Boot Camp at the Gym

Um....I don't think there is anything more intimidating than a "boot camp" class in Boulder, CO. Holy cow. Let me see. . .I was the biggest person in the room by at least 15 pounds, and while I need to lose some weight, I never imagined that the disparity between myself and all these Boulderites would be so big!

The class started off with 15 minutes of abs. . .hard, but not impossible. I'm not gonna lie, I might have cheated a couple of times, but for the most part, I was able to keep up. Then it was the official "boot camp." The instructor was kind enough to announce to the class that the class was going to be "harder than usual. . .a real butt-kicker." Hmm...I wanted to head straight for the door. A hard class with all of these thin, beautiful people? No thanks.

But I stuck with it, and guess what? Just because they're thin and perfect-looking, doesn't mean they're in shape. I certainly wasn't the fittest one there, but I held my own, and I felt great about it. Seriously, these women were stopping in the middle of an exercise and walking out or getting water. I even heard one particularly thin women remark to a friend, "I had no idea I was this out of shape." I'm not in the habit of taking pleasure in the misfortune of others, but I sure felt great about myself after last night. I think I'll be back at boot class next week.

Oh, and food went pretty well yesterday. I made another great, low-fat Supper Solutions dinner last night, and I managed to skip the wine. I was down two pounds on the scale this morning, so I'm flying a little high right now.

What makes me nervous are my social commitments for the next five days. It all starts tomorrow night with a fun dinner out with work friends (although I just got an e-mail and everyone is starting to bail). But then, on Friday night, our favorite group of college friends are flying in from Boston and we're spending the weekend up in Steamboat. Sure, we'll be skiing, but there will be a ton of drinking and. . .there's even a fondue night. Oh man, what's a girl to do?

Stay tuned for more. Today, I'm just happy to bask in the glory of beating those skinny girls last night.

Dinnertime blues

So I was eating really well all day yesterday, and I even drank all of my water and stayed away from the diet coke. But, once dinner rolls around, even though I'm eating healthy, I'm eating a lot of healthy stuff, and I end up going over my calories. That, and yesterday was also a bit of a rough day at work, so I of course had a glass and a half of wine last night. Not a huge deal, but enough empty calories to take me over my allotted amount.

Tonight I am going to "boot camp" at the gym. While I know it will be hard, I think it will be really good for me and a great way to make up for not working out yesterday. Tomorrow night, I am planning on running and going to yoga. Yeah for me!

I have also decided that I am the kind of person who needs to step on the scale every day to keep myself on track. I just get too out of the routine of weight loss if I don't.

The December, umm... February project!

Well, it certainly has been a while since I've been here. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. I got a new job. I took four weeks off. It snowed every week for six weeks. I skied a lot. I ate a lot. I've been working out a lot (to make up for the other stuff).

Things are definitely different now. I love working in Boulder and they even set me up with a free gym membership, which means I should have access to working out a lot more than I used to. Plus, the weather is getting nice, which means more hiking!

My new work is taking the entire company to Mexico at the end of April. Hanging out in a swimsuit with the people that you work with? This could be brutal. So my big thing will be to get ready for Mexico. That, and we're also hiking in Peru this summer--better train for that one, too!

Weight today: 170.2 (I'm hoping it's just from all of the Indian food we ate last night).

Slow and Steady

I made it through "cheat" night! It turned out that it wasn't too bad--yes, I had a couple of drinks, yes I ate red meat, but I still ate in moderation, which really is a first for me. The hardest thing was when we each got a bag of homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to take home--I didn't have much willpower then--I ate 5 total! But, my supportive husband took them to work today so that I wouldn't be tempted. 5 is a lot, but at least it's not 25.

The funny thing is, I might have only been a few days into The December Project, but I truly felt that things were changing and this morning, I felt awful--kinda like having a hangover, but from unhealthy food. It's funny how that works, and it gives me incentive to stay on the plan. If going on detox for that few of days can make me feel that much better, then I must be doing something right.

The exercise has been the downfall to the week. Things have been so busy here at work, and with a few other things, that I haven't had time (or have decided not) to go to the gym. I am planning on going tomorrow, and then snowshoeing on Sunday when we drive up to the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree!

Weight this morning was 165, which makes sense to me. I would think that the water weight I was shedding earlier this week will start to slow down. And, eventually, I think I'll stop publishing my weight every day--but I need to be held accountable right now.

The lunch hour is almost over--but so is the week!

Cheat Day

So I'm calling today my cheat day, but really all it's only tonight when we have dinner at my boss's house. I'm really looking forward to it because his wife is such a great cook, but I hope that I can keep some willpower and take it easy on all the things that are bad for me.

The numbers were down again today--165! Woohoo!

Today's a busy day, so I have to run--I'll have more time tomorrow.

Okay--Debbi mentioned that I should post some of the recipes that I am finding and trying out. Here's one that I made the other night, and am eating at work, at my desk, as we speak. I've posted it instead of sending the link because not everyone can log into Cooking Light, which is where I found it (I think you have to subscribe to the magazine).

I did make a few substitutions, though. I used Parmesan cheese instead of Asiago, and I sauteed some red peppers and tomatoes and Boca crumbles and added balsamic vinegar for flavor. It's wonderful and reheats well. Oh, and I went for whole wheat pasta as well.

Here it is:
Cavatappi with Spinach, Beans, and Asiago Cheese
The warm pasta slightly wilts the spinach and softens the cheese during tossing.
8 cups coarsely chopped spinach leaves
4 cups hot cooked cavatappi (about 6 ounces uncooked spiral-shaped pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, drained
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Asiago cheese
Fresh ground black pepper (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and toss well. Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper, if desired.
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)CALORIES 401 (27% from fat); FAT 12g (sat 3.4g,mono 6.2g,poly 1.2g); PROTEIN 18.8g; CHOLESTEROL 10mg; CALCIUM 306mg; SODIUM 464mg; FIBER 6.7g; IRON 6.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 54.7g Cooking Light, OCTOBER 1996

Let it snow

Man alive it's snowy out here. It makes me want to ski the fresh snow up in the mountains, or at the very least, snowshoe. Oh well, I have to sit here instead, in front of the computer all day, thinking of new ways to avoid eating the things that are bad for me.

Which brings me to my updated numbers for today--166.4--that's 4.8 pounds less than on Monday! Clearly I was retaining some water from my sodium-fest of a weekend, but still, it's nice to see the numbers going down every morning. Not that I don't think that they'll go up at some point, but the lowering numbers are making this whole "detox" thing really helpful.

Tomorrow night is one of my "cheat" nights, and I am hoping to walk away from it with some food dignity--we'll have to see.

I made some great vegetarian recipes last night, so I've got some good food here today, which does helping making the right food choices easier.

More to come. . .

It's getting better all the time

Okay, so it was glad to see that the 171.2 was some sort of water weight--it was nice to be down a few pounds when I stepped on the scale tomorrow.

So far, the detox is still working (but let's face it, I'm only 36 hours in). I worked out this morning, ate right all day, and now I'm heading to the grocery store armed with some good vegetarian recipes.

It's snowing outside. I hope we get hit with a big one tonight.

More to come tomorrow.