CruisingCA is back to WISHing....

[CruisingCA2005]

L: BBQ chicken salad - green salad, strips of grilled chicken w/bbq sauce (even though I couldn't really taste it), and salsa. It came with corn but I substituted a few plum tomatoes instead.
S: 15 almonds w/ tamari
D: Strawberries, 1 hard boiled egg
B: Oatmeal. I put a little bit of vanilla extract and cinnamon in the oatmeal when I was cooking it and used a packet of Splenda to sweeten it.

I just finished the Taebo Cardio workout.

I finished reading most of the South Beach Diet. I really like what I've been reading and I think that I will try to stick to the SBD diet (starting at Phase 2 though). I don't know if Luna bars are on the SBD diet but oh well - 1 luna bar a day won't throw my diet off if I eat it in the middle of the day.

I weighed myself this morning & I am 134 pounds.

Current measurements:
Bust - 36 1/2
Chest - 32
Waist - 32 1/2
Hips - 38
Thighs - 20 1/2

Have a Happy 4th of July everyone! We're going to a friends house for a BBQ later. It'll be easy to stick to the SBD because he always has a variety of veggies (grilled veggies and different salads) in addition to yummy meats & other dishes. I'll try to fill myself up with veggies so I'll be too full for dessert.

 

[toystoryduo]

Hi Rae Ann!
You are doing a great job with your exercise and menus! I hope you had a fun time at the BBQ yesterday! Take care and have a great week!

Tracy

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

Hi Rae Ann,

Just wanted to swing by...hope you had a nice holiday weekend. Bet your clothes are getting looser with all that toning and cardio...don't overdo it on the tanning now, I give anesthesia to people with skin cancer all the time..it's becoming more and more prevalent.

Keep up the great job!

Jean

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Jean & Tracy: Thanks so much for visiting my journal and for your encouragement. I really appreciate when members from our WISH family take the time to comment. Don't worry about overtanning....I have no idea if and when I'll ever get it done.

Today has been a day of ups and downs.

We really had a great time yesterday at the BBQ. I ate steak, shrimp, broccoli salad, green salad, and a portabello mushroom/asparagus mix. Our friend lives near a high school that had a fireworks show so we were able to walk down to the school and enjoy the show.

B: Whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter
S: Almonds
L: Green salad, steak, nectarine
S: Strawberries
D: Artichoke, steak, hard boiled egg

I baked some salmon for tomorrow's lunch and dinner. I also made some sugar free jello for a dessert and boiled eggs to eat as snacks or with meals.

Today I did the Firm: Maximum Cardio Burn Plus Abs dvd. I had a great workout with it but I'll have to return that dvd. I'm still anxiously awaiting my Firm shipment.

This morning we got news that DH's aunt was in intensive care in the hospital with total liver failure. She never married or had kids and never really took care of herself. She was overweight, had diabetes, asthma, a heart problem, she never exercised or watched what she ate. She would take all kinds of medicines for her ailments. It turns out that she'd even take medications without a doctor regulating her health & this is what contributed to her liver failure. DH visited her this afternoon and said that she's in really bad shape.

Somedays I feel like I haven't really gotten anything done. As I look back and what I did today I actually did get quite a few things done....I just have a whole lot more to do. <sigh>

 

[Strings]

Hi There,
I am so sorry to hear about DH's aunt. Your family will be in my prayers.
You are doing an amazing job with the exercise. You may want to occasional rest days. I would hate for you to pull a muscle. Hqve you considered the spray tanner? Nice even tan, and no cancer causing rays.

Have a great day.
beth

 

[CruisingCA2005]

I went to the step class during lunch. I really noticed a difference with my thighs. Last week I wore capri exercise pants or yoga pants because of a shaving mishap (LOL)...I wore bike shorts today and I could actually see that my thighs are a lot more toned than they used to be.

Tomorrow is yoga class. I want to incorporate more stretching, yoga, & pilates into my workout. The gym at work only offers yoga once a week so I'm going to look into good yoga & pilates dvds so I can workout at home. I really need to stretch and become more flexible.

B: 1 egg, 1 slice of turkey
S: 15 almonds, 1 luna bar
L: salmon, spinach salad, & eggplant parmigiana
S: cherries

Strings: thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately she passed away last night. She'll be missed by her 12 siblings and many nieces & nephews.

