Hot Dog!

Today's post title is perfect in preparation for the holiday weekend but also for my weight loss this past week. Drum roll please...

5 Pounds!

I rocked it out! More liked sweated it out, but dang I was on point. I am officially down 52 pounds today :) I feel so good, so very very happy and proud of myself. I have never, ever lost this much weight, or seen so many changes to my body in a good way.

I've had literally zero spare time and have to schedule friends and family time in at least a week in advance. This weekend was deck weekend so my dad and sister were over to help power wash and stain my deck the lovely "Blendon Gray" that my condo association requires. We only got about 1/3 of the way through staining before we lost the light and then it rained the next morning. I believe I am on staining duty this evening after work but before volleyball but after my training session. Fun times. Anyone want to come out and enjoy some beautiful weather on my deck... while staining???

Side story to reiterate my utter lack of grace; I went to get my dad some coffee from Speedway, it's his favorite, and managed to spill the entire 16 oz on the steps and floor of my garage. My steps are now sticky as a giant spider web and smell like a sweets shop, sure to attract all the ants from my house to congregate in my garage...

On Sunday, my friend Dana and I grilled out and got some sun. We also indulged in a few glasses of wine, started talking about how fast cars and muscled men totally raise our blood pressure and then we randomly decided to run to the movies to catch a showing of Fast Five. Now, I've seen this before and so has she, so we were both free to whisper discuss the hotness that is Vin Diesel, The Rock and Paul Walker driving super sexy cars and throwing punches. It was awesome, add popcorn and soda and it was quite the ending to a great weekend. Did I mention that I love vroom vroom cars? AHHH!

This week I accomplished something I'm sure two of my cousins would be proud of... I mostly ran with a teeny bit of recovery walking 3 miles in 32 minutes! That's a hair short of a 5k right? James and Kates, I'm so totally on for the Turkey Day 5k this year, no backing out!

Can I also mention my friend Micha's awesome story telling skills? Girl has the comedic writing down to a T! Check out her most recent post in regards to Zumba and the dangers of the run away badonkadonk!

http://thinterventiondigest.blogspot.com/2011/06/ankles-and-such.html

My weekly menu has looked a little like this, in case anyone is looking for new food inspiration:

- Special K Chocolately Delight (Not so delightful due to those dang chocolate pieces)
- Mini Vanilla Wafers (awesome snack, these bite size little cookies really hit my sweet tooth)
- Lean Cuisine (Usually one of the paninis or pizzas), accompanied by a plain salad and my Balsamic Salad Spritzer by Wishbone (only 1 calorie per quirt!)
- Bagel Thin with a tsp of Jif Natural Peanut Butter
- 1/2 Green, yellow, red, and orange pepper, 1/2 a sweet onion combined with 1/2 cup of whole grain noodles mixed with 2 TBSP of Fat Free Balsamic Vin. and 1/4 cup of 2% Mozzarella Cheese.
- Sugar Free Jello cup for dessert about 1-2 hours after dinner.
- The most important thing of all is the water!! I'm making sure to have at least 120 ounces a day, more if I'm working out!

I'm off for the week, BUT, make smart choices this holiday weekend. Eat a bite of the thing you crave, not the slice! Have two drinks instead of five and WEAR SUNSCREEN!


Happy Fourth of July everyone, be thankful for our troops sacrifices to allow us the continued freedom we enjoy each and every day!

Screw You Mother Nature!

I wanted to head into this week's post with a happy face and exciting news. Mother Nature had other plans... she's entitled me to that special time of the month which has produced it's usual results of cravings and urges that aren't usually there. Unfortunately I've caved a little each time and it sucks. So here is the update for the past two weeks, at least the things that I can remember.

I recently purchased a new Special K Cereal for my breakfast enjoyment. Since it's the chocolate time of the month, I went with the chocolate version. Logical choice, seemingly a win win situation. Someone aught to tell General Mills that mini fake chocolate bars in cereal don't work because they sink and it's next to impossible to convince one to swim up to your spoon for consumption. I will not be purchasing the chocolate one again, I'd much rather have the yogurt one, at least I can enjoy that bowl without having to practice a search and rescue mission.

