another kid and two jobs later

(This is a "getting smarter about my *mental* health" post)

... I reached a breaking point a few weeks ago: received a phone call telling me to not bother coming in to work anymore, they were letting me go. "Not a good fit" "No energy" (that might be true, but in reality I accidentally pissed off someone, and all the 'reasons' for the "letting go" were really excuses IMO).

This was a gig I'd only started in February this year. After being let go for financial reasons ("we should have run the numbers better before creating and filling the position") from the job I started in September 2012.

I had been having to wake up at 4.30am almost every day in order to ensure my arriving at a reasonable time at work twice a week ... and it's not like I was guaranteed to be able to catch a nap during the day ... and I'd have to juggle both kids' dinners in the evening followed by putting them down for the night (usually solo, no thanks to hubby's schedule), then clean the kitchen, maybe manage to eat some food, pass out, then start the whole thing all over again.

I don't know how to expand on that to give you an idea of just how exhausted I have been.

Even as it sent me teetering on the edge of a breakdown, the most recent loss of job is actually the best thing that could have happened to me at this time, because, frankly, I was so focused on just surviving on a day to day basis, I had no idea how bad I had it.

What saved me is my decision that very day to seek acupuncture treatment.
I'll expand on that in another post.

I can say I'm actually happy now. Or at least happiER than I've been in a long time.

And now I have the energy and willpower to make it to the gym, to cook, to eat better... back on track about getting smart(-er?) about my weight (... and body, energy, health, ...)

Two months later

Has it already been two months since that last post?

time really keeps on slipping slipping slipping ....

I'm not going to post a progress pic of the scale, because if you go just by that, it looks like I've made no progress.

But I know I have.

I'm hitting the Y four times a week now:
- Mondays: Zumba followed by Weights on Ball
- Tuesdays: Zumba
- Thursdays: Yoga/Pilates
- Fridays: Weights on Ball

Last week, the weather was even just right for me to add a few days where I walked (and pushed the stroller) to/from the Y (20 mins each way) in addition to the regularly-scheduled exercises listed above.

So that part of the weight loss equation is in place. Now to enhance it. I'm psyching myself up for engaging the services of a personal trainer.

I also need to eat better, and drink loads of water. I'm failing at both right now. Too easy to reach for those KitKats and Coke Zeros rather than a stick of celery and a glass of water. Also trying to cook meals again -- with the kid being a major timesuck, it has been too easy to grab some fast food burgers (and fries, onion rings, even McFlurries!) on the way back from the Y, or get pizza delivered for dinner. And when I do go grocery shopping, I end up stocking up on Golden Oreos, ooey gooey cake and chips rather than veggies, fruit or dead animals.

One step at a time.

At least I've got the basic exercise routine down pretty well.

Now, onwards and upwards!!

YMCA I was in you!

After just about four months of absence, I actually hit the YMCA for a bit of exercise this evening! I am SO thankful they have a FREE in-house 2-hr nursery facility!! Today I only did a quick 30 + 5 mins on the elliptical, but it was good to be pushing the heart again (wasn't out of breath the way I was four months ago when I started my cardio up again for what was that, a week?, before I had the PROM incident?). My quads were quietly groaning at me after just a few minutes' work, it was a great feeling to use them the whole 35mins.



^^ It's washed out, but that's fine... this is what the scale read today... In a few weeks' -- or a month's -- time, I'll take another pic, and we'll see if that needle went down any. The number is way off from my last weigh in at the doctor's office, so I'm not going to focus on the actual number, just the change. You see, I'm pretty much at my pre-pregnancy weight, which is still over 30lbs too heavy, so the journey to a less-fat me continues.

