music tuesday

I have 240 songs in my "Workout" playlist, so I'm going to share! Some are slower, most are not. Beginning with the most recently added to my list (which are mostly on the radio right now).

Here is THIS week's 25 songs (I think my fave of the week may be Misinformed):

1. Waiting for the End by Linkin Park
2. Animal by Neon Trees
3. Sell Out by Reel Big Fish
4. Uprising by Muse
5. Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People
6. Misinformed by Soul Coughing
7. Forget You by Cee Lo Green
8. Run Run Run by Phoenix
9. Sick of You by Cake
10. Rhinestone Eyes by the Gorillaz
11. Jumpin' Jumpin' by Destiny's Child
12. When Did Your Heart Go Missing? by Rooney
13. Doin' Time by Sublime
14. Remember the Name by Fort Minor
15. If I Ever Feel Better by Phoenix
16. Firework by Katy Perry
17. Tighten Up by The Black Keys
18. Happy Everywhere by The Pinker Tones
19. Ride Like the Wind (Klass Remix) by Michael Mind
20. Bulletproof (Dave Aude Cherry Radio Remix) by La Roux
21. Things Go Better (Intrumental) by RJD2
22. Lsztomania (AlexMetric Remix) by Phenix
23. Little Miss Can't Be Wrong by the Spin Doctors
24. As We Enter by Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley
25. Billie Jean 2008 (Thriller 25th Aniversary Remix) by Michael Jackson (feat. Kanye West)

Bonus: Lay Me Down by the Dirty Heads, but that's a given.

I sure do love updating my ticker

Mostly only if the number is going down, though. :)

Check it, yo! Janessa's and my trainer is expanding into Highland! Now he'll have sessions there and in Provo! He also offers a 2 week FREE trial to come check out his services. We're all trying to get him more business so he can keep growing! John takes the time to help you figure out what is going to work best for you. He's motivating and funny and kind. He's like Bob Harper without the dark side!

Anyway, there is incentive for us to get new recruits, too! If you are in the Utah Valley/Salt Lake area, then head on over to www.doperformanceandfitness.com RIGHT NOW and register for your free 2 week trial! He has programs to fit almost any budget, I PROMISE! Let him know that Steph and Janessa sent you!

those d**n 2 pounds....

I'm part of a monthly shred challenge... I'm not really doing a shred-style diet and workout, but I like having someone to report to. This month I've been really sick.

Let me back up. I've been sick for 2 months probably. And I FINALLY went to the doctor last week because I couldn't pretend it wasn't a problem anymore. Now I'm on Claritin-D, Augmentin and Benedryl. Decongestants like sudafedrine make me retain/gain weight and they up my blood pressure/heart rate. It sucks.

And after breaking that 284 barrier, I've been gaining and losing and gaining and losing the same freaking 2 pounds! I couldn't work out at all last week, so I was excited to finally get back in the gym. Usually when I go to the gym, the next day my weight goes down.

It didn't this week. I worked out Monday and it went up 2 pounds!! I worked out HARD yesterday (nearly 1k burned and 30k lifted PLUS light cardio) and I lost a freaking pound! And I'm trying to be careful about what I eat. Geeze.

Although I DID finally track my calories through a whole weekend. I ate about 2100 cals each day for two days. NO BUENO. This may explain the yo-yo-ing on some level... if I have a high cal day, it needs to be once a week or even once a month.

Still... this is the last week for the shred and my goal of being down to 280 has 2 days to magically happen...

argh.

Barrier Broken! And a possible goal.... join me?

For a long time, my barrier weight was 289. I could NOT get below that. I would hit it and bounce back up. After I went to Disneyland at the end of May I shattered it, going up to 292 (right when I got home) and then dropping it all in 2 days... all the way down to 284. Since then, my barrier has been 286.


Until this week. I got down to 284 again, working hard. I have to maintain that for a few days for it to be official, I think, but FINALLY! It gets frustrating not to be able to get below a certain number! And my working out is pretty much directly related to whether I gain or lose. If I don't work out, I gain. When I do, I lose! Easy peasy!

On to a possible goal... I've sort of been thinking about registering in January for next year's Disneyland Half-Marathon... I might postpone it and go for the Princess (women only!) Half Marathon.... I can't even run a mile right now... I get way too winded. I can barely do the first week of training for the couch to 5k! But maybe a year is enough time to prepare for 13 miles!

