Report on HersheyPark and the concert

We were in Hershey yesterday. We spent the day in the actual amusement park! Then in the evening we mosied over to the Star Pavillion and saw a concert. We saw the Doobie Brothers and Chicago! As usual, the concert was excellent. I've seen Chicago every year pretty much since Todd and I met and each year they just blow me away! I only hope that when I'm the age as some of those guys that I'm still operating like they are!

I had decided that I would try to be responsible with my eating, yet I was going to enjoy the food I ate, and eat WHAT I wanted. That said, I ate a reasonable breakfast (egg beater sandwich) for lunch I had a Grilled Chicken wrap, and for dinner I splurged and had a cheeseburger (I've been dying for one lately). I did ask if I could substitute something else for the fries...and got about 1/4 cup of baked beans instead. Here is the bad stuff. My husband and I split a SMALL dippin dot's. I had a chocolate covered banana (hey, at least it was mostly fruit!). I did splurge and have a chocolate milkshake. ANd I ate four miniature pieces of the free candy that you get here and there throughout the day. After the milkshake...which as at 6PM, I called it quits and said no more...I ignored the venders inside the concert (except for the bottled water that I purchased at the concert) AND on the way home when I stopped to get a drink (diet Dr. Pepper) I really fought the urge to buy some kind of food snack. That is immensely better than I would have done recently. Previously I would have eaten my way through the park, through the concert and stopped on the way home to get something else. (tis no wonder I ballooned up to over 300 pounds eh?) SOOOO are you curious what the damage was? Well, let me first tell you that my pedometer counted my steps at close to 30K steps for yesterday. THe last time I weighed I was at 179.4. This morning I was at 180.8. I'm of course not happy to be up 1.4 pounds...but that's managable! I did drink a fair amount of water yesterday....but probably not what I should have. SO even though I can probably blame some of the weight gain on that (and probably some on the upcoming ick if I really wanted to), I'm not going to. that was 1.5 pounds of food! I enjoyed myself and I"m not going to feel guilty about it or worry about it. I've made my plans for getting myself back down and all will be good!

So what is my plan? Simply watch what I eat and hop back into my exercise routine! However, I usually do it first thing in the mornings...and this morning I still haven't! I'll get to it though! 4 hours of sleep and I just don't seem to have the energy! I however am getting ready to clean the house...and get some laundry out on the line. WHen that's done I plan on riding right before I shower!

Monday!

Ok.....my weight was down eight-tenths of a pound today. That puts me back at 179! Hopefully I can hold onto that or go a little lower for my weigh in tomorrow night! I was planning on having pasta with a pesto tonight...topped with chicken. And while I can fit it into my points values, I know that days where I am totally high in carbs, I just don't lose as well, and in fact sometimes gain. SOOO I'm going to make Southwest Chicken....which is yummy in it's own right. :-)

Rode the bike this morning...and then when Todd woke up we went for a walk. SO I've been active thus far!

SORE SORE SORE. That's all I can say. My upper body is so extremely sore! Eii yii yiii! ALl that chipping yesterday!

My day in pictures

I started my day almost exactly as I normally do.....on the exercise bike. I will admit that since I didn't have anything pressing, that I read in bed until 7:30! I felt so decadent! (I'm usually on the bike by 5:30! I knocked out 10 miles in 30 minutes. And then called it quits knowing that I would be having a super busy day!
While getting dressed I realized that I hadn't done laundry in ....ohhh a long time. SO I did laundry and filled up my lines. It's GREAT having super long lines (well...except for the sag...but as you can see the straight tree limbs every 20 feet or so seem to work just perfectly!) 4 loads of laundry complete! (oh yeah, and the bed made also!)
Oh joy...the chipper revisited! I had almost forgotten how much fun I have with this thing! Yes, please take note of the sarcasm! It was slightly better today though, as we bought some earplugs since the last time I used the chipper! I chipped for about 5 hours! That entails walking to the piles of limbs, bending over to grab a limb, pull it free and drag it back to the chipper. Then I had to shove that sucker down the chute (or into the hopper, depending on the size of what I was chipping). Tiring after a while...let me tell you! Not to mention the injury sustained while using the chipper....more on that later.
As if the chipping wasn't enough. I then decided to work on painting the deck and the floor of the screened in porch! Oh yes, and the steps leading to the deck also of course! After painting I headed inside. I showered and folded all the laundry that I had just grabbed off the line. I took the time to actually fix a few things also. Don't ask me what came over me, I usually let things sit until the pile is so huge that I'd rather throw the stuff away! But, I sewed on three buttons today! WOo hooo.

I had just started to make dinner when mom and dad pulled into the driveway. Sorry, this is an old picture (from February of this year). I didn't think to snap a picture of them tonight! Mom and dad stayed for about an hour (while the potatoes cooked....and while I finished dinner). Dinner was grilled chicken (in the best marinade by this little company called FireCreek), mashed potatoes, green beans and for dessert cherries. After dinner I washed dishes again (dang we really need to get that dish washer in and running!) for the second time today!

So now I'm sore from my activity today! SO I'm just surfin' the net and in general loafing around. Oh yeah, and I'm in the middle of painting my nails...toes and fingers! LOL
OH yes....the big accident and injury from today. Once again, sorry for the older picture...it is from June 1st of this year. BUT, it has something very important in it. My sunglasses. I was wearing them today. I went to throw something into the hopper and my sunglasses fell off....into the chipper. I went to grab for them...but lets be realistic....I'm not going to dive into the hopper with blades swirling to get a pair of sunglasses! Oh yeah, they shattered into a billion pieces. Todd spread the newly formed mulch from the bag and he said he couldn't see anything remotely looking like plastic! ROFL So yes the injury was the glasses!

I'm hoping that my busy, active and productive day will help eradicate that stupid gain! I've been drinking like a mad woman today. At one point I KNOW I was super dehydrated. It was after my first gallon of water. I knew I was coming to the end of my outside work and I didn't feel like running inside to refill my mug. When I got in here....dang I about drained the 64 ounce jug as soon as it was filled! So I've been drinking steadily! Crossing my fingers!!!!!

Sunday morning check in

Got up this morning and went to step on the scale. I was feeling moderately ok with my weight. I was thinking that I would have maintained yesterday's weight. I exercised yesterday and I had stayed within my points range. But I digress. I stepped on the scales....179.8! What..that's 1.2 pounds up from yesterday! 2.2 pounds in TWO FRIGIN' days!

Ok, my rant is over!

I thought about it a bit while I sat on the exercise bike (well, I was sitting...but I was riding my heart out at the same time). I'm not going to let this beat me! My body is just totally balking about leaving this 180 mark. Thinking about it....I think I was right about this weight for a couple years....like 7th -10th grade. I've read somewhere that when your losing, your body gets to a certain weight that it 'recognizes' and it tries to stay there. Hmmmm....don't know about all that...but ok, we'll go with it. I will push through it! Looking on the bright side, I'm happy to say that for about 2 weeks now I've stayed BELOW that 180 mark. That is a first. During these long last 9 months...I would dip down below for 1-2 days...and then go right back above. SOOO I'm doing good.

My plan of attack. Continue onward. I exercised this morning. I had my healthy breakfast. I filled up my 64 ounce water jug. I'm planning on working outside all day (using the chipper and painting the floorboards of the screened in porch) so I'll be active. I've got to really focus on making sure I drink enough water. Because that's the last thing I want...to see a spike in my weight due to water retention!

