Friday, September 29, 2006

Celebrating

In honor of Emily's birthday...

I woke up this morning craving a Chilis Carribean Chicken Salad. So I got one for lunch and ate about half of it. I was good for breakfast (mini wheats and skim milk) and my salad WAS a salad with fruit on it. So I am OK for that. BUT - the dressing tastes high in fat and sugar (Honey lime vinaigrette). We then had a team meeting this afternoon. Suzanne brought Halloween candy, pretzel, peanut butter sandwich snacks (REALLY yummy) and grapes. I mostly ate the grapes, but I did have a little almond joy and a little Reeses PB Cup. THEN I tasted the pretzel thingies. I can't stop eating them!!!!! So that is where I am right now.

I haven't exercised yet. I did go to Target at lunch to get an exercise ball so I can do the workout than Derek set up for me. My only concern (I can't remember if I mentioned this already) is that I don't have a wall to lean against - especially not one with space for me AND a ball!! I really have been pondering this for a while and haven't come up with anything. The best I have so far is the downstairs hallway (but I don't know if I will fit) or the upstairs at the top of the steps, where I would actually have to lean against a large framed picture. OR I guess I could do it against the wall by the front door - as long as no one comes in and smashes me. Sigh. I am beginning to wonder if it is really worth it to get fit.

My weight was 208.4 today.

And since I didn't mention it before...

I went to the gym yesterday AND did pilates in the evening (but only one workout--turns out I've lost enough muscle tone that I didn't think I'd make it through a second workout), so that makes two gym visits, two long Davey walks, and one pilates workout this week. I'll do another pilates tonight but can't go to the gym because of a million errands I have to run. Any brilliant ideas on a token thank-you gift for Claire's daycare provider? This is Claire's last day there (she's NOT happy about that) and I'd like to do something that looks thoughful even though I didn't actually think about it until this morning!

I've flossed every day. I forgot my vitamin last night, remembered this morning, but got distracted on my way to the kitchen so I never took it. I think a sticker chart is a great idea--would prevent forgetfulness as much as slacker-ness. I drank 40 ounces of water yesterday and had another 8 ounces of tea, so I'm good with the liquids. I ate healthy all day--there was a volunteer luncheon I had to attend and I ate just half of a turkey sandwich on whole wheat, a salad with vinagrette dressing, and a diet soda. I completely skipped the brownies, cookies, and chips. Dinner was ham, rice pilaf, and peas. I *did* eat some tootsie rolls in the evening (three I think?) and was slightly hungry at bedtime, which I think is a good thing.

Yes! Happy Birthday

In fact - I think we ALL should celebrate your birthday by being lazy and eating too much. 8-)

I have flossed every day since Tuesday. I have exercised once - and I took my vitamins yesterday. I didn't today. I thought of them while I was in the kitchen, but forgot two seconds later - and before I actually went to get them.

Happy birthday, Emily!!!

I think that after a year of dieting and successfully losing so much weight, you're allowed to forget about the diet today, be lazy, and indulge in cake and other goodies. Have fun!

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Food Bad Exercise Good

I have decided that it just doesn't matter WHAT I eat - my weight stays the same. Same goes for exercise - but I like my muscles to be firmer - which I CAN see as a result of exercise - so I guess I will stick with that.

I was bad on Tuesday. I didn't eat my breakfast - so ate my sandwich at 11:30ish. Then after my lunch meeting I came back and Melanie had bought the 2 cheeseburger meal from McDs again - and AGAIN FORCED me to eat her extra burger. Darn her. So - I had a training session at 3 that I totally forgot about - and went rushing out in a frenzy - and stayed frenzied like for the whole class... came back to my desk at 5:15 and my boss had put a big chocolate chip cookie on my desk to make up for my panic mode earlier. Of course I ate it - I felt as though I earned it at that point. After that I was pretty good. I think - perhaps not. We have Caribou granola bars in our house. They are really good - and addictive. I can eat several in the course of an evening and not feel like I am being bad. I mean - come on! They are little and healthy. Right? Sigh.

Yesterday I was better. I had a large latte and toast for breakfast, a PB&Pickles for lunch, spinach (not fresh) and a grilled gouda burger for dinner. I DID eat two Caribou bars during the day and evening - but two isn't too terrible. I didn't eat any fruit (bad) and minimal vegetables.

I DID exercise yesterday. I had my training session at the gym. I am really sore today. I didn't think that a session that can be done at home would be as rough on me as the ones I do at the gym - but by the way my legs feel I was wrong. He has me doing lots of stuff with the big inflatable ball (I have to get one yet). That really works your legs and abs - even if all you are doing is sitting on the darn thing doing curls. Since it is unstable you have to brace with your core muscles. Derek was fasinated with my creaky knees. He was crouched on the ground listening to them while I was doing squats. It was very strange. He asked me if they hurt - I said not really. He told me I should have my doctor check them - but as long as they weren't hurting then I should be OK. Katie - when was it that my knees started being noisy on the stairs? Last winter? The year before? I know it is a pretty new feature.

Better day yesterday

Again I didn't make it to the gym (11:00 meeting, 2:30 meeting, lunch in between and I don't like to go to the gym right after I've eaten) but I got in another long walk with Davey. I figure if the walk lasts longer than 30 minutes and we cover more than two miles, it's real exercise. I'll have to do the pilates tonight because every other evening has gotten eaten up with other things so that by 10:00 I'm exhausted and still have lunches to pack, the living room to clean, and a dog to walk. But tonight I don't think there's anything going on other than Brownies, so I should be able to get all the other evening stuff done before 10:00 so I can do pilates then. I'll have to do both workouts tonight so I can get them in this week--all the other evenings look dicey.

