Slug Mode

I have definitely been in slug mode the past two days. I am claiming that I have a mild virus - but I am not sure if that is true. I have done NOTHING but creep about the house, reading, napping and intermittently wrapping Christmas presents - and cleaning, in very short bursts. I have had a horrible headache that water, caffeine and Advil haven't touched - I also keep getting those weird fever sweats, but I don't seem to have a fever when I take my temperature - so maybe I am just getting hot flashes. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.

I was supposed to go to a party at Kristy's last night, but I really just didn't feel up to it. So I stayed home. I haven't eaten ANYTHING healthy - mostly just a few cookies. I made poached eggs for dinner last night, and I had a pear today.

I am now going to look for something to eat - and maybe I will clean out the refrigerator at the same time. Exciting life, huh?

Is this Saturday?

I've been messed up all day.  I keep thinking it's Sunday.  But I know it's Saturday because Daniel went out for a long run today, and he usually reserves those for Saturdays.  He actually ran 11 miles -- all the way to the end of the Huckleberry and back -- which is the longest he has ever run.  And he came home and said he could have done it either faster or further, so I'm pretty durn proud of him. ;-)

I went to the gym Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but today I didn't have a reservation (they only have childcare in the mornings on Saturdays anyway) so I just did a 30 minute WAtP, which was totally wimpy.  It was the walk/jog one so it wasn't as wimpy as it COULD have been, but the workout just doesn't do it for me anymore.  But it felt better than sitting around doing nothing.

Overeating

I expected to eat too much on Christmas, but I haven't been able to STOP eating since then!  My meals have been fine -- normal portion sizes and some restraint there -- but my snacking is out of control.  The candy from  my stocking is quite moderate and if I'd stuck to that I'd be maintaining my restraint.  But there is candy all over the house and I'm eating it even when I don't really want it much.  And last night Daniel and I together ate most of a bag of pistachios -- which aren't too bad in moderation, but when they start to make your lips shrivel you know you've had too many.  So today I am trying to have fresh resolve.  So far it has only gone OK; I ate a healthy breakfast and lunch, but I ate two of Daniel's mother's turtles this morning and a slice of chocolate orange after lunch.  If I keep it to that level I might just get by, but we'll see.

I completely missed exercise on Tuesday and only did crunches on Sunday and Monday, so by Wednesday I was getting antsy.  So on Wednesday and Thursday I went to the gym, and today I have an appointment again.  I'm not sure what I'll manage next week; I may have to bring WAtP with me just to have something.  It's getting so I hate to miss exercise for more than a day! 

Intuitive Eating

I was reading the book Intuitive Eating last night. This should be required reading for all of us on this blog. I only read one chapter last night - but SO much of it struck home. A lot of it was about how and why dieting doesn't really work - and how many of us who are chronic dieters, diet even when we don't mean to. I kept finding passages that I wanted to quote on this blog - until I realized that I would basically be typing the whole book over.

Supposedly what this book helps to do is re-set our thinking, pay more attention to the signals our bodies give and respond to the needs and wants of our bodies - rather than what we THINK we should need or want.

The chapter last night addressed a lot of what we fear will happen if we give up "dieting." 1. I will be out of control and eat everything in sight. 2. I will gain back every pound I ever lost. 3. I will never make healthy choices. etc. It also talked about our knee jerk responses. Like in MY case - I was reading this thinking "I will do the Ultra-metabolism diet right after New Years and then switch to intuitive eating at that point." I turned the page and there was a section about "last chance dieting." Chronic dieters always want to try one more diet before they give it up for intuitive eating.

I think intuitive eating is harder for me because there is no one telling me what to do. I want a schedule and rules to follow - but this book says that is precisely what needs to be fixed. I have to do what MY body needs and not what someone else (who has never met me) says that my body SHOULD be doing.

Anyway - I am eager to see how this all plays out. I have been much better about not eating something just because it is there. On Christmas (before I ate all the candy that night) I wasn't feeling like I wanted to eat candy. I was fine with the one Hershey's kiss that I had.

So my weight was 228.6 today. Oh - another thing I am not supposed to be doing - weighing myself everyday. I know that I didn't lose 1.4 pounds overnight. I lost water (at best). My calories were slightly lower yesterday - but not 750 calories lower (I don't think anyway...). I weigh myself mostly for the statistics of it. I like charts.

Skim Vanilla Latte

So I had my first plain skim latte last night. When I went to record it on TDP I discovered that the vanilla flavor adds a whopping 25 calories to the whole shooting match. In which case I will suck up (literally!) the extra 25 calories and have the coffee taste yummier!

Yesterday my exercise was putting up the Christmas tree - AGAIN! I came home from giving blood and grocery shopping to find Laura swinging from the Christmas tree. It had - apparently - fallen down while she was wrapping presents in front of it. Luckily it was yesterday and not two days before!! Most of the presents were gone from under the tree - and only one of mine had gotten so wet that it needed to be unwrapped. But about 75% of the ornaments had come off - and the beads, lights and paper chains were in chaos. I got it more securely propped up against the cabinets and called Katie to come help. I love Laura, but she is one of the least "capable" people I know. Katie and I are pretty good at working in tandem. After much lifting, shifting, twisting, pushing, screwing, and cursing we decided that the tree was NOT going to go back into it's holder. So - we again propped the tree against the cabinets and went to Target to get a new tree stand. One tree skirt, one stocking, a pair of PJs, and tow printer ink cartridges later we left, but with no tree stand. We tried Home Depot next. They had sold out two weeks prior. So we got a cheap bucket and a bag of rocks and went back home. The bucket didn't do it either... The bottom of the tree was cut at a sharp angle - so the tree was desperately trying to lean in the direction of the angle. So - we tied it up. We attached it to the curtain tie back and a nail that we put into the top of the door jam. That - FINALLY - did the trick. We then took off the remnants of the paper chain and beads. Fixed the disarrayed lights and put everything back on. When we finally finished (around 9:30pm - about 6 or 7 hours after it fell...) we agreed that it looked better than it had originally - shorter - and we like the new tree skirt. 8-)

I ordered a new tree stand. Cast Iron. 22 pounds. It looks like a snowflake - only red.

So that pretty much filled my day. I had (originally) planned to go to the gym before I went to give blood - but the timing was bad. I wouldn't have been able to eat before going to the Red Cross and I always am a little nervous that my iron count isn't going to be high enough anyway. So I decided that it would be fine if I did it afterwards (I mean, walking isn't STRENUOUS exercise anyway). I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from giving blood and needed to put the frozen food and milk in the refrigerator. I really intended it to be in the door and out again in less than 5 minutes - but you know the saying about rodents making plans and all. So I didn't make it to the gym - and my back is STILL hurting today from the tree acrobatics(although Katie did all of the floor work - I really was just the tree holder person).

My weight this morning was UP - in spite of me having drained off a full pound -to 230! I think I must have eaten too much salt maybe... My period did start late on Christmas night - so maybe that is what I am showing now. I hope it won't stay... I have to start keeping better track of the water I am drinking to make sure I am getting enough - but I am pretty sure I did yesterday since I always drink a lot before I give blood.

Ho boy - did I BLOW it!

I was doing so good yesterday! I had only had one Hershey special dark kiss - and one cookie. I ate reasonably at dinner. I was actually pretty pleased with me.

THEN - I came home and was reading before I went to bed an proceeded to eat 9 Hershey kisses (various flavors), 4 peppermint nougats, 2 Peppermint Patties, and 3 Rolos. Oh! And the chocolate covered pretzels that were in my stocking. That pushed me about 200 calories beyond what my calorie level was. Then today (when I was adding all of the candy in) I remembered that I had egg nog with rum also. THAT really did me in. And I had to add the coffee with creamer I had in the morning (about 40 calories - no too bad) and just now I remembered that I had two glasses of wine - one with dinner and one after. Sigh. Yeah - so I was REALLY beyond my calories yesterday.

To make up for it I am giving blood today. A pint? That weighs a pound right? So I should be down tomorrow... Actually my weight today was 229.4 - which is slightly down from my last weight (229.8) but I can't remember if that was yesterday or on Monday - and it is absolutely right in line with what I HAVE been weighing.

I am really scared to death to drop my calorie level again. That is what BOTH of the nutritionist I have met with have said has screwed me up (at least in part). While I know I am perfectly able to eat 1200 calories or less, Rebecca (the current nutritionist) and Jennifer (the previous nutritionist) both said that my body is very good at adapting. My history of dieting has show this too. I really need to figure out a way to get my metabolism working at a more effective rate. 1700 calories really SHOULD be leading to weight loss in someone my size and Rebecca said that she didn't want me going below 1800 calories - so it is already below what I should be doing. I think I need to start eating BETTER food choices. I have been sticking within my calorie level easily - but I have been eating a lot of carbs and not enough fruits and vegetables. I already have switched my coffee to skim milk and no sugar - but my afternoon coffee I still get with the vanilla flavor - which is ALL sugar I think. I am going to try plain skim lattes instead of the vanilla latte and see if I like it all right. Lattes are my only source of milk at this point in my life - so I don't feel too guilty about them. I also have gone almost entirely to whole grains. I do need to get back to the gluten free stuff. Rebecca also said that I won't show much improvement from a gluten free diet until I have been doing it for a month or two - after my digestive tract has had a chance to heal. She said that if you have a gluten sensitivity, the GI tract gets irritated and inflamed and needs to recover completely before it starts working effectively again.

