Worked out this morning (full body weights workout) and just got back from my walk. I'm listening to an audiobook that is really enjoyable-a Janet Evanovich romantic comedy/mystery type story. It's cute and the mile and a quarter speed by without me even thinking about it really.
My overachieving nature says that is not a long enough walk but I am proud that I am just doing it at all and I think it will be a good addition. Time permitting we are going to start going as a family too and that will be good for the spirit as well.
I am thinking I will start doing some video posts, it will help me to be more realistic and not get twisted to see myself as I really am and a lot of the time I could talk about things that I just can't seem to type out into words. I hope that won't be too lame for anyone out there. Mainly I'll probably just talk or show things I've found and I plan on adding some workouts in as well, I always liked that on other people's pages. It sounds like more work that might be a deterrant but I actually think it will encourage me to post more often.

Guilty pleasure: Torchwood

Almost done reading French Women Don't Get Fat-great read actually-I wasn't sure what I would think. Lots of intuitive eating principles but with more structure and lots of great recipes. I also bought her book French Women for All Seasons. She talks a lot about eating and living for seasons and how it makes items that come into season (like strawberries or tomatoes for example) so exciting and pleasurable when you wait for them to be fresh and local. That's a simplified version of a great concept that I am bumbling-maybe I'll do a vid post about that. Also, Sally writes very well about this type of idea-actually a lot of what the book says is how she is currently living and succeeding. If you don't read her page, you should start. I'm just saying.

22 minutes elliptical 300 calories burned: damn good workout on its own but I am especially happy about it since the machine started doing its ear piercing thing at 15 minutes this time instead of 20 and my son gave me trouble the entire time. I wanted to keep going so much but he just was NOT going to take a nap so I finally announced,"You can always do a second workout tonight if you want" and went inside. I was listening to him on the monitor and went and checked on him several times and had a talk with him each visit and then when I went back in for the third time the smell hit me as soon as I got past the door. "Did you have a poo poo?" "Yeah! I poo poo'd in my pull up!"
Son this is not something to be proud of, sigh.
So he is up and watching Thomas the Train movie for the 4th time today and I am cooling off before we both go get in the shower and go to the store. That should be fun with a non napping two year old but we are out of dish soap, salad fixings and I need more baking yeast to make more bread. The last batch came out poorly, at least in appearance so I re-read the recipe and saw it made a 2 lb loaf and mine is a 1 lber I believe. Woops. Also, the yeast was pretty old so I'm going to try again. I've had the bread machine for a few yrs now but rarely used it since fresh baked bread was a "weakness" for me. Fuck that.
Also made a workout mix for the first time today and was happily jamming away to that and still had plenty left to go, maybe tonight depending on how I feel. My mind keeps turning to doing a race or something, I'm not sure what I would do, even the elliptical aggravates my left knee but I know there is some thing I can do.

Some changes I'm making starting....now I suppose:
Plan out weekly menus but make it even more predictable than before-like chicken on certain nights, fish on certain nights, veggie meals, out to eat every Thursday-whatever. I know lots of people do this but I never have, and I wonder why I get stressed. For some reason I have it in my head that I have to come up with something new and exciting all the time but I'm willing to give this a go. Not to say it will be the same meals each time but at least I'll know what to plan off for each day.
When I said I was going to stop trying to lose weight I meant that, but of course I am not letting go of good nutrition.
I'm going to stop being so rigid with my workout schedules-I think this drives me away eventually so I'm just going to maybe think of a short list of things I can do each day and just pick one-I may even write them on paper and draw them out of a jar. Won't be a cookie jar since we don't have one of those, haha.
Just completed a good workout, which is amazing since I just sat here and realized my mind kept flashing back to wanting to do cardio so I finally got up, changed clothes and went out there and did it. I also ended up doing a complete upper body weights workout too, then came inside and added two sets with my elastic bands and the door stopper. It bugs me not having the assisted chin up machine at home, I feel like I get my back so much better in the gym so I'm going to start adding the lat pull downs with the bands on those days, maybe some more band exercises too.
Remember when my goal was to curl 20 lbs per arm for a full set? Well I started each curl set tonight with 19 lbs so I'm getting close. I had to knock it down some to complete the ten reps each time but it can't be that far away. I also went WAY up on the standing tricep extension, I can remember when I just used 6.5 lbs and tonight I used 21.5 (my dumbbells are weird, hence weird numbers). Using 70 lbs total now for the flyes on my bench, that's a definite improvement too, I wish I could get my back stronger but since I hate doing back sets that's a hindrance. Once again, wish I had the chin up machine at home, or hell let's dream big and say I wish I could do chin ups with NO assistance. Some day. I also did 22 minutes on our elliptical before getting really pissed off at the durn thing for squeaking loud enough to wake the neighbors no matter how many times I shot it with WD40. I can't figure it out but it is ear piercing and cramped my style big time. The idea when I got on there was to just go as long as I physically could because I have never done that. I always watch the clock tick by and it is torture or I'm doing intervals for a prescribed amount of time or whatever, this time I wanted to see how long I could go if I took away the head games and I surprised myself a bit. 20 minutes on our elliptical feels like an eternity most of the time but I know I could have kept going. At the gym the elliptical machines feel really easy and I can dance away on them forever but ours is much tougher-my husband says it is the stride, he doesn't like it as much as the gym ones but what do you expect for something I got on sale from Academy Sports? It gets the job done.
No calories burned listed because I could NOT find my HRM watch even though I was wearing the chest strap. Of course when I was putting the elastic band up I moved some clothes laying on the bed and there it was...sigh.
I'm going to be tracking my exercise in sparkpeople but not food. Being truly fit is my goal now, not being smaller.

Day 3 with no coffee:
Sunday was the AIDS walk and with rushing around and trying to get there on time, I skipped my morning cup-when it's so hot outside that's not hard for me to do. So I suffered with an incredibly crappy headache which I chalked up to dehydration but later realized was caffeine related. Monday I thought, well I've already dealt with the headache, I might as well see this out...BUT DAMN I WANT SOME COFFEE!!!
I snuck back on the scale this morning instead of waiting for my official day tomorrow, and I am up a pound from a month ago. Normally that would be muchos malos, but considering the amount of crap I've eaten, just in the last week or two alone, I am very happy with that. When I told my mom I ate donuts, kelaches, funnel cake, cheese enchiladas with a michilada to drink, she almost fell out of her chair, literally. That was in one day, oh and then cookie dough ice cream for dessert. Sheesh.
Back on track, kicking ass until we go to OKC to see the fam and Hubby's friends. Is it wrong that I want to look fabulous when we see all of these people? Most of them saw me either pregnant or not long post preggers. It's not the number one thing on my mind, but it would be nice.
Upper body workout today, tomorrow yoga or cardio or...BOTH.