Meanwhile, I saw this interesting push up program and I've decided to try it. It is supposed to train me to be able to do 100 push ups. (consecutively...haa haa haa). So anyway, last night I did my initial test. Uhhhhhmmm......do I have to say how many I did? Well...lets just put it this way...it may take me a few weeks just to make it past week one in the training program! Uhhh yeah, I couldn't even do ONE push up. Oh yeah, I could do it if I did it granny style...but proper form...on my toes....NOPE! I can lower myself down without smashing my face into the ground but lift myself back up? Not happening! So I'm going to continue 'trying'.....I guess the attempt and the slowly lowering of myself will help build the muscles that I need. We'll see. Maybe I should break down and do granny style push ups for a bit to build my muscles...hmmmmmmm. Well, I will conquer that also. AND it shows me that while I used to be doing a lot of strength training......I can see where I've fallen off the strength training bandwagon! NOT GOOD!

Saturday weight!

Well, could it be the pancakes? I did eat within my points last night. HOWEVER, I had pancakes...carb city. ANd I know that when I eat an over abundance of carbs that my weight responds thusly. The other factor...i was thirsty when I woke up. This usually tells me that I'm bordering on not having drank enough...and my weight is usually up on those days. SOOOOOO I wasn't shocked when I weighed in at 178.6. Exactly one pound up from yesterday. Disappointed...yeah, shocked no!



Rode the bike for about 45 minutes......roughly 13 miles. And here I am at work. Nothing else much to report! Boring thus far!

The cheat day must have worked!

Yes, I weighed myself this morning. Let me refresh your memory. Yesterday I was 179.4. I had held onto that weight since Tuesday morning. WELL...this morning I was 177.6!! Wooooo HOOOOO! I am back to my all time lowest weight that I have posted on my home scales! So the little cheat must have kicked my metabolism into overdrive or something. I don't care what did it...just keep hummin' baby!

How did I celebrate my great weight this morning? I got on the exercise bike and rode for 80 minutes. I wasn't aiming for super fast or super furious....my goal for today was time frame...do the best I could do, but not worried about breaking speed records or anything like that. I did 22.4 miles. Felt good. I was actually aiming to go longer..but my butt was sore and tired of sitting in that same position! tee hee hee. (and while I'm laughing, I'm dead serious). I then went to the kitchen and had breakfast and got ready for work.

Interesting thing I noticed today. Cereal really doesn't 'stick with me' for long. Ok...enough said about that subject.

I laid out my eating plan for today. It's already written in my journal. No I just need to follow my plan. So far so good. I just ate my lunch. And dinner shouldn't be an issue either as what we are having is what we are having. I'll actually have 2-3 points leftover so that i can have a ww ice cream bar or a 100 cal pack or a piece of fruit....something as a treat.

Ok....my panic for the day. I'm at work...and I LIVE for emails. There is not much else to do between customers. You wonder what my panic is???? Well, emails are not coming through to my hotmail account. I KNOW for a fact that Todd sent me an email at 10:27 AM....it's 12:11 and I still don't' have it! What other emails am I missing? Oh yes....full tailspin panic!

Baby binge

I didn't have a good day yesterday. I felt so ready to conquer the world yesterday morning when I wrote my entry. However, I got outside and started to work and my energy just drained out of my body. I pushed through it but I was feeling totally wiped out! (I finished 99% of the white painting, pulled up the indoor outdoor carpeting on the screened in porch and started working on re-screening the windows) I don't know why I just had no energy....but I don't like the feeling. I came in and I did push myself to get on the exercise bike. I did about 22 minutes....and just over 7 or 8 miles (I'm at work, don't have the exact mileage with me) before i just had to call it quits!

I had carefully calculated my points for the day. It was all good. UNTIL I came in for the day. And then I had a handful, or two; of pretzels (uhhh do I have to count the dip????...twas fat free dip at least), a weight watcher ice cream bar. I decided to make banana muffins for my husband...so down the hatch went some banana bread batter. Oh and after dinner I actually ate a baked muffin. What the heck????????? WAY over my pointage!

So, this morning my home weigh in routine began. I was very nervous. Hopeful that a 'cheat' or 'binge' day would actually help me by getting my metabolism moving. I know that when I first started losing weight (back a hundred and some pounds ago) that i would be vigilent about my eating for 6 days a week, but on the seventh I made it a cheat day. I ate what i wanted. Oddly enough, even on my cheat days I found myself eating healthier than I woul dhave previously...but they were still cheating as compared to my new way of eating. Well.....I started noticing that my weight would actually drop the day after my cheat day. Crazy eh? I don't do cheat days anymore...I find it's sometimes too difficult to bring myself back around to eating healthy. SO my 'cheats' are more or less the days taht I lose control.....like yesterday.

The scales....showed me at 179.4. That is the exact same that i weighed the last time (Tuesday morning) that i weighed myself at home! WHEW! Now I know that I've got to be really good...because my body will not hold that weight forever if i continue to have bad days. So far so good today! I did get up and ride. Rode for around 15 miles (once again....I know it's about 15...but I dont' know the exacts...it's all written down at home). So I feel as if I'm doing good today!

Weigh in Results

I didn't weigh myself this morning. I never weigh myself on Wednesday mornings. Mainly because I eat after my meeting....which is really late, which then skews my numbers. PLUS, I use my Tuesday night late meal as a bit of a free meal to indulge. I actually kept it within my points range last night..so I'm doing good!

BUT, I was able to hold it under 180 pounds last night! That is the first time I've ever done it for 2 weeks in a row! I was sweating bullets (and lots of sweat from the heat also....plain old sweat...none of this 'perspire' stuff) over that one! Hopefully my body will start losing again so I can get myself away from that 180 mark! BUT regardless...week one done of the 6 that I need to do in order to get lifetime status at the meetings!

The official reading.... 179.4. So technically I gained .4 last night. I can deal with that!

Crazy thing happened to me last night. After the meeting we went out to eat (feed corporate America, by eating at a chain....which we prefer not to do, but oh well) at the Longhorn Steakhouse. I got my normal meal there...a salad (no tomatoes because of the salmonella scare of course), my baked sweet potato and the brandied apples. Yes, I had a slice of bread also. It was all pretty tasty. SO anyway, I came home and I was on the computer. Todd came out to kiss my goodnight (or whatever) as he was going to play the xbox in the bedroom. He left and it was a couple minutes later that I felt a stinging sensation on my upper lip. I just kinda pushed it aside in my mind, thinking that his facial hair had just given me a little 'brush burn' or something. Nothing major. BUT, a few minutes later I could FEEL my lip swelling! Oh my word, my lip was HUGE. I looked hysterical! But even while I laughed I was panicked. I mean, was this some new allergy or what??? I wasn't staying out here by myself....thoughts were running through my head....if my lip swells up, what else may swell up??? No sir-ee. I went into the bedroom to be near Todd. It was just very crazy! I was nervous about falling asleep with my lip still getting bigger literally by the moment...but I ended up falling asleep. I don't know what else on my body may have swelled while I was asleep...but I will say this......this morning the swelling is almost gone in my lip...although the lip feels numb still. Utterly crazy!

