I am exhausted! I did so much activities yesterday and I don't know how I kept up with it. After I dropped my husband off at work, we went to the YMCA.
As I was running on the treadmill, I noticed I started to feel sleepy for some strange reason. Not sleepy like I'm exhausted but like my whole body felt very relax and that I was in some kind of tranquil. I wanted to laid down and close my eyes. Of course I can't do that in the middle of a gym.
I did my 30 minutes walk/run and went to Kohls to shop for some new clothes. I was happy that I can fit into a size 10 short now but what surprised me the most was the shirt. I'm used to buying size L shirts and when I put it on to check if it looks good with my short, I was surprised how baggy the shirt was on me. So I ended up getting a M size. I guess I shrunk more on top than on the bottom. But that's okay because I know I am getting closer to my goal than I realize. I was really happy to get some new clothes. I told myself that if I hit the 130's, it's time to get myself some new clothes. So I did.
After my clothes shopping, I took my daughter to the playground for an hour. She was so excited to go and make some new friends. But there was a little girl there that was about the same age as my daughter. I was very concerned about this girl because she was very heavy for a 2 years old. I watch her play with my daugher and they were climbing a ladder to the slide side by side to each other. My daughter made it up faster than she did. I watch how this little girl struggle with each breath to get up that ladder. I don't know this girl's situation as why she is heavy but I hope it's not because her parents let her eat whatever she wants and doesn't move around a lot during the day. But that may not be the reason. She could be sick herself with cancer or some type of disease that I don't know of. I know those chemotherapy can make you all swollen and stuff. I don't want to make judgement on that girl as I don't know her situation but I do wonder why. I never saw her parents around the playground and she stayed there for only 10 minutes and then she was gone.
Later, I saw a boy who is about 7 or 8 and he was playing with some of the older boys. He too was heavy and the boys were picking on him, pushing him around, and laughing at him. He was laughing along with them but I can tell they were laughing AT him and I thought it was really mean. I'm deaf and I don't know what they said but I have to wonder if this boy is covering up his feelings by laughing along with them because I didn't see anything funny about it. Those situation made me think a lot about children today not eating healthy because parents don't have the knowledge of healthy eating or they just don't want to bother.
It's funny how I was thinking about that because a friend texted me on my pager and asked me if there is anything in particular that I don't want in a dessert for easter. I told her that as long as it doesn't have trans fat, I'm fine with everything else for now. She texted me back and said what is trans fat? Oh boy. Then my husband and I tried to invite her and her husband to join us at this BBQ place and she didn't want to go there. She rather go to Johnny Rocket for some hamburger, fries, and milkshakes. I was like whoa that's one huge calorie dinner.
Later we met a park to play with some frisbee to enjoy the beautiful weather outside. That was more running around for me heh, but I don't mind. After the park, we left and stopped at McDonald for a small ice cream sundae. I wish I could take a picture of my daughter's face when I brought the ice cream out. She was sooo thrilled to have some ice cream and she ate it like she was starving all day LOL.
On our way home, my husband surprised me by telling me how my friend look like she is gaining weight from all that food she is eating. I didn't even know my husband was paying attention to our weight. He also mentioned how I look more slimmer now. I was really flattered that he told me that. So that was a nice way to have my day ended as we drive home. I was soo tired as we got home and I feel asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.
Okay, I found something unexpected in my vitamins yesterday. I went to the kitchen counter to take my usual multivitamins and for some reason, I stare at this one word in the ingredients list: PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL.
Whhaattt????? There's trans fat in my vitamins??? I had to look twice to actually see that. I never imagined in a million years that vitamins would contain trans fat. I was like oh sheesh, here I've been trying to eat healthy and all along I was still consuming trans fat in my diet. Time to change my vitamin.
I did my Gilad workout yesterday and now I'm going to the YMCA. I will be stopping at my friend's house since she finally got out of the hospital yesterday. It will be a long recovery for her and hopefully she'll be back on her feet soon. Well I am short on time today, so I hope everyone have a happy Friday.
I made a mistake eating lunch before my daughter took a nap. When I put her down for her nap, I was planning to workout with Gilad on TV but I was soo full from lunch. So I thought to finish my movie (Memoirs of a Geisha) that I was watching yesterday and then workout. After my movie, I wasn't quite motivated to workout as I was relax from the movie and then my daughter woke up.
So today I will not be eating lunch until after my workout and it will be Gilad again. Tomorrow I'm going to the YMCA.
I'm looking forward to getting out of this apartment. We only have one car and my husband has 2 jobs. He works in 2 different areas. On Mon, Wed, and Fri, he works near University of Central Florida area which is where I go to the Y 3 days a week. His other job is in Kissimmee and I stay home when he goes there. He had to change his schedule this week so I only have the Y 2 times this week. Not much exercise and this is when I finally decided that I need to do some workout at home.
