For the Love of EBay

Okay I admit it. I have a problem. I LOVE EBay. And I do mean LOVE. I could get lost for hours. I try to limit myself, but when I find myself with nothing to do I can hear it call my name.

Rachel.........click here. Search me. Bid me. Max your bid higher. You know you want to. And I do.

And then that of course leads me to my next addiction. Blingy Thingys. The chunkier, the flashier, the BIGGER the better. These are a few that I already have.

These are a few that EBay made me bid on.

I will be stalking my mail man next week. So if he is your relative. Please warn him.

Last night's work out was hard. I mean they are all hard, but since I had T-Rex arms it was really hard. It was hard to balance and work on your core when you look like this.

We started out on the stair stepper thingy-ma-bob.

I.hate.that.thing. It always reminds me how freaking out of shape I am. (yeah almost everything reminds me of that at some point). Well last night they were stacked up as high as the ceiling. Okay well maybe not THAT high, but I swear they were up to my knees. I had to stand besides them and take one leg and step up. That's it. Yeah. Man that was hard. Hard because I have no core strength, and hard because my T-Rex arms were flailing around and not able to give me much balance.

Moving on. Next we got to go out into the 'boys' side of the gym. I was happy knowing that I had a shirt on that would not allow a repeat of the last time we were on this side. And that there wasn't a lot of people there like there was the night before. Not that I give a crap what they think, just that I don't like feeling like I am in the way. So we went to something called The Smith Machine.

It was kinda scary, but it was not that bad. It is designed to help you do squats, and lift weights etc in CORRECT form. That is the key here. CORRECT form. Wow. Doing squats using this machine made me realize how totally crappy my posture is. Blech. Hopefully as I slim down, I will be able to work on that. I am thinking once I feel a little better about myself I will then be strutting my tail feathers.

Of course there was lunges, knee kicks, lifts, and a whole slew of other painful things mixed all in the middle of this. All in all it was a great work out. My T-Rex arms were feeling a little better by the time I left. When I left I had to run into Wal-mart to pick up a couple of things and left my calorie counter on.

Total Time working out and running into Wally World: 1 hour 51 minutes. Total calories burned 1772. Not to freaking shabby.

Since my weight watcher days I have always used a digital scale to measure and weigh my foods. It's an awesome practice to get in to. I know a lot of people can eye ball a serving and know pretty much how much it is, but lets face it. If I could do that, do you think I would weigh 356871 lbs? I think not.

Any ways, this morning as I was packing my lunch I got the scale out and measured ONE serving of Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing.

I have learned on this journey that FF is NOT the way to go. It has so much sodium in it, you are better off going with the good stuff. (See Justin I AM learning something). So I am reading the bottle and one serving size is 1 oz, or 28g. Now this doesn't sound like much. At least it didn't to me. BUT this is what it actually looks like.

And believe it or not, it was PLENTY to have with my carrots for lunch. It was a total of 132 calories and I was one happy camper. I never felt deprived or cheated at all.

Well that is all I have for you today. I hope you are having a great day like me. I love feeling this way.

I would wave, but I can't lift my arms.

What up people. I am sooooooooooo freaking sore from Monday still. I told Justin that if his goal was for me to be too sore I couldn't lift anything to my mouth that he succeed! I am drinking water like a fish trying to flush that stuff out, but to no help as of yet.

That leads me to my next problem I am having today, peeing like a maniac. (do maniac's really pee that much?). The only bad thing about this is that since my arms hurt so bad, its nearly impossible to get my pants either up or down. (let that mental image sit with you a spell). And I am barely able to lift myself off the damn thing. It would be so nice if I had one of these installed in the bathroom, but since I don't, I am damned if I do, damned if I don't. Damn!

Yesterday I was able to drag my butt to the gym and get a little cardio in. It took all I had to pull myself up on the treadmill. I am happy to say that I was able to beat my previous time in doing 1.5 miles.

I was happy about that. Anna joined me, and we of course got some good gossiping in and that made the time fly by. It was a pretty short work out. She had hurt her knee, and I feeling like I had been hit by a Mac truck was pretty much done. 41 minutes. 501 Calories Burned. I will make that up tonight.

Today when I woke up, I realized that I was totally out of EVERYTHING to get my day going. (Okay really it was last night..but.to.sore.to.shop.) So I had to run to Micheal's school then I ran into the grocery store STARVIN'! (yeah I know). Grabbed a couple of protein bars, a couple frozen dinners to get me through the day. Finally around 10 AM I was able to squeeze in a little breakfast. I had a cup of Honey Dew melon (yummy), and because Justin said so a protein bar.

This is a Zone Bar. The flavor was Chocolate Almond Raisin (I could NOT tell there was a raisin in there). Let me tell you that this thing was AMAZING! It was so rich and almondy (yes its a word). It was like a party in my mouth. It also has 15 grams of protein. Of course I only got one of this kind. So I am hoping I can find them again next time I am out and about.

