it a great workout, I love it. I look forward to it and now it spurs me on to do more exercise to stay fit for my favorite thing. 

The thing about this health and fitness journey is no one can do it for you. You have to figure it out for yourself. Find your own way. Doing exactly the food plan or exactly the exercise plan that worked for your friend or another blogger or Second Cousin will not necessarily be the right thing for you.  You are not alone though. We're all here helping you along and you in turn help me.

What excuses have you used to avoid exercise lately? How do you handle fitting in exercise when your life is really out of control and stressful? Do you have days where you just don't ant to exercise? How do you handle them?

Wedding from Hell and Weekend update.

Finally getting a chance to post. It's been crazy busy these last few days. I'm still a bit tired from the weekend. Friday I got up early and did some work that I needed to finish. I didn't work out Friday morning because I was super sore from that really hard workout on Thursday.

I did clean up the house a bit and load the car so that counts for some activity. We drove to Oklahoma and MAN is it hot there. Super duper hot. We had the wedding to attend Friday night.  It was a nice wedding right up until one of the most uncomfortable experiences in my life.

So I'm sitting on the potty doing my business when I hear someone storm into the restroom followed by some other people. I hear, "This is my day and I KNEW I shouldn't have invited them. F*** them." And then sobbing and then lots of other people rushing in and talking Then the door slams and the walls of the stall shake really bad.  The Mom comes in and she and the bride start to go at it. So I'm sitting there with this dilemma: Do I sit there until it's over and risk them thinking I was trying to eaves drop on their private business? OR Do I flush and get out as quickly as possible?

 I chose the latter. I flushed and rushed out. I had to wash my hands which means I had to get by the entire wedding party. It was so uncomfortable. Then I rushed back to the reception. It was the weirdest wedding ever. Then for about 40 min the entire wedding party was gone. Finally the bride came back in and about 30 min later she was dancing with her Mom like the fight never happened. Wow.

On the bright side the reception was held in The Sooner Room at Sooner Legends Hotel. This WHOLE hotel is decorated in Sooners memorabilia. We got to see tons of it. That was great!

 
And I caught a glimpse of my legs in the mirror in the restroom, prior to the "incident". They look pretty good if I do say so myself. See how I'm starting to get good definition in my muscles.

The wedding was an evening wedding, so we had dinner before. We ended up at Billy Sim's BBQ. It is soooo good. I had a small baked potato and turkey. YUMMY.  Then at the reception I had none of the appetizers and no cake and no alcohol. Just water. I did very well that day.

Needless to say I felt right at home in this place!

HAD to get this shirt. "Longhorn. It's what's for dinner." CLASSIC!

On Saturday, I woke up early and went for a walk/run. It was hot and I had trouble breathing so it was more walk than run, but I enjoyed it. Then we went to the farmers market where I picked up some tomatoes, peaches and an Israel melon. I had never had one. Have you? It is kind of like a cantaloupe, but a little milder and it is nearly white in color. The kids loved it!

Then we went to see Harry Potter 7 part 2.  The movie was great, but I was pretty sad. Well, that's an understatement. Call me a sap, but I cried through nearly the whole thing.  I think they did a good job on the movie, but if you didn't read the book you missed out on some of the important characters that died because it was just a quick battle. But, over all we loved the movie. That night we got a grown up dinner out with my cousins. I did well with the eating, but after dinner we went out for drinks to a bar where they have karaoke. We didn't do it, but we find it hillarious to laugh at the drunkards who do. There I had a few drinks which wasn't too great and a lot of water.

Sunday I woke up and was super sore from running and sitting on the wooden bar stool for a few hours so I didn't exercise. But we packed up and headed back home. Hot hot hot! Traffic wasn't bad and we made good time. Then I had to do some shopping. Ugh. I wasn't in the mood. I hate shopping when you HAVE to go.




I'm super sore today because I trained with the trainer yesterday. A very good and hard workout. We focused on core and arms yesterday.  I had TKD today and we did many crunches and push ups and MAN it hurt. Now I'm super sore!   I weighed in yesterday and I'm down 1 pound from last week, but still up 4 from before. I'll slowly get that 5 back off. At least I'm off the steroids for now.

After TKD, I had to go for an office portrait with my co-workers.  Can I say how much I HATE getting my pic done? Especially with high maintenance picky people. Ugh.  I needed something to wear because I had nothing suitable and THAT's why the forced shopping trip on Sunday.  I did find a couple of professional looking shirts and I think the pics turned out OK.  I'll post one of me when I get them.

