Quick check-in!

Hi there!
Quick check-in from me.

This morning I ran in the Bridge to Brisbane fun-run.  It has a 10km and 5km course, and I ran the 5km.  I say ran, but really, it was more of a jog.  In intervals.

When I entered (back in June) I was planning on completing the Couch to 5k program.  Well, I started, but then got waylaid.  I hadn't actually made it past Week 3.  Such a shame.  However, I took what I learnt from that and tried to run in interval fashion.  I decided, when I entered, to take my chances on entering into the 'Joggers' category as opposed to the 'Walkers' category.  The Joggers were meant to finish <45min.  (Runners <30min).  I actually got rather worried about that because I hadn't finished my C25K training, I was worried that I would take longer than 45minutes and I'd be disqualified.

Turns out, after emailing the organisers, it's not a <45min but more ~45min.  <Rolls eyes>.  Urgh... being a maths person, those terms are pretty darn concrete.  LESS THAN is not the same as AROUND/ABOUT/APPROX.  Grrrr.....

My biggest worry was that I wouldn't finish in the time I was meant to for my category.  I actually felt really anxious and keyed up about it before the race.  I have to wonder if I felt nervous/worried in my other races or more excited?  On reflection, I can't recall.  I want to keep an eye out on it though for next time.

So anyhow, ran the race this morning, not all at once, broke it into to walk/jog intervals.  Think I managed to jog the whole 1st kilometre!  After that, I ran to music, making sure I ran for the duration of an entire song - those with pumping jams at least.  I think it helped, because I ran faster when I was running along to music.

And.... drumroll please.....

My official finishing time was......



UNDER 45 MINUTES?!?!?  Wahoo!!  I'm so very excited about that, yay!

 *yawn*

Aaaaaaanad... I guess the toils of the day are starting to take affect (effect?) on me.  Time I think to heat up some dinner (Rich beef casserole) and curl up on the couch with some TV.  It's my plan, and I like it : )

My first 5K!

I left this in drafts because I wanted to add pictures! So here's the post now! :)

I got back about an hour ago from completing my first ever 5K race.  Woo!  It was part of a fundraiser for breast cancer research and support in coincidence with International Women's Day.

I say race, although I wasn't in either of the running categories.  There was a <30min runners category and a 30-35 min category and then lastly a general runners-walkers-and-those-with-strollers category.

I decided that I was going to aim to complete the race in <1 hour.

I based that off the fact that all I've really been walking lately is 3km (1.8mi) distances, and when I'm pushing myself thats an average 9'48" min/km pace (6.1km/hr; 3.8mph). If I could keep that pace up the whole race, then I should have made it around the 50 minute mark.  I gave myself more time because of the longer distance (in case of fatigue) and crowding (being a crowd event after all).  But I decided I would still try to push myself nevertheless to definitely finish under 1 hour.

I finished in 48'34".



I AM SO DAMN PROUD OF MYSELF!!! :D



I seriously felt soooo good when I saw that on my nano!  Because I was not a serious running competitor, I didn't get a timing chip, but that's okay.  I used my nano (as I just pointed out) to take my time and distance. And after all, this was my first 5K.  It didn't need to be serious.

But now I'm looking up what other events and 5kms races are on that I can sign up for.  The Brisbane Marathon runs a 5K race.  There's the always popular "Bridge to Brisbane" 5k/10k race that cross over the huge Gateway Motorway toll bridge.  Hmm... Off to do some investigating!

(You can click on the photos to make them bigger)

In the morning, ready to go! 

The results! And yes, that's my food diary behind it.

20 Feb. 14

So… Sunday came and went, and I forgot to update the table of my weightloss.  And I only want to make this a quick note because I’m on the laptop and left the charger at work.

Two things, related to the same.  I mentioned last post that I have started going to dance classes again?  Mondays and Thursdays.

I just want to share with the world that even though I was tired I had such a good class tonight J

This comes at the end of a long week.  A very hot and humid week (average temp 31*C/88*F), where I didn’t get to lunch until 3.30pm at the earliest (and twice I missed out altogether), traffic was shocking – 25min to drive 5km (3.2mi) anyone? and had three meetings called last minute before work (Tue-Wed-Thu).

