Thank You Katy Perry!

I may have gone to the Katy Perry concert with my daughter.
I may have acted like a 13 year old girl while there.
I may have spent $70 !!!! on this sweatshirt (shhh, don't tell hubby).
It may be the most comfy sweatshirt on the planet!
(it is a pet peeve of mine when the outside of the sweatshirt is softer than the inside...this one isn't like that  )
THANK YOU Katy Perry!!

Ultimate Reset Results and TOP TEN

TOP TEN THINGS I LEARNED ON THE ULTIMATE RESET

• I can only deprive myself for 20 days, not 21!
• The way I feel and the way I look are two completely different things!
• I don't like fennel.
• I do like beets!
• Not exercising makes me very grumpy.
• Having a menu and a shopping list is crucial for my success!
• I actually like to cook.
• I don't NEED meat or sugar.
• My portions were WAY TOO big.
• I CAN DO HARD THINGS!

TOMORROW YOUR QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED ABOUT THE RESET!

TBT- What a DIFFERENCE!

OH HEAVENS!

2011

 Above wasn't even my highest weight. 

I thought I was looking pretty darn good on that trip. 

2013- we look SO MUCH younger!

Honestly, one of the greatest blessings is that we are healthy as a couple and as a family now! I can rest easy at night knowing that I am doing all I can for my family to live longer, to feel better and BE HAPPIER! 

I have a COUPLES CHALLENGE GROUP staring on Feb 17th, in honor of Valentine's Day! 

I still have room for two more couples. Wanna join us?

 IT IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN!

Is Strawberry Shakeology Really Worth It?

Sometimes it ain't pretty....

This morning I braved the cold and went and ran on the strand at 6am. I don't have any winter running clothes so I just layered a t-shirt, long sleeved shirt and jacket over capri running pants. The beanie helped a lot, courtesy of my twelve year old. 

The thing about exercising when it is cold is that is usually is only cold for about five minutes. I had an awesome run! I am so glad I didn't use "I have nothing to wear" as an excuse!

GIVEAWAY!

This month is near and dear to my heart! My mom is a breast cancer survivor, my sister is an ovarian cancer survivor and my dad is a prostate cancer survivor. When my sister was diagnosed I took a good, hard look at what food I was eating. I became obsessed with adding super foods into my diet. I was spending a FORTUNE, not to mention it was tricky making sure I ate them all!

That is when I found Shakeology! It has ALL the super foods i could want AND MORE! I didn't start drinking it to lose weight (although that happened) and I didn't start drinking it for more energy (that happened too). I started drinking it for GOOD HEALTH. It is filled with vitamins from fruits and veggies, antioxidants, probiotics, and protein! I could go on and on...it gives me peace of mind that my family and I are doing everything we can to put health into our bodies every day. PLUS IT IS SO YUMMY!

If you want to win four days of Shakeology:

-like this post

-comment on this post

-share this post to your page

-doing it on Behind The Refrigerator Door and here gets you TWO entries!

Winner will be chosen at 8pm PST on WED 10/16!

Random Running Thoughts ~ 7.24.13

Run~ 100 minute run

Place~ San Ramon/Dublin, CA while visiting my parents

Playlist~ Combination of 80's and 2013 faves

The following is a sample of random thoughts I had on my run today.

• "Please help the my left leg be okay so that I can complete this run."
• "Adam Levine is so dang sexy. I could listen to him sing all day long." while listening to "Daylight"
• "I can't wait to see hubby on Saturday. It has been way too long."
• "I can run all day at this pace. You know what? Maybe I don't want to be a runner at all. Maybe I will call myself a jogger."
• "I hate the whole pacing part of running. I just like to run and not worry about how fast I am running, especially on these long runs...hmmmm something to think about."
• " I feel so lucky to be able to run in such a pretty location."
• "I don't miss China very much."
• "Today I am going to figure out my budget and go buy new running shoes. I am way overdue."
• "Taking two Advil before my run is totally helping." I am not a Doctor and do not advise you to do this.
• "I can't wait to run at the beach again."
• "This running bra is working good. "
• "I am so glad I wore a hat today. This sun is bright and it is not even 8am."
• "I should've worn sunscreen."
• "I am only at 37 minutes? I've got a long way to go. I better modify my route to make it longer."
• "Oh thank goodness a red light. I need a little stretch of my legs."
• "I can't wait for a cold Gatorade." obsessed about that for the last three miles.
• "I love my parents so much. They are so good to me."
• "I wonder how many miles I will make it to in this 100 minute run." I ended up making it just under 9 miles.
• "My 90 minute play list is repeating, I must be almost done!"
• "I am going to need to stretch."
• "I feel GREAT!"

