Running & Reviews

Good grief, it's already February. Ugh. Anywho.

This morning, I headed to the gym and tried out a treadmill interval routine that boasted a 500 calorie burn. I'm still not counting calories these days, but I'm sure I burned that 500, if not a little more. It was tough, but it of course went by super fast (my favorite part about interval training) and I felt pretty damn refreshed afterward. Highly recommend! I'd also recommend browsing around the FitSugar website when you have some free time. They have a decent variety of interval workouts on various machines, as well as a lot of food/fitness info.

Quick follow up to my last post: I got a chance to try out my new workout DVDs this weekend.

Jari Love's Extremely Ripped 1000: Great DVD! I'm always hesitant to try new DVDs these days because they usually don't challenge me enough, but this one definitely exceeded my expectations (and made me sweat my ass off).

It's basically a bunch of circuits back-to-back and they all start with 3 minutes of cardio, followed by one minute of strength training, mostly with dumbbells. If you've done 30 Day Shred, it's kind of a similar format (and 3 times longer, haha). The hour routine can be split into two half hour sessions if you prefer. I liked that there wasn't any prolonged breaks in between circuits; Jari just keeps you moving along the whole time so your heart rate stays raised during the majority of the workout.

She has people working out with her in the back and they're all either doing beginner, intermediate or advanced versions of the moves the entire time. I thought this was especially awesome because it enabled me to keep up, instead of getting over/underwhelmed and turning off the DVD. I alternated between intermediate and advanced for a nice challenge.

I did the full hour and just when I thought it was over, she closes with a push-up and ab routine. I definitely groaned when that came up, but I suffered through it anyway (I think it was about 5 minutes or so).

All in all, this one was definitely worth the money. It forces me to get a good amount of strength training in, but also has enough cardio to keep me sweating on the days I don't feel like running or going to the gym for the elliptical or incline training.

So if you are, dare I say it, bored with the Jillian Michaels' DVDs and want a good gym substitute, this is next best thing (in my opinion, of course).

Weight Loss Cardio Kick: I don't have a ton to say about this one... Overall, I liked it, but it definitely didn't bring on as much sweat as I had hoped.

It did fulfill my craving for kick-boxing though. As I mentioned before, I was disappointed with the last few Tae Bo DVDs I got, so it was nice to try something different.

This DVD also works in a bit of strength training with dumbbells as well, so I'll definitely be doing it again. I think I'll just save it for days where I just want to do a fun light-to-moderate workout, versus busting my ass doing something at a higher intensity.


That's about all for now. I will quickly note that Jillian Michaels has a new yoga DVD coming out soon!



I've got it baaaad for this woman, so of course I will be getting it. I totally laughed at the thought of her teaching yoga because it doesn't seem like it would be relaxing at all, but I guess we'll see.

Stairs and sanity.

Well, a meeting at work got canceled this afternoon, so I finally have a proper moment to catch up on some things.

RECIPES! Got some new ones for ya. First one is a casserole dish from one of my favorite sites, Eat Better America. It's called Healthified Chicken Tortilla Casserole. It was awesome! I made my own version based on slightly different ingredients I had (i.e., greek yogurt instead of sour cream, almond milk instead of fat-free milk, etc.) and made 6 servings instead of 8.

Next is one I haven't actually tried yet, but it sounds good: Broccoli Tofu Bake. Again, I'm going to do my own version based on stuff I have. Main thing is I'm adding cheese. It just seems wrong to me to have a broccoli "bake" without melted cheese, heh. Looking forward to making it for dinner tonight!

Had a good workout at the gym this morning. I tried taking a stab at this StairMaster/StepMill interval workout for the second time and I just couldn't hack it. In fact, I crapped out after 20 minutes and I wasn't even doing the same levels that were listed. Once you get to level 8 on the machine I use at the gym, you're pumping pretty fast. Anything at level 9 or above is moving into jogging/running territory at that point. Up moving stairs. Buh. Yes, I'm a sadist, haha.