Hopefully the weather will be sunny today (not raining) so that we can work outside!!!! Plus, I still need to ride or exercise today. I just didn't feel like doing it early this morning! :-)

revelations from the past few days

Yes, I've had a few revelations these last few days. I will expound on them below.



Number one: I was eating the other day and took a bite of my pineapple. I literally groaned and moaned in near ecstacy from the taste of this pineapple. From Pineapple??? Am I sick? I mean, I've done that from doughnuts, cakes, really tasty bread, pastas, you name it...but from a fruit???? Maybe I'm 'growing' inwardly from this experience.



Number Two: I'm always cold. I froze all winter. Todd complained constantly about sleeping next to a human icicle....one that wanted to cuddle up against him for warmth. Well, it's been a literal sauna around here lately...high humidity and 100 + degree temps. During the day, I leave my car windows up and the car locked (yeah, my husband tells me that it is crazy in a small town/village like this..but it is ingrained in my head). I get in the car and before where I'd be unable to breath from the heat, I've been finding myself leaving the windows up and NOT turning on the air. The warmth of that car is just delicious to me! Am I absolutely nuts??

I'm happy and proud to say that I did come up with a solution for the bedroom. I moved a few things around and thoroughly cleaned (Wednesday is my big cleaning day...but i decided to go for it this morning). I was a bit worried about Todd because his side of the bed.....well actually the space beside the bed is a bit cramped. BUT, you know what.....I moved it this way mainly to accomodate his wishes for the room. Well, he just called me here at work to tell me that he got home and and that he LOVES the bedroom the way it is. WHEW! I also cleaned both bathrooms, and the living room. Swept and mopped the kitchen floor and caught up the dishes in the kitchen. The only thing that didn't really get touched was the library...which doesn't get used all that much so it doesn't get dirty. Therefore, my cleaning is DONE for this week! WOO HOO. That will free up my day for tomorrow so that I can work outside.

Ohhh working outside. I'm a bit nervous. Yesterday morning I worked on painting the inside of the screened in porch (which has no screens at the moment as we are getting ready to rescreen the place). Well...I was happily painting (I'll be done painting it with maybe an hour more work) away. I finished and went in to shower and get ready for work. Well.....Todd decided to tell me about what he saw shortly after i went inside. A snake! ON MY PORCH...inside right next to where I was working! YIKES! Tomorrow I have to finish painting that porch...AND organize all the stuff that's on it in order to get it to storage.....so I can pull up the old indoor outdoor carpet and take care of the floors. (I'm leanign toward painting them......and not putting new carpet down). I dont' like snakies! If I get all my porch stuff done, I'll start working on chipping the next pile of wood that we cut a while back. At least we now have ear plugs for me. Before I was not using ear plugs and my ears literally hurt for a few days thereafter!

Reflections

This morning I've been answering emails and I started to respond to a friends email. Let me preface this by saying that my friend is struggling to lose weight and that she is married to noe of those people that struggle to actually gain weight and to maintain a healthy weight without losing. (makes it really rough for my friend as they ALWAYS have junk food in the house for him to try to gain weight) This friend was talking about how she was eating at Pizza Hut (ohhh I'm so jealous) with her family. SHe had her eating under control and things were going well. Her husband kept pushing her to eat..so she ended up overeating. I started to respond to her and decided to share my response in my blog.....I know I've commented on this in the past...but it's so apropos.



The thing of it is.....someone that does not have a problem with food really simply does not understand the problems and temptation that we face each and every day....heck, everytime we have to sit down to eat. It's just incomprehensible to them. ANd then you have the added fact that our society has been programmed to believe that offering food is a way to show love and give comfort. So those people that don't understand what you are going through in the first place are now trying to feed us because that is a surefire way to show the desired affection. For example....on Valentines day......what do our husbands do? They take us to dinner. Birthdays?????? Dinner out. Yeah, you'd have to eat anyway so you are just trading 'where' we are eating...but they it's the principle.....food is a way to treat...a way to reward...a way to show that the person is loved and appreciated.

Well...the weight this morning.....179.4. I just want to keep it under the 180 mark! I think from what Sherry told me that I can actually go to 182 and still be considered maintaining. I sure hope so!

Didn't exercise this morning as I like to take Tuesdays off. But I"m heading to the bedroom. The layout of the bedroom is just not working for us...so I"m going to see if there is something that I can do to change it!

4)@#)(*@$#)(&%T

"In the summer, body weight can go up by several pounds due to increased body water. This is accomplished through fluid-conserving hormones such as aldosterone, which allows the kidney to retain more fluid and reduces the amount of salt in sweat, a measure that also aids in water retention. The increase and stabilization of total body water can only be accomplished by continuing to exercise in hot weather and will not occur in people who spend most of their time indoors in air-conditioned environments."
Click here to read the complete article.

Why do I have that on my blog? Well, this morning I hopped on the scales with a smile on my face. I did everything right. I got a good deal of activity in yesterday. I ate healthy. I was on top of my game. SO when I looked down at the scales and saw that I was 180.4 I about croaked! That is one stinking pound up from yesterday! Disgusting and disturbing. I know that I drank a TON yesterday.....and I know that I wasn't in the bathroom eliminating that water yesterday. (of course I sweated like a pig at times). I'm trying to think back to see if I went any less? I thought that I was doing ok with my water. I drank about 2 1/2 jugs of water (each jug being 64 ounces). That's a ton of water. And no...I didn't force myself to drink it....I was drinking when I was thirsty or desired a drink. BUT, this morning I woke up with the dry mouth thing....which to me is an indicator that I'm a bit dehydrated.

Rode the bike this morning. 17.2 miles. I'm going to continue on, the weight will catch up with me. I'm just panicked because I have to keep it under a certain number in order to work toward my lifetime goal!

I refuse to be bothered!

Ok, so Todd and I are like kids taking pictures of ourselves by
holding the camera out and snapping it ourselves. It's just fun!

This morning my body let me sleep in a bit.....all the way to 6AM. THAT should not be 'sleeping in'. 6AM is freakin' early! But, since I've been waking up between 5 and 5:30...I'll take it! I went to the bathroom and hopped on the scales. .2 pounds up! What?? Yeppers, .2 pounds up...for being GOOD. For exercising. For doing it all correct! No matter though...I'm gonna win anyway. This will NOT get me down!

I hopped on the bike. I have a friend that was planning on doing a 1.5 hour bike ride. And I set a challenge for myself to ride 1.5 also. (albeit, my friend was doing it on road, with hills and in the heat....I was planning on doing it in the nice air conditioned house on my exercise bike!...but hey......it's all good). Well, I was about 30 minutes into my ride when Todd rolled out of bed. I had logged 9.36 miles in that 30 minutes though, I was on track for a stellar ride! He looked at me and asked if I wanted to go down to the canal around Harpers Ferry and walk. Well......of course I said yes. First, I love that area. But the added bonus was that I would get to play with my camera some more! So off we went. I got a few miles in walking though so it was not a total loss. After walking, we headed to the outdoor flea market that is in that area. Oh my word, by that time it was getting REALLY hot! Didn't find anything. Came home and made lunch. I tried a new recipe for Beef Burritos. TASTY! I'll put the recipe at the bottom of this entry. As soon as lunch was cleaned up, I headed to Hagerstown. I spent about an hour or so mowing up at mom and dad's (with a push mower of course). Mom and I ran to the mall...but other than that the rest of the day was uneventful! So I was active today!!!!