Updates on actual breastfeeding and mommy-related things will come too... when I have time!!! Even this blog post is being typed on stolen time :p Can't stay and chat. Ciao!

bf notes - 1

After getting back from the breastfeeding mom support group meeting followed by an impromptu session with the lactation consultation, i had a quick lunch (chili cheese fries, yum! oh and some soggy leftover salad), then kinda hung out with the kid, expecting him to be wailing for food... in the end it wasn't until 5pm that i managed to pop a boob into his mouth... so 15mins each side took us to 5:30pm... then i prepared and gave him 2 oz of formula, taking us to about 5:45pm... then I was supposed to put him down and go pump... and here is where the problem really starts... he cries, fusses and in general behaves such that I am reluctant to leave him... but in the end i hardened my heart and did just that... the time was already 6pm... pumped for about 15 mins... then cleaned up the equipment and other older bottles, nipples, etc... guess what time I was done? About 6:30pm... so then what, I have 30mins before starting this cycle all over again? And that's only if the kid cooperates.

and while i was pumping it's not like the kid slept... he was wailing about half the time... so unless he gets his act together, we are looking at both mommy and son who will in no time be majorly cranky and sleep-deprived.

I will be re-meeting with the lc Friday morning... let's see if I can stick to this at least until then.

oh look, it's 6:48pm... I guess i'll go take a power shower now.. this whole rigmarole is supposed to repeat itself in 12 mins' time!

ugh.

[UPDATE: 730PM ... have yet to shower; baby is totally passed out, now wondering if I should try to force another round of nurse/feed/pump, or let the kid decide]

[UPDATE: 815PM ... kid has cried a bit then gone right back to sleep ... so I will go ahead and pump now... dunno if that's the right thing to do, but I think frequency is majorly important right now if I'm to reestablish a proper supply of boobjuice. Oh, and the cat peed outside her litterbox again, guess who stepped into a puddle of it? I *really* do NOT need to deal with her PLUS all the new baby issues!! aarrgghhhh!!!!]

30 mins daily cardio!

A few months ago, my weekday morning Nia classes changed days and overlapped Zumba classes at the Y. Like rock paper scissors, Nia wins over Zumba anytime. Unfortunately, this meant that instead of having at least 5 dance workouts a week, I was down to 3. And since my hands/wrists hurt, I've retired from racquetball until after I pop and recover. So I've not been to the Y for the longest time.

That's gotta change, though. Due to genetics (thanks, father's side of the family!), I'm now having to deal with gestational diabetes. Apart from watching the food intake (quantity *and* quality) and monitoring my blood sugar levels, I need to be exercising more. 30mins of cardio daily should make a world of difference.

The weather's *finally* warmed up enough to warrant walks outside... except that the neighborhood we live in isn't that great a place to take a stroll through..

So I'm back at the Y. Wanted to bike the 30mins but the baby bump was totally in the way. I am not a fan of the treadmill. Why hello there, elliptical machine, it's been a while, eh? Wasn't planning on spending all 30 mins on my feet what with the edema and all, but what to do...

The newer silver machine I used on Thursday said that my 35 min workout took me 1.73 miles. My heartrate was slightly elevated, but I kept an eye on it and how I felt, made sure the max measured was 160 bpm.

I actually felt my body working... as in, ooops I guess I've been taking it *too* easy these past few months, being happy to just move around for an hour at a time, and not concerning myself about whether or not I was cardio-ing. My legs ACHED afterwards and the next day. I followed-up the cardio with some very basic weights on the balance ball. Didn't stretch much though, that didn't help with the leg aches, I'm sure.

The next day (Friday, i.e. today!) I had to use the older black machine, and already we're comparing apples and oranges... I put in 25 mins and took it easy. I did feel I was working a bit harder than the day before (different machine, different Level 1 settings?) but I don't believe I did 2.22 miles in 25 mins. My heart rate was slightly higher too, I think I caught it at 164 bpm a few times. Overall, however, I felt good.

I also made it a point to get on the floor mat and just do some hamstring stretches and butterfly stretches, taking my time, sinking into them, taking it easy. I think my muscles are a LOT happier with me as a result.

This weekend involves travel and limited exercise opportunities: if nothing else, I'll be back on the elliptical on Monday then.

Have a great weekend!

(image sources: diabetes and stretch)

calories vs posture?

Every day I browse through the rotating headlines on the Yahoo! main page, clicking the ones that catch my eye. Today, my eye was caught, but in a very bad way:

What's wrong with this picture?

