OTR 5K Complete

Sorry to hear that Gabe isn't feeling well. Poor guy, at least he has a great Mom who is taking care of him.

Last night I went out with the girls to see Sex and the City. It was actually very good, which was a little bit surprising. Sometimes it seems when things have a ton of hype around them, they sometimes are a big disappointment.

This morning was the Over the Rhine 5K. Thanks to Coach Briz for coming out and supporting. It was great to have you there. I finished the race in about 40 minutes. I ended up running more of the race than I thought I would be able to. I think I ran about 75% of the time. It was a lot of fun, and a completely new experience. The cops were there to keep the course safe, and they provided a lot of encouragement along the way. There are pictures below for you Ang.

Here is my eating for both today and Friday:

yogurt and granola, ice tea

Small slice of ice cream cake - there is always a birthday happening in out work group

Veggie burger on wheat

half of clay's protein bar - I am with Angie on this one. Half is about all I can imagine eating. It is like eating a really thick, and rich brownie. Not bad though.

Glass of white wine, I split a salad with Karlie and had half of a flat bread pizza.

English muffin with jelly and butter, bottle of water before the race

Too much water to count immediately after the race and a half a banana

Ice tea

Water, coleslaw, gyro, and french fries.

Happy Weekend!

The weekend got off to a rocky start in the Lang house. Gabe had a fever when I picked him up from school aftercare. I don't kno why, but the poor kid is afraid to tell anyone but me when he doesn't feel well. I don't know how long he felt bad during the day, but he came home and crashed. He also missed his baseball practice last night and his game this morning, but I think he is feeling a bit better now. I didn't blog last night b/c I was sitting with him, but I'm going to play catch up for yesterday and Thursday. It's easy b/c I ate the exact same thing both days except Clay's (half) Powerbar replaced my Starbucks on Friday.

Breakfast: Raisin Bran and coffee
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Black Bean Roll Up & Diet Pepsi
Snack: Starbucks (thursday) Half Powerbar (friday)
Dinner: Burger w/reduced fat provolone on wheat bun, half baked potato w/butter & cheese and 1 Bud Light

Briz- I liked the Powerbar or whatever it was, but I could never eat a whole one at once. It was too rich.

I also know this beer thing is not good, but I am compelled to drink one at night since the weather is FINALLY warm.

OK. Have to fix lunch for the kids.

Good morning....Good morrrrrning

OK, like Nat, glad to see that everyone's back.  

I do want to make one point tho.  Honestly, I don't care if anyone blogs as long as they're eating and exercising right.  I'd rather you guys take the 10 mins that you would blog and exercise or fix a healthy meal.

My eating yesterday was status quo - snacks as usual, a 6 inch club from Subway for lunch and for dinner, and then a bowl of cereal around 9 as a later snack.

I'm gonna be bringing some snacks up to you guys today to see how you like them.  I know that you guys are eating better than you were before (Ang, you'll get back there, don't worry), but I want to see if we can at least introduce another snack into the day.

Back to work for now....adios!

Angie is back!!!

"Hail, Hail the gangs all here and we are in the blog now!" (That is part of an OSU song, well minus the blog part)

Glad you are back Angie. I am sure that the budget is absolutely NO fun at all. You will push through this though, and when you do, it will be time for LA! I cracked up at your comment about deep fried bacon. That is even worse than the chocolate covered oreos that I saw the other day. People wonder why America is fat....that might be two good examples of why right there.

My eating for the day:
English muffin with butter and jelly, coffee
Small blue berry muffin
PBJ sandwich, baked chips, iced tea
Fat free ice cream from cold stone...the small size with strawberries and rainbow sprinkles. If you were to tell my closest friends and family that I got fat free ice cream, they would laugh in your face. This is a sign of progress in and of itself.
Small salad, 2 pieces of Dewey's pizza, iced tea

Played some softball which Clay can a test to as not being very pretty. I did work the "sexy" leg muscles by catching. They are really sore, indicating how out of practice I am in some area ;)

I'm back and I'm sorry!

I don't know what my problem is. I could give a lot of excuses, but it all boils down to the fact that I am not making this blog a priority. I'm sorry and I am really going to try harder. I just don't know why I have had such a hard time getting back on track since my surgery. Seems like it should have provided new focus but instead my head (and eating) is all over the place. I feel stressed and tired and I am counting the days until the end of the fiscal year. I don't even care where the budget comes in anymore. I just want it to be over.

I am going to weigh myself in the morning. I don't anticipate a low number, but I am hopeful that I will get my head back in the game.

Eating today:
Breakfast: 8:30 small bowl of oatmeal with splenda and a small coffee w/cream
Lunch: 11:30 Black Bean wrap (this will be my lunch every day this week b/c I pre-made them on Monday) and a small diet pepsi
3:30: Tall (small) skim caramel mocha without the whipped cream
Dinner: 7:30 small bowl of skyline chili with cheese and a glass of wine (good combo on a lot of levels, right?) You don't ever have to worry about Natalee eating fattening Skyline Chili...she hates it!

I'm watching this show called Deep Fried Paradise and some dude in Texas actually serves deep fried bacon with cream gravy for dipping at his restaurant. WTF? You might as well slit your wrists...although if you do it after eating that, the cholesterol plaque in your veins may prevent you from bleeding to death.

So we are just missing Angie

Glad that my bestest friend has returned to the blog. I can't believe that I have not been given an update on the personal life drama. I have two thoughts about possibilities, so you comment in ( ) doesn't entirely help. I better get a personal update tomorrow.

In terms of exercise, I have been walk/running at least 3 times a week. As I think I told you the other day, I tracked the distance in my car and it is 2.7 miles. I am sure that this isn't enough. What else should I add?

My eating was good today....it looked like the following,

Scrambled eggs and ice tea
Gyro and small piece of baklava (sp?)
Baked Lays
6 inch Subway sandwich on wheat with cheese, black olives, pickles, cucumbers, and lite mayo. Bottle of water.

Not the only one posting

Nat, I resent the remark that you are the only one posting.  Granted my last real post was a while ago, but I'm still posting! :)

Honestly, I'm not setting a good example for you guys lately, so my apologies for that.  Lately has been a little crazy for me with vacations and way too much work sandwiched in between them.  Personal life has been a little nuts as well (and no Nat, this has nothing to do with a certain subject that I know ur thinking of).

OK, all in all, my eating has been prolly 80% good lately and 20% off.  The off has been things like ice cream with the girls and a little too much pizza which spells B-A-D N-E-W-S for anyone.  Luckily my snacks are saving me - I've been religious about those and haven't deviated even when I've been in the car or with the girls.  Keeping those around has helped.  It's the dinners here and there that have been the issue, but I'm working on those now.  I made a pact to myself the other night that frozen veggies, while convenient, are the DEVIL (Waterboy reference anyone?!?).  Fresh veggies are where it's at, and with new pots and pans from IKEA (I finally broke down and spent a couple bucks on things to actually cook in) I think I'm gonna start trying things.  Been experimenting with baking fish lately, and while costly, it's been ok.  Need to learn the fresh veggie thing to make sure I get those in each day too.

As far as you guys are concerned, it seems like the eating has been fair to good lately, but not great.  And to be clear, mine has been far from great.  The part that I wonder about is the exercise with you guys.  Are you doing it, and if so, are you doing it enough?  It's incredibly important.  I haven't been doing it enough lately, but I hate making excuses as to why.  I just haven't.  So my body is killing me for it, and I want you guys to be in the same spot - that your body tells you to get back in the gym when you haven't been there in a long time.

OK, back to work.  Hope you guys have a great day!

I guess it just me posting these days

Where is my team? I got on tonight fully expecting to see posts from my two favorites. What do I see instead? My post from yesterday at the top of the page. Not good team, not good.

I will be brief and just post what I ate.

Yogurt with granola, coffee with skim milk
Great lunch at this cute place called Paula's. I never even knew about it till today, but I will defin be back. I had a cup of chicken and rice soup and a half a tuna melt sandwich. Water to drink.
Late 100 calorie snack at 5:30
It was dinner with Cincinnati's Best Dinner Club and #8 was Jo An's in Erlanger. It was the first time I was brave enough to eat sushi, so I am proud that I tried something new. Lord only knows what I actually ate but I would sum it up as: 2 cups of Saki, 2 pieces of fried calamari, some mixture of rolls, a salad with ginger dressing, and shrimp. It was very filling, and for the most part good. I am thinking that sushi is relatively good for you in terms of fat and calories, etc. Maybe I am wrong.

Good night guys!

I have returned!

Hey guys,
We have all be on a little hiatus, but I am back at it. Since I haven't posted since Wednesday, I am going to try to do my best to remember everything that has happened. This might be a little bit of a boring post, but it will be helpful for me to reflect on what has went down (into my stomach) the past 1/2 week.

Thursday:
Started off strong with breakfast and lunch - English muffin and fruit, Subway with turkey and lite mayo. The reminder of the day was a shit show. The Beer and Healthy Boobs HH was a great time, but what I had for "dinner" which I will refer to as the "Appetizer Roadshow," was not so good. If Angie came remember and elaborate, I will reference for a reminder.

