Trash Talk And A Honeymoon

Have you ever had one of those "What have I gotten myself into moments?" What am I saying? Ofcourse you have. If you haven't, then there's something wrong with you! I've had a few (or maybe a lot) of those moments in my lifetime, including one from today. I was chatting with a co-worker and told her that I was thinking about starting P90x on Monday and she mentioned that another co-worker of ours had just bought the DVDs for P90x. Well, I happened to have grown up with this co-worker and always find pure joy in bugging the crap out of him. Aren't I nice? So, I quickly shot him an IM telling him that I am going to do P90x and I'm going to beat the socks off of him (there is very rarely a conversation between us two that doesn't involve some sort of trash talk). Well, one thing led to another (well, actually I orchestrated the whole thing, but he doesn't need to know that) and we ended up making a bet on who can lose the most weight. Well, ofcourse we all know that's going to be ME. I officially have a honeymoon to plan for, so not only do I really want to take my co-workers money from him (the money that we bet) but I have 197 days to get my buns into shape.

So, yes. You did read correctly. I OFFCIALLY put down a deposit and reserved our room for Couples Swept Away in Negril, Jamaica. I am beyond excited considering I was starting to think that our honeymoon was going to turn into the "20 years, 3 kids, and 50 lbs later" we're finally getting around to taking a trip together. Whew. I dodged that bullet.. Funny thing is, as soon as I booked the honeymoon, I felt a twinge of sadness because I can no longer plan for it beings it's done...booked...set in stone (well, not completely). I really think I have a planning problem. Well, that and a serious problem of being terrified of being bored (see previous post about my boredom habits). I guess that means that now I can just start planning for our future house purchase. So, between preparing to buy a house, kicking my buns into shape so I can back that trash talk up, and keeping up with every other crazy detail in my life, I should hopefully be able to avoid the boredom bug.

Boredom & Stress Stink

Boredom is never a good thing for me. When I get bored my imagination has nothing else to do but to stress and worry over things I should not be stressing or worrying about. Another bad boredom side effect? I eat. I have mentioned that I am a stress eater, so boredom turns into stress, stress turns into eating, and eating turns into additional unwanted pounds.

So, where am I going with this? Last night I was talking to Jason and at 4:58 my time, (which would be 5:58 his time) he's falling asleep and can barely stay awake. So, being the nice and undemanding wife that I am (he might suggest otherwise) I kindly suggested that he call it an early night and go to bed. So, at roughly 5:00 p.m. I found myself with nothing to do. I decided to decrompress and watch a little TV and it was oh so fabulous. The distraction lasted long enough to keep me from stressing out and getting bored and doing some bad snacking.

Onto the weigh in last night. I really had no idea what to expect beings I hadn't worked out at all. However, eating right definitely has its perks. Since last Wednesday, I have lost 1.4 lbs. Woohoo!!! So, now I just need to schedule in some workout time into the schedule, work on getting more sleep and drinking more water, and do as much as possible from getting stressed and bored!

Emu Eggs: The Cure For Overeating

I read an interesting article on msnbc.com titled "Why we eat when we're not hungry." There really wasn't anything out of the ordinary and the article was basically full of information that I already knew (yet obviously haven't been following), but it was still a good refresher course.

One point that had quite a bit of time spent on it was the fact that you should not watch TV while you are eating. Well, I beg to differ. In the last week since I came out of the dark ages and decided to get TV, my mindless snacking has come to a screeching halt! I'll be the first to admit that I'm a boredom/stress eater. If I had known TV would cure this bad habit, I would have signed up months ago. hahaha Although, I will admit, I have to stear clear from the Food Network channel after 6:00 p.m. if I want to have any hope of losing weight and getting into shape. Unless I watch another episode of Chopped. That show quickly killed any appetite I might have had for late night snacking. One of the challenges last night was to cook a dessert using an emu egg. DISGUSTING. Seriously? An emu egg? I mean, I consider chicken eggs to be borderline disgusting, so there's no way I could ever stomach an emu egg, much less in a dessert. After a solid minute of gag reflexes, I changed the channel (although I may have found an effective way to not eat lol).

Onto more serious matters. I have my first official weigh in tonight after a week of the weightloss challenge. I really don't know what to expect. I'm not expecting any miraculous disappearing pounds, because I have yet to workout in the last week, but I "feel" lighter, thanks to the shakes, so I guess we'll see tonight.

Before Pics

So, here are the dreaded "before" pics. Obviously I haven't been too good at posting pics. However now that I will be submitted to pure torture every week and have to take pics, you can expect a whole album of them...well, maybe not that many, but they should be posted on a regular basis.

On a brighter note, I lost 2 lbs this week! WOOHOO!!! When I reported the good news to the hubby, he responded with the upbeat encouragement I was seeking, but then said that he also needed to change his diet. This is something I have been thinking for awhile beings the guy can consume 2 whole Red Baron pepperoni & sausage pizzas and a big serving of ice cream in one sitting. Hmm....and I wonder where he got the idea that he needed to change his diet???

I'm Alive

Awhile back, I talked about a weightloss challenge that I had entered. Well, it officially started yesterday! WAHOO!!! I attended the first meeting with several close friends where we were weighed in (sucky), measured (yet again sucky), and introduced to what the next 9 weeks has in store for us (yay!). If there is one thing I love, it's to be challenged and to be in a competitive atmosphere, so this should be fun!

