fit by 40

So I haven’t been around much…well, at all.  I managed to not really gain anything but I hadn’t lost anything either.  But about three weeks ago I went back on plan and I’m seeing the scale move in the right direction again.  And even better…I joined a gym!  It’s convenient, the hours are great, it’s clean, they have tons of classes and equipment and I’m enjoying it.  I’m going 3-4 times per week, and I plan to really step it up over the summer and I will be able to go back to work in the fall with a transformed body!  I don’t know how many pounds I can realistically lose before then, but the inches for sure will be fewer.
Things I’m enjoying:

the elliptical - I was doing treadmill but it gets kind of boring.  At first I struggled to get 8 minutes on the elliptical, but I did 30 minutes the other day.

step class - it’s been a while since I’ve done one of those, but I went yesterday morning and had fun.  Got pretty sweaty, too.

weight machines - I’ve never had really nice, toned arms.  That’s something I’d like to change.  It always makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something when I do the tricep machine.

I’m not going to meetings, but I am doing WW online.  I’ve got my iPod set up with the WW app and a ton of great music to help me move it!  Tomorrow I weigh in, I think I’m down a little over 5 pounds from when I started.

So I was watching the latest episode of True Blood on Sunday and I thought about what a bummer for Jessica - she had never had any fun all her life because her parents were very strict, and now that she’s a vampire - she still doesn’t get any fun, because Bill is always watching out for her!  And I got to thinking - how on earth could this relate to weight loss?

It struck me that while she wants to feed off of the menu (she orders up a young straight male for her “dinner”), Bill won’t let her drink anything but TrueBlood.  While it may provide sustenance for her body to drink it from the bottle, it isn’t really feeding her soul.   She can’t enjoy the bottled stuff the same way she would enjoy a fresh meal from a handsome donor.  Even after death, she’s still depriving herself of “the good stuff!”

How does this relate to those of us who are trying to lose weight?  Two ways:

1.  Appearance counts - a lot.  The same food when prepared with a little style and beauty tastes better.  When we were in Hawaii, I was often disappointed by the food.  But the two best meals I had while I was there weren’t just delicious - they were beautiful.  The hebi (a type of fish) with salad and rice that I had while on the north shore - the salad was arranged just so, the fish had the picture-perfect grill marks, and it was just delicious.  The crepes at Crepes no ka oi in Kalua were exquisite by themselves - but the plates were decorated with a twist of orange and a little flower, making them works of art.  On the other hand, the pancakes with macadamia nut sauce were pretty good, but they didn’t look all that appetizing.  So instead of just tossing whatever onto a plate, try to make it look good and see if you don’t enjoy it more.  Get some nice dinnerware, a tablecloth, some flowers - and make your light meals taste like spa cuisine!  Enjoy your food and you’ll enjoy life a little more.  Unlike Jessica, who never seems to enjoy her food OR her undeath!

2.  Treat yourself sometimes.  Sometimes you just want something naughty -something that is really bad for you, but so delicious that you can’t help yourself.  That’s why WW is great - it allows you to use some of those weekly points for special things.  But you can’t splurge every day, or it’s not special any more!  I bet many of us have had the experience of eating some fake diet substitute for something, only to find it doesn’t really satisfy us and we end up eating more calories in the futile search for food happiness.  Instead of having those diet cookies, why not save those points and have one really, really good cookie each week?  Instead of chowing down on the cheap chocolate, why not spend a little more and get something truly divine?  One thing I’ve learned in my many visits to France is that fake food doesn’t exist there in anywhere near the way it exists here.  Lowfat milk?  Lowfat cottage cheese?  Sugar-free yogurt?  Fat free salad dressing?  Instead of eating these pretend foods, they have smaller quantities of the good stuff, plus lots and lots of fresh stuff that is healthy anyway - fish, vegetables, fruit, etc.  And those pastries that look so scrumptious - well, they really ARE every bit as good as they look.  But they aren’t eating them daily or even weekly.  Special occasions mean special treats, which is as it should be.

No, I haven’t quit the past couple of weeks.  I’ve been on vacation.  In Hawaii.

I didn’t count points while I was there - part of the fun of vacation is to try the local stuff, get some treats and not worry too much about it.  So I’m up 2.8 pounds, but hey - it was worth it.  Give me a couple of weeks and I’ll be right back where I was.

