Speaking of magical weight loss...

I researched that Alli stuff that Target has on every end cap now in the store and WOW--I would never voluntarily take that stuff. The general gist is it prevents your body from digesting fats, so they pass through you. Sounds great right? The catch: you poop yourself. It has this list of recommendations about wearing dark clothes and those incontinence pads for old people. It says the oils pass through you and you basically some lose control of your muscles.

NOT COOL. I'd rather be fat.

Happy Harry Potter's Birthday!

And in honor of his birthday, I have magicked away all my excess weight, so today I weigh 118 pounds. However, it is also my MIL's birthday, in honor of which we're going to the Olive Garden tonight, which means all of those same pounds will magically reappear overnight.

I'm not able to weigh myself officially, but I have a pretty good idea I'd be up this week, not down. I've kept up my crunches while out of town -- I only missed one day -- and I exercised two days in a row at the hotel. But I've been eating terribly and I didn't get out for a walk yesterday as I'd planned, and I don't know about today; it's so hot that the idea of going for a walk right now is all but unbearable. I was feeling so blobby yesterday that I read through a rapid-weight-loss non-drug garbage "article" advertisement from beginning to end yesterday thinking six pounds overnight and four pounds a week sounded pretty tempting. All while eating whatever I want. Right.

Stressing

The good news is I am down 3 lbs from last week to 161.5, the bad news is that is awful because I am up 10lbs on the year (more or less). I have been stressing pretty bad recently, so my gym trips are sporadic at best. I did get some interesting lunch selections at the new Fresh market on Greenspring. I love that place. The more I go in there, the more I like it.

I honestly don't know if I will go to the gym today. It'll depend on my day and how much I just want to get home after work.

Big Spike - Holding Steady

I was 226.8 this morning. That was a big relief, sadly, because YESTERDAY I hit a new high - 229. Sigh. I knew yesterday I would be high because I spent 10 hours (more) on the road on Friday and Saturday - which inevitably leads to bad eating and no exercise. OTOH I DID walk over 15000 steps on Saturday at Pennsic, setting up camp (two yurts, a pavillion and a HUGE military style tent that was pretty nifty. Oh. And my pop tent and air matress) as well as unloading a third of the storage unit. They had filled the truck on Friday and there was one more trip to be done on Sunday - we did the Saturday trip - so probably about 10000 of my steps were done in four steps forward and backwards in the unit. I was the inside guy. Well - Rod was the far inside person - I was the move it to the front inside person. So - I actually did OK with exercise on Saturday - maybe not aerobic so much, unless you count the trip on foot up the hill.

Oh - I also forgot to mention that we were setting up camp on a bog. Personally, I thought it felt like extensive piles of horse poop - but Anne called it pudding. It was chunkier than pudding - but about as mushy. The Coopers had a gas line - or water line - or something put through the camp. Or, more precisely, put through the Maxwell's common space. As Rod put it - They fixed the flat spots. Hee hee. Well - Flaming Griffen now has a man hole cover in the middle of THEIR kitchen space - so I guess it could be worse. Jeremy was freaking Anne out with images of what was going to come up THROUGH the manhole cover in the middle of the night. I think what will happen is we will pack down the mud in Yurt sized circles that will then bake through the rest of August and we will have lovely adobe platforms to build on next year. Or - this would be the perfect opportunity to put in paving stones as an entry way. I am sure Mattman is spending the week building ramps and bridges and porches - like he did the Pennsic two years ago when it rained so extensively. Anyway - the exercise advantage to building in a bog is you spend a great deal of time, balancing and flexing you butt muscles - kind of like walking on those wiggly half balls that they make you balance on to work your glutes and hamstrings. I can tell you my calves were KILLING me on Sunday - but feeling a little better yesterday - and mostly fine today.

Back to food - I have discovered that everytime I have dinner at Sarah's house I am fat the next day. I am not sure why. But - from Sunday to Monday I gained 2.5 pounds - which I then lost today.

