kehuizenga

I had these happen with a bell pepper once--there was a baby pepper growing inside of it. I just ate the pepper and threw away the baby pepper. I too found this cute.

Maybe drinking OJ with breakfast? I know I'm not getting all the fiber the actual fruit has and I'm drinking calories, but I am a grump if I don't get my daily OJ. I might even choose it over coffee if I had to pick one. At least I drink FL's natural and it's not from concentrate nor does it contain added sugar.

Purdue Boilermakers and Chicago Bears! If I could actually watch Purdue win, I wouldn't really care what I was eating...but alas, the coaches at Purdue and their preventative defense tend to prevent us from winning. I am not big on snacking while watching football at home, but if I was tailgating I would say chili would be…

I don't really care if my food is organic or not, but I do prefer to purchase mostly raw ingredients rather than too many processed foods (although I do buy pre-cooked chicken to put in my salad for lunch and microwave oatmeal). I am lucky that I live in a pretty nice area in Chicago and have a Jewel, Whole Foods, WalMart…

Thanks for the encouragement! I have been struggling a lot lately. I was feeling sick from running one week, but pushed through it and tried to repeat the week. I have been under a lot of stress lately and have had a hard time maintaining my sleeping schedule (my boyfriend works alternating shifts and I wake up in the…

Indianapolis, Indiana. Thankfully was raised as a Boilermaker, and thus I don't speak Hoosier (i.e. George Warshington, crick, deesh (dish), pitcher (picture), etc.). Currently live in Chicago.

Thank you. I was a lifeguard for several years and sometimes had parents who would get mad at me if I made their child take a timeout. Little did they know, precious had nearly caused another child to drown. Now I am not a lifeguard and have no children, but still say things to kids sometimes, especially if they are…

I do think it makes sense if you live somewhere where lions, tigers, bears, oh my are an issue. But in an urban or suburban area that does not have much scarier animals than rats, carrying with the purpose of using your gun against a person seems a little wacky to me.

I agree with you completely and I am an American living in Chicago, where crime is rampant and concealed carry is illegal. My personal opinion is that maybe if those criminals didn't have such easy access to guns then there wouldn't be so many shootings. Carrying a weapon seems completely unnecessary to me--I feel it would…

Good for you! I am repeating Week 4 and I didn't start until Wednesday so I am a little behind on posting. I am going to do Day 2 tomorrow and then Day 3 Saturday and move on to Week 5. I think I will feel a little more confident repeating Week 4--especially with all of the tummy troubles I had last week. Good luck to…

I am repeating week 4. I did not feel very well after my runs last week and wasn't able to complete the final run due to heat and humidity. I have re-completed week 4 day 1 today.

Is there any communal area where you would feel comfortable bringing your laptop and doing the DVDs there? Maybe even storage areas in the basement or something? On a side note, thank you for being such a considerate neighbor! The girl who lived above me in my old apartment would do exercise videos at 11pm when I was…

Thanks for the advice everyone! I have been having cramps quite a bit since last night so I am thinking that is what's causing this. I will definitely take the advice to slow down on my next run too--according to nike+, in my running portions I am typically doing about 9:30-10:00 pace, which might be a bit too fast.

I am thinking about doing this one too! I have so many 5ks in my calendar that I am thinking about right now.

I eat the same thing pretty much every day. I am not very creative with my dinners either. Breakfast : Quaker weight control oatmeal made with skim milk--I just alternate flavors of maple/brown sugar, cinnamon, banana bread Glass of OJ Coffee with skim milk and stevia Snack: Banana Lunch: Salad made with spinach, grape…

I agree. My boyfriend's mother once complained to me about how an overweight relative would bring chips to a family potluck, and of course because this woman is overweight she would bring something unhealthy. She then commented that she was going to bring some nice, healthy vegetables in the form of green bean casserole. I…

Getting an iPhone! But seriously... A girl who is about the same age as me but is teeny tiny asked me when I was due--on a day when I thought I was looking particularly nice. That was not the first time I had been mistaken for being pregnant, but I decided that it would be the last. I started working out again the next day…

I get up at 5:15 and am out the door at 5:30. I am back at 6-6:15 to shower and get ready for work.

Last weekend my boyfriend told me he was proud of me, not because I needed to lose weight, but because I set a goal for myself and am working towards it. It made me feel so good to hear him say he was proud of me. I am tearing up now typing this...pathetic.

So this may not be realistic, but maybe you should consider moving closer to work. You leave at 6:30 to get to work at 8!? That seems like an insane commute to me. I know people who do that, but I think anything more than 30 minutes feels like too much.

This morning I did week 4 day 2. I felt great at first, but I had to walk at around 4:15 of the last running section because I was not feeling well, which really frustrated me. I am hoping I will be able to move on to week 5 next week, but we will see. Sounds like everyone is doing great overall!

I have made my own sweet tea by brewing a pitcher with two tea bags and then add 1 cup of sweetener while it's still hot so that it dissolves then drink over ice or when cold. I think it tastes a lot better than adding the sweetener when it's cold.

Just a thought on your method for figuring out how long it will take you to get to your goal weight: there are a few days more than 4 weeks in some monthsand 52 weeks in a year. That is 52lbs in a year, which sounds great to me! And anyway think of how much better you will feel, even if you don't immediately notice a…

I don't have experience with this when it comes to weight loss, but I do have a friend who often gives me unsolicited relationship advice (even though she herself has never been on more than 2 dates with the same person and has no idea what she is talking about--she thinks she is hot sh**, but most men find her annoying…

I did week 4 day 1 this morning. That last 5 minute run was hard, and now 3 minutes feels like nothing. I have to admit, I felt pretty beat by the time I got to the cool down.

I live in Chicago! I already have a pretty set fitness routine though, when were you thinking of doing this? Lunch maybe? I am never in the Loop though. I work in Streeterville.

Leftovers from last night: steam zucchini and yellow squash lime tilapia (seasoning was 4 tbsp lime juice, 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, about 1/2 in of fresh ginger grated for 3 filets of tilapia) Yum yum yum. Probably will have bing cherries dipped in greek yogurt for…

My boyfriend is such a patient, kind, and caring man that it would be hard to say, but there are some cute little things he has done that come to mind. We have always been semi-long distance (now we live about 45 min apart, before it was about 1.5 hours) and he used to surprise visit me on random week nights quite often.…

The good news about camping is that you will probably be very active while you are there. Go on some long/difficult hikes, canoe or kayak, go horseback riding, mountain bike, etc. Let yourself have one smore and take your sweet time roasting that marshmallow and don't give in to the pressure of others. Drink one or two…

Let us know how it goes! I grind my teeth really badly when I sleep, and I keep wondering if I could go to hypnotherapy to help me stop--mouth guards do not work as I usually just spit them out in my sleep. How did you find a reputable hypnotherapist? I feel like a google search will probably lead me to a bunch of people…