MJ Does Life... one healthy choice at a time!

One cooler bag is too small, the other is too big. I need a...

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:10:09 -0400

One cooler bag is too small, the other is too big. I need a goldilocks bag. Regardless, food for today is packed in the big one. Ready for a great on-plan week. I may not have won the dietbet (stupid 1 pound shark week), but I feel ready to keep fighting and win the war.

Free Online Yoga Videos - Classes and Poses | Do Yoga With Me

Wed, 01 May 2013 22:32:28 -0400

Free Online Yoga Videos - Classes and Poses | Do Yoga With Me:

Online yoga videos from DoYogaWithMe.com. We offer 100% free, high-definition, streaming yoga videos, including classes, yoga poses, breathing exercises, yoga anatomy videos, and audio meditations.

Remember a few weeks ago when I said I wanted to try yoga? I found this online tonight! You can sort by difficulty level, type (I don’t even know what some of the types mean), length of workout… I think I’ll be trying this out!

Is this a bad idea? Maybe… But I’m sitting in a...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:30:00 -0400

Is this a bad idea? Maybe… But I’m sitting in a meeting and need a distraction.

My doctor’s office doesn’t have much interesting...

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:14:24 -0400

My doctor’s office doesn’t have much interesting stuff out for the taking. Haha.
Good news: I’m strep free! Woohoo!

Weigh-in day

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:48:50 -0400

Another Monday, another day to step on the scale.

Today: 239.3
Last time: 242.5
Difference: 3.2

The diet detox continues to go well. I feel great. I’m sleeping better (most nights) and I seem to have more energy during the day. I’ve only had one minor incidence of hangriness. I did have strep in the middle of it all, so that sucked, but I was still able to stay on plan even while feeling like crap. Well, mostly on plan. I did have some wonderfully delicious dried coconut while I was sick, because I had a fever and was feeling sorry for myself and decided I could have whatever I wanted due to said fever. It didn’t completely derail me either!

Today I will visit my chiropractor and see how I should begin to modify my diet, since my 3 weeks of detox is over. Honestly, it doesn’t even feel like it’s been 3 weeks - it sort of flew by.

Um, I might have a shoe problem. The top two are exactly the...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:59:00 -0400

Um, I might have a shoe problem. The top two are exactly the same, except being different colors. Also, not pictured: my glow-in-the-dark Asics and a pink pair of Avias that stay at work (for mid-day walks in the park).

A meeting I was supposed to have after work tonight was cancelled. Perfect opportunity to come home,...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:57:21 -0400

A meeting I was supposed to have after work tonight was cancelled. Perfect opportunity to come home, change clothes, and run. So that’s what I did. I saw a lot more race shirts out on the trail tonight than I normally do. And got a lot more encouraging smiles and nods. It was nice.

I joined a facebook event today called “Run 26.2 for Boston”. My miles will be slow, and it will take me more than a few days or a week to rack them up, but my next 26.2 miles are for Boston… for everyone who worked so hard and was robbed of the change to finish yesterday, for those who due to injuries sustained won’t be able to run again, for those whose lives were tragically and violently taken. Tonight I finished my first 2.5 miles for them. 23.7 to go.

: there are times

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:41:24 -0400

: there are times:

live—infinitely:

that I find it very, very easy to be in love with this crazy-mixed up world we live in. there is so much beauty everywhere I look that I’m often overwhelmed (in that really, really good way) with just simply being alive.

but there are also times I am reminded that not everyone finds the world as…

I couldn’t have said this any better…

I managed to turn one of my annual Woodstock 5k shirts into...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:17:25 -0400

I managed to turn one of my annual Woodstock 5k shirts into business casual attire. My longer distance shirts are all long sleeve, and it’s going to be 80 today, so I went with the 5k tank. Not much, and I doubt many (if anyone) will notice, but I felt like I needed to do some small gesture of support for Boston.

iwillrunforfood: Someone that I follow on Twitter said: “As a runner, I feel like someone just...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:03:02 -0400

iwillrunforfood:

Someone that I follow on Twitter said:

“As a runner, I feel like someone just attacked my friends. As I person, I am just horrified.”

WIM

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:19:07 -0400

I’m changing my weigh-in day from Wednesday to Monday. I always weigh on Monday anyway - usually to see how much “damage” I did over the weekend. I need to change that mindset. The weekend should not always be an opportunity to splurge, and I shouldn’t weigh on Monday to see how much work I have to do to ensure a loss for WIW. So, Monday’s the day.

This morning: 242.5 (!)
Since official 4n4/Dietbet weigh in - loss of 5.3 pounds. Detox is working, and I feel great! But here is the real eye opener… since my initial “detox weigh-in” last monday, I LOST TEN POUNDS. I weighed in last week at 252.5. So I lost exactly ten pounds the first week of my detox plan.