Friday:
After the horrible eating the previous eating, I decided to revert back to my old ways to make up for it. As I write this, I feel ashamed because Clay's last post was just talking about how he is proud of us. This was not a good day, and I can certainly do better.

OJ, small yogurt, breakfast bar for breakfast. Lunch consisted of 2 bags of cheese, a bag of crackers, and a 100 calorie pack. Disgusting I know. There is of course a story behind this - Angie wanted to go to Skyline for lunch. I decided to be wild and try it. I love Cincinnati and I love Angie, but that is the nastiest thing I have ever seen or attempted to eat in my life. Never again.
Dinner - I had none. This is the bad part. I did the mall and a ton of shopping and just didn't really eat. I had an iced tea and eventually at 11:00 or so, some chicken nuggets.

Saturday:
I got up and went for a run. I decided to figure out how far I was running/walking so I drove the route and tracked the mileage in the car. It is 2.5 miles. I need to get it in gear for the 5K on Sunday.
No breakfast, lunch was a cheese quesadia and chips and salsa. Dinner was a salad with ranch and mashed potatoes.

Sunday:
English muffin with lite butter and jelly
Baby shower brunch - Bethany and I split a Greek salad, and a salmon flat bread pizza. I had a roll, glass of white wine and a piece of the most beautiful cake ever.
BBQ with the girls in the evening. These things are deadly because there is food everywhere. I would rate my performance as a C. Angie, feel free to challenge my rating. The main highlight here was a hot dog, 2 deviled eggs, cheese spread with Triscuits, and a small piece of cake. 2 Corona Lites as well.

Monday:
No breakfast.
BBQ for lunch where I tried to improve on my performance last night. I had one Turkey hot dog, a ton of fresh fruit, and a small helping of pasta salad. 2 lite beers throughout the afternoon. I also played three games of beach volleyball, so I hope I burned some calories there.
I have been sipping on a large iced tea since I got back and just polished off 2 English muffins with PBJ.

That's the recap. I need to get back to doing this daily.

Um....

...where did everyone go?  We're getting ready to go to the Butterfly show and possibly the park afterward.  Haven't seen any posts, including mine, since Wednesday....hope everyone's doing ok!

3 Brizendines would be a lot to handle :)

Yes, Kyle was in town today, but only from 3 till 9:30, and a lot of that was spent with the girls since they haven't seen each other in almost a year.  I expected him to stay through until like Friday morning, but that didn't happen as Chad's plans changed a little as did Kyle's.  To make a long story short, Kyle has a plate in his mouth that holds his 2 top front teeth in (he knocked them both out on a basketball rim back in the day), and crazily, one of them came out of the plate last night.  So a semi-emergency trip to the dentist this morning took care of most of it, but he was still a little out of it.  So he came up for the day and headed back.  Sorry Nat - I asked him if he had any interest in coming downtown, but he didn't, and since he made the drive up, didn't think I'd force him to do much.  Was good seeing him though.

My eating today was a little off.  The morning was fine, and lunch was leftover chicken and zucchini from last night, but have had little snacks this afternoon.  Dinner was the 'chicken oscar' from Ruby Tuesday's, and because I looked stuff up online before we went to get it, I knew that it was about the healthiest thing I could get there.  Only like 450 calories, little fat, and a decent amount of protein.

As far as being proud of you guys and how you're doing.... There has definitely been progress, and I'm proud of that.  And while it was somewhat scary, I think tracking what you ate even for a day gave you an idea of the big things that can be done quickly to improve your health a little.  If we weren't really working toward a goal of LA, I might be a little more lenient, but I know how important the trip is and so need to keep you guys honest with some of this stuff.  You need the exercise, need to eat healthy, need to be at your best....but that's not just now, that's ongoing too after LA.  

Overall I'm very proud of you guys.  Are you going as fast as I would like?  No.  But this is a big and drastic change that I'm asking you guys to undertake, and I know that it took me 6 months to find what was right for me as far as what to eat and when to eat.  We don't have 6 months, though, thus if I seem a little impatient or ask you to do a lot, that's why.  But I am proud of you guys for taking this seriously...just need to keep it up.

OK, really tired so off to bed.  Hope you guys have a great night!!!

  

Is the third Brizendine Brother in Town?!?!?!?!

All day Angie and I wondered, "Where is Clay?" My only thought was that Kyle was in town, but I thought for sure that that wasnt until June. So the question of the day is, "Is Kyle here in Cincy and if so, when do I get to meet him?" I need to round of my meeting of the entire Brizendine clan. I promise that it doesn't have to be as dramatic as when you and I met!

The multi-vit is on my Target list for this weekend. I will def be getting that on Friday. I am glad that you are proud of us, but I am having a hard time gaging how well you think we are doing. We aren't perfect or exactly where we want to be, but I think that progress has been made. I venture to say that this is the best that I have ever eaten. I am actually thinking through what I have and eating more meals than ever before. I know you are always, always honest (even when it sometimes hurts...7 anyone? Ha Ha). I want you honest opinion me and my progess.

English muffin with PB, scrambled eggs with kethup, iced tea
Lunch from Ingredients was quite possibily the best salad I ever had. It was my own combo: mixed greens, tomatoes, artichokes, mushrooms, cheese, sunflower seeds, ranch dressing, iced tea
No snack and no excuse for that
PBJ on Wheat, 1/3 of my Chipotle from last night.

The flights for LA are now offically booked! Clay, call so I can give you details on the flights. You need to book yours now too!

Vitamins and Sodium

OK ladies.

The exercise with the spreadsheet, however nerdy you want to call it, actually did its job.  We now know where there are big deficiencies and can take care of those pretty quickly.  Nat, u need the vitamin.  Ang, you need less processed foods, which contain a huge amount sodium.  And FYI, stay away from Soy sauce if you can - it's like liquid salt.

Nat, your house is important, and a leaky roof is actually a very valid excuse for not working out.  Not so much for eating poorly, but definitely for working out.

You want to know the one big thing that I'm seeing from you guys?  You're trying.  You're trying to not make excuses, you're trying to do what's right, you're trying....and that's great.  The one big negative that I'm seeing?  You're not thinking ahead enough with your food to plan for contingencies.  You know, or even don't know, that you're going to have a crazy day?  Then take your food with you where you go.  When you're at the store, and you know that you're gonna want to eat an apple, let's say, buy 4 of them so that you have them and can go to them when things get a little nuts.  Don't rely on the cafeteria because it's fast and easy (Nat, you're finding out how 'great' the cafe is).  Don't rely on Starbucks coffee to get you through a snack Ang.  You guys are great employees of a Fortune 20 company - you can certainly plan out a little what you're going to eat and prepare properly for that.

I don't have to make you guys understand how important it is to eat well and exercise.  You already know that, and so we've passed the point where I need to talk about that.  We just need to get you guys to start practicing those things with the eating and exercising that will get you into the healthy shape that you want.

My eating yesterday was same as most days, with lunch a turkey wheat wrap with tomatoes and cheese and dinner a grilled chicken kabob with onions and zucchini.  All the snacks remained the same.

You guys are pressing through the hard process of actually changing habits that have been in place for a while.  It's difficult I know.  But it's doable, and you'll be better for it in the end.

OK, I'm actually going on vacation now.  I'll write in here most likely over the next few days, but at work you will not find me.

Adios for now!

P.S.  Nat - GREAT reference to LA Gears :)  Those things were terrible!

Lets align on creating a FMOT with awesome stopping power!

I had to do the title just to get another PG saying in there. I was actually unaware that the marathon comment was PG at its core. I guess that is what being with the company for a year will do to you.

Anyways, much like is sounds like Ang's day was, it was a shit show in the eating. Not that I ate a ton of bad stuff, but I just didnt eat much at all. I could make a ton of excuses here, (primarily that my house that I have owned for less than a month is leaking water onton my new carpet), but no excuses. My health and looking good should be the priority. Especially when I hear that a certain person who could potentially live in a country north of here, is hitting the gym more than ever. Get it in gear Nat....LA Gear! (Ha ha...anyone remember those shoes?)

Food:
English muffin with butter and jelly, yogurt/granola/canalope combo, coffee with skim milk

I had 10 min to get to the cafe and eat...first round, turkey wrap from the cafe. I took one bite and it was so gross that I spit it out. Ran back to the cafe for a veggie burger on wheat bun with cheese, water

I realize at 6:30 that I hadnt eaten and I am still at work. On the way home I stopped at Chipotle. Not smart you are saying, but I tried to portion control it. I divided it out as soon as I got home into three servings. I ate one part of the burrito bowl and saved the rest for dinner tomorrow.

I need to get at this exercise.

Holy Mother of All Things Salty...

I. EAT. TOO. MUCH. SALT.

The exercise in recording everything I ate was tedious, but very eye opening. Today was not a typical day b/c I had to have the kids to a dentist appointment early and I did not allow enough time for breakfast. I just had coffee. So at lunch I was hungry for more than my usual sandwich. The loaded baked potato I made was LOADED with sodium! Granted, I put more FF cheese and turkey bacon on it than any human should eat in one sitting, but I'm glad I did b/c it forced me to realize that I am doubling (sometimes QUADRUPLING) the serving size indicated on the package. I had to get out the calculator to figure some of this crap out.

