Over the Top Award

Sophie gave this Over the Top award to me. My second award this week. I’m so thrilled. Thank you so much Sophie!

By accepting this award I agree to:
Copy these 35 questions and change the answers to suit you and then pass it on. Try to keep your answers to one word each question. Once you have filled it out, be sure to pass it on to 6 of your favorite bloggers and alert them that they have been awarded!

1. Where is your cell phone?  desk
2. Your hair? red
3. Your mother?  friend
4. Your father?  great
5. Your favorite food?  seafood
6. Your dream last night?  none
7. Your favorite drink?  lemon drop martini
8. Your dream/goal?  happy
9. What room are you in?  office
10. Your hobby?  reading
11. Your fear?  insecurity
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?  retired
13. Where were you last night?  cheer
14. Something that you aren’t?  quiet
15. Muffins?  NOT
16. Wish list item?  house
17. Where did you grow up?  Washington
18. Last thing you did?  computer
19. What are you wearing?  jeans
20. Your TV?  off
21. Your pets?  crazy
22. Friends?  rock
23. Your life?  content
24. Your mood?  frustrated
25. Missing someone?  yes
26. Vehicle?  baby
27. Something you’re not wearing?  make up
28. Your favorite store?  Paper Source
29. Your favorite color?  green
30. When was the last time you laughed?  Yesterday
31. Last time you cried?  Tuesday
32. Your best friend?  hubby
33. One place that I go to over and over?  Borders
34. One person who emails me regularly?  sister
35. Favorite place to eat?  Chinooks

And now, to the 6 following bloggy friends I bestow this award on you:

Kat
Jen
Dee
Laura
Tara
Ali

Honest Scrap Award

 The fabulous Kat gave me the Honest Scrap award. Thanks Kat. You’re pretty wonderful.

As a recipient of this award, I am to share 10 things that people don’t know about me. I’ve really had to think about this one.

1. I am uber-competitive… with MYSELF! I am constantly trying to one-up myself and I drive myself crazy with it all. I have been this way as long as I can remember. I never really cared about other kid’s grades in school. I just wanted to exceed my best.
2. Cheese on vegetables makes me ill. I will never eat any type of cheese on a vegetable. I like vegetables and I like cheese but never together.
3. I wanted to be a librarian when I was growing up because I love to read. So, I became a library aid and realized how boring it was! All that quiet time is just too much for me to handle. A bookstore would do for me. :
4. I learned how to swim when I was 2 years old. When I was young, we lived across the street from a community pool and I was in the water every day nearly all day long. I loved it.
5. I am the co-owner (with my hubby) of the only female operated electric sign company in my town (which happens to be an old school kinda place). My favorite thing is when customers assume I’m married to the man standing next to me, whichever employee that happens to be. My “real” husband runs his own company.
6. When I was little I used to come home from school crying that the kids were picking on someone other than me. One boy in particular lived down the street from us and he was very gangly and kept to himself. My classmates were horrible to him. I always felt so sorry for him.
7. My first job was as a file clerk for Safeway. I sorted, organized and filed for 8 hours every day.
8. My favorite movie ever is the Sound of Music. When I was 13 I was fortunate enough to go to Europe where I was able to see some of the set locations in Austria. I was thrilled!
9. When I was a little girl, my grandparents told me I could have a horse and keep it at their house. But my parents wouldn’t let me. I’m scarred for life. Now, my daughter keeps asking for a horse and my answer is always, “No way”. Too much work and too expensive to feed.
10. I am extremely stubborn. If someone tells me not to do something and I don’t agree with them then I will do exactly what they tell me not to do. When I had a boss to report to this really didn’t work out so well for me. And if I tell you I’m not coming back, I really mean it!

I am also supposed to pass this along to 10 other “honest scrap” bloggers. Because this is a much more “revealing” award, I’m going to leave it up to the recipients to determine whether they’d like to play along. I will not be offended in any way if the people I’ve chosen decided to opt out.

