Exciting News.

Well for any of you that read this blog and somehow don't know, I'm pregnant. I'm about 2 1/2 months along, and finally getting over most of the early pregnancy stuff, like nausea and fatigue.
But wait. I have more interesting news. Since finding out I was pregnant, I have been watching what I eat, but I haven't been dieting. I also have been somewhat terrible about working out, though I tend to go in spurts. (This past week and this next are finals for me, so I've been swamped.) I am going to work out today though. Anyway, the interesting news is that despite being as far along as I am, I have gained no weight whatsoever. I've actually lost 15 pounds. Like I said, not dieting, just trying to eat balanced for the baby...but it's working... I can tell my waist is actually starting to thicken a bit, but that's normal right now for the pregnancy, but somehow even though to me it looks like I'm getting bigger, 15 pounds left at some point. So, yay! Less I have to lose after the baby's born. :) (Baby is due July 17th.)

Bagels.

So, I've been saying for at least six months that I was going to try out a bagel recipe I had, and tonight I have. The bagels are currently cooking in the oven, after being shaped, broiled and boiled first. Quite an intensive recipe, though it is much healthier than any bagels I could buy, especially since I made them smaller than was actually called for. They're no-fat too, since basically all they are is a little bit of sugar (3 T) and a lot of flour and water and a bit of yeast. Pretty simple mix, really. I'm looking forward to seeing how they taste.

I did in fact do my yoga the other day, as I said I planned to in my last post, two days ago. I should do it tonight as well, but I'm going to try to go to bed early instead, and do it in the morning. I always feel better that way, and I don't think an 11 hour delay will make too much of a difference. I've stepped up the intensity as well, and it takes a bit longer, so I"m going to need to get up a bit earlier, so, again, sleep is good.

That's all for now!

Today...

I'm blogging now to say that though I was running a bit late this morning, due to unforseen circumstances, I will do my yoga tonight. As it is, I have to meet my accompanist at school in twenty minutes, and I've not done my hair or eaten breakfast yet. Gotta go!

Yoga for beginners (again).

Alright, well I've been enjoying my return to yoga, except that this week I haven't been as consistent. I'm really looking forward to going back to it though, and will begin again tomorrow morning. I've been doing yoga every other morning since I started, and the days that I do it, I feel like I'm lighter, and I"ve got better posture, which is another thing I'm trying to work on. The problem this week has been that I've had an event every evening, and so I've been up later doing homework after said events, and so I've been sleeping in in lieu of doing yoga. However. I feel like I have more energy on the days that I do yoga vs. the days that I sleep in a little bit, so I think I've learned my lesson and I'll continue practicing. I'm going to try to work up to doing it every day, but when I started I did three days in a row and wow was I sore!
Well, as you can tell it's very late, and if I'm going to make time for yoga in the morning before church I'd better get some rest. Let me know if you all have any suggestions for light meals with few ingredients...I"m going to work out my shopping list for the coming week soon.

So, I know it's been forever, again, but I've decided to update you all on the gym/home workout situation. Since my gym membership ran out at Heart & Soul, and the students are back in town, so it's near impossible to work out at the Dome at a reasonable time, I've taken to working out at home. Unfortunately, since I'm not too fond of working out to videos, or in the living room in general, (it's our smallest room! well, except for the bathroom...) I haven't been very good about working out in the apartment.

Tonight, on the way home from Pierre, Chris and I stopped in Sioux Falls to do some shopping, and picked up a yoga mat and book for me. I can't recall if I mentioned going to yoga classes last summer, but I did, and I loved it. Now, I can do yoga at home! I already worked out tonight, and really enjoyed it. It'll take a bit to get used to the moves again, and to get used to referring to a book instead of listening to someone talk, but I really do enjoy it. Eventually, I want to get to the point where I can listen to my opera music, or even a book on tape, but right now it's taking too much concentration for that. Either way though, it's a good workout while still being pretty relaxing, so it's a win-win.

