Very delicately put....

So last week I was seeing a doctor for my deviated septum and he asked me if I snore… Well, yea, I told him. Quickly following up with but my husband snores far louder! HAH! How do I know that!?!!! HAH! Very funny, I keep getting a chuckle out of that rebuttal. So the doctor asked; "well did you snore before you had your daughter? " Ummm… "yea, I believe so, I don't recall it happening quite so often or waking my husband up." Then he very politely asked me how much I weighted before I had my daughter. "I only weighted 130", he looked down at my information… "And now you weigh 162"… gulp. "yes, sir." UGH! So, he follows up with very soft tone, and very politely, "Danielle, you have to lose 20-30 pounds, this will not only improve your snoring issues, but will help you be more alert during the day." So, that was that, we talked about me having surgery on my deviated septum which is not really an option at this point since I am apparently not allergic to anything in the freaking world! So, I thanked him for the information and headed out.

A few days later, here I am gearing up to focus on my big weight loss. Sitting at the heaviest I have ever been in my life at 162…. Yes, part of it is weight that I gained from being pregnant with my adorable peanut and I would not have it any other way. But there is "this rule" that I have been told; if you keep it for longer than a year, it is yours to keep…. So, here I am 17 months later still carrying all this extra baggage. A year ago I was not mentally prepared to take on the challenge of weight loss. Now, with my head on straight, running after a toddler and a very support husband, I think we can make a good go of this! Thirty pounds would put me back at my fighting weight in college. No, literally, in college I was on the Texas A&M Tae Kwon Do team (whoop!) and my weight class was Middle weight.

What is my plan? Good question, I downloaded an application for my iphone called My Net Diary. I am going to log my meals, snacks, drinks and I am also going to log my exercise. Most of my day is spent sitting at a desk that would put my activity level as sedentary. That activity level makes an even bigger challenge to tackle.

Goals:

1. Increase activity level to thirty minutes – three times a week
   
2. Decrease calorie intake to 1600 calories per day
   
3. Stop putting creamer in my coffee (since I usually use as much creamer as coffee this is a huge calorie buster for me!)
   
4. Stop eating small unhealthy snacks that add up to big calories by the end of the day
   
   1. For example… one bite is not going to hurt anything…..
      
5. Increase water intake to at least three cups of water a day (8 oz)
   
6. Take at least two walks a day while at work – anyone is welcome to join me on this ;-)
   

Tips:

• You are not supposed to consume more than TWO soda's a month!! – either diet or fully loaded
  
  • I gave up soda back in February and I have not had any desire to pick them back up J
    
• One pound is equal to 3500 calories
  

That means I have to burn 3500 calories a week to lose one pound! L

A great little forward I just recieved; thought I would share.

Here's something to think about.

I recently picked a new primary care doctor. After
two visits and exhaustive Lab tests, he said I was doing
'fairly well' for my age. (I just turned sixty-something.)

A little concerned about that comment, I couldn't
resist asking him, 'Do you think I'll live to be 80?'

He asked, 'Do you smoke tobacco, or drink beer, wine or hard liquor?

'Oh no,' I replied. 'I'm not doing drugs, either!'

Then he asked, 'Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued
Ribs?

'I said, 'Not much... my former doctor said that
all red meat is very unhealthy!'

'Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing
golf, boating, sailing, hiking, or bicycling?'

'No, I don't,' I said.

He asked, 'Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a
Lots of sex?'

'No,' I said...

He looked at me and said,.. 'Then, why do you even give a shit?

Yummy CHICKEN MARSALA AND ROASTED REDSKIN POTATOES

So, last night my husband and I were having our typical drive home from work conversation. What are we going to eat for dinner? eh! We both hate it when we don't have anything planned for dinner. With an hour drive home the last thing we want to do is stop by the grocery store to pick something up to then get home and cook it. By the time all that is said and done it is 7:30 pm before we are eating! So, he recommend corn dogs.... ummm... my sweet husband often forgets that corn dogs and a lady trying to watch her weight do not mingle nicely together... So, I got the point, something quick and easy we can throw in the oven.