Oh, cheese. If will be my downfall. Also, Coke. Why do I have to love it so much? And bacon, even the turkey variety, is evil. I need more liquid...water would be good but I hate it. Yuck.

After my bad lunch, I panicked and ate a vitamin and cereal for dinner. My eating is just not good. Looking forward to hearing comments. I sent my Food Journal via email to both of you.

Everyone will be fine

OK, I have only 10 mins before I need to leave for my next meeting, but wanted to say this - everyone will survive, and everyone will be ok.  And in saying that I mean that you'll hit your goals for LA and after.  You will.  Just realize that it's going to take work.  I told Nat yesterday that 1) you guys deserve praise for skipping the cake, and 2) i'll give you guys about 1 more week before i start pushing the semi-panic button, to the point where i might be making food and working out with you guys.  If you want to get 10 and 12 lbs lighter, then the work to eat right and exercise has to be there.  You guys know this, but just putting out the not so subtle reminder :)

My eating yesterday was status quo, but dinner was 2 PBJ sandwiches.  Little off of my typical routine, but a huge calorie and protein (and fat) boost.  Workout tonight will hopefully take care of some of that.

A marathon, not a sprint, is a very P&G phrase Nat :)  But it is very true in this case.

One thing that I want to leave you guys with...what you're doing - the discipline in eating, exercise, the self-control, etc. all in an effort to look and feel better - can be an example to other people trying to do the same thing, cause as you know, it's not easy.  How many people have you met that have gone 'i wish i could lose some lbs?'  And, Ang - for you.  Think about the example that you can set for your kids with eating and exercise.  That's huge!

Hope the day goes well - off to mtgs! 

So tired I can barely see...

So I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter that PMS seems like it shouldn't be hitting me yet...it is upon me yet again. I'm exhausted from the kids, my skin is horrible, my gut is bloated and I started crying as soon as my head hit the pillow for no good reason. I also just realized that I lied yesterday b/c I did not look up my food content today as I promised. I just have to get through the next few days and I'll be all better. Since I am a glutton for punishment and I didn't follow through on my assignment, I did weigh myself. 137. I should wait until morning, but for the record, I am 3 lbs up. That means 12 lbs in 50 days. I better kick it in gear.

Food
7:30 Raisin Bran & Coffee
9:30 half peanut butter sandwich on wheat and 2 slices of apple
12:00 half of an utterly disgusting Rolly Polly turkey swiss wrap. Probably more like a quarter of a wrap by the time I was finished pulling it apart. Chocolate Chip cookie and water
3:00 3 slices of apple
4:00 NO CAKE...Natalee and I both skipped it.
6:00 Skyline 4-Way with onions and water
7:00 Glass of wine

Now I am going to bed so I can listen to the rain. I have got to get some sleep to regulate my really screwed up body.

It is a marathon and not a sprint

That is the inspiration quote of the day for you and me, Ang. You had a bad eating weekend, so you are behing a little now. But that stretch is over and the race continues on. You have 50 more days to run your best and finish strong. I weighed in this morning, and there was no change....148 it is again this week. I am living by the quote because I need to continue to make progress. 50 days to lose at least 8 pounds. I have been doing a steady jog, but I need to kick it into full gear.

My eating for the day:
Pinapple, yogurt, and granola mixture, english muffin with Promise butter (which I believe is healthier) and jelly. Water

Half an order of chips and gua (Bethany shared this with me) and a grilled chicken wrap (on wheat shell)

100 calorie pack of cookies....I opted for this instead of the beautiful cake that was in the office. (SHout out to Ang as well for passing this up). I also passed on a reese cup that my new manager had to dangle in my face. He completely disregarded the posting on my board, and when I referenced him to it, he said that if I didnt eat a daily snack with him, he wouldn't approve my travel budget for LA. What an ass! So not funny.

Iced tea

Baked potato with reduced fat sour cream, PBJ sandwhich (I need to go to the store. I have NO food in my house).

Help! I Need Help!

I blew this weekend...completely. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I am starving and am eating the wrong food. I didn't even have time to do the weekend assignment (for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because we had all 5 kids and were on the go quite a bit), so I will have to do it tomorrow. Here's a summary of my intake...oh the pain and embarrassment.

Saturday:
8:30 Raisin Bran
9:00 Coffee w/Cream
12:00 Openface tuna melt on sourdough bread
5:00 Half of a 12 inch Home-made pizza w pepperoni, cheese, green olives, banana peppers
Saturday was our street sale, so we were outside all afternoon playing with the kids and talking with neighbors...over the course of the afternoon, I had 4 bottles of beer. (2 Bud Select and 2 Corona Light)

Sunday:
9:00 Large bowl (TOO MUCH) Honey Nut Cheerios & Coffee
11:00 Turkey on sourdough with provolone, mustard and low-fat mayo, about one cup of Lay's BBQ Chips & coffee
1:00 One package of the Swiss Cake rolls I bought for Gabe (wanted to see what the all the hype is about!)
3:00 2 slices of green apple, 10 pieces of turkey pepperoni
5:30 Mett with mustard and kraut on wheat bun, baked potato with butter, cheddar and sour cream
6:30 Glass of wine
8:00 can of Coke

OK people. What is going on???? How did I get so off-track? My portions are crazy. My food choices are bad. I am stuffing myself and am still wanting to go to the kitchen to get more. Maybe PMS? Don't know. I lost all track of time during the surgery escapade.

The good news is that tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to eat healthy. We are having a grill-out on Friday for all the people who helped us move into our house last year, and I want to eat well the rest of the week so I don't feel guilty eating all of the snacks I have planned for Friday.

Briz- I have to thank you for the Abraham Lincoln timeline of failures. I have read that before, but it serves as a good remeinder as I try to get back on track.

O I forgot....

I forgot to mention that I was super good and went running this morning. My new neighborhood is great to run in....sidewalks, not a ton of cars. I ran/walked to downtown Maderia and went all the way down the other end of my street. I need to drive this to calculate the mileage on this one. I listened to my great playlist given to me by our very own Clay!

Sunday

Happy Sunday! My eating for the day is as follows:

Breakfast:
Spinach and artichoke egg souffle from Panera
Fruit cup
Iced tea

Lunch: I ended up going to the Reds game (on a date!) I tried my best, but know that it wasn't healthy at all.
Hotdog with a white bun
Draft Miller Lite - I am guessing that this was two servings worth

Dinner:
Tossed salad with ranch dressing
PBJ Sandwich on wheat

So typing this makes me realize that I didnt do very well on my # of eating times per day.

This was of course all recorded in the spreadsheet that Clay created. I just sent that to you guys, and am excited to see the total results as well as Clay's perspective. I learned a lot from the exercise and in true P&G fashion, I wanted to summarize my key learnings.

• I get a lot of sodium during the day. I was surprised at how much sodium was in certain things. Not good I am guessing. I am thinking that sodium not only leads to high cholesterol, but probably makes you retain more water or something along that line. More water = more weight, which = bad.
• Lite beer is surprisingly not bad. Of course, I am smart enough to realize that this doesnt mean I should drink it all day, but still, not as bad as I would have thought.
• You can find the diet facts of about anything online. Restaurants also have all the info of their food listed. This will be helpful in thinking through some of the choices that I make prior to eating.
• I thought that the egg souffle would be a better choice than a bagel with cream cheese. Holy heck, I was wrong! I will never look at one of those souffles the same way again. Who knew....really?!?!? The point above is well taken on this one.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day...look for the post with the weight in the evening tomorrow.

Good morning #2

Hey guys -hope all is well.

Eating for yesterday for me was pretty good:

• 7:30 AM: Cereal with fresh strawberries
• 9:00 AM: EAS bar
• 9:45 AM: Banana
• 1 PM: Rotisserie chicken, Baked Lays, Swiss cake rolls
• 3:00 PM: Apple
• 7:00 PM: Steak, corn
• 8:30 PM: Veggies with little ranch dip
• plenty of water

Hope you guys have a fantastic Sunday!

Good morning

Hey guys!

Ang - great to see you back on here!  It's been a while...glad to have you back :)

This will be quick - I need to shower and then get going with some errands for the day.  Eating yesterday wasn't bad, until I tried to bake fish for the first time ever...didn't go over so hot.  I have the other half for tonight and am hoping that it goes a little bit better.  You guys prolly saw most of my eating yesterday in that spreadsheet...and while it may be nerdy as hell, it's also the only way I know for you to realize what you're putting in your body.

• 7:30 AM: Cereal
• 9:00 AM: EAS bar
• 10:00 AM: Yogurt
• Noon: PBJ, Baked Lays, Swiss cake rolls
• 2:30 PM: Oatmeal bar
• 4:45 PM: Chicken noodle soup
• 8:30 PM: Baked fish, baked beans (odd combo, but that's what i had here)

Today's off to a decent start.  Woke up at 7:15, cut up strawberries, ate cereal, worked out, now back in the apt.  All by 9.  Liking it.

