Thursday:  277.6 lbs., burned 2216, consumed 989.
Friday:  275.6 lbs., burned 2762, consumed 1564.
Saturday:  277.6 lbs., burned 2316, consumed 1117.
Yesterday: 278.6 lbs., burned 2676, consumed 1207.
Today:  (no clue, I didn’t weigh in).  Activities:  Shopped for a new bike.

There are, apparently, no short adult women who ride bikes.  Short.  Vertically impaired.  Untall.  I’m not talking “little people,” I’m just talking shorter than say, 5′3″.  Either there just are none out there, or the bicycle manufacturing community decided that short people shouldn’t be riding bikes anyway.

We went to seven stores today - SEVEN! - and not one of them had a 24″ ladies’ bicycle.  We saw 24″ kids’ bikes, but none for ladies.  Not even one.  All the ladies’ bikes had 26″ wheels. 

I am 5′1″ tall.  I cannot sit on the seat of a 26″ bike and reach the ground.  Even with the seat all the way down, there is just no way.  I have tried in the past and I tried again today, numerous times.  My short little legs just aren’t long enough.  I felt like a munchkin.  A frustrated munchkin!

Sunday afternoon I helped my husband to load all three of our bikes onto the rack we bought for the back of the jeep and then we rode (husband, son, and I) out to a park so we could ride somewhere different for a change.  The park was good but my bicycle was not.  I apparently have something wrong with the hub of my back wheel.  Husband thought perhaps we could just replace the back wheel but then thought it might be prudent to just go ahead and buy a new bike.  Hence the quest.  The unfulfilled quest, mind you.

Tomorrow we go to a bike shop nearby that sells used bikes.  Maybe they’ll have a 24″ bike for sale.  I’m certain they will have 24″ new bikes for sale, but from a bike shop I’m thinking the price will be out of my range.  We’ll see.

I’m bloated and crampy and perpetually sleepy, so I’m thinking perhaps I know the cause of the sudden weight gain.  Dang it.  This rollercoaster is disconcerting.

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Yesterday: 278.0 lbs., burned 3027 calories, consumed 1504
Today:  275.4 lbs., Activity: Inspected my broken bicycle chain.

Yeah, so my bike chain is broken.  It’s not like I couldn’t have ridden the exercise bike.  Or done a cardio tape/cd.  Nope, didn’t do either of those things.  Instead, I took a nap.

I was tired.  I woke up a little while ago.  It’s 11:15 at night and at this point I can barely muster up the energy it takes to feel guilty about doing nothing.  So I’ll just do more nothing… and go to bed. 

I did this, from time to time, while I was still in the throes of quitting smoking.  It was easier to modify my behavior while unconscious.  If I was having a huge crave and was frustrated with the battle, I’d just nod out for a while and leave the battle behind me.  It’s rather hard to smoke while one is sleeping and I’ve discovered that it’s almost as hard to eat while in that condition.

I was pleased this morning to see that most of my unexplained weight gain had again disappeared.  It’s very strange when this happens but there is a definite pattern emerging.  Every time that I have a sudden dip in my weight, it is immediately followed by a spike that takes several days - or longer - to burn back off.  Don’t know what’s causing it, whether it’s the same factor each time, but at least I can come to expect it now and won’t let it stop me from moving forward.  It’s still weird, though.

I made chicken tacos again tonight.  I should probably get a little more inventive with the chicken since it looks like it’s going to be my main staple of protein for the rest of my life - but for right now, this works for me.  They were awesome, those tacos, and so totally did not feel like “diet food.”  I love my “eating plan” woohooo!!!!!

Saturday:  274.8 lbs., burned 2438, consumed 1297
Sunday:  276.8 lbs., burned 2302, consumed 1959 (Easter)
Yesterday:  279.0 lbs.,  burned 2324 calories, consumed 1474
Today:  278.0 lbs.  Activity:  6.5 miles real bike!

Apparently it’s that time again — time for another up-swing in my weight.  It’s amazing to me that I could possibly have gained four pounds in just two days, but according to my daily weigh-in, that’s exactly what happened.  Weird.

The good thing is, it appears to be coming back off.  I sure hope so, anyway.

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Yesterday:  276.6 lbs., burned 3135 calories, consumed 1153
Today:  276.0 lbs.  Activity:  4.5 mi. exercise bike

It was a quiet day at the office today, given that most of the day I was there alone.  I suppose I could have closed up for Good Friday but I had stuff to do, so I figured I might as well be there and answer the phones since everyone else was taking the day off.

Kevin spent the night at a friend’s house tonight.  I didn’t go for an evening bike ride by myself, partly because the idea just didn’t appeal to me, and partly because I have a cold and so I wasn’t feeling great.  I rode the exercise bike for a half hour instead.  Not as fun, but at least a few calories got burned.

