Update for today (and the last few weeks).

So, I’ve been wrestling with the same 5 pounds over the past few weeks.  Not sure why, as I’ve been doing good eating wise.  I hate plateaus, I really do.  My mantra lately – this too shall pass.

Our lucky puppies have been getting lots of walks lately – today, they even got 3!  Tuckered them out a little though – they’re both snoring away, not a care in the world.  One thing I pondered today, though, is that our walks our getting more interesting now that I have to hold my pants up.  No joke – I’m in desperate need for smaller sweatpants.  I have to say, it would make for interesting conversation in the neighborhood 🙂

Surgery is three weeks away.  I’m anxious, nervous, excited, determined…..scared, and a bit stressed.  It’s coming fast – truth be told, I’m more scared of after the surgery.  I know it’s going to hurt for awhile — but hopefully, the pain will go away.  Which would be a step in the right direction – I’ve been living with the shoulder pain for almost a year.  Almost anything would be an improvement.

I love stewed tomatoes – they add a level of sweetness to whatever they are in. I made soup last night and used up the last can, so I did a little sneaky chef action and added apples to the mix.  It worked well to add some sweetness and nobody was the wiser…except for me 🙂

Well, I Did It

I joined Fitness 19 yesterday.  It’s a super nice facility and I look forward to getting started! I love the fact that each cardio machine has their own tv attached to it….not that I pay attention to tv really.  I blast my anger music and just watch the screen.  I’m not one of those gifted people that can read and exercise at the same time.  I bounce around too much – but I still like to have something to stare at.

I’m still addicted to my Kindle – of course, it’s still the honeymoon phase, but I don’t plan on falling out of love with it anytime soon. Although, that 1-click buying thing is very dangerous!!! 

On the Hunt for a Gym

I really should join a gym.  The problem with living on-campus at work is that I don’t have to go home – so I don’t need to stop by the gym on my way 🙂  There is an exercise facility here, but it’s geared more for the kids and is hot!  No air conditioning in the summer would mean no exericse for Dev.  So, I’ve been shopping memberships this morning.

First I looked at the YMCA.  At $40.00/month plus whatever the joining fee is, the cost is a little more than I want to spend to have access to an elliptical roughly 3 times/week.  I thought about joining just to get member rates on J’s swimming lessons and youth programs, but you have to have a family membership to qualify for those.  The family membership is $60.00/month.

Pros:

Lots of offerings – classes, lessons, circuit machines, weights, elliptical, trainers, daycare, family oriented

Cons:

Cost, location, joining fee

Next up, I looked at Fitness 19.  They have a membership sale going on this week – $15.00/month with no joining fee!  I think this may be a contender.  Not to mention, they are located just a few blocks from my sister’s house, so it would be easy-peasy to get my workout in either going or coming from taking care of J.

Pros:

Inexpensive, weights, elliptical, trainers, daycare, location, no joining fee

Cons:

No curcuit machines, no classes (though I probably wouldn’t take them anyway)

There’s also Anytime Fitness. I don’t know much about them, but I may try out their 7-day free pass to learn more about them.  They are $36.00/month and are just a little further away from my sister’s house than Fitness 19.

Pros:

Classes, weights, curcuit, elliptical, no joining fee, 3 locations

Cons:

$20 key cost, no daycare (though I probably wouldn’t need it anyway)

I also checked out Curves. I have to be honest – I’ve never been interested in joining them, but since I watched the owners on Secret Millionaire, I wouldn’t mind supporting them. However, I couldn’t really get much off of the website and their hours are bad (8:30-6:30). 

Pros:

Curcuit, women-only, 1-day free pass

Cons:

Hours, cost (I’m assuming – couldn’t find the cost anywhere on their website), no daycare

I’d be interested in Billings Athletic Club if they had a membership sale.  Otherwise, at $47.00/month the cost is too much of a deterrent.  I’d been a member there before when I had to do PT/Rehab and really enjoyed it.

Pros:

Classes, weights, curcuit, elliptical, trainers, locally owned, daycare

Cons:

Cost

Finally, I checked on Granite Health & Fitness. Yeah, they have lots of goodies ( most of which I wouldn’t use) and are local.  Their cost isn’t on their website, but from what I’ve heard from co-workers, it’s pretty expensive.

