Flustered Rockluster: February 3-9 To Do List Thursday, February 02, 2012 DAILY MUST-DO LIST - hang up clothing - make sure all the dirty clothes are together in the hamper- not the corner - put away everything on the vanity top - make sure socks and underwear are in the dresser, not in a pile ON the dresser - make sure all hats, coats and scarves are hung WEEK ONE PROJECT - empty dresser and purge completely - move it away from the chalkbord wall to a different area of your bedroom - buy socks DAILY MUST-DO LIST - moisturize face and neck twice a day - cocoa butter and lotion after every bath - walk at least 3 miles - brush teeth, floss and wash face - drink 4 bottles of water WEEK ONE PROJECT - 1 run of at least 4 miles - find Pilates DVD - 1000 varied crunches - 2 free weight sessions DAILY MUST-DO LIST - organize desk and reference materials - brainstorm about novel for 30 minutes (in tub, before bed, whenever) - make sure all your pens and markers are back in their holders - go over story structure project for half an hour WEEK ONE PROJECT - clean out under your bed - start brainstorming ideas for designs on second chalkboard wall WEEK ONE PROJECT SURVIVE no wait… OWN THE STONE PONY THIS WEEKEND! dont dodge pictures dont hide while taking pictures dont freak out over being on film dont get sucked into recent breakup drama bros before hoes dance laugh have fun dont feel guilty celebrate the Giants winning the Super Bowl dont freak out because someone s being cold and snobby *graphics by divine error
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Flustered Rockluster: February 3-9 To Do List

Thursday, February 02, 2012



emoticon DAILY MUST-DO LIST emoticon

- hang up clothing
- make sure all the dirty clothes are together in the hamper- not the corner
- put away everything on the vanity top
- make sure socks and underwear are in the dresser, not in a pile ON the dresser
- make sure all hats, coats and scarves are hung

emoticon WEEK ONE PROJECT emoticon

- empty dresser and purge completely
- move it away from the chalkbord wall to a different area of your bedroom
- buy socks



emoticon DAILY MUST-DO LIST emoticon

- moisturize face and neck twice a day
- cocoa butter and lotion after every bath
- walk at least 3 miles
- brush teeth, floss and wash face
- drink 4 bottles of water

emoticon WEEK ONE PROJECT emoticon

- 1 run of at least 4 miles
- find Pilates DVD
- 1000 varied crunches
- 2 free weight sessions



emoticon DAILY MUST-DO LIST emoticon

- organize desk and reference materials
- brainstorm about novel for 30 minutes (in tub, before bed, whenever)
- make sure all your pens and markers are back in their holders
- go over story structure project for half an hour

emoticon WEEK ONE PROJECT emoticon

- clean out under your bed
- start brainstorming ideas for designs on second chalkboard wall



emoticon WEEK ONE PROJECT emoticon

SURVIVE

no wait…

OWN THE STONE PONY THIS WEEKEND!

emoticon dont dodge pictures
emoticon dont hide while taking pictures
emoticon dont freak out over being on film
emoticon dont get sucked into recent breakup drama
emoticon bros before hoes
emoticon dance
emoticon laugh
emoticon have fun
emoticon dont feel guilty
emoticon celebrate the Giants winning the Super Bowl
emoticon dont freak out because someone s being cold and snobby

*graphics by divine error

Chicken with Bacon, Tomato and Thyme

 Number of Servings: 2

Ingredients

    4 slices bacon, cooked
    2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
    1 tbsp olive oil
    1 clove garlic, minced
    1 tbsp chopped red onion
    2-1/4 inch sliced tomato

Directions

Place bacon slices on a sheet pan and bake in a preheated 400*F oven for about 10 minutes until half cooked.
Remove and reserve.
Working on a sheet pan, coat the chicken breast with olive oil and garlic.
Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Next, wrap 2 pieces of bacon strips criss cross around each piece of chicken forming an “X’ pattern in the center. Sprinkle with the diced onion and place a thick slice of tomato and a couple sprigs of fresh thyme in the center of each breast, tucked under the bacon.
Bake until chicken is completely cooked and reaches an internal temperature of 165*F, about 30 minutes.

Number of Servings: 2

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user GRANNY2 
Nutritional Info
  • Servings Per Recipe: 2 
  • Amount Per Serving
  • Calories: 216.8
  • Total Fat: 13.9 g
  • Cholesterol: 51.9 mg
  • Sodium: 249.5 mg
  • Total Carbs: 1.5 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 0.2 g
  • Protein: 20.5 g

Source: recipes.sparkpeople.com

Snacktime! Healthy FIlling Snacks for 200 cals

By: Stepfanie Romine : 1/19/2012

Editor’s Note: All this week, we’re sharing meals, snacks and even desserts that can fit into your daily life. We combine our recipes with simple and nutritious sides for healthy meals, snacks and desserts that are calorie-conscious. You’ll be amazed that you can fill your plate and still fit into your jeans the next day. (Find the whole series here.)

You’ll need to pick up a copy of “The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight” to access the recipes, but we will share some sneak peeks this week—and you can easily add recipes from the cookbook to your SparkPeople Nutrition Tracker, too!

 
In recent years, dietitians, doctors, and researchers have rethought the “no eating between meals” rule. Snacks are important, especially when you live an active life or are trying to lose weight. If you go hours on end without eating, your blood sugar will drop, your stomach will grumble, and you’ll start to get grouchy—and you’ll ultimately eat your way through whatever’s in the kitchen. Eating every few hours keeps your hunger levels down so you can control your appetite and prevent overeating. Healthy snacks help keep blood sugar levels in check and keep your energy up.

Just a few well-timed bites have a big impact. That’s why we included so many snack tips and recipes in “The SparkPeople Cookbook.” It’s almost snacktime…
 
  1. Creamy, Tangy Tomato Bruschetta (141 calories)
  2. Tabbouleh (179 calories)
  3. Multi Grain Roll with 1 tablespoon each peanut butter and all-fruit spread (205 calories)
  4. Coach Nicole’s Fresh Guacamole with baked tortilla chips and 1/2 cup cucumber slices (206 calories)
  5. Baked Sunburst Fries with Spicy Yogurt Sauce (176 calories)

  6. Sweet and Spicy Pecans with 1/4 cup dried cranberries (191 calories)
  7. Caramel Popcorn with 1/2 ounce dry-roasted peanuts (199 calories)
  8. SparkGuy’s  Best Trail Mix (158 calories)
  9. Berry Oatmeal Bars (159 calories)
  10. Tomato Jam on 1 slice whole wheat bread with 1 tablespoon low-fat cream cheese (183 calories)

Source: dailyspark.com

Yoovie’s PLATEAU Theory - reposted for SELF

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Your brain does not evolve at the same rate as your body.

