28 Days

Ryan and I are in the countdown to our little va-cay. Well, it's a conference for him, and a vacation for me. So I've been trying to eat healthier and do some exercising to try and fit into some of my summer clothes. It makes me think of that BNL song that goes, "She's like a baby, I'm like a cat, when we are happy we both get fat."

I've been using a website called Everyday Health to track my calorie intake as well as my exercise output. It's pretty cool. You can create a free online profile and then search their database for all different types of foods and then enter them into your Calorie Counter and it keeps track of your nutrition info and daily calorie balance. If you search for a food and they don't have it, then you can create your own "custom" food--I just made one for my GF Annie's Mac and Cheese.

You can also search for different types of exercise (i.e. running, walking, pilates) and it tells you how many calories you burn for a specific amount of time at your own current weight!

In your profile you enter your weight and measurements and your daily calorie goal, as well as your goals for the amounts of nutrition you'd like to get (ex. your goal is to get 15g protein every day). I read in a book once that if you want to weigh a certain amount, then you need to set your daily calorie goal at what it would be for that weight. I also think that though nutritional value is important, it doesn't matter what you're eating, as long as your obeying your calorie rules. Though I participate in (sometimes...) I do not condone "The Chip Diet." ;)

Something that was frustrating to me was having to add in individual ingredient amounts for any recipes I was preparing at home. So I found this Recipe Nutrition Calculator online and it's. awesome. Similarly to the Calorie Counter you enter in your ingredient amounts for the whole recipe, and how many servings it makes, and it tells you the nutrition info for each serving! People always talk about how much healthier it is to cook at home, but now you'll really know how healthy you are being!

Let me know if you use tools similar to this, I'd love to hear your opinions!

A day late, and a buck short...

You're probably wondering why I'm blogging before 7am, since you probably also know that my Adult Life Struggle is being on time.

Well! Got up today at 5:20, got my work clothes on, only woke Ryan up twice in my getting ready, plus one time to kiss goodbye, made my coffee, put my breakfast in my backpack. Drove to Minneapolis. Arrived at the Hubert H. Humphrey somethingorother at the U and patiently waited for my co-workers and catering truck to arrive. Sipped my coffee, arranged some chairs in what appeared to be a banquet set-up... and waited.

At 6:16 a gentleman on the 3rd floor called down to me, "Is there an event here today? I didn't see anything on the schedule. There's one tomorrow, and there was one yesterday, but I didn't see anything today."
I said, "Yeah, I'm about to call my manager, I'm wondering if maybe I'm in the wrong place."

So at 6:20 I called (and woke up) my manager. Oh no, that event is TOMORROW.
Oh.

So, maybe "A day late, and buck short" isn't totally accurate, but "A day early and free parking" just doesn't have the same ring. But still, there's nothing more disappointing than being 24 hours early, AND that 24 hours early being before 7am, and having had a whole cup of coffee so I can't even go back to sleep.

Maybe this means I've beaten my Adult Life Struggle? I'm not holding my breath.

Now what to make Ryan for breakfast...

Afraid of snakes?

You will be now!

At the chiropractor yesterday, Dr. Erik shared this story with me...

His wife has a friend who had a boa constrictor. The friend really loved this snake, and let it roam (can animals without legs roam?) freely around the house as well as sleep at the foot of the bed with her at night. One day she realized that the boa constrictor wasn't really eating, and it had been a few days, and she was starting to get worried that the snake was sick. So she took the boa constrictor to the vet. The vet asked her to explain the situation, so she did. The vet said, "The boa constrictor isn't sick. It's sizing you up."

GROSS! Apparently snakes will starve themselves for days or weeks to ready up for a big meal. Her beloved pet was going to eat her! There's a reason snakes are cursed to the ground... they're TRICKY!