Back to last Tuesday's weight?!?

This is strange...I'm back down to 220.5 which is my weight from last Tuesday!  WEIRD!  I know others are used to fluctuating like this but I am not...very bizarre but I'll take it.  I still want to be down to 210 by June 1st!!! 

It is bizarre how much we rely on our cell phones...I've been without one (long story) all week and it is starting to make me a little crazy!  I thought that "unplugging" would be liberating for me (b/c I'm obsessed with my phone) but it is not liberating it is unnerving.  I probably need to see a therapist about this, LOL!

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday!

My weight today

... was 138.5, a half pound up from last week, a pound up from Easter morning, and the same as yesterday. Yesterday I didn't have trouble restraining myself until after dinner. Today I have been on the all-jellybean diet all day. (But at least the milk with breakfast sat just fine. Maybe I needed more jellybeans yesterday.) I'm about to hit the gym this afternoon. I wonder how many hours at the gym it takes to work off a gallon of jellybeans?

I am down

I am back to where I was before I went up to where I ended up. So - now I am BELOW the dreaded mark. I was 248.8 today. So that is almost two pounds down from last week. I can't say I did much differently last week than I did previous weeks. I was still on my no excuses for Lent exercise plan, but, as I told April, my exercise had been half hearted. We didn't have clogging last week. OTOH, I sweat like crazy when I do exercise - which I had never done in the past. BUT - that was a change from earlier in the year. I don't know. It certainly can't be the time of the month, because I am crampy and bloated leading me to believe that my period is about to start. It can't be my food. Well, now, maybe it is. I have noticed in the past that I have an odd tendency to lose weight after I have hosted a party. I have joked before (I wanted to say quipped, but that sounded pretentious) that when I eat a diet of all junk food all the time I actually LOSE weight. I don't know. But I won't complain if I continue to lose weight.


OH! I did have Shea do a treatment for me for weight loss. I feel like that is vaguely cheating - but she and I have talked extensively about my lack of weight loss. Shea has been very much of the mind set that I need to be comfortable in the body I have since I am otherwise very healthy- but my argument is my body doesn't feel like the body I am supposed to have. Anyway, most acupuncture treatments for weight loss focus on appetite suppressing. I don't need that - having no appetite to begin with. So she did a treatment that was more focused on continuous movement - referring to the energy in your body, which is a metabolism boost. It was a very strange sensation. The points were mostly in my legs and I could feel the energy moving. It was like little licks of fire were running up and down my shins and calves under my skin. Maybe that did actually help.


Anyway - I have switched to frozen spinach in my monsters, and I am officially switching back as of today. I prefer the fresh spinach on so many levels!

BUST!

So I gained weight this week!  BOO!!!  and I was really well behaved at Easter, oh well!  I will not be deterred...I will keep on truckin.  I am adding an extra walk to my day (with my loving co-workers).  The path we use is almost exactly a mile, so this will make my daily trek a total of 3 miles.  I'm also going to limit my carbs, this always gives me a boost in the right direction.  Unfortunately I've only lost a total of 1lb this whole month.  Down, same, down, then up :( 

Goal:  I will be down to 210 by June 1st.  Hold me to this ladies (although documenting this here is enough :)) 

I still love my Monster!  I started monstering around February 1st and I've only missed 2 days.  I'm going to take my measurements on June 1st also and see what the results are.  Time to bust a move!!!  :)

Milk is evil and wrong

After a month and a half dairy-free, I cheerfully poured my cereal with skim milk for breakfast this morning and downed it. Less than a half hour later I felt horrible -- my stomach was very distressed. I made the mistake of trying to go for a 30-minute run anyway; often when I have indigestion that helps, because it kind of wakes up my system and moves everything through. Instead it got worse. My legs were fine, my lungs were fine, so I ought to have been able to run 5k beautifully well. But after about 8 minutes my entire upper digestive system was cramping up, so I kept having to stop and walk until the spasms subsided. Ugh. It took me 32 minutes to do 3 miles, when my gym pace on the treadmill (usually tougher than the road for me) is more like 29.

I think my body quit producing lactase when it realized I didn't need it. I am HOPING this is temporary -- after a day or two of trying to give it dairy products again it might re-open the production line. I like dairy too much to have to give it up permanently.

Of course I ate junk food all day yesterday, but the actual dairy content of Reese's eggs is probably fairly small. And we had a vegan friend as a dinner guest, so anywhere I would normally use butter or milk I used vegan "buttery sticks" and almond milk. And I was so busy I had no more than a nibble of cheese all evening. So this is really the first chance I've had to test this. Bleah.

I didn't try to count calories yesterday but today I am back to it. I haven't had any candy and it's already lunch time -- this would be more of a triumph if I hadn't felt so gross all morning. I am bound and determined not to have my annual post-Easter weight gain, though!

Our Internet is acting up here at work. I just wrote a fairly lengthy comment saying why negative reinforcement - the threat of punishment - works better for me than positive - the promise of reward - does for accomplishing goals. Making me accountable to someone other than myself is, I think, mandatory. That being said, April and I just came up with a plan where I have to report to her daily what exercise I did the day before. I will no longer be able to tell her that she is not the boss of me - because in this she will be.

