Let’s get this party started

 

OK. Are you ready for the 1 Month to Memorial Day Push? I am. I’m also so happy to have some of my friends joining me, even if my comments seem to be a bit busted.

Remember it’s not about running 20 miles or working out 2 hours a day, it’s just about doing a little more than you have been. Eating a little tighter. Focusing a little more.

My starting stats are:

Weight: 212.8

Waist: 35.5

I don’t do full body measurements, because I find them tedious and I don’t think I ever really measure in the same spot twice. I figure if my pants are getting looser, I’m losing inches.

I am beyond horrified at these pictures but they are what they are. How can I not improve?

 

Today, I will run 3.5 miles and do 3 sets of 15 push ups

Friday Weigh-in

 

Starting Weight Feb 11, 2011- 230

Last Week, Apr 22- 215.2

Today, April 29- 212.8

That loss looks bigger than it is. I was still retaining water from a week of bad eating last Friday. Basically, I have broken even over the last 2 weeks.  Not so great, better than a gain.

I have a renewed motivation after a brief slump. I’m expecting good things over the next week and look forward to starting my Memorial Day Push on Saturday.

It seems that spring has finally come to town with warm weather which makes me want to rush out the door for runs. This year spring has also brought rain after rain after rain and has the ground and my favorite running path flooded. Two of my favorites actually. I haven’t been to the C&O Tow Path lately but I’m sure it is safe to say it is a mess.

Here’s to a drier, thinner week next week.

Another reason for using cloth diapers

The cuteness. Need I say more.

Rumparooz pocket diaper in L’il Monster

The Memorial Day Push!

Well, April looks to be a big fat dud in the weight loss category. I don’t want to spoil the surprise before Friday’s weigh-in, but I assure you I haven’t dropped and additional 5 lbs since last Friday’s weigh-in.
That’s disappointing to be sure but that’s not what I would like to talk to you about today. No, do you know what happens just four weeks from this Friday? It is the beginning of the Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficialstart of summer.Wait. What? Weren’t we just wearing winter coats last week? Yes, if you live in the Mid-Atlantic like me, you were but that’s neither here nor there. Memorial Day is coming ready or not.
Since April was a such a loser for me weight wise, I’m looking to achieve “noticeable changes” in the month of May. I mean it’s tank top season and I would love to be able to wear a tank top this summer. Something, I dared not attempt last year :: shudder::

Therefore, I am embarking on a 1 Month to Memorial Day Push. It’s like a challenge only it’s a push. What’s the difference? Hell, if I know but I like the term push because that is what I need to do. Push myself harder.
It starts Saturday, April 30 and ends at 11:59 pm Sunday, May 29. That way you can still enjoy that Memorial Day Cookout.

The Push consists of three parts, Cardio, Diet and Trouble Spot.
Cardio:
Since this is a “push” the goal is to push harder. Take whatever cardio you’ve been doing and bump it up by at least 10%. You can aim to work out 10% longer, or burn 10% more calories or travel 10% further. You can go higher than 10% but not less.
For me, my cardio of choice is running, so I am bumping up my weekly mileage goal from 12 miles to 15. More than 10% but not undoable (is that a word?)
Diet:
The goal here is to eat in your calorie/point range 90% of the time. That is 27 of 30 days. Not easy but doing this will result in weight loss (or gain or maintenance, whatever your goal is). Yes, there will be special occasions in there, Mother’s Day anyone, but your body doesn’t take a holiday from storing fat at least mine doesn’t anyway.
If you  are on SparkPeople, you know your calorie range. Likewise, Weight Watchers. If you don’t check out Livestrong.com and determine your calorie goal, the range is + or – 150 calories of that number... ish.
For me, my calorie goal is 1450 (to lose 2lbs per week) with a range of 1300-1600.
Trouble spot:
Pick an area where you would like to see improvement by Memorial Day, then pick an exercise that really works it, then do that exercise every other day, 3 sets of 15, for a month.
For me, I want my shoulders and upper arms to look less like sagging coat hangers (see above re: tank tops) so I’ll be doing push-ups. I hate push-ups because my upper body is so weak. I’ll be starting with “girl” push ups, maybe even finishing with wall push-ups if necessary to get through the sets. By the end of the month, hopefully I’ll be able to get through them all girl style and maybe, just maybe, crank out a “real” one.
It’s not going to be easy and it’s not meant to replace any of the other programs/challenges I’m involved in. I think it will work with them quite well.
I’ll be posting on Friday with my standard Friday stats and a photo.
Are you interested in joining me? Leave a comment with your name, email, web address (if you have one), and what your goals are for the three areas.

There will be bad weeks

There will be bad days, there may even be bad months.
This was a bad week for me. I didn't workout enough, I ate poorly on a few days. I wasn't in the zone. But this isn't about that. This is a focus on the positive post. Even in a bad week there are still things I did right.
- I completed Week 8 of the C25K
- I got most of my points on the 100DTS Challenge even if it was fewer than normal
- I was able to eat a bad meal early in the day and not consider the day a loss. The next meal was a healthy choice.
- I logged into SP every single day
- I drank my water.
-I forgave myself for not being perfect.
Because there will be more bad days and bad weeks. I accept that as a part of the process. I didn't get in the position because I have perfect control over my eating and never flagging desire to workout. By looking at the things I did right, a "bad" week doesn't seem so bad. It's all part of the journey.

Why yes, I did say cloth diapers.

When I was pregnant, I read somewhere, something about babies who wear cloth diapers being easier to potty train. I was intrigued as I had (and still have) no desire to change the poopy diapers of a 3 year-old. I learned about modern cloth diapers and thought they were really cool but I didn’t really consider going cloth right away because it wasn’t like my child was anywhere near potty training, being in utero and all.

