Summer is here.

Well, for those of you who don't know, I live in Florida. This weekend summer hit us and it hit us hard. The highs were in the low 90s and the humidity was out of control. I want to crawl in a hole (an air conditioned hole) and not emerge until October. Ugh.

The humidity in Florida is what makes it the worst. It's like living in a sauna. :(

Anyway, I don't think I'll be doing any outdoor running for a while. :( It stinks too because I enjoyed it the one day last week when it was nice. Maybe I'll try it out in the mornings once or twice before the 5k.

So I am done with my interval running with Couch to 5k. That means from today on I run 25 min. with no breaks (walking) and over the next three weeks work my way up to 30 min. and from there I will work on speed.

I am not going to lie - I am nervous! I am scared I won't be able to make it 25 min. tonight on the treadmill.

I have been getting side splints the past two days and I don't know why! My friend suggested I try to eliminate soda (note: drinking one now). It's going to be hard. I said goodbye to caffeine a while back but I like some fizzy goodness in my day.

In other news, John and I are leaving for the Bahamas on Thursday! I CAN'T WAIT! I can't wait to swim and be in the Atlantis water park and snorkel! YAY!

My goal is to not gain weight while I'm there. I'm going to be mindful of what I'm eating and drink lots of water.

I will update at least once more before I go!

Morning workouts...

So today my plan was (key word was)  to get up at 5:30 a.m. and make a 6 a.m. spin class. That didn't happen.

For a few weeks earlier this year I was able to get out bed and get to a few of those classes and I liked not having to worry about working out after work! It's just SO HARD to drag myself out of bed that early.

I sleep well. It's hard enough for me to get up at 6:50 a.m. for work!

Now I remember those few weeks when I was doing this saying how once I was up and awake I was fine. I just need to be able to get myself out of bed and dressed!

Anyway, group fitness classes end at 9:15 a.m. at my gym on Friday's so that's out for today.

I have a doctor appt. at 4 this afternoon and my plan is to hit the gym tonight to do Week 6, Day 1 of Couch to 5k.

I plan to hit the gym Sunday, Monday and Tuesday! Three days in a row is hard for me but John and I are driving to Orlando late Wednesday night because we are going to...

THE BAHAMAS on Thursday! :) I am so excited. I am going to try and eat as best I can while I'm there and I think with all the swimming I'll at least be getting some activity. :)

We do have two dinner reservations at nice places. One being the Mesa Grill which is our favorite. We've been to the one in NYC three times and consider it our special place. So when we saw there was one in Atlanis we knew we had to go!

We arrive Thursday around 3 p.m. and we leave around 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Moving on...

Confession: I made a big eating mistake last night. I have been way better about my night-time snacking but last night I blew it complely. John was in the shower and I woke up to pee around 11:40 p.m. I ate these three mini-pitas and dipped them in peanut butter. FAIL! Now, at least this was a healthier peanut butter but it's still 3 points for 2tbsp. I am estimating this binge as 9 points. I took away 5 weekly extras (down to 15 left) and then took away 4 from my points today. Where they come from is neither here nor there I suppose but that is how I did it.

To make mattters worse I just ate 3 points worth of Twizzlers. They were tasty though, I must admit. ;)

So here I am with 14 points left for the day and it's 10:52 a.m.! I can manage this...

I am going out to lunch with girls from work and I am going to get a simple salad with shrimp and fat-free dressing on the side. I am hoping this will be between 4-5 points.

For a mid-afternoon snack I will have a banana for 2 points.

I will hit the gym and earn 3 AP which I plan on not using.

When I return from my workout I will have a Green Monster smoothie and a veggie burger for 6 more points.

That should keep me right around 14. If I have to use the AP I will.

Crap, better get back to work!

Run, Danielle, run!

So yesterday was my first 20 min. run on the Couch to 5K program! I knew I was capable of running 20 min. because I've done it before but I wanted to try and keep my 5.0-5.2 pace that I've been doing on the treadmill. When I used to jog 20 min. it was at around a 4.5. A pretty slow jog.

After work yesterday I got myself together. Heart rate monitor on, iPod armband ready and after stretching and doing a little walking I started my timer. I ran around this big lake at work. One lap around the lake is .77 miles. I did two laps and a little more in the 20 min.! I ran the whole thing! I ended up running approx 1.6 miles in 20 min. I have time before the 5k in June to improve my endurance and speed so I am hoping in June I can finish the 5k in around 35 min. :)

I am proud of myself for how good I've been doing!

