I’m Maryfran, a down to earth, open and honest writer who has had incredible success with weight loss (150 pounds) and also a regain. I’m currently on a weight loss journey and working to lose my weight. I write a little about everything....life is so interconnected and all encompassing! Belief is the key to success in life and how I came up with my name for my sites! Believe!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Houseguest
This was our houseguest that crawled up to our house on Saturday night. Sunday we headed out to the canal and rode. We had fun riding our bikes and enjoyed the wildlife and scenery...and of course Todd got to see some train stuff on the path! After we got home I made lunch, todd left and I spent all afternoon cleaning and doing chores around the house.
I've eaten a bit too much food today...but I've been active, so hopefully it will all wash out!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Not gonna let it get to me though. Plod on....do the job. I was thisty when I awoke, so that's one thing that may have affected me (I know when I'm thirsty/parched when I wake up that it usually heralds some dehydration. Ohhh wait...I ate dinner about 3 hours later than normal last night....and with dinner, I had a really big diet drink (isn't there a lot of sodium in diet drinks?). No worries....eat right and it will come back off!
On to the sad news....the RedWings lost last night in the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Penguins took the cup. Booo hooooo hooo....now we have to wait for a new season of hockey come fall.
Friday, June 12, 2009
So today, I'm staying within my points no question about it!!!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
What also became clear is that if I can change my weight, my eating habits and lifestyle, that I can force myself to make those first few steps toward the freedom that I would really like to have. The freedom to not be afraid to try new things. I'm smart enough to realize that the more things I face, the easier it will become in the furture to face other things!
So that is my deep thoughts for the day!
Now onto my weight......Yesterday morning I woke up REALLY eary and rode the exercise bike for 70 minutes. After work Todd and I went for a walk for about 45 minutes and then we walked again later for another 45 minutes. I had hoped it was enough to negate our evening plans......I just wasn't sure.....
The concert....fabulous. Everytime I see these two bands, I grow to like them just a little more...which is amazing because Chicago and Earth Wind & Fire are already two of my all time favorites. They are first and foremost amazing musicians but they also put on one heck of a show. We left last night from our house at about 3, hooked up with another couple and drove down to the metro area. We ended up getting to Columbia at around 4:15. Our dinner reservations were at 5. While the bar was open and we had briefly discussed going in and chit chatting at the bar while we waited for the third couple that was joining us for dinner. Instead we decided to walk the path by the lake. I wasn't going to turn down that opportunity to get a little bit more activity in for the day! Dinner was very good. I got baked ziti and a diet coke. Todd ordered a seafood pizza and a martini. The portions were HUGE but very tasty. I honestly had been planning on getting a dessert, but the meal was HUGE and I literally had no room for dessert. Yay for me for listening to my body's signals. After dinner we headed over to the post (merriweather post pavillion). Right as we were walking through the parking lot, the rain started. Luckily most of it held off until we got under the pavillion. And then it let loose and poured. I felt badly for the people that had lawn seats and were out in the rain. But oh well...that's why we paid for our seats...no worries about weather. It was still pouring when we left...so we were wet when we got back to the car. Oh well....I'd rather get wet on the way out versus on the way in. Now I'm tired...because I was up yesterday morning ag 5AM, but didn't get to sleep until 2AM this morning...that's a 21 hour day...and today I'm operating on about 5 hours of sleep. Oh well, I can make it. :-)
Soooo, the weight this morning?? I was down 4/10ths of a pound! WOO HOOO
I will admit that today will probably be a day off from exercise. Not because I'm sore or anything, only because I'm just really tired!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
How much weight can some water retention be?
This morning I woke up early and I hopped on the exercise bike and rode for 70 minutes. Whew! I've discovered that I get a lot more hot while riding the bike in the bedroom versus the living room. Oh well, the bedroom is where it's at now. I then got ready and here I am at work. I work until noon today and then I'm off the rest of the day. I am debating the merits of riding again after work. Why? Well, first of all, if I can ride outside it would be really nice!! But secondly, tonight we are heading to a concert and the friends that are going with us have made reservations at an Italian restaurant. I love italian food! So I'll be eating tonight. Sooo an extra ride would help negate any extra food I eat! Hmmmmmmmmmm But then on the flip side, I've already ridden 70 minutes today...roughly 17 miles on the exercise bike. Do I want to over-do it??? My knees (the wonderful arthritis) has been acting up for the last week? So would it be prudent? I'm going to play it by ear and see what happens. Maybe Todd will be home and I'll be able to 'con him' into going on the canal with me! :-) Of course the sky isn't all that clear...not really overcast....just hazy. SO you never know what the weather holds!
