Comments (15)

By kilax, April 27, 2011 6:12 am

In December I won a Nike + Sportband and planned on giving it to someone for the holidays. After discussing it with Steven, we decided that person wouldn’t use it, and the Nike + Sportband has just been sitting on a shelf since then, not even opened!

Surely one of you would use it, or know someone else who would? Maybe a newer runner who does not have a Garmin?

While walking/running the Nike + Sportband keeps track of:

• pace
• distance
• time
• calories burned

I’ve never used one, but you probably have to calibrate it, then can upload your workout data and look at your stats online.

Anyone interested, or have a friend/family member who would use it?

Nike + Sportband Giveaway Rules

1. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment telling me who would use this – whether it’s you or someone else.
2. This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Friday April 29. I will use random.org to select the winner. I will announce the winner on Saturday April 30.
3. This giveaway is open to all readers.

Comments (16)

By kilax, March 29, 2011 5:01 am

I think I need one of these –

Do you have a yoga towel? Do you use any yoga props besides a mat (strap, blocks, etc.)?

I forgot that Jen loaned me a yoga towel when I took my first hot yoga class with her. I could have used one last night! I was dripping with sweat during almost all of the 90°+F 75-minute Vinyasa class I took with Lauren. I was so sweaty that my mat was drenched and I couldn’t do downward dog without my back legs slipping – and that was after putting a regular bath towel on the mat! The towel scrunched up and kept moving around – and it was too short!

The class was really good. I think I like the Vinyasa Flow style, better than doing more static poses. I was able to keep up for most of the class, and felt limber and exhausted (in a good way), afterward. It’s amazing to see what some of the people in the classes can do. I love watching the other students, even though I probably shouldn’t!. One girl got into a headstand while the rest of us were doing a wide legged forward fold. I guess she just felt inspired. She made it look so easy!

Do you like a particular style of yoga more than others?

I liked getting so sweaty. It made me feel like I was working hard… even though I was in a heated room. Ha ha.

Lauren and I met at a coffee shop before yoga to chat, then went out for a quick drink before I had to catch my train home.

It was a fun meet up! I feel spoiled, meeting two bloggers, two days in a row! Hmm, who’s next?!

I had a lot of fun chatting with Lauren about her running, how she ended up in Chicago, her work and her other interests. I hope we get to meet up again! She’s sweet and fun.

What a long day though! I left my house at 4:30 am and didn’t get home until almost 10:30 pm! I am feeling tired today… maybe yoga made me too relaxed!

Comments (25)

By kilax, March 26, 2011 3:02 pm

Back to rockin’ the tea. At least I have this awesome tea cup from my sister. Too cute! I think I laugh every time I use it.

I may or may have not picked up this box of tea (below) because it had a lion drinking tea on the box… adorable!

And yummy!

Anyway, talking about my emotional eating issues is getting a bit old. I don’t want someone to take a glimpse at my blog and think that is all I talk about, because really, I tend to be a pretty happy person (at least I think?) no matter my size. I just want to be healthy and feel good. I don’t when I eat a sh*t ton of sugary crap!

I recently bought a copy of my favorite emotional eating book, Life is Hard, Food is Easy, by Linda Spangle, to reread. I first read this book in the summer of 2004, and it really resonated with me. Spangle talks about why we overeat (stress, boredom, sadness, you know, all that) and suggests real ways to deal with our emotions instead of eating. Something about this book just really makes sense to me. I think I need to reread it once or twice a year. I wish I could describe it better.

I bought an extra copy of the book to give away. I figured someone out there may benefit from reading it as well.

And with that, I will try not to talk about this so much…

Life is Hard, Food is Easy Giveaway Rules

1. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment saying you would like to be entered in the giveaway.
2. This giveaway is open until 5:00 PM CST on Tuesday March 29. I will use random.org to select the winner. I will announce the winner on Wednesday March 30.
3. This giveaway is open to all readers.

Comments (39)

By kilax, March 23, 2011 4:37 pm

Guess I didn’t get very far after this post.

Help me! I seem to have fallen off of the healthy eating train. I had been doing so well since the beginning of the year, but since last Friday, I have been struggling with emotional eating big time. I’ve been eating lots of junky foods and feeling junky.

When all you want to do is stuff your face with junky food, what do you do to combat that urge?

