Greek Yogurt

I bought some Chobani strawberry Greek yogurt almost 2 weeks ago and FINALLY decided to try it today.

When I pulled back the lid, I almost screamed in terror. It looked DISGUSTING. It looked like cottage cheese with some strawberry lumps throughout. Here it is after I stirred it some:

Somehow, I willed myself to try it. And...IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!! Seriously, tastes like regular yogurt but not so sugary. I really, really like it! A little high in calories for a snack (140) but excellent protein - 14 grams for one container. Pleasantly surprised with this little treat!

I've been a bad blogger and exerciser this week. I'm going to the gym after work tonight and that will just be my 3rd time for the week. With this upcoming company trip to San Diego, I've had so much stress making sure we have everything we need for our booth at the conference that I can hardly think about or do much else! I am definitely packing workout gear into my suitcase to hit up the hotel gym while I'm gone!

5 days in beautiful California...I'm so excited! Eating will be more of a challenge since we'll be on the road, but I'm happy to say that I've noticed a huge decrease in my appetite the last week or so. My meals are half the size they usually are. Want to shrink your stomach? Just get the flu! Haha.

Well I have to box up some last minute things to ship out to CA. I'll be blogging from Cali next!

Feelin' Good!

Well, I've taken a hiatus lately because I came down with a nasty case of the flu. It started on Wednesday night with a slight fever and chills and was full blown by Thursday. I had 3 layers of clothing and 2 blankets on and couldn't stop shaking or get rid of the goosebumps all over my body. My whole body ached - the ache you get when sick where even your clothes touching your skin feels uncomfortable - and my head was so congested I thought it would be that way forever!

I ended up being referred to the hospital because the doctor's office was so overbooked that there was no way they could see me, and I had to get some antiviral meds. As soon as I got my hands on those marvelous pills (lol) I felt SO much better.

So, with some proper rest and recovery, I felt better in just a few days! Tuesday night I went back to the gym and did 2 sets of weights for arms and back. Then I did 30 minutes on the cross ramp machine, mostly at an incline of 11 and resistance of 8 to 10. Felt good to get back into the swing of things : )

You're only human.

This week isn't going to be a very good one as far as working out goes. I did an hour of cardio and some weights Sunday night and my boot camp class Monday, but that's been it. I intended to go today but I'm coming down with something. Body aches, chills, and I feel like a gorilla is inside my head pushing against my skull.

I got off work early and took a 2 hour nap when I came home, that helped a little. Going to take it easy the rest of the night.

At first I was feeling guilty about my not-so-healthy eating the past few days and lack of exercise, and finally I've just said to myself, "Stop." Are a few off days really going to wreck everything? No. I thought back to that week in January I had to take off for my back to get better and even though it seemed like a huge deal at the time, in the grand scheme of things it really didn't matter. I got back on track with my workouts and eating after it was over.

It's important to remember that eating right and exercising is a journey. You're going to hit a few bumps along the way - and that's fine.

I know a few friends who are training for 5K's, half marathons, and two are even training for body building competitions! Many of them have much more dedication and self-control that I do. But one aspect of being healthy is to stop comparing yourself to others and just try and make yourself the best "you" that you can be. If you have a few off days, you're not a failure. Just get back up and running when you can.

Hope that helps anyone who may be feeling the same way I am right now! : )

Stress binge

I was so stressed out at work today that I've been bingeing on junk food mostly all day. 6 cookies. Half a bag of Goldfish crackers. Gushers. Hey, I never said I was perfect with my eating. This blog is titled "wannabe" health freak for a reason.

Thanks to my trashy eating, I felt like I was going to throw up in boot camp class today. The class was really tough. I didn't even do any cardio afterwards, which I normally do. The realization that I felt like crap makes me want to eat better tomorrow.

I went to Meijer after class and was super excited to see they have some Greek yogurt! I've been wanting to try it but haven't had a chance to go to any grocery stores besides Meijer or Wal-Mart in recent weeks. Yoplait is now making a Greek yogurt, so I grabbed one of those and some other brand. I know you're supposed to stay away from the sugary fruit ones, but this one didn't seem as bad. 12 grams of sugar...is that OK? Anyone know?

Well, I'm spent. Sorry if I am a boring blogger lately!

Another Monday lies ahead...

Last week was such an unbelievably stressful week at work that I still don't feel "refreshed" after the weekend. I need like a full week off.

I'll try to keep the work stuff short so as not to bore everyone. We had a 10-hour production shoot on Friday and as you can imagine, I had a LOT of prep work to do in the days ahead of it. The day of the shoot, I was so worried about things not getting done that I felt nauseous the entire time. Most of the shoot went alright until we got to our 3rd anchor, who was new. The guy has a lot of experience doing sports for news stations, but most sports guys aren't really reading from the teleprompter, they're just talking. This guy was messing up every other word. We only had the studio rented till 5 p.m., and time was running out fast.

There was no way we could use the video with this guy. A co-worker and I went to our boss and had her watch what was going on to convince her this was no good. I then asked her to put me on instead. She paused a minute then said "Go into makeup now."

What? Really?

I've been dying to be one of our anchors but this isn't really the type of environment you want to make your debut in. The whole crew was on edge and P.O.'d. I was determined anyway. Right as my makeup was finished and I was about to step on set...our CEO said we're ending for the day and will retape next week because it will cost more to pay the crew overtime than to reshoot.

Damn it.

I was SO CLOSE!!!! The fact that they agreed to put me on instead is a huge promising sign though! I was so exhausted after that day that I went to bed at 9:30. Plus, now I have the stress of having to get this reshoot together some time this week.

