Yummy Day and My Suprise!

I get up this morning, looking forward to my GM, but can't find the blender. Open the fridge, and this is what I see:



Uh oh... Logan slept in? Nope, he was up coughing all night, and purposefully slept in. Poor dude.

But this means poor me, too! My tastebuds were all set for a Green Monster! Ah well, oatmeal with craisins and almonds will have to do. Total Calories: 334

I read somewhere recently that cooked spinach has WAY more calcium than raw. So lunch today was a shredded chicken breast and 3oz of steamed spinach. Total Calories: 161

Snack was the Tofurky/cheese combo again, because MAN is it good! In the car on the way out to Surrey I had a Pistachio Larabar. Meh. Not a ten. It won't be on my list of must haves. Total Snack Calories: 390

I got home late because of a four ferry wait at Albion. And of course my people were sitting blinking at me, wondering if they should cook, or if I'd freak out because I had plans. They really are damned if they do and damned if they don't when I'm running late. LOL

Sushi soothes the savage cranky pms-ey beast, I tells ya. Oh, and the GREAT news? I got Steve to actually try it, and he LIKED it. Which I totally knew he would. He's just been a big giant penis about the whole thing. This means family outings (sans Doug, who hates sushi... but I'd be able to find him yummy good stuff that isn't seafood) to Japanese restaurants!!

Oh, and Total Calories: 595

The scale this morning was ever so kind. It's down to 151.6lbs. Still high, but it was obviously mostly sodium/alcohol weight on Monday morning. Whatever, it was a HELL of a wakeup call. Slapped me back into place, I tell ya.




My girlfriend Tracy was teasing me on Facebook, telling me she had something for me. YEAH she did. Check THIS out:

Do you know what that is? It's:

That's right, folks, it's POLE DANCING IN A TUBE!!! I'm so fucking STOKED. I own a POLE!!!! I'm gonna dance and daaaaance! Steve is excited, but little does he know, I'm not doing it for him. I'm doing it for ME. Cuz I think it's FUN!!

How cool is that, huh? How many people do YOU know that have their own stripper pole??

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Life is good... as is the food!

Oh, what a good eating day it has been. I'm green all the way! Starting with a Green Monster. Today's was a repeat of yesterday, so feel free to scroll on down for a list of ingredients. I probably will do the same one again tomorrow, but I've got to put something sweet in it. Maybe a half a kiwi. Stay tuned.

Breakfast of Champions. Total Calories: 257



Lunch today was courtesy of the new aisle in our SuperStore. A Guiltless Gourmet Mediterranean spinach wrap. A vegetarion wrap stuffed with tomatoes, spinach, mozza and feta. Deelish!! I served it up with some carrots. Total Calories: 322



Look what else that aisle had! I had to buy it. Steve is always joking about Tofurky.

Mom left Armstrong Old Cheddar stix in my fridge, and I reaaaally wanted to eat them. So I thought "huh, good snack idea?". Why yes it was!

Check this out! This is seriously the shit! I took that stick and cut it into four. Wrapped those badboys into rollemups. Wow! Intense!! I loved the flavour AND the texture!! I will definately be buying and eating this combo again. Total Calories: 180 Add to that my Larabar from my previous post, and total snack calories come to: 390

Dinner. Man, I love dinner. Tonight is skinless chicken thighs, fingerling potatoes with yogurt & chives, and a caesar salad with craisins. Total Calories: 456

I went for a walk today, and that's about it. But you know what? I'm okay with that. I'm eating within my caloric budget, and I did get out for 45 minutes of moving. I had two workouts yesterday. The point is to have a caloric deficit overall, which I do, which should result in a weight loss. Woot!

Tonight I am popping out to a girlfriends. She has a present for me. I can't wait to see it!!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

I Apologize

I owe the blogging world a big fat apology. Why? Because I judged you. Yes, I did.

