Nine

Got 9 miles in yesterday.

Not all at once but over the course of the day in 2 mile or 2.5 mile chunks so figured that I ramped up the ole metabolism 4 different times yesterday for a total of about an hour and a half worth of cardio. My hamstrings are tight today and I'm a bit sore but it is a good kind of sore not a hurt kind of sore. I was playing games while on the treadmill and kept bumping up the incline every minute then when I couldn't take it anymore I finished out that minute then started bumping it back down. Then a seperate time I was on the treadmill I ramped it up to 5.3 mph and ran that for 4 minutes then took it back down to 4.3 for 3 minutes, lather, rinse, repeat until the 2.5 miles were done. Was sweating like a pig when I got finished and the heart rate monitor said that my pulse was up to 178 but that is what showers are for.

Today is 5 miles plus weights and I'm also thinking about adding some free weights with arm exercises on Saturday since I'm planning on running both days.

I did it!

Ok - managed to get in 4 more miles last nite for a total of 5 yesterday. Was planning on getting up at 5am this morning but got up late so only managed 2.5 this morning with another 3 (or more) planned for lunch. That will bring me to a total of 5 for today too and then if I can fit in another 2 tonight it will get me the 7 that I planned on getting today. Saw 172 on the scales this morning and I swear that I can feel the fat burning away from my hips and thighs. The pants I'm wearing today are practically falling off of me and I had to keep my hand in my pocket to hold them up while walking in to work today.

I don't mind working out twice a day and my thinking is this - after you work out not only do you benefit from the workout but you also get an 'after-burn' effect where your body still burns calories at a higher rate for a while. I'm thinking that working out twice a day will cause my metabolism to ramp up twice a day therefore burn more calories. I don't know which one to believe as my treadmill showed that I burnt twice the calories this morning than fitday.com did when I keyed in my exercise.

I'm dropping off my sewing machine to have it cleaned and worked on tonight because I think that I can limp along my clothes for a couple of more pounds lost simply by taking them in at the waist and putting darts in them. I'm just not willing to go drop money on clothes right now because I want to see exactly what a difference the working out twice a day will make at the end of 2 weeks. I'm only 2 pounds away from my October 1st goal and am really wondering if I can lose 2 lousy pounds in 5 days that plus my goal is to log at least 25 miles this week and hopefully it will be closer to 30. I'm going to go ahead and run Saturday & Sunday because that is a part of this experiment.

I am really on point now because NASCAR will be here the first week in November and I really want people to notice or at least see a difference since I only see some of them twice a year. I think that the more I lose and the more muscle I build will only help speed up the metabolism and cause me to lose even more. Don't really have a final weight goal in mind as I figure that my body will settle on what weight it wants to be - I just want my thighs to quit rubbing together.

Goals

173 - ok that puts me just 3 lbs away from being 170 and I'm wondering, since it is a goal to reach 170 by the first of October, if I can manage to lose 3 lbs in 1 measly week. I think I'm going to try something - I'm finally going to start the 2-a-days for the next 2 weeks just to see how much of a difference it will make. The schedule will be 5 miles on Monday, Wednesday & Friday along with weights on Mon & Wed and Yoga on Friday and 7 miles on Tuesday & Thursday. The 2-a-days will consist of 4 miles in the morning (or evening since I didn't manage to get up and run this morning) and then 1 mile on the weight lifting days to warm up and another 3 miles at lunch on Tues & Thurs. Not really going to worry about weekends since, while I don't run I also don't sit down with chasing a 3 yr old and housework.

Another .5

Ok - have seen 174 for a couple of days now so I will finally start to believe it.

Life just got busier and I'm struggling to get my exercise in. I think that I just need to pencil it in my calendar and make it an appointment. Also need to do a bit of better planning and get my slug-ass up and exercise in the morning when I know that the gym at lunch is impossible because trying to fit in exercise at night just doesn't work with 2 kids at home and a new house that seems to need something done every night.

