I hurt in all the muscles, and some non-muscle places. I'm thinking that pretty much definitely means I succeeded this week, even if becoming sore was all I did.
Here's a recap.
Exercise:
Monday I did wii fit free step, Tuesday I did arms, Wednesday I was lazy. Thursday I did a lot of extra walking downtown, Friday I did wii fit again. Saturday I did a lot of stretching and yoga, Sunday I went bouldering/ did some cardio on an eliptical machine.
It being Monday again, the most recent damage is yesterday's attempt to climb things. My arms are kind of in the process of yelling "WTF!" at me. I'm not very good at climbing, being subconciously terrified of falling and lacking the strength in my arms to actually successfully climb past a certain point (because I am nervous I will drop myself should I slip). So, the climbing that I did do was super strenuous for my arms (and somewhat my legs). So. Ow. But the good sort.
Food:
Ugh. I almost don't want to discuss it. Last week was pretty bad. This weekend too. I mean, a lot of the exercise made up for it some. Part of the problem was that we were out of groceries. Yesterday was somewhat better because I was scrounging and a lot of what we had left could be construed as low calorie/ healthy, and then once I went shopping I ate like half a celery head. I have noted that I do mostly "shop the rim" now unless I'm going in for something specific (like Worcestershire sauce), pasta, or frozen things. I know pasta is kind of bad, but it's cheap (though my grocery bill doesn't scream that) and really really easy. The idea here is really to keep Jon and I from eating out/ ordering in. We've gotten a whole lot better about it, but it's still a work in progress. Admittedly that is more of a financial move than a health move, but one step at a time. I should also note that the pasta I buy is Eating Right Veggie Pasta (Rotini), it's really good and gives you a full serving of vegetables. I also buy frozen meals because they keep, they're easy and otherwise Jon and I wouldn't eat all that much protein. I buy fresh meats too (as well as have a constant supply of frozen chicken) but if I don't limit them to one or two per shopping trip, we don't eat them before they've spoiled and that's a horrible waste of funds. So, last week was filled with burritos and ice cream, but this week will be better. Meal plans include bratwurst, steak and goat cheese wraps, celery salads, pasta and shrimp stir-fry.
Also, I have vowed not to spend any money either today or tomorrow, and that includes lunch, so I'll have to make do with my lean cuisines.
Motivation:
The Olympics have ended, which is very sad. There's 500 something days until Sochi. (which reminds me more of dessert than Russia). I hope by the time those 500 days are up I will have lost all the college weight and kept it off. I also want to be fit, but I'm hoping that's more a biproduct. So, unless I can find a channel actually showing the Paralympics on cable, the televisual motivation has ended. What next? Well there are still some lasting effects (I hope) from the Olympics in that while I don't think I'll ever make it to Olympic level fitness, I do have a place to aim for. I can look at an Olympian and say, okay, what parts of that can fit on me, and how do I get there? Right now, I'm working on my arms. I've always felt that my arms were the first place to react when I exercised them, particularly with swimming, but other things too. My theory is that if I can tone my arms first, they will serve as motivation for the rest of my trouble spots. Plus out of all the places to be really sore, arms aren't so bad. I'm still keeping up with the basics of course, walking of some variety and other such things to keep the rest of my body on the right course, but without the specific focus.
So, I'd say I'm pretty motivated.
In terms of last week, at the behest of several readers I have given myself the $10. That put me at $60. and then I hands down earned another 10 this week for $70.
On Saturday, because I had time and I wanted to, I took a trip to the Nike outlet that's close to my apartment. I finally bought that new pair of walking shoes (they are in fact, labeled as such) and I got a dryfit shirt so I won't get quite as sweaty and gross. I wore both yesterday and they worked out great! Overall I spent 60 dollars on them both, ( + tax, but I don't think that should be out of my exercise funds). A pretty good deal, especially on the shirt which was originally 40 something (it cost me 10). It was written down so much because it's an event tee with a name on the back. It's for the Olympic trials funnily enough, though it has "Decker" on the back, I think for Mary Decker who was a long distance runner in the 70's and 80's. Anyway, these expenditures bring my funds back down to $10. Now to build up to something else cool or useful.
Oh, also, I finally bought a toaster. Yay toast!
Monday, August 13, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Questionable Success
It's Monday, and you all know what that means: update post!
As the title of this entry suggests, I am unsure as to whether what I did last week qualifies for a reward or not. I'm sort of asking for some reader participation here. You tell me if I earned it (and if I didn't tell me so! I'll try harder next time).
First, a little review. I spent pretty much all of last week being itchy (I'm still a little itchy now, but less). My skin became extremely irritated by something and went into super allergic reaction hyper panic mode. I didn't get hives, per say, but I did itch everywhere on my arms and legs, and I became especially concerned when it looked like I had been attacked by hordes of tiny mosquitos. So I went to the doctor. They told me to take it easy and apply steroid creme (plus take a massive dose of antihistamines). When the first round of relatively mild stuff didn't work, I went in again and came back with big guns (the same category of stuff, just more and better). They seem to have worked, though my skin is still hyper reactionary. I so much as poke myself and I get a red mark.
I was also told to try to keep myself cool, because heat would make the rash and the itching worse, so exercise of the extreme variety was pretty much ruled out for most of the week. Things finally came under control on Friday, when I did do half an hour of Wii Fit Free Step while watching the Olympics. I ended with something like 2600 steps on and off the Wii Balance Board. I hope to do this again this evening.