Things that don’t work for me:

1. Self-talk – telling myself I have to make a certain weight goal by a certain date makes it worse, and so does telling myself I need to eat healthier so I feel good when I exercise. I know I can still run even if I am following a crappy diet, so that doesn’t do the trick.
2. Looking at “Skinny” photos – having “inspiring” photos around doesn’t help. Even though they are of me when I was feeling my best, health-wise.
3. Keeping a food journal – makes me even more neurotic.

Things that do work for me:

1. Being busy
2. Distractions – emails, reading blogs, magazines… exercise…
3. Working out in the am – it makes me want to eat healthier during the day
4. Not eating out (at restaurants that give you huge portions) – I don’t know when to stop eating/how to “say no” to the bread basket!
5. Making sure not to bring too many snacks to work
6. Drinking lots of water
7. Drinking tea – I can drink the tea Amy sent me from Belgium in the tumbler that Kayla bought for me at Disney World!

My new tumbler – I am looking down because Data was trying to escape out the front door while Steven took this picture!

So, seriously, any advice? Usually I get to a certain point with eating healthy (and subsequently losing weight) and it all comes crashing down. I start the binge cycle and gain all the weight back and feel like crap. I really want to avoid that. I want to be normal about food. N-O-R-M-A-L!!!

Sigh.

Okay, if normal is not possible, I want to be semi-normal. Or at least sane.

Comments (28)

By kilax, March 16, 2011 5:45 am

Have you guys ever done a kettlebell workout?!

Image credit

I think I’m in love!

That’s me, looking like death, in the front on the right. Photo Credit: Essential Fitness, LLC.

I’ve been taking a group strength classes from Essential Fitness with seven other members of the Grayslake Running Club, and last night was our first kettlebell workout.  Those things are F-U-N! The perfect combination of strength and cardio. I just wonder how my quads will be feeling later on today… I was dripping in sweat and worn out by the end of the 45-minute class! My legs even felt a bit wobbly when finished. Awesome.

I am really happy I decided to join this strength class. It was kind of a last minute thing that I signed up for, but I have been really enjoying it. Something about doing strength workouts with other people makes it a lot more fun.

And our instructor, Brian, from Essential Fitness is awesome. He gives clear instructions, does all the moves with us, is upbeat, and has a great sense of humor. I highly recommend him for personal training if you live in the northern suburbs of Chicago! I am going to be bummed when our strength class is over, and am already thinking I might have to have a few more sessions… maybe with Steven!

Brian gave us some Essential Fitness shirts last night! Schweet!

Do you like group strength classes? Or do you prefer to do your strength workouts on your own? Have you ever hired a personal trainer?

Comments (21)

By kilax, March 15, 2011 4:46 am

What’s that in my hand?!

It’s my first Green Monster!

Ha. I have to laugh. I have read about these smoothies for so long on the blogosphere and have never had one. But Jen corrected that for me and Steven on Saturday night! She made one with hemp milk, Sun Warrior protein powder, frozen bananas, spinach, avocado and ice (did I forget anything?).

And – it was DELICIOUS!

Jen and her husband told me and Steven that these are not the best smoothies they’ve ever made, but I was very impressed. Darn, does this mean I have to invest in a Vitamix now?

Just kidding. We are kind of anti “specific-use kitchen appliance” in our house. And we don’t have the room. But I could see myself making these things from time to time if I did have a blender.

Do you ever make smoothies? What do you like to put in them?

Comments (27)

By kilax, March 11, 2011 5:33 am

Do you pay attention to/keep track of your blood pressure? It is a health concern for you? Are you within the healthy range (at or under 120/80)?

From here.

My blood pressure is usually slightly over 120/80. I often have a reading between 135-120/80ish. I don’t worry about it, because I exercise so much, but I do wonder why my blood pressure isn’t lower. I know I am a highly anxious person and wonder if that has any effect. I have an annual appointment in April, and am anxious to see if my blood pressure has gone down since last year.

This week, I read a really interesting study* which concluded that having a blood pressure reading above 120/80** may not actually indicate a risk for hypertension and development of life-threatening problems. Researchers studied two decades of blood pressure data and found that those above 120/80 were not more likely to die prematurely than those under 120/80. The study found that:

Among people over 50, the most meaningful predictor of poor health was the systolic blood pressure — the first, or upper, number given in a blood pressure reading. In this older group, a systolic pressure of 140 or higher was most predictive of mortality. Among people under 50, it was the diastolic pressure, or second number, that was most predictive. In this group, a diastolic pressure of 100 or more was most predictive of poor health. In younger people, having a systolic reading of 200 or higher was also predictive of higher mortality.