That leads me to my lunch. I am usually not a frozen dinner eater. One: they don't taste that good, two: they are too little, and three: they are LOADED with sodium. Well since my day started, well crappy I ended up having to do it anyways. I looked all over for those steamer bags at my local grocery store, and of course they didn't have them. So I thought this might be good.

WRONG! Blech, I ate half of it because I really hate wasting food AND money. But I will NEVER do that again. I also found these new things. The remind me of pizza rolls. Theses were VERY good. And only 190 calories too boot. This was def a keeper.

I then washed it all down with this. Another keeper! Tasted just like Nestea. Add 5 grams of protein and you just can't say no.

All these finds has made me open a new folder on my Facebook page called. Eat This..Not This. (Yes I am that nerdy). You can follow along if you like. Try it. You will like it.

So tonight I meet with Justin again, this time lower body. The rate I am going I am liable to be total toast by tomorrow morning and will only be able to lay in bed and whimper. He said he would try and help me work on making my stride bigger/wider/longer whatever. That is the ONLY way I am thinking I will be able to beat my total time for my next 5K. Well that and a miracle. We shall see how things work out. That is it for me today. Hope everyone has a great day!

10 Things I have Moaned in the past 3 weeks.

1. That's not how I do it in my bathroom.

2. OMG that hurts my butt.

3. Grab a ball and shut up.

4. These ball's are too heavy.

5. You grab the big one, I will grab the small one.

6. I can't sit on that, I will break it.

7. Why is mine bigger than yours?

8. I can't lift it, it's too hard.

9. Are you pulling on it?

10. I am NOT going to be able to walk tomorrow.

I am so glad that the torture room has a door on it, and that no one can hear me! Last nights work out was kind of a break through for me. I did 1.5 miles on the treadmill before Justin got there. Then we did my weekly weigh in. The sodium from the crack dealer was still playing hell on my weight, seriously someone put an APB out on her already. But my body fat was down 2.5%. That is AMAZING! I was really happy. Yippy! After my kick ass weigh in, we went out into the gym. I asked if we were going on the 'Boys' side and Justin said no we were going on the wussy side. Whatever. I was excited. We used all sorts of workout machines that were totally new to me. It was upper body last night. Holy Moley, my arms feel like spaghetti noodles. After all that we went back into the torture chamber. That's where I had a mini break down. It was over the stupidest thing. He laid 2 yoga mats on the floor and told me to lay flat on my back and then get up off the floor. That was it. The thought of doing that made me sick, and pissed and then I started the cry. I know! WTF. I swear this is horrible to say, but that is the only time I FEEL fat. I mean I know I am 2343432 lbs over weight, but getting up off the floor is the only time I can FEEL it. I am so awkward and...well FAT, that it makes it so freaking hard. I hate WEEPY me. It makes me feel like a WEAK. And it kinda makes me want to vomit thinking about it. After I had my mini hissy fit. I did it. And it sucked of course. Then we worked some of that frustration out, he grabbed one of those heavy medicine balls and made me slam it on the floor. Over and over and over again until I just couldn't do it anymore. I think I cried some more, I am not even sure at this point. I left yesterday feeling more determined than ever. And of course after seeing this. I am ready to kick someone ass all over again!

Worked out for 1 hour and 48 minutes and burned 1326 calories. HooRah!

It's Monday in the Hood Ya'll

Man, I have been slacking on the blog front.

Thursday's work out with Justin, was awesome. Well it started out not to be, I still had cramps and I was totally bitchy when he got there. I walked a mile on the treadmill waiting on him. When he got there I made it clear I was NOT wanting to do that any more. So he had a bag of 'tricks' with him. We got back into the torture room and we did kickboxing! At first I was like..ummm...yeah whatever. But I actually enjoyed it. At one point I was thinking of all those people who bug the shiznit out of me, and then swinging. I think that was my best work out to date.

For the record there was no 'floating like a butterfly' for me. I am really awkward. Just like a fat kid in dance class. I made the comment that every part of my body is weak, and Justin said the nicest thing (yes I realize I PAY him to say nice things STFU). He said my spirit is not weak. That kinda made my day.
Later he told me that I reminded him of Kirsten Vagness, you know the chic that plays Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds. What do you think? It must be the glasses?



Friday I took the day off of work. David and I had some errands to run so we just spent the day together. It was so fun. We haven't done that in ages. We drove to Lafayette and ended up having SUSHI for lunch. For anyone who knows me, knows I looooooooooooooooove me some Sushi. The place we went to was called Tsubaki (don't ask me to pronounce it). We had Spicy Tuna (both regular and yellow tail). And one called 8 Legs. I loved the name. That had to be the spiciest, Spicy Tuna I have ever eaten. I am talking sloooooooooow burn. That stays with you for a few hours. Yipes.

