Plus 1

Last evening, after dinner, laundry and reading “Goodnight Opus” to the small child that resides in my household for the 210th time the Mr. suggested that we take a walk/stroll. Now the level of fitness needed for this walk varies and depends on whether the small child will stay in her wagon or insists on clambering out and “walking” with us. If she pretends that she likes being chauffeured around then we can go at a pretty fast clip, if she insists on walking then it is more along the lines of a stroll/stop since she either walks on her tiptoes or heels and since she is only about 3 ft tall that means an extreme snails pace. So the child DID want to participate in the walk last night for about half of the distance out. Coming back we convinced her that it would be better to ride, especially since she fell down and skinned her hand and knee while trying to walk on her heels on broken asphalt – we were able to jog back to make up for just strolling half of the way out. Then when we got home, for some strange reason, I decided that I needed to hop on the treadmill for another mile to make it an even 3 for the day.

**insert maniacal laughing here**

While on the treadmill and about 75% of the way through what I thought was mile #3 I realized that I had miss-calculated my mileage so far and instead of only logging 2 miles that I had already logged a bit more than 3 miles so actually this was mile #4 and not mile #3. Goofy, goofy, goofy – I thought exercising was supposed to release good endorphins that made you smarter not dumber. What the hell – I went ahead and finished mile #4 then hopped in the tub for some splash time with the small child that resides in my house because everyone knows that letting a 3 yr old wash your hair is just more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Was up a pound this morning and just have to scritch my head over that as I got in a bit over 4 miles and 30 minutes of weight lifting yesterday along with the 3 floors of stairs at the gym, the 6 floors at the parking garage and the “I don’t know how many” at the house putting up laundry. Oh well, I’m going to keep going and try to get in 4 miles today or more if possible. Monday’s & Wednesdays will be running/weights during lunch, Tuesday & Thursday will be strictly running at lunch and Friday will be yoga along with extra running/strolling at night every night I can fit it in until I can fit in. The loop by the house is 1.6 miles, best I can figure it using MapIt and I really need to locate the durn GPS so that I can get an accurate account of that trail. Once the lake goes down I will have a 3.6 mile track out and back along the bike path now if I can just talk the small child into getting into and staying in the jogging stroller it will be even better. If not then the little bitch can just stay home with her dad on the nights he doesn’t go.

I’ve been tracking my activity level, all of it not just the actual exercise stuff and I’m starting to suspect that maybe my calorie level is a bit low and that I just might be throwing my body into starvation mode which would explain the gain and not loss after yesterday’s activities. I’m going to try to fit an apple into the daily menu and the best I can tell right now I’m burning almost 3500 calories with Basal, lifestyle and activities but am consuming between 1200 & 1350 with my fiber grams up around 35 grams a day and since I’m having issues with my body hording the food and not letting it pass back out it sure feels like this body is just hanging on for dear life. I’m going to up the fiber a bit and the calories to see if that doesn’t help move things along.

Hop! Skip! and a Jump!

Hopped over to the gym for lunch today and managed to get in 20 minutes on the treadmill and 25 minutes lifting weights. I broke it up by walking 10 minutes then lifting weights (2 circuits) then went back to the treadmill for another 10 minutes at a 3.7 mph pace just to shake things out. My arms and legs are shaky now and I have a slight headache but suspect that it is due to the old body adjusting to the no carbs/alcohol/sugar today rather than the exercising.

Didn't see a drop on the scales this morning but really didn't expect one since I certainly DIDN'T behave at all this weekend and drank about 50 beers (not really but it felt like it). I'm going to have to do doubletime now in order to make up for the indulgence but it was worth it and fun times were had by all. I laughed so much that my stomach still hurts. I can probably just hop on the treadmill again tonight for another 2.5 throw in some gardening in the mix then get up and hit the trail again tomorrow morning along with the usual fixing of dinner and doing laundry that is a nightly occurance and everything should be just fine. My rings and bra are looser today so all of the walking around and chasing of the 3 yr old I did this weekend along with all of the trips up and down the 4 stairs getting into and out of the RV and the 3 stairs that lead up to the bathroom inside the RV probably helped offset some of the damage.

Really hoping to drop down into the 170sompthin this week so might just have to "bust a nut" the rest of the week in order to move this along.

Currently have consumed 915 calories with 33 grams of fiber

Oh yeah!! Baby!!

Goody, goody Gum-Drops!

Saw 180 on the ole scales this morning and it really isn’t hard to believe that I’ve lost over 2 lbs in blood due to the number of pads I’ve managed to rip through in the last 2 days.

