CAJUN FLAVOR!!

Here are some photos from the trip: the sign that greeted us entering Sager-Brown, Bethany UMC in New Orleans where we all attended services before getting on the road headed for Baldwin, packing & praying over Tuesdays shipment going to Haiti, a couple of shots from the Tabasco plant on Avery Island, a boat I liked to call The Jenny (like from Forrest Gump) although it's actual name was Night Moves that sat right behind the Depot on the Bayou Teche, a cable car on the streets of New Orleans, The U.S.S. Alabama in Mobile Bay

Back (a whole week, still need to improve on blogging regularly) from Louisiana & MAN what a wonderful time we all had together! To say that we came away more blessed than the work, service or blessings we might have left in Baldwin is an understatement. It is always this way when you are doing Gods work!
Louisiana was fun, fun, fun. The people were fantastic, the work, although there was a lot of it, was made even more "joyful" by all of the people we got to know throughout the week and I don't think I'll ever forget the smell of soap as we walked into the warehouse every morning ready & willing to be God hands.
Sager-Brown was just an awesome place to be. Jerry & Marlene, out hosts, were always so helpful and they even had a treadmill in the gym, so I didnt have to miss any workouts (BIG BONUS!). Because even though we worked hard everyday & burned off most of our meals (and let me tell you we had some fabulous food, these ladies know how TO COOK at Sager-Brown) we had eaten well, breakfast, lunch & dinner, something I know most people don't do daily. Eat three square meals a day? I know I can hardly find time for that.

Aside from working all week, we did have one little excursion out on Wednesday afternoon. We took a side trip to Avery Island and the Tabasco plant there. Did you know they bottle 700,000 bottles of Tabasco in 1 single day working two 12 hr shifts back to back? Amazing. They have a salt mine on the island too & according to our guide she said the salt mine is as deep as Mt Everest is high. I couldn't find the exact statistics, but that sounded pretty interesting too. We went to the jungle gardens & got about as close as I'll ever want to get to a couple of baby alligators. We finished off our day having dinner at R&M's Boiling Point where everybody had catfish & crawfish and I tried a fried alligator Po Boy with some of the best onion rings I've ever tasted.

Sager-Brown is located in Baldwin, La. off of the Bayou Teche. The UMCOR Depot that our group went to work at houses the warehouse where all of the health kits, school kits, sewing kits, layette kits and birthing kits are assembled and stored ready for shipment all around the world. I would have to say the hilight of our week was packing the huge container that was going to Haiti. All of our teams worked together from Boaz, AL, Paris,TX our St Pauls UMC team & a large group of youth from La. We prayed over the shipment & sang The Doxology before it took off from the laoding dock. It was a wonderful moment.
I look forward to going back next year. It truly was a great experience. I have to add that aside from all of the work that we did with happy hearts, it was a great oppurtunity to know my fellow brothers & sisters from St Pauls a whole lot better and to fellowship with them.

One additional note, I am now OFFICIALLY under 200 lbs!!!!!!!
I weighed in on Thursday for this months weigh in & I am ECSTATIC!! Back to playing tennis yesterday too. Felt so good to sweat it out on the court!

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/work/reliefsupplydepots/newsletter/

TENNIS & grilling out...what a great Memorial Day!

I can say that I has an absolutely fabulous Memorial Day. Started the day off with playing 2 sets of tennis. Man was it hot!!! We were really sweating it out. It felt good, but the heat got to me by the later 1/2 of the second set & I did get a tad bit pink today. It will turn, I never burn, but my forehead got a little bit too much sun.

Then by the time we got home the French Open was on. So more tennis! The womens match was really good. I was wiped out from all the sun earlier. Later on we had the best BBQ - ribs & chicken! Along with that prized macaroni salad (recipe follows).

This might be a short entry, but that is because I was just completely satisfied with how I spent my day off. I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day too, keep our troops & their families in your prayers. They need every one. God Bless!

Here is that great macaroni salad (super simple to make) recipe I mentioned yesterday:
This makes a really large batch, good to take to a picnic or cook-out. It's self explanatory to make, so here are just the ingredients.

Mom's Macaroni Salad

1 16 oz box of elbow macaroni (I prefer Barilla Plus)
1 1/4 c. Hellmanns low fat mayo
2 tbsp of Frenchs mustard
2 tsp of cider vinegar (and to this disolve either 1 tsp of sugar or 1 packet of Splenda)
1 large sweet Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
3 ribs of celery, very finely chopped

Once made, sprinkle really well with black pepper & refrigerate overnight. The flavor is better when it gets to sit overnight. ENJOY!

This week was blah.....

