Well, I can’t believe that it is already Tuesday and I haven’t managed to get this posted yet. I’ve had to change this top part to make the info a little more recent.
I was hoping to be SO productive these holidays, as I figured I’d have a lot more energy to get some school work and house work done. Well, I may have sabotaged myself by exercising a little too much AGAIN! Shock horror huh? I have been so eager to get some walking in, instead of the usual treadmill or bike workout, that I have kinda been making the sessions a little long. Sunday hubby and I walked for 90 minutes, the hubby has had to work mornings this week, so I walked on my own yesterday for 90 mins and then today for 80 mins. This is BRISK walking, and up and down quite a few hills. It feels wonderful at the time, but I am pretty tired for the afternoon, which tells me that I could be getting a little carried away. I am planning a ‘rest’ day from exercising tomorrow (as I mentioned earlier) and will just be wandering around the city. I’ll see how I go Thursday morning. I have Professional Development to go to, so it will have to be the treadmill or bike early in the morning, or another rest day.
It has actually been wonderful to WANT to get out and walk, even with the threat of rain on Monday. At first I was really disappointed that it was raining, but I headed off during a break and only got drizzled on a little. I am just impressed that I was ‘disappointed’ that I may not be able to walk. Mind you, that could have just been because I would have had to go on the treadmill if I couldn’t have had the walk outside, and I just had my heart set on walking outside. I walked to the library and came back carrying about 12lbs extra weight with my handbag and bag of books. I could certainly tell the difference. I can only imagine the stress I must have been putting on my body when I was carrying SIXTEEN times that much around on me. WOW! That is a LOT! I remember when we took hubby’s dad to the airport and we had to put his suitcases on the conveyer belt to be weighed. Each of those cases was VERY heavy (I could hardly lift a couple of them) and the combined total equaled around what I had lost. That was a scary thought. No wonder I have trouble with my knees now.
We don’t have any plans for the holidays, except a few short trips around the city. Of course we will go to the zoo at least once. Hopefully the weather will be OK. We have had a wet day already, but the rest of this week looks good. Cold though! We are expecting maximums in the mid to high teens (around 60F) which is simply freezing for here. Still, we have had a pretty mild winter so far, so we should expect things to get a little cooler I suppose.
I still haven’t heard anything about the competition. I haven’t lost hope yet and am still thinking that they will leave it closer to when the next magazine comes out. That is the one that will have the before AND after pics and a short article about each finalist. That is when the online voting will start too I think, so I will let you all know if I make it so you can vote. I hope I hear soon, as the next magazine comes out around the 17th.
Anyway… I’ll get to the individual replies now. I am only going to go back a couple of threads, or simply rely on my memory, otherwise we could be here a LONG time.
Ammi – I hope you have seen a good loss with your weigh-in this week. I know you have been doing SO well, and even if you don’t see a loss, I know you have lost inches. Just looking at the most recent pics can tell me that. I am just SO proud of you! Are you doing anything interesting with the girls while they are on break, or are they too ‘cool’ to do things with Mum and Dad?
I was sorry to hear about Daren’s eyes. Does he have glaucoma in the family? I thought I had heard that it was hereditary, but I know that there are probably other contributing factors too. When I have my eyes tested for my prescription glasses they do a test for glaucoma each time. I’m glad they keep a check on it, because I probably wouldn’t think to get it checked otherwise. Did he have symptoms for a while, or did they just find it during a general check? I can’t remember if you mentioned that. Please let him know we are thinking of him and I hope that he can find a simple solution/cure/treatment soon.
It doesn’t sound as though you could fit much more into your days lately, but I’m sure you will be trying! You are keeping SO busy. That must feel simply wonderful after the time you spent where you didn’t even feel like getting out of bed for a lot of the day. You are really shaking things up in your life.
Isn’t it wonderful when you get to ‘feel’ how much weight you have lost? As I mentioned above, when I actually tried to lift my FILs suitcases, and found out how much they all weighed TOGETHER I was absolutely stunned. I just couldn’t imagine having that much extra weight on my body. It is so hard to judge how much ‘fat’ weighs when it is spread all over your body.
It was wonderful to hear from Sharon that you had lost some more weight! You go girl!!!!