 

[Strings]

I'm sorry for your loss. You family will be in my prayers.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

I wasn't able to post yesterday so I'm doing it right now.

D: Chicken with tomatoes, mushrooms & zucchini. Green salad, hard boiled egg.
S: Uncle Sam cereal with soy milk
B: Whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter
S: Hard boiled egg, nectarine
L: Salmon, spinach salad & eggplant parmigiana
S: Chocolate soy milk, luna bar
D: Green salad, salmon, steak
B: Whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter, yogurt
S: Hard boiled egg, almonds
L: Green salad, Chicken with tomatoes, mushrooms & zucchini.
S: cherries, luna bar

Yesterday I did the Denise Austin Power Yoga dvd.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

I went to step class today. I'm not sure if they'll be offering step class at work for a while because the instructor is going to have a baby. She's 39 weeks pregnant now.

I think I may try the other yoga tape that I bought.

I'm having a blah day. Even in class, I didn't feel like myself. I'm sure I'll be okay tomorrow.

 

[toystoryduo]

Hi Rae Ann!
Sending you lots of to chase away the blahs! I hope that you are feeling better today! Have a great Sunday!!

Tracy

 

[CruisingCA2005]

I can't believe I haven't posted since Thursday.

Exercise: I did yoga on Friday, did nothing on Saturday, played basketball on Sunday, and did cardio kickbox today. I may go home and do yoga since I'll have to return the Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss with Suzanne Deason soon. I really like that yoga dvd because it shows 4 different levels of doing the same exercise by modifying some of the poses and using blocks.

Eating: I won't list everything I've eaten in the past few days........

B: Hard boiled egg, 4 oz of yogurt
S: Pink lady apple (my new favorite type of apple)
L: Salmon with couscous, baked butternut squash & sun dried tomatoes, spinach salad
S: dry roasted edamame (soybeans)

I bought yummy roasted pistachios with garlic from Trader Joe's. So delicious!!

 

[CruisingCA2005]

I joined the Labor Day Challenge yesterday. I'm going to try my hardest to lose 8 pounds by Labor Day. I think a pound a week is a reasonable goal for me. I haven't hopped on the scale recently but I wonder if I've earned my 5 pound clippie yet. It's funny how something so small as a graphic can make you so happy.

Last night I did the Denise Austin Power Yoga (just the yoga part, not the pilates part). I think I'm starting to improve my flexibility. Today I went to the Power Pump (interval training class). We heard that our step instructor had her baby yesterday. A healthy baby girl 7 lbs 1 oz (and she only gained 15 pounds!!). I'm going to the doctor today to have my annual checkup....I'm going to tell him that I want to get my tubes tied.

D: Chicken, curry, green salad, cooked veggies
S: South beach Diet cinnamon roll bar. It didn't taste that great so I don't think I'll be getting those any more.
B: 1 hard boiled egg, 4 oz of yogurt
S: 1/2 granny smith apple
L: spinach, chicken salad, sliced almonds, 1 piece of cheddar cheese, 1/2 asian pear.

I got a $5 off coupon for Bed Bath & Beyond. I think I'm going to use it to buy a digital scale for home. I hate my big & bulky scale.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

I'm soo excited. I got two packages in the mail today. 1 from QVC (my Taebo dvds) and 1 from the Firm Direct (my body sculpting system & dvds). I was so excited to finally use a fanny lifter that I did the Body Sculpt Blaster with Nancy. It's only a 35 minute workout but I feel great after doing it.

I went to my annual visit to my ob. He just HAD to point out that on my first visit to him (almost 9 years ago) I weighed 116 pounds. I told him that I just got back into exercising 3 weeks ago. Yeah SO WHAT if I'm almost as heavy as I was when I gave birth to my son. Anyway, I don't feel too bad 'cause I'm really working hard to lose some weight (I don't think I want to be 116) and have a healthier lifestyle. I'm going to have the tubal ligation as soon as they clear it with my insurance company. It's an outpatient procedure now so I'll be able to have it on a Friday & return to work on Monday.

I had a lemon zest Luna bar as a snack. I'm so glad I read about Luna bars in someone's journal (sorry I don't remember who) but these are yummy as a snack.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

3 whole weeks of WISHing!!

