And I think (hope) the whoosh is beginning!

The temps outside have come down, I'm past ovulation, the gazillions of water pounds are beginning to come off. 1.2 yesterday, 1.4 today and it went down enough to give me my new all time low by surpassing my lowest weight by 3 ounces!  I don't care, I'll take it.

I actually took pictures of my ankles last night as they are still puffy, but not NEARLY as puffy as the other night - well no wonder! I've lost 3 pounds of water weight in the last 36 hours and I can see I have more. I knew it was going to be good news when I weighed myself before going to bed last night as I weighed less in the evening than I did in the morning and my ankles STILL looked like this (I don't usually get sock indents):

So, phew... my gut was right.

Other than that I did some retail therapy yesterday. I had a $100 gift card to a nursery I needed to use (expires end of May and I've had it for 2 years) and then I added a bit more to it AND then I ordered online what I couldn't find locally.

Anyway, what did I buy? I got 3 hostas - three varieties, 2 containers of native woodland violets , coral bells in two colors - two rust colored, one purple, four peonies - two in pink and two in white, 2 containers of Spanish lavender, a drawf Japanese Lilac, a traditional lavender lilac bush, a Saucer magnolia tree, a rust/orange Scottish broom plant, and a River Birch tree(native to Maryland). Later I ordered 2 fig trees of two different varieties AND rhubarb. Then, I got a great deal on already quite large tomato plants (10"). I got 6 of those. That will get me a start. Not a bad haul for what I paid. I was really picking and choosing careful for like two hours. I still want to get a bunch of annuals and will fill in with more perennials in years to come, but that gives me quite a bit to do!

My exercise for today? Mowing, weeding, digging and planting. I think that will continue into Sunday and it's perfect timing as Then it is supposed to rain for the next 3-4 days, so it will naturally water them as they start to establish.

I'm very excited about planting! And excited the weight is finally on it's way downward.

Stats for 4/30/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 219.2 (a bit more than 36 pounds lost to my new low for this journey)

I'm chugging along despite the hateful scale

Last night while getting ready for bed, I took off my socks, the indents these socks made looked like some one had been torturing my ankles and those socks aren't even tight. So ridiculously indented. My shorts felt tighter. Just so much water weight.

Ovulation has now passed, so I 'should' see a steady decrease in water weight starting tomorrow. I sure hope so because as much as I know what is causing all this, it's still very hard to keep a firm mental grasp. Right now, more than ever so far, I jut want to go out and pig out, but I won't.

Yesterday was more thinking about what bike I want and dreaming about getting it. I've decided that I really do want internal shifting gears. I don't want to mess with a derailleur. I also want fenders and chain guard. I've messed up too many clothes from grease. The fenders and the back rack I can add on. It's finding an affordable internal shifting bike that is hard. I can spend $1000 for an electra bike that does that, but wow! But I also found that Raleigh has a couple bikes that do that and cost $500 less. I would just need to add on the fenders and bike rack which is another $100. Once I sell the baby stroller/bike trailer I have, I'm getting it. I'm getting this one.





Here's someone who has put on fenders and a basket. I would just add a back rack:

 

In the end, I had to break down what is important to me and I really, really like internal shifting and if I have a heavy load of groceries or books, I want to be able to shift out of gear while at a standstill. I can only do that with internal shifting.

REI offers this bike, but of course, not at their stores. I would have to order it. Good thing is I can order it without having to buy it, but it just takes that much more time and I'm watching spring tick away. I keep looking on Craigslist too for a decent used bike with internal shifting, but nothing yet.

Trying to keep my head up despite feeling a bit dismayed with my SLOW weight loss for this month. It's still going down and I'm nowhere NEAR giving up, but I could use a downward motion on the scale boost!

Beginning weight 255.6  now 220.6

OK, this scale thing is almost comical now!

If you EVER want to gain weight fast, besides drinking water, eat fajitas and salsa. I guarantee you'll gain at least a pound, if not two! My husband gained one pound. I gained 1.4. My calories came in at 1400 yesterday. I walked over 3 miles, but I gained all that weight. I knew it was going to happen when I stepped on the scale last night before going to bed - I saw 224 on the scale and just had to laugh, because I "KNOW" it's all water. My socks left indentations, my ring is tighter and when you know you are eating perfectly and exercising, it's water weight, plain and simple.

Man, and fajitas are one of my all time favorite foods. I marinate the chicken (of course, it gathers sodium that way) and then grill it. I slice up red peppers and green peppers and onions, toss them in olive oil and then grill those. I then toss in my food processor, cilantro, garlic, a hot pepper, tomatoes and white onion with a splash or two of lime juice and salt and whiz it up to make homemade salsa. Slice up an avocado (one for the whole family) and crumble up a chunk of queso fresco (going very light with it on plate) and voila a tortilla-less fajita (the rest of them had tortillas, but even they eat just one and mostly make a fajita salad). It's a perfect meal except for the sodium and wow! WEIGHT GAIN!!!

Plus, it's still hot in the house, but it should be cooling down today as the temps are lower today, but the rooms are still around 80 degrees which is another thing to help me retain water.  Oh, well. It's going to be one heck of a WHOOSH! when the water weight gain does come off.

Stats for 4/28/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 222.0
Exercise total hours in 2011: 111 hours
Walking/Biking total miles in 2011: 360.3/1000 miles

Scale woes - once again

I know, tomorrow or the day after I'll probably have a big WHOOSH!!! on the scale, but man, I've been stuck for like 2 weeks. I'm up 3 ounces again this morning. I'm eating perfectly - 1200-1400 calories a day, I'm exercising 6 days a week and the scale just doesn't want to move.

But my husband pointed something out to  me today and I hadn't thought about it, but I think he's right. It's getting warm. Like really warm. It's been mid to upper 80s for several days. We do most of our living upstairs in the house which means our living space is mid 80s. Even with windows opein, our bedroom is about 80 degrees at night. And what do we do when we are hot? We retain water! I did the ring test and my ring which was getting too loose is much snugger. I have indentations where my socks hit. It's not from too much sodium, it's from being warmer! That explains some of it. Otherwise it's that darn body rhythm I have where I don't like to lose for half the month and any day now, I should enter the other half of the month and life should be lighter! I'm so itching to get to the halfway point which is is still 4 pounds away! Grrr!!!

Other than that, yesterday was a productive day. I got a lot done on the kid's first day back to school. Today I'm going to scan my garden to figure out how to beautify it. We have the worst yard in the viewable area and about the worst yard I ever walk. Gardening is good exercise, so I need to dig into that too, literally.

Not much else, off to take lap two around the lake in a minute with a neighbor across the street.

Stats for 4/27/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now 219.6
Exercise total hours in 2011: 110
Total Walking/Biking/Running in 2011: 357/1000

Back to reality! Spring break is over!

Wasn't hard for any of us to wake up this morning. The sun was up, the birds were singing and there was a nice cool breeze coming in through the windows and I think everyone was ready to go back to their routine as everyone was up and out early with no battles. That makes it much nicer!

The weather was just gorgeous yesterday. I took three laps around the lap for my exercise. I was hot and sweaty when I was done, but it felt so great. Today, while the weather holds up, I will walk around again after I walk my little guy to school and I'll either bike to get him from school or walk around the lake to get him from school (if the weather permits). I love being able to fit in exercise around other activities we need to do.

That's why I really want a bicycle. I want to ride to the library. I'm even imagining riding to the grocery store. There's a great map of our town with all the bike trails. Basically, I can get to all the places I need to go without getting on busy highways and without going down routes that wind and turn and take me way out of my way to get from Point A to Point B. The grocery store is about 1.5 miles away. The library is 1.5 miles away. The mall is 1 mile away. And then a great, great park with a bigger lake is 2 miles away. All that is so easy by bike, a little long for walking and heavy for carrying, but not so heavy when using a bike rack!

Talking about getting stronger. How is this for a weird sign of increased strength. I just cleaned out the litter boxes and took up the litter from both boxes. Usually, I'm struggling with the bag as it's heavy. Today, I carried it up, one armed, no struggles. I guess those arm exercises are beginning to pay off. My husband noticed some growing muscle too. Might I actually, some day, have shapely arms? That hasn't happened in like forever - or how about never.

OK, off to get the little guy to school and then work, work, work on all the things I didn't get done during spring break, which is a lot.

Stats for 4/26/11:

Beginning weight: 2556.  Now: 219.4 (a bit more than 36 lbs lost and a tie for my all time low)
Exercise total hours/minutes in 2011:  109 hours
Walking/biking/running totals in 2011: 353/1000 miles

Had a lovely Easter and the last day of spring break is today

Easter was so lovely. My little guy, being six. Is still young enough to get all excited about holidays and to enjoy them, but is mature enough now not to get all worked up over little things. He was all sunshine and smiles with the egg hunt, his Easter basket and even cracked his own egg, but wouldn't eat it, of course.