But I will take it – any kind of a loss is good.

Did yoga today and all I can say is it is kick-ass! I was actually sweating by the time class was over with and my arms and legs were shaky. I’m going again on Monday so that means I really need to kick it in gear and get my fat ass up and run – either in the morning or I just need to take time in the evenings to get my 2.5 miles in or I won’t ever reach my goal of 100 miles in 45 days. Plan on getting in some hiking this weekend at the trails around the lake so that should help and I hope to see another pound lost by Monday – maybe I can just leave it out at the lake along with some recycled beers.

One hundred and eight two

YEAH - crawled up on the scales this AM and finally this shit is starting to move South and I saw 182. Also finally started my fucking assed period yesterday afternoon! Finished yesterday with 1600 calories, 44 grams of Fiber and less than 30 grams of fat am sitting at 987 calories with 37 grams fiber and 19 grams of fat so far today. According to Fitday I have already burned almost 3000 calories with the run and my regular activities, like climbing stairs, so that combined with all this fiber should help the produce to move through my system faster than its normal sluggish snails pace. I'm going to have to get up and run before work tomorrow because I promised a co-worker that I would do Yoga with him at lunch and the Mr. booked us a RV site out at Mineral Wells State Park where they have an 11 mile loop worth of hiking trails which means I have to bust my ass home from work so that we can then haul the RV West. Tonight will be spent packing out the RV for the weekend's festivities and I promised my daughter that I would take her to “Play Park” tonight if she let me put her hair in pigtails this morning so after the RV packing I’m either going to have to pull her to the one in the neighborhood in her wagon or drive to the big one that has the water area down the road a bit.

On the food front I am putting Tabasco on just about everything (except the oatmeal and that is certainly a thought) and I found this awesome instant black bean soup at Tom Thumb that has 14 grams of fiber and only 180 calories. The soup is the kind that I can just keep in my drawer here at work then pour in some hot water 20 dashes of Tabasco and drink it about 30 minutes before I go run so that I’m not starving my fat ass off thinking about food the whole time I’m at the gym. Healthy Choice also carries the little meals that have about 270 calories and 5 grams of fiber which are just great for eating around 2:30 – 3 so that once again I’m not starving my fat ass off after running gasping for breath for 30 minutes.

The weird thing is that even though I’m not seeing the scales move dramatically what I AM seeing is my wedding ring is looser and my bras are looser – damn boobs are not the first things to grow when I gain weight but damn sure are the first area to shrink when I lose.

There she blows

183 still shows on the scales this morning. I'm wondering why I punish myself by weighing said self 2 or 3 times a day since I only go off of the firstthinginthemorningbladderdrainedcough weight. I did manage to take a big ole shit yesterday morning - it felt good and was about the size of an arm. Took another one this morning and I swear that the women of this company must've been on the same schedule because there were 4 of us in there taking a dump at the same time. You can always tell when a woman needs to shit and has company - she will always pee and then just sit there until everyone else leaves to release that shit.

Not me - I shat and got the shat out of there.

Currently have consumed 896 calories and 35 grams of fiber so am hoping to get some more of this stuff out of my system tonight. Sure would like to see the scales inch their way back South. I got in another 2.4 miles on the treadmill at lunch and will try to fit in another 2 or so tonight. Didn't walk last night partly because my knee was swollen and partly because I was feeling like a slug and was just so tired. I think it is all in my mind though so I'm going to think that I'm NOT tired tonight to see if that gets me anywhere.

How F*cking frustrating is this?

Went for a brisk walk last night, pushing my daughter and Zeep in the jogging stroller I was drenched by the time I made it back to the house. The best I can tell, from mapping it out, it was close to 2 miles so I counted 1 ½ miles on the ticker tracker above to add to the 100 miles in 45 days. The Mr. smarted off when I told him that my goal was 100 in 45 days – he said something like “That’s nothing, you can walk more than 100 miles in that length of time”. It both hurt my feelings and pissed me off. Sometimes I don’t know how to take things that are said – I don’t really think he was saying it to be mean but rather think it was just a guy response and if I had been a guy it wouldn’t have bothered me in the least. He is right because 100 miles in 45 days is only 2.22 miles a day and I can do more than that but really am not sure just how much I can do so I put the 100 miles up there because it is a nice, fat, round number.