Hope you guys have a great day - Nat, I'll see you later tonight at Karlie's thing, but I may only make my appearance for 30 mins or so and then bolt - we'll have to see.  And I'll let you know about tomorrow's Reds game too.

Spend some time outside guys!  It's good for the soul ;)

Oh - almost forgot.  This is on a Successories poster about Abraham Lincoln - one of my favorites:

He failed in business in '31. He was defeated for state legislator in '32. He tried another business in '33. It failed. His fiancee died in '35. He had a nervous breakdown in '36. In '43 he ran for congress and was defeated. He tried again in '48 and was defeated again. He tried running for the Senate in '55. He lost.The next year he ran for Vice President and lost. In '59 he ran for the Senate again and was defeated. In 1860, the man who signed his name A. Lincoln, was elected the 16th President of the United States. The difference between history's boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is often, simply, the diligent will to persevere.

Keep persevering guys.  We'll get there.

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back

In the words of the great Ohio State fight song, "Hail, Hail the gangs all here...!" Finally, my fellow bloggers are back, and I can't tell you how happy I am to have us all on again.

You will get back on track Ang. We talked before about not making excuses, but I think that your boob situation (yes, I just said boob situation) is an actual, legidimate excuse. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I am glad that you think I am hot....i just need to start believing it more.

Clay - Thanks for the label clarity. My goal is to do Sunday's eating. This should be interesting because Ireally dont pay attention to anything other than calories and fat. I will be shocked I am sure on where all my nutrients fall out. But to be clear, you and your spreadsheet are totally nerdy. It cracks me up just thinking about it.

I was off track today, and how no excuse for it. I am refusing my efforts tomorrow and need you guys to keep me on track. I need to look good in a bathying suit (to compete with certain people who perhaps used to be a personal trainer)

Eggs with kethup and a hot tea (one sugar)
Small Ceasar salad, half a chicken salad sandwhich, water
Coronia and a few chips with guc (not what Clay had in mind I think we he told us we need to have snacks....though it was much better than WDP training. So glad that Chris and I skipped the second half)
Garden salad with ranch, one roll, ice tea, half a chicken pot pie (yes that is two days in a row)

I just finished unpacking all my kitchen stuff. The only boxes that are still full are in the office. So things are starting to come together at the house, though I am realizing how much more stuff I need/want to change.

Back at it tomorrow. I need to get a run in here.

West Side in the HIZZZZZOOOUUUUUSSS

Yes, I'm back. Just caught up on all the blogs I missed out on. I am off track for sure, but you guys are truly inspirational.

Briz- I'll do your assignment, albeit grudgingly. I hate tracking stuff, but I will totally do it. I was cracking up at your nutitritionsl label example. You foiled my plan to pretend that I didn't know how to read one. This is especially going to be hard in the cheese area. I live in the land of cheese-fat denial and I like it here. Another wake up call is coming and I HATE that...but I'll like the results. Also difficult is the fact that simple walking is painful. Even with a sports bra, the girls tend to bounce and HOLY CRAP that hurts! Also, lifting is off limits for another week, so I have to start back up slowly. Thanks for coming to visit me yesterday! It is so good to be back at work. I also wanted to tell you that Gabe asked for Little Debbie chocolate rolls for his lunch...I'm guessing he meant Swiss Cake Rolls, so they are on the grocery list.

Natty- I can't tell how proud I am of you for posting your weight...especially in my honor! It means nothing more than a starting point, so stop stressing out. As long as we stay on track, you won't see that number again. You are young, hot, and we have more than just 54 days to turn it around. It's not like we are 50 lbs overweight. We aren't that far from our goals...we just need to be consistant. We have a lot of work to do before LA, but this will go beyond that. Once we get it down, we'll be golden! As far as weight, I have to be honest. I was a bad girl after surgery and instead of losing weight like most normal humans, I managed to pack on 2 lbs. I was 134 before surgery and 136 this morning. I have to get back on track...as evidence, check out my food intake today:

8:30 Raisin bran
10:00 Coffee
11:30 Veggie burger on wheat with pepper jack cheese and a diet pepsi (I forgot my packed lunch!)
2:30 Leftover Krispy Cream Donut
7:30 Buffalo Chicken strip and baked seasoned fries with melted fat free cheddar dipped in regular ranch
9:00 Glass of Pinot Noir

Wow. That is hard to admit. The disaster dinner is due to the fact that we have not been to the grocery store since before my surgery and had to dig into the recesses of the freezer to find something for dinner. Joe is actully at K-Roger right now stocking up on healthy essentials so tomorrow should be better. I also have to get the portion control back under control. Right now I'm struggling.

For the record, here are my 2 favorite quotes:

Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right. (don't know who said it)

Those who mind don't matter and those who matter won't mind. -Dr Seuss

Let's kick some ass! Help me get back on track, my people!!!!

No Label?

Guys,

For those things that don't have labels, the internet is the best place to turn.  For example, most fresh fruit don't have labels, but you can easily find a 'label' online at chiquita or dole.com.  Things that come from the cafeteria you almost have to guess on - which is a good reason why I stay away from things in the cafeteria.  Anything that I can't count with any certainty I don't like to eat.  However, if you were to get something like a turkey wrap with tomatoes and mayo (one of only 2 things that I'll get from the cafe for lunch), you can make some good estimates about what's in there.  A salad, though, may be a little difficult, and things like chicken pot pie or a chinese or a hamburger might even be more difficult.  But if that's what you guys choose to eat, then we'll figure out a way to show you what exactly you're eating.  That's a promise. 

Its all about the Ang!

Please let me echo Mr. Briendine's sediments about Mrs. Lang. I too am more than thrilled that my partner in crime is back and healthy. I have been lost without her at work, and to have her back, and better than ever is beyond exciting. Ang, sorry I wasn't there in the office today for your return. I will be in tomorrow and am looking forward to the "Beer and Healthy Boobs Happy Hour!" Clay, you should definetly come.

I am all aligned with the nutrional label exercise. Clayton, you are right about the 2 months till LA count. It is coming up quickly and I need to continue to step up my game. It is all about looking good and feeling confident that I am hot. My concern with the label exercise is this: 95% of the things that I eat in a day don't come with labels. I eat breakfast in the cafe, lunch in the cafe or out, and dinner at home. I can calculate my snacks and dinner (most of the time), but how do I handle counting the other things that I eat. Let me know your perspective on this, and I will get right on it.

My eating for the day as alright....
English Muffin with jelly, half a yogurt with granola (the ITC cafe creaps me out, so I was hesitent to eat), iced tea
Chicken pot pie with water
Apple
Low-fat smoothie while getting my nails done
Subway turkey sandwich, cheese, pickels, black olives, tomatoes, light mayo and Sun chips.

I too am a lover of all cool quotes. I have been saving good ones since High School. I have seen the MJ commerical on tv, and loved it.

I look forward to having everyone back at it. BLOG ON!

Back on track everyone?

It's been what seems like a long time...but I'm finally posting something again :)  Hope that we can keep the 1 post per day string going for a while from here on out.

If my calculations have it right, the trip to LA on July 9 is 55 days away.  That's 55 days to get into the jeans/dresses/bathing suits that you want to wear...55 days to eat right and exercise to shed any extra pounds that you want to shed...55 days to become a healthier you.  All sounds good doesn't it?  And 55 days is a long time - almost 2 months.  Imagine what you guys can accomplish in 2 months if you really put your minds and bodies to it?  A ton!

So honestly, the best part of my day was seeing Ang back in the office.  Ang, whether you had Krispy Kreems or not, I still would have come up to see you!  Everything about you being back - u being there, the tests being negative, the soreness fading (although you still have to hug people with your ass pointed out as far as possible ;) - is fantastic.

OK, so we all want to get back on track right?  Ang is allowed a day or two of getting her taste buds back, but otherwise we all need to get back into the swing of things.  Nat, you're in the house - awesome!!!  The unpacking might seem like it might never end, but it will, and you'll have to start stocking that fridge with those things that will get you down to where you want to be.

OK ladies - to help you get back on track, here's the assignment: take 1 day between now and Sunday, and while keeping track of your meals, I want you to take the nutrition labels of each and either write down what you had or cut out the nutrition label for whatever you ate.  I want you to total everything: calories, calories from fat, cholesterol, sodium, etc.  I know that this sounds tedious, but it's also necessary.  Keeping track of your weight is one thing, but making sure you get there in a healthy manner is another.  AND, by doing this, it will be a little reality check on what your intake for the day actually was.  We can tell ourselves that mac and cheese is fine because it's 'pasta,' but it also has 1/5 of your sodium intake for the day.  Now that's ok if you take in very little the rest of the day, but if you don't watch what else you have, you could be getting more than your daily allowance.  Remember too that all nutrition labels are based off of a 2000 calorie a day diet.  If your goal is to take in 1600, then your sodium intake would be 1/4, not 1/5, of your daily intake.  Remember to adjust.  And just in case you guys forgot what a nutrition label looked like, I put one below ;)

After you write all of your labels down and total it up, I want you to use that as a benchmark. Too low?  We'll figure out what else to add.  Too high?  We'll figure out what to yank from the day.  There's a lot that we can do with these, but just looking at it for one day can make a huge difference.

