I've Moved

Hi all. For the next 52 weeks or so... I've moved to another blog. I'd love it if you would join me there!!!

52weeks... to the ME I was meant to BE!

A Good Day

Sprinting. Dropping weight. Good metabolism. Fun. Accomplishment. Step Record: 14,699. That sums it up for today. Here are some of my more recent adventures... details to follow soon...

A quick jog around the track at Kent State (1 lap)


The weather broke - temporarily- So I got to go run outside.


A walk around the block with Dad ... saw my cousin while we were out and stopped to chat.


Tonight at Kent State indoor track. That last spike is a FULL SPRINT. It felt great!! No more jogging for me. The feel of running is soooo much better!

A little over a week to go

I have a renewed passion to achieve my goal, but realistically I don't think it will happen. Although I do not feel bad about it. I've done quite well, a few little slip ups here and there but nothing major. I managed to to get to a gym at least 3 times every week. But now.. my renewed energy... I've been to the gym 6 days in a row. And I'm trying to push myself harder while I'm there -- get the most bang for my buck, so to speak. There is just so much going on. I need a good 30 minutes just to keep my fitness stuff updated... like you will notice my exercise log and weight logs are a bit behind.. I'm working on it I promise.

It's late now.. and I must sleep!! The gym calls at 5:30!!

Roller Coaster

These past few weeks have been overwhelming. I have too much to do so it makes me do NOTHING. grrr.

I finally went for another run outside, it was in the 40s today. Here's my run:



More updates on life coming soon... I promise.

Exciting Puzzle Pieces

Have you been to that point when everything just MAKES SENSE. You have a sense of where you're supposed to be and what you're supposed to be doing. The pieces to lead me to that point have been appearing one by one over the last month and I'm really REALLY excited about it. I am more motivated than ever to make them all true.

I know where I want to live - Summit County, near Akron. I loved it when I lived there before and I was the most "adult-like" and grown up when I was there. I also found a running store that has 5k training!! (in that area)

So my goal is to get a job up there and move there this summer.

(and if you've been keeping up with my posts - I'm starting to lose weight again, and I'm pursuing additional licensure so that I WILL BE able to teach upper level math!!)

Well I need to go to bed.

Happy Presidents' Day!

Happy Day

Today was a great day. The scale was friendly - 210.0 !!! and I had a great workout, a whole 60 minutes on the elliptical. I had a shower to go to and they served fruit and grilled chicken! I did have some cake but it is all accounted for and permissible :)

I have realized I really MUST eat more. I will lose weight better by eating my WHOLE 1800 calories and if that means I need to move my butt even more to get the deficit I want, than that's what it has to be.

Not eating enough is NOT a shortcut. You'd think I'd have learned this by now!!! Ok I'm going to curl up in my nice warm bed and watch a movie... then sleep!! :)

Goodnight!

Today also turned out to be a 41 point day (43 is my highest) and I logged 12,164 steps (my best is 13,732) That's by far my best step count for a WEEKEND. YAY!

Tried something New

Today I did an experiment that is very unlike me. I experimented with a recipe and I must admit, it's not bad. There are few tweaks I will make, and I will definitely try again.

Low Fat Potato Soup (my interpretation)
Makes 4 1 cup servings - supposedly
1/2 bag of Ore Ida Shredded Hashbrowns
2 cans of fat free/low salt College Inn Chicken Broth
1 packet of McCormick's Country Gravy (this I will try others next time - a little too spicy for me)

Brown the hashbrowns... add them to chicken broth, cook until potatoes are "squishy" then add the gravy mix. I let it simmer for a bit and then let it set - so the gravy would get thicker.

Surprisingly it really did taste like Potato Soup. :) and here are the nutritional stats for 1 cup:

Calories: 155
Fat: 4g
Saturated Fat: 0
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 1010mg (mostly from the gravy mix)
Carbs: 26g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 5g

Changing the prize

Ok the last two days have been HORRIBLE. I'm blaming stress and it ends tonight. I'm going to put some relaxing lotion on, crawl into my nice warm bed and read my book until the real world just fades away (at least until tomorrow)

I decided that I would much rather have the new Madagascar movie (with additional Penguin Movie) instead of the Wii Game. So I switched it. I can do that right? After all it is MY point/reward system right?

Ok I'm off to la-la world.