We had a nice ham, egg, homemade bread and banana blueberry bread breakfast. I ate just the ham and eggs with one nibble of the blueberry banana bread (yum, good!). We hung out for awhile just relaxing and enjoying the peacefulness of the day. Then little guy and I took a bike ride on our buddy bike tandem. However, the weather started to change, so we only did one mile and came home. Then I made dinner of grilled butterflied leg of lamb with green beans and wild rice/brown rice combo (I skipped the rice). The rest of the family finished up the birthday cake.

I played a bit more with my youngest son, put him to sleep, and then went to the basement to do a step routine. I decided to try Reebok Step: The Video. I had remembered liking that one and yep, I still do. It's a surprisingly simple routine, but excellent cuing and it gives a great workout - a bit longer than many, which I appreciated. When I lost weight eons ago, I was happy with 25 minute workouts. Now, I feel that is so wimping out. I want at least 45 minutes of working out! And this one delivers. My heart rate was in the zone for most of it, but didn't work me too hard. I just didn't do any of the propulsion moves as that's harder on the knees and at my weight, I'm still trying to keep everything completely low impact.

After working out, I went upstairs to watch a movie with the two older boys, "The Aristrocrats". A really great documentary about an age old tasteless joke told by the top comedians of the time (made in 2005).

While going to sleep, we were being serenaded by a mockingbird. That bird was singing ALL NIGHT LONG and he/she knew over a hundred different bird calls. It was quite amusing actually.

And finally, I slept until 9 am. I love, love, love spring break and that I have kids old enough now that I can sleep in. Even the little guy slept until 8:45 am.

My plan for today is to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts, to take my older son to the bike shop to look for a bike for him, and to decide on a bike for me as I did sell that man's bike I picked up for myself (for a profit to put towards what I really want). What I'm deciding on now, for me, is to get my dream bike, or to get a really close to it dream bike. I think I'm going for the 'really close to it' bike as I can't justify the $$$ for the dream bike. Though man, once you have a bike with internal shifters, you understand why they are so great. Our tandem has them and you can shift whenever - pedaling or not, and there is less maintenance and no chains falling off. I like that!

Stats for 4/25/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 219.6 (36 pounds lost - close to my all time low)
Exercise total hours/minutes in 2011: 108 hours
Walking/Biking/Running totals for 2011: 349/1000

Being a mom preparing for holidays

This weekend has been super busy. My son's birthday and then Easter. Earth Day hardly gets a nod as it won't be allowed to trump Henry's birthday and we try every day to make it an Earth day, not just once a year. But, yesterday was a day to prepare for Easter.

The day started with making some Banana blueberry bread - 3 loaves. I took the lamb out of the freezer to thaw. Then starting the preferment for the regular daily bread to have fresh on Easter. I went to the mall with the little guy (it was raining yesterday) midday yesterday to run off some energy. I made dinner. I cooked the ham and boiled the eggs, but managed to break 16 of the 24 eggs - NEVER in 18 years of making eggs for Easter have I had more than one per dozen break. So weird! This then necessitated a back up plan for our egg hunt. I went out at 9 pm to buy plastic eggs. The little guy colored the surviving 8 eggs and the remaining half dozen that weren't severely broken. After running to the grocery store, I did my workout at 10 pm. After the workout I came upstairs and filled the Easter baskets.

I slept really well and LONG. (thank goodness I think my little guy forgot today was Easter and let us sleep in). I get up, hide the plastic eggs outside, we do the egg hunt, slice up the cold ham, do the European egg cracking tradition and everyone dives into the Easter basket. No Easter basket for me today. I clean up everything from the breakfast of eggs, ham, banana blueberry bread and regular whole wheat bread (homemade) and start looking up what I need to do with the lamb for dinner.

What does my husband and mother in law do during all this time? Most husband is doing laundry and my mother is being a pill about allergies and being stuck in the house and on Easter, every stinking year, she's a pain in the butt because she is lamenting her Easter's of yore. Now, 50% of what we do for Easter is her traditions (none of her traditions are left out) and 50% of the traditions we do are ours (none of my growing up traditions are left out). MOST years, the Easters are on different weeks, but this year they are the same. She is just a pain every holiday and really, I'm getting sick of it. She complains, but doesn't help to make it special for her either.

And why do I do some much for the holidays - every year. I cook and cook and prepare and think and do a lot. Moms everywhere are doing it and the kids love it, but why don't dads get into it as much? Yes sure they will play along and  do whatever, but so few actually actively, independently participate in it. They just expect it to magically appear. Like my husband this mornign was like, "Well, we can't have the egg cracking thing if we don't have colored eggs." He was unaware I had colored the eggs and he didn't check to be sure they were colored either - just expected it to be done, but would never bother to do it himself.

For Easter, we are more low key than Thanksgiving and Christmas, but still I put a lot of effort into it. Buying the basket stuff a month in advance to be sure to get what the kids like. Every holiday I'm usually exhausted from all the preparation and I have to wonder, "do they even appreciate it?" or is it really for me? Not for them?

I know I will miss it when the kids are grown. I know I couldn't wait to have kids to do all these things, so I'm not bemoaning the fact that I do them, but why is it the moms that really get into it? Dads that get into it are rare.

My reward for my busy day yesterday, even skipping out on a slice of birthday cake and exercising at 10 pm was that I gained a pound from yesterday's low! Nice, huh? But, I'm getting close to ovulation and the last two months I gained about this time too, so I'm not too surprised. Oh well, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and it will come off sooner than later.

Stats for 4/24/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 220.4 (a bit more than 35 lbs lost - up a pound from yesterday)
Exercise total hours/minutes in 2011: 107 hours
Running/Walking/Biking total miles in 2011: 345/1000

Surviving special days can be done!

So, as I said yesterday, it was my little guy's 6th birthday. For his birthday he wanted to go to IHOP for breakfast. I had tried to look up nutritional information online, but they only had information for their light fit which is fake everything - fake eggs, fake cheese... and well, to me, that is worse than eating the real thing. Dieting should not be about eating artificial ingredient substitutes. That's not healthier just because it's lower calorie.

When we got there, however, they have the calorie count for everything. I LOVE that, but holy calories Batman! But then when you look more closely, 490 calories are the buttermilk pancakes as the side! (without counting the syrup, but counting the mounds of butter). So, I ordered my favorite omelette which is the country omelette. That alone had about 600 calories. I took off the butter from the pancakes (they put more than a tablespoon dollop on top!) and left them for anyone who wanted them. That kept me full until 3 pm.

Then, for a light lunch/early dinner I had hummus with veggies and then at 7 pm I had a slice of birthday cake and I was not hungry. The cake I made was a European style which, for someone with blood sugar issues, is a lot friendlier. It has a cake with a consistency much like a sponge cake (but less sugary). The ingredients: 12 eggs, 12 tablespoons of sugar and 9 tablespoons of flour. That's it. The icing is a custard mixed later with butter. It's 6 whole eggs, 2 cups of milk, vanilla, 4 tablespoons of flour, 2/3s of a cup of rum all cooked together and a bit less than 2 cups of sugar all cooked together until it forms a custard. You let the custard cool and then add in room temperature butter, beat it and then spread it over the cool layers of cake. So the cake has less sugar and WAY less flour than a traditional cake and a whopping 18 eggs! and 3.5 sticks of butter for more fat. Not a health food, but not as unhealthy as American style cake.

The funny thing with the cake was that I made the cake the night before for it to sit in the fridge for a day, but I didn't get to decorating it until the next afternoon. So, the icing is custard icing, but the decorations are made with traditional American icing as that's easier to work with by far. I spent two hours decorating it and then five minutes later we sang happy birthday, carved it up and ate it. At least we have pictures!

And yes, my calories came in GREAT for the day. I enjoyed and I saw a drop on the scale today of .4. I didn't even get exercise in yesterday I was plain WHIPPED.

Stats for 4/23/11:

Beginning weight 255.6  Now: 219.4 (a bit more than 36 pounds lost)

Happy birthday to my baby! Six years old today!

His request for his birthday, besides a Cat in the Hat cake was to go to IHOP for breakfast. He ordered the double blueberry pancakes and he really dug in. I have never, ever seen him so excited as he was waiting for those pancakes. When the waitress came out with our drink order, he said with the saddest voice, "And not a single pancake." He is just so precious. I love my newly turned six year old!

Today, obviously, will be a high day for me. I ordered a country omelette without sour cream (3 eggs, hashbrowns, ham, onion and cheddar cheese). I ordered pancakes, but didn't eat them. Those were packed up in a doggie bag in case the little guy wants to eat them later. That, and two cups of coffee with milk. Total was about 600 calories for breakfast if I trust their nutritional info (and I'm rounding up a bit). I'll be stuffed for hours and then I'll eat something small for dinner and will then enjoy a slice of European cake. This particular cake is called Ljubav Torta which means Love Cake. European cakes are way yummier and way less damaging nutritionally.

