310

Yesterdays’ Water intake=  10 cups

Yesterday’s Exercise= 36 min elliptical, 10 min treadclimber, 15 squats, 10 min Pilate

Today’s Weight= 281.2 (-1.4)

I did the treadclimber yesterday. I was so tired when I got to the gym. I was sitting on the toilet just for the sake of sitting and thinking about where I could lay down. I could put my suit on and swim, float, or soak, but that’s not a real workout and I was too LAZY to go get undressed. So as I sat there convincing myself what to do, I remembered the treadclimber. (I go to two gyms. This one is the further-from-my-house one with more machines, a better selection, and even a women’s only workout room. The other gym I frequent more often does not have the treadclimbers.)

It was interesting. I kept thinking if sterling came out right now to do the hike, I’d be in big trouble. I had to make myself get through 10 minutes of it. I could feel the burn. It’s good to have something new going on, though. I’ve been bored with the elliptical the past two days. Next time I’ll do 15 min or more. I had to laugh when the machine asked if ‘the speed was ok’, and ‘there’s no need to run’! I was going 2.1 and my feet were pounding on it, laboriously, like they were cement blocks.

I got the ball and the On The Ball dvd like 5 months ago and have only used it once. It seemed tough, maybe that’s why? It wasn’t as tough this time, except for the part with holding my arms in midair. I still only did 10 min of it and felt a little weak when finished. The kids like doing it too. I am on my ball behind them, snapping the picture. It was too cute. Yes the 2 yr is missing his pants (again) and the dog is barking at the camera (again)

I’m not much for playing with them, toy-wise, game-wise… My oldest is 15 and it was the same way for him. Sometimes I feel guilty. I’m glad my husband fills that need, he’s very good at playing with them and doing things with them. That’s one of the things I hope changes during this quest is not only being more active, but active with them. Run and play, ride bikes, that kind of thing. Last night, the three of us did some squats together. We all held hands in a circle and squated down together and got up together. It was fun, simple, didn’t take up too much time and everyone was smiling. We’ll be doing that regularly.

I am a magazine hog. My poor mailman totes alot for me. I used to sign up for every free magazine I found. But now I’ve limited it to something I might actually read. (Most magazines still pile up and never get read.) I have gotten free mags from this company before. No tricks.

http://www.valuemags.com/freeoffer/parents-BBS.asp

Sign up here for 24 complimentary issues of Parents.

Tonight DH is going to his moms for pizza. I said no thanks, I’m staying home. I want one week without eating junk on Saturdays and weighing in on Sundays. But I did say we can go out to eat after church tomorrow, that is, after all, AFTER my weigh in..

Yesterdays’ Water intake= 11.5 cups

Yesterday’s Exercise= 41 min elliptical

Today’s Weight= 282.6 (+1.4)

Found something interesting on beerabs blog. At first the title threw me off, I was thinking it was a fad thing. But it’s a calculator that goes the extra steps. I like the layout of it. I think when I return from my trip in 2 weeks, I’m going to give the plan a try. It’s nice to have it all laid out for you sometimes. Do this, that, and that and you’re done.

I gave myself a semi-active, it’s questionable if I’m active (5+ a week) or semi(3-5 a week). I’ve been working out a little less that I did before. But maybe when I get back to this more rigorously then I’ll recalculate it as active.

Female age 36, 5′8″ 283 lbs.

• To go from 283 -to-273 pounds in 30-to-45 days… Eat 1964-to-2568 calories a day by eating 5 times a day so… You’ll eat smaller 392-to-513 calorie meals every 3 hours and…
• To go from 273-to-263 pounds in 30-to-45 days… Eat 1922-to-2513 calories a day by eating 5 times a day so… You’ll eat smaller 384-to-502 calorie meals every 3 hours and…
• To go from 263-to-253 pounds in 30-to-45 days… Eat 1879-to-2457 calories a day by eating 5 times a day so… You’ll eat smaller 375-to-491 calorie meals every 3 hours and… (so on.)

• Make sure at least 30% (or more) of your daily calories come from protein so eat 192 grams of protein a day or 38 grams of protein in each of your 5 meals and…
• Eat a variety of these weight loss foods, make sure all your meals include at least 1 raw fruit and/or vegetable + 38  grams of protein and avoid these bad foods for weight loss and…
• Drink at least 1 liter of water everyday & take a multivitamin daily and…
• If you’re going to cheat then see how to cheat on your diet and still lose weight and…
• You shouldn’t get real hungry while on this weight loss plan but if if you do - look at 23 ways to curb your cravings and…
• Once you get to pounds… eat no more than calories a day to maintain your weight or…
• If you need to lose more than 50 pounds - Click here to start over & keep losing more weight

Your workout plan…

Monday, Wednesday, & Friday Mornings

Do a 30-to-45 minute high intensity morning workout before your first meal (breakfast) to force your body to burn more fat and to keep your fat burning metabolism much higher during the day - Look at fast weight loss tip #11 & How to increase your metabolism to see why

Tip: If you’re not in shape to do high intensity workouts then start off doing 45-to-90 minute lower-to-moderate intensity workouts like walking until you’re ready to do high intensity workouts

Monday, Wednesday, & Friday Evenings

You have a choice of doing another 30-to-45 minute high intensity workout or you can do a 45-to-90 minute lower-to-moderate intensity workout and…

Tip: Any weight loss activity can be a low, moderate, or high intensity workout depending on how much effort you put into it and…

You can go here to see if you’re working out hard enough to lose weight.

Tuesday and Thursday mornings

Same as Monday, Wednesday, & Friday Evenings… You have a choice of doing another 30-to-45 minute high intensity workout or you can do a 45-to-90 minute lower-to-moderate intensity workout but…

Tuesday and Thursday evenings

Same as Tuesday and Thursday mornings and…

Tip: You’re basically working out 2 times a day Monday-thru-Friday to lose 50 pounds as fast as possible but if you can’t workout or not as much for whatever reasons…

You’ll still lose 50 pounds but it may take you longer than 8 months without working out as opposed to you losing 50 pounds in less than 5 months if you followed this workout & diet plan exactly.

Saturday and Sunday mornings & evenings

You can take these days off & rest or you can do the same thing you do on Monday, Wednesday, & Friday Evenings and…

Tip: If you want to speed up your weight loss by working out smarter - Look at 1-thru-5 of 11 ways to speed up weight loss

Yesterday’s Exercise=0

Yesterday’s water intake= 4.5 cups

Today’s weight=281.2 (-1.2 lbs.)

I’m eating less overall. I’m not tracking or counting. Reckless, I know. I didn’t drink enough water yesterday. Going to try to fix that so I don’t have to start all over again with the bathroom runs every 15 min. I’m doing really good at night. Able to avoid eating alot of junk during that dangerous-for-me time of day…in fact, I’ve been just drinking water the last few hours before bed. But, I’m tired, distracted, hungry. It could be pre-TOM, it could be the upcoming trip and being busy, and it could be not eating enough.I want some broccoli…still, and yet I don’t feel like going to the store. I plan to go to the gym tonight, taking my teen son along since he hasn’t been going lately. I’ll have to go to the store afterwards.

I hope hubby doesn’t have any eating out or ordering in plans for Friday or Saturday because I’d like to get through a weekend without wondering how it is going to effect my weigh-in on Sunday morning. I don’t mind if we do something on Sunday morning, after church. I know it’s up to me to make the choice for myself, but you know how it is with social eating.

Here’s our spring pink bloomin’ tree. You can’t see it but its’ covered in at least 50 bees. And here’s our black lab, Cody. He doesn’t like the camera at all. He acts like it’s gonna warp him into space. It’s usually hard to catch him. As soon as he hears the Velcro rip open on the camera case in the other room, he knows what’s coming. This time he hardly moved but instead vocalized it the whole time with his low growl ‘n groan way of talking to me.