Pros:

Classes, weights, curcuit, elliptical, trainers, massage, 7-day free pass, locally owned, location, daycare

Cons:

Cost

Ding, ding, ding.  I think Fitness 19 is the winner.

Woo-hoo!!

I think I may know what I’ll be doing tonight 🙂

A Beautiful Summer (Fall) Day

I was quite elated this morning when my sister called to let me know that her ex-husband called in sick for his visitation today.  (Long story on this one, and not sure it’s a story I should tell in this format).  So, I got an unexpected fun day with Baby-J ( who is 3 and I really should quit calling her a baby.  It was supposed to be a beautiful day outside today so J and I decided to go to the zoo with a picnic and then play at the playground before ending our day with frozen yogurt.

I should have gone to Subway for our picnic – they have fresh fruit options and your sandwiches can be made to order.  Unfortunately I went with Wheat Montana instead.  Chips instead of fresh veggies & fruits (I didn’t eat them).  Didn’t really like my sandwich, so I ended up tossing out at least half of it. Half of the zoo was closed for refurbishments (which begs the question, why wasn’t the price to get in 1/2 off then???). 

The animals were pretty scarce – I think it was just too hot for them (it was upwards of 90 degrees today).  Boris the Grizzly Bear was out putting on a show – she was essentially just sitting in front of the fence and checking out all the people that were checking her out.  Right across from her, the wolverines were enjoying mealtime, so they were out putting on a bit of a show.  Other than that, the animals weren’t out at all.  J just wasn’t interested though – she just wanted to play on the playground.  So, I think next time we’ll just go to the park.  But, at least at the zoo, I get to walk the trails so I can get some exercise in at the same time.

The sensory gardens were beautiful and there were quite a few trees whose leaves were changing to a glorious red color.  Not to be missed.  That’s one of the reasons I love Fall (even in 90 degree weather).

After 2 1/2 hours at the zoo, I was ready for something cold and refreshing so we headed to town for frozen yogurt. I’m now officially in love with Red Velvet Cake froyo.  And I don’t even like Red Velvet Cake.

I’m so glad we went out to enjoy the day – there won’t be many more beautiful ones like this left before Winter rears her ugly head.

Gold’s Gym Dance Workout (Wii)

Okay, the verdict is – this was so much fun!  Naturally, I did beginner because I haven’t worked out in way, way, way too long.  I intended to do 30 minutes – I ended up doing closer to 45.  The beginner workout was 16 minutes and included a warm-up, latin dance, cardio boxing, jump roping, and a cool down.  I enjoyed it all, but got particularly addicted to the jump roping.  Essentially, you stand on the balance board and do a calf lift everytime you want to jump….there are 7 buff guys (2 holding the rope, and 5 that eventually try to get in the rope with you). At the beginning, I tripped on the rope.  A lot.  But then I got my groove.  I ended up playing the mini-games 2 more times just so I could complete the full jump rope combo and get all those boys jumping with me!  Once I excelled at the jump roping, I then tried the other mini games: Matador (didn’t like it – couldn’t escape the bulls); Bull Riding (didn’t like it – couldn’t quit getting bucked off); Canoeing (Loved it!  You sit on the balance board and row to escape alligators – great fun!); Marathon Race (Okay…you basically pump your arms in order to get your person to run faster – I couldn’t quite master it and kept getting hit by the lions); Sword Fight (Loved it!  You swing your arms like a sword and try to cut branches in the direction the game instructs you to…..and avoid ninjas). 

I will probaby order a second wii remote because it only detects the arms movements of whatever hand has the remote – so you can be rated poorly for missed actions without that second remote.  Not a huge deal – but it is recommended that you use two remotes (although it is totally do-able with just one). All in all – this is great fun and I am excited to do it again!

Plans for Today

I have 2 goals today.  The first is to drink 2 Liters of water; the second is to get in 30 minutes of exercise.  I’ve got two fantastic dance games for the wii – Just Dance and Gold’s Gym Dance Workout.  They both look fun….and they are both sitting unopened in my living room.  Or there’s Zumba.  I LOVE Zumba.  It is so much fun and I do have a few 30 minute workouts I could do there. 