I never started the 2-a-days but figure if I can start it now that still gives me 6 weeks until Race weekend so maybe I can still see a significant loss (I mean besides the 12 lbs lost so far). I am busy and 'active' but just don't think that the activity is the same as exercising. The area I need to target the most right now is my waistline - my hips don't really exist and there isn't much difference in the tape measure between my waist and hips so I need to start doing some exercises to define the waistline.

Today is 3 miles on the treadmill since I missed yesterday and haven't worked out since last Thursday (to speak of). I need to lift weights but would rather run than lift weights so will probably just lift weights 1 day this week. Apparently I'm doing something right because I'm still loosing weight - albeit slowly.

Another Half

Ok - saw 174.5 this morning on the ole scales.

My scales only register in half-pounds so I was probably very close yesterday when I saw 175 and my workout yesterday must've put me down the half pound. I'm going to change my weight lifting day from Wednesday to Thursday so that I will be lifting weights Monday & Thursday and I'm also going to change the workout a bit. Currently I am doing 2 sets of 15 reps with the same amount of weight both times - now I am going to start with 1 set of 15 reps with the usual amount of weight then add 5 pounds and do 10 reps then add another 5 pounds and do 5 reps. I might add 10 pounds instead of just 5 if the addition of five pounds doesn't wear out the muscle. I didn't do this yesterday so will start this Thursday with the new weight lifting routine. I will continue running every day and do think that increasing the intensity of the workout on the treadmill is what is helping contribute to the drop in scales this week. Either that or my body has detoxed and finally realizes that it is going to HAVE to drop lbs or else!

NASCAR will be at Texas Motor Speedway the first weekend in November (for the race) and since we go to both races at TMS my goal is to drop enough pounds so that our friends notice it. We have friends that we only see twice a year at the races and I want, desperately, to drop enough weight that they will see it. I know this sounds shallow but it is just something that I am working towards. That gives me about 7 weeks and at a pound a week that is 7 pounds which will be about 17 pounds lost over all but I think that if I just keep increasing the intensity that maybe, just maybe I can lose 1.5 pounds a week which will be about 10.5 more pounds and will be a 20+ pound loss which should DEFINATELY be noticable. Either loss will put me down into the 'normal' category instead of the 'fat' category for my height.

Yeah Right! Like I've ever been normal.

175

175 - dang is this body ever slow in letting go of the food products.

My clothes are fitting looser and my ring spins on my finger so even though I don't see the scales move very much I know that the body composition has changed. Friday I had on a pair on black dress slacks and didn't even have to unbutton or unzip them to go potty. I just pulled them straight down - the downside was that I spent the day fighting to keep them up and think that I'm going to invest in some cute belts to get me through the clothes size changes. I know that I could probably go down a size but don't really want to spend money on 1 size down when I also know that I will continue to lose weight. Think I will just limp along with belts until I can go down 2 sizes.

While laying in bed Saturday morning the Mr. rubbed my hips and said that he could really tell that I have dropped weight - not sure if that is supposed to be a compliment, I should get pissed over it or if he was just being nice to initiate some morning sex :)

200 miles

Moved the ticker from 100 miles to 200 miles now that I'm over half way to 100. I'm just going to keep moving it up as I log more because I want a record of how many miles I will log this year. Am back to running now (from walking) and yesterday lifted weights for the first time since I was hospitalized.

Now if I can just start those darn 2-a-days I'm pretty sure I will be able to drop into the 160's soon.

Filler

Got in 2.5 miles at lunch yesterday and another 1.5 last night walking down to see how far the lake levels have dropped. Not enough to get the damn boat launched but almost enough to reconnect the walking trails so that the walking loop at night is closer to 3.5 miles than 1.5.

While I am holding steady at 176 I really want to see the scale start moving south. I was thinking about things last night and remember that when I had a personal trainer he always said that I would have to do 1 ½ hours of cardio a day in order to lose weight. I’m not sure if he was talking about me specifically or if that was his stance for everyone. Then I remembered that the last time I got serious about weight loss I was doing this aerobic tape each morning and it amounted to about an hour of cardio – it was a step tape and unfortunately it was long enough ago that it was actually a tape and we only have DVD players in our house now. A shame because it was a good tape and worked wonders in helping me drop pounds – guess I need to stop by the nearest sports store and see what DVD’s are available these days as I still have that durn step.

