I don’t usually take requests for what I write on this blog.  The content is EXTREMELY personal here and sometimes (I hope) helpful to others, but I don’t let other people dictate what I write.  But today when I woke up I realized that I want to.  I want to write about what you want to hear.  So I’m thinking about dedicating one day a week to writing about something YOU have asked me to write about.  It can be anything.  Just contact me and if you want it to be anonymous, just write that as the name and anon@aol.com as your email.

So, the first request I got was from Mish on twitter:

Five Foods you used to love, now love, and still can’t stand

Well.  Cool!  As I’m a high and might food blogger now with my fancy healthy food blog… Ok, just kidding.  I’m still a picky and pretty boring eater.  But I’ll try to answer.

FIVE FOODS I USED TO LOVE

This list could probably be the longest list ever.  There are a ton of foods that I used to love and eat all the time that I forced myself to stop eating and eventually lost the taste for.  But here are five that used to make my heart happy.

Fish sticks. I used to love fish sticks.  Now I couldn’t really imagine buying and eating them.

Pork rinds. Yeah.  My mom used to buy these for herself and I would end up eating some of them.  Now I can’t stand the idea.

Doritos. I used to inhale Doritos… probably why I never tasted them and never realized I don’t actually love the processed flavor. 

Oatmeal. Currently oatmeal and I are on a break, so it’s going in the food I used to love category.  I know it’s good for you and all, but I’m okay with not eating it for a long time.  Perhaps I just burnt out on it… but I’m done with oatmeal for the foreseeable future.

Pizza. Okay this one is a bit of a cheat… I will never stop loving pizza in all it’s forms.  It is the world’s most perfect food.

FIVE FOODS I LOVE NOW

Scallops. I only tried scallops for the first time a few months ago.  They were delicious and I’ve been hooked ever since.  For some reason I refused to eat them for the longest time because I didn’t know what they were or what they would taste like.

Salad. I never ate salads when I was younger.  I started forcing myself to eat salads in college when I first started losing weight and now I’ve learned that there are some salads I absolutely adore.

Onions. I love the smell, the flavor, the sight… pretty much everything about onions.  I formerly refused to eat them as they looked “bad” in my mind.  Now I know how delicious they are!

Peppers. I loved peppers sooo very much.  Sweet or spicy, I think they are all delicious and go well with everything. Speaking of peppers…

Spicy food. This is my favorite kind of food, but when I was younger I used to hate spicy food.  I didn’t start eating anything spicy or using hot sauce (<3) until college.  My life was so bland for so long!

FIVE FOODS I STILL CAN’T STAND

Spaghetti. I don’t eat spaghetti.  I don’t like it.  I actually hate it more than anything.  The mere thought of it makes me gag and eating it will make me sick.  I eat other pasta but I can’t stand spaghetti.

Mushrooms. I had never eaten a mushroom up until I made this pasta the other day.  They were not my favorite things ever.  Bah.

Ham. I will eat pork and I will eat bacon but I don’t like ham.  Especially thick disgusting slices of it.

Tomatoes. Okay, so I like everything possible made with tomatoes – I just can’t seem to make myself love tomatoes.  I try and I try but they still manage to repulse me.  The only time I can make myself eat them is when they are super thinly sliced and barely noticeable on a sandwich.  I’m working on moving them at least to the “like” category.

Chocolate cereal. I love all things chocolate except cereal.  I hate cereal that turns my milk brown and tastes like fake chocolate.  Gross.

UPDATE:  I know this technically makes six hated foods, but I HATE PICKLES.  So much.  Biting into a pickle on a sandwich ruins it.

This should totally be a meme so if you want to do it on your blog then go ahead!  Otherwise leave me a comment and tell me one food you can’t stand (I’m always curious about what people won’t eat).

Last night I went out and had a glass of white wine, a shot (slippery nipple), 2 vodka and redbulls, some bread with garlic, and a delicious serving of chicken alfredo of which I ate most.  Mmmm.  Fun times.  Gotta have a little fun and indulgence now and again, no?

