Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Time for a plan

Driving up to Maine on vacation last month I noted an bad trend -- not sure why I hadn't made the connection before -- but as consumers we're pushed to eat fast food, drink beer, smoke cigarettes -- they we're told in the next breath to take some pill so we can lose weight or stop smoking. It's a vicious cycle.

I was happy to Emily's post about food. For the past several years -- and it continues -- I've done my damndest to get the freshest foods down my gullet and I will say it helps immensely with energy levels and how I feel overall.

One weekend I had several meals that all consisted of fresh, local food. All simple.

My suggestion -- and this is certainly my method and has helped enormously -- is to design an eating and exercise menu and follow it. What it does is provide a nice roadmap and when you're thinking about what to eat or get off track you have an answer right in front of you.

I think the hardest part is developing your initial plan and then editing it as you go. I write out one plan then note what I did and change it up so I don't get bored. I also have followed an exercise routine in a book that helped with that.

I prefer the legal pad/clipboard route. I keep a list of complex carbs so I can build my menu.

Last night I made grilled, boneless pork chops with a lime, garlic sauce and quinoa with tomatoes, black beans, scallions and a similar lime concoction. Delish and pretty healthy.

What I've done in the past is give myself 2-3 options for breakfast, the same for lunch, a snack, and dinner. I'll sometimes get an extra snack in there if I need it. I bring my food and snacks to work and try to incorporate exercise.

I've lost weight by taking two 20-minute walks a day after main meals. When I did that routine I was able to build up to other, more strenuous exercise. The walks were multi-purpose -- exercise, stress relief, a bit of quiet time.

I absolutely think that getting locally grown produce and eating in the seasons is a great way to go. BUT I think eating healthy and staying away from processed foods is a great place to start.

Plus, don't think calories, think fresh food -- you should be able to pronounce all of the ingredients on food packages. Read every label.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in joining me please post your plan. I will post mine and provide weekly updates. I know it's time for me to reinstate a stricter plan that also allows me flexibility.

142.5

I figured my weight would get lost in my other post. It dove down to 140 one day but came back up over the next two. I haven't been watching my calories (or, really, even my food quality yet; that's just starting) but I have been good about exercise, including an hour-long session of deep water running on Sunday that really left my legs tired. This week I won't do as well; the kids' band practice prevents my usual gym trip on Tuesdays (so I'll have to find a substitute), my birthday is Wednesday, and I forget why I don't have an appointment on Thursday. Oh, I remember -- I wanted to try to get to the pool instead. And Friday is always my day off because it tends to fill up otherwise. My marathon is in less than three weeks, and I haven't run on land for almost that long. Yikes!

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

So I've been reading "In Defense of Food" (by the same guy who wrote "The Omnivore's Dilemma," which I've never read, but everyone's heard of it) and it's making me mad because it's telling me what I already KNOW I should be doing, only so bluntly that it's hard to keep ignoring it. His mantra is what I put in the subject -- we should all be eating REAL food, not anything processed or chopped into a million pieces and put back together with added nutrients and vitamins, because once you take things apart you're going to miss some of the little pieces. After 150 years of nutritionism (his word for the near-religious approach to thinking of food as a collection of nutrients, rather than a whole) we still haven't figured out what is important, and even if they give a diet with exactly equivalent nutrients to some whole food, the people eating the whole food end up healthier and thinner and so on relative to those who eat the sum of the parts. And we shouldn't eat too much (obviously), and we evolved on a mostly plant-based diet, and by dropping all those leafy greens from our diet we've left something important out. People eating real food diets have lower rates of obesity, cancer, diabetes, and heart problems, even from widely varied cultures (and hence widely varied real foods -- there's no perfect diet). He doesn't really address the exercise side of things -- the people in those cultures tend also to be more active (though even in cigarette-heavy countries their health problems are fewer) -- but what he says makes good sense, and, as I said, it's hard to ignore.

And we all eat too much sugar. Too much refined sugar in particular -- he does mention glycemic index but that's not part of his core thesis; the point is, when you refine sugar, you lose the whole-foods aspect of the original sugar plant and you're not getting what little nutrition you might have gotten. But even if you use raw sugar it's only a marginal improvement. Too much sugar. Sigh... (I love sugar.)