In terms of other exercise, I also did do at least one set (usually more) of bicep pulls and tricep lifts with the resistance bands everyday. Some days I did more than others. I'd say over the course of the week I probably pulled on the resistance bands about 250 times in various positions. We had friends over a lot and they can testify to the fact that I was using them all week.
Food... well. I didn't do any cliff jumping, but I don't know how well or poorly I did in terms of caloric intake. Some days I was just hungry. But I did really try not to over eat. Doesn't say whether I was successful or not. I didn't weigh myself either, so I have basically no idea on this front other than I was trying to be conscious of it without actually number crunching. I suppose we'll find out when I next weigh myself.
Lastly my motivation. Being itchy and uncomfortable does take a lot of wind out of the sails, as does being overly social (which happened too, whew need some space this week). But nearly all of this is made up for with Olympics. I really wish I had that kind of devotion to one thing. Unfortunately, all of my one things are forced out by a myriad of other one things... combined with life things and work which are both entirely (or at least mostly) unrelated. I imagine that maybe if I had all the time in the world, I would find a one thing that I could and would spend hours and hours doing every day.
I bet it would be on the internet. I bet it would involve art, music, writing and extreme nerdery. I'm betting it would be pretty cool. Now if only I had the time to dream it up and be devoted enough to take it seriously.
Anyway, my musings on how things would be if I ruled the world are irrelevant. I need to know for accounting purposes: My goal was, essentially "mild to strenous exercise for 20-30 minutes 3 times a week" which is what I told my doctor I do. Do the constant resistance band training sessions count? You decide!
I'll determine next week, based on comments, what happens with the floating $10 that I maybe get. The account stands at $40.
This weeks goal is the same. Reward also the same.
{For those that care, new Sample Society post this week sometime, the box will arrive tomorrow probably}
As the title of this entry suggests, I am unsure as to whether what I did last week qualifies for a reward or not. I'm sort of asking for some reader participation here. You tell me if I earned it (and if I didn't tell me so! I'll try harder next time).
First, a little review. I spent pretty much all of last week being itchy (I'm still a little itchy now, but less). My skin became extremely irritated by something and went into super allergic reaction hyper panic mode. I didn't get hives, per say, but I did itch everywhere on my arms and legs, and I became especially concerned when it looked like I had been attacked by hordes of tiny mosquitos. So I went to the doctor. They told me to take it easy and apply steroid creme (plus take a massive dose of antihistamines). When the first round of relatively mild stuff didn't work, I went in again and came back with big guns (the same category of stuff, just more and better). They seem to have worked, though my skin is still hyper reactionary. I so much as poke myself and I get a red mark.
I was also told to try to keep myself cool, because heat would make the rash and the itching worse, so exercise of the extreme variety was pretty much ruled out for most of the week. Things finally came under control on Friday, when I did do half an hour of Wii Fit Free Step while watching the Olympics. I ended with something like 2600 steps on and off the Wii Balance Board. I hope to do this again this evening.
In terms of other exercise, I also did do at least one set (usually more) of bicep pulls and tricep lifts with the resistance bands everyday. Some days I did more than others. I'd say over the course of the week I probably pulled on the resistance bands about 250 times in various positions. We had friends over a lot and they can testify to the fact that I was using them all week.
Food... well. I didn't do any cliff jumping, but I don't know how well or poorly I did in terms of caloric intake. Some days I was just hungry. But I did really try not to over eat. Doesn't say whether I was successful or not. I didn't weigh myself either, so I have basically no idea on this front other than I was trying to be conscious of it without actually number crunching. I suppose we'll find out when I next weigh myself.
Lastly my motivation. Being itchy and uncomfortable does take a lot of wind out of the sails, as does being overly social (which happened too, whew need some space this week). But nearly all of this is made up for with Olympics. I really wish I had that kind of devotion to one thing. Unfortunately, all of my one things are forced out by a myriad of other one things... combined with life things and work which are both entirely (or at least mostly) unrelated. I imagine that maybe if I had all the time in the world, I would find a one thing that I could and would spend hours and hours doing every day.
I bet it would be on the internet. I bet it would involve art, music, writing and extreme nerdery. I'm betting it would be pretty cool. Now if only I had the time to dream it up and be devoted enough to take it seriously.
Anyway, my musings on how things would be if I ruled the world are irrelevant. I need to know for accounting purposes: My goal was, essentially "mild to strenous exercise for 20-30 minutes 3 times a week" which is what I told my doctor I do. Do the constant resistance band training sessions count? You decide!
I'll determine next week, based on comments, what happens with the floating $10 that I maybe get. The account stands at $40.
This weeks goal is the same. Reward also the same.
{For those that care, new Sample Society post this week sometime, the box will arrive tomorrow probably}
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
And The Routine Breaks again
Wow. I am just not very good at this whole "routine" thing. Consider the ball dropped. But that doesn't mean I can't pick it back up again, I just need to go for a couple weeks with a different one.
As I'm sure you've inferred, last week was a failure. Not completely, I didn't totally revert and I did move. I didn't laze about completely. I did have a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting though. Sometimes a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
What happened was that my old routine got completely turned upside-down because Jon was off of work for the second half of the week and he was therefore absent for several nights. We went out with friends Thursday (instead of me doing my walk) and then the weekend just collapsed on itself. But, I picked something else up that will suffice for the next 2 weeks, when the routine will inevitably change again.
