One pound up

146.6 today, which was better than I expected. I ate road food and Thanksgiving food all week and didn't exercise at all. In fact, I haven't gotten any formal exercise since the bike trip two weeks ago. My work schedule has been so weird that I haven't been able to take lunch breaks to get to the gym, and my desire to get up at 5 a.m. to go running is precisely zero.

Getting on the scale this morning, I literally closed my eyes, scared of what I might see, so 146.6 was a bit of a relief. I'm not saying I'm happy with the weight, but I was worried that I would have gone all the way back up to 150 again.

I've got two or three weeks until the Celtic Solstice run, which seemed like such an easy event a few weeks ago when I was running regularly and the air was crisp but not cold. Now with cold rain I'm worried that it'll be a miserable event--lousy weather making being outside horrible and me out of shape again making 5 miles seem endless. But I'm going to the gym this afternoon, so that'll be a start. Another start. I've had a lot of fitness related starts in the past five years!

Food-wise, I've discovered two foods in the past 24 hours that should be yummy but aren't, and I regret getting them at all. Yesterday we were having 15 bean soup for dinner so Brian asked me to pick up some crusty bread to go with it. I was at Sam's Club and got a roll of their French bread, which looked o.k. enough in the package. Turns out it's squishy and flavorless, so flavorless that even Claire rejected it, and she's usually more than fine with squishy and flavorless. Then today, after prompting from some FB friends, I ordered a salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks. Really not worth the calories! Yuck! To be fair, it may have been made wrong--the barista messed up when putting the lid on the first time so ended up reapplying the whipped cream, caramel, and salt. That was the mistake, I think. Way too much salt. It wasn't bad at the start, but it all sank to the bottom of the cup and the last half inch was undrinkable and I'm still sucking down water like it's going out of style. I like salty-sweet combinations, but I think I'll stick to chocolate pretzels from now on. And my usual Americano from Starbucks.

Just out of curiosity

How many grams of sugar do you all eat in a day? I haven't actively tracked mine yet - other than the pretty random tally I did last week when I was trying to reduce my added sugar. As I said at the time, the ONE (one - 1) article I read said that 40g was a reasonable amount of sugar for an adult on a normal day. That seemed about right to me so I didn't look any further. So I checked me and on the day I was "cutting back" the end of it all I was up to 57g. That was with just sugar in my coffee and NO sweet snacks. Granted, I had leftover pizza with a white flour crust for lunch that day - and I don't remember what dinner - but, all in all it was a low sugar day for me. This leads me to think that if I had 57g on a LOW sugar day, and the appropriate amount is 40g on a normal day for other people, I am somehow WAY off base. So, what do you all do in a day? Since you all are my "control group" can you take a day in the next week or so to track your sugar (TDP tracks it if you use that tool) and tell me what it is on an average day for you. Don't try to do anything special - like don't skip the sugar in your coffee for the day just to make your total lower.

So today is the last day of the first month where I set the rules up on that website Julie was talking about, and doesn't this sentence read smooth-like and everything? Healthmonth.com. I lost three health points out of 10 in the 10 days I did it - which means I would have succeeded for the month with one remaining point had I done the whole month. I exercised, went to bed on time, and FAILED MISERABLY on the no added sugar rule. I am doing it again for December, but this time I am doing the sleeping rule, the exercise rule and flossing. December hasn't started yet, but so far I am 100% on track.

I hope to go to yoga tonight. It is the HARDEST thing in the world to get me there after work, but I am fine once I am there. So, tonight I plan to do it.

The yoga room is not set up. Katie wasn't able to get the rest of her stuff moved over Thanksgiving, and she has a pretty hectic schedule over the next couple of weeks, so I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Of course

It's Tuesday, so my weight went up a pound. It was 142.5 -- in a glance at my calendar, I'm happy to report that that's the highest I've seen in three weeks. Wait -- I'm happy that I've stayed under it for 3 weeks, not happy that I'm there now. I haven't posted in a while because there is SO nothing to report in my life -- my weight has been consistent, my eating so-so, and my exercise nonexistent. I've been sick forever. I had that cold that caused laryngitis, and when that wore off it was too chaotic for me to have time to exercise. Now that I'm back to a routine for three weeks, I'm sick again.

