Working weekend

Matt and I have recently discovered that being outside and doing fun activities is better than sitting on the couch farting around on the Internet. I know, novel concept right?

Our new favorite thing right now is Frisbee Golf. Frolf if you will. Basically, you throw the Frisbee as hard as you can at this basket 300-400 feet away. It sounds not so fun, I know. But it is fun.

See how wonderfully cheese-tastic this is?!



So that is what we did on Saturday, and most weekends for the past few weeks. It's a lot of fun and a good workout. We usually play 2-3 games, so that is basically walking for 3 hours straight. Can't complain at that!

Sunday, we went for a long hike/ rock climbing. Now, I am not that good at hiking. If the hike is at a incline for more than a few minutes I want to die. I need to work on that. But I can climb rocks like a champ. I was jumping over gaps like James Franco in 127 hours. I am badass. Here is my feet dangling from the top of the rocks

Here is the view midway up

And here we are at the top

It was a gorgeous day and there was even still some snow on the mountains! That made for some laughs when my friend slipped on the ice 10 times. So now I want to hike more. Frisbee Golf Saturdays, hiking Sundays sounds like a great plan. Matt and I just have an itch that we really want to get out more, so we are going to make this happen.

Soooo this blog post was a little pointless, but I just really wanted to share my pretty pictures with the interwebs world. You're welcome. 

New toy

Isn't being an adult fun? I got a new "adult" toy. No, not that kind of toy. Get your mind out of the gutter! Its called Nike+ and its a fun toy for adults who want to get in shape.

Look how cool it is! It plugs into your ipod and tracks your distance, time, pace, and calories burned. You can even set up playlists that pump you up. When you start to slow down, it can play you a "power song" to get you to keep going. You can set goals and challenges for yourself online, and you can even play against other nike+ users. Fun huh? It actually makes me want to run so I can come home and look at all the pretty pictures. 

ALSO. I weight in at 159.4 this morning. 1-5-9. I have been seeing this dreadful 160 number for so long I am not sure I am ready to celebrate yet, but I am sort of excited. 

What's a blog?

I am the worst blogger ever. The holidays were hard and busy, so my diet and blogging went on the back burner. But I am back on track. I am stuck at 160 now, which I have been for a good two months so that is completely frustrating, so that adds to my lack of blogging.

So the only new things going on in my life right now is wanting to do another 5k. THIS one to be exact. It looks like a lot of fun. I may be going out of town with some wonderful girls that weekend, so that would suck, but there are always more runs to be had. I am also thinking of doing a triathlon. I know. I am crazy. I hardly made it through my 5K and I want to add in 14 miles of bike rides and 125 yard of swimming. Check with me tomorrow. It's possible I am drunk right now.

Well that's it for now. I will try to be more consistent in blogging but I cant promise anything.

I'M ALIIIIVE

I am still alive after the biggest eating event of the year and ....wait for it.... MY FIRST 5K! I survived! I did it in 37:01 and thought I was going to die for every second of that. There was a part of me that wasn't sure I was going to make it. I THOUGHT I had looked up the map pretty good and was thinking "okay, its just there and back, I can do this." Little did I know, they route was nothing like it was originally mapped out, and it was there, back, loop de loop, there again, and then back to finish line. I am pretty sure I was my own worst enemy at that point, since I wanted to just quit and whine and cry about how unfair this is. I kept going though, although I had to walk more than I wanted to, since the grass was really squishy and hard to run in. Here I am!

AND.... I haven't run since. We are going to push ourselves to go back to the gym tonight, even though I am dreading it. I am feeling in a slump lately since I leave in the dark and get home in the dark. I feel like I have no time and just want to come home and go straight to bed. I hate the time change!

Other news (not good, but not bad news) is I have not changed weight in weeks. I am a little down about it since we have been running so much, but then I cant be too down about it since I have let my diet slack. I guess its just that double edged sword- I haven't lost weight so I eat more, but I eat more so I don't lose weight. BOO. Suck it up sista.

Couch to 5k progress

I have been sort of cheating on couch to 5k. Well, I guess its not cheating, but I am just not following the program exactly since I can usually do more than I set out to do. Last week, I was doing 3 minutes running/ 2 minutes walking, but a couple times I got up to four minutes running, so I just went with it. This past weekend, I even did 5.5 minutes straight of running! But, then I hit the wall. I know, that is so lame to die after 5 minutes of running. I obviously wouldn't survive the zombie apocalypse with my fitness level. So I was only able to do 5 minutes one time, then walk two minutes, then 3 minutes of running, walk 2, then run 2, and then dead. I am still only at two miles on the treadmill and I have a little over a week to go to the 5k.