It's been so hot, I'm wondering if that is also affecting my weight. Could very well be. I've drank a ton of water today. My 64 ounce mug has been refilled twice...yep, I'm on my third mugful of water for today. Yeah, that's a lot more than normal...but remember, almost 10 miles on the bike, walking outside for a couple hours, an outdoor flea market, and an hour of mowing. Ohhh did I mention that it's like 95 out...with really high humidity????

Beef Burritos

1 lb hamburger or turkey (lean lean lean)

1 can fat free refried beans

1 package taco or burrito seasoning

1 cup cheddar cheese (I used fat free)

10 96% fat free whole wheat Tortillas (I used the misssion)

-Brown the beef or turkey, mix taco/burrito seasoning as directed on package. Mix in refried beans. Place 2-3 heaping teaspoons on each tortilla, add cheese; wrap. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

grocery shopping done!

I went to the grocery store today. I had to stock up on all my fruits and healthy foods for the week. I came home and right away set about washing the produce and cutting it up if it needed it (pineapple for one). I have learned that I'll be much more apt to eat the produce if it ready to eat in the fridge. Stuff like green peppers, onions and such that I use in cooking I do prepare as needed. However, if I plan on having salads for myself throughout the week, I will clean , chop and dice that as well. The first picture is some of the produce that I'll be eating this week. Looks yummy! The first picture is my produce that I fixed up for this week. If you notice, most of that first picture is fruit. Well, that is because I can and preserve a good deal. So I have lots of veggies from my garden from last year that I"m finishing off the preserved harvest. The second picture is one wall in my canning pantry from last year. YUMMY! Not the greatest of pictures but you can see some of the jars that are filled and ready to eat.

Tis freakin' hot here! I don't' want to do anything. The only dang thing I've done is go grocery shopping...oh yeah and I"m running laundry through the machines. I'm even too dang lazy to hang my clothes outside and today would be the PERFECT day to do so. OH well.

Not gonna go down without a fight!

Dang! I was up .2 pounds today....179.2! ARRGGGH I want to go DOWN and not up! I need to hold onto the 170's! I refuse to go back to the 180's. I'll only go kicking and screaming!!

So, what am I doing about it? Checking my efforts, keeping my eye on the goal and moving forward!

I rode the bike for 45 minutes this morning....just couldn't get my legs moving. Yep, it was at like 5:15 AM. I'm at work and I forget my actual mileage, but it was around 14 or 15 miles. I'll be on my own for all my meals (basically meaning that Todd and I are working totally opposite schedules and that I won't be making a communal meal for the two of us). I can USUALLY eat much healthier when I'm cooking for myself. Simply because I eat mostly fruits and veggies. Today even more than normal as I have no bread left...used the last for my toast this morning. Yep, I really need to get to the grocery store either today or tomorrow!

I am going to stay on the straight and narrow eating path though....no matter what the scales say. Because sticking with it will eventually catch up on the scales and show fabulous results!

Meanwhile, what the heck is the problem with me. For the last few months, I've awoken at 5 or 5:30 AM. This is totally not me! And it's not as if I'm going to bed earlier. I usually go to bed around 11PM. I'm getting an average of 6 -6.5 hours of sleep a night....so it's not too far off...but just a new phase in my life.

Gotta go through my closets again. The khaki's I'm wearing to work today are like HUGE on me. I'm having to hike them up every time I get up from my desk to walk somewhere! (yeah yeah yeah...I forgot to put on a belt!) I had that problem with a pair of shorts the other day...and some of my shirts are looking huge also. Tis' a good feeling!

Friday morning

Sorry to inundate everyone with pictures...I'm just messin' around...and liked this little old building. :-)

My weight. This morning I was at 179.0. Still under 180 pounds so I'm feeling ok. It has crept up 1.4 pounds these last few days...so I know that I need to grab the reins and pull it together now that the dust is settling after our last couple days.

SO, what is my plans to get my weight back down? Well, first and foremost, I have laid out my food plan for the day. I know what we will be eating and have planned my day so that my points are right on target for the day. (with 2-3 points leftoever for a bit of a snack later this evening). I drug myself out of bed at 5:30 and I rode the bike. I did a more hilly route on the good ol' exercise bike. I need to push myself outside in the morning and ride outside...I just hate to go out so early in the morning...on those back roads that are so narrow. And definitely not right now...becaus we still have tree limbs and debris on the road!

Diligence is the key. Staying focused and keeping my eye on the end result. Understanding that life pushed a little and I had not much control over it...but now that the control is back in my hands, knowing that I have to take that control and use it to my advantage.

I think that is one of the biggest lessons that I have learned on this journey. Realizing that life is not always going to play by the rules that will allow me to easily lose. There are going to be numerous bumps in the road. Some I will have no control over. Others I'll have very little control over. What I've learned is that I need to just roll with them. Accept them for what they are...do my best on them (or if it's a situation that I chose to do badly, accept it) and move onward. No guilt, no self pity, nothing. I did my best the last few days.....consequentially my weight is up a bit. So, no guilt, no pity...just plans for the future!

Settling down!

Here is a picture of a view up on my road. Would you believe that there were people that actually drove under the tree.....that was being suspended by power and phone lines??? Can we say freakin' nuts???
Here is a tree at the Antietam National Cemetery. This was actually outside the gates and I didnt' have the time to trapse through the whole cemetery. BUT, looking in it looks like they lost a bunch of trees! This tree was like many of the others around...the wind literally sheered off the top...and the weight of it falling split the base!
So, what do you do at home when you have no computer, no electricity, nothing??? I was laying on the couch reading and fell asleep. When I woke up my little Ethel Louise was sleeping on the arm of the sofa. My moving to grab the camera woke her up, but as you can see....just barely.

Things are settling down here. THe phones are still out. But the power is back on. The internet is working (cable), we have repositioned the satelite, which was pretty much ripped from it's moreings so we have tv. Uhhhmmm...what else. The yard is pretty much cleaned up. And I was able to stay within my points limits today! SO I'm back! I know that my weight may be up a bit tomorrow morning...but I'll be ok!

Crazy topsy turvy 24 hours

Well......surprisingly enough, we did make it to the gym. Felt good. I trucked it on the elliptical and then went to the treadmill to finish up my hour of cardio. I'd been on the treadmill for only a few minutes when Todd motioned for me to look at the tv. Yep, a big storm was bearing down on us. Wait, to be more specific, it was bearing down on southern Washington County where we live. We've had problems with a leak around our one door....the seal or something....when it rains really heavily.....we wanted to get home to check it since we had hoped it was fixed but we were not totally sure. So we grabbed out stuff and ran out the door. We hadn't gotten far when my cell phone rang. It was mom, she was calling to tell us that the storm was bad enough that there were tornado warnings. Mom, being a mother wanted us to come to her place and wait it out. We of course went on home. After all, our babies were in the house (not to mention the water/door issue). Well, it poured the whole way home. But it was just a pouring rain. UNTIL we got to our road. They had it blocked off....NOT a good sign. There were trees, power lines were down. It was a mess! We somehow made it home. Yes, the front door still had leaked a bit. BUT then lets be objective, 2.5 inches of rain in 20 minutes. The neighbor said that you couldn't see more than 5-10 feet because the rain was dropping that much. So, we spent the afternoon finding construction material that was blown from hither to yon. (oh yeah, we haven't found all of it yet) and using the chainsaws to cut down trees from the road, our driveway and our yard. I ate late, and i ate out for the second time that day....and then we went to mom and dad's to shower. (yes, the power is out...as are the phone lines...AGAIN...the phone lines on our road got hit with lightening last Friday night or Saturday....and we only got phone service restored on Tuesday night.....By Wednesday mid-afternoon...GONE again!).

