Eating too much!

I have no self control where cookies and candy are concerned. If it's in the house, I eat it. And I've been eating a LOT over the past few days--I've watched my weight go up to 142.4 pounds as of this morning! Ugh. Doesn't help that I've also been eating too much at meals also, and no fresh fruit or vegetables to speak of this week. I've been exercising, though, although not as much as usual. I've gone for two three mile runs this week and have done two pilates DVD's. The new Fitness magazine says that pilates has about the same calorie burn/cario effects as speed walking. I find that very hard to believe. I don't think my heart rate goes up much at all during those sessions.

For the record--I hate running. I don't understand these people who run for an hour, hour and a half each day and enjoy it! Except for the first couple of minutes where I'm just warming up and not yet winded and the last couple of minutes where the end is in sight and I'm going downhill, the rest of the run is miserable. I think it's easier when I'm at work--running on the treadmill, although mind-bogglingly dull, is a bit easier since you don't have to face headwinds while going uphill or dodge tree branches and traffic, plus you're forced to keep to a steady pace. And by running on the treadmill I'm avoiding work. But getting myself up and moving when I'm not at work is really hard. OTOH, I'm getting better--I did the whole three mile route in 35 minutes today (another reason it's harder to run outside: I run faster when I'm not on the treadmill).

My Turn with the stomach thing

This morning beginning just before 6am I started with the violent purging. Ugh. It went on - well, it is still going on, but not as frequently. I did NOT take and evil immodium. I watched my weight drop from 205.6 to 204.4 this morning. That's kind of cool. But I could do without the constant cramping and the gurgling - and the periodic running to the bathroom.

I just got into work at about 1pm. I was wary of going anywhere. I still don't feel good and will probably go home soon - but I have work I needed to get done. Ugh.

1 out of 1!

So I stuck mostly to the plan yesterday except for the deviation when I ate some Christmas cookies. Whatever is left by next trash day (Friday) is getting chucked. Other food yesterday was yogurt for breakfast, an apple for a morning snack, HC chicken and fettucini for lunch with a small pack of sun chips from the vending machine (the HC meal left a really yucky taste in my mouth and the sun chips were the least offensive item I could find) and bean soup with a roll for dinner.

Yesterday I came in at 165, and today I was 164.3.

I tried out Amy's gym for real yesterday. I enjoyed being able to use several different machines for shorter times. I get bored too easily. Any Emily--Amy & I can't figure out how you can use that bike for 40 minutes! My rear-end was so NUMB after 10 I was worried I would never regain feeling. Do you just set it to manual, or do you run one of the programs? Amy did manual and I tried out the hills on a low level. I liked the treadmill they have there--it was really snazzy and I also set that to run a hills program. I wish I understood the levels though. I think I may have set it too easy, but I didn't know if it went 1 to 10 or 1 to 100. We also tested the elliptical machine. That was a bit odd, but I can see how it must be an amazing workout. I'd have to work on my coordination though.

Now the thing will be to decide if I join the gym or not. I am still choking on the price a little, especially since we have to pay off our cc's from Christmas AND we have an appt at Home Depot next week to start talking about re-doing the kitchen. And my car payment starts in January, so another $50-$60 a month really does stink. Ugh. I also just remembered we still have to pay for our cruise that we are going on in June some time in early April. Sheesh. I may need a second job just to get through the first half of 2006...

I have a spreadsheet started to compare my options. Looks like I have until the end of January to find out, unless the card the lady gave me really does expire sooner. Joe said something about looking into getting a better treadmill at home--we have a basic one that doesn't have any programs and has a manual incline adjustment, which you can guess how often that happens. So last night I started pricing out nicer machines. But then we'll have to figure what to do with the old one as well. It'll all work out in the end.

So it IS possible

Yippee Sarah! Good for you! You will be at 118 by cruise time at the rate you are going!! I dug out all of my existing bathing suits - but only 2 of them were 12s and one of them was a bikini. I have several 14s - which could possibly fit me by cruise time if I get my butt back in gear. The other two I have are fat bathing suits - which were a little too big even for ME when I bought them this past summer. LL Bean has some cute tanks on sale for $12.98. You should check them out.

I was 206.8 this morning. This was a BIG improvement because on Christmas I was up to 210.6!! ACK! What WAS the point of the past three months??? I was 208.6 last night and - thank goodness - down again this morning. So - I will have to keep working on the downward trend again.

I have also been a big pig for the past few days (weeks). BUT - I was thinking about Christmas. I only really was a minor pig. I had two pieces of coffee cake - spread out over the day - three Christmas cookies, and two pieces of cashew brittle - and some candy, I didn't track closely. Katie and I had grilled cheese sandwiches and veggies for lunch and then I ate moderately at dinner. So while, yes I was a pig, I wasn't as bad as I have been in the past. Yesterday I ate mostly junk - and a whole bunch of nuts - which I had to crack to get to, so does that count as exercise?

Julie and I just met at the gym. We did about 17 minutes on the treadmill, 10-11 minutes on the bikes, and 2 minutes on the weird cross trainy thing. I had my heart rate up the whole time and was sweating nicely. I am going back tomorrow to meet with a trainer and work out a workout routine. Julie discovered that the pass card the woman she met with gave her is good until the end of January - so hopefully she and I can meet up again. It was fun having someone there who was about at my level and I could chat with. The 30 minutes went MUCH faster than it normally does. I think I burned about 150 calories - which cancells out the Christmas cookie I just finished eating. 8-) I have to plan something healthy for dinner - and go grocery shopping. We have NO food currently.

I was down, but not today

Yesterday morning I weighed 146 despite having had no exercise in a week and having eaten like a pig for three days straight. I ate slightly more moderately yesterday (a mere piglet) but today I was 147.0. Still, it could have been a lot worse. Today I'm going to try to find time to exercise, and I'll again try to be moderate in my eating!

Sarah, WOO HOO!!! Congratulations on reaching your goal!!!

Goal!

I was 140 even this morning--even after eating like a pig the last two days! That was my initial weight loss goal, and has me officially at my pre-pregnancy weight (pre-Claire, that is). I still, however, have just as flabby a stomach as I did 18 pounds ago (o.k., maybe not quite as flabby, but it's still bad and isn't anything like what I had before babies). I think it'll take quite a lot more weight loss to get rid of it, and I may be stuck with the saggy skin forever, barring cosmetic surgery.

So now onto my ultimate goal of being in the 130 - 135 range. Think I can manage that by cruise time?

Overeating, Underexercising, Squeezing into clothes anyway

I haven't been to the gym since Monday, though today I shopped and shopped and shopped (it seemed -- but this was about the only bricks-and-mortar shopping I've done all year), so I probably burned quite a few calories just by being on my feet. I've been eating terribly, though. Breakfasts and lunches haven't been so bad, and since I don't have office parties to contend with I haven't had to face too many sweets all week. Last night I had beef stew for dinner, which wasn't so bad, either. But tonight I had cheese fondue -- about a million calories' worth -- with a caesar salad and a glass of wine to drink, and I had about a third of a beer tonight as well. Tomorrow's dinner will be lasagna and garlic bread, and more wine, and Sunday's will be a turkey dinner (healthy by comparison to the other nights, but probably way too much food). I'm doomed.

But I'm not allowed to eat anything between now and midnight mass tomorrow (which is at 11 pm, oddly enough) because tonight I bought a dress and I need it to fit! There weren't many actual dresses or even dressy separates; there were millions of suits, all in non-Christmasy colors and mostly with pants instead of skirts, and some evening gowns but nothing you could wear to church, and a few flowery church-type dresses, which again wouldn't do for Christmas, and a rack or two of little black dresses, and I already have one and don't want to wear it to church, either. I tried on a size 12 navy blue beaded dress and it looked nice, but it was really baggy around the waist and even a bit big up top -- can we say "size inflation"? This would never have been a 12 ten or fifteen years ago. In the end I found a few red, sparkly tops and some plain black bottoms. I tried on some 14s which were all huge, and they didn't have the tops in 12s, but I squeezed into a 10 and it didn't look half bad! So then I tried on bottoms -- there were black dress pants in 12s, and they were a little too loose!! So I got a full-length A-line satiny black skirt (it would make a good chorus skirt) in a size 10, too!! It is a weensy bit small, especially the top (I laughed putting it on because I thought there was NO way it would go on) so I need to make sure it fits (or is too big) by next Christmas. But I haven't bought anything labeled size 10 since college, and I'm thrilled. I'll post a picture this weekend!

The good and the bad

The bad first: at the potluck lunch today, I had a piece of pizza (and deliberately took the largest one!), salad, fruit, corn pudding, and a hunk of baked brie and water crackers, along with a *real* Coke (they were out of Diet--I did look!) and three Tagalongs for dessert.

The good: afterwards, I went shopping at Target and since I had some time to kill I tried on a couple of pairs of size 10 pants, just to see how I was doing. The khakis (traditional fit, so an actual waistband at the waist) fit pretty well; the jeans (midrise, so had to fit around my hips) I could fasten but they were tight. But they looked awesome--I looked really thin in them! So now I'm extra motivated to lose eight or ten more pounds so I can buy them and look great. I'll have to get new underwear too--cotton briefs just don't work with low cut jeans!

I've been remarkably well behaved.

All things considered, this week could have been much worse--I've been to the gym twice (haven't managed evening exercise, and probably won't), ate really reasonably every day, including evenings. I've been letting myself have a slice of that chocolate chip cake each day, but now it's gone (and Connor kept swiping my pieces, the little thief), but I balanced that with smaller portions of dinner. On Wednesday when I went to that BSO Alumni Party I only had two drinks, no bar food, then came home and had an egg and toast for dinner. I'm managing to either lose or maintain--my weight is fluctuating, as usual, but I've been down as low as 139.8 and not above Tuesday's 141.2.

Now the real challenge begins, though--cookies and candy for the next week. A pizza party at lunch today and I promised Claire pizza for dinner tonight as well. No exercise until at least Monday because I have too much to do.