Major sections of your personality hinge on your perception of your physical appearance.

Which is controlled by your brain.

Which doesn’t change as fast as your body.

You following me still?

As you change the shape of your body, your perception of yourself does not necessarily change at the same rate. Where you may have gone from an 8 to a 6 or from a 22W to an 18… your perception of your body might not have changed at all.

This is very hindering!

“I’ve lost 50 pounds but can’t really seeee the difference!”
“I had to buy an entirely new wardrobe but I dont feel smaller.”
“I have no idea what the scale is talking about, cause I still see the fat.”
“THIS IS BULLSH*T!”

You’d think that losing the poundage would be an instant and immediate change in our reflection. But that reflection has to go through our brain filters first.

Our brain filters… some good some bad. Like?

1. Comparing to the person next to you or someone else in general. That’s the first and quickest way to alter your perception away from your simple sense of sight.
2. Comparing yourself to what you USED to see. This can be good or bad. If you are used to seeing your reflection span the entire width of the mirror and now there are several inches of bathroom wallpaper visible behind you, AWESOME. But you can see how comparing to your old self would also affect what you actually see in front of you, negatively.
3. Inner critics. Moms, aunts, best friends, significant others… all those unwanted, unbidden opinions floating around in your head… alter what your brain is processing.
4. Self-inflicted expectations. These can also be good or bad. Expectations to eat right and be active can have a postive reinforcement in your brain filters. Expectations to lose 9 jean sizes between New Year’s and the beach… ehhhh notsomuch helpful.
5. This is the tough one. This is the Reflection that you have gotten used to seeing. The YOU that you ARE. The grownup, this is me, reflection. When we are very used to seeing one person in the mirror, and she starts looking very different…. it can be very disconcerting.

NOW hold that thought….

When you are doing cardio or ST.. and you need a rest to catch your breath and get your bearings… do you take it?

When I run, I run a block or three and then walk a block, run a block or three and then walk a block. It dawned on me yesterday that that is EXACTLY how my weight loss progress goes. But if I walk too long instead of hopping back into a run at the next block… lol guess what, no loss.

emoticon Running = losing steadily
emoticon Walking = maintaining
emoticon Stopping = gaining or giving up.

Now… I walk until I can give my poor ankles a break, catch my breath and adjust my tits. Change the song on my iPod, take a picture, drink some water, ogle a hottie running past. Tie my shoes, wipe the sweat off my face, get it out of my eyes and decide which direction I will go next.

We need these little moments of walking. Think about it.

emoticon Give my ankles a break = time off for injuries
emoticon Catch my breath = take care of other things going on that have higher priority
emoticon Adjust my tits = rearrange your schedule
emoticon Change the song on my iPod = find a new way to invigorate yourself
emoticon Take a picture = stop to smell the roses along the way OR take a progress picture, take stock in how far you’ve come
emoticon Drink some water = check in on how you are caring for yourself
emoticon Ogle a hottie running past = time out for silly ish
emoticon Tie my shoes = make sure you aren’t doing anything the unsafe way
emoticon Wipe the sweat off my face = slough off the bad habits you’re steadily dropping
emoticon Get it out of my eyes = (DING DING DING - PAY ATTENTION) GIVE YOUR BRAIN’S PERCEPTION OF YOU TIME TO CATCH UP TO WHAT YOU REALLY LOOK LIKE AND FEEL LIKE NOW. YOUR ABILITIES AND DIMINISHED LIMITATIONS. There’s a new ‘you’ to get used to in the mirror.
and
emoticon Decide which direction I will go next = Decide which path to take. Do I keep maintaining this walk for a little while until I have done all those things? Do I stop? Do I quit? Can I start running again now? Left? Right? Up the hill?

There are so many things right there that we can get hung up on when we reach a plateau. Sometimes we’ve handled everything except the part where we are giving our brains and bodies enough time to SYNC UP AGAIN. It’s frustrating, I know.

Sometimes, the more weight you’ve lost… the longer that plateau might last, even if you never stop exercising regularly, never give up eating right, never slow to a walk… but it’s time that you NEED so your perception isnt completely out of whack.

I KNOW. BELIEEEEEEEEEEEVE ME, I KNOW. I spent last summer in agony, trying to live in a body that was 90 pounds smaller than the me I’d been used to for a decade. 90 pounds. That’s like… Justin Beiber.

I looked a million times better. My skin was radiant from all the water, my hair was badass as usual, but I was taking turns too widely, sucking in my stomach to edge around a chair when I had more than enough room to walk straight past it. Wearing clothing 3 sizes too big. Avoiding any kind of attention at all. Getting angry when someone would tell me I was beautiful and fit because obviously they were mocking me. I was hiding behind people (and door frames/lazy-boys/kitchen islands) still, I was being so harsh on myself. I FLAT OUT REFUSED to date anyone who was physically fit. O_o (wacked out yo)

My stubborn ass needed a plateau so I could get used to my new body.

Here’s the trick though… you can’t walk forever. One day, you will wake up…. and JUST like the day you woke up and decided (for real) to START this mission to get a better body (for real) and you will realise you can move on from your plateau. You will start running again, and your mind and body will be as one and THEN…

Then the magic happens.

How else would you describe the fact that your body won’t lose any weight that your brain doesnt want it to, despite all physical efforts?

If you’ve hit a plateau, see if you need to adjust your tits, ogle a hottie, tie your shoes, get the sweat out of your eyes or if you are just waiting to pick a direction to go next.

And when you figure it out… grab your brain and start running again.


believe-toachieve.tumblr.com

PS. just dont use this as a friggin excuse or weightloss karma will bite you HARD, babydoll.

