When Jenn Goes Shopping

I HATE shopping for clothes for myself. I'm disproportionate, so sizes mean little to me. I always have to try tops on, which I hate doing, so when I find a style and size that fit, I buy as many as I can so that I can avoid shopping again for as long as possible. This makes for a fairly boring wardrobe, but Pickle says that I do well for what I'm working with. (It sounds sort of mean, but really it's not!)

I've lost a lot of weight fairy quickly, so it seems that I no more buy a pair of pants or shorts and they're too big within a few weeks. I know, I know, it's a good problem to have.
The above pictures are of my bargain finds: 2 pair of shorts $3 each and 1 dress $10. Life is good!

Idol and a bread bowl

Jamie Lynn Ward - the girl who's dad shot himself and is paralyzed - her name is hick enough, but she looks like she's straight out of the OC. I felt like I was playing a game of "what's wrong with this picture".

Did anyone else notice when Ryan was was talking to Victoria - the girl with 6 feet of hair - that he used the word "hair" twice instead of "here"? What is with the mother/daughter matching this season?!

I was bad at lunch today and had about 1/2 of a baked potato cheddar bread bowl from Claim Jumper...Rachel made me do it! Feeling a little guilty, I went to the gym and spent 20 minutes on the elliptical and then did crunches. That's twice as long as I was able to survive on the elliptical just a few weeks ago...YAY!

Just in case you were wondering...I'm still procrastinating on finishing sewing the sashes. That's what tomorrow night is for :)

I had a case of the Mondays...

Ok, so here's how today went:
I wake up, it's 6:20 AM. Two problems: 1) my alarm clock did NOT wake me, 2) I'm supposed to leave my house no later than 6:15 AM to get to work by 8:00 (yes I live in the middle of nowhere). Faced with the decision to shower or not, I rationalize that I'm going to be late regardless, so I might as well take the extra 10 minutes and shower (and pack my gym clothes).

At lunch I head to CSUF with the intentions of changing my name and address (aka updating my records since I graduated 4 years ago (holy crap!). I arrive at CSUF and find that all of the visitor parking spots have been eliminated due to the construction of the SECOND parking structure. I pull up to the drive-up visitors booth and ask where there is visitors parking. The girl tells me that there isn't any and I'll need to park in the parking structure that is on the opposite side of the campus from where I need to go. As a law abiding citizen who fears the CSUF police, I circle for 10 minutes because it's virtually impossible to make a legal u-turn within a 5 mile radius of the campus. I look at the clock and realize that with the 10 minute walk to and from the building I need to visit (in heels mind you), this will surely take another 30 minutes at a minimum and I just can't take an extended lunch today since I was already late and need to leave on time to meet LAT2. Defeated, I head back to the office vowing to try again tomorrow.

At 5:00 I begin to panic as I realize that I still have 40 emails in my Inbox and I need to leave soon. I leave and contemplate skipping my training session as I really don't want to deal with a butt kicking. I decide to suck it up and go, as Jenn 2007 does not flake on working out. I get to the gym and realize that I don't have a towel or water bottle (the result of not having the alarm clock go off). Again, I contemplate just jumping on the elliptical for 20 minutes and heading home. Again, I suck it up and go find LAT2.

LAT2 totally rocked my world. He's big on core training and that makes this former dancer very happy. He made me do stuff that was challenging, yet didn't bore me to tears or seem unnatural. Bonus was that he had me do stuff on the big balls, which I've secretly been dying to "play" with - I'm a dork, this I know. I even asked for his card so that I could call him when I get in a rut and want to pay for more sessions. (I'm committed, remember?)

I leave the gym feeling very proud of myself and decide that I've "earned" a vanilla cone from McD's (which actually isn't bad for you!). Of course the 2 rather large people are in the drive-thru and I still can't find a stealth way of getting a photo. I will work on it and if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Saturday Update

Last night I worked until 7 and then went to the gym on my way home...how's that for dedication? Happily I was able to keep the RPMs on the bike above 90 for the duration of my ride (the first 15 minutes of Nanny 911), then I walked on the treadmill at a pretty good incline for 10 minutes, then crunches until my sides and tummy about caught on fire they were burning so bad. Then I thought I'd give the elliptical a ride since I couldn't find the machine Matt's mom calls "The Nasty" (she's the wonderful woman who wears bike shorts under her skirts so her thighs don't rub together). Gleefully I found that I was able to survive much longer than I did the prior Friday. LAT has clearly done his job. I'm down a size in jeans and I had to buy new workout pants because my initial batch have started to slide down while I work out (and I'm not trying to show off my underwear).