A few thoughts about Hawaii…

I really like Hawaii.  It’s pretty.  There’s lots to look at.  It’s not perfect (humidity is bad, prices are expensive) but one thing I’ve noticed is that it’s OK to be big in Hawaii.  I never felt comfortable wearing a bathing suit on the beach in Southern California, because everyone is skinny and beautiful.  But in Hawaii, you see all sorts of body sizes.  And nobody looks at you weird because you’re bigger than the average model.

The food is not so great.  You’d expect lots of fresh fish and tropical fruits, right?  But that’s not really the local thing.  We did try local food - the plate lunches - and they are basically cholesterol and starch city.  Two scoops of rice, one scoop of over-mayonnaised macaroni salad and then some sort of meat.  Which is fine once in a while, but if you eat it every day, you WILL be the large person on the beach!  There are other options that can be healthier - lots of Japanese and Korean food that does use grilled and stir fried veggies and such - but the quality varies quite a bit.

Anyway, I’m rested and I enjoyed my vacation and it’s time to get back to work, both literally and figuratively.  It’s hard to believe it but I go back to work in just over a week!  I’m preparing by figuring out what sorts of things I can make to take for lunches rather than relying on the frozen meals.  I ordered a couple of bento boxes online so maybe I can do portion control and make lunch more fun.  They’re coming from Japan, so I’m really hoping they’ll be here in time for the start of the year!

I know that a lot of fat people think that “if only” they could lose the weight, their lives would be perfect.  They’d get a better job, they’d find the perfect mate, they’d do all of the things they’ve wanted to do but their weight always held them back.

Watching the news this week makes me reflect that it doesn’t really matter whether you’re skinny or not - everyone has problems.  Michael Jackson was certainly skinny - but he wasn’t in shape.  From what the news is reporting, he was a very troubled person with a lot of problems.  You’d think that with his fame, his money, etc. he’d be the happiest guy in the world.  But that’s not at all the case - it seems as if he was drugging himself into oblivion, just to make it through another day. So while I may not be rich, famous or skinny - I don’t need drugs to get me through life.  Remembering thatm, I’m grateful to be fat.  If being fat is the worst problem I have, my life is pretty darn good, isn’t it?

But the best thing is - we don’t HAVE to stay fat.  We can enjoy how lucky we are to have good lives and people who care about us, and then each day we can do a little more to work towards that goal.  It’s great to have a nice goal and a reward for yourself when you reach it, so long as you realize that reaching that magic number isn’t going to fix everything else that’s wrong with your life.  So don’t let weight hold you back from really enjoying life, but don’t stop working on making it better, either.

Another week is almost over and I’ve managed to stay on plan.  I’ve exercised MOST days (Adam is excited about the biking thing, he’s already asked if we could go again tomorrow) and I’ve kept in points.  I’m hoping that I’ll show a nice loss on the scale this week.  But even if that isn’t the case, I’ve noticed that my clothes are fitting a little better!
Now it’s not a huge loss, mind you.  But it’s enough to make a difference.  I bought a flag shirt at Old Navy - size XXL - and I was disappointed because it was too tight to wear without being really self-conscious.  But yesterday I tried it on and it fit better than before, well enough that I wore it and thought it looked pretty good.  That’s a step in the right direction.  Let’s hope it didn’t shrink so I can wear it tomorrow!

Famous last words from the husband.  He said that while it was great that I got a basket for my bike and all that, he really didn’t think I’d use it to go to the store or anything like that.  His exact words were “you won’t be riding to the store for a piece of cheese.”

Until this morning.  I had planned to take a ride with my son anyway.  Then I heard the sound of spitting then a large quantity of liquid being dumped down the drain.  The milk - almost an entire gallon - had gone sour.  And of course, we needed milk for breakfast.  So I grabbed the boy and my basket and my bike and we went to the store.  On our bikes.

It was a pretty nice ride - 45 minutes total, about 40 of it riding and 5 of it grabbing the milk and paying.  Oh, and donuts.  The husband wanted donuts too.  I didn’t eat them and I won’t eat them, but I didn’t mind buying them since I was there anyway.

So I’ve only had the bike for 3 days, and I’ve proved him wrong.  I would, indeed, ride to the store for a piece of cheese.  In fact, I seriously thought about getting one slice from the deli, just so I could show him how wrong he was.  But then I thought about what a waste all of that time and packaging would be for one piece of cheese.

