Friday, March 31, 2006

I don't get it...

I didn't do anything differently yesterday. I ate a banana yesterday afternoon... but otherwise I was in the same old food and no exercise rut yesterday. BUT - this morning I was 205.6. While that is still not a great weight, it is much lower than the 208 I have been seeing all week - or even the 206's. Hummm. Must be the post period plunge.

Today I am functioning on all caffine. Actually, I guess I haven't had any more than usual - one from home and a large from the coffee store - but I seem more caffinated today. I ate my cereal this monring - and shortly I will eat another banana. Actually I am eating it right now.

I had to run home this morning to get the bag of stuff I left sitting on my kitchen floor - so that was my lunch break. I MAY make it to the gym after work - I will have to see how my headache is doing. It has been holding steady for a while now. I don't THINK it is my lack of nicotine - but who knows. I have not had ONE cigarette since Ash Wednesday. That is very good of me, for those of you who don't know to compliment me. I will compliment myself. This has been my most successful quit so far. It has been a WHOLE month - and I don't really miss it. Although it is affecting my gym attendance.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Long Time No Post - again!

It has been a very busy week - and I have been a very bad girl all around. And my weight shows it.

I was 206.8 yesterday and 208 again today. Sigh. I think liposuction really IS my only option.

Anyway - work has been crazy! After a most hectic day on Monday (I didn't actually go home until 6pm in spite of the fact that I had been there since 5:30am!!) I didn't exercise. Then, but Tuesday I was brewing a nice, hearty sinus headache. That kept me away from exercising on Tuesday AND Wednesday. Wednesday I had to go in to work to do my monthly training session - and NORMALLY I go to the gym right after for a leisurly workout. However, I was REALLY suffering yesterday. So I did some extra work - went home at about noon... ran some errands and then swooned on my bed like a Victorian lady until Katie came home and reminded me that we had her awards dinner last night. I loaded up on Advil and Sudafed and away we went. I was pretty good at dinner (I only ate the salmon, my soggy vegetables, and one small potato - and the cheesecake stripe out of our HUGE piece of cake...) I did - however, have three drinks (a glass of wine and two mixed drinks).

Today - I have been good about my food (with the exception of one small piece of retirement cake). I intended to go to the gym right after the party - but I ended up running errands instead. I may go after work today - but I am STILL feeling very tired and headachy. I may just go home and do pilates. Or swoon again.

As if we need HELP sabotaging ourselves!

I sure didn't need any yesterday. Again, I was ok until about 2 pm. I have to figure a snack for that time period that is good for me and that will be as interesting as chips and cookies and all that stuff. Part of the problem is our grocery store trip was a little light last weekend so all the good stuff is gone at home and I am more inclined to just go out to get something. We're out of string cheese, bananas, apples, raisins...all that better snack food.

Food yesterday was honey nut cheerios for breakfast, daytime food was string cheese, a banana, ham & cheddar on wheat, yogurt, 2 small chocolates...potato chips! from 7-11, hard pretzels and then 2 LD steak fajitas with tons of salsa and a teensy bit of sour cream. Then before bed I had a small bowl of cheerios that was totally unnecessary bit but I rationalized as being a better choice than ice cream.

I spent 50 minutes on the treadmill after work yesterday. Then I took a 20 minute nap and after that I scrapped again until I went to bed.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Sabotage

Brian stopped by campus today on his way home from filling out paperwork from his new job. He caught me as I was leaving the gym and in a moment of weakness I agreed to go to the cafeteria with him. I was just going to get coffee, but he (he did this, NOT me) picked up an ice cream bar for me and I didn't say no. After burning 292 calories on the treadmill, I immediately sucked down about 300 calories. The ice cream was 310, but Brian ate a few bites of it. I think I can still stay within my calorie limits for the day, though, by ONLY eating dinner and no other snacks tonight. I knew at the time that I'd regret the ice cream, but boy, was it good!

Good day yesterday

I didn't overeat in the evening yesterday! I did have a piece of cake for dessert (food during the day was the usual; dinner was soup, crackers, and a pear) and a handful of pretzles around 9:00 but that was it. Again, I didn't do pilates but I took Davey for a 45 minute walk around the time I'd normally be doing pilates, so I didn't completely slack on the exercise. And today I've put my gym visit on my calendar so that it'll beep at me and nag me to go so I'll have no excuses. I really want to be in the 133 range for next week's weigh-in.

Not sticking to the game plan...

I ate too much again yesterday. Breakfast was honey nut cheerios, daytime food was ham sandwich with a slice of cheddar, string cheese, yogurt, a banana, hard pretzels and 2 small chocolates. Here's where I go astray--I broke the "eat only what's in my lunch box" rule when I got a slurpee and a rice krispy treat at 7-11 around 2 pm. I only wanted a diet dr pepper fountain soda, BUT they were out of ice so I got the slurpee and then who knows exactly how the rice krispy came to be. I came home and spent 30 minutes on the treadmill, and I was going to also do the 30 minute pilates dvd but my picture order came from dotphoto and instead of just looking through them, I started scrapping almost immediately. Next thing I knew Joe was walking in the door and there was no dinner made. So we had LD steak fajitas that I dressed up with some corn and guacamole. I ate too much of that, but it just tasted sooo good.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Busy day!

This morning I weighed 151 before my bath, but 149 afterwards. Go figure! Has anyone come up with an explanation for that phenomonem?

After breakfast we hurried off to Towson U for our Auburn Society classes--so interesting, and such nice people! We did have to walk a little distance from our car to the shuttle, but since Dick was so worn out the time we tried walking both ways we haven't done that again. We came home and had lunch, and then I smocked on the back porch for a while. We went to visit Kirsten at around four and after that we drove to Warren school and walked around the building, including Lakespring and Bosely--not just the building. Then we went home and Dad worked in the garden for a while, and ran in and out, cleaning up some plants that have been on my washer and dryer since over a year ago. Then he asked me for help bagging up the huge pile of leav es he had raked out of the garden. He held the bag while I stooped and scooped up the leaves, so I count that as exercise.

I'm still eating too much between meals--almonds, dark chocolate and raisins, mostly. Oh and we have Girl Scout cookies, but we only eat those as dessert.

135.5

That's an unexpected drop of a half pound from last week. I think I was retaining milk -- I've actually felt the let-down lately. Then during the night Cecilia nursed so much that she overflowed her diaper (and pajamas) and she left the other faucet running, so today I was down a whole bunch.

I did not exercise yesterday -- I took Mary to the doctor in the afternoon (for her cough that won't go away; she had a bit of a rattle so the doctor prescribed antibiotics that I'm not convinced were necessary) and Cecilia was pretty cranky at being hauled around town, and I was tired, so I wimped out. Cecilia turned out to be coming down with something; she was feverish all night and has slept through most of this morning. So I was justified in keeping her home, but I didn't know that at the time, and instead of exercising after the kids were in bed, I decided to read, so I'm completely guilty.

My food yesterday involved a lot of pistachios again, because I bought them when I went to the Kroger pharmacy. I had my usual breakfast, lunch of yogurt and half a toasted (but undecorated) bagel, and dinner of leftover pot roast and some cucumber. I also ate part of a banana, a handful of raisins, a slice of apple, and a couple of handfuls of goldfish crackers. My food these days is so unplanned and unbalanced!

I need to make it my goal to get back on track this week. I'm a half pound away from jeans -- how ridiculous is that?

Awwww Crap

I forgot today was weigh in day. I didn't realize until I went to read what you all posted from yesterday. I did weigh myself today - but it isn't good. I was 208.

Yesterday I ate very poorly. Well - I guess not TOO bad, just too much. I had two of the laughing cow cheeses, three granola bars, my salmon and whole wheat pasta, three coffees with skim milk. I think that is it for the day. But then last night I was doing my dessert test kitchen project for Let's Dish. I ate three mini cakes (about cupcake sized)... two cherry puddings, and an upside down cake. That is three total. Not three plus the three I named... just the three I named. I had chicken parmesan for dinner - with a vegetable? I don't remember the vegetable - so maybe there wasn't one. That was it then for my food.

I am getting sick. Or maybe I am just mildly sick. I am very headachy and I have a sore throat. I think it is sinuses - although I am not congested. I am also having VERY painful cramps. Not girl cramps (I am past that part this month) more like non moving gas cramps. Katie was having them a few days ago. These are mostly in my back and kidneys. Ugh. I want to go home...

I didn't exercise yesterday. By the time I left work (about 6pm) I was very tired and feeling really yucky. So I went home and ate cake instead. I also went to bed about 11pm. That is pretty early for me. I was really tired. I hope to skip out of here early today. I should go to the gym - even though I feel ish.

134.8

Still yo-yo'ing, apparently, but at least today I was on the downward trend of the yo-yo. I did pretty well with eating yesterday, which is to say that I ate nothing more than I planned to eat (even though part of that plan included a piece of cake. Dinner was some frozen pasta, vegetables, and chicken thing--I didn't look at the calorie count, but I had a tiny serving because it was only so-so and I knew I had cake coming!). I put in 35 minutes on the treadmill but didn't do pilates in the evening because as soon as I got Claire to bed, I fell asleep in my clothes. Good thing, too, because then Connor was up at 1 a.m. so I did the 1 to 4 shift with him. Poor Brian stayed up to watch a movie after I fell asleep so he had just gotten in bed when Connor woke up, so he got only a few hours of sleep, and today he's helping his sister pack up and move so he doesn't get a break at all.

I'm with Julie on what I need to do to see progress--stop snacking at night and step up the exercise! The pilates really makes a difference for me. I've been doing it so irregularly the past couple of months that it's back to being difficult and I can feel my muscles beginning to get slack again. I need to commit to three or four pilates sessions each week as well as three visits to the gym. Why has it gotten so hard all of a sudden? And can I also say that if it weren't for our regular updates and weight reporting here, I'm sure I would have fallen off the wagon a long time ago?