OTOH, you all will be pleased to hear that I got less Christmas candy this year than in previous years, and it has to stretch to more people, so we'll get smaller bags of candy than usual. I'm debating what to do about the candy house--I'd feel really bad not filling it up, but I know if I fill it up, I'll eat it all!

I've outdone myself...

Remember how I ate 10,000 calories last Friday at the Melting Pot?? Well, yesterday was my section luncheon at Macaroni Grill. I think the calorie count was somewhere around 15,000...Caesar salad, bread, Penne Rustica, strawberries and cream...not to mention breakfast and dinner. I did only eat a teeny dinner though. Maybe it was only 13,000...

Breakfast today: Cookies!
Lunch: I think I am skipping a real lunch and will just have toast or something b/c we are going to Terry & Sandra's tonight so I know I will eat AND drink.
Dinner: Most likely whatever is served at Terry's...

Human Vacuum

I am like clockwork! I can be good ALL DAY! but then as soon as the afternoon hits I lose all controll. I ate 10 pounds of Moose Munch today - and now I am starting on the mixed nuts. I have a perfectly good V-8, some tomatoes, and my soup and toast to eat... but I am not eating them. Sigh... Soon. All the food will be gone soon.

Charting my course

Ugh! I was just looking at my charts for the past couple of weeks. My weight has gone up every week for the past three weeks. The first five weeks of the diet I went down EVERY week. The seventh week was my first increase and it was only by .6 pounds. My Dec 20th weight was higher than my November 22 weight. AUGHHHH!!!! OK! Now I am mad! I am gonna take care of this if I have to develope BULIMIA to do it!!!! (Just kidding about that - maybe.)

Anyway - I know we all agreed to put our diet sort of "on hold" and aim for maintaining rather than losing over the next week or so. I am fine for that - but I must say that I am not maintaining - I am gaining. So - I personally am going to TRY to eat better and exercise this week. Yesterday I did meet Julie at the gym. I only did 20 minutes on the treadmill - but that was the first exercise in two or three weeks for me. I made an appointment to go back next week and meet with the trainer there to re-establish a good work out routine for me. I am also meeting Julie on Tuesday to test drive the gym. If I make good headway on what I need to do today I may try to make it today too. (Probably won't happen though...)

So far today I have eaten my oatmeal with skim milk and a cup of coffee with one spoon of sugar and skim milk. I am about to eat some fruit now... I packed a mostly healthy lunch today (it was ALL healthy - but I didn't pack a snack knowing there are PLENTY of snacks around today).

Wednesday

I went to Amy's gym and met with the professional gym teacher. I have to say I liked the place--LOTS of machines and not very busy, but it is a bit expensive. I'll have to ponder the cost/benefit of it. It was nice too because no one I saw was really svelte; they were all just normal people working out. There was only one chick in skimpy clothes in the whole place. The gym teacher was nice too, although she wasn't the greatest listener. Amy kept trying to ask her a question but the girl never let her finish a sentence and kept answering questions Amy didn't ask.

Food yesterday: chocolate cake donut for breakfast (thanks to my boss), vegetable soup and a rosemary breadstick for lunch, 8 (BLAH!) Christmas cookies, and spaghetti for dinner. We tried the new organic Ragu sauce in a jar, and I have to say it was really tasty and it wasn't high in fat OR sodium.

So today I have to see if I am going to drag Amy back to her gym to use the trial pass I got yesterday or if I am going to be lazy. I don't know how I'll feel after lunch b/c today is my section luncheon at Macaroni Grill. I can't believe my boss is still doing it this year--our group has doubled and he pays for this out of his own pocket (doesn't expense it to JMT) so this year he is buying 25 people drinks, salads, meals and desserts.

Clearing out the leftovers

Yesterday I had my usual breakfast, plus lunch of a turkey and cheese on wheat sandwich. For dinner, though, I had a very small bowl of brunswick stew and a small heap of white rice (with some Italian seasonings -- I just can't eat plain white rice) because that was almost all that was left in the fridge! Mary had baked beans and rice for dinner, and Alexander had a bowl of brunswick stew, so what I had was their leavings. There was a container of beef stew in the fridge as well, but there was enough of that to make a full family meal, and this way we cleared out several containers. Our fridge is almost as empty of leftovers as it has ever gotten.

I didn't exercise yesterday -- or today, for that matter, though I'd planned to get to the gym. But today we went out for a Christmas tree, and then we stopped on the way home to get Daniel a haircut and then to buy a tree stand (ours has been too small, and we spend -- that is, Daniel spends -- a lot of frustrating time trying to force a tree into it, so last year when the pieces all came apart as we took the tree down, Daniel tossed the stand), so it was dark and we were tired when we got home. Didn't eat the beef stew, either.

So, for food today, I had my usual breakfast, lunch of a tiny bit of macaroni, about four ounces of yogurt, and some almonds. I had a banana for snack. I ate two peppermints while sitting in the car during Daniel's errands. For dinner we had pizza, but I've only eaten one slice; on the other hand, I also had a soda with dinner! That was clearing out the leftovers, too -- I had one cream soda left of the six I bought at the end of August or so, and this got rid of that and the box it was in. Yum. We're celebrating Daniel's return. :)

Given that Daniel is here, it's unlikely I'll get through the rest of the evening without eating more junk, but I'm cheerful enough not to care! I think I'm giving up on worrying about food and exercise (much) until after Christmas.

Caught Up

Well - it seems that the horrible eating and no exercise has caught up with me... Monday's weight was HORRIBLE! Tuesday then I was at 208 in the morning - but 207.6 later in the day - so I think I am going to use that. This morning was 207.6 again - but my period is working on getting started - so hopefully that will help me get back to my 204-205 range - if not lower. I am actually looking forward to the end of the holidays so we can all get back into the good habits we began this fall. I KNEW it was going to be tough going starting this diet when we did. This time of the year is the WORST time to lose weight - for many reasons - not the least of which our bodies DO try to store up fat to keep us through the cold months. And it has been cold lately.

Last night I dreamed about the cruise Sarah and I are going on. I woke up this morning worring about having to put on a bathing suit in two months. UGH! I really have to concentrate on getting myself back to LOSING weight - and not keeping it around for good measure. I figure if I can count myself at 205.4 still and I can lose another 10 pounds before the cruise that won't be TOO bad. Sigh.

Today I ate the rest of a container of the saltine/butter/sugar/chocolate concoctions that Katie brings home from school by the case load. Why can't they be really gross and just end up in the trash. Of if not that, why can't they be really good for you? I also at a bunch of hummus that I made for our work lucheon yesterday - along with whole wheat pita pieces. That was pretty good and not TOO bad as foods go. Now I am off to eat the Harry and David pear I got from work yesterday.

Too bad it is too late to add to my Christmas list. A really nice - but expensive - gift for Katie and me would be the fruit of the month club thing-y from Harry and David. We have been good at eating fruit - and it would be cool to have new, fresh, and interetsing fruits arrive at our door each month.

Japanese food

That's what we ended up eating for lunch yesterday, which was perfect--I like Japanese food, but I don't love it, and it's nearly impossible to overeat. Perfect for someone trying to control her intake. I had teryaki chicken, so it was grilled chicken, vegetables, and plain steamed rice.

When I got home, Brian had readied a stir fry meal--marinated pork, tons of peas, carrots, and squash, and more steamed rice. Since it was roughly the same as what I had eaten for lunch, I only had a small portion. I did have cake for dessert, but just one piece so it didn't ruin my calorie count for the day.

Like Katie, I'm trying to figure out how to exercise while also wrapping gifts, watching kids, baking cookies, and keeping the tree upright (Claire knocked it over last night; we found out later it was because she was having her stuffed cats act out the Chip and Dale routine on Mickey Mouse's tree). Last night I wasn't successful--I stayed up until after 1 a.m. but never found the time to exercise. But in about a half an hour I'm going to the gym again, so I'll get in some exercise today at least.

I wish today had been my weigh-in day--I weighed 140 even! And I'd say "maybe next week" except I doubt I'll be able to keep my weight down with Christmas looming.

143.0

Well, that's my weight today. Yesterday I was so scattered because I had my Christmas concert at school that I didn't even remember to weigh myself! I'm thinking that's either a great thing or a terrible thing, because I had been sick the night before, but since it was an interesting combination of diarrhea and then constipation, I'm not sure whether I would be up or down. So I'm taking today's 143 as this week's weigh-in.

I think it sounds like a good plan for all of us to try and maintain, but not necessarily lose, between now and the New Year. We're all pretty much doomed, anyway. Today I walked into the faculty room and saw two huge tables piled high with cookies and candies and chips and so forth (both gifts from the students and parents and HSA and so forth as well as leftovers from class parties) and realized that I just did NOT want anything sweet or salty at 7:30 in the morning! So I very nicely scoped out one of the exactly TWO clementines available and took it back to my room. Where I proceeded to eat one cupcake, four hershey's kisses, two cookies (non-descript Christmas variety), about three pounds of that yummy saltines coated in butter and sugar and melted chocolate, and several handfuls of BBQ potato chips (which I don't even LIKE). So now I'm eating the clementine. *sigh* It's the best-tasting thing I've had all day, to be honest with you!

Anyone have any suggestions of how one can exercise and wrap presents or knit at the same time? That's what I need to be capable of.

Two days in a row!

I spent time on the treadmill again last night. Wasn't as close to death as I was Monday night, but it was still tough. Tonight I am meeting Amy at Merritt so we'll see how that goes.

Weight was down a teeny bit to 163.7 this morning. Given there is only 1 week left in the year, I won't hit 160 but hopefully it will happen early in 2006.

Food today has been: a donut (woohoo for the diet food!!!!), and 2 cookies. Not good. I brought a salad and I am going to go get some tomato soup to go with it I think.

141.2

I'm o.k. with that. It's not great, but considering how bad I've been about exercising and how NOT careful I've been with eating, it could be much worse, and it's well down from my last official weight (I'm not counting last week as an official weight).