*hangs head in shame*

I secretly mocked and ridiculed those that I thought were eating crap snacks. What crap snacks, you ask? Larabars.

I. Had. No. Idea.

OMG, these are a perfect snack!! Today I ate the Lemon Bar, which is one that has more ingredients than some of the other Larabars. I'll list them for you: Dates, Cashews, Almonds, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Natural Lemon Flavours. Yeah, that's it.




I thought these were granola bars. I finally found a store that had them on cheap, and decided to pick one up and read it. I just about fell over! I eat the Weil bars (which are twice the price) and scoffed at these?? That's ridiculous. I mean look at this pic... that is an almond sticking out of that lemony goodness!!



These are a seriously good snack. And healthy. And I apologize to the blogging community. I mocked. I judged. And I was wrong.

Thanks for listening,

Dee

The Road to Hell is Paved With...

Doughnuts. More specifically, apple fritters. From Tim Horton's. Damn my oldest son who brought that into my home and forced me to inhale one, screaming internally the entire time. (yeah, like it's HIS fault I'm a food addict. pffft)

The good news is that I'm still well within my caloric budget for weight loss for the day.

I actually did pretty good all day, except for that frittery moment (which was a total 10, btw, which is the only reason I ate the WHOLE thing instead of the bite I was going to).

Breakfast was a Green Monster with vitamins. Today's had 1/4 cup each of milk, almond breeze and plain yogurt, a half a very ripe banana, vanilla, 50grams of tofu, and a tablespoon of flax, whipped up with a good handful of spinach. Total Calories: 257



Lunch I was indecisive, since I haven't gone shopping yet. So I raided the cupboards and came up with this bowl. It has couscous, fried tofu, mushrooms, tomatos and Frank's hot sauce. Total Calories: 237

Snack was the stupid fritter first, then, after my workout and during grocery shopping I got stupid hungry, so I ate a Larabar. Total Calories: 500 (wow)

Dinner is YUM! I picked up a rotisserie chicken and a bag o spinach. I have here three ounces of spinach, smeared with a tablespoon of mom's caesar dressing (wicked good), with a half a chicken breast, a quarter cup craisins, and a garlic cheese flax toast slice. Total Calories: 581

And here is a pic of my mummy's new puppy!

She wouldn't cooperate at all, lol.

I've done really well with workouts today. I did a Denise Austin Dance DVD earlier, which was an hour long, and tonight we are going to the track to run. Ooo, that's cool! Because I just realized that I'm all in the green on NutriMirror WITHOUT the running!! So I'm doing even BETTER than I thought!!

Go me!!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Scary

156.2

That is the number on the scale this morning. I gave myself a food vacation from Wednesday to Sunday. I didn't work out. I drank. I ate chips. I ate caesar salad. I ate ridiculous portions.

I feel like shit. I've been in a food hangover for days. I feel like my body is full of toxins. My clothes are tight. My muffin top is so pronounced that I cannot wear 2/3 of my wardrobe.

I feel fat.

What is scary is how QUICKLY that weight comes back on. This is why it's so easy to get fat again. This is why the statistics are what they are. Holy fuck! I keep saying I don't want to be a statistic. But yet, my scale is at 156.2 this morning!! Let's hope some of that is sodium.

So I can bitch or whine, but bottom line is "what are you going to do about it".

I am going to reduce my calories to 1200 a day (that's a deficit of 3-500 calories). I am going to add back in my daily workouts (I had excuses and reasons all last week and did NONE) Monday to Thursday, with or without Michelle. I am going to add in another two workouts this week. I am going to go grocery shopping and stock up on healthy nutritious CLEAN foods. I am going to cut out bread products for this week. I will snack on carroty goodness. I will throw out all crap in the fridge that I was planning on incorporating into my meals so as not to waste them. (someone said once to me "you spent the same $$ whether you eat it or not")

I am going to dance. Whenever possible. I am going to shimmy and shake and get my groove thang on and burn every extra calorie I can. I am going to work my ass off... or on. I have no ass. I have to work to have one. But I will work this stomach off!

