Green Monster Day One

OK - I bought all of the ingredients to Green Monster on Tuesday and today April showed me how to whip it all up in her Magic Bullet (hee hee). I used vanilla yogurt instead of the almond milk. The result is that mine is creamier than April's usually are, and have a slightly more sour (yogurt-y) taste to it. I must say - that as gross as the concoction sounds on paper - and how vivid it looks in the cup - it is surprisingly good! If we really are supposed to be eating seven servings of veggies and fruits a day, this is a pretty easy way to get in several of them. Mine has three cups of raw spinach, 1/2 a cup of blueberries and 1/2 a banana. I will eat the other half later today. I missed a day of exercise on my no excuses exercise plan. I have no excuse for missing it. I just forgot. I had a plan for exercise every day this week - including Tuesday, the day I missed. We were supposed to go to the gym together. I ended up cancelling because I had to go to the grocery store to get stuff for the dinner Katie was making (and the green monster stuff). I planned to use my "home gym." THEN, I watched the new episode of Castle, and figured out how to ply yarn on my spinning wheel (which, btw, was fun and turned out SO pretty!). I was so pleased and preoccupied with my spinning success that I was in bed and drifting off to sleep before I remembered that I hadn't exercised anything but my right leg. 8-(

Green Monster Report

So Peter made us each a Green Monster this morning...somehow they were more the color of hot asphalt though.  We used wild blueberries instead of regular ones; maybe they are more purple?  The banana flavor really came through in ours, and there was no hint of spinach at all, which made me extremely happy.  The flax seeds didn't grind up well, so you did have to chew every so often. Overall I will give it a thumbs up, however I think the next time I may make mine a Hawaiian Green Monster and add some pineapple.  I need those types of drinks to be tangy, so the flavor was a little flat for me. I'm thinking a handful of frozen pineapple chunks in place of my ice will do the trick.

Thanks for the introduction to the GM!

Fun morning

My weight this morning was 142.8--not quite two pounds down from last week, but I'm very happy with the loss. That wasn't the fun part, though. The fun part was getting blood drawn for all the various tests my doctor ordered--CBC and lipids and thyroid and vitamin D and one other that I can't remember. So I had to fast before the test, of course. I don't get blood drawn very often, but I've always been fine with it (at least as an adult--not so when I was a kid and tried to run away any time I needed a shot!). I don't like to watch the needle going in but I'm not a baby about it and the pain is only tiny so it doesn't bother me. So the phlebotomist got me all set up, poked me in the left arm, and the blood was just not coming out. It was like the time I tried donating blood to the Red Cross and they couldn't get the blood to flow and I bruised really badly. She kept moving the needle around and nothing would come out (and I was well hydrated--I had been drinking water throughout the night and morning). I suggested she try the hand, which tends to work better for me. So she was prepping that and I said I felt a bit dizzy, but generally o.k. I think she thought I was nervous about the needle prick, so she just told me not to look. So she stuck my hand and immediately I got super-dizzy-oh-my-God-I'm-going-to-pass-out. So I did. Only for a few seconds, but before passing out I was begging her to let me put my head between my legs, but I couldn't because the arm prop thing was in the way and there was a needle in my hand. They got ice on me and revived me and eventually moved me to a room to lay down. As soon as I lay down I felt much better, and I insisted that they finish drawing the blood (this time from my right arm, so now I've got bandages in three places) because I was NOT coming back to be tortured again. So instead of a 15 minute stop on my way to work, this turned out to be a 45 minute ordeal with a stop at Starbucks afterwards to replenish my low blood sugar. Thinking about it, I've never had to have blood drawn after fasting before, except one time in college when I donated blood and hadn't eaten much yet that day (it was snowing and I didn't want to slog to the dining hall), and I pretty much passed out after that one too, but I always thought it was because I only weighed 120 pounds and had low blood pressure and stood up too fast after the donation. Today was much scarier. I'm still feeling a bit shaky and lightheaded, even after an apple fritter from Starbucks and birthday cake for Missy at work, so I think I'm going to go see if I can find some protein.

Sometimes I can diet, sometimes I can't

Right now I can. For some reason, over the last week or so I have had NO problem ignoring food. I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I have to remind myself at the end of the day to get enough calories. And it's not just the meatless/dairy-less thing (though that helps), because I've had seafood in my dinner the last few days and I'm still scrounging for calories. So my weight is declining, and today's was 141.0. But Easter will hit and I'll have a ton of junk food come into the house, so I'll start eating it again, and once I start I won't be able to quit for another month. Or three. But I don't want to reject the Easter junk foods entirely -- I just want to enjoy them like crazy for a day or two and then go back to a tiny snack each day. Why do I find that so difficult?

Just for fun today I put together an Excel spreadsheet of my weight this year so I could look at the moving average -- it is hard to tell what my weight is really doing when it zig-zags so much from day to day. It turns out this is my second period of weight loss this year, and the longest so far; in January it declined for a week and got close to where I am now, but then it immediately turned around and was more or less upward after that. But this time my weight loss started in mid-March -- pretty much right after our return from our trip -- and has continued. (Phooey! It IS Lent that's making it easy after all! Come to think of it, the limited diet makes a very big difference -- knowing I have avoid so many things makes me inclined to avoid everything. Hmm.)

Why are Tuesdays so difficult for me?

I can never remember that it is Tuesday.

I weighed myself yesterday though--197.5.  So down a tiny bit more than last week.  I bought some new clothes Friday.  I was dressing TERRIBLY for work and I decided I needed to stop that.  I now have 4 functional pairs of pants and a few options for tops that aren't sloppy.  I already feel better about myself, which hopefully will help with my fitness goals.  I also started wearing a bit of make up again, and that helped too.  It even brought on compliments from two of the most beautiful people in my life--you know the type that are always together, never look flustered, never a hair out of place, etc.  It's funny to me how general appearance does actually boost my self esteem; it feels shallow, but at the same time, I'll take what I can get.  I am realizing more and more how AWFUL my self esteem has been over the years.  There was a time when I was 120 lbs and I thought I was fat.   I also remember being in Alaska in 2005 and having to write down my weight for a helicopter tour...and being ashamed of listing155 lbs.  I think the really damaging kind of "fat" is the one stuck in your brain.  I think if I can lose that, the pounds will slip off.

This cold weather is seriously messing up my plan to get outside after work.  I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it so far.  I am really hoping we get over this cold/snow crap this week and then start into some more seasonal temps. Last night after work I cleaned the kitchen, read a little (I am finally getting into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and made dinner.  Tonight Peter has rec soccer and I always go to the games; they are somewhat torturous, but I go. Maybe I'll try to go out for a walk at lunch and traipse around the ghetto.  I do wish I didn't work in a scary neighborhood.

