Sweet Freedom

My new sweet treat obsession!

Sweet Freedom® Ice Cream Bar - Krunch Lites

This treat gives "crunch time" a delicious new meaning. We start with our vanilla lite ice cream, drench it in a chocolate coating and sprinkle it with crisp rice. Each bar is guaranteed to make lots of joyous noise
 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 Bar (40g)
Servings Per Container 12

Amount Per Serving

Calories 100

Calories from Fat 70

% Daily Values**

Total Fat 7g /

11%

Saturated Fat 6/

30%

Trans Fat 0g

Cholesterol Less than 5mg/

2%

Sodium 30mg/

1%

Potassium 75mg/

2%

Total Carbohydrate 11g/

4%

Dietary Fiber 1g/

5%

Sugars 2g

Sugar Alcohol 6g

Protein 2g/

3%

Source

Beer Goggles

So, in trying to lose weight I am also trying to limit my alcohol intake, obviously because like most beverages, beer and wine are "empty calories".  So, in addition to cutting back my weeknight drinking to one (1) night a week (usually Thursdays during Grey's Anatomy!), I am trying to drink lower calorie beer also.  So, ones obvious choice for low calorie beer would probably be Bud Select 55, right?  Not so fast ... while Select 55 only has 55 calories, it also only has 2.4% alcohol!! Now I know why the first time I had it it took me the entire 6-pack before I felt a slight buzz! 

I suppose it depends WHY you are drinking the beer. I mean, if you just like beer itself and are trying to save some calories, then Select 55 would be the way to go. But if you are wanting to get tipsy/drunk, have a good time and save some calories, Select 55 would NOT be the way to go because you would have to drink more beer to get the tipsy/drunk feeling therefore increasing your calorie intake! 

So, for now I think I'll stick to my Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry beer with only 95 calories and 4.2% alcohol. 

Pour Some Sugar on Me ...

So, in an effort to help my weight loss I am going to try and cut back on a key culprit ... SUGAR!!!  I really don't have much of a sweet tooth although I do like cereal as well as Special K Breakfast Bars and Granola Bars, which I have no problem cutting out.  However,  I was surprised at some of the things that had more sugar than I had thought.  For example: 

Baby Carrots 
1 serving (8 carrots/85g)
Sugars, total: 4g
Calories, total: 30 
Calories from sugar: 16

Yoplait Light Yogurt, Strawberry
6 oz Container
Sugars, total:  14g 

Calories, total: 100 
Calories from sugar: 56

Nutrigrain Cereal Bar, Strawberry
1 Bar (37g)
Sugars, total:  13g
Calories, total: 140 
Calories from sugar: 52

 Prego Marinara Spaghetti Sauce
 1 serving (1/2 cup/120g)
 Sugars, total:  7g
 Calories, total:  100
 Calories from sugar: 28 

So, can I eliminate all sugar ... wait, let me rephrase that - will I eliminate all sugar, no. I don't believe in living a life depriving yourself of certain things. I would rather have some meat on my bones and junk in my trunk than to eat "healthy" all the time.  But ... I am willing to make some changes when it comes to my breakfasts and snacks, and even my lunches on occasion.  Dinner however, no way.  

So, some of the ideas I have to help replace some of my sweeter, more sugary snacks such as Yogurt, Special K Bars, Granola & Cereal are: 

• Fruits and Veggies (while these have sugar, they are naturally occurring sugar and not not as "bad" for you according to my research)
• Edamame w/ a dash of sea salt and lemon
• Almonds 
• Turkey + Hard Boiled Egg
• Hummus + Carrots + Red Peppers
• Greek yogurt 
• Tuna Salad + Cucumber Slices
• Pickles + Cheese + Turkey
• Cottage Cheese + Cherry Tomatoes  
• Oatmeal (Weight Control with only 1 g. of sugar) or Regular oatmeal or 'whole rolled oats'
• Spicy Popcorn: 100 calorie popcorn + 10 small pretzels mixed w/ 1/2 tsp chili powder + 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes 

I am, of course, always open for any ideas or suggestions!! 

Half-Assed

So, maybe I'm just getting old but when did bikini bottoms all start being made either half-assed or grandma style?  It's like I can't win this season at all!!   

As you all know, I ordered two (2) super cute bikini bottoms from Roxy to match my black and white striped bikini top. I was WAY excited for them because 1.) they were super cute and matched my top and 2.) they were on sale + free shipping!!  Well, I got both of them in the mail and tried them on (with undies under them of course) and both of them barely covered half of my ass?  Now, I know I have got some junk in the truck and I am not ashamed by any means ... but a bikini barely covers enough as it is - I don't need 50% of my ass cheeks hanging out as well - especially since I'm going with my family!!  Now, I'm not saying I want a grandma style bikini bottom, I think a bottom covering at least 3/4 of my ass would be appropriate, don't you? 