I will NOT be a statistic. I can't. I can't for ME. I refuse to give up being sexy AGAIN. I am happy as a thinner, healthier, sexier woman of 40 than I was as a dumpy, fat, no-one-looks-twice-at 30 year old.

GAME ON!!!


Thanks for listening,

Dee

Awesome Cool!

I got this email today:

Hi Dee

I know you have already heard from our company, but I also wanted to thank you for your wonderful feedback about our Pro Plus yogurt. It is so nice to hear such positive comments! We all enjoyed reading your blog, and I personally agree with you - the Pro Plus is fantastic, and my favorite is the Vanilla Green Apple. Thank you for taking the time to let us know how much you enjoy the yogurt.

Your blog is very interesting and you show a lot of humour. Congratulations on your weight loss - you look amazing! I would be happy to send you a coupon for some complimentary Pro Plus if you would like to reply with your address, to show our appreciation for your support of Island Farms.

Best regards,

Jenny Matechuk

Marketing & Events Coordinator
Island Farms - Agropur

Okay, how amazed and impressed am I? Nothing excites me more than hearing from companies that you write to. I absolutely love that Jenny took the time to respond when she really didn't have to! They had already written to me, thanking me for my comments.

If I didn't love them and their products already, I would now!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

The Key To Balance...

The key to balance when you are in the midst of what you realize will be a three day binge is eating really light and healthy when you can. I know my lunch and dinner today will be astronomically expensive, caloric budgetary wise (ooo, new phrase!!), so for breakfast it was yogurt, banana, dark chocolate chips and flax granola. Tomorrow is going to be oodles and oodles of wine and yummy foods, so where I can, I will eat sensibly. Will I work out? Probably not. But I will encourage dancing if possible at the party I'm going to.

I may be absent for a couple of days... the next while is an insane time of busy busy busy and eat eat eat.

But never fear... I will return!!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Oh, the SAAAAAAAD!!!

I think my camera may be pooched. *sob*

It's old. It's decrepit. It takes horrid yellow pictures of anything close, and horrid fuzzy pictures of anything far. But it's all I have!

It chews through batteries like nothing. I have to replace them at least every day, sometimes twice a day. And the only pics I take are the ones you see on here! Today the batteries won't work at all. I put fresh charged ones in and it is still telling me to replace them.

Let's hope it's the batteries. Mind you, it's almost as freakin expensive to buy new rechargable batteries as it is to buy a new camera these days.

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Lose. LOSE!!

Dammit, people... you want to LOSE weight, not LOOSE weight.

Think of it this way... you only want to lose it once. So one O.

Rant over.

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Tuesday's Musings

I sad... a little. Michelle and I aren't working out together until Thursday. She thinks Wednesday, but I have to pick up Mummy from the ferry. Still need to tell Michelle that. I find I work out way harder with her there. It's not a competition, but I feel like I have to keep up and then some. Girl can move!!!

Today instead of feeling sorry for myself (she works a late shift), I did an hour of yoga. That fat burning dvd I bought at Value Village. It's an hour workout which is awesome. Doesn't raise the heartrate, so doesn't burn a swack of calories, but man does it make my body feel amazing. Then I shook my groove thang to country music for a half hour to get the heart rate up.

This all left me HONGRY for dinner. But wait... let's start at the beginning, shall we?

First off, I woke up to this bit of gardeny goodness:



I growed it!! From a sketti squash I eated, too!!!! Woot!!

What suprised me was how far it had grown by dinnertime. The first pic is at 8am, this second is at 6pm. Holy super growth!! Kinda looks like that talking hungry plant in that movie... I know what I mean.