Green Monster

I wanted to create a separate post about my Green Monster Madness!!! 

In February of this year I was out to a business lunch with some ladies that I really like from our Broker's Office.  We were talking about my wellness program at TESSCO and they introduced me to the concept of the Green Monster.  In early February, I had started drinking a protein smoothie that was "chocolate" flavored and just NASTY.  Let's just say that I accidentally blended a paper towel in the smoothie and didn't even notice!!!  YUCK!  Anyway, I had just started to really think about what I was eating and making conscious decisions to change my lifestyle.  The ladies told me about this smoothie that they loved so I decided to try it.  For more Green Monster info go to www.greenmonstermovement.com

My Green Monster consists of:

• 8oz of unsweetened vanilla almond milk (Almond Breeze is my fav)
• 1/2 C. frozen blueberries
• 1/2 banana (frozen or not)
• 1 tbsp, ground flaxseed
• 1 tbsp, ground oatmeal
• 2-3 cups of baby raw spinach

I use my magic bullet blender (no giggles Amy) and blend to perfection with a little ice.  If you want to use this as a meal replacement shake, you can add a scoop of protein powder (I did for a time but I like to chew my protein).  This monster has 3 servings of fruits/veggies!!!  Oh and the best part - it is absolutely delicious!!! 

I have a Gmonster EVERY morning.  I've missed it only once and I noticed a HUGE difference so I won't miss it again.  What has it done for me???  When I say I have more energy...that is an understatement.  I've NEVER had as much energy as I have these days.  My hair and nails are growing like weeds and my skin is gorgeous (if I do say so myself).  I LOVE to monster!!!  Oh and my kids love it too. 

There are lots of different recipes and I've tried a few but I always come back to my standard :)
Enjoy!

Keep on keepin on...

This week I'm true to my goal...2lbs down!  If this loss strategy continues into the foreseeable future it should take me 9 and a half months to get to my goal weight of 150.  That would mean...around Christmas I'll be the lowest weight I've been since Mason's first birthday party 6 years ago.  That isn't too far away and I have lots of fun stuff in the middle to keep me busy.  I'm sure I'll plateau eventually but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  At this pace, I will also be at the weight I want to be when we go to Ireland (199). 

GREAT SUCCESS...late last week I put on a pair of pants that I have been wearing with a bella band b/c I can't button them (I'm embarrassed to still be using it - it is for preggo ladies).  I didn't even think about it and just put the bella band on.  I came to work and went to the ladies room in the mid morning.  Without thinking about it, I buttoned the pants.  Let me repeat: I BUTTONED MY PANTS!  That is just crazy!!!  I took off the bella band and twirled it over my head (luckily I was alone in the bathroom, b/c people would think I'm nuts).  I was SO EXCITED!  Then this weekend, just for the heck of it, I tried on a pair of my pre-preggo jeans - AND THEY FIT.  Albeit a little tight, they still fit!!!  I love this feeling...

I hope everyone has a GREAT Tuesday!

No excuses exercise routine

I have already used up my free day this week. I didn't exercise on Sunday. The original plan was that Katie and I would walk after church yesterday - but then Sarah called Saturday evening and said we were doing Connor's birthday party Sunday night. Since Katie and I had spent the day yarn shopping at the yarn party our only free time was after church. Then I forgot until I was already in bed that I hadn't exercised. This wouldn't have been problem except I didn't exercise one other night last week so I couldn't take a free day on the weekend. It shouldn't be a problem though because I have exercise scheduled for every day except Thursday of this week, so I think I can manage to exercise for the next six days. I went to yoga on Saturday and Stan noticed me favoring my right leg a bit. He told me I have micro tears in two areas of my hamstring and that instead of stretching it out like I had been doing I should be babying it. He said this will probably be a problem for the rest of my life. He said to walk on it to help strenthen the part that is not damaged to support the damaged area to help it heal. Sigh. So, now I have to figure out how to do yoga - which I love - without straining my hamstring. Food is the same old, same old. I need to start doing april's green monster. Great way to get in the fruits and vegetables that I lack.

I don't think this works

I was going through a bunch of online calculators (BMI, BAI - body adiposity index, waist-to-hip ratio, and body fat calculator) and came across this link for a body fat calculator. I put in my current numbers and it told me my body fat percentage was 32.28%, which they say is obese. So I played with the numbers to see where I'd have to be to NOT be obese and no matter what I put in, it always has me in the 32%+ range. In fact, when I drop my weight to the mid-130's and take an inch off my waist, my body fat percentage goes UP to 32.4%. Out of curiosity, I put in my numbers from when I was in college and had my body fat percentage calculated by a professional as part of crew training. At that point I was 121 pounds and my body fat was 18% or 19%. According to this calculator, with those numbers, my body fat percentage is 32.6%!!

So I wouldn't use this calculator if you're looking for some idea of what your body fat is, although I'm curious to see what others would get with this. I'm wondering if maybe the calculator is set up so that anyone with a six inch wrist is just automatically going to be figured in the obese range if they are taller than four feet.

When you are your own worst enemy

I was slogging away on the elliptical yesterday (no treadmills or bikes were available; why does the elliptical make my feet fall asleep?) and started listening to a Radio Lab podcast of an episode called "Help." The episode was about how people use external things to battle internal problems, from addiction to writers block. It made me laugh because it started with the story of a woman who for decades just couldn't make herself stop smoking, until the day she said to her friend that if she ever smoked again she'd have to donate $5,000 to the KKK. Now, Sarah Palin isn't nearly as bad as the KKK and $25 isn't anything like $5,000, but it still made me laugh. It was also a really interesting episode. Turns out that the deal I've made is called a Ulysses Contract--a promise made now to bind your future self (as in Ulysses making his crew bind him to the mast so he could hear the sirens' song but not be able to respond to it). The episode mentioned in passing (and I'd have liked more information about this) that brain imaging shows that the urges of now are much, much stronger than the drive provided by promise of future benefits, so you have to do something to make the future effect a reality now in order for it to have any force. So you set up your pay so that your retirement money is taken out before you ever get your hands on it, or you put your alarm clock across the room so that you don't hit the snooze button a half a dozen times, or you make a public promise to give money to a cause you can't stand to force a change in daily behavior.