Pipe Cleaner Plan

Thursday, January 05, 2012

FIRSTLY, MY APOLOGIES FOR BEING IN THE POPULARITY CONTEST AGAIN.

Did you ever play with pipe cleaners when you were a kid?



Did you know that they were created for unfun work like cleaning medical equipment and grandpa’s pipe? They are made for function only. A soft absorbent material wrapped around a flexible backbone to keep things in the right place and not break or get stuck.

Not unlike our bodies.
And definitely not unlike our weight loss plans.

How so?

Well- we all know the unfun part of this.

emoticon Eat right.
emoticon Exercise consistently.
emoticon Drink Water.
emoticon Get enough sleep.
emoticon Wash your workout clothes.
emoticon Repeat.

This is the wire in the middle.

We can bend it to match our lifetyles, but if you are constantly bending it this way and that and all over the place, eventually it gets so kinked up that you need a fresh one.

Its not starting over, its just grabbing a new pipe cleaner.

But… humans being what they are, pipe cleaners did not remain grey and functional and boring cleaning implements. They turned into wild and crazy fun colors and we started inventing ways to turn them into creative sources of entertainment.

So we have to look at the wire part again and see what kind of fun absorbent color we can wrap them in.

emoticon 1. Eat right: wrap this in an enthusiasm for trying new foods and replacing the bad foods with healthy delicious things we’ve never (or rarely) try.

need crunchy and salty chips? try pretzels, healthy crackers like triscuit (my fave - esp dipped in hummus or cottage cheese) or wheat thins, goldfish, sunsflower seeds, cheezy rice cakes and popcorn.

need something crunchy but you want it sweet? try things like caramel rice cakes, or nuts with cinnamon, or pecans or walnuts with craisins or something, apple slicess with peanut butter, a quarter of a cup of ice cream mixed with dry cheerios… get creative.

want just plain sweet? hit the yogurt, the cereal bars, strawberries and (dark) chocolate, 100 calorie packs (JUST ONE, CRAZY LADY), hot cocoa, peppermints, raspberries, frozen grapes… it does NOT have to be skittles in a milkshake to ease an actual sweettooth.

emoticon 2. Exercise consistently: It doesnt say run 30 miles a week and do 100 pushups every morning, does it? Noooo. It leaves the HOW 100% in YOUR hands. And when you know how to do something well, it gets more and more fun.

Want group exercise? there are millions of classes from spinning to latin dancing that will work you into a feverish sweat alongside people you can laugh and compete with.

Need to burn off some aggression? Boxing and kickboxing with inanimate objects can replace years of therapy in some cases.

Need pure fun? rollerblading, hula hooping, dancing in your livingroom, cartwheels, jungle gyms, playing with your kids… if you do these things for TWENTY MINUTES STRAIGHT twice a day, they work. Imagine if youre having a blast and do even more.

Need organization? join a local sports team at the Y or something, volleyball, tennis, basketball, choose your poison.

Want old fashioned? do a couple weeks of regular calisthenics.

Want slow and steady and strengthening? Try yoga or pilates or yogilates and treat your mind as well as your body.

Want fast and furious? buy a bike and work on going farther and farther and farther

Want to feel self-propelled? start the couch to 5K program as a stepping stone to the freedom of running, which in turn leads to exploring your sense of adventure in a world where all you need is your feet and a beat.

There are so many exercise options out there that “exercise consistently” CANT get boring. Something not working anymore? THat pipe cleaner all kinked up? Get a new one.

emoticon 3. Drink water. Add lemon or raspberries to it. Get a personalised, just for you, awesome reusable water bottle. Decorate with with decals, or your favorite exercise mantra. Freeze ice cubes with bits of fruit in them to make your boring glass of water look expensive and luxurious. Drink it ice cold (if you dont have tooth problems) and refill EVERY TIME IT GETS EMPTY… or it will just sit there until it ends up being left behind every day and forgotten for weeks.

emoticon 4. Get enough sleep. Make your bedroom into a heavenly cloud of peace and beauty and nurturing solace and a haven from the craziness of the world. Dont use your bed as a place to play with electronics- especially right before you go to bed. Did you know that if you spend time with technology before bed, it hampers the ability of your brain to turn off, which then makes you sit back up, re-open your laptop and continue surfing til 4 am? Its a vicious self-injuring cycle.

READ A BOOK or listen to music. Start dimming the lights (or switch to a lamp instead of the overhead light) and leaving behind technology about an hour before bed to send secret messages to your brain to start calming down.

emoticon 5. Wash your workout clothes. Just do this do you have no excuse tomorrow.

emoticon 6. Repeat: Grab a new pipe cleaner and redo your spark page. If a cycle is dulling, make a different one.

ALL OF THE POWER IS ENTIRELY YOURS.

emoticon Things that break or kink up your pipe cleaner plan emoticon

emoticon 1. Saying “I have to go to the gym everyday” if you don’t already go several times a week. You cant go from 5% to 100% in a snap resolution. You must build so you can teach your body with love to adjust to your new lifestyle. You cant just tell your child, YO KID FROM NOW ON YOU HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL AT NIGHT AND SLEEP ALL DAY. AND NONE OF YOUR FRIENDS ARE GOING TO GO WITH YOU. wtf. NO.

Start by saying something like, I have to work out twenty minutes every day. THAT IS DOABLE. That’s like telling your kid, ok starting tomorrow, we are going to leave 10 minutes earlier for school ok? It may mean you have to wake up slightly earlier. BUT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE SHAPE OF YOUR BODY OR DO YOU WANT TO LAY ON YOUR BED FOR 10 MINUTES?

If you really truly actually want to change, and are ready to change… stop finding the best excuse not to. Is changing yourself worth 10 minutes in the morning and 10 at night? No? Ok, I guess you really dont want it. Bye.

emoticon 2. Refusing to forgive yourself. If you miss a day, and you punish yourself by giving up because there is no way to fix a broken streak… then you want to be a failure because you didnt fail until you decided you did. Missing a streak or having a binge day does NOT cancel out all the other days when you did the right thing. So effing what. that was yesterday. BE GLAD YOU EVEN HAVE A TODAY.

emoticon 3. Lying to yourself. Saying you worked out longer or did more reps than you did or not tracking that cake batter bowl that you licked clean is LYING to yourself. Why would you do that to yourself? Why be mean like that? What does it gain you? Guilt? Regression? Denial? NOT SEXY YO.

