Sonya's Losing It

Two days after Christmas my life came to a sharp point.  It was like my life flashed before my eyes and everything I ever experienced came down to this one defining moment....... I sat in the ER with a family member/relative that was in need of some medical attention (I will refrain from names and how this person relates to me for privacy reasons and will call this person J).  J was not 100% coherent and couldn't seem to complete a thought. J was in two minor car accidents in the previous 24 hours and fell but had no recollection as to why or how.  After a longgggggggg wait in a very busy ER waiting room J was seen by a nurse and had a blood pressure reading: 250 / 130 - Yikes!  J has had high blood pressure and has been on meds since I can remember.  But the question is: Is J taking the meds?  NO!  And add to the list heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Grrrr..... So here I am with some other family members standing in the ER waiting for a Dr. to see J.  All while I'm st

Right now I should be in my weekly yoga class that my friend teaches.  I hope she understands that I'm not there (this is my second week missing the class and I enjoy chatting it up after and before class).  If I were there I'm sure I would be losing it during savasana . Christmas is two days away and I have lots to do and to top it off my dog Mocha isn't doing so well.  She's a chocolate lab and is 14 years old (you could say she was/is my first baby).  Her age is catching up with her and she is not putting any weight on her left rear hind quarters as of today.  She has also been 'losing control' of her back end every so often (if you have owned a dog you may know what that means if not then I'll spare you the details).  She has been in my life from the time my husband and I were dating and when we first moved in together.  We had quite the adventure when we got her as a puppy.  I'll never forget the 8 hour drive to both check out the breeder and

I took an exercise class today after my five mile run.  It was called Mid Day Blast.  It was only thirty minutes long but it was an intense thirty minutes. And yes that is sweat on my shirt :-) Jess is the teacher for this class and every week she has given us a completely different set of exercises.  I find her method of teaching to be both fun and challenging.  My body never knows what it's in for and my body feels that thirty minutes for a few days after. At the start of class Jess told us the theme was The Twelve Days Of Torture   Christmas (torture by my definition). She had twelve different exercises that we would be doing over and over again much like the versus in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas.  We had to do (not necessarily in this order) planks, side planks, jumping jacks, cross over lunges, superman's, inchworms, burpees, push ups, bridges with marching feet, trees, calf raises, and squats.  We did each exercise in thirty second intervals and I was

Dear Self, Eating too many cookies, chips, cheese, chocolate, pie and cake this time of year is only going to add lbs to my a55 and thighs.  Why am I working out 5x a week for an hour at a time to only put an excess amount of calories and fat in my body?  This is craziness! Just because it's the holidays that doesn't mean I'll never see these foods again.  Live a little and pace it! and choose wisely/carefully. Back to work!

The meaning of  'to love your body' means different things to different people.  For me 'to love your body' can have many different meanings. I decided to make some lifetime changes because I didn't like my body not only in appearance but for how I felt physically (insert aching knees and joints).   Here are a few things I've discovered about what it means for me to love my body (still a work in progress). 1. Accepting who I am on a physical level without trying to meet society standards of what a body should look like. 2. Being disciplined to treat my body with respect by feeding it and giving it the nutrients it needs through proper nutrition and healthy whole foods.  "Let food be thy medicine & let thy medicine be food" ~ Hippocrates 3. Work on obstacles (food or otherwise) that stand in my way.  Sometimes the only way out is through. 4. Trusting that my body is capable of more than I sometimes believe. 5. Never stop fighting and n

This quick post may be a little bit TMI for some people but I just have to share (and no I will not be posting a pic of my underwear :-). I just got back from the store and right now I can't believe I'm about to write this but I purchased for the first time in my life bikini underwear.  Way back in time before my weight loss it was full on briefs, then hipsters and now I can wear bikini bottoms and they fit and feel great!  Amazing!!!  I highly recommend Jockey for women .  So comfortable, stylish and well made.  Oh the joy of shopping when things fit!

