hello, old friend

A few months ago I said goodbye to Sparkpeople and hello to bodybugg. The bodybugg was made famous by The Biggest Loser and when I was struggling with a plateau after starting to exercise earlier this year.  I decided that it was time to bring in the big guns and learn not only what I was eating, but what I was burning.  See below for a tidbit about the bodybugg from the website.

 

Why is the bodybugg more accurate than a pedometer?
The bodybugg armband is more accurate than a pedometer for calculating calories burned because it is "watching" your body from four different perspectives. A pedometer only measures steps. In addition to measuring motion and steps, the armband is able to see how much you are sweating, your skin temperature and the rate at which heat is being dissipated from your body. These additional physiological parameters give the bodybugg system a more complete picture of what your body is doing and its level of exertion, all of which means a much more accurate estimation of your calories burned.

 

As far as the calorie burn goes, the bodybugg is awesome.  I have nothing to compare it too, but I love having calorie burn and step goals every day.  I love the fact that the bodybugg motivates me to get off my duff and move more.

(in this picture you can see that I have exceeded my steps target by 139 and it is only 7pm)

 

There is one thing that isn’t awesome about the bodybugg is the nutrition tracking.  I have been spoiled by Sparkpeople and found it so convenient and intuitive.  I have stopped tracking my nutrition because I found it so onerous and so the bodybugg has stopped doing what it was supposed to do.  Helping me keep track of calories in vs. calories out.

 

Because of this, and the unwelcome number on the scale this morning, I have decided to give up on the bodybugg nutrition piece and go back to sparkpeople.

This means that the bodybugg won’t tell me what I should have lost in the previous two weeks, but at least this way I’ll start being consistent with tracking my food!

Verdict: would I recommend that you buy a bodybugg? Only if you have a lot of weight to lose and if you’ve tried and failed to lose weight just tracking calories in.  It’s better when you are consistent with tracking nutrition though.  I’m testament to the fact that just tracking calories out doesn’t work either.  I’m hoping that the combination of the two will help me get back on track.

As an aside, I’m also planning to going back to my prescribed “levels” of nutrients (about 200 g carbs, 25 g fiber and 60g protein)

Cost: A downside is that it is pretty expensive, the armband is $199 and the digital display is $79 (on sale right now).  The website also has a monthly fee, which varies based on what type of subscription you buy (9.95/month to 7/month) And I should note for the sake of our FTC friends, I bought this on my own and I am in no way being compensated for this review.

 

Do you track calories in or out?  If so, how?

Happy St. Patty’s Day

Today was absolutely gorgeous!  I think it hit about 70 degrees here.  I went for a walk for lunch and was so surprised at how happy everyone was!  Total strangers stopped us on the street to wish us a happy St. Patty’s Day, does this happen for ANY other holiday?  The only one I can think of is July 4th.

 

The day was much of the same, a Mix 1 

a bagel thin (and chia seeds)

I was obsessed with getting some snack foods all morning.  I decided that instead of getting snack foods I’d take a walk, luckily I ran into someone else that needed a walk too.  It was so rejuvenating and just what I needed!

 

For lunch I had leftover basic risotto recipe and naked chef pesto.

My snacks consisted of a tangerine

some raisins

carrots

and hummus.

This all left me pretty satisfied, which helped for my walk home and subsequent 40 minute walk on the treadmill.

 

We’re finishing up our leftovers before our trip so I had some chicken with sweet potatoes and cauliflower for dinner.

It was still really good. yum!

 

Do you celebrate St. Patty’s day? Or do you think it’s a load of bull?

Calorie Deficit

Sunday did not turn into the snowy mess that we had expected it to, it was a gorgeous day, not as much sun, but beautiful.  I ran errands and decided to do an hour long workout.  The crick in my neck still hurts so I wanted to not stress it more than I needed to.

 

I decided to walk at about 17min/mile pace.  It was a pretty good walk.  Nothing to write home about.  The food on Sunday was just alright.

 

I started the day with an egg, a piece of toast and some bacon (which was done after the photo).

Lunch was a half a grilled cheese.  Yum!  So satisfying.

