Good news/bad news

Good news: my weight this morning was below 150!!!! 149.8 to be precise, and I know that this isn't official until it happens on a Tuesday and I know that it's entirely likely that I won't see that weight again for some time, but nonetheless, it was exciting.

Bad news: Connor is sick again, which means I'm skipping a lunch break today to go home early without taking too much sick time (I'm already running a sick-time deficit at work from Connor's last illness), which means that I won't get to the gym today. I won't get there tomorrow either because we've got Connor's IEP meeting at 11:30. He's a very time-consuming kid. If he isn't too miserable, I might take him for a long walk in the jogging stroller when I get home, or dust off one of my old Tamilee Webb Buns of Steel videos.

Connor was up until 1:30 a.m. so I ended up doing my pilates workout with him underfoot, literally. It's all mat work with a resistance band, and he thought it was a great challenge to try to remove the band from my foot while I was doing the exercises. He never got the band, but he was plunked down at the end of the mat through half of the workout, so it wasn't much of a workout.

Food yesterday was a repeat of my usual, although I had an actual sandwich for lunch (chicken, lettuce, and tomato on multigrain bread) instead of yogurt. I was just saying to Katie last night that I thought that eating well and exercising was supposed to give you MORE energy. It doesn't seem to be working that way with me. I'm every bit as tired and dragged out now as I was when I was a slug who ate junk. So why not get my daily calories from Milky Way bars and a vitamin?

Oops

I somehow managed to miss weighing myself this morning. Probably because we got up super late and Joe & I were both running around like crazy trying to get going. I will weigh in tomorrow.

I can guess, however, that my weight is either even or up from last week. 2 parties this weekend did me in. Amy--the curtains are all yours as soon as my new ones come, which should be this week. I'll being them by Tessco with the necklace I was telling you about at Kristy's house.

I ate ok today. Dinner was probably a bit too much but it was very good--veggie lasagna from Let's Dish. We had a salad with it. I had vegetarian chili for lunch, and yogurt and granola for breakfast. Snacks today were a banana, some carrots and one of those 100 calorie packs of the chips ahoy snacks.

My exercise has been completely lacking. I HAVE to figure a way to add it into the middle of my day. it's just not happening when I wait until I get home. I am going to take some tennis shoes to work tomorrow and see if I can manage a 20 minute walk at lunch time.

147.5

At last I reached 147.5 on a weigh-in day! I haven't eaten as well as I should have the past few days, and last night Dick and I split a large eclair for dessert, after having spaghetti for dinner! My daytime eating has been good, or at least as good as usual. I have switched to shredded wheat for breakfast, and part of the time I am eating a lower calorie yogurt for lunch. Yesterday we went out to the North Central Trail for the first time since the heart attack. It was such a gorgeous day that we ended up doing 3 1/2 miles instead of our planned two miles, with about three stops to rest on a bench. We then went shopping at Wegman's (hence the eclairs plus a crumb cake--we had a $2 off coupon for $8 spent in the patisserie) and Food Lion. We were so worn out we didn't make it to the hospital to see Kirsten last night.

I haven't heard any objections, so I am going to invite Barbara to join us.

Everyone needs a nursing baby

I was 161.5 this morning, my lowest yet. I've never gone on a diet while nursing before because you need to keep up the calories to be able to feed the baby, and it's tough to find the balance (and it was a good excuse to eat whatever I wanted, truth be told). But I've been keeping up the calories by not really dieting much, just switching out unhealthy snacks for healthy ones (and I've stopped thinking about the junk food during the day, I've found), and I've been focusing more on exercise (though this past week is a bad example). And I have to say -- losing weight with a baby at the breast is SO EASY! I need to keep knocking myself out to stay on the diet and exercise kick while she's still getting most of her nutrition from me, because I love seeing the pounds melt away this way.

I have officially reached my pre-pregnancy weight (and passed it by a tiny bit), and now I can start aiming for my next goal -- my pre-Alexander weight of 157ish. Then I need to aim for my post-IS THAT WHAT I WEIGH???-low of 151 (last seen in March of 2003), and then my post-honeymoon weight of 145 (last seen in 1994), and then it's a straight shot to my wedding day weight of 135. I should see that sometime next summer, if all goes well. Ha.

IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!

OK... I have been so darn good with my food! (With a few acceptable non-good things, very rarely - but strategically done so I don't give up.) I wasn't great with exercise last week, but I have done virtually nothing for the past three days but strip wall paper and paint walls, doors, and more freaking ugly brown trim (painting it white) than you can possibly imagine. I am so sore today I can barely move...................... But what did the scale say this morning? 209! UP! I have gone UP .6 of a pound.

What really isn't fair is that on Friday I was 206.6, Saturday I was 206.2. Sunday I forgot to weigh myself. I know what happened. I had such an upset stomach on Sunday (I think maybe because of paint fumes? Maybe it was drinking the night before, but Katie had it too - and she wasn't drinking on Saturday (at least not with me). The paint also had a particularly strong smell to it too... ANYWAY - before I left for Dad's birthday party, I took an Imodium AD. That did the trick on Sunday, and everything is just stock piling now. Shoot! You know, if I had just kept running I would be 204 today!! Sigh.

So the painting is coming along nicely. We finished the kitchen last night (at 11:30pm!) and got a good start on the hall. The trim is what is holding us up. The ugly grey, brown that it was before is taking about 12 coats of white to cover it up. It is very slow going... But we have at least two coats on all of it now - so just need to do a few more. We started on the green by the front door and the wall by the kitchen, so you can see what it is going to look like. It is so much less dreary than the wall paper. Julie - You didn't get rid of your old curtains yet did you? They would probably be perfect in my new kitchen. I will have to take a look at them again...

Tuesday again

Today's weight: 151 even. The scale flashed on 150.8 for a second, but settled on 151. I was hoping for better (dammit, I ran FIVE times last week AND did pilates four times (maybe five? Can't remember) and kept my calorie intake reasonable most days) but I guess I can't complain about a 1.4 pound drop from last week. At least I'm headed in the right direction.

The treadmill yesterday nearly killed me. I didn't have any problems last week, but yesterday my calves and shins started aching five minutes into the workout and didn't stop. Running rather than walking helped, but then my thighs started aching. I think that taking no break after Sunday's run was overdoing it a bit. Next Monday I might try one of the bicycles or elliptical trainers instead, just to be doing a different movement. I did the pilates abs workout in the evening.

Food was the same as usual: cereal and coffee for breakfast, almonds for snack, cottage cheese and pears with pretzles for lunch, grapes and one cracker for snack, half of a chicken pot pie for dinner (Claire's daycare woman mentioned that she had made a pot pie for dinner, which got me craving some, but my frozen pot pies are 640 calories, so I only ate half) and spinach salad. Milk or water to drink. I haven't been calorie counting quite so religiously as I did at the start, but my internet was back up again last night (yay!!!!!) so I entered all of this--it came out to just under 1300 calories.

I don't think I have any pitfalls to avoid this week--no special trips with food involved, no parties to attend, no business lunches. Oh, I take that back--Claire's Brownie induction is on Thursday and I know they are making sugar cookies for that, but they aren't a big temptation for me. BTW, you all are invited and I'd love it if someone could attend--Brian has to work and I won't be able to get many pictures if I'm the only one there to corral Connor. It's at 6:00 on Thursday and she'll wear her beanie.

'Twas the night before weigh-in

Not that I'm expecting tomorrow to be Christmas-like, or anything. But my weight does seem to be down again this week, despite my overall lack of exercise. Today I'm back on track, eating reasonably well (as well as ever, anyway, which isn't saying much) and exercising. We went to the gym and I did 40 minutes on the bike -- I anticipated it being rotten because I haven't moved much in a week, but Daniel commented going into it that I might find the rest did me good, and he was right. I ended up doing it at the same level as I was using the last time, ages ago, and it seemed easier than it had been then.

I had my usual breakfast today, and for lunch I had tuna and toast. I had raisins and almonds for snacks in the afternoon, and for dinner I had chicken (leftover white barbecue grilled chicken breasts; I ate less than half a breast, because the breast pieces you can buy these days are so huge) and a half a baked potato, plus a caesar salad and several cucumber slices. And I had a marshmallow and two chocolate chips. My chocolate from my birthday is gone -- I ate it one piece a day and enjoyed every piece thoroughly, and it lasted until yesterday. :-)

I don't remember all I ate this weekend; on Saturday we went to a cookout and I felt like I ate an enormous quantity of food, although a large portion of it was healthy -- grilled chicken, asparagus (in garlic and probably a lot of butter, so not *that* healthy), a pasta salad with a lot of vegetables (and not much pasta) -- it was scrumptious. I did eat apple crisp with ice cream for dessert, and I did have a beer, so maybe that's why I felt so full. I also ate two waffles at breakfast yesterday morning, but, then, we don't eat much lunch on Sundays, so that wasn't that huge of a meal in the grand scheme of things. But I was relieved to arrive at Monday and be able to get back to a normal diet and exercise routine!

Barbara

I have been corresponding with my niece (and godchild) Barbara Froman Houston. She says she would love to join this group. She wants to lose 20 pounds, and she is a lot of fun, so I would love to have her join.

Let me know if anyone objects.

Shivering burns calories, right?

I'm freezing today! This office has just gotten colder and colder since I started. Today the thermostat says that it's 55 degrees in here. I'm drinking coffee just to keep my hands warm. But in the downstairs offices, it's too warm so we can't warm it up here without smoking them out of their offices. I need a space heater.

Katie and I have a new challenge going, just between ourselves: we've both been hovering between the same two numbers on the scale--151.6 and 152.4. So we decided yesterday that the first one of us to break the 150 mark on a Tuesday weigh-in wins a $5 prize from the other one of us.

