I am Canadian.

Wow, to be living in Canada again after more than three years away is great. :D

Wednesday night, after four intensive house-searching days, we purchased the perfect house. It's not extravagant, but it's simply beautiful. We didn't have to compromise on any of our needs. It's in a small community, on a quiet crescent, but with all the essentials close by. The kitchen is large and open to the dining area and family room, which was the most important feature for me. It's only steps away from a major grocery store chain, and McDonald's too. I haven't found a gym yet, but I'll be on the lookout. The kids will be enrolled in skating lessons (we can walk to the arena) after Christmas I hope. We don't know if we'll be able to fit a pool table in the basement, and we haven't decided yet if we want to buy their hot tub which is currently in the garage.

The last I weighed myself, the scale said 51.9 kg 16% body fat. In the land of Tim Horton's I've still managed not to gain. Must be all the stress.

I feel sluggish after just one week of no weight lifting (I've been sneaking in a few crunches and push-ups when time is available) but with Christmas coming up, it will be tricky to find room for exercise until the new year. We've been staying with a friend while looking for the house, and possession won't be until December 22nd, so tonight, we're off to a hotel for three nights, then I'll be taking the girls to my mom's until the end of December. The hotel has a nice pool and elliptical, but no weight lifting equipment. However, my mom lives about 15 km from a beautiful quiet gym with a good supply of weights.

Who's tried McDonald's new deli sandwiches? Never before have I tasted a sandwich so delicious. I'll never need to go to Subway again.

The pink lady is exquisite. Extraordinarily sweet, but pleasingly tart and a wonderful blush color. I have a new favorite apple. :)

The pink lady is exquisite. Extraordinarily sweet, but pleasingly tart and a wonderful blush color. I have a new favorite apple. :)

Yay! I just bought a bunch on sale at my local Whole Foods--I really can't wait to have one now! :claplow:

What part of Canada are you in? My boyfriend and I hope to move to Toronto in the next few years. :D

Destiny,
We're about an hour away from Toronto. It's great. Yesterday we went to Ontario Place to see Barney, the Wiggles, a movie about Christmas and a live Santa Claus show. Today, I might see if I can convince my husband to take me to The Bay downtown Toronto. It's supposed to be all decorated for Christmas. Tomorrow, we're flying to Winnipeg to visit my mom for a few weeks.

This morning and yesterday morning I did a workout on the elliptical in the Holiday Inn we're at. I feel much better. My back feels weak. I need to get a chin-up bar to do some home workouts.

My goals for this phase are to grow healthier. I don't have very well defined goals, but I suppose it would include increasing cardiovascular endurance and increasing strength. Weight and body fat percentage could go in any direction; that's not the important part right now.

My kitchen:

Great kitchen Guava!! Just love it!

Hope everything goes well in the new home! :tucool:

Congrats on the new home, Guava! Pretty kitchen! :)

Nice House! Congrats!

I guess all kitchens look pretty much the same, but that one is vaugely familiar for some reason... Oh well!

-Allen

Congrats on the house and the homecoming. It's always good to be close to family. Regarding the open kitchen area (dining, family room) we have that as well and my wife and I love it. My family is a big in the kitchen on holidays and get togethers and now we can roam into other rooms and still be invloved...it's really nice. Anyway, congrats again!! :claplow:

Paul

Thanks for all the good wishes on the new home. I'm so proud of it. :D

Christmas shopping is hard. Maybe not so hard if you don't have kids and aren't also trying to completely stock your house at the same time, but for me right now, it's definitely complicated. For every gift I buy on my list, I pick up two essentials for myself. Anyway, despite being tired, I still managed to keep in good spirits. I found a suitable Christmas present for my daughter, but I haven't figured out how to shop right in front of her yet. Perhaps I could have written out a note to a clerk at customer service, asking them to package up the item that I wanted in a bag, then I'd come back in ten minutes to pay for it and pick it up. I didn't think of this at the time, so I hope my mom can somehow help me out with it in the next few days. How on earth do single mothers survive?

On the agenda today were skates for the female part of the family. All good Canadians should own a pair of ice skates, eh? Sport Check resulted in no success, because they specialize in high end skates for teens and adults. Sport Mark likewise. Champs doesn't sell skates, but recommended Canadian Tire and Zellers. At Canadian Tire, the skates were not comfortable for my older daughter, and I didn't find any that suit me, but I picked up a pair for my younger one. Zellers resulted in success for me, but my older daughter still wasn't comfortable. Finally (four hours later, in fact) made it to a used clothing store where they had beautiful quality skates that fit her well, and at a very good price too. As well, they had the identical pair I'd just bought for my younger daughter, at about half the price. I passed on them, but I'm regretting now that I didn't pick them up and return the new ones to save $20. So we're all set to go skating, I just have to check the schedule at the arena, or find a good outdoor rink. I haven't been on skates for about ten years, so I hope I don't make a fool of myself.

I've been looking in the Sears catalog at the fitness equipment. I don't know if I'll be able to find a gym near me, so I might be buying an elliptical and a home gym and setting them up in the basement. I'm looking at the Platinum Home Gym (http://www6.sears.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?categoryId=10390&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&langId=-1&productId=157896963) and wondering how I can tell if it's good quality or not. The ellipticals I have no clue about, there's such a wide range in price. I imagine I'll need to get into a fitness supply store and actually try some out so that I can tell the difference between the $299 ones and the $1299 ones.

From experience I wouldn't advice you to buy a multi bench. Most likely you will never get to use the leg raise, and all the other stuff don't fit your body and they are sparely adjustable - if adjustable at all.
In my opinion you will get more out of dumbbells and a bench (without side rack), barbell and rack for legs. And the cardio equipment of choice. When it comes to cardio equipment, money is quality. How cold does it get where you live during winter?

I found a suitable Christmas present for my daughter, but I haven't figured out how to shop right in front of her yet.

Same problem around here... :rolleyes: I usually try and distract the kids with a game; buy something else at the store; leave the child playing saying "stay here for a while while I go and give this to the nice lady so she can wrap it up; :tu: result: you are on one side of the store and your child on the other!! While near the shop lady ask for the present and for her to wrap it up and put both presents in on bag, pay for both, leave the lady and go near your daughter.

:claplow: mission acomplished!!!! :jumping:

Hope it works for you! It has been my key to success every year! :D

(Subscribes to thread). :)

Thanks for the advice on the equipment. I'll look harder for a gym in town before I invest my money in something that's not going to work very well. That one I linked to is $1200. There's a couple of other gyms available that are much cheaper, like the Free Spirit Power Booster (http://www6.sears.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?categoryId=10390&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&langId=-1&productId=157837857). Sounds like I have a lot more research to do. I don't like the idea of a bench and barbell because it doesn't seem as safe without a spotter.

It gets to -20 degrees celcius frequently here in the winter. I won't do any sort of cardio outdoors unless it's over 10 degrees above, which is only guaranteed about six months of the year. Last August it didn't reach 10 degrees many mornings.

I'm frustrated to be living out of suitcases. My husband is still at work in Ontario while I'm in Manitoba at my mom's. I dragged out the weights here at my mom's place this afternoon. Biggest he's got is 10 pound dumbbells, so I strapped the 5 pound ankle weight around my wrists and did some bent over rows that way, but it still feels like a cop-out of a work out. Front raises, lateral raises are all good, and I'll be using the exercise ball for some leg work shortly. Since I've got no babysitter for the kids, I haven't gotten to the gym yet. I'm doing my workouts interspersed with laundry, making meals, vacuuming, washing dishes, wrapping presents, etc. My sister checked the schedule and there's public skating tomorrow night, so I'm excited to be getting started at that, if I can borrow my mom's car.

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. ~Will Rogers

The skating was fun. But thank goodness my sister joined us. My daughter didn't trust that I could skate - rightfully so, I may add; my stopping consisted of gliding to a halt. :o I could barely manage to keep myself up AND my daughter. My eight-year-old did okay by herself, and by the end of the hour, I could finally skate faster than she could (and I managed to stop a couple of times too :claplow: ) We're planning to go again on Tuesday afternoon. :)

I did some resistance training with the stability ball in my mom's office. Reading the recommended "death by bodyweight" and other links from another thread were helpful. Tomorrow I'll do some wall squats, which I've been forgetting.

Eating someone else's food will never be satisfying. For supper tonight was barbecued chicken breasts, but they must be soaked in some sort of brine before freezing because they were WAY too salty and the texture was not exactly "chickeny". I made oven baked potato wedges and steamed broccoli and cauliflower to go along with them, so the meal as a whole was still satisfying.

I'm frustrated about my kids eating habits again (still). They only want junk, and I don't see it improving. (Daughter: I'm hungry! Me: there's yogurt in the fridge, some apples, oranges, bananas, carrot sticks, or you can have a bowl of cereal. Daughter: No, I don't like that stuff Me: Then you're not very hungry!) She's convinced that pizza pops are a legitimate meal option, and that it's acceptable to pass on the fruits offered at breakfast and the vegetables offered at supper.

I read November's issue of Nutrition Action, and on the back page there's always this section called Food Porn which details terrible grocery or restaurant choices. From this I learn that Schneider's, as part of their Lunchmates line is now offering a Cheesy Chip Nachos Big Combo. It's 750 calories' worth of nachos, cheese, salsa, orange-flavored punch, Fudg'ee-O cookies, and Wonka Nerds. :spaz: This is marketed as a lunch for goodness sake. It's going to be awfully tough trying to get across to my daughters that this is not real food. :mad:

Tomorrow, Christmas begins. My stepfather is having his children and their significant others over for dinner. Since I'm staying here, I've been invited to join them with my children, but I feel a bit like I'd be butting in. I think they've planned to serve ribs, which is another reason for me to consider making plans with my sister instead.

I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. And thus I drift along into the holidays - let them overtake me unexpectedly - waking up some find morning and suddenly saying to myself: "Why, this is Christmas Day!" ~David Grayson

It is 33 degrees below zero. Did I mention I'm sensitive to cold? I spent the afternoon at my sister's place, and her place is like a meat cooler. Maybe why I'm a little grumpy right now. My mom's house happens to be designed such that the room I sleep in is the coldest in the house (every other bedroom is open to the main floor which is heated by a gas fireplace.) However, since I've been sleeping here for years, there's already a heater here with my name on it, which I've dragged out and plugged in. :d_rolleye

Yesterday, I was in the mood for something "muffiny". I don't have my recipes with me, and the internet wasn't working so I couldn't look up the orange bran flax muffins (http://www.dakotaflax.com/recipes/branmuffins.html) or sugarless bars (http://cookie.allrecipes.com/az/sugarlessbars.asp) that I craved. I could have used my mom's recipe file, but I've made squares often enough to know what I like in them. My adaptation of a healthy square went something like this: Mix 1/2 C chopped dates with 1/4 C chopped prunes and 1/2 C orange juice in a small sauce pan. Cook until it comes to a paste. Cool slightly, then add one egg and one tablespoon each margarine and oil. In a bowl, mix together 1 C whole wheat flour, 1/4 C ground flax seed, 1/4 C oat bran, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp cloves. Look for walnuts, and if you can't find any, put in whatever nuts you find. (in this case pecans, almonds, and sunflower seeds). The recipe really needs raisins as well, but she didn't have any. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Add 1/4 C milk because it's too dry. (Consulting the internet, I see my mistake. I should have used only about 1/4 C flour.) Bake until it sets, which might be 15 minutes in a regular oven, but it took me about half an hour. My mom later told me that the toaster oven I was using doesn't work as well as it used to. These bars are really tasty right out of the oven. They would have been even tastier with more cinnamon. By the next day, they're really not so good, unfortunately, but a spoonful of peanut butter on top would really perk them up.

I didn't get around to doing the wall squats. It's 11:00 at night. I'm wondering if it would be silly to do them now, or if I should go for it.

Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength. ~Frances de Sales

Holy Moly -- that's cold! You need to move to the south! :)

Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday Hibiscus! Thanks for visiting. You make this journal a brighter place. :)

I've completed almost all of my Christmas shopping, while my mom took my daughter to see the Nutcracker ballet. Christmas is not my favorite holiday. There are too many expectations and too many things to do. (Besides the fact that it's so damned cold! :d_frown: ) I prefer Valentine's Day, where I can choose simple and significant ways to share love and peace with my family.

I did the wall squats last night before bed. I figured it was about as relaxing as reading a magazine. I really need to do some cardio, but I'm really not sure the best way to go about it. Maybe there's a skipping rope around here somewhere. :confused:

That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest. ~Henry David Thoreau

I love Christmas! I just love celebrating love! :) LOL I love Valentine's also. Birthdays. Thanksgiving. Anniversaries! :)

I still have to do the stocking shopping! My kids are too spoiled! :) It's cold here somewhat -- 42 degrees with a much colder windchill. We're sissies here in the South! LOL

My trainer used to have me do wall squats. She wanted me to make it to 3 minutes in the squatted position -- that's tough!! LOL

Today is not a happy day, but I'm trying to pretend it is. Nothing wrong with it really, I just have the holiday blahs.

Our house closes tomorrow. My husband is there to move some stuff into it. I should be there to appreciate it, and him. :d_frown:

He'll get to the airport around suppertime tomorrow, then we're supposed to drive six hours northwards to visit his mom. I'm not looking forward to it. Nothing wrong with her, but it's a long trip, and I feel like they hardly notice that we're there. :d_frown:

Yesterday, I bought a bunch of stuff from Value Village. It's not like I can't afford to buy new stuff, but I get a big high from buying things at 90% off their original price. Someday maybe I'll see a psychiatrist about that. I got a pair of Levi's 501s for $6. They're beautiful, but why would any company think it's a good idea to announce the garment size on a leather patch on the backside? I also picked up a book that I wanted to buy several years ago, but was too cheap to spend $30 for it. The book is called Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446519138/002-6938253-1032822?v=glance). I'm probably the only person in the world who hasn't read it, but forgive me, I've been out of the country most of the time since 1998. It's organized by date, so I may just waitt until January before I start to read it. I also picked up a copy of Bottom's Up by Joyce Vedral. Anyone remember her? She must be about 60 by now. Anyway, the book lists some very helpful exercises that you can do to build muscle with very little weight. I suppose women going to the gym and lifting heavy was uncool ten years ago when she wrote the book. :rolleyes:

So last night I was in a hurry at supper, so I ended up eating what leftovers existed in the fridge, namely the ribs from Saturday's dinner that I avoided. This morning I felt guilty and thought that I should compensate by eating purely healthy all day. It didn't work, of course, and now I feel guilty again. :d_redface

The weather is warmer. It's only 14 degrees below. "A beautiful day" quipped my mother. :p

Dammit, I need a treadmill so I can run off this stress. :db:

Perhaps my mp3 player will offer me some escape from my troubles.

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. ~Vernon Howard
(This week's not been a successful week, evidently.)

Tuesday afternoon skating was fun. My sister was throwing up all night, so she couldn't make it. I took her son with me, but my mom came to help us out, thank goodness. The three year old tuckered out after about 15 minutes, so she went in with Grandma. About 5 minutes later, the eight year old was getting cold, so we decided to take a break. The four year old decided he'd had enough by then, so we all took a break, then I went back out for another 30 minutes with the eight year old. I got a bit more practice stopping, but I'm still not sure I could do it in an emergency.

36 below. I'm turning blue. :d_eek:

Did you know that a Cadillac has this cool feature that heats your butt? :claplow: We didn't plan on renting a Cadillac, but they were out of the car that we booked, so they "upgraded" us. It's probably costing us almost twice as much in gas, so we're not exactly ecstatic.

My husband came in last night. We got out of the airport by 10:00. (His flight was scheduled to arrive at 8:00, but was late) Luckilly, he didn't plan to go ALL the way to his mom's place. We had a hotel room booked just a three and a half hour drive away. :p He then woke us up early this morning so that we could go the next two hours to his mom's. My daughter is not comfortable at his mom's place, so we visited just briefly, now we're hiding in the hotel room until dinner. Weird, I know.

My husband swears that the website says the hotel had a pool, but that is mistaken. It does however have a little tiny gym, but a perfect little tiny gym. Treadmill, bike, and elliptical, and a station for weight lifting that almost made me drool. The unfortunate thing is, I brought NONE of my workout wear with me, because I was told the hotel had a pool, and I was SURE I wouldn't get a chance to work out. (Did I mention we're leaving tomorrow morning?) I just might get in there with my regular clothes and sock feet (boots just won't do).

If you can't be happy where you are, it's a cinch you can't be happy where you ain't. ~ Charles "Tremendous" Jones

I have to say that I'm happy that Christmas is over.

Not only is it hard staying somewhere where I'm not eating my own food, it's hard staying somewhere where I'm not making my own rules. Everything I do here is so harshly judged, and it's exhausting to try to live up to what my mother thinks is the right thing. I'm taking deep breaths and telling myself that as long as I'm proud of how I'm behaving, it doesn't matter what she says. It's a little ironic, just yesterday she was talking about how my Dad's mother drove her crazy. I'm looking to the future and I'm hoping I don't drive my daughters or their husbands crazy when they come to visit at Christmas in 20 years.

My youngest daughter didn't appreciate her gifts as much as I was hoping she would. She was so caught up in the excitement of opening gifts that she just wanted to keep opening more. The sad thing is, my mom has arranged a party tomorrow that will celebrate my aunt's birthday on the 27th (which is great) but will also celebrate my girls' birthdays which are in January, because we'll each be at our own homes then. I feel like it's overwhelming for them and I wish we could just save the gifts and open them in a month. :d_frown:

I bought Twister Moves for my oldest daughter for Christmas. It's amusing, but not quite as much fun as I was hoping it would be. We tried just the first disk however, and the other two might be quite different.

We've planned to go skating again tomorrow.

Yesterday I tried to post another entry into my journal and it failed. I always wonder if it's some kind of cosmic signal that I shouldn't post, so sometimes I just go with it and hold off my post. :d_redface

The main point of it was It's a good thing my mom is smarter than me. We all make judgments and get annoyed at other people. The difference is that some people choose to express them (her) while others choose to silently harbor resentment (me). We had a talk, and I think the air is cleared. :d_tongue:

Skating went okay, the birthday party was fun, and the kids didn't get greedy, thank goodness.

My mom invited me to join her at the gym this morning. :D

:jumping: :jumping: :jumping:

She has an incredible gym. If you want to lift 25 pound dumbbells, you pick out the dumbbells marked 25 pounds. If you then want to lift 30, you put down the 25s and pick up the 30s (as opposed to uncrewing the collars and adding 2.5 pounds to each side of each dumbbell). Amazing concept. I assume all reputable gyms are like this? That would make life much easier. :tucool:

:D I haven't felt this good since November. Whenever I'm not working out, I feel somewhat disabled. I feel like I'm not using my body to it's full potential, I don't have full range of movement, and I can't breathe as clearly when I haven't been doing my cardio or weights program.

The scale says I haven't gained, but that could reflect an error in measuring device, or it could indicate a gain in fat and loss in muscle. I believe my clothes are just a little tighter and I feel a little puffier, so I will need to work a bit to get back to my healthier pre-holiday state.

It's such a relief to be feeling so much better.

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet. ~ James Oppenheim

I have a new life. It sure is weird to have completely different routines.

I don't have a gym within walking distance of my house anymore (unless you count Curves :rolleyes: I'm afraid to even enquire there. I don't think they encourage weight training.) I have a grocery store and a McDonald's within walking distance, so now I spend an hour a day buying food instead of working out. :lol: Really, I do. I love getting to know my grocery store. Found a new favorite yogurt, some new cereals, fat free deli meat.

I walk my daughter to school every morning. She's almost nine, but it's a pretty busy highway she has to cross, so I'm more comfortable that I go with her. I like my almost-four-year-old to get the exercise anyway. When I had the Welcome Wagon lady over, she mentioned how it was "far" to the school. Since when is four blocks away "far"? :rolleyes:

Before bed each night I do some form of stretching/pilates/Idunnowhattocallit. I'm getting closer to being able to do the splits, but I really miss lifting weights.

I packed up my stuff from Romania in the middle of November. It is now nearly the middle of January, and I'm ready to have it back dammit. :(

Canadian Tire has an elliptical trainer (http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortments/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=140847439 6670152&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474396670271&bmUID=1105159126757&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443277051&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true) on special. Boy, there sure are a lot of sales on fitness equipment in January! I think I will buy it, because I feel lazy when I don't get any exercise other than walking, and I feel cold when I go outside.

My dessert of choice this week:
Take a homemade lemon cranberry muffin (they were a little dry, and that's why I crumble them into a recipe instead of eating them as is :) ) and crumble it into a bowl. Top with two scoops of Yoplait Source Cherry Yogurt and two scoops of plain yogurt (the cherry yogurt is too sweet). Pour a generous amount of fresh blueberries over top, and, if you like, sprinkle on some Kellogg's Vector, or Kashi Go Lean Crunch, or Nature's Path Perfect Zen, or your own favorite cereal (there are so many). If you're feeling really indulgent, add on some roasted soy nuts too. Dig in and enjoy.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you can never see the shadow. ~Helen Keller

Once you've been in your new home, you begin to see that it's not quite so perfect as you originally thought. I hate my closet. But hopefully a purchase from Home Depot and a screwdriver can solve that.

Does everybody own a bed? They seem silly to me. We have a bed frame, a mattress, and a box spring. I could not imagine spending a good chunk of change to get a couple of pieces of lumber attached to each end.

I'm tired of eating on the living room floor. The dining room set we ordered the first week of December will not arrive until next week.

Allan, if my kitchen looks so familiar, have you been reading June 2004's edition of Canadian House and Home? I picked it up at the library this morning. A reader wrote in about updating his kitchen, and aside from the cabinet doors being in a different finish, it was MY KITCHEN. All the appliances were in the exact same place. It must be a pretty popular kitchen.

Today I was contemplating condiments like barbecue sauces and sweet and sour sauces and similar items. They're really unnecessary if you know how to throw a few things together. For lunch I fried some chicken breast chunks, red and green pepper, onion, broccoli, and carrot with ginger and garlic. Then I mixed some orange juice with some flour and soy sauce and pour it in, cooking until thick. Added a bit of honey, and presto, lunch in 15 minutes. (Topped with peanuts was even better.) As happens quite often, it was so good, I made it again for supper. :D

There's a natural food store in town and when I went there yesterday, he offered me a really nice magazine called alive. It has some interesting articles in there that is making me rethink some of my nutrition strategies. I'd like to cut back on artificial sweetener. I'm trying to use more molasses in my cooking, but, of course, that adds calories.

Sleepytime tea is wonderful. So good, I wrote the company a letter singing its praises. Last week I bought a divine vanilla hazelnut, and yesterday picked up a Bengal Tiger (sweet and spicy). Both are all-natural and caffeine free, and taste great with no added sweetener. I'd really like to develop a taste for green tea, but so far, it doesn't impress me. S'pose there are any flavored green teas out there?

I still need to drink more water.

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. ~ Cecil Beaton

It's cold and windy today. I have no hat, but I have some yarn and some knitting needles. Hmm....

I made Cranberry Yam Bread, which I found the recipe for in Cooking Light magazine:
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/3 C sugar (I reduced this to 1 C)
1/3 C canola oil (I reduced this to 1/4 C)
1 C mashed sweet potatoes
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice (I used nutmeg)
1 tsp baking soda
1 C chopped cranberries
I added in 1/2 tsp of orange peel that I'd ground up in the blender

Bake 1 hour at 350.
I would have reduced the sugar even more, but I try to keep my first try at a recipe to be as similar to the original as possible. It was very, very good. Next time I think I will use just 1/2 C sugar and add 1/4 C molasses and 1/4 C wheat germ.

I don't have my dumbbells or my stability ball yet, but I did find my resistance band last night, so that gave me a few different alternatives for exercises.

If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Finally I have a dining room table and chairs. Sears came to deliver it at 7:00 this morning. Yawn. I got the table put together, but I spent about half an hour on a chair and it's still not done, so I set it aside for another time (or another person). Then I moved my daughter's new mattress into her bedroom, and took the musty one we were borrowing from a friend out to the garage. Then I vacuumed the whole house. Vacuuming is a very good workout when done correctly, especially when you need to move every piece of your children's furniture and all of their toys that they never put away. Instead of complaining about housework, I'll try to be happy that I get the opportunity to do it.

In between all this, I made cookies with my daughter and baked another sweet potato bread, and washed all the bedding.

I feel like having eggs for supper. The other night, I cooked shrimp for the first time. (I've always used the precooked shrimp.) It's kinda fun watching them turn from a dull grey to a cheerful pink.

My enthusiasm for weightless workouts is fading quickly. I want my dumbbells. :db:

Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow! ~ Og Mandino

The new year has not been good to me.

I need an elliptical. I am miserable without one. No way you'll catch me going out for a jog in this weather, and yet, my body is crying to be engaged. My exercise today was the walk to school and back (about 1.5 miles) and shovelling the driveway. Another walk to school and back at 3:30, and, depending on the snow, I may need to shovel again as well. I want my dumbbells. We were expecting to get the shipment in the middle of December. If I'd known it would be this long, I would have bought another set.

I hate winter, but I'm trying. I have my own personal heater that I use to warm the space around me, so that the rest of the family doesn't have to roast while I heat my area to my liking.

On Sunday, we got the part of the shipment from Manitoba. That means I have a few more clothes, more bedding, the girls' Christmas presents. The wagon is a big help because it was a long walk to school for my little one. (I was getting good exercise carrying her for a mile every day!) The neighbor right across the street just told me that her son (grade four) takes the bus to school, so I called the school to ask why my daughter can't. The walk really isn't too far that it bothers me, but it's cold, and it's lonely because NOBODY else walks to school.

I've had a stuffed up nose and sore throat for about two weeks now. Not enough to be "sick"; just enough to be annoying. The negative health feeling encourages eating of unhealthy foods. (There's LOTS of cake left over from my daughter's birthday party, and it really soothes a sore throat when you eat it with ice cream.) And the down in the dumps attitude does not motivate me to get out and move around.

The swimming pool (at my daughter's school) has a family swim tonight that we might check out, and the arena has skating on Tuesday and Thursday evenings that I'm also looking forward to, once we get a helmet for my daughter. Last night we went to the library. I love Canada.

Yesterday I was browsing some forums and started to feel bad about my routine. I was feeling like everyone else is exercising more than me, eating better than me, and that I'm weak to not be pushing myself harder. But this is my life, not a competition. I really am doing the best that I feel I can do right now given my circumstances. This week and last week may not have been my best weeks, but I'm still doing things to ensure healthy physical and emotional growth, and so, I still have reason to be proud.

Everyone is invited, but not everyone shows up. ~ Nike

There's a world out there that's bigger than the one most people live in ~ Harley Davidson

this is my life, not a competition

Thank you for saying that. I enjoy reading your journal to help me realize that there is a balance that needs to be attained and you are proof that it can be done. I love to read about you and the kids and how well you're doing as a mom. Hang in there! Spring is coming!

Balance. Yep. I'm balancing.

We didn't get out swimming yesterday.

My daughter will now be taking the bus to school, just like all of the other neighborhood kids. Now I'm wondering if I made a mistake. Would it really kill us to walk there?

My children's eating habits is upsetting me still. The older one has pizza day every Friday, which I don't want to completely opt out of, but it sounds like a lot of unhealthy food when coupled with the borderline nutritious foods I sometimes pack for her (yesterday she took perogies, and the last couple of days I packed leftover pizza for her). So I decided she could order pizza for pizza day once a month. I can't compete with the other kids' lunches. They bring Dunkaroos and Lunchables to school and all sorts of vile artificial consumables. Supper is still a struggle, no matter what I do. Only one kid will eat lasagna. Neither will touch meat loaf. Chicken nuggets are only good if they're the greasy pre-breaded frozen ones. I'd love to make a stir fry every night, but it's not a popular choice. Tonight I get a break; we're going to McDonald's. I feel only slightly guilty about this. I put two books on hold at the library that I'm going to pick up tonight - one about junk food and the other about carbohydrate addiction. Hopefully they will give me some ideas on how to gradually shift their eating habits to healthier ones.

I tried cooking rice in my slow cooker, and it failed miserably. I've never been able to cook rice properly, so I may just have to buy a rice cooker.

Today's exercise is assembling a closet organizer. I've never used a drill before. Fun. The closet organizers say on them "fits closets 5 to 8 feet wide" so I measured mine to be 5 feet wide. Then I had closet envy. Why can't I have an 8 foot closet like some people have? Okay, so I calmed down; I'll keep fewer but better quality clothes. I decided to install my old closet pole with shelf into my daughter's closet, and guess what? She's got an 8 foot wide closet. Grr. Closet envy returns. I know where my out of season clothes are going to be stored.

I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more. ~ Dr. Jonas Salk

Hi guava! I think luncheables are just awful! Scary stuff when you read the nutrition information. :d_eek:

Good luck with your closet organizer. I don't think I could put it together. I did watch people doing them on television the other day and their closets looked much better when they were finished. :)

I used to have a rice steamer and I loved it! I lost it when I moved. I need to go buy another one as I always fix rice on my stovetop. I like it better steamed.

Guava,

I think it is highly repectable that you care about the quality of food your kids eat. I wish I had that kind of mother growing up.

Also, there is a movie called 'Super Size Me' that is a documentary of sorts you could watch on Fast Food/junk food if you are interested. I have heard great things about this movie and plan on watching it soon myself.

-Mandy

vile artificial consumables :lol:

i just try to lead by example even if my example is not always perfect.

My back is sore this evening. I'd like to do some bent over rows, that always seems to help it, but alas no dumbbells.

I've been meaning to see Supersize me for a while, but I've been out of the country for the longest time. So I checked into it last week, and I could pay to watch it on the satellite dish, but I'm not sure I could ever get an uninterrupted 90 minutes to watch it, and we haven't set up the VCR to record yet. So I put a hold on it at the library. I'm sixth in line, so it'll be about a month before I can get it. Right now I'm reading "Save Your Child from the Fat Epidemic" which seems really good (the book on carbohydrate addictions was really dumb). At the same time, I'm reading SuperFoods Rx Fourteen Foods that Will Change Your Life, and I'm pleased to see that already I am eating them all. Not as much of them as I could be, I'm sure. It recommends eating berries every day. :D

For supper tonight, I had a salad of spinach (thanks to this forum for the idea), carrots, green onion, red pepper, pickled beets, soy nuts, and almonds, (no dressing required when I garnish with beets) and a baked salmon filet with a side of rice. When it's cooked just right, salmon tastes so moist and buttery. This is the best meal I've had in weeks. :eat: The rest of the family was offered some of this, but I didn't figure they'd enjoy it, so I cooked them some hamburgers (I always sneak in some TVP) and some oven fries.

Yeah Mandy, I didn't learn anything at all about nutrition from my mom. I shudder when I think back to all those years that I thought fettucine alfredo and macaroni salad were actually healthy foods. However, I really don't want my kids to think I'm a fanatic or an evil pleasure preventor, so I'm not expecting them to meet the same dietary standards that I meet, even though my own standards are far from perfect.

I tried to watch a Pilates DVD this afternoon (it's the one they're giving away free in Special K and Vector), and it seems that without the remote control, which must still be at our friend's house, it's impossible to get past the credits. So I worked out with my three year old to Twister Moves, and did some crunches, leg lifts, tricep dips, butt lifts, and other stretching. I'm really looking forward to getting an elliptical tomorrow. I sure hope I can find one of a good quality in my price range.

My closet's almost done. My husband told me not to screw anything into the wall until he got home, then by the time supper was finished and we made it to the library, he was too tired to finish it. I should have just kept at it on my own and ignored his advice. :rolleyes:

Great food makes great leftovers. I tossed my leftover salmon into the frying pan with some broccoli, spinach, and garlic, and ate it with crunchy red pepper strips.

Here's the complete list of the 14 superfoods. I'm so excited about this diet, I'm going to try to follow it as closely as I can:
Beans: Four ½-cup servings per week.

Blueberries: 1 to 2 cups daily.

Broccoli: ½ to 1 cup per day.

Oats: 5 to 7 servings per day.

Oranges: 1 daily serving.

Pumpkin: ½ cup most days.

Salmon: Two to four servings per week.

Soy: 15 grams per day in two meal portions.

Spinach: 1 cup of steamed or 2 cups raw spinach most days.

Tea (green or black): 1 or more cups per day.

Tomatoes: One daily serving processed tomatoes or multiple servings per week fresh tomatoes.

Turkey: 3 to 4 servings per week.

Walnuts: 1 oz., five times per week.

Yogurt: 2 cups per day.

It doesn't look like I'll have any room in my diet for any other foods at all. :eek: I really can't understand how I could get 5 to 7 servings of oats per day. I suppose I'll have to read the book to find out.

Hmm... if I was preparing all of my own foods for myself, this might be doable, but since I intend to join my family for most meals, this will be impossible. :d_frown: However, there's lots of good ideas on things I can incorporate into the family meals.

I've decided I might like to get my navel pierced. I was going to go today to try to get it done, but there seems to be a storm. Maybe next weekend. My husband actually took me to a body piercing place this summer to find out about it, but it was a surprise to me, so I was not ready to do it, but now it's starting to sound like a good idea, so I think I'll go for it.

I'm still really excited about this diet. The book really encourages you to celebrate food, and that's exactly the change that I needed. It's depressing to feel guilty about eating too much, and with this plan, I'll feel guilty about not eating enough!

I planned to make turkey tacos (and TVP) for supper tonight, but the grocery store was out of the lean ground turkey until Monday. The best alternative I could come up with that the kids would eat is a roast chicken.

Tomorrow, I need to get some beans in, so I've planned to make a vegetarian chili (maybe with soy). For lunch, we'll be a Chuck E Cheese's for my daughter's fourth birthday. I made her a puppy dog cake, and her sister last week got a bear.

"If you are clear about what you want, the world responds with clarity." ~Loretta Staples

The birthday party was fun. The pepperoni pizza was not really all that good, but I did bring along some carrot sticks to munch on. Cake was yummy, but now I'm left with MORE birthday leftovers. I put the head straight in my husband's car so that he can't say like last week that he forgot to take it to work. (He'll take that one yet. I've got it stashed in the freezer.)

I'm still planning on trying to get closer to the Superfoods diet. The 14 foods do have a lot of "sidekicks" that you can use as substitutions. So, instead of oatmeal, wheat germ and flax seed are great, and brown rice, barley, buckwheat, rye, millet, bulgur, wheat, amaranth, quinoa, triticale, kamut, yellow corn, wild rice, spelt, and cous cous are good. Half of those I've never heard of. I'll have to take a tour around my natural food store. So when it says 5 to 7 servings of oats a day, that can include half a bagel, or 5 or 6 crackers, or cold cereal, etc.

