Day off (lol)

Ah adulthood, where your day off is filled with fun stuff like taxes and taking pets to the vet! Lol

The theme of the event we are going to this weekend if Viking, so T now has a nice outfit, complete with coat and hood (in case it's cold). I've pulled out my stuff and found something to wear, so no more sewing for right now. Although I do need to mend the sofa cover while I have the sewing machine out.

I was pretty worried about the taxes - I keep seeing in the news about people getting smaller returns this year, so I was afraid we would end up owing (which is NOT in the budget!). So I sat down this morning and did them as soon as I got home from the gym (swimming). We're actually getting some money back - yay!

T is really struggling with work this year - for a lot of reasons. He's been really depressed and even though he just went to his doctor for his physical and discussed it with her, she was not at all helpful! I wish there were a way I could help beyond doing my best to be supportive.

Not too much to say, just thought I'd jump on and check in.

Take care!

(Early) morning!

I woke up at 5 am this morning. Probably because I fell asleep on the sofa last night before 9. lol. I have become my grandpa! :-)

My plan is to get my workout and grocery shopping done by lunchtime. Then I am going to watch movies and sew. :-)

Have a good weekend!

Choices

Last night after careful consideration, I decided I did want a beer, so I had one. The scale was up a half pound (I suspected it would be). Weighing daily has helped me understand how certain choices impact my weight - carbs, exercise, food choices. But the overall pattern is still tracking downward, so I'm fine. While I am willing to put in the work to get the results I want, I can't make every choice about the short term changes on the scale. Does that make sense?

As usual, more to do than I have weekend, but I'm trying to 1) work efficiently and 2) prioritize so I have some much needed down time.

Take care.

Happy Pre Friday!

Also, happy Valentine's Day if that is something you celebrate. :-) We are having a quiet dinner at home - going out to a restaurant on a holiday is my idea of punishment.

Workout last night was awesome! Here's a picture:

It's nearly 4 and I haven't even eaten my salad, so I am cutting this short.

Have a good one!

Mid week WAH

Ah, Wednesday. Today I am WAH (working at home). I had my eye exam, and decided to go ahead and get my prescription reading glasses updated. $90 isn't terrible, and I haven't gotten a prescription pair since 2015.

I had planned to go swim this morning, but I woke up at 3:30 and didn't go back to sleep until 5, so getting up at 5:30 was not going to happen! I slept until nearly 7:30, and got right to work since I knew I'd need a long break for the doctor. We are going to the kettlebell gym this evening, so I will get in a good workout - no worries!

I have been walking outside some, but the weather here has been cold & yucky, so certainly not as much as I do in good weather. I have been focusing on making my workouts good ones. Yesterday I did 30 minutes on the elliptical - but I really pushed it hard - upping the resistance and keeping my speed over 5 mph. I was able to get my heart rate up into a good "I'm pushing it" range. I'd like to do more, but the quality is good, so I'm okay with that.

Food is going well - I do have a small snack in the morning sometimes, but my snacks are smaller and I'm trying to make sure I am eating more chicken & seafood - especially seafood.

So, nothing really new or exciting to report - just doing the things that lead to good results!

Take care.

Another milestone

Today the scale read 164 - the weight at which I cross from "obese" to "overweight". (I find it funny that I'm wearing 14s at "obese" - not quite the image we think of, is it?). I hope to shop my guest room this weekend and see what I have (if anything) in the way of jeans & bottoms.

Breakfast this week is meatloaf made with lean ground turkey and green beans. Snack(s) are 2 boiled eggs with pickle to nosh on as needed. Sunday we did a potsticker stir fry and hot & sour soup from Nom Nom Paleo. Last night was grilled chicken over salad from skinnytaste. Tonight is bolognese sauce with zucchini noodles.

We are headed to a medieval thing at the end of the month and I have *MO* idea what the weather will be. Since we tend to go to stuff more frequently in warmer weather, we don't have a lot of costumes for cooler temps, so I am working on that for the two of us this weekend (as well as last).

Based on what I'm hearing in the news & from other people, I am dreading doing our taxes. :-(

Take care.

Where did the weekend go?

I am feeling vaguely robbed. Since we weren't going anywhere, I thought I would feel more rested, but nope. Another overly busy weekend. Le sigh. It was productive though. T was under the weather yesterday so we ended up not going to church. Anyway, Monday came way too fast!

After we finished up our personal training sessions, T and I signed up for a small group class once a week at the kettlebell gym. We've been going on Wednesdays but this week planned to go Thursday. Long story short, T went Thursday but I needed to stay home while the handyman finished up, so I went Saturday morning. I loved the class! It felt so good to start my day off that way! I do feel like it took some time out of my day - and it meant I didn't get to the Y to swim. I would definitely go at that time again if I could work it into my schedule.

Other than too short, the weekend was fine. I really need to figure out a way to not head into Sunday evening feeling cranky. That is a recipe for overeating and I was doing great for a while then started overbooking and slipping into bad habits. I don't like to feel stressed and rushed headed into the week. OTOH, food was all prepped, house is cleaner than it's been in a while, and we set ourselves up for success. I need to find the balance.

Have a good day!

Weird week

Looking back, this week has felt weird. For some reason I never really felt like I got "into the groove" - more like I just muddled along. Not really sure why.

In any case, my weight is the same is last week. Exercise was okay - food was pretty good except: Monday I was SUPER hungry - I definitely ate extra calories! A couple of nights I woke up in the night and I was hungry - I mean tummy growling hungry. One night I managed that well and one night not.

Anyway, busy weekend planned. Here's hoping next week feels a bit more normal!

Take care.

Nearing the finish line

Well, it's "pre Friday" as my boss likes to call it. :-) It's been an okay week. Today I had my annual physical - that went really well. The weather here is crazy - it was 77 degrees today! It's supposed to cool back down over the weekend, but in the meantime everyone has had their windows open and enjoying the fresh air.

Have a good day!

Blah blah

I read this quote somewhere and I really liked it: "You're not in competition with yourself, you're in collaboration with yourself."

This week is going okay. I had insomnia last night and ended up sitting on the sofa for over an hour reading in the middle of the night, which makes for a somewhat blurry morning. :-)

I hope your week is going well!

Home safely

Well, we made it there and back again. Another trip to Georgia is in the books. Alma did not feel like going out to lunch with us this time, so we brought her a take out from our usual lunch spot, which she thoroughly enjoyed. We felt kind of bad bringing her a yummy lunch while everyone else had to eat the same old same old, so we bought cupcakes for everyone to have for dessert with their dinner.

Alma's memory isn't great, but she enjoyed the visit. We picked up a few items she was running low on and enjoyed spending some time with her.

Friday I did my workout before we left the house. Saturday I used the fitness room at the hotel, and I took yesterday off from formal exercise. I used my time to do some food prep so I would be ready for the week. I have meals planned through Wednesday at least. I need to figure out something simple for Thursday since we are going to go to the kettlebell gym that evening. The workout is at 5:30, so I figured we would come home after the workout and have dinner at the house.

That's about it. Stayed up for the (not so) Super Bowl - pretty mediocre all around IMO.

Have a good day!

Shock and awe

Today I hit 165 - for a loss of 4.6 pounds this week. In fairness, the weight I recorded last Friday was a pound up from the lowest I saw that week, so I probably "really" lost 1.6 pounds last week instead of 0.6 and 3.6 this week. But it doesn't matter - the fact is the scale is moving down again at a nice, brisk pace! I don't know how long it will last, but for now I'm grateful.

I had a really weird moment this morning. I was remembering last time when I weighed that weight and what was going on in my life. It was right before I ended all contact with my dad. It was a stressful time. I also slipped into a pair of size 14 shorts. And a pair of 14 capris, although those were tight. I dunno - 165 is a weight I remember vividly, so hitting that feels really ... weird.

