Go Figure!

I'm having a bad little run of not running. If there is one thing that I have had pretty well nailed now for about three years, believe it or not, its the exercise thing. My goal is to do "something" 5 times a week and I pretty much always make at least 4. Last week I completely fell apart- my schedule was not good, it's pretty dark in the morning these days, the temperature wasn't just right, I'll just take a couple days off and be newly motivated by the weekend (which came and went). Now, here is the thing- I lost two pounds last week. I've been afraid to actually claim them but it seems to be real (since I now weigh myself DAILY just to be sure). So, I'm thinking... it's pretty dark in the morning, wet, this week, the temperature isn't just right.... STOP! I have promised myself a long run tomorrow am- it will make just 2 for the week but I still have time to get back on track. I can still see Tubbyville in the rear-view mirror but my 10 pound goal is within reach! Hiking, hiking...

Say What?????????????????

So for my birthday, my son got me this really cool bathroom scale. It has all the bells and whistles. It can estimate your %Body Fat, %Body Water, recommended calorie intake and how much methane is in the gas you pass. So I get it all programmed in with height, age, sex (I tried to answer yes but that wasn't an option, so I chose Alpha Male) and activity level. I get on it and WHAT?! It says I weigh 13 pounds more than my old scale!? I go back and forth a couple of times and that's the deal. Then Sweetpea tells me she had e-mailed Blondie and gotten the scoop on which scale to buy.......... SOOOOOO, now I know who to blame.

Actually, I knew that the old scale was weighing light and had been contemplating when I would switch to a new scale, I wanted to soften the psychological blow of the perceived set back. Well I have to fret no longer. I am encouraged though, I thought it was around 15 - 17 pounds light so 13 pounds doesn't seem as bad.

On the road again,
Alpha Male

PS: It registered 0% Methane, go figure?

Phew!

I closed my eyes and slowly edged up on the scale, sliding my feet onto the platform. Carefully I let my whole weight and cracked my right eye open and then my left. I looked down and Phew!!!!!! down 2 pounds from last Monday and the same as Friday morning. And I'm glad, cause I spent a weekend at "The Cabin" and didn't pork up. 3 days drinking beer and eating in the lost town of Sharon and I maintained! Well I did keep an eye on the portions. Not the 5 pounds a week I have been dropping, but hey, that wasn't going to last forever.

Went to the gym tonight. Sweat like a pig, that's what I get for drinking beer all weekend. Last week I kind of got off the exercise routines so this week I'm going to get back on it. Time to ratchet back up.

l8r, microe

TMI

I have one of those "fancy" scales that tells you pretty much everything but your zodiac sign. This morning it was acting like a phony psychic, though- I weighed myself once, okay. Got off, reset, stepped on it again (don't ask me why). I gained 2/10 of a pound. On and off again, another 2/10 up. Best out of 4? I tried it one more time and it went back to the middle reading- I'll take it. Who knows how far it could have gone. Total loss since I started, 4 weeks ago, 4 lbs. (jack #$(* compared to microe's 5 lbs a week!). None-the-less, this is a journey, remember. I still seem to be hiking away from Tubbyville so I will just keep trekking.

50 miles(not a detour)

I just finished a couple of hours ago. 50 miles on the bike. Now that's a ride. I wanted to ride faster, but being the official "Scoutmaster", the leader, I had to sit back and make sure everyone finished. We had one boy drop out at 15 miles. Too much couch potatoe this summer. 4 made it, including the T-Man. I felt good. Could have rode another 10 or 15. Getting in condition really helped. Losing weight has really helped.

So now I'm enjoying a beer. I deserve it and besides I figured out that the bike ride burned between 2000 and 2500 calories. I can spare a few tonight.

Down 5 lbs more this week. Riding has helped. The diet has been going good. Drinking diet pop at Mug Club, while not my first choice, was a big boost. I wore a pair of size 40" pants to work this week. First time in 2 years. That felt great.

Now if I just could get that butt cheek massage I'll be all set.

Whoa! Detour! Detour!

Hiking along having a pretty good week last week when, suddenly, I was not on the path out of Tubbyville anymore. SOMEHOW I had gotten myself in Restaraunt Ally and boy was I having fun!