I'm having trouble finding the right balance between economy and health. I have the hardest time throwing out anything, and yet, I'm the only one in the family who will tolerate leftovers. :( So there's a quarter of a roast chicken in the fridge, but I'd really rather have a vegetarian chili. What to do? What to do? :confused:

Looking at ellipticals yesterday, we only made it to one fitness store. The manager at Fitness Depot tried to sell me a Precor machine for $2688. When I told him I wasn't ready to pay that much, he talked about their payment plans. So my husband says "No, you don't understand. It's not that she CAN'T pay that much for the machine; she doesn't WANT to". My husband, sweet guy that he is, is leaving the decision completely up to me. If I fall in love with a $4000 machine, it's mine. I haven't been completely happy with the machines I've seen at Sears. Next weekend, we see what Costco has to offer, and check out a place called Treadmill Factory.

So, giving myself another week or so to think about it, I appeased myself by buying a mini-trampoline and a pullup bar from Zellers. I don't know what the heck the bathroom door frame is made out of though, because I just can't manage to penetrate it with the screw. Really. The power screwdriver simply refuses to turn.

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My husband put together my pullup bar last night. He said the power screwdriver was not charged enough. He DID have a tough time getting through the frame, and could only put up 4 of the screws instead of 6. So I did 21 pullups yesterday. (Just on my way past - 4,3,2, then 4,2, then 4,2)

I still loving my Superfoods. It's becoming more clear to me.Live Longer if you eat these 14 Superfoods (http://users.adelphia.net/~robroy8/14_Superfoods.htm) I'm hoping that I will be this excited about it long term, rather than just for a few days or weeks. It's wonderful to think about the foods that I SHOULD be eating instead of the foods that I SHOULDN'T be eating. I stuck with the vegetarian chili for lunch, but by suppertime, I was in the mood for chicken. I convinced my daughter to have some, but she prefers the breast, so I was stuck with the dark meat. I mixed it in with a cottage cheese, spinach sauce on top of pasta (The Scoobi Doo pasta is so curly it's adorable). Food was amazing yesterday:
Bread, soy, toasted 2 slice 142 2 24 7
Peanut butter 1 tablespoon 95 8 3 4
Banana, raw 1 medium 109 1 28 1
Milk, cow's, fluid, lowfat, 1 cup 109 3 12 8
Bread, pumpkin 0.75 slice 134 3 25 2
Raspberries, red, raw 0.75 cup 45 1 11 1
Tomatoes, from canned 0.75 cup 54 0 13 2
Beans, kidney, 0.75 cup 163 1 30 10
Beans, black, 0.75 cup 170 1 31 11
Corn, yellow, canned, 0.3 cup 40 0 9 1
Broccoli, cooked, from fresh, 0.3 cup 13 0 2 1
Macaroni, cooked, enriched 1 cup 197 1 40 7
Chicken, dark meat, 0.3 cup 108 6 0 12
Cheese, cottage, lowfat 0.3 cup 49 1 2 8
Cheese, Parmesan, 2 tablespoon 46 3 0 4
Spinach, cooked, 1 cup 41 0 7 5
Spinach, raw 2 cup 13 0 2 2
Carrots, raw 0.3 cup, NFS 14 0 3 0
Beets, canned, 0.3 cup, diced 15 0 3 0
Soy nuts 0.2 cup 88 5 6 7
Tangerine, raw 1 small 31 0 8 0

Total Calories 1675 37 259 95
Total: 1675
Fat: 37 330 22% Sat: 10 94 6% Poly: 11 97 6% Mono: 11 102 7%
Carbs: 259 817 54%
Fiber: 55 0 0%
Protein: 95 379 25%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%
That's a lot of food. I have no idea if it's fewer calories than I normally eat or not, but it was definitely more food.

It's interesting, because it's one of the few times recorded that I've gone above 20% calories from protein, and below 25% calories from fat. Usually I'm closer to 30/50/20. And 55 grams of fibre! Whoa!

It occurred to me that I haven't eaten ground flax seed in several weeks. So I ground some up and tossed it in the freezer. This morning, I sprinkled it on my breakfast of Hot Cereal of Wild Rice and Grains (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=11081) (I added fresh blueberries to it instead of adding dried fruits) I may be making orange bran flax muffins later on today. Love those.

I wasn't crazy about the pilates DVD that came free inside the cereal. The moves were okay, but I realized I really hate to listen to voices while I'm working out.

Miracles happen to those who believe in them. ~ Bernhard Berenson

This diet is a lot of fun.
Yesterday
various rice and grains, about 3/4 C cooked
1/2 C blueberries
raspberry yogurt
chocolate milk
3/4 C vegetarian chili
microwaved sweet potato
carrot sticks
Why Be Normal Turkey Burger (http://www.dianaskitchen.com/page/poultry/burger.htm) (I used barley and other grains mixed in with the rice, thawed frozen cranberries instead of cranberry sauce, and orange juice instead of wine)
asparagus walnut stir fry
large spinach carrot beet salad with soy nuts
cinnamon bun :nod:

These turkey burgers are interesting, but I don't think I'd make them again. The recipe makes 8 large burgers, so even though I cut it in half, it's going to take me a while to choke them down. The grains I put in it make them pretty starchy, so I wouldn't eat them with a bun. I added ground flax seed to the mix as well.

Today
spinach, onion, red pepper and cottage cheese baked omelet
fat free sugar free vanilla pudding
toast with peanut butter and flax seed
carrot sticks
turkey burger (no bun)
pasta with tomato sauce
pear date crisp (with nuts and ground flax seeds)
tuna sandwich (mixed with yogurt) on soy bread
iceberg lettuce and cucumber sticks (I could do better, but they're left in the fridge and I'm out of broccoli)

It's only 5:30. I'm pretty sure I'll need another meal before bed.

Workout:
Last night
pushups, crunches, leg lifts
Today
shovelled snow so far. May go swimming with my daughters, may do some squats. My lower back is sore. I want my dumbbells so I can work my biceps. :db:

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." ~~Norman MacEwan

The food just keeps getting better. :D

For a later meal last night, I cleaned up some leftover pasta and meat sauce.

Breakfast today, soy toast with peanut butter and a banana and a glass of milk. Morning snack was a pear apple crisp. I bought some new tea, because the SuperFoods book says that decaf does not have the same beneficial properties as the green tea (or even black tea). I'm not crazy about the taste of tea, but it's difficult to find a flavored tea that's not herbal. I bought Stash Premium Organic chai black and green tea. It's good, but it's not nearly as good as my Bengal Spice (http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/herb/bs.php) tea. For lunch I'll have a tuna sandwich again.

I've introduced myself to the owner of the grocery store. He's going to bring in Lundberg Wild Blend (http://www.lundberg.com/products/product_home.html) rice for me and So Soya Crunchers (http://www.so-soya.com/2products_crunchers.htm). I've had to buy these at Shopper's Drug mart so far, but I go through a lot, so it'll be much more convenient to have them at the grocery store where I shop 3 or 4 times a week.

I bought a spaghetti squash last night. I was surprised to see when I got to the checkout that it was $4.42! :eek: I sure hope it tastes good.

We tried to walk to the swimming pool last night (it's at my daughter's school) but the younger one was whining so much that we had to turn back. :d_frown: It would have been AWFULLY cold to walk home with wet hair.

I was tired last night, so I did just 10 pushups and 20 squats (no weights :( )

There's an ad in the classifieds of the local paper
Free to a good home Westbend Home Gym weight set. I tried calling last night, but there was no answer. It's stupid, but I sort of don't feel worthy of accepting a free weight set. I feel like someone else might get better use out of it. I have no way to pick it up, because our van is still stuck in Halifax :rolleyes: :( :mad: , and my husband has been out of town on work with the car. He'll be back late Friday night, so I'll call Friday evening and if no one has claimed the set by then, it'll be mine. :nod:

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm sad today because my husband's still working out of town. He's been gone since Monday and the house feels empty without him. I'm spending WAY too much time on the internet. I need an elliptical to pass the time.

Celestial Seasonings website has a whole bunch of recipes with tea. I may have to try the Bengal Spice Chicken Salad or the Mandarin Orchard Green Tea Kung Pao Chicken.

I mixed up the ingredients for this blueberry bread last night, then baked it this morning:

Blueberry Bread
1 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
1 ¼ C whole wheat flour
¼ C cornmeal
½ tsp salt
2 ripe medium bananas, mashed (1 C)
½ C brown sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg white
2 T canola oil
1 ½ C low fat buttermilk
2 T grated orange zest
1 C chopped walnuts
1 C blueberries, soaked in warm water 15 minutes, then drained

Stir together dry ingredients. Process wet ingredients in a blender, adding orange zest at the end. Make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour banana mixture into it and mix until almost incorporated. Add the walnuts and blueberries and mix until combined. Bake in loaf pan 55 minutes at 350.

With a few changes, of course. I don't buy whole wheat flour, so I just used 2 C of flour and 1/4 C wheat germ. I don't have cornmeal, so I substituted ground flax seed (it's not really a recommended substitute, but it worked). I had some pineapple juice in the fridge I wanted to use up, so I used buttermilk powder and pineapple juice. I left out the cinnamon and allspice added a touch of coconut extract. And instead of sugar I used sweetener.

Yesterday, I mastered the snack attack. :D

Instead of waiting for my daughter to whine when she got home from school that she was hungry, I prepared a snack for her and her sister ahead of time (the previous few days we'd been eating supper at 4:30 and snacking later on as a solution to this problem, but that's only allowed when Daddy's not home, so I wanted to work on an alternative). So it seems that if it's ready and presented before she gets hungry, she eats it. It surprisingly works better than waiting till she's hungry then asking "Okay, what do you want? Toast, blueberries, peach, apple, yogurt, or pudding?" When there's too many options, she can't choose and gets crabby. So I set out banana flavored arrowroot cookie sandwiches (peanut butter in the middle) and graham cracker sandwiches (vanilla pudding in the middle) and some raisins. The only problem was, I must have made too much, because my younger daughter wasn't hungry for supper. I'll have to think on how to improve that. Supper for them was spaghetti and meat sauce, for me was fish and wilted spinach with almonds. We all had some Caesar salad.

My book recommends sweet potato pie for breakfast. I'd like to try it, but I'd have to get up at 5:30 if I wanted to eat before 8 am! :eek: I think I'll make it Sunday afternoon, and eat it chilled Monday morning.
Sweet Potato Pie 8 Servings
Crust
1 ½ C crushed whole wheat low fat gingersnap cookies or 12 graham wafer cookies with 1 tsp ginger
3T ground flaxseed or wheat germ
1 T dark brown sugar
1 large egg
Process to a powder, add the egg, and blend until moist. Press into 9 inch pie plate. Bake 20 minutes. Cool completely, but do not turn off oven

Filling
2 garnet yams (2 cups mashed required)
1 navel orange
1 ripe banana
½ C fat free ricotta or light silken tofu
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
1/3 to ½ C maple syrup

Pierce the yams in a few places, bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool, but do not turn off oven. Peel and mash. Measure two cups, and blend with remaining ingredients. Pour into crust and bake 40 to 50 minutes.

My book aparently does not agree with artificial sweeteners. I'm still on the fence with this one. Obviously, there's less calories with the sugar twin, but would eating the sugar (or maple syrup)be "healthier"?


“Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.”- G.K. Chesterton

I am in salmon heaven.

Anyone who lives within shopping distance of a Loblaw's run there fast NOW. There is a super, super sale on salmon. The flyer brags "lowest price of the DECADE". Really. Fresh salmon steaks for

66 cents per 100 g!

in Canadian dollars even!

That's like $2.41 US per pound!

I bought 1.5 kilos, which is enough for maybe 8 meals of salmon for myself. I cooked about a pound and a half tonight, and the other pound and a half went in the freezer.

My diet has been downsliding. It's so frustrating that when I'm in a bad mood, I just can't eat well.

My daughter told me Thursday night that she had a sore throat. Friday morning, she assured me that it was too sore for her to go to school. She slept for several hours during the day.

Breakfast:
blueberry bread, yogurt, tea, banana, leftover breakfast from daughter #1 (toast and peanut butter), leftover breakfast from daughter #2 (blueberry bagel with margarine

Lunch:
leftover pork chops, leftover oven potato wedges, Caesar salad

afternoon snack:
cherry Jello mixed with yogurt

Supper:
turkey burger with steamed broccoli, leftover apple that the girls wouldn't eat

evening snack: cake and ice cream

At this point, my daughter vomited up her cheeseburger, then she started spitting up, with streaks of blood on it. I got on the phone to the hospital, then to TeleHealth Ontario. I had no vehicle, and I didn't even know where the hospital was. I got through to a receptionist and she told me a nurse would call back. She did, about 45 minutes later.

My husband got home while I was on the phone, tried to tell my daughter to go to bed while I insisted that she needed more ice cream to eat.

bedtime snack: 1/3 of an Easter bunny (it came with the house, actually), 2 Junior caramels, 4 chocolate covered almonds, tea

Today
Breakfast:
blueberry bread, yogurt, tea

morning snack:
blueberry bread

We took my daughter to the walk-in clinic. She has strep throat.

lunch:
reuben sandwich (McDonald's), diet Coke, leftover burger my daughter couldn't eat

afternoon snack:
samples from Costco, honeydew melon

supper
salmon steak, spaghetti squash, toasted hamburger bun with bruschetta topping

My daughter couldn't swallow. My husband's never had strep throat, so he doesn't get it. "You can swallow water" he tells her. "No," I said "she can't"

The ONE elliptical they had at Costco sucked. Big time. Back to the drawing board. They did have some lovely bedding for my daughter however, and nice large boxes of Kashi Go Lean.

Our freezer and babecue have arrived. How much would it cost to buy 7.2 cubic feet of salmon?

Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Funny recap of your day

Sounds like a day at my house... :lol:

Glad to see you're taking it all in stride.

PS - Oh, and my guess is that $294 (US) would get you that 7.2 cf of salmon :D

Awwwww, your poor daughter. I had strep throat as a kid from the time I was 9-11 off and on. As soon as they would take me off anti-biotics it would come back. I have NEVER felt pain so bad in my life. I finally got my tonsils out. I hope she feels better soon!

Sounds like you had a rough day too. At least you found a nice deal on the salmon!! I hope you have a much better day tomorrow!

Funny recap of your day

Sounds like a day at my house... :lol:

Glad to see you're taking it all in stride.

PS - Oh, and my guess is that $294 (US) would get you that 7.2 cf of salmon :D
Gee, and I didn't even tell you the best part. :rolleyes:

After my daughter couldn't eat her burger at McDonald's, I bought her a shake. She was drinking it in the car for a while and when we got out at the next stop I put in on the console. When my husband got back in the car, it spilled all over the seat, and he had to use his jacket to clean it up. When we got home, I put his jacket in the washing machine. When he went to take it out, he found a big clump of receipts all in a wet wad. Some $800 or so worth of expense claims and the notes from his conference. How was I to know he had FIVE pockets in his jacket hidden in mysterious places? I DID check two of them.

Destiny, my daughter has the biggest tonsils I've ever seen. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to come out some day. I feel really bad for her. I had strep throat twice.

I'm still not quite back on track with eating. For breakfast, I made the family pancakes, and had some honeydew melon and apple. For lunch, I'm having PC Organics 5 Bean Minestrone. It's pretty bland, so I crumbled up half a hamburger into it. It doesn't improve it much. Needs tomato paste or something.

My husband's excited about the barbecue. Not sure what we'll be grilling tonight, but I've still got about a pound of cooked salmon to eat. Hmmm... I think some grilled zucchini would be nice.

“Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.”- Plutarch

Oh, the things I will eat.

About 10 years ago, I finally realized that you don't need recipes to cook. Recipes are just different ways that different people have thrown food together. I'm more confident now. I'm starting to get a better idea of what I'd like (actually, I like A LOT more foods than I did 10 years ago) and coming up with ways that foods compliment each other.

I had salmon, spaghetti sauce, and zucchini for supper last night. It still surprises me that I can eat it without anything starchy. A year ago, I would have craved pasta or potatoes or bread with it. Spaghetti squash tastes really buttery to me. My taste buds have been heightened since eating less fat and sugar.

Breakfast was hot grains with blueberries, banana and yogurt.

For an early lunch, I dug in the fridge, and combined what was left over. About 2 oz steak, 1/3 C spaghetti squash, 1/4 cucumber, 1/8 zuchinni, 1/4 green pepper. Sprinkled it with salt and pepper, but it seemed to be missing something. So I made a dressing. 2 T low fat plain yogurt, 1/2 tsp curry powder and a pinch of nutmeg.

Oddly enough, it was yummy, but I think I'll be needing something else yet. I'm really craving peanut butter.

My daughter is feeling much better on the penecillin.

My husband dropped me off downtown yesterday, and I made my way back home, stopping in all the stores that were open. First stop was the gym. It frightened me. :eek: I couldn't figure out why my husband had kept calling it the "men's gym" but it's a little clearer now. It looked like a dirty locker room. The stairs were not mopped, and instead of a carpet or welcome mat, there was a crumpled towel at the entrance. :d_eek: The gym was bigger than my house. There must have been room for about 50 people to exercise in there all at once, but, in fact, there was just one guy on a piece of equipment. (Small town.) I didn't get a good look around because I was still a little creeped out, but they didn't seem to be missing anything. The guy in charge was a little odd. He was wearing a large gold chain, and wouldn't look me in the eye. I asked him about membership, and he didn't really want to give me a straight answer. He actually said at one point "You can pay whatever you want." :rolleyes: Meaning, I think, you can pay monthly, or weekly, or yearly, I'm not sure. I THINK the final answer was $100 registration and $50 a month membership. I haven't asked at any other gyms what they charge. There's a beautiful gym that's about 10 miles away, and I saw several fit men and women working out there. Problem is, I couldn't walk there, whereas the one in town is maybe just over a mile away, so the walk there would be a good warmup.

Our shipment is STILL IN HALIFAX! :mad:

I miss my cookbooks. I miss my dumbbells. I can't even remember what's in the other 2000 cubic feet. (Mostly empty, I'm sure.)

I did the typical pullups, pushups, crunches, butt lift workout last night. It's boring, and I'm not getting all my muscle groups, but I'm too lazy to research a better "equipment free" workout. I'm also not sure about the wisdom of doing a "full body" workout every day, and no cardio unless you count walking to the grocery store cardio.

We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it. ~John Newton

Aparently, it's a bad thing, that my life revolves around food. According to Shape Magazine, it supposedly means I'm at risk for weight gain. So far, I'm not too worried. My weight is still at 53 kg and body fat percentage near 18, so I think I've been doing well through the winter, which is usually my weak spot.

I ended up eating A LOT of peanut butter yesterday afternoon. And the craving is still there. So I had more peanut butter for breakfast, and I tried to find some more healthy recipes on the internet.

I picked up a box of Kellogg's All Bran Bites Strawberry. This cereal tastes like candy. So much so, that I'd classify it as a snack rather than a breakfast option. I can't imagine pouring milk on it, but it's delightful to bite into a nice crunchy pillow of whole grain and be rewarded with a sweet burst of fruity flavor. The great thing is, my daughter loves them too. They're not as high in protein as the other cereals I've been eating, but they're actually lower in sugar. :eat:

I invited my husband's friend over for supper last night. Then I tried to figure out what on earth I could make for him. He suffers from gout and kidney failure, and, how it was explained to me was "the healthier it is, the harder it is for him to eat". So here I am, health nut of the family, trying to force myself to cook something that's as processed and nutrient-free as possible. :rolleyes: I decided to make pure lean beef burgers on the barbecue, and also some turkey burgers for myself. I served it with barbecued potatoes, carrot sticks, iceberg lettuce, bruschetta, and roasted red pepper hummus. Everything was successful. :tu: The turkey burgers were much better than my other recipe. Here's what I did:
1 pound ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 C ground ranch flavored corn chips (I used plain whole wheat breadcrumbs)
1/4 C fat free ranch dressing
2 T salsa
1 tsp chili powder

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world. ~ Helen Keller

If you didn't already know, strep throat is contagious. :rolleyes: If you did already know, why didn't you warn me? ;)

No, it's not me. Me, I could deal with. It's the whiny four-year-old "hurts so bad I can't eat" that's hard to deal with. Lucky though, we knew what it was right away, so I was able to get her to the doctor a few hours after I noticed that she was sick, so it wasn't as bad as with her sister.

I made the sweet potato pie the other day. Took me the whole morning. It's good, sure, but it's not my kind of breakfast food. I need something cakey for breakfast. This one's just like a pumpkin pie, but very orangy. If I ever host a Christmas dinner, I'll serve it up for a unique dessert.

Today's not a good day. I look and feel puffy, and have a large appetite. I'm sure it's a PMS thing. How do I combat a large appetite? I eat. Lots. If I don't eat lots, I'll just get stronger cravings for even yet less healthy options. So instead of scheduling regular meals, I stuff my face all day - oatmeal, apples, toast with peanut butter, carrots, pudding, yogurt, spinach, tea, cereal, oranges, walnuts, chicken, broccoli; I ate it all. For supper, I had apple crisp with light ice cream. It's not the WORST thing in the world for me. The crisp part is simply sunflower seeds, oats, flax seed, yogurt, and spices with a tiny bit of sweetener. I WAS however, still hungry, so I decided to have a sausage later on. Need SOME protein to balance out that monstrous load of carbs I inhaled.

When you blame others, you give up your power to change. ~ Douglas Noel Adams

Strep is horrible not only for the victim but for the one who's taking care of them as well. I feel for you. Our 5 year old kept getting strep and ear infections (even after tubes) until she finally had her tonsils out last fall. Since then she sleeps better, talks better and hasn't been sick at all this winter. The week after surgery is very tough. It's hard to watch this little 35 lb girl waste away because she can't eat but after about a week everything was great and she quickly gained all the weight back. She's almost a different child now as far as mood and temperment. I would definitely recommend having it done if the docs think it would help.

BTW, thanks for sticking up for me today. I been obsessing about that post all night and it really bothered me. You helped me realize that I wasn't being irrational and that there are "normal" people in here just like (well at least similar) to me. :d_smile:

BTW, thanks for sticking up for me today. I been obsessing about that post all night and it really bothered me. You helped me realize that I wasn't being irrational and that there are "normal" people in here just like (well at least similar) to me. :d_smile:

GK, the perfection seekers really rub me the wrong way. I'm on this board to show that you don't have to count every fat gram in order to achieve a body that you're proud of. That post probably bugged me as much as it bugged you. Your response was definitely the right one. I don't think I could have kept my cool if such an attack had been directed at me. :p The one point that I forgot to make however, was that your goals are not LESS than other people's goals. Your goals are DIFFERENT. That's the part that really pissed me off. :mad:

Yesterday's food intake problem was an overestimation of calories. Whenever I have a "problem" with food, I like to analyze it, so into fitday it went. Sure, I ate a lot of food, but that's because most of it was not very calorie dense. You know how many calories are in a cup of spinach? 7. So although I thought I had this big lunch of spinach, walnuts, and leftover chicken (about 1/3 C) it was just a tiny little snack. All the fat free sugar free pudding I was inhaling was pretty low calorie as well. When I inputted my foods into fitday, they measured at about 1800 calories, the ones I could remember. Even if I forgot some food, I still almost definitely was eating under maintenance, even though it felt like I ate about 20% more than usual. The only problem was the 40% calories from fat (the sausage is mostly to blame, but also, the estimated 3 T of peanut butter I ate, and, of course, the ice cream didn't help). Fibre was again near 50 g. I attribute that to the crazy amounts of spinach that I eat. (A bag only stays fresh so long, and when you're the only one in the family who'll eat it, ya gotta eat it fast)

So the crux of the problem yesterday was that I was hungry and felt that I "shouldn't" be hungry. Geez, I wish I could shut that voice up and just eat what I wanted all the time. :d_mad:

Apple, raw 1 medium 81 0 21 0
Oats, raw 0.3 cup 93 2 16 4
Milk, 1% fat 1.5 cup 153 4 17 12
Bread, pita, whole wheat, 100% 60 1 12 2
Peanut butter 3 tablespoon 285 24 9 12
Broccoli, 0.2 cup, NFS 9 0 2 1
Carrots, raw 0.5 cup, NFS 24 0 6 1
Cheese, cottage, lowfat 0.2 cup 33 0 1 6
Flax seeds 0.1 cup 72 5 5 3
Spinach, raw 1 cup 7 0 1 1
Chicken, breast, 0.4 cup, cooked, diced 88 2 0 17
Walnuts 0.1 cup, NFS 78 8 2 2
puddings, Fat Free Vanilla, 1.3 serving 112 0 28 0
Yam, 0.5 cup, cubes 79 0 19 1
Orange, raw 1 large 86 0 22 2
Egg, 0.5 small 28 2 0 2
ice cream, light (no sugar added0.5 cup 99 4 12 3
Italian sausage 3 oz, cooked 271 22 1 17
All-Bran 1 cup 158 2 46 7

Total Calories 1816 76 221 92

So today, I decided to get the protein punch in first thing, and see if it would improve my mood. I made an omelet with 4 egg whites and an egg (I've never before thrown out the yolk, but trying something new) and some ham, and spinach, and cheese, and two pieces of toast. Bengal Spice tea with above-mentioned omelet, and I feel so much better already. :tucool:

We tend to live up to our expectations. ~Earl Nightingale

Friday was indeed a better day. I continued on my good plan with a lunch of a tuna sandwich and spinach salad with an orange.

For supper, we went to Subway. :lol: I'm not joking. We did. I had the toasted chicken terriaki on whole wheat. It was good. A six inch sub (370 calories (http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/MenuNutrition/jared/diet/jaredMeasureUp.aspx)) isn't really enough for me for supper, so I had some yogurt and blueberries when I got home. (I'm still loving the superfoods diet. :D )

Saturday is our regular shopping day. I suggested we have lunch at Dairy Queen since it's been so long since I've eaten there. The grilled chicken sandwich was good, and so were the onion rings. :)

I don't call these "reward meals" or "cheat weekends", I call them life. The reason I'm careful on a daily basis is so that I CAN relax occasionally about what I eat. What I choose to eat now, when I do go out (which is less frequently than it used to be) is still loads healthier than what I used to eat. It wasn't long ago that it would have been a double cheeseburger, onion rings, regular pop (and maybe a sundae) that I'd order for lunch.

We managed to make it to two different stores to look at fitness equipment. At Treadmill Factory, I was considering a Horizon 4.1E (http://www.efitnessdirect.com/product.php3?id=512) for $1499 and a Multisports MS 6600 (http://www.fitnessscape.com/page/F/PROD/ellipticals/ect_6600) for $1999. Delivery and set-up included. Later on, at MuscleMag, we considered the Schwinn 418 (http://www.elliptical-trainer-superstore.com/catalog/shopping/Schwinn_418_Elliptical_Trainer) which was priced at $1375. (All prices in Canadian dollars) I asked if delivery and set-up was included, and he said "Well, not really, but I can make it included." When we got home, we check consumer reports, which, coincidentally gave the Schwinn 418 it's "best buy". There was a Precor (EFX 5.19) and a Lifefitness (s3 S3i) rated higher, but at a substantially higher prices. ($2600 vs $1,100 US) They decided that the Schwinn is the best value for it's money, and I trust them. So my husband will stop by Musclemag on his way home from work on Monday to close the deal. I will soon be the proud owner of an elliptical. :claplow: :claphigh: :jumping:

Our house is still a little bare, but no fear. I have simple tastes. We must have looked at about a hundred bedroom suites - mahogany, teak, rosewood, oak, particle board you name it, anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000. The one I liked best was the solid pine one with a walnut stain. Headboard, footboard, two night tables, armoire, chest, and a dresser, all for $1,500. No taxes. Free delivery. SOLD. It'll be here Friday. :cool:

My little girl, who thinks she's a princess, is getting a beautiful bed with matching dresser and stuff. Her complete bedroom furniture actually cost $2500, but that's still not too bad. Somehow I have to find a way to make a canopy for her new bed. Something tells me I'll spend weeks trying to find the best deal on fabric....

I finished wallpapering a couple of days ago. My husband took a look at the kitchen wall after we moved in and declared "It needs a backsplash." I humored him while he looked at ceramic tiles, but ultimately, we applied the $30 solution instead of the $500 (?) approach.

Tomorrow we are going to visit Casa Loma to see Dora the Explorer. I'm really excited about it.

Be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to live and to work and to play and to look up at the stars. ~ Henry Van Dyke

:d_frown:
Love is a condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.~Robert Heinlein

My husband has been in a crabby mood for the last few days, and it's really throwing me off. Today's a little better for me. :d_smile:

He stopped at Musclemag last night to try to pick up my elliptical. The salesperson failed to tell us that they have none in stock, and I'll have to wait two weeks. :(

Good news, our shipment has been cleared, and he'll be bringing the big 40 footer over to the house to unload it in a few hours. I'm sort of panicked about trying to clear away some space. I don't know where everything's going to fit.

Physically, I seem to be doing well on my present fitness program, or lack thereof. The scale's staying in pretty much the same place and I like what I see in the mirror. Mentally, I'm not my best. I really need the endorphin rush of elevated heart rate. Maybe tonight, since it's finally above freezing, I'll get out for a jog. Something needs to change.

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Sigh.

Sometimes these forums get tiresome. It's not quite the right place, for me, but it's still somewhat of a comfortable home.

If a person eats a steady diet of banana bread, tuna, and fat free pudding, even if it happens to be in the right macronutrient ratio, it doesn't mean it's a good diet. Even if it hits their calorie goals, it's not a healthier diet than a balance of spinach, sweet potatoes, oats, oranges, chicken breast, black beans, strawberries, grapefruit, yogurt, barley, watermelon, apricots, tofu, brussels sprouts, lean ground turkey, brown rice, cottage cheese, salmon, etc.

I'm reaching for the healthiest body, inside and out. It's tough to listen to the people who are just looking for the magic foods that will give them abs of steel.

But hey, I'm me, let them be them.

I bought a pomelo last night. We used to eat them when we lived in China, and I'd forgotten how wonderful they are. They are "grapefruits on steroids", about the size of bowling balls (well, 5-pin bowling balls anyway). I don't like grapefruits, but pomelos are delicious. They have the sweetness of an orange with the tang of a grapefruit. The membranes are too dry to be eaten, and the segments themselves are a little dry on the surface, but once you bite into one, it releases its juices. Because of this, they are much less messy than oranges. My new favorite. :)

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

My conscience is speaking to me from another thread again.

I found myself spending too much time on the forums lately. I need to go back to using them for info and advice instead of clicking on every single interesting looking thread. I want to be able to provide advice to anyone out there looking for my 2 cents worth but I don't want to get bogged down in debates and arguments over things which aren't that important.

And again, it's GKHammond.

Our shipment arrived a few hours ago. (Yes, a day late) My dumbbells are in it, and the van too, so now I can drive! Ugh, I hate driving, but at least I was able to go to the library on my own, and spend a nice leisurely time finding all my favorite sections. I picked up an exercise video and put a hold on this "Body for Life" book I keep hearing about. :p Can you believe I haven't read it yet?

My pomelo is gone and I miss it. Must go buy another.

If you have a great ambition, take as big a step as possible in the direction of fulfilling it. The step may only be a tiny one, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now. ~ Mildred Mcafee

Happiness is finding your new favorite food on sale for 1/2 price at the grocery store. I bought three pomellos on Friday. Unfortunately, I also confirmed in the meantime that not all pomellos are created equally. Thess ones were pink inside, not yellowish like the last one I had, the pulpy surface was wetter and they're harder to peel. The flavor was stronger and not as sweet. Still edible, but a long cry from my favorite fruit.

Saturday I bit the bullet. It was navel piercing time. Friday, I'd tried to check out the local place that does body piercing; I thought maybe I'd make an appointment if necessary. But when I parked out front and saw that they were promoting drug paraphanelia, I took a look at my four-year-old in the back seat and said to myself "I don't belong here!" So I pulled out of the parking lot and decided I was destined not to have it done. But, during our shopping on Saturday, I kept my eyes open, and what should I discover, but a spa with a big neon sign advertising body piercing. I went in to inquire, and when the esthetician was done with the manicure she led me to a rather soothing little private room. Let me tell you, I was much more at ease having my skin mutilated by a dainty woman in a white lab coat than by a long-haired bearded dude. After she was done, she asked "You want me to wax your eyebrows?"

Another plus, I found the treadmill I wanted for about $150 cheaper, and a few days (or a week) earlier. It'll be in my home Wednesday morning. I'm so excited.

Having my own vehicle gives me so many more options. We went to the drop-in center on Friday morning, and it was so nice to get to chat with other moms and their kids. My daughter had a great time singing songs and doing crafts. Monday they'll have some special programming for Valentine's Day, and some tasty sweets too. We've planned to order Chinese food for supper instead of going for the pizza idea. Black bean shrimp, I think, would please me most.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once attended a meeting in which he was the shortest man present. "Dr. Holmes," quipped a friend, "I should think you'd feel rather small among us big fellows." "I do," retorted Holmes, "I feel like a dime among a lot of pennies." ~Author Unknown

Nice abs, guava!! :cool:

Thanks to you, I'll be trying my first pummelo this evening. :)

Hey Sock, I hope that pummelo was as good as my first one and better than my second one.

Valentine's Day was great. It lived up to my expectations for my favorite day of the year. We had candles, balloons, chocolate, and watched a movie together.

I phoned for Chinese food and my husband brought it home on the way home from work. He was a little shocked, as it came in three huge bags. I was pretty surprised myself. I took a look on the menu at the dinner for four and ordered something similar. 4 spring rolls, Shanghai noodles with chicken, sweet and sour pork, beef with cashews, double happiness delight (vegetables), and steamed rice. I think $42 was the total. Let me tell you, there was enough food there to last for three days. Really. When we were all finished, it looked like it hadn't been touched. Do regular people really eat that much more than we do? Stupid, stupid me, who can't throw food out, put the noodles and the beef in the freezer immediately, and ate sweet and sour pork and double happiness delight for breakfast AND lunch the next day. It wasn't even any good. I put the rest of the pork in the freezer. My husband had to go away on business again, and I told him to dig it out of the freezer when he gets back and throw it out so that I wouldn't have to. :p

My elliptical arrived this morning. I'm so very pleased with it, but my foot slips a bit on it. I'll have to phone the store and ask if they can suggest something. Or maybe it's a problem with my shoes. :confused:

My 10 kg dumbbells just don't cut it any more. I have my eye on the Nautilus SelectTech Dumbbells (http://www.fitnesssource.ca/product_info.php?cPath=18_121_346&products_id=2705) but it probably makes more sense just to join a gym.

When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better care of it there. ~Cecil Selig

Nice abs, guava!! :cool:

I agree! Your abs look fantastic (as does the rest of you!) :)

I've been eating a lot of tofu lately. I put it in my favorite breakfast (egg, tofu, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg fried like a pancake), I made a cheese sauce out of it (yummy!) and I put it in an omelet. I wanted to try to make peanut butter cookies with it, but I didn't get that far yet.