Melissa – I hope you can get some relief for your throat soon. How frustrating that the doctor didn’t do any actual ‘tests’, just had a look. You would think that she would want to be a little more thorough seeing as you have had this for SO long. I know that she is hoping to sort out what it is over the next 10 days, but that doesn’t really help you in the meantime huh? I hope you find a way to get the painkillers if you need them. I HATE having a sore throat. I particularly hate tonsillitis, because it makes the rest of me feel yucky too. Fingers crossed that you don’t have 10 more days of being in pain.
I am SO impressed with the walking you have been doing! It must be wonderful to keep surprising yourself like that. I know that the first time I walked from home to the local mall (just under 2 miles) I was thrilled and wanted to tell EVERYONE! I had often thought of doing it, but knew that I just couldn’t. By the time I actually got around to trying it, it was actually quite easy. I don’t think we realise what our bodies are ready for as we gradually make the changes in our lives. I KNOW that I couldn’t have walked up that hill when I was anywhere NEAR the weight you are at the moment. I am SOOOOO proud of you! You must be having trouble keeping the smile off your face. What an achievement.
Wyllen – I suppose it is pretty normal for teachers to be exhausted at the end of a term. People think we have such a blissful 9 to 3 job, but they don’t realise that particular times of the year are FAR from those hours. Report writing time is one of those times. Even when I’m not writing reports, I am ‘thinking’ about them and what I could be saying about this or that child. As I said, it is pure ‘mental’ exhaustion, not really physical. Of course, there are easier times of the year, and we DO get good holidays, so I won’t complain too much.
You are SO right about cheating on a diet. Even though I am not on any kind of ‘diet’ as such, I have had a number of occasions where I have thought that I could easily have this or that type of treat and not put on any weight, as I am eating so well the rest of the time. But when I actually go to buy it, I just can’t bring myself to get it anymore. I just have to think about how far I have come, and how totally unnecessary that treat is. My body doesn’t NEED things like that and it gets all of the wonderful food it needs with the healthy stuff I give it. I know that I could easily pig out on take away food, even after all this time, but I also know that I would only enjoy it for a brief amount of time (if I would even enjoy it at all) and then I would feel pretty awful, mentally AND physically. It just isn’t worth it. I know that some people can have treats on a regular basis, and they are fine with that, but I have a worry that it would become TOO regular with me. I kind of did that with my icecream. My dietician friend had told me that low-fat icecream was OK to have as a snack with fruit, so I was having it daily. I told myself last week that I really didn’t need to have it daily, and it would be better to keep it as a treat just a couple of times a week. So now I have it Monday (after a good weekend) and Friday (after a week at work) and that is fine with me.
Anyway… after all of that waffle… I just wanted to say that I agree with you about “you can’t cheat your body”. You may try to convince your MIND that you are doing something that is perfectly OK, but your body will soon tell you something different.
Annie – You are doing such a FANTASTIC job with the weight loss! You must be feeling wonderful! I missed the interesting thing that happened with your ticker, but from the sounds of things it said you had gained a LOT of weight. That is the thing of nightmares huh? I’m glad you sorted it out.
It sounds as though you had a truly wonderful time with your sister-in-law. You certainly kept yourselves busy. You mentioned that SHE had a lot of energy since her weight loss, but it sounds as though you kept up with her quite well, so you should be pretty happy about that.
Where did you visit in Canada? I spent a few months in Alberta (mostly Calgary) about 7 years ago when hubby returned home to work and sort out visas. Then, during our US trip last year we took the ferry from Seattle to Victoria, BC. What a beautiful place.
Rkrs – It sounds as though you and the kids have a wonderful time dancing around the place. And what a fantastic way to keep you ALL fit. Also, the added laughter would help with weight loss as well, from all that I’ve read.
I am so pleased that your MIL commented on how good you are looking. I believe that you can never get TOO many compliments on this journey. It took me ages to be able to ‘see’ that I had lost weight and I don’t think I could really see it until I bought new, more fitting, clothes. My other loose clothes just got looser, so I couldn’t get a good picture of what my body looked like underneath.