So now I'm trying to pay more attention to what is in the foods we eat. I haven't finished the book yet, so I may revise my thinking before the end. But I'd already switched my bread; when I came back from Norway I found the processed breads (even the expensive whole wheat ones) too depressing to eat, so I started buying the whole wheat bread from the bakery. But one day we needed bread that day -- and I realized it at breakfast time, and I didn't want to go to the grocery store -- so I made it in the bread machine. The response from the kids was so overwhelmingly positive that they've started complaining when I suggest I might buy bread, so now not only am I making bread from whole grains, I'm making it from scratch. (And, alas, with refined sugars -- there are plenty of recipes with honey or molasses or no sugar at all, so I'm sure I can adapt my plain whole wheat bread machine recipe, but today I was adding oats to the plain whole wheat recipe and I didn't want to change two things at once; next time I'll use molasses or even raw sugar instead of brown sugar.)

And, as I posted this weekend, I was already changing eggs. I didn't buy free-range, but cage-free grain-fed, which isn't quite the same thing (the author argues that you want your animal food sources to have a varied diet, too, if you're going to have more nutrition in YOUR food), but at least these chickens didn't come from an "industry standard" disease- and fecal-matter-infested henhouse. Even if they weren't killing me, I don't want to reward that level of grodiness. Ick.

We're trying some new breakfast cereals this week. I discovered, to my surprise, that the cereals on the natural foods aisle have (1) FAR fewer ingredients on their lists, having left out all the additives and preservatives (though not always the refined sugar and oat fiber (another food taken out of its whole food), but it's usually raw sugar, at least), (2) nearly identical styles to the cereals on the cereals aisle (there is a Reese's equivalent, though not a Lucky Charms equivalent that I saw), and (3) comparable prices to the main cereal aisle, since cereal prices leapt to outrageous levels several years ago after a price-fixing scandal or something and never came back down. So there's no excuse for me to keep eating that stuff.

I also realized most of our dinners aren't too bad. I'll need to start soaking kidney beans instead of buying them canned, because the canned ones are in corn syrup, but I usually plan chili a day or two in advance, so that will be cheaper and no big deal. White corn comes with added sugar, too -- but I can't find white corn in the freezer section and I can't digest yellow corn, so I think I'm stuck on that one for now, or until I start canning my own corn (as if!). But the rest of our canned goods are fine. (NOT counting the kids' ravioli and Mary's lunch soups -- but I don't eat those, and they don't eat much; I'll just stop buying those.) I can do better about using brown rice instead of white, but I'm already most of the way there on that one. Pastas and noodles will take some thought, but I found that most of the whole wheat pastas don't have long additive ingredient lists, even on the normal aisle (the Kroger brands aren't too great, though); however, I get rebellions with whole wheat pastas. Maybe Daniel will be more receptive this time.

I'm getting a fair amount of support from Daniel on this because the evidence from his family is kind of overwhelming. Among his grandparents, there were three major cases of heart disease and the fourth one developed cancer. His mother had cancer. His father has serious colon troubles. His brother, only 44, has colon cancer now. Daniel is in better shape than his brother and his mother but not his father, so the only thing he can hope to improve on over his father is his diet. Alexander is doomed -- there isn't a man in his family tree who hasn't had heart troubles (no -- his paternal grandfather just has colon troubles that I know of-- but Alexander's doomed on those, too). We're already working with the kids on exercise, but I think diet changes will help, too.

The "mostly plants" thing I haven't figured out yet. He hasn't addressed the specifics of that as far as I've gotten, except to say that historically we ate more plants than animal products and that we should think of meat as a side dish, not the main course. I'm trying to get more seafood in our diet (a frequent resolution of mine that has yet to take effect) but I'm not sure about how to cut back on dairy products much more than we have, without a radical change, or how to eliminate meat from my regular lunch diet.

I'm making these changes gradually; I'm not going to throw out all the white sugar and flour. Or all the ice cream in the freezer. Or the cupcakes Cecilia and I made this weekend. I refuse to bypass birthday cakes (WITH icing, but I'm happy to have that icing made with butter, not Crisco) or Halloween candy (refined sugar ten times over, but a necessity of life) or Christmas cookies (but the lebkuchen at least use honey instead of sugar, for the most part). But I can do more homemade stuff, with better ingredients.

And I'm not expecting my weight to miraculously drop even if I do switch to better foods. The "Not too much" is an important part of this -- though he points out that if we're eating whole foods we're getting the things that tell our bodies we're full, the things that are generally left out of foods like, say, jellybeans or candy corn, allowing us to eat entire bags straight (not that I would ever do such a thing...). So we're less likely to overeat as much. But the author also says that even if we DO eat all whole foods, we're not likely to get the same nutrition we would have 200 years ago, because all these foods have been bred for quantity, not quality, and the range of nutrition and opportunities for variety are long gone. So not only do I need to eat less sugar, I need to eat less, period. More depressing news that isn't really news.

