Good afternoon all,
I'm stealing a little part of my post from the 40+ thread, well, since nothing has changed in the few minutes since I posted it!
So I actually walked outside this morning. The drive to the college took me less time than I expected so it left me with a ton of free time, so I did a circuit of the campus and the parking lot for 30 mins. It also didn't take as long as I had planned (booked time was 9-12, but I was out by 10:30), so I managed to get in my treadmill time when I got home.
I did a nutty thing that I hope I don't pay for later (or tomorrow). I really just walk on the treadmill to keep myself active. I usually just walk at 2mph, but at about a 5% incline. This breaks a sweat, and raises my heart rate, but I noticed that I'm not needing to put in as much effort recently. So this morning I did a combination of walking intervals with 4mph 1-min jogs in between 2-min walks. It was fun (ie. almost killed me) and I definitely broke more than a light sweat! As long as my knees are okay (specifically the left one), I'm going to start doing at least one of these each day. Of course today, I've likely overdone it as I did it 3 times, 20 mins each time.
Since it's still quite early and I've done my exercise for the day I'm going to try and catch up on personals (well, from Monday at least). Just don't think I'm nuts if they end up a little disjointed.
Bernice - big congrats on the 5 pounds lost. I obviously drink way more water at night as my night to morning weights are quite a bit different than 1 pound. That's why I eventually set a specific time to day to measure (for consistency). I'll give you a tip though - buy (or alter) your clothing. When I first started to lose weight only some people noticed (ie. the more observant people). I was still wearing the same clothes to work. When I finally replaced some of them I was really surprised how many more people noticed. It made sense though, as I have a bad tendancy to wear loose tops to begin with. I noticed today that my winter coat is just getting huge on me. It was big to start with as I bought it that way to wear a vest under it when we were away last winter. So today, much lighter, and with no vest, it's just way too big.
Heather - I've always been a restless sleeper. My mother is as well. Those nights when you toss and turn, you just can't seem to shut the brain off is the worst. I used to find that audiobooks helped. I should load up the iPod and see if that helps again. I hope your bad night's sleep is only a short term thing.
Debi - but lifting sore is a good sore. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it. I get the line 'pumping up' though. In a couple of weeks I'm going to max out my weights on a few of the sets (top I can do with what I've got is 75lbs). I really never thought I would come close when I purchased them. It's either the weights, or the coming spring, or both - but my general mood seems to be very up recently. It's amazing when you compare what you've lost to everyday things, isn't it? I remember a couple of years ago (at 290) when I did about 140 or maybe even more on the leg press at work. Some of the guys were so impressed (they were coming over quickly to tell me I shouldn't be pressing that much). I didn't want to tell them that since I was down about 130, that 140 shouldn't be too hard on my legs.
Annie - I do wish you the best of luck with the job search. After some looking at the finances, and some discussions with my mother, I'm not going to look for work until my first school break (ie. next summer). After working so hard to be active I don't want to do a desk job. And I'm not physically quite there to look for a temp 'plant worker' job (pays a little better as well). So we'll watch our finances, I'll dip into my savings a little more, and we'll cross our fingers that the truck keeps going. (The mechanic says it's in great shape.) Of course this means that the jobs we wouldn't normally do (moving part of the garden to the other side of the yard) are perhaps on tap for this spring. Oh, you sold your turkey fryer... (boo hoo). I really wanted to buy one a couple of years ago, but didn't. Now, I can't justify it. No, not to fry a turkey, but to cook the salsa and vinegar based canning items outside. I borrowed one a few years back from someone I didn't keep in touch with. It was so nice to cook down the salsa base (I do a charred tomato base, then add the fresh stuff at the end). I sat outside, charred the tomatoes on the barbecue, and even took the blender outside as well.
Rainbowsmiles - I'm so jealous of your warm weather. My geraniums need to be cut back, and the other seeds are coming on well. However, we're probably 6 weeks away from our frost free time. I think our May long weekend is quite early this year, but that just means it's possible we'll have a frost after it. I should go look at the calendar some time soon. It will depend on when the full moon is about that time. After such a lousy winter we'll all have the tendency to push it, which is good for the garden centers (ie. replacements after we lose them to frost). Today feels so lovely and warm, but I see it's not even 45F.
Catherine - okay, I feel less sorry for myself now that I see you had snow. Sorry. Although it sounds like you got snow, where we got rain. It was up at 11 and 12C the other day, but we're back to 5C today with sun (hooray). We're almost snow free here. It's just the few places where it's been piled up that it still remains. And that's really only in the mall parking lot that I've seen it. You didn't find a body yet to go with the clothing you found earlier, did you?
I am glad to hear that your therapy went well (okay, my words, not yours). Although I'm sure it will be a longer term thing, I do think it will help in the end.
BattleAx - I get the impression that perhaps the date was comfortable, just no sparks. It does sound like you got along well. Who knows, something may grow from that. I do hope that you get what you want out of it.
Carol - ouch, ouch, ouch (on the root canal). I'm a huge wuss when it comes to the dentist. That's a wonderful keepsake from your family. I've gone a pair of copper vases that my grandfather made in 1918, while waiting to come back to Scotland (from France). He was a blacksmith by trade, and these are made of shell casings (yep, ammunition). He melted a billet of lead, poured it inside, and hammered a pattern on them. He made about 200 sets and sold them to soldiers returning home. It was how he started his business when he returned. We have some other decorative pieces he made (wrought iron), but the vases are special. It's the stories behind these things that make them special.
