From the HRM today:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2413 (31% fat, 37% carbs, 31% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, peanut butter, jam, grapefruit (409)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked ham, cheese, apple (506)

PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake (269)

Dinner: spicy meatloaf with roasted potatoes and onions, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (672)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (393)

I’m amazed how much just an hour or so of gardening does me in. It would be so bad if we were just doing clean-up and such, but it’s digging and transplanting. I know they’re pretty hardy (the berry bushes), but I use the fork to loosen them and then you really have to put your back into it to get them out. The new bed is done with six large clumps of mixed canes. It’s a mix of the old canes, plus new ones that have rooted everywhere. Boysenberries are not unlike blackberries - they grow long runners in the summer that if you don’t watch it tip into the ground. By next spring you’ve got a new plant. And then the lovely thing is blooming and you don’t have the heart to pull it out, because you’ll lose the fruit you know. Three or four years later it’s suddenly got 8″ plus of tap root. I’ll clean up the bed we aren’t touching tomorrow and see if there are any gaps. Then I’m going to see if any of the neighbours want the clumps we’ll have left.

This morning started with some gardening (not counting it as exercise, but it was). Then I did 30 mins on the treadmill, and another 30 mins swimming laps. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:

Where there is a single number that confirms that I did the number of reps called for. Where there are two numbers the first is the amount of weight I used, followed by reps.

Followed with another 15 mins on the treadmill. And ouch, ouch, ouch do I hurt tonight. The knee is better, but sore. My shoulder was bugging me (likely from the digging) even before I started lifting. However, I did manage to finish up and have a nice relaxing swim in the pool afterwards. Tonight I’ve got a sore shoulder, sore neck, sore knee, and a slightly sore wrist. No real problems though as they’re not extremely sore, just nagging stuff. Tomorrow morning might be a little interesting though.

Although I’m tired, I do feel that the food increase will help. Of course, it’s Monday so we’ll see how I feel about Thursday. However, since I also spent part of the weekend in the garden they weren’t complete rest days like most weekends.

From the HRM today (updated to yesterday’s weigh-in):

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2818 (33% fat, 33% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, grapefruit (466)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked ham, cheese, apple (558)

PM Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, soy nuts (465)

Dinner: chicken breast with tomato/wine sauce and cheese, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (639)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti, cheese spread with rice crackers (526)

fatbaby - I feel better (yes, even though I’m sore). It’s hard to explain but it’s a good kind of sore. Even though I know I won’t get the most out of the strength training (you’re supposed to eat to maintain, and I still want to continue losing), I do see changes in my strength. Even simple things like picking up bags of dirt, which feel like nothing this year. Our weather is a little warmer than usual for this time of year, but not that much. The weekend was low 70s, but at this time of year our highs would usually be mid to high 50s. And sometimes colder. Most people don’t open their pools here until mid-May. We open a month earlier, but use a heater to bring the temperature up.

feathers - Thanks. I try not to get too exited by the 3lb losses, as they usually end up followed by a smaller amount. They are nice to see every now and then. I love fresh berries from the garden. We redid the raspberry patch in the fall, but I need to add a few more plants. These ones we moved today won’t likely bear fruit this year, but they’re in a better part of the garden, so they will do better next year.

Exercise: none, planned rest day

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2399 (31% fat, 32% carbs, 35% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, peanut butter, jam, grapefruit (400)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked ham, cheese, apple (506)

PM Snack: soy nuts, cheese spread with rice crackers (313)

Dinner: sirloin steak, asparagus, butter, salad w/dressing (646)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (370)

So, I’ve been using the treadmill (consistently) since January. Even jogging a little lately. I’ve been lifting weights for 6 weeks (seriously). And today, after digging/working in the garden this morning - now, I have a sore knee. Not the usual walking too much one, but behind the joint. Seems quite silly, doesn’t it. I’ll put some heat on it shortly and see how it is in the morning. So much for the great outdoors!

Spent a good chunk of the morning starting to prepare the bed for the berry bushes. I knew it wouldn’t be simple, but it ended up being harder than I expected. We lifted the mulch, removed the ground cloth, and started to dig the trench. That’s when we found the tree roots. I shouldn’t have been surprised they were there, but maybe a little surprised they were so big. Oh well, that’s what a pruning saw is for. Although I don’t think trying to prune roots is what they’re for. I was very glad when my mother decided she’d had enough for the day. We’ll go back to it tomorrow. There was definite exercise, and lots of sweat on my rest day, but it was a lovely day. We had a nice leisurely swim in the afternoon. Tomorrow it’s back to the routine!