I'm a big pig too...

My weight has been going up as well. 160.4 offically today. I think it's time for me to re-establish my eating ground rules. I've been muching and snacking and overeating for the last week. Starting today: nothing but what's in my lunch box for day time food, and then a normal dinner and breakfast with no after work eating before dinner.

I've been exercising, but I need to step it up and I have just been too lazy. My routine on the treadmill has become too second nature and my heart rate hardly goes up now. Shows progress on my part, but I need to challenge myself again. Challenging myself is my own challenge for the next week :^)

Monday, March 27, 2006

Big pig with a short yo-yo string

That's me! 132.4 before the cruise, 135.6 after the cruise (or 137, but not officially), 133.6 last week, 135.8 today--just bouncing around here in the mid-130's. I should be pleased, shouldn't I? But I liked 132.4 better. And this weekend I was horrible with eating and exercise--the only exercise I got was walking Davey, and I ate like it was going out of style. On Friday night at the Brownie sleepover I had pizza and lemonade in the middle of the night (this was after my regular dinner of fish, french fries, peas, and fruit salad), breakfast Saturday was two doughnuts, then I had another one later in the day. I didn't eat lunch because I was too full on doughnuts, then we had chicken pot pie for dinner and I had a bunch of chocolate chip cookies throughout the evening. Sunday wasn't as horrible, except that it involved birthday cake--I had two pieces. Breakfast was coffee and a pear, lunch was leftover pot pie and an apple, and dinner was the LD greek burgers with feta and steamed broccoli.

Today has been my usual weekday stuff. I don't know what we're planning for dinner (but I'm planning that Brian will make it!), and I know I'll break down and have another piece of birthday cake at some point. As long as I stick with just one it isn't too bad.

Katie and I have a new challenge going between ourselves, even though she never posts anymore. We both want to break 130 and we're both neck-and-neck with our current weight, as we have been for some time. So whoever hits 129.whatever first wins. I'm not sure what they win, though. A month's supply of cottage cheese? Bragging rights? I don't really care--I'd just LOVE to see that on the scale!

Ughhhhh

I haven't posted since Thursday - and I have been really bad too. Friday was a killer day, so I didn't get a chance to post, then I was pretty busy all weekend. I am not sure where the time went.

I ate horribly yesterday - but have been doing OK on previous days. After our big breakfast and then Connor's birthday cake I ate only vegetables. Well - we did have garlic bread with our dinner vegetables. I needed greed stuff!! My exercise, on the other hand, has been just aweful! I did one day at the gym and then Katie and I worked out one day after work... So only two days last week. Ugh! I will try to be better this week. I am having a hard time getting into the swing of things again after the cruise. I really have to concentrate this time!

My weight has been going steadily up. I was 205.8 on Friday. Then 206.6 on Saturday and 207.6 yesterday. Today I was 208.8. My period started with a vengance on Saturday or Sunday... Sunday I think. I have been munchie all last week - like I said - but my weight didn't do the spike in advance, like it normally does. But - TODAY - it made up for it.

Of course, I was weighing myself off schedule. I had to be at work at 5:45 this morning for our Fiscal New Year welcome. So I weighed in about 2 hours earlier than usual.

We were handing out breakfast as a goodie. That was cheese, granola bar and a banana. I ate two cheeses (they were the laughing cow kind) and one granola bar - but the bananas were way to green for my taste. I also have had two large coffees so far. I just ordered a third from Kristy who is running errands. Hopefully she will stop for coffee for me. I am falling asleep here (even though I went to bed at 10:30 last night!).

Ho ho jog

My weight this morning was 137, which was about as low as I could expect after the way I ate this weekend! I had fast food on Thursday (a grilled chicken sandwich, but also fries and a soda, the first soda in a long time) on the way up, and yesterday on the way back I had fast food again, but this time a grilled chicken caesar salad -- but probably way too much salad dressing. Also yesterday I ate at IHOP with Amy and Katie and we had waaayyyy too much, though I was the only one who finished my cinnamon and whipped cream-topped french toast (I also had scrambled eggs, hash browns, and two pieces of bacon, though I didn't finish the eggs or potatoes). Yikes! Let's see -- also yesterday I had a few handfuls of pretzels during the drive, and a banana, and after I got home I ate one serving of almonds and about two servings of pistachios! Today I'm back in my routine (and we have no more pistachios) so I should be able to eat better.

Mom and I went walking on Saturday, as she mentioned, so I did get in my minimum three days of exercise last week. I plan to go to the gym today (by myself -- Daniel's not due back until late -- but it's not as much fun that way!).

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Emily

Emily has been here since Thursday night, and all I can say is that her hard work has sure paid off! She looks gorgeous! She wore her old khaki pants this morning and they looked like clown pants! She says she has one more pound to lose and then she gets new jeans.

She wanted to take a walk this morning, so Dick watched the kids and I went with her. We did our old 2 3/4 mile route that Dick and I used to take and it pretty much wore me out, but it felt good in a way. Early this morning I was 150--maybe I can get myself in gear and start losing again.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Slacking

I haven't been paying much attention to what I've been eating, and for the past two weeks, I've been back to my old bad habit of constantly munching all evening long. I can't remember what I did to eliminate that habit before--I guess I'll have to go read old blog entries! Partly it's lack of motivation. Now that I'm at a weight that I'm o.k. with, I feel like I can cheat without too many repurcussions.

Exercise hasn't been stellar either--I went to the gym on Monday, did pilates on Monday and Tuesday, then on Tuesday night I got two and a half hours of sleep so I took Wednesday off because I was in no condition to get any work done. But that meant missing the gym on Wednesday (and pilates, too--I was just too beat to do anything), so I took my gym bag with me yesterday and ended up just putting in a half day at work because Connor was too sick to go to school. So here I am on Friday, keeping my fingers crossed that Connor's diarrhea is gone this morning so that I can put in a full day at work. If he's fine, I can get to the gym today and do pilates twice this weekend and still be o.k. for exercise.

My weight was fine until today--I was at 133.6 on Tuesday, 133.4 Wednesday, 133.6 again on Thursday, then 135.2 today! Don't know what's up with that, although I left my water at work yesterday so only had a quarter of my usual, so that might be affecting my weight.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

150.5

That was Tuesday.

I am using this as a family bulletin board (sorry, Julie) to let you girls know that Emily and the children are coming up tonight to attend Rich Biscoe's mother's funeral tomorrow morning. She will stay for the weekend--she'll go home Sunday. Daniel has to go to Atlanta this weekend so he is not coming.

Lots of sleep and cereal

That was my day yesterday. If I didn't know better I would have said I was sick. I KEPT falling asleep. It didn't help that I didn't get out of my jamies until 4:30 and that I was in bed or on the sofa all day... but neither one of those things are unusual factors in my life. What WAS unusual was that I took three or four naps... I may have been slightly sick because I was doing the very sweaty/cold thing and everytime I DID get out of bed I was vaguely dizzy.

I had cereal for breakfast, morning snack, afternoon snack - and probably more. I don't remember. I am addicted! I also was tired and it was convienent. I did pour a glass of V-8 at one point and I ate some leftover pork roast around lunch time. Katie and I had leftover salmon tossed with wholegrain pasta for dinner. And that was my eating for the day.

My weight yesterday was 206.2 and today was 205.4 so, it doesn't seem to have done me any real damage in the short term. I WAS planning to go to the gym yesterday - as well as do laundry, make a necklace, go to Sarah's and a few other things that didn't happen... Oh well. Today is a new day and I HAD to get up and dressed today.

I started reading Sidetracked Home Executives last night and was giggling at it. It is so much like me. Does anyone know of a book along the same lines for women who DON'T get to stay home all day? It is "easy" to divide your time into 15 minute cleaning spurts if you have more than one 15 minute chunk of time per day... but when you get home at 7pm and have to leave the next day at 7am that gives me about 12 hours of time to do everything, including make and eat dinner, and lunches for the next day, sleep and get ready for work. So I only HAVE about 15 minutes to devote to cleaning!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

In search of saltiness

Yesterday, late afternoon, I started craving salt. I ate a bunch of pistachios and they didn't taste salty! I switched to almonds and even they didn't taste salty, and they always do to me, so then I knew something was weird. I also ate a piece of string cheese and a handful of raisins then, since I was definitely munchy and I was hoping I was wrong about the salt craving. I wasn't -- I still wanted something salty (but not straight salt, ick, though the idea crossed my mind just because I was wondering if even that had flavor to me!) but eventually I gave up. The good news is that after dinner I wasn't in a mood to snack at all! I can't help but think this is PMS, though it's hard to tell right now where I might be in my cycle; I had one AF in early February but it didn't amount to much; I thought I ovulated some weeks later, but it's been more than two weeks since then and still no AF, and I've never had a long luteal phase, so I'm clueless right now.

I had my usual breakfast yesterday. Lunch was yogurt and toast, and dinner was chicken-chili stew. Besides the aforemention snacks I also had an apple and another handful of raisins during the day, but I think that was it on snacks. I didn't exercise (I was tired but I should have done it anyway). Today I'll go to the gym and just use the bike again. My right arm is still aching -- I think I pulled it the night before last, because up until that point it felt the same as the rest of me (i.e., sore and tight but not too bad), but at one point I reached with that arm and it felt like I'd wrenched it, and since then the rest of my muscles have stopped hurting but that one hasn't. Ugh. I'm still hopeful that it will be back to normal by Saturday so I can do Body Pump again!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

133.6

Yesterday I wore myself out with exercise. Not really, but in retrospect I did a lot--35 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes of pilates (sort of--Davey thinks pilates is a great game and he tries to catch all of my moving body parts, burrow under the mat, and plunk himself down in whatever spot I'm supposed to be in, so it wasn't as difficult a workout as it should have been!), and a little over an hour of dog walking over the course of the day. I think that's been my saving grace this week--even though I only made it to the gym once last week, I was walking between an hour and an hour and a half each day. It's not strenuous by any stretch of the imagination, but it's an hour or so that I'm not sitting at home. I think that's the only reason I lost weight because I know it wasn't the food!