FRUSTRATING DAY- Expensive Lesson

I won't go into the details of the day, because I'd rather forget them. The day started off rocky since we lost electricity and my alarms didn't go off! But anyway... on my way home tonight, I stopped for a DQ SMALL blizzard, my throat was sore and I thought it would do nicely for it. I estimated in my head that a small would probably be between 300 and 400 calories, and I had space allotted in my "calorie count". Of course, I also stopped for an Arby's Roastbeef -- I told you it was a bad day. I know the Arby's is 400 and I really did still have room for the DQ (at my estimation).
So I came home and looked up the Blizzard details... then rechecked them, made sure I picked small and looked again... let's just say there will be NO MORE blizzards in my future!!! I'm glad I enjoyed this one.
710 calories, 27 grams of Fat!!!!

Ok That being said, I'm going to bed so I get up EXTRA early and go burn some EXTRA calories. I declared today my rest day -- since between my alarm issues and class, I had no chance to get to the gym.

Back in the Saddle

So, it's a new week, I took a few days off (Thur-Sun) and came back refreshed and energized. I've been to the gym twice this week - both times before the crack of dawn. I like this new schedule I've set for myself. I try to go to bed between 9 and 10 and get up somewhere between 5 and 5:30. My points are going well. I should reach my next goal tomorrow. Of course this prize doesn't interest me nearly as much as I thought it would.

Tonight I went to dinner with my parents, and ate too much. I wanted something new- different... but I think it was a bad choice, but i"ll make up for it at the gym tomorrow.

Well Biggest Loser is on and I have Valentine's to write.

I need routine

Maybe I'm a little OCD, (actually I've always thought I had a few OCD tendancies) but MAN do I miss my regular routine. I'm content eating the same thing, at the same time, day after day. I like predictability. (but at the same time I also like spontanaity - I'm weird)

I'm here in Columbus at a conference. I accidentally booked the wrong hotel, so I have no fridge or microwave, which changes my food plan.

Yesterday I did ok food wise but exercise was tough. I tried 3 machines before settling on the recumbant bike. My stomach was... kinda crampy and legs were just dragging, overall I was only able to go about 20 minutes. (By the end of the day though, I did come in with over an hour of at least moderate activity) I also realized I really really did not like the water at the hotel. It's great for brushing my teeth, but offered no comfort while working out.

Because of my being out of townness... and my stomach acting up (I'm thinking it was the effects of my pizza Sunday night) I decided to allow myself an extra day before my weigh in. So my official "Tuesday" weigh in will be "Wednesday" this week.

Last night I stayed up late reading my book and so my morning workout didn't happen - my stomach was still bothering me last night, so I decided to sleep in (till 7am) and do my workout this evening. On my way back to the hotel tonight, I stopped at Kroger and bought some bottled water - that in itself gave me some extra motivation to workout. Plus I wore my Great Big Sea gear all day to help remind me of what's at stake (besides my life, health, etc).

Anyway, so I decided to try the treadmill, and used a makeshift playlist (my GBS one) I felt much better than recent treadmill workouts. I'm guessing that it had to do with being more relaxed (by myself) and maybe the speeds are different on these treadmills. However I did notice that I kept getting statically shocked! I was watching Biggest Loser as I was running and when I ended my workout, I forgot to end my Nike+ workout, so my graphic will probably look weird. I won't be able to upload it until I get home, I use my other computer for that.


Well, I have some homework to attend to, and then to sleep. I can't wait to get to the Gym Thursday morning and hop on the elliptical. I miss it. :)

Getting it right...

Today I had a good workout... but was on a different elliptical and my quad was hurting pretty bad. I think because it was a different "ramp" angle. I didn't push quite as hard as usual. And of course tonight was my splurge night - which means I will be kicking my own butt tomorrow morning.

I'm in Columbus, at a conference and trying to eat as well as I can, and workout as much as possible (according to my usual schedule). I've even brought my scale with me!! I need to see those numbers.

Since I will be getting up extra early, I'm going to go read my book and call it a night. The game will keep me company - the commercials leave much to be desired. Although I did like the "Go Fetch" budweiser one, and the one with the Potato Heads.

Have a good week!

Decisions and minor frustrations

I know I must sound manic.. ecstatic one day and frustrated the next and I'm sure some of it is hormones but well.. such is life.

Today's frustration and confusion came from my workout. I've been noticing that I burn WAY more calories in 30 minutes on the elliptical than 30 minutes on the treadmill.

For example, yesterday in 30 minutes on the elliptical I burned 400 calories, and I stayed "at a higher level of aerobic activity" for an additional hour, burning a total of 580 calories.

Treadmill (on Monday) for 30 minutes burned 294 calories and the lasting effect after an hour netted only a total of 425 calories.

In addition to the NUMBERS, I feel a lot better after an elliptical workout. I have that extra hitch in my step and feel like bouncing off the walls. After a treadmill workout, I'm exhausted - ready for a nap! So.

