A pound a day

That's what I've lost this week. On Monday I was 136.something, thanks to a weekend of overindulgence, but got my Tuesday dip for weigh-in day so I was 135.6, then my period started so today I'm 134.4. I just hope I can maintain that! Hard to know at this point if it's an actual achievement or just a fluke. Yesterday's food wasn't especially good or bad--all my usual stuff during the day, a pasta and chicken and peppers and tomatoes thing for dinner, then shared popcorn with Brian at night. So that shouldn't have led to a drop in weight, and usually losing weight because of my period is because I *gained* it in water retention right before. So we'll see.

And why exactly did I give up sweets for Lent? The stores are all full of my favorite candy--jelly beans and Cadbury chocolate and maple cream eggs. It's torture. But maybe this will give me a chance to get back down to 132ish before Easter and then I can indulge without too much guilt!

145.0 (and absent-minded)

I don't know what's up with me today -- I just couldn't seem to remember to check the blog! Being in MD always messes me up on the blog. It's like I forget it exists, or something. Anyway, I'm surprised that I'm even as low as 145, because the numbers I was seeing last week were a bit worse than that and I haven't been exercising or eating right, except for avoiding sweets (and cutting back on meat). I ate a HUGE breakfast on Sunday and that should have made me gain about five pounds right there. Ugh.

I have no excuse for not exercising today. I could have put in a video, really. I'm just so unmotivated right now!! Tomorrow morning I MUST call the gym for an appointment for next Wednesday or we'll never get back into it. Sigh.

135.6

I don't think that counts as a loss for the week (last week I was 135.8). OTOH, at least I managed to hold steady in spite of my bad diet and lack of exercise. Although I guess my diet wasn't THAT bad--just overate on the weekend. And I discovered that PMS without being allowed sweets really stinks! Can't believe how much I've been craving sweets the past couple of days.

I did manage to run most of the time on the treadmill yesterday. I had to scale back to walking for a minute or two towards the end when my lungs felt like they were about to fly out of my body. Oddly, my heart rate was pretty low--at the end of the workout, it was only 148. I'm more used to seeing 170, give or take a few beats! I keep thinking I should get a real heart rate monitor. I don't think the ones on the machines are very accurate, and they can't get a good reading while you're actually running. I know there are times when my heart rate is far too high, and I would have guessed that yesterday was one of those days so I don't know if the monitor was just WAY off or if my perception is!

Up and down again

I was 213.4 this morning. That is still up from where I was this weekend - but overall down from last week and from yesterday. You know, I don't know WHY I report my weight every day... with the exception of going UP in big chunks every once in a while - I have stayed basically the same for the past several years. Sigh.

I didn't exercise last night. I don't think I even thought of it. I thought about it this morning enough so to say "Hummm, I don't even think about exercising anymore, maybe I should do that.

I have "People Look East" running through my head. Irritating. At least it isn't "Listen my children and you shall hear..." Happy Birthday to Longfellow. Are you all sick of hearing about that?

Bluestone on my butt!!

Had to keep with the theme...

I have been 147 every day since Friday...except this morning when I was 149. I am certain it is because of the INSANE amount of food Marian, (her) Joe & I had at Bluestone last night. The food was absolutely delicious. We were out celebrating all of our birthdays.

So no exercise since last week, and no hope for it today.

And the party was excellent Saturday night! Just thought I'd mention that.

Boursin on my butt!

So after overindulging at the party on Saturday, I resolved to be much better on Sunday. That lasted about two hours. I had a nice, healthy, high fiber breakfast and then two hours later I pulled out the leftover boursin cheese and over the course of the day Brian and I ate the whole darn thing! That's nothing but solid fat, smeared on carbs. Really yummy. Late in the afternoon we also broke into the leftover beer (which I had helpfully left in the car so it would be nicely chilled) and drank a few of them, then around 10 p.m. I realized I hadn't had an actual meal since breakfast, so I heated up a pot pie and ate the whole thing.

This, on top of my complete lack of exercise all week (I went to the gym on Monday, had lunch meetings on Wednesday and Friday instead of going to the gym, and ran errands on Tuesday and Thursday for the party, and did nothing at home in the way of exercise because it was a completely insane week--Connor sick and not sleeping, Claire's first reconciliation Tuesday night, project for Brownies Wednesday night, project for school Thursday night, party prep Friday night) has led to my weight going back up--I was 136.2 this morning, and my usual Tuesday drop doesn't seem to happen anymore so I can't count on that!

I have to send one more email before I'm allowed to go to the gym today. I hope I can actually run after a week away!

Pancakes on my butt

Sigh. So much for the lower weights. Today I was 213.8 before my shower and then UP to 214 after. Usually I go down during my shower. It was IHOPs fault.

Katie and I braved the "winter-y mix" to meet Mom and Dad and Emily's crew at IHOP after noon mass yesterday. I had the International Passport with swedish crepes. This was the first real test of my no meat Lenten resolution. I had hash browns instead of bacon and sausage. I really wanted the bacon! I ate every bite.

I had a small slice of my birthday cake at some point during the day - and I think that was it. I don't remember anything else. OH! Yeah - two of the little raspberry chip brownies. So - basically NOTHING buy junk yesterday. But I did shovel twice - which meant that there was just ice on my sidewalks this morning - instead of ice AND snow. I would have been better off with the snow too... Sigh.

Post Party

Wow! That was SUCH a nice party. I can't get over how fun it was... My weight was down this morning to 212.2 - so we MUST have done something right. I was 212.8 yesterday - so that was good too.

I am also pleased to report that most of the two cakes got eaten yesterday. Sarah took home the rest of the chocolate cake, and I kept the rest of the carrot cake. I will have to cut it in VERY THIN slices, so I won't over eat (hopefully - but Hey! It is CARROT! That's a vegetable serving, right?

My only exercise yesterday was cleaning and then staying on my feet all night - so I guess that doesn't count - except my feet were sore by 7:00!

I keep doing this!

I will sign in to post and then get distracted - or the computer guys will show up wanting to fix my computer, so I quickly get off the internet and then I lose everything I have written.

I was 213.6 this monring. I didn't exercise last night - and I ate ice cream. A LOT of ice cream (as I reported earlier). SO - this means, my key to losing weigt is to eat a lot of ice cream and don't exercise.

I cleaned my room more last night. I am really feeling like all I am doing is packing in the stuff up there so I can make more room for the stuff downstairs. (Well, actually that IS what I am doing...) So, basically, my house will no longer look like a scrapbook store threw up in it - it will now be my bed room is a constipated scrapbook store. Sigh.

I remember the other thing I wanted to say last night... I was laughing at myself at the grocery store on Wednesday. I decided that I wanted to get a special treat for Katie and me. So, I picked up two of the cottage doubles (cottage cheese with fruit). What made me laugh was two seconds later I was walking by the bakery cinnamon buns thinking "When did a special treat at the grocery store go from being a bakery item to being cottage cheese and fruit?" So, I guess, mission accomplished! I have completely changed my views on eating!! I have been thinking that for a while now. One of my favorite things to eat is dried fruit and nuts (all unsalted). That to me has become almost better than candy. Candy tastes too sweet to me now. (But, I will still eat it!!!)

147.0

Have you ever been at work and felt that you had soooo much to do that it was just impossible to accomplish anything and that you should just leave to go home and watch tv? That is how I feel today.

I nearly killed Harry yesterday. He chewed the cord off my $500 Dyson vaccum cleaner. Little $!@#$%.

So I did not keep my motivation for the gym last night after class. I didn't get home until nearly 9 pm. I doubt I will go tonight, so I need to get up in the morning and get moving.

UGH!

I had two coupons for free Coldstone Icecream. One was for my birthday and the other was for a survey I did for them. They were expiring at the end of this month, so Kristy and I went for Ice Cream instead of a healthy lunch. I feel sick.

I heard a great interview with Fuchia Dunlop (what a BRITISH name! - No Sierras, or Braxtons for the Brits - but Fuchia! That sounds straight from a Shopaholic novel!!) on NPR on Tuesday. She has just written a new cookbook. Her specialty is Chinese food. The Land of Plenty was her Szchewan (sp?) book - but this was Hunan cooking - called Revolutionary Chinese Cooking (or something like that. It sounded SO GOOD! I am tempted to buy it just to read it!!! The pictures are supposed to be pretty too.

Ummmm. I think there was something else I wanted to say, but I can't remember what it was...

Forgot to mention this...

I went to my most favorite store on earth last weekend (B. Moss) and I am now able to wear their size 12 pants. They are a TINY bit snug, but I am definitely in them and I am now motivated to firm up my butt a little more so the snug part goes away as quickly as possible. So what are the best butt firming exercises out there?