The cake itself is 12 eggs, separated. 12 tablespoons of sugar, 9 tablespoons of flour - that's it. The icing is really a custard mixed with butter. So, it's 6 eggs, whole, about 2 cups of sugar, 1/2 a cup of rum, some vanilla, 4 tablespoons of flour and 2 cups of milk with 3.5 sticks of butter added after the custard cooled. It's not low calorie, but it's very high protein with all those eggs and milk. I will decorate it with American style icing. Yum!

Besides that, I'm selling (already sold) the bike I got for myself. Why? I realllllly want a girly bike and I found a new one (a demo model) on sale and it is so much more me. For a bit more money, I will get what I want. That makes me happy.

OK, alsoI had me new all time low this morning. Just in time for a birthday celebration!  Of course, on the birthday itself, I lost a TON of weight. Easiest weight loss ever? Easy? Well, maybe not, but fairly quick! He was 11 pounds 14 ounces and I had a HUGE placenta and had too much water. I lost like 40 pounds in 4 weeks (as I was also holding a ton of fluids at the end of that pregnancy). And he's stayed huge. That boy is and always has been a giant with a big build.

Oh well! And who would have thought mowing was so exhausting! Electric corded mower over talllllll grass in the back and lots of little twigs, pine cones and sugar gum balls. That made me tired! But, exercise that is purposeful is good too! Not sure what I'll do tonight, but I'll do something in the basement.

Stats for 4/22/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 219.8 (almost 36 pounds lost)
Exercise total hours for 2011: 106 hours
Walking/Biking/Running totals for 2011: 342/1000

Finally, a new low - however so small and my new weights.

The last eight or so days I have been floating around the same one pound. Part of it was that time of the month and part of it was taco seasoning and probably taking it easy a bit while I battled a light cold. But, I finally saw a new low this morning. Even though it's only down three ounces on the scale, it's the first new low I've seen in what seems a looooong time. That puts me finally, at 35 pounds lost.

Yesterday I did go meet up with a friend at the C & O Canal National Park. Unfortunately, the main lookout was closed because of flooding, but we had a nice walk anyway. The kids were little monkeys with the rocks. The last time I was at the park I weight 45 pounds more and was terribly unfit. That time I did take one of the trails off the main path with my mentee and I remember how unsteady I felt on the rocks and it was hard. Yesterday, while climbing over the rocks, I didn't feel nearly as unsteady and I felt more comfortable and less fatigued.

On the way home, I stopped at a Whole Foods and got a yummy whole red snapper, some lamb for Easter and some items we usually can't get at our local store. When we got home, I started making dinner and the fish turned out great! Paired with grilled new baby potatoes and grilled green beans - all drowned in olive oil and garlic.

After dinner, I took a leisurely walk around the lake at dusk with my husband and my little guy. How my little guy still had energy after his long day, I don't know, but he was a trooper, all the way around. We came in and I hopped on the iPad for a bit and then decided it was time to do an upper body workout. I had walked a few miles, but my arms, shoulders, back could use some attention.

The other day I had bought hand weights. We only had 2 pound weights before that my mother in law used once upon a time. At Target I picked up 5 lbs, 8 lbs, and 10 lbs. weights. I did the Kathy Smith Time Saver (20 minute) Upper Body Workout. I had done it twice before with the 2 pounds weights (doubling up the 2 lbs in one hand where I could) in the previous viewings. This time I used each of the weights. Whenever I used the 10 lbs, I had to drop down to 8 lbs or 5 lbs partway through, but I did get the full "do it until fatigue" thing. Afterwards, my arms could barely work to post a Facebook update! Then I asked myself, "So, why did I buy heavier weights? That just makes it harder!" This morning I don't feel much residual discomfort, so it must have been enough without being too much.

Other things for today - it's supposed to be nice, so maybe a bike ride is in order along with other workouts. Also, tomorrow is my little guy's 6th birthday, so I need to make his birthday cake too (European style cakes taste better next day, so it needs to be made today). That should be fun and we'll do it together. He is one very excited kid for his birthday!

Stats for 4/21/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 220.6 (exactly 35 pounds lost)
Exercise total hours/minutes for 2011: 105 hours
Walking/Biking/Running total miles in 2011: 336/1000

All caught up on sleep and going to a national park today

I don't know why I was so exhausted, but even with a three hour nap yesterday, I still went straight to sleep last night and slept soundly all night. I was TIRED. Feeling much better this morning! Yesterday was all rain and yuck, so I exercised in my basement to Gilad's New Beginner's Workout. I've done that one once before and it seemed perfect fit for the aerobics portion and too hard for the toning section (which made sense as I had gotten more fit aerobically, but barely started on strength training). This time the aerobics part were a bit easy (still works, but I had to really push it to get my heart rate up) and the toning part is perfect. There was only about one fifth of the glutes exercises that I had to pause on where it was like four fifths I had to pause on last time. So, that means it's about to retire that video and move on to harder ones.

Today I'm going to the C & O Historic Trail. Which is in Great Falls, Maryland. We've been several times, but it's a great place to walk and has amazing views of the falls/rapids on the Potomac River. Meeting up with a mom friend from out of town who is visiting family here more locally. Should be fun and we'll get some time outside before the next round of bad weather sneaks in this evening.

I won't count this as my exercise for the day because it will be going at my kid's pace and hers, but it will be nice all the same. I haven't been to the park for about a year, so it will be nice. I'm sure my youngest has no memory of it and my oldest son hasn't been for a couple years. So, he's being dragged there if he likes it or not. No sitting in front of the computer on a beautiful day like today!

That's it for today. I dropped the taco seasoning weight and I'm not back to the same low I had BEFORE eating tacos. Can't wait to get back to new lows.

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now 220.8
Exercise total hours/minutes for 2011: 104 hours
Walking/Biking/Running totals for 2011: 332.5/1000

New shoes and a really good walk

My shoes I had were fine while they were new, but they have worn out. So, we went to a local running store that seems to be mentioned everywhere to go for getting fitted for running shoes. And then, I got my running shoes - the sales guy nailed in on the first shoe. They only had one color of the shoe - the pink... well, 'raspberry' color and well, I don't usually do pink, but I was tired of gray with blue which is what I've had every time. This is gray with hints of bright pink, so they are girly without being in your face girly. I got these: Asics Gel Nimbus 12. My husband got a pair of Brooks.

Then, we came home, had dinner - tacos again. I had leftover everything except for meat, so made new meat and used up the rest of the other ingredients. It's such a great meal and low carb and so full of flavor, but... every time I eat it, I gain water weight and sure enough, I'm up .4 again today. I can't mind it too bad as I know why I had the gain, but I'm tired of seeing the same numbers now for over a week!

After dinner, I took a walk. First trip around, I walked with my husband. My shins were bugging me a bit, so I only walked as fast as they would allow. That lap (1.25 miles) I was averaging 3.2 miles per hour. Second lap I was solo (hubby had already walked/ran 5 miles) and I picked up the pace. That lap averaged 3.7 miles per hour. By the third lap, my muscles were all warmed up, shin was no longer aching, so I did a 4.1 miles per hour lap. All together with the bit of walk back and forth to the house, it was just under 4 miles. That last lap, my heart was racing as I was walking as fast as my heart could sustain - averaging 152 beats per minute, peaking at 168. I felt if I went any faster, I would fall on my face. 4.1 miles per hour walking is fast! This was all in my new shoes and they felt great.

Also while at the running store, the guy selling shoes looked in his book and found exercises for me to do to strengthen my shins. They are easy enough to do sitting at the computer or while watching TV, so I will pick up one pound weights and exercise my shins every night. He also said I should ice them every time I take a walk. Did I last night? No! I'm so not a person to baby myself.

Possibly meeting up with a friend today at Great Falls, Maryland side. If not today, then tomorrow, weather permitting. That is such a pretty walk. Plus, it's been over a year since I saw this friend, so it will be great to catch up with her and her family. It's getting easier as our kids are getting older!

Otherwise, it's a great spring break day. I had a lighter week last week, so it's making me raring to go this week!

Stats for 4/19/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now 221.6 (up .4 because of taco salad again!)
Exercise total hours in 2011: 103 hours
Walking/Biking/Running totals in 2011: 329.5/1000

Ordered my bike basket and had a dessert

Yesterday with guests was going fine. We had breakfast, I ate normally. They went (including everyone but my little guy and me) to the bay for a boat ride, so the little guy and I had a normal afternoon. We took a walk, we ate lunch, we went to the store, etc. Got dinner ready, grilled outside, ate my normal meal. But, I had made a dessert for the guests. And for my husband. He requested a once a year treat - Rhubarb pie. I was serving it up, our guest was handing them out and I thought it was odd we had run out, meaning my little guy had rhubarb crisp from the night before (which was better for him anyway as the pie was still too hot and he wanted it NOW). We ran out because our guest had set a piece in front of me. With a dollop of ice cream.

Now I could have refused it and thrown it out, but everyone was like, "Melissa, it's one dessert - enjoy it." And they are right... it's true and it's my favorite spring dessert - bringing back so many childhood memories. Iowa and rhubarb. So, I ate a piece, meaning I ate 500 more calories for the day than I anticipated. It was great! But it was unexpected... not really a slip, but something that turned out to be hard to avoid without creating a scene. At least it was delicious. It looks like I have found a way to make a flaky crust again, after years of being unsuccessful after switching from using crisco. So, at least that is good!