Funny story...my aunt (who is both blonde AND left-handed) stops to get gas today in her fairly new car with both my uncle and my mom in the car with her. They pull up to the pump so that it is on the driver's side (normal for most cars, but not this one). My uncle reminds her that the tank is on the other side, so what does she do? Turn the car around? Well sort of, she flips a u-turn around the island and pulls up to the other side of the same pump, still on the driver's side of the car. I wish I had a visual...hopefully that made sense.

We went and cancelled the purchasing agreement of the "new" house today. I also found a bunch of furniture at Pier 1 that we'll be going to buy tomorrow. I'll be posting a lot of the hand-me-downs and Ikea stuff on Craigs List tonight/tomorrow as well. I'm going to "re-decorate" pretty much every room. We've only been there 2 years, but it was all decorated for the most part with a bunch of cheap stuff in sort of a hodge-podge of styles. Everything is going to be shades of blue and brown...except for our master bath which I painted gray(currently with black rugs that allow my cat to camoflauge)....that will be gray and navy. I've kicked/stepped on the cat so many times that I just can't keep the black rugs anymore.

Session 4 complete!

LAT completed my session tonight by telling me that this was his last week as he was going to Georgia to play football (he's a kicker if I haven't mentioned that before). A bit of a shocker...I was saddened by this news???

LAT kicked my butt as usual and I almost think I like it in a sick and twisted way...bonus - one of the exercises he made me do was featured on Beauty & the Geek. I actually felt confident and enjoyed the torture. LAT and I bonded and I secretly thought that maybe he did know what he was doing after all as I'd survived. I did admit to him that I wouldn't have worked as hard as I did as fast.

I meet with LAT2 next Monday for my last session. I'm kinda sad in a way, but interested in seeing how he decides to kick my rear.

I love www.dietfacts.com (thanks Rach) and am addicted to checking the nutritional value for every possible lunch option. I also enjoy sharing the disgusting facts with others. There are somethings I'm not sure I will ever be able to eat again.

***AI note - Simon Cowell said "That was Easy" in reference to the decision on a girl named Jory.

Is there any hope for me? 1/22

Session 3 with LAT is complete...but more on that in a minute...

There's this girl at work, Rachel, whom I absolutely love and adore. She sucks at reading my blogs, but we are both absolutely ADDICTED to her sister Kim's blogs. (Not really Rach's fault...the email police at work blocked MySpace, but Kim uses blogspot). It's become quite an obsession for many in the land...check it out and enjoy: http://kim1champ.blogspot.com/

Anyhow, Kim is EXTREMELY dedicated to her blogs which is why they are so good...there's often photos for each topic. A recent topic was on the amount of paper towel that was dispensed with one wave in front of the automatic paper towel dispensers commonly found in public restrooms. I found myself in the bathroom at Cerritos Lanes last Thursday after bowling staring at the automatic paper towel dispenser. I waved and I got significantly more paper towel dispensed than Kim did in her photo. I stood there staring, hands dripping...what to do? I looked around the restroom to ensure it was empty and whipped out my camera phone and snapped a photo, which I promptly text messaged to Rach. Hence, the follow up blog Kim wrote yesterday which included my photo...I feel famous!

Anyhow, I digress. After 4.5 people called in sick today (one person worked half a day) I needed to escape the office for lunch. Enter good lunch buddy Rach who needed to go buy new soccer cleats. I know nothing about soccer, much less soccer cleats, but it got me out of the office. After successfully getting cleats (she wouldn't get the gold ones...I can't imagine why) we decided on Chik-fil-A. I order the grilled chicken sandwich on a wheat bun with a fruit cup instead of fries. What is on the tray the put in front of me? grilled chicken sandwich and fries. Clearly the Chik-fil-A people hate me. I'm good, I tell the girl at the register (who isn't the person that brought the tray) that I ordered the fruit cup. She calls over her shoulder that we needed a fruit cup and not fries. She generously offers to let me have both fries and fruit cup since they are just going to throw the fries away. I say ok, I was going to steal one of Rach's anyway, so I decided to let skinny little Rach eat all of her fries :) In one of my more proud moments, I eat the fruit cup, then the sandwich, and then exactly 4 fries. Of course I chose the 4 largest fries, but I ate only 4 fries, so that counts right?