Anyway, today is the last edition of Ask Mary Anything for this go around!  YAY!  It really did take me a week to answer all the questions.  So thanks to everyone who asked me something.  I’ve enjoyed answering them and sharing things that YOU want to know.

TB–Milwaukee asked:

Do you joke about your weight, ever put yourself down?

I do joke about my weight or body parts, but it’s usually not in a way that is overly negative, or negative at all really.  I have enough people in my life to put me down that I’ve learned I don’t need to do it myself.  In high school I used to joke about my weight all the time.  It was like a preventative measure. I knew that if I made the first move and made a joke or two about my weight it wouldn’t hurt as much if someone else did it because I “allowed” them to after I had done it.  Crazy thought process, but that’s how it went.  Now if I make jokes about my weight, which is rare, its honestly just to get a laugh or to make myself laugh and would never be as insulting as anything I used to say.

100in12 asked:

What are your pet peeves? (like the really silly totally irrational ones)

Ack!  I’ve got a lot, actually, but when put on the spot I can’t think of any.  Oh, wait, one really irrational one – I hate it when people clips their fingernails or toenails.  Seriously.  I know, I do it too, but I freaking can’t stand when someone does this around me.  Bah!  We will just leave it at that one for now.

Miz asked:

Whats the one think about you that you think would surprise us readers the most?

Hmmm.  Surprising?  Well, I’m a good girl, so one thing that surprises people when I tell them is that I was suspended in high school for vandalism.   Oops.

South Beach Steve asked:

What is the single greatest moment of your journey to healthiness thus far?

I honestly haven’t had a single moment where it’s been “the greatest moment” of the journey.  As it is in fact a journey there have been highs and lows and there will still be more.  I’ve had a lot of great moments, like the first time I ran two miles (for me it was amazing), or the time I bumped up in an aerobics class and it still felt easy, or the time where I went snowboarding for a whole day and didn’t feel winded at all or this whole Green Mountain experience. I’ve been at various weights and various levels of athleticism over the last five years, but it’s been a great journey.  No matter where I was during that time I have always been healthier than I was before I started and that fact is the greatest part of my journey.  I’ve haven’t and never will go back.

Thank you for reading and thanks for asking the questions!  I enjoyed it!

That’s it for me. I’m off to spend the weekend with friends and shopping.

Hope the weekend is amazing for everyone!!  What are YOUR plans?  Anyone actually CHRISTMAS SHOPPING yet?

Since I’ve got less than a month left at Green Mountain at Fox Run, I’ve been thinking a lot about what is next.  It turns out you guys are curious about the next step too. So here are a few questions about life after I leave.

First, chocolateprn asked me:

What are your plans for when this is finished?

Ah, great question!  Since I’ve realized how useless it is for me to plan the future, I’ve stopped trying.  I only plan a few months ahead now and even then leave lots of room for possibilities.  When I leave Vermont I will be headed back to Memphis.  I will be staying with one of my best friends, but I haven’t decided which one yet.  I will be hanging around and spending time with my friends and family through the holidays.  Hopefully I can pick up some work while I am home.  Then in January, January 13th to be exact, I’m leaving for New Zealand to visit Kepa.  I will be there through Feb 17th at which time I will once again return to Memphis.  After that the only thing I know for sure is that I will be attending fitbloggin’ 10 in March.  Everything else is up in the air.

And Jody asked:

How do you envision yourself in the future.. do you have a pic in your mind? If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be?

When I think about my future I don’t imagine specific things.  Like I said, I don’t plan for the future in a way that is based in reality, because I know so many things can happen and change plans.  I will sometimes think about certain events I hope will happen like getting married or buying a house or whatever, but generally I just think about the kind of person I want to be.  I don’t know what my career will be or where I will be living, but I picture myself as still being silly and acting young, staying active and always trying new things, being a good person who is caring and others can come to for help.  That kind of thing.  When I picture the future I just picture who I want to be and try to work every day to be more like that person.

