Personal trainer walking and dancing on TV

Pedometers can be tricky things. And fancy pedometers can be a real pain ! If you position them wrong on your clothing they will not pick up your movements accurately, and then there is always the possibility of accidentally resetting it or knocking it off and into someplace you just don't want to retrive it out of. Yet they are a tool to help us measure our progress, keep on track and become better people than we currently are, so we use them.

Over the weekend, I got the new Personal Trainer Walking for the Nintendo DS. It has the game/software and two pedometers for you and a buddy to wear. It straps on your waistband or tucks in your purse, and at the end of the day you point it at the DS and it uploads your data. From that it tells you how many steps you have taken, your movement patterns and suggestions on how to better yourself. Very convenient ! Except, there is a big drawback. No way to calibrate it to step length. Not eveyone has the same length of stride, and therefore there is no way you can measure distance.If it cannot calibrate stride but simply goes by movement, a ride down a very bumpy stretch of road in your car could register as 1,000 steps. Yesterday I had a pretty active day with cleaning the house, and i kept making numerous trips between rooms to grab and put away things. Yet at the end of te day, my pedometer said I only took 435 steps for the whole day. Come on ! I take double that each day just running to the bathroom ! According to the manual, it only counts activities of 10 seconds or longer ( definately longer than 10 seconds to get to the bathroom), and if worn in certain positions it may not be accurate. Yesterday I hooked mine onto my underwear insteat of my pants because I did not want the thing to go flying off into the toilet or something when I was making one of these inevitable mad dashes because you have 30 seconds and if you don't there will ne another mess to deal with moments. So I will try wearing it on my pants today, and see what the day brings.

I watched another episode of Dance Your Ass off last night, and I still don't get it. Oxygen Network seems to need a course in learning how to portray drama. In last nightas episode, the show opened with one contestant falling into a raging fit, tossing all contents of the cheat cabinet into the trash and screaming. Yeah, made you look. But it did nothing to show what lead to the rage. What happened that pushed her over the edge ? They had a short interveiw with her durning where she said that the food represented all the times she had been treated like a fat girl, but never showed what was the event that brought this so in her face. I just did not get it, so after the first two dancers, I turned it off figuring there are better uses for my time. Sorry Oxygen...you have a lot to loearn about tv drama.

Beautiful Sunday

Lots of walking in the woods yesterday , with some very pretty sights, sounds and smells along the way. One of the nicest things was that we got to go to some places that time and other commitment have prevented us from going for far too long. It's sad, as we live in an area that has a lot of diverse habitats, and there is always something exciting to see in the natural world , no matter what the season. Hopefully we will be able to get out and do this more often, but if not, at least the pictures and memories last.

After walking and a simple picnic lunch we headed to Trader Joes, and all decided that we really wish they were closer. We are finding so many things that are just better than other stores, and often cheaper. Did you know that Trader Joes is owned by the same company that owns Aldis ? An interesting twist to say the least. If this is any indication of things to come, expect to see more Trader Joes popping up in the future, as this is one of the fastest growing ( in profit) food retailers here in the midwest . They are burying the other major food retailers in sales.

Have to start school planing today. Back to school happens in a month for us !

It Fig-ures !

Yesterday did not go exactly as planned for us. We were supposed to get together with my family, but a serious tooth ache and two sinus headaches trumped that hand, and we stayed home. It was not a bad thing, for in the spirit of making the best of the day two good things happened in regard to our journey. The first was the purchase of the Nintendo DS Personal trainer walking game. It is a nifty little pedometer sort of device that you wear and then upload to the DS at night to veiw your activity for the day. It comes with two pedometer thingys, and you can use it on both humans and animals. At the end of the day it tells you how you did, at what points you were the most active, classifies your activity level and gives suggestions for imporving your life. Cool Beans ! Right now the hubby and I are using it, and we will purchase another pedometer device for the son as soon as we find one.

Second thing was my creating homemade Lara Bars !

I have only had these once because of the expense of them. I keep trying to find ways to do this whole thing healthier, cheaper and just plain better. So having a free day and the materials on hand, I decided to give them a whirl. They came out VERY tasty- in fact son wanted to have more and more. Here is the recipe I used

Lara type Bars - makes 4

1/2 cup whole dates
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cups whole almonds
1/4 t cinnamon
1 T black strap molasses
enough water to bring it to a sticky ball

Simply place everything in a food processor and spoon out onto plastic wrap. Form into a log and divide into 4 equal portions. Wrap individually and refrigerate.

Today we are heading out to two woods for walking, some work and a picnic. Son is excited because the "belly berries"( mulberries to the rest of you) are fully ripe and in abundance out there. For him it will be like taking a hike in a legal candy store !

Saturday at the scale

Even though I declared a "diet" free weekend, weigh in still happens to keep a handle on the overall progress. As expected, everyone gained.

Me- UP 2.0
Hubby UP 4.2
Son UP 2.4

There were only 2 slips- the pizza the other night and last night we had Angus Burgers on Pretzel roll buns(the 18 point burger), which should not cause that much of a weight gain. So look at other causes, and I find something very interesting. All this week we have had sandwiches on Arnolds Thins for lunch and dinner with raw veggies and fruit for sides. Seems like nice fare for the summer days, but not really. Perhaps too low in calories or points ( I have stopped counting either while trying to watch labels for other substances and keep close tabs on the affect it has on my son). Still the exact same snacks as always, and as far as exchanges it is the same ( an Arnolds is a bread, 2 oz of pasta is a bread and so on).

I think there is something in here to be argued for the practice of heating a real meal at dinner.A meal with a meat, a starch and a veggie or two.Even though it can be the same in calories, exchanges and so forth, perhaps it gives a signal to our brains thatwe have completed the tasks of the day, survived it and now it is time to move into relaxation mode. I don't know and have no scientific proof. Just an observation.

In either case, no worries. What is done is done, it's a new week and today is a holiday, We are going to a party with my family and then will come home and catch the fireworks from New York on TV. Call me crazxy, but they are better watched on a High Def TV without moquitos and so forth. Hope you have a good one !

Results

So what do you get when you eat a pizza, when the reason to avoid it is not simply weight loss ? A night of running to the bathroom every hour and a son who's talk box is locked in the on mode. Not good ! However it does serve to confirm that certain foods ARE indeed bad for our particular bodies, and as tired and burned out as I might feel, it could always be worse. Now in this pre dawn silence, I feel like I want to drink a gallon of water and never eat anything outside of the plant kingdom again. I am actually craving berries and salad.

It was an important step though. It served to remind me that no matter what the scale says, we are all better off for the way we live now than our old "easy" ways. Nothing worth having in life comes easy.

White Flag

Gads, I am in a horrible, horrible food rut that is making for such mind nubing boredom I cannot stay awake ! We have been completely on program for so long that I think a break is merited. No matter how bad for us it is, no matter how laden with points, no matter how detrimental it is to our over all heath, I am going to do something very reckless and order a pizza tonight. With cheese and sausage and olives and mushrooms. I am not going on vacation, it is Fourth of July Weekend so I say screw it and declare my independance by spending a weekend of eating whatever. Monday will be a whole new week and perhaps the shock to my system will get the infernal scale moving in the right direction again.You all have permission to say "I told you so" when I have a bad weigh in Saturday Moring !

Thought

Want to know the real reason exercise is so important to weight loss ?

Because a moving target is harder for those calories to find and stick to !