Time to Garden!

Today I purchased some items for our expanding garden. Last year we had squash, bell peppers, jalapenos, onions, and tomatoes. This year we are going to be growing 4 different types potatoes and three types of carrots. I have thought about growing corn but the corn we get from the farmer’s market is really good and it’s priced right. I’m not sure how much we are going to yield but I am hoping to have enough to cut our produce costs down, freeze to have supplies over winter, and to share with friends and family. In the Maxwell house we prefer to use fresh produce. Last year we learned the hard way that fresh produce from the grocery store is outrageous! So we started going to the local farmer’s market. We would take $20 and that was our budget. It worked out very well. I still have frozen corn and green beans from this summer. Our goal now is to grow the produce ourselves in order to further cut down on costs.

On a food and exercise note, I have been doing pretty well. I restocked the fridge and cabinets with healthy choices. I have been exercising regularly combining working out in the yard and the elliptical. I am trying to save money but I would really like to renew my gym membership.

Anyways, here are some pictures of some of the things we will be growing this year.

Purple Majesty

Red Cranberry

All Blue

Purple Dragon

Rainbow Mix

Introducing the Peter Pepper. Seriously!!!

Don't Turn Around---Uh Oh

Today was absolutely beautiful. I got my bathtub scrubbed. Have you ever had one of those days when you think your bath tub has to be the grosses place in your house? Today was that day for me. I have never really liked our bathroom but we have been updating it and it is feeling more inviting. However, the tile surrounding the bath tub totally grosses me out. So today I took my Tilex and sponge and went to work on it. I must say that my shower this evening was a lot more enjoyable.

The other weird thing is that while vacuuming the living room upstairs I noticed my parents down in the driveway working on the side of our house. I caught my Mom waking our hedges yesterday. This catches me off guard. I’m not sure why I get my knickers in a twist over this but it really makes me feel like I can’t make it on my own. I understand that my parents are lending a helping hand and I could use it but my pride seems to be getting in the way. The home we bought had a left over junk and trash from the previous owners. The bushes, shrubs, and trees are all over grown. We did a lot of work when we first moved in and are continuing to do work now that the weather is finally warming up. I am extremely hard headed and I want to do it all on our own.  I spend most of the morning festering over this but my bathroom did get extremely clean so not all was lost. When my Mom called later that afternoon I explained that I really appreciated their help but I wanted to give it a whirl on our own. Also, we had planned on having some friends over this afternoon that were going to help load some stuff up to haul to the dump. Anyways, I really feel bad for having these feelings because my Mom bought me a flat of pansies to put in my planters in the front yard. I really need to learn to pick my battles, to let go of my pride and except help when it is being offered. I need to let go.

To end the day, we did get the yard clean up started. We were able to haul off a lot of trash. However, there is still some trash that needs to go. We got a lot of leaves raked up and burned. The lawn is mowed which is great because the ditch water has been turned on. I am skipping the elliptical tonight because we were outside for 5 hours and I did lift and move a pile of wood and some bricks. I am hoping the weather is good tomorrow so that we can keep the momentum up. Oh I forgot to tell you….we are cleaning the yard because we are hosting Easter at our house. Tick tock Tick tock………..



Long Time, No Post

I have still been battling allergies. I feel like crap. I eat like crap. I’m just a mess. I am so stinking exhausted. I have been good about getting my 40 minutes in every day but I am completely wiped out when I am done. I worked out in the yard some this afternoon. This was probably not the brightest idea because it only goes to add the allergy problems. However, we did manage to get a lot cleaned up. We are going to have some friends over tomorrow evening to help out some more. I am sorry to make this so short but like I said I am not feeling so hot. In order to sum things up, I would say two thumbs up for keeping on target with my exercise goals. I need to work on my eating habits again. This is a constant struggle for me because I am an emotional eater. I need to restock my house with healthy items and get back into the grove of having breakfast everyday and a healthy light lunch.