Food yesterday was pretty good too--I didn't eat one cookie all day! I had my usual daytime stuff (cereal, almonds, cheese, pretzles, apple, yogurt), ravioli and salad for dinner (I only had five ravioli. Raviolis? Is one a raviolo?). I indulged in three tootsie rolls for dessert and didn't check the calorie count, but I think they aren't too bad. In any event, my weight this morning was down to 134 even. Not that that means anything long-term, but at least it was moving in the right direction.

And I took my vitamin. And I flossed.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

I'm around...

I check in and read the blog but I have been bad about posting. Life is getting in the way :)

The two job gig is rough, but I am enjoying my class. Maybe Katie can teach me how to grade things. That is a hoot. I just make it up. The power goes straight to my head...

I haven't been eating well or exercising well, but my weight has not been impacted. I am hovering right around 155 even though I did see 154.1 both Saturday and Sunday. Then I ate about 100 cookies on Sunday and was 155 for Tuesday. I signed up for the Race for the Cure in late October and I am planning to run it. 2 friends signed up with me through JMT's team, and if any of you are interested you are welcome along. I can send you the link if you want it. I highly doubt we'll really run all of it...we already have plans to go to the Baltimore Cupcake Company over on Fort Ave afterwards, and possibly stop at the Blues House for coffee. You can see where our priorities are...

Exercise good, food bad

I went to the gym yesterday to make up for not going on Monday, and then I walked Davey for two miles last night so between those two events I got in five miles, not counting any other walking around I did during the day (which has been more than normal--the bathroom closest to me at work is closed for six weeks for renovation so I'm having to hike to get to a bathroom!).

Food, however, was a mess yesterday. Fine in the morning (cereal, coffee, an apple mid-morning), then I got really hungry at 11:30 so I ate part of my lunch then (string cheese, crackers) then went to a Ramadan/Rosh Hashana event at 12:30 and they had a full lunch there! Seemed kind of odd to have a full lunch when you know that half of the event is geared towards telling us all about fasting for a month, but then, this was sponsored by the Jewish student group. Anyway, it was one of those situations where it would have been strange not to eat anything so I had half a slice of cheese, three triscuit-like crackers, and two cookies. Then after the gym, I had a nectarine. So that wasn't so bad. What was bad was when I got home I ate dinner (pasta, ham and peas) then ate four chocolate chip cookies, seven or eight tootsie rolls, half a bag of microwave popcorn (one of the tiny bags, but half of that has more calories than the full size bags of the light popcorn we have) and about a quarter of a beer. I wasn't hungry for most of it--I just wanted to eat!

I like Amy's idea of a grown-up behavior chart. Now that I have vitamins, I keep forgetting to take one each day, so I'd put that on. Plus exercise, water, flossing, fruits and vegetables, etc. I could do it like I did when I was potty training Claire--get a certain number of stickers (or checks) and you get a prize!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Where's Julie?

I have been noticing for a while that Julie hasn't been posting - Are you still around? I know we all go through non-writing phases - but the four of us usually manage to post about once a week - it has been about two weeks for Julie!! Come back! Come back!!!

I had another thing I wanted to address here... what was it? OH YES! CHECK! I have decided that I want to make up a check list for me each day. Kind of a life check list. I want to include on it things like - floss, take vitamins, exercise (10-30 minutes aerobic - a walk or a video would suffice, and 10-30 minutes strength work out - pilates, bands, kickboxing, etc.) eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, practice the banjo (when I start up lessons again). I am hoping that if I manage to put into writing everything that I want to do it will make it easier to do SOME of it anyway. Maybe I will make a cute notebook to keep them all in. Yeah - I see this lasting about a week. Who knows though, I have kept my weight journal and this blog pretty consistantly for over a year!

139.0

I was going great guns with my diet through Friday afternoon, but then the weekend hit. For Friday evening we went out on a date, so I had restaurant food, a chicken fajita quesadilla (not so much queso, and the meat is cooked fajita-style, and there are lots of veggies, though also cooked in a lot of fat) which was very yummy, and I only ate half of it. And then we went to the movies and had popcorn and lemonade, and I'm happy to report that we left a little popcorn behind (enormous willpower on my part) and I didn't drink much of the lemonade (though it was still probably about a gallon -- those drinks are huge). The weekend got worse from there -- I tried to keep portion sizes small, but I didn't do very well with the snacking on Saturday and Sunday! Yesterday Monday hit and I still haven't completely sworn off the candy corn (evil autumn candy) and goldfish crackers (evil sale at Kroger on the smaller bags, very yummy flavors), though the honey-wheat pretzel twists are gone (not unhealthy but easy to overeat -- the little pretzel sticks and minis require a lot more effort to get even to one serving). Nevertheless, I am back under 140 for this week, and I have been exercising. Not over the weekend, though.

I went for a walk yesterday and Mary rode her bike. Today I don't have plans yet but it's unlikely to be anything exciting -- either a walk or a boring video. Daniel's out of town so I can't get any relief to allow a run. I need to get back to running because the 5k is coming up in just a few weeks, and right now that could potentially kill me!

Best laid plans and all that

First of all, I need to lose five pounds. I was 134.8 this morning--still within my acceptable goal range, but waaaay at the top end of it. So I need to get serious about exercising and eating well again. I told Brian this when I got up this morning (he was up watching Return of the King and drinking beer at 7 a.m. I guess his internal clock is adjusting just fine.) and 20 minutes later he offered to make me sausage and eggs for breakfast. I said no and stuck with my Life cereal.

I never made it to the gym yesterday. At 11:15 I got a call from a coworker in my department saying "you know we're all going out to lunch today to celebrate the end of the Grand Prix, right?" Well, no, I didn't know that. But I couldn't gracefully get out of it, so I went and had grilled chicken ceasar salad with no croutons (still too much dressing though), came back to a meeting that lasted an hour and a half and then had just enough time to finish up two proposals I had been working on so I didn't go to the gym. But I figured I could at least run again while Claire was at her swimming lesson, right? That didn't work either--there was a special ed community forum last night I wanted to attend, so I went to that, stopped at the grocery store on the way back, got home, had pizza for dinner at 9:15, got the kids to bed too late, packed lunches, and fell asleep on the sofa. So no exercise yesterday, and my food wasn't too good either. OTOH, I was too busy to snack yesterday so I didn't gorge on cookies or anything!