I'm thankful - I'm grateful and amazed at the recovery my body is making but it's also weird. I just need to be cognizant of those feelings and know that being a certain weight and wearing certain clothes may bring up feelings - both good and bad.

Last night I went for my second swim lesson, which was very awesome. I feel a lot more confident going to the pool now! I'm doing kettlebells today, I'll do the elliptical or something at the hotel tomorrow, and then Sunday is a lovely drive through Atlanta on Super Bowl Sunday. Good times.

I hope you have a terrific weekend!

Changing my goal

My lunchtime gym (Anytime Fitness) has Life Fitness brand cardio equipment. The cool things about these is that in addition to broadcasting television, they also have videos of scenery through various national and state parks (the picture below gives you an idea). You select the difficulty, but the incline changes based on the terrain of the course you've selected.

When I first started going to the gym, my goal was to do 15 minutes. Then 20. And I've gradually ramped it up until I've been doing 30 minutes, targeting a minimum speed of 4 mph, covering 2 miles, and burning 200 calories (yes, I know the counts aren't accurate, it's just a target). That's gotten pretty easy.

For me, the purpose of even doing the elliptical is to help improve my cardio fitness (which my swing workouts do as well). So yesterday I set a new goal: speed of 5 mph, covering 2.5 miles, burning 250 calories. Previously, I was able to easily achieve my goal - usually with minutes to spare. Today my workout ran over a couple of minutes in order to hit those targets and get cooled down.

I do enjoy walking outside when the weather permits, but using the elliptical is a good way that I can quantify my targets and progress. There's enough variety in the courses, plus the machines face the windows, so that helps stave off boredom. Sure, there are times I do get bored, but not as often as you would think!

We also went to the kettlebell gym last night for a good workout. The a quick bite of dinner and by the time we got home we were both pooped!

Today I am Taking it easy - I have my swim lesson at 5, but other than that I am resting today. I've been pushing hard this week.

Take care!

Unexpected

I like structure, I like plans, I like knowing what to expect. But life doesn't always work that way!! Last night I was maybe 5 minutes from home when Jan (ex-MIL) called. She was at W-M over in Kernersville and her car battery was dead. When I got home, dinner wasn't even started because T had forgotten that he had his annual physical THEN it took forever to get a prescription filled. I used the bathroom then we jumped in the car and headed back out.

On the way we ran through the Wendy's drive through where I got a cheeseburger (without the mayo so I'm guessing a little over 500 calories), ate a couple of T's fries, and had a diet coke. We then went and jumped her car, followed her home to make sure she got there, and then T pointed out that even though there was no light bulb, her dome light was on and drawing power, which is what killed her battery. So he turned that off and then we headed home.

He prepared the fish we'd thawed for dinner (we'll eat it for lunches) while I took a shower, then we had just enough time for an episode of "Westworld" before bed. I wasn't really hungry but I wanted something crunchy, so I put 4 pork rinds in a bowl. I had 3.5 and gave a bite to the dog. LOL My dinner wasn't nearly as satisfying as what I would have eaten at home and it wasn't the "best" choice, but I didn't go overboard on calories but ate something that felt a bit comforting. And I don't eat hamburgers very often so while it wasn't the best around, it was a nice treat.

Yesterday I went to the gym at lunch and did 30 minutes of kettlebell swings followed by 20 minutes on the elliptical. I'll do 30 on the elliptical at lunch today and then after work we are meeting up at the kettlebell gym for a good workout. Dinner tonight is at a local chain called "Clean Eatz". So it will be a nice meal out while getting a really healthy meal. Win!

Have a good day, and remember "Semper Gumby" (always flexible! LOL)

All new low

As I said yesterday, these small tweaks seem to be making a difference - today I saw a new number: 167.2! I went back on my calendar to see the last time I recorded a weight this low. On 16 October 2009 I weighed 166.6 and then bounced back up. So it's been nearly a decade.

It is so weird. On the one hand, I've lost nearly 55 pounds and I feel a tremendous difference! But I can't believe I've lost that much weight because I find it hard to believe I reached a point where I had that much weight to lose! It is really strange and I don't know how to explain that disconnect, except it's there.

Anyway, yesterday I did 25 minutes on the elliptical and never did my kettlebell workout, so I am doing it today. I was really tired from the weekend last night, so I just took it easy and went to bed early. It was lovely if slightly boring. Sometimes I like boring. :-)

Take care.

Seems to be working

Operation snack reduction seems to be working. The scale is still wobbling, but it's wobbling on a downward trajectory, so I'll take it!

My next plan is to move to a lower fat plan. Nothing super radical, but just some small tweaks. for example, last night we had steak and we might have made creamed spinach to go with it, but we made sauteed spinach instead. Breakfast this week is made with roasted boneless, skinless chicken breast as opposed to something made with lean ground turkey.

My intention is to still watch the snacks. Since we ended up eating dinner later several evenings, it was easy to cut out the evening snack most nights. Mornings have varied - one day I was super hungry so I had a snack but then ate lunch later and had a smaller afternoon snack. In short, I'm trying to go by my hunger signals rather than the clock, and so far it seems to be making a difference. The reality is I have probably lost enough weight that I do need to scale back on my calories a bit.

We had a really nice weekend. I did a few things around the house and T cleaned out his chest of drawers - resulting in a massive pile of clothes to donate! Yay!

Yesterday after church we stayed and helped make lunch - our church is part of the Second Harvest food bank network, offering a food pantry on Saturdays and a free lunch on Sundays. We enjoyed it, but it meant not getting home until 2:30. So it's a serious chunk out of the weekend. But it felt good to do it.

I hope you have a good week!

S-L-O-W

Well the scale is moving downward, albeit slowly and with some fits and starts. Cutting back on snacks has been a bit of a challenge, but not impossible.

Last night I had a swim lesson. Yes, I do know how to swim but I wanted some help on my strokes. Since I can buy lessons individually at the Y, I signed up for 2 just to improve my strokes and hopefully get me back in the groove of going to the pool. T rode with me and worked out while I was in the pool, so that was nice.

Not much going on this weekend, which will be good since next weekend is a trip to Georgia.

Have a good weekend!

Meat Salad

Good morning. This is my breakfast this week. I jokingly call it "meat salad". Lol

I used Rachel Ray's faux gyro meat recipe (subbing ground turkey) and turned it into burgers. I heated & chopped it up and added it to basically the stuff you would get on a gyro (cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, tsaziki sauce). It is a gyro without the pita. The recipe calls for feta so you've got some good fats from the feta and the greek yogurt, plenty of veg, and lean protein. The veggies hold up well under the sauce so I can prep all of that in advance, which makes getting out of the house in the morning easier. Definitely my kind of breakfast!

Yesterday I went into the disaster that is my guest room and left with a huge pile of clothes to donate. The closet was pretty bare when I finished. I had 2 tubs with clothes that fit (but needed washing) and clothes that don't quite fit yet. The tub with "not yets" is in the closet and the clothes that fit are washed and put away. That was a HUGE accomplishment.

Last night was the group class at the kettlebell gym. This was the workout:

I did all the moves but I did not finish 5 rounds. But we have to start somewhere and showing up is a good place to start!

Yesterday I had my usual couple of cups of coffee and meat salad for breakfast. Lunch was leftovers (sirloin tips with peppers, onions, & mushrooms over brown rice) and dinner was a burger on one slice of sprouted grain bread with roasted vegetables. I had 2 deviled egg halves prior to working out and after supper I was wanting something sweet so I had a few bites of yogurt and a couple of nuts. We had dinner late since it was after we got home from the gym, so evening snack was very small - just those couple of bites to satisfy that sweet tooth. So a second day of snack reduction. I am definitely hungrier when I sit down for a meal, but not miserably so.