Yesterday’s Weight= 283.6 (+.4)

Yesterday’s Exercise= 52 min elliptical, 60 leg presses, 15 calf lifts, 45 arm curls, 90 abdominal

Yesterday’s water intake= 12 cups

Today’s weight=282.4 (-1.2 lbs.)

I’m busy and distracted this week. I’m trying to keep food intake good. Yesterday I was craving some broccoli and was too tired to make it for myself, so I ended up eating 3 cookies… I realized I was tired and wanting to eat so I went to bed to stop myself! I went to bed 90 min early and ended up waking up 90 min early and started thinking about the things I needed to do.

Today’s our anniversary. We’ve only been married 8 yrs but Sept makes 20 yrs since we’ve met and basically hooked up. For some reason, we don’t go out of our way on most Anniversaries or Valentine’s. I think this is my excuse for forgetting it today! Usually the joke is that the man forgets it. But, no, my hubby gave me a kiss when he was going to work at 3am… I didn’t know what for, all’s I know is it woke me up Then I come down here and find a note that says Happy Anniversary! Ooohh… yeah… that. OOPS. I’m glad someone remembered.

I took the kids to BounceU again yesterday. This time there was a crowd, so the one attendant wasn’t readily available to help my littlest one up some of the inflatables. I had to get in there… I’m sure I was the fattest one there but I don’t think I was the most out of shape, if that makes any sense. I did let some thinner moms help him occasionally since I figured while they were already in there, might as well. I’m not about to climb in and have the whole thing get put out of whack while I try to walk my way through it. The few things I did get in… I did something with my shoulder again. The climbing in and out is tricky because it’s rocky. It’s not bad, but I intended to get back to upper arm and shoulder workouts last night and had to put that off.

Woman goes away and yet man still needs to eat. I’m cooking up a storm today and freezin’ dinners for my husband to have while I’m gone for a week. I slowcooked some jambalaya after reading someones’ blog entry about it. I used turkey sausage and skipped the hot sauce. I tried it last night (without rice) and it was good. I am glad I didn’t add the hot sauce, and it could’ve used more shrimp. Another good, healthy meal to add to our routine. Currently the chicken cacciatore is in the slow cooker, a whole chicken is roasting in the oven and the turkey burger patties are prepared and in the freezer. The only thing missing is the ham in the lower oven (for lunch meat). I’ll get to that later.

I think spring is here. Our tree and flowers are bloomin’, the mockingbird is busy singing his mating songs, the breeze is nice, the windows and doors are open. Good timing for sharin’ my music with the neighborhood (like it or not). Hubby installed some shelves and additional Klipsch speakers. We now have one in each corner. It sounds great. Out goes my LAZY BOY chair. I haven’t been using it anyways. It was too big. This gave us room for the stereo and opened up the room a little. It’s fun to have a new change, and great sound. The couch, carpet and blinds are pretty dirty but oh well… I’m happy enough to still show it off.

Today’s Weight= 283.2 (+.6)

Yesterday’s Exercise= some squats

Today’s Exercise= Swimming

Exercise is awesome.

One of the reasons I put off diet and exercise for so long is that look into the future of how long, how much work, how impossible it seems that I could actually do it.

When wanting to lose weight, I always wanted what was easiest and fastest. I guess that’s why fad diets are so popular. This process is moving slower than I would like. But it’s the little things along the way that are so significant, encouraging and motivating to keep me in this for the long haul. These are things that show up unexpectedly and sometimes even go unnoticed at first.

Alot of things popped up and got noticed this week.

Years ago while I was the passenger in my BFF’s car, as she drove I noticed her left leg propped up (she has long legs) so casually. Why does a simple thing like that stick in my head? I wanted to be able to be that flexible and comfortable. Something so simple.

I noticed I have been doing that while driving this week!