Of course if I keep eating like I did this weekend, that'll be a long time from now for me! At the Friday picnic the food was disgusting, so I ate a roll, a salad, and a slice of turkey. Then because I was really hungry and they looked really good, I had a brownie smothered in chocolate chips. I came home on Friday and was like The Very Hungry Caterpillar--I ate a piece of chicken barbeque pizza, two small slices of apple pizza, cider (the N/A kind), a bowl of popcorn, and two Hershey's kisses. Saturday, knowing I'd be going pumpkin picking, I kept breakfast small and then had a pulled pork barbeque for lunch (with a Diet Coke), pretzles for snack in the afternoon, and black beans and rice with a spinach salad for dinner. Then more popcorn while we watched a movie that night. On Sunday I went running in the morning so I didn't have breakfast. I had a soynut butter sandwich for lunch, pecan pie mid-afternoon, and an omlette with spinach and tomatoes for dinner. Before bed I was still hungry, so I had a nutri-grain bar.

My exercise plan for this week is pretty much the same as last week--I'll go to the gym Monday, Wednesday, Friday and do pilates at home four or five days during the week. Oh, I also decided that since I'm not losing weight quickly, I'd need another way to measure progress, so I took body measurements on Friday to track shrinkage, if any. I had measured a few weeks ago when I set up My Virtual Model, but I tried logging on today and couldn't find those measurements, so I'm not sure if I've made any progress in the past couple of weeks in that area.

Friday

This morning I was 148.5, despite having eaten a bacon double cheeseburger at McDonald's las night! The rest of the day I had eaten reasonably. At Mickie Dee's I also had a Sprite, and I came home and had an Oreo cookie for a combined bedtime snack/dessert. I think I had milk with it--

This morning I had shredded wheat with skim milk and a small glass of orange juice. For lunch I had a yogurt and glass of milk with an oatmeal cookie, and after we went out to run errands and visit Kirsten I had a half of a large apple. Tonight we are doing the shrimp/broccoli/pasta thing for dinner.

I guess we should get out for a walk this afternoon.

Hanging in

It's been a pretty good week for me, although maybe about to be messed up by a not-so-good weekend! So far I've exercised every day since Sunday (one more session and I get me an embellishment!) and have stuck to healthy eating. Last night after a long evening picking up Claire in Cockeysville, going to Barnes and Noble and then to the hospital, I got home at 9:30 absolutely famished--I hadn't eaten anything since my string cheese at 3:30. Brian and the kids had gone to McDonald's for dinner, but fortunately didn't get anything for me! I made myself a spinach salad and cottage cheese with pears and that filled me up sufficiently for the night. This morning my weight was 150.4, but I don't expect it to stay that low--that much of a jump from one day to the next isn't sustainable.

Today is the college-wide picnic to celebrate the 35th anniverary of the college, so I'll be eating whatever they serve. The good news is that these sorts of events rarely have really tempting food for me, so I'm not too worried. Tomorrow we're going pumpkin picking with the kids and I already know that I'm going to get their shredded pork barbeque sandwich. Yum. It probably has 10,000 calories and a million grams of fat, but I'll make up for it somehow! It's unfortunate how many once-a-year treats there are in October. OTOH, if I can keep up my weight loss and still indulge in these treats (within reason), then I'm doing pretty well.

Exercise tip-of-the-day--I read this in Fitness yesterday and thought it was a good trick. They said to look ahead at your next week and find your busiest day, then plan to fit in exercise on that day (schedule it somehow--even if it's walking the stairs at work for ten minutes in the morning and ten more in the afternoon followed by three minutes of jumping rope before bed--that's a pretty good workout). If you can fit exercise into your busiest day of the week, then you'll be more likely to also fit it in on other days when your time isn't so packed. I realize that I've been doing that all week--most days I'm up at 6:20, work all day, get home at 6:00 (on a good day), out again for various things in the evening, then get home and help put kids to bed, fill out school/daycare forms (there are always a ton of them--what's with that?), pack lunches, pack backpacks, straighten a bit, do the dishes, etc. It's been an insanely busy week by any standards, but I've still managed to exercise every day, and I was one of these people a few weeks ago saying "I don't have time to exercise--I have too many other responsibilities and I'm not going to get up any earlier than I already do." Well, sure, I don't have time to do an hour-long workout every day, but I've been able to fit in exercise in smaller increments and it's working pretty well.

I'm hiring Mary as my personal trainer

Last night I was bound and determined to get some exercise, as I said in yesterday's post. I spent the day feeling mostly normal -- that is, I still had cold symptoms but didn't feel like I was off-balance. But as the day wore on I started feeling icky again, so I didn't work out while Mary was at Brownies. Then at dinner time I was feeling better so I felt like a real wimp again for not having exercised, so after dinner, while Alexander was watching Blue's Clues, I just got moving. I ran up and down the stairs, using various patterns, and after ten minutes or so of that I started doing jumping-jacks arms and dancing around, until my arms were tired of that. Then I went back to the stairs and was just going to jog up and down the first few for a while. But I was getting bored and tired, so I was considering quitting after 20 minutes of working out. Then Mary joined me at the 15 minute mark and started running up and down the stairs, and she wasn't content with just going up and down two or three -- she started calling out how many stairs we had to cover on each trip, often all the way to the top! She knew all the right language -- she talked about how we were burning calories and fat and making our muscles strong and our hearts healthy. She sounded like a peppy aerobics instructor. This after only seeing two aerobics videos in recent weeks! She kept me going until the 30 minute mark and would cheerfully have gone on longer -- I was completely pooped! I overdid it, in fact -- I didn't recover my equilibrium for over an hour. Ugh. But I'm glad I didn't let myself go another day without exercise.

Nothing interesting to report on the food plan -- I had the usual breakfast, lunch of yogurt and a handful of almonds, snacks of a banana and a small box of raisins, and dinner of brunswick stew and a half piece of toast. Later I had some chips and salsa, when I realized I was so short on calories again. I think that was about it.

Past that point!

Finally!! This morning I was 206.6. So... going down again FINALLY. Of course, I doubt it will hold out. We will see.

I have been really bad with exercise this week. Tuesday night it was late when I got home and Katie and I were meeting a friend for her birthday - so I skipped it. Wednesday I was recovering from giving blood (althought I really SHOULD have exercised). Last night by the time I got home from visiting Kirsten and then eating dinner it was after 10. I took a shower and sorted through my jewelry for Katie's "party" today. I read for a little while - and then went to bed. I didn't even pack my lunch for today. I had left over food from yesterday (one fruit, one vegetable, and cottage cheese). So I stuck in a banana and wheat thins and called my lunch packed. Kristy wants to get sushi today anyway. Yippee!

Back to 149.5 this morning. I have to concentrate hard to get any lower. I had my shredded wheat with skim milk and a small glass of oj for breakfast. For lunch I had a yogurt and an oatmeal cookie with milk, and we are going to have an apple later, and I'll have some almonds. Last night I had a cereal bar for bedtime snack and I am going to try to skip that tonight. I did drag Claire and Dick out for a walk, despite the misting rain. I would like to have gone farther and faster but with a child and a semi-invalid I had to hold my pacxe down.

I hesitate to do the trampoline thing with my darned arthritis! Maybe I'll give it a try, gently.

Men and soda weight...

You will be amazed at how much Daniel will lose just by giving up soda. Joe lost something like 10 lbs with only a partial switch--he started using diet in his rum and cokes on the weekend. didn't Charles lose an incredible amount by doing the same? I seem to recall Katie and/or Amy discussing this at one point. Regardless--very good for Daniel even if it will make me jealous :)

I, however, gave up regular soda ions ago and it made no difference. Darn female anatomy. I bet if I gave up eating I'd gain 5 lbs!

I have been starving today, and I already ate my morning and afternoon snacks and it isn't lunch time. I think I'll go get a salad for lunch; I was scheduled to have yogurt with granola and an apple, but somehow I don't think that will cut it.

I need to get savvy about adding exercise into my day. When I wait until I get home from work I tend to be so exhausted even if I exercise it is half-hearted. And the mere thought of getting up earlier that I already do (5:30 am) just makes me even more tired. How do I combat this? I am not really a night owl through the week (the whole 5:30 wake up puts a snag in this) so I feel like the only time to exercise if between 6 and 8 pm.

Another day without exercise

Alexander is still sick, and yesterday I was in worse shape as well. It really seems to be just a cold with me, but it's affecting my equilibrium. Anyway, I couldn't take Alexander to the gym yesterday because he was so sick (poor thing -- the only symptom seems to be his low-grade fever, but it's making him very lethargic) and I again failed to come up with an alternative. It was very difficult to rouse myself to exercise when I felt so off-balance. Today I weighed 162, and a drop of two pounds in two days makes me worry that I'm losing muscle! So I'm going to get exercise today one way or another. Not that I'm really complaining about the number itself -- that 162 means I've met my Thanksgiving goal of being back to my prepregnancy weight, and it's not even Halloween yet!

Daniel is amazing -- he went to the gym after the kids were in bed last night. He is also seeing his weight drop. And he has given up soda and alcohol except on weekends, at least for the time being -- this seems like a realistic diet change for him, and one that could have a substantial impact (especially giving up the soda!).

Yesterday I had my usual breakfast, lunch of tuna and toast (white bread -- I wanted to have a slice of that homemade bread toasted), snacks of almonds and a piece of string cheese, and dinner of brunswick stew and a half slice of toast (same bread), with milk to drink. I again didn't protest when Daniel brought out the ice cream -- it really does feel great on my raw throat. But I should serve it myself -- he fixes more for me than I would for myself.

I'm going to get that embelllishment.

Another 35 minutes on the treadmill yesterday, this time with my iPod so it wasn't so boring. I jogged non-stop for half of the time. Then I did the pilates abs workout in the evening. So that's four days in a row of exercise (counting Sunday), and I brought my stuff for another gym visit today. Tomorrow I won't be able to go to the gym since the college is closing from noon to 5:00 (35th anniversary party), but I should be able to do something in the evening. I read this morning in one of those fluff pieces in Fitness magazine that people who listen to music while they work out tend to work out 24% longer than people who don't listen to music.

The kick in the butt that I always give myself to get myself exercising (which I really don't want to do--sitting still and staring into space is MUCH more fun than running with nothing chasing you) is just to remind myself that exercise in theory is much worse than exercise in practice--I hate getting myself going to exercise, but once I'm in the middle of it, it isn't too bad, and then I can feel all virtuous afterwards that it's done and out of the way.

