One Baked Lay at a Time..

So I came to the sad conclusion at the age of 25 that I am not naturally skinny. *gasp!*

In high school- it was so easy to eat healthy and stay slim due to cliques and drama and immature boys-- one must stay skinny to survive. Our lunch table usually consisted of 6 girls with 6 cans of diet coke and 6 bags of Baked Lays. Plus with soccer and lacrosse practice every day you automatically worked out without thinking about it. Oh- then came getting Mono sophomore yr of HS which like in 'Romy & Michelle's HS Reunion' was like the best.diet.ever. Plus my mom always made healthy home cooked meals.

Then comes college. While my mom tried to send me off to school with a travel pack of EVOO and Balsamic Vinegar to bring with me to the cafeteria for the salad bar, that worked for like 2 days. Debbie Q must not have known you could make your own fancy strawberry shortcake pancakes for dinner! Or think you're making the right choice by picking the veggie pizza.. I don't even want to go into it. But a twenty few pounds later I thought it would all fall off once I was away from college drinking about 5 nights a week (oh don't judge!)

It didn't.

Thankfully I lost 15 lbs for my wedding, which basically happened by running my ass off. I didn't really change my eating habbits, just ran a lot.. (which surprise surprise- once you stop running, 'here comes the lbs!') Knowing that the 2 year anniversary* is approaching in September, I'd much rather celebrate feeling good and fabulous, not fat and frumpy.

*Any girl who lives with a guy can understand how its so easy to gain weight when you eat pretty much like a guy. Except he goes to the gym for 3 hrs and you read US Weekly and watch The Bachelorette..

I'm sure there are a lot of girls out there like me. And if you're not, you're just a skinny biatch! ;) hahaha jk. These days there are a ton of resources out there to help a sister out, including the fabulous Hungry Girl. I actually never heard about her blog, HungryGirl.com, but I picked up her book at Borders when I was looking for WW Points Cookbooks (call me a points whore, cos I just joined WW this month [both meetings and online fun] and I LOVE it!)

Basically Hungry Girl and WW online has all of the recipes that just make all of your favorite foods with smarter ingredients. But both make it look actually tasty!

So far its been 6 scrawny pounds lost, but eating a lot healthier is starting to get a little easier..

day.

by.

day.

Just like a 5K.. only twice

When my company sent out an email saying they were sponsoring a team for the Falmouth Road Race, a popular 7 mile race on the coast of Cape Cod in August, I thought, good for them! I'd totally go hand out water and cheer on the runners. It wasn't until I told the hubs about it that evening, and he says "Why don't you run it?" Um... cos its 7 miles, and all I've ever run is a 5K.. that's why. Then for some crazy reason, the next morning I emailed the girl saying that I'm in. Did I feel like I had lost 5 lbs as soon as I sent that email? Totally.. Now I have to start training for this marathon (minus 19.2 miles). Yesterday I started with 2.5 miles, and let me tell you..

Its going to be a long summer.

Happy Marathon Monday!

BTW.. I decided to run my 26.2 miles last night, because I dont really like attention too much..
mwhahaha i crack myself up.

a deep google chat with Lauren, considering we were only the few people working today in Ma! Prequel: L-lo's office is right by the Boston Marathon finish line
Congrats to my friend Emily who kicked ass today and ran for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!! (with an awesome time of 3:49!) I think I could do a 2K in about 3:49 at the moment, cos i'm still in vacation mode.

Allure Understands Ur Mood

Catching up on my November Issue of Allure (with a bronze gorgeous J-Lo gracing its cover) I came across some interesting reads in the Mood News section. One titled 'Talk To Strangers', saying that to improve your mood, speak with a stranger.

"Among 38 couples, most subjects predicted that they would feel better talking to their mate than an opposite-sex stranger. But those who chatted with someone they didn't know rated their experiences and moods very highly afterward. People are motivated to make a good first impression, and the attempt itself makes them feel good, the investigators explain." [allure nov'07 pg 115]

I guess that is better then treating your mate like a complete and total stranger!

Then I clicked on their Mood News link and am so excited to browze through it! It touches every subject from Tanning Addiction to Fake Smiles. Me being a nosy neighbor loves hearing about everything and anything.

Deceptively Delicious!

I saw Jessica Seinfeld on Oprah supporting her first book "Deceptively Delicious". A cookbook geared towards sneaking healthy veggies into her family meals. The Baby Buggy founder says she dedicated her Sunday afternoons making purees out of the 'evil' vegetables her 3 kids dreaded. Some of the recipes looked pretty yummy, example: Sweet potatoes hidden in pancakes, cauliflower in chicken salad & mashed potatoes. I might buy the book even though there won't be any babies or kids running around my apartment anytime soon!

Don't Move to Fatsville!

A new study shows that the richest neighborhoods have the lowest obesity rates.

