About this blog

Hi there. :)

I've had this blog for over two years now but a good post on Food Blog Alliance made me realize that I never got around to making a proper "About" page here.

Hi, my name is Shannon, and I'm losing it. ;) "It" is 125 pounds. I've been overweight my entire life, and I'm so done with it. I started with Weight Watchers at Work in late 2006, and lost 14 pounds that year. In 2007, I lost 66 more pounds - 80 pounds total. Awesome! Then 2008 rolled around - the day I hit my lowest weight in a decade, my grandfather passed away after a long and slow decline. While I went out to be with my family, my husband's mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Right after I return home, we find out it's stage four. She fought hard, but less than four months later, cancer took her. I got laid off from a company I adored in November. I ended 2008 just a couple pounds down. My doctor put an interesting spin on - she said most people would've gained 20 pounds given all that happened that year, so I should think of myself as amazing for maintaining that weight loss throughout. I'm not sure if I believe her. ;)

As I write this on November 16, 2009, I'm down a little more than 10 pounds for the year. I have about 35 pounds to go. It's been so slow and so frustrating, but I know I need to lose more weight and hopefully hard work will make it happen.

On January 1, 2008, I set a goal for the year to walk 10,000 steps a day - or 3.66 million steps for the year. I finished my 3.66 million steps on December 18.

I set the same goal in 2009, and was off to a rockin' start but things have slowed down recently. I should hit my goal this week though, if all goes well. ;)

I tend to post about my walking, plus foods and other healthy-living products that I like (and don't like). I don't get paid for anything I post here, and you will always get my honest opinion.

Here's to healthy living for us all.
shannon -at- shannonislosingit -dot- com

More on EA Sports Active More Workouts

A week ago, I got to try a preview of EA Sports Active More Workout (and you can read my initial reaction) at a mall demo, and this weekend I ended up with a copy of the game, courtesy of EA Sports for helping out with the 5k challenge online event last month. (Disclaimer: EA Sports didn't pay me for this review nor did they require I post about it.) So I cracked into it this morning and here's some additional feedback on it.

First, it imports your profile from the original EA Sports Active game, and I was surprised by the stats it showed me. In that original game, I completed 94 workouts for a total time of 19 hours and 47 minutes, burning a total of 12,900 calories. Pretty interesting! And it looks like it'll keep track of these stats in the new game as well, but separately. You can import from the old game again, it looks like, so you can update the stats if you go back to play the old game. You'd think this would be automatic, but ah well. ;)

Speaking of stats, I do like that this game seems to be more forthcoming with them. I had a big complaint with the original that I couldn't figure out how to go back and see how many calories I burned on previous days - it looks like they've fixed that in this game. And added some cute graphs to show you calories and minutes and such per day. Should be a nice added motivator. I am a fan of this "Weekly Fitness Tracker" feature! Another minor thing - you can now weigh yourself with the Wii Balance Board for the game (I prefer to just enter my true weight from my scale, but it's nice to have that option).

Onto the game! I only did one workout this morning - I wasted too much time setting up my character and poking around the new features (I still hate the face and hairstyle options, by the way, and don't get me started on the body shape one!). I jumped into one of the built-in workouts, "Island Cardio Blast (Low Impact)". It said it would be 24 minutes and I'd burn 172 calories. When I finished, it told me I spent 28 minutes and burned 188 calories.

This workout, like all of the built-in workouts, starts with a warm-up segment and ends with a cool-down stretching segment. I do appreciate that the clock and calorie counter keep running during these segments, which helps motivate you to actually do these segments instead of skipping them. ;)

The warm-up clearly was a good thing, as I heard many cracks and pops in my shoulders and knees! Apparently I'm getting old. ;) After the warm-up, jumped into a squat and reach combo exercise (which was fine), and then a balance board exercise with punching, kicking and kneeing - a better boxing-style exercise than in the original game. "Follow the Leader" followed that exercise, where I had to do what my trainer did, which were the same running exercises from the first game - run, high knees and kick-ups. I fail at kick-ups, by the way. ;) After that, more squats - this time with a knee raise after each one. Then another balance board game - water skiing, which was more squats and leaning (reminiscent of the roller skating event in the previous game). More squat and reach and the boxing event again. Then "Island Outrun", which has you light jogging until you come up to another runner, and then you need to sprint to pass them. A cute way to get in some intervals! Back to squats (with knee raise), and then another balance board game, paddle surfing. It basically alternated lunges (with your arms doing the paddling) with more squats. Not too bad. Then the water skiing event, follow the leader and squat to knee raises. And then the cool down segment. The stretches were nice - just wish I had more room to work out at home so I could've really stretched well!