The other thing that I want to stress is portion control.  Ang, I know you love this one, but it is HUGE.  I watched a video on the Today show the other day of a woman who did three things and lost 176 pounds: A) exercised regularly, B) ate better than she did before, and C) realized what portion control could do for her.  By allowing her body to work off the food she just ate BEFORE putting more in there, she was burning pounds and calories without doing much of anything else.  Now I know that you two aren't exactly the audience for portion control, but it's just a reminder. 

OK, so how have I been doing lately?  Kind of poor if you ask me.  My mornings have turned into working out my legs with the foam roller (due to knee injury, and I wasn't doing this before like I should have) and doing 50 pushups and 30 situps.  Sounds OK, but I'm not doing anything else, and it's killing me.  The lack of exercise is something I'd swore that I'd never do, but it's amazing how emotional drama can sap the body of energy (another long story here).  The eating hasn't slacked too much, but it's slacked some:

• 7:15 AM: Cereal
  
• 10:00 AM: Banana
  
• 10:10 AM (I think): Krispy Kreme donut
  
• 11:00 AM: EAS Bar
  
• 12:15 PM: Rotisserie Chicken, BBQ sauce, Baked Lays, Swiss Cake Rolls
  
• 6:15 PM: Small pepperoni pizza from Fresh market, Yoplait yogurt
  
• OK on water
  

As you can see, no afternoon snack.  And it hurt.  For those that don't have this sensation yet...after months of eating like this, if I don't eat at least every 4 hours, my stomach will hurt.  Like cramp up.  That's when you know you've been eating throughout the day :)

OK, you have your assignments.  The last thing that I'll say on this - I'm a huge motivational person.  Love quotes, sayings, marketing campaigns...whatever.  Anything that will get me going.  My favorite is "No excuses," the wallpaper on my desktop that reminds me not to make excuses when I want to.  The video I put below is about failing...and succeeding.  Enjoy, and I'll check-in with you guys tomorrow.

Michael Jordan "Failure" Nike Commercial: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc

Taking a break from moving

This whole packing and moving thing is counting as my exercise today. I took all my hanging clothes over to my house tonight. It took 9 trips at each house to get all the stuff up and down the stairs from the closets. I already miss my walk-in closet. Why did I buy a house that didn't have one?!?!? Anyways, I am now in the process of boxing up all my stuff. I need to be ready by 8 am when the movers get here. I can not wait to be done with this whole stupid process. It makes me wish that I never move again.

I felt like my eating was very good today. Given my 2 pound lose (which I am contributing to this hard work and dedication!) I felt energized to keep at it.

The food:
yogurt with granola, a piece of raisin toast with jelly, a big water
Mediteranin sandwhich on wheat - hummus, cumbers, cheese, tomatoes and half a bag of baked lays.
100 calorie cookie pack
Whole grain bagel with reduced fat cream cheese, apple, small ceasar salad, iced tea

Back to packing...

I'm here

So I'm totally shocked I didn't have emails from you guys saying 'why didn't you post?  where are you?  bad trainer....baaaad trainer.'

I have been bad, so my apologies.  

Ang, I really hope that ur doing better.  I saw your facebook profile update that said that you were still in pain, but I hope that starts to dwindle some soon.  I know it's not the kind of vacation that you wanted to take from work, that's for sure, but hoping that being away from it for a little bit is helping.  That always helps me :)

Nat, I knew at some point that you'd pass up cake, but never knew when that would be, and I know it had to be hard especially when it seemed to be there so often for the taking.  That's good willpower and definitely proud of that.  Also proud of the loss of 2 pounds for you!!!!  Again, I promise you that what we're trying to do will work.  I'm not sure if the 2 pounds was from anything that we did, but even if it's not, you'll start seeing more results soon!

As for me, there's no way I remember all the food that I ate this weekend.  I strayed a little from the normal menu, but nothing extreme.  Finally made it to the grocery store on Sat with the girls and got what we needed.  Today's, anyway, has been about right:

• 7:45 AM: Cereal
• 9:00 AM: Banana
• 10:15 AM: EAS Bar
• 12:30 PM: PBJ, baked lays, swiss cake rolls
• 2:00 PM: Apple
• 3:45 PM: Oatmeal bar
• 30 ozs of water

Water's been a little low, but that should get back up there around dinner.  Dinner will be a protein boost - big burger at Arthur's in Hyde Park :)  Love that place.

OK, gonna finish up the work for the day.  Talk to you guys soon!

A recap of the last few days

I have been a bad blogger this week. Unlike my other two bloggers, I dont have a good excuse. I hope you are feeling better Ang. We certainly missed having you out with us on Friday night. It has been decided that we are doing an Ang Raincheck event as soon as you feel up to it. It just wasnt the same without you there, so we will do another one! I mean, the Febreze brand can ever have too much partying. Clay, I hope that you are having a fun weekend with the girls. Tell them that Miss Natalee said hi and I can't wait to paint their nails and do their hair!

Below is a recap of my eating the last few days. I am doing my best to remember all that was consumed. I will also be doing another weigh in tomorrow morning, so be on the lookout for that post. You might want to check in to make sure that I am still alive and conscious.

Thursday:
Eggs with kethup, yogurt with granola and iced tea
Veggie burger on a wheat bun with cheese(i checked with Clay on adding the cheese, and he gave me a thumbs up) side salad with ranch dressing
I thought I had an excellent first half of the day, but then the evening was a train wreck. Ata was in town and we celecrated too hard. In the course of the evening, this is what I consumed. 4 glasses of white wine, 2 miller lites, two shrimp from a shrimp cocktail, a cheeseburger with mushrooms (Ata had to have an American cheeseburger and Sabbia had to take him to the best cheeseburger place in town. This is truthfully, the first time I have had a real cheeseburger in years. If I wasn't drunk, it would have never happened.) A small french fry. Not good.

Friday:
Yogurt with granola and a huge iced tea.
One small cookie ( I am talking bite size here)
A veggie gyro, greek salad and water
150 calorie teddy grams
Again, another night out, though I think I did much better with the moderation this night. 3 glasses of white wine, one small slice of bread without butter, a Ceasar side salad, and roasted chicken penne with fresh vegs. I so wanted the fish and chips, but I thought that this would be a healthier option. It was actually really good too!

Saturday:
I got up way too early in the morning to drive the 3 and 1/2 hours to my house.
Tim Hortons is amazing. I dont know why we dont have any of these in Cincinnati. I guess I will need to move to Canada to ensure that I am always close to one of these. I know that you are all thinking I had donuts, but oooo you are so wrong. I had a small blue berry muffin, a fruit and yogurt, and a med coffee with one cream and one sugar. I did eat this while driving in the car which is prob not the smartest thing to do.
At my friend Hilary's bridal shower, there was a lot of food temptation. I think I did failry well as I turned down cake no less than 15 times. People were asking me if I was ok as they know that I live for some cake. I instead had 4 crackers with spinach dip, 2 pieces of veggie pizza, a spoonful of pasta salad, a small chicken salad sandwhich and a bunch of fresh fruit. Ice tea to drink of course!
I slept through dinner (must have been the late nights leading up to the weekend). I had PBJ on whole wheat when I woke up and fluff (It has a technical name I am sure, but my mom always makes it for me).
Snack was a Cheerios version of Rice Crispy treats.

Can't wait to hear about all your fun this week and weekend~

And the # is.....

Hey All,

Ang...I am glad that the pre-op went well today. I was thinking about you a ton, and hoping the everything was going smoothly. I personally think that your eating is going fine. Given the situation, not bad at all. You are doing the portion control thing well, which in my opinion in really more than half the battle. Dont worry about the eating tomorrow. I remember when I had my surgery years ago, the thought of eating was the last thing on my mind. Best wishes for tomorrow. You are such a tough (but adorably cute) girl, that I know you will kick some booty tomorrow. And if anyone can make a front strapping bra sexy, it is you my dear! I will be thinking about you. Please let Clay and I know if you need anything. I love ya!

On to my day. Clay is right, the weigh-in was a bit tramatic for me. My immedidate thought after stepping off the scale was Holy 'uck! Not good...not good at all. I had made up my mind that I wasn't going to post the weight. The thought that of that, and what people will think when they hear it, makes me want to cry. Now that I think back, I did actually cry. But in thinking about Angie and how tough she is being with anyevery thing, I decided to post it. Please view this Ang as my show of support. Don't judge me, trust me, I am doing enough judging of myself. I Natalee Christine Regel, age 23, 5 feet 81/2 inches tall weigh 151 pounds. Ugh....i just gaged as I was typing that. Given that a mere 5 years ago I weighed about 120, it have grown quit a bit. In my mind, I want to weigh 120 again. Though I am not sure that is healthy or realistic. I am trying to think through what is a more realistic and healthy weight to be. Not sure what this is yet, but my thoughts are flowing. Would love perspective on this....

