Traveling Race Mania

My best friend, M, says I need a new goal to reach for.  After finishing the half marathon in October, I neglected to set a new goal to achieve in regard to my workouts.  He's right.(I hate when he's right all the time!)  So I'm setting a new goal now.

Traveling Race Mania

So the new goal is still in the formative stages, but at least I'm starting. I haven't worked my way up to running yet - I'd like to eventually get myself up to that level - but no matter if I walk or run...  I want to race.  5k's, 8k's, 10k's and maybe another half marathon or a 25k. I'd like to be in a race an average of two times per month... so every other weekend ... between now and October.   

But even better than finishing races, I want to travel as much as I can to participate in races all over Michigan.   And if I can combine a race with a weekend getaway, all the better.  And if that weekend getaway location includes a beach, I'm a very happy girl.

I just emailed an inquiry about a race next weekend (March 7th) near my home - I'll probably freeze my butt off, but at least I'll have begun.  I'm registered for a race on March 22nd with my WLS support group gals.  I'm committed to do the 10-mile race in August with my other WLS support group. I need to decide if I'm doing the 20-week training program again this year (registration for that will begin in a couple weeks).  So I'm already on my way.

These races won't necessarily be about the best finish time or winning -- it's about being involved and getting in the miles.  Yes, I'll push myself to do my best.  But right now I just want to get back out on the road! 

I'll begin a race calendar over in the navigation bar in the coming days and add races as I get registered so you can keep track of how I'm doing.  If anyone wants to join me in a race or two ... I'd be happy to have a race partner!

I woke up this morning at 7:00 thinking about my conversation with M last night about goals and this idea started forming in my brain.  As ya'll know from the last few posts, I've had a tough few weeks dealing with the mental crap that goes along with this WLS journey.  But I'm feeling excitment again with this new goal I've set for myself.  I was focusing too much on the food and the scale -- I needed a new focus and this is it.  Thanks M!

It's still winter here in Michigan, but planning races and looking at schedules and thinking about weekend getaways that just might happen to include a race and a little beach time.... it's beginning to feel like spring. 

What's your goal for spring?

~Pam

Caloric-a-phobia

I invented a new mental disorder and diagnosed myself with it the other day. I'm in self-therapy and I'm working through the mental hurdles of overcoming my disease. Caloric-a-phobia can be defined as the fear of calories. Obviously from my last post, you already know I am struggling with this issue. But in the past several days I have eaten enough to boost my numbers up where they need to be. If all goes well today, this will be the 4th day in a row that I've achieve my goal of near-1400-calories/day. It has been a battle with myself, but I'm doing it. I think the main reason this is so hard for me is because I haven't allowed myself to regularly eat over 1200 calories/day for over 3 years. Remember that the 2 years before surgery I was on a very strict diet of 1200 calories. Then post-surgery my calories were down around 500 for a couple months and slowly increased until I was steadily at about 1000-1200. So jumping to 1400 is a huge step for me. Yes, there have been days since surgery where I've "pigged out" and eaten way more than my allotted calories. But, in my mind, those holidays don't count. Yes, I could easily hit the 1400 calorie/day mark by eating crappy food (a bag of Doritos would do the trick!). But I want to maintain my 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat nutrient balance -- which makes the whole meal planning process a bit difficult. Some have asked why I'm increasing my calories at this point -- when I still have weight to lose. Remember back in December when I had my 1 year follow up appointment with the surgeon's office? The Nutritionist told me at that time to increase my calories to 1500-1800/day. Yikes! I freaked out at that "seemingly random" number. I had my RMR (resting metobolic rate) tested and it showed I need 1450 calories per day to just exist as a blob. The nutritionist who gave the RMR test suggested I increase to at least the 1450 range. My PCP also suggested I increase my calories. All these suggestions came as a direct results of a weight loss plateau/slow down. I'm doing good this week with the Caloric-a-phobia. It has been an exhausting mental struggle - yes, my brain hurts from all the fighting going on inside my head. Maybe one day soon I'll be able to do this WLS Journey thing without so much hard work. Maybe. ~Pam

Anxiety?

You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you've done something wrong and you feel like you're about to get caught and get into big trouble?  Kind of anxiety, kind of dread. Like big nasty butterflies boucing around in your tummy making you feel slightly sick.

I've been feeling like that the past few days.  I think it's a direct result of my figuring out that my increasing my calorie intake to 1400/day... isn't really true.  I've been averaging closer to 1100-1200, not the 1400 that my RMR demands.  And on days when my food log hits 1300 or over, I know those are days when I freak out.  Is my brain purposefully holding me back to 1100-1200 for reasons of sanity?  I know the science says I need 1400.  But for some reason my pouch won't accept that amount when I sit down and plan it all out.  

I need to get over this hump.  Somehow I need to get in 1400 calories a day and be mentally OK with it.  

Going to bed now.  Maybe the butterflies will leave my tummy while I sleep.

~Pam

Still Stalled

Right now my official weight is 189. The scale actually shows that I'm holding steady at 190.4-ish. I see 189 once in a while, but it never sticks around. In the past 6 months I've lost only 10 pounds. But better than that, I've lost 2.4% body fat. So I guess that's a good thing. But the scale hasn't moved in the past 3 months except to jump up and down with the same 3 pounds or so. I really have no good solution for getting passed this plateau. I've done all the classic stuff and I know I'm on track with my eating and even though I could exercise a bit harder, it's not like I'm sitting on my butt all the time. I've gotten a dozen suggestions from the "experts" ranging from eating more protein to cutting carbs back to 30g a day to eating more carbs and less protein to drinking more water or eating more/less calories ....... you know. You've heard them all too. So I'm waiting. Just going to keep doing what I'm doing. Stay on track. Plan my meals, log my food, sweat a bit more. But basically, I'm just going to wait. ~Pam

What's Your Excuse?

Making excuses for not exercising is easy. Why is it so easy to blow off a workout? Even when I want to exercise I can still come up with an excuse to not do it. 


And often those excuses start out with: "I don't want to...." or "I don't feel like..." 


Ummm, yeah... nobody wants to exercise, nobody feels like getting all sweaty and running on a treadmill until you feel like you're going to puke up a lung.


And yes, I really do WANT to exercise. Ok, more to the point ... I want the results of what exercise will give me. A healthier body, weight loss, stronger muscles and a toned body.


Excuses pile up little by little until one day you look around and realize you've been a slacker for far too long and it's time to get your butt back on track. That's where I'm at right now. Not working as hard as I should. Not hitting the gym as often as I'd like. Not sweating my butt off like I know I need to. Instead of 5 or 6 days of workouts, I've been lucky to get 2 or 3 workouts a week.


How do I eliminate the excuses and do what I know I want and need to do for my own good health? Do like Nike and "Just Do It."??? Yeah, easier said than done. There has to be a motivation behind just doing it.


My motivations for exercise must be bigger than the excuses.

• I want to be healthier.
• I want to feel strong.
• I want to hit my goal weight.
• I want my body to be toned.
• I want to be able to do anything physical without hesitation or limitations.
• I want to be proud of myself.

These are my motivating reasons to exercise. No more excuses.


~Pam

I {heart} Goodwill

If I had to name a transfer addiction that I might have ... it's shopping at Goodwill.  It's probably  not all the way to "addiction" stages, but it wouldn't take much to push me over the edge.  But that's not a bad thing.  I get such amazing deals!

Yesterday I had some birthday money to spend.  

For $11, this is what I got:

1 pair Levi jeans -- new with tags

1 pair Bill Blass jean -- like new

1 turtleneck sweater

1 casual jacket/blazer -- CJ Banks brand, like new

1 casual sweater -- Field Gear, like new

1 long sleeved t-shirt

I paid full price for the Bill Blass jeans and the CJ Banks blazer/jacket ($3.49) but everything else was on sale for either $1.65 or $1.00 (yes, a brand new pair of Levi's for $1.65!).  I'm always amazed what I walk out of there with!

Oh... and I'm now wearing a size large top.  

~Pam

My New Body Fat Gadget

A few weeks ago I bought the Omron Body Fat Analyzer.  It was on sale and I couldn't resist a cool gadget.  

By knowing my actual body fat percentage, I have a more scientific basis to gage my progress in weight loss and also a new way to establish a goal weight.  You know me... I like my facts based in science.  

Using the BMI scale is fine for determining a healthy range for a goal weight.  But it's a general guideline and does not take into account an individual person's body composition.  It's also a good way to determine if my exercise is "working" -- Is it building muscle and burning fat? 

So to understand where I need to be, I have to understand what a healthy body fat percent is for me.  According to the table here from the American Council on Exercise ... my goal is to be at a body fat percentage of about 24%.  This would put me in the Fitness category.  