The episode is here if you are interested in listening:

http://www.radiolab.org/2011/mar/08/

It turns out I'm a yo-yo dieter

I just went back and put my weights into Daily Plate (well, Livestrong -- I still think of it as the Daily Plate) as far back as it would take it (January, 2006, four months after we started the blog). This meant I got to go back and re-read old blog posts, which was fun. So now I can see everything about my weight history since we started, except for the first few months, when I lost almost 30 pounds. Since then, I hit a low of 132, a high of 151, a low of 132, a high of 162, and (so far) a low of 139 (though the high since then was only 147). Now I'm kind of working my way down again -- so I think the recent low was only a partial low. I hope. But at no point during the last five and a half years has my weight ever been stable for more than a few months. August through December of last year was my best -- almost five months in the low 140s. I've never regained to that 173 point, but that was also just a post-partum plateau; odds are I would have shed to the 160s, eventually, in which case my post-Norway peak (and I can't blame ONLY Norway, because I gained five pounds more afterwards) was a full regain. I'm not even following a regular cycle -- I lost the weight in 9 months, regained for 18, lost for 4 or 5, regained for 22, lost for 8, steady for 5, and uneven since then -- I peaked a bit early in the year but am now back to last year's "steady" weight. Most years I have a slight dip during Lent and then a struggling period after Easter, so I might just be in my Lenten dip and really on an upswing again -- or starting to get moving on a real downswing. Or holding steady. Hard to say.

I'm not sure what my point is in all this -- it's just interesting. In a disconcerting sort of way. I've been kind of smug all along that I DID lose real weight and keep it off -- but I really haven't. OTOH, I did start exercising regularly at the start of this blog, and except for two unusual phases (one because I was between gyms while my money was in limbo with the first, and one because we were in Norway) I have exercised consistently (if not perfectly) since. So I have made that one improvement. And my the beginnings of my big weight upswings also coincide with the non-exercise phases. So maybe I won't be as yo-ish this time as I have been in the past?

DASH Diet...

very interesting!!!  This is exactly what I've done since February 1st.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DASH_diet

I love that there is a name for it :)

It's a Tuesday that actually feels like a Tuesday

I am happy to report that my weight pre-vacation is equal to my weight post vacation: 198.2.  I consider that a small victory given the garbage we ate Wednesday night-through Sunday night. Steak & Shake, Buca di Beppo, Waffle House, wine tasting, arena food at the basketball games...just to name some of it.

On a similarly happy note, I am wearing a pair of pants that haven't fit in three years.  I don't actually think they ever fit me; I vaguely recall buying them for really cheap even though they were just a smidgen to tight to wear at the time, planning to lose the pound or two that I needed to get in them.  But, they are fitting now.

I've been doing a lot of diet books reading recently.  It is sort of fascinating (to the researcher in me) that there are so many kinds, methods, etc revolving around the same foods but one labels something as good, and another labels it bad.  Even vegetables get nicked; I read one article where onions were off limits. I think the key is to find something that works and go with it.  I was feeling really good when we were trying the high protein diet, and I think once Peter is back from Seattle we may go back to that.  It improves my energy and jump starts my weight loss.  I have decided, at least for now, that once I get rid of this excess weight I an going to try Bob Greene's Best Life Diet.  He designed it for Oprah, and while she clearly didn't keep up with it, it has the most reasonable maintenance plan of any of the books I've read. And it's just plain common sense, but I still need a "method" mapped out for me.  While there are more details, the long and short of it is to match your eating to your activity level.

And this week is a bit of a bust since Peter is away; I am on the all cereal diet :-)  I am so terrible about eating when I only have to feed myself. I was watching Eat Pray Love last night and Julia Roberts' character made herself breakfast in Italy...I think I need to try that approach. We'll see how it goes.

The Bod Pod is coming back to the area next month, so I want to go back and get re-measured.  I am hoping to see an improvement in my overall numbers.

Bummer

Well, I seemed to have found the weight that April lost. In fact, I think she left it in my coffee cup and I drank it all up!

I was up ABOVE the horror number this morning. I kind of half expected to be, but none the less it was depressing. I have exercised every day since Ash Wednesday (except Sundays). My eating the past couple of days has been bad - but I am eating daily salads - which is a start. I CAN'T do the No Sweets! No Whatever! thing again, because all that does is make me want to eat exactly that. And so it is counter productive.

What I DO need to do is start counting calories again. I need to get back on track with my eating.

I am hoping that this up TICK TOCK is because of my period, but I can't remember the last time I had it - so I don't know when it is next due. I may just be fat.

144.0

After my fake weight last week, I was surprised to find I was able to keep it in that range all week. It hit 142 at the lowest, and was below last week's Tuesday weight four days of the week... but not today. Naturally. But I'm not despairing because this time I know the weight is real, and I've felt pretty good the last week.

I also woke up to a new SparkPeople email this morning that included a link to an article on a bunch of heart-healthy foods (which is what got me started on reading about soy -- they touted it as a heart-healthy food, someone in the comments said, "Really? I've been getting mixed signals," and off I went to Google), and oatmeal was on the list. THAT led me to a link on ways to jazz up oatmeal (I found maple syrup disappointing, so it's been strawberries every day since), which got me enthused about breakfast, so I had very yummy applesauce-and-cinnamon oatmeal today. Tonight we're going to a potluck and the host is vegan, so I know there will be foods I can eat. The weather is gorgeous AND I have a gym appointment. And I have to go to the grocery store to get ingredients for my potluck entry, which means I'll have an opportunity to pick up hummus (I know I can make it, but they have a really good roasted red pepper hummus at Kroger) and pita for lunch. Today is going to be a good day.

Another celebration

144.6 today! Woo-hoo!!! I lost those two pounds!

This was one of those mornings where I stepped on the scale and was afraid to look--while I had hit 144.6 on Friday, I didn't weigh myself over the weekend and yesterday morning I was 145.8, so I had no idea what my weight would be this morning. While it's not unusual for me to drop a pound between Monday and Tuesday (even when I eat well and exercise over the weekend I find that my weight spikes on Monday mornings--I drink a lot less water over the weekend, though, so I suspect I'm retaining fluids that I then flush out when I get to work and start downing water all day) I didn't know if my Friday low weight was an anomoly and the Monday weight was more realistic, or if the Friday weight was for real and the Monday weight was a spike. I've been telling myself for the past 24 hours that anything in the 145 range would be acceptable--the whole point of a "stretch" goal is to work so hard to reach it that even if you miss you're still in good shape.

