One step at a time

Well, that was quite the blogging hiatus, I’m sorry about that! :)

Today, I want to talk about weight loss (of course!) a little bit. How, sometimes you lose weight and then put it back on. How frustrating that is. How sometimes it feels like you might never reach your goal.

The last time I lost a significant amount of weight, I lost 40 pounds and then put it all back on over time. It’s frustrating that I know I’m capable of losing weight, but can’t seem to get it together this time around. I’ve done it once, I know I can do it again! I’ve had this blog since September, yet haven’t made any significant progress. Geez! It’s definitely time I get serious about this.

I loved that this past week’s Biggest Loser was all about facing your fears. I also loved that Gina kept saying to herself that pain was temporary, but quitting is forever during the challenge. That looked like a very hard challenge, and I would have been so scared! I thought for sure that Danni was going to win, but it was kind of nice to see Gina push herself and then win the challenge.

It’s good to step out of your comfort zone. This blog is certainly a step out of my comfort zone, especially when I’m not making any progress right now. I wish I was able to write posts about how much weight I’m losing, but that’s just not happening right now. However, that’s not going to be the case forever!

I’m going to challenge myself to post 3 times a week in March, and also to try to make some weight loss progress this month, even if it’s only a little bit. Every pound lost is a step closer to my goal weight.

That was a lot for a Friday! Hope you have a great weekend :)

 

Motivation on a Monday

I’m really proud of myself for going to the gym today. It’s so funny, as I’ve said before, that once I’m at the gym I never regret going, but it’s so hard to motivate myself to get there sometimes. I’m so glad that I went though. I was able to take one of my favorite classes, and it totally kicked my butt! I forgot what a good workout it is. Definitely going to be sore tomorrow!

Quick Biggest Loser tangent: Yet again, I did not agree with who was sent home! I liked both of the people that were up for elimination, so it would have been a hard choice for sure if I was actually on the show, but I wish the other person was able to stay for a little longer. Tonight’s episode looks really good though, so I’m looking forward to that!

I’m currently participating in a contest at my gym where I have to go a certain amount of days in both February and March. It’s definitely the extra motivation I need to get back in the groove!

I’m also really working on drinking less soda. I’ve mentioned it before, but I read a couple articles this weekend about how bad it really is. I’m seriously going to make an effort to drink less this week. My plan is one soda a day, but I’m still going to drink coffee.

I really think this is the week that it’s all going to come together, and I’m finally going to start making some real progress! About time, huh?! :)

Chocolate Covered February Chef Demonstration with the PA Bloggers

This was the third PA Blogger event that I have attended, and every event has been great. Everyone is so welcoming, and nice and I always look forward to these events. If you’re blogging in PA I can’t recommend this group enough!

I’ve lived near Hershey my entire life, and I have never been to a Chocolate Covered February event. Crazy, I know!

It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning, and I definitely recommend you check it out if you’re in the area.

We attended a Chef Demonstration at the Hotel Hershey. I’ve been to other places in Hershey, but never to the Hotel Hershey and I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was!

(Thanks to Dani for this picture!)

I’ve never been to a chef demonstration before, and I loved the mirror above the table so that you were able to see what the Chef was doing.

chef demonstration

The room smelled so good as he was cooking, and I was so happy when we were able to sample everything. I wasn’t expecting to be able to taste anything, so this was a nice surprise!

yummy food

We were even given the recipes for everything that he made, which I thought was awesome. I definitely want to try making these dishes sometime. My favorite dish was the lamb served on a wonton. So yummy!

Chef Mario posed with us for a group picture!

pa bloggers

(Thank you to Steph for the picture!)

After the demonstration was over, we all headed downstairs to continue our meet-up. I got a chocolate latte (YUM!) and a peanut butter cookie (this was one of the smaller treats that they had! I wanted one of everything to be honest!) However, I’m a bad blogger and forgot to take a picture.  Trust me that it looked and tasted delicious!