A short trip to TC to catch up with some customers that I haven't seen all summer, a nice dinner out with our "big kids" and then to top it all off a "church" outing to feast on Dim Sum... This is fried what?

I didn't even see the road block sign, and of course there is never a really direct route out of a detour, right? I think by the end of yesterday I may have found my way out- stir fry for dinner, passed on the ice cream when I took the Pooh for a treat. Not sure what to do about the points thing-thinking about a fresh start today. Up 1/2 pound- hoping it's not firmly attached!

5 pounds, Micro? Way to go.

The wheels on the bike go round and round!

Bicycling is my latest regime in aerobic exercise. Not that I needed a big change, but the I'm working with my Boy Scout Troop on the cycling merit badge. I decided that it would be a good idea to get into pedaling shape. We have a 50 miler scheduled for Saturday and I don't want to be the Caboose. So I rode three times last week, a 10, 15 and 25 miler. Going to ride tonight and Thursday. Walked last night with Sweetpea also.

Been back to the gym in between. I'm sore, but a good sore. I was playing around with some old pants that are a size smaller waist than what I am currently wearing. I can get'em buttoned, but they are still a little tight to wear... Close though, close.

Last week down a total of 5 lbs. The blueberry snacks are working good for now. Take a bowl of blueberrys to snack on, hey they are in season. Just don't make cobbler, bad, bad, bad. (Ok so I accept some of the blame for 10-8 not having a good "habbit" changing weekend). Trying Veggies instead of Chips at lunch. Film at 11.

AM

I Need to Try a New Position

Nothing as kinky as you are imagining!

Positioning is a marketing term, right? -- like: positioning a product in the market place so that it will seem better then it is and people will buy. That's what I need to do to myself with this damn diet. (Oh woops, I forgot, I'm not on a diet, I'm adapting a new habbit (so much for positioning!)). For one thing, I have my log set up to start my weeks on Mondays, which really sucks because I'm at my worst over the weekends, so to do my official weigh-in on Monday morning is self-defeating. I should track myself from Wednesday to Wednesday or something like that. Now I realize it is the overall progress that counts and not just a given day -- so theoretically it shouldn't matter what day I call my offical weigh-in day. That's where the posistioning comes in -- it's all smoke and mirrors, I realize, but if it makes me feel better, and makes me more hopeful, then I think I should go with it. I'm not above psyching myself out.

2 weeks and I'm down 1/2 lb. This is the worst start to a diet (woops - habbit change) I've ever had. Gonna' have to think on this a while. (But maybe I should think about it while I'm jogging or something!)

Back in the Alpha Saddle

Ok, so it took a week or so to get back with the program. But I think I have done it. 4 pounds this week. Crack that whip, spur that horse! Got the breakfast lunch thing under control. Breakfasts right now are yogurt and fruit. Bought 5 lbs of Michigan Blueberries. Been taken them as snacks. Working pretty good!

Had a business lunch yesterday, turned down Chinese went Mexican instead. Easier to eat light and low fat with Mexican. I had a salad, and it filled me up, so I ate a light late dinner.

Exercise, well I've been to the gym a couple of times but not a lot. Been riding my bike. Got a 15 mile ride with the Scouts tonight. Probably take a bike to South Haven this weekend.

Speaking of weekends, moderation, moderation, moderation..... Might go beerless this weekend. Would really like to get down some before Labor Day and sucking a hundred beers at the boat won't get me there. Stay tuned.

Alpha Male, Over and Out!

Journeying Along

Hiking along on the path out of Tubbyville. I had a good week- 3 pounds! (Although I usually think the first two aren't "real", I'm counting these 'cause they'd been parked on my gut for a few weeks).

It is so true that this is not a short term project but a life long journey- when I can't see Tubbyville in my rear view mirror it does not mean that I pull my Weight Watchers rules off the fridge and start eating bon bons. I will likely WANT to, though, and there is the crux of the problem: how do you turn this into an every day attitidude and not some transitory plan?

I know for myself, when I'm "on" I'm on- I usually know pretty quickly into a week weather I've managed to get my head in the right place or not. Right now, I'm on. Hiking, hiking, hiking...

