All things green and Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day all! I hope that each and every one of you find a little Irish magic today.

I can still see the green of Ireland's fields and smell the damp peat bogs (as well as see the stain they left on my tennis shoes when I stepped in one). If you have not yet ventured to the Emerald Isle I highly suggest it. Beautiful views, welcoming people and of course there is the beer;)

I for one am heading to my normal St. Patrick's Day ritual of drinking the dark nectar of the God's (Guinness for those who aren't in the know), listening to Irish music and participating in celebrating the day like a good Irish-American should!

Be safe and have fun all!

Almost my favorite holiday...

Is it bad to be getting up at 6am to work out so that you have extra activity points to drink more delicious Guinness on St. Patrick's Day????

Just checking:)

My new addiction

So a few weeks back I picked up Wii Fit Plus because I read it had a lot of cool things the original didn't and it did. But while perusing Amazon I also came across this:

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

So after reading tons of reviews and weighing the options between the original, 2 or 3, I purchased the Hottest Party 3 bundle with the floor controller.

And last night after dinner I was sitting around watching the Food Network and feeling really tired. But I had been wanting to check this new thing out and had gone to lunch with a co-worker and split a piece of Bourbon Chocolate Cake with her. So needless to say a little movement would not be a bad idea.

So I hooked it up and went to the DDR School Mode to learn the moves. After finally figuring out what the hell the step zone was (not a good explanation anywhere to be found) I realized that this is HARD! I was sweating within minutes and had to change into a t-shirt. So what started out as a "learn to play in case people come over and want to play" time, turned into an all out dance P-A-R-T-Y of one.

I ran through the songs (examples include: Ice Ice Baby, Feel Good Inc., and Let's Get it Started) on beginner and even tried out the Wii Balance Board function that allows you to use hip movements and the remote and nun chuck to punch. 2 1/2 hours later I was wiped out. This thing is crazy fun!

I wanted to do it this morning for my workout in my challenge but I didn't want to stomp loudly on the floor. So I did 5 songs on the Balance Board then proceeded to do my strength routine on Wii Fit Plus.

If you have the Wii and are bored with your workout get this game. If you love to dance but are too old to go to clubs with 21-year olds get this game. Do not walk to store, do not take a bus....drive your car at a safe yet aggressive speed and get there! Or do what I did and order online. You will not regret this.

I can't wait till I have an hour to do some more!

Down 1.2lbs!

Well it worked I was down last night. Not as much as I would have liked but a loss is a loss right?
So I am pretty happy. So motivated that even though I was up every hour on the hour last night I dragged myself out of bed this morning and did the Wii Fit (mostly cardio) for 40 minutes. The sun came out today so that was most likely what got me going.
Now of course I am crashing but I am proud of myself for sticking to my WW Rise & Shine Challenge I signed up for.
Oh and to top off the day....

I am an aunt again! Welcome to the world Baby Perry! And congrats to my brother and sister-in-law.

25 Days and Counting

I have been working really hard this week on my "fit into a bathing suit" plan. I have been using the Wii Fit like a champ and have even come up with an extra cardio workout. I had a ton of laundry this week which is done upstairs. I folded everything upstairs then took it 2 pieces at a time downstairs. Last night I did 25 flights (1 flight = up & down)! Go me. I also only used 8 of my extra 35 points this week which is really good for me since by Wednesday (weigh-in day) I have usually blown them all on dessert and wine.
So why am I so nervous about going to weigh-in today? I guess it is because everyone has "off" weeks where no matter what they do they don't lose. I am afraid that this might be one of those and the vacation time clock is ticking away.
And I did a bold thing last weekend. I went dress shopping for the cruise and bought dresses in size 6. They don't quite zip up but I am busting my ass to be sure they do before the time comes. Of course I still have yet to go into dressing room hell to try on a bathing suit but I truly want to wait until it is almost time to go because they are expensive and I don't want to buy one that is too big in a few weeks. (See positive statements!)
So I have my fingers and toes crossed for this evening. I really need a loss to help motivate me through the weekend when Marvin's sister is here.
I'll let you know....

A stop and thinker...

I just finished reading this blog post Round-and-Round by a very funny blogster who I just recently started reading.
The message in this post was that we are often so caught up in the day to day "chores and duties" of life that we miss out on the important stuff. In her case it was playing with her 2-year old. But we can all relate that to our own lives.

I am very guilty of this very thing. There is dinner to be made, laundry to be done, grocery shopping to do, etc... Then something happens and it hits me like a bus that I haven't talked to my brothers or sister-in-laws in weeks, there are good friends that I haven't talked to in months and Marvin and I haven't just enjoyed each other's company all week. Life literally has passed me by.

The post mentioned above does a powerful job describing how we affect those relationships when we engage in this behavior (and admit it people, we all do it). The deflated child walking away is a visual that is bringing tears to my eyes and I do not even have children. But I can see it at home when I don't take the time to truly listen to the happenings of the day because I am doing 6 other things. Or when I rush someone off the phone because there are so many "important things" I have to get done.

I'm not sure how to stop this or at the very least slow it down. But it bothers me to know that I do this and most of the time it never registers just how hurtful or disappointed the affected party is. And on the flip side it has been done to me and I know how frustrating and upsetting it can be.

Any thoughts on how you deal with this in your life, on the giving or receiving end?

And for anyone I may have done this to, I am sorry and I care about you. I am working on it.