I do believe that I really need to up the duration and intensity of the workouts so that the scale finally starts to move. Best I can tell I’m getting 30 minutes 5 days a week as I’m not getting on the treadmill on the weekends even though I am active cleaning house and / or doing yard work / not being a slug so I think that I just need to bite the bullet and plan on getting in another half a hour either in the morning or when I get home from work and then try to get in at least 30 minutes of intense exercise on the weekends. That and I’m slowly upping the intensity (i.e. mph) on the treadmill at lunch and will probably be back to jogging by next week.

So the focus for now is to attempt to get in an hour of cardio 5 or 6 days a week for the next 2 weeks to see if that makes a difference in the scales.

In other news – a current pet peeve of mine is why the hell do manufacturers feel the need to put ‘fillers’ in vitamins? I absolutely HATE having to swallow a fucking horse pill and do believe that if they would just cut out some of the fillers they could come up with a pill HALF the size and lots easier to swallow. I don’t usually have trouble swallowing pills but can almost guarantee that at least 2 or 3 times a week I will gag on my vitamin.

Maintain

176 still this morning and I will so take it as I had the munchies this weekend and ate waffles with too much butter and syrup, about 1 tray of oreo cookies with whole milk (not all in the same sitting but over the course of the weekend), rice crispy treat, shortbread cookies, chips and chicken nuggets from Braums along with french fries one night.

On the flip side I did deep clean my whole house Saturday, both floors and all 3,000 sq feet of it which took almost all day to do then me and the little blond monster went outside to color on the driveway with chalk - well she did while I pulled weeds out of both the flowerbeds and the front yard so maybe the movement / exercise offset the major munchies attack that I was experiencing.

Made a pretty yummy meal last nite - not sure how healthy it is but here is the recipe:

3 chicken breast
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup Fire roasted green salsa
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 can quartered artichoke hearts
1 small package sliced baby bella mushroms
1/4 cup sliced black olives

Preheat oven to 350. Salt and pepper chicken breast, place in a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. While baking mix together the soup, cumin and salsa and drain the artichoke hearts. After the chicken has cooked for 20 minutes place the artichoke hearts and mushrooms on and around chicken and pour soup mixture on top then sprinkle with olives. Cook for another 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

This was yummy but a bit spicy so next time I will probably try to cut it with some 2% milk or evaporated milk. Then I served it over some Basmati rice and a huge salad with my new favorite dressing - Paul Newmans Low Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing. Seriously this stuff is like crack dressing and it only has 1.5 grams of fat and 35 calories per serving which is 2 Tbsp - that and it has all natural ingredients and nothing unprounceable in it. Plus the company gives heavily to charities.

Had 1 breast left over after the Mr. and I ate dinner and I took the other half of my breast for lunch today so tonight's dinner will consist of the remaining chicken boobie warmed and sliced then rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla along with the artichoke hearts, mushrooms, some of the sauce and lots of lettuce - spring mix lettuce as that is what we eat. The sauce will serve as a dressing and will keep the wrap moist enough (I think - will see). I will serve the rest of the green salsa with some tortilla chips to the Mr. to round out his meal but the wrap will be enough for me. Little miss blond thangie will get fish sticks, salad and corn as this chicken is definately too hot for her delicate little palate.

Did 2.5 miles on the treadmill at lunch and can tell that my strength is almost back to normal. Will try to fit in another 1.5 miles down to check on the lake levels tonight if this evening's activities allow such grand plans. Still need to reach my goal of 100 miles but that ole ticker is creeping up there every week.

Well, what do you know!

Yesterday I had someone stop me and say "you've lost weight! Haven't you? Then again today someone else stopped me and asked what I was doing to lose weight and commented that I looked good.

So . . .

Even though it has really only been about 6 pounds apparently whatever I'm doing is paying off even more than I can tell if 2 different people have noticed.

Think I will keep doing it!