Last time I tried it, I stuck through the whole 40 minutes, but of course at much lower levels. Even by lowering the levels again this morning, I was just not cutting it. Oh well. New goal to work toward! And, I actually found another workout from the same site that has a beginner's version (scroll down a bit to see it). I think that's a much better level for me to start.

After having my ass handed to me 20 minutes in, I filled the rest of my time with a quick mile run, the elliptical and a few minutes of cool-down on the bike. Definitely left as Sweaty McSweaty Pants. Felt good.

Eating this week has still been going good; I made it through the weekend without binging! It's been a loooong time. Or it's felt like a long time, anyway. Just feeling a bit more empowered this week, overall. We're celebrating Doug's 30th birthday this weekend, so I hope this trend of control will carry over into next week. I definitely plan on indulging, but I don't plan on feeling bloated, guilty and depressed in the days that follow. I just can't perpetuate that cycle anymore. It's too draining.

Gotta get back to work. And new Biggest Loser tonight! Hope everyone is having a great week.

Back, Weigh-in.

Ok- update time (told ya the bout of silence would probably be only a few days, heh).

First, we'll start with this morning's weigh-in: 156.8. A loss of 0.6 pounds. It was/is that time of the month for me and I ate reeeeally shitty last Friday, so that's the best I can hope for. After gaining the past two weeks, I was so relieved to see things go in the other direction this morning, for once.

I'm still in a funk, but I'm working through it. I'm stuck in limbo between wanting to lose more weight and maintaining. As of right now, I'd like to get to 153. That would put me at a total loss of 95 pounds. And once I get there (or if I get there, rather), I'll figure out my new plan of action. For now though, I need to see my good ol' ticker as a reminder of how far I've come:



I get caught up in the numbers in front of me all the time and often forget about past progress. Shame, shame, shame.

I've been eating really healthy this week. Lots of broccoli slaw, bell peppers, acorn squash, spinach, brussels sprouts- the list goes on. Just eating my way through seasonal produce deals, one day at a time, heh.

And then there's fitness. BUUUUHHHH. No, I haven't stopped working out. I wish I could, but I feel guilty and worthless if I don't. I've still been plugging along, every day. Just trying to re-evaluate my routines as well as my relationship with fitness in general. I'm not 100% sure, but after reading some fitness articles, I might have been over-training myself the past, I dunno, 1-2 months? So I'm trying to back down from my usual 600-800 calorie burning sessions and focusing on shorter, higher-intensity routines. For example, this morning at the gym, I did a stairmaster interval workout that kicked my ass, but it went by super fast. Five minute warm-up, 30 minutes of intervals, 5 minute cool-down. I totally couldn't do any level beyond 8, but it was a good challenge that got my heart rate up higher than it has been in weeks. Definitely a much-needed boost. Even though I couldn't do the routine as marked, I still felt accomplished because I made it through something that was hard. Prior to this morning, I haven't felt that sense of accomplishment in weeks because my usual routine was essentially getting easy and I was subconsciously bored and comfortable.

Tomorrow we're going to a Halloween party. I really need to have a somewhat normal weekend where I don't completely blow my points in a single night. I'm not going to plan my strategy too much in advance though, because it usually backfires. I'm just going to try and have as normal of a day as I can and just focus on enjoying myself and being around friends. Booze and candy should just be in the background somewhere, not necessarily the highlight of the evening. I will be at the gym beforehand though, trying out this elliptical interval routine. Gotta get some sort of sweat session in as back-up, I suppose.

There will be more updates in the future, but certainly not daily like I was doing before. And no more food lists because I think everyone has a pretty sound idea of what I eat day-to-day by now. But I'll still share any good recipes/meal ideas I come across.

I'm slowly trying to work out some post-goal issues as best as I can. I've discovered that I still don't have a 100% normal relationship with food yet. And I don't know if I ever will, but it would be nice to at least be less anxious around it. I hate that nagging feeling of desperation that I get in certain food-related situations. It makes me feel pathetic and I want it to stop. I want to feel strong again. And normal.