Weight Watchers has tweaked/redone their Weight Watchers Points Plus program.  This time last year is when they introduced the Points Plus Program (in addition to a few website enhancements). If your not familiar with Weight Watchers the program works like this: 1. Each individual (according to current height/weight/sex) is given a daily Points Plus Value to eat in a day.  My daily points plus value is now 26 (it used to be 29).  I can earn extra points through exercise to use as I wish during the week in addition to that I have 49 points in a week to use as I wish (same as before). 2. All foods are assigned a Points Plus Value.  The foods that have a zero Points Plus Value are all fruits and vegetables excluding: Peas, Avocados, fruit canned in syrup, dried fruit (and a few others foods that have slipped my mind at the moment).  3. Foods are assigned a Points Plus Value based on carbohydrates, fat, fiber and protein. [The old plan that  I used before the Points Plus Program

Part II of my Secret Weapons is about exercise.  Not necessarily specific exercises to do (I'll give an example of what my workout routine looks like during a week) but about motivation.   In case you missed it Part I My Secret Weapons , focused on food and what I currently eat.   My Workout Secret Weapons 1. "It is a shame for a woman to grow old without ever seeing the strength and beauty of which her body is capable." - Socrates    I find that statement to be so true on many different levels.  I think of the natural child birth of my second son to crossing the finish line of every race from my first 5k to my first half marathon and I have a sense of achievement.  There is something that happens when I achieve something that seems impossible.  I get a new found confidence in myself that I can truly do anything I set my mind too with the proper amount of dedication and hard work.  Even something as small as doing a few pushups more than I think I can feels like I

In my previous post I said my next blog post will be about "Workout Secret Weapons".  We'll I'm working on that but felt the need to post this first with Thanksgiving Day knocking at my door. Tomorrow I will be starting my day with some breakfast and then a run in the Manchester Road Race with a few of my running partners.  The race is just shy of 5 miles and there's going to be 15,000 other runners there as well.  It's a fun race where people dress in costumes (like turkeys or pilgrims).  The road race is something I've been a spectator of but never participated in. Often when I run a race I get a surge of emotion that's hard to explain (I call it the runners high).  My hair stands on end with a surge of goosebumps along with a lump in my throat, chills down my spine and a last spurt of energy to the finish line.  I often think of my grandmother and how proud she would be if she saw me and how much I've accomplished on such a personal level.

Since starting this weight loss journey I've had to compromise and find combinations of foods that are both very satisfying and healthy along with watching my portions.   I think many times people think of healthy eating as being bland tasteless food (I know I thought that way at one time).  I must say it felt kind of impossible in the very beginning to go from getting a doughnut or two from the local drive through doughnut shop to eating oatmeal.  When it came to eating pizza (for the first 9 months of this journey) instead of getting take out I would make my own pizza with a homemade whole wheat pizza dough (made in the bread maker) and I would cook it on the grill.  When it came to eating ice cream I would take my family to the local dairy bar and I would buy a kid size cup for myself or if I purchased some at the grocery store I would get one pint for my family of four to share (my family was accustomed to at least two pints). My eating of healthy dishes goes in phases.  I re

For those who are reading this and plan on making a trip to the North East there's a great place for pizza in New Haven, CT  called Pepe's.  In my opinion it's the best pizza on earth.  Outside of Pepe's I go to Wooster Street Pizza (there's one practically in my back yard).  The pizza is a thin crust with a great sauce and just the right amount of cheese. I don't get pizza very often because who can eat just one slice but when I do I usually make it count :-).  Only last night I guess you could say I made up for lost time :-) I ate pizza last night like it was Thanksgiving and it tasted oh so good.  I normally eat pizza with a salad but I was  tired and lazy and just wanted to sit down and eat without making a salad so I did........6 pieces later!!! :-O  And those were some big slices.  That for me is a personal record - not one to be proud mind you.  I have never eaten that much pizza in my life! Fast forward to this morning........ My stomach felt heavy.