OTOH, my blood pressure is still through the roof. I had it checked at the wellness center on campus yesterday and it was 144/99!! That's higher than it was at the doctor's office (although there she made me lie down and relax before taking the reading; at the Wellness Center I walked two buildings away, sat down, and had the reading taken immediately) (OTOH, my heart rate was a very nice 68 bpm even after the short walk, so at least that's good). I've reduced my caffeine to one cup of coffee a day, I've been tracking my sodium intake and it's nearly always well below the 1500 mg a day that is considered the maximum for someone with high blood pressure or anyone middle aged.

Today I'm focusing on adding more potassium to my diet, which is supposed to help with blood pressure. Kind of funny with potassium--everything I read says that you can easily get this from your diet and it's best for you if you do, but I'm looking at the list of sources of potassium and it seems to me that to get the RDA of potassium in your diet, you'd pretty much have to spend all day eating. For example, today I had cantaloupe and cottage cheese for breakfast (468 mg), I'll have almonds for a morning snack (1 ounce is 206 mg, but I don't think I eat a full ounce, so say around 100 mg.); I have a salad for lunch that is designed entirely around potassium (spinach, roasted sweet potatoes, and white beans = 1,114 mg); I have an apple and a clementine to eat during the day (about 250 mg), and dinner usually involves some kind of green vegetable (generally 150 mg, unless it's asparagus - yum - that has 288 mg) and milk (366 mg). That gets me to 2,448 for the day. The RDA is 3,500 mg, and while I might get some more in whatever else we have for dinner (even if we had tilapia (unlikely since we had that last night) and baked potatoes that would add 990 mg, still a tiny bit under the RDA) that would mean that I had been eating all day entirely for the potassium and would STILL be low for the day. And if I were eating without thinking just about the potassium, I'd almost certainly be well below the RDA (sweet potatoes and white potatoes and beet greens and clams are just not part of my usual diet, although other things high on the list--low fat yogurt, tomatoes, beans, and spinach--are). If I were to guess, I'd say that my normal diet probably falls short on potassium by at least 1500 mg.

Before you suggest it, bananas make me gag. They are also not high up on the potassium list--at 422 mg per banana, they are just above spinach (419 per half cup, cooked) and I'd much rather eat spinach. Oh, and potassium supplements? Only 99 mg per caplet, and you aren't supposed to take more than one a day. What's the point of taking one at all, I wonder?

WOWee ZOWee

I'm THRILLED!!!

after my fake weightloss last week and my crazy carb loaded, alcohol induced, drunken extravaganza...I was sure I would either stay steady at last weeks weight or gain a little but I DIDN'T.  I actually lost 2 lbs from last Tuesday!  227.5!!!  Last week I posted that if I lost 2 lbs by this week (I had to go back and re-read), then I would buy myself a pair of shoes...well that is exactly what I'm going to do!  Today at lunch I'm going to treat myself to a new pair of shoes!  I want to keep up the good work and lose another 2lbs by next Tuesday.  My reward will be a pedicure!  Sounds like a good little treat to me...

Yesterday, when I counted out my calories from this weekend...I only ate 600 too many calories and I did C25k Saturday morning and Sunday night so I'm sure that helped.  Then Sunday I was feeling so sick from my lil hangover that I didn't eat that much at all!!!  I was pretty happy to get back to my Monday routine though...I was feeling a little lost :) 

On another note, I was upset to find out last night that T-Ball practice will interrupt my Thursday night aerobics class.  My DH is the coach and both boys are on the team so it isn't like I can just bail on him :(  Plus I love to watch them...they're so adorable!  We are trying to move practice night to Wednesday but it may not happen...that is ok - I will just C25k on Thursday nights instead of aerobics, I'll just miss out a little...I'll still be going on Tuesday nights.  Guilt - is it selfish for me to worry about aerobics??? 

I hope everyone else has a good Tuesday too!!! 

Counting calories and looking for protein

Living without meat and dairy is very odd. I've never had to worry about how much calcium and how much protein I'm getting before -- with dairy in the diet, there was always plenty. (OK, not QUITE plenty on the calcium -- but as much as most people get, and I take supplements. But too much protein.) And yesterday we ordered pizza for the family, and I got veggie pizza, no cheese. This qualifies as "food" under the definition I've been using of late, but it is (a) not filling and (b) not really all that nutritious when all you're getting is carbs and veggies in every other meal, too. Papa John's website also does not tell how many calories there are if you leave the cheese off, so I gave up trying to track my calorie intake yesterday -- I've been pretty good about that the rest of the week.

Today I had alphabet soup for lunch, and the one cookie I had after lunch (Girl Scout cookies are NOT "food", but they are dairy-free) had more calories than the soup. Something about that makes no sense. But there was also very little protein in either. On the days when I have seafood, obviously the protein is no problem. But on other days if I don't have a dish that is heavy on beans, AND some nuts at some point during the day, I'm short on protein. And even if I eat both I just barely make my RDA.

OTOH, if it weren't for the cookies (and that oil-popped popcorn the other day), my diet would be quite low fat! So I'm not having troubles keeping calories down to a minimum. And there's no shortage of fiber in my diet for the first time in a long time -- between the oatmeal and the beans, I'm in good shape. I know as I expand my options I'll get better at having a complete diet, and that if I stuck with this permanently I'd be healthier overall (and would spend less money -- if one eats vegan, one can AFFORD to eat organic!), but, golly, I miss dairy products!

Saturday Yoga

OK. So, Yay me! I got up and out this morning to make it to yoga. It was a really good session. The backside of my groin is still bothering me, but I am glad I am working it. I was POURING sweat today. I usually sweat for at least a portion of the class, but today I left with my hair wet. This is consistent with my card workout on Thursday night. I always sweat a little bit, but Thursday night I looked like I had just taken a shower! OTOH. I haven't noticed me sweating so much at night anymore - which is a good thing.

My muscles are very trembly right now. I am not sure why that is. It is irritating!

If I get annoying...tell me to shut up! LOL

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I have NO IDEA what is going on...I know we shouldn't weigh ourselves EVERYDAY but I have been curious about my daily weight so this week I've weighed in Tuesday, Wednesday and this morning.  Ready for this?!? 

Tuesday - 229.5
Wednesday - 227
Thursday 225.5

This may not seem bizarre to anyone else but this is VERY STRANGE for me.  I DO NOT fluctuate like that.  The only explanation I can think of is that my visitor just completed her cycle yesterday.  I don't know...but I'll take it.  I know I'll boing back a little b/c this Saturday is going to be my rock star outing with LOTS of drinking and probably some carbs (more than normal) to soak up some of the alcohol! 

