Sunday, September 30, 2012

Days 157 - 159: A Happy New Distraction!

Sorry for the late posts! It was an eventful weekend!

Friday didn't involve nearly as much walking as Thursday, but I did use it as my day of rest for the week.

Breakfast was more Activia breakfast blends. I found another flavor during a short trip to Wal-Mart on Saturday, so I'm looking forward to trying it Monday morning.


Nick's cousin Jake wanted to meet Nick and me for a super late lunch/early dinner, so I only ate a snack during the day. This is the banana I smuggled out of the dining hall on Thursday...


I left work earlier than usual and I went to Tokyo with Jake and Nick where we shared some edamame, onion soup, and sushi.


OMG ROLL. Nom nom nom
Orchid roll! Double nom nom nom
And like I said earlier, I used Friday as day off for the week from working out. :)

Saturday was pleasant despite all the rain. I got to sleep in and I made myself some brunch of wheat toast topped with Smart Balance made with Flax with 1 egg + 3 tbsp egg whites. 


After brunch, I was able to get in 25 minutes on the treadmill and another 25 minutes on the elliptical after breakfast.



It's just easier for me to video my work on the
elliptical because it turns off when you
stop pedaling. I have to slow down a lot
so you can read the numbers, though.


This is the view I stare into while I'm running on the treadmill...

On sunny days, the pool is super crowded
And sometimes I can watch some TV while running. I got to watch part of the Aggie/Arkansas game, so that helped the time pass a little more quickly. As little as I'm into sports these days, I still like to see how my ol' Ags are doing every once in a while. 

Hello, blurry football player man.
So Saturday was a little out of the ordinary because I got to see my cousin Stacy and my Uncle Herbert! They were on their way to Louisiana, and Stacy had mentioned to me on Facebook that they had an electric piano/keyboard that they weren't using that I could have for FREE. So Nick tagged along with me, and we met the two of them in Silsbee to get the piano from them. One of my biggest regrets in life has been quitting piano lessons when I was little, and this new and improved Melanie is ALL ABOUT killing any regrets if at all possible! I truly can't thank them both enough for taking the time to bring the piano down and to meet me! Thanks for all the fitness tips and for commenting on my piano post, Stacy!!!! It was so nice to see you and your dad! 


After the piano excitement, I went out and ran a couple of errands. Before I headed out, I had a quick/light dinner at my apartment

Leftover chicken & veggies
Sunday morning started off with a sprint to my apartment complex gym. I have missed biking this weekend, but the rain has not allowed me to go out to the trail. 

I started out with a mile walk/run.

Not sure why the pic is crazy distorted like that,
but my camera was too slow to catch the time/distance
in time before it went away.
I try to reserve Sunday mornings for heavy duty strength training because I can grunt loudly all I want since no one else is usually in the gym with me at that time. I did 9 sets of 12 reps of various types of squats on the Smith Machine. 

Hi, I'm a Machine named Smith.
I also did some upper body work with 10 pound dumbbells before sprinting back to my apartment to drink this before showering and heading to church...


After church, my mom had a lovely spread waiting for my dad and me for lunch. She wasn't feeling well, so she wasn't able to go to church, but I'm thankful she made some yummy things for us. She made a Filipino vegetable dish and some chicken mechado.

Cucumbers, kangkong (I have no idea what it's
called in English) with tofu and chicken mechado
We also had some fruit cocktail with
some kind of gelatin for dessert!
We watched a movie after lunch, and then it was time to eat again! I just had a chicken leg with some rice before I headed out. I was able to eat the rice before 5:00, so I didn't break my new no big carbs after 5 rule! Thanks for all the yummy food, Mom & Dad!


Whew! I'm now all caught up. I shall go and play my new piano for the rest of the evening and hopefully catch the season premiere of Revenge! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

OOOH! And special shout out to one of my most loyal readers! Happy birthday, Mrs. Laura Furry!!! Your words of encouragement are always inspiring! I hope I've been able to inspire you, too!

And of course, I can't forget to promote my fundraising efforts for the Heart Walk! 

Please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.







Thursday, September 27, 2012

Day 156: Walking all Over Work!

Oh, September in Southeast Texas... So very sweaty and humid indeed.

