Business Class and Boobs

I recently planned a little get away for myself and got really stressed out while booking my airfare. Everything was uber expensive because it was Easter/Passover vaca. I debated for a few days whether to spend the extra money on business class. I only do actual vacation usually twice a year so I decided to go for the business class seat. I don't actually remember the last time I sat in a regular coach seat. Trust me, I know how spoiled that sounds. I normally fly for work so anything over four hours is business class or I do JetBlue exit row. I'll explain further. You see, when are a chubster it is very embarrassing and uncomfortable to be hurdled like cattle and forced to sit in one position for several hours while your back muscles tighten up and misery is guaranteed to ensue. So, I decided to splurge on the more comfortable seat to spare myself. I am still lucky enough that the regular airplane seatbelt fits me with plenty of room but that won't be the case unless I nip my problem in the bud. As a side note the food they feed you on the plane promotes obesity, so not worth the calories. Now that I think about it I do remember a few years ago being thinner and sitting in a coach seat. I would sleep in weird positions in the seat like leaning forward on the tray table. Right now my boobs are so huge I could never do it. I mean DDD huge so ginormous. I am hoping they will get smaller as I lose weight. That is if I ever do. Somedays I feel like it will never happen. It isn't an unknown though. If I am disciplined and do the work I will. That is a fact.

Spicy Pickles and Spirit Hoods

I continued the last few weeks to have a few more post birthday celebrations. I mean what girl doesn't celebrate their entire bday month. One of my close friends even gifted me with the most fabulous creation, a pink wolf (of course my fav color) spirit hood. What is a spirit hood you might ask? It is a furry hat with scarf like appendages that have paw pockets for your hands. A brilliant find for this harsh winter we had. The characteristics of the pink wolf from its website are as follows: Is your Spirit Animal the Pink Wolf? If so, watch out! The Pink Wolf is here to play. You often run wild with your pack and clearly love to have a good time. You sparkle and shine! You are confident, loving and playful. This describes me to a tee but on a more serious note I do let my weight at times interfere with my fabulousity. It is difficult to understand why and equally as challenging to realize why I often lack the discipline to conquer this crap once and for all. Do you just wake up one morning and something suddenly clicks in your brain for your "a ha" moment? If so, it just hasn't happened for me yet. I've been planning more and just eating a lot of the same thing like spicy pickles every day. They are zero calories and make for a filling snack with some protein. Maybe you don't have to be creative and the key is you aren't supposed to think about it SO much. You have to eat to live but it doesn't always have to be a culinary masterpiece, it's just fuel. Is that the difference between peeps who "get it" and those who don't? If I find out I'll definitely clue you in. We'll see how my new experiment goes of eating similar items each day. Will I obsess about food less this way? That would be the goal. Until we meet again. Sincerely, Zoftig Princess

Birthday Time

As I celebrate another year's birthday I have a lot to reflect upon. It's been a very difficult year when it came to maintaining my diet and exercise routine. However it's been an extremely rich year when it came to family, friends and romantic relationships. I traveled a ton including a crazy cool two week trip to Tokyo. My regimen of massages and copious amounts of unsweetened green tea seem to be working. I recently had a physical and am literally in perfect health: low cholesterol, low blood pressure- lungs, heart and blood in great order. All considerably lucky since I am still quite heavy and even put on weight this year. So now once again I am in that phase of trying to jump start a fitness and weight-loss program. I've started to workout again slowly with some spin, treadmill and elliptical time with a goal of covering about 10k steps per day. It's not that easy and requires a great deal of discipline. I'm up for the challenge though. One of my recent fitness breakthroughs has been the purchase of a foam roller. It's really helped with the sore tight muscles of getting back into my fitness routine. I tend towards being on the tighter side of the spectrum and you can just feel the muscles stretch/elongate as you roll up and down. I love it. I'm also trying to get in the habit of writing this blog again. It all coincides together, writing, healthy eating and working out. It's the trifecta of the game of life :)

I'm writing today from the lovely Four Seasons in Silicon Valley. No conferences to manage so I am fully enjoying my surroundings.  I started this Saturday early by west coast standards with a gorgeous egg white omelette and a high intensity cardio workout.  My omelette had organic shitake mushrooms and sweet grape tomatoes which are in huge abundance here. At the pool they also serve water infused with strawberries and basil, a refreshing zero calorie beverage.  I've been trying to stick to salads and then shrimp cocktail, a petite filet with asparagus for dinner but have been consuming way too much wine.  On Thursday night I probably had an entire bottle not to mention per-dinner champagne. When you are out with clients talking and enjoying you just lose track of the alcohol. Enjoyable but not great calorie wise.  I'm definitely going to try making a batch of the water when I get home later next week. Otherwise just trying to stay on track during my numerous flights this coming week which is a high priority task. Until next time...