Non-Edible Rewards

At WW they try to instill in you a new reward system that involves non-edible awards for your goals big and small. This is proving to be extremely difficult for me to do.
Ever since the dawn of my life almost 34 years ago, food has been a reward. On your birthday it was always what is your favorite meal (back then it was scalloped potatoes and ham) or where do you want to go to dinner (I don't clearly remember but I think I would pick the Spaghetti Factory). Did well at your softball/basketball/cheerleading game? Head to Friendly's for some ice cream. Get good grades or finish your chores? What about a delicious hot and buttery bowl of popcorn from THE popcorn pan.
Now of course it is the you did a great job at work reward or the you made it through a hellish week reward of a dinner out, a cheese plate and several glasses of wine.

So what do you try and replace these edible rewards with?
I tried shopping....wonderful retail therapy but often hard on the wallet. And who really wants to buy clothes when you aren't at your fighting weight yet.
I tried a hot bath a couple of times but frankly sometimes I just don't want to get wet at night.

It is an incredibly difficult mind set to break. This past week was tough for me. I had to eat out a lot and blew it a couple of times. Over the weekend though I did really good and then "rewarded" myself with a Half-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie from Saul Good Pub here in Lexington. Now before I chastise myself it was worth every single point. Heaven served in a cast iron skillet with vanilla ice cream on the side.
But I viewed it as a reward for good behavior. How do you break this habit? And what can you substitute or better yet replace these edible rewards with? Any ideas are welcome.

Well I am off to weigh in tonight so we'll see if the cookie can make or break you! Wish me luck.

And so it goes...

So today we had another snow day...seriously Kentucky get your act together. 3-6" of snow is not a snow emergency!
Anyways so had to truck into work today because $15 million does not raise itself. So did not work out on the Wii Fit.
Had a fairly healthy day of eating. Egg beaters for breakfast, sandwich on an Arnold Thin for lunch and grilled chicken with green beans and sweet potatoes for dinner. My downfall as usual is with the wine. On glass 3 1/2 right now. But haven't given in to the dessert craving so I suppose it all balances out. I think I have 5 unused extra points for the week so better be extra good tomorrow.
I would like to wake up early, do some Wii Fit, get into the office and bust some ass then head off to Marvin's stress test and then go weigh in. It remains to be seen which of these things will actually occur.
Not such an exciting post today but better than a month (or 4) between postings huh?

Back on the Wagon

Well perhaps all it takes is the thought of an entire cruise ship of people seeing me in a bathing suit to kick my butt into gear! Folks I am back on the Weight Watchers band wagon!
For the past two weeks (after the sickness passed that is) I have been faithfully following the Weight Watchers plan. And throw in a couple of snow days last week which gave Marvin and I the opportunity to finally learn to use the Wii Fit...and you have a loser! Yahoo!
And I know you are probably saying to yourselves, "What makes this time different? What makes you think you can stick it out this time?"
Well folks it's the age old piece of clothing that turns rational women into screaming lunatics who curse department store dressing room lights and wonder why they ate that delicious chocolate cake...for breakfast. Yep...it's the bathing suit. Striking fear into women everywhere since 1910ish.
So I am scheduled to go on my first cruise during the Easter holiday with my oh so sweet honey. And everything looks wonderful, the food, the shows, the drinks, the islands, the pool...Yeah right the pool, where one must don a bathing suit in front of a couple of thousand people. And there you have the motivation for the latest installment of me tackling Weight Watchers. However I feel it important to mention that even though I haven't been adhering to all of the plan, I have been attending the meetings. The inspiration and support they bring is key to my being able to do this.
I have high hopes for me this time so stay tuned and see for yourselves how this one pans out!
Wish me luck!

Who is in charge...the Doctor or the Patient?

So Marvin and I have been not just under the weather but beat down, drug out and completely useless with the sickness. Who can really tell what sickness exactly but the rumor is a nasty sinus infection on my part and something much worse on Marvin's. And due to some of our recent happenings at the doctor's office a question popped into my antibiotic/steroid induced brain. Who is ultimately responsible for how effective a visit to the doctor's or in reality your whole relationship with your doctor?
The doctor's go to school, take an oath and I assume have some form of rules and/or procedures that they are to follow when they examine you. So you as a patient expect certain things to occur when you go in with a specific concern. Well what if it doesn't happen? For example: Let's say that your ear hurts. You go to the doctor and they basically just prescribe you some ear drops without even looking in your ear to see what the problem might be. Of course then a week later your ear still hurts and you have to go see another doctor to fix the problem.
Is it the doctor's fault for not looking in your ear? Or is the patient at fault for not saying "Hey doc don't you think you should look at my ear?"
We as patients trust our doctors so completely that maybe we are setting ourselves up for this kind of disappointment. So should we always need to be proactive at the doctor's office? Is that what the doctor expects? Why do they need us to provide them with what they should be doing or not doing?
The argument swings both ways.
However, as someone who moves every year and therefore has a new doctor every year who does not know my history nor me as a person, I find that being proactive (often taken as being pushy) at my doctor's visits is the best way to be sure I fit it all in. Most doctor's appointments are for 15 minutes. So it's often up to the patient to decide how that 15 minutes is spent. I for one make a list of things I want to discuss so I'm sure I don't miss anything. If I am going in for something specific (like the pray-for-death sickness I just had) I jot down my symptoms so it allows the doctor to cut to the exam part.
But on the other hand we (or our insurance) pays a boatload of money to doctors to provide us a service and we should demand an excellent level of service.
So maybe it's a little of both. We should expect our doctor's to give us everything they've got while we as the patient take an active role in ensuring we get the best bang for our buck.

But no matter what side you take on this argument....avoid the sickness because it sucks!