There was an event at work today at the building across the street from my office, so I had to do a LOT of walking today. I can't really complain, though! I took advantage of all the moving I got do, and I was able to knock out my cardio for the day on the job! I walked back and forth from my office to the Multi-Purpose Center (MPC) a total of 8 times during the event, AND I walked all the way to the University dining hall and back, PLUS I walked all over the LIT campus one more time to hang posters that I designed for an upcoming event. WHEW! If I had to make a guess, I'd say I walked almost 2 miles at work today!

It was refreshing to say the least, but a bit unpleasant to be so sweaty in my work clothes the majority of the day. It's days like these when I'm thankful that the dress code at work can be fairly laid back because if I had to do all that walking in a business suit, I would not be a happy camper.

When I woke up this morning, I decided to start my day off on the scale just to see if this daily blogging has affected my weight loss. Success! I've lost .6 pounds since I started blogging again! It's nice to see that the scale is finally in the LOWER 135 region. It's still been stuck at 136/137, so I am glad to see an improvement.


Breakfast was some whey protein powder & fat free milk.

8 oz fat free milk + 1 scoop powder
I was able to resist some inviting kolaches and other breakfast pastries at the MPC event this morning, so I'm super proud of myself for that. 

I walked over to the University with Craig and we had a lovely lunch at the dining hall!

Wheat pasta topped with red peppers, sausage,
onions, and chickpeas with pesto + broccoli & cheese +
raw cauliflower and a huge bread stick.
Probably too many carbs, but holy crap I was starving from all the walking I did that morning! I was pretty happy to see that the Lamar Dining Hall even HAD wheat pasta! It was pretty good!

I was a bit naughty and ate a small piece of cake
and a croissant. I ended up giving that cookie
to Nick after work when he got out of his drawing
class. I promise! You can ask him!
I know, I know....shame on me for eating dessert, but at least I resisted the ice cream! Ask Craig...I SO almost got a cone, but I resisted and got a banana on-the-go instead. 

At the end of the day, I was SPENT from all the walking. I'm not used to being away from my desk that much and walking so much in the heat for so long! It was exhilarating, but exhausting! I was really hungry again when I got to my apartment, so I cooked some dinner...

skinless chicken with 2 "zucchini boats"
The zucchini boats were baked with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and topped with slices of tomato and turkey pepperoni. I regret adding the turkey pepperoni, and I ended up picking most of it off. It looks like they're overcooked a bit, but they actually tasted PERFECT to me!

I'm trying this new thing where I avoid big carbs after 5 p.m. I know that people use most of their energy during the day, and that our metabolism slows down as the day progresses, so I'm thinking I should try to avoid simple carbs (i.e. breads, rice, fruit, sugary foods in general) in the evenings to see if my weight loss can progress more quickly. Here's a groovy article about "Good vs. Bad Carbohydrates" or Simple vs. Complex carbs that can help explain my reasoning for this change:  Read about Good vs. Bad Carbohydrates

It's worth a shot! My goal is to do this 5 times a week or more. I am trying to be as realistic about trying this evening low/no carbs thing, and I know it won't be possible to do every day of the week (i.e. when I eat supper at my parents' house). It's times like these when I realize exactly HOW fortunate I am to even have this option. There are people in the world who have nothing to eat, and here I am trying like crazy to eat less. It's almost sickening....

Hmm.......I smell another blog post about that coming soon........

So since I got my cardio out of the way AT WORK today (which was flipping awesome), I did some big time ab work this evening while I watched the depressing season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. 

I chose this challenge tonight from the Internet:


For all of the planking, I held them for 3 commercial lengths each instead. I've never done a vertical leg crunch, a jack knife sit-up, or an oblique crunch before tonight. 

After I finished that workout, I did some upper body work with my 8lb dumbbells until the end of the Grey's episode. Working out while watching an hour-long TV show was pretty great! Now, if I could get decent service on my phone, I'd start doing that while running on the treadmill! Hah, some day. 

Well that's all for this evening, everyone. Great news! Tomorrow is FRIDAY! Woo!

And of course, I must end with asking you to donate to my efforts to raise funds for the Heart Walk if you can! Please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.



Goodnight, and sweet dreams!


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Day 155: 911 On The Hike & Bike Trail

Soooo today was eventful to say the least.