Dust in the Wind

The WIND!! My goodness it was windy today. I was nominated to run interviewees back and forth between buildings again this afternoon. I love the opportunity to get out of my cube and out in the open but I am pretty sure all I got was a free sand blast with dirt in my ears. I resisted the impulse to get a breakfast burrito for breakfast. Instead I had oatmeal with sugar. For dinner I made Hamburger Helper. It’s quick, easy, high in protein, and ok on the fat chart. I should have added a fresh veggie but I am running low. I can’t wait to get the garden started so I can have fresh produce again. I don’t like to eat canned veggies because of the salt content. I prefer to use my home grown or locally grown produce. I buy in bulk and freeze it for later. Let’s see….I also did 45 minutes on the elliptical. I am trying to step it up more and more even if it is just a little bit. I have been so tired and I am sure that it’s my allergies causing it so I need to stay motivated. I am headed to bed. I hope everyone had a great day.

Game Plan

I think I have dedicated my weekends to house work. It never seems to end. I start in one room and then I move to the next leaving behind what almost feels like a bigger mess. I need to make a to-do list to keep things organized instead of all over the place. Anyways, since I got the Wii hooked up with the Netflix I have been glued to my TV. I brought the Wii down stairs and put it on the our bedroom TV so I could workout and watch me some Kenny vs. Spenny. I was like the energizer bunny, I just kept going and going. My energy wasn’t because I wanted to but needed to. We went to Tequila’s for a late lunch. I watched my food and didn’t clean my plate but I did consume 3.5 margaritas. I had no idea how many calories are in margaritas and when I found out I defiantly have some working out to do.  So the game plan for today is to drink lots and lots of water and to hit the elliptical for at least an hour.

Feeling Good

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful. I worked out in the yard. I cleaned out two flower beds in the front and planted two rose bushes. I spent the rest of the afternoon running around town with my Mom looking at gardening supplies. We are planning on expanding out garden this year. I can’t wait to have fresh produce in the kitchen.

I only hit the elliptical for 30 minutes since I was out in the yard this afternoon. I had a foot long spicy Italian. This was not the best choice for dinner but I had stayed fat free for the most of the day.  I slightly went over my calorie goal and fat goal but I was still under the daily 2000 calorie limit. I know I shouldn’t be justifying my over expenditure but I have found that if I don’t give a little I tend to binge big time and give up quickly.

The Internet!!

Comcast is here!!!!!! It is so stinking fast. I love it. I am now going to be able to keep up on my blog and not have to wait for the pages to load. I guess I will catch you up on what I did yesterday. I had Berry Berry Kix for lunch. Cereal is a good way to get your nutrition and maintain a low calorie and fat intake. I drink fat free milk so it wasn’t difficult to make that switch. It’s also convenient because I can keep a box at my desk and munch on it dry when I need a quick snack. For dinner I resisted the urge to order a foot long spicy Italian from Subway and went with a turkey sub instead. Yay for standing my ground.

I popped in my Live 8, a Bob Geldof Charity feed the children end poverty DVD last night and worked out on the elliptical for 45 minutes while jamming to some live music. It felt good and I should have gone longer but it was 10:00pm and that is passed my bed time. I woke up this morning feeling energized. I am a little disappointed because I weighed myself and I am at 175 pounds. I was hoping to get to 170 by Tuesday but it doesn’t look like it will happen.  I am wondering if I could be a little bloated. I haven’t ever really noticed gaining water weight around that certain time of the month but since I have started losing weight I have noticed it in the last couple of months. So maybe I can just pee away that extra 5 pounds over the weekend.

Today should be beautiful!



Tomorrow Is Just A Song Away

I know I haven’t been posting consistently. However, the good news is that the internet should be up and running soon at my house. I have been using an air card and that is an on again off again type of relationship.

Wednesday I did very good with my calories. My allergies are kicking my but and I haven’t been feeling well but still have made sure that I have gotten my 40 minutes of exercise. Yesterday was a different story. We had a safety meeting out at Fish Heads, a restaurant out by the dam. It was really good. I ordered an open face green chile cheese burger thinking that it would be less bread and no cheese. Boy was I wrong. It was two patties smothered in green chile and cheese. Oh, and it also came with the best tasting seasoned fries. I haven’t had fries in months. Needless to say I binged and ate 98% of what was on my plate. It totally sucked. I don’t think I took a breath while I ate. Since I didn’t eat breakfast I kept tricking myself and saying it was alright because I hadn’t consumed anything. What did I learn from this experience?