This week can best be described as blasé blah! I wish I had a more positive outlook regarding this past week, but every single day seemed to D-R-A-G! The absolute only thing I looked forward to (which I guess could be viewed as a good thing?) was exercising daily.

I mean, I genuinely looked forward to sweating it out whatever I was doing. And tennis after going to LifeShape on Wednesday was AWESOME! The courts we found were in perfect shape & we even bumped into a couple from W.Melbourne that’s interested in doing some pickup doubles. Plus they gave us the low down on all the pickup matches in our area, so that was nice. NOT that we are rocking as far as our game in concerned yet, but these folks knew how to play, which is nice when you bump into somebody on the tennis court. My only concern is just starting back to playing & my singles game could be improved before I start on doubles, but I guess exercise is exercise? So just as much as I can fit in can’t be bad.

Had my weigh in Tuesday & I was holding from last week. I wish I could say that YEAH I am finally under 2, but alas no.

No matter, I really am just concerned with writing absolutely everything down that I eat. I know if I can keep up with the food journal it will be a big help. It is so much harder than exercising. And I thought getting my fitness right would be my toughest part. I can’t believe how naïve I was to think that I thought the food thing would be easier.
It is easier when I have all my meals planned out, then journaling is no sweat. But when it’s a day when I start out & I don’t even know what I’m going to do for breakfast, then it goes a little downhill from there. I need to change up something when it comes to the food thing anyway. I have not hit any plateaus, but I feel like my food is blasé too. We’ll see what I can do about that this week.

Whatever I am doing, I want to start my day off right. Just being positive & letting God lead my path. Instead of getting off on the wrong foot, which this past week has felt like a little. I feel like when I play it by ear & sometimes get the blahs, I get snarky.

I do want to pass on a few good “finds” I’ve come across these past few weeks. And food-wise there are some things I’ve hit on & I’m not tired of them yet.

Danon Greek yogurt has no fat & it is a WONDERFUL source of protein, you get 25% of your daily value in 1 cup. I personally love the vanilla flavor. I will usually add a little cereal to it or 1 of my Natures Valley pomegranate, cranberry & almond bars, although the yogurt is tasty all by itself. And it does not taste like something that is low-fat or non-fat to me.

The Healthy Choice Steamers are quite healthy & the best thing I like about them is they taste great, but are very low in sodium. Most of the processed stuff you find in the freezer section (except veggies) have way too many additives, typically sodium, so I try to stay away. But these (I’ve liked all of the meals I have tried in these) & Kashi are pretty good. Anybody that knows me knows I’m a pretty adventurous eater, I really won’t say no to any one thing, I like it all. The Kashi “Mayan Harvest Bake” is one of my favorite picks. It is 100% vegetarian & has black beans, so it’s good on protein, as well.

Well that is all for now. Happy Memorial Day! We are grilling out & if I can find the recipe for my mothers fabulous, low-fat macaroni salad, I will share next time. I swear it is THE BOMB!!! Best macaroni salad & it is so simple to make. Plus it is made with low-fat mayo. Hey if you're going to go for macaroni salad, give it a try.

To work on this week: Food journaling
Will report how I did next week!

FINALLY....I'm back!

HEY THERE! I AM FINALLY BACK (TO BLOGGING, THAT IS).
This entry will totally sum up everything I've done in the past month & a half.
First things first: I'VE LOST 8.2 LBS!!!!! So psyched about that. My next weigh in is this coming Tuesday, I was hoping to be under 200 but we shall see....I weighed in this past Monday at the LifeShape gym I've been going to Mondays & Wednesdays & was told I was at 202 even. So over 2 lbs in a week? Like I said, we'll see. I know even if I don't hit the magic # by Tuesday that before May ends, I will be under 200 lbs & that is like my "Biggest Loser" milestone moment for me. The next big goal I have in mind is to be between 165-180 by the time I go to Nashville in August.
And I know that I can achieve that. 165 is kinda pushing it but 180 I know is attainable. I've really been getting into my workouts, sorry I don't have the play-by-play of what I have been doing, but I can describe just how much I've been working out. My week pretty much goes like this:

Sunday I go to my gym with my friend Christa & we do what is called a STRONG class. It is working out muscle groups with weights & the instructor is KICK BUTT! I love her! She really pushes you to get the most out of yourself. When we get done with her class it's like you always kinda feel exhausted but exhilarated at the same time. Like, "I just DID THAT?" So that is a great way to start my week off.

