NSV Friday

Greetings, friends, and HAPPY FRIDAY! I for one am THRILLED that it’s the weekend. I have literally nothing planned this weekend, and that’s exactly how I want it (other than church on Sunday morning and Walking Dead @ Scott/Bre’s on Sunday night). That’s right, I’ll be watching The Walking Dead instead of the Oscars. I really could care less about those, although I do love me some Ellen DeGeneres.

I have a couple of NSV’s this week: number one is that we have our last bday cake in our office today, and I fully intend on not eating any. I made a point-heavy but DELICIOUS looking fried ice cream dessert for game night tonight, and I’m saving my points for that. Oh my word it looks so yummy!

My second is that (sorry to my lovely hubby in advance, you know that I don’t care about these dudes but it’s still a NSV–if you’re reading, keep reading :)) I’ve noticed guys actually starting to check me out. I’m sorry, um, what?! I don’t ever remember a time when that has happened. Other than my awesome husband, who checks me out on a daily basis. I know we’re not supposed to define our self-worth by what other people think, etc etc and I truly don’t, but ain’t nobody gonna argue with me that it feels good to be checked out at a bar after years of enduring people calling you “wide load,” or girls sniggering behind your back, or people saying, “she has such a pretty face…she’d be sooooo pretty if she lost some weight,” etc etc. Yeah, that’s right, it feels pretty damn good–feel free to call me shallow, but it is what it is.

With ALL of that being said, I’d like to dedicate this post to my wonderful husband Patrick. He has put up with me throughout this (almost year-long!) journey thus far, and will put up with me for as long as it takes me to shed the extra pounds. He loved me for who I was before I lost 60 lbs, and he loves me now. My weight was never a barrier for him as to my attractiveness, and for that, I love him all the more. Thank you, my love, for being there for me through thick (lolz) and thin (coming soon.) I love you!

Cheers to us!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! We are supposed to get more bad weather (insert angry curse words of choice here). Peace!

Weigh-in Wednesday! (and why I <3 Weight Watchers)

Howdy, ya’ll! I’m linking up for Wednesday Weigh-in with Heather and Ash again. Here it is:

“–24.0”

Wooohoo, I lost 1.0 lb! Changing my weigh-in day to Tuesday was DEFINITELY the right decision, as last night I did zumba sentao again and am super sore. I didn’t weigh-in this morning, but am positive the scale would be up a little from yesterday because of the workout.

If any of you read my post from yesterday, you’ll know that I ate TONS of cray foods this past weekend. But here’s the deal: I saved all of my activity points that I earned last week to use (23 points), and in addition to those, only ate 4 of my 49 weekly points. That’s right–I ate ALL of that food and still lost a pound! Granted, I only ate about 1/2 of each food item that I got, but still. I love Weight Watchers so much; I can eat all the foods that I love and have occasional weekend splurges, and still lose weight because of how I’m tracking and eating my points. I’m working out diligently and it is really paying off. I know that Weight Watchers isn’t the best weight loss plan for everyone, but it sure is for me. I know that I will probably be tracking points for my whole life, and I’m ok with it 🙂

I stuck to my workout plan this past week that I put on my blog last weigh-in Wednesday! Woo! This is what I have planned for this week:

Tuesday (yesterday): 60 min zumba sentao
Wednesday: 30 min regular zumba
Thursday: 60 minutes regular zumba
Friday: rest
Saturday: 30 min regular zumba
Sunday: 45 min regular zumba
Monday: 60 minutes zumba toning

Wooowee, that’s a lot ‘o zumba. I can’t wait! Hope you all had great weigh-in days–keep up the good work everyone!

Weekend of Food and Fun!

Warning: this post may make you drool…

As promised, here is the obligatory post of all things food that Patrick and I experienced on our short little getaway in Cincinnati this weekend. On Friday night, we headed over to Indianapolis to eat dinner with Patrick’s parents and his brother–his bro is a jazz musician on a cruise ship and is getting ready to leave on a 7-month cruise in a few weeks…super exciting! At any rate, we wanted to have a dinner with them before Peter left and Indy is on the way to Cincinnati for us, so we stopped in. They decided that we were going to eat at O’Charley’s, and I REALLY wanted to get me some of those chicken FANGERS. They are so good–but, I knew that I had saved up my 23 activity points specifically for the weekend of food to come, so I made a great choice:

Yep, that’s right, I got fish. Wildfire salmon with asparagus and rice pilaf–it was ok, but the fish was WAY too salty. I only ate about half of it. I also only ate ONE roll. If all y’all have ever been to O’Charleys, you know that their rolls are the shiznit, so yeah. I was proud of myself for this meal 🙂