They haven't' declared it a tornado yet (it would have been a week one if it was.....mostly trees and power line damage....although a few houses and buildings sustained some damage. Whatever it was.....it was powerful.

So, my weight was up a bit today....only about a pound. It could be water. It could be the fact that I ate really late last night. Who knows. I had no choice but to eat a big breakfast out this morning. (well...we don't' have many choices of restaurants locally to Sharpsburg......not unless we want to drive a gazillion miles). I also couldn't exercise this morning. I didn't want to get all hot and sweaty. I already feel grungy enough without having water at our house (no power equals no water in the country). Luckily, right as I left the house this morning to come to work, the power flickered back on! WOO HOOOO!

I'm not going to worry about my weight. It just means that I will have to be super diligent from here on out to make sure that I stay on track to have my first successful week of maintenance. I WILL DO IT!

The good news just keeps piling on!

Woah doggie, the news just keeps getting better!

Last week I had blood work done. I hadn't heard anything back from them...so I called today. They pulled up my report. She was like, "yep, everything came back clean" Well, I had to ask a few questions. You see....I suffer from high cholesterol....my total cholesterol has always hovered around 250....even after I lost 50 pounds my cholesterol was still at 250. In general, anything over 200 is high.....anything from 180-200 is borderline. WELLLLLLLLLL.....my cholesterol is now...are you ready.......am I building suspense??? Anyway, my total cholesterol is now 162! That is almost one hundred points lower!! My HDL levels (the good cholesterol did go up a few points) but the bad LDL level dropped drastically!

I actually slept in this morning....didn't wake up until 6:30. How wonderful is that! I've been waking up at 5 or 5:30 for the last few weeks! I think what happened this morning....at 4 or 4:30 (can't remember which) I woke up to a cat coughing up a hairball (more on that incident a little later). I cleaned it up and crawled back in bed. I laid there for about a half hour or so...just day-dreaming, groggy...but not quite awake enough to get out of bed. Well...I fell back asleep. Woo hooo! I wasn't too worried about my bike ride though...because we are planning on going to the gym today. We'll see if it happens. I hope so! (that is the rainy weather plan.....I was going to push mow for umpteen hours...but it's a bit damp and wet out).

Hairball. I woke up to that ohh so terrible sound....Todd woke up at the same time. We both flipped on the lights on our nightstands and we both rose to a sitting position. I was apparently a second behind Todd in my movements. And as he threw the covers off, his hand flew out and whack...hit me square on the nose! OUCH! He's rather upset about it....I keep telling him that things like that happen and not to worry!

My weight this morning...home scale weight... 177.6!

And apparently I was the big loser this

past week in the Blog world summer biggest loser!

A reminder of how far I've come

Thought I would put a reminder on to show where I have come from! BLEECHHHH I never want to go back there!!!

weigh in results

Above is a picture of my 64 ounce water jug. I actually have two of these. This one and a blue tinted one that is more clear. I carry one of these jugs around with me pretty much everywhere. In fact, it is becoming my 'trademark'. One day I was working at the drive through but happened to step away from my desk. One of my co-workers greeted the customer. Well, when I walked back and talked to the customer this person was like, "I wondered where you were...I saw your mug but you weren't here" OH my......I'm known for my water jug!

A picture of me in my size TEN dress. WOo hooo!!! Size ten. I am still in shock that me, the girl that at my highest weighed in at about 315 pounds is wearing a size ten!!!!

Well, enough on that. I was so super nervous when I stepped onto the scale at my meeting tonight. I lost a whopping 8.2 pounds! 8.2 pounds in ONE week! Oh my word! How in the heck-er-oonie did I do that? That puts me at 179...which is under the doctor set goal weight for myself! So, I officially made it to my weight watchers goal! 6 weeks of maintaining that weight (or under) and I'll be at lifetime! Woo hooo! I"ll have to see if I can get a picture of my goal charm thingy that I got tonight!!!

Beauty

I was actually not standing between two trees....but ON one tree that formed a big "V"! (Todd didn't get that part in the picture)

The other picture is one of Lockhouse and lock 37. It's from the east, looking west with obviously the lock in the foreground and the lockhouse in the distance.

Ohhh, what a beautiful morning, ohhh what a beautiful day! Ok, I'll stop singing now....not because I don't' want to scare you...but because I don't know the rest of the words to that song! Tee hee hee.

My morning. Woke up as usual (darn...I wish I my body would let me sleep in) at around 5AM. I laid in bed for a bit and then decided to push myself and exercise. Got a ride in and was feelin' good! I had breakfast, put some dishes away and had checked my email by the time Todd rolled out here. He asked if I wanted to go for a walk. OF course! We went down to lock 3 on the C & O Canal (Chesapeake and Ohio) . What a grand day for walking. Todd was comfortable in shorts. Me, the one that is always cold felt great in jeans, a tee shirt and a sweatshirt! Got to play a bit with my camera...nothing spectacular. But fun none-the-less.....and we are always adding to our collection of canal pics so it was all good.

My weight this morning. OHhh yes....my weight. I dropped another one. Yep, I'm down to 178.6. Now this is SERIOUSLY the lowest I have ever been as an adult!!! I remember once in school (either 8th grade or my freshman year of high school) being weighed and being 178! WOO HOOOO! SOOOO it's looking good for my weigh in tonight! I may just make it to goal!

Hello arthritis

Dear Mr. Arthur-itis,



Thank you for visiting me today to remind me what I used to deal with on a regular basis. I have been wondering where you went. I was honestly hoping that you had moved on to your next victim. However, I realize that that is not how you operate and that I will have to suffer through your occasional visits. I am happy to realize how much I was able to negate the devastating effects that you had on my body simply by losing weight and adding physical fitness into my life. I'm sure you remember how I used to sit and rub my knees during the day, or how I would cry in bed at try to move so that the constant ache was eased. Ohhhh the sound of my knees creaking and popping......all but a distant memory, except for these little reminders. I hear people talk about how their doctors told them to exercise in order to ease arthritis they in turn and say, "that's crazy, because moving hurts". Oh my how sad that makes me. You see, the doctors are dead on correct....it doesn't eliminate, but it sure help! I can now go months with no issues, where as before pain was a daily occurrence.



Please Mr. Arther-itis, please feel free to leave and not come back! I won't miss you at all.



MaryFran

More weight gone!