I am also going to read the Ultra metabolism book. I know cinnamon and cayenne pepper help jump start your metabolism - and I am sure there are foods that do it too. As long as it isn't the bitter greens (kale, chard, and the like) which make me gag I can probably enhance my diet.


So - these are my partial new years resolutions. That and to learn to make sushi. That is gluten free. Last years resolution (learn to run) has been partially achieved. I can't run like Emily and Sarah can - but I DO run in spasmodic bursts when I am walking. It is easier on my shins and sometimes you just CAN'T walk that fast. Luckily my legs are long - so usually I CAN walk that fast. 8-)

Happy Christmas!!!

I thought I would be the only one online today... We are in the in between phase between Christmas morning and Christmas dinner. I just made my salad for tonight, and am trying to resist taking a nap. I would really LIKE a nap - but I a) don't have enough time to do it justice just now, and b) Katie and I lit a fire in the fireplace on the deck. Katie and Charles went to pick up Lex about two hours ago, and Laura left to do her family Christmas thing shortly after that. So - it is just me to keep the home fires from NOT burning down the home... so to speak. It probably is perfectly fine on it's own, but I know that is exactly WHEN fires burn down the house!! We lit it at about noon-ish, maybe sooner. The box says that it would burn up to three hours (Duraflame log) but that was OVER three hours ago - and it still seems to be burning very throughly. I am not sure what I will do if it is STILL burning in another hour... That would really be pushing it to make it to dinner on time.

I didn't exercise yesterday. I know it wasn't supposed to be part of the 12 days of Fitness, on purpose - but I still hoped to get some in. However, with grocery shopping, last minute gift wrapping, mass starting at 4pm - and getting to the church at three - and the Christmas Eve activities - that really left no time to exercise. I SHOULD have done some while I was killing time not taking a nap - but I cleaned the glass doors and finished listening to A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Boo-Hoo!! I am all done with them now! This has filled my listening time for the last six months! I am going to miss Davina Porter and all of Claire and Jamie's peeps! Diana better get scurrying on the next one. She said she should haven it finished by the end of 2008 - but didn't know when it would be published. Sigh. I may have to start over with Outlander. I DO have three Lord John's - no, wait - FOUR - in audio format - but they are only between two and eight hours long. I will work my way through them first. Then I also downloaded two Anne Perry novels that Davina Porter also read - so I will do them next. But they won't take me any farther then February probably - what with my excursion to Fraiser's Ridge to learn to play the banjo next month. (Not really Fraiser's Ridge - but back country North Carolina none- the-less.

Anyway - I am going to take a quick shower (praying that the house doesn't burn down while I am doing it!!) (As an aside - I was sitting watching the fire on my deck listening to Jamie's and Claire's house burn down just about an hour ago...) before I get ready for dinner to night.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!

It's Tuesday so I actually paid attention when I weighed myself today.  I was 134.5!  So I'm under my goal weight on an official day.  Truth be told, I haven't seen especially low weights all week, and I'm pretty sure this weight is just because I've had virtually no water (and very little food) over the last two days.  But dinner last night was heavy (lasagna and garlic bread) so I expected a jump back up.  I'm certainly not complaining.  Now, to KEEP this weight for longer than three weeks will be a herculean effort.  (Especially since Santa put Dove chocolates, a Lindt dark bar, and two chocolate oranges in my stocking -- and there's other yummy food all over the house.)

On the twelfth day of fitness

I really resented having to exercise. I was in the middle of wrapping presents - wanting to get them all done tonight, KNOWING I still needed to exercise. But I did it. 20 minutes of Yoga for Inflexible People. I need to get yoga blocks. That is what they use to help define and hold poses for people who can't quite reach (Like ME!)

Katie and I sent out for Chinese food tonight. It was very yummy - although, once I ate the egg drop soup (with corn) and a spring roll AND two crab wontons AND some of Katie's curry rice noodles with shrimp, I didn't have room for my moo-shu chicken... But, in true Chinese food fashion, I am feeling hungry again.

Like Emily, I have been in non stop motion since I got up this morning. We went to church last night - so I got started right away baking gingerbread men and linzertorte bars. From that I went immediately to Sarah's for cookie decorating then home for dinner and present wrapping. I had only done about six gifts prior to tonight, so it was a big chore. Back to wrapping presents now!!

On the twelfth day of fitness, the exercise for me...

was officially 100 crunches just now.  But I haven't stopped moving since about 11:00 this morning.  We went to church and then went to IHOP for breakfast (takes about the same amount of time as brunch at home, without the mess to clean up) and since then I've been cleaning, decorating, and wrapping presents.  I don't recall sitting down post-breakfast until dinner time.  So I'm sorry I wimped out on real exercise today but I just don't know how I would have fit it in!  I still have about a kazillion presents to wrap and there aren't bows on more than a handful of gifts yet, so I'm about to get back at it.  But at least I finished 12 days in a row of something.  I wouldn't have even done the crunches otherwise!

On the eleventh day of fitness, the exercise for me...

was a Buns of Steel video that I've had for at least a decade.  I was going to do Jane Fonda but I couldn't find it (it turned up while I was doing the toning section of the other video -- it was just on the wrong shelf, at eye level for crunches).  The aerobics section, 28 minutes, wasn't at all difficult, but I did work up a sweat and I got my heart moving a bit, so it's something.  The toning was easier than I remembered -- there were a bunch of crunches which turned out to be quite easy after all those I've been doing, and there were some leg/butt exercises that felt good but didn't wear me out.  I got dressed into my exercise clothes first thing in the morning because I knew once I got going on the day I wouldn't want to stop to work out, so I did the exercise right after breakfast.  Alas, unlike Amy, I did not see negative calories -- it wasn't a caloric enough workout!  Gardening burns more than aerobics and crunches!

My Eleventh day of Fitness

The exercise for me was gardening. I decided that since I had so much to do today I would do a useful exercise. I gave myself the option of walking to the liquor store to pick up two gifts or to tear up the garden and rake the back yard free of its smothering pine needles. I chose the gardening since there was no faster way of doing it and the trip to the liquor store COULD be accomplished much more quickly if I DROVE there instead.

I like fall gardening (winter, now I guess!) since you do get a good solid workout (both cardio and muscular depending on what you are doing...) but in the fall you have the added advantage of NOT sweating to death. Additionally you don't have to worry about if something is a real plant or a weed because EVERYTHING needs to go. AND - there are considerably fewer bugs.

Being that I did the exercise early in the day I was functioning on negative calories for a while. That is nice too. Sadly, it didn't last.

My tenth day of fitness (is that what we are on)

Was just 100 crunches at 11:30pm. I was exhausted and actually considered NOT exercising - but knew that wouldn't do - and so did the crunches.

I forgot to weigh myself this morning - so I don't know what my weight was. Probably 229-ish.

On the tenth day of fitness, the exercise for me...

was 40 minutes on the elliptical, plus 2 minutes of cool-down, and 100 crunches and 20 with my feet in the air and 10 with bicycling legs, and 40 pushups (20 full-length, but not consecutive), and a couple of the upper body machines because I've almost stopped using those entirely and I need to get back to muscle work.  I'm now out of gym appointments until next Thursday so I'm going to have to go back to getting creative with my workouts!  (I'm still a bit tender in my left calf from my last creative workout, ugh.)

Ninth day of fitness

It was another day from hell--up at 1:30 a.m. and Connor wouldn't let me doze on the sofa. Breakfast holiday party at work, grant deadline in the afternoon and all of the faculty have vanished for the break. Stayed up until 1 a.m. decluttering and trying to put the shelves in our built in bookcases. Not successfully. Stopped during that endeavor to do 50 crunches. That was my only exercise for the day.

I still haven't exercised today, and I haven't counted calories for a while. Today was a potluck lunch at work so again I ate too much. I just want Christmas to get here so I can stop preparing for it!

Calorie Thoughts

OK - TDP has me consuming about 1700 calories per day to lose 2 pounds per week. After playing around on their calculator I discovered that they see 500 calories per day to equal 1 pound per week. After tracking my calories on their website for over two weeks I have discovered that their 1700 calories maintains my current weight quite nicely. Since I was doing 1700 calories (ish - menu at 1300 allowing a 400 calorie buffer) on the Glucerna diet - and also maintainig my weight I have figured that my MAINTENANCE calorie level is 1700. So - using a 500 calorie per day/per pound I would have to eat 700 calories per day to lose 2 pounds per week (about 1% of my total weight which is what healthy diets are supposed to do). That would be one cup of coffee, a piece of dry toast, a bowl of soup, a banana, a small (undressed) salad (which would aggrivate my gut - maybe I should have steamed veggies) and a 300 calorie dinner. That is it. (Actually, that takes me over the daily allowance of 700 calories.) For variety I can have an egg for breakfast instead, I could skip the coffee and have 1/2 a pat of butter on my toast, I can switch the fruit to an orange or apple or whatever - which would leave a few calories to spare for a cup of coffee.