For breakfast this morning, I tried something new. Raw buckwheat breakfast. Soak buckwheat with a few dates in some water overnight. Then put it in a blender with an apple, add coconut, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It was easily one of the worst things I've ever tasted. Is buckwheat better when it's cooked?

I've been looking for quinoa for a couple of weeks now. Both of the natural food stores were out, but the one store told me to come back on Tuesday. I may go this afternoon.

I still haven't been able to increase my water consumption, but a new article I read says that tea counts, and I'm going through scads of tea. Last night I bought Sugar Plum Spice, which is very nice indeed. I'm going to phone the Celestial Seasonings distributor for the area and find out where I can find some Chocolate Caramel Enchantment Chai. How heavenly can you get for something with no calories?

I can't stay off my elliptical. I have it set right in front of the tv. I've been watching 30 minute segments of "My Best Friend's Wedding". Yesterday was the restaurant scene, where Jules' friend George is serenading her, pretending he's her fiance. It is simply adorable.

Quinoa has been acquired. I need an acorn squash to try it in a new recipe.

This place is getting a little too high strung for me. (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=121965#post121965). I get offended really easily, so I'm gonna take a break, spend more time in happier places, where people know how to really enjoy a good chocolate chip cookie. :D

You feel good not because the world is right, but your world is right because you feel good.

Don't stay away Guava! :cool:

Hi Guava,
Don't go away! Many people here believe in balance as well. Don't let someone with social challenges affect you. You're strong! And you know your cookin' lady.

Enjoy your break! (I don't know why I'm writing this because if you're reading this then you're not on a break anymore :p ) It's good to get away and just focus on yourself and your family for a while. These forums can be addicting and can suck the life out of you if you let them. I read the post that you referenced and I couldn't believe the rudeness directed toward you. Nobody deserves that!

BTW, I saw your updated pics in the Media Gallery and I'm just wondering if you think that you may have gone just a teeny tiny bit too far? This isn't a criticism at all because I think you're beautiful (in a totally objective married guy to married gal way). But I'm wondering if everything that's been going on in your personal life in the past couple of months have made you bear down and say that "this (fitness and weight loss) is the one thing that I have total control over and by golly I'm going to take it and seize it and really make it my own and show that I can do it." I know how terrifying it can be to think about going back to the way things used to be. I'm scared to death of it myself. But I would hope that a friend would tell me the truth if they thought that maybe I was tiptoeing on the fine line between fit and well, let's just call it, a little too fit.

I wouldn't even mention any of this except that I got the feeling that maybe you felt a little bit the same way as well and may have been looking for some confirmation. I hope that I'm not completely off base and haven't royally ticked you off because yours' is one of the true voices of sanity and reason on the forums. And I would miss my comrade in moderation. :D

I can't stay off my elliptical. I have it set right in front of the tv. I've been watching 30 minute segments of "My Best Friend's Wedding". Yesterday was the restaurant scene, where Jules' friend George is serenading her, pretending he's her fiance. It is simply adorable.

Quinoa has been acquired. I need an acorn squash to try it in a new recipe.

This place is getting a little too high strung for me. (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=121965#post121965). I get offended really easily, so I'm gonna take a break, spend more time in happier places, where people know how to really enjoy a good chocolate chip cookie. :D

You feel good not because the world is right, but your world is right because you feel good.

You don't know how bad I feel that you want to take a break because of something that happened in my journal. I wrote you a PM but maybe it should have been sent by the person that started this all.

PLEASE do not take a break because of this and know that I did not have anything to do with this. :(

I agree with moderation of foods you love and I think you were right on the money in saying so. Life is too short to waste or not to enjoy the journey.

GKHammond, thanks. I check in VERY briefly once a day now, as opposed to the four or five times daily I used to hang here, so I'm getting messages.

Yvette, I know you apologized, and Jodi has too, so there's no hard feelings there. :d_wink: But I've found some happier places to spend my time, (Like on my elliptical :lol: ) so I don't need this forum as much as I used to.

It was sucking the life out of me, and that's why the break. I wasn't pissed off about the comment for very long, just taking a reality check. This isn't the reality I want to be in, so I'm shifting gears.

Did I take it too far, I dunno. It's so SO difficult maintaining. Since October, I've sort of felt that I could stand to gain 5 pounds or so, but, still, most of the time I feel like I look and feel better now than I ever have. I'd really like to be moving forward somewhere, and it there's no fitness goal that I haven't already met, so I have to concentrate on moving forward in other areas of my life instead. The other areas are tougher than the fitness ones, but I'm making progress there too.

I bought a beautiful bouquet of roses for myself, and I'm enjoying a nice hot cup of Sugar Plum Spice tea. Life is good. :D

I was just reading Guava's journal and saw the link to the thread that apparently caused her to leave this forum. I really wish someone had reported that thread to a moderator, because I simply don't stand for that kind of behavior on these forums. No one should ever be treated as rudely as some of the people in that thread were treated, and it kills me to know that one of our most respected members has been driven away by a rude and arrogant newbie to this forum.

Please, report those kinds posts and I assure you that you won't have to put up with people like that here. I've tried very hard to make JSF one of the most positive and friendly forums around, so it saddens me a great deal to find out something like this and I take it very personally.

Please help the moderators keep this place fun and friendly. Report rudeness and it will be dealt with.

Guava, I hope you come back, but I applaud you for striving to find balance in your life. It's tricky.

I was just reading Guava's journal and saw the link to the thread that apparently caused her to leave this forum. I really wish someone had reported that thread to a moderator, because I simply don't stand for that kind of behavior on these forums. No one should ever be treated as rudely as some of the people in that thread were treated, and it kills me to know that one of our most respected members has been driven away by a rude and arrogant newbie to this forum.

Please, report those kinds posts and I assure you that you won't have to put up with people like that here. I've tried very hard to make JSF one of the most positive and friendly forums around, so it saddens me a great deal to find out something like this and I take it very personally.

Please help the moderators keep this place fun and friendly. Report rudeness and it will be dealt with.

Guava, I hope you come back, but I applaud you for striving to find balance in your life. It's tricky.

Thanks for your thoughts John. But it's not that easy to get rid of me. ;)

Really, I didn't consider the post in question to be a personal attack on me. It was only an indication of how she felt about her own advice being questioned.

I'm checking in now with a few thoughts.

Maybe in light of people responding with such hostility to my advice, maybe the way I do things just DOESN'T WORK for other people. I've read scads of journals where people are counting every calorie, calculating every precise macronutrient, timing their meals to the closest 5 minute interval, and doing precisely the correct exercise for the proper amount of sets and reps. They must get a little pissed off when I simply eat until I'm full, do my choice of cardio when I feel like being active, lift whatever weight feels comfortable for the day, and still be happy with my results. Am I a freak of nature?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a slacker. I'm committed to my healthy eating plan and excited about my exercise, I'm just not as strict about my schedule as other people on this forum are.

But, well, back to my life:
I've been borrowing videos from the library to add variety to my fitness routine. I picked up an aerobic routine from Kathy Smith. Once I put it in the VCR I realized how dated it was. I checked the cover, and it's is 20 years old. Trying to keep up to the video was insane. I had flashbacks to the first aerobics class that I went to with my mom when I was 12, and it was the same kind of torture; odd contortions of the body at lightning fast speeds, which requires a kind of coordination that I just don't have.

Next video up was a "Learn to Belly Dance" one. It was a little more interesting, and a surprisingly more strenuous activity than I imagined it would be. Unfortunately I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror while doing it, and couldn't get over the idea that I looked quite ridiculous.

I tortured my legs the other day with a killer workout that I just threw together as I went. Slow squats seem to be the key, and I put some lunges in, though I always have huge difficulty with balance when I try them. My legs were still sore two days later, so I may have to tone it down next time.

Yesterday seemed to be a refeed day. I don't schedule cheat days, but occasionally, ravenous hunger just sneaks up on me. I've learned not to fight it, because quite often, if I check all I've consumed on fitday, it's just a few hundred calories above maintenance, which must balance out the several days a week that I must be eating just slightly below maintenance.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them. ~Epictetus

Maintenance is still a little tricky for me. It's harder to hop on that elliptical when it's for my heart health rather than for my waistline, and it's not as exciting lifting weights when it's for building strength instead of building muscle.

I've had a bit of a cold for a little more than a week now. It is not good for my diet. Sickness remedy for me = boatloads of chocolate + any other baked goods, cereals, puddings, yogurts, etc. So, this week's diet has included a whole batch of fat free brownies, about a dozen yogurts, 2 bran muffins, a blueberry muffin, a scone, bruschetta, a whole lot of Honey Nut Cheerios, a bowl of ice cream, a frozen fudge bar, and three chocolate bars. It's a wonder I'm still alive.

This was probably my worst day:
Food Name Servings Cals Fat Carb Prot
Oats, raw 0.6 cup 187 3 33 8
Raisins 0.3 cup 131 0 34 1
Cheeseburger, plain, on bun 340 15 31 18
Orange, raw 1 small (2-3/8" dia) 45 0 11 1
Muffin, multigrain, with fruit 183 4 33 6
Muffin, wheat bran 1 extra large muffin 419 12 74 7
Scone, with fruit 1 scone 149 6 21 4
Strawberries, raw 1 cup, NFS 46 1 11 1
Roll, sweet 1 medium 223 10 31 4
Peanut butter 1 tablespoon 95 8 3 4
Total Calories 1817 60 282 54
57% of calories from carbs, and 31% from fat

Now I have diet guilt. My guilt doesn't stem from worrying all the stuff I ate. I feel guilty that I can eat that stuff and it doesn't destroy me, while other people can't even LOOK at muffins without gaining weight. I gained a pound. Wow. I've turned into one of those sickening people that whines that she can't gain weight. I feel like I'm unfairly advantaged.

Today, I had some tofu sitting in the fridge, so I tried a smoothie. It tasted good enough, but it just doesn't cut it as a meal. I could drink it with a big bowl of oatmeal, but that defeats the purpose. I'll stick with my protein pancakes.

:rolleyes: But anyway, on to the good news. I'm finally feeling a little better today. Last week actually was March break. I did manage to keep up my activity level despite my poor diet. Went swimming twice and skating three times with my girls. Went on the ellliptical twice, lifted weights twice, and did a body weight workout twice. I also went out for a nice long walk yesterday and Friday night.

Yesterday was the last day that the arena will be open. It's unfortunate, because it's the first day my four-year-old managed to do some skating on her own. She looked so proud. I was fairly proud of myself too, because before this year, I hadn't been skating in ten years, and by the end of the season, I actually looked like I knew what I was doing.

I've signed up both my daughters and myself to play baseball. That will be interesting as well, because the last time I played was 15 years ago, (can you believe it, I was actually old enough to play baseball 15 years ago?) and they've never played before. We all picked out new (used) gloves and we're going to start tossing the ball around in the back yard. It's lovely to be in Canada, home of the four seasons. :D

We probably wouldn't worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do. ~Olin Miller

NIce to see you Guava.

Maybe in light of people responding with such hostility to my advice, maybe the way I do things just DOESN'T WORK for other people. I've read scads of journals where people are counting every calorie, calculating every precise macronutrient, timing their meals to the closest 5 minute interval, and doing precisely the correct exercise for the proper amount of sets and reps. They must get a little pissed off when I simply eat until I'm full, do my choice of cardio when I feel like being active, lift whatever weight feels comfortable for the day, and still be happy with my results. Am I a freak of nature?
I think the difference is that you have already climbed the mountain... you're at a place where most people here want to be. It's sometimes difficult, when posting, to find the balance between advice to maximize results and advice to live a regular, healthy lifestyle. Personally, I have had streaks where I've wanted to just stop and smell the roses, or sample the cookies, for a while. I've also had streaks where I didn't want to eat fruit because I was striving for some goal. I still haven't gotten to the top yet, so I still feel like I need to have those bursts that have nothing to do with a lifestyle, they are just short, month long, heads down sprints towards where I want to be before I can go back to lifestyle mode for a bit. Sort of like a lifestyle HIIT. And I've been here long enough to remember that at one point, for a long while, you were that person, too, until the epiphany you had about living a moderate lifestyle. Sometimes, you're aggressively moderate and sometimes I've disagreed with the intense level of moderation in your posts. Sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? I still respect your opinion, though (the results in your pictures speak for themselves). Even though you talk about the difficulty in finding moderation in your own life, it sounds like you've already found it and just haven't really acknowledged it yet.

Oh well, I do believe I'm getting back on track. I followed up the breakfast smoothie with an egg white and spinach omelet lunch, and a supper of a whole plateful of steamed cauliflower drizzled with tofu cheese sauce, and 1/4 of a leftover burger and 1/3 of a leftover chicken breast. In between snacks were an orange, an apple, and a handful of mini wheats. I feel much more "normal" now.

Every once in a while, things just seem to be going too well, so I invent things to feel bad about. :( I feel like it would be easier to gain 10 pounds so that I can really focus at a definite goal of losing it, instead of wandering in limbo, goalless. :rolleyes:

I'm trying to take a bigger leap towards conquering other areas of personal improvement. Fitness has been a relatively easy thing for me to excel at, and there are plenty of other personal improvements that I should be working on, while I monitor this one in the background.

slushpuppy, yeah, that's me, always searching, but not stopping long enough to really enjoy what I've discovered.

We should give meaning to life, not wait for life to give us meaning

I'm trying to take a bigger leap towards conquering other areas of personal improvement. Fitness has been a relatively easy thing for me to excel at, and there are plenty of other personal improvements that I should be working on, while I monitor this one in the background.
It reminds me of this thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=9978) where you posted...

Really, there are more impressive transformations to be made than losing a bit of body fat.I think something really deep was touched on there. Improving fitness and health does serve as a great metaphor for improving other areas in life.

Maybe go back to school and get a degree in something? if you have a degree, get another one. if i ever get bored, i'm going to go get my masters in theology to go with my BS in software engineering (yea i know, great combination :D)

Just an idea. Theres alot of things in this world that people can accomplish. The theology one is right up my ally because i'm constantly questioning life.

Hey, yeah, I'd like another degree. I loved university. It seems rather frivolous to pursue education just for the fun of it though. What I really need is a job. Know anyone who's looking for a market researcher with no experience? That's my passion.

It reminds me of this thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=9978) where you posted...

I think something really deep was touched on there. Improving fitness and health does serve as a great metaphor for improving other areas in life.
Thanks for the reminder. I've bookmarked that thread now. :cool:

Maybe in light of people responding with such hostility to my advice, maybe the way I do things just DOESN'T WORK for other people. I've read scads of journals where people are counting every calorie, calculating every precise macronutrient, timing their meals to the closest 5 minute interval, and doing precisely the correct exercise for the proper amount of sets and reps. They must get a little pissed off when I simply eat until I'm full, do my choice of cardio when I feel like being active, lift whatever weight feels comfortable for the day, and still be happy with my results. Am I a freak of nature?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a slacker. I'm committed to my healthy eating plan and excited about my exercise, I'm just not as strict about my schedule as other people on this forum are.


Hey Guava,
Stumbled upon your journal, while going through the new posts. Man, so many journals, it could be a full time job with ovetime just to read them all.

Just wanted to say that you are definitely not alone when it comes to your philosophy on food and fitness. My views are essentially identical and I always appreciate reading your comments on it. I remember it first happening way back when swolecat first joined he started posting in threads about how you could run yourself into looking like a skinny thirteen year old or something. A few of us spoke up at the time, that we favor healthy lifestyle over hardcore tailored fitness programs. It was nice to read those responses. (hope I'm remembering correctly that you were among them).

Anyway, just wanted to echo your words, I believe in a less structured approach to fitness. It's great for us to have a place here as I feel too much structure will just scare new people coming in. There are so many posts about what to eat when at what time, before or after what activity. We can let people know there is an alternate way of doing things.

Also, I just wanted to say, thank you, for the time you spend here. :D

You're welcome. And thanks for listening. I really hope that people hear me when I say you don't have to do everything perfectly in order to see results. (And I really hope that it's true for everyone, and that I'm not just a freak of nature. :p )

swolecat, I try not to type his name, because his strategies just can't align with my mindset. He scares me. His philosophy in my words: in order to get a perfect body, you must eat and exercise perfectly. It bothers me when I see him (or anyone else) post some crazy recommendation like you CAN'T do this, or you MUST do that. If it weren't for Jeremy Likness balancing him out (his philosophy in my words: every positive action is a step closer to excellence, every negative action is a great learning experience, and only you yourself can determine whether an action is positive or negative) then I would have stopped visiting here ages ago. I'm a little more comfortable now that I can realize that swolecat's strategy works really well for some people. Some people really thrive on achieving the exact perfect best diet and exercise routine; for me it's too intimidating and a set-up for inevitable failure. So I hope that the people like me can learn that they can follow the steps that I have followed and achieve the same personal growth that I have.

I've been depressed because I wasn't busy enough. Cleaning the toilets just did not give me a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. When I contacted the Eat Smart Restaurant program last month, they informed me that it is not running in my community. But I'm working on getting involved in other things.

I baked honey bunnies and chocolate nests to take to my daughter's drop in center for a special Easter celebration. Thank goodness there were none left over. At more than 300 calories apiece, I don't need that extra Easter joy.

Tomorrow night there's an annual general meeting for the Friends of the Library. I'm off to introduce myself to some new members of my community. I'm anxious to help out at their book sale coming up in the summer.

In a couple of weeks, there will be an Eco Festival, featuring displays and presentations centered around recycling, whole foods, pollution, health, and general environment issues. I'm sure there are volunteer opportunities thee as well, if I find something that interests me.

In a world where there is so much to be done, I feel strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do. ~Dorothea Dix

I must be slipping. My first thoughts when I saw the bunnies and nests were "how cute!" and "how creative!" not "I wonder how many calories are in those." :lol: What a great mom you are!

Something foreign has taken control of my appetite. I'm used to listening to my hunger cues and eating what I feel like eating. It hasn't been working lately. I've been hungry at the weirdest times when I shouldn't be hungry, and my 1 pound weight gain has turned into 2 pounds. I'm sure it's related to this cold that I haven't been able to shake for a couple of weeks now. There must be some kind of mechanism that causes me to crave sugar when I'm sick. I should probably go and see a doctor, but I'd rather just complain about it. It's nothing severe, just ongoing.

What I think I may need to do is take a very low carb day, with no sugar, no yogurt, no bread or grains; just tuna, turkey, eggs, vegetables and fruit. And lots of tea. I think that will jolt my system out of this carb addiction. Okay, tomorrow's the day then.

I took my girls on a 4km hike this morning. I decided that bringing the wagon along for the little one would be better than listening to her whine about how far it was. Unfortunately, I failed to consider how difficult it would be to drag a wagon through snow and slush. Ugh. It was such a strain that my hands fell asleep a few times. One guy on the trail even said to me "You're made of stronger stuff than me." :p Okay, so maybe it was a silly idea, but it was a damn good workout. Our reward at the end was a lovely waterfall. All in all, I'm glad we did it.

4km with kids. That is impressive. My dad use to take us on walks through the woods when we were really little. I must have been 4-5 years old. We would hike through the woods until we came to this giant stone statue of a native american indian. It seemed so long we use to call them death marches. I went back there in highschool and it was like a 2 mile walk. everything is so big when you're a kid.

I stuck to my plan of eating no yogurt, sugar, breads and grains for today. But I was miserable all day. I'm feeling quite a lot better right now, so maybe tomorrow I will be back on track. I'd really like to find a way to blast that sugar craving back down to normal levels. But I don't think the way I did it today is the right way. Anyone have an easy carbohydrate addict one-day diet? Eliminating sugar, breads and grains does not make for a low carb diet if you replace them all with fruit. :o With the amount I consumed today, I'll be buying stock in an orchard. However, it gave me an impressive 50 g of fibre. I felt bloated the whole time. Here's what the day looked like:
Apple, raw 1 medium 81 0 21 0
Banana, raw 1 medium 109 1 28 1
Strawberries, raw 6 large 32 0 8 1
Tea, herbal 8 fl oz 2 0 0 0
Orange, raw 1 medium 62 0 15 1
Carrots, raw 1 cup, 47 0 11 1
Water 2 cup 0 0 0 0
Tea, herbal 8 fl oz 2 0 0 0
Beans, kidney, red, canned 0.5 cup 109 0 20 7
Beans, black, canned 0.3 cup 66 0 12 4
Tomatoes, from canned, stewed 0.6 cup 43 0 10 1
Ground beef, lean, cooked 0.7 cup, 232 16 0 21
Tea, herbal 8 fl oz 2 0 0 0
Plum, raw 36 0 9 1
Celery, raw 1 medium stalk 6 0 1 0
Peanut butter 1 tablespoon 95 8 3 4
Tea, herbal 8 fl oz 2 0 0 0
Celery, raw 1 medium stalk 6 0 1 0
Peanut butter 1 tablespoon 95 8 3 4
Textured vegetable protein, dry 0.2 cup 45 0 5 6
Tomatoes, from canned, stewed 0.5 cup 36 0 9 1
Beans, kidney, red, canned 0.4 cup 87 0 16 5
Beans, black, canned 0.3 cup 66 0 12 4
Ground beef, lean, cooked 0.6 cup 199 14 0 18
Egg, whole, boiled1 large 77 5 1 6
cola, sugar free 1C
water 1 C
Total Calories 1538 55 187 89
35% calories from fat, 39% from carbs, and 25 from protein.
I still know embarrassingly little about nutrients. Hey, there's protein in strawberries! (a wee tiny bit, anyway) I did not try to restrict calories at all; they're low only because I can only eat so much meat in a day. I'm still a little hungry, but the only thing that would tame my hunger pangs is a nice slice of banana bread.

I could NEVER do Atkins. Heck, I probably couldn't even do the authorized BFL plan. I'd be climbing the walls in no time, demanding my yogurt. Actually, this is probably the only day in my life that I've ever been on a "diet", as weird as this diet may be. It's especially difficult to deal with foods that are off limits when you are the one responsible for feeding the family. My daughter had three slices of toast for breakfast, and they sure did look tempting.

On the bright side, I've deduced that my weight gain can't be all fat, even though my waist is more than an inch larger than it's usual. Last night, I increased my weights for dumbbell curl. I've been using my 22 pound dumbbells, and last night I had to steal the smaller weight off of one and add it to the other, so I could only do one arm at a time, at 25 pounds. :tu: Definitely time for new weights. My bench press goals (press my weight) have been thrown off to the side as well, since December when I moved. I don't have a bench or additional weights yet because I haven't decided on the right equipment. I've been watching ebay for a couple of weeks to get some ideas of what's available. I like the look of this bodyflux home combo gym bench.
http://i12.ebayimg.com/01/i/03/a1/6d/96_2.JPG

We'll see how tomorrow goes. My planned breakfast is either an oatmeal pancake, or a bowl of oatmeal. Usually, I cover it in a whole lot of berries or raisins, but I think I'll try to go easy on the fruit tomorrow.

I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet. ~Ancient Persian Saying

great picture of you and the kids in the snow... I miss snow (I'm from Denver)... the only comment I want to make about your no sugar day, is that it wasn't no sugar because you had fruit and fruit has a lot of natural sugars... although the natural sugar in fruit IS better than refined sugars :p I love fruit, but now that I'm crunching for the competition I want to do, fruit is out, as is most dairy too... no yogurt or cottage cheese for me... at least not until after the competition in mid June

I wouldn't knock grains out of your diet for your low sugar day's though... grains are good for you... my day today looks like this:

6 egg whites w/ 1/2 cup oatmeal (made like a giant pancake w/ cinnamon & splenda)

1/2 can (3 oz) tuna with brocolli and 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil

6 egg whites w/ 1/2 cup oatmeal (made like a giant pancake w/ cinnamon & splenda) and spinach

6 egg whites & brocolli

3 oz chicken, green beans and 1 cup of Kashi go lean crunch and 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil

it all comes out to about 1217 calories, 91 g carbs, 145 g protien, 30.5 g fiber, 31 g Fat, 2.1 g Sat Fat

I'm about 100 calories shy of where I should be for today but I'm going to leave it like this for a week or so... it's a heck of a lot higher than it was while I was sick, I was only eating cough drops and about 2 bowls of soup a day...not good :p

18 egg whites in a day !!!!!!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

yeppers... sometimes I have even more than that... I buy them in blulk at Sam's :p

Hey, thanks Chameleon! That's exactly the diet I was looking for. Egg whites are easy, and the sugar in the Kashi will help keep me sane. :p I wouldn't want to go that low, however. Anything under 1500 makes me crabby. I might make this a weekly or monthly "cleansing" thing, but I wouldn't want to eat like that every day. I realize now it would have made more sense to cut out the fruit yesterday instead of cutting out the grains. Unfortunately, it didn't do much to break my cravings. I found myself at the grocery store picking up a loaf of fresh baked garlic bread (with whole garlic cloves in it), then I took it home and had not one, but two big slices of it. I'm stuffing my face now with carrot sticks. Seems to be the only thing that's stopping me from devouring the whole container of yogurt which I also insisted that I needed when I went to the store.

I have quite of bit of a problem with throwing out egg yolks. This week, I'm able to do it, because eggs are on sale. $1.49 a dozen, limit of two cartons. I've been back three times so far, and I'll be back again before the week is up.

So far for today, I have this, with 35 g of fibre already. Need to drink more water.
Cereals, oats 1 cup 145 2 25 6
Egg, white only, cooked 2 white 33 0 1 7
Orange peel 0.3 tablespoon 2 0 0 0
Yogurt, fruit variety, nonfat milk 1 4.4 oz 118 0 24 6
Tea, herbal 1 fl oz 0 0 0 0
Coffee,powder, with whitener and sugar 0.5 teaspoon, dry 8 0 1 0
Coffee, decaf powder 0.5 teaspoon, rounded 2 0 0 0
Bread, banana, 0.5 slice 98 3 16 1
Bread, whole wheat, 100% 0.5 thin slice 28 0 5 1
Peanut butter 0.5 tablespoon 47 4 2 2
Coffee, 8 fl oz 5 0 1 0
Milk, 2% fat for coffee 10 0 1 1
sugar substitute 1 teaspoon 11 0 3 0
Lettuce, raw 0.5 cup, 3 0 1 0
Pepper, sweet, red, raw 0.3 cup, NFS 12 0 3 0
Onions, young green, raw 1 medium 5 0 1 0
Italian dressing, low calorie 1 tablespoon 16 1 1 0
Bread, white 2 large slice 160 2 30 5
Quinoa 0.125 cup 79 1 15 3
Carrots, raw 0.5 small (5-1/2" long) 11 0 3 0
Carrots, raw 1 cup, NFS 47 0 11 1
Orange juice, NFS 0.125 cup 14 0 3 0
Raisins 0.125 cup 54 0 14 1
Total Calories 908 16 160 35

Do you put your spinach IN your oatmeal pancake? I'm thinking about for supper tonight having egg white and spinach, but I don't think I'll require the cinnamon and splenda. I have a feeling a bit of garlic will be better.

Okay, I already put the egg whites and spinach into fitday. Think that'll make me eat them? I've still got room for another 600 calories or more after that; if I don't have something planned to fill that, it'll probably end up being a blueberry bagel and some yogurt. I did, however, pick up some silken tofu at the store. Maybe I could whip it into a Jello concoction. :confused:

Begin to free yourself at once by doing all that is possible with the means you have, and as you proceed in this spirit the way will open for you to do more. ~Robert Collier

I feel much better today. I hope it will last. I'm still suffering from internet addiction, which will improve considerably when my husband gets home from his week-long business trip. I feel like violently shaking myself and shouting "Snap out of it!"

Today's diet has shifted back to more of what I'm used to, without quite as strong sugar cravings as I was having several days ago. I'm much happier when I focus on eating healthy foods, rather than trying to balance the types of foods that I'm eating. It's much easier for me to eat healthy when I'm not worried about how much protein I'm consuming. I came very close on the "Am I meeting my nutrient requirements?" in fitday at 1754 calories yesterday, even though I had a small pancake and syrup, and a large store-bought bran muffin as part of that day. The day before, it says I ended up at 1114 calories after adding 3 egg whites and an egg (I CANNOT throw out six egg yolks at a time :o ), a cup of spinach, a slice of toast, and a plum. I don't know how I wasn't hungry. Not surprisingly, I was low on several nutrients.

Yesterday, when I went to the natural food store for TVP, I picked up some stevia and some seasoning called Spike. I've dried a couple of drops of stevia in some coffee, and in some tea, but I've been disappointed. I couldn't detect any sweetness at all. I will have to experiment with using more. The Spike is pretty good, but there's a lot of salt in it. I think next time I will buy the salt free one.

I had an interesting leg workout a couple of nights ago. I'm looking to try to target my glutes a little more. I decided to do some moves from the Joyce Vedral book that I got from Value Village a few months ago. A lot of the moves don't use any equipment at all. I'm considering investing in some ankle weights to increase the difficulty, but I do remember buying some about five years ago, just can't figure out where they might have ended up.

Tomorrow is the Eco Festival. I'll try to make a point of NOT wearing my leather jacket. It might be frowned upon by the animal rights activists. The festival brochure mentions several vegetarian snacks and organic coffee they will have available, but mentions nothing about real meat. Wonder if that means that it will be absent. No matter to me any more, but a couple of years ago, that could have been a real hardship.

Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we didn’t spend half our time wishing.”~Alexander Woollcott,

Eating is going well. I'm thinking about eating more sardines. Need to buy some more pink lady apples, and maybe a pomello. Fruits are getting cheaper as it warms up. Farmers markets should open up in a couple of months. Yay. :claplow:

The weather is going backwards. Friday was a beautiful day; my daughter was jumping around so excited "It's spring!" she sang. The snow was finally all melted. Saturday the weather was so bad that I was unable to make it to the Eco Festival. That was disappointing, because I'd bought my ticket Friday morning. It was pouring down freezing rain, and I'm not a good driver at the best of times. I was worried that it would drop below zero, and I'd be stuck 30 miles away with icy, icy roads, so I turned around when I was half way there. At least I was able to get to the giant indoor garage sale, which had also been on my agenda. I got 15 children's books, a child's sweater and socks, two interesting board games, three trivets made of the same wood as the Indonesian bookshelf I have in my kitchen, and a steamer and flavor scenter. Total investment - $9.

I was a little bummed out being stuck at home the rest of the day, so we went out for a nice Italian dinner. I was able to eat about half of my spaghetti aglio olio. It was a little too greasy and a lot too spicy. I brought the leftovers home. Perhaps I will eat them with some sardines and broccoli and sundried tomato added.

Things may come to those who wait, but only things left by those who hustle. ~ Abraham Lincoln

My scale now reads 53.9 kg 19.0% body fat. It seems to be a reasonable place to be at, but I feel much less "puffy" when I'm between 52 and 53 at 17-18% body fat. It's a "retaining water" time of month, so this might drop on its own in a few days. I'll see how it goes.

I'm tired of trying to maniplulate every single morsel of food to make my weight balance out in just the spot where I want, so I'm currently focusing on eating as much healthy food as I want and letting my weight adjust where my diet dictates. I made some apple muffins yeterday. Recipe called for 1/2 C of sugar, but I put in 3 packets of Splenda instead. I seem to be getting rather sugar sensitive. Carrots taste like candy to me. :lol:

My steamer is wonderful. The best broccoli I have ever eaten at home has come out of that thing. I haven't tried rice yet because I don't want to be disappointed.

Last night's workout included two sets of 4 pull-ups. I've set a rough goal to be able to do a set of ten. At the rate I'm going, I think it will take me five months. That sounds like a long time.

I've been working on trying to do the splits. I always said I wanted to, but never bothered to put in the effort. So, at least five times a week since Christmas, I've been devoting 30 seconds to 10 minutes to challenging my flexibility. Around about February, I remembered I never could do the splits back when I was a ten-year-old gymnast, but it was too late by then to give up. I'm SO close now.

Lower body workouts are going well too. My gluteus medius seems to really be responding well to whatever I've been doing. Quads and hamstrings are still weak, but I hate squats and lunges, so I need different ideas on how to work them harder. I ordered some ankle weights online the other day (half price!), but it said they'd take two weeks to get here. :rolleyes:

I'm looking harder into buying a bench, even though my husband says there's no room for it. I don't care. Get me a bench and I'll FIND room. I'd lift weights in the middle of the kitchen if I had to, but I know there's plenty of room in the basement (or even the garage). I'm looking at used ones for now. I lost a bid on ebay for a cheap bench (I bid $39, it went for $40), but I'd rather pay a little more to have a sturdier one. I'm hoping that $200 will buy me the bench and the weights that I need.

It also occurred to me that I need a bicycle and some roller blades so I can join my kids on some hikes at the awesome parks in the area. Hmm, fitness is gettting expensive.

My husband is picking up my mom and my sister from the airport tonight. We have a bunch of fun stuff planned for the weekend (mostly involving shopping and restaurants, but a lot of walking too). I'm excited about showing them my little piece of paradise. My house hasn't been this clean since we moved in. :D

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had a nice visit with my mom and my sister, but it was too short. I must be a pretty good tour guide, anyway, because my mom said this was the best holiday she's had all year. Better than Kelowna. Better than Hawaii. Wow. :tucool:

Saturday morning, my sister looked over at me at lunch and said "Why are your fingers yellow?" After a few seconds of contemplation, I replied "Eating too many carrots (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_275a.html)." :o Gosh, I'm going to be a little more careful now about what I use to satisfy my hunger pangs.

The park we ended up going to yesterday was beautiful. And what great weather we had. Much better than LAST Saturday.

The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have. ~William Hazlitt

So my sister sent me an e-mail thanking me for my hospitality. She says "Your eating habits are still kind of kooky". I don't know what she's talking about. If you ask me, her diet's the one that's kooky. She passed on my offer to make her breakfast and opted for a large slice of banana pecan bread from the espresso bar, then for lunch had a bowl of soup, two meat pies, and a pecan tart. I had my wonderful oatmeal pancake for breakfast, and there was enough sugar in the two chai lattes (made with 1% milk) and leftover sweets from my daughter to call it lunch. Maybe she didn't like that I brought food with me wherever I went. But, hey, she did ask for TWO of my recipes while she was here. Obviously, my oatmeal pancake is good enough for her to try at home, and the pumpkin bread I make is irresistable. :lol:

The fat on my butt is migrating to a higher altitude. Finally. :claplow: Forever the widest part in my body was at the top of my thighs. Now it seems to be lined up with my hips, where it belongs. I'm really not sure what to attribute this too. Joyce Vedral's Bottoms Up workout must actually work. That's really surprising. You really can reshape your body. Now if I can just find some miracle vanishing cream for stretch marks and cellulite. :confused:

I ended up browsing the job bank this afternoon at the library. Seems they're looking for a manager for a health club nearby. They ask for some university and no experience. Sounds like I'm perfectly qualified. :D
Specific Skills: Plan, organize, direct and control daily operations, Establish or implement policies and procedures for staff, Respond to inquiries or complaints from customers, Determine target markets, Develop marketing plans, Plan public relations activities, Participate in trade shows

Additional Skills: Recruit and hire staff, Train staff, Arrange for training of staff, Supervise staff
I'm not really ready for a full time job, especially before my little one is in school in September, but I'm not sure I should pass up this chance for a position in the health industry which happens to include market research skills. It's like it's got my name on it in big neon lighting or something.

Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favourable do nothing. ~ William Feather

I consulted three people about my potential job application. My mom says the job sounds perfect for me, and she encourages me to go all out. My sister says it sounds like it's a little over my head and she advises me to take baby steps into the work force, like being a crossing guard :rolleyes: My husband told me to think about whether this particular job suits my needs at this particular time. (It doesn't.)

But, as crazy as it might be, I applied for the job.

One thing that concerns me is that it refers to itself as a Weight Loss Clinic. I'm not really sure what weight loss clinics are, but the ad did say that a background in exercise, fitness, and weight loss is needed. I will maybe pop in this weekend.

The ad said they're looking for someone as soon as possible, and they are accepting applications until the 20th, so I expect I will hear within a couple of weeks whether they think I am a good match.

Vision is where tomorrow begins, for it expresses what you and others who share the vision will be working hard to create. Since most people don't take the time to think systematically about the future, those who do, and who base their strategies and actions on their visions, have inordinate power to shape the future. --Burt Nanus

it sounds to me like you'll get the job no matter what. You seem like you'd be almost over qualified for it, even though you have no work experience yet. :D

I dont think babystepping is nessesary. work is work. so you might as well do what you want to do right away. (why waste time with jobs you dont want?)

:gl:

Thank you for your vote of confidence. In many ways, I do feel over qualified for it, but it sounds like a lot of fun. Being a crossing guard does not sound like fun.

Obviously, I managed to make an impression on them quickly. I only applied a few hours ago, and they just phoned to offer me an interview. He wanted to interview me tomorrow morning, but he said he could wait until my husband got back to town. Besides, I need time to check the place out. So I'm set for Monday evening. :tu:

I haven't been this nervous in months. Any suggestions on what to wear to a job interview at a weight loss clinic?

In the meantime, I'll check out my leads on child care. This is all moving so fast. :eek:

That's great news Guava. Goodluck with the interview. I've only ever applied for office type jobs, where I wear a suit. Maybe wear what you would expect to wear everyday if you had the job, but just a little bit nicer. See what people wear, when you stop by.

You can never make a mistake wearing a suit to an interview.

When it rains, it pours. :lol:

I'm sure you can guess when my first ever baseball practice is. Monday evening, of course. It's not like I'm a seasoned pro either. My coach called me tonight, and talked about how wonderful it was that they had so many new players in the league. I asked her "Are you sure at least some of them know how to play?" I don't even know the rules, and it's been several years since I've ever been up to bat.

The only spring-like suit I have was 6 years and 20 pounds ago. I suppose I need to go shopping. I'd buy this one (http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=63865&item=5382065445&rd=1) on ebay if I had the time.

It is one of the strange ironies of this strange life [that] those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up certain pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest people. --Brutus Hamilton

:nod: you are always an inspiration to me...

Thanks April!

I think women have unique dietary challenges. When I'm sad or upset, I can't stop eating; when I'm anxious or nervous, I can't eat at all. Really, this is not something I can mindfully control.

I took my daughter to McDonald's for breakfast, on our way home from a used book sale, and the thought of hash browns made me positively queasy. So I opted for a muffin and a fruit and yogurt parfait, which, I realize, is still pretty high in calories and refined carbs. By the time we got home after our other errands, my husband had a pizza in the oven for lunch. Gag. So I went out shopping again instead. Shopper's Drug Mart has this amazing sale on where if you buy $50 worth of stuff, you get a $20 cosmetics gift card. It's amazing the stuff I came home with that amounted to essentially $30. (Yeah, okay, so I couldn't pass up a bit of the leftover Easter chocolate that was on clearance.)

Right now I'm choking down half a salmon sandwich on flax bread. I have some strawberries and canteloupe to work on for the rest of the afternoon. I'd really like to snack on carrots again, but I'm quite frightened of them now. Maybe by Tuesday I'll feel like eating again.

When women are depressed, they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking. --Elaine Boosler

Good luck with the interview- I hope you nail it! Maybe some nice slacks, blouse and a blazer that you could wear again, with jeans or something? Let us know what you end up wearing. i don't believe in baby steppin anything either. If you want it, go after it!

i don't believe in baby steppin anything either. If you want it, go after it!
I agree. Many people say how they don't want to seem too pushy. I think you can't be too eager. The more interest you show and the more motivated you are the more likely they will hire you. After the interview you should be calling at least twice a week to find out the status of the job. Unless they give you a specific time to call back about. No employer is going to respond to someone who is interested, by saying, man they are way to overeager, they will more likely just think you are a very motivated individual, which is someone everyone wants working for them.

I don't have a great feeling about the job interview.

That doesn't mean I don't think I'll get the job. It could go either way. I was disappointed that:
1) the guy I talked to on the phone wasn't the one doing the interview like he said he was. He was a very enthusiastic person, and I think he could relate to me very well.
2) the woman who interviewed me was more interested in what I'd done than what I could do. My resume is not my strong point and I was looking forward to talking more about my strengths and goals rather than my experience. I wonder if I could have turned that around somehow.

My mom says that if it was meant to happen, it will happen, and if obstacles keep getting in the way, it wasn't meant to be. I reminded her that a HUGE variable in achieving what was "meant to happen" is the effort and enthusiasm that you focus on meeting your goals. Everything in my job search is going exactly as I would have hoped. I even found a child care solution yesterday morning - the grandmother of my daughter's best friend at the drop in center.

I told the interveiwer that I'd prefer part-time work to full-time, so we'll see what turns up. She said they were screening for several positions and would contact me by phone or e-mail about possibly coming in for a second interview. I thought the salary was reasonable for the manager's position that was advertised, and I don't know if I could accept a job for much less than that amount. I was also looking forward to the great variety in the tasks described. I'm not the kind of person that can do the same routine over and over again.

So, all I can do is wait. :nod: I love all the programs that I do with my daughter, and it will be very hard to give them up. Parent and child together three mornings a week, networking together one afternoon a week, and story time for a half hour per week.

I opened up my 1 kg jar of natural peanut butter yesterday. What a workout mixing up all that oil. It still doesn't seem all that perfectly blended. I'm disappointed. I've made my own in my food processor several times previously, but it had been in such small batches that it was easier to stir. I can't do that anymore unless I buy a new food processor with North American voltage. I'm really not sure if it's worth it fighting through this vigorous stirring process rather than continuing to buy Kraft.

Weight 52.4 kg 17.9% body fat. This is where I'm most comfortable. :cool:

If you want to accomplish anything in life, you can't just sit back and hope it will happen. You've got to make it happen. ~ Chuck Norris

My mom says that if it was meant to happen, it will happen, and if obstacles keep getting in the way, it wasn't meant to be.
What a horribly passive outlook on life. My parents think the same way... I think it's something that comes from that generation born in the 40's. Good for you for making your own opportunities and not being satisfied with "whatever happens". :tucool:

I know what you mean! I usually prefer doing things myself than buying them at least I know WHAT I put there and HOW MUCH I put there! (about the peanut butter...)

About the job I'm sure you did your best at the interview. It is not a matter of " if it has to be, will be ". It was YOU in the room right? I'm sure things will work out for the best! :tucool:

So, the "if it was meant to be, it was meant to be..." mentallity does seem a little predeterministic. where you can't change what is going to happen.

But I think you could look at it a slightly different way. I sort of take the mentality, "whatever happens, I will adapt to it and go from there"

So each way of thinking focuses on, don't despair and don't have regrets. Look to the future rather than fret over the past. So that's good. But I like my way of looking at it rather than having something meant to be.

What a horribly passive outlook on life. My parents think the same way... I think it's something that comes from that generation born in the 40's.
Passive is about the last way anybody would describe my mom. I think she just understands my tendency to take everything so personally, and it's her way of reminding me that nothing is the end of the world.

It is unfortunate that I don't have any big dreamers in my family. I feel like I'm reaching for the stars while everyone in my life is warning me to stay grounded. I'm searching for other like-minded people to guide me, instead of sticking with my comfort-oriented influences. They can sit there and play with the cards they've been dealt while I stand up from the table and create a better life for myself.

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. ~ Arthur C. Clarke

Only dead fish go with the flow. :)

Friday, April 22nd is the 35th Anniversary of Earth Day (http://www.earthday.net/). I'm going to celebrate by planting a tree.

We went out to the nursery last night to buy a tree that was on a one day special. I'd even called ahead to be sure they had it. A Bloodgood Japanese Maple (http://landscaping.about.com/cs/fallfoliagetrees/a/fall_foliage6.htm). Regular price $89.99, on sale for $44.99. Well, when we arrived there, the woman told me she just sold the last one. :p I suppose I should have run right over after I called instead of eating first. They did have other varieties of Japanese Maple available, but I wasnt' about to spend $119 on them, so we settled on a $30 peach tree with beautiful pink blossoms. We appreciate it for it's beauty; it will be a bonus if it bears fruit:D

Additions for my front flower bed, a rhododendron, and some violas (there are already pansies and other flowers there). I have a terribly NONgreen thumb, so I'm trying to keep things pretty low key. I'm really crossing my fingers that I don't kill anything. I'd like to find a place to put some strawberries and raspberries, but I'm sure it's best to wait until next year when I'll have a little better idea about what I'm doing.

Saturday the 23rd, the town has planned a litter clean-up day to tie-in with Earth Day. I'm going to call them to see if I can be assigned part of the route that I sometimes walk to my daughter's school. Then, strangely enough, next Saturday, the 30th, is our Earth day celebration, where, among other things, we will have the opportunity to buy one of 8 varieties of trees for $5. I could volunteer to help out with the townwide planting, but I decided it won't be as much fun as I initially thought, even with the complimentary Tim Horton's refreshments.

I've developed a bit of a cold, but just enough to be annoying rather than debilitating. I'm not enjoying ANY part of my cardio, but hopefully that will be solved when they fix my elliptical. I FINALLY got through to them and got some answers. It's never worked properly since I bought it in February. I bought some videos at a garage sale, but any of the workouts that involve weights usually just seem pretty wimpy to me, and any of the cardio workouts I've tried are just way too complicated.

Strength training is progressing. I can now do a set of FIVE pull-ups, which is just slightly better than the four I was doing a few months ago. :rolleyes: I'm seeing a touch more definition in my quads, but I'd really like to focus more on my hamstrings and glutes. The exercises I'm doing for them are still unsatisfactory. I'm not expecting big improvements, because, I am, after all, maintaining, but no seeing any progress at all just really sucks. :d_redface

This is a great cheese sauce recipe, if you're looking for one:
Cauliflower with Light Cheese Sauce
1 medium cauliflower (about 2 lb)
3 C water
½ C flour
½ C soft or medium tofu
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 C grated chedar
½ - 1 C cubed firm tofu
2 T bread crumbs

Break cauliflower into florets and rinse thoroughly. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add cauliflower, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 5 to 7 minutes, or until tender crisp. Drain; reserve 2 C of cooking water.
In a medium saucepan, whirl together the soft tofu and cooking water. Whisk flour in quickly to prevent lumping. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, whisking constantly. When thickened, reduce heat to low. Stir in bouillon cube and ¾ C of cheese. Spread cauliflower florets in a baking dish and sprinkle with tofu cubes. Pour cheese sauce over them. Top with remaining cheese and bread crumbs.
Broil in top rack of oven for about 5 minutes, or until cheese sauce is bubbly and starting to brown. Turn off heat; close oven door and let sit 5 to 10 minutes longer before serving.
Serves 4 to 6 Per serving; 187cal, 13 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 9 g total fat (4 sat, 2 mono, 2 poly) 20 mg cholesterol, 4 g fiber, 63 RE vit A 10 mcg folate, 99 mg vitamin C, 358 mg sodium, 522 potassium, 4 mg iron, 220 mg calcium.

I recommend cut the cheese in half, but be sure to use old cheddar to get the most flavor bang.

If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough. ~ Mario Andretti

That's excellent about the pullups, guava! They're not easy to do and it shows you've built up some nice strength there!! :cool:

That's neat about the Peach tree. I need to get out and plant some stuff soon. It gets too hot here quickly.

I really like having a stronger back, and it's sort of cool how it looks too. I'm sure there were NO visible muscles back there a couple of years ago. And now suddenly, I have a compelling urge to keep buying pink racer back tops. :p I'd really like this berry colored top. :D

Great looking back!



I really like having a stronger back, and it's sort of cool how it looks too. I'm sure there were NO visible muscles back there a couple of years ago. And now suddenly, I have a compelling urge to keep buying pink racer back tops. :p I'd really like this berry colored top. :D

The rain today delayed our town clean-up, so we went on a big shopping spree instead. I took my nine-year old with me. We have the most fun when just the two of us are shopping together. But we don't need special stores to have fun. We are the champion grocery shoppers. My favorite thing about this supermarket is the self-check-out. My daughter is becoming an expert, and I appreciate doing my own because then I can more closely monitor exactly how much I'm paying for each item.

In the cereal aisle, we saw New Special K Low Carb. To reduce the carbs in any item, a corporation needs to increase the protein and/or the fat. My mom, who's on Atkins has a little trouble with this concept too. So, I'm curious to see what's in Special K Low Carb, and check the ingredients and nutrition information. I'm not terribly surprised to see that they've added oil to it. The fat has increased from 0 g per serving to 3 g. Okay, so they did increase the fibre to 5 g per serving, but they are also using a MUCH smaller serving size 3/4 C vs 1 1/4 C to make it sound like a ridiculously low number of carbohydrates per serving, as compared to regular Special K. I want to station myself in the cereal aisle, and hand out Special K Soy or Vector to people instead. Failing that, I'm tempted to take over the public broadcast system and shout out "Save your money. Eat oats!" or "Count calories, not carbs!"

In this supermarket, there is a cafe. In the cafe, there are some brownies. In the brownies are more calories than you could imagine. Imagine biting into a brownie and having it literally melt in your mouth. A consistency like that is not the product of quality protein, and obviously, not a speck of fibre is contained within. Pure decadent fat. But, oh, so yummy, for a special treat.

Another treat for me was a dozen roses. I don't buy flowers often, but on a rainy day like today, it can really brighten up the place.

A garden can be many lovely things. It can enhance the house it surrounds. It can enhance the lives of the people who live in the house. It can visually stimulate the community. It can add a new dimension of beauty to the total landscape. But I believe that it can also be a place where the magic and mystery of growth refreshes and replenishes the spirit, and that refereshing and replenishing can make of the gardener a person who sees the world - and comes to know it well - as an exciting place where, by his own hand, miracles can and do happen. ~ Lois Wilson

That is a pretty top! I love tops that cut in to show my shoulders and halter tops. :)

Saturday, it was raining buckets. We had volunteered to be part of the town clean-up, but that obviously didn't go so well. I'm hoping they will contact me and give me a rain date. Otherwise, I suppose we could just tackle our area whenever we have some free time.

Sunday, it SNOWED. This is a crazy country I live in. :rolleyes:

I took a tip from Maggie, and booted out my computer chair in favor of resting on a stability ball while I type. The first couple of days it was a little weird, but now it's pretty relaxing. I have to keep switching positions to find a spot where I'm comfortable, but that must mean I'm working different muscles at different times, which is all good.

This week is tv turnoff week a my daughter's school, so, in trying to encourage her, we're trying to participate as a family. I never watch tv, so that's not a problem at all, but tv turnoff also means no surfing the net, so maybe I could kick my JSF habit in the meantime.

I have interesting new fitness goals. I've researched the mandatory moves for a fitness competition, and I'm going to learn them; not because I want to compete, just because they sound like fun and I want to learn some new party tricks. ;)

Mandatory Elements:
1) MIDDLE-SPLIT FULL

2) SIDE-SPLIT FULL

3) ONE ARM PUSH-UP

4) STRADDLE HOLD

5) PIKE PRESS HOLD - FULL EXTENSION

6) HIGH KICKS - FULL EXTENSION

I can do a straddle hold and pike press hold without a problem. I'm very close on side full split, and close on middle split. The one arm push-up is going to take a LOT of work. Not sure what they mean by high kicks, but I think I probably have quite a piece to go on it.

There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to meet. ~ William Frederick Halsey, Jr.

I can do a straddle hold and pike press hold without a problem. I'm very close on side full split, and close on middle split. The one arm push-up is going to take a LOT of work. Not sure what they mean by high kicks, but I think I probably have quite a piece to go on it.

There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to meet. ~ William Frederick Halsey, Jr.
I was interested in seeing what some of these are and I found this page: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alissa4.htm

There is a picture of a high kick at the bottom. Wow, that is a high kick. I can't imagine ever being able to do that. The link at the bottom also leads to the other moves.

I was interested in seeing what some of these are and I found this page: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alissa4.htm

There is a picture of a high kick at the bottom. Wow, that is a high kick. I can't imagine ever being able to do that. The link at the bottom also leads to the other moves.
:spaz: That's going to take a LOT of practising if I think I can ever kick that high. But I'm up for it. I have every confidence that one day I shall kick high like Alissa. :D

Thanks for the link. I had a heck of a time trying to find info on these moves. Those recommended stretches will help me out a lot.

I was exaggerating a bit when I said I could do those holds without a problem. I can do them without shoes, but put my runners on and its suddenly twice as hard. How much can those suckers weigh anyway?

Today was my first baseball practice. I didn't completely embarrass myself, but the large majority of my team are MUCH better than I am. That's okay, because if there's a "most improved" award, I'll be in pretty good running for it. :)

It wasn't SNOWING, but it did rain for a bit, and was only a few degrees above freezing. I had to jog on the spot to keep warm, in my tank top, t-shirt, sweater, AND jacket. :lol:

Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory. ~ George Patton

I haven't heard anything about the job yet. I'm too chicken to phone, but I sent out an e-mail Monday afternoon. The interview was so long ago, I'm really not that sure I'm so excited about the job anymore.

I will phone this evening to check on the status of the job. I will. But only because I said so here. I hate the phone. I don't wanna. :d_tongue: :whistle:

My high kick is really not that far off. I can hold my leg up beside my head so that my toe is up above my head. However, when I try to kick, there's some kind of weird popping sound in my hip. Maybe that will subside with further work. That site recommends stretching for 30 minutes 5 times a week. I think at that rate, I'll be there in about 6 weeks or so.

I've decided that 20 minutes on the elliptical is not enough unless I do it every day, so for three days in a row, I've been on target. I'm also mixing it up with some standard aerobic moves on the floor (grapevine, knees up, jumping jacks) for some variety. I'd like to get out in the evenings for a jog, but it's still sometimes too cold. I need to reduce my weight training, because I find I'm tempted to lift a full body routine 60 minutes plus every night. Now that I'll be doing more stretching, I can revise that schedule, but I'll have to start writing down my exercises to stay focused. I really need a bench so I can start working again at my bench press. I am embarrassed at my pitiful attempt at a one-handed push-up on my knees.

Saturday, I had some trouble at the grocery store. My daughter is rather a picky eater. When we were living in Romania, she was rather fond of something called pastram de porc. I've been looking for pastrami made from pork, and can't find it anywhere. In the deli section, I finally asked someone about those labels that say 19% meat protein. I asked if there was any way to find out the fat content. The answer was essentially "no". They put the fat content on it if it's a reduced fat product, but otherwise it's unlabelled. She said soon that will change. For now, I'm having trouble picking out the healthiest deli meats that my daughter can stomach. (I don't eat deli meats because they're so darned expensive.) I picked up a package of Montreal Smoked Meat and I asked the people working there "Is this beef?" and they didn't even know that. How'd they get that job anyway?

I'm trying to shift my focus away from my foods. When I get into calorie counting mode, I always seem to gain weight. I had a too-small lunch yesterday, and ended up devouring a cookie to control my hunger pangs. It doesn't help that my four year old is going through what can best be described as the terrible twos. Everything has to be exactly her way or she cuts up a royal stink. I tried to help her clean her room, and she stood there watching me, so I left her alone to finish it up. To say she was upset is an understatement. She ended up screaming in her bedroom "How come I love you so much and you hate me?" :rolleyes: (That's when I ate the cookie. A chocolate one. At least I stopped at one, took a deep breath, and made some tea.)

"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it." - Harold Hulbert

It doesn't help that my four year old is going through what can best be described as the terrible twos. Everything has to be exactly her way or she cuts up a royal stink. I tried to help her clean her room, and she stood there watching me, so I left her alone to finish it up. To say she was upset is an understatement. She ended up screaming in her bedroom "How come I love you so much and you hate me?" :rolleyes: (That's when I ate the cookie. A chocolate one. At least I stopped at one, took a deep breath, and made some tea.)
[/I]

At four they do tend to have that king of sentences somewhat built in their heads :rolleyes:

Sometimes I think my daughter stays awake nights scheming up ideas of how to piss me off. Yesterday, she picked out a pair of cowboy boots to walk to the grocery store in. I didn't have a problem with that, but when we were done our shopping, she suddenly decided that the boots were too big and couldn't walk home in them. No way I could have carried her even if I wanted to because I'd bought 4 large boxes of cereal (I can't pass it up at $2.49 a box when it comes with a coupon for a free McDonald's salad and fruit and yogurt parfait). We argued for more than 5 minutes before I finally let her walk home in sock feet.

I made bran muffins last night, and they are SOoooo yummy. I cut down on the sugar it called for, but next time I could cut it back even further, and cut down on a bit of the oil too.
Orange Bran Muffins
2 c flour (cut to 1 C, added 1/2 C ground flax seed, 1/2 C wheat germ. Turned out a little too wet. Needs another 1/4 C flour)
2 c bran
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c brown sugar (used 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/4 C sweeter. Next time 1/3 C each)
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t ginger
2 eggs
1/2 c oil (next time 1/3 C)
1 1/2 c sour milk (I used buttermilk. Much better)
1/2 c molasses (used 1/4 C honey, 1/4 C molasses. Next time 1/3 C molasses)
3 T orange juice concentrate
grated rind of 1 orange
2 c raisins
Combine dry ingredients. Add next 5 ingredients. Add rind and raisins. Pour into greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
My e-bay finds are getting more sparse, so I'm going to put a wanted ad in my local paper for a weight bench and see what turns up. When Welcome Wagon came, I got a coupon for a free ad, and this seems the perfect chance to use it.

My strength training/stretching is going well, because I'm making it part of my regular activities (eg. bicep curls, stretch, pull-ups, brush teeth, push-ups, stretch, bent over rows, fold some laundry, etc.) Usually it takes almost 2 hours, but that's okay for now.

I am NOT getting further with my stretching each day. The day after I do a killer stretching session, my flexibility is actually somewhat reduced. :confused:

Had a good workout on legs the other day while watching a movie. It was so thorough that I couldn't make it onto the elliptical when I woke up, but I forced in 10 minutes later in the day. I can't seem to track down the ankle weights that I ordered online a couple of weeks ago. For once, I didn't print out that "keep this information for your records page". I'll have to check my credit card statement pretty carefully.

I didn't phone about the job because I was in such a bad mood. I'm a weak, weak person.

If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, then someday you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them. ~ Zig Ziglar

I woke up to SNOW again this morning, on this fine day in May. I'm really not excited about tackling my first ever baseball game in this weather tonight.

I read an interesting reflection on vanity, and it made me recontemplate my goals.

My diet goals are based on great taste combined with maximum nutrients at the best value. However, my exercise-related routine is almost purely vain. I don't care as much about being stronger, or having a healthier heart as I do about looking good.

We had dinner guests last night that told me flat out that I was "too thin" and that I should eat more. The weird thing is, part of me agrees with them, and yet I still resist gaining weight. I've reached a point where I'm proud of what I can do and I'm proud of how I look. I'm worried that if I get heavier, I just won't feel as special anymore. :rolleyes: It's really dumb, and probably the signs of a possible eating disorder, so I'm going to keep better track of any destructive behaviors I may engage in. For now, I really do seem okay. I treat myself frequently with favorite foods, and I'm generally creative and excited about exercise rather than compulsive.

On the plus side, I did manage to feel very special indeed today. At the drop-in center we go to, I seemed to just be a kid magnet. During circle time, a little boy decided he liked the look of my lap, and so he sat down in it. :d_tongue: A few minutes later, a girl brought me a story to read to her, and snuggled up on a chair with me. Then, a four-year-old boy insisted on having a long discussion with me about the merits of milk, salmon, and broccoli. :)

I borrowed a book from the drop-in center and it says that my four-year-old should be eating about 1500 calories a day. I'm sure she doesn't eat anywhere close to that much. Poor girl must be malnourished.

My husband is applying for a management job at the company he works for. He is also highly sought after for a transfer to the other branch where he's been commuting to every alternate week. He says his boss is trying to negotiate for him a custom-built bungalow on 9 acres of land on the river, a doubling of his salary, and a job for me. I'm not sure how much of that is a joke, and how much is reality. My head hurts.

Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more. ~ Sir John Lubbock

There's not many things that a good brisk walk can't improve. Especially if you bring with you a CD with 177 of your favorite songs on it. I went out last night after I put the girls to bed, about 9:30. After an hour, I finally decided to come back home. For the first five minutes, I was still so pumped up I could not stop pacing the kitchen :spaz: , then it seemed like a great idea to tidy the kitchen and scrub the bathroom. :p Then I planned my garden, made a "to do" list for the week, and did several minutes of stretching, until I was finally cooled down enough to go to bed around midnight. My hands were completely chilled to the bone, because it was just slightly above freezing outside.

So I was wrong. I don't exercise to look better, I exercise to boost my mood. It feels great to have your muscles working and your blood pumping. Who needs caffeine when you have a good set of athletic shoes?

I scored a run in my baseball game Monday night (through the rain and the tremendous wind). :claplow: After the game, the teams all go to the legion to drink beer and EAT CHIPS. :rolleyes: I don't like to seem like an antisocial party pooper, so I ordered a beer, and bypassed the chips. Boy, one beer can really knock a person out if they're not used to drinking. :o

"I know life sometimes can get tough! And I know life sometimes can be a drag! But people, we have been given a gift, we have been given a road And that road's name is... Rock and Roll!" -KISS

I am the designated leftover solutions manager. Any food that is uneaten in my home becomes my responsibility. This is extremely frustrating, especially since my family will generally not consume the foods that I like to prepare and eat.

Since Sunday, I've been trying to clean up that turkey I made on the weekend. I put some of it in the freezer right away, but I spent a good part of the beginning of the week doing my best with the spare pieces. Monday - breakfast - turkey and stuffing with vegetables; lunch - pasta with turkey; supper - turkey with vegetables; Tuesday - breakfast - muffins and fruit; lunch - muffins and fruit; supper - turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce; Wednesday - breakfast - protein pancake, lunch - turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce; supper - corn on the cob and a crazy concoction I dreamed up:

I mixed the rest of the leftover mashed potatoes with some onions and some of the tofu cheese sauce I'd originally served with the vegetables. I spread them into a pie plate and baked them five minutes. Then I spread the leftover vegetables and some mushrooms on top. I mixed the rest of the cheese sauce with 5 eggs and a bit of milk, then I poured the whole mess over top and baked it 20 minutes. I was prepared to throw it out if it was awful, but it was surprisingly good, and amazingly filling as well. I had 1/4 of it for supper, 1/4 of it for breakfast today with some fruit and cereal, and 1/4 of it for lunch today with some fruit and yogurt.

I'm becoming less impressed with the book Better Food for Kids I picked up from the drop in centre. Considering that it was developed with "the world-reknowed Hospital for Sick Children" I am disappointed in their recipes, which are very high in fat and sugar. I don't think there's a recipe in the book that doesn't call for either cheese, butter, or sugar. :(

Their philiosphy seems to be that children can eat whatever they want because the need the extra calories to grow. I just can't help but think it's not a good idea to get your kid used to eating things like Cheese Fondue and Quiche Lorraine (I kid you not). In the recipes with really high fat content, they manipulate the serving sizes to make them seem not so bad. 25 squares of brownies (131 calories each) in a 9x9 pan? There's a cheese sauce recipe that lists a serving size as 1 T (with 8.2 g fat!) and the fettucini alfredo (made with 10% cream) has 18.2 g fat, with a 2 oz serving of pasta. The one that REALLY bugs me is the hot cheese bread ring that tells you to dip store-bought buttermilk biscuits in 1/2 C mayonnaise and 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese before baking them. And this is a Better food? :rolleyes: Better than what?

The recipes in this book would NOT be included in a book for healthy eating for adults, so why is it okay to serve to kids? If you grow up on meals like this, it becomes a part of your life, and so much harder to get rid of the aquired tastes once you are fully grown. I personally kept growing way up until I was 22 years old because of habits like that, and I don't think I added any height or strength in those last 6 years or so. If I don't teach my children how to incorporate the most nutrients into the most filling foods with the least calories, who will?

I'm encouraging my children to eat things as close to nature as possible, and this book goes against that. We eat pure pork or chicken instead of deli meats, I sweeten my homemade desserts naturally with juice rather than sugar, when possible, and I serve more whole grains than refined. We haven't had butter in the house for ages, and I try to substitute oil in my baking (or applesauce) for margarine. I've quit buying cake mixes because of the trans fats. If I want to make a cake, it's from scratch. Dessert doesn't have to be cake, pie, or ice cream. It can be fruit and yogurt, a nice warm tapioca pudding, or a baked apple.

One of my husband's coworkers told him that he shouldn't let me go out jogging at night. "It's dangerous." My husband told him "You haven't seen my wife lately. Nobody would bother her because she looks like she could beat the shit out of them." :db: :D

It’s a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. ~ William Somerset Maugham

It is extremelly hard to be creative enough in the kitchen when no one else in the house shares your eating habits. I have the same problem now and there is only two of us at home at the moment. I find myself having salad or hard boiled greens everyday for supper because they are the only side dish I can have if I have dinner with my husband. He eats like three times what I eat and there HAS to be a good steack or a big piece of fish. And he always has to have like huge amounts of rice, pasta or potatoes to go with. It is sort of a nightmare to me to even think of how it will be like when we have kids... :rolleyes: three differente meals at the same time?!?! No way!

I agree with you about the healthy meals for kids. We LEARN to eat and if we start on the right foot there is way we jump on the wrong foot! I want to do just like that when i have my kids!

There is still too much to be said about child nutrition I'm afraid...

Today, I'm seeing negativity around me instead of focusing on the beauty around me. I have no reason to think that today is any more negative than any other day, but I am letting things that other people say affect my mood, rather than holding strong. Somehow the things that other people said seemed more important than the things that I said today. A day of weakness, I guess. The stupid thing is, I feel weak enough that it doesn't even sound like a good idea to go out for a jog, (in the dark, as a woman) even though I know that would really help. :d_frown:

We tried out the new ice cream parlor for dessert tonight. The peanut butter chocolate is very good. Mood enhancing, even, but only during consumption. :tu:

I planted four raspberry plants in my backyard. The peach tree is still not planted, but tomorrow is the designated day. It was almost warm enough to wear shorts today, and it's supposed to continue to warm up to about 20 degrees for tomorrow.

The local paper gave me a coupon with the Welcome Wagon for a free ad. I used it this week to put in a wanted ad for a weight bench, bicycle, and roller blades. I got a couple of calls and went to look at a weight bench this evening. It's a Weider flat/incline with leg developer, bench press rack, and preacher curl attachment. She threw in a barbell and 100 pounds of weights. $70 sounded reasonable, so I paid her, we loaded it into the van, and took it home. Before I can use it, it has to be taken apart so that we can fit into the basement. It's something like this one (http://www.iconfitness.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=979&prrfnbr=100423)

Garage sale season has started. There's more than 40 garage sales advertised in the paper, all within 10 minutes of my house. It all sounds so tempting, but how much more junk do I need? I really should go out for an early morning jog instead of an early morning shopping spree.

I have a meeting Tuesday night about my younger daughter's baseball games which will start the following Tuesday. The bases will aparently HONK, and she's supposed to shout "Blast" to stop the play when she retrieves the ball. Sounds like it'll be good for a giggle. :d_biggrin

If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give back in kind. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Saturday morning, I resisted the shopping bug and took a nice long walk. It's amazing how many beautiful things I found in my town after a two hour treasure hunt. I came across three playgrounds, an empty ravine, a couple of bridges, a lake, three ball diamonds, a big hill, several beautiful flower gardens, a set of tennis courts, a tiny outdoor public pool, a beach, a couple of soccer fields, and a waterfall.

So, I decided that today, for Mother's Day, we must go to the beach. The weather was not right for swimming, of course, but it was beautiful indeed, and what fun we had! :d_biggrin The girls picked dandelions at the library, tossed them over the side of the bridge, and watched them float down the stream.

I'm feeling a little silly. 100 pounds is not a lot of weight for a weight set. The plates are huge sand-filled plastic. I think there are 4x15 pounds and 4x10 pounds. The leg developer on my weight bench will only hold 3 plates. :rolleyes: So I did one leg at a time for now, and I will have to buy some more compact weights. I'm assuming that my bench will at least support them.

Although my quads have gained some strength in the new year, my hamstrings seem to have stayed in the same place or become weaker. I have been vigilant about my dumbell squats, and not quite so disciplined with lunges. :d_redface The problem is, of course, that the exercises we hate are the ones we need to do most. I am unfortunately unable to do leg curls presently. Must fashion a cushion to support my pierced navel. I hardly believed them when they said six months to heal, but it's beginning to become aparent. Deadlifts went well. I'm not up to 100 pounds on those yet. :d_wink: I also tried out a decline bench press, which felt really nice, other than the strange noises that I heard coming from the shoulder (somewhat of a quiet creaky sound, rather like bones rubbing together. I feel no need to get it checked out since it causes me no pain whatsoever.). Some day soon now, I will bench press my body weight. (I have just enough weight, if I add in some plates from my dumbbells.) :bb:

Do whatever it takes, whenever it needs to be done, regardless of whether you feel like doing it or not. ~ Greg Hickman

I've been lifting weights for a year and a half now and only twice have pulled a muscle. But after playing baseball for just two weeks, I pull a muscle. (It could, however, have something to do with the one-legged leg extensions I was doing Sunday night.) Despite this, I still managed to make a run and catch a fly ball. :claplow:

Sure glad we're not still living in Romania. They are staging a nuclear disaster (http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050509/full/050509-3.html) where my husband used to work. Sounds like a royal pain in the butt.

