Strawberry Picking

My mom and I went strawberry picking yesterday for the first time since we left Maryland, so the first time in 13 years. It was very exciting. I love going strawberry picking. We went to Jacquemin Farms in Plain City.

It was a lot of work though. As you can see (and no, your eyes aren't deceiving you), the strawberries were very tiny. They were baby berries. Apparently, the lack of rain here in the Cbus area has contributed to the small size of local strawberries. I wasn't sure if I believed the people at the strawberry patch yesterday when they told me this. I thought maybe they were just being defensive about their strawberries. However, it was proven true today when I saw very small strawberries by another local farmer at the Powell Farmers Market.

My mama made fresh jam and mini strawberry pies (see below) with some of our freshly picked strawberries. Shockingly, we picked 11 lbs. of strawberries despite the small size. In any case, yay for fresh strawberries!

*Note: It was very lowering this morning to discover that I was sore from picking strawberries for about 1.5 hours. It felt like I had jogged a gajillion miles and not stretched afterwards. Just when I thought I was starting to get into shape...

FFC: Week 6 Results

FFC Week 3

Here are the official Week 3 results for the FFC. I have totally fallen behind in the standings...curses!

Things have been kind of hectic lately, which is the reason for the lack of posts beyond the FFC results. My baby brother graduates from high school this coming Saturday (I can't believe it!) and we had his graduation party yesterday. So things were crazy the past couple weeks between trying to get everything ready for the party, my mom's birthday, and mother's day. I promise more in-depth posts soon!

I completed my second race of the year this past Sunday - the Habitat for Humanity Home Run 5K. I think I'm cursed when it comes to races taking place in Dublin. It was unseasonably and ridiculously hot and humid during the race just like it was for the Dublin Irish 4 Miler last year. I still did ok, though my time was about a minute slower than my time from the Fisher 5K a month ago.

Not too mention, I only got lapped by 2 people (the course was 2, 1.5 mile loops) - the top 2 male finishers. I managed to get my fat arse across halfway mark/finish line about 30 seconds before the top female finisher crossed the line. I guess I'll take comfort in the fact that I wasn't the last "runner" to cross the finish line. There were still a couple stragglers after me and the walkers. Hopefully, I'll have better luck in my next 5K in June.

FFC Week 2

Here are the results for Week 2 of the Fabulously Fit Challenge. Kumquat is leading the charge! You may also notice some changes from last week. Jackfruit is no longer - she didn't like her name, so she is now Jujube. We also have a challenge newcomer. Welcome Java Apple!

Fabulously Fit Challenge (FFC) Week 1 Results

Here is my fantastic, fun and colorful chart of the Week 1 results from the FFC. May the best tropical fruit win!

Potpourri

This post is going to contain a slight mishmash of topics since I haven't posted in a month. First up, a review of BLC. As I suspected, I don't really like the website. I don't know if I'm just not using it properly or to its fullest capabilities, but I don't find it particularly useful. I would get just as much benefit from keeping track of my food log and exercise log in a notebook, I think. I will probably be cancelling my subscription at the end of the 3 months. I like the BL program, just not the website.

The fitness challenge has been restarted - yay! It has been dubbed (by me) the Fabulously Fit Challenge (because I like alliteration and I like to be fabulous) and Week 1 started on Sun. 5/3 with the usual suspects taking part. It's the same rules as before: (1) must exercise at least 20 mins. for it to count; (2) can only count 1 exercise session per day; (3) the losers split the cost of a cookbook of the winner's choice. It's still up in the air as to whether it will be a 13 week challenge ending Aug. 3 or a 19 week challenge ending Sept. 5. So far, I have one vote for each option.

I'm off to a rocky start in the challenge because I've had a hellish cold. But I'm starting to feel better, so I may be able to salvage this week. Maybe I'll keep track of the weekly results on this blog if there are no objections from the participants. That could be fun if I can create a colorful chart or something showing the results. Hmmm...something to think about.

In other fitness news, I completed my first race of the year. I did the Fisher 5K a little over two weeks ago. I suprised myself and did pretty well considering I hadn't jogged the two weeks prior to the race because of my nagging big toe injury. I averaged a 13:41 min./mile, which I know does not seem particularly speedy, but is about 30 seconds faster per mile than my average times to date. Go me!

