Leaving on a jet plane...

Going on a short trip to Cancun. Really excited to go & spend time with family. Last time I was there was in 2005 & I felt like a whale. While I'm still heavy, I feel much more confident this time around. 

I hope to get in some great walks on the beach & my goal is to maintain while having a good time. 

Catch you all next week!

Traveling pants

Do you ever have an article of clothing that you've always wanted but never found in your size or the style that you wanted?  When I used to go to raves back in my late teens/early 20s, I always wanted a pair of cargo pants.  All my friends had them and I could never find them in my size.  As time went by and I stopped going to raves, I didn't think of the pants anymore.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I found a pair of cargo pants that were two sizes too small but I wanted them.  I bought two of them - khaki & a light gray.  I knew that I wanted to lose weight but never had the will do do it & I always thought "I will fit into them one day".  When I moved from Marin County to the Central Valley, these pants came along with me.   I would try them on at times and they didn't fit.  It was discouraging but I still kept them.   When I moved back to the Bay Area, these pants were my companion.  Back in June of this year when I was packing up my apartment to move back to my mom's, I tried on the pants.  They almost fit.  Back into the closest they went.  

You know how I mentioned that one day I would lose enough weight to get them to fit?  That day is today.  I was packing up some clothes for a trip that I am going on tomorrow and I saw the pants.   I slowly got them out of my closet and tried them on.  I was able to zip them up & button them up with no trouble.  They fit just right.  HOLY MUTHER TRUCKERS!

I know we are having summer weather here in the Bay Area, so if you see a girl with cargo pants don't judge her.  She's worked really hard to get into them & is gonna wear them til they fall off.

Edited to add picture :)

Another four bite the dust

Ever have one of those weeks when you get on the scale & can't believe the number?  You step off and get on a couple of times to make sure your eyes aren't deceiving you?   That happened to me this morning.  My goal for the week was to lose 1.2 pounds to reach the 70 pound mark.   I lost 4.4 pounds this week.  HOLY SH*T!  That's all I kept thinking as I got on and off the scale.  I am now down 73.2 pounds.

Why am I so shocked?  Losing 4+ pounds in a week is a big deal for me since I've been doing Weight Watchers for 53 weeks.  For a while there, I would lose two weeks in a row and then gain some of it back.  For the past 7 weeks, I've been losing weight except for the one week when I maintained.  My goal for this week is to maintain.  Why?  I am going out of town from Thursday through Monday so basically eating out all the time.  I will make good choices. I will make good choices.  I will make good choices.

As of yesterday, I have now been tracking my food for 14 days straight.  Only 46 more days until I reach my goal of tracking for 60 consecutive days & that Fitbit will be mine.  I find that I won't eat something since I know that I have to track it.  As Cyndi would say "if you bite it, track it" and as Kelly told me "if you nibble it, scribble it." And speaking of rewards, I am 1.8 pounds away from reaching 75 pounds which would mean getting another Do Life shirt.  I am tempted to go to a Weight Watchers meeting & pay for the meeting (I am online member) just to get the 75 pound charm. I wonder if they will let you do that?

And yesterday I talked about an awesome non-scale victory.  Looking back I wish I had better before pictures but I don't.  Even now I rather take pictures than be in them.  The picture on the left was taken yesterday before I participated in the 5k.  The one of the upper right hand corner is what I consider my before picture.  It was taken in July of 2010.  The bottom right hand corner has a picture of the shirt I was wearing that day.  The size is 28w (ugh!) and the one underneath it is what I wore yesterday.   It's a freaking XL!

Fitbloggin', meeting internet friends & a 5k oh my!

I had a great time this weekend.  From attending my first fitbloggin' meetup in SF to meeting up with a friend from Chicago and ending with a 5k race.