I didn't set up a challenge yet (this game has a 6 week challenge instead of the 30 day challenge in the original) because the folks on twitter are starting it on the 20th.

I really, really miss the tennis and baseball events from the original game. Squash is part of the new one, so hopefully it will be good. I also enjoyed the basketball and tennis, and those are all gone too. This new one comes with four ab exercises, and more step aerobics too. All things to explore in the coming weeks! ;)

Overall... I'm intrigued. ;) The name and price I think are what threw me off at first. This isn't really a "more workouts" game - with that name, I compare it to the "Wii Fit Plus", which incorporates all the original exercises and adds new events too. And it's only $20. EA Sports Active More Workouts really should be called "EA Sports Active Personal Trainer 2010" - it's a new game, stand-alone, and you don't get to incorporate those past exercises. I don't like that it's so close to the cost of the original game, either - $40 compared to $60. The original comes with the resistance band and leg strap (which cost $20 to buy separately).

I'll post another update after I've played this game more - but so far, it's definitely intriguing - and of course it kicks my butt! My thighs are sore from the squats and I worked up quite a sweat!

Update

So, my steps-per-day goal has slipped tremendously - in mid-October I started having a womanly health issue, and my walking energy slipped away.  I'm massively determined to hit my 3,650,000 step goal this month though - and I would really love to hit 4 million steps for the year.  As of this morning, I only have 132,300 steps to go for my original goal, and then 482,300 to hit that 4 million - averaging 9,457 steps a day for the rest of the year.  With how early it gets dark outside, I know this is going to be hard.  I've been having trouble sleeping too, so waking up early to work out before work is hard now too.  But I can see that 4 million, and I would so love to hit it. ;)

EA Sports Active - More Workouts preview

I got to try out the new EA Sports Active "More Workouts" game yesterday - EA was doing a mall event that we stumbled upon, and I noticed that this game was pictures on the banners. It wasn't being demonstrated though, so I asked one of the guys working the booth if they had it so I could try it. It took awhile for him to find it - and he ended up ripping into a new sealed package to get the game out.

The package is a wider box, but it comes only with the game and some little pamphlet of some sort. No additional leg strap or plastic band or anything.

Anyway, he pops the game in and I started poking around. Now instead of a 30 day challenge, there's a 45 day version. And there are a bunch of new exercises - but sadly, all of your old favorites from the original game are *not* included here. This is a HUGE oversight that I'll talk about later on.

I noticed a variety of step aerobics exercises in here - a couple different 10 minute routines. I didn't get to try them out (they didn't have a balance board), but I like this idea. ;)

I did try several of the new exercises. I don't remember the exact titles, but I tried a new boxing one where you're working out with a trainer instead of just a punching bag. New to this game is a "hook" punch instead of just the straight-forward punches in the original. I liked having this variety. You also need to "duck" in this one too in order to avoid getting punched. ;) And yes, my arms are sore in a new place after trying this one out yesterday! Woo!

I also tried a water-skiing game, which seems a lot like the roller-blading-with-jumps from the original game - squat and jump! It was okay.

I did an obstacle course event as well, where you run a short distance and then do a mini-exercise, etc. Interesting. It seemed like a bunch of the mini-exercises were jumping-based, and I have to limit jumping around due to an ol' neck issue.

The last thing I tried was one of the abdominal exercises - it involved doing a crunch and then punching across your waist. I couldn't lay on the floor to do this, but it was interesting to see one of these new abs exercises.

So... when we left, I was thinking, "wow, I will totally pick this up!", but then I got home and checked out the price (the people at the booth didn't know the exact price or release date! I don't understand who they hire to work these things, but most of the staffers hadn't even tried out the game themselves and were watching me and commenting about it the whole time).... anyway, so the price. It's $40. And it doesn't give you access to the full set of exercises from the original game. So if you like those, you'll need to switch out games (and I don't know if they will talk to each other so my efforts in one game count for the goals in both). This is a huge flaw.

