Wednesday:  274.4 lbs., burned 2827, consumed 1458.
Thursday:  275.4 lbs., burned 2305, consumed 1528.
Today:  275.4 lbs., Activities:  8.75 miles on my real bike.

This afternoon my husband and I went to Home Depot and as soon as we left, Mike said, “Damn!  I forgot to get a new fuel filter for the lawnmower!”  It was almost time for him to go to work, so I offered to go get it for him that evening after my workday was over.  “Kevin and I will ride to Home Depot on our bikes,” I said. 

“You wanna ride all the way there on your bike?”  This is coming from the guy who was with me last Saturday when we went for a leisurely 14-mile bike ride. 

I rolled my eyes at him.  “Home Depot is only maybe 4 miles from our house - I think I can handle it.”  So at about 6:00, Kevin and I set out, headed south.  We took a route I’d never taken on a bike before, and it was a bit of a challenge - a couple hills, not too steep, just long continuous up-grades but I kept my speed up and we were there so quickly that I couldn’t believe it had actually been 4-and-a-quarter miles.  Awesome!

On the way home, I gave Kevin choices for dinner:  Stop at Applebee’s and have a sit-down-be-waited on dinner of grilled chicken -or- stop at Taco Bell and chow down on soft tacos -or- ride home and order barbeque chicken pizza.  He opted for the pizza.  Yummm.  By the way, Papa John’s BBQ pizza with thin crust and light cheese is less than 200 calories per slice and it is yummm-o.

Before I started writing this, I entered my weight and exercise on my ummm…. weight and exercise page (lol) (see link at top of this page) and I thought to myself, “I wonder how many miles I’ve gone so far this month?”  So I added it up.  Between the exercise bike and the real bike, I’ve clocked 72.79 miles since April 1.  Woohoo!  I’m gonna keep watching it, I’d like to make 100 miles in a month, that’d be what, an average of 3 miles per day?  Given all the days I haven’t ridden anywhere, I think that’d be a great jumping-off point.  Then I’d have a number to strive to beat next month!  Yeahhhh!

Six days ago, I weighed in at 273.2, exactly 12 lbs. down from where I started.  Since then, I’ve not again seen that number or even anything close to it, but I’ve been getting plenty of exercise and am without a doubt swollen, I can feel it in my knees.  I’m not discouraged, not at all… Weight is not the only indicator of progress.  Measurements, in fact, are much more precise.

In addition to FitDay, I have a free account at www.weighttracker.info because they have an “inch-minder,” a place to record and store your measurements and reports you can look at to see your progress.  Here’s where I am right now:

Chest - lost .25 inch
Waist - lost 1.0 inch
Abdomen - lost 1.5 inches
Hips - lost 2.0 inches
Upper arm - lost .5 inch
Forearm - lost .5 inch
Thigh - lost 1.5 inches
Calf - lost .5 inch
Neck - lost 1.25 inches
—————————-
Total inches lost:  9.0 inches

The numbers make total sense because my exercise has been primarily the bike-riding, so I’ve lost more inches from the waist-down - except my calves which are visibly gaining muscle.  (Wooohooo I have visible muscles!!!  LOL)  I’m pretty happy about the loss in the neck, since I have a very, very pronounced double-chin (inherited from my mother) which I’ve always had - and it’s bigger now than ever.  I’m happy to see any amount of loss there.

I still keep picturing margarine.  Not the kind in a bowl, the kind in a stick.  The kind that comes in one-pound packages.  I held one of the one-pound packages up to my belly the other day and said, I’ve lost approximately twelve of these.  Twelve.  OMG.

Now I just need to do that (lose 12 lbs.) about 9 more times.  That would put me in the 160’s and I’d be very good with that. 

I can do that.

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