1. Eat breakfast so you won’t be STARVING
2. Stay away from the chips! They will hurt you
3. When someone tells you the green chile is good, it probably is but that doesn’t mean you have to order it
4. Avoid Cheese and French fries in large amounts

The only plus to yesterday was I drank a ton of water and didn’t lay down when I got home. Instead I worked on trying to hook up the modem, vacuumed all of downstairs, folded some laundry, and hit the elliptical for 40 minutes.

Calories in=Calories that need to go out.



Catch Up Time

Sunday was a good day. I was pretty busy and didn’t have time to log onto my computer. I did pretty well and stayed close to my target calorie and fat goals. I was a tad bit over but none the less I still did pretty good. I also did my 40 minutes on the elliptical. I wasn’t as sore as I was on Saturday which made it a lot easier.

Monday was absolutely beautiful. I spent a lot of my afternoon outside taking people back and forth through our buildings at work. It felt so good to be out in the sunshine and not trapped in my cube. I was so excided about the weather that when I got home I didn’t go inside the house. Instead, I ran straight to the shed in the back and got the lawn mower out! I mowed our front lawn. I love mowing the lawn. I couldn’t believe how nice the grass looked. I can’t wait for the ditch to start running and I can water the yard.

Anyways, so mowing the lawn was not the highlight of my day, but darn close. I went and played 9 holes. I actually walked all 9 of them. I haven’t done that in over a year. It felt so nice and I could tell a difference from the last time I had walked the course. I didn’t have such a hard time doing it this time around. I didn’t play all that well but I am sure my game will start coming around once I start playing more often. I am completely sore today but it is the good kind of sore so I am loving it!  I can’t wait to see if getting back into golf will help me on my journey.  



Today

Today was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! I wish I could have spent more of it outside. I hope the weather is just as nice tomorrow. I did do much better today. I had yogurt for breakfast and made Kraft Mac and Cheese for lunch but skipped on adding in the butter and used fat free milk. I had two cups which is two servings but was able to come in well below my calorie and fat intake. For dinner I grilled New York strip steaks. I choose this type of steak because it has a lesser fat value. Along with my steak I had brussel sprouts and about 1/8 cup of mashed potatoes (because I did make them with butter and seasons that contain fat).  So over all I came in just under my daily calories and well below my fat goals. YAY!!!

As for exercise, I tried to get most of my house work done today. I have stairs in my house so I tried to go up and down them as much as possible. I also stood up when I folded laundry and took the clothes to the closet one at a time. To end the day I hit up the elliptical for 40 minutes. I am still sore from hitting balls yesterday but it still feels good to keep moving.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds.



Yesterday

Today I am going to double post since I didn’t get a post up for yesterday. It was a much better day yesterday for me. I had a banana for breakfast and a 6” turkey sub from Subway. I felt full and did not need to come home and snack right away. I notice that with fatty foods I tend to need to snack more where good foods really do last longer energy wise for me. I mixed the exercise up a bit since it was such a beautiful day. I went to the driving range and hit balls for 40 minutes and then worked on my putting for about 15 minutes. It’s been about 6 months since I have hit a ball so I am sore today. Believe it or not golf can be a good way to burn calories. I am trying to get back into the rhythm of things so that I can start walking the course like I did when I played in high school.

As for dinner, I had hamburger helper. This is not the greatest of meals but I use fat free milk instead of 2% milk. Since I had about 2 cups it comes to be about 620 calories and 26 grams of fat. Considering I did so well earlier in the day I came in well  below my calorie and fat consumptions for the day.

I guess I should let you all know what my daily targets are. I am trying to consume between 1200-1500 calories with a max of 60 grams of fat per day. This is based on what Sparkspeople (www.sparkspeople.com) has suggest for a healthy weight loss. I like this program because it is FREE and it has almost every food or restaurant in its system. By tracking my food and exercise through this program I am able to hold myself accountable.

