Yeesh! Once again I talked myself out of getting up a o'dark thirty to work out. Weight is not lower. It's my own fault.

I'm working on a plan of attack for tomorrow.

Meanwhile they say that those of us who have sedentary jobs should get up and move around every 3 minutes. That's a bit excessive, don't you think? I usually get up about every 15 minutes.

Every 3 minutes would wreck my focus for sure, particularly on detailed work. 15 minutes seems more reasonable.

I never came back last week - Friday got crazy, then spent all weekend putting together furniture. Woo! I still have to put my clothes up in the new drawers, as I can't find underwear and socks.

I have two main plans, and got a new Fitbit Surge HR to help with them.

Food - keep to a 500-750 calorie deficit based on activity, trying hard to eat until satisfied and not feel like I HAVE to eat more if I'm further under. The spiralizer I'm going to talk about below is helping with that. I am counting calories, because it does help me stay on track.

Exercise - 10,000 steps per day, exercise at least 5 and no more than 6 of 7 days a week, ideally with a walk or run every day at lunch. I have to be okay to rest on the 7th day. I am alright with yoga on the off day, as that helps with the stretchy. Walking is okay on the rest day, too. Today is my off day, and I exercised the last six. I'm sore, and need the break. Nothing like diving right back into the deep end.

I was at 151.4 on Friday, which was down 4 from the Friday before. After a high Sunday and some popcorn with football I'm at 152.5 today, but I'm hopeful that it is still popcorn and pizza.

I got a spiralizer for Christmas and we have been having veggie stir frys for just about every dinner the last two weeks. Turns out that DH loves the spiraled veggies. It is helpful that they are very filling, so most nights I eat until I'm content at dinner and have enough left for a small leftover lunch.

to everyone!

I missed the last page when I posted, every three minutes, really? Wouldn't than mean we were getting up and moving around all day?

Amen for the spiralizer! We're doing a zucchini dish tonight that is to die for (Asiago & Artichoke sauce over zucchini). I just have the little hand-held spiralizer so it's kind of a lot of work but I got DD the larger one like yours, Shannon, and she loves it. I told her to get me one for my birthday in March!

Buying a spiralizer soon here too, to try and up the veggie count. I was given a Ninja blender too - I need to figure out some cool stuff to do with it. Besides "smoothies" and all that, cuz, yuck. I am not a smoothie person.

Every 3 minutes? Not gonna happen. Every 30? If you drink lots of water, that generally happens any way. I've made a commitment to use restrooms on the far end of the building at least twice a day - that nets me over 1.25 miles all by itself.

My weekly average went up to 158.0, mostly due to the last couple of days' PMS bloat. Should mean a very good week coming up. I deliberately spent yesterday in a pair of jeans that are uncomfortably, indecently tight. It kept my mind locked in on what I need to do.

You should do walking lunges there and back. You'd have thighs of iron in no time.

Ah, walking to the bathroom. For seven years my office was upstairs in one of our restaurants, but in October we moved to a gigantic office complex. There is never parking, so today I'm parked literally 1/4 mile away. The bathrooms are outside our office suite, and a decent walk away. I'm used to the bathroom being right across from my office. I could probably walking lunge all the way there - people would think I'm crazy. But, as there are always people in the stalls doing their business while talking on the cell phone, I don't really care.

My lunch walk ended up a lunch jog - 2.5 miles, and probably was a little overdoing it.

I used to do those when I took two elderly dogs to a small local park where they shuffled around a bit and sniffed stuff. I wound up with buns of iron rather than thighs. Turns out I had quite a fan club of the neighbours whose backyards opened on to the park. One of them finally came out and asked me what I was doing. I told her, she tried them, and then I had a "lunging" partner a couple of times a week. Her elderly dog hung with my two.

I had forgotten all about that.

Dagmar

Weigh myself. Done. Daily fluctuation +1.25lb

Make food plan for the day. Done but I don’t feel very happy about the AS. It feels a bit cold. B=muesli, cc, banana, semi-skimmed milk, wheatgerm. MS=blush orange, 3 walnuts. L=sardines, salad (lettuce, carrots, celery), potato wedges. AS=apple + three almonds. T=gammon, homemade potato wedges + greens & carrots.

Go for a walk. Really, I’d like today to be a weights day but the SO is at home in the Fitness Kitchen and there’s nowhere else to do it. I shall be at work all day so I’ll take myself out for a walk to organise my university library pass and to return books to the county library. (I took myself for a lovely 25 minute walk yesterday around a small town, along the seashore and under a C19th suspension bridge. I don’t think I’d have gone, had I not planned a walk in advance here. Credit.)

