How much weight can some water retention be?

How much weight can some water retention be? Well for me it was about one and a half pounds this time. Yep, that's what I dropped this morning on the scales. I'll take it!

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!!!

Well, I was a bit disappointed this morning. I stayed on target yesterday. I rode my bike yesterday. I did good. Yet this morning I was up on the scales. Even though I'm disappointed, I'm not going to worry about it. It could be the residual effect from my weekend (shoo fly pie), afterall, I was shocked that I hadn't gained over the weekend. Or it could be from the high sodium foods that I ate on Sunday for one meal and for two meals yesterday. Either way, I'm not going to let it get me down.

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!

I swore that after my weekend that I would be right back on track. I have planned my meals for today and I'm ready to go. (they are a bit higher in sodium but it's all good). At 6:30 or so this morning, I talked my husband into heading out on the canal with the bikes and I got an hour ride (ok, 50 minutes) this morning before coming to work! It was a crazy ride. A deer jumped out in front of us at one point. And on the way back we heard the cracking of a tree...and we pedaled fast to get away from it....it fell across the canal about 10-20 feet behind us...where we had just riden. Crazy I tell ya! I went back to the house and got ready for work, played around with my pictures from the weekend and here I am at work! Fun stuff.


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!

Pedal to Preserve 2009, originally uploaded by mfcstotler.

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!)

Pedal to Preserve 2009

Pedal to Preserve 2009, originally uploaded by mfcstotler.

Strasburg, originally uploaded by mfcstotler.

After our ride we did a flying tour of some of the Lancaster treats. We hit up the Intercourse canning company, The Kettle Kitchen Village and we rode on the Strasburg railroad. We all enjoyed dessert at the Red Caboose Inn dining car before saying good by and heading in opposite directions home.

Today is the day!

YIPPEE!! TOday is the day!!! Lancaster Lancaster here we come! I get off work at 2...so the plan is to pull out of Sharpsburg at 2:05 or 2:10! WOO HOOOO.

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)

Update on my cousin! First of all, thank you for your kind words, thoughts and prayers!

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!

Last night I had a quote come to me from one of my all-time favorite movies. "Get busy livin' or get busy dieing". That is exactly what I've got to do. It really is a choice that I have to make. I can live or I can die and the end result is a cumulation of my food and exercise choices. It really is as simple as that. Get busy livin' or get busy dieing!

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!

WOrked really hard this weekend. Mowing (push and riding) mulching (filling up the wheelbarrow from the pile, emptying the wheelbarrow one shovel full at a time), running that darn pesky chipper, laundry, bike ride, cooking, cleaning, baking. You name it and I did it. BUsy busy busy. I didn't overeat. My food was right in line with where I wanted it to be....and yet, my weight stayed the same. Now if I remember correctly, when I was at this point the first time down, this 'hurdle' was a difficult one for me to pass. My body didn't want to give it up. It's frustrating...and I know that the more I DON'T see the results on the scale, the easier it is for me to cave and do what I want to do.

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!

What a week! It's been crazy. I feel as if I've been running in circles and getting no-where. I don't rightly know why I feel like that, because when I look at what I've done and had to do, it's not all that much. But just a lot of things are going on that I'm juggling in my mind.

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!

mf

Hayley....licking her lips..but that's my baby cousin (not so much a baby anymore and actually the oldest of all the youngsters in the family now...but she's the one that started the onslaught that brought about a total of 2 cousins, 2 nephews and 1 niece).

I went down to see Hayley yesterday. She is scared but seemed to be doing well. They have apparently ruled out her heart as a culprit and have since confirmed abnormal blood vessels....more information today.

If that doesn't motivate me to take care of my health to manage everything that is manageable...then I don't know what else will!

