Orowheat Health-full 10 grain Bread
I’m trying a new thing of being a BzzAgent, and my first campaign for them is to try 
for free! So far, the high protein and high fiber in the bread is helping me “keep fuller longer” as the bread is supposed to. It tastes surprisingly good too! Super moist, and thicker than most breads without being dry or crumbly. I love it. So I’m spreading the Bzz. 🙂
Losing Weight 2012
So, like most people, I decided my New Year’s resolution was to lose weight. However, unlike many, I’m actually doing it.
Since I started teaching full time, while going to school in the evenings, and coaching a sport, I managed to put on 40+ lbs. That is not cool. Until I finally finished my evening classes, I was literally sleeping 3 hours a night because I simply had no time. Well, now I have the time, so I’m putting in the effort to fit back in to my old clothes!
So here’s the plan:
Goal: Lose 40 lbs
Time frame: 4 months from January 1 to May 1.
Rationale: Improve health, fit into old clothes so I don’t have to keep spending money on new ones, feel better about myself, and have more energy. (Has anyone else noticed being overweight makes you sluggish?)
The Plan: 1. Calorie tracking (intake and exercise!) with a free app on my iPhone and online called My Fitness Pal , 2. upping protein and fiber while lowering simple carbs and fats so I don’t feel hungry or spike sugar levels, and last but not least 3. upping exercise.
So I need to lose 10 lbs per month to stay on goal. In reality, I have a wedding in September, so that’s my real target date, but I find challenging myself to get healthy sooner helps me stick to it. If I leave my time limit too long, when I start losing the weight faster than I need to, I “cheat” and go on binge eating fests. What can I say, I love food!
So far, I am on track. I have lost 10 lbs, and plan to lose another 9 in the month of February (it’s a short month, and I already booked tickets for wine tasting with chocolate next weekend at the Lodi Wine and Chocolate Weekend. I figure I can make up the extra pound in a longer month.
So friends, I think that wraps up my weight loss plan for 2012, wish me luck, send me tips, and encourage me to get thin again! If you want to join my on MyFitnessPal, we can friend up to encourage each other that way, or if you want to be weight loss buddies through exercise let me know. I have a bike ride planned for tomorrow! 🙂
Back to Blogging with Shopping!
So it’s been a while… a long, long while. I’ve decided it is time to blog again!
And I’ve decided to create another category of the blog that is going to be all about nifty things I’ve found, and where you can buy them. I kid you not, this winter when Christmas shopping, it took me FOREVER to find cute personal gifts for people. So, I’ve decided to put things all in one place on my blog, so I can remember where to find cute items to make gifting easier.
Today’s shopping theme: Warm cozy snack items for the kitchen:
Also, since it’s still cold and wintry, I LOVE these soup mugs with built-in cracker holders! So cute, and means I don’t have to carry a separate plate to keep my crackers from getting soggy in soup! Soup Mug
Keeping warm with tea is my new thing for winter, but I hate the dripping tea bag, so these Kangaroo Mugs are totally perfect. when I leave the kitchen I can put the tea bag and sugar packs in the mug and serve tea that way. Time saver, and as a bonus, you can put the wet tea bag back in the pouch so your tea bag doesn’t drip everywhere, and your tea doesn’t get over steeped. Love them!
Also for tea lovers, I hate having loose tea leaves floating around when I make loose leaf tea, but cleaning the tea leaves out of those wire mesh grates is a pain. My auntie found the perfect solution in this Pretty glass teapot with infuser I love it! And it looks much prettier than the standard tea strainers pots.
And on the trend of cute mug holders, I love the idea of this Mug with space for cookies built in! though, the face is a little creepy. I want a cookie monster one, but can’t seem to find it. Let me know if you see one anywhere online in the comments section!
I’ll stop here for now, but there are sooo many adorable gifts! I look forward to having a list on here. 🙂
An Empty Glass is Better than No Glass At All
I recently decided that I’m both a glass is half full and glass is half empty kind of gal, depending on how I feel that day. But, what do you do when you have an empty glass? I’ve decided an empty glass is better than no glass at all. Life is all about perception of life.
And on that note, I’ve become very interested in Anabel Jensen’s pet project, 6 seconds, and emotional intelligence. Check it out.
Hiking Half Dome: what to bring
Just bought CamelBak Women’s L.U.X.E. 3-Liter Hydration Pack
Sow now I have no idea what else I need. Gloves, but what kind? Hiking boots, got any recommendations that are pretty cheap? I found this mineral sun screen Peter Thomas Roth Instant Mineral Powder SPF 45
that I can use to make sure my scalp doesn’t burn without putting liquid sunscreen in my hair. But I’m totally at a loss at what else to bring. Suggestions?
Sports Drinks are not for Fatties! Better ways to lose weight…
So I find it very disturbing every time I have a friend who complains about being fat and trying to lose weight and then see them drinking soda, sports drinks at the gym, eating fast food, and not adding any exercise at all to their life.
Cut calories and burn more calories. You can ONLY lose weight by taking in less calories than you burn. Don’t know how many you burn? Get a body bugg (from 24 hour fitness) or the same thing, a Go Wear calorie tracking system which I believe is a bit cheaper on Amazon. GoWear fit Lifestyle and Calorie Management System
Or get a Polar heart rate monitor that will estimate your calorie burn while you exercise.