After a few hours of hunching over the desk like that, what are the chances that this woman isn't going to be able to stand upright, and will be suffering from a lot of low back, shoulder and neck pain? How ironic would it be to stand at the desk to burn that extra 60 cals/hour only to find out you can't do any yoga, cardio, dance, etc, because you've hurt yourself by standing (improperly) at your desk?

fyi the actual article talks about "... drafting-style tables and high chairs for office workers, which gives you the option of working on your feet most of the day and sitting down to take breaks ..." so at least that is okay *if* one bothers to actually read it!

It would be nice to have a (stock) photo that actually fits the article it illustrates, y'know?

(image: screenshot of Yahoo! main page, April 6th 2011)

my massage wish list

Since we've "graduated" to working on non-classmates in what is termed "clinical settings", I've not been getting my twice-weekly in-class practice massages. Man do I miss them! If/when I ever do walk into a massage therapist's office one of these days, here's what I'll want them to work on:

• my hands in general, specifically my right thumb and forearm
• both my calves (I *really* need someone to dig in and knead 'em till they let go!)
• my left ankle (remember my injury? there's a lump of scar tissue/ excess collagen / something-or-other that needs "shredding"!)
• my left rhomboids and surrounding area
• my right QL and surrounding area

A session that does justice to all this while also providing a decent all-over massage should take about 1.5 hrs. My main (mental) obstacle is wanting to make sure I go to someone who can do an excellent job, because ugh the cost of massages is really high so I want to make sure I get my money's worth, y'know? I can go to my main massage instructor, but at the same time I'd like to try out some other people too. But I want them to be totally worth it.

Any recommendations, Springfield?

(Image source)

didn't last :p

Well THAT didn't last...

Tuesday I woke up too late for Zumba, and the Yoga/Pilates class wasn't calling out to me, so I didn't go, justifying it with a plan to hit one of the evening classes at the Y,,, which I proceeded to forget about as I cooked then delivered a Philly Cheesesteak Quiche to a "birth-tay gurl" *and* had a massage victim in the afternoon...

Wednesday I woke up with an unhappy ankle, prompting me to see if I could get a mssage session of my own... unfortunately my massage instructor was fully booked ("EVERYONE wants in before Christmas!")... so I just kinda moped around...

... and today, Thursday... I let the hubs take the car to work, so the Zumba or Yoga/Pilate session this morning was off the cards. Maybe, just maybe, if the hubs isn't on call, we might to some r-balling this evening. Don't hold your breath though.

Friday it's supposed to friggin snow... no classes at the Y anyway, and they close early... so I should get off my butt and do some sort of workout at home, heck even just a comprehensive gentle stretching from head to toe would work... or try a full round of the Daily Energy Routine...

I gotta say, seeing the actions makes 'em a lot less intimidating/confusing than just reading about 'em accompanied by some photos/sketches. I *might* just do this...

...mañana! :p

back on track?

Well, this site fell into a bit of neglect... I have a good reason for it though.. I'm taking a Massage Therapy certification program, and that takes up all my weekday nights, and most of my Mondays too. That doesn't leave as much time for futzing around online... I *had* still been working out pretty often, then came some news (TBA later) *and* the cold... and next think I know I've not worked out in weeks!! Aaargh!

But hey, I get three -- yes count 'em: THREE! -- weeks off between semesters! And I intend to hit the Y as often as I can during this time, and use that momentum to keep me going into the new year.

So far, yesterday (Sunday) played racquetball with the hubs for about an hour: again, something we've not done in what seems like forever. My ankles ached the next day, ugh! And today I did 1hr of Zumba, 30mins of which were the "Latin Sculpt" version i.e. with light weights. I was going to go straight to an hour of yoga afterwards, but they changed the schedule, gah! Now I'm going to have to choose one or the other. Grrr! Tomorrow I'll decide between Zumba and the Yoga/Pilates class. Wednesday I'll probably do the lunchtime yoga. Thursday should reflect Tuesday. No classes on Friday, and the Y is closed on Saturday, so I'll have to do some home exercising on those days.

