Ladies (and perhaps gentlemen),

I’ve decided not to keep up my blog here anymore. I’ll probably lurk around a bit, but seriously can’t find it in myself to keep up two different sites. I may later start a non-weight loss blog on another site, but for food and fitness logging I’ll be updating:

Log on JP Fitness

And for now, I’m doing some random (probably non-diet related posts) here:

Random Thoughts from a Bored Mind

At the moment I’m pretty much copying and pasting stuff from there to here each night. I just feel that my psyche just fits in more on JP Fitness than it does here on 3FC. I’ll probably still hang around in the 300+ forum, since sometimes they’re the only people who truly understand. I just find that I don’t fit in around the rest of the boards. I don’t get the touchy-feely over the top support that seems to be a requirement to post. It almost feels like enabling at times.

What I might do here is update the blog once a month with the weigh-ins. I haven’t quite decided yet.

Take care all…. Anne

So the path I chose this morning was (according to Google Earth) 4.77km (just under 3 miles). I finished it in about 54 mins, so I spent the next 6 mins walking around the pool. I was going to go down the street a bit (ie 3 mins past the house and back) but I thought my mother was going out at 9am and figured she’d be happier if I was home before she left. As it turned out she wasn’t leaving until about 20 mins past so I could have continued on the street.

It went well, but I realize that about 28 mins is when I kind of want to stop walking. Most mornings I do 30-45, but it should be noted that the point where I need to choose how far I’m going is about the 18 minute mark. At the point it’s quite easy to talk myself into doing the 45 mins. Even when I was using the treadmill last winter it was rare that I did more than 30 mins at a time. I might have done two (or back in 2008) even three sets, but 30 mins was about my comfort zone.

I’m still toying with the idea of doing more cardio (at least until school is back in September), less weights. I’m enjoying being outside, as long as the weather is decent, and know I won’t do as much in the fall - and will do little to none in the winter (although I will use the treadmill). Of course it’s very easy to be enthusiastic today as it was (a) the first longer walk I’ve done, and (b) I’m not doing it on a deficit.

It should be noted that my iPod wasn’t charged (must have left it running yesterday when I took it off), and I still went.

- - - - -

So I spent the rest of the morning coming to the conclusion that I really don’t own any clothing that fits me. The exception is a few pairs of pants. Even the capris and shorts I bought in May are a little on the big side (but they’ll do until the end of the summer). I put a lot of stuff in the bag for charity. I kept about 2 dozen tops, which pretty much all of them need to be altered. After putting some of them on today I realize they will need to have the arms taken off, then narrowed, then reassembled. I was hoping that I could cheat and just take some material off the sides. Since I have plenty of free time I think I’ll start working on them now. The catch will be dealing with any lost weight in the meantime. I know I have a tendency to wear things too loose to start with, but what I should do it alter them slightly past my comfort zone and they should be fine in the fall.

The one surprising thing, although I was kind of expecting it, were the shoes. I think I ended up keeping three pairs of black heels, which I still might need to add an insole to. I might break down and buy a pair of everyday shoes closer to going back to school in the fall. The ones I wore all last year are still a touch loose when tied tight.

(more later)

Nothing much to add for the rest of the day. The weather is still mediocre, but I did go out and play in the pool for a while. I was (in theory) going to swim laps, but I forgot how hard that is. Not only hard, but no real payback on the heart rate thing. I was pretty unimpressed with how little stamina I had though.

Tomorrow the plan is (if not raining) to go basically the same way I went today, but longer. On parts of the path in that direction there are benches, so it would be a good choice to try doing the walk I’d like to do (down to the lakeshore). If I really don’t think I can walk that far, I can take a little break on the way back. I don’t think it will be a big deal though.

So, off to bed I go. 

Food for the day:

Total: 2794 calories (34% fat, 26% protein, 40% carbs)

Breakfast: bacon and eggs, whole grain bread, orange (578)
AM Snack: protein shake (180)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, eye of round, cheese, lettuce, mustard, cherries (609)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread, pisco sour (321)
Dinner: chili with cheese, multi-grain tostidos, salad w/dressing (775)
Evening Snack: cherries, protein shake (330)

I had a problem getting back to the computer tonight. I was over on the couch and Shadow joined me. I’ve kind of created a monster. I found one of the old dog brushes this past week in the crawl space. I ran it over both cats (Gus not so fond of it) but Shadow seems to think it’s heaven. Whereas sometimes he’ll join me on the couch or the desk, he seems way more into it now. So I just spent the last 10 minutes brushing him and petting him. You understand it’s on his schedule, not mine.