Wow it's been quite a while. I've been traveling A LOT the last few months which has caused the absence of my blogs.  I am about to embark on some new travels next week again but hopefully I will find the time to write as I enjoy it. Writing also seems to keep me on track with my goals. When I don't write my blog I don't feel accountable which can undeniably lead to problems.  Writing for the first time in a few months is like getting back to the basics.  Am I starting from scratch? No not really as I've learned so much the last year and my body has changed substantially.  I am much fitter physically and emotionally.  A year ago I was a complete mess.  I was in a very unhappy relationship which perpetuated my being out of shape, socially smoking and eating garbage.  My surroundings were messy and unorganized as well.  I ended that relationship and started to get my life back in order. The new me started with a much needed trip to Newport Coast to visit a close friend. Each day I exercised ate healthy and wrote in my journal. I was in a pretty bad place but kept telling myself time heals all. I started dating again right away which in hindsight was a mistake. As we all know anyone you date right after a serious relationship is a rebound person and it NEVER works out.  I didn't actually believe that time heals all as the pain was so great but in fact my acclamations eventually came true. I've straightened out much of my life.  I am much more organized in every way which of course helps with eating healthy and exercising.  Hopefully my organization skills will help me get through the next few weeks of travel and craziness both personally and professionally. 

I have experienced some very big changes this week. I’ve started to do a major double up on my spin classes clocking in about 90 – 100 minutes three out of four days over the long weekend. Additionally, I performed a double on Thursday evening. My gym has back to back classes so times wise it is extra efficient, I just don’t cool down until the end of the second class. My body feels stronger already. I have to say I am proud of myself. It really makes a lot of my goals seem that much more attainable.

The other much sought personal goal for me has been to change the style by which I eat. I work up quite an appetite at the gym and even when I'm not at the gym I've found. As I've mentioned many times I also don't always make the best decisions when it comes to what kinds of food I eat.

The solution? To concentrate on specific foods. It is called the simply filling technique. It is very similar to what I did this past summer. You concentrate on zero point foods and add in whole grains and lean protein. You don't count but rather target in on how hungry you feel. You also receive a small points balance weekly for things like olive oil which are encouraged to have two tablespoons full of per day. I imagine that is because everything you are consuming is very low in fat.

So far I am enjoying the challenge. We'll see how it goes. I am off to do two back to back spin classes now. Enjoy this beautiful crisp Sunday in the Northeast and have a great week!

I recently took one of the many steps towards one of my resolutions for the new year. I made my way to the bike shop to start my research on road bikes. This event just happened to coincide with one of the only major snow storms so far this year on the East Coast. So I looked and talked to the experts but I didn't get to ride any. I did walk out of the shop with an awesome pair of Shimano indoor cycling shoes.

My new purchase has brought me once again to the next level of fitness but how has my diet been? Not good. I still eat way too much and per usual not always the right things to fuel my workouts. What to do about this? I have tried many approaches. I just don't seem to possess enough will power or self discipline. Maybe I don't want it enough?

I would say that one of my biggest roadblocks is my career or rather the all consuming hours spent on it. I start my day at around 7:30am at my desk or on my blackberry. By 7 or 8 at night I am completely emotionally and physically exhausted. This is because of the constant pressure to perform plus the constant threat of losing my job due to head count reductions as my firm closes and sells off different businesses. When I have serious issues weighing on my mind I've never been a successful dieter at such times. I need to work on changing that right away.

Happy Superbowl Sunday. Go Giants! I started my day in a special way. I did a two hour spin-a-thon for kidney research. As this is of course a very big eating day I thought a double workout might make a dent in the proposed party food later tonight.

I also have a pretty bad cold so for me to finish the two hours was quite a feat. I made my way into the steam room and to the sauna after which seemed to help my congestion. Of course I was starving afterwards. I went to a greek restaurant with some friends I spin with. I had a nice salad and half a pita. Pretty pretty good for me. I was satisfied as well.

