Hellooo?

Anyone out there?

Bueller? Bueller?

I know it's been almost 2 months since we've posted. Nikki's just lazy. But I have a good reason. I've been cheating on Two Pink Hippos with my other blog. It's my running blog. I'm not sure I can call myself a runner yet but I really want to be one. So please humor me? :)

Since both Nikki and I have stopped blogging on TPH (although you'll be glad to know we are both still doing well on Weight Watchers), I decided to move my recipes to my running blog and combine both into one.

Please find me at:
http://seecupcakerun.wordpress.com *OR* http://seecupcakerun.com

I'm sure that Nikki will make some guest post appearances on there too. (If I ask nicely.) For now TPH will be a recipe placeholder for Nikki since she's too lazy to print them out herself. (Are you noticing a theme yet? lol)

Hope to see you all at my blog!

The Great Debate: Diet vs Exercise

In a perfect world, we'd all eat healthy and exercise regularly but it's not a perfect world and we're all trying to find the short cuts to being skinny. Some people think if they exercise consistently they don't have to watch what they eat. While others feel that diet is much bigger factor to weight loss than exercise.

For me. I'd say it's 80/20. 80% diet and 20% exercise. I guess I feel like unless you're a professional athletic then you can't possibly exercise enough to make up the calories you ate. Because I don't know about you but when left to my own devices I eat A LOT of calories. I think before WW I was probably eating 3000+ calories a day. (I love me some fast food! The greasier the better.) Heck that might even be conservative. Now that's scary! And well above the 2000 calories/day recommendation and definitely too much to lose weight.

WW operates on a point system. The points are set depending on your height, weight, age and gender. I'm on 29 points/day which is roughly 1200-1500 calories. You can also earn activity points. And you always get weekly freebie points to use however you want. Now I know there are many people on WW that don't exercise and still lose weight b/c they are drastically changing their diet. And if that works for them, who am I to tell them any different?

But even though I agree that changing your diet has a higher percentage of success than exercise alone in weight loss, I still try to work out 30-60 minutes 4x a week. Yes, I wanna lose weight but I want to be tone and healthy in the process. I want to walk up a flight of stairs and not breathe hard. I don't want excess skin hanging from my arms! <-- that's my vanity coming out.

I dunno. I guess I'm striving for that perfect world.

What's your take on diet and exercise?

Postscript: WI#4 -4 lbs! Total -9.8 lbs. <-- Hit my 5% goal. *fist pump*

The thing I miss the most

So for me, my biggest change has been not going out to eat for almost every single meal.  To be honest, I haven't missed it all that much, I'm totally fine with it and have been eating tons of delicious food.  But, the thing I miss about not going out all the time is being a regular. 

I've been going to the same sub shop a few days a week for lunch for years.  They know me, they love me and I kind of adore them.  Hell, I don't even need to order unless I'm changing things up.  But I haven't gone since starting WW because

1) My turkey and cheese sub is not good to be eating.  Tthe turkey and cheese is fine, it's the approximately 12 point sub roll and mayo that's an issue.  And lets not even talk about the days I change things up and get chicken finger subs.

 And

2) because I've been afraid they'll kill me for giving them no warning that I was going to fall off the face of the earth.

Today, when I poked into the fridge at work and realized I just had some cheese and nasty turkey that G bought, I decided to go grab lunch at my favorite little shop.  I knew I could get a Greek salad with feta and be fine and I had dressing at work.  When I walked in, there was a mini uproar, which is saying something considering only three people were working.  Everyone came out from  where they were working and there was all sorts of where have you beens tossed around.  Of course, I just played it up as oh I haven't been going out to eat ... I was tempted to say "because not coming to see you crazies 3 times a week has lost me over 10lbs", but I figured I didn't need them to feel like it was their fault.  Apparently, there were all sorts of theories as to where I had disappeared to ... I got laid off, went to drug rehab, died.   They were ready to send out a search party looking for me, but they forgot where I work (in their defense I've only had food delivered to our new location once or twice in a year and a half).   Me bringing my lunch was just not an option that crossed their minds.