Thank you for reading this far, if you've made it! I'll be happy to loan out the book when I'm finished, so you all can be as depressed as I am about how one's diet should change. (I LIKE sugar. I LIKE white flour, at least in many things. I don't WANT to change.) And if I loan out the book then I won't have it around so maybe in six weeks or months or so its effects will wear off and I can go back to my old bad habits. (Except for the eggs. Ew.)

Ugh, back up.

My weight was up nearly two pounds this week--144.8 today.

I haven't exercised since last Wednesday (or was it Thursday? I can't remember--I just know I only got to the gym twice last week). Our major event of the year was on Saturday and that just eats up the days around it--I spent all day at the farm on Friday helping to set up, all day Saturday at the event itself, and yesterday I sat around my office all day waiting for my responsibility for the day to start. I'm always on for doing a second count of the money we brought in before taking it to the bank, and normally this happens in the mid afternoon, so I waited to go to the gym until that was done. Problem was, it never happened yesterday--we'll get to it sometime this morning. But by the time we figured out that we wouldn't get around to the second count yesterday it was 4:30 and too late to go to the gym.

And then I've been eating and eating and eating and none of it very good--pizza for at least three meals (once fresh and twice leftovers), hot dogs, chips, cookies--all kinds of crap. I need to climb back on the wagon and stop giving in to temptation.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Enough to make me switch to free-range

Gross! I read an article today about one of the companies behind the egg recall. The description of the living conditions of the birds was nauseating! I thinking going vegan is a bit too extreme for me, but I might have to give free-range eggs a closer look for THIS reason, if not for the quality issues we discussed some months ago.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Headed the wrong direction

I completely stopped dieting on Daniel's birthday -- a week after I started -- and I haven't gotten back to it. BOOOOO!!! So my weight was 144.0 today. Today is a bad day for me -- my weight is up, my leg is achy (but we're going to the pool tonight -- blessed weightlessness and hot tub massage jets for my knee), and Daniel just left on a trip that will keep him away all week (he'll be back for about 20 seconds between trips on Thursday evening, but effectively he's gone until Sunday night) which always leaves me feeling moody and vaguely anxious and therefore wanting to eat, eat, eat. And there's candy corn in the stores. I bought some and it's great (they went back to the Brach's brand this year -- Kroger had a store brand last year that cost just as much and tasted gross and left my tongue fuchsia) but it doesn't seem to offer the same endorphin kick as chocolate. Oh, well.

I need to kick-start my diet!

Same stuff - over eating, under exercising

Once again I have to ask why it is that it will take me ALL SUMMER to lose 9 pounds, but then just two weeks to gain them back. OK, well I have only gained six of them back - but still. It is true, you can't slack even ONE DAY (or weekend as the case may be) on eating or it all catches up with you!!

I spent the weekend eating the left overs from the knitting book club party on Friday night. We did a back to school theme, so we had big M&M cookies, apple cake, peanut butter and jelly (a big hit!), fritos and cheese puff balls. I did minimal exercise (walked to and from church on Sunday). I did three loads of laundry and began the packing process for my cruise. So, I guess it isn't a SURPRISE that I gained weight (I also think some of it is pre-period weight gain... my boobies are weighing me down today).


I am VERY behind on my walking 500 miles in a year. I figure I need to walk about 9.62 miles per week. Last week I was 4 miles short. This week I was 7.62 miles short! My weeks start on Tuesday. I can, theoretically get some walking in today, but I have to finish my packing and clean out my car tonight.

The ship we are going to be on has a walk around one of the decks. It isn't a complete circuit, but it is close. I think, in fact, that it is the deck we are on. I am not sure how long of a walk it is - but I am planning on walking it daily, if possible.

And today's update

My weight this morning was 143 even. See, I KNEW I should have only reported my higher weight last week. But by going officially with 143.8 last week, that means I only lost .8 pounds this week.

Yesterday I ate healthy all day. Sort of. OK, dammit, I overate again, only this time my downfall was the mixed nuts someone brought in to work. This is the week of our major fundraising event, so there tends to be a lot of junk food lying around--people bringing in muffins from home and ordering pizza for lunch and all. But yesterday someone brought in a huge tin of mixed nuts (the really good kind with no peanuts--all almonds and cashews and pecans and brazil nuts) and I couldn't keep out of them. So again I went over my calorie goal for the day, but not by too much. And it was all healthy, right?

But I also went for a run yesterday and it was awesome. I was feeling a bit guilty the whole time because I was enjoying the run and thinking of Emily who SHOULD be the one enjoying running in this gorgeous weather instead of me. I was doing the little angel-and-devil-on-my-shoulder thing going over to the gym--I wanted to exercise outside, I didn't want to make my knee any worse, but running is so much more efficient an exercise than the elliptical, but the elliptical is a safer choice right now - I should give my knee more time to heal. My knee hadn't been hurting for a few days except on the odd occasion when I'd break into a run and the pain would immediately bring me to a halt.

