Three desserts and several gallons of water at the Renaissance Festival

We sweated like pigs out in the heat at the Renaissance Festival on Saturday. We dressed in shorts and t-shirts, while some dressed up in pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves, boots and hats. I think they were crazy.

We took a few bottles of water with us, but we sweated out everything we drank anyway. Luckily I avoided the port-a-potties thanks to the heat.

We had turkey legs (which I shared with my daughter), an apple tart alamode, an apple dumpling alamode (which I both shared with my mom), some cinnamon roasted pecans and almonds, a cone of mini chocolate chips cookies (which we all three shared) and some frozen snow balls (which my daughter stole from me). We also had a couple glasses of lemonade and a few more bottles of water. Drinks were only $1, including bottled water.

Everything was delicious as expected, and there were hardly any lines compared to when I went last year. We think most smart people stayed away due to the heat.

The only thing I was disappointed in was that there were no recycling cans next to the trash cans. I saw so many plastic water bottles in the trash it wasn’t funny.

We saw a few shows, shopped in a few shops, and tried to stay cool which was nearly impossible. The girl rode a pony, for free no less, but did not ride the elephants which were taking a break when we went by, and cost something. She liked the mother goose nursery rhyme show and the Pirate Queen show where she got to participate in both.

We arrived before it opened at 10am, and stayed till almost 4pm. I’m surprised we lasted that long. Kids 6 and under are free and we used our CVS card and got a $4 discount off admission price.

Then we went home, showered and went out later for dinner where my mom and I shared chicken quesadillas. 

It was a nice day, and I’m glad I shared my food instead of eating it all myself. At least I wore my pedometer, and clocked over 7000 steps.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry at the Maryland Renaissance Festival

I gained a pound this week. Tomorrow I’m going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with my daughter and mother. She lives in Annapolis, and the festival is right around the corner in Crownsville Maryland.

They have the best food including turkey legs, ice cream croissants, mini chocolate chip cookies, BBQ and lots of beer. I won’t be drinking any beer, but I’ll be eating a lot of food.

Since I knew I was going to the fair this weekend, I’ve worked out on every day of the week excluding Monday. I ate a little too many points early in the week, but made up for it towards the end of the week. Anyway, I may not have enough points for all the delicious food I’m going to eat, but I’ll work it off on Sunday and next week.

It’s supposed to be in the 90’s tomorrow, so I’ll be bringing a lot of water with me. I may post a picture of me pigging out too. I do love those turkey legs, but I hate the port-a-potties.

No Pudge Brownies with Frozen Yogurt

This is one secret dessert that I learned about in Weight Watchers. When I started 4 years ago, I could only find the box of mix at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, but now even Safeway and Giant have them. I had one tonight.

They are No Pudge Fudge Brownies and are Fat Free and all natural for the health and organic folks. You can make them by the pan full, or by the single serving size.

I usually make a single serving for myself and have recently become a little creative and started mixing in chocolate chips and/or nuts like walnuts and pecans. Only a tiny amount, because the batter isn’t that thick.

Here’s the single serving recipe, and they have more recipes on their site.

In a small microwaveable container mix 2 tablespoons of your favorite flavor No Pudge! Brownie mix with 1 tablespoon of non-fat vanilla yogurt. Microwave on high for one minute. Top with fat-free frozen yogurt or whipped topping.

The brownie by itself is 2 points, and add the points amount of your topping and mix-ins. They have several flavors including mint fudge, cappuccino, and raspberry, but I just do the original chocolate mix.

Almost 5 pounds lost

I lost 4.6 pounds this week after coming back from vacation and gaining over 5. Not down to my lowest, but hopefully next week I’ll be. I’ve been tracking points, and eating fairly decent.

I had my first personal training session too on Monday which went well. I discussed my current workout routine with him, cardio classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and he recommended I do Monday, Wednesday, Friday with 30 minutes of weights and cardio afterwards. He also said that the most important thing was food, and asked what I was eating. I told him I am doing Weight Watchers. He said his mom did WW and he thought it was a good program. I told him my brief history, and told him it works, if I follow it. I like that you just eat normal food, but watch portions and count points (calories, fiber and fat).