Would you do something like that? Maybe you should join me!

steph's breakfast sammy (recipe)

(Image from Food Network)

I use to make "egg muffins" for breakfast... I'd batch cook eggs, ham, green onions, spinach, and a little cheese in muffin tins and then package them up in 2s so I could heat them up fast and eat them before I ran out the door.

They made me a little sick, and then hungry an hour later. I think it was the massive amounts of protein and tiny bit of spinach that did it to me. So now I make breakfast sammies. I thought I'd share this recipe because each sandwich is ONLY 209 calories! And like the one above, you could add tomatoes or onions or anything you wanted to! I still eat a snack 3 hours later, but not because I'm starving... but because I need to and I'm only a little hungry.

What to do:

1. TOAST 1 EarthGrains 100 calorie Thin Bun (I don't like the Orowheat ones... and Thomas make thin bagels for 100 cals if you prefer!)
2. COOK 2 Egg whites (with salt & pepper if you prefer. or any seasonings. or green onions! Did you know all the protein is in the whites? And they're only about 17 cals each!)
3. COOK 2 strips Jenni-O Extra Lean Turkey Bacon (make sure you get Extra Lean. only 20 cals per slice! I cook mine as crispy as possible)
4. SPREAD Laughing Cow LIGHT Original Spreadable Swiss Cheese on your toasted bun (You can get the different flavors if you want, but I like the regular kind. If you have an intolerance, the sammy is still good without this)
5. ASSEMBLE your sammy! (I fold my bacon in half and my eggs on top of that. You can add tomato or spinach or WHATEVER veggie you want!)
6. ENJOY! (Sometimes I have a little fruit or fruit w/ cottage cheese on the side... IF I plan ahead.)

Take THAT, crappy Subway breakfast sandwich!

(P.S. Trackers are back! You should be able to edit yours!)

a note on obsessions

I have two confessions.

First, a confession which should come as no surprise: I'm obsessed with food. Let me correct that. I'm obsessed with eating food. It's why I'm in the mess I'm in. And while I could blame my parents – or my mother, or my upbringing, or my genetics – for it, the honest fact is that I have got to fix it myself.

I am slowly discovering a new obsession – for good or bad – I think it's mostly for good.

I'm obsessed with tracking what I eat, when I exercise, how much I weigh and how much I am shrinking. You see, I've discovered that it's a good motivator for me. I've found that I absolutely must stay obsessed on some level or else my discipline starts to slip (like tonight when I ate one of the peanut butter bars meant for work tomorrow), I fall. I feel awful about myself. I run the risk of truly "losing it."

And so I track everything I eat. For the most part I am doing awesome, but there are days where my calories go above 1600 and beyond the 1800 cap. Some days I've worked out, so I justify it. But other days I just plain binge. It's something I have still got to keep under control. But I've found that the days I DON'T record what I eat... the weekends where I go 3 days straight without – I gain weight like crazy.

Keeping this always on my mind helps me to make good food choices. It helps make the salads and the breakfast sandwiches and the 2 hours in the gym [almost] every night more bearable. The exhaustion and the sore muscles make me happier when I see the number on the scale or the tape measure reading is another quarter-inch smaller.

I am raising awareness in myself and in others. Yes, that fast food is REALLY that bad for you. And yes, we are going to feel like crap if we eat that entire pizza, drink that 2-gallon mug of soda or sit on the couch or in front of the computer all night. And I am going to talk about it. Don't ask me to stop. Don't say "uh huh" as your eyes glaze over. Chances are you need to hear it as much as I do. We all need to try harder and dismissing my interests make it that much harder to stay interested.

I remember when I use to get annoyed when roommates or others would bring up calories or exercise or losing weight. But I know now that it is only because I knew what I needed to be doing, but I wasn't doing it. It was easier to scoff than try.

I use dailyburn.com and I rely on my coworkers and the Boy and a few others to keep me motivated. I workout with two of my coworkers and I like hearing when they say I am looking smaller... or that someone else mentioned it to them. It helps for the times when the tape measure isn't moving. The Boy lets me freak out over my weight gain or lack of loss (usually every 28 days or so) and then matter-of-factly encourages me to continue. When I freak that a pound a week isn't good enough, he reminds me that it IS healthy and the right way because it will stay off.

As long as I can avoid those peanut butter bars and stop obsessing over the pointless things. :)

Love,

Steph