This morning, I lost another .5 lb. :) Whoohoo!
I read an interesting article by MSNBC.com about getting that bikini belly and how there is no shortcut to it.
Ways to get your belly beach ready 3 things you need to do: cardio, crunches and cutting calorie
By Allison Van Dusen
Admit it.
Feeling self-conscious about the size of your stomach, you've been tempted to look into one of the countless products out there touting washboard abs in 30 seconds or less.
But instead of buying into a quick fix this year, why not follow some of the experts' advice for kicking that spare tire for good?
Infomercials may tell you otherwise, but most research has shown it isn't possible to spot reduce. Exercises like crunches may tone your abdominal muscles but that doesn't mean you're necessarily losing a lot of fat there, says Lynn Millar, professor of physical therapy at Andrews University in Michigan and a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.
"Any exercise above and beyond doing none will help you burn fat and lose weight," she says, "but not from that one spot — from all over."
The good news Fear not. You're probably already doing the kinds of exercises that will lead to great abs — just maybe not the right amounts.
If you've got some weight to lose, say 10 pounds or more, your primary focus should be aerobic exercise, such as running, biking and swimming, which will help lower your total body fat.
To get the best results, aim for 30 to 45 minutes of aerobic exercise three to five days a week. Twice a week incorporate anaerobic exercise, such as weight lifting, using eight to 10 different exercises targeting large muscles, Millar says.
Overall, your workout should be 75 percent aerobic and 25 percent anaerobic, suggests Edward Jackowski, CEO and founder of the motivational fitness company Exude.
"If you're a guy with a 38 waist and your stomach is hanging over your belt, you're not going to firm that," he says. "You need to lose weight at the same time."
Center of attention Once you're ready to focus on ab exercises, you've got a wide range of choices. Most moves tend to do the same thing using different positions, Millar says, but if you're confused about which is best a trainer may be able to help.
Jackowski recommends crunches and reverse crunches; the latter involves pulling your knees toward your chest.
A recent study sponsored by the American Council on Exercise says the best at-home abdominal exercises in terms of getting definite results are the bicycle maneuver, where you perform a crunch by touching your knees to your opposite elbows, and the exercise-ball crunch, in which you lie back on the ball, thighs and torso parallel with the floor, and raise your torso no more than 45 degrees as you exhale. The council's Web site contains instructions on how to correctly perform a number of abdominal exercises.
Whatever exercises you choose, the American College of Sports Medicine says you should start out doing eight to 12 repetitions each for one to three sets; or generally for those 50 and older, 10 to 15 reps at a lower resistance. Concentrate on your form to prevent back injuries, rather than speeding through them. And don't do them every day.
"Abs need time to recover," says Billy Blanks, creator of a new Tae Bo workout called AMPED, which focuses on strengthening the core and burning fat with the help of an exercise bar. "If you keep going, you'll keep breaking them down."
Food facts When it comes to your diet, don't skip meals. It may make your stomach feel and look flat, but it will probably make you feel lousy and lead to your sitting on the couch in front of the TV instead of spending time on the elliptical machine.
Millar recommends following the USDA's dietary guidelines, which advocate a balanced diet and, for weight loss, reducing your daily caloric intake. Along those lines, Jackowski suggests limiting your starches at night, when you need less fuel, while Blanks says he cuts back on sugar and soda.
While there are lots of different diets to chose from today, from low carb to low fat, in the end which one you choose may be less important than whether you stick with it, says Kerry Stewart, professor of medicine and director of clinical research exercise physiology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Healthy incentive If having others see you in a bathing suit this summer isn't motivation enough, you should also consider the impact trimming your trunk can have on your health.
A growing body of research shows that larger waist sizes are associated with inflammation, and with that an increased risk of heart attack, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer, says Dr. Luigi Fontana, assistant professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. That's likely due to the presence of visceral fat, the fat that surrounds organs in the gut and can't easily be surgically removed.
In other words, liposuction won't cut it.
As we age, our visceral fat tends to increase. Men start off with more visceral fat, but for women between the ages of 25 and 65 this type of fat triples, says Gary Hunter, professor in the department of human studies and nutrition science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. To avoid the age-related shift, prevent weight gain and maintain lean tissue, the answer is resistance and aerobic training.
By maintaining a higher level of fitness, you're also more likely to be active, taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking a little farther away from the front door of the mall, continuing the cycle.
"The magic bullet really is exercise," Hunter says.