I had such a great time talking with everyone, learning more about everyone’s blogs and getting some helpful blogging advice! There were new people that I hadn’t met at previous meet-ups, so that was great as well!

Thank you to Hershey for inviting us to this event, I had a great time!

Have you ever been to any Chocolate Covered February events?

Thursday Randomness

I made my return to the gym this week for the first time in over a month! Paying for something you’re not using is definitely a big motivator to get back into it. I took Combat (kind of like kickboxing) a few days ago and am still sore. I’m getting back on track with my exercise and healthy eating, slowly but surely. I’ve read on so many blogs that you really need to write your exercises in your planner like an appointment so that you’re more likely to do them, and I did that so hopefully I stick to it!

I’m starting to find more recipes to start making, and trying to be better about packing my breakfast and lunch the night before. I’m also going to try to do some prep this weekend, because that works so well for many people.

I’m hoping to start 5K training this weekend. I still haven’t narrowed down exactly what 5K I want to do, but am still going to start training. I’m planning to follow the Couch to 5K plan again.

Now, let’s talk Biggest Loser. I was not happy with that elimination. In my opinion, there were other members of the team that deserved to go home more. I’m definitely liking this season much more than last season. As I’ve said before, I am also really loving the ambassadors on the show this season. I loved seeing them all pay it forward in their own unique ways, and get other kids involved in being active as well.

Olivia, the winner from season 11, usually live tweets the show and gives exercises to do during commercials. I keep saying every week that I’m going to do them, and then I get lazy. Not this Monday! There’s no reason to be lazy about that, I can do the exercises during commercials. I used to watch the show while eating ice cream or snacking on other bad foods, so at least I’ve stopped doing that.

dolvett picture

(Source)

I love watching all the trainers on TV, but I’m not sure I would like if they were training me! As much as I’d love to be on the show, I would really hate being weighed on national television in just a bra and shorts. Major props to those women!

If you’re watching The Biggest Loser this season, did you agree with the elimination?

Would you ever go on a reality show?

I Want To Become A Runner

Growing up, I was always active. I played soccer for years, and although I’ve never been skinny, I was in much better shape than I am now.  A lot of the time, my laziness wins these days, but I still like to exercise.

I want to become a runner. If I write it out in a post does that mean I’ll actually make it come true? I tried to start running before. I liked running in races, and I’ve run one 2 miler, and one 5K. They were both for different charities, and I liked that aspect too. I used the “Couch to 5K” program, and I liked it. I stopped trying to become a runner last fall.

I think it’s time to try again. Make sure I stretch and foam roll after each workout so I don’t get injured.

I want to run another 5K, and I want to do better than I did in the last one (it took me almost 45 minutes.) I was so proud of myself for crossing that finish line though.

I want to run a 10K, a half marathon, who knows maybe a full marathon someday. I want to do a triathlon (although, I think I would be more nervous about the swimming than the running in this situation to be honest.)

These are lofty goals. Even a 5K is a pretty lofty goal right now, but I want to try.

I plan to find a 5K that’s a few months away and start training for it, that way I’ll have a goal in mind.

I’m going to be slow. I don’t know exactly how far I can run right now without stopping, but I know it won’t be far.

You have to start somewhere though, right?

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Some Saturday Thoughts

Happy weekend! :)

First, I thought I’d share a picture of my breakfast because I hardly ever do that!

breakfast

Oatmeal made with soy milk and peanut butter, bananas and strawberries, so delicious. Then I had my delicious Green Machine Naked Juice to drink – I love that stuff. You just have to get past the fact that it’s green!

Some Saturday Thoughts

I want to lose weight of course for health reasons, but I also started thinking of other reasons like clothes. There’s so many things that I’d love to wear, but I don’t because I’m overweight. Things like striped shirts. I love those! Seriously, I wish I could wear these, but they do not look good on me at all. Someday!

