You're fired...

Well, maybe not fired but the appointment has been cancelled. After receiving feedback on last week's meal tracking from the nutritionist stating that we need to work on weight loss, I knew it was time to go.

Um, that's why I went to see the woman in the first place.

Granted, I'm not the best when it comes to tracking my food (and I was upfront about it).  Yes, I know I need to pay attention to what I put down my throat. No, I'm not ready to give up wine and cheese.  I might consider backing off the little bread that I do eat.

So I am back to square one and tinkering with the idea, yet again, with WW.  But for the moment, I am using SparkPeople to track my food in addition to my workouts.

So let's see what happens next.

Sliding down the mountain on my ass

Yep...here's another installment of things that don't suck about the state capital of California (good thing we aren't talking about health insurance - cuz that sucks!!!).

My first real-live hike with boots, pack, plenty of water, plenty of snacks, camera fully charged was set for Sunday.  My hiking group, Sacramento TrailMix, headed up to Enchanted Pools in the El Dorado National Forest. Now, ya'll know I'm still a novice at this California thing and driving through the mountains scares the crap out of me. I asked several times if the roads wound up and around, if there were sheer drop-offs without guard rails and if the roads were narrow. I was assure no to all!  OOOOOO, those liars!  So I volunteered to drive 2 other ladies in my Altima Coupe up the side of the mountain.  We made it, even moving at an old lady's pace all the while honking around the curves of the one-lane narrow road. Whew!!!

Parked, sprayed bug spray, put on my hat and we're off.  The hike was beautiful (see pictures below if you don't believe that black folks hike, that's me in the center).

So now it's time to roll on back down the hill.  Holy Firecracker Batman.  I was ok as long as I had mountain on 1 side and tall trees on the other.  I got to this point and froze. It's much scarier in person.

I was in the middle of the road, with the car in park and the parking break on. I couldn't take my foot off the brake because it seemed to lurch forward each time. Finally, the woman on my left turned off the car. I climbed out of the driver's seat, into the backseat and into the fetal position.
Luckily, the woman on my right was able to drive us down the mountain to safety. Once we were down, I was able to get us back to Sacramento safely.

I know it will take some getting used to, but driving these narrow roads aren't what I call fun. Although, playing in these pools were.

Updates and such

It's been 5 months since moving to Sacramento. And it's been 2 weeks of taking a new set of "natural" drugs to lift me out of the doldrums of being homesick, lacking motivation, and declining sexiness. And from the readings of various blogs, I'm not alone in this blah-ish feeling: http://fitbottomedgirls.com/2011/07/fitness-and-depression-the-defining-moments/

Well, these past 2 weeks have been better. I am feeling more like my "old" self. I am looking forward to working out most days and I'm not beating myself up for the weight gain, for looking like a frumpy middle-aged woman, and making more of an effort to getting out to learn and enjoy Sacramento (big fun at the California State Fair) and reignite my girlfriend-side at home. And to add to the new found happiness, I am even down 1 lb. Woo hoo.

I am, however, still envious of women I see at the gym who claim to workout only about 30-45mins a day and change their eating habits from eating less junk to more fruits and veggies.  I have to constantly remind myself that we are all different and at different levels on our journey and to congratulate her on her hard won progress.

The nutritionist tells me that I need to stop talking in collective "yous". I need to start talking about myself/issues using the first pronoun - to own it. This is a hard one for me because I learned somewhere down the line that it's not always about "me" and therefore to not use the first person pronoun, I. Well, that's changing as well.

I am also working on shutting off negativity. Negative friends, negative thinking, negative events. At this point in my life, I may not look at life through rose-colored glasses, but it's not all gloom and doom.


I am thankful that My Fella and I can have rational conversations about the things we miss and need from each other. Our relationship wasn't conventional by any means but I have to say we've had less bumps along the road.

So because you're worth it, I am putting more effort into US and I know that you are too. As the lyrics played last night state, you're the finest I've ever known.