Food yesterday was good for the first time in ages--cereal for breakfast, my usual daytime food, pasta with winter vegetables and steamed broccoli for dinner, and one serving of jelly beans (it was the last one or I may have had more).

207.0

Down from last week - up from my lowest weight this past week - down from yesterday.

Last night I wasn't too bad considering how hungry I felt. I got home from work and while I was waiting for dinner to cook I snacked on more Reeses cereal. Then I had baked salmon and green beans for dinner.

Later I had some cashews (actually mixed nuts but mostly cashews). I officially had two servings - but the servings were very small (maybe two tablespoons each).

THEN I didn't have cereal before bed (the nuts were around 9pm-ish) since I already snacked. Sure enough - I woke up at 3am hungry. So I ate some more Reeses cereal - dry.

I wonder what my weight would have been if I had skipped the salt yesterday and the middle of the night snack last night.

136.0

My weight today ties my lowest yet, and it shows downward movement from last week, so I'm happy. I really, really want to get my jeans this week! I'm going to knock myself out for a couple of days. (I meant figuratively, but, hmmm, literally holds some appeal -- that would probably work.)

I was pretty good yesterday about what I ate, though I was far from perfect. I had my usual breakfast, and for lunch we went to Wendy's but I got a chicken caesar salad and only stole about five french fries from other people. ;-) For dinner I had chicken-chili stew, which is pretty low-fat; it's pretty much beans, chicken breast, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, salsa, and chili powder, and you use a little olive oil to saute the veggies and chicken. I did put a small amount of cheese on it, though from what I could tell it all stuck to the bottom of my spoon! I had some chips (about eight) with dinner, but then I also had some chips and salsa after dinner (and I didn't count how many, though the bag was running very low so I couldn't eat all that much anyway). During the day I had snacks of almonds, a banana, pistachios, and a few pretzels (but I didn't overdo it). I need to eat more fruit and fewer nuts -- the fruit is more filling and lower calorie, but, oh, the nuts taste yummy!

Daniel and I did 45 minutes on the bikes at the gym. It really loosened up the tension in my legs. I find I barely use my quads at all on the bikes -- I get a great workout in my hamstrings and calves, and those didn't hurt at all after Body Pump even though we used them as much as anything. I knew my arms would get sore from BP, since I don't do much in the way of upper body workouts, but I hadn't paid attention to the quads at all -- the upright bikes would use them more, but I use the recumbent bikes. I don't feel bad for having spent six months focusing on cardio, because I didn't feel like I could get much toning done when I had so much fat over it all, and the cardio has made me stronger overall; even though individual muscles were sore, BP didn't wear me out. But now that I am virtually at my goal I'm planning to shift over -- I'll still do 15-20 minutes of cardio at the gym but I'm going to add in more weight workouts (after my arms recover, ugh; my legs are fine today but my right arm is no better than Sunday), and I'm going to try to get to BP on Saturday mornings fairly consistently (we'll see how long that lasts -- Saturday is my only sleep-in day!!). I am hoping the shift will help me maintain my weight; if I have more muscle it will keep my metabolism more consistent, in theory.

158.9

I'm up b/c of all the eating I did over the weekend. I was so relieved my classes are temporarily done that Joe & I went out Saturday night. I had crab alfredo and about 10,000 calories worth of baked goods, and a cannoli. Leftovers were for lunch Sunday.

Food yesterday was good until my afternoon binge. I haven't done that in a while. Breakfast was oatmeal, day time food was yogurt, an apple, a turkey & cheddar sandwich on wheat, string cheese, gold fish crackers and 2 hershey miniatures. Here's where I go downhill: after work I had more goldfish crackers, chips & salsa, another string cheese and then dinner was egg noodles with butter, roasted potatos and some tomato foccacia bread. I haven't added that up yet, but I am certain it is way over my 1300 calorie ideal day.

I did exercise: 30 minutes on the treadmill and then about 20 minutes of pilates/floor exercises.

Today I am going to keep my eating under control.

Monday, March 20, 2006

300 Calorie difference

OK - to distract myself from eating I decided to calculate my calories for the day. First I did the My Pyramid tracker - because it is easier to figure out and it is what I have been using most often. That said my calories were at 650 so far (which is about what I figured them to be - see previous post for listed foods). THEN I did I did the Nutrion Data site's calculator. It was much harder to use. You had to enter all of your foods as ingredients in a recipe and then analyze the whole "recipe." Anyway IT said I was at 951 calories. I am not sure where the other 301 calories came from. It seemed to have a much more comprehensive food list - but then it didn't. I tried to enter beef stew - and it assumed canned. So I tried Pot Roast - but that didn't include the vegetables and gravy. I didn't want to use the canned stew because I knew mine was NO WHERE near as high in sodium. Let's Dish says that my pot roast serving was 152 calories. The pretzels were 75 calories. My coffee was probably about 10. My skim milk - about 60? Unsweetened applesauce and plain strawberries - anyone? Maybe 50 calories each? 100 there. My bagel was the big calorie ticket and I would guess it at about 200 - and I ate it with the applesauce. Cottage cheese - no idea... It could be 53 calories - which would be the 650. OK. So what is the other 300? I am SURE I didn't get that candy bar. I would remember...

I forgot

What did I say about forgetting to post what I signed on to post... I MEANT to report on my calories in my last post. OK - Today:
1/2 of a cinnamon bagel
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
8 oz of skim milk
about 20oz coffee (no sugar)
.75oz of sourdough pretzels (Terry forced them on me - I tried to say no, but I was short on coffee at that point and was having troubles verbalizing - and so just said "OH! Allright!" Did I mention my PMS salt craving thing?)
Pot Roast - that was more like stew... From Let's Dish, it was about a cup, maybe slightly more - with carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and onions in it.
1/2 cup of fresh strawberries
10 oz of low sodium V-8
1/3 cup of low fat cottage cheese...

That is it so far. I am extremely munchie today - and I wrote up this list to prevent me from going into the cafe and getting a candy bar. I don't know what I am going to do now. Sigh.

I went to the gym. I worked out. I want a candy bar. I went to the gym... I WORKED out..... UGH! Can I have a cigarette instead? Actually - you know? I don't want one. I think that is a real break through for me. I have NO desire to smoke a cigarette instead of eat a candy bar. I have about 37 more minutes before I get to leave work. I can hold out 37 minutes. I wish I had some more fruit or something in my lunch bag...

Counting calories

I know it is not about the weight - and the fact that I was being discouraged is another sign that it is PMS. I only seem to want to give up when it IS right around my period. I DO know I feel better - and I like that I have been exercising and eating right. I like that it is second nature now to not overeat (except yesterday at Heather's). I know it IS worth it - I just wish I WOULD drop a few pounds.

Good for you Emily to plan to do another Body Pump class. Katie and I did that last summer and it DID hurt for a while - but it also felt great! Getting you heart rate up is not the only way to exercise and burn calories. More and more I am running into articles and flyers - and nutritionists and trainers - that say that you burn more fat by building more muscles. You build more (and stronger) muscles through resistance training. The bikes are good for your legs - but what about your upper body? Also - biking is more toning than muscle building. MEET with a trainer. Spend the $50 or so to have them design a balanced routine based on your needs. They will even teach you things to do at home when you can't make it to the gym. It would be worth it I think.

I am off to the gym right now. Kristy has added it to her calendar to remind me to go every day. She will start nagging me by 2:15 each day. 8-) I am in a similar boat with you Emily. Before the cruise I was doing more cardio workouts than weights. I can really see the difference - and not in a good way! My back flaps and abs were getting tighter - and now they are saggy again. I am dreading facing the machines today because I HAVE to do the weight thing today. Sigh.

Still sore

But I'm getting better. Yesterday I did not exercise (no surprise) but my eating wasn't all that awful most of the day. I had the waffle breakfast -- two waffles and three pieces of bacon, plus two strawberries, a glass of milk, and a glass of OJ. But then I didn't eat much until dinner time! I had a handful of grapes and about six goldfish crackers. I also took a long nap (or attempted to) so I wasn't around food or thinking about food during two of my crucial hours. For dinner we had soft tacos made with ground turkey (so very little fat except for the cheese, and I don' t put much cheese on my tacos) and I ate two medium-sized ones, and I again had milk to drink. After dinner I steered clear of the wine and beer and drank fizzy water (I was dying for a soda, but those count as sweets!), but I still ate about three ounces of cheddar for a snack. Ugh. We are now out of the cheddar and I am NOT going to buy any more -- it's too good!

This morning my weight was back up a pound, but I still have hopes of reaching my goal (and getting some new jeans) at some point this week. This afternoon I'm going to meet Daniel at the gym for our usual workout -- I hope my legs can take it! I'm not nearly as sore as I was yesterday (that is, I don't feel the need to hobble around on my tiptoes) so I know I have a chance of being vaguely recovered by Saturday, in time for another Body Pump! Eeek!

My weekend

Really not a good weekend as far as food and exercise go! I ate junk--I kept getting into the jelly beans (divided into individual serving size baggies, they are still just as tempting and nothing stops me from eating three servings instead of one!) and even ate a Cadbury Cream egg yesterday after shopping. When does the candy season end? I don't think I ever realized how non-stop it is from Halloween through Easter. At least there aren't any traditional Fourth of July candies!

