Lucky girl

I know I've mentioned the fitness center we have at work.  The nutritionist generally arrives between 9 and 10, and the fitness instructor (Jeff) comes in around 10.  They come in later because the center is mainly utilized in the lunch & late afternoon/early evening periods.

I generally go down mid-morning to do by kettlebell swings and/or yoga.  I use the small, back studio.

This is the room I get all to myself, 5 days a week, to work out.  How nice is that?!?

Allan's challenge

Blogger Allan has issued a challenge for any who want to participate: take (and post!) pictures of all the food you eat.

I have to confess, seeing and reading about what other bloggers eat is fascinating.  For one, I have learned a tremendous amount about healthy eating, gotten some fantastic ideas, and gotten some truly terrible ones!  For the record, I also like peeking in other shoppers' carts.  I'm not judging, but I think seeing what someone eats is like a secret glimpse into their life.  Does that make me a nosy parker?

The past 4 weeks I've been suffering from the up 2 pounds down 2 pounds, and its getting old! So hopefully this will be the extra kick in the butt I need to stick with the clean eating.  I would love to drop 20 pounds before we leave for vacation in 11 weeks and posting my food here for a while certainly won't hurt!

I will also be posting my workouts.  For the curious (and in case I didn't mention it already), I am starting the weight lifting routine found in "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" designed by the awesome Alwyn Cosgrove.  I am doing the first workout tonight.

Today

Went to the beach.

Cleaned veggies (excuse the terrible pic).

Neighbors are coming over to grill out later.

Big news: exempting yourself from common sense isn't smart

Yeah.... that whole hundreds of swings day after day?  You'd think I'd be smarter, but clearly not!  I'm back to sanity - luckily that period didn't last long and I didn't injure myself, but I tried.

For the record, I sit at a computer all day.  If I'm not at my computer, I'm in a meeting.  So my intent with my schedule is to move regularly throughout the day.

Exercise these days:

AM walk most days, for 1.5-2 miles. (NOT for exercise per se, I just like to start my day with movement.)

Mid morning every other day I do a couple hundred kettlebell swings and some yoga.  Other days I do just stretching or yoga.

Afternoon: weight lifting and/or elliptical.  Getting in the pool after work for 30-45 minutes.

Evening walk with the dogs 3-4 times per week.  Again, its all about moving throughout the course of the day.

I've been lifting weights with Jeff, but I am planning to start doing the routine in the "New Rules of Lifting for Women" next week.  I need a little more effort in that arena I think.

Boringsville

We are still in south Florida.  The weather is warm enough that we have been getting in the pool daily, which rocks.

Food is the same old boringsville stuff - meat & veg for breakfast, meat & veg for lunch, meat & veg for dinner, fruit & nuts for snack.

I'm trying to increase my swing capacity so I decided that I am exempt from common sense and starting swinging my kettlebell every day.  Given the large capacity of swings I do (over 200), probably not the best idea I've ever had.  I am sticking to 3 days a week of swings, plus other stuff (weights, HIIT, walks, etc).

While I enjoy lifitng weights with Jeff down in the fitness center, I feel like I would benefit from something a bit more regimented.  Must ponder.

I turned a year older a couple of days ago.  I had a nice meal and we split a piece of cake (at the restaurant) for dessert.  It was very good.  A win in that it was special (a lovely piece of bavarian chocolate cake from an awesome german restaurant) and because there were no leftovers to feel guilty over when I tossed them.

Lazy Sunday

Slept "late" (7) this morning, did a manky, sweaty workout then jumped in the pool to cool down.  It was so nice and relaxing.  Now I am doing the food prep for the week.

Because I like variety, I had salad with tuna for lunch instead of grilled chicken. Living on the edge.

A quick thought

"Too much research and data collecting can obstruct the pursuit and achievement of noble goals..." - Dave Draper (former Mr America, Mr Universe, and Mr World.)

At work we call this "analysis paralysis."  I had a boss who used to say "Don't let perfect get in the way of good enough."

I see this in weight loss bloggers who claim to be trying to lose weight but aren't ready. (I've used it myself.)  Get your panties all in a wad about proper pre or post fueling of your workout, or the right macro-nutrients and pretty soon you are like a dog frantically chasing its tail, spinning in circles, expending loads of energy and getting nowhere.