I no longer always have to have the seat straight up and the lumbar pushed forward to support my back. Most times, I can relax. Most times, I am comfortable.

I bought a bathing suit yesterday for my upcoming trip. I threw out the old one months ago because it had a run in the butt. The gym has a pool and a hot tub. 2 years ago I used to just float around in the pool and soak in the hot tub. That’s what going to the gym meant. I started this quest in September. I haven’t swam in the past few months, but I have exercised alot. Today I swam in the pool again. I did half of a lap and noticed how easy it was! 6 months ago, I could hardly get through a half of a lap. Today I did 4 full laps before I started getting a little tired. I did one more lap and then called it quits. Not only was the forward laps easy, but the back stroke laps were so smooth, so I did 1 and a half of those. I don’t think I’ve done that since I was a kid. I felt like a pro.

In the past my body couldn’t handle anything unexpected. Every movement was carefully planned. If I so much as stumbled, I was in danger of going down full force with my 300+ lbs. I noticed this week that there have been quite a few times where I’m moving around with strength, confidence and speed. In the process, my foot sometimes catches on something and in the past it would have really shook me up because I nearly tripped! Now I recover and regain everything in a flash and I’m left in awe at the change.

When we went out to dinner the other night, I ate alot. When we were done, I noticed my heart racing as my body tried to process the food. I recalled that I used to get that often and realized I have not had that in a long time. I noticed how I was able to walk and stand nearly the entire time we were out, even after overeating. In the past, I would’ve dragged butt to the next point. I would sit at every opportunity. I would be so tired. This time I felt great. My answer to what I wanna do was ‘Whatever everyone else wants.’ vs the old ‘Let’s go home’ or ‘ I just wanna sit down somewhere.’

At the post office the other day, the line was LONG. I didn’t wanna stand, but not because of the old pains, but because I wanted to squat, or sit on my haunches! I didn’t though… I felt it would look a little strange In the past, I would never think of doing that for I wouldn’t be able to get back up.

I saw a tv show about a nearby hike up Mt Charleston. It’s a steady incline for 45-60 minutes on a not so smooth path. I wanna do it. I asked my husband if it was something he thought he could and would do. In the past, I wouldn’t even consider it.

There are so many more examples. In the 5 months I’ve been doing this, I’ve only lost 25-30 lbs so far but I’ve gained so much more in those ‘little’ things. I look forward to what else is to come.

Exercise is Awesome. Just do it.

Yesterday’s exercise= 0

Today’s weight= 282.6 (+2 lbs)

This weeks’ loss = 2 lbs!

That’s funny I gained exactly 2 lbs after last nights’ buffet experience, but still I’ve lost exactly 2 lbs for the week. I’m so excited. It’s been awhile since the ‘official’ weigh-in amount was more than a point or a pound. I could look back at an old blog entry and I’d find one where I thought that my 4 lb loss was not much! tsk tsk. Silly woman.

The dining experience last night was very cool. My in laws loved it and we all racked up enough points on their players card so they could secure two more free buffets. Plus my mother-in-law got a free spin and she won a third free buffet. Nice deal.

Nearly everything was so tasty. There were so many unique and siginificantly different flavors going on. The cheeses alone I couldn’t finish because I was already full at that time and the tastes were so strong: Gouda (ech), Havarti (yum), goat cheese (mmm interesting). There was prime rib, rack of lamb, sea bass, salmon, jumbo shrimp, Alaskan King crabs (split, but cold), asparagus, a ton of salads like you’ve never seen at a buffet, 4-5 kinds of soup (broc cheese and clam chowder were very well done)… the creme brulee and cheesecake were terrific. Good thing I stopped myself from having the second brulee and the cheesecake portions were taste-size not slice-size. I could go on but you’re already hungry. Sorry… But if you’re coming to Vegas, I’d recommend it. It was well worth the $40, and in my case 2 lbs.