A while back I heard about a local fitbloggin' meetup in SF being hosted by Attune Foods.  I drove to SF pretty early and met up with some Bay Area bloggers.  I "knew" about 1/2 of the bloggers in attendance since I read their blogs & follow them on Twitter.  It was great meeting them in person.   The bloggers in attendance were:

Picture from Danica's blog

Danica of Danica's Daily
Tracey of TJ’s Test Kitchen 
Marlene of Nosh My Way 
Anna & Jillian of Cubicle Chronicles 
Danielle of Eat, Sweat, Smile 
Annelies for Attune Foods 
Melissa of Journey to Marvelous 
Courtney of Pancakes and Postcards 
Suki of Super Duper Fantastic

One of the two breakfast bars set up

Attune Foods products

Attune Foods (along with other sponsors) provided an awesome goodie bag and breakfast bar.  Since I can only find Uncle Sam's Original Cereal I decided to try the Honey Almond cereal with almond milk, blueberries & strawberries.  Yum!  Annaleis also invited Registered Dietitian Jae Berman to talk to the group about the importance of breakfast & to answer any questions we may have had for her.  Some of the things she mentioned were:

• Breakfast lowers stress hormones
• 4 hours of sugar/glucose is what the body holds so she recommends eating every 3 to 4 hours
• If you don't eat, the body holds on to fat especially in the stomach area
• Try to eat a combination of protein & carb with every meal
• If you don't eat before working out, you could gain weight because the body is starving
• Spread calories throughout the day
• Chocolate milk is a great drink after a long run

After that, we all walked over to the Ferry Building to walk around & explore the farmer's market.  Unfortunately, we sort of spread out and I was unable to find anyone towards the end.  I really enjoyed my time & I hope to meet up with them soon.

Afterwards I met up with my friend Emily who is from Chicago.  Emily & I "met" through a site called Gals' Guide.  We both used to write for it and started following each other on Twitter.  We both have a passion for make-up so we constantly chat about it.  When she told me that she was going to be in SF I knew that we had to meet up.  I'm always worried that when I meet someone that I know online there may be some awkwardness.  I am happy to report that meeting up with Emily (and her friend Taelor) was like catching up with an old friend.

Foggy San Francisco

Today I got up early to participate in the Race for the Cure 5k benefiting the Susan G Komen foundation.  I was able to get a group to go and off we went back to SF.  My goal was to beat my previous time (54:55) & I beat it with a time of 53:50.  A minute improvement makes me happy.   Like I've mentioned before, my goal is to participate in a 5k a month & each time to improve my time.

On your mark

I thought these signs were really neat

We finished!

Happy after finishing :)

I also had a pretty rad non-scale victory today. When I went to get my shirt, then had run out of 2x.  I was pretty bummed and got an extra large.  I thought that I wasn't going to be able to wear it for the race.  However.... IT FIT!   I was so happy.  It was a bit tight at first (that's why I am wearing my jacket) but afterwards when we got breakfast I took my jacket off and it didn't feel or look tight anymore. Wheee!  A year ago I used to wear 3x tops and now I can wear a xl. Hell yeah!

Tomorrow I have my weigh in.  Will I hit 70 pounds?  Stay tuned...

You gotta rub the oil

Ever since I heard about kale chips, I've tried making them several times & they've never came out like they were supposed to. They were either too crispy (meaning burnt) or soggy of half soggy & half burnt. I was going to give up but since I really like potato chips, I wanted to find a healthy alternative.

I started searching for tips and found a great post on The Chic Life. I tried making them the way she suggests which is what I had been doing before except for one thing - getting the kale leaves evenly coated. That was the issue. I never coated them evenly. In the post, it's suggested that you actually rub the oil on the kale to make sure it's got an even coat.  Seems tedious but it really isn't. It's also worth it because I attempted to make them tonight & they came out so good.  They came out perfectly crispy and yummy.  This is a snack that you can eat and not feel guilty about doing so.

I've also seen recipes to make jicama & zucchini chips so I am going to give those a try & see how they turn out.

365 Days of Weight Watchers

A year ago today I walked into Weight Watchers & started working on a better version of myself.  That morning I didn't know that I was going to sign up to Weight Watchers or that my life was going to be changing.  I happened to be going to the mall and drove by the WW center.  I decided to join and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  This morning I weighed in and with a 1.8 pound loss, I am down 68.8 pounds in a year.  Borrowing the idea from Cyndi (who has lost 50 lbs on WW & is pretty rad so check out her blog) I went back through a year of posts to see how far I've come.

I realized that "awareness brings change" and one key to help me succeed will be to plan ahead.  I am still working on that one.

Wanna walk a mile in my shoes?  It will probably take you 26 minutes.

