What’s Hot on My iPod

I’m happy to report than this week has been going very well. Eating well, and getting in my workouts: last night was Slimmons, the night before was upper body weights, and on Sunday, good ol’ cardio. I hope to take a Powerwave Battle Ropes class tonight, but I’ll be on a waiting list to get in, and it’ll depend on how many people show up (so send your good group fitness class vibes my way, por favor!)

I know I’m not alone when I say that music really helps push me through my workouts. My iPod and earbuds are at the top of my workout necessity list (along with water and heart rate monitor).

It’s been a while since I’ve shared the songs that keep me moving, and I’ve been loving my workout playlist lately, so… here are some of my favorites!

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GET LOST… In a Maze!

This is an exciting post for me to write, because I get to share something that I’ve devoted a lot of effort to in recent months: I’ve started a business! 

About two years ago, I blogged about how having a hobby is an important tool in my healthy living arsenal. Doing something productive during my downtime helps curb cravings and engage my mind. I can’t tell you how many times, while relaxing in front of the TV, I’ve thought about all the junk food I wanted to eat right now, and how many times I acted on that urge. But once I added a hobby into the mix – something that required a little focus – Voila! Those urges went away. For me, that hobby is drawing mazes. Mazes like this one:

I once planned to

No More Blog Posts This Week? That Was A LIE!

Remember how I suggested that my last post would be the final one of this week? I LIED! This week has turned around nicely from a crappy one to exactly the opposite, and I wanted to chronicle that change properly.

There are a couple reasons that contributed to the turnaround:

My Anniversary Tutu!

It’s my anniversary! Four years ago this week, I accepted Richard Simmons’ offer to help me lose weight. He asked me to come to my second exercise class at Slimmons and meet with him afterwards, at his house in the Hollywood Hills. And I did. There, we talked about my weight (I was 402 pounds) and the health problems I might face if I didn’t take action. Richard asked me to start logging everything I ate and drank, and I began emailing him those lists. And that’s how it all began. Here’s Richard and me from 2010:

And here’s me and Richard from last night – 4 years later!

I Wish I Could Stop

Isn’t depression the best? I was first diagnosed with major depressive disorder after a scary hospitalization when I was a teenager, and depression has been a visitor that I suspect will come  a-knockin’ every so often for the rest of my life.

Depression has been a recent house guest. I’m getting over a funk that I’ve been in for the past couple weeks. It might be some post-holiday blues, perhaps, and it could be related to the bruised or cracked rib that I’ve been healing from. Whatever the cause, it held on to me for a good solid two weeks, and it planted a thought in my head that got stuck there. I kept on thinking these five words over and over again, like a song you can’t shake:

2013 Year-End Progress Report

Time to close the books on 2013! Because I’m a big nerd, I log all my workouts in my calendar. I notate how long I exercised and what I did. This easily allows me to keep track of how many workouts I’ve done in a given week, and reminds me of which workout (weights or cardio) I’m due to complete next. Every day that I exercise gets a dot on the calendar. Here’s my December ’13 calendar, which I accidentally photo-bombed with my own toes:

All in all, I worked out 22 times during the 31 days of December, including

A Roasted Vegetable BONANZA!

Remember all those veggies I brought home from the store last week? I used a lot of them over the weekend, and I’m going to show you what I did!

I got invited to a small little get-together to watch the Golden Globes on Sunday. I gladly agreed to contribute a vegetable, side or salad, and I came up with something that serves all those purposes. And it started with roasting a ton of vegetables.

Pictured above are

A Workout For the Record Books

This past Saturday, I did something that I’ve never done before. I’ve never even come close to accomplishing what I did on Saturday. It was a record-shattering workout, in more ways than one!

On Saturday, I completed a six-hour, 15.7-mile urban hike throughout Silver Lake that involved 42 staircases and 4,314 steps. Yes, it was exhausting. Yes, I’m still sore. And yes, it was awesome.

Here’s just one of the staircases – we climbed 42 of these bad boys:

Food, Glorious Food…

…Hot sausage and mustard.  While we’re in the mood,  Cold jelly and custard!

I’m not even a fan of Oliver! and yet that song has been stuck in my head, because I’m just wrapping up a monstrous grocery shopping excursion. I can’t remember the last time I spent so much money on groceries.

And boy, did I need it. My cupboards were bare. My fruit bowl was nearly empty, except for

Nothing Beats a FLAT!

I promised last time that this post was going to be about food, but there’s been a change of plans. And for that I can thank… my flat tire.

The original plan was this: