Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Speaking of magical weight loss...

I researched that Alli stuff that Target has on every end cap now in the store and WOW--I would never voluntarily take that stuff. The general gist is it prevents your body from digesting fats, so they pass through you. Sounds great right? The catch: you poop yourself. It has this list of recommendations about wearing dark clothes and those incontinence pads for old people. It says the oils pass through you and you basically some lose control of your muscles.

NOT COOL. I'd rather be fat.

Happy Harry Potter's Birthday!

And in honor of his birthday, I have magicked away all my excess weight, so today I weigh 118 pounds. However, it is also my MIL's birthday, in honor of which we're going to the Olive Garden tonight, which means all of those same pounds will magically reappear overnight.

I'm not able to weigh myself officially, but I have a pretty good idea I'd be up this week, not down. I've kept up my crunches while out of town -- I only missed one day -- and I exercised two days in a row at the hotel. But I've been eating terribly and I didn't get out for a walk yesterday as I'd planned, and I don't know about today; it's so hot that the idea of going for a walk right now is all but unbearable. I was feeling so blobby yesterday that I read through a rapid-weight-loss non-drug garbage "article" advertisement from beginning to end yesterday thinking six pounds overnight and four pounds a week sounded pretty tempting. All while eating whatever I want. Right.

Stressing

The good news is I am down 3 lbs from last week to 161.5, the bad news is that is awful because I am up 10lbs on the year (more or less). I have been stressing pretty bad recently, so my gym trips are sporadic at best. I did get some interesting lunch selections at the new Fresh market on Greenspring. I love that place. The more I go in there, the more I like it.

I honestly don't know if I will go to the gym today. It'll depend on my day and how much I just want to get home after work.

Big Spike - Holding Steady

I was 226.8 this morning. That was a big relief, sadly, because YESTERDAY I hit a new high - 229. Sigh. I knew yesterday I would be high because I spent 10 hours (more) on the road on Friday and Saturday - which inevitably leads to bad eating and no exercise. OTOH I DID walk over 15000 steps on Saturday at Pennsic, setting up camp (two yurts, a pavillion and a HUGE military style tent that was pretty nifty. Oh. And my pop tent and air matress) as well as unloading a third of the storage unit. They had filled the truck on Friday and there was one more trip to be done on Sunday - we did the Saturday trip - so probably about 10000 of my steps were done in four steps forward and backwards in the unit. I was the inside guy. Well - Rod was the far inside person - I was the move it to the front inside person. So - I actually did OK with exercise on Saturday - maybe not aerobic so much, unless you count the trip on foot up the hill.

Oh - I also forgot to mention that we were setting up camp on a bog. Personally, I thought it felt like extensive piles of horse poop - but Anne called it pudding. It was chunkier than pudding - but about as mushy. The Coopers had a gas line - or water line - or something put through the camp. Or, more precisely, put through the Maxwell's common space. As Rod put it - They fixed the flat spots. Hee hee. Well - Flaming Griffen now has a man hole cover in the middle of THEIR kitchen space - so I guess it could be worse. Jeremy was freaking Anne out with images of what was going to come up THROUGH the manhole cover in the middle of the night. I think what will happen is we will pack down the mud in Yurt sized circles that will then bake through the rest of August and we will have lovely adobe platforms to build on next year. Or - this would be the perfect opportunity to put in paving stones as an entry way. I am sure Mattman is spending the week building ramps and bridges and porches - like he did the Pennsic two years ago when it rained so extensively. Anyway - the exercise advantage to building in a bog is you spend a great deal of time, balancing and flexing you butt muscles - kind of like walking on those wiggly half balls that they make you balance on to work your glutes and hamstrings. I can tell you my calves were KILLING me on Sunday - but feeling a little better yesterday - and mostly fine today.

Back to food - I have discovered that everytime I have dinner at Sarah's house I am fat the next day. I am not sure why. But - from Sunday to Monday I gained 2.5 pounds - which I then lost today.

I am REALLY looking forward to doing the elimination diet. I need to shake things up - A LOT.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Deep South

We're in Georgia right now for a workshop Daniel is attending -- today we hung out in town with a friend for the morning and this afternoon we've been keeping busy at the hotel. Yesterday we were driving so my water intake was a lousy 3 units but I also drank a Fruitopia, which is expensive sugar-water, so not very nutritious but very yummy! But we had about six pit stops on the way down due to the kids (they ate a bunch of watermelon at the outset -- big mistake!) so I didn't dare drink extra liquid and have ME be the cause of additional stops. And I had no real exercise yesterday except my 100 crunches, on the floor of the hotel room.

This afternoon I went to the exercise room down the hall and did 20 minutes on the recumbent bike (the same as the one at our gym, but minus the heart rate monitor) and 20 minutes on the cross-trainer (the elliptical with ski poles -- I hate that thing because I feel like I'm flailing around). It is unlikely that I will get exercise tomorrow since we're having a lake/beach day pretty much all day, and on Sunday we're driving to Alabamaville, so no exercise that day, either. I will try to do crunches and drink water.

I'm not losing weight, for all this -- actually I think I'm gaining a bit -- but I'm at least making some kind of fitness effort every day, so I guess that's an improvement!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Not Good

So - I have been bad this week. I haven't exercised. My weight on Weigh in day was up to 227.2 - but that was mostly period related, I hope. I keep forgetting to weigh myself. My food has been just horrible - but mostly horrible in that I haven't been eating. Tuesday I was feeling bad all day - which has resulted in a three day (so far) migraine. I actually stayed home from work today. I have been making myself drink fluids and I have eaten SOME - but not anything like a healthy diet. Katie and I went to see Harry Potter yesterday. It actually wasn't too bad on my headache. The previews weren't good - but the movie itself was good enough to distract me from my pain. I also took three Advil right before we went - so they were kicking in just in time. I had popcorn and Junior Mints (of course!). That was lunch. For dinner we did Let's Dish - which means that neither one of us was hungry when we were done. Why does cooking do that? I did have a decaf coffee and a scone and a peanut gooey thing. My headache WAS bothering me there - but not so bad that I couldn't survive. I am starting to feel better now - but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I turned on the AC. I think part of the headache has been related to the weather. I know it has been hot - but I haven't felt very hot. So - maybe the barometric pressure is up or down or something resulting in extreme head pain for me. The most interesting thing in all this is I have realized that it has been a REALLY LONG time since the last time I had a headache like this - which is good - because I used to get them a lot.

Katie and I are going up to Pennsic tomorrow night and then coming back home on Saturday night. I hope I am feeling better by then. I think we have decided to just go up then for a long weekend mid-war (Friday through Tuesday next week). I am in the midst of re-washing our garb right now. I bought beautiful linen last year at war to make Norse garb for this year - but I didn't. I suppose I still could since Norse women's garb is pretty much just two panels. But - I wanted to use some traditional decorating on it - cut work (cutting out cross threads and tying the remaining threads in decorative bunches) woven trim, beading and metal work. Oh well. Maybe I will did out my inkle loom to take with me.

