heather's Food bLog

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Fighter fitness

Hmmm, I'm freakin' exhausted tonight and am hoping to be in bed between 10 and 10:30...we'll see.

Ok, so far I've basically stuck to my new work-out goals...I did take yesterday off to rest though. Tonight, I took what was possibly the most difficult class that I've ever survived: Fighter Fitness. So, we start with jumping rope for 15 minutes with little breaks to do push-ups, squat thrusts and squat thrusts with a push-up. Later, we did a series of 5 exercises, each one five times and for 1 minute each: squat thrusts, kettle bell swings, squat thrusts with a push-up, shoulder presses, and burpees. After all that, we did some weird twisty thing. You start out on all fours, kick a foot to the opposite side underneath you and land on your back. Then, you get up from that position by untwisting yourself. Lastly, you do it all over again going to the opposite side. THEN, yeah, not done yet...then we laid on the floor next to another person, heads to feet. We locked arms underneath our legs and used our abs to propel our bodies upwards onto our shoulders and over to swap sides with the other person. I don't even know what the fuck that is called! And I'm sure that my description doesn't really explain it. Anyway, I didn't think it was possible to sweat that much.

I bought a one month membership at this gym...I think I'm going to have to look into their fees for when this month is up...I want more!

And onto today's food....

Looks a lot like last night's dinner?? Well, chicken tonight with leftover veggies from last night.

Big ol' salad with a little pasta

mango and raspberry

oatmeal with raisins, brown sugar, granola, and cinnamon

Monday, January 9, 2012

Post with no name

I had planned on writing an actual post tonight...but I'm not going to. Time got a bit away from me and...I found out tonight that a woman I know took her own life last night. I didn't know her well, but I had coffee with her a couple of days before Christmas while she was in Boston for the holidays. I don't even know how long it had been since I had seen her before that, but her hair was longer and blonder, she looked great and seemed happy. That's just it though, we never know what life is actually like for another person. And so many of us spend a lot of effort dressing up the outside to hide and disguise what's on the inside. I'm torn between thinking about this and feeling grateful for my own life.

I don't have any advice and I don't understand her choice. I don't understand how someone's pain could be so great that she would need to take her own life, whether it was intentional or not. I do, however, understand that the problems I think I have and that the problems you think you have probably don't amount to much. I can identify with how she must have been feeling; alone, sad, hurt, angry. We've all been there at some point, but not to the extent that that much booze and that many pills seemed like a viable solution.

I'll post my food photos, but I hope that anyone reading this will take a moment to consider his or her own life and find something in it to be grateful for everyday. With a grateful heart, no problem is insurmountable.

1/5/12
chicken, broccoli, and corn

chicken soup, salad and a roll

fruit, yogurt and granola, hard boiled egg

1/6/12

I guess I had nachos for dinner

ice cream cake for the office birthday party

Panera lemon chicken and orzo soup, salad and a little buffalo chicken

fruit, oatmeal and an egg

1/7/12
Smith and Wolensky's for dinner!!!

truffled mac and cheese and broccoli

my filet, oscar style..I did not eat the asparagus

salad

raw tuna on a Himalayan salt block

bread with my seltzer water

The Harrington Salad from Flash's

eggs with veggies, cheese and salsa, toast with jam

1/8/12
buffalo wings at Cheers...I ate 3 of them, very spicy

burger and fries

salad

one of those protein boxes from Starbucks

Remember that new Panera sandwich I had before it came out?? Well, it's out!

leftover cake for breakfast

coconut cake dessert from Smith and Wolensky's...as you can see above, I did not eat it all in one sitting.

1/9/12

this is what emotional eating looks like...

healthy dinner...pork chop, broccoli, corn and baked butternut squash with a little cinnamon and nutmeg

Big salad with a few add-ons...pasta with pesto, you can see my leftover filet from Smith and Wolensky's on the salad. YUM! (especially after I washed off the excess bernaise sauce)

apple for a snack

fruit, egg, yogurt and granola for breakfast

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Lifelong endeavor

Well, well...I'm going to take this opportunity to let you all know what I'm doing, how my weight is going...all that good stuff....

I gained about 10 pounds during the fall semester...not good. It's time to get rid of it! SO! Here's what I'm doing for work-outs until school starts:

Mondays - abs/arms/legs at WOW

Tuesdays - kickboxing gym

Wednesdays - arms/abs at WOW

Thursdays - kickboxing gym

Fridays - possible day off...or abs/arms/legs at WOW

Saturdays - boxing at BSC

Sundays - rock climbing and kickboxing gym

Phew!! I'm going to three gyms for the month of January.

I'm three days into this and so sore I can barely walk. I will soldier on. The goal is to lose 10 pounds, and I will do it! The spring semester is longer than the fall and I'm in for a semester like no other! One class in particular is insanely difficult, and there's a 9 day trip to the Middle East thrown in there. Yeah, remember that trip?? Well, it's all happening!

On another note. I read an article today that talked about how significant weight loss and the maintenance of that weight loss is a lifelong effort. Duh! There was much discussion on Facebook about how depressing this notion is...that those of us who lose more than 10% of our body weight have to work harder and continue to eat fewer calories for the long term to maintain the lower weight. Why? Because our bodies 'defend the higher weight' and essentially work against us, creating more ghrelin than we need. That f-ing hunger hormone strikes again!

Anyway, as I was waiting for the train this evening, I gave this more thought. And here's what I've come up with...Those of us who have need to lose more than 10% of our body weight have been overweight for a long long time...a significant portion of our lives as a matter of fact. Basically, we've told our bodies for years and years that it needs X amount of calories daily. Our bodies don't know any different. OK. So, when we eat less than X calories, we should lose weight or gain it less slowly because we are expending the same level of energy (or greater) but taking in less fuel. Easy enough. Remember the Elephant and the Rider though? Well, when we change our eating habits, the rider is taking control. Habits that have been in place for years are not easily changed! The Elephant will win...in this case, the elephant is our hormones. Unfortunately, we can't control our hormones with any amount of self-will or control. We just have to ride it out until we establish a new normal that our bodies can accept.

Establish a new normal? Sure! We didn't condition our bodies to think that X calories daily is the norm in a few days or weeks or months. No, it took years. It makes sense to me that it should take years to undo what we have done to ourselves. Think about bad habits that we want to quit...it takes time, right? Same here. We can't give up!! We need to be vigilant about our caloric intake and energy output. Eventually, our hormones will catch up. I believe this to be true. I believe it not because I want to, but because I have to. Commitment to my body and my health is a lifelong endeavor that I'm ready to take on. Are you?

12/28/11--My last day in Seattle
Popcorn, swedish fish and soda at The Big Picture

mmmm, sweet treat from Fran's

Greek salad from Purple Cafe
I also had the tomato soup here (it was to die for!), but forgot to photograph it

Dry brand blood orange soda and bread with the most divine whipped butter at Purple Cafe

Granola, yogurt and fruit with lemon lavendar coffee cake from Macrina Bakery. I even brought home some of the granola, it is soooo good!!

12/29/11

mixed nuts in first class on Alaska Airlines

pastry thingy with eggs, bacon and asparagus. I did not eat the asparagus!

fruit platter...isn't first class fun!?

squash loaf from Macrina! The staff there wrapped my snacks individually for me so that they'd stay fresh for the trip back to Boston! If you're ever in Seattle, I HIGHLY recommend a trip to Macrina Bakery!