Here is why you want to track those things properly. If you look back at your results in six months and cant figure out why you can still only do 25 pushups.. because you forgot you were lying at the beginning and could only do 10… then how are you able to measure your progress.

emoticon Compete against your former self always.
emoticon Beat your own actual PR.
emoticon Be proud of your clean eating so you know its ok to have sweets when you do.
emoticon Track those sweets.
emoticon Evolve into a stronger healthier individual.
emoticon NO CHEATING BY LYING.

I swear to you that being honest with yourself is not only ok… but its the only way to win.

So take your new shiny 2012 pipe cleaner plan, and change from some boring medical apparatus into an adorable, completely unique, fun colorful expression of your personality.



Deal?

(feel free to share this with anyone you think may benefit, as it is not about anything personal Im dealing with :) )

HOW SWEET IT IS….??????????????

Tuesday, December 20, 2011


*pic from kaiodee.com

emoticon Please raise your hand if you measure out sugar and just eat it… crunch crunch crunch.

emoticon

emoticon Please raise your hand if you add sugar to your coffee, bake with it or have dessert a few times a week?

emoticon

emoticon Raise your hand if you think that eating a pile of plain sugar is better for you than eating a Snickers bar.

emoticon

emoticon Raise your hand if you know how much sugar the American Heart Association recommends daily, added sugar… not naturally occuring sugar.

5 tsp.

FIVE TEASPOONS.

Now, I go over that, I think. I probably have somewhere between 5 tsp and 2 tbsp of added sugar a day- between coffee and a snack, etc.

But I want to give you a breakdown, because there are a few people on SP that are going around offering a ‘tip’ that eating a cup or a half cup of sugar instead of a candy bar is so much better for you because pure sugar does not contain fat….

PLEASE… LET ME SQUASH THE BS OUT OF THIS “TIP”. (With the help of Dr William Coda Martin and William Dufty)

FIRST: THE NUTRITIONAL FACTS…

1 cup of sugar….
calories 774 
carbs 200 
ZERO nutritional value.

the challenger: Let’s use a standard sized Snickers bar…

calories 280 
fat 14 g
sodium 140 mg
potassium 184 mg
carbs 35 
protein 4g
fiber 1g
b-12 1.5%
b-6 2.6%
Vitamin E 4.3%
Copper 7.7%
Folate 4%
Iron 2%
Magnesium 10%
Manganese 10%
Niacin 10%
Phosphorus 11%
RIboflavin 4.4%
Selenium (cancer fighting!) 6.4%
Zinc 10%
(and other Im sure)

NOW….

If your point is that a cup of sugar has less already existing fat than a snickers, you are right.

If your point is that this makes it a healthier alternative, you are whacked.

Sugar is a food… but it is also A POISON which is why we can only have it in small doses.

emoticonelling words!

World English Dictionary:
poison (ˈpɔɪz ə n)
— n
1. any substance that can impair function, cause structural damage, or otherwise injure the body
2. something that destroys
3. a substance that retards a chemical reaction or destroys or inhibits the activity of a catalyst
— vb
10. to retard or stop by the action of a poison
11. to inhibit or destroy (the activity of a catalyst) by the action of a poison
Related: toxic

How is sugar a poison?

Well let’s see how overdosing on sugar can impair function, cause damage, injur the body, retard chemical reactions, inhibit catalysts and be overall TOXIC.

emoticon 1. It is a poison because it has been depleted of its life forces, vitamins and minerals (as I showed you above). All that’s left is pure cabs that your body CANNOT USE without the proteins, vitamins and minerals that were yanked out of it.

Every plant is supplied with all of these things because they are required for their own metabolism, without excess, a perfect balance. Without all this other stuff, these carbs turn into dangerous kinds of sugar, one kind accumulates in the brain and nervous system, anoher in red blood cells. This keeps the little red guys from getting the oxygen they need to just act normal, much less be able to get enough oxygen all over your body to exercise!!!! So… Poison #1- beginning of a degenerative disease

Nutritionists consider refined sugar to be a “lethal substance” because it provides only empty caloriesand none of the minerals which are present in the actual plant. The parts you need to process it, have been removed.

emoticon 2. On TOP of that: the digestion of sugar robs the body of the good vitamins and minerals it DOES have JUST trying to BREAK IT DOWN TO GET RID OF IT.
The “detoxification and elimination” of sugar wreaks havoc on your entire system.

“So essential is balance to our bodies that we have many ways to provide against the sudden shock of a heavy intake of sugar. Minerals such as sodium (from salt), potassium and magnesium (from vegetables), and calcium (from the bones) are mobilized and used in chemical transmutation; neutral acids are produced which attempt to return the acid-alkaline balance factor of the blood to a more normal state.”
SOURCE: www.globalhealingcenter.
com/sugar-problem/refined-
sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all

^ remember how all those things are in a Snickers bar… mhmmmm

Eating plain or “raw” sugar by itself leaves your body with an abundance of acid that just keeps growing and growing and effing up your fragile balance. At least when mixed or dilluted or dissolved in other foods, it has HELP being broken down. But making a habit of this means that your bodyhas to start pulling minerals from deep deep deep down inside of you to try to fix it. So its causing your body to destroy itself and lose all of its strongest structural support, just so you can soothe a pure sugar addiction. NOT NICE PEOPLE! THATS MEAN! MEAN TO YOUR BODY! VERY MEAN!

“Excess sugar eventually affects every organ in the body. Initially, it is stored in the liver. Since the liver’s capacity is limited, a daily intake of refined sugar (above the required amount of natural sugar) soon makes the liver EXPAND LIKE A BALLOON. When the liver is filled to its maximum capacity, the excess is returned to the blood in the form of fatty acids. These are taken to every part of the body and stored in the most inactive areas: THE BELLY, THE BUTTOCKS, THE BREASTS AND THE THIGHS.