I don't think I can do this. I REALLY don't think I can do this for more than a week. Maybe I will do it for Lent. Maybe if I get into a habit I can actually stick with it. I don't know if I would be able to exercise on this amount of calories. Maybe a slow stroll on the treadmill. I am wildly curious though. I would like to know if at 700 calories I would lose weight. I think I will try it. I don't know when - maybe the first week of January (after all the junk of the holidays is gone...).

GASP - Nineth Day Fitness

Last night I decided I needed quick and dirty exercise because I was in the middle of getting stuff done. So I decided I would run up and down the stairs and lap around my kitchen/dining room/living room/hall. I intended to do 10 laps - but only completed 6. I thought I was going to die! I was breathing way hard - and gasping. It took me longer for my heart rate and breath to calm down than the exercise itself. How PATHETIC! It then also set me off coughing - which pretty much hasn't stopped yet (although it is much better now). I blamed part of this distress on the fact that I was wearing a turtleneck that was slightly too tight at the seam around the neck and a necklace that further compounded that. I did much better if I pulled the neck away from my throat. I blame MOST of my distress on this big fat butt that INSISTED on following me everywhere I went.

My all junk all the time actually didn't turn out too badly. After I posted yesterday I met Kristy for coffee, had grilled chicken with brown rice and a mango/raspberry sauce, then I ate one of the biscotti I was given. All told my calories were bad - but could have been much worse. I was kind of proud of myself because even though I gave myself permission to not say no yesterday - I actually didn't binge as much as I could have.

Katie and I are doing Let's Dish at lunchtime today. We haven't done it since July - we have been cooking more at home - but we are eager to have a variety back in our freezer today.

On the ninth day of fitness, the exercise for me...

was 45 minutes on the elliptical, 100 crunches, 50 more with legs raised, 50 push-ups (20 of them full-length), and about an hour of work in the garden pulling up and hacking down and raking aside dead stuff so it wouldn't look hideous all winter.  (And a partridge in a pear tree.)  I have so much to do to get ready for Christmas that I hated to spare the afternoon for the garden work, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday and I've been waiting for a day like that for weeks, so I couldn't pass it up.  We also went hunting for a tree yesterday and our usual place was sold out of the kind we like (no wonder, at 5 days until Christmas) so we had to do slightly more trekking than usual, though probably not enough to count as exercise -- it was just one of those running-around kind of days.  But we have a tree now. (And it's covered with snow, I suspect -- it's outside and it snowed last night!)  And I was back to 135 again this morning for the first time in eight days.

All junk all the time

Today was our team lunch/holiday party. It was early - 11am! - so I went very light on breakfast - 1 piece of toast with apple butter. I then was pretty good at lunch - green salad, grilled sea bass, grilled zucchini and garlic mashed potatoes. Water to drink. But I decided today would be my day to let myself eat the junk that has been piling up all week in our area - gourmet chocolates, nuts, shortbread cookies, candies, peanut brittle, etc. Even with my "permission" I have been pretty good. I ate one chocolate covered gooey thing, one piece of peanut brittle, several cinnamon cashews, and three bites of peanut butter cheesecake. So far anyway... I am drinking tea now to get the sweet out of my mouth. Kristy and I are also supposed to be meeting after work for coffee.

I spoke to Gloria (gym buddy) today. We agreed that we probably won't be able to plan gym trips between now and Christmas - not to say we won't GO, just we can't wait for each other necessarily.

Eighth day of fitness.

Would you believe I actually not only got to the gym, but tried a new exercise? They put in a stair climber machine a month or so ago and I've never seen anyone using it. So I hopped on it and tried it out. Now I know why no one uses it. It's like taking the stairs two at a time--you really have to extend to do the motion, and I didn't see any way of shortening up the stride. This was pretty tough going, and I have long legs! I can't imagine someone with shorter legs working on this machine. But added to the difficulty of the movement, it *hurt*--lots more actual muscle work because it really was like climbing stairs. My heart rate went up high right from the start and I had to cut back the difficulty level--I started it at 5 (on the elliptical and recumbant bikes I put the difficulty level at 9 or 10, so I figured 5 was a good starting point since I didn't know the machine), but ended up decreasing it down to 3 so my heart could keep up. But the calorie burn was terrible--it felt much worse than the treadmill or elliptical, where I can pretty reliably burn about 10 calories per minute. But on this thing I was only averaging about 8 or 9 calories per minute, which doesn't sound like that big a difference, but it adds up. I only burned 220 calories in the 25 minutes I was on the thing, but I was sweating like a pig and my heart was racing and my legs screaming. I got on the bicycle for 10 minutes after that to bring my heart rate down and burn some more calories (even the cool down cycle was difficult on this thing--level one was almost no resistance, but you still were taking the stairs two at a time!), then only had time for a couple of weight machines at the end. The frustrating thing was that I wanted to do some upper body stuff because my legs were already thoroughly worked out, but there were a group of skanky guys using all of the upper body machines (what is it with that? Why are guys so obsessed with building up their arms and chests but you almost never see them on the inner thigh or hamstring machines?) so I did lower body stuff. Probably a good thing--this morning my legs don't ache as I expected them to, so I think the weights at the end were a good cool down/stretch instead of adding to the burden!

Eighth day fitness

I did the elliptical again, for just 30 minutes -- we were a little late getting to the gym and our reserved time was slightly shorter than usual.  So we did the ellipticals plus a set of crunches (I did 100 regular and then 30 with my legs up) and pushups (10 full-length and 30 from my knees).  Nothing stellar.  And I didn't push the rate on the elliptical -- my heart rate was never above 155 and most of the time it was in the 130s and 140s, which is pretty low for me.

But this was a really busy day for me.  We decorated sugar cookies in the morning and I went shopping in the afternoon, and then I went to the gym.  I came home and got dinner together, and while Daniel was putting the kids to bed I went to the grocery store, which took way too long.  This doesn't sound like all that much to me, but I was going all day and barely remembered to eat!  I'm still under 1000 calories so I need to eat something before bed.

On the eighth day of fitness, the exercise for me...

Well, for a little variety I did some Yoga. BUT - It was variety. I have been doing the Just My Size Yoga - which is nice for me, but a little on the low intensity (as if Yoga were ever HIGH intensity!) So I decided (since it was still early in the evening) I would try my Yoga for Inflexible People. I have never done this one. I did the Basic Standing Poses portion - and a little bit of the seated poses also. This one is basically the same as the JMS one - except the teacher is much better (southern accent and all!). She talks you through what you should be doing with your various muscles and bones - all very subtle movements, almost more meditative. But I can tell you it worked my muscles much harder. Try standing with your legs doing various stretches and angles an your arms at horizon angle at your shoulders for 30 minutes. It definitely works your shoulders, chest and upper arms!

I mixed up a batch of gingerbread cookies today - using half whole wheat flour. I think the texture is going to be very odd... I then thought it would be a good idea to do the auto clean on my oven. My whole house stinks and the fumes have given me a headache. I hid out in my sewing room and bed room most of the day wrapping presents.

When did I last post?

I can't remember, so I don't know which "days" of exercise to report. Not that there's much to report--I've managed to exercise every day, but so far it's been a wimpy last-minute-squeeze-in-some-exercises exercise every day. I'm alternating between upper body exercises with free weights and lower body lunges and crunches (not really lower body, I guess, but I do them in with lower body stuff), all in about ten or 15 minutes at the end of the day. I really though I'd get to the gym on Monday, but a 3:00 meeting and a last minute research project got in the way. Yesterday I wasn't at work. Today I have my gym stuff with me and I really, really, really will get there today! I promise. Only one major project to finish up by Friday, and I'm in o.k. shape with it, so getting away for an hour shouldn't be a problem.

I was 138.2 again yesterday, which surprised me. I was expecting to see back up to 140 with the tiny amount of exercising I've been doing and the truly awful eating. Way too many goodies around, and I think my "self restraint" tool was left to gather dust in the basement somewhere. But I guess there's some benefit to the kind of unofficial exercise I've been getting every day of running solidly from early morning to late at night trying to accomplish everything I'm supposed to.

Fitness for me day seven

was once again Yoga. I really intended to do more of a variety of exercises during the 12 days - but in reality, I am just glad that we have this challenge because I suspect I wouldn't be exercising at all!

My weight, however, was up again today. I was 229.2. I know mine isn't muscle weight. I have read that this is mostly an false concept. While it is true that muscle weighs more than fat - you would have to have the same volume of muscle that you used to have in fat - which, in most cases, isn't the case. If you are building muscle, you are also burning fat and it isn't a 1 to 1 ratio - usually. That's for me anyway. Emily, you definitely don't have as much fat to burn as I do - so you may be in the gaining muscle camp - that is several states (probably countries) away from me.

