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Haven’t updated in awhile

Monica Chapman — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:55:01 +0000

I’m down to 155.2 lbs! I set a mini-goal this week to get down to 155. If successful I’m going to reward myself with a glass of white wine with dinner tomorrow. Surely I can lose another 0.2 lbs by tomorrow, right? I lost that much from yesterday. So, yeah, I definitely feel like I’m on my way. According to the trend line in the Libre app on my cell, I’ll be down to a normal weight for my height by July. It’s not my goal weight, but it will be a healthy weight no that BMI scale. That will definitely be a cause for celebration!

I’m thinking of buying an interval timer. I’ve been perusing a site called BodyRock.tv. There’s this woman who sets up workout challenges and puts up her workouts on YouTube. For the most part, they’re bodyweight exercises, so no real equipment is necessary, but to know when to switch from one set to another you need an interval timer. I’ve found several for my cell, but I’m not sure if they’ll be sufficient. I really want to try adding her workouts to my routine. They’re short, but from all of the reviews they sound really effective. It’s a lot of burpees.

I also want to add a plyometric routine that Jamie Eason put up a video on. You use a deck of cards, pull 3 cards, add up the suits, and that tells you how many reps to do of a certain exercise. Then you pull another 3 cards and do that many reps of the next exercise. When you get to the end of the list of exercises (things like bicycles, jumping japs, mountain climbers and high knees) you go back to the top of the list and keep going until you run out of cards. If you’re still not done you can reshuffle the deck and go again. I’m certainly not paying the money for P90x…well, that and I think those DVDs would kill me. And I can’t do a pull-up to save my life and haven’t been able to since maybe 3rd grade.

Anyway, I definitely feel like I’m doing a better job at sticking with it this time around. The exercise gets scheduled in and I don’t let myself reschedule. The diet gets logged and if DailyBurn says I’ve had enough it’s nothing but tea for the rest of the night. I’ve been really good about not eating takeout at work to the point others have commented. I have 2 reasons really. It’s more budget friendly to bring your lunch in (and I want to save for a house or condo in the next 5 years!) and it’s usually healthier. I can’t wait until people get to comment on weight loss instead! I haven’t really lost enough to be noticeable yet, but that will come. I’m also psyched up by the challenges on DailyBurn. I’m currently working most on the 5lb lost one. I want some award ribbons on my profile!

Thanks…Lincoln?

Monica Chapman — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 00:21:32 +0000

I LOVE the New York Times. I log on to their website during my lunch break at work practically every day and must read at least 15 articles each time I do. I’m not a subscriber. I live in a weird apartment building and getting something like the paper delivered is a royal pain in the ass. I found out they were about to go behind a “pay wall” a few days ago and was dreading it. Was I willing to pay $15 a month to access a website? I’ve never paid to access a website in my life. As far as I’m usually concerned, with the exception of paying for internet service in general, the internet is free. But I LOVE their website and do use it all the time. So I might pony up for it, but I was kind of dreading having to make that call.

I got an email today from NYTimes.com letting me know that Lincoln (yes, the car manufacturer) was giving me a free digital subscription for the rest of 2011! I clicked the link, and now don’t only do I have a free digital subscription for the site, but I’m getting smartphone access for free too! So now I can take the rest of the year to evaluate if I can and should pay for the site. Awesome! I did a little searching and it looks like they’re making this offer to 200,000 people that are not paper subscribers but use the website a lot. So if you’re a frequent user of NYTimes.com, keep an eye on your email!

Progress

Monica Chapman — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:27:03 +0000

I’m currently at 157.2. Not great, but not as terrible as when I started. I’m still using DailyBurn.com fairly religiously and eating pretty well, but the exercise portion needs work. It’s very much dependent on how I feel in the evening. I did a half hour of cardio on Sunday. Then Monday I had to go grocery shopping so by the time I got home after work and shopping, put everything away and ate dinner I really just didn’t feel like doing anything strenuous. Then last night I had laundry to do and because of a crappy dryer in my apartment building I was up and down the stairs several times to run it through another cycle, eventually carrying a load of damp laundry upstairs and having to hang everything up in my apartment to finish drying. It sucked. I’m sure there was some cardio in going up and down stairs all evening, but not much. By the time I was done it was 8 pm and I honestly feel that’s too late to be running the elliptical and bothering my neighbors. I need to get some exercise in the morning, even if it’s just walking around town. I’ve just started to get back into the regular flow of my day now that I’m over getting up extra early due to daylight savings. Hopefully the weather and morning temps will improve enough soon that I can enjoy the outdoors around 6:00 am soon. I vow to exercise tonight though. The only other issue today is I made a sandwich and then proceeded to forget it at home. I have snacks, but they’re not a lunch. I’m going to have to leave around noon to pick something up and it’s all too easy to go overboard when buying convenience food. Wish me luck!