I've been trying to read and catch up on my blogs so you should see some comments from me. If not, know that I AM reading. I hope your week is going well. What workouts have you been up to lately? How do you feel about getting professional portraits done? To me it is just SUCH a whipping!

DANG! That was hard!

I am having a good day today. Good eats, feeling better and exercise.  TKD class today KICKED my ass. Literally. We started class as usual with jumping jacks and stretches and crunches, 150 today! Then, we did push ups, but today, we did the ones where you bring up your knee towards your elbow as you lower yourself toward the floor.

I did NOT look this good doing these.

I've never done these before and it was HARD, but I did them. 20 of them. TWENTY! Holy crap I'm so proud of myself. That's really hard. You HAVE to try it. So good for the core. Now you know why my pecs are so developed and show up on my mammogram (only 2% of women have this) And YES I'm bragging again about this because....well.....frankly it's AWESOME and I've impressed myself.

After all that, the REALLY hard part started. We had to where our chest protectors for kicking drills today. It's amazing how much harder wearing those things makes kicking! It's hotter and after awhile it gets heavy. But, I'm glad we did it because it's good prep for sparring for my test in a few weeks.  We did speed drills with a ZILLION kicks.  Roundhouse high, low, back kick, axe kick, 360 roundhouse. I really thought I'd collapse, but I made it through them all.  Over and over and over. It was super super hard.

And even the much thinner and fitter people where drenched in sweat and breathing hard. Even the beautiful blond that I WISH I looked like. Like size 2 and all muscle, she was even sweating and she hardly ever sweats!  (I would be super jealous of her if she weren't SO nice and supportive and encouraging to me every single class. Especially since her make up is always perfect. Sigh)  After that came forms, THEN more kicking drills, THEN breaking holds, THEN knife defenses. It was a VERY hard class. I burned about 1200calories!

Tomorrow we are leaving for Oklahoma. We have a wedding to attend. I'm a little nervous considering my recent carb issues and the fact that my family there is not on the healthy path. There's always coke in the house and sweets and all kinds of crap.  For some reason it is harder to resist when I'm there. WHY is that??

Anyway, I'm planning to workout. The good part of visiting there is that there's always someone to watch the kids in the morning so I can usually squeeze in a run/walk. That's the plan, early in the morning to avoid heat of course.  I'm taking a few healthy snacks-fruit, nuts, jerky and some carnation instant breakfast in case healthy stuff isn't available. 

Hopefully I'll have time to read and comment and maybe even post, although posting is hard when your busy busy. We're going to see Harry Potter on Saturday. I am excited, but melancholy.  I'll miss Harry Potter even though I've read the books and know how it ends. It's kind of sad to not have one to look forward to anymore. I'm so excited because we have a trip in September to Orlando and Harry Potter World is on the agenda!

How do you all handle the challenges of traveling? Do you face challenges from family members who are not living the healthy lifestyle you are aiming for? Do you plan to see Harry Potter??

Wednesday Randomness, Squished Boobies and a lot of Linky Love!

I have a lot of randomness to get to today, so I hope I don't ramble too much.

• First I'll say thanks for the support on the previous post. It was a lot of complaining and I kinda feel bad when I do that, but fact is this blog is mainly for me to express how I'm feeling and what's going on. That's just how I felt on Monday. I am feeling better and I'm back on track with my diet and exercise. Back down a couple of pounds so that helps a bit as well. We'll figure out when to have surgery in the next month or two.

• A few days ago, my buddy from NYC gave me a neato little badge of honor and I hadn't yet acknowledged it. Thank you lots!

Over the last couple of days I have thought a lot about my recent stall and gain. Health problems or steroids be damned, I can make better choices. And then yesterday Allan wrote something that is so damned simple. "If you are hungry, eat something healthy until you aren't hungry anymore and then stop eating." So good to be reminded of the fact that we make this weight loss thing harder than it needs to be. First it's Food and then it's poop. That's all. Why do we make it so complicated?

• In light of the above, I'm on a mission for "back to basics". I really thought about what I'm doing differently this summer vs last and realized that I'm not working out as often even though my workouts are harder now. So this morning, despite my inner child throwing a tantrum, I dragged my ass out of bed early and got on the bike. Boy, I guess I'd forgotten what a great workout the stationary can be and how nice it is to start your day with sweating!  I was even rewarded with a couple of NSVs! 
• MY THIGHS don't rub together anymore while I'm riding the bike! I realized it and HAD to take a picture just to prove it to myself and you.  This is NOT a gratuitous crotch shot! LOOK!