As far as if I could do anything I wanted… can I just write and travel and do fun things?  I’ve accepted the fact that I need to somehow figure out a way to be a professional writer, but I’m not quite sure how that will come about.  I’m okay with doing other things since I’ve got a lot of interests, but I enjoy thinking and writing above anything else.  So if I have a choice that is what I would want to do.

And Corporate Gifts (really? really?) asked me about size:

What size you are targeted?

I assume you mean what size do I want to be physically.  To be honest I’m not sure.  Right now I’m a 16 bottom and M/L top.  Lowest I’ve ever been is a 14 and M.  So I’m close to that now and I have no idea how small I would want to be.  I guess my plan is to just feel it out and see what size my body ends up at as it gets healthier and continues to tone up with all the activity I’m doing.  I’m thinking I’ll probably be comfortable around a 10 or 12, but who knows really.  Another thing I can’t plan.

That’s it for today.  It definitely snowed here today and I’ve been a little lazier because of it.  Normally I write in the morning but I waited until after lunch.  None of the snow stuck but it made me even more excited for the mountain to open soon.  I can’t wait!

So as you can see, I’m not a big planner.  Are you?  Do you plan ahead?  Do you make 5, 10, 20 year life plans?  Or do you go with the flow like me?

Make sure you check out my blog post on A Weight Lifted, which is Green Mountain at Fox Run’s blog. I conducted a little “mindful eating experiment” where I didn’t eat mindfully at all.  The results were somewhat surprising to me although I should have expected it.  So go read how I learned that mindful eating is important.

And now, for the question and answer time!  Just one question today.

That question is from Joanna who asked:

Tell us, what is the biggest lesson you’ve learned since arriving at Green Mountain?

Hard question.  I’ve learned a lot while I’ve been at Green Mountain.  Some of the things I’ve learned have been because of the program, some from other people, and some from myself, like the mindful eating lesson I wrote about today on A Weight Lifted.

If I have to choose something, I would say the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I need to tune in.  I need to tune in to what my body is saying, what is happening in my life, what I’m thinking and feeling.  A lot of the reasons why I struggle with weight is because of the bad coping mechanisms I developed to deal with stress and bad emotional situations.  I eat to avoid what I’m feeling or what is happening.  I eat to make myself disconnect.  I eat to make sure I don’t feel anything bad.  I eat because food is good and comforting and makes me forget about other things.  So the biggest lesson I’ve learned was that I need to stop doing it.

I already sort of knew that.  It’s easy to know things in your head and much, much harder to put them into practice.  But my whole experience here has been about learning how to tune in to the things and situations where I previously shut down and turned to food.  I’m not perfect at it yet, but I’ve definitely made progress. I’ve learned ways to deal and destress and cope in better ways.  And I KNOW that I need to listen to my body.  It’s a much better indicator of what I need than my mind sometimes.

So my biggest lesson has been to listen to myself…. To listen to what my body is saying and what it feels and needs and why it feels that way….  To listen to the thoughts in my own mind and don’t discard them if they are rough…

To tune in to my life instead of disconnecting.

Lesson learned.

In Austria (2007)

Okay, today’s questions are just random ones I couldn’t otherwise categorize, so enjoy!

Shannon asked:

It seems like you traveled and moved a few times. Where are all the places you have you been and lived?  Do you speak different languages?

I’ve traveled a lot.  True story.  I’ve traveled a lot in the states so I don’t think I’ll even bother telling you where I’ve been because the list would be ridiculous and only exclude a few states.  (But I have been to Puerto Rico, hehe.)  Internationally I’ve traveled throughout Austria, Italy and Honduras, and to Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, France, England, Belgium, and Mexico.  I’m hoping next year to get to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.  Woohoo!  Because of these travels I speak a little bit of Spanish and even less German.

As far as places I’ve lived, most of my life has been spent in various places in Tennesee: Franklin, Tn; Grantham, NH; Millington, TN; Memphis, TN; Jackson, TN; Salzburg, Austria; Cordova, TN and Ludlow, VT.