 

Dinner was a mess.  Dan was at a swim meet and I thought it was a good idea to buy 100 calorie packs of baked cheetos. Needless to say, it wasn’t.   Dan got home late, and since I had had so many cheetos I wasn’t very hungry, so I had half a serving of spaghetti.  yum.

Ever since I’ve started working out I have been dealing with more cravings and less control over my calories.  I figured out my daily calorie range before by trial and error, but I wasn’t working out that hard, just walking.  Now that I’m working out more I need more calories some days than others.  I’m just not sure how many.  So, instead I’m thinking about calorie cycling.  Shannon over at We Kin Get Thin is just starting it and I think she might be onto something.  I’m just trying to figure out how to organize it (what my weekly total should be)

 

Does anyone have good resources about calorie cycling?  The calories I was aiming for before was lower (1400-1500) than the websites suggested calorie level (1900-2100).

 

How do you track your calories?

Pain in the neck

I am the type of girl that can hurt herself sleeping.  A few years ago I had serious neck pain that prevented some of my head motion.  Earlier this week I had a fitful night of sleep and the neck pains are back.  I have been doing my neck exercises and trying to lessen the pain (which is constant).

 

I didn’t wake up in pain at all last night, and today I have an appointment for a massage (thanks mom!)  I’m hoping by tonight I’ll be back to my old self.  Because of my neck pain I decided to leave my (sort of heavy) camera home on Thursday.  I took quick pictures at home.

 

Breakfast was a bagel.  It’s my goal this weekend to find some bagel thins.  Any Denver-ites see these around?

I packed raisins for snacks.  It’s weird, on Thursday, the raisins were enough.  On Wednesday, I could NOT eat enough.  Weird.

I brought a piece of pork for lunch.  But I didn’t eat it.

Instead I went to panera with Annissa and got a Caesar Salad.  Pretty decent.

 

I stopped by whole foods for some Annie’s mac n cheese.  I didn’t take any pictures, and have to admit that it wasn’t as delicious as Kraft mac n cheese.  Sorry! I have to be honest :)  I did find that my favorite flowers were pretty cheap, and who am I to miss an opportunity to have pretty flowers in the house.  Love them.

 

I accompanied the mac n cheese with an artichoke.  Isn’t it funny how fresh food can impact you?  I felt so good after I finished eating the yummy veggie.

I’m realizing the week has escaped without me running once.  Crap.  I wonder if that’s part of the stress?  We had two goodbye happy hours for my friend Cassidy, and so I got home much later than usual. I know. excuses, excuses.

 

I am taking a walk with a friend today, but will get back to running tomorrow.

 

What is the weirdest way that you have hurt yourself?

A little bit faster now

This was a great running weekend!  I was telling my dad that the benefit of having a one room apartment is that I can’t avoid the treadmill.  It is always in my line of vision and so I spend all morning knowing that I have to get on it.  I keep negotiating with myself about what my workout will be, I’ll just walk today, I’ll run 3 miles slower, I just want to get it over with.

(Breakfast toast-which later got some almond butter and heather’s jam and a microwave poached egg-total fail)

The third usually wins.  I got on the treadmill and started running at the same pace as yesterday when my pants were bugging me too much because they were too big.  I could have finished the run, but decided why bother, and I switched to a smaller pair of pants.  Yay!  That’s totally an NSV.  I got back on the treadmill and accidentally pushed the treadmill to 5.2.  It didn’t feel different than 4.8 so I went with it.  I finished in 23:47.  Yay!

(lunch was leftover sausage stuffing)

In less exciting news, Dan’s grandfather died Sunday morning.  It’s times like these that I wish we still lived in D.C.  His granddad lived a great life, he just celebrated his 95th birthday and lived independently for his entire life.

(a pile of meat.  We recreated the steak from last night.  YUM!)

Dan’s going to be able to go out for the funeral(thanks Sally and Kevin).  I need to stay behind to work.  I’m glad Dan will get the chance to see his family.

(we also had a baked potato. now I’m stuffed)

Do you negotiate your workouts?  Do you go slower for longer or faster for shorter?

Cravings

My funk lasted through Saturday morning.  While Dan was out swimming I decided I needed to get reacquainted with my treadmill.  I did NOT want to run, so I decided to do 2 miles as fast as possible.  And it worked 24:40.  The fastest 2 miles I’ve done in a long time! Yay! 