I am REALLY looking forward to doing the elimination diet. I need to shake things up - A LOT.

Deep South

We're in Georgia right now for a workshop Daniel is attending -- today we hung out in town with a friend for the morning and this afternoon we've been keeping busy at the hotel. Yesterday we were driving so my water intake was a lousy 3 units but I also drank a Fruitopia, which is expensive sugar-water, so not very nutritious but very yummy! But we had about six pit stops on the way down due to the kids (they ate a bunch of watermelon at the outset -- big mistake!) so I didn't dare drink extra liquid and have ME be the cause of additional stops. And I had no real exercise yesterday except my 100 crunches, on the floor of the hotel room.

This afternoon I went to the exercise room down the hall and did 20 minutes on the recumbent bike (the same as the one at our gym, but minus the heart rate monitor) and 20 minutes on the cross-trainer (the elliptical with ski poles -- I hate that thing because I feel like I'm flailing around). It is unlikely that I will get exercise tomorrow since we're having a lake/beach day pretty much all day, and on Sunday we're driving to Alabamaville, so no exercise that day, either. I will try to do crunches and drink water.

I'm not losing weight, for all this -- actually I think I'm gaining a bit -- but I'm at least making some kind of fitness effort every day, so I guess that's an improvement!

Not Good

So - I have been bad this week. I haven't exercised. My weight on Weigh in day was up to 227.2 - but that was mostly period related, I hope. I keep forgetting to weigh myself. My food has been just horrible - but mostly horrible in that I haven't been eating. Tuesday I was feeling bad all day - which has resulted in a three day (so far) migraine. I actually stayed home from work today. I have been making myself drink fluids and I have eaten SOME - but not anything like a healthy diet. Katie and I went to see Harry Potter yesterday. It actually wasn't too bad on my headache. The previews weren't good - but the movie itself was good enough to distract me from my pain. I also took three Advil right before we went - so they were kicking in just in time. I had popcorn and Junior Mints (of course!). That was lunch. For dinner we did Let's Dish - which means that neither one of us was hungry when we were done. Why does cooking do that? I did have a decaf coffee and a scone and a peanut gooey thing. My headache WAS bothering me there - but not so bad that I couldn't survive. I am starting to feel better now - but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I turned on the AC. I think part of the headache has been related to the weather. I know it has been hot - but I haven't felt very hot. So - maybe the barometric pressure is up or down or something resulting in extreme head pain for me. The most interesting thing in all this is I have realized that it has been a REALLY LONG time since the last time I had a headache like this - which is good - because I used to get them a lot.

Katie and I are going up to Pennsic tomorrow night and then coming back home on Saturday night. I hope I am feeling better by then. I think we have decided to just go up then for a long weekend mid-war (Friday through Tuesday next week). I am in the midst of re-washing our garb right now. I bought beautiful linen last year at war to make Norse garb for this year - but I didn't. I suppose I still could since Norse women's garb is pretty much just two panels. But - I wanted to use some traditional decorating on it - cut work (cutting out cross threads and tying the remaining threads in decorative bunches) woven trim, beading and metal work. Oh well. Maybe I will did out my inkle loom to take with me.

Another bad week...

And my weight and how I feel show it. I am considering going back to the weightwatchers method for a while to get back on track. My meals are decent, but my snacking is just terrible. AND I HAVE TO EXERCISE. I totally agree with Emily's assessment about gaining, losing and maintaining. I fall into a very similar pattern. I don't really want to spend that money, but their online tracking tools are just so much easier than trying to replicate that myself. and on the way out of Let's Dish last week I grabbed the sheet where they listed the point values for all their meals. so I don't even have to do any figuring for dinner.

I am setting a goal for myself to lose 10 lbs by my cruise in September--I leave 9/14. It might mean that I don't do anythign but drink water for two weeks leading up to it, but I have to rid myself of this excess baggage.

