Just a Little Rain

Good evening, readers!

A little rain never hurt anything, right? Well unless you're a wicked witch or a sandcastle or a campfire...

But a little rain doesn't hurt me OR my exercise routine, and that's the point! Even if rain makes me want to make this face all the time:

I was extra determined to get my exercise in today, rain or shine! And I did, clocking in at 14,000 steps and my usual 3,000 calories burned.

It was also a fantastic day for my diet! Darla brought muffins to work, but I just put mine in a plastic bag and brought it home for Bill instead! So at least someone in our house can enjoy it. 

So I've been toying with the idea of joining the Woodbury YMCA. It's only like 2 miles from our house, has pretty convenient hours, and I just found out that they offer all sorts of free classes from Abs to Zumba, they pretty much have it all. My only two reservations are the cost, although my insurance should cover about half of it, and my motivation to USE my membership. To really make it worthwhile, I figure I would need to go to 8 of the free classes a month. My ultimate goal would be to attend 5 days a week (20x per month.)

So what I'm asking, readers, is if I decide to put my hard-earned money into this membership, will you keep me accountable for actually using it? I'm lucky to have a lot of support out there to keep me on track.

Wedding planning land is going nicely, really. We're checking off a lot of big boxes on the to-do list:
Date: check.
Church: check
Venue: Check
Photographer: Check
DJ: Check

Looking pretty accomplished for still being over a year out, huh? Crushed it.

On that note, I'm off to reward myself with some video games.

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Choices

Good evening, readers.

It's been a day of attempted good decisions. Like this one for example:

French fries taste a lot better than carrots. Obviously. But I chose the darn carrot.

I heard about this awesome website from my Aunt Barb called sparkpeople.com. It has tons of cool stuff on it - you create a free account, then you can set fitness goals, track activity, food, and weight loss, and interact with the spark community. I've used fitness tracking apps before, but this one has a lot of extras, like tons of healthy recipe ideas and ways to amp up your workout. If you're thinking about joining, my username is Flynn155. I don't really know how to use all the features yet, but I'm working on it!

Diet was pretty good today, if you don't count those mini Reese's cups I stole from the candy drawer at work.

I didn't get to walk as much today as normal due to the thunderstorms this morning, but I did do 45 minutes of Cize when I got home. I ended up with 14,500 steps and 3050 calories burned. I'll take it! 

Over in wedding-planning land, we put a deposit down on our DJ today! I feel like we're doing well checking off all of the big items, and can start to get down to the nitty-gritty.

Otherwise just a normal day.

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Inspiration

Good evening, readers!

Just a normal day over here. Would you like a list of everything I ate? Like it or not, here it is:

Breakfast:
Fiber one bar - 90 calories
Oatmeal - 100

Snack - Popcorn - 70

Lunch - 
Leftover taco salad - 150
Apple - 80
Yogurt - 170

Snack -
Skinny cow chocolates - 90
Hot chocolate - 100

Dinner -
Lean cuisine - 300
Peas- 20

Dessert - 
More popcorn! - 100

I'm obviously addicted to popcorn. Now when I add that all up... 1270 calories today. Not bad at all. Right around where I should be. I might even be able to treat myself a Reese's egg!

I "only" took 13000 steps today, and burned 3000 calories. 

The best part of my day happened on my walk to work this morning. I got on to campus and saw this:

And it almost felt like someone made this just for me.  It went for a whole block of positive "love yourself" messages. So thanks, to whoever decided to make my day. I appreciate it :)

In wedding-planning land, we got ourself a dj today (kinda.) We signed a contract with a DJ company, and then they decide what actual dj will be the best for you based on what kind of music you like and what kind of wedding you want to have. I like having a lot of input on this part of our wedding, so I think this is the perfect setup for us.

That's all for now, readers. Thanks for all your support. Remember, you are special!

Until tomorrow, readers. 

Kayti

Dog Tired

Good evening, readers!

It was a sad Monday today, as there was no Zumba due to spring break for our local school district (we use the school gym). And since Mondays are kind of the worst anyway, you cancel Zumba and we might as well just skip right to Tuesday.