What is the coolest thing you have learned from blogging?
What is the coolest freebie you ever got from blogging?

Coolest thing I’ve learned from blogging is that there are people out there who are going through the same thing I am.  It’s strange, but when you don’t have anyone near you going through similar things you feel very lonely and odd.  You feel like you are the only one in the world with certain problems and you feel bad about yourself because you have those problems.  Thanks to blogging and just the general power of the internet I’ve realized that isn’t true and there is a whole lot of people out there who have similar issues and and doing similar things.  It’s nice to have the support.

Coolest freebie?  I don’t know.  I’ve gotten a lot of cool things from blogging but nothing really free pops to mind.  I mean, I did get a freaking awesome gig at Green Mountain and a boyfriend via my blog, so I can’t even compare freebies to that.  Although I’ve gotten some cool food products to try out before – yum, yum, yum.

And a cool question from Jen(@bwjen):

You seem to be such a southern girl….where and how did you get into snowboarding? I am kinda klutzy so I have never even gone skiing! The closest I get to the slopes are on the tubes! lol! Give me the snowboard experience!

I am a Southern girl, despite my barely noticeable accent.  And while we do have mountains on the other side of my state I have never been on them.  My first year in college my college church group went on a ski trip to North Carolina and I decided to snowboard.  It was a terrible experience.  I didn’t learn how to stop myself until the third day so I spent a lot of time falling, trying to pick myself up, and feeling miserable.  Finally I got a lesson from an awesome dude who was teaching another girl on her first day and once I learned how to stop and lean back into the mountain it all fell into place.  The last half day of my first trip was pretty cool even though I was tired.

My Snowboard Buddy Josh and I in Colorado

I went on a couple more trips with my church group, twice to Colorado where I’ve boarded at Keystone, Breckenridge, and Vail.  When I went to Austria it only snowed twice and the second time we went to some resort in the Austrian Alps.   I’ve mastered carving but I’m not good at jumps because they make me nervous.  However, I’ve done a few and I’ve also done a few rails with one ending badly with me and a painful tailbone.  Generally I just stick to carving down the mountain enjoying the experience.  I try to go at least once a year for a couple days… this year hopefully I will be snowboarding at the mountain I’ve been staring at for the last two months.

Snowboarding is one of my favorite things in the world.  I really, really enjoy it.

And finally, JackSh*t asked me:

How many miniature Three Muskateer bars could you fit in your mouth at one time?

12.

Hope you have a terrific Tuesday!  And to satisfy my own curiousity:

Do you ski/snowboard?  If not, which would you want to do?

Okay, today I’m talking about food. Why? Because you guys asked me lots of questions about it. And I love food. Food is good. It nourishes your body AND it tastes good. WIN!!

So, Lillian asked me:

What foods are in your cart every single time you go to the grocery store?

It’s been a while since I’ve been grocery shopping but I’ll give you the list from what I remember.  I always buy: bread, milk (1% or skim), orange juice, chicken breasts, tuna, fresh veggies (whatever is in season plus bell peppers), black beans, sweet potatoes (I’m obsessed), gum.  I seriously buy this stuff every time.  I always have other stuff I get, but those are my staples.

Then BodyByPizza asked me:

If you were a food item, what would you be and why?

Hehe, I would be pizza!  Why?  Because I would be DELICIOUS and everyone would love me.  And I could be so many different varieties of the same thing!  Yummmy!

Sian from GirlGetStrong asked me:

What are your fav low cal snacks?

Would love to know what you eat in a day…

My favorite snacks are:  fresh fruit with a tablespoon of peanut butter, 5-6 triscuits and cheese, sugar free Jello pudding (the kind that has dark light dark in one container).  Those are all pretty low calorie.