Not so good

Monica Chapman — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:32:14 +0000

I’m not so proud of myself so far today. I didn’t workout this morning (though I plan to make up for that by some elliptical work tonight). I skipped my usual oatmeal this morning and had a hard boiled egg and grapefruit juice to give me enough energy to get into work. However, the oatmeal was skipped so I could eat a real NY bagel at work. I have to say, even though it means I’m very likely to exceed my carb count today….it was totally worth it. I’d almost forgotten how much better NYC’s bagels were to the crap we can get in CT. I’m having soup for lunch to try to balance it out. That bagel is likely to keep me full most of the day. I also ate a greek yogurt earlier, but that’s mostly protein.

I’ve checked out my DailyBurn log and even with the soup and cheese later…I might actually be doing okay. I’ll have reached well into my allotted carbs for the day by the time I get home for dinner, but if I stick to veggies and grilled chicken for dinner I should be fine. I have some Reduced Sodium Zatarain’s Dirty Rice I was going to make for dinner, but I think I’ll just cook it so I can eat it tomorrow for lunch, dinner and into the weekend. I’m making that with ground turkey instead of beef to keep it low fat.

So I guess I’m not doing as badly as I thought. Usually I would have had a real breakfast, came to work, still had the bagel, plus at my morning snack…that would have been far more of a mess! Also…..down 1 lb so far!

So far, so good

Monica Chapman — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:31:57 +0000

You can see exactly what I’m eating from my page at DailyBurn under “Me Elsewhere Online.” So far, I think I’m doing pretty good, but I definitely need to up protein and limit carbs. I’m thinking that limiting carbs as much as DailyBurn recommends might be next to impossible for me to do without giving up though. I’m not eating lots of bad carbs. I suppose I could cut back on the rice, but carbs from oatmeal and veggies aren’t nearly as bad for me as if I was filling up on bread and pasta, right? I think I will try to limit the rice a bit, perhaps replace some of it with lentils, quinoa and couscous. I just know it’s going to be difficult to up my protein tonight and not end up eating too many carbs. I’m also, apparently, eating too little fat today so far. I might leave that alone as tomorrow morning I know I’m eating a bagel at work. I’m going to stop to buy fat free cream cheese to be a little healthier. Now, you say, “A bagel? Really Monica? I thought you’re dieting?” and I will say this “A co-worker is bringing them in from NYC. I can’t say no to a REAL bagel. It’s a treat and I clearly won’t be doing this regularly. I think lunch will even be a salad to make up for it!” So there. But yeah, I need to find ways to eat more protein and less carbs, though I think less carbs might really mean more slower carbs as I’m not crazy.

Being a bad neighbor?

Monica Chapman — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 11:47:26 +0000

So I got up this morning not wanting to workout. I decided to use my elliptical instead of a workout video. Only problem is, my elliptical is a little noisy. I live in a small apartment building. It’s not so loud that I can’t use it, but I feel like 6:30 in the morning might be too early to possibly wake up the neighbors. I tried. I got on the elliptical and started up for a few minutes, but then I heard moving around and thought, “I hope I didn’t wake them up!” Truthfully, I don’t even know if that’s what happened, but I really don’t want to be a bad neighbor. I’m going to work out when I get home from work instead of this morning I think, but I’ll be back to my workout video tomorrow morning.

On my way…

Monica Chapman — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:15:25 +0000

SO out of shape. I did a half hour on the elliptical last night, and that wasn’t too bad since I set the pace and had my own tunes (Kings of Leon for the win!). The exercise video this morning? That sucked. It would have been somewhat fun had I been at all coordinated when tired and hungry, but I was a mess. I didn’t know what I was doing most of the time, though I was definitely sweating and wearing myself out. When they say “muscle confusion” (which I’m sure is effective) they clearly never meant being confused about how to move your muscles.

I worked out prior to breakfast and it wasn’t enjoyable. I’m wondering if I should eat something small prior to a.m. work outs and then eat a real breakfast after. I was really thirsty after, to the point of not wanting food right after and guzzled some grapefruit juice. On an empty stomach that might not have been the best idea. Acid churning stomach PLUS more acid? Yeah. It was so difficult to eat the first several bites of oatmeal with my protesting stomach. But after awhile I felt tons better. And so far, I’m not feeling particularly sore or tired. I’m sure that might change by tomorrow. Since I did the elliptical last night, I’m not working out tonight…or at least no cardio. I might do a little bit of resistance training while watching TV or something.

Regardless of how difficult it was for me, I’m proud of myself for getting up and doing it. If I can stick to it for a few weeks it’ll be routine. At the very least I hope it gets easier to wake up early and that I can avoid being SO hungry while I’m working out.