Tina - my bedroom closet has double, sliding glass doors. I've always wanted to replace them, but I haven't. I just avoid them (which is harder than you think).
Julia - I've come to the conclusion that any loss, or even a 'holding' weigh in is good. I managed to avoid the TOM gain last month (no idea how), but I've at least got used to seeing that one. So, congrats on the loss! And I couldn't do it for $30... of course I couldn't do it for even more! The woman behind me used to do daycare. I'm not sure what they did in the winter, but I'm pretty sure in the summer all she did was sit on the back deck, yelling at the kids occasionally to keep them in line. (Either that or little Johnny was a holy terror. After hearing her yell no at him all afternoon I was about driven crazy.)
Debbie - issues with homes always seem to come together. I suppose the only good thing with that is that we now have a new kitchen, a new roof, and a new furnace - all less than 3 years old. And the air conditioner was about a year before that. I'm sorry about Marilyn, but I'm glad it's a no kill shelter. Two years ago (just after I got the kittens) I was in a pet food store and they had a beautiful 14-yr old cat. After the time I'd gone through with our last two (died of old age) I couldn't think of it, and especially with the two kittens. The shelter that had put her in the store is a 'try not to' but not a no kill. I was so happy to find out that someone did adopt her. I'm sure Marilyn will find a loving home.
Lauren - you reminded me how much I love mexican food. Time to find a few recipes that won't put me over. Although right now my issue is keeping the protein levels up, which creates different challenges. We open the pool to swim, which makes us slightly certifiable. We have an in-pool winter cover and right now it looks like it's open, with just very dirty water. A couple of our neighbours have been draining water off their pools as they were overflowing. Wow, I just realised that the guy is coming a week today! (Swimming probably 3 days later.)
Penny - we all have things we should be doing instead of sitting at the computer.
Just drop in when you can. You sound way too busy for me...
Sharon - days off plan can appear as huge gains, mainly because of water (and the weight of the food if it's been excessive). On my birthday I was 346.6 pounds and after a very bad day I was 351.8. And even though it was truly a bad day (I estimated later it was probably a 4500 cal day), I went back on plan the next day. Even though I was sick to my stomach (not used to the food I had), I didn't let it stop me. It took 7 days of being completely on plan before I was at 346.4. The only good thing out of it all is that I've been on plan for 93 days (as of Sunday, so 94-1/2 now). Those bad days can send you spinning out of control (I had many before I got back to dieting in December). Somehow we have to decide that that one bad day does not have to become a week, or a month, or a year. It's past, and today is a new day.
Heather_dw - bodies just seem to want to hold onto weight, especially when we're not eating enough. You don't even need to be in what some call starvation levels. Finding out the perfect level at which to eat is hard, if not darn near impossible. I'm glad you're weight is moving down. Just try and remember this the next time you don't like what you see on the scale.
I know I may have asked in the past, but how are you coming to that calorie level? That can be important sometimes. I mean, I know we can eat 2000 cals of junk food and it's technically the same as 2000 cals of more natural food, but even that may affect the body. Some foods make cause water retention (I find aspartame in diet soda seems to do that to me now). I wouldn't have noticed it in the past. Don't mind me, I'm on a clean eating kick recently. Lots of natural (ie. not packaged) foods, even made my own tortillas on Sunday... although I might go buy some next time! (Oat flour was not a good choice.) I realized that I'd likely never be happy eating 100-cal snack packs of (whatever), so I've tried steering away from them more and more.
Julee - I know this is from last week's thread, but on the dessert. I used to make a very nice fruit compote (with whatever is handy), using almost no sugar if you get a good blend of fruit. I would bake it in the oven and make a separate crunch topping for it. I'm not sure what the limitations are but the topping was (off the top of my head) four, butter, rolled oats, spices, pecans. You mix and bake it separately, breaking it into pieces. It always went over well, and with little sugar in the fruit, and just a sprinkle of the topping, isn't too bad on the calorie side. If you're interested, I can look out the recipe (and then tell you what I did for modifications!)
TheWalrus - company can be the toughest thing on a diet. I think I'm well enough along that I'd be able to cook meals that others would enjoy and I can still have. However, eating out, even on best behaviour is hard. Give yourself a few on plan days after they leave before you weigh yourself. I say that because restaurant food always seems to be a little higher in sodium. And if you're having a drink or so, well, alcohol dehydrates you, which strangely makes you retain more water! I'm glad you're having a good visit though.
I was just about to copy this in and saw Catherine's post about weight gained while ill. I've noticed that weight gained or lost when you're ill usually evens out after you're well. My lowest weight (I found it recently) was 282 before going into the hospital in June 2005. I came out at least 15 pounds lighter (in 17 days). It took a couple of weeks, but it all came back on. I couldn't hold that loss, likely because it wasn't a real loss. I held the 282 until sometime after September of that year. By Christmas of that year I was back to 309.5 (when I just stopped tracking it). Fast sudden gains always seem to be harder to address though. Sad, isn't it?
Well, I'm officially caught up on this week's thread... unless someone else has posted while I've been finishing up. I should be able to keep up a little better now, at least until the pool opens and the gardening ramps up a bit. Take care everyone, hope you're all having a good day.
just on that. I'm sure your little weight gain is definitely from the steroids. Those are awful for weight gain. Take care