Then, Cincinnati happened. lol. I ran a work event on Saturday afternoon that went really well, and to celebrate, Patrick and I visited our fave dining facility in the greater Cincinnati area: Hofbrauhaus Newport. OK if you love German food and beer and you have never been to a Hofbrauhaus, (the original is in Munich, I’ve been there too–but there are also locations in Vegas and a maybe a couple other places?) YOU HAVE TO GO. GO RIGHT NOW. Well maybe not right now but these pics may just be enough to convince you:

SCHNITZEL SANDWICH WITH FRIES AND BIER CHEESE

Mine is the baby beer next to Patrick’s papa beer

Yeah, that’s right. I drank only one beer and got their light version, which was way way better than any generic light beer as they brew it on-site along with their other beers. They use the original recipes from Munich! Also, that schnitzel sandwich is what I always get to eat there–I mean basically it’s a German version of a fried pork tenderloin, and I’m a hoosier, so yeah…there’s that. I only ate half the sandwich and fries though because I got so stuffed!

After Hofbrauhaus, we went to the Party Source, which is one of the largest liquor stores in the country. We used to go there all the time on some occasions and it was nice to walk down memory lane/get free samples of alcohol… I mean seriously this place is amazing. We also had a pleasant surprise–there is now a brewery INSIDE the party source. So obviously we had to stay and try some beers:

We actually got 2 flights of 4 samples each, so 8 samples total. Patrick drank most of it but I tried some…I was driving so I didn’t want to go crazy or anything. I would HIGHLY recommend this brewery to anyone if you’re visiting Cincinnati!

Then of course, we had to let all of our food and beer sit so that we could go to Graeter’s, where the best ice cream on the planet is served:

Patrick’s dark chocolate truffle gelato and my cookie dough chip with whipped cream

Omg yum. Patrick tried their new gelato and it was ok–I think their ice cream is better. Apparently now they also have new reduced fat ice cream for us folks who are trying to lose weight, but I wasn’t interested in any of that shiz. I want the real stuff if I’m gonna splurge. It was SO. GOOD.

On Sunday, we met my friend Claire (now Dr. Claire since she completed her DMA at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of music, woot woot!) for brunch. We went to Keystone, our fave mac n cheese place, but I TOTALLY forgot that they don’t serve mac n cheese until like 3pm, so we were “forced” to get brunch. Obviously it didn’t matter because look at this awesomeness:

The “Gravy Train”

This was sooooooooooo good that I soon forgot about my sadness over the lack of mac n cheese w/ pulled pork bbq in it (that’s the fave of mine that they make). It was a biscuit with two poached eggs on top, covered with their special goetta gravy and cheese with fried potatoes on the side. Oh em gizzle it was so good.

With all of that being said, I only managed to use all of my 23 activity points from last week and only 4 of my weekly points. I already know what the scale says because today is my new weigh-in day, but I won’t be reporting until tomorrow because I want to do the Wednesday link-up–all I have to say is that I LOVE WEIGHT WATCHERS SO MUCH. More on that tomorrow 🙂 Happy Tuesday!

Quick Weekend Update

Uggggh Mondays SUCK.

At any rate, we had a great weekend to ourselves in Cincinnati, our old stomping grounds (where I got my master’s degree). I forgot to upload my pics last night, and as I don’t get internet on my phone at work –don’t ask, I have no idea why my data won’t work here– I can’t put the pics on the blog.

On Saturday, I ran a regional event in Cincinnati for admitted students as it’s in my territory–I had a free Marriott hotel stay as part of my rewards points, so Patrick came along and we stayed there for the weekend. We ate SO. MUCH. AMAZING. FOOD. I mean seriously. Delicious German food, beer, Graeters (best ice cream EVA), and the “gravy train” brunch at one of our fave food spots. More to come tomorrow on this–I don’t feel guilty for indulging one bit, as I saved up all my activity points for this weekend (23 points) and have managed to only eat FOUR of my weekly 49 points! Woo! Considering what I ate, I consider that quite an accomplishment.

Tomorrow is my new weigh-in day; I’m not expecting a loss, and I may possibly gain…it’s TOM week again. Get excited for tomorrow’s post, which will be all about food. Yum. 🙂

NSV(s) Friday

It’s time for another NSV Friday! I put “NSV(s)” Friday today because I have not one, not two, but THREE NSV’s this week. I am so excited about all of them!