The day was kind of quiet, but lovely. I had a 45 min walk in the morning, did a little gardening, had a swim. Depending on how the weather holds I might do a longer walk this week, just for fun. The catch around here is where to walk to. Normally I go down the main street that we live adjacent to, down to the bike path, and then back up on another street (depending on whether I want a 30m or 45m walk). I’d really like to walk down to the lakeshore, but there and back is close to 4 miles, which if I hold the slower pace I normally do would go about 1h 20m. That shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is longer than I would normally think of doing. I’m not beat afterwards, as I was when I started doing the daily walks, but we’ll see how it goes.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very interested in getting back into the weights. However, I’m really interested in adding more light cardio exercise into the next few months. I realized this summer that even if I’d found work where I had to be on my feet all day that I wasn’t sure I’d have been up to it. Oh, I’d have done my damndest, but sometimes I wonder how I managed at 400+ pounds. Okay, not well, and half dead at the end of the day, but still I did manage. So maybe I’m making too much of something that’s not a big deal. I’m thinking of adding some laps in the pool (right now I just do low key fun swimming), although it’s non weight-bearing so not maybe what I’m looking for.

I managed to get the calories up today, although mainly through a much higher calorie breakfast and about a pound of cherries. I’m trying to increase the calories with simply more food, as I had enough ‘treats’ during the unscheduled overeating period in April. I swapped out the morning snack for a protein shake, partly to increase the calories but also to keep the protein levels at a decent range. I bought the white rainier cherries as well today, as well as some dark cherries (which my mother prefers). I can definitely use them to keep my calorie levels up this week.

Food for the day:

Total: 2759 calories (26% fat, 24% protein, 50% carbs)

Breakfast: bacon and eggs, whole grain bread, orange (698)
AM Snack: protein shake (180)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, eye of round, lettuce, mustard, cherries, boysenberries (508)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread, pisco sour (321)
Dinner: meat sauce with whole wheat pasta and parmesan cheese, salad w/dressing (746)
Evening Snack: cherries, chocolate zucchini cake (306)

Fat Loss II - B6

I did a 5-min cardio warm-up outside, followed by a few inside warm-ups, then did:

A1: Snatch-grip Deadlift - 90t/8, 90t/8, 90t/8
A2: Push-ups (regular, not T) - 8, 8, 8
B1: Bulgarian Split Squat with Overhead Press - 5e/8, 5e/8, 5e/8
B2: Assisted Chin-up - 8, 8, 8
C1: Romanian Deadlift / Bent-over Row - 90t/8, 90t/8, 90t/8
C2: Lower Body Russian Twist - 8, 8, 8

Then warm-up, 4 rounds intervals (1m high, 2m moderate) and cool-down.

52 mins, 414 cals, Max HR: 171 (97%), Avg HR: 135 (76%)

It was a good workout today.  That’s the last of the Fat Loss II workouts and it will be at least a week before I get back to Fat Loss III.  Most of it will depend on if the cherries are ready to can the week after next.  Right now I’ve got a date of the 13th or 14th, but to call on the 13th to check.

I’m kind of running behind today.  I finished this off this afternoon, but just had too much to do.  Spent a good part of the day today working outside.  Late in the afternoon my mother and I went out to pick the mulberries from the tree in the front yard.  This sounds easier than it is.  It starts with putting two big sheets on the ground and shaking the crap out of the tree.  Then you pick up and sort out the ripe ones.  After than I stand in the middle of the tree (it’s a weeping one) and pick more of them.  We ended up with about 9 cups, and then wondered what to do with them.  I made 5 cups of them into a mulberry cordial (with sugar, lemon juice, and vodka) which won’t actually be ready to drink for a couple of months.  If we get more I’ll probably take a shot at a jam or a jelly.

Since it’s already 9pm I’ll just add the food for the day as well.  Then it’s off to bed in under an hour as tomorrow is Monday and I’ll be getting up at a reasonable hour to walk.  I also volunteered to go to Costco tomorrow, not sure why. 

Food for the day:

Total: 2299 calories (24% fat, 38% protein, 38% carbs)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, citrus bread, jam, orange (367)
AM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, smoked turkey, lettuce, mustard, cherries (444)
PWO Snack: protein shake with cherry concentrate (269)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread (231)
Dinner: sirloin steak, corn, butter, salad w/dressing (652)
Evening Snack: cherries, chocolate zucchini cake (228)

This morning’s weigh-in was 238.0, which is 1.0 pounds down from last week. I can’t really complain as my mid-week overeating could have been worse. Anyway the 9-week loss is 16.8lbs (1.87/week) which is usually the ‘number’ I look at to see how things are going overall. The other little compulsive number I look at is how many days I’ve been ‘on plan’ primarily with food. I still consider a maintenance week ‘on plan’ since I accomplished what I wanted to. So this is day 4 on plan with food.