Maybe, we will be able to eventually have me reportable to her for my food too.

I also think I will call the bariatic center at Johns Hopkins. Even if my weight loss problems are only psychological, maybe they can help me out.

Uneventful week

My weight went back up to 141 over the week but came back down to 138 today. I was definitely bloated, but I started feeling better yesterday. I'm content just to be at last week's weight -- as I said, it will take a while to move any lower (and now Easter is almost here, so lots of chocolate is coming!). At this time of year I'm just trying to keep up with everyday life.

I did have a highly active day yesterday -- I had a gym appointment and did 45 minutes on the elliptical, and then when I got home I found I needed to go to Kroger, so I walked there (I'm trying to make it a rule that if the weather is even vaguely reasonable I will not drive -- it's only a half mile!). Actually, I jogged there -- Cecilia came along and she knew we were in a hurry, so she took my hand and SHE ran the whole half mile without stopping!! I walked back, but she ran back home, at least for the first half, until we met up with Daniel and walked with him -- and it's uphill for that whole first quarter mile. I was pretty impressed. Anyway, after dinner I needed to get to Target, and then I ended up walking the whole store a couple of times in search of lighters -- normally they have the long ones by the checkout, but they only had the little ones there, so I had to hunt and only found them in the outdoor section waaayyyy at the back. 15,000+ steps for the day.

I was active on the weekend, too, with a Kroger walk and with sorting through two years of kids' clothes that were piling up in every corner of the bedrooms. I sorted them in my room, but the kids' room was where the boxes were stored, so I walked back and forth for hours. And on Sunday we also walked to a friend's house for supper, and that was a half mile each way. I love the nicer weather because going on foot or by bike is a realistic option!

This week I have a gym appointment today, but nothing more possible for the rest of the week. So I'll keep on walking to Kroger, and I'll keep watching what I eat. Exciting, I know.

Day of reckoning

Today's the day--I had to be 140.4 or less this morning or else Sarah Palin would get my money. I have to admit that I wasn't really worried. I was 140.2 on Sunday and 139.8 yesterday, so I wasn't exactly sweating this. Turns out my weight was 140.4 precisely this morning, which is both frustrating since I've been lower the past two days (serves me right--we had chicken stir fry for dinner and popcorn later, so both the extra food and the extra salt I think played into this) and kind of funny since I've been slightly above and slightly below that weight all the past week but never exactly at the target weight.

To celebrate I had a brownie for breakfast, but now I'm going back to my regularly scheduled food, at least until Sunday when Easter indulgence starts!

What a week?!?!

Last Tuesday after I posted I got a call from DJ that he was headed to the ER.  WHAT>!?!  He was fine when I'd talked to him at 7am.  He was having pain in his left side/back so severe that he couldn't drive.  Well it turned out to be a kidney stone (his first) and a whopper!  Poor guy was in the most pain I've ever witnessed.  He finally passed the stone on Saturday and named it Michael since everyone told him he now knew what it was like to be in labor.  Labor maybe, but 10 months of enormity, aches, swelling, and c-section recovery?!?!  I don't think so!!! 

As a result of his illness my routines were severely affected.  I didn't get to go to aerobics or even run on Tuesday (long story).  Then on Friday, he was in so much pain and the little ones didn't go down until after it was dark so that blasted Friday out of the water.  Not to mention without DJ to eat dinner, I wasn't motivated to cook and we ate a bunch of crap!  BLECK!  I still GMed every morning and for the most part I'm pretty sure I was under my calorie counts each day.  Sunday, life returned to normal and I was able to regain some semblance of normalcy.  We did indulge on chocolate dipped fruit (pineapple, strawberries, bananas) my mom made for us.  It was delicious and after I'd eaten almost an entire pineapple I was SICK to my stomach.  I knew when I got home the only thing that would make me feel better would be a run...so I did and it did! LOL

All that said, I was panicked to step on the demon scale this morning.  I did really well yesterday and even went an extra half mile on my run.  I was shocked...SHOCKED to discover that I'm down to 220.5!!!!!   HOLY MOLY was I excited?!?!  I almost did a little happy scale dance :)  That means I am down 3 lbs from last week where I remained the same from the week before.  I'm heartily on track to my Ireland goal. 

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

Aversion Therapy

I have been thinking about what Sarah did - committing to give money to Sarah Palin if she didn't lose 10 pounds in 12 weeks (or whatever it was). I am trying to think of something that I can do that would be enough of an aversion that I would also be willing to put on trashbags and run around the block to lose the weight. The money thing isn't enough of a motivator to me. I mean - would my $25 impact Sarah Palin at all? No. Would I miss the $25? Probably not. So - not a huge issue for me. I thought about doing something I REALLY hate - like signing up to be a lector at chuch. Public speaking fills me with terror. Even whispering to the decon while I was on stage this week that father had dropped a host on the floor left me stunned and trembling for quite some time afterwards. That would be an effective committment, but I still have this fear that I CAN'T lose weight no matter what I try - and that would be really adding insult to injury. I could do something like give away my yarns. That makes me feel a little sick inside to think about it. But the people I would give them to would be Katie or Emily - so it isn't like I would be really GIVING them away. OTOH - now that I am thinking about this... I could use that as a motivation tool. I could give one skein a week away each time I don't lose weight. I could make it receivers choice - which would mean that I would have no say in what Katie or Emily picks. They could take my favorites!! But I think there needs to be a carrot to this stick. Maybe at the end of each month I could earn some of them back somehow. I need help on the details... What do you think?

