WI 2/25/2012

Key in hand, I find my way back to the gate. It had been a long week. It was painful and difficult.

This week's journey cost me my  wisdom teeth and I was drugged for relief from the pain all week. I tracked everything I ate and was careful to stay within my calorie allowance because I couldn't workout.

I had the key, but knew it would only work if I was under 200. I can't believe I let myself get back here. Hesitantly, I stepped onto the scale...

196.4

Whew! As quickly as I could, I put the key in the lock and turned it. Bright light shined on me and it hurt my eyes because I had been in the dark for so long. I ran into it and a flood of relief hit me. I looked around. It appeared normal again. I had a path again and it was clear. Taking a deep breath in, I moved forward. This is going to be a good week.

May the fourth be with you!

Good Feeling

Sometimes I get a good feeling. I get a feeling that I've never ever ever ever had before. No no. I get a good feeling. Yeah.

No, my pain is not gone yet. The good feeling is the swift relief I feel when I take my pain meds properly. I've only been taking one because I didn't want to run out before the pain was gone, but when I called my dentist to find out if I could take anything on top of it, she said that if I ran out before the pain was gone, she could refill it for me. So now I'm taking the full dosage. Happily, the pain is mostly gone, but it makes me SO tired.

I miss being active. Last week, Nick was home and we were out and about a lot, so I didn't really workout at all. And this week, I'm not allowed to workout. Apparently, if my heart rate gets too high, it will raise my blood pressure, which could blow out the clots in my tooth holes and make me bleed all over the place.

I've been reflecting on this today. I used to live like this normally. Sitting or laying around doing nothing. I feel like crap, but this used to be my average day! The only difference is that I used to snack all day on top of doing nothing. Luckily, I'm not to eat normal food until the pain has subsided completely and I feel comfortable eating.

Don't worry! I've been drinking Slim Fast 3x a day to make sure I'm getting all the nutrients I need and Greek yogurt for breakfast and other healthy soft foods. Anyway, I'm looking forward to working out again, whenever that will be.

May the fourth be with you!

Pain, Gain, and a Bargain

Last night, I went to the dentist to get my crown for the tooth that had a root canal a couple weeks ago and 3 fillings. The plan was to come back on Thursday to have my remaining 3 wisdom teeth removed. My dentist had spare time last night, so she offered to just do them last night. I agreed. I'm not sure if I'm brave, stupid, or a little bit of both. I woke up last night automatically every time I was due for a new pain pill. I anticipated pain, but nothing this bad. On the bright side, this should do it for dental work for a long time.

My dentist happens to have an 18-month-old girl born the day after Bear, so we decided we should take our kiddos out on a play date some time. Since she is so busy with her job, she said it would be next month at some point and would call me for it. We'll be taking the girls to this place called Jump City. It should be fun!

Before all this pain, I had spent the day at our Moving Sale. Nick sold his server and rack! Then, we went to Blockbuster to pick up some movie shelves our family purchased from their closing sale. Nick and I also purchased a couple movies and I got a great deal on a game. I had looked at the games they had out and they were, of course, the stupid ones because the closing sale had been going on for some time. But behind the counter, I saw the deep purple of Kinect games. I asked the guy about them and he said they were Just Dance 3. So I got it! $14.99! After recovery, I'll play it for a few days so I can give it a fair review.

Now, I shall let the narcotics do their job and take me to sleepy land.

May the fourth be with you!

WI 2/19/2012

Hmmm...this is a pretty gate.

As I approached the gate that brought me into the new week, I examined it further. It was pastel pink with white tips and round colorful balls all throughout. I had success the previous week and just knew I'd do great this week. When I got to the gate, I discovered the gate was made of some strawberry Jolly Ranchers. The white tips were actually vanilla frosting and the colorful balls were Skittles.

Okay...Am I on the right path?

I didn't remember turning or anything, so I proceeded through the gate. The gate slammed shut behind me.

That's odd...it usually closes slowly.

Normally, there were temptations along the sides of the path, but this was ridiculous. There were cupcake bushes, candy trees, ice cream boulders, soda fountains, juice lakes, and other delicious creations. I also saw seats of bread, tables of pizza, willow trees of pasta, and other savory things.

Where is all the healthy food?

That's when I noticed the small plates of veggies and lean meats along the way. But they were so overwhelmed by the other things, I had to look closely to find them. I did, though, and ate the healthy things...and everything else too. I walked slowly, careful to not do too much work.