I just hope the weather stays kinda warm (haha), because I really do NOT enjoy the cold, and it's way too easy to just snuggle under the covers and sleep the day away!

this is an SEO site?

A long time ago I submitted IQ vs lbs to Blog Explosion, in the hopes of getting traffic from like-minded bloggers over this way. So long ago, in fact, that I thought BE had died or something. Then all of a sudden yesterday I get an email saying this blog has been declined, because "as stated in our user guidelines, we are not currently accepting SEO sites into our directory."

This is an SEO site? Really?

*shakes head*

If it had been declined because I wasn't posting regularly, I'd totally buy that. But labeling this blog as an SEO site??!!

Ridiculous.

It's Turkey Day!

Gobble gobble, (aluminum) foil and (apple) crumble...

... turkey burn (oh no!) and casserole bubble?

To all those who celebrate it, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Kefir smoothie?

So yesterday I asked if you'd had kefir before. Today I'll share a peek of the kefir smoothie I made:



This was my first smoothie in aaaaaages! Once I started classes, everything kinda went out the window... am gonna try to get back on track now.

So this smoothie was a simple one: a banana and a cucumber, with a ½ cup of strawberry+banana-flavored kefir and a splash of water.
Verdict: considering I hadn't tasted this kefir straight out of its container, I couldn't tell you just how much change/improvement there was in its taste/consistency. But based on the other one I'd tried, I can safely say that it felt to me like a lassi. There wasn't much taste to it: cucumber is very subtle, and the banana just melted into the existing strawberry-banana flavor that must have also been quite subtle because I couldn't have told you what it was I was drinking!

I'll be fixing myself more of the stuff over the weekend. More updates if there are new things to report :)

Have you tried kefir?

A few weeks ago I picked up a bottle of LowFat Plain Kefir in an attempt to get more of those good bacteria in me... in general I've been really bad about food consumption lately, and my gut was pretty unhappy, I figured this might work better for me than the yogurt that seems to just sit on the fridge shelf totally not calling out to me when I am hunting for food and end up getting thrown out because they are waaaaaay past their expiration date. Besides, kefir is supposed to have a lot more, and better, types of bacteria, some of which actually colonise the intestinal tract rather than passing through they way those in yogurt do (see Kefir vs Yogurt)

Anyways.


I'd heard about kefir before, and somehow had the impression it was made with coconut milk. Wrong! It's made with any type of milk, really: the one by Lifeway was made from cow's milk. I hear the natural foods store in Springfield might carry non-cow varieties, I plan to look for 'em, later.

But back to the bottle I picked a few weeks ago: I was expecting a drink like a lassi... boy was I wrong! You see, lassi is a lot more liquid, I suppose you might call it yogurt diluted with water/milk... kefir on the other hand seems to be liquid yogurt. Very thick! And very very sour. Not bad, but... not what I was expecting... ... and so the opened bottle sat there for weeks until I decided it needed to go. A waste, yes. :(

Recently I went back and got the strawberry-banana version.

And will use it in a smoothie.

And blog about it.

Tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Zumba vs Nia

yes yes yes I'm SO overdue for updates on ALL my blogs :p Today I'd like to just blog a little bit about the two main dance-type exercise class thingys that I do to keep myself moving to replace the treadmill / ellipital machines and step aerobics type sessions.

First up: ZUMBA
This is essentially Latin-based dance moves and music... the first time I tried this out I felt so utterly stiff, I can't (read: "don't!") wiggle my hips that way, ugh, so I went through the whole class essentially doing masculine/dynamic moves because that was pretty much all I knew.

After a while I started to remember the routine for each song, and once I learned the moves, I could kinda relax into them a little bit more... but the overall spirit of the class is pretty controlled: "these are the moves, in this specific order, if you don't follow them then you are out of step with everyone else and you might just end up lost!"

See these two vids for examples of Zumba songs/routines (shot right here in the Springfield IL YMCA Walnut Room! No, I'm not in the crowd, this was a few months before we joined):







Compare this with NIA:



See the difference in energy? See the smiling faces? See the fluidity in movement?