And my award recipients are (drumroll, please):

• Laura
• Tara
• Sophie
• Mama Bear
• Ali
• Lynn
• Jen
• Amanda
• Christine
• Dee

HYC Update!

I’m down about 1/2 pound this week. That isn’t really anything to get excited about because of all of the fluctuating my weight has been doing in the last 3 months or so. Basically it’s up a pound and then down a pound. If I was sure that the plateau had been broken then I would definitely be excited!

Today is a run/walk day. Because I skipped a run this past weekend I’ll be doing 5 min. run/1 min. walk today instead of 8 min. run/3 min. walk. The weather has been so cold and windy here since late last week that it’s not a whole lot of fun to be outside. At the same time, I get really bored with running for an hour on the treadmill so my plan is to be outside today.

I’ve been very happy with the quality of food I’ve been eating. By that I just mean, virtually no junk food and lots of good whole foods. I have been loving Costco lately. They are really increasing the number of Organic foods that you can buy there. Yesterday I saw three different varieties of organic apples for the same price as non-organic apples. It seems every time I go there I find a new organic product that I didn’t realize they carry. I love that!

Another new item I bought at Costco yesterday was fresh butternut squash chunks (unfortunately not organic). I have really been craving homemade butternut squash soup so today I plan to make some for dinner. Since the squash is already in chunks, it should be so much easier to make the soup! There are so many different spice combos out there for this type of soup so I am having a hard time deciding which one to try first! Curried soup sounds delish!

My workout plans this week include 3 strength training sessions with my trainer and 3 run/walks. I’ll try to fit in some walking on the days I don’t do the run/walks.

I think the cold season has caught up to me. Half of the people at work are sick and now I think I’m sick too. I’ve been sneezing nearly nonstop. Seems all of the vitamins I’ve been taking didn’t prevent the cold. After I conquer this cold I’m going to get a flu shot. I don’t want to get the flu this year.

I’m really not MIA!

I had a really rough day at work on Friday. And then I wallowed. I hate wallowing. The most frustrating thing is that I didn’t exercise at all over the past weekend. I know it would have made me feel better but I just couldn’t bring myself to get out there and do it. Thank goodness I have strength training with my trainer on Fridays.

I had a great workout yesterday with her too. It was arm day and boy, did I know it before we were even done. The funny thing is that I hate the elliptical sessions most out of EVERYTHING we do! So many people really love to work out on the elliptical. Not me! But hey, I needed to get cardio intervals into the mix. I just preferred the other intervals we did.

October Goals

I can’t believe it’s already October. Where has 2009 gone? This month will be a challenge since it’s Halloween time again. I always start eating the treats weeks before Halloween. This year my plan is to buy the candy a day or two before so I can’t just sit and eat all that sugar.

 I am a candy corn addict!  I usually buy four or five bags before Halloween which I quickly polish off with the help of my hubby and two kids. I’m doing my best to resist that urge this year. We have already eaten one bag. If I don’t buy it, then I won’t eat it!

Up until now, I have really only had one goal: lose weight! I thought this month I would give myself some smaller goals so that I can look back and feel like I’ve accomplished something. The lack of weight loss for two months has been really difficult for me to deal with and it’s been hard for me to go forward. Frankly, it sucks.

In the spirit of keeping my chin up, my October intentions are:

1. Lose five pounds.
2. Work out with trainer 3 days per week.
3. Continue with Run/Walk program. By the end of the month, I will have completed week 7 and be able to run 20 min./walk 1 min./run 5 min.
4. Complete the Pumpkin Pacer 5k.
5. Eat between 1200-1400 calories per day.
6. Allow myself one treat per week.
7. Walk 2-3 miles on the “off” days of the Run/Walk Program.
8. Lose 2 inches in the waist.
9. Have fun!

Good luck to everyone this month!

Happy Wednesday!

My trainer is back from the land of sick. I had a great training session. Today was chest and shoulder day with a few bicep/tricep moves thrown in. I did 2 sets of 12 pull-ups and one set of 10 pull-ups! I can’t believe I did that. I did them literally until failure but I sure felt great after that. I also did three sets of 15 hanging knee ups. It just felt really great to be working out.