Almost forgot to mention, my brother was our intern-for-the-day. He wants to go into production too. He did a really great job, I was so proud of him! He will get to intern at my work this summer.

Somehow, I managed to work out 4 times last week. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Swam on Monday and Wednesday. I went to the gym tonight and did some weights for my arms and an hour of cardio. I'm sure my heart was appreciative to that after all the stress I've been putting on it! Going to try and swim tomorrow.

Well, that's all folks.

Spring, now please.

I really don't know how much more of winter I can take, seriously. I'm tired of being cold. I'm tired of wearing dress pants to work (I miss skirts and dresses!). I'm tired of snow. I'm tired of gray skies. Sick of it all! And I really cannot wait to start biking and running outdoors again.

Thankfully, I have some fun trips ahead of me in the coming months and 2 are at warm places!

March 13-18: San Diego! I'm not sure how fun this will be because it's for work. But we do have all day Saturday and Sunday to enjoy ourselves, as the conference we are exhibiting at doesn't start till Monday afternoon. And hey, free trip = sweetness...

April 21-24: Ft. Myers, Florida! I'm going there with my Aunt Sandy. She is being super awesome and paying for my plane ticket. I just have to split the hotel room with her! We're just getting away for a few days and laying on the beach all day and going out all night.

May 21-23: CEDAR POINT! Robin planned this trip for her and Mike and Nels and I. I'm so excited! Nels and I have been dying to go to Cedar Point for awhile now and Robin booked us a really awesome deal for 4 people. We're staying at the on-site resort and going to the park Friday night with a "twilight pass" that only costs $15 since we're staying at the resort. Then more of the park all day Saturday! Woo hoo! Overall the whole weekend is going to cost little over $100 per person - awesome price!

The CA and FL trips are helping me stay focused on my workouts during this cold winter weather.

Today I finally decided to just bring my Foreman grill to work. You just cannot cook a turkey burger the night before and microwave it the next day. Gross. It seemed weird to bring the whole thing to work at first, but it was totally worth it! My lunch was delicious. See, I love cheeseburgers, and so this is a good way to distract me from hitting up some fast food place for lunch. Glad we have a nice sized kitchen space at the studio.

For my workout tonight, I focused on a treadmill interval workout since my muscles are pretty worn out from weightlifting in my class yesterday. I've posted this workout from Fitness magazine before, but here it is again (sorry for the formatting):

MINUTES SPEED INCLINE PLAN

2 4.0 mph 0-2 Warm-up

5 4.5-6.0 0-2 Increase speed by 0.5 mph each minute until you reach

6.0 mph; maintain for 2 minutes.

7 4.0-4.5 2-10.0 Increase incline by 2.0 each minute until you reach

10.0; stay there for 3 minutes.

1 6.0 mph 2.0 Descend

4 Varied 2.0 Sprint (your best effort) for 1 min., then jog (4.5 mph);

repeat combo, trying to sprint faster second time.

1 5.0-6.0 4.0 Climb

4 6.0-7.0 4.0

1 4.0-4.5 0 Recover

1 5.0-6.0 0 Jog

2 Sprint 0 Best effort

2 2.0-3.0 0 Cooldown

I actually felt pretty good after this. My legs were really aching between all the squats yesterday and this run; but cardio-wise, I felt great. I'm glad to know I've really built up my endurance in that area : )

I'm still toying with the idea of a half-marathon this summer...but I'm really scared...my last issue of Fitness magazine provided an 8 week training plan for a half-marathon that seems pretty doable. Hmmm...we shall see!

Crazy double workout day!

WHEW! I'm spent. I went and swam 10 full laps this morning (slowly, mind you!), went to my hour boot camp class this evening, and then 25 minutes on the cross ramp after that.

I felt a lot more into my swim this morning. Cardio-wise, I felt fine. It's my form that's bugging me and really slowing me down. I spent 1/2 a lap just practicing on my kicking, because it seemed like I was using my arms too much. This may be something that gets better with time though as I build up my endurance. When I started running for the first time a few years ago, I remember I could barely get around the block. It's just something that you have to build up to.

The boot camp instructor was killer today! We spent nearly the first 20 minutes on squats and lunges alone! I thought I was going to pass out. I was proud of myself for making it through the whole class because we did a lot of different strength training exercises.

Even though I was feeling pretty worn out, I did the cross ramp after class because I was also feeling guilty thanks to these guys...

Lindt Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffles! My mom gave me a bag for Valentine's Day. They are so smooth and creamy and just melt in your mouth. I keep them in my desk at work with the intention of having just one after my lunch as an indulgence. Today, however, I had a whole serving size - 3 pieces - which are 220 calories and 18 grams of fat. Whoops. So I made sure to burn at least that many calories on the machine to make up for it.

My schedule was kind of crazy today and I didn't do any grocery shopping over the weekend, so I just got a Subway turkey footlong and ate half for lunch and the other half for dinner while driving to the eye doctor. I was surprised to find out my contact prescription really didn't change very much. But since my contacts are 3 years old, I'm getting new ones anyway. The left eye has worsened some.

I also asked her about why my right lower eyelid has been twitching a lot lately - almost every day. She said stress, lack of sleep, and caffeine may cause this, but it's nothing to worry about, it's just an annoyance. Lucky me I am prone to all 3 of these things...

Well between waking up early to swim and doing such a hard workout this evening, I'm exhausted and going to bed early!!! Night!