————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #297 - Tuesday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  45 min tennis + 30 min pitching/batting
Net carb grams yesterday:  33.9      Calories:  1219
Weight today:  233.8     Change:  -1.0    Total weight loss:  -51.4
————————————————————————————–

Wooohoooo!  As I expected, my weight dropped back down today!  Yeeeeeeehaaaa!!  I’m loving this!  I LOVE losing weight!  Love it love it love it!  Whoever woulda THOUGHT????!!!  Heehehehehe!!

Oh - and by the way - I GOT A RED STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Kevin and I went back to the tennis courts this evening!  We were gonna go there and just put in a half an hour.  He had a project to work on for school, so “Just a half an hour, that’s all.”  That’s what we said.  So we hit the ball back and forth and chased after wild ones and hit back-handed hard ones and lobbed high ones and tried to save low ones.  Both of us were drenched in sweat but still going strong when a couple came into the fenced area to play on the other court.  I said to Kevin, “Ya think it’s been 30 minutes?  Ya wanna go?” and he said yeah, probably, yeah let’s go.  So we gathered up all twelve balls and walked to the car.

I hadn’t worn a watch so I checked the time on my cell - ha!  We’d been playing for an hour!!  OMG that went by so fast!!!  It was a blast though - I really liked it!!  I asked Kevin tonight, “How often do you want to do this?”  He said, “As often as you want to.”  I said, “Really?  What if I want to do this every weeknight?”  He said, “I’d be good with that.”

Cool!!!

On the way home, we did discuss the fact that we aren’t actually playing a game.  We’re just hitting the ball back and forth and trying to keep it in play as long as we can.  I told Kevin that I’m not ready to actually play a game yet and he agreed that he wasn’t either.  Our plan is to hone our skills more before even attempting to insert rules and stuff.  I like that right now we can let the ball bounce twice if we want.  =D

—————————————————–

Today I had my friend take new pictures of me.  It’s only been 10 lbs. since the last time but today I wore more form-fitting clothes.  Anyway, here they are:

That’s 270 lbs on the left, 233 on the right.

Then for this next one I didn’t take a backside before, so
that’s 243 on the left, 233 on the right:

And lastly… my updated faces.  And hairstyles, LOL!

15142

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #296 - Monday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  20 min elliptical + 40 min exercise bike
Net carb grams yesterday:  33.6      Calories:  1433
Weight today:  234.8     Change:  +0.8    Total weight loss:  -50.4
————————————————————————————–

Yesterday I was bummed because my weigh-in showed a spike again and so AGAIN my total weight loss was under 50 lbs.  I didn’t even post a blog entry because I was so ticked about it that I didn’t want to SEE it in PRINT - even though I did post it in my “Exercise & Weigh-Ins” tab so it was in print anyway.  But as one of my favorite bloggers (zeusmeatball) says when he refers to a certain TMI state of being, “there were planes in the hangar” and well, those planes departed (and apparently they were, uh, cargo planes, lol) and my weight dropped back down again today.  Not as far, but I’m thinking I’m gonna see another loss tomorrow.  Don’t ask why.  LOL!

I am so jazzed about today!  I did something bad.  BAAAAD.  LOL!  I spent $115 at Walmart after work!  OMG don’t tell my husband!!  Heheh, just kidding, I tell Hubby everything - but um, he’s gonna give me a LOOK when I tell him what I spent that money on.

Over the weekend, I read in someone’s comments to someone’s blog (omg I’m so sorry I can’t remember whom either party was!!) that the best way to get your exercise is to do something you LIKE to do, and then that person gave the example that what they liked to do was to play tennis.  When I read that, I thought to myself, Oh wow, when I was a teenager, I loved to play tennis!  I had no one to play with though (no kids lived in my neighborhood) so I would spend hours and hours hitting a tennis ball against a wall.  It was a great workout and required minimal equipment.  Then when I was about 17, a teenage girl moved into my neighborhood and all that practice against the wall musta paid off because I was able to play tennis with her - and found that I wasn’t half-bad.  I loved playing the game but she tired of it quickly and we stopped playing.  And I’ve never played it again since!

I talked to my Hubby last night and asked him if he knew if there was a wall I could play against anywhere nearby.  He suggested that I use the side wall of the grocery store - we’ve actually played handball with the kids there before because there’s a high fence next door so the ball has nowhere to go. 

This afternoon I asked Kevin (my 16yo son) if he’d be interested in playing tennis with me - and he said YEAH!  We talked a bit more about what we could do to get exercise, and I suggested hitting some softballs and of course being a guy he wanted baseballs… anyway, we ended up at Walmart and I bought …

- Two tennis rackets
- A dozen tennis balls
- An aluminum baseball bat
- A bucket of six baseballs
- A package of four softballs and
- One baseball mitt.

… for a grand total of $115.  LOL!!  Then I drove to the local baseball field (there are actually six baseball fields there) and they were ALL being used.  So I drove to another park where there are three baseball fields and all of those were being used too - BUT - there were also two tennis courts!!  And the tennis courts were empty.  For the next 45 minutes, we played tennis.  Or something like tennis, LOL!  We lobbed the ball back and forth and laughed and ran for stray balls and laughed and hit wildly and laughed and … and we worked up a pretty good sweat, both of us!  OMG and it was SO fun! 

At one point I said to Kevin, “Why do you keep laughing every time I run for the ball?”  I mean we were both laughing so much that it was not a big deal but he didn’t really answer me and he still kept doing it, every time I would race across the court to try to catch a ball before it got past me, Kevin laughed.  Not a mean laugh, just a spontaneous laugh. 

After 45 minutes I was starting to get a little tired so we went to go see if any of the baseball fields were empty yet and hey - there was a batting cage!  And no one was in it!  So we went in there for the next half-hour and took turns pitching and batting.  That was fun too!!

When we were leaving I asked him if he was embarrassed being there at the park with his MOM and he said not at ALL and that it was fun and we should do it every day!  (I don’t know how serious he was about that!)  But then when we were in the car he said something that brought tears to my eyes - good tears.

He said that the reason he kept laughing every time I ran for the ball was because he had never - NEVER - in his whole life, seen his mom run like that.  Ever!  That all his life he’s known that his mom couldn’t run like that and so every time he saw me running across the court, bent on hitting that ball back to him, it just made him laugh “with like - surprise!”  I teared up, not because of the regret I felt for all those years that my kids didn’t have a mom who could run and play with them - even though I do feel that regret - no, I teared up because NOW at age FORTY-SEVEN, I am finally able to run again.  Even if it’s just short little bursts on a tennis court, it’s still more than I’ve been able to do … since before my children were born.

I teared up because I am SO GRATEFUL!!!!

15031

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #294 - Saturday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  20 min DDR + 40 min elliptical
Net carb grams yesterday:  18.8      Calories:  1371
Weight today:  234.0     Change:  -1.4    Total weight loss:  -51.2
————————————————————————————–

Oh yeah, that’s me — doing the happy dance!! 
Not just fifty but FIFTY ONE point two POUNDS YAYYYY!!!!

All it took was a little less food and a little more exercise.  How weird is that?  LOL!

Hubby and I went out to lunch today to our usual lunchtime restaurant, the one where they know our names and have our “regular” orders memorized.  I always order a special salad with feta and grilled chicken (lightly cajun-spiced) and I swear I could eat this beautiful salad every day of the week, it’s that good.

Then we went to get new tires for my Mustang - wow that was fun, ha!  Actually, it did turn out to be fun because while we were waiting for the car, we took a walk (I said to him, “If we walk for an hour that’s a star ya know.”  He laughed at me!) and about ten minutes away from the tire shop is … a thrift shop!  And we all know how much Eileen & her hubby like thrift shops!

I had so much fun looking through the women’s clothing!  I am very picky about what “used” clothing I will wear but I always find really good deals, and today was no exception!  I got four new business-y blouses, two were size 22 and two were size 20!  And they fit me!!  That was exciting all by itself!  Plus, I bought a little outfit in size 18 - it doesn’t fit me - yet - but it will!!  I just had to buy it, though, because it was so cute.  Oh yeah I also bought one blazer - jade green - brand new. 

Later in the day, around the time it got dark, we decided to go to the festival which was being held this weekend in our little downtown area.  Parking is difficult down there whenever there’s an event, so we decided to ride our bikes.  We locked them to a park bench and walked around on foot, looking at all the rides and games — and all the food vendors!  OMG the only one that called to me was the elephant ears one, I love those things! 

But I didn’t succumb to any of ‘em… walked right on past… well, except I stopped to take pictures!  Hubby asked me, “Why are you taking pictures of all the food places?  You gonna post ‘em on your blog?”  I said, yeah, that I was gonna show all the stuff that I *didn’t* eat!

Oh, and here’s the band that was playing Bluegrass music (Hubby loved that!)

After we’d looked at everything, we decided that the only ride we really wanted to go on was the Ferris Wheel, so we bought the tickets so we could have a ride.  EIGHT BUCKS for both of us to go on that one ride!  Geez Louise!  Anyway, we were having a nice ride, even took a movie of it with my little Kodak (ha! you can hear our voices, sorta!), but then the batteries in my camera died and so we just cuddled and sat back to enjoy the rest of the ride – and suddenly one of the generators quit.  The power went off to half the carnival!  And we were stuck on the Ferris Wheel until they could get the power back on!

Wouldn’tcha know it, I couldn’t take any more movie because my batteries were dead?  It was fun, though, hangin’ out up there (no we weren’t at the very top!), it turned an eight-dollar 5-minute ride into an eight-dollar fifteen-minute one!!

It was a good day!  I put in 20 minutes on the bike and more than an hour of walking (20 minutes to the thrift store and back and then at least an hour of walking at the festival).  Yay!!

14929

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #293 - Friday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  25 min DDR + 25 min elliptical + 15 min weights
Net carb grams yesterday:  33.0      Calories:  1126
Weight today:  235.4     Change:  -0.6    Total weight loss:  -49.8
————————————————————————————–

I laughed out loud when I stepped on the scale this morning!!  Just TWO-TENTHS of a pound away from the 50-lb mark!!  Oh that scale has SUCH a sense of humor!!  It’s cool though because this is the closest I’ve been to where I was in February … since February!

* Happy Dance! *  I’m definitely on my way DOWN!

Tonight I tried the DDR again and had the same problem as yesterday - this weird sharp twinge of pain in my lower-right back.  It’s only when I move a certain way, and when I jump.  *Sigh* I was just celebrating the other day about how much easier the jumps were for me and now this.  I guess I should at least be thankful it’s not my knees this time.

14831

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #292 - Thursday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  1 hour DDR
Net carb grams yesterday:  18.3      Calories:  1334
Weight today:  236.0     Change:  -1.8    Total weight loss:  -49.2
————————————————————————————–

Inching closer - less than a pound now from the 50-lb mark … again.  I’m gonna pass it up this time.  I know what I need to do and I’m doing it. 

Tonight I tried to do my hour of DDR but my back was hurting.  Every time I jumped I felt this ouch-twinge of pain in my lower right side of my back and so finally I stopped and switched to the elliptical instead.  I put in almost 30 minutes on that and finished up my hour with weights, thinking maybe that would help whatever’s going on with my back.  I kept having that twinge and I guess I was moaning because my husband was in the next room and he popped his head in and asked if I was okay.  I hope it’s just a sore muscle and that this pain goes away quickly.

I’m very happy that the new “automated” table on the www.w8challenge.com site is now up and running!  The guy that did the coding for me was awesome, he definitely went the extra mile to make sure that I was happy with the finished product. 

I would like to express my appreciation to all of the cool people who have participated in either the March or the April challenge (or both!) and who have been so patient and good-natured with the birth and growth of the site.  I still think it’s a really neat concept - to have a contest that is about eating right and exercising - and it’s been fun and extremely motivating to have all of you on this journey together.  Thanks y’all!

By the way, the MAY Challenge is now open.  If you are participating in the April challenge and you would like your existing login and password to be transferred to the May challenge on May 1st, just let me know.

14762

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #291 - Wednesday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  1 hour DDR
Net carb grams yesterday:  21.6      Calories:  1209
Weight today:  237.8     Change:  +0.4    Total weight loss:  -47.4
————————————————————————————–

I’ve been working with the nice young gentleman from England, trying to get that one table on the www.w8challenge.com site to work.  He did a good job and he’s been great about the changes I’ve asked him to make.  For the past couple days we’ve been trying to get it installed on the website and of course nothing ever just goes simply or easily, there’s always unforeseen challenges, right?  Right now the file is there but I can’t make it “live” yet because there’s something else wrong.  I’m hoping it’s a small thing and he’ll be able to fix it tomorrow.  I’m hoping.

I think overall the site is pretty easy to use - except for that one table!

————————————-

Today I had to drive to Tampa and then to Clearwater and then back to Tampa and then by the time I got home I was tired!  I took a nap and was going to take tonight “off” from exercising but then changed my mind.  Tonight makes nine days in a row that I’ve put in at least an hour of exercise - I wanna keep the momentum going.

Now if the scale would just show some progress… that would make me very happy.  Right now I just want to see the 50-lb mark again!!!  I hit that milestone at the beginning of February and have been hovering just a few lbs away ever since.  I would like to pass it once and for all!

14698

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #289 - Monday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  1 hour DDR
Net carb grams yesterday:  18.7      Calories:  1297
Weight today:  237.4     Change:  +0.8    Total weight loss:  -47.8
————————————————————————————–

Yes, the scale showed a gain again, two days in a row.  No, I’m not freakin’.  As far as I’m concerned, I’ve still “broken through” the endless plateau.  I can feel the swelling in my knees and ankles.  I’ve been doing more difficult and faster DDR and it’s causing some edema.  No biggie, it’ll go down.

I’m still really psyched because I *am* breaking through.  I am.

Honestly, I have no choice.  I have to keep going forward because I’m never, ever going back to what I felt like when I weighed 285 lbs.  Ever.  I will keep eating low-carb and I will keep watching my calories and I will keep exercising.  I will not gain.  Eventually I will lose.

———————————————————–

Tonight while I was trying to keep up with the arrows on the game, I found myself doing the jumps and - for the first time ever - they were not a big deal.  I’m sitting here typing this but I have no idea how to explain what I mean.  Okay - in the game, the arrows crawl up the screen, and when they get to the top you’re supposed to step on the correct arrow (front, back, left, or right) at a precise moment, with the beat of the music.  If two arrows come up at the same time, then you’re supposed to use both feet to hit both arrows, and the only way you can do that, is to jump up and land both feet on the two arrows at the same time.

When I first started doing the DDR, I would try to jump but it was really hard.  With past knee injuries, and weighing so much, the jumping was really hard on my knees.  I did the best I could, but all my jumps were like -BAM- high-impact.  A couple times I came down wrong and re-injured my knees.  I’ve had to be a bit careful not to do it again.  But no matter what, anytime I tried to jump, I came down like a ton-of-bricks, so to speak. 

What I’m trying to say here, is that I came down differently than other people might.  Harder.  I’ve played against my son and when I watched him, his jumps weren’t -BAM- like mine, they were smooth movements with much less impact than what I’d been doing.  I studied how he did it, thinking that if I could just copy how he did it, then I could jump better, easier, without hurting my knees.  Without so much BAM.

I came to the conclusion that I just didn’t have the strength in my legs to move like that.  I could not move both feet off the ground at the same time without actually bending my knees and propelling myself into the air - even if all I was aiming for was just an inch into the air. 

Guess what - I did it!  Yesterday and then again tonight when I was doing the DDR Ultramix 1, I found myself moving from jump to jump - with no BAM!!  It’s so hard to explain how exciting this is for me!!!  I was also excited because for the first time I can actually do some of the harder routines, but for me to finally have the strength in my legs to move from jump to jump, I am so pumped!

If you’ve never seen or played DDR before and you’re totally lost, here are some videos (oh, and these people are much better at it than I am):
DDR Mom:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAN6JhrR0R0
DDR Mom & Daughter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ElxEM2cnKI

Then of course,  here’s me back in September.  I’m on the left.  Watch how we both jump, bending our knees and propelling ourselves like we’re gonna high-jump or something, around 0:21.  =D

14604

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #288 - Sunday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  1 hour DDR
Net carb grams yesterday:  25.8      Calories:  1231
Weight today:  236.6     Change:  +1.0    Total weight loss:  -48.6
————————————————————————————–

My husband and I went out this afternoon in my Mustang with the convertible top down.  I had told my son that we would be back in about an hour.  We didn’t come back for almost four hours.

It was just too nice out!  The sun was shining and we were enjoying the music on the stereo and each other’s company so Hubby said, “Let’s go for a ride.”  We drove down the gulf coast, through Clearwater Beach, Sand Key, Belleair Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Redington Beach, Madeira Beach, through Treasure Island Beach and all the way to the tip of St. Petersburg Beach.  OMG what a perfect day!

This is a peek at Treasure Island Beach.  I didn’t take this picture but I’ve been there many times and yes, it is gorgeous like this.  White sand as far as the eye can see.  We got eyefuls of beach scenery today and it’s really good for the soul.  Whenever I want to feel better, I am blessed that I live less than 1500 feet from the gulf and so I have access to a water view whenever I want.

Tonight we went grocery shopping and then when we got home I ordered pizza (for the men, I didn’t have any) and we watched The Day the Earth Stood Still.  Eh, it was okay.  After the movie I popped in a DDR disc and put in a full hour.  It was really fun because it was one I bought a long time ago and couldn’t play it because it was too hard.  I must have gotten a bit better at it because I could play it this time!  It kicked my butt though, because almost every song was really fast!

14530

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #287 - Saturday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  30 min. ex tape + 1 hour walking 3-4 mph
Net carb grams yesterday:  30.5      Calories:  1205
Weight today:  235.6     Change:  -2.0    Total weight loss:  -49.6
————————————————————————————–

YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

This renewed motivation - it’s working!!  Over the past few days I’ve finally seen a loss on the scale - two whole pounds!  I know what it takes and I will break through this seemingly-endless plateau.  I WILL!!

Yesterday I popped in my old dusty Sweatin’ to the Oldies tape - yeah, yeah, Richard Simmons in the 80’s at the height of his career, beebopping to 50’s tunes… it never fails to make me smile!  For thirty minutes I danced and pranced with all those familiar faces and was grateful for mini-blinds so the neighbors couldn’t see me.  It made me sweat, though, which was the whole point.

Then last night around 10pm, a nearby transformer blew (in an impressive flash seen from a block away) and the power went out.  I was bored so I decided to go for a walk.  I took my purse and my cell phone, and started walking in the direction of where my husband works.  He gets off work at 11:30 so I just wanted to walk for an hour and be somewhere on his way home so he could pick me up.

Now I don’t walk, really.  I’m not into walking.  I’d much rather be riding my bike.  Walking is too slow.  I would love to be able to run, because that seems faster but last time I tried to run my knees killed me for two weeks.  So I decided to just walk.  Briskly.

I started walking at 10:20.  It was a beautiful, cloudless night.  Because of the city lights I could only see a handful of stars but I enjoyed them anyway.  There was a cool breeze and the neighborhood was quiet.  I walked north at first, then east.  I did a lot of thinking as I walked.  I didn’t stop, I kept the same pace, brisk but not particularly fast.  At about 11:10 I called my husband and told him where I was. 

“You walked all the way there?!”  He was amazed.  He knows me, that  I don’t particularly like to walk, and I was over three miles from home.

I told him I was turning south and where to look for me.  He laughed and said he’d see me in a few minutes.

At exactly 11:20, he pulled up beside me.  He’d left work a few minutes early to come and rescue his wife.  I said to him, “Great timing!” because I really wanted to put a whole hour in.  It’s a star, after all.  =D

14464

————————————————————————————–
Eileen - Day #284 - Thursday
 Daily intake goals::  < 35g carbs / < 1700 calories / > 64+ oz. water
Exercise yesterday::  1 hr. DDR
Net carb grams yesterday:  22.6      Calories:  1123
Weight today:  237.6     Change:  -+0.0    Total weight loss:  -47.6
————————————————————————————–

I have renewed motivation!  Wooohoooo!!!

My weight has been slowly creeping UP instead of down and I was - yet again - approaching 240.  NOOOOO I did NOT want to go back to that particular “decade” AGAIN. No. No. NO.

So.  I dropped the lower limits on my food-plan.  I was being careful not to drop below 1200 calories or 20g carbs a day.  No more.  I’m gonna eat only what I feel like eating and not a morsel more.  There were days where I would have eaten less but ate something just because ”omg I don’t wanna drop down into starvation mode.”  I would say my metabolism can’t possibly get any slower - I mean, I have stuck to my food plan for like 87 of the past 90 days and managed to gain weight.

I also know that I need to exercise more.  I want to see consistent weight loss … and … I WANT A RED STAR!!  LOL whatever it takes.

Last night I did an hour of DDR - it was fun!  I’ve missed doing that, only I don’t miss the leg cramps that I get as a result (yeah woke up with one in my thigh omg that hurts so bad!).  This afternoon I did 20 minutes of an exercise tape and then this evening I decided to put my exercise time toward something a little more productive.  I told the boys we were going to do one hour of exercise together and to make it worthwhile we all needed to not just work but to hustle!   Then I cranked up the radio (a classic rock station) and gave out assignments.  Kevin deep-cleaned the living room (pulling furniture out, that kinda-cleaning), Eric cleaned the kitchen and dining room, and I worked on the front porch (Hubby had done a project out there and there was construction debris as well as the usual clutter that collects there, I have no idea why). 

When an hour was up, I called for everyone to stop.  We had accomplished a LOT in just one hour AND all three of us were sweaty AND something productive was accomplished.

Not as entertaining maybe but way more satisfying than rolling along on an elliptical or exercise bike!  =D

———————————————————

Oh, before I forget, here’s a little helpful hint for my friend beerab:

My name is Eileen and I am a ketchup junkie.  This Heinz product has just five little calories per tablespoon (compared to SIXTY calories in regular ketchup) and it tastes AWESOME!! 

Look for either “one carb” or “no sugar added” Heinz ketchup at the grocery store, or if your local stores don’t sell it, you can order it from www.netrition.com. 

14388