What finally convinced me to run outside instead of staying inside (besides the torture of being stuck inside when it was sunny and breezy and 75 degrees) was my clothes. I had my icky shorts with me--the ones that don't fit quite right and balloon out in the front and pull up at the sides and I hate them but they were the only clean ones--and had accidentally brought last year's Iron Girl shirt with me--the one I never wear because it's too small and rides up around my waist. These two together are a disaster--baloony butt and stomach and skin tight top that won't stay down and is useless for hiding my stomach. When I wear those shorts I HAVE to have a slightly big shirt. And I couldn't face wearing these in the gym where I'd stay still surrounded by students and coworkers for 40 minutes, so I went out in public where more people might see me but I'd wear a hat and glasses and no one would know who I was, so even fi they were laughing at me it would never come back to haunt me.

I was prepared to stop and walk if I needed to, but I took it really easy, especially for the first half mile or so when I made sure to land exactly perfectly on my left foot so I wouldn't jar my knee. On the downhills I could feel the tendon on the back of my knee, so maybe a bit inflamed still, but it was more of an awareness than an actual pain. On the flats and the uphills there was no pain at all. I maintained a steady pace the whole way and kept my heartrate well within my target rate, and actually RAN (or jogged) the whole way--no stopping to walk. I didn't beat any land speed records, but finished with a respectable 9:50 pace per mile, which I'm more than happy with. It's rare when I enjoy a run at all--I think of running as more of a painful obligation, nothing to be dreaded like swimming, but not fun like cycling--but between the pain free run, the beautiful weather, and the easy pace it was pretty darn close to fun.

What I tried to post yesterday

Yesterday my internet connection at work was wonky--everything slow to load (glacially slow) and when I tried to post here not only didn't it post, but it didn't even save the draft. Turns out my computer had been hit with some virus that didn't become apparent until I tried to restart it this morning and it was, for all intents and purposes, dead. Mr. Friendly IT Guy came and made it all better (took all morning) and I, fortunately, saved a draft of the post on my hard drive. So here's YESTERDAY'S post:

The last three days don't count:

That's what I'm telling myself.

After doing so well with my diet all week, it all went to heck on Friday, then continued through the weekend. I have no will power. Friday was a luncheon at work where it was essentially impossible to eat low calorie--my options were meat lasagna, veggie lasagna, or stuffed shells and garlic bread. OK, I probably could have skipped the brownie for dessert but that was the best part of the meal!

On Saturday we went to Williamsburg and again I overate--a candy bar in the morning (Claire has discovered that there's a type of Milky Way that is safe for her to eat, so she bought one for each of us on Saturday morning), a big sandwich, gingerbread, and ginger beer for lunch, tacos for dinner, and a milkshake on the way home.

Sunday wasn't quite so bad, but Brian brought leftover doughnuts home after cleaning up the church and I caved in and ate one.

See, it doesn't take much to kill a diet when you're counting calories! Amazingly, once you add in exercise, my Daily Plate chart says that I didn't go overboard any one of those days since I went to the gym Friday, walked quite a bit on Saturday, and went for a 20 mile bike ride on Sunday. But the scale says otherwise--my weight hasn't budged in the last week at all. For me to really lose weight, I have to consistenly UNDEReat according to these charts. Or rather, I can't factor exercise into the mix--if I eat no more than 1300 calories a day AND exercise four days a week, then I'll lose weight. I can't eat 1600 calories on the days I exercise.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

God doesn't want me to exercise

Yesterday my Cho-Pat I-T Band Syndrome strap arrived in the mail, so I started wearing it right away. It's just a compression strap that goes around the leg above the knee. At least for the time being my leg is aching more but less painful, if that makes any sense. I mean, I have a continuous dull ache that wasn't there before, but I can handle going down stairs without any pain at all. I tried a run this morning and it was uncomfortable but bearable for the 3 mile distance. But my stamina is shot to hell and my quads were tired from yesterday, when I did pool jogging (I called it "water running" on FB yesterday but realized this confused people -- it's too similar to "running water" and no one is clear on why this would be anything to dread, unless you're incontinent). I'm going to have to work VERY hard, and not injure myself worse, if I'm to have any hope of running the marathon next month.

While looking up information on how to use the Cho-Pat effectively I ran across a blog from a woman who ran the Baltimore marathon last year. It was her one and only marathon, and the more I read, the more her training experience sounded EXACTLY like mine. I was excited when I read her initial reports with the Cho-Pat and saw in her archives that she had finished the marathon -- until I read her race report. I really, really hope that's not what I'm in for, or I'm doomed.