My other food wasn't bad--spaghetti for dinner on Friday, cereal for breakfast on Saturday. I can't remember what I had for lunch. Dinner was tacos I had one). Sunday morning I skipped breakfast (well, I had four cups of coffee!), had a mock cinnabon and an apple for lunch, and broiled fish, steamed asparagus, and pasta with garlic and olive oil for dinner. It was just the snacks that were horrible.

No official exercise all weekend--I really need to get back into my good habits. I walked Davey both days, of course, which was about an hour's worth of walking each day. But it's slow (except for when it's VERY fast) so I don't burn too much. This morning's weight was 134.2--down just a little bit.

Going Up!

Ugh. I think I am PMSing. You would think after over 25 years of this I would KNOW when my period is coming... but nope. Saddly - I have NEVER been regular. I have no clue if I am PMS or just a greedy pig dog.

Saturday my weight was up to 205.8 - which is less than 1/2 a pound over the day before - which isn't too bad considering we went to Bonefish on Friday night. Then YESTERDAY I was at 207.4!!! This is bad. I can't remember what I ate on Saturday, but it must not have been good. Oh yeah... we did Let's Dish on Saturday. We had no lunch to speak of, then a pork roast with stuffing for dinner. I have a vague memory of snacking at some point - but obviously not enough to make an impression. I only had two very small mixed drinks on Saturday night. So I don't know what my excuse is for my weight gain. I didn't exercise at all - maybe that is it. OH! I did split a bag of corn chips (tiny bag) on Saturday night. I am craving salt. Yeah - it must be PMS.

THEN yesterday Katie and I went to Heather's for scrapbooking. We again didn't eat lunch before we left, and so we at a lot of her snacks. LOTS of potato chips and dip for me. Ugh. Then a few bites of fudge and several candy coated peanuts. Yum!! Again no exercise. We had a Mexican casserole for dinner. I had cereal before I went to bed. I ate too much all day on Sunday.

And it shows today! My weight was up to 208.4. Grrrr. I know this has been ALL MY FAULT this time around - but seriously, you guys have your binge days and manage NOT to gain three pounds. Katie - did you gain three pounds? You ate virtually everything I ate this weekend.

Anyway - so I am back to counting calories. I will have to report everything that passes my lips again this week. Bummer.

I just want to break the darn 200 mark - but I don't think it is going to happen. You know - my starting weight was 215.4 - which I think was inflated for me (I had been weighing around 210-212 most of that summer) which means in 6 months of concentrated diet and exericising I have lost about 4 pounds. I am beginning to think this isn't worth it.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Sore, sore, sore

I missed working out on Friday -- Daniel went early and I had a busy day with the kids so I never got myself there alone. Yesterday we all woke up early enough that Mary could go to the "Kids' Fitness" class (she's been asking about it for a while, but usually our Saturday mornings are too lazy), so I actually made it to the gym. But when I realized I had more than an hour to kill waiting for her class to start and finish, I decided to take the Body Pump class that was going on at the same time. Ow, ow, ow! It's an hour of aerobic weight lifting, basically, though there are a lot of pauses in between songs for changing weights around, and I didn't feel like my heart rate got up very high. I did the class once before but I weighed over 30 pounds more so I had this crazy idea that I would be in better shape. And I think I did use slightly higher weights than the last time. I came out of the class feeling a bit tired and wobbly in my arms, but I felt pretty good. I didn't get hit by the pain until 12 hours later as Casino Knight was winding down -- I stood up after sitting still for a long while and my legs were a bit sore. This morning I could hardly move myself out of bed. My quads are terribly tight. My upper body is also somewhat sore, but not nearly as bad. Ugh. You'd think six months of frequent biking would have done me some good! Now I know I really ought to go to this class every Saturday, and I need to do more to strengthen and stretch my muscles in between. And I should probably do Pilates today to shake up my muscles some more, but I can't stand the thought of moving them yet.

My eating is about the same as always. I didn't eat much between meals yesterday or Friday (though after dinner on Friday I had some cheddar and a beer -- why is it that I can restrain myself all day, but I fall apart after dinner, when my stomach is generally full enough already?). Yesterday I had a very late breakfast (after the class!) and an extremely small lunch, just yogurt, with snacks of almonds (twice) and a banana and some pretzels. Dinner was "heavy hors d'ouevres" at the casino thing, which meant a small croissant-based sandwich involving cheese and some kind of meat, three pieces of gourmet toast with some creamy gourmet dip featuring a mystery vegetable (almost certainly extremely caloric, but very yummy), three small slices of cheese and two crackers, and about four baby carrots. And two glasses of wine. The mini-dinner was probably about 10,000 calories, although the carrots should have canceled about 8 of those out, right? Sigh. And when we got home we were wound up and munchy, so we ate some popcorn (the light kind) and a few more bites of cheddar. Oddly enough, my weight was down to 136 this morning, the lowest I've seen yet. If I eat well and exercise for two days, maybe I could see 135 by Tuesday? Not likely, though -- I already had two waffles and three pieces of bacon today, and I've already said I'm too sore to move. Phooey.

Funny story from our outing -- Daniel was the #8 winner for the night. Or maybe #7. Top ten, anyway. We played blackjack most of the night and kept thinking we were on the verge of going broke, and then we'd come back stronger -- I started with 20k in chips and left the table with about 40k (too bad it wasn't real money!). Then Daniel took our chips to the poker table -- this year there were some actual good games going, not a bunch of people who didn't know the rules and didn't understand bluffing -- and won two out of three hands before the tables closed for the night, walking away with $306,000 in chips! Then the announcer called him "Danny" when they gave him his winner's certificate, so he'll have that to live down for a few months!

Friday, March 17, 2006

Oh and also...

I always seem to forget things that I meant to psot... I started my post today to specifically announce that I ordered a bikini. 8-)

I can't guarentee that I will ever wear it! But after seeing some of the hideous bodies wearing bikinis on the cruise I decided that if THEY can do it so can I - although the world would probably be a much better place if NONE of us were wearing them. Since my challenge to us was to all (with the exception of those that gave birth multiple times) to wear a bikini by the end of September I decided that included me too. I ordered a bright red one that was on sale for $13.00.

Cornbeef for Baltimore

I heard about a week ago that Baltimore was approved for eating meat today so we can get our annual cornbeef fix. I took that to mean that today was a freebee. I don't generally eat cornbeef (except in Reubens) and Katie and I discussed it last night and decided that the intent was specifically for Irish meat. So we COULD have bangers and mash or sheperds pie or blood pudding if we so desire. So we are still meatless today. We are going to Bonefish tonight for SPD - mostly because we don't think that will be the hot "Irish" spot in Owings Mills and we don't feel like dealing with crowds. So, I will be probably having fish for dinner. You know how much of a sacrifice it is for me to eat Bonefish fish. Hee hee.

Today my weight was 205.4. That number seems awfully familiar. I think that is what my weight was stuck at for most of November. I am hoping I don't stall there again. I was looking at my exercise history over the past three months. I have consistantly done 3-5 days a week since the beginning of January. Actually - in January I was almost ALWAYS 5-6 days. February I got a little lazier and was doing mostly 4-5 days. March is where I fell apart. Of course - CRUISE, duh! Anyway. This week I have done ONE day so far. I need to do two more days by tomorrow to stay in my 3 days minimum per week. Ugh. So - I am off to the gym today if it KILLS me - and it just may do that!

Yesterday my food was pretty good. I ate only what I packed (all healthy low cal stuff...) then had LD Chicken and Dumplings for dinner. Then I had a small serving of mixed nuts and chocolate chips for a snack. Then before I went to bed last night I did Dad's trick of having cereal as a bed time snack - mostly because I am addicted to the Reeses PB cereal. Anyway - so I threw in that extra 180 calories - and for the FIRST time in ages I didn't wake up at 4am hungry. 8-) I may have to start budgeting that in on a regular basis...

Corned beef dispensation

I heard that a lot of American bishops have granted dispensations to their dioceses to allow Catholics to eat meat today to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I didn't see a word about it in the Catholic paper yesterday, but the "Whispers in the Loggia" blog that has been keeping track listed Baltimore as one diocese receiving this dispensation. So what I want to know is--does this ONLY cover corned beef (which I hate) or all meats? But since I doubt that St. Patrick ate meat during Lent, I think I'll stick with fish or vegetarian today.

Food yesterday was o.k.--my usual stuff all day, leftover beans and rice (and a very small serving since all that was left was one large serving that I divided between Claire and me) for dinner, and just one serving of jelly beans--no gorging yesterday. I didn't go to the gym OR do pilates, but I got out for two 25 minute walks with Davey. I completely forgot to weigh myself this morning. Yesterday it was deliberate, today it was just forgetful.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Yesterday would have been fine if it hadn't been for gorging on jelly beans

Yesterday was great--25 minute walk morning and evening with Davey, 32 minutes on the bicycle at the gym, cereal for breakfast, yogurt, apple, and pretzles for lunch, almonds for snack, black beans and rice with fresh salsa for dinner. And WAY too many jelly beans all afternoon and evening. I discovered that the Brach's jelly beans are now peanut free so I bought a bag to share since Claire has never had them before (the Brach's brand, that is; she's had other jelly beans). She wasn't impressed, but Connor loved them ("cracker?" If it's not a cookie, it's a cracker to him.) so he and I kept eating the damn things.

I didn't even weigh in this morning, that's how much I overindulged. Of course I was up at 3 a.m. with Connor (who was just up for the heck of it) and Davey (who didn't want to miss the party) so I didn't really have a morning per se. Or not my usual morning--I got Brian up at 5:30 to take over, then went back to bed for an hour, got up and got dressed, then fell asleep for another 15 minutes, then had to run around like a madwoman to get out the door only 10 minutes late. I don't remember even going into the bathroom to have a chance to weigh myself. Well, I guess I did when I brushed my teeth, but that was after getting dressed and eating breakfast (mock cinnabon--I'm in love with this stuff!) so it wouldn't have counted.

BTW

Oh! I forgot! My weight was up this morning to 206.2. Serves me right for having cookies and then cereal for dinner!

Mom - you can't just post when you LIKE your weights. I would NEVER post in that case. What was your weight on Tuesday? That is the only one that counts. If it makes you feel better - only weigh yourself on Tuesdays.

Sigh again

OK - Yesterday I ate horribly!! Well - I started out OK and stayed good through lunch - but then I broke down late afternoon and had several Girl Scout Cookies. This was after I already HAD a snack of pistachio nuts (ha ha ha). Then Katie and I did her new gym class (it was free since it was my first time). The class was pretty good - a nice mix of aerobics and resistance work - and lasted just about an hour. BUT - I have had this pain in my neck (NO! not KATIE! - well, not ONLY Katie) for a couple of days now. I think it is a pinched nerve from carrying too many bags on Sunday. Anyway, everytime I raised my arms above my head (which was most of the time) I started to see spots and get dizzy. What was really frustrating is the cute skinny teacher said to me - well... that happens sometimes when you are not used to working out. Bee-och! I told her I work out 3-5 times a week, but I am sure she didn't believe me!

After the class I went to Sarah's to swap stuff - and then to the grocery store. I ended up with four huge boxes of Reeses Peanut Butter cereal. It was a buy two/get two deal. It is the same calorie count as Lucky Charms, also whole grain, higher in fat (slightly) but higer in protein (I think that was it) than LC. So - we will be eating peanut butter puffs for the next six months!! I had them for dinner last night.

Today my food has been same ole, same ole... I have had RPB cereal with skim milk, coffee, and prunes so far. I am about to heat up my leftover chicken chile, rice, corn soup-ish concoction for lunch.

I have to make it to the gym today!! I HAVE to go!!

more progress

158.6 this morning...

I don't have time for a real post but I've been eating and exercising :) ...maybe once this training class is over and my notes are all prepared for the class I am teaching Saturday...

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

finally

I was too embarassed to post earlier this week because I had gone up over 150 pounds. But finally, today, I was down to 149.5. I don't suppose it will stay down because I have had pasta every night this week--two nights spaghetti and meatballs and two nights salmon tetrazzini. I did have vegetable and salad both nights. Today I made a batch of Eagle Brand Magic bars from a kit. Dad had been after me to make some cookies to go with milk, and I had to ujse up these kits. I am going to resist buying any more mixes and kits, and, after these are used up I will only bake from scratch and try to do it in a healthy way!

We have been walking a lot more, but not the last two days. Monday we walked from the parking lot where the Auburn Society is allowed to park down to the enrollment services building and back, and I'm sure it was well over two miles round trip. The return trip was uphill, too, and it wore Dad out. With that strenuous day (he did gardening, too) and two pretty sleepless nights, he was a wreck on Tuesday--wobbly and unbalanced and feeling terrible. So we took the bus back and forth to our classes, and even that was hard on him because we had to stand and wait quite a while for the return bus. So no walking yesterday, and none today because it was so cold and windy, but we did do grocery shopping at Sam's and Wegmans', and that involved a good bit of walking. I don't know what the situation will be tomorrow. I have to go to the dermatologist, and we will do Trader Joe's while we are in Towson.

Down again today

I was down to 134.6 this morning. Amy and I seem to be following the same pattern--we put on about the same amount on the cruise and are losing it at about the same rate, and it's NOT because of anything we're doing. Yesterday my gym trip was thwarted by a 2:00 meeting--first the person I was meeting with showed up late, then during the meeting we each took on a bunch of tasks that have to be done a.s.a.p. so I got moving on them right after the meeting, so I never took a lunch break.

My food was good during the day, not so good in the evening. Breakfast was oatmeal, lunch was yogurt, pretzles, and an apple, snacks were almonds, string cheese, and a Diet Coke. But my plan for dinner (leftover cheese quesadilla) was taken over by Brian, who packed it for HIS dinner. So instead I had the mock cinnabon again along with snacky food that was lying around--some goldfish crackers, a few pretzles, a few chocolate chips. Not exactly healthy, any of it.

I'm planning to go to the gym in about 20 minutes, so I'm staying low until then so that no one give me more work to do!

It's going away

through no effort of my own! Today I was 205.8. This would have been a great reward had I eaten right and exercised yesterday... But I didn't.

Eating wasn't TOO horrible calorie wise, just NOT AT ALL healthy. I had my normal Lucky Charms, skim milk and coffee for breakfast. I had a pear (very yummy) for a moring snack and then my V-8 and cottage cheese mid afternoon. THEN I went to happy hour. I had - over the next four hours - four Woodpecker Ciders, three potato skins, two mozzerella sticks and one grilled chicken tender. I also had a few nachos (baked, and I was shooting for the beans more than the cheese...). That was my dinner. When I got home I didn't eat anything until much later... I had my vanilla yogurt with walnuts and a few chocolate chips. This is my imaginary Coldstone snack and it is REALLY good. Luckily I can't fit too many walnuts and chocolate chips into the yogurt cup, so it keeps me from being excessive.

Since my happy hour was actually an after work meeting which started at 4:30 I didn't take a lunch break to go to the gym. - so no working out.

Today - so far I have had my normal breakfast (breakfast seems to be the easy meal for most of us). Then I just made for lunch a big pot of chicken chili. Like Mary - though - I had to do my own thing... I added a lot more water, a can of corn and wild rice - and made it more of a soup. I just ate a bowl of it and it was REALLY good. It had it all too - whole grains, protein and vegetables (tomatoes, peppers and corn). Now I want some fruit.

I am working on getting the house in order from my huge hurry to pack up scrapbook supplies last week. I left quite a mess - and it was here when I got home. I hate that about travelling. When I am rich I am going to hire maid service to come into my house while I am away and completely clean everything. Wouldn't that just be the coolest thing??? Anyway - I almost broke my toe tripping over my basket of Jolees. I had no idea it was so heavy and solid. The basket and Jolees never felt a thing.

Yesterday

Let's see. I didn't exercise, though I had plenty of time to, except that Cecilia didn't nap much, which makes it less convenient to exercise at home and worrisome to take her to the gym. I had my usual breakfast and I had lunch of yogurt and whole wheat toast, and for dinner I had more of that blasted tofu, which I am now refusing to eat anymore. It was good the first night but it has gotten more tiresome with each day! I also had about four cucumber slices with dinner, and milk to drink. I had snacks of pistachios -- a lot of pistachios, probably around 50 or more. I also had some tortilla chips and cheese dip after dinner. I had a few red grapes (very yummy -- I need to get back to Kroger and get more!) so not everything I ate was high-fat. Oh, and I also had a small snack of Mary's Banana Chip Soup (chicken broth, brown rice, pinto beans, corn, and banana chips) -- her own recipe. It was a very small snack. ;-)

Today I'm trying to make an effort at eating well, for a change. I'm tired of plateauing out of my own laziness! Daniel and I will be exercising at the gym this afternoon, too.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

137.5

Not my lowest weight ever -- that was 137.0 on Sunday -- but my lowest official weigh-in, so I'm pretty pleased. I won't have an official 135 before Saturday but there's a chance I could see an unofficial one before then, if I'm especially good. I'm not especially good so far, though -- today I had my usual breakfast, but I ate about two dozen pistachios instead of the half that I'd planned for a snack. But the day's not over and I still have a chance to be good all day!

Yesterday I got back to the gym for 45 minutes on the bike -- it's been a while since I was there and I felt stiff when I started, but after that it was pretty good. On Sunday I played basketball on the driveway for about 20 or 30 minutes; it wasn't exactly aerobic, but I did use my upper body muscles enough to be a bit achy yesterday. And the best part was that I wasn't thinking "exercise" when I did it -- I really just felt like getting outside and shooting hoops because it was a nice day and it's peak basketball season. It didn't occur to me until later that it counted! I also took the kids to the playground, so I was walking around and on my feet for a fair amount of time that day.

My food yesterday was not so good. I had my usual breakfast, and I had lunch of yogurt and a few bites of macaroni and cheese. Dinner was some of that kung pao tofu, which I'm pretty sure is bad for me -- it uses white rice (too much) and is almost certainly cooked with a lot of fat. I had snacks of pistachios (a lot), half a banana (I had to fight Cecilia for it -- she wanted to be carried all day (hey, more calories burned!) so she grabbed at anything I ate, and she loves bananas), a handful of grapes, and some pretzels (but not very many of those, for a change), and just before bedtime I ate a lot of the high-fat microwave popcorn. But I didn't drink a beer, though I was tempted to!

Whew!

Not as atrocious today as yesterday! This morning I was 135.6. Like Amy, I had intended to do an all-liquid diet yesterday but didn't manage that. When I got hungry around lunchtime, I had two eggs and a piece of toast, then some skittles in the afternoon for snack (I know, I should have had a piece of fruit or some almonds, but I didn't!). For dinner I had the South Beach mock cinnabon--cottage cheese, cinnamon, walnuts, and a sprinkle of sugar (you're supposed to use Splenda, but yuck. And since it was only about an eighth of a teaspoon of sugar, I wasn't going to sweat it). It was really surprisingly good! I microwaved it for about 15 seconds, but I think it would have been good cold too. Then I picked at the kids french fries all evening. So overall, not great but not horrible. I didn't count up the calories, but I think it was right around my usual 1300.