So, tonight, I am going to try to follow week 4 of the program so I can not hit the wall so fast and pace myself up to 5 minutes. Tonight's program is 3min running, 1.5 mins walking, 5 mins running, 1.5 walking, then back to three minutes again. I got a real bad cramp last night and couldn't go on, I swear, I felt like I was dying. I hate those damn side cramps, and I don't know how to prevent them or make them go away. I am so worried I will get a cramp my 5k day and not be able to finish. I am starting to get really scared knowing I am only a week away, and sometimes a part of me is saying "its okay, I don't have to do it, I will just skip it this time." But I cant. I have to do it.

On the other hand, Matt is doing wonderful (of course.) He was able to run 30 minutes straight last night. Hes going to be able to run the entire thing while I am back there struggling. But I want him to do his best, and maybe him waiting there for me at the finish will motivate me to get there faster.

WINNING!

I think I will need to come back to this post when I am feeling down.


I just got back from the gym, and I ran/walked 1.6 miles in 21 minutes. I feel AWESOME. Amazing. I am so not a runner, at all, but I was able to run for three minutes straight! I know, that sounds awful, but the C25K program has been my lifesaver and I am totally and completely in love with it. I know my time is not awesome, and I still have to get to 3 miles to finish my 5K, but I have got about two weeks to whip my ass into shape. But even if I do not get a good time in my 5K, I feel great, and if I do say so myself, I think I look pretty smashing in my gym clothes.

Ignore my insanely messy closet. Its sort of a war zone in there.

But anyway, I just thought I should blog about how I feel. Maybe next time I don't want to go to the gym I can remember this feeling, and get my ass in gear.

Couch to 5K finally started!

So, I thought I would be all bad ass and start on week three, thinking "I can run for three minutes at a time." No. I cant. So I quickly switched to week two. 1.5 minutes of running and two minutes of walking for 20 minutes. OMIGOD ITS HARD. Yeah, seriously people, I cannot even hardly run 1.5 minutes straight without nearly dying. But, its progress! I am excited to run again tonight. I know when I get there, I will get that scared feeling in the pit of my stomach, but as of right now I am excited to continue.

On another note, I am SORE. Really, sore from 30 minutes of run/walking. I expected my calf's and shins to be sore, but I didn't expect my butt and my inner thighs to hurt. Really? Inner thighs? What the heck could I have done during this run to work that part of my body? Oh well, I'll take it. God knows I have some extra stuff to get rid of there anyway. But if I am doing something really wrong, please let me know. I am new to running and am not very good at it, so I welcome any tips.

So that's all for today, I am headed back to the gym tonight to do some more running and take a "fitness test" with a trainer. Lets hope he doesn't laugh at me and tell me I have no hope.

My Halloween goal?

Fail. Again. I feel like I have been saying this a lot lately! I am sort of stuck at 162 right now. I just have to try something new. SOOOOOO, I finally got a gym membership! Well, I am getting it in the morning, since I was waiting for my sister-in-law to give me her discount. Awesome! So both Matt and I will be gym members for $50 a month. I am so cheap I sort of cringe at this cost, but I figure that my cheapness will help, since I wont want it to go to waste. I am really excited to jump on the treadmill and start doing my Couch to 5K program.

I feel really optimistic for some reason today about my 5K. The couch to 5K program seems completely do-able and even if I do not make it to the 5K by Thanksgiving, at least I will have tried and be closer to it next time. My excuse for not running is always I do not have a treadmill and do not want to go outside, so someone please kick me if I make another excuse to not use the treadmill.

That's all for now, I have to get back to running around the kitchen island  to work off the dang Halloween candy I snuck today. Turns out running in circles makes you dizzy, but its fun. The cat thinks its funny. Really, this is his entertained face. Lazy sucker.

Day one of Shan vs. Diet Coke

I want to try and stop, or at least cut back. Right now, I drink about 2 cans with my lunch and at least 2 cans when I get home. That's a lot. So, in my first attempt, I didn't pack any soda in my lunch today. It is 8am and I am already dreading my 12pm lunch time with no soda. I don't know how I will survive, but I will try.

Anyway, I watched a semi-interesting documentary last night. Fat, Sick, and nearly dead. A few of my friends have come on board with this "juicing" trend and I wanted to educate myself before I formed too harsh of an opinion on it. First, I definitely think it is unhealthy to only juice for a couple months. And second, I am still not sure I believe that consuming the juice would be the same as consuming all of the vegetables. I guess it was an interesting theory, and maybe worth looking into more as maybe one meal replacement, but as for the entire diet, that just seems like a recipe for disaster. But honestly, I would much rather eat a huge platter of veggies than one glass of really nasty green juice. 

