Or I may be getting sick.

I'm feeling pretty cruddy. Not hungry, headachey, nose is both runny & stuffy, throat ever so slighty scratchy. Gonna play it by ear for the rest of the day.

If this ends up being my last entry for today, ie no pudge pic posting later, it means I've taken the meds and gone to bed.

Man, I feel like a mack truck hit me. My head is dull and throbbing, my eyes are burning, my nose feels like it's been thru a wringer. All this cuz I stayed up till almost midnight? Cripes!

Suffice to say no AM workout, couldn't make that happen on 4 hours of sleep. I took the pudge pic, but no time to work my magic and have it posted, it'll appear later.

Times like this I wish I was a coffee drinker. Or @ least still jonesing for a ice cold coca cola (my version of cold coffee) from the freezer. Instead I'll settle for an EXTREMELY earlier bed time.

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." - Japanese proverb

Day 38

1 winner down, YAY! Morgan. 4 to go. Eeep!

9:22 - Two down. Whoo Hooo Cate! 3 to go...

10:58 - Three in a row...Go Hilary! 2 to go!

11:25 - & Jamie makes FOUR!!!!!!

11:37 - YESSSSSSSSS!! Million Dollar Baby!!!

5 for 5 & time for bed :sosweepy:

Oscar Sunday, posting two categories in one so I can get ready for the ceremony in 10 hours!! .

Food
They should name a path after me @ Publix. I take the same route every Sunday.

Right to produce: pick up apples, tangerine, fruit of the week, wraps, soy milk (chocolate this week) & plum tomatoes.

Make left, walk along dairy wall: stop for LF yogurt, cc, milk, & cheese.

If necessary, double back: get cereal & peanut butter.

Continue along dairy wall: quick left for nuts & raisins.

Go str8 for 2 more aisles: make left down frozen food lane, bundle up warmly and gather broccoli, spinach & veggie of the week.

Final left, then right: proceed to check out.

Give obligatory head nod when cashier/bagger comments (again) "Oh my, look how healthy you eat"

Add 6-8 bags to cart & head to car.

In, out & back home w/in 40 mins.

A few weeks ago I mentioned wanting to do a 40/30/30 proportions, but looking @ how I've been eating I'm going to stick w/what I've naturally been doing 50/25/25. When I forced getting in extra protein just for the sake of reaching 30% eating wasn't enjoyable.

Since then, I've done some reading. Based on what I've found, 50-60% carbs @ the beginning when trying to lose excess bodyfat is ideal. When I get all buffed up, I'll be more diligent about protein. For where I'm @ now and what I'm trying to do, I'm doing fine.

So now that I'm no longer sweating the proportions, I've been working to include more fruits & veggies by trying to get in 2 of each as a base and then an extra one as a bonus.

This week apples & tangerine are my base, plums/nectarines are the bonus. Same w/veggies. Broccoli and spinach are the base, tomato is the bonus

I've also been paying attention to fat. Right now I get that from nuts & natural peanut butter, this week I've added seeds to the lineup.

When I get to the point where I make food the priority, right now exercise is, I'll start to pick healthier fats and vary up the fruits and veggies more. For now thru the end of June, I'm just touching on food, tweaking it here and there from week to week and reading up on nutrition in general. I may even start making the free meal every other week. But for now, let's just keep that li'l secret on the hush hush from my tummy

Workouts
All weights & cardio stays the same this week. Couch to 5k increases as normal.

Towards the end of last week the increases in the last 30 mins of cardio wasn't as painful as last week. Still NOT FUN by a long shot, but I'll stay @ this level for two more weeks. @ that point I'll be bumping up the reps on Power 90 Sculpt Level 3/4.

As for weights, by Friday the 8lbers started feeling more comfortable. Either I had a burst of energy or I'm getting better @ pushups. I'm just about nailing them. I was going to increase squats this week, but for the last few weeks I've been increasing here and there and since nothing else is going up it'll be easier for me to keep track of all increases when I do them @ the same time.

So same reps: 12 for the upper, 15 for the lower, max pushups will be 15, max squats 45, 20 reps for all abs moves. Do that for 2 solid weeks and then I'll increase reps for the final 3 weeks of this workout routine.

Lastly Couch to 5k. This week is I have a 25 min run. Today I got so into it I ran an extra minute. That would have NOT happened during the first week. For one, I watched the clock like a hawk, not @ all eager to run one second longer than necessary.

Today was 5 & 8 min run w/3 min walks in between. I worked to keep a steady stride, and that's where I just zoned out and next thing I know I clocked an extra minute. Which was pretty cool.

Ok, t-minus 9? hours to Oscar. Go Jamie, Hillary, Morgan, Cate & Million Dollar Baby!
(my picks for actor/actress, supporting actor/actress & movie)

Tally of last weeks poll question: What time of day do you primarily workout?
Evening (4p-7p) 24.2%
Morning (7a-10a) 21.2%
Afternoon (11a-4p) 21.2%
Late Evening (7p-12a) 15.2%
Early am (4a-7a) 9.1%
I don't workout 9.1%
Overnight (12a-4a) 0.0%

Total votes: 33

This weeks poll question: How much water do you drink per day?

Either I was really in the zone today or Full House was extremely interesting. Before I knew it, I ran an extra minute in the last segment of Couch to 5k.

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." - Beverly Sills

Day 37

I had a bit of a rough morning, I'll get into it later. It got worse when I found out Full House also comes on over the weekends. I knew something was wrong when I didn't see the DJ gets a phone episode. I already missed ½ of the first show, but I caught the 2nd one. Good thing, DJ got her own room and I would have been so lost seeing her in Michelles' room on Monday.

Then b/c I got to the gym so late, I still had a bit of time to walk. I flipped around caught Johnny Depp on the Actors Studio. I should be embarassed by the huge smile he brought to my panting sweat streaked face.

I'm not.

"Self-discipline is when your conscience tells you to do something and you don't talk back." - W.K. Hope

Day 36

Availabilty
Plums are available all year.

Tip
To peel plums, dip in boiling water for 30 seconds, then lift out with a slotted spoon and cool in cold water. Slip off skins.

How to Select and Store
Choose plump fruit that is not excessively soft. Select plums that yield to gentle pressure.

Plums can be ripened by placing them in a paper bag, closing it loosely, and leaving it on the counter for a few days. Once the fruit is ripe, it should be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.

History
Plums have been growing wild virtually all over the world for many centuries. Until the late 1800s, the only plums in North America were native to this continent and were gathered and eaten by people for generations. Later, European and Japanese varieties were introduced to the Americas. Today there are many varieties available, and plums are used fresh, frozen, canned, or preserved in jams and jellies.

Nutritional Information
Plum, 1 fruit (raw)
Calories: 36
Protein: 0.52g
Carbohydrate: 8.6g
Total Fat: 0.41g
Fiber: 1.0g
*Good source of: Vitamin C (6.2mg)

Fun Facts
• All prunes are originally plums, but not all types of plums can be used to make prunes.
• Plums are very difficult to grow. They are very tough to pollinate and farmers often have to resort to importing bees into the orchard and spraying a solution of sugar and water on the trees to attract them.