So after my run today, which was only so-so, as I said, I went for a bike ride with the Girl Scouts. It was just 6 miles each way, on the Huckleberry, so it should have been trivial. But on the way back, about a mile into it, I crossed the steel bar that joins the trail to an old railroad bridge, and it had a about a half-inch rise with a fairly sharp corner, which I nailed at full speed (I was more concerned about trying to avoid hitting poky scouts, so I didn't see it until too late). Very shortly thereafter my tire went flat. I pumped it up again, but I didn't have a spare, and it didn't hold air for very long. I finally had to get Daniel to pick me up, and the other leader went on with the girls. So I failed again. You can see why I'm not feeling very optimistic about exercise these days!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Quantum mechanics and weight gain

Fatty (the Fat Cyclist) weighs in. Literally. The bit about justifying how his real weight is actually much lower than the weight on the scale made me laugh.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

knees

Do you think we could get a group rate on knee surgery?

I haven't been able to walk since Friday. Saturday it was wet, so we stayed home. We went to afternoon mass on Saturday and when I stood up from the kneeler to go to Communion I had such a painful twinge in my right knee that I had to sit down suddenly. I did manage to get to Communion--luckily we sit in the front row so Dad can hear. But I have been getting these knee twinges even more frequently. We went to our first two OLLI classes this morning and after one and a quarter hours of sitting, it really hurt to go up the stairs to the bathroom. (There is one downstairs but the line was out the dooor.) I struggled down the stairs again and I had to let a patient man go by me on the landing. After the second class I felt worse so I hobbled out to the car. I also hobbled to the voting booth, but I did get the job done. I have been sitting much of the afternoon, but I have to go clean up the kitchen now. Wish me luck.

Only a little weight loss

My weight cheerfully plunged down to 139.5 almost overnight, but then Daniel's birthday weekend hit -- we socialized three nights in a row and then Sunday morning as well. I finally started eating again normally yesterday, but the damage was done, so I was back to 140.5 today. At least it's a decrease from last week, and now I'm more or less counting calories again and I'll try to get fully back on the wagon as the week goes on.

I'm really depressed about the whole running thing right now. The weather is GORGEOUS and has been most of the time for the last week, but I can't even walk properly most of the time, let alone get out for a run or a real bike ride. This morning was the first time I have been able to go downstairs without wincing in ten days -- my knee just isn't recovering at the rate I'd like to see. I have just over a month until the marathon, but it's been more than that since I first injured the I-T band, so it's clear the recovery is going to continue to be slow and that I'll be lucky if I can run it at all. I'm doing my best to stay conditioned through other exercise, but it's just not the same -- 40 minutes on a recumbent bike barely even gets my heart rate into the cardio zone, and even THAT makes my leg complain sometimes. Today I managed what felt like a good faux-run on the elliptical, but then I tried a single loop on the track and it was excruciating. This Saturday was supposed to be my 26-mile training run, and it ain't happenin'.

Yay weight loss!!

I get my choice of weights this morning, either 144.6 when I first woke up (from 2:30 - 4:30 with Connor) or 143.8 when I woke up again at my usual time. I guess the lower weight is more official, but I kind of like the higher weight because it gives me more leeway for weight loss for NEXT week since I know I can't keep up this pace of weight loss for very long. Two pounds in a week is more than respectable--three pounds seems like showing off.

My knee has been giving me fits the past several days--I guess that's what I get for commenting about Mom's bad knee! It started Thursday with a bit of twinging (for no apparent reason--I hadn't done anything to it all day), was still painful when I headed out for a run on Friday. I was prepared to stop and come back if it kept hurting, but after about a half a mile it wasn't bothering me anymore and I had a really good run. But that evening it came back with a vengeance--really painful and sore and making me limp. It's been on and off ever since, so I'm taking ibuprofen as needed and avoiding running. I biked on Saturday (just to the park and back with Claire, so only nine very slow miles), walked the dog on Sunday, and stayed in the gym on the stationary bike (yuck) and a short walk on the treadmill yesterday. It kills me to work out inside when it's so gorgeous outside! I need to bring my bike to work and get out on the road if I can't run.

Food has been good, with some major lapses on Sunday--church picnic and Catonsville Arts Festival. I ate in moderation at both, but still came out a couple hundred calories over my goal for the day.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

I'm back finally ...

Hi all,

Sorry for the long absence -- but I am going to try to post on a regular basis.

Eating and exercising for me is going pretty well. I went to Maine last month and got in some good hikes including one that required that I morph into a billy goat -- straight down on granite. My hiking guide called it a moderate hike of about 2.5 miles that took more than two hours due to its straight up, straight down route. Argh! I loved it though and wasn't sore after that one. I did another one where I slipped on the smooth granite -- I wasn't in any danger of falling off a cliff or anything -- but it's never fun to fall and go boom.

