Happy Feet

Several months before we moved from Ohio to Colorado, I purchased two identical pairs of workout shoes. They were Nike and I really liked them a lot. They were good cross trainers so I used them for my aerobic workouts in the basement and for walking outside.

They lasted a long time--probably longer than they should have. I never wear the aerobic ones outside--I'm really strict about that. Indoor shoes are indoor, outdoor shoes are outdoor. Nerd.

Anyway, last May or June, when I was starting Insanity (that's a workout program, not a description of my general state of mind. Maybe.) my Beachbody pals who had done Insanity before me said, "Get new shoes." I didn't do it. My shoes were fine.

Except that they weren't. It took me about two high intensity workouts to figure that out. So I went and bought new shoes and I was happy with them at the time. And they've been OK, but not great. It stinks to be stuck with not great shoes, by the way, especially if you figure you'll be wearing them for five years, like I did the last two pairs. This is also a good lesson to spend a little more and buy from someone who actually knows what they're talking about. I just pulled mine off the shelf at Famous Footwear. I should have spent more and talked to someone who knows about sports and exercise, not fashion. Ah well, lesson learned.

Anyway, over the course of this last year, I kept using the unsatisfactory shoes. I finished Insanity, did most of P90X again, and then started TurboFire in January. A few weeks ago, I could really start feeling in my joints that my shoes were starting to break down. So now they just weren't sort of unsatisfactory, they were really unsatisfactory. In addition, even my shoes that I was using for walking, the Ohio Nikes, weren't feeling so great. I had worn out the soles on the outdoor pair and so a year ago I had moved the aerobic ones to outdoor since I had the unsatisfactory ones.

Are you following all of this?

A few weeks ago, I went into a sports store and they were having a sale. AND I had a $20 discount coupon. A very nice man talked to me about my workouts and goals and recommended several pairs of shoes.

I tried two different ones on. And it was then that I realized I must no longer have any cushioning at all left in both of my old pairs of shoes because it felt like I was wearing stilettos. I bought the lower pair becuase the more padded ones felt like I was going to fall off of them.

Here is what I bought:

These are Asics Phoenix. They were on sale for $59.99 and I had the $20 off coupon. Very exciting. I also purchased "athletic" insoles for $20 (so essentially I got the insoles free, I guess) and that made another huge difference. I think I'll buy insoles for all of my workout shoes from now on.

So that's what I started using for my high impact aerobic workouts. But really, I needed to replace my walking shoes, too. I am considering the Couch to 5K program and while I am not a runner, I do know that if you try to run in inappropriate shoes, it's misery. Plus, the Ohio Nikes weren't cutting for walking anymore.

The sports store's sale was still going on. I went back. I had another coupon. I bought these:

I think they're the Asics Cumulus 12. Think. And guess which ones they are? The ones that felt like stilettos. Turns out, they only feel like stilettos when you have nerve damage from having shoes with no padding for so long.

Bottom line: the shoes have made a huge difference. My calf soreness is gone, my knees aren't hurting and I can consistently do the high impact moves (before I could only do them sometimes without feeling soreness).

Now I'm trying to decide which ones I want to use indoors and which ones I want to use outdoors. I've done high impact in both and walked outside in the Phoenix pair. Clearly, I'll have to wash the soles if I decide on the other ones for outside.

This is a very big decision.

Well, Now What?

So I've had this goal/deadline in my head for over a year now--get to my goal weight for my 25th high school reunion this summer.

A few funny things happened on the way to the reunion.

First, I met my goal and went past it.

Then I set another goal in my head. And now I'm sort of sitting there. I've hovered really close to it for about two months now, but I'm not really putting in the Big Push that I know I need to do to wipe away those last 4.2 pounds that would put me at this next number.

The second thing that happened: the reunion was cancelled.

GAH!

I got an e-mail about it today. I immediately ate four chocolate chip cookies. Something tells me that won't help me get any closer to my mark, but I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong.

I have been kicking ass on my workouts, even with the kids home for the summer. I'm still not back to my super-early workout time, I think I'll be rallying here shortly (when I have PMS I get super tired and I'm just passing through that lovely phase). My eating has been lackluster though and that's what I need to ramp up to really succeed. I know this intellectually, but I definitely go in cycles where I can be super strict for awhile, but I also know when I need to lighten up so that I don't go nuts. That's where I am right now: in this nether world of about to clamp back down, but suddenly finding myself without my key motivation--the reunion--to push me through the homestretch.

If anyone has any big ideas, let me know. It has to come from within, I know, but if you've got any wise words or threats, now is the time to throw them at me!

