Happy Monday!
Well, last night was a food disaster for me. Those don't happen often, but when they do... whew! I think I woke up with in a food coma this morning. The only redeeming thing I did yesterday was run for 35 minutes in the afternoon.

The weather was so nice today as well - 35 degrees, even though it's cloudy. Did an after lunch run. Have to sneak in those outdoor activities when I can, since the temps are supposed to dip back down again tomorrow.

Just got back from my doctor's visit and my recovery is going fine. He instructed me to start massage and told me I could do lower body exercise if I want. So, stationary bike here I come! And, as a reward for my good visit I treated myself to a full Brazilian and a full leg wax. A year ago my treat would have been coffee and a pastry from Starbucks... Oh how things change in a year.

Back to work...

Hi everybody! Sorry I haven't had time to respond to everyone!

Hello, all--

Lisa, so good to see you! I still haven't gotten all my "baby" weight off, and my baby is 30 so I think you're doing pretty good. I nursed my son until he was almost two. He did bite down once after he got teeth, but my scream must have scared him so much that he never did it again.

Goalsuccess, congratulations on passing your oral exams--that must have been a huge relief to get them over with.

Shannon, glad your recovery is going so well.

Had to go shopping for a dress yesterday. I'm not a dress person so it wasn't exactly a fun time, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I actually looked pretty good in most of the dresses--and I was happy to be able to fit into a size 10 still even though I've put on a few. Now I have to worry about shoes and jewelry, neither of which I have, although I do have a pair of Brooks running shoes that I've only worn twice. Wish I could get away with wearing those to the wedding. Oh, I forgot to say that the retail on the dress was $174, but I got it for $38.80, inc. tax. Makes me realize how much stores mark up stuff.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday! I'm happy to say it's fairly sunny and warmer than it has been (upper 30s).

So I went for my physical today. My labs were all great, thyroid is 100% in range now (TSH 0.75, FT4 1.0, FT3 like 350). Of course, that means I can't blame my lack of weight loss on my thyroid anymore! My doc got one of those super-fancy new scales that tells you your weight, height, BMI, BF%, and BMR. According to the scale, I weighed 146 (ouch!), I'm 5'4", my BMI is 25 (still "normal" but only barely), my BF% is 34.5 (double ouch!), and my BMR is 1400 calories (ugh). The doc recommended I make an appointment with the nutritionist who works with her to get a more accurate BF% and BMR reading (the nutritionist has one of those things you breathe into that measures the CO2 and such).

In any case, I think if my BMR is 1400, then it's no wonder I'm not losing eating 1600/day, since I work at a desk so my day is 99% sedentary except when I'm working out. I didn't think my BF% was so high though.

Okay, self! Two months until the triathlon and a crappy metabolism means time to WORK OUT! (Now I just need to convince the weather to behave -- my schedule is to run today but there is still six inches of snow on the ground!)

Amen to that.

Jay here is the link to the article

http://healthandfitness.sympatico.ms...oss.htm?isfa=1

Had a lovely day today at work. All the dogs were so good it was scary and the weather was absolutely gorgeous!

No stress eating tonite. Now if DH would call and let me know when he's arriving I could start making dinner (chicken stir fry with brown rice).

Have a terrific night all!

Dagmar

Lisa, it's so good to have you back! Don't be silly about not posting because you're ashamed ... who of us hasn't been right where you are?? When it's hard and we're struggling is the time we all need to be here the most! Are you running at all these days or is it too hard with the baby?

Yay on being able to exercise, Shannon! Today is lower body day for me so I'll be thinking of you and hoping you're having as much fun as I will.

Are all the Super Bowl treats out of the house?

Pittsburgh is still a town gone crazy over the Steelers. Those hardy souls who made it to the gym in the early AM were mostly in black and gold. I suspect they hadn't gone to bed yet. Apparently the fans lined up outside the local sporting goods store and bought up all the Super Bowl Tshirts by 10:30 Sunday night. There's a big parade downtown today but I'll be working.