Sigh ... so, I'm debating on exchanging them for larges (I got mediums).  I hate that I have to order a large b/c it's not that they don't "fit" per say as they are not too tight .. they simply leave nothing to the imagination :)  I'm wondering if a large might cover a bit more in the back and still fit comfortably everywhere else?  One of them is a string tie side so I'm not worried about that one fitting, just not sure if the other one will be too lose and fall off should I decide to take dive into the pool?!   Ugh ... decisions, decisions ...

*Side Note: I guess now that I look at the picture, you can see that the bikini does not cover all of the bum*

Manic Monday

Wow ... what a day today was. The Monday of all Mondays. It's days like these before I was not trying to get in shape that I would go home and pretty much down a bottle of wine in one night.  I won't deny, the thought crossed my mind more than once today ... in fact, my Facebook status around 5:00 p.m. today was this:  Here's hoping I have the strength to let out all my frustrations on the treadmill tonight versus with a glass ... err ... bottle of wine?!

But, I knew that wouldn't really help my mood in the long run, nor would it be beneficial to me physically.  So, I bit the bullet and put all my energy into the treadmill tonight.  And, I think I did a pretty good job.  I did a combo of walking, running and incline for a total of 35+ minutes, went 2.5 miles and burned almost 400 calories!!!  And that doesn't even include taking the stairs down and back up as well as all the misc. upper and lower body strength training I did.  

So, all in all, not too bad for a day's work ... especially a Monday!  Only 5 weeks until Jamaica so hopefully I can keep this going!  

For your viewing pleasure, "Manic Monday" by The Bangles: 

It's just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
'Cause that's my funday
My I don't have to runday
It's just another manic Monday

~ The Bangles

Morning Makeover

So, as we all know .. I am NOT a morning person. Never have been, never will be.  However, we all know that exercising in the morning has a lot of benefits.  Some of which I will share below from an article I found on Spark People.  With our vacation approaching I am wanting to start tanning after work. I know, it's not good for you but I do not do it very much. I am just wanting to get some color for vacation and so I don't get burned.

In any event, since I work until 6:00, on a normal day without tanning, by the time I get home and work out - we aren't able to start fixing dinner until at least 7:30 or 8:00 which is way too late anyways.  And half the time we are too tired to cook and end up eating cereal for dinner!  And now, if you add tanning into the mix ... that will tack on another 30+ minutes before I can work out and eat dinner.

So, I am going to attempt to start getting up maybe once or twice a week in the morning do squeeze in some time on the treadmill.  I figure if I can even just get 15-20 minutes done, that's 15-20 minutes I won't have to do when I get home in the evening. 

Anyways, I'm hoping to give this a try either Wednesday or Thursday morning. So keep you fingers crossed because I'm going to need all the help I can get!

Here's a great article I found on Spark People about exercising in the morning:
Learn to Love A.M. Exercise (Even if You're Not a Morning Person) 
By: Rebecca Pratt

Summer Hair ...

With summer approaching ... it's about time for a new do! Since I'm going to Jamaica in about 5 weeks, I'm not wanting to cut it anytime soon as I want it to be long enough to pull out of my face while at the beach.  I do want to, however, lighten it up a bit for the summer.  I'm not sure I want to go totally blonde but I would like to have a lot of it mixed in throughout - plus, the blonde will probably help camouflage my stupid gray hair ... yes ... I hate to say it out loud or on "paper" but yes, I have gray hair already. Stupid genetics ... sigh ... But, I have a fabu hairdresser so all is good!

Anyways, here are a few ideas I am mulling over for my next visit to the salon. Will probably be about 3 weeks or so - plenty of time to decide :-)  I think the first one is my favorite ... I just haven't had that light color of hair in a while ... might be a drastic change?  Any thoughts? 

12 down ...

So, I am happy to say that after getting on the scale this morning, I have lost about 12 pounds in approximately four (4) months!!  I got up to about 137 pounds and for me that was a bit of a shocker. For the past 4-5 years, I have been hovering around 126 pounds which I was pretty happy with.  Did I need a bit of "toning", of course ... but it just wasn't a priority.  The bottom line is I hate exercising.  I honestly don't think I have "worked out" since high school!  But ... as the scale kept creeping up over 130 and higher and higher ... it really started to bother me. Not to mention, a lot of my clothes, especially pants and jeans, were getting too tight and some of them, unwearable.  I know a lot of people look at me and say that I am so thin and I look great ... but just because I'm not "fat" or "obese" doesn't mean that I am not "overweight" or unhealthy, you know?  And to be honest, I get tired of people saying that to me.  And not to mention, I am only 5' 3" and 137 is a bit too much in my opinion!