Its really weird to me that I am the one telling them that they have to change their lifestyles and actually believe it. I tried to explain to them that juicing is not the solution, they need to seriously change their habits. Thinking "its only for ten days" is not a healthy way to think, and if after that ten days you go back to how you were, it was all for nothing. I feel like since this has been a hard journey for me, I have knowledge that I didn't have before. I HAVE changed my life, I HAVE changed my thinking on "diets," and when I talk about this journey for me it is something I 100% believe. This is not about going on a diet and exercising, it is about willpower, sacrifice, and breaking habits.

Well, that's my rant for today. I cant wait for the weekend!

Dinners in the Shan household

I like having pictures on my blog so I figured I would share some pictures of our meals. Pictures are fun.

Day one- home made calzones. I just used a jiffy box of instant pizza crust, some sauce, cheese and any toppings we wanted. Not necessarily low in calories, but not too high, much much better than pizzeria calzones, and also you can put whatever you want in it and make it really filling. I only ate about half of mine. And not to mention it only took about 5 minutes to throw together, so that is always a plus.

Day two- Lasagna soup. Its almost like spaghettios with lasagna noodles and cheese. And healthier. Basically just tomato sauce, chicken broth, lasagna noodles, and seasonings. I got the recipe from pinterest. Oh how I love pinterest. We didn't use any meat in ours, and you could probably lower the calories even more by using a lighter pasta, the lasagna noodles we used were pretty high in calories compared to other noodles.
http://thedeenbros.com/index.php/recipes/recipe_detail/bobbys_lighter_tastes_like_lasagna_soup/

One of our favorites- PF Changs copy cat lettuce wraps. So so good. And filling. And flavorful. And easy. http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/food/recipes/articles/2011/08/08/20110808lettuce-wraps-crispy-rice-stick-noodles.html
 We used chicken breasts and cut them up really fine, since ground chicken creeps me out. Its really good, healthy, and fun to assemble. :)

And my masterpiece of the week, quinoa burgers with my zucchini casserole. I am new to quinoa, and whoa... how have I lived without it for all the time!? Amazing. All you need is quinoa, egg (I only used the egg white), grated carrots & onion, and seasonings. Mush it up into a patty and cook it in a pan with a teeny butter to get a nice crisp on it. Crazy low calorie and one of the best things I have ever eaten. Here is the real recipe for you recipe followers.
http://eatingwelllivingthin.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/love-my-quinoa-burger/

Don't you guys love how funny my pictures look compared to the professional pictures on the websites? Total fail on all of them. Oh well, I don't really care how it looks as long as its good. And, since I have lost 17lbs it looks like something is working, even though its not pretty. I still need to lose three pounds before Halloween to make my first goal. I CAN DO IT!!


I will leave you guys with a picture from our weekend. We drank a little (sorry diet) and got on a supreme scream type ride. About ten times. It was so much fun. And scary. We went on so many times, but somehow Matt was scared to go on again. So I went alone. 180 feet in the air. All by myself. I must have lost my mind. Matt made me put on my glasses so I would get the full effect of how high we were, excuse my looking like a nerd.  

Hey guys!

Guess what? I got my first "You've lost weight!" from someone who has no reason to tell me this unless they really did notice. A couple people have told me, but I always feel like if they know I am dieting, they will be looking for results. But yeah, it was really freaking awesome to hear it from someone that didn't even know I was dieting. Squeeeee!

Goals, I haz 'em

I just realized I never set any goals for myself. Or deadlines. Yeah, go ahead, tell me I am slow and stupid, but I really never thought about it. I just figured, hey, I wanna get skinny, so here it goes.

Goal one- be in the 150s by Halloween. This one might be hard, since there is only about two weeks left, I got about three pounds to go, and this week I should be starting my period so I know that will be filled with bloat and lots of not wanting to exercise or eat well.

Goal two- Run/walk the 5k on Thanksgiving and not die in the process. That would suck if I died.
Goal Three- Be in the 140s by Christmas. I wonder if it is possible with all of the wonderful holiday treats, but I am going to aim for it.

Also, I want to work out more consistently and more variety. We have not done P90X in two weeks or so (I know, I know) but I guess we got bored and need something new to pump us up. Suggestions are welcome.

So there we go, I will chronicle how these goals hold up, and I can only do my best and hope for success.