As this path ended, I saw the new gate for the new week. It was black and spikes protruded from the top. I figured I must have somehow gone the wrong way, so I turned around to look. Pitch black. I couldn't see anything. The only way to go was through the scary gate. Slowly, I stood on the scale and then I knew what what was happening.

200.2

"No!!!"

A mysterious force dragged me through the gate that takes me out of Onederland.

"I don't want to go!"

I heard and felt my nails scraping and breaking against the hard concrete floor, but it was useless. The gate slammed when I was in and
I heard the gate lock. I stood up and examined my surroundings. It was dark. A flashlight appeared in one hand and a note in the other. I shined the light on the note and it said this:

Katie-
Welcome back to the 200's. There is no path here, just wide open space and darkness. Isn't this fun?!? Here, you will enjoy everything you want to eat without real shame. You don't even need to move, the ground will move you further and further from the gate without you needing to use any energy at all and the food will appear before you. It will only cost you your figure and your health. If you really insist on getting back to Onederland, you will need to use this flashlight to wander off the moving ground and run to seek out healthy foods and the key to the gate. Have a great time!

Love,
Gluttony

PS-haha! Take THAT, Willpower!

This is going to be a loooooong week.

May the fourth be with you.

WI Announcement

I will be weighing in on Sunday instead of tomorrow to give myself an extra day to get rid of my Valentine's Day binge. lol

WI 2/11/12 and Workout Game Review: Just Dance 2, Just Dance Summer Party, & Just Dance 3

So I had a couple scares this week. As you know, for most of the month of January, we were in Marshfield, Wisconsin for Nick's work and I fell behind in my WLJ...aka jumping back up to 196.6. Well, as much as I promised myself things would improve as soon as I got home, they didn't. A random mid-week WI on Wednesday showed a 2 lb gain. A mere 1.4 lbs away from 200.

Hecks NO! Get your butt into gear, girly!

OK!

Then I weighed myself yesterday to prepare myself for today and I saw 200.6. My hubby then informs me that the scale sometimes isn't zeroing out and low-and-behold, when I tapped it, it showed 3.2. I kept tapping until it zeroed out and weighed myself at 197.4.

Whew...

Weighed In today at 196.6, which means I maintained from last week and lost 2 lbs since Wednesday. I've been keeping to my calories and working out hard. 1 hour of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, 1 hour of Dance Central, and 30-60 minutes of stationary bike at a moderate to vigorous pace.

WORKOUT GAME REVIEW:
Just Dance 2, Just Dance Summer Party, & Just Dance 3

These games are tons of fun and a great burn if you're doing it right. I can't give a review for the original Just Dance because I've never tried it, but the subsequent games are revolutionary in the genre of Dance Gaming and offer a great way to kill some calories.

Dancing in general is an amazing workout because it involves a full-body workout. The Just Dance Series has songs for the beginner and songs for those who have been dancing a long time. There were about 2 or 3 songs in Just Dance 2 that I couldn't get 5 stars on. However, I managed to get 5 stars for all the songs in Just Dance Summer Party and Just Dance 3. Each song shows its level of difficulty (1-3 gears) and the level of exertion you'll put out in the song (1-3 sweat drops). So some songs may be really easy, but a hard burn or vice versa or any other combination.

Most of the songs are well known in our culture, but there are some obscure songs and some multicultural songs as well.

People of all ages will find enjoyment in this game unless they hate dancing...if they hate dancing, that is sad for them. :'(

There is a Just Sweat mode where you set a weekly goal for sweat points earned and it will track your sweat points for you. More on sweat points later in the Cons section.

PROS: Fun. Fun. FUN!!! The game is fun and you will be through an hour of dancing before you even know it. It has enormous replay value. Like any dance class you may have taken, the more you dance, the better you get. After having played Just Dance 2 for several months, I picked up the dances in Just Dance Summer Party and Just Dance 3 rather quickly. These games are also a blast either alone or with lots of people (up to 2 players in Just Dance 2 and Just Dance Summer Party and up to 4 in Just Dance 3). Just Dance 3 is offered on Xbox 360 (with Kinect), Wii, and PS3 (with Move). I own it on Wii and love it and tried it on the Kinect in a store and loved it more. The Kinect version has the benefit of being hands-free, which is all I really got to try. If there's a Just Dance 4, I will be purchasing it for the Kinect.