Monday & Wednesday I go to LifeShape to work out with my trainer who is very motivating & is always doing something that I consider "unique". Unique in that his approach to fitness doesn't seem to be what I consider straight on. He is always having me do something different like push ups off an eliptical machine after I've just finished working out on it or pull ups off of a treadmill when I've done the same. I do not even bother to clock watch anymore when I get into the gym to workout, because I've noticed that he knows I do that & he'll be even more relentless!!!! haha
The best thing lately is there is always some different way to get my heart rate up. Like hopping up & down off of a bosu ball (something that I was not trusting until I did it last week & was proud of myself) or boxing intervals or doing this "ball to the wall" thing as he likes to call it. Ball to the wall is where he literally throws the ball to the other side of the gym & I have to go run it down & then run back across the gym while holding the ball over my head. So humiliating!!! I call it what it is: FETCH!!! But I do not question it, I'm like Nike: I "Just Do It". Because obviously his methods work. And there is never a dull moment. I really like working out there.

Tuesday I have been doing either one of 3 things: Walking the causeway, playing tennis or walking off of Dairy Rd in W.Melb. The causeway & Dairy are both over 3 mile walks. But Andy & I played tennis this past Tuesday & when I got done I thought, hummm I don't think that is as much of a work out as the walking. Boy was I WRONG! Because I am having to basically get down & squat to return serve, I'm doing squats which are kick butt! My thighs were sore Wednesday & I was wondering why? Over 2 sets of tennis will do that. I can't wait to go again & play this week. Haven't been out on the tennis court in almost 2 years, probably?

Thursday The past 3 weeks I have been walking Dairy. Feels good that now it just seems to get easier & faster time everytime I go.

Friday is my day off.

Saturday The last two I have gone to Viera's ProHealth. I love their equiptment & all the machines, leg press, torso twist, arm machines (although I do quite a bit of free weights with my arms at LifeShape so I try not to do too much overkill on the arms on Saturdays). I want to try the STRONG class there on Saturdays too. Or Pilates. I hope to report back that next time I blog about what I am doing for workouts that I can say I've tried a Pilates mat class & the cardio kickbox class on Tuesdays that Christa is trying to drag me too.

Well that's all folks. And that is pretty good for now. And Rob, if you are reading this, my #1 motivation lately has been music. And my "go to music" for working out the past few weeks has been LaRoux.....SO GOOD!

Love to you all & I as always, thank you for your well wishes & support. Hopefully it won't be another month & a half til next time?

Disney was a BLAST!

Well, well, well.....what can I say? I was so shocked that I enjoyed Disney so much (almost more so that the 5 year old we took for her BIG BDAY!). It was totally fun for this big kid & we didn't miss one single thing on our "to do" list. Magic Kingdom for the first 2 days & EPCOT on the final rainy day. Which wound up being no big deal since we spent the majority of our time in The Land & the "seas" area (Carmen Ana's fave) for the Nemo ride. She was so freaked out excited over the Nemo ride. It is just so much more enjoyable going to Disney with children. At least the way I see it, because it's like you get to experience it all over for the first time through their eyes. Magic Kingdom days were spent doing all the "scheduled" stuff (parades, shows & fireworks, etc.) on the first day, and nothing but rides and what Carmen Ana wanted to do on the second day. It was so great to do it this way. NO craziness. We (the adults) loved the fireworks!!! They were pretty exciting, I must admit going off over Cinderellas Castle and the SpectoMagic parade right on Main St. where we had our seats was so cool and I got my TURKEY LEG!! Smilebox at the end of this blog entry will be of our Disney trip. And I have to say, if you are taking a child for not only their first trip to DisneyWorld but also for their birthday, they roll out the ROYAL treatment! She was so freaked out everytime a castmember said "Happy Birthday Princess Carmen" & she'd come over to us and say "How do THEY know my name?", forgetting she was wearing her special buttons on her princess dress that let the castmembers know they had a first-timer & a birthday girl to boot! Other than the Nemo ride at EPCOT, her absolute favorite part was meeting Princess Tatiana (her fave from The Princess and The Frog) and Prince Naveen.Got back into the swing of things this week after my short mini Va~Ca to Disney & my workouts were kick BUTT! Especially Friday, when I really did get PUSHED on the eliptical after an already pretty grueling 40-min workout. I thought my legs were not going to continue. They felt like jelly. Thursday was fun because I got to do what I have been wanting to do for 3 weeks & that is BOXING! That was a blast! I didn't have the soreness or stiffness that my trainer told me to anticipate having (a bonus). Wednesday was nothing but cardio & pushing through intervals on every machine (7-8 mins on the bike, 10+ on the treadmill and my trainers favorite to burn those fat & calories 10+ on THE ELIPTICAL).I was supposed to be keeping my food journal better this past week. It was my project that I was going to work on. Well I'll admit I fell down on that one. Not such a great job with the food journal. Which is why I'm making it my "to do" this week, again. Wish me luck, keep me in your prayers & at least I've got this working out thing down now. The food thing is what I have to focus my attention on.