No food for YOU!

Well - No ITALIAN food for me anyway - no trip to Italy next week. Oh well. Easy Come - Easy Go as they say.

That makes my Lenten Resolutions easier. Katie and I are going meatless. (except for my party - but I don't know if meat will be a real problem there anyway - and except in vegetables... Katie and I make our vegetables with Chicken broth and one of our green bean dishes is flavored a bit with bacon - so those are on the approved list - as is sea food - but seafood is just swimming vegetables anyway). I was CONSIDERING making my resolution to EXERCISE every day (not Sundays) but I feel pretty sure that I will fail at that - so, I haven't done it YET. I have to decide on that one by the end of the day...

Oh! Here was my best consideration... I was thinking of giving up jewelry for lent. Not buying or making jewely - WEARING it. I couldn't do it. Maybe next year.

My weight (post IHOP) yesterday was 215.6 today it was 215.2.

lower today

Scale registered 147.5 this morning. I have to hang onto that for a weigh in day!

I did exercise last night. I was right about still being a little too sick to run, so I walked for 50 minutes instead. I kept the pace at 4.0 and the incline at 1. When I up the incline more all it ever does it make my calves ache. I am hoping that whatever sickness that is still left in me is gone by the weekend. I want to be back to normal. I am going to try and go again tonight after class, although it'll be tough to keep my motivation given the fact that it'll be late when I get started.

Off a day again

I am goofed up this week again. I had off Monday so now every day is shifted. I was 149 yesterday and today. I haven't been exercising because I've been sick, but I am going to go tonight. Not sure if I can run yet; I am still coughing pretty good, but I should be able to do a long, steady walk. We'll see. I don't want to injure a lung or something.

The IHOP pancake experience was fun last night. Thanks to Amy & Katie for allowing me to tag along. I really enjoyed it. Food yesterday was atrocious. I'm not even Catholic and I am considering giving up something for Lent...

Holding steady

I actually got on the blog this morning before any one posted - and didn't post myself b/c I promptly got distracted...

I was 215 again today. Frustrating considering how much I didn't eat this weekend - but not bad considering this would normally be the day I would see my weight go up from my period. Of course - next weigh in day I am on my way to Italy and after that all bets are off.

I have still been feeling very crampy - but today I have made up for the not hungry at all feeling by being STARVING! I am eagerly looking forward to IHOP tonight. In fact, Julie has been corrupted by my obssession with pancakes and is joining Katie and me for our Mardi Gras celebration.

I haven't exercised at all, in just about forever - well, more than a week at least. I didn't work out AT ALL last week.

I have been debating what to do for Lent this year. Italy kind of hoses up all my intended plans. I want to give up sweets - but - duh! Italy! So - I was thinking about going meatless - but, again! Italy! I gave up smoking already - so I can't do that again. I want to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays (by fasting I mean following the "near starvation menu") but again - I don't want to do that while I am in Italy. Maybe I WILL do all of the above EXCEPT while I am in Italy - which would be three fairly substantial lenten resolutions (four if you count the smoking thing) for two weeks less than a full lent period. What do you think?

146.0

Up from last week, I believe, but I haven't gone to check. I've just been such a blob all week that it's no surprise. Today I feel like death warmed over -- it's really just a head cold run amok but my head has been buzzing and I'm just so tired. I was planning to exercise with a video today, but then I realized that the church schedule has to be done today, and I hadn't started it, so I'm doing that instead. If I finish early and miraculously recover I'll try to get moving after I put the kids to bed. It's just such an icky day.

Weigh-in day, anyone?

I can't believe it's almost noon and I'm the first to post!

So I was 135.8 this morning--down only .4 from last week, in spite of the stomach virus. My downfall was candy yesterday!! There was a container of the cinnamon jelly hearts at work and I'm completely helpless around them, then I went home and there was all the leftover candy from the pinata and I just kept eating and eating! I did go to the gym at least, although that was kind of an odd experience. I was feeling really tired and not looking forward to the workout--I knew this would be one of the days when I'd be watching the timer from minute three, wondering when the torture was going to end. So I decided that I wasn't allowed to look at the timer until I got through at least four songs on my iPod. So I was jogging along and the workout wasn't feeling so bad--I was surprised that I wasn't feeling more exhausted than I was. After four songs I looked at the timer; I was almost at 15 minutes, which was really good, but I realized that the reason it was so easy was that I was still at my warm-up speed!! Normally I do a couple of minutes at 5 m.p.h. and then up the speed to 5.5 for the next 20 - 25 minutes and I just hadn't done that! Oops. I upped the speed at that point, then upped it again to 6.0 for three minutes, then 6.3 for the last three minutes. My calorie burn was down a bit, but not by much.

So I've decided to join Emily in giving up sweets for Lent. They are clearly my downfall, not just in this diet but in terms of self-control in general. My first test of this will be tomorrow. Someone went and planned the monthly "department fun lunch" followed by a birthday party for Ash Wednesday! I had planned to attend the lunch and just get a salad or some other very light thing, and I've exempted birthday cake from my list of sweets, but only for family birthdays (Amy and Connor). So we'll see if I have the strength to say no to the cake tomorrow. Why Ash Wednesday? On any other day I might be able to justify it--you don't want to not participate in someone else's celebration--but Ash Wednesday is pushing it.

Terrible since Tuesday

Tuesday was the last time I exercised. On Wednesday it was Valentine's Day, so we spent the evening making a nice dinner and just generally eating and drinking too much. Thursday Daniel had to give his make-up exam, since it got iced out on Tuesday, and then I had to go straight to choir when he got home. On Friday it was Alexander's birthday and the Crawfords were here. So we had pizza and cake. On Saturday the Crawfords were still here, and Daniel wasn't because of a Graduate Recruiting Weekend event, so I couldn't really take off and exercise -- but I probably should have, since I wound up running errands anyway! Then we went out to dinner that night (and I ate fairly lightly -- I ordered salmon with pesto and roasted bell peppers over pasta, but what came was grilled salmon with three sauces and the only sauce I wanted was pesto, and it wasn't over pasta -- but I drank wine) and Daniel's mom made lemon merangue pie for dessert (and I could have had a free dessert at the restaurant since they screwed up, and they make such good cannoli! Phooey! But the pie was good, too). And yesterday we had church in the morning and then I spent all afternoon getting ready for Xander's birthday party today and getting ready for my Stampin' Up! party tonight. And tonight I have Xander's birthday party and the SU party, so no exercise again. Meanwhile, Valentine's Day apparently served as license to eat and drink as I see fit until the sweets are gone, which they're not yet because we still have half a huge cake and half a lemon merangue pie and now a whole normal-sized cake for today, plus the chocolate Daniel gave me for my birthday. Phooey again.

This whole week is likely to be bad. We might have time to exercise Wednesday but we'll have to keep it light because we will have been fasting. Tomorrow night Daniel has to go out, and it's Mardi Gras so the food will be less than stellar again. Thursday I have a second SU party. Friday will, at last, be normal. Meatless, but normal otherwise. My food will necessarily improve as of Wednesday because of the fasting and the no-sweets promise I plan on making for Lent (with a birthday cake exception for Amy's party, of course). But, ugh, I feel so gross after not exercising and not eating well!

Ick!

I still feel crappy today. I should have called out sick - but I didn't want to waste my leave time - just in case we DO go to Italy next week.

Yesterday my weight was 213.2. Today I was 214.8. Either one is down from my average last week of 215.2.

I did nothing yesterday. I took a bath first thing in the morning and another one last thing last night - and I took a shower somewhere in between. I was clean - but still crampy and gassy achy and tired. I ate a piece of toast around 2:30 and I didnt' feel any worse for it - so Katie and I went out for sushi as planned last night. I was really mouring the loss of my IHOP breakfast - but we will do that tomorrow night - so it is OK. We stuck with the mild sushis last night and Miso soup - which is as good a comfort food as any. Katie and I then came home and watched Chocolat (gift from Katie along with two quarts of Coldstone icecream - YUM!) . I did have a little bit of the Coffee Lovers icecream just at bedtime - which was probably not the best choice of foods, but again, didn't make me feel any worse - and it did taste yummy! Katie also went and got us Starbucks coffee (while I was in the FIRST bath of the day) but it was too much at that point. I put it in the refridgerator to have today. So this morning I heated it up and put it in my travel mug and brought it to work with me. Just as I was getting out of the car the top came off of my mug and the whole coffee ended up all over me and my car. I almost started crying at that point. 40 just is NO FUN!