I did the Ab Firm tape (I forget the exact name of it) and went to the yoga class at work. I'm definitely improving my flexibility. We did the half moon pose today. I had a little difficulty balancing on my right but I was able to do the pose on my left side.

Yesterday:
S: Lemon Zest Luna Bar
D: Chicken, spinach salad, butternut squash
S: strawberries

Today:
B: Whole wheat english muffin & peanut butter, hard boiled egg
S: Chocolate peppermint luna bar
L: Salad (spinach, chicken salad, sliced almonds, carrots, grape tomatoes, broccoli), pink lady apple

I fit into an old pair of pants....Woohoo!!

 

[CruisingCA2005]

I brought my lunch to work as usual......salad, El Pollo Loco chicken, apple, etc. but my coworkers and I decided to go out for lunch instead. One of my coworkers just bought a new Audi A6 so we wanted to go for a ride in the brand new car. It's a beauty. We went to the Elephant Bar for lunch and I had the JamaicaMojo Grilled Shrimp Salad. It was delicious and the only thing that wasn't "good" for me was the candied walnuts (that I ate anyway) and the fried wonton skins (I had 1). I did have 1 thing that is not on any diet plan anywhere...a Lemon Drop Martini. It was a great lunch...

After lunch we went shopping at Macy's. I bought 4 shirts & 2 skirts that were on sale. 1 of the skirts is a size 6!! Woohoo!

There weren't any classes offered at the gym at work today because the aerobics instructor is on maternity leave but tomorrow there will be another interval training class. I plan on doing one of the FIRM dvds when I go home and possibly a yoga dvd also. I'm really getting into yoga. I've been reading things online about yoga and have been checking out yogajournal.com. That site has a lot of helpful information on it. I've added quite a few of the yoga dvds that the site recommends to my Netflix queue.

It'll be a little less hectic for me because today was DS's last day of summer school. He still has 2 basketball camps that he'll be going to but atleast I won't have to worry about picking him up in the middle of the day & dropping him off at Grandpa's house. I think he's looking forward to the camps. He really enjoys playing basketball so we try to encourage him as much as we can. He'll be starting another league on Sunday and then he's also starting the Summer Run league soon too. I have to go sign him up for the Summer run league tomorrow. We've become really good friends with his coach from his 1st & 2nd seasons of basketball. Her son is a year older than DS but is 2 grades ahead of Owen because he skipped a grade. He's a smart, good looking young boy who is very athletic. He's going to be a lady killer when he gets older.

S: Garlic pistachios
D: Salad, El Pollo Loco Chicken, 1 whole wheat tortilla
S: Strawberries
B: Uncle Sam cereal & soy milk
S: 1 hard boiled egg
L: JamaicaMojo grilled shrimp salad
S: Key Lime Luna Bar

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Hi, I just read my journal. Thanks for the encouragement. And you are welcome to keep up w/my WW online outcome. The thing is, from what I have read of your journal, you seem to already have your eating under control enough, that...in my opinion...you probably don't need any kind of structured plan. You could eat everything you eat on WW anyway. They would just tell you how many points it is worth. You probably are doing it right now and don't even know it. LOL! But if it is something that you still think you might want to try, then please by all means, keep up w/my story, and maybe I can help you w/any questions you may have. Congrats on your success at meeting your goals so far! I will be here to support you in any way I can.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Tasha+Scott: Thanks for the encouragement. I will continue to read your journal because I'm really interested in WW. I'm doing good right now but I've only completed 3 weeks of exercising & eating right. It's way to easy for me to slip up and I figured that it may be better for me in the long run to stick to a structured plan.

I felt great today when my coworker told me that my legs really looked toned now. 3 weeks of exercise is really paying off. I feel a lot better too. I used to come home from work exhausted and sometimes I would even take a nap.

DH called me up & said that he wants to go to dinner at his favorite restaurant. It's a Japanese restaurant that you grill your food over hot coals. I'm sure I could stick to a SBD-ish diet but I think I'd be way over points for the day with WW. I better start reading up on WW. I love the salad there and the grilled veggies & meats are great also. If I stay away from the rice I think I'll be okay.