I am off today so I think I will head to the gym right now and get a long work out in (both aerobic and resistant) before I get busy doing anything else.

On the seventh day of fitness, the exercise for me...

was about 50 minutes on the elliptical.  I started out on the upstairs one at the gym, thinking I was working out alone, but Daniel showed up 17 minutes later, just after the unit next to me had been claimed.  So we moved downstairs and did 30 minutes more plus a 5-minute cooldown.  It made my gluteals feel a lot better but my back is more sore now and my calf still aches.  If my muscles haven't recovered by tomorrow I'd better do the bike instead of the elliptical, because that's about the wimpiest cardio I can do.  Or maybe I should even just hang it all and do crunches and call that my workout -- I'll have to see how I'm feeling.  I do have an appointment tomorrow so that may make me get moving with something more or less real.

136.5

That's actually a half-pound gain from last week.  I've eaten just the right amount every day and I have exercised without fail every day, and nearly every day I've had enough water (and I haven't had a 2-cup day or anything like that) so all I can assume is that I'm building muscle.  I certainly HOPE I'm building muscle, because my muscles sure do hurt!  My arms are recovering today -- the free weights workout wasn't much last night -- but my butt is so sore!!  And my calves are still achy from the jumping and probably also from the lunges, so I'm hobbling around the house today.  Ow.

That's So MEAN!

My weight today was 229!! After my shower it was 228.8 - which is what I am going to count. Sigh. Even with exercising every day and watching my calories closely I have been slowly, but steadily gaining. I have to increase my water. I also have to be careful about WHAT foods I choose. I can't multitask when it comes to dieting (or anything else for that matter... I am a single tasker for sure!). But, apparently, I can't eat healthy foods, watch my calories AND exercise all at the same time. So - even though my calories have been 1700 or less each day, I have not been eating enough fruits and vegetables. I was going to say next that even though I have been exercising every day I haven't been doing a variety of exercise - but that isn't true entirely. I haven't done resistance training - but yoga is more muscle focused and the treadmill is aerobic - and I have been doing both of those - plus crunches, lunges and jumping jacks (periodically). So - I know my period will be coming soon - it has been 28 days now, but that still seems early to me to see a spike. I don't know. I have to increase my water as Emily suggested. I DO drink water in the winter - because the air is so dry, but I don't pay attention to how much I drink.

On the sixth day of fitness, the exercise for me...

was 2 laps of walking lunges, which weren't anywhere near as terrible as I expected them to be after Daniel's experience.  My theory is that they're easier for women than men because our center of gravity is so much lower.  I got a decent workout -- my heart rate was 162 when I stopped and my glutes were tired, but it was manageable.  It was only 16 minutes total, though.  I also did 5 minutes of elliptical as a warm-up and 7 minutes of bike (no ellipticals were open) afterwards while I waited for Daniel to finish on his machine.  Then I also did an upper body workout with the free weights, under Daniel's tutelage, and it was fine but I didn't have much luck finding the right weight for me most of the time -- it would take me a couple of workouts to get real exercise out of this.  But I prefer the Nautilus-style machines anyway.

My calves are sore today from the jumping contests yesterday.  Serves me right!

No Pool for Me

I spoke to my gym buddy at work and she said there was no way she was going to get out in time to make the 7pm pool class. I wasn't about to do that alone - so I came home, ate dinner, dressed for the gym and went BACK out in this bitter cold. Sarah, I thought of you having to walk your dog - brrrr. Maybe you can train Davey to a treadmill! Anyway - I did 35 minutes on the treadmill and then 5 minutes on the elliptical. I intended to do my whole workout on the elliptical - but they were all full when I arrived! What were all those people doing at the gym at 8:30pm!!???! Anyway - I burned 301 calories all told. I would have done longer on the elliptical - but my iPod ran out of A Breath of Snow and Ashes - mid conversation between Ian and Brianna on the mountain. GRRR! I don't think I realized I only had part of the book loaded on - but now that I think of it I did only have half loaded to iTunes when I last updated my iPod. So - I have to fix that right quick! I am throughly addicted to these in audio format (no surprise!). I think when I finish this one up I will have to start back on Outlander. I do have Lord John and The Most Recent Mystery of His in my audible.com account - so I guess I will listen to that first.

Dinner was leftovers from last night - which pushed me OVER my calorie limit - but my 300 calories burned brought me back into range. I feel way over full though. I think I will have hot tea for my midnight snack today.

Hi Guys!

I love the 12 days of fitness idea! I've been MIA for a bunch of them so I guess I am on the 7 days of fitness plan, but that's better than nothing.

I spent last week in Phoenix for work, and I thought I would have LOADS of free time on my hands in the evenings after class...hA! I had no free time. I did exercise once, but other than that it was lots of working and networking. I drug all these books with me and papers for work I was planning to go through, and didn't touch half of it.

So I am back now and looking forward to getting back into a normal routine, even if it only lasts until the semester starts at the end of January. I have the early slot this semester: 4:30- 7 pm, so I am hopeful I will be able to get to the gym more often.

My fifth day of exercise

Was yoga once again...

WELL! It is a really good late night exercise. I have been so busy lately that I keep finding myself late at night still needing to exercise. So - I did my yoga video. It was only about 10:30 when I did it. It would have been sooner, by Laura does her wrapping in the living room (no clue why - she doesn't do anything ELSE in the living room - and she leaves her wrapping mess upstairs. This time I at least got her to stash it under the table since I told her I was planning on doing yoga on the living room. I can't really complain because Katie and I leave mess in the living room year round - but WHY does she choose the one time of the year when there is already additional clutter in the living room (tree and presents) to add to the confusion? Sigh.

So - I did my yoga - and relaxed.

My weight was up this morning - WAY up. It was 228.6!! My calories were slightly on the high side for the day - since Katie and I went out for dinner (Tonino's) after church. I ate less than half of my dinner (shrimp with linguini) but between the garlic bread and salad (SHOOT! Forgot to add BOTH of those to TDP) I was on the high side of calories.

I hope I can get out of work early today (I came in almost an hour early this morning) so I can get to the aquasculpt class at my gym tonight.

On the fifth day of fitness, the exercise for me...

was 18 minutes of whatever I could scrape together while listening to Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music.  I started out planning to do lots of ab work.  I didn't want to do anything involving arms because my arms still ache from Thursday and Friday, and I didn't want to do anything that would be demanding on my quads because tomorrow I have to do 2 laps of walking lunges, which Daniel did today, and he said they nearly knocked him flat, and his quads will be in rough shape tomorrow!  So that ruled out pretty much any tape I have except WAtP, which I've already done in our first four days, and I'm really trying to keep some variety going.  And without legs or arms, that leaves abs -- and mine need a lot of work, based on the classes I took this week.

Anyway, I did 100 crunches, some singles and some up-2-down-2 counts, and some with my legs up, but probably not enough of those.  And then I did about 25-30 things with my legs -- reverse curls, scissoring them down, bicycling them.  But I just can't last long on those.  I need to dig out my college workout -- I know I did 100 climb ropes each day when I was in my best shape, along with three or four other 100-ab things, such that Jane Fonda seemed wimpy when I got home for the summer.  Or I need to do Pilates every day.  Sigh.  When I wearied of those I went to speed crunches and got through 100, but by the end my arms and nose and toes were going numb, oddly enough, so I had to get up and move around.  So I just danced and jogged and bounced as long as I could.  I challenged Mary to a jumping contest to see who pooped out first -- and I won, both times, much to my total surprise!  But I guess she had less incentive to keep going.  I worked up a pretty good sweat with all of this, and my calves got tired from all the jumping, so I suppose it counts as a semi-decent workout even if I didn't use my arms.  Much.

Exercise Day Four

I had the exact same experience as Sarah yesterday (bar the up until 8am bit). I slept until 11am (I was up until 3am doing Christmas stuff and then reading). I was still feeling wiped out all day though. I don't think it was over sleeping though - usually I DON'T sleep that late - even if I am up late. It is a rare thing for me to sleep past 9am. I got a lot done last night in the Christmas prep department - but did go to bed by 11pm. I woke up this morning just slightly before 9am - got up (horrified that it was so late!) staggered around a bit - and 20 minutes later went BACK to bed. I slept another 2 hours and woke again -finally feeling rested. Oh - but exercise... Yeah - I was in bed also when I remembered that I hadn't exercised. So I got up, did 100 crunches on my floor and went back to bed. I hate doing crunches on my floor because it makes my skin itchy.

Today, so far, I have cleaned up the sewing room, wrapped six presents, run down to Live and Learn to pick up another present, put the star on the tree, watered the tree (it already has consumed close to a gallon!) got a Starbucks gift card for my Secret Santa, bought toilet paper, and took a shower. Not necessarily in that order. Katie an I have to go to the "Last Chance" 5 o'clock mass again today. Ugh. I hate that mass!