Today’s weigh-in brings me to 312.4 which is 3.0 pounds less than last week. I’ll write more later, but I’m getting ready to go outside and work in the garden. I’m very happy with this week’s weight (although honestly I’m happy with every week’s weigh-in). As long as the month to month trend is down, I don’t really care much about the weekly weights.  Since I started keeping track this is day 107 on plan.

Exercise: none, planned rest day

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2404 (32% fat, 35% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet with cheese, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, grapefruit (457)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked turkey, cheese, apple (520)

PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake (224)

Dinner: white chili with cauliflower, chicken and turkey sausage, salad w/dressing (692)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (348)

So although I didn’t do any planned exercise today I did load/unload 10 bags of dirt for the garden and cleaned off the patio so we could put the chairs out.  Also had a nice leisurely swim in the afternoon.  I think we both thought we had far more energy than we actually did.  So tomorrow we’ll have a start on the new bed for the berry bushes.  Oh and I bought some pork shoulder chops on sale and cut it into pieces for stew, well after trimming all the fat and bone out of course.  Still, it left me with about five and a half pounds of pretty lean stew meat that I can use later in the crock pot.  Of course that just leaves me with the scraps to make into stock.  Nothing like finishing one chore and creating another.  Oh well, time to get some sleep so I’ll be ready for my chores tomorrow.

Well, I did get in the pool this morning (hooray). I decided to see how close I could come to equaling the calories I burn on the treadmill. So for 30 mins solid I swam laps (a combination of fast and slower front crawl, breaststroke, and one lap of really bad butterfly) with a few mins of treading water. I don’t seem to pedal fast enough on my treading water to keep my heart rate up, so it’s laps for me I suppose. I managed the first 30 mins, but after a short rest I tried it again, but gave up at the 15 min mark. So I suppose I’ll do some treadmill work in the mornings and follow it with some laps. I made up the other 15 mins with some walk/jog intervals on the treadmill.  In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:

Where there is a single number that confirms that I did the number of reps called for. Where there are two numbers the first is the amount of weight I used, followed by reps.

And I followed with another 15 mins on the treadmill. And then I had a nice leisurely swim. Just fun swimming for about 15 mins, not laps. After a lot of thought and bouncing some ideas off someone on a fitness board I also hang out on I’ve decided to add 200 cals a day to my food intake. I’m finding myself a little draggy and spending the weekend recovering from the week of exercise. She suggested I either drop 200-300 cals of cardio a day or add the same in food, so for the next couple of weeks I’m going to add the extra calories. As the weather warms up I know I’m going to want to do more outside. That just isn’t going to work if I’m too pooped to do it.

The only poor thing today was that I couldn’t bump up the weight on the pullovers. I actually dropped one of the dumbbells in the second set, twice. So I figured adding more weight on the next set just wasn’t going to work. As the next level is 3 set of 8 reps I’ll try working on that next week.  So tomorrow’s plan is to start digging a trench to start transplanting the berry bushes.  Oh joy, digging in the dirt.

From the HRM today:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2796 (33% fat, 35% carbs, 32% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, grapefruit (450)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked turkey, cheese, apple (528)

PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake, fruit salad (465)

Dinner: hamburgers (2), bbq onions, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (828)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (392)

From the HRM today:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2198 (31% fat, 36% carbs, 31% protein)

Breakfast: cracked wheat oatmeal bread, peanut butter, jam, grapefruit (261)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked back bacon, cheese, apple (515)

PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake (359)

Dinner: mushroom pizza, salad w/dressing (499)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (400)

This morning I was up early (even before the alarm) but I still ended up having a draggy day. I managed to get two sessions in on the treadmill before lunch, even though it was late. I spent most of the afternoon trying to talk myself into the third session (which I did). I also put the pool cleaner in, which will be swimming temp by tomorrow. The weather is so nice, which is helping. And I was feeling so lazy that we ended up having the frozen mushroom pizza in the freezer. I’ll only had to change the afternoon and evening snacks to include a bigger protein shake to make up for it.

justdeb - (on shopping from your closet) It is nice, and I’m definitely keeping that oversized shirt from my highest weight for a while (maybe a long long while). I joined the biggest loser challenge on the boards, so I may take some start pictures. If I do, I’ll probably take one in the shirt as well.