[sources: 1, 2, 3]

This was my fruit of choice last week & two weeks before that. I may be getting better @ picking fruit in general b/c all of them were just how I liked them. CRUNCHY!

I loathe squishy soft plums. They mush around in my mouth. Give me plums w/a crunch and tart enough to make my mouth water.

Must pick up plums for next week. Mmmmmmm plumssssss....

Every lb has a story. This is the true story of a pound fondly known as #177.

I'm getting better @ being less anxious before weighing in. It's been 7 long days. I was actually looking forward to it today. Right up to the point that my toes touched the scale that is? Then the jitters came back.

178. Guh?!

Let's try this again. 178.

I hate going thru this song and dance. It would be easy for me to accept 178. I was momentarily resigning myself to look @ the brighter side of things, Hey I didn't gain.

But it just didn't feel right. Don't ask me how or why I felt that way. I could be just full of it, but my gut told me that # was just plain wrong.

For the sake of the story I must reveal a bit of TMI. I'll try to be discreet.

My am routine is wake up, go to the bathroom, take pudge pic, get dressed, hit gym, use bathroom, get ready for work etc etc.

Read between the lines m?kay.

When I saw 178, my heart cried a bit and my stomach sank. All of a sudden I got the urge to use the bathroom. Keep in mind, I've already gone to the bathroom when I first woke up. Follow?

Just for giggles I decided to weigh in again. What? I mean it can't hurt right? Besides, I can almost guarantee the scale wouldn't be going up?heh

172.5. Awww c?mon not this huge drop tomfoolery again.

176.5. What!! You mean I actually made my goal?!?!

177. 177. 177.

Geez Louise.

I am a digital freak, but Zeus almighty I may have to get an analog scale. I can't take the melodrama every week.

177 brings me .5lbs shy of my 5lb/5 weeks goal. W/all the back and forth this morning, message to scale: I. Don't. Care.

Rather, I'm excited that I now have a fresh 5 week slate ahead of me. This morning I got to reset both my Fitday and NutriSystem goals to aim for 172lbs by April 1st. Plus this entry made me finally decide to add a new category, weekly weigh-ins. Not promising I always post to it. My Fitday journal is a good place to find updated weight info if I don't mention it here.

Always one to look @ things from other points of views, had I weighed in this week for the first time since week 1, as far as I would know I would have lost 4.5lbs in 5 weeks. Weighing in weekly does take a bit of oomph out of things compared to saying, Hey I almost lost 5lbs in 5 weeks.

Now my oomphs come from the cha-ching factor. My pudge free clothing fund has gone up to $17.50 smackeroos!

Huzzah!

Further proof I am no good before the crack of dawn.

For the last 2 weeks I've been using paper towels to mop my brow. Since I've upped both speed & incline I'm either too high or moving too fast to reach for my water bottle much less the paper towels. A few days ago I stuffed them in the top of my sports bra, but my chest dampens them. Then I stuffed them in the top of my shorts, my belly dampened them too.

Mind you I wear these shorts when I ride my bike and take my keys to the gym. Today as I tried to figure out yet another place to stash my paper towels, it hit me. Duhhh!! How 'bout your pockets. The same pockets you had your keys in, yesterday.

My brain seriously needs one of those "Do not operate heavy machinery" warning labels.

"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure ? try to please everybody." - Herbert Bayard Swope

Day 35

Ok, I'll open up one area of my site where I will let readers input be the deciding factor. If you?ve been itching to tell me what to do and have been scared off by the boilerplate reply, here's your chance

See that middle picture that says: as of w/the ? & the word gets under it? My original plan was to update that picture when I finished this training block, in 7 more weeks. Lately I've been feeling that's a long time not to have a progress pic.

I promised that on day 42, the 6 week point, I'd post comparison shots. Up to this moment I haven't looked @ the pudge pics side by side. Aside from the daily posting I have no idea what's going on.

Here's where you can have your say:

From today thru Friday March 4th 9pm, tell me in the comments whether I should post the side or the back pics in my logo. Examine all the pudge pics to your hearts content. Whichever view gets the majority vote of most improvement, will be the picture that adorns my site till the next update. @ which point, if this catches on, I may do this again.

You can make your decision as of today comparing day 1 to day 34. Or you can wait until day 42 to make your final decision.

Whether you surfed here from blogazoo or blogexplosion (trust me you can do this in 20-30 secs ) or knew me from my old site and have been w/me since the first day, or just found me on March 4th. You all have equal say.

Your comments can be as short as: Side. Back. (Blogazoo & Blogexplosion peeps save time, copy & paste either word. )

I'll keep this entry pinned @ the top till the end of the voting period and will update the logo with the winning view that weekend.

No strict rules on this, but choose well. Only your first vote will count. Double votes in the same comment will be void (ie: you type both side & back). Only comments to this entry will count. Although it's an open vote, I won't post about which side is winning & will try not to read the comments to this entry till next Friday.

Thanks, have fun & happy voting

This morning debuted the 20 mins str8 jog, hence the musing about sweatdrop sweatdrop sweatdrop earlier.

So how'd Renee do?

Renee gave it her best shot. She took her cell phone w/her so she could set the alarm short of 20 mins to avoid clock watching. However, when you factor in that Renee's brain does NOT function @ that hour of the morning, coupled w/Renee being woken up thru the night by slamming doors which caused her to be a tad sleep deprived & extremely grouchy along w/the math phobia that has plagued her since childhood, let's just say that things got interesting.

Poor Renee. There she was doing her 5 min warmup and trying to set the alarm for 19 mins ahead of the end of the 5min warmup. Understand that? Neither did she.

Minute two. Renee's thinking, Okay 20 minutes jog + 3 minutes left in the warm up, so I need to set the alarm for 22 minutes from now.

But it was minutes to the top of the hour that her brain couldn't wrap around. Had she started walking @ a nice round time of 5am, this would be easy peasy. But nooooo she started walking @ minutes to the hour. She just couldn't figure it out.

Minute 4. Oh Shyte! I've got to get this stupid thing set & I still have moisten my ♥ rate monitor. OMG OMG OMG, she whimpered.

Finally she just closed her eyes, punched in a few buttons and hoped for the best. She programmed the consoles? readout to the ♥ rate screen and settled back to watch Full House.

Now I can't tell you how she felt from minute to minute. But, I can tell you our girl ran and ran and ran. Sometimes she ran slow so she could reach for the water bottle. Sometimes she ran @ the end of the treadmill. Sometimes she ran up against the console. A few minutes she ran like Phoebe Buffay. Other minutes she galloped like a Clydesdale. And for a few seconds here and there, she even had a smooth stride.

The hodgepodge of styles added up as she pumped those thighs up and down over and over and over.

Then she panicked. Surely I must have ran 20 mins. I'm outta styles!

Plus, Full House seemed to be wrapping up, that "this is the moral of the show" music started playing.

OMG OMG OMG what if I didn't set the time right?!? Did I pick AM and not PM?

She debated checking the time on the treadmill. Her fingers lingered hesitantly over the console buttons. If she didn't have less than 5 mins ago she would cry. She had to know for sure. And just as she pushed her index finger thisclose from the buttons, the alarm chimed!