I have also figured out most of my race schedule for summer/fall. I'm trying to do 1 race a month, at least for the next couple months. Here's what I have planned:

5/24/09 - Home Run 5K for Habitat for Humanity, Dublin
6/14/09 - Race 4 Ellie 5K, Powell
7/30/09 - Dublin Irish 4-Miler, Dublin
8/8/09 - Beerathlon 5K, Bethel Rd. (NEW)
10/18/09 - Nationwide Better Health 1/2 Marathon, Columbus

I don't think I'm going to do any races in September and will just focus on training for the 1/2 in Oct. I didn't see any that I was interested in and that fit into my training schedule. We'll see how it goes. Let me know if you would like to join me in doing any of these races. Misery loves company. I mean, it's always more fun to have a buddy.

So Long WW, It's Been a Good Ride...

That’s right, everyone, I have officially quit WW after 7.5 years. I weighed in for the last time on March 5. It was a hard decision to quit because I’ve been doing WW for so long. But it was time. It wasn’t working for me anymore. It’s a great program and it helped me lose a lot of weight. I’m burned out though and I need to try something different.

So I’m following the Biggest Loser program (hereinafter “BL”). I know, I know, I’m obsessed with the Biggest Loser. I thought I would give it a shot, since it’s clearly successful. I signed up for a 3 month subscription to the Biggest Loser Club. We’ll see how it goes.

The jury is still out as to whether I like the BLC website. It’s kind of cumbersome, but it gets easier the more you use it. I think you can successfully follow the program without using the BLC website. It may be just as easy to keep track of everything in a notebook. However, it is nice that it gives me daily targets for calories, protein, fat, fiber, etc. Otherwise, I don’t know how easy it would be for me to figure out how many calories I should be eating. Here’s to the next three months.

In other news, I've started my own law practice. Don't get me wrong, I'm still looking for a full-time job. However, in the meantime, I'm all set up to take on clients. In fact, I have 3 clients, including 1 non-family member :-).

Nothing New

I lost 0.8 lbs. this week, but I'm pretty sure it is a fluke. I normally weigh in wearing pants or jeans, but today I was wearing work out gear. So I had a faux loss. I suspect I really maintained or gained a little bit. I guess I'll find out next week. So far this year I am averaging a 0.49 lbs. loss per week. Not what I was hoping for, but I'll take it.

On a more exciting note, I also started keeping track of my measurements when I started training for the 1/2 marathon in May (that I'm most likely not doing). I measured myself for the first time since I began training and I'm shrinking! Somewhat. I've lost 0.75 inches from my hips, 2.75 inches from my waist and 0.25 inches from both my arms. Results are inconclusive as to my thighs. I would think they should be shrinking, but they think otherwise. My pants are fitting better too, which is a major relief :-)

I think that's all for now.

Cardio Challenge

Yay! I'm in 3d place now. I'm working my way up the ranks.

What I learned at WW

The women who man the scales at my meeting can't count even with a calculator. I've been a little disappointed with my weight loss since the beginning of the year. Not too mention it seemed a little off, but I couldn't figure out why. It seemed like my weight loss in '09 should be a littler larger. And then I took a look at my little booklet and realized that the WW ladies can't subtract.

Silly, silly me has just been adding up my losses as listed in my book and not really paying attention to my actual weight. I mean, they USE A CALCULATOR. But alas, one week they had listed my loss as 2.4 lbs. when in actuality, it was a 3.4 lb. loss. So adding my minute 0.4 lb. loss from this week to my corrected previous weight loss, I am down a total of 4.6 lbs. so far in 2009. Yay! Here's to another 75 lbs. so I can reach goal!

Also, I worked out 5 times this week. Yes, I'm patting myself on the back right now. Watch yourself, JT ;-).

A Shocking Loss

I lost a pound this week. I'm kind of shocked. I was doing so well journaling. I was on a 13 day streak until this past Sun. when it all fell apart. The only two things I really ate from Mon. through yesterday was toast with butter and iced cookies. And I didn't write them down. I also didn't exercise as much as I should have. So the loss was surprising. I'm back on track with journaling today...yay! I'm going to break my 13 day streak.

Also, I'm getting back on track with exercising. I need to step it up for 2 reasons. The first one being that I still want to do the 1/2 marathon in May. I might switch that to the 5K depending on how the next couple of weeks go. I realize it's a 10 mile difference, but I don't know if I can realistically be ready for the 1/2. I don't want to injure myself. Not too mention, B said she would do the 1/2 marathon in Oct. with me and for once I don't have a wedding that weekend. The T-S extravaganza is the weekend before. The second reason I have to step it up is I am in 4th place in the Cardio Challenge right now by the skin of my teeth. JT is hot on my heels and I know she's been going to the gym. But I'm going to kick her arse ;-). That's right, I said it. The gauntlet has been thrown.

Irritating...

