Catch as Catch Can

I have SO much to say and I keep putting off writing in this blog! That only made things worse, so here goes, pimples and all!

SMOKING: I think I have that kicked again. I was smoking for about ten days and it has been almost a week now, since I quit...again! I plan to not start next time until I am 75.

WEIGH IN: A shocking 4.5 pound loss! I keep thinking the scale has to be broken. I've been limping along with one pound (or less) gains and losses for weeks now. I hope the new exercise program is what is kicking off the pounds! The food is staying the same.

VIRTUAL 5K: Yes, that button on the right says I have entered "Trick or Treat Trot - Virtual 5K" over on sparkpeople.com. I am becoming a convert to their website. It has more than I need and I only have to take what I want from their site, to use to my advantage.
Not long ago I read a book about a lady who ran her first 5K. I have seen stories on TV about how people who started to take care of themselves and exercised, often ended up challenging themselves to a race. This one is perfect because I can run it alone. Correction: run/walk, not run. And I am not sure about the running part of it either.

DOCTOR: Annual checkup is right after Labor Day. I wonder what the doctor will say about the changes in my life? I also plan to ask him about my knee. I don't want to blow it out and get laid up! It is twinging, but it doesn't last long. Best to ask this doctor, who has seen x-rays of this same knee. I want his opinion about me continuing the running part of my exercises.

EXERCISES: I am trying to do Yoga (one hour) and 5K training on the treadmill for 30 minutes, on Mondays. Tuesday is 60 minutes of pool aerobics. Wednesday repeats Monday with Yoga and treadmill. Thursday is pool aerobics. Friday is weight machines, treadmill and maybe a little pool stretching. Saturday is pool. Sunday is a wild card day. I either walk in the neighborhood, or go to the pool for an hour, or take the day off. I am also walking to get my son at school each day. That adds about 20 minutes of walking.

I guess I am a bit over my 60 minute a day regime, huh? I actually might be pushing myself a bit too much though. I don't know yet. I currently, worry about two things. One is getting hurt. The other is...what do I do when I reach goal weight? Assuming I actually DO reach goal weight, what then? How will my lifestyle be then? The possible end IS in sight and I wonder...what will it be like?

How DO skinny people live? Do they eat nothing? Do they ever exercise? Why does it seem they can eat tons of food and not gain an ounce and I catch a whiff of cheesecake and gain ten pounds? These are the mysteries of life I guess.

I hope to have a few book reviews soon. I just needed to get some of this other stuff out of my head. It is crowded enough in there!

See ya next time!

What the @#^&%&%##*%

Another gain today. What have I done wrong? I checked my foods and the calories are not there. I know I exercised more than normal this week. On Tuesday on a different scale, it showed a hugs loss. I was expecting several pounds gone today! They keep hanging on to me! Or am I hanging on to them???

So what was the problem? I've been eating more yogurt than normal (three or four for 'dessert') and eating it shortly before bedtime. How can THAT be the issue? I have done that before.

I am not sure. Thank goodness it is only a half pound-ish.

This next week I plan to do Yoga on Monday and Wednesday. I plan to stay on task with my foods. I also will not buy strawberries because they led to a feeding frenzy this week of strawberries and yogurt. It works so well here to keep the foods I crave the most, out of the pantry and fridge.

See you next week!

The Summer's End

In case some of you worried, I am doing fine. I have stopped smoking again and don't plan to use that terrible crutch for a long time, if ever!

With that and the end of summer there are so many changes coming up! I love it! I am back at the center and scouting out new ways of exercising. I plan to try a variety in order to stir things up!

I also took advantage of the free blood pressure, weight, and health check-up today. This happens each Tuesday. I was tickled to find out that I had lost 17 pounds over the past ten weeks. I did it! I made it through in flying colors! Yay me! :D

I hope your summer is ending on a positive note! I adore autumn and can hardly wait for the weather to change. More walks with Ziva sound divine!

Have a great week...one step at a time.

Talking Sense

I am talking some sense into my brain. I need my old pal Eeyore to tell me to knock it off and get back into the healthier lifestyle I have been working towards.
What happened? Not much. I did gain a whopping point four pounds. That is less than a half pound. This past week has been rough. We sold our RV last weekend and it was so very hard to let go of it! We had had such fun in it as we traveled throughout northern California, as musicians at various renaissance faires! Then when we were forced out of CA and moved to Arkansas, it was our home for six weeks.
Anyway, we were very attached to that silly hunk of fiberglass and metal, but it was time to let it go. The process really went well. We sold it to the first party that looked at it. The process also triggered a LOT of emotions.

