Jersey Girl

Now that I have a few minutes to sit down with my laptop, I can finally get a new blog post out there into the world. I will share my top 10 of what is going on recently to update anyone still left checking my fruitless blog! Here it goes....

10) Knitting

Oh how I love thee...the yarn, the needles, the projects, the relaxation of sitting still and just enjoying the moment. I also love the things I make - the afghan, the shawls (I have two in progress) and the poncho-turned-shawl I am making for my bestie for her birthday (which has already passed, so I better make this project top priority!).

9) Running

I don't take one step for granted anymore. Not one. I love it when it's hot, cold, windy, rainy, sunny... all weather, all days. I even love that I can get on the treadmill if I want to add a few evening miles to my training. I just love it....and along with my love of the sport is my love for the gear. This fall I found my shopping mojo has left the building. I really have not had the urge to purchase vast amounts of clothing (except for that crazy September day of the Missoni for Target release!) this fall. I believe my shopping mojo was parlayed into  an obsessive consumer of athletic wear. I love running shorts, tights, jackets, thermal tops, singlets...oh the list goes on. My recent crushes are Brooks "Epiphany" running shorts. They are cut for my body type completely and are the only running shorts I've ever found that don't fit like a balloon. In true "me" fashion, I had to purchase every XS within 10 miles. I also love Nike Pro Combat apparel, and the Nike Dri-Fit line. Oh, and don't get me started on Mizuno spandex capri tights.... and their warming fabric hat and gloves. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Good thing I get a 10% discount at Sneaker Factory. That place is LETHAL for my ability to save money!

Speaking of running, I ran the Giralda Farms 5K last weekend and won my age group!!! I didn't feel that great that morning, so I wasn't going to do it. But the boy child's girlfriend's mom was running it and I was supposed to drive her there....so I decided to wing it, and I'm so glad I did. I came in 7th overall (women), but won my age group because none of those super-women were my age....at times like that it feels pretty darn good to be north of.....28.

3) Cross Country Season

It's been a long road this season. The boy was poised to have the season of a lifetime when he was injured in a road race in mid-august. It set off a chain of events that really derailed his season. He didn't have to take any prolonged time off, but the training was not what it should have been, and between PT and phoning it in during workouts, he didn't have the times he wanted to this season. He did have a PR in the county championships, and achieved "national elite runner" status by his time, but he has not been able to go to the extremes in training that he thought he would be able to. It was tough emotionally, physically and otherwise. Finally he is up to snuff physically, so he has been training hard for the last 3 weeks, but it's hard to make up all that lost time. This coming weekend is the Meet of Champions, which the team made for only the third time in school history. It is truly an honor and we are really exciting and hoping for a PR.

 4) Return to routines....coking, cleaning, driving, etc. During the summer months, I let my routine go. We do what we want to do when we want to do it, which leads me to the difficulty getting my act together making every day a productive one (or at least in part, productive). Here's a pic from September, transitioning back from beach to suburban routine....before Friday night dinner with friends.

5) Diet Schwepps Ginger Ale

Now this doesn't mean I'm cheating on my diet Barqs Root Beer - quite the contrary. Just added another soda to the repetoire!

6. Decor. We are undergoing some big changes from a decorating standpoing. We are doing the family room completely, from the walls on....and also about the pull the trigger on the new headboard I'm considering. Here's a sneak peek...

This one is small, and mine will be a king, giving it the width that it appears to need in this photo. I'm also doing a velvet taupy color, which is a bit richer. We'll see how it goes, but I do want a change of surroundings here...and I"m starting to take some degree of action.

7-10 to appear in next post. I don't want to get hung up on finishing every entry all the time to post. Turkey day is fastly approaching and I want to get my game plan for the holidays by the end of November. It is usually such a whirlwind with work and other commitments, that I don't get to enjoy the small stuff. Maybe to acknowledge the small stuff is a start to enjoying it. I certainly hope so.

xoxo

Jumping right back in...

I kept composing drafts of posts, and as time passed, it became clear that the fear of having something relevant to say kept me from posting at all. Right now my life is a barage of AP Biology, Physical therapy for the boy child, physical therapy for me, driving kids, tutoring organic and biochem (see AP Biology) and preparing to get the much-needed certifications for returning to my office job. I am getting certified in sports nutrition, to compliment my passion for getting my patients to exercise and commit to an active lifestyle. I think I can also benefit my own training with more attention to nutrition.

This has so far been the school year that has eaten my life...except for last tuesday when my bestie and I arrived at Target at 7:50 for the opening bell of the release of the Missoni for Target line. Sigh, it was epic.

And the adorable rain boots....

And the home collection **GASP**!!

Anyway, I'm not going to feel so intimidated that I can't start blogging again. It might help me focus and distill the myriad of things I'm doing into a more streamlined, getting things done me. Yea, right. So I'm going to start by saying I was inspired by a close friend this morning. He felt frustrated and ineffective with getting his lifestyle program in check. I feel the same way about my area of weekness: Organization. So I figured I could help him with his shortcomings and maybe in turn, face my own. So it was him that got me here today...and I hope that I can help him. So this is for you....get on the treadmill. Get moving. It only takes a little bit of will, and a little bit of time. Just like I started typing today without worry about what I would cover, and without any profound words of wisdom, and here I am. Getting out to exercise only takes a tiny bit of will, followed by a bit of an investment of energy, and it can change EVERYTHING. Everything.

The bad runs are necessary to have good runs...

Last two days, epic fail on the running front. I am taking my training for the one of my favorite races, the Millburn 4-Miler, very seriously....at least until two days ago. Perhaps I was overtraining? Perhaps I was undertraining? Perhaps under the weather? I don't know, but I had some bad runs. Thursday - approaching heat stroke (from dehydration and crazy-humidity) and Wednesday, even worse. So, today.

My physical therapist had me doing sprints and hill work this morning, and I went for a wonderful and quite successful 4.4 miles at 8:05 pace (average pace). Felt good, even with the profound humidity. So, lesson learned, bad runs must be felt to experience good runs. So true. The training continues.

So does everyone find food plans easier or more difficult during the Summer months? Is it harder with the kids home? Less of a routine? Or is it easier because you are less busy, and have more time for exercise, meal planning and food shopping? Is it easier because the weather is usually pretty nice, and you can walk or run outdoors? For me, I feel freer and always get the exercise in when possible (or even impossible), but scheduling has always been a challenge to me...and I have a hard time actually committing to a routine (which I have expressed many times in my blog). The most important things to keep in a routine to maintain your nutritional balance as well as your training balance is....

1) plan meals at least grossly (you don't have to be terribly specific, but I plan Monday some guidelines so I can do my shopping have meals in the house.

2) food records for those of you who are on the weight loss trail

3) exercise records....I cannot state how terrific and informative it is to have a training journal. I went back to see what I was doing before my hip injury, and saw the crazy distance and crazy speed, and lack of rest. I learn from every single week of entries I do, and can plan as I go forward. The same goes for food records. If you don't know where you've been, how do yo know where you're going?

4) FIND some plan that works for you in the realm of exercise. I got a facebook message from a lovely woman I went to high school with. She is really a doll, and appreciates any and all weight and exercise-related suggestions I have. Her feedback caused me to put #4 on this list - that she found that working out in a gym dance class is what works for her. She spends an hour dancing, and thatshe can do. Some people are not natural runners. I get that. I know for me it's a passion, but most people loathe it. I still am hoping someday my weight loss friend tries to run a half mile, and add it TO her dance routine, but alas, I'm so happy for her losing weight and finding the joy in exercise. Bravo S...bravo.

Don't ask why I'm putting this picture here. I just love it. I have these chairs, and am considering a re-appholstery project (done by someone else since THIS is not in my skill set).

I am in search of a book on how to cut my 5K time. My goal this year is get back to my 21 minute 5K, and then I will work on getting into 20. I really want, in my June 5K, to aspire to the 22 min...but right now I'm just grateful that I am finishing my runs inspired and not in chronic pain. Makes me smile that I can even post this. I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. OUCH!

This weekend I want to do many things, in addition to being inundated with sports. First, pickup my client orders, and then do some down-home decorating. I want to order some canvases of the kids for above their beds - HUGE ones....HUGE MEGA BIG canvas photos. Of course the boy child will have runnning, but haven't yet decided what photos to select for the girl child - perhaps baseball, perhaps snow boarding or skiing or even just her on the trampoline. I think I'll go for that. So what decor ideas do you have for me? I have my decorator coming this week for my mid-century inspired family room...but outside of that, I need more ideas. Thanks for visiting today...I'm off to shop canvas! xoxo

Guess who's back....shady's back....

I'm posting today for two reasons - one, someone who emailed me that they are continuing to lose weight, and has adopted many of my odd but healthy habits including a near-obsession with skinless-boneless sardines (and of cours Diet Barq's Root Beer). The other reason, hearing from someone when I did little league snack bar duty that they read my blog, and appreciated my take on metabolic medicine and lifestyle plans. I was flattered and inspired by both women, and even though my readers don't usually post comments, it doesn't mean they aren't getting something from my posts, or at least following my wacky and crazy busy life as a Mom, Doctor, Artist, Needle-worker and exercise-addict.

My design biz has been beyond busy. That's a good thing. Now I'm toying with ideas for not only my house, as I'm sort of ready for an update (already working with a decorator for my new family room), but also for the beach place. I love ideas of graphic art in groupings like this...

I can also visualize some paper cutouts of my kids silhouettes in the mix. Also on my radar screen for the beach master bedroom is a tufted headboard. I have to take measurements to see what fits, but here's what I'm thinking about:

Okay so let's talk weight loss. Exercise. Oh how I love the. Those who say they "hate" exercise, or loathe it, I just think they haven't found the RIGHT exercise. Once you see progress, it feeds on itself. Right now it's after eleven pm, and I'm exhausted. I wish I could finish getting down my ideas about exercise and how it relates to weight loss and a lifestyle plan. But I cannot. Too tired. tomorrow is another day. What I am going to request from whoever is reading for weight loss (or any of my other jobs)...what do you find most difficult? Please either post it, or you can email me separately b/c I know my readers are mostly silent! I would love to hear from you, as it does get me more motivated to post more frequently. I want to take this time to thank those readers who have kept up with me, and motivated me to get back into gear. xoxo

Happy Easter & Passover Week

Vacation from school, check. Embroidery Machine up and running, check. New running shoes (x 3) for the boy child, check. Some semblence of organization, NO CHECK. It has not been easy these past few weeks, hence the paucity of posts. However, never one to dwell on negatives, I will begin by discussing two new cookbooks that arrived in Amazon boxes this past week. The first is one I had to wait for, which makes it even SWEETER.

 

Since I do feed two manboys (both share many of the two characteristics of men and boys so I figure I can lump them together) who eat a lot, this was a must have. So far, I have tried two recipes, the latter of which was Old Fashioned Pancakes. I wish I had taken photos, b/c the boy child has invented a real winner 'round here, the Old Fashioned Pancake Sandwich. On the outside, two nice sized round golden pancakes. The filler between them?? Nutella with thinly sliced bananas...or plain nutella if you feel uninspired. Before practice this morning, my son at two of them, and was remarkably inspired for the track workout and distance run...so win/win. The boy child has leafed through the book, marking a few receipes that sparked his interest. I will begin going through them to decide when these will be made, but I love the idea of the kids contributing to meal planning, thereby being way more invested, and perhaps more inclined to eat at mealtime.

 Since I'm all over the map today working and doing kid duty (vacation), I will make this post as haphazzard as my mind these days. I finally am having a very intense love affair with my new running attire. I have finally found a perfectly proportioned running tight that is small enough and scaled properly for a slim person such as myself....and vertically challenged, LOL. I prefer to consider myself perfectly proportioned for someone taller than 5'2" but shorter than 5'4" so depending on who I am talking to, I'm 5'2 1/2" or 5'3" but to you, I will tell the truth, I'm really 5' 2 1/2". Whew. Anyway, I love these tights. LOVE.

So while I had to shell out the big bucks for the boy child's new training shoes (three pair!) I purchased a nice pair of running capris for myself, added bonus. Here's the diff....my tights were 45% off. His shoes - full retail (minus his varsity team discount, which is 10%). When each pair at 120 dollars (about), 10% doesn't sound that impressive, but every dollar counts.