I lost 3 of my 4 lists that I made up relating to my upcoming vacation. That’s annoying but can be redone. I got my bathing suit today… ridiculous in price and size…. The hotel and car rental have been secured, clothes and car seats bought, lots of things getting done, so I don’t feel too panicky anymore, just slightly anxious and growing excited.

Have a great week, one day at a time.

Yesterday’s Water intake=9 cups

Yesterday’s Exercise = 8 min elliptical

Today’s weight= 280.6 (-1.8 lbs)

It’s always so cool when I see a “new” number. I got as low as 281 the week before when I was sick, then went back up a few, but here it is. Never saw 280 before! That makes 30 lbs lost! Whoo hooo!

Yes I only did 8 minutes on the elliptical machine… You know how sometimes time management and all the things that gotta go wrong do? I was to meet the trainer at 6pm yesterday at Starbucks. She called and changed it to 6:30pm. I was there and she called to change it again. She was having stalker issues…seriously. She told me about it when we finally met up. But all the while, I’m having trouble rearranging things at home to meet with her. So I decide to go try to get my workout in. I figure I can get 30 minutes in and meet her again at Starbucks at 8pm. Run home, pick up kids. Go to gym, Get on Elli, 8 min later, they’re tracking me down because the 2 yr old has a dirty diaper. I gave up because there wasn’t enough time to wrap it all up. It kind of bothered me that I wasted time and energy on something that turned out to be nothing I was interested in, and it wasted my workout time! 8 minutes..?! Well, atleast I didn’t turn my frustrations to food.

Speaking of food, tonight we go out to the fancy pants buffet which by the way I was wrong again… the price used to be $40+ and has dropped to $35 per person, not $50 like I mentioned the other day. How frustrating that my weekly weigh-in day is on Sunday, which is usually the day after anything we do out, take-out, or otherwise. I’ve been doing pretty good the past few days even though I haven’t gotten in as much time at the gym as I usually do. Oh well, it is a unique circumstance. We have three kids, ages 15, 4, and 2. I can’t recall the last time my husband and I went out to dinner with his parents, just us two couples. No kids? This is gonna be different. I guess it has been 15 yrs since we’ve done this! I’m looking forward to it.

Oh man, I got on the elliptical machine this evening and saw that the # was rmp NOT mph. When I wrote about cruisin’ on the machine the other day, I said I went 61 MPH. Don’t I wish I had gone 30 miles on that thing in just 30 minutes…. uh, I’d have to be Wonder Woman. As soon as I realized my mistake I was in a hurry to get here and correct that! OOPS!

My husband was right. The trainer DID want to sell me something, her services. Sorry but I don’t really want to spend money on that. Sure I want to know what combination of food intake and exercise works for me, but I’ll have to find out on my own or some other way. Oh well, I’m a little embarassed because I thought she was giving me free advice. I thought I had made it clear a couple months ago that I wasn’t interested in spending money, or buying into anything.

Yesterday’s Water intake= 10 cups

Yesterday’s Exercise= 30 min treadmill, 2-3 hrs cleaning the van.

Today’s weight= 282.4 (-1.2. lbs)

I thought I might be exaggerating yesterday when I said it would take 1-2 hrs to clean the van. But it took longer than that. I got every nook and cranny, and if there’s a smear on the windows when I take it out this morning, I’m gonna be a bit irked. I took out the middle seats and all of the removable carpeted mats. Everything has been wiped down and vacuumed. I’m about to set the old rule of nothing but water while in the van… but I know even I will break that one, one day. I still have to get all of the carpet mats cleaned. I’ll have to figure out where to go get that done today. We have a black lab, and yet he never gets to ride in the van (he goes in the other car) but yet there was still alot of dog hair in there and it smelled like DOG. Just from us getting in and out all of the time, I guess. Well, it was great exercise. Nearly every part of me is a little sore. Also about half way through this, I remembered my self imposed break from upper body workouts because of the left shoulder pain from last week, but when I felt the burn in my arms from cleaning windows I realized it must be healed. I did alot of wiping, lifting, open and close, and such yesterday without any pain or muscle failures.