I went up to my parent's house, and when I was there, my dad gave me a couple of resistance bands (because he has extras). He said that if I did 3 sets of 15 everyday I will become super strong. My arms are flabtastic, so that sounds awesome. Especially given how much I'm going to be in front of the television these next 2 weeks.
Now you're wondering why I'll be in front of the TV, given that I normally don't do television. It's true. I don't. I make a distinct exception for certain sporting events. One of those events (and my favorite of all of them by far) is the Olympics. I love the Olympics. If there was anything on my bucket list, it's to go attend them. If I were going to die in a week, I would find a way to get on a plane to London and get into those events. So, needless to say, while the Olympics are on, I live and breathe them.
So I spend a lot of my evenings watching primetime on NBC. Thats a lot of couch-potatoing... if I just sat on the couch. Now I have resistance bands and I can stand in front of the TV and do my reps while the Olympics are playing. I can also (though I have not yet) free step on Wii Fit while watching. I figure if I can do this for my usual six single servings worth, I will be golden until I have the time to get myself back out and walking. Remember I still need 2 weeks worth of money to go get new walking shoes anyway. This way no shoes required, no super effort required aside from getting up off the couch. And honestly at this point I think I can manage that :)
Food has been going ok. I haven't been especially fussy about it, though I am trying to be careful around things I know are suggary and nutrition lacking. Jon and I went to get burgers today for lunch, and I didn't eat my bun (though I did eat my sweet potato fries... yum). So. Continuing happily down that track. Doing my best to limit sugar 80 to 90 percent of the time (ice cream binges excepted of course). One of my biggest failures is midmorning snacking on goldfish. They're free at work so I have a hard time not munching on them when I get hungry around 10 am. Anybody have any good substitutes? Mostly the problem is that they're a lot of calories for not a lot of goodness, and they have some secret sugar involved. I'd like a snack I can just grab, is tasty and healthy. Pretzels spring to mind but I don't really like them all that much. Maybe I should buy some more of those multigrain crackers and bring those in and stick them on my desk. Or those veggie stick chips things? I can get those at costco. Thoughts people?
So lets see... Motivation. Well, I'm watching the Olympics and I'm really not sure what makes better motivation than watching a bunch of really fit people do really awesome things. Especially when most of those people are right around my age.
No rewards for last week, since I failed. But this week. This week I will succeed!
As I'm sure you've inferred, last week was a failure. Not completely, I didn't totally revert and I did move. I didn't laze about completely. I did have a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting though. Sometimes a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
What happened was that my old routine got completely turned upside-down because Jon was off of work for the second half of the week and he was therefore absent for several nights. We went out with friends Thursday (instead of me doing my walk) and then the weekend just collapsed on itself. But, I picked something else up that will suffice for the next 2 weeks, when the routine will inevitably change again.
I went up to my parent's house, and when I was there, my dad gave me a couple of resistance bands (because he has extras). He said that if I did 3 sets of 15 everyday I will become super strong. My arms are flabtastic, so that sounds awesome. Especially given how much I'm going to be in front of the television these next 2 weeks.
Now you're wondering why I'll be in front of the TV, given that I normally don't do television. It's true. I don't. I make a distinct exception for certain sporting events. One of those events (and my favorite of all of them by far) is the Olympics. I love the Olympics. If there was anything on my bucket list, it's to go attend them. If I were going to die in a week, I would find a way to get on a plane to London and get into those events. So, needless to say, while the Olympics are on, I live and breathe them.
So I spend a lot of my evenings watching primetime on NBC. Thats a lot of couch-potatoing... if I just sat on the couch. Now I have resistance bands and I can stand in front of the TV and do my reps while the Olympics are playing. I can also (though I have not yet) free step on Wii Fit while watching. I figure if I can do this for my usual six single servings worth, I will be golden until I have the time to get myself back out and walking. Remember I still need 2 weeks worth of money to go get new walking shoes anyway. This way no shoes required, no super effort required aside from getting up off the couch. And honestly at this point I think I can manage that :)
Food has been going ok. I haven't been especially fussy about it, though I am trying to be careful around things I know are suggary and nutrition lacking. Jon and I went to get burgers today for lunch, and I didn't eat my bun (though I did eat my sweet potato fries... yum). So. Continuing happily down that track. Doing my best to limit sugar 80 to 90 percent of the time (ice cream binges excepted of course). One of my biggest failures is midmorning snacking on goldfish. They're free at work so I have a hard time not munching on them when I get hungry around 10 am. Anybody have any good substitutes? Mostly the problem is that they're a lot of calories for not a lot of goodness, and they have some secret sugar involved. I'd like a snack I can just grab, is tasty and healthy. Pretzels spring to mind but I don't really like them all that much. Maybe I should buy some more of those multigrain crackers and bring those in and stick them on my desk. Or those veggie stick chips things? I can get those at costco. Thoughts people?
So lets see... Motivation. Well, I'm watching the Olympics and I'm really not sure what makes better motivation than watching a bunch of really fit people do really awesome things. Especially when most of those people are right around my age.
No rewards for last week, since I failed. But this week. This week I will succeed!
Monday, July 23, 2012
The Negative Calorie Birthday
Monday is here again! I want more sleep, but aside from that, this week should be pretty good. I think I have finally gotten into the groove of life... or something. I don't know. Whatever it is, I feel good.