Today I'm back on track for normal eating--I had oatmeal for breakfast, packed my usual snacks and lunch, and brought my gym bag since no one is sick today! I was up at 4:30 this morning--Connor woke up early again, which woke up Davey and HE wanted a walk, so before 5 a.m. I was out doing the Dumpster Tour of Downtown Catonsville. Ugh. And then we got rained on. Not a good way to start the day!

Weigh In Day!

Well - better than yesterday - still up from my last weigh-in (of course!). It would have taken quite a miracle to bring me back to the 202.2 of February 28th. I have been using 205 as the fill in weight for all of the days I missed weighing myself while I was away. I am still up from that too. Today I was 207.6. Sigh. I packed a VERY SMALL lunch today - and will continue doing that until I drop back to the 202-ish range.

Julie- YIPPEEE!!! Congratulations! I am still shooting to go below 200 - and I know that will be a red letter day when it happens!!

Yesterday I had planned to do an all liquid diet again - but I just couldn't face it. I ended up eating pretty poorly - but way better than when I was on the crusie.


This morning I have Lucky Charmes for breakfast with skim milk. I am actually really excited to be getting back to my healthy food.

Yippee!

I've broken into the 150's!! 159.2 this morning.

I'm glad to hear you guys are back and I think your weight gain is acceptable given the food on a cruise. It's awesome. It would be terrible to not eat the good food they want to feed you. And Amy, I am glad to hear you met your daily bacon requirement. I personally think bacon is the finest, yummiest food and when I head to Bermuda in a few months, I will eat it at least once every day. :)

I've been lax about posting because last week I was scrambling around to get everything together for my first ever class I taught over the weekend. Pretty stressful, but it went well. Now this week I am doing the same thing for my second class that is this coming Saturday. So you might not see me too much again this week...

Monday, March 13, 2006

Yikes!

I got fat too. My weight this morning was 137 even--I was 132.4 the day I left for the cruise. I knew to expect a gain like that, not just because we ate like pigs but also because when I put on my jeans to come home yesterday, they fit (they had been loose the previous week). So this seems to be actual weight gain for me. I think I knew I was doomed when I checked out the calorie count of the "spa" meal in the dining room--that's the low-fat, healthy, low-calorie meal offered each day. THAT meal had about 700 calories (not counting dessert). If that's the healthy option, I don't like to think what we were taking in each day! But boy, it was good and I'll be happy to work on losing the 4.6 pound weight gain.

I'm not off to a good start, though. I haven't eating ANYTHING since returning home last night. That's not true--Brian made cheese quesadillas for dinner and I had about three bites. Breakfast this morning was coffee. I'm just not hungry in the least. Connor has been vomiting and having diarrhea as well, so that helps to kill my appetite. Maybe I'll get that stomach flu too and lose that weight quickly! But because of his stomach bug, he can't go to school today, which means that I have to leave work early, which means no lunch break, which means no gym. I'll be taking Davey for walks, though, and I'll do pilates tonight in between loads of laundry so I won't be a complete slug. With any luck, I might be able to drop a pound before our official weigh-in tomorrow!

We're BAAAAAAACK - and Fat!

Well I am anyway. It was the desserts that did me in!

The first couple of days of the cruise Sarah and I were pretty good about what we were eating. We weren't AVOIDING anything in particular - we just weren't OVER doing things. Then on Tuesday for lunch the dessert bar looked so good that I had four desserts!! (Sarah will quickly point out that SHE only had THREE dessets - but she had a piece of cheesecake that was easily twice as big as the two lemon merangue tarts that I had.) The food was absolutely incredible!! Every night for dinner we had a four course meal with menus that changed nightly. The serving sizes for dinner were appropriately small - so you could actually EAT all four courses - but the calorie count was VERY high I am sure!!! I didn't eat nearly enough vegetables. I was OK for fruit - and I definitely kept up my bacon requirement for the day each day. 8-) We didn't really eat much between meals - but who needed to? I haven't been hungry since TUESDAY!

As far as exercise goes... well - we went to the gym last Monday. You know - we were so busy the whole time that I can only really think of two days where we COULD have and should have worked out - but didn't. We did make up for it by being VERY active everyday. We mostly took the stairs instead of the elevator (although we got worse about that too...) we walked up and down that ship probably a million times always needing to be somewhere at the other end. And - Oh My GOODNESS - I couldn't keep track of what deck we weer on! So GENERALLY we had to go up or down an extra set of stairs each time we went somewhere. Our three excursion days all involved walking. They also mostly involved some laying around on the beach (except Belieze which involved a long bus ride and clinging on for dear life!).

Our day in Mexico was cancelled. The seas were very rough on Friday and so they couldn't get the boat docked. Mexico ended up closing their port too - so we had an extra day at sea. I was really surprised at how many people were sea sick!! Sarah and I were just fine!!! So we spent the day hanging out with a couple of other women who were fine, scrapbooking. It was fun - but a bit rocky.

So - my weight this morning... 208.8. UGH! Actually it was 209.2 - but I have been retaining water all week. (I think it must be all of the salt. I almost NEVER eat salt or salty foods - but most of what we were eating was saltier than I am used to.) So - an hour later I was 208.8. That is what I am going with.

I really thought the sensation of the earth moving would be gone by now - but in my mind the world is still shifting and moving. The seas really WERE pretty rough for the last couple of days.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Talking to myself again

Since there's nobody here but me this week -- Julie, Katie, Mom, where did you go? I haven't been very well-behaved this week in terms of exercise. Yesterday I finally did a 30 minute Walk and I did the Pilates "energy boost" workout, which was just 10 minutes but that meant I could squeeze it in after the walk during Mary's Brownies meeting. I thought the Pilates was going to be the same exercises as the ones on my beginner DVD, since it was the same disk, but she threw in a bunch of new things, and they came at me pretty rapidly. But most of them were easy and I didn't have to do the saw or the teaser, so I liked the workout. :)

I didn't exercise today. I took a child (Alexander) to the doctor to get diagnosed with an ear infection instead. Doesn't that sound like more fun, sitting for 45 minutes in a waiting room with a sick child and two bored well ones, waiting for a diagnosis I could have done myself, when it's sunny and 70 degrees outside? I mean, who would want to be exercising on a day like that? Sigh.

I have continued to avoid sweets quite successfully (but not always cheerfully) -- why is it I can keep a promise to God but not one to myself or to y'all? Sheesh. I guess I don't mean it unless I literally swear by God. Good thing I mean it then or I'd be in real trouble. Today I had my usual breakfast (but I forgot my OJ), lunch of yogurt, pretzels, string cheese, and canteloupe, and dinner of pizza with green peppers (provided by the church -- how is this a "Lenten meal" other than by being meatless?? I thought these were supposed to be simple meals), and I had a small caesar salad. I had a small glass of wine after we got home (Daniel's fault) but I think that's going to be it for me today. Yesterday I had my usual breakfast and yogurt for lunch, and we had cheeseburgers for dinner (we had to test out the new cheapo grill -- the old cheapo grill died a fiery death a couple of weeks ago). I don't remember all the snacks but it involved a fair amount of fruit and probably plenty of pretzels -- I need to come up with something else munchy and low-fat but not sweet, just for variety!

My weight was down to 137.5 (or was it .0?) this morning, which makes me happy; that's the lowest I've seen on a daily weigh-in. The doctor's scale even said 136. Hee hee! Two pounds away from jeans!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Feeling skinny

My dress arrived from Chadwick's today -- it's a very plain French blue thing that I can wear for the casino night next week, and I got it on clearance for $30 (so it seemed like a bargain until I had to order a new bra to go with it -- that's going to cost more than the dress by a lot!! I hate being a weird size). I ordered a size 10 because that's what they had, but I was worrying about the size -- I shouldn't have! It's about right across the chest and it's loose through the midsection!! :-) So I feel very skinny. And I've ordered the bra in a 34 band size, which is down from anything I've worn in a decade.

Yesterday I had my usual breakfast (sans OJ because I was too lazy to make it), lunch of yogurt and pretzels, and snacks of almonds and string cheese. Then for dinner we went to a catered thing, but the place that catered was kinda crunchy so we had kung pao tofu, which turned out to be extremely yummy. But I ate a not-too-huge serving, and then I picked at the fruit and vegetable platters most of the night. The veggies should have been healthy, but I'd had a small salad with a feta-garlic dressing that turned out to be soooo good that I spent the night dipping the veggies in more dressing, and I have no idea how much of it I ate. I didn't eat dessert, though. But I drank a bit more wine than I'd intended because it turned into something of a tasting -- I had a glass of zin and a really dull riesling (so dull that I threw out the last couple of swallows) and a small glass of chardonnay even though I'm not that much of a fan, and I also had another red wine but I forget what kind, something from Argentina. Four smallish glasses. And pretzels when I got home because there was NOTHING salty there to eat with the wine -- we could really have used cheese and crackers, but then I would have had a gazillion more calories! My weight was down this morning so maybe my calories weren't that bad yesterday (but more likely I'll be paying for it tomorrow). Seems to me I must have had some fruit during the day -- I'm pretty sure I ate an apple but I don't recall when.

I got no exercise yesterday -- we didn't get home from French until after 4:30 and I didn't realize we needed to be at the reception at 6 so I didn't hurry to work out, and then it was too late. So I haven't exercised since last Wednesday and I'm a big mushy blob right now.

Today I had my usual breakfast, and I had lunch of a peanut butter and apple sandwich -- I'm avoiding sweets for Lent, if you haven't noticed (longest week of my life so far, I think) so I didn't want to cave in and have jelly, but I was really in the mood for a sandwich and we didn't have any lunchmeat thawed, and we didn't even have bananas and I don't like pickles, as everyone knows. So I ate it with an apple and it was pretty good, but it would have been better with seven times as much peanut butter. :) I've had snacks of almonds twice today, and I had a small handful of pretzels. Daniel and I are going to meet at the gym when he gets away from work, but it's after 5:30 and I haven't heard from him yet, so I'm thinkin' this is gonna be a late night, ugh. We're going to eat leftover kung pao tofu for dinner (the kids won't; it was too spicy), and I'll have milk to drink, and maybe I'll be good after dinner since it will be late. Ha.

