Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Another EA Sports Active Challenge underway

Howdy. Not much to post these days - still on this plateau, trying to eat more protein and fewer carbs, but then I slip up one day and my weight jumps and it takes another week to come back to where it was. Fun! ;)

I found a handy little widget for calculating calories burned for walking, so I've added that to the bottom of this blog - always interesting to learn more about how your body works! :)

The day after I finished my last EA Sports Active challenge, I started a new one - this time on the high intensity setting. It ain't kidding. ;) I am working up a sweat every weekday morning before work. Hopefully someday all of this will kick in and some weight will finally come off...

Hope you're doing well!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

EA Sports Active Six Week Challenge complete

This morning I finished my "EA Sports Active More Workouts" Six Week Challenge on my Wii! I did it on the medium intensity and finished it in the six weeks.

Overall, I like this game but it definitely annoys me each day as well. ;) My enjoyment of the game has increased since turning off the trainer's prompts. ;)

I still get irritated when my moves don't register properly - the Squash game, for example, involves lunging to the left and right, and sometimes it just doesn't register my lunge - even though I'm totally lunging!

I wonder if EA has any "bigger" folks testing their games. Frankly, my thighs move and jiggle more than a skinny person's, and I think that throws things off for me with this game. The Squash game annoys me the most with this, because you have to start back at the slow speed when you miss a shot - and I'm doing the darn lunge, I didn't miss anything! - but it didn't register because my big ol' thigh is still moving.

For those of you who are not familiar with this game, it uses a strap around your thigh where you insert the Wii's nunchuk controller. The strap is neoprene and adjustable, which is handy. But the nunchuk is not wireless, so I am CONSTANTLY smacking myself with the cord when I'm using the regular controller and the nunchuk in my hands. There's a squat-then-reach-above-your-head exercise which should be renamed "smack-yourself-in-the-face-repeatedly".

There's a new version of this game coming out in the fall - "EA Sports Active 2" - which will be on the Wii and I think also the XBOX and PS3, but I'm a Wii girl all the way. This new game is going to be expensive - $100 - but will be wireless (yay!) and include a heart-rate monitor (which I'm pretty sure will only work in this game and not when doing other non-Wii things sadly). Should be interesting to see what the feedback is on this new one.

I'm also very curious about the new "Gold’s Gym Dance Workout" game for the Wii - I do love to dance, but I hated the "Just Dance" game - it was such a letdown and I didn't feel like I was doing much that was fun. Feh. I am so apprehensive of buying exercise video games because I *hated* that stupid Jillian Michaels game (bought it the day it came out - big mistake there!) and also didn't care for Your Shape or that Just Dance either.

Any video games getting you to move more these days?

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The seesaw continues

Thankfully right now I'm on the downswing on the scale - finally (!) seeing a beloved green "down" arrow on physicsdiet.com ;)

Still chugging along on the EA Sports Active More Workouts six week challenge - I think I have three workouts to go. I'm debating if I'm going to start another challenge (on hard this time instead of medium), or give the Wii Fit (plus?) another try. I am *really* intrigued by the upcoming EA Sports Active 2 coming out in mid-November - NO CORDS!! I cannot tell you how many times I smack myself in the head or belly or other places with the damn cord from the nunchuck while playing the current EA Sports Active games. It's unbelievably annoying. Also very curious to see how the heart rate monitor feature works. The price is way high though - $100. (Hey EA, I'd love to review the game for this blog!) ;)

Hope the week is treating all of you well.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Yesterday's 10k

I participated in a 10k yesterday morning - "Race to the End of Summer". It was the first time event from these folks, and man, it was a let down for a 10k walker like me. There were about 600 participants total (5k and 10k), and I think maybe 10 folks walked the 10k total (I assume more folks walked the 5k, based on the timing results).

The route was poorly planned - it was an out-and-back route. It's a little hard to describe, but shortly beyond the turn-around point for the 5k, you passed right by the finish line area (a weird loop). Anyway, when I was on my way back and passed that area, all of the runners were done of course, and I heard some guy on the speakers going on about "there's an emergency - we're down to the last bottle of..." and I couldn't tell what. I don't know what that was all about, but it made for a big amount of willpower to continue to finish the rest of the course instead of cutting through and finishing early.

Sadly, by sticking to the course and finishing it out, there was almost nothing left at the post-race area. I couldn't even find water. There was some coffeecake (though I love the local restaurant chain Hobee's and their coffeecake - and love them for supporting these races - I just really didn't want coffeecake!), and some cut bananas that were left over from before the race. Apparently there had been smoothies (from the "Smoothie King") but those were all gone. I saw a little cup of granola from the Bare Naked granola folks, but there was a swarm of people around there so I skipped it.

All of the racing events out here always have a ton of kids volunteering (high schoolers, perhaps?). I only see them on the route, in clusters at various points to "cheer" you along. There were a couple of water stops along the way and these kids were only looking in one direction so I had to weave through 'em to get past. It was weird. Anyway, these kids who volunteer ended up with nicer gift bags than the participants who paid to do the event! I saw them with lululemon bags - and there wasn't even anything from lululemon in the participant bags! Very weird.

(Am I old-fashioned or simply bitter for these kids getting gifts for volunteering? I know community service is a requirement for them, but when I was in school and did community service, we got nothing besides a warm thank you! Certainly never got a gift nicer than the people who paid to attend!)

Anyway, I was really frustrated when the event was over because I couldn't find water and the only food options that were left were those gross bananas and some coffeecake (again, tasty coffeecake but not what I wanted right then!). I came home and chugged a liter of water and then a protein shake. Feh.

