Weigh In #1: Success! Also? Olive Oil can suck it!

Okay, so today's Day 6 of the WLC (Weight Loss Challenge. Also, because it's Monday, today's the first official Weigh-In of the WLC.

Original Weight:   170
Today's weight:    168
TOTAL LOSS:  2 LBS.

I know that's not a lot but I feel pretty good! I'm excited. I didn't cheat at ALL this weekend (and I won't lie, I really wanted to! This is why I didn't leave the house. One brunch would have ruined my momentum.) and I've been really good about what I've been eating so far. My goal for this week is to work in 3-4 servings of fruit/vegetables & to cut back on the carbs. (Not give them up, mind you...ya'll wouldn't like me if I gave them up.)

Tonight I'm working in the workout part of this challenge at the gym. The plan is to do 45 minutes worth of intervals on the treadmill and then weight lifting. Wish me luck!

On another note: this weekend, I decided to slice some zucchini and yellow squash, and drizzle it with olive oil. As I pick up the bottle of olive oil, I happen to glance at the back of it and OH MY GOSH. Do you know how many calories are in a serving (1 tbsp.) of olive oil??

120 CALORIES.

Are you kidding me?? Do you know how often I've drizzled this over my salads? Ate at restaurants where I've constantly dipped bread in it? Arg!

Olive oil can suck it.

Ok, ok...I know. It's not it's fault that I never took the time to read the label but I feel like I've been betrayed! Oy! How do you use just 1tbsp a day? Can someone help me with this?

Blah. I didn't intend for this to become a weight loss blog. It's just my main focus for the moment. Things will shift shortly. :)

Lazy Summer Saturday...

This is my first complete lazy day this summer. I have nowhere to go, nothing to do.

BLISSFUL.

The above isn’t completely true. I spent this morning taking those stupid kinky twists out of my hair (I WILL NEVER GET THEM AGAIN. ) and working on switching our book blog from one domain to the other (WP Support Staff, I’m still waiting on you!). I was successful with the first task. Not so successful with the second…yet.  Still, I don’t mind because I haven’t had to leave the house. I’ve been parked in the same spot since 8pm last night and it’s been lovely.

I won’t lie. Part of me is afraid to go out because I’m afraid to EAT. Not always, mind you, but starting this new Weight Loss Challenge has me a bit scared of veering off-track. If I screw up in the first week, I’m pretty much guaranteed to screw up several times later and I don’t want that. So I’m forcing myself to stay in the house for the moment until the cravings for the Fiery Buffalo Doritos, the large Arizona Iced Tea, and the plate of fried calamari go away. ( Still there…ugh.)

Next Saturday is cheat day #1. If I can just maintain until then, I’ll treat myself to pancakes and bacon in the morning. Fiery Buffalo Doritos in the afternoon (if you can’t tell, I LOVE them). A burger & fries for dinner. (I won’t be that extreme…I think.)

In the meantime, I’m going to sit here and deep condition my hair, read a few books (side note: all of you Harlequin romance lovers (and there are some of you out there!) they have 16 free romance novels to download! Click here.)  and wait for it to get dark, then go for a walk in the city.

Enjoy your Saturday!

100 Day Weight Loss Challenge: Days 1 & 2

So, I didn't work out yesterday. Forgot my sneakers. Way to start it off, right? Ha.

Even so, I did well staying within my 1200 calorie limit. I didn't even cheat with serious junk food. (Pop Chips do not taste good enough to be considered serious junk food. Plus, they're only 100 calories! For a bag!)

Based on what I've eaten yesterday and today, I know I'm going to have to tweak the following:
   • I’m going to have to give up carbs in the evening
   • I’m going to have to find marinades with little to no sugar.
   • I’m going to have to have my last meal by 8pm

Other than that, I’m pretty proud of myself for sticking to the calorie count for Day 1, ‘cause I was seriously craving a bag of the Fiery Buffalo Doritios (they are so good!). I had to force myself to pass by Duane Reade. I could taste them.

So far, so good.

I got up and cooked breakfast this morning and bought a cucumber and an orange. The orange for snacking. I got the cucumber to munch on when I just want something to eat, as I have the tendency to want to eat without being hungry just so I have something to do. Blah.

As of right now I’m in no danger of exceeding my calorie limit. Sweet. Now, tonight, I just need to maintain and gear up for Hip Hop Cardio, a dvd with the lovely Sarita Lou!

Getting My Beyonce On! 100 Day Weight Loss Challenge...

Okay...

I feel like I try this once every 6 months but now I'm determined to lose weight! I'm at the heaviest I've EVER been and I'm tired of it. Now before, I was dedicating this to Jennifer Aniston for her Smart Water ad (which you can see here) but I need a model who has more in terms of curves.

Enter Beyonce.

Fitness role model for the following reasons:
• Um, look at her. DUH. The curvy and fit.
• She does 40 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of strength conditioning 4-5 days a week. Then chick dances for hours straight. INSANE.

• She eats. She eats! There’s never been any rumor about her eating baby food. She admitted to using the master cleanse when she needed to lose 20 lbs for Dreamgirls. She didn’t try to hide it and she didn’t encourage anyone else to do it either.

So, now that I have my role model set, I am embarking on a 100 day weight loss challenge starting TODAY and ending November 11, 2010. Starting today I will do the following:
• Count my calories
• Work out at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes.
• Avoid the junk as much as possible. (I’m not stupid. Sometimes, I just gotta have it.)
• Drink 8-10 glasses of water a day.