I guess I've made my decision, I'm just looking for support on it. At least for now, until I shed some more weight, I'm going to focus on Elliptical workouts. As the weather breaks, and races get closer (and I'm MUCH lighter) I will resume my 5k training. But for now, my main goal is to lose weight and so that's what I'll do.

The down side to this is that I won't have any neat little nike+ graphics for the elliptical (it doesn't work on ellipticals) I've also found myself paying less attention to elliptical mileage and just pushing as hard as I can and I listen to Great Big Sea --- my inspiration :)

So there it is, now I'm going to go get some yummy BBQ chicken and brown rice.

I leave for Columbus tomorrow...


My last (for awhile) run data:

New things... bring Excitement

I have a new plan I'm trying. Well I did it today and I really liked it. I'm not a morning person- ask anyone who knows me, I'm a late night owl and I prefer to sleep in. BUT, I've decided that I'm going to start working out BEFORE work. That means getting up at 5, being at the gym by 5:30, so I can return home shortly after 6 to get ready for work. I did it today.... I LOVED IT. I felt great all day long!

I will try it again next week. (I"ll be at a conference so everything will be kinda messed up for awhile)

The second excitement is I changed my plan for life.. or at least the next few credit hours. I decided instead of pursuing technology- I want to add high school math to my license. In short this means I WILL HAVE MATH HOMEWORK this semester.. and I'm totally PSYCHED about it :) I'm a nut, ok I admit it. I love math, I enjoy doing math, and I'm actually GIDDY that I will get to do math homework. I believe this is further proof that I belong in a MATH classroom even more than a computer lab. I'll explain more about this later.. but right now-I have a nice warm bed to crawl into and a couple of math books to start reading.. HEE HEE =)

Feeling better

Well, my weigh in this morning was just as dismal as last night's. However, I had a good talk with the lady from BodyBugg and I had a great workout (only 30 mins) at the gym and I think I've got it figured out.

It's that time of the month - AND I think I was pushing myself too hard. I was tired all last week and my workouts never exhausted me like that. I'm all about being exhausted as I'm working out... but not in the aftermath- that's not right.

So my goal this week is to eat a little more (within my budget), workout HARD for 30 minutes a day, and get 8 hours of sleep each night. I'm hoping the snow storm will help me with getting lots of sleep tonight. In fact, as soon as I write this, I'm going to watch the end of Biggest Loser, then crawl into bed and read my book -- and be ASLEEP by 11 if not sooner!!

Thanks for listening.. I'm off =)

Blah.. what a letdown

Today was rough. I woke up late, and it went downhill from there. I was in a fog all day long. Unfortunately the fog turned into a migraine. I fended that off with my best friend - Aleve- and managed to complete my Walmart shopping trip. I found a cute pair of pajamas to use as a goal outfit, and some luggage for my little excursion next week. (To Columbus for a technology conference).
My headache being gone, I came home, got psyched up for the gym, and went to get weighed in. I don't know... I hate that scale. I've been working my butt off, showing calorie deficits over 1000 almost every day, and yet, according to their scale I've only lost 1 pound. ONE. That's it. ONE!

So off I headed to the treadmill for my run. I don't know if it was the aftermath of the migraine (I forgot they can be draining) or the disappointment of the weigh in, but my workout felt terrible. My calves were cramping, my feet were aching, and my time ended up... well pardon my "french" sucking! I know I pushed myself hard during the run portions, but then I seem to go even slower in the walk portions. I think I'm dehydrated, or at least dried out. Partially from the cold weather and hot showers. I've been getting better about putting moisturizer on, and I'm trying to drink more water. I'm just frustrated.


I keep reminding myself that TOMORROW is the weigh in that counts. Tomorrow is the one that I use to keep track of my success.

In other news. I started a new experiment. I know other people have done it before, but I thought I would try the "picture a day" thing. So I'm going to take a picture of myself everyday for a year. You are welcome to check out my experiment. Of course today's picture will be lovely since I forgot to take it BEFORE I worked out! oh well.

Here's to KNOWING tomorrow will be better than today!

Blast from the Past

So today I got an IM from an old friend. The premise was business but the result was great. It was so nice chatting and catching up and things are really go well for both of us! It's strange how just that tiny reconnection with a friend can make you smile... minutes... after the conversation is over - and of course, no one can even see that I'm smiling. In fact one of my favorite quotes is "If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it." By Andy Rooney I think it's very true. If no one is around you are smiling for yourself, because it's what you REALLY feel. (this conversation also proved to be a much better alternative than the ice cream sundae I was going to have!)