I thought about them a lot though. They were so cute and man, are disposable bad for the environment. I hate the idea of encasing the most biodegradable thing in the world in plastic and putting it in a landfill (Do you hear me pooperscoopers?) But, I was afraid of the laundry. I thought it would be complicated. Or gross. Or I would have to buy special detergents. Mostly, I thought my husband would never go for it.  But still, they never left my mind. I decided that when my daughter turned 1, I would buy a couple just to use around the house so that she could start making the connection between the feeling of having to pee and wetness. I was still focused on the potty training aspect.

Finally the day came about 3 weeks before her first birthday. I was browsing cloth diapers and just couldn’t wait anymore. I purchased 3 BumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers.

They arrived on a Thursday and I immediately washed them so that they would be ready to go first thing Saturday morning. When my husband saw them, he declared me a hippie and said he wasn’t going to use them. That was fine, it wasn’t like I was going whole hog with this thing right?

Ummm...........

By noon on that first Saturday, I was on my way to a town 40 miles from my own because it had a cloth diaper store and I simply had to have more! Within 3 months, I had spent $400 building my stash. That sounds like a lot but I spent about $800 in 2010 on disposable diapers. We went whole hog.

The laundry does involve pushing a button once or twice more than a normal load. I don’t even break a sweat. The “special” detergent is remarkable unspecial (no additives) and I use it on all my laundry. And it is cheaper than Tide.

My husband, who declared he wasn’t going to use them knows a Fuzzibun from a Rumparoo and does diaper laundry. A few weeks ago when I told him a friend of hours was going to use cloth on her new baby he said, “That’s great. They’ll save lots of money and they are no harder than disposables.”

My only regret is not going cloth sooner! Don’t make the same mistake I did!!! All those blowouts that could have been prevented!!

I did all my cloth diaper research from cloth diaper blogs. The ladies who run these sights have amazing information.
www.allaboutclothdiapers.com
www.dirtydiaperlaundry.com
www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com

Nature’s bounty and sautéed Brussels sprouts

Last year, after having my baby I made the decision to feed her organic foods. I am concerned about the links between pesticides and neurological issues and I am even more concerned about hormones in milk putting my daughter into puberty when she is 6 years old. Regardless of how remote the chances of these things are, I wanted only the best for her.

To that end,  MrLeanGreen and I signed up for a local service that delivered locally grown, organic produce to us on a weekly basis. It was great and even though my child refused to eat anything that wasn’t pureed to a level of smoothness beyond my Cuisinart’s capabilities, the husband and I really enjoyed the produce.

Sometimes, we got things we had never heard of. Lemon cucumbers, who knew? They’re delicious. Sometimes we got things we didn’t like. I just can’t do beets. But for the most part we ate more fruits and veggies than either of us ever had before.

As the cold weather set in, the veggies started being from further away and not so great. It wasn’t the service’s fault, do you know what kind of great produce grows in the Mid-Atlantic in the winter? None. So we put our orders on hold until …..this week!

We got our first delivery of the spring (and it is spring regardless of what the weather says) yesterday. While most of it is still not from “local” farms yet, FL is at least on the same coast.

Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, romaine lettuce, oranges, sweet potato, plums and carrots.

 

This order is pretty basic. Nothing new or exotic and I know how to utilize it all. It is great though to have someone else determining my produce for the week. It forces me to cook things that probably wouldn’t have made it into my grocery cart and therefore adds some variety to our diets.

Tonight, we had the Brussels sprouts. I know a lot of people think they don’t like them but they are my favorite veggie, hands down.

These are small so I simply wash them and cut off the ends. If they were large I would slice them down the middle.

To speed up cooking, I steamed these for 10 minutes before sauteeing.

To a warm pan, I add ½ Tbsp of butter and ½ Tbsp Olive Oil.

I place the sprouts cut side down in the pan and cook until brown and carmelized, about 5 minutes.

Stir the sprouts around to coat. Add a little salt and pepper.

(My phone/camera died before I could get the finished picture so I had to use MrLG’s phone. It didn’t turn out well. But the sprouts did, they were awesome!!)

Yum, yummy, yum!!!

We also had leftover turkey Manwiches. Yawn.

There is likely a similar program or co-op for fresh, local veggies in your area. Consult Dr. Google. If you are in the DC area, I can turn you on to our service.

Must remember

that I am allergic to ALL Olay body washes and stop buying them

Off to buy some Burt's Bees.

A lean, green machine

Well, that’s what I’d like to be anyway. Right now I am more of a chubby, trying to be green, not so finely tuned appliance. But I’m working on it.
Last year, after having my first child I found myself fat, out of shape, eating junk and living a very wasteful life. Not a wasted life mind you, but a wasteful life.

Slowly, but surely I am making changes for myself and my family. It started with buying organic foods for my baby when she started on solids and that translated into organic for the rest of the family. By the end of the year we were cloth diapering my little one and we have continued to green up every since. Don’t tell my husband though, it’s been so painless he doesn’t even realize it.

In early 2011, a year after my daughter was born, I finally started working on getting rid of my “baby weight”. I joined SparkPeople and love the community atmosphere and the challenges. I’ve lost 16 pounds so far and have no intention of backing off. Not only that, I have started running again for the first time in 2 years and I am loving every minute of it. If your interested in doing the same check out SparkPeople and find me, YARAC211.

It should be no surprise to anyone that taking care of yourself and taking care of the planet go hand in hand. When you only want to put good stuff in your body, you need to ensure that good stuff is going to be available. 

I’m not and expert. I’m not a zealot. Neither Ed Begley not Jillian Michaels is going to hold me up as a stellar example. I shop at Walmart and Target and you'll never hear me extol the virtues of a raw diet. I am all about finding things that are easy and work with my lifestyle. I just want to share what I learn as I go.