Sleepybear doesn't really like to talk about her flair.

[Sleepybear]

Ok so I think the last time I posted here was... a while ago (minus one fitness post that is).

If you remember me... Hi! If not... well, my name is Crystal and I was on the beach for a while but got a little too obsessed and went off it. I was in graduate school and the stress of eating right along with keeping up a semi-long distance relationship, a horrible roommate situation and graduate school on top of that was a little much. I fell off the beach and the boards but I'm back!!

I've been keeping up relatively healthy eating (learned habits from SBD I just couldn't break ) and was working out a lot, started running and hurt my hip so I took some time off. I surprisingly didn't gain over the holidays but did over January (why? not entirely sure).

I moved in with my BF in August and have been MUCH happier since. It really was the right thing. We're living right across from his med school and I'm absolutely loving the city so that helps too. I'm commuting to grad school (60 miles each way... yikes) but will be done at the end of the month. I'll be defending my thesis on the 28th and am on the job hunt right now. All of the jobs I'm qualified for are in Richmond! Augh! Hopefully I'll find something soon.

So here we are... day 1 of Phase 1. I went to walmart this morning and restocked the fridge and am making chili in a little while. I've got the diet down, I just need to stick with it this time!

So... here... we.... GOOOOOO!

[JerseygirlMP]

oh my goodness! 60 miles each way! wow at least your almost done though! yay for having you back

have a great day!

[cbj]

Hey you,
Just wanted to pop in and say WELCOME BACK

Good luck with p1... !

[Sleepybear]

Thanks for the welcome back guys!!

So haven't gotten much done today because the tiredness is creeping in. I woke up at 5am when DBF had to leave for some event in Richmond and got out of bed at 6:30am, went to Target and Walmart, then back here, surfed the boards a bit to reaquaint myself and then made chili! For lunch I had a cheeseburger w/ no bun (used the sirloin leftover from the chili) and a big salad. I knew that if I didn't eat the ground sirloin now, I'd never eat it.

Half the chili is frozen and ready for meals next week!!

After I digest some I'm going to the Y for the first time in a LONGG time. Well, I think it's been like 2 or 3 weeks but feels like much longer. Then shower, maybe Starbucks to do work.

I've been emailing today w/ Jenn (jck2626) and we're going to meet up this week for a walk! And I possibly might help her paint her livingroom the weekend after this one. I'm really excited! I just hope she's not an axe-murderer Just kidding

Ok off to drink more water, digest and then hit the gym! It's a NEW START people... I'm telling you!!!!!!!!

[Sleepybear]

Ok it's almost the end of day 1... check check... yep, still breathing.

I'm in a munchy mood and it probably doesn't help that there's a pizza in the fridge along with a half a pint of Girlscout cookie ice cream in the freezer and a cookie cake and a big bag of chips on the counter. Ugh. Had a friend in town and then DBF had brought stuff to a superbowl party that was leftover and his mom gave us an entire pizza (never touched... you'll hear more about her later I'm sure). DBF has this thing about not being able to throw anything out. He grew up Irish catholic so nothing is ever wasted. We're talking mom's one of nine, directly FROM Ireland and DBF lived there for a period of time... this one's as green as they get.

So anyway, they are all just sitting here looking at me. Well, the chips are... but I can feel the burning eyes of everyone else staring at me from the fridge.

I just watched the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants- bought it at Target b/c it was cheap and I had a gift card... I had never even seen it. But man, I guess I'll have to own up to being a girly sap... I definitely cried It wasn't that great of a movie, but what girly movie is really acclaimed anyway?

I worked out w/ DBF, did this new total body machine at the Y for 30 minutes- it's kind of like an elliptical but different. Changes position so it makes you push or pull with your arms while doing it- great workout b/c I'm never good at working my arms. I also did 10 minutes on the bike and stretched/did abs. Made an appointment to get set up on this Fitlinx system on the weight machines. You're programmed in and it tells you how much weight to do and where to set things... kinda like a mini trainer! That's Thursday morning at 8am. Fun!

My hip is really hurting. I hurt it while trying to start training for a half marathon. Did too much too fast and now it hurts all the time... even when I walk. I'm trying to work it out some at the gym on non-impacting machines. We'll see how this goes. Taking 3 weeks off did nothing so I know it doesn't need rest. It needs to be strengthened or something.