And let me tell you, as an anti-morning person, she has NEVER! EVER! been so happy to hear that alarm go off.

Then she checked the treadmill and saw she had one minute/40 seconds to go.

That was the BEST minute and 40 seconds of her running life.

Nothing to see here but us sweatdrop sweatdrop sweatdrop

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." - Gen. Norman Schwarzkoff

Day 34

Man do I lurrrrve my google.

"As you get in better shape, your body learns to cool itself more efficiently. Blood is shunted to the skin's surface more quickly via tiny blood vessels that dilate and radiate heat away from the body. At the same time, the sweat glands increase their output of a fluid-and-sodium mixture, which cools the body as it evaporates. While fit people produce more sweat than sedentary folks, they lose less salt, because more of it is reabsorbed by the body's cells as it travels from the sweat glands to the skin's surface. The result: More copious and diluted sweat, and more rapid cooling," Flippin said. [source]

The better shape you're in, the more you'll sweat and the faster you lose fluids. [source]

Our bodies have two to four million sweat glands and, as a person becomes more fit, their sweat glands actually increase in size and become more effective at cooling the body. [source]

...when people have more muscle mass their ability to utilize food and generate energy increases placing the coolong mechanism under the gun to respond...so generally people that have more tone and muscle mass per unit body in relation to their body size, fat, etc will sweat more when they exercise. [source]

QUESTION: I read somewhere that people who are aerobically fit sweat more than people who are less fit. Is this true?

ANSWER: Studies have shown that people who are aerobically fit do sweat more, and begin sweating more quickly, than people who are less fit, when they are exercising at similar relative intensities.

[snip]

Fit people get more sweaty, more quickly when they are pushing themselves equally hard with respect to their own physical limits. [source]

How much you sweat depends upon several factors. Warm weather and high humidity both increase sweat production. And the faster you run, the more heat you generate, so the more you sweat. Sweat rate is also influenced by your fitness level: the sweat glands in a fit body enlarge and increase in number, so you sweat more. All these bodily adjustments create more efficient cooling while you run. [source]

I normally don't do mid week workout reports but I just want to note some things for future reference.

Flexibility:
I never ended up getting the 2nd session in last week, I really do have a schedule for a reason. Some guilt & regret was involved for a few days, but it's nothing major.

Yesterday for the first time, since I've started stretching, I found myself breathing deeply. Very cool. Still, my mind still races. That's just me. My ability to focus in on the stretches has improved. Time flew by yesterday.

Cardio:
I don't even know where to start.

sweatdrop

Couch to 5k I ran jogged for 8 minutes yesterday. My lungs/chest/heart felt fine. My thighs felt good. My shins didn't talk to me. The breakdown was 8m jog, 5m walk, 8m jog. Towards the end of the first 8m jog, I had around 2m to go, I really wanted to stop. By the last 8m jog, that final minute was the hardest.

But since everything feels fine, I don't know what it is making me want to stop. I didn't feel winded nor was I wheezing. My thighs didn't feel heavy like they did last week. It's prolly a mental thing & a result of time watching. Since it's intervals I have to watch the time.

No walking tomorrow, only jogging. I'm going to set the alarm on my cell phone for 2 minutes shy of the entire workout and keep the treadmill readout on the ♥ rate screen.

Walking I tweaked my original plan of increasing the mph by 2 notches. I knew I wouldn't make it today, so like the incline increase on Monday, I went up 1 notch every 5 minutes.

Now that I'm trying to, I can't recall the final 10 minutes. By that point I'm maxing out. For the inclines it means by that point I'm walking @ 11-12% & 3.5mph. For the mph, I'm walking @ 3.7-3.8mph & 9%.

It's a fuzzy, extremely not fun, moment in time.

I paused once today, not longer than 30 secs, to get some paper towels. Any longer and I can't guarantee getting back on that thing. And I confess, I held onto the rails for a few seconds. Somewhere in those last 15 minutes.

Funny thing, there moments I don't think I can go any further. Then something shifts. I feel like everything in my body is churning along and that I can really do this.

Misc I really pushed my leisurely bike ride yesterday. I didn't mean too, but ? way thru I just wanted to pedal. So I put my head down and rode and rode and rode. When I looked @ the screen the #, I can't remember what they call it, was @ 18-19. I try to keep it @ 14.

I was doing jumping jacks each morning, but I stopped this week. It's a bit too much for my knees right now. I'll incorporate that and something else towards the end of the spring.

Strength Training:
Welp. I've survived moving on to the 8lbers.

The first 3 rounds of Power 90 Sculpt Level 3/4 is exactly what I've already been doing. With one exception, where I was doing standard pushups, I'm now doing decline pushups. Also there is a 4th round that has Upright rows, Calf Raises, Forearm Blast & Lower Back Extensions, making it roughly 10 mins longer.

As planned I did 12 reps for my upper body. The shoulder raises w/8lbers were tough. Sweat just poured out of me. The newness of the increased weights, threw me off. I totally forgot to do the extra 2 shoulder moves from Shaping Up with Weights for Dummies . By the time I remembered it was the end of the 2nd round and my arms were spent so I only did the forward shoulder raises.

Even though the 8lbers were hard, I felt like I was lugging two bricks, I'm going to push thru with them. I looked @ my schedule and I'll be @ level 3 (where I do 12 reps w/8lbers) for 3 weeks. When I did level Power 90 Sculpt Level 1/2 I did each level for 2 weeks.

I managed 12 pushups, (watching my form really helped), 15 chair dips (I cried out during that final rep) & 15 walking lunges and squats.

@ the end of the 4th round is maximum pushups & squats. I chose wide pushups & did 15, up from 12. B/c I already do 3 part squats (15 reps each) I knew I could, @ the very least, max @ 45. That # will increase shortly.

Feelings
It's been a tough week, not in a hard, difficult or impossible way. I definitely feel challenged. Like I can't keep going, or I want to stop.

I hesitate to list a particular area I know I've progressed, b/c I'm jinxy by nature and to avoid falling on my face I'm just not going to make a big to do about anything just yet.

I'm sweating differently too. I first noticed it w/cardio. It's starting earlier and a very steady sweat I seriously have to sop up my brow. And my back. And my chest.

I need to see what info I can find on that. I started searching yesterday and found a comment on someone's blog, so I take it w/a grain of salt. They said lots of sweating is a sign of your body becoming more fit.

I've got to google that. Did I mention sweatdrop?

This is pretty long, but it's a good read. It explains what fat is, why excess fat is dangerous, how even modest exercise aids in reducing fat, how fat leaves the body & what cellulite is. All bolded text is my emphasis.

[snip]

What is fat?

First, a bit of chemistry, but nothing you can't handle. Fat is an oily compound composed of the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. In the body, the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen molecules bind together like links to form chains of fatty acids. When chains of fatty acids connect together with a molecule called glycerol, it's called a glyceride. Triglycerides?three fatty acid chains connected to a glycerol molecule?are the main type of fat in the foods we eat and in our bodies.