I did a pretty good job on the diet and exercise today!

Breakfast:
Oatmeal - 100 calories
Fiber one bar - 90
Almond milk - 30

Snack - popcorn- 70

Lunch:
Turkey and cheese sandwich - 160
yogurt - 170
apple - 80

Snack - popcorn - 70

Dinner - 
Taco Salad - 500

Snack - Almonds - 100

The calorie count is a bit higher than I usually like, but it's still right around 1400. 

I did lots of walking today. 15,200 steps with over 100 active minutes, and I burned 3200 calories. It was such a nice day out, and there was no Zumba, so I took Bug for a nice long walk after work. We walked so far that he couldn't even be bothered to beg for dinner:

Which was this very delicious taco salad:

Hopefully we can keep going strong with the diet and exercise and see some positive results. Here's hoping!

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Weigh In: Week 5

Good evening, readers! And Happy Easter!

It was a rough day on the diet train today, but luckily I weighed myself before all the temptation was set before me.

The good news: I didn't gain any weight.
The bad news: I didn't lose any weight.

What did I learn? I can maintain my weight, even through birthday celebrations, parties at work, and being sick and exercising less. And I can do that just by making good decisions. So that was good.

Now that I am recovering from my illness (still stuffy but feeling much better) I can get back to my more intense exercise routine. And as long as I can keep the diet on track, we should see some progress! Sounds easy, but when you have temptations like this around the house

 it's not exactly easy to want to eat an apple instead of a cookie. I will have to exercise all my willpower until Bill can put this away!

But for all the temptations today, I feel like I did pretty well. I treated myself to a Reese's egg and a cup of coffee with Bailey's, but otherwise I abstained from all alcohol and ate sensible portions of dinner.

Random: Has anyone out there taken a spin class? There's a Cyclebar opening in Woodbury next month and I'm interested. They are having a 10-day "grand opening" thing where you can take two free classes, which I will definitely try. I just want to know if anyone has tried this and if they have any opinions about it. Or, if you live in or around Woodbury, if you would like to try it with me!

Wedding planning was more-or-less on hold today while we celebrated Easter. But I did decide today to make an official "wedding website" (probably at theknot.com) to keep everyone updated. I'll let you know when it's up and running!

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Wedding Party: Part 4

Good evening, readers! 

We had a pretty eventful wedding planning day today! First we went to the Haberdashery in downtown St. Paul to look at suits for the men in the wedding party. They have probably every color suit you could think of, as well as every color tie and shirt in the darn world. We didn't officially pick one yet, but it was really good to get an idea of options, especially for cost, so that we're not asking the guys to spend and exorbitant amount of money.

We made our final decision on a photographer, so we just have to send the contract and deposit check and that will be done! We also chose a hotel in Vadnais Heights to reserve a block of rooms, and once that's finalized we will probably post a link so those who want to can reserve a room.

Then Bill's cousin Kim came over for dinner, and that's when I asked her to be my personal attendant!

She said yes! So now I'm one step closer to having the wedding party completed. I'm glad she'll be around on my wedding day, as she has the most positive attitude of anyone I know!

After Kim left, Bill and I spent a good hour dancing around the living room to possible first dance songs. We haven't settled on one yet, but it sure was fun! Bill even got out his fedora to dance to some of the old-school tunes we were entertaining.  Sorry I didn't catch a photo of it; I do have a video of Bill dancing to "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" a la Heath Ledger in "10 Things I Hate About You." But if I posted that here I'm sure he wouldn't be too pleased.

In all this excitement, I managed to work in 13,600 steps and burn 3,050 calories. I also followed my diet really well today. Hopefully this is a good omen for tomorrow's weigh-in.

Until then, readers!

Kayti

All Snacks, No Meals

Good evening, readers!

I'm still sick. Worse, actually. And it's annoying. Bill said I should stay home today. And after getting to work I realized I probably should have. But when you're consistently down a person at work every Friday, it makes you feel extra guilty if you have to miss one.

