Say No to Fast Food

Man, it is hard to say no to fast food sometimes. I have been so busy this month and it is hard to always be totally prepared for lunch and dinner on the run. As I stated in a previous post, August is by far one of my busiest months for CPR; usually I have one of my other instructors teach for me so that I can be at home. However, I have recently been off work for four months due to the baby's birth and I am all about replenishing our savings account. So, this means lots of work for Cheryl. This week alone I have taught 3 CPR classes. Most of the classes are in the evening and I am rushing to get there after work; by the time the course is over it is 8:30 at night and I am famished and hungry. This is not a good thing for someone on a diet. I am already packing my lunch everyday so it is difficult to pack dinner too. I recently posted on Facebook about my morning bags...(diaper bag, gym bag, CPR bags, purse, Hudson's lunch bag & backpack, my lunchbag)...like seriously...can I pack another bag?

On Wednesday, I taught CPR and when I got done I ran thru Chick-fil-A. For my western friends, this is a fast food joint that only sells chicken. Their chicken is unique, it WAY better than any other chicken nugget I have ever had. It is very yummy, always busy, and Hudson loves their nuggets. Wednesday I actually had the kids with me. I teach CPR at my friend's Allstate office and she has a little girl a year older than Hudson. The kids went to the "Bounce House" to jump while I taught CPR and then after the class I took Hudson home. We were both starving so I quickly pulled through and indulged an 8 piece nugget and a french fry.
Nuggets: 270 cals
French Fries: 380 cals
Polynesian Sauce: 220 cals, (110 cals each..I had 2)

870 calories for one meal! It are days like this that will kill someone who is trying to lose weight. Lesson learned by would love suggestions on how to avoid the drive-thru.

Sicko

Wow..I was so sick. I haven't been that sick in a long time. Saturday night I had a stomach virus and threw my guts up! I was up all night long. The next day I had a headache, I was sore (from both my workout and sleeping on the hard tile floor; the dry heaving for an hour probably didn't help either). Sunday I literally did not get off the couch. I still just felt really queasy. I couldn't eat anything, not even a cup of morning Joe. Now you know something is wrong when I don't want my special morning coffee. I slept pretty much all day. Monday I made it to work but still didn't feel well and pretty much didn't eat that day either except for some saltine crackers and gingererale. Even Tuesday, I still didn't feel quite right but started turning the corner. The stinky thing is that now I have some signs of a cold. Arrggh. I hate being sick. I can say that this year I have been sicker than I have been in a long time. I am going to blame it on preschool. Even though Hudson only goes two days a week, he is exposed to all those germs and brings them home. I haven't had really bad sickness but have had my fair share of colds, etc. Guess I should be better about taking my Vitamin C. I am hoping that this isn't really a cold and it will pass quickly. It is hard to get motivated to workout when you feel like crap; which leads me to I haven't hardly worked out this week. Just could't get myself on the treadmill. I am back on it today though!

Weight Watcher Results: Week 18

So down 1.4 this week. Not feeling well today, have had a stomach bug, so I will post more later. Wanted to at least get my weight posted though. Hopefully I will be feeling better tomorrow. I haven't eaten anything today except a few Saltine crackers and a Ginger-ale; maybe I will have another good week. That is usually the only benefit to being sick.

If you want something you have never had, you have to do something you have never done

This saying doesn't totally hold true for me, because I feel like it is something that I have had. For years I was thin and in shape, however...it has been so long that I have forgotten what it feels like. So last night was my first night of my small personal training "bootcamp" sessions. The workout was hard but the lady in charge is very nice. It is weird, you feel like you need to do what she says but she is definitely not all in your face or yelling at you. Then again, she could have been being easy on me for my first time. It was pretty much circuit training mostly doing activities using your body weight (lunges, push ups, squats, plank, etc) with the use of other equipment such as stability balls, cables, medicine balls, dumbbells, sliders and the bosu balance ball. It was a great workout, worked out your core as well as your arms and legs. There were several stations around the gym. She would show you the exercise and then we all went to a different station and did the exercise and then moved to the other station. All in all there was about 12 stations and we did each of them twice.

I am sore today. My quads mostly but I am sure that I will be hurting even more tomorrow. I have worked out on and off for a long time and would consider myself very familiar with most exercises done in the gym. Last night was different as most of them were exercises I had never seen before. I am going to try and take some pictures next time; many of the exercises could be done with minimal equipment at home. All the ladies in the group have been doing this for a while and are in super good shape. They were all very nice and encouraging. I will definitely be going back as I feel this will really help take me to the next level. It will build my strength and endurance and mix up my workouts. I am retaining a little water today so trying to drink more to flush it out.

