FAT Tuesday

I was fat. A new high this morning. Two pounds above the "OMG! I must cut off my left arm now!" weight I allow for myself. I have been thinking about giving up sugar for Lent. I would allow sweetened stuff - just not sweetened with sugar (or natural cane juice as the organic foods call sugar). I hadn't quite convinced myself of this yet because currently at home we have banana bread, Coldstone cupcakes, birthday cupcakes, and a piece or two of sachre torte and upsidedown cake. I can't bring myself to throw them away - and they will not survive until Easter. After my weigh-in this morning, however, I think I WILL be giving up sugar. Katie and I - while firm believers that the "not on Sundays" thing as cheating - have already decided we are having meat on Sundays, just because our most recent Let's Dish session was heavy on chicken. We have some fish foods, but mostly all meats. They will probably survive until Easter just fine - but they take up a lot of space, and we can't justify buying more proteins when we have a freezer full already. So we are having meat on Sundays. Maybe I will allow THIS SUNDAY ONLY to be a sugar-ful one.

I am getting a salary cut. Just 5% - which is less than my last pay increase in July, so it isn't TOO terrible - but it is still a cut. I am spending my disposable income on my trip to Norway, so I am looking for ways to save a bit on my expenses. Unfortunately two obvious ways that have come to mind are 1. quitting the gym and 2. not doing yoga next quarter. The gym would save me $493.74 annually - which hardly seems worth it, but OTOH I haven't been using the gym as much as I should be. Except for water ballet - which I haven't been to in about a month! Yoga next quarter I was already planning to do a "pay as I go" thing - since I am going to miss several weeks during my trip. I don't know. Yoga is the more expensive of the two ($17 per week instead of $18.99 bi-weekly) but I USE it a lot more - and really enjoy it. What I REALLY need to do is finish all of the changes I am making in my house and get that upstairs room actually MADE into an exercise room. I have the treadmill, weights, DVDs and - if the floor is emptied up - space for yoga. That room will be a REALLY NICE exercise space. I just need to finish it. Of course, that is actually an additional expense - for the floor and the paint - but it is money I have already earmarked. Maybe I can get more of that done this weekend.

Yay! Coffee!

142.4 this morning, which means I don't have to give up coffee for Lent. You all have no idea what a good motivator this has been for me! I should go to coffee rehab. It can't be healthy that I'm so addicted to the stuff that the thought of giving it up makes me exercise and cut out some of my favorite foods.

I realized this morning that I really haven't been watching my diet much at all. I've gone to parties, gone out to eat, snarfed down cookies after work, etc.--all of my old bad habits. And I'm still averaging about a pound a week in weight loss. My handy dandy heart rate monitor tells me that I'm burning 2000 - 2300 calories a week with exercise--I'm exercising the same number of times a week as I was back when I was first trying to lose weight, but I'm exercising harder and for longer times, so that's making up for the calories that I'm not cutting. It's kind of nice, and I hope it's sustainable. This week is going to be a challenge--yesterday was my only normal workday. I'm heading into three full days and one half day of training (the three full days on a computer system I'll probably never use) so I won't be able to do my normal lunchtime gym visits. Today I'm going swimming immediately after work, and I may do that again on Wednesday, but I can't on Thursday or Friday. I might just make up the time missed on the weekend. I hate to skip exercise at this point since I can really feel the difference when I ease up--I'm amazed at how quickly I can lose any gains I've made!

Still making progress

So I tried on my "gauge" jeans tonight to determine where I stand in my fitness routine. I was able to get them back on although it took a tad bit of coaxing. I can't say it was pretty, though. My fat just all mushed together. Ick. But it's a step in the right direction. It provides the proper motivation. I had tried them on a week or so ago and I couldn't button them. 

I also tried on some work pants that had gotten a bit tight and they are comfortable again. Yay! 

But I know I can do better. 

My biggest challenge is the fat around my waist. It really seems to have gotten worse since I turned 40. I had really hoped for better, faster results but I feel like my diet is good and I've been following my workout routine pretty well. I'm on week 5 and am really trying to push myself. With spring (hopefully) on the way I'll spend more time outdoors and that should help. 

I just feel like I have to drag myself through February with all its darkness and cold and I'll hope for better March weather. 

Otherwise I'm waiting to see photos of Sarah on her new bike with her new bike clothes and I can't wait to see photos from Norway and to hear about Emily's adventures. Emily, do you have a Norway blog? Anyone else know?

I want bike clothes!

Even though I spend more time running and (these days) swimming, the clothing for those activities just lack any fun appeal.

But there's lots of cute biking clothes out for the spring and they are crazy expensive, but so cute.