 Not a lot of time because I'm on a short schedule with work...I want to share a few Passover/Easter tips for those trying to get back into shape, or into shape (if you're not looking to get 'back' anything, lol) ... I'm gonna do it in list format, so you can easily refer to this...as the holidays are upon us.

1) STAY OUT OF THE EASTER BASKET. Period. Don't start, and you won't have to ultimately have the difficulty of stopping. The consumption of candy and sweets is not consistant with your desire to lose weight. And if it's not consistant with what you want as your goal, then DO NOT DUE IT. It really is that simple. Easy? Not so much. But Simple? YES! I even have issues sometimes resisting the delicious treats - but I do, always. Because if I didn't, the choice would be inconsistant with my goals, and thereby is the WRONG choice. Stay away, all the time, every time.

2) Dinners - pass up the carb portion. No rice, no noodles, no potatoes. Hardcore? Yes. Easy, yes! Eat plenty of veggies and lots of lean proteins, and you are going to see it gets easier and easire. Easter and Passover I'm sure will bring you lots of big family events....and lots of food choices. Have a double helping of that turkey or ham, and just leave the carbs behind. Some suggestions for side dishes if you are cooking or bringing? Roasted veggies (love brussels or cauliflower with sweet onions...roasted at 475 or 500 for about 20 minutes), steamed veggies (love me some steamed asparagus with a bit of salt), squash etc. So...just make sure your planning accordingly so you have more than enough on your plate for the holiday meals.

3) Even with the holidays, keep up your exercise. You should be sweating at least 5-6 days per week. Not a comfortable leisurely walk (which of course is actually better than nothing) but sweating. I know at first it sucks. But the more you put in, the better you like it. Get yourself some fun workout clothes, some good shoes and pound the pavement....or bike...or stair climb. Just MOVE.

Those three are big. Too big? I don't think so. Oh, and forgot b/c you know it wouldn't be a weight loss list from me unless it had #4, which for my patients has been #1, which is:

4) FOOD RECORDS.

nuff said. Happy holidays to all. Try TJ Maxx or Marshall's for some modestly priced workout clothes. I got about five pairs of amazing nike shorts for 14.99 apiece. In LOVE.

Happy Passover. Happy Easter. Happy Happy!

xoxo

Many things have transpired since my last post...

some of which are good, and some not so good. I will choose to focus on the good parts...and the parts that my weight loss followers would find helpful. First, it is official, I have broken the sugar habit. Even for a veteran like me, it was SO hard. I bake constantly, so I have cupcakes with frosting on the counter all the time, and the girl child had her birthday, and that beautiful cake full of delightfully chocolatey frosting....all sitting there. Do I eat cake? Certainly not! I am gluten free out of medical necessity, and I have not willfully eaten gluten in about nine years....but frosting?????? I adore it! Too much. So there I was, staring at that beautiful cake....so I put most of it in a tupperwear container and brought it to my friend's house when we had dinner there last weekend. I took one last finger full of frosting, turned my back and walked away. That was it. I miss it less and less, and I've been sugar free since Saturday. As a consequence, I have less food cravings, less desire to eat sugar, and I think a significantly better diet! It isn't easy giving up sugar, even for me...who isn't really that dependent on sweets and refined carbohydrates. So for those of you considering it, DO IT. Do it today, and move towards living a sugar-free lifestyle. I do not use sugar substitutes (except in my tea), I just don't eat desserts, except for the occasional bit of fruit. I do substitute 1/4 cup of chobani fat-free yogurt (plain) with a few blueberries on it (fresh blueberries or fresh strawberries cut up). You will be surprised how quickly you get used to sugar. For those of you who follow for weight issues, just try it. Give up sugar, just for today and see how you do. You can't judge the difficulty on the first or second day....it does get easier. Trust me!

Today I am finally going to take out the embroidery machine. I will take some photos as I go, but I can't wait to break into that box and begin monogramming anything and everything in my path! I will continue my week in review post later, but for now, suffering from the half-day blues (girl child has had half days this week), I will shove off and begin the move toward dinner.....sigh....another day, another menu. Tonight.... some sort of poultry....if I can tear myself away from the embroidery machine, LOL. xoxo

Friday is for tying up loose ends...

First, I know many read my blog for weight loss strategies seeing that I spent ten years of my life practicing as a weight loss physician. That being said I HAVE to visit last night's Jersey Shore reunion show. You can watch the entire show here. First, can we get out of the way that although I adore Pauly D. (CAAAABS AH HEEYYYAAAAAA) and his Rhode Island accent, he looked as though he had slept in a tub of sunless tanner. He looked awesome in the blue button down. He has a heck of a tailor, as the shirt was a perfect fit. The Situation, aka the SNITCHuation, appeared white as a ghost in comparrison. He denied being the 'snitch' but indeed, he was during this season in Seaside. I enjoyed the Deena discussion. She is hilarious, and can laugh at herself. A good addition to the cast. I can't believe I'm reviewing this with any degree of seriousness. She may need to read my blog, as she looked a bit hefty onscreen, but her hair looked good, if that means anything to you. I'm guessing not. Okay, I'm glad that Ronnie & Sami are still broken up. That was a hot mess, start to finish.

 So do any of you have a Spring Bucket List? Not so much a bucket list per se, more of a Spring Goal List. I think committing to an entire Spring Goal List is too much. So I will bite off my April Goal List.

1) Make Kimmie's authentic bolognese sauce....like the real kind, with actual ingredients like beef, cream, etc...which I really never ever do.

2) Purchase a GPS of my own so I can track my own workouts.

3) Commit to regular speed training and hill repeats. I'm looking to get my 5K to 22 minutes, and without a good amount of speed work, it won't get done.

4) Truly commit to my tee shirt quilt. Take the squares I've cut and actually begin the process fully.

 

5) Learn my embroidery machine (supposed to pick it up on Tuesday and have a lesson to learn the basics).

6) Stick to my four day per week cooking plan with better advance planning, and then consider expanding to five days per week religiously.

7) Do my physical therapy exercises at least three days per week.

8) Re-organize my sewing area, and create an are of non-perishable food storage area.

9) Finish clearing out my photo studio and create a space for props, etc. This will enable me to move out some of the clutter, and find places for all the things I need, at my fingertips.

10) Continue working on my office, so the files are better maintained.

I will start with my top ten, and see how that goes. Before signing off I want to discuss a weight loss topic. Parties. It's the season for eating out, open houses and parties...then it will be BBQ season. In order not to fall victim to the entertaining weight-gain, we have to plan in advance. My general rule of thumb, don't eat much at parties. NEVER go starving and don't starve yourself and think "I'll save all my calories for the party." It doesn't work because if you starve yourself during the day, your ability to get the feedback in your central nervous system (telling your brain you are full) will be complete out of whack (out of whack is the medical term). So parties. What do I do? I refuse to get sucked in. I do not eat any carb-centered foods. No mini-quiche, no pigs in blankets, no foccaccia and no sliders. Might I eat the sliced turkey? YES! Might I eat the crudite? ALWAYS. I adore fresh veggies like cauliflower, green beans and brocoli. I never use dip. Never. Dips are all fat, all bad. I can eat fresh veggies all day. What else might I eat at a party? Well this past week at a party I had shrimp cocktail (great diet-friendly food), oysters from the raw bar and turkey. I left the pigs in blanket, dessert, mini quiche, sliced roast beef on bread, etc. Lots and lots of calories are hidden in those passed hor d'oeuvres, and you can just keep eating them and eating them. I realize each person has to find their own comfort zone. But avoid the party pitfalls by minimizing the refined carbs and eating more of the meats and veggies. If you do this a few times, and realize you don't fall apart doing it, you will gain confidence. Then you can add a glass of wine (no non-diet cocktails though). I do advise diet tonic water if you like gin and tonics or vodka tonics...you can not tell the difference w/ a hefty amt of lime juice! You can also get diet cranberry juice for the skinny cosmos. Anyway, alcohol is metabolized like a fat, so don't load your drink with carbs. I'd suggest a nice red...just sayin'.

I want to compile a list of diet-friendly foods...ones that do not create more cravings than they satisfy. I have heard from several readers that the setting of standards or rules for consumption have worked for them, and that post was a game-changer. I'm going to discuss personal choice tomorrow....since in my humble opinion, that was my OWN game changer years and years ago. Having the power to make choices, rather than be a slave to cravings is a beautiful thing...and I truly believe each and every one of you is capble of it. Have a wonderful evening, and enjoy the process.

xoxo

Every once in a while...

I like to reflect upon my relationships. For those readers who aren't part of my "real" life (as opposed to virtual life), you may not know my feelings about friendship. I love my friends. Not simply regular love. But adore them. I will admit that I am probably the luckiest person to have the array of remarkable men and women I call friends. I am never lonely. I know that if I pick up the phone, there will be an understanding and caring voice on the other end of the connection. I have blogged about my friends before over the past few years, but feel I could never say enough about them and how grateful I am to have them.

Before I go into my birthday festivities, I want to share a recipe remake that got RAVE reviews over here. It's my own adaption for Chicken Paprikash which I read about on a food blog. I got a few recipes, here is one from Allrecipes.com...CHICKEN PAPRIKASH....and the other was from Cooks.com....CHICKEN PAPRIKASH2. I changed a few things...and the card for download is here:

Download Barb's Chicken Prikash

Here's how it looked...

Anyway, it got two thumbs up over here, and I would definitely recommend it. Plus the lower-calorie recipe I do not believe compromises on taste at all...so give it a whirl.

By the way, in case you want to try it both ways...here's the card for the original recipe:

Download Recipe Card for Chicken Paprikash

I'm off to do some work on my friend Regina Truitt's campaign for the board of ed. She is such a talented candidate and I'm proud to be working on her campaign. Have a wonderful day all. I got my run in before the noreaster rolled in, when the rain was at a mere drizzle. Hope you got in yours.

XO

An experiment with one subject...

It's true, a metamorphosis too place, changing into a lab mouse this week, and have some pretty remarkable results for you in my one-person-experiment. Don't I look like it??? Above pic from St. Patty's Day, just to share giving you a visual! You can't see my adorable metallic shamrock tank top. Believe me, it was adorable. For those of you who are long-time readers or followers, you know I do not eat sugar as a rule. Yes, I will eat sugar added to foods, and have no moral opposition to sugar in moderation. However, I have preached for the last 13 years that sugar almost cannot be moderated - at least not by mere humans. My patients used to comment "I can't just NOT eat sugar forever?!" Well, maybe not, but you sure as heck can try. The reason....sugar begets sugar...or at the very least begets hunger....and subsequently more food.

I found the girl child's halloween candy that we were supposed to donate. It's a huge amount, and I put it in the closet out of sight (b/c no child should be eating this kind of volume, even over months) and forgot about it. I took it out last weekend, and thought I would do a little experiment. Normally I eat no sugar. So I decided to begin picking a few small pieces to eat and see what happened. I started with about four starburst. Then...the next day I ate a micro bag of peanut M&M's. Yum. Then the third and final day of my experiment, I ate a few small tootsie rolls and a roll of smarties. I have completely changed my routine with these few tiny choices. Yesterday I felt hungry more, but still okay. By today I want to eat earlier in the day, and more food....directly related to my body's reaction to the sugar. I don't eat much, that's true, but I do not walk around hungry all the time, or else I would eat more. I hate that feeling, and I maintain my weight because I don't eat the refined carbs that make us want to never STOP eating.