Sort of off-topic, but I'm very tempted to become a vegetarian. I was listening to a story on NPR this morning about attempts to revive the black footed ferret (or something; it's the only native North American ferret species) which was once thought extinct. They are running into problems because the ferrets prey on prairie dogs and the prairie dog population is diminishing because ranchers poison them so that they don't eat the grass that they need for their cattle. That's the Reader's Digest version--the whole story is a bit more complicated, but you get the idea. Anyway, I was listening to them interviewing a rancher who was explaining that these are the grasslands and there should be grass on the grasslands and all these prairie dogs are causing problems because they eat the grass and I'm thinking "he's blaming the PRAIRIE DOGS for eating the grass?" That would be like me blaming Connor who eats next to nothing for my high grocery bills! Hello? Prairie dog? Little bitty thing so small that a ferret can kill it? Compared to a herd of cattle that are so huge that they cause ozone damage? So clearly (to me at least) the solution is to get rid of the large beast that isn't even native to the territory if we want to preserve the grasslands and let the prairie dogs and ferrets have the run of the place. So I'm thinking I just need to stop eating beef. Not that I do very often, but it's the principle of the thing.

208.8

Could be worse. Considering by the end of last week I thought I was doomed to a very high weigh-in weight. So - not HORRIBLE. In fact - this weight is lower than any of my September weights last year... but not by enough. I ended last September at 210-ish - with my lowest weight at 209.2. I guess with THAT idea in mind I can approach my weight loss as starting right here. Depressing if you think I have been at it for over a year.

Here is what I will do differently. First - I will not allowe 30 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in my house. I am giving out yucky candy and little toys for Halloween. I am meeting with the endocrinologist on November 1st - so maybe something will come to light. I don't know what is wrong - which is why I am not a specialist - but I doubt that they will say it is PCOS. Other than my irregular period I don't have other symptoms. My blood sugar is normal, my testosterone is normal, I have no evidence of cysts. One symption does not make a syndrom. However, my friend Bunnie was telling me about a friend of hers who was also weight loss resistant and a specialist DID help her. So I guess we shall see in a little over a month.

I was doing the math last night and between Sarah's wedding and my 30th birthday I gained 30 pounds. That was after losing 20 pounds the year before her wedding - so you could argue that I was just making up for that loss. Then I went on Jenny Craig and lost about 10 pounds. Then by the time I started at TESSCO in 1999 I was up a total of 40 pounds since Sarah's wedding (I was 145 at Sarah's wedding - my low point). Since starting at TESSCO (seven years ago) I have gained a total of 30 ADDITIONAL pounds. This is after I went into panic mode about 3 years ago - where I started really watching what I ate. I remember this because Katie and I started carefully planning and packing our lunches using the Glucerna menu planner when I was over in TAB after the flood in October 2002 - so that was around April of 2003. So - in the past 11 years I have gained about 70 pounds. That is a whole half of a person. If I had had a baby 11 years ago it would probably weight about 70 pounds now. It is ALL of Emily's children put together. Hummmmmm. That is a scary thought.

I scheduled a meeting with my trainer to plan a work out that I can do at home. He was trying to convince me to freeze my membership (where I only have to pay 1/3 the cost) and can start up again in 1 to 3 months. I told him I couldn't afford $50 or $60 a month for me to do nothing but feel guilty for not going to the gym. I do know that if I WERE to go back to a gym it would be that one because I really like it - as gyms go - but it is still too expensive.

Last night Katie and I had spinach ravioli and acorn squash. Katie made the squash and the directions say use as much butter and sugar as your conscience allows. Katie's allows much more than mine would have. 8-) It was very yummy. I want the same thing for dinner tonight!!!

Monday, September 25, 2006

Not doing so well

My weight has been all over the place the past few days--down to 132, up to 135. I didn't get to the gym at all last week. Wednesday, of course, I went running while Claire was in swimming lessons, but my Friday gym visit didn't happen because I left work early so that Brian could get enough sleep (he had been up all morning with Connor getting his gammaglobulin, so he only got to bed around 1:00 and I didn't want him to have to then get up at 3:30, especially since we knew he'd have a day of no sleep on Sunday). So no running that day, but I did take Davey for a long (55 minute) walk in the evening.

Saturday was a slug day--housework, reading, a bit of shopping to get the kids out of the house. Then Sunday I was on my feet all day working at the college's Grand Prix, but I made up for that activity by eating too much--cheeseburger, chips, and a brownie for lunch, plus two beers and a large cookie later in the day. Then Connor and I shared a bunch of pringles while Claire was at CCD and then I ate MORE cookies in the evening. I don't know why I was packing away so much junk food yesterday.

So no excuses this week--I have to get to the gym today and Wednesday. I may leave early on Friday again so Brian can sleep (Claire has an all day field trip with the Brownies on Saturday so Brian will be home alone with Connor not sleeping again all that day, then he has to stay up all day Monday since the kids don't have school that day) but Saturday's field trip involves a downtown hike, so that'll get me some exercise. My other goal this week is to do pilates just twice. That's all--I should be able to manage that. I could even do two 25 minute videos in one evening if I wanted to (which is one thing I used to do), but I really need to get back into it!

Talking to myself

I hate it when I check the blog and the last entry is from me - and that doesn't change for days!! 8-) I feel like I am talking to myself. But that is OK - I DO talk to myself.

