Friday

Just joking - kinda! I am on fire, and I'm good to keep on burning! :-)

This week was a 2 pound loss. Staying focused and glad to see my weight loss pick back up.  This process is slower than I thought it would be (isn't it always?), but I've continued to head in the right direction!!

Hope you have a good weekend!

Food!

Okay, yesterday's post was a little bit heavy. So, something a little more directly health focused today.

Yesterday's exercise:
20 minutes elliptical
20 minutes kettlebell swings (305 swings with the 18 lb kettlebell).

Yesterday's Food:
B: 1.5 cups coffee with 3 T half and half (I accidentally got fat free by mistake! GAH!)
     4 asian turkey meatballs
S:   2 deviled egg halves
L:  lasagna soup (no noodles, just veg and turkey sausage)
S: half an avocado sorta turned into guacamole and served on a sliced tomato
D: chicken tzatziki bowl
No evening snack because we ate dinner really late.

Today's food is basically the same except last night's dinner is today's lunch, I'm having some mango with lunch, and dinner is leftovers from 2 nights ago (we have a lot of leftovers in the fridge). I made a version of this: sticky chicken (I make mine in the crockpot instead of the oven). We served roasted sweet potato rounds and broccoli with it.

Our dinners have been really good lately - lighter things for summer but not short on flavor. Lots of chicken & seafood, and less beef.

I went for a good walk when I got to the office this morning, then T locked himself out of the house and I had to come back home! I will go to the gym later.

Today I am glad that I have a job where I can come back home, miss a meeting, work from here the rest of the day, and my boss is okay with it.

The blues

I am feeling down. There are a lot of reasons. Yesterday I read a Forbes article: Veterans Sustain Two Serious Defeats From Trump And The House To VA Health Care. It just leaves me so depressed. I mean, I certainly don't have a pension. I've saved for retirement, but we've both been divorced and raised kids, so we're hardly millionaires. Like most folks, we are depending on social security (which we've paid into since we were teenagers!) and medicare - both of which the government seems determined to gut. But the thing with the VA gets me steaming mad because so many in DC are so quick to wrap themselves in the flag and talk patriotism, but when it comes to actually keeping the promises they made to service members? As if. Ugh. OK, enough with current events.

T slept through the night (I think for the second time) with his CPAP last night. So far he doesn't seem to be seeing any improvement. I'm trying to be patient. But all his big plans for the summer seem to be as absent as his current motivation. I'm trying to be supportive, but it's frustrating.

I can't say I feel very motivated right now, but that's ok. My determination remains high, and I continue to push through. Last night I had an evening snack: 1 oz. nuts and a glass of seltzer water. That's typical. I went from maybe drinking a 12 pack of beer over the course of a week to maybe having 1 once a week. Snacks are planned and tracked. Weekends are not an excuse to "fall off the wagon." I don't always feel like doing it, but I keep on. I saw another new (this time around) low today. Last time I had a recorded weight this low? March 20, 2015. Three years, 3 months. That feels really good.

For today's motivation:

Lol. Take care.

Yesterday

Well hello! Yesterday was another 100 miles an hour with my hair on fire kind of day at the office. I totally forgot to post!  I'm fine - 100%, but the event Saturday was very hot & humid so I'm glad I just stayed home. T went and was pretty wiped out Sunday, so we didn't do much Sunday. Mom came down for lunch to give T his birthday gifts, we had chicken hot dogs with home made turkey chili and slaw. I ate one on a bun and one without. Would you believe I was up 2 pounds the next morning!??! I was down that same 2 pounds today, so clearly hot dogs have A LOT of salt!!

Staying the course with my diet. The past couple of days my step count has been low, so I am making a concerted effort to do better on that today.

I hope you have a great day!

Weekend

Today is a very Monday kind of Friday at work - lots of crazy raining down. Weigh in was fine - up 0.2 pounds from yesterday (whatever).

Plan to stay home tomorrow and take it easy - stomach is still a bit dodgy.

Have a good weekend!

Never give up, never surrender!

Any geeks out there catch the "Galaxy Quest" reference in the title? :-)

As you know, I had been a bit frustrated the couple of weigh ins before leaving for vacation. One week I'd lost 0.6 pounds and the second (shortened to 5 days) week was again 0.6. I wasn't sure whether my body was doing a sort of mini plateau, regrouping after losing 20+ pounds, if it was a side effect of adding in weight training (muscle will retain water after workouts), or something else entirely.

Overall I'd say I did fairly well on vacation. Carbs and calories were a bit high, but I didn't go nutso on anything. I had half a piece of birthday cake and we split a piece of key lime pie. I watched carb sides, but enjoyed things I can't get here.