When I was home this past weekend for Father's Day, I went for a run around the high school fitness trail while my dad taught a pitching lesson. My guesstimate is that I ran about 2.5 laps and walked about .5, then my dad joined me for another 2 lap walk. It was nice outside and I got a wicked sunburn that I didn't notice til later because of the sweat flying everywhere. I thought I was golden for the day as far as calorie consumption goes until my parents informed me I was joining them for a graduation party... this was after sailing all day and not eating. What was I supposed to do when at a party serving cheesy potatoes and cake??? I had two bowls of salad, a teeny bit of pulled pork and potatoes and a massive piece of cake. Later that night I also indulged in a prepacked lemon-y vodka iced beverage which was way too tart but delicious :) The next day we went for a sail and Colbie got to enjoy the lake with us. My mom was a bit stressed watching her almost fall overboard four or five times, but after two hours everyone settled into a new routine of Colbie the spider monkey, tacking and wind gusts. It was awesome.


A group of friends and I hit up Applebees for dinner and I had one of the options listed under 500 calories, the steak and shrimp option? It was delicious and quite filling, please try it should you ever eat at the Bee. We had a bonfire that night... I had another lemony frozen beverage and a glass of pinot noir with Laura, Shawn and Janice.

My mom has always been disappointed in my disinterest in watermelon as she is OBSESSED. She could eat a whole melon in one sitting and beg for more. It's her favorite thing after movie popcorn. It's never held that much interest for me as there was always cheese, noodles and butter in my life. Now that I've broken things off with that group of acquaintances, watermelon has firmly embedded itself in my life. I've had it as my snack everyday and will continue to do so, thank you Peggy for the watermelon, it's now on my list :)

I've had some pretty colorful meals and some awesome lean cuisines in the past few weeks and will continue this trend as it's easy and tasty. I might have already used this Panini pic, but it's what I'm having for lunch and felt the urge to drool over it :) The peppers are the main ingredient in a meal that I eat quite often. I just use half of a red, green, yellow and orange pepper, half of a sweet onion and saute them with the cooking spray. I then add two tablespoons of the reduced fat Buitoni Basil Pesto sauce and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. It's a wonderful low calorie dinner that is chuck full of veggie's!






So to recap, last week I lost two pounds, this week just 1. I'm hoping that I'll make up for that once I'm back from my monthly black spot. I plan on running for 2 miles outside tonight before volleyball... I've done it once, I can do it again :)

I'm late, I'm late and I missed the date!

My butt has officially been kicked. I was so exhausted yesterday morning when I woke up that I forgot what day it was... so obviously, weigh in Wednesday did not happen. Instead we have thunder thighs Thursday or thud thumping Thursday or just Thursday because apparently my brain is still MIA.

The root of this problem is that I get home late from volleyball, softball or some other kind of torture I put myself through. And by late I mean, I'm getting home after 11:30PM sometimes after 12:30AM and am usually covered in sand or my awesome softball field orange dirt tan. I then have to shower, pack my lunch for the next day (this hasn't happened in a week)and pack my gym bag so I have no excuse to avoid the treadmill. This is exhausting at midnight, but my brain is still going at 100 miles an hour and I end up staying awake til 1:30ish which results in about 5 hours of sleep.

Did I mention the 5 hours of sleep? I look like a train wreck. I'm pretty sure my coworkers are wondering if I moonlight as a woman of the night because sometimes my makeup routine has been, crash into bed and wake up hoping the mascara looks reminiscent of the day before and let's not even get into the hair description.

What really sucks is deep down I know that getting enough sleep is essential to my weight loss. How can my body function and continue to burn fat if I can barely keep my eyes open? I need to start managing my time a bit better on a daily basis so I don't sabotage my weekly goals.

Speaking of goals, I've lost two pounds. I was aiming for four this past week to make up for my splurging. Alas, that hasn't happened and I'll be the first to say that I'm disappointed. I'll get over it and push on through, only ten more pounds to go to hit that magical 200 mark! That would be 5 weeks. I'm holding myself to that, no more falling off the wagon, so mark your calendar my friends, July 13th I should be at 200 pounds.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, drink plenty of water and do a crunch or fifty :)

I'm early, but hate worms, so I'm not an early bird... just early.

I know that it's Tuesday and my weekly update is usually on weigh in Wednesday and for that I apologize. You will just have to deal with two updates, back to back this week, but tomorrow's will probably be pretty short as I will cover most of the important stuff now.