I've gotten out and hiked the past few weekends -- near here at Great Falls park and out in Shenandoah last weekend. A really nice 5-mile loop that I'd like to do again without my friends' kids so I could pick up the pace. There were some good hills.

On Labor Day I did a 20-mile bike ride on the WO&D that went really well. I'm training to do a C&O Canal ride in a couple of weeks. Some friends are doing a 4-day trip from Cumberland to Georgetown. Depending on my work schedule I'll do either two or three days -- about 40-50 miles a day.

I've been trying to get slightly thicker tires on my hybrid bike but the back wheel can't take much more than a slick because the tire rubs against the deraileur. I took it to the bike shop the other night and the bike mechanics swore they could easily find a wider tire without an issue but, alas, they failed and were irritated about it. Kinda funny. So I've thought about a second bike for trails like C&O and the Greater Allegheny Passage (GAP). It might be easier and in the end, cost me less -- if I can find a good used bike.

Otherwise I'm trying to walk or run daily and do some other strength exercises. I can pick up that part of my workout. I'm not doing enough.

Eatingwise not too bad. I'm mostly living off farmers market veggies -- zuke, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, peaches, nectarines and whatever else we've got. I grill most of it eat night and make either a morning smoothie or do yogurt and fruit.

I don't eat fast food and rarely eat out -- BORING -- so it seems like I should be dropping weight faster but I'm not.

I read a blog post by a guy who calls himself the Organic Triathlete. He said he's strict with his food during the week as in no alcohol or bread but he lets it fly on the weekends within reason. I could definitely cut my beer consumption -- while Congress has been out of session and I've been working at home, it's easier to open the fridge at the end of the workday. Still, I do it in moderation.

I am looking at some longer bike rides -- I think Sarah mentioned a 100-miler -- because I do really enjoy that and outside of the butt-ache it's nice and no impact. Plus there are so many awesome trails around here to ride. Plus I love hiking and have been trying to at least get out once a weekend.

The work continues ...

Friday, September 10, 2010

Finally!

So here I am again! I hope you all missed me. I finally got blogspot to accept me back.

Our bathroom scale has been on the fritz for several months, so I was a bit nervous when I went in for my annual physical on Tuesday of this week. I was 156, which was up a pound or so since my last visit to the doctor sometime after Easter. Since I seem to have spent the summer reading and snacking, I actually expected worse. I have shrunk another half inch, which puts me at 5'3 1/2". I'm not at all happy about that.

We have been walking 2 miles per day most days on the NCR trail, but we have missed at least two days this week because of conflicts with medical/dental appointments. (Yes, "I hate all this walking!") We really only started less than 2 weeks ago.

So, unless the orthopedist I see on October 13 tells me to forget it, I will try to keep walking and up my mileage gradually.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

End-of-summer run

I kind of like this exercise-for-fun thing. I'm still making myself get out and get moving four days a week, but I'm not tied to any kind of training schedule and I'm not forcing myself to meet certain times when I do any of these activities.

So yesterday I had my gym bag and it was hot out so I figured I'd just use the treadmill or elliptical at the gym, but as I was walking over I figured it wasn't really that hot - I went out all summer in weather MUCH hotter, and besides, it was so dry yesterday that I was dealing with static electricity problems, and really I just prefer exercising outside.

So I went for my usual run, and it was gorgeous--easy pace, easy breathing, floating up hills without even noticing them. That was the first two miles. Then the next mile and a half was just pain. Well, not really pain, but tired and thirsty (hmmm, dry weather feels cooler, but you really need to bring water with you) and heart rate, which was staying in the 170s for the first two miles even on the hills, soaring into the 180s and staying there in spite of the pretty easy terrain. It was such a quick switch from fine to suffering that it shocked me a bit. When I got back to the gym (with average speeds just over 10 minutes per mile) I was shaky and feeling sick had to sit down for a while. It passed, and I was fine the rest of the day, but I've never felt like that after a run this whole time I've been running--I might be breathing hard and sweaty, but never shaky and sick like that.

