In which loved ones worry about me

Twice in the last two months I've had Very Serious Talks with loved ones.

Or, rather, one-sided, well-intentioned declarations from them.

In both cases, I hadn't seen either person face-to-face in about 2-3 months.

Both times, the person sidled up to me and quietly said, "Are you still trying to lose weight? You need to stop losing weight!"

To which, in my usual eloquence, I replied, "Huh?"

"You're smaller than the last time I saw you. You should stop losing weight. You look great. You don't need to weigh any less."

To be honest, their sincere concern/worry washed off them in waves and confused me. This was not a statement people have ever had to make to me, so it really caught me unaware, especially since I'm not trying to lose weight.

Well, yeah, there's the 2-3 lbs up and down I bounce, but that's life. Hence, the title of this blog as I will, for the remainder of my life, always be losing a bit here and there.

Anyway, once I caught my bearings I replied: "Honestly, I'm not trying to lose any more weight."

"But you're smaller than the last time I saw you."

Then it hit me. "Well, I do go to bootcamp. I strength train quite a bit, that's going to make me smaller."

"Oh..." they both said with the realization. It was pretty funny as both conversations were almost identical. "Well, then, good job."

So, a minute ago I was bordering on some mental illness weight-loss condition, but since it's bootcamp (which could also be called a mental illness, LOL) it's fine.

All right then.

Food Of The Day: Banana Choco Chip VitaTops

Gahd, these are good.

How good?

Well, I wouldn't touch a banana on a dare and I love these, so there you go.

On a side note, bananas are one of two foods I file under Wish I Liked But I Don't. Every 6 months or so I will try a banana (and salmon but not, you know, together) just to make sure I still feel the same way, and I have yet to want another bite of either.

I feel like I should love both, but I just don't.

Anyway, I am a major VitaTop fan and have been eating one daily for over a year. Banana Choco Chip came out later last year and, unlike most other VitaTops, that flavor is only 2 Points Plus per top. Most other flavors are 3 Points+, so win-win.

If I don't like banana, what made me want to try these? Well, the chocolate, of course, and the combination actually sounded worth a try. Plus, only 2 Points+, why not give it a whirl? Glad I did.

You can order these online via Vitalicious, but Target also carries them in the freezer section. They are so freaking good - just enough banana, just enough chocolate. Warm them up in the microwave for about 20 seconds, then enjoy.

Food Of The Day: Kale chips

For the past year or so, everyone has been social media-ing about kale chips.

I never understood the fascination.

Then I made some today for the first time and, now, I get it.

I think what didn't excite me is that I am not a huge greens person. Also, I am lazy and the thought of washing, drying and then separating a gigantic bale 'o kale was not something in which I would invest time.

But, today, I was perusing the produce section at Wegman's and I happened to spy a huge bag of pre-washed, pre-cut kale. This is the kale equivalent of Yuppie Eggs. So, I was in. Seriously, this esta un krapload de kale.

Anyway, when I got home I got on Twitter and hit up some WW-ing friends for advice. Dacia was quick to give me the 411. She's lost 90 lbs in one year and has undergone an amazing transformation in so many ways. Seriously, check out her blog.

Dacia pointed me here and making these chips really is easy. I did the easy oil & salt route. I put 6 cups of kale in a bowl, 1T of olive oil and sprinkled it with kosher salt. Baked it for 14 minutes at 350 and below is the result.

I like the picture at the top of this post a little better as it gives you an idea of what the individual chips look like. The "group pic" just looks like a big salad.



However, it was a pretty delicious gang of greens. Until today, I had only had kale in smoothies. I didn't love it, but I also didn't dislike it. Kale is so ridiculously good for you, I had no problem including it in smoothies because of its nutritional awesomeness.

But, lathered in oil and salt? Kale is delicious. Funny how that works. Salt and oil is always a winner, as you know, and the greens were crunchy, mild and not bitter. It didn't taste like I was eating a handful of grass off the front lawn.

Next time, I would drop the amount of oil down to 1/2T. I think I could use less oil, still get a good result and save 2 Points Plus.

I counted today's snack as 4 Points Plus for the 1T oil because I ate the whole damn thing (seriously, it was like a bag of chips to me). Dacia noted that when she ran 2T of olive oil and the 6C kale through WW's recipe builder on eTools, it's 9 Points Plus for the whole thing.