While they were at the bay, I went to a bike shop and ordered the bike basket I want with two adapters so I can put it on either bike I ride. Here is a link: bontrager handlebar basket. So, that makes the bike slightly girly at least. I can put some water or my purse in it. Still need to get a bell for my bike.

That's about it for today. After our guests leave, I will get hard to it with exercise so I don't stall out even more.

Stats for 4/18/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now 221.2 (lost a bit of the water weight from the day before)
Exercise totals for 2011: 102 hours
Walking totals for 2011: 325.4/1000

From storms to sunshine - feeling great despite a gain

Yesterday was a whirlwind day. Mad last minute cleaning (bathrooms, litter boxes, dusting), HUGE grocery shopping and then preparing tacos for 9 people so I wouldn't have to deal with it when they were here - 3 heads of lettuce to wash and cut and dry, 4 green peppers, a huge bowl of salsa, and so on. Then, once they were here, I was on my feet the whole time, playing ping-pong, making dinner, cleaning up from dinner, making dessert, getting beds made (3) and so on. I ended the day with burning more calories than I took in (only ate a protein shake for breakfast, hummus and veggies for lunch and taco salad for dinner - skipped the dessert, but it was GREAT - rubarb crisp (I had one teaspoon to make sure it was OK).

But taco salad equals weight gain for me. Even though this time I bought reduced sodium taco seasoning. It's the combo or taco seasoning, cheese and mostly, the homemade salsa. My caloric intake for the day was under 1000 (not intentionally) and I burned about 1100. Yet my scale is up a whole pound. I just had to laugh!

The sun is out this morning and we have a blooming Bradford pear in the front of the house and a blooming crabapple in the back of the house and our neighbor's forsythia is still yellow which runs all the length of our back yard So beautiful against the blue sky and the bright green grass. Spring is so gorgeous. I love it and it makes me feel so alive.

The guests we have are Sven's family, cousins. We haven't seen them for a few years and I've dropped about 50 pounds since I saw them last. They said I look great and I feel great. I caught a glimpse of  myself in the mirror yesterday and I think what surprises me most is that my face has de-aged about 15 years. Some of it is the weight loss, but I think a lot of it is getting more healthy.


The other thing for today is that it would have been my maternal grandmother's birthday. She would have been 104 years old. She died when she was 78 1/2, but I never forget her birthday. Even though she died before my 16th birthday, I still miss her terribly. We understood each other - despite the 62 year age gap. I wanted so much that my youngest son's birth would land on her birthday, but now I'm glad he has his own day. I still miss her, but I know she would be proud of me and that warms my heart a lot.

Stats for 4/17/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6   Now 221.8 (a gain of one pound from yesterday)
Exercise total hours minutes: 101 hours
Total walking/running/biking in 2011: 322.4/1000

The big news on the blood work and my new bike!

My Blood work results are in!!!

Still haven't received the copy from the doctor, but the quest lab one was received through my phone today. I got it while we were in the waiting room for my son's occupational therapy appointment. I was so happy to see that email. So, I finally have SOMETHING. And it's very, very good news. Later, when I got home, mailbox was empty yet. Glad I pursued the quest labs route.

So, the scores. I won't explain most as most people know what they mean. I'll explain the A1C a bit thought:

My cholesterol before: 227 Now: 194 (and the breakdown is good). This got better because of my diet and because of my thyroid getting better. I now eat way more fat than before to make up for the calories I'm not getting in carbs.

My thyroid TSH after second test was 14 after a high of 43 (rest of hormones were OK after second test - this is the third thyroid test) Now: 3.13 (JUST about normal but some specialists like to see it lower - I'll check on this more. It should be under 3 by all current standards. An endocrinologist would want it closer to 1.0, but I feel fine, so we'll see if I want to pursue this more or leave it as it is.)

My fasting glucose before: 209 Now: 94. This improvement is almost surely 100% from diet.

My A1C ( to put it simply, this is a reading my red blood cells to see the history of glucose over the last three months. Glocuse sticks to the proteins in red blood cells, and red blood cells live for about 3 months. So, it looks for the build-up over time of sugar). Before: 8.7 (which is considered uncontrolled diabetes) Now: 5.8 (which is near the top of the normal range. Top being 6.0).

Everything else with my blood work and urine is perfect as it was before. Like, oddly, my triglycerides were always OK, which you would think would have been off with my blood sugars being out of whack. Before they were 90 something, under 150 is considered normal. Now they are 74.

So, three months of exercising, eating no simple carbs, averaging 100 net carbs a day, and dropping 34 pounds, I fixed my problems with my blood sugar. AND my thyroid is right on the cusp of being ok. Glad I didn't follow the American Diabetes Association's recommendations for eating as they are behind the curve ball. They, I think, don't think people are willing to give up as many carbs as I did, so they don't recommend giving up all simple carbs, just eating meals at predicted times and balancing the carbs. I didn't follow that. I eat whenever I want, but I just limit any of the sugars that would ever give me a spike in glucose and when I eat a complex carb, I pair it with fat and protein. Like when I eat an apple, it's always with peanut butter.

So, bottom line is, I do not need any drugs to address diabetes. My diet has all that completely under control and I'm SOOOO happy. Now, I will not go and change my diet now that I've passed the test. I cannot say, "oh, my blood work is fine. I don't have diabetes." That's not true. I have issues with eating simple carbs and my insulin producing ability is probably forever hampered. I just need to eat in a way to help my pancreas out by not demanding too much insulin ever.

What I'm doing is working and I feel so much better without the simple carbs and it's so easy to do without them. I simply eat more green veggies and a bit more meat and skip the starch - no sweat and not even tempting to me. I will indulge here and there - like a piece of cake for my son's birthday this Friday, but I'll make a European one to make it less harmful (european style cakes are basically mostly eggs and sugar with a touch of flour and the icing is eggs, milk, sugar and butter). But I will forever skip the rice, bread, and all low protein pasta and will go easy on potatoes.

And, my other new I got myself a bike! I got the like new used one and it's 'almost' exactly what I want. I'll just girlify it with baskets and bells. My husband didn't bat an eye when I asked for $100 (I had $100 stashed away). I think he's so proud of me that he doesn't mind spending money on fitness related things. (within reason). And it was so obviously new and paying $200 for a $650 bike is a great bargain!

So... turned out to be a great day. We have guests coming in later today, but I'm mostly done cleaning. I just need to do some major grocery shopping to feed 9 people for a couple days.

Stats for 4/16/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 220.8 (just under 35 lbs lost)
Exercise hours/minutes in 2011: 98 hours
Walking/Biking/Running totals in 2011: 318.4/1000

When your irrational wants of the heart and the rational brain FIGHT

For the most part, I'm a very, very rational person. I don't live by what my heart tells me and I try very hard to make solid rational decisions. Well, sometimes that's hard. Like now.

See, my husband bought a bike for himself last week. And we finally went bike riding as a family and with doing that, I realized how much I missed bike riding and now I want to have a bike for me to ride as riding the tandem as a solo is not the easier thing to do.

Super rationally, I should say, "Well, my teenage son has outgrown his bike. I should just fix up his and use that one." But even the rational brain can't make me like that option. It's a boys bike. It's 5 years old and needs new grips and a tune-up at the minimum, but, like so many things. I'm tired of getting the hand me down, the throw away. He needs a new bike too (if he's interested in one), but why does that mean I should have to take his outcast.

So, my rational brain starts thinking and decides I should find a used bike for myself. I did some looking and I know what sort of bike I want. I want an electra bike. And in my dream world, I want this one: electra townie euro 8i notice the price tag, $1000.

I have found this one though, used and it only has about 20 miles on it. It's the male/unisex version, but it works for me. It just doesn't have the chain guard and internal gears and it's not a step through and powder blue. Otherwise, it has MORE gears which is better. And it's only $200.

Initially, my rational brain was thrilled. Wow! I'm getting the kind of bike I want, practically in my back yard for $200 when it's in great condition? It even has fenders and a bike rack already? I don't have to add these! SCORE!!! But, then the heart started thinking, "well, it is silver and it's the unisex/men's version. For once I want something a bit girlier". Then the rational voice takes over and says, "but yes, this way anyone can ride it, including your teenager - if he doesn't find it an old person's bike"

I know the rational brain will win out. I will get this and give up the dream of a $1000 bike as a. why spend that much? and b. we can't afford that much. But in the meantime, my heart is aching for something it can't or shouldn't have. Don't you hate that???

I'm taking a look at this bike today. I would take it home today if I could find a way to get it home, but not possible with my little one in the car with me. I am excited about it though as it's a great bike and will give me more opportunites to ride and I'm girlify it with baskets and such. Fun, right?

Slight gain today, but expected as I'm holding fluids, I can tell.