Okay, food! Breakfast was old faithful. Yes, I enjoy smoothies, green monsters, etc. But I always end up back at oatmeal. I just love this stuff. In the pot was 1/3 cup each of water, porridge and almond breeze, 1 squirt vanilla, and a 1/4 cup craisins. On top was 1T each of almonds and choco chips. Swoon!

Lunch was leftover chicken meat warmed up over spinach with a tablespoon of caesar w/bacon dressing. I love that shit. A half a tomato and a tablespoon of craisins provide the vitamin C for this meal.

Snack was two oatmeal raisin cookies I forgot to take a pic of. *hangs head* But the calories are accounted for and I'm within budget. *leaps for joy*

Dinner came and I was STARVING. A bit of a mishmosh. That's a veggie burger from M&M's on a Dempster's bun (the bun is only 110 calories! zero nutrition, but still!) with a sploosh of sweet chili sauce. Broccoli and a kelp leaf were the veggies. Steamed. Kelp is gross. Gotta tell ya. Bitter. I ate it anyways, cuz it's good for me. That white unidentifiable thing? Yeah, that's called a Rice Roll. Mom suggested it when we were in the asian market. I won't be buying this again. It's entirely flavourless so you have to coat the crap out of it with soy sauce (read: sodium). It tastes... white. Those of you who have been on this journey for a while will understand what I mean by that. Just not worth it to me.

Mind you, I may have overcooked it. I'm going to try it again and see. Nothing like the ol' college try, right? Maybe I can find a less sodium filled way to flavour it. We'll see. I have another 300 grams of it. Which is about two servings.

So that's it for tonight. Not sure that I can have popcorn tonight. I don't really have it in the calorie budget, but I've been jonesing for it. I have a hard time breaking rituals. Tuesday is popcorn day END OF DISCUSSION. *sigh* I miss Biggest Loser. *sigh* I miss popcorn. *sigh* I miss family night. Anyone hear when the next season starts?

*ducks out to check NBC.com*

Gah! It just says "this fall".

Well, off I go... to... sit on my couch? Yeah! I got my new Women's Health in the mail today. Time for some reading.

Love to all!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Crappy Eating Hangover

Ooooof. It started... well, I guess Saturday morning at Denny's. I had a breakfast burrito, but it wasn't a terrible choice. It was filled with scrambled eggs, avocado and salsa. It was delish. The only reason I say it's probably not a good choice is because I have no idea what they put in their eggs. As in how much butter. They are light, fluffy, moist and delicious. I'm thinking a couple tablespoons of butter at least. I ate half the chunky hashbrowns and then sabotaged them so I wouldn't eat more. I laughed at my husband who just stared in horror as I doused them in ketchup then pouuuured the salt on. But I knew I would pick at them until she took the plate away if I didn't.

Saturday night I indulged in Greek food. I did eat a lot, but it was all home made. So I knew that it wasn't unhealthy. I just ate a LOT. There were a lot of veggies, though. It was more the entire bottle of wine that made up the most of my caloric intake. However I did walk there and home, which was probably 20 minutes there, and about 40 minutes home. I was drunk so I'm sure there was at least twice the steps, what with the weaving and all.

Sunday started out with McDonald's. I've been craaaaaaaaving McDonald's breakfast so I chose to blow my entire day off. It was a concious choice and I enjoyed it! I had a breakfast burrito, an egg mcmuffin, and I went to StarBucks and had a Venti Skinny Hazelnut Americano Misto. Soooo good. I ate it all on my way out to the airport to pick up my mummy.

After getting her, we hit the Asian marketplace in Richmond. We found a food court FULL of Asian cuisine. Cheap and delicious!! That's the place to go! For five bucks I got a three dish combo, without rice (blowing the day does not include eating or ordering foods I don't want). I had gailan with chicken (steamed, not battered and fried), green beens with squit (steamed, not battered and fried), and honey garlic pork (ridiculously bad for you but omg so good!) with a glass of green tea. Holy crap I was full!

