Making Neon Memories

Saturday, July 13th...A wonderful day off with my sweetheart!
We slept in an extra hour or so and then hit the road in the Jeep. Pit stop at the PH Support Group to visit with my patients and enjoy a nice presentation by one of the Vanderbilt Dayani Center's finest, Zack Klint, as he presented the crowd with the importance of exercise. I must share the link to the video that he started the meeting with today...23 1/2 hours
I have heard the importance of exercise presented many different ways but never quite as cool as this one. Brief and to the point but impacted the crowd all the same.

In fact, Zack was quite amazing all on his own. A few of the notable quotes from today...

-"Somebody has to do something, and it's incredibly pathetic that it has to be us."-- Jerry Garcia
-"If exercise is the prescription, then what is the dose?"

Next, we made our way over the Costco since we have been forced to retire our old Bullet after about 5 years. We might have used it a dozen times before this February 2013. Since February, it has been used no less than 3-4 times a day. Blended smoothies and meal replacement shakes for our family is the job that it has been called to do more than ever before. Proud to say that Costco has a heck of a deal. 26 pc set for $44. I think we were gifted the first Magic Bullet years ago for about $60 for a set almost half this size.

We made our way back home in time to snack a little and then don our race clothes and garb for the GloRun. This was our first ever night time run...so we made it nothing less than fun.

Our run goodies

We didn't join the team that my friends at Vandy but had a great time hooking up with them from the beginning.

The Neon Fruit Loops and me and my guy. Pulmonary Clinic folks ROCK!

The GloRun was definitely a fun run that wasn't timed and was intended opportunity for making memories. That is exactly what we did! Just as we were walking toward the start line, David spotted an unsuspecting fella that caught his eye. I had to stop and grab a quick photo with me and him. Loved his shirt and he was such a great sport for allowing me to capture a pic of it for this post. FLUFFY!

 It started out in Downtown Nashville at LP Field at about 8:45pm. As the sun was tucking in behind the clouds, I wanted to snap a quick pic of the Batman tower in the distance.

We finished up at almost 10pm considering we started towards the middle of the pack and then stopped to take pictures along the way. In fact, my sweetheart and I didn't even run much of it. His knee was really paining him so we took it slow most all the way after we ran the first quarter mile.

The Starting Line

 As we neared the end of the course, we stopped one last time to grab a neon picture.

 We live in such a beautiful city...so I had to capture a small piece of the scenery.

OK...back to the work force in about 5 hours as the alarm will sound loud and clear. Sweet dreams...

Bringing Sexy Back...I have aged another year.

Yes, it has truly been forever since I have posted. Honestly, life has been a bit crazy busy recently. However, I have stayed strong on the healthy living wagon, thank goodness. For those that follow me closely, you know that I am no superstar with quick weight loss. Slow and steady...that best describes my journey.

I have been really focused on getting my eats logged on My Fitness Pal (dragonfly248, if you wanna hook up) over the last several days..since last weekend I guess.  After my asking persistently, my P90X kid agreed to hold me accountable and so I don't have much choice when I receive text messages that say, "You better start logging!" :) She is helping me focus on not just eating and then logging it only to figure out that I went over for the day. Plan it, log it, then eat only what you planned and logged. That's the key! So far, so good. I am holding it at about 1400-1500 calories per day for the most part. My UPband is great in that it shows me that my resting burn is about 1350-1400 calories per day. So...with my daily exercise...I am well on my weigh to losing more fluff. It's all really a math formula at the end of the day. Calories In - Calories Burn...you gotta end up in the RED.

Weigh Day Wednesday has come and gone but I do want to share where I am...or was as of Wednesday. My "last chance workout" pic is posted just above. Just know that the humidity here is about 65% at 5am so it was about to kill me with just walking most of it and jogging very little.

So...it's official...I am 75 pounds lighter than I was October 25, 2010...25 pounds lighter since just February 15, 2013. When you do the math and use your calendar, you will see that it took me 2 years to lose 50 pounds and only 4 1/2 months to lose 25. Don't forget, I took Oct 2012 to February 2013 off ...crazy me. Some have asked me, "What is your goal weight?" Well, if I had to choose a number, it would be about 145-150. However, I really don't have any clue. I haven't been this size, this fit, and this healthy since back in high school. I had both of my kids in my mid-20s and weighed 200 pounds when I became pregnant with each of them. So...the answer is...I am gonna keep going until I just feel right in my clothes. I would love to wear a cute size 6 or 8 but I know that I don't want to look emaciated and sickly. So...I have asked several of my accountability partners to keep me aware of my appearance as I near that goal.

I just realized as I was typing that I have never really thought much about talking "goal" because I didn't see that as all that reachable. Thank goodness for top of the line supplements and hard work...I can finally talk about reaching my long-term goals. What does that mean? Well, that just means that I will make more to replace those.

This morning was an indoor quick workout prior to jumping into the workday.

This morning ended up being about 5 miles on the elliptical in 45 minutes. I pushed hard at times but mostly just pushed steady and earned a nice sweat. The calorie burn on the elliptical seems a little off since I think it was more like 400 calories at best instead of the 656 that it tallied.

Since I haven't shared any in a couple of weeks, I did want to mention that I completed a 5K on July 4th that was a true marker for my improvement. I was able to shave off a full minute on the same course that we raced in 2011 and 2012. It rained the entire time we were there but I am happy to say that we did it.

However, it did rain the whole time so there was potential..hehehe

Our next race will be tomorrow evening. We have never raced at night but decided to sign up for a fun run...The GloRun. I will be sure to share some crazy pics :) It's just gonna be me and my smokin' hot, bald man doing that one since a couple of the kids are out of town and the other decided that hangin' with old folks wasn't her cup of tea.

One more item on my honorable mention list today. My Vanderbilt Pulmonary Clinic Team is rockin' the socks off of some fluff as they are into the 9th week of the total of 12 and have lost 61+ pounds among the 9 that are weighing in routinely. I, myself, have lost about 7 1/2 of that and still pushing hard.  I have been awarding little gifts along the way to the highest % lost. It is pretty awesome to see teamwork and competitiveness spring from all of them when you mention CASH prize at the end. Only 4 more weigh-ins to go...Who will claim the Biggest Loser Challenge pot? Only the scale knows...

So, I will wind up this crazy mess of a random post with a few snack ideas for you. We love some almonds around our house. In fact, we are NUTS over them...hehehe. So, I have to share a few of our favorites. We find them at Walmart, Target, Publix...pretty much any store that you buy groceries. Hope you will love them like we do.

The other awesomeness that we have uncovered is these Oikos Dips. Celery sticks, carrot sticks, hummus chips....pretty much anything tastes yummy with this slathered on top. Trust me...you will love them.

Before I forget to mention...
I tend to be a better quick-post kind of gal so if you are on FaceBook...look me up under "Fluffy and Figuring Out Fit". On Instragram...same name. I don't use Twitter all that frequently but I am Fluffy and Fit on that social media station. If you have interest in hearing more about how I have lost these last 25 pounds so smoothly and feeling healthier than ever, then don't hesitate to email me at fluffyandfiguringoutfit@gmail.com or personal message me on the FB page so we can connect.

Have a great evening....later gators.