Ok...mini goals. I'm going to reward myself in 5 pound increments. What to reward with though. Hmmmmm Well, you know, money is tight so I haven't been buying books...and I haven't bought a cd in ages. Soo every 5 pounds I'm going to reward myself with a book OR CD. I was 204.8 yesterday morning...so I'll give myself a head start and give me that .2. So 200 is my next reward!!!
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
This morning we woke up and headed out of the house to hit up the gym. On the way to town we started talking about how we needed to get the mowing done for my parents. So we diverted and headed up there to mow. I push mowed for about 45 minutes. After that we hit up Sam's club and then went home. We hope to maybe make it to the gym tonight. Hopefully! If not, I'm going to try to hop on a bike (inside or outside...depends on the weather) and ride tonight! I made lunch for us both A baked corn casserole which is not too sweet, but is quite yummy in it's own right. Tonight for dinner we are having grilled (hopefully outside, but if not on the indoor grill) turkey burgers and watermelon. My calories are all accounted for and I've actually not used any calories that I burnt from mowing, so all should be good!
Monday, June 08, 2009
I am deeply blessed to have made this friend and I'm so touched by what she has written about our friendship. It truely does put to words what it means to me! If you don't read her blog, check her out, click the above link!!!
A copy of her post....
Saturday I completed my second biking event since losing 75#'s, with the support and encouragement of a very SPECIAL friend. I am sure many of you read both our blogs, and MaryFran beat me to posting, so check out her blog http://www.mfclingan.blogspot.com/ for an hour by hour recap of our mini trip this past weekend.
She is one special friend, the two of us having read each others weight loss blogs for over a year now, and met in April for the first time for our first biking event. I write this post this morning before heading off to work, to tell her how much I appreciate her support and encouragement!
We both have had our ups and downs with losing our final 20#'s, but we have been there for each other, and even though we might be still working on it, we have not stopped supporting each other and have maintained our previous losses. My friend has lost over 100#'s! We are both determined to finished our journey and in the end will not only be able to say we have done it, but that we have created a lasting friendship as well!
So no matter where you are at in your weight loss process, or frame of mind you are in right now, my advice today is to make a new friend. Find one that has similar interests, no matter if they live in your home town or hours away, like Mary Fran. I did, and it is the best thing that could have happened to me!
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Todd and I got to Lancaster at about 5:15 on Friday night. We had just checked into our hotel and had taken our bags (and my bike) up to our room (yep, I carted my bike up to the top floor of the hotel!) when my cell phone rang. It was Donna...they were in Lancaster! Woo hooo, we headed off to dinner and hooked up with them. It was a great time of chatting...and of course my shoofly pie was really good also! After dinner we went to a store for a local winery and Todd tasted and picked out some wine (I got a new ice cream maker as my old one had a bad issue that rendered it useless). We ended the evening in the hot tub!
Saturday morning was perfect for biking. Not sunny..but not raining. Not too cold and just perfect for a ride. We got to the event and quickly registered and set off. The roads were great to ride on...open farmland that was spectacular to view...and the wide open roads allowed us to ride side by side and chit chat the whole way! Before we knew it, the ride was over! We ate the lunch that we provided and then headed off for a day of fun with friends. We hit up the Intercourse Canning company, Kettle Kitchen Village, Kaufman's Farm Market and then the Strasburg Railroad where we rode the train. After our train ride, we went to the Red Caboose Inn and had dessert in the dining car. Yep, I had shoofly pie again. After our dessert we said good by to our friends and drove home.
Halfway home Todd announced that since he wasn't all that hungry that we should probably just go home and get a light snack for dinner. Uhhhhh I was STARVED! I could have eaten a horse! I talked him into going out to eat on the way home. (whew...a snack didn't sound like it would suffice!)
Friday, June 05, 2009
Today is the day!
It has been steadily raining all day yesterday, all night and it's supposed to continue all day today and through half of the night tonight! It SHOULD stop by 2AM (according to weather dot com). And the sun should be out at 6!!! I sure hope so! HOwever, I do have two rain ponchos in my bike bag..and I have my rain jacket that I purchased this spring. And oh well....I'll just get wet! But I'm sincerly hoping for sunshine!
Tomorrow Donna and I ride again! It should be fun!!!!! And what spectacular scenery to see while riding!
Super excited about seeing our friends Donna and Andy. It promises to be a great weekend...rain or not!