Off we drove to the Tsewwassen Ferry where we met up with Joanne (who is the nicest person!!). Mummy bought me new sunglasses, cuz I had dropped mine (checking my non winning lottery ticket, I might add, that I bought only cuz a bird shit on my head and I had to wash my hair in the Home Depot bathroom sink and every person that came in told me to buy a ticket but booo not only did I not win, I dropped and broke my favourite sunglasses... stupid bird), we had one scoop of gelato (banana caramel, mmmmmmmmm) and I ordered a Venti Decaf Skinny Caramel Iced Americano Misto for my drive home.

I get home and did I feel like cooking? No. However, Steve has been out in the yard doing work ALL day. So I ordered the cheap pizza's from Panago. One pepperoni, one cheese. And I proceeded to eat most of the medium pizza. I wasn't even hungry. At that point it was a "whatever" moment. I recognized and chose to shrug it off.

So suffice it to say, I woke up this morning still feeling like I ate a 12 course meal. Ooof. So a light breakfast is what I am having, just cuz I believe you must eat breakfast. A glass of milk and vitamins, and in a wine glass (cuz it's pretty) I put 1/2 cup plain ff yogurt, 2 strawberries and 1/4 cup flax pumpkin granola.




I had this picture from the other day and I can't remember if I showed it to you or not. This was the BEST lunch. An ounce of herb salad with a tablespoon of Caesar Bacon dressing, and a Crackwrap. The Crackwrap had a cup of my dinner from the other night (chicken, sketti squash, black beans, zucchini, tomatoes) and an ounce of light mozza, and a layer of spinach. Holy crap was it good!




The boy went to Playland on Saturday and had the BEST time. Here is him before he left.

Okay, I'll probably be back later. I'm spending my lunch hour at Value Village today. It's their 50% off sale, and I need summer clothes!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

151???

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

I adjusted my NutriMirror back to losing mode. Dammit. 151lbs is NOT where I want to be. I'm doing something about it now, before five becomes ten, ten becomes twenty, and I'm back in a really bad place. Not happening.

I'm also getting serious about that damn eating until satisfied thing. I sat and really thought about it this morning and realized that my green monster is HUGE and makes me uncomfortably full. Yes, it is amazing nutrition. Yes, it is full of antioxidants and cancer fighting goodness. But it is making me too full! I think it's the tofu. 50 grams of tofu is a lot of protien. I think when it was just milk, yogurt and fruit 2 cups was nice, but add tofu into the mix and that two cups is feeling like three.

So half is back in the fridge, and if I need it for a snack later this morning, it's there. If not, it's breaky tomorrow (depending on it's shelf life... I'm not sure).

It's Friday, which means work work work. I work from 9-3, then 4-10. Long day. I usually can't squeeze in a workout, but I'm going to try and do something. Even if it's dancing at my desk. Although my job these days involves lots of typing, which is not condusive to dancing. But I'll do the best I can to move my butt!

I've set my weight goal for 145 by July 5th. See you back on the skinny side!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

I had an absolutely amazing night last night! Why was it so amazing? Because I had TWO very serious offers. TWO. Luckily, I absolutely adore my husband and would never do that to him. However, I have to tell you... it's nice to be attractive!

Here's a pic of my DIL and I before heading out to the bar together. Can you guess what kind of a bar it was? LOLOL!! I tell ya, I am such a chamileon. I'm either pure rocker, or pure country, depending on the setting.



This morning was ROUGH. I crawled into bed at 3:30, and was up at 8:00. I'm pretty sure I was still a little drunk... because the hangover kicked in around 10 this morning. Booo. My tummy sloshed my green monster around, repeating it on me, telling me it was not happy with this healthy shit.

You know how you just crave grease when hung over? I wonder why that is. This was the absolute opposite of grease.