• And while we're on this subject. See the cute work out top I scored at Kohl's for $5! It's cute AND a size large. So this morning I get up and see it in my drawer. I figure it'll be too small, but I thought, why not try it on? It fits and it's cool and comfortable. 

Note the sweat!

• I WON a couple of very neato prizes from my friend Tami over at Nutmeg Notebook. I won a cookbook and a gift card to try some new great organic foods. Thanks Tami!  I can't wait to get them and try them out. I chuckled today at Suzi's question about my favorite cookbook. Between Tami and Biz and all of the rest of the great foodie bloggers I don't really ever need one anymore.

• I had my boobies squished today. It was my first mammogram. I am a year late getting started, for which I felt a tad guilty. But now, I can say with conviction that it's not that bad!  It was over really quickly. Soooo if you haven' t had your boobies squished, GO!  AND my gentlemen friends I will take this moment to remind you to have your prostate probed! Early detection is key!   I have to say that my friend Jan over at Writing to Wellness who is right now recovering from breast cancer surgery inspired me to no longer avoid the issue. She is really inspiring to me as she goes through all this with a great attitude and not giving up on her goal for fitness.  AND.....I got an NSV there also!
• I have PECTORAL muscles!  Well of course everyone has them, but in women, they are usually much smaller than in men. That's one reason why women tend to have more trouble with "real" push ups".  My muscles show up on the mammogram, meaning I have well developed muscle under those boobies!  Only about 2% of women can say that! Yeah me! And yeah for all those push ups and planks and stuff.

• Along the lines of back to basics.....I've been working to greatly reduce my carb intake this week. Carbs taste good, but it makes me grumpy when I eat too many because I get hungrier faster. Anne H over at Carb Tripper  has got me thinking lately about watching my carbs. So today when faced with a challenge: I needed a quick lunch after my mammogram. I thought I'd hit Subway OR I could go to the yummy frozen yogurt place next door. My carb craving self wanted the yummy sweet yogurt. There was a lot of inner self talk about, "it's natural and nutritious" or "it has some protein in it". But I resisted and hit Subway instead for a SALAD, no bread, just turkey and no cheese to avoid the fat. AND vinegar only for dressing!

• Of course the story Big Clyde wrote about the other day didn't hurt. Ice cream is a weakness for me. Really any frozen treat: ice cream, yogurt, ice milk, ice cream sandwiches, fudge pops. You get the idea. But that ice cream story of his just stuck in my brain. The mental imagery is......well.....unpleasant. It was a funny story and I loved reading it and hey if it helps me avoid the ice cream, great! So thanks, Clyde!........I think......

OK. So that's a lot of randomness for one day! Thanks to all you out there that always support me. Thanks to all of you in blog land who are leading the way and staying on track. You all inspire me to keep going.  What about you? Any randomness in your life lately?

Sleestak? That's me.

Hello everyone. Here it is Monday. Sorry I've not blogged in days. I've had a lot going on. First, let me report that I went to my ENT and it's official that I once again need surgery. I'll need to have the blockage in my upper airway ballooned and lasered. Although he wants to wait another month or two. You see if we do it too early, then the procedure isn't as effective. So now I have to figure out when to do it. Likely end of August or so.


The other bad news is that he put me back on steroids to reduce the swelling and help my breathing. Boo. Hiss. I've been on them about a week and I'm up 5 pounds. I hate that crap. Some of that weight is from the drug, some from some bad choices. That medicine makes you INSANE and hungry. Absolutely nutso. I was in bed all day yesterday. NOW I think I'm getting a sinus infection. Yippee.

I had the scope last week, up the nose and down the back of my throat. Infections happen sometimes after. I hate that test. They spray this nasty numbing spray up your nose and down your throat. That crap burns and tastes disgusting. Then you feel like you can't swallow for like an hour afterward. And even with the spray the scope burns when they put it in. Yucky-poo.  Well, all in all there are much worse things in life. I'll not complain TOO much. Maybe just a little.

I'm frustrated because I was really hoping he'd tell me it wasn't back. I'm also frustrated because I've gained weight. AND now I'm sick. Ugh. I was supposed to meet with my trainer today, but my Sleestak like breathing prohibits it.