I stopped at Boston Market during my running around. I got the chicken pot pie - and before I even looked up the calorie count (800!!!!!!) I dished out just half of the pie. That means I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 8-)

For my next trick I am making a batch of gingerbread cookie dough.

Days three and four

Day three was another walk with the dog, then I did some lunges and squats for good measure in the evening.

Day four was hell. On Friday night I stayed up until 1:00 doing some baking and wrapping, and as I was turning off the lights to go to bed, Connor woke up. When he wakes up in the night, he's up for good. So I was up with him until Brian came home at 8, then I stumbled (literally) to bed for a couple of hours. We got our Christmas tree in the afternoon (no exercise there--we stuck to the close-in trees because we were all so wiped out) then I watched the kids (and made dinner, did laundry, etc.) while Brian slept. Connor fell asleep around 5:30 and I was so determined to NOT have a repeat of the previous night that I decided to go to bed when Claire did, Christmas preparations be damned. So as I was getting both Claire and myself ready for bed, I remembered I hadn't yet exercised that day. So, um, remember the suggestion that at 11:58 you do some jumping jacks? I did them at 9:15. Then I went to bed. Which was a good thing because, as I suspected, Connor woke up at 3:30.

On the fourth day of fitness, the exercise for me...

gave me intestinal trouble.  I ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes, plus a 5-minute cool-down.  I tried setting it at my road pace at first (I average just under a 10-minute mile) but set it for random changes in incline at a challenge level of 10, and I quickly realized this was going to be impossible -- that 10-minute mile is for a mix of flat, uphill, and downhill.  Take out the flat and the downhill and the pace is insane!  So I cranked it back to 5.5 and eventually settled at 5.3, and after 30 minutes my heart turned out to be going too fast so I cut it back to level 9, and then not long after to level 8.  When I overdo it on running my intestines get hyperactive, so I had my worries that I might have to dash to the locker room instead of finishing my run, but the decreases made it manageable and I survived.  Ugh.  I imagine if I did a treadmill run more often I'd get better at figuring out my settings -- after all, I know just what to do for the bikes and the elliptical machines -- but it's just dull as dirt.  Not horrid, like the stair-climber, but dull, dull, dull.  But I did burn 500+ calories, so that makes it more worthwhile.

Anyway, that puts us a third of the way through our 12 days.  And I've done four different things.  Yippee!

My exercise day three

I again did my yoga video. I came home late from work again, and did some Christmas projects - but then I read until I finished my book that has been keeping me up late nights. So - Just now (at about 2am) I did my yoga video. It was relaxing - but I don't think I burned many calories...

On the third day of fitness, the exercise for me

was a 60-minute Strictly Strength class, which didn't actually seem all that long and was hard work but not impossible.  My right bicep gave me trouble, though, because the Hammer Strength machines from yesterday worked it a little too much.  It wasn't a very exciting class, though.  There weren't many people there -- the students are out of town -- and it doesn't seem to keep moving as well as Body Pump, which has a similar concept (but I haven't tried it at this gym -- maybe that's the instructor).

I didn't really break a sweat during the class even though my muscles were screaming, so afterwards I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and burned 170 calories.  Not shabby!

Daniel hit his next goal weight for an official day (he weighs MWF, and he kept seeing the weight he wanted on off days but not on official days -- then he cleared it by about 3 pounds!) so we're going to splurge on pizza tonight, though I'm not going to pig out, or I'll see it on my weight chart.

My tuh-tu hurt me

I have never tried to spell that. Is it ta-ta? Tu-tu? No - there is more of an "h" sound to it. Anyway - yeah. I have been having stomach issues. It started after I had been eating Macaroni and Cheese regularly (three times in one week!). I figured that was more gluten than my system could stand - paired with cheese and milk! But - that was DAYS ago. I have been up sick in the night for the last three nights, and the days I am mildly afraid to eat. I HAVE been eating of course, though. Actually - it is that weird thing where your stomach is growling, but any thoughts of food make you feel queasy. My weight was back to 227.2 today.

I stayed up reading again last night - and then since I was sick during the night, I DID NOT want to get up this monring. Katie also overslept - but in both cases we were ready to go pretty much on our normal schedule. Katie figured out when she got in to work that they were delayed an hour because of the icy roads - she called me just as I was also discovering the icy roads - but they were fine once I got onto the main ones.

I just ate a pear. I love that our vendors send us Harry & David's towers to work. They usually have a few healthy things. I have a block of cheese to go home with me and a bag of lightly salted nuts in my desk drawer. I am fine with that. Its very weird. This is the second one we have gotten - but the moose munch (which I know I LOVE) and the candys look totally unappealing - and everyone is HAPPY to pass off the healthy food to me. I had two pears from the last box sitting on my computer since Monday. I ate one yesterday and this one today. The yesterday one was perfect - which meant I thought todays would be too ripe - but it is even MORE perfect! I have to eat it in a bowl like applesauce - but I use a knife and my fingers rather than a spoon. YUM!

On my second day of fitness

I did a Yoga video at home. I not only didn't leave work early, I ended up staying until 8:15 pm. I didn't really eat a meal today - and had no healthy food - so I immediately ate dinner (frozen oriental chicken and rice with veggies) when I got home. I was actually going to go to the gym at this point (after 9pm) but Laura and I ended up talking for a long time. So I just got in my exercise clothes and did my JMS Yoga video. I really enjoyed it. I forgot how much I enjoy Yoga (when done at my own pace, where me falling over doesn't disturb anyone else! 8-)

Did I already post my weight this morning 228.2? I think I may have.

Second day of fitness...

I walked the dog. Kind of lame, but Brian is still sick so my to-do list tonight is insanely long and this was one of the things on it, so that's my exercise for the day. We did our three mile route. It was cold and damp, but there's one place on the way that has bit lighted snowflakes hanging from tree branches above the road--probably close to 100 of these things and it's so cool, so I like to walk that way in December.

Food today was so-so. I brought salad and cheese for lunch, but the salad was icky by lunchtime (no fridge yet in our new space) so I also got some pretzels to fill in a bit. And then I ate Girl Scout cookies when I got home. I think I'm still under my calories for the day, but not by much and there's a mug of hot chocolate calling my name (the hot chocolate isn't made yet, but I started craving it on the cold damp walk and I'm planning to reward myself with it if I can make it through the kids' bedtime and clean-up and recycling and dishes without yelling at someone).

On the second day of fitness, the exercise for me...

was 30 minutes on the stair climber, which I absolutely hated, because the range of motion on it was too high unless you use your arms on the ski poles to hold your feet back, and either way it's awkward.  Then I tried four different Hammer Strength machines -- these look like Nautilus machines but you have to haul the weights onto the equipment yourself, which means once you're settled it's a big nuisance to change the weight.  And they didn't force the arm muscles to be in synch, so I tend to get lopsided.  In short, this also was a failure as a new workout for me!  Oh, well.  Daniel showed up just as I finished Hammer Strength so I followed him to the elliptical and did 10 minutes on that, which made the whole workout feel better.  So I did 415 calories of cardio work today (according to the machines).

Daniel is doing a cycling class as we speak.  I hope he survives -- those classes are killers.  I'm going to try one next week, though, I hope.  Or maybe over the weekend.  My weight today was back up to 136 (but ranged from 135.5 to 137.5 over various weigh-ins throughout the morning, in varying levels of undress -- the 135.5 involved more clothing than the 137, but the 137 was post-breakfast.  But my scale is still a bit flaky!).

Need More Sleep

And I don't even have a child up at all hours! I didn't go to bed until 1:30 last night - and 2:30 the night before. Wednesday morning was OK since I could, in theory, sleep in - but the LAST thing I wanted to do this morning was wake up. One of the things you ALWAYS see in connection with dieting (in addition to drink water) is to get more sleep. I am getting LESS sleep. I need to start going to bed at a reasonable time!!

There is a yoga class at 7pm tonight. I was thinking about trying to make that - but that involves me leaving work early - and I don't know if I will be able to tonight. I will, however, at least go to the gym. Maybe tonight will be the night for the elliptical.

I haven't been eating today. I didn't eat breakfast before I left this morning. Katie's Christmas concert was today - so she had a sub do her classes - and took a personal day for the rest of the day. So, she didn't rush out the door this morning - and so also didn't make us breakfast. Anyway - whenever I don't eat breakfast - but do drink coffee, I am not hungry. I just ate a Harry and David's pear here at work. Oh so yummy! Now I am feeling hungry. Maybe I will eat my oatmeal.

I was 228.2 today. Up a full pound from yesterday. I am not sure why because I didn't over eat yesterday - and I did my jumping jacks at midnight. AND I got eight (almost) hours of sleep!

OK, OK, I'll cave into peer pressure!

Emily emailed me a bit ago wondering where I was--I hadn't posted in over a week! Sorry. Life got in the way.

I told her there was no way I'd be able to do the 12 days of fitness--too much else going on to commit to that. But then I realized, what the heck, I'm up with Connor anyway (Amy, after you left today he fell asleep on the sofa. Figuring he might be coming down with what Brian has, I left him alone. But he woke up at 9:30 raring to go, and he doesn't look likely to slow down anytime soon!) so I did an upper body workout with free weights, adding in 30 push ups because Emily mentioned them and I hadn't tried doing them since I started weight work this fall. Turns out push ups are MUCH easier now. I also did 100 crunches for good measure.