P.S.
I've had to arrange shopping lists for each week, and consequently have been either packing lunches or eating at home, and planning dinners for every night, so we've not eaten fast food hardly at all. (Except when travelling...it can't be helped on a time crunch...) I've also incorporated more veggies and fruits into the diet, so that's helped a bit as well. I'm still plateaued, but I"m hoping the yoga will help kick me past that.

22 Posts!

Well, today is the day that I post one post over how many I posted last year. I know, exciting. I bet you just got chills.

Well, Chris and I have been married for about a month and a half now, and life is a whole lot easier. In the weight loss realm, we've been cooking even more regularly, cutting our eating out down to once a week at most. I'm actually sick of fast food/eating out from this week, since we had a couple of church events that I'd forgotten about, so we didn't eat at home for two nights. I also didn't judge groceries as well this week, so we ran out today and we ordered a pizza for dinner. So I am thouroughly sick of non-home-cooked meals. I know, I'm a very poor tribute to the average college student, but I'm ok with that now. Anyway, Chris and I did go to the store yesterday with the express purpose of buying fruit, because we ran out of that as well, and so I have been snacking on that ever since.

Ok, as far as working out goes, I had gotten really good about working out again, doing weight training in our apartment, until I hurt my legs by overworking them, to the point where I had trouble walking around for about three days. I'm better now, but I unfortunately broke the habit and haven't really worked out since. Well, I did once, but that was a week ago, so it doesn't really count. I officially am beginning my workout routine again tomorrow morning (Saturday) and will do my best not to make the same mistakes and kill my thighs again!

So.....this hasn't really been my most exciting post, but I'll let you know if stuff changes...more to come soon.

Wedding countdown. 23 days.

Ok, so right now I'm drinking a glass of water with three strawberries and two cherries in it. I read somewhere about throwing a party for your girlfriends, and to serve these drinks that you had cut up fruit into ( water with oranges, lemons, limes, and the like.) I thought I'd try it with berries, and honestly, it's not that bad...except for the few seeds that broke off and are now floaters. I need to refill the glass though, as it's almost gone. The berries double well as ice cubes, since I had them frozen.

On another note, today I went to the Dome's gym. It was ok, except that they've got the air off because of construction, and since the dome is basically one giant room, all that construction stirred up dust into the air, which the workout room's on the second floor, and so it was really really hot and dusty. So yeah, lots of sweat. It was still a good workout though, and I rode about 6 miles on their bike there. I guess I can see giving up my gym membership to work out there, especially once the air is on, but until then, I'm going to my own gym to work out when I can.

Chicken pot pie for dinner tomorrow. Yes, I know it's supposed to be bad for you, but I used a lower fat recipe, (though some of the low fat ingredients, I used what I had, which was full fat (I REFUSE to eat fat free italian dressing. The stuff's disgusting.)) Anyway, we'll see how it turns out. It looks good, (already made it) but I don't know how it'll taste. I'll let you all know.

Cooking

Since Chris and I have moved him into a new apartment, the one I'll be living in too, when we're married, we decided to fully stock the pantry and thus cook much more often. With the exception of Friday night, when we had no cookware or anything else unpacked, we've cooked every day since. I've lost 3.5 pounds. I've been working out some, but mostly that's due to just eating healthier. I've had snacks and such, but those too are in moderation.

Keeping it up.

I've been back to the gym since the last post. I went Sunday afternoon, and I'm leaving for the gym as soon as I finish this post. My goal is to make it at least every other day, since I don't have the school commitment right now. I work today at 2, but I don't work at all tomorrow, so I'll probably do two days in a row.

The next thing to tackle is my eating habits. Finals week and the few weeks prior were definite off weeks. I ate a lot of take out, pizza, and other crap. Now, I have time to cook for myself, for the most part, and I am trying to improve what I eat. Tonight I'll probably eat at Mr. Smiths cafe, since it's attached to my job, and I work until 8. However, I always try to get something healthy there, when I eat there.