I picked up the Wii Fit Plus - and it's only $20 - and it does give me access to everything from the original.

I'm really torn here. I like some of those new exercises, but $40 to not be able to use 'em all, and the hassle of having to switch games all the time... I doubt I'll be racing out to buy this one when it comes out next week. Very sad. :(

October Walking Update

Updated!

month	total steps	average steps per day	number of steps ahead of pace for the year
January	454200	14,652	144,200
February	353400	12,621	217,600
March	382500	12,339	290,100
April	313900	10,463	304,000
May	339100	10,939	333,100
June	336800	11,227	369,900
July	332600	10,729	392,500
August	374900	12,094	457,400
September	337900	11,263	495,300
October	211200	7,040	213,500

Wow, so... October bit it when it comes to steps. I've been having some womanly health issues and haven't been walking anywhere nearly as much as I should. Things will get better in November, I hope!

Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Vitatops

The final new-to-me vitatop review for now. ;) I've written about their banana fudge vitatops and vitabrownies (both of which I wouldn't buy again), and their triple chocolate chunk vitatops and their chocolate mint vitatops (both recommended!). They're pricey, but given the 100 calories and all the vitamins in there, it's a much better snack than my usual 100-calorie cookies from Keebler/Nabisco ;)

I took this one out from the freezer in the morning and put it in my lunch bag to go to work. I ate it about 3 1/2 hours later, and it was definitely room temperature by then. (They supposedly thaw in 30 minutes but I've never checked.)

This is a good one. I don't know if I really tasted much pomegranate flavor - I got some sort of a fruity undertone, but it wasn't much. It was fine though. The dark chocolate flavor was good, and the chips were tasty. I wouldn't tell a friend who loves pomegranates that this is a MUST BUY for them, but for me, who likes poms but isn't a fanatic, it's fine. This is definitely a tasty treat (and probably rocks even more when warmed!).

Nutrition Facts
Calories 100
Total Fat 1.5g
Saturated Fat 0.5g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 140mg
Total Carbohydrates 21g
Dietary Fiber 6g
Sugars 11g
Protein 3g

Chocolate Mint Vitatops

Now, this is a flavor I've been looking forward to trying - I LOVE mint! I've written about their banana fudge vitatops and vitabrownies (both of which I wouldn't buy again), and their triple chocolate chunk vitatop (which I would buy again - and in fact did order in this latest round!). Keep in mind that the main drawback here is the price - but you buy 'em online in a 24 pack and chuck 'em in the freezer. It's just hard to keep that much space open in the freezer ;) (It's not a huge box but my freezer space is very limited!)

I tried this one at room temperature over the weekend, and I declare it a success. I cannot wait to try it heated - this flavor with melty action is going to be great!

It's got a good amount of mint kick to it, but it's not overwhelming at all. Nice little chunks of chocolate (they're never as big as they look in the pictures, sadly).

These may be my new favorite flavor. ;)

Nutrition Facts
Calories 100
Total Fat 2.5g
Saturated Fat 1.5g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 150mg
Total Carbohydrates 26g
Dietary Fiber 6g
Sugars 13g
Protein 4g

Banana Fudge VitaTops

I've written about other VitaMuffin products in the past - their vitabrownies (not recommended) and their triple chocolate chunk vitatops (recommended). I haven't ordered any in awhile since they're really pricey and I haven't seen any good specials in ages.

Last week they ran a free shipping offer with a Halloween pack where you could choose four chocolate flavors to make your own pack. I ordered on Monday morning, which their web site said would have the products arriving to my door on Thursday. They didn't even ship my package until Wednesday, and it came on Friday (which was nervewracking because we were heading out of town for a long weekend and I didn't want these to stay outside that whole time!). I chucked one of the banana fudge and one of the chocolate mint into my bag and took 'em with us on our trip.

I tried the banana fudge a day later, at room temperature. I almost always eat vitatops from the freezer, popping them in the microwave for 30 seconds so they get warm and melty. Since this one was room temperature, it wasn't warm or melty, but it was still okay. I did not get much of a banana taste in this product, which was very disappointing. I am a huge fan of bananas and was really looking forward to this item! I've had their banana nut vitatops in the past, and they're tasty (would be even better without the nuts!).