Apparently the weigh in was too much for me, because I went home from work early today (which you know is something that I never do). I had such a horrible headache that I couldnt focus on anything. I got home at 4:30 and thought I would lay down for an hour. 3 hours later, I woke up, and was sooo confused. I thought it was the morning and I had overslept. I checked my BB to see what time I my first meeting only to realize that it was 730PM. I guess I needed the sleep.

My eating:
English muffin with PB, half a yogurt with granola and strawberries. I got the fat-free vanilla yogurt that the cafe has, and it was terrible. There was no way I was getting that whole thing down.
Turkey sandwhich with cheese, lettuce, tomoato, and a little mayo. A peach yogurt.
I snacked on fruit during the afternoon. There was leftovers from a meeting and the strawberries were amazing.
I ate dinner late given the long nap and the fact that as soon as I got up I went to the house to finish my painting. When I got back I had a baked potato with recuded fat sour cream and a PBJ sandwhich. I am finishing my a Frostie Float with Diet Coke as we speak. I should have probably skipped that.

Just a few more hours to go :)

I had another less than stellar day with my eating. I know the scale has to be moving backward but I've totally lost my routine b/c of all this crazy crap. Pre-op went well so it's ON.

Briz - I've been putting off addressing your comments about my coffee as a meal, but I have to be honest. Breakfast is such a stretch for me that I'm just not hungry in between breakfast and lunch. Thinking about eating something during that period is gag-inducing to me. I've tried to think of what might taste/sound good between 9 and 10 and I just can't think of anything. I hate yogurt and fruit is so freaking sweet...ick. I have to get over this fruit and vegetable aversion, but it's a slow go. Maybe I need to buy some power bar type things and see if I can get a half of one down.

Regardless, I know this. Tomorrow's eating is going to be all effed up. I can't eat or drink a thing after midnight tonight and surgery isn't until 11:00. Surgery should take an hour plus another hour in recovery. Add at least another half hour to get to the car and get home and I'm already at 1:30 or 2:00. Even then, I may not feel up to eating. The last time I had drugs like this, I only ate crackers and Coke for 2 days. Believe me when I say that is not me. As I've previously mentioned, I eat my way through pretty much everything that comes along, so we'll see. I will most likely not post tomorrow but hopefully I will feel up to it by Friday.

Nat - Don't let your weight freak you out...let it remind you where you want to be. From here on out, just remember that every healthy bite of food taken and every sugary bite refused will propel you to your goal. As Briz said, it's just a beginning. Good to take action now then freak out about it later.

Food today:
9:30 Raisin Bran
10:30 Coffee
12:30 Cup of O'Charley's potato soup, 2 rolls with butter, 1/4 of a chicken tender salad with ranch (the good stuff) and (brace yourself) 1 and a half bottles of Bud Select. I was going to leave that out, but it's true and I'm all about truth. Beer with a girlfriend (who went with me to the pre-op) at O'Charley's right in the middle of the day. It was fun and we were laughing, so I just don't feel guilty even though I totally should.
6:00 Leftover half of my Chipotle burrito from yesterday and a Coke

Obviously, not a good eating day. I have one setback and I turn to food for comfort. I sure failed that test. Despite that, I am still impressed with myself for cutting down on portions. Pre-blog, I would have had an entire bowl of soup, the entire salad and as many rolls as I could shove in. Not sure what dinner would have been b/c I would have eaten the entire burrito last night along with some chips and salsa. You get the idea. I'm making progress, just not at the pace I would like. It will come.

OK. I'm signing off for a bit, but not leaving. I will be back. Not just a promise...it's a commitment!

Back in the saddle...but worried about my posse

OK, so Nat's not happy at all with her weigh-in, and Ang goes into the doc tomorrow.  What's happening to my gang?!?!

Nat - like I told you earlier, the weigh-in, regardless of how you feel now, will help in the long-run.  I promise.   Now you have someplace from which to start, whether you like the starting point or not.  But knowing where you want to go, and being healthy doing it in the process, is the next step.  Remember, you're not doing it alone - got some good friends around to help.

Ang - good luck with everything, and keep kicking ass!!!!!!  And one day soon I'm gonna kick you out of having coffee as a meal.  Coffee is a liquid! :)  If you want a liquid meal drink a smoothie or naked juice or something like that, not coffee.

OK, this will be short because I have a slew of things to do before I leave today:

• 7:30 AM: Cereal
• 10:00 AM: Banana
• 11:00 AM: EAS bar
• 11:50 AM: Lasagna, baked lays, small brownie from Mom's house ;)
• 2:15 PM: Apple
• 30 ozs of water (trailing on this today)

Back to the grind - of work that is.  Hope to read your posts later tonight!

So Sore!

So I'm much better today. I'm over being sad and ready to fight the good fight although I do feel like I'm kind of in the twilight zone. I am SO SORE from the needles (yes, plural) and digging around yesterday that I spent much of the day on the couch with ice. The worst part is that I cannot take Advil or Aleve since I am having surgery on Thursday b/c they are blood thinners...only Tylenol for me and that does exactly NOTHING in the area of pain relief for this girl. Despite this fact, I finally slept today. I took a 3 hour nap and it was freaking heavenly, except now it's after midnight and I'm not even a little bit tired. This afternoon, Joe and I went shopping for a compression bra that hooks in the front for after the surgery...sounds SEXY right??? It was actually funny. We never did find one, so I will have to shop again tomorrow. To bring everyone up to speed, I have pre-op physical and medical history 100 questions tomorrow and the surgery is scheduled for 11:00 on Thursday. Briz- I am going to kick some ass. I plan to kick some SERIOUS ass, so thanks for the sentiment. In case you guys don't know, I have been through kidney stones, 2 painfull births and the removal of a softball-sized tumor from my liver, so this should be a walk in the park (with MUCH better narcotics!). My food intake wasn't the best today, but I'm not beating myself up too much b/c the protion control was still pretty much on.

8:00 Raisin Bran
9:00 Starbucks tall (which is their small) skim caramel mocha (oh, the SUGAR!)
11:00 (Nat, you will like this) Turtle brownie sundae. So unlike me, but it was leftover from the weekend and it sounded really good.
12:30 Half of a Chipotle carnitas burrito w/salsa, black beans, rice, sour cream, cheese & lettuce. Half can of Coke. The other half is calling my name right now, but I'm going to save it for lunch tomorrow.
6:00 turkey sandwich w/sourdough bread, reduced fat provolone & mayo and lettuce
8:30 fountain Coke
9:00 2.3 mile (really slow) walk around the neighborhood
10:00 galss of Merlot

Yes, bad. But tomorrow is another day.
Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.
Nat- More power to you if you post your weight!

The Scales of Justice - Eat too much and you will get FAT

Hi All,

I am now the proud owner of a scale thanks to Mr. Brizendine. I come into the office this afternoon, and there it was! I wanted to weigh myself right then and there, but was afraid that I would pass out from shock in the office and get rushed to the medical center. The weigh in has been on my mind all day now. I can't tell you the last time I was on a scale. When I go to the Drs, I look away and don't let them tell me. I used to think that the numbers that I heard were too big....I am pretty sure that I ain't seen nothing yet! I am taking Clay's advice and doing it in the morning. I figure that I need all the help I can get, so even if it makes a pound difference, it will be worth the wait. It will be a shoot of tequila and then step on up! Can't wait to post that tomorrow.

Food for the day:
Bowl of raisin brain with 2% milk
Iced tea and small blue berry muffin
PB&J sandwich, salad with ranch dressing
100 calorie pack of Goldfish and fruit snack pack (with 100% of my vitamin C for the day...Clay!)
Bethany's homemade guacamole(so spelled wrong) with chips and two glasses of white wine
Hummus with two pitas
Another bowl of cereal
I def didn't get enough water today! or do any cardio...getting home at 930 sure doesnt help. I promise I will run tomorrow.

Ang-I hope that today was a good day for you. I missed you in the office and was thinking about you all day.

Not sure what to say

Ang - don't even know where to start.  There's two schools of thought for me on this.  One is to offer a note of 'you'll get through this, things will be fine when you're through Thursday, etc.'  The other side of me is to say 'Kick some ass!'  The second one is a little more of my personality, so I think that's what I'll go with on this one....'KICK SOME ASS!'  

OK, so onto the other stuff for the moment.  My eating for the weekend, as you guys could tell, was bad.  Not that the meals that I had were poor, but the fact that I ate a lot less than I typically would.  Yesterday I got back in stride...until I went to the Cubs/Reds game.  Not only did the Cubs play like crap, which didn't please me at all, but I ate for dinner 1) a brat, and 2) a freaking huge pretzel with cheese.  Not exactly the greatest dinner - hoping that at tonight's game I work the eating a little better.

