Progress

While a couple of the main contributors to this blog are globetrotting I'll post an update.

So after weeks of eating the same thing day after day I've finally seen a solid drop in weight. I hate scales so I don't know how much but all of clothes are fitting much looser, including the pants I bought after losing weight last year that then got too tight. Argh.

I've been sticking with a regular routine of plain yogurt, a fruit smoothie or oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. I recently eliminated my mid-morning snack and decided to go straight to lunch so I could plan to have dinner at a normalish hour. I think that's really helped with the weight loss. So for lunch I do a salad with a lot of fresh stuff I buy from the farmers market then I have a yogurt or fruit or almonds for a mid-afternoon snack. Then dinner and that has consistently been the chicken tacos I make. So good.

Exercise has been sporadic. I haven't been into a regular routine but I've been staying very active. So maybe that's helping. But my intention is to use this boost to drop some of those stubborn extra pounds.

Another Congressional recess is coming up and I hope to maybe establish a routine and carry it through July to the LONG August recess.

It was the pies

I hit a new (possibly) high this morning. I am sure it was the pies from Saturday - or possibly I was retaining water. I drank a lot yesterday, but mostly because I kept feeling like I was bloated and I was wanting to flush it out. Aparently it didn't work.

Well - I didn't get very far on this last week... I will post it now, and start over a new one this week.

Bummer!

I was down FOUR POUNDS from my previous Tuesday weight on Friday morning. Last night I had crab soup and satines for dinner and KNEW the salt would make me fat this morning. Sure enough - I was back to the exact same weight as last Tuesday this morning. Oh Well. My ankles are also puffy, but only a little bit. I think one or two bottles of water will take care of it. Sigh.

Other than that I am in the same boat as Emily - minus the sickness. I actually WAS having queasiness all last week (beginning on Wednesday) which resulted in me eating considerably less sugar than usual, because it seemed as though it was sugar making me queasy.

I bought high fiber Kashi cookies at Wegmans last week. They are pretty good - but are full of sawdust and woodchips. Because of that I am never inclined to eat more than one at a time. They are also sweetened with honey and brown rice syrup - which, while tasty, is almost too sweet and so, again, I am less inclined to eat too much.

I only did one walk and one yoga session. I thought about doing water ballet on Sunday - but didn't. I am so darn lazy! I also failed to create my menus and to contact Rebecca for a nutritional review. So, I guess I should be GLAD that I didn't gain a ton of weight.

I guess same goals for next week... Sigh.

All systems dysfunctional

So my attempt to track my eating lasted about a day or two.  On Tuesday night I got queasy, and then it got progressively worse over the next two days.  Since then I've been in a holding pattern of occasional queasiness -- if I don't keep something in my stomach I feel sick, but if I eat more than a little I feel sick.  It seems to be lessening each day though, and today I'm almost normal.  So I may be able to try watching my diet again next week.  In the meantime, though, I'm forced to do what all the diet advisors say -- I'm eating when I'm hungry, and only to appetite!  Unfortunately, my appetite has been leaning heavily to starches and protein, because fruits, veggies, and dairy haven't really agreed with me.  Ugh.

Meanwhile the rest of my systems are out of whack, too.  According to my temperature charts I haven't ovulated in two straight cycles and this one appears to be ending at 17 days.  I am so confused.  I'm getting plenty of sleep -- the nausea saw to that last week, so I got caught up, and now I'm getting 8 hours each night -- but no exercise, for the same reason.  I've barely left the apartment!  I hope next week's report will be a little better.

200 squats

Have you all noticed the proliferation of those plans designed to get you to do a ridiculous number of one type of exercise in a day? 300 sit ups, 100 push ups. That kind of thing. I ran into one this weekend designed to get you to 200 squats a day. And figuring any increase in strength in my lower body is probably a good thing, I decided to try the initial test. That test told me I was in excellent shape and should start with week three of the plan (I stopped at 55 squats. I wasn't really feeling it, but excellent for my age is only more than 31 squats, so there was no point in continuing). But good golly, I may not have felt it then but I was sure feeling it the next day! Specifically my inner thighs--that muscle that is so hard to target and really isn't used much for anything outside of childbirth. And squats, as it turns out. Which isn't much different than childbirth, I suppose, except it doesn't take as long and you don't get a baby out of it. All good things.