Shock therapy

No, I don't mean the kind of plugged-into-the-wall-knock-me across-the room kind ... I mean the trying-on-a-pair-of-pants-I-know-won't-fit kind to remind myself that, while I'm making early progress, I've got a long way to go on my latest fitness journey.

So I've got my benchmark pants -- I've used them before -- to determine if I'm losing weight. I prefer this method to a scale because I want to see the inches just melting off and ... I don't like scales.

This is a great way for me to motivate myself to stick with my program. I don't take it as a depressing move -- I can't get into shape overnight -- and it's a reminder that I need to keep plugging away.

Feeling good after a couple of weeks

After two weeks of focusing on fitness and food I'm seeing and feeling the results. I put on some jeans last night and they were definitely looser. Nice.

I'm taking advantage of my one-month gym membership -- I took a boxing class this week -- it had a nice division between men and women. It was fun, hard and even took me a couple of days to really feel it. I did pick up some tips for my home workout -- I actually can do lunges and burpees -- they kill but that's the idea.

I still want to try a spin class but haven't quite made it there in time.

I also did another gym tri with some cool equipment -- a bike with some tough programs, an elliptical that was on an incline (hard) and a treadmill that's incline that goes so high you have to hang on to the handles. I had seen people using it but never tried it. Very cool and a good workout.

I've been hitting the gym about 7:30 p.m. and have found that it's not very crowded and I pretty much have the hot tub, steam room and sauna all to myself, which is nice, especially considering the number of members at this club.

My food has been good -- salads, lean proteins, yogurt and good fruits and veggies - and my only *issue* is eating after the gym. I'm not getting home until about 10 p.m. and, so far, haven't been very hungry but usually need something. I've been aiming for a yogurt.

Otherwise I've gotten myself into a decent routine giving me the ability to improvise when needed.

Congress is out of session for the next two weeks meaning my schedule should be a little less hectic, providing ample opportunity get in workouts and hopefully, get into DC and to the gym.

Keep up the good work everyone!

This week in review

This week has been a fairly good week. I had lots of left over fruit and veggies from the party on Friday - so I have been good about eating them. We have been consistantly monstering and I have got to tell you that I am AMAZED at how my hair and skin have softened up. My coloring seems better too. The only thing - and I am not sure if this is related at all - but my "bonus period" this month was much heavier and lasted longer than in the past. Usually I have light spotting for about two days. This time it lasted five days and was pretty heavy. I thought that the extra iron in my diet would help that to IMPROVE - not get worse. Katie and I had our second clogging class last night. It is so much fun!! I was pouring sweat again - but I don't think it is entirely from the exercise. Ummmmm... I don't think I have anything else to report. OH! My weight was down just half a pound from the week before. Better than up...

Report from North Bay

No idea what my weight is since there's no way to tell, but I CAN say that it'll be difficult to lose weight this week. Eating here is nothing like eating at home. You get three meals a day, and that's it--no snacks in between. I'm used to three small meals and two small snacks, with lots of fruits and veggies. That's been impossible. They have fruit or vegetables available at meals, but not in the quantity I'm used to, and not prepared in a way I'm used to (mostly I'm eating raw--baby carrots, spinach, cucumbers, pepper slices, and snow peas are are my staples for snacks and meals. Here it's more like steamed green beans with butter or orange juice.). Salads are only available at lunch. No more yogurt and fruit for breakfast, either. Yesterday I got oatmeal, which was nice, but today was eggs and potatoes. Knowing I wouldn't get anything else until lunch, I just ate it. So I'm worried that I won't be losing any weight this week.

And on that note, I think I'll go take a walk before lunch (few opportunities for exercise either--it's been cold and rainy and I'm with the kids most of the time).

Moving in the right direction

So far so good on the food and workout front. I'm sticking to a tight regimen on both and I finally have a workout routine in place.

Personally, I need to have menus and fitness routines written down -- I'm a list person and I think they go hand-in-hand. Mentally the schedules provide me with a clear roadmap so I don't have to think about what's next -- I just read the schedule. It also allows me to change things up and with my work schedule that's sometimes necessary.

After just more than a week I'm noticing big differences -- my body likes routine -- my skin looks better, my hair is shinier, my nails are growing faster and are stronger along with various other hints that I'm on the right track.