A lot of the time when I see food I'll want to eat it even though I'm not hungry. Maybe it just looks yummy and I think it would taste great. It plays to big a part in my life. Today not so much. Maybe if I do two hours of cardio each day I won't eat :) I do want to do a triathlon so not too crazy of an idea. We'll see how this week goes. Can't wait for Madonna tonight.

Another year has gone by.  As we start 2012 it is only natural to think about what we accomplished in the last year and what we hope to accomplish this year.  After the excitement of the actual new year you really need to buckle down to continue to meet your goals.  Everything sounds so glamorous and attainable when you first conceive it. 
 
For example in my last blog I think I mentioned that I would love to compete in a triathilon.  Not the IRONMAN :)  Rather a .5 mile swim, 15 mile bike ride and 3.5 mile run.  It sounds amazing expecially the bike ride and swim but when I try to even run a quarter mile I am miserable.  It isn't that I physically can't do it, I have some kind of mental block. 

Another necessity for the new year is to get back tracking what goes in my mouth. When you start relaxing on recording each item things get missed or forgotten.  That is just the reality. 

In other news I'm definitely making a trip to the bike shop this weekend to select some cycling shoes and I might do a one day juice fast at the very end of the week. Maybe on Friday. 

I'm sure I'll be talking more about all these subjects in the months to come!

Happy New Year! 2012 is looking like it is going to be a great year. Let's do this right. 2011 was a year of growth in every facet of my life especially in the areas of nutrition and fitness. 

Even though I still have a lot more weight to lose I've never been in this kind of shape. Never is a strong statement. I'll say since high school.   My legs are so strong I can't believe it.  I can feel the muscles. All I used to feel was fat so this concept is amazing to me.  It feels great to wear heels as well. That is all awesome but the real question is how am I going to challenge myself further this year?  

I am definitely planning on doing double spin classes and getting back into my upper body workouts. I'd like to add in some run/walks for some more interval training and what would be the ultimate goal would be to participate in a triathlon.  Something easy with a 3k run. 

Getting back to my current fitness levels I even workout when on vacation and when I'm sick. It is like I've transformed into a completely different person.  Let's toast to this!  May all my new found habits stick in the New Year! Cheers!

Food, glorious food!  To  carb or not to carb, that is the question.  Do ever wish that you just didn't have to eat?  Sometimes I wish that when I am as hungry as one can be and not sure what to eat. I then try to have some fruit or almonds while I decide. 

Went to SoulCycle two days ago as part of a six day continuous spin cycle. I started Wednesday night. I missed Monday night as I had to work late and my normal instructor was on vaca. Have you ever noticed how much your fitness instructor really matters. It is the difference between a heart-pounding 45 minutes to the rhythm of the music or a boring looking at the clock never getting your heart rate up kind of class. I have my favorite instructors that really motivate me to take it to the next level.  

Today is day 5 of the six classes. I rewarded myself with an Yves Saint Laurent lipstick I had been waiting for. It made meeting my goal pretty special.  Now every time I wear it I know I kept a promise myself.  That premise in itself is special to me as I've made so many past promises regarding diet/fitness only to fail miserably.  Maybe my next goal should be 20 classes for the month of December. This way there won't be any holiday weight gain, only a guaranteed loss. 

This coming week should be pretty low key with plenty of time for the gym which is great. I enjoy weeks with no business travel adhering to a regular schedule. I'm working up to a double spin class maybe next weekend.  We'll see if I am ready for that.  Have a great week!

Starting out the weekend right for a change. Hard-boiled egg, apple, a few grapes and a tablespoon of Justin's honey peanut butter blend and spin class. I love getting my workout done first thing in the morning. There is nothing more invigorating. I am also feeling motivated again to get fit and lose the rest of the weight. What has changed?

I spent a lot of time this week reading fitness blogs written by others and checking out some websites. I also changed the way I was eating and cut down on my portion sizes. In addition I tried some new combinations. I put sliced pear with my grilled chicken breast and some hummus. It was delish and it helped to fuel that day's workout. I also had green apple with spinach, cranberries and walnuts for a dinner salad. They have this place called "Chopped" in the city. They now have it in Rye, NY and because the rent is cheaper for the franchise the prices are great. You can get an organic salad with protein and a drink for under $10. At that price it is almost as cheap as making your own salad. I've been getting dinner there with the girls post workout. It beats coming home at 8pm not having planned and eating crap which is a scenario that I can fall into quite easily after working a ten hour day.