I'm irritated that I only lost -0.4 lbs. this week. I never should've gotten on the scale at the gym. Then I wouldn't have expected a bigger loss at WW tonight. Here's what happened. Last week I got on the scale at the gym after I had worked out on Wed. I had really only been on track since Mon. At WW the next night, I was 3.2 lbs. lighter than I had been when I got on the scale at the gym.

Yesterday, I got on the scale at the gym and, lo and behold, I was down 4.2 lbs. from what that scale had said the previous Wed. So I was all excited. I thought I was going to have great loss tonight at WW. I couldn't wait to the meeting to WI. I was actually on time instead of strolling in about 5 mins. late. But then I got on the scale at the meeting, I was only down 0.4 lbs. from the week before. Which leads me to believe that the scale at the gym is on crack. I'm not getting on it anymore. I never should've gotten on it in the first place.

I'm also irritated by the little loss because, as of yesterday, I had religiously journaled for 10 straight days. And I didn't cheat at all. I wrote down every single thing I had shoveled in my fat little face. Even the day I ate 45 points. Also, I didn't use all of my bonus points. I only used about 2/3 of them. And I went to the gym 4 times in the past 7 days. I feel like I should've lost more weight this week. It's irritating!

Not to mention, my irritation at the small loss is overshadowing the fact that I have been journaling and exercising regularly for almost two weeks. Which is fantastic. I can't remember the last time I journaled for 10 days in a row (today is the 11th). I suspect it was sometime in the early part of 2007, when I was actually losing weight. I also can't remember the last time I worked out 4 times in seven days. Again, it was probably sometime in the beginning of 2007 when I was training for the Indy Mini. I'm going to try to get over my irritation.

I do have to say, that although I accurately journaled for the past 10 days, maybe I didn't make the best choices. I was a little light on the fruits and vegetables. I work on that for the next week and see if that makes a difference.

Glad to See Her Go

Yay for no more Joelle on The Biggest Loser!! However, I am sorry that Carla had to leave with her. It would have been nice if they could have just voted off Joelle. That seems to be the general consensus. Joelle had more excuses for not working hard or losing weight than there are grains of sand on the beach. I'm really glad that I don't have to put up with Joelle for the rest of the season like I had to with the Villianess Vicky. Okay, enough being mean.

I'm up 0.6 lbs. this week, but I'm not too worried about it. I probably would have been up more than that had I weighed in last week. I hadn't been paying too much attention to what I was eating plus I had a cold. But I got back on track for the last half of this past week - I journaled everyday and started going to the gym. I plan to continue both of these things this week.

Book Review: The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl

This is a fabulous book. I absolutely loved it. I would highly suggest anyone who is in the middle of a weight loss journey or has completed their weight loss journey read this book. It's a true story about an Australian girl (Shauna Reid) who weighed 351 lbs. and proceeded to lose half her body weight (literally) over the course of five years and two continents. And she blogged about it the entire time. She survived the journey by creating her blogging alter ego - Dietgirl, who is a superhero. That little synopsis definitely doesn't do the book justice. The book is extremely funny and inspirational. And it makes me want to move to Edinburgh, Scotland. Anyway, read the book!

By the way, Shauna Reid is still blogging at http://www.dietgirl.org/ .

The Steelers are the Champions of the World!

I'm ecstatic that the Steelers won the Superbowl last night. Yay for the first team to have 6 Superbowl wins! Yay for James Harrison's interception and 100 yd. return for a touchdown! Who knew a big linebacker could run so far? Yay for Santonio Holmes being the MVP! He finally earned his salary for the year and is a Buckeye alum we can be proud of. Okay, I'm done with yay-ing.

I didn't post last week because I didn't WI. It was very snowy and icy last Thurs. and I didn't want to take my life into my hands. Anyone who lives in Central Ohio knows what I'm talking about. For some reason, they don't know how to properly plow the roads here. If you combine that with the fact that people who live here don't know how to drive in the snow, it's a dangerous situation. I like being alive, so I didn't venture out of the house.

I did have a loss on the scales the week before. I am down -2.4 for the year so far. Hopefully, I've maintained that loss for the past couple of weeks given the Superbowl gorging last night and the cold I had. We'll see on Thurs.

Other new things: (1) I'm reading a great new book - The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl. I highly recommend it as it's amusing and inspirational. (2) I started a new challenge with the usual suspects, but there's a twist. It's not a weight loss challenge. It's a cardio challenge. Whoever logs the most cardio minutes over the next few weeks is the winner. So far, I'm probably losing as a result of the aforementioned cold.

Okay, that's all for now. More to come later this week.

Oh, the horror...

So I had my first WI of the new year last night and it was horrific. I keep chanting to myself that it's just a number, but it's not working. It's a horrible number, horrible. I have gained 26 lbs. since May 2007. What the f*ck was I thinking and doing? Apparently, I wasn't thinking and only mindlessly eating for the past year and a half. Boo on me. I must get back on track this year.

