Down a bit more...

This week I was down another 0.4 lbs. not much but better than up! It's very busy and not much time I've got a bout 4 more hours of work tonight so I really have to go!

Hi! Weigh in day today...

Well today was WW weigh in and I was down a total of 40.8 lbs! so I was 197.4 lbs. It's been a tough and busy several weeks and I'm afraid the loss this week was due more to tummy issues than good diet plan. I really need to get the bike trainer back in the house and do some riding. I've not done any serious riding for quite a while and it shows. I didn't ride to WW this morning as the temp was only 35 degrees. Yep, I'm a wuss. I need much better (warmer) riding gear if I'm going to ride in the cold.

Here's hoping I can keep the losing up this week (minus the tummy bug please!)

Anyone out there that wants to tell me how they are doing???

Better late than NEVER right?

Tuesdays weigh in was disappointing. Up 0.6 lbs. OK not horrible as I know it was water weight.(my legs were swollen) but not down either. I'm hoping for better this week.

I do need to get some riding time in this weekend. All my exercise this week has been garden related. However the tomato plants are loving being up off the ground and safe from the slugs and somewhat safer from the chickens. Our chickens only eat the little Sungold orange cherry tomatoes. How ever those they LOVE. Good thing I planted way too many again this year. I think I have about half the tomato sauce I need for the year. Lots more tomatoes that are not quite ripe. Not as good as last year but doing OK. The green beans are producing enough to freeze some and the kale, Swiss chard and collards are all doing very well and I've prepped and frozen some but need to freeze more as DH loves them. DH dug another bed and I need to figure out what crop to to plant there for early spring harvest.

Maybe a good ride tomorrow. I think I can talk DD into going with me.... After we clean out the car for the astronomy night tomorrow. Telescope won't fit in along with her friend if we don't clean it all out!

It's a record!

199.4 lbs as of my weigh in on Tuesday! I finally made it to my goal of anything below 200 lbs. that means I'm down 38.8 lbs. I'm also short on time today so I'll try to add to this later. School has started so DD is using my computer for online school till we get hers set up.

OK. It's tomorrow , sort of...

Actually it's still Thursday by a few minutes. But I decided to hop on while things are calm and somewhat quiet. The babies (7 week old chickens) have suddenly decided to be very noisy. A couple more weeks then they will be outside and the house will be livestock free again. That will be a very good thing even though I will miss seeing them all the time. Face it they are cute! but back to our regularly scheduled program

Which trike to buy...

For me and probably DD the front runner is currently the Terra Trike "Tour". DH is looking at the Terra Trike " Sport". I'm not sure if he's looking at the Sport Elite or the Sport Pro but it has a lot of features that better fit his general riding style.

Catrike has only one trike that fits my x-seam (Distance from the heel to the back of your rear if you are seated with your back sloped at a 60 degree angle) That would be the "Pocket" all the others you need to have an x seem of 39 inches to ride. The pocket does seem to have some nice features but I would HAVE to buy it in silver as the only other standard color is lime green. ($1,950) Yeah I could pay more for a better color but for $99 to $150 I can live with silver, I'm not so sure about the lime green. I'm not sure if DH has looked much at the Catrike so I don't know which model he likes.

Greenspeed has 3 nice touring trikes. gto, gtr and gte Priced at a bit over $4000 means it's not really in my price range but they are really nice bikes.

Of course if I'm going to dream big there is Windcheetah custom built and very expensive. $3500 to $5000 give or take a few bucks. Yeah not happening but a cool hand made trike they only make 2 a week and you have to "get a slot on their production schedule. This how ever is the one lots of Trike riders drool over.

OK now I really need to get to bed and will try to be back tomorrow....

Update only 2 days late!

And I'm down 0.8 lbs . Just over 1 lb until I set my next goal! 201.2 lbs as of Tuesday. I'm finally getting back into the grove.

DH asked me how much warning he was going to get before he had to buy the new trikes and plan "The Trip". LOL! I think he's finally won over to the idea of trikes, though we still need to find time to go to the shop and test ride a couple to see if it's really going to be what we want. So far we've looked at Terra trikes, Catrikes, and Greenspeeds. I'm thinking about the Terra trike"Tour" model for DD and I. DH is looking at one of the higher end models for him as he does a completely different kind of riding than I do and would be able to use it for riding other than family outings. at 200K to 1200K per event his riding needs are quite different and I'd rather he buy one more expensive trike than 2 expensive trikes. This will save money AND room in the garage, both significant issues. I'm not sure which is a bigger issue LOL! This could change but Judging without actually trying the others is tough. Based on the specks Catrike is out for me as My X seam is just too short. Most Catrikes say x seam of 39 inches and I'm only 34 inches. As is on the Terra Trike I need the extra short size. Only the Catrike"pocket" is built for short riders. Having said that we'll see when we get to the shop and actually try them out. Greenspeed is more expensive and I'm not sure I want to spend that much money on a trike. (OK I don't want to spend that much times 3 for one for each of us.)

Darn, I running out of time. I want to write more but it will have to wait till tomorrow. Today was the first day of school and Homeplate is tonight and I need to scramble. More tomorrow...

Oh my it's been so busy here...

Yes that is my lame blogger excuse and I'm sticking to it!

This summer has been full of visitors and stuff going on. In the last week I've picked blackberries and Tomatoes. I've made blackberry, raspberry and blue berry jam, canned 15 quarts of tomato sauce, dried tomatoes, potatoes, peaches, cantaloupes, and blueberries and made beef jerky. OH I froze blueberries too. We also recently collected the honey form our hive and spun nearly 60 lbs of honey. At 1-1/2 lbs per pint that's a lot of honey! So Sorry but I'm back. Sort of. We leave for camping tomorrow and will be back on Monday then leave again for a bike ride on Friday. After that tomato season really hits and canning will commence. Oh yeah, school starts soon too, at least I think I'm ready for that one.

Other than that life's been a bit boring. Diet has been a bit depressing though good news I'm finally moving the right direction! Yesterdays weigh-in I weighed in at 202 lbs! I've been flat for so long I was giving up seriously. I finally talked to my WW leader and we had a great session after the meeting. this plateau was long and tough to break but I'm finally lower than I was several months ago. I'm hoping that next week I'll finally be below 200 lbs. We are actively starting to talk about doing the family bike vacation and probably some time soon will begin training for it.