Despite all these things, I still had a great lesson.  I haven’t felt so good about a dance class in ages.  I don’t know what it was, but I was on form tonight.  I’m without a doubt the only overweight person there.  Being 5’8” too, means I really stand out.  I normally feel so clunky and awkward, even though these are familiar moves to me.  But tonight I had great strength in my arms, I had better footwork, my neck felt loose, my sharp movements were sharp, my slow ones were beautifully controlled. *shivers* it all just worked. 

So that felt really good.

And then, walking home from the train station, I need to cross a major road (the same one I always talk about).  A car pulled up at the lights on the road parallel to where I walk and need to cross.  Sometimes it takes a long time for the lights to change, sometimes not.  Tonight was a short change.  Because I didn’t feel like waiting through another whole set of light changes, I decided I’d run to the corner to catch up to the lights as I saw they were changing orange.  My cross light was on red, because I didn’t reach it in time to press it before the parallel street went green, so I had to make the commitment to either run it or stop and wait. 

I know this is bad form, but I ran it.  I made it clear of the lights going green on the main road (which would have run me over).  In all, I probably ran about 75m (82 yards).  And that’s full pelt run-run, not just shuffle-along-quickly-run.  I didn’t even raise my heart rate.  I thought that was pretty good and what a surprise!  I didn’t feel the exertion of that at all.  Probably because it’s such a short distance, but usually, I would still need to catch my breath after such a dash.

So those are my two pieces of news I wanted to share.  :D  Please feel free to criticise me for running across the road, I had to tell you so there was a context to my running. 

And now, for dinner!

City2South

One of the reasons I am keen to get started again is all because of an event I did a few weeks ago. 

On the 16^th of June, I was part of an inaugural funrun in Brisbane, called City2South.  It was a 14km race which could be run or walked or wheel-chaired.  It was 14km of pain!  Haha, not really, but it was long!!  The course started from the city CBD, wend itself around the river, through the university, to finish in a park on the other side of the river.  The early morning stillness and quiet was wonderful!  The hill that went from 12-13^th kilometre was not wonderful.  The karaoke station in which the sponsoring bank would donate $50 for every person that sang was great fun!  (Crocodile Rock).  :D

Actually, yes, I was in pain by the end of it.  My new shoes (which I had bought 2 ½ weeks prior and thought I had already broken in enough) gave me blisters.  Only on the one foot, but man, did that make the last 4km or so slow going!  It was right on the ball of my foot, so that meant I was walking quite wobbly for a bit!

I saw a link for it on a news website back in March and I decided it was a great way to get myself motivated and kickstarted to get myself fit again.  I even convinced a friend to enter it with me. J  She’s gotten very focused on her health lately and has lost some weight in the process.  She’s stopped eating the foods that were making her sick, and has really upped her running.  She’s big into running now, which she enjoyed when she was in high school.  I didn’t know her then, so it’s so cool seeing her get into it.  J  Anyhow, she’s one of my motivator buddies here.  Because I know she’s taking better care of her health, and lost some weight in the process, as well as juggling work and family, it makes me feel I can too.

So, we signed up!  I had to keep emphasising to her that I wouldn’t be able to run it, but I think we kept up a pretty good pace.  Especially in the beginning.  We were dodging crowds for the first 5km or so as we were powering through.  At about the 8km mark however we slowed right down.  And that was because of me.  I hadn’t gotten in as much preparation as I had wanted and the longest distance I had covered in the lead up had been 8km.  My legs, back and FEET! were aching.  I had to keep stopping to stretch my feet.  And then of course, I worked out further along that I was getting a blister.  But I didn’t want to stop.

I had two goals while completing this race:

1.       I didn’t want to be the last one crossing over the finish line.  I knew I was going to be slow, especially after that halfway mark.  I was very conscious of the fact that I am overweight, and finishing last and slow was just going to draw unwanted attention to myself.  I didn’t want that.

2.       I wanted to finish within the allotted cut-off times.  There were three points along the course where the organisers were watching for the stragglers.  If you were late for the cut-off point, then you would have to forfeit the rest of the course and make your way straight to the finishing point.  I didn’t want that.  If there was going to be anything more humiliating than finishing last, it was not getting to finish at all.

Luckily for me, I didn’t let my friend down, nor me.  I do think my friend was a little frustrated with me and how slow I was by the end, but she kept shrugging it off.  She’s a runner, so I guess she’s more used to the longer distances.

But, how’d I do?  I think I did okay J

75^th last – woohoo!

 

Two New Things Today!

Whoa!  What a full on day today has been. 