I go to the gym with LAT. I tell him that under no circumstances will I do a repeat of last week since I couldn't walk for 2 days. He thinks I'm kidding, he quickly realizes I'm serious when I refuse to do squats. Thankfully we compromise and I think he begins to understand what seems most natural to my body - dance moves, not anything to "sporty". I stop myself before anything gets to the point of excruciating...I learned my lesson last week...LAT will let me kill myself if I don't stop first.

I leave the gym feeling proud that I stuck with it even though I wanted to murder LAT last week. I even plan to go back on Wednesday as scheduled. To be continued...

I knew it! 1/21

I have waited to write this on purpose to absolutely prove that my trainer deserves a lashing tomorrow.

I went to the gym Friday night, after working until 6 (how's that for dedication?). I did 30 minutes on the bike, crunches for as many as I could bear, and then long enough on the elliptical to burn as many calories as I did on the bike (far less time, but I figured that was a fair amount of time). I left feeling rather proud of myself and felt that was a decent workout.

I woke up Saturday - NOT sore! Went walking with my mom and aunt again and did some stuff on my aunt's machine. It's one of those all in one things where you just sit there but can do a million different things with the weights. I think I love it! Woke up Sunday - NOT sore...well a tiny bit from the machine stuff, but NOTHING like last week. We're going walking again today.

I'm going to rip my trainer's head off tomorrow and tell him what I want him to show me.
I'm dedicated enough that I don't need him to kick my ass. Especially since that meant he crippled me for 2 days last week and I had to work out all weekend. I'd much rather take the weekends off and work out all week. I think I'm going to cancel my second session this week and make it for a few weeks from now in the event I start slacking.

Everyone keeps asking me how much weight I've lost and I don't know because I'm not weighing myself. I weighed 208 when I got weighed at the gym a few weeks ago and no one could believe I weighed that much. I just care about how I look and how I feel. I have noticed my pants being a little loose despite Will washing them, so I'll take that as a sign of progress.

Update 1/17

2 days after the hour from hell with LAT and I still can't hardly move. I feel excruciating pain in my quads whenever I put any weight on them and force them to flex. In other words, if I'm sitting on my butt I feel fine. Definitely NOT what I was looking for.

I'm going to do crunches and some pilates stuff during the commercials of American Idol tonight. I bowl tomorrow night (hopefully I can...you do need your legs to bowl). Hopefully I am able to work out on Friday.

Trainer - Session 2 1/15

First, I'd like to thank Bianka and McDonalds for helping me get home tonight without slipping towards the light. Were it not for Bianka's conversation and bottled Dasani and a Fruit and Walnut Salad, I'd probably be slumped over on the side of the 91 wondering if my heart was ever going to stop pounding or if I'd ever stop gasping for breath. Does that give you any idea how Session 2 went?

Session 1 and my dedication over the last week lured me into a false sense of security. I'd survived walk #2 with mom without feeling that I would die so I thought I was adequately prepared for Session 2. I even made the mistake of telling my Asian, football playing trainer that I wanted to hurt tomorrow. Apparently, he thought that meant that he should work me until I was hurting TONIGHT! I'm stubborn, everyone knows that. I absolutely refuse to fail. I always go above and beyond the minimum expectation - tonight I underachieved.

On the agenda after a little warm up was basic push ups, lunges, and various other exercises involving nothing more than a pair of 5 lb dumbbells. Sounds easy enough right? WRONG!! The # of reps was FAR greater than the cute little numbers that were on my "workout plan". I remember seeing the #12, I suffered through the first set of 20 reps. I was granted a water break...when I returned I think Little Asian Trainer was a bit concerned that he might kill the obese 25 year old so he shorted the reps to 12. I think I made it half way thru each of the components. I rocked the crunches (never would have guessed that one - have you seen my stomach?!), rowing, and curls while standing on one foot. I about died doing the pushups, mountain climber, and evil hold where I was in the guy version of a pushup but not moving, just holding. I was granted water break #2. Set 3 was a disaster, LAT sort of gave up on me and gave me a smaller set when I would collapse. I think he seriously thought I was going to pass out because he kept asking me if I was okay every 10 seconds - that was ANNOYING!!!