I'll leave you with my favoriate (only) Irish Sayings...

Póg mo thóin!

dún do bheal

and sláinte

Mortifying...

I promised I would post my actual weight number this week. Sadly it is a FULL POUND over last weeks weight. I was 249.4 this morning. Yup. I am skirting around that dreaded NEXT MILESTONE. OTOH, I was above that milestone back when I stopped giving you all the real numbers - so I am at least holding steady. I have seen as low as 246 in the past few weeks - but I am not sure why. Probably not any real reason. I have mostly been stuck around the 248 mark.

Katie and I have been keeping up with our no excuses exercise pretty well. Yesterday was upper body. Today is supposed to be aerobics - but I think I am going to flip flop that with tomorrow's lower body and count today's yoga as lower body. My pulled hamstring is still hurting - only it has moved up to my the back side of my inner groin. Or in other words YOU lay on your back with a belt hooked over your foot and your leg stuck up straight and the other one sticking out flat on the floor. Do you get a shooting pain right outside of YOUR twat on the back side? If not you probably haven't pulled the same muscle as me. 8-) Other than that this was a pretty good yoga session. I am going to try to go on Saturday to get at least one make up in.

I hate going to the doctor

I went to see just a regular old doctor today for the first time in about six years. I went in as a vibrant, healthy person with no health risks--I keep my weight in check, eat pretty well, never smoked, exercise regularly, and rarely get sick (and never seriously; I couldn't tell you the last time I missed work because I was sick). I do all the things you're supposed to do to stay healthy.

I came out of the office an old, decrepit woman. My blood pressure is high, the occasional pain I have in my left hand is probably arthritis. I need physical therapy for the pain in my neck (which may also be arthritis). I need bloodwork, a pap smear, a full body check from a dermatologist, and a mammogram (this is what I get for avoiding doctors).

I just checked online for information about lowering blood pressure and it tells me I should stop smoking, exercise regularly, and eat a lowfat, low sodium diet with only small amounts of meat and lots of fruits and vegetables. Of course I'm already doing all that. The only thing I'm not doing is stress reduction, and I don't think they'd recommend kicking out all of the boys in my house who are the cause of most of my stress. She wants me to get my blood pressure checked two or three times a week and come back in a few months for a full physical and if my blood pressure is still high we'll blame it on genetics and start medication. Ugh.

I hate getting old. I especially hate it when the aging process takes all of 30 minutes!

I didn't weigh in today

In fact I didn't do much of anything today. I ended up staying home from work. I woke up this morning in the midst of what I decided was either a fever or a fever breaking. I got up long enough to send an email to work and then went back to bed. I slept several more hours.

Anyway - so I had no routine today which means I had no weigh in. My plan is to still get motivated enough to do my upper body workout for today.

Food - so far - has been a banana and some left over sushi. Good thing I don't have a stomach bug - although I consider sushi (and oatmeal, btw) comfort food.

I still have a splitting headache - and, oddly, my teeth ache. I need to drink LOTS MORE than what I have today. Hopefully that will help the headache.

What do you ladies need to know??

I'm going to Ireland in June!  I'm very excited about my trip...the only problem being that transportation while on the trip will be by plane and bus.  Why is this a problem?  PLANE seats aren't exactly what one would call roomy and the same for tour buses.  My DH is a big "football built" guy so he needs my arm room and as big as I am right now...I can't imagine being comfortable on the plane/buses!  So, although I'm happy with a 1lb per week weight loss in general...it is not going to get me where I need to be by June 20th.  I really need to be under the dreaded 200lbs, to be comfy during our grand vacation.  Working out the math...that means I need to lose 30lbs in 13.5ish weeks.  That math works out to be approx 2lbs a week - EVERY WEEK until we leave.  Lord help me!!!!  just kidding

Fake weight loss

Much to my surprise, I weighed in at 143.5 this morning -- a 3-pound drop from yesterday. Yesterday's weight was false, because it was the same as the night before (I sometimes weigh myself at night as a worst-case-scenario for the morning), but even if it was off by a pound that would still be too abrupt of a drop. But I was glad to see the number from three weeks ago anyway, and at least I'm no longer completely on the wrong track.

But I learned whilst on vacation this week that it's still entirely possible to eat FAR too many calories even when one is avoiding meat and dairy products. For one thing, fish is still allowed in my Lenten diet, as are panko crumbs and frying oil -- and fried fish is not healthy. Most noodles are also allowed, provided they don't have egg. I ate fried fish multiple times, because I tasted Alexander's grouper on Friday night at the noodle house we went to, while I was eating a HUGE bowlful of noodle soup (and shrimp and vegetables -- the toppings were pretty healthy); his grouper was panko-battered and fried before being tossed into the sweet chili sauce. It was awesome. Then I ate the leftovers on Sunday. And in between we stopped at Wendy's, where I COULD have had a plain baked potato and a side garden salad (but they are otherwise short on meatless/dairy-less options) but instead opted for the fried cod sandwich (sans tartar sauce and mayo). I wouldn't recommend it -- all I could taste was the bun, so I got rid of that after one bite (it's just a sponge anyway), and then all I could taste was FRIED. Have I mentioned that, generally speaking, I seldom eat fried foods? Ick. It totally killed the taste of any fish, even though it looked like good, meaty fish. Oh -- and while I'm listing how much I overate, on Thursday we went to a pasta house, and I ate whole-grain (I'm hoping egg-less -- that didn't strike me until later) pasta noodles with a spicy tomato sauce, and they were ALSO outstanding, but I ate waaayyyy too much. Boy, it was good.

Exercise has been weak but not non-existent. I spent all day Friday walking around the Atlanta aquarium, which is bigger than Baltimore's but a terrible layout -- and it felt very commercial and not as informative as the National Aquarium. But I got pretty close to 10,000 steps, and I was on my feet for over four hours, so that has to count for something. On Saturday we hiked up Stone Mountain and back again (so I easily hit my 10,000 that day) which definitely qualified as exercise. But I missed Sunday and Monday (Mary had a make-up art class that prevented a gym trip and I didn't do anything at home). Today I plan to get to the gym while the big kids are at band.