1. The first one has to do with food. This week marked the 4th birthday cake in February (aka Cake-uary) in my office…guess what? I didn’t eat any!! That makes only ONE cake out of four that I’ve eaten at work–and it was my own birthday cake! We’ll actually have one last birthday cake next week for my boss, and I fully intend on passing on that too. That’s our last office bday cake until April…thank goodness! Not only did I resist the cake this week, but one of my coworkers brought in two huge boxes of donuts on Wednesday. I’m not talking just plain-‘ole glazed donuts, I’m talking delicious jelly-, cream-, chocolate-, apple caramel-filled donuts. Holy crap they smelled amazing, but I didn’t eat a SINGLE ONE of them. So proud of myself.

2. I’ve been keeping “LBS LOST” and “LBS TO GO” jars since I started my weight loss journey. I’ve lost 60 pounds now, and look at how close these are to being even:

I definitely consider this a huge NSV!

3. I have three pairs of pants that I wear throughout the week at work, and all of them are WAY TOO BIG. They have been way too big for a long time now, but I decided to snap a pic of the grey pants that I wear since they are basically falling down on my every time I wear them. Holy wow:

These are a size 24W and they are definitely way too big. I think I could go with a 22 or even a 20 now…so exciting!! 🙂

Hope you all are having a great weekend–I have a work event tomorrow and then Patrick and I are taking a weekend to ourselves. Lots of yummy and fattening food planned…but I’m super excited regardless. I’ll update on Monday! Have a GREAT weekend, friends!

Tea is for Thursday

It’s almost the weekend! Yay!

I had a really nice night last night; we went to choir practice (which was awesome) and then came home where I walked a quick mile and then proceeded to use my new birthday gift from Patrick that came in the mail last night:

This is called “the perfect mug” and comes from David’s Tea (www.davidstea.com). It’s one of their “nordic” designs, which I LOVE. The infuser that it comes with is totally awesome and has a lid to keep the tea warm!! Look at the awesome, yummy tea that Patrick got for me to go with:

YUM. I am sipping on it right now at work in my thermos! I really love this mug and this tea. I didn’t drink this tea last night when we got home because it has caffeine; instead, I tried the “pure organic vanilla” sample that David’s sent with this package. (If you are a tea drinker and don’t know David’s–check it out NOW. It is amazing, and they send 3 samples of tea with whatever you have bought in the mail. I love it!) The pure organic vanilla was good, but I like this salted caramel better. It is so yummy!

At any rate, I just wanted to share the good news of David’s Tea and publicly thank Patrick for being the awesomest most bestest hubby ever and for getting me the best bday gift ever! (He also got me a new cute hat and pair of gloves, which I desperately needed.) At any rate, hope you all are having a great day…looking forward to NSV Friday!

Wednesday Weigh-In

Happy Hump Day, y’all! I am linking up with Heather and Ash for my weekly Wednesday weigh-in:

“–23.0”

That’s a gain of 1.2 lbs in the past 2 weeks, as many of you will remember that I didn’t weigh in last week for various reasons–not too shabby! I did in fact lose 1 whole inch from my waist and half an inch from my bust, so that’s awesome. I must say that there are a number of reasons for this gain, all totally acceptable in my book:

1. Two weeks ago when I weighed in, it was after a day of the stomach flu. I ate several saltine crackers and had a couple of cups of Sprite to eat that day–I believe I had only 7 out of 35 points to eat…not to mention, I couldn’t keep anything down. This obviously put my weight down quite a bit.
2. After that big loss two weeks ago, I got 34 points a day instead of 35…this always takes me a bit of time to adjust, so I ate far more than normal in that first week. This past week, I did much better.
3. I think the biggest reason I’ve gained is because of the workout I did last night, zumba sentao, which I will talk about in a sec–I am SO sore today because of this, and am positive that my muscles are causing me to hold some extra water.

With all that being said, I’m taking this gain in stride and not getting off track. There are a bunch of donuts in the app room right now and I’m just going to have to say no as another coworker brought in a peanut butter pie and I’d like a small slice of that after lunch. Gotta say no to something!

