Shrinking Sisters

September? Already?

Been busy with back-to-school, tropical storm nonsense, freelance stuff and lots of deep thinking about what I put into my pie hole.

Next thing I know, it’s Labor Day. How’d that happen? And where’s my miraculous summer weight loss?

Long story short, I’ve stayed the same on the scale all summer, but I’ve made strides in the workout component. The past couple weeks, I’ve worked out at least 4 days a week with half those days being strength training. And I think my weight is finally catching up to my knees – they’re starting to bug me and they’ve never bugged me before. But I have a solution for that …

Losing weight.

Finally, the “oh, crap” moment I’ve been waiting for.

Less weight on me = less weight on joints.

The Lighten-Up program that I’ve been following the past few weeks has also shown me that real, natural whole food is what we should be eating to nourish us, and I’ve been ditching the prepackaged diet food.  I’ve discovered you can have some really substantial meals when your food doesn’t come from a bag or box.

 

Guacamole: It's what's for breakfast.

The photo above is a breakfast I came up with last week. I toasted a piece of Ezekiel bread, spread a 100-calorie pack of Wholly Guacamole on it and placed an egg on top, cooked in a half-teaspoon of coconut oil and doused liberally with cracked black pepper. C’mon, a fried egg atop a guacamole-slathered piece of toast? That sounds totally decadent, doesn’t it? Yet the whole thing has only 270 glorious, satisfying calories.

 

There were other times when I kept adding “real food” to my meals, adding the calories in my head and discovering that those meals went a long way to keeping me full and happy.

And after I’d work that all out in my head, I put it to paper – in my Fitbook, which I returned to last week. There are plenty of good, free websites and phone apps out there, but to me, nothing beats the act of writing it down and adding it up. So welcome back, Fitbook!

And since I’m eating clean, whole healthy foods and working out regularly, something else has to give to get the scale to move – I think it’s the calories. Boo.

I’ve been averaging around 1,600-ish a day, which apparently is perfect for maintaining my sturdy 238-pound physique. Sucks, doesn’t it, for your body to be so darn efficient at maintaining that much weight at that few calories.

So, I’m thinking 1,400 is what to shoot for, and because of that, I’ll be leaning on my friends in the produce bin more than ever as well as my vast collection of interesting water bottles.

Get the excess weight off when you’re young, kiddies, or this will happen to you, too.

Throwing a hissy-fit, lost my 'bit

For nearly 2 months, my Fitbit has been a close friend... a REALLY close friend, usually clipped to my bra, or on my waistband.  I love how it motivates me to take those extra steps to get my 5,000-step badge, or to take the dog out one extra time so I can climb another flight of stairs.  My Fitbit even calls me Princess.

On Tuesday evening, I took my Fitbit off to see how many steps I had taken -- my apartment complex is being repaved and I had to park two buildings away, a golden opportunity for more steps. I wanted to see how many steps over my goal I had gone -- then tragedy struck.

I hadn't broken the 5,000 step mark on Tuesday; I went to put my Fitbit back on AND IT WAS GONE!

Lost without my Fitbit ... would I ever take another step? Climb another flight of stairs? Life without it seemed pointless. Gail would win the daily step count, and my Fitbit would post sad daily postings of "0 steps taken; 0 flights of stairs climbed." Poor Carol can't get off her couch without her Fitbit.

This is the beginning of a very busy time at work for me (back-to-school in a high school office), and I'm looking forward to getting major steps on my Fitbit, if she would just come home ...

to be continued...

 Fitbit provided Gail and Carol Fitbit Ultras for the Shrinking Sisters Summer Spectacular.

Weight ain't nothin' but a number, right?

Yep -- that's a tutu-clad Zumbaholic checking out the action at the Saturday night party at the Zumba Convention.

Since Wednesday afternoon, I've been in Orlando, Fla., covering the annual Zumba Convention, where I've been surrounded by 8,000 energetic, vibrantly hued Zumba instructors, not to mention the DVD instructor superstars, Zumba top brass and Zumba creator Beto Perez.

The convention took place at the Peabody hotel, which, for the uninitiated, is freaking huge.  I wore my Fitbit all weekend, and I averaged around 19,000 steps a day. I literally moved myself out of my jeans. I spent much of the weekend lamenting the state of my baggy-ass jeans.

Most days I hit the hotel gym for a morning cardio and weights workout (the gym is huge and well stocked with cardio and strength equipment). But on Saturday, we (the media) got to demo some of the newer workouts (Zumba Gold for older/newer exercisers, and Zumbatomic for kids), plus we did an hour-long workout led by Beto, which combined the Sentao workout, which uses a chair, and Zumba Toning, which uses those maraca-like 1-pound Zumba toning sticks. I felt like a pro, since I got to try out Sentao in May.