Ok, off to work out.

I guess the gym membership does get used...

I went to the gym tonight, and decided to bike for awhile. I set the timer to 40 minutes, and then got buried in my book. I kept feeling like I was going really slow, so I kept pushing myself a bit faster. Well, turns out I couldn't have been going too slow...I did 9.1 miles in 40 minutes. Definitely stretched afterwards. Then I decided to do a couple reps on different machines, mainly upper body. I figured out how to use the machines I didn't want to try in front of other people...had the gym to myself after the first half hour. Then, after doing around 90 crunches on my own, I discovered this ab machine, and I lost count on how many crunches I did on there. I'd do thirty, then wait a bit, then do thirty more, etc. After awhile, I deemed it time to quit, so I stretched a bit more and headed home. Good workout.

Like the new template? I know it's a bit bright, but as Chris said, this isn't my main blog anyway...

Ok, so for an update. I'm working in the garden center in Vermillion again, which is definitely a good workout. I usually work 7-10 hour shifts, with one half hour break for lunch/dinner. I'm on my feet for most of that time, which isn't so bad, and it's usually nice out, which is great. When I get home, however, I"m usually so exhausted I don't work out. Because of this, I have decided I'm going to try and get up to work out. I know, I've done this before, and never stuck to it, but I usually don't start work until one in the afternoon, and then work till eight. So, I could reasonably get up and work out in the morning and get some things done then, instead of sleeping till 11, like I have been the past couple times. In my defense, I did need some recoup time after finals week. I am now well recovered though, and need to get in gear.

I think that's all for now. Hop over to my main blog for more details on my random life.

Something new.

Today I ventured out into the unknown. I worked out to one of my roommate's exercise videos, Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease. Trust me, no stripping involved, and I did this in the privacy of my own room. Still, I was surprised, really, to find that I enjoyed the workout, since its purpose was not to use the same old tired crunches and weightlifting that most dvds use to tone up and lose weight. There were new workouts that were actually fun to do. I'm impressed. Most of all, it wasn't trashy, as I kind of expected it to be.

Ok, so yesterday, I did go for a walk in addition to my workout time, but today I did not. For that matter, I did not work out. I did, however, start work at the Ace Garden Center again, where today we stood outside in 30-40 degree weather (and that's on the warm side!) and we potted plants for five hours. Ok, so we were inside the tarped greenhouse, with all the windows and doors shut, but that's still outside...it's just a giant elaborate tarp thrown over support poles. So yeah...cold. My boss did buy us dinner though....pizza....which I know is bad for me, but first of all, it was free, second of all, it was warm, and third of all, I didn't eat that much. :) Ok that's all for tonight. I'm going to try to get to the gym tomorrow morning, but it may end up being tomorrow evening...we'll see how it plays out...morning would be better.

Follow through.

Ok, so I actually did go to the gym this morning, just so you all know. I only got to bike for 35 minutes, but that's better than nothing. I'm hoping to be able to fit in a nice walk later today too...it's a bit chilly though, so I have to remember to bring a coat, otherwise it'll be a very short walk.

Tiredness and excuses...sort of.

Ok, so today Chris and I went on a nice walk, (which by the way I intend to incorporate a walk to somewhere into my daily routine, weather permitting, of course,) and I'm going to count that as my exercise today, even though it wasn't strenuous as my daily exercise should be. See, I figure that I could either stay up longer tonight and go work out, or I could set my alarm(s), and get up in the morning and go work out, so I have a good night's sleep and a reasonably more normal time to start my day. (I usually get up about a half hour before my class begins at 10 am.) In any case, I'm rather tired right now, and my ankle hurts for some odd reason, so I'm hoping a good nights sleep helps that and I"m going to go to the gym before class tomorrow morning. Ok. Goodnight.