They did have the best fried rice I have ever put into my mouth. It didn't even need the 'meat'. I loved it, and probably ate too much of it.

Later that night Kayla and I went to see Easy A.

Let me just say that Emma Stone is too stinkin' freakin' cute! It was such a good movie. Total chic flick and Kayla and I really enjoyed it.

But I would like to have the crack dealer behind the counter arrested. All of them for that matter. You know the one that pushes THIS...

OMG I CAN'T say no to this stuff. I really should be illegal. I only had a small. But I ate the whole freaking bag! I had the calories to do it, but what I couldn't spare was the sodium! For the love freaking biscuits!I did drink a bottled water while I was eating it, a lot of freaking good that did. So the next morning I was showing a heafty 4lb gain. I have been drinking water like a fish to try and flush my system out, that was Friday night, and I think maybe today it might be almost gone. Geeze what a mind screw.
Saturday night was a dinner party with my girls. We have been wanting to get together on the weekend so we could let loose a little and not worry about having to get up early the next morning for work and stuff. We meet at Anna's house. She grilled yummy turkey burgers for us.

Kathy made red, white and blue potatoes with garlic and jalapeno olive oil, and I made dessert.

Music was provided by Jackie Neal (don't ask). :)

We had such a great time. We talked and laughed and giggled like we were school girls. And of course we gossiped. Boy do I love some juicy gossip. Mind you, I normally don't have a clue who the heck we are talking about (the joy's of NOT growing up in this town that I love so much). But that didn't matter much.

I am already looking forward till next time. Well that is it for me. Tonight is another meeting with Justin. I hope I like today as much as I did Thursday, something is telling me that I won't tho. LOL

I know two things...

That cramps SUCK, and that you shouldn't stay up half the night watching Hoarders! Well hello Monday. Today I am having a GREAT day. I made out with my scale this morning and that just put me over the moon. (for those of you who don't know me...when I 'make out' with something that means I LOVE LOVE LOVE it) example: I would so make out with that Peanut Butter Pie....yeah anyways. I am loving what it's doing, and what it's doing is moving in the RIGHT direction for after far too long. So when I seen it, I promised I would have a GREAT day. So far I have walked around the whole day looking like this.

Well Thursday I wasn't able to make it to the gym (gasp...I know). I had the chance to work a little late, and since we haven't been able to score any over time in a long time I jumped on it! It was only a few hours but it makes my check smile. And you know what happens when my check smiles.....Oh yeah you got it...I SMILE! See above photo. Anyways by the time we got home and I cooked there was no way I wanted to go to the gym. And the weirdest thing happened that night. Okay are you sitting down??? I felt guilty!!! Yes, I can hardly believe it either. I actually tossed and turned and I had a hard time falling asleep because of it. How the hell did that happen?? I have no idea either.

So I had to wait until Friday to do Week 2. Day 2. Here are my results. I did manage to beat my time from day one. Not by much but it is an improvement. Saturday, for some strange reason I wanted to do a test run 5K. After talking to my friend Anna, she said I should probably just bump up my distance a little and stay with that for a week or so. (We have about 4 weeks until the real deal). She said that I wouldn't want to hurt myself, I am so glad that I have smart friends. So Kayla and I headed over to the gym and this is what transpired. I am not really happy with these results. If I keep this pace, I will just about tie my time from my last race. I need to get some speed up for sure. I want to blow my time out of the water 59:58 (I know! I know...a turtle could beat that time).

Nothing much was going on this weekend. I was able to squeeze in some photo's of Kayla, Sunday afternoon. I just adore our new back yard. There are lots of sweet photo spots. Here are a few of my favorite shots. I love that she lets me do this. I have some ideas for next time too. I can hardly wait.

Tonight is lower body with J. I texted him early told him I was crampy and PMSy, and that I don't look for tonight to be fun for either one of us. He is either a) ignoring me b) with a client or c) not scared at all. With my luck I am thinking its C. I just doubled up on the Ibutab's just in case.

edited to add: Just got this text back from him: So how is that going to be different than any other nite? (oh yeah he did)

I do have my before photos, but I am waiting until I have my next set to post them. I want to see some PROGRESS before I post the damn ugly things. No seriously, you could use them to keep critters away in the dark. Scary stuff for sure.

Tomorrow is dinner with my girls! My FAVORITE night of the week. Yippy! I will let you all know how my session is tonight. See y'all in the funny papers. (what the hell does that mean anyways??)

How Much Wood Can a Wood Chuck Chuck

Happy Friday Eve! It's 3:00 PM and this day is almost over!