179.6! What is up? Nope, I'll take the drop in weight anyway I can get it! It's just so odd. TO about 4-5 days ago to be sitting staring 187.8 in the face....and now to be looking at 179.6!!! AMAZING! I'm working to try to keep my weight under that 180 mark! I'm nervous about it. BUT I refuse to mess it up by doing something stupid...not if I can help it! :-)

A friend and I were talking this morning via email. She remarked on my exercise. (I had mentioned that I had gotten a ride out of the way early this morning....this morning twas a shorter ride at 7.47 miles...yesterday was longer..and she was commenting on both). She was like, 100 pounds ago would you have ever thought you would be doing this. I had to answer and say, "yes, I was still somewhat active" (thank goodness I never let myself go that far). BUT the difference was that a 5 mile ride would have knocked me flat for the rest of the day. I'd be exhausted and just worn out. NOW, I get up and ride double, and triple that (sometimes even quadruple), I get off the bike and I'm rarin' to go. Today I was cleaning the house and listening to music...and literally dancing around. ME...jumping and dancing???? It is a testament to my physical health. Amazing!

a few more pics

A new picture of me from today. AND this is absolutely my favorite tree at the Antietam battlefield.....hell it may be my favorite tree anywhere! :-)

Sunday Surprise

Here are some pictures from Todd's mysterious surprise. OH yes, and my new camera. I had a blast with it. Still playing with it....so things are not perfect...but it's fun.

Weigh in this morning....... 182.8 That's another holy moley 2 pounds gone! Yeah, yeah yeah..I'll be the first to admit that some of the poundage that I've lost in the last few days is the water retention weight that creeps on each month during the ick.

Scared stiff though. Because I've gotten to 180 pounds before and seem to pop right back up. For some reason getting past 180 just seems to not happen. Well this time, when I hit 180 I'll also be celebrating reaching my weight watchers (doctor approved) goal. SO I'll be celebrating. It's bad enough to get there and then pop right back up. BUT, to celebrate reaching goal and then mess that up...that would be 10 times worse! That scares me! Yeah, I know that knowing this will hopefully make me be super religious and don't do ANYTHING to mess it up. Exercise religiously and all that. (I did that last time too...but lets not thing about that!). I just want to get below the goal and put some pounds between me and that goal....a safety net!!! And then power through to lower numbers!!!!

I woke up at 5:30 or so. I laid in bed until 6 and then hit that exercise bike. Did 14.2 miles. Todd did tell me that we would be doing some walking today......and to take the cameras. (batteries are all charged and ready to go) SO I'll get some more exercise in there also! :-) Well, I've breakfasted, and answered my emails. I think I'm gonna go lay in bed with my snoozin' husband and read a while! Sounds like a good plan to me!

Well, I saved this as a draft this morning...and here I am...it's now more than 12 hours later! WOO HOOO! I did go back to bed this morning for a bit. I didn't sleep, I did my favorite thing....READ! Todd woke up and I rolled out of bed. We talked about the plans for the day. We decided to skip church (bad bad bad, I know) and go straight to this mysterious event. He told me it started at 10AM. That bugger, he wouldn't give me ONE SINGLE SOLITARY HINT! Not even on the drive there. He would laugh and pretend he was going to turn...I'd start guessing something in that direction and he wouldn't turn...or turned around. He was utterly mean! HE actually didn't tell me until we pulled up at the place. He took me to this architecture museum in Frederick......it's a historical thing. They had a colonial America (actually Colonial Maryland) living history exhibit. I love history. It was very cool. I've honestly never really delved into colonial history. My passion is a bit later in history...but I was very intrigued and enjoyed myself immensely.

I've done REALLY good eating wise today. Todd and I were like soo close to going out to eat. However as Todd put it, we would have a much more difficult time eating healthy and resisting temptation at a restaurant versus at home. PLUS we had corn on the cob and and chicken shish-kabobs at home! Yeah, they would have waited..but they were mighty tempting. And yes, they were mighty good also!

Just playin' around tonight

A picture of my baby Ethel!
Is this what smells so wonderful in my yard? I was out there sniffing trying to track it down!
A corn planter that is half buried by weeds on the edge of our property.

I've had a good day. Like I said previously, I exercised early this morning. BUT to add to that, I've thus far been able to keep my eating totally under control. As long as I can stay away from the kitchen tonight I'll be a-ok!!!!

My day.....well, we went shopping. I drug Todd back and forth across town. Well...I wanted to make sure that I was getting the best deal on things! And then we ended up going back to the first place....best salesman....and locally owned and operated business. GOTTA go with the locals if at all possible! We ran into Sam's Club....Todd actually picked out a pair of shorts. Shorts that I saw and LOVED for him...but I thought that there would be no way in H E Double hockey sticks that he would wear. He saw them and wanted them! Hot diggity...SOLD! Lets see...and DVD's for the business. OH yeah, exciting stuff. Then we went to the grocery store. More excitement. tee hee hee ANd of course the liquor store on the way home. NOT for me. I don't drink my points. First of all I HATE beer....but most importantly, I don't want to ante up the points for alcohol!

What I did ante up the points for......the new Weight Watchers chocolate Chip cookies. They weren't all that bad. Yeah, I'd prefer my homemade ones (or mom's...but that's the same as mine). BUT, then I end up with a big bowl of cookie dough staring me in the face...and then a whole batch of cookies to contend with. These are individually wrapped and it wasn't all that bad. I won't mind working on that box.....managed carefully and eaten over the next few weeks!

We were so busy with our shopping and mundane errands that we didn't go to the movies. OH well....if we get rained out of my mysterious surprise tomorrow maybe we'll end up at the movies. tee hee hee Oh yeah...one more clue. I asked Todd if I should be taking my camera....at first he was like, "yeah, I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea". This evening he was like, "definitely". HMMMMM

Woo hooo. Yesterday I was 187.2. I was a good girl yesterday....I did splurge and eat something that I really didn't need last night. I mean, seriously...did I need that toast 30 minutes after dinner? No...I probably didn't! HOWEVER, I had the points for it! SOOOO you may be wondering what the scales said this morning???? 184.8. WHAT??? What kind of drop is that? I'm not complaining though!

I woke up this morning at around 5AM (5:02 to be exact). I didn't want to move! SO, I just laid in bed, snuggling under the covers until about 5:40. Felt good to be a bum! Side note of funniness. As I was laying there I moved a little bit. Todd was laying next to me (obviously) and he rolled over practically on top of me and held me down and whispered "Do not fidget or move". Well, I couldn't because he was holding me down. I just lay there and he relaxed after a few.......I didn't fidget for a while...lol. I have no clue what he was dreaming about...but I received my instructions. Anyway, at around 5:40 I got out of bed, went to the bathroom (that's when I weighed myself...woo hooo), grabbed my headphones off my desk and onto the exercise bike I hopped. I rode for about 30 minute......yep, watched the next episode of my the biggest loser while riding. I was off the bike, in and out of the shower and ready for work at 7AM. I was productive with that time. I did a few dishes (I had forgotten my containers from my lunch box last night when I did dishes....and I cleaned a few things out of the refridge), I updated my coupon book, finished my grocery list, and organized some files of recipes. Oh yeah, exciting morning. Now here I am at work.

Todd's plans for today did get cancelled. I think we are going to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. I've heard conflicting things about it....that it's neat to see the characters from the previous movies...but the plot is a little lame. Hmmm who knows. I think we'll see it regardless. I want to walk through the mall and go into the camera store. I've been pondering a new camera for a while....I'm thinking I'm gonna go for it! (Todd's given his ok). And I'll probably get my groceries while in town. I want to run into Sam's Club also.

Candy and bad for me stuff at the movies. The popcorn I can resist from buying. The hard part will be if Todd wants it. Because if he is sitting beside me nibbling.....eii yii yii...that is when I'll find it hard to resist! BUT I will. I do not want to undo my great weight from this morning! If I can hold that weight, it will put me 4.8 pounds from being at goal at my meetings! Woah...I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I may get to lifetime SOON!