Even though body fat would appear to just sit there on our hips, thighs, and abdomens, it actually serves many roles. It insulates us from the cold, pads and supports our vital organs, muscles, and bones, and is part of the structure of every cell membrane. It's an active organ, too. Scientists have discovered that fat cells behave very much like endocrine glands, secreting many different substances. At last count, more than 27 different enzymes, hormones, and neurotransmitters have been identified that are secreted by fat cells. They are responsible for, among other functions, controlling and regulating appetite, blood pressure, some nervous system and hormonal signals, gene expression, and the formation of testosterone and some forms of estrogen. In short, fat cells are important organs with vital regulatory functions that help our bodies run smoothly.

Humans have anywhere from 25 billion to 275 billion fat cells stored in their bodies. The average person has around 35 billion. For the average man, fat accounts for about 22% of his body weight; for the average woman, 28%. (In comparison, a trained, male athlete has about 10% body fat, and an obese person has between 40% and 50% body fat.) Fat cells are microscopic, 10?20 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair (which is about 100 microns), but they are packed with energy. The average person has more than 100,000 calories stored as fat on his body, theoretically enough fuel to jog from New York City to Chicago.

Fat is stored in special compartments called adipocytes, which are located all over the body and are often referred to as fat cells. Your genes determine where fat accumulates on your body; you don't have any control over it. Women tend to accumulate it in the adipocytes on the hips, buttocks, and thighs, and men tend to accumulate it in the abdomen. The reason for the different accumulation patterns between sexes has not been identified, but one thing is certain: The fat that accumulates in the abdomen is associated with a high risk for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and other medical conditions. The fat that accumulates in the lower extremities, although it may not be cosmetically appealing for some, does not present any cardiovascular or metabolic health risk.

Men are generally at higher risk for cardiovascular disease than women, and one of the reasons may be their higher percentage of abdominal fat. The recommendation for a healthy body circumference measured around the belly button is less than 40 inches for men and less than 35 inches for women. If your abdomen is larger than that, your risk for cardiovascular disease and other conditions increases.

Where does fat come from?

Fat comes from foods we eat, particularly animal and dairy products. Every time you eat a food with fat, the fat gets digested by bile and pancreatic enzymes in the small intestine. The resulting fatty acids are then absorbed and transported to the liver, where essential nutrients are removed. Then the rest is wrapped up and packaged together with proteins to form chylomicrons, so that it can travel through the bloodstream to all the organs and cells that need it.

If you eat more fat than your body needs, it either gets stored in the arteries of your heart (which is not a good thing), in your liver (which can give you a fatty liver and is also not a good thing), or in the adipocytes on your hips, thighs, buttocks, or abdomen (another not-so-good thing). Adipocytes love to store fat. They gobble it up like there's no tomorrow, and with the ample amount of inexpensive, fatty foods available in our society and the copious amounts many of us eat, most adipocytes in the United States are well-fed, happy buckaroos.

When you fill an adipocyte with fat, it gets larger, just as a balloon gets larger when you fill it with air. Contrary to popular belief, however, when adipocytes get too big, they do not divide and multiply to form more adipocytes. Instead, the adipocyte grows like an overinflated balloon until it reaches a maximum diameter of approximately 15?20 microns, then it sends a biochemical signal to adjacent, immature preadipocytes in the body to begin storing the extra fat. These preadipocytes then grow larger, too, and when they become fully mature, plump adipocytes, you gain more body fat. The larger your adipocytes become, the higher your percent body fat will be.

During childhood and into puberty, both the number of mature adipocytes and the size of the adipocytes increases. It is believed by many scientists that the number of adipocytes stays fairly stable after adolescence and that instead of an increase in the number of adipocytes during adulthood, the mature adipocytes enlarge in size, stimulating the preadipocytes to get bigger too. There is some recent evidence to suggest that the number of adipocytes can also increase during adulthood, but whether we increase our body fat through increases in the number or the size of the adipocytes, one thing is certain: Excess fat intake leads to increases in body fat.

It's not just fatty foods that make us fat, however. Whenever we eat excess calories, we stand a good chance of gaining fat. Excess carbohydrate that isn't used by the body may be converted to fat, and then it too gets stored in the adipocytes. However, some very interesting research has recently suggested that not as much carbohydrate as was once thought gets converted to fat. Scientists are looking carefully at the role of carbohydrate and its role in making people gain excess fat, but for now, it's believed that excess calories in any form causes fat gain.

Burning fat

Remember that fat cells are active glands. Not only do they secrete important proteins, enzymes, and hormones, but they also secrete fat. They secrete it because it's a valuable fuel for muscles. It's packed with energy, providing nine calories per gram, whereas a gram of glucose contains only four calories. A calorie is a unit of energy contained in our food that provides fuel for our muscles, just like gasoline provides fuel for an automobile. Think of muscle as the engine in your body, and think of fat as high-test fuel, providing more than twice the amount of calories or energy as a gram of glucose. This means that you can go more than twice as far on a gram of fat as you can on a gram of carbohydrate. The catch is learning how to get the fat to the muscle so that it can be burned for energy.

Whenever you move, whether you?re doing an endurance exercise like running or just taking a walk around the block, your muscles need fuel to burn. The fuels that muscles use are glucose and fat. If you?ve ever checked your blood glucose level before and after a bout of exercise or a brisk walk, you know that it usually drops, because the muscles use the glucose in the blood for fuel. Fat is used for fuel by the muscles in much the same way. Here's how it works, step by step:

1. You take a brisk walk.
2. In response to the movement, certain hormones, including epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine, get released from the adrenal glands, and the blood levels of these hormones start to rise.
3. The hormones circulate around the body and attach to special hormone receptors on the adipocytes.
4. Once attached to the receptors on the adipocytes, a complex chain of biochemical events takes place in the cell, signaling the adipocyte that the body needs fuel.
5. Being the clever devil that it is, the adipocyte receives the signal and processes the stored fat, mobilizes it, and sends it out of storage and into the bloodstream.
6. Once in the bloodstream, the fat gets wrapped up again in chylomicrons so that it can travel in the bloodstream to the muscles that need it.
7. Once the package of fat and protein arrives at the muscle, another complex chain of events occurs, stimulated by an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase and, lo and behold, the fat enters the muscle.
8. Once in the muscle, a truly biochemical magic act occurs. What happens is that fat gets broken down to its smallest elements (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen), and inside a part of the muscle cell called the mitochondria, known as the power house of the cell, enormous amounts of energy are produced, which allow the muscles to move.

Dozens of complex biochemical reactions have to occur to produce the energy for our muscles to move, but the good news is that you don't have to remember how to do any of it. All you have to do is move. The body takes care of all the rest.

The physical activity recommen-dation for improving health is to accumulate 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week. The key words in this recommendation are ?accumulate,? which means you can do it in three bouts of 10 minutes, two bouts of 15 minutes, or one bout of 30 minutes, and ?moderate-intensity,? which means the work should leave you feeling warm and slightly out of breath but not exhausted. Walking, biking, dancing, weight lifting, swimming, climbing stairs, hiking, gardening, housework, and many other activities of daily living such as walking your dog, washing your car by hand, and mowing your lawn with a push mower will all do the trick. In most studies of physical activity, even modest amounts of activity help the body reduce fat, if not all over the body, then certainly in the abdomen and deeper in the visceral fat where it counts most for good health.