I was just thinking... I've written a lot. But then again I can write what I want b/c it's MY journal! Ha! Ok time to make some veggie/turkey sausage quiche cups for the week and watch some trashy Gauntlet on MTV

[JerseygirlMP]

I really liked sisterhood of the travelling pants.. of course i'm a sappy chick movie kinda girl too! LOL i'm horrible.

my DBF is irish too! not completely but like 75% or something (i just found this out like 3 days ago too i always thought he was all irish)

congrats on finishing day 1.

[Sleepybear]

Haha, I love the Irish thing... we actually went to Ireland for two weeks in August... it was AMAZING!!! I highly recommend going if you haven't ever.

Today's a long day- I drive to school then work 3-8 at my retail job and drive home so I'll probably be home about 9:15. I HATE days when I have to pack both a lunch and a dinner.

I also want to make quiche cups tonight. I realized last night that I didn't have any muffin tins left so I just made jello cups.

Today:
B: 2 scrambled eggs w/ lf cheese, 1/2 cup cottage cheese (may have been less) and a can of tomato juice

Plan:
S: coffee w/ skim milk (if you consider it a snack... I need it to keep awake on the drive!)

L: salad w/ peppers and onions and egg salad on top (made w/ two eggs), yogurt
S: peanuts
D: cup of chili w/ lf sour cream and some shredded lf cheese & a jello cup, then a salad once I get home from work (I don't have room to bring two salads in my little lunch pail).

So that's day 2. Exercise is a walk after work w/ DBF... my hip is feeling iffy so I feel like I need to walk on it. I'll work out at the Y tomorrow morning.

Happy Tuesday!

[cbj]

LOL - another Irish-lovin gal here

BF is only 1/2 Irish but the Irish is 100% - his dad came to Canada from Ireland when he was in his 20's... speaks with an accent even (although BF insists that his dad has no accent, I am always saying -sorry? what was that? )

He has relatives in Ireland so I hope to go there one day... also has relatives in Crete (Greek Isles) so that's on my wish list too

[Sleepybear]

Well, I know DBF is at least 1/2 Irish... I'm not sure what his dad is. He left the fam when BF was really young and I've never met him. I'm going to meet him for the first time in May at his older brother's wedding. I'm soooo nervous about it. And I think DBF might even tell him at the wedding that he never wants to see/speak/keep in touch with him again. Yikes.

Went to the gym this morning! Woohoo! Tomorrow's the 8am appt for the weight machine orientation. Means I have to get up even earlier since I want to get in a workout beforehand. Ugh!

Today:

S before Workout: tomato juice, celery w/ tbsp of pb
B: 2 scrambled eggs w/ lf cheese, 1/2 cup cottage cheese

Plan:
S: coffee w/ skim milk
L: chili w/ lf sour cream and lf shredded cheese, and a side salad or cut up peppers
S: yogurt if I feel like it
D: chicken w/ sauteed peppers and onions (gotta get through these peppers, I always buy too much and they go bad on me!)

Happy Humpday!

[Sleepybear]

So for lunch this woman who works as a lab assistant brought me in this salad thing she had been talking about last week. There was some article in the Times or something with recipes for cold salads that had crazy stuff in them like quinoa and whatnot. She made one and brought me in a sample so I felt like I had to eat it. It had olive oil, cashews, turmeric, cumin, fresh mint, cilantro a few raisins and dried apricots and this special brown rice that is like brown rice but not hulled. It was very good- seems like a good phase 2 salad I could make- the rice was INCREDIBLY chewy and rough. So I guess you might call it a cheat, but I couldn't really turn it down because it was like 1/8 of a cup and she brought it in special for me

I'll eat my peppers on the way home as a snack

Things are going well and it's only day 3. I think that since I've done this before ( for a period of months) it's actually easier to do it again. I know the rules by heart, and many of the meals and snacks are ones I have eaten anyway even when I had stopped doing south beach. The first time I did SB it was a real adjustment but I kind of feel like this is pretty easy. I know what my triggers are (like pb and the warm brownie) so I know what to avoid and be careful with. Like before my workout I rationed out the pb w/ the celery. I need to stay away from pb as a dessert or eating right out of the jar because I tend to overload. I also know what to expect on the diet and what to eat and what to make for meals! It's great!

My problem time usually comes when I'm thinned down and feeling like "oh I could have one little cheat" or "one little non SB meal" and I don't gain weight from it, and think "oh I could do it again, I didn't gain weight last time" and then it's this slippery slope downward spiral into bad eating habits and weight gain. I just somehow need to stop that cycle because I've done it about three or four times now!!!