Anywho, the good thing about having this cold is that I don't have a lot of desire to eat. So I spent all day having healthy snacks instead of eating meals. Which was satisfying because it felt like I got to eat a lot, even though it wasn't a ridiculous amount.

I had a pear in the morning with a cup of tea, then a bowl of oatmeal with a cup of tea, then a cup of coffee, then about 2 cups of popcorn, then a fruit kebab and a cup of yogurt, followed by carrots and celery with hummus, and then a handful of almonds, a couple ounces of cheese, and a banana with peanut butter.

See, it seems like I got to eat a ton of stuff! But it was all healthy and the calorie count is estimated around 1400, which is right around where I should be.

Oh and here's the fruit kebabs I made:

There were more, but by the time I remembered to take a photo most were eaten. The theme of our work party yesterday was "finger foods." I wanted to bring something healthy but also fun, and what says "healthy fun" more than fruit on a stick? I mean we are in Minnesota after all.

I'm still feeling pretty exhausted, but managed to work in 13,500 steps and burn 3100 calories. Having the dogs around really helps me with my steps, but not so much with my sleep. Hopefully tonight we can sleep in a little! Maybe then I'll feel better and can make some positive steps toward wedding planning.

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Sick, but Still Moving

Good evening, readers!

Man, this cold is killing me. It's one of those sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, congested-feeling colds. But I'd rather be miserable at work and have a distraction from my misery instead of miserable at home with nothing to do. So off to work I went.

The thing about being sick is I just don't feel like doing anything. I honestly thought about going to bed when I got home at 6 o'clock. But I didn't. And I even ended up getting in 13,500 steps and burning 3,000 calories, mostly thanks to these guys:

It's holiday time, and that means people going out of town, and that translates into dog sitting for me! We've got two for the weekend, and if it wasn't for them this cold would keep me in bed. But they need to be walked, and fed, and played with, so here I am.

It was an otherwise uneventful day. I ate more than I should have at work, but still kept it pretty healthy. I totally forgot to take a photo of what I made for today's work party, so that will probably be on tomorrow's blog. Weigh-in day is sneaking up on me (two days) and I have a suspicion that it's not going to be in my favor. We shall see.

Sorry for the lack of wedding planning updates. We haven't really done much this week, but will hopefully make some progress over the weekend.

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Stupid Snow - I Want to Exercise!

Good evening, readers!

Today was just one of those days, I guess. 

First of all, it's snowing. In March. And at my workplace, it was just a dusting. So I thought "oh no big deal, it will be fine." And everything was fine, until I got into Woodbury. For some reason Woodbury got like 6 inches of snow instead of the 1/2 inch at my workplace in St. Paul.

It was no joke.

So what do you guys do to keep active when the weather keeps you inside? I really enjoy walking outside. When I'm stuck inside I do workout videos, but it seems like I'll be active for 30-60 minutes and then laziness. So how can I keep up the activity when the weather sucks?

I was moderately active today, but it didn't help that I had a sore throat all day and the snow kept me from my afternoon walk back to my car. I still took 13,000 steps and burned 3,000 calories.

But the best part of today was my willpower! I didn't eat any of those doughnuts, even though they sat in the break room all day. I snacked on a handful of dill pickle chips (my absolute favorite) and a pear. I ate my regular turkey and cheese sandwich, yogurt, and an apple for lunch. And for dinner we had rotisserie chicken, potatoes and green beans.

I'm hoping that this means I have finally overcome the post-birthday binge sweets addiction. Who knows?

But we do have another work party tomorrow, and we know how tempting those can be.

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Favorite Healthy Recipes!

Good evening, readers!

It's been a difficult recovery from my addiction to sweets since I got a taste of them over my birthday. I did pretty well today, if you don't include those dark chocolate Cadbury Eggs. But I know tomorrow my boss is bringing doughnuts, and if I so much as look at one someone needs to slap me, k? Thanks.