Was able to go a bit faster on the treadmill at lunch today so I can tell that I'm regaining my strength and returning a bit to normal - as normal as I can be but I can honestly say that Normal really isn't something I've ever been accused of. Tomorrow is Yoga but I'm thinking that I really might want to just get back on the treadmill instead. Peer pressure will probably make me buckle and go to Yoga as quit a few people here go to Yoga on Friday and I just know that every single one of em will harrass me if I miss.

The Mr. is dead-set to haul the RV down to the farm this weekend but I have opted out. The meds I'm on have a warning about heat-stroke and that I will be more sensitive to the sun so I'm thinking that I probably don't need to go and take any chances. He is threatening to take the little monster with him but I'm pretty sure that it is an empty threat and that he is just trying to bully me into going. Exercise this weekend will depend largely on whether his threat is empty or not. If she is gone then I can most certainly log some time on the treadmill, if she is there then it will be next to impossible except during nap-time as she is facinated with the treadmill and tries to get on there with me when she is awake. I can try to walk her down to the lake and back but she prefers to walk instead of ride so that means it will be closer to a stroll than a walk while she is out of the stroller.

More, More, More

Managed another 1.5 miles last night down to the lake and back and it was closer to a stroll than anything but I still had sweat pouring out of my pores when I got back so know that I'm still in the detox process.

One of the meds they have me on, either Protonix or Chlordiazepoxide, is really jacking with my sleep cycle and I'm having a bit of insomnia so am pretty tired and really, really wanted to go to my truck and take a nap during lunch but went ahead and went to the gym and logged another 2 miles because I still have that 100 mile goal out there hanging over my header. I know that it would be easy to talk myself out of exercising every day and especially now since I had such a rough week last week but I also know that I have to start somewhere and figure why not today? That plus I saw 176.0 yesterday morning which is a 4 lb drop and I'm thinking that if I go ahead and start back exercising maybe I can stave off gaining those 4 pounds back.

Keeping the food choices to as natural as possible and made some homemade roasted red pepper hummus last night that I'm munching on right now with some 'Natural Ry Krisp' crackers which don't have anything un-natural or unpronounceable in them. Ate 2 boiled eggs along with 2 pieces of pumpernickel toast with a tablespoon of natural boysenberry jelly on them for breakfast. The bread is the natural kind that doesn't have anything processed in it but it also has a shelf-life of only 4 or 5 days once you open it - good thing there are only about 8 slices in the package but damn is that stuff expensive. I'm trying to keep my food as close to natural as I can to help flush out all the toxins and I'm DEFINATELY staying away from High Fruitcose syrup of any kind - that stuff is hard on your gut and hard for your body to process when you are healthy. I'm on my 3rd - 32 oz glass - of water so far and still have about 2 hours of work left. Then it will be 2 more (at least) between the time I get home and go to bed and another 16 oz bottle if we can fit in another 1.5 mile walk tonight. I'm also watching the sodium content of my consumption since the nasty stuff they used to flush my colon tasted like Baking Soda combined with Epsom Salt and even though I have lost 4 lbs I still can't get my wedding ring back on my finger so figure it was all the salt.

Speaking of colon - the reason I was put in the hospital was because my colon shut down completely and caused everything to back up into my kidneys and liver and I couldn't even keep down sips of water since there wasn't anywhere for it to go. Now the meds they have me on cause the exact opposite effect which means that if my tummy even thinks about grumbling I have to make a mad dash down the hallway to the little girls room - just in case. That and the side effects of one of them is that it causes you to feel weak and can cause a B-12 deficiency so I need to be extra careful to take my daily vitamin. I have a pretty consistant headache but think that is a nasty side-effect as well.

Scratch

Ok - we start back at square 1 on the fitness level due to being in the hospital for 4 days last week and all of the in-organic crap that was flowing through my veins. Initially I wasn't going to go over to the gym during lunch but at the last minute decided that I needed to start somewhere even if it was a rather snails pace and I sweated like a little piggy due to the toxins in my body. Managed 1.5 miles which I will gladly take because it is a mile and a half more than I would've walked if I had sat at my desk. I am still extremely weak so didn't push but walked at a 3.5 mph pace which still made me sweat. I can smell the stuff that they pumped into me coming out of my pores and it stinks - Hospital smell - YECH!

