Ramblings of a Ho

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Off my rear!

After nearly 2 weeks without doing my aerobics tapes, I finally got off my rear and did my "Fat Burning For Dummies" tape. Not to justify why I wasn't exercising, but my horrendous cold for a week and the chronic coughing fits that followed even if I walked briskly kept me away from my workouts. I think the title, "Fat Burning for Dummies" is hilarious, considering back when I was 18 and 19 I was actually a step aerobics and kickboxing instructor (albeit a size 16). I don't know what happened to that person, and I miss her. I feel like I'm slowly but surely bringing her back to life. Sure, it might take 3 years, but at this moment, I am determined to do it. I really love this aerobics tape- it's 45 minutes of low intensity, uncomplicated moves that even I, after 2 years of not exercising, felt good about completing. And it is a lot less boring (IMHO) than the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds tapes.

Tomorrow is my weigh-in for the week. I'm slightly worried about it because I have added about 1 Atkins Advantage Shake per day, and over the week have had 2 Atkins Advantage Smores bars, and 3 Atkins Morning Start bars. I am trying hard to say away from these frankenfoods, but this week at work was really chaotic and I didn't have time to prepare every meal and snack. Next week won't be any better either- I have to go to a tradeshow in Louisville Thurs. and Fri. and I have to prep materials the days before. Hopefully my willpower will stay as high as it has been and get me through the next week.

I have scheduled my hair appointment which is my treat for making my first mini-goal (losing 1/10th of the weight I need to get to my goal). I'm getting highlights as the treat. I'm looking forward to getting a fresh look for spring.

posted by Emily Ho Sandford at 11:44 AM | 0 comment(s)

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Sams Club- my new best friend

So yesterday David and I went to Sams Club. $200 later has never made me so happy! I got tons of frozen meat that should last me a while. They even had the LC bars from Atkins and Powerbar and others. And they also had Carbquick!!! Hooray for Sams!

Work is freakin' insane this week. I feel like I haven't made a dent in my "to do" pile. A co-worker who obviously feels the glass is half full said this "You call it busy, I call it job security."

Well, that's one way to look at it!

posted by Emily Ho Sandford at 6:01 PM | 0 comment(s)

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Another week, another weigh-in

After resisting yesterday's temptation of cake, I hopped on the scale for my weekly weigh-in. To my delight, and surprise, I was down another 4.2 lbs! This made me ever more excited because I added in a few new foods to my diet to give it some variation. There is only so long I can eat beef, chicken, and eggs (I HATE EGGS!)

Among the changes this week:
- I added Atkins Advantage Shakes- tried chocolate and strawberry. The strawberry was awful, but the chocolate wasn't much different than the slim-fast chocolate. I really like the shakes because I never have time or the appetite to eat breakfast in the morning.
- I cut my eggs in half, just because I really can't stomach them anymore.
- I cut my cheese in half, it was upsetting my stomach.
- I added a tiny bit of Fifty50 Peanut Butter. By a tiny bit, I mean I had 2 teaspoons the entire week.
- For Valentine's Day, I had 2 small sugar-free chocolates with almonds.

All in all, I am extremely pleased with my results this far. I have lost a total of 25.2 lbs since my highest weight recorded on 1/1/05. My vacation to the beach is in 3 weeks and I hope to have reached 30 lbs. lost.

I have put my weight progress chart online. It's frightening to see it there, but I have password protected it. If you have the password, you can view my progress, mini-goals, and grocery list. If you want the password, you can email me: emily@emmajoan.com. Although, I'm sure most of you won't find it very exciting, in a weird way I feel having it out there makes me be more accoutnable.

posted by Emily Ho Sandford at 2:02 PM | 0 comment(s)

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Low-carb, shmo-carb...

I guess I've avoided it for a while now... the reason I started this blog is to chronicle my low-carb weight loss journey. Yes, I'll post "normal" things too, but that wasn't the original intent of this all.