So I'm trying to focus on things that are still delicious, but much healthier than a doughnut. So tonight I made one of our favorite healthy (and easy!) recipes: Chicken Stir Fry.

I'll give you the quick run-down of how I make it, since its so darn easy.

First I heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan on high. Then I fry up 1/2 a sliced green pepper, 1/2 a sliced red pepper, and 1/2 a sliced red onion until the onion starts to caramelize. Of course you could use orange or yellow bell peppers, and any kind of onion. I only use green and red peppers because they are cheaper, and red onions because they are sweeter.

Then I add a can of sliced water chestnuts and two stalks of sliced celery and fry for about another minute. Sometimes I'll add pea pods if I have them. If Bill liked mushrooms I'd put them in as well.

Then I add a sliced chicken breast (already cooked) and fry for another 30 seconds or so. Once that is heated I turn the heat to low and add the stir fry sauce. I just buy the kind in a jar with low sodium, but I'm sure someone who has much more time and ability in the kitchen could make their own. I stir everything up for a minute or two to make sure everything got coated in the sauce.

During this time we are also making 1 cup of white rice in the rice cooker (best $20 purchase ever). So we spoon a 1/2 cup of rice into a bowl and a cup of stir-fry on top and viola! (I should have taken a picture of the finished product.)

What are your favorite healthy recipes? Please link/copy and paste/type from memory in the comments! It's so much easier to stay off sweets when I have yummy, healthy food to look forward to.

Speaking of which, I am now the proud owner of a blender (thanks Matt and Laura!) so I can try my hand at healthy smoothies! Sounds like a Saturday project.

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Birthday Monday!

Good evening, readers!

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. It was a pretty uneventful day, but a good one nonetheless.

My pharmacist, Darla, brought healthy lunch to work, which included angel food cake with strawberries and Cool Whip. And since she knows me so well, she knew enough to bring an entire extra tub of Cool Whip. Because I have an addiction.

Work was extra busy today, and then I went to Zumba afterward, so I ended up getting 18,000 steps and burning 3400 calories. Which is good, since I ate all that darn Cool Whip.

When I got home I had some birthday cards waiting for me!

There was also a thank-you card from Chip and Sam, which included that killer picture of Bill and me dancing up a storm at their wedding! Thank you to everyone who sent cards too, it was very thoughtful of you!

I also got a guardian Angel pin from Bill's mom (it's in the photo there but kind of hard to see). I feel lucky to have gotten one, as it means a great deal to the Brown family.

And in wedding-planning land, Bill has a second groomsman. It's his life-long friend, Matt Blakeman. He is also the weirdest person I know, so at least our wedding will be entertaining. Bill asked him over Xbox, and if you know anything about these two then you know that makes total sense.

That brings my very first day of being 28 to a close. I'm looking forward to a year of wedding planning and weight loss!

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Wedding Party Complete! (Kinda)

Good evening, readers!

It has been a very eventful Sunday in wedding land!  I've finally finished my bridesmaid proposals with my Matron of Honor, Sam:

She said yes! So my side of the party is complete.

Of course Bill is procrastinating and only has his best man slot locked in. I don't know what he's waiting for, I mean he only has like 400 days until the wedding.

We also have a few other wedding positions to consider. There's the matter of a personal attendant, as well as an usher and reader on my side.

In fitness land, I think I have fallen in love with Panera. Specifically their steel-cut oatmeal. It has strawberries, walnuts, and brown sugar, 300 calories, and is delicious. I would eat it every day if it didn't cost me 5 bucks! 

I also used my overripe bananas to try my hand at banana bread (which I have never made before.) I just googled a recipe and it turned out pretty good! 

I wasn't able to get in a lot of exercise today, as it seems as though Sundays are just too busy for me to get in a lot of exercise. After church and brunch I went grocery shopping, then I made that banana bread, then I went over to Chip and Sam's house, and then we went to the Charlie Puth concert at the Varsity. And I just got home! So I was only able to take 7500 steps, but I still burned 2600 calories. 

And on a happy (yet slightly depressing if you think about it too long) note, about an hour from now is my 28th birthday!