So, first of all I started making some changes in my diet, especially cutting back my on my week night drinking. I'm not an alcoholic by any means but I am very unhappy at my job and my way of unwinding every night was with 2-3 glasses of wine.  And as we all know, those "empty calories" add up very quickly!!  Then, once I started paying attention to what I was eating and hitting the treadmill more frequently, the pounds slowly started to drop!

While I am happy to see the number dropping, I am more concerned with toning everything up just a bit! :-)   As I have said before, I'm aiming for somewhere between 115-120 pounds before I leave for vacation. So, with 5 weeks left, I think I'm on the right track. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and keep pushing myself!

A little bit goes a long way ...

Well, not to toot my own horn but I am quite proud of myself tonight.  Throughout the day, I was looking forward to working out this evening. Seeing the scale keep going down is really helping motivate me to keep up the hard work.  I even managed to get in 60 squats, 60 lateral leg lifts and 60 calf raises as well as go all the way down and back up 13 flights of stairs ... and that was all while I was at work!

On my way home, I was still in the mindset of working out and then relaxing on the couch watching Idol and Grey's.  But, when I got home, my motivation was gone for some reason. I thought that since I had been doing such a good job, I was going reward myself and have a night off.  But, as time passed I kept thinking about it and felt "bad" for not doing working out.  So, despite not wanting to - I decided to just walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes.  Nothing extravagant but hey, it's better than nothing, right?  So, as I approached the 20 minute mark, I thought to myself just do 25 minutes ... it's only 5 more minutes?  Then, as I was approaching the 25 minutes I noticed I had almost walked 2 miles so I decided I should at least get in 2 miles. Then, once I hit the 2 miles, I was less than 10 calories away from 280 calories and I pushed myself for 10 more calories! I probably could have pushed for 20 more calories but I was miserably hot and starving so I was satisfied with what I had accomplished.

So, all in all I am quite proud of myself for managing to talk myself out of the mindset of not working out all the way to walking (and a few sprints) to 2 miles and burning 280 calories!  To "celebrate" I made myself a delicious serving a spaghetti - which I measured out to 1 serving of pasta (only 2 ounces ...boo!) and 1/2 cup of sauce ... and topped it off with two 5-ounce glasses of red wine.  And, thanks to my work on the treadmill, I still manage to say under my 1,200 calorie goal for the day!  Go Me!!

Bikini

So, to help motivate me, I have ordered myself a new bikini for the trip.  I actually have a super cute black and white striped top and no matching bottoms.  As luck may have, Roxy had some adorable matching bottoms on sale for only $15 and free shipping! So, I ordered both of them!! They should arrive Friday and I will be hanging them right in front of my treadmill ... nothing says motivation then staring at a tiny piece of cloth that needs to cover your ass in 5 weeks, right? Pics below!

**Update: So, I rec'd the first bikini bottom today (the one on the left).  And, it appears some of the reviews were right ... it doesn't cover a lot of the backside!!  It's cute and all but considering I have some "junk in my trunk" ... I'm not sure I can pull it off!?  I should get the other one tomorrow and we shall see how it fits.  If it's the same, I'm going to try and exchange it for a size bigger. While I hate saying that, I guess it really doesn't bother me as I have always had a decently sized tush ... I personally don't care how big or small it is - as long as it is toned and looks good :-) 

Smoothie Recipe: Creamsicle Dream

I find that I get really bored with breakfast sometime so I'm always up for new things. My current obsession is an English Muffin (light) with 2 Tbsp. of peanut butter and bananas sliced on top.  It's delicious and keeps me full until lunch. 

However, I came across a recipe for an "Orange Creamsicle Smoothie" and being a huge fan of Push Up Pops - I had to give it a try.  The first time I made it I didn't have any orange juice concentrate so I just used orange juice.  While delicious, it was not as thick as I was hoping.  So, I picked up some orange juice concentrate and tried it again, along w/ some Vanilla Whey Protein.  This time the texture was much better.  However, I believe the Vanilla Whey Protein and Vanilla yogurt over powered the orange juice concentrate.  So, I'm going to pick up some Yoplait Light Orange Cream yogurt and use it in place of the vanilla.  I think this will be the perfect combination!!While it is not necessarily carb friendly, it is pretty low calorie for a breakfast and full of protein!

Here's the recipe if anyone is interested:

Ingredients:
 

1 cup milk (skim or 1% is best for lower calories)
1 (6-ounce) container low-fat vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup calcium-fortified frozen orange juice concentrate
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ice cubes 

Instructions 1. Combine milk, yogurt, orange juice concentrate and vanilla extract in blender. Blend 15 seconds to combine ingredients. Add ice cubes and blend about 20 seconds to crush ice. Serve immediately. Serves 2

Just call me the Stairmaster ...