So, zumba sentao. Holy. Wow. It’s “zumba with chair,” and good Lord almighty it was hard as hell! I loved it though…basically it incorporated a lot of the songs that I already know from my regular zumba class, but there are multiple chair dips, squats, leg lifts, and toning push ups that had me sweating my butt off (literally). Oh my goodness, my arms hurt sooooo much today. But it is a good sore! I re-arranged my schedule because of church choir to now go to regular zumba on Monday, zumba sentao on Tuesday, and regular zumba again on Thursday. Because of this, I’ve now decided…

My new weigh-in day will be on Tuesdays. I’ll still link up and report my weigh-in on Wednesdays, but I am fairly sure now that the scale will show a gain every morning after a hard zumba sentao workout, and let’s be honest–even if I’m losing that weight, that can be really disappointing. So, Tuesday it is! 🙂

Here’s my planned workout schedule for this week, starting from yesterday:

Tuesday: 60 minutes zumba sentao
Wednesday: 30 minutes regular zumba
Thursday: 60 minutes regular zumba
Friday: off
Saturday: off (most likely)
Sunday: 30 or 45 minutes regular zumba
Monday: 60 minutes regular zumba

I will weigh-in tomorrow night at the YMCA for the “Lose a Ton, Give a Ton” challenge–I’ll be interested to see if any of that retained water is gone…who knows. I’m just glad that I’m building muscle and getting stronger! I was so, so proud of myself for being able to get through that intense workout last night. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it 60 lbs ago, or even probably 30 lbs ago.

I hope that you all have wonderful weigh-ins! Looking forward to seeing your NSVs this week as well!

Quick Update

Hello friends!

I have a quick update, as we are still swamped at work. This is the beauty of admissions–it is cyclical, so for the *most* part, you’re doing the same thing at every time of the year. Unfortunately, January to mid-May is basically the busiest, most ridiculously hectic time of the year. phew. I am surviving though!

I am feeling really good about how I’ve been doing for the past two weeks. I’m still adjusting to the 34 points a day instead of 35–for those of you on Weight Watchers, you know what I mean–one point in a day can make a HUGE difference. I have done pretty well though; last week I ate into most of my weekly points (36/49 points were eaten) but this week I did better, eating only 8/49 of my weeklies. As always, I’m eating all of my activity points that I earn with my zumba workouts. I’m not worried about what the scale says on Wednesday, it is what it is. I’m not really anticipating anything in one way or the other, but we’ll just have to see! I didn’t end up doing as much zumba as I wanted this week for various reasons:

Wednesday: 60 minutes zumba toning
Thursday: off
Friday: off
Saturday: off (I KNOW! AHHH!)
Sunday: 30 minutes zumba
Monday: 60 minutes zumba
Tuesday: 60 minutes zumba sentao

This earned me 21 activity points–not as many as I usually get. Still glad I got back into it, though!

Disclaimer: I’m ’bout to talk about religion! Don’t read this if you are easily offended or don’t like to talk about this stuff.

Patrick and I have been going to a new church and it is probably one of the most amazing places I’ve found on earth. I grew up pretty conservative and in college became quite liberal. I never thought that Christianity and liberal ideals could go hand in hand, but that’s exactly what this church is. Guess what–I can believe in evolution, and I can also follow the teachings of Jesus. I can be a champion for gay marriage, and I can follow the teachings of Jesus. After all, wasn’t Jesus really the ultimate liberal? I’m sure that that question is extremely controversial and I’m not trying to open a forum for discussion here–I don’t like to talk about these things a lot but I’m really excited about this church and feel the need to share. It really kind of has turned my view of the religion upside down, in a good way. The people are completely amazing and it’s an official Open and Affirming Church through the GLAD council, so there are several same-sex couples there. (It was important for Patrick and me to find a place like this). The reverend is a woman, and several positions of leadership in the church are held by women. I actually look FORWARD to going to church…??? When did that happen? I know there are other Christian churches out there like this, but we just never expected to find one where we live. We were thrilled to find such an open, welcoming, non-judgmental group of people. We’re going to start singing in the choir! Last night we went to buy new Bibles and I found this pretty one:

They even engraved my name on it at the store!

At any rate, that’s kind of my eye-opening moment for the week. I can’t wait to go to church choir rehearsal tomorrow night.

Looking forward to my weigh-in tomorrow, no matter the results! Two weeks is a long time to go without stepping on the scale!

NSV Friday and Shoe Review

Hi all! It’s that time for NSV Friday linkup. I have realized in the past few weeks that I am totally not linking up on the right day for this as everyone else does it on Thursday, but I REALLY like having my NSV post on Friday as it’s (obviously) the best day of the week and I like to have it to focus on the positives and propel me forward in a good direction for the weekend.

With all that being said, my NSV this week is the same as it was either last week or the week before–we had another bday cake at work yesterday, and I didn’t eat ANY of it! I busted out my Yoplait Greek yogurt (which I love, btw) while everyone else was eating it, and I felt totally fine about it. The cake was beautiful, and it’s from the best cake place in town, so it was REALLY hard to say no! I’m proud of myself now for doing that twice this month. It is getting easier and easier!