Building muscle?through weight lifting or other resistance exercises?will help, too. Muscle burns calories and helps you maintain your metabolic rate. The more muscle you have, the bigger your body's engine, and the more likely you will be to burn fat.

Once adipocytes get the signal from hormones and release fat into the bloodstream, they shrink just like a balloon that you let air out of. When they shrink, so does your body fat. But if you eat excess fat once you?ve shrunk your adipocytes, chances are it will find its way right back to the adipocyte, and once again you?ll gain fat.

No matter how much physical activity you do, adipocytes never shrink so much that they disappear entirely. Like a balloon that you let all the air out of, you?re always left with some remnant. The only way to totally remove adipocytes from your body is with a surgical procedure such as liposuction or excision. But even with these procedures, if you go back to eating excess fat, you?ll put all the fat back on.

Spot reduction

Many people subscribe to the idea that you can do a specific exercise for a specific body part and the fat will come off that particular area first. For instance, some people think that if they do sit-ups they will lose abdominal fat. However, that's not the way it works.

Fat on your body belongs to all of your body, and when you start to move, you have no control over which adipocytes release fat first. When you take a brisk walk, for instance, the muscles in your legs may be burning fat that was released from an adipocyte in your gut, or from your face, from your legs or from within the leg muscle itself. And it's usually a consistent pattern. Everyone who has ever lost and regained weight more than once can tell you that the pattern of their weight loss is almost always the same. Many people lose fat from their face first and from their hips, thighs, and buttocks last. Genetics probably determines the pattern of weight loss and, of course, we have no control over our genes. However, we can shape and tone our physiques by building muscle through exercise.

The other good news is that abdominal fat, particularly the deeper abdominal fat known as visceral fat, which is implicated in heart disease, insulin resistance, and other medical conditions, is known to be very lipolytic. What that means is that abdominal fat is very sensitive to physical activity and readily releases fat in response to movement. That's good news because it means that a relatively small amount of activity can have a significant impact on your health.

In one study of 24 people with Type 2 diabetes who exercised for 45 minutes three times per week for 8 weeks, visceral fat and subcutaneous abdominal fat?the fat just below the skin?was reduced significantly. Moreover, insulin resistance improved by 46%. Most interesting was that the subjects lost significant amounts of abdominal fat and improved their insulin sensitivity even though they lost very little body weight.

What about cellulite?

The lumpy fat that is often called cellulite is nothing special; it's just ordinary fat. Its appearance is caused primarily by irregular patterns of connective tissue beneath the skin. What happens is that the adipocytes, which form in compartments in the shape of little honeycombs, get pushed into the skin by the irregular connective tissue, causing the dimpling that is characteristic of cellulite. Studies have shown that people who have cellulite have different patterns of connective tissue than people who don't, and men tend to have this irregular pattern much less often than women.

Cellulite is not directly a function of excess weight, but rather a genetic difference in the way adipose tissue and connective tissue form. In fact, cellulite occurs in people who are lean as well as in those who are overweight. Skin creams sold to reduce cellulite make the skin swell so that the appearance of the cellulite changes, but the effects are short-lived, and the creams do nothing to change the structure of the connective tissue. There is no health risk to cellulite, and although weight loss and exercise can have some effect on it, in most cases, physical activity does not significantly change its appearance.

The bottom line

The bottom line to losing weight and fat is that you must burn more calories than you consume. If you eat 2,000 calories a day and only burn 1,500, you?re going to gain weight. On the other hand, if you consume 1,500 calories and burn 2,000, you?ll be in caloric deficit by 500 calories. Since it takes 3,500 excess calories to gain a pound, you?d lose one pound per week if you produced a 500-calorie deficit each day of the week. To do that, you could reduce your calorie intake by 250 per day and increase your physical activity by 250 calories per day (for a 150-pound person, a 2.5-mile walk is all it would take). Do that each and every day of the week and you?ll drop a pound per week.

Fat isn't so bad if we manage it. We need it to survive, but we don't need lots of it. The average person has more than enough stored fat on his or her body to sustain life for weeks. What we need to do is keep an eye on how much fat we eat (your dietitian can help you with that) and be physically active. No other intervention will do more to burn fat and improve your health than physical activity. Remember that you don't have to do Herculean amounts of activity. If performed regularly and at a moderate intensity, just about any type of physical activity will help you burn fat, achieve good health, improve your diabetes control, and perhaps most important of all, improve the quality of your life. There's no time like the present to get started. Results are just around the corner.

[source]

On the way in I saw a pickup truck wrapped around a light pole straddling the median. On the interstate. The back wheels were on my side.

I normally don't gawk @ traffic accidents but it didn't look like anyone was hurt so I had to take a look.

A few years ago I saw a minivan upside down against the median. And I think it was just last year I saw a carpenters pickup truck w/a ladder on it's roof upside down.

Sometimes I wonder what on earth, but then again I don't wanna know.

I've been having a tough time waking up the last few mornings. I get up, but I'm groggy. Towards the end of last week I was waking up alert. Eh...maybe sleeping in an extra hour over the holiday weekend did me in. In the meantime I've set the alarm earlier so I can snooze till the real wake up time.

"One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful." - Sigmund Freud

Day 33

Ok now no one can say I never gave them anything

We're happy to send you a bottle of Ensure! Simply tell us which flavor of Ensure you'd like to try, fill in your address and then answer a few questions. Your complimentary, full-sized bottle will be on its way to you soon.

[UPDATE: For the question: How did you hear about the Ensure sample offer? Pick TV or Other ]

One delicious chew provides the VITAMINS plus ANTIOXIDANTS women need everyday. Free sample of new VIACTIV? Multi-Vitamin Chews.

Not free, but there are prizes!

Sign up now for our ninth annual SELF Challenge: a fun, remarkably effective exercise and eating plan that doesn't require a gym or a diet. You'll automatically be entered to win a fabulous daily prize—like the one shown below—and a grand-prize trip for two to Canyon Ranch spa. More than 460,000 women have joined the Challenge since its debut and now it's even more interactive—and prize-filled—than ever!

• Win a trip for two to Canyon Ranch Health Resort!


• Win a trip for two to L.A. to work out with celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson!


• Win the daily Challenge prize!


• Refer your friends and win!


• Hurry! Be one of the first 2,500 online Challengers to get started and win!


• Finish first and get your name in SELF magazine!

I'm curious to see how this will spread.

If you sign up for any of these offers, leave me comment. You don't have to say much, just write what you signed up for. If you're like me, a simple "all" would suffice...

How to Lose Body Fat: Fat Loss Basics by Anthony Ellis Believe it or not, losing a little or a lot of fat involves pretty much the same concept - consistent dieting coupled with cardiovascular exercise and weight training. This is how the professionals do it, and it works.

Many of you may be hesitant to start a weight training program, but the benefits far outweigh any reservation you may have. Weight training enhances your fat loss by increasing your muscle mass and more muscle means more calories burned (faster metabolism). It also it gives your skin a more tone, tight appearance, lowers your blood pressure, strengthens your bones, improves your agility, increases your flexibility, strengthens your immune system and gives you more energy and a brighter outlook on life.