I set & met my first fitness goal. For someone who was pretty much sedentary all of her adult life, this was a big deal.

Not only am I changing physically but mentally as well.

I hit my 10% loss on WW.  It was a very exciting day!

I lost my mojo but I found it.  Looking back it seems that I misplace it every so often.  But I always find my way back.

Dealing with the ups & downs of life.

I walked 5 miles for the first time in my life.  And I also went ton my first hike & didn't die. Pretty exciting!

I started to venture more into cooking.  I've tried out a few recipes here & there and I actually enjoy it.

I acknowledged for the first time that I am a binger.  I have to take it one day at a time.

Even though I was afraid, I decided to be brave.

I stepped out of my comfort zone and did life.

I apologized to my body for mistreating it for so many years.

I looked back at my past and got a clear picture of my present.

I also made the decision to be selfish.  Doing what's best for me has never felt so good.

I got inked.  It's a visual reminder to keep doing life.

Remember that 26 minute mile?  It doesn't take me that much time anymore.

I gave you my confessions and started working on them.

Weight Watchers isn't a diet for me.  It's a way of life.  Following this plan has pushed me into being an active participant in my life.  Seeing who I was in September of 2010 and seeing who I am now, it makes me proud of what I have accomplished.  I am not done yet but seeing my progress I know that I will reach my goal weight.  And that isn't a number on the scale.  My goal is to be healthy, fit and most of all, happy with who I am.

Via Kaoti Revelations

Giants Heart Walk

I participated in the 2011 Giants Heart Walk in San Francisco.  It could not have been a nicer day.  It seems that SF is finally getting into summer.  When I signed up for this event, I was under the impression that it was going to be a 5k.  At least that was the info provided when I signed up.  It turned out to be more of a 4k.

Walking underneath the Bay Bridge

The event was put on my the SF Giants and the American Heart Association.  Subway provided lunch and Del Monte foods was also a big sponsor.  I got there a bit early and walked around the different booths.  Finally at noon we were ready to walk. My goal was to beat my previous 5k time.  However that was not possible for a number of reasons:

See the amount of people that were walking.  I took this picture on my way back.  They couldn't really close the street so we walked on the sidewalk.  I felt like a sheep.  And on the way back, we were going single file at some points during the route.  Not at all what I was expecting.  Also, it was a 4k walk rather than 5k. 

Walk swag - tshirt & water bottle

I'm still glad that I participated but I had a different goal in mind.  I am participating in the Race for the Cure 5k which will be a timed event so I am thinking of this walk as a practice run.  I am also proud of myself for going because participating in this kind of event is something that puts me outside my comfort zone.

Tracking

I've been tracking every morsel of food and every sip of water I have had since Sunday.  I weighed in this morning to see how I was doing.  I am down 2 pounds so far.  Happy doesn't even describe how I felt when I saw the scale.  Tracking does work.  I found myself watching more closely what I eat because I don't want to go over my points.  It's helping me from overeating and for that alone I will continue tracking.

Yes, it can be a tad tedious to track but if I have time to play Angry Birds or Words With Friends on my phone, I certainly have time to track my food.  I've also worked out 3 days this week so that has helped with my weight loss as well.  I have a 5k that I am participating in tomorrow and my plan is to work out the weekend.

I really want a 3 pound loss this week.  As Monday is my official weigh in day, it will also be 52nd week on WW.  It would be awesome to reach a 70 pound loss this Monday and I am 3 pounds away from it. I can't believe I've been doing this for a year.  I have tried other diets and I usually lasted a month if that.  I think that's what I like about WW.  It really isn't a diet.  It's more about portion control and making better choices.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen that I posted that I bought a heart monitor.  Today I returned it.  It was too distracting.  I kept checking it during my workout.  I also remembered why I don't like watches.  I just don't like something that is so heavy on my wrist.  To spend that money on something that I won't wear is just silly.

However, I do want to track my workouts.  I like seeing the data and it helps in challenging me.  I am thinking of getting a Fitbit.  I've seen some positive reviews and what I like about it is that it's not invasive. You dont' even know you have it on.  I know it doesn't track my heart rate but it's a fancy pedometer and it will tell me the calories burned.  But I just can't be dropping $100 on a gadget when I am on a limited income.  I decided to make it a reward.  If I can continue to track my food for  60 consecutive days then I will get be getting it for myself.