The frustrating part is that when I climbed on the scales this morning I’m up 1 ½ pounds. My eating yesterday was fine with nothing bad in it and I didn’t drink any alcohol last night so the increase in poundage is rather frustrating this early in the game as I expected that I would at least see a pound move in the other direction. I don’t want to be in the 180’s anymore and really want to see 170somethin soon. I know that part of it is due to the fact that my period is now 3 days late (was supposed to start Saturday) and I can feel that my body is hanging on to everything last bite I eat. My water consumption was up around 96 ounces yesterday with 2 glasses of tea thrown in, 1 green tea with ginger and 1 white tea with orange both served over ice because lets face it – it is just too damn hot here in Texas to be consuming hot tea. Sometimes my body does this strange thing where I won’t poop for 4 or 5 days or if I do it is little rabbit turds so I know that there is more waste up there that is just hanging out and fermenting for now.

The plan of attack has been formulated and implemented.

I consumed microwavable lunch for breakfast instead of my usual oatmeal because it had 13 grams of fiber and I brought some packages of Metamucil with me so will be drinking one this morning and one this afternoon which will make my fiber intake around 20 grams and I also have some dried apricots that I’m going to be munching on because lets face it – nothing will get your system moving like a bit of fiber. 6 apricots has 4 grams of fiber so if I can munch 6 this morning and 6 after lunch that will take the fiber up to 28 grams not including the grilled chicken and asparagus (3 grams per 5.3 ounce serving, plus it contains folic acid) for lunch and whatever I’m eating for dinner. Right now I’m thinking that dinner needs to be a big salad with lots of raw veggies and something low-fat and tasty as the dressing.

The other day I set some low-fat yogurt in cheesecloth and put it in the fridge overnight to drain, it got nice and thick, then last night I chopped up a chili and stirred in some of the adobo sauce it is nice and spicy so I think that I’m going to add some balsamic vinegar and olive oil to it for a spicy dressing for the big ole salad mentioned above. Then, depending on how much I have or have NOT pooped today it might involve another glass of Metamucil for dessert later on tonight.

The other part of the plan is to log 3.0 miles a lunch today (did 2.62 yesterday) and make sure that I get in 2.5 tonight either walking through the neighborhood or on the treadmill – depending on the weather and if I walk outside then I’m going to try to implement some weights as well and or get the spare bedroom straightened up and unpack some more boxes which will be the equivalent of lifting weights.

I’m convinced that the not eating that I didn’t do years ago really jacked my system up and it probably still thinks that I’m in starvation mode. Now all I have to do is convince it that I’m not that it is ok to eat and lose weight at the same damn time.

Till the cows come home

I did 2.62 today at the old mill. Shook it up a bit by walking for 5 minutes at a 4.0 pace to warm up then ran for 3 minutes bumped up to a 4.7 mph pace then walked for 3 minutes back at 4.0, lather rinse and repeat! Until I had logged 30 minutes on the treadmill then I slowed it down to about 3.0 for a bit because I have developed this horrible trait of turning beat red when I attempt to run and it takes about 30 minutes for my face color to return to normal. It is so bad that when I’m walking back to the office building people look at me like they don’t know if I’m about to pass out or if I just got a bad sunburn. I was trying to bring my heart rate down so hopefully my face wouldn’t be so red. HRMPH! It didn’t work. A friend at work suggested getting in the sauna for a couple of minutes right after I run. She said that she does this and it heats her body up so that when she gets out she cools down fast.

I didn’t get up the gumption to log any miles on the ole mill at home but I also didn’t sit down. We hung pictures, cleaned house, did laundry, mowed, weed-ate and then Saturday nite drove out to a friend’s house for a party where I chased 2 3-yr olds around and pushed them on the swings for about 45 hours. Not really but my arms were a bit sore Sunday and when I was adding it up all-in-all I probably pushed them for an hour and a half (but not all at the same time) that and I lifted them up into the trampoline and back down, so consider it lifting 30 lb arm weights multiple times. Sunday was more of the same – cleaning, moving a couch upstairs, vacuuming, mopping, laundry, and dishes. We grilled chicken boobies and asparagus for dinner last night so that was lunch today and that along with the rosemary polenta I made last week will be dinner tonight. Since it is leftovers I plan on going down to the walking trail, by our new house, to see where it leads and to test out the jogging stroller. Now all I need to do is find that damn GPS so that I can figure out how far the trail is.