Kristy's wedding was on Saturday. I was actually pretty good on the eating front. I had t crackers, four little cheese cubes, a bite of cantalope, then for dinner I went vegetarian. I had salad, green beans, potatoes, cheese lasagna, and I think that is it. I didn't have any rolls or anything. I ate about 8 m&ms (that was the favor) and then I had my wedding cake at 2 o'clock in the morning when I woke up hungry. I ate Katie's wedding cake at about 2pm the next afternoon (she never eats it and I hate it to go to waste). Yesterday I was heavy on carbs. I did make the baked sweet potato on Friday - with minimal butter and sugar, skim milk to mix, and almonds on top. It was REALLY good. A tad on the dry side - so I will use more milk next time - and a tad on the sweet side - I will use even LESS sugar next time (I use about a table spoon for two large potatoes). Next time I think I will just mix it with the spices, and use the sugar to sprinkle on top with the nuts.

I forgot to weigh myself Sunday morning. I was 210.4 on Saturday and then 210 this morning. I was a big slug on Sunday. I THOUGHT about taking a walk around 5pm (between rain showers). Sadly, with exercise, the thought really doesn't count. Sigh.

I cancelled my gym membership on Friday. I decided it was just too expensive at $59 a month. Even if I went EVERY day (which I don't) that is still $2 a day. It is over $700 for the year - and I would probably do much better putting that money into more permanent exercise equipment - videos, a ball, heavier weights, etc. I just need an exercise room. I really need to purge my house! I had pre-paid a training session with the trainer at my gym. I don't want to lose that so I left a message for him to call me to set up my next session. I am going to ask him to think about things I can do at home.

Friday, September 22, 2006

And Now its Gone

Today I was 209.4. I give up. I just don't get it. I am just weird. I know it isn't my scale, because there is justification for the drop - but I am tired of talking about my plumbing, so I will spare you the reasons.

Last night Katie and I had black bean and spinach enchilladas for dinner. They were really good. I ate more fudge - but not a ton, and a few pieces of taffy at work. I had a PB& P sandwich for lunch, and mini wheats with skim milk for breakfast. I had a snack cup of pears for a snack. I also had my normal coffee with skim milk - and then I had a Caribou large skim vanilla latte early in the day.

I need to get back in the habit of eating ALL of the food I pack. I don't know if that really made a difference or not - but that was my focus this time last year - and September and October were the two months that I showed an overall loss. I think what I need to do is take all of my food out of my lunch bag and line it up on my desk. I know I am an out of sight out of mind kind of person - so if I SEE my food maybe I will eat it more readily. Of course -I have a pretty small desk - and so I really can't do that. Or - what probably would happen - is I would eat all of my food within the first two hours and then be starving for the rest of the day. Yeah - that sounds like me.

We had our groceries delivered again yesterday. This time we had Safeway do it because I had a free delivery coupon. Katie said this guy was REALLY nice - and when she tried to tip him he refused. Big change from the Peapod guy who said "I am supposed to tell you we are allowed to accept tips." Rude! So - from now on I will have Safeway delivery my groceries. I like the Lucerne brand of cottage cheese better anyway.

I did the produce run to Boordy last night. I love the fall stuff. I got acorn squash, sweet potatos, egg plant for mom, basil and raspberries. I gave the basil to mom, but split the rasperries between Sarah and me. I am going to make the sweet potatoes tonight, in a modified version of my Thanksgiving potatoes. I am not going to use butter and half and half and tons of brown sugar - but I am going to mash them, spice them up, and bake them with nuts on top (well, and maybe a LITTLE bit of brown sugar). I will let you know how they turn out. Cinnamon is one of the spices that Fat Flush has you eat regularly. I can't remember why.

Still no exercise. Sigh.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

THERE it is!

I got on the scale yesterday and was tempted to pretend like I forgot to weigh myself. I was up - finally, sad as it may be - to 211.2. Ugh - all that fudge and stuff. Then today I was at 212!!! Sigh. My boobies have been sore - so I decided that it was because my period was coming. As you know, the past two months I wasn't getting my normal 4 pound weight spike with my period. (BTW - how come I will totally believe it if my weight goes UP by four pounds - but not down?) Anyway - my period DID start today shortly after I got to work. I was totally surprised by this because today is 27 days since my last one. Last one was 28 days (like a normal girl and everything!) but normal for me is usually 31-33 days!! I don't know what is screwing me up. Anyway - so now I am all crampy and I only have one tampon with me. BUT - if I lose four pounds now it will take me back down to 208 - which is not as bad as 212... but I never seem to lose all of the gained 4 pounds.

I was NOT GOOD yesterday. I did a Stampin Up party last night (I never do REAL partied anymore) and so I spent most of the day prepping for that. I don't remember what I had for breakfast - probably fudge or Fisher's popcorn (which is gone now), and curried shrimp for lunch - very yummy, even left over. I didn't eat dinner (the party was at 7pm) and I didn't snack at the party hardly at all! When I got home I was hungry but too tired to make something. Katie was out (it was Bones, or something, night last night so she was at Tracy's watching TV). I had to go out to get milk - and I looked at the sandwiches at Royal Farms - but I ended up going to McDonalds (I am blaming THAT craving on my period!). I wanted something hot and salty. I got a double cheeseburger and a small fries (off the dollar menu) and I ate it all!! Sigh.

Everyone seems to be super motivated currently - mom said she was at the beach, Bunnie (a woman at work) said that she was inspired by The Biggest Loser show that was on last night. Sarah and Emily seem to also be hitting things hard... I just can't get up the energy to focus on this anymore. I hate it that I am seeing a loss of muscle tone already, I hate it that I have no resistance to cravings like fudge and McDonalds, I hate it that I can't think of any exercise to do that gets me back into the groove, I hate it that my gym fee has gone up to $59 a month - and I hate it that I am not doing anything about any of this. In the past I have let everyone else getting re-motivated spur my energy level - but it ain't happening this time. HELP!??! Please?