I didn't get any exercise this weekend - except for cleaning. I worked on cleaning up my scrapbook stuff on Saturday. It doesn't look like I made any progress - but I really have.

Today I just ate applesauce with a little bit of cinnamon. I packed my lunch last night when I was feeling a little better - but this morning I am feeling rough again. So - nothing I brought with me seems that appealing. Now - I found out that my whole team is down the road at a big recruiting open house. So I am stuck here, holding down the fort. So, if I am going to eat it will have to be what I have with me.

Don't ask me what I ate

This weekend was awful--I don't think I sat down to a normal meal once! I picked at food all day both days--the most substantial thing I had was cheese and pretzles both days for "lunch"--and ate all kinds of junk, but fortunately never much of it. Doughnuts, candy, potato chips, etc. I did eat dinner (a Subway turkey sub) on Saturday, but nothing for dinner on Sunday, although I had two english muffin pizzas in the late afternoon at Claire's super-late birthday party.

I also didn't exercise all weekend. Not even a walk with the dog. OTOH, I only got 45 minutes of sleep on Friday night (thanks to Connor) and was busy all day both days cleaning and shopping and running the party, so I didn't do the couch potato thing.

This morning my weight was 135.4, so at least that's down a bit from last week. I hope that holds out (or gets better) for tomorrow!

How cool is this?

My people at work just had my birthday for me... I didn't really expect it since my birthday isn't until Sunday. I mean it never crossed my mind!! Normally we are really behind on celebrating birthdays.

Anyway - Sarah - remember when I said that Security was calling me? It was to tell me there was a package - which always happens for me - usually ADP stuff. So - I said OK, but didn't go. THEN - they called again! When I was on the phone with mom. FINALLY - Suzanne said - Amy, would you just go get the package the guard keep calling about. I said - It is just a stupid package - it is not important! She said it is TOO important. They were - of course - flowers. So when I walked back they were all laughing at me - and asked if I was always so stubborn! They got me a yummy Wegman's fruit tart and sushi! It was SO neat!!!

Stuff

I couldn't think of a title for this post. I don't usually have a problem...

Anyway - I never reported my weight this week since Tuesday. I have been hovering between 215.2 and 215.4 ALL WEEK. Today I was 215.2. I take this as a good thing because I really have been just awful all week.

Last night I did have fish and steamed vegetables - at Bonefish. So it was Mahi-Mahi with spinach and lump crab meat and a yummy sauce that I am SURE was not low calorie... We did not eat the bread - or dessert (we never do even though it is VERY good there!). We did have two drinks (Pomegranate Martini and a Mojito for me - I think Katie just had two of the martinis - they are VERY good but a tad too sweet for me...) There was no brown rice - there was spaghetti squash as the "garnish." Apparently I was the only one who LIKED the beet/sauerkraut side. Go figure. I ordered a salad because I LOVE their house salads, but I got it to go since I wasn't in the MOOD for a salad. So that is my lunch today along with a slice of whole grain bread. I had a little leftover fish - but I ate that around 10:30pm.

When I got home last night I started cleaning my scrapbook area in my bedroom. I gave Kristy my HUGE Generations rolly tote. I wasn't using it - so it really just was 8 square feet of my world wasted. She was THRILLED with it. Then this morning I got going again on cleaning and found my missing colored Cutterpedes and a few other handy thing. I also threw away a paint bucket (cute marketing tool - but useless in and of itself) a Fischer's Popcorn bucket, an envelope box, ALL of my dimesional Stampin Up swap items from a few years ago (all fallen apart, faded, or just VERY dusty), two old SU day timers and a bunch of assorted papers and junk. All of this was taking up a surprising amount of room on my floor. I then brought in to Kristy TODAY a purple and black Crop in Style tool case. I bought this shortly before the scrapbook store closed, thinking that it may come in handy - but even at the time wondering why I was spending money on it. I used a 40% off coupon - so I didn't spend THAT much money on it. Anyway - Kristy was excited by it... so I count that as putting it to good use. I am eager to keep working on this. I would LOVE to get my stuff more organized - maybe this is what I am supposed to do before I leave my 30s and enter my 40s - get myself organized.

Near Starvation Diet

I have been thinking about the article that Julie posted about the near starvation diet. I was thinking how it would be VERY EASY to do a less than 1000 calorie diet - without making THAT many changes in my normal existance. So here is a sample of what I came up with. The problem with THIS sort of diet is that you can't eat ANYTHING else. Of course - THIS one was 866 calories total - so that DOES give you 134 calories to play with before hitting 1000 calories.

Near Starvation Diet

Lucky Charms - 120
4 oz skim milk - 44
Banana - 72

1/2 cup applesauce with cinnamon - 48

1 slice Whole Grain Toast -110
1 cup Lettuce - 5 - add a few more calories for vinegar and oil dressing
1 cup split pea soup - 100 - Amy's vegetarian, Organic

8 oz V-8 - 53 (can substitute with pretty much ANY fresh veggie)

Let's Dish -Lemon and Herb Chicken with Parmesan Green Beans - 287

Coffee - 5
Skim Milk - 22

TOTAL calories - 866

No such luck

I have not been sick - THANK GOODNESS! I am hoping I DID dodge that bullet. I guess if I was going to get it I would have already. I can't honestly tell you when the last time I had a stomach bug actually was. The only one I really remember is the one I got the night of my graduation from high school - so - over 20 years ago. I have thrown up - but that has usually been activity related. I have felt sick to my stomach since then - and I have had NUMEROUS events of the other end issues - but clear cut, virus that makes me throw up - nothing. Maybe since I have so many stomach issues anyway I have just learned to ignore them... I don't know. I DO know I have had some of the worst gas in the past five days... I wonder if that is my body's interpretation of the most recent virus. Of course, I don't lose weight through gas alone. I have been very sleepy lately - and have gone to bed by 11 all week - which is unheard of for me - so maybe it was a variation on a virus. Or maybe it was the sauerkraut, hummus and bean burritos that I have had this week. High fiber, good nutrion - bad gas. OR - Maybe it was the sugar I ate on Tuesday, the white flour and cheese I had yesterday and today (in the form of a spinach roll up). Tonight I am having FISH and BROWN RICE and VEGETABLES and NO MORE SUGAR!

I have been bad enough with my eating and exercise that I am willing to count this week as time off. I have bad food scheduled for my birthday this weekend (IHOP for Breakfast, Sushi for dinner) and then Tuesday is Mardi Gras - which means more IHOP. Maybe since we will have just eaten at IHOP on Sunday I will be more inclined to forego the yummy foods for healthier ones. NAAAAA - One day is my birthday and the other one is PANCAKE day - you don't have egg white omlettes on PANCAKE day!!!!

Exercise this week - so far has been about an hour of shoveling yesterday. I don't know about you Emily, but shovelling DEFINITELY gets my heart rate up. Of course, our drive way doesn't allow for snow tossing. It has to be scooped up and then moved a good 10 fee or so, so it won't be in the way of another car. Grrr. Katie just spent about an hour and a half today chipping away at the ice piles that built up between our cars from our shoveling yesterday.

133.4 this morning!!

Let's hear it for natural bulimia!! Nearly three pounds down in two days!

Ugh. I'm still feeling headachy from dehydration and not really hungry at all, but at least I no longer feel completely wiped out and queasy. I'm hoping that while I'm at work Brian will let the kids eat all of the Valentine's Day cookies in the house so they won't be around tempting me tonight. They weren't tempting in the least yesterday! I have another tin of them going stale waiting for school to reopen--Claire was very disappointed that school was closed today (and she didn't even wear her pajamas inside out and backwards!)--no Valentine's party and no Brownies (bring a friend day--she actually had a friend to bring! But I'm relieved because we never got around to getting or making a snack for the meeting so Brian was going to have to run out today to take care of that).

149 on Tuesday

I forgot Tuesday was Tuesday, then yesterday I was blocked by the city to reach this site, but it is working again today. Who knows.

I have been sick too. Tuesday I had 4 mini pretzels and some cinnamon graham gold fish. I also had powerade and water...I think my calorie count may have maxxed out at 300 for the day.

Yesterday I was back to normal, so at least the sickness was short lived. I am still battling a sinus infection though, but I'll take that over puking any day.

I haven't exercised since Sunday night because of feeling ill. There is no way I can run with this sinus thing. I get winded just walking. Hopefully it will go away by the weekend.

Didn't dodge the bullet

I've spent the last 24 hours sick as a dog. It totally stinks that work closed for the day and I would have had to have been off anyway for a sick day! It started last night so I didn't do any pilates as I had planned, but believe it or not I DID exercise today, if you count a half hour walking the dog in the snow as exercise. I don't think it did much for my heart rate, but it was tough going to trudge through the snow. And of course my calorie count for the day is way down. I had a bowl of soup for dinner. I think this is the first time in nearly six years (since I was pregnant with Connor) that I didn't have coffee all day!