And then I ordered the salad and was totally given the side eye by the guy that runs the joint.  I'm pretty sure he was ready to make me the greatest turkey and cheese sandwich of my life.  Instead,  he put about 3 cups of feta on my salad.  That's how being a regular is, when they love you they give you extra.  So, I of course needed to remove some of the feta (but have totally saved it for other lunches this week ... score), but it was good.  I'm glad I went it and got to say hi and I totally stayed OP.

I think the thing that can be hardest is that food is such a social thing. It can be damn hard to balance eating well with not avoiding the social situations where food is the leading lady.   I think this is honestly harder than combating the food itself.   If I'm just home with my husband I have no problems staying OP, but send me out into the world and put a pile of cheese and crackers, chips and pretzels in front of me and FUCK, it's hard.  I can be as full and prepared as I want to be, but a pile of delicious cheeses and crackers ... talk about hard to resist.  And I've come to learn that, like with all things WW, it's all about finding that healthy balance.  The balance between feeling like you're missing out on something, whether it be the food itself or time with friends and staying OP.  I think I'm starting to get my groove, but it's still not easy.

What are the things you miss the most?

LA Farmers Market

Food is very social thing for me. I'm not on the "live to eat, not eat to live" mantra the way my husband is but being on Weight Watchers has made me appreciate food in a new way. Almost like a compromise of my former self and my husband.


I've lived near LA for 30 odd years but I've never been to the LA Farmers Market off of 3rd and Fairfax. There is something VERY wrong with that picture. So today I rectified that travesty. And it was delicious for the eyes and taste buds.

The LA Farmers market is a little hard to describe. It's not a typical farmers market that you think of with stands of vegetables and fruits as far as the eye can see. It reminds me more of Reading Terminal Market in Philly where there are permanent stands for each merchant. But the LA Farmers Market is an outdoor venue vs Reading Terminal Market that is enclosed in a huge building.

Right when I walked in (there are various entrances depending on where you park) I was accosted by the Magic Nut and Candy Company. It took all my willpower to enjoy the sight and smells (0 points!) but walk away from the free samples.




As I was trying to get away from the intoxicating smells, I ran smack into the Ice Cream Shop and Crepe Company. Oy! I really wanted a crepe but...




instead I headed over to the fresh fruits and veggie stand. It was so crowded I couldn't get very close to anything except for the pummelos and tomatoes. I've never had a pummelo but I'm told it's like a sweeter grapefruit. I bought a couple so I'll let you know.




The meat and seafood counters were amazing. I wanted to buy every cut of beef and fish that I saw. Can raw meat smell good? B/c it smelled good to me. Maybe it's the tiger's blood. It flows strong in me! <-- Sorry! I had to get my Charlie Sheen rub in. It was bound to happen.




My absolute favorite place in the whole Farmers Market was the Monsieur Marcel Gourmet Market. It reminded me of a mini Surfas in Culver City.

I loved the cheese counter.



Yes, that's my husband's a$$ bending over the cheese counter. I swear I didn't know it was there when I took the picture. *looking innocent*






There was a variety of salad dressings and mustards.




So many different salts: fleur de sel, sea salt, Himalayan salt (it's the pretty pink one on the top shelf) etc etc.




Yummy honey. Oh... I even found a 0 point caramel dip! How is that even possible? I don't know but I had to buy one. Maybe it's astronaut food. If it gives me a caramel fix then it could be extraterritorial for all I care.




Husband was infatuated with the olive bar. I'm not an olive fan myself but T loves olives. Whatever floats your boat, husband. While Husband was gawking over the 20 varieties of olives I went next door to the Light My Fire hot sauce shop.




I literally spent 10 minutes cackling at all the bottles.




I had to buy a few bottles for my little brother. He's CRAZY about hot sauce and Tabasco. He uses it on everything. I like spicy but not like that. I kinda like my taste buds thank you very much.

I will admit that the only sample I did try was the chocolate pasta at Pappardelle's Pasta Shop.




They were handing out little pieces of uncooked chocolate pasta so you could get a taste for it. They make the pasta fresh and add cocoa powder to the dough. It was yummy. I bet a whole plate of al dente chocolate pasta would be amazing. I didn't buy any for that reason but I did buy some whole wheat orzo. I've never had orzo so I'll have to make it next week for dinner.

About this time, Husband and I were ready for lunch.



There were so many different places to eat but eventually T wanted to eat tapas at Little Spain Restaurant. The wine bar is never ending but unfortunately alcohol is way too many points for it to be worth it for me. My wino friends everywhere are so sad.