We lots to do so I'd better get back to it.

my 100th post here...

and as it's weigh in day I wish I had better news. up 0.8 lbs. Actually not bad considering that we had company last week and ate out many times and had little exercise. This weeks hot weather may well keep me form exercising much but I'm not eating much either. At 6:23PM it's 105 degrees outside and very warm inside. I'm dripping sweat as I type as it's very hot upstairs where the computer is. So back down stairs to cool off.

Sorry for being MIA. We had out of town company this week.

Weigh in was Tuesday as usual. I was down 1.6 lbs. Yea! I'm betting on up this week though. Company and eating out always kills me. I hope I'm wrong. I seem to be stuck. I can't seem to break that 200 lb mark.

I really need to focus on diet and exercise for the next month or so and get back on track. No eating out. Get up early so that I can beat the heat and still get a ride in daily just make it happen. No excuse, no whining. Just get off my rear and do it.

Wll inspite of having relatives here last week and DH gone ...

I was exactly flat same as last week. Which is better than I deserved with all the junk food around and no exercise. So far this week I've done 2 rides, one an hour around town with some extra hill climbing, the other to Weigh in this morning.( 4.4 mi each way) I also stayed for a refresher run through with the new people. I do think I really need to start not only writing down everything again but also measuring before putting stuff on my plate. Serving sizes seem to creep up a bit.

My DH is being very very helpful and supportive since he's been back from his 745 mile ride in California last week. After 745 miles in 85 hours he's been eating and sleeping a lot though now he says he thinks he's recovered enough to slow down on the eating and cut naps back a bit. I'd say "some day maybe I can do that" but ummm no thanks. Self abuse really isn't my thing. What ever he enjoyed it anyway and after all that's what counts!

Grrrrrrrrr. So ticked at me...

Up 2.6 lbs for weigh in today. I'm so busy doing stuff I'm not getting on the bike. My attitude is sliding and I need to re motivate. I refuse to give up and I need to get off my but and jut do it. Now off to get some more work done so some day I will have time.

BMI

I just got hooked onto my HMO's online system so that I can check my med records, e-mail my DR etc. under diagnoses Obesity was listed. Oddly pre-diabetes and high cholesterol was not. In January I was 238.2 lbs. That's a BMI of 41. My BMI has dropped from 41 to 36 since then.

My cholesterol a year ago was elevated though down from what it was a year before that. How ever my good cholesterol was low and my triglycerides were high. I'm having this checked as I'm hoping that LDL is up and Triglycerides will have dropped with the new diet, weight and activity levels. I go in tomorrow for a blood draw. Wish me luck I am hoping for some good news.

Tomorrow is Weigh in day again. I was hoping to have a loss and be down 35 lbs but I'm not sure I made it. I know I haven't managed to get anywhere with the new challenge. Just too much to do and little time to ride. I will try to take time off to ride into weigh-in tomorrow. DH is out of town and DD#1 is coming wed with the kids for a few days then DH will be back and his dad will be here a week later. Some where in all this I NEED to get some good riding in.

DD#2 fell off her bike last week and ended up with 6 staples in her knee. Hopefully I will be able to get her back on the bike after her staples get removed on Friday then we can go together. Or maybe my awesome friend M will keep DD for a day and DH and I will be able to go on a day long ride. He hasn't been able to lately due to some serious overtime. Oh well. If I have to I will put the bike on the trainer and ride. At least the air conditioner is installed. DH made time to do it before he left for the week.

My back is doing better but my hip is still bothering me some. I guess I'll have to talk to the Dr about that when I talk to her about the blood test results.

this weeks Weigh in, days events, a new challenge and etc.

This week I lost the 2 lbs I gained due to medication and 2 more besides. Yea! So I'm at 204 lbs with only 4.2 lbs to go to meet my next goal of under 200 lbs.

The rest of the day has been quite busy with the bike ride to and from Weigh in, a total of 8.8 miles. Then working on the chicken coop and later DH decided he was in the mood for ice cream. We decided to ride the bikes it's about 2.5 miles each way. about 2 miles into the trip to Dairy Queen DD took a significant spill off her bike and we ended up having DH ride home for the van and then went to Urgent Care instead. DD was a great but ended up with a lot of scrubbing for road rash on hand, elbow and knee and 6 staples in her knee. To add insult to injury she had to get a tetanus shot too. Poor thing. It was a pretty traumatic day for her as she has never had to have stitches before. DH being the awesome Dad he is took us for Ice cream after urgent care at 10:30 PM even though he really was no longer in the mood for Ice cream. I ate about 1/2 of a kids scoop at 31 flavors. I really wasn't interested in any more. DD is now passed out with the knee on ice and elevated. She earned a pamper day tomorrow even though I suspect the Tetanus shot will be the worst of the pain tomorrow, but hey trauma deserves some bit of babying.

DH has proposed a new challenge of 45 minutes a day 5 days a week bike ride and Bite it ,Write it for 2 weeks. So far I'm doing OK on the bite it write it. but I've already missed last Sunday and Friday for biking so I'm really going to have to be careful not to miss any more of my rides. Once again the Prize will be an unknown and not as big as the last prize but I think he got a bit carried away last time! I love that he cares enough to challenge me to really do this when I start getting off track.

etc is all trivial...

DD#1 and the Grand kids are arriving in 8 days I need to get things ready for them to visit. DH told me that his Dad and SO are coming sometime in July. So finishing the chicken coop and major house cleaning, and gardening are an URGENT need. I will be busy for a while, but it will be nice when all is in order.

I'll try to post more often now that I am back up to speed physically. I need to keep updated on the challenge anyway!

DH just reminded me of one more thing. I have some jeans I pulled out of the closet to wear while working on the chicken coop. They are about 24 or 25 years old and they are a bit loose! So that would mean I'm in a smaller size than I've been in since my early/mid 20's. I've never tossed them as they are still in good shape. (it's been a LONG time since I've been able to wear them!) I've moved these old jeans from norther CA to Southern CA to Texas back to Norther CA a couple of places in Northern Ca and then on to Oregon. I've maybe struggled into them a hand full of times since but they've always been very tight. I do believe that when I lose another 10 lbs or so maybe I'll buy some Jeans in a smaller size and burn the darn things! Hey I'm only one size away from buying clothes in the regular store not in "Women's Plus Size stores"

Gee does this mean what I'm really doing is "Down Sizing"?

ONe week later...