CONS: It's super easy to do a half-butt job with the Wii. You could technically stand still and just move your right arm and you'll get a great score with great sweat points. (This could be viewed as a pro as well if someone doesn't have the ability to use their legs. My mother-in-law and her mother are going to be trying it out with just hands pretty soon, so I'll review it for that purpose when it happens.) That brings me to sweat points. My biggest complaint about these games. It's the game's way of determining how hard you're working. It is not a direct sweat point to calorie burned ratio! I tend to do a 10 sweat point to 1 calorie burned when I track it, but even that is more of a guesstimate. The game doesn't know your weight or heart rate, so it's guessing. If you want to know how many calories you're burning, invest in some kind of heart rate monitor. Just Dance Summer Party is pretty much all the DLC songs from Just Dance 2, which makes me not want to purchase any for Just Dance 3 lest they release a game this summer with all the DLC songs on it. Also, if you're only going to buy one, don't make it this one. The songs are simpler and do not require much exertion to do, so your workout will be longer to get the workout you want.

Overall, I recommend this game series. Like I said before, I can't say anything for the first game or much about the Kinect experience (nothing of the PS3 experience), but on its original platform it's great fun. If you become tempted to not move your feet or left arm, remember, your cheat may get you a better number in the game, but it won't give you a better number on the scale.

May the fourth be with you!

Workout Game Review: Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus

I thought y'all might be interested in more in-depth looks at some workout games that I've tried. If there is a game you'd like me to review, please comment and I will do my best to obtain it and try it. I do not have a PS3 Move, so that platform is out of the question. However, I do have a Wii (with a Wii Balance Board) and an Xbox 360 (with Kinect).

Since I my current WLJ began with Wii Fit, I felt it should be my first review. This game is AMAZING for beginners (both on gaming and on WLJ). It is quite simple with goals. Upon first playing, It will weigh you and ask for a goal weight and a time frame to get there.

*Note: The Wii Balance Board has a weight limit of 330 lbs.

It will also run agility and balance tests. It then takes those results and gives you your Wii Fit Age. If it is under your age or within 2 years over, it's good. You then stamp a calendar saying you took your daily body test. (The more you login, the more variety of stamps you get.)

There are strength, yoga, balance, and cardio games for you to choose from when you decide to start game play. Strength and Yoga options are more like a straight workout you'd do in any gym. The Balance and Cardio games are the standout fun in this game. Cardio games that I enjoyed were the Hula Hoop and Step Aerobics. My favorite Balance games were Table Tilt and Balance Bubble.

PROS: As I previously said, this game is great for beginners, but even if you've been on your WLJ for a while, these games are fun and may be good switch-up-your-workout activities. If you want to start off with the first game for a while and then in a few months or weeks, you want to get the second, your info from the first game automatically transfers to the second. The games are simple to figure out, so you'll quickly be able to get into your workout.

CONS: The game has no built-in way to determine calories burned. However, some Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus activities are in the database for myfitnesspal and Weight Watchers. The maximum weight limit is a draw back for some as well. I knew someone who was going to try it, weighed in, it kicked the person off and the person felt discouraged from losing to be able to use it. It's ironic that the accessory for a game that's major goal is to help people lose weight can't handle a greater limit. Since it was amongst the pioneer group of workout gaming, it is very simplistic and if you don't select the right games, you'll have to work super hard to get a burn in some cases. Games that don't require the Wii Balance Board and only the Wiimote tend to not register well. I would like the jogging game more if it did.

Overall, I would recommend these games. The game is good for its purpose and a good place to start your WLJ, as well. Now that it's been out for some time, there are quite a few games that require or are compliant with the Wii Balance Board, so it's not like that bridesmaid's dress you wore once and will never wear again. Enjoy!

May the fourth be with you!

WI 2/4/12

Suck.

Ugh.

OK. So I royally sucked at eating and working out this week. I figured I would have a gain, but this is ridiculous. I gained 6.6 lbs. I am now 196.6, which is dangerously close to 200. Gotta get out of this funk. Perhaps being home will help.

May the fourth be with you!

Ughzores

Figured I should probably blog about how I'm feeling right now.

Biggest Loser's theme this season is "No Excuses". I need to start living like that. I have been horrid this week. I am sure I will have a gain at this Saturday's WI and it will suck.

Tomorrow I head home and I can't wait to get there. I miss my family, my home, my schedule and my familiar lifestyle. I don't want to eat out again for quite some time.

If anyone has been looking at myfitnesspal food diary, you'll notice I've discovered this fast food restaurant called Culver's. On the bright side, I don't think I'll be able to eat fast food or ice cream anywhere else for a while either. It's fabulous, but oh so horrible for you.

Tomorrow is a new day and I'll be home soon and back on track. My goal is to start my no pop or sweets thing starting tomorrow. Let's see how that goes.

May the fourth be with you!