I was much better about eating yesterday--cereal for breakfast, almonds and string cheese for snack, yogurt and pretzles for lunch, a pear and a clementine for afternoon snack, and then I went home. That's when it goes downhill. I'm SUCH a stress eater that it isn't funny. I got home and discovered that my health insurance hasn't been figured correctly--instead of a $200 deductible and 90% coverage on most things, they are processing my plan with a $250 deductible, no coverage for routine care, and 75% covered for other procedures. Ugh! So instead of eating half of a pot pie as planned, I ate a whole one, then snacked on fake M&Ms and a piece of pumpkin chocolate chip cake, mostly because I'm so angry about the messed up health insurance and there was nothing I could do about it at the time.

I did get to the gym yesterday. I did 35 minutes on the treadmill, then for the heck of it did 10 minutes on an elliptical machine. I'd never been on one before and wanted to try it out. It felt weird--like I was moving backwards--but I could feel my thigh muscles burning. It didn't get me as winded as I'd be after 10 minutes on the treadmill (of course I kept the intensity level down since I wasn't sure what to expect), but the variety was nice and so was burning an extra 100 calories!

Today is a holiday lunch with coworkers, so I'm skipping morning and afternoon snacks. I don't yet know where we're going to eat, so I don't know how fattening this will be! But a few more sessions at the gym like I had yesterday, and it shouldn't be a problem!

Merry Christmas to me

146.5! It comes of not eating enough, and not eating well, so this is the effect of a crash diet, basically. But it gives me a little room to play with over Christmas. And it's the lowest number I've seen since 1994 -- I was 143 at the end of August of 1993, and by Christmas I was 145, so I reached it from the other direction eleven, almost twelve, years ago.

I remembered this morning what I used to claim as my most successful diet. As of Christmas during my freshman year of high school, I weighed 128 pounds (doesn't that sound lovely? But that's the bad number in this story). During the Christmas holidays, I slept late every day, got up and ate coffee cake for breakfast (until it was gone, and then I skipped breakfast), ate nothing but candy all day, and then ate what seemed like a huge dinner. I lost ten pounds over about three weeks. I was lazy and gluttonous. Why don't diets like that work for me anymore? (Anyone want to join me in THAT diet challenge next week? Hee hee!)

Same as last week...164.3

It could be worse.

I did exercise yesterday, but it had been so long that I nearly died on the treadmill. Funny how quickly you lose endurance.

Finishing out yesterday's food: about 6 Christmas cookies, a bowl of cereal for dinner (cheerios, to be exact) and then 2 more Christmas cookies before bed.

Today my goal is to eat less cookies.

I should be too busy to eat

But somehow I'm squeezing in the food in two-second intervals. Why can't I be that enthused about exercise? Actually, today I didn't do so bad. I had my usual breakfast, then a snack of almonds, then lunch of yogurt (just yogurt), then a snack of a brownie (plus licking the brownie spoon, plus eating several scraps of mozarella and half a lasagna noodle and a bite of ricotta and a taste of tomato sauce), then nothing else that I recall until dinner, a caesar cool wrap from Chick-fil-a (and I discovered this fall that I eat a lot less dressing if I dip into it instead of pouring it on), followed by a second brownie, and a few more brownie crumbs as I cleaned up the pan. The sad thing is this wasn't even Christmas baking -- this was dinner for a friend (and I also put a lasagna in the freezer for Christmas Eve, so that part was Christmas baking; but the brownies were her dessert, because I haven't made enough Christmas cookies to share yet, and brownies from a mix were much quicker than cookies) so I'm not really that far ahead of where I was yesterday. And I find I'm totally off-topic -- I was discussing what I ate today. Anyway, it looks like I didn't really eat enough today; I just recall sneaking bites of the cooking into my mouth as I went along. I'm going to have a banana before bedtime (which was an hour ago, incidentally).

I went to the gym tonight and did 50 minutes on the bike at level 7. I was reading a magazine (Parenting -- I don't think it has any actual articles, just ten-second paragraphs on a thousand topics, so I didn't have to be able to concentrate) instead of watching TV, and the time passed a lot more quickly than usual. I couldn't tell you a word of what I read, but it went by quickly. I'll have to try that trick another time.

Now my legs are aching so I'm going to bed (after the banana, of course -- which might help with the aching legs, anyway).

Jingle Bell-y???

I'd make one heck of a Mrs Claus I think...

Food has been not so good. Saturday we ate at a diner in York for breakfast/lunch and I had some steak thing that I thought was a sandwich but turned out not to be. Dinner was pancakes and about 400 pb hershey's kisses.

Sunday was a chicken sandwich for breakfast/lunch with potato chips and then about 25 cookies. I had no one to taste test, so I "had" to do it myself with each batch I made. Dinner was sirloin tips over egg noodles with broccoli that I forced myself to choke down.

Today has been yogurt and a banana, a small salad and HC pizza. Dinner will be leftovers.

Amy--If I happen to lose anything before 1/1, it counts, but I really am skeptical given the way things are going right now so it'll work out fine, I'm sure. I'm going to attempt to fend off total deliquency between now and then beginning of next year.

I don't have the egg nog issue...the mere idea of alcohol mixed with milk/eggs is yucky to me. I don't like any drinks that do that, except maybe a mudslide, but it has to be nearly frozen. My evil this time of year is cookies. I am pretty sure Cookie Monster and I are distantly related.

Exercise has been nonexistant, althouogh I am pretty sure I walked about 3 miles yesterday between the oven, counter and kitchen table. I was on my feet for about 5 hours baking. It's touch to do anything else when everything is broken into 9-11 minute intervals.

Slacking

I realized yesterday that my exercise in the past week has been practically nil--I think I managed two easy pilates sessions, and that's it. Two days were because of illness, two days because of lunch committments at work and evening plans that kept me busy at night, so I guess there was one day that I could have exercised and just didn't.

My diet has been terrible too, but that's almost to be expected this time of year. I keep snacking on little, calorie-laden things. I feel like I'm doing better, but then I look back at the end of the day and count up everything I had (two samoas, a couple of bites of pumpkin-chocolate chip cake (a gift from our neighbor), eight rolos, two slices of cheddar bread) and I'm appalled. I guess "better" is relative--I'm way more in control this year than in previous years where I'd eat every goodie in sight, but much worse than September and October when I managed to keep control of my diet most days and even was able to plan for when I knew I'd be facing lots of treats.

And of course my weight is going back up. I expect quite a gain from last week, but that's because last week's weight had more to do with being sick than anything else. Since that low, I've been going up about a half a pound a day, which seems about right for regaining weight lost due to illness/dehydration. Yesterday I hit 141 and was fine with that; I figured that's about where I *should* be given where I was before the stomach bug. But this morning I was 142 and I didn't like that at all.

This week I should be able to get to the gym twice (today and Wednesday); on the other days I have holiday lunches with various people. So my goal for the week is two sessions on the treadmill, three days of pilates, and one day of aerobic exercise at home.

How to make terrible pancakes

1. Don't bother thawing the buttermilk. Whole milk is worse for you and makes worse pancakes.
2. Don't bother with the griddle appliance; it's too bulky! Just use a regular pan on the stove. Preheat it good and long for maximum effect.
3. Use white flour. It has less flavor than whole wheat and no nutrition.
4. Follow the recipe exactly. Look thick to you? You must be wrong! That's exactly right for bad pancakes.

Yesterday after church I didn't want to make a big breakfast, but the kids wanted something hot, and they picked pancakes. I was pleased because that takes less work than waffles. But after following my own advice, I had one inedibly burnt and undercooked pancake and about eight spongy, flavorless, slightly overdone on the outside but sticky inside pancakes. I ate two medium-sized ones and had NO desire for more (or for lunch, since it was late morning by the time I'd made these). Ugh. I wish I'd taken the time to do it properly. When Alexander asked for another pancake, I mixed a little more milk in with the scrapings of batter left in the bowl and turned the pan back on but didn't preheat it any further -- it made a lovely, thin, golden pancake. My one bite tasted very good. Sheesh.

Anyway, I also had OJ and milk at breakfast, and two slices of bacon. For dinner I had the leftover chili that was still in the fridge (and finished it up -- more space in the fridge!) with cheese on top and with a glass of milk. In between I didn't eat much at home that I can recall, but we went to Mary's pageant and there was a reception afterwards, and I ate two lebkuchen, a brownie, a few tiny squares of cheese, two smallish cups of punch (juice and ginger ale), and about two crackers and three grapes. After dinner I had two marshmallows and a handful of chocolate chips. So, all told, my eating wasn't at all good yesterday. Appalling, in fact! I need to aim for more nutrition and less junk.

I didn't exercise yesterday (though I was on my feet a lot again) but this afternoon I will. I'm babysitting a friend's kids through the afternoon, and when they leave we'll head to the gym. My weight has been hovering around what it was last week, but it has gone down about a pound in the last two days (if I'm remembering last week's weight correctly) so I might register a loss this week. Next week I won't be so lucky! Today I'm going shopping for our dinners for this weekend -- we're having fondue on Friday, lasagna on Saturday, and a turkey dinner (I wanted beef tenderloin but Mary overruled me) on Sunday. I may be huge by Tuesday!

Egg Nog

OMG! It is a darn good thing that egg nog only comes around once a year. I love the stuff. I think I consumed nothing but egg nog and sushi all weekend (and some popcorn at the Friendly Inn on Saturday). I made my own on Sunday (mostly because milk and eggs are cheaper than the stuff at the grocery store - and I can used the Latose free milk - which Katie and I both seem to like better than the regular milk...). I went through a fairly healthy (or not so) portion of the bottle of Myers Dark Rum I have had hanging around for years. With any luck I can finish it up before Christmas and have some more cabinet space.