Stats for 4/15/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now 221.4 (a bit more than 34 lbs lost)
Exercise totals in 2011: 95 hours 45 minutes
Walking/running/biking totals in 2011: 315.4/1000

The nice weather is here!

So far this spring has been pretty miss with weather. It's either raining, cold or both. We've had a couple nice days which keep the hope alive, but it's been pretty sparse. I've gotten spoiled with mid-Atlantic over the years. We usually have such wonderful springs. But... Oh well, that's weather- unpredictable. But today will be glorious and I will use it appropriately!

Last night the weather broke and I took full advantage of it. I first walked around the lake with my husband. He went home and I went around again. I was going to call my neighbor when I was about 2/3s home to see if she wanted to go around and just as I was taking my phone out, I saw her coming the other way. So, I turned back around and walked the rest of the way with her. That gave me a really nice walk.

Then I came home, played with my little son a bit, put him to bed and then went downstairs to do some upper body strength training and ab work. A good workout day after several days of 'eh'.

I'm really chomping at the bit now for a bicycle for me. Like today would be an awesome day to ride a bike and I don't have one! I will remedy that situation though. I am scouring the craigslist pages and researching and trying  bikes out. I will get one SOON very soon. I am testing one out on Friday in Baltimore, so we'll see.

And, I still haven't heard from my doctor. He is now officially on the "need to change" list. I will change my primary care as soon as I get ahold of my lab results. This is ridiculous. There is a way to get quest lab results directly on your phone, but the app stinks. It verifies your identity based on it's OWN criteria... like it asked me info that is not even about ME, but another Melissa Sinclair... no wonder it gets horrible reviews. What's up with that?

OK, I'm determined to make today a great day despite my lingering cold (which is getting better every day) and my lack of sleep. The sun is out and the sky is a beautiful shade of blue!

Stats for 4/14/11:

Beginning Weight: 255.6  Now 221.2 (a bit over 34 pounds lost)
Exercise totals for 2011:  94 hours
Walking/Biking/Running totals in 2011: 313.2/1000

Well, lab results are in, but I don't know anything!

Yesterday afternoon my doctor's office called. Ah, the moment of truth. I would learn if things are better 3 months later. The lady on the phone I think is designated to call every patient for reminders and she must be their native Spanish speaker too as her English is really, really weak. Now, I have a lot of empathy for foreign speakers and don't feel contempt or anything like that when I speak to a foreign speaker on the phone, but it is frustrating when a representative from the doctor's office can't communicate properly or explain things better.

What she told me was that my lab results are in and the doctor would like to see me in 4-6 weeks to go over the results. I thought I had misunderstood or something. So, I asked to be sure. Yes, 4-6 weeks and she would give him the message that I was confused why I had to wait 4-6 weeks to talk about the results.

Not sure if maybe this was correct or not, I called the office and got the front desk. The lady there pulled up the doctor's notes and the notes say, "Make appt. in 4-6 weeks to discuss lab results." I told the lady this didn't make sense. If things were bad, shouldn't I know? If they are good, why do I need to wait to find out the results? (as I told her it was follow-up to some bad bloodwork results). She just reiterated what the doctor said. Ugh! So, I asked them to please mail me the lab results. That way I can at least see the results for myself. I understand what the tests mean and I want them for my records anyway.

Ugh!!! I'm going to assume that the blood work was good or mostly good. But, if they were good, like everything normal, then why would I even need to discuss them with my doctor? How hard would it have been to say, "They are perfect... let's recheck in 4-6 weeks or 3 months or whatever, and have you come in at that time." Or, if they need tweaking, let me know so I can try to make things even better. Why wait 4-6 weeks doing the same thing without changing anything if that isn't working? Plus, there's no new blood work ordered, so what is that all about?

So, I'm beginning to think my doctor is a quack. First, he let me walk out of his office when I had a bp of 230/130. And, he gave me the lowest possible BP med prescription to try to lower it AND the lowest thyroid meds to try to get that in line. Now, I'm totally OK with being a minimalist with meds, but when you see someone that in danger, more should have been done. It was my mother in law who had me increase the meds and it was because I called to say they weren't getting lower, that he had me come back in (and do more blood work).

It has been 3 months since he saw me. When I last saw him, my blood pressure was regulated (but since then I've dropped my dosage by one third as my blood pressure is lowering), my blood sugars were pretty high and my thyroid was still quite out of whack. So for three months I've been plugging away - eating lower carbs, exercising 6 days a week and working hard to make a healthier lifestyle. I did the bloodwork when he told me - after 3 months and then I have to wait another 4-6 weeks to find out the results of my efforts? What is that???

Of course, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and maybe his notes weren't complete and it was a miscommunication, but the cards are beginning to stack up against this guy. I might switch to my husband's primary care within the same practice.

I will call this morning to see if they have mailed the lab results. If they have not, I want to swing by and pick them up. I sort of don't trust the office as they said they would mail my husband's lab results and they remembered one time, and didn't mail them the next time he asked.

I am a little frustrated. Can you tell? Plus, life has gotten in the way with exercising too much this week and that makes me mad too! I'm going to hit it hard today!

Edited to add: I called my doctor's office this morning to see if I could drive by and pick up the results. This lady on the phone at least was surprised at the "4-6 weeks to go over the results". She then said she can't release my results until the doctor has given the OK. So, she will have him call me. What the heck?!?!? ugh! She at least had the sense to question the doctor's notes instead of just going along with whatever he said. So, we'll see if I get a call today or not.

Stats for 4/13/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 221.6 (34 pounds lost)

Colds suck the life out of ya and dreaming of bike riding

I've been having so much energy and feeling so great and then BAM! My youngest son shared his cold with me (and with my older son). Now, I have all the plans in the world, but then tire out. Last night's plan was that I would go around the lake twice, but I only managed to go once. So, in the end it turned out to be another very light day with a short bike ride too.

And now that I've been on a bike, I really want a single bike too. I forgot the wind on my face and how getting from point A to point B is faster and more enjoyable. We just plunked down a lot on my husband's bike now, but I can fix up my older son's bike which is too small for him now and use that one (if it fits me well).  Right now it looks a bit trashed, but it really just needs new grips and a tune up. I'll dream about my own new girly bike though and if I really start riding, I'll get myself one.

I rode the buddy bike yesterday twice. One just a bit around the neighborhood to see how much easier it is to ride solo and it's a LOT easier when there's not 65 pounds of kid sitting there without helping with pedaling. With that, I decided I would ride to his school (which is all uphill). I could ride it except for the last hill which is pretty steep, but I ran into a mom walking up anyway, so it was a good excuse to walk anyway. Then, the way my son's face lit up when he saw the bike was so priceless. He loves the new bike. Then he climbed on, put his feet on the foot rests and we coasted almost all the way home.

Another nicety of the day was that I cleaned up the deck, cleaned up the chairs and table and we ate our first grilled meal of the season outside. So fabulous! I even brought up the cushions as the season has opened! We eat every meal outside unless it's too windy, cold or rainy. We love it!

That's about it for me today. I hope I feel less lethargic this evening so I can get in a better work out.

Stats for 4/12/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 221.6 (34 pounds lost)
Exercise totals in 2011: 92 hours 40 minutes
Walking/Biking/Running totals in 2011: 309/1000

Today is the big day - blood draw to see how I'm doing!

It has been 3 months since I got the last blood work done. In that blood work my thyroid was still too low and my blood sugars too high.

Since that time I've lost nearly 34 pounds. I've eaten a lower carb diet (averaging around 100 net carbs a day and none from simple sugars/carbs) and I've been exercising 6 days a week. There should be a change for the better. I can only hope that it's enough to keep me off any new drugs.

I'll probably know the results tomorrow or the day after. My fingers will be crossed.

Yesterday we broke out the bikes. Little guy was too afraid to put his feet down on the pedals (they move as I pedal and that freaked him out a bit as we were going faster than walking and that was all new). The bike has flip out foot rests, so I let him use those and then he had fun. We went back and forth from home to the Boat house 3 times which is 3 miles. I can do the itty bitty hills, but anything more than a bump in the road, basically, is too hard for me to pedal up with 55 pounds of bike, 65 pounds of kid and then my weight too!

On the last trip there and back, I felt it in my knees and my quads, so for exercise last night I decided just to do an upper body workout. Kind of wimping out a bit, but it balanced out the day a bit and hopefully will help with getting some veins to pop up this morning at the lab.

Today is supposed to be gorgeous, so I will walk a lot and maybe ride the bike solo so that I can keeping building strength without the added weight of kid. He's a sweetie, but he's heavy!

Wish me luck with a successful blood draw at the vampire's, unlike last time!

Editing to add: they got me on the first try! That hasn't happened in over 20 years. I don't know if it was luck, or that they are a 'bit' easier to find (they are deep). I don't care. At least once I had a normal blood draw and that made my day! 

Stats for 4/11/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 221.8 (nearly 34 pounds)
Exercise totals in 2011: 91 hours 40 minutes
Walking/Running/Biking totals in 2011: 306/1000

My feet are the problem with my shins

It took me 41 years to figure out why I have continual shin problems, but I finally did! It's all about my feet and how they work when I walk.