I started about 1 month ago on Atkins, which I swore I would never do. I, like everyone else, was sick of hearing low-carb this, low-carb that. One day I woke up thinking, "what other choice do I have? Stomach stapling? Lord no, that's a 1 in 200 chance of dying- I'm not ready to die."
I contemplated doing low-carb (LC) for about a month before I decided to actually just do it. My weight makes it hard to exercise, which is so strange for me, considering I used to teach aerobics. I popped in an aerobics tape and I was huffing and puffing after the warm up. I HAVE to get back to where I was when I taught aerobics and was healthy. I was headed on the path to an early death. I'm only 23 years old, I have time to make a choice about turning my life around. Everything else in my life seems to be going great- why should my weight be the dark spot? I worked too hard to get where I am in life professionally and personally- I'll be damned if my fat is going to dictate my life.

Fat already dictated too much. For example:
- A previously avid traveler, I stopped flying when I learned I would need a seatbelt extention
- A movie freak, I stopped going to the movies with friends when I learned I spill over the arm rest into their space
- A restaurant lover, I stopped going out and switched to carry-out only when I sat in a booth at a restaurant and the host asked if I was going to be okay
- A sports lover, I stopped going to any horse races or events when I found the seats to be a little too snug for comfort and went home with bruises on my hips from the arm rests

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! At the rate I'm going, I'll become the most uninterested, socially inactive person in Kentucky- which is saying something- no offense to the state.

So, tomorrow will be my 4th week weigh in. As of my 3rd weigh in, I'm down 21 lbs. doing Atkins. It has been extremely easy so far. The biggest challenge I've faced so far was tonight, when I went to David's mom's house for a double birthday party. They had chicken and rice casserole, baked beans, and cake. I ate steamed broccoli and picked the chicken off the casserole. That's fine. But the cake? I've never been a fan of cake, but this cake was calling my name. I settled for one small finger of icing. And you know what? I survived.

So, on I go on this low-carb journey. Wish me luck. Maybe you'll see me out and about one of these days :)

posted by Emily Ho Sandford at 9:31 PM | 0 comment(s)

Vacation

Being an advertising person, I tend to pay more attention to the ads than to TV. You know those commercials of bosses saying thanks to their employees because a certain percent of American's don't use their vacation time? I think it's to link to www.iwantmyvacation.com. Anyway- after 6 months of working at my current place of employment, I earned 5 vacation days to use before July. I plan on taking those days by going to visit my mom. Normally, this wouldn't be a vacation b/c I'd be staying with her at my uncle's house and it isn't exactly relaxing, or that fun. So I decided that I'm going to take my mom to Hilton Head. I'm very frustrated at the lack of handicap accessible condos on the island. (Mom is in a wheelchair- Parkinson's Disease) I feel bad for people who have to worry about accessibility issues all the time- the choices are so limited sometimes.
I'll probably end up spending my entire tax return on this vacation, but at least I will be able to call it that- a vacation. If anyone knows of anywhere I could stay that is handicap accessible with an oceanfront view, let me know. It's like finding a freakin needle in a haystack.

posted by Emily Ho Sandford at 3:01 PM | 0 comment(s)

Friday, February 18, 2005

Does this count as therapy?

All week as I was pondering if I really wanted to start a blog, I got to thinking- this could be therapeutic. For instance- I received an email today, you know, one of those questionnaire things where you fill it out and send it to your friends to send back to you? Well anyway, it asked "What do you do to vent anger?" I answered honestly, and said "I seethe in my anger and then bitch. Or cry."

Yikes!!!

That's about as much insight as I have gotten from myself in a while. What it means, I am not sure. Maybe you can tell me. All I know is after I hit "SEND," I called Mary at her desk and asked if our medical insurance covers mental health.

posted by Emily Ho Sandford at 7:00 PM | 0 comment(s)

Friday, February 11, 2005

Isn't having a blog a little narcissistic?

I think yes, it is a little narcissistic.

I prefer to just think of it as keeping a journal of my thoughts. A public journal at that. We'll see how it goes.

Enjoy :)

posted by Emily Ho Sandford at 1:14 PM | 0 comment(s)