I've been flat on my back for a whole week. I'm finally feeling better but very afraid that I'll re-injure my back. It's been a grim week of horizontal position drugs and TiVo killed in a freak power glitch.

As you may well guess my weigh-in yesterday wasn't good. I'm up 2 lbs. One good thing is that I know it is partly due to the steroids and water retention. But Not moving for a week isn't good either.

So I'm going to gently ease back in to moving and hope for the best. The lawn needs to be mowed today. I'll try it and see if I can do it. Lucky me it's a SMALL yard. Tomorrow I'm going to try for a short ride to the grocery store, then maybe a bit farther each day this week. The chicken coop still isn't built and that will also figure into the exercise this week these chickens need to not be in my living room! I'm hoping we can have it completed sometime on Sunday as we have family coming in a couple of weeks and I need a bird free dust free place to put them!

I guess my diet goals is watch the food and not hurt myself.

Yesterday's Weigh in and What did I do?

Yesterday I was up 0.6 lbs. I know what happened. I didn't log my food Like I said I would and I only went on ONE 9 mile bike ride. My intention was to fix that this week. Yes I started logging food. Then some how....

I hurt my back. There is NO way I could get on a bike. I had trouble getting my underwear on this morning, getting on a bike isn't going to happen for at least a few days. Sigh. I can say I feel better today than yesterday. Not great you understand but way better. I don't need my DH to help me out of a chair today. I seem able to go up and down the stairs without having to drag my left foot up each step. (I couldn't even lift it enough to step up one step!) I'm definitely limiting my self for a few days in the hopes that I will heal by the weekend and be mobile enough to help DH build the chicken coop. These chicks need an outdoor home ASAP! Granted they are still lovable, adorable and cute, but you can tell by their reaction to our excursions outside that they want to be out in the big wide world. Better or not this weekend is build a coop weekend.

No telling how much riding I'll get done but I am logging my food and will be extra careful to make sure that I at least I'm not shooting myself in the foot with food.

Shopping for Bike shorts

Wow! Yesterday We all went to the bike store so I could replace the bike shorts I had out grown. I figured that surely I could find a pair in size 2X to replace the old size 3X's that were just too big. Yeah right all they had were 1X in the store. DH says try them on. OK. I was sure that there was no hope and I'd have to order online and hope for the best. Anyone who is larger than normal will tell you how much that sucks. The size 1X fit! No binding or pinching etc. I even had a choice of 2 styles!

That's right. SIZE 1X FIT! I think maybe I'll take the old ones to WW and ask if one of the ladies who is just starting to ride wants the old ones. It would be a shame to toss perfectly good size 3X bike shorts and I'll never wear them again. Tomorrow is weigh in. I'm not sure what it will bring but wow I've come a long way. I've still got a long way to go but I am going to get there.

This week in brief...

I read a couple of books. Did some garden work and was reasonably good about diet. Finally today I did a ride that was a about 9.2 miles and tomorrow is church and that will be another almost 8.8 miles. No records but better than sitting on my rear all week.

Today's ride was a bit special though. DH went out and scouted a ride for me this morning. Then he came back and DH DD and I each took our own bikes and rode the route, with a mot so brief stop to see "Up" at the local theater. DD has never ridden her bike that far by herself. Usually when we go on family rides DH and DD take the tandem. Everyone did well. DD only had to walk her bike up one hill and it really was a tough one. I made it up the hill, but it really was tough. I'm very proud of her for not only finishing the ride but not complaining about it at all.

Our strawberries are finally getting ripe. We've picked a little more than a gallon of them so far this week. Yum! Of course that means We've been eating more dessert than is a god idea. I'm going to have to freeze some and make jam soon. It looks like we have a bumper crop this year. Speaking of harvesting... Fava beans, Mustard greens and Peas are also being picked and we are really enjoying them too.

This weeks weigh in... ( Week 22)

Is a loss of 1.4 lbs that's down a total of 32.4lbs. I'm finding that I'm loosing slower in the last 6 weeks. About 1/2 as much. It really dates back to visiting my family. I got out of the habit of logging all my food and I really need to start logging it all again.

I did get a huge grin in WW meeting today. One lady who it seems was inspired by my bike riding told about how it got her back on her bike. She took it down and got it tuned up and then decided to ride to a friends house about 5 miles away. The friend said she would bring her home if she needed a ride home. She made it about 6 blocks. But she made the effort. That to me was big. Another lady told of getting her bike out and it taking 3 people to help her get on the bike. LOL She said she gave up when after all that to get on she fell off. Poor thing. I am very pleased that people are trying. I'll keep encouraging. Hopefully they will keep trying.

It's been a busy week.

Lots to do, not much time on the bike. I'm feeling it. I need to get a good ride in tomorrow.

I did talk DD into going to the grocery store with me on our bikes. She was a real trooper. I think that 2.2 mile ride each way was about the longest she's done on her bike. It was certainly the longest on high traffic roads without being on the back of a tandem. We still have some work to do before she's ready for real road riding but she is doing well and eager to do it. I'm very proud of her.

I need to try to get out on the road more myself. I need to find some good bike rides that I can do in under an hour. Either than or I need to get my bike back on the trainer soon. At least on the trainer I can squeeze in 15 minutes here and there. even if I can't get out for a couple of hours at a time.

Down 2.4 lbs for a total of...

31 lbs even. Now if you subtract the 1.6 I was up last week that's only down 0.5, but I'll take it. DH says I look like I been losing so I think I may be gaining muscle mass and losing fat. I have been doing a LOT more exercise in the last month than I used to.

I'd like to push a little harder and see if I can get under 200 in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I really don't want to get stuck at a decade mark again for several weeks. The weather is supposed to cool a bit over the next few days then warm up into the 80. That should be very comfortable riding weather, better than the 90's anyway. Last week I rode about 27 miles. Today I did 8.8 miles and if I do a couple of grocery store runs (2.2 miles each way) this week and can squeeze in a fun ride or 2 maybe I can do better than last weeks 27 miles. I need to ride with DH at least once if I can, as I seem to push harder when riding with him. We replaced the batteries in the bike computer on my bike but it's still not working. I'm not sure if we have the instructions as it's an old one that DH used to use. I guess I'll just have to start timing my rides again to figure out how fast I'm going. Google map can tell me how far it is. That will work till we figure out the Bike computer issues.