OK enough of that .. back to business...
It looks like I get to start reading a new book tomorrow - I think I"ll end VERY close tonight, but not quite enough. I did however go out and buy the book today.. so it will be ready and waiting for me.
I learned an important lesson today - or rather figured out a potentially disasterous problem. The last few days, when I've been kicking my own butt at the gym, I 've come home and had a terrible upset stomach. I've eaten like I should but both Wed and Thur I headed to bed early in an attempt to make it go away. Today when I got home from the gym, it happened again, after successfully devouring a pita with turkey and cheese and strawberries (The strawberries weren't in the pita!) . So I did some research and found that one cause of an upset stomach after a workout is dehydration. UH OH. So today, as I was feeling rotten, I re-filled my water bottle and continued sipping on it... and tada! it went away. I now know (especially on days when I really push myself) I need to keep drinking water, long after my workout is over.

Today on the treadmill (and the 3 mins or so on the bike) the bottoms of my feet were killing me. Any ideas why? I also got on the new Precor elliptical/stepper machine. I didn't like it. It's cool, it adjusts to your strides so you can be doing steps, a short stride, or long stride like skiing. But I had a hard time keeping it where I wanted it. After running on the treadmill, I wanted to just work my quads - my calves were beat up enough. I think I'll stick to the regular ellipticals from now on.

Yesterday was my rest day - and I decided I really deserved it. So I curled up on the couch and watched "Catch Me if You Can"

I guess that's all for now. This week's motivational quote has been "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over is you just sit there." I have to remind myself to get up an move sometimes!

Book Store.. here I come

I guess I'll be heading to the bookstore after school tomorrow so I can start reading the prize I'm sure to earn in the next two days =)

Things have been going well. Today I took a step and sculpting class at the gym - it truly kicked my butt and felt great.

I'm so tired though, all this activity is making me crave sleep all the more!

Another Sole Sisters connection - today I decided that I needed a new sports bra so I figured I would look and see what kind the one was that I liked. It was Moving Comfort. There was actually a story in Sole Sisters about the founders of the company. It makes me very glad that I wear their stuff and I will definitely buy more from them.

Well I'm bushed.

54 Days until Great Big Sea!!!

13,732

That's the number of steps I did today! I blame it all on my rekindled love of the elliptical and an unending basketball game. Really, Virginia Tech needs to work on their Free Throws! :)

Tonight's post is going to be short because it's already 10:30 and I need to get up extra early.

I kicked some butt today.
I did my regular treadmill run - 30 mins
Then I got on the elliptical for about 45 minutes.

I met my calorie burn goal, my step goal, and my exercise time goal. Pretty good day I'd say. But now I'm understandingly tired.

Talk to you all tomorrow!

My Girl, I Second That Emotion, The Way You Do The Things You Do

All great songs! Those are the kind of Temptations I like. Not the kind I had to face today. A fellow teacher of mine had an "Inauguation Party" for her students complete with DELICIOUS smelling pizza. She offered me some... and it did smell so good... but I have a goal. I have a destination to get to and random pizza does not fit.

Feeling proud of myself for skipping the pizza, I went on with my day. We had a meeting after school when this SAME (unnamed) teacher plopped a box of Oreos and Fudge Striped Cookies on the table next to me. I could just smell the chocolate begging me... but.. I only looked once - and it wasn't even close to wanting one - it was just to see exactly what they were. YAY for me!

Today I also tried Water Aerobics, the jury is still out on whether or not I like it. I mean it was different, but I don't know if it's "enough" of a workout for the amount of time I put in. I'll see how I feel in the morning. Although I did ride the recumbent bike for a half hour after because I didn't feel like I had worked out at all.

So much to tell.... Last night I finished Sole Sisters (recommended to me by Irene). Some stories were more inspirational than others, several made me at least tear up if not completely break down. One story inspired me so much, I'm going to run in the race that it presented. Chapter 4 is about the Allentown Women's Classic 5K. It's a very girly race held in October. It sounds like a blast. I informed my parents that we are taking a mini vacation that week, to the Lehigh Valley so I can run in that race. This will be the first race that my parents will be at (unless they decide to come to some this summer) But my goal is to truly RUN this race. To be a fit, runner.

I mentioned above that I have a new drive- a new passion. Last night as I was blogging about music, I realized how much I miss "Great Big Sea" I really want to see them in concert again. I've known about a concert about 4 hours from where I live and I've been debating about it. I don't have anyone to go with. But after listening to them last night, I REALLY want to go. It feels right. So I bought my ticket - with the condition that I WILL BE UNDER 200 POUNDS by the time of the concert. (March 17). So there it is - I get to go see my Band if I stick to my routine!

That's all I have for tonight. I need to get some sleep. Goodnight.