Something seems to be helping - the scale is beginning to move down. We'll see what happens when I record my weight at the end of the week.

Have a good day!

Changes

We've been working with a personal trainer at the kettlebell gym for 10 weeks and he did before and after measurements. Even though I haven't lost much weight, my measurements changed significantly - including over 2 inches lost on my waist and hips!. So obviously things are changing even if the scale is not.

I am eliminating my AM snack to try and shake things up a bit. I can tell you by lunch I've been seriously hungry! LOL

We have signed up to do small group training once a week at the kettlebell gym - cheaper than sessions with the trainer. So we'll give that a go and see how we like it. I just want to keep pushing my fitness level - I feel like it's starting to get to a good place.

Take care.

Holding steady

Sadly, I'm not holding steady at my goal weight, but I'm rocking 169.4. le sigh.

Still exercising, still tracking food.

I got nothing.

A recap

Good morning and happy Monday. LOL

Mom is doing fine. We think what happened was a combination of an undiagnosed UTI + dehydration (she was in the car & didn't drink a lot on the way up) + maybe something disagreeing with her at dinner (chicken or the egg?) = low bp. She fainted and couldn't sit up and we called 911. They got there quickly and rushed her to the little hospital in our town. They did some tests, but ultimately 3 IVs and some IV antibiotics and she was well enough to be released around 3:30 AM. (It's been a long time since I pulled an all nighter!!). I worked at home Thursday and we filled her antibiotic and she drank water and gatorade and is feeling much better. It was so scary, but I am thankful everything seems to be fine.

I'm doing okay. Weight seems to be holding steady right around 170, which is beyond frustrating! I am still tracking my food and exercising. It's cold as heck here - yuck. We made more progress in the den this weekend - arranging furniture & accessories and going through drawers etc. It feels good to be making progress - our vision is coming together!

Take care.

Back Monday

Crazy week - mom went to the emergency room Wednesday night. She's on the mend and fine, but the last couple of days have been wacko.

Take care, back Monday!

Perspective

"I didn't worry about 'how fast can I get there' and instead came to the conclusion to prioritize my health for the rest of my life. So each day was just an opportunity to be better". - Fahad, in an interview for the Nerd Fitness newsletter

So the scale was up a pound. I am bouncing a pound and a half above and below that 170 pound mark and seem stuck. I have to be honest and say that this morning my frustration level was through the roof. I'm trying to avoid knee jerk reactions "I'll just do protein shakes for one day!' and remember how far I've come and that there is no due date.

Right now my plan is to stay the course with tracking and exercise, continue to focus on real foods in the amount of 1700 calories per day. My annual physical is 4 weeks from tomorrow - if nothing has changed by then I will ask my doctor for a referral to a nutritionist.

Yesterday:

Take care.

Getting into the groove

It's funny how tracking your food seems to hard at first, but once you build a baseline it gets easier.

Here's yesterday:

You can click on the picture to get a larger version btw. I wasn't as hungry and I stayed within my target number.

The scale was down 2 pounds today, so I was back to the number I saw last Saturday? Sunday? - over a week ago in any case. It's frustrating and I'm not sure what's happening, but I really won't know if I don't record any data!

Saturday we worked at our church's food bank. Sunday we had icy conditions so we stayed home and worked around the house. We (finally) got Christmas taken down and put away. Last evening we worked a little bit more on getting the house cleaned back up (ran the Roomba, put more stuff away, cleaned bathrooms) and then watched the 1st episode of the 2nd season of "Glow" on Netflix. I'm really enjoying it. We have season 2 of "Westworld" but that felt a bit too intense.

Hitting the gym for weights at lunch since I did kettlebells on Sunday. Have a good day!

Ugh

Weight this AM: Up 1.4 pounds.

Food yesterday:

I got nothing.

Saturday food

Weight - 0.6

Saturday:

Observation: Two days in a row I was short in fiber even though I ate vegetables. I am adding in a serving of Metamucil stirred in my morning coffee and will try to incorporate more today.

Take care.

Tracking

Weight - no change.

Tracked yesterday, tracking today in Sparkpeople. I ended yesterday at 1800 calories. Over what I wanted but I was seriously super hungry and added half an avocado last night. I know where I'm starting from.

Today we volunteered at the food bank, went grocery shopping, checked out the Planet Fitness that just opened (for T, I plan to stay at the Y), and he went to go to the chiro and Costco. Then we are taking down Christmas (finally!).

Anyway, just wanted the accountability.

Take care.

Back to basics

Okay people, here is the result of my weekly weigh in for the past 5 weeks:

12/14   -0.4
12/21   -0.2
12/28   -0.0
01/04   -0.0
01/11   -0.4

So in 5 weeks I have lost 1 pound.  Yes, I could justify "But it was the holidays! Most people gain!" or I could simply acknowledge that I have continued to make tremendous progress without diligently tracking my food for quite a long stretch. But I don't know how much I eat a day. Oh, I have a general idea and since I cook at home nearly all my meals I have a good idea how much fat & salt are in them. I weigh my evening snack since things like nuts or pork rinds are very easy to underestimate. But no, I haven't been tracking. I'm going to start.

Beginning today, I'm going to record my food in Spark People. I've set a target for myself of 1700 calories per day. It feels like a number that should be enough but allow me to make progress. I will adjust as needed.

Today:

I was running late and bought breakfast. Sweet lordie check out the fat in that sandwich. Holy frijole! Well, it did have 2 slices of cheese. Also, eating out twice = not enough fiber!

Have a good weekend!!

We prioritize our priorities

I know that statement sounds redundant (or just plain stupid), but how many times have you found yourself telling someone (including yourself!) how important losing weight/ getting fit/ meditating/ doing yoga/ saving the whales/ is to you, BUT.... ?

If something is important to you, you will find the time or money or energy to participate, even if it's at a small scale. If you don't, then probably something that conflicts is MORE important. Maybe you always dreamed of starting your own business but you haven't and when you think about it, you realize that right now a stable income and benefits for your growing family is more important to you. Nothing wrong with that! Just don't tell yourself you can't - you can! But if something else is a higher priority, then figure that out instead of bashing your head against a wall. And then examine if it really is still more important or if you are just in a rut and old habits & patterns are holding you back.

I'm not saying that figuring this stuff out is easy, but if you spend the time on it, I guarantee whatever goal you are pursuing will be a much more straightforward process.

Wednesday was my work at home day. I got up and swam at the Y, I walked the dogs at lunch, and I did a short (20 minute) kettlebell workout in the afternoon. It feels so good to move my body throughout the day in small (20-30 minute) increments.

By the time I was halfway through prepping dinner I was pooped. I was also not feeling terrific and when I thought about it I realized I had seriously under eaten carbs! A few bites of oatmeal and a mini corn muffin and I felt so much better. Crazy. Anyway, I made the bi bim bap bowl and it was yummy but a bit much work for a weeknight dinner. Leftovers are my friend for the next few days - lunches are set. T is responsible for dinner tonight (yay)!

I am of two minds regarding where I am right now: the scale is still up a pound and seems "stuck" at the weight it's been for the past 3 weigh ins. So that is frustrating. OTOH, my clothes are fitting very differently, my food feels good, my exercise feels fantastic and in general I'm sleeping well and feeling great. Maybe my body is just doing some sort of other change/ adjustments and the weight loss will resume shortly? Maybe I'm over analyzing this? I dunno. Tomorrow is my "official" weigh in where I actually record the number, we'll see what happens!

Take care.

Science experiment and 15 (so far) in 19

Monday my weight popped up 2 pounds. Okay, we'd eaten lunch out and then had taco salad for dinner. I came down a pound yesterday then stayed the same today. Again, taco salad last night. The salt maybe? I dunno.  I've also been eating yogurt and a fair bit of beans. Since I am home today I decided to mix it up.