Monday's eating:

• 6:45 AM: Cereal
• 9:30 AM: Banana
• 10:15 AM: EAS bar
• 1:00 PM: Rotiss chicken breast with BBQ sauce, baked lays, swiss cake rolls
• 2:30 PM: Oatmeal bar
• 7:30 PM: Brat, pretzel
• 80 ozs of water

Tuesday's eating so far:

• 7:45 AM: Cereal
• 10:00 AM: Apple
• 11:00 AM: EAS bar
• 1:00 PM: Rotiss chicken breast with BBQ sauce, banana, swiss cake rolls
  
• 3:00 PM: Oatmeal bar
• 5:30 PM: Footlong Subway club, tomatoes, little mayo
• 12:00 AM: Frosted Mini-Wheats, yogurt
• 60 ozs of water, 12 ozs of apple juice

On a separate point, I've read a couple of personal training books so far, and while there's only so much you can learn from reading a book, there are some good reference points in a couple of them.  Thinking of building a personal training book collection through ebay (one of my fav online stores :) )  so that I can have some of that stuff on-hand when hard questions comes up (questions like 'my crossfit husband wants to lose more weight - what should he do?').  So once I get those and do a little reading again I might be out here imparting all of that new/regained knowledge to you guys.

Couple more exercise points for you guys (Ang - in reality I know that you might be taking a little time off from the exercise part, but I'll write this as though you're continuing with it):

• Remember that when you're lifting weights, the lighter weights and more reps that you lift, the toner that your body will be.  The more weight and less reps that you do, the more muscle mass you'll see.  It's up to you what you want your body to look like, but I would guess that 70% light weight/30% heavy weight would be good for you guys.
• Not sure if I put this out there before, but remember that muscles weigh more than fat.  As you burn fat and create more muscle, you might not see your weight fall.  It actually might go up a little bit for a period of time.  Don't be alarmed by that.  In the end, your cardio portion should take care of the weight that you guys are concerned about.
• I've had to mention this a couple of times, but don't think that I've put it in writing.  Your muscles are the easiest and quickest source of nutrients for your body when you don't eat.  If there's no food to draw off of, your body will go to your muscle.  Because of this, I need you guys to not think that starving yourselves is a strategy, even if for a day.  It's really bad for your body, and while you lose weight doing it, you lose critical weight like that from your muscles.  Keep that in mind.

OK, back to work.  Then to the Cubs game again tonight.  Root for the Cubbies my friends!  And Ang, if there is ANYTHING that I can do, please please let me know.

Adios!

Shhtooopid Day

This is going to be short b/c today sucked and I am counting the seconds until bed. Since we've been all about honesty here, I have a stupid lump on my stupid boob and I have to have it lumpectomied out on Thursday. That is the bad news. The good news is that this is bound to excelerate my weight loss, albeit in an unhealthy way. I'll take what I can get today...stupid damn boob.

Food today:
8:00 Raisin Bran
9:00 Coffee w/cream
11:30 Turkey and provolone on wheat
12:00 String cheese
6:00 about a cup of trail mix
7:30 salad with grilled chicken, tomatoes and real ranch dressing...not the icky fat free variety. Also a large margarita in honor of Cinco de Mayo.

OK, the bed is calling. I have got to get some sleep.

I love days when I leave my house at 7am and return at 10pm

As i post this, i am drying my hair. multiple tasking at its finest. i just got back from painting and got out of the shower. my ohio state office is kicking my booty. i literally bled scarlet and grey tonight...not because of my high level of fandome, but bc i had so much paint splattered over me! this will be counting as my exercise again today.

on to the food...
i had a late breakfast as i was in research all morning. when i got back to the office, i grabbed a koshi bar and dannon yogurt from the c-store.
i had a lunch meeting where they actually offered healthy food. i had a salad with fat free dressing, roll, brown rice with steamed veggies and a half a regular coke. i needed the caffinee to stay awake.
For a snack, I had my 120 calorie animal crackers which resulted in me getting mad fun of in the meeting. Apparently only 3 year olds eat animal crackers.
To celebrate cinco de maya, the girls went for a mexican dinner. I didnt do so hot here, though I would venture to say I was the best eater at the table. I had chips and salsa, a spinanch and mushroom quesida and a side of mexican rice. O yeah...there might have been a margaritta in there too.
Too late now for a snack I think.

I am sooooooo super excited to get my scale. I am even more excited to post my weight on the blog. Someone might have to wake me up from my fainting when I see the number. I think the famous quote here is "The truth will set you free!"

No apologizes Ang....you know I will talk to you anytime. I am glad that my new suburban life can bring laughs to you. I am sure that there will be plenty more from where that came from.

XOXOXO for now!

Exhausted.

This weekend totally kicked my ass. Seems like I didn't have time to blink, but Gabe's 1st Communion and the party that followed yesterday went off without a hitch and I spent today playing catch-up...gettting the family ready for the week. It still boggles my mind that we manage to get 9 loads of laundry dirty during the week, but between towels, sheets, darks, whites & delicates, I guess it makes sense. Anyway, food intake went like this:

Saturday:
7:00 Kashi Cereal & Coffee w/cream
11:30 Turkey sandwhich on wheat w/reduced fat provolone & lettuce & a Fresca
2:00 Reduced fat string cheese
BE WARNED...GERMAN FOOD CRAZINESS ENSUED AT GABE'S FIRST COMMUNION PARTY
6:30 Veggies and really fattening ranch dip, about 5 sauerkraut balls and a small Margarita
7:30 Sauerbraughten & home-made egg noodles (I would guess 2 or 3 cups of it!!! YIKES! What happened to my portion control?), a slice of salty rye slathered in real butter, German Hot Slaw and a Bud Light

Oh, the guilt. The only good thing I can say is that I made my favorite dessert (turtle brownies with vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate sauce) and watched everyone eat it...I didn't eat a bite. Again, this isn't saying much since mass quantities of salty food is my problem.

Sunday:
9:00 Honey Nut Cheerios & Coffee
11:00 More Coffee
12:00 Leftover Saurbraughten and Egg Noodles...but this time only a cup of it. Cherry Coke Zero
6:00 Leftover Wheat Pasta with tomato sauce, 3 meatballs, parmesean and a glass of Merlot
9:00 Another glass of Merlot

Yeah, this weekend was a bust. But I did make it to K-Roger to buy food for the week. Oh, Lord. It was a scene. Ava discovered the kid-sized grocery carts and you would have thought she won the freakin lottery. We got everything we came for as well as a bunch of crap from the shelves on her level that she NEEDED to put in the cart. I made sure they were healthy selections.

I went back and read several posts b/c I am unable to sleep and I noticed I am really lacking in the fruit and vegetable department. I just don't know how to force myself to eat them. Not a huge fan of veggies and fruit is sweet, so it's not like I ever crave it. Sad to admit, but I don't really even WANT to want it. Help guys! What do I do to be more green?

Nat-Thanks for letting me ramble tonight. I didn't mean to keep you on the phone for that long but was so happy for the excuse to sit down and stop folding laundry. Still giggling to myself thinking of you at the craft fair. Who knew a dog could command that much for a painting???

Briz- Glad the weekend went well even though it was hectic. Thanks for getting Nat a scale! I was forced to go to WalMart over the weekend and I almost bought her one myself. Fortunately, I quickly reached my in-WalMart-mental-time-limit and didn't purchase one.

To answer the Joe stuff. He does eat 5-6 meals per day. We talked about it a lot this weekend and agreed that he justs eats way too much per sitting. He is trying to cut back on portions and we'll see what happens. Yes, Crossfit is crazy. I think it is too taxing on the body to be healthy in a lot of instances, but I can't disagree with the results he's had. Just not my thing AT ALL.

Short and Sweet

OK,

This one will be shorter than usual cause I just have way too much to clean up around here after being gone for the better part of a week.

Saturday's eating I don't remember much of - is that bad?!?!  I had chicken salad for lunch and grilled bbq chicken with asparagus and organic mac n cheese for dinner.  lots of water and not too many snacks.  

Sunday's eating wasn't great either - cereal for breakfast, lean sirloin with A1 and fresh fruit at lunch, cereal as a snack, and then bbq chicken and yogurt for dinner.  I have been so messed up since I left last week - crazy.  Can't wait for the work week to get my eating back in order.

Ang - look forward to your posts.  And Nat, no returning the house.  You'll love it I promise.  And yes, it's tiring work, so all ur exercise counts.

OK, back to cleaning.  Will post more tomorrow. 

Oh, quick ? before I go - are Bethany or Rach ever going to post anything?

Home Ownership = Hardwork

Sorry for the delay in posting. This whole home ownership thing is a lot of work and very time consuming. Several times this weekend I thought to myself, "I should have just bought some really sexy, expensive shoes. The make you look good and ask for nothing in return!"

Thanks for all the congrats! I am all grown up now. Just to prove this, please note that I went to a craft show today in my new town of Maderia. If that doesnt make me grown up and suburban, I dont know what would. Good Angie on the pizza. My food listing below will show that I am not as good as you. I am glad you are feeling better Clay....can't wait to get my scale from you!

Since I haven't posted all weekend, and I am dedicated to keeping it real, I will list my food intake for all days.

Friday:
Coffee while doing my closing for the house.
English muffin with PB, yogurt with granola, water
Part of a chicken salad sandwhich
Ice tea and a small fry from Mcdonald's
Chicken tenders with kethup, apple slices and grapes

Saturday:
My parents got up early and went ot breakfast. I didn't have it in me, so I slept and skipped this meal.
5 hours and too much housework completed to count, I realize I still hadn't eat. Not good, Not good at all. Karlie so kindly went to Dewey's more us, since at this point, I am covered in paint. I proceeded to eat 4 pieces of the Caprie pizza. Again, not good.
Side salad with ranch dressing, 2 dinner rolls, and half of a serving of vegtable lasangna.