Exercise Status
So last week, as expected, went very strangely. I was basically constantly occupied from Thursday morning until Sunday evening, and thus any and all of my planned exercise was basically foregone. This doesn't mean that I didn't get my equivalent of 6 single servings though. I certainly did.
It began actually, on Monday. I oddly enough felt like moving a bit, so I did some stretches and a little bit of Yoga in the evening. Nothing intense, and it doesn't really factor in, but I did do it. On Tuesday I truly broke from the plan. I did 20 10-minute exercise routines, both Pilates. I'm trying all the different 10-minute videos until I find one I really like. So far I'm sort of neutral on most of them. The Pilates one is actually really difficult, and most of the moves the instructor does are classified as challenging. I couldn't do half of them in the second video. I gave it a valiant effort, but there was simply no way. Perhaps when I am more focused on maintaining weight, rather than losing, I will come back to those.
I didn't exercise officially for the rest of the week, but I did definitely get exercise out of the norm. We went to the San Francisco Zoo for my birthday on Saturday, which is basically the equivalent of walking 4 miles. It took 4 hours, so it was pretty slow walking, but walking it was. And that counts. So, technically speaking, I did my 6 servings of exercise (even if there was a whole lot of combining going on) and so I have succeeded in my goal. $40 total! One more week and then I can go shopping!
Motivation Status
This week, I'm actually feeling pretty motivated. Mostly because I did finally see some success, instead of infuriatingly rising numbers. I lost a pound and half an inch from my waist. So I'm pretty pleased on that front.
The Livestrong app has kept me focused, and even has given me some new sort of goals that will help with everything. Livestrong.com has, built into it's member area/ community stuff, something called Dares. You can sign up to "take" whatever dare. I have taken 3 dares. 1) Lose weight. 2) 21 days to a smaller waist. 3) Meditate.
Yep, meditate. I've been using some apps and timers. I like it, though I'm not yet very good at it. It's a more productive use of my time than the internet. I don't usually do it for very long (maybe 10-15 minutes) and I usually do it either right before or shortly before bed. I think if I did it every night I would sleep great all the time. I have discovered something rather unfortunate though. The cause of a lot of my neck and shoulder pain is the way I sleep and the crappiness of my pillow. So I need to get a new pillow that will support my neck better, though I also think that just getting another pillow to go with the one I have will help. I always sleep better when I can steal Jon's pillow.
Food Status
I've been using the Livestrong MyPlate apps (now both on my phone and my new tablet) to help me keep track of my calories. It doesn't mean my diet has really changed, but it has made me distinctly aware of how many calories things are, and so it has me being a little careful most days. I only went over one day since I started using it last week, and that was Friday when Jon took me out to Chili's. It has me being careful about serving sizes and concious of the cost of snacking when I'm not hungry. I used to constantly want to eat more than one Eating Right frozen lunch, since they're really light and low calorie for my typical meal. But now, I find myself not wanting to do that as much. Partly because I am less hungry, and partly because most days I've been really good about drinking my 64 ounces of water.
The calorie limit Livestrong has recommended for me to lose 1 lb a week is 1557 calories. Most days I come in under that, usually by about a hundred calories or so. I also record my exercise, and that removes calories eaten from the day, allowing me to eat a little more if I want. I don't usually re-eat these calories, but it does happen sometimes. There has been only one day where the number of calories I actually ate was seriously outclassed by the number of calories I burned, and that was my birthday. All the walking at the zoo consumed almost all of the calories I had eaten for the day. If there had been cake, I could have had some and remained in the calorie happy zone. Heck, I had fried chicken (Katsu) for dinner and I was still golden. Exercise 1, Food 0. Bwahaha.
This week will hopefully resemble 2 weeks ago, with exercise everyday in the later half of the week. The rule to win is 6 single servings worth of exercise. I need to keep that up for at least 2 more weeks to make it habitual.
Exercise Status
So last week, as expected, went very strangely. I was basically constantly occupied from Thursday morning until Sunday evening, and thus any and all of my planned exercise was basically foregone. This doesn't mean that I didn't get my equivalent of 6 single servings though. I certainly did.
It began actually, on Monday. I oddly enough felt like moving a bit, so I did some stretches and a little bit of Yoga in the evening. Nothing intense, and it doesn't really factor in, but I did do it. On Tuesday I truly broke from the plan. I did 20 10-minute exercise routines, both Pilates. I'm trying all the different 10-minute videos until I find one I really like. So far I'm sort of neutral on most of them. The Pilates one is actually really difficult, and most of the moves the instructor does are classified as challenging. I couldn't do half of them in the second video. I gave it a valiant effort, but there was simply no way. Perhaps when I am more focused on maintaining weight, rather than losing, I will come back to those.
I didn't exercise officially for the rest of the week, but I did definitely get exercise out of the norm. We went to the San Francisco Zoo for my birthday on Saturday, which is basically the equivalent of walking 4 miles. It took 4 hours, so it was pretty slow walking, but walking it was. And that counts. So, technically speaking, I did my 6 servings of exercise (even if there was a whole lot of combining going on) and so I have succeeded in my goal. $40 total! One more week and then I can go shopping!
Motivation Status
This week, I'm actually feeling pretty motivated. Mostly because I did finally see some success, instead of infuriatingly rising numbers. I lost a pound and half an inch from my waist. So I'm pretty pleased on that front.