I need to get back into an exercise routine, like I’ve been saying for awhile! January is almost over, and I still haven’t gotten back into a routine. This is a goal for February for sure.

I’m still working on drinking less diet soda. I’ve been trying to drink more water as well. It’s a work in progress!

I am so over winter! I’m so ready for spring, and warmer weather.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this completely random post! Have a great weekend!

Thoughts about The Biggest Loser so far

Why do I always feel like I’m starting posts apologizing for how long it’s been since I last posted? Not doing so well on the New Years resolution to post more regularly!

Anyway, let’s talk Biggest Loser – I’m all caught up now, finally! First, I’m so glad that Jillian is back. It’s been good without her, but it’s even better now that she’s back. The only season I didn’t really like was the season right before this one. I understand they want some drama to attract people to watch the show, but it was just way too much. I’m much happier with this season.

I was sad to see everyone go so far. I’ve really liked all the people that have been voted off. I’m really sad about the white team being down to just Danni now too. I hope that she continues to stay and kick butt!

Something that Cate said really stuck with me too. She said something to the effect of that she hoped all the times she ate badly were worth it, and also talked about how she would workout with her trainer, and then go and eat a lot of bad food afterwards. After she was voted off, they showed how she was doing now and her story was so inspiring to me. She’s currently training for a marathon, which is awesome.

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Source

I also loved watching all the contestants complete the 5K. It was great to see Danni and Pam win the challenge, because I think they really deserved it.

I’m also a very big fan of the 3 ambassadors that they have on this season. I love that they’re talking about childhood obesity and helping these kids make a change. All in all, I think this is one of my favorite seasons. Season 11 is probably the only one that I’ve liked more so far.

It’s taken me longer than I had hoped to really find the motivation to lose weight and get back into a routine at the gym. It takes a lot of time and commitment, and you can’t do it halfway or you won’t be successful. I’m ready to be successful. Tomorrow is always a new day.

dolvett

Source

I also really like Dolvett :)

Do you like The Biggest Loser? Are you following along this season? Do you find motivation from the show?

My first batch of overnight oats (and some other random things!)

Is it really Friday already?! This week totally flew by!

I made my first batch of overnight oats last night! I looked around on some blogs, and found Julie’s post about how to make them. In my batch, I did Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt, oats and light soy milk. This morning I put a scoop of almond butter and some strawberries. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I love oatmeal, and eat it pretty often for breakfast, but I had never had cold oats.

overnight oats

When I took my first bite, it was different. I think that’s the best way to describe it. Not bad or good, just different. I continued to eat it, and I think I might have a new favorite breakfast. It’s so filling and it’s really delicious!

I liked that the prep was really easy too, and I could just grab it out of the fridge this morning without having to do anything else but stir it and put in my toppings. I’m looking forward to trying out some different combinations of toppings and different Greek yogurts.

Every time I saw different recipes on some of my favorite blogs about overnight oats, I was always confused about if you cooked the oats beforehand or not. I felt so silly, but I was so confused! Thankfully, I finally asked Erica after she posted about making them, and I realized you didn’t have to cook them and then I really wanted to try making them! Thanks, Erica!

Also, I finally downloaded an app to help with my weight loss journey. Thanks to a recommendation from Dani, I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app. I’m looking forward to using it, because I know it will be helpful!

I haven’t had a chance to watch the second episode of The Biggest Loser yet, but once I finish it I definitely want to start writing about my thoughts on this season. So many awesome shows came back this week!

Have you ever made overnight oats?

Were you confused about if you had to cook the oats or not beforehand? (….probably just me!)

Have a great weekend!

PA Farm Show with PennAg Industries and the PA Bloggers

I’ve been to the PA Farm Show quite a few times, but this past Friday I had the opportunity to visit in a completely different way!

PennAg industries (Thank you, Melissa!) invited the PA Bloggers group to visit their exhibit this year, and learn more about how the whole process works.