Today's Green Monster

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup almond breeze

vanilla

1 T ground flax

1 T oat bran

50 g tofu

1/4 cup ff plain yogurt

1 kiwi

3 strawberries

70 g kale

For lunch I kinda sorta caved. I made a sprouted grain tortilla wrap. In it is tofu and mozza. Then I paninied that badboy. Oh yeah. Life is good.

I will be working out today. The scale said 147 this morning, but I didn't record it. It is most likely dehydration from the alcohol. I did dance a bit last night. And I did Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred yesterday. Today will be hurtin, but I'm up for whatever Michelle throws at me. I think. Wish me luck.

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Obsessions

I had a lovely email from my sister, slapping me for my shoot me. She worries about me, in an eating disorder way. I won't print it out here, because anyone that doesn't know us could take it as abusive, when in absolute reality it's not. But the written word, when you don't "hear" the tone, well, I'm not prepared to throw her under the bus. Suffice it to say... she's concerned that 150 is my shoot me, and things that's a little obsessive.

My response was this:

Listen, the only reason it's my shoot me, is because, quite frankly, losing weight is hard and it sucks. And I don't want to have to do it again. So the solution? Don't PUT 20 pounds on. Anything more than five pounds and I'm back in weightloss needing territory. Don't WANNA.

Am I obsessed? With getting skinny, no. With getting fat, yes. Oh well.

I'd never hate you because of your opinion. I may hate the opinion, but never the person. S'all good.

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Feeling Reflective

No reason. I'm not really "in a slump". I'm watching my intake, mostley. I'm excercising ferociously. But I'm up to 150 pounds still and it's bugging me. I keep having to look in the mirror to see if that fat bitch is back, because sometimes it feels like it.

You ever have a day where you swear you wake up in the morning and all the weight is back on? Maybe you had a binge the day before and your tummy is upset. Maybe you have been off the wagon for a day or two. Doesn't it feel like you have undone ALL the good you did?

I hate that feeling. On those days I look in the mirror and I don't see 60lbs gone. I see 5lbs back. My eye zooms into all the trouble spots that I can igore most days. I purposefully turn sideways to see that my stomach is not concave.

My stomach has never been concave. It never will be. Not with all the excess tummy skin I own. And I accept that. Most days. But some days? Not so much.

Now, when I feel this way, I have two choices. I can drown my sorrow in a cheeseburger, or I can plug in and excercise dvd and work it out. I choose to work it out. Why? Because I abso-fucking-lutely refuse to be fat ever again.

We all define fat differently. There was a time in my life when 200 was my shoot me. You know, the weight where you say to your best friend "if I ever hit 200lbs, shoot me"? Yeah, 200 was mine. 200!! I'm 5' freakin 2"!! 200 was a ridiculous number.

Now my shoot me is 150. And apparently I needed to be shot this morning.

It got me thinking. Why have I been waffling around the 150 mark for a couple of weeks? Why am I content with being discontent?? I got down to 144 at my lowest and was over the moon happy. But I'm struggling to get back down there... okay, that's a lie. I'm complacent about getting back down there. I can do it if I really put the effort in, but instead I'm wobbling around in "good enough". I think to myself "at least I'm not back at the beginning" and think that's okay.

It's not okay! Complacency at anything higher than a "happy weight" is a fucking lie to yourself. It's settling. It's being not worth it. It's saying "I'm not good enough to deserve this". It's a fucking joke, and I need to fucking stop it!!

I rock maintenance. Today I'm rocking it at 150. I don't WANT to rock it at 150. I want to rock it at 145 or lower. That's my reality.

Now I just need to shut the fuck up and do it.

*stares hard in the mirror*

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Busy Busy Busy!

It's a two cup o' coffee day today, lemme tell ya!

I work my one job from 9-noon. Then I have a lunch date with some of my lovely ladies. Then back here to work one of my other jobs from 1-3pm. An hour off (workout?) and I have a training conference call on another new job that I'm managing. Make dinner, eat, and get ready to go out dancing tonight for my friends sons birthday.

Phew!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Dammit!