Saturday night (at the bar) I mentioned that I wanted to make egg nog the next day - so Gisla (the German owner of a Bluegrass bar in Maryland - hers MUST be an interesting story!!) poured me a shot of her egg nog. It was REALLY good!!! I think I tasted a hint of coconut in it - I am not sure if she used Malibu in it - or just coconut extract. I have a recipe for cooked egg nog that I think I will try out this week.

So this morning I stepped on the scale and decided I would pretend like I didn't. I saw a horrible number that I haven't actually SEEN since early October. I do NOT believe that I have gained that many pounds in egg nog and sushi!!! I forgot to weigh myself yesterday - and Saturday I didn't remember until mid afternoon (when I was still 205.2). I just hope I can manage to lose it before tomorrow.

I am with Sarah - I don't expect to LOSE weight before January - I just want to maintain where I am.

Julie - I forgot to comment about your post about our lack of competition. Yup. I couldn't agree more! I have NEVER been competative. I figure I can't handle the disappointment of losing to someone else, so I don't really try. Then I chose to do things that most people DON'T do - simply so they won't turn out to be better than me!! 8-) But I do LOVE the idea of the rest of the blog backing us like horses in a race. I wonder if that would have some sort of positive affect. You know - the desire not to disappoint people or to compete for the sake of a TEAM does exist in me. Let me think about this for a bit and figure out how we can make it work. Let's agree now - however - to hold off on this until the new year. OK?

Where have I been? I haven't posted since Tuesday!

I didn't realize it had been so long. I'm really into the pre-Christmas chaos now. I exercised on Wednesday, getting myself to the gym during Mary's pageant rehearsal for 32 minutes on the bike (any more and I would have been late to pick her up) at level 7 for three quarters and level 8 for the end, since the shorter time makes the whole workout too easy. But then I completely missed exercise on Thursday and Friday, and tonight I did do the 30 minute walk, but it took over an hour and a half! I was 12 minutes into it when Daniel called, and we really hadn't had a proper conversation in two days, so it was 30 or 40 minutes before I got back to walking. Then 3 minutes later Cecilia woke up and started fussing, and it was another 20 or 25 minutes before she was settled again. Sheesh. So I didn't finish working out until after midnight, and the dishes still aren't done (that's two days in a row, though last night I ran the dishwasher and stuffed it full of anything even vaguely dishwasher-safe, so it's not too dire).

I have barely sat down all week, especially in the last few days. And if I am sitting, it's because I'm folding laundry or nursing a baby or working on Christmas cards. I can't even begin to account for my food intake since Tuesday, but it has involved far too many sweets and far too few fruits and vegetables.

We went to a party on Wednesday evening and had turducken (a turkey stuffed with a chicken stuffed with a duck stuffed with stuffing) plus potluck everything, and even though I only took a couple of bites of most of what I tried -- which wasn't half of what was offered -- I still wound up quite full. And I didn't refuse dessert; I had a tiny slice of chocolate cheesecake and another tiny slice of something involving oreos and whipped cream in a pie shape. And I had a beer while I was there, but only one.

Last night I went to another party, and I didn't eat well, but I forgot to stuff myself! I had a cookie and a small handful of M&Ms, and two mini Reese's, and maybe a bite or two of pretzel, but that was it, I think. I did have a glass of egg nog (it was a nog party, so that seemed polite, even though I don't much like alcoholic egg nog) and a glass of the nonalcoholic punch (ginger ale and orange something, juice or sherbet, whatever it was, it was good), and both glasses were small. I meant to try the mulled wine but never got around to it!

Today I had my usual breakfast, lunch of a grilled cheese sandwich (because I discovered I had a whole package of muenster cheese, and it was just begging to become grilled cheese!), and dinner of sauerbraten meatballs with noodles, and I had some green pepper slices to go with it, and a glass of milk. We had popcorn in the afternoon and I didn't overeat -- I really had just a few handfuls. I had about four marshmallows over the course of the day -- that's a habit I successfully broke when we started our blog diet, but hot chocolate season has brought it back. I also ate a Heath bar that has been waiting patiently in the bottom of my purse for several days, until I was actually hungry for it. Very strange situation.

I'll try to be better about posting (not to mention exercising and eating well) this week, but it's going to be tough! We all have so much to do, so I know I'm not alone in this problem. I have to agree with Sarah, that I'd really be happy just to maintain my current weight through the holidays.

Barbeque coma

Yesterday was the college's holiday party, so I pretty much spent the entire day eating. Eggs and toast for breakfast, almonds for snack, then I skipped my normal lunch so I could eat at the party--half of a pulled pork barbeque sandwich, cole slaw, a wedge of pecan pie (about half the size of a normal piece) and a chocolate cookie. Then I had a beer and a wedge of quesadilla (did I spell that right?) afterwards. Skipped dinner because I just wasn't hungry, but after driving around looking at lights with the kids, I came home and had a bowl of ice cream.

And of course I didn't exercise--I fell asleep on the sofa while the kids were watching their bedtime video, then I kept dozing off while reading to Claire, so as soon afterwards as I could, I went to bed.

Next week I really need to get to the gym a few times! With all of my evenings eaten up with Christmas preparations, I'm not sure I'm going to have time to do my evening exercise DVD's (I think I only managed twice this week) but I want to get some kind of exercise in. I think it's unrealistic to expect to lose weight over the holidays, but I'd at least like to maintain my current weight. I'm still down after my stomach illness, and I'd like to keep it this way! I was at 140.6 this morning (a half pound away from my initial goal of 140!!!).

Too ashamed to post

I have consumed about 10,000 calories today. I have eaten: 2 el cheapo chocolate chip cookies from the CDW tin at work, cheerios with milk, dr pepper, mountain dew, an italian cold cut sub, a Lindt dark chocolate bar, 5 pounds of cheese, 2 pounds of chocolate, apples, 4 loaves of bread, 2 tin cans, a banana peel, 12 nails, a glass of wine...oh, and a salad. I met my Planning office firends for our annual Melting Pot Christmas meal after work. Between the four of us, we had 2 pots of cheese, salads and 1 pot of chocolate. We skipped the meat course because we all felt it was just a formality.

Ugh. I don't even want to see what I weigh after all that. Maybe I'll be like you guys and lose 2 pounds...

Where is everyone?

I went to make a post last night and got very distracted by reading Dad's Blog. I forgot so much of what was happening - but reading it this time really brought it back home. I was getting very tear-y reading the December and January posts. You know - we accepted very early on that it was going to be a long slow recovery. I think if we hadn't done that so much we may have put our collective feet down much sooner than March - although, also in retrospect - I don't know that Dad COULD have gotten out sooner than he did - even with the swallow therapy. According to our posts he was getting to the point where they were actively looking for a bed for him even before the swallow therapy. Of course, he could have had another set back before a bed was found if he wasn't getting the therapy and better nutrition. I meant to look up last night to see if Suzanne and Paula (the root of all PT/ST evil) were still at Sinai.

Anyway - I just ate a huge amount of Sushi. If we get sushi at work I usually only get one or two rolls. Today I was trying a new place so I wanted to get some of my "normal" stuff as a basis of comparison. I ended up with two rolls and an order of shumai - steamed dumplings. I thought I would not be able to eat them all... I did. Sigh. They were REALLY good!

I can't remember why, but last night Katie and I were too lazy to pack our lunches. We both had some left overs from yesterday - but this morning I realized that it was less than I thought. So I made and egg sandwich - and then had sushi. That is what I have eated so far.

Katie - we HAVE to exercise tonight!!! When you get home put on your workout clothes and linger downstairs so I will be forced to be motivated. OK?

I'm such an idiot!

First of all, I didn't get to the gym yesterday because my lunch meeting ran late so I didn't have time to get there before my later meeting. So I left my gym bag at the office so I could get to the gym today. I just now got myself together to go--coat on, keyboard locked, iPod charged, etc.--and realized when I picked up my bag that it didn't have my gym shoes in it! Apparently when I last went to the gym, I wore my running shoes back to the office and kept my heels in the bag, and there they still are. Sheesh. So, like last night, I'll just have to do something at home. I ended up doing a pilates DVD last night.

Food hasn't been so bad. I'm still doing small portions. Yesterday was a tiny bowl of some kind of cheese soup and a chicken ceasar salad for lunch--only about a cup of greens, three tiny slices of chicken, two croutons, and a drizzle of dressing--fruit and pretzles for snack, black beans and rice with fresh salsa for dinner. I licked the bowl after making brownies (yum) and ate part of a slice of leftover birthday cake. But by yesterday it was gross so I threw most of it out.

Today I had a nutrigrain bar for breakfast, pretzles, half a pear, and a cup of yogurt for lunch, and so far that's it. I'm getting hungry, though, and I think all I have is more fruit. I never want fruit when it's cold, but I guess if I'm not even really exercising, I should suck it up and eat the fruit. Or maybe troll the halls for some holiday goodies. That sounds like a good idea.

My weight is still not back up to my pre-illness weight. I was 139.8 this morning. I wonder how long the effects of that will last? Permanently? That would be nice!

No progress

Amy, I think you and I are the wrong two people to involve in a challenge. I know I have no competitive nature at all, and I've never really seen yours except maybe when playing board games. Everyone else should have to place bets as to which of us will make the 5 lbs first, just to put pressure on us to actually do it and not take 100 years.

Here's my progress so far:

The first night of the challenge, I didn't exercise and I had dessert.

The second night of the challenge, I didn't exercise and I had dessert.

Hmmm...definitely a trend in the wrong direction.

Kirsten

Amy, I have just spent a lot of time making a pieced, embroidered and quilted pillow for Kirsten's bed! Please try to come up with something else. Maybe a robe? They bought her a lot of new jammies for the nursing home, or I would suggest those.

And downhill from there

After my Samoas today I had two pieces of whole grain light toast. Since a serving is THREE slices you can imagine they are too substantial - so I don't feel too guilty about them. Then I had wholegrain pasta with sausage and tomato sauce and a slice of mozerella cheese for lunch - then a half serving of pistachio nuts. Right now I am drinking a huge mug of coffee with hotchocolate and skim milk. I am feel very guilty - but I guess, considering it is almost 4pm that isn't TOO bad (except for the TOTAL lack of fruit or vegetables. I am making crock pot stew for dinner - and I will fix spinach with that.