I'm eating better now that we're home. Instead of waffles on Sunday I ate oatmeal with maple syrup (which was pretty depressing). I've continued the oatmeal pattern for breakfast, but I've switched to strawberries, which taste better than the syrup, surprisingly. But I keep hoping I'll fall in love with oatmeal, or at least find it so familiar that it's comfort food, and so far that's not happening -- I miss my breakfast cereal and milk! I don't want to use a milk substitute (or butter substitute, etc.) because that seems like cheating -- the point is to make a genuine sacrifice. Almond milk wouldn't have been widely available sixty years ago when the no-dairy diet was prescribed for all during Lent. (Of course, neither would no-egg, no-milk Girl Scout cookies, and I'm not doing well at staying away from them, either.)

Dinners will be easier -- so far we've had leftover restaurant food and salmon, but tonight we're doing one of the CRS meals. There are SO many good vegan dinners out there that aren't fake-non-vegan dinners, and so many good (lean!) fish options available that I'll be fine as long as we're home.

Well, at least it's some weight lost

I was 146.6 today, which is roughly half a pound down from last week. But when the main number is lower for some reason it feels more like a loss--going from 147.8 to 147.2 doesn't feel as "real" as going from 147.2 to 146.6. I know that's insane. I'm o.k. with that.

So I posted in the comments to April that my new goal is to lose two pounds by next Tuesday, and as a reward I get a full body massage. For the record (and particularly for April, who asked) the reason I set this goal is because if I have a "stretch" goal of two pounds I might actually lose one to one and a half pounds, which is what my usual goal is when I'm trying to lose weight. I'm down to five weeks from Sarah Palin getting my money, and I really don't want that to happen, so I need to keep up with one to one and a half pounds a week to meet this goal. But when I'm at home and dinner isn't ready and Connor has a container of Pringles open and there's a box of Girl Scout cookies on the counter, it's hard to think about five weeks from now. But I CAN think about six days from now and the potential massage, so I'm hoping that'll keep me away from the cookies.

I'm not recommending this plan to anyone (except for the bit about giving yourself intermediate rewards for small goals)--trying to lose two pounds a week is stupid and should only be attempted if money to Sarah Palin is on the line. If you've found a diet and exercise plan that has you consistently losing a pound a week, you should stick with that.

I'm also not fooling myself--I know perfectly well that when/if I meet that 140.4 pound goal I'll gain at least a few pounds back by going back to my normal diet, but by then we'll be well into the spring and good weather and training for the metric century. In the past couple of years when I've been training heavily for something, my diet doesn't matter so much--I'm more inclined to eat well just because I need the good fuel to keep moving, and I'm burning so much that my weight stays pretty steady without dieting. I just wish I'd stay steady around 140 instead of steady around 146.

And speaking of exercise, I had a great run on Friday! I decided to run outside instead of on the treadmill, so I went out on my 3.5 mile route that I did all the time last year. I expected that I'd have to run/walk it as I've been doing all the past couple of weeks, but not only did I manage to run the whole way, but when I entered the information in mapmyrun.com it turns out that my pace was 10 minutes/mile, which I really didn't expect! That's about what I aimed for all last summer, and is only very, very slightly slower than my pace in the Celtic Solstice run back in December.

I'll take it!

I was hesitant to step on the demon scale this morning.  I have my monthly visitor and I was really worried about the impact that would have on my goal (mentioned yesterday)...Well I did it!  it was 229.5...I'll take it! 

Thanks for the great suggestion Sarah.  I do need to start making weekly goals.  I'm just not sure what else I could be doing.  I would LOVE to lose 2 pounds by next week. I've been very consistent with a 1lb weight loss every week.  I started C25K March 2nd, I do aerobics 2 times a week (this is MUCH more exercise then I've done in the last 11 years).  I've converted to vegetarian for lent and have converted to "clean eating".  I think this is a new trendy term for whole foods.  I've converted to all whole grains, LOTS of fruits and veggies, lean protein...etc.  Maybe there is something that I'm missing...would you ladies mind looking over my average menu (below) and letting me know what you think I could be missing??

Food Yesterday:

• Light 100c Whole Wheat English Muffin
• 1/2 piece of Sargento's reduced fat cheddar cheese slice (40c)
• Morning Star Veg Sausage patty (80c)
• Green Monster- GM- (8oz Almond Milk (unsweet van.) 40c, 2C spinach, 1/4C froz blueberries, 1/2 frozen banana)
• red.fat Triscuit Crackers (8)
• Cabot cheddar (1oz) 75%red fat
• gala apple
• sandwich thin with black bean garden burger and other half of red fat ched cheese slice
• salad with ken's light asian dressing (only lettuce and cucumbers)
• bag of mini smart pop popcorn
• baked talapia (a little EVOO) and 1/4 cup of mango salsa
• 3/4C brown rice
• steamed sugar snap peas

OK that was it for food...sometimes I'll have a serving of dry roasted nuts or granola bar added.  I change up the dinner but that would be a standard menu for me.  Sometimes, I'll have another GM at night.

Activity??  I did Day 3/Week 2 of C25K yesterday.  This involved: walking 5 minutes, then running 90 seconds, walking-60 seconds, alternatively for 20 minutes, finishing with a 5 minute brisk walk (cool down). 

Can you see any pitfalls or boo boos? 

My goal for this week?  To lose 2lbs by next Tuesday.  Only problem?? I have a bar crawl on Saturday...there will be LOTS of beer (or some sort of alcohol).  I only party like a rock star once a year so I won't be too discouraged if this doesn't happen but if it does...I'm going to buy myself a new pair of shoes.

P.S. - I'm so glad to be here :)

P.S.

Amy, I'm not sure I can handle this default font...

My First Post with the New Look

First, welcome April!  

Peter and I are headed to Alaska in August, and I signed us up for a pretty decent hike in Skagway.  So this is my current motivation for exercise.  I started my training yesterday, and we walked just over two miles. The next two weeks are wonky because of one or both of us travelling, so between now and April 1st I am just going to set a goal of walking a certain number of miles each week.  I think I'm going with 6 miles right now.  Once April 1st rolls around, the game will change.  I've been researching hiking training plans most of the morning; I need to figure out how to train for the elevation.  Maybe you guys know something about that.

Googling the hiking plans today lead me across a website for the C & O Canal day hikes. I think that is on my list for next year since it is too close to get in on the action this year.

In other news, I've been under the dreaded 200 lb mark for 3 weeks now.  I didn't see any downward motion this past week because of poor eating, but I wasn't totally in control of my own schedule so at least I can understand what was happening. Today I am back in control, at least until Wednesday night, and then we'll be heading to Tampa for the NCAA tournament. Eating out is going to present a challenge, but I think I'm ready for it. I have successfully navigated the Cheesecake Factory's menu and the Greene Turtle's menu, so we'll see if I can apply that forward.