Still have the goal of 100 miles but just don't have a particular date in mind. I am just going to continue counting mileage until I reach 100 miles.

WTF

176.0

Even if I did get put into the hospital for 4 days to get there. My lower GI tract froze up / shut down / stopped working and it caused terrible pain and 4 days for them to figure out what the fuck was going on with my body.

Got released Saturday nite and am back at work today - what can I say - my work ethics are off the chart. I'm starting back eating rather slow and am weak from the hospital experience so we will see if I can keep the weight off and loose more.

I need to change my thinking a bit and get serious about life changes and getting this body healthy so that it doesn't crap (pun intended) out on me again. I need to stop smoking/ keep exercising/ keep making healthy food choices so that my body will last another 40 years.

Am probably going to lay off of the exercise this week (will see how I feel) so that I can completely recoup from last weeks events but plan on trying yoga on Friday because I know that I can pace myself.

5 points

Finally broke through the 180 threshold.

Saw 179.5 on the scales this morning but saw 175 yesterday afternoon around 4pm. Didn't get in my 10 miles in order to beat last weeks mileage but also didn't sit down this weekend. Not even sure if I watched anything on TV - at all! It was a busy weekend and I pulled a durn muscle in my back wrestling with middle child in the pool Saturday night trying desperately to keep him from drowning me. Slept on a heating pad last night so didn't sleep very well - that plus I got nauseated while eating dinner so only 2 bites of fajitas then I crawled in bed as early as possible to put heat on the pulled muscle.

Going to gym today to walk my mile and then lift weights. It is 101 here so I won't be walking the 1 1/2 mile circuit outside but will try to get on the treadmill (in the air conditioner) later tonight - the heat plus the fact that we have a Red ozone day and the radio said something along the lines of it being a "lung scaring" ozone day. I am still going to try and log as many miles as possible but think that I might change my focus up a bit and try to lift weights more to see if building muscle really will burn fat faster.

The other thing is that now when my stomach growls - I grin (inside) and think "hey, I'm burning fat reserves now instead of consumed calories" so the hungry feeling really isn't bothering me for the last couple of days. Been a bit hit and miss on taking vitamins and have added that as a goal - to take at least 1 vitamin a day - I say 1 because my daily dosage is split into 2 vitamins (half the daily recommended amount in each pill) because taking 1 that has the whole day's supply makes me sick to my stomach so 1 pill = half my daily recommended allowance. I feel that that, along with my healthy eating, will meet my daily recommended allowance on most vitamins on most days.

We grilled fajitas last night so that will be leftovers for dinner tonight and if I forgo the tortilla and sour cream and sautee some broccolini in a bit of olive oil, garlic and lemon juice to pare with it should be a pretty healthy dinner.

Holy Crap Bat-Man

Damn - 3 miles this week!

I'm so gonna have to bust a nut tonight and this weekend in order to break last week's almost 13 miles - that means I need to do 10 miles in the next 3 days - saying it like that sounds horrible but when I break out the ole calculator it means just 3.33 miles a day so for the next 3 days I need to do around 3.5 miles. I know I can fit in 1.5 tonight after daughter's swim lessons so that means that I will need to get in another 2 on the treadmill and then fit in 3.5 tomorrow and Sunday. The 2 miles tonight can be broken down into 2 1-mile sessions because I can usually sneak upstairs and finish a mile on the treadmill before the girl-child in my household notices and comes looking for me. It takes about 10 minutes to run/jog a mile so if I can sneak away twice the cat is in the bag.

This week was absolutely NUTS and I only managed to make it to the gym 1 day - I'm so looking forward to next week when both co-workers are back because I'm going to the gym come hell or high-water. Weight is neither up nor down this week and I will take that as I wasn't able to move as much as I wanted to and ate far more bread than I should. Now all I have to do is condition myself into getting up early in order to fit in another mile or so in the morning before work - that way if I don't get to go to the gym I will still have logged some mileage for the day. I have been in the pool for 45 minutes everynight because the swim lessons are "Mommy & Me" so that means Mommy has to don said bathingsuit and splash around in the water with daughter showing her that she won't melt if she puts her face in the water.