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Bracketology

Good evening readers!

Well, it was tough, but I lasted one day after my birthday binge and I didn't let it derail me!

Today was right back on the diet, as much as the leftover pizza and Bill's Coldstone tempted me.

I started the day with coffee and a banana. Anyone have any healthy recipes for overripe bananas? I don't want to make banana bread or banana cookies because they're not great for you, and that's what most of the recipes I googled seem to be. And we don't own a blender to make smoothies.

After breakfast was digested, I did an hour of Cize to make sure I had yesterday's routine down pat. 

Lunch was a mac n' cheese Lean Cuisine with peas, and a  side of raw almonds.  Then I spent a good hour cleaning the house.

After lunch we went to the Eagan outlet mall. I bought two new pairs of Sketchers. Whoops.

For dinner I had 1/2 a chicken breast, a sweet potato, and an apple. It's funny how yummy plain chicken is when you're hungry.

We spent the evening watching basketball (Congrats UST men's basketball - D3 champs!) and playing video games. Speaking of basketball, does anyone else have a bracket that looks like a second-grader got hold of a red marker?

I think I can safely say I'm not winning any money this go-round.

I haven't spoken much about wedding planning land lately. We haven't made any more big decisions. Although we are obviously discussing things and throwing ideas out there, nothing new has been decided. We did get into a bit of an argument over guest lists today, so we shelved the conversation for a later date.

With all of today's excitement, I took 11,000 steps and burned 2700 calories. So a good start to post-binge recovery!

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Birthday Binge

Good evening, readers!

Sorry for my absence yesterday. I got so busy playing video games I forgot about posting until after midnight.

Today was one of my favorite days of the year. It's my ritual "birthday binge" day. This involves getting tons of birthday freebies in my email, going to the Mall of America, and using them all (all the stores are in one place)! Since most birthday freebies are food, I give myself this one day as the ultimate cheat day. Although my birthday isn't technically until Monday, today was the day I had off of work.

I got up at about 9 today and did a whole hour of Cize. I've moved on to the second routine, which is a lot more intricate than the first routine. Once I got all the moves, though, it was a lot more fun! (Bill might tell you about the time I kicked the couch because I kept screwing up one move, but otherwise it was fun.) We got to the mall about 11.

We kicked off our excursion with a trip to what is arguably the least nutritional locale on the planet: Cinnabon.

I had coupons. And it was delicious.

We then did a lot of walking and shopping under the guise of "burning off" the Cinnabon we just ate. Sure.

Once we got tired, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch basketball and use my free wings coupon. We sat at the bar for about three hours and made good friends with our bartender. I am now kicking myself (or quite possibly the couch) for not getting a selfie with him. Boo.

After watching our brackets get busted repeatedly (thanks, Michigan State) we hit a couple more stores, grabbed some Dip N' Dots (free coupon!) and headed to Cosetta's to pick up dinner (a large cheese pizza just for me!) We made a pit stop at Cold Stone (BOGO) before heading home to watch St. Thomas make it to the championship game in the D3 NCAA men's basketball tourney.

Not gonna lie, everything was freaking delicious. But I feel gross now. Which is a good reminder why I don't eat all this crap every day.

I still have a bunch of free birthday coupons I never used, because really you can only eat so much in one day. I'm thinking of starting a birthday freebies website.

I ended up walking 14,000 steps and burning 3,000 calories. Obviously I'm not going to add up the calories of everything I ate today. Because that would just be disgusting.

On another obvious note, there will be no weigh-in this week. Today will be a bit of a set-back, understandably, but I will be right back and track and hopefully logging some progress for you guys next Saturday.

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Birthday Celebration - Part 1

Good evening, readers!

It's that time of year again - birthday time!

I'm not usually one to try to give myself a "birthday week" or something, but my celebrations will be a bit spread out this year.

Today was the first celebration of the "birthday season" shall we say, and that involved everyone's favorite birthday tradition: Benihana!