One of the key elements to Nia is to learn the move, then DO the move, and then energize the move ... play with it ... enjoy... feel the joy in movement...

It was only after starting Nia (or, to be more specific, after I started taking Nia classes with a lady who also does bellydancing!) that I slowly gave myself permission to 'play'... and that has translated back into more fun Zumba for me, because while yes I keep up with the 'expected' routine, I usually throw in a lot more hand movements... I make it a point to follow my hands with my eyes when we're going those "two steps to one side while punching/punching out" moves, for example, or not caring about how I might look as I try to swivel my hips around as I pretend to salsa, LoL!

A RELATED ASIDE: There is also a Hip-Hop class that's pretty good. It's MUCH better than Zumba in its energy; each song being much longer, with lots of repetition of the same set of movements so it's easier to get through the learn-do-energize sequence within each song. My only beef with it is it's such a crowded class I can barely see the instructor and therefore struggle to get the movements down (and I'm not a fan of crowds!). So I've been skipping the last few weeks of this... maybe I'll gather the energy up again this weekend? :p

In the meantime, I find Zumba more than I Nia, but *only* because I can only catch a max of 2 Nia classes a week, while Zumba is available almost daily at the Y ... but Nia is slowly infusing me: I find myself starting to dance through life, adding arm and hand movements, even swaying my hips, as I walk around the apartment, as I go through my massage class, and before you know it I'll be the crazy lady dancing in the street? LoL!

If you have the opportunity to experience a Nia class, please do so! :) Here in Springfield Terri tries to hold a free class for first-timers every month or so, and/or your first class is free, so you can experience what Nia is all about. I hope to see you there!

Friday: double smoothie!

... and double potato chips! :p

Woke at 5:15am but was still late to the early morning step class (no thanks to the cat ... grrrr!!), but hey at least I made it! I've been threatening to go for weeks now, but every Friday morning has seen me turning the alarm off and dropping back off to sleep.

So, this time I drove.

Class was by a substitute (P, who usually does Zumba). While she stumbled (not literally) a bit through the routine, it was good enough for me: I sweated, my heart rate was up, good enough! And at least I didn't feel the pressure to keep up the way I knew I would with the normal instructor.

Also, I felt quite -- distanced? -- from the actions and didn't really enjoy the session: I had kinda expected that, though, because what's important to me nowadays is first and foremost enjoying myself, and not scrambling to keep up with some moves while making sure I don't trip myself up! I want to smile and move, not frown and flail! As such, I may need to find myself something else to do on Fridays (can't wait for the Friday Nia class to come back!)

Despite all the sweating, I didn't drink much water during or immediately after the workout. Bad bad lynne! :p Kind made up for that by downing over 2L of water the rest of the day!


Food:
~8am: banana + apple + handful of baby arugula smoothie (very yummy!)
~9:30am: a large skinny vanilla latte, and one plain chocolate Hershey's nugget
~12:30n another banana + apple + handful of baby arugula smoothie
then it went downhill.... there was the polishing off of half a bag of potato chips... and almost a whole other bag later in the night... in between there was an attempt to stem the tide with watermelon, and an egg... but the chips still won. Ugh. Just have to not have 'em in the apartment. Just like ice cream.

Overall, though, it was a relatively good day: I *really* like that I downed so much water (those salty chips had something to do with it, I suppose :p)

... we'll see how well I stick to the smoothies over the weekend: weekends are always a challenge! :p

Tues Wed Thurs: not going so good ...

Tuesday:
Woke up too late for smoothie-making.
Had a ¾-boiled egg (the white is solid, the yoke gooey), and allergy meds washed down with a few sips of Sprite Zero (water wasn't immediately on hand!)
Biked to the Y
Did 45mins Zumba (Gold) and 15mins Sculpt with 2x5lb dumbells.
Biked back
Had another ¾-boiled egg.
Don't remember what else I ate over the rest of the day, but I think I was pretty good apart, from some mindless SunChips consumption.
Made up for it a little by hitting the gym again in the evening for an hour of Yoga (drove).
Total water intake ~1.0L

Wednesday:
Biked to the Y.
45mins Zumba
1hr racquetball
too hungry for smoothie-making! instead had bagel & cream cheese w almond milk, water.
More poor eating ... take my word for it, the resolution for healthy eating was shot to hell with lots of unnecessary snackage of bad foods (ooey gooey coffee cake, anyone?).
At least water intake was over 1.5L, but that had to dilute 2 cans of Coke Zero, ugh.