On a more fun note, I got a SECOND pair of new workout shoes. Crazy! I know! It's all very exciting. My next post will be about the shoes because believe it or not, those new shoes are motivating me to hop out of bed and get to my workouts in the morning.

Nachos That Won't Blow Your Daily Calorie Count

I love tortilla chips. I think we've established that over time. They are a trigger food for me so I usually hide them away and save them for a cheat day.

So last week when I was planning meals, I had this madcap idea that I wanted to do a fun nacho dinner on the last day of school. But could I make a nacho dinner that wouldn't blow my whole day? It remained to be seen.

In the end, we didn't eat the nachos last night. Declan was invited to a friend's for a sleepover--they've had a sleepover on the last day of school for the last 3 years, and Eamonn had a bike race, so it was just me and Finn. I didn't feel like cooking and then galloping out the door to the bike race, so I...took Finn to Wendy's, oh yes I did, and saved the nachos for tonight.

The nachos were an overwhelming score for all parties involved.

-15 Garden of Eatin tortilla chips = 140 calories
-1.5 oz. cooked ground turkey (I browned the meat, added the beans and sprinkled in some organic taco seasoning) = 100 calories
-3 tbls. pinto beans = 39 calories
-jalepeno slices = 3 calories
-10 cherry tomatoes = 29 calories
-1 oz. shredded cheese = 110 calories
-1 tbls. sour cream = 26 calories

Total calories = 445 (or thereabouts after the Bodybugg rounds the numbers)

These were yummy and I'm really full--too full, but I feel OK with my calories overall today (1366).

My workouts this week have been good. This last month of TurboFire is a HIIT month so I actually laid in bed this morning, sort of hiding and afraid to get up and do HIIT 30. It's hard, people. 30 minutes of fire drills--plyometrics over and over.

I did finally get up and slog my way through HIIT 30. I think these HIIT workouts are actually made more tolerable by the fact that I got new shoes. I'll talk about them in another post because I heart them very much.

Had a cheat day yesterday. The day started just fine, but when we went to Declan's school for his continuation ceremony, they served cake. I didn't actually eat cake. What I did was much worse. When the party was breaking up, I looked over and the cake was gone. Which was good. What was still there was a ring of piped icing. Another mom was standing there. She looked at me. I looked at her. We each picked up a fork and scraped off the icing and ate it, each confessing that it was our favorite part. After school, some friends and I all took our kids to the diner for ice cream. I had a junior malt.

So the icing started my downward spiral and the malt continued the disaster. I have trouble recovering from stuff like that.

I'd do it again though...

Traveling with Dietary Restrictions

One of my many legions of fans (OK, it was my cousin Jean) posed a reader question:

"Since you have discovered your food intolerances, how do you handle them while you're traveling? Do you take special foods with you or just eat whatever is available and suffer the consequences?"

A very good question given that we were just on the road for three weeks in two different foreign countries.

First, let me say that Jean is one of my idols in the food label reading departments. She was way ahead of me in getting heavily processed food out of her diet. When I used to do Jenny Craig, I suggested it to her one time. She had discovered through her doctor (I think) that she had all sorts of food intolerances. So when I was talking about Jenny Craig, Jean said she couldn't eat all of that processed stuff.

Hmmm. Here I was, eating Jenny Craig food and losing weight and not AT ALL paying attention as to what was in the food.

Thus ended my love affair with Jenny.

Anyway, that was a huge wakeup call for me. I still get tripped up--buying something marked "natural" only to discover the FDA lets you label stuff natural and you can STILL put crap in it.

Go figure. I won't waste any air space on the FDA today. I'll just go on to talk about what I do when I travel.

My "system" for travel has kind of evolved over the years. Now, remember that I have never been diagnosed with Celiac or gluten intolerance or anything like that. In fact, when I did my witch doctory stuff many years ago, the biggest intolerance I had was to...wait for it...chocolate. No lie. That was a bummer and I had it reversed immediately. I had always wondered why I had a stuffy nose when I ate chocolate. All is revealed.

Anyway, I do tend to take a lot of my own snacks with me whether I'm just heading to Denver for a soccer tournament or wandering further afield. And since I started drinking Shakeology about a year ago, I take that along with me. It keeps me in a happy place. Plus, if I let myself get hungry and I don't have something with me, I'll make bad choices--like a candy bar instead of nuts and dried fruit--and that will just start a whole cycle of bad eating. Best to just avoid it altogether.

The key is to remember that I don't have to worry about miniscule traces of gluten or stuff like that. I've read articles about people who if they have even an exposure to gluten, they get sick. I'm lucky--I don't have a situation like that. I just have noticed that I feel better without dairy and wheat, and frankly, most grains, so I work to avoid them.

