Bring on April!

In about 30 mintues it will be April - can I get a Hallelujah?!?!

Although March officially 'broke' me, I know there were some high points:

• Turned 34 and survived.
• Won 2 movie tickets in a raffle.
• Found a new snack/meal thing that I just CRAVE (details below).
• Watched my first karate tourney where both sons did well and 1 even brought home a 1st place trophy! (yes, my kids' successes I claim as a high point!)
• Both boys brought home fairly decent grade cards (although Emily didn't...*sigh*).

Well, that's ony 5 things, but that's better than not being able to find ANY!

So - snack/meal thingy. I crave this so much that I'll probay go make myself another bowl when I'm done writing!

• 1/2 c. Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt
• 1/2 c. Trail Mix Crunch cereal (Maple Nut & Brown Sugar flavor)
• handful of blueberries and/or sliced strawberries
• Layer as listed and eat - YUMMY!

Yeah - basically it's the yogurt parfait you can get at McDonald's, but the granola is more than just granola with the brown sugar and nuts. I think that's what I like it so much! Anyway, it makes a great quick snack or a great breakfast. And it's pretty darn healthy!

Now that's I've been relagated to sitting on a funky cushion or lying around all the time, I have SO much energy and I want to work out. Isn't that just the way it is with life?? Any suggestions people have for lying down exercises that don't involved my booty (which of course NEEDS the workout!) please share. Anything upper body related would be great (although nothing with weights or that requires repetitive arm movements - I don't know how, but I've got both tennis elbow AND golf elbow in my left arm and I'm supposed to rest it).

Here's to April and the JOY of putting March behind me!!

Marching Along

So, 10 days into the month and I really haven't been very good. I had LOTS of soda this weekend, movie theatre popcorn, cheesecake, doughnuts, very little water and almost no exercise.

I'm slowly coming out of my mood. slowly slowly slowly. At least now I'm starting to feel guilty for letting all my good works drop away. But, I can't find the care to DO anything about it yet.

I did ask Amanda to go for a walk with me this week - when the weather should be in the 70s again by mid-week. you know Amanda - the positive outlook commenter who seems to ALWAYS be on the right track? [I love you girl!] Hopefully, she'll get my butt moving in the right direction with her good vibes and positive outlook. :)

Otherwise, don't look for updates on my grid or daily plate. There aren't too many. There probably will be this week, just nothing major for this month yet.

I still have 3 weeks this month, so don't give up hope on me just yet!

Update, schmupdate

Read this post in my other blog so you know why I'm not updating anything or responding to anything:

http://reasonlight.blogspot.com/2008/03/ditto-heidi-ditto.html

Hopefully, I'll be back to my old self sometime in the next month...

Goal Changes

Last night I decided that one of my previously stated goals was a little vague for me and not really going to be possible for meyet (3 planned meals/day). So, I decided to drop that one and make some that I could probably keep - limiting my at home computer time and getting more sleep daily.

For the tracking grid, everything will be in the same measurements - ounces for beverage intake, minutes/hours for time items. This way, at the end, I can also graphical represent my trends. Over a few months, I should be able to see where my weak days maybe (I assume it's all weekends, but I'd like to prove that to myself). I also realized that I need to add my daily weight to the grid.

Here's my revised goals:

1. Soda (oz.) - none allowed.
2. Coffee (oz.) - no more than 20oz/day (size of my regular cup at work)
3. Water (oz.) - at least 40oz/day (two large bottles)
4. Sweets(#) - no more than 1 "serving" per day (this one will be harder to track, but I'll get it figured out - maybe just a simple boolean - 0 for passed, 1 for failed)
5. Workout (min.) - at least 15 to 30 minutes/day
6. Screen Time (min.) - no more than 60 minutes/day on non-work/non-church activities - wouldn't it be nice if I could limit it to 60 minutes AT ALL - hard to do when you work for an Internet Consultancy though! ;)
7. Sleep (hours - prev. night) - at least 7 hours per night, 8 would be sublime.
8. Weight (in A.M.) - to be recorded in lbs, of course. :)

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Although I probably won't do this every day, here's my results from today (not encouraging in many regards!)