So I nailed the working out part of traveling.

As for food, I stuck to turkey sandwiches and salads. I had stocked the hotel mini fridge with baby carrots, apple wedges, hummus and Greek yogurt. I had also stashed a few protein bars in my bag and a few packets of instant oatmeal. Breakfast consisted of what I call Hotel Overnight Oats – oatmeal mixed with Greek yogurt and a half a sliced banana mixed the night before. It’s super filling, loaded with protein and a decent source of fiber. I had one glass of wine the entire weekend, and my one big splurge was a dish of mint chocolate chip ice cream Saturday night while I attempted to get work done on my laptop in the hotel diner.

Got on the scale this morning expecting all sorts of success – and I gained 4 pounds.

I was shell-shocked for about 5 minutes.

Then I decided that the number on the scale was NOT going to undo all the good I did with eating, exercise and movement. I have no idea why the scale showed that number but it might be a combination of restaurant food (the sodium monster) and maybe a little muscle gain. I pushed it hard in the hotel gym.

Why does a number on a scale have so much power? I know I did the right things, I know my jeans are baggy as heck, I know I drank lots of water and got a good night sleep every night. But the number looms over my head like a big, blinking #FAIL.

But I’m home now, completely in control of my food choices and more than ready to jump feet first into the Lighten-Up program that actually started last Monday. I’ve been reading the materials and getting into the “head” part of the program. Now I can finally get into the food component – lots of plant-based foods and no “diet foods.”

I didn’t want to half-ass the program last week, because I think what the Good Life Coalition is doing is important – trying to change the way people look at losing weight from one of denial to one of positive change.

One of the concepts that we'll be working on is finding a "soulmate workout" -- exercise that you want to do instead of something you feel you have to do. I love dance workouts as well as technology, so I'll leave you today with a sneak peek at the new Zumba game that's coming out this fall for Xbox and Wii. It's called Zumba Fitness Core, and targets the midsection while giving the rest of you a great cardio workout. Dance plus core plus Xbox? Definitely on my to-do list.

You might spy some of the Zumba superstars dancing to the game -- Kass Martin, Gina Grant and Beto Perez were there dancing along with the crowd.

Busy bee back from BlogHer

Had to get the 30 Rock shot.

Popping in between road trips to update my Summer Spectacular results.

Stayed the same this week. 235.5 or so.

That's cool, because I spent the weekend at BlogHer in New York and probably drank more booze than I did all of last year, which is not saying much.

I avoid alcohol, not because of moral reasons, but because it's purely empty calories. This weekend, Thursday night found me at a winery with a glass of wine in each hand and another after I finished those -- thank goodness Sarah Mock of How I Pinch a Penny, and I took the subway back to the hotel. But wedge heels, lots of subway steps and wine are not a good mix. (And thanks for the subway ride, Sarah! I owe ya one!)

The next night I had a vodka-cranberry, emphasis on the vodka. And since I was not stuffing my face, that drink went a long way.

So four drinks in one weekend. I usually drink about four drinks a year.

And many of my meals and snacks involved free eats from the expo, which often didn't get recorded. But I'm happy to report that America's love of Greek yogurt shows no decline. There were quite a few companies showcasing their new lines of Greek yogurt, which I ate for dinner Friday night while watching the Olympics in my room (party animal!).

I did workout with the Rockettes on Friday morning, but it wasn't exactly a butt-kicker. More of a fun workout. We did learn to kick, though, and walk like toy soldiers. Walking like a toy soldier (non-moving arms and stiff knees) puts all your movement in your hips and backside. So while you may get crazy stares, walking like a tin soldier is a great workout.

Saturday morning, I joined a bunch of bloggers for an early-morning walking tour of the city. And while it wasn't a tough workout, Erin Sipes of My Very Educated Mother, and I speed-walked back to the hotel to make our appointments.

Later this week, I'll be making another road trip -- this time to Orlando to check out the Zumba instructors' national convention, where Beto Perez and his team will be showcasing the latest music and workouts for the hugely popular workout. Among some of the celebs scheduled to be there: Zumba music guys Vanilla Ice and Yankee Daddy and Kathy Najimy. Why Kathy? This is cool -- she recently lost 50 pounds and her workout of choice was Zumba, so I'm hoping to talk to her about that.

The scale is finally moving -- bring on the Rockettes!