But I love checking the scale when I'm sick. I was 136.2 yesterday morning, then this morning I was down to 135.4, then over the course of the day I went down as low as 133.8 before going back up a bit. None of this means anything--I'll be back up to my pre-illness weight in a day or two--but it provides some amusement when you're sick.

144.0

I could even post 143.5, because twenty seconds later that's what the scale showed, but the reality is probably somewhere in between. And that's a half pound down from last week so it gives me a little more leeway for next week -- i.e., a better chance of seeing a drop despite the cookies.

Today I won't be able to get to the gym so I'm going to exercise at home. Right now I'm working my way through a bottle of water as quickly as possible because I just ate lunch and it included several bites of macaroni and cheese, which left a salty-greasy taste in my mouth, so I really want something sweet to balance it out, and the cookies are calling my name. I can't cheat and use advance credits today because when I have at home exercise days there's no guarantee I'll follow through. And yesterday -- who was I kidding? Of COURSE I used all my GSCs! But I never finished the bottle of water so that was only five for the day. Hmph.

CANDY!!!

OK - with the exception of the few pieces of chocolate I ate this weekend I can't even tell you the last time I ate candy. OK - yes I can, whatever came in my Christmas stocking that I finished off at Emily's house in January. I have been VERY low sugar with my life.

Anyway - today someone at work gave me a Valentine - which had in it a mocha Kit Kat, two lolly pops, smarties, and four chocolate hearts. Kristy then brought back a bag of bulk conversation hearts to have in the candy jar ON MY DESK! I have now eaten more sugar than I have had in a LONG LONG TIME! I feel a sugar high coming on... Sigh. Maybe I should eat something healthy.

136.2 today

I don't think that counts as a drop from yesterday OR last week! I'm never eating a bacon cheeseburger, beer, and a milkshake again. Until the next time. They were gooooood!

Back to the grindstone, then. I made it to the gym late yesterday but the treadmill, for some reason, was much easier than it normally is. I can really tell when I'm well rested, or stressed, or otherwise not up to par by how difficult or easy the same workout on the same machine at the same time of day is. I also didn't have any difficulty keeping to my healthy low-calorie diet yesterday. Too bad neither of those things helped me drop any weight in 24 hours!

This is going to be another crazy week. Apparently I'm personally responsible for feeding second graders for a good portion of the week. I was asked to provide cookies for the Valentine's Day party tomorrow, Thursday is our day to bring snack to Brownies (and it's a Bring a Friend meeting, so we have twice the number of girls than we usually do) and on Sunday we're finally having Claire's birthday party. With any luck, though, all of this stuff I'm making will get eaten at the appropriate event and won't be hanging around tempting me.

215 even

Weigh in day... At least I am down from yesterday. You know, I am again at the point where I am thinking that I have been doing this for a year and a half now (at least with you all...) and I am no better off. I am almost EXACTLY the same as I was when I started. It is discouraging.

Of course, I do it to my self... Like last night... Katie was sick, so I had a banana, pistachio nuts and Terra Chips for dinner. Then I took a long bath and read instead of walking. I am lazy. But - I guess it COULD have been worse... I COULD have had a cake, ice cream and/or cookies for dinner - and not even have THOUGHT about exercise. So - small favors I guess.

I am still SO SLEEPY. I can't imagine why (other than cold weather, blowing heat from my space heater, and a gloomy, dreary sky - I wish MY work would let me go home 3 hours early!!!)

Well that stinks!

I was finishing up my day at work today by posting on the blog (weigh UP to 216!! 2 pounds from Friday - no exercise - bad food... nothing all that interesting...) when the fire alarms started going off. We had to evacuate.

Luckily I had the foresite to grab my jacket - but I didn't think to grab my purse with my car keys... not that it would have mattered because I didn't have time to shut down my computers. We ended up standing out in the cold for about 20 minutes. Towards the end I thought that I COULD have been walking at this point instead of standing there shivering. But by then it was all over.

What happened (aparently) is that there were five water main breaks in Towson that caused a surge in the water pressure (up or down I don't know...) but THAT resulted in triggering our fire alarm (which was also happening to many other companies in the area. What a pain in the tush...

On another note entirely... I was just looking at the 13 pages I did this weekend (YIPPEE!!) and I am pleased with all of them. Sarah and I both hit our goals (me to do 12 pages and to use two fibers on each page, and Sarah to finish the pages she had planned papers for...which happened to be 12 also). We took two great classes - met four new scrapbooking superstars (well, two SUPER stars, and two regular stars) spent minimal amounts of money and had a FABULOUS time! Seriously, it was really great! The group of women at this crop were definitely of a higher caliber than ones we have met in the past. There were many who looked familiar though. There were none of the goofy contests, the classes were of a MUCH higher caliber, even the vendors were selling more interesting stuff. It was a complete and total success - and we are planning to go again next year. I hope you all will consider planning ahead to go to this too... It will be about the same time of year (Scrap-Bowl it was called - or something like that...)

Cookie control

Yesterday I earned a total of 7 GSCs and ate every last one -- today my weight was back up to 145. But it's worth it, and I keep reminding myself that Lent is coming and that will put a full stop on the sweets.

Today I went to the gym and ran a 5k. The total time was 27:15! Yippee! At the two mile mark I was around 17:32 and at the 21-lap point I was at about 20:29, so I've knocked half a minute off my time from Friday and I still managed to keep going. Three miles was 26:28 or 26:32 or something, I think, so I really sprinted the last lap. It was a HUGE mental effort to go beyond the 21-lap point, though. I just had to remind myself over and over how much further I had to go, and I got through it. I didn't use my iPod because Daniel and I were running together for much of it, and then I was so drained I couldn't have listened to my book anyway. Oh! The way I sped up so much was that in the last 20 feet or so of the lap I'd push the pace up to a near-sprint (for me, and it got to be less of a sprint as I went on because I was so tired), and that would knock a second or two off the time and would keep the pace from dragging as I started the next lap (like getting off the interstate -- you're not going 65 anymore but you tend to go a bit fast by accident for a while). Made all the difference.

With the running and 15 minutes of bike time and some strength training time (chest press, shoulder press, and VKR) I earned 4 GSCs, which is good because I ate a cookie in advance at lunchtime. And I've had one bottle of water so far today, which isn't so good -- though I did drink from the water fountain at the gym, and I'll probably go through another bottle tonight. So, 6 cookies, and I don't know if I'll eat them all tonight -- yesterday my downfall was having started them so early!

My weekend

Of course Amy and I weren't as good as we intended to be over the weekend--who were we fooling anyway? But it was a combination of good and bad behavior. We didn't get to the gym at all (although I did go on Friday), we never went out for a huge breakfast, but we were entirely sedentary the whole weekend, survived off of our healthy snack food for most of the weekend, but went to dinner on Friday night (I had 3/4 of a chicken quesadilla appetizer at dinner and at the Meet and Greet I ate two of those filo-wrapped spinach things and a few pieces of melon and two beers) and again on Saturday night (where we pigged out on burgers and milkshakes). On Sunday morning we each had a maple oatmeal scone from Starbucks. Oh! And we went to Starbucks twice, both times getting fancy lattes instead of more reasonable plain coffee. And we ate some chocolate that people threw on our table. We discovered that it's VERY difficult to avoid food at these weekends--we turned down a lot of stuff all throughout the weekend. What we actually ate was just a fraction of what was available. And we were probably the healthiest ones there in terms of our eating. People surrounding us had bowls of candy, containers of Pringles, boxes of cookies, etc. I never realized how bad it was! When we arrived there were piles of candy at each table and Amy and I, before doing anything else, pushed "our" candy onto someone else's table, but we weakened later in the day.

End result: this morning I weighed 136.4 again. I'm hoping that will go down before tomorrow's weigh-in, but I'm also hoping that it doesn't go down from getting the stomach virus that hit my whole family while I was gone! Poor Katie was taking care of the kids when Brian came home from work sick as a dog, so she stayed with the kids and took care of them while *they* got sick, then for her troubles she came down with the virus last night.

Evil Girl Scout cookies

The Girl Scouts aren't evil, just their cookies. We have 105 boxes (well, only 103 now) in our house, though only 10 are ours. And that's more than enough. I had this crazy idea that I'd be able to stick to eating one after lunch and one after dinner and that would be it. Ha! I ate 5 Samoas, 4 Thin Mints, at least one Lemonade -- maybe two -- and one or two Thanks-a-Lots. All yesterday. So I'm setting up ground rules. I can eat a cookie for every 15 minutes of exercise I do, and one for every full bottle of water I drink. The water is sort of a cop-out, because it takes so little time, but I don't drink enough water, and if I drink too much I start to feel gross, so it will put sort of an upper bound on the cookie eating.