I'm gonna eat popcorn, BL or no BL.

I just did a killer workout where I did a 44 minute CRUNCH DVD called Cardio Go-Go. So you can imagine how active it was, lol. Then I went to the track and ran around it twice (I had to go pick up my makeup bag from my friends mom so while I was out I thought "what the hell). I did another ten minutes of calisthenics, including dodging back and forth under a handrail and coming up punching. That's a tough workout!! And I did steps and back lunges from a high step.

Now I'm done and I have earned me some popcorn, yes I have!!

Side Note: I had one full tablespoon of full fat caesar with bacon salad dressing for lunch. I came in my mouth a little bit, gotta tell ya.

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Haircut!

I had about five inches taken off the back. It feels so light and healthy! And I can put it up in a pony still.

Forgive the lack o makeup. I forgot it at my girlfriends house and am still needing to go get it.

Thanks for listening,

Dee

I sad.

There's no Biggest Loser tonight.

Oh the sad!

Thanks for listening,

Dee

Sports Injuries for Dummies - by Magda

Hello, and happy Sunday!

I'm sure you have seen the witty (aka: sarcastic) running commentary on this site by Magda. Magda is my sister. She lives in a land far far away, and therefore feels free to be a complete smartass with no fear of being actually smacked. I'm sure this works well for her. LOL

A while back Magda made a comment about athletic tape, and was rather aghast that I was not familiar with this apparently wonderous thing. Well, after being kinda pissy for feeling like I was missing out on cool shit that I should supposedly know, I got to thinking... how DO people know this shit? How do they figure out what to do when they are just starting out in the athletic world? You know how there is just "common knowledge" when it comes to ANY topic? Well, how does it become common knowledge?? SOMEONE must tell people this stuff.

Well, I happen to have a wonderous source of information, even if she IS a sarcastic wench. Luckily, she's one of the cutest sarcastic wenches on the planet. And she's MY sarcastic wench... so I might as well take complete and total advantage of that, right? RIGHT? Right!

So, after the athletic tape conversation, I asked Magda to be a guest blogger for me, and tell all of us about "you know, sports injuries for dummies type stuff". Yeah.... I had no idea that I was sending her into a tizzy. LOL Apparently this is a crazy huge topic with no actual beginning or ending.

But in true Magda form, she came through! She was out running (yep, she's one of THOSE) and decided on how she was going to do this thing. And what she decided was to do blurbs, which I can insert on my blog as her guest blog spot.

So without further ado, I present Magda's Words of Wisdom (gleaned from years of experience/trial & error):

Topic: Muscle Cramping

Most people who have worked out, especially if you go hard have experienced some kind of muscle spasming or cramping. It can range from odd feeling to down right crushingly painful.
There are several things that you can do about these things, which btw, are perfectly normal.

First of all, stretching before and after you do pretty much anything can not only prevent injuries and painful cramps but it actually helps you get in and stay in better shape. So you should always remember to stretch the muscles that you will be using or have used, this helps prevent the build up of lactic acid in your muscles. This will minimize general stiffness and soreness.

Another little pearl of workout wisdom that I thought of while I was running, is about bananas. Bananas you say? Yup.. Bananas. Now this falls under the category of I assume everyone knows this, but I often think everyone knows about these things and I'm frequently wrong :P. The whole banana business crossed my mind while I was running today, one of my muscles started to cramp and I though.. shit.. I need to buy some bananas when I get home. See the potassium in bananas is like magic, it stops and prevents your muscles from freaking out. The other major causes of cramping are dehydration and possibly calcium deficiency. But 9 times out of 10 a Banana does the trick.. plus they have the added bonus of being yummy.

I am giving everyone the benefit of the doubt that you all know to drink at least a liter or two of water a day (dehydration is the main cause of headaches). The whole banana thing is great for all kinds of muscle cramping, exercise related or not.

Thanks, Magda!

Dee