Random Running Thoughts~ 4.25.13

I am really committing to better blog photography! 
Thanks for your patience!
Here I am after my work out today.

I don't know about you but some of my most profound thoughts occur when I am exercising. Sometimes they are not so profound, just silly and often hilarious (at least to me)! I thought it would be fun to keep track of some of the random things that cross my mind as I am accruing mileage. Enjoy this glimpse into my scattered thoughts and, as always, be sure to share some of your own!

" How many songs is a thirty minute run? Oh forget it."

"Wow that guy is running at 13.8 km/hr! That is beyond sprinting for me. He can probably only keep that up for like five minutes."- He did it for thirty minutes!

"I am really wanting to listen to the Go-Go's." Too hard to switch playlists during my running app. "Note to self: next week's running playlist should be all 80's! Yeah!" I force myself to switch playlists each week. Otherwise it gets too predictable and I get bored. 

"What should I cook for dinner? Breakfast it is."

"What is that awful smell? Shoot...I think it is me! Why do I smell so bad? Is it the quinoa? Holy cow, it is really bad. I know I wore deodorant."

"Does anyone else smell me?"

"Why do I sweat more than anyone else?"

"I can't wait to eat my greek yogurt when I get home." - Darn! The boy ate my last one yesterday. Do you know how expensive and hard greek yogurt is to find in Beijing?

"Please let it be easy to find slingshots today."- It was easy! Found them right across the street from my house. I needed them for a youth church activity.

"KF (my niece)  should be a cop. She would make a good cop. Note to self: message her that she should be a cop."

" How much longer?"

"What will it be like running outside in just a couple of months? I hope it is not hilly." - In case you don't know, we are moving out of Beijing in June. We are relocating to the Los Angeles area, but don't know exactly where to yet. I bet it will be hilly!

"Seriously, how much longer?"

"I hate this song. Note to self: remove from playlist." - It was Katy Perry's Hot & Cold. The song is fine, but I am bored running to it.

"That tree sure has gotten a lot of leaves on it lately." -I try to run right in front of the window and I usually fixate on one focal point. Sometimes I visualize the path I ran on in my parent's neighborhood. Anything to get through treadmill running. The air in Beijing is too unhealthy to run outside (most of the time). 

"I'm going to make a Facebook page for my Behind The Refrigerator Door blog."

There you have it. The highlights of my brain activity during my run this morning. Did you have any interesting thoughts today?

Froggy Legs

I have been extremely happy with my body image progress. However, sometimes when I catch a glimpse of my legs this memory crosses my mind.

When I was in high school I went with my boyfriend's family to their cabin. The cabin sat on the banks of a river and it was a tradition for the family to go "froggin". The guys put on waders, headlamps and carried custom made spears. I joined them that dark night until I viewed exactly what froggin' was all about. Let''s just say that the headlamp confused the frogs and well, I bet you can guess what the spear was for. I quickly decided to join the women in the kitchen prepping for the feast. Once the guys returned with no frog bodies, just the legs, I realized what was coming next. I distinctly remember my boyfriend's mom pulling the skin off the legs and saying, "it is just like taking off panty hose". She was so funny and cute and I couldn't help but become enthusiastic. Soon after, we ate the frog legs and of course someone said, "they taste just like chicken." 

You know what? 

They really did!

I haven't eaten frog legs since, but like I said, I often am reminded of when I had them.
You know what? Frog legs are awesomely muscular...how else would they be able to leap? 
I am proud of my muscular froggy legs!

Milestone Achieved! Funny (true) Story to celebrate!

Today I completed my 5K training. I use this app. That means for the last eight weeks I have run at least three times a week and today I ran a full thirty minutes without stopping. Yay! I am exactly 10 pounds down from when I started.

Next up...10K training. Running four days a week and another 10 (hopefully a few more) down in the next eight weeks. That will be exactly when I head back to the US for summer!

Me, just before my run, in the awesome
Marriott fitness center locker room. (One of the perks of living in China:) 

Funny story about this milestone of a run...So, I was done and inside my head I was doing a little "party dance" of celebration while walking on the treadmill to cool down. I guess I was also doing a "potty dance" too because as I was walking I felt like I had no control over my bladder and I felt it begin to trickle out! (Female runners: am I right that no matter if you went just before you run, you still have to go right after?) 