Yucky

Feeling a bit yucky today as I ate too much. Not really too many points, but to much bulk of low point foods. My stomach doesn't go large bulk well any more. It seems to cause reflux and gas. Not fun. Tomorrow I need to get out on the bike today I didn't get out and I can feel it. I did get some house work done though. Not as much as I wanted but better than it was anyway.

I have in the last few day realized that I'm not the person I was. I'm still not who I want to be but I am, I think, headed in the right direction. It's progress. Slow but progress none the less.

Motivation, trailer trial #2 fully loaded, and Share the Road

Last Tuesday at the WW meeting we talked about motivation. We talked about positive and Negative motivation and what works and when it works. Yesterday I really felt what Both positive and negative motivation are all about.

A year or so ago riding to the church 4.4 miles away ( both where we go and where WW meetings are) took 45 minutes and left me read faced sweating and nonfunctional for a good 30 min or so Every hill was a punctuated by under the breath cursing. (negative motivation I needed to lose weight)

Tuesday (30 lbs lighter) I rode and even though it was warm it took less than 30 minutes, I wasn't sweaty and didn't swear at the hills at all. (Positive Motivation, I feel better) T

Then there was last night. I loaded up the trailer with about 60 lbs of stuff (It was our turn to feeding homeless teens, and DH needed to work so we took his killer 15 lb laptop) and Off I went back to church. I thought I might be in trouble by the time we got about 1/2 mile down the street but people were counting on me to be there with food at a certain time so no time to turn back. I can tell you I was right back to that 45 minutes read faced sweat drenched swearing crazy person I was a year ago. The good news is I made it. I hauled 2 times the excess weight I used to carry around on my body. It felt good that I could. I didn't give up and ask to be rescued. Now I remember exactly what it felt like when I started. And more importantly how much better I feel now with 30 lbs less to haul around and better fit too.(Positive motivation for sure)

Speaking of fully loaded trailer test....
I can honestly say that pulling a fully loaded trailer makes you not notice headwinds or tailwinds. Yep it was tough and I have a long way to go before I'm ready to haul that load on a bike tour also a lot of hill work to do before trying to pull it in the hills. I was using all my gears and the lowest are hard to balance going that slow! I also need to figure out how to get water bottles on my bike. not being able to stop for a drink is brutal in 90 degree weather.

The trailer it self did good. My biggest problem is learning where the wheels are behind em as the trailer has 2 wheels side by side and the bike doesn't and I can't see where the trailers tires are. I also get hung up going around corners sometimes by catching the wheels on something I go around. (never when riding just when parking etc) This leads to having to swing wider around road hazards such as glass and metal chunks and way wider around dead skunks! The only moment of concern was on the way home, about 25 lbs lighter, going down hill. I was going pretty fast and hit a rough patch no problem for the bike but the trailer did a little bounce. No problems with control on the bike, just a little disconcerting. I hope I never hit a pot hole with a trailer tire! I also wonder a bit about my breaks, on the down hills fully loaded I get going pretty fast. I'm sure it's just me being nervous and I'll get used to it.

What really made me nervous was the car driving idiots that were not playing nice and sharing the road. A bit over a mile from home a pizza delivery guy turned right in front of DH and DD and could have easily creamed them had DH not been watching. Why he thought his time was more important than DH and DD's lives I'll never know. The second idiot waited for DH to cross the intersection then turned left in front of me as I was heading into the intersection. Again he needed to turn and could risk my life to save himself the 15 sec he would have had to wait for the intersection to clear. Again MY LIFE was worth less to him than the few seconds he saved making an illegal and unsafe turn. (BTW all this while we were properly using the bike lanes and following all the traffic rules.) Oh well we did survive. I am thinking about calling around to the local pizza delivery companies and asking the managers to have a discussion about watching for bikes in the bike lanes and sharing the road. Probably won't help but I would be able to blow off some steam.

Another reason to ride a bike.

I rode my bike the the grocery store about 2.2 miles away. I was on the way back with the groceries. Near the grocery store on opposite side of the street is an assisted living home. Across the street is the restricted section for memory impaired people.

In front of the memory impaired home was an old man ( probably 80+) one foot on the curb one on the grass and both hands on the grass trying to step off the curb without falling. He was returning home after visiting his wife in the memory impaired home. He couldn't step down 5 inches to the street safely, but he was visiting his wife who was unable to live in the assisted living home with him. He was trying to cross a busy road by himself. I stopped and helped him, bike on one arm him on the other, taking 3 inch steps and guarding him from traffic all the way across the street to his assisted living apartment. He kept telling me his story and how wonderful I was to help him get home.

If I had rushed to the store and back in the car, I wouldn't have been there to help him. I made pedaling 4.4 miles well worth the trip. I hope someone watches out for him on all his future trips to visit his wife.

Sometimes slowing down is just the right thing to do.

Well...

I got my water pills refilled yesterday and am down 2 lbs today. So I guess we now know exactly why I was up 1.6 yesterday. I really must keep on top of taking my medications.

Of course I also need to get more exercise. I did track yesterday and was on my feet a good part of the day as well as riding 4.4 miles each way to WW and back yesterday. I was also a good girl and logged everything I ate.

1.6 the wrong way...

That would be a 1.6 lb gain.

What did I do wrong. Pretty much everything. Not enough exercise,I didn't track my food, and I ran out of my perscription for waterpills. Mostly I think it's the lack of water pills. I think I did pretty good food wise. I didn't ride nearly as much as I should have. Only one trip to the grocery on the bike and today to WW for weigh in. (too little too late!) I did do some though not a lot of gardening.

I really need to step up the exercise and get the water pils filled and Yes LOG food. Every bite. I'm really going to have to fight to get below 200 lbs and I still 9.6 lbs to go. I need to re-motivate myself and get busy if I'm going to make that goal any time soon. Early on I coudl lose that much fairly quickly. Not so much now, I need to work at it. And frankly I need to work a lot harder than I have been. I do feel better. I wore size 18 pants for the first in a long time this week. But that isn't good enough. I swore in the beginging that good enough wasn't this time. It's not. It is however, time to quit patting myself on the back and get back on track and make the next goal, get below 200lbs.

So this week I'm reassesing my points target. Logging food, getting more exercise. I want to get at least 25 miles on the bike this week. It's do able. 50 may not be but 25 should be. Next week I want to be down at least as much as I was up this week. (1.6 lbs.)