Well, it's over. I know that eating sugar as part of my diet (in the form of candy, cakes, etc.) isn't a feasible choice if I want to maintain the weight I am right now. It also isn't feasible for your lifestyle if you want to get fit or lose weight. It showed me firsthand that my hardcore lifestyle is a lifestyle that actually is a lot easier to maintain than one that includes candy and desserts. Like I said, if I wanted a spoon of ice cream at a party, I will take it occasionally...but I don't make it part of my life because I refuse to walk around starving all the time. A food plan low in refined carbohydrates and high in lean proteins and non-starchy veggies actually sets you up for success....because the hunger just isn't there. I don't have the cravings for tootsie rolls (like I have right now) when I am compliant with my normal diet. If you don't believe it, try it yourself. Seriously, make yourself your own lab rat and join me. I can't wait to hear what you find. I want to ask readers what topics they would like to her about for my triathlete guest blogger. I'm thinkin' how to train for your first 5k race??? One of my besties is doing his first 5K in June and I am wondering how many of you will join in? I am going to run it if my hip holds out, but I'm more excited for others than myself in this journey. This weekend I'm going to post my meal plan for the week with downloadable shopping lists for everyone. What fun, it may actually make me more organized just putting it out there. Photos to come!

xoxo Have a fabulous Friday.

It's supposed to be Spring...

but I woke up this morning to a hot mess...rather, a cold mess....about three or four inches of snow blanketed the area. Outoodr run looks unlikely. Oh well. So my goals for the day are quickly materializing, including catching up on my Etsy orders, more cooking, and making designing the apparel for both the high school track team, as well as the baseball chain (6 teams). This is a lot of work, and I've really not done well with time management regarding all this work...plus my regular clients. Putting this in black and white may help motiviated me. Or not.

Trader Joes really came through on my flowers. Every single daffodil opened, and looked like this (above, photo taken on my kitchen table). Makes me long for Spring even more. Yesterday I baked original chocolate chip cookies and reviews are oustanding! They joined the already baked peanut butter cookies & oatmeal cookies that were sitting on the counter from the previous afternoon. Funny, the chocolate chip are already gone. I wonder what that means. I want to share the recipes, since I'm a bit boring today.

Download Chocolate Chip Cookies

Also getting great reviews were my peanut butter cookies....recipe here:

Download Peanutbuttercookies

Hope you are all having a great day. Will try to be a bit more on task tomorrow! xoxo

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm hopeless. Yes, that's right, hopeless. I'm my own worst enemy, yet I still can't get out of my own way. I was originally going to do a five minute post on yesterday's dinner followed by my hipi-Irish princess....but I had a mishap I want to share between putting up corned beef for 16 and icing my left knee (READ: NOT HIP). So what do you think I am going to post about??? You guessed it, my lunacy.

On Tuesday morning, my friend Heather and I went for an amazing run. I don't know if I have mentioned Heather before, but she is my close friend of 15 1/2 years, a remarkable athlete, beautiful woman & does everything with style. I remember when I was a 26 year old new-mother in my old house, with the linolium floor (before we renovated the old house) and I made a pot of coffee with the boy child in a carseat in the kitchen (he was six weeks old, tops, and never slept and cried constantly), and Heather walked in with her son Matt in a carseat draped over her arm. She looke absolutely fabulous, a new mom at her pre-baby weight, with perfectly highlighted hair (NO ROOTS!) and a beautiful smile. I wondered then how she did it, and now over fifteen years later, I still don't have any idea! We shared coffee, as well as the trials and tribulations of new motherhood. I remember those days as some of the most frustrating in our history, and was so happy to have found a kindred spirit who shared my exasperation, as well as her hopes. She is a gem and we will forever be friends. She is also a triathlete, who effortlessly completes every physical challenge that she undertakes, and makes it look easy.

Okay, enough history. Let's fast forward fifteen years to the place where I was with her Tuesday morning. I went out at my usual (READ: FAST) pace, and she said "SLOOOWWW DOWN!". So we decided to take a slow, even and chatty run, completely uncharacteristic for me. We ran up my mega-hill and she slowed me down even more. I ended the 3.1 mile course without even breaking a sweat, but with a smile on my face. I felt awesome, and my hip even better. Yesterday, I did the same course at an 8:10 pace, still relaxed for me, but faster than on Tuesday. Then today. I felt I needed a workout so I decided to do the four mile course, at a medium pace. I set out fine, and felt like I was doing an 8:20 pace, relaxed and happy, listening to my new workout mix...featuring Rhianna's S&M which played as I ran down White Oak Ridge Road. I made the turn on to Parsonage Hill and still held myself back. I did the VEERRRYYY steep hill at a normal, yet brisk pace, when I spotted another runner maker her way up the hill. That's when it happened. I am a bad runner. Bad. BAAAAD. I am extremely competitive with MYSELF, and it took hold of me and I thought to myself (as Flo-Rida's LOW played in my ears) "I MUST WIN". OMG, I am ashamed to admit it, but if I post this maybe, just maybe I can change my behavior with the love and support of my friends, readers and HEATHER! It was like shooting fish in a barrel, since I can take that hill at a 7 minute pace, and I effortlessly floated up the hill, feeling strong & waving as I passed that nice (but slow) runner. Well, the joke was on me, because about a mile later, long after the hill was a memory, I stopped to chat with Regina (another bestie) who pulled over in her red Volvo, for two or three minutes. When I started up again, I felt it. My left knee (the one that recovered from a torn meniscus, and the one connected to my bad hip and tendonitis-laden connective tissue) hurt. The posterior medial area ached, but thankfully no pop. I slowed my pace to chatty pace (where you could talk to someone if I wasn't alone) and listened to Money Talks (AC/DC) on my ipod, holding myself back. I made it home (3 miles) without substantial pain, but I almost lost it when I walked in the house. I am a freakin' idiot, and I know it....yet somehow I can't say if I had the chance to do it again, I would have changed what I did. I think my personality is unchangabble at this point. Ugh.

I climbed up the stairs (Finger 11's Paralyzer now on the ipod) and I thought of my high school friend & facebook friend, Susanne, who has this philosophy of Smilepacing....doing your workouts with the happiness factor as the emphasis. Okay, I love this idea. But I can't do it. At least I haven't been able to do it. I am reaching out to my readers and friends....what can I do to smilepace more than outpace? My hip, as I type, feels fine, and I think it's actually less knee, more adductor tendons that attach at the tibia. However, I don't know. I took a handful of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and some Nexium for the reflux/gastritis and iced. I promise to learn from this, if I can get out of this without any damage, and I am gonng email Susanne to find out how to smile more, race less. Ideas??? Unless someone's advice involves genetic manipulation, I am not sure I will be able to see it through.

Anyway, now to get to my usuall stuff, cooking, weight management and kids. Here's my Irish Princess, the girl child, as she gets ready to get to school today:

The recipe was the most challenging and detailed slow cooker recipe I have ever seen. Seriously, in retrospect, not worth the time. I used this for crushing my spices:

I mean, really. I also crushed these:

I would give the chicken a B, so really I don't think I will revisit this.

Before getting back to my corned beef and baking some St Patty's cupcakes, I will

Yesterday's dinner: a selection from The Gourmet Slow Cooker cookbook, given to me by my bestie, Tracy...from Williams Sonoma. Before signing off, I will share a kick ass recipe. I made this on Sunday, doubling recipe because I had SO many aged bananas. This met with RAVE reviews. If you do small loaves, half the time!! Even the boy child likes it, which says a lot.

Banana Bread Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yield: Makes one loaf.

recipe from: Simply Recipes.com

 

Happy St. Patty's day to everyone. xoxo

It's Monday, and I'm talkin' maintaining...

Good morning, and I hope  your wheels are already spinning, since I feel that I've already worked a full day this morning, and it's not even 11 AM. When I think back to what works in my lifestyle, weight management and otherwise, I always return to routine. It sounds very preachy & organized, both of which I AM NOT! You should know that I hate structure. I loathe it. I don't exercise at the same time every day, I don't pay bills on the same days every month, I don't make appointments on the same days and I most definitely don't clean on the same days each week (or year, as the case may be, LOL). However, after years of failing at keeping the right foods in the house, or having the cable company leave messages on my voicemail about the bill being late (seriously, they call when you are 25 dollars and 3 minutes late....ugh, annoying), I have reformed my ways. Still loathing structure, I prefer to call what I do "working routines!" That is so much more adult than imposing STRUCTURE. The mere word bores the crap out of me and makes me want to run for the mall, with my cell phone in hand scheduling a ladies lunch! So about routines.... before I implemented my routines, I had to decide what was falling by the wayside. Here is my list (make yours concurrently if you want to play along...SCCCOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTT......this means you too, k?)...

1) Hubby's dry cleaning/shirts pickup and drop off.

2) Food Shopping (meal planning subsequently was floundering, as was lunch-making for the kids)

3) Paying Bills (the consequences of not being organized are perfectly clear on this one)

4) WORK! (clients emailing me asking why they haven't received their proofs, or my boss asking my why five charts were on my desk back in those days when I was always a patient note behind....b/c it was all in my head....just needed to write itself in the chart).

5) Volunteer Work (same problems as work)

6) Dog Training (inability to retain any degree of structure enabled my crazy Camilla & rule-abiding Cletus to run wild, and not be able to predict their potty schedule, or their eating schedule. I was okay with feeding schedules since they eat dinner when we eat dinner, but still the potty issues were overwhelming).

That is enough discussion of my past and somewhat present shortcomings. Other than these, I'm perfect (LOL, yea right). So what did I do about my lack of structure? Implemented some foolproof routines that provided the structure (boooo) I needed with the flexibility of being able to do what I wanted, when I wanted to do it. I picked a specific day (earlier in the week rather than later) and decided to combine the school drop-off with picking up dry cleaning (and dropping it off). Once I had that firmly in place, I found a back entrance from my dry cleaner to Shop Rite! Then I began combining drop-off with dry cleaner with food shopping. Hitting the Shop Rite early in the morning enabled me to be in and out in no time, even with a full shop. I purchase my cold cuts for the boy child's lunch once per week, so I have to be there when the traffic is minimal b/c nothing doubles your shopping time like waiting in the deli line with #64 and they're calling #31. Checkout lines are pretty short at that hour anyway, so I can be in and out in anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes (depending on what I need). On the way home I hit the post office if my Lobster Pot orders are ready to go out (which most of the time they're not). After unloading car and grocery bags, I always start laundry. Then I feel like I have DONE something, but had to use literally 0% of my brain power, b/c I'm on auto pilot with these routines. By the time I'm ready to multitask (laundry, blogging, picking up and making bed, dog maintenance), I have achieved enough where I can look back and label this morning "NOT A FAILURE" which is really all we can ever ask for.

I still have not been able to routine my way into exercise. Sometimes I run at 10 am, sometimes 4 pm, and any other time...but I know since that is something I like to do mos of the time, I know I will fit it in around my "must-do" routines.

While at the Shop Right, I learned something about my patients, which I really did not know. A woman that I was in grocery sync with (doing same aisles at same time), was talking on the cell phone, selecting groceries and eating at the same time (age 40-ish). I'm not quite sure what she was munching on, and I didn't want to be rude to stare....but truthfully it doesn't matter. I noticed that she was moderately overweight (not obese, just overweight). It really caused me to take pause to think WHY is she eating in the grocery store? Why do people eat in their cars? Why do they grab things on the go? Because they do not think. They allow themselves the freedom to take a bit of this when they want to, or a lot of that when they're hungry, thinking they cannot implement the structure they need to keep themselves at a healthy and flattering weight. I think it is just this lack of structure or routine that allows TOO much freedom, and results in behaviors inconsistent with a healthy lifestyle. I understand there are exceptions but my guess is that if you are eating as you walk around the supermarket, or driving to the dry cleaners, you are not structuring your day in a way that will allow you to lose weight. Making time to eat (it takes me literally less than 5 minutes to make/eat lunch because I have a routine) is paramount, as is making time to shop and have things at the ready when you are hungry. I know I've blogged about personal rules before (no eating sugar, or no eating at Costco sample carts...etc), but without them, even most slim people would be overweight. Making the choice to eat that chicken pot pie sample at Costco sets you up for a lifestyle that is not optimal. Establishing workable routines for yourself, or structure, will give you the guidelines that you need to lose weight and maintain that loss. Pushing your cart down the aisle knowing you eat at 10:30 am instead of whenever the mood hits, and having that constant, will result in a healthier diet. Often times those foods you are bypassing (easy to grab, carry or snack on) are processed, and laden with ingredients that your body doesn't want or need. The take-home point??? Stop eating in the car. Stop eating in the store. Stop taking samples and consuming things that aren't even part of a meal. You can then begin to establish personal rules that will most definitely result in a healthier body weight than you have had in recent times. Speaking of routine...it is now time to break out the sardines and cottage cheese for the, like 200th consecutive day (I'm not 100% on every day, but at least 95% of my days are structured in this way). It's a comfort to know that I am always stocked, always prepared for meals and never find myself in the can goods aisle snacking on soy crisps or oreos. As a result, I am fitter, happier & have more time for crochet....which I will be posting patterns tomorrow since I ran out of time today. Have a fabulous Monday and enjoy every moment. xoxo

Things I like...