I have pleurisy! That sounds like such an old-lady disease. I think I should start calling it pleuritis, its more formal name. It's when the lining of the lungs gets infected. It's usually viral, and in my case almost definitely so, since it follows on the heels of a cold. It's also horrendously painful at its worst and can drag on for weeks or months. You have to take anti-inflammatories to keep it under control, and on Sunday when the ibuprofen wore off, before my newly-prescribed Meloxicam kicked in, I would have sworn I had a kidney stone. I was on the verge of going to the ER to prove that the doctor's tentative diagnosis was wrong, but I decided to hang on a little longer, and it eventually subsided to a dull ache (which a kidney stone would not have). Last night I was a little more prompt about taking the second dose, but not prompt enough -- it wore off just as I was headed to the grocery store so I had a miserable shopping trip (but it never got to the kidney stone pain level). The most frustrating part is that when it starts really hurting, I can't get a deep breath (it is painful to yawn, cough, sneeze, or hiccup -- very maddening since I can't control when I have a sudden hiccup or sneeze!). And even when it is not actively painful, it is painful to breathe deeply, so I have no idea how I can exercise in any significant way. Maybe I should go back to one of my "Walk Away the Pounds" videos, because (a) those aren't exactly the most demanding tapes, especially the short walks, and (b) I can skip any part that hurts, or quit altogether if I have to.

That's better

145.6 today, with steady loss throughout the week. Vicki was right that I dropped a couple of pounds almost immediately (or rather, that the extended ride over last weekend led to water retention that I lost quickly) and the rest was through plain old diet and exercise. I'm doing a kind of modified South Beach thing right now. There's a woman in my office with similar habits to mine--lots of regular exercise, good diet, but difficulties losing the weight her body wants to hang onto around her stomach. Her nutritionist over the summer recommended eating normally throughout the day but reducing or eliminating carbs for dinner, and she's had amazing results--looking really good while maintaining her level of fitness and varied diet. So this past week I've been doing the same thing--my normal stuff during the day (and "normal" this week meant one day of Thanksgiving dinner for lunch with coworkers, so it hasn't all been portion control!) and then grilled chicken/fish/beef for dinner with a big salad.

The biggest problem with this diet is that it's really boring. And probably easier for my friend at work who isn't cooking a separate meal for her family and then this for herself. Last night I made lasagna and couldn't resist, so I had a small piece of that--clearly my willpower isn't perfect. But overall I can't complain, and I'm happy to see at least a bit of weight loss!

More Cowbell

I can't remember how that title relates to my post, but I decided it was the title, and then had to research the phrase to figure out if it was "more cowbell" or "not enough cowbell" and so now I can't remember why I wanted to say it.

Anyway - so, I signed up for the HealthMonth game. I am not yet sure how to play the game - but I will check on it each day. I think I already said in my comment (but since I can't remember then maybe you all won't remember either) that I am doing three rules; get at least 7 hours of sleep a night (in bed by 10:30, lights out by 11), do 30 minutes of exercise five days a week, and limit my added sugar in-take. So, I have been good about the sleep for the past two nights. I didn't exercise yesterday - but April and I took a 30 minute walk today. The added sugar one is harder... My decision was that I could have 150 calories of sugar in a successful day... but how do you figure out what percentage of food is sugar calories? According to one nutrional website 40g of "added" sugar is the acceptable amout a person can have in a day. So if I want to limit my intake, how much should that be? 20g? 10g? 35g? I don't know... A gram of sugar contains 4 calories - so 150 calories would be 37.5gt - which isn't much of a limit. But the 150 calories was totally random made up based on the fact that 4 sugar packs in a large coffee is 80 calories - and if I have two in a day that is 160 calories - and I could cut back on one of the sugar packs or more on each of them and that would be me limiting my sugar intake. Maybe I should have decided all of this before I set the rule... OR MAYBE this is what I need to make me aware of how much sugar I consume!!!