The Livestrong app has kept me focused, and even has given me some new sort of goals that will help with everything. Livestrong.com has, built into it's member area/ community stuff, something called Dares. You can sign up to "take" whatever dare. I have taken 3 dares. 1) Lose weight. 2) 21 days to a smaller waist. 3) Meditate.
Yep, meditate. I've been using some apps and timers. I like it, though I'm not yet very good at it. It's a more productive use of my time than the internet. I don't usually do it for very long (maybe 10-15 minutes) and I usually do it either right before or shortly before bed. I think if I did it every night I would sleep great all the time. I have discovered something rather unfortunate though. The cause of a lot of my neck and shoulder pain is the way I sleep and the crappiness of my pillow. So I need to get a new pillow that will support my neck better, though I also think that just getting another pillow to go with the one I have will help. I always sleep better when I can steal Jon's pillow.
Food Status
I've been using the Livestrong MyPlate apps (now both on my phone and my new tablet) to help me keep track of my calories. It doesn't mean my diet has really changed, but it has made me distinctly aware of how many calories things are, and so it has me being a little careful most days. I only went over one day since I started using it last week, and that was Friday when Jon took me out to Chili's. It has me being careful about serving sizes and concious of the cost of snacking when I'm not hungry. I used to constantly want to eat more than one Eating Right frozen lunch, since they're really light and low calorie for my typical meal. But now, I find myself not wanting to do that as much. Partly because I am less hungry, and partly because most days I've been really good about drinking my 64 ounces of water.
The calorie limit Livestrong has recommended for me to lose 1 lb a week is 1557 calories. Most days I come in under that, usually by about a hundred calories or so. I also record my exercise, and that removes calories eaten from the day, allowing me to eat a little more if I want. I don't usually re-eat these calories, but it does happen sometimes. There has been only one day where the number of calories I actually ate was seriously outclassed by the number of calories I burned, and that was my birthday. All the walking at the zoo consumed almost all of the calories I had eaten for the day. If there had been cake, I could have had some and remained in the calorie happy zone. Heck, I had fried chicken (Katsu) for dinner and I was still golden. Exercise 1, Food 0. Bwahaha.
This week will hopefully resemble 2 weeks ago, with exercise everyday in the later half of the week. The rule to win is 6 single servings worth of exercise. I need to keep that up for at least 2 more weeks to make it habitual.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Sample Society - July 2012
About the middle of June I signed up for a new service from beautybar.com called Sample Society. It costs $15 a month, and they send you large sample sizes of luxury beauty products. I decided to sign up for it because while I don't often wear a lot of makeup or bother with the massive beauty routine, I do find it interesting and at least a somewhat worthwhile endeavor.
Most of my problems with beauty products are found with the pricing of the quality goods. Some moisturizers can be over $200! I think that's ridiculous. But, at the same time, many products cost more around $40 or $50 dollars, and while still out of my budget, they cost that much because they are high quality. I would never usually even try these products, partly because I dislike hanging out in beauty stores, and partly because I know that if I went into a store to try, they'd want me to buy. Sample Society provides me a way to try the quality products, and gives me a discount if I decide to buy. For $15 dollars a month I get samples of products that cost up to $250 for a full size bottle. I would never even touch that stuff otherwise. It's a great deal!
So, I have decided that as I get these each month, I will write a blog entry about what I got. I have a feeling that a lot of my readers (ie my friends) won't be particularly interested in these posts, so I'm going to post them quietly, without the usual fanfare. I will tag all of these posts "Sample Society" so that those of you who do want to read them can find them easily. In the end, I have chosen that these belong on this blog because this is my life blog and this is something that I find fun. It's also a little bit about taking care of myself, and so it belongs here. I am aware that beauty products/ makeup are not necessary to be beautiful and I do not feel that I particularly need them. I do, however, find them entertaining and interesting. I consider beauty products a bit of a hobby interest, and this is the best way I have found to truly investigate them.
Sample Society - July 2012
This is my first box. I was impressed at the care taken with the packaging. It makes me happy that this is how they have it set up. Totally worth $15, I feel like a princess!
In the box:
Borghese Tono Body Cream -
Have you ever tried a quality body lotion? The kind that goes on nearly dry? This is like that. Thick and creamy, yet extremely light on the skin and dry to the touch once applied. It also has a very nice, light, unobtrusive smell. Herby and fresh, I would call it. I have only used it one night so far, but the description claims it is also skin-tone smoothing and firming. I'll have to let you know on that one, since I have no idea what either of those things really means.
Jouer Cosmetics Luminizing Moisture Tint SPF 20 -
Most of my problems with beauty products are found with the pricing of the quality goods. Some moisturizers can be over $200! I think that's ridiculous. But, at the same time, many products cost more around $40 or $50 dollars, and while still out of my budget, they cost that much because they are high quality. I would never usually even try these products, partly because I dislike hanging out in beauty stores, and partly because I know that if I went into a store to try, they'd want me to buy. Sample Society provides me a way to try the quality products, and gives me a discount if I decide to buy. For $15 dollars a month I get samples of products that cost up to $250 for a full size bottle. I would never even touch that stuff otherwise. It's a great deal!
So, I have decided that as I get these each month, I will write a blog entry about what I got. I have a feeling that a lot of my readers (ie my friends) won't be particularly interested in these posts, so I'm going to post them quietly, without the usual fanfare. I will tag all of these posts "Sample Society" so that those of you who do want to read them can find them easily. In the end, I have chosen that these belong on this blog because this is my life blog and this is something that I find fun. It's also a little bit about taking care of myself, and so it belongs here. I am aware that beauty products/ makeup are not necessary to be beautiful and I do not feel that I particularly need them. I do, however, find them entertaining and interesting. I consider beauty products a bit of a hobby interest, and this is the best way I have found to truly investigate them.