Overall, I guess I can't really recommend these? It's a hard call. I've now tried all four of the flavors I bought, and this one is just okay. I wouldn't throw them out, but I wouldn't order them again. There are better flavors.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 100
Total Fat 2g
Saturated Fat 1g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 220mg
Total Carbohydrates 24g
Dietary Fiber 5g
Sugars 8g
Protein 4g

Fruit 2Day Mango Peach

Fruit 2Day's web site says "It's not a juice. It's a snack."

No, it's not a snack either. It's a very frustrating waste of 120 calories.

It's a fruit juice blend with small bits of fruit in it. The Mango Peach flavor I bought contains:

"White grape juice from concentrate, mango puree, peach pieces, orange juice from concentrate, pineapple puree and pieces, acerola cherry juice from concentrate, lemon juice from concentrate, pear pieces, carrot juice from concentrate, natural flavor."

I would've thought - hey, how about just mango and peach in there. But they throw in no actual mango pieces - but pineapple pieces and SIX other juices. What the heck?

I didn't like the flavor and I didn't care for the texture. Yes, it's juice with little bits of peaches and PINEAPPLE (no mango pieces in here) - and the bottle design, though they think it's cute, means you can't actually get all of the fruit pieces out of the bottle. Their web site brags about how this product helps your "on-the-go lifestyle" - but not if you are going to be trying to get this product into your mouth while driving or anything. Sheesh. And it's expensive too - two bottles (one serving each) for $4.

So very not recommended.

Too lazy to type all the nutrition info, but it's 120 calories, 0g fat, 28g carb, 2g fiber, less than a gram protein.

Wii Fit Plus

You know me and my Wii games ;)  Tonight I picked up the brand new Wii Fit Plus game. It's an expansion of the original Wii Fit game that came out last year, using the fun Wii Balance Board.  It looks like the folks at Nintendo listened to all the feedback on the original game.

So, the handy thing is that it has all of the original games and exercises, and it imports all of your data from the original game.  Handy!  

Amongst the bonuses of this expansion:

-- a bunch more games, including some insane balance-oriented games that kicked my butt

-- a handful extra yoga and strength moves

-- the ability to string together a bunch of yoga and strength moves - you can tell it how much time you have and it will put a workout together for you, or you can build your own

-- along the workout route, there are also more built-in workouts, based on what your goals are - things like form or lifestyle.  Work on your arms, or your shoulders, or relax.  Interesting!

-- it counts calories!  A nice move here, but done a little oddly - you can set a calorie goal, but it's based on food.  So, burn off a cup of whole milk, or a bag of chips or a chocolate bar (with calories displayed).  I'd prefer to just say I'd like to burn 200 calories and not equate it with food.  Silly.

More feedback to come, but so far, it's *definitely* worth the $20 for the expansion!

Popchips - Cheddar Potato and Barbeque Potato

The kind folks over at Popchips sent me a box with six single serve bags - and here's my review of the last two. Thanks again, Popchips!

Cheddar is okay.  Definitely get a cheesy taste, but it's not hardcore cheddar action. I *love* cheddar cheese, so these are a bit of a letdown to me.  But the big bonus here is that it is all natural, so no fake day-glo cheesy fingers after eating.

The barbeque chips are where it's at though.  These are definitely my favorite.  They've got a good zing to them, and I really, really enjoyed them.  I haven't had barbeque chips in a long time, but I recall the baked Lays barbeque chips not being nearly as tasty (and of course they have that odd texture).

Nutrition Facts (for one ounce, about 20/19 chips) - cheddar / barbeque
Calories 120 / 120
Total Fat 4g / 4g
Saturated Fat 0.5g / 0g
Trans Fat 0g / 0g
Cholesterol 0mg / 0mg
Sodium 290mg / 250mg
Total Carbohydrates 20g / 20g
Dietary Fiber 1g / 1g
Sugars 1g / 2g
Protein 2g / 1g

September weight loss - neglible

Looking at the straight numbers, I weighed exactly one pound more on 9/30 than I did on 9/1. Throughout the month, my weight ranged almost five pounds - two pounds higher than I ended to three pounds lower than I ended. Why? Stupid eating on a Wednesday night, followed by a weekend party and then my body just went kaput for a bit there on the weight. I had exactly the same weight for six days in a row, not varying with the amount of food or exercise those days. Weird.