One Year - give or take...

I realized that Katie will be getting married one year from this weekend. That wasn't a great revelation since we had been discussing that very fact all weekend. HOWEVER, it just occurred to me late last night/early this morning that is is one year from this weekend that I will have to put on a bridesmaid dress and walk around in front of people. People looking at me. AND I will have to have my picture taken. Multiple times. AND I WILL LOOK LIKE AN ENORMOUS FOOTBALL!!!!!! STANDING ON END!!!!!!!!!!! Crap.

I also did the math. Even if some amazing miracle should occur and I am able to lose a pound a week between now and next November, I will STILL only be at about the same point as I was when Sarah and I went on our cruise. AND I WAS FAT THEN!!!. Now, if I am able to lose TWO pounds a week (which is on par with me saying "and if I am able to find 10 million dollars in my bank account") I will be at the same point as I was when Sarah got married a thousand years ago. I was a size 10 then. I think I was skinnier for Sarah's wedding than I was for Emily's - but maybe not...

So what do I do? I thought about going back to Jenny Craig - only that costs $70 a week (give or take) and didn't help me much. That was the first experience with losing 12 pounds then gaining 20. I have to talk to my doctor. I have multiple times, but she doesn't do or say anything. I need to join Julie's goal setting website - only my goals need to be sleep more, move more, in addition to eat less. I need to get busy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting site

So I have been struggling with finding a creative outlet I can manage with my crazy schedule, etc right now, so I decided to go back to writing. I found this website called 750 words (http://750words.com/home)that challenges you to write 750 words every day. It even has challenges and badges and this really neat analytical tool that I find fascinating--a lot like what we used to talk about in the beginning with this blog, but all focused on writing. The guy that hosts 750 words also hosts a website called Health Month (http://healthmonth.com/hello). It is a game that lets you set goals and then check in and get points, etc. To keep it free, you have to choose only 3 goals, but you can also pay per month ($5) if you want to have more. I am going to play for December with 3 rules. It starts on the 1st of every month and the rules are a combination of things to cut back on and things to increase each week.

My rules for December are cut back on soda, cut back on fried foods (I am interpreting this as eating out) and exercising 3 times a week for 30 minutes. We'll see how it goes.

I turned in a my resignation from the community college last week; the schedule for being in class and then all the stuff that leads up to class is just too stressful for me anymore. I know this stress has been a major contributor to my weight gain. I am so tired through the week I never go to the gym, then on the weekends I am so busy trying to catch up on the things I neglect through the week. It just has to stop.

Plus I realized about 3 weeks ago that teaching isn't fun for me anymore. I had a student ask me halfway through the semester, halfway through a lecture, whether or not she should be taking notes. I had an internal mental meltdown and realized that I really don't enjoy being in the classroom anymore.

So that is one of my major changes I am working to bring around. Unfortunately, my resignation hasn't exactly been accepted yet, so I am up in the air as to whether or not my dream to have that time back in play in my life will occur for the spring or not. I'm on a semester to semester contract, so it's not like they can make me teach, but at the same time I don't want to be a jerk about it.

We'll see how it plays out. One of my unwritten goals is to survive November (almost there) and survive the end of the semester. I am waiting for a huge weight to be lifted from me. I really hope it happens. Wish me luck!

Fat, fat, fat

Can I just use this post to talk about how much fun it was to bike up to York and back this weekend and not to even mention that I gained *another* pound (more, actually--up to 149.2!) this week?

Ugh, that was a shock--I thought I'd at least hold steady from last week. I haven't been weighing myself daily (need to get back to that) so I wasn't aware of the gain until today, and I figured I haven't really been eating more than usual, while my exercise has been pretty consistent. Clearly I was wrong.