How's your week going?  Today I also discovered the yum factor that Larabars have.  I tried the chocolate chip brownie.  Nom!

Maintaining

I weighed in yesterday and I maintained.  Yay?  As always I was expecting a loss but as I mentioned here, I really haven't been doing WW the way it's supposed to be done.  I also didn't exercise as much last week. But that was last week and since yesterday I have tracked my food and worked out both days.


This week I will start the 5k Your Way plan again and my goal for doing this is to beat my previous times.  Also having a goal of 1,000 minutes of exercise certainly pushes one to work out.  I bough a heart monitor this weekend.  Why?  I want to understand how my body works and what I have to do to make my workouts more successful.   Do you know how to calculate your target heart rate as it relates to exercise/walking?  I didn't so I did some research and found some things out.  To calculate your heart rate you should:

1. Subtract your age from 220. This will give you your maximum heart rate in beats per minute.
2. Multiply that number by .60 to get 60 percent of your maximum heart rate and then by .80 to get 80 percent of your maximum heart rate.
3. This range will give you your target heart rate zone. For example, Jenny is 30 years old. To determine her maximum heart rate we will:
4. Subtract 30 from 220, which gives us 190 Multiply 190 x .60, which equals 114 Multiply 190 x .80, which gives us 152. While walking, Jenny should ensure that her heart rate is between 114 and 152 beats per minute.
5. Check your pulse several times throughout your walk to be sure you are staying with in the zone. Beginner walkers should stay close to the lower range of the target heart rate zone until they feel comfortable and ready for a more intense walk.

If I follow this guideline, my heart rate should be between 113 & 150 beats per minute to effectively burn calories and fat while strengthening my heart. I'll have to see how I do on my next few workouts and report back.


I am participating in the American Heart Association/Giants Heart 5k Walk on Friday.  I'm pretty excited about it and that's surprising because this is something that I wouldn't have signed up for in the past.  

Via Skinny+Little+Bitch

These are my confessions

As it relates to getting healthy.  Any other type of confession you must be a priest to hear those.

I kid.

Maybe.

1. I've been on WW for close to a year and I've probably tracked my food for maybe 20 days out of the 300+ days that have gone by.  I start off tracking and then give up.  I can only guesstimate that I am below or above my points.  I don't know when I've gone over one or 10 points per day. 
2. I also don't drink my 8 glasses of water a day, 3 servings of milk & milk products, track my produce intake or even worry about healthy oils.  These are things that I've never even though of since joining WW.  Well maybe the water I do try to be good with but I am not always on point. 
3. I've only worked out twice this week which is not what I am supposed to do according to my fitness plan.  I am supposed to get at least 30 minutes per day.  AT LEAST.  Why haven't I worked out?  Because I didn't want to.  A simple & stupid reason not to. 
4. I've been watching more TV in the past two weeks than I have in the past 2.5 years. I didn't have cable when I lived on my own (by choice) and now that I am in a different living environment, it's so easy to turn on the TV and watch reruns of Friends or Sex and the City.  Oh and what do I do while watching TV?  Eat. 
5. I've been overeating lately. It hasn't been "bad" food but it still over eating.  I am eating to feel full not because I am full. 
6. I don't practice what I preach. 

So what am I going to do now?  Keep going down this path? Hell no.  But I wanted to put this down in writing to make me SEE what I am doing to myself and to stop doing it.  I've been giving WW a half ass attempt and I've lost 67 pounds.  Can you imagine how much more I could've lost if I had done WW the right way?

Starting this moment, I am going to track EVERYTHING.  Even on those days when I know I am going to go over.  I am wasting my money and time by not doing the plan the right way.

This week is a do over. I won't count it for my second attempt at the 5k You Way plan.  Tomorrow I plan on doing at least an hour of cardio and Monday I will begin the plan from week one.

The fall TV season is soon approaching and there are a few shows that I enjoy.  In order for me to watch them, I need to have done my exercise for the day and tracked my food.  Otherwise no TV for me.  Sounds childish to do this but in looking back I realized how much of a food enabler my TV can be.  For crying out loud, it's an inanimate object.  WTF!