Anyhow, I began to panic because the treadmill was in full motion and there was a gentleman right behind me on the elliptical. In a split second I envisioned him seeing me pee my pants, from behind, and I did not know what that liquid would do, or where it would go, since I was on the treadmill. Instinctively I turned my body, thinking I could hide it if he saw the side of my body! Have you ever tried to turn your entire body while on a treadmill? Well, I full on biffed it! Headphones still in ears, Iphone nicely harnessed to the machine. Now pee is for sure escaping! I quickly yank the earphones from my ears and tread backwards to prevent falling flat on my face...luckily this was all managed and I made it without blemish, except to my pride. I hit the emergency stop button and said to the man, "that was scary". Then I headed to the bathroom...

These are the moments I cherish, I tell ya!

My favorite social gathering is...

...a baby shower!!!

(because I know there will be at least one woman there who is bigger than me)

Girl Scout Cookies- "it's for the kids!"

Those sweet, cute little Girl Scouts sure are smart!!

Year in and year out we all fork out too much money for too little of cookies!

Why?

Because they are GIRL SCOUT COOKIES! Don't say you buy them to support a good cause...and we all know there are similar knock-offs in the grocery store that we can get year round!

I think it is the pure fact that they are a limited time offer!

AND they also make the packages so small that you eat one whole row in one sitting! Then you buy another box!

Smarty pants!

My last rant about these little morsels of pleasure are I can make it (well sometimes) through events and pass up yummy, decadent masterpieces by chefs of all calibers...but then I cave on GIRL SCOUT COOKIES?

So what is your favorite?

To My BFF's!

Dear Twix & Milky Way,
We've had a lot of fun this last couple of weeks together, hanging out nearly every day. But I just can't hang with you anymore. I know you were really there for me when I had a torn calf muscle and you really comforted me through this chest cold, and I thank you for that. I know you think I am fickle since I used to hang out with Snickers and Reeses, but they grew tiresome too. You see, the real reason I'm moving on is an old friend came back into my life named exercise. Exercise and I have a real love-hate relationship but it is a life-long friendship. I know it will be hard on you at first but I know you will find comfort with the M&M twins , plain and peanut.
Take Care and Best Wishes,
Jen

Grocery Store Treasure Hunt

I usually always need a taste of chocolate after lunch. I found these today! Thanks Pillsbury, they are great! 60 cal for 1 or the serving size is 3! I love it when I get permission to have more than 1. Try them! My kids better keep their hands off!

Then while waiting in line I saw this magazine cover! The bacon mac n' cheese caught my eye but immediately my eye went to "DROP 10 LBS". The subtitle should've been "...but not if you eat this mac n' cheese!" Silly magazine lay out editors!

I think this may have been the picture that my friend saw and decided to make. She doubled the recipe and found out she now had 24 servings! So she brought us (and another family) dinner. I have the best friends!

Anyhow, it was ammmmmaaaaazzzzzzing!

The Challenge Is On!

Ever since my race, I have been not doing so well in the "low sugar" part of my commitment! I have been doing great in training for my half marathon, but let's face it, I still want to shed 20 more pounds and eating Girl Scout cookies, Dove chocolate and yummy cake is not the way to go!
So as my friend and I were in mile 4 of our first day of hill training I was moaning about not being motivated to eat right...a challenge was born! Here it is! I am accountable to you all now too!
No "dessert type item" from yesterday (3/2) until the evening of March 19th- this includes (but is not limited to)

• cookies
• cakes
• chocolate
• ice cream
• Nutella
• chocolate chips
• hot chocolate

We may have one dessert for one night- one night only!

The consequence if either of us fail:

• a picture of us IN OUR SWIMSUIT (taken by other person) to be posted on Facebook! ( I say blog too!)
• buy the other person's dinner on March 19th

Bring it on!

Chocoholics Anonymous meeting in session...

My name is Jen and I am a chocoholic...Hi Jen!

I am not talking to chocoholics that are like, "Oh, I only eat the best chocolate or no chocolate at all." I am talking to those of you who crave that sweet and smoothe taste at a few different points throughout your day. That is me! Can you relate to this?

You've just finished a very satisfying lunch or dinner. It was healthy, filling and satisfied all of your taste buds...except those darn chocoholic ones! Here is our solution!!!!

Listen, I am not crazy! You need to have two of these a day (40 calories total) for your daily calcium intake. So it is perfect right after lunch for that sweet craving and right after dinner too. I LOVE milk, but as I have cut back on calories I also have cut back on my milk intake. This is a perfect way to get something I need and something I want all at the same time!