I've got a good weights routine in place and am past all of the initial soreness -- in last night's workout I really pushed myself and I feel great today. I've got a couple of fitness books I use -- written by Cindy Whitmarsh -- they provide 6-week routines. I recently realized how much following her guidelines helped me trim down in the past. Even though I'm not following them to the letter this time they provide a great framework. I even got the jump rope back out -- jumping rope is tough and I break a sweat in about 5 seconds. haha

I'm not sure if I lost weight last week -- Auntie Flow arrived five days early, most likely because of my change in routine. She's so rude sometimes. Her arrival has caused the usual issues of bloat etc. I hope she leaves soon.

Happy to see everyone else is making progress. Sounds like Easter candy may affect some weight loss later in the month but just think about it -- Easter is at the end of April -- giving everyone more than two weeks to prepare for the deluge of sugar. I say push hard until then, enjoy a break then refocus your efforts!

Blah

This week has been crappy and it is only Tuesday.  I hope it turns around.

My weight is down another pound this week, and we go for our Bod Pod appointments this afternoon.  I am really hoping to see even a slight shift in my numbers.

We've been making variations on the green monster.  Peter bought us a nifty new blender that has these travel cups that hook right into it.  I learned an annoying lesson yesterday regarding the order of the ingredients in the cup. Heavy stuff in first, light stuff in last, not vice versa. I like the blender because we can just pop a lid on the cup the monster is blended in and head out the door. It halso doesn't have that tiny metal shaft for all the spinning; it seems to have more power.  He also bought a bunch of frozen fruit from BJs that makes it really easy to put smoothies together.  I was happy our BJ's carries the frozen wild blueberries too.  To me they taste better than frozen regular blueberries. A little frozen pineapple make a monster REALLY tasty.  And we found out that almond milk at BJ's is WAY cheaper than at the grocery store.  You get more than 2x the amount for 20 cents less in price.

I'm eating lunch a little early today because of our appointments; we made salads and they are super tasty.  Iceberg & romaine, carrots, mushrooms, red onion, tomato, red beets, and chick peas with some Newman's honey mustard dressing.

I'm listening to show tunes on pandora, hoping to cheer myself up.  Hopefully Colin Firth singing ABBA does the trick.  I am pretty down right now.

Official weigh-in

It was 138.0 -- so even better than yesterday. I am of course pleased by this, and I know I shouldn't be a pessimist, but I also know full well that this means my weight won't budge for two weeks now. I'd kind of rather have the half-pound-a-week sort of progress, because at least it's not a plateau and it's motivating enough to keep me at the diet and exercise (well, mostly diet -- this week I am getting three days of exercise, but they are all in a row, and Sunday hardly counts because I walked to the grocery store, which is only 0.6 miles). But the 2- or 3-pound plunge is fun when it happens, and it at least kept me motivated through yesterday.

I am trying to convince myself that when Easter arrives I do NOT have to eat every piece of chocolate and every jellybean as quickly as possible. I do not have to graze on 1000 calories of sugar (and fat, in the case of chocolate) each day. Because all this work just to lose 7 pounds should not be discarded in two weeks. But I also know I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to sugar unless I give it up entirely. And I'm not willing to have an Easter basket full of yarn and knitting notions or something like that -- I WANT jellybeans and chocolate, dammit! My weight chart for every year shows an up-swing after Easter, worse than any other holiday. Probably because of the denial right before -- I can resist overeating on Halloween candy (at least somewhat better than Easter) because it's only a month after my birthday, when I usually get some very gourmet chocolate, and with gourmet chocolate I'm usually willing to space it out, just a piece here or there, which gets me in a good habit.

Officially, my plan is to indulge like crazy on Easter, but then try to get right back into restraint the day after, having just a little candy after meals, within my calorie limits. Maybe I'll allow myself an extra 100 calories a day to give some extra candy room without going overboard. We'll see if I can manage!

Bloat

Bleck...I am not happy.  I am exactly the same as last week.  I guess it is good I didn't gain but I'm ticked!  I know it is because of my little visitor which will be over shortly but it is still annoying!

I hate being a woman sometimes.

On the other hand, I am doing great still with C25k and the nice weather is making my little work out much more enjoyable.  I have aerobics tonight, woot!  I'm really proud of my progress in the world of working out alone.  I NEVER exercised until recently.  I mean, I exercised when I was in sports/dancing when I was a kid, but never solely for the purpose of fitness.  I work out EVERY day for 30 minutes minimum.  I have only missed one day in 2 months and that was because I had a VERY HEAVY flow that day and I knew running would be a disaster!  I've got to find a flatter path though...right now anyway.  I will work hills into my workout but I really want to build up my distance endurance first.  I have to run up like 3 big hills on my current path but I like it b/c it is exactly 2 miles.  I don't like to run down hills either (hurts my knees).  I'll continue to search for a flat path in my neighborhood...

I hope everyone has a better Tuesday than I :) 

Holy cow, can I weigh in early, too?

Because my weight this morning was the lowest I've seen in almost 3 years! I was thinking it was just the lowest since before Christmas, but then I looked more closely and saw that I hadn't seen 138.5 all year last year... or the year before that. July of 2008 was the last time, and then I was on the way up. Woo hoo!

