It's October? Excuses, a recipe, and a dog

Wow, time flies.  It's October, Ragtime has come and gone, Joseph... has started, I'm another year older, and I haven't really been running or counting points... I've been teaching and working out!  Just not as much as I would like.  I mostly blame the dog. Sort of. He's far too cute to leave sometimes.

So- August through the beginning of October, I was working on the beautiful and epic musical, Ragtime. I was very excited to play a dream role, Mother, with such a wonderful cast and production with Fiddlehead Theatre.

New Rochelle ladies with out giant hats and wigs

Tateh and Mother. And her giant wig.

Opening

So. The PointsPlus counting has been extremely lazy lately.  I have no excuse.  I know it's easy. I know I can do it, I just have had a hard time.  Mostly, I've been good for a few days in a row and then I'd kind of ruin it for a couple, then back to being good... I admit, I have not been to a meeting in a couple of months and I'm sure that's part of it.  I need to go back. It's been so easy to brush off for a while, though.  The holiday season is coming up, though, and I NEED the stability.  I need the support.  I am going back! (Sadly, next week.  Because this week, I am having a tooth pulled... ick)  But- I have been tracking since Monday.  And I'm feeling good about it.  Thursday will be the test.

Ok- "recipe" time. "Recipe" because I didn't do a whole lot to make this good.

I took a picture of it, but it just looked disgusting.  It was amazing, though!

Tofukey Chorizo and Pumpkin Millet

Millet- 1 cup dry

Water- 3 cups

Pumpkin- 1 can

salt and pepper to taste

Tofurkey Chorizo- 1 package

Onion- 1 large, diced

Red pepper- 1 large, diced

Garlic

Put the millet and water in a large pot and bring it to a boil.  Turn down the heat and let it simmer about 25 minutes.  Add the pumpkin and salt and pepper. 

In a skillet, cook the garlic and onion for a few minutes and then add the pepper.  After about five minutes, add the chorizo.  The spices on the chorizo were so yummy that I didn't add anything.

Serve together... I got about 4 servings out of this. It was amazing. But not attractive.  But amazing.

RUNNING STUFF---

It's been a while. I've been running maybe one a week. And not far. I blame this guy-

Ok. He's not totally to blame. But it's just so hard to leave him sometimes. And he doesn't like running. Not for more than a quarter of a mile. 

We adopted Winston in August.  He's a wonderful addition to our family! But he makes me slightly less productive than I would like to be.

Anyhow- I'm getting over it. Mostly.


More on running- I know I was supposed to run the Salem Wicked Half marathon in September.  It turned out that we had a ten out of twelve rehearsal (10am-10pm with a two hour break) and I wouldn't have made it on time.  Ah well.
BUT- once I have a better idea of what my next year will look like, I will start picking out next year's races and train!

Also- since I last blogged, I started teaching BodyCombat, Tabata, Circuit, and re-started BodyPump.  They're all going well and the different classes keep me busy and entertained.  I definitely prefer this to the 40239420 Zumba classes a week that I used to teach.  I still teach and love Zumba, don't get me wrong.  Now I just teach it 1-2x a week and I enjoy it.

PS- lunch time discovery- frozen Brussels Sprouts are horrid.

So many things....

Well, it's been a while and a lot has happened. First- I got married!  Kevin and I eloped in Hawaii in June. It the perfect week. Very romantic and relaxing. Perhaps too much food and beer... Here are some pictures for now, but I need to put an actual "Hawaii" blog together.

Now I have to admit... I'm having some trouble on the Weight Watchers front.  I'm having some issues staying on track and I know that's ridiculous.  I've been pretty good about keeping up with my exercise, though I've had trouble fitting the running in because I've been subbing a ton, but the food and drink is slightly out of control.

I know I can do it. I'm just struggling a little.  I'm hoping that admitting it here will help.  Ok.

On a positive note- I have BodyCombat training coming up!  On a scary note- I totally injured myself!  I think it all started with Bye Bye Birdie.  I was positive I could still do a split, even though I haven't tried in years. Turns out, no, I can not. Also, I pulled my hamstring.  I let it rest a day, switched to a jazz split and it seemed ok, just a little tight.  (Bruised and cut the other knee, though. I'm old) That was about a month ago.  Yesterday in BodyCombat, I pulled my calf (same side- left if you're interested). I stopped and went home and took care of it.  I have an appointment set for tomorrow with a PT place.  It feels a lot better today, but I really want to take care of this now so I don't keep injuring myself.

Oh- and this is what I looked like while injuring myself in Bye, Bye, Birdie-

WISH ME LUCK! CLEAN SLATE TOMORROW!

Lifetime and other things

It's been a while since I've blogged!

First off- I hit Lifetime at Weight Watchers!

10% key chain with 25lb, 50lb, 75lb,
16 week, goal, and lifetime charms

This is the closest thing I currently have to an after picture... I'm sorry it sucks... It's even like a month old...

It feels great and a little strange, much like goal.  Like I have said before, I think when I started Weight Watchers a long long time ago, I viewed goal and lifetime as an ending, and I see now that it's really not.  For one, I still have to track food and exercise since NOT tracking food and exercise is how I gained weight.  I also still have lots to work on fitness-wise.  Please don't misunderstand- I am so proud of how far I've come with my weight loss (97lbs currently!!!) and my fitness level (more about that later), but I can always set a new goal to work on. I could run more miles, I could run faster, I could try a new activity, etc.  And I don't think that's a bad thing.