How about this jersey: http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodPI_0790_10.html with these shorts: http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodPI_0438.html ?

Or this jersey: http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodLG_9820425.html

Pity they don't put sleeves on these shirts. Sleeveless always makes me think I need to be doing more tricep dips.

Here's a cute one with sleeves: http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodTY_1199_4.html

149.5

So I'm holding steady, more or less.  It went down early in the week and then jumped up four pounds overnight, and then it settled here again for weigh-in day.  People keep getting cakes for us -- my group of friends, the Girl Scout troop, the Cub Scout pack.  And yesterday was Alexander's birthday, so we had a cake at home for that!  And the Chemistry group did a cocktail party, which is more caloric than cake, I'm pretty convinced.  And you can't not eat a cake made in your honor!  At least the Girl Scouts polished off the whole cake; at the other two parties, we were sent home with the leftovers (I resisted on my friends' cake -- it was HUGE so they only sent us with part.  But it was good and it ran out the day the Cub Scouts sent theirs home.  We still have theirs, and the birthday cake).  So I had no hope of watching my calorie intake this week.  Once we get to Norway there will be a lot of seafood; provided it's not all slathered in butter I should be able to eat fairly healthily.

143.6

Not quite a pound down from last week, but at least I'm down at all. I was a bit nervous (since I've got six weeks of coffee on the line) that I may not have lost weight this week--I was only down .2 pounds as of Friday, then I spent the weekend eating too much and had an enormous dinner on Sunday night. So I really wasn't sure if I had lost anything this week in spite of exercising endlessly. Or what seems like endlessly, although in reality I didn't do as much last week as I should have--two days of running, two days of swimming and one day of pilates. I meant to walk the dog over the weekend and do another day of pilates but I spent most of Saturday passed out on the sofa after doing an all-night bowling event with the scouts. I was only a tiny bit more active on Sunday, but not up for any actual exercise. I was STILL recovering yesterday--I went to the gym and my usual treadmill workout nearly killed me. I hate it that it takes me so long to recover from things like this. I like to pretend that I'm still young, but all nighters remind me that I'm really not.

Forgot to post

Not that there's anything worth posting about.  I was 149.5 yesterday and glad to be below 150 still (or again -- I had one day over it).  149 today.   I keep forgetting to weigh myself these days -- I missed every other day in the past week!  I have such a completely messed-up schedule right now.  I'm eating badly, but I am exercising, at least a little bit.  This week it would have been four days at the gym, plus my long Friday walk, but I had to cancel for this afternoon because Cecilia needs to go to the doctor.  She has been congested and now it appears that she can't hear.  Poor thing.  She doesn't seem to mind, but she also doesn't respond when we call her, and "What" is her favorite word of late (without inflection -- not, "What?" but, "What.").  We thought this was normal 3-year-old obliviousness until last night, when Daniel was calling her name to tell her he had her blankie-too, and she was only ten feet away and didn't respond.  We tested her today, and "Do you want a cookie?" at close range also goes unnoticed.

Anyway, I'll get three days at the gym this week, and three next, and then we leave, so, none for six months.  But I'll get skinny because we won't have a car and the food will be weird and expensive.  I hope (about the skinny -- not about the expensive).

Totally random

But you guys are some of the savviest folks I know, so I am throwing this out there.

I need some help/guidance/input on developing color schemes for mapping various "phenomena" related to the Poison Center. Most maps are density maps, and the subjects are stuff like poison related deaths, number of calls for a particular substance, increase/decrease/no change over a time period, etc. I'm adding a jpg of a draft I tossed together today to just be able to "see" the data.

Now I am not completely color challenged, but pretty darn close. In the big map on the right hand side, red is for increases in calls over a 4 yr period, blue is for decreases, yellow if there was no change and then white for no calls at all over that period. It is just not a visually pleasing map. Any ideas? Any good resources for choosing colors that any of you know about?

And another week goes by

My weight is up from last week, down from the week before and still in the same range as it has been for the past 10 months or so.

I have done no exercise outside of my one 90 minute yoga class and one one mile walk.

My food has not been great. I haven't had enough fruits or vegetables. Do I sound like a broken record? Today Katie and I didn't have eggs so I had a multi-grain apple scone from Caribou. It wasn't very good, so it wasn't even worth it to eat bakery food. But it was only a dollar.

I haven't had lunch yet, and I am hungry. I gave Ginger my last $5 to pick me up something from the grocery store for lunch - so I am not sure what I will get.

I have a REALLY hard time maintaining good habits. I haven't made a weekly lunch in two weeks. OTOH, I have been flossing daily and rinsing with peroxide. So, I think I can only do ONE good behavior at a time. Since it is my tooth that is bothering me the most right now that is what I am focusing on.