The fragility of health

I have a relatively small family. A mother and father (thank heavens both still living), an uncle (with a wife and two young children aged 11 and 8) a brother (with a wife and three young children aged 8,6,and 2) and a husband. That's it. Yesterday morning I woke up and all was well in my world. Everyone was relatively healthy. (my parents are getting older and experiencing some issues brought on by their age but that's to be expected). I operated all day on the assumption that my family was well. Until I got the phone call last night. I answered the phone and happily greeted my mom. She started right in on the news. "Hayley has been in the ER all day". Hayley??? She is my 11 year old cousin. I immediately thought of afflictions that commonly occur with an 11 year old tom-girl. Broken arm. Broken leg. Yeah, something like that I was sure. But then my mom said the words that caused my spinning thoughts to cease and for my body to start shaking with shock. "They've confirmed that she has had a stroke." Looking back, the family realized that she had been having problems and dragging her one leg. Her younger brother after the fact told how she was having problems 'getting a grip and pulling herself up into the truck the other day' But it wasn't until she was writing a report for school and her mother saw her writing, normally neat was now illegible even though she was painstakingly working on it. And then all the small seemingly innocuous symptoms clicked together (hayley is a bit of a drama queen and has on occasion created 'injuries' for attention) My aunt called the doctor and he sent them immediately to the ER. Hours and tests later and the reports came back....'she's had a stroke'. The hospital readily admitted that they were out of their league and started making plans to send her to one of he hospitals in the dc metro area....via a helicopter. However, the fog had rolled in by that point so they went by ambulance. (the helicopter scares me...you don't airlift someone unless it's very serious!........the last time they talked about airlifting a family member was when my grandmother had a stroke, caused by an aneurysm....the one that eventually killed her....and the fog rolled in that night also and she went by ambulance....so way to reminiscent) We are now waiting for more news.

In one day my healthy family has been turned on it's heel. I've talked in this blog about my cousin and the fact that I worry about her because she is a solid girl and I fear that she follows in the footsteps of so many people in our family history and struggle with her weight all her life. (her mother just had gastric bypass...so weight problems are very close to home in her case).

What does all this do to my thought processes in regard to my weight loss journey? On one hand it scares me because without knowing the reasons for Hayleys current problem, I know that the path that I was on could so easily have brought me to a stroke or worse. It also makes me feel proud because I have greatly reduced my risks for stroke and heart problems. Most importantly, it has really cemented in my head how precious and fleeting good health is. And on that same note, it has made me realize that everything I do has an effect on my health.....and it makes me want to do everything I can to avoid something that can be avoided by a healthy lifestyle.

I faced he scale this morning and I have to admit that I'm 3 pounds up. Sobering within the context of everything that's happening.

Throw out the rule book and lets start afresh today. My well laid plans just weren't all that well laid I guess. You see, the plans were that...plans. But when it came to implementing them, EVERYTHING seemed to get in the way. So I ate this weekend. It could have been worse. I didn't go HOG wild, I just went partially wild. I did work in the garden a lot, I got a bike ride in, I walked a fair amount, so all was not lost. But saying that...my normal level of exercise was definitely not met this past weekend.

My weight this morning. I haven't a clue. I kept falling back asleep and just didn't get on the scales this morning. No excuses, I kinda forgot and I kinda didn't care to remember. I vow though to face the music tomorrow!

Today was a rainy day. The rain was hitting the roof and the windows in a lazy pattern and I just wanted to curl up with a book on the sofa and relax all day. But nope, here I am at work!

Friday fumblings

Well well well, another day here. I woke up this morning and I just did NOT want to exercise. I didn't want to weigh myself. I just didn't want to do anything. So I didn't...

Haa haa haa, WRONG! I weighed myself. I was wondering what the scales would say after my big loss yesterday morning. Down two tenths of a pound more. So all was well. Exercise? It was 6AM. I didn't need to be to work until 10..but I just didn't want to do it. I fiddled around. I put together some of the food for dinner tonight. I packed my lunch. I drug my feet. I kept telling myself that 'you can ride tonight after Todd leaves to go see his movie". However, as we all know...that doesn't work that well for me...something almost always comes up and I don't do that evening exercise. Sooooo, FINALLY at 7:30, I couldn't delay it any longer. And I went and hopped on the bike. 50 minutes down! I got off the bike, hopped into the shower and got myself somewhat presentable, but put back on bike riding clothes (clean ones thank you very much) and I rode into work. And here I sit......bored, anxious to be done for the day......two and a half hours left!