I went to the interval training class today at work. She set it like a circuit training; 3 stations of abs, 1 for lower back, 1 cardio, 1 hamstrings, 2 legs, triceps, biceps, upright rows, pushups. Whew! We did 3 complete circuits and it was invigorating.

I received the Pilates for Dummies dvd from netflix today. I'll try it out sometime this weekend. Tomorrow I'll be going to the Step class at 24 hour fitness at 7 am. Then after class we'll do some grocery shopping at Trader Joes. I just love that store.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Sounds like you are really doing great w/the exercise. I used to exercise 2 to 3 times a day when DH and I first got married. I was not working and I had more time. I was completely addicted to exercising and I felt great. I also started to get some of the compliments that you are now getting. It really does help make you feel good. Unfortunately, we moved and I found a job and slowly just stopped exercising. I still love it but I find it is harder to get started back since I stopped. I worked out yesterday and skipped today. I am about to go to bed and when I get up later I am hoping to finally feel like getting back into the exercise swing of things. I love reading your journal b/c it does inspire me to want to start exercising again! Keep up the good work!

 

[CruisingCA2005]

A new scale & new goals: I just bought a new digital scale because my other scale doesn't seem to be correct. I was right. I'm not 135 pounds....I'm 139.7 pounds. I think I did lose some weight & my clothes are fitting better so I know that these past 3 weeks of exercise & eating better is helping. I don't know...it's still a little depressing to think that my scale was 4 pounds off!! If I lose 8 pounds for the labor day challenge, I'll be down to 131. I'd like to get down to 130 by our trip to Hawaii at the end of December. Maybe I'll be into a size 6 by then. I hope to get down to 125 pounds by our Disney cruise on June 18th, 2005. That's approximately 11 months away so I think I can do it.

Today's exercise: I went to the 30 minute Step Express class today. Even though it was only 30 minutes, it was an intense workout. I could have stayed for the 30 minute Body Express class but since I did some weight training yesterday, I don't want to work my muscles too much. When I got home, I did 20 minutes of the Power Yoga dvd. I can't wait until I'm able to do the entire dvd (1 hour 20 minutes) without using the yoga blocks. I noticed that my downward dogs are getting better. I can almost put my heels to the floor. I want to get a better yoga mat. I have a reebok mat that I got in a yoga kit but once I start to sweat, my hands and feets sometimes slip while I do the poses.

Last night's dinner: We did go out to dinner last night at Gyu-kaku (you can see their menu online). I think I did pretty good last night. DH & I shared the salad, and I ordered zucchini, mushrooms, and albacore tuna. Everything was so delicious but the service sucked last night. We waited 45 minutes for a table, then we didn't really have a waiter. The host took our order (and forgot 2 of my dishes) so we had to flag the staff down everytime we needed something....like when we were wondering where my food was (DH was already finished eating) and to get our check. Waiting 20 minutes after you've eaten to get your check is simply unacceptable. DH had wanted to order a dessert but I told him not to because I didn't want to be there for another hour.

Today's food: This morning I had 3 slices of turkey bacon & 1 hard boiled egg for breakfast. Geez - that seems like a Atkins diet!! For lunch I had a mediterannean chicken salad from Subway and a Mango Mantra 16 oz smoothie from Jamba Juice (only 3 WW points). It's one of their "enlightened" smoothies and only has 170 calories (compared to the 300+ for their "regular" smoothies). Mmm. I have to check out the nutrition facts for Surf City Squeeze & Robeks (I think that's how you spell it).

What am I doing today? I have to do a few loads of laundry and start cleaning the house. I also need to pay bills & input some expenditures into Quicken. I think DS wants to go to a movie tonight but we'll see how things go. Maybe I'll watch the Pilates for Dummies dvd so I'll know how the workout is....

 

[Strings]

Hi There,

Thanks for being my 1000th post. You exhaust me just reading your journal. Keep up the great work. I waitressed in HS/college, and there is nothing i hate more then poor service. Last Mother's Day, I actually went into the kitchen to get our drinks that had been ordered a LONG time before. After that, the service got better. I've never been accused of being shy.

You are doing a great job. I think it is great that you mix up your workouts so much. Your body won't get used to the routine, and you won't get bored.

Have a grat weekend.
Beth