All I can figure is that my body might be having a hard time adjusting back to my lower calorie diet--I'm eating the same as I always have while dieting (so roughly 1200 - 1400 calories per day), but as yesterday was only day 2 of that diet, I think my body hasn't yet gotten the message that it needs to swich over to burning fat--it was looking for all that good carb-laden fuel, and there just wasn't enough to draw on.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Hadrian's Wall



Last night Dad and I were talking about (and googling) the Hadrian's Wall Trail, the 80 mile National Trust walking path that follows what's left of Hadrian's Wall. Dad mentioned before that he wanted to walk this trail and last night he said he was serious. I'm serious along with him, although with Brian still out of work I don't see this as a realistic trip in my immediate future. The whole trail can be done in about a week, and there are companies that plan it for you, booking accommodations and giving you the maps and detailed walking guides and transporting your luggage from one night's accommodation to the next. All you have to do is the walking--generally 12 to 15 miles a day of easy to strenuous, depending on where you are on the route.


Mom's not enthused ("Oh, I hate all this waaaaallking"), although to be fair her knee really hurts so I could see that might put a damper on a walking vacation. I told her to get a new knee or some cortisone shots and a knee brace, or find a nice B&B in the Lake District to hang out in while we do the walking tour. She pointed out that the two miles they walked that day exhausted them, which may well be true, but then, Emily didn't start her marathon training with 17 mile runs. Dad reminded her that they walked all the way to York and back one summer in short increments--this would be just like that, only instead of stopping and turning around they'd keep going. And instead of going home after six miles they'd take a break, eat some lunch, tour a Roman fort, and then take another walk in the afternoon. Oh, and it's just a tad bit hillier than the NCR trail. Also generally colder. And more sheep.

But the benefits? Yeah, there's all that nice scenery and history and all, but here's what has me enthused: when Claire and I went hiking on Monday, I burned about 1400 calories. Walking along the Hadrian's Wall Trail, I figure I'd burn maybe twice that each day. Think of all the English breakfasts I could eat for that! And the Hob Nobs! I could go through a package a day!

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Two!

And so my journey starts. I went to the gym with Jenny tonight. Yay! I only walked for 35 minutes, but I was wishing it was longer. I have to remember that the first 20 minutes are the hard part and after that it is downhill. I will do it for longer next time.

Happy Anniversary!

Like Emily, I always think of Labor Day as our anniversary. I get a bit depressed when I think of how long we've been doing this and how little difference I really see. My weight this morning was 146.8--pretty much the same place it has been, since, like, forever, and only 10 pounds down from where I started. It's really 10 pounds up from where I'd like to be (in the 135 - 140 range) and all of those pounds seem to be on my stomach. While 146 might be a perfectly healthy weight for someone my height (a BMI of 23.7), having the excess weight around my middle isn't healthy and I need to work at it. Really work at it, and not just pretend to as I've been doing. And that, of course, means eating less. I hate that part.

My exercise, surprisingly, has been pretty good the past couple of weeks. After the triathlon last year I turned into a slug for a while. This year I'm making myself exercise regularly, but I'm trying to make it fun. So I've only gone running outside once, on the treadmill once (I had forgotten how much easier that is!), used the elliptical once, went kayaking (hardly exercise--more just toodling around the lake for an hour trying to keep Claire from running aground), walked around the neighborhood, cycled to Ellicott City and back (to take pictures of red things; I need to upload them), and went for a nice long hike yesterday at the state park (dragged Claire along--it was 7.5 hilly miles, but I wanted to see if it was doable for a non-athletic kid her age since I want to make the scout troop do this same hike. I was looking for challenging but not impossible--I think we hit it). Looking at this list I'm realizing that in two weeks I haven't done the same activity twice, which helps with avoiding boredom!

So today I'm back to counting calories and being honest with myself with what I eat. I wonder why it is that I'd prefer to work out for four hours on a Saturday and really burn lots of calories rather than just cut back a little every day on what I eat? I think I'm just better at excess than moderation.

I would walk 500 mile and I would walk 500 more

If I would only get started! So far my plan to walk 500 miles in a year has going exactly no where! Well, I have done the math on how much I would have to walk each day to hit 500 miles in a year (1.37 miles per day - or 2.5 miles per day four days a week, for example). I planned last night when I went to bed that I would get up this morning and walk, but, oddly, I slept straight through until 6:27 this morning. Of course, straight through doesn't mean a lot when you don't go to bed until 12:30am. Today I am buying an alarm clock to put in my living room to go off at 10:15pm so I will GO TO BED at a reasonable time. Katie said there was yet another report on the radio that connects obesity to lack of sleep. I consistantly get 5:14 minutes of sleep each night. That isn't enough and it is MY OWN DARN FAULT!!!

So - btw - it is once again our anniversary. My weight today was 248 even. Up two pounds from last week - but last week I had just purged. I need to check to see what my weight increase has been since the beginning. Actually, I know. We started with me at 215.4. So I have gained 32.60 pounds. If anyone else wants their starting weights, I have them all. I feel fairly sure that what I have gained has been lost by Emily and Sarah...