Sample Society - July 2012
This is my first box. I was impressed at the care taken with the packaging. It makes me happy that this is how they have it set up. Totally worth $15, I feel like a princess!
In the box:
Borghese Tono Body Cream -
Have you ever tried a quality body lotion? The kind that goes on nearly dry? This is like that. Thick and creamy, yet extremely light on the skin and dry to the touch once applied. It also has a very nice, light, unobtrusive smell. Herby and fresh, I would call it. I have only used it one night so far, but the description claims it is also skin-tone smoothing and firming. I'll have to let you know on that one, since I have no idea what either of those things really means.
Jouer Cosmetics Luminizing Moisture Tint SPF 20 -
This stuff is amazing. I'm wearing it right now and I can't even tell. I've used moisture tints before (I prefer them over hardcore foundations) and this one is extremely nice. It smooths out skin tone and complexion as well as texture. The luminescence helps a lot to keep my face looking bright. I especially like how I could use it as a concealer as well as an all over the face makeup. Plus, it's got SPF, which is extra awesome. Only problem is that on well balanced moisturized skin like mine, it comes out a bit oily shiny, but that's easily resolved with a mineral powder (I use bare essentials, left over from a real makeup kit I got years ago). Other than that, it's really light, comfortable, and serves it's purpose extremely well. And I can see my freckles through it. Win. It also lasts! Hardly ever before have I had a makeup actually stay on all day. Admittedly I think I've gotten a bit better about touching my face and such, but regardless this stuff stays. Another plus! I'm seriously contemplating buying this. We'll see how I feel when I run out of it.
Sisley-Paris Hydra Globa Intense Anti-Aging Hydration -
This is the stuff that costs $250 for a regular sized bottle. I know right?? It's made in France, so I suppose that may be part of it. This is one of those things I'm going to have to get back to you about. It's a morning and night face and neck moisturizer/ skin firming agent. It's supposed to get rid of wrinkles and such like. Now, being 22 (almost 23) I don't really have wrinkles, but generally speaking, the recommendation is that you start with this stuff as early as possible. So, I figured what the heck, maybe I'll start looking 17. Ha, that'd be silly. Anyway, so I'm going to use this until I run out (will probably be about a month) and I'll let you know if I see any difference.
vbeauté Eye Never Nourishing Repair Eye Creme -
I don't have very much experience in eye cream (read: none whatsoever), but when I got a facial in March (I was on vacation) the woman who did it said that I should look into it before I technically needed it. So, when I saw that I got some eye cream I was sort of intrigued. Again, this is one of those things that a couple uses isn't going to reveal how much it helps, but I have found that it goes on nicely and does do some eye brightening on its own. Maybe my eye-skin just needed some love. We'll see I guess.
Vincent Longo Vincent Longo Duo Lip Pencil -
So, this is essentially the full sized product. That would be super super awesome.... if I wore lip anything and ALSO if it were in a color that works for me. I don't wear lip anything (most of the time) and the color is much too purple. It's sort of a bright burgundy on one side and white on the other. I don't know what you'd use a white lip pencil for. Then again, I hardly understand the purpose of a lip pencil anyway. I wish this were eyeliner. Much more useful.
So there's what I got. The only item I am seriously considering purchase of is the Luminizing Moisture Tint, and at a starting price of $38 and with my $15 discount it would only be $23, which really isn't bad, all things considered. I'm excited for next month's box!
So there's what I got. The only item I am seriously considering purchase of is the Luminizing Moisture Tint, and at a starting price of $38 and with my $15 discount it would only be $23, which really isn't bad, all things considered. I'm excited for next month's box!
Monday, July 16, 2012
I did it!
Time for a Monday morning status update and a new challenge!
Exercise Status
I came pretty close to not making it last night. I almost didn't do the aerobics. I had been reading, and it was later than I wanted. BUT I DID IT ANYWAY.
My exercise from last week looks like this:
Monday: lazy
Tuesday: lazy
Wednesday: 10 minute aerobics
Thursday: 35 minute walk
Friday: lazy/ exhausted
Saturday: 1 hour walk
Sunday: 20 minute aerobics (doubled up to make up for Friday)
Therefore! Success!! +10 dollars! 30 total now. Wooo. 2 more weeks!
Anyway, challenge for this week: Keep it up!
I don't know how busy I will be later in the week (no one plans these things specifically until they actually happen) so for now I will say exercise the equivalent of 6 single servings (10 minute aerobics/ half an hour walks).
Motivation Status
Medium to high.
I weighed myself again on Saturday (I think) and afterwards I wanted to throw the scale off my balcony. Perhaps I should have.
My weight has gone up again, despite all my exercising.
Despite is perhaps not the right word. It's gone up because of my exercising. I am gaining muscle weight, which is, in the end, a good thing. But right now, it just makes the numbers go up infuriatingly. So how is it that the numbers on the scale are in fact acting as motivation instead of demotivation? I am very near a number I absolutely do not want to cross. In fact, I am so near to it that I am worried I have crossed it when I wasn't paying attention. Not happy! So, my way of refuting this is to press on with the exercise until the muscles are built and reinforced so that they can start eating the pounds instead of making it look like I ate them.