The weekend was very non-productive for me.  On Saturday I felt tired, but OK. I took the kids to TKD for open gym and we worked together on forms and a few kicks. Then we hit the grocery store and home. We spent some time outside Saturday evening and in the pool and I think that's what pushed me over the edge. I didn't sleep well Saturday, up a lot with cough and such.  One of the things that happens with this blockage is that my sleep goes to shit. Kinda hard to sleep when you can't breathe. Then I woke up yesterday and felt like crap. So I pretty much did nothing all day yesterday.

Now I'm at work and counting down to when I can go home and lie down for a bit. I hate that. Hate it. And I haven't been tracking my food. But,  I am going to do my best to get back on track, steroids or no. I ate a sensible breakfast and drank my water this morning. I'm back to tracking and  forcing myself to avoid any more bad choices. It's hard with these meds because I am hungry all the time and crave carbs 10 times worse than usual. Stupid medicine.

So just a quick and grumpy and wheezy post today from me. I'll be catching up on everyone's blogs and trying to comment. Hope all's well with all of you. One day at a time, right? Oh, and check out my friend Kim's blog, she's new. Welcome her and lend her some support.

Whew! What a GREAT time! Look what I did!

What an awesomely wonderful super duper weekend we had! It was so much fun and we had such a good time. I have to say that I was not perfect with the diet, especially on Monday. But, overall I did OK. I did some exercise each day. We swam a lot and we had a really great visit with our friends.

Saturday we decided to do a little shopping. We went out in the afternoon and hit a few stores with the girls. We stopped at chick-fil-a for lunch where I had a salad and the girls got to play for a while. That night, I cooked a pork tenderloin and a great salad with roasted green beans. It was very good and very healthy. For dessert we had watermelon and the kids had some low fat ice cream. We swam for about 2 hours after dinner and played with the new pool volleyball net which was tons of fun.

Sunday we were more lazy. I cooked breakfast for everyone, eggs and bacon (I ate one piece). That stuff is just too greasy for me these days. I had some fresh tomato slices on the side which is one of my favorite summer breakfasts.  For lunch we had left overs. We stayed in most of the day, watched movies and played cards with the kids. That night we grilled steak on the grill and corn on the cob. It was the first beef I've had in a long time. It was heavenly. With that we served a salad with fresh strawberries, walnuts and bell peppers with balsamic vinaigrette. It was soooooo good! Again that night we swam for a long time and played in the pool.

Monday morning we got up super early. We had to be at the parade rally point by 8am. The kids and I along with our friend and his son who takes TKD class with us rode over there together. It was hot. Especially in our long sleeves and pants!  I was surprised to find out that we wouldn't just be smiling and waving as we walked through the parade route. No. Actually we did kicking drills along the way about 10-12 times. After we'd have to run to catch up with the rest of the parade! It was quite a workout and can I say how freaking proud I am that I was able to do that?!?  The parade route was about 2.5 miles in total. I never ever in a million years could have done all that a year ago!
Here's a few pics of me in the parade

Our group

That's me in the last row. Green belt and sunglasses!

BACK KICK! During our Kicking drills.

Reverse punch! HO!

It was a lot of fun. Our kiddos all marched. The girls had a blast in the very front of the group with the smaller kids waving at the crowd!  After we were so hot! I took the kids to Wendy's for ice cream. I had light lemonade and a couple of bites of ice cream. During the parade I burned 1200 calories!

After the parade we headed home for a shower! We grilled hot dogs and sausages for lunch. I had a chicken sausage, no bun with kraut and salad on the side. Fruit salad for dessert. Then we watched a movie and swam for HOURS! We took a break at dinner and grilled burgers. I had mine without a bun and it tasted so awesome. We had ice cold watermelon for dessert. The kids had cookies our friends brought over. I splurged and had margaritas by the pool. I'll admit I didn't track calories that day, but I have a good idea of how many I ate. Too many, but between the parade and all the swimming I know I burned a TON of calories that day.

Yesterday my BFF, her kids and my Aunt left to go back to Oklahoma. It's good to have the house back, but I miss them anyway. I was sooOOOoooOOOoooooo tired yesterday. We didn't get to bed until 11pm and I had to work yesterday of course!  I missed my regular TKD class since I went home to say good bye. I really wanted to skip the exercise, but I made myself go to a later class last night. Today I am dying. My legs are so sore from the parade and the swimming AND from the new crescent kick I learned in class yesterday.  Last night I went home and I was in bed by 9:30pm.