It's a crazy week. My husband's away on business again. Last night the girls had to entertain themselves at the playground while I played ball, tonight, they'll have to find some way to amuse themselves at the meeting I'll have to bring them to about the little one's baseball. At some point I need to squeeze in some baking with my daughter for the cupcakes she needs to sell on Wednesday morning. My husband is supposed to be home by Thursday, which is good, because I have another meeting to go to about kindergarten.

What's the best cardio I can do with such sore legs?

Fortune befriends the bold. ~John Dryden

What's the best cardio I can do with such sore legs?
jumping jacks? 45 minutes of really fast sit-ups? dunno... that's a tough one.

jumping jacks? 45 minutes of really fast sit-ups? dunno... that's a tough one.

Jumping jacks? :p Are you trying to kill me? ;)

So, I say "To heck with the cardio. Let's pump some iron." (Um, or plastic, or whatever.)

What a crappy bench! Who uses stuff like this? If I'd bought this from a store, I'd have returned it.

It has a dip station on one end. On the instructions poster, it starts out "Place 100 pounds of weight on the leg lever to balance the bench." Sure, I'd place 100 pounds there if I could fit 100 pounds there. So I did the dips with all the weight that would fit on, and the bench kept wobbling all over the place. It wobbled all during the bench press as well. I may just go out and buy a better bench.

Well, I'm in a really mean mood. A record breaking mood. I loaded all the weight onto my bar to prove that I need more than 98 pounds to deadlift. And being in the mood that I'm in, I did not bother to change before I did my workout.

Tell me about preacher curls. Am I supposed to be able to curl 30 pounds easily with a preacher curl, when I can only curl 25 pounds regularly on a good day? I feel like my biceps grew an inch tonight.

I have a feeling my arms as well as my legs are going to be burning tomorrow. What did I get myself into? :spaz:

Photos attached. Leg lever is full with 15 pounds of weight. Bargell is full with all the weights that came with it.

My radio station is playing me Metallica. Strange, this afternoon, it played me Moody Blues. How could it possibly know? (If you don't already listen to Yahoo LAUNCHcast radio, you have to give it a shot. Heck, you can even listen to my station (http://launch.yahoo.com/lc/?rt=0&rp1=0&rp2=1453380665).

Oh, can't stop this train from rolling
Oh, yo, you can't take it down
No, never stop this locomotion on and on and on
No, no, you can't bring me down
-Metallica

Tomorrow, I'm sure I won't feel so mean.

Functional strength, definition: power that comes in handy when it's essential to hoist your four year old over your shoulder and transport her out of the mall, while carrying a solid marble lazy suzan in one bag, and a set of ankle weights in the other.

I'm in a bulking mood. Being described as tiny doesn't really appeal to me this week. Perhaps I will try bicep curls with a barbell for a change. :bb:

Someone said life is for the taking
Here I am with my hand out waiting for a ride
I've been living on my great expectations
What good is it when I'm stranded here
And the world just passess by
Where are the signs to help me get out of this place

If I should stumble on my moment in time, how will I know
If the story's written on my face, does it show
Am I strong enough to walk on water
Smart enough to come in out of the rain
Or am I a fool going where the wind blows

Here I sit halfway to somewhere
Thinking about what's in front of me and what I left behind
On my own, supposed to be so easy
Is this what I've been after or have I lost my mind

Maybe this is my chance coming to take me away
If I should stumble on my moment in time, how will I know
If the story's written on my face, does it show
Am I strong enough to walk on water
Smart enough to come in out of the rain
Or am I a fool going where the wind blows

Here I am walking naked through the world
Taking up space, society's child
Make room for me, make room for me, make room for me

Am I strong enough to walk on water
Smart enough to come in out of the rain
Or am I a fool
Going where the wind blows
Going where the wind blows
Going where the wind blows
Going where the wind blows
-Tesla

I haven't been doing well with two of my goals:

Water consumption is miserably low, as it ALWAYS has been. I can't seem to be able to eliminate my diet Coke addiction.

I have not been in the mood to do cardio, so I haven't been doing it, other than about 15 minutes 5 times a week or so and regular walking of maybe 20 or 30 minutes a day. It doesn't help that it's rainy.

On the upside, I'm very close on my flexibility goals, and my weight and body fat percentage is staying right where I'm comfortable. This morning 53.1 kg at 18.1% according to my scale.

I've been eating lots of fat free cottage cheese. I the whole mess of it and whirled it in the blender before throwing it back in the container. It's excellent as a strawberry dip mixed with a packet of splenda and a teaspoon of vanilla, and it's great as a pasta sauce with a tiny bit of pesto mixed in. :eat:

McDonald's buns are disgusting and fluffy. I tried the Chicken McGrill for a change today, and it was awful. On top of that, it was loaded with mayo. :( Next time I will stick with my usual oriental chicken salad.

Dessert cravings are pretty bad at some points this week. I subtract calories from lunch and supper to fit in my desired sugar fixes. M&M has ice cream on sale, including peanut butter chocolate persuasion. It sounds tempting, but it would probably be pretty stupid to buy 1.5 L. Maybe if I calculate how many total calories are in that size container it will be enough to keep me away. This cheesecake (http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/BailyChocoChsck.asp) has 5,500 calories in it. Obviously it would be insane to actually prepare it and have it in my house. It works a lot better for myself if my naughty foods are only consumed outside of these four walls. Then it takes some effort and thought (and it's only a single serving). I wanted to go to Tim Horton's last night, but it was fortunately terribly inconvenient.

I've volunteered to be assistant coach for my daughter's baseball team. She will wear a black t-shirt and be called a crow.

I've also submitted my donation to become a Friend of the Library. I'm hoping that if I volunteer to help out at the book sale, that will mean I get first dibs on the quality material. I have my eye on some Oprah magazines. Yesterday I ordered 19 books from an online clearinghouse for $33. A lot of them are bestsellers, up to 90% off. I don't know when I'll ever be able to read them, but I know they'll come in handy. :lol:

My daughter was invited to go to Canada's Wonderland with a girl from her class. I told her no. So, she asked if she could go to the friends house after school, which sounded a lot better. She wanted to walk there, but I didn't like that idea, so I drove her there. When I peeked in the door, I saw that the couch was falling apart, there were food wrappers and dirty laundry strewn about the floor, and it smelled worse than you could imagine. I made sure I had the phone number, then I put on a brave smile and told her I'd come and pick her up shortly. I immediately ate a chocolate when I got home (stress) and panicked the whole time she was gone. How do I know my baby's going to be okay? (she's nine) Even after she got home, I was edgy all evening. I don't know if I made the right choice in letting her stay at a place that made me uncomfortable. She enjoyed herself, and said she was invited to a sleepover tonight. I told her a firm NO. Is my judgment bigoted? (Gee, honey, I'd really rather you make friends with wealthy children who come from clean homes :whistle: )

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. ~ Thomas Carlyle

Your judgment is fine. Hey, if it quacks like a duck....it probably is. :lol:

I'm rarely wrong when I go with my gut on those things.

Don't feel guilty.

I would say your judgement is a tad harsh given that its based on one peek through a window. I would try to find out a bit more before i stopped someone having a friend. Friends are hard to find, especially for kids. :nod:

I must have had a good workout last night because I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud. :D

Last night, I worked my legs. They don't feel at all sore today, and I wonder if that indicates I could have worked them harder, but the last time I worked this hard, it took a full 24 hours to feel the intense burn. Tomorrow could be the day I pay. My hamstrings and glutes are still not as toned as I'd like them to be, so that's my focus. Having ankle weights gives me a lot more options, and of course, the bench with leg developer as well provides some new moves. I strapped the ankle weights around the foot pads to give me a total of 55 pounds of resistance for leg curls. For leg extensions, I'm doing it one-legged at 55 pounds. Does it make any sense that my quads are twice as strong as my hamstrings?

I get great deals at a grocery store about 10 miles away. Sunday I came home with two huge bags of $15 worth of food. A loaf of bread, about 3 pounds of ORGANIC apples, a pound and a half of cherries, two pounds of strawberries, two pounds of bananas, 5 large green peppers, half a pound of lunch meat, a whole chicken, and 2 liters of ice cream. They reduce their produce by more than half price while it is still almost in prime condition. The cherries and strawberries were perfect. The bananas and apples had a few bruises on them, and I'm still trying to find a way to use up all that green pepper. I'm just a little bit worried about the deteriorating nutrient value of food when you leave it lying around so long. The ice cream (which was $1, once I applied my coupon), by the way, was not as tasty as I was afraid it might be. It can live in my freezer all summer as an occasional treat.

My days have been medium to low calorie, but they've included a lot of crap. I'm sure I must be missing out on nutrients to fit them in. I'm so bad about taking my multivatimin supplements too.

Today is McHappy Day, and I'm not sure why I find that so exciting. $1 from the sale of every Egg McMuffin, Happy Meal, and Big Mac goes to local children's charities. I don't even like Egg McMuffins, Happy Meals, or Big Macs. :rolleyes:

My lunch yesterday:
mix 1/2 green pepper finely chopped with about 1/2 C chopped chicken breast and a few diced onion, celery, or pickles. Whirl together about 2 T fat free cottage cheese, about 1/2 tsp oregano or basil, a pinch of black pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Spread on whole wheat bread. :eat:

At my baseball game, I didn't even make it on base, and I overthrew a ball that came into the field, causing the other team to gain another base. But that's okay, there's always next game to improve. My daughter LOVES blast ball, and she is one of the most enthusiastic ball chasers, runners, and "blast" shouters. I was a little worried about her being disappointed in not catching the ball every time, but she's a perfect little player. :tu:

I'm tired of reading my "women's" magazines. "46% of women are not happy with their bodies. Isn't that terrible?" Well, no, it's not terrible. 41% of women are overweight. Would it be better if all those people wanted to stay overweight? *Sigh* It's "a bad thing" to be overweight, and it's "a bad thing" to want to lose weight. The only way we can be socially acceptable is to never have gotten fat in the first place. :rolleyes:

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly. ~ Robert Schuller

Does it make any sense that my quads are twice as strong as my hamstrings?It's actually the exact opposite with me. my quads are very weak compared to my hamstrings. i can only squat 100 lbs max, which is probably the most pathetic squat possible. do you bike more often than you run? that might be why. i'm mostly a runner, so my hamstrings are much more developed. biking seems to have an opposite effect.

I'm tired of reading my "women's" magazines. "46% of women are not happy with their bodies. Isn't that terrible?" Well, no, it's not terrible. 41% of women are overweight.
I think it's a hell of a lot more than 41% that are overweight. everytime I'm in a grocery store I count the ratio of overweight people to fit people. it always ends up being 10:1, and I'm even counting ectomorphs as fit. you're a rare specimen in this society :)

My husband's birthday is today, and we had a nice relaxing day. :d_smile: For some reason, I was REALLY hungry. Which makes no sense because I ate a lot yesterday. Here's what I managed to stuff in:
2 slices toast with peanut butter
an english muffin with honey
1/2 C strawberries with 1/4 C apple juice and cornstarch
one small section of waffle
one apple
a few handfulls of Kashi Go Lean Crunch
3 bran muffins
a turkey sandwich (with gravy)
1 C steamed broccoli with a tablespoon of light dressing
1/4 C pasta with parmesan
one turkey burger (on a bun with lettuce, mustard, and onion)
1/2 C steamed broccoli with 1/2 T light dressing
10 baby carrots
4 slices watermelon
1 piece of carrot cake
1 1/2 litres water
1/2 litre diet Coke
3 cups tea
a cup of latte
I am amazed. :eek: Quite often, I try to restrain myself when I get this hungry, but today, I let myself go. Really, I think it worked out for the best. I think I must be undereating and just need occasional refeed days. They seem to do me good. I feel great right now, and I lifted better than I usually lift. I see now the benefit of cutting and bulking cycles. My strength really only has the opportunity to increase when I'm eating at a calorie excess.

My flexibility has reached a record peak. With my legs out in a V, I can rest my shoulders on the ground in front of me. I can also touch down into the splits for a few seconds. :tu:

You can get it, You can have it all
You can win it, Never have to fall
If the fire's in your heart, everything is a brand new start

You can get it, you can take the prize
You can own it if hope is in your eyes
All you've gotta do is fight

You can get it, you can get it, you can get it tonight ~ Baha Men

have you tried the splenda diet coke?
tastes much less... chemical-ish.. than the original diet coke.
although, i'm skeptical of this whole splenda stuff. all they seem to do is slice an electron off of table sugar, and the body doesnt recognize it.

i just dont trust these splenda people.. they're up to no good i tell ya....

Splenda diet Coke? You mean there's a choice?

We have Coke, caffeine free Coke, vanilla Coke, C2, diet Coke, caffeine free diet Coke, and diet vanilla Coke. Ocassionally the lime Coke pops up too. That's already enough to make my head spin. I buy it where it's on sale. If the grocery store has 2 Litre bottles on sale I get the caffeine free diet Coke. If it's the drug store or Zellers, or the 710 mL bottles on sale, only regular Coke or regular diet Coke is available.

In Romania, the low calorie Coke was called Coca Cola Light. It had aspartame and some other sweetener combined. I can't remember what the sweetener was, but I think it was a bit tastier than the diet Coke here.

I am so confused. So I'm switching to peppermint tea. :D

Well, no not completely, but that's the latest tea I'm wild about. Tastes amazingly like a candy cane dissolved in hot water. :drool:

My appetite has returned to normal. Stupid me, I've been craving sweets every day for about two weeks. I should have just gone ahead and "given in". That's seems to have broken the cycle. I still just can't trust that I'm smart enough to stop once I've had enough.

Now about that carrot cake. That's what my husband requested for his birthday. I tried to make it as authentic as possible, but I really have a problem in following recipes that have 1 1/4 cups of vegetable oil and 2 cups of sugar in them! So I made half a recipe, added a mashed banana into the batch, cut the sugar to 3/4 C plus 3 T sweetener, and cut the oil to 1/3 C. That's as close as I can get to leaving it as authentic as possible without feeling like I'm feeding my family poison. :d_redface The icing, rather than being a typical cream cheese, butter, and icing sugar, was 1/2 C of melted chocolate chips mixed with 1/4 C blended fat free cottage cheese. I must say, it is quite tasty indeed, and even hardens in a beautiful glistening layer.

"There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens." ~Tommy Lasorda

We've kicked off one of our busiest weeks yet. Last night, the little one played blast ball. Tonight, my oldest one had her first hardball game, and she plays another one tomorrow. Friday night, I play three-pitch, Saturday, the girls both have team photos, Sunday there's a practice for the older one, then on Monday my daughter and I both play at the same fairgrounds!

Next year, just to switch it up a bit, we're all going to play soccer, and we'll see if it's just as crazy. :p

My older daughter has never played baseball before. When we signed up, we signed her up for softball, but there were not enough players her age to make a team. They suggested I put her into hardball instead. So tonight, we went to our first game. (The rest of the team played once last week.) She is the only girl on the team. I sensed maybe a little bit of hostility from the other parents; they take the game pretty seriously. One of the dads said "At home, they're just kids, but here, they're future superstars." So, I was beginning to think that just maybe we were out of our league and should make a graceful exit. I KNOW my kid's not going to be a star baseball player, so perhaps she SHOULDN'T be playing with kids that expect to be. But I held out to see how my daughter would make out. She catches on really quick, she's attentive and fast, and has endless enthusiasm and optimism. I even heard one of the boys say to another player "For a girl, she's not bad." In the end, I decided that my sensitivity is in overdrive. The coach is very motivating and energetic. Parents will be parents, and I will do my best to ignore them if they get crazy.

Oh, to have the confidence of Yogi Berra
"I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?" - Yogi Berra

We've kicked off one of our busiest weeks yet. Last night, the little one played blast ball. Tonight, my oldest one had her first hardball game, and she plays another one tomorrow. Friday night, I play three-pitch, Saturday, the girls both have team photos, Sunday there's a practice for the older one, then on Monday my daughter and I both play at the same fairgrounds!

Next year, just to switch it up a bit, we're all going to play soccer, and we'll see if it's just as crazy. :p

My older daughter has never played baseball before. When we signed up, we signed her up for softball, but there were not enough players her age to make a team. They suggested I put her into hardball instead. So tonight, we went to our first game. (The rest of the team played once last week.) She is the only girl on the team. I sensed maybe a little bit of hostility from the other parents; they take the game pretty seriously. One of the dads said "At home, they're just kids, but here, they're future superstars." So, I was beginning to think that just maybe we were out of our league and should make a graceful exit. I KNOW my kid's not going to be a star baseball player, so perhaps she SHOULDN'T be playing with kids that expect to be. But I held out to see how my daughter would make out. She catches on really quick, she's attentive and fast, and has endless enthusiasm and optimism. I even heard one of the boys say to another player "For a girl, she's not bad." In the end, I decided that my sensitivity is in overdrive. The coach is very motivating and energetic. Parents will be parents, and I will do my best to ignore them if they get crazy.

Oh, to have the confidence of Yogi Berra
"I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?" - Yogi Berra
I'm very against kids having to take the game to seriously. They are kids, they should play and they should get to try different sports. I got to say she's pretty tough though, to be the only girl. I was the only girl on a floor hockey team and I immediately found my spot as the less talented one, even though that wasn't necceccarily true. And I also felt I shouldn't be there to slow them down, that wasn't completely true either. BTW, there are no difference in talent or coordination and more between boys and girls, so don't allow the other parents to comment on having her on the team.

Whew! What a relief. At the second game today, I felt much more like we fit in. And as for my daughter, she feels like she fits in anywhere. :D A truly amazing girl, there is nobody that is not her friend, nobody that can resist her charisma. She is not the weakest player on the team, but even if she was, there's no way she'd let herself believe that people could say negative things about her.

:d_frown: Some things make me very sad. A member writes that she is addicted to cardio (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=16476&highlight=addicted) and the advice that she gets from forum members includes "lift harder", "eat fewer calories", and "switch to a different form of cardio". I have some better advice: Your body is not a decoration. Your body houses your energy and your power. Celebrate what your body does, and take care of it to maintain its maximum function, not to make it look some crazy way that you think is appealing.

"Every one of us has something we consider to be not okay or to be a deformity. We can consider ourselves deformed or we can see ourselves as special. And that choice will determine how we live our lives." --Carol Price

Lately I've been hearing more comments about my daughter who's "tiny like her mom". It makes me think back to when I was 40 pounds heavier, and always mentally checked "large frame" when looking over ideal weight charts. If you'd shown me pictures back then of what I look like now, I'd have laughed at you and said "I could never look like that." What made me take that first step towards a fitter me is the pictures of a regular guy named John Stone and how he changed from a guy who looks like he's eaten too many pizzas into a guy you'd drool over at the beach. If I believed I were a prisoner to my genes, I would have stayed a prisoner to my genes.

I have to bite my tongue when I hear someone say "I could never get to that size because of my genetics." Sure, genetics play a small part in the shape you can get into, but don't pretend I was born with this body and I didn't put in a lot of time in strength training, aerobic exercise, and careful nutritional planning to get here. I'm embarrassed now about the things I used to assume about fit people. They're not fit just because they're "fit people". They're fit because they've developed a love of sport, or a drive to excel.

On the other hand, I'm thinking again that perhaps I may be too small. When I put on the coach's jersey for the t-ball photos, the adult small was too big, and I had to wear the youth large, which was still a little too big. I don't want to complain anymore that I can't shop in my favorite clothing stores. I don't want to buy my t-shirts in the children's department. I have to consider that it just might not be good to be the size that I am. It's hard to say for sure what's right. I'm comfortable where I'm at. I have a few unreasonable dietary episodes, but they come and go. I'm strong. I don't find faults with any of my body parts. I don't feel hungry or tired. I don't hate the elliptical, nor do I feel compelled to use it every single day.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ T. S. Eliot

Oh My!

I had a monster of a treat this evening. I aquired a coupon for a "buy one get one free Dairy Queen Blizzard" the other day, and it expires tomorrow. My husband is again out of town, so I told my girls they could each have one, and we'd all share. Everyone agreed to the plan. In preparation for this outing, we had a light dinner. After shopping, we headed to Dairy Queen. I suggested they order the flavors that I enjoy, and that made sense to them. #1 is strawberry cheesequake, #2 is brownie batter. The coupon is for a medium. My goodness those things are huge! I took a few bites of the strawberry one, then my little one decided that she won't touch it because I took some bites of it. I took a few more bites, then traded with my other daughter for the brownie one. Rarely have I tasted anything so rich and smooth. I savor each small bite, and plan to take some of it home to put in the freezer for another time. I strongly suggest to my daughter that she do the same with hers. So we now have portions of two blizzards in our freezer. Curious about the nutrition information?:

Brownie Batter Blizzard®, Medium size • 16 oz

Calories 960
Total Fat 45g
Saturated Fat 26g
Cholesterol 100mg
Sodium 630mg
Carbohydrate 134g
Dietary Fiber 6g
Sugars 99g
Protein 18g

Unofficial Pts: 22

Wow, interesting. 22 points. I think that may be what some people are allotted for an entire day. (Incidentally, the cheesequake one is a smarter choice. It has "only" 710 calories. And either of them will do less damage to you than the chicken strip basket at 1000 calories. (http://www.dietfacts.com/list.asp?brand=dairy+queen&page=1))

making my mouth water just looking at the title.
i think the pleasure of eating 4+ of those a day would almost be worth the 100lbs i'd put on.

when i turn 95yrs old, i'm going to do just that - suicide by DQ binging.

If I had to pick a way to die, overindulgence at Dairy Queen probably would top the list.

I could only eat about a third of the blizzard. (However, I ate almost a quarter of the strawberry one too, so my calories topped 400.) Now it's stashed in my freezer, taunting me, yes. I actually have a strong suspicion that I am lactose intolerant, (gas like you wouldn't believe!) but I love dairy too much to cut it out. I keep saying "Next week I'll cut out dairy and see what happens."

I am distracting myself from stress presently. :d_frown: Stay away from the sugar. :d_frown: I was SUPPOSED to take my older daughter to the walk-in clinic because she's had a terrible cough for months, which is interrupting her sleep. She had x-rays a couple of weeks ago to check for asthma, but they turned up normal. She's been taking Flovent twice daily since then, and it's helping, but hasn't fixed the problem. My younger daughter decided to test my strength and insisted on remaining completely naked. For a complete hour I politely coaxed, reasoned, bribed, ignored, shouted, threatened, you name it. But still no clothes. We even had her naked in the van at one point, but we weren't getting anywhere that way either. It's so incredibly frustrating to feel so powerless. I feel like I've failed as a mother in providing a basic need to my older daughter.

How could someone who looks so angelic be such a handful?

That's a great picture. She looks like an angel to me.

You and me both. I have been craving a dipped cone for a week.. If I don't have a cone in my hand on Friday, there will be madness.

If I had to pick a way to die, overindulgence at Dairy Queen probably would top the list.

That's a great picture. She looks like an angel to me.
That's because you don't live with her. :p

Really, she is angelic most of the time. Maybe that's what makes it extra frustrating when she's not so sweet. I have such high expectations of her that when she breaks the expectations, it throws me off. She's had a bit of a fever off and on for a couple of days, and that's not helping things. Me looking after things on my own five days a week every second week is a big strain too, but I put the scenario to my husband on the phone yesterday evening, and he was able to offer much sympathy and allowed me to see it from a brighter perspective. :d_smile: This should be his last business trip, and I really do hope that I can get some more normalcy around here soon. I feel so unsettled and lost.

I found a sheet in my drawer last night with my measurements on it. It's been a while, so I thought I'd take out the measuring tape and compare. I'm not that good at consistency with measurements, but here's what mybodycomp says for today compared to November.

Weight - 3 pounds up
Body fat percentage - same
Waist - same
thighs - more than half an inch bigger :eek: (they don't LOOK bigger)
shoulders - an inch bigger
bicep - a quarter inch bigger
forearm - almost an inch bigger :confused:

Guava Nov 2004 Guava June 2005 Change
Body Composition
Body Fat 19.62 19.62 0
Weight 114.40 117.40 3.00
Lean Body Mass 91.95 94.61 2.66
Fat Mass 22.45 23.09 0.640
Additional Health Indicators
Body Mass Index (BMI) 19.38 19.94 0.560
Waist To Hip Ratio (WHR) .19 .19 .00
Your Metabolism
Resting Metabolic Rate 1272 1298 26
Lifestyle Calories 826.00 843.00 17.00
Total Calories 2098 2141 43
Your Measurements
Age 31 31 0
Sex Female Female --
Activity Level Average Average --
Weight 114.40 117.40 3.00
Height 64.37 64.37 .00
Neck 12.97 13.20 .23
Shoulders 40.44 41.50 1.06
Chest 33.64 33.80 .16
Waist 25.74 25.74 .00
Abdomen 26.96 26.96 .00
Hips 31.95 31.95 .00
Thigh 20.55 21.20 .65
Knee 13.17 13.17 .00
Calf 13.95 13.95 .00
Ankle 8.06 8.06 .00
Arm 9.98 10.25 .27
Forearm 8.57 9.50 .93
Wrist 6.09 6.09 .00

Interesting, it says my maintenance calories are 2100. That would explain why I get so hungry a few times a month. I'm sure most days I must be under 1800.

"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one." Jull Churchill, Grime and Punishment

All of the threads in the media gallery are making me a little crazy. :p

It's not a bad thing. But when I see all these other people looking so great, I just want to look even more great.

I ate fewer dairy products that usual yesterday, and it was one of the few days ever that I've had no gas. :o I will try to keep this up for a few more days to see if the trend continues, and in the meantime do some research on lactose intolerance. My calcium supplement is Tums, and I will take them plus my multivitamins religiously this week, rather than forgetting them as usual. There are however extraneous variables. If I take milk and yogurt out of my diet, other things get substituted out as well. I won't be eating as much cereal, and I might cut back on fruit in favor of vegetables or grains. It's hard to keep fibre and other variables constant to get an unbiased trial.

I checked back at some of my pics from last August, and my legs did look smaller, a teeny bit. If I lost three pounds from today, I'd be at the same weight and lower body fat percentage than I was last summer. I'm thinking about it, but I'm not convinced it's a good idea. My abs have faded since February as well, but I'm pretty sure I'm only two weeks away from this look, should I choose to pursue it.

I'm making leaps and bounds in my flexibility. Once I can get this leg vertical, I'll try turning it into a kick.

I had ambition not only to go farther than any man had ever been before, but as far as it was possible for a man to go. ~ James R. Cook

As you know, when you eat stuff your body breaks it down into "little bits" which are then passed through into your body.

If you are lactose intollerant, your body cannot break down the sugar in milk (lactose). Your body uses enzymes called lactase to break this sugar down; a lactose intollerant person does not have enough of this enzyme to do this.

The level of intollerance can vary and it is not always necessary to cut out all dairy. For example, you may have enough lactase to have some milk on your cereal or 1/4 cup cottage cheese and have your body cope. Then again, some people cannot even have one spoon of ice cream. It really varies.

I note your dairy has increased these last few days, and that has probably pushed you over your bodys lactase to lactose limit. Drop back a little each day till the symptoms stop and you will then know what your body can cope with. I would say as you havent had any problems before, its not a major intollerance.

Thanks Reno_1ted. That basic information keeps me from having to do any real research on the topic. :whistle:

I know that even if I do have lactose intolerance, it's not severe. I've been suffering from serious gas for more than a year now. So much so that my family has actually been known to glare at me, say "Did you do it again?" and run screaming from the room. :o Not enough, however, to cause stomach distress. The gas goes away when I'm on holidays, so it's something about my "healthy eating" that's causing the gas. I considered it could be too much protein, but I've discounted that. Too much fibre might be the culprit, but gas from that is supposed to go away once you body is used to it, and I've been up over 25 grams a day for at least a year with no improvement. So I'm trying to track what dairy restriction will do.

Day 1 of the experiment - no gas.
Day 2 of the experiment - about average gas, or just a little less than usual.
Day 3 - no gas yet.

I found a swamp today. On my weekend walk, I try to take a slightly different route each time. Today, I went on a trail in a heavily treed area. To my surprise, the trail dead-ended at a most serene body of water. I wish I'd had my camera. It would be nice to show you all.

What would you do if you couldn't run? (from an Asics ad)
I could do crossword puzzles three times a week. I wouldn't have to spend $100 on crossword shoes. And you never hear about bad crossword injuries. But I think I'd still need a rest day after a hard week of eight-letter words.

This is especially amusing with the accompanying photo of the buff woman with the "Don't mess with me" attitude expressed on her face. :lol:

I'm making leaps and bounds in my flexibility. Once I can get this leg vertical, I'll try turning it into a kick.

[/I]

I'm jealous. I've been thinking of getting into some stretching myself.

I'm quickly reaching "'ol geezer" status, and things aren't as limber as they once were. I'm sure all this weightlifting is just going to accelerate the aging process.

Is it hard ? Did you follow a formal program, book or teaching ?

I'd really like to give it a try.

BTW, you're looking VERY fit :tu:

I'm not following a flexibility program. I work much better by doing the things that feel right than doing the things I'm told to do. When I checked out the link (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/alissa4.htm) that gravityhomer posted, I found out it was all the stretches that I'd already been practising. I think that site recommends stretching for 30 minutes a day, but I just don't want to devote quite THAT much time to it. I do at least 10 minutes of stretching at least 5 times a week, and at least 2 of those times it's more than 30 minutes.

A salad is a weird thing. Well, the salads I make are weird anyway. I am the designated waste management coordinator, which means whatever I don't eat is wasted. So, here's what I threw together the other day:
spinach
cucumber
tomato
broccoli
dried cranberries
cashews
orange segments
sundried tomato dressing and the tiny bit of ranch dressing that was left in the bottle

I was still hungry, so I made another odd salad
grapes
apple
cucumber
sesame seeds
Honey Nut Cheerios
a dressing of pineapple juice and lemon juice thickened with cornstarch

Last night, I tried out barbecuing a whole salmon on a cedar plank. The plank didn't seem to add much flavor to the fish, and it was a pain to keep extinguishing the fire :eek: so I don't think I'll be doing it again. Besides, it's not so much a cedar plank anymore as a very charred board. :rolleyes:

I suffered from no gas yesterday or today. I'm going to do one more day on my low lactose diet, then I'm going to do one or two days of LACTOSE EXTREME and see if that causes me to explode, or repel insects, or something. (I have a big stash of yogurt to use up anyway. Can't waste it, ya know.)

This week is crazy. Yesterday, I helped out at my daughter's baseball practice. Tonight, she and I both play. Tomorrow I'm coaching my younger daughter while my husband takes my older daughter to her game, and then my older daughter plays again on Thursday. I have no time (um, or, rather desire) to add in cardio in addition to this craziness, but I will get my stretching done, and I should still be able to fit in two or three weight training sessions.

I've decided to try to lose those three pounds. I'd really be happier if my legs looked just a little more toned for bathing suit season. One pound down already. About two weeks to go.

If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new. ~ Voltaire

I hear you there!!! That was one of my main drives for my bulk!!! I loved being a size 0-2 but I started actually feeling too small. I don't want to me HUGE, just don't want to blow over when the wind blows lol. Anyway enough about me lol YOU LOOK GREAT and do whatever makes you comfortable!

Pam


On the other hand, I'm thinking again that perhaps I may be too small. When I put on the coach's jersey for the t-ball photos, the adult small was too big, and I had to wear the youth large, which was still a little too big. I don't want to complain anymore that I can't shop in my favorite clothing stores. I don't want to buy my t-shirts in the children's department. I have to consider that it just might not be good to be the size that I am. It's hard to say for sure what's right. I'm comfortable where I'm at. I have a few unreasonable dietary episodes, but they come and go. I'm strong. I don't find faults with any of my body parts. I don't feel hungry or tired. I don't hate the elliptical, nor do I feel compelled to use it every single day.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~ T. S. Eliot

She's BEAUTIFUL!!! She sounds like my Katie lol


If I had to pick a way to die, overindulgence at Dairy Queen probably would top the list.

I could only eat about a third of the blizzard. (However, I ate almost a quarter of the strawberry one too, so my calories topped 400.) Now it's stashed in my freezer, taunting me, yes. I actually have a strong suspicion that I am lactose intolerant, (gas like you wouldn't believe!) but I love dairy too much to cut it out. I keep saying "Next week I'll cut out dairy and see what happens."

I am distracting myself from stress presently. :d_frown: Stay away from the sugar. :d_frown: I was SUPPOSED to take my older daughter to the walk-in clinic because she's had a terrible cough for months, which is interrupting her sleep. She had x-rays a couple of weeks ago to check for asthma, but they turned up normal. She's been taking Flovent twice daily since then, and it's helping, but hasn't fixed the problem. My younger daughter decided to test my strength and insisted on remaining completely naked. For a complete hour I politely coaxed, reasoned, bribed, ignored, shouted, threatened, you name it. But still no clothes. We even had her naked in the van at one point, but we weren't getting anywhere that way either. It's so incredibly frustrating to feel so powerless. I feel like I've failed as a mother in providing a basic need to my older daughter.

How could someone who looks so angelic be such a handful?

You look GREAT!! I wish I was that flexible!

All of the threads in the media gallery are making me a little crazy. :p

It's not a bad thing. But when I see all these other people looking so great, I just want to look even more great.

I ate fewer dairy products that usual yesterday, and it was one of the few days ever that I've had no gas. :o I will try to keep this up for a few more days to see if the trend continues, and in the meantime do some research on lactose intolerance. My calcium supplement is Tums, and I will take them plus my multivitamins religiously this week, rather than forgetting them as usual. There are however extraneous variables. If I take milk and yogurt out of my diet, other things get substituted out as well. I won't be eating as much cereal, and I might cut back on fruit in favor of vegetables or grains. It's hard to keep fibre and other variables constant to get an unbiased trial.

I checked back at some of my pics from last August, and my legs did look smaller, a teeny bit. If I lost three pounds from today, I'd be at the same weight and lower body fat percentage than I was last summer. I'm thinking about it, but I'm not convinced it's a good idea. My abs have faded since February as well, but I'm pretty sure I'm only two weeks away from this look, should I choose to pursue it.

I'm making leaps and bounds in my flexibility. Once I can get this leg vertical, I'll try turning it into a kick.

I had ambition not only to go farther than any man had ever been before, but as far as it was possible for a man to go. ~ James R. Cook

I did not feel strong this evening, but I did feel rather muddy-headed, so I took a spin on the elliptical instead of doing weights. After about 20 minutes, the balls of my feet were killing me. In brand new shoes. :( (Both my old pairs do the same thing, too, so it's a widespread problem.)

I tried on more than 30 pairs of shoes in my last footwear search, and bought the two most comfortable ones. I'm even willing to spend up to $150, and still no success.

Cutting out dairy for me is like going on Atkins for others. Weight loss automatically follows because my dietary options are narrower. Take away my dairy, and I have little to satisfy my cravings and snack attacks.