Today's food:

Protein shake pre exercise. (I swam at 6:30)
Breakfast: omelet with 2 eggs and a little sausage, cheese, and black olives.
Snack: 2 deviled egg halves made with avocado instead of mayo
Lunch: turkey meat loaf & salad
Snack: 2 deviled egg halves made with avocado instead of mayo
Dinner: bi bim bap bowl (Korean flavored ground meat & vegetables) with cauliflower rice
Snack: 100 calories of something

So watching both salt and carbs today. We'll see what happens.

I decided to make a "19 in 19" list of things I want to do thins year - not really goals per se, just things I'd like to finally "get around to." But I've had a hard time coming up with 19, so here is my list so far:

1. make tamales from scratch
2. take the dogs hiking
3. go snorkeling (done before, but its been a while!)
4. Do a 5K (ditto)
5. Make out our wills, POAs, etc. (we don't want our exes grieving in the Bahamas! LOL)
6. Register a new medieval name (don't really like the one I initially picked)
7. Do a pull up (been years)
8. Buy a new swimsuit
9. Teach a class at Pennsic (the medieval battle recreation we go to)
10. Use up my note cards (I want to send more actual real notes - not just email)
11. Cook a recipe from Vincent Price's cookbook. This is an awesome book - what haven't I done this?
12. Cook a recipe from the "City Tavern" cookbook. Ditto.
13. Host a cocktail party in our tiki theme den (when its done)!
14. Wear a dress (to the cocktail party?) note - must buy one first! Lol
15. Go white water rafting (T's been wanting to go back & I've never been).

So that's what I've got so far.

Take care.

Weekend

Our weekend was super busy!

Saturday we had a bunch of errands to run in 3 neighboring towns, so we spent a lot of time on the road. We listened to a Ben Greenfield podcast. He does a lot of stuff on health and wellness - I'm not normally a podcast person, but it was interesting! Anyway, if you are into podcasts I recommend it.

By the time we got home we were pooped, but thankfully got the grocery shopping done after dinner since Sunday was another busy one. I got up early to bake a birthday cake for my FIL (angel food), went to church, met the fam for a birthday celebration lunch at a local restaurant, then came home and knocked out a bunch of food prep. You know the weekend is busy when you set your alarm both mornings - 6:30 Saturday and 6 yesterday. Yikes!

Anyway, back at it again this week. I tried to set us up for success in the kitchen on Sunday because it's a busy couple of upcoming evenings. Monday is band practice and tonight we are planning to attend a meeting of the food ministry committee at church. We have similar but different religious backgrounds (T was going to Lutheran church and I grew up Episcopalian) and that plus moving to a new town for both of us meant we didn't have a church and with busy lives we tried a couple but nothing seemed to stick. Christmas Eve we went to church with my family down in Wilmington and T remarked that he intended to start going to church again because he really missed it. So we went this past weekend to the church we really liked and figured if we got involved in something right away that would help us commit to it. We'll see how that goes.

Scale is bouncing around (ugh) but I should show a loss this week. Exercise is good! We are having a respite from winter and I am taking advantage - yesterday I went for 2 short walks at work in addition to my kettlebell workout. Today I am going to the gym at lunch, plus walked this morning plus hopefully another short one after lunch as well. I donated blood yesterday so I didn't get to the gym at lunch. Food is fine. I made my chickpea greek salad for breakfast - the only problem is I get hungry earlier when I eat that, so I ended up having a mandarin orange plus 6 almonds to tide me over to morning snack. I need to either use it for a snack or make it larger. Which brings me to....

Food this week:

Breakfast: greek chickpea salad 
AM snack: greek yogurt
Lunch: leftovers (yesterday and today it's been lasagna soup) and a salad
Afternoon snack: mock chicken salad (yesterday and today. vegetarian, made with chickpeas) left over from last week - not planned since I already have a chickpea salad!
Dinner: Sunday was taco salad. Monday was meatloaf with mashed cauliflower and salad. Tinight is taco salad. Tomorrow is bi bim bap bowl with cauliflower rice.
Evening snack: maybe nuts, maybe pork rinds?

Okay, I think that's it for now! Take care.

Before and after (the floors)

Kitchen, with everything put back in it:

And the den, with nothing in it! (we're still working on the layout)

And here's the floors that were under the carpeting. Sadly, they were in too bad of condition to be saved, but the craftsmanship was amazing.

I hope you had a nice weekend and have a good day!

Take care!

The obstacle course of food

I was in line at the grocery yesterday behind a gal that worked there. She grabbed some candy while standing there and joked with the cashier about standing there too long and had to buy it. The cashier commiserated and said something about having to look at it all day, to which gal in line replied "I know. Have you seen all the junk food in front of the produce!" So today when I went to the grocery I actually looked, and it's true, they've created a veritable obstacle course of BOGO junk food in front of the produce. It's like a gauntlet you have to run in order to get to the bagged salad! Luckily most of that crap doesn't interest me in the least and I don't even notice it. Now those mandarin oranges on sale.....

My weight today was exactly what it was 2 Fridays ago. I would love to say I lost weight over the holidays, but I didn't gain. I lost a measly pound and a half for December, but the holidays are behind us and now its focus focus focus.

Have a good weekend!

Bye bye old underpants!

As you know, I've been going through the clothes in my guest room. I've donated the too big stuff and added new items into my wardrobe as I've gotten smaller. This has saved me a lot of money, and these are clothes I love enough to have hung on to - so I'm really enjoying wearing them!

One area that hadn't worked was underwear. I kept wearing the same ones for over 50 pounds. Seriously. On one recon mission in the guest room I found a dozen like new pair in 2 sizes down, but at that time they were still too small. Over Christmas I went shopping but wasn't able to find what I wanted in that in between size. After we got back home I thought "what the heck" and tried on the 2 sizes down. And you know they fit. Boom! A dozen new pair of underwear - for free! What a lovely Christmas surprise! Lol!

Yesterday was my kind of day. I got up and went to the Y to swim. Afterward I had a nice shower and used the sauna, then headed home to sign into work and enjoy breakfast and a second cup of coffee. After a productive morning I had homemade soup & salad for lunch then T and I took the dogs for a walk. A productive afternoon and then it was off to the kettlebell gym for a great workout with Brad. We came home to a yummy dinner in the crock pot. I gassed up my car, cleaned the kitchen and did some prep work, then we sat down to watch a little TV before going to bed. (T wasn't feeling great after the workout, so I told him to go soak in some epsom salt and I would clean the kitchen.) We took care of ourselves, enjoyed some time together, and I had a productive work day. Although I enjoy being in the office, that one day a week at home helps keep me sane!

Take care!

Reflection and resolutions

I am trying to take some time to sit down and reflect on what I accomplished in 2018 and what I want to achieve in 2019. These may be related to health, finance, hobbies, or whatever. Some I will talk about here and some not.

On the health front I have come so far I can't even believe it! Not just the weight loss (although losing 50+ pounds is pretty huge!), but making healthy eating, regular exercise, and quality sleep priorities in my life - especially the exercise. I'm exercising 5-7 days a week usually AT A GYM, doing weight training, and that doesn't count dog walks, work walks, beach walks, etc. I am rocking the exercise.

Obviously hitting goal weight is high up on my to do list for 2019, but also I want to do a pull up and start taking the dogs hiking.

I have also started putting together a "19 in 19" list of things I'd like to do this year. Some are health related (like that pull up) and others are just things I've wanted to do and haven't - like using up my note cards. I want to put more personal notes in the mail to people. I'll share the list once it's done, right now I'm up to 10 things I think.

Take care and happy new year!