Happy Anniversary

We've been hanging around here for five years! I always think of the day after Labor Day as our anniversary, even though it isn't exact. In honor of our anniversary, I've started counting calories yet again -- actually, I started on Sunday (not a good day to start -- food is always out of whack on Sundays) because my weight crept up to a number that I didn't want to see. It wasn't bad yet, but I'm trying to get myself into the habit of acting immediately when my weight gets away from the numbers I've been seeing, rather than thinking it's only a half-pound deviation and probably just a scale glitch (which may still be true this time). If I let the number slide, then a few days later I'm already used to that number and making excuses for the next half-pound glitch, and suddenly I've gained five or ten pounds back. And since, this time, I hadn't first gotten DOWN to the numbers I wanted to see to begin with, it was even a little easier to motivate myself. The first day I overshot, but only by a bit (and I didn't realize it until I checked my calories after dinner -- I was going to let myself have dessert and another small glass of wine, which goes to show you I can NOT just estimate my calories even though I've been at this for five years), and yesterday I stayed on target.

My weight today was 141.0, which is as low as it has been all summer, but Sunday it was 143, which was higher than it had been in several weeks. I'd really like to get it down to the 130s before I lose steam again, and then have 140 be my time-to-count number.

I'm still sore from Saturday but slowly recovering. I used the bike at the gym yesterday and have two more gym appointments this week, so I'll keep exercising but try to keep weight off my knees. I hate injuries!

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Yard sale

Except there is no yard and everything is free.

I cleaned out my closet today. I have a TON of clothes in sizes 12-14 if you know anyone that could use them or stand the chore of going thru them to decide. I am disgusted with myself as to how much still has tags on it. I am disgusted with myself at my own weight and subsequent inability to wear any of it, so it must go. My only hope if that it might bring someone else some happiness.

I haven't been to the gym today and I am hoping to go tomorrow. I wanted to get some chores out of the way this morning, and I really should be in the shower right now getting ready to head up to PA. We are stopping in to see a friend of mine before she leaves on her 3rd tour in Iraq.

Have a safe Labor Day weekend!

Run for fun? What the h*** kind of fun is that?

We were watching Back to the Future 3 last night, and as Doc Brown went on and on about the future to the people of the old West he mentioned that people run for fun and exercise, not out of need. And one of the old-timers said, "Run for fun? What the hell kind of fun is that?" I think I need that on a T-shirt.

I went to the New River Trail today to try a longer run. The trail is nice; not as well-tended as NCR (it's mostly just slightly graveled tire tracks, though sometimes there isn't even gravel) but it has a lot of railroad trestles and some gorgeous views, so what it lacks in substance it makes up for in style. I had the supplies to go the full, scheduled 23, if I could, but after less than a mile my right knee (not the worse one from before, but lately the more annoyed) started complaining, and by a mile and a half or so I knew I couldn't do the entire distance because both knees hurt. I decided to go at least 3 on the way out, and when I got to 3 I thought 4 would be nice, because last week I did 4, so with the return trip I'd double my distance. But at 3.2 the pain was much sharper, so I had the good sense to turn back. On the way back my legs sometimes felt as heavy as lead. I finished out at about six and a half miles and felt pretty good when I got to the parking lot, but I drove home, thinking I could always do some more distance on the Huckleberry if I wanted to. But when I got out of the car it was BAD. I could barely walk. It has loosened up some now -- so it's nothing like the last time -- but I was right to quit when I did, and probably I should have stopped sooner. I think I'll stick to the elliptical for my exercise during this week, and keep it light on my legs.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

I'm around

The last few weeks have been insane, the next few seem to be following the same pattern with the addition of school thrown into the mix. We were in NYC Tuesday-Friday last week, and then Peter's dad wants to come back up for an overnight visit in two weeks for a party. Ugh. It is such a long way to go for just a few hours of visiting, but I imagine we'll do it. I am willing myself to go so I can stop by my new favorite Italian food shop for some fresh pasta while we're up there, maybe even some fresh mozzarella from Joe's Dairy and their house made sun dried tomatoes.

I'm in a funk at work and with exercise. I just can't seem to get it right. I hope I am just fatigued from our summer schedule, but it also feels like this level of activity and commitment might be our new status quot (is that the right spelling??) but I really hope not.

I tried a different entrance/exit from the metro today. I am trying to decide if it is better to be hassled by drug dealers on Saratoga St or drug users as I go through Lexington Market. With the users, they pretty much leave you alone, but you do have to dodge them as you hurry to the train. The dealers, on the other hand, tend to have all their mental faculties in tact, and my initial thinking says that is slightly scarier than the users. I'll have to see how the return trip is today.

*sigh* Happy September 1 everyone.