i don't know where to go with this

so. hi. how are you? (i'm just kidding-- i know how you are because i still read all your blogs.)

today is the last day of april, which means my monthly weight report is coming up on monday. and i really, well, i really have no idea what it's going to be. yes, i still weigh myself daily, but my weight has been INSANELY erratic lately. (is that redundant?) i've been bouncing between 174.4 and 176.8 for like two weeks. and it just doesn't make sense.

i eat between 1200 and 1300 calories every day. i walk or stepper-dance* for at least 45 minutes a day-- 2 hours a day on the weekends. i drink tons of water. the only thing i'm not keeping up with is my strength training because i was sick last week and my husband is sick this week and sure, one of us COULD CONCEIVABLY workout by ourselves, but if that was seriously plausible we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with, ya know? anyway, i'm back at it today with or without him because we're going to florida in 29 days and deargodalmighty bathing suits.

(*stepper-dancing is when i hop on my mini-stepper and blast sublime in my ears and dance my pants off. you would not believe how sweaty i get.)

so. we'll see. monday might be very happy or not as happy. i would like very much to be <165 by our trip, which seems very attainable some days and less so other days, which is why i'm working out so much (and please don't give me any shit about the calorie range, i see a registered dietitian and you are not she). plus, oh my god, it makes me HAPPY. and ENERGETIC. and CONFIDENT. and since i've been working out daily (2 weeks before easter) i've been asked what my secret is about a thousand times ("these jeans are just REALLY FLATTERING") and called "the incredible shrinking woman" and "skinny bitch" by all my nearest and dearest... and i've lost basically NO WEIGHT.

i do feel really great. but i think i'd feel better if i could pour myself into some 14s.

product review: vitaminwater10, essential flavor

hey, that was fast! and i'm running out of orange-flavored beverages...

the pros: tastes much the same a regular vitamin water, which is to say, like oranges juice but wrong-- in a goodish way. 25 calories in the 20-ounce bottle. plus 5% of potassium, 250% of vitamin c and, well, a slew of other vitamins. funny paragraph on the side.

the cons: tastes pretty much the same as regular vitamin water. creepy super-sweet aftertaste, which must be a side effect of the stevia/truvia/whatever stuff they're both sweetened with. contains no juice.

so... well, yeah, i'll drink this instead of the regular stuff when i'm sick or hungover. i'm a water/seltzer gal the rest of the time. it just feels like such a WASTE to drink calories (and not get tipsy).

product review: trop50 by tropicana

having quit smoking, started exercising regularly, started taking a vitamin and cut a lot of chemicals out of my life over the past six months i managed to survive the winter without one cold. then yesterday? after a weekend in the 70s? and then a drop back to the forties? i had no voice. today is worse.

since i happened to see an ad for this trop50 business over the weekend, i hit my local wawa this morning for a 12-ounce of that and a 20-ounce vitamin water "10" (which has 10 calories per serving). (i haven't tasted that yet.)

so... the main event.

pros: tastes mostly like oj. 80 calories in a 12-ounce bottle. 19% of potassium, 50% of calcium, 150% of vitamin c and a whole slew of other vitamins.

cons: creepy super-sweet after taste. "orange juice beverage with vitamins." pulp free (= FAIL). 42% juice (= MAJOR FAIL).

basically, if i were an oj drinker-- one who needed oj to feel fulfilled by her breakfast experience, i might try to make the switch. but... i only drink it when i'm sick. so, whatever. i'll drink this when i'm losing -- seriously, did you think i was gonna go wasting 170 calories on a BEVERAGE, sick or not?-- and regular old, pulpy oj when i'm not.

later, maybe i'll blog the vw10 (haha. it looks like it's a volkswagen.) and the plain old lipton's decaf & water... all of which i have huddled around me.

post-lent, summer vacation & a plateau

1. "lenten" 15-day challenge? i completed 13 out of 15 90-minute workouts. go me?

2. we're going to florida in 6 weeks. have i mentioned what a wimp i am about HEAT?

3. i still weigh ~180 pounds, no matter what i do. just about what i weighed four years ago (wow.) when i met my husband. on the bright side, that SHOULD mean all those clothes fit again.

i know my body is fond of 180, but I'M fonder of 160. or 140. and let's face it, i secretly want to be 125. i know this is kinda a little set-point on my journey, but, DUDE. i really don't want to go to florida 180 pounds.

sooooo... 1250 calories a day. at least 7 hours of sweating per week. hope.

i've got a workout-a-day plan set up for another 15 days, starting tomorrow, and it incorporates a little non-c25k 6-week to running plan (from women's health magazine) (or, the first 1/3 of it, actually). so by the time i touch down in florida, i'll be running (NOT THAT I WILL EVEN CONSIDER RUNNING IN FLORIDA IN JUNE) and knocking out 50 sit-ups and 25 push-ups.

i'd like to think that 6 weeks could spell a drop into the 160s (and truth be told, if i actually broke my plateau, it could probably spell a drop to 160), but i think my best odds are around 174-175. not that i won't still TRY for 168. frankly, i think i'll be pretty pleased to wear my size 14 jeans and maybe even a bathing suit.