I did struggle some this morning. I was planning the days food and really struggling. My calorie count was super duper low, but my fiber count was super duper high. Go figure! I finally got something worked out...but I'm still 150 calories 'under' my daily goal. (that's not even including my earned exercise allowance. Oh well...we'll see how I feel tonight and play it by ear!

At work today I planned out tomorrow and what I plan on eating and making for dinner. Why the careful planning, it's our towns annual memorial day parade and my husband and I plan on eating something from one of the vendors for lunch tomorrow. But, I've worked it into the budget so it should be all good. :-)

Stick a fork in my because I'm done! Ok, maybe not so much done today...but yesterday...YIKES!

Woke up and let me tell you, I worked. I ran the chipper for a couple hours. Running the chipper involves walking to a pile of wood (brush, limbs, etc etc etc) picking up a piece or two (sometimes a bunch that I then drag with me), walking it to the chipper and shoving said wood down the chute and then repeating the processes. Over and over again. Every once in a while, I have to turn off the chipper and drag a bag of newly minted mulch across the yard and to the flower bed of choice. SO in essence I moved a wood pile twice (once in tree form, once in chipped form).

After the chipping fun, Todd and I ran to the next little burg and picked up cat food and a few more plans for the vegetable garden (I swear...no more!) and stopped at the diner there for a quick lunch. I had a turkey sub (1/2) and applesauce. We went home. Not the healthiest...but yummy.

After we got home I changed my clothes and headed out to ride. I was out about 2 hours. I will admit to stopping midway. My stomach was hurting and I didn't know why. The only thing I could think to do was to eat a clif bar (they are the best energy bars out there...in my humble opinion). It worked, I felt much much better. (I guess my cheerios and my turkey sub and applesauce wasn't enough). I finished my ride and headed home. I was out in the yard working by about 3 and didn't come in until 7PM. (I moved 100 pound blocks of cement, dug up another vegetable bed in the garden....and just in general worked my tail end off).

FINALLY it was time to go inside....and then I made dinner. Pizza and breadsticks.

SOOOOOO I ate horribly yesterday. I think I ate more than 1.5 thousand calories than my budget allows. I did however work my tail end off. So this morning......my weight dropped 2.4 pounds! Yeah, I'm stoked! The problem????? I"m sore!!!!

Got my plans for eating today all laid out....that number is going to continue to go down!!! Oh yeah, I also rode this morning for 71 minutes.

What it boils down to is this: If I eat right and don't cheat, I lose. Go figure. I'm hot on the trail today...determined to lose. :-)

Nuff said!

Ok, I lied. The scales were still not kind (showing a loss) but I'm ok with that. I've made my plans for today and I'm determined to stick to it. I've already exercised for 83 minutes and all is well. :-)

Now I've said enough!

I had a list of lots of excuses as to why my weight is back up today. I could say how my mood and emotions were just on a rampage this past weekend. I could say that the monthly ick is around the corner. I could babble about how the internet at my house was out all weekend (apparently the cable company didn't bury the line far enough and the line got nicked during all of our gardening ventures) and since the internet is how I track my food and where I make my plans...well there goes that! I could babble about how my back hurt so I didn't exercise. I could go on about the wind that kept me from getting on my bike. The cold that affected my knees. I could just keep going on and on. But they are all excuses.....SOOOOOOOOOO....

