Thursday, March 29, 2007

A quick post

This week has been unbelievably busy. Between work and getting ready for the horse show, I haven't spent much time at the gym or on the computer. I did make time to go weigh in tonight. I lost 1.4 pounds this week. I could have lost more if I had gone to the gym a few more times, but when the weather is this nice, I require myself to go ride Frosty.

I'm going home for the weekend to visit family. Unfortunately, Jarrett is staying in Indy with the girls. Belle's arthritis is causing her problems and she just isn't up for a 3 hour car ride. :(

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Feeling Better

It's been a few days, but I've been very busy and feeling pretty ill. I went to the doctor on Thursday and I was fine. Then he gave me a tetanus shot and not only did my arm hurt, but Friday I had a fever and horrible joint pain. Luckily today I feel MUCH better. I don't know if it was the vaccine that made me feel terrible or if I just was exposed to other people’s nasty germs at his office, but something definitely kicked my butt yesterday.

I also had a WW weigh-in on Thursday. The verdict is down 2.9 more pounds! That makes the total since getting back on the wagon in February -14 pounds. I have 6 more pounds to go before the horse show.

The only downside to my success is my show clothes are now going to be too big. My jackets were a little large to begin with and now they are going to really hang. I think I'll get them altered after the show is over, but it takes forever to have alterations done in this town. I may end up buying a new pair of breeches. I have show breeches that were a little too small last year. I haven't tried them on this year, so maybe I'll get lucky and they will fit. I found them on eBay for $40.00 and they originally cost almost $300! If you aren't familiar with the horse world...everything is expensive. I try to buy most of my stuff on sale/clearance or on eBay. The only thing I will not compromise on is a new saddle. Frosty is a very difficult horse to fit and therefore finding the right saddle is proving to be a bit of a chore. I have a few ideas, but I may end up having the saddle fitter lady come to the barn and take a look at him. I also need to find him new boots. The galloping boots I have don't fit him. The hind boots are okay for dressage and stadium jumping, but not suitable for cross-country. So far, I haven't had any luck finding a pair that is in my price range, will fit him, and are appropriate for multiple disciplines. I plan on using the same boots for stadium jumping and cross country and just wrapping him in polo wraps for dressage. Did I mention I HATE polo wraps? They are a TOTAL pain, but they look so nice!

Time to go! Enjoy the weekend!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Work Out

Elliptical
30 minutes + 5 minute cool down
3.2 miles
354 calories

Weights
30 minutes
I increased all of my weight increments by at least 5 pounds today.

Weird

So the vet checked out Frosty for foot issues, ring worm, and his leg bump and found NOTHING wrong with him! They could not get him to limp while she was at the barn. The weird fungus thing already started to go away, and the bump he's had on his leg for awhile now is not bothering him and therefore not worth messing with. He, unfortunately, was a bit of a butt head and was a little pushy with the vet. I'm planning to get him a rope halter to work on his baby issues.

I'm off to the gym tonight. I have a doctors appointment in the morning and weigh-in tomorrow night. I'm predicting a small loss...maybe 1 pound. I've been good with food this week, but I haven't made it to the gym as many times as I would have liked.

On a side note, it is 78 degrees today! Mimi got to go out and play ball and Belle even joined in to bark and bite her sister. It is suppose to rain the rest of the week and be nice again on Sunday.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Animal Updates

It has been a busy week so far! Belle had a vet appointment Monday for more blood work. The good news is her Cushing's appears to be responding well to her treatment. She gets a month off before she goes back for another blood panel. Amelia survived her tooth pulling like a trooper last week and finally got her birthday cake on Sunday. Now that I have the dogs health back under "control" it is only fitting the Frosty is having issues. It appears his cold has cleared up, but today he was lame on his right front foot and appears to have some kind of skin irritation, which may or may not be ringworm. Luckily, the vet is coming to the barn tomorrow for vaccinations and will look him over. :(

Saturday, March 17, 2007

More Miles

I was good and went to the gym this afternoon.

Bike:
25 minutes + 5 minute cool down
7.4 miles
225 calories

I also did weights again.

I had my hair cut this morning. It's been at least a year since I had a hair cut, so it was about time.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Gym Time

Bike:
20 minutes hill climb + 5 minutes cool down
200 calories
5.2 miles

Weights - 30 minutes

I also ate out twice today. Usually I would say this was not a good idea, but I ate very responsibly. I had a spicy tuna roll for lunch and for dinner we went to my favorite Mexican place. I had 3 chips and one bean enchilada. I'm surely over my WW points for the day, but not be too much. Plus I haven't used any of my Flex Points this week.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Weigh In

:) I lost 3.7 pounds this week! I was pleasantly surprised since I only made it to the gym once this week.