I can definitely relate to not having a lot of pics from when I was bigger. I used to avoid cameras like the plague, and if I ever HAD to be in one (like school photos) I would try to hide behind someone/thing. I was very lucky that someone had a good one of me that I didn’t realise was being taken. I needed a good one for the competition I entered.
Misti – It sounds as though you had a very hectic time at the festival. I’m glad you counted some of the time on your feet as exercise, as you certainly would have burned off some calories during the day. Did you end up getting into the pool afterwards? You didn’t show that you had worked out in the pool, so I was wondering whether you just got in to ‘wind down’ from the day. Oh… just checked and you said you were too hot and not well when you got back, so I presume the pool was out of the question.
You mentioned that you had a fall during the week. Did I miss that post earlier? I hope you haven’t done too much damage to yourself. I know when I tripped over some pavers at school a couple of years ago I didn’t think I had hurt much other than my pride, but I still have trouble with that knee now. I think I should have had it looked at a little more at the time. I hope you get things looked at if you are sore for much longer.
Andrea – Welcome back! It is good to see you posting here again, even with your hectic lifestyle at the moment. It is great that you have caught yourself before you gained back any more weight. It shows that you are keeping a close eye on things and won’t let things get out of control. This forum is great for helping to keep us on track.
Nancy – Well done on avoiding the cake batter. I think some of these things should have alarms on them like some of the fancy cars I have seen on TV. Something that says “Step away from the batter!” every time you get too close. And then you didn’t even get something at the bakery. Great work! I think sometimes it is just a passing fancy, so the ‘wait time’ that you give yourself is just enough to take the craving away.
I know that you will be careful when you start exercising again, but PLEASE listen to every little message your body tries to send you. Don’t wait for PAIN before you stop. Be aware of every little ‘niggle’ that could be a pre-cursor to pain. We want you recovering as quickly as possible and don’t want to hear of any relapses if they can be avoided.
I used to only read fantasies, but now I have very eclectic tastes. I’m not sure when I changed, but I have a real mix of mysteries, real-life, historical etc, mixed in with a lot of young adult or simply kids’ novels. Hubby is purely a sci-fi/fantasy reader, so we still have LOTS of books I have to catch up on. He doesn’t like them when they get too ‘techy’, which is good, because I don’t really like those either. I really enjoyed the Anne McAffrey's dragons of Pern series. I think that's the series title but I'm not positive, and I’m too lazy to go out and check the bookcases.
Xena – How are you progressing on your scrapbooks? The Europe one is probably looking wonderful. I am hoping to get my US holiday one organized one day. I don’t know if it will be this holiday or not though. I was kinda figuring to leave it until the next break as that will be 1 year since we went. That will be a nice ‘anniversary’ thing to do and will bring back some wonderful memories.
The scrapbook of your journey sounds like a terrific idea. I wish I’d thought of doing something like that. I could probably try to do something now, but I don’t think I have enough ‘progress’ pics or info to do one. I’ll have to do some thinking about that one.
Oh… I DO agree that your dog is spoiled! But I also know that there was many a time when I would have loved to have someone pick my up instead of having to walk all the way home, so I know how he feels.
I also agree with you about the Biggest Loser contestants losing weight in a not so healthy way. I hadn’t watched it before, but watched Australia’s Biggest Loser because a colleague’s daughter was one of the contestants (Kristie). I was disappointed that they didn’t have more information on their diets because I thought that may have been useful to many viewers. Their exercise routines and challenges were just WAY too out there and unrealistic for the average person. I also heard that they had to go to some pretty drastic measures to lose the weight before the final weigh in. I’m not sure what Kristie did, but I heard rumour of some of them getting colonic irrigation to ‘clean’ themselves out to make them weigh less and having lots of saunas to try to sweat off the weight. I can only imagine what other things they did. I will be interested in seeing how long-term their losses are. I got to meet Kristie when she visited our school recently and I had my photo taken with her. I must add it to my pics page one day. She is a lovely person and I hope she doesn’t change too much with all of the publicity.
Claire – I am glad you were able to catch up on sleep a little and that you are able to exercise again. Both sleep and exercise play such an important role on this journey. Both things help SO much with losing weight. I know that if I don’t get enough sleep or if I am unable to exercise, I can be one MEAN person to be around. I just get crabby because I am tired and even worse because I am frustrated about not getting a workout. It is great that you allowed for ‘rest’ days in your challenge. I didn’t do this originally and felt guilty if I needed a break, so now I make sure I give myself that leeway.