Today, I attended the welcome luncheon for new staff at my workplace.  It was a little daunting to say the least.  Preparations started at 8 am – ironing my outfit, washing my hair, packing my bag so I look professional and dedicated, cleaning off the scabby bits of last week’s nail polish, filling out the forms I was sent last year to be brought today... A lot!  I was so nervous about being late that I was ready early for once (I’m notoriously poorly organised and run late for everything).  Once I started driving, I figured out that it was the first time I had ever driven the route to my workplace I had only ever seen it on the map before.  This may or may not have led to minor panic on my part, thinking I wasn’t going to see my turnoff!  But I made it.  In fact, the journey took only 10min.  I’m sure in peak hour it will be more, but wow!  That was a nice easy drive!

The luncheon was alright.  Lots of new staff, so that’s going to be a relief.  I didn’t get to meet my direct supervisor, she was away, but I did meet my line manager, my department manager, and many of the other managers including the executive manager – Eep!  He knows my old manager – so I hope I do well.  Tomorrow is a whole staff professional development day.  And then Thursday, Friday I, and the other newies will continue to undergo specific training and go over policies and procedures relevant to our positions.  How not fun.

 

My second new thing for the day was the dance class I went to this evening.  Beginnners class, but actually really small.  There were only 5 of us students, when in the intermediate class immediately beforehand there was probably closer to 30.  I haven’t danced for 5 years because there just was nothing available where I lived, so this was extra exciting for me  : )    Turns out, I remembered many of the basic steps and positions and I didn’t manage to pick up any bad habits in my absence.  : )  Also, weird fact, the dance teacher here in Bris, is acquainted with my old dance teacher from where I went to uni.   And the teacher thinks I may actually be better suited to the intermediate class, where it’ll challenge me, rather than go through the painfulness of beginner’s classes again.  Reality of life: Sometimes, people catch onto things faster than you and you feel frustrated that you can’t do it.  Beginners’ classes are often full of these people who struggle and struggle and just can’t get there.  Poor things.  Just need to breathe it out, try it again slowly, and laugh about it.

 

Anyhow, it’s late enough for me and I’ve got a full day of work ahead.  Am I packed?  Yep.  Am I ready? Nope.

 

 

 

P.S.  Did I say I went to AquaA yesterday?  Because I did.  And it was hard work.  And still so much fun. : )

I Bought a Fridge!

Well, aren’t I just as pleased as punch. J  Since I moved here, I haven’t actually had a fridge, I’ve just been subsisting on food that doesn’t need refrigeration.  For instance, did you know it’s possible to buy long-life milk in popper sized amounts?  Brill!  But now that I have a fridge, and it’s warming up as we speak, or cooling down as the physics may be, I’ll be able to stock up on some salad ingredients.  Vegetables come at me!

By the way, I didn’t end up going to Aqua Zumba on Thursday. L  I got caught up with some work I was doing and when I looked up it was already 6!  The class started at 6pm, in a drive about 30min away.  So no Aqua Zumba on Thursday, but I am going to AquaAerobics tonight. I swam some more on Saturday, 600m, getting a little faster.  Can’t wait til I can swim 600m without stopping, so then I can add another 100.  Brag, brag, brag!

I also start one of my dance classes tomorrow night.  Excitement plus!

Bonus round: I have gone down a kilo already since I weighed myself last week. J  I have been trying really hard to watch what food choices I am making and counting calories.  (More on that in a later post).  So I don’t know whether it’s the food, or the swimming I am doing, probably a combination of both, but I’m on way to getting fitter and healthier!

Splish splash

Well, I had better not keep you in suspense any longer and I’ll tell you what I was rushing off for on Monday evening.  Still water based, just not swimming laps…

Aqua Aerobics!

Yes, as daggy as it sounds, I donned my togs and went down to the pool to do aqua aerobics.  Monday was the second session this year. 

I had never before ever done aqua aerobics in my life.  Whenever I heard the words aqua aerobics, I always sniggered to myself, thinking it was the daggiest thing ever.   Coupled with the fact that I don’t really enjoy being in water, I never ever thought I would do it.

Oh how wrong I was...

 

Ohmagourd! Aqua Aerobics is best fun eva!!

 

Seriously.  So. Much. Fun.

