Two for Tuesday

 My two things for Tuesday....

1.  The Disney Princess Half Marathon is this Sunday and I will be there, not as a runner, but as a volunteer.  Cate and I  will be working at the information booth located by the family reunion tents from 2:00am-7:00am.  We will be wearing Mickey Sorcerer hats and orange aprons with "Ask Me" on the front, doing our best to answer all those questions people have. This past weekend we attended a training session for volunteers who are Team Leaders or on the Information Team.  It was really very interesting.  There is so much work that goes into hosting a race of this size.The fact that Disney runs are so well organized is due to their attention to detail. Having been a participant in many events, it was neat to see how it all works. The field of runners is 17,000. There will be about 1600 volunteers there that day, behind the scenes, coordinating everything so that each runner has a "magical" experience.  Most of the Team Leader have been volunteering at Disney for years.  They will receive a one day park hopper ticker for their efforts.  I am not a leader, so I will get a one day, one park ticket.  Very exciting!
If you will be at the race, I would love to meet you.  My twitter handle is @momentsinalife.  Good Luck to all the runners!

2.  I have a new favorite snack - Clif Bar Crunch! It is a crunchy granola bar with a light textured crunch, not too thick or too thin.  I do like food that is good for me, but I want it to taste good too. The peanut butter flavor is excellent and is pumped up with bursts of peanut butter chips!  It comes in four flavors: Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Honey Oat and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. I like the bar and I like the way the company does business.  It does not  use artificial flavors, sweeteners, preservatives or ingredients sourced  from genetically-modified organisms. It also donates one percent of its net sales to 1% for the Planet, an organization committed to creating a healthy planet.
Each 2 bar pack is 5 Weight Watcher points plus.

The opinions I am sharing are my own and I have not been paid for my comments.  I like to share good food I have found so others can enjoy it too.

 What do you think? Should  I go to sleep before my 2:00am volunteer shift or just stay up until it's time to go?

Halloween Candy

 I love this time of year, cooler temps, pumpkin flavored treats, apple cider and Halloween.  It's great having a child with an October birthday - we had a Halloween themed party every year!  Of course candy is an important part of the holiday.

Growing up my brother, best friend and I would map out our route for the 2 hour trick-or-treating window.  We wanted to hit as many houses as possible and of course hit all the houses we knew gave out the best stuff like full size candy bars or homemade cider doughnuts or had the best decorated house.  Our goal was to collect as much candy as we could in our paper grocery bags before we had to be home.   Once home, we sorted, traded and stuffed our faces with candy. ;) I have great memories of Halloween!

Since then my goal for Halloween as changed, not so much about collecting all the candy I can, in fact I try to satisfy my sweet tooth without over doing it.  If you find it hard to resist all the candy you are giving out, you don't  have to.  I find depriving myself of something only makes me want it more, and makes me miserable.  So have some candy, just be smart about what you choose.
To help you make those decisions here is some information about the candy you might be seeing this weekend, or sooner if you've already broken into your candy stash.

Candy	Calories
Almond Joy snack size	80
Baby Ruth fun size	83
Butterfinger fun size	85
Kit Kat miniature	42
M&M Milk chocolate fun size	60
M&M  peanut fun size	70
Milky Way fun size	80
Swedish fish treat size	55
Sour Patch Kids treat size	55
Reese’s peanut butter pumpkin snack size	90
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate snack size	67

If you think you know a lot of useless information about candy or want to learn some, try the 10 question
candy trivia quiz and see how you do.  You can brag about your score in the comment section.

Happy Halloween!!

What is your favorite Halloween candy and/or memory?  (I love reese's peanut butter pumpkins, eggs, christmas trees, hearts...)

10,000 steps / Pedometer Giveaway

On and off over the years I have worn a pedometer to keep track of my daily activity, specifically the number of steps I take from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed.  My goal is 10,000 steps a day - that's about 5 miles.  I recently started wearing it again to see how much I am moving throughout the day.  I gained some pounds this summer and am trying to tighten up my eating and my activity before my pants get too tight. For the first week, I wore it just to see what my daily routine was like. It was not good.  Here are the daily totals:

Day of the Week	Week 1	Week 2
Tuesday	6498	9492
Wednesday	7044	5611
Thursday	13304	10,491
Friday	8692	8883
Saturday	10,290	8575
Sunday	12,260	3268
Monday	4566	11,630

 

In week 1, I only hit the 10,000 step mark 3 out of 7 days.  This could be part of my problem.  I work in an office Mon-Fri and although I don't sit all day, I surely don't move around a lot. 
The second week I vowed to make improvements.  I tried to walk to the bathrooms farthest away from my office, I park my car in the far end of the parking lot, take the stairs and try to take walking breaks every hour. Still the numbers are not where I would like them to be.
  I pulled out my copy of  The Step Diet book, it is all about how to lose weight just by counting steps.  It is full of suggestions for how to improve your numbers.