I don’t remember struggling so much to start running back in 1991 as it seems to be this time around. Of course, the 50+ lbs that I’m carrying now wouldn’t have anything to do with it, would it? The other thing I’m noticing is that back then I absolutely HATED running, hated it with a passion but for some strange reason I did it religiously and wouldn’t even allow myself a day off – for any reason – I even ran on holiday when we went to Vegas and Myrtle Beach, probably because I was afraid that if I had a day off I wouldn’t start back. This time around I actually like it and am enjoying the soreness in my legs – at least I’m alive and healthy enough to exercise and feel the soreness.

The weight didn’t move a bit, either way, this weekend but I did have alcohol Friday, Saturday and again last night and Saturday I had some potato chips. Apparently Lays has come out with some new ones Rosemary and Herb and the Mr. bought me some because he knows that I have a chip fetish and he thought that I would like them. They were rather yummy but I did mindlessly munch on them, while talking to him, on the way out to our friend’s house and then back – my tummy was messed up from it and I could feel the grease coating my mouth and they sat rather heavy in my stomach. So while I will enjoy chips again I will take a handful out, close up the bag and stop and actually enjoy each and every bite. I was due to start my monthly yesterday and while I’m feeling a bit crampy (probably explains Chipfest 2007 on Saturday nite) I still haven’t started so expect that once I start I will see the scales move down a bit. Currently at 180.5 and sure would like to break out of the 180’s and be 170sompthin!

Ran out of my Kashi oatmeal this morning and had 1 package of Quakers Weight Control – it was too sweet for me and all I could taste was the artificial sweetener so I poured a bunch of cinnamon in it trying to kill the sweet taste and finally remembered that I have a bag of Bobs Red Mill 5 grain hot cereal in my desk drawer so I cut it with some of that, which made it bearable and the Bobs Red Mill has flaxseed in it so that was a bonus and will be a bonus later when the bowels move. I have some flaxseed, ground up, in the fridge at home so I just need to get in the routine of packing a bit up to add to my oatmeal each morning when I pack up my lunch every morning.

I’m munching on a big bowl of blueberries, grapes, kiwi and strawberries right now and will probably have to pee in a minute as I downed 32 ounces of water this morning and am already half-way though my afternoon glass.

Deuce and a half for a girl and a half

I walked 2.5 miles at lunch for a total of 7.2 this week, which I feel good about for only having walked 3 days. That “92.8 miles left to go” on the ticker tracker sure as hell looks daunting though, will be happy when I see the 92.8 on the walking side and not on the “left to go” side. I walked at a 4.0/mph pace but since I’m tall and have long legs that is barely a fast walk. Managed to bump it up to 4.5 and jog a little for 10 minutes, the knee started having pains in it when I first bumped it up but subsided pretty quickly – quickly enough for me to keep jogging for the other 4:48 minutes. I’m sure that the ole knee will swell and will need some ice on it tonight.

And the owner of the knee might need a glass of wine to go with her glass of whine.

Strongly thinking about doing a beginners yoga class tomorrow morning at 10:45 am but also have tentative plans to go out to a friends place which is far enough away that it pretty much is a full day trip – either that or we will haul the RV and stay the night. I’m sure there will be tasty adult beverages involved but I’m not going to worry about the food plan/diet right now – just concentrate on moving this body as much as possible. Going to either hop on the treadmill tonight for another 2.5 or take my daughter for a walk to “Play Park” (what she calls any park that has playground equipment – thank you Dora the Whora) pulling her and 10 zillion stuffed animals in her wagon and then tomorrow morning will either be another 2.5 on the treadmill or the yoga – depending on when we need to leave to head West young man.

I’m sure the rest of the day will consist of chasing 2 – 3 yr olds around.

This is the year of the NO MORE EXCUSES – I need to be healthier physically so that I can be healthier mentally. I wish that I hadn’t stopped running all those years ago because both my mental and physical health took a slow decline until we were crazy.

I will NOT have chocolate today

I put cinnamon in my oatmeal because somewhere, sometime ago, I read that cinnamon will increase your metabolism – sometimes I put it into my coffee as well. I eat oatmeal for breakfast almost every day – the Kashi kind that has lots of fiber and is low on sugars

I drink lots and lots of plain herbal tea (sometimes with lemon) because I read that the tea would speed up your metabolism – that plus sometimes I get the added bonus of the lemon flushing out my system. It causes me to dump – it only works sometimes though. Rarely, if ever, do I drink soft drinks – probably less than 1 12-oz can a month but do usually consume 96 ounces of water (or more) a day. All this tea and water equates into many, many trips to the bathroom which I just look at like it is more exercise.