What I eat in a current day… well for the first month at Green Mountain I documented everything I ate by photo.  If you are interested just check some of the posts from the beginning.  I normally eat 1800 – 2200 calories, which has been working out well for me losing weight and is something I can sustain at home.  For breakfast I normally have raisin bran with toast and either an egg or peanut butter, or scrambled eggs with toast and jelly.  Those are similar to what I eat at home.  Here for lunch we have wraps often which is what I eat at home, with salad and fruit.  I’m usually a sandwich/wrap person for lunch.  Nothing fancy and not a huge meal.  At Green Mountain I eat an afternoon snack usually of fruit and a little protein like nut butter or cheese. And dinner is always a basic protein like chicken, turkey, or fish with a grain and veggies.  Same for at home… I cook a lot of chicken and fish for myself.  Here I have some sort of dessert every night even if it’s just pudding or fruit crisp, but at home I usually only have it a couple times a week.  And also I eat a snack of triscuits and cheese every night here. Yummy!

So there ya have it!  That’s what I eat!

And finally, Josie asked:

Did you ever struggle with emotional eating? Do you still? If so, what is your strategy for not doing it?

Good question!  I have a pretty long history with emotional eating much of which comes from family issues that caused me to eat.  I still struggle with it, even here in a pretty controlled environment where I’m trying to work on the issues.  I feel like I am making some progress in being able to handle my emotions better and react in better ways but I know that this isn’t an issue that can be “cured” or entirely fixed in 3 months when I’ve been doing it almost 20 years.  So my strategy is basically to eat mindfully and more importantly be mindful of my thoughts and feelings.  If I can catch the stress or negative emotions first and sort them out before I turn to food I consider that a win.  But I know that probably won’t always happen, so I’m okay with knowing I will eventually use to food to cope and that is okay and even healthy as long as I’m not doing it all the time.

So…. there ya go!!!  The food/eating edition of Ask Mary Anything!  Woohoo!!  Now I’m hungry… is it time for a snack?  No?  Darn.  Well then… just leave me a comment tell me:

If you were a food item, what would you be and why?

This post contains a ton of stuff, all about how I’m doing on my weight loss journey. Hopefully it will help you better understand me and my progress. First things first – my video check in with my progress over the last two weeks.  It’s a good one!

And how I did on my fitness goals for the week:

• Climb the hill 10 + times.  (Halfway.  Will try to finish tomorrow.)
• Make it to every strength training class.  (YES!)
• Get 7 – 8 hours of sleep each night.  (YES!  Barely. ;)  7 counts tho!)

What I actually did this week for exercise:

Friday 10/30:

• 1 hour total body strength class
• 20 minutes walking (1 mile)

Thursday 10/29:

• 1 hour lower body conditioning
• 30 minutes walking (hill intervals)
• 30 minutes water cardio drills/kickboxing

Wednesday 10/28:

• 30 minute elliptical interval
• 1 hour upper body weights
• 1 hour bicycling

Tuesday 10/27:

• 1 hour lower body conditioning (bumped up to ankle weights!)
• 1 hour kickboxing class

Monday 10/26:

• 1 hour upper body resistance class
• 1 hour low impact aerobics
• 15 minutes walking

Sunday 10/25:

• 40 minutes walking (2 miles)

Total time exercised:  10:45!!

Did a great job with the exercise.  Had planned to workout this morning but unfortunately had to miss classes.  Still beat last week by 40 minutes.  Hehe.  Go me!

And now, I’m going to answer a couple related questions from readers for the new Ask Mary Anything series.  Woot!

Chocolateprn asked me:

1) Did you expect to see a bigger loss during this experience?
2) What sort of loses do the other participants see?

Personally I am really excited about the progress I’ve made while I’ve been here.  I suppose coming into it I had a lot of goals, but really has no idea what to expect from a weight loss retreat.  I’ve lost 13 pounds in two months.  That’s 1.6 pounds per week which is awesome.   Originally I wanted to lose 30 pounds while I was here but readjusted my goal to 20 pounds, since I’ve also been gaining quite a bit of muscle with all the strength training.  If I lose another 7 pounds the last month I am here I will hit that goal.   But more important than weight is measurements in inches.  I’ve lost a ton of inches and completely changed my body.