Just a quckie post today, to share a few things I like. My Short List is as follows:

1) my new polar fleece pillow....for use with hip when I am lounging in bed. not only is it incredibly soft polar fleece, but the pillow is down-filled so this pillow quite frankly rocks the house!

2) I love it when my doggies are the yin-yang position. This is not common because they really aren't as lovey dovey as some. It was chilly in my room this morning, so here they are.

3) This could very well be the best sweatshirt ever...E-V-E-R!

4) I made this cutie patootie hat for my sister in law's sister...who has an adorable baby girl. I also sent a bunch of crochet flower barrettes (made with #5) for her baby also. Fun, fun!

5) LOVE crochet flowers. Love making them, choosing colors, using them for projects. Love them.

The other five I will cover tomorrow. Also in the news, the boy child tested into both AP classes that are offered for his grade (they offer two, AP European History and AP Biology). I'm very proud!

xoxo

WINNING.....(duh)

So what makes you feel like you're WINNING? We know Charlie Sheen's definition (possessing Tiger Blood & Adonis DNA) but what's yours? One of the biggest problems with failing on a weight loss plan, or at least falling short, is that it defeats the patient. It makes them feel like they are losing (read: no tiger blood, and only regular person DNA). The simple act of taking a bite of their kid's macaroni and cheese can bring on a feeling of being out of control, and disappointment...like if I already messed up, why not go full tilt and have that pizza, shake or bowl of ice cream? I totally get this, and I want you to change your thinking. When you cut your finger with a sharp knife, do you keep cutting? Or do you apply pressure to stop the bleeding? Clearly you stop the bleeding, and this is what can also be done with dietary slip-ups.

So you don't have to think LOSING when you stumble. Just think STOP THE BLEEDING.

So tonight, the hubby had a dinner meeting, so I made some kick-ass ground turkey tacos for dinner. Personally, this is one of my favorite quickie meals. So nutritious, and incredibly diet-friendly.I took this before serving the veggies (grilled cauliflower and leeks), so plates look a bit, well, empty.

Also in the news,

Last week was an 18.8 mile week...not bad for someone who could barely walk a year ago, eh?? I am back to keeping the training journal so I can learn from mistakes, or correlate good outcomes as well (I hope!). I lapsed on my journal when I had a minor setback a few weeks ago, and then just got discouraged with the hip, but decided it was an important part of my rehab, as it is an important part of any structured program for just about anyone (food records, exercise records, all go hand in hand with a structured nutritional or weight loss program, or athletic training).

One of these days I'm going to keep my camera downstairs so I can take photos with something other than my blackberry camera! I do, however, have my handy calculator so I can add up my running weeks for my journal. Speaking of cameras, I did manage to drag it out when the girl child tried on her St. Patty's Day shirt! And yes, my kids are Irish in case anyone was wondering what she's doing in a Kiss Me I'm Irish tee shirt.

I've been working on a very little crochet project. I started making some crochet flowers for my sister-in-law's sister, who has a baby girl. She wanted to make some crochet flower barettes, so I made the flowers for her to use...

Then I realized....how ADORABLE it would be to make the girl child a shamrock headband (the 70's kind that wraps around the forehead, not the regular hair kind) for St. Patty's Day. Her class is having some sort of dress competition for the day, so she wanted something fun. So after literally a few episodes of Dr. Phil on the Tivo over a few days, I not only made enough for the headband, but also enough for like an entire class full of headbands! If you read Jersey Girl, you do know that I get kinda, well...obsessed. Why do one when you can do like 10,000? LOL

My laptop got a virus, and even after the de-virusing, it had issues. So my father, the grand poo-bah of all computer whisperers hath fixed it!! The problem - it's at my parents' house, so I must venture west tomorrow to pick it up. A small price to pay to be back in the saddle again on the laptop. Oh how I miss it! I've even resorted to using hubby's iPad, which always leaves me frustrated.

I'm off to clean up dinner. Just wanted to share a bit before crocheting another fifty flowers (just kidding, I'm about done with that). I also want to get my laptop back so I can share the pattern for those who crochet, or want to learn. I have it all on my laptop, sigh. I also want to share our newest fund-raising project for Dachshund Rescue! I wanted to make the big announcement today, but alas, technical difficulties. Keep up the good work all, and get moving! xoxo

 

The polar opposite to weight-loss food...

To celebrate the boy child's second Varsity Letter of his freshman year, I broke out a crazy-carb-full recipe I found on a fun blog, Zaka Life.I made my own recipe card...downloadable so click on the link below.

Download Pretzel Bites recipe  I call them Cinnamon Pretzel Bites, but the recipe calls them Cinnamon & Sugar Pretzel Bites....and others call them Mall Pretzels. I will confess to you, I don't buy this stuff at malls, and never have. Not one time....are you thinking my kids are deprived??? Even starved??? Oh, no, don't you worry. As a weight loss doctor, I just don't believe in buying this stuff for children (or adults) and in addition, I don't really don't ever eat mall food....nor do my kids, except extremely rarely (like you can count on one hand in fifteen years, okay maybe two hands). The boy child eats frequent fast-food, so I don't want to assert I am completely compliant with someone who runs 60 miles per week. I'm not. If he did not consume thousands of calories a day (think Michael Phelps during training), he would become emaciated and fail miserably at putting on muscle in the gym. Okay, enough explaining...WARNING: If you have a problem resisting the consumption of what you cook or bake for others, and you want to lose weight, you are contractually prevented from downloading this recipe (ok, just kidding)....but seriously don't do it! If you read Jersey Girl, you know I juggle many dietary requirements from restrictive to permissive and everything in between. This recipe is for my runner son, who has embarked upon his third Varsity sports season of the year, Spring Track. This recipe is what I consider decadent, but a wonderful special treat for an extremely active calorie-burning machine that is the boy child. Anyway, here goes...

So preparing dough really is a big pain in the ass. I am an avid chef, who loves international cuisine, including my favorite, pan-Asian specialties. However, I am not the type of person to focus so intensely on cooking that it eclipses the million other things I love, like sewing, knitting, crocheting, working out or lunching or hanging with my friends. So, the whole "let yeast sit" for thirty minutes, then the dough rise for an hour, followed by another ten minutes on the baking sheet - VERY unlike me. But I did it, and I'm not sorry. At least not now.

So after they were finally done, and cooled a few minutes on the cooling-rack, they were served to the boy child as he studied Facebooked at his new desk, up in his room. Okay, he was up until 1:18 am (that's the time stamp on the email he sent to me with something he couldn't print) but THIS time, I am not faulting the sheer amount of homework - it's totally his fault because I feel he wasted an enormous amount of time (okay he did attend the Winter Track Banquet and picked up the girl child's homework, as she missed yesterday for strep). I also assure you that Facebook and assorted online lures were big players in his 1:18 am print issue. I want to crack down, but when I'm warm in my bed, with two snuggly dachshunds and hubby, I can't bring myself to do anything but text. I do text, and he replies "I'm working on writing homework..." Ugh.

I did not add the salt to our dough, just because....don't know why. But reviews were good, and the hubby and children both gave the cinnamon bites two thumbs up. The boy child, 1 3/4 thumbs, as did hubby. The girl child, two thumbs up. Them be the reviews!

Also in the news...picked up an adorable Kiss Me I'm Irish tee shirt at Target for the Girl Child, for 9.99 (which I thought was a tad expensive for a one-day wearing...but alas, perhaps she will get two years out of it because I purchased it in a women's XS). The back says "I'm Irish!" Just so you don't think my daughter will be sporting a shirt that says simple "Kiss Me!" LOL.

In other news...I'm still on the Sheen bandwagon...and can't get enough of the Tiger Blood, Adonis DNA and "WINNING!" Ahhhhh, I am curious if anyone knows his Twitter, as I definitely plan on clicking FOLLOW over there. **GRIN**

The week is winding down, and it's Friday (WINNING!)...but alas, my hip is flaring up. I don't know why, but I will just have to live with it, and hope the flare winds down, speaking of winding down. Have a mahvelous weekend. I am going to compile some more weight friendly recipes, visit a local Asian fusion restaurant with friends and check on the beach house and hope it's not full of broken pipes, water and other findings not otherwise nonspecified. Wish me luck. XOXO

A look inside my fridge...

I returned from an early morning trip to Shop Rite and unloaded, as the rain poured down, making that odd sound on my hallway skylight! I decided that this would be a great opportunity to show my weight loss readers about how I shop, and how I feed all the different nutritional needs of my family, which is no easy task. I have four different people with four different needs and goals in my family, as I am sure you have in yours.

1) The athlete in training.  He consumes vast quantities of calories, and also tends to be a picky eater. This combination is difficult, as he really has to "want" the food, since he could pretty much take or leave food, and will leave it if it is not appetizing. I realize he won't starve. I know that, and I never stressed about the fact that he never ate anything except Gerber's Meat Sticks and formula for the first 2 years of his life. Eventually, he ate...albeit mainly from two food groups, meat and sugar....but he eats. The boy child trains 7 days per week, six of those days are running days. He is trained by the coaches and trainers at the high school, with supportive care from my physical therapist, Kasey. So my role is to provide support and nutrition as he makes his way through the seasons. Any meat I prepare, he will eat (as long as there is no visible fat). I spent my youth dissecting meat and removing all fat and traces therof, so this is no great surprise. DNA results in some unwelcome traits, this being one of them. I stock Nutella (which we put inside a pancake sandwich, or soft whole wheat bread), donuts, brownies, roast beef, turkey sausage, bacon, eggs, protein powder, chocolate whole milk, cheese, pizza rolls, V8....just to begin. I always have junk food in the house for him, as he continuously eats from the moment he arrives home from practice until he goes to sleep at midnight (or later if there is more work than usual).

2) The normal Child....who eats a normal healthy diet, but has a sweet tooth (big surprise living here!). Things will probably change as she makes her way through middle school, as her sports season is starting up again and she has re-started her training again. Again this Spring she will run for the track team, and do the mile. She wants to work hard at this event, as her big brother took the gold medal for the county in the Mile Run last June. She wants it for her age group and I think she can get it of she chooses to focus on this. It's all her choice, until high school, she can do as little or as much as she wants.

3) The Hubby: Junk food lover, health diet eater....he has a great blend of both kids' eating habits. Twice a week he takes the "trough" to work (the huge lunch bag that we affectionate refer to as the trough... with it's click on strap that makes it like a feed bag, lol). We are working on eating leftovers, which he isn't good at. I think his childhood in a house that was very thrifty led him to rebel and refuse leftovers. I'm okay with this because I either eat them myself, or I make just enough not to have leftovers.

4) Me. We've discussed my odd eating habits before, here. Guilty as charged...I have odd eating habits. I eat an extremely limited diet, but I work diligently to make sure I always have the chosen foods in-house.

 

As I unloaded my groceries, I took a few photos to show what I purchase, and how I aim to create a nutritional environment that works for our family. Here is lunch - sardines in water and tomatoes. These were the first decent tomatoes I purchased in months! :) This leads me to show my restocked area of my refrigerator... just for me. The girl child knows to keep her hands off my yogurts & cottage cheese. She is welcome to her own yogurts (on shelf below, not pictured) but mine, not so much!

This pic also shows my absolute favorite drink, Barq's Diet Root Beer. Sigh. Love it so!

The first department I always hit is the fruits and veggies. It also happens to be the department I hit most frequently because I have to replace the fresh stuff a few times per week. It's clear that Campbell's soup doesn't spoil, but I cannot say the same thing for my broccoli crowns. On the counter...

And in the crisper drawer...

 Then comes the top fridge shelf, with milk and other dairy products...