Food Status
I actually made a meal plan this week. I finally got some dry erase markers so I can write on my whiteboard, and thus I made it easier to write down what the meals we have on hand are. I went grocery shopping and spent more than I should have, though most of the cost was concentrated on the proteins (as is the usual). So when I'm buying a whole weeks worth of meals and restocking some essentials (frozen chicken, for example) things get a bit pricey. But it's alright, we have other food that we will eat next week, and I wont need to go shopping again until August.
The meal plan looks pretty tasty, and I'm excited to cook and eat it all. It's also not carb dependent in any way, I can make Jon the carbs and just leave them off of my plate. The carbs I have are also, for the most part (pasta excepted) healthy noms. Even the pasta isn't so bad, it's Eating Right's Veggie Pasta, which gives you a full serving of vegetables. So, I've been eating pretty well. Now if the weight would please just step off already.
On a related note, I have learned an absolute horror of dieting. Or rather I have deduced one from my own experience. Unless you choose to permanently change your diet to whatever it is (which is unwise for most diets, since they eliminate at least one food group and therefore deprive your body of nutrients), they are basically useless. You will gain back more than you lost, and end up weighing more in the end because of the diet you didnt keep.
I had a stable weight once. Then I went on diets. Now I weigh far more than I would have otherwise, because my body forgot how to balance itself. I'm not sure how to bring it back, though I am betting that the exercise will help more than a little bit. This whole thing has been quite a learning experience so far. I'm glad I decided to blog about it.
Walking and good eating ahead!
We get our dining room table on Tuesday (finally, yay for surfaces!)
ALSO I TURN 23 ON SATURDAY WHAT IS THIS I AM OLD.
UPDATE: I just signed up for MyPlate - Livestrong.com's weight loss app/ web service. It's free (the app was $2.99 or free if you don't want the cloud connectivity). There's a badge for blogs but it's too wide to fit on here. I'm hoping that the daily reminder to actually do the tracking will help me monitor caloric/ nutrient intake. The reminder might get me going on the exercise front too!
Exercise Status
I came pretty close to not making it last night. I almost didn't do the aerobics. I had been reading, and it was later than I wanted. BUT I DID IT ANYWAY.
My exercise from last week looks like this:
Monday: lazy
Tuesday: lazy
Wednesday: 10 minute aerobics
Thursday: 35 minute walk
Friday: lazy/ exhausted
Saturday: 1 hour walk
Sunday: 20 minute aerobics (doubled up to make up for Friday)
Therefore! Success!! +10 dollars! 30 total now. Wooo. 2 more weeks!
Anyway, challenge for this week: Keep it up!
I don't know how busy I will be later in the week (no one plans these things specifically until they actually happen) so for now I will say exercise the equivalent of 6 single servings (10 minute aerobics/ half an hour walks).
Motivation Status
Medium to high.
I weighed myself again on Saturday (I think) and afterwards I wanted to throw the scale off my balcony. Perhaps I should have.
My weight has gone up again, despite all my exercising.
Despite is perhaps not the right word. It's gone up because of my exercising. I am gaining muscle weight, which is, in the end, a good thing. But right now, it just makes the numbers go up infuriatingly. So how is it that the numbers on the scale are in fact acting as motivation instead of demotivation? I am very near a number I absolutely do not want to cross. In fact, I am so near to it that I am worried I have crossed it when I wasn't paying attention. Not happy! So, my way of refuting this is to press on with the exercise until the muscles are built and reinforced so that they can start eating the pounds instead of making it look like I ate them.
Food Status
I actually made a meal plan this week. I finally got some dry erase markers so I can write on my whiteboard, and thus I made it easier to write down what the meals we have on hand are. I went grocery shopping and spent more than I should have, though most of the cost was concentrated on the proteins (as is the usual). So when I'm buying a whole weeks worth of meals and restocking some essentials (frozen chicken, for example) things get a bit pricey. But it's alright, we have other food that we will eat next week, and I wont need to go shopping again until August.
The meal plan looks pretty tasty, and I'm excited to cook and eat it all. It's also not carb dependent in any way, I can make Jon the carbs and just leave them off of my plate. The carbs I have are also, for the most part (pasta excepted) healthy noms. Even the pasta isn't so bad, it's Eating Right's Veggie Pasta, which gives you a full serving of vegetables. So, I've been eating pretty well. Now if the weight would please just step off already.
On a related note, I have learned an absolute horror of dieting. Or rather I have deduced one from my own experience. Unless you choose to permanently change your diet to whatever it is (which is unwise for most diets, since they eliminate at least one food group and therefore deprive your body of nutrients), they are basically useless. You will gain back more than you lost, and end up weighing more in the end because of the diet you didnt keep.
I had a stable weight once. Then I went on diets. Now I weigh far more than I would have otherwise, because my body forgot how to balance itself. I'm not sure how to bring it back, though I am betting that the exercise will help more than a little bit. This whole thing has been quite a learning experience so far. I'm glad I decided to blog about it.
Walking and good eating ahead!
We get our dining room table on Tuesday (finally, yay for surfaces!)
ALSO I TURN 23 ON SATURDAY WHAT IS THIS I AM OLD.