Sunday:
Again, parents were up early. I skipped it and ate a roll on my way out the door.
First Watch for lunch...I had the "I am not guilty your honor" because I was feeling guilty about how I ate the day before. For those who aren't aware, this is a hummus pita with mushrooms, spinach, and feta cheese. GOOOOOOD. I also ate a fruit cup and some potatoes. Ice tea to drink!
I ate two more pieces of the Dewey's pizza inbetween painting my OSU office.
Coke float from Wendy'son the way home.
Going to reheat the leftovers of my vegtable lasagna in a few.

In terms of exercise, I think owning a home and spending 24 hours this weekend painting and cleaning and walking around Home Depot more times than I care to remember is going tohave to count. Every part of my legs hurt from bending to paint the lower walls and from going up an down a ladder to get those hard to reach high spots.

I think I am going to return the house and get some shoes.....can I do that?!?!?

Shew....looooong day

Well, the day is almost done, and I'm thankful for that.  

Tired of being sick, but getting better.  Chad's graduation went well today, although a little long.  There's a good group from his class coming to P&G, so it was good to meet a couple of them.  Rained all day long in Bloomington and in Louisville, so that was kind of a bummer.

The biggest bummer of the day, though, was my eating.  Haven't had a day like this in a while, but here it is:

• 1:30 PM: Chicken salad sandwich, chicken noodle soup, lemon tart
• 7:45 PM: Roast beef, carrots, fresh fruit, pimento cheese/crackers
• water during the day

Honestly, that's it.  Between Chad not having any food at this place given that he's moving out soon, and traveling between places today, I just didn't eat.  And man am I paying for it.  Don't follow this example, folks - it's baaaaaad.

Ang - one of the things that I've noticed lately is that you're putting up coffee as one of your meals/snacks.  I'm not sure how filling that stuff is since I don't drink it, but if you can get something to actually eat with that that's good for you, that'd be great.

As far as Joe is concerned, I haven't heard about the bars that he's eating until I just looked them up tonight.  They don't look bad at all from the nutrition label that I saw.  I have heard about Crossfit, and some of it is nuts!  Hope he's enjoying it though.  My manager's brother does that in Atlanta which is where I heard about it first.  I noticed that there was 1 or 2 Cincinnati places that did Crossfit.  Be interested to hear what he thinks about it.  As far as my Oatmeal bars, yes - they are the Quaker ones that come 6 to a box, I think.  Since I'm not sure what he's doing as far as eating is concerned, it's hard to say what he could do to trim a few more pounds.  I always talk to folks about 6 meals a day first and then get into more detail on what to eat, when to eat, etc.   Not sure if he's doing that or not, but if he's not, start there.  That would be a huge help for you too if you could keep this stuff up together.  It'll also benefit the kids as well.  When the girls are with me, they eat like me, and that's a big deal.

Nat, congrats on the house!  Hope ur having a great time with your parents in town!

OK, I'm out for now.  Need some sleep.  Hoping that tomorrow's eating goes better since I'll be here all day.  Be good guys!

TGIF

The weekend is finally here...thanks goodness!

Food today was:
7:30 Kashi Cereal & Coffee w/ff creamer
11:30 Turkey on wheat w/lettuce & mustard
2:30 reduced fat string cheese
5:30 Wheat pasta with tomato sauce, 2 meatballs and parmesean cheese. glass of merlot
Right Now - a can of ice cold Regular Coke. It is SOOOOO good!

Nat- Congrats on your new home! I'm really happy for you. It's such a big accomplishment...it's like you're a grown up :) Now BUY A SCALE!!!

Briz- Joe is starting to get interested in the blog since I am losing weight (he said he can tell!) and I was showing him some of your meal posts. A few questions. Are Detour bars OK? He just bought a box at Sam's and he likes the way they taste, but you hear so much conflicting info...just wondered your take. Also, you mentioned oatmeal bars in a few posts. Do you mean the Quaker Oatmeal squares? Not sure if you've heard of it, but Joe does Crossfit. It's a website that posts a new workout every day. He has really transformed himself, but is looking to lose a few more pounds. He upped his cardio...not sure he could be doing more of that. My theory is that he needs more portion control until the pounds are gone...then move to maintenance. Any other suggestions?

Hope you both have a great weekend!!!

and I know I'm serious about losing weight because...

...I went to my FAVORITE pizza joint with my mom and dad tonight, ordered an 8 inch pizza and only ate 2 pieces. Measure that out...they were small pieces. I used to polish off an entire 8 inch pepperoni w/extra cheese plus half an anti-pasta (sp?) salad and two glasses of wine. Fast forward to tonight. A (half) florentine pizza on a sesame seed crust with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and green olives and a water. Check me out! Again, I realize eating less pizza than normal is not going to help me lose weight, but I feel like I'm really getting this portion contol thing down.

The rest of the day's eating was:
7:30 Honey Nut Cheerios
8:30 Coffee w/cream
10:00 Reduced Fat string cheese
12:00 Jr Arby's Roast Beef (the last one from the other day)
3:00 Coffee w/cream
7:00 Aforementioned pizza dinner

Briz- I hope you are feeling better. I laughed out loud when I read about your appetite not changing when you are sick. I thought I was the only person in the world who could eat their way through the flu! Tell Chad I said "hi".

Nat- Sorry I didn't say goodbye today. I had to run to the allergist. When I started writing this, you hadn't posted yet, so if you read this before bed...see you in the morning!

My Poor Clay

I am late with the post and just now seeing that you aren't feeling better Clay. I am so sorry...I hope that by the time you read this, you are feeling all better. It is a big weekend for the Brizendine family, so you need to be at your top game. XOXOXOXOOXO there are more hugs and kisses that will make ya feel better. While I am still talking to you, DONT EVER send me articles like that. You know how much I worry about you all ready, and now I know that someone was killed a block from your house. That is one of the things that I am just better off not knowing about. Your baseball bat in your truck isn't going to do crap against a gun. You are moving in with me so that you can be in Maderia, where I am pretty sure nothing like that happens.

The eating was off today. I am not proud of myself. Especially after the props that I got on my eating yesterday. Here goes:
Breakfast: English muffin with PB, a cup of fruit with yogurt and granola, and iced tea
Lunch: I got the salad of the day from the cafe thinking that it actually looked good. False, I should know better than that. I ate about two bites, and wanted to gag. It was terrible. Because I was in research, I was kind of stranded for food.
2:00 I have a meeting to go to and luckily there were some food items there. Not healthy though. I had about 20 Pringles, a rice krispy treat and an OJ. Great substitute for lunch.
4:00 Fruit snacks
9:00 After softball, the team went out to Happy hour. I had one beer, a side salad, and a small Margaretta pizza.

At 9:00 tomorrow morning, I will be a home owner. Now all I need is a scale to put in the house!

being under the weather BLOWS

Good morning my friends.

Well, day 2 of feeling like crap.  I have an idea where my sinus pressure/headache/throat hurting came from, but if I slept at all and my body were able to fight this off, I doubt I'd be sick right now.  But I am.  I am at home at the moment and was planning on taking this afternoon and tomorrow as vacation days to go to Chad's graduation.  As I feel now, I'm still going, but we'll have to see how I hold up the next couple of hours.

As far as eating yesterday, the one thing that I always know is that regardless of how sick I am, if I don't lose my appetite, then I'll be OK.  Haven't lost it yet.  So for Wed, I had:

• 8:30 AM: Cereal
• 10:30 AM: EAS bar
• 1:15 PM: 6" subway club on wheat with little mayo and lots of tomatoes, baked lays, swiss cake rolls
• 2:30 PM: Oatmeal bar
• 8:30 PM: Chicken parm wrap, asparagus
• water (not great on the intake), apple juice

For being as sick as I am, that's a helluva day.  Today:

• 7:00 AM: Chocolate chip muffin
• 10:45 AM: EAS bar
• little water

I must note that b/t 7 and 10:45 I slept a lot, so no chance to eat there.  Had a little water, but not as much as I need.  Need to keep the fluids going to wash this sickness out of me.

For those of you interested, as a sidenote, this happened 1 block from my place last night:

Man Shot Dead In Corryville 
Cincinnati police are trying to obtain surveillance footage from a local church after a man is slain near its steps. 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24403003/from/ET/

Trying to think of any words of wisdom today on anything, but they just aren't flowing.  Ang, congrats on the 5 lbs!  I noticed your post on your jeans, and that's great stuff.  Keep up what you're doing and hopefully you see another 5 off in a week or two.  Nat, very proud of your eating yesterday.  You stepped it up big time on the meal front - most everything you had looked substantial, and I like that.  Keep it up!

OK, that's about it for me.  Thinking that a small lunch is finally in order.  You guys have a great day!  My posts for the next day or two may be light since I'll be traveling a lot, but I'll certainly try and get out here and stay up on the news.  See you guys later!