But you are all cordially invited to my house for a trampoline party (should be fun with the leaves falling!) anytime you want, only we'll call it a pylometric workout so it sounds better. Then we can pick the last of the tiny tomatoes I have, if there are any left. I think the green beans are all dead or overgrown.

Food yesterday--I already reported breakfast and lunch; dinner was weird because I got home from work and had to turn around and go out again for a meeting at church, so I didn't have time for dinner but I was really hungry so I ate a nutri-grain bar on the way. When I got home, Brian had made spaghetti for dinner, but since I had just had that (more or less) for lunch, I made myself an omlette with fresh spinach.

Breakfast today was cereal again. I had to pack lunch and snacks quickly, so I ended up with all snack food to get me through the day--another nutri-grain bar, string cheese, walnuts, grapes, and an apple. I think I might invest in some Lean Cuisine meals so I won't get so bored with my lunch food.

So Close!

This morning I was 207 even. That is my lowest now - but only bt .2 - and it doesn't really count since it isn't weigh in day.

OK - I am reminding myself that my goal has been - and will be - a long term one. I want to lose weight slowly, change my habits, and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I am shooting for five pounds a month! That means I still have plenty of time to get to 205.4 by November 6th. That is what I want.

You see, if I remind myself it isn't so discouraging to see the numbers change so slowly.

Actually, I still feel really good about this whole process. I am LOVING the new way of eating. It tastes good, it makes me feel good, and it is satisfying. I like it - no LOVE it - that it is becoming second nature to me. At no point have I felt deprived because I am on a diet. In the beginning I was proud of myself if I could go a whole day without straying from my set menu. Now, it seems I am rarely even tempted to stray.

I know since Katie and I are working on this together it is easier for us. It is really nice having "in-house" support. But - hang in there all of you! Take a few minutes to remind yourself that five weeks is impressive for us all to still be on track - but it is only the beginning - which is a GOOD thing!!

My weight

Oh! I forgot to mention that my weight this morning was 207.8. I would love to get below the 207 mark!!

Dreams of Snickers

Hey all!

I gave blood this afternoon. When I got home I crashed. During my wonderful over two hour nap I was dreaming I was eating Snickers and pretzels. This is probably I was rather smug that after I gave my blood I only ate one little baggie of cookies (and I choose the oatmeal raisin ones) and drank half a bottle of orange juice. I hadn't had any grain with my yogurt for breakfast, nor my morning fruit snack - so the cookies and juice weren't too far off track.

I was told I couldn't exercise for 12 hours - which would be close to 1am - so I am off the hook today. I shouldn't be so gleeful about that, but it didn't make me sad.

I am still good with the healthy food eating thing, but I am SO over exercising.

What can we do? We need some sort of motivational kick in the ass! Maybe we should all come over to Sarah's house and jump on the trampoline all afternoon one day. Then we could do a pot luck exchange of veggie dishes so we can all have something different for a few days.

What do you think?

tag-a-long

Late as usual! I am losing my enthusiasm for this whole diet/exercise thing. Kirsten was only home from the hospital overnight before she had to go back so my exercise has been walking the halls of GBMC.

I did remember to weigh in Tuesday--I was at 149. I had had one giddy, blissful morning when I dropped from 149.5 to 147.5, but then I made that birthday cake!! It is gone now, but I was 150.5 this morning. I just have to pull myself up by my socks and get on track again.

I have finished off my granola, so starting tomorrow I will have Honey Nut shredded Wheat for breakfast. I am still doing the yogurt for lunch most days, but I should work on that pita we have in the fridge. Tonight we are having leftover meatloaf for supper with I don't know what else. We had it with baked sweeet potatoes last night, and mixed veggies and green salad. I am about to have almonds for snack, and then we have to get going over to Sarah's to meet Claire's bus.

Why are vegetables yucky?

I used to LOVE vegetables of any kinds. Now they are the scourge of the earth. Especially if they are orange...or green...

Yesterday was a mini disaster. I did well in the morning for breakfast, BUT we ate lunch at a diner. I ordered tuna on wheat toast, thinking at least I would get the benefits of the tuna. My sandwich arrived and instead of being on toast, it was sort of like a tuna-grilled cheese without the cheese. They had buttered the bread and put it in a pan instad of toasting it. Oh well.

Dinner was french onion pot roast from let's dish. That meal is excellent. I probably ate a little too much meat, but I tend to go light on protein so since it was something I liked I didn't worry about it too much. And the roast was incredibly lean. There wasn't even any fat to skim off the gravy in the crock pot. We also had green beans. Blech. I managed to eat about a cup of them. For dessert we ate a mini chocolate cake. Tuesday night is the night Joe & I watch tv together so we have our weekly treats that night. He ate his with ice cream, but I just had cake.

I did exercise yesterday as well. 20 minutes on the treadmill and 20 on the stair climber. 20 minutes on each was all I could muster before being really bored.

Today has been ok. I am "eating" my yogurt and granola right now for lunch. I also have some carrots and a banana, and some almonds to snack on later.

I am not sure if exercise will happen tonight...I have painting to do before Sunday and I have waited until the last minute (is there any other time?!??) I think I will be priming tonight. Maybe i will do that with exaggerated enthusiasm...

Already off-track for exercise

I did not get out to the gym yesterday; nor did I do aerobics at home. I've been tired and achy and I have a sinus headache that's been going off and on for 24 hours now. Alexander claims he feels fine, though he has laryngitis and a temperature two degrees above normal. (Though he's definitely not as energetic as he sometimes is.) Why do I have to be such a pill about a cold, when he's so sweet and cheerful with a full-blown virus?

I ate the usual breakfast, lunch of turkey and provolone on whole wheat with milk to drink, a snack of almonds, dinner of brunswick stew (very healthy!) and half a slice of white bread-machine bread (which Alexander made -- I would have gone for something more elaborate and possibly whole grain, but it was his idea, so it was his choice), and dessert of a small helping of chocolate ice cream (which felt fabulous on my throat -- I'm trying to figure out how I can maintain that eating-ice-cream feeling all day without actually eating myself to death!). I got no fruit all day -- it was unusually unappetizing to me. I did a little better on vegetables than usual because the stew is full of them, though I overdid starches because the stew is also full of those! I'm not eating much differently while I'm sick-ish, so I really do need to get back to exercise, but, oh, it's hard to find the energy...

My arms hurt

I did the pilates upper body workout on Monday, which I've done several times before with no lasting damage (couldn't do some of the moves, but still didn't ache the next day), and all day yesterday and into today my arms have been achy and weak--more like they feel after actual weight lifting. So I don't know if I did something right or something wrong.

Yesterday I did the pilates 20 minute workout in the evening and went to the gym at lunchtime--did 30 minutes on the treadmill. Running on a treadmill is way easier than road running, but I can't figure out why. I broke a sweat on the treadmill, but didn't have the lungs-burning-legs-aching feeling as I do at 30 minutes when I run on the weekends, even though I set the speed and incline levels to replicate my road route. I was at the target heart rate for a cardio workout most of the time, but the "fat burning" workout (lower intensity) felt too much like a stroll in the park to me. I feel like such an idiot on a treadmill--all that moving and you get nowhere and the scenery doesn't ever change. Gets very boring.

If I have the time today (which I may not--from 11:00 to 4:00 I have 30 minutes free, but one of those meetings may not take the entire scheduled time) I'm going to the gym again. For my five-pound loss reward, I got myself a gym bag (saving the Twinkling H2O's for another time) so I'm all set--yesterday I had shoes and clothes for the workout but didn't think to bring anything like a towel, water bottle, deodorant, etc. so I felt gross all afternoon.

I was *still* at 152.4 this morning.

Oh, food--wasn't so great yesterday. I had a non-breakfast, as I reported, then pasta and veggies for lunch, grapes and walnuts for snacks (maybe I was so achy because I was short on protein), and a hot dog and pasta with broccoli for dinner. I can't believe I ate a hot dog. Yuck.

Today will be a repeat of yesterday, only I had cereal for breakfast, packed the same pasta and veggies, almonds, and grapes to eat during the day, and I have no idea what's for dinner but it'll have to be quick because I have to be at a CCD meeting at 7:00.

Uhggggg

OK - So, I mentioned the prunes... That is something I could have used this past week. Sigh. Anyway, I really wouldn't have been surprised if my weight had gone UP. Saturday morning was my low point - at 207.2. I was up again the next day to 208.2 and then yesterday was higher again. TODAY - official weigh-in day I was at 208.4. The exact same weight as last week. So, it seems we are all on that same path. Sigh.

Five weeks!! I can't believe it either. It really has been much easier this time around. Katie and I have done the healthy eating thing off and on frequently in the past couple of years. Now that we also do Let's Dish it is SO much easier to stick to the healthy menu all day.

Today I had an off site seminar that fed me both breakfast and lunch. I didn't eat any breakfast - I ate before I went. Lunch was an assortment of meats and cheeses with cole slaw and carrot cake for dessert. There was very little lettuce on the plate (but I ate it). There was a tiny bit of potato salad - I ate about two bites. I left MOST of the food behind. I made a roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese and lettuce. I did eat about four bites of the carrot cake. It's my favorite - and it had big walnut chunks and cream cheese icing... YUM! I drank water, and then walked around outside for a bit.

Tonight - as Katie said - I got home late and then we had to go out. BUT I only had one drink! So that is good.

I am going to get a big thing of prunes on Thursday (payday) and work on getting back on track.

Insert silly title here

I agree with whoever said it before (Julie, I think?). Coming up with a title for these things is hard. At least, coming up with an interesting title is hard. I just couldn't face calling this "weigh in day" or anything I've used a million times. But today IS weigh-in day, so I guess it would be appropriate.

I was worried because I didn't have the greatest weekend in the world. Nothing that I particularly indulged in, but I didn't do very well in the fruits and vegetables department. So I can't say I was disappointed when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw I was 151.8. I was hoping it would be a little lower than that, considering that's EXACTLY what I was last Sunday and Monday, but since my official weigh-in last week was 152.6, I guess I can't complain. I'm still in a downward trend. I just can't wait until I break that 150 barrier.