But the cycling! That was fun. Good people, gorgeous weather - seriously, when is it ever that nice in November? - pretty route, fun riding. The trail in Maryland is better than the one in Pennsylvania, although you wouldn't think so to look at it. The Pennsylvania side is pretty uniformly surfaced with fine gravel, and is generally wider than the trail through Maryland, plus it runs alongside more things that are worth stopping for--lots of places to eat, some historic sites, and a winery that we stopped at on Saturday. But the gravel makes it really noisy, which was my biggest complaint, and it seems to be more heavily used (maybe not as packed as the NCR Trail is at the southern end, but there are more people up and down the whole route, so you don't often get the trail completely to yourself). The Maryland side has you dodging more rocks and potholes, but the surface is much quieter, and in the places where it's it good shape (which is a lot of it) it's almost as good as paved. We made pretty good time while we were riding, and had several long, leisurely stops (where I ate and drank too much, obviously, or I would have lost weight). It really was a perfect weekend.

141.0

The zombies have not, apparently, reached this section of Virginia yet. Sorry. Just a boring weight check-in. I got to the gym yesterday and I have an appointment for tomorrow, so that's one day more of exercise this week than last (though I did walk downtown on Friday -- all of about a mile and a half). My leg had absolutely no complaints during yesterday's workout (all bike, so not weight-bearing) but it was hurting at bedtime -- so no running for me yet. And it got tired during the long walk, but nothing worse than that. I'm over my virus (I went to the doctor on Wednesday and was diagnosed with some kind of infection in my throat) but I still have laryngitis (and probably will until Christmas. I hate laryngitis!).

My weight is holding steady -- I cut calories a couple of days last week and tracked them on Daily Plate and Spark People both, mainly so I could look up my recipe data on DP and transfer some of it to SP -- I definitely like SP's environment better. It's more fun. But DP's food tracker is somewhat easier to work with and gives you more control over how your food is listed throughout the day. SP's "Snack" is too vague and general -- I'd rather be able to see if I was pigging out all morning, or all afternoon, or after dinner, or if I distributed it through the day. But I lost enthusiasm for tracking after a couple of days. It's so much work and it isn't really helping my willpower! The Halloween candy is all but gone in our house (and I've been very restrained anyway -- a piece after lunch and after dinner, and that's about it) but Thanksgiving is coming -- and then Christmas junk -- I'm doomed!

Why are zombies all the rage these days?

I actually did a demonstration on spatial aggregation of data in my mapping class last week using a fake (obviously) data set I made up regarding the distribution of zombie attacks in central Maryland. Then we compared the distributions when the attacks were aggregated by zip code, by county and by census tract.

Anyways, I feel like a zombie. I've put into motion the possibility for some major changes in my day to day life that look like they could come to fruition in the next few weeks. With those changes I am really optimistic about a number of things, and high on that list is regaining control of my body and my super gross fatness situation. I am hopeful that everything will come together like I want it to, otherwise I am not sure what my plan B will exactly entail. I'll cross that bridge if I have to. I do find it interesting that my lowest adult weight was at a time in my life when I was most unsettled relationship-wise, and subsequently my highest adult weight comes a few years later when I am unsettled professionally.

Well, to those of you sticking to your plans: congratulations. I am proud of you and I hope to join your "team" by the end of this year. But for now, I am stuck in survival mode.

Where have all the good zombies gone?

The zombie line worked for Amy so now I'm luring you into my zombie trap. Maybe if I could get some zombies to chase me around for a few miles I'd be ready for the Celtic Solstice next month. Maybe.

So I too, like Emily, have been plagued by the plague. A nasty cold that has lasted more than a week, although it was bad for only a few days. Still, it kept me from working out most of last week.

I finally got on the bike on Friday and stayed busy all weekend with walking and a hike Sunday. Besides feeling a bit tired I'm raring to go.

I decided on Monday to get back to running and while on my way back, feeling pretty good I might add, my left calf muscle seized up on me. Argh! I went to my massage therapist that night and he worked out most of the tension but it's still sore. I'm going to make sure it feels good before I run again. I'm starting the ice and heat combo along with some stretching.

That's the bad news. The good news is I can bike and had no trouble last night doing a workout on the trainer along with my ab/weight workout. So that's a relief.

Sarah and I will be the biking wounded this weekend with my calf and her sore butt. We'll make quite the pair.