Weekend FAIL

Fail fail fail. I hate weekends and so does my waistline. This is pretty much how I look about now.

I guess next week I will just have to try this.

Willpower, can I buy it on Amazon?

5k? HELP.

Okay, so my sister-in-law just sent me text telling me that Matt and I should do a Thanksgiving Day 5k with them. Just hearing this has sent me into the sweats and I am suddenly feeling very anxious. I am terrified, and I have not even decided if I want to do it yet. What if I finish last? What if I cannot even finish? What if I fall over and roll up in a ball and cry? What if I am "the fat girl?"

I don't run. I CANT run. Seriously. I know I am not supposed to say cant, but I physically can not do it. I am doing something wrong. How do people breathe and run at the same time? How do you not get a side cramp? What about those weird foot cramps? I am really scared. I need help.

I have heard of this couch to 5K program, but the last time I tried to download it, it wouldn't fit on my ipod so I gave up. That is how eager I am to run.

So, my question is, I have got right about 6 weeks to learn how to run three miles straight. Is there any hope for me? Any suggestions or tips? I am on the edge right now, someone please talk me down.

One more for today

So I wrote up that (below) blog post yesterday but forgot to post it. So I am going to post today's news. I lost another pound! 17lbs down, I cannot believe it! I went shopping yesterday for the first time in a long time and I didn't feel as terrible as I usually do. For the past few months, clothes shopping has been frustrating in the least, and heartbreaking most of the time. Every time I came home empty handed I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Not going to lie, sometimes I do. This extra weight has broken me down much more than it should, but what can I say, I am just not comfortable.

But anyway, I went to my favorite cheap shopping place since I really needed some new shoes (Burlington Coat Factory) and I bought some pants that were a size ::drumroll:: TEN! I know every brand of jeans is different, but I tried on several pairs of tens and they all fit. It has been more than a while that EVERY pair of jeans I tried on have fit, so that was a very nice surprise. It is not always the scale that gives you those warm fuzzies. On another note, I still am not skinny enough to look good in a light wash, no. Definitely not. Lots of praise to girls who looks good in that.

And update to my bloggy dinner, FAIL. We went shopping last night and just decided to go out for dinner. BOO! BUT on a good note, my new favorite vegetable is cucumbers! I love them with a little salt. Yumyum. I never liked them, but wanted to mix up my veggie intake so I figured I would just force myself to eat them since they are so low in calories. Turns out, with a little salt, they are heavenly! I am actually out, I might need to stop at the store and buy a couple more.

Bloggy Dinner

So Matt had a great idea, he said that I should share my wonderful cooking with the interwebs world. So I will try. This first day is not my best effort, but its easy and quick and delicious. 2 cups of rice filled with eggs and veggies and you will be stuffed and clock in at just under 500 calories. Not bad for dinner I say.

I got this idea from the many times we go to Benihana, and wanted to recreate it at home for much less money and calories.

Shan Fried Rice
1 3/4 cups cooked calrose rice
1/4 Cup onion, diced
1/4 cup carrot- grated
1/8 cup green onion
1 Tbsp garlic
1 large egg
1 Tbsp butter
Soy sauce to taste

Melt butter in large pan. Add veggies and cook for a couple minutes. Add egg and scramble. Throw in rice, combine well, and add as much soy sauce as you prefer. I like to let it cook for a minute or two to get it nice and brown. That's it! Easy peasy.

My husband usually adds the frozen vegetable mix, but I like to keep mine simple. We have also been known to add chicken or shrimp in it as well.

Here is how it turns out:

Definitely not the prettiest dish on the planet, but man its good.


Not sure what is on the menu tonight, hopefully something blog- worthy. I am thinking homemade calzones.. Nom.

I am still here!

Just been lazy about updating. Nothing too exciting has been coming my way recently, so my bloggy life is boring.

I did lose another .4lbs, so that is something. I am thoroughly convinced it was due to the 30ds, since it really mixed up my workouts. I obviously need some variation to prevent plateaus, so I will probably be trying anything and everything. I am determined to not go crazy during the holidays, even though I have been seeing some crazy delicious looking recipes for the holidays that have made me think about throwing my diet down the drain.

Did you know ONE fun size bag of M&Ms has 70 calories? There is like 9 m&ms in there, and it is more than like an entire bag of celery. This Halloween will probably not be pleasant for me, since I will constantly be analyzing what I could be eating instead of this candy. I am not sure if that is good or bad, but really, its not like I have crazy cravings or anything, so I am thinking it is a good thing. I have always been a grazer, so if I just control my habits of not eating everything in sight, I should be all good.