Thanks to a suggestion to a friend I am going to post a before picture. I am not proud of this but then again that is why I am making changes for the better. This was taken on January 2, 2011. As you can see I have the "muffin top" going and I am trying to hike my pants up over it. This picture was also taken before I started to watch my fat intake. Since then, I have lost 18 pounds. I have dropped from a 15/16 pant size to an 11/12. I started at 192 pounds in December and got down to 174 around the first of February.  I fell off the band wagon for at least three weeks and did not adhere to my diet as well as I had been and weighed in at 180 pounds just prior to starting this blog. So as of right now I am only down 12 pounds. I need to recapture the 6 I gained back and move forward to my target weight of 145 pounds.

I've Seen Better Days

Today…well today was just about an ultimate failure. I ate munched on chips and salsa, cleaned my plate of some big cheesy enchiladas followed by a sopapilla. The only good thing about lunch was that I drank water. Ugh…I need to learn to not emotionally eat. I could have easily skipped the chips and sopapilla. I have done it before. I just got to keep working on things.

I was able to accomplish my 40 minute workout.  It was also a rough one today. I am tired and don’t feel well, a little depressed about my lack of control. However, I did get on the elliptical and did a full 40 minutes. I had a little help because I was watching Extreme Couponing.  I need to learn to buy over $1000 worth of groceries and only pay $6.

Alright, I am going to pop a Benadryl and hopefully start to feel better. I love that spring and sunshine are coming this way. I just can’t stand the wind and pollen mess that comes with it. Tomorrow is another day and another day to try harder.



In the beginning!

Today was my first day of 40 for 40. I decided that I would integrate other aspects beside just 40 minutes of exercise. Today I consumed a minimum of 40 ounces of water. This really isn’t much but when I am use to consuming a Diet Coke, a Dr. Pepper, or ice tea, water is a good thing.  Our bodies need water to function properly and there for the more the merrier, right? Also, I have been tanning in an attempt to perk up my vitamin D and to get rid of my pastiness. So my chest is peeling and my lips are dry. I probably wouldn’t be having this problem if I did consume more water. 

I am also going to try to include more fruits into my diet. Today I had a banana and cherry yogurt for breakfast. It wasn’t that bad. I just need to change my frame of mind and learn to say no to the thought of a free burrito when it is offered at work. Burritos are good for the tummy but bad for the gut!

I am also trying not to eat so late. I have read on both sides of the fence. One publishing will say it’s a bad thing while another says it doesn’t matter, it’s all about metabolism. I personally think it’s a bad thing, If I eat earlier, it allows me to work of more of the calories and increase my metabolism. Also, if I eat earlier I tend not to binge as much.

I am staying away from butter, ranch dressing, and cheese. However, I am buying more low fat yogurt, fat free cheese, fat free sour cream, fat free ranch dressing, and fat free milk to cook with and keep protein in my diet. I am really bad when it comes to consuming enough protein.  

Any who, I have done 40 minutes on the elliptical, 40 crunches, and drank my 40 ounces of water. Day one is coming to an end.



And So It Came To Be...

Welcome Everyone! I will be starting to post my journey of 40 minutes for 40 days. I will be working on a healthier me this Lent season. I will be doing a minimum of 40 minutes of exercise for the next 40 days. I am going to be blogging about my journey to keep me motivated and maybe to help motivate others.  

Let me give you a little history. I use to be extremely active in middle school and high school. I played volleyball, basketball, soccer, and golf. I was active year around. Then following high school graduation this all stopped. In the last ten years I have become sedentary. I sit in my cubicle for 8.5 hours then I go home and watch TV for about 2 hours. Needless to say, I have let myself go. I miss the energy I once had and want to look forward and do what I need to do to get it back.

Lent is about the sacrifice that Christ made for us and it really isn’t a sacrifice to make changes eliminating the negative things in life exchanging them for positive things that lead to a healthier body and mind.

Wish me luck!