So I'm officially not going to make this week's work-out challenge, as issued by Amy. I'm not exercising today. I was waiting until Amy got home to work-out, since that's what we normally do, but she didn't get home until almost 8:30 tonight, and we're about to leave to go out for our friend Emma's birthday tonight. Double bad--no exercise, PLUS drinking. Maybe I'll work out when I get home (yeah, right). But as she pointed out, I have free access to her scrapbook supplies anyway, so this wasn't too much of a reward for me. Or for her. So now we need to come up with something as a reward for us for working out five days in a row. Any suggestions?
Five weeks--really? It doesn't seem that long! I think this might be the longest I've stuck to a diet, ever. Go us!

It must be Cecilia's doing

Because today's weight certainly wasn't from my effort (or lack thereof) -- I weighed in at 164! I'm happy to have seen such a low number -- I was seeing weights up to two pounds higher for a good portion of the week -- but I know if I want it to be real I'm going to have to work a lot harder. I'm not sure what my exercise plan will be today. Alexander has a bug (he threw up yesterday and has a low-grade fever today) so I can't take him out, and I have a cold (sore throat and stuffy nose and I keep imagining that my stomach's upset) so it's going to be hard to muster enthusiasm. But maybe I'll do aerobics, or if Daniel's home before dark and it's not raining I'll go for a walk -- it would be nice to breathe in some of the cool autumn air.

I don't remember the statistic on how long it takes to make better eating a permanent habit. It's not like trying to stop biting your nails or to start making your bed every day; those are 21-day habits. I read an article recently that quoted the statistic for healthy eating and exercise, and it was either three, four, or six months, but I'm not sure which! In any case, we still have several months to go before we're good at this. I don't mean that to be a downer; we have to start somewhere! But we have to be willing to keep working at it for a long time if we really want to make this a life-long change.

Weight spike

So last week on Tuesday, I weighed in at 152.4--a nice dip compared to what I had been weighing throughout the previous week. That Tuesday dip was something I was getting used to seeing.

The past few days, I've been weighing in the 151 pound range, and even 150.6 on one memorable day. So today for weigh-in I was kind of hoping for another dip into the 150 range.

No such luck. My official Tuesday weight was 152.4--exactly the same as last week. Please give me credit for not lying and posting a different weight! This is in spite of keeping up with my exercise and eating fairly well (although not as carefully as in past weeks).

However, this spike (I refuse to even consider that I lost nothing in the past week!) has spurred me to do what I've been saying I should do for a couple of weeks--I packed a gym bag and brought it with me today so that I can either go to the gym at lunch, or go for a real walk if it isn't raining. If I want to keep losing weight, I have to do more aerobic exercise than just running two days a week.

Emily is right, though--I've noticed that my fitness level has increased more than my weight has decreased. On my run/walk this weekend, I was able to do about half of the route running, and some of the pilates moves that I just laughed at a few weeks ago I can do now (not easily, but at least an attempt! Except for that diabolical reverse push-up with one leg in the air. I can't do that at all.). And my clothes are fitting better--even some looseness in a couple of pairs of pants that were too tight before.

I'm spinning this too optimistically, aren't I? I need to get moving, avoid peach crisp and chocolate cake, and lose some weight.

Food since lunch yesterday: one taco for dinner and peach crisp; breakfast this morning was two cups of coffee, four ounces of orange juice and an eighth of a bagel with cream cheese (breakfast meeting, the purpose of which was to introduce me to people at the college, so I didn't eat at home and only got a couple of bites at the meeting).

Weigh in...

165.5. Not great. Oh well. It reflects my effort. Today is a new day and I am going to focus on eating better like an obsession until it is a habit. How long will that take?

I am choking down some lemon yogurt as I type. 8 oz of yogurt is an unruly amount for someon e who gets most of her dairy from cheese and chocolate. The first 1/3 was ok because I added some low fat granola, but that is all picked out now and I am back to just yogurt. I will try for 6 of the 8 oz...

Today is a day of running around. It could have been worse though. I am at JMT right now, but I have to leave in 20 minutes for a meeting with a client in Gettysburg. Then we'll probably grab lunch somewhere, and head back to JMT for a 2 pm conference call with our Delaware office and a client in Dover. They wanted me physically at the meeting, but there was no way I was driving from Gettysburg to Dover DE. Lunatics. The meeting will only last 40 minutes anyways.

I WILL MAKE GOOD FOOD CHOICES TODAY!

Winding down the day and the diet-week

I did better, food-wise, today than I have for the past several days. I had my usual breakfast, lunch of yogurt and a piece of toast, snacks of almonds and raisins (reasonable portions of both), and dinner of grilled salmon (reheated -- I was saving it for salmon primavera but I couldn't get green peppers this week so I gave up on waiting, lest it go bad), baked potato with a little margarine and salt, corn, and a small caesar salad. Dinner was probably a bit too starchy with both corn and a baked potato, and croutons as well, but I hadn't had too many starches all day, so that wasn't all that bad. I did have milk to drink with dinner, and I had a very small portion of homemade chocolate ice cream (and then another even smaller portion!) so I think I overdid the dairy for the day, but I didn't hit the eat-everything-in-sight mood I've encountered recently, thank goodness.

I went to the gym and got in 35 minutes on the bike (all at level 7, yay!). Daniel and I both feel like the biking has really increased our fitness -- he went running tonight instead of going to the gym and found it was much easier than it has been in the past, just as I found the aerobics easier than I expected last week. So, even if I'm not losing weight at an alarming rate, I am still getting healthier!

Tomorrow is weigh-in day and a fresh start on the diet. We've made it through five weeks as of then!

Completely cut off from the world

I got home on Friday night and discovered that my internet service was down. After rebooting a few times, I finally chalked it up to the bad storm and went to bed. Saturday morning--same thing. I spent a half an hour (mostly on hold) with the Verizon tech support people who tested all the lines and finally determined that it wasn't a technical problem, but an account problem (they said, "I'm not saying you didn't pay your bill, but...") and I'd have to call the billing department on Monday since they were closed for the weekend. So I looked at my most recent bill and saw that I had a $66 credit--they owe ME money. So this morning I got on the phone with the billing department, who transferred me around a bit and eventually asked if they could call me back (after a half an hour, again mostly on hold, and after determining that my account was fine). A bit later they called back and told me that there was a problem with the local service whatsits and that my access at home would be down until October 29!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 29! I could lay cable for my own network in that time! Buncha hacks. I wonder how much Comcast would cost me?

In any event, that's why I wasn't on the blog all weekend. And since I shouldn't be doing this from work, I probably won't be around much at all until after the 29th.

But I had a pretty good weekend as far as my diet and exercise goes. I didn't get out for my run on Saturday since it was pouring rain, but I kept my food intake under control, and when Claire was at the mall for a birthday party, I put Connor in the jogging stroller and walked around the mall for most of the three hours we were there. Slowly, of course--malls are crowded on rainy Saturday evenings--but at least it was movement. On Sunday I went for my run in the morning, but wasn't so good on the food--soynut butter and jelly for lunch, birthday cake, then eggs and toast and peach crisp for dinner (especially not good in the fruit and vegetable department). My weight is still creeping down, though, so I'm still on track.

I'm freezing at work today. I wonder if shivering burns calories? I have my fleece jacket on and I'm still cold. Breakfast and lunch today are the usual--cereal, coffee, yogurt, fruit, crackers, almonds and string cheese for snack. I haven't thought about dinner yet for tonight. Oh, on Friday when I forgot my lunch, I ended up with much the same food for lunch: $3 buys a container of yogurt, package of pretzels, and a small salad.

Maybe I will eat prunes today

I am with you Emily! I am dreading tomorrow's weigh in. I don't think I have made ANY progress - but... think of it this way - at least I am not back tracking.

Katie and I went out on Friday night as usual. AND - as usual - my weight dropped dramatically the next day. I was 207.2 on Saturday morning. It must be because when I go out I am moving all evening instead of sitting around reading or playing solitaire. ALso - I am not inclined to snack when I am at a bar.

Saturday was pouring down rain and miserable! Perfect hot chocolate and cookies weather. I had THE WORST munchies all day on Saturday. But I was really pretty good. I had cereal and skim milk for breakfast. Then as I was leaving my class (I snuck out early - it was too dreary to concentrate) I ate grapes and a snack bag full of pistachio nuts. When I got home (about 11:15) I had a yogurt and 8 sugared almonds. This keep me occupied until about 2 when I had reduced fat PB & pickle sandwich. Then - Katie got home from Religious Institute at about 4:30 or 5 and I was ready for dinner. We made chicken parmesan with angel hair pasta and snow peas? maybe green beans - well, some kind of veggie. I ate this in two chunks over the evening. Then at about 10:30 I had a small vanilla yogurt with mini chocolate chips and almonds stirred in. So - I was lacking on fruit - but good on dairy - and very proud of myself for my muching choices. I could have eaten the pop tarts again - but I kept remembering the reflux this time.

Sunday morning I was up to 208.2 (not too bad... but still up). I had my normal cereal and skim milk - and then nothing until tea at Mom and Dad's for Mom's birthday. I ate one (low fat) sugar cookie and a big piece of cake (well - not HUGE, in fact, smaller than I would have done in the past, but bigger than you would expect for a person trying to lose weight). That was it though. Katie and I stopped at Wegmans (a MAD house) on the way home. We bought all fruits and vegetables - and only got two little - very yummy - samples. We made shrimp with orzo and mixed vegetables for dinner a little later. Much later I had two of the left over sugar cookies and then some more pistachio nuts. I think that is all I ate yesterday. No fruit whatsoever - light on the veggies - and too many snacks. I hope to get back on track today.

Last night I took a bath and discovered that my tub is leaking - rather badly - into my dining room. Luckily not TOO much scrapbooking stuff was underneath the deluge - but a pack of photos were. They seemed to recover OK though. I have to figure out what to do about it now. Kristy said that when that happened in her house it was the seal on the drain in the tub. I hope that is all it is. Sigh. When it rains...