My weight this week was 138.2. No real change from the last two weeks. I haven't been paying much attention to my food, and there have been lots of goodies around. I did manage to fit in all of my exercise last week, but until tonight I did nothing this week. We're moving offices at work so I haven't gotten away from my space to get to the gym. OTOH, I've been schlepping a lot of boxes, so that has to be worth something!

On MY first day of fitness...

I almost forgot! I got busy doing Christmas prep. I looked at the clock about 15 minutes ago and thought "ACK! It is just like Emily said - OK, 10 jumping jacks at midnight it is..." But actually I did a short series of exercises I had emailed to me yesterday... I was wearing my jeans and turtleneck - so it wasn't the most comfortable exercise. And, yes, I also did jumping jacks... 40 actually.

My weight this morning was 227.2. My food wasn't great - but it was within my calorie range. It actually wasn't bad. I had a frozen salmon, broccoli and pasta thing for lunch - and then a frozen flat bread with shrimp for dinner. Katie and I decided it 'Tis the season - for frozen dinners. Our schedules are hard to mesh, what with shopping, cooking, concerts and the like.

Last night I went to dinner with the Transmitter group from work. It was fun. We went to Gertrudes at the BMA. They have $10 dinners on Tuesday night - and it was excellent. I had grilled 5-spice chicken, with grilled vegetables and a side of cold Asian noodles. We then had dessert. I shared a frozen Chantilly cream with berries. YUM. I had a glass of red wine and a grapefruit martini. VERY yum! My calories - all told - weren't horrible, but it would have been better had I gone to the gym.

On the first day of fitness, the exercise for me...

Was a pair of videos on TV!

I did the Muscle Mile WAtP (15 minutes of walking with weights) and the Pilates Intermediate video (for Dummies -- I should have done this about 50 times before I even tried that class, because this was WAY easier but covered some of the things we did).  I was groaning at myself for starting the 12 days on a Wednesday, because Wednesday is the day I seldom have time to exercise, but I guess that's the point -- I made time for it.  Of course, now I'm just starting dinner at 6:30.

My weight this morning said 135.  Gooooooooal!  Except it's not official until Tuesday.

The Twelve Days of Fitness

OK, ladies!  We have 14 days until Christmas.  That means, as of tomorrow, 12 days that aren't Christmas or Christmas Eve.  So I am issuing a challenge, along the lines of the one at my gym:  12 days of fitness!  Do 12 days of SOME kind of exercise every day.  It can be as simple as ten jumping jacks (which would be enough to kill me -- I hate jumping jacks) if you discover it's 11:58 pm and you haven't had a moment to exercise yet.  But do SOMETHING!  Ideally it should be something different every day -- try out each of the different cardio machines at the gym, do upper body weights one day, lower another day, do a video you haven't pulled out in ten years (Jane Fonda, anyone?  I have one with Scottish dancing on it!), try jogging if you usually walk, run up and down the stairs until you pass out.  But anything is better than nothing -- if you can't come up with something new, do something old again -- it still counts.  12 days!!  That's all!  Then you can relax when Christmas arrives.

Incidentally, the list of nineteen from my gym includes:

• Bring a friend
• Take a yoga or Pilates class
• Take a Strictly Strength class (cardio muscle work)
• Take a morning cycle class (that's 5:30 am -- they mean MORNING)
• Take a cycle class after noon
• Take a cycle class on the weekend
• Take a 20 minute Absolute Core class (Pilates without the stuff I'm good at, I guess)
• Take any cardio-based aerobics class
• Free weight upper body workout
• 30 minute elliptical workout
• 30 minute stair stepper workout
• 30 minute stationary bike workout
• 30 minute treadmill workout
• Body Master (like Nautilus) upper body workout
• Body Master lower body workout
• 3 mile workout on the track
• 2 laps of walking lunges on the track
• Hammer Strength workout (it's a cross between Nautilus and free weights)
• Take 2 back-to-back classes (like I'd survive!!)

Have fun!  Who's with me?  Post each day and tell us what you did.  My gym gives a stocking of goodies if you finish -- I'm sure I can scare up a prize for you if you take the challenge!

136.0!

This has been such a surprising week, weight-wise.  Last week I couldn't buy a half pound of weight loss to save my life.  Then Wednesday my weight dropped to 137.5 (from 139) and hovered between that and 138.5 all week.  And then today it dropped another pound and a half from my lowest point.  I've actually eaten a lot more calories in the past week than I did in the week before, to the tune of 200 per day.  But my water intake has been so much better.  I even re-weighed myself a minute later because I didn't believe the 136, and it went down another half pound to 135.5.  I'd think my scale was nuts but Daniel's weight has been pretty consistent over the past couple of days.

In other news, I find myself completely sore today from Pilates yesterday!  The class only marginally resembled the videos.  We started out with a ball -- I picked something mediumish because I didn't know whether larger or smaller was better.  Turns out I really wanted something much, much, much, much, much smaller.  Like none.  After about three minutes I abandoned the ball altogether.  As I predicted -- and warned the teacher in advance -- I looked like a complete idiot for a good portion of the class, especially since I was parallel to five or six members of the Virginia Tech women's swim team, all of whom have perfect bodies and tons of strength and control.  I almost gave up entirely and I saw at least three other people do just that -- but I was as far from the door as possible and I didn't think I could get 12 days of fitness credit if I walked out that early.  But once we were rid of the ball and moved into exercises that strengthened arms and legs more than the core, I was in surprisingly good shape.  I was actually able to do the exercises -- they didn't involve holding my legs up at a 45 degree angle do the floor, or slightly staggered, or scissoring down, or anything else horrible like that.  Just about the last thing in the class was push-ups -- which, of course, I've been doing on a daily basis for the last month.  I could hear all these mega-fit people all over the room groaning and gasping for breath, and I found them totally easy -- she did them more slowly than I do but only half as many, so I could have kept going.  So since I had both strength and energy left at the end of the class, I know I could do better next time.  I just need to really, really work at my core strength -- 100 crunches just aren't enough.  I need to start hanging my legs in the air more.

I sweated profusely through the class.  Everyone else looked fine to me but at the end they all said they were sweating, too, even the teacher -- she was slipping all over the mat (at least my mat has pretty good traction, or did, until I was producing buckets toward the end).  It was in the 60s here yesterday and the room was uncomfortably warm.  I'm told it's not usually that way.

Anyway, as I said, now I hurt.  Mostly through the shoulders and back.  But it feels like good hurt, not the messed-up-knee hurt I had after my long run.  So I think I'll survive.

Up From Last Week

Just by a little bit. I was 227.8 today. I have been on a macaroni and cheese kick at home. Katie and I have had mis-matched schedules the last week or so - so we haven't been making dinner together most nights... but mostly it is because there isn't any other food to eat currently. Katie and I haven't done Let's Dish in several months (trying to work off some of the back log mostly). Mac and Cheese is such a good comfort food - but my belly REALLY doesn't like all of the gluten!! Tonight I have a work dinner at Gertrudes (downtown). Tomorrow I am determined to make something healthier for dinner.

I did go to the gym last night. The only problem with the Daily Plate's physical exercise calculator is that it has walking speeds of 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0, etc. It doesn't account for incline or variable speeds. I do the walk that has a lot of steeper inclines - but when you are walking uphill it goes at a slower pace - sometimes as slow as 2.9. I set the top speed at 4.0 and the top incline at 7 (I don't know if that is a level or a grade %) - but my average speed usually is around 3.4-ish.

I am hoping to get home from dinner tonight early enough to do some workout at the gym. I am not sure what time Iwill finish up.

I have my second needle biopsy for the lump on my thyroid today. Ugh. That is at 3:30.

Deflated

Not my weight - that would be INflated. Me - I am deflated... I really thought I was on a downward trend - but, no... It was just my usual variety of weight... I was up to 227.2 yesterday and then 228 today. I have stayed within my calories - since a week ago Wednesday. I didn't formally exercise this weekend - so that probably didn't help. BUT - Saturday night at the HCC Gala my eating was very restrained. I only had ONE mushroom cap with crab - and it was only about 1/2" - the smallest one on the plate. I had dinner - but that was mostly salad and vegetables. I also had Roast Turkey (which is low in calories) and about 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes with gravy - oh! and pasta (about 1/3 cup) I forgot about that... Then for dessert I had one mini cannolli and one gingerbread square dipped in chocolate. Oh - and a sweetened coffee - but I used skim milk, so that still isn't too bad. PLUS - then, I added the event in under Physical Exercise - since it was out of my normal routine. I coded it as "crafts, standing, light exertion" - which is pretty much what it was. For four hours. So - that pretty much would cancel out the mini cannolli...

I didn't go to the gym either day this weekend - although I planned to both days. Tonight I am definitely going.