Trailer trial #1!

I took the Burley trailer to the grocery store today. I didn't real need it. I've carried that much stuff in my bike bags before. (2 gallons of milk, 80 count box of kitchen trash bags, mustard,family sized box wheat thins a couple of other minor odds and ends) But the idea was to try out the trailer not see how much I could haul.

Riding there with an empty trailer was a bit like having a mild head wind on the uphills and a mild tail wind on the down hills and a little jingling form the trailer Assembly. No huge difference. I did notice parking was a bit different as I had to do a tight U turn to get to the bike rack and to avoid having a trailer to be tripped over I unhooked it and parked ti along side the bike at the rack and managed to lock it to my bike and the rack. I may chose to get a longer cable to make that a bit easier. I did notice that I need to be careful to stay a bit farther form the curb than I normally am but we fit well in the bike lane. It's also a bit harder to have to worry about glass and tires being a different width behind you. Probably not an issue so much with a trike as the wheels are close to the same as the front wheels on the trike. Of course you have that pesky center back wheel so over all about the same. I wonder if we can convince the state of Oregon to require the sweeping of bike lanes instead of sweeping the debris from the traffic lanes into the bike lane.... Yeah that's what I thought. I may be spending more time in the car lanes due to road hazards in the bike lanes.

On the way home I felt it a bit in the thighs going up hill. not horrid but definitely slower and will need to work on those muscles. But not as bad as it was on the same hill when I was 30 lbs heavier. So yes work but OK. I did feel like it slowed me down a bit but since my bike computer is in need of battery replacement I really don't know for sure. Down hill wasn't an issue and I was a bit worried about control, stability and stopping with a load but I didn't have any problems other than finding out that I need my front brakes adjusted as they make an awful noise. All in all a successful first outing. We may take the trailer next week when we cook for the homeless teens rather than taking the car. Over all I'm very pleased with handling ease of hookup etc. I think it will be a great addition to the family in day to day life.

Weigh-in surprise...

I'm down 30.2 lbs! I was hoping to be back where I was before vacation but I was actually down 1 lb more than that.

I guess all that riding has been good.

More riding! More gardening!

Well on the 16th we did about 8 or a bit more miles riding to complete some chores and shopping. That's DH and DD on the tandem, and me on my bike with bike bags for the shopping and carrying parts. Later I realized that I should have had DH hook up my trailer so I could try it out. Some days I'm not very bright. Especially since I did another Grocery trip of 4.4 miles later that evening. So 12-13 miles on the 16th.

Yesterday (17th) after church we did a 31 mile "pleasure ride" just DH and I on the tandem. Well it was mostly pleasure I really enjoyed riding with DH but the Tandem isn't really a good fit for me. I had some "saddle" issues as did DH. He really needs a better saddle on the tandem! I had a good saddle but again the bike fit issues ( even though we adjusted a bunch of things before teh ride and a few more durring the ride) and I ended up with a VERY sore tailbone. (I had a broken tailbone in my early 20's and it can give me problems from time to time.) Once again I kept having to ask for some coasting time to re-adjust myself on the saddle and a few breaks to allow better blood flow. I am thinking that some day I may need to go to a shop and have them so a bike fit. Really I think even DD may be outgrowing the tandem as she is only about an inch shorter than I am.

Not bad 43 miles or so this week. 50 last week. Maybe I can get in another 7 miles and try for 50 a week. I'd like to set up a route or two that are about 25 miles and try to get about 50 miles a week in. If I break it into 25 mile trips maybe I will enjoy it more with out so much seat pain.

Today's exercise has been mostly gardening as I needed to get some more plants in the garden that I bought the other day. Broccoli lettuce and Zucchini. Something has been eating my zucchini and pumpkin plants. They just seem to disappear over night. I put out slug bait but 2 of the pumpkin plants got munched after I put out slug bait. Grrrr. I found some holes that are about 2-2.5 inches across and seemingly bottomless when I try to run water in them. No hills just open holes. I thought maybe they were from my friendly garter snakes but now I'm wondering if it's something less friendly.

I must ride!

I must put the bike on the trainer tomorrow. I need a good ride. I really missed it today. My neck is tense. I don't want a big laps in riding as I did so well in CA last week.

Back in Oregon, weigh in, shorts a ride to plan and a question...

We're home! After the warm (upper 80's) weather in central CA we are back to our cool (mid 50's) and rainy Oregon weather. I guess the bike goes on the trainer again this evening after I get all the trip stuff cleared out of the living room. It's nice to be home even if the weather isn't quite as great as it was in CA.

This weeks weigh in like lasts occurred right after a 660 mile car trip but was slightly better even though I was still retaining a lot of water. I'm down 0.8 lbs from last week. That is still 211.6 and is a total of down 24.4 lbs over all. Of course since weigh in day I'm down about 2.5 more due to water loss. Next week I'll believe what ever the scale says. It's especially hard to believe the gain because I rode my bike for over 50 miles last week. Granted I wasn't home and eating right was a challenge but I still think I did fairly well.

While in CA I found some shorts that I don't mind wearing. Most shorts because of my big belly and small thighs are tight in the waist and baggy in the rear and legs. Danskins makes a stretchy exercise short that will fit around me and not bind but isn't baggy in the thighs! They have the added bonus of having flat seams so they won't rub while riding. No pads but they will work for shorter rides and general wear as well as being fairly cheap so I'm happy. After looking them up online I find that they are called bike shorts. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10800339

A few years ago I bought my dad some books on bicycle tours on the Pacific Coast. He offered them back to me unread last week. So I took them! I'm starting to read them and also looking at some Oregon Coast bike maps. I'll be looking for a few short practice rides before we decide on a firm "big ride" later. Lots of cool stuff but you really need to compare maps books and other info to get good info to plan a ride. This is fun.

I jokingly told DH that I wanted to try to get Terra Trikes to sponsor my weight loss and big ride. Actually it was a great idea but I just can't figure out any real reason why they should. Honestly what would be in it for them? It's not like I could offer them blog advertising... Well I could but I have about 3 regular readers and a few friends that pop in occasionally. Not much to make it worth their time and money. I could wear a t-shirt for them... I am wide enough to carry a good message. Not that I'd ask for a lot. Maybe a discount on a trike when I get to goal or maybe trike goodies. It'd just be cool to be able to say the company of the trike I want is my sponsor. So the question, What can I offer Terra Trikes that might get them to sponsor me?