I'm beginning to dread the weigh-in on Tuesday

...Except maybe having a number to attach to this bad or at least non-progressive week will tell me it's done and then I can give myself a new start. I am really hitting a wall, as far as eating goes. Today I had my usual breakfast, and then a slice of pizza and a small breadstick for lunch. Then we went to the firehouse for their annual open house, and they had snacks. They hit two major weak points for me -- popcorn (movie-theater style!!) and cotton candy! So I ate a small bag of popcorn -- and few bites of Mary's bag and a more than a few bites of Alexander's, since he left it lying on the counter at home!! -- and I had a cone of cotton candy (but Alexander helped a bit -- but I helped with Mary's later). When we got home I had a serious case of the munchies, so I ate a handful of almonds and a handful of raisins. And I could have eaten a ton. We had chili for dinner, still with brown rice, and now I'm having a beer.

No exercise today -- we did a lot of cleaning, there was the trip to the firehouse, and I spent a lot of time cutting out a knight costume, so I didn't sit down most of the day!

Seems quiet around here

I'm just here to post my daily update. I did exercise today -- I took the kids to campus to see a swim meet (Mary's idea, and she really had fun) and we did a lot of walking around there (parking was bad), and after that we went to the gym where I put in a very unenthusiastic 40 minutes on the bike. I tried to start out at level 7 but I couldn't maintain it -- I don't know if I'm just not ready for it, or if yesterday's aerobics and today's walk were too much for my legs to take.

I had my normal breakfast, and for lunch I had some blueberry yogurt and several almonds. Then I had another helping or so of almonds for a snack (I was trapped on the sofa with a sleeping baby on my lap, and Alexander left the open jar of almonds next to me and carried the lid off!), and I ate a piece of string cheese. For dinner I ate one slice of pizza (pepperoni and green peppers) and one breadstick (not the buttery or cheesy kind -- it was just baked crust) with pizza sauce. I can think of nothing else I ate today! How did I completely miss fruit? And I didn't go hungry today but it doesn't seem like much food. This wasn't a very well-balanced day, but I suppose it could have been worse.

Not quite as bad

My weight was creeping slowly back the other way this morning (still not to my Tuesday low, though) and I ate well today. I had my usual breakfast, and for lunch I had a turkey, provolone, and lettuce sandwich on whole wheat. Lunch actually kept me satisified for a long time -- I blame the cheese. I had snacks of raisins and an apple, and then for dinner I had a very reasonable portion of chili. I'm having a beer now -- but the chips have stayed put away.

Daniel had to bail on me for exercise and it was raining so I couldn't get enthused about leaving the house, but even though it took me until 7 pm to get my act together I finally did an aerobics tape. It was decidedly more demanding than Monday's, so I came away feeling like I'd had a pretty good workout (but still not as tough as the bikes).

I'm still aiming for my fitness badge, but that's going to require five days a week of cardio for a month straight -- that's a tall order! Even if I work out tomorrow, that's still only four this week (unless I start counting on Monday, not Sunday ... hmmm...). I'll have to think about how to make an online version of a sticker chart so we can give ourselves stars for each day we exercise! Then we can show off when we've gotten five days of cardio, three of toning, and two of flexibility. I did get in two days of toning this week, thanks to the aerobics -- that's two more than past weeks. This is a long road ahead. *sigh*...

Blame it on the rain

Isn't that a song or something?

Well - that is as good a thing as any. Actually, I was slightly down this morning - but not down to the 207.8 I hit before. It was 209.4. I did OK with my eating - but I was delayed getting started - I had a 9am meeting that I had to get ready for - and then I didn't get to eat until about 10 or so. I was good about the two hour breaks, eating my apple, sandwich, cereal with skim milk (not in that order). THEN Kristy called and said - it is the first Friday in October... Are you meeting us? I forgot we had a standing date. SO - off I went. I ordered a small frozen yogurt, but got it with caramel, brownies and pecans. BUT - I only ate about half of it. Sigh.

Yeah - we all need a swift kick! I am not tired of the food. I don't love exercising - but it's not so bad... I just need to put a little more effort into both of those things. It is so easy to slack - now that we have been at this for a month.

Maybe we need more challenges! OK - For everyone who exercises every weekday next week (five days straight) you can pick ANY one of my embellishments. (Sorry Mom...) Oh dear... now that I have said that I just KNOW you will all find something that is irreplaceable. Just kidding! I probably won't notice it is missing. 8-)

Katie and I are supposed to go out tonight - but with this miserable rain I am tempted to stay in and read. That would save me calories from drinking - but I manage to BURN a lot more calories when I go out. What a dilemma.

149.5

I checked my post for October first, and I said I was 148. Anyway, this morning I was still 149.5
At the hospital yesterday I had juice and coffee and a cereal bar, and for lunch I had a slice of leftover pizza. I can't remember if I had a cookie or not, but I had half a large apple and 9 almonds. For supper I had stir-fry chicken and veggies. We cooked two chicken breasts in the stir fry and we will eat the other half tonight. I made instant brown rice, and it was good. I had no desert, but a cereal bar and a glass of skim milk for dinner.

This morning I had my granola and milk and juice. I am switching to honey nut shredded wheat as soon as this granola is gone. Oh, I promised to try the raspberry granola we bought at Wegman's so it will be a few days before I get to the shredded wheat.

For lunch today I had a slice of boiled ham and a slice of Swiss cheese folded in quarters in a small whole wheat pita, skim milk, and a small banana. This large package of Swiss showed up in our freezer and we have no idea where we got it. I suspect Emily brought it for fondue once upon a time, but she doesn't remember. Originally there were five pounds, but it was down to about three pounds when we found it. We have repackaged it and put three packages back in the freezer.

I have had no exercise this week, unless you count walking through Wegman's and hospital corridors!

Surviving lunch.

Well, I managed to get out of going out with the boys for lunch. I went to Giant, got a mixed green salad topped with a few dried cranberries, a sprinkling of blue cheese, some carrots, 2 green olives and fat free vinagrette, a cup of vegetable crab soup and a banana.

Amy & I have been having a side conversation in email about how difficult it is to eat out. Since we are both in Hunt Valley I knew she would understand my dilemma today, although it really does apply everywhere. I went through the nutritional info on Panera's website about their foods and there are very few selections on the menu that don't go overboard in one way or another. A salad just shouldn't contain 30 g of fat!!!! Quiznos, Chipotle, Noodles, etc are all the same as well. And those are the places that trick you into thinking their food isn't garbage because it is "Fresh" or has a lot of veggies. If I get a few minutes later today I may make a spreasheet comparing things like the burritos at Chipotle to Big Macs and just see how it truly measures up. I do a really good job of avoiding the traditional fast food places, but I think I get caught frequently at the more trendy versions of fast food restaurants that are cropping up that just reinvent their marketing and image so you think the food is healthier.

Also messed up from the get-go

I don't know what was up this morning. Maybe the cold front moving in is messing with our brains, but in spite of excellent pre-planning, this morning was nutty--it felt like we were moving quickly through the morning schedule, but little things kept getting in our way. I thought I had done everything last night to get ready for the morning--picked out clothes, packed lunches and backpacks, took out the recycling, set up the coffee pot on the timer, went through all the school papers to make sure forms and notes were all up to date, etc. But then this morning--couldn't find the checkbook to pay daycare (turns out Brian left it at Sam's Club last night!), realized that we put the wrong recycling out, were late getting Connor up, remembered at the last minute that Claire would need a note to go home with Jo, scrambled to find all of our rain gear (after not needing it for months!), and then I was very late getting out the door. Somehow in all of this, I left my lunch at home. So now I have no snacks and healthy food for the day and will have to rely on the cafeteria to get me through the day. I have no idea what sort of food they offer, but the flier I've seen was touting their hot dog bar this week. Yuck. I hope they have my usual yogurt and fruit!

I bought healthy snacks but it didn't help

Yesterday I had the usual breakfast (with whole milk, since we were out of skim!!, and sans OJ, since I didn't have any water chilled to mix it and was too lazy to use ice or to wait for it to get cold in the fridge). For lunch I had yogurt and a piece of bread (speaking of lazy -- I couldn't even be bothered to toast and butter it). We went grocery shopping in the afternoon and I bought skim milk, string cheese, and some expensive dry-roasted almonds because they were cheaper than the almonds from the produce section and I didn't have time to get to Walmart where almonds are vaguely affordable. So for snacks I had a piece of string cheese, ten almonds, and a handful of raisins. For dinner I made chili (with ground turkey -- it's really a very low-fat meal) which I served over brown rice. After choir practice and the kids' bedtime I was hungry again so I didn't protest when Daniel brought out the cheese dip again -- oh, no! He has sworn that tonight he won't do that.

I also didn't exercise yesterday. Or, rather, I did, but only for about three minutes. It was dry most of yesterday and just misty when we left for Brownies, and Alexander was protesting the idea of the gym, so I said I'd put him and Cecilia in the stroller and go for a walk instead. Well, after one very short block the mist had turned into a light sprinkle, and after a second it was a drizzle, and by the time we'd gone three and we were almost back to our car it was a full-blown rain, so I gave up. I didn't have gym clothes with me and by the time I got home there wasn't time to do anything, so I took care of the laundry, stirred the crock pot, and headed back out to get Mary. I hate wasted blocks of time like that!

My weight hasn't gone up by much this week but it certainly hasn't gone down. Time to get back on the wagon -- sounds like we ALL need a pep talk!

Already off track and it's only 9:01 am

For some reason I managed to mess up my oatmeal this morning as I was making it. It was soup. Not sure how that happened since all I have to do is add 1/2 cup of water and nuke it for 1 minute 30 seconds, but regardless I didn't eat breakfast at home and figured I'd be able to drink my way through the morning at work with water, tea and diet soda, but that failed miserably so I am sitting here eating my pop tart from the vending machine because my stomach was growling so loudly it was a little embarassing. When I grocery shop this weekend I am going to get some "Plan B" nutragrain breakfast bars to stash at work. Before I bought the pop tarts I did investigate my options in the vending machine on weightwatchers.com and picked the lowest points value food that was in there that wasn't potato chips.

It's tough to title these...

It's almost as difficult as naming files at work on the network...

Anyways, today I had semi-instant oatmeal with raisins and apples for breakfast, and I tossed my icky ham sandwich at lunch and ate a southwestern tuna wrap from Au Bon Pain instead. I always forget until I am eating them how huge the tortilla is, but I ripped off a decent amount of excess to remedy that. I also ate some carrots that I had packed, and a hard pretzel. For dinner we are having prok chops, and I am going to slice mine over a salad and probably make Joe some mashed potatoes to go with his (not the real thing of course! The kind in the box...)