I’m going to leave it at that for the moment. My immediate goal: 5 lbs. So:
• Height: 5’3 ½
• Weight: 170 lbs. (UGH.)
• BMI: 29.6 (this is considered overweight. Healthy BMI is between 18.5 & 24.9)

I’ll check in shortly with the progress of Day One!

Netflix Queue: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Oh, Aaron Sorkin, write a show just for me! Write a show for me where the dialogue is quick and witty. Where my leading man will be the Spencer Tracy to my Katherine Hepburn. Write me the part of a strong female character–clever, intelligent, classy. *sigh* Write me a role like the one you created for Amanda Peet and Sarah Paulson. Give me my Matther Perry or Bradley Whitfield.


I promise you, I’d knock it out the park.

I wish this show would have been picked up for more than one season. It’s fantastic. Really smart. I could gush about this show all day. Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitfield are fantastic as the executive producers to the late night show, Studio 60, each giving wonderfully layered performances. Sarah Paulson and Amanda Peet are equally brilliant in their roles as star of the show and president of the network, respectively. Backed up by a strong cast including D.L. Hughley (I love him in this show. This show only. Normally I hate him.) and Steven Weber, this whole show is a treat. A pure treat.

Book Binge: July 11, 2010

Ooh!

So once every two weeks I order about 3-4 books from Better World Books. The books are used and cost $3.98 per book, with their profits going to various literacy campaigns (Awesome, right?). Today I noticed for the first time that they have a Bargain Bin section, where you can buy 5 books for $15. I figured the books would be crap but, VOILA!, I was wrong and now I'm so stoked!!

Today's buy consisted of: (summaries are from Goodreads)

Love Walked In by Maria De Los Santos: When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. Charming and debonair, the spitting image of Cary Grant, Martin sweeps Cornelia off her feet, but, as it turns out, Martin Grace is more the harbinger of change than the change itself." Meanwhile, on the other side of town, eleven-year-old Clare Hobbes must learn to fend for herself after her increasingly unstable mother has a breakdown and disappears. Taking inspiration from famous orphans (Anne Shirley, Sara Crewe, Mary Lennox, and even Harry Potter) Clare musters the courage to seek out her estranged father. When the two of them show up at Cornelia's cafe, Cornelia and Clare form a bond as unlikely as it is deep. Together, they face difficult choices and discover that knowing what you love and why is as real as life gets.

I've been wanting to pick this one up for a while. I used to look at it every shift I worked at Borders but never got around to actually reading it. I figured it's about time.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison: She has a precocious 3-year-old sister who tends to leave wet nappies at the foot of her bed, an insane cat who is prone to leg-shredding "Call of the Wild" episodes, and embarrassing parents who make her want to escape to Stonehenge and dance with the Druids. No wonder 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson laments, "Honestly, what is the point?" A Bridget Jones for the younger set, Georgia records the momentous events of her life--and they are all momentous--in her diary, which serves as a truly hilarious account of what it means to be a modern girl on the cusp of womanhood. No matter that her particular story takes place in England, the account of her experiences rings true across the ocean (and besides, "Georgia's Glossary" swiftly eradicates any language barriers).

I don't even have a reason for this one. I just bought it to buy it. *shrug* I remembered a former colleague arguing with someone about how this book was too racy for teenagers and that is shouldn't be sold in the children or YA section. Now I'm curious...

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See: In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

Just because...

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner: For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She's even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body. But the day she opens up a national women's magazine and sees the words "Loving a Larger Woman" above her ex-boyfriend's byline, Cannie is plunged into misery...and the most amazing year of her life. From Philadelphia to Hollywood and back home again, she charts a new course for herself: mourning her losses, facing her past, and figuring out who she is and who she can become.

I like reading chick-lit about plus-size women as I am a...ahem...healthy girl myself. I read Best Friends by Jennifer Weiner and found it to be okay but everyone says this book is delightful so I, for $3, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Now those were my main choices for the week. However, I also snuck in Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Needless to say, I 'm covered for a while.

Have you read any of the aforementioned books? What are your thoughts? Any other recommendations? (Btw...check out the reviews for my books at LitSnit! )

Netflix Queue: He’s Just Not That Into You

Who knew Justin Long was HOT??


That's all I can say about this movie. Oh, wait...that's not true. I have something to say to the following people:

• Scarlett Johnanssen
• Kevin Connelly
• Bradley Cooper
• Jennifer Connelly
• Drew Barrymore
• Jennifer Aniston
• Ben Affleck

You ALL have more than enough money. Stop making crap movies just to get a paycheck. I’m not delivering this message to Justin long and Jennifer Goodwin because they were the highlights of this movie (although I hated, hated, hated Jennifer Goodwin’s character in the beginning. Hated her!)

I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt—it’s pretty impossible to base a movie on a self-help book. That’s why you DON’T DO IT. Instead of realizing that, they went forth and made a movie with a bunch of unlikeable characters, each beating their heads against a brick wall for 90 minutes until they discover that the object of their affection is JUST NOT INTO THEM.

I watched this movie several days ago and I’m still left cranky from it. This book, while not exactly introducing a brand new idea (the message is pretty basic), still manages to slap you in the face with a dose of reality. The movie? It makes you watch people, ridiculously pathetic people (yes, I’ll take my phone into yoga just in case he calls during my sun salutation; yes, it’s okay if I sleep with this married man because he might be the one, never mind the fact that if he cheats on her then he very well may cheat on me) struggle to figure it out for two hours. The message gets old after the first 30 minutes.

A complete waste of two hours. Ugh. Ooh…except for Justin Long. Ooh baby, ooh baby, ooh. (In this movie ONLY.)