Luckily, Benihana is relatively healthy, at least compared to a lot of places. It's mostly just meat and veggies, and as long as you go easy on the sauces and rice it's pretty okay.

Here's us at Benihana today!

Those are my coworkers Aja and Darla (and me and Bill, obviously.)

It was  fun night out, and a yummy birthday celebration.

Since I knew I wouldn't have time to work out after work today, I dragged myself out of bed at 5 am to get in a work out. Word of warning: Any workout at 5 am is exponentially more difficult than the same workout at 5 pm.

I got my 13,000 steps in and burned 2,800 calories, which should be more than enough to take care of that green tea ice cream at the end of dinner!

It's St. Patrick's day tomorrow - hopefully I'll have some green pics to share!

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Another Bridesmaid!

Good evening, readers!

It's been a very rainy, gloomy day, don't you think?

Although it was a much better day than yesterday, at least for my energy level. I still walked to and from work (a good 3 miles) in the rain, which is actually rather refreshing. This morning I set my alarm for 5 am, thinking I would get up and do my Cize routine before work. Of course that didn't happen. 

And then I thought, "well, I have yoga tonight, so it's okay that I didn't do Cize this morning." Except, because of the rain, everyone forgot how to drive and I didn't even get home from work until 6:40, and yoga starts at 6:45! Needless to say, I didn't make it to yoga. And I'm kind of sad about it, because it was the last day! I still did my Cize routine when I got home, but nothing really went as planned.

After all that, I took 13,500 steps and burned 3,000 calories. 

I stuck to my diet really well today.

Breakfast was the usual: Coffee and oatmeal.

Lunch was the usual: Turkey sandwich, yogurt, apple.

I had a couple of my usual snacks: Almonds and popcorn.

And a usual dinner: Lean Cuisine with some added chicken and peas.

And my usual desert: Weight Watchers ice cream bar.

As you can tell, my diet is very boring. But the routine is helpful. It makes it a hundred times easier to stick to a healthy diet.

Over in wedding-planning land, we have very good news. Bridesmaid number two is a go!

That's my cousin, Maddie. She's 17 and lives in Maryland. Obviously I couldn't send her a bottle of wine, so I instead sent her a necklace. She said YES! Two down, one to go.

On that note, I think I will turn in. I actually have to get up at 5 to work out tomorrow, because I won't have time after work. Why? Because we're going to Benihana for my birthday!

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

So... Tired...

Good evening, readers.

Remember yesterday, when I said I was stressed about inventory at work? Well here's a recap of how it went:

Me: Work, work, work, count, count, count, whoops bad math, count s'more.
Boss: Have you eaten today?
Me: I'll eat when I'm done.
Boss: Yeah it's 3:30.

Whoops.
So I basically ate lunch at 4 o'clock. Good news though, I got all the inventory done. Which means my most stressful work day of the entire year is done!

I was definitely on a weird food schedule today. I had two pieces of toast with sugar-free raspberry jam and a glass of almond milk for breakfast, then I had a bag of Baked Lays at about 1:30, then I had an apple, a turkey sandwich, and a special K bar for lunch (at 4). I went to Zumba after work, then ate a bowl of Raisin Bran for dinner.

Now I am sitting in bed, trying to get this blog out before I fall asleep.

I took 14,200 steps and burned 3000 calories today, and can't have eaten more than 12,000 when I look at that list. 

I also drank a TON of water today. I was working hard, but it was also really hot in the pharmacy (it's normally freezing, even in the summertime). I know for sure I had over 100 oz of water today. Definitely not dehydrated.

In wedding-planning land today, I obviously didn't have time to do much. Bill set us up a wedding email address so we can keep all of our wedding stuff out of our personal emails. If you want to email us anything wedding-related, the address is: kayti.bill.wedding@gmail.com.

And since I didn't take any exciting photos today, here's a picture of a cat with a hot body: 

(That one's for you, Scott).

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Wedding Party!

Good evening, readers!

So much has been accomplished this weekend in wedding-planning land!

I did my first "bridesmaid proposal" this morning at brunch.

