DietBet

I decided to join the Dietbet game that is being sponsored by The Anti-Jared,

The premise is simple. Put $50 in a pot. If you meet your goal (4% of body weight lost in 28 days) I win back MY money and split the pot with all the other winners.

First, you verify your starting weight (I had to submit pictures on the scale to prove who I am and what my weight is:

Along with a special code word that they assigned me the morning of the challenge, which is why I have "legume" written down by the scale.

The scale currently says 210 and not that I cheated (I didn't!), it just so happened that I spent the weekend at my parents house eating all kinds of fatty, carby things AND went to dinner with my friend Tanya the night before which involved wine and cupcakes and was definitely retaining some water.

So...I'm not going into crazy dietgirl mode but I AM making some changes. On work days when I can't workout, I MUST stick to 1200 calories. On workout days, I can be slightly less strict and will only eat half the calories I burned. If you want to follow me on MyFitnessPal, my username is stephaniemartin42.

28 days to lose 8.4 pounds. Can I do it? Should be an interesting ride.

Fitness Studio

On January 30, I posted on Facebook:

I completely forgot that I bought a voucher for 5 Kangoo-Jumps (trampoline shoe) classes MONTHS ago. Amazon sent me a reminder that it will expire in a month so I signed up for my first class this coming Monday. I'm not sure how well my klutzy self will do with trampoline shoes but I managed to not kill myself on the Segways when Karin and I went and it's supposed to be a great workout so...here goes nothin'.

As of today, I've attended 13 Kangoo classes, and I love the studio (Beachside Ryde) so much that I started several of their other classes too - Pilates and Tabata being my favorites, and I'm going to try the TRX class and Indo-Row too. I started with a 5-class voucher, signed up for another 15 classes, and then this week I fully committed and signed up for 6 months of unlimited classes. I was hesitant to do it (it took a not-insignificant chunk of our tax refund) but Scott made the point of looking at how much we spend on TV service, going out to dinner, etc. and that if it made me happy, we could cut back elsewhere.

It DOES make me happy.

This is the Beachside studio - they have all kinds of toys that add lots of interest to the workouts - BOSU balls, weights, hula hoops, TRX straps, a ballet barre etc. The workout is NEVER the same twice.

My friend Maria (also a band patient, and she is the receptionist for my bariatric surgeon) started attending Kangoo with me once a week...it's a blast working out with a friend. Last Saturday we both rented heart/calorie monitors and competed for who could burn the most calories. She won by about 100 calories so I had to buy lunch. We had salads with tuna on them. :-)  I burned over 1200 calories that day, so I'd say we both won though.

A couple of weeks ago we had an incredibly gorgeous afternoon, and we did a Tabata boot camp outside...it was amazing!

This is my trainer Tania, who teaches most of the classes that I take. She is also the owner of the studio and is incredibly inspiring!

Even though a small studio is more expensive than a big-box gym, the difference there is amazing. It's like the difference between shopping at Walmart versus a small, locally-owned boutique - in theory, you're just working out but the difference is truly incredible. I can't wait to get there for each workout.
The individual attention makes all the difference in the world. I love walking in and seeing the same faces week after week.

And you know what else? When I work out, I want to feel light and strong and that influences my eating choices every day.

I have no idea how much weight I have lost, and it doesn't really matter. My pants are definitely getting too big on me. I'll weigh in next Sunday but no matter what the scale says, I know what I'm doing is really, really good for me and I have my motivation back.

Breakfast in a Glass

I'm 3 years post-op. I've been having a scrambled egg (with or without veggies and/or cheese) at least 3 days per week for the last 3 years and I've never really gotten tired of it. I like scrambled eggs. I like that I can make them taste different based on hot sauce, vegetables, etc. and I can make them in the microwave if I'm in a hurry and they keep me full for awhile. On the days I didn't have eggs, I would have a canned Atkins shake.

Until I spent two mornings at work a couple of weeks ago barfing up scrambled eggs. I have no idea what changed all of a sudden. It was the one food I could always count on being able to eat in the morning and that was gone. When there's a line full of patients waiting and I need to check them in, I don't have time to spend more time in the bathroom than I do at my desk.

Not to mention, it's embarrassing. One of the medical assistants asked me if I wanted her to do a pregnancy test on me.

So...my morning meal has changed. I couldn't face the idea of having an Atkins shake for breakfast every day (all those chemicals! so little nutrition! no variety!) so I decided to experiment with making my own protein smoothies.

I started out with a good protein base - I have fallen in LOVE with Optimum Nutrition Oats & Whey. It's naturally sweetened with honey powder, but not TOO cloyingly sweet like I find the artificially sweetened powders. Plus it has oats in it so it's got plenty of fiber. This is the nutrition label:

Yes, it has 8 grams of sugar per full scoop (and I only use 1/2 scoop), but consider that a can of Slimfast has EIGHTEEN grams of sugar and less than half the protein. This stuff is not so bad.