These are my confessions.  I am not perfect and I don't want to be.  I just want to do the best I can.  Use the tools that I have and use them to better myself.

Via Me, Myself & I.

I cooked & didn't burn the house down

Something that has helped me succeed with WW is that I keep looking for new food to eat.  Otherwise I get bored with my meals and that’s when I tend to make bad food decisions.  I saw a recipe for Low Fat Lasagna Cups from Danica’s Daily & I had to try them.  Best of all is that each cup is only 2 PointsPlus and so good. 

Ingredients

Ready to go into the oven

Hot cheesy goodness

Enjoy!

Here is a picture of the finished product from Danica’s blog.  I think hers looked so much prettier than mine.  

It's a beauty post!

I wanted to give a small review and update to some of the items in my previous Sephora haul.  Since I am not working, I am trying to limit the amount of beauty products I purchase.  It's a bad habit but one that I enjoy.

Kate Somerville Exfolikate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment - I LOVE THIS STUFF.   I buy the 1/2 ounce container for $19 and it lasts about 6 months.  I use it weekly and now that I finally found my Clairsonic Mia charger (yay!) I can use it again with it.  Leaves your skin feeling smooth and supple.  I use about a pea size amount all over my face.  I recommend you use it at night since it will leave your face a bit red.   

Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Cream in SPF 55 - this is the first time that I buy sun protection cream.  I usually rely on the SPF in my moisturizer or foundation.  But since I wanted to get some protection while walking, I decided to give this one a try.  I purchased the 1.2 oz container for $19.50 because I wanted to try it out.  It got great reviews and now I know why.  It has a pleasant scent and it does not leave a grey tint to my face.  I like it and will be repurchasing again. 

Murad Age Spot & Pigment Lightening Gel - what a bust!  I read reviews about this product and it said that you would notice a difference in 3 weeks. I used it every day at night after I washed my face and there is NO difference at all.  I took it back to Sephora today.  What a disappointment especially since it was $60.  Perhaps it isn't what I am looking for.  

I ended up going to Sephora today to return the Murad gel and I exchanged it for First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream & a NARS blush.   The cream I use as a daily moisturizer and it works great. I have dry skin and this cream gives my skin the moisture it craves.  As for the NARS blush, I got it in Mata Hari which is a matte rose metal pink color.   Such a pretty color!  

Oh yeah, I also got another sample of the Boyfriend fragrance.   The fragrance notes are dark plum, myrrh, night blossoming jasmine, benzoin tears, skin musk, golden amber and vanilla woods.  This isn't my kind of fragrance since I mostly prefer fresh & clean scents but there is something about this perfume that I really like.  

What's new in your beauty stash?

Gotta keep motivated

We all know it's helps to reward yourself when losing weight. It motivates me to keep on going. Here's what I am aiming to get in the near future:

Current weight loss is 67 pounds.
75 pounds - another Do Life shirt
85 pounds - Boyfriend perfume.*
93 pounds - new workout clothes
100 pounds - iPhone 5 **

How have you rewarded yourself?



* If you haven't smelled this perfume, RUN to Sephora ladies. It's all kinds of amazing.

** If I'm eligible for an upgrade. If not, I'll think of something else.

If there is no struggle, there is no progress.

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. - Frederick Douglass

I was waiting for it.  What is IT exactly?  I've been waiting to feel blue/down/depressed about my job situation.  It hit me when I least expected it.   All day on Friday everyone was talking about how much there were looking towards their three day weekend due to Labor Day.  It made me realize that for the past 5 months, my days have pretty much been the same. I know longer celebrate Thursday Eve, get excited over TGIF or bitch about the weekend coming to an end.   Sometimes it feels like Groundhog day.

I started thinking more about this as I started my walk on Friday and I started to get really upset about my employment situation.  I've been actively looking ever since I got laid off and only one company has called me back.  I've come to the realization that I may have to look for something in a lower salary bracket.  I may have to start over in a new career.  The more I thought about it, the more upset I got and the slower I walked.  After about 20 minutes, I stopped walking and sat down at a near by bench.   I took off my earphones and sat there in silence.  And I started to cry. (Thank the lord for oversize sunglasses)  I've cried 3 times since April - the day I got laid off, the day I made the decision to move out of my apartment in SF and this past Friday.