That's Nikki, Bill's cousin. I know she is a wine connoisseur, so I custom-made a wine bottle label asking her to be my bridesmaid. It must have worked, because she said yes!

One down, three to go. Our wedding party will only have 3 on each side, but I also made something to propose to my personal attendant.

Bill isn't doing "groomsmen proposals." Because that's just kinda weird. But he did do something pretty cute today: He had his nephew, Nicholas, ask his brother, Rob, to be his best man. Although now that I think about it, I'm not actually sure he said yes. I'm just going to assume that it's a yes. Rob?

We have also filled in a few of the other wedding positions, in the form of an usher (Nikki's husband, Scott) and a reader (Rob's wife, Laura). Don't worry, Flynn family, your time is coming.

The diet was good today. We actually went to a brunch buffet, which seems like it could be disastrous. We went because it was at Keller, where our reception is, and we wanted to try the food (which was really good, at least for what I could reasonably eat while dieting). I had fruit salad, green salad, and a mushroom omelette. And as long as you ignore the copious amounts of whipped cream I put on my fruit, it was actually really healthy.

For dinner we went to Culver's (ps - the Woodbury Culver's opens tomorrow!) and I had the chicken cashew salad and a single scoop of custard. Because ice cream.

Exercise wasn't super great today, but I just never even had time! Between church, brunch, grocery shopping, losing an hour due to DST, and dinner with Bill's family, I'm lucky I got in the 7,000 steps I did! But it's okay, I've been pretty good on the diet. Plus I'm out of peanut butter (my other weakness besides ice cream) so every day will be automatically healthier because I can't eat peanut butter at the end of the night.

Back to the grind tomorrow. I have inventory at work, which is probably the most stressful time of the year for me. Luckily I feel like I really have a sense of control over the whole wedding situation, so it won't be "stacked stress" and I can avoid all that stress eating. 

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Weigh in: Week 4

Good evening, readers!

It's that time of week again - truth time!

And here are this week's results:
Weight: Lost 2.2 lbs!
Weight loss total: 9.4 lbs so far!
Inches: None lost
Inches loss total: Still none. Boo.

A much better week than last week. Apparently that pizza didn't ruin everything.

I was so excited about my success this week, and I'm feeling really good about my body. So I took this pic:

1. I really do love my body, like I said in my first post. It's imperfect, but it's mine, and we seem to be doing well by each other.
2. I really like those workout pants. 
3. I won't let anyone body shame me.

Today in wedding-planning land was also a pretty big success. I went to our church and took a 90 minute class on becoming a new member. I filled out the forms, and on April 3rd I have to get up in church and recite something, and then I will be a true member of Woodbury United Methodist Church. And the best part? Bill has to get up there and perform the recitation with me!

I've also been using my chosen wedding colors for some arts and crafts as a way to make sure they go together, as well as solicited the opinion of a few friends and family. I may be ready to share the colors, so long as no one steals them!

But that's news for another day, readers.

Tomorrow is one of the best days of the year. Not because of Daylight Savings (why are we still even doing this?) but because it's SELECTION SUNDAY! Woot!

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Whoops. Pizza.

Good evening, readers!

I don't have too much to say today, so we will keep it short and sweet.

My diet today was... okay we shall say. A coworker bought us pizza, and I ate two slices. It's not the end of the world, because the rest of my diet was on track. So I've decided not to worry about it.

My exercise was pretty good. I walked 15,000 steps and burned over 3,200 calories. The weather was so nice today that I took a long, circuitous route to my car after work that helped me log an extra mile. Plus, one of my coworkers had to stay home to take care of her daughter, so I was running around like a maniac at work most of the day.

So I was pretty tired when I got home today. I ate dinner (just a bowl of soup) and read a book on my Kindle for the last three hours. It was pretty amazing to have the luxury of just lounging around for  a bit. Plus I didn't use up any of my video game minutes, which means I can use them over the weekend! Excellent.

The only wedding planning progress I succeeded in today was contacting the photographer I want and getting more information from her. She is available on our date, so it looks like everything is working out thus far.

