Wow, what a weekend!

What a weekend!

It was a terrific weekend. It was my turn to plan the anniversary weekend so I booked us a room at The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. We stayed in Mackinaw City on Friday night and then left for the Island at 8:30 am. We arrived there and we hit the trail. We walked all over that island and found nearly 50 caches, on foot. We then hit the hotel around 5:30 and I was totally beat from the hike. So we rested a bit and then hit dinner. At the Grand, you have to be in a suit and dress so it was fun to dress up. The service was amazing and everyone was so nice. The hotel exceded my expectations. So here are some pics from the weekend.
The one thing that I have learned from the weekend though is pacing yourself. I needed to really work up to that 15 miles because I am paying the price now. My left foot is killing me and I think I strained it. It also reminded my on why I am working on losing weight. Chris and I have the passion for exploring/hiking but we don't have the bodies for it right now. Let me rephrase that, maybe I don't have the body. Chris is doing okay, I'm the one that needs to be strengthened. The class was really good tonight. Our trainer Carly gave us the food wheel. I have no idea on where she got it but it's really awesome. It breaks down what you should be eating based on Carbs, Protein, and Fats. It describes what are excellent, good, fair, poor food choices and how to spend your calories wisely. As I looked at the wheel, I started to think of how I need to set myself up for more success. My freezer is looking okay but my refrigerator needs to be stocked better with some wiser choices. That just takes time and how do you properly weed out your old foods without wasting? Any ideas? I have some pantry stuff that I could donate but the foods in the refrigerator/freezer, I worry about.

I have the body age of what?

Part of the "move it to lose it" is a body assessment. I got mine done today and there were no real surprising results except, I am out of shape. My body age is 44 and I'm only 33! My flexibility is very poor and I need to strengthen it, cardio needs to be increased, as well as strength. My percentage of body fat is like a big mac...39.2% yikes....not so kind. I have to say that this program is the best program I have ever been a part of. Chris and I are digging it. The program is part of the YMCA and we are hoping that my basic flex will cover the cost of the class but it was well worth the $500 that we are paying. (Anji...I don't have your email so please pass it too me. Miss you!). The insight from the trainers is amazing and so far, it's not boring, and accountability is high. They want us to work out about 4 times per week at a medium intensity level. Chris and I noticed that it is easier to get to the Y when we plan ahead.

The interesting thing that I learned tonight is that I haven't been eating enough. The trainer Carly noted that my 1250 average is too low and she would like to see me increase my daily intake to about 1500-1600. Chris is also running too low so his calories need to increase also. The strange thing about calories, it is actually hard to increase them in a healthy manner. I can increase them in a not so positive way but to do it in a healthy manner is hard. I'll work on that.

Things are going well here. The fall is my favorite time of year. I'm planning a surprise getaway for Chris and I so I'm looking forward to that. Eating wise, we definitely need to think about making healthy options because there are some major temptations were we are going. I'm hoping that the activity level will offset it. We just need to think smart. I can do that!

Funniest switch-a-roo...

Chris and I had our first class tonight for the Move it to Lose it program and we had a good laugh about it. So I get there and Chris is already there where we were supposed to be. When I talked to the trainer he noted that he would be over by chairs on the 3rd floor. So there were tons of people there and the trainer walks over and introduces himself and we sign in. He then notes "okay, just walk around the track for 15 minutes to get your heart rate up" so we do that. We rejoin the group and he breaks us into 3's. One group being the cardio, then core, and finally strength. I went to the core and Chris went to the cardio. The trainer was amazing. I did some crunches on the ball and it was awesome, along with a plank exercise, and then a movement with the legs for the abs. The second round was 10 minutes on the treadmill with the goal to burn 60-80 calories. When I was on the treadmill, the woman asked when did I start the product. I noted that I just started and she just went "oh". I ran for 4 minutes, this in itself is a feat. After the working out, we go into the instruction. We follow the others up and Chris gets there and notes that the guy accross from me lost 58 pounds! Wow, then the lady kitty corner lost 65 in 20 weeks. I'm thinking amazing...this move it to lose it program is utterly impressive. So as we move around the room, everyone is sharing their success. Chris and I are dumbfounded. Then it's my turn to introduce myself and I explained why I am there. To eat healthier, lose weight so I can have a healthier pregnancy for when I do get pregnant, etc. She then noted "what is your diagnosis?" I noted, "well, according to the FIT, I am obese". Then she asked Chris what he was doing there and he stated "to get back into working out". Then she asked, "well your not our typical people. You two look really good". Then the woman kitty corner to us notes "Wait, you're supposed to be in that other program". I asked, "What program, the move it to lose it?" "Yeah, I saw the trainer take them away when everyone was out at the chairs. There were so many people. You're in the Victory Weightloss Group right now". So we got our groups mixed up. We laughed about it and they said that we could stay into the group. We learned about weightloss myths and I got a 98% on the test. They were a great group of people. Too bad we don't get to stick with them. They were super motivating. We talked to the YMCA people and we're hooking up with our proper group on Wednesday...Chris and I never laughed so hard about the mix up. Good communication goes a long way.