Another bad week...

And my weight and how I feel show it. I am considering going back to the weightwatchers method for a while to get back on track. My meals are decent, but my snacking is just terrible. AND I HAVE TO EXERCISE. I totally agree with Emily's assessment about gaining, losing and maintaining. I fall into a very similar pattern. I don't really want to spend that money, but their online tracking tools are just so much easier than trying to replicate that myself. and on the way out of Let's Dish last week I grabbed the sheet where they listed the point values for all their meals. so I don't even have to do any figuring for dinner.

I am setting a goal for myself to lose 10 lbs by my cruise in September--I leave 9/14. It might mean that I don't do anythign but drink water for two weeks leading up to it, but I have to rid myself of this excess baggage.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

136

Same as last week. I went off South Beach in a big way this weekend--LOTS of carbs in the form of pasta and gumdrops and popcorn! Yum. I had been down to 135.6, so up to 136 even again isn't so bad. One more week of no gym and then I can start going again. Running is going to be HARD after five weeks off. Ugh.

I can't post from work anymore. They updated our security and now I can't get on a whole bunch of sites anymore. Blogs are right out. I can bypass the security enough to read the blog, but if I try to post anything it just blocks it entirely. Very frustrating since it's easier to find a moment to post at work than at home.

149.5

It bounced around from 149.0 to 150.0 and was even 148.5 after my shower, but 149.5 seemed fair. Time to start watching food intake.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Surprisingly on-track

I have actually gotten some form of exercise every day this past week. At the very least, I've done my 100 crunches or 100 VKRs each day. (So I've done 800 in 8 days. That's a lot of ab work by my standards!) Except for Thursday I did something else each day, though there's no new variety to it except for adding the one weight machine for my legs once in a while. I have been keeping track of my water, too, and though it rarely gets up where it should be it's definitely more than it has been. So that's good news.

It doesn't seem to be making any real difference, weight-wise; I'm still at 149 or 149.5 each morning, and tomorrow might be worse because tonight we're having pizza and wine to celebrate having Daniel back among the living after an intense proposal week. I do think my fitness is improving -- it could hardly do otherwise -- but I'm not eating any better, and based on my history it's how carefully I watch what I eat that makes the real difference for weight loss. Actually, the pattern seems to be that if I eat whatever I want and don't exercise, I gain; if I eat whatever I want and do exercise, I maintain; and if I watch what I eat and exercise I lose, though more slowly than I gain. I can lose briefly if I watch my eating and don't exercise but it doesn't go on for long, though I don't usually try that combination.

How long before someone invents the magic pill for weight loss and fitness? The one with no side effects and that's free and instantly effective? This is such a drag. We've been at this almost two years and I know it's something for our whole lives, but it feels so futile so much of the time.

Oh! Before I crawl away to mis-eat again, I wanted to mention that I've been tracking my own water and crunches and such on a site called Joe's Goals -- http://www.joesgoals.com/. It's simple to use and they do make little line charts you can export to sites like ours (or like our ticker site) but I wasn't all that thrilled with the little charts, so I've just been using it on my own. But it does motivate me to do the crunches because I hate to leave the box totally empty when it could have such a happy green check in it and it takes so little time to earn it. Isn't that silly? And the water box looks woefully empty with fewer than five checks because it doesn't start a second row until then, and water checks, again, take so little effort to earn. I use a log box for my exercise so for once I've been tracking the weights I do so I can tell if I'm making progress.

Well off Track

I have not exercised since LAST Monday (or was it Tuesday... Monday I think). I did the 100 crunches ONCE last week. I added the extra 1000 steps once - on a different day from the crunches. I have been much better about drinking water - but I am neglecting to keep a count of how many 8 oz I have been drinking. I am so off track that I am beginning to thing there IS no track!!!!!! I even forgot to weigh myself THREE DAYS in a row!! This morning I remember when I was half dressed (top half) and so went in and did it then. I was 226.6 - so CLEARLY this wandering is doing me no good. Of course it is THAT time of the month again. The four pound gain time. So - I am taking comfort in the fact that the four pound gain THIS month brought me exactly to where it did LAST month - so for me, no progress is actually progress.

My goal this week is to keep track of my water, do my 100 crunches daily and get to the gym at least twice. I am only promising twice because this weekend is land grab so I won't be home Friday or Saturday - and besides - land grab acts as a resistance traing day anyway...

I am so proud of Claire. Yesterday I went over to help her make her own garb for Pennsic. I did this with the expectation that she would lose interest quickly and ultimately I would end up making it on her 3/4 sized machine (which is actually not a bad size for basic sewing...). That didn't happen! Claire successfully made her own bog dress and a skirt. This was PRIMARILY by herself. Sarah pressed the hem and waist casing and I fed the elastic half way through the skirt (only after I made sure that she knew how to do it herself). Other than that she did ALL of the sewing all by herself. I sat beside her - but had to assist VERY little!! Claire is now capable of doing something less than half of the people at Pennsic can do - and as well as probably 1/4 of the people who CAN do it!!! I would be willing to bet that by next Pennsic Claire could make her own chemises!!!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Hardly worth a report

I'm trying to check in daily to keep myself on track. Yesterday I did my 100 crunches but didn't do any other exercise -- I was terribly sore so I wanted a bit of a break, and I didn't have a chunk of time where I could work out properly anyway. I drank about six water units -- it might have been seven but I can't recall all of them, so I'm saying six.

Today my shins are still sore but otherwise I'm doing much better, so I'll be able to exercise properly at the gym this evening.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Nearly finished with phase one

Technically phase one of South Beach is supposed to go through next Monday, but I've been insanely thirsty the past couple of days (90 ounces of water so far today--how many "units" is that?) and I think it's entirely diet related, so I think I'm going to move on to phase 2 a bit early to see if I can get that to go away. It's irritating at best, and I also think it's indicating that all I've lost is water weight! My weight is also going down much more slowly now--I was 135.8 yesterday and 135.6 today--so I think I've extracted all I can out of phase one. And I want a piece of bread and some fruit!

I took Davey for his walk today, so I'm a whole 2 miles along on my way to 500. Yippee.

Daily report

Yesterday I went to the gym and planned to do the elliptical machine, for some variety from the bike, but Daniel showed up unexpectedly so we did the bikes together. I had the bike set at the same level as Monday but I pushed the RPMs so I actually got to 11 miles instead of 10.5, but I'm still counting it as 3.5 miles of walking. I got through a lot more water yesterday -- nine units in all, so I'm getting a little better about it (except today I haven't had any water, and I have had a frappuchino, so that's not good!). Part of the water intake was that I took a bottle to the gym instead of just using the fountains -- I suspect I didn't really drink that much more, but I discovered I was drinking more from the fountains than I realized, because I went through three units while I was there.