Thursday:
Biked to the Y.
Another 45mins Zumba (Gold) and 15mins Sculpt with 2x5lb dumbells.
Biked back.
Was slightly better about food intake; had a chipotle chicken salad for dinner, drowning in sour cream, plus guacamole and snacked on potato chips out of the bag :p
At least water intake was over 1.5L and had only one can of Coke Zero.

= = =

Okay, so the smoothie twice a day is not getting achieved (heck I had two smoothie-less days!), gotta buck up on that. And the snacking... that's gotten waaay out of hand! One good thing, tho: I've not been tempted by ice cream recently, let's keep it that way!

Monday: getting back on track

One reason I was totally derailed food-wise was I wasn't keeping proper tabs on my consumption... just the effort of keeping track of food intake goes a long way in getting one to think twice about what they are going to mindlessly shove down their gullet, methinks.

So here it is again, more for me than for you... my daily food/activity diary.

Monday August 2nd 2010

Morning smoothie(s): collard greens smell really funky... but taste fine when blended with banana apple and grape tomatoes! I made it thick, so had a mugful before, and after, workout.

"Lunch": throughout the early afternoon, grazed on THREE Great Value (i.e. from WalMart) High Fiber Oats & Chocolate Chewy Bars (140 cals each) and finished the jazzed-up mac&cheese from last night (lots of added red & green peppers, some red onion and lots of sharp cheddar cheese).

Dinner: ok I was bad (because I'd been doubly good exercise-wise, see below)... got myself chili cheese fries and a patty melt... and two cans of Coke Zero... but gulped down another 20 fl oz of water!

Workout(s) & other activities:
Morning: Biked to/from the Y. Did 45mins Zumba (no Weights On Ball today, sob sob!). Consumed almost 600mL water (20 fl oz) during workout.

Evening: drove to/from the Y. Did 15mins Strictly Abs followed by 1hr of Zumba. Also consumed 20 fl oz water.

Night: up and down a flight of stairs a few times for laundry

= = =

So... food intake still all over the place: definitely need to work on that. Decent water intake, would have been better with only one or no soda tho. The double exercise was nice, even though it helped justify the bad dinner! Not sure why I decided to hit the Y twice in one day, both for Zumba. I don't even *like* Zumba that much! But hey, seeing the mindless repetition of unpleasant kicks (or what passes as kicks) prior to the abs class just further cemented my stand of not wanting to force myself into unappealing repetitive exercises. Better daily Zumba where I can work on letting loose and wagging my tail!!

It's 1:20am ... time for zzZZzzzZzz!

August Resolutions

Well, as you might have guessed from the dearth of posts that almost all aspects of my health efforts have gotten sidetracked. I have been hitting the gym frequently, mostly for Zumba classes, and the once-a-week Nia treat. However, I have also been doing a LOT of ice-cream and potato chip binging. Not good, for my physical, mental and subtle systems!

But August is a brand new month, and I once again reset my resolutions.

I currently hit the YMCA / dance studio on the following days for the following activities:

Monday: mid-morning 45mins Zumba followed by 1hr of Weights On Ball
Tuesday: mid-morning 45mins Zumba Gold followed by 15mins Zumba Sculpt
Wednesday: early morning 45mins Zumba
Thursday: mid-morning 45mins Zumba Gold followed by 15mins Zumba Sculpt
Friday: [keep intending to restart the Step class, but keep not going][This used to be my Nia day, but that's moved to Sunday until further notice]
Saturday: [not consistently, have caught mid-morning 1hr Zumba Gold plus 30mins Zumba Sculpt]
Sunday: 1hr Nia

#1: Ramp it up
Do cardio every day at the Y / dance studio / home [i.e. fully implement the above schedule], and follow-up with weights for upper-body toning [already doing 2-3x/week, want to do every day]. In addition, I will continue to bike to/from the Y unless the weather is bad, or I'm running way too late.