Does ANYONE have any ideas for Kirsten. I think I am going to get her a cute decorative pillow for her bed. I also am thinking about some bath gel. She DOES get washed - and her care giver might like something yummy smelling - and Kirsten might like it too... What do you think?

Stupid Karaoke

Not that that has anything to do with my blog entry, but I was just reading Amy's post and getting all annoyed again. Pretty much ANYONE else could have won other than that stupid girl and I would have just been disappointed. Now I'm pissed. grrrr....what do they know anyway?!

Amy, I did post a weigh-in for last week. Only it was just this Monday when I finally posted it. Last week I was 145.6. sheesh--and you blame me for not reading the blog! I may not post, but at least I read what other people post!

This whole past week I've been bouncing around the low 144s. And, lo and behold, yesterday I got on the scale and it read 145.2 . HUH?! Still down from the week before (barely) but not as low as I have been all week. Though I knew that would happen--considering how poorly I ate all weekend.

This week I know is not going to be much better. It's that final crunch time before the concert and I have a nervous eating problem, plus all the kids are bring in junk food. Normally I'd be able to resist (and have been doing pretty well so far) but I'm starting to feel the stress, which makes me less inclined to say no to yummy brownies or cookies or candies. Plus we have our faculty Christmas party on Friday, which is full of badness. In the food department, that is. No alcohol to be found there. What kind of party is that?!

Soup

When I finally felt like eating yesterday, Brian went out and bought me soup. Do you know how many varieties of chicken soup there are? Regular Campbells chicken noodle, chicken with rice, Healthy Request chicken noodle (all of the noodles, none of the flavor), Mega-noodle, homestyle chicken noodle (which means they include actual chicken and vegetables), etc. He got them all for me; I had the Healthy Request with some saltine crackers. I had this for lunch and dinner, then finished it up for a bedtime snack. The entire can of soup has 150 calories, and I only had four saltines with each bowl, but I still felt uncomfortably full after eating. I also had flat Coke for breakfast and some flat ginger ale with lunch and dinner. And I had a tootsie roll that was a big mistake.

Today I'm feeling much better. I was still just 139 this morning, but that'll probably go up over the next few days as I start eating normally again. I brought my gym bag today and will try to get over there between meetings (I have one meeting that goes until 2:30 and another at 4:00), braving the cold to get there. There is a "munch and mingle" going on throughout campus today--visit the different offices, see their decorations, eat their treats. I'm not even tempted. See? Lots of benefits from the stomach flu!

Off to a good start...

That is scarcasm... (although, my weight was 203.8 this morning). It is sarcasm since I was sitting there eating my breakfast of FOUR Samoas as I read the blog. Ugh. Just to clarify, Julie, the numbers that count for our challenge have to be on a weigh in day. So my 2.4 pound loss since yesterday does NOT get me halfway there... Sigh.

Well - last night Katie and I were once again out carousing. We went to Bateman's for the final in the karaoke contest she was in. She didn't win. She SHOULD have won. She was - no doubt - by far the best one there... The girl who DID win I can not for the life of me figure out why. Her fast song was a Metallica song (which was bad enough) but it had virtually no lyrics - so she just jumped around up front for 10 minutes or whatever. I was horrible! The second and third place people were OK (definitely not as good as Katie) but I didn't mind them placing - except for that fact that they SHOULD have placed after Katie. I think the mistake we made in our thinking was to believe that karaoke is judged on musical ability. It just isn't. More than half of the judges were drunk by the end of the contest - and Katie had to go first - so they had forgotten about her by the end - and they had no idea of anyone's talent anyway. Oh well. Katie - forget Karaoke! Go for a REAL singing contest!!!

I always seem to manage to eat pretty well during the day and then no so much at night. This is - I think - still progress. At least I am managing to eat calorie useful foods throughout the day - which leaves me not as hungry at night - so even though I am more prone to snack at night - I am no where NEAR as bad as I was at one time.

I have a lot to get done today. I have to find Kirsten a Christmas present. I have no idea what to get her!! Sigh. I also have to wrap presents, finish and mail off Cecilia's stocking, do my Christmas cards, and plenty more. I'd better get off the computer!!

And Congrats to Emily!

That is awesome!!!

You're on--

At the rate I am going though this challenge may extend well into next year :) Maybe I should go hang out at Sarah's house to drop the 5 lbs quick...

battery

I'm sorry I haven't posted! The battery on our fairly new scales went bad on us a week ago Tuesday and Dad can't figure out how to replace it--or even how to get it out! I need to do a search for the instruction book, but I have been so busy with Christmas stuff and Messiah last week that I haven't looked for it. I am trying to eat fairly reasonably but I don't suppose I have lost any weight. As soon as we get the scales fixed I will post again.

I am very proud of how well you all are doing.

Me and Julie...

We seem to be on the same schedule. We both go up and down the exact same weeks - our little lines look almost exactly the same.

Julie - we need to do something! What can we do to challenge each other to break the upward tendency we periodically have? We have to think of something fun and easy and somewhat motivational? Your exercise challenge worked for you, Emily and Sarah. What can we do for us? What about the next 5 pound goal? Starting from where we are today (206.2 for me, 163.4 for you) the next person who drops 5 pounds has to get the other person the reward present of their choice (max $20 - or $10, or whatever we normally spend...). What do you think?

MOM! Where are you!!????!!?!

Below 150!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How many exclamation points is that? Definitely the sign of a sick mind. But I was 149.5 today!! I was actually at 149 yesterday morning, but it didn't count because it was Monday, and I went down so abruptly this week that I thought it might be a fluke. But fluke or no, it's the first time I've been below 150 since at least 1995, maybe even 1994. So I'm happy.

I haven't posted in three days because I was SO bad this weekend -- I didn't exercise Saturday or Sunday, the first time I've gone two days without exercise in a month, and I ate junk, junk, junk. And skipped meals. But I guess my definition of "junk" has been toned down over the last three months so maybe calorie-wise I wasn't so bad.

Yesterday I ate my usual breakfast, but I grazed through lunchtime -- I had string cheese and pretzels, I think. We're out of yogurt and tuna, but I don't know why it didn't occur to me to make a sandwich. No, I take that back -- Mary, Cecilia and I went shopping while Alexander was in school, two hours late for no good reason, so he ate lunch at school. I also ate two clementines at lunchtime. I ate numerous almonds through the afternoon, though not more than two servings' worth, I'd guess. We went out to dinner -- Mary won a $25 gift certificate to a restaurant as a door prize, a place called Beamer's, named for the football coach at Virginia Tech. We won't be going back there -- even with the gift certificate it was terribly overpriced, and even though it was done up like a sports bar they had a menu that seemed to be trying to be a fancy restaurant. I had the filet and crabcake, and my filet was decidedly rare, not medium rare, so I only had a couple of bites. But I also ate the asparagus (underdone) that came on my plate, plus more than half the crabcake (very yummy), and too many bites of the potatoes (also very yummy), and two small slices of bread with butter (no redeeming nutritional value at all, and not the best bread ever, but it was warm and I was cold, and it tasted good). And I ate most of the caesar's salad (really good croutons!) which was fortunately lightly dressed. I could have eaten all the food on my plate, and the salad, and a lot more bread, I was that hungry. But 10 minutes after we left I was feeling stuffed, so I was glad I made myself stop when I did. We were glad to leave -- they were broadcasting a sports-talk radio program from the restaurant, so we had to listen to the host and each of his guests VERY LOUDLY through our whole meal, plus we had to listen to the idiots who called in. It was such a relief when they got to commercials, because the host turned the sound off then. We did get to see Virginia Tech's basketball coach on the show, though, and Daniel was glad he hadn't stayed in his exercise clothes -- he was wearing a Duke sweatshirt before, and Duke just beat VT on a last-second miracle shot last week!

Anyway, I did exercise yesterday, 35 minutes on the bike at the gym. We've re-signed for six months so now we're committed to staying fit at least that long. Today I won't go to the gym, but I'll try to get some kind of exercise at home. Then Daniel is out of town for a week starting tomorrow, so it will be easier to get exercise then -- I don't have to feel guilty about taking over the living room to walk, and I don't have to feel bad about throwing the dinner schedule off. And I have a refrigerator full of mostly healthy leftovers to eat for the week, so maybe I'll be good!

Maybe it is broken

Well Sarah - when you ditched us to get married to a man who works nights - and THEN had two children with stomach bugs THAT is when we decided that you no longer wanted to be OUR friend. Actually, Katie and I both felt pretty guilty for going to LWW without you. Fear not - we will both be happy to see it again with you. They got it right. Amazingly enough, there are very few pieces that we could say were done wrong. It was incredible! Most of it was very true to the books - only a few embellishments - which kind of explained things that were glossed over in the books (ie - why they were in the country in the first place - I knew why, but kids with no grasp on WWII British history would miss it). I would be happy to pay $8.50 and see it again. Peter was very cute, except he spent a lot of time posing with his sword. I also wish they made his fight with the wolf more of a fight, and less of an accident.

My weight was back up today - thanks to popcorn, movie candy, fast food - and all the damn gift foods that end up here at work. The lack of a good balanced diet and exercise hasn't helped either I am sure. I was 206.2. This seems to be my reoccurring weight - which leads me to believe that maybe my scale is broken. 8-) I was as low as 203 this month - and hovering in the 204 and 205 range a lot. I think the fact that today was weigh-in day led to my weight gain. Sigh.

So much for exercising last night. We went to Bonefish for dinner (salad and split and order of mussels - which we didn't finish) and then by the time we came home Katie took a bath and I fell asleep.

Has anyone noticed that Mom seems to be missing from the blog lately? I know I have been bad about posting (mostly bad over the weekends - but I forgot yesterday) but MOM hasn't posted in a week or more. Katie and Mom don't have weights for LAST weigh in day. Katie? What are you hiding from us?