A University of Washington researcher said he found that neighborhood property values predict local obesity rates better than education or incomes. For each additional $100,000 in the median price of homes, researchers found, obesity rates in a given ZIP code dropped by 2 percent. [source]

That's because The Riches can afford their own chef, personal trainers, liposuction, Zone Diet Meal deliveries, pilates classes, Bikini Boot camp in Mexico, coffee colonics, and send their kids to fat camp..

I can't wear tennis sneakers to the gym!

Above: I hired a body double for our workout photo shoot..

Sunday morning Gus and I hit up the tennis courts, excited to break in our new New Balance tennis sneaks. Yeah, apparently I can't hit the ball when its over 80 degrees. At one point I threw my racket in order to hit one of Gus' serves. After 5 minutes of this, Gus knew a tennis match was not going to happen. "Alright then, you're gym is right down the street, you're going to experience a Gus workout." Yeah right, I had already been to the gym pretty much every day for the past two weeks (due to my health kick since wedding season starts up again this upcoming weekend).

Within the 2 minute drive to the gym, I had managed to come up with about 15 excuses, including these few:
- I can't wear tennis sneakers to the gym!
- I don't have my iPod!
- The gym is closed on Sundays!
- I've already went this morning at 6am while you were sleeping!
- I need a coffee!

Gus didn't buy it, and there we were warming up on the fancy arm swinging eliptical for 5 min. Alright, hangover is starting to sweat away, I might survive this after all. With all of the fancy machines and weights at the gym, its the stuff you do with the $15 workout ball, and the 8 lb weights that KILL YOU! And then there's those evil squats and lunges that require nothing except your poor limbs. 40 minutes later, to the tred mill we go! "1 mile and then we're done" as Gus sets the machine to 7.0 and starts running. First of all, I didn't know the tred mill went past 5.5, and second of all, every step I have taken since doing the lunges, still feels like I'm doing lunges! While Gus runs his mile, I'm picking up my leg each step on the machine next to him, and managed to crawl about .4 miles when he finishes up. We stretched for what seemed like forever, which made me feel like maybe I could walk down the stairs after all to exit the gym.

So now we have our new Sunday morning tradition, even though writing this post on Monday morning not being able laugh because my non existent abs are aching and seeking alternative routes so I do not have to come across any stairs!!!

Holy [low-fat] Cannoli!

This couple lost a total of 580lbs! Thats like the Backstreet Boys combined. Here I am worried about 20lbs, thats probably the amount this couple lost in their pinkies!!! What worked for them was 'The Weigh Down Workshop' which is primarily a faith-based weight loss system.

Before

After

That's awesome! Now back to lunges..

5 Factors of Fabulous

Access Hollywood did a special on celebrities getting in shape. Usually I just role my eyes at celebrity workouts because they look impossible and fake. But this personal trainer Harley Pasternak has a good system. He calls it the 5-Factors of Diet and Workout. Harley keeps it simple. Five exercises, five minutes each, for 25 minutes total, five days a week.

5 Factors (click here for article)
Factor 1. Warm up (stairs or tredmill- whatever floats your boat)
Factor 2. Cable Exercises (to tighten up your chest and arms)
Factor 3: Stand ups (While it looks really easy- i'm sure after two minutes it gets pretty hard)
Factor 4: Abdominals (crunchs, etc)
Factor 5: Big Cardio Finish (Running!!!!!!!!)

Click here for the Diet that Harley recommends.

Turn back into a Blogging Dog

So tonight Jenny & I tried Yoga for the first time. For some reason I thought Yoga was just relaxing and stretching on a mat, kind of like the Tic Tac commercials. We decided to check out the Monday night class (even though the Tuesday night one was more for beginners). The building was really cool, and they had the om symbol everywhere, which was sweet considering that is one of my tattoos (SUCH A SIGN i thought to myself) We walked into the 90 degree room with our mats. For a girl who's an AC freak- it was quite the adjustment. I made it about 45 minutes of the workout (which is WAY more then lying down and closing your eyes and meditating) before I felt like I was going to pass out. By the 50th Upward facing dog push up- I had to go out into the hallway and grab some fresh air for 10 minutes-- TWICE (C'mon it was my first try @ this!) Jenny was a rockstar she lasted the whole 90 minutes. While I did feel great afterwards- I definitely need to do it a few more times and work on the whole breathing thing- maybe that will curb the lightheadedness. Mad props goes out to Yoga goers, because it is very challenging!!! [note: that pic is not us, just a random i google image'd]

I don't Luv2Run..

But I'm going to anyways.

Me, Jenny, Gus and Amanda & Noreen from work are running the "Luv2Run" 5K tomorrow. The only thing is- I kinda haven't trained like.. AT ALL for it. Stayed in tonite, ate some pasta, and watched Happy Feet with Debbie Q. Happy Feet is cute, but March of the Penguins is so much better.

Weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow- which is ironic because the weather is going to be gross for the professional runners taking part in the Boston Marathon on Monday.

iTuned Stored it up this evening and added a little Fall Out Boy & Rage Against the Machine to the nano, so I should be fine. Wish me luck, cos I'm going to need it...

To be continued!

Bikini Bootcamp

How would you like to send yourself to Bikini Bootcamp? Don't worry guys, there's Warrior Week as well. Amansala is an eco friendly resort in Tulam, Mexico that gives new meaning to a kick ass vacation.

Days start with a beach or jungle powerwalk followed by a combination of body sculpting, power ab sessions or pilates, and end with yoga and meditation. In between there are excursions to the nearby jungle for swimming and snorkeling in fresh water swimming holes (cenotes), visits to Mayan ruins and pampering with beachside massages, Mayan Clay Treatments, lots of agua di limon and plenty of sunshine. [source]

The vacation unfortunately is not free! It'll run you about $2,500- but that price isn't too ridiculous considering all that's included. Check out how fabulous the cabanas are! I'll keep you posted when I decide to book it :)

Donations are totally accepted as well..

No Pudge!

For those who are culinary-challenged, like myself, these are for you! My friend brought these to work the other day and they were very tasty. She THEN told us the ever better news. There's no fat in them! Ofcourse there's still calories and sugar and such, but No Pudge Brownies are fat free. You can find them at the supermarket, and all you need is the brownie mix and a cup of Vanilla yogurt. The only problem I had was cutting them, because they were very sticky (but if you actually read the directions you shouldn't have a problem.) They also come in yummy flavors like Cappucino, Mint, and Rasberry. Enjoy!

Bringin' Skinny Back

Here's a fun new website for all those ladies out there who are getting trying to keep up with their new years resolution to lose some lbs.. Debuting today- Bringinskinnyback.blogspot.com is a blog where you can post recipes, workouts, vents, accomplishments, etc. that occur during the process of getting in shape! Right now I'm dragging my butt to the gym every other day (haha or other other day), but laying off the alcohol is the tough part.

I still think the best slogan i've heard in all those diet commercials are "Be an after. Stay an after!"

My future slogan: "be a wawaweewa!"

J.Q'iddy Runs the City

Today I ran my first race. Quite an experience. The weather was supposed to be crappy out, but the sun managed to stick around, just leaving it a little chilly. Woke up at 6:30am way too excited to sleep. Stretched a little, hung out with Rocco, nibbled on some Honey Nut Cheerios, then decided to wake Gus up so we could head down to the beach where the race was. Already by 8:15 there was quite a group of people. It was a 5K race followed by a 2.5 mile walk so everyone could participate. Pinned on my number 802 (yeah... thats not getting framed or anything) and then headed over to the starting line. Actually no, headed past the starting line and kept going considering they set aside room for the fast people. 7 minute group... keep going... 8 minute group... almost there... 10 minute group, now THATS more like it. Now I'm getting ready for the horn to blow so I can just get this run over with, when all of a sudden I see Jadey Simmons (Phi Psi Alumni Jason's wife). She has run marathons in Ireland before (which made me look at the sign again to make sure i was in the right minute mile area). Jadey's encouraging words were "Oh this race is great, except for the uphill climb for most of the first half" haha AWESOME. The map i checked out was obviously not in 3D form, because the whole trail looked pretty flat to me. (That picture to the right is Gus snapping a pic right after I learned about the uphillness shananigans of this 3.2 mile run). INSERT HORN SOUND HERE. Time to run. It wasn't bad at all, because obviously all the fast people just started sprinting, but I had to just go at JQ pace because that'd just be asking for trouble if i tried to keep up. Races are CRAZY. Everyone is so happy and people cheer for you! I haven't had people cheer for me since St Pattys Day '02 when Lynn and I were the first girls to show up at Dribbles at 8am. haha. Even though I was kind of tired towards the last mile, I would just look at the t-shirts people were wearing dedicated to loved ones who have had Breast Cancer, and I just got back in the zone and started running faster. The best was Gus' reaction when I was running in the home stretch. We both figured I'd be running th e 5K slow and steady, but I ended up beating my goal by 10 minutes!! I clocked in at 34.46. OOra.
Thanks so much to my Mom and Matt and also Gus' parents Bob and Cecilia for their generous donations! Today was so much fun-- I can't wait to do another one.

I'd also like to thank my two trainers, Gus and Rocco!

5K... BRING IT

I'm happy to announce that I finally ran my practice 5K yesterday afternoon. This route consisted of the big lap around Park Ave to Culver Rd to East Ave to Alexander St. Unfortunately when we drove it last night to measure it, it only came out to 2.9 miles...... but .3 miles will be easy considering its a race and i'll probably sprint at the end to get it over with. Too bad they dont make 10K the sports drink anymore (i totally would've only drank half of one at the end of the race since its only a 5K) hhhhhaa. Let me know if you'd like to dddddddonate for the PINK RIBBON RUN!