Digression for a moment: most of the service providers who work at the spa are young -- early 20s. None of them pack food for work; they all consume vast quantities of fast food. And then they complain about 1. gaining weight and 2. not having any money. I bring in my cut up veggies, apple slices, wraps with chicken and veggies, and they look at me like I'm crazy. Like it's never occurred to them to actually prepare food to bring to work. It's like a whole culture that exists on fast food and the only question is where you order from every day. No wonder we're such a fat nation!

Hope everyone is staying warm and dry. We have snow in our forecast today, tonight, and tomorrow. This is getting really old.

I find that all of the younger dogwalkers are always amazed when I mention that I'm hungry/thirsty and that I have a pre-packed lunch/thermos/water in the car.

Ditto DH's young co-workers when he pulls out his brown bag lunch.

It really has become an "instant" world!

And we are going to have more snow here too - SIGH. I think our little 10 ft. tall tree on the front lawn is going to disappear with this new snowfall and driveway clearing. There's only 2 feet of it still above the snow.

But we have rain coming on the weekend !

I'm off to sling the weights around! I won't be able to do that for the next 8 days with the dog sit so I'm really going to push myself this morning.

Have a great day all!

Dagmar

Lisa, welcome back! I still haven't managed to lose my thyroid weight that I gained over a year ago, so you're not alone!

Dagmar, we're exchanging our snow for rain this weekend too, I'm excited! The temps are supposed to reach the mid 40's and I am SO going to be outside running as soon as the snow is melted off the sidewalks.

I've seen a lot of the fast food culture too. Most of my coworkers go out to lunch every day, and those that don't almost never have homemade food (they tend to have canned soup or frozen meals, which I admit I have pretty frequently too, although mine are of the healthier variety). The only people who always have homemade food are the people who grew up in other countries! Their food looks and smells really good too.

I think my boss and I are the only people who specifically pack snacks to eat between meals though. He usually brings in his lunch some kind of sandwich and a whole bunch of fruit. I have whatever my main dish is, two pieces of fruit, and a yogurt. The main dish is the only one I actually eat at lunchtime.

In exercise news, I picked up a copy of NRLW last night! That whole being 35% body fat and having a super-low metabolism was pretty motivating. Now my dilemma is that I want to get started on it, but I don't want to back off my triathlon training because the triathlon is in two months. What's a girl to do??

Funny, Meg, a lot of my 20's and early 30's coworkers do this too. Yes, the ones who make fun of me for my eating habits. Not only do I control my weight better than they do, but I control my budget better than they do too. Helloooo.... anyone home?

The last 2 days at work have been very frustrating and stressful (new boss issues), added on top of the fact that I'm way behind on sleep after work, working out, meetings, making birthday cake for co-worker (I like to bake but now no one else in the office will make anything for someone's birthday and it's getting to the point of unreasonable expectations), trying to pack food, still unpacking from my trip, spending time with BF... I'm afraid I'm going to snap soon if I don't get some sleep! I already ate 2 cookies at the staff meeting this morning out of sheer frustration, and I know food is not the answer!

Jessica, I'm sort of skeptical that a scale could tell you your BMR... what kind of scale? From what I've read you really need a qualified person to do the breathing/CO2 thing and an advanced body composition analysis, not stepping on a scale. This isn't something I know a ton about but I've read a bit about it... If you're really curious I'd go to the nutritionist.

I'm off to go run around like a chicken with its head cut off...

Nothing will help people understand what a budget really is until they have real bills to pay--mortgage, utilities, insurance premiums. Then they'll understand why it is so important to pack a lunch! My DH and I sure learned that lesson quickly when we first got married. Heck, we bought the house before we got married! Fast food is a luxury to indulge in once in a while. And frankly our family has "disowned" many fast food places. We still like Del Taco and Panda Express but not any burger places except In-and-Out.

Hi everyone! Our warm spell of mid 30s is over now. Back to cold!

I think not just young people have problems with budgeting - I think a lot of people in general don't really grasp how much money goes out every month versus what comes in.

