Homemade Fro-Yo

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Today was a day of temperature extremes. The A/C was blasting painfully hard at summer school, but the A/C wasn't working in my Jeep or in the gym! Ugh! Well, the studio had A/C, but nowhere else did. So I just did my Body Pump and about 10 minutes on the treadmill before I headed for home. I was hungry, so I dreamed up what I was going to eat for dessert while I was driving. I just finished devouring it, and decided I'd share it in my blog:

Susan's Homemade Fro-Yo

1 TB unsweetened cocoa powder
1 packet diet Swiss Miss hot chocolate
1 TB ground flaxseed
a few frozen strawberries
a few frozen chunks of mango
plain fat-free Greek yogurt
1 cup organic nonfat milk
sprinkle cinnamon

Blend all ingredients to a pudding consistency, enjoy!!
(Trying to quiet the voice in my head, er, stomach, calling for seconds!!)

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Proactive PMS-Related Overeating Prevention Post

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Yesterday I commented on my realization that a lot of my urges to overeat are related to PMS. So for now, my strategy is going to be to blog more often to try to help keep a positive mindset. Maybe I can beat this with mental power and a good attitude. Afterall, I don't give in EVERY month. It's a vulnerability, NOT an inevitability.

Sometimes, like today, I just feel absolutely on top of the world in the mornings. The weather is beautiful, I feel well-rested, I have my coffee and my beautiful breakfast smoothie, and just feel like I could do anything (if it weren't for that little thing called WORK!). I wish I could feel like this all the time. I only work until noon during the summer (teaching summer school), but by then instead of being 70 out like it was at 7:30 this morning when I pulled into the school parking lot, it'll probably be closer to 90. Doesn't matter though, because if it's too hot to run outside I can either use the elliptical at the gym or take Zumba after Body Pump tonight, or I could even give myself permission to skip cardio (Body Pump gets me a little sweaty anyway).

I'm rambling a bit, but speaking of Zumba, I finally tried a few Zumba classes at my "new" gym and discovered which instructors I like/don't like. The Tuesday lady was awesome last week so I'm hoping it'll be another good one tonight if I go.

OK, enough rambling. Have a great Tuesday everyone!!!

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A few unrelated items...

Monday, July 18, 2011

My mother-in-law and I were looking at old photos on her computer yesterday and we came across this one from Christmas 2009...I don't think I had seen it before and I like it so I wanted to share!

I wanted to comment on some progress I've noticed in Body Pump...when I first started I could NOT do the lunges...I barely used any weight and I wobbled all over the place...Now I do lunges with one big, one medium, and one small plate on each side of the bar and have really worked on my form and balance to the point where I feel pretty confident during lunges.

So now I'm just starting to master another extremely difficult (for me) move...the plank! Depending on what exactly they have you doing during the plank, I can sometimes now hold it and do all the motions the entire time without falling, though it is HARD! I have a ways to go until I feel totally confident with the plank, but I have come a long way.

After that I will still need to master on-the-toe pushups and someday increasing weights for biceps and shoulders, but I definitely would prefer to use lighter weights and do the moves correctly for now. Besides, even with light weights I can definitely feel my muscles absolutely burning. I love Body Pump!!

I have read enough that I'm finally convinced to jump on the Vitamin D bandwagon - I bought a bottle of Vitamin D supplements (1,000 IU) this weekend and have started taking it daily along with my fish oil. So far I feel GREAT, but it could of course be a coincidence.

Last topic - I can't believe I never noticed before how closely tied my ability to control my eating is to my er...womanly cycle! First half of the month I'm generally feeling fantastic and have the willpower of a saint. Second half of the month is when the binge monster comes out and I put immediate gratification over any sort of horror I will encounter on the scale the next morning. Like clockwork. I guess noticing this is half the battle or at least the first quarter of it? I just recently switched into the 2nd half of the month, which for me is basically two weeks of progressively more severe PMS, UGH. And right on schedule, I ate pretty horribly this weekend - it's all in my tracker if you're curious, but let me just share that I decided to have chips and salsa for dinner last night, along with my 2nd ice cream of the day and two types of alcoholic beverages? WTF? But of course today is a Monday, and along with Monday comes a fresh start, and my eating today has been much better, PMS or not!

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Doing Well

Friday, July 15, 2011

Just figured I'd blog since I hadn't checked in recently.

Buying the house is looking like a go - we signed the purchase & sale agreement earlier this week, and we're set to close on August 11! In the meantime, we are trying to save as much money as possible for all those expensive renovations!

I have been really consistent with my exercise - both cardio and 3x/wk Body Pump. I am starting to feel firmer and more muscular than I think I've ever been before. It's difficult to SEE this muscle because there's still a layer of fat on top, but I can feel it. I'm noticing it especially in my thighs (thank you squats and lunges!) but also my arms and chest...and even my abs and butt when I really scrutinize.

I noticed a few weeks ago that my calorie intake was slipping into the too-much range. I discovered the "Calories & Nutrients Over Time" report and realized my daily average for June 2011 was around 2,700! No wonder I wasn't losing and was sort of slowly gaining. I also noticed that my averages for 1/11-5/11 ranged from about 2,200-2,400 and that I'd been slowly losing weight during that time, so I decided I'd better aim for around 2,400 or less. It took me a while to actually start meeting this goal. Here's my weekly averages lately:

6/12-6/18: 2,625 TOO HIGH
6/19-6/25: 2,540 TOO HIGH
6/26-7/2: 2,670 TOO HIGH
7/3-7/9: 2,625 TOO HIGH
7/10-Today: 2,150 YAY!!!

My weight had crept up to 158 recently, but this week I'm back down to 153. I'm still hoping for 145 eventually, but I like 153 a lot better than 158!

Gorgeous out and I'm in new workout clothes (I AM trying to save money, but the other day in Body Pump I had the embarrassing realization that there was a hole in the crotch of my workout shorts - YIKES!!!), so I cannot wait to get out there and run, yay!

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HOUSE!

Sunday, July 03, 2011

I've been hemming and hawing about whether to mention this on Spark for a while...but I'm just too excited not to...I think we're buying a house!! It is a big antique colonial up on a hill in a woodsy part of Boston....needs lots of work but we are going to throw our love and elbow grease into this place and make it an amazing home for us and our future family for years and years. I am just so excited!!

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