So I am stalled at 10 pounds down. This is OK - I could be stalled at 10 pounds MORE - or worse, NOT STALLED but heading up like I was in September. I really am hoping once the holidays are over I can be better at re-grouping and losing weight.

Emily, Are you REALLY only 15 pounds away from your goal??? GOOD FOR YOU!!! I am a pathetic 45 pounds away - or 55 pounds. Can I borrow Cecilia for a while?

138.6

Now before you start congratulating me for my amazing weight loss--that weight reflects the fact that I've had this stomach virus since yesterday afternoon and have been "purging" since then, not to mention not eating a thing, or even drinking--sips of water gave me stomach cramps. So that's my weight with NOTHING in my body.

I won't even go into what I ate yesterday. Not much. But I didn't exercise either.

Connor woke up with the virus this morning. We're burning a lot of candles to try to make the house smell better. Yuck.

163.4

My "social life" has gotten in the way of me posting more regularly for the past week. I haven't exercied and I've eaten garbage daily. I think I may be part billy goat...

I want to get back on track with exercising. I need to find my motivation again. Maybe it is hiding under the bath mat with that extra weight after a shower. I'll have to check when I get home.

Yesterday I ate yogurt with granola for breakfast, a bite of a too-green banana (blech!!!), Baja Fresh shrimp fajitas for lunch (I did suck down all the guacamole, but left nearly all the rice), 3 freebie rock cookies sent to JMT by one of our vendors, a two bite brownie and a chocolate chip cookie for dinner at Let's Dish, and then cheese and crackers at 9 pm once I finally got home from all the running around. There were far too many treats on the menu yesterday.

Today I am planning to be better--So far I've had tea sweetened with honey instead of fake sugar, and I have a yogurt sitting here. Lunch is going to be Healthy Choice french bread pizza, and dinner will be spinach ravioli. I have another banana and some grapes in my lunch bag too. I really need to get a nice insulated lunch bag. I carry a mini tote from LL Bean as my lunch box right now. I like to bring the HC meals for lunch--they make me feel like I am eating a lot even though it only adds up to between 200 and 300 calories. Plus they were on sale for 5/$10 this week. $2 a day for lunch is a pretty good deal.

Ok. That's all for me for now.

I'm doomed

Claire woke up at 4 a.m. throwing up. It moved on to diarrhea by 7 a.m. She didn't make it to the bathroom either of those times (although once she was awake, she was able to make it in time). The worst of any stomach virus is knowing that you're next and there's no reliable way to avoid your fate. I've been washing my hands until they are raw, but I was snuggling her last night when she may already have been contagious, and of course cleaning up after her last night and this morning (that'll put you off your breakfast, btw--I didn't eat this morning. I'm hungry now but scared to eat because I don't want to get sick).

How does this relate to weight loss? Well, there's nothing like a good bout of stomach flu to help you lose weight quickly! That's me, always the optimist.

I ate badly again yesterday--I had a hot dog for lunch and macaroni and cheese for dinner. I did have some green beans with dinner and an apple with lunch, and I guess my portions were smaller than pre-diet days (when I would have had a hot dog AND mac and cheese for just one meal). I blame it on the tree farm--I saw a kid there eating a hot dog and it looked so good that I started craving one. Winter food is so tempting for me--when the weather is cold, I don't want to eat salads and cottage cheese and yogurt. I want to eat stew and sausage and hot fried stuff. Brian also got me hot chocolate at the tree farm, and I was still into the leftover candy from Claire's party. And I didn't exercise yesterday--thank goodness!

What is WRONG with me?

Why can't I start posting more regularly, like the rest of you guys? I'm pretty good about getting on and reading everything at least every other day, but I never actually manage to post! And this is a problem in the rest of my life, too--I READ my email all the time, but it's very rare for me to write it, unless something absolutely demands a response right away. Some strange form of procrastination, perhaps? hmmm....I think it stems from the overload/over-time factor. You all post so frequently that there's a lot to read when I get on and by the time I've finished reading I've either burned out on the blog entirely or I've used up my entire free time just catching up!

Anyhoo, last weigh-in day I was 145.6, which is down from the week before. But THEN, wouldn't you know it, on Wednesday I was 144 even. *sigh* Always the day after and day before weigh-in I'm at a low, and weigh in day itself puts me up higher. What's up with that? I've been fluctuating around the 144 range this past week (though never actually dipping into the 143s--my 15 pound mark), but I know that I'll be up again tomorrow. It serves me right, too, since this weekend I have been SO bad with my food intake. Amy and I did sushi for lunch on Saturday (though we were fairly restrained--for us) and Charles and I did pizza for dinner (I only had one piece). Then Amy and Charles and I did McDonalds for lunch yesterday (my first official fast food in I don't even KNOW how long, since it's not something I've ever really indulged in, and I went with the grilled chicken sandwich instead of a burger, but even that had way too much mayo to be good for me). I had a reduced fat peanut butter and pickle sandwich (on potato bread--way to ruin a perfectly good low-fat sandwich) for dinner and THEN we all went to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and I ate a bunch of movie theater popcorn WITH butter and a few Twizzlers (three, I think) and a York Peppermint Patty bite. Amazingly enough I was only 144.4 today. Go figure.

I think the portion control thing is working for me. I don't eat NEARLY as much as I used too. Although I've always been pretty good at stopping when I'm full, unless it's something I really love. Plus I've been much more attracted to vegetables recently. Friday I was off from school because of snow and for lunch I had a big bowl of spinach. But then I thought I probably needed something more well-rounded so I ate the leftover pork and apples we had for dinner the night before. All in all pretty healthy. The point being, it was the vegetables I was craving, and that's been happening pretty often recently.

I am now going to issue a challenge for just me and Amy (since the rest of you crazy people actually exercise regularly). Here we go. Our challenge is to exercise tonight. And NO excuses about the tree in the way! You try that one, and I make us walk in the cold and snow and ice and dark. So, let's figure it out, ok?

I did it, I did it.....

...oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Finished the exercise challenge, that is, wrapping it up last night with the pilates abs workout at 11:00.

The rest of that song is also appropriate: "no eating here tonight, no, no, no eating here tonight. You on a diet." I ate way too much yesterday--a slice of pizza for lunch, then that sort of mindless eating that happens at parties where easily-consumed food is just sitting out and you munch on it because what else is there to do? I had a beer, a bunch of goldfish crackers and skittles, more of the tootsie roll mix, cake and ice cream. Then dinner was eggs and toast, followed by more cake. I need a muzzle.

I saw a low of 141.8 this week, although this morning I was 142.8. I'm just hoping to keep it below 143 for Tuesday so I can officially say that I've lost 15 pounds.

Not dreading Tuesday yet

I'm so pleased with how this week is going. Even though I missed the one day of exercise, and though my eating hasn't been perfect, it's still been a lot better than it has been in recent weeks. Getting back to the gym really makes a difference -- I work so much harder on the equipment than I do at home. Last night I did 50 minutes on the bike at level 7, and my pulse is already back to being fairly reasonable through the whole workout so that I can keep it at level 7.

My eating yesterday was good almost all day. I had my usual breakfast, and lunch of yogurt and pretzels. I had snacks of almonds and raisins. For dinner I had chili and rice -- very filling but quite low-fat. Then I had more almonds and some M&Ms -- not so good there! But I never felt completely out of control, the way I have so often of late. I was 150.5 this morning, which is a tick upward from yesterday but well within a reasonable range. I'd love to be below 150 by Tuesday, but even if I'm not, I'm doing much better than the 153 I saw this past week!

Like Sarah, for the first time in -- well, ever -- I feel as though my long-term goals are in reach. I'm a lot further away than she is, but things have gone so well for so long, and so steadily (barring the glitch of Thanksgiving), that I think I can keep this going for as long as I need to to get to the weight I'd like to see. (Only 15 pounds away now!) I'm trying to work on getting rid of the mindset that when I get there, I'll be done -- the fact is, if I want to be healthy for life, I'm never going to be finished with exercise and eating right. But I suspect the trips to the gym will be harder to motivate three months from now!

Cold Exercise

OK - Today I exercised. It was the default kind that you have to do after you get a ton of snow dumped on you - but it felt good anyway. I cleared off my car and then shoveled the walk and the stairs. All told I spent about 1/2 an hour at it. The snow was good and heavy, because I REFUSE to drive to work in the dark and snow - so I waited until the sun hit us - which, back in our court tends to be quite a bit later than when the rest of the world gets it. Of course, once I got out of my neighborhood the roads were mostly fine. I am not - however, going to wait until it is dark, and probably freezing, to go home. I am shooting to leave at about 4:30-ish.

Katie made me breakfast while I was shovelling - the lazy butt in her "I'm a teacher" PJs. But - it was nice that she made me breakfast and coffee. We had a whole grain muffin and microwave scrambled egg (with cheese!!) sandwich. It was yummy and full of protein. Actually - I suspect that even though they are higher in calorie than our usual breakfast of cereal and skim milk they are probably better for us. The calories are more useful.

I forgot to weigh myself this morning. Once I got up an went to the bathroom I was distracted by the idea of maybe being snowed in (sadly, I wasn't) but I was dressed in jeans and a heavy sweater before I remember that I forgot to weigh-in. I FEEL lighter today. I ate really well yesterday.

Speaking of which - I am AMAZED at how much better my clothes fit - or worse actually - they are getting too big. My jeans are positively baggy. I don't get this though. I haven't lost any weight to speak of in a month - and I have hardly exercised at all. I HAVE continued to eat better - and I guess in the long run that is paying off in SOME way.

I almost never weigh myself after I shower - I usually shower at night and weigh-in in the morning - but it makes sense though. They do fancy steam treatments in New York so people who need to lose weight, but are too lazy to work at, CAN drop a few pounds in an hour or so. Also - saunas and steam rooms are a BIG DEAL at gyms - I am sure because you suck out all of the water from your muscles and look smaller. It makes sense.