My weight this morning 203.2. Now, don't get excited about a drop in my weight. Yesterday evening I sorta lost control. Well, not really lost control, I just ate a little over my calorie count..but it was a lot of dairy products. I don't normally eat so much dairy. (at least I think it is the dairy that caused my problems) so round about 9 or 10 last night my stomach started hurting...and I spent a portion of my evening reigning on the porcelin throne! So I'm sure that's part of my weight loss. (ok, way too much information I'm sure)
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Thank you It has been a long long week and a half! All last week every test that Hayley underwent (and there were plenty) showed evidence of a stroke. Around Friday, the moved her to Hopkins in Baltimore...simply because they had the capabilites to do neurosurgery to repair the blood vessels in her brain. Hopkins commenced with some more (and some repetative) tests to pin point exactly what the surgery would entail. Low and behold, all signs of a stroke had disappeared! We rejoiced because this took away the need for invasive brain surgery, it truely was a miracle. However, we were still worried because we needed to know. We needed to do whatever need to prevent anything like this happening again. What caused it? They were hinting at a genetic problem...what would this mean for Hayley's brother....for myself? We really began to pray for answers.
Hayley went through more tests.....they redid tests. They grasped at straws and were somewhat baffled. While this continued, her paralysis and jerking movements got worse. The other day it all fell into place. Hayley is suffering from Reumatic Fever. The treatment.....antibiotics. In fact, every 3 weeks until she is 21, she will be receiving an antibiotic shot to prevent infection which can bring on a flare up of reumatic fever. She will be in physical therapy for her paralysis. The doctors have told us that it will be anywhere from 3 months to a year for her to recover from the effects. She came home yesterday and couldn't be happier!
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204.0 that was my weight this morning. Not all that grand. Rather embarrassing to write. But i'm going to do it anyway. Todd and I will be in Lancaster Friday evening and all day Saturday. This is the weekend of the next bike ride that I am participating in with my online blog buddy Donna. Wait, she is actually now my real life friend!!! I'm excited about the ride and both Todd and I are really looking forward to hanging out with Donna and her husband! I have to say that I plan on splurging and eating my shoo-fly pie (which I do only get when I'm up there). And I'll admit, I may get a piece of pie on Friday night AND saturday also. At the bike event, I think that Turkey Hill provides ice cream (they are a sponser/member of the preservation group that is hosting the event)...and yes, I probably will have a small bit of ice cream. If we get to the canning company, yes, I will eat some samples! I'm not going to worry about it. I'll make the best decisions that I can while eating. Enjoy my splurges and on Sunday morning when I get home, I weigh myself and get back on track!
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
The other thing that hit me last night was that I'm letting some demons in my life are at war within my life and those demons are causing me to feel that "why should I? What's losing weight going to do". Fatalistic, yes...very. I need to kick those demons in the butt. And actually turn it around and say, "I'm going to lose weight BECAUSE of the demons...." And yes, after thinking about it for a while, I can definitely come up with a mental plan of attack that does turn my thoughts and energies around from something so fatalistic to something that is kick butt. It's going to be difficult to retrain my thinking and to banish those fatalistic, 'why should I....it's not going to make a difference' thoughts and turn them into the the new 'think outside of the box, do it in spite of those demons'.
This morning, I'm working on my eating plans for the day and I've already exercised so I'm on track!
Monday, June 01, 2009
ARRGGHHH never ending vicious cycle!!!
My next ride is this weekend. Saturday to be exact. Todd and i will be heading up to Lancaster on Friday afternoon. We are hooking up with our friends (hi donna) this weekend. I'm really looking forward to the weekend. My legs felt like lead weight this weekend on my ride. I'm assuming because I had already worked like a banshee by the time I took my ride!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
So eating wise, I'm going to openly admit that I've done horrendously! I don't know what my weight is today. The alarm went off and my husband immediately jumped out of bed and was like, "before you shower can you help me with this this and that". So I helped, and then hung my clothes on the line outside, and then I grabbed my breakfast BEFORE hitting the shower.....and I therefore forgot to weigh in. It's crazy how getting away from your routine really does mess things up.
I went right to the computer (after all my morning madness was done but before going to work) and I've entered all my food into my journal for the day...so I'm set! I just need to get some kind of exercise in...which should be mowing at my mom and dad's places. I'll probably throw in the towel and mow for my aunt and uncle as this week is utter hell for them. So taht is some exercise. I think in the afternoon after I get back, Todd and I are going to work on chipping that wood pile...and getting the land ready for the sheds to be constructed. Exciting stuff. Dinner tonight ....we are starting a fire in the fire pit...Todd wants steak cooked on an open flame. I'll have a turkey hot dog cooked that way (as I'm still not doing beef). I do believe I"ll be baking some potatoes at the same time. Tomorrow night is italian turkey sausage kabobs! YUMMY!
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