I'm trying to camouflage my stretch marks. I'm using a cream I got from Avon, and I'm on day 4 now. I think I can already see a difference. I took a photo on day 1, so if I feel like humiliating myself, I may just post the results. And if the results are really great, I'll order the anti-cellulite cream too. :lol:

On a related topic, I'm looking into whitening my teeth.

Is it summer or something? The vanity is really rearing it's ugly head.

I am sure that nothing has such a decisive influence upon a man's course as his personal appearance, and not so much his appearance as his belief in its attractiveness or unattractiveness. ~Leo Tolstoy

I loved this recepie! I made all the substititions you suggested and then cut the oil to 1/4 of a cup, while adding .5 cup of apple sauce. I also added 1/8 cup of walnuts, b/c I love walnuts in all my baked goods. Do you know the nutritional brakedown it comes down to?

Sometimes I think my daughter stays awake nights scheming up ideas of how to piss me off. Yesterday, she picked out a pair of cowboy boots to walk to the grocery store in. I didn't have a problem with that, but when we were done our shopping, she suddenly decided that the boots were too big and couldn't walk home in them. No way I could have carried her even if I wanted to because I'd bought 4 large boxes of cereal (I can't pass it up at $2.49 a box when it comes with a coupon for a free McDonald's salad and fruit and yogurt parfait). We argued for more than 5 minutes before I finally let her walk home in sock feet.

I made bran muffins last night, and they are SOoooo yummy. I cut down on the sugar it called for, but next time I could cut it back even further, and cut down on a bit of the oil too.
Orange Bran Muffins
2 c flour (cut to 1 C, added 1/2 C ground flax seed, 1/2 C wheat germ. Turned out a little too wet. Needs another 1/4 C flour)
2 c bran
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c brown sugar (used 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/4 C sweeter. Next time 1/3 C each)
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t ginger
2 eggs
1/2 c oil (next time 1/3 C)
1 1/2 c sour milk (I used buttermilk. Much better)
1/2 c molasses (used 1/4 C honey, 1/4 C molasses. Next time 1/3 C molasses)
3 T orange juice concentrate
grated rind of 1 orange
2 c raisins
Combine dry ingredients. Add next 5 ingredients. Add rind and raisins. Pour into greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
My e-bay finds are getting more sparse, so I'm going to put a wanted ad in my local paper for a weight bench and see what turns up. When Welcome Wagon came, I got a coupon for a free ad, and this seems the perfect chance to use it.

My strength training/stretching is going well, because I'm making it part of my regular activities (eg. bicep curls, stretch, pull-ups, brush teeth, push-ups, stretch, bent over rows, fold some laundry, etc.) Usually it takes almost 2 hours, but that's okay for now.

I am NOT getting further with my stretching each day. The day after I do a killer stretching session, my flexibility is actually somewhat reduced. :confused:

Had a good workout on legs the other day while watching a movie. It was so thorough that I couldn't make it onto the elliptical when I woke up, but I forced in 10 minutes later in the day. I can't seem to track down the ankle weights that I ordered online a couple of weeks ago. For once, I didn't print out that "keep this information for your records page". I'll have to check my credit card statement pretty carefully.

I didn't phone about the job because I was in such a bad mood. I'm a weak, weak person.

If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, then someday you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them. ~ Zig Ziglar

Guava,

I had a heck of a time finding athletic shoes too. I finally, after a long expensive search, found the right shoe. Have you tried Asics Gel? I bought the men's instead of the woman's because of the width factor. These are the best shoes I have ever owned. I never went through that horrible "break in" time. Not one blister, sore or mark anywhere on my feet.

Good luck!

I loved this recepie! I made all the substititions you suggested and then cut the oil to 1/4 of a cup, while adding .5 cup of apple sauce. I also added 1/8 cup of walnuts, b/c I love walnuts in all my baked goods. Do you know the nutritional brakedown it comes down to?
I don't know the nutrient breakdown for those, but if you put the ingredients into Fitday, you can calculate it. I have the nutrient content for this similar recipe:
Florida Orange Date Nut Bran Muffins
2 cups shredded bran cereal
3/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup Florida Orange Juice
2 tablespoons dark molasses
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 large egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 teaspoons taking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease one 12-cup muffin tin. In a large bowl, combine bran cereal, water and oil, stirring until bran softens. In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk, Florida Orange Juice, molasses, honey, orange zest, and egg until blended. In a small bowl, combine flours, baking soda and salt.
Add buttermilk mixture to bran, stirring to combine. Add flour mixture, dates and walnuts to bran mixture, stirring just until flour is moistened. Spoon into muffin cups, and bake until top springs back when lightly pressed, about 18 minutes. Let cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to wire rack. Makes 12 muffins. PER SERVING (with nuts): 242 cal., 7g pro., 38 g carbo., 10 g fat, 0.9 g sat. fat, 37% fat (of total calories), 18 mg cholesterol, 377 mg sodium, 6.8 g fiber, 11 mg vit. C.

My husband decided I needed a new computer. I'm not sure why. The only thing I wanted was a new monitor, but it didn't come with one. It's supposedly much quicker, and it's definitely much quieter, which is great because I'm very sensitive to low frequency noise; it's been hard to watch tv with the computer on. For now I'm still annoyed that my display is the wrong color and size, my stuff is not on my desktop, and some of my documents seem corrupted. Oh well, it was a sweet thought to upgrade me anyway. :)

I will try the asics gel, and I have started leaning towards men's (boys?) shoes rather than ladies. I think a ladies 7 is about a 5 boys.

Gas today was on the low end of moderate, but dairy intake winded up slightly higher than none (milk in coffee x2, a glob of sour cream in a couple of the potluck dishes I ate, and a bite of frozen yogurt I sampled) I might try another low lactose day to see if it the gas is under better control.

Pam, our stats are pretty close I think. I'm so incredibly fearful of getting fat, so it would be tough for me to decide to do a bulk like you're doing. I could probably use the lean mass, but, like you said in your journal, I told myself I wouldn't get back to 130 like I was just before I started posting in this forum.

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Well, dammit, I am just FULL of anger this afternoon. I'm trying to take deep breaths, and keep busy, but this grumbling greyness keeps bubbling up. The harder I try to not be angry, the more frustrated I get. I'm going to go out by myself shopping tonight and that should clear things up a bit. Shopping is better than any drug or therapy. But, speaking of therapy, I tried calling the "Personal Growth and Redecision Centre". Some counselling would probably do me some good. There was no answer, and I didn't leave a message, but I'll get back to them. I'm not expecting a huge personal transformation, because I think I'm doing a pretty good job of solving my own problems (if I'd taken a couple more years in university I could BE a therapist), but on the other hand, I have some pretty deep rooted issues that I think I just keep burying deeper because it's easier than dealing with them.

I was up late last night tending to my daughter who was spitting up blood. The doctor says she has strep throat (again). She was home yesterday and is home again today. It's great because she and her little sister adore each other, but it's awfully loud in here. The little one has a fever and is sneezing too, so there's a lot of Mommy love required. Surely, I'm ill as well and that accounts for my ill mood.

Last night I managed a few half-hearted dumbbell curls, lateral raises, front raises, tricep extensions, and tricep dips. I'm expecting that my shopping tonight will be so maniacal it just might count as cardio. :lol:

Anger is the most impotent of passions. It effects nothing it goes about, and hurts the one who is possessed by it more than the one against whom it is directed. ~Edward Hyde Clarendon

Don't hold to anger, hurt or pain. They steal your energy and keep you from love. -Leo Buscaglia

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

A sparkly piece of jewelry never fails to brighten your day. :) You can't get support like from a good insole. :D Nothing is more uplifting than a well-designed bra. :lol:

...So $100 later, I couldn't be happier. Similar to the cost of a good therapy session, but with therapy, I wouldn't have come home with these excellent treasures.

Now, off to test drive my new insoles.

:D :D :D

Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day. ~Author Unknown

After seeing Pam's most recent bulking pics (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=15191&page=2&pp=70), I'm reconsidering that fat loss may not be my key to increased aesthetic appeal.

Besides, I'm a little hungry. :p

My revised plan is to keep almost all junk food out of my diet for the month of July, and to concentrate on lifting heavier yet with my legs. I was already putting most of the focus on them, but it doesn't appear to be enough to see changes. I'm really not sure what more I can do. :d_confuse

I'm a little under the weather right now. I had to take two one-hour naps today, and I'm freezing cold in this 74 degree home. I have a bit of the sniffles, but my temperature is normal.

Lactose is back in, and gas is a little more frequent. I think I will attempt to keep dairy at a lower level from now on, if not to control my gas, then to keep my sugar cravings under control.

Last night, I made my ankle weights work twice as hard for me. I strapped BOTH of them on one leg, and worked one at a time instead of alternating. It still really didn't give me anything like a MAX-OT work-out, and I was too lazy to go down to the basement to use the bench.

The only exercise I'm up for tonight is a walk to buy some eggs which are on the last day of a sale for $1.49.

I drove 30 miles yesterday to cash in on a sale on toilet paper, only to find that they were all out. No loss, because I got a great deal on spinach, carrots, peaches, watermelon, canned tomatoes, Lean Cuisine pizza, and yogurt with live active cultures. As a bonus, I bought Father's Day presents, clothing for my little girl, and Canada Day t-shirts for everyone in the family. I'm addicted to shopping at thrift stores. Why pay retail when you can find a perfect pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans for $4? They fit so well, they're my new favorites.

You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can. ~Jimmy Carter

Is it a sign of sickness to view Black Forest Frozen Yogurt as evil?

Is it virtuous to pass up a frosty ice cream on a scorching hot day?

Still trying to align my priorities.

When I feel good about myself, I get very few cravings. When not so great, the cravings appear. Then's the question on whether it's healthiest to indulge in them, or push them aside.

Yesterday whipped up this delicacy:
Dissolve one packet of sugar free Jello in 2/3 C boiling water. Pour into blender with 1 C fat free cottage cheese. Whirl until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whip a can of evaporated milk, adding 1/4 C of sugar or sweetener (Note:evaporated SKIM milk will not whip. You can try mixing it with fat free yogurt or fat free sour cream if you insist on not using full fat evap milk. With the full fat evap milk, you still must chill the can thoroughly in the refrigerator before whipping)

Fold the whipped milk gently into the Jello mixture. Pour into cups for a mousse, or pour over a crust as a cheesecake-type thing. (The crust I used was a few cookie crumbs, and it floated into the topping, but it still tasted good. Next time I'll try Kashi Go Lean Crunch instead of Teddy Grahams.)
Tomorrow, I may try the Cherry Garcia I hear everyone raving about. Dairy is clearly my weakness.

Cherry Garcia Shake
1/3-1/2 blender pitcher of ice
1/2 medium banana
1/2 t. vanilla extract
3 t. cocoa powder
2 packet Splenda
4 T. fat free cherry yogurt
1 scoop (20-22 g protein serving) Myopro chocolate whey protein powder
1/2-2/3 c. water

Dump the ingredients into your blender in the order listed, starting with the ice. Blend at high speed until everything is smooth and frothy.

240 calories, 31c/25p/3f

Although, 240 calories sounds pretty steep. I'm probably better off with 1/2 C of the black forest frozen yogurt (110 calories). Of course, if I leave out the protein powder, it'll cut down substantially on the calorie count.

Zeal is a volcano, the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow. ~ Kahlil Gibran

My revised plan is to keep almost all junk food out of my diet for the month of July, and to concentrate on lifting heavier yet with my legs. I was already putting most of the focus on them, but it doesn't appear to be enough to see changes. I'm really not sure what more I can do. :d_confuse

Okay, so there a couple of alterations I could toy with in order to change my body composition, and I thank you all for being polite enough not to mention them:

I could increase protein proportion
I could reduce dairy

The truth is, I can't really see myself increasing protein. This whole growth period is about me feeling my best, and I feel my best when I eat a lot of carbs. Reduction of dairy is in the works. Not just because it may help to bring out definition, but because, based on my mini-experiment, it tends to reduce my sugar cravings, helps to make me feel less bloated, and quite possibly makes me smell better. ;)

My insoles were a big help, but they don't do enough. I still must quit my elliptical sessions when my feet start to hurt, rather than when I'm exhausted. Ditto for my walking. I can walk for considerably longer than an hour and not feel the slightest bit tired, but my feet keep telling me it's time to call it quits. I will go soon to a very fancy athletic store and buy the very best shoes they have. Maybe after I get a good pair of shoes, I'll feel compelled to run a marathon. Nah. But I may start training for a half marathon. Actually Women's Tri-Fitness (http://www.womenstri-fitness.com/comp_the_events.htm) sounds like fun, but the fitness event and grace/physique are not really my kinda thing.

Our destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire. -- Orison S. Marsden

Guava,

I have a problem with my feet hurting on the eliptical too. They get numb and hurt before I get tired. I am fine on the treadmill though so I am not sure it is the shoes. Try on the Asics and let me know what you think.

Y

Protein drinks are what helped me up my protein just a little FYI. I think you are doing great hun!!!!

Pam


Okay, so there a couple of alterations I could toy with in order to change my body composition, and I thank you all for being polite enough not to mention them:

I could increase protein proportion
I could reduce dairy

The truth is, I can't really see myself increasing protein. This whole growth period is about me feeling my best, and I feel my best when I eat a lot of carbs. Reduction of dairy is in the works. Not just because it may help to bring out definition, but because, based on my mini-experiment, it tends to reduce my sugar cravings, helps to make me feel less bloated, and quite possibly makes me smell better. ;)

My insoles were a big help, but they don't do enough. I still must quit my elliptical sessions when my feet start to hurt, rather than when I'm exhausted. Ditto for my walking. I can walk for considerably longer than an hour and not feel the slightest bit tired, but my feet keep telling me it's time to call it quits. I will go soon to a very fancy athletic store and buy the very best shoes they have. Maybe after I get a good pair of shoes, I'll feel compelled to run a marathon. Nah. But I may start training for a half marathon. Actually Women's Tri-Fitness (http://www.womenstri-fitness.com/comp_the_events.htm) sounds like fun, but the fitness event and grace/physique are not really my kinda thing.

Our destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire. -- Orison S. Marsden

Protein drinks are what helped me up my protein just a little FYI. I think you are doing great hun!!!!

Pam
If I ever decide to BULK I will add some protein drinks to my diet, but I'm still too scared to do that. For a cutting or maintaining diet, it's easy enough just to replace some grains/fruit/dairy with eggs/tuna/chicken breast. Easy enough, but not desirable for me. For now.

So the other day, in my bra search, I again was a little disgusted with clothing manufacturers. Not a AA cup to be found in any of the three stores I checked, which doesn't surprise me much, (I suppose we really don't need to wear bras), but when I did look at a "petite" line for a padded push-up bra, they included in their selection several styles at 36C. :rolleyes: When did 36 C become petite??!!!!

My scale weight this morning was 2 pounds down from a couple of weeks ago. I'm really starting to see in my legs what I wanted to see.

I got a couple of exercise videos at the garage sales I've been frequenting, and popped them in to review while I did my workout this morning. One of the videos I bought was a Cory Everson strength training video, and I couldn't help thinking through the whole thing "What a scam! She didn't end up with legs like that by doing squats with 5 pound dumbbells." (The total lower body workout, including rest time, was 25 minutes.) It was pretty misleading, because she outlined a plan of how often to work out, and clearly, it's not the same plan that she follows. I can deal with it because I know the truth, but it's unfortunate for all those people that expect to look like the cover model when they buy the "Great abs in 10 minutes a day" video and follow the program that's described in it.

Anyway, the video offers some benefit to me. According to how she's demonstrating, I've been doing my lunges wrong, with my leg too far out behind me. No wonder I can't balance and hate them so much. On the other hand, she demonstrates a rep count of about one second for the up AND down portion, so she could just be showing what she thinks will sell. When demonstrating the squat, she showed it with dumbells, had another woman show it on a smith machine, and had a guy doing it with a power rack. While watching them, I couldn't help but notice they were all such completely different moves. Cory's was closest to "correct" as I know it. The woman had nearly all of her weight leaned way back on the bar, and the guy seemed to be leaned forward a bit far.

Yesterday I went to a luncheon. It was fun. The servers (that I know quite well) teased me when I asked for low fat salad dressing and milk for my coffee, but I think they were a little surprised when I accepted dessert, and were likely a little more surprised when I took a second piece. Gotta get your priorities in line. :d_wink:

I'm starting to feel like my softball games are cutting into my workout time. I was up till midnight last night doing plodding away at the elliptical and following it up with a generous stretching session. Next year will definitely have to be soccer or ball hockey instead. I won't feel quite so inclined to go home and workout after running around the field all evening, as I do now after standing in the field and sitting on the bench for most of the game.

The girls and I were listening to the radio on the way home from my game, and this ad completely cracked us all up:
Male Announcer: If you stay at our hotel, we'll put a little something special on your pillow at night.
Female (excitedly): Is it a chocolate?
announcer: No, it's a scratch and win card
Female: Can I eat it?
announcer: No, but you can win up to a million dollars
Female (even more excitedly): And then I can buy some chocolate! :lol:

It's insane how much fruit and vegetables I go through. Right now, besides the large variety of frozen and canned produce, I have in the house:
a bag of spinach
2 bags of carrots
a bag of salad mix
3 red peppers
onions and potatoes
5 pounds of oranges
4 pounds of bananas
3 pounds of apples
3 pounds of nectarines
2 pounds of strawberries
2 pounds of grapes
3 kiwis

My husband's away for a couple of days. I'm pretty much the only one in the house that eats vegetables. I've been making fruit salad for the last couple of mornings, and my daughter asked if I could open a can of pineapple to add to it. I don't think so.

The coach didn't show up for the t-ball game last night. And the coach's wife didn't either. So that leaves assistant coach (me) in charge. At the start of the game, one of the moms came over and said to me "Are you going to do a warm-up with the kids?" I'd been playing catch with my daughter for the last 15 minutes, so I told her "Well, I hadn't thought of it. What did you have in mind?" I guess nothing, because she walked away. I put my nine-year-old in charge of the batting order, and she had quite a lot of trouble getting all the four-year-olds to line up. So by the bottom of the first inning I had two moms who were now annoyed, saying "Don't we have a coach?" They know damn well that I'm the assistant coah, and they could see that I was catching the ball, setting it up on the tee, handing the bat to the next kid in line, telling them where to stand and encouraging them to run. When someone asked if she wanted to help organize the game, she said no.

Obviously, this is not a good position for me. I hate feeling like I'm being criticised. Probably it's just a perception problem, but if I know that some people are not happy about the way that I'm running things, I take it very personally.

"Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you." ~ Zig Ziglar :lol:

Instead of frittering away my time online in the mornings, I've been shifting some workouts to bright and early. The thing is, I end up working out at my regular time before bed as well. By the time the girls go to bed, I'm in the mood to indulge myself, and I'm usually pretty bored. Once I start into my workout, I realize that the reason I'm so tired is because I've already worked out today. :p I've heard of people sneaking food in, but sneaking workouts in seems a little weird. I resisted last night, and managed to get the floor mopped instead. Goodness knows it needed a good scrub.

I posted an excellent recipe for hamburgers in the recipe section. Check it out.

I did a variation on Cory Everson's lower body strength training workout (video) yesterday morning. I guess it must have been pretty effective, because my legs are sure pretty sore.

When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it - but all that had gone before. ~ Jacob Riis

Ha Ha hamstrings. :d_smile:

more hamstrings

what's your hamstring workout Guava? I think you said lunges right. I need to start doing them. I was doing stiff legged dead lifts, but I think I'll give lunges a try.

Lookin' good Guava! Keep up the great work! :tu:

what's your hamstring workout Guava? I think you said lunges right. I need to start doing them. I was doing stiff legged dead lifts, but I think I'll give lunges a try.
I'm doing anything and everything I can think of. Presently I'm incorporating a lot of moves from Joyce Vedral's Bottoms Up book, and Cory Everson's lower body strength training workouts.

I'm not afraid to do the wimpy-sounding things that some people believe to be ineffective.

Sissy squats are my favorite leg exercise right now. I also like the butt lift (bridge) and leg curl. I find I get almost as good results on leg curl when I lie face up with my feet on a stability ball, rolling it in towards me, as I do in the standard bench leg curl position.

Previous hamstring favorites have been dumbbell bench step-ups, and, yes, I believe lunges are one of the most effective for hams and glutes, but I still don't like them.



strawberries are gone
apples are gone
bananas are gone
potatoes are gone
carrots are gone
grapes are gone
half the nectarines are gone
spinach is 3/4 gone
only half a red pepper left
only one kiwi left
It must be Friday.

My daughter has been singing a most perky song to me all day.

"Life is like a beautiful rainbow, putting on a beautiful show!"
Ya can't help but smile after hearing that half a dozen times. :)

:tu: :nod: :tu: :nod: :tu:

The word of the day yesterday was "celebration", and today's word is turning out to be "joy". :D

We celebrated strawberry season yesterday by going out to a farm and picking 6 pounds of lovely sweet red fruit. And how can a day that starts out with fresh baked strawberry muffins not be full of joy?

I'm fighting a bit of a cold. This is about day #10 or 12, I don't know. I'm not keeping track. After the first week of suffering, I finally decided that I probably wasn't going to start feeling better until I stopped dragging myself to the exercise mat, and stopped watching every calorie, so I toned it down a notch. Since September of 2003, I've really only taken three breaks from exercise, other than scheduled holidays. I incorrectly interpret that because I don't give it 100% effort in my workouts, and because I don't eat as clean as I could every day, I don't deserve weeks off. I'm always worried that if I go off of my somewhat restrictive lifestyle, that I won't be able to hop back on to the fitness ride. I always fail to consider that, when I'm well, eating healthfully has BECOME a habit, and exercise IS a passion for me rather than a chore. I'm attracted to nutrient rich nourishing food and prefer it over junk. I'm looking forward to when I'm no longer blowing my nose every five minutes so that I can start feeling the power of my elevated heart rate and pulsing blood.

For those of you who are JSF supporters, you can check out the photo I posted in the VIP gallery in the naked thread. (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=168376#post168376) ;)

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment. ~ Horace

do you use butter to cook muffins?
if you have a 100% healthy muffin recipe, i'd love have it.

the blueberry muffin is one of my favorite foods.

I never use butter in my house, and I only use margarine when I make cookies. I use oil in my muffins. Canola oil, of course.

The recipe I used for the strawberry muffins was the Best Ever Muffins (http://bread.allrecipes.com/az/BestEverMuffins.asp) recipe from allrecipes.com. They're not 100% healthy, because it's not a 100% healthy week, silly! Actually, they weren't the best muffins either. I prefer Jacky's Fruit and Yogurt Muffins (http://bread.allrecipes.com/az/JckysFritndYgrtMffins.asp), and Raspberry Sour Cream Muffins (http://brunch.allrecipes.com/az/RspbrrySrCrmMffins.asp). Any of these will work great with blueberries in them. You might want to try the Low Fat Blueberry Bran Muffins (http://brunch.allrecipes.com/az/LwFtBlbrryBrnMffins.asp). The orange bran flax muffins I posted earlier in this thread are probably the healthiest, but the fat content is pretty high because of the flax. (Good fat! :tu: )These Addictive Pumpkin Muffins (http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/ddictivPmpkinMffins.asp) sound great too, if you're a pumpkin fan. No added fat, and you can replace the sugar with sweetener. Most of the reviews were positive.

wow! thanks for the links. i'm going to try to make the bluebarry bran muffins (http://brunch.allrecipes.com/az/LwFtBlbrryBrnMffins.asp) tonight instead of going out to the bars.
sounds like a better time to me anyway!

except i'm going to make them healthier.
+ i'll replace the allpurpose flour with more 100% whole wheat flower
+ i'll replace the brown sugar with splenda

that should do it!
man, i'm so looking forward to this.
again - thanks alot!!
you've made my weekend so much better.

I'm getting sluggish and unmotivated. I don't even think it's because of my cold; it's the direct result of not exercising. Exercising energizes me like nothing else does.

I will have to go to the doctor if I'm not feeling better by Wednesday. It's like this illness is robbing me of my personality. My mood is in the dumps because I haven't been lifting or jogging, and yet I'm not in healthy enough shape to work out. I start wheezing and coughing if I try to exert myself, and my nose is still dripping occasionally. I did a bit of stretching around lunch time, and that seemed to give me a bit of clarity, but not enough to put me back on track.

My diet's been really weird. Once I start eating I can't stop. Saturday I polished off a whole POUND of baby carrots in one sitting. My hands are definitely a shade of orange, but I'll take turning orange over gaining an inch on my waist from polishing off a quart of ice cream or a package of cookies.

Talk about disordered eating, my husband thinks I'm a bit weird. Lunch yesterday ended up being at the food court, and I could not force myself to choose between chicken fingers with fries or pizza with garlic toast. So I walked over to the grocery store, and had half a cantaloupe for lunch instead.

I've been taking naps in the afternoons, and then suffering from insomnia at night. Besides sleeplessness due to congestion, my daughter must have been suffering from night terrors. She was absolutely unconsolable last night, and when I picked her up, she peed all over me! :d_eek:

I've got a crazy idea about something I'd like to do eventually, the sooner the better, and that's not making it any easier to get sleep either.

"The Church says: The body is a sin.
Science says: The body is a machine.
Advertising says: The body is a business.
The body says: I am a fiesta."

- Eduardo Galeano, Windows on the World

Guava,

Do you have allergies by chance? I feel the same way you do. Tired and run down, sneezy and need a nap every afternoon. I have been to the Dr. a few times in the past month = allergies. ALthough I did have a sinus infection in there due to congestion from allergies. But I so understand where you are coming from. Need a nap in the afternoon, then can't sleep at night.

Hope you start feeling back to 100% soon. Frustrating isn't it, when you don't have all the energy to do the things you would like to do.

Guava-- I was going to ask about allergies too! Pollen seems to be extra high this year, and you've got a bunch of my symptoms, with the cold-like illness and the sleeplessnes and such. My allergies are awful and I've been tested and getting shots for a couple of years now. At least I can finally eat vegetables, and no longer have daily nosebleeds.

When I start sneezing it's really a late stage. My very first symptom at the beginning of tree season at the end of January/beginning of February is severe crankiness. I get pretty clumsy and swear at all the inanimate objects I drop and knock over. If I were a child, I would be throwing inexplicable tantrums, but I do have internal tantrums and quiet spazz fits when no one is looking. I get angry for no good reason.

At this point, tree pollen has settled down around here and grass has entered the mix, along with a touch of weeds. Now my skin is itchier.

Sinus congestion wakes me up and keeps me from sleeping well at night, so I'm tired during the day and need to sleep then. When I take a decongestant, I wake up about 4 hours later when the congestion starts to come back.

I don't know how you feel about antihistamines and decongestants, but they can often keep you from getting to the point where you're sick all the time, like I was for years. If you have bad allergies for several years in a row, an allergist can really help too. I also found in recent years that making sure I get enough calcium helps a lot. I've even had Tums slow down a couple of reactions I had, too. I can't take regular vitamin supplements, because they make me more reactive. This sort of thing is different for everyone I think-- lots of trial and error.

Your journal is very inspirational! I love the way you keep the balance!!
:tucool:

Funny that you guys mention it, but I DO have allergies, and I didn't even consider that that may be what I'm suffering from. The odd thing is that a couple of years ago I was suffering all year long, and they were so bad I wasn't sleeping for months. Antihistamines didn't seem to help me at the time, but I was regularly using Flonase and/or Flovent.

I'm allergic to trees, grass, dust, and dust mites, but I've had no allergic symptoms since about a year ago. I suppose this may be my allergy season. I never thought about allergies throwing off my mood either, that's interesting.

I'll go to the walk-in clinic tomorrow night.

My less than stellar diet for yesterday. Just 42 grams of protein. Not enough:
Muffin, fruit 4 miniature muffin 122 3 21 2
Apple, raw 81 0 21 0
Banana, raw 109 1 28 1
Strawberries, raw 1 cup, 46 1 11 1
Yogurt, fruit variety, nonfat 173 0 35 8
Ice milk, 1 cup 182 6 30 5
Banana, raw 109 1 28 1
Cake, chocolate, fat free, 4 cubic inch 68 0 15 2
Chocolate syrup, 3 tablespoon 157 1 37 1
Hamburger, plain, on bun 267 11 27 14
Broccoli, raw 0.6 cup, 15 0 3 2
Pepper 0.5 medium 16 0 4 1
Teriyaki sauce 0.125 cup 27 0 5 2
Orange, raw 86 0 22 2
Total Calories 1457 23 285 42

Today is not looking any better yet. I'm planning a giant spinach egg white omelet for lunch. Whatever my diet problems, that always seems to solve it.
Pudding, Vanilla, fat free sugar free 2 serving 160 0 30 5
Apple, raw 0.5 large 63 0 16 0
Banana, raw1 extra small 75 0 19 1
Strawberries, raw0.3 cup, 14 0 3 0
Kashi Go Lean Crunch 0.5 cup 95 2 18 5
Total Calories 406 3 86 11

Here are my thoughts for the day. I couldn't decide on just one.

Modesty is a vastly overrated virtue.
John Kenneth Galbraith

No modest man ever did or ever will make a fortune.
Author: Mary Wortley Montagu

It is strange that modesty is the rule for women when what they most value in men is boldness.
Ninon de Lenclos

With people of only moderate ability modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.
Author: Arthur Schopenhauer

Because impudence is a vice, it does not follow that modesty is a virtue; it is built upon shame, a passion in our nature, and may be either good or bad according to the actions performed from that motive.
Bernard Mandeville

"If you wish to be loved, be modest; if you wish to be admired, be proud; if you wish both, combine external modesty with internal pride."
~ Will Durant

Nothing so soothes our vanity as a display of greater vanity in others; it make us vain, in fact, of our modesty.
Louis Kronenberger

"I like a cook who smiles out loud when he tastes his own work. Let God worry about your modesty; I want to see your enthusiasm."
Robert Farrar Capon

You might try an Rx of Allegra. That drug is working wonders for me. I tried all the OTC antihisthamines; Benadryl, Claritin, generic brands. They all tended to make me SOOOO tired. I also use Nasonex nasal spray and that helps as well. I am allergic to grass seed pollen, and the season for that is winding up here pretty soon.

Keep up the good work!

Today is my daughter's last day of school. They had a ceremony yesterday during the day where she was one of three children in the school that was given an award. She didn't say what the award was, but from what she described, it sounds like a citizenship award.

It was funny, my younger daughter was asking her about what she does when she's lonely, and she just gave her the most matter-of-fact look and replied "I'm never lonely." :d_smile: She's the master of her own destiny. I wouldn't be surprised if some day she runs the country.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ~John Quincy Adams

My favorite day of the year. Happy Canada Day.

Maybe because I've spent considerable time in not-so-perfect countries I can really appreciate how wonderful it is to be Canadian, and sometimes I just get the shivers thinking about it. (Especially in the winter, I suppose. :lol: )

To celebrate Canada Day, we all decked out in our red and white. We watched the parade at lunch, then had a chicken burger, then I watched some of the strong man competition while my husband minded the kids at a puppet show. Tonight, after supper, we'll go see the fireworks.

I wonder if leanness somehow puts you at a disadvantage in strength, because these guys were anything but. I was curious about whether they all eat a high protein diet, or if they scarf down pizza and beer like all the rest of the guys with equivalent beer bellies. Either way, I'd hate to have to buy groceries for them. Man, those guys are huge.

I'm feeling well enough now to start back into some fitness activities. I don't miss my cardio workouts so much, but I'm really looking forward to getting back into lifting after about a week's break. Last night I did some pushups and pullups with stretching, and the night before I did bicep curls, tricep extensions, front raises and lateral raises with stretching. Today I should do some cardio, but I'll probably end up working legs instead because I'm really not into cardio. I feel so weak and powerless when I'm not working my muscles to their capabilities.

My daughter's coach suggested that she try throwing the ball with her other hand because her throw looks so awkward. Because she's left handed, I'd bought her a glove for her right hand (after asking her first which hand she wanted to throw with). So after her game last night, I lent her my glove and we tossed the ball around. Her throwing is at least as good, and probably better with her right hand. So, now I have another $50 or so to invest in equipment (unless I can just arrange for her to borrow a glove on the nights we both play)

Her coach is pretty funny. When he got back from his business trip of three weeks, he asked "Okay, so, now that I'm back, did everyone miss me?" Of course we did. I did anyway. Nobody motivates those kids like he does, and sometimes him correcting one little thing in an average player can turn him into an exceptional player. An ordinary coach wouldn't have had my daughter hitting today like she does. You don't imagine people like this needing self assurance, but everybody needs to know they are appreciated.

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."~William Arthur Ward

Where did all this energy come from?

It's nice to be back in a good mood. I hate feeling out of the ordinary. It's really frustrating to have no desire to exercise and eat right, and I'm glad it's back. Heck, I don't even clean my house when I'm sick, so, strangely enough, I'm cheerfully catching up on housework, if that's possible.

Friday I ended up doing 20 minutes on the elliptical PLUS legs, then Saturday I went out for an hour long jog and did another chest exercise workout. Sunday I didn't do much of anything other than walked twice to the grocery store and practised baseball with my daughter for 3 hours, and so far today I've gone for a long walk to buy some milk and played a game of softball.

I'm doing some vacation planning. I've been looking into having some professional photos taken, and the photographer whose work I most admire is in Atlanta, so I'm thinking about taking a trip out there. Sure it would be easier to find someone closer, but then I don't think I'd get the same quality of shots that I expect. So, that leads me to plan a trip to Disney World. (The original plan was to go to Disneyland, Universal Studios and Hollywood) And then, since I'll be in Orlando, I wondered if maybe I should plan it for the third Saturday in February to coincide with the annual JSF cheat meal.

My husband decided, rather suddenly, that it's time to start finishing the basement. He bought all the lumber for framing it, and we moved it into the basement for him to trim there. He says I don't need to have any part in this project, but I can't see myself allowing him to slave over making the house beautiful while I spend my evenings sitting on my butt. I think it's going to take considerably longer than he imagines. I'll be helping out as much as I can, because I want that pool table in there as much as he does.

Canada Day was a beautiful day, with a perfect ending. There's something magical about sharing a special spot with your husband and two children and watching the sky erupt in giant explosions of color.

I have the world's largest collection of seashells. I keep them on all the beaches of the world. Perhaps you've seen it. ~ Steven Wright

Don't go shopping when you're hungry. I repeat, don't go shopping when you're hungry. And keep healthy snacks in the house so you can grab them instead of cookies when you come home ravenous.

I had a reading program this morning for my daughter at the library. I thought it was at 9:30, but when we got there, she told us the program was at 10:30. Therefore, we didn't have time to have lunch before we needed to be at the dentist by 11:40. I had just enough time to make a quick stop at the grocery store for a couple of buns and a couple of apples for the girls to snack on. After the dentist, I needed to pick up some supper at the store, and, man, that store is tempting when you haven't eaten in five hours!