She is a better WWer than I because I will not count that as 9 Points Plus. Truth be told, I hate the Recipe Builder because it calculates Points for Points-free food when they are included in a recipe. I understand why Weight Watchers does this, but I don't agree. I'm not taking a 5-Point hit for 6C of kale, which if I ate all by their lonesome would be 0 Points Plus.

I'm not urging anyone to overthrow the Recipe Builder, your mileage may vary, but I'm being honest about how I count it in this case. Hell, I didn't get to 282 lbs by eating too much kale.

Anyway, this was a great snack. While I was waiting for the chips to cook, I was eating raw kale bits out of the bag because, hey, they were there. And, even raw, they were great. Next time I put out raw veg and dip for an appetizer, I am including kale. It was very good and would be more fun to eat than, say, gigantic broccoli crowns.

I can also envision having these salty devils instead of popcorn next time we're watching a movie at the house. No, I can't imagine sneaking a bag into a real theater. Although...

In which I almost miss a great run

I've found that sometimes the runs or workouts that start out the worst - or almost don't start at all - turn out the best.

Latest case in point was this morning.

I woke up at 4:30 am, on my own, wide awake. This was disturbing because I didn't get to sleep that early and I still had another hour before my alarm went off. Rolled over, tried to go back to sleep. No dice. Tried it again. Again, eyes wide open.

I begrudgingly got up, grabbed my running stuff and went downstairs because, hey, at least I got to eat. I had breakfast, read the paper, checked my email, Facebook and Twitter. It was now 5:20. Crap. I didn't have to head out to run until 6:45 am. I knew what was going to happen.

I was going to lose this burst of energy, get sleepy again and crash, then wake up tired and late for my run, if I even make it at all. It was too dark to go running this early, but then I realized I could go to the gym and get a treadmill. Or I could just go back upstairs to bed and hit the gym tonight after my husband got home from work.

I sat on the couch and pondered my options. (By the way, this is way too much thinking and decision-making for me at this hour.) Then I thought, Well, I'll just lay down here on the couch for a bit. I felt the wave of sleepiness overtake me, and when I opened my eyes it was 6:36 am.

I quickly got up and checked the thermometer. 44 degrees! Factoring in 20 more degrees to compensate for the heat of running, that's 64 degrees. On Feb. 23. Yeah! I threw on a long-sleeve tech shirt and wind pants. No winter hat. No gloves. No fleece shirt. No vest. Warmed up and stretched out, I took off.

I decided to try a more challenging route, which means "more hills." I also decided, with a 5K three weeks away, it was time to really stretch out the rehab run-walk ratio, which today meant 10 minutes running, 1 minute walk, repeat x3.

Within 5 minutes, I was really happy I did not go to the gym. It had showered overnight, so it was damp and smelled like spring. I was unencumbered of winter running gear, the sun was coming up and blue skies were peeking out in between the clouds. This was very good.

After the first 10-minute interval, I felt good. Loose and smooth. Tuesday's run was not great - I felt clunky and uncoordinated. But this morning, this was a keeper. The second 10-minute interval had me hitting some decent hills and I practiced my good hill-running techniques to conserve energy and remain efficient. I saw the last nasty hill on the horizon and I thought to myself, It's 7:23 am. Knock this off and the hardest part of your day is over. That's a nice feeling to have.

The third interval was the home stretch. I felt good. My endurance, breathing and legs felt good. Sunday I'm aiming to go 20 minutes straight before stopping for, say, 2 minutes, then another 10. And next week? We're going to run the whole thing.

In which I like going to the doctor

When you're overweight (OK, obese), one normally doesn't like to go to the doctor. Any doctor. At all. Ever.

In fact, most people - including yours truly - avoided any medical professional for years so as to dodge the inevitable Come To Jesus moment in which the physician correctly says (in varying degrees of empathy and/or kindness): "You've got to lose weight."

Before I joined Weight Watchers in September 2010, I was in a very bad way physically. I weighed 280+ lbs. I had high blood pressure, my BMI was 44. Forty-friggin-four, people. For perspective's sake, 25 is considered "Normal." Tweny-six to 30 is overweight. Over 30, you're skipping doctor's appointments forever. Regardless of how you feel about BMI, that is dangerous.

Aside from OB appointments due to my pregnancies, I avoided my primary care physician because I didn't want to hear the truth. I also didn't want confirmed what I also knew was true: I had sleep apnea. Many times I would wake up overnight gasping for breath - and that's when my husband wasn't waking me up because I was snoring so insanely loud.