So, here I go on my journey to HEB along with half of the other town after work. need I say more.... I head straight to the frozen food section, I grab him his corn dogs... And I start looking for something healthy for Emma and myself. I saw an HEB coupon hanging on the freezer door of one of the cases... What is this?! Bertoli coupon? What does Bertoli have in this section? I love the Bertoli pasta, so I am intriqued! AH! Bertolia Chicken Marsala! WHAT! I love Chicken Marsala! Even better the coupon was for $2 off! SCORE! Just under $4 for a meal for the three of us! Awesome! I opened the packaged, tossed it in a 12 inch skillet on high heat for three minutes, then turned down to medium heat for seven minutes to finish. Could not be any easier. To make it even better it tasted aaaamazing! I have to say that next time, however I will be adding more chicken, that is my only compliant. The taste was wonderful! Brian even ate the veggies in it! Mushrooms! Brian and Emma accompanied it with cheesy bread and nuff' said! They were in heaven!

So, sense the coupon was so amazing, I grabbed about four other flavors of the Bertoli frozen ready made meals, we can't wait to try them out! Not a bad deal!

Bertoli has a large selection of ready to cook meals: check out their website Bertoli.com

my hands go where?

Ok, so a couple of months ago I had to take defensive driving.... ok, not because I was required to for purposes of dismissing a ticket, but for the insurance discount, those who know me, know that I get into a finder bender every now and again... and I needed to bring down our premiums that 10%.

So, when I was watching my videos I was shocked completely by something. I was taught to drive with my hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel. It is not like I learned to drive 50 years ago, it was only 15 years ago. Since I have learned to drive they have concluded that holding your hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel is now considered potentially dangerous. why? Because of the airbags.... who knew! If your airbag deploys and your hands are in that position, it will send your hands flying right up into your face. So, you might be thinking hands would be far better than airbag right? I am not expert, but bone hitting bone in my book probably not the best alternative.

So, the new recommendation for hand placement on the steering wheel is, wait for it..... 9 and 3! In this case if the air bag was to deploy it would push your hands out and down rather than up with less of a possibility of trapping your arms/hands between you and your body.

However, they do still recommend holding your hands where you are comfortable.

Cankles?

Do you have cankels?

I just watched an interesting short video from Dr. Oz. Essentially there are two types of cankels.

1. cankels you are born with
2. development over time due to fat increase (also a temporary side effect from Pregnancy)
   

So, if you have cankels he said to do the pressure test. Put your finger and press on the cankel, if it makes an indention it is from swelling and fat accumulation.

Bottom line if you want to get rid of them exercise! He specifically named jumping rope will help redistribute the accumulation of fat and reduce the size of the cankel giving you more muscle definition. He also noted that it could be an underling issue of a heart or kidney funtion issue.

Watch the Video: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/whats-causing-your-cankles

* image from Go Go Gadget, Go!

I am not Oprah, but this is one of my favorite things!

Lets start a couple of months ago, my coworker was giving up candy for lent. I have never given up anything for lent seeing as how I am not Catholic; so I figured that sense our desks are roughly three feet apart at best, I would support her in her efforts. I however, took it to the next extreme because if I am going to give up Candy that means that I would be compensating with sweets, cake, cupcakes, sodas... you get the idea. So, I removed sugar from my diet almost 100%. To sum it up, no sweets! So, as I was looking around for great soda replacements, sense I was WAY too hooked on Dr. Pepper; most Texans do not believe such a thing exists; I came upon Lipton Raspberry Lime Revitalize to go. It is green tea with B Vitamins and Vitamin C! YAY, so I am not only cutting out a horrible for my body drink but replacing it with one that actually works for my body! YAY! Go me! So, I am happy to report that I have yet to incorporate Soda back into my diet. Which for me is a HUGE accomplishment!

So if you are looking for a yummy drink give it a go! It will be a little party in your mouth!

No, I was not paid to post this!