I also wanted to fire off a quick review of the New Balance Cross trainers that I got–the New Balance Minimus 20v3. I got these shoes for my zumba classes, as my walking shoes were way too heavy and were causing ankle issues with all the lateral motion. First of all, I LOVE the way these shoes look:

They come in several different colors, but this is the only color I could get in my size–I bought a 10 D, which is a wide size. I typically wear 9.5 wide, but I had read multiple reviews of this shoe that suggested getting a 1/2 size up if you want to wear it with socks (which I do). Thus, the pink. But I really like it! These shoes are almost barefoot shoes, but have just a tiny bit of arch support. I have incredibly flat feet, and therefore lots of foot issues when shopping for shoes. I have read lots of conflicing information about cross-training with flat feet–some people say get those insoles for the support, some people say go as close to barefoot as you can to build those arches. Which one do I go with?!! Some of the reviews on Amazon had been written by flat-footed people and were very, very positive, so I decided to go with the latter. I am completely unsure of what my doctor would think about these shoes, and that kind of worries me…however, I’ve used them at zumba 3 times now, and I am totally in love.

First of all, they are so, so light. These things weigh 5.1 ounces!! It is so much easier to jump and move around in zumba than it was with my walking shoes. They provide just enough support for my non-existent arches, but not too much. I am able to really feel the ground, and I think that it’s improving my balance during the workouts. After my first workout, I had a bit of shin and calf pain, which is to be expected when working out in an almost-barefoot shoe with flat feet–but I haven’t experienced any ankle pain, which is a huge welcome change. My calves/shins didn’t hurt at all after my most recent workout.

Overall, I would definitely recommed these shoes, although I know I’m not a medical professional and everyone’s feet are different. But they are a world of difference for my tired feet!

This week has been crazy, crazy, crazy, and this weekend is going to be crazy as well. Tonight is game night (my brother and his girlfriend are coming, should be super fun!) Tomorrow I’m working an event in Indianapolis with my boss, going to a church dinner, and then Sunday we’ll have church and then a big going-away party for Bre since she’ll be at army training for 4 months starting on Tuesday. Ahhhh! But it’s better to be busy, I think.

Hope you all are having a great Friday. Happy Weekend!

Weigh-in Wednesday

Hi all! Sorry I’ve been absent–life has been nuts. Also sorry to disappoint, but I did not weigh in today and won’t be weighing in until next week–just wanted to join the linkup again! First of all–we have no heat at our house. We woke up yesterday morning and it was FREEZING, so we looked at the thermostat and it read 60 even though it was set at 70. I didn’t hear the furnace kick on at all while we were getting ready for work, so I called our realty company and told them what it was–turned out the exhaust fan was broken on the furnace and kept tripping the breaker to turn it off. The maintenance man told us that he’d have to order the part and it’d be in on the next day (which is now today). So, we were without heat part of Monday night, all of yesterday and last night, and today until they come back to fix the part. We definitely stayed at my parents house last night-to give you an idea, it was -11 yesterday morning outside with a -30 windchill…no bueno! It was 45 in our place when we left yesterday at 5 PM to go to my parents…yikes!

At any rate, I didn’t weigh in this morning because I was out of my element doing my morning routine before work at my parents, not to mention I was NOT dragging my scale to their house just so I could do my weekly weigh-in. I’m totally ok with this–I recorded my weight on WW online as 211.8, where I was last week, and will record my weight next week when I can actually use my scale. Phew.

I didn’t do as well eating as I would’ve liked this past week, but it WAS my birthday week and all. I’m ready to get back on track this week! (And by not eating as well as I liked, I ate all 25 of my activity points and 39 of my weeklies…oh well!) I also was able to fit in SOME zumba this week, but not as much as I wanted:

Wednesday: 1-mile walking DVD
Thursday: 60 minutes zumba
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 45 min zumba
Monday: 60 min zumba
Tuesday: no heat+shuffling to my parents house= no workout

3 rest days in a week is a lot for me, so this week I’m hoping for:

Wednesday: 60 min zumba toning
Thursday: 30 min zumba
Fri: rest
Sat: 45 min zumba
Sun: 45 min zumba
Mon: 60 min zumba
Tues: 60 min zumba sentao (zumba with a chair)

I’ve never tried zumba sentao, but I want to shake it up a bit. It uses a chair and from what I hear sounds like a good leg, arm, and ab workout using the chair and bodyweight. I am nervous that it’s going to make me really sore and cause me to show a gain in my weigh-in next week–oh well, que sera, sera!

I’m at work 30 min early and I’ve got to get some stuff done. Sorry for the lack of results, but hopefully this heat thing will get fixed soon–it is way too cold outside for anyone to go without heat. Happy Hump Day!