Only 407 days :)

Oh and tomorrow is weigh-in day! We'll see if those two pizza slices really made a difference!

(That's how I talk to my scale.)

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Things That Work

Good evening, readers!

It's been a much better day today than it was yesterday. Why? Well, I haven't totally messed up my diet yet. Plus one for me.

Also, I have exercised for about 100 minutes today. Plus two for me. All those endorphins are really helping me feel, well, happy about everything. In fact, I think I do my best wedding planning and decision making after exercise. 

Secret time: I picked my colors today! But it's still a secret until I can make triple sure that everything will look good together. That's my very nice way of saying: don't ask me what the colors are yet. I'll let you know when I'm ready :)

Part of my 100 minutes of exercise was 35 minutes of Cize dancing. This is my third time doing it, and I'm getting pretty fantastic at the first dance. Here's the calendar (at least what I could fit in the picture):

Oh hey there, Shaun T's abs.

I think tomorrow I'm going to move on to the second dance. In case anyone is wondering, I definitely recommend the Cize program for people who like to dance and have some natural rhythm. If you're not much for dancing though, I can see how it may get frustrating.

Like I said before, the diet was good today. I've kept it very well balanced, getting 3 servings each of fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy. And 7 servings of carbs. One time I went on a low-carb diet, and it was basically the worst thing I've ever done. I wasn't ever hungry, but I was so sick of eating meat, cheese, and nuts. And I had no energy. The low-calorie diet is definitely the way for me.

So after 100 minutes of exercise, I've earned 100 minutes of video games! I'm going to store them up for tomorrow, though, since tonight I'm watching TGIT.

Until then, readers.

Kayti

Guilty

Good evening, readers!

Sorry for the late post, but Bill and his mom and I were at The Piano Guys. Proof:

Or at least it proves we all went somewhere together.

I had a very busy day today, and subsequently didn't have time to get in a "real" workout. I still walked over 15,000 steps and burned 3,200 calories, but I know I need to be more consistent with my high intensity workouts.

I am feeling very guilty today. Why? I ate TWO Cadbury Creme Eggs! TWO! And then I spent the rest of the day hating myself for it. Almost to the point of tears! 

How is it possible to eat a healthy diet but not feel guilty when you allow yourself a treat or have a little slip-up? I do pretty well on my diet most of the time, but I still struggle with strong feelings of guilt when I go "off diet."

Since it's so late, my guilt and I are going to bed.

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti

Bad Habits Die Hard

Good evening, readers!

Just a boring old Tuesday in the Flemerslon household. 

I walked 14,000 steps and burned 3,000 calories today. Now that is getting nicer out I am parking at my brother's house and walking to work, which is about 1.5 miles each way. It's a nice easy way to get my steps in, plus save me $4/day on parking.

I followed my diet really well today, too. (Minus those 7 m&m's I had at that meeting.) I've started eating breakfast later in the morning. I used to eat it between 6-6:15 am because that was the only time I had. Now I actually wait until I get to work and eat it between 8-8:15 am. It really cuts down on the mid-morning snacking!

I was supposed to go to yoga today, but my back is still so sore from my accidental 8 mile trek that I knew I wouldn't be able to partake in all the stretching, twisting, and bending that yoga would entail. I feel guilty about not going, but as Bill likes to remind me, you must respect your body and give it a rest when you need it.

So this is what I spent my evening doing instead:

That's my Xbox headset there. I entitled this post "Bad Habits Die Hard" because I do enjoy playing video games, but I also feel like they have a negative impact on my weight loss. If only playing video games wasn't such a sedentary activity. So I have a new idea: I can only spend as much time playing video games per day as I do exercising that day. That means if I exercise for an hour a day, I can play video games for an hour. I'm hoping this will balance out my activity level and get me more motivated to get moving!

If anyone has any other ideas on how to break my "bad habit", I'm open to suggestions! Obviously I'm not going to quit gaming, but I can't spend 5 hours a day doing it, either.

Until tomorrow, readers.

Kayti