Post spin I'm feeling good like I can get to my goal. That is what matters. If you think you can you will.

It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving and I'm in CT today. The top is down on my convertible and I'm listening to some holiday music. I just drove by some new restaurants and started to think a lot more about regarding my preoccupation with food. I think about the subject way too much. Why am I so enamored by the idea of trying a new restaurant. It is like I think that I am going to find some miracle food that is both delicious and calorie free and that never happens :)

Thanksgiving was very pleasant this year with lots of quality family time and an overabundance of food of course. In addition to the usual turkey and sides our family put a Jewish spin on things with a bagels and lox brunch. That was one thing I didn't eat and instead had egg whites. I did participate in all the other meals but skipped cake and pie. I got an hour long spin class in on the morning of the actual holiday which was helpful.

My instructor was Ted, an older man who is a local fire fighter. He plays very cool rock and screams at you to pick up the pace. It is a huge class of 60 which is extra motivating. I burn around 400-500 calories in his classes. After class he told us we could now eat/drink and not worry about it. My other spin instructor Kelly who is my all time favorite was much more realistic and said we could have one extra item now after spin class. You don't burn 2000 calories in spin which is the average caloric intake during a thanksgiving type dinner. I also think it can be dangerous to start that line of thinking so I try to accurately track calories burned versus what I eat. The other crazy fact I read was what eating a huge meal does to your body. Some researchers say that continuously eating like that can cause certain types of cancer. Another reason out of a slew of others to eat healthy and in moderation.

I have started to get my fitness back on track to pre-traveling levels. Now to get my eating on the same track.

I was so busy getting ready for the holidays last weekend that I didn't get a chance to write my blog.  Right now I have a brief interlude between cooking and picking up family so I escaped to Starbucks for an hour, my favorite reprieve from the craziness at home. 

I would give myself a C+ for the last few weeks. I went to spin class but again for the second week in a row that was all I did. Thanksgiving is now upon us. My strategy is I will taste things and not limit what I can have.  I know myself pretty well in the sense that if I say I can't have an item at all I'll end up having that same item the next day, week or month. It is just how it works with me. 

I guess I've lost a lot of the motivation I had the first few months. I need to find a way to get that back. Exactly how I'm going to that I'm not sure. Maybe the first step should be to read through all the blogs I wrote while I lost the 38 pounds.  Maybe I should do another juice fast to cleanse so I can eat clean again. I'll think about it and let you know how and what I decide to do. 

I want to wish a happy Thanksgiving to all. Try to make the holiday about special time with family and not about the food :)

Everyday is a new day. We wake up each morning to a new set of challenges and circumstance. Will I stay on my plan today or will I be tempted by some random starchy carb. Some of my weekly readers may have noticed that I stopped posting my weight loss the last few weeks. It is because I haven't lost anymore, just maintained my past losses.

As of this morning, I have no more business trips planned for the rest of 2011. I am happy about this and looking forward to truly getting back on track. Traveling especially out of the country presents a unique set of challenges for the dieter sometimes being stuck with few healthy options.

I started my first day home ready to rock and roll. Coffee with skim milk, a hard-boiled egg and some apple slices. I'm dressed for the gym and plan on getting a bunch of cardio in. I am hoping I'll have a proper weight loss to report next week.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. As a little side note this week I was quite proud of myself. I didn't consume any Halloween candy whatsoever in the period leading up to the holiday or on the actual day. This was a first for me.

Getting back now to my blog from last week and my unfortunate trip to LA... As a little refresher I was shocked when I realized the travel agency from work had booked me in the wrong hotel in the wrong city of Hollywood when I was supposed to be in downtown LA. Hollywood is near LA except with the traffic in the LA area being possibly the worst in the country it makes a huge difference.

Of course there was a conference and some event at the Staples Center so most hotels in LA were sold out. I was finally able to get a room at some crazy hotel for a mere $500 a night. This hotel coincidentally turned out to be the most disgusting hotel I've ever stayed in. It smelled of mold and most items in the actual room were broken. I was just disgusted. I was going out in Beverly Hills that night and told myself it was only one night changed and left.

I was definitely stressed at dinner. I over indulged and even insisted on dessert. My actual dinner was extremely healthy so it wasn't a huge deal but definitely an example of emotional eating. The rest of my trip I soothed myself with herbal tea and returned to NY a few days later after checking in to a very nice hotel for the duration of my LA stint.