When these comparatively harmless places are completely filled, fatty acids are THEN distributed among ACTIVE ORGANS, such as the HEART AD KIDNEYS. These begin to SLOW DOWN; finally their TISSUES DEGENERATE AND TURN TO ***FAT***. The whole body is affected by their reduced ability, and ABSNORMAL BLOOD PRESSURE is created. The parasympathetic nervous system is affected; and organs governed by it, such as the small BRAIN, become INACTIVE OR PARALYZED…..Too much sugar makes one sleepy; OUR ABILIT TO CALCULATE AND REMEMBER… IS LOST.”
(same source as above)

DONT even get me started on type 2 diabetes.

emoticon 3. Anything that causes withdrawal symptoms is obviously a poison. You might as well do drugs.

YES IM UPSET ABOUT THIS.

YES I THINK THAT PEOPLE WITH A POOR DIET ARE OBSESSED WITH FINDING LOOPHOLES THAT ALLOW THEM TO CONTINUE TO EAT LIKE UNSUPERVISED CHILDREN.

YES I THINK THAT IS EMBARRASSING.

YES I THINK WE ARE HERE BECAUSE WE ARE READY TO FACE THE UGLY TRUTH AND CHANGE OUR LIVES, NOT EXHAUST OURSELVES TRYING TO JUSTIFY WHAT WE DONT WANT TO CHANGE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT HURTS US.

If you want to cook your food in butter, baby go for it.
If you want bacon with breakfast, baby do your pig right, I know I do.
If you want to have a Snickers bar, baby get you one, but workout later k? lol
If you want to add sugar to your coffee, me too baby, 2 packets in my 16 ouncer, please.
If you want to sit down and measure out a pile of sugar to crunch on, baby stop that insanity…. its poison.

Sunday Walk Pictures and Hell-Bent Holidays

Thursday, December 08, 2011


sculptedgirls.tumblr.com
/page/3 

If anyone knows this girl’s name, please inform her that I am officially adopting her as what I believe the yoovie athlete trapped inside of me looks like… except yoovie’s legs are more muscular.

Jen and I have set up a challenge against each other. with each other. or something.

Its part of the Hell-Bent Holiday Season dealio Im doing.

Here are the rools.

emoticon 1. at least 5 planks a day, held as long as you can. just the regular modified plank- no absurd one handed sideways bizness.

emoticon 2. at least 1 day a week, get dripping sweaty wet from doing bodyweight strength training exercises and free weights, but mostly body weight.

emoticon 3. On the first of each month, we will see how long we can now hold a plank, beating our original score as well as check our body measurements. Every Monday - weigh in.

emoticon 4. (yoovie only) jumping jacks every day

emoticon 5. (yoovie only) 250 fitness minutes per week minimum.

PICTURES FROM SUNDAYS WALK



statue of liberty from clinton castle in battery park



xmas lights made the merryll lynch bull look like it was disco dancing



view from my front steps



pretty garden



lower downtown from Battery Park



Broadway from the Bowling Green



Trinity Chruch



Chelsea and the Statue of Liberty



brunch



dinner



gigantic pretzel

emoticon THINGS TO REMEMBER FOR MYSELF THIS WEEK! emoticon

 
*Active-inspiration.tumblr.com
 

 

  





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Positively Heartbreaking (or.. how to change your life)

*pictures in this blog are from active-inspiration.tumblr.com as stated on the graphics themselves.

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

which, I titled it, because I need to break my heart and mend it better than it is now. It will hurt, but it must be done if Im ever going to be happy. Sometimes breaks heal wrong, and you have to rebreak them.



I am very good at limiting.
I was taught modesty and humility and self-restraint by fatalists that told me I couldn’t prepare for college because earth wouldn’t be here anymore when I was an adult and it was pointless and insulting to invest in a temporary world that god was not in support of.

I limit how much happy I get, so I know I can pay the price it will exact from me.
I limit how close I get to realising my goals, so I don’t have to lose them.
I limit how many people are in my life so I can disappear with minimal collateral damage.
I limit how close I get to these people so I can control whether or not I can leave without hurting them.
I limit how much the people in my life know about my dark side, so they wont know the extent of my unhappiness.
I limit how much I exercise because I don’t want to accidentally end up amazingly sexy. I need to keep SOMETHING to be unhappy about or… dundundunHUBRIS
I limit my talents, I wont allow myself to get better or progress or accept money for my services.
I limit my self-esteem, to make sure I don’t become vain.
I limit my standards, so I can feel better about who I am.
I limit my dreams because if I achieve everything, then I’m one of those bitches people hate so much.
I also limit happiness because it is always inevitably followed by paralysing guilt.
I limit what I eat cause it feels like a kind of punishment.
I limit how long I date someone so that it never becomes ‘real’.
I limit my imagination because what self-centered egotistical bitch thinks she can just write an epic adventure novel?

The thing about these limitations is that I don’t start off by saying, I am going to decide to hate the music industry and all of its superficial shallow fake brown-nosing so I don’t have to succeed at live rock photography! No, these limitations come from indulging in even worse things.

I indulge in self-hatred because it protects me from the terror of believing in myself.
I indulge in denial because it means I don’t have to invest in my own future.
I indulge in thoughts of suicide so I don’t have to worry about anything long term.
I indulge in self-punishment so I can avoid the super happy times that make the sad times hurt so much more.
I indulge in my reputation as the cynical bitter old maid at work, because it feels right that I’ve been promoted five times without getting even one extra penny. Feels like punishment, I like it.
I indulge in sex without strings, so I don’t have to know what it feels like to lose love ever again.
I indulge in solitude so I can reinforce my belief that I was meant to be alone and it was the price I paid for freedom.
I indulge in self-sabotage so I don’t have to know what it would feel like to be on top and lose it.
I indulge in believing the ugly things and being offended by the positive things so that I never have to try with the extent of the power I have building inside of me.
I indulge in self-pity because the last time I did something amazing, in my own eyes, was when I was 20 years old. And I can never do anything bigger than that. So why am I trying to change when I’ve already changed completely?
I indulge in believing what I was told when I became an adult, because it means that if I succeed and thrive and find happiness and self-actualization… it means I traded love and family for it and am ok with that decision, which I’m not.
I indulge in thoughts of disappearing off the face of the planet forever because I would rather do that than let my life be a testament to the option of finding happiness BECAUSE you turned your back on your loving, imaginative, happy amazing little family.

At least I’m not indulging in fried chicken, though, right?