#2: Green smoothies for breakfast and lunch
I've been pretty successful in fixing myself one once I wake up (and when I'm late/don't feel like it, I grab an apple which is still much better than past behaviour!), but now I'd like to down another pretty much once I'm back from working out. This should help up my nutrition intake, and reduce the chances of stopping by Grab-A-Java for a vanilla latte after Nia!!

#3: 1.5L water intake
I've not been monitoring my water intake, but I know it's terribly erratic. You know how if you feel thirsty it means you're already dehydrated? Yeah, I know that thirst well. I'll be looking for a simple water filter jug to help with this, because sometimes the tap water tastes weird :p

Okay that's it for August. Notice I am silent about any specific quantity of weight loss goals, about Coke Zero consumption. If August goes well, then I can tighten things up next month. Right now, let's just focus on those above three things, k?

Some early smoothies

It's not like I was taking notes, so these combinations are picked from an unreliable memory :) but here's an attempt at recording some of my smoothie combos.

Saturday morning:
apple, banana, mango, radish, celery, carrots: a decent first try

Saturday afternoon:
apple, baby spinach, mango, carrots, soy milk: very 'light' without the banana

Sunday morning:
apple, banana, blueberries, baby spinach

Monday morning:
banana, tomato, radish, apple and a whole bunch of baby spinach

Tuesday morning:
banana, blueberries, radishes, spinach, tomato, ginger: color not so much green as blue, not as appealing: too many blueberries? Also, a little ginger goes a long way, I could have done with perhaps half of what I'd used; that plus two (small) radishes, and this smoothie had a bit of a kick!

As I mentioned before, I'm making it a point to have a (green) smoothie for breakfast/first thing in the morning: so far so good. Not going to clamp down on the other meals of the day yet. I also want to get to the gym daily again, whether for the 5:45am classes, or something else if I can't wake up: a bit of a challenge, but getting there again.

I'll try to remember to weigh myself at the Y today.

a late start in July

I cut myself some slack in June, knowing that come July & August, if things went the way they did the last time hubby turned into a vampire, I'd be able to hit the gym in the mornings on most days *and* eat both less and better.

Then I realised we were heading to the in-laws' for the July 4th weekend, so I cut myself even more slack.

I also had some sort of mental block about the [cheapo] blender plus food processor I'd picked up at Wal-Mart: it's been sitting in its opened box for a few weeks now, when I should have been fixing myself fruit & veggie smoothies already.

Grrr.

Well yesterday I made another round of fruit & veggie shopping:

• bananas
• cherries
• red seedless grapes
• 3lb bag of gala apples
• small container of fresh blueberries
• 2 cans of pineapple chunks in unsweetened pineapple juice
  
• a small bunch of beets
• a large container of baby spinach
• a bag-o-salad
  

(just ignore the fact that I also bought a pint of Ben&Jerry ice cream that I finished up in one go, *and* a package of Golden Oreos! shhhhh!!)

I also have the following 'in stock' from my previous round of shopping:

• a bunch of parsley
• cucumbers
• frozen strawberries
• 3 lemons
• celery
• some tomatoes
• 2 mangoes
  

... in addition to things that are almost always available here in chez naranek:

• a red onion
• semi-fresh ginger
• capsicums (capsica?) of various colors
• minced garlic
• lime juice (bottled)
  
• lemon juice (bottled)
• baby carrots
  

That's plenty to work with!

So here's the plan: minimum of one green smoothie daily, preferably in the morning. Seeing as I also plan to hit the gym by 5:45am almost every day, I should then plan to wakey around 5am on those days in order for the drink to be made *and* at least semi-digested before I start trouncing around! After a week, I'll reassess and perhaps start enforcing other raw meals. I should start daily updates again from next week. Stay tuned!

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