Things that don't suck about Sacramento

ooooh - Wolfman = Scary

Continuing my efforts to find things that don’t suck at about the cow town that is California’s capital as well as not go stir crazy since The Fella was on vacation and keep in line with the advice from the nutritionist to bring joy into my life, I made the effort to fill my weekend with “stuff” that I like to do: theatre, festivals, and food.   

Friday night was sushi (missed the happy hour) and community theatre of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”.  Oddly enough, it was performed in an old church and 2 of the Aggies were young (I think was actually 12 years old) and thin, another was older (over 40) and had a mullet. If you know anything about college football, thin isn’t an adjective anyone would ever use.  The star of the show was the sheriff. Wow could that man belt out a song. The only thing that was a true parody that drove me nuts was that the men stuffed their jeans into the boots. Ugh!!!! Unless you’re cleaning out a barn or stable, real Texans don’t do that.

Yummy Local Peaches

Owl education

Saturday found me at the gym busting through a 2 mile run and Body Pump. I’m almost afraid to say this, but I think this round is actually easier that the others. That may be a sign that I need to add more weight (which I did during the triceps track). Can we say skull crushers kill!  But I know I needed to get a workout in before heading up CA-70 to Marysville’s Peach Festival. This was an easy drive (no sheared off mountain cliffs) and only 30-mins from the apartment. Can we say yummy peaches!

mascot for the fair

To top of the weekend, I headed to the California State Fair. Corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, jerky, deep fried Twinkies, butter, Oreos, Captn Crunch….oh and how could I forget – FUNNEL CAKES!!!!  Um, I had a corn dog. I think I went into sensory overload and couldn’t commit to eating a ton of crap although I had it planned.  The fair is much smaller than the Dallas State Fair and actually reminds me of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (minus the rodeo, although there is horse racing).

600 lb pig, Six

topping off the day with some motocross

What fun did you get into this weekend?

Things that don't suck about Sacramento

Tower Bridge from bike trail

In taking the advice from the nutritionist, I branched out and actually showed up to a hiking event last night. I'm good for saying I will do something and find every excuse under the sun to not do it. But not doing things continues to feed the beast aptly named: "there's nothing to do here".

Steamboat in Old Town Sac

Pyramid Bldg

Skid Roses

 This "hike" was perfect: Meet at near local Mexican eatery downtown, departs at 6pm, and weaves from the edge of downtown, to the Marina/Miller Park, and across to West Sac to the Riverwalk to hear some live music and then back to our cars. We followed a railway/bike path so it was great avoiding car traffic, but the bike traffic was a little heavy. We did encounter a skunk (stinky) in the park and a "questionable" group of people at the end of the hike.


Couldn't have asked for better weather and a fun group of folks. And the nice thing, there's a fellow Texan in the group!

Oh yeah, that's sexy!!!

I'm your pusher...

That was the song, along with White Horse, playing thru my head as I left the nutritionist office yesterday.  I decided that surely there must be an issue since I've gained 10lbs since moving to Sacramento, and only seem to be loosing the same 3lbs (totally sucks).  Of course, reading Jilian Michael's Master Your Metabolism feed my brain with "I must certainly have a hormone imbalance since I can't seem to evict these nagging pounds".  I made an appointment with a local nutritionist, thinking I would have my hormone levels tested.

Our session went more along the lines of "tell me a little about yourself". And I did...but just a little. I know there is a root cause for this weight gain. I can't continue to blame my fibroid, or hormone imbalance (caused by the fibroid).  It's caused because I am attempting self medicate (along with prescribed happy pills) mild depression.  I can get through my work days ok, but the weekends are difficult. So therefore, I eat.  She took 1 look at my food diary (I kept it for 3 days, 3 of the wrong days) and said I am eating too much - DUH!  But she's right. I am eating the "right" things, but too much of the right things. My portion sizes need work, but not as much as I thought.  It's just too many items on my plates (especially at work). She also suggested that I cut out dairy.  Um, hell no!  I like LOVE cheese. So I am making a small concession. Swapping real milk for soy and almond. Dropping the greek yogurt and cottage cheese. But I will continue to have feta on my salads, swiss on my sandwiches.