136

Same as last week. I went off South Beach in a big way this weekend--LOTS of carbs in the form of pasta and gumdrops and popcorn! Yum. I had been down to 135.6, so up to 136 even again isn't so bad. One more week of no gym and then I can start going again. Running is going to be HARD after five weeks off. Ugh.

I can't post from work anymore. They updated our security and now I can't get on a whole bunch of sites anymore. Blogs are right out. I can bypass the security enough to read the blog, but if I try to post anything it just blocks it entirely. Very frustrating since it's easier to find a moment to post at work than at home.

149.5

It bounced around from 149.0 to 150.0 and was even 148.5 after my shower, but 149.5 seemed fair. Time to start watching food intake.

Surprisingly on-track

I have actually gotten some form of exercise every day this past week. At the very least, I've done my 100 crunches or 100 VKRs each day. (So I've done 800 in 8 days. That's a lot of ab work by my standards!) Except for Thursday I did something else each day, though there's no new variety to it except for adding the one weight machine for my legs once in a while. I have been keeping track of my water, too, and though it rarely gets up where it should be it's definitely more than it has been. So that's good news.

It doesn't seem to be making any real difference, weight-wise; I'm still at 149 or 149.5 each morning, and tomorrow might be worse because tonight we're having pizza and wine to celebrate having Daniel back among the living after an intense proposal week. I do think my fitness is improving -- it could hardly do otherwise -- but I'm not eating any better, and based on my history it's how carefully I watch what I eat that makes the real difference for weight loss. Actually, the pattern seems to be that if I eat whatever I want and don't exercise, I gain; if I eat whatever I want and do exercise, I maintain; and if I watch what I eat and exercise I lose, though more slowly than I gain. I can lose briefly if I watch my eating and don't exercise but it doesn't go on for long, though I don't usually try that combination.

How long before someone invents the magic pill for weight loss and fitness? The one with no side effects and that's free and instantly effective? This is such a drag. We've been at this almost two years and I know it's something for our whole lives, but it feels so futile so much of the time.

Oh! Before I crawl away to mis-eat again, I wanted to mention that I've been tracking my own water and crunches and such on a site called Joe's Goals -- http://www.joesgoals.com/. It's simple to use and they do make little line charts you can export to sites like ours (or like our ticker site) but I wasn't all that thrilled with the little charts, so I've just been using it on my own. But it does motivate me to do the crunches because I hate to leave the box totally empty when it could have such a happy green check in it and it takes so little time to earn it. Isn't that silly? And the water box looks woefully empty with fewer than five checks because it doesn't start a second row until then, and water checks, again, take so little effort to earn. I use a log box for my exercise so for once I've been tracking the weights I do so I can tell if I'm making progress.

Well off Track

I have not exercised since LAST Monday (or was it Tuesday... Monday I think). I did the 100 crunches ONCE last week. I added the extra 1000 steps once - on a different day from the crunches. I have been much better about drinking water - but I am neglecting to keep a count of how many 8 oz I have been drinking. I am so off track that I am beginning to thing there IS no track!!!!!! I even forgot to weigh myself THREE DAYS in a row!! This morning I remember when I was half dressed (top half) and so went in and did it then. I was 226.6 - so CLEARLY this wandering is doing me no good. Of course it is THAT time of the month again. The four pound gain time. So - I am taking comfort in the fact that the four pound gain THIS month brought me exactly to where it did LAST month - so for me, no progress is actually progress.

My goal this week is to keep track of my water, do my 100 crunches daily and get to the gym at least twice. I am only promising twice because this weekend is land grab so I won't be home Friday or Saturday - and besides - land grab acts as a resistance traing day anyway...

I am so proud of Claire. Yesterday I went over to help her make her own garb for Pennsic. I did this with the expectation that she would lose interest quickly and ultimately I would end up making it on her 3/4 sized machine (which is actually not a bad size for basic sewing...). That didn't happen! Claire successfully made her own bog dress and a skirt. This was PRIMARILY by herself. Sarah pressed the hem and waist casing and I fed the elastic half way through the skirt (only after I made sure that she knew how to do it herself). Other than that she did ALL of the sewing all by herself. I sat beside her - but had to assist VERY little!! Claire is now capable of doing something less than half of the people at Pennsic can do - and as well as probably 1/4 of the people who CAN do it!!! I would be willing to bet that by next Pennsic Claire could make her own chemises!!!