The goal for next week is another 3 pounds! I am also going to go to the morning WW meeting next Thursday. I figure I can take 30-45 minutes out of my work week to attend a meeting. I rarely venture out for lunch, so I'm not feeling too guilty.

Tomorrow I'm meeting Mindy for sushi. I love sushi and it is pretty low in points. I also have to remember that I get 35 extra "Flex" points a week. That way I can get the tasty spicy tuna that is has a few more calories then I would normally consume...mmmmm raw fish.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

No lights :(

Great food day today! I went to Steak N' Shake for lunch and had a Deluxe Garden salad, no cheese, and fat free Italian dressing. Dinner was a banana and cereal bar on my way to the barn. My lesson was cut short due to Frosty's cold :( and the lights in the barn going out. I got home and had some salsa and a piece of whole wheat pita bread.

I'm feeling pretty good going into my second WW weigh-in tomorrow. I think I'll have a loss. I'm also going to cheat by wearing lighter clothes. My work uniforms are two sizes too big and weigh about 5 pounds. According to my scale at home I'm down 3 pounds this week. Not too shabby...

I'll have an official weigh in report tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Gym Update

Elliptical: 30 minutes + 5 minute cool down
Distance: 3.4 miles
Calories: 340

I also did weights for about 30 minutes.

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment and then a riding lesson in the evening. No time for the gym, but riding is decent exercise.

Good night!

Where did the time go?

I can't believe Tuesday is almost over! The weekend was just not long enough and this week has been unusually busy at work and home. Jarrett was in Orlando for business Monday and Tuesday. Amelia's 4th birthday was Monday. She spent it at the vet with her sister. Mimi had a dental and Belle had to have some blood work. Mimi had a tooth pulled and spent the night being absolutely pathetic. She seems to be feeling much better tonight and is enjoying snooping out the open window.

The weekend was interesting. Jarrett and I dropped the horse blankets off for laundering. This is only the first round of blanket washing. I have three separate levels of blankets for Frosty. Everything from a thin mud sheet he's wearing now to a super heavy blanket for those 20 below zero winter days. On Sunday I had my riding lesson. We decided to see if Frosty would jump. We had only ridden him over some small stuff right before I bought him and he has not had any training as a jumper. Let's just say it started rather poorly. He refused the first jump and then I fell off :( I haven't fallen off in a VERY long time and it was a little painful. Luckily, Christy, my trainer got on him and schooled him over a few jumps and he calmed down and figured it out. I got back on and finished the lesson on a very positive note. He was jumping small cross rails and we did not have any more refusals. This was a big step in the right direction.

I also found a new tasty food this weekend. It is called Better 'n Peanut Butter. It is WAY healthier the regular peanut butter and I think it is just as good. It is a lot sweeter but I like my peanut butter on the sweet side.

I haven't been to the gym in a week, so that's were I'm heading!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Meetings, meetings everywhere

It feels like this has been a week of non-stop meetings. We had our weekly 3.5 hour staff meeting today and yesterday I held training classes for the plant...for another total of 3 hours of fun.

Today, I had my first real Weight Watcher's meeting. I have done Weight Watcher's off and on for the last few years online. I lost about 25 pounds last year and I luckily didn't gain all of it back. I decided to get back on board about a month ago. I still have all of the material, and it's not exactly rocket science. My friend Cyndi is now a Weight Watcher's leader. She made Lifetime status awhile ago and has done really awesome on the program. This time, I set a realistic goal weight of 135. If all goes well, I hope to make Lifetime in less then a year. I am going to start with small goals. I would like to loose another 2 pounds this week. That will put me only 8 pounds away from my first goal of 20 pounds before April 20.

I cannot wait for the weekend. The weather is suppose to be nice. Jarret and I need to make a trip to Shelbyville, IN to drop off some horse blankets for washing and repairs. It has been a big challenge to find someone willing to wash blankets. Dry cleaners are NOT fond of filthy, muddy, hair blankets in their washing machines.

It's getting pretty late and I've still got work tomorrow. Good night!

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Another day at the gym

I did some "fake" running tonight on the elliptical. I claim it is fake running because it is much easier then "real" running. I HATE real running.