I did 100 VKRs, then went on to the machines. I did chest press, and I was switching out with a girl I see there regularly and she kept setting my weight back to my starting weight and I didn't want to admit that I usually crank it down, so I did three sets of 15 at 70 pounds each! That meant I could barely manage 6 sets of 6 at 25 pounds on the shoulder press, but I recovered for the tricep press and did three sets of 15 at 40 pounds on that -- only I think my form has problems on that machine so next time I'm going to do a lower weight so I can really focus on using my triceps instead of my deltoids and pects. Anyway, when that was all done I decided to try the leg press machine -- you sit in a recumbent position with your feet on a vertical platform and push yourself away from the vertical platform. I started with two sets of 18 at 85 pounds, then I pushed it up to 100 for the last set. This gave a really good workout to the full length of the legs. In between sets I moved my feet to the lower platform and did a calf press at the same weights -- these were tiring and made my feet ache (in the same way they do when I do my foot therapy, so this was good for me) and today my calves are quite sore. When I finished everything I tested myself and discovered I could still move the system at 130 pounds, and at 145 I could just squeeze out one -- so I should probably move to a higher weight next time. But it was fun to recognize that I could press my own body weight (OK, with leverage, and isn't pressing my own body weight what my legs do all day, every day?) and I enjoyed doing a new machine.

I think I'm better off not discussing my eating right now -- it's just not all that good!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Article I found today...

Snack Smackdown: The 10 Healthiest 100-Calorie Treats
Posted Tue, Jul 10, 2007, 9:59 am PDT

Those 100-calorie snack packs are tasty, convenient, and perfectly portioned for calorie counters. And they're selling like iPhones on opening day. But what's nutritious about a handful of Cheese Nips or Oreo Thins (even with no creamy centers to lick!)? Instead, try these 10 far healthier 100-calorie treats. Stash them in your desk drawer, fridge, and/or car -- wherever hunger pangs hit you. The best part: Most will curb your appetite for hours because they're high in filling fiber or satisfying protein.

1. Mid-Morning Fill-Up Just add hot water to a 100-calorie packet of McCann's Instant Cinnamon Roll Irish Oatmeal, which smells ahh-mazing and comes sweetened with Splenda. No doughnut guilt and there's a bonus: 3 grams of filling, cholesterol-fighting oat fiber.

2. Peanut Butter Crackers Make sandwiches out of 6 All Bran Multi-Grain Crackers (45 deliciously crunchy calories) and 1½ teaspoons peanut butter (45 smooth calories). You'll get about 2 grams of fiber and a little healthy fat.

3. Apple Mousse Mix a cup of unsweetened applesauce (50 calories) with 3 tablespoons of fat-free nondairy topping (45 calories), and ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon. Make a batch at a time and refrigerate in portable snack cups. Supplies 20% of your daily vitamin C and counts as 1 serving of fruit. Sweet.

4. Veggies and Dip Flavor up ready-to-eat veggies from the produce section -- which have almost no calories -- with a dip: 2 tablespoons of hummus (60 calories) or light ranch dressing (80 calories). For the veggies, think broccoli and cauliflower florets, baby carrots, snap peas, pepper strips, baby squash -- all of them filled with fiber, vitamins, and protective phytonutrients.

5. Café Mocha Stir a packet of Swiss Miss No-Sugar-Added Hot Chocolate mix (60 calories) into hot coffee for an instant afternoon pick-me-up that only tastes decadent. It actually delivers 30% of your calcium, 6% of your iron, and even a gram of fiber. Add a splash of milk for more goodness. Compare that to 200 calories for the smallest Caffe Mocha at Starbucks (2% milk, no whip), with 6g of fat.

6. Mexican Potato Microwave a medium potato and slice in half (80 calories). Save one piece for tomorrow. Mash the other half inside the potato skin and top it with 2 tablespoons of salsa (10 calories). Eat the whole thing, skin too. Warm-spicy-satisfying and 2 grams each of protein and fiber, some vitamin C, plus a little iron.

7. Finger Food Munch edamame like nuts: ½ cup of these quick-cooked frozen soybeans (about 95 calories) makes a great nibble, which is why they're a staple at hip bars -- which probably don't care that they're serving you 8 grams of protein, 4g of fiber, and lots of minerals.

8. Snack on a Mini-Meal When you're starving but trying to hold back, try this: Wrap a Morningstar Farms Vegan Burger (100 calories), a tomato slice, hamburger pickles, and a little mustard or ketchup in lettuce leaves instead of bread. The 10g of protein will keep you filled till it's really mealtime.

9. Happy Hour Combo Mix 1/2 cup of tomato juice (22 calories) with ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 drops of Tabasco sauce, and a dash of lemon juice. Serve over ice with a celery stick and about a dozen dry roasted peanuts (about 60 calories). Have a second "drink" if you like -- no biggie!

10. Healthy Confetti Crisps If chips are your downfall, make a batch of these RealAge crisps and divide into 6 portions (95 calories each). Much through a bag while sipping your club soda and lime. If you remember to, enjoy the good fat from the olive oil and the fiber and vitamins in the veggies -- though these taste so good you may forget they're healthy.

REALAGE CONFETTI CRISPS
6 servings, 95 calories each
2 Tbsps. olive oil
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 cup each of peeled and thinly sliced purple potatoes, carrots, and parsnips
Mix the oil and seasonings together, add the vegetables, and toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.

If being able to easily button your tightest jeans isn't incentive enough not to double up on 100-calorie snacks -- their one temptation, we know -- try this: Steadily maintaining a desirable weight can make your RealAge 6 years younger.

Ow is right

My back is killing me. It has been hurting ever since Disney. It seemed at first as though it was recovering - but in the past week or so it has gotten worse. Then today I was stupid and locked myself out of my house - with no car keys. So I had to break into my kitchen - which was disgracefully easy - with the exception of hauling my 224 pound carcass into my four foot high window. I achieved this feat by dragging over the conveniently located planter and reaching INTO the kitchen for a well placed box. Those two stacked up were just about high enough, and I improved it more by putting the base of the planter on top to give me a good solid surface. None the less, I am clearly not as agile as a burgler and so my back is hurting. All of this to go to a dentist appointment!!!

I didn't walk last night and only did 6 units of water. I was up to 224.2 today. Sigh.

I have the LS retired list - but I have to see if I can get my scanner working to send it out to you all...

MIA

I've been away and really busy at work. My start day is going to be tomorrow. There is no point in it today because I'll never get everything done that needs to happen, so why add more to the list and then just feel bad about it when I don't get it accomplished...