 

The lift in my mood was almost immediate.  I need to get smarter in listening to my body! 

 

I’ve been thinking about peanut butter since having some of Ashley’s pnut butter dough balls.  So I decided to have some Justin’s maple almond butter toast.  The entire packet is like 190 calories.  Too much for me, so I had half.  I also had some of Heather’s strawberry jam.  A perfect combination.  I’m not a huge peanut butter fan, but there is something about the Justin’s that’s so satisfying!

The afternoon was spent organizing and it felt good to get some stuff done.  There is still more to be done today!  It is snowy and cold outside so I don’t mind spending the  time looking at the pretty snow and stay cozy and productive inside!  All of the productivity kept me from taking pictures of my lunch. Oops.

 

Dinner was amazing though.  Dan made some steak and boy did he make it well.  It’s a recipe from a new cookbook that my friends Jessie and Kit sent us, Jamie’s food revolution.  It’s filled with quick and healthy recipes.  They don’t seem to take too long and have so much flavor. 

Dan charred a jalapeno and a red bell pepper along with the steak.  Yikes.  While the flavors were perfect, the jalapeno overpowered the steak.  We’re actually going to make this again tonight.

Mmm delicious.  After dinner we were both craving something sweet and chocolatey.  Since SOMEONE finished the ice cream a few days ago. ahem, Dan! We didn’t have anything prepared in the house already.  We decided to make something. 

My friend Rachel gave out pure chocolate hearts at her wedding.  These weren’t just any chocolate pieces, they were made from the chocolate that they grow at the boarding home she works in in Bolivia.  The hot chocolate was SO delicious and sweet.  It was also over 400 calories/serving.  Um. really?  I’m going to work on improving (aka slimming down) this recipe.  It did act as the perfect chocolate craving satisfier.  Thanks Rachel and Mateo!

When it’s snowing outside, do you think to venture out and play in it or cozy up inside?

Mind + Body

I’m beginning to realize how connected the mind and body are.  I’ve been getting overly stressed and using that as an excuse not to work out.  In reality, I think the stress is compounded because I haven’t been working out.  Crap.  Realizing this you would think I would have gotten home on Friday and jumped on the treadmill. 

Well, then you would have too high of an opinion of me.  I decided that I was too hungry to workout before dinner and then after dinner I was just cranky.  Instead of working out I watched hours of Olympic Coverage.  Skeleton is really fun to watch! 

 

I also realized that the other Ice Dancer that I helped get citizenship for 4 years ago is now skating for the Hungarians!  How ungrateful…

Dan made our favorite Salmon recipe for dinner.  Since I was so hungry, I had about twice this amount.

As an additional side Dan made more of TJ’s famous healthy fries.

Unfortunately, a tactical error on our part made it so that most of them burned to a crisp.  Darn it.

Also, I loved all your responses to my post about the service we got at Steuben’s on Thursday.  One of the manager’s contacted me and asked that I contact him next time I visit so that they can show me good service.  It was a nice gesture, but we’ll see.  As Kenz said, there are so many other places to go that I don’t need to go back anywhere less than perfect.  We’ll see.

 

Do you listen to your body or ignore all the signs for how to treat it?

Go Me x 2

I love all the responses about what TV show you’d be in!  So fun!  I’m back on track today.  I weighed/measured my food, I even added it all into sparkpeople.  Go me.  When I got home I didn’t want to work out.  I wanted to sit down and blog.  Instead I jumped onto the treadmill, turned on Burn Notice and tried to ignore the pain.  Well, not pain, annoyance.  I did not want keep going.  I took a couple of walking breaks, but I finished two miles. Go Me x2!

 

Breakfast was my last bagel.

I had a lunch meeting at panera and decided to try the Caesar salad. 

They gave me an extra piece of bread. Yay! 

After lunch I was DYING for something sweet.  Having nothing around, I settled on an orange.

Dan made more acorn squash for dinner.  Yum!

I forgot to mention in my recap from Saturday night that Ashley gave us some of her doughballs! 

Since I generally don’t like peanut butter, Ashley warned me that one of them was peanut butter. 

Wow.  This was delicious!  I think I preferred the peanut butter doughball to the chocolate one.  Crazy.  I think I’m going to try to make these.  Thanks again Ashley!