In true Jenn fashion, I didn't cry. I thought about the cruel injustice of having to watch my fat jiggle in the mirror as I did jumping lunges (no I will not demonstrate!) and pondered whether I would, in fact, get black eyes from my boobs (that must have been the reason LAT stayed a safe distance off to the side). Finally we were done trying to make my body do things that inched me closer to death by the second and went downstairs to the bikes. I say downstairs while thinking to myself "THANK GOD IT'S DOWN AND NOT UP!". As it was, I had to hold on the to railing so as not to tumble down the stairs.

Interval training. I've been riding the bike for 20-30 minutes almost every time I've gone to the gym. LAT wanted me to ride for 20 minutes while varying my speed and resistance while trying to keep my heart rate low enough so that I wouldn't have a heart attack. I last approximately 4 minutes before a massive cramp took over my right quadricep. The very same quadricep he had observed last week that was attached to my hip with a very short/tight ligament (or something like that - hey I haven't taken anatomy yet). I stopped. LAT made me stretch. Then he said we were done. I felt that I had failed. He repeatedly suggested that I get a bottle of water on my way home and eat a good dinner when I got there so that my body could recover.

Feeling like a cripple I staggered back to the locker room to get my stuff. I stumbled to my car, cursing the fact that it was approximately 50 degrees outside and that I had had to park almost in front of Lowes because the gym was so crowded with all of the new years resolution band wagon jumpers. Two things: 1) For those of you who have never gone to 24HF in Anahem/Fullerton, it's off of Lemon and the 91(northeast side) - check out the distance between 24HF and Lowes and you'll feel my pain 2) I realize that I technically fall under the NYR band wagon jumper category, however...much like the January 2 years ago when I stopped drinking soda pretty much permanently, it's a lifestyle change, not a NYR. When all of the other schmucks stop going, I'm going to continue working out and eating better. But I digress...

I went to McDonalds after stumbling to my car (drive-thru of course) and ordered 2 bottles of Dasani and a Fruit and Walnut salad. Why is it that the McDonalds in the EXACT same parking lot as 24 Hour Fitness has two of the largest people I've ever seen actually employed working the drive thru? There's got to be some sort of correlation there. I'm not being mean, it's just that I swear 24HF had to plant them there to make people feel guilty enough to join the gym. One day when I'm skinny, I'm going to sit in the parking lot right in front of the front door of 24HF and eat a Big Mac. Until then, I will continue to allow LAT to torment me (I'm going again next Monday - I'm a glutton for punishment - this is not anything new), I will enjoy my new favorite item at McDonalds, and resist the urge to surrender when I can't get out of bed tomorrow morning.

If the pain I'm in right now is any indication, I 100% understand why Rach's sister, Kim, had exactly 1 session with a personal trainer. As I was pulling into my driveway after my hour long drive home, I thought, "I don't feel so bad, I was just being a wimp. I should have sucked it up and done more." Then I opened my car door and got out and about fell on the garage floor. I contemplated leaving everything in the car and crawling to the door and down my long hallway to my couch, but I didn't want to make my loving husband (who was already cooking me dinner) to have to go back out into the refrigerated garage to clean out my car. I grabbed my stuff, fell through the door, about fell onto my stupid cat, and stumbled to the couch where Will promptly brought me dinner and my laptop to document the experience. I LOVE HIM!!!!

Week 1 1/8

I went to 24 Hour Fitness and got a membership January 2nd (last Tuesday) like probably thousands of other Americans. The strain of having to do calculations in my head to ensure I was getting the best deal was enough exercise for one day, so I went home. I wasn't actually prepared to work out that day :) Besides, my 5 sessions with a personal trainer were going to kick my butt into shape and I still had a week before my first session.

Wednesday, I go to the gym for day #1...25 minutes and 5 miles on the stationary bike later, I'm feeling confident that I can do this.

Thursday is bowling and Friday is the day from hell at work, so no gym. I've been eating less in an effort to shrink my stomach so I'm not starving all the time when the trainer gives me my meal plan.