In the midst of all this, I have basically plateaued on the weight loss. I tried to say it didn't bother me, but it did. I did a stupid thing. I turned to my old nemesis, the cigarette. Yes, I hate to admit this, but I have started smoking again. Shame on me! I could cite all the excuses about the emotional roller coaster of late, the fact that my husband smokes, and that this last week of summer vacation was extra challenging to get my exercises done. These are all just excuses though.

Today I will end it by sticking a patch on and stopping the insanity!

I redid my goals and such on sparkpeople.com this morning. This chart shows my progress over the summer:

This is a good thing! The chart shows a downward swing all summer. With school back in session tomorrow, I will now be back at the center and plan to change up my exercise routine. I won't put in longer session, but I will amp up the intensity. The almost 70 pound loss since last fall/winter has left me more fit and stronger! My knees are doing very good and it is time to push myself a bit more. I am researching my plan of attack.

I made a new chart today and set a goal to be in the one hundreds by Christmas. I cannot imagine that! I CAN achieve it though!

Scold me if you must over my slip up, and share with me, getting back on track. This is just a little track repair job that I need to do and WILL do!

See you next week!

Bits and Pieces

I figure that if I learn something that I didn't know, there may be others who don't know either! That is why I am writing this entry today.

What I recently read about was in regards to ingredient labels on various foods. Most of us know that the manufacturers list the foods in order of most to least. If a food is mostly water, water is listed first. If a food is mostly say...peas, then peas would be listed first.

Here's the kicker though...(unless this has changed and I didn't catch it)....say you are reading a food label and you see fructose listed as the tenth ingredient. This seems pretty good, right? The sweetener is way down there. Let's say the 12th ingredient is molasses. Cool, right? The sugars are way down the list of ingredients. This must be a good food, right?

Wrong!!! Because the manufacturer does not have to list all sugars together, they can use several different types of sugars to make it seem like smaller amounts, therefore they are way down on the lists. IF they had to list ALL sugars as one group, you would find sugars/sweeteners, a lot higher up on the list of ingredients.

I hate reading labels. I hate that the manufacturers do this. I totally understand why they do though! Let's hope this changes in the future and if we can, help that change to go through!

Meanwhile, keep reading those labels!!!

I have spent most of the summer at the local swimming pool with my ten year old son. I always put in an hour of mild aerobics and had been going about five times a week for an hour each time. I never feel like it is a hard workout, but it is more than I ever used to do!

Next week my boy goes back to school and I am free to go back to the gym to exercise. (I am lucky and have a local Sr. Center that has a full gym and pool and is VERY affordable) I know there will be a major difference in the intensity of my workouts!

Here in central Arkansas, it has been a blistering hot summer with temps over 100° for most of June and July. Temps have been in the high eighties and humid, even in the early mornings until today. I saw 70° on the thermometer and headed out. I haven't walked outside since about May!!! I dodged some rare rain showers and did a walk of 1.7 miles! I was pleased to see that all the pool work wasn't too soft on my body and that I even RAN for one minute! ME!!! I don't run! Of course I don't wear shorts either. hahaha

I am now just starting to fit into sizes 18-20 after starting out in sizes 26-28. It feels SO good to fit into smaller clothes again!!! I am glad I saved my most favorite 'skinny' clothes, like the bell bottoms from my wedding! I should be wearing them on a regular basis, this fall!

It has been super hard to let go of the 'fat' clothes though! I never have let them go in the past because I figured I would fail and would need them again. I am taking away that excuse this time. :D

I was able to sell a few clothes but most of the time I have been donating them. I wish some could be donated to me! (a friend did just give me a couple things, a few days ago...most were still too small, but at least I have something to look forward to!) I don't buy a lot of clothing right now and haven't bought anything new, other than unmentionables and a swimsuit for aerobics water classes.

I plan to reward myself with something extra special, clothing-wise, when I reach my goal weight. You won't find it at Wal-K-Targ stores either! lolol

Measuring Up

Later today I plan to take my measurements. I don't do this often because I find that while I DO lose the pounds, I don't lose the inches yet. At least not to MY standards!

I lost three pounds last week!

That would be three of the above photo or one of the picture below:

That burger doesn't even look good! (shudder)

I have been busy this week. There is one more week of summer vacation left for my son. Once he is back in school, I am back to the center! I am looking forward to changing up my exercises. I was shocked at this week's loss too! I wonder what will happen when I start doing more cardio and weight lifting?

I want to remind you to keep reading those food labels too! The manufacturers are getting sneakier and sneakier!!! Recently a food was found that sounded really really good! It was low in calories and fats but presented itself as a tasty treat. In reading the fine print, however, it was noted that the calories and fat listed were for a half serving. If you hadn't noticed it, you would have eaten enough for a whole meal!

I hate having to keep an eye on everything. I love my weight loss and this new me more! Love yourself more than food today! See you next week!