I was a good girl. I came home with 2 large packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, at $3/pound, a bunch of broccoli, a red pepper, and a cucumber, two large containers of Source fat free sugar free cherry yogurt, and 1/4 pound of fresh ground butterscotch coffee. :drool:

While waiting for my stirfry to cook and coffee to brew, I snatched a chocolate chip peanut butter tofu ball from the freezer, and started to work on a recipe I'd seen that morning in a cookbook at the library. It's called whole wheat crazy bread.

Tomorrow, we'll be off to the amusement park/water park. I'm thinking I might wear a bikini, but since last summer was the first time I'd worn one out in public in the last 10 years or more, it still seems a little odd to me.

*sigh*The two pounds are back, but if I can be 117.5 pounds while still eating the occasional ice cream, pizza, and chocolate, I'll take it over being 115 pounds and miserable.

What we see depends mainly on what we look for. — John Lubbock

[ I snatched a chocolate chip peanut butter tofu ball from the freezer,

Sounds yummy, can you post a recepie?

It's this one (http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=31). I made them a while ago and stashed them in the freezer. My kids would eat the whole batch if I didn't hide them. I never follow a recipe to the letter, but I can't remember which substitutions I made in this case, except that I do remember that I put almond flavoring in it. They are really really sweet.

Like what you do. If you don’t like it, do something else. ~Paul Harvey

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. ~Dale Carnegie

Today was a perfect day at Paramount Canada's Wonderland (http://www.canadas-wonderland.com/).

I've discovered funnel cakes. Anyone know this stuff? They pour a generous amount of pancake batter through a funnel and fry it in hot fat, then put it on a plate, top it with strawberries and whipped cream, and charge you $8 for it. I really wasn't sure whether to vomit, or order one up. It looked disgusting but tempting all at the same time. In the end, I stayed away.

Due to having two children, I did not have the opportunity to test drive The Italian Job Stunt Track. However, I've asked to go back to the park again for my birthday in September.

The highlight, for me, was a live show called School of Rock which is based on Paramount's movie of the same name (http://www.schoolofrockmovie.com/). I really should go to more rock concerts. Watching a musician, you have the opportunity to witness someone who is doing what he loves. And the classic rock philosophy is pure and true. Believe in yourself, make your own choices and deal with the consequences.

Rock n' Roll came from the slaves singing gospel in the fields. Their lives were hell and they used music to lift out of it, to take them away. That's what rock n' roll should do - take you to a better place. ~Meat Loaf

i'm just doing my Rock N Roll duty
creating a buzz buzz buzz
some say i'm in it for the money
man i'm in it for love love love ~Kim Mitchell

We've Got The Right To Choose And
There Ain't No Way We'll Lose It
This Is Our Life, This Is Our Song
We'll Fight The Powers That Be Just
Don't Pick Our Destiny 'cause
You Don't Know Us, You Don't Belong ~Twisted Sister

You can take a stand, or you can compromise
You can work real hard or just fantasize
But you don’t start livin’ till you realize - I gotta tell ya!
God gave rock and roll to you, gave rock and roll to you
Gave rock and roll to everyone~KISS

Mmmmmmmmmmm Funnel Cake. Yes I believe it was invented somewhere in the NE though for sure. My dh's friend's band name was also Funnel Cake lol . It's actually quite tasty!

Today was a perfect day at Paramount Canada's Wonderland (http://www.canadas-wonderland.com/).

I've discovered funnel cakes. Anyone know this stuff? They pour a generous amount of pancake batter through a funnel and fry it in hot fat, then put it on a plate, top it with strawberries and whipped cream, and charge you $8 for it. I really wasn't sure whether to vomit, or order one up. It looked disgusting but tempting all at the same time. In the end, I stayed away.

Due to having two children, I did not have the opportunity to test drive The Italian Job Stunt Track. However, I've asked to go back to the park again for my birthday in September.

The highlight, for me, was a live show called School of Rock which is based on Paramount's movie of the same name (http://www.schoolofrockmovie.com/). I really should go to more rock concerts. Watching a musician, you have the opportunity to witness someone who is doing what he loves. And the classic rock philosophy is pure and true. Believe in yourself, make your own choices and deal with the consequences.

Rock n' Roll came from the slaves singing gospel in the fields. Their lives were hell and they used music to lift out of it, to take them away. That's what rock n' roll should do - take you to a better place. ~Meat Loaf

i'm just doing my Rock N Roll duty
creating a buzz buzz buzz
some say i'm in it for the money
man i'm in it for love love love ~Kim Mitchell

We've Got The Right To Choose And
There Ain't No Way We'll Lose It
This Is Our Life, This Is Our Song
We'll Fight The Powers That Be Just
Don't Pick Our Destiny 'cause
You Don't Know Us, You Don't Belong ~Twisted Sister

You can take a stand, or you can compromise
You can work real hard or just fantasize
But you don’t start livin’ till you realize - I gotta tell ya!
God gave rock and roll to you, gave rock and roll to you
Gave rock and roll to everyone~KISS

Damn marketing geniuses. I forgot to mention one of the impulse buys from Thursday's grocery trip when I was so hungry. A colorful carton of juice/drink. Really, looking at my colorful avatar, are you surprised I could not pass up this delight? It just screams "vitality" to me. Reminds me that with my psychology background, one of my career aspirations was to design food product packaging to maximize sales. This one's a winner. Ingredients: water, fructose, concentrated grape juice, guava puree, citric acid, concentrated kiwi juice, sodium citrate, concentrated strawberry juice, natural flavor, ascorbic acid, sucralose, pectin, color.

It's perfectly tasty, by the way, but how healthy is it? At first glance 40 calories per serving doesn't sound too bad. But the serving is only 250 ml. Rather helpfully, on the side panel of the container, they compare the nutrtional information of this Tropicana Twister Light to the original Tropicana Twister. Can you believe the original has 120 calories per serving? (Yes, that's still 250 ml.) Curious, I checked my bottle of C plus, and it has only 90 calories in the same serving size. Upon closer inspection, I remembered that I bought that particular kind of C Plus because it has 25% less sugar than the original (but still no added sweetener).

So my kids are hooked, and they're asking for more. Is it that much worse for them than pure juice?

Also pictured is the crazy bread I made. Great stuff and easy to whip up in fairly short time too. I can post the recipe if anyone wants (not really healthy, but not exactly bad for you either). Oh, and the first wall in the basement is framed as well.

Look for the dream that keeps coming back. It is your destiny.

Also pictured is the crazy bread I made. Great stuff and easy to whip up in fairly short time too. I can post the recipe if anyone wants (not really healthy, but not exactly bad for you either).

Yes, post. I love all your recepies. Do you have any for a wheat-free version, by the way?

My waist is officially smaller than it's ever been. 25.6 inches. I changed my avatar to reflect my joy. If I get sick of it, I'll switch back to the old avatar I loved so much.

My week of rest did me well. Except that jumping into it four days in a row was a bit much, and I had some difficulty walking for the next two days. :p But as of last night, Im back on track. I'm up to 27.5 pounds on the preacher curl. Must buy more plates to add to my dumbbells.

Sorry, no crazy bread recipe yet. I have to type it in.

I was reading Martha Stewart living and came across this recipe for something called clafouti (http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?&type=content&id=recipe1289&page=1&dp=false). It sounds wonderful, and I might have to try it. In the same issue, she has a recipe for health muffins that contains no oil, and 5 eggs. I must try it out, just because it sounds so weird.

Sunday was a day of shopping. I needed shorts, but jeans were cheaper, so I bought new jeans, then cropped the legs off some of my old ones. Found the perfect peasant top at Le Chateau, and an adorable beige suede hat with rhinestones that I'm going to share with my daughter.

Yes, I have stretch marks. Some times they are more obvious than others.

The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur. ~ Vince Lombardi

Damn Guava... you look HOT! And I love the belly ring. My wife has been promising to get one for about a year now... her sister (who has one) keeps threatening to get her drunk and take her out to get it.

And don't worry about the stretch marks... with as good as you look now, no one will be focusing on them, except the jealous moms around the pool... "Did you see how great her body looks?" "Yeah, but too bad about the stretch marks..."

As far as the Tropicana Twisters, they are only 10% fruit juice. I think that's MUCH worse than real fruit juice, as the other 90% is fructose, which is basically sugar water. I ONLY let my kids drink 100% juice, and even then I dilute it by 50% with water. Fortunately, neither one of them is a big juice drinker, or even soda for that matter. They would much rather have milk or water. They're both really aware of what is "healthy" food.

I say this not as an empty compliment and i dont doubt that they are there, but i see no stretch marks. :nod:

You are ripped.

Guava changes her avatar... a red-letter day in JSF history. ;)

I only see a sexy, toned stomach... not stretch marks.

-R

Guava changes her avatar... a red-letter day in JSF history. ;)

I only see a sexy, toned stomach... not stretch marks.

-R
If you're ASKIN' to see some stretch marks, I can post them in my newly created Guava's Gallery of Truth (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=18159), but I'm not so sure about that yet.

If you're ASKIN' to see some stretch marks, I can post them in my newly created Guava's Gallery of Truth (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=18159), but I'm not so sure about that yet.\

I can see where they are - what I'm saying is... from the male perspective, I'm seeing past them. Philly's right... all but a jealous few are going to make issue of it.

-R

Love the new avatar Guava :tu:

You know, the great thing about moving is that there are so many treasures just waiting to be discovered.

A gorgeous beach less than 10 miles away from home? How could I be so lucky? It's not a big beach, but it wasn't crowded. There's also a snack bar, playground, hiking trails, mini golf, and camping. Great fun was had by all, and plans to go back many, many times again. :D

I borrowed this book from the library: The Pathway: Follow the Road to Health and Happiness (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060514027/qid=1121309581/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/102-4043926-4537734?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Again, it addresses the question of what is holding me back from being all that I can be.

If we have not mastered two simple skills -- self-nurturing and effective limit setting-we cannot soothe and comfort ourselves from within. So it is only natural that we soothe and comfort ourselves by overeating, drinking, spending, overworking, and smoking or by finding our way into the softer excesses-people pleasing, putting up walls, rescuing others, or thinking too much.

Inside the book, it lumps in overexercising with those other destructive habits, which makes sense. Essentially, I feel a little empty at times and I'm still looking outward for solutions too often when I should be looking inward. And yeah, thinking too much, including reading too much. The book says not to try to solve your problems. They don't matter; they'll solve themselves once you apply the self-nuturing and limit setting skills. It makes a lot of sense, and I already feel a little closer to where I want to be.

I'm also trying to heed the wise advise of Steve Pavlina (http://www.stevepavlina.com/index.htm).

If you find yourself in cyberspace more than you think you should be, reviewEffective Online Forum Usage (http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/effective-online-forum-usage.htm), or, if that's not enlightening enough for you, take a read through The Meaning of Life (http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/06/the-meaning-of-life-intro/#comments).

Really, can I just sit back and live my life, instead of continually contemplating it over and over again? :rolleyes:

"If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else."-- Yogi Berra

The Clafouti was dissappointing. Thank goodness I only made 1/3 of a recipe.

Here are Martha Stewart's Health Muffins. (no sugar, no oil)
If you've cooked before, you can figure it out.

Flour, whole wheat 1 cup 407 2 87 16
Wheat bran, unprocessed 1 cup 125 2 37 9
Flax seeds, ground 0.18 cup 130 9 105
baking powder 1.25 teaspoon 3 0 2 0
baking soda 1.25 teaspoon 0 0 0 0
nutmeg, ground 0.75 teaspoon 9 1 1 0
Salt, table 0.5 teaspoon 0000
Carrots, raw 5 medium 131 1 31 3
Fig, dried, 15 fig 727 3 186 9
Egg, whole, raw 5 large 373 25 3 31
Applesauce, unsweetened, 0.6 cup 63 0 17 0
Honey 0.6 cup 618 0 168 1
Total Calories 2585 43 541 74
215.5 calories per muffin with 3.6 g fat 45 g carbs 6 g protein

They were tastier than I expected, but the real test is how they'll hold up in the morning. On the first try, I wanted to make them as the recipe indicated, but here are the changes I'll be making for next time:

instead of 2/3 C applesauce, use 1 C pumpkin puree.
Reduce honey to 1/3 cup, maybe add 1/4 C to 1/3 C sweetener.
Instead of figs (I actually used 1 C chopped dates this time), use 1 C dried cranberries.

This reduces totals to 1933 42 369 68
per muffin 161 calories, 3.4 g fat, 31 g carbs 5.6 g protein

% RDAs are impressive! If all I ate all day was 3/4 of a batch of these, a cup of yogurt, a handful of walnuts, plus an orange it would be an almost perfectly balanced day for me!

Half a recipe made 12 mini muffins and 2 jumbo muffins. (Two are missing because I got hungry while looking for the camera. :d_biggrin )

My husband is such a sweetie. He barbecued for us in the pouring rain. Unfortunately, the patio umbrella he used to shield himself was not waterproof. :d_tongue: We're crossing our fingers for good weather so that we can go to the beach again tomorrow.

He found another job for me to apply for. This one's with the department of parks and recreation. I'd be good at it, and it pays well, but I'm not sure it's challenging enough for me, so I'll have to give it some thought.

"One must not always think so much about what one should do, but rather what one should be. Our works do not ennoble us; but we must ennoble our works." -- Meister Eckhart

I went on a computer fast. Sunday night I turned of my computer, and didn't turn it back on until Thursday morning.

I did not feel good on Thursday. I don't know if wasting time on the computer gave me a bad feeling, or if it was a bad feeling that caused me to turn on the computer in the first place.

Anyway, I got a lot done that I wouldn't have gotten done:
I finished crocheting a poncho for my daughter that I started at the beginning of spring.
I almost completed a project that I started ten years ago. It's a magazine holder, made out of old jeans that I cut up.
I discovered the love letters I wrote to my husband back from the late 1980s, when I was about 16 years old. He kept them all in a binder; there must be about 500 pages of them.

Updates on things:
I put on a knee support the other day, and it makes a WORLD of difference in my ability to do squats and lunges. Here I was concerned about my weak legs, when it's just bad knees. Helps a lot on the elliptical as well. I predict large rapid improvements in my lower body, once I buy a better pair of knee supports. (I have only one, and it's too small.)

Insoles. The $40 ones weren't so good. I found a pair of running shoes for $130 that were better than the ones I have, but I can't justify spending that much unless I'm sure they're PERFECT, and they just really didn't seem to be. $11 insoles didn't seem to do much, but then I bought two pairs of insoles for $6 for ball of foot only. They seemed to be sufficient, until I can find the perfect pair of runners (then I'll buy six pairs)

Dairy. I'm taking Lactase enzyme before consuming any dairy, and that makes a big difference in the gas I'm experiencing. It's a real pain to do, so I sometimes just avoid dairy instead.

The health muffins were really, really good with the healthy changes I made. Maybe even better than the original.

You don't have to be perfect to be wonderful. ~Laurel Mellin

The basement is coming along. My husband is working so hard it makes me feel bad about the lack of stuff I do. There was a deal on at Home Depot that if you applied for a Home Depot Card, you get 10% off your purchases. So we bought the laminate flooring from there, and finally got the carpet for the living room that I'd been eyeing since Christmas. The guy who sold it to me said that it was a really great carpet. It has 1,500,000 points per square metre, and shows great detail. In the end, we saved almost $100 at Home Depot. :eek:

I got a call the other day that I won a package from a gym in a town nearby. I was amused when she reminded me where I entered (Dairy Queen). I'm pretty sure that everybody who enters "wins". Anyway, what I've won is a free one week membership, a fitness assessment, and a tan. I won't be using the tan, because I don't believe in purposely exposing myself to harmfaul ultraviolet rays. I asked about the fitness assessment, and it aparently does not involve any measuring devices. Too bad, that's actually part of why I entered the draw was because I was curious about what numbers might come up on a skinfold test, and endurance tests, and such. (I'm not curious enough in order to pay for the results, however.) So tomorrow, I have an appointment to tour the facility.

I applied for the job with the parks and recreation department. I'm hoping it comes with perks, like maybe a free membership to the pool or something. The job sounds a little boring, but the pay is decent. I need to get into the workforce somehow, then I can work my way up from there.

Today was a chocolately kind of day. I mixed up a fat free sugar free pudding this morning, and, over the day, I ate the whole thing! 2 cups, or 341 calories worth. I rounded it out with a couple of bananas, two pieces whole wheat toast with peanut butter, a flax tortilla with red peppers, onions, tofu, and salmon steak, two handfulls of spinach, a hamburger, a few carrots, about a dozen cherries and nearly half a pound of red seedless grapes.

Something I'm pondering today:
The people that ask for diet advice to bust a plateau, are they eating cheat meals? I have a feeling that some are, and it's bizarre to me that they feel the need to exactly calculate the timing and macronutrients of every single meal, except for their cheat meal. Am I the only one that thinks that's crazy? :confused:

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them" George Bernard Shaw

The tour of Goodlife Fitness was fun. They gave me this free book, LIVING THE GOOD LIFE : Your Guide to Health and Success (http://www.successcentre.com.au/catalogue/titles.cfm?cur_titleID=2718) written by the founder and CEO of Goodlife Fitness Clubs, Canada's largest and fastest growing fitness empire. It fortunately was not a strong sales pitch, though of course, she did show me a price list and ask me to sign up. I told her I'd talk about it after I came in for my free week membership when my kids are back in school.

Not only that, but after seeing the place, meeting a couple of the employees, and starting in on the book, I've decided to check into some employment opportunities there. It's a nice bright workout space, not very crowded, and very friendly. I'm not qualified as a personal trainer or exercise instructor, nor do I aspire to be, but I think I'd be comfortable in customer service in that atmosphere. This location I visited is 22 kilometers from home, but they're supposed to be opening up another one less than 10 minutes drive from my house in January 2006. The membership is good for any of their locations, so that would be convenient in case of travel as well (at least in major cities in Canada).

I'm not really sure what the going rate for gyms is, so I'm looking into a couple of others as well. The gyms won't straight out tell you their rates, so I filled out another "win a gym membership" to another gym nearby.

I found a couple of 3 pound rusted iron plate weights while out for a walk this morning, so I picked them up and carried them home. I'll look into whether I can somehow clean them up to add on to my dumbbells. I'm also going to put up a poster at the grocery store to see if I can find some more used ones. I really don't feel like paying $1 a pound for them in the store.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. ~ Mark Twain

Oh, the mystery of hormones.

"You just don't understand! I feel like I'm missing half my brain!" At this time of month, I seem to require about 50% more calories than usual in order to feel full, and I'm awfully tempted to lock myself in a closet and survive only on chocolate. Or ice cream. Maybe chocolate ice cream.

Begrudgingly, I played baseball yesterday. I prayed for rain, and I'm not a religious person. I prayed for rain yet again tonight so that I wouldn't have to take my daughter to her ball game either. Ten weeks is plenty long enough for any organized sport.

I couldn't sleep last night. Went to bed at 11:00, and at midnight I decided maybe some wasting time on the computer might make me tired. By 2:00, I still wasn't tired, but I went to bed. Another 30 minutes of tossing and turning, and I decided to do three sets each of pushups (8) and pullups (5,4,3) interspersed with stretching. That was most effective in relaxing me enough to doze off. I'll try that technique first next time.

Work on the basement is going lightning fast. Now that the boxes are moved around, I've noticed that if we change one of our planned walls to run diagonally instead of going at right angles, we can replace four angles with just one, and give us a larger, more open family room area. I'm also shifting my color selections away from neutrals to bright colors. From beige to sunny yellow; relaxation to inspiration, and peace to energy. My living room is warm enough; I need a space for vibrancy. The other day, I came across an amazing shop with gorgeous brightly dyed fabrics. I didn't think at the time that they'd fit into my house, but now I think they'll suit the basement well. I bought this painting just after Christmas to specifically go near the pool table, and I was thinking about drawing out the peach and browns from it, but now I'm thinking it's best to go with the golds, pinks, and blues.

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile." Mother Teresa

I tried to update my journal earlier today and my browser crashed. Could be my cosmic signal that it was an off-topic post. :d_confuse

My older daughter has been walking with me to the library while my younger daughter is in a program. It's about a mile there and back. We've been doing it about three times a week for the last three weeks, and she's starting to complain a little less. :d_rolleye

I checked my blood pressure at the pharmacy in Wal-Mart. I read 108 over 63 with a pulse of 64. I suppose that's good. I've never kept track of my blood pressure before. I will have to test it again without having consumed a large coffee beforehand and see if there's a difference.

I applied for a job at the fitness center that I toured. The position I'm hoping for is called Member Ambassador "This service position is responsible for providing a high level of service to our members. A Member Ambassador provides motivation, coaching, and instruction to members using the fitness equipment." I'd like to work at the club that's supposed to be being built about 10 minutes from my home, but there are others not too far away as well. I have no idea what it pays, but if it makes me happy, that's more important than making me rich.

Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along. ~Hugh Allen

My daughter has her friend over for a sleepover. I'm not too fond of this friend. I try not to judge, but it's hard to keep my opinions to myself when I know how much of an influence good friends can be.

My first issue with the friend was before we sat down to dinner she said to my daughter "Whoever finishes their melon first wins!"

Now, sure, I may be overreacting, but I gave them a little lecture about how the purpose of eating is to enjoy the different tastes and textures and to savor the flavors. I'm sure they thought I was nuts. :p

The friend ate half a box of Kraft Dinner, about three cups of chopped melon, a handful of grapes, a weiner, and two slices of bread with peanut butter and jam. I hardly think she took a breath while she consumed all that. :eek:

So, I'm trying to relax. I don't want my daughter and her friends to think I'm a fit freak who doesn't know how to have any fun. To make up for it, I made a chocolate lava cake for supper, though I did serve rather small portions to each person.

You can't change her friend, but your daughter will learn more from you than her. It's preventing obesety to teach your children portion control and healthy eating when they are growing up. It's something they will most likely bring into their adult lifes. I don't think talking is the way to go, but to serve the cake in portions like you did, was a smart trick. I wish somebody did that when I was a kid.

It's preventing obesety to teach your children portion control and healthy eating when they are growing up. It's something they will most likely bring into their adult lifes. I don't think talking is the way to go, but to serve the cake in portions like you did, was a smart trick. I wish somebody did that when I was a kid.

I laugh at myself after I do it, so you're right. Probably what I say doesn't matter all that much compared to what I show. I felt like a complete fool for criticising her for playing with her food. It's extremely important to me to instill healthy dietary habits, but I don't want her to rebel and have negative eating habits just because I'm such a nutcase about it. Portion control is really important to me. When we have dessert, we always wait until at least 20 minutes after supper. She dumped a whole large bowl of tapioca pudding into her bowl after supper last night. I told her to take just one half cup serving instead, then when she finished her bowl, I asked "Are you still hungry?" and let her finish what was left. Which reminds me, I've heard that "restaurant style" serving is the best way to control portions. Food is put onto plates in the kitchen and only the individual plates are brought to the table. If you're still hungry after your first serving, someone has to get up and get it for you. That way, you can't mindlessly munch at whatever is on the table. (other than carrot sticks, which anybody will eat if I leave them out)

I visited mybodycomp today, and it really has some weird bugs in it. It tells me that at a BMI of 19.89, I'm closer to moderately obese than normal, and I'm between high and very high risk due to my waist hip ratio (25.74/31.95= 0.81). :p If I put in my REAL hip measurement instead of the measurement at the hip bone where they recommend, it would make a huge difference.

I've been making granola. I love granola.
In a HUGE bowl, mix 4 C rolled oats, 1 C wheat bran, 1/2 C oat bran, 1/2 C ground flax seed. Set aside.

In a pot on the stove, cook 250 g dates (I counted 43) with 1 C water until soft. Add 1T cinnamon and 1T molasses. Stir into dry ingredients, and bake at 250 degrees for 90 minutes. Add 1/4 C sunflower seeds, 1/4 C raisins, 1/4 C chopped dried apricots. Store in an airtight container.

I created this recipe loosely based on several other recipes. It turns out an ugly dark brown, but it's yummy and smells great while it bakes. Most recipes I've seen call for sugar and oil. I'm not sure how much healthier mine is because I've left them out. Obviously, dates have a lot of sugar in them. :d_tongue:

Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find that you have crossed the mountain. ~ Author unknown

The balls of my feet are killing me. My birthday is in September. I'm asking for new running shoes. It's time for new ones anyway. It's just so darned hard to find the right ones that I keep putting it off.

For the last three days it's felt like I've had the thumb on my right hand pulled back. Now, all my toes feel that way. My sister told me a few months ago that she may be developing arthritis. I hope it's not the same for me. There's really not a history of it in our family.

I had to call a guy to come and service my elliptical. It was making clunking sounds, but he tightened up some stuff and it's okay now. I took the girls out to McDonald's for supper (inside Wal-Mart) and they were OUT OF SALADS. Rather than make do with something on a spongy bun, I made a quick stop at the grocery store so I could munch on carrot sticks through my ball game until I could get home and make myself something. I settled on a mock waldorf salad (apple, banana, cottage cheese, yogurt, vanilla, sweetener, walnuts). It was by far the tastiest thing I've had in months. WAY better than a Big Mac.

8 oz of dates has the equivalent carbohydrates of 2/3 C of corn syrup, and not really a lot of extra nutrients. The original recipe called for some sugar and a couple of bananas instead of some of the dates. Bananas, according to fitday, have more nutrients than dates, and even a tiny bit more fibre. Who knew the humble banana had such powers? Next to try is the peanut butter granola recipe I printed out today.

I uncovered a Paint By Numbers that I'd spent dozens of hours working on years ago. I'm really not all that happy with how it turned out, because the color is flat. You can tell that I'm not a natural artist, and that every brush stroke was done to fit inside the lines, and not with confidence. There's still some finishing details (whiskers and other details on the cat) and I may just have to try to work in some blending or other artistic imperfections. Comparitively, here's one I have on my landing that was done by a Romanian artist. I'm looking for the imperfect touches of paint that tell a story instead of just make a picture.

However, if I can find a way to add some texture to my pansy painting, I now have two paintings to serve as the focal points for my basement. I put them into Photoshop, and drew out this palette which I will base my room colors on. The wall will be the first yellow, and I think the blue cloth available for the pool table is very close to the second blue on the last line. My husband is building an entertainment unit for the tv, which I can paint in the vermillion shade, if I feel brave. Neutral is usually the best bet for carpet, but I'm rather fond of the third brown on the third line.

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. ~Vincent Van Gogh
The voice was not silenced. What did I do wrong? :p

My period has decided not to make an appearance this month. I'm about to call out the search party.

I'm still as incredibly hungry as I was August 2nd. I've gained more than a pound this week, but I'll assume that's good news. I am continually astonished at how adaptive my body is, and if I just listen carefully, I can take it in the healthiest direction.

For supper I had a sweet potato, microwaved for three minutes. Then wild rice with fruit cocktail and yogurt. I've been short on protein for the last couple of weeks because of my crazy carbohydrate cravings. I'm trying not to sweat it, but it's upsetting when I don't feel like myself.

I had a huge conflict with my daughter about how much syrup she was allowed to put on her pancakes. Then we repeated the fight at lunch with how much soy sauce she was allowed to use on her noodles. It is NOT easy to instill good eating habits in children. This thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=19315) really touches a sore spot with me. Parenting never has black and white answers and so often it's very hard to know what's the right thing to do.

The girls have a fondness for granola bars, so I keep looking for similar type homemade concoction I can make. I made peanut butter banana bars and was hoping the girls would like them.

Heat 1/2 C peanut butter with 1/3 C silken tofu and 1/4 C honey. Stir in 1/2 C sweetener. Mix together with 1 1/2 C bran flakes and 1/2 C dried banana chips. Press into a square pan. (original recipe called for no tofu, 1/3 C honey, and 1/2 C brown sugar)

It's not quite health food, but compared to the original, it's improved. If I make them again, I'd completely leave out the honey. Unfortunately, the girls don't like them, but I think they're awfully good.

I've given up trying to change the world. I'm going to toilet train it so that I never have to change it again.

Silly me, I can't sleep. I've been away visiting my mom and sister, and I'm just so pleased to be back home that I'm having trouble adjusting.

My period finally arrived, about a week late. I'm trying to eat to satisfy my energy needs, and maybe I'm not listening carefully enough. I think I'm finally ready to place considerably more focus on some other endeavors and leave fitness to the back burners for a while. I expect it will somewhat look after itself, considering my lifestyle is pretty close to routine.

Reading Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1576751996/103-6269780-3200632?v=glance) has made me continue to question what things are REALLY important to me in life and how I can maximize my life rewards. I'm even reconsidering the market research path and thinking more seriously about pursuing a career focused on wellness.

I'm going to clean up my attachments; maybe move them into the private media gallery. I took phillydude's advice and swapped my avatar to a different photo taken that same day. Not sure yet how to properly preserve photos without artificially enhancing them. The only change I made is when I resized this one, I changed the dpi to 300 instead of 72. Maybe that's "cheating". The clarity really surprised me when I saw it.

Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, "This is the real me," and when you have found that attitude, follow it. ~ William James (1842-1909) American psychologist and author

I got that painting worked out to my satisfaction besides. A few finishing brush strokes, and it now pleases me.

Way to go Guava... 3am! I was actually on the boards at 2am, paging backwards through the journals and sending e-mails to people who hadn't posted for a month or so to see if they were OK. Saw you had fallen down a few pages, but also saw you had posted yesterday, so I knew you hadn't "left the building."

Paintings look good... you look great... all is well in the world (and Canada).

A person who is really secure in herself would not require a new wardrobe for each season, would not feel the need to look perfectly polished every time she stepped out the door. Unfortunately, I'm not there yet. :rolleyes:

I've decided that the "must have" fall piece is a dark teal sweater or blouse. Why I think I need new clothing is beyond me. I'm going to try to hold off until a chilly late fall day when I need an update, and once they're on sale.

I haven't been really into cardio in the past several weeks, and it's a shame that I really don't have anything motivating me to move my butt. Today I was looking at the icky veins in my hands and arms that stick out in weird places. My glutes and hamstrings are still my focus for now, and I am seeing some progress there due to a lower body resistance workout which I diligently follow more than twice a week.

I'm looking for a source for Flavour Creations (http://www.flavourcreations.com/) which I tried at my sister's place. I contacted the company, and they weren't much help. But, if they're an American company, why do they spell "flavor" "flavour"? :confused:

Who's stupid enough to buy a Smart Snack? Oscar Mayer, manufacturer of the infamous Lunchables (banned in many day care centers and preschools) has released Smart Snacks. I haven't heard very much about them yet, but they seem to be marketed toward adults instead of children. I just glanced quickly at them, but I think they consist of a bagel, cream cheese, and one of those high sugar, high fat gourmet chocolate milks. Probably candies too, I'm now thinking, since I've read the following article.

See interesting article here (http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0753/) (also read the one on the sidebar about Kid Cuisine.)

My Nutrition Action newsletter speaks of new studies that show a link between aspartame and cancer in rats. I'm going to make more of an effort to cut back on consumption of Diet Coke, especially for my kids, who never drink regular soda, but drink upwards of 6 cups of diet drinks each week. I'll be replacing some of that with juice, and more forcefully encouraging WATER for us all.

I made the unfortunate mistake of buying a box of Cheerios in order to get the free full version of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2. Bad mistake. I've been known to play Roller Coaster Tycoon for twelve hours straight, with only brief breaks in between for meals or bathroom. It is so, so hard to drag myself away. Not much of a problem if I don't start it up, but my daughter loves it too, and soon enough, I'm in there helping her demolish footpaths in order to have enough money to build toilets for the poor 58 park guests who desparately need to pee. :lol:

So, I'm taking up a new hobby that will keep me away from the computer. Furniture refinishing. In the next few days or weeks, I'll be applying some awful smelling solution to a nearly antique china cabinet, then scraping off the finish. I've been anxious to get this done since we moved in, but I'm sure once I start, I won't be nearly as motivated anymore.

My ears are still popping as a result of flying nearly a week ago with a head cold. My throat is still a bit sore as well. Maybe tomorrow I'll finally feel like jogging.

I added some chrysanthemums to my gardens for some nice fall color.

I practically emptied out my chequing account in getting my girls into dance, gymnastics, and swimming lessons. School starts on Tuesday, and we'll be busy, busy, busy.

Fall for me is beginning well. With all these new things going on, it feels rather like spring.

All of us are watchers -- of television, of time clocks, of traffic on the freeway -- but few are observers. Everyone is looking, not many are seeing. -- Peter M. Leschak

Hi guava! Thanks for visiting my journal! :) I love the paintings and your avatar is hot! LOL on the clothing thing. I'm right there with you. :D I've tried not to be such a clothes horse lately, but it's been easier on me because I've always been in gym clothes. Now that the contests are over, I immediately thought "I need fall clothes!" :rolleyes: :eek:

I love the fall season also -- just like the beginning of spring. A nice change of weather. :) Plus, for fall there's football. I love college football and my Steelers. :cool:

Have a great day!!

I love the fall season also -- just like the beginning of spring. A nice change of weather. :) Plus, for fall there's football. I love college football and my Steelers. :cool:



mmmm... what's this thing you call 'fall'? :p hehe

I LOVE those paintings Guava... you're very talented... I know I couldn't do nearly as well :nod:

you're looking very tight in your avatar, GREAT job :tucool:

don't rush back to working out until your cold is gone, you need your rest to beat it, try not to stress to much over it though, we need periodic breaks anyway, you'll come back fromt he break even stronger than before ;)

oh and Go BUC's and Go Bronco's ;-) (I'm originally from Denver :D )

Yuck, it's hard for me to not work out while sick when I'm sick for such a darn long time. The last time I did a real cardio session was August 12, the day before I left to see my mom. I've been sick now since August 23rd, two days before I got back from seeing my mom.

We took a visit to Canada's Wonderland yesterday on our newly purchased season passes. 2006 passes that are good for the remainder of this year (four or five weekends left) The passes cost pretty much the same price as two visits, so it's pretty worthwhile for us even if we only go once next year.

About three weeks ago, the gas price climbed to over $1 per litre for the first time. This past Monday, it made a huge jump to $1.33 per litre. I'm dumbfounded. I'm sort of almost afraid to get in my van. I feel guilty every second about the fact that it's a van, and not a more reasonable sized vehicle, but that's what we needed when we bought it four years ago, and it still comes in awfully handy for transporting building materials and stuff.

The only good luck many great men ever had was being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck. ~Channing Pollock

If I needed more protein in my diet, this is the way I'd do it. Bolthouse Farms Perfectly Protein Vanilla Chai Latte (http://www.bolthouse.com/html/cs_vanilla_juice_n.html). It's like heaven in a bottle. But at $2.49 (and 320 calories) per 450 ml, it's more of a splurge than a diet staple. Interestingly, there's no sugar added. It's sweetened with apple juice.

