Back at it

Okay well I was really doin' pretty well - didn't stick with it long enough to make a difference on the scale, but I was forming good habbits in terms of diet and exercise. But then I had some trips and vacations thrown in there, and . . .

Does anyone have more excuses then me?! My god, girl! Just DO IT!

Okay - next week I start my routine back at the gym every workday I am not on the road and resume a healthy eating pattern.

I think my next excuse is Christmas, so I have a couple of months to be serious before I start screwing off again. -- Ho Ho Ho

SBD Week 4

Still at it. Learning to deal with Scout Campouts, Sundays at the Hat and not eating poorly. Beer is an issue as I thought it would be, drink the right amount and I get the munchies. Managed to stay away from potatoes and pasta though. And bread!

So far so good, down 2 for the week, 21 total! Anyone else out there?

microe

Chugging along

Just started week four of the Beach. Doing OK. Down a total of 19 pounds. Not sure where Sweatpea is. Introduced a little fruit and grain (mainly oatmeal) back into the diet. Trying to skip bread and pasta all together, though we did have some whole grain pasta last week.

Did pretty good partying. Drank wine at the first party. Beer at the second. Managed to stay away from all the chips and bread and pastas on the buffet. Stuck to meat and the vegi tray.

Exercise is ok. Seem to be in the 3 times a week at the gym. Walking has been slow lately. Too much rain.

That's it for this week. l8r - Alpha Male

Phase II - kinda

So we made it through Phase I of the Beach. Life at the Beach has been pretty good to us. Sweetpea down 12 pounds, I'm down 17. Sweetpea is starting to introduce some of the Phase II foods into her diet. I'm sticking more to Phase I fair until the weekend.

I made it through a major test last weekend. Saturday I was at Boy Scout Camp all day, 7:30 am until 11:00pm. Managed to stick to the diet really well, avoided all the pasta, potatoes, cookies, etc and didn't feel deprived.

Exercise has been pretty good, though I got less last week than I would have liked. Try and get more in this week.

Big test coming Saturday. Two parties, one in the afternoon and one at night. I know Beer will be my big problem, but if I can keep everything else in control I should be ok.

How's everyone else doing?
microe

Party's Over

Okay - that's it -- summer is over, back to work -- or better stated: back to workouts. Due to a busy (and lazy?) summer schedule and some traveling, I pretty much blew off the gym (and all related fitness behaivor) from July thru September. Just about the time I would start THINKING about getting back to the gym, I would realize that I had a trip coming up, and, well, you know, what's the point in going to the gym if you can't really stay at it. WRONG! Oh well, I can't change what's done, but I can change what I do from here.

So - Monday, October 2nd - back to the gym. I seem to be having dificulty getting out of bed on these dark mornings, so I am trying something different. I get up in the morning and put my workout clothes on and go downstairs to my desk (working from home is a big bonus here); sometime mid-dayish I head out to the gym -- it's close to home, so I can go do a 50 minute workout (arobics and weights) and be back home within an hour (65 minutes tops); then I fix something quick and healthy for lunch and head back down to my desk. So far (yes I realize I'm only on day two!) this is working well -- it gives me a nice break in the day where I can get my mind out of my work for a while and I feel like I get a more energized workout then I did when I was going before work, because I'm more awake (and since I was having real problems getting out of bed early enough to go, I started blowing it off all together). I think one thing that is really helping me here is getting dressed for the workout when I get up -- it's like making the mental commitment when you get up in the monring.

Not sure which, or if, I will do a specified "diet plan" there are several good ones out there that have good track records, but I have a hard time staying on ONE, and when I slip off, then I somehow use that as a justification to blow the whole thing. So I'm going to try just "being good" which really means "being smart" and see how I do.

So off I go -- again! Wish me luck as I bid Tubbyville a'du.

Stairway out of Tubby Town

They are 150 of some of the steepest, ramshackle, un-even stairs you will find. 8 flights straight up with a little landing in between each. They go from North Division Street up the hill into the Belknap neighborhood in Grand Rapids. They are a test of what kind of shape you are really in. I stood at the bottom last Friday telling myself I could trot all the way up them. Thursday I had gone up them with my walking partners, I trotted all but the last 20 or so. Walking the rest. My partners complained and were about 40 steps behind when I got to the top. Friday I was alone...

I stretched my calves a little, the right calf a little tight from the day before. I took a couple of big breaths and started up. At the half way point I felt good, after 6 flights I was feeling it. My calves starting to burn, but the worst is breathing. This climb knocks the wind out of you, you can't get enough air. After 7 flights I told myself, 20 steps to go, don't stop now. Then I was there, at the top, gasping for air, calves on fire. But I had trotted all the way up! Then off to finish my walk, another couple of miles. 10 minutes later, I've caught my breath, my calves are loosened back up and I feel alive! Energized.

South Beach Diet Phase I, week one is in the book. I lost 10 pounds. So did Sweetpea. We stuck to it to the letter. Exercise definitely helps. Last week I walked 5 days, hit the gym for 2, and got in a 20 mile bike ride. On to week two.

Hope the thunderstorms give me a break around lunch. I hear the stairs calling me again.

microe