Here's a hint: if you have more that 50 pounds to lose (I just made that number up), don't obsess about the perfect pre or post workout food, just work out.  Don't worry about the right macro balance - get the trash out of your diet and eat your vegetables. THEN worry about the smaller details.

I was tired so I went to bed early.  Now its 2 and I am awake.  Then I'll read Dave's book awhile and hopefully get sleepy. 

Goodnight.

Awesome birthday pressie, if delayed!

A bit of background, courtesy of Tracy Reifkind:

"This past year Pavel Tsatsoline, the man that brought kettlebell training to this country,, and his system of learning how to build strength, parted ways with Dragon Door and "RKC" (formerly Russian Kettlebell Challenge and/or Certification), the first company that published his books, and helped him teach others his methods while leading Instructor courses across the US as well as Internationally for going on a decade now.  Pavel, with the help of CEO Mark Toomey, started his own company, SFG (Strong First Girya) when he realized the direction with his former partnership, Dragon Door, was not in line with what his teaching and training philosophy were about." - Tracy

Tracy attended the first SFG certification course last month.  I have dreamed for years of attending an RKC course, but have not done so - for one I could never find one near me!  That is changing in June, when there will be a SFG kettlebell course in Naples.  Yes, I am going!  Woot!

The forecast is for thunderstorms this afternoon, so I got up and hit 4 grocery stores, Costco, the Costco gas station, post office, and pool store. Came home and had a grilled chicken salad for lunch with hummus for the dressing.

I have plenty of stuff to do around here (hub is working today so I get extra rations of chores!), but at least its all indoors.

Its kinda been that kind of week

Nothing in particular - its just felt like a long week.  Tomorrow I have 8 places to go - 6 of them are grocery stores, which is just nuts really.  Other than that, laundery, food prep, and relaxing I hope!

So Happy Its Thursday

Had a good day at work today.  Jeff wasn't available to work out, so I went downstairs and did kettlebell swings and a leg workout.  Then I did a few minutes of yoga.

Breakfast, lunch, and snack were the same - mid afternoon I really wanted a cookie, but I told myself to STOP IT and ate my grapes. 

Dinner tonight is a salad and some leftover lamb & lentil stew from the freezer.  We have nearly eaten up all the planned left overs from the freezer, not to mention we've run out of a bunch of stuff.  So this weekend is going to be a huge shop and food prep.  That's fine because we gave the house a good deep clean this past weekend.  We may go to the beach Sunday morning. 

I plan to begin restocking by planning meals next week that lend themselves well to doubling and freezing, as well as buying some staples (pork chops, maybe some steaks) and freezing some in marinade - a favorite trick for a quick dinner.  Just grill, add sweet potato and a roasted veg and 5 minutes of prep and 20 minutes of cooking and dinner is done!

Looks like we may get a little rain this afternoon - spring has sprung when we begin to get our afternoon showers.  OTOH, hub is going to have to do some work on the pool chemicals this weekend. 

checking on

Working on getting back into a routine - work, exercise, packing food.  Nothing big to say, I miss the fam but things are pretty much back to the routine.  Did a really great arm & back workout today.

Food: turkey burgers for breakfast.  Lunch is the usual grilled chicken salad.  I think next week I may use hummus for my dressing to change up the flavor.  Dinners are the usual suspects.  I've been taking a baggie with some grapes for snack - I have gotten a little tired of clementines.

I was sick Sunday and didn't get to bed until 5:30 Monday morning.  I was home sick Monday.  I feel like I'm about back to normal with my energy & sleep.

Here's the thing

Family is a big deal to me.  I know southerners havent cornered the market, but its a big deal to me.  I was so happy to have my family here with me and I miss them so much that I just keep tearing up.  I lived thousands of miles away (as in, not on the same continent) for years.  But now that I am older and have a child of my own, being near family is very important to me.

Living so far from them is so hard.  And it was so hard to see them go.  And nothing I can put into my mouth is going to change that hurt.

We're back

We had a wonderful time in the Keys and a wonderful visit.  The family got on the road back to NC this morning and I miss them already.

Five days and nights in hotels and I am up 2 pounds.  Anything the famiily left in the house is going in the trash.  Vacation is over.  I plan to go out to eat on my birthday on the 19th but other than that food will be BAU.

Today I am unapcking, putting away lanudry, cleaning the house, and otherwise getting things back to normal, or what passes for it around here.