I'm currently also stressed to the max and suffering from what I consider to be a really silly dilemma.  I don't know why this is bothering me so much, but it is.  A few weeks ago we decided to go to the auto show, mainly for exercise.  Well, I fell in love (like the romantic, head over heels kind) with the new Subaru Outbacks.  We are soul mates (haha.)  I dismissed the idea because as much as I love the car, I don't love the price tag.  Well, we got an email from our Subaru dealer, and long story short, I found out the trade in value on my paid off Subaru is nearly $10K.  That would make my precious Outback be totally affordable, as in $50/month more than what I was paying on my small car.  Here's my dilemma:  there isn't anything really wrong with my car.  It is an '06 with 65K miles on it.  However, since it is so small, we never drive it anywhere, and take Peter's Forrester everywhere.  His poor truck is an '09 and we've already put 60K on it!  I know if we had a second, normal sized car, we would use the two vehicles more equally, thus possibly extending the life of the truck. (Keep in mind that we commute together, so on any given day one vehicle is either parked at home or parked at the train station 2 miles from home.)  Ugh.  What should I do? What would you do?  I feel guilty buying a car I don't need.

Although, now that I think about it

41 - or 42 after this one - posts this year is actually behind our average for last year. LAST year we averaged 27.83 posts per month. This year, so far, we are only averaging about 16.8 per month. And that is including a new person.

We need to challege ourselves to post TWICE a week - instead of the (sporadic) once a week we have all been doing.

So - Tuesdays (of course) and then one other day. Or two on Tuesday if that is what works for you.

AND - we need to start reading the blog daily again. So - remember last year the challenge was if you got on the blog and there was no new post since the last time you were on you HAVE to post something? Let's do that again...

my weight

UGG!!  My weight is a touchy topic for me.  I HATE the number that appears on the scale each day.  I'm going to tell you ladies the number BUT I NEVER TELL THE NUMBER to anyone.  It is 230 as of last Tuesday...I'll feel much better when my number is below 200.  note: I was 243 on January 1, 2011

My weight history...
When I was a little girl I was skinny VERY skinny!  When I was in high school, I weighed about 90#.  When I graduated from College, 2000 I weighed about 120#.  Then a dear friend died and I went up to 190#.  I crash dieted and got down to 140#...this was a comfortable weight and I maintained it until I got married/had a baby in 2003.  During my pregnancy with my dearest Mason I ballooned up to almost 300# so embarrassing.  By his first birthday I was back down to 160...CRAZY!  Up and Down and Up and Down!!!  After boy baby 2 - Dominic, I'd gained 50# and lost that.  Then gradually I gained and gained until about 220# which I maintained until baby #3.  This time I only gained about 40# but started MUCH LARGER than before.  I had my little girl, Olivia, August 25th, 2010.

So now I have alot of work to do.  To lose it for good, I know I need to lose it slowly...the only problem with losing it slowly is that you can lose sight of the goal b/c it seems so overwhelming.  I need to follow my own advice and make some smaller goals and mark my achievements there.  I know it will happen it will just be a matter of time.

I will weigh in tomorrow and see if I can finally get out of the 230s...please please please

Interesting...

I like it that under this new format it shows how many posts we have done for the year. 2009 really sucked for us! Seriously? I mean - 119 posts in a YEAR!?!! We are doing much better this year. We are up to 40 so far - but we really have to step it up if we want to beat our peak in 2005.

A New Look

After 49 years of the same dull colors on our blog Emily gave permission to change it. What fun!! Most of us have admin rights (all of us maybe?), so feel free to change the look that I put in place. Only I really like it - so wait a week or two before you change it, if you please. 8-)

Anyway, My "no excuses" lent is going fairly well - only Sundays are our OFF days - so I only had three days of exercise until it was a time out. Actually after yesterday Katie and I decided to change our off days to Saturday. We are both more motivated to move on Sundays than we are on Saturdays. I ended up doing my lower body work out on Saturday at 12:14 am. It was actually 11:14pm, but I changed the clocks before I worked out. This actually hurt my lower back more than my legs! My legs aren't bad because of my yoga work - but you hold your body VERY differently for weight training than you do for yoga and so it kind of HURT - in not a good way. I will need to work on that more.

Food has been OK. I ordered pizza last night. I SWEAR I ordered the thin crust, only it came with hand tossed - so it was very bready. OTOH, I didn't eat as much of it because of that.

Hi!

I would say this new "April" started around February 1, 2011. 

My Goals?? 

• Get back into my size 10 pants
• Get down to 150lbs
• Enjoy a healthy self esteem as an example for my beautiful baby girl
• Run a 5K
• (maybe) participate in a triathlon
• Continue a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life

How have I gotten started??
The first week in February I did 5 days of a "cleanse"...part of the Suddenly Slim program, I cut out most carbohydrates and seriously cut my daily intake of calories.  I lost 6lbs during these few days and I know most of it was water...the purpose was more for me to jump start my motivation then to actually lose weight.  IT WORKED!  The next week I was introduced to the Green Monster.  This alone has attributed to a huge increase in energy for me!  My Green Monster is a combination of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, blueberries, banana and about 2 cups of spinach...blended to perfection!!!  I have a green monster EVERY morning!  In addition to the Green Monster I have adjusted my eating drastically.  If I'm being honest...I had an awful diet before I made this commitment to myself.  I would think nothing of eating fast food and could probably eat a whole pizza without even thinking about it.  The worst part is that I was a closet eater.  I never serve this crap to my family so why am I eating it myself??  In addition to that...I was a couch potato!  I have 3 beautiful healthy babies (6 - Mason, 4 - Dominic and 6 months - Olivia) and I want them to have a healthy happy Mommy...not the grumpy, lazy Mommy!

This time I'm not "dieting" per say.  I've changed the way I look at and think about food.  I eat when I'm hungry, only whole grains, fruit, veggies and lean proteins.  I eat about 5 small meals a day and most of them before 5pm.  I try not to eat at night.  I drink a TON of water and I DON'T deprive myself.  If there is something I want to enjoy, I do (in moderation).  I LOVE FOOD.  This is part of my problem...I'm not partial or picky at all!  I love pretty much EVERY FOOD THAT GOD CREATED!  The great news is that although I've always raised my kids will healthy habits, this new way of cooking and shopping just reinforces it.     