He gave me a series of machines to work out on with a focus on my glutes, hamstrings, back, shoulders and arms. He told me honestly though that abs would probably not be beneficial to me at this time, but the weights I’d be doing would help strengthen my core. I wasn’t offended, and I hate ab work anyway, even though my mid section could use it. I do get some ab work in my cardio classes.

I had that session on Monday, and my regular class on Tuesday, but by Wednesday I was really sore. I took the day off. Thursday I did my other class, and intended to go to the gym on Friday, but forgot my gym bag. I skipped Friday, but did Boot Camp on Saturday. It was pretty intense, but a great workout, and I can’t imagine how sore I’d be if I had done Friday and Saturday back to back.

Tomorrow is Monday, and I will be going to the gym. It’s hard in the mornings getting myself ready, the little girl, and trying to bring everything both she and I need for work and school.

I’m going to go put my gym bag in my car now so I don’t forget. I don’t know how I’ll make it to the gym 6 days a week, but I’ll give it a try.

Boot camp and personal trainer appointment

This morning’s boot camp rocked! I missed it last week due to vacation, so it was nice to go back. Our instructor changes things up every week, and this was the first time I’ve had this style of boot camp.

We each got a step bench and warmed up. Then we took turns between high cardio and weights, with 1 minute intervals. We did 1 minute cardio, 1 minute weights, 1 minute cardio, and then 1 minute weights. They were four minute intense training session with a short break between. We used the body bars, hand weights and the cords, but it was all at our individual step station.

Most of the boot camps I’ve been too there are stations around the room that you move around in groups of 2-4 people, and sometimes you do group cardio or cardio at the stations. This seemed like less pressure to perform, since you were in your own space and worked at your own pace. I sweated a lot, but it was fun. Usually by the end of class I’m slacking off, but I kept up fairly decent today.

I also made my first personal trainer appointment for Monday after work. The session will last an hour, and I get 5 free ones with my gym membership, and 1 free one a month. I hope I do well, and hope that I’ll be able to fit weights into my weekly routine.

Lost almost half pound last week, gained 5 from Missouri vacation

I weighed myself last Wednesday before leaving on vacation and had lost .4 pounds. Then we flew to St. Louis and stayed for 6 days, where I ate well and exercised little. Ok, no exercise really. I did keep my pedometer on, but the only good step day was the day we flew out of DC.

I started out doing well and eating mostly healthy, but it didn’t last long as I was faced with some of my favorite southern food favorites like Cracker Barrel, Waffle House and Sonic. You have to drive way down I-95 to hit any of those restaurants around the DC area.

When we landed in St. Louis it was around lunch time, but we thought we’d eat outside of the airport and headed for downtown. My girl fell asleep in the car and we parked at the lot beside the Arch. I took pictures for awhile until she woke up and then we headed inside where a cute gift shop was selling popcorn. I bought a big bag because I was hungry and it was the most delicious kettle corn I’ve tasted. We did a short tour of the museum and decided not to head up in the elevator for the view when we overheard someone talking about mechanics checking out one of the lifts.

After leaving the Arch we drove to our hotel and stopped at Cracker Barrel for an earlier dinner. Our Holiday Inn Express greeted us with warm cookies when we arrived, and the next morning had a pretty decent continental breakfast spread too.

I gained 5 pounds, but it’s not the end of the world. We ate well on our trip and out a lot, but it was my vacation. I got right back on Weight Watchers when I returned, and will get back into my exercise routine too.

On our way back to the airport, I had to stop back at the Arch. I needed some more of that wonderful popcorn, but I bought some to share with my coworkers and sister.