And, most likely, I was pre-diabetic, if not outright diabetic. I also knew I had high blood pressure, Lord knows what I was doing to my poor heart.

Weighing what I weighed and fighting the symptoms I had, it was amazing I dodged the medical bullets I did. But I knew I couldn't forever, and if I didn't change my ways I seriously would end up what I call: "scooter fat." So heavy, you need a scooter to get around. I was slowly, painfully walking the way to scooter fat and I wanted off, so I literally shaped up.

Cut to now, almost 18 months later and I am a healthy weight and a very healthy person. A runner. A bootcamper. A vegetarian! I mean, Wow.

Last year, I was a little over halfway to my weight-loss goal and I was excited to go to the GYN. I vividly remember telling his nurse, whom I love: "Next year when I see you I will be a Size 10 and weigh 160 lbs."

So I was a little pumped to strut my Size 10, 160-lb self into the office today for my annual howdy-do.

Inside, I was a freaking brass band. Ta-da! Here I am! Follow me, to the scale!

Funny, actually the nurse said: "I don't need to weigh you, you know what you weigh." Oh, yes, I do.

My GYN was very complimentary, saying all sorts of wonderful, encouraging things: "We're so proud of you."

It's amazing to go to a doctor's appointment confident instead of embarrassed, just a world of difference.

Now, my goal for next year: Strut through the door once again, Size 10, 160 lbs.

Food Of The Day: The 'Are You Pregnant?' Wrap

Were I to spy you eating this wrap I would say, "When are you due?"

This concoction totally looks like a pregnancy craving come to life. And, before you can ask, let me reply: "No. Absolutely not. That ship has sailed."

That cleared up, this wrap was inspired by two friends. Flo posted a link (which I can't find) to some grilled-hummus/egg sandwich thing that looked delicious, yet I stupidly did not bookmark. I figure she'll eventually bail me out in the comments below, because she is awesome.

The other half of the germ of this idea came from my friend, Lynne, who keeps telling me to put olives in my sandwiches. Not sure why, but she's adamant. If they were 0 Points, believe me I would have jumped on this earlier.

Anyway, both ideas sat in the back of my head, resulting into this mash-up, "Are You Pregnant?" wrap:

28g roasted red peper hummus spread (1 Points+) over a whole Lavash (2 Points+). You had me at "whole Lavash."

2 Eggland's Best hardboiled Yuppie eggs, which are only 1 Points+ each because they're medium eggs. Yeah.

14g green olives (happy now, Lynne?) works out to about 5 olives for 1 Points+. Yes, I weigh them every time hoping I will be able to jam in a sixth for 14g. Has not happened yet, maybe someday.

It may sound like an odd combo - and look like a hot mess - but it's quite delicious.

In which a bad run is still a run

The way I sometimes wax poetic about running, you would think they're all Chariots-Of-Fire great. And sometimes I forget they're not.

But I was reminded of that this morning, when it was a windy 12 degrees. I bundled up appropriately, but forgot my sunglasses, so the gusts kept making my eyes tear up and I somehow always managed to be running into the wind even though I was changing direction often.

Yet the real problem was I felt clunky and uncoordinated. Slow and shuffling. But I endured because even though it was cold, it was sunny. I got to run. And I had a new playlist, and it was rather kick-ass, even if I wasn't.

My new full-length running tights arrived in the mail yesterday, and thank goodness they did.

It was 12 degrees out when I left. I had a pair of wind pants layered over the tights, so my legs were plenty warm. My arms and torso were fine, too, thanks to a long-sleeve tech shirt, a thin fleece and a light vest. Layers ahoy.

Now, the most interesting thing I realized during this time was while it was literally freezing out, I wasn't cold and I wasn't miserable. Which is odd because I am always, always cold. It was in the teens, most every smart mammal was snuggled warm in bed and I was out, in the cold, running. And enjoying it, even though I wasn't doing a particularly good job.

Will wonders never cease?

These are the little things that are most surprising. When you lose weight you expect smaller clothes and compliments and stuff like that. But it's the little things, like enjoying running outside, or not minding the cold, or becoming a morning exerciser, that are shocking. You learn quickly to exorcise the words, "I'll never..." out of your vocabulary because one day, whatever it is, you probably will.

So sometimes even when a run isn't great and I feel like a truck about to lose all four wheels, I remember that any run you end uninjured is a good one.