I did exercise when I got home from work. I started with 10 minutes on the stepper but it was making this weird noise so I finished with 15 more minutes on the treadmill. I could hear it over my blaring mp3 player tucked in my ears so I know it was a pretty loud noise.

Tomorrow my plan is to have the same oatmeal for breakfast, a pear for a snack in the morning at work, and then have a salad from Giant at lunch time. I already know the boys are going to Andy Nelson's BBQ shack on York Rd and I need to stear clear of that place. Then in the afternoon I am going to have a pretzel as a snack. Dinner on Fridays is always up in the air, but I will have to figure something out.

I am hoping by telling you what I PLAN to have tomorrow you can scold me when I have something 10x worse because I am weak and give in.

Exercise tomorrow is going to be house cleaning. This place is a wreck since we were away last weekend. And my dad's 70th birthday party is here on the 16th and I have so much to do before that. Like finish painting the stairway. I trimmed it like 5 weeks ago and just never actually rolled the darn paint everywhere else.

Secret Stash

For the record, the "secret stash" of gumdrops Amy referenced is in no way secret--I know I mentioned it in one previous post, and I think maybe in two, fully admitting that I overindulged.

I think my weekend behavior and gumdrop indulgence (not to mention Connor's leftover doughnut) finally caught up with me--yesterday I was down to 151.6 and today I was back up to 152.8. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was just a fluke, but I haven't been as careful in the past few days with my intake as I should be. I'm fine during the day, but I weaken in the evening when I come home from work tired and hungry. Last night Claire and I got dinner while we were grocery shopping, so after a day of cereal, cottage cheese, fruit, whole wheat crackers, and almonds, I ended up with pizza for dinner. It turns out that a slice of pizza from Sam's Club is closer to two regular slices. I only ate half of it (Claire ate all of hers, the little greedy pig-dog) but I still think it was too much, just judging by how filling it was. But knowing that I'm going to have to report what I eat each day keeps me from giving in and eating everything in sight. Same thing with the exercise--sometimes the only thing that makes me drag myself downstairs to exercise after putting the kids to bed is knowing that I'll be able to report that I did so. Which I did yesterday (Pilates Abs workout), in addition to walking for 20 minutes or so during lunch (although it was hardly a workout, as I was wearing heels).

It's going the wrong way!!!

Oh dear! for the past three days my weight has been just a tad higher than it was the day before. Now - today I know was ALL MY FAULT! Yesterday Bonefish (our favorite bar and restaurant) was donating 100% of their profits for the day to the Katrina relief fund. So - OF COURSE we had to go eat and drink there. I was very good - refused the bread and oil again, only had two drinks, and had tilefish with spinach - then Katie and I split the mashed potatoes that came with it (maybe a 1/4 of a cup each) and split the steamed veggies that came with her dinner. All in all it was a pretty healthy way to eat - and VERY yummy. But - what is it? I think restaurants must spray their food with butter before they send it out because no matter what healthy food you order it comes with this really yummy light coating of...something - that makes it restaurant food, rather than something you cooked in your kitchen.

OK - also naughty for me yesterday - no exercise. Pre-meditated "I am too tired, boo-hoo, boo-hoo" no exercise. Bad! I spent the day babysitting Connor who wasn't feeling well - and was bored. But it never occurred to me to work out!!! We walked up to Dunkin Donuts - where I had a large coffee - to which, they added half and half which I didn't order (but didn't complain about). I got a chocolate doughnut for Connor - and ate two small bites from. I didn't touch the other doughnut that I got at all! I ate one oreo when I gave Claire hers after school and three gumdrops from Sarah's secret stash (BUSTED!).

Today I am feeling bloated in addition to my weight going up. Sigh. Maybe my period will arrive soon again and save me from my fatness. 8-) I am now just about 10 pounds from being plain old overweight instead of obese - which is alarming actually.

A good day demolished

I ate well through most of today. I had my usual breakfast and yogurt, turkey lunchmeat, and toast (barely buttered) for lunch. I had a carrot for a snack and then for dinner I had leftover sloppy joes. So far, so good, though I needed more fruits and vegetables. But then I had chips and cheese dip -- though I tried to keep it to one serving on the chips, and I didn't overdo the cheese -- and a beer, and then a slice of cake. Fortunately that's the end of the cake. If I had eaten better (more, and a better balance) during the day I wouldn't have been so hungry come 10 pm. Shame on me!

I did 45 minutes on the bike at the gym and burned 368 calories (they say), nearly 100 more than my first trip out several weeks ago. I felt good doing it -- I had it at a level 6 for the first half, and then I bumped it up to a 7 for the second half, and further up for the last "hill". I'm amazed at how much my fitness has improved in a month. Even if I'm not getting much skinnier, I am definitely getting stronger!

Oh, dear

I'm sorry I am trailing behind on the weigh-in. Yesterday I volunteered to babysit with Claire and Connor, and I had to leave the house at seven, and I forgot to weigh myself. I had my usual cereal and milk for breakfast, and for lunch at Sarah's I had a soynut butter and grape jelly sandwich on white bread with milk--1%? I forgot to look. I had an Oreo for desseert. I didn't eat again until I got home at 20 after six, and I had 8 almonds. Then I had two pieces of Wegman's pepperoni pizza and salad for dinner. I knew I should only have had one! For dessert I had one and a half small peach halves in white grape juice and an oatmeal cookie. Nothing for bedtime snack. My weigh-in this morning was 149.5!!!! Up a pound and a half!!! I was so virtuous last week, I worked hard and watched what I ate, and now this! I don't dare slip at all, but with my birthday coming up Sunday, I know I will eat too much.

My only exercise this week, I think, was a hike around Wegman's on Monday. Dad is supposed to be treated like "a Fabrege egg" the rest of this week, so if I go for a walk it will be by myself. Dad had his fistula treatment this morning, so we are supposed to be careful of him until the weekend.

I am very proud of you all for working so hard at your weight loss!

I wimped out

I didn't exercise today. I just didn't have it in me. Daniel ran for 45 minutes yesterday and his body couldn't take a workout today, so I would have been on my own. Up until about 4 I had every intention of going to the gym, but I just couldn't make myself go. Considering that I feel completely wiped out at 10 pm (and usually I'm in good shape until 11 or 12) I think that was the right decision, but I still hate missing a day after such a poor weekend. Does installing car seats count as aerobic exercise? It's certainly worthy of toning. Today I moved Mary's car seat to the other side of the van, Alexander's into Cecilia's seat, and Mary's outgrown car seat into Alexander's new spot. Installing three car seats in one go is brutal and took as long as a workout. So maybe I did exercise today.

I had my usual breakfast. For lunch I had ham and lettuce on whole wheat, and for a snack I had an apple. For dinner we had sloppy joes (a Heart Association recipe that has you drain the fat from the beef as much as you can) on sesame seed buns (not whole grain, I know -- I desperately need to go grocery shopping, and this was the only dinner I could come up with based on the food we had on hand, except for burgers or spaghetti, and we've just had both of those, and they're even less healthy). I also had a caesar salad (and I still need to find low-fat caesar dressing -- Kroger didn't have any except for caesar vinaigrettes, which I don't like). For dessert Daniel and I got rid of the last of the homemade vanilla ice cream in the freezer -- now, wasn't that good of us, cleaning out the freezer that way? I also worked on getting rid of the Heath bar pieces we have, so I was cleaning out my cabinet, too!

I keep forgetting to list my chocolate square each day -- Daniel got me a bag of Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares for my birthday, and I've been eating them at a rate of one a day! I'm enjoying this -- in the past they'd have been long gone by five days after my birthday, but instead I still have over half the bag to go (Mary and Alexander each ate one, or else I'd still have two thirds of the bag left -- they're not very big bags). Yum. And dark chocolate is almost healthy.

Oh yeah

Susie and I were talking a little earlier and she is doing largely the same diet we are (minus the exercise, I think), and having quite a bit of success. Down 15 pounds, I believe. Would anyone have any objections to inviting her to join us? I don't know if she'd have any interest in the blog, or any time online for that matter, but I thought I'd check. Let me know what you think!

I'm switching my weigh-in day!

OK, so this Tuesday weigh-in thing is just NOT working for me. For starters, I am way too busy on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with prepping for choir to really have time to read or post on the blog. Additionally, I've discovered that I'm normally at a lower weight on Monday than I am on Tuesday. So from here out I'm going to start doing my weigh in on Monday. Any complaints?

So, after feeling completely stuck at 154, I have finally broken my plateau (yes, I know, I know, it wasn't technically a plateau, but I felt like it was). Yesterday I weighed in at 151.8 for the second day in a row. Today I was 152.6. pphhhbbbbttt. Stupid Tuesday weigh-in. See what I mean? And I thought for sure I'd be less today because I got my period yesterday and thought I'd drop some of my bloating weight. No such luck. But still! I'm happy with the 152, I guess. Maybe I'll try Emily's multiple weigh-ins technique, and see what I come up with!

Today has been ok, food-wise. I had cereal and milk for breakfast. A pear snack. Turkey and cheese and about 3 pounds of lettuce on light 7-grain bread for lunch. Triscuits for snack. I still have a bag of baby carrots and applesauce to eat. I ate my breakfast late because I got caught up with work before school and forgot to eat then, and it's really impossible to eat cereal while teaching, so I had to wait until I had a break at 10:45 to eat that. So I guess that's not great.

Amy, I don't know what to tell you. I wouldn't be opposed to cutting back a few calories from our daily intake, but I don't know where we can cut them. We really do need to be eating three meals and two snacks a day in order to keep our metabolism up. What we could cut out is that munchie snack we have (the Triscuits or the pistachio nuts), but I know you feel very unsatisfied if we don't have it. I got some grapes this most recent shopping trip, do you think that would work for the munchie type snack?

Free Lunch!!