Salmonella poisoning

It turns out my husband became sick due to salmonella. Over 30 of his coworkers also became sick. Some of them even ended up in the hospital and on IV’s. The sad thing was, my husband had taken the week off for our vacation, and was sick for most of it. He only started feeling better towards the end of our trip.

The party was held on Friday night, and on Monday, July 30 the floor of his company was virtually empty. People had either stayed home or were at the emergency room. It completely decimated his department. Most who attended the party had experienced acute diarrhea, vomiting, high fevers, chills, intense headaches, and stomach pain.

A few lucky ones had not eaten at the party, and some alerted the health department and his company’s HR department. The health department gave his HR department stool sample collection vials, which were handed out to those who attended the party and had eaten. About a hundred emails passed around with what everyone had eaten, and there was no clear pattern. Among the dishes were chicken tikki, tandoori chicken, chicken curry, shammi kabab, samosas, rice and naan. Those who’d had chicken had gotten sick, as well as those who were vegetarians and had not eaten chicken.

The food was catered from Ravi Kabob House in Arlington. Research on the web  found several health inspections with less than sanitary and food safety violations.  Not only did people who attended the party on Friday night get sick, but the hosts kept leftovers and had another group of people come over on Saturday who also fell ill.

It was virtually impossible to eat anything because nothing stayed in their systems. As they kept losing water over time, some became severely dehydrated and ended up in the hospital. My husband was lucky he didn’t end up in the hospital, but he did see my primary care physician late Monday afternoon and received a strong dose of antibiotics.

To many people’s surprise, this massive case of food poisoning became caught in the government’s red tape. The Arlington Health Department refused to look into the case because most people who were sick lived in the Fairfax County. And Fairfax County Health Department refused to look into the case because the restaurant is located in Arlington. After three days of pleading by many people, they finally reached agreement that Fairfax County would investigate. Luckily the hosts still had some leftovers available for testing. The results will be available in a few weeks.

Most stool samples turned out to be positive for salmonella, including my husbands. He and some coworkers are talking about suing for lost wages, medical expenses, as well as emotional distress.

Food poisoning is not a healthy way to lose weight

Husband has lost over 10 pounds in three days, and doesn’t even need to lose weight. He went to a party on Friday night without me and the little one, thankfully. He was celebrating a co-workers wedding nuptials that were held overseas. A happy occasion, good food so they thought, but horrible food poisoning it turned out to be.

He came home late Friday night and I was already in bed. His stomach was hurting and that’s when the onslaught began. He didn’t get much sleep but on Saturday morning he was up and about with our girl while I went to the gym. I thought it was a case of the spices; Indian food always cleans me out, but boy was I wrong.

After coming home around lunch time he said he had to lie down, he’d been running to the bathroom at the bookstore the entire time he was out. He spent all day Saturday in bed and the bathroom. It started with diarrhea, but then the vomiting came on Saturday night and continues.

We called the insurance 24 hour nurses line on Saturday and they said I was doing everything right by giving him fluids. They suggested that he call the friends and find out if they were sick. He was running a mild fever, so we kept him on Tylenol most of the weekend too. If so, the Centers for Disease Control recommends that you contact the local health department she said.

On Sunday a co-worker called to ask how he was doing. Apparently a lot of other people got sick too, except the co-worker who called who hadn’t eaten anything. She was lucky. All in all, about 25 people were sick with food poisoning. I think the majority of them have reported it to the health department.

Monday he got an appointment at my general practitioner’s office. He doesn’t have his own Dr, and luckily mine saw him. They took a stool sample and will send it out the labs. It must be really nasty bacteria that got him. They’ll let us know when they find out. He’s taking a strong antibiotic and just started feeling better today. We fly to Missouri tomorrow, so I hope he’s up to it.

I feel really bad for him and his coworkers, but especially the lady who was 6 months pregnant. Both he and I are also glad that my girl and I didn’t go, because if we all were sick, it could have been much worse.  I’ve only heard about food poisoning before, never experienced it first hand, but I never want to experience it again. Even if I could lose 10 pounds in three days.