Last week I did not share with you my weigh in results. I was a little disappointed in myself and knew ahead of time that it wouldn't be a "loss" for the week. I was in fact, keeping my fingers crossed that I hadn't gained anything. I stayed the same, which is a good and bad thing. I'm going to pick bad so I know not to do what I did, that's a rut I can't afford to get stuck in again.

You know that I ate so many bad things, I did share that with you after the long weekend. It turns out cookies, elephant ears, ice cream, cake, cake and fries are not conducive to losing weight. Even though I went for a run a couple times that weekend, it didn't offset my poor decisions. I'm getting to the point where cravings are taking over everyday and I don't just have the bite that would hit the craving, I eat the whole piece of cake! UGH!

This week has been about trying to makeup for last week. I've been extra diligent on portion size and more veggies. I've made sure I've hit the gym everyday, including both Saturday and Sunday. Last night I did three miles on the elliptical in 25 minutes before heading out to a CYP volleyball game and then... one of the best moments of my life occurred two nights in a row, last night and Sunday night. I ran outside with Colbie continuously for over 1 mile and did it in 10 minutes. I think I might have found that rumored runner's high as after my 1.5 miles last night I felt like I could keep going, but alas, my head was starting to pound from the two beers I had at volleyball.

It's so weird to know that I had issues with running a mile in ten minutes back in high school during training for volleyball and I did it last night without a problem. I was in the best shape of my life back then but wasn't in shape for running and now I am. I even feel comfortable posting a picture of myself, full body shot, showing off one of my new dresses for work!


I'm not a model by any means, but I feel like a million bucks after my accomplishment last night.

Memorial Day Weekend

First off, thank you to our Veterans! We owe them our lives, freedom, families and so much more. Thank you for your service and sacrifice, you deserve so much more than just my thanks.


Last week I forgot to mention my out of control cake craving. I couldn't think about anything than eating some chocolate cake all week and eventually I gave in. Now, I did this in a way that only allowed me one piece of this deliciousness... I made someone else bake it :) Bridget, a friend from work, is a wonderful baker, don't let her tell you otherwise. This is what she made me and IT WAS SO GOOD! It looks like it would be dry, but my friends, I promise, it was the most moist and absolutely wonderful cake I've had in years.



I went home for the weekend to enjoy some family time in the Dirty Dusky. I took Friday off of work so I could be home for a full three days. Please enjoy the ride home with Colbie and I...


Once we made the drive safely, the weekend began and boy was it jam packed! Friday my Mom and I went grocery shopping and she bought me a lot of wonderful food to eat over the weekend. For example:


She is so good about keeping the house full of good food that I can snack on and gerat meal options too. We found bread that is AWESOME! It is Sara Lee's Delightful bread and it's only 45 calories a slice! I can now eat a normal looking sandwich and am eating less calories than the sandwich thins! Observe!


After we shopped we just chilled at home together and then I went for a run. Friday night saw me eat a couple tiny pieces of good pizza. Columbus has crappy pizza so I couldn't say no ;) Saturday my Dad, Mom and I went out for an awesome sail to Put-in-Bay and back, about five hours total. At first the weather was a teensy bit crappy only because it was cloudy and cold due to the nice breeze, but about two hours in the sun came out and I started stripping. It got to be quite warm and I got a bit of a sunburn! Next on the list of to dos was Cedar Point. My sister, her two friends and I went to the park for the starlight pass which allows you to go in for a discounted rate after 5PM til the close of the park. This is usually the best way to go during the peak summer days as most families are heading home by 7 and it's way cooler once the sun sets. We rode Raptor, Millennium Force, Magnum, Witch's Wheel and Maverick. It was a fun time and I was totally bad and had half of an Elephant Ear and shared some fries with my sister. Then the next day we went to Toft's Dairy, a local ice cream parlor, and had Red Velvet Rush and Praline Pecan ice cream... and I ate the whole thing!


One of my side activities was to see how some old clothes fit on my smaller self... and by clothes, I mean my old prom dress. Let me defend this odd and seemingly creepy statement by saying that this dress cost an arm and a leg back in the day and my mom and I didn't have the heart to just chuck it or sell it at the last garage sale. I actually wanted to try it on as I plan on being Holiday Barbie for Halloween this year. The good news is it fits! It's a bit tight and I obviously has four boobs when you count the rollover occurring in this photo BUT the zipper zipped and I could breath a teeny bit so I think the Halloween plan is on schedule, just imagine a blond wig and elbow gloves ;)


I leave you with this last thought. Cramps, headache, bad hair day and spilling coffee and soda down my front and across the floor can be overcome by this miracle that was sitting on my desk this morning :) And yes, I've chowed down on this and have already killed half a bag... ah!