I have watched friends who do have more severe food intolerance and I've stolen ideas some of their ideas so I can eat at a regular restaurant and not have to worry--like ordering a hamburger or sandwich and then not eating the bun. It's a really easy switch--just use two lettuce leaves instead. The bun has a zillion calories anyway and I'd rather waste it on fries or something! Smashburger has a burger you can actually order without the bun, all wrapped up in lettuce for you. Another reason to love Smashburger.

When we're going someplace where we're taking our own food--picnic, camping, skiing, etc.--I make my own sandwich on gluten free bread, or make whatever I want to accomodate no wheat, no dairy.

When we were just at my sister's house for Memorial Day weekend, it was pretty easy--she also avoids gluten, so there were plenty of choices. A great sandwich option is to make a rollup/sandwich taco in a corn tortilla. Do they sometimes break apart? Yes. And it's a little messy. But it's worth it. The change in taste and texture does take a little getting used to.

As for England/Germany in April, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to avoid gluten. We ate many, many lunches that we just picked up at a grocery store and ate picnic style. There were always really yummy pre-packaged salads to choose from. My favorite was one I ate the very first day: watercress, salmon and new potatoes. My stomach just growled.

If I wanted something and it had gluten in it, did I eat it? Sometimes. Did I notice it? Sometimes. It kind of depended on what it was and how much I ate.

As an interesting aside, Eamonn and I had a date night last night and we ate at an Italian restaurant. Linguine with clams is one of my most favorite Italian meals ever. However, I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon. Bloated, gassy. Ick.

So, overall, I try to avoid gluten when I travel, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how well I could do it.

If any of my other zillion fans has a question, feel free to let me know! I hope all of the requests don't crash my e-mail...

Getting Back on Track Update
So that date night last night screwed me up. I only ate half my dinner, saving the rest for lunch today, but I did come home and eat popcorn while we were watching a movie. I burned said popcorn so badly that I only had a partial batch and felt deprived (as if), and so I ate ice cream. Yes. You read that right. Popcorn followed by ice cream after I had told myself I would be getting back on the bandwagon.

Sigh.

Today was better. Much, much better. Despite having wicked bad gas after the linguine last night and for lunch.

Workout: None, rest day

Breakfast: Shakeology, almond milk
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Leftover linguine, cherry tomatoes, pear
Snack: 2 figs
Dinner: 3.5 oz. steak, grilled veggies...1/4 cup ice cream

Came in at about 1694 calories, which would be fine if it had been an exercise day AND if I hadn't been sitting on the couch working all day. I do suspect that count is a little high. BodyBugg assigned a huge amount of calories to the leftover linguine, but I'd rather it show me too high rather than too low.

I'm having trouble getting back through that detox phase--the one day of suffering that I always feel goes with getting back on track. It's like I'm not really achieving that "mental reset." But, it was better today. Progress, not perfection. I love that saying. It's the one thing I retain from Jenny Craig.

Need to Get Serious

My 25th high school reunion is in approximately 6 weeks. Why couldn't the reunion have been about three weeks ago when I was at a great weight? Angst. I continue to flounder around. I need some sort of weight loss challenge to get my rear in gear.

What happened? My workouts have been great, but PMS came around and I always let myself indulge a little in the last day or so prior. But then, there was some sort of, um, delay and the PMS just kept going. Then we went to Erin's for Memorial Day and I'm telling you, people, that girl is the WORST influence! How is someone supposed to resist Chex Mix, Mochi (or whatever that Japanese ice cream in rice paper is called), popcorn,s'mores... See! Do you see what I'm up against?

Well, in all seriousness, it's my own lack of prior planning that has been doing me in. Work is busy. The end of school is madness. Blah blah blah. I just haven't planned and the results are showing. Last night I ate pizza and potato chips at the 5th grade party. Because I'm a sadist and because it was Friday, I hopped on the scale this morning. UP 6 POUNDS from a few weeks ago!

Now, Eamonn would say not to freak out. Sodium is everyone's enemy and it doesn't get much worst than pizza and potato chips. Except maybe for popcorn.

Combine the bad eating with the fact that I'm not even logging my bad eating and nothing good can come of it.

Anyway, tomorrow, I'll be back to business: keeping up with the workouts, planning meals, logging food, making better choices overall.

Because the 25th reunion is not a time to let things fall apart. I don't know when it is I can let things fall apart, but it sure as heck isn't now.

So, tomorrow--daily reports once again. And maybe for some incentive I'll tell Eamonn I would like to have a new pair of shoes if I get back to my goal. I'm sure that will go down well.