Quick update on my part of the Shrinking Sisters Summer Spectacular. Of course not being on a week of steroids would have made this more spectacular, but this week I lost nearly 2 pounds with the magical combination of diet and exercise.

237 -- booyah!

Tuesday morning update: 235.4 -- superBooyah!

Aside from sticking to my meal plan, sticking to my workout was key. I’m doing Harley Pasternak’s 5 Factor Success System DVDs, which have one for every day of the week, Monday through Friday. They’re 30 minutes long, combine cardio and strength training and I really like them. (And I just noticed that the complete set, which includes fitness and food, is 40 percent off at HSN.com right now.) The Fitbit doesn't register strength-training workouts all that well, but no activity monitor does. But the step count has been good and it'll surely perk up when I head to New York.

This week I'll be jetting off for the annual BlogHer conference and I don't think I'll be derailing any success. I'll stick with Harley through Wednesday and hit the hotel gym on the days when I'm not working out with the Rockettes. (That should be fun on Friday; I am the opposite of a Rockette.)

As for food, I am Gail from Shrinking Sisters -- seeing me shove ice cream bars in my pie hole is, as we like to say in the blogging biz, "off topic." I'll be checking out the healthy products at the expo (like my chicken sausage recipe at the Hillshire Farm booth!) and talking with people who share my interests in healthy living.

What I ate on my summer vacation

I was told when you bring your kids on vacation with you, it's called a trip. When you go without them, it's a vacation.  Since I'm newly divorced, I'm happy to have taken my kids on vacation with me.

We took a road trip up to Kissimmee, about 25 minutes south of Orlando. We stayed at a hotel with a waterpark.  The kids had a blast.  I was keeping the trip on the cheap. Knowing my budgetary limitations, I bought gas for 45 cents a gallon after using my FuelPerks from Winn-Dixie, and brought a case of bottled water, two boxes of cereal, a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter.

We shopped for Jimmy Dean D-Lights turkey sausage breakfast sandwiches when we found that our hotel room had a microwave and a mini-fridge.  The hotel even had a promotion where you could get a free weekday cabana rental for checking in three times on Foursquare.

 

The cabana fan probably got more activity than me.

We arrived on Sunday night; Tuesday, we got our cabana.  I brought the loaf of bread and the peanut butter.  Dining poolside was quite nice in a cabana with a ceiling fan at full throttle.  

 

Our last night there, I took the kids out for one "fancy" meal.  My daughter saw an advertisement for the Cheesecake Factory and told me she never ate there.  All I could think about was Gail's Facebook post awhile back that said Cheesecake Factory has pasta carbonara on their menu that has over 2,500 calories.  I figured I'll either eat "safe" or not eat at all.  

The waitress handed each of us a menu the size of a phonebook (remember phonebooks?) and a long, skinny menu that featured its "Skinnylicious" fare.

Good. Done. There were my choices.

I got the pear and endive salad with chicken at 330 calories.  Disaster averted.

But this trip was pretty sedentary. Two days of sitting on my butt.  No theme parks for us (in the monsoon season and 150-degree weather?) No chance of beating Gail's step total.  When the kids tired of the waterslides, I poured them into the car and we went to the mall. I got my 5,000+ steps on the Fitbit every day and even managed to climb a couple flights of stairs.

So while I wasn't "military strict" while on vacation, it also wasn't a complete wash-out. I kept up the fitness and kept the calories in check.

Shrinking Sisters' vacation survival guide and a way to Lighten Up

Oh, hello there! Just peeking out from under a mountain of e-mails, laundry and other assorted chores that come from taking a week off.

We spent most of last week traversing the midsection of Florida -- from Kennedy Space Center (where I was attacked by no-see-ums), to Universal Orlando, to a Tampa Bay Rays game, to checking out the sponge boats of Tarpon Springs, and even a minor league baseball game in Lakeland.

I was scale-free for a week, and all I had to gauge my diet and fitness was my Nutrisystem journal and my Fitbit. The Fitbit was very happy with me and let me know that I smashed over 16,000 steps last Wednesday at the theme park.

I was going to take a week off of Nutrisystem, but the Weight Shrink told me that I was coming up with too many excuses NOT to bring the plan with me, so I brought the breakfasts, lunches and desserts with me and did dinner on my own. I thought it would be too difficult to do the plan on the road, but it was pretty easy. All I did was supplement my meals with fruits, vegetables and lean protein. Sometimes it was easy (yogurt stop at the grocery store) and sometimes it was a pain (theme park food!). But I learned that to be successful, I had to ask for what I wanted, even if that meant poking my head into theme park cafes and scanning every stinking menu board.