I am SO glad you realized that a 3 pound loss was wonderful. It may not be what you were expecting, but it certainly is fantastic. Every pound off should be celebrated.
Well done on getting the healthy food to take to lunch. I know that taking snacks and meals with me almost anywhere I go has made a HUGE difference to my success on this journey. Preparation is SO important. I never presume that there will be healthy options anywhere I go, so I take my own food in a cooler. If there is healthy food wherever I am going, then my own stuff just comes home again for the next day, but at least I know that I won’t have to go hungry if the food offered isn’t what I want to eat. People tell me that eating it won’t be a problem, but after eating so well for so long I have a feeling that my stomach wouldn’t appreciate some of the fatty/saucy foods that are often offered. I also just LOVE my own food, and would prefer it to most of what is offered.
Hpnotq – I am glad you are out of your blah mood. Those cravings just hit you sometimes don’t they? I have trouble deciding just how much to give in to them. When they are due to PMS I usually have something to satisfy them, such as peanut butter. That seems to sort out the craving soon enough. I don’t usually crave sweet things, just savoury. When I don’t know the cause of the cravings I get really frustrated. I don’t know whether to give in to them a little, or fight them tooth and nail the whole way.
Kayley – I’m glad you had a wonderful night at the medieval event. I can’t wait to hear all about it, and hopefully see some pics too. I presume you didn’t have green hair for this one?
Alison – I’m not sure I’ve said hello yet… so “Hello!” Great job on losing those next pounds! 13.5lbs in 3 weeks is fantastic! You are certainly doing something right! I hope you continue to see success.
Crock – I’m glad the Powderpuff ride went well. Did you have lots of help in the long run, or did you still end up doing a lot yourself? It must have been lovely to have Austin and Mandy ride with you. Do you and hubby both have bikes? I’m not sure if you’ve said before. What bike(s) do you have? I haven’t ridden a bike in ages! I have only ever been a passenger, except for little things that I used to mess around on when I went to friends’ farms.
Sharon – I’m sure that you had a great time while you were away, and that was why you wanted to stay longer. It was great that you had the extra day. I’d love to hear more about it when you have time.
You are right about the kids needing to spend time with family. As a teacher, I never worry when parents say that they want to take the kids out of school to spend time with family. It is only ever a rare event and I believe that it is important for the kids. If it happened all the time I may have a problem with it, but a few times a year are not a worry in the least. I’m glad all went well.
Thank you for letting us know about Ammi. It is sad to hear that things are not great with Daren (understandably so, as he must be in a bit of shock about his eyes) but I am very proud of her for staying OP while all of that is going on around her. I MUST get my act together and send her a mail.
Well everyone, that is the end of another of my ‘novels’. Sorry to bore those of you who have to wade through it all to get to the next post.
I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Take care,
Zelma
300+ And Ready To Try Again..#954
My success in this area is still very very fragile though and I am soooooooooooooo aware of that!!!
Woo Hoo!
Anyways, GIGANTIC NSV!!!!!! There is a insane - and very infamous for making people keel over 
- steep road that cuts right through my town, and it happens to be one way to get from my house to DH's work; about 2 miles total from my house to his work. Well, I was out taking some pictures (took 80 and walked a mile during!!!) I, for some crazy unknown reason, decided to attempt walking to his work. So, 1.5 hours before DH was to finish work I started walking towards the bottom starting point of this hill....I looked up and thought "No way"...and stood there for a second.....then I starting walking - up the hill!! (Hills/Inclines are the things that just kill my back.) Well I logged steps on pedometer - I not only walked 1 mile early in the day, then another mile taking pictures before I decided on this, but here's the kicker....here's why this 2 mile walk is so infamous....the hill is about a 30% incline, and it's a mile long - no breaks!! I DID IT!!! I WENT ALL THE WAY!!! Because this hill is so hard on people (including my 190lb DH!) I took a picture about 80% to the top to prove I walked, it, LOL! 
Hope to see some more posts here tomorrow!!