I'm off to Toronto this coming week and then I hope to get back to my normal routine of going to the gym.

This past week was an insane week in every way. The craziness started on Tuesday morning when I was picked up at work at around 10:30am to catch a Virgin America flight to LA. I got dropped off at a terminal I've never been to which is rare as I've flown all over the world from JFK. It was really quite strange and a little deserted. What was even stranger was there was no curbside check in and I couldn't even find the Virgin counter to check in. There were just rows of closed counters for airlines I've never heard of. My destination ended up being around a corner so I was finally able to get my boarding pass.

I then proceeded down some stairs to some kind of shopping mall but no security line. I aimlessly wandered for a bit inhaled a piece of pizza as I was getting aggravated. Always a bad idea in any situation. With a little investigating you can always find a nice salad. I then proceeded to walk for a while to attempt to find the security line for wherever the gates were as this seemed to be a big mystery consisting of construction and long empty corridors. Finally, voila I had arrived at the empty security line.

I made it through and stopped for an iced Peet's coffee with plenty of skim milk. I've read a lot of research about the relationship between adequate amounts of calcium and weight-loss. I try to include some in my diet whenever possible.

As I boarded the plane the interior was accented with purple lights and there were pink headphones aligned perfectly in front of the seats in my row. I noticed a computer screen which I began to explore. You could order drinks and snacks to be delivered right to your seat as well as foreign films, chat and games. The five hour flight went by pretty quickly. I had some cheese and fruit with a glass of wine to pass the time.

When I arrived in LA I was met by a driver who said we were going to a hotel in Hollywood but that wasn't my intended destination. Stay tuned next week for my LA adventure.

I've read a lot of magazine articles recently that say you can get a decent calorie burn from chores around the house. I decided to test that theory out today.  I cleaned my kitchen for about four hours.  I put some tunes on and got ready.  I emptied all the cabinets and fridge.  I vacuumed out all the cabinets, scrubbed them down and cleaned all the items before putting them back. I followed the same process with the refrigerator. I also threw some old stuff out. I kept the garbage bag on the floor on purpose so that I had to use those core muscles each time I threw an item out. 

Later in the day I went for a walk into town. I was definitely tired and my muscles were even a little sore.  I would say it worked.   I don't think it can replace navy seals or anything to that extent but it is a great feeling to know I got a lot accomplished in my apartment and burned some calories at the same time. 

I fasted this past weekend for Yom Kippur and then proceeded to eat a ton on Saturday night. The next day I did about an hour of cardio at the gym. Did this make up for the extra 1000 calories I consumed?  

I had made a mental note of what I had eaten.  Of course I don't normally just eat with no regard for the calorie count.  As I started to record what I inhaled I realized that it didn't matter that I hadn't eaten in 24 hours. One bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon was 14 points. So one item was more than I normally eat in two meals.  I definitely ate more than one item too!  Pretty disturbing. What would I do. 

On Sunday I did the only thing I knew. I went to the gym and tried to work some of it off.  Maybe I burned off a quarter of it. That is the thing. You can eat something that is so fattening and it is literally impossible to burn it off in one gym session.  I think that is why it is so important not to eat it in the first place. Also one eat crap it is that much harder to get back on track and stop eating crap. I am definitely waiting a few days to weigh myself. 

L'shana tova to those that celebrated the Jewish New Year last week.

As it's the new year it seems like the perfect time to focus on some recent observations I've made since I've lost my first 38 pounds. If I count down from my heaviest and not just since I've started this blog I've lost a total of 68 pounds. Now that is a lot of weight to lose so there are some differences in my every day life.

During my travels the last few weeks I stayed in three different hotels with three different types of towels and bathrobes. This is very embarrassing but at my heaviest no standard towel or one size fits all bathrobe would fit me. I am happy to report that now they all do with extra room.

Then there were the airplane seats, seat belts and even movie theater seats. I used to be so uncomfortable never getting into quite a good position. The seat belt on the airplane not digging in but it certainly was never loose where I could fit two of me in it like I can now :)

There is also the walking. I could never really walk around. After about 30 minutes my legs and my back would always start to ache. I successfully walked miles and miles all over Chicago and San Francisco without any pain. I realized how much I love to walk. No more taxis for this girl!

It is the little things in life that bring happiness and contentment. I still have a long way to go but in the interim I am just so comfy in my new body.