Besides the 10 miles this weekend - the weekend plans are to sand and re-shellac the bench in the front yard, dig up some plants at a friend's house and replant them in my yard, get the cannas out of their pots and into the ground so they can multiply like rabbits, purchase annual plants for the pots and get them potted and possible finally start putting some color on the walls of this very beige house we moved into. Somewhere along the way I plan on making time for some sun and fun in the pool at a friend's house for me and daughter and anyone else that wants to tag along.

Quickie

I only have time for a quickie today.

Hopped on the ole scales this morning and saw 181.

**blinks**

WTF is going on with that?

Things are going a bit crazy this week, 2 gals are out, we have a new person on the floor and another that has been here about 2 months and I have to teach new hires training 2 days this week. 181 - finally lost a pound but due to the craziness the last 3 days I can't even tell you what I have eaten or even if I have eaten. I know that I've brought my breakfast and lunch but did I eat it????? Didn't get to exercise yesterday and today doesn't look like it is going to be any better unless I manage to get some type of movement in after work. Have to bust a nut home because my daughter is in swimming lessons this week so I'm going to get in the pool with her tonight and then maybe I can jump on the treadmill or talk her into letting me do some yoga tonight.

I say talk her into it because I have to use her tv (with built in dvd player) in her room and she doesn't really like to share and when I finally bribe her into letting me use it she thinks it is fantastic that I'm finally up in her room so takes full advantage of showing me ALL of her toys.

I will fit in some exercise today . . . I will fit in some exercise today . . . I will fit in some exercise today!

What I made tonight

This is what I made tonight to take for my 2nd lunch this week. Because of the running/working out during lunch I eat about 270 - 300 calories around 11 am and then another 270 - 300 around 3:00 pm. I get to work before 7:30 so usually eat breakfast between 7:30 and 8 am and breakfast consists of steel cut oatmeal, flax seed, cinnamon and blueberries. Lunch #1 is usually a frozen Healthy Choice meal and lunch #2 is usually soup - preferrably Black Bean soup but this is what I have made to take for lunch #2 this week.

The whole fixings consisted of the following but I figure that I can make it last the whole week for lunch #2:

2 limes, zest and juice

3 tomatoes

1 Jalapeno

1 red bellpepper, diced small

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

3 ears of corn, roasted and cut off the cob

1 bunch cilantro

1 medium red onion, diced small

1/2 cup organic tomato juice

cumin

Tabasco - about 20 dashes

and lastly - we grilled 4 zucchini last night but I had stubbed my toe in the salt when preparing them so they were pretty salty. There was about 1 whole grilled zucchini left so I just chopped it up and threw it into the mix since it was too salty to eat by itself and I haden't added any salt to this mixture.

The good news is that I have 3 ears of corn, deer steak, chicken breast that was marinated in olive oil, 2 Chipolte peppers and a handful of chopped Rosemary, Cantelope and Watermelon to take for work this week for lunch #1 as I am looking to cut back on the amount of processed foods items I eat and get more natural foods into my tummy. I also bought apples, nectarines and oranges to take with me so hopefully I can finally see the fucking scales drop a couple of pounds and register something besides 182.

On other news - I was lamenting to the Mr. this morning about how all of the working out hasn't netted a negative on the scales yet and he replied "Yes but I can tell a difference - you are less jiggley". This made me laught out loud but he is right I can feel a difference in the less jiggley department even if the fucking scales don't reflect anything yet.

I missed yoga this morning as it started at 8:30 instead of 9 but I did go to Adacemy and get some more running shorts, a yoga mat and a yoga tape and went ahead and did yoga watching the tape after I did yard work for 2 hours. Unfortunately my shirt didn't quite meet the top of my shorts so I have this EXTREMELY nice half moon shape burnt spot across the small of my back which was obtained while doing yard work and I just bet that my new neighbors just loved the fact that I was practically mooning them while doing yard work today.