OK I have a confession to make....

Here in the central valley of California I'm loving riding my bike. I really miss it when I can't put in an hour or so. I hope that I can keep loving riding when I get home and hit the hills again.

Today I restricted a bit because of the sunburn and the bright sunshine out side. I'm one of those fair skinned, freckled people that burn like really bad. Normally I avoid the sun. Long pants, long sleeves, swim suit cover ups, etc. are not due to hiding all the excess weight, they are burn prevention. (the hiding is just a side benefit) Sun screen doesn't seem too effective most of the time. I've been know to burn in the shade. In the sun I fry.

I really need to find something I can wear in the heat while riding that covers my legs and arms completely. I found my self sitting in a recliner with my legs up trying to get the swelling in my burnt areas to go down last night. From about 2 AM till 6:30 AM I was sleeping in Dad's recliner. This morning I am much improved, the swelling nearly gone, but sunlight still burns like crazy. Maybe I'm part vampire.

I do have a pair of long pants that are fairly soft inside that I may be able to wear for a short ride tonight. I had to go buy some shorts to keep the pants from rubbing the still very sore skin I borrowed shorts from my Mom yesterday. Maybe this evening I can get Dad to go for a short ride with me. DH is in Santa Cruz getting ready for a 600K ride that starts in the AM so he can't go with me and the girls are at a Girl Scout meeting tonight.

Tonight I'm relaxing in prep for chasing kids all over Marine World tomorrow. 12 hours of chasing a 4 year old and a bunch of brownies/Jr girl scouts all over Marine world vs. 600 K ride. Yeah I think he's still burning more energy, but I'm also pretty sure he wouldn't volunteer to trade places with me. I will be wearing long pants and a tank top with a light weight man's shirt over it and hoping for the best weather wise. (cool and breezy please!) Darn. I just realized I forgot a hat and will need to buy one.

I finally got rid of most of the water weight from traveling this week, just in time to go back, but it looks like maybe I stayed fairly flat in the weight department if you ignore water weight. Here's hoping that I can maintain, or at least not gain.

My limit and weigh in...

I asked DH to ride with me to see how far I could go on the wonderful flat land called the central valley of California. He needed to pick up a couple of spare tubes in Stockton about 17 miles away so I decided to ride along. He decided to humor me. Actually I did pretty well in 17 miles we only had a change of about 15 feet elevation.( if you ignore the 2one killer overpass and the one baby over pass) It's pretty flat here. We got there with only one swear word from me about 1/2 way up the nasty overpass. We bought the tubes at the bike shop, ( buy 2 get one free!) ate lunch at the near by Safeway and refilled the water bottles then headed home. So far so good. The legs and lungs were were holding out pretty well. Excepting the Killer overpass. DH stopped at the top to wait for em them when he heard me call him thought I said go on... and he headed down the other side actually I was hoping he'd wait and give em a drink and possibly CPR. About 10 miles later I started feeling the saddle, and the heat. So we are calling about 27 miles and 85 degrees heat as my limit on flat land. Too bad the ride was 34 miles and about 90 degrees. DH humored me and stopped in frequent shady spots to give me water as I was over heating. ( We had to take the bottle cage off my bike to put it on the rack of the car to get to CA.) We also stopped to buy some very nice strawberries at a tiny stand on the edge of a strawberry patch. The guy was very nice and gave us extra berries to munch on while we rested. I made it home but DH had to help me get off the bike as my tail bone was very much not happy. The skin on my arms and knees are fried. DH laughed and said Finally he wouldn't be alone in the biker tan look. Little does he know anytime I burn I peel. Any "tan" will be fleeting. I didn't bring any shorts except my bike shorts so I'll need t go buy a pair as it really isn't comfortable to wear long pants today. I know I'm such a wimp. As for why I didn't bring shorts... I only have one pair and they are several sizes too big.

As for weigh in....
I will start with all kinds of disclaimers...Not my WW scales (not sure if they calibrate with Oregon probably but you never know), not my normal time of day( 5:00 PM not 9:00 AM), different clothes jeans not bike shorts and I've been retaining LOTS of water this week so who knows what the real reason is but I'm up 3.2 lbs. I'm not changing my ticker because I really think it's water weight as you can see it in the legs and face. Next week when I weigh in may not be better as I always retain a lot of water after a long car trip. Oh well any way you look at it eventually I'll be down when I lose the water.

Family trip is still going well. DD#2 has is doing very well practicing on her bike here on flat land. My grand daughter also learned to ride her bike this week. DD#1 has been working all week so hopefully I'll get to spend some time with her Sunday, Saturday is Marine world with the Girl scouts and she is the troop leader so not much chance of time with her then as we have 22 girls going and 15 parents along with me and the grandson. DD#2 and my mom have been having some quality shopping time. Dad is just dad. He rides his bike to get coffee,watches TV and naps in his chair.

When 10 equals 2 and too much is too much....

I'm still on vacation in California. Spending time with a loving family that doesn't have an especially WW friendly eating pattern is not good. I haven't been to WW yet as they don't have Tuesday meetings here. That is probably a good thing for my piece of mind.

I'm still fighting major water retention so what ever the scale says is going to depress me tomorrow. My legs are still swollen from the trip here and the fact that it's warmer may not be helping. By evening my ankles have large dents form the tops of my socks. I'm up 5 to 10 lbs depending on the time of day.

DH is being fantastic in supporting me and encouraging me to get any riding in I can and also encouraging to watch what I am eating. It's a reminder I'm needing a lot. It is so easy to slip in to those childhood habits when you are around the old home town and the family. We went on a bike tour of town yesterday. I led DH all over all my old childhood haunts. We did about 10 miles. It's so flat here that it only felt like about 2 miles at home.

I've had a hard time getting a good ride in as DH is working and Dad isn't really up to riding hard enough to give me a good work out any more. DD#1 hasn't done any serious riding in quite some time and was feeling the burn after less than a mile. DD#2 isn't really up to it yet either. DH is working and really can't take the time to ride with me every day. But I am taking my bike to the store and running some errands. Tomorrow I will ride to the WW meeting and back.

I guess all I really can do is keep doing the best I can and kick into high gear when I get home to repair the damage. I'm thinking it's not going to be pretty, though I honestly believe it really is water at this point.