I was a rock star at restaurants, asking questions, seeking substitutes, ordering off the menu and seeking out the healthiest options. I even had a server at Universal make me a custom salad -- the chicken caesar without dressing or croutons. That left me with a pile of romaine, grilled chicken and a light dusting of parmesan (at right). But I got what I wanted and she was more than happy to help.

One little thing got in the way of any weight loss -- those bug bites from the Space Center, which sent me to the emergency room with a bad allergic reaction. I was sent back to the hotel with a prescription for prednisone, which is not exactly conducive to weight loss.

So ... I'm the same weight I was when I left. But I guess that's good for a week of vacation diinners and steroids, huh? This week, there's no dining out, no steroids and my old routine, so I'm hopeful next Monday's weigh-in will be productive.

I wanted to share some of my favorite road-trip tools to make healthy eating easier. Here are a few of my favorites:

Camelbak Groove bottle: This refillable water bottle has a built-in filter so you can reload anywhere and you don't have to pay for overpriced bottled water at the theme park.

Barney Butter almond butter packets: I love the 1-tablespoon size of these packets because they're perfect for portable protein. I order them by the case from Amazon.

Crystal Light Pure packets: If I did want to splurge a little and forgo plain water, I'd keep these 30-calorie packs in my purse or pocket.

Starbucks Via packets: The cure for dreadful hotel-room coffee.

Mini boxes of raisins: If I was short of a fruit serving or just wanted a little snack, they came in handy and didn't need refrigeration.

Coromega 3+D Squeeze: It's a little orange-flavored packet of omega-3's plus vitamin D, which is a great way to squeeze in those important supplements. Plus it's pretty tasty and not at all fishy.

And if you haven't tried Subway's breakfasts, I recommend the egg white and cheese muffin melt, which weighs in at less than 200 calories, even with avocado. I grabbed one on the ride home yesterday and it was a tasty calorie bargain.

But next time I'm adding jalapenos -- while I love avocado, it was a bit bland, and a few jalapenos would have helped. The spinach and tomatoes were good additions for color and crunch.

So it's back to life, back to reality (can you tell what tomorrow's Tunes for Tuesday song is going to be?). And I want to work on making more changes in my attitudes toward food and fitness and determination.

Lighten Up with me

Back from vacation and ready to tackle this weight thing head-on, I was really jazzed to be contacted by The Good Life Coalition, a team of experts in health and well-being. Starting Aug. 1 I'll be taking part in their Lighten Up six-week online weight-loss retreat of personal coaching and support. And every week I'll be letting you know a little about the program and my progress.

I love that some of the bullet points in the course target self-sabotage, trash-talking yourself and getting off the roller-coaster of the scale. It's more of a whole-body approach to getting your head together to make weight loss a success.

If you'd like to join me, you can find out more by clicking the button below:

There you can read more about the team of experts, what's included in the course, the cost and how the Good Life Coalition will donate clean drinking water on your behalf when you sign up.

 

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, is it PMS?

What I’m getting at is, I don’t know how much longer I can play the PMS card when it comes to my hungries.

Without getting too TMI, the biological clock is skipping some numbers.

(Why don’t dudes get to partake of this middle-aged hootenanny? Waah.)

Editor's note: Don't ever do an image search for "menopause" -- it's freaking depressing. All these photos of cranky, gray-haired women clutching their foreheads. So I'm running the opposite.

So if it’s not PMS anymore, I guess it’s just life and me being hungry all the time, which leads me to my next subject: I didn’t lose any weight this week (actually went up a pound) and I’m stinkin’ tired of it.

238

I’ve been doing a five-days-on, two-days-off thing with my plan of choice (Nutrisystem) and those “off” days can completely undo the “on” days if I’m not careful.

And I haven’t been all that careful.

So!

If I don’t have any big shindigs going on during the weekend, I’m going to stick with the plan, because I love the food and the ease of choosing the entrees and adding in the fruits, vegetables and proteins to my day.

When confronted with too many choices, I tend to freeze up and randomly scrounge about the kitchen, which is why I like the flexibility within the Nutrisystem structure. There’s flexibility but not crazy, wide-open flexibility – that’s not conducive to weight loss right now.

I'm even bringing the Nutrisystem food with me this week as we "staycation" at various places. I was going to wing it, but the Weight Shrink suggested that I was coming up with too many excuses not to do the plan, and she was right. There are many entrees that can be easily slipped into a bag and supplemented with a piece of fruit, a plate of veggies or a couple ounces of tuna or chicken. So I'm doing it!