Today I got out and hacked at the ice at the end of our driveway and down our sidewalk. I started out planning only to do 10 minutes -- just enough to clear a narrow path across the end of the driveway, because I've been worrying about the school kids walking on it -- but it went so successfully that I kept at it. I wound up clearing our entire sidewalk, except one smallish patch that is so solid the shovel wouldn't break through it, and I broke through to the portion the neighbors had barely cleared on one side, and I cleared a narrow path through the other neighbor's sidewalk mess all the way to the corner. So I did an hour of exercise today without meaning to! And I've had a bottle of water, so now I have five Girl Scout credits (GSCs) earned.

Lent is in ten days, so I have to earn all the GSCs I can before then!

Yay, me!

I know I already posted once today -- but I wanted to brag about my jogging at the gym today. I did 10 minutes on the bike to warm up, and then I decided I would aim for just over two miles. By two laps into it I knew things were going well, and at two miles my time was 18:06 -- that's a minute less than last time! I ran 21 laps total (9 laps per mile, so 2 1/3 miles) and I finished at 21:01, so my last three laps were even faster than the others. I could probably have run the full 5k but I wasn't psyched up for it. I'm just pleased about the time.

My eating today was not so good, though -- I went back to the almond jar about six times, and I ate pretzels almost with abandon. I finally ate a banana at one point to get rid of the genuine hunger, and it succeeded, but I still had the munchies and didn't quite quit on food. Phooey. Tomorrow will be better, I hope!

Back up today

No surprise--I said yesterday was a fluke! Today I was at 135.4, which is about what I'd expect given my food and exercise so far this week.

The real question is whether or not I'll make it to the gym today. I haven't had a real gym trip all week--Monday was interrupted by the fire alarm, Wednesday was interrupted by the snow, and today I'm leaving early for the scrapbook weekend so I don't know if I can sneak to the gym before then or not. I probably will. Or at least I want to. Last night I didn't do pilates but instead watched an episode of Arrested Development (thanks Emily!) while working out with hand weights and re-creating as much of the pilates abs work out that I could remember. So I got 22 minutes of exercise, and avoided snacking again.

Amy and I have packed a whole bunch of healthy food for the weekend--lots of fruit and nuts and some hummus and I forget what else. We're not going to be completely good, though--we've promised ourselves 1500 calories in breakfast food alone! That and lots of sitting around all day and I'll be lucky to stay at 135.4 for next Tuesday.

Interesting article on slate...

http://www.slate.com/id/2158975/nav/tap1/

My Starvation Diet
I've cut back to 1,500 calories a day.
Will I live to be 120 years old?

Weird food, weird exercise, weird week

It sounds weird for all of us. My eating has been off this week -- I still don't feel like I'm eating terrible food because we really don't have a lot of sweets around (though yesterday I was really craving sugar, so I ate four marshmallows). The kids are having ice cream for dessert after dinner -- too much work for casual snacking -- and candy canes after lunch -- really not a temptation for me. Girl Scout cookies arrive tomorrow, though, so I may be in for a bad few weeks!

My exercise has been strange. I went to the gym as usual on Monday, and then on Wednesday I had to work out at home, as I posted, so I just did a more intense walking video. Then yesterday was my extra exercise day, but during the time I had set aside to exercise it became clear that I couldn't ignore the snow on the driveway and sidewalk any longer or they'd become truly awful, so I shoveled for 45 minutes while Mary was at Girl Scouts, then came home and shoveled for another half hour or more. And by "shovel" I mean I plowed with the shovel on the parts that weren't ice, which didn't take long, and then hacked at the ice chunks where the snow had been driven over (by at least three delivery trucks on our sidewalk, and by our car and van a half dozen times on the driveway) for what seemed like aeons. My forearms were aching last night -- I'm just surprised my back isn't killing me. It wasn't as aerobic as I'd like, but it was definitely labor.

Tonight we're back at the gym, on our usual schedule. I definitely need it! And since my extra day was only pseudo-exercise, tomorrow I'm going to work out at home. Maybe an aerobics tape -- the walking gets dull in a hurry!

Oh! And today, after this weird week of not-so-good eating and not-so-good exercise, my weight dropped another half pound. Huh.

All Pizza all the time

I remember a while back where we all seemed to be on the all pizza diet - and were losing weight. That is working for me again. Sort of. I was down to 213.8 today (from 215 yesterday). I only ate my toast for breakfast and then the veggie pizza for dinner. THEN last night late I got extremely munchie (I don't know if that was because of my non-eating most of the day or because I ALWAYS get hungry at night). I had a serving of Terrachips (Katie and I discovered that terrachips aren't hideous as far as junk food goes. They are comparatively low in fat and calories - but higher in fiber... and 1 ounce is enough to do in a craving for chips.) then a protein bar and THEN a slimfast breakfast bar (which actually has no redeeming nutrional value - except maybe fiber - I didn't check the fiber). Then I went to bed. I didn't wake up in the middle of the night hungry either. Part of the YOU diet is that you aren't supposed to eat within 3 hours of going to bed. That is 9pm for me. That is fine - but EVERY time I force myself not to eat that late (which is every night - because THAT is when I get hungry) I wake up between 1 and 3 am STARVING. Hummmm. Maybe I should just plan in a healthy snack at 10:30pm and be done with it. Most diets assume you eat on a schedule of: 7am, 10am; noon, 2pm, 6pm and 8:30. I actually eat more like: 8:30am, noon, 2:30pm, 5pm, 8pm and 10:30pm. It is 1:17 right now and I haven't even thought about lunch. I never eat lunch before 2pm!!

Not official but.....

.....this morning my weight was 134.4! I find it hard to believe that I'm actually down 1.5 pounds in two days, so I'm sure this is just a fluke but it's hard to know since I forgot to weigh myself yesterday. Sure was nice to be below 135 again, though.

For yesterday I get points for exercise (spotty, but still exercise--shoveling snow, such as it was, walking the dog for 27 minutes, and some upper body exercises with free weights later) but not for food. I ended up snacking on some potato chips while cooking dinner, a few chocolate chips after dinner, then hot chocolate with marshmallows late in the evening while waiting for Connor to go to sleep (he finally fell asleep at 1:00 a.m.!). By then I figured I wasn't going to get my points for good food so I stopped pretending. And my meals were weird too--the eggs, fruit and toast for breakfast, no morning snack, cheese and pretzles for lunch, an apple for afternoon snack (which was supposed to be part of lunch), ravioli for dinner but no veggies, then all the junky snacks throughout the evening.

Dropping in

This is the first time all day I've had a chance to get on the blog -- busy day. You'd think being home all the time I'd have more free time! Ha. Anyway, my weight today was the same as yesterday, which was good because yesterday I didn't eat well and didn't exercise. On the other hand, we have almost no junk food in the house, so not eating well meant an extra serving of goldfish crackers, and not much else.

Today I didn't manage to get to the gym; we didn't have a time reserved for childcare, so Daniel and I would have had to switch off. But he had meetings all afternoon, then a reception, which he ditched so he could go to the gym, and then (at my encouragement) he went to a running store to get properly fitted for shoes so he can get rid of his shin splints. So he didn't get home until a late-ish dinner time. So we ate, and then while he was putting the kids to bed I did a 30 minute walk/jog routine -- it's a pretty good workout for a tape, and way better than nothing. I didn't want to go to the gym that late because the Duke-UNC game was tonight.

I didn't exercise yesterday. It's just so cold that it's hard to get enthused. So tomorrow I must exercise or I miss my goal!

Pizza AGAIN!

I had my hair done today. It is shorter (about where it was in August) and MUCH blonder! I am not sure if I like it. I told the hairdresser that I wanted it lighter and streakier... so it is... but I am afraid it is too yellow for my skin tone. I will have to see how it looks with make up. I am pretty sure I normally don't care for my hair when it is first done - I have to get used to it - but this time it looks a LOT different. Well, I don't plan on waiting a year to have it done again - so maybe next time around I will have more dark streaks put in it.

Anyway - My appointment was at 2 - and I had only had a piece of whole grain toast (with apple butter) for breakfast - along with coffee with skim milk before I left. So by the time I was done at 4:15 I was VERY HUNGRY! So, Katie and I ordered a pizza for dinner. THIS time I did it the way the book recommended (very thin crust, green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and grilled chicken. It was VERY GOOD in spite of the fact that it was covered in crunchy water.