I spent the last 3 days in the Brandywine Valley. What a great area. Visited Longwood, Winterthur, Chaddsford Winery, Brandywine Battlefield, Wilmington riverfront, and King of Prussia (saw Harry Potter in IMAX!) Loved the gardens at Winterthur, but I have some bones to pick with ol' H.F. du Pont. Longwood was really in bloom--absolutely gorgeous.

So I'm back home and swamped at work, stressed out like crazy and have a thousand things going on outside of work. There will be no opportunity for the gym tonight. I am fully expecting to crash once I do get to go home.

Ow.

Yesterday I was all set to wimp out on my no-excuses exercise plan -- I was in a rotten mood and it had rained half the day and who wants to do aerobics or in-home walking when it's that clammy inside? But by after dinner the weather had cleared up and I was rational enough to realize that half the reason for my bad mood was that I wasn't getting enough exercise these days, so I declared that I was going for a walk in the half hour before the kids' bedtime. Of course, once I started walking I didn't like just walking (and my shins were hurting from walking fast), so I wound up jogging or even running as much as I walked. I wasn't dressed for it or anything, so I didn't push it, but it felt good to really move. I covered 2.5 miles in the 30 minutes, all told. But because I wasn't properly dressed I was fighting my clothes half the time and I was wearing half-broken-down shoes, so today my hips are achy from having been jarred so much and my back and shoulders are a bit stiff from the odd contortions of trying to run and keep my T-shirt from flying up at the same time!

I drank only five water units -- I kept forgetting to grab a water bottle before I went anywhere. I did do my crunches, though. I still don't have a pedometer. Technically I've done two types of exercise so far but they're nothing new to me. But I was 149.0 this morning (my lowest in a little while) despite having had a beer and chips and cheese dip last night. :-)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

136

136 even again today. This is the first day since I started South Beach that my weight didn't go down, but I guess I can't complain about losing merely 3.8 pounds in the past week!

I cheated both yesterday and today. Being at this conference surrounded by tempting food is HARD. I've been great with meals--lots of veggies and protein. Yesterday's lunch was sandwiches and salad. I made a sandwich with just one slice of bread and then didn't eat the bread, but did have lots of salad. Today we went to Subway for lunch and I had a salad (this is irritating--you can have any 6 inch sub made up as a salad, so you get all of the insides, none of the bread, and they charge you $1.50 more!). But the afternoon snack has been my undoing. NO SB-friendly choices at all. Yesterday was cake, today was ice cream. And in spite of my inner voice, I indulged each day. But after tomorrow the conference is over so I can go back to my usual routine.

And speaking of which, I'm not joining the challenges until Thursday, and even then it'll be interesting to try to fit some kind of exercise in with no gym until August. I still need to find my pedometer. No clue where it might be.

Tickers

Here is a site where we can each create our tickers:

http://www.tickerfactory.com/

I did the Exercise ticker with a goal of 500 miles. When you have created yours, send me the HTML and I'll put it on a shared page:

http://sirius.chem.vt.edu/~emily/bunchoflosers/tickers.html

We can probably also set up pages for tracking water and exercise variety and so on.

-Emily

149.5

Again. And again I'm glad it was under 150, because it was 152 at bedtime last night (but I'd had a lot of water).

I was assuming we were starting the challenges immediately -- today being a weigh-in day makes this a good starting day, if we're all agreed. But we can count mileage from yesterday.

Yesterday I went to the gym and did 40 minutes on the bike for 10.5 miles, or 3.5 walking miles. I'm trying to find a site where we can track miles together -- I'm still looking into it. I drank three bottles of water (six units) and I did 100 VKRs (instead of crunches -- I'm assuming they still count).

223.6

Which is up slightly from last week's 223 - and down considerably from yesterday's 225.2.

So when are we going to start the challenges. I started my 500 mile journey last night with a measly 2.5 miles. I REALLY like the Alpine Pass walk on the treadmill - but since focuses more on the inclines you don't travel as far milewise. I did 45 minutes last night... I am going to do 45 minutes again tonight and do it on a set average pace faster than what is on the Alpine Pass and see how much farther I go. The pool is opening today - FINALLY!! Yippee!! They are offering a couple sample water aerobic classes, but they are full now. I want to see if I can make it in time to at least see the evening one.

Yesterday I did REALLY well with my food - until late. I had cottage cheese and fruit with a granola bar for breakfast, edemame and applesauce (separately) for a morning snack, a hamburger with American cheese on a wholewheat roll (left over from Saturday) for lunch, another granola bar for afternoon snack - and coffee all day. I met Kristy after work for "coffee" and had a Acia Smoothly - which is a South American berry that is supposed to be full of antioxidents and Omega 3 Fatty Acids - and is "gently" caffinated. After Katie and I went to the gym I started making dinner - but it was already 9:45 - dinner took an hour to make - and by 10:45 Katie and I already ate potato salad and macaroni salad - not much, but enough to make me not hungry for dinner. I finally ate a little of it at 11pm or so (when I packaged most of it up for lunches). THEN - I ate a Hershey bar. I just wanted a little bit of chocolate to get the garlic taste out of my mouth - but of course I ate the whole thing... Sigh. So - no wonder I was up this morning - but still down from yesterday!!! Of couse YESTERDAY was the result of a weekend of picnic foods and IHOP.

What time frame do we want to do for our water and other challenges? I think I will go walk 1000 steps right now. I wonder how many laps that is around the parking lot. Hummmm. Maybe I will walk to the post office or the bank instead.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Hooray for Amy's challenges!

I am all for doing the challenges. I definitely need the water one -- I used to be so good about water in grad school but haven't been for the past eight years or so, except for an occasional brief spurt. I like the 500 miles challenge as well -- but I think bikes should require more than 1000. In a 40 minute session on a bike at the gym I do about 11 miles -- on a treadmill I would be able to do between 3 and 4 in that time, if I'm jogging; similarly, I did a 15 mile bike ride in a little more than an hour, which would be 5 miles at best on foot (I can do 3 miles in 30 minutes but I poop out quickly after that). So I think we should set it at a 500 mile challenge but 3 bike miles = 1 walking mile. Sound fair?

I don't have a pedometer, so that challenge is wasted on me -- I'll keep an eye out for a cheap one at Target or someplace. I do think the situp challenge is good, though; that's something I was trying to do at home on those busy days when I didn't have a full workout at the gym, but again I lost motivation quickly. I like the exercise-variety idea but I know I'll wimp out on that one -- I might try new machines (not that there are many -- elliptical, treadmill, bike, stairmaster, probably there's a rower hiding someplace but I haven't seen it) or remember to add in aerobics and Pilates at home, but I just can't get to the classes at the gym because it's too hard to schedule childcare around them.