So I decided to give this plan a try. I'm only on day two today. I did 140 squats on Monday and 150 today. By the last set my legs feel pretty trashed, but I can walk it out pretty easily, then get a day to recover before doing it again. I'll probably regret this since I was just complaining about my scary cycling thighs, but it's giving me something to do that feels like I'm accomplishing something without having to really think about it!

The Daily Plate...

is apparently now owned by a construction company, if the colors on their website are any indication!  I went to Daily Plate and the site said we're supposed to be using the LiveStrong site now and that new logins are no longer permitted as of April 1 (fortunately I still have my old login kicking around in a cookie).  I just hate all the yellow and black -- it doesn't feel like a gender-neutral site, to be sure.  Ugh.  It looks like you can work with either or both, for now, but I'm not sure how much longer!

Jumping on the bandwagon

So I see everyone else posted so I may has well join in the fun ... it has been a busy few weeks at work and last week, when Congress was out of session, I was just too tired. Blah blah

For awhile I was just plain stagnant. I hadn't been getting in enough exercise but I was eating consistently well. I decided recently to cut out my morning snack so I'm eating lunch at a normal time thus not eating dinner at 10 p.m. I'm not sure if that is what has helped but I've noticed a recent difference.

But I've also picked up my exercise a bit. I've been trying to bike on the weekends. What's funny is I always bike for just plain exercise ... I'll go from mile marker 10 to 20 and return, knowing I've done 20 miles. But lately I've been trying to bike for pure transport. I've gone to the farmers market and to meet friends for lunch.

My food has been good. I've been buying all my greens from the farmers market along with some other seasonal veggies. I planted seven pots on my deck -- two jalapeno plants and the rest a variety of tomatoes. They are growing like crazy and I can't wait for some of my own veggies.

I've also been going to an organic butcher for my meat (chicken) but I'd like to find someplace similar that's slightly cheaper. There are a growing number of options. I like that.

A friend of mine is switching to a vegan diet and making me give my eating even greater scrutiny. I don't eat much cheese but I do like a goat cheese on my salad and I rarely buy milk. I do LOVE yogurt though so I'm hopeless for veganism. But I do continue to refine my diet. If I can buy from the farmers market without breaking the bank I'll do it.

A perfect example of how difficult it can be to get your hands on good food was evidenced tonight in my local Giant. I never go in there unless I need batteries or something. But I was out of my fave organic salad dressing and just stopped in to see what they had. NOTHING. Event he wildly expensive organic stuff was loaded with sodium, sugar and high fructose corn syrup. In fact, several "healthy brands" listed HFCS first on their list of ingredients. Shocking.

I did buy some cool beans (ha) from Rancho Gordo in Cali. They are heirloom beans and are just amazing. You haven't had a black bean until you've tried theirs.

Anyway, I'm trimming again and am so happy with my diet and shopping at the markets. It's a great time. Keep up the good work everyone!

It's been a couple of weeks

Since it didn't look like anyone was reading the blog, I didn't bother posting.

I've had one tough week and one easy week with training--two weeks ago I did four regular training days (two running, two swimming) then the 100 miles (only I did kilometers) of nowhere on Saturday. After a week with eight hours of exercise and 4500 calories burned, I went easy last week--one day swimming, one cycling, and one just plain old walking. I'm back to more normal this week, although with Encampment this weekend I won't be able to get in any cycling and will probably only manage four days of exercise. I can't wait for this year to end. I think that I shouldn't have taken on scouts AND triathlon in the same year. It's too much.

My weight has stayed pretty consistent. I was 141.6 this morning. In a way I'm kind of relieved that Brian lost his job--as long as it doesn't become a semi-permanent situation! But it means that once the craziness of the end of the year is over, I'll be able to manage more time training on weekends and in the evenings. I was dreading the summer when I don't have lunch breaks to get to the gym (since I tend to be running Claire home from camp) and Brian has to do his sleeping in two shifts, one in the morning and one in the evening, to work around Connor's school schedule. With no job to go to, Brian can sleep normally and not have to leave the house at 9 at night and will be home if I want to get in early morning workouts (not that that's likely--I hate exercising first thing in the morning. The only good thing about it is getting it out of the way!).