I messed up! I didn't eat properly and exercise religiously this past weekend and my weight on the scales reflect that! Whew...honesty hurts sometimes! :-)

That said.....I made it to the gym this morning! And I'm getting ready to get online and make my food plans for tomorrow and this evening (track). This weekend I made Taco soup. I picked up the recipe a few months ago and I've been wanting to try it. However my hsuband always was so skeptical that I never made it. Yesterday I said, "who cares, if he doesn't like it he can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich". SO I made it. First of all, it makes a LOT. It is dang dang dang good! VERY good! Todd had seconds! So that means he liked it. And then today when I went to prepare lunch before heading to work Todd was like, "Why make that...lets have the leftover soup because it was sooo good." I have a little bit more left that I may have tonight! :-)

I always denied that I was an emotional eater. I mean, I eat when I'm happy, I eat when I'm sad. I can pretty much eat all the time. But just in the last two days I've realized that yes, I am an emotional eater. It comes with being an addict. A food addict that is. When I'm upset, I know that food will give me that momentary high, it will take whatever pain I'm feeling away, temporarily...but it's a good thing. On the flip side, when I'm feeling good and on top of the world I think about food and know that if I just eat a bit more, then I'll feel even better. It's the mentality that 'things are already so good, and the only thing that would make it absolutely perfect would be to eat something super duper yummy!" (and thereby get that 'high' that 'rush of pleasure'.) That is simply another form of emotional eating. The list goes on...I'm tired, so I eat because it will fill me with a sense of satisfaction and well being...something that sleep and rest would do. I look to food for everything because I know that whatever I'm doing, food will enhance it.

An addict...I am plain and simple an addict. Food is my vice. I use food to enhance my moods, to change my moods and as a crutch to get through life.

So why do I talk about this today. Yesterday morning there was a bit of a marital spat in the house. I tried to deny my mood all day. I tried to push it to the back of my mind refusing to acknowledge that anything was wrong. No one that talked to me had a clue. But the emotions were simmering. And I managed to only eat the amount of pizza that I had allotted for myself at the work birthday party. I however later in the afternoon added and extra cupcake to my food eaten list. Ohhh and some ice cream. I then went home and didn't stick to my eating plan for dinner...but added a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (on top of my dinner food) and another cupcake and later I made popcorn with lots of butter. So it eventually caught up with me. Sooo today was spat part two before I came to work. And I'm bound and determined to not let it affect my eating today. I will not will not succumb!!! I will not medicate my emotions with food today. (and yes, today it would be medicating my emotions...tomorrow or another day it may be enhancing my emotions...but today it would definitely be medication.

Yeah, yeah yeah...the weight is up today. Not surprising!

How quickly the mighty fall!

Yesterday i was so gung ho. I was proud of myself because even though I succumbed to the cake batter, I adjusted the planned food intake for the rest of the day and all was good. I was on a high of pride. But then it all crumbled around me. How?? Well, of course in the evening when I made a fudge icing for the cupcakes! Icing tastes so good ya know! Sooo I had chocolate fudge icing.....washed down with a cold glass of milk. Nope, not counted at all in my food budget! So the scales were up .6 of a pound. Expected! I've owned up to my eating catastrophe and I'm moving on!

The cupcakes. I saved two mini cupcakes for each of us for dessert tonight and the rest have been brought to work. Some are on a cake plate to eat today...and the others are in Ziploc bags to put in the freezer at work...so they can eat them here over the next few weeks. I'll be fine with that.....I'm not overly tempted here. (Closet eater am I)I do plan on eating pizza with the group for lunch...but I have accounted for it and it is planned into my food budget!

It just goes to show how quickly things get out of hand. I wrote yesterday afternoon about the pride high and how I want to remember that....but mere hours later I was in a chocolate daze after shovelling the leftover icing into my mouth! There is NO excuse for it...but I think what happens is that I take a taste without thinking. Sub-consciously...testing it. And once the taste is in my mouth, I can't stop!

No fears...I'll lick this addiction if it's the last thing I do. Ohhh no....wait, I don't want to LICK it....how about I beat it! tee hee hee