I started the day off with a nice ride on my new bike.  It’s so comfortable and I had a blast riding with my daughter.  I felt like I was hardly pedaling at times, but she had a hard time keeping up.  I can’t wait to go again, which is a good thing - if it’s fun to do, it doesn’t feel like exercise!

This afternoon I’m taking my son to a dBacks game.  It’s a special kids’ day, which means he can run the bases after the game.  I suppose I’ll let him do it, and maybe even post a picture if I can get a good one.

Not anything official since I’m not going to meetings or anything…but the total for my first week on plan is

DOWN 1.4 pounds!!!!!

What a nice way to start the day.  Then I took some pictures of a set of identical 8-month old twins (super cute!) and after that, the husband and I went to SuperTarget.  On the way we stopped at Sportschalet and I am now the proud owner of a pretty blue bicycle.  Yeah, it’s not the one I had planned to get - it’s a little nicer - but DH said it was OK because if I got THIS bike, he would maybe even ride it sometimes.

I can’t ride today, it’s too stinkin’ hot and humid from 9 am on, but I plan to give it a go tomorrow.  I got the bike for cruising around the neighborhood, and now that the new Fry’s has opened up, I can even go to the grocery store.  I also got a lock and a quick release basket, so I can ride to Fry’s for a piece of cheese (as DH put it so eloquently).

My daughter really wanted to go to lunch today with me, just the two of us.  She needs the one on one time every so often.  So we went shopping and found some nice jewelry at Forever 21 and then went to the buffet here in town.

I remember when I was younger and stupider I used to get all sorts of crap at the buffet.  Fried stuff was best.  I found that my tastes have changed.  I have yet to get good orange chicken at a buffet - or maybe I’m just spoiled by the yummy Trader Joe’s version.  The crab puffs are usually good, and I really like a goo egg fu yung.  But nothing is so good that I need a whole pile of it.  So I was pretty well-behaved - one bite of orange chicken, some salmon, one crab puff, one egg fu yung, a little bit of chow mein…tiny portions of lots of different things.  And then lots of mandarin oranges, and some dessert.

Tomorrow will be 1 week on plan -  I’m sure the sodium in the Chinese food won’t help, but this morning I was down 1.6 pounds.  We’ll see if that stay or disappears!

Now that we have a store within biking distance, I’ve decided that I’d like to have a bike.  I actually HAD a bike up until last month.  But I hadn’t ridden it in a long time, my husband took it for his own use, and as the parts started to get worn out he decided it was time to dispose of it.

I’m pretty sure I want a cruiser.  I don’t want to ride all hunched over or feel like I’m in the Tour de France.  So we went shopping.  Lots of shopping.  I sat on lots of different bikes - Huffy, Schwinn, Felt, Electra, Diamondback, Phat, etc.  One of the first bikes I tried was the most comfortable.  Some of the really expensive bikes were not so comfortable.

I saw bikes I liked, but part of the trouble is that DH is a bike snob.  He rides the fancy stuff and thinks $1500 is reasonable for a good bike.  He likes tinkering with the part, upgrading components, and putting major miles on the bike.  I just want to have fun.  I found some decent bikes, but he thought they were cheaply made and wouldn’t last long.  Well…maybe they wouldn’t last long if I were riding 200 miles a week, but I’m thinking more like 5 miles per week tops!

Anyway, I found a nice bike and I think I’ll go pick one up this weekend.  I’m hoping there will be a coupon in tomorrow’s paper, and if not…Amazon has free shipping on it and no tax involved.  Of course, that means DH will have a project to keep him busy.  It’s pink with little flowers on it, very girly.  I plan to make it moreso with a little basket on the front so I can carry groceries home.

While out and about, we got really hungry.  Poor little Grace was STARVING and would probably DIE SOON if she didn’t eat (or so she said).  We went to McDonald’s and I was able to get a filling lunch for not many more points than if I had stayed home and had a frozen entree - a happy meal with a hamburger and apple dippers is only 6 points!  I have plenty of weekly points floating around, so we got ice cream too.  Nothing like a McD’s ice cream cone on a hot summer day.  And as an added bonus, I got the cool dinosaur with two heads toy.  Both DH and I noticed that these things are really made to last.  A $300 bike is made with cheap components and will probably break in a year…but a Happy meal toy will last forever.