It even includes the leftover light coconut milk from last night's chicken curry. I purchased Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" cookbook last week, and made her version of the expedited, simple Chicken Curry. Reviews were good. Anyone want the recipe????

Finally, my favorite popcorn (15 calories per cup) was half price at Shop Rite. Can't beat that....

You see the butter dish on the counter in that pic (above)? Before marrying hubby, I had never in my life heard of anyone leaving butter on the counter top, nowhere near the fridge! I learned that midwesterners, frequently those in the northernmost parts of the midwest, do not refrigerate their butter. Seeing that he is almost from Canada, this makes more sense than it does here in the Garden State. But we have been doing this now for almost 20 years, and to my knowledge, no one has been sickened by our softened butter. So score one for the midwesterners! :)

Anyway, tips for this week...for those striving to achieve a fitter lifestyle...and to my Mom's weight loss group (shout-out!)....1) keep up the diligent food records 2) up your exercise, and really sweat. Make the MOST of your exercise time by elevating your level of strenuousness (if it is ok w/ your doctor, that is). You should need a shower every single time you exercise...it's your time, make the most of it. 3) MEAL PLANNING! If you have the foods you need, you won't stray from your plan, or at least you are less likely to stray. If you can have appetizing and satisfying foods ready for the picking, you will go to them first. Set up your lifestyle to make things EASY on you. It's hard enough having to limit what you eat. If it's too hard, you will find yourself more easily going in a nutritional ditch. Plan, plan, shop and then relax and eat!

Happy Monday to all! xoxo

 

It was eighteen degrees, and I was all alone,

in one of my favorite places on earth, my best friend's Vermont house. My family and all of our friends were on the slopes already, and my two non-skiing friends were out for a ladies lunch, sans me. I tied my running shoes, velcroed my ipod armband to my Nike Coldgear jacket and hit the garage door code to shut the door behind me. The air in Manchester, Vermont isn't like Jersey. It's icy, and crisp, and clean without a hint of humidity.

The wind was docile, when I left so the eighteen degrees felt significantly warmer. Rhianna's Shut Up and Drive geared up on my iPod and I began the first leg of my run, the .83 mile run to the end of the private drive...to the road with the big red barn with the wooden peace sign adorning its side. I ran by the creek, beside it and over it. I made a left turn on the rural route 30, which overlooks the creek on the left, and beautiful mountains above that. My nose was running, and I was glad to be wearing the three layers of Nike Coldgear running clothes. I was suddenly warmed from the inside out, listening to Paul Westerberg on my ipod. I was alone, and doing what I loved, in a place I love, which just one year prior, never thought even remotely possible. I made a left turn on Mt. Aeolus Lane, a dirt road with a decomposing abandoned barn on my left. I remembered taking photographs of the kids there, six years before. Then, the roof was piqued, but still intact, and certainly not lying in a heap on top of the barn's front door.

For anyone who would have seen me, I was a normal avid runner (perhaps too avid), in the chilly temperatures, putting in a few miles. To me, I was gripped by the enormity of being able to enjoy something I haven't been able to enjoy for over three years since my hip injury and subsequent botched surgery. I felt as though I was barely touching the icy gravel on Mt. Aeolus Lane, smile on my frozen face. I passed a few horses before turning on the almost mile-long private road leading to the house. I focused on every step, another Westerberg song on, taking in the feeling of being a whole person again, alive. I never thought I would run again. I thought psoas tendonitis would render me completely disabled from an exercise point of view, but thanks to Kasey, the miracle physical therapist, I am once again a whole person.

As I reached the bottom of the driveway, passing their house sign, I climbed the last snow covered yards. I wiped my eyes with my jacket sleeve, and looked down to see water beaded up on the waterproof sleeve. It wasn't every day I had to use my jacket to wipe away tears...I wondered if they were tears of joy, or simply tears from the frosty wind in my eyes. It didn't really matter, I guess.

Busy bee...

A weekend of productive creativity!!! Recently I've really developed an interest in art and design using the union jack, and I took this into the 3D realm (I was using it in graphic arts before, in the 2D world) this past weekend and created this fun pillow...

It looks lop-sided in this pic, but it isn't really so...just a bad cell phone pic.

The back is made of fun rosettes, and is a strange surprise seeing that the front is so serious. So far, people resonding with "is that for the upcoming wedding??" For which I responded "What wedding?" Then after about half a second, I realized they were referring to the Royal Wedding! Well, perhaps subconsciously it was, but I am crediting a few decorating magazines I've spotted this past year with union jack prints or pillows. As I can make both prints AND pillows, I decided to have a crack at it. Fun, fun.

We got more snow last night, and I'm reamarkably resentful about it. Snow ruins my chance of running, as well as my chances of walking to my car without falling. Ugh. Hopefully I can harness the power of teenagers, and get my driveway cleared, as the crown prince scooted outa bed finally at the crack of noon. Ridiculous.

The creative campaign continues, and I am determined to post my recipe for chicken and dumplings, which I made last night for my family and my folks, who came for dinner. We had a lovely dinner, and I even had enough left over for my physical therapist Kasey to have lunch! Last night I also served freshly baked popovers, and included one in Kasey's brown bag as well, which met with rave reviews! As I am gluten free, I cannot eat them, but I do enjoy giving them to others to enjoy.

I used a few receipes as inspiration for my own interpretation of the southern dish, but I'm not sure what it's worth from a northerner without much experience in such dishes, muchless one that is gluten free. LOL, too funny. I think that blows my credentials, but still I think it looks like it would stand up to any southern cook's chicken and dumplings! Just sayin'.

62 degrees, but who's counting...

I have truly gotten an enormous amount of wear from this hat this winter (and last winter also). I wear it even to indoor track meets. I have a non-pompom version for running (will post pix another time) and even another one in cotton for Spring and Fall outdoor running. I get more comments on this hat than any of my others...I realize some people may make comments to get on my good side b/c they think I'm probably crazy for wearing it...so compliments should probably be interpreted with a grain of salt!

Having the camera out on the deck necessitates photos of Cletus. He is, hands down, the most photogenic dog in the entire world. And of course I am so completely unbiased!

I just can't stop...

Truly two of my favorite men! Sigh.

I had all sorts of topics for today. I may get to them after dinner, seeing that I wanted to discuss the importance of whining...but that will have to wait. I'm gearing up for a productive weekend. We re-assembled my studio (photographic) with my myriad of new backdrops. I also am almost caught up with my Lobster Pot orders, and am now presently working on my own food journals for patients that I will make available here. So many have inquired about it, and I have a long history of creating medical forms and templates for doctors and nurses (now used in large hospitals!!) and I figure why can't I help my patients, so they know exactly what information to record and when. I hear downstairs, classic vinyl blasting out of our new sound system. It was a belated birthday gift to hubby, the centralized sound system we had installed a few weeks ago. It is for the first floor & basement (finished)...where we have our home gym and kids hang-out space (sort of all merges into one rectangle)....which includes not only CD changer, iPod/Pad hookups and radio...but also a turntable for dh's collection of vintage vinyl.

I even donated my 80's collection to the mix, so if you ever come over and hear Duran Duran blasting over the speakers in like 8 rooms, you will first say "TURN THAT CRAP OFF," and then think....ahhhh Barbie's records still work!

Structure....bringing it all together

Today I thought to myself. Wednesday. That means taking the big LL Bean monogram canvas tote full of hubby's shirts, and bringing it to the dry cleaner after school drop-off. As I took the same exact route from school to dry cleaner I thought  "gosh, how predictible am I?" I thought about perhaps my life, at times, is like the movie Groundhog Day. I thought about how each time I drop the shirts at the dry cleaner, I then make that quick turn into Shop Right. Then, after a quick shop, it's time to unpack, organize dinner and then have physical therapy. So why am I sharing my boring routine? Because I approach my diet and exercise the way I approach my Wednesday trips to the dry cleaner and Shop Right.

I always know exactly what I am going to eat. From morning (coffee, no breakfast) to lunch (early, half a can of skinless boneless sardines in water, 1/4 cup nonfat cottage cheese, salted tomato slices if we have a fresh one) to afternoon snacks (air popped popcorn) and later, half a Light & Fit yogurt and subsequently dinner...I have a routine. I know where I will be running every single day. If I leave any "ifs" with my exercise, the act of doing it will be called into question. Remember when I spoke of "absolutes" and stone cold rules I do not violate? Well, that is what has led me to have conotrol of my life, weight, fitness, etc. I don't have to make a lot of daily decisions that would call these things into question, because I live my life in structure. Not every moment is structured, and not every day follows the same order of events. In fact, I consider myself in many ways a "fly by the seat of my pants" sorta gal. I don't like to make concrete plans when I don't have to, because I love to wing it...except with my fitness and diet. In those ways, it is groundhog day here 365 days per year.

Why does this help, and how can this help you? If you are trying to lose weight, and think "I can't do it" or "it's too hard" then this is something you have to begin TODAY. Make a list of the rules you  have for yourself...or you want for yourself. Be realistic, but firm.

1) No desserts, no added sugar, no high fructose corn syrup

2) No added carbs, particularly during the day (I get most people want a carb with dinner)

3) Exercise must be daily, in some form, and you have to sweat and really push it. This is non-negotiable. I'm not talking walking either (unless you are incapable of doing something more vigorous...and I mean incapable not thinking you aren't capable...of course make sure you have physician clearance to push it as I am not going to tell someone who could have a heart issue, or some other issue, to do something that isn't healthy).  I run. I love to run. But you know what I love even more? Feeling healthy. Find something vigorous. Push it. Hate it if you wish, but do it. At LEAST 30 minutes. It's a rule here. I can't just say "i don't feel like it" because it's a rule. It's #3!!! :)

4) Food and exercise records (or training journal if you prefer).

This is it for now. If you can just start small, and begin with modest steps, or continue with modest steps, you can see which rules are most important for you, and which are most difficult to maintain, b/c that is probably what is most important.

Other added benefits of structure is that you will begin to find that stuff you used to consider a chore, and hard to integrate into your life, done without even thinking about it. I used to hate going to the dry cleaner and supermarket. Now it just happens, and I always have the foods I want, and hubby has his shirts done. It just works. What do you want to have as your Wednesday? Laundry (if you're like me, every day is laundry day)? Meal planning? Cleaning? I changed a loathesome event into something that helps me set up for the rest of the week. Would it probably be best on Monday? Maybe. But it wasn't working for me, and now it is. On Wednesday.

Anyway, for me today, now that I baked Red Velvet Cupcakes, a batch of brownies (for hubby's office), put up the chicken soup in the impossibly big Le Creuset and had PT...I can now focus on my Lobster Pot orders, working out and further decluttering. I'm started my Spring Cleaning about a week ago, and I can't wait to further my cause. Have a wonderful (and maybe a bit structured) day! And do NOT forget your workout! xoxo

My Valentine's Day, in photos...

I know I've shared this, but I adore Valentine's Day. I think, if I didn't use the USPS so much, it should be a postal holiday...not one for which people go "postal," rather one where it's so grand, even post offices are closed. Okay, maybe not. But still, it was as fabulous a day as I had hoped.

I spent the morning baking cupcakes...

In case you missed one of my January posts, the cupcake papers & further down, the toppers, were from Bake It Pretty, my fave baking supplies site. Then later in the day, drove around like a mad woman trying to get kids to kid places, and adult to adult places. Stops included, but were not limited to Costco, sports, schools, drug stores, supermarkets (ran out of icing...and cold cuts, but not sardines thank goodness!), gas stations, the post office (thankfully it was open, with no thanks to my previous hopes of a Postal Holiday), Neiman Marcus Cafe (would I be a lady who lunches without lunch w/ the ladies?), a return at Nordstrom (see Tory Burch below).... etc. I felt I almost never left the car except for brief interludes at above places....until we arrived at my very favorite restaurant, Nobu, for our Valentine's Day celebration planned exclusively by hubby. Traffic was a beast, but did yield to a remarkable 7 course tasting menu full of sushi, but also some beautiful gifts....