As far as what progress other participants see here I think the average is similar.  Healthy weight loss is around 1 – 2 pounds per week so that is what the program aims to make happen.  I know everyone I’ve talked to as they left has been very happy with their personal progress.

And just to put all this weight/measurement stuff into perspective, let me answer the question Kate asked:

How tall are you?

I am 5′2″.  I agree with you about how frustrating it is to read so much about weight loss and never know how tall someone is.  It makes a huge difference.  I’m on the shorter end (you seem super tall to me!) of the spectrum.  So, to sum it all up, right now I’m 5′2″, 228 pounds, and wear a 16/18 pants and large (or sometimes medium) shirts.

Alrighty!  That’s a ton of stuff.  Sorry!  I hope it helps put my experience into perspective, know all my measurements and what I’m doing for exercise!

Have a great weekend!  Happy Halloween!

In my opinion Friday is a day of happiness.  Sure you have to work for part of the day (and today I even have to work into the night!), but it still seems to have so much promise that you can’t help but feel happy.  It’s the last day of work, it’s the beginning of the weekend, it’s a great day.

So today I’m going to start answering questions in my Ask Mary Anything series.  I asked you what you wanted to know and you guys gave me some great questions.  I will try to answer them all within a week of posts.  It’s going to be a fun week next week!  Make sure you check back to see if I answered your questions. ;)

Here we go…

Kenz from All The Weigh asked:

I know you’re away from home which is extremely difficult sometimes. What makes you happy while you’re there? What makes you happy at home?

Being away from home is difficult sometimes since I miss my family, my friends, my dog, etc.  But I enjoy new experiences and traveling and meeting new and interesting people.  I’m away from home more often than not so I’ve gotten used to the experience.  But there are a lot of things that make me happy (or “merry” hehe) in both situations.

AWAY HAPPY LIST

• blog comments and emails from my mom
• the beauty of Vermont (fall foliage was GORGEOUS)
• seeing women change their lives and find themselves
• being excited for short trips
• good workouts and exercise classes
• seeing myself progress and become stronger
• yummy food prepared by awesome chefs

AT HOME HAPPY LIST

• spending time with my mom
• going out with friends for fun nights
• hanging out with my best friend
• going to movies
• playing with our dog Tyson
• spending time with my crazy brothers
• driving myself around or taking drives

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY WHEREVER I AM

• making people laugh/laughing
• writing/blogging
• living the way I want
• taking and editing photographs
• watching stand up/comedy shows or movies
• hot showers or bubble baths
• reading a good book
• pretty flowers like those!
• snowboarding (oh, winter!!)
• blog/facebook/twitter comments
• being healthy and active

And since I’m on the subject of happiness, I’ll answer another question that ties in.

Shannon of The Fab Fatties asked (well she asked even more questions):

1) If there was 1 person in the whole world (dead or alive) you could meet who would it be and why?
2) Are you dating the hottie that gave you the flowers?

The hottie who sent me flowers happens to be Kepa, or FLG as you might know him.  (He writes a pretty badass blog himself, so if you’ve never seen it check it out.)  And yes I am dating him. ;)

So to answer the first question, the one person in the whole world I would want to meet would be Kepa.  That would be  nice since we happen to be dating but I haven’t officially met him in person yet.  Oops.  Thankfully we are going to be meeting in January after the holidays have passed and I can make my way to New Zealand.  Pretty exciting!

Alright, those are the things that make me happy.  Now hit me up and let me know…

What makes you happy?

I haven’t run out of things to talk about yet – I could go on forever – but I want to know what you want to know.

(Actually I really like answering questions.  Q&A is FUN!)

So ask me something. Anything.  The floor is yours.

I will respond in future posts…. which is super fun!  (Leave a link and I will link back to you, or be anonymous.)

Ask me anything.  About losing weight.  About being obese.  About what I eat or like to eat.  About being in Vermont.  About anything.

Anything you’ve wanted to know? (Or just wanna push me to write about?)

Go ahead.  Spit it out.  Give me something to respond to.

((And I will love you forever!))

That’s it.

What would you like to know?