So, as many of you know, my co-worker and I try and take the stairs once at day at work.  We go from the first floor all the way to the 14th floor (which is actually the 13th floor but per superstition, there is not a 13th floor ... blah!).  We usually take the elevator down and then climb all the way to the top. Anyways, on Thursday we decided we would try and go down the stairs first and then back up.  Bad idea ... about halfway back up the stairs, my butt and calves were burning like crazy.  After I was done, my legs were weak and my calf muscles were so tight I was seriously worried about a charlie horse! Yikes!! But, as they say ... "no pain, no gain" ... right?  Well the pain part is right at least!!! 

I woke up the next day and my legs were killing me, especially my calves. Walking wasn't so bad but when I had to get out of my chair ... I did so a bit slower than normal! I know, it sounds pathetic, however, going down the stairs uses your muscles in a different way so I'm assuming that's why I was hurting more than normal. 

However, I didn't want to be a pansy so I did it again on Friday afternoon.  Again, it wasn't easy but I managed to get the job done.  Now it's Saturday night and I'm still not sure I made the right choice ... ha!  My poor calves are in so much pain right now!  But, it's not going to stop me. I have a goal and I'm going to get to it no matter how many stairs I have to go down or up to get there.  I think I need to start stretching more and it won't be as painful in the future.  So ... bring on the stairs on Monday ... I'm ready!!

Friday Funny

Every Little Bit Helps

To help speed this process along, I have started doing some miscellaneous exercises while I am at work. I tend to do lateral leg lifts, squats and calf raises in addition to doing the stairs (13 flights at 22 steps per flight) every day.  Sometimes I'll do them at my desk, sometimes I'll them it while making copies (not the squats here though!) and I even do it in the bathroom. Yes, the bathroom. I know it sounds silly but by the time I leave work, I often have between 60-100 reps of each of these exercises done! A few less things I have to worry about when I get home to work out in the evening.  And, given that I don't get home until 6:30 p.m., any amount of saved time is greatly appreciated as I can focus most of my evening workout on cardio and strength training for my upper body and core.

I feel like I have been focusing more on my lower body versus my upper body so I want to try and correct that.  I can tell my legs are getting stronger and the backs of my legs/thighs are "smoother". (Ladies - I know you now what I'm talking about!).  However, I really want to start seeing some changes in my stomach/ab area as well as my arms. As I told my friend Tasha, "If I catch a stiff wind in a tank top ... I might fly away with these flabby wings (arms)!" So, maybe it's time for me to break out that Shake Weight we got at a "dirty santa" gift exchange last year!?  Has anyone tried one?  If so, does it work?

My Fitness Pal

So, to help keep me on track and focused, I am using a site called My Fitness Pal. It allows me to log my food and exercises and keep track of calories consumed, calories burned, etc. I can do it online or on my phone so I have no reason to keep up with it as it is always at my fingertips. I find that knowing that I have to log any food that I consume makes me think twice about eating it. I can also log my weight every day and keep track of how much I have lost ... or gained. My goal is to get back down to approximately 115 pounds. I think that is an ideal and average weight for my height so that is what I am shooting for. I don't want to go any lower than that, however, as I don't want to be "too" skinny. I would also settle for 120 pounds as I think that is more attainable by May 21st but for now, I'm shooting for 115. The counter below shows my progress to date ...

Jamaican Me Crazy

Wow ... it's been a while since I have blogged! I'm sure you all missed me terribly. I thought I would try and put this blog to good use and start blogging about my goal for getting fit for my upcoming vacation to Jamaica in May. So, I would appreciate any comments, suggestions or words of encouragement as I try and reach my goal over the next 46 days.

So, I've been "working out" now for almost 2 months to get prepared for my upcoming vacation to Jamaica on May 21, 2011. Until now, I wasn't really keeping track of my foods or exercises physically, i.e. on paper or logging them on the computer. In that time .. I have seen my weight drop from it's highest at 137 down to about 129. Some might think that's great and while I think it is, isn't not enough. Although the number has gone down, I really haven't seen many physical changes with the exception of losing what little bit of ta-tas I have up top! Sigh ....

So, today I decided I needed to really buckle down and start putting more effort into getting into shape. I'm going to try and start logging what I eat daily, as well as logging my exercises. I'm going to try and put in more time on the treadmill as well as increase my strength exercises. I have two 3-pound weights, one 5-pound weight, one 5-pound kettle ball, a weighted jump rope, resistance bands and a new exercise ball. I have plenty of equipment to keep things interesting so I don't get bored. Now, I think I need to make some type of "schedule" to help me stay on track each week so I'm trying to come up with that this week.

Anyways, I know it's not going to be easy to get to where I want to be given I only have about 7 weeks to go, however, I'm not going to stop trying until I hop on that plane! So, fingers crossed I can keep this up. I know I'll have some slip ups and probably eat a few fast food meals, but hopefully I will learn to keep those down to a minimum and only allow myself to enjoy things like that if I make up for it with exercise.

So, here we go!