Weekly Reads 4/23/2010

 Check out these neat owl cupcakes!! I know totally NOT healthy but a neat idea for decorating foods.

I know I'm late..but there is controversy over this Lane Bryant, lingerie commercial..WTF?!? Vicky's secrets commercials show more skin and are MUCH longer!! View the "offensive" ad here..




If you would like to chat about it you can join the convo on fab finds under 50 here


I just commented on Josie's Blog about finding more recipes that use Greek yogurt as a healthy alternative, I came across this Alfredo Recipe over at the Glamourous grad's  weekend reads

I've been looking for nice vintage inspired skirts and dresses lately. Luckily, I just found out from Musings of a fatshionista that JIBRI online have just revealed their newest line a vintage-inspired Spring 2010 collection!! I'm smitten!! I especially like the striped pansy dress..too bad it only comes in a 14/16.

The Autodesk homestyler renders your home blueprints in 3D.

From the simple dollar, How much do you really save by air drying clothes? Its more than you think..


Sorry this is a link lite post this week! 

 

Weekly weight in Down -14lbs

Its kinda sad that i'm just down 14lbs and its about to be May, but I tell you this swimming thing plus my normal workouts is working out pretty well.. I feel muscles where i forgot I HAD muscles! I'll end on a positive note that I lost 1+ this week :)

swimming+excercise & MCAT ramblings--quickie post

One of the other perks from my TJ Max shopping spree was that I was able to buy two workout DVDs for $5 a piece, they were Walk Away the Pounds 2miles and a 3 mile DVD but i think each DVD has 2 workouts on it. I did the first 2mile workout on yesterday after i went swimming on Monday and boy--I was so sore 6 hours later and I remember the same thing happened to me last time. That's okay,  I just have to keep that in mind and maybe workout on day one then swim day 2 then day off day three..its no biggie if it doesn't kill me it will only make me stronger..

I've chosen a day for my MCAT June 17..I have to drive all the way to Pennsylvania..I'm pissed but I have a friend at Pitt so I will be visiting her for sure.. With the end of the semester around the corner this is going to be interesting..

Weekly Reads 4/17/2010

Another picture taken with my Nokia N900

Cece at the Big girl Blog ponders what do guys think of big girls after overhearing a man convo..

Learn how to pronounce unfamilar names/words, by hearing them spoken

Got a stubborn laundry stain? Check the University of Illinois's stain removal database.

Learn basic culinary skills from chefs themselves by video

Budding green thumb? Learn to grow plants indoors. I'm going to try this with my kitchen herbs..

Lifehacker featured this neat photo sorter that goes through unmanageable photo collections (I know I'm not the only one that has a mishmash of misc photos in folders dumped from my SD card)

Got DIY home projects on the mind? Use lifehacker's guide to find useful design tools for your project.

Do you use over the counter medication frequently? Kevin MD compiled a list of OTC drugs to avoid.

Just keep swimming....

I'm so happy that I swam 3 times this week in the pool at my local gym. It felt so good to get back into the pool, after I did my first lane I realized that I really can't swim for long periods of time. I'm going to have to work on my stamina but I already feel my arms and legs getting more toned.. My only issue is keeping my textured hair from getting damaged and the time it takes before and after pool time to get back into the swing of my daily grind.  I'll shoot for swimming at least 2 times a week in addition to my other cardio pursuits.. I haven't done any other cardio this week.  I forgot I did do WATP 2miles on Monday. So I got 4 days of cardio in this week! I surprised myself.

I did finally weigh in and I came in at 12.8 lbs down! I was really worried I had gained I believe now I'm back to my recent lowest..I had a bad, bad eating day yesterday but I've had a pretty good one so far today. Problem is that the people I go to swim with like to eat out after swimming and that usually leads to chitpotle, penn station, indian food buffet, etc.. Penn Station-- I shouldn't be eating in the first place. Chitpole (veggie burrito bowl with a wee bit of rice heavy beans and fajita veggies) isn't bad every once in a while, but it has soo much sodium! Indian food buffet don't even get me started--expensive and I end up eating ALOT of rice and fried pakoras..

I'm going to hit up a new TJ Maxx store opening in my area, Rossford, Ohio, tomorrow. Wish me luck! I've been getting alittle outta control with the spending, I need to reign it in and stop buying random crap but there are things that I'm on the constant lookout for such as thick 500 thread count sheets, casual skirts for the summer because i look horrid in shorts..

Weekend Reads 4/9/2010

Photo taken by me yesterday evening with my Nokia N900

Finally a study finds that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) may cause more weight gain then other sweeteners; also Maple Syrup might be a better overall sweetener..yum! 

Wisebread digs into the true health costs of not buying high calorie/low cost foods 

Useful tips for plus size Shopping for women

If you didn't know, buying expensive gold-plated HDMI cables is a waste of $$$$ : I personally get all my cables (computer, USB, mini USB, aux cables, etc) from Monoprice.com

A neat trick for your home office/desk use binder clips to keeps cables from slipping away.

Why doctors need protected time away from their pagers..

Wanna learn how to shuffle cards? Learn from these videos..

 From Lifehacker, Tips to make your treasures last longer

From the Simple Dollar, Got a new hobby? Don't spend a ton during your honeymoon period..

Oh ho!

Well, I haven't done too much in the past two weeks besides nurse my sprained ankle. Of course when my ankle felt good enough to start working out on, I got a lovely spring cold that I'm just now getting fully over (until today a flight of stairs still left me totally winded)

Besides all that negative juju, there is a silver lining in these clouds, I got to focus on my eating more. Ever since, I read Confessions by Gawande a chapter has stuck out in my mind. In this chapter it was mentioned that  1) most overweight people were that way for 2 reasons..1) because they scarf down their food and your brain misses the "I'm full" memo for a full 10-20 minutes after the fact ( and 2.  I forgot the other reason because it didn't apply to me)

Then I realized that I am always rushed and in a hurry when I eat for one reason or another. Lately, I've been slowing down considerably AND it was mentioned that fats make you full for longer... Yes, this is probably a no-brainer--but at the time I had a stockpile of avocados and I bought some lavash tortillas/wraps and made veggie wraps with avocado, alfalfa sprouts, onion, garlic, bell peppers and Greek yogurt as the stars. I noticed that I stayed full longer when i ate this compared to my normal very fat-free breakfast (NF greek yogurt, fruit and skim milk)

The take home message to me from this chapter was that I needed to rearrange the order of my meals so that i eat the fattier foods first then I eat everything else. This in addition to slowing down has helped me with my eating immensely I get fuller on less food.. Yesss!!

I know that this is probably not a new concept ( the fats/eating thing) and it is most likely in somebody's diet book but it personally works for me.