I went along not really knowing what to expect and I was really surprised to see how much I enjoyed it.  And I’m so glad!  The teacher, Bronwyn, is super fit.  She has these skinny little arms and legs – that are all muscle!  She reminds me of an English teacher I had at high school who was big into aerobics like that.  Bronwyn is also really good at pointing out the different intensity levels available for each exercise and is always quick to point out if you have a back or knee injury (that’s me!) what variations she wants you to do.  She has good taste in music too.  This week was some remixes of ABBA and towards the end, a techno/club song I remember from when I was 15.

I was trying to explain to my friends on Friday night what it was like, but I don’t think I was doing it any justice.  A lot of the moves are your regular aerobics moves – just underwater.  The trick was to stand in water deep enough to chest level (that’s the deep end for me), to really increase your resistance, and thus, how much your body was working.  We did star jumps, leg kicks, Jackie Chans (high side kicks), knee repeaters, squats, punches, running on the spot, ab work, arms, playing the bongos…. Okay, so that one’s not your typical aerobics move, but it works great underwater!  Trying to play them fast is so hard!

One of the other things that’s really hard to do, is to keep yourself from drifting up the pool.  Trying to keep your heels planted on the ground, your arms underwater, and do the moves quickly is tough!  But I took that as a challenge.  I decided I would use that as an opportunity to really work my core – clench those abs!  As a result, I feel I might have worked harder than I did the first week.

And the other ladies (yes, it’s all women) in the class are good fun as well.  Some have been coming for a while, some like me, are new this year.  Unfortunately, it seems the girls who are closest to me in age – they look to be 26 – aren’t interested in being friendly.  But after the class, I overheard a woman (who I don’t think was there last week) talking about another class on Thursday night at a different pool, and when I asked her about it, she seemed happy to talk to me about it, so yay.   : )   The Thursday class is Aqua Zumba.  According to this woman (whose name I didn’t catch) it’s a lot of the same stuff but it’s also a bit different, and with different music.  It sounds interesting, and I think I’ll give it a go.  I can only go for 2 weeks anyhow, because after that my dance class starts up again, and it will have priority (and how!). 

So my monthly challenge of swimming every day is going to be side-tracked slightly into swimming every second day, because I don't think I'll swim the days I am doing aqua aeorbics.  Hmmm, unless I swim some laps before hand, say, for 1/2 hour and then stay on for aqua aerobics?  I wonder how that'll work for entry pricing?  I might have to make an enquiry later on this week...

2013 – New Year’s resolution time

So, what else has been happening since I moved?  Well New Years of course.  And new years and new beginnings is when we traditionally make resolutions.  And here are some of mine for this year. 

·         Consistently complete a food journal – including calorie counts.

·         Attend dance lessons twice a week

·         Walk to work at least once a week

·         Lose 20 kgs by the end of the year

·         Maintain work-life balance

I’ve managed to make a head start on some of these already and have plans in motion for more as the year progresses.

A few days into the New Year, I decided that I would try out some swimming.  I've always hated swimming, hate being wet, I even have short showers so I don’t have to be in water for very long! But given that my legs and feet have still been giving me grief, I knew that it was only going to get worse, the more weight I put on.   And especially after moving house, I found my feet and ankles just swelled up.  It was remarkable – I actually developed cankles.  There was no pain, no heat or inflammation, so I put it down to simple fluid build-up.  Swimming seemed like a good way to increase my circulation and start up some low/no impact exercise.  So I found a local council pool and went along. (After I spent a day shopping, in order to purchase togs, towel, goggles and boardshorts. I really haven't been swimming in ages).  

That first day I went swimming, I decided to take it at my own pace and just see how far I could swim.  I hadn’t been swimming like that, in laps, for over 10 years.  Well, to my surprise I swam 600m.  To clear things up – I did not do this non-stop!  I’ll take this opportunity to point out I had to stop after every lap to catch my breath.  Each lap was 50m.  I should also point out that I swim breaststroke, so it’s not technically as aerobic as freestyle.  I was still very surprised though to find out I could swim that far.  I may not ever be a fast swimmer, but I may turn out to be strong swimmer.  J

Since that time I have gone swimming again 5 times and each time I have swum 600m.  I think I will try to keep it up when I start work again and swim in the morning before work.  That way I’m not getting in the way of squad training in the afternoons.  In fact, last Wednesday, I signed into a swim correction class, so I could make sure that I was swimming properly and not going to pull any muscles from bad technique.  The coach was actually really impressed!  She was very happy to hear that I can swim 600m as a beginner and even gave me a sample training program in order to pick my fitness up:

Staying with the 600m for now,  I should start with a 100m warm-up of kicking – no arms, to get the blood pumping.  Then, try to swim 100m breaststroke without stopping (2 laps).  Then one lap, rest, one lap, rest, then try to swim two laps without a break.  Then, because I’ll probably need it, swim the lap four laps with a break at each end.