For those of you who don't know, I'm a humongous fan of Kacey K. jewelry. Her monograms are just amazing, and really second to NONE. These babies were on my wishlist, and I am so grateful to be wearing them. I realize that they were not intended to be worn together, but I love em both and cannot choose one of them, so I'm lookin' a bit of a fool wearing not one, but TWO monograms. I think Lily Pullitzer has some sort of rule about this. Luckily, I don't care, and I won't ask. This next photo includes the top to new PJ's, also received for Valentine's Day (Cosabella). LOVE them.

I am so grateful, and thankful to have hubby after all these years...and grateful he still makes a big deal out of one of my favorite holidays. It doesn't seem like almost two decades, but alas, I've been married for almost as long as I was alive before. Wow. I. Was. Young.

And there were more cupcakes..... some for friends, some for family. All for fun! And I realize not much about weight today, except for the fact that I did have the Nobu dessert. First dessert in like literally six months. Wait, more. I think my last dessert was July. It was WORTH IT...and even though it wasn't really sweet, it did not disappoint. Something about riccotta, shaved ice and fruit. Delicious. Now back to straight and narrow. Time to work out, LOL! Just as a side note, I had a most excellent run yesterday, in that beautiful hot weather...downright balmy. It was a total joy, and I ran in just one nike layer instead of like five. Joy. 3 miles, wish I could have gone 10, but the best physical therapist in the entire world said 3. I listened. This time.

I will leave you with my new friend, my Tory Burch sunglasses. Happy Valentine's Day to ME. I had a gift card, now I don't. That's the story and I'm stickin' to it.

I realize my shoes were in focus, and not my glasses, and I think that is the reason I decided to use the photo. It's funny. Damn blackberry camera. By the way, those nike sneakers kick ass.

Have a glorious day everyone. Please tell me about YOUR Valentine's Day. I know at least one of you got a bit of Kacey Love. xoxo

 

What is with me and hats?

So Tracy & I went to Jersey Gardens on the spur of the moment yesterday. Saks was having a BOGO event, which I blogged about probably 2 years ago already, maybe three. Buy one Get One Half Off is a very frustrating predicament. I mean, it's always a huge challenge to find items so close in price, that it makes the discount proportionally best....and all must be purchased in groups of two. What a fiasco. I cannot blog about what I purchased for my hubby for Valentine's Day, as I cannot be assured he won't read this. But suffice it to say that I purchased my son a pair of Joe's Jeans (pearls before swine you may ask??? And I would respond, "probably") which on sale for a tag price of 99 dollars but rung up as 57 dollars. Ugh. This was perhaps the only time that I actually wished they were NOT on sale, LOL.

I purchased this hat for the girl child, but am having a bit of a problem letting this go. I love it. I don't just love it, I adore it. I can't give it up, even though I really don't see wearing it outside of snow days and inside the house. What to do? Me thinks I shal go back to that Jersey Garden's kiosk and purchase another in black - because after all, another color bear hat never hurt anyone!

So yesterday night Tracy & I went to see the documentary, Race to Nowhere at Ridge High School. The upcoming showing at Millburn was sold out, and we had the opportunity to attend so we grabbed it. After an hour of hearing what we already knew (that our kids were overprogrammed, overscheduled & overhomeworked) I left depressed, wondering if there is anything we can do about it? I think the entire school administration here (and everywhere) should view this film, as it acurately represents the feelings of the nation's future movers & shakers. Burnout at fifteen??? I've seen it, and I fear it. I can't even imagine how I would feel by 18, if I did 3 varsity sports per year (as a FRESHMAN) and had at least 6 (at LEAST, not even on a test day) hours of homework per night in an all accelerated schedule. Shudder. I can't imagine, yet my son is living it. No answer I suppose, but wouldn't it be nice if the amount of homework was in line with what would create the best educated student? This movie presented research that showed that what we all felt is true, after 2 hours there is diminishing returns. Deminishing.

Enough soap-boxing. On to lighter topics. Here's my top ten for Thursday...

1) Exercise is key, even when the temperature is 19 degrees. I don't know where or how, but I WILL exercise today.

2) I love diet soda. I know, the new study out that correlates is excessive consumption with heart attack and stroke, but alas I cannot stop this train. It is fueled by Diet Barq's Root Beer & Fresca black cherry. Ugh. Now I will consume it AND feel guilty, b/c it certainly won't stop me from consuming it.

3) The Preppy Handbook is now going to produce a NEW EDITION! Gosh, Muffy, a new book for us!

In 6th grade we went through a phase of using our "Prep" names.... I'm not ashamed to admit mine, Bunny, followed me until mid middle school. I am not entirely sure I shouldn't still use it.

4) Staples rebates - must file those. They're worth a lot, and I am basically letting that ship sail if I don't actually sit down and do this. I know, you don't care.

5) I love skinless/boneless sardines in water. I have blogged about this before, but I will keep saying it until the world eats them for lunch every day like I do. I had one person tell me this past summer, "If that's what it takes to be thin I'm destined to a lifetime of obesity." One of the funnier comments, but I beg to differ. I love 'em.

6) My office remodel/reorganization is going well. All that is left is the organization part, LOL. Oh, that and putting up the wall cabinets/shelves. Finally I can see that I may be able to live in here.

7) I love Vietnamese food. Considering Pho for dinner. I know I'm jumping the gun on dining out, since it is NOT a weekend yet. But the summer rolls beckon. (Picture Homer Simpson saying....uhhhhhh summmmeerrrr rooolllllsssss).

8) Yesterday I shortened some adorable distressed denim from my BOGO event purchases. Gosh I love jeans. I am nothing shot of obsessed with them. I have a very expensive jean habit and I'm not affraid to talk about it. True Religion classic jeans, how I love thee.

9) I love my new design client. She is dynamic, fun & loves design as much as I do. I will be doing a lot of work for her for her upcoming party (from invites, to RSVP cards to faux magazine covers for tables to their sign in board) and I'm so excited about it.

10) Somehow I think I may be turning into my Mother. No joke. I used to look at her chaotic walls with art from floor to ceiling in different mis-matched frames (or lack therof). Now I look up, and see walls full of art and various things....and I LOVE IT. I love the color, the eye candy nature of its placement and most of all, what each individual piece speaks to me. Now, to avoid her signature statments like "see you around like a donut" or "don't take any wooden nickles." I think her statements are safe from my adopting them. I hope.

I am now off to try to get my ass to exercise in sub 20 degree temps. What is the liklihood that it will happen? I would say the attempt is 100%, but seeing it to fruition (3 miles)? Not quite as high.

Tuesday....where did Monday go?

Well the beginning of the week has been a whirlwind, but since when has my life been anything but. I had a dental cleaning this morning, but realized yesterday that the girl child's band concert (read: event created to abuse parents) was at 10 am. I should have just told her I couldn't go, but I had hubby on deck to take over, but really felt bad that he would have to leave work, where he was busy, to attend a useless concernt. I know I sound harsh talking about how kids' band concerts are useless, but in this case it is. She just started Clarinet this past September, and I do not think she will continue this, and really very few of these kids are really musicians, so i just think it's an exercise in futility. It's good if she walks away knowing how to read music, and having some appreciation for it, but I just think the genetic mix of hubby and I did not yield any muscial prodigies. It hurts to admit, seeing I was a talented muscian and spent time at Tanglewood (where I met one of my closest friends to date!!) and Mannes College of Music (pre-college division). However, I know when time spent is wasted time, and realize that the second chromosome had some sort of musical blight on it. I have come to terms.

Yesterday was a big day for the boy child AND the girl child. If this gives you any indiciation...

...it was a good day for him. His combined birthday & report card gift was Verizon's new 3 am offering, the iPhone 4. And to those who ask, "will you go to the dark side?" (i.e. get my own iPhone)....the answer is no. Touch screens = bad. Blackberry Messenger = good. Period.

This past Sunday we attended our usual Super Bowl Party and I brought my amazing yet diet-friendly chili. Not one person knew it was turkey (until I told them). I don't know what the interest is for a receipe, but this was a real winner. For the first year (I've brought this the last 5 years to the same crowd) it was almost gone! I had a HUGE crockpot full, and it was eaten to the bare ceramic bottom! :) I don't cook with recipes most of the time, and just figure it as I go, but I can, if wanted, post another receipe card for this winner!

As for the girl child....

She has, in the past, struggled a bit in math, and she is presently KICKING ASS! For those of you who don't know, our local school system grades on a different scale until middle school. F (fail), P (pass), G (good, probably like a B- or so), VG (B+ or A-), E (A). When a kid who has to work very hard to get this grade finally gets it, it is even SWEETER. The amazing part - she does it all on her own. I don't make practice tests, or hold her hand thu every problem, and I am just as proud that she is a self-starter, as I am that she is an excellent student. Score one for the 2nd child.

I hope those of you who are here for the nutrition/weight loss info, I want to see where you all are. Exercise? Super bowl is NO excuse not to work out. A workhout can be had anywhere, at any time, and should be done even on event-days. I got my run in, in the AM, after starting the chili. Today I saw the temp dropping, like 2 degrees in 20 minutes (no joke) so I raced out and did my 3 miles while I wouldn't lose my fingers to frostbite. I hear the temp is dropping, and will be in the teens after today. Get out while you can.

Food records - DO THEM. This means you. HEAR ME???? One of these days I want to reach out and ask you to post your day's food records. I can then pull some lessons from that and blog about it. I know not many feel comfortable posting comments, since my blog hits are very high, but comment to hit ratio very low....so if you don't feel comfortable, change your name and post. I can only help if I know what your nutritional & metabolic shortfalls are. Any takers?

I'm going to close with a quick story...

Clearly this is a stuffed dog toy chipmunk, but it reminds me of what I'm about to share.... A while before Thanksgiving, I was driving down a local road and saw a chipmunk running in front of my car. I slowed down to let it pass, but it froze in the middle of my lane. I veered off a bit, so I wouldn't catch it with my tire (I couldn't stop b/c there was a car right on my rear bumper). I passed and looked in rear view - no chipmunk so I was very relieved.

Fast forward two days, when I went out for a run, and was at the end of our driveway turning into the street. I see a flattened and rather revolting sight - a squashed chipmunk. Like REALLY squashed. I felt sad, but realized it must have come off my tire at that point, from when I ran it over two days prior. I hate killing ANYTHING, even bugs, so I was pretty bummed. I did my run, went inside, and texted hubby to get rid of the chipmunk when he gets home. He didn't, that day, and it sat there for another 5 days until he got rid of it. I breathed a sign of relief and went on with my life. About a week later, the landscapers came and what blew back on to my driveway's end??? A flat- and now almost dried out chipmunk. Frustrated, I asked hubby again to get rid of it (clearly pusing it into the front plantings didn't work). So two days later he got rid of it..... until it resurfaced on the corner sidewalk, about 30 feet from our driveway. Street cleaners came, thought it was gone. It re-appeared in the middle of our street, 5 yards from our driveway. Big snowstorm. Plows. Shoveling. Finally no chipmunk. Plowing. Another three snow storms. Ice storm. No chipmunk.

Well, I went out for my run yesterday, and what was about 5 yards from my driveway? THE DAMN FREEZE-DRIED FLAT AS A PANCAKE CHIPMUNK. At this point, I don't know what to do, but laugh. It is no longer gross because it's literally like a piece of paper, but it's STILL THERE. Never did I think that day looking back in my rear-view mirror, affraid i may have it hit, that it would STILL Be a part of my daily life months later. It is, and it continues to be. Ugh.

What a long week it's been...

Finally Friday is upon us, and I am pretty pleased at the notion that I may be able to find some "me time" this weekend. That of course, is subject to cancellation at any moment. Highlights of this week:

1) Getting up at 3 am to get the boy child's iphone from Verizon. Because this was a limited sale for prior customers (I signed up to receive the information when Verizon announced it), I wanted to make sure there were some left by the time I logged in. My son's phone has been on deaths door for more than a month, so this comes in handy seeing that this is his Birthday and report card gift all at once. Doing well in High School while training non-stop for cross country & track is no small feat...so I am more than happy to give him the phone he wants. Whew! Glad the 3 am alarm is done for (for now).

2) An "ice day" on Wednesday. It sorta threw off the whole week, but we had yet another day off school because of the ice storm. Granted, it was pretty trecherous out, and I didn't want to leave the house anyway!