Keep to food plan as far as I can, and as appropriate. Yes, what more can I say? I’m thinking how to be strong in the late afternoon as the snack doesn’t feel right. The SO is in charge of the meal so I have no reason to be in the kitchen, other than to make a pot of tea.

Mrs Snark, I’m so pleased to have encouraged you to investigate weights again. They don’t take up the same amount of time that swimming lengths does, of course, but if you focus on them I hope you’ll find a similar kind of beauty. When life is busy and out of my control, I find doing something like this is so helpful.

Allison, get up every three minutes? I’d keep losing the thread of what I was doing.

Shannon, that is such uncivilised and unhygienic behaviour! Good work on the lunch time jog!

Dagmar, I do like that picture of the walking lunges. So nice that you suddenly had a partner!

I’m enjoying having all these threads. It’s shaking things up a bit and I’m looking at things in a different way.

Early morning today - we have DSS on Tuesday nights through March, so today was an up at 5:30 day to get breakfast and lunch ready. I stayed up and exercised and got to work early.

exercise of the day - 25 minutes with the weights, 30 minutes on the elliptical. I'm doing a two day per week full body workout to get back in sync.

food of the day - my sludge protein shake in the morning, coffee with a little butterscotch syrup, banana for snack, 3 ounces of leftover steak with some steamed veggies for lunch, some kind of spiralizer stir fry for dinner. Or maybe sausage stir fried and tossed in some red sauce over spaghetti squash.

Going to play trivia with our neighbors tonight. Probably a beer there.

I have a meeting at 1:00 for a payroll presentation, so might not make a walk today.

Jay, I've found that unfortunately eating by hunger cues doesn't work for me to lose weight. I wish it did. I've been eating by hunger cues for the past couple months and haven't lost a single ounce. I think it makes sense though -- eating by hunger cues and not eating any excess leads to weight maintenance. That seems logical to me: my body knows how much food it needs to stay where it is, and it makes me hungry accordingly.

Unfortunately I don't want to maintain my weight right now, I want to lose, which means I am going to need to be hungry sometimes. I just need to convince myself it's OKAY to be hungry for say, an hour before my next meal. I'm not talking about being hungry ALL the time, but it's okay to be hungry sometimes.

Today I packed a string cheese and an apple so I can have a snack before my workout and still have something left for later in the afternoon.

I ran some sprints the other day and my body is very, very displeased with me. I really thought it was going to be ok and they were really excellent for burning off stress and gave me a lovely endorphin high, too. But, my back is now a mess and I'm "sleeping" (ha ha ha) on the couch.

You know, I remember the very last time I was ever on a roller coaster. It was 2001 and I was on the Incredible Hulk coaster at Universal Studios. It accelerates from 0 to 100 mph in a half a second and then does, like, 337 inversions. (I'm sure these stats are wrong, but that's what it felt like to me). I'm absolutely positive it took about 4 years off my total lifespan. I have no interest in ever riding another roller coaster again. Ever. Done.

Now, I believe I will also remember the very last time I ran sprints. It was the day before yesterday. Today is the day I decide that sprints are not right for me any more, that the negatives far outweigh the positives. Goodbye sprints, I believe I am done. Speed work is just going to be a thing of the past.

Silverbirch -- I'm gathering my weights and trying to figure out where to have a little home gym. We currently have a bowflex in the garage right now (our house is a bit discombobulated at the moment), but I have to say, that after using it on and off over the last year I'm not a fan of the movement or the feel of it. I want to stick with body weight exercises and free weights for now.

Dagmar -- buns of iron sounds like an excellent pay off for lunges. What a great use of time in the dog park!

Shannon -- I can't get over the number of people on their phone while in the bathroom stalls. Those mics pick up everything, I get a shy bladder just knowing other people are on their phones!

I was mistaken. It's actually get up FOR 1 to 3 minutes every half hour. That's a lot more reasonable.

Still didn't get up and exercise this morning. DH asked why today, too. I've really felt like crap off and on for the past 10 days or so--like I'm on the verge of coming down with something. Yesterday (and one day last week) I had the tell-tale neck stiffness that often precedes a bout of the flu or a cold. So I've been trying to get more rest to stave that off. Last night I slept like a log and even had some interesting dreams where I completed things that needed completion (hard to describe, but they were positive). Despite Louie sleeping on my chest for several hours, I feel rested, relaxed and ready for the day. Now to get the sneezing and runny nose to stop.

I'm being interviewed for the morning news this morning! Wish me luck!