False Start

DO OVER - I declare a do-over for starting my diet. In retrospect, last week was a REALLY bad week for me to start a new diet plan. I already whined about all the obligations to eating/drinking out I had lined up last week (and I added a couple more over the weekend), I was haveing some hormonal issues (sorry Microe, I know-- TMI) and the end of the week was super high-stress/intensity couple of days. So yeah - those are all my excuses for why it is that in my first week of dieting I GAINED a 1/2 lb.

So, I am regrouping, making some resolutions about the choices I make and the control that I need to have over those choices. I completely agree with Microe's last comment that we should not look at it as a "diet" but as a life style change (behaivor modification). This works much better in the long run, but is harder to implement. But I am willing to be patient, not beat myself up to bad, and accept that this will be a long term solution with better results. Rome wasn't built in a day and I'm sure that was an easier task then melting the fat off my butt.

The Daily Diet--news you can loose

The Daily Diet--news you can loose
My Maiden Blog

Blondie here. Thought I'd try out this blog-thing and see how it works!

I'm also doing a Weight Watcher's thing but I am trying the Core Plan- if you eat stuff that is on the "approved" list, you don't have to figure out your points and track it. In the "non-approved" category (all the fun stuff) you have 35 points per week to use as you wish- low-fat whole wheat toast uses up 1 point, so it's not like you have a lot of room here. Day 3 for me, to0 (10-8 and I did not even coordinate this plan!) and so far so good. I am not weighing in yet- want to wait a week and hopefully give myself a nice surprise (hopefully).

Eating Out without Pigging Out

Okay, so I am on day three of my Weight Watchers routine and it's going pretty well. I'm staying within my daily alotment of points and I have been to the gym three days this week so far. I actaully don't find dieting all that difficult on a normal daily basis (right, so why do I keep straying off of it? Don't know!) I enjoy a lot of healthy foods and I live alone so I don't have to stock the house with a bunch of evil crap for any co-habitants, AND I work from home, so I am really in control of my environment. Until I go out to eat . . .

My boss will be in town for a couple of days this week and I have two nights of dinner out with him and two days of lunches out with him. This is a challenge for a few reasons. 1) I will be tempted by evil things that I sholdn't eat -- even if I order something sensible it is not going to be made with low/no fat ingredents, so even if it's pretty good, it's not great 2) reastraunts usually serve much larger portions then what I would eat at home or what WW considers a portion 3) it's very difficult to figure the "points" in a meal you didn't prepare yourself (althoughWW does have a web site with chain restraunt menue points).

I realize this sounds like a bunch of lame excuses to blow my diet, and I don't mean it that way. I know that with a little dicipline (I think I have a little of that in me - not sure) I can order someting sensible, eat only as much as I "should", and I can estimate the points the best I can. But still, when you are looking at a two day block and know that 4 out of 6 of your meals are going to be reastraunt meals - YIKES!

So I won't brag about the 1.5 lbs I lost Monday and Tuesday, because by Friday I probably will have found them again! UGH!

rethinking the situation

I gained 5 pounds just since Sarah's wedding. I have been having a good time this summer and not thinking about dieting or exercise and I haven't really given-a-shit either.
OK--I need to get back on track. I have been spending a lot time contemplating many changes in my life and my health is one of the big issues.
I know I have to exercise--not more--just in general; I know I have to eat healthier; I need to change careers; I need to write more.

I have come to a conclusion--I have grown fat and lazy.

Now that I have finally reached a truthful conclusion--I must decide to start anew.
To start anew, I have been contmenplating myself as the young woman I was before I began a life devoted to my daughters. When I watch my daughters and listen to their thoughts and convictions about life and the world--I see myself and how influencial I was in their lives.
They are young woman who care about their health; they exercise; they eat very little meat and as much organic as they can get their hands on; they care about the environment, about equality, about social justice. They want to adopt children; they volunteer.
What amazes me is that I don't put forth that much effort in my present life, yet my daughters will say that I taught them all of these things.
What I taught my daughters is that life is about living what you believe. I think if you live your own truths everyday, you can be a really happy person. So, I'm thinking that my fat and laziness, and my happiness are linked.
So I'm starting with happiness. I'm going to begin with making an effort to start caring about the things that have always mattered to me and eliminating from my life the things that don't make me happy; I will in turn be happier and healtier.
What do you think?