My session with J last night was...well.....I haven't found the correct word for it yet. It was a full range of emotions I know that. But, I did kick major ass on my run before my work out. I was moving pretty fast 4.9-5.0 MPH. Oh yeah allllllllllllllllllll of this was moving that fast. That wasn't the hard part. That came when we moved into the torture chamber (this really cool room they have on the back of the gym that has low impact floors and where you can use all sorts of great equipment like balance balls and resistance bands etc). The first few minutes in there were actually AWESOME! I had asked him to bring his scale back because I didn't feel that the last time I weighted was very accurate (sodium is a bitch yo!). So he did. I was HAPPY :)

Then came the sheer FRUSTRATION. I had to do an exercise that should have been easy. Well yeah it would have been easy if I didn't weight 8985 lbs (this is a slight exaggeration). I got so winded, I could NOT catch my breath. I am not kidding. To the point of puking or passing out. I really felt like one or the other would happen. The came the ANGER. There is NO reason at the age of 37 years old that I can't do this. NONE. I will not let this opportunity pass me by. I will take full advantage of this and I will succeed.

After about 30 more mins of literaly kicking my ass all over that room, we moved back into th e main gym to the weight side, the side I like to call the BOYS side of the gym. Here came the PANIC, I am too fat to be out here, I will be in some ones way, what if someone watches me....Okay actually that was the last thing I am worried about. I have moved on passed that. If you don't like what you see, look the other freaking way. Any ways. we walked right over to this contraption. That looked like it belonged in some sort of sex video.

Yeah that is pretty much what I said. Here is where I chucked some wood, or chopped some, and maybe even did it reverse at one point and time. Oh yeah and by the end of it all that pulling and chopping and grunting, my boob popped out. Not the actual boob, but my boob in my bra. My bra is tan/flesh colored. So to everyone on the other side of the gym...my boob fell out. Hope everyone enjoyed the show, by the time I realized it, we were finished. You're welcome patroons of my favorite gym. I promise to not let that happen again. Even though it was way worse on you than it was me.

Speaking of my favorite gym.

This place is where it's at. I have always been afraid of going to a gym at my size. Worried about how it would feel (that is probably all in my head). But since I joined here, I have felt like this was MY gym. I come and go as I please, and I fell very comfortable there. Not out of place what so ever. Like I really do belong there. Just wanted to share that.

So last night after my work out, I went home to watch my favorite show of all time.

This year is season is going to be the best yet. Because I will be following along with the contestants and doing this at home. I know there is a lot of negative things out there about this show, believe me, I have read them all. But what people fail to grasp, is this show gives EVERYONE hope. We know that the contestants work out ridiculously long hours, and we know that is not likely in our own lives. But it shows the DRIVE that a person can have when pushed. That is why I watch. That is what motivates me. If they can push through some of there emotional baggage and make something positive out of it, then so can I dangit! It gives me hope that one day(even if it takes me 3 times as long as it does for them on the show) that I too, will be successful and reach my goals.

Tonight is Week 1. Day 2 for my Couch to 5k program. Wish me luck. I am looking forward to seeing how well I do.

So you say it's Hump Day.

Good Morning Peeps! How is everyone today. I am really excited today is the first day of fall! Even though we still have the blazin' temps, just knowing that any day now it will start to cool down puts some pep in my step. :)

Well my second first day with J was crazy nuts! I walked a mile on the treadmill before he got there ( I am thinking I was DONE after that). When he got there it was lower body. Holy Batman! I have like ZERO core strength what so ever. Which you need a TON of to do lunges and squats etc. It was hard. Everything was hard. I really did like one part, where I was kicking the living crap out of one of those balance balls. By the time I was to the end of that part I was literately grunting giving it all I had. It felt amazing. I did notice that I have more strength on my right side than I do on my left side. I could kick harder, run harder, everything harder on the right side. When it was time to switch it up it was like wussy kicks. I don't know what the deal is with that. By the end of my session my legs were like spaghetti noodles. I had to sit and chill and catch up with K before I could walk to my truck! But nothing can explain the feeling I get when I lay in bed after working out like that. I feel like for the first time I am doing something RIGHT. Tonight we meet again. It is upper body this time. Bye-Bye bat wings!

Last night I tried for the second night to complete the Week 1. Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program. I tried last week, but I had a crappy pod cast and the music bored me to tears (and I got a freaking cramp that like to killed me). Well last night I was able to complete the whole session. HELL YEAH! I even ran the whole 90 seconds when it was time, at least 5 times! I was sweating my hiney off, but it felt GOOD!

I rewarded myself with dinner with an AMAZING group of friends. And believe it or not we did not go crazy and just eat because it was our 'free' day. I had blackened chicken and wild rice. And a bowl of fruit for dessert! We were ALL rock stars last night. Thanks for my yummy candle A, I promise I won't eat it!

Okay I will be back tomorrow and report all the horrible torture that I will endure tonight at the hands of J. I will promise to at least pretend to hate every minute of it. (I think I tiny part of me likes it...but just a TINY part).