That translates to a new goal weight of 160. Which actually is only 9 pounds lower than what my "first goal weight" has been since the beginning.  Below is the math formulas you need to figure out what your body fat percentage means and how to set your goal weight based on the percentage system (instead of the BMI system).  

This is a copy/paste from an email I sent to my support group girls in helping them understand how to do the math.  Figured I'd post it here too so it's at my fingertips when I need the math formulas.  

---

WARNING: Math Ahead

I thought I'd pass along some formulas and calculations to understand what the Body Fat Percentage numbers mean and how you can use that information for real-world goals. For the examples below, let's use my numbers...

• My current weight: 190
• My current body fat: 36%
• My goal body fat: 24% (Fitness Category)

First, I need to know how much my lean muscle mass weighs.

Here's the basic formula:

weight - (weight x CurrentBodyFatPercentage) = lean muscle mass 

• 190 X 36% = 68.4 pounds --- this is how much the fat on my body by weighs. Let's round it to 68 for ease.
• 190 - 68 = 122 pounds --- this is how much my lean muscle mass weighs (including bones, muscle, organs, skin)

Now I want to know what I would weigh if I had 24% body fat.

The secret formula is:

lean muscle mass / (1 - GoalBodyFatPercentage) = new weight goal

• 122 / (1 - .24) = 160

What does all this mean?

CurrentWeight - NewGoalWeight = PoundsLeftToLose

• 190 - 160 = 30lbs That's all I have to lose in order to hit that category of "Fitness"

HOWEVER --- as we lose weight through exercise, our lean muscle mass will change - my 122 might end up being 126 by the time I reach 24%. This means I have to do this formula everytime I test my body fat percentage again.

What's interesting is that when I use the body fat percentage to determine my ideal body weight, it contradicts what the BMI chart says is ideal. At 160, I will still be "overweight" according to BMI. And technically right in the middle of the "Normal" BMI range, I would weigh 134... which would leave me with only 9% body fat - way below the healthy essential range.

To make life easier, I created a MS Excel Spreadsheet with the formulas already programmed in for you (download below). That way you don't have to actually use your brain if you don't want to. Have fun figuring it all out.

Download Body Fat Percentage Formula Spreadsheet

Happy Birthday to Me!

Protein Hot Chai Mix

So I got home this evening and my furnace is out.... again! It's the ignition, like it is every winter. Talked to the repair guy and he was willing to come out tonight. But after talking to him and deciding that I want to upgrade to a better type of igniter, he needs to buy one tomorrow when the supply company opens.

So tonight I'm bundled up with the space heaters on. I got home at it was 54-degrees in the house. It's warmed up to 58.

Since I'm cold, I decided to make a cup of hot tea. Then I remembered I had just read a recipe for making a hot chai tea mix. I modified it to make it protein chai tea. It's pretty darned delicious!

Protein Hot Chai Mix

6 scoops vanilla protein powder

1.5 cups non-fat powdered milk

3/4 cup instant unsweet tea mix

3/4 cup Splenda

1t. cinnamon 
1t. ground ginger

1t. ground cloves

1t. cardamon (I don't usually use this)

Mix all dry ingredients in bowl until well blended. Add 1/2 cup of mixture to mug and add either splash of cold milk or water -- stir to create smooth paste (so you don't get lumpy protein powder). Add 8oz hot water and mix well. You can top with Light Redi Whip and a sprinkle of chai spice or drink it naked. (The drink is naked, not you.)

Recipe makes 7 half-cup servings. Calculation below is without the "splash of milk" when you're mixing the tea. If you use RediWhip -- it adds about 20 calories.

Calories: 146

Fat: 1g

Carbs: 9g

Protein: 27g

Not Sleeping

I need a solid 7 hours a night of sleep to function properly. That doesn't happen very often though. And especially this week, it's been even worse. I average about 5 to 6 hours a night during the week with more on weekends to "catch up."

Last night, though, I had some insomnia issues. I woke up around 1:30 a.m. and couldn't fall back to sleep until around 5:30 a.m. Then the alarm went off at 6:00 like normal. So that gave me about 2.5 hours of rest last night. I'm definitely dragging today. And if this happens for a few nights in a row ... I get very grumpy. And that's not a good situation for anyone. LOL!