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Sticking with the program

I didn't succeed in getting any official exercise yesterday, because we went straight from French class back home to babysitting, and then the baby was not feeling well so she was difficult much of the evening and by the time she went home we were in the middle of bedtime and cleaning up dinner, and by that point I'd long since given up. So today I was determined again to exercise, but after Cecilia's nap we ran errands that took longer than I expected, and by dinner I'd about given up again. Then Daniel went running after dinner, which left me with just the kids underfoot, and a nagging sense of guilt, so I decided I had time to do some aerobics. I don't get as good a workout as I do running or on an exercise bike, but it's better than nothing.

Meanwhile I've been trying very hard not to overeat. As always, it's starchy foods that seem to be my undoing -- I had cereal for breakfast and goldfish crackers with lunch, and a few tiny pretzel sticks in the afternoon, and a slice of pizza at dinner (more white flour!), and another helping of goldfish crackers just now. Hmm. Not as bad as I thought. I must be forgetting something. Oh, yes, a few bites of the kids' macaroni. No whole grains except breakfast. The pizza was not healthy, but I only had ONE (yay, me!) and it was a fairly thin crust and had vegetables on it, and I ate two slices of cantaloupe to fill me up (though that's why I'm hungry now). I had tuna for lunch. I also ate a handful of raisins this afternoon, and two sets of almonds (8 each time). I'm short on vegetables again, but at least I've had some fruit.

Am I good or what?

So I didn't make it to the gym last Friday (zero sleep the night before) and I didn't make it on Monday (went home sick) but I had every intention of going today. Except that I got to work and my boss asked if we could push back our 11:00 meeting--he had another meeting that would probably run late. Fine. Then he caught me after that late-running meeting to say that another thing had come up, could he catch me a bit later? Sure. And it went on like this all afternoon. I finally decided I'd go to the gym at 3:00 when I *knew* he had another meeting, figuring I'd have the hour free. He called at 2:48 and asked if I could come to his office right then. I asked about his 3:00 meeting. It had been cancelled! And by the time I was out of the meeting with him, it was almost 4 and too late to go to the gym. Sheesh!

But then I had a brilliant idea--I had to take Claire to swimming lessons tonight and normally I'm just sitting there waiting for her, so I changed into my running clothes and spent the half hour she was at her lesson running around the UMBC campus. Yay me! It wasn't quite the same distance or intensity I do on the treadmill, but at least it was exercise. And then I came home and had poached fish, steamed broccoli, and a baked potato for dinner. Could I possibly get any more virtuous? Oh, and then I had a piece of fudge and a piece of taffy for dessert. OK, so not perfect.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Whew!

I lost 3 pounds yesterday. I was 140.5 this morning. That's still terrible but it's within what I expected after last week -- I was bracing myself for about 141 yesterday. The good thing about yesterday's 143.5 was that it woke me up and shocked me into getting back with the program. Yesterady I ate well all day and I even exercised.

Let's see, food: after lunch yesterday I had two more helpings of almonds, fourteen mini pretzels, and a few goldfish, but I think that was it on snacks. For dinner I had a Caesar salad, largeish, and a small helping of spaghetti with our usual sauce (ground turkey, green peppers, onions, garlic, tomato sauce, seasonings), and milk to drink, and then another piece of taffy for dessert. As the evening wore on I was genuinely hungry so I ate twelve tortilla chips (the bite size) and a tiny bit of salsa. Today I've had breakfast (honey nut shredded wheat and skim milk) and lunch (yogurt and 14 pretzels, and two scraggly pieces of ham) and a piece of taffy. So I'm OK so far.

Yesterday I did as I threatened and put Mary on her bike and the others in the stroller and went for a walk. Mary was slow getting started but once she was moving she went a lot faster than I could (she did great!), so I did a lot of jogging to keep her in sight (more than I wanted to, since I was wearing my jeans) and it was a pretty interesting workout, if only 2.5 miles. Today we'd love to go out again but we're babysitting starting at 4, so I'm not sure how that will work -- Xander can only go so far on his tricycle, so I couldn't just put both babies in the stroller. I might have to wait until Daniel gets home for me to go out, or I'll have to figure out something to do at home. We will at least walk to French class today, so that's a half mile or so round trip. Better than nothing! No excuses...

Real Age calculator

http://www.realage.com/

Here's the real age calculator I used. It's pretty thorough--asks about health, lifestyle, habits, stress, family history, etc. And then when you get your results (you DO have to create an account and have the results emailed to you; I don't yet know if I'm now going to be inundated with irritating email, but anytime they asked, I opted out) you can click on any of the areas and get more information about how to adjust that area to your benefit.

It also told me I should take multivitamins, which I KNOW I should do, but I can't find any I can swallow! They all make me gag, so I tried the chewable kids' vitamins and they tasted so horrible I couldn't stick with them.

Oh, and the other thing that might reduce my age more would be to get my cholesterol reading. I had it tested a year ago and I know I was either normal or low, but I didn't remember which and didn't know the actual reading, so I couldn't fill in that information.

Back up

I was 134.2 this morning, up two pounds from last week. But last week's 132 was an aberration--it only happened that one day and then every other day I was back into the 134 zone.

I've been eating badly--too many goodies, although my meals have been pretty good. I made it to the gym twice last week, then missed Friday since I had been up all night (literally) with Connor and missed again yesterday because I left work sick at 11:00 and slept all afternoon. I still feel like something the cat dragged in, but at least I feel better than I did yesterday! I still could use another eight or ten hours of sleep, though.

I really want to get back to doing pilates. It made such a difference in my strength and flexibility but I haven't done it regularly since February. But now that Brian is around more (and can keep Davey out of the way) I should go back to doing it three or four times a week. It's one of those things that I put off doing but then don't mind it *while* I'm doing it.

I did one of those "real age" calculators yesterday and it said that my real age is 32 years, 5 months but that I could reduce my age further by eating more fiber, vegetables, and fruit and doing more strength building exercise. And flossing more. That one kind of bothered me--I answered truthfully that I floss 4 - 6 days a week because I don't usually floss every single day, but it's generally more like 6 days a week and not four, so I didn't think that should count against me so much.