I sat there for a while and just thought about the past 5 months and how my life has changed.  I was totally bummed and feeling sorry for myself.  I ended up going to the grocery store and getting some snacks.  I didn't binge but I definitely ate way over my daily point allowance. I was feeling bad mentally and I also wanted to feel bad physically.  Saturday I made the decision not to work out.  I really just wanted to wallow in the misery I was feeling.  I know worse things are happening to people and that my life is pretty good if I compare it to others but I think I was just in a bad place mentally.  

I think that's why I sort of had a panic attack Sunday morning before I started to walk my 5k.  I was feeling guilty for not working out the past two days and mad at myself at the same time for not working out.  I mean, I was going so strong with the 5 week 5k plan and to end on such a bad note was not an option.

I am really glad that I beat my 5k time.  It was the motivation I needed to get out of my funk.  And seeing a loss of 1.4 pounds on the scale this morning also made me feel good.  My hard work is paying off.  Looking at how much I accomplished in August made me proud of myself.   I know my job situation is temporary but sometimes I forget.  When I look back at the past 5 months, it has gone so fast and I don't see a clear future ahead.  

Right now, I gotta concentrate on getting healthy while the job situation works itself out.  Today I signed up for the Race for the Cure 5k race.  That's two 5k races in a month since I am also participating in the Giants/American Heart Association 5k.  I also have to remember that in 11 months I've lost 67 pounds and now matter what, I cannot and will not gain them back.  

Hard work paid off

You may have noticed that I the past two days I didn't update on my exercise status. That's because there wasn't any. I was supposed to have walked 2.75 miles on Friday and done an hour of cardio yesterday to prepare for my 5k today. I was in a bad place mentally on Friday and after walking about a mile at a slow ass pace, I gave up and went home. I will talk more about that in a later post.

Yesterday I just didn't feel like working out. I knew that I was going to do a 5k today and I knew that I had to do it. After 5 weeks of following the plan, I couldn't just not do it. I got up early this morning and drove into SF. When I first started walking, I felt out of breath and my heart started beating really fast. I've never had that happen. I couldn't catch my breath. I had to stop for a few minutes to try to control my breathing. After I calmed down some, I started walking again and started speeding up.

For as much as I hate the voice on my Runkeeper, I am glad that I was listening to her today. I have it set to give me a status every 5 minutes and when I saw that I was falling behind, I knew I needed to do something so that I would beat my previous time. So what did I do?

I started to jog. 

Ok let's stop for a minute and read that back because even I can't believe it.

I jogged today. The only way I would ever jog/run is if I had someone or something chasing me. But today for some reason, I was inspired to jog. I looked around to see if anyone was around me and I jogged for a couple of seconds. Then I would walk. And then I would look around again and jog for a longer period of time. I couldn't believe it. If I wasn't so self conscious about people seeing me working out, I would have probably jogged sonner. I was not as fast as an out of shape Kenyan runner but I was jogging. Holy shit!

My goal was to beat my previous time of 57:50. My time today was 54:54 which is almost a 3 minute improvement in about 6 weeks. When I looked at my Runkeeper app I realized that last time I didn't walk 3.1 miles since I took a short cut by accident. But since I was trying to beat that time in the exact route, I followed it and walked for 3.01 miles.

I am relieved that these 5 weeks paid off. I think if I hadn't had that bit of a freak out at the beginning, I could've probably had a shorter time. But I am happy with the end result. I am going to do the 5k Your Way plan again for the next five weeks and my goal will be to improve my time for each walk. Since I used Runkeeper, I will be able to compare each day's activity. I have a 5k that I am participating in on September 16th so I need to continue walking so I don't lose my momentum.  It will also help me reach my goal for September of working out 1,000 minutes.

Dude, I jogged today. Like whoa!

August in Numbers

31 - days in the month

20 - days I worked out

11,100 - calories burned

991 - minutes worked out

6.4 - pounds lost

1 - tattoo



I feel really good about these numbers. I don't think I've ever worked out so much in a month.

I use MyFitnesspal, Runkeeper & Weight Watchers to track my progress