I really want to be fit for summer. I think starting on the weight machines at the gym will help too. I'm so excited!

I don't know my starting weight- I'm going to guess 152. My scale is on the fritz and only shows "E" now- I think I need a new battery. I'm going to try to make a goal for May 6th (or is it 11th?) - the date of DBF's brother's wedding. I want to slim down to under 140 (hit 139.5 incredibly briefly last time around- I'm a slow loser) and buy a brand new dress!

[Sleepybear]

I'm pumped!!

So this morning I woke up with HORRIBLE cramps. (TMI?) But I had an appointment at the gym for 8am to get setup on the weight machines. So I barreled through and went. The girl who was supposed to set me up seemed like what I like to call a "dud". You know, just not that cool, doesn't talk much, deadpan.

And so I'm like ok this is only a 40 minute thing, I'll live. And so we go to the first machine and she gets me set up and starts kind of talking, so I start going on about the questions she's asking me and she seemed really interested. She turned out to be totallly awesome and very good at showing me things/answering my questions! It was funny too because I admitted I'd done cardio for 7 years and never lifted before because the machines scared me. She kind of laughed and we moved on to the next machine and I didn't even know where to sit or put my arms and I just stared, she goes "yep, that's a scared look."

And all the machines are set to your specific range of motion and when you sign in for each one, tells you where to position things and how much weight to lift and then it makes sure you're going slow enough. I'm going in tomorrow morning to really lift!!

Been beachy- with that time of the month I was craving hard last night, but had some hot chocolate and was good! I have this amazing machine I got for Christmas- it's called a Cocoa Latte machine. There's a recipe book, and you put in whatever you want- water, milk, cocoa, splenda, instant coffee, davinci syrup- whatever you want. Then you hit a button and it stirs and heats it to the exact right temp and turns off when done, then you hit the froth button and you dispense it into a cup and you get froth on top! Just like at Starbucks!! I think it might be my savior this time around.

Off to get ready for school. Going for a walk tonight w/ Jenn so that will count as my cardio since I'm not feeling actual working out anyway. Have a good Thursday! Almost the weekend!!!

[Sleepybear]

Wow.. boards were down almost all yesterday.

I was beachy.. only problem is that the woman who gave me the little bit of salad gave me all her leftovers of ingredients b/c the stuff is expensive and would go bad if no one used it. So I think I might make it, give half to DBF and then just eat small portions of it each day.

Just got back from the Y and my weight lifting circuit. Wow I can feel it in my arms and I only did one set on all the arm ones!! I'm going to be hurting tomorrow!!! There was this woman who hopped on the machine right after me (there's a rule that you leave at least one machine between you and an established user)- there were like 2/3 of the machines open! So she HAD to go in order and I was going slow b/c it was my first time... and I didn't know how to set all the settings yet, so she just kept waiting!! I got SO ANNOYED! Then finally I said "you know, there's a rule where you're not supposed to start on a machine right next to someone" - obviously she ignored me I'll have to keep an eye out for her next time and skip some machines if she gets on next to me. Ugh.

Time for lunch!

[Sleepybear]

Things are going well, I've got the curry chicken cooking in the crockpot (recipe on the recipes board sticky) and I'm really excited for dinner. It's the first time I've used the crockpot I got for xmas!

DBF and I are in a "workout war" as I like to call it- we get points on the computer at the Y for cardio workout minutes and lifting weights and I made the mistake of saying I had more points than him (ok, it was in a bratty 3rd grader kinda way ) so now we're in the war to see who can get to 50,000 points the fastest!

It's good though- I worked out and did all the weights yesterday, woke up incredibly sore, but still did 60 min of cardio plus abs/stretching today! Woohoo!

I think I might give up this journal. It doesn't seem to be helping at all. I'm doing really great on the diet and working out, but I'm not reallying feeling this board anymore. I like it for recipes and whatnot, but maybe the journal just isn't for me. I feel like I'm getting more support from DBF than from this board and maybe that's all I need. Who knows... we'll see. Maybe I'm just in a funk.

[cbj]

Hey Crystal,

It sounds like you're doing really well! It's great that DBF is also an exerciser... mine is like - tell me when you're done your workout video so I can watch the Simpsons...

I know what you mean about the boards - I rarely venture out of the journal area anymore, and I'm here to chat with friends I've made moreso than anything else. But I'd hate to see you go again so soon!

Good luck with everything, either way

[JerseygirlMP]

crystal! don't leave us!! maybe you're in a funk

here have some support

and a nice day