Despite the costco dog yesterday, I managed to keep my calories at 1450. That’s not too bad. I’ve been super hungry today, probably from my run/walk workout yesterday. I was so hungry after my workout today!

I’m hoping to get in a 2 mile walk this evening. I have to take my daughter to cheer practice tonight so we won’t be home until close to 8 p.m. By then I am always so tired that it’s particularly difficult to motivate myself to do more than sit on the couch. Maybe by posting it here I will feel more accountable.

Salsa Giveaway!

Oh yummy! Run to the Finish is giving away Pepper Dog salsa! I loooooove salsa and I love giveaways! My very fave way to eat it is with sour cream and tortilla chips. Obviously not the most healthy way to eat it. I put it on wraps, burritos, chicken bowls made with brown rice and avocado. Delish. Go see Run to the Finish to win 4 jars of salsa!

Woo Hoo!

I did it. I made it through the week 3, run 1. Awesome. I feel so great! It was so wonderful.

More About Me

Laura asked some really great questions in the comments on my last post so I thought I’d answer them here. 

1)  How many times a week do you work out (run, etc.) and for how long?

I strength train with a trainer 3 days a week for 45-60 min. We do a few cardio intervals as well. I was training 5 days a week with 2 days of HIT training but my schedule changed so now it’s just the 3 days of strength training. To replace the HIT training, I have started a run/walk program recently where I run/walk 3 times a week for 30-60 min. My ultimate goal is to be able to run 30-60 min. I’m definitely improving.  On the days I don’t run/walk I walk for at least 30 min. (Usually about 2 miles). I exercise every day at least once.

2) What kind of diet are you eating? Are pretty mindful of what you are eating? No hidden calories (even from yourself)?

 I am a fairly clean eater. My trainer wants me to eat only oatmeal, protein shakes, chicken breast, fish, brown rice, sweet potatoes and vegetables. Unfortunately, that’s too darn boring for me! I need more variety in my life. Not to mention, I love fruit.

My favorite breakfast is Kashi Go Lean Crunch with 1% or nonfat milk. Some days I eat oatmeal with a scoop of whey powder or an egg white omelet with veggies. For lunch I have salad (with no dressing), chicken or fish. For my carbs I eat brown rice (1/2 cup) or a whole grain pita, wrap  or piece of bread. I don’t eat white bread at all any more. (I guess I did have a Parker House roll earlier this month ) I probably don’t eat enough fruit and veggies every day but I am working on that.

Now, I am not saying that I am perfect, by any means. I had a hamburger a few weeks ago. And I am embarrassed to admit that I had a Costco dog today. I know, I know… horrible! I was starving and made the mistake of going there hungry.

I love tall, nonfat mochas, no whip. I have one nearly every day. That’s next on my list of habits to kick. They have 180 calories, 32 g. carbs, 2 g. fat and 11 g. protein. The sugar in it is the killer. I hate drinking my calories! I drink lots of water every day (more than 64 ounces per day).

I do write down everything I eat in my food log. On average I eat 1400-1600 calories per day.

Thanks again for the support and the great questions!

Healthy You Challenge Check In

So, the scale says I’m up a pound this week. Good grief. I have to say this whole thing is so frustrating. I’ve been exercising daily and eating well. Basically, I haven’t lost a pound in two months. Well, actually, I’ve fluctuated up and down one pound for the last two months so the net effect is no weight loss.

I love the muscles I’m getting but aren’t they supposed to burn fat and make it easier to lose weight? That’s so not happening. I’m at the point where I think I need to see a doctor for a physical (hypothyroidism runs in the family) or see a nutritionist (maybe I’m not eating enough?). In any case, I’m not ready to give up. I keep picturing myself ballooning up if I quit working out and exercising. Not a pretty picture!

Today’s a running day. I plan to make my second attempt at run 5 min./walk 3 min. I’m going to change my route to a flatter one. I think the big hill at the beginning of my last attempt killed me.

Good luck to all of the HYCers!