Weird Weight

OK - I stepped on the scale this morning and it flashed for a long time - like it was thinking about it... (I was thinking about it too and sticking with 211.8) and it finally popped up an answer of 203.2! I KNOW I didn't lose 6 pounds over night. So I did it again and this time it came up with 205.2. So in 30 seconds I gained 2 pounds. I COULD have stuck with that - but it wasn't right either. So, I tried again - and again got 205.2. Hummmmmm. One more time - 210.6. Sigh. So I took my shower. Then I tried again - this time it came up 209.6. Better... So, I tried a minute later and again got 209.6. So that is what I am sticking with. I think I'd better replace the batteries on my scale. They are about a year old. Or - maybe I will just stick with the 203.2 weight. That IS supposed to be the deal - go with the first reading, right?

Katie and I were going to have grilled salmon for dinner last night - but it looked odd (a little too pale) and smelled fishier than we like. After it was cooked it STILL looked odd - and smelled fishy - so we threw it out and got sushi. 8-) I also ate some left over Fisher's popcorn for dessert. I had about five pieces of taffy at work. Other than those beach carryovers I was pretty good yesterday... Mini wheats with skim milk, coffee, mixed frozen veggies, and chicken and wild rice soup.

No exercise. I think I am losing muscle weight. I need to go to Play It Again Sports today to see what they have - although, SERIOUSLY, I am not sure where I would put a treadmill. I probably could fit it into my room, but Katie and I would have to do some serious re-arranging!

Monday, September 18, 2006

NOT good!

I was up FOUR POUNDS this morning over where I've been. Eeek! So all that weight Amy didn't gain went onto me, which is fair enough because I ate all the same junk she did and really had no exercise. Bleah. So now I am really back on my diet, because this cannot continue.

Food today: I had raisin bran and skim milk for breakfast, a smallish bowl; for lunch I had yogurt and a wedge of beer bread. For snacks I've had 9 almonds and one kiss piece of taffy. I honestly haven't been hungry for more, though I have definitely been munchy; I'm sure I will develop a genuine appetite as the afternoon progresses, and then it's a matter of eating healthy foods, not the junk I've been having.

Daniel has promised he'll give me an opportunity to exercise today, though I may not wait for him -- I think I'll just go for a longish walk and hope Mary can keep up on her bicycle. No excuses for me!

I don't get it!

OK - So, Taffy - check! Fudge - check! French Fries - check! PLUS Fisher's popcorn, pizza, deepfried seafood, HUGE cheese stuffed omlettes, and whipped cream stuffed crepes, and seafood potatos (Emily and I went to Bayside Skillet TWICE for breakfast). Goldfish crackers, brownies, Uh-Ohs, cookies, pretzels, etc. The only vegetables I had was in the pizza sauce, I did have fresh fruit (cantalope and peaches) but the bad definitely outweighed the good. Even my exercise was minimal (miniature golf one day, 1/2 mile walk on Assateague, playing on the beach two or three days, short boardwalk walk). So - all that being said - explain to me why my weight is only .2 up from last Tuesday? I was 209.2 today. I was doing the whole "guess the weight" thing this morning and I was guessing 211.8!!! (So imagine how good the 209.2 looked to me.) I bet it will all show up tomorrow morning for weigh in day!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

132 even

That was a nice thing to see on the scale today! It actually flashed 131.8 for a second before settling on 132, so I'm feeling pretty good about life. I've been back to exercising this past week (three trips to the gym) and counting calories (not as anally as before, but making educated guesses and keeping my intake to around 1400 calories). The weekend was actually good for me because I wasn't snacking mindlessly, and when mealtime came around I was legitimately hungry. having Brian home in the evening helps as well--I'm not as likely to eat junk for dinner or snack all night long when he's around.

Everyone at work seems to be back in fitness mode. They started up a Weight Watchers group on campus last week, and the campus-wide Wellness program is getting in gear as well. A lot of people participate in that, so there are constant reminders to exercise and eat well, and at least three other people in my immediate vicinity are always going off to yoga or aerobics classes. The students are back packing the gym too, which is depressing. Yesterday the girl on the treadmill in front of me was keeping up a pace of between 6.8 and 7.3 m.p.h. and her heart rate didn't go over 160 the whole time. When I arrived she had been on the treadmill for 20 minutes, then I did my 35, and she was still at it when I left! She did occasionally "cool down" with a 4 m.p.h. walk with a 9% incline. Sheesh.

I don't have any fruit to eat at work today. I took Claire to the allergist this morning and it took way longer than we thought it would and she was hungry on the way home so I gave her my grapes. Other than that, I had my usual cereal for breakfast, almonds for snack (in the car while Claire ate my grapes) and I just had string cheese and pretzles. I'm saving my yogurt for later.

New Challenge?????

OK - It looks like we are all in the exercise-less mode... which isn't good. I suggest that we start a new challenge.

What do you all think? Miles travelled (not steps - Katie has us all at a disadvantage)? Bikes go faster/farther than walking, so maybe we could figure out what the equvalant is. Or how about minutes spent? I can do 6 10 minute videos (I like them!) in a day - or squeeze one in every once in a while... What do you think? Obviously this can't start until we are all back in our home places.

We could kick off something next weigh-in day and then do weekly "prizes" followed by a GRAND PRIZE on Halloween - or something. What do you think?

Weightless

I don't have my scale at the beach so I can pretend I've lost three pounds since last week. Or ten. So I finally weigh 129. I haven't been eating fabulously well but I have been eating less than usual, because I've been so impossibly busy. I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing! Yesterday I drove all the way to the airport and back without any food at all -- and then I ate about five Oreo cookies when I got here, so that part wasn't so good. I have done some walking every day -- on Sunday the big kids and I walked a mile down the strip and back again in search of paper and markers (and then we gave up and I took Mom and Dad's car out). Most of that way I was carrying Alexander. On the other hand, I'm not going up and down stairs the way I would at home, so it probably evens out, and I'm just a slug as always.