On a different but related note, I have a food review. I have recently discovered Jimmy Dean D-Lights. I think they've been around for a while, but this is the first time I've had them. So far I've only tried the turkey sausage, egg white and cheese on a whole grain muffin option. It was very tasty and filling for breakfast and only 5 points. It definitely hit the spot, especially since I have been craving a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit from McDonalds. My only criticism is that they are expensive. I paid $6.29 (or maybe $6.99) for a box of 4 at Giant Eagle and that is an "extended reduced price." The normal price is $7.99, which definitely more than I want to pay. I love the convenience though. I'm too lazy to make my own version for breakfast in the morning. I'm going to have to work on how I can make my own convenient version of the sandwich. A version where I don't have to cook the sausage or egg, only reheat it.

Now on to my diatribe about The Biggest Loser. I don't think I like the new format - splitting up the teams and sending home half of the contestants after the first week. I'm glad that they have a chance to come back in 30 days. I'm also upset that Jerry got sent home this week. I liked Jerry. On the other hand, I do not like Joella and I wanted her to go home. She comes off as lazy and doesn't have the heart to be there or so it seems thus far. I love that Bob blew up at her during the last chance workout. I predict that Joella is going to be this season's Vicky (or Heba) and everyone is going to hate her. Hopefully, unlike Vicky, she won't last until the end of this season.

New Year. New Resolutions.

For the third year in a row, I’m kicking off my first post of the year with my New Year resolutions. Here’s a recap of last year’s resolutions:

2008 Resolutions

1. Reaffirm my commitment to lose weight and continue losing weight. Status: ABYSMAL. Code for Not Completed. For the second year in a row, I entered a year heavier than I began it. Unacceptable. But I’m going to move on. In the words of my first WW leader, it’s time to “turn over a new leaf.” (There’s an accompanying hand gesture, by the way. Ask me to show it to you.)

2. Train for and complete 2 half marathons. Status: Replaced with train for and complete 2 races this year. Completed. I did the Dub Crawl 4 Miler in August and the New Albany Walking Classic 10K in Sept. I didn’t really train for the races, so maybe this one is half completed.

3. Get out of debt. Status: Still on track. I don’t have exact numbers, but I’ve decreased my consumer debt by about 35%. This doesn’t include my education loans. I’ve decreased my private education loans by about 15%. (I’m not going to bother calculating my federal loans. I’ve probably only paid off about $5 of the principal. Yay, for consolidating at a low rate.) Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself.

4. Move out of my brother's house. Status: Completed. I moved in with my parents, two younger siblings and their two dogs. How lame am I? At least I got custody of Nanook.

And here are this year's resolutions:

2009 Resolutions

1. Get Employed. That’s right, folks. Once again, I am unemployed. I got laid off in October due to lack of work (official party line). The actual reason is that my boss didn’t like to deal with the business end of the law firm and got in a little over her head. I was the casualty. I wonder if God is trying to tell me that I shouldn’t be a lawyer. Is it really supposed to be this difficult to find a permanent job?

2. Train for and complete 5 races. Five is an arbitrary number. It was the first number to pop into my head. One of my races will be the Capital City Half Marathon on May 2 in Columbus. I’ve already started training and I’m hoping that others will do the race with me…please! As for the other races, we’ll see. I’m not going to focus on the distance of the races, just the number. I’m hoping it will keep me motivated throughout the year.

3. Get out of debt. I want to stay on track with retiring my debt, so I’m making it a resolution. It worked in 2008. I do want to note that I have completely moved to a cash-based system. It was harsh and painful, but I didn’t add to my debt in 2008, so it was worth it.

4. Reaffirm my commitment to lose weight and start losing weight. Another year with the same resolution. *Sigh* I need to lose 75 lbs. to hit my goal. That’s approximately 1.5 lbs. per week. Completely realistic. I need to dig deep for the motivation this year. Wish me luck. Next year, I want to be like Valerie Bertinelli in the Jenny Craig commercial and tearfully announce on my blog that I don’t have to worry about my weight in 2010.

5. Blog more religiously. I was horrible about blogging this year. I feel like every other post began with “after a 3 mos. hiatus, I’m back and I promise to blog every week.” I’m going to aim for at least 2-3 times per month. I feel like that isn’t unreasonable. I’m very impressed by the bloggers who are able to post multiple times per week.

Okay, 5 resolutions is plenty, especially when they are virtually the same as last year. I’ll keep everyone posted on the status of my resolutions throughout the year. I’m sure you're on the edge of your seat.