We need to make an official rule that if you do multiple weigh-ins on any given day the lower one is the one that counts.

One more day

Until I meet this exercise challenge, that is. I can't wait! Yesterday after posting I did random exercise for about a half an hour--a few minutes of jumping rope, the upper body free weights workout, 100 situps (various versions), 50 leg lifts (again, various versions), 24 pushups (ugh). Then I ate some Tootsie Rolls. I was dreading getting on the scale today, but remarkably my weight was down to 142.2! Doubt that'll last at the rate I'm going.

This morning I had coffee, two Tootsie Rolls (I filled the pinata last night, so there are leftovers), and a handful of goldfish for breakfast. Healthy, huh? Then to kill two birds with one stone, I walked two miles to the post office and back (one mile each way, that is). Uphill in the snow! Only one way, though--our geography doesn't work right to make it uphill both ways. I may do some toning exercise later, but I'm counting that as my offical exercise for the day.

I'm a bum

I didn't exercise at all yesterday. I put my gym clothes in a bag when I took Mary to Brownies, and I was going to go to JoAnn's and the gym right after dropping her off, but then Daniel called and said he was on his way home (early day!) so I went home instead of doing anything useful. I did eventually get to the grocery store last night, so now I have almonds and string cheese to snack on again, but I also have orange creamsicles to snack on again, and beer, so that wasn't so good.

I was sore yesterday from the treadmill the day before, but not sore enough to skip exercise. I just skipped it because I felt like being lazy. For shame!

When I got home from picking Mary up after Brownies, Daniel said he was taking care of dinner -- that means pizza, even though we had a week's worth of good leftovers in the fridge! But did I complain? No, I ate two slices and drank a beer, and I didn't turn down the orange creamsicle he brought me later! My husband is a bad influence! Other than the bad ending of the day, I wasn't so bad all day -- I had my usual breakfast, and lunch of yogurt and honeybread (at least it's whole grain!), and I snacked on raisins during the afternoon. Oh, I did eat one of those little packages of gummy bears, but those aren't so bad, either.

After my horrid day yesterday I was 150.0 this morning. My lowest weight in about a decade. Go figure!

I'm a big pig

Today I had: one mini-cannoli, one mini-cheesecake, a Lindor truffle, eight or ten (!) fruit gems (those jelly candies--I saved some back from the cookie tray we took into the hospital so I could placate Connor with them, but he didn't like them, so I ate all of them) and most of a small order of McDonald's fries. Plus a nutri-grain bar for breakfast, almonds for snack, and yogurt and pretzles for lunch. Ugh. I swear, I can't control myself. And I'm as bad as the kids about needing to stick to a regular schedule--if I don't eat dinner by 7:00 I inhale everything in sight.

Yesterday I was well-behaved, though. Can't remember what I had for dinner (had my usual breakfast and lunch)--leftover fish maybe? I know I didn't cook. And I did a pilates DVD after the kids were in bed. This morning I was 143.6 without having to shower. :-)

So the bath mat is the culprit...

I go back and forth after a shower--sometimes I weigh more, and sometimes less. I am totally on board though for the wild weight fluctuations. Whoever goes to the doctor first needs to ask about that just to see what the real explanation is for it.

I just wanted to tell everyone I am wearing a skirt today that did not fit right a month ago.

Exercise yesterday: NONE. I am feeling very guilty about that.

Food yesterday: Banana, pears and cottage cheese, chicken noodle soup, muslei, and paella for dinner. I also made some fudge yesterday because I wanted to test the Eagle brand recipe for reduced fat fudge to see if it tasted good, and I have to say, that yes, it does taste very yummy. It is not quite as smooth as the full of fat kind, but that could also be because I got tired of stirring the chocolate chips. I had 2 small pieces of it once it was set. I also drank a ton of water yesterday, which was good. I think I may have been dehydrated.

Pounds hiding under the bathmat

That's where they go after the shower, maybe. I've noticed I sometimes lose weight after a shower as well -- I haven't weighed myself more than once or twice in those circumstances, but I've seen lower weights as well, and I figured it was just my scale being flaky.

This morning I was down a pound from yesterday. I'm approaching the 151 that I saw before Easter in 2003; if I can dip below that, I'll be at my lowest in about a decade! And as of last week I'm no longer overweight. But I still want to get down to the middle of my ideal weight range, not pushing the upper edge.

Today I did get to the gym. There was only one recumbent bike open, so I used it for about eight or nine minutes until Daniel show up, and then I willingly relinquished it to him because it was kicking my butt. I went to the treadmill for the next 25 minutes, thinking it would be easier, what with walking having been my primary exercise of late, but I put it on the default program at a speed of 4.5 to 5 mph, which seems kind of slow, and it wound up being pretty demanding. I used to jog on the treadmills in Georgia at a higher speed than that, if I'm remembering correctly (and I know I could just barely cover six miles in an hour on the road at the peak of my running career), but I usually kept it at a lower incline than this gave me. Anyway, I jogged most of the time because walking at that pace really gave me shin splints, and now my hamstrings are a bit sore, of all things.

I hate jogging in front of people because I bounce so much. They just don't make athletic bras in my size. I wonder how much more weight I have to lose before I can find something that fits? Unfortunately I don't seem to be losing any cup sizes -- I'm getting smaller in my band size, though, which actually complicates matters. It's easier to find large cup sizes in large band sizes.

Food today was boring. I had my usual breakfast, and yogurt and toast for lunch, and then nothing for about six hours because I was running around town all afternoon (in the car -- so no exercise except at the gym). By the time we got home I was starving, so I ate a handful of goldfish before dinner, and then I had chili and rice for dinner (plus a glass and a half of milk to drink), and I couldn't finish it all. I don't know if my stomach shrinks when I haven't eaten all day, or if I'm clenching it because the hunger is uncomfortable, but I often run into this situation. Then I'm hungry two hours later. Like now. I should eat something -- I've had plenty of starches and dairy today but I should get some fruit in my diet.

Sorry this ran so long today (but I'm never short on things to say!).

The incredible shrinking woman

Yesterday morning I was 145.2. This morning when I weighed myself I was 144.4. After my shower I was 143.6. I still think it's interesting that I weigh less after my shower, so I keep doing it to see the difference. Usually it isn't so dramatic.

So what gives? I'm pretty sure my scale is accurate (or at least if I get off and get back on over and over and move the scale around the room I'll get the same reading)--I think my weight just fluctuates wildly from day to day. Weird. And hard to know what to believe.

Yesterday was a long day and I almost didn't exercise. The college opened two hours late, and I really needed those two hours with the deadlines I have this week, so I took work home with me and actually did it (for the first time at this job), plus I baked a batch of cookies so I could have something to take to the hospital tomorrow. And I paid bills--normally not a big process but last night I tackled the medical bills. I always let the pile up for months (because if I pay when I get it, it usually means that I then have to go back for a partial refund if the insurance kicks in some more) which meant I had to weed through piles of these things, trying to find the most recent/accurate. It took nearly three hours to get everything paid (although I was also bathing kids, brushing teeth, reading books to them, etc. during this time, so it didn't take the WHOLE time), then I did some Christmas shopping, then finally my work. Anyway, the end result was that by the time I finished all of this it was 1 a.m. and I didn't feel like exercising, but Brian cajoled me into it ("you don't want to give up the challenge now, do you?") so I did the same upper body workout with free weights that I did last week (Friday, maybe?). Does it count as exercising that day if I did it after midnight? I figure as long as it's before I go to bed, it counts.

Food yesterday was good--nutrigrain bar for breakfast, yogurt, pretzles, and fruit for lunch, almonds for snack, broiled chicken and green beans for dinner. No other snacks or dessert, for a change! Today I'm on the same track--same breakfast, lunch and snack so far. I didn't go to the gym at lunch as usual today. I ended up Christmas shopping at the mall instead, so I'll have to fit something in tonight. Although I think hitting five stores and getting five gifts in under an hour should count for something!

Going Down...

162.1 this morning...it sure helps you lose weight when you don't feel like eating. I'm not sure why I am like that right now, but I am certain it will counterbalance itself at some point and I will eat anything I can find. I haven't been feeling well, but I haven't been actually sick either. I can't really explain it. I feel fine all day--but I lack any appetite--and then once I am home my stomach just aches, but not in an upset way but in a muscular sort of way. It is weird. If it does it tonight I am going to the doctor tomorrow. This has been happening since Sunday night.

Yesterday I had a banana, cottage cheese and pears, a tony's frozen pizza for lunch, shredded wheat and toast for dinner. I snacked on that darn cocoa chex mix before bed.

I did NOT exercise last night either. I came home and cleaned. Then I finished up the first round of my Christmas cards and addressed them.

So far today I have had a banana and water.

End of another ordinary day

I didn't eat too badly today. I had my usual breakfast, lunch of tuna and toast, dinner of brunswick stew. I had snacks of a handful of pretzels and a piece of gingerbread, and after dinner I went out with my friends and had a latte (decaf non-fat -- I feel like such a girl when I order a coffee that's so nothing). But I spent the entire coffee shop time craving chocolate, so when I got home I dug out the M&Ms I was saving for cookies (they're Halloween colored, though) and I've eaten a few handfuls of those (more than I should have).

I did the 30-minute Walk today, and I'm getting decidedly bored with this video, but it's still the ideal exercise when I just need to do something. I also took the kids sledding this morning, but I didn't do much trekking up and down the hill myself. Tomorrow I'll be back at the gym for a quick workout during Mary's pageant practice.

Amy, I would find the bike workouts totally dull if I didn't have Daniel with me. The few times I've gone on my own I've managed by watching TV, but most of the time I can't get into what's on. The workout on the bike is also so exhausting that by the end I'm lucky if I can remember my own name, i.e., it keeps me from being bored by making me incapable of any thought at all.