Let me back up. in 9th grade I was a cheerleader and I got terrible, TERRIBLE shin splints. And I was super fit at the time as I had just finished swim season where I was swimming 4 hours a day. Once the season stopped, they healed, but I can still remember 25 years later how painful that was.

Next time I had serious problems was when my husband and I started running shortly before I got pregnant with our first baby 15 years ago. I tried everything to help with them. I stretched like mad. I got fitted for shoes. I would even bike for 30 minutes before running to try to help with warming up the shin to avoid pain/problems, but what would happen is that I would run for a bit and then would have to stop because of severe pain (like too painful to cry pain) in my shins. They would be rock hard and the only way to ease the pain was to point my toes and rotate my ankle until the pain subsided. Sometimes I could run after that, sometimes I couldn't.

With that, I went to a physical therapist as we feared I had compartment syndrome which is where the sheath around the muscle wouldn't expand and was basically starving my muscle from oxygen. I don't remember why, but I stopped going to PT fairly quickly as it seemed to be leading to nowhere as they couldn't help. Or maybe I got pregnant? That's probably it.

To this day I think childbirth isn't as painful as that pain in my shins could be. So, since then, I have always babied my shins. I learned through babying the shins that I can increase fitness slowly so that the shins don't hurt. I just have to STOP when I feel the shins start to ache. I have to slowly, very slowly increase the distance and pace so that those muscles can get stronger and handle what I am trying to demand from them. Which means, I probably don't have compartment syndrome, but something else wrong with the shins. I figure they are just a weak spot for me and just have to deal with it wisely.

Well, the other day I walked 4.5 miles and this time could walk as fast as my heart would allow me. I have been building them up for 3 months. My shins didn't bug me much - only after the first 20 minutes I felt a tinge. Well, I was trying to pace myself, so I didn't want to stop, so instead of stopping to stretch the shins like I usually do, I just exaggerated the roll of my step, I forced my foot to roll all the way to my toes, which then gets them pointed a bit instead of rolling off the ball of my foot like I usually do. The pain started to go away. And then it hit me. The problem with the shins is that they NEVER get to a relaxed/stretched out position. They are always slightly contracted and are getting overworked. Light bulb moment!

The problem is my feet. Take a look. See something odd?

My toes, other than my big toe are very, very short. So, when I walk, only my big toe can really grab and help with a push off. The rest of the toes 'try' to but can't reach/grab the way they should. What this means is that when my heel strikes, I roll off to the side and roll off the ball of my foot (which will also start to ache if my shoes are beginning to wear out). They roll so much too because of these high arches:

So, every step I take, I am hitting the heel, rolling to the ball of the foot and push 'mostly' from there. My big toe does some push off, but can't do much, as well, it's hard to push off on one toe. It's very unbalanced because the rest of the top of my shoe is empty.

Now that I know what is going wrong, I am going to contact a podiatrist to see what I need to do from there. Maybe it's all about strengthening those little toes (which are pretty useless and weak) or getting an orthotic which will help me get a more proper form or push off when I walk.

My poor shins! No wonder they always give me trouble! They don't used properly!

Stats for 4/10/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 222.6 (33 pounds lost)

Better late than never - getting ready for bike riding!

So, for years we didn't ride as we had a little one and nowhere to go really. Plus, the expense of getting my husband a bike, me a bike, and a bike trailer? Wow... you're talking over a grand just to tool around. Plus, in a town house, where could we keep bikes? Storing strollers and our older son's bike was enough.

One of the draws of our new neighborhood, was that everything is close. The mall, the library, the pools, parks, trails. It's a walker's and bike rider's dream! But, time and money were tight for the first year, so we held off. Last year I started looking for a bike to replace my younger son's tricycle, but all young kid bikes were way too small for him. He needed a 20" bike, but those are a big fall down if he tipped over. If he tipped over? How about when he tipped over. Plus, with his motor planning issues, a solo bike would be tough. So, I started looking for alternatives. I thought about a trail-a-bike. That's what we had for our older son in for family bike rides, but I knew that our younger guy wouldn't feel confident. So, I kept looking and found this: http://buddybike.com/ Wow, this sounded fantastic, but of course, nowhere to try it out here locally. Then, I asked the people at Buddy Bike and Shelly responded that someone in our area had listed a bike for sale long ago, maybe it was still available. I tried, and sure enough, it was. He had only listed on the buddy bike site, so it had sat. We went to look at it and decided, "Yes, this is for us." This is the model we have:

So, the little guy and I had a bike, our older son had a bike, just my husband needed one. He looked in the fall, but couldn't decide. And in the fall isn't when you think about riding. Now, however, it's spring and time to ride!

We are members of REI and I had some dividend money saved up for the last two years. Couple that with their 20% off sale, it was time for him to get a bike. Now, he thought he knew what he wanted, but in the end, after several back and forth decisions, he decided on this one: Marin Bridgeway

We then went to Target and got helmets for the two of us (kids already have them) and bike locks and a bell for my bike. We are all set! Just need to pump some air in my tandem bike and tighten the loose handlebar and we are set! Tomorrow should be perfect for biking too!

Stats for 4/9/11:

Beginning Weight: 255.6  Now 222.8
Exercise totals: 90 hours 45 minutes
Walking Totals: 301.5/1000

Sizes are wacko and my shopping jackpot!

Lands End is having a big sale... Problem is, I have no idea what size I wear anymore, so I had to go to Sears to check out my size. I'm beginning to panic about not having any shorts. I hate being hot and I will be miserable if I have to wear jeans when it's over 75 degrees. I will never, ever be able to be one of these women who give up shorts/skorts because of getting older and uglier legs. Sorry, you all will have to look at my old legs as I refuse to be miserable in heat just to hide imperfections.

But, sizes really are crazy. I have Talbot's 20s in my closet from 15 years ago that are snug, yet I tried on a Talbots 16W skirt yesterday and it fit perfectly. I used to say I will never wear less than a 14, but I think they've changed sizings twice in the last 20 years. I probably will end up in 12s at the end if I'm already getting to 16s. Another way to make Americans feel they aren't super-sized - change the sizes! I used to wear a 16 at age 18 and 175 pounds. Now I'm wearing 16s at 225 pounds... Hmmm.... and if you look at dress/clothing patterns for Butterick or McCalls, you will have a rude awakening! I am a 24 or 24W!!! Hello! In the stores I'm buyings 16Ws!

So anyway, I went to the mall to figure out what size to order in pants/shirts. It's been ages since I've been to the mall and I hit a shopping sale jackpot. Well, a couple of them. First, at Sears they had a clearance rack of 6.99 Lands End clothing and 4.99 rack of other brand clothing. From the Land's End rack I got two pairs of khaki's. One to fit now (size 18) and one to fit late this summer/early fall (size 14). $13 for both. Then I found a pair of perfect fitting size 16 jeans on the 4.99 rack and a pair of 16 shorts. That total was $10 for the pair. So, four bottoms for $25 with tax!!! woo-hoo!

Then I went to Lord and Taylors. I found a beautiful knit sweater for $13. I might not have much chance to wear it (yet) but I probably will this fall and probably will still have a chance this spring. And then, I spied this very pretty dress on the 'occasions' section. I figured it was misplaced or the wrong size. Hmmm... it was a size 16. Wow! Ok, I decided to  try it. I thought it probably wouldn't fit, but hey, I could give it a shot. I went to the fitting room, I don't even take off my jeans, just dropped them to my shoes and I tried on the dress. It fit. It fit like a glove - like perfect. Wow!!! Then, I look at the price. $198 marked down to $149. But I remember it was on a clearance rack. What was the percentage off? I got redressed and went out to check. OK, it says 60% of last marked price. What is 60% off $149.98. Still too much. I don't plan to be able to wear it for long. But, I decided to take it to the register to ask the sales person to check. It was marked down to $25. What????? Heck, for that price, I'll get it and can even alter it when I get smaller! With a sweater over top, I could wear it all seasons.

I felt great. A size 16 fit perfectly and I bought my first dress in over 8 years... no probably closer to 10 years except for one bridesmaid dress. TEN YEARS!!!! I've been a stay at home mom for eight years and have had nowhere to go to dress up. No events to attend except for one wedding and even that was over 5 years ago. Plus, I was huge and nothing I ever tried on looked nice. But mostly, I fit terribly in dresses usually. Finding my wedding outfit was a nightmare. I ended up getting a suit dress.

But me, at 225 pounds can wear a 16 is ridiculous of course, when I have a red dress hanging in my closet still too small for me and that one is a Talbots "old school" 20.

Here's the $25 dress and anyone who knows me, knows this is truly a "Melissa" dress: Adrianna Papell dress

Stats for 4/7/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 223.2 (a bit more than 32 pounds lost)
Exercise total hours/minutes in 2011: 89 hours 40 minutes
Total miles in 2011: 296.5/1000

Very early in the morning

I got to bed around midnight and had to get up at 4:30 am to get my older son off to a band trip. It would be nice if I had a switch to automatically go back to sleep mode, but it doesn't work that way, unfortunately.