The coach is confident that if I keep going everyday – which is probably going to turn into every second day, once I start work and dance – I’ll soon be able to do the whole 600m without breaks at the end of each lap.  Once I get to that point, I should start to increase my distance bit by bit.  I think when I’m at that point I’ll make another appointment with her and get another training program. 

So, so far, my swimming adventure has been going, well, swimmingly ;)

And it’s not the only fitness adventure I’ve been having…  I’m about to head off now in fact.  :-D

I’ll post again soon,

Breaking the wall of silence

Okay.  All’s been quiet from me in the last four months and with it, a definite lapse in my weight loss and health efforts.  This hasn’t been entirely without reason mind you.

As those who’ve read my past posts know, I hated my town.  It was a dead-end, middle of nowhere town and I was really, really, really unhappy living there.

In early October I got notification that there would be an opportunity for me to transfer elsewhere and in a different role to what I had been doing.  Worked my arse off (I wish!) and I got confirmation in November that I was successful. 

That left the rest of November and early December to try to organise a place to live (not so easy when you aren’t currently in the same place you are moving too, don’t have the chance to see any places, or real estate agents don’t contact you back); carpet cleaning, pest sprays, etc for my current residence; removalists; a full clean of my unit for the final inspection (which I did myself); buying furniture and a fridge for my new unit; packing up all my stuff at work; on top of still working fulltime, meeting and dealing with clients and finishing up all the required reports and evaluations!!  Mental! o_O

I moved up to Brisbane, state capital of Queensland.  A CITY.  I cannot emphasise enough how fantastic this is for me.   Before living in my last town, I thought I was a country girl at heart.  The last five years have proven to me I am not.  I need a city.  I need to live somewhere where there is opportunity to do things, to go places, to meet people. 

It happens to be exceptionally fortunate that I was able to get to Brisbane. 

For starters, almost all my friends from university have ended up here.   My mum (as much as she drives me nuts) lives only an hour away.  Brisbane happens to be quite hilly, so when the weather cools down I’ll be able to go walking again. 

And my favourite part?  Being a city, I can take advantage of things I haven’t had access to in years.  Multiple choice of gyms.  Shopping centres.  Hobbies and interests.  Bushwalk trails.  Nightclubs  ; )  In fact, I’ve already signed up for two dance classes.  I used to dance a fair bit at uni, but that wasn’t available at my old town, so I stopped.  The first lessons start in the last week of January. 

It’s been three weeks since I’ve moved and in that time, I’ve had Christmas at mum’s, New Year’s fireworks along the river bank, a few exploratory walks of over 6km each, and gone out clubbing with friends, twice.

I am so happy I moved.  I cannot get over how much fun I am having.  I haven’t even started work yet, we don’t return for business for another week yet.

But I honestly feel this is going to be such a good start and a good place geographically, physically and emotionally for me. 

My New iPod Nano!

How excited am I?!

I decided that I really wanted to get serious about my fitness, and finding easier ways to keep track of my exercise - especially as at this stage, I really enjoy walking the most.  And I want to try running.  But carefully, because of my dodgy knee.  And lack of fitness.  

I was doing some research about 1 1/2 months back about mp3 players  - I was going to buy one as a reward for completing my walk-100km-in-August-Challenge.  Well, I didn’t meet the 100km goal, but I decided I did like the idea of the iPod Nano!  It comes with the nike+ fitness app, so I can track walks/runs, time myself, and get a step count. 

The iPod Nano also allows me to play music as I workout (obviously, being from the iPod family), I can download podcasts (Robert Ullrey's Couch to 5K anyone?) and the absolute selling point for me?  It comes with a clip!  I know this sounds stupid, that this was the high point, but really, this is why I got it. 

Many of my trakkydaks or workout pants don't have pockets, so the fact that the Nano comes with a clip was a huge bonus for me. 