Food Coma

I just ate an ungodly amount of food. The Transmitter team was having our lunch at Fazzini's (an Italian Restaurant in Cockeysville) since we are reviewing them in our next issue. So lunch was free. Now - these free lunches vary - sometimes it is chef's choice - sometimes we order off the menu. This time was chef's choice - and the chef KEPT bringing us food!!! OMG! It was SO incredible! I tried not to each much of anything except the salad - but the parade of food wouldn't stop. By the end I was ready to lay down on the floor. I said "Ugh - I am Thanksgiving full..." and the team decided to use that in the article (I am hoping to edit it out). Luckily I have a week to try to unload some of it.

All weekend my weight was going up a pound a day until I hit 206.2 yesterday. I was so mad!! But this morning I was back down to 205.2 - which is one pound up from last week. Since today was also the one month review I am sad to say my official total lost for November was a big fat NOTHING (actually I gained .2 over October). However, I am not giving up hope!! I am still over 10 pounds down from where we started - which is REALLY GOOD. Quitting Halloween candy helped me - and now I will quit the Girl Scout cookies.

I also want to get back to the good focus we had in the beginning. The thing is I KNOW I have improved dramatically since we started - and am still SO much better than I was before. I think about every bite I take - which is a major improvement. We eat balanced dinners everyday - and pack balanced lunches. It is much harder to stray when all the right food is there to be consumed. I just have to avoid the temptations in the evenings a little bit better.

I am with Sarah - only a guy can do that sort of intuitive eating... What does he mean you can't eat something "because it's there and tastes good?" that IS intuitive to me!!!!! And surrounding myself with junk? - I would eat it all. I would binge ALL of the time. It is intuitive to want to eat everything all at once - even if it makes my stomach hurt. How do you think I got where I am? I have to eat counter-intuitively. Vegetables first, whole grains next, lean protein, and fruit. Special treats are lowfat yogurt and cottage cheese with fruit. I have eaten intuitively for FAR too long!

I want to say I will get on board with the exercise thing. I have been wanting to - but I really don't think I will last. But I will try - and NO more mocking of the 15 minute exercises, you guys!!! From what I have read about exercise, 20 minutes a day is good to shoot for, and ALL of it counts - which means if you walk to and from your car and up and down stairs - that counts. I think those of you who spend 45 minutes on bikes and treadmills are nuts. I COULD do it, but I am bored out of my skull by 10 minutes and a raving lunatic by 20 minutes (I usually can make it until 22-25 minutes). I'd MUCH rather do 45 minutes of resistance training.

153.0 again

What a difference a week makes -- seven days ago I was happy to see that number, but today it was a disappointment. After it came up I took off my heavy nightgown and weighed myself again, and it was exactly the same (so I know my scale isn't *completely* reliable!). But I put the nightgown back on and weighed myself a minute later and it was 152.0. But I think I have to take the 153.0, since that weight was obtained under the usual circumstances. Phooey.

Sarah, congratulations -- you win the exercise challenge! You've earned a day off. Then the challenge is re-issued for the rest of your life. Have fun.

I think I'd be doing better without the exercise!

Today I was up to 145.2. Ugh. That's about a pound and a half up from last week, and over two pounds up from Friday's low of 143. The frustrating thing is that even though I was far from perfect (I had dessert four days this week) I also wasn't horrible--those desserts added about 200 calories per day, which at the very least should mean that I'd be maintaining my weight and not gaining. I also exercised every day, both aerobic and toning, which should have helped. Darn it.

Like Emily, though, I've been a lot more lenient lately in what I've been eating. My meals are still healthy and moderate but I'm far more likely to snack on junk. I think that "intuitive dieting" would only work for a single guy--someone who can pretty much eat what he wants when he wants. But when you're expected to eat with someone else, or worse, prepare the food for other people, it kind of limits your intuition. Plus you get so sick of food preparation that you're more likely to eat what's convenient rather than what you want. Last night I really wanted the pepper lime chicken I had planned for dinner, but that's something that the kids won't eat, so I made them food first and then Connor wanted another bath and I had to oversee Claire's homework, and the phone kept ringing etc. etc. so by the time I was able to make the chicken it was around 9:00. By then I had eaten two brownies so I decided that I had had enough calories for the day (even if they weren't healthy) so I put the chicken away and will eat it as leftovers later. So much for female intuition.

162.5

I'm pretty happy about that. BUT--and that's a huge BUT(T)--I fell off the wagon last Thursday and was ran over by it over and over and over and over...I have not exercised since Wednesday! I am getting back on track tonight. I have a ton of excuses, but I'll spare you all the agony of hearing them, yet the coolest excuse is that I was getting a new car last night. I am very excited about that. My challenge to myself is officially over this coming Saturday. Way to go Sarah and Emily for sticking to it so well. I am, however, re-issuing the challenge to mainly myself to exercise every day until next weigh in day, at which point I want to go to a 6 out of 7 days schedule. My new short term goal is to break into the 150's by the end of December. That would be excellent.

The 91st day of my diet

I can't figure out how to recapture that first-day feeling. I was pretty good today but far from perfect -- I had popcorn tonight with Daniel (but we now actually have light popcorn in the house, when we never did before this fall, so we ate that, and I tried not to pig out) and I had a slice of onion (white) bread and margarine when the kids ate dinner, since I was waiting to eat my real dinner with Daniel, and there was almost no nutrition in that. And I made gingerbread (the Williamsburg mix that I bought two years ago, oops! Still yummy, and perfect on a snowy day) and I ate a piece of that. But I had tea when the kids had hot chocolate, even though hot chocolate was what I really wanted (with whipped cream, like Alexander had!) and what I would have had yesterday. And I did only eat one piece of gingerbread. And I had a clementine when I was really looking for junk food. And I kept my portion of chili and rice (white -- we ran out of brown, and I haven't been to the grocery store in a while) small. So I think I edged a little bit back towards the healthy path, but I'm not exactly being very self-denying yet.

It did snow, though not as much as they predicted, and I probably could have gotten to the gym but everything else was cancelled today and the kids were having such a fun day that I decided not to drag them out. So I did a 30 minute Walk, with Cecilia for the first mile and hand weights for the second.

Tomorrow is weigh-in. Based on what I've been seeing all week, unless a miracle occurs, I'm going to be about where I was last week. Sigh.

Wrong direction

How unfair is this? Last week I was in the 143 range--inched over 144 a couple of times, but by Friday, I was 143 even. This morning I was 145 even, after hitting the mid-144 range both days on the weekend. Now I know I haven't been perfect in my diet (those restaurant lunches on Thursday and Friday) but I've been fairly restrained--yesterday at Claire's birthday brunch I had some eggs, two slices of bacon, and fruit salad and a medium piece of cake, but that was breakfast and lunch combined, and for dinner I ordered pizza but only ate one slice. Saturday I was *really* good--I already posted my breakfast and lunch. Dinner was baked fish, steamed broccoli, and saffron rice. It doesn't get much healthier than that! And I exercised both days--walking on Saturday and the harder pilates DVD last night. So what's with the weight gain? You'd think that at the very least I'd stay stable. But two pounds is more than just water retention, and I don't think I'm retaining water anyway! Ugh. Maybe my body is doing the Eskimo thing and trying to hold on to fat to keep me warm now that the weather is cold.

I'm still on track with the exercise challenge, and now that I'm back in the office I can hit the gym again, probably three days this week, with DVDs on the days I don't go. Yay me! But I can't wait for this challenge to end--I'd love a day off!

It's us!

Hey--did anyone else see this article today? This sounds a lot like what we've been doing. So, Emily, don't say you've been off your diet since Halloween. You're just doing intuitive dieting!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051204/ap_on_he_me/fit_intuitive_eating

I'm starting my diet tomorrow

I think it started at Halloween and got considerably worse over Thanksgiving, but somewhere along the line I must have quit watching what I eat, because now it's almost back to pre-diet levels. If I weren't exercising, my weight would be climbing rapidly. My snacks are marginally healthier than before, but I'm getting low on the good stuff and not eating enough fruit. Today I had a doughnut at church, and then a waffle and syrup and a piece and a half of bacon, plus OJ and milk, for brunch. I snacked most of the day -- almonds, then gummy bears and a couple of gummy berries and part of a waffle and I'm not sure what all. Dinner was brunswick stew with a piece of onion bread, and then I had a beer, and popcorn, and a glass of wine, and a handful of tortilla chips. Yesterday was kind of the same thing. I'm thoroughly disgusted with myself and tomorrow I'm going to try to convince myself that I'm starting the first day of a diet.

I went to the gym today and did 45 minutes on the recumbent bicycle at level 7. That bike is decidedly easier than the upright one, though it's a much more intense workout than walking. But my heart rate was still a bit higher than it was pre-Thanksgiving, so I need to work on getting back into top condition.

I'll hit the gym again tomorrow, unless there's too much snow. Does sledding count as exercise?

Finally some exercise variety!

Yesterday I didn't do the pilates video I had planned. Instead I decided to try some of the workouts in the new Fitness magazine that mom brought over. There was a ten minute jump rope routine (witha different form of jumping every minute) and then I followed that up with an upper body workout with weights that was in one of their "transform your body in 28 days" articles (they run them pretty often). The jump rope thing very nearly killed me--there's nothing quite like jumping with your arms over your head to get your heart rate up, and today my calves are killing me! The upper body thing was so-so--I was using five pound weight which were good for the shoulder exercises but a bit low for the bicep/tricep exercises. But it was nice to do something different.

Today, to keep up the variety, I went for a walk after the morning session of my conference. That wasn't really variety since I do it all the time, but I was doing it around the Mall and the Capitol building, so the scenery was different. I wanted to hike up and down the stairs of the capitol, but they wouldn't let me--it was blocked off to all but official tours. But I got in a 40 minute brisk walk, so now I feel all virtuous. And tired.

I've been good with the food today--cereal for breakfast, yogurt, nutri-grain bar, and almonds kind of for lunch/snack (yogurt at 10:30, nutrigrain at 12:30, almonds at 1:45) and nothing since then.