After my run I did some strength training and by the end of it I was beat!

I rushed home to shower and change because John and I's 2.5 year anniversary of dating is today. He has a class tonight so we were going to get dinner and celebrate a day early.

He got home around 6:45 p.m. and brought me some very pretty flowers. :)

How sweet! <3

Anyway I better get back to work. More updates to come...

Work it out!

Okay so I may not be losing weight as consistently as I'd like due to issues with snacking but I've been doing great working out.

I worked out Saturday, Sunday, Monday and I was going to rest today but I might actually do something today!

My boss let me borrow her Slim in 6 workout DVD program and while I can't commit right now to doing the program in full I want to try it out. Workout 1 is only 24 min. so what the hell.

Tomorrow is my first 20 min. run for Couch to 5K. I think I will run it outside.

Yesterday I did a group workout with a few girls from work and we ran outside. I did awesome and I am really proud of myself. It's nice to see that hard work pays off. I think everyone is doing a group workout tomorrow so I may do my 20 min. run and then join them. As long as the weather isn't too hot I'm down!

Finally, I have a membership to Lifestyles Family Fitness. They are a bit of rip-off. I got lucky and joined at a low rate so it costs me around $34 a month after tax. The thing is, this membership doesn't include access to their spin classes. That would be the middle-level membership which is $10 a month extra. Seriously? Everyone other gym in the world includes all group fitness!

I went in Sunday to quit unless they would include it for me (so I could stop sneaking in classes) and it was as easy as that. They had me call corporate and bam - added for no additional charge. Nice!

Better get back to work...

Lack of posting and happy news.

Sorry I have been so absent for a while. I realize I may not post every day but I should post a few times a week.

Anyway, I had been down weight-wise two weeks in a row but then I had two weekends in a row of birthday celebrations and well...yeah.

So I am moving forward and not looking back...

I am almost done with week 5 of Couch to 5k! My next day (Wednesday) is my 20 min. run! Yikes! Today I had the two 8 min. runs which wasn't that bad. I was super sweaty but I survived.

A few girls at work want to lose weight and we started a weight-loss "challenge" but are going to mainly motivate each other to get to our goals. One girl at work is a marathon runner and is going to workout with us once or twice a week because she knows a lot about fitness. :)

In other good news my gym (Lifestyle Family Fitness) is a bit of a ripoff. It's normally $39.99 a month but I signed up for $29.99 a month (+tax) when I joined so that isn't too bad. The real rip-off comes with the fact they charge an extra $10 a month to have access to their spinning classes. WHAT? I sneak in all the time but it sucks. So today I went in saying I was going to cancel because two gyms near my work are the same monthly fee and include spinning and the guy told me to call corporate and they will add it for me. NICE! Always worth it to ask!

My company has started a Step It Up challenge and has milestone goals and gave everyone pedometers. They are crappy but do the job. If we get to 150,000 steps by June 1st we get a legit one! There are more prizes after that. The challenge goes though July! It's nice to see everyone making an effort to be move active.

I think I am going to do a 5k in June with Jen and Ricky. John might do it but he won't run the whole thing. He isn't conditioned enough for it. Hopefully we have time for me to help him work up to it a little bit. My goal is to finish it under 35 min. :)

I guess I will leave you with the delicious dinner I made tonight! Chicken Puttanesca Style. Yum! It was on the Weight Watchers website. Super easy to make and so flavorful! We had it with some roasted asparagus. :) Even John loved it. The recipe said it was 4 points each but I counted 5 to be safe because my piece of chicken seemed a little bigger.

Off I go! I am feeling very motivated and positive so I am hoping I KNOW I will reach my goals this year.

Happy Passover!

Today started week 2 of Couch to 5k! It wasn't bad. I've gotten this far before (up to week 5, I think...). I love, love, love the Couch to 5k iPhone app I got. :)

For breakfast today I had a delicious breakfast. An Everything Bagel Thin(I've had a hard time finding these), WW cream cheese and lox. YUM!

Today was an alright day for a Monday. The day went fairly quick.