Dairy Queen has already given me my birthday present. A coupon for a two for one Blizzard. The last time I went out for a Blizzard it didn't go over so well guilt-wise, so this time I think I'll skip supper and call the ice cream my main evening meal.

Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. ~Wayne Dyer

Tomorrow is back to school. And what a crazy lazy summer it's been. I'm actually looking forward to the extra structure that this routine will bring.

I took my daughter shopping yesterday for food to pack in her lunch. I told her she should choose something that was less than $7 a pound (and reasonably low in fat) to go on her sandwich. But nothing satisfactory to be found. Who on earth pays $10 a pound for turkey breast? Stop the insanity! She settled on agreeing to take spaghetti with meat sauce in her thermos, and I made her some tapioca pudding. She's also pretty excited about the apples that we got "You mean these were free, Mom?" from a friend's tree. For the following day, she told me, she wants to take Chicken and Tzatziki in Pita Pockets (http://www.foodland.gov.on.ca/conrecipe/tv_recipes/chicken_tzatziki_pita_pockets.htm). Sounds like a good choice.

In the same section as my heavenly drink was Sunrise Dessert Tofu (http://www.sunrise-soya.com/English/sunrise_tofu_dessert.cfm). The taste is okay, but the texture needs some work. I'm going to whirl it with a mixer and see if that improves it any, otherwise, I'll throw it together with some other stuff to make a cheesecake from it. Tofu2go (http://www.sunrise-soya.com/English/sunrise_petes_tofu2godes.cfm) was also available, but it was considerably higher in sugar and in price.

My mom's birthday is coming up, so I ordered her a custom calendar from Shopper's Drug Mart including twelve digital photos of our family, and with all of the birthdays and anniversaries marked on it. I'm starting to really want one myself now.

Fall is near. Must be time to start knitting (http://www.knitting-crochet.com/wompulfiskni.html) again.

A woman's mind is cleaner than a man's. She changes it more often.

Cool! I like the custom calendar idea. What a neat gift! :)

I hope you're feeling all better.

Wow on the turkey breast price. The spaghetti and meatsauce in the thermos sounds good to me. :D

I'm FINALLY feeling better. Thanks hibiscus.

Made myself a wonderfully delicious lunch. Pork tenderloin poached in apple juice with a mix of brown and wild rice. Plus a salad.

I think my approach to gardening is similar to many people's approach to weight loss. A few times a year, I put in a little work at it, but I just don't have the knowledge and dedication to it to achieve quality results. I just discovered that my rhododendron is a TREE, not a shrub, and therefore maybe was not the best choice to put right in front of my small porch. I pulled out some of the lilies from the bed at the side and planted them in the front bed, but for all I know, that might have just killed them. I dumped some snapdragon seeds from a packet straight into the soil this morning, and I'll cross my fingers that somehow, miraculously, they will winter through the snow, like the seed packet seems to indicate they should. :confused: This week, I'll be buying some icicle pansies, which are supposed to bloom in the fall and the spring. I really hope nobody is examining my feeble attempt at gardening and thinking I'm an idiot. :o

He that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.

My four year old daughter has been begging me to sign her up for dance class. Evil mother that I am, I have been putting it off because of this flimsy reason: I did not like dance class when I was a little girl; I much preferred gymnastics. Coouple this knowledge with the fact that my daughter is pretty much my genetic twin, and you'll understand. I finally justified my choice with the explanation that the gymnastic classes in the afternoon were more convenient than taking her to dance in the evening. (All true.) Wednesday, she started the class, and she was DELIGHTED. For some strange reason, she is the ONLY person in the class, so she had the teacher all to herself for a full hour of fun. She busied herself with running, jumping, cartwheeling, balance beam, bars, rings, trampoline, jumping into a pit, and numerous other things. She didn't stop for a breath the whole time. It is the most fun she's had in years. The instructor was completely incredulous that she's never taken gymnastics before, and recommended for her to go into the advanced class instead (90 minutes) which we'll consider after Christmas. I feel a sense of pride in my "mother knows best" intuition. :D

I attended a Pampered Chef house party last night. It was fun, but I'm not to keen on the sales pressure. Their biggest item is the stone-ware baking dishes, and when I asked some questions about it, she asked me why I didn't order any pieces. I told her that although I may find a use for them in the future, the way I cook right now doesn't require them. I explained that I do most of my cooking on the stovetop and the barbecue. She said

"Really? You know, that's a really unhealthy way to cook."

:rolleyes:

I thought it pretty ironic coming from someone who just demonstrated the pan by covering it with Pillsbury Crescent dough spread with a spinach and cream cheese blend.

But I held my tongue, and smiled and nodded. I didn't bother telling her that I poach my chicken breasts, microwave my salmon, and eat my tuna from a tin.

I ordered a bag of coffee and called it a day. :lol:

Woman who cooks chicken and peas in same pot, very unhygienic.

Woman who cooks chicken and peas in same pot, very unhygienic. :lol:

Hi guava! :) My daughter always took dance -- 3 classes -- tap, ballet and jazz, then switched over to 2 -- tap and jazz -- and is still taking them in college. She loves to dance. She also wanted to take gymnastics, however. We took them for a little while, but she didn't like them at the time. Later, when she wanted to be a cheerleader, she was sorry she hadn't taken gymnastics, so I think I screwed up there. :p

I think your daughter will be happy she took gymnastics in the long run. Perhaps sometime she can take a dance class also? They're really good for you too. Just DON'T let her take 3!! :lol: That takes up tons of time and is expensive!

Happy Sunday!

There's about half a dozen dance schools within about a 15 minute drive, and two of them offer something called acro, which is a form of dance that incorporates gymnastics skills with jazz techniques. I think once she's in grade one, I might look into putting her into dance, but for now, it seems like too much structure and too many rules. What I hated about ballet class when I was 6 was the silly practising of "1st position, 2nd position, 3rd position, 4th position" several times each class. The dance studios also have a mandatory dress code, and in their performances (which parents must pay to attend) they wear makeup. It turned me off.

My older daughter is enrolled in a 9 week session called Hip Hop Rock. It should be pretty exciting because Hip Hop is so high energy.

I'm turning into an old lady. I found myself trying on Dr. Scholl's shoes in Wal-Mart yesterday, and I was this close to buying them. They were easily the ugliest shoes I've ever seen, but comfortable, yes. The sad thing is, they were extremely comfortable compared to my running shoes (I'd come straight from our slow-pitch play-offs, in which we'd come third place). Aren't running shoes supposed to be the most comfortable footwear you own?

I've been reading Andi's (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showpost.php?p=200089&postcount=26) thoughts on Peak Oil (http://deandi.com/adventure/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/peak%20oil), and starting to feel like I could be doing more than what I am. Priorities? Hmmm....

Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do. ~ Amelia Earhart

I attempted to replicate the chilled soy protein chai latte, but I didn't manage to even come close to the right taste, so my only option is to buy them for a treat when I'm feeling low.

I picked up my book again on "Living the Good Life" by the founder of the Goodlife Fitness chain. He was doing pretty well on the first three chapters about how you look and how you feel, but he should have taken a few more nutrition classes so that he could talk a little more knowledgably about "A Good Weight".

I need calories from different types of food: for example a third from carbohydrates, a third from proteins, a third from fruits and vegetables.
:rolleyes: Since when are fruits and vegetables different types of foods than carbohydrates? Where are the fats in this diet?

Not to outdo himself, he later declares:

Generally, a woman needs 2,500 calories a day, and a man 3,500.

:confused: From what I understand, if you're about 160 pounds, you need 2,500 calories, and if you're about 225 pounds, you need about 3,500 calories. The main difference in caloric needs is your weight, not your sex.

If I thought I needed a dietician before I read this book, I wouldn't go searching one out from GoodLife Fitness after reading it. You'd think he would have had more help putting it together, so that he doesn't sound like a complete idiot in promoting his multimillion dollar facilities.

My husband hired some contractors to do the taping and mudding on the drywall he did in the basement. One of the guys came upstairs this morning and asked if he did anything to offend me the other day. Aparently, his buddy told him that my husband told him that I was upset by something he said. So anyway, when I assured him that I did not voice any objections about him, he started pointing out to me all the shoddy work his buddy is doing, and then started going on and on about how he is always showing up for work drunk. He asked me to come and look at the drywalling he did compared to the other guy, then questions me "Can't you see a difference when he comes first thing in the morning? That he's always had a few drinks first?"

:d_redface I don't want to get involved. The reason we HIRED people to finish the basement is to deal with fewer problems.

The whole thing really stressed me out and made me remember again how my people skills are not my strong suit. I'm not fitting in so well with the neighbors here, mostly because I'm not terribly interested in who has drinking problems, who's beating up his wife, and who's cheating on her husband. To some extent, I've purposely developed indoor hobbies to avoid socializing. Softball did not go well for me, and I have no reason to think that soccer or ball hockey will be any better. But, it doesn't need to be a problem. I can try to improve my people skills, or I can be happy in the solitude that I create.

What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are. ~Anthony Robbins

Yesterday, I bought a chai latte dry mix from the cafe and brought it home to make it here. It's disgusting.

I used to wonder why the chai I made at home from tea bags and milk always tasted so different from the kind I would drink in a cafe. Now that I've made that mix at home, I realize the difference. The ones in the cafe are nearly pure sugar. When I'm out, it seems to taste right to me, but back at home in my own environment, the sweetness is too much for me. There's really no flavor in this drink. In fact, I doubt it's anything similar to the original Indian chai.

Had another fight with my daughter about food. I don't know if I'm being too strict with her or not. She'd like to have Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal for breakfast and a salami sandwich for lunch. I said absolutely not. So, she gets a blueberry bagel for breakfast and crepes with fruit and yogurt for lunch. She's not happy about the crepes, but she's eaten them before (with whipped cream) and enjoyed them. I really need to find more protein sources for her. I don't mind giving her pastrami once in a while, but bologna and salami are out of the question. I'm trying to get creative with eggs, but no brainstorms yet. She'd like to have cheese more often, but I think the fat content is troublesome, so I limit it to a couple of times a week.

I'm torn between ensuring that her diet offers all the essential nutrients, and letting her eat what she enjoys. :d_confuse

Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. ~ Henri Bergson

How old is your DD Guava? My dd is 4 and I try to get her to eat as healthy as possible. I buy the low fat string cheese and let her have one a day. When they are young they really need a good amount of fat in their diet to help build the brain etc. Will she eat chicken or tuna fish?


Yesterday, I bought a chai latte dry mix from the cafe and brought it home to make it here. It's disgusting.

I used to wonder why the chai I made at home from tea bags and milk always tasted so different from the kind I would drink in a cafe. Now that I've made that mix at home, I realize the difference. The ones in the cafe are nearly pure sugar. When I'm out, it seems to taste right to me, but back at home in my own environment, the sweetness is too much for me. There's really no flavor in this drink. In fact, I doubt it's anything similar to the original Indian chai.

Had another fight with my daughter about food. I don't know if I'm being too strict with her or not. She'd like to have Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal for breakfast and a salami sandwich for lunch. I said absolutely not. So, she gets a blueberry bagel for breakfast and crepes with fruit and yogurt for lunch. She's not happy about the crepes, but she's eaten them before (with whipped cream) and enjoyed them. I really need to find more protein sources for her. I don't mind giving her pastrami once in a while, but bologna and salami are out of the question. I'm trying to get creative with eggs, but no brainstorms yet. She'd like to have cheese more often, but I think the fat content is troublesome, so I limit it to a couple of times a week.

I'm torn between ensuring that her diet offers all the essential nutrients, and letting her eat what she enjoys. :d_confuse

Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. ~ Henri Bergson

How old is your DD Guava? My dd is 4 and I try to get her to eat as healthy as possible. I buy the low fat string cheese and let her have one a day. When they are young they really need a good amount of fat in their diet to help build the brain etc. Will she eat chicken or tuna fish?
This is the nine-year-old that I was battling with.

After I wrote this I thought about how I don't enforce the same strict standards on the four-year-old. The four-year-old is actually underweight, and so I'm not as concerned about overfeeding her, and she never drinks milk, so I let her eat cheese several times a week. But she eats it with whole wheat bread, and the older one insists on white.

Neither will eat tuna, but chicken is okay, depending on their mood and how it is prepared. We've tried a couple of different ways to pack it in her lunch, but none successful yet.

The little one starts school full days alternate days tomorrow. So, for two or three days out of the week, I'll have only 50 minutes to pick her up, feed her, and take her back. It's a fifteen minute walk, so that'll be a real challenge. :d_frown:

I'm getting sick to my stomach just thinking aobut the start of school. My baby! :d_eek:

School is going ... um... crazy.

Pretty much anything that involves travelling stresses me to no end. My daughter's teacher suggested that I drive behind the school bus the first day I had my daughter on it. So when I arrived at the school, I had to find a parking spot, race to catch up with my daughter, then make sure her sister, her "bus buddy" got her to the right place. Then I drove to the mall all choked up and sat down and had a LARGE coffee and a nanaimo bar. :d_redface

Yesterday, I took my older daughter to the 25th anniversary run of the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope. I jogged 5 laps around the track, alternated with 6 laps of walking. Terry Fox ran close to a marathon every day, for 143 days (http://www.terryfoxrun.org/english/marathon/timeline/default.asp?s=1).

You must be the change you wish to see in this world.

My priorities now are not so diet or exercise focused, and I like it that way. Still, I like to check in here frequently to keep diet, lifting, and cardio somewhere in the not too distant spot in my head.

The perfect diet: if my macronutrients fall within the targets for the day, and my calories are on track does that mean I've eaten perfectly? What about vitamins? What about minerals? What about antioxidants? Any attention to fibre content or glycemic index? Artificial colorings, sweeteners, preservatives? Paying attention to ALL of those details at once is too much for most people to handle, so we need to pick the elements that are most important to us and stick to them. I think I could design a diet where if you eat 9 vegetables a day, you lose weight guaranteed. Eat anything else you like. Problem is, it doesn't sound like very much fun.

Anyway, that's why I need to focus away from my fitness habits. They're getting too complicated and tough to fit into the rest of my schedule. I need to give myself the time to focus on other things. I can't do everything perfectly all at once. Now's not the time for my diet and exercise to be perfect. The time will come again.

My local newspaper posted an article about how we should try to get more whole grains into our diet. Their suggestion? To look for the word "whole grain" in the ingredient list at the supermarket. Silliness. How about "Buy a bag of barley, a bag of steel cut oats, and a bag of brown rice." I'm debating whether I should write a letter to the editor and put in a plug for the natural food store in town.

"Life" has come out with a new cereal that is cinnamon flavored. It's the best thing I've tasted for quite some time. It's possibly dangerous because I feel guilty enough not to overindulge on chocolate or ice cream or cake or something "bad for me", but cereal is more "healthy" and I therefore have more of a tendency to eat past the point of satisfaction.

My 2 for 1 coupon for Dairy Queen Blizzards expires tonight, so it doesn't look like I'll be using it. I have weird spending habits anyway. I'm trying to find the best deal on paint right now, and trying to sort that out with any difference in quality that might result.

I've been slapping primer on the basement walls. Amazing how long it takes. My back is killing me, but I don't know if it's related to that or something different.

Took a trip to the hospital last night after my nine-year-old hurt herself at a friend's place. Three hours later we were home with three stitches in her eyebrow.

I'm reading two amazing books that are bringing me no end of delight. Living, Loving and Learning by Leo Buscalglia (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0449901815/102-5182242-6028117?v=glance)
and
Terry by Douglas Coupland (http://www.cbc.ca/terryfox/terry_by_douglas_coupland.html)

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Yesterday, we went to a wedding. It was interesting that although I didn't indulge like I normally would have on such an occasion, I still ate considerably more than on a normal day. Three pieces of bread, the whole bowl of soup, half the salad, the whole entree (ricotta canelloni) and half the dessert (ice cream), with one glass of punch, two cups of coffee, and some diet Coke. I passed on the pig and corn roast later on in the evening, and although I had the munchies when I got home around midnight, I ignored them.

When I got home, I managed to knock out three sets of twelve push-ups before bed, a personal best. Muscle growth is slow, but I think that's what I'm aiming for anyway. My pull-up performance has sadly not improved in the least bit. I'm still stuck on a set of 4, then 3, then 2. I expect that maybe if I take one session to really give it my all, that might surge a muscle growth and make it easier in all further attempts. We'll see if that happens with the pushups.

My scale said I was 20.4% body fat a couple of days ago, but the day before that, it read 12.8%, so I'll just assume that maybe it needs new batteries. It's still most frequently hovering around 18% for the most part.

Voici mon secret. Il est très simple : on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. ~ Antoine de Saint Exupery

Reading in an old Shape magazine: "For every two hours a day you spend watching tv, your risk for obesity rises 23 percent." Their solution is to work out while watching tv. Great idea. Turn to their TV workout, and it says "Each half-hour show has about eight minutes of ads. Watch for an hour and you'll shoehorn in 15 minutes of toning time." This doesn't make sense to me. I watched a movie for two hours last night. How much toning time and stretching did I squeeze in? Why, two hours of course. (And man, my legs are killing me!) Is there something riviting about television programs that makes most people have to save their lateral raises for commercial breaks?

Yesterday, a busy night. I took my daughter to the clinic to get her stitches out immediately after school (nearly a two hour wait. :d_mad: ), then raced to be five minutes late for her swimming lessons. The open house at her school was going on at the same time, but fortunately, that's the same place where her lessons are, so I peeked in to see her main teacher, then collected her from lessons before seeing a couple other of her teachers. Her teacher showed me an amazing poem she wrote about how supportive her mom is. It touched my heart.

The base coat of paint is down in the basement. It was supposed to be a golden shade (Prairie Grass, the color name) but it looks rather like mustard. :d_redface On top of this will go a paint technique called marbling, done with a shade lighter and a shade darker (Luminary Yellow and Cairo Gold), rolled on with a textured roller. My husband took yesterday afternoon off to come home and help me paint, but I called him at work just before he came home and said "Ya know, we don't have to paint. Both the girls are at school. I could put on some music, light some candles, and clear off the kitchen counter...."

:D

So I have the painting to do myself now.

But, I told him he should work an hour extra each day so that he can take every Thursday afternoon off. Great way to break up the week. :tu:

The essence of pleasure is spontaneity. ~Germaine Greer

wow, very romantic guava! :D

did you take before pictures of the basement?
you might have already posted them, but i havnt updated myself on your journal completly yet.

cant wait to see how it turns out!

I am a creative genius.

Actually, no, I'm not. But usually, I'm pretty good at following instructions.

I was a little worried about the color of the walls, and even more worried when I poured one of the accent colors into the tray and it looked even MORE like mustard, but I really like how the walls turned out. I was so proud of myself, so while I was on a roll, I did some stencilling in the upstairs bathroom (it's actually supposed to be painted blue first, but I wanted to test it out) and my older daughter's bedroom (it needs a base coat of blue as well).

Of course I have progress pictures of the basement. :d_wink: But I can't show the "before" pictures until I reach the "after" stage. It could be a while before we get the floor done and the pool table moved in.

"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." - William Connor Magee

I'm not a huge fan of vegetables. And really, I'm not a huge fan of salad dressing either. The other day, with just a few florets of broccoli left, I decided to throw them on top of toast with peanut butter. It was really quite delicious, so I had another one, with carrot added as well. The other option I was considering was broccoli with raisins and maple flavored soy nuts.

I think as long as I stay fully conscious of all the positive and negative feelings that my body is feeling, it shouldn't be a problem to keep my body in the shape that I want it to be.

I went out shopping for the day. Lunch was a fast food place named "Fit for Life". I did ask if the rice had any butter or oil in it (no), but I didn't bother to ask how the chicken kabob was prepared. Tasty, and not without added fat. For supper, I shared an entree with my daughter (mongolian noodle bowl with lots of veggies) but then we each had dessert (a molten lava cake for me). I'm just a little nauseous now. That's what'll happen when I overeat. I didn't feel much like doing anything when I got home, but I feel much better with a few sets of tricep extensions, bicep curls, upright rows, bent over rows, shrugs and stretching completed.

The book of the moment is Goldie Hawn's A Lotus Grows in the Mud (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0399152857/102-7747073-7634530?v=glance). I think I can learn a lot from her ideas of what success is. When she was little and asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" she always answered "I want to be happy." :d_smile:

The wonder of this life is that people, even the worst kind of people, can surprise us. ~Goldie Hawn

My daughter wants to play ringette. Finding a team is proving to be difficult. The arena gave me a contact number for girls hockey, so I've left a message there and I hope to hear back soon.

Cranberries are in season. I searched allrecipes for recipes with no sugar and no butter, and here's what it came up with. Recipes (http://search.allrecipes.com/recipe/ingadv.asp?i1=cranberries&n1=sugar&q1=&i2=&n2=&i3=&n3=&i4=&n4=&siteid=52&srt=1&x=11&y=9) They're not all good for you. Many have large quantities of oil or honey, but it's a pretty good selection, I thought. Thanksgiving, in Canada, is this upcoming Monday, and we'll be having a couple over from my husband's work. He can't stand celery, so I'm looking for a good a stuffing idea that doesn't require it. I'm going to go with the tart cranberry relish (http://thanksgiving.allrecipes.com/az/TartCranberryRelish.asp) recipe instead of serving that vile canned stuff. The pumpkin pie is in the freezer, and my youngest was pleased with the "baby turkey" we snagged (3.5 kg).

3 sets of 12 pushups was much easier last night. Strangely enough, it's almost harder on my abs than on my arms and chest.

I decided to review mybodycomp. It's interesting the growings and shrinkings of my body. I'm not narrow minded enough to think that any of them are deadly accurate either; there's a huge variation based on time of day, time of month, etc. I don't know what's up with the neck and calf measurements.

Date Wt Neck Shldr Chest Wst Abs Hips Thigh Knee Calf Ankle Arm For Wrst
Feb 04 123.2 13.48 43.43 35.92 26.96 27.94 34.94 21.85 13.99 14.74 8.25 11.48 9.59 6.17
Mar 04 121.0 12.77 41.46 34.39 26.80 27.71 33.41 22.40 13.36 13.95 7.86 10.41 9.24 6.29
apr 04 119.0 12.77 40.68 33.29 25.94 26.61 33.41 21.81 13.36 13.95 8.14 10.49 9.43 6.29
may 04 117.9 13.17 40.68 33.09 25.74 26.61 33.41 21.81 13.36 14.23 7.98 10.02 9.24 6.17
june 04 116.6 12.97 40.28 33.01 25.74 25.55 33.41 20.55 13.36 13.95 8.06 10.22 9.04 6.37
Nov 04 114.4 12.97 40.44 33.64 25.74 26.96 31.95 20.55 13.17 13.95 8.06 9.98 8.57 6.09
June 05 117.4 13.20 41.50 33.80 25.74 26.96 31.95 21.20 13.17 13.95 8.06 10.25 9.50 6.09
Oct 05 118.0 14.00 41.00 33.80 26.00 26.96 31.95 21.20 13.17 14.50 8.06 10.25 9.50 6.09

I've been in a bit of a bad mood for a few days. I want to just shake myself and shout "snap out of it" because absolutely nothing is wrong. I think I just start to get nervous when things are going TOO well.

According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other women. They say that women are too judgmental, where, of course, men are just grateful. --Robert De Niro

I hate PMS.

I had to fight with my two girls over the hot water bottle. DD2 wanted it because she had muscle cramps in her legs (a frequent occurence which I've mentioned to her doctor), DD1 wanted it just to play with it, and I wanted it to soothe the burning pain that feels like someone is ripping out my insides. :eek: At least I only get cramps like this a couple of times a year instead of every month that used to happen in high school.

I think it's time to buy an electric heating pad or a Magic Bag.

If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want. ~Oscar Wilde

This evening I attended a meeting about the expansion/relocation of the library in a nearby town. The present library is 12,000 square feet, and the planning team has decided that the community needs 33,000 square feet of space. There were only about half a dozen other people from the community in attendance, but that made the presentation all that much more interesting (and me more willing to speak up). I asked about the validity of the projected space needed, which is based on projected population statistics into 2021 and a standard per capita allotment of space. His answer seemed reasonable. There was a forty page report to take home, which I find most fascinating. I suppose I just may be turning into some sort of community activist. I'd really like to keep out of politics, however.

I get a free gift subscription to Nutrition Action Healthletter (see signature) when I renew mine, so I asked at the library whether they would circulate it if I donated it to them. She's having them check it out and they'll give me a call back.

I dropped by the police station this aftenoon to pick up my application for a police record check, which must be done if I wish to volunteer at the school or on field trips.

I'm looking into the feasibility of starting a salad bar program at the school instead of supporting the pizza days which presently occur once per week. I attended the school council meeting on Monday. The next one will be in four more weeks, so I hope I can get motivated to dig up enough information by then.

When I double checked my measurements this morning on an empty stomach, my waist measured back to the same it was in June. (Yesterday's measurement was in the afternoon. I'm pretty sure all the other ones were done in the morning.)

I still feel rotten. My shameful diet today consisted of my usual oatmeal yogurt and egg pancake with an apple for breakfast, followed by an apple muffin, a raspberry scone, a chai latte and a diet Pepsi for lunch. I was so ashamed of how I was poisoning my body that I opted for an orange and a handful of grapes for supper. Then I took one of the chocolate chip cookies that was offered at the library presentation. :d_redface After a quick calculation, I now realize why. Even though my lunch was garbage, my day's totals are well under 1500. Trying to cut calories is the surest way to get me to eat junk.

“It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.” ~Leo Buscaglia

I seem to be acting in a rather "attention-getting" manner lately, and I'm not proud of that behavior.

The perfect body gallery, the synthol thread, the 18 inch biceps thread.

My stand on breast implants:
Do I honestly think breast implants look ugly, or am I jealous of the attention?

Many women with implants look fantastic, and I don't think any less of a woman who decides to get breast implants.

I think I'm disappointed that beauty has become something you can buy, and unless you put out the big bucks, you're no longer in the game. On the other hand, I don't have problems celebrating natural beauty, the kind of beauty that you're born with that's just the luck of the draw, so I'm not sure what the difference is. Maybe it's a struggle that I know I COULD be considered more attractive if I got breast implants, but it's not something that I want to do. I'm sad that we can't all believe that we are beautiful the way we were born.

I'm also upset that I care so much about looking good. I don't want to be so shallow.

I think part of the answer might lie in that Synthol thread. A whole lot of men responded about how disgusting and terrible injecting synthol is. What if I praised the huge pumped up synthol guys as much as the guys in the perfect body thread are praising the gigantic pillows of saline? I think they'd be jealous too.

Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see Beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see Beauty never grows old. - Frank Kafka

Hi Guava, I just wanted to say thanks for the links in your sig on the worlds healthiest foods and super foods. Lots of great info, I'm going to put them in my fat loss guide.

I hope you don't go through too much inner turmoil with the issues above. Self-image is heavy stuff.

I seem to be acting in a rather "attention-getting" manner lately, and I'm not proud of that behavior.

The perfect body gallery, the synthol thread, the 18 inch biceps thread.
I wouldn't worry too much over this. Why not think about the fact that you've been helpful many times to many people? :tucool:

My stand on breast implants:
Do I honestly think breast implants look ugly, or am I jealous of the attention?

Many women with implants look fantastic, and I don't think any less of a woman who decides to get breast implants.
Same here. On the "attention" thing I know what you mean. I've expressed irritation over Brad Pitt, for example, when girls say how hot he is. Perhaps I was jealous that I don't look like him. No "perhaps" about it; I don't want to be that thin but I wouldn't mind having his face!

It's their choice and there are certainly bigger things to worry about than what someone chooses to do to their body. Basically as long as someone isn't hurting someone else or themself I don't care. I just want people to be happy. As for me, if I can be a complete pig for a minute, breasts are actually the last thing I notice on a woman. Always have been. The inside is more important of course (how someone acts, ethics, morals, etc.). But as far as looks go, I personally like to look at the face first, then I'm more into a gal's figure, legs, butt, etc. Maybe I'm weird, I don't know.

I'm also upset that I care so much about looking good. I don't want to be so shallow.
There is nothing shallow about wanting to look good, in my opinion. You should not beat yourself up over this. If it takes control of your life and all you do is think about how you look, then maybe you have a problem. I clearly don't think you're that way though. I think it's actually GOOD to care about how you look. It's not as important as caring about how you act, work, treat others, etc. of course. But wanting to have a 6 pack, or have clear skin, or nice hair, those are not bad things!!

I think part of the answer might lie in that Synthol thread. A whole lot of men responded about how disgusting and terrible injecting synthol is. What if I praised the huge pumped up synthol guys as much as the guys in the perfect body thread are praising the gigantic pillows of saline? I think they'd be jealous too.
Fantastic point! I never thought of it that way and I'm glad I stopped by your journal. If someone feels better about themselves by shooting oil into their arm, well I guess "whatever, if it makes you happy!" (Aside from the fact that it's dangerous, but that's another story.) It's funny how society percieves beauty, generally speaking. An injected male bicep is disgusting, while an injected female breast is not (again, generally speaking). Interesting discussion. I don't know how one would go about changing this though. The trend may likely shift, though, over time. I think decades ago bigger butts were more popular. Who knows what's next!

I'm really against the norm, I want to be bigger than most guys and I just feel good when I am. Seriously, I'm trying to cut bodyfat now and as much as I tell people "don't look at the scale" I got depressed when mine went from 230 to 225, even though I knew I was losing FAT and probably looking better!

I actually had a girl break up with me once because she said I was too big. And I'm NOT too big I don't think. I'll never forget her saying "if you stand with your feet together your calves touch each other, that's disgusting!"

Anyway, don't spend too much time wrestling with these issues!

PS - sorry for rambling in your journal. :)

The trend may likely shift, though, over time. I think decades ago bigger butts were more popular. Who knows what's next!

Let's not forget that the current trend is very different all over the world right now. My Brazillian friend tells me butts are all the rage there and breasts come lower in priority.

Guava, I read your posts in all of those threads and I didn't think of it as "attention getting behavior" at all. In fact, I think you make some valid points. People argue, but that is the nature of discussion boards -- It is all in good fun, and often we learn about other people's viewpoints, and they often get us to think critically about our own viewpoints. So, keep posting, and don't worry about it if other people don't like what you post. I enjoyed reading your opinions in those threads. :tu:

gh, I read your comments right away, and they made me smile. That's the most helpful thought, that turmoil is inevitable, and my problems will be worked through. Unfortunately, self image is the tip of the iceberg. Every once in a while, I lose track of the simple fact that my OWN opinions are more important than other people's opinions. Not to other people, of course, but to me.

1FastGTX, yes, I'm looking at both sides now. I do like giving advice, but I carry it too far sometimes, then I'm embarrassed at having shown off. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on shallowness. I'm not obsessed with my looks, I just don't feel my best if I don't believe I look my best, and that shouldn't be a bad thing. Interesting girl you once dated, to value outward appearances so much. We don't need people in our lives whose priorities are so different from our own.

My husband and I went to go see the Arrogant Worms in concert. Funny Stuff. You can listen to Canada's Really Big and The Mountie Song (http://www.festival.bc.ca/index.php?target=/top30/worms.html). Also interesting (lyrics), I am Not American (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-i-am-not-american-lyrics.html), Proud to Be Canadian (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-proud-to-be-canadian-lyrics.html), Rocks and Trees (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-proud-to-be-canadian-lyrics.html), We are the Beaver (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-we-are-the-beaver-lyrics.html), I Want to Look Like Arnold (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-i-want-to-look-like-arnold-lyrics.html), Carrot Juice is Murder (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-carrot-juice-is-murder-lyrics.html), and Wong's Chinese Buffet (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-wong-s-chineses-buffet-lyrics.html).

My husband noticed that TESLA is playing at a club near us in just a few weeks. Part of me would really like to go, but I'm not sure I would enjoy a concert on my own. He doesn't want to go, but I might still try to talk him into it. Only $30 a ticket.

We're having people over tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving, even though it's really on Monday. Monday we have plans to attend a big event in Toronto that I'm really looking forward to.

We're proud to be Canadian
We're awfully nice to strangers, our manners be our curse
It's cool in many ways to be canadian
We won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse
-The Arrogant Worms

Happy Thanksgiving.

gh, I read your comments right away, and they made me smile. That's the most helpful thought, that turmoil is inevitable, and my problems will be worked through. Unfortunately, self image is the tip of the iceberg. Every once in a while, I lose track of the simple fact that my OWN opinions are more important than other people's opinions. Not to other people, of course, but to me.

1FastGTX, yes, I'm looking at both sides now. I do like giving advice, but I carry it too far sometimes, then I'm embarrassed at having shown off. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on shallowness. I'm not obsessed with my looks, I just don't feel my best if I don't believe I look my best, and that shouldn't be a bad thing. Interesting girl you once dated, to value outward appearances so much. We don't need people in our lives whose priorities are so different from our own.

My husband and I went to go see the Arrogant Worms in concert. Funny Stuff. You can listen to Canada's Really Big and The Mountie Song (http://www.festival.bc.ca/index.php?target=/top30/worms.html). Also interesting (lyrics), I am Not American (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-i-am-not-american-lyrics.html), Proud to Be Canadian (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-proud-to-be-canadian-lyrics.html), Rocks and Trees (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-proud-to-be-canadian-lyrics.html), We are the Beaver (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-we-are-the-beaver-lyrics.html), I Want to Look Like Arnold (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-i-want-to-look-like-arnold-lyrics.html), Carrot Juice is Murder (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-carrot-juice-is-murder-lyrics.html), and Wong's Chinese Buffet (http://www.lyricsdownload.com/arrogant-worms-wong-s-chineses-buffet-lyrics.html).

My husband noticed that TESLA is playing at a club near us in just a few weeks. Part of me would really like to go, but I'm not sure I would enjoy a concert on my own. He doesn't want to go, but I might still try to talk him into it. Only $30 a ticket.

We're having people over tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving, even though it's really on Monday. Monday we have plans to attend a big event in Toronto that I'm really looking forward to.

We're proud to be Canadian
We're awfully nice to strangers, our manners be our curse
It's cool in many ways to be canadian
We won't say that we're better, it's just that we're less worse
-The Arrogant Worms

Happy Thanksgiving.

Canadians celebrate thanksgiving ? :confused:

Canadians celebrate thanksgiving ? :confused:
"In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike the American tradition of remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest."

In other words, our celebration is COMPLETELY about food. I gained a pound from that massive dinner I cooked on Sunday. But, remembering that all my best gains in strength have been after a caloric surplus, I made a point of lifting weights right before bed, even though I was exhausted. I ate normally today, and did a one hour cardio session, even though I hate my running shoes; they make my feet ache.

Since goal-directed challenges give me more satisfying results, I've joined gravityhomer's daily multi-vitamin challenge (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=21270). :tu:

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt