Starting weight (7/15/08):  279.8
Yesterday:  267.0  Today:  266.6
Change today:  -0.4   Loss-so-far: 13.2 lbs.

 Yay, I’m finally back down to the weight that I was on July 29.  It was raining today so hubby and I didn’t go bike-riding after work. (Let’s not mention that stationary bike in the TV room, you know, the one gathering dust?  Yeah, that one.)  Instead we went out to dinner and I had a lovely caesar salad with chicken.

I just asked Mr. Hubby what he wanted to do tomorrow.  We have this big (hot, messy, pain-in-the-butt) project at home that we’re supposed to start this weekend.  Did he want to work on it tomorrow?  Or would he rather go out bike-riding tomorrow and start the project on Sunday?  (I crossed my fingers.)  Yay!  He said he’d rather go bike-riding tomorrow.  We haven’t, however, decided where we want to go.  We could load the bikes on the back of the Jeep and ride somewhere else - or we could go on one of our local, familiar routes.

Either way, I’m psyched!  It’s HOT hot hot, but getting out on the bikes is so much fun - no responsibilities, no worries, just the next uphill and the next downhill.  (Thank God here in Florida the hills are relatively small!)

Last summer, we went out on the bikes every weekend, clocking at least 10 miles each trip.  One day we went 18 (all in one day) and then another weekend we rode 10 miles away, stayed at a hotel, then rode the 10 miles back home the next day - that was fun!  I’ve missed those excursions!  We haven’t gone on a bike trip since April… omg FOUR months!  It’ll be interesting to see what my stamina is like now, since I’m 20+ lbs. heavier this year than I was last summer (and I haven’t been riding much lately).

One nice thing about bike-riding, though, is that you set your own timeline and your own goals and limits.  When I need to rest, well, I’ll stop and rest.  It’s no big deal, it’s not like I have a train to catch, there’s no rush, no hurry.  I love that!

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Starting weight (7/15/08):  279.8
Monday:  267.8  Tuesday:  268.4   Yesterday:  268.0   Today:  267.0
Change today:  -1.0   Loss-so-far: 12.8 lbs.

“Exercise is non-negotiable.”  That was Dr. Atkins talking.  I know this.  I internalized it even.  I get the plan, I get the logic, I understand the why of it all.  Yet, as I have continued to whine about how I haven’t lost any weight for eight days, I haven’t gotten off my butt for most of those eight days.  Sunday I worked outside in the heat, that was the exception.  It’s supposed to be the rule.

So Tuesday there was a big project to do.  The retaining “pond” at my work (not that there’s water in it, it’s more of a retaining ditch) needed to be mowed, the grass was a foot deep.  I volunteered to do it because, geez, what a great workout that will be!  The sides of the pondditch are so steep that the riding mower can’t do it, so it would have to be done with a push mower.

Okay, actually I volunteered to do half of it.  It was a big job.

So my son mowed the first half.  I reminded him, “Don’t touch my half!”  (I really wanted to do this, how strange!)  He laughed, like a sixteen-year-old needed to be reminded to not do something.

I waited until after 5 pm so the sun wouldn’t be beating down so hard, put my hair up in a ponytail (a really small one since I got my hair chopped off), went outside, took a deep breath, and fired up the mower.  Oh.  My.   God.  LOL, I wanted a workout but I totally wasn’t expecting the job to be that hard!  Since the grass was so deep, every inch of it had to be mowed like three times (back and forth and back and forth) and though it was quicker to mow from the bottom up (pushing the mower above me), it required considerable strength.  Not that it didn’t require strength to mow from the top down (dragging the mower up the sides over and over again), but both maneuvers were … um … draining.

I was almost done - just two little strips of grass remaining - when I pooped out.  I have a lot of energy “for a fat woman,” but I’m just not used to that kind of exertion!  Plus, it’s about ninety-five degrees and the humidity is at like ninety-five percent.  I stopped to catch my breath and my husband finished those last two little areas. 

The point of all this is… yesterday we went bike-riding (4.3 miles) and this morning my weight had finally dropped again.  Surprise!  Exercise is not negotiable!

I just went outside and took a picture of the pondditch, and it looks… like not a big deal!  The sides don’t look all that steep and the ditch doesn’t look all that big, but I’m not a weenie!  My sixteen-year-old son about passed out when he did his half, too!  Maybe we’re just not used to any hills of any kind here in Florida, LOL.  Anyway, here it is:

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Oh, and while I was out there with the camera, I took a shot of the infamous dumpster enclosure that my husband and I built (and then unbuilt) (and then built again lol).

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Starting weight (7/15/08):  279.8
Yesterday:  268.0   Today:  267.8  
Change today:  -0.2   Loss-so-far: 12.0 lbs.

Yes, I hate to cook.  That has not changed.  But. 

But I like to eat!  I’m not in agony, missing carbs like a junkie - but I sure wouldn’t mind biting into a decent piece of pizza.  And if that’s gonna happen, if I’m ever gonna enjoy that taste, you know, the taste of a steaming hot slice, just thick enough, just thin enough, with tangy sauce and molten cheese and pepperonis with just the right spicy zing…

If I’m ever gonna enjoy a slice of pizza or any of the other carb-laden foods that have been at the heart of my daily diet since, since geez, since I can remember (without dropping the diet), then I’m gonna hafta cook. 

So yesterday I bought an eighty-dollar mixer.  A mixer!  For me!  The woman who like never cooks, ever!  It’s gorgeous - black and shiny, it’s a MixMaster, not so different than the one my mother had a zillion years ago.  It has beaters and it has dough hooks - I’m not even sure what exactly a dough hook does (!) but I knew I had to have those dough hooks because a couple Carbquik recipes I found actually mentioned them.

Ohhhh boy.  This is gonna be interesting.  So far I’ve made one thing with my new mixer:  little low-carb biscuits.  I say little because they are flat.  Reallllly flat.  If they were supposed to rise during baking, well, they didn’t.  They’re cute, though.  And not horrible-tasting, just flat.

My new quest is now to make the perfect low-carb pizza dough.  Yeahhhhh.

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Starting weight (7/15/08):  279.8
Yesterday:  268.8   Today:  268.0  
Change today:  -0.8   Loss-so-far: 11.8 lbs.

The landlord at my office came by the other day to comment on our new dumpster enclosure - the one that my hubby and I built.  He admired the construction (that would be the good news) and then dropped a little bomb (that would be, of course, the bad news).  Seems there is a pesky inspector from some local land-use agency that took exception with the placement of the enclosure.  Ummm… it’s around the dumpster, where else would we put it?  Unfortunately the guy doesn’t care where it is as long as it isn’t where we put it.

Okay, so we had to move it.  Easier said than done, since we sunk two of the four poles into the ground and poured concrete in the holes to hold those suckers in place.  But hey, it’ll be a great workout (again) and gee, we have nothing better to do with our Sunday (not true!  I would much rather have been out bike-riding!). 

Anyway, we did it today.  We moved the dumpster enclosure (and the dumpster) over about four feet.  (Yes Mr-Agency-Man was freakin over four lousy feet.)  Both our sons helped (they complained a bit but they did help) and so it only took us a couple hours from start to finish - okay, more like four.  In the heat of the day.  In the broiling sun.  We all got burned.  We all drank gallons of water.  We all look with pride on our work - it’s a lovely dumpster enclosure, LOL.

My older son, Eric asked me a bunch of questions today about this diet that his brother and I are on, and he decided to give it a try.  Yay!  Eric’s put on weight since he got his car (he used to ride his bicycle everywhere and that kept him trim) so I’m happy he’s gonna give it a shot.  He’s a carb addict just like his mom, so I hope he can get through the first few days!

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Starting weight (7/15/08):  279.8
Yesterday:  268.2   Today:  268.8  
Change today:  +0.6   Loss-so-far: 11.0 lbs.

I am extremely acrophobic.  I can’t even stand on a stepladder.  Or a footstool.  Or even on skates.  My husband is both amazed and amused by this because, with the exception of bugs and snakes, I’m generally not afraid.  I face life head-on, I step up and do whatever it takes, I even speak in front of crowds without breaking a sweat.  But O.M.G., I am so afraid of falling.

It occurred to me today that regarding this life-make-over that I’ve initiated, that I have a similar fear of falling.  And I have so far to fall.  The numbers that I’ve been dealing with on a day-to-day basis as I weigh in - they are so freakin’ high!  I never imagined that I would weigh this much.  Never imagined that so many pounds could just sneak onto my body while I wasn’t looking.  It was one thing to be “a little above 200″ (at my height it was still a LOT overweight) but quite another to be pushing 300.  THREE HUNDRED. 

The thing is, I have to succeed.  I have to find whatever it takes to get this weight to come OFF.  I HAVE TO.  Living with Graves Disease, if I don’t succeed - and if I go back to the way I was living last year - I will die.  My weight will soar unchecked until I can no longer move, breathe, live.

I look down at all those pounds I need to lose and sometimes it seems insurmountable.  One hundred and twenty pounds.  So many!  Low-calorie didn’t do it for me.  My metabolism is so screwed up that even at 1300-1500 calories a day, I wasn’t losing.  Low-carb was going to be my answer!  YES!  It worked for me before, it will work for me again!  But now as I face the third day in a row that I’ve not seen downward progress, I worry.  Yes, I worry, that’s all.  What if…  what if carb-counting doesn’t work for me?  What if nothing short of starvation will work for me?  I just worry.  Like being up on a ladder, I feel unsteady and nervous, my stomach in knots, my heart in my throat.

I just need to … not look down.

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Starting weight (7/15/08):  279.8
Wednesday:  267.6   Yesterday:  268.6   Today:  268.2  
Change today:  -0.4   Loss-so-far: 11.6 lbs.

I didn’t post yesterday, partly because I just didn’t feel like addressing a two-pound gain in two days.  Maybe if I don’t acknowledge it, it will go away, but it’s rather hard to erase a day or two like they didn’t happen.  It’s no big deal, I know there are many reasons for fluctuation, blah blah blah.  I just really prefer fluctuation in the downward motion rather than the up.

I did, however, take the advice from someone on here and checked my measurements.  I mean, I’ve been doing my measurements all along (since January), usually on Wednesdays.  I skipped doing it a lot while counting calories but since I started counting carbs I’ve been doing it every week.  So seeing as it was due anyway, I checked my measurements.

Not even a millimeter different from the week before, LOL.  But that’s okay.  Helluva lot better than UP.

So I went off induction on Wednesday and then gained weight so guess what, I went right back on induction.  I don’t mind eating that way and the weight loss was wonderful and so even though I know I won’t lose as fast as I did in those first two weeks, I’d just rather stay in the low range of carbs right now.  My son, Kevin, says he feels the same way.

I’m waiting for my Netrition box to come in the mail!  I kinda hoped it would be here today - it’s coming by UPS and it’s only 2pm so I guess it could still come.  I want to make low-carb pancakes!!!

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