I just finished walking on the treadmill (36:40) . That is all of the exercise I have done today. I did spend most of the day compacting down my SB supplies for the crop Sarah and I are going to. I don't think I have EVER travelled this lightly to a weekend crop - not even to my first! I have my SDU bag filled with paper and cardstock. I have my EK pink bag filled with tools and adhesive (oh! and photos!) and I have one Market basket filled with random embellishments. I then have my fiber rings (which take up an entire tote by themselves). I can carry everything in one trip... How can that be? Well - it is only for two days and I we are doing classes each day for a few hours. My goal (which may have to change b/c I don't know how involved I will be with my class projects) will be to do 12 pages (6 each day) and use TWO fibers on each page. That doesn't sound very lofty - but the crop room is only open until 1am each day - so it is a considerably shorter crop than we normally do.

Speaking of which - when are we doing our next weekend together?

Two posts in one day!

I got my Lands' End spring catalog (this week's version) and it announced on the front something about more fits and more sizes, so out of curiosity I measured myself and circled where I fall on their size charts. I love those charts. Best bit of fiction since my Social Security statement.

Anyway, according to them, my bust (no surprise), hips and rise (surprise) are a size 8, my waist is a size 10, and my arms are a size 16 Tall! Isn't that great? Did I need any more proof that I have ape arms? And why is it that if most of my measurements are for size 8 I actually wear a size 10? I remember that from getting my wedding dress too--the sample in the store was a size 10 and it fit perfectly, but when ordering it all my measurements were in line with their size 8. I blame it on my short waist.

Crazy day

This was supposed to be the first Wednesday when I went to work an hour early and left an hour early so that Brian could get to work four hours early to work on some new project, but instead the college didn't open until 11:00, so I only had five hours at work, and then to confuse things further my department had planned today and tomorrow as clean-up days to go through all of the files and archive or trash whatever we could in advance of an office move. So with all of this going on, I didn't get to the gym, I didn't weigh myself in the morning (up at 5:00 when I got the phone call from work, then up at 7:30 for the day when Brian announced that breakfast was ready, but didn't get dressed until 9:30), and I didn't eat my usual stuff. Brian made scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit for breakfast, then I skipped my morning snack, only ate pretzles and string cheese for lunch, then an apple on the way home from work. It's now 5:15 and I have no idea what I'm going to make for dinner or what I'm going to do for exercise for the day.

144.5

I am finally below 145 again! This was the most frustrating month on that front. I should have measured my waist, because I know I've been getting into better shape. But except for that one time my pants haven't improved dramatically in fit, so I don't think my weight is a lot slimmer, either.

Yesteray I went to the gym and did 10 minutes on the bike and then thought of running for three miles, but when I wasn't quite up to two it was clear that I didn't have the enthusiasm for it. So I quit at two, for a time of 19:02 (only reached by an all-out sprint, for me, on the last lap). Then I did 12 minutes on the elliptical. I don't usually use that machine so I spent most of it just trying to find a level that gave me some resistance. It was a different model than the one I tried last year sometime, but I still didn't like it -- I feel like I'm on a bicycle with no seat or handlebars. Or wheels. Just pedals. I don't know where to put my weight. So I have no clue why these seem to be the most popular machine at our gym!

Anyway, after my 41 minutes of aerobic exercise, give or take, I did some upper body work -- two rounds with the shoulder press and three with the chest press. Then I tried for the fly machine (I'm sure it has a better name, but that's what I think of it as) but after the other two machines my upper body was too wiped out. Oh, well.

My food yesterday was good. I ate my usual breakfast, lunch of tuna and toast, dinner of brunswick stew, three rounds of almonds, a ginger snap, a bite of Cecilia's ice cream and a fingertip full of fudge sauce (I didn't want the jar to drip), and then about eight thousand mini pretzels (not really, but Daniel and I polished off the 1/3 bag that was left, so it was more than a serving, and probably something like two). And a glass of milk and a banana and a few clementines, but I don't know how many -- I need to take better mental notes. But that's all I can think of -- I just know I didn't go overboard at any point.

Today I've had my usual breakfast (again), lunch of macaroni and cheese (made with skim milk, but still not terribly nutritious; Daniel came home for lunch and cooked it for us), three rounds of almonds, 1 1/2" of banana, and two clementines shared with Cecilia. Dinner will be brunswick stew for me again; Daniel's out and I'm just having leftovers. The kids are having fish sticks. If I can stay out of the junk otherwise I'm in very good shape. I also plan to exercise today but I am, again, seriously unmotivated -- it is so hard to put exercise clothes on when it's so freezing cold outside (and seeping in!).

136

Yay! A full two pounds down from last week! And perfect behavior every day this past week, except for Sunday when even my "bad" behavior was bad in moderation. So at least I know I'm still capable of this. I'll be happy to see my weight get back down to my acceptable 130 - 135 range. If I manage to stick to my plan all this week I should be there by next week, although with the scrapbook weekend coming up I'm not sure how that will go. It's weird, though, how even after a full week of excellent diet and exercise and seeing my weight drop a bit every day I *still* held my breath when I stepped on the scale this morning, as if that weight loss would suddenly vanish because it was never real to begin with. You'd think after a year and a half of this I'd be able to tell when my weight is fluctuating for no reason and when it's actually weight loss from diet and exercise.

Weight or Waist

I can't get out of the weight concept mode. I was 215.8 this morning (.2 higher than yesterday). I was very discouraged... But then I remembered to measure my waist. That was much more encouraging. My narrowest part was 35.5 (it was 37 last week) and my belly button waist was 37.5 today (where it was 39.25 last week!!). Women are supposed to be around 32 inches - with 37" as the level where you start to be concerned about health issues due to belly fat. Last week's measurements were higher than the ones a few days before that (but it wasn't on a weigh in day, so I counted the Tuesday ones). Since Iam still not sure which waist measurement I am supposed to be using - I am going with the higher one. I have 1.5" to go to get PAST the health issue concern level. I think it is like my BMI. I am like half a point into the Obease level. All I want to do is get to plain old overweight.

Katie went shopping yesterday to restock our larder. Hee hee. She called me from the grocery store. Did you know it is VERY hard to find a cereal with 4g of sugar or less!! Well - plain Cheerios are ok - but I have NEVER liked them. I don't even like the smell of them!! I have to re-read the book. I stopped referring to it almost as soon as we started the diet.

Last night I did walk. I did 16 minutes while Katie was cooking dinner - and then, since I was dressed for it - I got back on afterwards and did another 21 minutes. It was a good walk. I was energized enought that I COULD have done a weight training tape too - but my living room floor is covered in scrapbook suppies and my bedroom floor is covered in (clean) laundry. So - I decided to save that workout for tonight...

I win.

I went to the gym today. About a minute after I got on the treadmill, the fire alarms in the building went off, so we all filed out the nearest exit, which didn't go anywhere near the locker room with my coat in it! It took about three seconds of standing in the cold before we realized that a) this wasn't a drill or else they would have planned it better and b) since we all came there to exercise and we were currently freezing our butts off, the best thing to do was to continue exercising. So I ran around the parking lot for the next ten minutes wearing nothing but my t-shirt and running pants. By then I was completely miserable, my lungs hurting from the cold air and beginning to go numb where the wind was hitting me, so under the pretense of going to help evacuate the women who were in the pool (it's a class of mostly older women with various health problems, I think mostly heart disease and diabetes--they NEVER would do a fire drill with that class going on, especially with wind chills of -1) I went back in and got my coat and bag. And helped a few people pack up their stuff. And then I went back outside and walked for the next 20 minutes. When I got back to the gym the emergency was over (something in the mechanical room for the pool set off the alarm) and I didn't feel like I had exercised much, so I got on the bicycle for 15 minutes (the treadmills were all taken) before going back to work. I have no idea how much exercise I actually got or how many calories I burned, but I think I deserve all kinds of brownie points (or iTunes points!) for not giving up and going back to the office as soon as the alarms went off!

So-so weekend

I did actually exercise on Saturday -- I got dressed as I planned to and did the 4-mile walk video. It was a fairly decent workout, though not as challenging as the short ones. (But I ate half a clementine and a number of raisins while I was exercising, because Cecilia had abandoned them and I didn't want good fruit to go to waste -- and I was thirsty so the clementine was very appealing.) Since I'd done such a substantial leg workout on Friday I felt this in my legs, but it wasn't too bad, and I suspect it kept me from hurting worse on Sunday, since it got the muscles warm and had me doing some stretching.