AND this weekend I was measuring myself to order some jeans and I found out that my waist-to-hip ratio is not bad right now -- 0.79 when it was 0.81 before. So I'm not just losing pounds; I'm losing inches.

Vistor

It's that time again...Auntie Flow is visiting and I'm sure she will have a negative impact on my weigh in on Tuesday.  Plus stress...Friday was a horrible day for me between work and life all I could do at the end of the day is laugh and buy a lottery ticket (which was a loser btw).  I'm feeling auntie with cramps and fatigue.  Sometimes I REALLY hate being a woman!  I had a horrible eating weekend with eating at restaurants 3 times during the weekend, much more than normal for me.  I did have a very productive weekend so that is a positive.  I C25ked all weekend and GMed so I'm still pretty well on track :)  I didn't weigh myself b/c I didn't want to be depressed so we'll just see what the demon scale says Tuesday morning.

I'll check in Tuesday :)

Not here on Tuesday

Since I'll be overseeing a bunch of middle schoolers this week, I thought it would be practical and expedient to report my weekly weight early so that I can stay on track and not lose a week in my quest to get down to 140.4 by April 19 (or 21 or whatever the day was--I need to go back and look). This is ENTIRELY because I'm being sensible and honest, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that my weight this morning was 140.6. Nothing at all. Really.

Get along there old lady ...

Yeah, I'm talking about me, the one who's trying to feel less old ladyish by working out until I need a walker to get home. Sound like a good plan? We'll see.

I joined a gym near the Capitol for a month -- *groupon* -- and it's a nice pretty gym in a circa 1930s building. So last night I exercised on a treadmill and a bike that were out in the hallway. I had flashbacks to my elementary school years when I was sent out of the classroom for being disruptive. Yep. Had there been treadmills of torture out in those hallways I might've behaved. Oh probably not. Good idea though for our obesity problem ... punishment by treadmill.

But I digress ... it's a cool gym -- the running room is in the "kindergarten" -- and the equipment is spread out on three floors with most of the school infrastructure still in place -- chalkboards included. A bonus -- there's a parking lot so no fighting for street parking.

I really can't afford to join though -- it's $105 a month. Ouch.

Anyway, I decided last night to do a gym triathlon -- pick three pieces of equipment and do them back to back. I was going to do 10 minutes each but ended up doing 20 -- treadmill, bike and elliptical. So I got in a solid hour and felt/feel great. What's interesting is when I first started working out again about 4 years ago I couldn't have done what I did last night. That said, I'm not in good shape and my intention is to change that and fast.

I also enjoyed a very nice hot tub and steam -- I had the locker room all to myself at 10 p.m. -- enjoyable.

I hope to take advantage of all the equipment and some of the classes during the month.

In addition, I've been doing squats and weights routines and I've gotten through the initial pain of those damn squats and dead lifts. So that just means I've got to keep finding new thresholds.

So feeling pretty good after the first week and hope to pick up the exercise and keep going with good food. I'm already feeling more energetic. What's funny is though is that sometimes I'm content to be lazy because it seems easier. Yet, it's really detrimental mentally and physically.

Figures

As of today, I'm back down to 142, so I'm guessing the gain earlier this week was water retention. I went down the same way I went up-back to 143.4 yesterday and 142 today.

Exercise in the coming weeks will be interesting. Already I'm dealing with not being able to get to the gym since I'm doing the Connor run each afternoon, so I'm back to doing pilates at night and walking the dog every other day. It's not as good as running, but at least it's something. I'll try to get in a couple of good outdoor workouts on weekends, but that's going to be difficult between now and the end of the school year with so many Girl Scout activities going on. Next week I'm at North Bay (outdoor environmental education center) with Claire, and I don't know what my exercise options will be. Heck, I don't even know what my JOB is supposed to be there! I'm going as a chaperone but they haven't told us what that entails. I *think* we'll have free time during the day while the kids are in "class" but I don't know for sure. If that's the case, I can presumably get in one workout a day, but we'll see how that goes. I also have to spend some time working while there since I've got two major grants due that we're trying to get in that week to avoid working over spring break. And then the next week is spring break. Last year I was able to get a lot of exercise done over that week, but last year my break didn't coincide with the kids' break, so I was child-free all week. Not happening this year, so I'll have to work around Brian's schedule to get in any exercise.

Monster Update

I made our monsters today with a fresh banana instead of a frozen one, and WOW.  The flavor was so much better!  It wasn't bad before, but it was REALLY GOOD with the soft banana.

Green Lite Bites

I am so happy that Roni is back from her little Maternity Hiatus...she is amazing!  Let me back up...I am currently obsessed with a blog called Green Lite Bites.  Roni is the author and she is funny, creative, and a great food photographer (although I'm not an expert...I just want to eat every picture, LOL).  I hope you enjoy her ideas!