My day yesterday was a hodge podge of stuff. I did my usual morning routine of getting my kids to school. Came home, breakfasted, made my plan for the day. Unfortunately in the morning when I was fixing my hair, I got a cramp in my neck. Ibuprofin didn't touch it, only later a shower helped. I feel it's back this morning though.

I ran some errands for things for my son's band trip, got my younger one home from school, helped my son pack for the trip and then readied myself for a dinner out with friends.

We went to this most fabulous restaurant, the Woodberry Kitchen. Every morsel I tried was divine and it seemed everyone agreed. The restaurant uses local farms and seasonal foods for it's menu, so it changes every few days, so there is no "going for my favorite dish" if you revisit. You'll likely have to get something new, but after seeing everyone's dish was divine, I don't think there can be a 'favorite dish'. Even the restrooms were eco friendly. Individual cloth towels to use to dry hands instead of paper. It was just a lovely experience and we will go back again. And even though I ate wisely, it was higher calorie than I usually eat in a meal, but it was so, so worth it.

Company was great too. We met with two other couples. First were my husband's current boss and wife and the other is a mutual friend from Ontario, Canada, his former boss and husband. We used to dinner with his former boss quite frequently and it was lovely to touch base with them again. And while she didn't mention it, (I weight 50 pounds less than the last time we met), she did say I looked 'fantastic'. Felt great! And, I did look pretty smashing if I must say so myself! It's kind of nice to do the hair and makeup and nicer clothes once in awhile. Even though my pants were  a bit baggy.

Pants are becoming my woe right now. I had picked up a pair of 16's a couple days ago, but they are damaged. I will have to return them. I tried several on yesterday and I couldn't find anything I liked. So, I stuck with the baggy 18s.

No exercise yesterday. I was going to do it in the afternoon, but that kink in the neck made me make it a rest day, which I hadn't had in 7 days, so that's all good too.

I feel great this morning despite being up way too early. Going out and having a wonderful evening with friends is such a mood lifter. I'm even up a pound from yesterday, but I don't care, last night was worth it. And I want to keep that mentality. Occasional  splurge nights are acceptable, I have all week to make up for it and once I get to goal, I won't ever need to be in the 'losing' mode and still can just make up for splurges week to week. I'm OK with that because I don't want to give up things that give me so much joy, like good food does and I don't need to. I just need to budget for them in my calories as much as I do in my wallet too.

Stats for 4/7/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 225.0

I didn't think clothes could be a motivator for me, but...

While I'm not motivated to be a certain size or plan to turn into a fashionista, I am finding that certain outfits and for now, certain sizes are motivating me.

Tonight I have a dinner date to attend. I mentioned it before, but it will be with one of my husband's bosses and his wife and a former boss and her husband. We were also fairly close friends with the latter. The last time we saw the last couple was 8 years ago when we lived in Canada which happens to correspond with my highest weight - 275. I weigh 50 pounds less than when they saw me last time. Not sure if they'll notice or care. That's not really the point, but it's amazing to me how far I have come since then.

I was planning on wearing something simple. Something I have now, but everything I own is too big My newest pants are getting baggy in the butt and thighs and I swim in all but a couple of my shirts and those shirts don't match the pants I have.

So, I went shopping. I bought a pair of 16 pants on the clearance rack. I tried on several 16s and 16Ws and they all fit, just not all nice looking. But, the black pair will work. Then I found a cute, me-ish short sleeved top. I'll wear that tomorrow. It makes me look less frumpy and therefore I feel less frumpy.

Then I went to look at dresses. I need a dressier outfit in a few weeks and again, I have nothing in my wardrobe. I was convinced 18s would be the size I need as I'm bigger on top than on bottom, but they had nothing. I tried on one 20, but I swam in it (cute dress though!) , so I looked at the 16s and one fit perfectly and the other is just a tiny bit too tight, but I love, love, love it. However, both dresses are sleeveless. I have awful bare arms, but, I also didn't like a little sweater over it. It made it look frumpy and just doesn't fit the style of dress.

So, my motivation right now is to be able to wear that dress which means I need to drop about 8 pounds and I need to work on my arms to make them look nicer in that dress. I want to be able to rock that dress the best I can at this high weight. It is the most darling summer dress and fits my body type very well. Accentuates the positives and camouflages the flaws. I will feel sexy wearing it and I haven't felt sexy for a long, long time.

The weight was going to come off with or without that dress for motivation, but now I plan to work it harder in my workouts and to complain less about strength training because I want to get into that dress sooner than later and I want to look as good in it as I can. Watch, my husband will hate the dress, but I lurve it! It's been ages and ages since I have bought a new dress and even longer since I felt good in one.

The other thing about today's shopping trip is that it confirmed I am now more in size 16s than 18s. And with that, I am now in regular sized clothes as well as plus sized clothes. The best of both worlds. The pants and the dress I got were in the regular section of the store, not the plus size section. Though I scoured the plus sizes first and found nothing. Only then did I think, "Oh wait, 16s are in normal sizes too!" I haven't been able to do that in 11 years and even then, only for a short time. So, that is another motivator right now. I am soooo close to being able to wear the cute clothes again that I'm just itching to get there. It makes me very, very happy! I'm just not a Lane Bryant loving gal! I love classic clothes like Talbots and artsy clothes you see at booths in fairs. It has been so long since I've been a normal size that I don't even know what mall stores to haunt once I get a bit slimmer! Though hitting the smaller sizes at Marshall's and TJMaxx will probably be my normal shopping places as I hate paying a lot for clothes! And smaller sizes... pfft. It's all perspective, huh? A 14 is smaller for me! Probably huge for most women.

And one last thing about sizes. I am giving away and donating all my larger clothes. I'll keep the one worn out pair of blue jeans I have just to show at my goal how far I've come, but otherwise, it's all going out. ALL OF IT. I will not be that size ever again. Period. Someone I know online just said very wisely and another friend said something similar recently too. They will not buy a bigger size if clothes get tight. If clothes start to feel tight, it means it's time to lose some weight. That is the route I will take. Once I get to goal and stabilize, I will just keep that promise to myself. No more bigger clothes. I must lose the weight to fit what I have and only replace like size for like size. That will be a first for me, but it's a promise I plan to keep.

Stats for 4/5/11:

Beginning Weight: 255.6  Now 224.0 (31 and a half pounds lost)
Exercise total hours/minutes in 2011: 88 hours 25 minutes
Total miles in 2011: 292/1000

Differing priorities

Once upon a time, my goal was to get thin. My goal was to be more attractive to my husband. My goal was to be able to wear normal sized clothes. My goal was to feel beautiful in my own skin. Now, I am a smart woman and wasn't going to do things in a stupid way to get to a thinner body. I knew it was a combination of eating less and exercising, but becoming fit was a secondary priority.  Now with that effort, I couldn't make it, gained it all back and went into a self-loathing stage. Though I still tried to look my best when I went out, did important things. I just knew I never succeeded.

This time, my 'looks' are not the priority. Now, of course, It will be a nice side benefit! I'm enjoying seeing my face re-emerging out from under the fat. I'm enjoying feeling my hip bones again (still under some fat, but less of it!) and I'm liking what I see in the mirror. But, that is a side benefit now. Now the bigger benefit is seeing my health improve with the loss of weight and the increased fitness.

Yesterday, while I was waiting for the commercials to end on the workout video, I noticed my resting heart rate is now 60 beats per minute. 4 months ago it was 85. My blood pressure is coming down. I'm now taking 20 mg instead of the 40 mg I started with. I don't know what my blood sugars are yet, but since I don't get the shakes any more and don't crave carbs, I'm going to assume it's doing fine too. So, this time I'm looking for the health effects first.

Now, my mother in law is a doctor and she's been thin most of her life. Coming to the US she put on some weight, but she is not a heavy woman. Just heavy for her. Her top weight is my goal weight. She is also someone who tries to avoid medicines and she got quite upset that she became allergic to her blood pressure medicines and now needs four medications to control her blood pressure instead of the two she needed before. She won't take things for headaches and so on (though she will take a sleeping pill if she's stressed and can't sleep).

She knows my blood pressure was through the roof. She knows my blood sugars are high and she knows my thyroid is under active. I'm only 41 years old. You would think that she would encourage me to do what I need to do to get off as much medication as possible, naturally, and to lose the weight for my health.

No. That is not what she feels. For her, life is about looks and she's afraid if I lose too much weight, I'll look older with baggy skin on my face.  She has told me a couple times now that I look fine, I don't need to lose more and that I look perfect. I weigh 225 lbs. Unless I'm 6 foot 5 inches tall, there is no way that is perfect.

But then, she's never had to do anything to improve her health. She does try to walk some as she worries about the strength of her legs, but with her blood pressure, she still drinks coffee. Her thoughts are, "Oh, it's just one coffee." Her blood sugars are borderline high, but she still eats tons of carbs and sweets. For her, the change isn't worth it. And, you know, at 75 it might not be worth it to me either. Different story at 41 years old.