Finish what you started

About halfway through 2018 I adopted the phrase "Get it over with" after reading a fantastic post with that title over at Runs for Cookies. Meaning: the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can stop worrying about getting it done!

If you are ever bored enough to read my archives, you'll see someone that lost just over 50 pounds and then proceeded to "diet" her way back up the scale and pick up some extra weight along the way. I worried about my weight for years, but due to other stressers in my life I wasn't prepared to deal with at the time, all I did was worry. Last year was the year I decided to stop trying and start doing. I knew I wouldn't get to my goal weight (and to be honest I'm not exactly sure what that number is), but I knew I could get pretty far and make significant improvements in my health.

This year my phrase is "finish what you started." It's a bit misleading - the reality is that there is no finish line in health & fitness, it's a journey of a lifetime! But what I do intend to finish is getting to goal weight. That number is probably somewhere between 140 and 150, which means I have somewhere around 20-30 pounds to lose. I lost over 50 last year, so losing half that seems pretty manageable!

I've laid a solid foundation of sleep, stress management, eating and exercise, and I've created a life where I feel comfortable addressing my feelings instead of eating them. I feel that I'm going into 2019 in a good place and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish this year!

More to come.

Take care.

Home Improvement

Living room when we got home Friday:

And lets not forget about the dining room of course!

Den floor - done!

Kitchen floor done!

This weekend we busted our butts putting stuff back away, deep cleaning as we reassembled, and my son and his gf came and he helped knock out a few small repairs around the house.  After pictures to come, in the meantime I am back at work and looking for to partying hard tonight!! (or... NOT).

Happy New Year! A more thoughtful post tomorrow.

Take care.

Stuck (sorta)

Thursday:


I am very frustrated.  I feel like I've reached a sticking point. The scale has been bouncing around, and is currently up 0.4 pounds from last week. I haven't really changed anything. So I'm wondering whether I've reached a plateau, or a point where my calories in and out have achieved an equilibrium and I'll need to make more changes to continue to lose? I dunno, I just wish that it had happened on the other side of 170.0 and the holidays.

In other news, I've continued to sort through clothes. I found a couple of very nice sweater/shirts that I really like. Things I didn't love have gone in the donate pile as well as a bunch more too big stuff. I have another large box ready to donate this weekend. That feels good.

While the kitchen has been torn up we've gone through every cabinet and drawer. We donated a few things and organized better. The cabinets feel much less cluttered, which is nice. And we know what we have and where it is. So that's a win. I have another small project I'd like to do in the kitchen next year (no more remodeling is on the plan for a while) which will make it more functional until I can find a cabinet maker to build some additional lowers and redo my counter tops.

Friday:


Realized this morning I never hit publish yesterday. That's how my day went.
Scale: 169.8 - down 0.2 pounds for the week. At this point. I'll take it.

Kitchen: Still no kitchen. This time they said the floor wasn't level enough. My FIL raised 7 flavors of holy heck on Lowe's (in his nice southern gentleman way). Besides the fact that the jacka$$ who came out to measure & take down the details should have known this, he'd never heard of VCT flooring (big red flag), ordered the wrong amount of everything that he managed to order the right thing of (and we have a bunch of useless stuff that won't work) and all in all this has been a goat screw. FIL and a friend are coming today to do the darn floor themselves, because yes the floor IS level enough to put down floor on.

Anyway.

Have a good weekend. 

Micro resolutions and yesterday's workout

First of all, yesterday's workout was an awesome new personal best. Not only was it the longest with the most swings (650!!), but I used a 25 pound kettlebell for the entire workout! I had the 20 sitting there ready to switch over when the 25 got too hard, but it never did! Afterward I felt so amazing! Being stuck in my disaster zone of a house has left me feeling somewhat defeated, so being able to hit such an awesome new best on my workout gave me a much needed boost.

Secondly, I read a really fantastic article yesterday I wanted to share with you: micro resolutions

The premise here is that rather than a whole bunch of changes you won't stick with, try a "small" change on - 1 per month, not cumulative. They could be removing something (no alcohol) or adding something (5 minutes of meditation each morning). I think of it as a way to test drive a habit, and then see if & how it fits in your life. I think I'm going to try this for next year!

I am at work today (thank goodness). My house is a disaster. It is really stressful. Add to that my husband procrastinated on his Christmas shopping (he finished yesterday and didn't start until last weekend) and frankly he's been a real pill. So my holiday spirit is a bit ... thin.

Anyway, despite everything I am trying my very best to stick with my eating and exercise plan - frankly it's all that's keeping me sane right now.

Take care.

All you can do is laugh.

Oh you guys, the hits just keep on coming!

Monday: Woke up just before 5 due to going to bed early plus floor anxiety. Anxiety was warranted. Issue #1 was that the gas range wasn't unhooked and Lowe's hadn't sent anyone to do that. Which turned out not to be a deal stopper since they couldn't do the floor anyway because it was the wrong tile. 

A bunch of hoops later and we had the correct tiles. (FIL swapped them out). We remain concerned because they are putting underlayment on top of the old underlayment which is going to make the floor a good bit higher than the ones around it. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Current plan: guy to disconnect range will be out early Thursday before floor guys show back up.

Tuesday: This morning was a flat tire. I spent nearly 2 hours in the parking lot of a defunct adult superstore next to a by the hour motel seriously regretting my second cup of coffee. It's not all gloom and doom, but nothing seems to be easy this week.

Luckily last time I bought tires they were buy 2 get 2 free, so I had 2 perfectly good tires in my barn. They put one of those on (free of charge). Christmas earring broke, but I found it.

I am at home. My boss is going to put my face on a milk carton.

Take care.

My stress level is at defcon 12.

This is my kitchen.

They were supposed to install the new floor this morning. That didn't happen.

Unfortunate side effect of weight loss?

I don't know if it's colder this year or what, but can I just say that I am freezing? I was perfectly comfortable last year with the house set at 68, but this year I feel like I'll never be warm again!!!

Made it into the office today - yay!

So tomorrow we are tearing out the old kitchen floor - installers are coming Monday. It is our in-laws gift to us, which is beyond generous. I really appreciate it, although the timing is not ideal. But I am making the best of it and I know in 4-6 weeks the house will be all organized and I will be thrilled. So this weekend is gonna be nuts.

I am down a whopping 0.4 pounds this week - considering the stress and the fact that I did some emotional eating I am okay with that. But of course I was hoping to hit the 160s today and I was sitting at 170.0. 

Lol!

Have a great weekend!

You do what you gotta do

This was my "stand up desk" at mom's. Lol

Not ideal, but it helped. I had the kettlebell in her garage. It was NOT perfect - I let the stress get to me a couple of  times. But I got on the scale this morning - up 0.4 pounds from last Friday, so no complaints from me. Still, I will admit it was a bit nerve wracking.

It feels good to be home.

Take care.

Snowed Out

I drove down to Wilmington for the weekend, leaving early Saturday. Not surprisingly, I am now stuck here. Snowmageddon came in NC this weekend - when Jim Cantore flies in you know bad weather is coming your way! Lol No one on my team can get to the office either, we are ALL working remotely. I just happen to be a bit farther away!

I am not sure when I am going to try & head home - maybe tomorrow, maybe Wednesday. And while I would like to be at home (I have things to do there!), I am set up here so it's all good. I have my work laptop, I packed extra clothes and kettlebells, and my gym membership works at the location that's not even a mile from mom's. I also brought a few protein shakes for snacks. Last night I made a healthy dinner and I stopped at Aldi and picked up stuff I needed so I could stick to my food plan even though I'm not at home. So it's all good.

It's easy for me when I'm in an out of the routine situation, or a location where there is atypical food available, or there is stress (ex MIL can drive me nutso) to use food to manage those things. And it's odd not being able to jump on the scale first thing, so I am getting NO feedback! I am just taking each meal as it comes, doing the best I can in the moment.