Lenten Fail

I ate meat today. I had Suzanne pick up one of the European sandwiches from Wegman's - which is tomato, lettuce, fresh mozzerella AND procuitto. Sigh. I ate it anyway. I honestly HAD forgotten about the meat (both giving it up and its presence on the sandwich) and when faced with it, the choice was to remove it or to eat it. I couldn't help it - I ate it NOT because I was craving the meat, but because that is the most expensive part of the sandwich and I couldn't bear throwing it away. I forgot to mention my weight in my last post. I was down two pounds this week. (Two seems to be the magic number today!) However, since I was up three pounds previously, that still puts me one pound up and .8 in the red zone. So YAY it is down! BOO! I am still fat! 8-)

Hummus

So, unlike the rest of you nutcases (and we had an amazing turn-out this morning! I don't remember the last Tuesday I checked in at lunchtime and was the LAST!), I have not been consuming the green monster. It contains dairy, and my ground rules included no dairy substitutes, either (so no almond milk or milk-free margarine or n'er-g-eggs or however you spell that), so I will have to delay that pleasure until the end of the month. However, since Sarah's suggestion, I have been LOVING the hummus. Today I had it on a piece of potato-rosemary bread (which I know is not whole grain, but I don't want it to go to waste, and it is SO yummy). Very good.

My weight this morning was 141.0. It went truckin' on down to 140 last week but then I overate on Friday (happy hour ended early, so Daniel and I went out to dinner, and I ate salmon and veggies over angel hair -- yummy but lots of olive oil and pasta carbs, so very caloric). But, adding my calories up as honestly as I could, I still only hit about 1800 or 1900 for the day. All the other days I've been close to 1200, but that one day of 600 extra calories made me spike upwards two pounds again. At my current weight, 1200 calories should be less than a pound a week of weight loss (but exercise should bump that up a little), so I'm really right on target. But when I see a 2-pound plummet it's annoying to see an immediate 2-pound spike. I'm the same as last Tuesday, in the end. My moving average is better this week, though; it is down a pound. So unless my actual weight continues to fail to go down, I'm really not doing badly.

My exercise continues to be iffy. I go to the gym on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I usually get in a 1.5-mile walk on Fridays en route to happy hour. But that's pretty much it. If I don't go to the gym, I don't get in real exercise.

Finally ... I'm ready to get serious again

First, sorry for the email about login instructions -- I was having trouble getting onto the blog but have, obviously, figured out the issue.

I haven't posted in awhile -- it has been a long winter and I really wasn't mentally into a strict fitness regimen but now ... look out. I didn't really put on any weight over the winter but I also didn't pay much attention to my fitness level and am now putting in the work to get back into shape.

In the past few years I've changed my diet and stepped up my workouts but simply haven't been inspired recently. Not sure why, just not into it.

But I'm not 18, 25 or even 35 anymore (BOO!) and there's really no option here. I've got to make fitness a part of my every day life. I feel better when I exercise. Period.

So I'm gradually getting back into a routine -- weight work (dumb bells), squats, using the balance ball, biking, walking and maybe, if my body cooperates, some running. As the weather warms up I'll be hiking more and going on weekend-long bike trips. I may even add some swimming into the mix. Crazy.

At the moment I'm easing into it, taking care to evaluate where I am to avoid injury. In the past, I've made good progress fast then find it hard to get beyond a certain point. This time I'm determined to push hard and move beyond those physical barriers.

Foodwise I'm sticking to yogurts and fruit for breakfast -- I found some museli, which is made in Switzerland, at the store and it's loaded with good stuff. But I'm happy with plain non-fat yogurt and some toasted flax seeds and some fruit. Otherwise I focus a lot on salads and lean proteins along with beans etc.

Once all of the good veggies are in season I can eat salads daily -- especially with fresh tomatoes. I'm looking forward to my farmers market produce again.

I love that everyone is digging the green monster. I do smoothies almost daily when the farmers market is in season. It helps that I work at a market and get my produce free so that helps. I use non-fat greek yogurt in mine -- there's a local place that makes their own yogurt. I work my way through the seasonal fruits and veggies. I started adding kale last fall and liked the addition.

Sounds like everyone is doing great in general ... keep up the good work.

Rosy Cheeks - no warts

So I am still going strong on the green monsters. I can't stress enough how surprisingly good they are. I don't add the flax though. I just do yogurt, fruit, banana, and spinach. Katie and I add fiber to our orange juice in the morning - and the blueberries have tons! My nutritionist told me that flax is not actually the best source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Well - actually it IS, but humans don't digest it well, and so we are better off taking fish oil. I still use flax for some things - because I like it, but I don't add it to the GM because I do take fish oil. I also don't add protein - I prefer my protein in eggs and beans and fish... Today Katie and I replaced the blueberries with fresh pineapple! It turned a pretty bright green color. I like the taste, but I prefer the blueberries. I think in the future I will do both the blueberries and pineapple. Tomorrow we are going to try it with mango. ANYWAY - last night, before I went to the gym! - I noticed that my cheeks were unusually rosy. I figured either I have a case of rosacia OR the iron I have been consuming is showing up in my complexion. I don't think I look as pale as I have. As to exercise - I am keeping at the daily exercise. I didn't exercise Friday. I went to a party at Jenny's house, and then I went to church for first Friday. I figured the church gave me a pass on the exercise! Katie and worked hard in the garden both on Saturday and Sunday. Those of you that know what our garden normally looks like should be pretty impressed. We tore up pretty much EVERYTHING except one rhododendron, two azaleas and four tulips. We covered everything with that black garden cloth and then spread 9 bags of mulch over it all. It looks so clean! We made a (pu-tooh!) pact that we would both pull up weeds as we see them instead of letting them take over again. We plan to plant a rose bush in the front yard since it does get a lot of sun there now. So - maybe my rosy cheeks are a sunburn from this weekend. Except it was pretty overcast on Saturday... Tonight I am supposed to meet Jenny at the gym to use the pool. Ugh. Ugh mostly because of the bathing suit aspect. We plan to mostly tread water and use the resistance toys. I may start back on the water ballet this weekend too. Tomorrow night Katie and I start our clogging lessons. Hee hee!!