Well - what could I do?? You see, about once a month the Transmitter (newsletter) team gets to have a free lunch on one of the local restaurants. Then we write an article about them in the next newsletter. Cheap advertising for them. Anyway - today was Valley View Farms. I initially was going to get a Powerhouse (cheese, sprouts and lettuce on whole grain bread, but at the last minute I switched to chicken corn soup (not chowder...) with dry multigrain toast. It was good - and I don't feel like I ate TOO badly - although the sandwich probably would have been better in the long run. I am now eating my broccoli that I brought with me this morning.

OK - What do you do when you are not hungry? I have this dilemma... Back BEFORE I started this diet, it was not unusual for me to go all day without eating, and really NOT be hungry. That I knew was a problem, because basically my metabolism shut down and I would store every unhealthy calorie I consumed. Within a day or two of changing my habits I started feeling low grade hunger nudges from my belly just at the time I was supposed to eat something. I would then eat my fruit or veggie, or whole grain crackers and feel very virtuous for my wonderful healthy life style. Recently (like in the past two days)... I have noticed that I haven't been getting the little rumblely reminders. This makes me either forget to eat - or feel like maybe I shouldn't be eating when I am. I just (as I said) at my veggie snack - but didn't feel hungry at all! So - what is the RIGHT thing to do? Do I continue to "graze" all day (which seems to be working for me right now) or just eat when I feel hungry? I know after a little while of maintaining this diet I will need to cut back to keep losing - but how do I know when to do that? When I stop losing? What do you guys think?

Two pounds

I was at 152.4 this morning, a full two pounds down from last week! Just proves that no bad deed goes unrewarded, huh? Not only did I overindulge at the Ren Fest this weekend, but yesterday I broke down and got spice drops at Wal Mart and I have no willpower whatsoever with these things. I think I ate close to three servings of them. OTOH, as I reported yesterday, I was super-careful with my intake and exercise all week in anticipation of overindulging, so that proves what I said before--it's overall behavior that counts and not a couple of instances of gumdrop gluttony.

I was at my benefits orientation this morning and found out that the college allows for longer lunchtimes three days a week if you participate in their wellness program--either to take one of their classes or to exercise on your own. You can even earn prizes for participation. Pretty cool!

Yesterday, except for the gumdrops, I ate well--cereal for breakfast, yogurt, pretzels, and cherry tomatoes for lunch, almonds and string cheese for snack, and pasta with ham and peas for dinner (o.k., THAT wasn't low-fat as it had a sauce made with butter and milk, but I kept my portion small). I didn't get to exercise at night (Dierdre called about the Ren Fest and we ended up talking all the way through my usual exercise time) but I walked for a half an hour at lunchtime.

I'm getting in the habit of not eating at work functions--the orientation this morning had bagels, of course, and I wasn't even tempted. Last week there were leftover sandwiches from some meeting--which I would have scarfed down a few months ago--and again it didn't even cross my mind to get one. So mentally I'm sticking with this pretty easily.

Achy and sore

Hey all!

I woke up this morning feeling miserable! I was so achy and sore, with a very sore throat. I decided to stay in bed an extra hour or two - and that seemed to help. I am not sure if it was because of the Renn Fest on Sunday or kickboxing last night, or that I am getting a bug - but I have been feeling it coming since Sunday night. I am at work now, but I may sneak out early today.

I was down to 208.4 today. Yippee! That is another 1.6 pounds - which is just about right (although I would like to see the REAL 1% of me which is 2.1 pounds!)

Today I am supposed to go to a lunch meeting at Valley View Farms. It is SO hard to pass up a free lunch - but I think I will skip the eating portion of the meeting. I will have to report back afterwards to let you know if I STUCK to that decision. I am not sure if it is a set menu - but if it is not I MAY order a soup for lunch. I will try for a low sodium, non-creamy soup. 8-)

166, I think?

I weighed myself when I got up and the scale said 165, which I didn't believe, given the week I had, and given that I was at 167 yesterday -- 2 pounds seemed to be a bit much. So I gave it a minute and weighed myself again, and it said 166. Then over the next fifteen minutes I weighed myself a few times, and it was 166 two more times, and then 165 again the last time. I'm more inclined to believe the 166, and maybe that makes a loss for next week more attainable!

Weigh in day

Today I was at 166. A gain from last week but it could have been worse considering the weekend that lead up to today's weigh in. I am determined to make up for it next weigh in day.

Just a daily update

I'll weigh in tomorrow and make that a post of its own -- I have discovered I have a hard time remembering what I ate after I slept on it, so it's easier to post at night. Today I had my usual breakfast, and then for lunch I had vanilla yogurt and a piece of toast with a bit of margarine. I had an apple for a snack, and then for dinner I had a frozen fish fillet (pre-grilled -- I microwaved it. They're pretty good, very easy, and only 100 calories apiece. I eat them when the kids have fish sticks) with a piece of whole wheat bread and margarine (again just a bit) and some bell pepper slices. And a glass of milk. I had a piece of leftover birthday cake for dessert -- definitely not good for the diet! -- and a very small glass of white wine.

I exercised tonight by doing my "Buns and Abs of Steel 2000" workout -- it's just a normal aerobics tape with lower body toning. I made the amazing discovery that the bike riding is doing some good! In the past this has felt like a pretty good workout, but today it was totally wimpy. Even the ab work, which I was dreading because I haven't been doing any, was no big deal. It's a beginners' workout tape, but usually I am a beginner when I do it. So I need to dig out (or buy) some harder tapes.

I'm not holding my breath that the scale will bring good news, but at least I'm starting to get back on track -- despite the cake!

My usual pitfalls

Hey all! Well - I am glad I was not the only one to have a rough weekend. I was running into my main pitfall all weekend - drinking!

I told you about Friday night. Saturday was a pretty good day for food - but then we went out that night. I had several drinks over the course of several hours. Sigh. But - as usual after drinking - the next morning I was down to 207.8!! I knew that was just temporary though. Sarah reported all of the yummies at the Renn Fest - three drinks, cheesecake on a stick, steak on a stake for me (instead of fish and chips). I then picked at Claire's fries - but Sarah kindly reminded me that those calories count too! Darn! I bought sugared almonds which I LOVE, but only ate a few and packaged the rest up into serving sizes of eight. So that will make them last longer and hopefully not show up on the scale as dramatically.

This morning I was up to 209.2 - which was OK since that was my previous low point. I just hope I can hold steady there - or maybe drop a bit by tomorrow. I have been VERY good eating today - cereal with skim milk, applesauce, tuna salad on multigrain with lots of lettuce (tuna was mixed with cottage cheese instead of blobs of mayo) veggie juice, cheese stick and wheat thins. That is pretty much my normal daily intake. Then Katie and I had grilled pork chops with brown rice and green beans for dinner. YUMMY!

Monday--back on track

Today I managed my food MUCH better than over the weekend. Raisin bread for breakfast, a ham sandwich on whole wheat for lunch with a pear and a banana as a snack. When I got home I did have another slice of rasin bread as a snack. Then I made spinach for dinner with the let's dish chicken, rice and broccoli which I think is yucky (I do not like anything with broccoli) so I ate one bite of chicken and Joe packed the rest up for lunch. He loves the dish, which is why I got it in the first place. I did have a small brownie for dessert. On the good side I stayed away from both the soda machine and the snack machine at work. That is something like 6 work days straight, which is really good for me. Those machines lure me somehow, and they are both trouble since they contain nothing but garbage food.

I am not sure if I will break even tomorrow, but we'll see what the scale says in the morning. I did exercise today--I tilled the ground under our deck stairs by hand and then planted a bunch of pachysandra. After that, I came in and did some strength training before I cooked dinner.

Well, it could have been worse

On Friday my weight was 169, after having been 166 on Thursday. Over the course of three days I did not see ONE whole grain, despite my best efforts! And the few vegetables I encountered were waaayyy overcooked, and heavily salted and cooked with fat. Ugh. But today I was 167, so the effect of three days of unhealthy eating was only a one pound upswing. With any luck I can avoid eating badly today, and then tomorrow my weight will be no worse than it is today, which puts me at a net gain of zero for the week (but also a net loss of zero; oh, well).

The family reunion food was worse than I anticipated. I ate the bacon-cooked green beans because they were the only green vegetables on the table. I also served myself some mashed potatoes because I figured they'd be better for me than the croissant-based sandwiches (heavy on cheese and mayo, too) but I was mistaken -- they were a mashed potato casserole! There were bits of things in them -- hard boiled eggs, maybe? They were nasty. So I didn't eat them (as far as I could tell, nobody did -- even Daniel's mother commented on how awful they were, and she's the least picky eater I know). So I had no bread-type foods with the meal. Just a few slices of ham and some oversalted, soggy, fat green beans. I did drink water, at least. But I let myself have dessert and got a little carried away -- I started with a tiny piece of very scrumptious peach cobbler and one cookie, but then I had another cookie and some of the best homemade ice cream ever (but only a fraction of what I could have eaten). Yum. For dinner on Saturday night there were burgers and chips, so I ate a hamburger (no cheese) on a bun (white, of course; I don't think they make whole wheat anything in Alabama), with about four tortilla chips. And a glass of skim milk.

I confess that while I was reading on Saturday afternoon I ate four of the Rolos that were in a bowl in our room. I'm only human.

For Sunday breakfast we had orange juice, scrambled eggs, white biscuits, and bacon. I drank the 4 ounces of OJ offered and I ate one piece of bacon, a very small spoonful of eggs, and one biscuit (well, with a little strawberry preserves, but no butter). I was really trying! I also ate a handful of the grapes that were out for the kids. On the way home we stopped at an exit where we realized we'd stopped several times before because it has a lot of places to go -- and then we remembered that the McDonald's was gross and the Wendy's took twenty minutes to get together a simple order, and its bathrooms weren't clean. So we went into the Subway and walked right back out (really, really gross) and wound up at Arby's. I had a roast beef sandwich and no fries and water to drink -- I couldn't get excited about their salads or baked potato, and figured the roast beef wasn't really less healthy than grilled chicken, though I don't recall seeing grilled chicken on this particular Arby's menu. We're never going to that exit again.

We got home late so we reheated the veal scaloppine for dinner. I ate a small portion of the pasta. It was all very yummy (but not whole grain, and this one was my own fault). I also had a beer (really my own fault).