One interesting thing I did last week was made my first spaghetti squash. I am in love. It is so easy to prepare, and made a perfect low calorie lasagna. Next time, I will probably just use the squash as a base and put the sauce and cheese on top, since it doesn't really hold shape very well, so the whole lasagna process was sort of a waste. Matt even took the leftovers to work and I got tons of wife points for that. Everyone loved it!

I used this recipe from my trusty skinnytaste.com. Oddly enough, I bought a spaghetti squash at the store the week before just to see what I could do with it. Then of course, my website comes to my rescue like my own personal guardian angel. I really should give that girl a Christmas gift or something, she really is magical.
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/spaghetti-squash-lasagna.html

Squash LasagnaSkinnytaste.comServings: 4 • Serving Size: 1 lasagna • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 291.0 • Fat: 13.7 g • Protein: 19.6 g • Carb: 21.0 g • Fiber: 2.7 g
Sodium: 358.3 mg  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups marinara sauce 
• 3 cups cooked roasted spaghetti squash
• 1 cup part skim ricotta
• 8 tsp parmesan cheese
• 6 oz part skim shredded mozzarella (I used Sargento)

Directions:

See instructions on how to roasted spaghetti squash here.

Preheat oven to 375°.

In four individual 5 x 7-inch oven safe baking dishes, ladle 1/4 cup quick marinara sauce on the bottom of each dish. Top each with 3/4 cup of cooked spaghetti squash and spread evenly. Top each with 1/4 cup ricotta
Cover with foil and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the edges begin to bubble; uncover and cook an additional 5 minutes.


EASY, EASY, EASY! Loved it. Matt loved it too even though he thought he hated squash. More wife points for making him try something he thought he would hate. Man, I'm awesome. :)

This is getting long. (that's what she said)

But on one final note, I still need to find a Halloween costume. Any ideas? I really wanted to be Princess Leia in the gold bikini and have Matt be Jabba, but I am not sure my body is in good enough shape. Maybe if I lose ten pounds by then, which is doubtful. Someone help me with ideas!

30 day shread?

Am I the only one who almost dies during this workout?

We are on our week 7 "recovery week" from P90X which includes yoga and stretch and general laziness from both Matt and I. So since I figured we were not going to be working out much this week, I have been wanting to try 30DS with Jillian Michaels. It is hard! And what is great about it is its only about 20 minutes! I burn about 225 calories with the 20 minute workout, and with P90X we usually burn upwards of 400 at least, but then again, the workout is a whole hour long. Working out for an hour takes a lot of dedication, and especially on a weeknight when I still have to make dinner. But we keep trying to continue on, we are already done with two out of three months, so there is definitely no sense giving up now.

Now for the bad news. Remember how my last post I said we had been getting lazy with our workouts? Well, I paid for it. I gained 3 pounds back that I cannot seem to shed. I have been keeping within my calorie goals, and working out, but I guess it is just a road block I have to get through.

We are going to Stateline this weekend so Matt can go to a concert and I can gamble. I know we are going to have a lot of fun, but I am pretty worried about our eating choices when we are away for the weekend. I know that I will not be making prime choices, but I just hope I do not over indulge.

And before I go, I just have to praise myfitnesspal again. I absolutely LOVE that I can put all of our "regular" meals into the recipe builder and it will tell you exactly how much calories one serving is. No more guessing how much is in your portion, I just have to split up the portions when I serve it and that's it. I love it.

Hiking?

I have been lazily updating my Blog. Sorry. It is probably because I have been VERY lax in my exercising last week and felt a little guilty. But, I am back on track and really feeling it.

But, instead of exercising, last weekend we went on a very long hike! I think it is about 6 miles round trip. We went to the local watering hole to veg out in the sun and go swimming. My friends are also insane so they like to jump off of the rocks. Here is the one they jumped off:

Yeah, you see that little bit of white shorts near the top? That's my crazy friend. Here is the teeny tiny rock I jumped off and was incredibly scared doing it. It was about 2 feet high. No joke.

I also did not realize that the shadows of the rocks in this picture make it looks like there are sharks in the water. Now I am going to be scared to get back in there.

So anyway, both Matt and I are back on track. We had to redo our 7th week on P90 since we were really lazy with it. Trust me, I think we both are feeling much more out of shape now since we took a week off than we did when we started! It really is hard to get back into the groove when you allow yourself to get out of it. Lets hope the does not happen again!

See, the humans are not the only big ones in the house!

We also have huge pets. I guess we all need to go on a diet together.