I could have very easily put these tasty treats in my cart while shopping last night and eaten the majority of the box in the car. (I was hungry and didn't have any dinner yet- Ironically I was shopping after my Weight Watchers meeting). But I chose to walk away.  :-) I actually tried tweeting this from the store but something wasn't working right with the phone? I figured if I sent out a message I would have to stick to my word :-) These were calling my name as I was walking past the display :-) Having chocolate on the mind ( and after receiving my coconut butter via amazon ) this morning I made something sinful , healthy and very satisfying ! Chocolate Fudge Cake! It was soooo rich I could only eat half a serving (5 ww points plus for half a serving). The recipe can be found online at chocolatecoveredkatie.com Katie in case your reading this just an fyi - you're my new favorite super hero! Link to recipe: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/02/04/raw-ch

Note to self.. Rethink the strategy of taking a butt kicker of an exercise class before folding 5 loads of laundry. Arms are killing me!

My objective in writing this blog is to share my experiences with others about my path to weight loss, health and wellness.  But there is just one thing that irks me (ok this is just one of the things that irks me :-) and I find it important to share.  I may upset a few people along the way but I can't sit here and remain silent........ The other day we received a bill from my sons school saying we owed money?  To me this didn't make sense as my son takes his lunch to school except for twice a month when we let him buy hot lunch for a 'treat' (and we give him money on that day to pay for hot lunch).  My husband and I aren't a fan of the food being served in the cafeteria (insert highly processed artificially flavored, colored food full of preservatives here: chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, hot dogs etc..). Background:  I have written a few letters to the Board of Education and attended a board of education meeting to present my unhappiness of what is being served

It's been a busy week with losing power. I was able to store most of what I had in my fridge and freezer at a friends house (she had a nearly empty freezer and fridge due to losing power with Irene). She was one of the lucky few who didn't loose power from this recent storm.  Another friend who got power back before us had us over for dinner on Halloween and the kids got to go trick or treating.  Halloween night our power came back on and since then I've been offering up our home for friends and family to sleep, take a shower, have something to eat or a hot cup of coffee etc... It's nice to live in a community where amongst the adversity people get together and help each other out. We all take our turn at both giving and receiving. Now that things are slowly getting back to normal I'm starting to think about some new goals in addition to completing the ones I already have written down and taped to my dresser mirror. So who wants in on a challenge? And no it does

It's odd to say the least that there's snow on the ground and I'll be helping my boys carve a pumpkin? First it's breakfast on this snowy October morning (without electricity). Necessity is the mother of invention.

I've been working on a post on and off for a while but life seems to get in the way.  My boys, working out, and keeping up with everything is hard these days and I found it cruel to not at least post this recipe I just made 15 minutes ago.  I was in the grocery store yesterday getting the ingredients to make this new recipe (along with a few other new recipes I hope to post about soon) and it was an event to say the least.  It was a challenge with my two and half year old and my six year old in the grocery store.  My two year old didn't want to sit in the grocery cart so I thought I could keep him busy by having him help me.  It proved to be too much to handle with my six year old wanting to push the cart while the two year old was off and running through the store laughing and smiling while he would grab things off the shelf and put them in the cart.  I was trying to keep my patience and it was very hard to say the least.  The store was crowded and people were wispering and st

5 miles of fun on the treadmill. Next up is the spin bike.

Since my first post of What It's Like To Be Fat - Part I, I thought I would tell you what it's like for me since being in my new body.  It's funny while I have shed the pounds I still have the same vision in my head of my old body.    I went shopping recently and picked up a pair of pants to have a closer look and they were a size 6.  I looked at them and said to myself "those are way too small" and looked at some larger sizes.  It was if I was looking at the size 6 pants through the eyes of my 215+ lb body (I am a size 6 so they did fit).  I was at a concert the other night (Foster the People) and someone asked me to 'move over' as there was a space in front of me and I could move to get a better view (it was a mostly standing only small venue type concert - great concert btw).  I at first declined because I didn't think I would 'fit' in that spot and was afraid my 'width' would get in the way and I would bump into others standing