I dreamed last night that Amy was making fun of me for starting to gain the weight back now that I've stopped exercising. She said that the weight I'd lost so far was water weight. And in the dream it was 90 pounds, not 35. I'd be seriously dehydrated if I lost 90 pounds of water! We ran all over the stockroom of an enormous Toys'R'Us that was under construction while I argued with her. Hee hee! I must be feeling guilty about not exercising. (Actually, I know I am -- I didn't need a weird dream to tell me that.)

155

Food has been awful, but hasn't been in great quantity, and I haven't been exercising at all. Definitely not the way to go.

Amy--Travis took our old treadmill nearly a year ago. It was a low end model that came from Wal Mart for about $250. We upgraded to a better one that was like $600.

Starting on an up note

But not in a good way... My weight today (while lower than the past few days - I was 209.8 yesterday and 210.6! on Sunday) was 209 even. This is a little over a pound up from last week. I was thinking that this morning when I weighed myself - the problem with having a good - lower - weight on weigh in day is that it is more disappointing the next weigh in day when I go up!

Food has been same ole same ole. Last night Katie and I had Coconut Curry Shrimp from Let's Dish. It was very yummy! I love that dish. It is very hot (and I don't love hot!) but in a sweet - very flavorful way. I can't get enough of it - but we divided last night's into dinner and lunch for today - so I will get more of it today. Then (after all of the spicy) I was craving ice cream. I would have ignored that craving - except when we were packing our lunches last night I discovered that we had no milk! So I had to run to the Farm Store - and since I was there anyway... I got a Ben & Jerry's Vermonty Python pint. Katie and I each had some last night - but even so there is about 1/3 of the container left - so not TOO bad.

My stomach is growling now - so I guess I should eat my breakfast. Still no exercise to report. Sigh.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Quick Post Before I go

My weight was 208.4 again today. I looked up treadmills on the internet. That was my exercise. I am seriously thinking of SOMEHOW cleaning my room enough to have a treadmill in there. I am thinking of rearranging altogether... Then if I quit the gym I will save $600 - and the treadmill sitting in my bedroom will always remind me of how bad I am for not exercising. Of course, I won't have money to do this with until after the holidays. Maybe this will be my 40th birthday present to myself instead of a trip to Italy. Ugh.

Julie - what did you do with your old one?

OCEAN BOUND! Fudge! French Fries and Taffy!!!

Friday update

I'm back to exercising! It's about time, huh? I've gone to the gym twice this week (not bad for a four day week, I figure) and walked Davey twice as well. And the gym wasn't as bad as I was worried about--I was able to run the full time on the treadmill (although I built up gradually, starting with 4.8 m.p.h, then 5, then 5.2 for only a short time) and stay at level 10 on the exercycle yesterday. I've also been eating fairly well--my usual stuff during the day and real meals for dinner. Of course, the Coffee Crisp on Tuesday and the Godiva milk chocolate hazelnut praline ice cream last night weren't exactly stellar, but nonetheless I'm down a pound since Tuesday, and since I'll be away this weekend, I will probably come home to discover that the rest of the Godiva ice cream is gone.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Stuff

I don't really have anything to report really. My weight was up today - 208.4 - but I hardly ate anything yesterday!! Dry cereal for breakfast, PB&P for lunch, Beans & Rice for dinner and a Caribou granola bar at some point. That was it all day. I was 207.8 yesterday.

Still no exercise. I am looking forward to the beach this week because default exercise always happens on vacation. I am hoping THAT will help motivate me to get moving when I get back home. I am not wearing a bikini, however.

I got my new glasses yesterday. They are pretty cute - similar in color to my last pair - and still narrow lens, but these are oval and wider hoizontally. They are cute. They are progressive lenses - which I am still getting used to.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Oops

I forgot to post yesterday. Busy day. My weight was 139.5 -- I'm having my period and my weight went up, which is not a good thing. Daniel and I cursed the gym again this morning -- we can't do anything about a new place or equipment until we get our money back, and they're still hanging onto it! Grr. Very annoying. That doesn't mean we can't exercise at all, but when it's cold and rainy and there are kids underfoot in the house I have no chance of doing aerobics or getting out for a walk, and that's been a lot of days lately. Phooey.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Hmmm...Can't remember what the scale said...

I am pretty sure I weighed myself this morning, although I have no recollection at all of what the scale said. I am very distracted lately. I was 155 even on Saturday, but then I ate tons of Indian food (authentic--visited my friends Sharad & Ruchi!!) and then topped it off with random junk yesterday. If I had to guess a weight, I'd say 156.2. I'll try to remember the weight tomorrow. I did run yesterday. Amy Mantay burnt me 2 cd's (entitled 'Amy's Booty Jams 1 & 2') and they are fun to run too. Lots of trashy hip hop, but I have to say the beat is awesome. At the same time I am sure I am being severely corrupted on a subconscious level--those lyrics are just truly awful.

I bought jeans on Saturday. I have a "field trip" for work Thursday and nothing appropriate to wear to a water treatment plant. Got 2 pair that I am happy with, one from Old Navy and one from gap. So even if my weight isn't going down a lot my butt is changing shape because I have never been able to find jeans at either of those places.

134.2

Apparently I gained a pound and a half over the weekend. I was 132.6 every day last week, but didn't weigh myself over the weekend, and now look where I am.

Today is the beginning of my more normal schedule. Kids are back in school for full days, Brian has started his new job. We actually ate a family meal last night! Connor was even at the table for a couple of minutes! I eat much better when Brian is home in the evenings--having another adult around helps curb my snacking, plus he expects to eat actual dinners and not just french fries. I don't know what his problem is.