I have come home from work some days with only 3,000-4,000 steps.  Once home I do my best to rack up the steps. I empty all the trash cans in the house, take the recycling out to the garage piece by piece, go on a walk.  On days that I do not have a scheduled exercise plan (run/ride )I don't get in many steps.  I have been worried that I give myself permission to eat more and move less because I run or bike 5 times a week.  I think this is actually working against my weight goal.
Now that I am back on a regular schedule at work I have started exercising in the morning before I go to work.  It has been very motivating to already have 5,000 steps by 8 am.  I recently found a step conversion chart that is helping me to count steps for activities the pedometer can't measure, like bike riding, swimming, etc... so I will begin to include them as well.  

Activity	Steps per minute	Activity	Steps per minute
Aerobics Step	227	mowing lawn	134
Basketball	162	pilates	93
Bicycling (cardio cycling)	264	Racquetball	221
Bicycling moderate	185	Rowing	185
Circuit Training	205	Running (10mph)	413
Elliptical Jogger	227	Scrubbing Floors	92
Football	216	Stair Climber	225
Gardening	115	Swimming	226
Golf (riding cart)	92	Tennis	206
In Line Skating	195	Vacuuming	85
Jogging	185	Walking	92
Jumping Rope	257	Washing the Car	72
Kickboxing	215	Yoga	63

This week I have started writing down all of my exercise and food each day.  I know this works for me, I just have been lazy about keeping track of it.  Just wearing the pedometer is a reminder of my commitment.

Are you moving 10,000 steps a day?  

Here are some guidelines to help you set a goal for yourself.

Steps per day	Activity Level
Less than 5,000	Inactive
5,000-7,499	Slightly Active
7,500 - 9,999	Moderately Active
10,000-12,4999	Active
12,500 or more	Very Active

GIVEAWAY

To help you in your efforts to move more I am giving away a pedometer.  The deadline to enter is 11:59 pm on September 3.  The winner will be selected using Random.org and will be announced on September 4.

Here are a few ways you can enter to win, leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Become a follower of my blog and tell me what activity gets you moving.  If you are already a follower leave me a comment telling me what activity gets you moving.        

2.  Tweet about this giveaway and give me your Twitter name. Send out this tweet:

      Win a pedometer @momentsinalife http://bit.ly/cJxcgE

3.  Put a link to this giveaway on your blog. 


Good Luck!


P.S. Here's where you can buy one.

Odds & Ends

Just a few Odds & Ends to share...

1.  I have a new attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer  The Kitchen Aid Beater Blade is fabulous! As it mixes, it scrapes the sides and bottom of the bowl eliminating the need to hand scrape throughout the mixing.  It speeds up the whole process and when you're done it can be used as a spatula to remove the batter from the bowl.   I don't know what I did without it!

2.  I am a big fan of the TV show The Biggest Loser.  I love to see the physical and mental transformation of the contestants.  I get totally sucked in every season and find it very motivating.  In fact, I totally changed my mind about running a marathon after I saw this past season's contestants run one.  I really had no desire to run 26.2 miles, especially after completing my first half-marathon in January, but something about them tackling that feat gave me the courage to try it myself,  So I am signed up to run the Disney Marathon in January.  My goal is to run the entire thing.

In other Biggest Loser news,  I just heard there is a Biggest Loser Resort in California and Utah.  The Grand Opening is September 26, 2010.  A one week stay can set you back $2,695.  If anyone decides to go, I want to hear all about it.

3. A book recommendation -  Emily Giffin's latest book Heart of the Matter was a good read.  Although this book is a departure from her first four, some of the same characters are present.  I suggest reading the  books in order as each one builds upon the next.  The books are a fun easy read. Also, Something Borrowed and Something Blue are being made into movies starring Kate Hudson, Colin Farrell, John Krasinski and Ginnifer Goodwin. If you're like me, you want to read them before you see the movie.

4.  I am taking child #2 to South Carolina this weekend to get her moved in for her senior year of college. Our cars are packed to the brim!  How can one person need so much stuff?  Let's just hope it doesn't rain. 

Are you a fan of the Biggest Loser?  Have you read any good books lately?  Do you have any kitchen tools you can't get along without?