I took it out for a spin yesterday and OMG!! So excited and in love with it!! : )  I only went for a 30 minute walk to the park down the road and back.  In order for the app to keep track of things such as distance, speed, steps taken, calories burnt, I turned it to the "run" function.  I've yet to fully explore the 'walk" function, but from what I read online before I purchased the Nano,  the walk setting is designed to be used as a pedometer/step counter. 

There are four choices within the run function -basic, time, distance or calories.  So, because I only wanted to go out for 30 minutes, I set the app to 'time'.  It then prompted me to pick a playlist or shuffle my songs.  I could have also chosen to listen to the radio (oh yeah, it comes with an FM receiver!), an audiobook or podcasts. 

I picked my songs, hit start workout, and then I was off!! Walked away, all fine and good, and then!  Suddenly, my music dimmed and a disembodied voice told me that I had completed 5 minutes.  It was startling to say the least!!  But then I got second verbal encouragement at 10 minutes and again at 15 - "Great work, you're now half-way through.  Just 15 minutes remaining". 

I decided I liked this voice! 

I decided she needed a name!  If she's going to be my own personal cheerleader/encourager, then she has a personality and needs a name. I tried to think of movies or TV shows or anything which included a disembodied voice.  The best I could think of was the computer from Star Trek - which was only ever called Computer.  Then, inspiration struck!  I was using music from the computer game Portal to accompany me on my walk.  I decided that was a pretty good link to a name.  I'm still tossing up between Gladys (a play on GlaDOS from Portal),  or something else on that variation.  Names I've played around with include Glynnis, Glenys, or randomly, Lynda.  At the moment Glynnis seems to be winning. 

Maybe I need to go for another walk, just to test the name out, hmm?  See what suits best  : )

-Kathleen

Holidays Again!

Wow!  How time goes quick!!   I was hectically working last week to get my end of quarter reports in, and before I knew it I was on holidays!! I have two weeks holiday, where I will spend one week at my mother's at the gold coast, including a friend's hen's party on Saturday night.  We're going to a theatre restaurant and then out to dance until the early hours of the morn.  Then in the second week I'm going to spend some time chilling at home and trying to get myself back on track to some sort of routine with housekeeping (it always starts to slide when I'm reaching the end of a quarter) and cooking and exercising.

When I last wrote, I talked about keeping up with 1 new habit a week until it stuck.  Well, in theory I was actually doing two.  One was to do 25 sit-ups every morning and the second was to write everything that I ate in a day into a food diary. 

I did alright in the first week, I managed to bump up the number of sit-ups to 35, then last week they fell by the way-side.  Partly because I was side-tracked by getting my reports done, and secondly, Aunty Flo had come to visit.  So halfway through the week I did stop the sit-ups.  But I resumed them on Saturday morning when I was on my first day of holidays! And I've done them each morning since.  Even when I was staying over at a friend's place and I was sleeping on the floor!  I'm already back up to 30.  Yes!

My second weekly good habit was the food diary.  I have just checked and I last filled in what I ate on Thu 13 Sept - so, more than a week.  :-(  To be honest, when I am doing my reports, I always have horrid hours and then eat toasted sandwiches at 3.30 in the morning or something ridiculous.  I have honestly noticed I over eat processed foods, especially cheese, when it's reports time.  (I have terrible time management btw, so I always end up leaving my reports to the last week before I go on holidays).  I also wanted to avoid writing in it, so I could avoid looking at just how much food I eat in a day.  Before keeping the food diary, I honestly thought most of my problem from being overweight comes from how inactive I am.  I am now starting to think that my activity level really is only a small part of the problem and that what I eat plays a much bigger part. 

That's why this week I want to be really careful and really honest in filling out how much I'm eating and when I'm eating.  Because I am on holidays I have the time to go online and use a site like myfitnesspal or mapmyfitness to enter in my foods and really see how much I'm consuming and if I need that much or not.  I'm already aware that I eat more in the evening, especially when I get home from work.  Obviously, I'm not eating enough during the day to keep me full or sustained.  It's hard when I only really have 15minutes x 3 times a day, to eat food.  Even then, all those breaks aren't guaranteed.  But, over the next two weeks, I'm going to make sure I enter in what I can, so I can start to get an idea of how much I am overeating by.  I even kept the wrapper from a snack bar that I bought when I was out shopping, just so I can enter it online tonight and see how it stacks up with my daily food totals.

And speaking of food, time for my dinner!  Pearl Barley soup with vegetables - Om nom nom nom!

-Kathleen