2 weeks from today I leave for my trip to see my parents. I try not to panic when I think about it. I am getting things done and lined up. Of course, it would be great if everything was already done, right? I wasted those hours on the van yesterday but part of me wants to leave the van and the house clean. I don’t like having a fancy clean rental car, a nice clean hotel room, and then my mom’s impeccable clean house only to come home to my dirty fingerprinted, pet hair home and car!

Although it could just be another way of me avoiding the other things I need to do…?

Cody dog makes a good arm rest…spoiled pup!

~updated~

Oh the panic… the trainer called me and asked me to meet her at Starbucks. She had asked a couple months ago how serious I was about losing weight. I had to pause as I contemplated where she might go with this. I’ve only had two sessions with her in the past 5 months, where she sets me up with machines to workout on. I’ve seen her in passing atleast once a week. She’s been meaning to contact me all this time by phone or email to discuss something that has to do with what I should be eating. When she first asked that question, I said I wasn’t interested in doing a Biggest Loser type weight loss, nor interested in something I had to buy into like Weight watchers, Nutrisystem, or some kind weird food plan that is outside of what I can make for the whole family on a regular basis. She assured me it was nothing like that. I could kick myself as I recall this conversation because here’s a trainer who seems to want to help me in her free time. These people get paid good money for this stuff. I’m just nervous because I don’t know what to expect, I don’t want to sign myself up to something that I don’t really want, and I also don’t want to agree to something that I might fail me or her. Then there’s that silly little prideful thing where I want to take credit for my success in the end of all this (Lord willing). But I do realize that regardless of the help and advice I get along the way, ultimately IT IS me who gets the credit for making the choices and doing the work!

Yesterday’s Water intake= 10.5 cups

Today’s weight= 283.6 (no change)

Just made breakfast and called my teen son down. He looked at the plate and first said he doesn’t want strawberries. I took a couple off the plate and told him to eat the rest. Then he asked what was this stuff on the cottage cheese. ‘Flax seed, it’s good for you.’ His reply was ‘Does everything have to be healthy?’ To that I said the butter on your toast isn’t. He can’t guarantee me he’ll eat everything.

I tried the coffee grinder for the flax seeds and it worked perfectly. I was surprised. The old mortar and pestle thing wasn’t proving to do too much, although I do like the crunch… so it’s good to know I can have both ways.

Breakfast= eggs, mushrooms, shredded cheddar, La Tortilla tortilla, cottage cheese, ground flax seeds, strawberries, 1/2 banana, V8 and water.

10 min later…

‘So how is it?’ I ask. David (15 yr old) says he is not going to eat it because it’s too healthy. I said well don’t NOT try it just because it’s healthy for you. That’s ridiculous…. 5 min later… I go in there and those three pieces of strawberries are still there and the cottage cheese with ground flax seed is not touched. One bite of strawberry and two bites of cottage cheese later and he’s done. ‘Doesn’t like it.’

Whatever.

~updated @ 1pm~

I just love when I go grocery shopping these days. The difference of what I have up on the conveyor belt is impressive. Gone are those horrible Hamburger Helper and everything else Betty Crockpot makes, all the red meats we used to eat, chips, and sodas… Today’s conveyor belt was a little confusing. First I had up there the 2 gallons of 1% milk, ground turkey, a cucumber, 2 lbs of strawberries, 4 clementines, a bunch of bananas, 2 whole pineapples, and then there was the reduced Valentine’s Day candy. At 75% off, I rarely find the familys’ beloved bagged Hershey’s Miniatures and Dove Dark Chocolates. But I did! So for 99 cents a bag, I got… um… more than 10 bags.

The weather is finally turning around here. It’s still a little chilly, but nice enough to be outside. I got the van washed at the car wash, now I’m off to tackle the inside of it. That should take up a good hour or two.

Turkey burgers, salad, and veggies for dinner. Gym later tonight.