Take care.

Creeping down the scale

Yesterday was super busy, I finally hit the sack with one thing left undone on my to do list. So a lot accomplished but it was crazy.

Down another pound this week - I was hoping to hit the 160s, but I'm sitting at 170.4. Oh well, it will happen.

Have a great weekend!

Bringing back an old favorite

Monday morning when I was packing my lunch, I realized that I'd never boiled any eggs for morning snack. Since I was getting tired of protein shakes, I looked around and tossed a couple of prunes into a small container with a couple of teaspoons of peanut butter. I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy that combination! It reminds me a bit of pb&j, or even a reece's pb cup (but not overly sweet) - and it clocks in right at 100 calories. So yay!

This morning I was snarfling around for something to eat for breakfast. There was a cup of leftover beef stew. I threw in a couple of tablespoons of dry oats (they were sitting on the counter and I figured they'd add some soluble fiber). T thought that was pretty weird, but I didn't even notice they were in there. This week has been all about getting creative with the bits in the fridge! Lol  That's okay, I hate to waste food, so I don't mind.

Monday I was in a funk - I managed a crappy 20 minutes on the elliptical and didn't do my kettlebell workout. Yesterday was better and I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and my kettlbell workout. That means I'll be doing back to back workouts Thursday & Friday - which isn't optimal but isn't the end of the world. I didn't realize how tired I was from the weekend. I had plans for last night (T was at concert practice), but Susie and I were couch potatoes and Jordan took her furry self to bed. So the dogs were in agreement. I didn't even try to focus on a movie - I turned on "Men in Tights" and then switched over to "The Santa Clause". And went to bed by 9.

I feel better today. Oh, and of course since I'm going to Wilmington this weekend:

(I find this especially funny since I work in the town that Mayberry was based on.) The actress that played Thelma Lou lives here and there's a bunch of Andy Griffith related tourist stuff.

Take care.

Ode to salad greens

I don't know about where you live, but here the romaine lettuce issue has led to some serious bagged salad shortages - not just of romaine but of all kinds of greens.  Yesterday after the gym, I stopped at the grocery on the way back to work to pick up some salad greens to go with my lunch from home. I was so happy to see salad kits I nearly hugged the cold case!

Not enough weekend

Ugh.

Saturday was the annual business meeting. Left the house before 7 and got back home around 10 PM. Sunday cooked a turkey & celebrated Jan's birthday, shopped, cleaned, did (some) Christmas decorating, and finally ran out of steam with loads left to do. Got exhausted, stopped myself when I realized that I was on my 3rd snack and eating wouldn't fix tired and went to bed.

Not the greatest but it happens to all of us. Moving on.

Year end is around the corner

Good morning and TGIF. As I was recording my weight into the weight chart I realized that the last weigh in of the year is 4 weeks away!! Crazy! This year has gone by so quickly. I came into this year wanting to lose weight (again), just like I had every year for the last bazillion or so. On January 12, I saw the highest weight I've ever seen in my entire life: 222.0 pounds. I cried. How did I go from being a fit soldier, a fit mom and triathlete, to someone so overweight that walking the dog 2 blocks was painful?

I wish I could tell you what changed - what finally clicked. I can't. I just know that I decided that I couldn't live like this any more, and when I looked around I realized that the reasons behind my weight gain had vanished - the only thing left to do was to get rid of the weight as well.

I began stumbling out of the gate: January saw my weight waffle up and down, ending the month actually a pound higher than I started it. February was better - I lost 4.6 pounds. March was 2.4 - I was creeping down the scale. In early April I saw another gain and something just snapped. I was tired of playing the up and down game. At that point I'd begun attending the weekly "Move It" classes at the VA designed to help with weight loss, but I was still struggling. I decided it was time to put my money where my mouth was. I signed up with a nutritionist and asked my husband if he wanted to go as well. It's costing me $150 a month for both of us to go. But I knew that if I had some financial "skin in the game" I was more likely to follow through.

That seemed to work. With the combination of the VA class, the nutritionist, and my mindset I finally seemed to find my groove. Since that first week of April I've only had 2 weeks where I posted a gain: the August vacation and the first week of November. This morning I weighed 171.4 pounds.

I've tried to be transparent here about what I'm doing and answer questions you may have. I don't consider myself to be on a "diet" - I'm trying to eat healthier and in a way that feels sustainable. I'm engaging in physical activities that I enjoy and can incorporate into my schedule. My solutions won't look like anyone elses, but they work for me. For me, the best part is the realization that my life has been transformed to a point that I no longer feel the need to use food or "mommy juice" to cope with things that made me unhappy - they are gone from my life.

Not that everything is perfect - far from it. But I'm happier and less stressed than I have felt in ages. That right there feels every bit as good as the physical transformation I've undergone. I told my husband last night - I'm beginning to feel like myself again. This lifestyle feels like the "real me."

I hope you have a great weekend!

Getting started with kettlebells

My love affair with kettlebells is well documented on this blog, but since I got a question from Beth I am going to compile a handful of resources to kick off the post.

This is the website of a kettlebell centric gym in Palo Alto: http://giryastrength.com/index.html  The site has articles and resources and is a good place to do some research.

If you want to find out more, here are some more resources:  http://tracyrif.blogspot.com/ and http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/ These are both blogs by the same gal (Tracy Reifkind) where she talks about her evolution - using the kettlebell to help her lose 120 pounds and become a personal trainer. The blogs contain routines and videos.

If you want more, look for Tracy's products on amazon. She has produced a lot of kettlebell videos as well as published a book: The Swing Tracy has studied, trained, and is certified in the most prestigious kettlebell certification programs around. The kettlebell is great, but I've seen videos where famous trainers are showing you exercises that are at best a waste of time and at worst downright dangerous the way they are being done. They're jumping on the bandwagon without being familiar with the tool.

I've learned what I've learned through a combination of online research, watching videos, trial and error, and going to certified trainers. They've been happy to meet with me for an hour to review my form.

If you are interested in looking for a trainer to help you in person, start here   https://www.strongfirst.com/  StrongFirst is where I found the gyms in Durham where I found trainers willing to meet with me for a one off session since I lived so far away. It's also where I found the trainer I'm working with now that's actually close enough to see regularly! They are a lot more common now than a decade ago when I got started. You don't have to go the trainer route, but it's been helpful for me.

Yesterday I went swimming, and let me tell you it was hard to head out in 24 degree weather to the pool! Today I did the elliptical at lunch and I'm meeting with Brad at the kettlebell gym after work. Then we are going out to eat here:  https://www.cleaneatz.com/ :-) Healthy AND no dishes! Lol

I did get my table cleaned off but my guest room still looks like the hurricane hit our house instead of the coast. Since Jan (ex MIL) is dog sitting this weekend I have to get that sucker cleaned up!!

I'm working on doing the things I need to do and doing the rest as I can manage. Priorities. And I am a priority!

Take care!! :-)

The fine line between rest and an excuse

Good morning! So 23 people have seen this before I realized I'd hit publish prior to writing the post. Oops!!! :-)

Last night I ran errands then fed the dogs and me. I hadn't done my kettlebell workout. I seriously thought about skipping it when I looked at my to do list - I have some putting crap away that needs to get done before we decorate this weekend. I wasn't tired, I was busy. Physically I didn't need a break, I was just feeling pressured by my to do list.

Then I called bs and did the workout. Here is the table. It'll get cleared by Sunday.

I don't want to look back January 1st wishing I'd done a better job of sticking to my routine versus letting self imposed deadlines derail me.

Have a great day!!