Tuesday Post

OK - so my lower weight was false yesterday - I was up by two pounds today.

Sleep - I need more sleep. I got good sleep over the weekend, and so I think that came into play yesterday. Last night I went to bed early(ish) but then I woke up at 5:30 and knew if I went back to sleep I would NOT be able to get up at 6:15, so I got up then. I don't feel particularly tired (or not more than usual) but my weight was up. My eating yesterday wasn't great - kind of fatty... We had Let's Dish cheddar sliders for dinner and I had the Wegman's European Baguette sandwich for lunch (procuito, fresh mozz, and tomatos on a white baguette - SO yummy!). I had a banana and a small handful of trail mix for snacks and then a half cup of ice cream for dinner. Lots of fat! Moderate sugar, and minimal fiber. Hummmmmmm.

No exercise. I got home from work at about 7:30 and then Katie and I did a little bit of cleaning.

I need to go back to my old attitude

I don't have a scale here, so for the next three months I will have no idea what I actually weigh.  But I do know that I was gaining weight at the end of our time in Tromsø, and right now my clothes don't fit as well as they did last year by a long shot.  And my appetite is up after all the overeating of last week -- so I need to get back to reasonable-sized meals and a regular diet.  It doesn't help that the grocery stores have been closed for two and a half days; today I will FINALLY get some new food in the house (I did manage to scare up fruit and milk yesterady, at least).

Even if I can't keep track of my actual weight, I can keep track of my calories and pay more attention to exercise.  And I can measure my success by how I'm feeling (blobby right now -- not a lot of energy and no enthusiasm for exercise) and how my clothes fit.  So I'm going to get back to using Daily Plate, and I'll keep posting here at least weekly!

New Attitude

OK - I haven't posted since 4/07/09. Which means I probably haven't even LOOKED at the blog more than once or twice since then. ME! I was such the blog junkie for so long I can't believe I neglected it for over a month. OK - so the last two (almost three) weeks I was in Norway - but still!

So - I was really feeling re-energized towards eating healthy again this weekend. We were pretty bad in Norway - although, I have to say I have had times where I was much worse. We DID manage to stretch our stomachs out nicely and so we could accommodate all of the extra food we were eating. The added bonus for me was that we were eating regularly - and so (until the 24 hour return trip) I was feeling hungry at meal times like normal people do. That is always a good sign for me. Then this weekend I blew it all by eating just two meals (that I can think of) and either nothing for the rest of the time or trail mix. Sigh. I then wrapped up the weekend by eating ice cream!! And I wonder why I am fat. At least I only ate about 1/2 a cup of ice cream.

Thus the desire (if not actual action) to have a renewed approach to eating. I went to the grocery store last night and bought bananas and prunes. Then they announced that the store was closing so I had to stop. I was busily looking for European cookies. They have so much more fiber than our American cookies. I didn't find any. I will have to check at Wegman's.

Tonight - or maybe tomorrow - I want to plan out my meals for the next two weeks. I need a plan to stick to. I want to regulate my calories. I want to shoot for 1800 and see how I do. I am ready to lose weight.

I didn't GAIN weight while I was away (in fact I was about a pound down from where I was before I left) but that just isn't good enough anymore. I want to drop the 25 pounds I have gained since we started this blog - and then I want to work on losing the weight that I had in the first place.

I need to work on my exercise. I want to work on something aerobic. I was appalled at how out of breath I was getting during the walks in Norway. Granted Norway is VERY hilly - and I was (am) sick, but I don't know if I would have been any better had I NOT been sick or we were walking on flat land. The one time I had to run to not miss the boat I thought I would fall down dead. AND THAT WAS ON A FLAT SURFACE!

So - My short term goals are:
1. Read the blog, and start posting again.
2. Plan my meals watching calories and trying to increase fiber and decrease sugar.
3. Start doing some aerobic exercise in addition to my yoga.
4. Call Rebecca and make an appointment.