Really?

So last week I complained about my weight going up a bit towards the end of the week. It went down again on Saturday morning--down to 142, which seemed about right for the eating and exercise I was doing. And then it shot back up again this week! Yesterday I was 143.6 and today I was up to 144.8. Now I know perfectly well that my 1200 calories yesterday didn't cause me to gain a pound overnight, nor did my 1200 calories a day over the weekend plus multiple workouts cause me to gain a pound and a half over two days, so I know that this is a temporary blip, but nonetheless it's a PITA. Very frustrating to watch my intake so carefully (every day I'm checking my calories, fiber, protein, sodium, potassium, etc. and making sure to get 7 to 9 servings of fruit and veggies daily--in this past week I went over my calorie intake once (by 175 calories, on the apple fritter day) and my sodium intake once, but otherwise I was spot on each day) and still gain weight. I've also been exercising regularly--three trips to the gym during the work week last week, the over the weekend we had Up All Night Sports, so I had one session on the rowing machine and one session on the stationary bike that night. Then on Sunday we did our annual stream clean up (hey, there's an idea for rocky terrain, Julie!), which was two hours or so of walking the stream, climbing up the embankments, and dragging pounds and pounds of trash with us. Yesterday was the first day of Brian's new job, which means no gym sessions for me, but I got in some pilates late in the day.

OTOH, I've got a lot of factors working against me--stress, lack of sleep, and a head cold are all right up there on the list of things that can cause inflammation and water retention. The head cold in particular is probably at the root of my problems--it hit on Saturday night (the same night I stayed awake all night) and now I'm all stuffy with a sore throat and clogged ears. This isn't weight gain from water retention quite so much as it is weight gain from booger retention. ;-)

Tuesday Jabber

It's Tuesday, and I remembered it was Tuesday! Woo!  Weight was holding at 198, which I don't feel too awful about given the ridiculous eating out we did Thursday, Friday & Saturday.  Peter's brother was in town from NI, so we met up with family in Baltimore two nights and then took him to the airport Saturday and met up with NY family in Newark.  We ate at a FABULOUS Spanish restaurant in the Ironbound area of Newark. Before they handed you a menu, there were bowls of olives, plates of bread and plates of salad on the table.  It was delicious.

After one green monster last week, I managed to talk someone else into trying the recipe when I was at a bridal shower Sunday.  I'm hoping to hear back from her today to see what she thought.  I made the green monsters today for Peter & I.  My monster was much greener, and I ground the flax and oatmeal finer than he had.  It is definitely growing on me.

Food-wise we've been sticking to lean proteins, veggies and small carbs for dinner, which has been working out well. We started getting deliveries from this food service and I am really liking the meat, not to mention the fact that they carry everything inside and put it away for you.

Peter & I started our hiking training Sunday as well.  We did a 3.5 mile loop through the trails in the neighborhood.  I was going to do more yesterday, but my shins were sore so hopefully I can at least hit the treadmill tonight. I want to clear 9 miles each week for a few weeks. I need to also do some research and find some local hikes that have rocky terrain so I can practice being a mountain goat.  I want to make sure I am ready for August.

Can't Believe it!

Honestly...I can't believe that this diet/exercise regiment is being SO consistent...I have lost exactly 2lbs again this week.  My scale only calculates half lbs so it may not be exactly 2lbs but last week I was 225.5 and this week I am 223.5.  WOOT!  I am so freakin excited!!!  I can't wait to be below the dreaded 220#...it has been quite awhile since I was below that marker. 