When I first got up this morning and weighed myself, the scales said 275.2, exactly 10 lbs. down from where I started!  Then I weighed in again and it said 276.0.  Tried it four more times and it still said 276.0.  *Sigh*  I guess the 275.2 was just an abberation - but damn I was excited for a few moments!  Still, I told myself, today’s weigh-in still showed a .6 lb loss, and hey, that’s not bad!

I’ll get there!

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Yesterday:  277.6 lbs, burned 2316 calories, consumed 1427
Today:  276.6 lbs.   Activity:  8.5 miles (real bike)

We live right near a bike trail and so often when we go out riding, we’ll take the trail.  Tonight Kevin and I were headed for a specific location (four miles away), so we took the trail because that was the quickest route.

Well, along that route is an overpass for pedestrians and bicyclists.  Last summer I had worked up enough strength in my legs to ride up the incline, but I hadn’t tried it this year - I was afraid to because of the injury I had in December and the problems I was still having with my knee even as recent as a month ago.

Today I did it!

It was cool because as I was going up, there were two (skinny) ladies coming down on rollerblades - only they weren’t skating down, they were holding on, one on each side of the ramp, and inching their way down.  So I had to go between them, and when I was coming up, they were probably only about 1/3 down from the top.  As I stood on my pedals and strained to keep moving, they both started cheering me on.  “You can do it!  You’re almost there!”  I couldn’t exactly TALK (because I was busy trying to breathe and stay conscious) but I couldn’t help but smile.  That was really nice!

And so I made it.  And then when we were headed home, I made it up the opposite ramp.  AND I FELT AWESOME.

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It occurred to me that if I’m worried about Kevin not being motivated because the pace of loss is so slow — then I should just pony up and help him to pick up the pace.  Duhh!  And there’s only one way to do that — more exercise!!!!!

We haven’t really developed the habit of riding during the week, only on the weekends.  Yeah, we ride the stationary bike, but that’s not nearly the workout that REAL bike-riding is, and besides, it doesn’t get us the fresh air and sunshine that nourishes our bodies and feeds our souls.

SO, I finished writing that earlier entry, read it over — and then got up off my ass and took my son out for some exercise.  I made it interesting for him by telling him to “give me a workout, you decide where we go and make sure there’s some uphill in there.”

LOL, he took THAT at face value!  He purposely led me to every street around here that has an uphill grade.  What this accomplished, though, was to culminate our journey in a long downhill run - which was both refreshing and exhilarating!!  We both agreed that it was really worth the labor it took to get to the top.

I’m just glad we live in Florida where it’s really rather flat.  :D

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Kevin is my 15-yo son.  I’ve mentioned already here that he’s joined me in the effort to get fit.  Well, things are moving very slowly for both of us, and though I haven’t yet lost my motivation, I’m worried that he will.

We just went away for the weekend.  We spent every waking moment together for almost three full days and we ate basically the same food - though not in the same quantities.  We were pretty good, calorie-wise.  Kevin had a few too many on Saturday but it was a busy day and he ate what was available when it was available.  Yesterday when we got home we went for a short bike ride (just under three miles) to burn off a few calories.

I weighed in this morning at almost exactly the same weight I was before we left (two-tenths of a pound heaver actually) but Kevin weighed in and discovered a pound gained.  A pound!  That seems impossible, given what he had eaten over the weekend.  A pound?!?  Yes, a full pound.

I just don’t want him to feel like the math is all bullshit.  It’s not.  Maybe it’s hard to determine just how much you individually burn every day — but the calories are known.  And if you burn 3500 more calories than you eat — you WILL lose a pound.  If he continues to watch his intake, he will lose.  He can’t NOT.

But he’s not seeing big results and it’s starting to wear thin, I think. 

He sees me going up and down and up and down and at first he also saw my frustration with that but now I’m starting to brush it off as just part of the process.  I know could avoid some angst by not weighing myself every DAY (and it would probably be good for me to model that for him), but I just can’t stand not knowing!  There’s no way I could wait a week between weigh-ins!

Though the math is solid, there are so many other factors that can affect how much shows up on the scale.  The time of day.  The type of food eaten.  The regularity (or not) of the person.  The amount of liquids consumed.  The speed of one’s digestive process.  For women, the time of the month.  Let’s see, what else.  Your relative health.  Whether or not you have edema because of an injury - or maybe just because you’ve been exercising muscles that have lain dormant for too long.  The cycle of the moon.  LOL there are too many factors!

Still, I hope he sees some substantial progress soon — before he gives up!

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And I don’t mean the kind of moving that involves packing cardboard boxes.  I mean the kind of moving that means my heart is beating, my lungs are filled with oxygen, and I can actually feel my blood pumping.  MOVING!

Over the past seven months as I have recuperated, I have done a lot of sitting - indoors.  I didn’t even realize how much I missed just being outside!  Of course it helps that it’s absolutely gorgeous out right now - sunshine in the 70’s - but MAN!  I find myself grinning and laughing the whole time that I’m out, the whole time that I am moving and feeling so freakin’ ALIVE!  It’s amazing!!!!