I try to keep my fiber intake up around 30 to 40 grams a day because I read somewhere that the more fiber you take in the more calories that are excreted in your stool and lets just face it – more stool is better stool– at least in my stool book. I eat lots of crisp veggies and at least 1 apple a day.

So I walked 2.2 miles yesterday on the treadmill at the gym at lunch and then because we were installing Elfa Shelving in my daughter’s closet I went up and down the stairs at the house about 25 times. Our staircase has 16 steps so 16 x 25 = 400 steps and that doesn’t include the 3 floors I climb up to get to the gym and the fact that (yesterday) I started parking 2 floors up (on the 6th floor) at the parking garage and taking the stairs down in the morning and back up in the afternoon. I have always taken the stairs but just added 2 more floors into the mix.

I have maintained this weight loss for a while (loss 22 lbs 1 ½ years ago) so really just feel like all I need to do is move my fluffy butt in order to start seeing the scales recede. I’m going to up the speed a bit on the treadmill at lunch today to see if I can get in 3 or more miles. This I’m going to try for the next 44 days (as yesterday was day 45 or day 1 however you look at it) and see where I stand or actually where I weigh at the end of August (which just so happens to be 45 days from yesterday). Last time I lost weight I use the Glycemic Index food plan (diet) and NO exercise and lost the 22 lbs in about 3 months AND those 3 months included Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas). If the scales haven’t moved to my satisfaction at the end of the 100 miles in 45 days challenge then I might start back on the Glycemic Index food plan to see if that makes enough of a difference. My thyroid doesn’t function properly and while I do take Armour out of all of the food plans I have tried I felt the most satisfied and healthy on the Glycemic Index.

So explain to me while the scale was up 1.5 lbs from yesterday when I waddled onto it this morning and why I’m absolutely fucking starving today? My rings are looser meaning I can actually spin it around on my finger instead of just staring at the puffy flesh being pudged out on either side wishing that I could take them off. I’m going to up the speed on the treadmill today and try to run to see if I still can.

I really would like to be running again but also realize that after this much time, at this age and weight and having had knee surgery back in February that I really need to start out slowly and cautiously so that I don’t injure myself and have a setback.

FIRE IN THE A-HOLE

Ok, lets fire this little puppy back up and see what we (we being I, of course) can do about finally getting this weight-loss thangie going again and finally loose those pesky little pounds

all 40.5 of them!

New neat little Ticker Tracker at the top = my goal is to do 100 miles in 45 days, which amounts to about 2.22222222222222 miles a day and is totally doable (is that REALLY a word or should it be do-able). In reality I plan on walking about 4 miles a day, most days, but did NOT really want to see 200 miles in 45 days in black and white on this blog. I totally understand that I might not be able to get in 4 miles on some days or even walk at all as travel plans are in the works right now but still wanted to put a goal out there and then just track my mileage to see how many miles I CAN walk in 45 days . . .

Then see if I can beat it the next 45 days!

Even if it is only by a mile or two.

I did 2.2 at lunch today, because this neat little company I work for sponsors my membership to the gym and just so happens to conveniently be located right across the street from the durn thing. I can guarantee at least 2 miles during lunch - most days and that just leaves me having to fit in 2 more either early morning or late evening. I also need to clean up the spare room, move things around, because right now the tread on my mill is folded up and against the wall and there isn't enough room to move it out so I can fold it down and utilize it for something other than a extremely expensive clothes rack or dust-gatherer.

I would like to get back into running and am seriously considering doing the Lukes Lockeroom thangie so that I will be on a "program" and accountable because apparently the motivation to do this myself has just flown the coop. We recently purchased and moved into a house in another city and there is a Bikram Yoga place by my new house that I'm looking into. The durn thing cost about $139 a month and that is their discount fee IF you have it set up as Auto Debit - un-Auto debit (meaning cash or check) is $170 (the bastards!!!!!) and we really need to adjust to the increase in $$$$$ for the house payment before I go saying that I need $200 a month for yoga. So right now will just concentrate on the walking 100 miles in 45 days (or less) and look back into the yoga thing in a couple of months - maybe I will ask for a month for my birthday from the Mr., my parents and his parents so that will give me at least 3 months worth of yoga.

Eating really isn't bad as I don't drink soft-drinks of any kind and don't use sugar in my tea or coffee or eat sweets. Have lots of veggies and fruit so really don't feel like I need to adjust the eating right now maybe just do a bit of tweaking to it. Really I just need to get my fluffy ass up off the couch and moving.