This morning I forgot I was going to be on a diet starting today. I've already snuck two caramels and used up my allotment of almonds for the day!

Nevertheless, at Amy's last-week, offhand suggestion I've decided to make this a no-excuses exercise week for me! I have gym appointments three days this week, so that's a good start. The end of next week is where it starts getting tricky; we're off to Georgia for a couple of days (but I can get walking in there) and then to Alabama for a week (maybe walking -- but it's harder there because there's so much going on most days).

Thanks for the wakeup call, Amy!

SB cheating

Everyone at Katie's party on Saturday knows I cheated heavily on the South Beach diet by eating TWO pieces of birthday cake and then following up with a s'more. But other than that, I've been good. And it doesn't seem to have had much of an impact. I keep getting on the scale each day expecting to see my weight up a bit, or at least no downward movement, but instead every day I've lost between .4 and .8 pounds. This morning I was down to 136 even. I'm always the one who says that this kind of weight loss isn't sustainable--as soon as I start adding bread and pasta back into my diet, it'll all come back. OTOH, barring food-heavy holiday seasons, I've been pretty good about maintaining my weight in the 130 - 135 range, so I'm hoping that once I'm back down to that range with the help of South Beach, I'll be able to maintain the loss with my usual diet. I'm curious to see how this plays out.

This week is another weird one for me. I'm going to be at a conference downtown the next couple of days, and that generally means eating a really bad diet! At least it's local so I can stick with my usual diet for breakfast and dinner, but lunches will be difficult since I won't have much choice in the matter, although for group lunches you can usually count on some kind of salad and some kind of chicken.

Summer challenges--I like all of Amy's ideas. I'd have to dig out my pedometer to do the walking one, but that's probably the most realistic one for me in the next few weeks (until I can start going back to the gym). That and the water one. I *love* the "walk 500 miles" challenge, although I've seen other people doing it where they pick an actual destination (walking, say, the distance from here to New York or some other place), which is good for people with vivid imaginations. Crunches are good too. I don't do any except for when I'm doing pilates, so this would force me to do *something* each day, even without the gym.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Summer Challanges!!!!!!!!

OK - Here are my suggestions for challenges. We can do all or part or one or none.

1. Steps - Julie suggested an extra 1500 steps per day. Since my steps vary from 3500-9000 per day it is hard to say if I increased by 1500 - Last summer Katie and I were walking around the block (usually to get HER step count to the next level - the pedometer never worked on me) So, why do we do something like start or end the day with 1000 steps. How many days can you add that extra 1000 on? Those of you with dogs have it easy!

2. Water - I need this again. I have gotten out of my water habit. I am fine if I THINK about it - but most days I am forgetting to think about it. 8oz equals a point - How many points can you collect?

3. Crunches or situps - Tony Reid had this challenge for his people - 10000 crunches in 100 days. Which is 1000 crunches a day. This seems like too many to me (beyond their effectiveness). Since our challenges are usually add-ons to already (hopefully) pretty good behavior maybe we should make ours 100 extra crunches a day for however many days you can stand it. 100 crunches takes about 5 minutes.

4. "I would walk 500 miles." It could be a race. Who will finish 500 miles first? Probably those of you who run instead of walk... But it is still a good idea. I don't mean 500 miles as tracked by your daily pedometer steps - I mean 500 miles on a treadmill, bike (maybe that should be 1000 miles) or elliptical.

5 Try something new - How many new exercises can you do? I want to take a yoga class - Or there are rowing machines at the gym. Anyone want to try boxing with Katie and me? Julie is already doing this - but how many different exercises can you add on?

That is all I have so far. We could do this from now (or Monday) until Labor day weekend and see who wins. Just as a suggested time frame.

My inability to concentrate...

I have GOT to do something about this! I cannot concentrate on anything again! I don't know what is spurring this either--before when this happened I was seriously stressed, but I am not experiencing that now. What do I do???? Is there any supplement or anything that can help with this?

I have been a total loser as far as exercise. I think this is stemming from my concentration issues as well. I am only good for small tasks, like household chores. Which in a way is good because my house is pretty clean, but otherwise is pretty stinky.

So what's our next challenge? It's been a while since we've had a group push at something. I was thinking of something sort of small for myself, like walking an extra 1500 steps each day, or crunches every night, or something like that. What's everybody feel like?

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Day two of South Beach

It's like a Chinese food diet for me--I eat a meal and an hour later I'm starving again! But except for the hard candy I stuck with the plan yesterday. We had tacos for dinner and I just turned mine into a taco salad, which was pretty good. I even tried one of the ricotta-based desserts the SB book recommends (ricotta cheese, cocoa powder, Splenda, vanilla). It wasn't entirely yucky, but I wouldn't order it in a restaurant!

Today I was down to 138.2. Still don't know if this is real weight loss or not. I guess I'll find out in a week or so. I was reading a messageboard about South Beach and it said that the less weight you have to lose overall, the less you'll lose in the first phase. The average is 8 - 13 pounds, but if you have only ten pound total to lose, you might only lose three or four pounds at most in the first phase. But even four pounds would get me back to withing spitting distance of my goal range.

Hippy Chick

I met with Rebecca Snow - the Herbalist Nutritionist - yesterday. I really liked her!!! She gave me a lot of interesting insights and suggestions. We met for two hours instead of the one scheduled. I am meeting with her again at the end of August. She wants me to do an elimination diet to test for food intolerances - which probably is very similar to Fat Flush. Most meats, vegetables, fruits and non glutton grains (i.e. rice, millett) are fine. Most beverages (i.e. coffee, mojitos) are not. I think I am going to start this right after Pennsic. She said that the food test takes about 23 days to complete. You need to eliminate them completely for two weeks and then add them back in (one at a time - one per day) in great quantaties to see how your body reacts to the new food. She recommended two books - The Yoga of Eating and Ultrametaboism. She was interested in the fact that I have a low basal body temperature and thyroid cysts. She said that the low body temp and the cysts are indicative of the thyroid NOT functioning optimally - even though it is otherwise normal and healthy (not diseased). She thinks my problems lays somewhere in the hypothalamus/pituitary/adreanal connection. She kept stressing that problems like mine indicated things not functioning OPTIMALLY - even if a doctor would never find anything wrong with them. That is why we take vitamins and supplements. It helps out body do what it is doing - only better. She was really neat.

My weight yesterday was 221.8 and today was 222.6. I am glad of this because I WAS up to 226 pretty solidly around the time of the Disney Trip. I am delighted to have dropped back to where I was before my period for June. Just in time for July's though. So - I expect a 4 pound spike in the next week or two.

I missed boxing last night. I intended to go to Michael's after meeting with Rebecca - which I did - but by the time I was done there and back home it was after 7pm!!!

When are we doing the next no-excuses exercise challenge? I think I really need it!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

I ate a hard candy.