Backsliding.

well, I have to say I've fallen behind. I was recently in an opera, and for the past week, we've had rehearsals every night till 11 pm, and since they started soon after I was out of class, I had no time for working out....almost no time for homework or sleep either! However, I actually miss working out, and since the last show of the opera was last night, I am free to do so. I intend to finish cleaning my room tonight and then go work out. I'm also planning to make a healthy meal tonight of either steak or chicken kabobs. I honestly can't remember which week I'm on, for the workout plan, so I'm just going to say I'm on week 10. Here's the stats for that.

Weeks #9 and #10 -- 40 minutes of aerobic activity at least three times a week; 3 sets of 10 stomach crunches; 2 sets of 10 push-ups; 1 set of 10 squats.

P.S. I also bought a journal that helps to track food intake as well as workouts and measurements. I've had it for about 3.5 weeks, and I've been bad about using it for about 2 of those weeks. Time to start using it again.

Well, I've kept up on working out, just not very well. I worked out one full time last week, and twice this week, including tonight. I've not officially worked out yet tonight, but I"m going to for 45 min before I go to bed. I think I'm actually going to do that next before I finish packing (I"m packing to go home for spring break). As for eating, I've definitely overdone it this week, especially if you count the drinks I had for my birthday. Two people made me birthday cakes too, and one person made cookies, so there were just plenty of temptations for me. :) Oh well....in four minutes it will be a fresh week. I weigh myself in the morning to see how I did for the first month of this plan. Hopefully I haven't backslid too much.

Well, I'd better get to working out and packing, or I"ll never go to bed!

Late, but still on time...

Hey all! Sorry I've not posted in a bit...thought I'd let you know that I did actually meet the requirements for last week, what with working out on thursday, friday, and saturday. Both friday and saturday I went down to Heart & Soul Fitness, which I re-joined, (for only $100 for four months! That includes classes, a trainer if I want one, and 24 hour access to the gym) and I rode on their bikes for 10 miles combined over the two days. I did 7 miles the first day, and I did 3 the second day. I was going to do more on Saturday, but the good bikes were taken, and they've got this one old bike which honestly makes your entire bottom half fall asleep if you're on it too long, and I could only take the 15 minutes I was on. (I was on the good bike on Friday for a half hour.)
In addition to the bike, I did different weight machines, but overall I just wanted to say I met my time limit and I actually enjoyed working out.
On another note, most of the sweets in my apartment are gone, and I"m not really doing much to replace them. I went and bought some more fruit.

P.S.
Just a heads up...I've got to update the format of this blog and my regular blog to match blogger beta requirements here in the next couple weeks, so I"m scoping out new blogger templates. I'm warning you now that they're going to change, (by necessity :( ) just so you know.

Back on track

Well, I realized late last night that if I was to meet my three workouts a week goal, I was going to have to work out today, tomorrow, and Saturday. I did work out this morning for half an hour, and I intend to get up tomorrow early enough to work out as well. This weeks been so crazy up till now, I honestly didn't realize I hadn't been fitting in my workouts. Well, now I will. I did upper body and abs today.

On another note, for Valentines day I recieved and made many temptations. One of my roommates bought cupcakes for all of us for V-Day, while another gave us all sacks of candy. Chris gave me a box of truffles, and I made a "Better than Sex" cake for everyone as my gift. I have been trying to ration it all though. I'm not just stuffing, I promise! :)

Ok, I just finished my final workout for the week. That's not to say that I won't work out again this week, I'm only saying that I've met the requirements of my workout plan now. I did the upper body workout on my dvd, and in doing so I realized that I hadn't ever done it before...I thought I did all the workouts on there! Well, while I'm not as tired as I usually am after working out, my arms are definitely exhausted for the rest of me. I'm actually feeling it a lot just typing now, so I'm going to quit and go shower. Yay! I'm done!

P.S. Anyone got tips for very sore calves?