If you have a high level of body fat, or you have never been able to successfully lose fat, you should consider trying a program that not only focuses on dieting, but also includes adequate cardiovascular activity and weight training.

If you are already very muscular, and you just want lose a little body fat, then a fat loss program that includes regular cardiovascular activity and weight training is perfect for you. The best way to get ripped and maintain as much muscle as you can is to diet slowly. The truth is, when you are on a low calorie diet, your body prefers to use muscle tissue for fuel rather than excess body fat. So, the slower you lose weight, the more likely you are losing fat and not muscle.

Ideally, you should aim to lose no more than 1lb - 1.5 lbs per week that's it. If you are obese, then you should try to lose no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. Any more than that and you are sacrificing muscle.

Women do tend to lose fat at a slower rate than men, but don't let this discourage you. Women simply store fat more efficiently than men because it is needed during and after pregnancy. As your body fat levels drop, you will notice that the fat loss comes off in reverse of how it was put on. So, the most recent fat gains will come off first, while the old fat that has been there for a while will take the longest to lose.

The most difficult fat to lose usually centers around the waist, belly and lower back areas for men, and the upper thigh and buttocks, area for women. The fat in these areas are the most difficult to totally get rid of. These areas are comprised of mostly brown adipose tissue (fat). This type of fat is difficult to lose because the low blood flow in these areas hinder the fat mobilization. So, if the fat can't be moved into the bloodstream to be used as fuel, those love handles will never go away.

That's why thermogenic agents like ephedrine and blood thinning supplements like aspirin help to improve fat loss - they increase circulation into these hard to reach areas and mobilize the stubborn fat.

Remember that you cannot spot reduce! What I mean by this is that you can't pick and choose the areas that you would like to lose the fat and do exercises that work those areas expecting the fat to just magically disappear in those areas. Your body does not work that way. The only way to decrease the amount of fat in certain key areas is by lowering your total body fat levels. As you lose fat, it will come off all over your body, not just in specific areas.

If you follow a complete diet and weight training program for at least 12 weeks, you will begin to see dramatic changes occurring with your body, and I'm not just talking about the obvious physical changes, I'm also talking about the psychological and physiological changes. You can expect lower body fat (of course), increased muscle mass, increased metabolism, increased sense of well-being, more energy, lower bad cholesterol level, increased good cholesterol level, decreased risk of heart disease, deeper more restful sleep and most important, increased self-confidence.

To be successful, your fat loss program should include the following:

• A calorie restrictive diet, which requires you to eat no less than 10x and no more than 15x your LEAN bodyweight in calories.
  
• Regular cardiovascular activity for at least 30-45 minutes 3-4 times per week. Some recommend a moderate pace while other recommend a vigorous pace -- it doesn't really matter as long as you are exercising.
  
• Weight training.
  
• Supplementing your diet with vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Vitamin C, L-glutamine, and a good multi vitamin are the bare essentials.
  
• Adequate dietary fat, including high amounts of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-6 and Omega-3).
  

Finally, make sure that the program you decide on is compatible with your lifestyle and schedule. You can have the greatest program in the world, but if you cannot implement it then it is worthless. There are thousands of fat loss diets and workouts that will work, but the hard part is finding one that works for you and the specifics of your diet and schedule restraints.

A WORD ON CONSISTENCY

Ok, so you want the secret to fat loss? Well, here it is: CONSISTENCY. You can have the best diet, the best training schedule, join the best gym that has the best equipment, but without consistency it's all worthless.

Over the past two years, I've talked to hundreds of people who have successfully transformed their physique. Though most of them trained in totally different ways, there was one common denominator that appeared throughout each success story: Day in and day out, they followed their pre-determined plan, consistently without fail. There are many paths to your goal but you will never reach it unless you consistently put one foot in front of the other. You must find the determination and drive within yourself to see this through. If not now, then when?

In the grand scheme of your life, can you afford a slight inconvenience to create a fantastic physique -- or will you continue to be an "Average Joe" for 80 more years! Which sounds more inconvenient to you?

I can see it's easy to make excuses, after all, I used to do the same thing. Don't get caught up in this. The truth is, the hardest part any training routine is getting started. You've got to break your old habits and make new paths for yourself. If I can do this, anyone can. The only thing that separates me from most other people, is the fact that once I decide on a goal, I will not stop until I reach it. It's that simple.

Gaining muscle or losing fat, like anything in life, is a simple matter of staying focused and being consistent. Fortunately, it's never too late to get started, and you will thank yourself a few months down the road. Remember that saying, "Do what you've always done, and you will get what you've always gotten". Now, read it again.

[emphasis mine]

Wow. I'm blown away. I asked & you all answered.

Thanks to Ashley, uao, taranicole & Jenna for the links and leads. I spent most of yesterday scouring those sites

Thanks to Brian, the 646guy, Mojodiva, Mags, Miss Sass & Tami for the disco suggestions.

Brian - I didn't even think about disco but that would be PERFECT music to move too.

Mojo - I've never been formerly introduced to Metalica......it'll be interesting to run to rock music.

Mags - I especially dig drum/bass & electronica. It's what I listen to while I'm coding away. I'll specificially look for those titles.

Hey Trini - stay focused, fit & strong yourself

Miss Sass - Thanks to Muriel's Wedding I LOVE me some ABBA!!

Tami - ahhh the BeeGees *swoon*

In the future, this week will be be a blurry vague memory. Keep that in mind body. Keep that in mind.

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." - Lee Holz

Day 32

Hiya, I need some help.

I'm trying to find cool songs to run to. Trouble is I can't remember all the songs from a few years ago that I like. I've tried googling this but I don't think I'm searching correctly.

What I'm looking for is a site or service that lists all the songs that came during the year. I've found sites that list the top 100 or 200, but some of the songs I really liked may not have ranked that high.

If you know of a comprehensive site or service that will list songs from @ least mid 90's to present, please let me know in the comments.

I cringe @ posting such a public request b/c I'll feel like a big if the # of comments are 0 on this entry.

Help a girl out will ya? Thanks in advance.

5 mins @ 3.5mph/12% ♥ rate @ 168-171

I survived.

That is all.

"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Day 31

I joined two cool blog programs: Blogexchange.net not to be confused w/BlogXchng

The former will allow for my button to be advertised across the internets, heh, and thru the latter I've already found some great reads to add to my links page.

Since I've gotten SLAMMED w/trackback spam, I've closed comments & trackbacks on entries older than 30 days.

Last week I set up NutriSystem Recipes section. There are some really creative people on the support boards. Thanks to them I've been making everything into a burrito which explains the low carb wraps, sour cream, salsa and tomatoes I picked up last Sunday

That graph I added to the right is my solution to my rewards dilemma. I don't want to give the impression I'm paying myself to lose weight or valuing myself by the pound. What I'm doing is, for every 1lb I shed, I'll set aside $5, if I lose ½lb, $2.50. This piggybacks on my original daily 5 concept of rewarding good behavior. In this instance my true goal is to save money for new clothes. Given that I manage to lose 1lb a week I can save 20 bucks a month w/o breaking my budget. In the event I gain or maintain, the monies I've saved will stay the same. In other words I won't deduct money.