Meanwhile, I'm trimming down and shedding pounds and am motivated by that to keep up the workouts. A friend passed along some of her bootcamp workouts -- ouch. Still, it's good to change up the workouts and add harder exercises to challenge my muscles and avoid getting bored.

Let those zombies chase me into six-pack land.

Sick, but in the ordinary way

I've been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks. I took prednisone the first time laryngitis threatened but I only had the one dose on hand -- I didn't expect to need it again so soon! Friday night the real thing set in and I have had the most painful, raging sore throat I can recall having in my adult life. I tried to get to the doctor today but there were no appointments available, and I couldn't do after-hours, so unless I take a sudden turn for the better tonight I'll go tomorrow come hell or high water. This is horrid. It doesn't look like strep, though, so I'm not sure what they can do (except more prednisone, but it's a little late for that) -- there's a good chance antibiotics will be useless.

Anyway, as a result of this I am drinking TONS of tea (to keep it bearable) and not eating much (I get hungry but not much is appealing, and a lot of food hurts to swallow) so I'm back to 141.5 as of this morning.

I did exercise yesterday! I went to the gym and used the bike for 20 minutes, and that felt good enough that I tried the elliptical for 20 more -- both pretty gently. My bad leg got tired but nothing worse. I had grand plans to exercise at home this afternoon but I'm feeling so much worse with the cold (or whatever) today that during my planned exercise time I curled up on the sofa and read. SOMEday I'll be able to get back to a normal routine!

e Coli and Zombies

So, Katie and I have e coli. Or so we have been telling everyone. This is Sarah's fault, but I am not entirely sure I am kidding... We had some of the Baugher's cider that was recalled for e coli. We joked about it as we guzzled it down. However, ever since we have both been having horrible gas cramps and queasiness. More than NORMAL that is. I did look up the symptoms of e coli and many adults who have it never present any symptoms. However, queasiness, abdominal cramping and bloody diarrhea are typical symptoms. We have a and b, but (and I can't speak for Katie here) no c. Thank goodness. But I am getting tired of going to bed hoping I don't end up throwing up. Sunday night I lay in bed planning out how Katie and I could both be sick in the upstairs bathroom at the same time. Ugh. So. E coli.

Or it could be post nasal drip. That has the same symptoms as e coli. Or possible we have been eating too much Halloween candy.

Regardless, I weighed myself for the first time since I got back from Canada. I was worried about this. I have a HIGH WATER mark that is the point where I need to cut off my head to maintain my weight. I went above it in June - spent the summer getting below it again (successfully) had a BAD relapse right before the cruise, but got back down after the cruise. I was worried that I would need to set a new cut off my head level this morning, but I didn't. I was below the original (which, incidentally, is about 25 pounds above the ORIGINAL original high water mark, sigh) horrors level.

I am glad that October is over. It is always so stressful. Fun. Beautiful, but stressful. I forgot I am supposed to be walking 500 miles in a year beginning in September. I was good for that month - but didn't do ANY extra walking in October. I need to start walking laps after breakfast, lunch and dinner, like I did on the cruise. Katie has been SO GOOD walking or biking to and from work each day. I would love to have a built in exercise plan. I told April today that we need to do two walks a day - for about 20 minutes each. We need to NOT worry about switching into walking shoes, but we just need to get up and walk. She is on board with that. She is going to Ireland in June and wants to lose enough weight to be comfortable sitting on a plan for six hours. I want to lose enough that I am not ashamed when we buy our bridesmaid dresses for Katie's wedding.

OH! I had a good dream/bad dream the other night. I dreamed I was marrying Colin Fergueson (yum!). Katie and I went dress shopping, but everyone wanted to sell a dress to HER and not ME. I kept saying "But I am the one shopping for a dress." and the shop ladies would say "Of course you are, dear..." in that annoying "you keep telling yourself that" way. There were no dresses that would fit me, except one - that actually made me look very skinny (skinny like I was for Sarah's wedding). It wasn't the dress I wanted, but it fit perfectly. I asked the lady if all of the dresses were size the same (so I could order that size in the dress I wanted) she said yes. Then I asked her what size it was. She said 28!!!!! Sigh. Maybe I do need some anxiety medicine. But, Colin Ferguson...