People ask me all the time, how has losing weight affected your happiness and self esteem?

The truth?

When the weight comes off, all you are surrounded by is your own issues instead of your own skin. No one wants to believe that being overweight has any physical ties to psychology but oh god yes it does.

When I was fat, I was hard on myself cause I was fat. But I was funny, and full of light and laughter and passion and snark and plans and adventures and more than anything in the whole world… AMBITIOUS.

Because the FAT was a fluffy protective BARRIER to REALITY and enabled my DENIAL. Its EASIER TO BE FAT because you never have to worry about finding legitimate emotions and motivations. And forget the real happy. No one can have real happy until they learn what that means.

Then I lost a justin beiber and now I’m a hermit, who poofs all the time, locks herself in her room, hides when in public, berates herself regularly to keep anything from accidentally going to her head and runs from ambition like its the Gestapo coming to publicly humiliate me. And on top of it all… I am always convinced that I’m rachel leigh cooke in She’s All That… the joke that everyone goes along with. The girl that people tell is pretty and amazing and talented… and tell he until she believes it… then publicly humiliate her. (I was raised in a religion that firmly and lovingly embraces discipline by public humiliation starting at the age of 12.)

Since I’ve lost the weight, I am constantly doubting my worth, my place in this world, whether or not I’m earning my keep on this planet, why the hell my friends are even my friends, why ANYONE would want to put their hands on me much less be willing to attach themselves to me.

Since I’ve lost this weight, I don’t laugh as much, I cry all the time, every day. I doubt my judgment and I’ve lost my instincts. Granted this also has to do with other things that have happened to me, but the padding that protected me from feeling it so keenly is now gone.

THAT’S THE THING.

If you think that losing 150 pounds is going to give you self-esteem and make your life better just like that…. then you only hear what you want to hear.

If you have issues now, they will be WORSE later.

Which is why I say that losing weight and getting healthy is not just about your health and being around for your grandkids. That’s cute and all… but its not going to get you through the cold nights staring down a bag of christmas candy or get you out the door when its raining ice.

Its about getting strong enough to HANDLE LIFE. You cant just make it about your organs and your diabetes risk and your family’s heart risk history or your cholesterol numbers. Its about you.

ITS ABOUT YOU. THE WHOLE YOU.

YOUR BODY.
YOUR SPIRIT.
YOUR BRAIN.
YOUR SENSE OF SELF.
YOUR ORGANS.
YOUR HEART.
YOUR ABILITY TO HANDLE STRESS AND OBSTACLES.
YOUR ABILITY TO USE REASON AND LOGIC.
YOUR EMOTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
YOUR STRENGTH OVER ALL TO HANDLE LIFE.

If you train yourself to think that this is only about getting healthy, or about getting sexy, or about diabetes… you’re deluding yourself. Because once it all comes off… if you haven’t been preparing for the mental battle that comes with it, for the sudden vulnerability and exposure and having all of your issues unhidden… GOOD LUCK.

So what do I do?

I’m so tired of going first.
I’m exhausted of waking up every day and giving my 50%
I’m exhausted of waking up every day period.

Am I tired from living or am I exhausted from holding it back from happening?

Am I trying to survive or trying not to thrive?

Am I valueless as a human being because I was told that people are better off without me in their life, or am I valueless as a human being because I believed it when it happened?

I think I may be continually punishing myself because deep down inside, every day that I wake up and live and smile and laugh and TRY… Im proving that my parents’ belief system (and the one I was raised with that allowed me to have a safe, healthy, morally sound, happy imaginative childhood) is corrupt, ineffective, invasive, inhumane, cruel and most importantly… WRONG.

Can I snip this last tie to my family, made only of guilt, and let them float off into the unknown while gripping so tightly to their fantasy? Can I do that and not feel guilty about saying, ok family… thanks for birth and the tools you gave me to survive without you?

Can I stop pining for them after 15 years and accept that nothing will change?

Is it ok if I stop trying to straddle the fence between owning the choice I made, embracing my life… and behaving as though the world out here is a terrible awful place so they can still feel safe and comfortable knowing they’e made the right decision not to come out here into it? Between living my life for me… and not living it so they can still be my parents who know what’s best?

How do you wake up and say… I am right and my parents are wrong? How do you face the day when you are trying so hard to deny the fact that you know more than te people who brought you into this world?

Teenagers think so all the time and I hate minors for mostly that reason.

But Ive actually been out here in the world… and I know my parents are wrong. That has a huge impact on a person’s mindset.

I don’t know what the first step is.

If the first step is loving yourself, then I’ll have to settle for liking one thing about myself and dedicating time to doing things I love, instead.

But what’s the first step to knocking this sht off?

I have to find a way to not want this damaging stuff.
I have to find a way to figure out what the eff is wrong with reaching your dreams.

I have to fix my brain.

I know for a 100% fact, that the reason I am not losing weight anymore is simply because I don’t effing want to. Its painful. Its embarrassing. Its… about admitting to yourself that you are weak.

And I don’t wanna.

I like believing I’m strong.

Maybe that’s something else I love about myself that no one can make me believe otherwise.
I’m strong and shiny.

But I’m not strong in the places I need to be strong in at this point in my life.

Yes I stood up to an entire religion and told them No thank you to admitting myself to their rehabilitation until my thinking was adjusted enough to be allowed to have my family back.
Yes I stood up and cancelled my wedding because I couldn’t pretend to be someone I was not.
Yes I packed up everything and left the state to live on my own in the desert when I was 17.
Yes I moved to several other cities, alone, practicing to be a grown up.
Yes I survived years of physical therapy and excruciating pain with no support system.
Yes, as soon as I was able to go again, I packed everything once more and moved to the Big apple, and I’m surviving here, even when I’m broke as crap and living on supah nooders.

But none of these kinds of strong can help me get out of the hole I have believed myself into and I don’t know the way out of my own mind.

I know Joshua always tells me, Wherever your brain is, don’t stay there. But I don’t know how to unravel my belief system without coming undone.

Life would be so much easier if there was a dude in chArge, like the president of humans (NOT A GOD), and you could call him up and be like YO DUDE AM I AWESOME, AND IF I AM… IS IT OK WITH YOU IF I’m AWESOME? I JUST NEED PERMISSION SO I DON’T CONSTANTLY THINK IMMA GET IN TROUBLE FOR BEING AWESOME.