13 to go my friends

I have successfully lost two more pounds this week and now have 13 pounds to go to be under 200 for the first time since highschool. This can not come soon enough. Part of me wants to fast and work out like a freak to reach that mark, but we all know that that is not healthy nor smart. I will continue to beat the shitza out of my fat two pounds and a week at a time.

This week has again been hectic with volleyball and softball. I will not be comitting to four days of work leagues again next session... it's just too much! Not for me as much as for my dog. She is home alone the entire day and then the night if I have a sport, it's not fair to her :(

I did find a moment to clean out my closet with the help of my roommate. I don't think she quite realized how many items we'd be sorting through (my entire closet of 5 years worth of clothing). It took about 45 minutes and by the time we were done, this is what my floor looked like!


This next one just shows how bored Colbie was with the whole clothes sorting process. She could give a rat's ass about clothes, but when it comes to flip flops, sign her up cause they are her favorite chew toy!


I'm so excited for this weekend. Today is essentially my Thursday as I leave for home tomorrow after work. I hope that the weather turns out to be nice because it's one of my few weekends that I'll be able to get some sailing in. If this should happen, I will be sure to take a few pictures that show off the voyages of Ariel and the Ramhoff family :)

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! Remember, if you are tempted, take a teeny bite, savor and enjoy then pass it along to someone else and chug a bottle of water ;)

Holy Changes Batman!

:::peeks around the page::: I don't know think anyone noticed my lack of updates since it's been pretty quiet in these parts lately. I was supposed to update last Thursday, then I was supposed to update yesterday and finally you are getting some information today.

Last week was a little rough, this week too for that matter. Volleyball started up and I play on three teams, three different days. Monday night's team is with CYP (Columbus Young Professionals). It's a great way to meet new friends that are in the same boat as myself, younger business adults that meet up for drinks and conversation. The team itself is decent if we can get everyone to show up at the same time.

Wednesday and Thursday night are both work leagues, so I can to reconnect with some of the ICC consultants that I don't see often. Both teams hold their own, so it's been a good start to the season.

The problem with playing volleyball three nights a week is that I now drink three nights a week. I only had one beer each night and I made sure to calculate that into my daily intake. Somehow something went wrong and as of yesterday, I had only lost one pound. I did make some other not so great choices the past two weeks that might have contributed aka 1/2 piece of Red Velvet Cheesecake from THE FACTORY of Cheesecake. But again, I made sure it fit into my diet for the day and worked out as much as possible. I didn't work out with Heather last week as we were both too busy to get together, but she kicked my ass last night.

She brought this odd looking heavy leather ball that proceeded to kick my abs so hard I fell over. Literally. I couldn't hold myself up for some of the exercises... just goes to show how much further I still have to go to get my muscle regiment going strong.

The good news for all of this is that we took measurements and pictures last night to document the midpoint in my journey. I started on January 5 and as of today have officially lost 40 pounds, 24 inches and feel wonderful. Looking back it sometimes seems a slow journey, but then I realize that by doing this the right way, I'll never have to see those pounds again. They are gone for good because I'm taking the time to learn the proper ways to fuel my body, to never reward myself with food and instead go out and reward myself with clothes or something else I can wear or enjoy that reinforces my dedication to my newfound health & body.






This first photos of each set shows me that first week in January. I've always had self confidence and a pride in my appearance. I always felt super attractive walking out the door in my outfits from Lane or other speciality stores that cater to the larger woman. I was sexy and hot in my own way, but then I would see a picture and realize that I wasn't healthy and my confidence would tank. Pictures definately tell the truth most of the time and I didn't like what I saw. This set shows a girl that disliked what she saw of herself in pictures.

Now the second photo in each set that you see, shows all my sweat and hard work. Literally, you can see the sweat of my warm up jog... my poor trainer had to take my measurements and the tape measure kept sticking to my sweat and me, gross! I am so totally happy in what I see in these photos. I see the girls are smaller (and lower, that part I am not happy about). I see myself shrinking in a proportional way so I still feel like my womanly curves are showing but in a smaller way :)






LOVE IT!!!!