I have to laugh though as she has always been critical of my weight. I was about 190 lbs when I met and married my husband. I was 'fat' to her then. But at 225 I'm now perfect? OK... good thing I don't heed her advise on about anything.

Stats for 4/5/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now 225.4 ( a bit over 30 lbs lost)
Exercise total hours/minutes in 2011: 87 hours 30 minutes
Walking total in 2011:  289/1000

My weight loss is spurring the whole family on

So, I got this huge medical scare in December and I vowed to myself that as soon as my blood pressure was brought under control, and the kids went back to school, freeing up the TV and the new games for the Wii (we didn't have anything set up in the basement yet), I would start exercising and eating better.

My husband at the same time decided to join a weight loss pool at work. My son around the same time said he wanted to join cross country next fall and surprisingly, as soon as I started to drop pounds, my mother in law started to seem more interested in dropping weight and walking more too (maybe afraid I'll get smaller than her? LOL).

So, here it is, April, entering the fourth months into this and this is how the day went yesterday. My husband and older son went for a run around the lake. My younger son and I went halfway, me walking and little guy on his scooter. Hubby and older son went around twice. We went just once, and then later I went jumping around in the basement with a fitness video. We were all being active!

My husband has lost 13 pounds (5 of it the temporary weight gain from over the holidays). I had gained a similar 4, but didn't count it in my weight loss as I had already lost it when I started this in January). He's now about 7 pounds from his goal. He is swimming 3 times a week and walking/running once a week and will increase that as the weather gets better. Making my older son join him, getting him away from the computer for a bit. It feels good doing this as a family!

On the scale front, my husband was sweet this morning. He said, "Don't be alarmed if you gained weight over night. I weighed two pounds more this morning. I think it's the taco salad." And yes, I saw a .2 gain, which puts me just at 30 lbs lost. I'm also quite sore this morning from last night's workout.

Speaking of workouts - I've done three different instructors in a row. Kathy Smith, Leslie Sansone and last night Susan Powter. Susan is a loud mouth and obnoxious outside of the studio, but is super professional during her workout and she gave lots of great pointers on form which helped me too. Especially showing ways to modify squats. So no sore knees today, just sore abs, thighs and arm muscles, but not too bad.

Off to get little one ready for school!

Stats for 4/4/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 225.6 (30 pounds lost)
Exercise totals in 2011: 86 hours
Walking totals in 2011: 284.5/1000

And it stuck!

First time I hit a milestone and it stuck. The scale is up a bit this morning, but not enough to take away the 30 pounds lost. Phew!

I ate a HUGE dinner last night that was higher in sodium and ate more calories than I have been (about 1600) and my workout was a short and easy one. I just couldn't do a hard workout. My tummy was too full and I couldn't face a racing heart rate when I was so tired too. But, I got a nice 28 minute workout and my heart got going... I basically got something in that works and loosened up the tight muscles which felt great.

Not much more this morning as I have to get going. I'll get a walk in outdoors today. The rain is going to stop and the cold is lifting for one day at least and I will need to take advantage of that. And then another lighter workout later if I do actually go walking.

Stats for 4/3/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 225.4 (30 pounds lost)
Exercise hours in 2011: 85 hours 5 minutes
Walking totals in 2011: 280.5/1000

Ahem!

I'm so glad I didn't reach this milestone on April Fool's Day because no one would have believed me! I'm in a bit of a shock with how quickly the weight is coming off. I thought, "maybe" my thoughts of pre and post ovulation were wrong as I was losing weight pre ovulation, but since ovulation, I've dropped like 4 pounds in 4 days. I was obviously holding water. I also thought, "Well, maybe I'm dehydrating myself." So I drank about 120 ozs yesterday. I even had to get up to go pee during the night. My urine is pale, pale yellow. I'm not dehydrated. But, also I did drop the calories a bit this week. I just haven't been hungry and I'm still eating 1350 on average and I've upped my workouts too. First, I was a driven mad woman wanting to finish the Walk It Out game and then last night I decided to do my first step workout in 11 years.

Now, let me tell you how insane the brain is. In my brain now, I am a fit machine. I feel strong. I feel energized. I do not feel like I did a bit over 3 months ago - in almost anyway. I've been exercising 6 days a week that entire time. But, man, I have a long way to go. The step routine I decided to do was Kathy Smith's Step Workout. I even have the official step. I picked it up eons ago at a Play it Again Sports store for $24.99 with a ton of risers. I know as I still have the price tag on the step 11 years later! Before that I had a Wal-Mart cheapie that was too small.

I did some step (and loved it) during my major weight loss 13 years ago and picked it up 11 years ago too. But, it's been 11 years since I've done a routine.  I didn't remember anything about this video at all, but I have a lot of Kathy Smith because I like her pace and style. Also, I had asked on the Video Fitness forum about which to start with and many people said this video (from what I had) was a good jumping back into step video. Once I put it in the machine and saw the set and the dancers, I remembered, "Oh yes, I remember this routine." I also kind of remember initially I could only do the beginner's section, but I built up to the intermediate section. I'm not sure I ever did the advanced section. Maybe yes or maybe no. I am about 100 percent sure I skipped the strength training stuff as I hate it, but I'm going to do it this time because I now realize how important it is.

Anyway, I have done some stepping on the step while doing the Walk It Out game on Wii, so for legs, they have gotten stronger and can do it. The first few times I did the step with Walk It Out, my butt was sore and the back of my thighs. I don't get that any more. However, work that I have not done at all is arm work. And that now and always is my weakness. When I've been doing Walk It Out, I've been keeping my arms swinging by my sides. I was swinging them high and strong, but none of this over the head stuff and at the shoulders stuff. I couldn't do it with Walk It Out as I had to hold the nunchuck and Wiimote in certain ways for it to register my steps.

So, needless to say, very, very quickly my heart rate got racing when I started this step routine. During Walk It Out most days my heart rate averaged 132 for the session. It would be in the 120s for the first 10 or so minutes and then I would spend 50 minutes in the mid 130s - constantly, maxing out at 142. With this step routine last night, my heart rate got to 150 during the warm up. Now, if that didn't make me feel SUPER, duper unfit! If the warm up got me that high? What would the routine be like?

This tape is divided into sections. Yes, it's a tape. I took the VCR downstairs and hooked it all up. There is a 6 minute warm up, 12 minutes beginner's section, followed by the continuing intermediate section for 13 minutes and then an advanced section for 12 minutes. You are supposed to work to your level and then when done, fast forward (if you can't do all the sections) to the 5 minute cool down. Following cool down there is an abs section for 5 minutes, a 5 minute lower body section and a 5 minute upper body section.

So, I dove into the beginner's section with my heart rate around 150 - higher than it ever got with Walk It Out or walking around the lake. About 7 minutes into the beginner's section, my heart rate was around 163. At the end I was getting anywhere from 160-167. That would only be an 24 minute aerobic routine if I stopped there! I've been doing at least an hour every night. So, I decided to see how much of the intermediate section I could do. Surprisingly, I did just fine, my heart rate was staying in the same range of 160-167. At the very, very end of the section Kathy Smith said, "Let's really push it at the end" And we went flying over the step with arms over our heads. My heart rate soared to 174. I was done. But, I did two sections and with no modifications or skipped steps (unless I messed up on the step). I had no courage to do the advanced section. However, I did watch it in fast forward play mode and I actually think I could do it. I think I could because my legs are strong now. It's the arm work that gets me and that doesn't get more intense per section; the leg work does. So, maybe next time I'll get more courage and do the advanced section with modifications if needed.

I did the cool down section, the abs section, and the lower body section and part of the upper body section. I didn't have my risers under the step (yes, I was doing this with NO risers... baby steps people!) and I didn't have hand weights with me. I got in a total of 49 minutes which felt like a workout. I don't think I could go back to 20 minutes videos. Not after pushing myself for an hour the last 3 months.

The only thing that is bugging me this morning are my knees. I just have to realize that I can't do squats. My knees can't take it and I even paid close attention to form after getting pointers from gals on the video fitness forum. Otherwise I feel fine today - no sore muscles except a bit in the stomach from the ab work.

So there you have it. I'm not quite as fit as I my mind was feeling, but I am doing pretty darn well for weighing 225 pounds and for only exercising for 3 months. 4 months ago I got winded crossing a flat parking lot!

And Wow... 30 pounds! That pizza pie is looking well eaten by now! And I am so motivated to keep chugging along. I feel great!

Oh, and I was wearing the foot pod which registers steps with the fitness watch. I'm sure it didn't count everything as sometimes my right foot was planted, but it registered 3.4 miles. I also walked .5 miles on the treadmill yesterday. Sounds wimpy for the treadmill, but it was starting to bug my shins, so I stopped. So, 3.9 miles yesterday.

Stats for 4/2/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 225 (25.6 pounds lost)
Exercise total hours in 2011: 84 hours 40 minutes
Walking totals in 2011: 279.5/1000