But my food the rest of the weekend was not very good. Yesterday I had a doughnut at church, then a waffle at home, then a dry waffle later. In the afternoon I ate half a bag of popcorn (but it was the SmartPop so it was only around 100 calories) and a handful of almonds. For dinner both days I had Brunswick stew -- that, at least, is quite healthy. But I had dessert of a scoop of very rich ice cream both nights, too. And chips of some sort both nights -- last night it was mostly goldfish, but I had a few tortilla chips and salsa. I ate a big slice of pizza for lunch on Saturday. (I'm doing a brain dump here -- I can't seem to remember everything I ate but it wasn't good!) Oh, and I ate a Heath bar yesterday! I'd been carrying it around for two days (sale at Kroger -- 20 cents!) and resisted it, but then I went to Walmart and that is such a horrible experience that I felt I'd earned the candy bar. For shame. I also had a glass of port last night, but that's not all that caloric in the grand scheme of things, especially if that's all the alcohol I have!

Anyway, it was the weekend, when the rules are a bit relaxed. Now I'm back to following the diet strictly. So far today I've had my usual breakfast, and now lunch of tuna and whole wheat toast (with margarine and a smudge of strawberry preserves on the last three bites). This afternoon I'll be going to the gym. This week I'm going to do my fourth day of exercise before Friday, and I'm going to eat well all week.

HORRIBLE weekend

Even by MY standards. First - I have to say I am mad, because I wrote a post or a comment - or something - last night, but I hadn't signed in first... So I copied it, then tried to sign in so I could paste it into the proper place - but the darn system wouldn't let me sign in!!! It wouldn't recognize me. So - basically now I am having to re-write what I have already written.

I ate a whole pizza. Granted - it was over several meals - but all told - it was only about a 16 hour time frame. It was an ultra thin crust pizza - which (according to my book) if you have to get pizza that is the kind to get. The toppings seemed remarkably skimpy too. I got Italian Sausage, and there were probably only 2-3 lumps per slice - and the lumps were smaller than 1/2" - But even so! I at the whole thing!!!

Then that is all I ate until Saturday night when I had a bunch of cracked nuts (I had to crack them) and then some already cracked walnuts and a box of raisins. Katie and I went to Christopher Daniel on Saturday, where I proceeded to drink FIVE (count em FIVE) Ciders. I barely caught a buzz - must have been all the fat and protein in my mixed nut dinner. Sunday I had a chicken quesadilla for brunch then shrimp and pasta for dinner and also for late dinner... three meals total - just at odd times. I think that is actually all I ate... OH! No! I forgot! In addition to my pizza that I gorged on I ordered cinnamon sticks - which are REALLY good - but are basically just pizza dough with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on them. I ate all of them too. I didn't eat the icing that came with them.

I didn't exercise at all. I barely even thought about it. My stomach was SO FULL from all of the bad food I ate that I couldn't haul my fat carcus to the treadmill to work any of it off.

I called a nutritionist this morning and made an appointment for March 20th. I don't think my insurance will cover this - so it will end up costing me a minimum of $100. I am approaching this as a covering all bases tactic. I want to see if there is anything I may have missed before I give up altogether.

OH - BTW - I contacted the accupuncture guy that everyone referred me to - he doens't do weight loss (even though I SWEAR his website said he did!). I dreamed last night that I met with a nutritionist and in my dream I was going through all of my "good" habits with her. I didn't mention the pizza in my dream. 8-)

I think I just need to conclude that I am really good at retaining calories - and my life is just too sedentary. So - I need to reduce my calories and increase my exercise. I need to go back to tracking every crumb - even if I am not counting the actual calories... I need to get back to knowing exactly what I have eaten. It shouldn't be that hard - since I really dont' eat that frequently. I also need to get back to the Atkins/Fat Flush habit of NO SUGAR whatsoever. I don't actually have much sugar in my life - but the whole grain cereal I ate this monring was definitely sweetened in some way. Kristy said that she would start walking with me daily, once it it is no longer 4 degrees out!!! I hate giving up my free time to exercise. I do like being able to do it in my own home though. So - If I walk 15-20 minutes at work, I can do a 10 minute video at home - and another 10-15 minutes on the treadmill.

Pretty good weekend

At least as far as my diet goes. I *did* end up exercising on Saturday after all--I did the pilates upper body workout and my arms still hurt. During the week I did the abs workout and lower body workout and neither one of those led to sore muscles, I guess because the running I do at least uses those muscles. I would have thought that carrying around a 45 pound kid and lugging laundry baskets up and down two sets of stairs would work my arm muscles fairly well, but apparently not. So I get my $2 for Saturday, but then lose $1 for Sunday when I didn't exercise and I had hot chocolate and popcorn in the evening. My daytime food was nearly identical to Saturday, except it was veggie lasagna for dinner instead of pizza. And on both Sunday morning and today my weight was 136.6--I think this is the first weekend in almost a year that my weight hasn't gone up! I'm hoping it'll drop a bit more before tomorrow's official weigh-in, which would be my normal pattern--up on Monday, down on Tuesday. If I can convince myself to venture out across campus this afternoon I'll go to the gym. Why on earth did I wear a skirt today?

up as expected

149 today, but that is ok because I actually ate this weekend. Yesterday was the food bar at Wegman's, with some popcorn later on and a few other random snacks in between. I did exercise yesterday as well. I spent 50 minutes on the treadmill, most of which I spent walking except for maybe 10 minutes which was running. I need to get consistent again with going to the gym because it is really tough to run after skipping so many days in a row. I really want to run outside but this cold weather scares me because of my asthma. I haven't had any problems (someone knock on some wood for me) this winter yet and I'd hate to instigate.

Tonight my plan is to go to the gym nearly as soon as I get home so I can spend the rest of the night getting ready for school tomorrow AND have my Monday night date with the tv at 9 pm for Heroes. It is rather ambitious for me...

Staying strong

I had to fight temptation pretty hard last night (my normal Friday night routine involves watching a movie after the kids are in bed and snacking on cookies or popcorn) but I managed to get through another day with exercise and without snacking.

Today I'll probably get no exercise unless I really feel like doing a pilates video after I get the kids (three tonight--we're watching Lex) to bed. But I've been remarkably good for food--I slept late, actually remembered to weight myself (136.6 this morning--yay!), only had coffee for breakfast, then had breakfast for lunch (two boiled eggs, one piece of toast, a pear and a clementine) then nothing until dinner. We ordered pizza, which ain't great, but I had one and a half pieces so my total calories so far today is just under 1100. Pizza has a lot of calories--324 per slice for Dominos pepperoni. Maybe I will make myself exercise later! Except for the tomato sauce I haven't had any veggies, and I probably won't--somehow a big salad as a Saturday night treat doesn't sound tempting. Maybe a beer. Hops are a vegetable, right?

Terrible, horrible, no good very bad day

Only diet wise - work wise everything was fine (as work goes). However, They were having a bake sale at work for one of the other team members - so I bought a brownie and two tiny cinnamon rolls -and then ate them. Then last night Katie was babysitting Lex while Charles was playing in Essex - so I was on my own for dinner. It was snowing - so I sent out for Pizza - according to my book if you HAVE to have pizza you should get the very thin crust (which I did) with veggies on it (YUCK!) I got cheese with sausage - but there was VERY LITTE sausage. Anyway - that was at about 7pm last night. As of right now - it is all gone. I ate the whole pizza in a little over 12 hours. THAT IS TERRIBLE!! Then since I ate so much my stomach hurt - so I went to sleep early - no exercise. I had it for breakfast this morning - and I just finished it off for an early lunch - so my stomach is too full AGAIN!

I was 214.4 this morning - 1 pound up from yesterday - and it serves me right!!

Regarding HFCS - it is really any simple sugars; white, brown, corn, anything (so if it the ingredients says more than 4g of sugar you are supposed to avoid it...) BUT - Emily, what kind of yogurt were you eating that had none?

It figures...

This morning I was finally below 145 again -- first time since my weight spiked at the beginning of the year. And that was after my terrible day of caving into temptation at every opportunity! Sigh.

Stuffing myself with starches

My healthy eating caved in this afternoon around 3:00. In retrospect it is almost certainly because I wasn't eating enough -- I should have had some fruit and veggies and water and I wouldn't have been quite as munchy. I had my normal breakfast, and then I was busy all morning so I ate nothing until my yogurt lunch (no HFCS, it turns out!) with a couple of pretzels. Then I went through three rounds of almonds after lunch, and finally I went after the ginger snaps -- I ate at least six, and three is equivalent to a serving of grains! -- as well as the crumbs of the cat cookies (Alexander left the open container sitting next to me).