Anyway, I just put in the bit about zombies to get you to read my post. Hee hee...

Good news/bad news

The good news is I've been working out regularly--last week I ran twice (and in those two runs I went roughly the distance that I normally go in three runs), ellipticalled (is that a word?) once, and, of course, went roller skating.

The roller skating isn't the bad news, although I guess it should be. I still feel like I've been body slammed, which I suppose isn't far from the truth. I ache all over from that fall, and I'm spending a lot of time with ice packs on my tail bone.

The bad news is I haven't been able to get myself to stop eating so damn much, so I gained another two pounds last week--I'm now up to a completely unacceptable 148! Someone needs to lock me in a cell with a treadmill and nothing but (whole grain) bread and water, and maybe some vegetables and lean protein. Or 1200 calories a day of Twinkies! I'm not picky.

I guess the other good news is that the Halloween candy is gone, thank goodness.

I went for a run yesterday, sort of (oh, that one isn't included in my list above--that list was for the last Monday - Sunday week). The jarring really hurt my tailbone, so I walked a lot and the jogging I did was really slow, so I only covered 3.5 miles. But it didn't make me hurt any more than I had before, which eases my mind a bit--it means I'm just bruised and not sprained or broken.

Vicki and I have our plans in place for the ride to York this weekend--the weather looks like it'll be beautiful. I'm making my packing list today and then will see tonight if it'll all fit in my panniers. I'm hoping to get by with just one pannier--I had four panniers and a handlebar bag for a year on the bike, so one overnight should only require one mostly empty pannier, right? I wish it worked that way.

The Twinkie Diet

Maybe you guys saw this, but it was an interesting article on CNN today.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html?iref=NS1

Celtic Solstice training done

I ran five miles today, just for the heck of it.

Since I had so much luck with my four mile treadmill run on Monday, I laid out a five mile outdoor route (pretty much put together my two regular routes and cut out the section at the end of one/beginning of the other where they overlap), then decided there was no point in building up slowly--five miles isn't really that much more than the 3.5 I usually do, and since I knew I could do that 3.5 after swimming and biking for nearly two hours, I was pretty sure that adding another mile and a half to my run would be not that big of a deal.

I was right. Of course I told myself that I would keep the pace slow and would stop and walk when needed, and I only "had" to run the first four miles since that was my goal for this week, but I felt fine the whole way, so I just kept going. The second half of the route has a lot of traffic lights, so you get a lot of breaks while you wait for the light to change, and that certainly made the run easier. And the Columbia Bike Guy blew me a kiss as he passed while I was on one of the long hills, which made me smile.

I finished the run in 50:33 and then wished I had sped up just a tiny bit to break 50 minutes, so that'll be my offiicial goal for the race, now that I know I can go the distance with no problems (barring injury or heavy snow or icy ground or air that's so cold it hurts to breathe).

On another note, registration for Iron Girl opened on Monday, and closed six hours later! I'm glad I hadn't planned to register--I didn't even think about the registration opening until the mid-afternoon, by which time it was probably already full! Crazy.

There could be worse timing for a cold ...

So I've been cruising along with my exercise and food routine and -- finally -- making noticeable progress such as better fitting clothes and visible weight loss. Then, of course, comes a hurdle, a bad fall cold. It started over the weekend and has gotten worse. I actually feel better today and my head seems to be draining of all its grossness.

I haven't been able to work out at all so I've tried to keep my food within a good range but I've been SO hungry. I haven't been that bad -- I never get kids on Halloween so I don't have candy around the house and I've been eating relatively healthy.

Today I plan to at least get out for a walk and maybe do some basic exercises so I'm not losing all my conditioning. It's just amazing how much energy has been sapped by this cold. All I want to do is sleep and eat.

Anyway, now I'm even more eager to get back with the program, especially when I was getting results.

146.4

Whew! I'm so glad Emily gained weight too!!

There, I said it.

