Sistah Pat

Today is all about changes.  I have to make some to adjust to returning to work.  I did pretty good on food yesterday but I HAVE to exercise to lose weight and I didn’t do very well in that department.

I also want to find a workout DVD that will work for me.  That means high energy but doable with a focus on upper body.  The problem is, I don’t want to spend $15.00 on a DVD, come home and try it once and find out I hate it.  Guess I can look around the internet, YouTube and SparksPeople to try to get some information.  Don’t know if I shared this in here but I told myself, if I’m down to 150 by the time we go on the cruise, I can relax, eat whatever I want during the holidays, and celebrate!   I know some people might think that’s a cop out or regression but I don’t think it is.  I’m trying to make this a lifestyle.  Not a “diet” to get to a certain weight and be “done”.  With that in mind, there are times in any lifestyle for celebration and indulgence.  In the past, I’ve always dieted to get ready for a reunion, or a vacation, or a special event.  Once the event was over, the diet was over.  Now, I’m committing to long-term changes and there have to be exceptions.  I’m thinking of all those diet articles that tell you how to “survive” the holidays and feasts by shunning all the goodies but I don’t want to do that.  I want to be healthy and fit and be able to choose when to let go.  As long as I return to healthy eating right after the event, it just makes sense.  By the way, I’m “committed” to kicking butt in the Sistah’s competition.

12:15 - Did a treadmill workout but it was problematic.  Finally decided that it was time to chuck the old, reliable Reeboks and I’ve been trying to find a new pair of shoes that will work.  I have a kazillion pairs of shoes that I’ve paid big bucks for, worn for a couple of hours around the house and been okay and then had them fail bigtime shortly afterwards.  There’s just no telling what’s going to work for my ankles and what won’t.  I’m in the process of trying to find a pair that will work.  Last week, I tried my new Reeboks and they didn’t give me much support for my ankles and caused blisters.  Today, I tried a pair of LA Gear that work fairly well on a day to day basis.  On the workout, they did a good job of supporting my ankles but I started to get blisters around 45 minutes in.  Tried to tough it out but I decided that was stupid so I quit after an hour.  Burned right at 500 calories.  Developing blisters on both heels but I think I’ll try to stick with these shoes.  I know where to put the bandaids and hope the issue will resolve itself eventually. Now, it’s off to the shower!

2:30 - I’ve been working on the upstairs.  We have a HUGE Christmas tree and the only place to store it is in the attic.  Problem is, it just barely fits in the door and goes no further.  As a result, it blocks the door and I can’t get in the attic except during the month of December.  So…things get packed and taken to the spare room upstairs where they pile up.  That room used to be my workout room but I stopped working out for several years and the boxes kept getting stacked.  Last spring, I carved out a corner and uncovered my treadmill but the entire room is like a storage bin except for the corner with my treadmill.  I know winter is coming and I’d like to have my workout room back!  I gave DH one chore for this weekend - get the Christmas tree out of the way.  I don’t care if it gets reboxed in two smaller boxes, moved out to the shed, moved out the the storage area beside the house, or thrown out.  I just want to be able to get these boxes out of my way.  I decided to bite the bullet and go through some of the boxes of clothes I have stored up there.  Some of them are really expensive items that don’t fit or have gone slightly out of style or require fancy heels to make them work.  Whatever the reason, they’re outa here!  I thought about having a yard sale or putting things in a consignment shop but I don’t want to procrastinate so I’m dealing with them today.  I sorted all my clothes that were stored up there and got rid of everything I haven’t worn in at least two years.  Some of the jackets and coats will probably fit me again in a couple months but I rationalized that if I lose the weight, I should get new clothes anyway.  Now I have four (yes, four!) huge garbage bags full of clothes that are actually too good to throw out.  I called DS and asked him to pick them up.  Stacy will probably want some things.   Whatever she doesn’t want, she can give to Goodwill.  I also have boxes of holiday stuff to go through.  I’m a big nut about Halloween and I have two or three boxes of decorations plus the stuff for Christmas and Thanksgiving.  I don’t think I’m going to get to them today but, if DH takes care of the Christmas tree, I can get them in the attic.

Still haven’t decided which workout I want but I decided to get a balance ball today.  I like doing pushups from it and I don’t know what happened to my old one.  I’m determined to get my workout room back.  That will give me plenty of room for working out, doing exercises on the ball, the treadmill and my stationary bike (which I really don’t like very much but the doctor thought would be good exercise without stressing my ankles).  I’m going to need my boom box back up there and a TV with a DVD player.  Right now, I’m off to Walmart to get a balance ball.

6:00 - Got a balance ball with DVD and two other DVDs (The Firm Cardio Dance Fusion and Denise Austin Yoga Body Burn).  Sorry, chickies, the selection wasn’t that great.  Still, they were cheap and I might like them.  Also bought lots of Tilapia and bay scallops.  I’m actually getting to the point where I might like the tilapia.  I don’t like Walmart’s meat at all but this is frozen so it might be okay.  I also got frozen turkey breast.  I’ll be glad when the holidays roll around and I can pick up some cheap turkey!  Let’s see…what else did I get?  Oh yeah, I picked up some good high fiber bread.  I’m trying to get more fiber in my diet and I’m not sure that low cal stuff has it even though it says it does.  Still, it’s really hard for me to eat a piece of bread that has 100 calories when the low cal stuff only has 35.  It better be damn good bread!

I love Hoppin John soup and it has to be healthy because of all the good stuff in it but I never actually did a calorie count.  I just estimated it.  I’m going to fix a pot for dinner and keep track of the calories of everything that goes in it, measure out the entire pot, and then see how many calories are actually in a bowl of it.  What a pain…

6:45 - 120 calories per cup.  Not bad.  I was afraid it was going to be a lot more because the black-eyed peas and beef had so many calories but the rest of the ingredients didn’t have too many and it made 22 cups so it came in under the wire.  Know what’s really not fair?  DH knew I was fixing soup for dinner so he got a pan of frozen yeast rolls out of the freezer and set them in the oven while I was at K-Mart.  They’ve now risen nice and high and he’s got them baking in the oven.  That is soooo not fair!

7:30 - HA!  No problem with the rolls.  He stuffed them with pepperoni and cheese.  That killed it right there.  I don’t eat sausage and pepperoni falls under the sausage heading.  I was really disappointed with my sandwich however.  I just couldn’t bring myself to spend 200 calories on bread so I used one slice and cut it in half.  Made a sandwich with Healthy Choice sliced beef, fat-free swiss and dijon mustard.  The beef was bland and gristly.  I don’t eat that crap!  Took about three bites and remembered my vow to myself that I don’t make myself eat anything that’s not healthy and not good so I tossed it.  My soup was good, though!  Now I’m going to go inflate my new balance ball and see if DH will let me play dodge ball with him and he can be IT!!!