I have to start back with water ballet. It has been several weeks since I have gone. It just seems SO EARLY to get up in time for an 8:45am class on Saturday. Whine... MAYBE what I should do is start going to BED before 1am on school nights so I won't be suffering from so much of a sleep depredation by the weekend. But since I don't get home from work until 7:30 or 8, going to bed at 10:15pm seems like a bad use of my time. I have facebook to check, and X-files to watch!

I need to change my life...

Weighing in

So I DID end up getting just a touch of the stomach bug. It was so mild I'm not sure I really got it, but I was sick enough that I was down two pounds today (142 even). But I'm not counting that as an official weight since it just sets me up for disappointment next week. I'll go with yesterday's weight of 144.4 as my official weight for the week.

I'm off to the pool in about 45 minutes. Ugh. I've been reading Total Immersion and it gives me a bit of hope. The book/technique is one I've heard about from various people who all swear by its methods and praise the technique with all sorts of flowery prose. The idea is to increase your efficiency while swimming by positioning yourself in the water in the most hydrodynamic way, balancing your body in the water and using your core muscles for most of the power behind your stroke. Sounds easy, right? We'll see. So far I've only read the first half of the book where they explain the how and why of the technique. The second half of the book deals with drills and implementing the technique. So I've gotten through all the PR and am sold on it, but now I need to read the small print and see how this really works. That won't happen in the next 45 minutes, so I'm in for another day of slogging through the water at a snails pace and being about as hydrodynamic as a lump of clay with twigs stuck in it.

The fastest way to lose weight

Everyone in my house was struck with a stomach virus this weekend except me. Given the horror I have of throwing up, I spent the weekend bathing in bleach and surrounded by a cloud of Lysol spray. My hands are cracked and bleeding from washing them so much (then following up for good measure with hand sanitizer) and I ate nothing but what I would have eaten had I been sick--chicken soup and crackers and applesauce. I'm still not convinced that I've dodged this bullet (Connor got it on Friday, Claire on Saturday and Brian on Sunday. Today should have been my day, but I won't breathe easy until Wednesday I think.) so I'm sticking to bland food and not much of it. This is working wonders on my daily weight--today I was down to 144.4. A few more weeks of avoiding a stomach virus and I'll be in great shape!

I'm trying to stick with a weekly exercise schedule that has me in shape for the triathlon this summer. Last week I did two days of running (one tempo, one intervals), one day of swimming (40 minutes--I was supposed to do two days but had to leave early on Friday to take care of Connor), two days of moderate aerobics (stationary bike and walking) and one day of light aerobics and weight work. I need to actually get out on my bike (again, dealing with sickness kept me inside this weekend when the weather was perfect for riding!), but last week was more or less what I'd like to shoot for in the next couple of months--two days swimming, two days running, one day biking, and the other two off or light activity. I also need to start adding in more weight training, but I think that'll either take switching to getting up at an ungodly early hour to run outside (which I can't see doing in February, unless today's weather holds!) so that I can work on the weight machines at lunchtime or coming up with a routine using the freeweights we have at home. I only have wimpy girly weights, but Brian has some better freeweights somewhere.

Finally making headway

I've been on my new workout/food routine for two weeks and I'm getting results. Finally. 

I will begin my third week of my workout schedule on Friday and the last four weeks of this program ramps up from here on out so I've got to be on my game. 

But, so far, I'm pleased with how things are going. My clothes aren't as tight (it wasn't pretty) and I'm just generally feeling good/better. I've got an enormous amount of energy and I seem much clearer-headed. I don't weigh myself but I'm noticing the difference in inches or maybe millimeters right now. haha

In fact, a friend of mine put a post about me on her blog to prove she's not the only foodie wacko out there. I think that's a compliment. haha

I've been trying to get into a raw diet -- mostly fruits, veggies, salads, nuts and yogurt -- but there's a wide range of options. 

I do like meat and fish -- I eat mostly chicken. So that's the main aspect of my diet that's cooked. Recently I got a nice piece of salmon from Whole Foods and some scallops from Wegmans. Both meals were wonderful and I enjoy the variety. 

So now I'm staring down the barrel of a tough few weeks but I'm ready for the challenge. 

Work is keeping me crazy busy but I'm managing to find the time to get my workouts done. That really boosts my confidence and propels me ever forward. 

So I hope this keeps working!