If I keep feeling great and seeing consistent results, I think it will be easier to stick to my cleaned up food plan. I know I won’t lose 10 pounds every week - that’s just silly and not healthy. But it feels good to finally see some results from doing things right.

Turns out I was right - the storm blew over and it was mostly fine (just raining still) by...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:02:57 -0400

Turns out I was right - the storm blew over and it was mostly fine (just raining still) by 8:15/8:20. So water aerobics fun was had! However… I did experience one awkward moment. We used little kick boards in the beginning for warm up to kick down and back the length of the pool. Then, the instructor said “ok, get rid of the kick boards and just freestyle swim down and back once.” I looked at her and asked “what if we don’t know how to do that?” She looked confused so I had to continue with… “I don’t know how to swim.”

To her credit, she only looked mildly alarmed that I was taking the class when I can’t swim. I ended up just using the kick board to go down and back again. It was fine. Besides, the pool is only 4.5 feet deep, so it’s not like I can’t just put my feet down when I need to. I’ll be glad when my Tuesday nights are free in a couple weeks and I can start going twice a week - this class is fun!

Going to water aerobics during a thunderstorm… Smart or dumb? I’m thinking its probably...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:52:29 -0400

Going to water aerobics during a thunderstorm… Smart or dumb? I’m thinking its probably not my brightest idea, but just as sure as I don’t go it’ll blow over and be fine by 8:15. Worst case I go there and they send us home. But it’s pretty bad. I think a tornado warning might be coming. Oops.

Weigh-in complete

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:01:41 -0400

I’ve completed my weigh-in for the DietBet 4n4 challenge! I thought I was being on top of things this morning - I weighed at home, right before getting in the shower (as usual) and remembered to take a photo of my feet on the scale. Then I go to weigh-in, and realize I need a full-body pic of me standing on the scale. No worries - I borrowed the scale that lives in HR, took it into the restroom with the full-length mirror, and snapped a photo. THEN, when uploading, realized I didn’t have the required security word in my scale photo this morning. Back to HR to get the scales again and re-weigh. Luckily it seems that home scale and work scale are very close to each other.

Why couldn’t this game have started on Monday, when I weighed myself after my crazy, last-chance-to-eat-crap-for-a while- weekend? I’d already be almost half way there! Haha

Diet Bet up to $350!

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:30:09 -0400

brooksylite:

jonathanrxd:

I can’t believe this many people are participating! Think we can hit 50 participants??

https://www.dietbet.com/games/12771

$10 buy in. Lose 4% of your starting weight in 4 weeks and split the pot.

Aight then. Peer pressure is a bitch.

Why the hell not? I’m already detoxing and cleaning up my eating anyway - this will just give me a little extra motivation to stay on it! I’m in, y’all! (And update - when I signed up it’s up to $430!!)

Lunch today at our monthly business association meeting. So I...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:11:15 -0400

Lunch today at our monthly business association meeting. So I was kind of stuck with whatever they served (ok,ok I could have brought my own but I’d feel odd doing that). I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t have mayo, and I definitely shouldn’t have had the potato salad, but I kept the serving size small. Loaded up on the protein, skipped the BBQ sauce, bread, and dessert.
I can’t complain about having 1,000 calories left for the rest of the day, while feeling completely satisfied with the meals I’ve had so far today.

This may be the most delicious detox I’ve ever attempted....

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:42:38 -0400

This may be the most delicious detox I’ve ever attempted. I mean, it’s only dinner on day one but I haven’t been hungry or disappointed with what I’m eating. I guess it helps that I sort of thought ahead and planned to make things I like. Dinner: herb baked chicken, half a baked sweet potato, and some cauliflower walnut pilaf. (I just made that up once I got home and started making dinner).
Here’s to hoping tomorrow is just as good as today!

It’s late afternoon and I don’t yet feel like stabbing anyone. Nor do I feel like I want...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:29:19 -0400

It’s late afternoon and I don’t yet feel like stabbing anyone. Nor do I feel like I want to sit on my couch in the dark and cry. Is it possible I will survive detox day 1 unscathed?

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude..."

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:27:28 -0400

““Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.””

- ― Louise Erdrich (via iron-inside)
Beautiful sentiment!

Detox lunch: grilled burger on lettuce wrap with a side of...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:01:14 -0400

Detox lunch: grilled burger on lettuce wrap with a side of cauliflower and salad greens dressed with a homemade Dijon garlic vinaigrette (that I whipped up on the fly- go me!)
It was delicious. That was my first time to sub leaf lettuce for bread. It was good. A little messy, but tasty.