The article suggested that maybe people slightly over 120/80 should focus on health conditions other than their blood pressure, and that doctors intervening could cause more risk than harm (maybe they mean if people starting taking blood pressure medication or something?). Blood pressure guidelines are being discussed by the eighth National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure this year.

*From from researchers at the Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota.
**The blood pressure guideline set in 2003 by the seventh National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.

Comments (29)

By kilax, March 7, 2011 5:02 am

I love our new tea box.

It’s nice not to have our tea in a plastic shoe box anymore!

Everything’s so nice and organized (okay, except the Celestial Seasonsings brand tea that we still keep in the pantry because they come in pillow tea bags)…

and I have loved trying the tea shared with me by Gina, Jen and Erin, and some of your recommendations!

But, I am a bit sick of tea.

And not because I don’t like the way it tastes. Or the fun of making and drinking it. Or the social aspects of it. I actually really enjoy all of that!

I am sick of using tea as a substitute for food.

And no, I am not drinking tea when I should be eating food. I eat plenty of food.

I am sick of trying to control my urges to snack when I don’t need to be snacking, by drinking tea.

I guess I am just sick of having the urge to snack when I am stressed, bored, anxious, nervous, happy, alone, etc. I am sick of having urges to sometimes binge eat, because I am avoiding something. I am sick of living between two extremes – fear of eating too much/and out of control eating.

Why does food have to be so complicated for me?

There have been very few times in my life where I have just been able to eat to fuel my body, without emotion attached.

Sigh.

I hate talking about stuff like this, but I needed to get it out there. I have been trying to get to a healthy weight, and it is frustrating. And not how slow the weight loss is – that is fine! What is frustrating is the “thinking about food so much” part. I hate having food on my mind.

Do you ever feel like you think about food too much? Any tips for me?

Comments (16)

By kilax, March 5, 2011 7:29 am

After I browsed through the April issue of Glamour, I noticed this little gem on the bottom corner:

Please! Let me know the “shocking” way celebs lose 20 pounds! What could it be?!?!

Well, you may have guessed by my title, it’s by following a VEGAN diet!

Now, to be fair, the article was more of an introduction to what a vegan diet is, but it did have plenty of celebrity references mentioning how slim celebrities became by following this lifestyle.

This annoys me for two reasons:

1. Magazine cover titles are SO misleading. Really – when you read that blurb, what did you think you would read? Something about a magic cleanse? A grapefruit only diet? I mean really, what else would make you “lose 20 pounds fast”? I know magazines do this to get people to buy the issue, but it’s so annoying. And the actual article title ended up being “Why Is Everyone Going Vegan?”
2. Vegan ≠ skinny. Oreos are vegan. Some pop tarts are. A lot of cookies are. Some french fries are. If you overeat junk on a vegan diet, you will not lose weight, just because you are not eating any animal products. Case in point:

That’s me at Christmas. Looking pretty heavy! And I have been vegan since June of 2009! But I didn’t follow a very healthy diet for the end of 2010.

So, while I appreciate the exposure Glamour is providing on veganism, I don’t appreciate the misconception. Going vegan does not guarantee you will lose weight. You certainly could, but it does not guarantee it.

It feels weird to be writing about weight loss. That is a topic I try to avoid! But I had to say something.

Do you notice all the weird misleading article titles on magazine covers?

Comments (33)

By kilax, March 1, 2011 4:58 am

I was really hungry during my run this morning, so I decided to make some oatmeal when I got back to the house (I usually wait and eat at work). And for fun, I decided to put in some of the Vega Sport Berry Protein Powder, as you guys suggested.

This is kind of dumb of me, but I expected the berry protein powder to be red. I guess there are no artificial colorings. Duh. It turned my freaking oatmeal green.

And it tasted every bit as disgusting as it looks. I could only manage 5 bites before I threw it all away. I even pinched nose as I ate it, hoping I would taste it less, but it didn’t help. I am not sure that it tasted too “plant-y” or too natural, it just tasted GROSS.

Thankfully I only bought sample packs, instead of a big jar of this stuff. I need to find something else to try.

The good news is, I lost my appetite, and can just have my oatmeal at work like I do every other day.

To make up for the gross picture above, here’s a cute one of Data!