Neck and neck with Emily

I was 148 on Monday--the highest I've seen in three years. Yikes! But that seems to have been a bit of a fluke and more reflective of the huge dinner I had the night before. By Tuesday I was down to 146.4 and today to 146.2. Not that I'm thrilled with those weights, but they are closer to 145 than to 150, so that's o.k. I'm making a deal with myself that if I lose weight every week between now and Ash Wednesday, I don't have to give up coffee for Lent. But if I gain weight any of those weeks, I'm off coffee again until Easter. Remembering how horrible that was last year will, I hope, keep me eating less and moving more.

Last week was hell. I had two grant proposals due last week and five due this Monday so I pretty much woke up, went to work, worked all day without a break, came home and did the basketball/Girl Scout/dinner/bedtime routine and then worked until 1 or 2 a.m. then woke up at 6 and started it all over again. The only reprieve from this routine was when I went in for a root canal. You know life is bad when the most fun you have all week is your root canal!

Things have eased up a bit this week--I only have two proposals due this week and then two more big ones for the rest of February. So at least I can get back to the gym. I'm all packed for swimming today--I haven't been in the pool except for a scout field trip since before Christmas, so I'm really not looking forward to this!

This is my 2000th post

Or - maybe not MY 2000th post - but THE 2000th post. That is a lot...

Anyway - what if my butt is too big? I was just about to book my flight to Norway when I happened to notice a chart of the different levels of "comfort" on the SAS airplanes. So I looked at them. The Economy seats are 17" wide. So, of course I had to measure... My butt (sitting down) is bigger than 17" wide. The Economy PLUS size is 18". I am pretty sure mine is bigger than that. In fact, I think even business class is only 20" wide and that is the biggest on their planes. Am I REALLY fat enough that I have to book 2 seats? Oh - BTW, two economy seats is considerably cheaper than one busniess class seat. AND it would take about 10 economy seats to reach the cost of first class... So WHO in their right minds would EVER book first class. Just book a whole plane all to yourself. So how exactly do you go about booking 2 seats? It is only one traveller. Would I get a discount on the second? OTOH, what if I get stuck in my seat. I do remember the last time I flew (two years and about 15 pounds ago) I came off the plane saying that I almost didn't fit. I am bigger now - and the seats are probably smaller. I KNOW I am fat - but seriously, out of the five women on my team there are two people with wider butts than me. Am I REALLY that extremely above average? And what do other people do. I don't normally see people with two seats on planes, unless they are ENORMOUS - I mean bigger than me by about 100 pounds. What do I do?

BTW - my weight this week was down THREE POUNDS from last week. I wonder if either was a fluke?

I took a 20 minute (one mile) walk today - before lunch... around 11:30.

Flab-o-rama

I did get back to the gym two times last week, and I have two appointments this week and one set up for next week already.  So that's progress.  But I still feel very, very flabby.  My weight peaked at 148.5 last week (actually, it was up there and hovering for weeks) and inexplicably started trickling down, so now it's at 147.0.  Still within the margin of error for 148.5, though!  The oddest part was that the first sub-148 I'd seen in weeks came the morning after we'd eaten at the brewpub.  I ate so much that it hurt -- though I didn't think I'd actually eaten THAT much, even on the spot, so I'm forced to conclude that it was the beer making me feel very full.  I had grilled salmon for dinner, with a baked potato, and I didn't finish the first and barely started the latter.  And I ate a salad, but I didn't finish that, either.  And the appetizer was tiny (but really yummy -- shrimp and crab dip on ciabatta bread).  That was it for the night, except for the beer (1 1/2 glasses), which I know packs a fair number of calories.

Anyway.  I'm not embarking on any new diet programs right now.  I'm just trying to tread water while I worry about other things -- talk to me in a month!

Venus

Something to aspire to... I like her. She looks comfortable. You can't tell, but her little arms are tucked under her big boobies. Clearly her feet would never support her for running or walking... maybe some yoga.

OTOH this is really more what I look like...

Only - my back flaps are more pronounced. Luckily I have no fat toddlers running around holding up mirrors in front of me. In HER case you want to tell her to get off her fat a$$, put some clothes on and go for a walk! And BTW, is that bracelet STUCK on your arm? Why did you shove it up so far? Poor thing. She looks nice otherwise. She really should put on some clothes though.

Vickie, I love the idea of a walk after lunch and dinner. I am going to try to work that in... at least after lunch. Dinner is so late as it is, I don't see a walk happening before the weather gets nicer - or it is lighter out later... which shouldn't be much longer. You are right about enjoying it once you are addicted. I loved it when I was walking to and from church. But that was only once a week - and I stopped, not when the weather got cold, but when I started having a tighter schedule and I wouldn't have time to get home from church and too yoga if I walked it. Maybe that would be a good thing to start up again for Lent. Walking in February just isn't as appealing as walking in June...