The Full Monty at Stoneham closed a very successful run a couple of weeks ago! It was a really great experience with some wonderful people and I got to wear this wig for one song- 

This happened.

and I got to share a dressing room with these hot chicks

Aw, I miss you girls.

I also had a cabaret this past Saturday at Arts After Hours. It was a lot of fun!  I think I saw Corey taking some pictures?  Corey, do you have any?

This is also the big audition season in Boston.  Ok. I'm done making excuses for not blogging....

So bad news on the marathon front- I will not be able to afford the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge in 2013!  Turns out getting married is expensive and so is the race and a trip to Disney World. So... maybe next year. But I am still going to find a marathon to run in 2013. I'm open to fairly inexpensive, not too hilly, and pretty suggestions.  I am still going to run the Race to Remember May 27th.  (crap, I have to register for that)  The training is going pretty well!  My last long run was 10 miles and if it hadn't been raining, and I hadn't eaten tortilla chips before bed, I think it would have been pretty good.  I have no cold rainy running gear, so I ran in a wet and heavy sweatshirt.  

Ok- I'm going to admit something now.  I've had a rough week staying on program and I have no explanation.  Life can get in the way, but I know how to handle that, I just haven't very well.  I let myself have an extra beer or two on a couple of occasions, I indulged in the basket of chips at a restaurant, I had more almond milk ice cream than I should of, etc.  I've kept up the exercise, but I can feel myself slipping every now and then on the eating.  I'm hoping that putting it out there in this post will help me get back on track. If you see me pick up a chip, just slap it out of my hand (don't really do that, please).

Ok- onto my goals for this summer... 

1) I want to find a marathon to train for.  

I find that I like running more if I have a goal in mind.  Not just running faster or longer, but "I need to run this long or fast on this day, so I shouldn't skip this day of training".

2) I want to train to teach Les Mills Body Combat.

3) I want to play more than four chords on the guitar. 

I played along with the fabulous Josh Martin at the AAH show, but I would love to be able to play on my own without terror :)

4) I want to purchase and learn to play a ukulele.

Pink. Nuff said.

5) I want to be more mindful of the kinds of food I eat. 

I eat a lot of healthy food.  I also eat some junk food.  I really notice the difference in how I feel when I run. We had this wonderful pot luck between shows the last Saturday of The Full Monty.  People really outdid themselves!  Anyhow- I ate things like wheat berries, chick peas... whatever the hell it was that I brought... oh! Succotash.  I ran nine miles the next day, and if I didn't have a matinee, I could have run more. I felt amazing!  The ten miles I ran the next week? Not as good. The rain, sure, but the tortilla chips.  I counted them. They were within my points, but they really didn't give me much energy.

Alright- that's it for now!  

A million dollars?

Ok. Yeah. May. I see it, too. Last time I posted.

So, this summer has been rough for me and food and the gym.  I've had good days and even good weeks, but the bad days and weeks seem to even it all out.  I've lost and gained the same 7lbs for months.  It ends now. Or. Yesterday. Technically. Seriously this time.

I guess I don't understand where my motivation goes sometimes.  Weight Watchers is a wonderful program. It's not difficult to follow. You can literally eat whatever you want as long as you plan for it.  I think part of me gets angry that I have to worry about it at all. I know I feel better when I'm on plan. I know I feel 100% better than that when I go to the gym.  I know that I'll get more work if I lose weight (as an actor).  Yeah, I think I just get mad that it's something that I have to worry about at all.

So, I thought maybe I'd use the new season of The Biggest Loser to motivate me (don't judge my reality show watching).  I changed my weigh in day to Wednesday (because that is when I will most likely watch my DVR'd episode every week) and hoped that it would help.  Wednesday last week started off awesome.  I went to the gym and ate well.  Thursday-Monday... less awesome.  Not horrible.  I think it involved some vegan pizza and some guacamole... possibly some dark chocolate... beer...  Again- all of these things would have been FINE if I just COUNTED them.

So there I was on Monday. Ready to start over again. Sort of. I had had some Nyquil the night before and I kicked. my. butt.  So, yeah.  I think I had some pita chips and some plain pasta that day. (Oh, by the way, I had a terrible cold, it wasn't recreational Nyquil)  So, I knew I had to get back to it, but I wasn't feeling super motivated.  I needed a sign. Ugh, I just decided to watch TV.  Aaaaaaaand sign- Dr. Oz is pairing up with Weight Watchers to do this Transformation Nation Million Dollar You contest. Hm.  I need to lose weight... I'm a Weight Watchers online member... I've done it before... I don't expect to win a million dollars, but what the hell.

I went to my local Weight Watchers location yesterday and had my official complimentary weigh in and started to fill out all of the online forms.  Someone's got to win, right? And regardless (irregardless. Oh God. Spell check didn't fix that. WHYYYYYYYY????), I'll lose weight.  So that's still kind of winning something.

After weighing in, I went grocery shopping for lots of produce and dried beans (I'm trying this again. I have some weird inability to prepare beans from their dried state.  Before I went vegan, I had a similar problem preparing bacon. Just can't do it. Not sure why.)  I tracked all of my food and ended up 2 points under (not on purpose).

Today- I tracked all of my food.   (still deciding if it would be useful/interesting enough to post what I eat?) and made it to the gym.  I went to Body Combat.  I love it. It kicks my ass.  I usually would do strength training as well, but it's been so long that this was about what I could do today.  I love Body Combat and shadow/kick boxing so much, that I'm debating joining a boxing gym when my current contract is up.

So here I am at the end of day two feeling optimistic.  I had enough points left over for a pumpkin beer.  See.  Awesome program.