Food Plans for the Day (so far)
B: Eggbeaters w/ mushrooms, ham, lf cheddar cheese
S: 5 Mini Cukes, 1 Baby Bell
L: Grilled Pork Chops, Salad w/ Ranch
S: 5 Mini Peppers, 1/4 c. cashews
D: Steamed Broccoli & Grilled Pork Chop
S: ??? (no plans)
E: 30 minutes
W: 2 Liters (hope for more)

Hundred Pushups

I’m thinking of trying this. I have no upper body strength whatsoever. It might help.

http://hundredpushups.com/

Zumba! ~ Opinion

The new Zumba DVDs are okay, but I like the older ones I have much better. The workouts are much more fun on the older version. The new ones are far too commercialized. Everyone is wearing Zumba gear and there is too much time spent listening to funky zumba music in between dances.

Truthfully, I’ve watched more than I’ve worked out to this. So far, I’ve done the Toning Workout with the Zumba toning sticks (they are virtually weightless). It was okay. 45 minutes and I sweated some. The abs workout was *meh* ~ but I really wasn’t much in the mood for it, so I’ll try it again before I completely say whether I liked it or not.

In the meantime, I’m anxiously waiting for The Biggest Loser workouts and the Jillian Michaels toning DVDs I ordered.

Today’s Workout

I went back to the gym and did 45 minutes elliptical and 15 minutes bike today. I came home and started the Zumba Abs workout, but I just wasn’t into it. I was hungry and so went and made dinner instead (broiled asparagus and cod fillets). I’m not sure about the rest of my week. Mom’s in town starting tomorrow, so I’m hoping at the very least to be able to squeeze in at least 30 minutes each day.

Speaking of Mom, she’s still calling everyday. Whether to run her menu by me, or to tell me what she’s cooking, or to ask me how I cook something. It’s cute. Really. But it’s everyday. Then today she told me she didn’t eat lunch. So she got the lecture about skipping meals. I think it went in one ear and out the other. Ah well. I’ll repeat myself tomorrow.

Sister wants to join the gym with me ~ she and kiddo will be signing up next month. I doubt we’ll be able to workout much together because of our schedules, but hey if she wants me there, I’ll make it happen.

Finally, a friend at work said she thought I needed to be nominated for the People magazine weight loss spread that they do every year. I wish I could, but I don’t have any true before shots. The one I have posted on my blog isn’t even a “true” photo. I was probably about 30 pounds heavier than that photo when I started last year. I still don’t like to have my picture taken, but I’m getting better.

Recent Splurge

I’ve splurged again. Not on clothes this time, but on exercise dvds and equipment. This is it. No more. I need to save my money for groceries. Oh, and bills. Besides which, I need something new to try exercise wise. I don’t want to get in a rut with my current workouts.

First and foremost. Look what came in the mail today. The newest version of Zumba Fitness! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this. Of course, it would come in on a day when I have the kiddos so won’t be exercising. But….there’s an inner drive in me that is tempted to do the 20-minute express workout when I get home tonight. At 10pm. I’m telling you, if you’re not familiar with zumba, go to www.zumbafitness.com right now and check it out.

Next, I got Biggest Loser Power Sculpt. I’m new to the whole Biggest Loser craze. I’ve never watched it before this season, but once I started watching, I became hooked. So, what’s not to love about the workouts. I’m hoping they really inspire and motivate me. And since I got Power Sculpt, I got Cardio Max too.

Finally, I got The Complete Workout by Jillian Michaels. Frontside and Backside. It says it’s for beginners, but I don’t know. From what I’ve read, and what I’ve been told the only reason it’s labeled that way is because she goes through each movement with you, explaining why and what you’re hoping to accomplish. I’m not exercise beginner, but I still like to know what and why I’m doing something.

Friends are laughing at me now, but in a good way. I’m being accused of being addicted to exercise. I really don’t know what they’re talking about (I say facetiously).

Today’s Workout

Today’s workout was 45 minutes Fat Burning Fusion with Ellen Barrett. This is a great one too! I’ve got quite a few recipes to post and I’m debating on whether to do a blog with just recipes, or if it really even matters. I’m still deciding.

I was supposed to go out to lunch with some friends, but we got snow last night and we don’t think we can all meet downtown, eat, and have them get back to work within an hour. Luckily, I’ve got some backups. I’ve got leftover Asian Cucumbers I can eat, I’ve got a sweet potato I need to cook up, I’ve got tons of salad ~~ I just need to decide what I want.