Then I add my liquid. I discovered Blue Diamond unsweetened coconut/almond milk blend. It's only 45 calories per cup and absolutely deliciously decadent! I found it in the chilled milk section at Target.

From there, I can add whatever fruits and veggies I want. This one had raw spinach, pineapple, mango, blueberries, and strawberries:

Today's smoothie was exceptional - raw spinach, one small carrot, a small handful of blueberries, and a few chunks of frozen pineapple. YUM. So much nutrition! I feel like I have LOADS of energy and don't feel weighed down after breakfast.

With that said...I'm off to work out! See you later.

From the Mouths of Babes...

I spent the afternoon with my dear friend Ally today. I've known her since we were 18 and she moved to Oregon when we were in our mid-20's. Her older son is 9 and her younger son is 5. We were looking at some old pictures today from the couple of times I met the little one, Chay (the redhead). This was when I went to visit Ally's family when Chay was just a baby...

And this was when Ally came to visit Florida when Chay was 2 years old...

As we were looking at pictures, Chay looked at the pictures, looked at me, looked at the pictures, looked at me, and said, "You looked like you were more chubbier then." I just about choked on my latte I was laughing so hard. Kids are just so darn honest. This is from today...

Recipe: Skinny Southern Potato Salad

Have you heard of resistant starch? There's some sort of science that happens when you cook and then cool potatoes that creates a particular type of fiber that's being studied for blood sugar stabilization benefits. When I read about this my first thought was "potato salad" which is clearly not healthy, but is so tasty. So I've been craving potato salad and I came up with this...

DARN was it good!

Skinny Southern Potato Salad

Makes 12 half-cup servings

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
5 eggs
6 oz. container of plain nonfat Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp. mayo
3 Tbsp. dijon mustard
3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 red onion, finely diced
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Place cut potatoes and whole eggs in pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Turn stove off, cover pot, and let sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together yogurt, mayo, mustard, vinegar, seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add onion and toss to coat. (I would have added a couple of stalks of celery too, but the celery I had in my fridge was wilted.)

After 15 minutes, remove eggs from pot and place in iced water for a few minutes. Drain potatoes and place in a large bowl. Peel eggs and chop. Add eggs to potatoes and toss with dressing. Chill.

If my calculations are correct, each 1/2 cup serving should contain:

Calories - 82.5
Total Fat  - 3.9 g

Potassium - 129.8 mg

Total Carbohydrate - 5.3 g
Dietary Fiber - 0.3 g (this does not include resistant starch)
Sugars - 1.2 g
Protein - 5.1 g

Kangoo Jumps - Awesome Workout

Several months ago, I bought an Amazon Local deal for a series of fitness classes called Kangoo Jumps. Essentially, you wear boots that have little trampolines on the bottom that look like this:

And you basically do an aerobics class with a little strength training while wearing these things. I was a bit nervous about the whole thing since I'm not the most coordinated person in the world, but within 10 minutes of putting them on, I was jogging and jumping like a champ. Everyone at Beachside Ryde (the studio where I went) was amazing. The guy who helped me get fitted with my boots and got me comfortable with wearing them was really patient. The instructor was a super-perky jumping bean and excited about everything (but not annoyingly so).

This is what the class looks like (I'm not in this video but just to get an idea what kind of stuff we were doing):

Let me tell you - attempting to stand still is the hardest thing, and doing squats wasn't easy either. The class involved different elements like using a weighted ball, dumbbells, hula hoops, and a weighted bar to do different kinds of moves, so it never got boring. And I made it through with a smile (and a whole lot of sweat).

My next class is on Friday and I can't wait!

Loose Skin is Reality

Someone posted this article about what losing 135 pounds looks like on Facebook today. I'm glad it was posted and that I actually clicked it. It's no secret that I HATE my jiggly, flappy arms...

But until plastic surgery is reality for me, I need to learn to deal with it, somehow. I need to not hate anything about me. That's ridiculously hard, nearly impossible some days. I don't love my melted-candle thighs or my floppy stomach, but they don't bother me as much as those arms do.

But here's the thing: my sister, brother-in-law, and beautiful nephew are coming to visit next weekend. I'm SO looking forward to it. But there's a little nagging voice in the back of my head...there's going to be swimming. I'm going to need to put a bathing suit on. In front of people. Glurp.

I'll do it but it still freaks me out. There's no hiding flappy arms or melty thighs in a bathing suit. And even though I live in Florida, I rarely wear one. There is usually alcohol involved, like when Jen and I went swimming with the sea lions.

I have issues. But we all knew that. So I'm glad I looked at that article. I needed to see that.

On a brighter note, I realized yesterday that I hadn't been to the gym since before I got that sinus infection...before Christmas! Crazy. So I went twice this weekend and my body and mind feel so much better already.