I did fine yesterday with South Beach. Eggs, almonds, lettuce wrapped cheese and turkey (although those people who swear they don't miss the bread on this breadless sandwich are insane!), string cheese and green pepper slices, broccoli, baked fish, cottage cheese and walnuts. I was hungry, but I managed.

Today is a repeat of yesterday, with some variations (I had some leftover Mongolian beef with a salad for lunch today--much better than the lettuce wrap!). But just now I ate a hard candy from the reception desk. I couldn't help myself. And it was good. But I guess as cheats go, that's not a bad one. It takes a while to eat a cinnamon hard candy, and I didn't want more than one!

FWIW, I was down to 139 even today, but that could just be a fluke.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

149.5

Yikes! I'm right back where I started a few weeks ago. The only decent exercise I had all week was that long bike ride (for which I am still paying). Nothing else to report except the same ol', same ol' -- I don't exercise, I don't eat well, I don't have a plan.

161

Funny that Amy mentions yummy summer fruit...I just had the yuckiest nectarine. I tossed it.

I didn't go to the gym last night. I didn't plan to either. Tonight I am going around 6 pm to run and do the weights, then I meet with the trainer for 30 minutes to learn the ab equipment, etc.

I brought lunch today. I was so annoyed this morning when I was making it though. I bought sandwich rolls at wegmans yesterday, and I specifically picked this one type because of their smallish-size and that they looked more interesting than regular bread. Well, the darn things aren't sliced! That's just wrong. But they are tasty.

Dinner tonight will be pork chops with summer salsa (i.e. fruit) from lets dish. I consider all land-walking meat equal. I don't care for chicken either. For me, it's all in the prep and quantity of whatever meat it is. As for vegetables, I despise them. Accompanying my pork this evening, will be rice. I can choke down cauliflower if it is smothered in cheese, but that defeats the purpose so I just skip it.

Summer Fruit

I love summer fruit. I just ate the YUMMIEST peach. And I also have with me the last of a canteloupe that I bought on Saturday that tastes like it has been dipped in sugar. It is so sweet and yummy!!!

I have been thinking about me and food... It seems that the more I like it the more apt it is to be forbidden. I mean - you can go down my list of favorites and pretty much everything I like needs to be crossed off. Seriously! Try it - Candy, Pastries/Cake, Cookies - OK, those are no brainers. Dieting? Cross them off. OK then. Pasta, Bread, Potatoes, Cheese. Nope! How about Beef, Pork? No, No. Where are we? 10 down? Fish? YES! I can have fish. Fruits? OK - but in moderation - vegetables are better. You can have ALL of the grilled vegetables and chicken that you can stand. Well - that is the root of the problem. I can't STAND chicken and vegetables! I like beef better than chicken - but chicken is better for you. I like fruits better than vegetables - but vegetables are better for you. I can't honestly say that I ever crave fruit - and it doesn't satisfy a sweet craving no matter what they tell you. In all of the food choices that you make in a day many times I would choose nothing rather than what I SHOULD choose. Sigh.

I lied yesterday - my meeting with the hippy chick nutritionist is actually tomorrow not next week.

139.8

Yup, clicking on the right hand side of the box worked! Thanks for looking into that, Emily!

OK, so I'm just a smidge away from the dreaded 140, although why that should be any worse than 139.8, or even 137.2 or 141.6 for that matter, I don't know. But the point is, I managed to stay within my healthy range of 130 - 135 for AGES and now I'm creeping back up. Last night's dinner of mongolian beef and a Great Wall of Chocolate slab for dessert didn't help!

So South Beach Diet, here I come! What the heck, for two weeks I can stick to any diet, right? This is one of those "can't hurt, might help" approaches that I'm hoping will kick start some weight loss. So today I started with two hard boiled eggs and some green pepper slices for breakfast. My 15 almonds are waiting for me by my desk. I've got fresh lettuce, cheese and turkey to make wraps for lunch. No clue about dinner yet, but I'm thinking it'll be some kind of grilled meat and then either green beans or broccoli. This is a good time for me to be doing a meat and veggies diet--we've got our grill all set up outside, right next to the garden that is heavily producing lettuce and green beans and peppers at the moment and the cherry tomatoes are a few days from ripe, with the bigger tomatoes a week or so behind. It's like a jungle out there--the tomato plants took over every free inch of the garden the week I was on vacation.

Don't know what I'm going to do about Katie's birthday cake, though! Cheat, or suck it up--that is the question!

223 Even

I am so tired this morning. I couldn't fall asleep for anything last night - and have no idea why! So I decided I would reset my alarm and sleep an extra hour this morning - but about 15 minutes into the hour I woke up suddenly remembering that I have an interview at 8am. Grrrr. So I rushed to get ready - got here at my normal time and discovered that my boss hadn't left her resume for me - so I have no idea what to ASK the person I am to interview. Sigh.

I ate well yesterday - until 3:00am when I got up and ate several graham crackers - which did the trick and I fell right asleep. I wish I had eaten them at 11pm instead!! I didn't do any exercise because I didn't get home from work until about 9pm.

I wonder what my weight would have been had I NOT eaten the graham crackers...

Monday, July 09, 2007

Oooh -- I got a title to work!

I just entered this post but I came back to edit it because I saw on the blogger page:

Some users are reporting that they are unable to enter titles for their posts. We are currently investigating this problem and working on a fix. In the meantime, please try moving your mouse pointer to the top edge of the title field instead of positioning the pointer at the center of the title field, in order to select the title field and enter a title for your post.

I just clicked around all the corners for a while and eventually it gave me a cursor. Curious.

I was completely terrible last week -- I didn't exercise even though I probably could have found the time, because I just didn't feel like it. I didn't have gym reservations, though, because of the swim lesson schedule. Bad excuse, I know! I have no reason for the not eating well, either. I didn't weigh myself today and I think I forgot yesterday as well, but it's been creeping back up even though I've been avoiding alcohol in the evenings (I seem to do better on snacking and calories in general if I just swear off the beer and wine).


I did finally exercise yesterday -- I went for about a 15 mile bike ride. Up a mountain, no joke. I have a friend who lives 7 1/2 miles from me for whom I forgot to bring a new Stampin' Up! catalog yesterday morning at church, so I got it in my head that it would be a good excuse for a bike ride. It was, except that she lives on Brush Mountain, so two straight miles at the end of the trip are uphill -- no leveling off or short downhills or anything. I made it about halfway before I pooped out, and then I walked for a couple of minutes, and then I climbed back on and finished the trip. I did the round trip in slightly more than an hour -- obviously the trip back was MUCH shorter than the trip up -- but I won't be doing it again soon. Today my neck and shoulders are sore. You'd think it would be my legs that would complain -- last night I could barely walk up the stairs -- but they're fine today. If I weren't carrying around so much upper body flab I suspect I'd be a lot more comfortable today!