Yogurt

I did yoga at lunch today - it feels good to loosen up the muscles in my back.

Still 182 on the scales this morning but I'm not giving up - I'm going to keep plugging away because there is just no way in hell that this weight is going to stay on me if I keep exercising. I'm just going to be as active as I can and not sit down at night until I collapse in bed. The other thing I'm thinking about is that I'm going to start cooking/bringing my lunches to work. I already bring my lunch so that I can fit in a workout - but it is frozen meals and maybe there is too much processed crap in them. I'm going to try to fit in 7 fruits and veggies (not 7 of each but 7 combined) each day. I'm also going to substitute beans for meat in my lunchtime meals so that I can still get protein but keep my fiber up. I've made a grocery list and will be doing lots of cooking this weekend and portioning food items into lunch portions and freezing them so that they are convinent and easy. I'm starting to consider if maybe I need to cut out 1 of my morning latte's - can't quit caffeine cold-turkey but can cut back a bit. The herbal tea can stay but those latte's sure have alot of calories.

Need to splash some color on the very beige walls of this new house so this weekend will be spent definately cleaning, yard work, gardening and possibly some painting - not sure what the Mr. has plans for but maybe I can talk him into going out on the boat. This skin is the palest it has been by the end of the summer in years and I need some color along with the house needing color.

A marathon

Still 182 on the scales this morning so come Monday we will be adding another 1.5 miles to our daily run, first thing in the morning before work and still keep the weights/running at lunch, walking in the evenings and yoga on Friday's. This working out just has to pay off sometime soon - you can't log over 12 miles in one week and not see some kind of change besides being sore. My semi-long term goal is to do 100 miles in 45 days but another goal is simply to log more miles this week than I did last week and then more miles the week after that and so on and so forth until I can run a marathon in 1 week or less.

It looks wierd to me to see the 26.2 miles up there on my tracker. Basically I have ran a marathon even if it has taken almost 3 weeks to do so. I'm going to yoga on Sunday as well as this Friday at lunch and have some weights at home that I can do a little arm routine on Saturday because I'm afraid that if I wait from Wednesday until next Monday to lift weights again I will be extremely sore again and my thinking is if I lift on Saturday it might keep the soreness at bay a bit.

I am stronger than you are and you know it

Dear body:

I don't know what the fuck you think you are doing showing me 182 on the scales this morning but you better stop it right now and back the fuck back down. You know that if need be I will resort to drastic measures to get the numbers to reverse on the scale. I'm not really asking you for much - just 10% - surely you can give up 10%. I'm also not asking for this 10% immediately and am willing to give you a couple of months to give up the 18 or so pounds I need you to drop. While I do appreciate your letting go of a huge toxic poop this morning I just don't think it was enough.

and you know that you don't either!

I WILL keep exercising and will keep increasing it so you just better get it through your thick scull, right now, that this is just the way things are going to be from now on so the sooner you settle in and conform to what I want you to be the happier we will both be. You have lolly-gagged around in your sluggish ways for WAY too long and if you want to live to see your daughter grow up then things need to change. If this increase in expenditure of energy doesn't net some kind of loss by the end of the week I will add another 1 to 1 1/2 miles first thing in the morning along with the 4 a day for a total of 5+ a day and you know just how much you HATE being drug out of bed that early in the morning. If that doesn't work then consider yourself severely grounded and the next drastic measure will be the loss of food.

Bread and water - we will just see how the fuck you like that!

You know that I am stronger than you are and based on past experiences you know that you are fighting a battle that you most certainly will lose so can we just play nice and try to get along - if you dig deep down you know that I am doing this for us. For us and our family so please try to conform this time and give the shit up. I'm not starving you at all and as a matter of fact - unlike past experiences - I'm actually shoveling food type items into your pie-hole when you feign hunger pains. What I'm shoveling in is so much better for you than the chips and chocolate you think you want - that stuff is so very over-rated anyways and is bad for you in large quantities. Please, please don't force me to resort back to just dribbling in 1 coke a day.

Love
I Can't Fit

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.