Tomorrow is Weekend Warrior: Power Hour, I'll be posting again to let you know how it goes.

Obesity

So there are so many things that I love about East TN. There is so much to do close by, the weather is great, the people are friendly, I could write a list a mile long. However, two things that I don't like about it is that we are one of the fattest states and one of the most medicated. A new article came out today and TN is the second most medicated state in the nation.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

In the second-most medicated state, Tennessee, there were 16.9 retail prescriptions filled per capita. More than 65% of adults in the state can be classified as obese or overweight, and 10% of all adults have diabetes. Alabama, Kentucky and Arkansas round out the top five.

It really made me think! 16.9 per capita? Are you kidding me? Think about how many people in the state aren't on any medication. There are lots of people under the age of 25 that aren't on any and there are still several healthy people that don't take any meds (i.e., Travis and I). That means that there are a lot of people that take even more than 16.9 prescriptions. This is crazy! It is almost unbelievable. This is an average....which means for every person taking under 16.9 meds there is someone taking more. I am astonished.

I read msnbc.com every day. Almost every single day there is an article about obesity. Obesity causes more risk for heart disease, cancer, miscarriage, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and cholesterol just to name a few. It also affects your children's health as well as your mental and emotional state. I sometimes get disgusted when I think about how people smoke (sorry to my friends that are smokers) when there is all this information out there about how bad it is for you. Why would anyone ever even try a cigarette? BUT THEN...I think...I am no better! I read articles every day about the health downfalls of obesity yet until now I wasn't willing to do anything about it. Actually, I think that obesity is worse than smoking as it has an effect on my areas of the body and leads to more co-morbidities.>

I am so glad that I am doing something about it now! The next question is what can I do to help the people of Tennessee? My wheels are turning....any suggestions??

Staying the Course

Well, this week I am just trying to stay the course. I had to retake my points calculator quiz now that I am under 200. My points dropped down to only 25 a day. I have been having a hard time in the past eating only 27 and I know that I as I lose even more weight I will only be allowed less and less points. I am also really trying to focus on exercise as I will need as many activity points as possible.

Today I ate 24.5 points and earned 3 activity points. It was a good day. I ate sensibly and had a nice day at work. After work, Travis and the kids met me at my friends pool and we went for an evening swim. The water felt so nice and the kids loved it. When I got home I ate a protein rich dinner and then hit the treadmill. I am still watching season 4 of Biggest Loser. I am getting excited for the new season to start.

My friend Tracy called me today and she is coming to visit in Oct. I am excited to see her. It is her first time to TN. She is bringing our friend Liz with her too. I know she likes the outdoors so hopefully we can enjoy a swim at the lake and a good hike or something while she is here. October is such a great time of year in East TN. Speaking of October, Race for the Cure is the last Saturday in October. I have good news and bad news about this. The good news is that the other day I registered for the race and got my free T-shirt. The lady at the table asked me what size I would like and I said X-Lg, please. She looked at me and said, "Is it for you", I replied, "yes"...then she said, "you better just get a Large, the X-Large will be way to big" If that lady only new how she had just made my day. It is satisfaction in the small things. The bad news is that I have totally neglected my C25K program and need to get my arse in gear! I only have about 10-11 weeks till the race and it is a 9 week program. I know that I still can do it but I can't slack at all. I have to be guaranteed those 3 workouts per week. They are only 30 minutes so I need to just do it.

Well, that is all for now! Good night.

Weight Watcher Results: Week 17

Finally! In the 100s and not going back! Because I had a 3 pound loss this week I will have to be on my game next week. I don't want to be disappointed next week and I know how it is when you have a good week, the next week is never as good. However, I am setting myself up for success. I have to make very good choices on everything I eat. No mindless snacking. Last week I got a new Nalgene bottle and it has been much easier to drink my water. I also broke my cycle of no exercise. I hadn't been on the treadmill for two weeks but I got on this morning and plan to finish my episode of Biggest Loser tonight. I am also planning to go to my first training session on Wednesday night. Travis has a co-worker that has lost a substantial amount of weight recently too and she is wanting to come with me on Wednesday. It has been so hot and the workouts are outside; if anything I will sweat off some weight.

Well, I am excited about this new chapter of my life. Life in the 100s. Next goal is 185. That was the thinnest I had been in the last 10 years. Here is a picture of me five years ago at 185. I can't wait to be even thinner than that!