My physicsdiet average *is* less than it was at the start of the month, by a whopping 0.5 pounds. ;)

I have re-calculated the number I need to hit to be at my goal weight by my birthday, and it's now 0.23 pounds a day - 1.6 pounds a week. Totally achievable, but I've got our anniversary coming up this month and we're going to get away for that weekend. Would love, LOVE love, to actually see the 180s at some point this year. If I can hit that 0.23 pounds a day, I'd hit 189.8 on Halloween.

September Walking Update

Updated!

month	total steps	average steps per day	number of steps ahead of pace for the year
January	454200	14,652	144,200
February	353400	12,621	217,600
March	382500	12,339	290,100
April	313900	10,463	304,000
May	339100	10,939	333,100
June	336800	11,227	369,900
July	332600	10,729	392,500
August	374900	12,094	457,400
September	337900	11,263	495,300

Slowly plugging ahead to hitting my goal way early this year - might even make it by the end of the month, with some serious walking in there. I'm at 3,225,300 steps for the year. OK, it would take a *massive* amount of walking to get it done in October, but definitely by mid-November at the latest. ;)

Popchips - Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato and Salt & Pepper Potato

The kind folks over at Popchips sent me a box with six single serve bags - and here's my review of two of them. Thanks again, Popchips!

Today we dove into the two salt varieties - sea salt & vinegar and salt & pepper.  The vinegar definitely has that kick, which I enjoy.  And the portion is just right, because too many more of them would burn my tongue right off.  I enjoyed that flavor a lot. 

The salt & pepper is just as advertised - lots of big flecks of pepper in there.  I liked it, but I was just eating these plain - this flavor would've kicked butt if I was eating it with a hamburger.  Definitely needed something meaty to cut it.  

I think the sour cream and onion is still my favorite at this point, but I wouldn't throw out any of these. ;)

Nutrition Facts (for one ounce, about 20 chips) - sea salt & vinegar / salt & pepper
Calories 120 / 120
Total Fat 4g / 4g
Saturated Fat 0g / 0g
Trans Fat 0g / 0g
Cholesterol 0mg / 0mg
Sodium 260mg / 290mg
Total Carbohydrates 20g / 20g
Dietary Fiber 1g / 1g
Sugars 1g / 1g
Protein 1g / 1g

Popchips - Original Potato and Sour Cream & Onion Potato

While sitting at home this afternoon, feeling bummed that I couldn't score a ticket to Blogher Food in SF, I got a knock on my door.  The kind folks over at Popchips sent me a box with six single serve bags - awesome! My first ever item from a manufacturer to review on my blog. ;)  Thanks, Popchips!

I've liked Popchips for awhile - they've just been a bit hard to find.  I remember trying some cool flavors in the past - a corn chip in particular, but it looks like now they're only selling these potato chips.  These single serve bags are perfect to toss into my bag to take to work (though I must admit, we dove into two of them within minutes of opening the box today!) :D

So my first two flavors - original potato and sour cream & onion potato.  Without sounding like a commercial, the cool thing about Popchips is that they're all natural and low fat.  And of course, not fried. ;)  They're not greasy either.  Dig it.

The original potato chips are a bit boring - but c'mon, any plain potato chip is boring to me.  I need a dip. ;)  I should've grabbed a wedge of Laughing Cow to go along with it.  These original chips would be great for a party situation if there are multiple dips going on. ;)

The sour cream and onion potato chips had more flavor.  I *love* sour cream and onion.  I am addicted to that flavor of Pringles - and I can't buy 'em because I'll eat the whole can. ;)  The nice bonus with the Popchips version is that it's all natural and of course, much less bad for you. ;)  I would've liked a little more of the seasoning on the chips for a few more calories though. ;)

I look forward to trying out the other flavors later this week! :)

Nutrition Facts (for one ounce, about 22/20 chips) - original / sour cream & onion
Calories 120 / 120
Total Fat 4g / 4g
Saturated Fat 0g / 0.5g
Trans Fat 0g / 0g
Cholesterol 0mg / 0mg
Sodium 280mg / 290mg
Total Carbohydrates 20g / 20g
Dietary Fiber 1g / 1g
Sugars 0g / 2g
Protein 1g / 2g