I had a wonderful surprise this morning when I stepped on the scale. I finally hit the 130's and the scale reads 139.5. I was soo surprised! I didn't think I would hit the 130's this soon. It has been almost over 2 years since I was in my 130's before my pregnancy. I'm sooooooooo happy this morning and I finish that yucky TOM today too.
I was thinking a lot about you guys and your comments. Skinnyminny mentioned about eating tuna fish for protein during her TOM and I made some tuna fish yesterday. I noticed some of you work out 5 or 6 days a week and I realized I only workout when I go to the Y which is like 1 or 2 times a week. I decided I need to do some workout at home.
So I checked out Fittv.com and see what workout is on for the day. I did Gilad one time and thought he was fun. He even had his mother on the show with him. I thought that was pretty neat. So I DVR one of Gilad show and waited until my daughter fall asleep for her nap. Once she fell asleep, I did some of Gilad's workout.
Some of them seems pretty easy to me and others were a bit hard. It was only for 30 minutes and I didn't feel like I workout really hard like I do at the gym like running. But he said on the show that these exercises we're doing is turning our body into fat burning machine. I was like okkkaaayyy. Apparently, he was right since I made it into 130's this morning just from his 30 minute exercise show.
I also noticed a boost in my self confidence from his exercise and I had a lot of fun too. I rarely like aerobic exercise but I really like Gilad. Thinking about buying one of his DVD and use them when I'm away.
I'm already having such a happy Wednesday morning at 7:45am. I hope you all have a great day!
The weather in Florida is getting hotter now. It will be 89 degrees here today and tomorrow. This is the perfect weather to go swimming. I love swimming and all but I'm still very self conscious about my body in a bathing suit. I try not to think about it and ignore those skinny girls in a bikini.
There is a trend here in Florida among the girls espcially in college. I noticed many of them are thin and in good shape. I used to live in Kansas and go to college and I've never seen this many thin girls there as much as in Florida. I didn't feel self conscious much in KS, but in Florida, it feels very different. It almost like these people are telling you that if you want to live in Florida, you gotta be thin and look good. Of course, not everyone looks that way here, but it's very noticeable.
I'm determined to not let my self conscious bother me with the bathing suit and I want to go swimming with my daughter at the pool. She loves to swim as well and I'm thinking about taking a swim lesson class with her at the YMCA. I have to ask you all how do you deal with the bathing suit season? Do you feel self concious as well? What do you do to ignore it and just enjoy your day swimming? Tips and advices on this would help a lot.
I wish my TOM would finish up. I get my TOM for one week while other women get theirs for 3 days. I wish I had that 3 days. I become very tired easily and it's uncomfortable to workout sometimes.
I went to the Y this morning and did about 5 minutes of running and walked for 35 minutes. I didn't have the energy to do anymore running, so I just kept walking. It's better than nothing. My daughter was thrilled to go to daycare and play with the other kids.
My friend who had her surgery last week is coming home from the hosptial today. The doctor found her uterus and ovary to be in worse shape than he thought it was. She was very lucky to have a doctor who listen to her pain and knew what to do to save her life. She had another rare vein growing in her uterus as well and that's life threatening. Praise the Lord!
My hubby is still trying to recover from the virus he caught from my daughter and he's staying home from work today.
I went to the doctor today for my daughter's 2 year old check up and I ended up rescheduling it because they forgot to call for a sign language interpreter. I was really disappointed with them. This is not the first time they've done this. It's really inconvience to show up and reschedule.
Other than that, I'm going to Target this afternoon to get my daughter some new shoes for Easter. I can't believe Easter is this Sunday.
Yesterday I wasn't in a happy mood. I had to keep reminding myself that I can't take my weight personally during my TOM. When I got on the scale, it said 2 lbs gained. I wasn't happy at all. I only had a scoop of ice cream after dinner. How could that possibly make me gain 2 lbs overnight? But I had to keep reminding myself it's my TOM.
So I kept cleaning the house all afternoon to keep my mind off about the weight issue. The bathroom is sparkling clean now and so is my living room and kitchen. I'm going to do the bedrooms today.
I got on the scale this morning and it said that 2lbs gained is gone. Okay, so maybe cleaning the apartment helps. Whatever it was, I just hate it when it shots up so fast like that, but I'm happy to see it go back down. I'm 1 lb away to get into that 130's and it seems hard to get there.
Sometimes I feel like the scale is playing a game with me. If I have one dessert or one cookie the day before, the scale would laugh at me and tell me that I'm fooling myself that I could still lose weight with a dessert. Sometimes it would tell me very good but let's see how you do tomorrow. I know you probably think I am weird now, but I realized that the weight loss journey has a lot to do with our mind and I need to install more positive thoughts. Now I sound like a computer.