I did get to the gym today and did 45 minutes on the bike, as well as two rounds on the chest press and two on the hamstring curl machine (at a great level -- my legs are feeling it now). Then I went to my Stampin' Up night and had premeditated pizza (the two tiniest slices I could find, so really just one slice) but also two or three 1" candy bars. And when I got home I went through another round of 8 almonds and a serving of pretzels, and then Daniel revealed that when he bought pizza for the kids tonight he also bought parmesan bread sticks, so I ate two of those!! All told, today I've had at least eight servings of starch, well over my usual goal of five. And the candy doesn't fit into any category of healthy eating!

I've only exercised three times this week. Tomorrow I'm going to get dressed into my exercise clothes in the morning, and then I'll have to work out or I'll freeze. That will be my fourth. NEXT week my goal is to work out four times with the extra day happening BEFORE Saturday!

The Good, The Bad and the really really fat

Yesterday I was good exercise wise - sort of... I did my 30 minutes (34 actually) of walking. I did this in a mildly inebriated state since Katie and I had just been to Bonefish where I had my Thursday nights allotment of alcohol (along with Wednesdays and Tuesdays too!!) They were sweet drinks (Mojito, White Cranberry Cosompolitan, and then 1/2 a Cran and 1/2 a pomegrante martini mixed together - VERY good!!) so that is bad from many many points of view. I had a salad, steamed vegetables, a crab cake and a 6oz steak for dinner. I ate beyond the hunger satisfied phase - but there wasn't enough to take home... so I finished it all off.

That is all I have to report. I had my cereal and skim milk for breakfast and coffee... That is it so far.

I almost gave into temptation yesterday

At 10:00 in the evening I hadn't yet earned my $1 for exercising and I was seriously considering giving up the $1 for not snacking--the potato chips were looking really good. But then I thought of how embarassing it would be to not even last three days in my quest for better behavior, so I did a pilates abs workout and made some decaf coffee with splenda (bleah--I'd probably be better off with no sweetener at all) so today I have another $2 in my iTunes fund.

My weight this morning was 137 even. I hope that's accurate. Yesterday when I first weighed myself the scale read 136.2, but then I reweighed myself multiple times and got 137.4 each time. So I've lost a pound in three days by actually sticking to the plan that I know works for me, and I'm very grateful that I know exactly what works for me to lose weight, but I just wish it involved more food!

149 yesterday, 148 today

We'll see if it lasts though....that will be the true test.

I'm updating this based on Sarah's comment...

My food yesterday was totally ridiculous and I know it...breakfast was a pop tart, lunch was half of a bagel with cream cheese and dinner was a fruit roll up (the slightly more grown up fruit leather kind) and a nutragrain bar. I had another fruit roll up with I got home from school at 9 pm with a glass of chocolate milk. I mean, the pop tart was probably 200 calories, the nutragrain bar 120, and the two fruit foll ups together were 80 (40 each according to the box.) The chocolate milk was fat free, so maybe 120 given the hershey's syrup? WAY below a reasonable calorie count for an entire day by all means.

It's just that when I stress, I first lose sleep and then food becomes absolutely unappealing, and when I do eat I feel like I want to throw up (never do just for the record.) My sleep has been reduced to about 3-4 hours per night for like the last 4 or 5 months. It is all goofed up. For instance I slept last night from 9 -10 pm, then I was up until 3:30, then slept until 6 when I got up for work. The food thing generally comes and goes pretty quickly, and this is just a point where it has been most of this week. Today hasn't been any better. I threw most of my blueberry muffin away this morning, but I am going to go to the bookstore at lunch and swing by the soup place on my way back. I shoud be able to choke down some vegetable or tomato soup.

I am going to exercise over the weekend but actually eat so hopefully I will still be able to maintain the 140s now that I've gotten a taste for them. I need to get adjusted to having school responsibilities again on top of everything else, and I imagine it'll take me at least another week to do that.

So not a TOTAL waste

Yesterday I was pretty good about my eating - except I ate a large handful of walnuts after dinner - and had a elderly candy cane earlier in the day. The walnuts (maybe half of what I ate) ARE on my diet - the candy cane is not. I did, however, eat my sawdust for breakfast, my mashed sweet potatoes and pork left overs for lunch and an apple for an afternoon snack. I also had applesauce as my evening snack (it went really well with the walnuts). So - not perfect- but not horrible either...

I walked last night... 32 minutes. I am still marvelling over the fact that when walking it is TORTURE for the first 20 minutes (seriously - I started watching the clock after 32 SECONDS last night!) but the last 10 minutes or so are no big deal. I also did the thigh exercises on one of my 10 minute work outs. I am trying to remember what my book says about the weight training. I am trying to remember if it was 20 minutes 3 days a week - or 10 minutes 3 times a week... Either way I remember thinking that my 10 minute workouts would be good for that - and it was no big deal... Well - the Thigh workout was tough, but not as hard for me as 10 of high aerobics - which about kill me!!! My only problem was my left knee was hurting so bad that I don't know if I got as good of a workout on that leg as I would have liked. I was fine with the exercises that were in a sustained position - but that darn up and downing on that knee about killed me!!! I need to have that checked.

Today - right now I should do it - I am going to contact the dietician that Katie was recommended and that is on my list of BCBS doctors. I want to know what she can do for me - if anything...

Hodge podge exercise

Yesterday at the pool Mary's best friend's mom offered to watch Cecilia so I could swim laps. I started to politely decline, but then I decided that was stupid, so I went and swam for almost 15 minutes. I did arm work on Monday at the gym and it hadn't been hurting, but I could feel it in my pects when I swam! Nothing gives me as thorough of a workout as swimming. I wish I could have swum a whole mile, but I only got through 24 lengths because I didn't want to leave Sharon hanging for too long.

Since I'd already swum, I was even less enthused about going to the gym than usual. I had a 5 minute walk with the kids (and I pushed the stroller with Cecilia in it) to return some items to a friend who had babysat for us last week and left them behind, so that was about 15-20 minutes of exercise for the day. Then I did the Muscle Mile One on the WATP tape (my newer one) and that was another 15-20 minutes -- 15 of cardio and then a cooldown. The cardio workout seemed lame at first because we just held the weights forever, I thought, but just three seconds after I switched to the heavier weights out of boredom, we started lifting them over our heads, and I had to switch back in a hurry! From then on she alternated lifting the weights up and doing other exercises, so my heart really got moving through the workout. It still wasn't as much of a workout as my Monday trip to the gym was, but it wasn't bad overall.

My eating yesterday was good. I had one chocolatey cat cookie (for people) in the afternoon and that was it for actual junk food. For dinner we had spaghetti, and after dinner I did have more food, but it was still within my limits, since I'd barely eaten outside of meals before then. So I had a serving of pretzels, about six almonds (finished off the container -- I was craving salt after exercising), a banana, and a clementine. Daniel got up to get some ice cream, as he *had* been to the gym and hadn't had any dairy all day, but then he talked himself out of it and had clementines instead! I've been leaving the clementines on the counter, and we're both definitely eating them more as a result.

Nonetheless, my weight hasn't budged. Grumble. I know I shouldn't be impatient -- I've only been exercising two and a half weeks, and dieting for three days, but I still wish it would happen!

Did I snack last night?

Help me decide. I came home from work, we ate immediately (small serving of ravioli--270 calories) then left for a basketball game (not a normal activity for us--the Brownies were doing the flag ceremony at the UMBC game). We drove another Brownie to the game and she brought bags of popcorn to share. I ate one bag (about a cup of light microwaved popcorn--roughly 50 calories). Then when I got home, I had a pear. So my total intake for the evening was really very good and healthy, and I avoided a LOT of other temptations--we have cake and potato chips at home, and the girls each bought some snacks from the snackbar at the game as well and I didn't eat any of this. So I snacked, but it wasn't the mindless caloric gorge that I'm trying to avoid. So I can't decide if I should give myself the $1 reward for the day or not! And FWIW, I both went to the gym AND walked Davey yesterday, although it was a very short walk (maybe a mile).

Completely off the subject--the game was more fun than I expected it to be. Claire was totally into it in a way that surprised me. I thought she'd like it for the first ten minutes or so and then get bored and want to leave. She wanted to stay for the whole game and was upset when UMBC lost. The girl we brought didn't seem to care about the basketball but was totally into the dancers (who really should be doing some work on their abs--only two or three of them looked good in their sparkly sports bra tops--the rest were all jiggly and pooky and saggy and untoned. I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing a revealing top like that if my body weren't up to it! They also weren't much better than the Mercy field day dancers.). Claire liked their pom poms but preferred the actual game. So we may take her back from time to time.