Grrr

I like to sleep in a cool room. My husband? Not so much. Last night he came to bed chilled rather than taking a hot shower to warm up before he came to bed. (He had been at band practice and gotten home late). So he turned up the heat, which resulted in me waking up I was so hot. I ended up sitting in the living room and reading for a couple of hours until I could wind back down. Two cranky, uncomfortable people at 3 AM is not a great scenario. :-( 

I'm working at home today while I wait for the guy to give us an estimate on taking up the kitchen floor. This works well because I have a couple of errands I need to run at lunchtime. So that'll be good. My son took the day off work yesterday and got a bunch done on his computer class. I am hoping that means we won't have to go back down to Wilmington this weekend - we already had plans that I don't want to have to back out of.

Exercise plans for the day include going to the Y and doing the elliptical and kettlebells. I know I sound like some zealot, but I gotta tell you - I love the kettlebells! I keep one in my office and then I have some here at home. I'm able to get in a fantastic workout quickly, in a small space, with just 1 piece of equipment. My heart rate will easily get up into the 150s, and it's a HIIT workout. I have seen tremendous improvement both in my resting heart rate as well as my recovery time since I started using them regularly. 

Have a good day!

Rewind to last Tuesday

Good morning! I hope you had a nice weekend and your travels (if you did) were uneventful.

We left mom's at 7:30 yesterday morning and were able to beat most of the traffic. We got home in a reasonable amount of time and we were home by lunch. We ate lunch, went grocery shopping, hit the gym, then did food prep and some household chores. We at least have our wreaths hung and we finally have finished taking all of our CDs out of cases and putting them into the book with pocket thingies so they take up a lot less room! That is part of our plan to turn the den into a functional room and not just a storage space.

Our time at mom's was productive - T spent the day working with my son on excel and powerpoint for his computer class and got a lot accomplished. I loaded stuff into the car for mom and we delivered a car full of donations, then loaded a car full of cardboard boxes to the recycling center, then loaded a car full of plastic bags to be recycled!  We got a lot of stuff out of her dining room (where we will be eating Christmas dinner) as well as the garage. She was feeling much better by the end of the day. I can't remember if I mentioned it, she pulled a muscle in her back and hasn't been able to lift much of anything, so the stuff was making her crazy and she couldn't really do anything about it.

I used my usual strategy while traveling - watch portions, limit snacking, and get in plenty of movement. I took my kettlebell and Saturday before dinner went out to mom's garage and got in a great workout. My strategy paid off and I was back down to what I weighed last Tuesday - 1.8 pounds less than Friday! Woo hoo!

Take care.

Heading out

I just wanted to check in before we head down to the beach. I've gone up a bit from yesterday, but still lost a pound since last Friday. Yay me!

Take care & have a safe weekend.

New clothes needed

I have been fortunate in that I've been able to shop my guest room since I have kept a lot of my smaller sized clothes. One area that strategy hasn't worked is undergarments. I need underwear and bras people!!

I bought a 3 pack of smaller bras - most of the time I wear Hanes sports bras. It works for me. And I can generally buy them in a 3 pack for $11 at Wally World. Sadly I've not been able to find the next size down, so I caved and ordered them from amazon - same price, delivered to my door, choice of colors.

I've been wearing the same underwear for 50 pounds now. True story. And ridiculous. I have a bunch in 2 sizes down but none in the in between size. Maybe I've gotten used to them a bit loose (ya think???), but I want the in between size. I need to make that happen.

Why I have waited so long to do this is kinda silly. I mean, I get it, I'm frugal and all, but lordie girl, get some underthings that fit already!!! Lol

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving if that's something you celebrate!

Take care.

Feeling more myself

This morning I crossed a major milestone - over 50 pounds lost.

Sunday afternoon we took the dogs for a walk. T remarked how different the experience was from a year ago. It forced me to think back - last fall/winter we tried to walk the dogs (somewhat) regularly. I would have to stop and take a break because my back was hurting. Getting close to the end of the road and back was hard. Walking dogs 1 year later, we were able to walk a larger loop easily. I'd forgotten how I used to struggle to walk even 3 laps around the building or get close to 3 mph on the elliptical. I have come so far in the part year - it's monumental.

And the more I've lost, the more I've felt like myself. The outside is beginning to match the inside. It's strange to be a person that spent most of your life a healthy weight and then spend years seriously overweight. I don't need to figure out who I am at a healthy weight - I just need to remember. I feel like I've been living in someone else's body and I'm beginning to get mine back. It's awesome and very weird!

Take care.

Busy weekend

Good morning and happy Monday! (Is that an oxymoron???)

We had a pretty productive weekend doing food prep and stuff around the house. T had a concert Saturday night (he plays in a concert band - bass clarinet), so that was fun. I went back to my "normal" way of eating and sure enough, when I got on the scale this morning not only had the "bloat" from Thursday's dinner gone, but another pound with it. 49.4 pounds gone!!!

Do you have a plan for Thanksgiving? Mine involves exercise and portion control. And hopefully enjoying myself! :-)

Okay, have a good day!

Okay

Last night we had a friend and her kids over for supper. She requested matzo ball soup, so we put together a big pot of soup plus salad and sandwich fixings. It was a good meal, higher in carbs than normal plus the addition of lunch meat. The scale was up 0.6 pounds from yesterday, bringing my weight loss for the week down to 0.8 pounds. That's okay. There was a time where I would have made a different meal (as opposed to honoring the request of a guest going through a very rough time) or fixed something different for myself to minimize the scale fluctuation. I chose (and am choosing) not to play those "scale games". Some days are higher in carbs or salt and will cause fluctuations. If it's the day before I record my weight then oh well  - I've got to look at the long haul and not get caught up in the minor fluctuations.

I'm still losing consistently at a time of year when many folks don't, so I am not going to drive myself nuts chasing a number. Instead I need to focus on doing the right things, consistently.

When I got home my husband helped me get down a suitcase on a shelf in the guest room closet. It was the last place I could think of to look for my jeans. I hit the mother lode!! Not just the jeans (which I found!), but a whole bunch of stuff in the next size down - workout capris, workout tops, long sleeved t shirts for wearing under sweaters, so yay!!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Being picky pays off

I come from a long line of good cooks. Whether it's nurture or nature (or a little of both) - combine it with the fact that I truly enjoy cooking and practice regularly and the end result is that I'm a really good cook. Even my husband, a former professional chef and graduate of one of the premier culinary schools in the U.S, agrees with me on this one! :-)

You would think that someone who loves to eat and loves to cook would have a hard time losing weight, but I think that the opposite can be true. Because I appreciate good food (and have the skills to create it rather than having to pay top dollar in high end restaurants) I'm less willing to settle for something I don't feel isn't "worth it."

Don't get me wrong - while I used to enjoy junk foods more than I do now, there are still some that I enjoy from time to time. And I'm not necessarily talking "haute cuisine" here - I just mean that given the choice I would prefer to eat a good bowl of homemade chicken soup than buy a mediocre one in a restaurant. It's easier to eat at home when you know that either you or your spouse can replicate nearly anything you would eat out - better and cheaper!

Because Thanksgiving is a big deal in T's family but not so much in mine, we generally eat the meal the day of with his family. And while the food is good, it isn't spectacular and more importantly - they aren't the recipes of my people. Because the foods they prepare don't elicit any special memories for me, it's much easier to have a plate of food and focus on visiting with folks rather than making the food the center of my attention. Christmas is a bit trickier because we do spend that with my family and all the special family traditional foods are there, but my strategy there is to enjoy them and move on. And as I've gotten older it's become more about preparing and sharing than the actual consumption.

I'm also fortunate because I don't have a major sweet tooth so a lot of the foods that get brought in at the office and hang around this time of year don't really appeal to me. I'm not impervious - there are a couple that are real temptations! But overall I'd say that in this case, being a self described "foodie" makes it easier to avoid temptation this time of year rather than harder!