3) Completing the prints (artwork finally done) for my new store launch (online, not brick & mortar store). I wanted to launch today, but sadly I had to put it off until I could get the photos of the framed art taken & processed for the store. My new goal, Tuesday morning.

4) Exercising again, even though (I just returned from my truncated run) I don't anticipate I will be back on the roads for a few days to let the hip flexors relax.

5) Getting to IKEA to find that the frames I need for the photography session for my new store are HALF PRICE!

6) Making heart shaped pancakes with my Williams Sonoma pancake molds. And making a sandwdich with two heart pancakes with nutella in between (lots of it) for the boy child runner.

By the way, THIS is a must have....

 7) Purchased ingredients for Super Bowl Chili, including fat free greek yogurt for those diners that will be nutrition-conscious (READ: ME!). I do substitute it for sour cream in receipes and in dips.

8) Got my grandmother's granny square afghan out of hiding and in use. It is so colorful, it makes me happy just looking at it!

Anyway, time to work on my store, hoping to launch Monday. The icy rain will most likely make running today impossible, but time will tell. Remember...for those who follow my weight loss challenge - keep food records, and don't let a day go by without exercise. xoxo

Black Bean Chowder, the recipe

As promised, here's the recipe. I want to credit the backbone of the recipe to this one I found on one of my favorite fabric arts blog, Posie Gets Cozy. I changed it substantially, because I decided to make it sans meat, and I wanted to add some other spices, types of veggies (vidalia onions instead of yellow and change to zucchini & add peas, minus the corn) and different beans. Anyway, here it is!

Download Blackbeanrecipe

Hope you like this as much as we did! xoxo

Random ideas for a random day...

I have been asked what my top snacks are....those that contribute to health and are still good. These are my go-to non-meal-foods that I eat almost every day. Here are the top five.

1) Popcorn : in my personal opinion, just a remarkably satisfying snack. (ALWAYS get popcorn that is 15 calories per cup popped...NO MORE THAN THAT. The brands that fall into that category are Orville Reddenbacher's SMART POP 94% fat free butter, air popped at home(I got an air popper at Target for less than 15 dollars, and a plastic bottle of popcorn), ACT 2 fat free, and Deerfield Farms Natural.

2) Sliced turkey (thinly sliced) with a bit of mustard on it, rolled up (NO BREAD or CRACKERS)

3) Danon Light and Fit Yogurt (80 cal per container)...I usually eat half a container in the afternoon & the other half after dinner if I'm hungry, or before dinner if we are eating late.

4) two egg whites cooked in pam or poached - each egg white is about 17 Calories (one source).

5) Plain fat-free cottage cheese (1/4 cup) or 1/4 cup plain fat free yogurt, no additives.

Keep in mind, these are snacks, not meals. I also like apples, cut into slices, for a late snack, but steer away from them during the day because even though they are high in fiber and unrefined sugars, that sugar makes me hungrier as the day goes on, so I like to eat them late, when they do their job well without rebound hunger. If for some reason I have to skip or eat a late lunch, or I haven't gotten enough calories during the day, I add a thin layer of natural peanut butter or almond butter to the apple slices.

Okay, random switch...treadmill experiment - MYTH DEBUNK TIME. When I type in my actual weight, I get this reading at half a mile:

So 42 calories burned at level 10 in one half mile. What's my actual weight you may ask? I am going to withhold that information, because I do not want ANYONE in the entire world to compare themselves with my weight, which happens to be a bit low at the moment. I'm working on it. That being said, here is my results for the 1 mile:

So in a hair over a mile, I only burn 83 calories at level 10 (impossibly fast with HUGE hill program). What this means is..... it is hard to make exercise a viable way to justify eating a lot. It doesn't work. It helps, and ups your basal metabolic rate, and does burn calories....but I can't go and eat a huge gluten free donut and think I'm gonna work it off, unless I decide to blow out my hip running a marathon! LOL. Okay here are the photos of the same program when I use 150 (the default) as my weight:

So my actual weight burns about 64.5% of the calories that someone would burn in the SAME workout at 150 pounds. That means that if I did not enter my actual weight, I would have thought I had a very intense workout indeed. Here's the one mile numbers:

 

So in one mile, under these circumstances I burned only 61% of what I would have thought I burned if I did the workout with an inaccurate weight. What does this prove??? You don't burn nearly as much as you think you do, and if you don't individualize your weight (or other stats) on your treadmill, then you just aren't getting the workout you think you are, and you are, in my opinion, fooling yourself.

Things brings me to EXERCISE MYTH #1.....If you wanna do it at first, it doesn't work. What is the culpret, fooling our nation's gym rats into thinking they are burning calories like its going out of style??? It's the Eliptical trainer. It doesn't work. It feels like it works, but it doesn't. I will share a brief story about this.

It was probably about 12 years ago, and I was training during the winter months for an upcoming 5K. I got sick of the treadmill (boo hoo, I know, NO EXCUSES) so I climbed on to the eliptical at my gym. I faithfully did 45 minutes, sweating, feeling like I was ready to take on an Ultra (translation: ultramarathon, which is a distance race longer than a marathon, usually 50 or 100 miles). Anyway, race day comes and I sucked up the course....it was HORRIBLE DISPLAY of athletic weakness. Conclusion - eliptical no worky. Okay then I began asking my patients to make detailed exercise diaries. I began to see a pattern. Those who did the eliptical felt like they were working their butts off, but still liked it. They also were the ones who more easily hit the weight loss plateau. In every case, once we changed the eliptical to the treadmill, the weight loss continued, and plateau was left in their dust! I realize that the eliptical is better than nothing, and some people have knee issues. But please do not stick w/ that miserable aperatus if you have a choice. The reason people like it - is that it isn't hard. It isn't challenging and I can hear you right now in your head saying "but I GET A GOOD WORKOUT...but but but..."  No you don't, and NO you are not the exception to the rule. I have collected the data from hundreds of patients, and I conclude...NO ELIPTICAL. Whew! Sorry, had to vent about that.

 

Oh Ikea, how I love thee. Let me count the most recent ways:

1) RIBBA picture frames with acid-free mattes included. This baby (above) is perfect for my 11x14 Lobster Pot print, and ran me.... **GASP** 14.99. Yes, it's true. The larger one, also with matte that fits a 16x20 was 24.99. I am just taken aback at what a good value it is, for something that looks awesome when you put it up .

2) Glass sealed canisters - the humongo size for only 5.99 (I think, it may have been 4.99). I now have dog treats, rice & oats in the three I purchased. Beautiful & functional.

3) My new studio "island". We purchased a cube bookshelf thingy that is the perfect size, and it cost me....34.99. Baskets custom made to fit cost me 12.99 apiece, and I bought two, for the bottom two cube shelves. Ahhhh, I love it.

4) Glassware. Cheap, attractive, and I forgot to mention, cheap.

5) Fabric. Just amazing, unique and great quality. The problem? You have to track someone down to cut the yardage. A small price to pay.

Alrighty then. Food. Last night I was at my wits end with work and driving kids around so I decide to do a 15 minute meal, meatsauce (sadly no time for New Basics bolognese). 97% fat free ground turkey, spices, finely chopped onions, 3 cloves garlic, crushed tomatoes in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes (can) and tomato puree. Threw it all into my favorite enamel pot from my grandma....and here it was...

Oh, and don't forget to use your immersion blender....the best invention after enamel pots and popover pans. Here's my model...

 

I also made one of my favorite sides, sauteed white mushrooms with vidalia onions. Sauteed in pam with kosher salt & a few grinds of black peper. Delicious and makes the pasta les necessary when you throw these on top.

 I have a lot more to post, but gonna take a break and leave you with a little eye candy!

I also owe you receipes....one being the black bean chowder! Yum. I'm gonna type that up as a download for anyone who wants it. xoxo

Monday kickoff...

It isn't easy staying focused when you are up to your eyeballs in snow and ice, but somehow I'm trying. We are expecting a super-sized ice storm on Tuesday night into Wednesday and I am none too pleased about it. Anyway, bad news on the running front. My psoas tendonitis and inflammation of my hip flexors has put me in injurred reserves this week. Sadly, working out on the treadmill is what I think led me to backslide.

I did manage to do my weight to calorie burning experiment on the treadmill before being pulled from the game! I will post that tomorrow since tonight I am overwhelmed with work. So how's everyone's food records going? How's the exercise? I would love to hear from you, so leave a comment about how it's all going. My posts this week will include basic foods to have stocked, what meals to eat when and how to use your diet to actually curb your appetite. Food choice DOES matter and not all calories are created equally!

Speaking of food, remember that black bean chowder I spoke of? Well I made it, and actually changed up the recipe and LOVED it. It far exceeded my expectations and I would love to share the receipe if you're  interested.

I also want to post my tutorial to create this funky hat out of recycled 1960's wool pants. My Mom gave me a bag of old wool, and I just love the vintage patterns.

Anyway, I will also share my popover recipe, taken from William Sonoma. I'm in LOVE with the looks of them, but sadly they are not gluten free. The reviews were amazing, and I'm so happy with the new pan.

I am off to catch up on my Etsy orders, and process the pix for tomorrow's treadmill myth debunking! :) Gosh I must find a gluten-free popover receipe REALLY soon! xoxo

A day in the life...of someone living in Alaska

The phone rang again at like 5:15 am to find we have no school. Okay, that would be fine, except for the fact that this KEEPS HAPPENING! I have ceased to complain about not being able to run outdoors, because that gets mighty boring seeing that we have had more snow than I can remember since that insane winter of 1996. At least I have the treadmill, which actually seems to be doing more harm than good to the hip flexors, since now I am on strict orders from my physical therapist to split my 3.1 miles into two to three separate interludes. This sucks in so many ways, the most pronounced being that I have to get on the treadmill three (or two) separate times. Okay enough complaining. I'm grateful that I can exercise at all after the over 2 year hiatus after my hip surgery.

I was asked a question about food consumption for those of us who are small, or petitte. I am a hair over 5'2" and am an extremely petitte person. The fact of the matter is, we require a lot less calories than our larger counterparts, and that is just an unfair fact that we all have to deal with. When I work out on my treadmill, I make SURE to enter my weight, because any assessment of caloric use that the treadmill gives me will NOT be accurate because the default settings are for someone who is 150 pounds. The difference in caloric use for someone who is my size and someone who is 150 pounds is profound. I am going to do an experiment today and set it differently for both workouts. I will report on my findings.

I am going to give some concrete calorie counts to answer the email I received, but I really  hesitate to answer it because I fear I will be leading people on either a too permissive diet, or a too restrictive one, depending on your metabolic rate and calorie consumption. I am an interesting, and from what I understand, unique metabolic makeup. For some reason I seem to eat more than some, and burn way more than most. My body seems to want to maintain the size that it is presently, even in the face of attempts to consume more calories. I think I have a more stronly maintained setpoint than most people, and in attempts to preserve its weight, my metabolic rate varies and can go into overdrive at times (like now it seems). Do I violate the laws of science (MYTH # something or other, can't remember numbers)???? NO. But my science is different than say, yours. More on this another time. ENOUGH THEORY, here's what I have most recently found to be really good!

New limited time flavors of Danon Light and Fit....carmel. Mmmmmmmm. 80 calories and so very delcious.

 There are a few other limited time flavors, but this is the best by far in my opinion. Granted, this is coming from someone who eats this every day:

Anyway as for receipes, I'm toying around w/ several for today. The first is a black bean chowder (with chicken stock and shrimp instead of higher fat beef that one of the receipes calls for) and removing the white rice it recommends, and substituting with NO RICE. I'm hardcore folks, you know that, so take what I say and make it your own. I do not expect my patients, nor my blog readers to live my lifestyle. However, if I don't live my recommendations then how on earth can I ask my patients to live them? I can't, so I'm hardcore. I will post the receipe if I make it, or I will post whatever I do decide to make...just so you can have the option of something new! :)

Speaking of hardcore....after shoveling some (I must hire people to remove the rest of the snow today) I am going down to get on the treadmill, turn on my DVR'd Dr. Phil episode or maybe Jersey Shore (wait I already watched that...twice, LOL). I will report my caloric findings to you all after my experiment inputting different weights into my treadmill program. I also have been wanting to discuss my new TV DVR standards. I have to say, except for Jersey Shore, this season has been rather bleak. xoxo for now.....