So, now for the bad news. Several weeks ago I was having a blonde technical moment and somehow managed to confuse the heck out of my ipod. I have turned it into a jumbled mess and now I can't download music onto it or create playlists. And my ipod is my lifeline when I'm working out. I'm not exagerating. It's like oxygen. To me, it's more important than oxygen. Sucking in air during a hard workout is hard enough, but my ears always work perfectly. I HAVE to have my ipod when I'm at the gym. Needless to say, I've been at a loss.

To make matters even worse, the remote to my DVD player broke (it's not the batteries, I already checked). Well, that pretty much rules out my workout videos because it's pretty hard to surf through the DVD menu without a working remote.

But there is hope! I finally broke into the new decade and got cable. I'm serious. Not a lie. Yes, me...GOT CABLE! I know, it's pretty pathetic to be so excited, but hey, remember that post where I said I carried on conversations with my cat? Yeah, those have died down a ton in the last 24 hours! And the coolest thing about cable (comcast to be exact) is that I have a bazillion of workout videos and routines right at my finger tips thanks to Comcast OnDemand. How cool is that? It also officially leaves me with no excuse whatsoever to workout in the mornings.

Stress Buster

One morning, several weeks ago, I was getting ready for work. I glanced up at the mirror for a split second and saw an unusually light colored hair on top of my head. Keep in mind, I'm a natural brunette and beings I spend about zero time in the sun, there was no reason for my hair to be "sunkissed" with blonde straglers. All of the sudden, it was like the mirror had some sort of magnetic pull on me. I practically had my face smashed up against it to get a closer look at this "blonde" hair. Sadly, it wasn't blonde. It was gray. I was in denial for several weeks until the inevitable happened again this past Sunday. I found ANOTHER one. What the heck is going on? I'm only 28, neither one of my parents started graying until their mid 30's, so why in the world are these less than brunette (I can't even bring myself to say the G word again) hairs showing up? I think I can sum it up in one word: Stress. I haven't exactly handled the last several months very well and to say my stress levels have increased would be an understatement. Something has to be done unless I want to be fully "less than brunette" by the time my husband is actually living with me!!!

So, needless to say, it's time for a serious plan of action! Several weeks ago, Jason and I were discussing the benefits of running. He loves it and is quite good at it. Me on the other hand, I HATE running with a passion. When I played high school sports, running was used as a form of punishment. Well, I'm sure you can see why after several years of playing sports I started to associate running as being a bad thing, which is sad because it can be such a stress reliever. Which is exactly what I need!

I mentioned to Jason that it would be nice to learn how to "like" running. I know it's something he enjoys and it would be nice to have atleast one hobby in common. Because let's face it, I'm never going to become the bow hunting goddess that he would like me to be and he's never going to be able to sit through three hours of non-stop infomercials like I can. I decided that entering a 5k (let's start out SUPER easy) would be a good challenge. It's something to work towards that I could see the end results. So, I quickly googled races in the Denver area for next spring. I figured I would give myself plenty of time. Well, it didn't work out so well. Jason said that I should shoot for running in a race next fall. Darn him.

So, the plan of action is to start incorporating Couch to 5K into my weekly workouts. It's a program that helps you to build up your running tolerance with the idea of having you ready to run a 5K in 9 weeks. Not too shabby is it? The best part about it is you only have to run 3 days a week. WAHOO!!!!!!!! That doesn't mean you can take the rest of the time off. It's probably a good idea to stay active, but just have a less intense workout for the other days.

Out Of My Cave

Several weeks ago, my dad took me out for dinner while he was up in Denver. During the course of the conversation, he basically told me I lived a hermit's life. Now, I know I tend to hang out at my apartment with my cat more than I do with actual human beings, but a hermit? Me? I'm not a social butterfly, but I definitely didn't think I was a hermit. Well, enter in a few sleepless nights, a couple of stressful weeks, and I did what I usually do when I'm really stressed: crawl into my little cave and hide from the world. Hence the reason I have not been blogging lately. But, I can only be anti-social and anti-blogging for so long...especially beings I've officially received a challenge from my dear husband...drum roll.......

So, if you are from the Denver area, you have most likely heard of the Incline in Manitou Springs. Several years ago (and quite a few pounds lighter) my youngest sister and I climbed the Incline. In one word, it was brutal. As I was dramatically telling Jason about how hard and brutal the climb is, I let it slip that it's only a mile. Yes, only a mile. Even Jason said, "It's only a mile?" Ok, so maybe it really is "only a mile," but it's the suckiest mile you'll ever experience in your life!

As you can see from the diagram, the mile is straight up the side of a mountain. And trust me, you definitely hit that 68% grade. And see the lovely photograph? Yeah, that's only at halfway. Well, back to my little incline rant. So, Jason decided that this will be "excellent training" to do once or twice a week. Yeah, right on honey. Knock yourself out. If you want to drive 110 miles round trip every week to submit yourself to elevation torture, you just go ahead and do that! Me, on the other hand, I'll settle for continuing to get myself into shape just I can survive Jason's suicidal pace that he'll attempt to climb this beast in! Even though Jason and I have known eachother for 5 years, he has only seen my competitive streak once (I believe this involved a nerf bullet to the head and getting his butt royally kicked at air hockey, but I'll save that story for another time). However, he hasn't seen my competitive streak out in full force. I am not a graceful loser. I'm even ultra competitive when I play monopoly, just ask a former roommate and my sisters & mother who now refuse to play with me. The point is, after hearing Jason say, "It's only a mile" I am determined to make him suffer during every step of that mile! hahaha I don't care if I have to body check him, sprint up the last incline and nose dive across the last railroad tie, I will beat him to the top...boy do I have my work cut out for me!