I got on the scale yesterday morning and I was up a pound from before I left (after eating nothing Tuesday and very little yesterday). I was frustrated, but determined to stay the course. Today it's paid off - down 2.6 pounds overnight - down 1.6 pounds from my last "official" Friday weigh in. I'll record tomorrow's weight but overall I am very pleased. Maybe the high calorie days helped shake things up? 

Anyway, I can now proudly say I've lost more than this:

Yep, more than 25 pounds! Woot!!

Take care.

Better, and vacation pictures

I was still feeling pretty rough when I went to bed last night, mainly due to dehydration. I knew I'd end up at the doctor today if I didn't get it turned around. I never threw up, so I did my level best to get myself hydrated. I went to bed with a cup of Gatorade, refilled at midnight with a cup of tea, and refilled again around 2 with more Gatorade. I managed at 2 to get 2 Tylenol down (I had a raging headache).

When I woke up this morning I felt a bit sore and wobbly, but much better. I had a light breakfast and a protein shake mid morning. I have no idea what hit me, but yuck!

Vacation!!

I wanted this to be special, and some was planned out (hotels, Thursday dinner), some time was free and he had options (which is how we ended up in key West), so it was a balance of organized plus a chance to explore and be spontaneous.

Before we left, I gave T envelopes (to be opened over the course of the trip).



Our first stop was Morimaki Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach.



Then it was on to Key Largo (after stopping in Sunrise at Sunrise Pita Grill for some of the best Israeli food ever).



Then we meandered down to Key West.




Ate lunch at a good place I knew.



Sunset at our hotel.



Saturday dinner at a German place I love.



It's across the street from the cemetery where my great grandparents are buried.



Our last night in Fort Lauderdale and we got a free upgrade on our room!







They even sent up birthday cake and wine!!



The sun was going down and I knew we'd have a long day Sunday.



After 13 hours in the car, we arrived home safely. I went to work Monday and then woke up sick as a dog yesterday. UGH.

Now, back to reality!! :-)

Sick :-(

I woke up this morning sick at my stomach, headache, diarrhea. I am working at home, but it's been a rough morning. T had gone for a his CPAP appointment and there wasn't anything here I could eat or drink. Thankfully I found a gatorade in the cupboard and I had some of that until he got home with saltines and ginger ale. I am feeling a bit better. Not sure if it was something I ate or a stomach bug or what.

So today I am thankful that I am able to work from home when I feel well enough to work but sick enough to go into the office.

We are back, our trip was great, and I think T had a memorable birthday. Pictures to follow!

Under contract

After being listed for 2 days, mom house is under contract for more than the list price.

I am a fantastic painter. ;-)

Take care. I'm not taking a computer, so I will check back in after we return.

Still here

Just a quick check-in. Getting ready for our trip. We're sad of course, but it isn't quite so raw.

Take care.

Our world is a bit sadder today

Smoke, the feral cat that took us in, died yesterday.

We made a place for her on the sun porch, but she loved sneaking out and getting to be outside. I don't think she ever truly became used to being a pet, although she loved us I'm sure.

Yesterday she got out and we believe was attacked by a dog. I heard Jordan barking, went out, and found her. It happened so fast, there wasn't time to get her to the emergency vet. She didn't suffer long at least.

Nevertheless, we are both heartbroken.

She was loved, and she will be missed.

Staying the course, even when it's.. weird

This week's scale results have me a bit befuddled. I am down 0.6 pounds. What have I done differently this week? Not much. I haven't eaten differently or more, I have exercised a bit more. I've been a wee bit constipated (TMI I guess).

I was up a pound after the weekend and it took a couple of days to drift off. I dunno. But it's one week, so even though it's the least weight I've lost since the week of Feb. 9, I'm leaning more toward "Odd. I guess it'll course correct." rather than "NOT FAIR!!!"

But still, my organized, planning mind which is always saying "I-10 by 10" like that's my personal mantra is frustrated.

I've walked every morning I've been at work, today is trip 3 to the gym for the elliptical, and tomorrow will be kettlebell workout 3. I continue to eat low carb, with a focus on vegetables. So my plan is to keep doing what's been working. If I see something similar again then I'll look to course correct.

Have a great weekend!

Stay the course

Random observation: When I work from home I get in fewer steps. It's because I have a colleague I walk with regularly, so having that extra accountability ensures it happens!