I've been quite busy today. BuzzZZZZZZ...

Big plans for the final week in February, it's like my own version of TV sweeps week. heh

Strength Training
I'm moving up to level 3/4 Power 90 Sculpt Level 3/4 That level adds one more round, for a total of 4. Abs will increase to 20 reps per exercise for a total of 200 reps. Lower body reps will increase to 15. I'm moving up to the 8lbers, so I can adjust, initially I'm dropping my upper body reps down from 15 to 12. I'd like to use the 8lbers universally, but I know my shoulders are much weaker than my biceps. Tomorrow I'll see if I can handle it all around.

I'm also reluctantly increasing pushups by 2 reps to 12. It wasn't till Friday that it hit me. My form was off. My knees were too far back and my palms too far ahead. Which caused me to I awkwardly push myself up and away. When I planted my knees directly under my hips and my palms under my shoulder I felt like I was pushing down and I wasn't sliding on the mat.

Cardio
Couch to 5k ramps up BIG TIME! Today was 5m jog/3m walk. By Thursday I'll be jogging for 20 mins str8. I'm excited.

And lastly, b/c Oprah is my Queen, I'm going to incorporate yet another tip from her bootcamp.

Oprah and her team are using treadmills and increasing the challenge every two minutes by raising the speed, incline, or both. The idea is to continually push yourself a little further than you thought you could go, until you get to the point where you can talk but don't want to.

I walk for an hour and let me tell you, me following that tip to a tee ain't gonna happen but I can do some tweaking and add those increases to the last ½ hour.

I don't know what treadmill she's using to be able to increase the incline every 2 minutes. Oh wait. It's Oprah. Right. Well mine only goes up to 12% and with my starting point being 7%, I'll run outta incline.

On the days I'm walking 7% @ 3.5, I'll increase the incline by 1 notch every 5 minutes which breaks down to:

min - incline
30-35 - 7%
35-40 - 8%
40-45 - 9%
45-50 - 10%
50-55 - 11%
55-60 - 12% (lawdhavemercy)

On the days when I'm walking 3.3/9%, I'll increase the speed by 2 notches:

min - mph
30-34 - 3.5
35-40 - 3.7
40-45 - 3.9
45-50 - 4.1
50-55 - 4.3
55-60 - 4.5 (good-googly-moogly)

I *think* I can handle it. Only one way to find out.

By the end of last week the walk that wiped me out earlier in the week didn't. I didn't feel the urge to stop either Friday or Saturday. Actually by Friday I was having great workouts all around. Which reconfirms my feeling that I was simply having an off week.

Since I slept in a bit this morning I didn't do the 45 min walk after Couch to 5k. Instead I did the 20 min fit test program @ level 5 (peaks @ 3.8mph/8%).

B/c wanted to end w/a solid hour this morning I rode the bike for 10 minutes and b/c it was such a short time I did the intervals pgm @ level 3. Those were some mighty high peaks, but doable since each interval was 40 seconds.

E! had a behind the scenes special on Constantine which I saw yesterday. 10 minutes was just enough for me to catch the end of the show. I swear the extra cardio had NOTHING to do w/my semi-crush on Keanu. B/c he is no Johnny Depp/George Clooney. Further proven when I hot tailed it outta the gym as soon as his E! True Hollywood Story started and oh my looky there, my bike ride has conveniently come to an end

So yesterday was "D day". The day I battled w/the Old Navy Dressing Room.

I left in enough time to do some brisk shopping before I went to the movies and got there w/a ½ hour to spare. I walked thru the women's section looking for work appropriate slacks. Yes in black. Still.

*sigh*

Goodie for me they were on sale for 25 bucks, down from $35. Some were cheaper but of course not in my still to be determined size. It's safe to say I am NOT a 2 or 6.

I picked two sizes, 14 & 12, in two colors, black and khaki, and then went to *gasp* try them on. I put on the 14 first. Why must ALL their khakis be so low waist?!?!

They fit, tight in the hips/thighs, but they zipped AND buttoned.

Then I tried on the 12...and...they...fit...TOO!!

Albeit tighter in the hips/thighs and fit just enough to be officially called Belly Slicers.

I eyed them both carefully and took the 12. In khaki, hey I'm coming around, and black. But 12?!?

12!?!? I was just 16!

B/c the 16's & the 12's are diff't cuts I hesitate to officially claim the 12's. They were not sitting on my navel like the 16's were. Maybe that lower region was always a 12? Plus the 16's were a loose cut, very baggy in the hips/thighs.

But I won't split hairs, 12 it t'is.

Since I ended up getting 3 shirts. Yes in black. Hush! I didn't get the size *gasp* 10 slacks for later. Hopefully this style will still be around by the time I need them.

But knowing Old Navy, whatever style they carry will first and foremost be LOW WAIST.

Cripes!

Tally of last weeks poll question: Where do you primarily workout?
Home 30.8%
Big chain club (ie ballys, golds gym) 15.4%
Outdoors 15.4%
Small chain (ie curves) 12.8%
YMCA/YWCA 10.3%
School gym 7.7%
Other 5.1%
Apt complex 2.6%
Community center 0.0%
Church 0.0%

Total votes: 39

This weeks poll question: What time of day do you primarily workout?

Another late morning! 2 hours late to be precise. Last night I had a 5 hour gabfest w/my best friend. When 9 came around, not only didn't I have the heart to get off the phone I didn't want to. By 10:30 I reset the alarm for 5:30. By 11:30 I gave up trying to count how many hours of sleep I'd get. By 12:30 I really had to end it. We've been known to talk from Saturday afternoon str8 thru Sunday morning sunrises. I kept the alarm @ 5:30 but was still tired when it went off so I decided to sleep until I woke up naturally, 6:45. Another reason my anal self hasn't gone into panic mode is that tomorrow is a holiday. I have an extra day to get back to my routine which makes all the belly laughs from last night totally worth it.

"Be absolutely determined to enjoy what you do." - Gerry Sikorski

Day 30

*whew* Almost didn't make it this morning. I can't remember which came first but sometime this morning there was a lot of ruckus going on. I thought it was the hallway, but it was outside. And it must have been loud and late b/c it woke me up and I heard my neighbors hollering, SHUT UP, . I laugh now b/c it was so absurd. They yell shut up and the people make more noise.

Then I had some really bad dreams I can't even remember so when the alarm went off I was beat. I said to hell w/it I'm sleeping in today and shut it off.

But here I am, pudge pic posted, quote posted and musing about the morning. Albeit later than usual.

So there ya go.

"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway." - Harper Lee

Day 29

Ladies & Jay ( he's the only guy I know who's linked to me ) tomorrow, I will venture somewhere that I haven't been in years...The Dressing Room.

::cue Psycho music::

It's time. The pants I currently sport make me look like a 2 year old w/a full diaper. But hold off on the celebrations b/c I vaguely remember them being tight in the waist. When shopping I desensitize myself and only look for something that can go on while fully zipping up. Right now I can't remember how they first fit when I bought them a few weeks ago.