I also use this heart rate monitor which I love because it will build a fitness program for you and you can store all your data FOR FREE online: Polar F11 Women’s Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Pink Fizz)
It also comes in other colors, as well as in this mens/unisex design Polar F11M Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Grey Pepper, New Design)
Cut the useless calories you have every day. Switch from 2% to 1% milk. The little things make a difference. I’m not saying stop having what you like to eat, or work out all the time. I’m saying to stop eating when you’re full, don’t eat when you’re not hungry, and maybe walk a little more.
But whatever you do, don’t ADD useless calories. So often I see someone new to the gym drinking a sports drink with about 250 empty calories to stay hydrated. You don’t need them! Drink water! If you work out for longer than one hour, you MAY need electrolyte replacement. Before one hour it’s highly doubtful. If you don’t like drinking plain water, put some crystal light (5 calories) in your water. Don’t add an extra 250 calories when you’re only working out for twenty minutes. You’re probably actually ingesting more than you are burning.
Let’s do the math. Personally, I burn about 1-2 calories per minute sitting on my butt watching TV or sleeping, so 60-120 calories per hour. When I work out, it depends on if I’m doing cardio or strength and whatnot, but on average I burn about 600 calories per hour. 600-120= losing about480 calories more than when I’m doing nothing. But when doing nothing I’m also not eating or drinking generally. So in 30 minutes of TV watching I’d burn somewhere around 90 calories. In 30 minutes at the gym I’d burn around 300 calories. If I drank a sports drink 300-250= 50 calories burned-90 calories I’d be burning even if I was doing absolutely nothing= 40 calorie excess. If I drank water with a packet of crystal light, or even better, just water, I’d be losing more calories than I was taking in.
So I’ll say it again. Don’t drink sports drinks when you’re working out if you’re trying to lose weight unless you work out for AT LEAST more than one hour at a time. And if you do, don’t whine about being fat to me. :p
Beauty in Tragedy?
So my favorite statue is of Cupid and Psyche embracing.
Cupid and Psyche
I was looking for the the actual title of the statue and very randomly found an interesting story about an archaeological find, but can’t seem to find any follow up. Frustrating!
The Eternnal Embrace Couple
So basically, they found this young preserved couple locked in an eternal embrace of death near Verona, Italy. Archaeologists found it poignant a la Romeo and Juliet, and kept the couple in tact, rather than digging the bones out. See story Here
Some stories mentioned they may have died of arrows, but this is the part I can’t find any follow up on. I want to know what they found! I’ve found unreliable sources with no links to the story the information came from, and tons of stories on the initial find. I want to find a story about the findings on the inspection of the bones.
Anyone a genius interweb net surfer who can find me the info? As Julie would say, I’ll give you a dollar?
On another note, I’m note sure why this is so interesting. I had a conversation today where we talked about how sacrifice and the difficulty of a relationship sometimes made love more tangible for people, when really, it shouldn’t be so hard. Are we all programmed to be attracted to this type of tragedy because it seems poetic and proves the depth of love? Maybe. Like the old couple in Titanic. That’s the only part of the movie I remember. Regardless, I want to know if it really was that tragic.
Tail chasing for humans… I need to find more adventures. Got any ideas?
The tiny towering love of my life, Penny
Penny is chasing her tail and has been for over 2 minutes. She’s having a blast. I’m having a blast watching her because she looks like such a goof circling over and over until she collapses into a heap chewing on her tail. It’s pretty adorable.
2009 has been an unfortunate year of financial and personal woes, and Penny’s tail chasing and other assorted tricks of adorable puppiness have been worth waking up in the middle of the night to let her out and cleaning up her potty accidents before she was house trained. And now she’s still got the puppy adorable cheeriness, with minimal puppy exhaustion factor. I highly recommend getting a dog if you want unconditional love, snuggles, and way too many puppy kisses.
So, inspired by Penny, I’ve decided I’m getting old and stuffy and need to do some tail chasing of my own. I started with the obvious, the gym.
I have to admit, I doubt I looked as fulfilled barely being able to move after a two hour gym session as Penny does after her ten minutes of chasing her tail followed by her frantic running back and forth just to run. But now that I’m a few months in, and 7% less body fat, this gym thing seems OK. I still hate the running for no purpose. Why my dog loves it the world may never know. But even though I’m constantly sore, I feel good. I sleep better at night. I don’t get winded climbing up a few flights of stairs. I was even able to shop with a bride to be, and stay awake for her 14 hours wedding with plenty of energy. This tail chasing business does seem to up my energy and counteract the sluggishness I feel increasing with every passing year. (Yeah, yeah, I know I’m only 25, but boy has it been a decline in energy every year past 14)
So now I need to find more tail chasing for people. I need ideas, and they don’t just have to be exercise related. I tried rock climbing, and am terrible at it! But it was fun. I went hiking. Always fun. Been swimming. I’m itching to try caving. Can’t wait or another road trip, or to have the money to backpack some foreign country. I’ve been cooking just to cook, and baking for everyone I know. I want to climb half dome before the end of the season. Anything to keep amused and not sit around on my butt watching TV.
So after all that, my boring is showing. I need more things to do. Little adventures to stay active and out of a rut. Any ideas? Thing to do in the Bay Area or all over California? I wouldn’t even mind roadtripping a state or two away for some seriously fun tail chasing activities.
Fairlybrutal Birdwalks of the Brain 