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Feeling "THE BURN"!

Yeah I knew it would be like this. Feeling the burn, or the stiffness or the soreness, whatever you want to call it, I was feeling "IT" this week!
Started my workouts with the personal trainer & it's great.
Monday-was a light session. Started on the stationary bike, went to the treadmill, tossed the 9lb. medicine ball back & forth and did some push ups off the wall. I thought "this is it"? Nice, easy start. Boy....then came Wed.
Wednesday-started off on the treadmill. Did some squats with the ball & worked my arms (this is where my thighs started to be sore on Thurs from all these squats on Wed), backward eliptical made me feel uncoordinated, but was great. Then lift ups & pull ups with the bands & something I'm going to refer to as "hop ups" with the 9lb. ball again to end things. The hop ups were a joke for me because I was forgetting to breathe.
Friday-YIKEY CRIKEY! Started on the eliptical & then did intervals of taking the RPMs to 80, back down to 45, then up to 80 again & so forth for 7 mins. Then I got down on a yoga mat & had to lift an exercise ball (squeezing between my feet and lifting the ball up off of the floor) with my non-existent abdominal muscles. Holy Cow! This was by far the hardest for me this week. My abdominals will need the most work. I then got to switch to something my trainer told me was my strength and that is my upper body. I was pleased to hear that he thought I had a strength, haha. I did modified push ups, kick outs & ups, then got up & worked my arms with the 10lb. ball.
I am going to take some good tips I got this week for post workout snacks, see what works after weigh in this week. I know about having something with some good protein in it & poss. a little bit of carb to put back a little sugar. Not a lot, though. I was even shot down when I thought that cereal & milk would make a good "late snack" idea? Nope, I was told protein+protein, and some fruit. I ate a weird combo after my workout Wednesday night. Some lean pork, a 2% cheese stick. Then a few hrs later another 2% cheese stick along with a piece of fruit which = a cutie clementine for me. Sounds odd....but it did work great! I have to keep my food journal for everything I'm eating with me. My goal is to write it all down & be accountable for it this week.

To work on this week: Food Journal
Will report how I did next week

Getting started

I'm very excited today. I got the call Tuesday to let me know which group I was placed in (for the study). I'm in the control group. I really wasn't bummed out, which I thought I might be. I'm just looking forward to what this next week brings. I already have 3 scheduled sessions with my personal trainer set up for Monday, Wednesday & Friday. So shewwwwwww.....I'll be a sore pup next week, but it'll be kinda cool to see what they'll have me doing?
Go for my second "official" study visit today which I'm sure they'll now have us start keeping the food journal & offer tips for healthier eating. Other than that, don't know what we'll be discussing or doing? I'll get measured & weighed at every visit and I think the same general series of questions is asked of you. The nutritionist helps you figure out what works for you, food wise VS. what doesn't. This will be interesting, the first month to see how I do this on my own. I hope I make good decisions for my 1000-1500 cal a day diet.
Keep hoping & praying for me! This is for the long haul!!

How this will go

Ok everybody, this is going to be a very informal blog basically all about how I will go about loosing weight this year. I hope to post a pic monthly of myself. It makes me accountable. And the #1 reason I am starting this blog is because if I have to be held to some level of accountability I KNOW I WILL DO THIS!
I also hope to post my monthly weigh in amount (NO! I will NOT be ashamed!!). Shame & fear, in some respects, is what got me to where I am today. I will share my ups & downs. My sense of humor can be quite absurd at times, I make no apologies for it. It's how I deal.
And when I say share, I will share just as much as I feel like.
Some days may be silly (just what I ate), some days may be joyous (I LOST 5 LBS! or did great with some new cardio!), some days may be just me rambling (you'll have to pick & choose which days those are for yourself).
And if you haven't already figured out by now, I type like I talk. Should make for an interesting read, no?
This week, on my plate: I find out once & for all about which group I fall into: BIB or control group. If I'm in control group, my work outs should start like next Monday with my trainer. BIB group, you'll have to read here to find out.
I really can't wait for my workouts to start! I even treated myself to a new IPod Touch (something I never do, I can't see spending that much money sometimes at a whack?) for my music to work out to.
YEH! I'm excited.

To work on this week: Fitness
Will report how I did next week.

First post

I have decided to share all my ups & downs, hopes and letdowns, joys & triumphs regarding loosing weight, right here for the next 365 days, from March 2010-March 2011. What a journey I know it will be for me!
I might share a few other things as well.

Follow me if you will......