Hardly worth a report

I'm trying to check in daily to keep myself on track. Yesterday I did my 100 crunches but didn't do any other exercise -- I was terribly sore so I wanted a bit of a break, and I didn't have a chunk of time where I could work out properly anyway. I drank about six water units -- it might have been seven but I can't recall all of them, so I'm saying six.

Today my shins are still sore but otherwise I'm doing much better, so I'll be able to exercise properly at the gym this evening.

Nearly finished with phase one

Technically phase one of South Beach is supposed to go through next Monday, but I've been insanely thirsty the past couple of days (90 ounces of water so far today--how many "units" is that?) and I think it's entirely diet related, so I think I'm going to move on to phase 2 a bit early to see if I can get that to go away. It's irritating at best, and I also think it's indicating that all I've lost is water weight! My weight is also going down much more slowly now--I was 135.8 yesterday and 135.6 today--so I think I've extracted all I can out of phase one. And I want a piece of bread and some fruit!

I took Davey for his walk today, so I'm a whole 2 miles along on my way to 500. Yippee.

Daily report

Yesterday I went to the gym and planned to do the elliptical machine, for some variety from the bike, but Daniel showed up unexpectedly so we did the bikes together. I had the bike set at the same level as Monday but I pushed the RPMs so I actually got to 11 miles instead of 10.5, but I'm still counting it as 3.5 miles of walking. I got through a lot more water yesterday -- nine units in all, so I'm getting a little better about it (except today I haven't had any water, and I have had a frappuchino, so that's not good!). Part of the water intake was that I took a bottle to the gym instead of just using the fountains -- I suspect I didn't really drink that much more, but I discovered I was drinking more from the fountains than I realized, because I went through three units while I was there.

I did 100 VKRs, then went on to the machines. I did chest press, and I was switching out with a girl I see there regularly and she kept setting my weight back to my starting weight and I didn't want to admit that I usually crank it down, so I did three sets of 15 at 70 pounds each! That meant I could barely manage 6 sets of 6 at 25 pounds on the shoulder press, but I recovered for the tricep press and did three sets of 15 at 40 pounds on that -- only I think my form has problems on that machine so next time I'm going to do a lower weight so I can really focus on using my triceps instead of my deltoids and pects. Anyway, when that was all done I decided to try the leg press machine -- you sit in a recumbent position with your feet on a vertical platform and push yourself away from the vertical platform. I started with two sets of 18 at 85 pounds, then I pushed it up to 100 for the last set. This gave a really good workout to the full length of the legs. In between sets I moved my feet to the lower platform and did a calf press at the same weights -- these were tiring and made my feet ache (in the same way they do when I do my foot therapy, so this was good for me) and today my calves are quite sore. When I finished everything I tested myself and discovered I could still move the system at 130 pounds, and at 145 I could just squeeze out one -- so I should probably move to a higher weight next time. But it was fun to recognize that I could press my own body weight (OK, with leverage, and isn't pressing my own body weight what my legs do all day, every day?) and I enjoyed doing a new machine.

I think I'm better off not discussing my eating right now -- it's just not all that good!

Article I found today...

Snack Smackdown: The 10 Healthiest 100-Calorie Treats
Posted Tue, Jul 10, 2007, 9:59 am PDT

Those 100-calorie snack packs are tasty, convenient, and perfectly portioned for calorie counters. And they're selling like iPhones on opening day. But what's nutritious about a handful of Cheese Nips or Oreo Thins (even with no creamy centers to lick!)? Instead, try these 10 far healthier 100-calorie treats. Stash them in your desk drawer, fridge, and/or car -- wherever hunger pangs hit you. The best part: Most will curb your appetite for hours because they're high in filling fiber or satisfying protein.