For dinner in celebration of Passover since I haven't been to a Seder in years I made matzo brie(fried matzo)! I made it lighter by not using butter to cook it in but it was still yummy. I am so full from my serving.

I have a bad habit of snacking while cooking. For instance, tonight's dinner (also made the turkey zucchini meatloaf) took an hour to get done and I kept picking. I ended up not even having any of the loaf because I was full. I wish I could chew gum while I cooked.

I think I used my activity points today which stinks. I wanted to bank them!

Time to go relax...

Hello?

So it's been a few days without posting. Haven't had too much to post about!

Went to my meeting Saturday and was up .6. I was expecting as much being that I used all 35 weeklies if not more. I've learned a long time ago that I'm one of those people who can't use all 35 and expect to lose.

This week is going to be different! I am going to lose 3!

Yesterday I went to my friends engagement party and I did well. I ate an estimated 1/2 cup of rice and some white meat chicken breast and some salad with no dressing. There was a variety of cake and I only had three small bites of John's (which was counted as three points). Jen did great too and didn't have any cake at her own party! I left the party and was only 5 points over for the night.

Unfortunately, today was one of those days where no matter what I eat or how much I am still hungry! Ugh. I am now two points over even with my three activity points I got today!

I decided I hate how "good fats" like almonds and avocado which are good for you are so high in points. Lame!

Anyway, time to go shower. My apartment gym was really warm and I got super sweaty! Yuck!

Deliciousness.

Okay, so I am back with photos and I have a lot!

Today for breakfast I had a Vita Top (not pictured) for 1 point and some Frosted Mini Wheats and Almond Milk for 4 points. I also had my morning coffee for 1 point.

For lunch today I had 1 oz of Pop Chips (forgot the pic of these) for 2 points along with a sandwich and strawberries. My sandwich had an Arnolds Sandwich Thin, 2oz of Boars Head Blazin' Buffalo Chicken Breast, onion and avocado for 4 points and the strawberries were 1 point. I also had a Fresca. :)

For an afternoon snack today I had a 2 point granola bar and a 2 point Yoplait Delight. Forgot to get the photos of these. Sorry!

Today I was able to get back to the gym! I burned 326 calories and earned 3 activity points!

I got home and made salad with grilled chicken for dinner!

I was hungry when cooking so I had some turkey bacon for 1 point and a Light Baby Bell Cheese for 1 point.

While cooking I was thinking how I really need to cut some sugar out of my diet. I eat these BS things filled with sugar and carbs and they are no good for me. So I threw away the Jolly Ranchers and lollipops we had!

Moving on...my salad for dinner included 3 oz of chicken, spring mix salad, broccoli slaw, onion, red bell pepper, avocado, a few chick peas and some Farmer's Boy Greek Dressing. My salad was a total of 5 points.

If you can, BUY THIS DRESSING. I could drink it...okay, maybe not drink it but it's delicious and only one point for 2tbsp.!

I just had a Vita Top for dessert for 1 point. I did also tell myself that I don't need dessert every night. If I want something sweet I can have fruit but I don't need a WW ice cream every single night!

Anyhow, I feel good today being that I got back into the gym and had a good food day.

What are some of your favorite go-to products?

Off I go to shower and get started on Prisoner of Azkaban! :)

24/24 daily points used
10/35 weekly allowance points remaining
4 activity points banked (not used)

Monday is not Funday

So somehow I managed to only get two pictures today and it was off a yogurt and a NutriGrain bar so I won't bore with you pictures of two snacks you're probably familiar with. :\

Today went fairly well points-wise. I had ended up eating a fiber bar at 1:30 a.m. (I swear I felt hungry!) so I started the day with -2 points. I need to remind myself when I want to reach for that night-time snack how much I'll miss those two points when the day comes.

I ended up using another 5 WAP tonight snacking but the good news is that my doctor told me this afternoon I can start working out again!

I am about to do my Biggest Loser yoga DVD and Wednesday and Friday I plan to earn at least two AP each day so that is a total of 5 AP earned. If I feel up for it I'll be able to earn 7 but we shall see.

Saturday and Sunday are both being spent at Disney parks so I'll get lots of walking in those two days.

Ok, I better go change to do the yoga before it gets too late.

I promise I'll get back to the photos tomorrow!