Matt's joining me in the effort to lose weight (could be because I -affectionately- refer to him as "Tubby") and has become one of my "food nazis". Judy Hsu is my other "food nazi". She did such a good job making Janine feel guilty that I know she'll always tell me not to eat whatever it is I'm asking if I can eat. :)

I'm doing pretty well until Friday at about 5:30. I'm still at work as are Les and Matt. At that point I was willing to kill for a Miguel's Jr. bean and cheese burrito! If you've never had a MJB&CB you are missing out. I ask my food nazi what I can eat at Jack in the box on my way home since I know there's no way in hell I'm going to make it all the way home without eating. I know that the only way to prevent myself from eating at Miguel's is to eat before I get to Corona. My food nazi and Les confirm that a taco at JITB isn't that bad for you...who knew?!
At 6:30, I'm dying!!! I'm STARVING and I NEED FOOD!!! Matt says that he'll go make us chicken breasts for dinner. Desparate for food I accept the offer for a plain chicken breast cooked in the microwave. He brings it to me piping hot and I'm unable to determine why it's an odd texture until I'm almost finished devouring it. What I originally thought was a result of microwaving the piece of meat, was actually the result of it being some weird protein or soy concoction. I was so hungry I didn't even care (SO not like me!) I leave work around 7:15 and go to JITB to get my tacos...HEAVEN!!!

Saturday, my mom and aunt suggest that I go walking with them instead of going to the gym. I figure "what the heck? why not? I'm planning on taking it fairly slow until I meet with the trainer. OMG I THINK MY MOM AND AUNT WERE TRYING TO KILL ME!!! My mom is 52, my aunt 46. I've walked with them before and was able to run circles around them. Then we start off on their daily walk (they have been walking daily since last April) and I suspect this might be more difficult than anticipated when mom won't commit to the duration and she mentions she takes 2-3 breaks while my aunt circles the end of the cul-de-sacs. I begin to get winded somewhere around mile 2...I figure we're almost done so it's good timing. Then...we take a turn and continue walking. I refuse to complain since these are old women, but I'm huffing and puffing. After 3.5 miles we finally get back to my aunt's house where I collapse, face down, on her living room floor.

Sunday I wake up not wanting to move. Most of the pain is in my ass, not much of a surprise since I sit on it almost constantly. No gym or exercise Sunday.

Monday, my original plan is to just work my upper body since my butt still sort of hurts and tomorrow I meet with the trainer. But I've been eyeing the Dancers Workout Class and it gives me a great excuse to leave work at exactly 5:00 to make it on time. (CJB is in town and I've yet to hear from him directly since he left our office in September). I get to the Mo Val 24HF and spend 15 minutes on the bike warming up before the class. The class is only 30 minutes long...how bad can it be? (I used to suffer through 8+ hours of ballet in my Color Guard days.) I'm dying throughout the class. All of the muscles that have been on vacation for the last 8 years were screaming at me throughout the class. IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME and I will definitely go back, but I'm already sore and I don't meet the trainer until tomorrow...wish me luck!

I will lose my Staples weight 1/8

Whenever someone new starts at Staples, I GUARANTEE that they will gain 10 pounds within their first year. I'm pretty sure that I haven't been wrong. Those that have insisted they wouldn't EVER let it happen, later tell me that they gained 15. We aren't a bunch of fat asses, we just work insanely long hours and use our lunch hour to get out of the office and vent...usually at a fast food or sit down restaurant. In addition, we keep a nice stash of snacks in our desks in the event that we are unable to leave because of some unforeseen office supply crisis. Then there are those of us that are stress eaters. Fatty snacks last much longer and satisfy the continual need to shove food into one's face when stressed (chips, candy, caramel corn, baked goods etc.)

I've worked at Staples since 1999. The first 2 years were spent running around a retail store, so I managed to only gain about 10 pounds total during that time, despite the fact that I lived pretty much entirely on fast food as I went from working full time during the day, immediately to CSUF all night (also a full time student). Then I transferred to SBA...and the fat fest began!!! Since then I've averaged a gain of about 10 pounds a year...

I decided over Thanksgiving weekend to scan all of the old photos of my mom, sister, and I and compile them into a slideshow DVD for my mom (and me, but I get to designate it as a gift for the woman who has everything). I came across the photo that is in my photos that is clearly of a smaller and very fit me. I spent December rather depressed over my girth. I tend to be fairly good at "new year's resolutions" because I consider them lifestyle changes (I gave up soda two years ago), so I decided to join a gym in January, and thus begins this series of blogs...