Basically I know I need to get back to the gym if I want to start seeing some 130's soon. So I shouldn't be complaining why I can't get there. I know why I can't get there. I haven't been to the gym for a week. Time to go back tomorrow. Have a great day!
I can't believe it's the last day of March. I feel like it flew by so quickly this month.
My friend had surgery yesterday afternoon. She has been having pains in her cervic and uterus for the past year. At first, she went to a new OB GYN doctor because her old doctor's company had dropped her insurance and will no longer pay for her.
This new doctor has been giving her different tests every month and still couldn't find what's wrong with her. My friend was in so much pain that she couldn't walk or do anything. Her husband had to stay home from work often to take care of their 4 kids. This took a toll on their finanical situation with him missing work so much.
Finally, her husband went to her old doctor and begged to give him a different doctor because this new doctor was not helping them at all. It turned out her old doctor decided to own his company and now accept her insurance. So she went back to him. They were very alarmed by what they found with my friend. She had an inflammed vein on top of one of her ovaries (Ovary Vein Syndrome) and if she ever had a car accident or if her one of kids just jump on top of her and broke that vein, she could bleed to death in seconds. My friend is only 29 years old. They also discovered she had Pelvic Congestion Syndrome, Prolapsed and Retroverted Uterus. The doctor was amazed that she had 4 kids.
They put her in surgery and removed that ovary and expected her to recover in 4 week. Well 4 weeks later, the pain just got worse and she wasn't getting any better. Yesterday, they decided to do a hysterectomy on her. I'm hoping and praying that this will be the end of her pain. A year of pain is something no one should endure for that long.
My husband came home sick from his business trip. He got the virus that my daughter had at the beginning of the week and he's home now sick in bed. I'm happy he's home and not up in DC alone. I don't like it when he's away and sick alone and now it's time for me to put my nursing hat back on. Hope everyone have a great weekend!
I'm so glad I didn't go anywhere yesterday. I kept thinking that I wanted to go to the gym and then do some shopping to just to get out of the house. Then I kept wondering why my daughter smells really bad like fart smells. I thought to myself, wow she really has some bad gas there.
Then I decided to step away from the computer and I felt something gooey under my foot. To my horror, my daughter had a massive diaherra that went thru her diaper, all the way down her leg and all over the carpet. I looked over and saw my daughter walking toward the couch. The brand new couch! I ran over and scooped her up just in time before she climb on it. I had to change her and wash her down. Then wash her clothes in the sink before stains set in her dress. Then down on my hands and knees scrubbing the carpet with carpet stain cleaner and febreze. Well that was a workout.
I can't imagine how embarrass I would be if we were somewhere and it went all over the carseat or stroller. It would have been really hard to clean up. When you have a child, life is always full of surprises with them and definitely unpredictable.
Have a happy Friday. My husband is coming home tonight.
Sometimes all you need to make your day happy is to see your friends.
As I was packing the car to leave and take my daughter to the playground, my daughter started calling out her best friend's name who is also 2 years old. So I paged my friend and asked her if she was free this afternoon. She was just picking up her oldest daughter from school and told us to come on over! We decided to take all the kids to the playground together and then have ice cream afterwards.
My friend has 4 kids and when I joined her, my daughter makes 5. So it's hard to drag 5 kids to a place and make them sit still. I went to the food store to pick up some of those ice cream cups and I found a birthday ice cream cake in those little cups. I thought how cute and they would love it. The ice cream really good. I would have been okay if it wasn't for my friend's husband offering key lime pie that he received from a friend. It was not bad.
After the ice cream and everything, another friend paged us who is Alyssa's babysitter asking if we would join them for dinner at her apt. So we left and joined my other friend. She ordered pizza. I wasn't crazy about eating pizza for dinner since I just had an ice cream cup and key lime pie. I didn't realized I was so hungry because I hadn't eaten all afternoon except for the desserts. That's not good meal planning, I know! But it was my daughter's birthday and I wanted to enjoy the day with her. So I had some pizza and we chatted for a bit. We got home so late and my daughter became very gassy. Her farts smelled so bad that she came to me and told me she was stinky by putting her hands on her nose.
I'm not going to let the food I ate yesterday to get to me but I sure had a bit of a tummy ache since I'm not used to eating so much sugar and fatten food. It's interesting how your body changes when you start eating more healthier. I used to be able to eat a lot of heavy food with no problem, but now I would get stomach ache and sometimes gassy that it hurts. I am lactose intorlance and when I eat a lot of dairy food, I get very bloated, gassy and it hurts. Most of the time, I would have a small ice cream and I would be okay, but too much is not good. I drink soy milk and eat soy yogurt with no problem.
Today will be a simple day for us. I may go to the gym and go shopping. Hope you all have a happy Thursday!