I undid all the good of the exercise by going to the movies yesterday later in the day and eating a lot of popcorn! One of these days I'm going to get back to the diet... sigh...
I posted earlier but it still isn't showing up...I wonder if this one will...
Hmmm. Very sad about the titles! Although I didn't have one anyways...

I did a lot of walking Saturday and went to the gym Sunday. Saturday I spent the afternoon at the Walters. It was really nice. Admission is free right now too. So I walked around for a little over 3 hours looking at stuff. They have a nice Indian art exhibit that took me back to Rajasthan. Then I saw those Gee's Bend Quilts. The old ones are neat; the news ones, not so much. Sears used to send the women fabric to make pillow cases and they could keep the scraps. So a lot of their quilts have this Avocado green cordouroy in them. I thought that was interesting. There were also a lot of shirt pockets and jean pockets melted into the quilt patterns.

Yesterday I ran and did 1/2 of the resistance exercises the trainer laid out for me. I can really feel a difference in my arms from the workout. And my hips. Those hip abductor machines are quite amazing! I can't believe how my muscles feel today.

Today I am resting, mainly because I didn't get all my weekend chores done so I have to grocery shop and do laundry tonight. Then Tuesday night I plan to run again, and then do the other 1/2 of the resistance exercises. In general, I am going to go to the gym Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday & one other day this week. I think I can handle that.

Food is slowly getting better. I am still eating whatever, but I am paying closer attention to the portion sizes.

Oh--I am very sorry to hear about Chloe. I started comments about 4 times on Friday and never posted them. I will be devastated the day Harry leaves me. Like I'm going to need a bereavement day...
What, no titles? I noticed Amy's post didn't have a title, and now I realize it's because you can't actually click/type in the title box! Weird.

So I took a little diet break. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. After weighing in last Tuesday I didn't weigh myself again until today (139.4--not nearly as bad as I expected!), I didn't take any care with what I was eating, and I didn't do any exercise. The exercise I knew would be a problem since I can't get to the gym. I had hoped/planned to either get up early and walk or run or stay up late and do pilates, but Connor had other ideas--he was up twice last week in the middle of the night, so I had two nights when I got between one and three hours of sleep so I was just too tired to move. Last night I fell asleep while reading Claire her bedtime story. She finally kicked me out of her bed and I crawled into mine and finally got a decent night's sleep (although I was up at 5:00 a.m.--I was so tired that I just didn't move all night, so when I woke up at that time I was really stiff and sore and couldn't get back to sleep). I have no excuse for the food. I ate Hob Nobs and gumdrops (meant for behavior rewards for Connor) and popcorn and hamburgers and brownies and hot dogs and deviled eggs. Really, just horrible food! I was truly surprised that my weight was still under 140 today!

Tonight Brian and I are going out to eat and then I think I'm going to do phase one of the South Beach Diet. I know that if I just kept my calories down to 1200 - 1400 and exercised five days a week I could lose five pounds in a month, but without exercise it would be difficult, so I'm going to try this and see if it works to get me back down to my 130 - 135 range, and then I'll skip phase two entirely and just go back to my usual habits of decent diet and exercise.
I think the only food that directly affects my weight is ice cream. It was so hot yesterday that I was craving icecream all day. Katie stopped off at 7-11 on her way home from singing a prayer service and got us both Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars. Yum! I ate pretty badly all weekend. I went to the movies on Friday and had popcorn. Then I had to go to the airport to pick up Mom and Dad from the return flight. It was due in at 8:42. It was on the board (and online) as on time until about 9:30 or so when they took it down altogether. Finally, Sarah - at home - managed to get a web support person on the line (everything else was automated and still reporting it as on time!!) and that person said that the flight was changed - although the flight number was the same and it was scheduled to LEAVE New York at 9:20 (I think) but it hadn't left yet - and it would be into Baltimore at 8:42 still. Hummmmmm. Finally around 10pm (too late to leave and come back) it posted again as arriving at 10:47. Then about 10:45 it changed to arrive at 11:07. They actually got here at about 11:20. I got home about an hour later. So - for dinner I had a bag of Sun Chips, a bottle of Grapefruit Juice and part of a Snicker's bar. Saturday morning my weight was surprisingly down to 221.8. I have no memory of eating on Saturday - oh wait (weight) yes I do. I made the last Blueberry Buckle in the freezer and had that for breakfast and lunch. Katie and I went to Bonefish for dinner. I was 222.8 on Sunday. Today I was 223.6. Let's hope I can get back down to 221.8 for tomorrow.

I did no exercise this weekend - or all last week. I walked to the fireworks with Claire and Katie - but that wasn't very much of a walk. I hardly moved at all yesterday - I went to church - but otherwise I just crept around the house trying to not melt. I am not sure why I didn't turn on the air conditioner. Anyway - my lower back was just about KILLING me yesterday. It feels moderately better today, but yesterday I was having troubles breating it hurt so badly. I am not sure why. When we were at Disney I noticed that it was hurting but that would be later in the day after walking on cement and carrying a shoulder tote for the whole day. This was the same location but much worse - and for no particular reason. Maybe I slept funny. I don't know. I am glad it is feeling better today. Between my back and my knees I HAVE to figure out a way to unload 60 pounds or so. I just don't know how. I am tempted to try the Alli System I keep seeing. I wonder if that would work for me? I have my appointment with the Hippy Chick Nutritionist next Wednesday. Hopefully she will have some insight for me.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Poor Chloe

I can't stop thinking about Chloe. (Julie - Chloe was my cat who my parents stole from me about 15 years ago. She died yesterday. Katie and I were on the way to the vets with her since she had been breathing funny - and she died on the way.) I had no idea that her death would upset me so much. Yes, she was originally my cat, and yes, she WAS the greatest cat in the world and yes, being with her when she died made it worse - but still I think I am almost over reacting. I think it is all tied into the getting old thing. Sigh. I watched The Hours last night, which was NOT a good choice of movie while I was already feeling depressed.

In spite of being depressed, and extremely sleepy because of that, I was very hungry all day yesterday. It didn't seem to matter because I was down a little bit this morning. My weight was 223.4 today. It was 224.6 yesterday and 224.8 on Wednesday. I haven't been to the gym all week. The closest I got to exercise was on Wednesday walking up the block with Sarah - which hardly counted as exercise. I want to go tonight, but I don't know if I can fit that in with the trip to the airport to get Mom and Dad. The airport alone is no big deal - but waiting, then taking them home adds to the time. The gym is open until 10pm on Friday - but their flight comes in at 8:30 - which means the soonest I could get there would be about 10. Of course, I guess I only have to talk them as far as Sarah's - so maybe I can make it in time.