Risk Reminder

Monica Chapman — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:42:20 +0000

My Father’s doctor recently confirmed that he has diabetes. My Aunt on his side also has diabetes. She’s definitely obese, though I believe my Father is only overweight. I don’t believe I have diabetes, though I fear going to the doctor enough that it’s been a really long time since my blood glucose was tested. I’m overweight, though nowhere near obese. I definitely intend to lose any unhealthy extra weight I’m carrying. I avoid white flour products like the plague. Do I have diabetes? Well, obviously I haven’t confirmed, but I don’t think so. The last time I had my blood glucose checked (and mind you, this was 10 years ago), it was so low the doctor told me, “You know, you didn’t have to fast before your physical, right?” Yeah, I hadn’t fasted at all. I just had very low blood sugar. It’s a wonder I wasn’t light headed all the time 10 years ago. I doubt it’s that low now as I’m not nearly as healthy as I was then. About 5 years ago I had to do a urinanalysis lab for an Animal Physiology lab (not fun) and definitely didn’t have any glucose in my urine then. I’m seriously considering buying a cheap glucose meter with included strips just to test it myself. I figure I could just do so in the morning before breakfast after not eating past dinner the night before…..maybe two days, and get an accurate picture. Bottom line? I’m concerned. I’d like some sort of confirmation. I’m young, so it’s difficult to remember that my current behavior could put me at risk for something like diabetes. It’s still fairly easy for me to get back in shape and drop weight when I’m determined to do so. My older relatives don’t find it as easy.

Anyway, I think I’m going on a diet and starting a new exercise plan. Walmart sells a pretty good glucose meter with 10 strips for only $9.00. I think I might pick one of those up just for peace of mind. At worst, I could find out I’m pre-diabetic, which I honestly doubt I am. Paranoid? Maybe. But it’s $10. If I get a result I don’t like I can always see a doctor, and if I don’t I’ve avoided a doctor’s visit. At the very least, wake up calls that lead to healthier behavior are usually not a bad thing. Especially when the wake up call is from someone else. My Father’s health has never been spectacular and he’s spent way longer eating far worse then me and doing far less physical activity. I just have to make sure I’m diligent at keeping that up. I don’t want to spend the next 30 years getting less and less healthy anymore than my aging body requires. If I can prevent disease, illness, why wouldn’t I?

How sweet is she?!

Monica Chapman — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:18:05 +0000

The daughter of one of my co-workers had an experiment she needed to prepare a poster presentation for, due today. This poor girl’s teacher is not very good. For instance, and keep in mind this is 6th grade, she assigned multiple assignments regarding the experiment throughout the past few weeks. That sounds like a good plan to me at heart. It keeps the kids from waiting until the last minute and gives you multiple opportunities to judge their progress and make sure they’re legitimately on track and understanding the project. So when the girl’s mother goes to help her get the poster together she assumes that all of the material from these previous presentations can be summarized and presented fairly easily. Problem? The teacher didn’t even review the assignments leading up to the presentation. She just had them turn them in and marked them as completed. I can maybe see doing this in highschool, but how dare you assign multiple assignments meant to keep your students on track for a major project and NOT review those pieces as they come in? I’m flabbergasted. Sadly, the poor kid was up until 2:00 am working on this thing because she had to redo much of the work from assignments her teacher never read through.

Meanwhile, my co-worker brought the results of the original experiments in a few days ago as she didn’t know how best for her daughter to graph them for the poster. I looked them over and realized the experiments she’d done didn’t really test what she intended to. This is something her teacher should have noticed as well. So I did a quick redesign of a few other experiments she could do with similar variables that WOULD give her results she could discuss in her poster presentation. She had plenty of time to get those experiments done, my co-worker brought those results in, and I was able to get them graphed and give her some guidance on what her daughter should notice in those results and point out at the presentation. That night, when she gave the graphs to her daughter her daughter said, “Why can’t Monica be my teacher!” That has to be the biggest thanks I’ve ever gotten. Helping her out cost me all of 15 minutes and now she’s in a more confidant place to present good data today. Even if I’m not working in the science filed as I intended, at least my degree in Biology gave me the know how to help her out. I wish I could give that teacher a piece of my mind though. A 6th grader should never need to be up at 2 am working on a assignment, especially when they clearly didn’t procrastinate.

Gaiam is the Best!

Monica Chapman — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:56:19 +0000

Yeah, I’m totally eating my words. I got 2 packages delivered to my office today. One contained the replacement part to my chair that’s in short supply. It might be unnecessary, but I was happy to get it and now my chair feels just that little bit more sturdy! The 2nd contained 2 resistance bands, one medium and one heavy along with a pilates toning band and DVD. Now, this isn’t exactly what comes with the new chair, though similar. There’s this small toning band that wraps around your thighs so you can do thigh exercises in the new chair. Gaiam didn’t send one of those, but I’m still happy. We were passing the toning bands around the office and several people asked me if they could keep them. I’m not giving them away, but I’m keeping them at my desk for anyone to use if they feel the need to get some blood flowing. My manager, who also has one of the chairs, tried out the heavy resistance band wrapped around the bottom of her chair and says her arms are all sore now. She almost wouldn’t give me the band back! Additionally, Aspen, my customer service rep, included a business card and a couple of post cards thanking me for my understanding during the shipping delay. The post cards are a total bonus as each has a coupon for $20 off my next order. I’ve already used some downtime today searching through their website for what I’ll buy next! Everyone here at work is incredibly impressed with Gaiam’s Customer Service! There really aren’t that many companies that would go this far keeping their customers happy. They called to explain the issue, emailed, sent me free extra goodies, my replacement part, and coupons off my next 2 orders. That’s above and beyond, and even despite the slight delay, it’s really only been about a week. That is awesome. I’ll seriously never hesitate to order from them in the future!