My main problem isn't normally insomnia -- it's not going to bed at a decent hour. And that stems from my short evenings once I get home from work. Because I have a long commute to work, my "workday" ends up with me being away from home for about 12 hours a day. I work a normal 8-hour shift, but with the nearly 3 hours on the road driving, it makes for a long day. And that doesn't even figure in days when I stop at the gym after work, the grocery store, support group meetings or meet friends for dinner. It is not unusual for me to get home at 8:30 p.m. about 3 or 4 nights a week.

So if I get home at 8:30 and go to bed at 11:00 ... that leaves me about 2.5 hours of a "life" in the evenings to cook and eat dinner, check email, clean the house, work on craft projects, watch tv or work on my ongoing decluttering project. A mere 2.5 hours isn't enough time for a homebody. So to extend that time, I don't go to bed at 11:00. I find myself staying up until midnight or later, just so I can enjoy time at home in the evenings. Which then begins the cycle of not getting enough sleep.

I can go a few weeks on 5-6 hours of sleep a night... then I tend to crash. And all I want to do be BE home. So I skip after-work trips to the gym, I skip the grocery store and skip dinner with friends... then I drive-too-fast to get home as soon as possible in the evenings and do my whole homebody thing. I feel a week like that coming on because I've been running too much lately. Which is bad, because that means I skip the gym. And I know that I am not as disciplined at getting a hard workout in when I'm at home.

It's a vicious cycle that I've been living with for years. I wish I had an easy solution. Unfortunately, moving closer to work or finding a job closer to home... not all that easy. Winning the lottery so I didn't have to work at all... also not easy.

Obesity and weight gain issues have been linked to not getting adequate sleep. So this is not a good cycle for me to be in.

~Pam

Loving Yoga

I had my lunchtime yoga class today. It seems like the more I do yoga, the more I love it. Even bought an extra mat so I could keep one at work for class days and one at home to practice with a new DVD I bought or the FitTv shows. I feel like I'm getting better since the poses are easier to do the more often I do them.

Today the instructor complimented me on being so flexible. Which amazed me, of course. But it might have to do with having to work harder to reach and stretch for things when I was obese, so now that the fat is gone (or diminishing) I'm more flexible.

Also learned how to do a back bend today. See the picture here? Nope, that's not me (no tattoos on this bode!)... and I didn't get into that exact pose (I had a bit of help). But that's the pose I did today. Seeing it in this picture amazes me that I was able to do it.

Fun stuff! If you haven't tried yoga, you should definitely try.

~Pam

Imperfection and Forgiveness

I beat myself up pretty bad over the poor eating choices I made this past weekend. Then my friend Sally came to me yesterday and told me to knock it off (she was nicer than that, of course). She said she saw "fear" in my post the other day. Fear of what? Fear of failure? Fear of success? Fear of not being perfect? Fear of self-sabatoge? Probably all of those things and more. Sometimes we need to stop beating ourselves up for not being perfect. Sometimes we need a kick in the pants from people who care about us. Thanks Sally! Every few nights before bed I read a passage from The Women's Book of Soul - Meditations for Courage, Confidence and Spirit by Sue Patton Theole (picked it up at Barnes & Noble on the bargain book rack).  Some of the passages are pretty intense, so I can't do one every single night -- I usually can deal with two or three a week.  So it was unusual for me to read a passage on both Sunday and Monday nights. Sunday night the passage was about not judging others or myself based on the perfectionist standards I've unrealistically set in my own mind. I came to realize that just because I wasn't 100% perfect this past weekend with my eating plan... I DID do some things right and I wasn't a complete failure. I made some poor choices, but I also made some good choices too. I'm human. I'm not perfect. I need to stop judging myself so harshly because I expect perfection from myself. Monday night the passage was about forgiveness. Being able to recognize that I'm human and humans make mistakes. And by forgiving myself I'm setting my soul free to live without the burden being perfect. The author reminds us of a quote by Mark Twain: "Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the hand that has crushed it." Forgive yourself. At last night's support group meeting I talked about my struggles over the weekend with emotional eating and bad habits. Just saying it out loud helps, I think. Knowing I'm not the only one who struggles, helps too. So today I started the day with less burden and I'm going to try very hard to erase some of the perfectionist expectations I've placed upon myself. ~Pam

Bean Veggie Ham Soup

I have a few beans to use up. So figured I'd make a pot of bean soup. But then I wanted to add some veggies to the traditional recipe... so I threw in what I had. It's kind of a concoction of whatever I had in the fridge/freezer. Turned out pretty delicious!