Still working on the elusive 233.6 from the end of March, so seriously, no congratulations until then!

Next week’s plan is:

So, it will be a maintenance week next week (aiming for 2750 each day, not worrying too much about the protein, but still trying to keep it up). I’ll likely keep up the morning walks though. I’m thinking that the week after may be something in between. I’ll probably go back to a deficit, however, if I’m right and the cherries are ready there will be a fair bit of canning to be done so I’ll probably leave off the lifting until it’s done.

And the 9-week graph…

It was one of those days where I did a little of everything, but nothing specific.  The weather was nice, but dinner outside was a bit on the cool side.  It would have been okay if we’d been dressed a little warmer though.  Tomorrow is to warm up though (of course, as I have intervals to do). 

Food for the day:

Total: 2011 calories (27% fat, 33% protein, 40% carbs)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, parmesan cheese rolls, butter, orange (461)
AM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, smoked turkey, lettuce, mustard, cherries (444)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread, pisco sour (321)
Dinner: tandoori chicken, mixed veg, butter, salad w/dressing (443)
Evening Snack: cherries, protein shake (232)

I’m thinking most of the evening snacks from now until the fall will be fresh fruit instead of the fruit salad, but we’ll see how that goes.  That was (yum) 12oz total of cherries today!  Oh, yes, and 1/2 a boysenberry.  I did weigh it for fun - 6g total, so that would be 3g.  So I could have added another 2 cals to lunch. 

I thought that summer would be easier, but in a way it’s been harder. I don’t think that I eat out of boredom, but when I have more time on my hand I find the hunger signals harder to deal with (or ignore). This morning I was busy, missed my snack, no big deal. Of course I was busy in the crawl space, not in the kitchen.

What I did decide to do today was to ignore the macros a bit. The snack I skipped was beef jerky, and I decided to add a drink to the afternoon snack. So basically I switched protein for carbs and alcohol. However, it was a pretty good trade. With the fruit that will be coming in the future I suspect that it won’t be the last time that I don’t quite hit the macros. I still had 130g of protein, it just wasn’t my 30% as normal.

Definitely doing a maintenance week next week, but keeping the walking in. I’ll decide after that what I plan to do. I’m thinking at that point I’ll have to start the canning, so that may mean a week off lifting anyway.

Nothing much else to add for the day, so just dropping in the food info. It’s definitely about to become about how much fruit I can work into the daily plan very soon. I picked the first two boysenberries today, and yes, I gave my mother one of them. I’d say within a week we’re going to have lots of them. As well, the raspberries won’t be far off. The gooseberries aren’t ready, but they usually come quickly once the first few ripen. As well, the currants are about half ripened and I probably should go pick mulberries (although I haven’t done much with them lately). It’s funny, but as a child I remember picking and enjoying mulberries at an aunt’s house. I remember them as sweet and tasty. The ones we grow just seem to be purple. They don’t seem to taste of much. It could be that I’m now comparing them to the other fruits we have at this time of year.

Food for the day:

Total: 1994 calories (29% fat, 26% protein, 46% carbs)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, citrus bread, jam, orange (367)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, eye of round, lettuce, mustard, cherries (496)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread, pisco sour (321)
Dinner: sun-dried tomato meatloaf, mixed veg, butter, salad w/dressing (594)
Evening Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (216)

Some days I’m never quite sure where the time went. I managed to get a walk in this morning before it rained. Then during the day I worked on a big batch of chili (cooked in two pots but combined into one of the canning pots before dividing it up). So I’ve got 11 servings almost frozen (pop them out in the morning) and will put in another seven. The pool guy came just before lunch and decided which return is leaking, although we’ve decided to leave the repair until the fall when he closes the pool. It will require a piece of the concrete being cut out, so that will likely have to be dealt with in the spring. And managed to get my workout in and a quick swim before it poured again.

The good thing is that we’re not supposed to get rain for almost a week, although who knows, that may change. The boysenberries are starting to ripen, I’d say that the first few will be ready in a day or so. The raspberries are starting to fill out, probably a week for them. Everything in the garden looks pretty good. Oh yes, and the zucchini plants started to bloom today. I should have taken a picture because yesterday nothing, today big open blooms, that don’t stay open for even half of the day.

Food for the day:

Total: 2289 calories (25% fat, 37% protein, 38% carbs)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, citrus bread, jam, orange (367)
AM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, eye of round, lettuce, mustard, nectarine, cherries (520)
PWO Snack: protein shake with cherry concentrate (269)
PM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Dinner: beef/turkey burgers(2), whole wheat roll(1), condiments, salad w/dressing (743)
Evening Snack: fruit salad, chocolate zucchini cake (174)