Last night Katie and I went to Bonefish after church. That was the first time in a LONG time! I got the arctic charr with spinach and lump crab. I had steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes on the side. I boxed up half of it before I even started to eat... With the exception of the sundried tomatoe and garlic lime butter drizzle on top of the fish it wasn't too unhealthy.

The HGTV Dream Home is open for tours online now. Again, it is a pretty home - but not MY dream home. The North Carolina house was my dream home. Not to say I won't enter everyday once that opens up. 8-)

Me, too, lost momentum

I had a terrible time this weekend staying motivated.  I didn't exercise at all except for crunches and half-push-ups on Saturday evening.  On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I was higher on calories (gross, not net, though on Sunday it was the same thing) than I should be.  Today I woke up and it's gloomy and I was groggy and it's hard to get back on the wagon.  Sigh.

My gym has a program going called "The 12 Days of Fitness" which requires you to do twelve different activities of a list of  nineteen, all before the 22nd.  Since I started on the 6th this doesn't give me a lot of leeway.  I finished three of them last week -- I did 3 miles on the track and 30+ minutes on the bike, and I did an upper body workout on the Nautilus-type machines.  Fortunately I am allowed to double up the weight exercises with aerobic days or I'd be in real trouble.  Today I'm going to go to a Pilates class.  I've never been to a class at this gym before and never done Pilates in public before so this should be a hoot!  I'm hoping getting moving again will help me get re-motivated on the diet.

Still Addicted

I love The Daily Plate! It is so cool. It has almost all of the foods I search for - and if it doesn't, it is easy to add it. I love that it adjusts your calorie level automatically when you enter your weight - and then tells you EXACTLY how many more calories you are allowed to eat. I love it that it tells you that you can eat more after you have exercised. It is like getting a reward for having exercised. Best of all I have seen a decline in my weight since I have started using it. I am not sure why that is - except perhaps because I have been getting a little more exercise in - because, for the most part I haven't really changed my eating habits. I think maybe I might be more inclined not to eat stuff late at night because it would push me over my calorie limits - but from what I have seen of my calorie totals I am either well below what my limit is (most often) - or over it by 400 calories. I am not sure why that is.

I like reading the "Most Popular" searches for foods. It seems that everyone starts out with healthy breakfasts - starts losing it by lunch - and by dinner are eating fast food and candy bars. It makes me laugh (and feel not a little bit smug because I don't do that!).

Anyway - for the last two days my weight has been 225.8. I didn't exercise last night. I intended to - but a weird light came on in my car on the way home from work - so I didn't want to go out again in the cold, icy night. I am going to go first thing this morning...hopefully my car will start!

Lost momentum

I was 227.6 on Tuesday - I don't think I posted that. THEN I dropped to 226.0 yesterday - figures. But I was back up to 227.0 today. So - I guess the 226 didn't count.

I am mildly addicted to Daily Plate. It is very easy to use - and is motivational to exercise because you get to eat more if you work out. I know that is logical - but TDP puts it into black and white - or orange and white anyway.

I didn't exercise Tuesday (after Claire's birthday party) but my calorie count for the day was low - even AFTER pizza and birthday cake. I guess it was a good thing that I didn't eat anything after my morning orange. Then yesterday we were being snowed on. I could have shovelled - but I was waiting for it to stop - and then Katie did it when she got home from school (early). I really am a snow driving chicken - so I didn't go to the gym and didn't exercise either (mostly because I hadn't filled in My Daily Plate - because I ate a whole lot of junk all day!).

I did almost kill myself by trying to walk in snowy shoes on my kitchen floor. One foot slid out from under me - so I grabbed the counter - then when I tried to rebalance myself the OTHER shoe slid out from me - leaving me hanging from the counter top by my finger tips (all of my nails broke). I managed to get my shoes off and readjust myself with no other damange... except this morning I have a horrible cramp in my left wrist. It feels like the tradtional decriptions of carpel tunnel syndrom - except I am sure it is a pulled muscle from my snow acrobatics.

So my mission tonight is to go to the gym.

"We never repent of having eaten too little"

Thomas Jefferson was a genius, wasn't he? I think I'll get that quote framed and stuck on my kitchen cabinets, right in front of the Girl Scout cookies, which I am blaming for my complete non-weight loss this past week. I was 138.4 AGAIN today (although it did flash on 138.2 at first, so maybe there's some hope!). And yes, I've been into the cookies way too much. OTOH, I've been walking and to the gym way too much too. Yesterday, between the gym and the dog, I logged five miles of walking/running and another 20 minutes of weight lifting. And then I stayed up until 1 a.m. cleaning and icing cakes and wrapping presents and eating cookies the whole time. Oh, and I also had a piece of birthday cake yesterday (a co-worker's birthday).

So this past week is past and I'm repenting of having eaten too much, so now I'll start the Thomas Jefferson diet and see if I can reach my goal weight in the next three weeks. I'll be off to a bad start today with Claire's birthday dinner tonight--pizza and cake. Sigh.

139.0

Whew! A half-pound drop from last week. I was worried when I weighed myself last night and it was 142, but I'd drunk a lot of water yesterday so I must have still been carrying that weight. This isn't the weight I'd hoped to see this week, but it's still a new low, AND it's my lowest weight this calendar year. No rest for the wicked, though! I have three weeks until Christmas and I want to get to my goal weight by then -- but it's looking like it will be a major challenge!

Flat line - like the ALPS are flat!

Ha ha. Actually I was thinking that this morning... How can I tell if I actually LOSE weight if I see such a great range to weights on a regular basis. What is my weight? I don't know - anywhere between 225 and 229. So, last week I went UP to 229, yesterday I was down to 228 and then today I was 227.4. So - that is all still within the 225-229 range, when do I get to count it as a LOSS? Never I guess - because this time LAST December I was around 213. Last February (not this past Feb) I was as low as 201.8. So - until I pass my original starting weight (215.4) I guess I can't count ANYTHING as a loss. 8-(

I was pretty good this weekend. I didn't eat particularly HEALTHY food yesterday (soup for lunch, gluten free mac and cheese for dinner - no fruit, no vegetables) but my calories were low for the day. I also went to the gym for an hour and tramped away on the treadmill. I dreamed last night that I was walking on my treadmill at home and decided to do the bike instead - but I realized what I thought was the stationary bike was actually my loom bench. I have too much stuff in my bedroom.

Saturday I ate better - but had a higher calorie count (go figure). I didn't go to the gym because I was running around all day (but I got a fair amount of holiday shopping done - YIPPEE!!). Tonight I have to run to Michael's to get Claire's birthday present - and then I will go to the gym afterwards. This is assuming that I ever actually LEAVE work. I just finished payroll - but I have to compile the agenda for a meeting tomorrow still (I say agenda - but it is the agenda PLUS all of the paperwork to be discussed and reviewed too...).

Flatlining

Since Tuesday my weight has been completely stuck -- either 139.5 or 140.0 every single day. Talk about being consistent. I better be building up some muscle, because I sure as heck am not losing any weight! The very highest my net calories have been any given day was 1010, and most days my actual calories weren't a whole lot higher than that. My "worst" day, calorie-wise, was 1400ish calories on Saturday, but that was the day I ran 6+ miles so I figured it was justified. I've had at least a little exercise every day for the past week (although it was just crunches two of the days -- again, I've balanced that with more vigorous days) so there's no reason for me NOT to be losing weight. The only thing I haven't done especially well is water; I've only gotten about 4 cups most days, and some days less. So today my goal is to get enough water in the hopes that MAYBE I'll see a drop tomorrow. But I'm not holding my breath.

Good news for Daniel, though -- when he fastened his belt today it was too loose on its regular setting and he had to tighten it to a smaller hole. Hooray!

Negative calories!

I ate about 500 calories between breakfast and lunch today. This afternoon Daniel went out for a 10 mile run with a couple of friends of his -- the longest distance he has ever run. My legs, particularly my hamstrings, were sore from yesterday on the elliptical, so I had talked myself out of exercising today -- or, at best, I was going to do some crunches and push-ups and MAYBE a wimpy power walk from WAtP. But when Daniel got back from running he was fired up and managed to urge/guilt me into running, too.

The last time I ran was a week ago at his parents, and had it not been for a sudden-onset intestinal issue I would have gone at least four miles instead of the usual 3.4 or so. The longest I have ever run before was a 10k (6.2 miles) around Loganville (which was very flat) so I made that my goal again. My Nike+iPod isn't totally accurate on distances, so I turned around after 3.1 miles by its count, but then at the end it said I had run 6.6 -- which was probably about right based on the markings on the trail. It was certainly somewhere between 6.2 and 6.6 miles, and that's my longest distance ever. It got difficult around 4 miles but I pledged to keep on running until I hit the 5 mile point, and by then I'd long since gotten past the wall and was able to keep going until I got home. It's a good thing I set my sights high to begin with, such that I was turning around just at the point a lot of my runs would end, because then I had no choice but to keep moving until I got home!