Today I did well: I ate my planned lunch even though I was invited to go out. And I drove myself to the meeting across town so I could go by the gym on the way back. That's a biggie because I go to that meeting with my boss and not only do I like my boss and the car time is pleasant conversation, but he drives a Porsche Boxster. ;-)

We have our big annual trip to PA for the world's largest medieval battle recreation on the horizon, and you know what that means: time to make & repair costuming. As I have been involved with this hobby for many years and I thoroughly enjoy sewing, I have more costumes than I need, and some things don't fit well for a variety of reasons. So I am beginning to sort through - I will likely sell what I no longer want, and donate the remainder. So more decluttering! I started this past weekend by pulling everything together in one place and organizing it by what it is. Next step try everything on!

While I continue to lose weight steadily, T seems to be in a holding pattern until he is out of school. I don't think that's a good idea, but I am holding my tongue. Also, he picks up the stuff for his sleep study tonight! Yay!! So I am hopeful that will make a difference. Fingers crossed!

We are having an antipasto salad with baked chicken (for extra protein) for dinner tonight. Yum!

Take care.

Free x 2

How I feel about losing weight:

It's not just the head space that gets occupied by wanting to lose weight, it's the feeling that there are things I can't do that I want to, or can't do very well. Like when we camp - our car is pretty far away and it's mostly uphill. I remember how exhausted I was having to walk to the car last year. It sucked. Even though it looks like this week I'm on track to have the smallest loss in several weeks, at least I continue to make progress.

Also, this:

The photographer comes tomorrow at 10 AM to take pictures for the realtor to gets mom's house listed. Today the only thing we have left is to get her back patio cleared off & organized, and to run to the farmer's market and look for some flowers. Then I can start working on my stuff! LOL

Take care!

Just one book

If you could recommend just one book on diet, nutrition, exercise, losing weight, etc. to a friend, do you have one? I mean, a book that's your "go to" for advice on getting healthier?

Long before I had "that book", I had the website. If there were one blog and one book I could recommend to a friend, I have one of each - they're from the same gal: Tracy Reifkind.

Tracy started writing on her blog Living my physical potential back in 2007. She described the diet & exercise combo that helped her lose over 120 pounds. Near the end of 2008 she moved to a new blog Food and thought where she continued to chronicle her food & exercise program through 2015.  After that she didn't really continue blogging (at least publicly), although she still teaches at the gym she & her husband own.

She published her book in 2013, and really it's just a better organized documenting of the food & exercise program she developed and follows.

Tracy really created and perfected the technique of using the kettlebell swing to get an awesome HIIT workout with weight training benefit. Her diet advice is common sense. Her straightforward approach might not appeal to everyone, but she's very matter of fact about what she accomplished and what anyone else can as well. She has also created several training and workout videos also.

I keep coming back to kettlebells as a quick, efficient, convenient way to get my weight training in while getting a terrific cardio workout at the same time. Tracy's recipes inspire me to strive to get more vegetables in my diet.

I hope you have a great day!

Lovely weekend

We went down to my son's at Carolina Beach this weekend. He replaced the window motor on the driver door in my car (hurray!), we went out in Frankie's boat (a family friend), I cooked up a turkey he had in the deep freeze, and we walked on the beach several times - including once with the dogs. I never get tired of walking on the beach.

Ex MIL dog sat and things went better this time. :-)

Today I walked early, did the elliptical at lunch, and took a shorter walk after lunch. It's sunny and 84 - so not as hot as it's been, but still warm. Thankfully we'll be home this weekend, so we have some down time before the big getaway for T's birthday next week.

As soon as we got home, I went to the store and picked up what we needed (we'd planned the meals and made a shopping list before we left), so we were able to eat at home last night. We did eat breakfast out Saturday - so not worth it! So we're back to eating at home until our next trip.

Take care!

What happened to yesterday?

Sorry about skipping yesterday - work was super busy!

I'm doing fine - a loss of 2.2 pounds this week. So I am holding pretty consistent with 2 pounds per week - that's perfectly fine with me. Could I maybe lose a bit more than that per week at my current weight? Maybe. But I am comfortable with my eating - long term I want to continue to strive for a higher vegetable intake, but I'm doing well with balancing my protein (not too much red meat) and limiting my carbs. What I am doing right now feels very doable for the long haul.

I was able to recover from that one bad evening and move on.

Even though it was a holiday week, I got in 2 kettlebell workouts and 2 elliptical workouts, plus several walks. So my exercise is coming along well.

I have 2 out of town trips this month - this weekend to my son's house at Carolina Beach and T's birthday trip to the Florida Keys. My plan is pretty straightforward - eat basically the same thing, limit portions, don't go nuts. Pretty easy this weekend - the Keys will be tougher because I know we are going to 2 restaurants that are special treats - food I can't get up here. My plan is to order a meal, eat half, and save half for lunch the next day. We are taking a cooler, our hotels all have fridge & microwave, and I have tupperware on my packing list, :-) So I've planned and tried to make success easy.

Have a great weekend!