1. Mid-Morning Fill-Up Just add hot water to a 100-calorie packet of McCann's Instant Cinnamon Roll Irish Oatmeal, which smells ahh-mazing and comes sweetened with Splenda. No doughnut guilt and there's a bonus: 3 grams of filling, cholesterol-fighting oat fiber.

2. Peanut Butter Crackers Make sandwiches out of 6 All Bran Multi-Grain Crackers (45 deliciously crunchy calories) and 1½ teaspoons peanut butter (45 smooth calories). You'll get about 2 grams of fiber and a little healthy fat.

3. Apple Mousse Mix a cup of unsweetened applesauce (50 calories) with 3 tablespoons of fat-free nondairy topping (45 calories), and ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon. Make a batch at a time and refrigerate in portable snack cups. Supplies 20% of your daily vitamin C and counts as 1 serving of fruit. Sweet.

4. Veggies and Dip Flavor up ready-to-eat veggies from the produce section -- which have almost no calories -- with a dip: 2 tablespoons of hummus (60 calories) or light ranch dressing (80 calories). For the veggies, think broccoli and cauliflower florets, baby carrots, snap peas, pepper strips, baby squash -- all of them filled with fiber, vitamins, and protective phytonutrients.

5. Café Mocha Stir a packet of Swiss Miss No-Sugar-Added Hot Chocolate mix (60 calories) into hot coffee for an instant afternoon pick-me-up that only tastes decadent. It actually delivers 30% of your calcium, 6% of your iron, and even a gram of fiber. Add a splash of milk for more goodness. Compare that to 200 calories for the smallest Caffe Mocha at Starbucks (2% milk, no whip), with 6g of fat.

6. Mexican Potato Microwave a medium potato and slice in half (80 calories). Save one piece for tomorrow. Mash the other half inside the potato skin and top it with 2 tablespoons of salsa (10 calories). Eat the whole thing, skin too. Warm-spicy-satisfying and 2 grams each of protein and fiber, some vitamin C, plus a little iron.

7. Finger Food Munch edamame like nuts: ½ cup of these quick-cooked frozen soybeans (about 95 calories) makes a great nibble, which is why they're a staple at hip bars -- which probably don't care that they're serving you 8 grams of protein, 4g of fiber, and lots of minerals.

8. Snack on a Mini-Meal When you're starving but trying to hold back, try this: Wrap a Morningstar Farms Vegan Burger (100 calories), a tomato slice, hamburger pickles, and a little mustard or ketchup in lettuce leaves instead of bread. The 10g of protein will keep you filled till it's really mealtime.

9. Happy Hour Combo Mix 1/2 cup of tomato juice (22 calories) with ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 drops of Tabasco sauce, and a dash of lemon juice. Serve over ice with a celery stick and about a dozen dry roasted peanuts (about 60 calories). Have a second "drink" if you like -- no biggie!

10. Healthy Confetti Crisps If chips are your downfall, make a batch of these RealAge crisps and divide into 6 portions (95 calories each). Much through a bag while sipping your club soda and lime. If you remember to, enjoy the good fat from the olive oil and the fiber and vitamins in the veggies -- though these taste so good you may forget they're healthy.

REALAGE CONFETTI CRISPS
6 servings, 95 calories each
2 Tbsps. olive oil
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 cup each of peeled and thinly sliced purple potatoes, carrots, and parsnips
Mix the oil and seasonings together, add the vegetables, and toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown.

If being able to easily button your tightest jeans isn't incentive enough not to double up on 100-calorie snacks -- their one temptation, we know -- try this: Steadily maintaining a desirable weight can make your RealAge 6 years younger.