So many little expenses are in there that you don't think about: lattes, a quick run to the convenience store, picking up hair product when you get your hair done, tip jars, etc.
I've been working on a budgeting site called mint.com - and I really like it! It organizes all your financial stuff into one place.

Megan, it's a Tanita body composition analyzer scale, you can see them on the Tanita website under professional scales. It uses bio-electrical impedence analysis. The doctor did say that the nutritionist's analyzers would be more accurate.

DH brought up that knowing the results of this analysis wouldn't really make a difference in terms of what I have to do though. I already know I have to eat less, exercise more, and build muscle. What more could I really learn? (I'm sure he's thinking about the $$ it would cost for me to meet with the nutritionist and have the analysis done.)

Speaking of budgeting, I seriously think a lot of people, young and old, have some screwed up budgeting priorities. People who go into credit card debt because they aren't willing to give up cable TV? Seriously. It's true, I don't always pay attention to what I'm buying and I sometimes end up with big credit card bills, but not so big I can't pay them. Back when I was in grad school and totally broke I watched my budget way more closely than I do now.

I agree on bringing lunches. All of the women who work in the library (no men on the staff ) usually bring lunch. Not only is eating out costly - in calories and $$ - we often often don't have time to take the time to go out. I do have a standing lunch date with 2 GFs on Fridays, but we never go for fast food, and I usually end up with a salad anyway - it's about the company not the food. My DH is fanatical about bringing his own food anywhere. Even when we go to Anchorage he'll want to pack a lunch. Sometimes we do, sometimes I insist on a treat.

Lisa! Good to see you. How is little Henry?

Jessica - if you're that close to a triathalon you might want to wait to start the NRLW - unless you can substitute it for whatever lifting you're doing now.

I skipped the gym last night as I had a raging headache. Tonight I'm doing a NRLW workout, and will add some cardio to it - not HIIT though.

Meg - sounds like you're going to be busy for awhile. Don't do such a good job that they don't replace the other person and leave you with a killer schedule indefinitely.

Well, lots to get done today, so I'd best get back to it.

Amen to that. When I tell people that we lived in a roofed basement, with a construction trailer to house our kitchen and bathroom, for 5 years while we built our house paying as went, they think we're nuts! But then I tell them that for the inconvenience of those 5 years, we have never had a mortgage payment, they at least think a little. Now, if we'd have had kids, that would have been harder to do, but still we don't buy stuff unless we can pay for it! We do use credit cards but we pay them off every single month. I can't understand kids who think they can start out having everything their parents have. (Gads, I sound like my mother )

I heard a story on NPR this morning about how a garage owner's business is increasing because people elect to have more repairs done than buy a new car. But as he noted, some of those repairs are necessary because the people never did the basic maintenance! They treat cars like throwaway items. Since they buy on a lease or loan, they just trade them in and keep paying, and paying, and paying.

Ack, I could go on and on and on about financial irresponsibility - some of which is what got our economy in this mess - but I'll stop.

Hi everybody!

I have a hard time with budgeting my own money. Or more accurately, I have every mandatory expense planned in Quicken through the end of 2010, including increases in house payment for escrow, payments to credit cards (we bought a house last year and the credit spending got a little crazy for a little while. Not nearly as high as a lot of people I read about, but more than I like to have... ), gas, car insurance, every repeating discretionary expense like haircuts and waxes and such. So, I don't have a trouble forecasting and budgeting. What I have trouble doing is saving or paying extra on debt if there is an overage one month. I'm getting better, but it is a slow road. I actually teach classes on budgeting to our employees, so I absolutely know how to do it, why to do it, etc. Makes me want to hit myself in the head with a frying pan sometimes...

It was 29 degrees here again today, after being in the 60s over the weekend. Love the winter...

ETA: it is now 6:40 and I just did my first 30 minutes of exercise in 12 days. The stationary bike has never beaten me down quite that hard before, but I feel good! I did 15 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes of walking around the house. Wanted to make sure things weren't moving around too much.