I'm maybe two weeks away from new jeans -- why do I sabotage myself like this??

Tuesday update

I've experienced the pogo stick--all last fall actually. Only when I started getting serious about exercise have my numbers been falling. And they would probably reduce more dramatically if I was better about what I eat all 7 days of the week instead of just 5. I do so well during the work week but eat whatever I want on the weekends. I need to work harder at curbing that carelessness on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

I say that the weekends are my bad times, but I was over indulgent yesterday. Breakfast was oatmeal, snack was a banana and string cheese, some raisins, a roast beef sandwich and an almond croissant for lunch, and tomato basil pasta for dinner with ice cream (at least it was the light kind) for dessert. So two treats yesterday. I think that almond croissant was probably half of my daily calorie allowance. But darn it was tasty! I haven't bought one in probably 10 or 11 months.

I spent 50 minutes on the treadmill yesterday for about 400 calories, so I partially negated the effects of the croissant. Katie, I struggled with justifying the cost of the gym too, which is why Joe & I just decided to upgrade our treadmill at home. It was much more cost effective in the end, and I don't have to leave home to use it.

So where are our cruisers today? I keep meaning to look at the itinerary online and never do.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Anyone else on a pogo stick here?

OK, this is getting really frustrating--for the past several weeks, my weight has been doing this...low of 134 in January, then up to 135.6 the next week, down to 135, up to 135.8, down to 134.2 (last week), back up to 135.8 today. Down, up, down, up, down, up.....ARGH!!! I don't feel like I've been particularly lazy with the dieting (food has been pretty normal, and I've been a little bit better about working out, but not great). I certainly haven't indulged! But I think perhaps I've hit a plateau. And I'm going to have to take some drastic measures to pull myself out of it. Either I need to start working out a LOT more, or cut my calories even more.

I think the working out will be the way to go for me. And it appears that will be starting tomorrow. I babysit for two of my students after school every other day or so, because their mom is a teacher in the county and doesn't want to have to pay for the ABC Care program for only the 20 minutes she needs someone. So I do it. And guess what she teaches? You bet--gym. blech. But she also teaches a few classes at a gym that has just opened here in Reisterstown, and she's conned me into coming to her body sculpting class tomorrow night. First class free! I wonder how much it would be to continue. I'd like to get into a regular gym routine, but I just can't afford the membership fees! If I were to sign up for this class, I feel like I would at least be committed to going, since I know the instructor and she would notice if I'm not there, and she knows where I work and where I live. ack!

This week, however, my goal is to post more frequently. With Amy and Sarah gone, it's bound to be quiet here! I'll try to pick up the slack.

Deja vu, but this time it's real

I was 139.5 this morning. But two weeks ago when I hit that I was recovering a stomach virus, and last week it was a total fluke, 3 pounds different from the day before or after. This week I ate much better and exercised sufficiently (well, mostly), so I feel like I have a chance of moving down again in the coming weeks.

Yesterday was not so good, though. I didn't exercise because I really didn't have a spare minute all day -- we had school in the morning, then when I picked Alexander up from preschool we went out for coffee (and the coffee shop wasn't one with soup or sandwiches or anything but sweets), after which it was too late to get a proper lunch before I had to be at a friend's house to cut out and count up soup labels all afternoon for Alexander's school. When I got home it was later than we'd expected, so I barely had time to clean up the house before the sitter arrived, and then we were out until late. So no exercise.

Food was also bad. I had my usual breakfast, and I had a small snack of almonds in the morning. Then lunch was a latte (skim), which is hardly food, and I had a snack of a mouthful of raisins (one of those tiny boxes, and I swiped it from Alexander's leftover school snack) in mid-afternoon, and a snack of string cheese when I got home. So barely anything before 7 pm. Then we went out to a posh restaurant in Roanoke with two other couples (one is being recruited by Daniel's department, so the department paid for the dinner), where I had a bite of gourmet macaroni and cheese (I forget its real name), a bite of fried calamari, and a quarter of what amounted to a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich with the crusts cut off (by this time we were really laughing -- mac&cheese, grilled cheese, and fish sticks!). My dinner was some amazing combination of salmon and crab in phyllo with a sweet sauce with a hint of chili powder in it, and I ate what was labeled "exotic winter vegetables" which turned out to taste like sweet potatoes (the equivalent of about four julienne fries), and I had some of the mashed potatoes that were hiding under it all as well -- I have no idea how much of that. I refrained from eating dessert but I had a few sips of decaf, only it was lukewarm so I didn't drink any more. I did have some red wine but I haven't the faintest idea how much, because I started with a small glass and it stayed at that level all night (it was very posh -- the waiter knew his job) no matter how much I sipped, it seemed, until as a table we kicked the bottles. I think it was about two or two regular-sized glasses in the end.

Looking back, I really could have done worse at dinner, especially since I went with the seafood instead of a steak or something similar. But it was NOT a light meal and I went home very full!

Today I'm going to try again to squeeze in exercise; we have French class this afternoon, and seldom escape that until after 4, and we have a reception to go to tonight, but I'm not sure what time -- there should be some time for the gym in between!

160.1 today

So down .4 from last week. I can't wait to break into the 150s...

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Weekend report

I haven't exercised this weekend, though I've spent time being productive around the house for a change, including finishing most of the painting in the bonus room, so I don't feel too guilty. Tomorrow we'll go to the gym as usual.

Yesterday I had my usual breakfast, then a slice of leftover pizza for lunch and two slices for dinner. Not exactly healthy! I had a beer and popcorn (not the low-fat kind, either!) after dinner last night, too, since it was a basketball night. I had a small amount of fruit yesterday, plus some string cheese, almonds, and pretzels for snacks. I wasn't terribly careful about quantities but I kept busy enough that I don't believe I really overate, though I would have been better off eating less pizza.

Today I had waffles and bacon for breakfast -- about two slices of bacon and one and a half waffles with butter and syrup, and then about another half waffle dry. And OJ to drink. I did not eat any doughnuts at church -- yay, me! I didn't have a proper lunch, now that I think about it, so no wonder I was feeling munchy most of the afternoon! I had about three sets of almonds, and a number of goldfish crackers. I also ate an apple, a handful of raisins, and a clementine, so I got in my fruit for the day, and then some!! Dinner was sauerbraten meatballs and noodles, and green beans, and milk to drink. Now I'm having a glass of zinfandel and a bit of cheddar. So -- too much to eat, but at least it's healthier foods than I was eating before Lent!

Friday, March 03, 2006

Exercising grudgingly

Even though I said I was going to exercise today, I still kind of had all the excuses in the back of my head, so I didn't think I really was going to exercise today. But on the way home from the doctor's office I talked to Daniel and he told me he was at the gym -- phooey! I couldn't let him go and not get my rear end moving as well. So I met him at the gym and did 45 minutes on the bike -- actually 22 minutes on the upright bike, and then I switched to the recumbent bike for the remaining 23 minutes when my left leg started go to numb. Those are the hardest, most uncomfortable, awkwardly-designed seats I've ever used. Real bikes are much more comfortable (and more fun, too!). No one seems to use the upright bikes unless all the recumbent ones are full -- I wish they'd just switch over completely. But, anyway, I exercised today.

I had my usual breakfast, and then for lunch I had yogurt, a slice of whole wheat bread, some pretzels, and some leftover fruit salad from yesterday. Dinner was two slices of pizza with tomatoes plus a very small wedge of plain cheese. I didn't snack today, though both lunch and dinner stretched out over an hour apiece because I was doing other things at the same time. I probably had enough calories today (though I haven't counted) because of the pizza and I'm certainly not hungry now. But if I'm going to eat so little I need to find a way to get more vegetables! Actually I don't think I did so badly on other food groups -- I had enough grains (could have used some more whole grains, though) and dairy and fruit, and probably plenty of protein from the dairy, though no meat, obviously. I should get back to writing down what I'm going to eat in a day, because that makes me keep it balanced, but, ugh, I hate the effort involved -- it's so much easier not to think about my diet. Sigh.

Pretzels and more pretzels

Yesterday I was trying so hard not to eat sweets that I spent half the day eating pretzels, I think. Mary and I were in charge of snacks for her Brownies meeting, and she brought pretzels and a fruit salad (just mixed, chopped fruit -- we didn't do any dressing, which would scare off the Brownies!) so at that point I ate fruit, but afterwards I went back to snacking on pretzels. I have no idea how many I ate and I hope it wasn't as many as I think it might have been! But it was no doubt fewer calories than Girl Scout cookies would have been -- two Samoas are 140 calories, but it takes around 25 mini pretzels to hit that.

I had my usual breakfast yesterday, and lunch was tuna and pretzels (that's what got me started on them), and dinner was two slices of leftover pizza (with pepperoni and Italian sausage -- not at all low-fat but very yummy). I had snacks of a piece of string cheese and two rounds of almonds for 16 total, which isn't so bad. And I had the fruit and the pretzels, as I mentioned, and I ate a handful of raisins. I'm not measuring portions very well, and I'm not watching my balance of foods very carefully, but overall it's still an improvement over the past few months -- if I can keep this going!

I did not exercise yesterday; my usual time on Thursdays is during Brownies, but I had to attend half the meeting. I ran home and barely had time to clean up the fruit mess in the kitchen before it was time to go back. Then we got home and ate dinner, and then I almost immediately had to leave for Choir. Then we had to get the kids to bed, and I finished that up after 9 sometime. If I were really motivated I would have exercised then, but instead I made the M&T for tonight's stamping night (not a show, just the monthly get-together), and then it was bedtime and I was late and cranky and I didn't think my M&T was any good, for all that.