Yay! It definitely is nice to be done with my workout for the day. I worked out to the dvd again, right after I got up a few hours ago. I've decided that I'm going to go downtown to the local coffee shop for lunch, since they make really good healthy sandwiches and have really really good tea...I'm gonna work on german there...it should be nice. Ok, well that has to wait until after choir, which I've got in 10 minutes, so gotta go. :)

Wedding Workout and The Knot.

Ok, so tonight I cracked open my Wedding Workout dvd that Lee gave me, and I did the cardio and the lower body workouts, plus warm-up and cool down. Total time for all of it was around 30 min. I was really supposed to only do 20 today, but to do that I'd have had to drop warm-up and cool down, or possibly one of the other two, but those are where the work is really done, and I hate to only do one. Ok, the reason I said I'm only supposed to do 20 today is because I decided to try following this plan that I found on theknot.com. It's a "6 months till your wedding" workout plan. It basically lays down some ground rules and paces you a bit, so that you don't get discouraged or overwhelmed, but you still get good workouts. It's very general, so I can choose whatever aerobic workout I want to do, it just needs to be an aerobic workout. :) It's simple enough that I can follow it and not get discouraged, but strict enough that I won't quit for no reason. I'll link to it in the title, but no guarentees that it'll work so well...

Progress!!!

Hey all, just wanted to let you know I'm approaching the 10 lb mark...that is, I've lost nearly ten pounds...should be officially 10 in the next day or two. I've been keeping track of everything I've been eating in a food diary, and I've been working out, though not as much as I should there.

Tonight my roommate made Chicken Tikka, rice and Naan bread, which was incredibly good. Because of my wisdom teeth surgery, I've got to eat slower, so I didn't eat more than one portion, except, for the bread, which I had two servings of. It was really good...I'm done eating for the night now though. Oh yeah, that's the other thing...I hardly ever snack anymore. Yeah, so yay! Progress!

Cuban-Coffee Chili

Mom and I are making cuban-coffee chili. It smells good! I think it should be filling enough that I won't overeat. I'm excited though...I've been wanting to try this recipe for awhile.

P.S.
I worked out on the treadmill for about twenty minutes last night and fifteen today. I've lost three pounds since I started my food journal up again...it helps a lot.

Cookies...

Ok, cookies, cookie dough, etc., those are my weaknesses. Both of which I discovered today....so I had some....but, I didn't have that much, and I don't think I"ll be having any tomorrow or the rest of the week. Just indulged today. Thought I should mention it.
On another note, I have not worked out yet today, and I haven't worked out on a treadmill for awhile, so I will be doing that tonight before going to bed....not immediately before, but just sometime this evening...probably sometime in the next hour or two. Ok. Now that I've said that I've got to do it. :)

Well, I did work out the other night before going to bed, and I worked out yesterday as well...Michelle and I went up to the YMCA to work out. It was rather nice to be back in an actual gym. I may join a gym again, but first I've got to check out the Dome, since I'm paying for it through tuition as it is. If I still don't like it there, I"m going to check out the new 24 hour fitness place on Cherry before I go back to my old gym. Don't get me wrong, I did love the old gym, but it was really expensive. We'll see, when I get back to Vermillion.

Today I am losing weight. Yeah, ok, I haven't checked the scale recently, and lately I've been really good at maintaining. In addition to that, yesterday, or officially, the day that was 12 minutes ago, I ate way too much. But, here's why I say I am losing weight todya. I am going to get up, immediately after posting this, and I'm going to do stretches and exercises, and then in the morning I'm getting up and hopefully getting up to go to the gym with Michelle. Ok, so I know it's been awhile since I posted here. Call it a new year's resolution or whatever, but I'm going to attempt to post here more. Here's what I request more though....can whoever happens to read here actually post comments on the blog??? It helps me stay somewhat accountable. That'd be great....

Ok, now to actually get up and move...maybe I'll get Keya to work out with me. :)