Yes as far as the diet is concerned 10 miles is equal 2 miles at home, and too much time away from home is too much. On the other hand I'd love a good long ride on flat ground just to see how far I can go, it's good to see the family and the trip has been pretty good so far.

Visiting with the family...

So far the visit with the family has been good. I am however learning that traveling and dieting is not a very good combination for me. We spent Friday in the car eating carrots and cellery and other Diet friendly snacks and avioding fast food. I gained about 5 lbs of water weight from a day of sitting in the car. That is pretty normal for me. Sitting still in a car is not my friend and I have another day of that on the way back.

I'm still trying to decide which WW meeting to go to. My weigh in day is Tuesday but I have to drive about 30 minutes to get to a Tuesday meeting. I could go in on Monday or Wednesday here in town. Monday is too soon. Maybe Wednesday would be better. It has been reinforced in my mind how central eating is to my family. Junk food and candy is everywhere. Some I can resist some not so easy. My diet strategy is mostly eat a lot of salad. Most of the other food choices are not very diet friendly. Yummy comfort food but not Diet in any way.

I'm not looking forward to the ride home followed by weighing in less than 12 hours later. The weather here has been all rain so I haven't ridden the bike yet. I really need some good bike time.

DH did a long (24 hour) ride yesterday through this morning. He's looking a bit ragged today. I hope he is feeling better tomorrow.

Boy is it hard to find pictures of me...

I started looking for before and after pictures of me. Apparently I've never been one to have or save pictures of me. Not even when I was a reasonably thin teen.

Me at age 17 napping... ( about 120lbs)

Even less likely after I gained weight....

Me at about 16 months ago, (about 240 lbs, roughly where I've been for the last couple of years)

Me at church Easter Sunday..... (about 214lbs)

Yesterday I got my hair cut. I went in thinking I wanted something different than the normal long enough to control with a pony tail. OH my. I forgot how curly my hair is when it is short. This is after it dried, I rode my bike and got helmet hair and it was brushed a few times... Yeah I did manage to brush some of the curls out of it... You should have seen it after my shower. DH says I look younger. He likes my curls. But then he's pretty supportive, loving and kind all the time, not just after I have several inches of hair cut off. DD thought my morning still wet curls were not just "curly" but "scary curly". Maybe for Halloween I'll take a picture of that. I'm thinking a blow dryer may well be my BFF till my hair grows out again. (unless I get used to it and keep it short) I couldn't decide on which picture to put for new haircut so I give you 2 to chose form which is your favorite?

April 28th 2009

April 28th 2009

Yeah, none exactly award winning beauty but I am what I am. And special Thanks to my DH who put up with a lot of rejected pictures to get a few for me to choose from. And today is his birthday too! (homemade yellow cake with strawberries and whipped cream for him and strawberries and cool whip for me.)

The question of the day...

A friend asked me this queston today "You've tried to lose weight before right - successfully once or twice in the past, less successfully in recent years. So what is different this time?"

It's a combination of many things. In the past I've wanted to lose weight for various reasons. I'm sure that they were all good reasons, but not necessarily the right reason. Not necessarily the reason that I could feel deep down.

First of all I want to be an active part of this amazing family DH and I have built. I was raised in a family that got up went to school/work came home ate watched TV slept then got up and did it again. There was nothing else. Nothing much out side the family and survival. This family DH and I have built isn't like that. We participate more in the world because we want to be a part of it. Volunteering, gardening, homeschooling, church, bike riding, even running for political office.(DH is running for school board again) etc.

Even with all this going on I was feeling very left out. Always behind, even on vacation I took pictures of DH and DD as they raced ahead and I drug myself behind. Rarely enjoying things, struggling to keep up, often sending them on ahead. Then DDstarted staying back with me. She started gaining weight. She'd rather sit home and watch TV. I don't want her to be me. I want her to live her life. I want to live mine.

That's still not all. I finally looked at who I am and I didn't like it much. Sure I'm (usually) a nice person. I try to be. But a lot of the things I want/wanted to do with my life are just not possible weighing 100 lbs more than I should. The bike tour is one of them. I'm a relatively small person. 5 foot 3 inches, small bones. I cannot go on a long bike ride and haul an extra 100 lbs up hills and keep up with my family. I can't even keep up on a short ride with small hills. Our last vacation back east, I missed several things because I just couldn't keep up with the walking in the heat. I used to be able to fool myself that I was "healthy" even if over weight and that I could do anything I wanted to do. I was lying to my self. I quit lying to my self.

The Bike ride is a tangible goal, and I think that's important too. It’s something the whole family has to work to achieve, I have to lose weight and get in shape, DD had to learn to ride a bike and get in shape, DH has to figure out how in these financially stressful times to find enough money to get the bikes etc to make the ride. He says I have the harder job here. I'm not so sure of that, it's going to be expensive.

Another big thing is DH and DD supporting me in this huge change. My WW meetings are supporting me in this. You guys are supporting me in this. Not because I’m fat and need to lose weight, But because I want and need to do this. It's a huge thing. It's going to take a lot of time and effort.

All my life I'd compromised and said good enough is good enough, even in my weight loss efforts. I'd lose a few lbs and say I feel better it's good enough. Good enough isn't good enough this time. I'd diet for a while and say I tried and I can't do it. "I tried" isn't good enough. If what I try isn't working I need to try something else. I don't remember who said, "Insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results."

Before when I dieted I'd say I want to lose x # of lbs but I could be happy losing less. This time I want to be in a healthy weight range. For my height and age. 135-140 is healthy. 138 is in the middle somewhere and exactly 100 lbs below where I started. 100 llbs is a good round goal number. It is a concrete number. I can celebrate mini goals but only as mini goals, as landmarks, not as an end point, not as good enough. I'm trying to make my mini goals mean something. This week I am below the lowest weight I've been since I got married 13 years ago. My next goal is only about 9 lbs away. 199. I haven't been below 200 lbs in over 25 years. After that my mini goal will be size 18 clothes. I think I was about 21 the last time I wore something that didn't come from that special store for fat women. I want to be able to go into any store and find clothes that fit me. At size 18 I'll be able to find something. After that I don't know exactly what my mini goal will be. I may just shoot for the final goal at that point.

So I guess it’s not a single thing. It’s is a bunch of things. It’s a lifetime of stuff catching up with me. It’s finally being ready, having all the supports in place and really needing to do this to be who I want to be. The moon and stars are aligned and it is working.

This weeks menu posibilities..