A rainy Saturday...

I sometimes love a rainy Saturday. Our typical Saturdays lately have consisted of running errands, going to the relatives boat, socializing, cleaning the home, working outside, etc. I'm usually up by 7:00 but when it's raining out I sleep in. It was so nice this morning to just relax and not have the need to get up and moving. I fully took advantage of it. I made my usual Saturday breakfast of biscuits, eggs (beaters for me), and a piece of bacon. I was proud of my over easy for eggs for Chris but after discussing it, he always thought that overeasy meant sunny side up. Opps! We don't have too much going on this weekend. Later today we are going to a suprise birthday party. Never been to one before so that's going to be interesting. Our healthy eating plan is that we are going to eat before going rather than sit there and gooble up all the party food. Party food is a weekness so hopefully this will work. Other than that...we get to relax.

Last night we redeemed our free dinner coupons at Noodles & Company and Coldstone. They have birthday clubs so they send you a free offer on your birthday. I love Noodles & Company. I'm additcted to the Chicken Penne Rosa and Chris loves the Chicken Pad Thai. Then we headed over to Coldstone. The one thing I have to say about Coldstone is that I only go there once a year for my birthday ice cream. It's totally unhealthy and the prices are insane. In this day in age, I cannot rationalize paying $4.20+ for a Love It Size Creation. If I do have the craving for ice cream, it's much better to scoot my bottom down to the store and picky up some Edy's light. The one good thing is that I don't crave sweets...the downfall is that I like salty crunchy things like potato chips so I need to keep those out of the house. My two lowfat chip loves are Flat Earth chips and Kettle Bakes (from Costco, oh so good! 3g Fat and 2g Fiber per serving).

I'm ready for my brain to return. I feel like the last few months have been a fog because I've been involved with learning a therapy technique for the past year and it's getting to the end now. I'm just so focused on this therapy, it's not even funny how much it has taken over the brain. I've spent 124 hours classroom time, over 60 hours of supervision, and that's just the beggining of what I have done. It's funny when I was going into the training I heard the trainers noted that the majority of your brain space will be taken over by this, I thought they were joking. Well, they were not. It's been an amazing learning experience and I've become a much better therapist but I am so looking forward to getting my certification so things can return to normal where all of this space in my brain can go towards other things.

Speaking of other things, Chris and I are officially signed up for the move to lose it program. Our first meeting is next week. We're both looking forward to it. I think it will be a lot of fun and you can't beat working out with some personal trainers. At least it will get us into a routine. Now I just have to figure out what we'll do for dinner because we have to be there at 6pm (that's usually when we get home). Maybe leftovers? We'll see.

It's my birthday!

I'm the big 33 today! I look damn good, no makeup or hair dye needed yet. I took the day off because I never work on my birthdays. Birthday's are almost like a new years for me because it brings about a resolution to change. I have a few resolutions so I'm looking forward to an excellent year.

Today is a really good day. I saw my folks, they took me out to lunch and we had a terrific time. That was an awesome birthday present just to see them. The window guy came over and we're getting our four windows in the front replaced. They will be here in about 7 weeks. I am so looking forward to getting the windows, it's not even funny. See how bad they are? I think the only thing holding them is the putty. So by Halloween, we will have four new windows. The only bad thing about getting them in late fall is that the kitties will not be able to lay in the open windows, it will be too cold for them. I have to say that I love my cats. I never thought that I would love a cat as much as I do, but they are terrific. They make me smile every day.


In making healthy choices, Chris and I opted to stay in for our birthdays (his was yesterday). I made him a mean Mahattan Clam Chowder last night. It tasted great. Tonight, we're just going to have some left overs. Yeah, we could spend some money to go out but I much prefer staying in and eating a terrific meal. The one thing about the wii fit is that it really tracks your weight. We've noticed that M-F we eat very well but on the weekends, we tend to gain because we are off schedule. I've signed us up for the "Move it to Lose it" program at the local Y. It starts next week and we're really looking forward to it. Chris would like to lose about 30-40 pounds and I would like to lose about 20. Heck, I will take 10 pounds at this time. I like my body but I need to eat and be healthier for the future. We're doing good on the hiking. On Saturday, I didn't meet up with the group because we had a million errands to run but we did hit a local park and did some hiking for about 2 hours. I love hiking in September...it's such a great time of year.