Uhhh yeah, I guess the camera will be my goal/lifetime reward. :-)

Heart Rate Information

I've spent a lot of time looking at heart rates and figuring out where mine should be. It seems as if most of the calculations are based on simply age. Every once in a while you find something that is based off of your resting heart rate. I thought to talk to my doctor about my resting heart rate. (yeah me...he gave me two thumbs up....because mine is in the 40's...which he said is the heart rate of an athlete....HA, that's not me...but at least my ticker is in shape. He said marathon runners actually can actually get their resting heart rates down into the 30's. Uhhh yeah, that's probably not gonna happen for me!)

So, I found this today...and blatantly stole it from a friend, Thanks Tom if you read this!

Maximum Heart Rate
The simple formula and one most commonly used is:

220 - your age = MHR

In may case that would be:220 - 35 = 185

However, the scientific community uses your weight and some other unknowns to get a more accurate MHR. Let's see how close the two are.

Formula: 210 - 1/2 age - (0.11 Xs personal weight + 4) = MHR

Using the same guinea pig again (me)

210 - 17.5 - (0.11 X 185 + 4) = MHR

192.5 - (20.35 + 4) = MHR

192.5 - 24.35 = MHR

168.15 = MHR

Hmmmm.........that is actually close to what my 85% goal is when I calculate and figure out the zone that I should be working using age and resting heart rate.

Which to use???? Which to use???? I don't' like decisions!

OK, one last thing that I'm going to add here...something else I have ripped off from Tom....these question and answer segments! They just about made me roll! Funny because that kinda parallel the thinking that made me fat in the first place! Anything to rationalize my weight and why I was doing such unhealthy things to my body! Regardless...read and enjoy the way out there thinking!

Maybe I should call these (not so) Healthy Tips!

Question: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

Answer: You must understand logical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay & corn. And these are? That's right, vegetables! So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetables). And pork chop can give you 100% of your RDA of vegetable products.

Question: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?

Answer: Your heart is only good for so many beats and that's it...don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap!

Woo hoooo it's Friday!

The library.

The living room.

Me in the kitchen.

Here are some current pictures of our place. For those of you who haven't been following this saga. We own a property that a family member was living in. The family member trashed the place. I spent a YEAR cleaning and redoing pretty much everything. If it stayed, it was bleached, then primed with Kilz (that stuff is wonderful) and the painted! We installed new toilets, sinks, tubs, floors....everything. You name it! NOTHING, but nothing stayed untouched! Here are some pictures of the fruits of our labor! We moved in a few months ago. We are now working on the outside. I'll be happy when this project is complete and we are simply doing normal common upkeep!

Ok, this morning my home weight was at 187.2. I know that I get depressed if it goes up. However, I need to keep track of it. Not knowing is worse. Because if I feel or perceive that I did bad and I think that the weight is up, then my eating reflects those thoughts. Meaning I feel fatalistic. I think it would be better to know. That said, for the last 3 weeks or so I haven't' been weighing daily. My weight has gone up...and it's not going down. I've come to the conclusion that staying away from the scales does not work for me. Thus, I'm going to start weighing once a day again. Nope, I may not put my weight on here...unless it totally shocks me. But I will know! :-)

Last night I was simply exhausted. It's been this way for the last week or so. I'm just so utterly tired that I can barely function! It's absolutely crazy! I ended up going to bed at about 8:30 or 8:45. And when I say went to bed. I don't mean went to the bedroom and read, or talked to my husband or anything else that you think I may have done. I was ASLEEP...SOUNDLY by that time! I don't' remember ANYTHING at all until around 5:15 this morning when I heard a cat. Oh yeah, the cat woke me up....and once I cleaned up the hairball I was wide awake. (What is it about hairballs that wakes one up?) SOOOO I did what any questionably sane person would do. I got on the exercise bike. I rode for an hour or so! Felt good. I'm tickled that it's out of the way! :-)

With my exercise done, I decided to just continue on in the healthy vein of thought. After putting the dishes away from last night (hey, they had to totally dry didn't they?) I made myself a sandwich. The sandwich was lite bread, egg beaters (1/4 cup....to equal one egg) and a slice of fat free cheese (man, the fat free cheese has improved in recent months/years....it actually melts now!!!!). I filled my water jug (yep, I also remembered to bring it to work today...almost forgot but remembered as I was locking my house door so I was able to run back in and grab it), took my multi vitamin and I was feeling GREAT with myself. :-)

The weekend is almost upon me! Just work today and a few hours tomorrow morning and I'll be FREE! :-) Todd was supposed to be away tomorrow...but it's contingent on the weather, and the weather is not cooperating with him. SO I don't know what we are going to do! On Sunday, he has some sort of surprise activity that he is taking me to. I have utterly NO clue! He says it's outdoors. In the afternoon. We should eat a light lunch before we go (previously he had mentioned that there is no food involved, but we would go out to eat in conjunction with this activity). Uhhhhhmmmm what other clues. I think he said that it may be a county or two away. He's driving. He said I should dress casually. He thinks its funny because I told him that i think he's taking me to some beer brewery or wine tasting. And I'll admit, that I don't' like beer.....and honestly I don't' like wine much either. (yeah yeah yeah I know...no class at all......lol). I've been tempted to look in the papers and online to see what activities are happening locally this weekend...but I haven't yet. Admittedly it's killing me to not know!!!

Thursday and a headache..what a day

I've been tagged by Debbie : Here ya' go.

The rules:1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

I"m not going to tag anyone, but if you are reading this and want to participate, your more then welcome!

Five Things About Me:

1. I have four cats. Lucy, Ethel, Desi and Jody (Jody was already named when I got her, I refer to her as Jod-i-fred to keep the I Love Lucy theme)

2. I tend to jump from job to job. I get bored with what I'm doing and that means it's time to change 'careers'. (Right now I'm a bank teller.....far cry from my college degree in elementary education.)

3. I'm a city girl that is slowly becoming accustomed to the life as a country girl. Amazingly, I"m finding that I love certain aspects.

4. I'm really really really afraid of mice and bats. (and other creepy crawlies)

5. I love to cook and try new recipes!


Well, there you have it.

I'm really really struggling tonight. I just can't seem to get enough food into my body! What's up with this. I want to keep eating. I know that there is no way that I can truely be hungry, yet I want to continue eating. I've eaten pretzels and some almonds! OH yeah and a piece of chocolate......just a little piece. It makes no sense. I just got good news that puts me REALLY close to making goal with weight watchers. YOu'd think that that would totally cause me to jump up and down with excitement and buckle down to get there! It's having the opposite affect. I just want to eat more! This is NOT good!!!!! I'm refusing to eat any more tonight!!!!! I'm just not going to do it!!!

So what's up with this? Is there any rhyme or reason to this? Am I afraid of reaching that magical goal? WHAT WHAT WHAT???

Todd had the bikes our and ready when I got home. I walked in the door and he was like, "lets go." I asked him how he felt......he said he was still feeling pretty bad but he wanted to go. SO go we did. WELL, after we were out on the bikes, he admitted that he didn't eat lunch....because he was afraid it would make him sick and he then wouldn't be able to ride. So not only was he feeling sick to his stomach...but he was weak from not eating! OK, I love my husband but wherein the world was his mind?????? He made it about 2.5 miles before we had to turn around. SO I got in about 5 miles. I came home and set about to ride the exercise bike to make up the difference. Well, as I've mentioned, I utilize the laptop to watch videos on Youtube while I ride. FOr some reason the interenet was really sluggish....or youtube was sluggish...somthing was sluggish. I couldn't watch my video. Well, that just blew my mind and I ended up going about 2 miles more before quiting. It is neat to see how motivated I am to watch that show...motivated to ride like a demon while I'm watching.