When I entered my info into the Daily Plate it said I had burned 935 calories over my 67-minute run. So now I'm well below 0 for the day! Hee hee! Daniel and I are ordering pizza tonight to celebrate. We had planned on ordering pizza when both of us hit our next goal weight -- mine was 139.5 and his was something-else-9.5 -- but his has been slower in coming, and I know for a fact I've earned it anyway. Yippee!

It's also good that I'm posting now, while I'm still on a bit of a high -- tomorrow I will likely be unable to move!

No Bike For Me

Last night at the gym I thought I would shake up my routine a bit. I started with my abs (which isn't actually shaking things up - but I was really wanting to work my core muscles). After that I decided to use the bike instead of the treadmill. NEVER AGAIN. I did 20 minutes (mostly because I wasn't sure how much I would like it). I did the Alpine Pass setting on that too - since I like it on the treadmill - after 20 minutes of biking up and down hills (I covered 6.75 miles) I had burned 71 calories. 71!! That is crazy! After 20 minutes on the treadmill I usually have burned TWICE that and covered 1/6th of the distance. Furthermore, my foot fell asleep - and my lower back cramped. I also don't feel like I got my heartrate anywhere near as high. I am sure it was because I didn't have my level set high enough (I did it on 4) but since I don't know the bikes as well I didn't know what a reasonable level is for me. But - I don't know if I would want to do it at a higher level, because it was also not feeling good on my knee - and I can't imagine it would increase the calories burned that much. After the 20 minutes I switched to the treadmill to do another 25 minutes. I was with Gloria and after 10 minutes of the treadmill she decided she was done. I stopped then too - mostly because it was 9:30 and I hadn't had dinner yet... Anyway - in the 10 minutes on the treadmill I burned 83 calories - and I was doing it at a much slower pace than I normally do (3.5 miles instead of my normal 4) although I had it on a slightly higher incline (6 as opppsed to 5). I may check out the eliptical tonight to see how that compares to the bike and the treadmill. I would think that is probably the best of the three.

I ate pretty well yesterday - and stayed within the allowed calories again. My weight this morning was STILL 229. However, I will keep plugging away at this. You know, it used to be that the hard part was getting myself TO the gym, now I can get there with no problem, but I get so bored working out. Tonight, I think I may only do 10-15 minutes of aerobic and do weights instead. I haven't done any resistance in a while.

I was bad too

My weight yesterday morning was 228.4 - which was kind of annoying because I was so good for two days in a row. 8-D But I WAS. I ate only the healthy, allowed food (sticking JUST at my calories allowed from My Plate) plus I went to the gym and burned UP 250-400 calories each of those days. Then yesterday, I spent the whole day reading (a fascinating book about polygamy) and ate pretty much NO healthy food (I had bean soup for lunch, leftover pizza for dinner and Girl Scout cookies for everything else...). I didn't go to the gym last night (I was groggy and my knee was bothering me a lot) intending to move the dining room table and do a yoga video. I didn't do that either... Sigh. I am planning on going to the gym tonight after work. I really am feeling like I need to do yoga or something. My muscles feel VERY tight and uncomfortable. I need to stretch them. I guess there are no rules saying that I can't do both the gym AND a yoga video. You know what would be cool... If I could take my yoga video TO the gym and use it in their yoga studio. I am going to ask them if I can tonight...

Anyway, My weight - unsurprisingly - was 229.0 this morning. Why is it that I respond to BAD behavior right away - but not good? I guess it all comes back to my original statement of a million years ago - You can't give up eating cold turkey.

I met with the nutritionist yesterday again. Once again, it was a very interesting meeting. She had me do an "inner child" exercise yesterday. This was because I was telling her that (even though I know it is irrational) I resent Katie's ability to say no to food if she doesn't want to eat it, and to also be able to leave food behind on her plate. I can't say my innerchild spoke to me or not - but I CAN tell you I realized that I have a very specific view of myself as a child. I was third grade or younger (probably younger - maybe even as young as Kindergarten) and it was picture day at school. I was wearing a dark green body suit with a skirt. I don't know if this was the first time I became aware of how people see me - outside of me - or if my clothes were uncomfortable - or what it was... But I do remember me noticing my "image" and not liking it. Even as a little child. How pathetic is that?! I remember feeling round - or chubby - or whatever, and knowing that I wanted to be little and lithe (although I am sure I didn't know that word at the time) like the other little girls. In retrospect I am sure I was about to go through a growth spurt and my clothes probably WERE too small, and the color ISN'T the best on me (even now) and so I wasn't my prettiest - but, for whatever reason - THAT is the vision of myself as a child that I have to this day. Too big, fat, and uncomfortable, with poor coloring. Maybe this was the point in time that I realized I wouldn't ever be a princess. I don't know how much I buy into the "inner child" concept - but I do think it is pretty telling that I remember this version of me over anything else.

So I am supposed to talk to my inner child everyday now (it is actually more of a meditation technique - which I am OK with). I don't know if chatting up my inner me will help with anything - but it doesn't cost anything to try. I am also supposed to go back to reading Intuative Eating. She wants me to clean up my scrapbook area (although she doesn't know that is what I need to do - she said to set aside an area to use for creative endeavors). There is one or two other things on my homework list - but I can't remember what it is now...

No restraint

The past 24 hours have been bad. Really bad. I-can't-stay-away-from-sugar bad. It started yesterday afternoon when I was running an errand and starving and away from my healthy yogurt so I got a candy bar. Then instead of going home last night to have dinner, we went to Ikea and got Ikea food for dinner--a hot dog and Swedish fish. And not just one serving of the Swedish fish. And today I've been into goodies that people left out at work--a blonde brownie, a peppermint patty, and a Take 5 bar. I'm now something like 200 calories away from my maximum calories for the day and it's only a little after 2:00! I've been doing so well the past two weeks--why mess it up now?

139.5

And that's two full pounds down from last week for me, too! (But, shoot, I was hoping I'd catch Sarah at last -- oh, well, maybe another week!) I was at 140.0 yesterday so I had hopes for today, but I didn't know if it would happen. Getting below 140 was my next goal point. Yippee! Sarah really did steal all my lines -- I was going to grumble about having to continue to eat nothing and exercise incessantly, too. But if I keep at this until Christmas I'll be at my low point again, or at least very near it, and back into my 130-135 range.

139.5 ties my low point for the year. I also saw it at the end of Lent. So I guess viewing this as a time of suffering is somehow appropriate. ;-)

228.2

A pound up from last week - but not bad considering I COULD have been four pounds up. I didn't actually see the four pound spike this month - which is impressive considering I also ate so much on Thanksgiving...

Katie and I went to the gym last night. I am DETERMINED to re-introduce exercise as a part of my regular life. I walked for 45 minutes on the treadmill last night (again I did the Alpine Pass which has changing inclines and rates) I (according to the machine) burned 384 calories. That certainly made up for the skim peppermint mocha I had (no whip) I hope. But then we ordered pizza for dinner. Instead of getting our normal thin crust veggie, we decided on Italian sausage. I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have a veggie pizza. I guess I am completely converted. I don't know. Other than the coffee and the pizza my calories were pretty light yesterday. I had a cup of Italian wedding soup for lunch with a small piece of leftover focaccia. Breakfast was oatmeal with walnuts and cinnamon and applesauce (homemade). I didn't actually get around to any of my snacks (baby carrots and hummus and an orange) and then after dinner I had a serving (100 calories) of mini marshmallows. I think that may be my new nighttime snack. I crave sweet at night... but cookies, cakes, candy, etc are SO calorie laden for such small servings. The mini marshmallows were 2/3 of a cup - which is a LOT of little marshmallows - and they definitely don't feel quite as heavy in my tummy afterwards. All that said - I had an appalling lack of vegetables yesterday.

I am going to the gym again tonight with Gloria from work. She asked me to show her how to use the treadmill - and the eliptical. I don't like the elipticals - since my toes go dead... but maybe I should shake up my routine a little too. I think tonight I am going to do the treadmill for 20-30 minutes and then do the arm machines. Gloria got the info on the Aquasculpt class. That is a water based resistance toning class. It is Monday nights at 7:00 or 7:30. We are going to start doing that each week. I am looking forward to that. 8-)

138.4

For anyone keeping track, that's a full two pounds down from last week. I didn't believe it when that weight popped up this morning, so I reweighed myself three times, and each time it was the same. But it's also a pound lower than I was yesterday, which was the lowest I had seen all week, so I'm not sure I believe this weight. I won't be surprised or disappointed if I'm back up to 139+ tomorrow. On the other hand, that's how I felt LAST week when I weighed in at 140.4. So I guess I'll stick to my un-fun and difficult program of eating almost nothing and exercising as often as possible because it seems to be working!

Fun

Totally unrelated to anything but this is fun: I just subscribed to this magazine (Conde Nast Traveler)and they have this monthly contest. December's isn't online yet, but Peter figured it out last night. The previous months are here http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/whereareyou. Keep an eye out for December and see if you can figure it out.

P.S. I am still not exercising regularly but I am hanging tight at a gazillion pounds. My semester is over 12/13!!!!!