Funny thing we were discussing over lunch is that I realized I'm a picky eater. I never really considered myself a picky eater but after chatting with my mom, it was like, "oh, yeah, I guess I am". I guess I always condsidered picky eaters are people who are not willing to try things. I like a full range of foods but there some of the foods that I should eat but don't. I like fresh fruits from the farmers markets but not from the grocery store because it doesn't have that great taste. Chris can eat a ton of fruit. I always like the odd things like asparagus, brocolli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, squash. I hate mellon, sweat potatoes, and tomatoes. For chicken, it's got to be the breast only. Humm, I guess I am picky. I'll have to do something about the fruit thing.

It's never a good idea to google...

I found this realization...it's never really a good idea to google people you used to know. I was curious about the my elementary school friends to see if they were on the net and I found two of them. The two turned out simply amazing. One is an environmental lawyer who graduated at the top of her class at George Washington University. The other is high ranking official at the peace corps. Amazing!

Then I got thinking why in the heck did my parents move me from that school district? I remember them stressing out about how difficult the high school was and how they needed to move out to the country. Funny thing is that my early years of school were challenging at times but wonderful. It was like this little safe haven that was created in a progressive town outside of Detroit. It was idealic where the community raised the child. We had computers in the school in 1980. I learnd math on an Apple Computer. When we moved out to the country in 1986, the schools were "rich" but they lacked what my former schools had. The new country school was rough, the 5th graders were boy crazy and wearing makeup. The 6th grade was even worse. I remember moving into the country school in the middle of 5th grade and it being absolutely painful. I went from a small child to being a very large child in six months. That's when the weight settled in. Looking back, hell, I must have been depressed. Having the house burn down at the end of fourth grade, then moving mid year to a hick school in fifth grade, argh. What really made me think about it is what I want my future to look like. I'm pretty mindful that I don't ever want to move during my child's education. I know it worked very well for the folks but it didn't work as nicely for me emotionally. I never felt like I had a true home after leaving the Detroit area. It wasn't until we bought that house that I felt settled. It also made me think about the school for the future kidos. The school district that I live in is known for having strong elementeries and middle school programs but the high school is rough. Is that the same idea that my parents thought? I cringe at thinking of sending my future offspring to a rough school but looking at my former classmates, well, they did well. Then it got me thinking about my life for a few moments of "wow, look what I've done" (in a blah tone) but then looking at Chris, my home, my cats (yeah my cats) I felt like I did okay. It's funny how googling can make you rethink your life for a few moments and the "what if's"

Wow, the mojo...it's been...

The mojo is back...it's feeling terrific. This excitement about being healthy is definitely what I have been missing. Chris actually helped me get my butt back in gear with the help of the Wii Fit. We got the system back in July after hearing about Chris's cousin raving about the fit for hours and it really had us intrigued so when we got back, I was able to find it online. When we got it, we just used the fit a few times but about three weeks ago, Chris got hooked and he's been doing the fit for a half an hour every night. I would do it here and there but I've been doing consistently for the past week and so far, it's terrific. Now, I know it's not to supplement a real work out but it definitely helps. I'm officially not obese anymore! I'm just overweight. My BMI was a 29.90. I'll take that.

We went hiking for a solid 3 hours the other day at a cool park down the road. This weekend we're planning on hooking up with my hiking group that I joined back in May for a hike this weekend. Plus we'll do some additional hiking because we're going to do some caching. We're also joining a 10 week class at the Y in a few weeks so we are going to be looking fab soon. There's something about fall that usually motivates me, so it's nice to get back into the grove of things.

My newest obsession is making my own whole wheat pasta. Last Friday, I found the Kitchen Aid mixer pasta attachments for 60% off at the Meijer outlet. I have been desiring this set for ages but for $180, I said "pass". But when I say it at the outlet, I sprung into action. I even got another $10 off because I asked the manager for a discount and he went for it. Last night was my first attempt. I took a cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of egg beaters and it came out pretty good for my first attempt. The noodles were thick so I'll have to work on making them thinner. At least now I have a use for the six pound bag of whole wheat flour I bought at the amish store. It's been sitting in my cabinet for months and I had no clue on using it because the recipe that I originally bought it for tanked.

The birthdays are next week. Chris and I are a day apart. He's turning 36 and I'm turning 33. I'm okay with the 33. Initially the thought of turning 33 was a tad bit scary but I'm up for it. I think it's going to be a good year. Take care all-Kellie