Bean Veggie Ham Soup

• 5 cups mix beans (black, kidney, Great Northern, pinto) 

• 1.5 lbs ham - diced 

• .5 lb Italian sausage - browned and crumbled 

• 1 cup diced zucchini 

• 1 cup diced carrots 

• 1 medium onion - diced 

• 3 stalks celery - diced 

• 2-3 cups fresh spinach leaves (or use frozen, thawed, squeezed dry) 

• 1 can diced tomatoes 

• 2 quarts chicken broth

• salt and fresh ground pepper 

• spices (I used Italian Seasoning - oregano, basil, parsley mix) 

• garlic powder 

• corn starch (to thicken at the end) 

Sautee veggies on stove top  Add all other ingredients to crock pot and veggies when they are soft. Let simmer for a few hours until flavors are well mingled and the spinach is wilted and soft. If desired, thicken with corn starch at the end for a more "stew" consistency. 

This recipe makes a huge pot of soup. So plan to eat it all week and/or freeze portions for later. 

~Pam

A year in pictures

I finally got around to putting together my 1 year of face pictures. The transformation is pretty amazing when you see it all in one place like this, huh? EDITED TO ADD -- I just realized this is my 300th post! Kind of cool that it ended up being this photo collage, huh?

Emotional Eating and Bad Habits

The thing I've figured out about emotional eating is that it happens without time to evaluate whether or not it's emotional hunger or real hunger ..... or else it happens without my caring that it's emotional. Emotional Eating Happens. The self loathing that follows pretty much sucks.

Bad habits are very easy to fall back into. In this case, it's grazing. Again, the self loathing comes on strong after reflecting on what I've done.

It's one thing to plan a bad day on purpose. It's quite another to have a bad day happen and be totally out of control because of emotions and bad habits. I've had two bad days back to back.

Friday I spent the day at the scrapbook store. I packed up my gear and used their workroom for several hours, working on scrapbooking projects. They provided snacks for croppers - M&M's and ChexMix. I had more than my share. Grazing. Mindless nibbling. Those little bites add up to big time calories.

Saturday I vowed to have a better eating day. I did pretty good up until around 8pm when I got seriously pissed about some computer problems and let some other emotionally suppressed crap get to me. I ended up with a bowl of ice cream - low carb variety, but still bad in the quantity I had and especially for the reason I had it. Add in some cheestos that never should have been in the house and some Snackwell's cookies. Ok... let's just say it was a very bad night. I knew it was emotional eating. But I couldn't stop myself because my emotions were too strong to even care. I went to bed in the midst of a dumping episode - racing heart, extreme bloating and nausea. I deserved it for how I behaved.

So this morning I got out of bed with some serious self loating going on. Beating myself up. Vowing to do better today. I tried to do some meal planning this morning, but I didn't even want to think about food. But without a plan I knew I'd be out of control again. So I have a rough plan for the day. Just want to be good today.

EDITED TO ADD -- Sunday turned out to be just as bad of a day as Friday and Saturday. Maybe worse. I don't know what my problem is. Feels like self-sabotage at this point. Really need to get my head screwed on straight because I can't let this continue.

~Pam

Bad Advice from Experts

I'm still seething - 3 days later - from such bad advice given by a so-called expert in the bariatric field. In fact, Dr. M was a favorite of mine. His knowledge about WLS, nutrition and how the body works has always been something I admired. He tends to ramble and get caught up on tangents when he speaks to a crowd... but his information is usually solid and trustworthy. But on Monday night he disappointed me greatly.

His discussion was centered around nutrition, supplements and common deficiencies after RNY. His chief complaint is that Americans tend to over-vitaminize themselves and that we should rely more on food sources for the nutrients we need for the body to function. Yes... that's a great idea in theory. A great idea for people with normal stomachs and normal digestive tracts and normal absorption. But when we have our guts rearranged, it's a totally different story for us.

Here are a few of his points that I disagreed with:

• Iron -- "if you just eat some red meat, your iron should be fine."
• Calcium -- "keep your Vitamin D levels up high enough and you don't need to worry about calcium."
• Calcium -- "eeh... calcium carbonate, calcium citrate - who cares, it doesn't matter. Drink milk, you'll be fine."
• Bypass Amount -- "only the first 3 feet of intestines are bypassed, you still have plenty of other space to absorb nutrients."