Next step after changing my food was to think about getting active.  This is when I decided to join an aerobics class with Bel Air Rec.  We meet Tuesday and Thursday for a hour.  This was my foray into exercise.  After 3 C-Sections...my muscles are seriously out of shape.  The aerobics class was just enough to get me started.  March 2nd...I decided to start C25K (Couch to 5K).  This is a walking/running program that can train you to go from...no exercise to running a 5K in just 2 months.  This has worked for alot of people really close to me.  I've planned to participate in a 5K in the beginning of June with my husband and his family.  We shall see how this goes...I don't like to over promise to anyone, including myself. 

So TODAY...
Yesterday I completed day 7 of C25K and since it was Ash Wednesday...I decided to give up meat for lent and see how the vegetarian lifestyle treats me.  To date...I have lost 13lbs and 6 inches but I've gained ALOT MORE.  In addition to the energy I mentioned, I'm happier, I'm a better mom, I have a better marriage, and just feel better then I have in 11 years.

more about me later...
Thanks for including me :)

New Member

I would like to invite someone new into our Losers group. April - coworker at TESSCO - has begun her journey to a new healthy lifestyle. She started HealthBeat at TESSCO - which is a great weekly program for people at TESSCO to learn a healthier way of living. I will let her introduce herself and tell her own story once we get her online with us. But first, I have to call Emily to find out how to do that...

Tuesday again already?

I missed weighing myself last Tuesday because we were in Maryland, and today we're in Alabama, so again I'm not in a position to weigh myself. Last Wednesday my weight was at 146, and I was good about dieting for the next couple of days and saw 144 before I got lazy again. It's appalling how little enthusiasm I have for watching what I eat these days.

I'm going to keep a traditional Lent this year -- no meat, no eggs, no dairy. Which isn't quite the same as vegan, because it still allows seafood. I've never attempted this before and I may get very tired of tuna sandwiches and bean and rice burritos with no cheese or sour cream. I also have some whole wheat dough in the fridge that was made with a cup or so of milk -- is it cheating to bake this and use it up when I get back? I hate to waste three loaves' worth of dough but it won't keep. Maybe I'll bake the loaves and freeze them, then start again with dairy-free dough.

I'm also going to stick to whole-grain everything during Lent, but not really because of Lent -- it's a change I've been trying to make anyway and Lent is just a good time to start. I fully expect to go back to meat and dairy after Lent, but I'd like to eliminate white flour entirely (except for birthday cakes and Christmas cookies, of course -- one has to have standards!).

I've had occasional exercise over the past two weeks, and I was looking forward to running while we were in Alabamaville, but with my running shoes (and, more importantly, my running bra -- I can get running shoes anywhere or even where my cross-trainers in a pinch, but my regular bra would cause serious pain if I tried to run) in my suitcase at home, that's not going to happen. I did get out for a walk yesterday (a short one) and I'll aim for more of that this week.

Six more weeks

I'm halfway into my "lose ten pounds or Sarah Palin gets my money" challenge and my weight today was 147.2. That's a shameful three pounds lost in six weeks, so clearly I need to step up my efforts. I think a good first step is to not accept any more invitations to eat out anywhere, ever. Restaurants, other people's homes--both are very bad for my diet! I only tracked my eating for a few days this week and then stopped. Meals like the one we had at Eric and Donna's place on Saturday make me give up entirely--how to track that much food? And would I want to see the stark numbers anyway?

So I have six more weeks and seven more pounds to go. This is do-able, of course, but it won't be easy. In my favor: better weather means more opportunities and motivation to exercise, and the start of Lent means I can use the season as an excuse to cut back on eating, and might even be able to convince Brian (who controls the shopping and cooking these days) to help me out! I don't think I could go for an "every day is Ash Wednesday" eating plan, but going back to a quasi-South Beach diet would help.

After, of course, having pancakes and bacon for dinner tonight.

Makes you wonder...

I was totally prepared this morning to see a HORRIBLE weight after the eating we did at Eric's on Saturday. However, I was down about a pound and a half from last week! Go figure. However, I couldn't help but wonder what my weight would have been had I NOT eaten like a greedy pig dog Saturday night. OTOH, I spent a good chunk of Sunday in the bathroom with my version of the stomach bug. I also didn't eat much of anything yesterday either... so maybe it isn't so surprising.

Well - today is my favorite holiday.. FAT TUESDAY! Pancake day! Katie and I have had the tradition of going out to IHOP for dinner on Fat Tuesday pretty much ever since she moved in with me. Now, I have converted my coworkers to the wonders of Pancake Day. They have all been talking about going out for a pancake lunch today for two weeks now. Luckily, we will be going to Bob Evans rather than IHOP for lunch. I don't think even I could do two meals in one day at IHOP, and that really IS a Katie and Amy tradition.

Luckily weigh in day is TODAY and not tomorrow.

Luckily tomorrow is a fast day!

Starting on Thursday I will be doing Body for Life for Lent. It is actually a 12 week plan - and Lent is only six weeks... but I want to see how I do for the six weeks before I commit to all 12 weeks. The last time I did this - ten years ago! - I did pretty well on it. The main feature of it is eating every three hours a carb AND a protein and then exercising 6 days a week, alternating cardio, upper body work and lower body work. The problem is that I can't find my book. I bought the new book - Body for Life for Women - but it doesn't seem as comprehensive as the original book.

Me, two weeks later.

No, I didn't forget to post last week. I just chose not to post last week. After having spent the entire weekend eating everything in sight (Amy's party, lunch and dinner out on Saturday, breakfast at the B&B followed by brunch with friend) it was no surprise, really, that my weight on Tuesday was 150.2, and because of that no surprise, really, that I didn't post that bit of information. It kills me, though, that you can diet and diet and diet for weeks and lose tiny amounts of weight each week and then three days of overindulgence undoes all of that.

But today my weight is 147.4, which I see is a pound down from when I LAST posted two weeks ago, so I can report that with no shame. And the weekend of overindulgence was totally worth it.

Since last week not only have I been back to my calorie counting diet, but I'm back to exercising--treadmill run/walk on Friday, outside five mile run/walk on Saturday, ten mile bike ride Sunday, and a forced two mile march in the rain to the library last night. That was Connor dragging me out the door when I was still eating dinner and making me go to his favorite place. He's feeling much better these days and is back to his old antics. We expect he'll remember his favorite hangout spot on the roof of the addition any day now. I had forgotten, over the past year of sleeplessness and crankiness and generally not feeling well, how funny and energetic he could be.

That's the good news. The bad news is a lot of this is made possible by Brian being unemployed again, so I no longer have to pick Connor up from school any more, so I can go to the gym at lunch and leave work on time each day. Sigh.