Misery loves company, as they say. And it sounds like she and I are on the same diet and exercise plan, resulting in two or more pounds gained in a week. I'm hoping I don't repeat last year's gain, where I ended up after Christmas at 156 pounds (did I mention that here? I don't think I did. We had all stopped posting at that point, but it was the wake up call I needed to start exercising and eating less).

144.5

I'm definitely seeing the results of no exercise and too much eating. The number above is a definite upswing and my clothes are starting to be snug around the middle. I think I'm going to have to figure out a way to get moving despite my leg, because I hate feeling like such a lump, and I know that even if I cut way back on calories (which I've started trying to do, though yesterday was unsuccessful because I had virtually no restraint at the restaurant for dinner, and then I had a bit of frozen yogurt for dessert a couple of hours later completely unnecessarily) I won't lose much weight without exercise. For me it has always taken both, and lots of it.

Time is also an issue -- Daniel is usually up and headed to work very early in the mornings, so I can't leave the kids with him and disappear (even if I could stand early morning exercise, which I never have). We have school all day (if we don't do it during the main chunk of the day, it doesn't happen, and besides there is only limited child care during the day -- 4 is when they are fully staffed) and lately we have activities all afternoon and/or evening -- at least on Tuesday (band, and, tonight, church), Wednesday (choir starts at 6, which means I need to be out of the house by 5:45 having cooked and eaten dinner first), Thursday (Girl Scouts at 6 for Cecilia and 7 for Mary, going on until 8:30), and Friday (piano lessons, art class, then date night when we can manage it). I have in the past tried squeezing a gym trip in on Wednesdays and Thursdays before our activities, and that kind of works but leaves me feeling VERY frazzled. I guess that's what I'll have to go back to, and I'll have to get better about using the crock pot and leftovers. I hate the school year!

Thinking to myself here -- it is less hectic if I don't actually have to get to the gym on those squeeze days. I can exercise in and around home if I can find something non-weight-bearing to do. Bicycling takes me too far from home (there's no challenge within a mile of here, and if I get stranded with bike troubles that means a LONG walk home on a bad leg with the kids at home unsupervised) and my videos are definitely weight-bearing. Maybe I can just do lots of aerobic floor exercises?

This is how it all starts

This is the busy time of the year when, despite my best intentions, I end up skipping breaks or spending my lunch breaks running errands so I never make it to the gym. As of today it had been 13 days since I exercised in any form (walking around trick or treating doesn't count) and between Girl Scout cookies and Halloween candy I've been eating way too much, to the point where not only do I not weigh myself but I can't even look at the scale gathering dust in the bathroom.

So I forced myself to go to the gym. That's the stupid part--I really had to convince myself to go. I have no pressing deadlines, I have no work that is so important that I can't put it off an hour or so and I was fighting sleepiness, which I knew I could counteract with moving. But I still put it off and put it off. Then I promised myself that I only had to do 30 minutes at a low level on the elliptical, so off I went.

And I had a great workout. The ellipticals were all taken, so I got on a treadmill. I *did* set it to 0% incline and 5.5 m.p.h. (knowing now that I lose fitness so quickly when I stop exercising that anything more would be too much) and only for 30 minutes, but it felt so good to be moving again that I kept adding time and ended up on the treadmill for 50 minutes. I kept it slow the whole time to keep my heartrate down, but felt at the end that I really could have kept going a while (not another 22 miles though--what's wrong with those people?).

It's a start, and the challenge will be to keep this up so I don't fall into my usual holiday slump. I've got the NCR trail ride in a couple of weeks, and the Solstice run a month after that (today I did a little under 4.5 miles between the run and the cooldown, so I think five miles for the Solstice run will be easily do-able as long as I keep up the running between now and then). I need to get some winter running clothes. I was on the treadmill today because I packed my gym bag two weeks ago so everything I had was for THAT weather, which was much warmer. A sleeveless shirt wouldn't have cut it today. I have one pair of warm tights, one long sleeved shirt, and a softshell jacket that is too small. That's enough for one outdoor run, but if I want to run outside more than once a week (or do laundry only once a week!) I need to get some more.