Today I'm way too sore to workout so I decided to rest today.  I forgot to weigh on Monday. I forgot to weigh yesterday. I weighed last night and was up a few pounds, but considering I usually weigh in the morning naked, I didn't feel too bad about it. I know I'm up a little just form water retention because I'm puffy, but I'm overall happy with how I'm doing. My clothes aren't tight, in fact I'm wearing a new XL dress today which is likely going to be too big very soon. I think I'll quit buying clothes. At least it was on sale for under $20.

I know I have a long way to go. I still have a lot of weight to lose. I realize I splurged more than I should have this weekend, but I'm pleased that I got right back on track after the holiday. This is what "real life" is going to be like forever for me. Living a healthy lifestyle. Staying active. Eating well most of the time. Occasionally having a splurge, those will be few and far between. After them I'll be getting right back on track. Even my idea of a splurge has changed.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this weekend was that I know overall I was healthy with my choices and I had a great time. I did something by marching in the parade that I never dreamed I'd do and I was able to do it without much difficulty. That makes me really proud of myself. I wasn't perfect this weekend, but I did my best. I love my life now! I'm never going back.

Yeah it's FRIDAY!

Happy Friday!

Nothing better than a 3 day weekend staring you in the face, eh?  I am so looking forward to the weekend. It's going to be so much fun. My BFF and her kids are coming along with my Aunt and cousin's daughter. I alway enjoy these weekends and they don't have nearly often enough. My BFF and I usually regress to high-school like giggles about all kinds of stuff. We get to catch up with each other and relax. Can. Not. Wait.

We don't really have anything on the agenda. That's the fun part. Just hanging out, swimming, grilling, movies and games with the kids. It will be a fun relaxing time and it's just what the doctor ordered for me. Ha ha!  And you know what? I'm not even nervous about weekend binging or holiday food or any of that old baggage. I'm really doing well as far as food goes. It no longer scares me that I'll completely lose control. I have plenty of healthy options and I will be fine. I really have come a long way.

The only real planned event is that the kids and I are marching in the July 4th parade with our TKD gym. They are having a float and we are supposed to walk/ride with them. The only downside is we have to wear our uniforms, long sleeves! But it's early in the morning and at least it is white. We'll be taking a lot of water. Pics to follow next week!

So the scale remains uncooperative. I think I've identified a couple of issues. One, I had changed my birth control pill a while back. Two, I'm taking a new iron supplement which is playing havoc with my ability to go #2. I'm still exercising and watching my calories. But I haven't lost any weight. I had some labs done yesterday and I'm waiting on the results. Until then, I'm going to stay the course and find positives outside the scale.

One of those is evident in my new size. I got this dress at Target the other day for $12. It's a size Large.  I love a bargain. I bought it thinking I could wear it "soon" but I tried it on at home for fun and it fits! So I'm wearing it today. I'm wondering if it's too short, but I don't care. It's freaking Texas hell hot people.

I do not like my arms right now. I hate that my muscles are firmer and my arms look worse! BUT, it's mostly skin hanging not fat, so I guess that's better.


I got cracked up at Shelley's post today when she was talking about fighting with her husband over watermelon. It really brought a chuckle for me as this is an issue at my house also. I've taken to hiding some chopped up melon in a corner of the fridge so I can get some. I have 3 kids ages 13, 6, 5 who LOVE watermelon. They can eat an entire melon in ONE DAY. There are much worse things for them to eat, so it's OK with me. But, it results in unhappy menu surprises for mom sometimes. So annoying when you plan a snack and your mouth is watering for it and it's gone!

Looking forward to our garden producing some soon. We have several little tiny baby watermelons showing up! And speaking of watermelon, I saw this recipe for Watermelon martinis and I think that must be on the agenda for weekend BBQ party by the pool.

I'll watch the amount of alcohol of course and hydrate, but it's a very rare thing for me to relax and have a drink, so it's in my plans this weekend. Calories counted, of course.

I recently bought one of these

The kids love it because it makes Popsicles while they watch. It takes about 7 min to freeze. We made some the other day with fresh strawberries and crystal lite lemonade. YUMMY!  No  more, "are they done yet?" questions. We also made them with watermelon juice and it was fabulous.

Tami over at Nutmeg Notebook has a cool giveaway going on. Head over and check it out. I love that blog as she has some awesome healthy recipes. If you don't read her, you should!

That's all for me for today. I wish you all a happy holiday weekend. Remember to drink your water and count your calories, ALL of them! What are you planning this weekend? Are you enjoying summer's bounty of fresh fruit? I sure am!