Tapas are like appetizers. I figured small plates would probably be better for me portion (and points) wise so I agreed.






We got 4 tapas: (1) Calamari and bell peppers, (2) Croquettes, (3) I can't remember the name of the 3 little bread ones and (4) Fried Egg w fries and ham. (That's not the official Spanish name but again I can't remember the real one.) Don't worry! I made T eat most of the fries.

Because I had to save room (and points) for Pinkberry for dessert!






As long as you get the mini original flavor w fruit (no candy or syrups!), it's 3 points. I got raspberries, kiwi and pineapple. <-- Thanks for googling points for me, Nikki.

All in all an awesome day.

If you ever find yourself in LA, it's definitely a place you wanna check out. And being so close to The Grove is a bonus. I won't tell you how much I spent at Sur La Table, Anthropologie, Crate And Barrel, Nordstroms and Pottery Barn Kids.

That's just between me and my credit card.

You can have your burger...

... And eat it too!

The key is moderation and portions. I get that now. It only took 32 years.

I woke up this morning and was honestly scared. Maybe that's why I slept in until 830am. For those that don't know me. I'm a morning person. Waking up on Saturday at 6am is normal for me. But today was Weigh In (WI) #2 for me. That means I've been on Weight Watchers for 2 weeks now.

I knew it would be hard to make a lifestyle change. I knew I'd have some withdrawals. I mean. I'm a carb FA-REAK so telling me to cut down the carbs was gonna be a struggle. I won't lie. The first week WAS hard. I was cranky and moody. I also felt like I was a drug addict coming down from a high and trying to find my next hit. Just ask my husband. Poor thing got yelled at one night when he didn't put the batteries in the Wii remote fast enough. Oy. I feel bad about that. But we got past the first week with minimal battle scars. Second week was easier but the reason why I was nervous about WI #2 was Saturday.

Saturday... I was bad.

Remember I mentioned in the last post that we were in Palm Springs for the weekend? That set me back 15 points. That's over the Activity and Weekly points. Oy vey!

Needless to say, I was scared to step on the scale this morning.

But to my SUPREME surprise I went down 1 lb! w00t!

So I guess you CAN eat a burger+fries. Isn't that what is so great about Weight Watchers? Just don't do it every day. Because just think of the weight I could have lost if I had stayed within my points. <-- motivation!

What does 1lb of fat look like?

I started Weight Watchers 7 days ago and today is the dreaded Weigh In (WI) day. I was so anxious that I ate 10+ over my daily points yesterday. Thank goodness for Weeklies!

*drum roll*

Who's down 3.2lbs!? This hippo! *pointing emphatically at self*

If that doesn't seem like a lot to you, what about a visual? (Source)


See the one on the right? I lost 3x that much! Go me.

Just because we need a first post ...

Nikki:

That little no posts box was starting to look kind of lonely and I'm just giving it the axe on a whim.  Since, I clearly haven't thought this post through properly and have no direction, I guess I'll tell you a little bit about how this place came to be.   One of my friends started Weight Watchers last year, early this year she bumped into my old neighbor at a meeting and they decided what's more fun than the two of them doing WW alone?  Doing it with me.  So, after some minor procrastinating on my part, I showed up two weeks ago and my journey began.

So, what about CB you might be asking?  Well, she contributed to me totally going off plan by coming to visit me for 4 days during week one.  So worth it, so awesome.  I miss her like crazy already.  But, we started talking and I convinced her to join in on the WW fun.  CB, being the blog lover she is was like "lets do it, and start a blog" and, well, here it is.

****************************************************

CB:

I know what you're thinking.

What the H-E-double hockey sticks does "Two Pink Hippos" mean?

Funny story. I have no idea.

Let's start from the beginning.

Nikki started Weight Watchers 2 weeks before me and during one of our nightly chats she suggested I join her Weight Watchers army. Since I've been feeling unskinny lately I knew it was time to take back control of my weight from the potato chips. As a way to keep each other motivated and share recipes, we decided to start this blog.

Even though we tried to come up with something cutesy with "weigh" in the title, we just kept coming back to my little brother's suggestion. Two Pink Hippos. It's so random but catchy. So the name stuck. And here we are.