Today I have to figure out how to sneak exercise in -- it will probably be between the kids' doctor's appointment (Cecilia and Alexander are due for check-ups) and the stamping. So I almost certainly won't get to the gym for it, but I can't take another day off!

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Thursday night

Pancakes became a tradition for Fat Tuesday because people used them to use up all the fat in the house, since they were avoiding meat throughout Lent. There--I contributed something!

Since I don't have to fast, I have not been doing well. I had cereal early yesterday and today, and took the lunch I described to Sinai yesterday, but I also tucked in a few pieces of chocolate. I did share them with Dad, however, when he was back in his room, even though he could eat chicken for lunch as well as a lemon bar for dessert! Then I didn't eat again until after seven p.m. Mass. I fixed macaroni and cheese, and had a banana and more chocolate and two cookies for dessert!

Today I had yogurt and cookies and milk for lunch---and more chocolate. Later I had a clementine. For dinner we had pork roast with a fat free barbecue sauce, baked beans, a few chips and green salad --and you know what for dessert. The chocolate will soon be gone--it is some Valentine's Hershey's miniatures and some Ghirardelli squares with mint filling that Dad suggested we open. I had been planning to save those for Easter, but his sweet tooth is getting to be as bad as mine--he keeps up with me piece for piece, but he isn't on this weight loss program I am trying to be on---

Overcompensating

I haven't been that hungry today - but I keep eating! I had my cereal and milk first thing. I drank coffee all morning - and had my sushi lunch at 11:10. I just ate my "dried plums" and I am looking for more coffee now. I think this is the not smoking part of Lent for me. Every time I glance outside I get a craving. I don't know why - it is dreary out... Why would that make me want to smoke??? Anyway - so I snack instead. I am going to Target and getting some mints or something.

After an all liquid diet yesterday I am really thirsty today!!!

Fat Tuesday, Lean Wednesday

Daniel and I have diverged from the pancake dinner tradition, because I've never been able to convince him to eat breakfast for dinner. This is the same guy who would cheerfully eat pizza at 8 am. Me, I'd eat breakfast three meals a day (or more) if I could get away with it! But we had pizza for dinner on Tuesday, and I stuffed myself with three (medium) slices, and I drank a beer and had about a third of Daniel's second beer. And, like Sarah, I bought myself a candy bar, a Caramello, and I ate it all during the course of the day. I had a normal breakfast and a normal lunch on Tuesday, and I had a few Girl Scout cookies, but not many, because we were getting low on open boxes and I didn't want to start a new box with Lent coming up. At some point I had a half a banana and maybe a wedge of apple. I also ate a handful of pistachios, and we had tortilla chips with cheese dip, and I think that was about it for the day. It was a lot, in any case. I tried to post about this yesterday morning -- and again last night -- but blogger didn't like me last night and wouldn't let me get to the posting page!

Yesterday I ate three meals and nothing else -- I had a bowl of raisin bran with skim milk and a clementine for breakfast, a piece of whole wheat toast and a 6-ounce yogurt for lunch, and grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner (and the meal was HUGE -- I was stuffed), with skim milk to drink. I spent approximately 95% of the remainder of the day thinking about food -- I had plenty to eat, but I'm so badly back into the habit of grazing that I really missed it. I'm pathetic! I had about 1000 calories, according to MyPyramid. The scale said 140.5 today, and for the first time I don't think that's a glitch -- that's consistent with what I've seen other days, just slightly lower. Next week if I get 139.5 again I'll finally believe it -- if I can keep eating reasonably and stay away from sweets as I've promised.

I exercised on Monday, as I think I posted, but I didn't get to it on Tuesday (too busy being lazy). Yesterday I spent 45 minutes on the bike at the gym, at about level 6, for 344 calories.

I cheated this week and ordered a new dress for the Casino Knight on March 18, even though I'm not at my goal yet. But I found one for $30 from Chadwicks, on clearance, and I figure if it's that cheap I can get away with it. It's also a size 10 (no 12s were available) so I'm taking a risk on fit! If it doesn't fit and I haven't made my goal I have to wear my basic black dress, but if it doesn't fit and I have made my goal then I get to get something new. And I still can't get new jeans until I meet my goal, so I'd better hurry up because all my jeans are either shot or falling down, or both!

Fasting weight

Boy, that not-eating-anything-for-24-hours has an amazing effect on your weight! I'll have to try it before a weigh in day (like maybe the Monday we return from the cruise so I won't have to admit to THAT much of a gain in a week!). This morning I weighed 132 pounds even! Of course it's a good thing I don't have a talking scale (who thought those were a good idea anyway?) because I wouldn't have been able to hear it over my growling stomach.

Yesterday I had two cups of coffee, a cup of herbal tea, a diet soda, six ounces of apple juice, and a bunch of water. By 8:30 my official 24 hours was up, so I ate a few french fries leftover from the kids' dinner, but I wanted to see if I could last until midnight for real food, and I did. At midnight I had a hard boiled egg, five crackers, and two cookies. 520 calories total for the day, give or take.

I haven't exercised since Monday, though. I haven't taken a break since Monday, and I'm not likely to today. I'm hoping that I get enough stuff accomplished today that I can get to the gym tomorrow, and of course I have my walks with Davey. They aren't aerobic (except in short bursts) but at least I'm out and moving for 40 minutes or an hour each day. They might count as resistance work, though, if you figure that pulling back on a leash for a dog who wants to run off everywhere is resistance.

Completely off topic--last night on our walk we met a 12 week old pomeranian owned by a neighbor down the street (met the neighbor, too). This thing was about as big as it's going to get, although her hair still needs to grow, and she was this itty-bitty not-quite-three pound dog, just a little fluffball that can yap loudly and jump straight up in the air on all four feet at once. What earthly use is a dog like this? Seriously, why would anyone breed a tiny dog like that? Davey made friends with her, but it's a good thing we didn't enter their yard because he could have crushed her like a bug.

I was cheated!!!

OK - My past two days... Well Tuesday I went to the gym and did a fairly leisurly workout on the treadmill. I kept the incline high and walked for 38-40-ish minutes. I burned 375 calories. It was kind of relaxing - and I was OK with that. I was tired and just couldn't face the cross trainer.

Dinner on Tuesday was late. Katie was finishing up an essay and so we didn't actually get to eat until about 9:15. This was aggrivating because I was VERY hungry and I knew we were on an all liquid diet for 24 hours after dinner. Sigh. Anyway - we went to IHOP for pancakes of course. YUM! I absolutely LOVE our IHOP. I had the Swedish pancakes with fried eggs and bacon and half an order of hash browns. Katie had the exact same thing. It was very good. Why do we eat pancakes on Fat Tuesday? Of all the fattening foods in the world - why did pancakes become traditional for Mardi Gras?

Anyway - That was it for the food on Tuesday. Yesterday morning my weight was 204.2 - which was to be expected after our late, heavy dinner. I did OK with the no food thing for the most part. I had three cups of coffee with skim milk, 2 glasses of V-8 juice, and 3 glasses of grapefruit juice (which, when discussed among the liquid eaters it was decided that it was INTENDED to be a clear liquid - it just was cloudy because of the nature of the fruit...). I had moments of intense hunger - but it was pretty easy to distract myself from it. Katie went out to get sushi for us around 8:30. She watched Lost with Charles and got home with our food at about 10:30. By that time I had given up. The longest hour was from 7:52 to 9:15 (OK a little more than an hour). I think just knowing I was on the home stretch made it worse. I thought I was going to die! Anyway - at 9:15 I finally gave in and ate a serving of pistachio nuts. When Katie got home with the food, I didn't eat as much as I would have thought. I packed most of it for lunch today.

Anyway - the reason I feel cheated is that my weight was 203.8 this morning! That's just not right!!! I must have gone to the bathroom 20 times yesterday! I know - because my thigh was in agony from the evil, evil Nair burn I had. It was torture getting up, walking to the bathroom and pulling down my pants. ALL because I was on a liquid diet! Well - Ash Wednesday is supposed to be about rememberence and suffering, right? I was suffering all right.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

I ate too much

In honor of Fat Tuesday I got a candy bar in the afternoon. It took me most of the evening to eat it (it was a fudge filled hershey bar and very rich). Then I made pancakes and bacon for dinner and ate too much of THAT. I also didn't get any real exercise yesterday--a few 15 - 20 minute leisurely walks with Davey, but that was it. I spent all evening dealing with kids & dog, packing, cooking, cleaning, and working (trying to meet 11 deadlines at work) and just plain ran out of time. This morning I was still 133.6.

I also didn't bother bringing my gym stuff with me today. I have meetings all morning starting in 15 minutes and two major and three minor deadlines still to meet by Friday so I decided not to kid myself--I'm not getting any breaks to go to the gym in the next three days.

So far today I've had two cups of coffee. I'm only a little hungry right now, but I brought tea and water and money for a diet soda, so I think it won't be so bad.

The Way to an Unbalanced Daily Diet..

Dinner last night was pretty good. I did order from the Garden Fare portion of the menu and it was ok--shring with linguini and a light, spicy red sauce. Think noodles with crushed tomatos and shrimp. I had some salad, and 2 breadsticks because the were fresh from the oven both times the lady brought them out. Then everyone ordered dessert, so I got the lemon cream cake. It was delicious. I was very glad I got it. But overall it was way too much food, and I rationalized it as a celebration.

Lunch yesterday was baked doritos, a slice of cheesecake (it was really a cheesecake tart sort of thing) and diet dr pepper. Breakfast was shredded wheat with milk.

I spent 40 minutes on the treadmill too.