 

Tomorrow is Lent, are you giving anything up(or adding anything in)?  I’m going to track my food for Lent.  I got out of the habit and I need to get back in the swing of things!

And Breathe…

The stressful week continues.  Although, I realize that I love presentations DURING them.  The meeting today went so well!  I had great compliments and really got to convey what I’ve been working on to my bosses.

 

The wind up before an event really does freak me out.  Unfortunately one of the two stress inducing events that were scheduled for today was delayed until tomorrow. Boo! 

(bagel and cream cheese for breakfast)

I do feel better about it all though.  After today went as well as it did, I think tomorrow will be great too! I've had twice as much time to prepare!

 

Does anyone else get “stage fright”?  Or major anxiety before presentations?  Unfortunately, I’m going to have to get used to it!

(PB&J for lunch and unpictured 150 calorie pack of doritos)

 

Dan picked me up from work and took me to Target.  I love target.  We only got two items, go us!  When we got home I was hungry (for the first time since Friday morning).  Yay!  So I decided to have a few hint of lime Tostitos and Pace Picante Sauce that foodbuzz sent me through a tastemaker opportunity.

I still have some Egglands Best to try out that I got from foodbuzz too.  I’m planning (plotting? Dreaming?) to make some deviled eggs this weekend.  This will be an original creation, I think. yum.  See I told you I found hungry again! I totally went on a paragraph long rant about food I want to make, a few days from now…

 

Where was I? Oh yeah, snacking on tortilla chips.  I forced myself to get back on the treadmill (totally didn’t want to run.at.all.)  I was three minutes in and I accidentally pulled off the safety cord and had to start over again!  Crap!  So I was pissed (at myself) and I pumped the treadmill up a little higher to get done with it sooner.  I ended up finishing the run in 25:40.  My best run to date.  I will admit. No runners high.  I realized I had .3 left and I COULD.NOT.LOOK.  I wanted to stop so bad.  I didn’t.  I finished.

Dan made his classic pork chop recipe for dinner.  This is one of the first recipes Dan ever made for me.  It is still a crowd pleaser.  well, a Beth pleaser.  yum!  Have I said lately how lucky I am? 

 

Do you ever just enjoy the classics?  It’s sometimes oh so comforting to eat foods with memories attached.

Hello, old friend

I’m not sure what is wrong with my tummy.  Hungry is TOTALLY gone, I haven’t actually been hungry in almost a week.  I’m not feeling uncomfortable now, but I’m not hungry and my stomach is feeling off.

raisins and all bran bran buds as part of breakfast

 

I think all this has put me into a funk.  I’m not sure why but this week seems impossibly hard.  I’m beginning to think it has to do with my belly being off and that throwing me off of my routine. 

Bagel and cream cheese

 

I haven’t eaten normally, exercised normally, drunk enough water…the list goes on.  So, after work I just wanted to curl up with a good book (reading book club book now, People of the Book by Geraldine March-love it!) and a glass of wine.

grapefruit

 

Instead I didn’t take off my sneakers and ran two miles on the treadmill.  I zoned out, watched Chuck and pounded out the funk.  I was even considering what it would be like to do 3 miles?  3 miles will probably an hour long tv show (minus commercials)…maybe I’ll up it?

I forgot to photograph my chicken breast.  But I had 3 oz of chicken with no skin

 

The good news is that I didn’t hate it.  I counted down the seconds.  for all 26 minutes.  Does anyone else do this?  I’m counting down two things, the time and the mileage.  I keep getting confused and thinking the mileage counts down from 60 and not 100.  Oops.  All of that entertains me for the workout.

 

After the workout I decided to go back to an old friend, the artichoke!  I love artichokes and they were on sale last week so yay!

These were tasty.  I forgot how much I love artichoke hearts and ICBINB spray.  delicious!

 

Thought I forgot about my giveaway?  I got 32 comments, not all wanted to be entered, so I had to account for that.  I put in a random number generator and it gave me number 8!  Marisa at Loser for Life!  Congrats Marisa!  email me your address and I’ll have the MyBlogSpark folks send you your gift card!

 

Thanks for your great response guys!  I hope to have more opportunities like these for you!