The morning was 10 mins of a walking DVD which for some reason gave me a pain on the ball of one foot. I’ve done it before, but I was doing it on the new rubber mat, so that may have contributed to it. So I switched over and did a 20 min session and a 30-min session on the treadmill. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:

Where there is a single number that confirms that I did the number of reps called for. Where there are two numbers the first is the amount of weight I used, followed by reps.

Followed with another 15 mins on the treadmill.  Then I helped carry the solar blanket and roller over to the pool, and covered it. And yes, cranked on the heater. The water is 46F, so that usually means a little longer than two days to get to a decent temp. Although it’s warmish (even now) so who knows. I’m starting to wonder how much higher I can go on the squat. Not the ability to use a higher weight, but the ability to get it down off my shoulders after. I still plan to keep adding 5 pounds each time, but we’ll see.

Oh, and from the HRM today:

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2597 calories (31% fat, 36% carbs, 32% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet with chicken & turkey sausage, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, grapefruit (534)

AM Snack: almonds (164)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked back bacon, cheese, apple (515)

PM Snack: protein shake, soy nuts, fruit salad (382)

Dinner: white chili with cauliflower, chicken & turkey sausage, salad w/dressing (692)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (310)

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2209 (30% fat, 35% carbs, 32% protein)

Breakfast: cracked wheat oatmeal bread, peanut butter, jam, grapefruit (271)

AM Snack: protein shake, almonds (254)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked ham, cheese, apple (506)

PM Snack: soy nuts, cheese spread with rice crackers (313)

Dinner: pork souvlaki, chicken & turkey sausage, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (495)

Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (370)

I feel like I spent the entire day waiting. This morning I went back to pumping water out of the pool. Originally I was going to put it on and come back later but then I started yakking with one of the neighbours. So by the time I was going to go inside I figured I couldn’t leave it for 30 mins to use the treadmill. I did manage to get two sets in this morning, but quite far apart. The afternoon was spent waiting for the pool guy to show up. I actually finally gave up and had my mother wait for him while I went back to the treadmill. I had a couple of errands to run, but ended up doing them after dinner in the end.

For fun I’ve been putting my polar data into a spreadsheet, so I’ll start posting it here as well. Well, until I get bored with it. The first one was at attempt at HIIT.

Debbie - I’ve always taken in a lot of fluids, so it’s really not that much. I just make a point to space it out during the day.

The morning was 2 x 30-min sessions on the treadmill. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:

Where there is a single number that confirms that I did the number of reps called for. Where there are two numbers the first is the amount of weight I used, followed by reps.

And I followed with another 15 mins on the treadmill. I kind of cheated a little on the pullovers today. I probably should have started at 16e, which is what I finished the last workout with, but I didn’t have the 16-lb dumbbells handy. They’re water-filled, and to try and get the room I’m working in a little more tidy, I took the water out and put them away. So I started back with 15-lbs, but did increase it to 17.5.

Boy am I tired. I also helped the pool guy scrub down the blanket a little. He’s not opening it until tomorrow, but we’ve had so much snow that there’s a ton of water in the pool (almost to the rim). So he brought a pump and we took some of the water out this afternoon. And in a couple of hours I’ll take a little more out and keep filling for a few hours. I’ll do the same tomorrow as he can’t be here until after lunch. Yay though, as I could be swimming as early as Thurs - but realistically it’s likely going to be Friday.

I’m really loving my new heart rate monitor. Very cool. Well, except during the original fitness assessment where it ranked me very low. I’m probably going to try and manually set the beeping zone as it’s using an arbitrary one for my age (124-141). It was good at the beginning, although I had to jog for a minute to get it to stop beeping for too low. Then of course it spent a lot of time beeping ’cause it was too high. I did adjust it in the afternoon to 124-150 so it wouldn’t beep quite so much. I doubt I’ll report my daily exercise in quite so much detail, but since this is a new toy, I will today. The idea is that when I start swimming is that I keep up the level of calories burned. So in the end it doesn’t matter much if the actual numbers are accurate or not.

Water: 20 cups

Food: 2611 (29% fat, 35% carbs, 36% protein)

Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, orange (478)

AM Snack: protein shake, almonds (254)

Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked ham, cheese, apple (506)

PM Snack: protein shake, grapes, soy nuts (475)

Dinner: curried chicken over broccoli, salad w/dressing (451)

Late Snack: protein shake, grapes, biscotti (448)