Distance = 5.2 miles
Time: 60 minutes + 5 minutes of cool down time
Calories = 585

I'm pretty slow, but I honestly don't think I have ever run 5.2 miles....ever.

Today was a HORRIBLE food day. We had lunch at work today and I could not help but eat two sugar cookies. My actual lunch was well proportioned. I had a small serving of pork loin, a medium serving of green beans, and a forkful of cheesy potatoes. I completely avoided the bread and cake!

I also decided that there are good healthy replacements for most foods, but some things you just cannot find a good substitute for. Here are a few:

Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing - The fat free version is NASTY. If you read the ingredients, you'll understand why. A normal consumer would not recognize over half the ingredients, let alone be able to pronounce them. I have decided that I will keep this condiment in the house and only use it sparingly. I really only eat it with my super low cal and extra tasty buffalo chicken tenders.

Smucker's Raspberry Jam - I have yet to find a good substitute for any kind of jam or jelly. The sugar free versions all taste like metal to me or have a very odd texture. I have committed to continuing to search for a suitable replacement, but I really don't eat enough jelly or jam to be terribly concerned about this one.

Cheese - Light cheese - good...Soy cheese GROSS I kept an open mind, but this one I've got to just stay away from.

Yesterday was a great food day and a wonderful horse day. Frosty was amazing. We are still having issues teaching him to canter, however, I think he will begin to progress much faster once I can get him back into the round pen. He is a very smart boy but he just doesn't really understand what we are asking him to do on the lunge line or under saddle when it comes to the canter. He will canter, however, he rushes and falls all over himself.

Belle is also feeling better. She had a rough few days after starting her Cushing's treatment. She is still a little tired, but she was much more active tonight. We can tell the treatment is working. She has slowed down when eating and drinks much less water.

Monday, March 5, 2007

Tonight's Workout

Elliptical Trainer: 4.6 miles in 45 minutes plus 5 minutes of cool down. Total Calories: 458

I think I like the elliptical. My legs were killing me for the first 5 minutes, but after they loosened up a little, I did pretty well. I didn't have time to do weights tonight, so that will have to wait for another day.

The weigh-in was not as great as I had hoped. I only lost 2 pounds this week. I know I'm loosing inches, though. I comfortably fit into a size smaller then I usually wear while I was at the mall over the weekend...it's the little victories.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Horse Troubles

This weekend was very nice. My mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law all came down from South Bend. They helped us install three new ceiling fans in our house. I managed to avoid a fast food catastrophe by opting out on lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Instead, Jarrett and I stuck to Smart One's. Dinner wasn't a total disaster. We went to Texas Roadhouse and I had a 6-0z sirloin and veggies. I even managed to avoid eating any of the bread and only 3 peanuts. Sunday was another great food day. Jarrett and I made our own pizza's using whole wheat pita's for the crust and fat-free mozzarella cheese. They were really good!

I didn't get to the gym on Friday or Saturday. I had my riding lesson on Sunday. It was terribly frustrating. We started by lunging Frosty. This is an exercise he does not really understand yet. He was getting very upset. I have to remind myself he is just 4 and he isn't fully trained. It will come with time and work. I really have only had him for 10 weeks and he has come so far in such a short time.

Belle, our 11 year old Shetland sheepdog, started chemotherapy this weekend. She was diagnosed last week with Cushing's disease. So far, she has responded well to the treatment. We haven't noticed any adverse reaction to the treatment. Jarrett is spending the day with her tomorrow and Tuesday to continue to closely monitor her. We hope this treatment is going to help make her more comfortable. She's the sweetest dog anyone could ever ask for and we'd do anything to make her feel better.

Friday, March 2, 2007

Happy Friday!

It's Friday! This weekend my family is coming to town. My brother is going to install a ceiling fan in our bedroom and some junction boxes in the other rooms. No gym today. I ran around enough at work that I contest I didn't need to go to the gym. I usually ride on Friday's but that just wasn't in the cards for this evening.

I had a good food day today. I am in love with the new Fiber One breakfast bars. They are awesome! If you are looking for a good source of fiber that taste great, try them.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Bad food day...good gym day

Today was not a great food day. I had Chinese for lunch. I ate mostly veggies and a little chicken, but I know it wasn't the best food to eat. Dinner was French Onion soup and a small salad with honey mustard dressing. It wasn't horrible, but the dressing wasn't low fat and the soup had cheese on it. Jarrett and I did go to the gym. I tried the elliptical tonight and ran 2.5 miles and burned 300 calories. I also did weights for about 20 minutes. I can leg press 170 pounds! :)