But the glaring issue is the depression.  She hit home with the fact that I need to branch out.  As a solitary person, that is the most difficult thing to do in a new city. I can continue to whine about this place not being Houston or I can learn to make the best of it. Hence, the "Things that don't suck" issues. I plan to make a better effort of branching out, using Meetup.com and actually making it to so of the events.

At the end of the session, of course she tried to sell me a $300 6 session package along with supplements of serotonin and dopamine. I bought the supplements, not the additional sessions. Some days I think holistic medicine is just a game to get your money and not provide results. However, I can say, upon reflecting on my meeting yesterday, it felt good to release some issues that have been troubling me. I know it's up to me to work through this and get my ass out of the funk I'm in. It's all about choices and I choose to not be unhappy.

So the journey continues.

Heaven is a wrap dress

It may not be a DVF (yet), especially since she doesn't make them in my current size, but I have 4 go-to wrap dresses for when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to exert too much effort into dressing for work, or for when the temps are hotter than holy H-E-double hockey sticks (like it is now). I still come off looking polished and I keep cool during the summer. Layer one of these with a cardigan, tights and boots and I'm set for the when the temps drop below 60.

Another reason I love my wrap dresses...even though the scale says I've packed on an additional 8 lbs and my skinny jeans (and, at times, my fat jeans) shout: Let the muffin top be free!, I can still slip on one of my wrap dresses and look HAUTE!

Thank goodness for the wrap dress. I've been wearing them all week.

Do you have a go-to item in your closet for those not-so-fresh days?

And they say running is fun

Well fun may be a stretch... 

I made it out to the park by 7:10am yesterday morning to register (sign the waiver) for the Oldest Run in Sacramento. I can't lie...it was difficult to get out of bed this morning. It was even harder to get out of the car after parking. It was lonely out there waiting for the race to start. But running can be social sport, if you want it to be. It is also a form of solace. Once I put my headphones on and started my warm-up walk, the loneliness dropped away. 

Yesterday was my longest run to date. It is interesting to hear people who love to run talk about 5Ks and 5 miles as short races. For those of us just starting out, we think "short?" WTH? Especially, after crossing the finish line 1 hour and 4mins later. That is NOT a short run in my opinion. 

I can say that I did walk a good portion of the run. Which proves you should eat at least 45 mins before working out. I needed a boost of energy and a potty break (like a dummy, I drank 1/2 a bottle of Smart Water before the run -ugh!). 

All in all, I'm glad I did get up, get there and get out of the car. I'm glad that my pace was 12.34 min/mile. I'm glad to say that I completed 5 miles in 1 day! 

That's the way to kick off the 4th of July. 

Fourth of July or Canada Day...

Wishing everyone a happy Independence Day or Canada Day (if I have any Canadian readers).

So for my plan of learning to enjoy Sacramento and finding places, events that don't truly suck...we are keeping it simple for the long weekend.

Transformers 3 is on deck for today! I wont lament to the fact that this city only has 2, yes I said 2,  IMAX theatres! Oh the horror!!! The local IMAX is only showing that kiddie movie and some nature scene, the other is 30mins from my apt. It does happen to be showing T3 on the IMAX screen but in 3D. I don't do 3D movies.

Tomorrow is date night...off to the comedy club to see D.L. Hughley.  Hi-lariously funny.

Sunday will be devoted to housework (ugh, such a chore) and carb-loading!!!

Why the carb-loading you ask...because, foolishly I plan to run the 4th of July Fun Run. I still haven't figured out why people insist on adding "fun" as an adjective when describing running. I wouldn't, well at least not for anything over 3 miles.  Monday's run will be my longest. No Kim, I still haven't been stung by that running bee (I did shoo a moth out of the apt this morning) but this is a freebie, so why not. I may just skip the entire way!

And to end the long holiday weekend on the right foot, fireworks at Cal Expo. 

So this has the potential to be a great weekend and I hope yours does too.