1. Soda(oz.) - Had a 16oz soda at the movies - seemed weird to have water with popcorn!
2. Coffee(oz.) - 20oz Starbucks White Raspberry Mocha with whip - had to get through the morning manager meeting today (which is the ONLY day I have a Starbucks anymore!)
3. Water(oz.) - 40oz (+ 16oz hot tea)
4. Sweets(#) - 1/2 small movie theatre popcorn
5. Workout (min.) - not yet, but it's only 8pm. I think 1 hip-hop dance routine or some yoga can still be put in tonight
6. Screen Time (min.) - So far, only 15 minutes. But, Emily wants to play RCT3 with me, so it will probably be longer tonight - but, it's kid time, so maybe it shouldn't count?? =)
7. Sleep (hours - prev. night) - only 5 hours - 2am utnil 7am.
8. Weight (in A.M.) - 170.4 this morning

You can still check out the grid here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p-mJfOClu-kA7ktPEOswNPQ

Goal Tending

OK - so my biggest motivator is someone who sits beside me every day at work, yet I see maybe 2 minutes out of the day (gotta love cube-world). She's athletic, motivated and she knows the right things to push my buttons in this fitness push of mine. Even her blog has helped me reach a decision!

She does this great thing called "Nutritionathon" and tracks it through her blog. Updates us on 7 or 8 specific goals she has set for herself. Nothing loosey-goosey about the goals either, like "lose weight" or "exercise more" with this girl. she's got it down to a T - specifically how many sodas, sweets, etc. she's going for and how well she met said goal each day.

I like this idea. No, strike that. I LOVE this idea. I'm a planner and the more details I have, the better i can follow it. But, I can't right a blog post every day with the details either. But, I am the queen of spreadsheets, so that's what I setup!

Starting on Friday, 01 February, you can keep track of my goals through this link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p-mJfOClu-kA7ktPEOswNPQ or through an RSS feed at http://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/p-mJfOClu-kA7ktPEOswNPQ/od6/public/basic.

Why Feb. 1? Well, I figure start with a whole month and see from there. that gives me two "free" days, one of which includes our office holiday party (office holiday party on Jan 31 - that's a whole different story!).

Here's the details of the goals I set for myself:

1. Absolutely No Soda
2. Only 1 Cup of Coffee
3. At Least 40 oz water
4. 3 full, planned meals, rather than waiting until I'm hungry to eat and then eating what's on hand. (This is where I might change the rules, if I find I'm eating more just because I planned to eat a certain thing at a certain time)
5. Only 1 sweet, if even that much. I know I have the willpower here, I just have to stop using these as an escape.
6. At least 1 15 - 30 min. workout - yoga, hip-hop dance, even a KidStuf rehearsal - as long as it gets my heart pumping and body moving!

So, that's my starting plan. Check in starting Friday to see where I go from here! Oh - and thanks Amanda! You ROCK!

Still unmotivated

So, not 100% yet and just feeling lazy. I really want to clean my house though and get motivated to get back on track. Any idea, thoughts, help in that area would be appreciated. (And, no "just do it" doesn't really help, so please don't say that!)

Losing Steam

So - I have ZERO motivation, ZERO success to describe and ZERO joy in mudville.

But, my pants are looser although the scale keeps going up and down with the same 3-lb. range. And, I woke up 30 minutes early this morning and enjoy a quiet read. So, maybe those are positives - just not the ones I was looking for at this time.

The treadmill still hasn't made it in the house, but it will this weekend by golly - if i have to wrangle it in myself, it will come back in! That in and of itself will be a 2 hours workout!

I am playing more with my kids though and running around with them. I also checked out the local Y and I just need to get the membership costs from them. There's 3 within a 15-minute radius of me - all with weights, cardio classes and pools - my three requirements. I should have a decision made by this weekend...

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Still looking for other authors on this blog. Trust me - it will be fun! And if it's not - if you don't get the support and help you want here, you just stop writing. Easy as that! So c'mon - give it a try!

More Sleep = More Energy? Who Knew?!

So - it finally occurred to me. If I want to have more energy, I've got to get more sleep! OK - this isn't a NEW concept per se, but I do need to be held accountable for not just what I eat and the exercise needs, but also the sleep.

I'm a night owl by design - all those years working the late shift at Mac, topless car rides through downtown Columbus at midnight (the car was topless, not me!) and going to the grocery store at 3am REALLY messed me up when I was younger!

I love the quiet of the world at this time of night - especially since having my boys. Knowing I can have 3 to 5 hours of perfect silence if I so desire - to read, to write, to THINK - makes it too good to pass up for something as silly and "useless" as sleep.

So - if you see me online or posting past 10 PM CST, PLEASE call me on it and make me feel guilty. Remind me of all the great things I could do early in the morning - work-out, play with the boys, EAT a good breakfast. And remind me that quiet time really doesn't compare to spending time with my kids and hearing their wonderful laughs when we play ball, take a walk or just sit and talk! Thanks!