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My old self

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Hey, friends! I hope you are having a fantastic start to the weekend! My apologies for no blog post yesterday. My husband came back early from a biz trip to New Jersey, and we had a little dinner date. :) He must be having sympathy pregnancy fatigue, because we were both out cold by 8:30! Ha!

I did get up yesterday morning and worked out (yay!) but this morning, my body said absolutely not. I guess old habits are hard to break, and I have NEVER been a morning person. But I’m working on it! Even though I was ready for a nap when I got home from work, I thought we should take advantage of the warmer weather and lingering daylight and get the pooch out for a walk. And, I wanted to break in my new comfy pants JD bought me in Princeton. Don’t you love travel presents?

(I put on a hoodie too — it’s not that warm outside!)

Tex was so excited to go for a walk! That is, until we put his harness on him. He hates it, but it’s a lot easier to lead him that way than with a regular collar.

He wouldn’t even look at the camera because he was so mad. Ha Ha!

A little prewalk pic of me and JD for kicks — so happy together. ♥

We went our usual 2 miles around the neighborhood, which took about 40 minutes. That included three bathroom breaks for the dog, and stopping to say hello to one of our new neighbors and her pup. I walked at a pretty good pace, and I could feel little tingles in my legs when we were done. Do you get those when you exercise? I love that feeling!

Shockingly, I wanted to keep working out. Hello, old me! Where the heck have you been?! So, I put in my new Denise Austin Fit & Firm Pregnancy DVD, and did a 20-minute strength training session. It definitely wasn’t anywhere near as challenging as The Shred, but it felt good to pump a little iron and make the old muscles burn. I’m actually feeling some soreness in my legs, so hopefully that means I got a good workout. I’m proud of doing almost an hour of exercise! If I keep it up Saturday and Sunday, I’ll have my 5 workouts in for the week. I better start thinking about a reward, because I’m going to do it! :)

I was on the right track with meals today…well, minus lunch. I have been craving Chinese food for weeks now, and today, I had to have some. So Lori, Jessica and I went to a little hole in the wall place we love called Jade Palace Express. You can walk in, get a box, and get anything off the buffet you want for $6. I think I did pretty well with portion control, but being Chinese food, it was still high in calories. I got a cup of hot & sour soup (my absolute fav), 2 pieces each of honey, sesame and General Tso chicken, a spoon of pepper steak, a spoon of fried rice, a big spoon of mixed vegetables and an egg roll. I don’t have a picture, and that’s mainly because I wolfed it down in 2.5 seconds. All while mmmm’ing and exclaiming more than once, “This is the best meal I’ve ever had.” It seriously was heaven in a box. I rarely ever eat Chinese food, so I didn’t feel too guilty about my splurge. And I tracked the calories as best I could, so that’s that.

The rest of my meals today were more healthy girl friendly:

Breakfast: Blueberry Chobani yogurt plus pumpkin muffin

Mid-morning snack: Lopsided apple and a small handful of pistachios

Dinner: Big salad from Jason’s Deli with a spoon of low-sodium, low-fat ranch dressing and a few sunflower seeds.

AND

Cup of tomato bisque soup — I get this every time we go to Jason’s. It is so delicious and filling!

I was really surprised I wanted a salad. And that it actually tasted really good to me. I’ve had such a hard time with vegetables since finding out I was pregnant. Maybe my old self is coming out in my food choices too? :)

So today wasn’t a perfect example of  healthy living, but I think I did pretty good for the most part. Thank goodness Jade Palace is across town! Ha ha!

I hope you all have a fun weekend ahead! We don’t have any definite plans to do anything, other than a haircut for me, and that’s just the way I like it sometimes. :) Nothing like a relaxing weekend and going out to do things on a whim.

For now…goodnight!

** A big thanks to my Web designer, Merideth, for doing such a fantastic job on my new logo! I love it!

25 Days

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

That’s how long I have until Jessica’s wedding. I can’t believe her big day is almost here — time seems to go by so much faster now. I tried my bridesmaid’s dress on again tonight, and guess what?! It is too big! The top was basically falling off of me (which is why I didn’t take a picture of myself in it…ha ha!) I’m truly amazed at how far I’ve come over the course of 3 1/2 months. I’m exercising more than I ever have in my life. I portion and prepare more meals, instead of grabbing what is convenient (except for my lunch today, unfortunately). I’m pushing myself a little more each day, and I’m proud of myself for sticking with it, despite all the roadblocks I’ve experienced along the way. I’ve wanted to give up more than a few times. I’ve shed my share of tears. But I’ve kept going. I will reach my weight goal, and I’m willing to fight the good fight to get there.

I’m saying yes to this dress! (But no to my terrible picture…it’s hard to get a good snap of something on a hanger!)

Tomorrow is weigh-in day for me. It’s been a week since I switched from Weight Watchers to calorie counting, and I want to see if there’s a difference on the scale. Here’s hoping! :) I stayed within my 1,400 with these meals and snacks today:

Breakfast — 1 container Chobani non-fat vanilla yogurt, 1 small banana, 3/4 cup Kashi GoLean cereal (318 cals)

Smart Ones Fiesta Quesadillas (440 cals for two) — I’m not big on eating out of a box anymore, but I was running late this morning and needed something quick to pack. These are pretty tasty, too, but higher in calories than I like.

Salad (barely any calories, and my nutritionist told me to eat as many veggies as I like!)

+ 2 tablespoons hummus (70 cals, and not pictured) :)

Snack: 100 calorie Kettle Korn Smart Pop

I was so hungry at dinner that I forgot to take a picture of it! Bad me! The husband made grass-fed beef hamburger steaks, sweet corn and a big pot of collard greens. I ate a few more ounces of meat (5 total), but it was still under 500 calories for the whole meal. Sparkpeople tells me I had 1,427 for the whole day, which is only 27 over my target. Not too shabby!

Workout was a 2-mile walk/jog with JD and Tex. I even sprinted the last leg home!

Does anyone have any small victories this week that they would like to share?

Shredded let-us-be-done!

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

If you do not hear from me, it is because Jillian Michaels killed me with crunches.

Love to you all,
Meg

Ok, so maybe I’m being a touch dramatic, but Day 1, Level 1 of Ms. Michaels 30-Day Shred was — needless to say — tough! I received my much-anticipated DVD in the mail today, and quickly put on workout clothes to see if it was every bit as hard as everyone says it is. After about two push ups, I knew I couldn’t call anyone a liar. Ha! For 20 long minutes, I lifted weights, did an endless amount of jumping jacks and squats and groaned my way through crunches. Jillian goes quickly from one “circuit” — 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs — to the next for a grand total of three 6-minute circuits. So, there’s really no time to catch a breath or gulp down water.

But, just when I thought I was going to pass out, it was time for the cool down. My whole body was shaking, and my legs had that awesome tired feeling when you know you’ve done a good workout. I love a challenge, and this workout definitely tested my limits. Plus, unlike some exercise DVDs that require a lot of equipment, this one only asked for weights and a mat if you have a hard floor. (Luckily, we have carpet.) I can only imagine what Levels 2-3 are like. I’m looking forward to getting to the 30-day finish line!

I felt good enough to go with the husband on the pup’s daily exercise routine, so we walked and talked for 2 miles around our neighborhood. All in all, I think it was a successful workout day for me, but I have a feeling the legs are going to feel a bit like lead tomorrow. Ha Ha!

I’m off to fix dinner now. Have a great night!

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