Maybe I should call Barney Stinson and ask him if its ok.

Dear Barney Stinson,

I’ve been told I’m pretty awesome but I feel like, the second I believe it, the joke’s on me. I also feel like happiness comes with a price too steep for me to pay. I’m pretty sure that you are going to tell me to stop being scared and start being awesome, but I don’t know how to start.

Love,
uv



The rest of this is from this source below. I’m putting it here fr my own use but please feel free to take what applies to you. I need to get a different kind of strength and I will exhaust any resource that may help me find it. I’ve never read anything like this article before and its amazing to me so I’m keeping it. Don’t worry sparkpeople, I’m not posting anything in its friggin entirety and I DID put my source right there.

www.lifehack.org/
articles/lifehack/10-simpl
e-ways-to-save-yourself-fr
om-messing-up-your-life.html

1. Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. Since you can’t stop yourself thinking, or prevent emotions from arising in your mind, it makes no sense to be proud or ashamed of them either. You didn’t cause them. Only your actions are directly under your control. They’re the only proper cause of pleasure or shame.

2. Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse. The more you think about something bad, the more likely it is to happen.

3. Ease up on the internal life commentary. If you want to be happy, stop telling yourself you’re miserable. Most of it’s imagination. The rest is equal parts lies and misunderstandings.

4. Take no notice of your inner critic. Judging yourself is pointless.

5. Give up on feeling guilty. It may make you feel you’re accepting responsibility, but it can’t produce anything new in your life. If you feel guilty about something you’ve done, either do something to put it right or accept you screwed up and try not to do so again. Then let it go.

6. Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you. They can’t make you anything. You have to do that for yourself. Whatever emotions arise in you as a result of external events, they’re powerless until you pick them up and decide to act on them.

7. Stop keeping score. Numbers are just numbers. They don’t have mystical powers.

8. Don’t be concerned that your life and career aren’t working out the way you planned. The closer you stick to any plan, the quicker you’ll go wrong. The world changes constantly. Planning is only useful as a discipline to force people to think carefully about what they know and what they don’t. Once you start, throw the plan away and keep your eyes on reality.

9. Don’t let others use you to avoid being responsible for their own decisions. To hold yourself responsible for someone else’s success and happiness demeans them and proves you’ve lost the plot. It’s their life. They have to live it.

10. Don’t worry about about your personality. You don’t really have one. Personality, like ego, is a concept invented by your mind. It doesn’t exist in the real world. Personality is a word for the general impression that you give through your words and actions. If your personality isn’t likeable today, don’t worry. You can always change it, so long as you allow yourself to do so. What fixes someone’s personality in one place is a determined effort on their part—usually through continually telling themselves they’re this or that kind of person and acting on what they say. If you don’t like the way you are, make yourself different. You’re the only person who’s standing in your way.



*pictures in this blog are from active-inspiration.tumblr.com as stated on the graphics themselves.

Trigger Happy Hell Bent Holidays

Monday, December 05, 2011



Dec 5-12 Assignment:

5000 cumulative total jumping jacks
conscious increase in fiber
conscious reduction in sugar
no drinking calories other than coffee
and maybe one redbull
go back to cutting up fruit for snacks, instead of walking to the bodega for junk food
skip chocolate, go for cinnamon, its better
work on new task-based grocery list
Never say anything about yourself that you dont want to come true.- Brian Tracy



I fell down yesterday.
I was walking down the hill between 6th avenue and 5th avenue on 46th Street in realllly sexy helled boots. I fell forward and skinned my right knee and its all black and well… crusty bloody disgustingness. frowny face. I hate getting hurt.

Its been decades! (about 8 months) since I skinned my knees! (that was black ice, not my fault)

Remember playing all day and coming home with scratches, bumps and bruises that you didn’t care about? I do. If I came home today, looking like I came home when I was 8… I guarantee you I’d be laying in the middle of the livingroom floor demanding that someone come save my life.

It’s winter now. I can tell by the cooler color of the light in the air. Its whiter, bluer, etc. It aint golden no mo. Winter means the sun sets at 3pm. I get home from work around 7. The sidewalks are packed from side to side for 10 miles with no way to squeeze through those slow moving elephant herds.

I mean… moms with strollers that are texting and taking a step with their right foot…
left foot…
shuffle to right foot…
shuffle to left foot…
shuffle to right foot…
shuffle to left foot…

UGH

remember in high school when you had to run a mile and there was always that group of girls that would walk the entire thing, because they were too cool for track, too hot for sweat, and had just plain too much attitude to give a rat’s ass about what they looked like, what their body was capable of, what it meant to refuse to exercise for the rest of their lives, what the teacher had to teach or how much it hurt that girls that were trying, when they passed the molassas group of bitchy whiners who would yell out things at the girls that zoomed past?

Seen any of them on facebook lately? I mean… more than a headshot?

Nope? Didnt think so.

Tonight Im going to workout out in honor of the girls at the end of the track that refused to expend energy because it wasnt cool enough.

I gotcher cool right here.

And Imma get it done despite the elephant herds.
Despite my ripped up bloody crusty knee.



I believe I can do 5000 jumping jacks between now and Dec 10. That’s 1000 per day and a day of rest. I can do 1000 jumping jacks in a day.

I’ve never done it before.
I bet I could though.

Think I can do 10 sets of 100 before I go to bed tonight?

Im also going back to a couple of things that helped me last year when I was still losing weight.

High Fiber in the morning
No drinks with calories other than coffee and the occasional redbull (for work purposes only-mandatory)
Switching out cinnamon for chocolate (in lattes, desserts, breakfasts, snacks, spices, garnishes, etc)

^ these three things tell me something else that I have forgotten since I stopped losing weight.

I lost my mornings.

I used to walk to work and get my 20 minutes on the way there and 20 more on the way home easy peasy… but now I walk 4 minutes and sleep in the van for an hour on my way to work. I need to reclaim my mornings.