Yesterday was a 30 minute swim and 30 minute kettlebell session (600 swings). Today was 30 minutes on the elliptical. Tomorrow I'm back at the elliptical and then we are meeting with the trainer after work. I hope to get 2 swims in this weekend.

Last night on the way home T asked me if I wanted anything from the convenience store (we were out running errands). I thought about a beer but ultimately said no. Things are going well this week and I want to keep them that way!

It's funny - I remember when I hit the 45 pounds mark - it felt great and I was very excited to reach the 50 pound gone milestone. That one feels so huge and significant! I was thinking about it this morning because it feels like going from 45 to 50 is taking *forever*!! But I went back and looked at my chart and it's 4 weeks tomorrow that I hit 45 pounds gone - so really it wasn't that long ago! Things are going well, they are just moving more slowly than I'd like. And I don't feel deprived or hungry or miserable, so why am I complaining? I guess I'm just beginning to get greedy to wear more of the clothes hanging out in the guest room! Lol

Take care and have a good evening!

Yucky weather

The weather here has turned miserable. Cold & rainy - yuck. Even though it's a lot of driving, I am so thankful that we are able to go and visit with and check on my great aunt regularly.

My son fell behind in school this term - all his classes are online, the school was closed for 3 weeks due to the hurricane, and work at the boatyard was nutso. We are tag teaming helping him get caught up. He is doing the work of course - it's mainly sitting with him, helping look up stuff in the textbook, and making sure he's on track to catch up. It's a time suck for us, but it's important. Yeah, it's kind of his fault, but some of it was also beyond his control. I'm glad T is willing to help out as well.  Add to that the gifts I want to make, projects I want to complete around the house, and the usual extra things that come with the holidays, and I'm busy!

I got up this morning and went to the Y to swim first thing. I am completely unwilling to compromise on taking care of myself - eating well, exercise, and quality sleep are not negotiable.

The kids are coming up this weekend! I can't wait. :-)

Have a good day!

Tired

The half day off was a nice treat yesterday. Our company was open, but my boss gave all the veterans on our team a half day off. :-) That was an unexpected and much appreciated surprise.

I have so much to do in the next 30 days that if I cloned myself I'd still be super busy. It's ridiculous. Some of it is on me - adding more things onto a busy schedule, and some of it is beyond my control. All I can do is take one day at a time, do the best I can, and practice self care.

The weekend was good but long (way too much time in the car), and I arrived home just wrung out. I allowed that to turn into some poor decisions Sunday evening. :-( The good news is that I watched what I ate all weekend and found myself down a half pound Monday morning! So I am doing what I can to pick myself up from that small stumble and set myself up for a successful week on all fronts.

It's a busy time of year - don't forget to 1) take care of yourself and 2) slow down and enjoy the moments.

Have a good day!

Half day

Weekend was good, but it's a lot of time in the car. Boss gave me a half day off. :-)

Not bad for a rainy Monday!

Rainy Friday

It's been a nutso week. I did get my laptop back. I am (finally) working at home today - mom and I are leaving after work to go visit my great aunt in Georgia, so not having an evening commute is a big time saver. The session with the personal trainer went well.

I'm down 2 pounds this week, so back headed in the right direction. I wish I knew what happened last week - mystery of the ages. Oh well, onward and downward!

Hope you have a nice weekend!

What a week

This has not been a great week so far.  Monday afternoon, half an hour or so before I was leaving the office my laptop died. I have a fair number of (not backed up) files on the thing. Sorta my fault, but very frustrating. Then Monday evening the time change really got to me.

I spent half the day working on the overhead projector in the conference room before I finally got a loaner yesterday - with no way to use my keyboard or power cord. :-(  I got those issues remedied this morning and I am hopeful that the Dell tech who is coming today will fix the old & busted and I will get my familiar laptop back!!

My son has gotten really behind in school this term - the college was closed 3 weeks due to the hurricane so now he is cramming all that work into a condensed amount of time, not to mention work being crazy - he works in a boatyard so you can imagine getting ready and then dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane has been hectic and stressful.

We sat down last night and I watched him do a couple of lessons in a match chapter - technology is great! (When it works! LOL). I have committed to helping keep him on task until the end of term. I am happy to do it, but it does cut into my free time.

Anyway, still here! Going for session 2 with the kettlebell trainer tonight!  Fun times.

Take care!

Weekend Recap

Monday's post was a quick one, so here's a bit of a weekend recap.  Saturday we needed to drop T's car off at the Honda dealer for some work, so we ran a few errands while were in the the "big city." Then we cam home and worked on some craft stuff. I was making a curtain panel for my mom and had some fabric I wanted to use but it wasn't quite large enough. So I did a sort of large scale quilt block type thing with it.

I am definitely NOT a quilter, but I thought it came out pretty good!

Sunday we met friends for breakfast and then spent some time working on organizing our CDs. We have a lot and we were tired of them taking up an entire book shelf! So we are putting them in cases like a book and then we put the plastic cases in the recycling bin. We didn't finish, but we got a lot done. So we are finally tackling getting our office/den organized. That felt good. I also went swimming.

Monday I did an early kettlebell workout so I could use my lunch hour to donate blood.Eating remains on track - I had a beer Saturday night and when we went out for breakfast I ordered hash brown casserole. So I am eating things you wouldn't typically consider "on plan", but I restricted carbs for the remainder of the day to fit those things in.

I don't like daylight savings time and I really don't like driving home in the dark. It makes me want to just hibernate by the time I get there!! I am not a winter person.

I hope you have a good week!

Break on through

175.2 - a new low and down 1.8 pounds from Friday. Not sure why my body was hanging on to something (water?), hopefully this means things are going to return to the slow & consistent losses I've been posting!

A first

I started writing this post and then realized that it wasn't a first - it was a second! For the second time since I got serious about losing weight at the beginning of March, I am posting a gain for the week. The other time was when I went on vacation for a week. I was up 2 pounds, and then promptly lost nearly three pounds the very next week.

This week I am up the 1.2 pounds I lost last week. I wish I knew what's going on, but I don't. My eating has been good - I even ate a light dinner last night (a broth based soup) and no after dinner snack. Exercise good, sleep good, stress level fine. So what gives? I honestly have no idea. All I know to do is not give up.

Tonight is our training session at the kettlebell gym - I will let you know how it goes.

Have a good weekend!

Just keep swimming

I've said from early on that daily weighing was helping me and would continue to do so as long as I used the individual days as simply data points and kept my eye on the longer term trends. Easier said than done!

After the weekend, my weight was up about a pound, then Tuesday drifted up another half pound and has remained at that level all week. I am currently 1.2 pounds heavier than last Friday. Sleep is good, exercise is on point, energy level feels good, and food has been tracked even more closely. So what gives?

Last night at dinner I was telling my husband about it and I said "I give up!" He immediately went into "big picture, you've come so far you can't stop now" mode, without realizing what I meant was "I give up trying to understand the vagaries of the scale over the short term" and NOT "I am done with trying to lose weight - order a pizza stat!" Lol.

If I weren't weighing daily, I'd tell you I feel fantastic - I am noticing my clothes feeling looser, I feel light, and my husband pointed out increased muscle definition particularly in my shoulders and back. So what gives?  I have no idea!

Six days is hardly a plateau, so I am not going to get all dramatic. Things are going well and tomorrow we have our first training session at the kettlebell gym. And just for fun, here's a snapshot of the fridge I share with my boss:

As you can see, I am a major fridge hog!! Leftover seafood enchiladas and gobs of produce - the only thing my boss has is the lone Monster on the top shelf! And of course baking soda to keep it all fresh!

Okay, have a good day!!