Work was quite busy, but I prefer those kinds of days. I got a new printer/scanner, so that was something to celebrate considering my old printer used color cartridges up like chewing gum. I also got to walk around campus a bit, which always makes me happy on nice weather days such as today.

Breakfast was a bowl of Cheerios with fat free milk.


Lunch was mostly veggies with a spinach salad, some peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots accompanied with the Greek yogurt dip I've been enjoying over the past few days.


I also snacked on some salt-free blue corn tortilla chips with Greek Yogurt spinach dip in the afternoon, and I had one of these protein poppers. Click here for the recipe for these! I didn't add any chocolate chips to my recipe, but they still turned out delicious.


I am trying to keep myself as full as possible later in the day now since the end of daylight savings is approaching. After dropping my stuff off and changing clothes at my apartment, I rushed off to the hike & bike trail where I was able to do bike 11 miles. 

Upon my final lap, I noticed something unusual. Two gentlemen and one lady were carrying a girl and coming toward me, so I slowed down and stopped to ask if everything was alright and if they needed any help. At first, they said that they had called someone, but after I asked again, the lady who was helping carry the girl asked me to call for an ambulance.

So I called 911, but it didn't go through the first time (thanks for nothing, T-Mobile) so I called again. At least it went through the second time. I waited with them until the paramedics arrived and I was able to bike back to my car just before it got dark.

From what I overheard, the girl was very dehydrated and had been feeling ill all week. She had jogged about a mile on the trail before she started feeling dizzy and she passed out. Thankfully, she was with some friends who helped her, and some passers by were kind enough to help her until the ambulance showed up. 

If you're going to work out hard, make sure you're doing it right, folks! Staying hydrated and eating are essential if you're going to exert yourself! I do hope that girl will be alright. I would have stayed the whole time, but I was concerned about my own safety to get back to my car before it got dark, and there were plenty of other people to help her at the scene.

Here's hoping that's the last time I have to call 911 for a while, especially since my network seems to have a DELAY in letting me do so!! Gah, I can't wait to switch to Verizon next year....

Notice I had to attempt 2 calls to 911...
Also, my phone is too old to do screen shots,
so don't make fun. lol
Goodnight, everyone. Please stay healthy and SAFE!!! 

And don't forget to donate to my efforts to raise funds for the Heart Walk if you can! Please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Day 154: Time to Rearrange Some Things

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Tuesdays are my LONGEST day of the week. I used to work out as soon as I arrived at my parent's house after work, but ever since my dad's burn accident, I want to use that time to spend WITH my parents instead of working out.

I usually work out on Sundays in the mornings before church, but since I went out of town this Sunday, I didn't get to, so I'm feeling all thrown off of my routine. I feel bad for not working out on Sunday AND today, and it feels...wrong.

With daylight savings time coming to an end soon, plus all these hitches thrown into my routine this week, I think it's time to make more tweaks to my workout schedule just incase something throws me off my routine again. I am either going to have to start waking up super early in the morning or work out late at night. Either way, yuck. Ask anyone who's known me my whole life, and they'll tell you that super early mornings are NOT my thing. If the sun's not up, my brain and body do not cooperate. And as for working out late at night, I have discovered that I have issues sleeping when I do that.

We all would like some extra hours in the day, right? I've also discovered that some people do their workouts in 10 minute spurts throughout the day, so that's definitely an option! Perhaps 10 minutes in the morning, 10 - 30 minutes during my lunch break, and/or 10 - 60 minutes more when I get home, depending on what needs to get done. I actually like this idea a lot. Once this week is over, and I can do some more planning, I'd like to try this schedule!

Here's the foodage of the day...

This morning, I had another container of Activia for breakfast.


I was hoping to go to the dining hall with Craig today, but he was out sick with a cold! I try not to bring my lunch to work on Tuesdays because my lunch bag is just another thing for me to have to carry up and down 3 stories. At the end of the day, I just DO NOT want to lug all that crap up the stairs. My purse, guitar, and guitar book are a handful enough already without adding a lunch bag to it.

Since I was Craigless for lunch, I went downstairs in my building where there is a little "eatery" called MegaBytes. I discovered that they were serving gumbo, so I decided to give it a try. It seemed like a better choice than their typically fried options or a cold salad with weird chicken...