UPDATE: I just signed up for MyPlate - Livestrong.com's weight loss app/ web service. It's free (the app was $2.99 or free if you don't want the cloud connectivity). There's a badge for blogs but it's too wide to fit on here. I'm hoping that the daily reminder to actually do the tracking will help me monitor caloric/ nutrient intake. The reminder might get me going on the exercise front too!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Challenge Adjustments
My week did not go as planned. But instead of forfeiting another 10 dollars when I really did/ really plan to get a lot of exercise in, I am reassigning the challenges posed on Monday.
Original Challenge:
Walk 2 miles, 3 times.
New Challenge:
Walk for an hour and a half total. Do 10 minute aerobic exercise 3 times.
I have noticed that on my walks up at Lake Chabot, after about half a mile, I lose good GPS signal and Zombies, Run! get's confused about how far I've gone. Therefore any distances are incredibly unreliable. I know about where the mile line is on the trail now, so I will measure distance that way. But that is also not perfectly reliable, and so I have decided to rely more on time. I will always go for at least half an hour (because thats as long as the Zombies missions are) on long days I will go for an hour.
So, I have managed to go once this week, last night. It was a pretty nice walk. I enjoyed it, though I wish I had been able to muster up the motivation to go more this week. I had originally intended to go Monday, then I intended to go Tuesday, then Wednesday.... it didn't happen until Thursday. But! I did exercise Wednesday night.
Forever ago, Kira recommended 10 minute workouts on Netflix. I did the Yoga one a few times back in January and enjoyed it. I hadn't really returned to them since. I decided on Wednesday, because there were things going on and I didn't have enough time to go on a walk, that I should try another of those 10 minute programs. I set up the 10 minute Carb Crush or whatever it's called. It's a set of fast paced aerobic workouts designed to burn calories, particularly those from carbs (though I think that part's nonsense). It was a good workout. I was coated in sweat and tired afterwards. A good result for only 10 minutes. It wasn't a whole lot of effort (like going out and walking can sometimes be) and I feel I got about the same (maybe a bit less) out of it. I may also eventually be able to turn that into strength training.
And so, after realizing that going walking 3 times a week was a bit ambitious, I figured out a better plan. Most of my exercise has successfully occurred later in the week. Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays tend to be days I have no motivation to go exercise, because I have to spend all that motivation on chores or work. However, later in the week, I have motivation to spare. So, I have decided to make Monday and Tuesday my break days. The other days I will distribute walking and 10 minute aerobics, depending on how busy I am on any given week. This week I know I will have a lot of free time Saturday and Sunday, and so I have planned to go on a long walk Saturday, and to fill in all the other days with aerobics. If I manage it all, I have still succeeded for the week and I get the 10 dollars.
I have started rethinking what I will spend the money on. I read somewhere a few days ago (another blog I think) that a good way to keep yourself motivated to exercise is to reward yourself with workout clothes or items. When I reach $50, I will go buy some light training weights and a workout shirt. The goal after that will be new running shoes. Every 5 weeks of successful workout, I will give myself something to make my workouts more successful. I hope this will work!
Original Challenge:
Walk 2 miles, 3 times.
New Challenge:
Walk for an hour and a half total. Do 10 minute aerobic exercise 3 times.
I have noticed that on my walks up at Lake Chabot, after about half a mile, I lose good GPS signal and Zombies, Run! get's confused about how far I've gone. Therefore any distances are incredibly unreliable. I know about where the mile line is on the trail now, so I will measure distance that way. But that is also not perfectly reliable, and so I have decided to rely more on time. I will always go for at least half an hour (because thats as long as the Zombies missions are) on long days I will go for an hour.
 |
| Lake Chabot on Thursday night |
So, I have managed to go once this week, last night. It was a pretty nice walk. I enjoyed it, though I wish I had been able to muster up the motivation to go more this week. I had originally intended to go Monday, then I intended to go Tuesday, then Wednesday.... it didn't happen until Thursday. But! I did exercise Wednesday night.
Forever ago, Kira recommended 10 minute workouts on Netflix. I did the Yoga one a few times back in January and enjoyed it. I hadn't really returned to them since. I decided on Wednesday, because there were things going on and I didn't have enough time to go on a walk, that I should try another of those 10 minute programs. I set up the 10 minute Carb Crush or whatever it's called. It's a set of fast paced aerobic workouts designed to burn calories, particularly those from carbs (though I think that part's nonsense). It was a good workout. I was coated in sweat and tired afterwards. A good result for only 10 minutes. It wasn't a whole lot of effort (like going out and walking can sometimes be) and I feel I got about the same (maybe a bit less) out of it. I may also eventually be able to turn that into strength training.
And so, after realizing that going walking 3 times a week was a bit ambitious, I figured out a better plan. Most of my exercise has successfully occurred later in the week. Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays tend to be days I have no motivation to go exercise, because I have to spend all that motivation on chores or work. However, later in the week, I have motivation to spare. So, I have decided to make Monday and Tuesday my break days. The other days I will distribute walking and 10 minute aerobics, depending on how busy I am on any given week. This week I know I will have a lot of free time Saturday and Sunday, and so I have planned to go on a long walk Saturday, and to fill in all the other days with aerobics. If I manage it all, I have still succeeded for the week and I get the 10 dollars.
I have started rethinking what I will spend the money on. I read somewhere a few days ago (another blog I think) that a good way to keep yourself motivated to exercise is to reward yourself with workout clothes or items. When I reach $50, I will go buy some light training weights and a workout shirt. The goal after that will be new running shoes. Every 5 weeks of successful workout, I will give myself something to make my workouts more successful. I hope this will work!
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