Now this is actually a real challenge to me considering I’ve been sitting on my butt for 3-4 months doing nothing but drinking beer and eating out every day. I gained quite a few pounds and weighed the most I’ve ever weighed – 150lbs. Nothing like a nice round number to wake you up. 150! Yikes!

So on November 1st, I started working out. I bought a new Garmin GPS watch to help motivate me. I love the watch and I’m loving working out everyday. I’m doing a variety of things, but the best thing is I don’t really have a plan. I can do anything I want so long as I do something everything everyday. So I’ve committed to doing P90X again, riding at least 3 times a week, running at least twice a week, and if I feel like it, I can hike or walk. My calendar for the first two weeks is quite full.

This past week I worked out a total of 13:23.55 hours, covered 73.11 miles and burned 4,920 calories. And I’ve lost 3 lbs this week, 6 lbs total in November. Not bad. Two more weeks to go.

We’ve been having fun looking at and watching what others have been eating on a daily basis over on Utterli. @befitt came up with the idea, and since I had pretty much abandoned my plan to snap a photo of my daily diet and post on Flickr, I joined in because this just sounded like much more fun. I’m into video these days, so Utterli or course let’s me post video, photos, and audio to the group @befitt set up for us. First, let’s start with the why we would want to do this. Dieting is tough, especially if you are trying to count calories. We’re busy and we don’t have time to stop and write down everything we eat. So by snapping a picture with a cell phone and uploading to Utterli, it keeps a visual record of your daily caloric intake, so later in the day, if you choose, you can then record all that you ate.

Another reason to want to capture your daily food intake is to make yourself aware of what you are eating. Many people don’t pay attention to what they are eating, and as a result, they often end up eating too much or make poor choices for meals. Keeping a record is like holding yourself accountable for your food intake. Lastly, posting your food choices for others to see also creates a community around your diet where others can comment on your choices and encourage you to either eat better or applaud you for your wise choices.

After one week of posting food, I can say I’ve learned a lot. For one, I think we all know why Biray is fit and thin – she’s a vegetarian. I’ve learned that people who are gourmet chefs and workout maniacs don’t always eat the way you think they would and can seem to manage eating out for every meal. So jealous of @dgaudet. Others are similar to my eating habits, and some are very different. But all in all most of the food posted has been pretty healthy.

I posted the widget from Utterli so you can see some of our group posts. If you want to join us, sign up for an account and join our Utterlicious group. I’d love to see what you’re eating.

For the next 30 days I will be embarking on a 30 day challenge: Eating Clean. I did this once before with great success, but after my challenge, and maybe even before, I slipped back into bad habits of eating whatever and whenever, but mostly just not eating at all.

So what exactly is eating clean? I’ve posted the principles below. I’ll be posting a bit about my progress beginning tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Clean Eating Principles

• Eating a mini-meal every two to three hours (5 to 6 small meals per day total) to keep blood sugar level and prevent hunger
• Combining lean proteins and complex carbs at every meal
• Avoiding all over-processed and refined foods (especially sugar, white rice, and white flour)
• Avoiding saturated and trans fat, instead consuming healthy fats
• Avoiding soda and other sugary juices and drinks
• Avoiding high-calorie, zero nutrient foods (i.e., junk food)
• Eating proper portion sizes
• Drinking at least 8 cups of water every day

That’s it! You can do that. Why don’t you join me?

Monday was a cool day here in Phoenix. It never made it over 100 degrees, so I decided I would go for a hike. I loaded up all my gear and headed out. I’m a gadget girl, so I had lots of gadgets with me including Nike Time + Distance GPS unit, Flip Mino, and my Blackberry Pearl.

I snapped photos with my Pearl and shot some video with the Flip, and just overall got lost in the moment. I ended up hiking 3 miles through the preserve, the whole way Twittering, and sending photos to Flickr and Utterz. It was fun. I got to feed my technology addiction AND get some exercise.

Hiking Phoenix Mountain Preserve from Coop on Vimeo.

After some digging, I found out I could use a program called VoltaicHD to convert the video to Quicktime, and then I would be able to edit the video on my MacBook Pro. So I downloaded the trial version to try it out. It works, but the files are huge, and it takes for ever. I have no patience, and I wanted to see video and edit video right away, like I can do with a regular camera. Not so here.

Anyway, I finally got some video, but only short clips because the trial wouldn’t let me convert the larger files. Rats! again. Guess I’ll need to fork over $30. I want to make sure it’s the best option out there first before I spend money. Anyway, here is my HD video converted down to size for YouTube. After all that, I’m wondering what’s the point. It’s not HD anymore.