that’s just me

I have a new post at that’s just me. Please come visit. 

I moved my blog!  Hope you’ll come visit.

That’s just me

Wow, I got a lot done today.  I’m all but done with about 10 of the tax returns, sewed a vintage apron for DD#3 for her birthday (she likes quirky clothes), and crocheted some really cute newsboy style hats with flowers for 3 granddaughters (who also like quirky).

And it being Wednesday we actually got some college basketball on TV (we did NOT get the Texas/Kansas game on Monday night which I’m still bitter about).  The two games we did get were won by the teams I wanted to win, so all is well. 

I’m still measuring and weighing and keeping track if not actually counting calories.  What’s interesting is that I really do stay right around 1200 to 1300 calories a day.  I did the 30 day shred yesterday and my quads were not sore at all today which is a surprise to me since I was so sore when I did it last week.  I guess my muscles accepted that I am going to do this regardless.  I’m still kind of moving things around exercise-wise.  I’m lifting and doing supercharge three days a week and 30DS three days a week.  I miss the Pilates, but the 30DS has a lot of the same core moves as Pilates so I think I’m covered.  I might think about doing the Pilates on the 7th day just to keep up with it, although I truly believe that I will never, ever, ever be able to do the seal. 

I don’t know why I have such a reluctance to count calories.  Part of it is laziness, I’m sure, but part of it appears to be a feeling of deprivation if I am “confined” to a certain number of calories.  A quick glance over the last couple of days and I’ve been well within the 1200 - 1300 calorie range.  Today though when I was counting from the get go (as opposed to counting after I’m done for the day) I get this kind of panicky feeling that I’ll run out of calories before I run out of hunger.  I think that’s why SB appeals to me … no worrying about the number of calories and if I’m hungry I can eat something.  Not that I can’t do that regardless; last time I checked there were no calorie-counting police. 

And if there are some calorie counting police, PLEASE do not tell me …

outside … cold and grey and foggy and overall yucky.  I’d almost prefer some snow to this kind of day.  I need passive solar to keep my study warm and if the sun isn’t shining, then I’m freezing all day, even with a couple of wool sweaters.  Exercise warms me up, as do hot drinks, but I’m working here, trying to get these tax returns done.  My nose is cold.

but that’s not why I’m writing.  :)  I’m thinking about calories and exercise.  I don’t subtract my exercise from my calories intake (when I do count calories).  The reason I don’t is because I don’t think I’m really exercising at that high of a level.  Plus I don’t believe the machines when they say you’ve burned x number of calories.  The other thing is that I clicked on this site to see what my calories should be and it came up with 1200 … must be my old age.  ;)  I can get it to say 1300 if I say I have light rather than sedentary lifestyle, but in spite of exercising every day I still think I have a sedentary lifestyle.  I remember what it was to have an active lifestyle and I hope I’m moving back towards that, but I’m not there yet.  But still shouldn’t I get some credit for being 5′6″?????

So given that, I’m going to track my calories for a couple a days, try to eat 10 superfoods a day, and stick with the SB principles.  Wish me luck!  I’m tired of this slow rate of loss and really would like to speed things up a little.

One of the sad, sad things we have to deal with living in Canada is that although we get the Super Bowl on TV we Do Not Get the commercials.  How sad is that?  Instead we get these really lame commercials that we can see any day of the week (and would if we didn’t have TiVo).  So I endure all these phone calls from the kids throughout the game saying, OMG did you see that commercial?  Well, no, son, I didn’t because I don’t get the *&@#$% commercials on Any station here.

On the bright side, nobody prevents us from having awesome Super Bowl treats.  I made a layered bean dip and instead of chips or crackers I love it with cauliflower or celery.  Who says I’m not adaptable?

I’m not one to usually take the tenth of a pound loss because I try to be realistic that while they all count they also aren’t all that relevant.  However, I’m taking the two-tenths this time because frankly it’s all I’ve got. 

Changed my design again, wanted something more in the spring line.  As soon as I’m done preparing taxes for family and friends (I think I have 40 returns I’m doing), then I’m going to look at moving to my own blog.  For some reason the columns aren’t lining up on some of the pages with this one.  Maybe some kind soul will tell me what, if anything, I can do to correct it.

Had a yummy treat tonight.  I took my 1 oz of once-in-while dark chocolate, melted it and mixed in my almonds.  Decadently delicious. 

Oh, my, I was SO SORE yesterday.  Could barely make it up and down the stairs.  And then I decided to try to loosen up by dancing and I sprained my toe.  Could it get any funnier?  I’m walking around, ouch, ouch, ouch.  And every time I’d spend any time sitting, getting up was AGONY.

And it’s all thanks to the 30 day shred.  I really thought I had been working my quads with the weight lifting, but no, not so much.  I guess I really wasn’t working them that hard.  Lots of squats in the shred and I evidently needed every single one.

Took some Ibuprofen last night and am a little better this morning.  I did do weight lifting this morning and it felt really good to stretch out those quads.  Sprain is not as bad as yesterday, but I’m walking toes up so it doesn’t get tested much.

No special reason.  Just feeling happy and wanted to share it. 

I downloaded Jillian Michael’s 30 day shred.  I did okay.  The jumping jacks were hard because I didn’t have on a tight enough bra and then my knee started bothering me so I ran in place instead for some of them.  (I do have another bra that I will wear today.)  My quads are tight this morning from all the squats.  Doing those will help with the knee.  I totally rocked on the girly push-ups.  The beginning of January I couldn’t do that many, but now that I’ve been lifting weights for a month I can do as many as they call for.  It was a good work out, if only because it shows how far I have to go with cardio.  I have lots of strength, but less endurance.  I’m still going to do weight lifting 3 days a week and South Beach supercharged on the nordictrak ski machine 3 days a week, but instead of Walk away the pounds and pilates I’ll do the 30 day shred.

And the other thing is that because of my weak knees I have a hard time getting up from the floor (you should see me trying to stand up from the floor when I’m holding a grandbaby … usually I walk on my knees over to the nearest piece of furniture so I can hold the baby with one hand and support myself on the piece of furniture with the other :(.  I definitely want to get strong enough to just stand up from the floor.)  Anyway with the 30 day shred you are on the floor, standing up, on the floor, standing up, and I realized I was standing up with just pushing on one knee.  Not as good as I want to be but a definite improvement.

I’ve also added Sunny’s 12 almonds to my diet.  Still just doing one fruit a day (usually an apple, but I’ll vary with oranges as soon as they make it to the north country).  Had to stop the hot chocolate because it was giving me a headache.  I thought it might be the Splenda, but I substituted real sugar a couple of times just to check and was still getting the headache, so it’s got to be the brand of powdered milk since that was the only thing that changed.  I know that seems weird, but I get strange food intolerance that nobody else in the world seems to suffer from.  The same thing happens with different brands of all-natural peanut butter … one really bothers me.