Monday kickoff...posted on Tuesday

For those of you following along in our weight loss challenge, I invite you to focus on meal planning this week. I want you to get out a piece of paper and begin thinking ahead. For some, this may come naturally, and for others, an unimaginable feat. Thinking in advance and having food at your fingertips is a good 30-50% of the weight loss battle. If you don't have good food, what's to stop you from eating bad food? I want to share a few of me make-in-a-flash recipes that are not only crowd pleasers, but also conducive to weight loss, weight maintenance or just existing. The first is what I made for dinner that got rave reviews, which tasted way better than it sounded...tacos made with ground turkey instead of beef.

It was incredibly easy and met with rave reviews from both children and adults.

1 package 99% fat-free white meat ground turkey

2 envelopes Goya seasoning (love that orangy color!)

2 cloves garlic, thru garlic press

1 vidalia onion, chopped so finely it disappears into the mixture as it cooks

paprika, salt, pepper, onion powder, chili powder (to taste)

1 small can tomato paste

That's it! I warm taco shells (crispy as well as soft) and serve with some finely grated chedder and taco sauce. For some reason, the kids like taco sauce and not salsa (probably because of the veggie pieces in salsa), so I reserve the salsa for me! Taco shells are rather low in calories, and a serving is THREE, which is rather generous with all the meat, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Three tacos is a large enough meal for most people, and really is incredibly healthy and balanced. I make a veggie with it, on this particular day it was sauteed mushrooms for me, and steamed broccoli for the kids and hubby.

So what would you call the polar opposite of healthy and low-fat??? RIBS! For a football game get together, where we watched the Jets lose, I brough my famous all-day-cooking ribs, which I DID NOT EAT. I do love to make them, and they are a crowd pleaser, but they clearly aren't for anyone looking to lose weight, or those with reflux (ME!).

These ribs I decided to throw in a bit of freshly grated ginger for a zing! I actually think the rest of the ingredients overpowered the ginger, but it sure did create a beautiful smell in the house. Below shows the finely chopped onion and grated ginger in the hot-tub sized pot (looooove my new Le Creuset).

I made the bbq sauce from scratch, from the classic New Basics recipe. I do a few more things that the recipe does not suggest, but that's my secret! :) The ribs were a huge hit, and completely devoured except for maybe enough for the hubby's lunch...and I started with slabs upon slabs of them. I forgot what the weight was, but it said "8 pounds or more" on the label. Wooooooo!

Something that I haven't posted a lot about is the fact that sometimes I take one main dish and do it several ways (easy ways) to accomodate for the different people in my house. I do not cook 'separate meals' the way some do, for kids and for adults....but I sometimes, if it is easy,

So last night I had skinless, boneless chicken breasts defrosted from last week's 1.99 per pound sale! My friend makes fun of me for defrosting stuff, since she is an every other day grocery shopper, and refuses to freeze anything. Though I admire her dedication to waiting on grocery lines, I just cannot bring myself to food shopping more than twice a week. I may run in and get specific items, but I just cannot do meal planning more than once a week, and fill in the fridge (milk, cold cuts or side dishes) another time. That's it for me! So I defrosted (G*A*S*P*) the 4 large chicken breasts and decided to make one of my personal faves, chicken curry. Even though usually the girl child is okay with the curry, I realized early on that both kids would probably end up eating a few pieces and leaving the rest on their plates. During midterms, the boy child has to eat, so I made the executive decision to cook the same chicken a few easy ways. I cut all but one breast into bite size pieces and sauteed in garlic, onion and a touch of soy sauce (in PAM). The other breast I dipped in egg and some italian bread crumbs and fried it in my iron skillet in olive oil for the boy child....better yet, the boy teenager. When the chicken for the curry was cooked through, I removed the girl child's portion and set it aside. I visualized her eating the curry, pointing to the boy's fried chicken and saying "WHY DOES HE GET SOMETHING ELSE AND I DON'T?" so in the immortal words of my husband on race day, I said to myself, "Go big or go home!" and decided to serve the girl child the soy sauce sauteed chicken over rice, which is her favorite. It took no more time, because I was already at that stage preparing the curry. SO that's what I did, violating several of my own personal rules, but had no complaints when we sat down to eat. I felt so uniquely and indugently American in my dinner, while I usually serve one meal, with no options....this was my one try at a kid-centric dinner table. I did NOT like it, and will probably not frequently revisit it. At least not before final exams!

 For those of you on the weight loss trail. I want to leave with you two things. First, check back because I am going to upload food records in a download-able format, so you can print them out and keep them with you. I still haven't decided if I am going to make them arty and cute, downloadable as pdf's or business-like and mathmatically based, in xcel format. Ideas? But the name of the game is USE THEM, or use your own. And no, you are not the exception to the rule who is RUINED by food records. Sorry Liz, but I still think you can benefit from them. I know, I know, I'm a pain in the ass. But I'm serious about their efficacy. So serious that I jumped for joy when I heard them discussed on NBC's Today Show this morning. So do not think you are the exception. You're not. If you want to lose five pounds or 135 pounds. Do them, you won't be sorry. xoxo

PS. Did anyone see the Amy Chua interview this morning?

She wrote Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother about Chinese Parenting. Intriguing. I guess too much topic to put as a PS, and it has nothing to do with cooking, nor medicine, nor weight management. But I think worthy of consideration. I am now coming to terms with the fact that in part, I may be an extreme parent. Not a true Tiger Mother, but perhaps it's first cousin, the Tabby Cat Mother, or maybe even the Grizzly Bear Mom. Hmmmm, food for thought.

 

ADDED DOWNLOADS:

Download Foodrecords for my pdf of some fun food records to print out and use. My exercise journal page to match is right here.... Download Exercisejournal

I hope you like 'em!

Defying the laws of science. Myth # 2 Debunked...

If I had a dollar for every patient that said to me "I don't eat much and I can't lose weight," I'd be a wealthy woman. So many have thought that they were the exception to the rule, or they had a unique metabolic composition that led them to keep weight on. If this is you, you may never use this phrase again...ever. I chose this topic today because I saw Suzanne Somers on the Today show this morning, spouting crap that I had to force myself to not turn off. I was willing to listen to her when she spoke about bio-identical hormones, because I actually believe that there is some validity (medically or otherwise), and she was actually bringing something almost mainstream (almost) for people to consider after the main-stream boondoggle that was hormone replacement for post and peri-menopausal women. Don't even get me started about the lack of medical validity of her bullshit stories of "leaky gut" and "toxin buildup" as the reasons why people can't lose weight that I heard her spout today. The overwhelming majority of why people don't lose weight (not can't, but rather don't) is because they refuse to create a lifestyle that is inconsistant with being overweight. People ask me all the time how I stay so thin (my contractor asked me that yesterday as he was spackling the kitchen ceiling). I say "two reasons. One, I don't eat (LOL) and Two, I run every single day." Okay I'm exaggerating when I say I don't eat, but to a certain extent, I am not. I will do whatever it takes and whatever is necessary to stay fit and healthy. Was I blessed with some genetics that create an extremely active metabolism? Perhaps. Are there some people who burn a lot less calories per hour doing the same activity as I do? Definitely. However, most peole are in the middle, and do not violate the laws of science.

I learned a lot about weight loss from my two dogs. Camilla, my 5 year old former puppy-mill girl, is crazy. Seriously, she's nuts. She was on doggie prozac a while back, and was evaluated by a dog psychiatrist (no joke), who diagnosed her as 10 kinds of crazy! Anyway, she is hyper. She doesn't ever sit still and relax (except when she sleeps) and paces and plays and walks constantly. Cletus, my 4 year old boy and love of my life, is sedentary, sitting in my lap for hours on end, and is a relaxed boy. Camilla can eat whatever she wants and never gain an ounce. Cletus looks as kibble and puts on weight.

Here are two dogs, same food, same lifestyle (for the most part) with two completely diffrent metabolic rates (genetic predispositions). How can I keep both of them relatively fit? I do, by applying different rules to different dogs, and understanding that Cletus will never look like Camilla (the canine equivalent of a size 2). This also holds true for people. This is why some people can maintain at a size double zero, and some can barely maintain a size 12. I get that, and we have to consider what kind of person we are in order to set goals for ourselves. I would NEVER see an obese person and think they are going to be a size 4, or in the case of men, a size 32 waist. That would be foolhardy and set my patients up for  failure (my own failure since I take their progress very personally). In my office, we are getting a machine that will tell us how metabolically efficient someone is, and how many calories per day that their body needs to do its activities and functions (as a baseline). This can greatly aid patients in seeing the reality...the hard science. I may burn 1800 calories per day, and someone else may burn 1300. It just depends on their biology. This takes us to defying the laws of science. Guess what????? You don't. I don't. Gravity has the same pull on you as it does the next person...the clock moves at the same rate for all of us and we are but a  walking-talking equation:

Calories consumed - Calories Burned = surplus or deficit (depending)

Simple, right? WRONG. People grossly underestimate their calories consumed. Case in point this patient I treated for years. She had altered eating patterns, and presented with what I considered overly restrictive habits. We got it under control in a few months, meeting w/ me as well as one of our nutritionists and reviewing food records she was keeping. She was even in psychotherapy which personally I believe is underused. She did wonderfully over time....until she felt she was overgaining. The first thing I did was ask her to email her food records. She emailed a meticulous list, with the food name on the leftmost margain and the calorie content listed in a rightmost column. The problem here? It was all wrong. A quarter cup of bean spread in no parallel universe contains 45 calories. It probably contains upwards of 180 to 220, maybe more. The slice of rye toast (regular, not light) does not contain 50 calories, it contains 85-110 easy. Anyway, you get what I'm saying, the calorie counts were quite frankly underestimating her consumption by close to half.

Image source

So that threw off her equation, and led her to have a false sense of her own ability to manage her weight. We also discussed her exercise, and revamped her maintinance program (because I did not feel she overagined at all, and simply wanted to change up her fitness regimine on the treadmill, switching her from the eliptical) and all was well over time. Anyway, my point was that her  equation reality was not her perceived equation... which led her to think, "I can't maintain my weight!" At this point, some women (and men) might reach for Suzanne's ideas of leaky gut and food allergies. She stated this morning on the news that she could "look around and tell who has gluten intollerances and thyroid problems." Well, that makes her uniquely psychic and should be studied at the National Institute of Health. A trained endocrinologist needs laboratory tests, so what makes a former 3's Company actress able to tell these things without tests......and without a medical education????? I guess an armchair review of the alternative literature can now substitute for 4 years in medical school (wait, did she graduate college? So maybe it's 4 years in college before the med school) then 3 years in residency then 3 years in fellowship (AT LEAST). I'm so glad you can take the fast-track to telling patients about their biochemistry and all that FACT, and even get licensed by the state. Wait, scratch that. She can't BECAUSE THE STATE WON'T GRANT A LICENSE TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT FULFILLED THE PREREQUISITES. Okay, breathe.

image source

Anyway, there are food allergies, there are people with celiac disease (ME!) who cannot eat gluten. But this never led to "leaky gut" and quite frankly led to weight LOSS, seeing I was 85 pounds at the time of my diagnosis, not 185 pounds. I gained weight back once I cut gluten out of my diet, the complet opposite of what Ms. Somers is stating. I digress. I am uniquely angered by the false information being disseminated, and would love her to bring one of her "doctors" on televesion with her to put some science in her words. I do not, however, believe anyone espousing the efficacy of her theories would show their faces in public, but who knows, it may happen yet. I'm a scientist, not a witch doctor. Science tells us that we are all equations....with varying coefficients (calories necessary to exist as we are on a daily basis). We may be equations, but there is a heck of a lot we can do to influence each of the components of said equation. Exercise, Dietary Alterations and Increasing the basal metabolic rate through other means (building muscle, etc.)....the possibilities are exciting, but they do NOT vioate the laws of science, they exist by them. Start today with food records. Start recording your exercise....and go from there. Figuring out your equation, or even just grossly estimating, is the first step.