Exercise and onion rings?

Well, I woke up early to exercise. But my husband got up at the same time. That normally doesn't stop me from exercising. What stopped me was his idea. I get off at 3PM today. He will be home at around 2PM. He was like, "lets go for a bike ride together this afternoon". I jumped at it! I would MUCh rather be outside being active. No contest there. However, after I had putzed around and pretty much wasted that alloted time, he starts talking about how miserable he feels and how sick he is. Wait a cotton pickin' minute. How are you going to go on a ride with me if you are sick? This happens often. I'll forgo exercise in the morning (when I KNOW it will get done) to wait to exercise with him. (which I do enjoy when it happens). And then when the time comes to exercise together something comes up and we dont' do it. At that point, the newly freed time then gets sucked up leaving me with no exercise. This is not cool! So I flat out told him...."if you dont' go, I've still got to exercise...so don't plan anything else for that time". It's not that I don't want to be with him.....but I have to take care of me!



Got my water all ready this morning. (Took my vitamins also) and what did I do? I walked out the door without it! I'm like totally lost without my water jug! Yeah, I'll be able to continue using it when I get home. HOWEVER, here at work, I'm forced to use the styrofoam cups that we have beside the water cooler. At least we have them....BUT, I like my water jug?



Ok, I'm done whining about the water now! I'll move on to my weight. Well, wait, I didn't step on the scales this morning, so nothing to say about that.



And a recipe for those of you out there that loves to try new things......Baked Onion Rings.



One big sweet vidalia onion

flour

egg white (or egg substitute)

seasoned bread crumbs



Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and preheat oven to 400 degrees.



Place the flour, egg whites and bread crumbs in three separate bowls. Peel and slice the onion, separating the slices into individual rings. Dip each ring first in the flour, then the egg mixture and finally the bread crumbs. Making sure to coat it thoroughly. Place breaded ring flat on the baking sheet. Repeat with each ring. Bake 20 minutes or until onion rings are crispy and cooked through.



I usually do one onion for my husband and I. It gives us plenty with some left over. The amounts of flour, egg white and bread crumbs varies with the size of the onion. I usually just start with what I think looks good...and add to as I need. :-)

A gain

No surprise there! I showed an 'official' gain of 7.4 pounds. THat puts me BACK at 187.2 pounds. 7.2 pounds away from my new weight watchers goal. THEN I can focus on going lower and meeting some of my own personal goals).

I have been doing really good with my healthy habit challenge of remembering my multi-vitamin. I was a bit worried because I"ve been trying to take it as soon as I wake up in the morning....however today I waited until I came home from having my bloodwork done. BUT, I remembered! :-)

I've been busy today. I woke up at around 5:30. I started cleaning the house. At maybe 7 or so I was almost done so I sat down and answered a few emails and such. At 8 I headed off to get my bloodwork done. BY nine I was back home. I changed my clothes and headed outside. Or technically out to the screened in porch. I painted until about 1 or 2 (stopping for lunch of course). I then took the garbage from inside OUT. Pulled the garbage from the cans, put new bags in the cans, gathered some construction garbage and bagged it up...and drug the bags to the roadside. I came back in from that and Todd looked at me and was like, "Your a machine". hopped on the exercise bike and logged some mileage/time on there before finally heading to the shower. :-) Todd and I then relaxed and played a little xbox together. LIke I said..busy day. Pretty soon I have to start breading onions for some baked onion rings. Mom and dad are coming to dinner tonight. I'm having grilled chicken (it's been marinating since last night), baked onion rings, and corn. MOm is bringing a salad and some fruit. A nice healthy meal.

Last night I was a bit bothered. I was chit chatting with the receptionist at my meeting and she was fine. AND then I gave her my doctors note. OH my word....she turned cool and snippy. What the heck? THey dont' get paid on commision do they? LOL Oh well..I don't really care.

A new goal to work towards!

Ok...here is where I'm at. After my mamothly busy day yesterday I was anxious to step on the scales. I ate healthy...I worked hard. Things were gonna be ok. Maybe not as low as i wanted them to be...but ok. I saw the number on the scale and totally started to cry! WHAT THE HECK? 190.6 pounds! WHY WHY WHY! This is so totally outrageous. Ironically enough, last night my husband and I had been talking and making lists of things that we would like to get done soon. On the immediate attention list was "make a doctors appointment for MF". During this 'stuck in the 180's thing (Since last September) I've had numerous people advise me to go see the doctor. I've been told that it is possible when you lose a lot of weight to through your body systems out of whack. So this morning at 8AM i called the doctor. They gave me an appointment for TODAY. I went at 10:45 this morning. Well, I learned a few things today.

Number one: after visiting the doctor the ick arrived. A week early, uninvited..but oh well. So that will account for a few of those ten pounds that's I've gained in the last 2 weeks...ok maybe 2 of them.

Number two: I am having the bloodwork done. I'll be going tomorrow mornign first thing as this is a fasting type of bloodwork. So I won't have the results from that for a few. I'm having my cholesterol checked, my thyroid checked, something called a metabolic panel..and one other test that escapes my memory. I'll go tomorrow to have the blood work taken.

Number 3: When I told the doctor that I was frustrated about working to reach a goal..and not moving, The doctor asked me what my goal was. I looked at him and was like, "I have no clue" I've never been this weight as an adult...so I'm just working toward the recommended goal for weight watchers (which is based off of the BMI) I told him "I was wondering what you recommend as I have never been on the thin side as an adult" He did some kind of calculations on the paper and looked at me and said, "As a 35 year old female, being 5'8" tall you should weigh..." Are you ready? Betweeen 160 and 180! I looked at him in shock. Because as I've mentioned on mroe than one occaision, 160 is pretty much the high end for my height...NOT the low end. I told him that. His words were,"and not to be rude, but you are not 20 years old anymore" He did say that it woudln't be impossible for me to get under that mark...but realistically I should be aiming for between 160 and 180. HOLY crapola! I told him what weight watchers was having me shoot for. He shook his head in amazement. YES...he wrote me a note to give to weight watchers so that i can to adjust my goals to match my doctors recommendation.

I will still have to get myself past that 180 barrier. But hopefully just knowing I'm right there....next to the 'goal' will ease the tension and maybe I'll pop through that barrier. And yes, between you and me, I still think it woudl be a total lark to make it to 150. :-)

The doctor, who is a big guy himself (and whom I actually haven't seen for a while, since I don't go to the doctor all that often, and the last two times I've had to see someone else in the office) just sat there in amazement...kept asking me all sorts of questions about how I did it. Actually told me that I dont' have much of a saggy skin problem. I laughed and told him that I 'hid' it well! LOL

Todd had gone with me....and the doctor noticed Todd's weight loss also.

On the way home Todd looked at me and was like, "I will do whatever needs to be done to help you get there". He went on to say that he would be doing it because it would benefit me...but it would also really be benefiting him...to help kick start him to lose more. So hopefully things will start to work. :-)