I got no exercise the whole weekend. I meant to go out for a walk after the reunion but it genuinely slipped my mind. I was annoyed with myself later -- I could have used the exercise not just to burn the calories but to get my body feeling more normal. Eating like this makes me feel so gross even when I'm not on a diet.

Now we're not traveling until Thanksgiving, but at that point we're spending a week there (Daniel has a talk to give at UAH the Friday before Thanksgiving, so we'll be going up for that and just staying through). I am really, really dreading the food. I know I can manage a decent breakfast -- they do keep OJ and skim milk on hand, and there's usually some kind of cereal buried in the pantry -- I just couldn't eat it this weekend because there were planned, everybody-eats-together breakfasts both days and it would have been rude to eat something else when these were supposed to be treats! But during other long visits I've been able to have my usual breakfast, so that will be fine. We'll have sandwiches for lunch most days, so I can probably scare up some whole-wheat bread for those; it's just dinner that will be an issue, and I guess I'll just have to take smaller portions and do what I can to eat reasonably.

Miscalculations

Since I knew we were going to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday and I also know that my primary purpose in going each year is to eat food and drink drinks I don't normally get to have, I decided to be responsible about it this year--first I decided to up my walk/run on Saturday and Sunday by a half mile each day, then to decrease my intake all day Saturday and Sunday morning so that I started the Festival with a calorie deficit. Then I decided to really be prepared and check the calorie count of the stuff I wanted to eat--fish & chips, cheesecake on a stick, and cider. Found out that all told, it would be 1157 calories I'd be taking in--nearly my total for an entire day!

So my first miscalculation was the total calories. I didn't figure on Connor (and others) helping to eat the fish & chips, bringing my total intake at the ren. fest. down by 200 calories. And I also didn't figure on the extra calories I'd burn by walking around the festival, carrying either a heavy bag or a heavy child the whole time. So I figured with those two things factored in, I could eat (or more accurately, drink) more. But my real miscalculation was what the effects of three drinks would be on me when I hadn't eaten much at all for 24 hours! Last year, three drinks would have been just a good start--this year they nearly did me in. But boy, it was fun!

And I think my total calories for the day was well within my normal intake--all I had for dinner was spinach salad. And today my weight was down to under 153 pounds! I hope it stays like that for tomorrow.

Yikes! The Wrong Way!

I have been MIA for a fews days because we have been in Ocean City. While the weekend was a lot of fun, it was completely anti-healthy living. I think the only green thing I consumed all weekend was a bottle of Mike's Lime flavored hard lemonade. Friday was especially bad--there was very little food in the house so I had oreos for breakfast. Then I was the only girl in the office Friday and the boys wanted to go to Pizza Hut for lunch. I didn't do too bad there--2 slices of pizza--one plain cheese and one with tomatos and pineapple. Then Joe & I split the 2 hamburger McD's meal on the way to OC. I will proudly say that is only the 2nd time I have eaten at McD's this year. I watched Super Size Me in late January and have been totally put off by the place since. Then we got to OC and found Terry & Jason & Matt & Rachel and I had 2 red, fruity drinks, a mudslide and something else that I can't really remember. Then we got on the drunk bus to go back to our hotel but it went the wrong way and took us out of OC. That was pretty funny. Especially since we ran down the street to catch it in the first place. Then every one was hungry so Sandra ordered papa john's and I drunkly ate 2 slices with that icky butter crap. I remember thinking how gross it was as I ate it but I was also half laying in the floor just eating out of the box so there was definitely no rational thoughts going through my head to stop anything. I am glad I don't drink often. I think that adds up to about 10,000 total calories for Friday alone.

Saturday we walked from 25th St to 5th St to eat at the Dough Roller. I had blueberry pancakes. Then we walked back. After a nap, we all went to Phillips Seafood Buffet where we all engorged ourselves. I must say I do not want seafood again for a long time. I am not even sure if I can write everything I ate because it sort of turns my stomach to even think about it. Crab soup...steamed shrimp, fried shrimp, crab cakes, crab imperial, chicken wings...and some alfredo seafood thing was truly was delicious. Terry got it and couldn't eat it so I had some and then Joe had some and we still threw half of it away. It was too rich to eat more than 4 bites of. Joe & I didn't eat as much as everyone else. I think Sandra & Rachel may have put the Alaskan King Crab on the endangered species list...

Sunday breakfast was a sausage & egg sandwich from Wawa with a tea, cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese for lunch, ham salad sandwich for dinner and a candy apple from the farm market.

So total up that weekend and I think it lands me 3 pounds up from where I was last Tuesday. I am certain I will not break even in 2 days. At the same time I am not eating like that again anytime soon. I went to the farm market today and got some veggies and fruit. Wednesday Marian & I are going to Let's Dish for the October stock up. That place is a really nice way to control portions. I also decided that I am not eating out AT ALL this week.

BLAH! I hate that I couldn't eat better this weekend, but I guess that will happen from time to time, and is especially likely when you are with a large group of people who pay no attention to what they consume alcohol or food wise.

de-thatching

Today I ate my usual breakfast and lunch, but I was so busy I skipped my almonds snack. For dinner I had leftover shrimp with broccoli in wine sauce with pasta--never as good the second day! Also had a green salad. I caught up with the almonds two hours later, when I was hungry again. I am planning a bowl of cereal at bedtime.

For exercise I spent an hour or so stuggling with a de-thatching rake, trying to get rid of the moss in the front yard. I filled one big black trash bag and two smaller fertilizer bags, and I was whupped when I quit!

This morning my weight was 148. I suppose it is too much to hope that it will go down tomorrow!

My week

Sorry it's been a while since I posted--new job and child care crisis (still not completely resolved) kept me busy most days.

I'm keeping to my diet and exercise routine with no problems (even managing a work party with little effort--I ate the fruit and one cookie instead of lots of cookies and one piece of melon as I would have in the past!). A couple of nights this week I didn't have the opportunity to do my pilates videos (because Connor was up late and I've discovered I can't do these videos with him around or he uses me as a human jungle gym) so I did other exercises instead--crunches, squats, triceps dips, etc.--for about 20 minutes each night. This morning I increased the distance I covered during my walk by about a half a mile (so up to 3.5 miles) and ran part of the way. I discovered that Boudreux's Butt Paste slathered on my toes prevents blisters. Great stuff, that. Unfortunately, they're still out of commission from Hurricane Katrina so I'm worried that my supply will run out! We're also investing in a used jogging stroller so I can walk with the kids in the evenings.

My weight is still dropping, not daily, but still enough that I think I'm on the right track. For those with worries about having hit a plateau (although I agree with Amy that it isn't a plateau unless you've been there for a couple of weeks) the obvious thing to do is kick your exercise up a bit and cut more calories. Also keep careful track of your intake--it's easy to go way beyond your limit without being aware of it. Most diets I've read say that 1400 to 1500 calories a day is optimal for weight loss. There's an article in one of the Fitness magazines about weight loss plateaus (plateaux?)--I'll see if I can find it.

Katie, I'm in the same boat that I'm not sure what my starting weight was. There seems to be a 3 pound difference between my old scale and new, which would put my starting weight at 160, but that feels like cheating to me, so I'm using 158 as my starting weight, which was what I weighed at my annual physical in the winter. What I'm really looking forward to is breaking the 150 pound mark, but that's still several pounds away.

I hate traveling...

I don't mind the travel itself, but my body doesn't respond well to travel under the best of circumstances. I always end up constipated even if I *am* eating well, and I seldom do eat well on trips because the normal food options just aren't available. This morning for breakfast the options were blueberry muffins (which I love, but which aren't healthy -- white flour and fattening) and "little dogs" (mini-sausages inna bun, which I don't love but which I don't mind, and yet still aren't healthy -- very high fat, and white flour biscuits) and no hope of fiber anywhere. I did have a glass of skim milk -- Daniel's mother always thoughtfully buys skim for me, even though no one else in the house drinks it.

Yesterday morning I saw a scary 169 on the scale. I am sure I didn't actually gain three pounds; I only had about 2500 calories on Thursday, according to MyPyramid (which I don't entirely trust, but even so it was less than 3000) which is less than a pound and only about 500-700 calories more than I should be having. But I think the weight of the food itself was still in me. And from how I'm feeling now I suspect it's still in me! I can't weigh myself until we're home, so that means I have to live with that 169 for three straight days. That's good motivation for eating as well as I can over the weekend!

Yesterday I had my usual breakfast, and then for lunch we went to Wendy's. Wendy's salads aren't as good as McDonald's, but I ordered a BLT salad and avoided the B as much as possible (and the cheese, too). I did eat dressing but the whole packet was 120 calories and I didn't have the whole packet. There were no croutons, either. I had two graham crackers for a snack during the drive (after comparing them to the nutter butters -- one nutter butter is the same number of calories as four graham crackers) and I drank water. For dinner we had spaghetti (just ground beef in sauce -- no veggies, I'm afraid; Daniel and I always sneak in green peppers) and even though someone else served the plates I convinced myself (with myself kicking and screaming inside over this) that I do NOT have to eat everything I'm served, especially once I'm full! This is very hard for me to do -- I always clean my plate. I also ate half a roll (white again -- doesn't this family believe in whole grains?) and a small caesar salad.

Now we're off to the reunion -- I'll see if I can find healthy food among the fried chicken and bacon-cooked green beans!

Off to Class

Hey all! I am on my way off to my Saturday class. I must say - any thoughts of working on my masters have pretty much left - and this is only my third class! Ugh! I would much rather stay in bed this morning.

I did, however, do 90 crunches when I got up. Katie and I both feel like we are negelecting our abs - so, maybe I will make this part of my routine.

Last night Katie and I did Let's Dish. She then went out to dinner with Charles (it was their 1 year anniversary) and I stayed home and had a really yummy Guaco Taco burger. I also made the blueberry buckle. I only had about 1/2 a serving - but it was still a lot. So - I over indulged a bit last night. BUT! My weight was exactly the same this morning. I need to do something to get the ball rolling again. Maybe after class I will do some research on how to get past a slump. (Although officially it isn't a slump because it has only been a few days... On TUESDAY we will know if it is a slump - although, even THAT we would have to be plateaued for a few weigh-in days before it counts as a real plateau.)