MegaBytes Chicken & Sausage gumbo
got 2 thumbs up from me!
The gumbo was actually GOOD! They just gave me WAYYYyyy too much. Seriously, this bowl should probably feed two people, not one!

After:  I could only eat maybe about half.
Since Nick has a life drawing class on Tuesdays & Thursdays at LU, we try to make an effort to see each other for a few minutes since we're just right across the street from each other. I took the opportunity to walk across the street to meet him after his class so I could walk him to his car. This was probably the extent of my exercise for the day. Better than absolutely nothing, I suppose!

When I arrived in Fannett, my mom was preparing some fish that was caught by a distant relative of ours for dinner. I'm not sure what kind of fish they were, but they were caught in the Gulf, and they were pretty good! Not my favorite, but I can't really complain about my mom's cooking. 

I ended up eating an entire fish because it was mostly
bones with very little flesh. 
After supper, we went to choir practice and sang/played the night away. I wonder how many calories singing and playing guitar can burn. I'm not exactly rocking out (these are Catholic hymns...lol), but they can be vocally challenging sometimes. Perhaps I'll research that. 

And that was that. Day 154 was lengthy, but lovely overall. 

I got a donation from my Nick today for the Heart Walk! Thank you, boyfriend!! I have a feeling he won't be able to walk with me this year because of school, BUT I'm hoping he still can. I'm so glad I have his encouragement in my fitness efforts. As well as all of yours!!

If you'd like to help me in my efforts to raise funds for the American Heart Association, please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.


Goodnight, everyone! Just 3 more days till the weekend!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Days 152 & 153

Sorry I'm a day behind, but yesterday was EXHAUSTING. I hate that driving can be so tiring even though you're sitting on your butt the entire time. It's especially tiring when your'e not 100% sure of where you're going.

I had a small breakfast at around 8:00 yesterday...

Mmm, oatmeal
I had to pick up Nick from the airport in Houston yesterday, so I took the opportunity of being out there to finally see Krystal & Ross's new home. Krystal made us a yummy brunch of breakfast burritos with grapes and veggies to dip. I also had a small piece of banana bread that she baked. Very good!

Hola, burrito.
Grapes, cauliflower, & broccoli
After a lovely visit with the Robinsons, I headed to the airport to fetch Nick, who was in New York since last Saturday. He had to make an unexpectedly early trip up there for a family emergency, so please keep him and his family in your thoughts & prayers.

As a thank you, Nick treated me to dinner (and a much appreciated tank of gas) when we returned to Beaumont. We had supper at Cafe Del Rio where we shared an order of fajitas.



I had 1 and 1/4 of these.
We also treated ourselves to some ice cream. It was a ROUGH week. You guys have no idea....

That was my intake for Sunday....

Today, I had Activia for breakfast.


Lunch was a turkey sandwich with peppers and my Greek yogurt dip with pineapple for dessert..



When I got home, I did a 30 minute Sworkit upper body workout.



I lost count of how many pushups I had to do during those 30 minutes. There was a point when I had to push "Skip" when push-ups came up because my wrists hurt, even when I downgraded to the "knee" push-ups! My upper body strength suuuucks.

As I'm sure you guys know by now, I normally do 45 minutes to an hour workout, but I had a meeting with my lovely friend Anna about her new business, Tanglz Salon & Spa. Anna has been doing my hair for over a year now, and we've known each other since KINDERGARTEN. I'll be helping her out with some marketing, and I'm really excited about helping her succeed! If you're looking for a friendly, professional, and QUALITY person/place to get some pampering for your hair, Anna's definitely your girl. :)

During our marketing meeting, we noshed on some healthier option snacks...

fresh veggies, my Greek ranch dip,
and some blue corn tortilla chips.
I forgot to photograph this also.
Greek Yogurt Spinach dip!
It was an evening of dipping and snacking. We also enjoyed some Clint's Salsa as well. All yummy things with less sodium and calories than the usual suspects!

Thaaaat was about it! I hope I can raise my arms above my head in the morning! Haha! Goodnight, all...

Also, if you'd like to help me in my efforts to raise funds for the American Heart Association, please click "SPONSOR ME" on the image below this paragraph. I know financial times are tough right now, but any amount would be greatly appreciated! If you cannot or would rather not donate online, please feel free to e-mail me and we can make other arrangements.