Thanks Costco demonstrators!

No, I am not getting any sort of monetary kickback for the last two posts about Costco. Although I'd be open to it if they wanted to!

A Happy Ending to my Funny Story!

So you recently read about my TRUE hilarious story (hopefully you read it)! It does not end there my friends! I happen to be back at Anthro and I see it again...heartbeat...look at tag...uh!it is now marked down to $39.99!...size XL! I'm trying it on...
I BETTER NOT GET STUCK IN THIS ONE!
Yay!
It is too big!
Make purchase.
Go to tailor, pin waiste and arms.
Pay $20.
Pick up on Friday.
I JUST LOVE A HAPPY ENDING!
Small print: If I am feeling good...you will see a picture in my perfect frock!

~true story, funny story~

ahhhhh- vacation!

The first thing I do when I have a moment to myself is go shopping. We are in Southern California. The weather is a balmy 75 degrees and Fashion Island is beckoning to me! I peruse all of the stores I normally do not get to fancy (Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Z Gallerie) and then I see it...my favorite store of all time...Anthropologie!

Do I begin in the kitchen? Oh the accessories are adorable, maybe I should stop there first! That coat is to die for, should I just try it on now? Oh,oh,oh! The sale "room"! Most stores have a sale rack, this store has an entire room!

There it is! I see it! And it is on sale! Regularly$128, now $64. It is a starched silk shirt dress. It is black and white plaid with a full skirt. It has the greatest shape and texture and I am in love!

Checking through the four that they have...small, small, small, ooooh medium! I've lost weight (25 lbs to be exact!) I can wear a medium...easy! Oh no! The zipper is broken and they are selling it "as is". I am petite. This dress is full. I am trying the small!

It goes on easy. Oh My Goodness! It is the dress I have been dreaming of. Cute enough for church with tights and flats, dressy enough for a party with hose and heels. I...am...in...love!

Uh-oh, the zipper will not go up. Now that I mention it, it doesn't fit at all! Okay, okay, okay it is not working out at all. Get it off me quick so that I will not elongate my disappointment! As I pull it up over my head...it is STUCK! er, er, er...move, move, move...it is still STUCK! Okay, I cannot move and the dress is stuck on my arms over my head and I am naked from the neck down (I am wearing my underclothes). Crud! I am starting to not be able to breathe and this dress is permanently STUCK. My arms are starting to go numb over my head and I can't see a thing. I am beginning to panic since I am somewhat claustrophobic!

Just then I hear, "Jenny, how is that dress working out for you?" The salespeople are so nice at my favorite store! They even write your name on a quaint little mirror outside your dressing room so they can be sure to call you by your name. :) I reply, "uh...well...it is too small...and...uh...I am stuck." I hear a little giggle, "Oh, do you need another size?" I am really beginning to get light headed now, partly from my arms above my head NUMB and the lack of oxygen.

"No, actually I just need help getting unstuck."

The look on this sweet young girls face must've been priceless! Of course, I could not see it since I was in a mound of gorgeous black and white plaid prison! With a little yanking and tugging, my size 0 hero helped me to freedom. I have never gotten out of a store so quickly in my life! I wasn't even done browsing! (Don't worry, I did go back!) All the while thinking of the broken zipper on the size medium and wondering if someone else, somewhere got stuck in their dream dress too!

Keep sticking to it because I am not yet a size small!!!

Tales from 5:30am Workouts :)

~ One particular morning I saw some eye candy. Now I am not peaking into windows, but when I stroll by (in the dark) when the rooms are lit..well...you know. I didn't see this before,nor since, but one morning in two seperate houses I saw men...buff men...with their shirts off (maybe other items off too). One was making coffee while the other ironed clothes. Hehehehe...
~ This past week I rolled out of bed and grabbed the first sweats I could find. Lights off I pulled them on and went out to walk/run. I've been incorporating jogging into my workout now. One thing I've learned is jogging does not work when YOUR PANTS FALL DOWN! That is right, my sweats are now too big and they slithered down my thighs. I completed my full workout, but had to hold up my pants while doing it! Do you think anyone happen to be peaking out of the window at 5:40am???? NAH!
~Who would've thought my neighborhood would be so scandalous before 6AM!

~from there to here~

You all know how much I struggle with my weight! It dawned on me...

How did we go from thinking this is sexy...

...to this?

Maybe instead of trying so hard to be "skinny"

I can work on bringing the curvy sexy back!

it may be a lot easier