Ow is right

My back is killing me. It has been hurting ever since Disney. It seemed at first as though it was recovering - but in the past week or so it has gotten worse. Then today I was stupid and locked myself out of my house - with no car keys. So I had to break into my kitchen - which was disgracefully easy - with the exception of hauling my 224 pound carcass into my four foot high window. I achieved this feat by dragging over the conveniently located planter and reaching INTO the kitchen for a well placed box. Those two stacked up were just about high enough, and I improved it more by putting the base of the planter on top to give me a good solid surface. None the less, I am clearly not as agile as a burgler and so my back is hurting. All of this to go to a dentist appointment!!!

I didn't walk last night and only did 6 units of water. I was up to 224.2 today. Sigh.

I have the LS retired list - but I have to see if I can get my scanner working to send it out to you all...

MIA

I've been away and really busy at work. My start day is going to be tomorrow. There is no point in it today because I'll never get everything done that needs to happen, so why add more to the list and then just feel bad about it when I don't get it accomplished...

I spent the last 3 days in the Brandywine Valley. What a great area. Visited Longwood, Winterthur, Chaddsford Winery, Brandywine Battlefield, Wilmington riverfront, and King of Prussia (saw Harry Potter in IMAX!) Loved the gardens at Winterthur, but I have some bones to pick with ol' H.F. du Pont. Longwood was really in bloom--absolutely gorgeous.

So I'm back home and swamped at work, stressed out like crazy and have a thousand things going on outside of work. There will be no opportunity for the gym tonight. I am fully expecting to crash once I do get to go home.

Ow.

Yesterday I was all set to wimp out on my no-excuses exercise plan -- I was in a rotten mood and it had rained half the day and who wants to do aerobics or in-home walking when it's that clammy inside? But by after dinner the weather had cleared up and I was rational enough to realize that half the reason for my bad mood was that I wasn't getting enough exercise these days, so I declared that I was going for a walk in the half hour before the kids' bedtime. Of course, once I started walking I didn't like just walking (and my shins were hurting from walking fast), so I wound up jogging or even running as much as I walked. I wasn't dressed for it or anything, so I didn't push it, but it felt good to really move. I covered 2.5 miles in the 30 minutes, all told. But because I wasn't properly dressed I was fighting my clothes half the time and I was wearing half-broken-down shoes, so today my hips are achy from having been jarred so much and my back and shoulders are a bit stiff from the odd contortions of trying to run and keep my T-shirt from flying up at the same time!

I drank only five water units -- I kept forgetting to grab a water bottle before I went anywhere. I did do my crunches, though. I still don't have a pedometer. Technically I've done two types of exercise so far but they're nothing new to me. But I was 149.0 this morning (my lowest in a little while) despite having had a beer and chips and cheese dip last night. :-)

136

136 even again today. This is the first day since I started South Beach that my weight didn't go down, but I guess I can't complain about losing merely 3.8 pounds in the past week!

I cheated both yesterday and today. Being at this conference surrounded by tempting food is HARD. I've been great with meals--lots of veggies and protein. Yesterday's lunch was sandwiches and salad. I made a sandwich with just one slice of bread and then didn't eat the bread, but did have lots of salad. Today we went to Subway for lunch and I had a salad (this is irritating--you can have any 6 inch sub made up as a salad, so you get all of the insides, none of the bread, and they charge you $1.50 more!). But the afternoon snack has been my undoing. NO SB-friendly choices at all. Yesterday was cake, today was ice cream. And in spite of my inner voice, I indulged each day. But after tomorrow the conference is over so I can go back to my usual routine.

And speaking of which, I'm not joining the challenges until Thursday, and even then it'll be interesting to try to fit some kind of exercise in with no gym until August. I still need to find my pedometer. No clue where it might be.

Tickers

Here is a site where we can each create our tickers:

http://www.tickerfactory.com/

I did the Exercise ticker with a goal of 500 miles. When you have created yours, send me the HTML and I'll put it on a shared page:

http://sirius.chem.vt.edu/~emily/bunchoflosers/tickers.html

We can probably also set up pages for tracking water and exercise variety and so on.

-Emily