Anyway, my weekend weight gain kind of surprised me. The only overeating I did was at the fair, and that was a hot dog, ice cream with peaches, and cotton candy. It could have been MUCH worse. The rest of the weekend was the normal stuff (or the weekend version of normal--I had popcorn two nights, but no breakfast for any of the three days, and unhealthy daytime snacks all three days--cookies mostly--but dinners were o.k. Last night was baked chicken, rice, and cauliflower, the fair food was dinner on Sunday, and we had veggie lasagna for dinner on Saturday. Lunch on Saturday was peanut butter and pickles, then eggs and toast on Sunday and grilled cheese on Monday (o.k. none of those were great, but they weren't terrible either). Oh, and on Friday for lunch I ate picnic food at work--hamburger (with lettuce and tomato but no cheese or any other added fat), pasta salad, raw carrots and tomatoes, and potato chips. So anyway, the food all weekend wasn't great but should have been o.k. for maintaining weight.

I also stayed pretty active--did a lot of inside cleaning on Saturday, walking on Sunday (at the fair and then a two mile walk with Davey later), yard work on Monday and a short bike ride (it started raining almost as soon as I got on, so I only did a mile or so).

I came to work today prepared to go to the gym for the first time in more than a month, but now I don't know if I'll make it--our regular weekly staff meeting is a lunch meeting this week. I hope I can get away after that meeting to get to the gym, but that depends on the work I have to get done. But with the school year started and August's craziness over, I should be able to get back to my normal exercise schedule.

Happy New Year!!

I was confused yesterday thinking THAT was weigh in day. That would have been slightly better - I was 207.8 today - but 207.4 yesterday. I was 207 even on Sunday.

I think I must be losing muscle mass. That is the only thing I can think of to explain my weight drop from solidly in the 210's last month to pretty established in the 207's this month (so far). I still haven't been drinking (I skipped Christopher Daniel on Saturday night) since Pennsic - so I am sure that has helped. And we haven't been eating out as much either (neither of us has any money).

I didn't eat really well over the weekend - but it wasn't horrible either. I found myself seriously craving cookies last night - but we had none, so I had 94% fat free popcorn instead. (Poor substitute - but I didn't eat cookies!) I ate lots of Let's Dish stuff. We went on Friday night - so we have a lot of new foods - but I ate mostly stuff from past months. I had the spring time egg bake (like quiche), chicken parmesean, a gouda burger, and pesto pizza. Since Katie was out and about all weekend, most of those I ate for a couple of meals. I also ate 2/3 of our strawberry margarita pie. That isn't as bad as it sounds - I have stuck to just one piece a day - and it is one of those frozen cool-whip based pies. And strawberries! That's a fruit - right?

Anyway - so losing muscle mass. I haven't exercised since before Pennsic... probably WAY before Pennsic. Well - being at Pennsic is exercise it and of itself... but it is counter balanced by the drinking and goodie eating. Sigh - I don't know what to do to get me motivated again. Katie and I DID clean the living room yesterday. Maybe I can use that as a motivation to work out at home. I don't know...

Friday, September 01, 2006

Checking In

Let's see, so we've been doing this a year. That makes me a bit sad--it seems like only yesterday we started. Time goes too fast sometimes. Guess I must be getting older :^)

My goals are pretty much still the same, although I suppose I should go look up exactly what they were a year ago to make sure. I am definitely better about how much I eat, and my exercise has been fairly consistent over the past year. My next step is to increase what I can do. So I'm going to focus on running I think, and on improving my speed for a certain amount of time. I don't want to run a marathon or anything crazy like that, but maybe some short races. We'll see how that plays out. I first have to get up the courage to run outside and get off the darn treadmill!! I am completely dependant on the speed settings to control my pace.

An update on this week since I think I only posted Tuesday. I survived Wednesday's class as well. One guy is going to be a pain in my butt. My first "homework" assignment was for everyone to send me an email so I could put their address in a contact list. Well, he STILL hasn't done it. Is that really a lot to ask? And he doesn't listen for crap. Asked me to repeat myself like 5 times. Finally the guy sitting next to him was just like "Go on--I'll take care of him." It was crazy. My food on M-W isn't great. I have to figure that out. Monday I had a nutragrain bar and Wed I had a muffin. Then I munched when I got home after 9 pm. Plus there was zero exercise. There's no way I can run or walk or do a video at 10 pm and then get up at 5 am to start all over again. I was soooo tired yesterday at work it was ridiculous.

An update on yesterday--no exercise and food was poor. I met some friends after work and we went to Pei Wei in Towson and then to Caribou. It was fun, but the asian food was higher in calories than what I would usually eat AND we had campfire mochas for dessert while we hung out at Caribou. I estimate the day at 2000 calories. And then all that garbage caused havoc in my stomach. Blah! It took several Tums to be able to get to sleep last night.

Down again

I was 207.8 this morning. I was also mildly motivated to make that number go lower!!!! Since I seem to have been stuck at the same (higher) number or in a steady INCREASING pattern for the last MANY MANY months - I have been very discouraged - or more accurately, not very encouraged. Now that I have had a slight downward dip I want to make it KEEP going downward. Sadly - I am not thinking that way when I am snacking on Pringles (I like the single serving packs - they are usually JUST enough) or thinking about exercising.

I am back to my quandry about continuing at the gym. I have had ZERO motivation to go lately. Beyond zero in fact. I - half the time - don't even THINK about going. The other half I have "good" reasons why I can't go. So - is it worth the $50 a month to me? Sigh - feedback would be nice here. $50 a month is $600 a year - which I could get a treadmill for - or a tri-cycle. 8-) Or a HELL of a lot of videos, new shoes and lots of exercise clothes.

I am starting my new charts today. Septemeber is our 13th month of doing this. I have decided that my spreadsheet collecting is plenty big enough containing one year of data - so a new one is called for. Sort of a Back to School spreadsheet.