Obviously, I went out on my bike again.  Hubby’s at work but Kevin, my son told me he’d cancel his band practice if I wanted to go for a bike ride with just him alone.  Seeing as his band is like the most important thing in his life right now, I figured I’d take him up on it if he wanted to go that badly!  We rode north on the trail to a park about 2.5 miles from here and then rode around the park for a while and came back home, a ride that clocked about 6 miles.

It was fun!  Kevin is such a hoot, he always makes me laugh.  We planned on the way home, what we were going to eat for dinner and how many calories our selections would be.  This is as new for him as it is for me and it’s really cool to see him embracing the whole concept and watching his progress.

He said to me today, “I wish I had known about this stuff when I was like ten years old.”  Immediately I spoke up and said, “I’m sorry!”  See, I feel totally guilty that one of my children is overweight.  I always swore that even though *I* was fat since the age of nine, I was going to ensure that my kids were NOT.  Yet, back in 2001, Kevin was hit by a car.  He spent four months in a cast from hip to toe and by the time he got truly back on his feet, he had gained weight - enough that it didn’t just burn off like I hoped it would.

Today Kevin immediately responded to my apology with, “No!  I wasn’t blaming you!  I’m just saying it would have been cool to know all this stuff about the math, you know the difference between intake and burning, way back then so I never would have gotten so heavy in the first place.”

Well, it’s cool that he doesn’t blame me - but I do.  Well, to some degree anyway.  After all, though I am an intelligent woman, I honestly did not “get” the whole math thing either.  I never knew before two months ago, that a person has to burn 3500 calories more than they eat to lose one pound.  Never knew it, never got it.  I couldn’t have possibly taught my son something that I didn’t know or understand myself.

But it was my job to watch his food intake.  And it’s not like I didn’t know how he should be eating!  I just felt sorry for him - AND - I was so grateful that I didn’t lose him, that I pretty much gave him whatever he wanted during that period of time.  The months slipped by and suddenly Kevin was heavy.  It seemed to happen that fast.

I tried to help him lose the weight - watched his portions and limited snacks and had him out in the living room doing exercise tapes with me!  But I never stuck to my OWN diet / exercise long, so I didn’t model a commitment for my son back then.  And so he stayed heavy.

Now he’s 15, is about 5′4″ tall and weighs 202 lbs.  A few weeks back when he started weighing in and learning about calories, he started at 206 - so he’s made a little progress.  He spends a lot of time at his friends’ houses though, and says that’s where he blows his calorie count.  He admits to having no willpower when his friends are munching down on yummy stuff.  “I should come home to eat,” he said, “I eat healthy at home now.”

At least I feel good about that!

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Hit counter web design gallery.

I was very nervous about riding my “real” bike, since the last time I went out I ended up limping around for days, swollen, and in a great deal of pain.  But I’ve been riding the exercise bike this week and hadn’t had any bad consequences, so today I got the guts to give real bike-riding another try.

It was a PERFECT day for being out in the sun - the sky was clear, the temperature was in the 70’s, and the breeze was soft.  My husband and my son and I left the house this afternoon at about 3:30 pm and headed south on the paved bike trail nearby.  They were being very patient with me as I was being very careful with my knee.  At about the 3-mile mark, we turned north and decided to stop in one of our favorite restaurants for an early dinner. 

I’m getting really good at this whole eat-out-without-blowing-it-thing.  My dinner was an awesome salad topped with blackened chicken strips (about 400 calories!), and my son (who is trying to lose weight with me) skipped the big burger and fries (about 900 calories!) and ordered a blackened chicken sandwich and rice (about 500).  Awesome!

By the time we got home, we’d clocked 6.3 miles on our bikes.  SO FAR SO GOOD - I haven’t had any BAD knee pain yet.  But I played it safe and sat with icepacks on both knees for about an hour after we got home.  If I can keep the swelling down, it won’t hurt as bad.  Oh, and I’m praying.  I really really need my knee to heal and be okay because I really really need to get out and move!!!

I feel great!  :D  

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I was feeling really good about the 3 miles I put in on the exercise bike yesterday so I hopped on again today and set the resistance to Workout #4 - a thirty minute routine that goes up and down hills.  By the time I’d finished, I’d clocked almost six miles - so I kept on pedaling away until I passed up the six-mile point.  I had a couple sore moments while I was still on the bike and one ouchie moment when I was walking around afterwards, but other than those minor instances, my knee has felt fine, fine, fine.  I’m so happy about that!

I did consider pulling out the “real” bike and taking it for a spin but I didn’t wanna push it.  Obviously I hurt something the last time we rode and I want to make sure that the injury is healed before testing it out again.  I need that knee — badly.

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