So on Saturday, I am going to Ye Olde Navy & Targay to buy 2, maybe 3 pairs of pants. I'm thinking @ least 2 in my current size and maybe one more of the same pair but in the next size down.

I want the Belly Slicers. What are those? Well when you have an overlapping gut as I do (see exhibits 1-28), anything that fits, slices the stomach. Belly Slicers are the new low-rise. heh

But seriously, though this trip is partially to take back The Dressing Room anxiety, the looseness of these pants can turn into slackness. Tight means I still have work to do. When they are this loose I find myself strutting down the hall feeling smug as the waistband swishes around me.

Enough of that.

I've had my moments of glory this week. Next week its back to grimacing when I walk the halls, loosing circulation to my lower body and enjoying permanent indents around my waist.

Viva la Belly Slicers!

Availabilty
Strawberries are available all year, and are especially plentiful from April through October.

Tip
Strawberries can be used in a wide array of dishes, including fruit, vegetable or meat salads; drinks, shakes and smoothies; or as a garnish. Strawberries are great for any meal and make a terrific appetizer.

How to Select and Store
Strawberries should be bright red and plump with a healthy shine. The cap on top should be fresh and green. Avoid strawberries that are green or white.

Refrigerate. Wash just before using.

Goes well with everything
Breakfast: Try making Fruit N Juice Breakfast Shake. Also try adding sliced strawberries to cereal, top pancakes and waffles with fresh strawberries, make a breakfast parfait with non-fat yogurt, cereal and strawberries, or a breakfast blender shake with non-fat milk and yogurt.
Lunch and Dinner: add strawberries to a fruit or vegetable salad, make a strawberry salsa to accompany fish and chicken dishes, use strawberries to accompany chicken and tuna salads.
Snacks: add strawberries to low-fat yogurt or on top of frozen yogurt, make fruit kabobs, or a strawberry shake.
Dessert: use strawberries as a topping on angel food cake, make a strawberry sauce for fruit or sorbet desserts, use long stemmed strawberries for dipping in a low-fat chocolate sauce. Right, we can't forget about strawberry shortcake, just add lots of berries and go easy on the cake and cream!

Nutritional Information
Serving Size: 8 medium
Calories: 45
Fat: 0g
Carbohdrates: 12g
Fiber: 4g
Sugars: 8g
Protein: 1g
Vitamin A: 0%
Vitamin C: 160%
Calcium: 2%
Iron: 4%

Fun Facts
• Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside.
• The average strawberry has 200 seeds.
• The ancient Romans believed that strawberries alleviated symptoms of melancholy, fainting, all inflammations, fevers, throat infections, kidney stones, bad breath, attacks of gout, and diseases of the blood, liver and spleen.
• Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the spring.
• Strawberries are a member of the rose family.
• Ninety-four percent of U.S. households consume strawberries.
• Americans eat 3.4 pounds of fresh strawberries each year plus another 1.8 pounds frozen per capita.
• Over 53 percent of seven to nine-year-olds picked strawberries as their favorite fruit.
[sources: 1, 2, 3]

Due to Valentines day, this was a great week to indulge in strawberries. There were huge crates of them @ the front of the entrance to Publix on Sunday. Of course they coupled them with scooped out cake, whipped cream and other ingredients for strawberry shortcakes.

I never have much luck w/this fruit. I don't ever eat them fast enough and they've never really done it for me. But since I wanted variety, craved berries & the blackberries & raspberries were too expensive ($5 a pop), I settled for them.

I did good pretty good. I've had 5 every day and now have 3 huge ones left for tomorrow. I didn't have the patience to slice and add them to cereal so I've been eating them when I'm done. The first two days I didn't like them too much. They needed sugar.

Last year I discovered Splenda and it made the strawberries taste like candy. Driving to work one morning I heard a woman say that people douse their fruits w/so much other stuff they don't get a chance to taste the natural sweetness. So this week I was determined to really taste strawberries. By yesterday I started liking them more and now appreciate it for both the sweetness and tartness.

GAK! You mean I haven't written a Journal entry since...Tuesday!?!?!

*sigh*

I've been a bit distracted. My focus hasn't been sharp this week. I've been sorta winging it. Shure I'm pushing the workouts & monitoring my eating like a hawk, but I've had a lot on my mind.

This feeling actually came about last Saturday. I think I know what triggered it, but it'll take me one more week to fully sort it out and if what I suspect is correct, I'll get into more details here.

-½

THIS is the point where my body proves; above all else, it is the boss of me. Sure Renee has a 1lb per week goal. Yes Renee keeps an eye on calories in vs. calories out. But the body in all it's wisdom, with it's mystical ways of functioning and regulating that is beyond my comprehension, deemed this week to be -½ week.

When I first got on the scale it said 169.5. I shit you NOT. I jumped off that thing like it was a hot stove. I shook my head cartoon style. Yes I made that noise too :: And I got back on. 178.

Guh?

Which led me to all sorts of conspiratorial thoughts, like maybe I need a new scale? maybe I moved it slightly? maybe those papers covering it all week threw the sensors off?

But last week you told me 178.5!

Got back on. 178. Again!

Fine!

Truly, the -½lb doesn't bother me. What is gnawing @ me is silly really. B/c it goes against all my logical thoughts, but when the emotions talk, I do listen.

<Start Emotional Talking>
You see the thing of it is, I'm part of the 5 in 05 crew (::waving:: Hi ladies ). Being conservative, I personalized my goal even further to 5lbs in 5 weeks (anything to cushion those emotional blows). So up till this weigh in, I was plugging away steadily @1b per week. Next week is week #5. In order for me to make that goal I'll need to drop 1.5lbs!

Which led to these thoughts & schemes swirling around in my head:

- Ok I'll skip this week's free meal.
- I'll do some extra walking and really push it.
- I'll up the ante on my leisurely bike ride.
- I knew I shouldn't have skipped stretching yesterday, pffft!
- Did I really get in enough water yesterday?!!?
</End Emotional Talking>

Those were some of my first thoughts. I can't fight them or suppress them. So as I walked this morning, I just let them run their course b/c sometimes you just gotta let your emotions simply be. And when she was exhausted (walking @ 3.5mph helped tire her out...heh) and out of schemes, logic stepped in.

<Start Logical Talking>
Now here's why I won't do ANY of those things. If I, for the sake of hitting a goal, run myself ragged, this will no longer be fun for me. I'll burn out and be miserable.
- If I deny the free meal, I'll feel deprivation and set myself up to rebel something awful.
- I walk enough thankyouverymuch
- If I turn the leisurely bike ride into a workout, I'll run the risk of overtraining.
- Stretching is the only thing I'm flexible (no pun) about getting in, so long as I do it @ least twice a week. Since it's not done as a workout, skipping it one day isn't detrimental. It's primary function is to aid my muscles.
- And for the love of God, yes I got in enough, over 64oz, of water yesterday. Sheesh!
</End Logical Talking>

And that's why I posted that particular quote this morning. 50lbs in my mountain, .05lbs is a stone.

I try to post quotes that either mirror what's going on with me or gently reels me back in when I find myself straying.

B/c even though it was just