RECLAIM SUNRISE!

emoticon Start having breakfast at home before leaving, instead of at your desk when you get to work.
emoticon Set your alarm for 45 minutes earlier.
emoticon if you can’t go for a run, go for a walk.
emoticon if you can’t go for a walk, do an ST session in your room.
emoticon if you can’t do ST, do at least 100 jumping jacks.
emoticon there is always time for jumping jacks.
emoticon there is nothing wrong with only exercising for 20 minutes in the morning.
emoticon 5 minutes to put on your workout clothes. YES FIVE.
emoticon 5 minutes to walk in circles, locate keys, tie shoes
emoticon 20 minutes to run around the hood
emoticon 30 minutes is enough time to make a difference in your day.
emoticon Its nice arriving to work with a brain that’s alive.
emoticon If I dont get this into a habit quickly, I will only see sunshine on weekends because of my work hours and that is not acceptable and is just asking for SAD.
emoticon You can only do the sunshiny morning runs that you love so much… IN DA MORNIN
emoticon If you can reclaim time for yourself in the morning, for a workout, a bath, the time to enjoy the process of getting ready for the day… then you automatically win the day. You’ll feel better and you wont have to worry about working out because it will be DONE DONE DONE already.




I’m going to have to get trigger happy.

impatient
impulsive
quick tempered
with minimal thought processes

I think I could embrace this. What if every time something pissed me off, made me sad, made me happy, tickled my fancy, triggered a memory… a smell, a song, a feeling in my bones… set me off on an impulsive selfish run?

Cant wait
Wont wait
Need it now
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Get out my way
click click BANG
im gone…

I think Im going to do my best to have a trigger happy December to kick off my hell-bent holiday season.



emoticon HELL BENT HOLIDAY SCHEDULE WEEK ONE! emoticon

hell·bent   /ˈhɛlˌbɛnt/ [hel-bent]

adjective
1. stubbornly or recklessly determined.
2. going at terrific speed.

adverb
3. in a hellbent manner; with reckless determination; at full speed.

emoticon Monday = BE STRONG (at least 1000 jumping jacks & work on ARMS)
emoticon Tuesday = TRIM DOWN (at least 30 minutes running & 1000 jumping jacks)
emoticon Wednesday = TIME TO TONE (at least 1000 jumping jacks & work on LEGS)
emoticon Thursday = BURN FAT (At least 30 minutes running & 1000 jumping jacks)
emoticon Friday = GET DEFINITION (1000 jumping jacks & work on CORE) emoticon Saturday = REWARD WORKOUT (long run)
emoticon Sunday: Make my schedule for next week based on strong, trim, toned, burn fat, get definition, reward, plan.

Im HELL BENT on changing my body again.
Im HELL BENT on seeing progress again.
Im HELL BENT on getting results.
Im HELL BENT on working up a real sweat.
Im HELL BENT on embracing my demons and bringing them with me.
Im HELL BENT on seeing the scale say 169.0.
Im HELL BENT on feeling my jeans sliding off.
Im HELL BENT on being able to yank off my jeans without unbuttoning them when I really need to pee.
Im HELL BENT on eating beautifully.
Im HELL BENT on getting stronger.
Im HELL BENT on getting better at what I can already do.
Im HELL BENT on losing weight.
Im HELL BENT on losing more than just inches.
Im HELL BENT on getting the most out of December.
Im HELL BENT on NOT ending this year as a loser with more weight than she started at.
Im HELL BENT on ENDING 2011 AS A DAMN WINNER.

I have had enough and Im going to get that scale on the same page with me or I will hell-bend it in half.

Saturday

Saturday, November 26, 2011

I somehow have officially gained 17 pounds since November 15.
The only reason I can find for this BS is that thats about a week after I switched to whole grains and wheat cardboard.
So you know what?
F$%# you WHOLE GRAINS.
At least when I ate white bread and bagels I only had 5 servings a week (maybe).

emoticon I know I love myself today because:
emoticon When I saw another 5 pounds on the scale this morning, I decided to go for a short run instead of doing an ST session.
emoticon Instead of doing two and a half miles, I did 8.70 miles.
emoticon Instead of going to Park Slope or staying in my neighborhood, I treated myself to the Verrazano for the first time in forever.
emoticon on my period.




 

Roasted Winter Vegetables

culinary.net
Nutrition Info
  • Calories: 145.1 
  • Fat: 3.8g
  • Carbohydrates: 26.9g
  • Protein: 2.7g

Ingredients

1 bag “Golden Nugget” or other fingerling (tiny) potatoes (you can substitute “new potatoes” or the tiny red potatoes - as long as they’re small)
1 bag pearl onions
1 sweet potato
1 butternut squash
1 bag parsnips (giant white carrots)
optional: 1 small box brussels sprouts, if you’re not a supertaster who hates them
olive oil
fresh rosemary
fresh thyme

Directions

Prep: scrub potatoes, remove outer layer onions, peel and cube squash, peel and cube sweet potato, peel and slice parsnip.
Oven temp: 350 to 375 F
Cooking time: 1 hour (60 minutes)

Detailed instructions:
Scrub the potatoes, but you don’t have to peel them. Peel the outer layer off the onions. Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 1” cubes. Peel the butternut squash and cut it into 1” cubes. Scrub and peel the parsnips, cutting off the tops, and cut them into 2” long segments at the thin end, 1” long segments at the thick end. Remove any wilted leaves from the brussels sprouts.

Place all the veggies in a large baking dish or casserole dish. Bloop a few tablespoons of olive oil over them, and toss till everything has a very slight touch of olive oil on it. Now strip the leaves from 4-5 branches of rosemary, and from 4-5 branches of thyme, and sprinkle them over the veggies. Toss the veggies again, so that the herbs are distributed throughout. Roast, uncovered, in a 350° to 375° F oven for about one hour, or until a fork stuck in a potato or cube of sweet potato goes in easily. Serve hot. This makes a lot - 8 people or so’s worth - so if there are leftovers, they taste just fine rewarmed the next day.


The even easier version of this recipe:
Instead of all those kinds of veggies, just get one bag of the Golden Nugget potatoes and one bag of some other kind of tiny potatoes - “new potatoes” or “fingerlings” or anything else where each potato is only golf-ball size. Do the same bit with the olive oil and the herbs. But you don’t have to do all that peeling and cutting. Same baking instructions.

Serves a lot of people - nutrition information is given for 8 servings


Number of Servings: 8

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user BUNRAB.