This whole process has been great and I'm actually really enjoying this new me.  The last few times I've lost mass quantities of weight, it has been following a CRASH diet...very restrictive!  I lost 50+ lbs at least 3 times in the last 10 years and it has happened in less than 3 months.  It is hard to wait and have it happen slowly but I know that doing it this way will ensure I'm making a lifestyle change and will help it to stay off forever so I NEVER have to lose it again.  I've also NEVER exercised this consistantly as an adult.  I do my aerobics on Tuesday (Thursday is gone b/c of t-ball) and C25k every other day.  I know this is a big key to success.  I'm almost obsessed with it :)

I think one of the biggest pitfalls where people get into trouble with trying to lose weight is lack of adventure.  I have a girl friend who just started Weight Watchers and she was talking about how she grilled up a bunch of chicken so she could have it with a salad everyday that week.  BLECK?!?  Really?  Grilled chicken on greens EVERYDAY for lunch?  Is she going to be able to sustain this forever??  My opinion: if you aren't enjoying what you are eating (and you love to eat), you are setting yourself up for failure.  I was talking to her about tips to spice up her menu and I think she'll be fine but I was this person and now I'm thinking differently.  This mostly veggie lifestyle is working really well too to boost weight loss (for me).  I am currently obsessed with an avocado dip that I eat with triscuits.  It consists of 1 avocado-diced, 1/2 can black beans, 1/2 C. frozen corn - thawed, 1/2 container of pico de gallo from the grocery store, all mixed together with some lemon juice, salt and pepper.  YUM! 

The secret to my success tho?!?  I would say it is my Green Monster!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  It has literally changed my life.  My marriage, my energy, my parenting, my LIFE is better.  I know that seems odd and I'm sure that all my changes have impacted this new me, but I really think the GM is the center of it.  Who new spinach had so much power?!?!  Popeye did :)

I don't know how long this progress will last (I'm sure I'll plateau) but I'm going to enjoy it while it does.
I hope everyone has a GREAT Tuesday!!!

Ode to a Green Monster

I don't think April has written one yet - so I will.

• O Green Monster!


• You are as green as a zombie at nightfall


• You smell like a pound of spinach womped in a blender


• Your edges are raggy and leave my dishes dirty


• The black flecks of blueberries are visable in your skin.




• O Green Monster!


• The cool rush of that first taste


• The sweetness of the banana in the pulp


• The daily decisions; vanilla yogurt or blueberry?


• Blueberries AND pineapple? Or maybe mango?




• O Green Monster!


• You are so easy to sip


• So delightful to consume!


• You look like hot tarmac, but taste like a beach vacation!


• You are oddly addictive...




• O Green Monster!


• Thank you for giving me my daily dose


• of the dreaded five fruits and vegetables!


• Thank you for making it so easy!


• I love you forever, my Green Monster!




• The end!

Oddly Addictive

I got up this morning (almost fell down the steps! clutz!) and promptly made myself a Green Monster. This is notable for several reasons: One - it is all vegetables and fruit and I really don't go out of my way to eat either. Two - it is a Saturday. Traditionally I don't eat anything but coffee on Saturdays until about three in the afternoon. Three - I had to prepare it. Not quite cooking - but I had to gather ingredients and use a kitchen tool.

Green Monsters are oddly addictive... I am not sure what it is about them but as soon as I finished mine from yesterday I was looking forward to having one today. Is it possible that the ingredients combine to make some sort of crack? It has the strange affect on me that coffee does... not the buzz, but the wanting of it first thing in the morning. Odd.

Weakening.....

It's been a really tough week here and my stress levels are at a peak. Brian is starting a new job next week, which is great news, but it's down in Gaithersburg, which stinks. It means I'll be back to my routine of going in late every day, running around between 3:00 and 4:15 getting Connor from school and taking him to Elkridge, then working late (but not too late because I have to be home when Connor gets home because Brian will still be in Gaithersburg), and with Brian so far away it means I have no backup from him in case something comes up that needs immediate attention. We've posted ads on Craigslist and around the local colleges looking for someone to do transportation and have gotten no response, so we decided we could skip TI and just find a regular after-care program, but the ones we've talked to either don't have space or won't take someone with Connor's disabilities. And this couldn't be happening at a worse time. For some reason, the grants season seems to be in full swing right now. I got eight grants out the door in the last two weeks (normal pace is three or four a month), including one horrible federal one that we got in with only eight minutes to spare yesterday. The pace isn't going to ease up until May--I've got three private grants, one county grant, three state grants and two federal grants due between now and mid-May, and in the meantime I'm supposed to be chaperoning Claire's week-long school trip to an outdoor education center in two weeks, and then out for Spring Break the week after that (which won't happen--the two federal grants are due that week). And in the meantime my scout troop has decided to try to hold a fairly major event (for us, that is) to raise funds for another project that they want to do, and while I love it that they are doing this, it's just taking a lot more effort and planning from me than I normally have to put into scouts, plus it looks like we have one or two field trips each weekend between now and the first week in May (seriously, except for Easter weekend). All of this is a big lead up to saying I want a frigging brownie and am having a hard time resisting! There was an event after work last night (which meant a 14 hour day for me) and the number of desserts left over is insane, and our office is the storage facility for these. But I've already had that apple fritter this week (490 calories!) and two pieces of birthday cake (one for Connor, one for Missy) and my weight has been stuck all this week--I was 142.8 on Tuesday and Wednesday and 143 yesterday and today. I've been keeping my intake spot on for my goal and exercising regularly, but my weight isn't budging this week (can stress make you retain water?). Every other week for the past several weeks I've seen a steady drop of a little bit each day. Not sure what's up now. So I can't afford the brownie, but I want the brownie and my stress is telling me I deserve the brownie, but I know it's lying.