(This is my first time doing a recap/event post, so I hope that I’m able to do a good job showing what an awesome experience this was!)

I really enjoyed this opportunity, because I embarrassingly enough don’t know a lot about how our food gets from the farms and onto our plates, and what goes into raising animals.

We first met with the Beef Ambassadors. I eat more chicken and fish than red meat, but I definitely enjoy beef as well and I loved learning about how nutritious beef can be. You can definitely get sick of eating the same things all the time, so I was happy to hear that it’s still a nutritious option!

beef ambassadors

We also learned about dairy cows. We learned that you should get 3 servings of dairy a day, and that it’s an important part of your diet. Unfortunately, I don’t drink a lot of milk. I don’t really like the taste of it by itself, but do put milk in my coffee or oatmeal. I also like yogurt as well, so hopefully I’m still getting enough calcium!

dairy cows

We also learned about cows used for veal. For the first few weeks, the cows live alone in their pens and then from 8-20 weeks they live together. Prior to this trip, I really didn’t know anything about veal and had never tried it before. Later on when we had dinner, I tried a veal slider (along with a pulled pork slider and a chicken slider.) I preferred the pulled pork slider out of the three, but that’s not really a surprise because I love pulled pork!

veal cows

The next animals we saw were the chickens. We learned that different types of eggs are obtained by what they’re fed, and white and brown eggs are from the same kind of feed. The lifespan of a hen is about 150 weeks, which is about 3 years, and they lay an egg about every 26 hours. That’s a lot of eggs! Eggs are one of my go-to favorite meals, so I really enjoyed learning more about how they’re obtained.

chickens2

We also learned about ducks. I’ve only tried duck once a few years ago, but I thought it was very good! We learned that there is a pellet feed for the older ducks, and a crush feed for the the younger animals. Their diet doesn’t include any hormones, which is good to know!

ducks

The next animals we learned about were turkeys. I had no idea that most of the turkeys we eat for Thanksgiving are hens (females) and that the males (toms) are used more for lunch meat and turkey sausage.

turkey

The last animals we learned about were pigs. We learned that the sows (the females) can be aggressive animals, but they aren’t mean to their own piglets. I definitely thought this was interesting, and something that I didn’t know before. The piglets were only about 2 weeks old, and I had never seen a piglet in person that small.

pigs

I loved how enthusiastic each person was, you could tell that they were really happy to have us there and allowing us to understand more of what they do.

I also loved that there actual animals to look at while we were talking with the different representatives, especially the baby animals!

After learning about the animals, we talked about farm equipment and crops. I had no idea how much both of these things cost, and it was definitely interesting to hear how much goes into producing the food that we eat.

seed corn

We then headed for dinner! We ate in the VIP area, and had such great service from everyone working there! We were able to pick what we wanted off the menu. We also got delicious milkshakes, and I had chocolate of course. This wasn’t my first milkshake at the Farm Show, but it was just as delicious as I remembered. I highly suggest getting one if you go to the Farm Show!

pabloggers

(Photo from Lauren)

I had such a great time seeing the girls again I had met at the previous meet-up, and meeting some new people as well!

Thank you again to PennAg and Melissa for allowing to attend this great event!

Enthusiasm for 2013

Four days into 2013, and I’m feeling very good about this new year so far! Let’s hope I can carry this enthusiasm on for the rest of the year! I’m trying to avoid what seems to happen to me every other year: I’m so excited for the new year and the new changes that the year will bring for all of January, and then the excitement wears off and I’m back to old, crummy habits by February. Not this year!

Biggest Loser comes back this Sunday – Woo!! Watching these episodes (especially the earlier ones where the contestants first start to begin their transformations into a healthier lifestyle) is extremely motivating for me! This year, hopefully I’ll be transforming right along with them.

Are you doing well on your resolutions so far?

Are you trying to lose weight in 2013, or working towards a fitness goal?

I can’t believe it’s Friday already! Have a great weekend! :)

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