Get ready for an F bomb.... I'm cautioning you before you read further that if any of the f words upset you to please close your web browser window and don't read any further.  This post is not meant to upset anyone but I must say as I was writing this it definitely stirred some emotions from within me as it may do the same for you. What a sad existence I had by letting fat control my life.  Read on if you like........ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those of you who are reading this and are overweight/obese I don't think I need to tell you what it's like to be fat.  There are varying degrees of 'what it's like' depending of how big a person is and their situation.  For every rule there are exceptions and not every large person shares the same reality nor the same view point about their weight or extra lbs.  In some cases there are people who are underweight but

I went to my WW meeting tonight and I wasn't liking the number on the scale.  I new I had gained because I weighed myself on Monday morning.  I thought I did well this past week with eating and staying in my points range but apparently not?  I logged every morsel but perhaps the extra calories I ate the week before caught up with me? So what does one do?  I'm working out that much harder this week.  I'm mixing it up by doing some new exercises and doing the bike for some cardio besides running.  So far this week I've been eating spot on and will continue to do so for the next 7 days and then some.  At the meeting tonight I talked about how I'm so close to my goal and I have been that way for months.  I feel like I reached a complacency with where I was in my weight loss after losing 75 + lbs.  I'm done with the complacency.  I need to fight to take this weight off. It's me vs....  all the temptations I can think of.  Time to bring it and not just thi

The half marathon was a great experience and well some of you may be wondering what did I eat? I think the question is what didn't I eat :-) The night before I indulged and my running friends and I  had dinner out.  I splurged and had chicken liver pate with some amazing bread for an appetizer and for an entree of salmon w broccollini (I didn't touch the potatoes on my plate) and drank water.  For snacks I packed some healthy blonde brownies ( a Jillian Michael's recipe I'll post another time), bananas and I purchased some raspberries and plain greek yogurt for breakfast the morning of the race. For the most part I did really well until I starting eating the blondies (they were healthy and packed with protein and complex carbs but your not supposed to eat several at a time).  A small square 1 1/2" - 2" was approximately 200 calories and I ate more than one :-). During the race I had two packets of Gu for a little bit of energy along with lots of water.

Yesterday was the Surftown Half Marathon and it was a beautiful run!  It was a flat run by the ocean in Westerly/Watch Hill, RI.  The views were beautiful and the weather was in the 50's (at 7:30am) and it was sunny.  Perfect running weather.  Not too hot and not too cold.  There were approximately 800 + runners so it wasn't crowded.  The gun went off and my running comrades and I started off at a fast pace (much faster than my normal pace).  After four minutes was our one minute walk break and when we started running again we went a little bit slower.  I wanted to finish strong and not burn out before reaching the finish line.  At one point during the race we switched our intervals to run three, walk one. The course took us along a a beautiful view of the ocean and through some really nice neighborhoods.  Some of the residents were outside in their bathrobes cheering us on as the smell of bacon filled the air as some where in their homes cooking up their morning break

Sunday is the Surf Town Half Marathon at Misquamicut Beach Rhode Island and it is my first half marathon (13.1 miles).  So far the longest distance I have ever run was 10 miles and that was last week in preparation for this race.  My goal for this race is to keep a pace and finish strong (or perhaps it's just to finish :-) The race starts at 7:30 am so six of my running partners and I will be having a night stay in a hotel close to the starting line.  I'm looking forward to a Saturday night out sans kids and a peaceful meal with my running compadres.  For race day it's supposed to be in the high 60's low 70's and Sunny.  Perfect running weather! Post race there's a beer for participants, breads, fruits, clam chowder and other food.  Based on the distance I will be burning approximately 1,300 calories.  What does that mean for me?  I will surely enjoy a beer after the race and I will keep it real with what I eat (I hope to splurge just a bit the night before