At least I got my steps for the day finished before 10am. ;)

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Red Mango Frozen Yogurt

I am totally addicted to frozen yogurt. I love this tart froyo trend, and the self-serve places are terribly addictive too. However, my favorite place for quality tart froyo is Red Mango. It's all-natural with probiotics and all kinds of other good things in it. They've got a number of flavors, but I always just stick with the original (tart) flavor. No artificial sweeteners in there, which I appreciate.

You could be all healthy and get it with no toppings - or just fruit toppings like this photo. But I cannot resist two of their toppings. Mochi is a Japanese rice-based chewy candy of sorts, and it is tasty (and available at most froyo places). Red Mango's unique topping is their Ghiradelli dark chocolate mini chips. I LOVE these things. They are tiny - which is perfect for froyo so you're not getting a mouth full of chocolate with no room for the frozen treat. And they're dark, which is very tasty. Highly recommended.

Just watch out for the portions - their nutritional info on their web site shows a serving size at 1/2 cup, but the small size is 1.4 servings, regular is 2.3 and large is 3.5.

Nutrition Facts per 1/2 cup
Calories 90
Total Fat 0
Saturated Fat 0
Trans Fat 0
Cholesterol 0
Sodium 125 mg
Carb 20 g
Fiber 0 g
Sugars 18g
Protein 3g

Friday, September 3, 2010

Met with a dietician

I finally met with a dietician today to discuss my weight and diet. She thinks I should be eating more, and also that I should go for a low-carb high-protein diet for awhile. I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but my BMR is 1750 or so, and she said I shouldn't be eating less than that - which surprises me. I thought I just was supposed to stay above 1200 calories, net after subtracting calories burned with exercise.

She wants me to eat 200 grams of protein and 135 grams of carbs a day (and 1800-2000 calories total). Sparkpeople says 1,240 - 1,590 calories, including 60 - 130 grams of protein and 168 - 242 grams of carbs. So... that's a bit different.

It's going to be challenge to get in that much protein, that's for sure. Lots of egg whites, chicken breasts, Greek yogurt and protein powder. She suggested 2 protein shakes to help max out my protein - the powder I bought is 25g each serving, so two of 'em hits 25% of my protein for the day.

I figure I'll give it a try. I've read so much about the low-carb diets and how they're not sustainable, but they do help people drop some weight to start. I feel like my body needs a kick in the pants, so to speak, so maybe this will help. Or maybe I'll just gain all the weight back and be obese forever. Oy.

DiGiorno Deep Dish Pepperoni pizza

I don't remember how I got it, but I had a coupon for a free DiGiorno Deep Dish pizza that was expiring, so we decided to pick it up for dinner. The coupon was max value of $3.30, but one store had it for $4.79 and the other store had it for $3.79, so we bought it at the second store. Crazy that the base price at our local groceries is always higher than the max value of coupons for a free product, but that's another rant for another day...

Anyway, yes, this is a healthy living blog, so why am I talking about pizza? Well, this pizza claims it is two servings, and one serving is a mere 300 calories so it would work into a healthy-ish diet for a rare occasion.

Side rant: this pizza's total weight is 7.5 ounces. I didn't measure the pizza before we ate it, but the box is only six inches along the side. This is not two servings.

Additional rant: the nutrition facts don't add up. One serving - 1/2 the pizza - is 300 calories, but the whole pizza is 590 calories. C'mon. We're not stupid.

OK, so - did it taste good? NO! I'm from Chicago, I know deep dish pizza. This never even met a deep dish pizza. It never saw a photo of a pizza. It was pathetic. I get more satisfaction from the pepperoni pizza Lean Pocket. What a ridiculous waste of money and fat. The crust was butterlicious, but I had to go find something else to eat and felt ripped off for those 300 calories.

Nutrition Facts for 1/2 pizza : whole pizza
Calories 300 : 590
Total Fat 17g : 33g
Saturated Fat 8g : 16 g
Trans Fat 0g : 1g
Cholesterol 25mg : 45mg
Sodium 470mg : 950mg
Total Carbohydrate 26g : 52g
Dietary Fiber 2g : 4g
Sugars 2g : 4g
Protein 12g : 24g

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Nabisco 100 Calorie Fudge Petites Mint Fudge Chocolate Shortbread

New! A new 100 calorie pack from Nabisco!

Notice the fine print... there are only 5 packs in this box. The "regular" 100 calorie boxes come with 6 packs. This new product is the same price as the others. I am *not* pleased with the ol' grocery-shrink-ray action here.

But I am a chocolate addict, and I love nothing more than chocolate and mint. So I had to buy a box to give it a try. And... I won't be buying another box. These are okay. They've got this white chocolatey coating on the bottom which is a little odd. The flavor is okay, but frankly, these are not as good as the Keebler 100 Calorie Grasshopper cookies. And the loss of one pack from the box is the nail in the coffin on this one. Lame move, Nabisco.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 100
Total Fat 4.5 g
Saturated Fat 1.5 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 95 mg
Total Carbohydrate 15 g
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Sugars 7 g
Protein 1 g

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Nabisco 100 Calorie Chips Ahoy Double Chocolate Chip cookies

Enough of my whining about my weight. ;)

Back to more tasty reviews!

I like the 100 calorie pack concept - especially when the company comes up with an unique product that you can't get otherwise. These little Nabisco Chips Ahoy "Fudge-Drizzled" double-chocolate chip cookies are a good example.

Like most 100 calorie packs, you don't get a ton of cookies, so you definitely need to slow down and savor. ;) These have a nice chocolate flavor base, and then you get the bonus of chocolate chips and that fudge drizzle. They hit the chocolate spot for me. I would (and have!) buy them again.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 100
Total Fat 4.5 g
Saturated Fat 1.5 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 95 mg
Total Carbohydrate 15 g
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Sugars 7 g
Protein 1 g