During his talk, I raised my hand and asked a question: "So are you saying we don't need to take calcium anymore?" His response was: "Yes, still take your calcium, but you don't need to worry about it so much if your Vitamin D is OK."

Shall I take each point and disect it based on what I know?

Iron -- I eat more red meat now, post-op, than I ever did before surgery. Before surgery I lived on grilled chicken breasts and fish for 2 solid years trying to lose weight. Only after surgery, and being bypassed, did I start to see a drop in my iron levels. I don't menstrate, so that's not my issue. My issue is that I'm not absorbing the iron nutrients from the food I eat because the point of absorption has been cut away and food does not pass that point anymore.

Calcium -- You all know that I preach about calcium. My mom is suffering from osteoporosis (5.5 years post-RNY) because she didn't take calcium and when she did, it was the wrong kind of calcium (carbonate). Her Vitamin D levels never showed deficient until just this past year. There are two spots in the small intestine where calcium is absorbed from food -- both spots are bypassed.

Calcium Citrate -- After RNY we have achlorhydria - no stomach acid - and it's a well documented fact that calcium carbonate requires high amounts of acid to even dissolve the pill. Calcium citrate is water soluble and easily dissolves in a pH neutral pouch (or even a glass of water that we can then drink if we can't take large pills). Obviously Dr. M doesn't think we need to worry about calcium either way ... but we all know (from my preaching) that we DO need calcium. And it's one of the most important supplements we need.

Bypass Amount & Nutrients from Food -- The typical bypass amount is 100-150cm which is about 3.3-feet to 5-feet. The duodenum is 1-foot long, the julunum is 8-feet long (and just for referencs sake, the ileun is 12-feet long and the large intestine is 5-feet long). So I know that my surgeon has a standard bypass amount of 150cm - or 5-feet and I believe all the other surgeons in the practice uses the same length of bypass. Dr. M works with these surgeons, so he should know this information, right? Basically all of the duodenum and half of the julunum is gone after RNY at my bariatric center.

Take a look at this diagram of the digestive tract. Each section of intestine has a very specific job of which nutrients are absorbed where -- once a section is bypassed, the rest of the intestinal tract can't grow back those absorption spots. These absorption spots indicate where the body would normally get nutrients from food. Since it can't get it from food any longer, we have to supply those specific vitamins and mineral in the form of supplements in order to give the body what it needs. There's no two ways about it... supplements are the only way we can get what we need because the body can't extract them from food.

I know all this to be true. So many of the patients in that presentation know all this to be true as well. I saw many, many post-ops looking at each other, shaking their heads and looking quizically at Dr. M throughout his presentation. Us old-timers knew he was off his rocker that night. I'm scared that the newbies will never get the right information ... especially when "experts" are giving such bad advice. It makes me sad. It makes me angry.

~Pam

Whew!

Yes, I've been scarce for the past week or two, I'm sorry.  

Each year at this time I am involved in a huge project at work that takes up a lot of my time both at the office and home and also requires me to put in some overtime.  It's a high-stress time but thankfully requires me to use some of my event planning and "fire"-fighting skills that usually get ignored most of the year. The event was last night!  It was a huge success, as always.  I'm back to my normal routine again until the next big event in June/July.

I got home last night at close to midnight and a long hot shower washed away most of the remaining stress of the past week.  My feet still hurt this morning from all the running around I had to do, but when I think back to when I did this event at 300 pounds - I almost feel energized. My head is still pounding from not drinking enough water yesterday ... so I'm pushing fluids today to try an make up for it.  

So I'm back on the blog routine again.  I've got a few things I want to share with you in the next couple days.  You've got to see my new gadget - it's so cool!  I talked to a personal trainer who specializes in nutrition at last night's event... gotta share what she said.  I'll report in on how those free weekends are going.  And tell you about the "intensity challenge" my best friend has issued to me.  And did I mention I bought a belly dancing skirt/scarf?

And the really cool thing?!  I've been checking my blog traffic stats lately and you guys are amazing!  I'm trending at about a 50% increase in traffic in the past couple months.  Who are all you new people?  Give me a shout so I know where you are.  I love you all!  

Ok... off to make some breakfast and do some meal planning for the day (I'm at home today- enjoying the day off).  If you want to see what's on the menu today, check my FitDay link over there on the right.  Talk to you all soon.

~Pam