I don't know about you, but when I'm not near an actual kitchen, I tend to lose weight, so this week should be really good.

Another editor's note: I was supposed to post this last Friday, but I got a new editing gig, and paying gigs – and paying the bills – come before blogging. So Carol will be checking in this Friday, and we may keep it like that.

Doesn’t really matter when we check in as long as we do, right? It’s all about being accountable, and it’s easy to hide behind a tiny blog avatar and say you’re a weight-loss blogger when you aren’t losing weight. But big picture: I’m still down 30 pounds from the all-time high and my clothes have been getting looser in the midsection, so I think I’m in a “stuff shifting around” stage.

And I'm forcing my way past the little aches and excitements.

After that heat exhaustion/overdoing it thing last month, I had an echo stress test last week which was fun and exhilarating, in that I didn’t throw up and/or pass out. In fact, the techs said I did really well. The goal was to get to my maximum heart rate (170); I made it as high as 160-something before they shut off the treadmill at 10 minutes. And by that time, the thing was at a pretty fast clip and practically vertical.

The next day there was an email in my medical inbox (Cleveland Clinic has a great online system) saying I passed the test. I tried reading the medical mumbo-jumbo of the test results but I must remind myself ‘’I AM A BLOGGER, NOT A DOCTOR.” But I did read “good exercise tolerance,” so yay, me!

And you know what else that means?

Must get off duff and workout now.

Tendinitis, you're not the boss of me

Today was big -- big! After I got off deadline, I went out for a 5k walk.

Now that doesn't sound like a big deal, but I've been fighting a frustrating battle with tendinitis in my right leg for what seems like forever.

But I wasn't going to let it or anything else stop me -- not the heat, the humidity, my tendons, my desire to curl up on the sofa with my Kindle and a vat of coffee.

Because the "calories in, calories out" equation has been messed up the past couple weeks. Not enough calories out.

Plus, I took a look at my weekly Fitbit stats, and the one thing that jumped out at me was the 60-something percent sedentary on the pie chart -- did NOT like that.

I did knock off a couple pounds from last week's "up" week:

237

That's still two pounds more than a couple weeks ago. But like I said last week, I'm not worried. It's mostly "bloaty" weight (and that "bloaty" reason is still in effect, if you catch my drift). When you get to the special, magical age of 50, everything becomes gloriously unpredictable.

A few of my favorite things

I've been meaning to write about some of my fitness faves -- here are a few:

I love my TheraPearl ice pack. First off, it's pink, but it's got little pearly bubbles inside that makes the ice pack really flexible. The thing looks huge in the photo but I had it on the top of my knee/quad. Apparently, you can also heat it, but I haven't done that yet.

I also have one of their neck wraps, which is a horseshoe shape that can be used for more than your neck (again, the leg).

And I found a great hat for running/walking, since I chucked my favorite "nasty cap" in an airport trash can after it became too disgusting to live.

It's the Adidas AziZero adjustable cap, which I bought in a men's size since I have a freakin' huge head (to go along with the freakin' huge feet). The women's one comes in nicer colors; I had to settle for a two-tone gray. It's superlight and best of all, washable.

And one more fave, which I bought out of desperation on a weekend trip to Orlando -- Champion no-show women's socks, which are sold at Target. Again, they're pink but best of all, they come in extended sizes, so they don't go MIA down the back of my shoe.

And I'll leave you this weekend with my highlight of the day (aside from my afternoon nap): Justin Timberlake's LoveStoned, which kept me going on my walk when everything was flagging:

Fitbit provided Gail and Carol Fitbit Ultras for the Shrinking Sisters Summer Spectacular.

I have medal envy

Gail and I are tracking our activity with the Fitbit, an awesome little device that you clip on yourself that monitors your activities (steps, stairs, calories burned) and even your quality of sleep. 

What it also does is motivate you by awarding medals.  You get a medal for every 5,000 steps you take and every 10 flights of stairs you climb.  You can also "friend" other Fitbit users, which I have done with my sister.

Sunday, Gail was awarded a medal for traveling 50 miles in steps, which made me jealous. It made me regret the two days that I went without wearing my Fitbit, which allowed her to pull ahead in the total step tally.

That's a great motivating tool for me -- I've become highly competitive.  

So far today, I've been awarded my 5,000 step medal.

Oh, and I also discovered a new fave food -- green mango with vinegar and salt. Have you ever had a slightly unripe banana? It's like that but the vinegar cuts the astringent quality making it slightly sweet with a hint of mango.

Fitbit provided Gail and Carol Fitbit Ultras for the Shrinking Sisters Summer Spectacular.