Our new refridgerator was delivered today. Katie says it seems smaller - which it probably is. I wonder if we can keep it clean. The last one was disgusting - but that was mostly our fault for allowing things to spoil and drip. Sigh. The micro-hood was also delivered - and Katie is going to think about figuring out how to install it. I think between the two of us we should be able to. We are pretty competent. We have a drill and a screwdriver. We can make glass beads for gosh sake! Surely we can install a microhood. The dishwasher was NOT delivered. They screwed up. It will be here on Monday. The range doesn't arrive until July 17th. I wonder what issues THAT will have.

Update for Thursday

I went to the gym last night and ran for 25 minutes after meeting with the trainer to go through a resistance workout. It was really good. We actually have to do some rehab on my right arm because of when it was broken. It is very weak and the range of motion is horrible, but she gave me some exercises to help it. I am actually pretty excited to execute her plan, I think because it seems so feasible. A minimum of 4 sessions of cardio per week, and 3 sessions of weights. I can totally make it to the gym 4 times a week.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

The Laziest 4th EVER

I did nothing yesterday. On one hand, it was awesome. I laid on the couch and read and watched tv and napped and that was it. On the other, wow, I am a slug! I did stay up WAY too late too. Lil Bush comes on Comedy Central at 10:30 and they were replaying all 3 episodes. Talk about a funny cartoon. My favorite is still the most recent episode with Lil Tony Blair.

Today I meet with the trainer at 6 pm to go over a resistance workout. I am going to run tonight too. I was going to head straight to the gym after work, but I left my change of clothes at home by accident. Yesterday sure felt like Sunday and today feels like Monday all over again. ICK. Two Mondays this week AND I am working back at the office.

Sigh. I better find something billable to do. I swear this should count as participation in a wellness program!!!!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

146.5

Same as last week, I believe. And I was lucky to see it -- I've already petered out on exercise and dieting after barely a week! Sigh. This week swim lessons get in the way -- it was too frantic trying to get there right after the gym the one day we did so, and on Wednesday, the day that the childcare hours start earlier, they're closed for the 4th, of course. Not that anything is stopping me from going on Tuesday and Thursday except lots of lame excuses!

Happy/Sad

OK - Yesterday I was not too shocked to see my weight was at 226.4 or .6 or something. Like Sarah said, we sweated and walked off a lot of weight through Wednesday - then Thursday and Friday we ate and drank it all back on. OTOH on both Thursday and Friday we hit more than 26000 steps. Actually Friday I would guess was closer to 30k - but I didn't wear my pedometer to the water park so I didn't count those steps. I think MY big weight issue came from the drive home. I sat in my car for 17 hours over two days and ate Combos, Gummie Savers and drank sugared drinks. I then stored all of that (mostly in my ankles) until this morning - when I weighed in at 224.6. So - I LOST the two pounds overnight. Sarah gained one of them. So my weight today was back to where it was before we went on vacation. The only reason I am not delighted with this is my pre vacation weight also included my pre period gain. So - all told - I have gained 1-2 pounds. Sigh.

My feet still hurt. I have been retaining water in my ankles (pregnant feet Sarah says). I am not sure why. They were REALLY bad when we first arrived at Disney (in Disney?) but I sweated it away by Tuesday. They were bad yesterday too - but are mostly back to normal today. However, this phenomenon is not exclusive to my travelling. I have noticed them swelling off and on for a couple of months now. I have to start drinking more water again. THEN - I think I broke my toe. My right big toe. Just from walking on it. It doesn't feel as bad today - but for the past several days it was so swollen it felt like an extra foot. My LEFT foot arch still hurts too. That at least has narrowed down to just a single spot on the arch of my foot. This is a great improvement since by the end of the week last week my feet hurt all the way up to my calves. It sucks getting old.

Anyway - so I didn't go to boxing last night. In fact I wouldn't have made it out of work in time - but I also knew I would never survive it. I thought about doing the treadmill - but even that. Sigh. I didn't even break 2000 steps yesterday! I have already walked more today than I did yesterday. I think I needed that day though.

Food today is sort of back to normal. I had 1/2 a bagel and grapefruit juice for breakfast, granola and applesauce for lunch and coffee. Then Suzanne brought in Wegman cupcakes - 4th of July ones - so I ate two. WELL! There were chocolate AND vanilla. Sigh. Last night Katie and I had stuffed sole fillets from Omaha Steak Company. Yum. I think we are having steaks tonight. YUM YUM.

Yuck.

139.8 today.

How did I gain more than a pound in one day?

A nice surprise

156.0 this morning. I met with the trainer last night and discussed my goals, etc, and Thursday we are going to come up with a resistance work out for me. I ran last night after the meeting, but only for 15 minutes. I was so exhausted.

I am really glad tomorrow is a holiday.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Lots of eating this weekend

Welcome back Sarah & Amy! Hope you had a blast. I LOVED Epcot. I would have eaten my way through it as well. Kind of like going to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.

This weekend entailed lots of eating and no exercise. But today is my mid-year-new year, so I am starting it off by bringing my lunch and meeting with a trainer for the first of my 3 sessions included in my gym membership. I will be bringing lunch more now that I am back in Sparks. It is sooooooo boring up here. I am wondering where the nearest place to go for a lunch time walk is at. Some people walk Loveton Circle, but I view that as a death wish. Especially the York Rd portion.

So far today food has been snacky--toast for breakfast, fig newtons, a granola bar, yogurt (Dannon's all natural--quite good actually!), fat free pudding and a nutragrain bar. Dinner will involve meat of some sort, although I didn't take anything out to thaw so who knows what it exactly will be. The trick tonight will be to stay out of the ice cream.

We're back!

Disney was great--lots of fun, but lots of exhaustion too! Amy kept her pedometer on most of the week and pretty much every day we broke 20,000 steps. By the end of each day we could barely walk! And if we had stuck with normal food, I would have lost weight during the week, I'm sure of it. I probably was a couple of pounds down by Wednesday, but then we went to Epcot and I ate and drank my way through the World Showcase. I think we managed to eat or drink something in every country, didn't we? Or did we miss Canada? I can't remember. Oh, and China too. Oh, and America, but that doesn't count. But we definitely did Mexico, Norway, Germany, Italy, France, England, Japan and Morocco. Good stuff. Today my weight was pretty much what it was when we left--138.6. So I still have to lose several pounds!

Exercise in the next month is going to be really difficult for me. Normally I go to the gym during my lunch breaks, but I have Claire in the Kids on Campus morning programs for the next four weeks and will spend every lunch break driving her home, so no gym. And I can't go after work because I need to hurry home to let Brian sleep (he'll be sleeping in short shifts--three hours in the morning while the kids are at school/camp and then another two or three hours when I get home from work). So I'm not sure how I'm going to manage exercise.