Tomorrow- Homemade BBQ Pork Ribs, Rice and Grilled Zucchini with the left over grilled Pineapple from a couple of days ago.

Thursday -We will be cooking for Homeplate a teen homeless program. The menu is hot dogs, potato salad fruit salad and of course cookies or brownies. I'll be bringing my own Fat Free hot dogs and go light on everything else.

Friday -Ham, Mashed potatoes,corn green salad or fruit salad.

Saturday- Maybe Pasta with tomato/eggplant sauce. (Pasta al la Norma in Italy)

Sunday -Fish, Couscous, Green Salad

Monday - Something Potato based maybe.

Tuesday is DH birthday so we will be going out where ever he wants.

Weigh in end of week 15...

Down 4.6 lbs for a total of 29.4 lbs. I not only finally made my 25 lbs, I nearly hit 30lbs! Over all it was a good week, personal best length of time on the trainer (45 min), gardening for 2 days in the sunshine, and I got in almost 9 miles riding to and from my WW meeting today.

I now officially weigh less than I did when we got married 13 years ago. I have only 9 lbs to go to hit my next goal of "anything under 200".

The weather is Sunny and warm. DD has swim lessons today so I may try to drag myself into the water, unless DH is willing to take her, then I will scrub the kitchen floor as DH has done an awesome job of cleaning while I was out riding in the sunshine today.

Spring gardening and the day before end of week 14 weigh-in

The newly arrived spring weather is AWESOME! We are in the upper 70's mid 80's this week. Yesterday we inspected the bee hive and did hours of gardening, weeding etc. Today I mowed the front yard. Later this afternoon I'm going to plant my tomato starts.

If today's scale is a predictor of tomorrow's weigh, in I'll have finally passed the down 25 lbs mark. Yippee! well maybe yippee! Tomorrow we know for sure. According to my scale I'm a tiny bit below where I was when I got married 13 years ago. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Now we inter new territory, striking distance of being under 200 lbs. I'm going to be working really hard to make it not take as long as the last couple of lbs.

Sunshine, weight loss, and planting the garden! Life is good.

Yesterday Giving In and Penance, leftovers and random stuff

Yesterday at my CRB meeting I gave in. The boss as usual brought Donuts. I guess he figures if we can volunteer he must feed us donuts. I can honestly say NONE of us needed those donuts. Sigh. Oh well. I ate one. It was very yummy. After sitting in that meeting all day I knew that between the lack of movement a donut and lunch out (though I actually made a good choice there) I was going to have to so some penance. So after dinner ( leftover chili as DH had an evening meeting at 6:30 and I didn't get home till 5:00) I got on the trainer and rode for 45minutes. That was a new personal best for me by about 17 minutes if I remember right. I kept saying If I can do 20 minutes I can do 25... ( increase by 5 min) at about 40 minutes my rear end said forget 50 45 will do! My mind was easily convinced at that point. Maybe it was the soggy sweatshirt or the salty sweat dripping in my eyes but the rear end won with out much struggle from the mind. I counted down the last minute. I might have even made an hour if it had only been tired muscles. Maybe tonight I'll try for longer.

Breakfast this morning was an egg scrambled with a little diced ham and some grated cheese in a corn taco shell. Did you know that the taco bell brand corn taco shells are only 1 point? Much lower points than corn chips and good with black bean salsa, salsa or chili? A little bit of chili in side one, a sprinkle of cheese and some lettuce and tomato, low point high flavor goodness and you can have 3 for a reasonable lunch sized meal.

Tonight will be homemade Broccoli Beef, and Rice with Roasted winter squash on the side for the squash loving part of the family.

Tomorrow I'm hoping the weather will be good and I can plant the veggies out side. The tomato beds will need plastic covers in case of frost but the rest should be fine. I'm getting everything ready for planting today.

We are going to CA in a couple of weeks. DH will be doing a couple of bike rides and taking care of some stuff at the embassy in SF. DD#2 and I will be visiting with my family and going on a Girl Scout trip to Marine World with DD#1 (a girl scout leader) and her kids. I didn't really plan on going but DD#2 wanted some help with a very short active person... My grandson, as he wouldn't be able to go if she had to focus on him, as she is troop leader and needs to focus on the other 19 kids including DD #2. That's OK we will all have fun and Hiking Marine world and Chasing the grandson should be good for a LOT of activity points.

Some meals for this week.

Last night we had the veggie chili I talked about in a previous post.

Tonight we will have 2 versions of veggie Lasagna.

The first will have layers of thinly sliced zucchini, mushrooms and onions layered with No boil lasagna sheets and some ricotta mixed with chopped spinach.(more spinach less ricotta gives you some creaminess w/o all the extra calories) It will have 2 sauces. One a lite white sauce made with 1% milk, Parmesan cheese and a bit of flour for thickening. The other a lite tomato sauce with grated carrots, chopped celery and onions seasoned with salt pepper and basil. For simplicity you could use your favorite jar sauces. Because of the whole diet thing only a little mozzarella cheese on top.

The other (smaller one because I do not like squash!) will have roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions and a white sauce with Ricotta cheese and of course it will get a bit more Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese than my more diet friendly lasagna.

The weather is supposed to improve this week so we will also have a meal of grilled veggies, Eggplant, asparagus, red bell peppers and probably some Italian sausage for DH and DD. I'll serve it with some good crusty bread. (then park the bread on DH's side of the table!) We will also have a simple fruit salad with it.

Also planned for this week is Broccoli Beef and Rice. The sauce will be Hoisin based I'm not sure the exact recipe. It will take a bit of experimenting on my part to get it right. Last time I made this I used the recipe on the bottle for Chinese BBQ sauce and it came out pretty good if not totally authentic.

If we have a rainy day (and when in Oregon do we not this time of year?) I'm looking at making a Potato and Broccoli casserole or having a baked potato/salad bar. Which will depend on how much slicing and dicing I feel like putting in to the meal. The casserole requires very thinly sliced potatoes, onions and broccoli. The bar can be as easy as baking potatoes and steaming broccoli then setting out, sour cream (lite of course) chives grated cheese etc. You can even go to a nice store like Whole Foods and raid their salad bar for toppings and salad if you really want to make it easy.

Lunches are usually left overs or salads or some combination of the two.

Breakfast is often oatmeal, high fiber cold cereal or something eggy like scrambled eggs, fritatta, or a breakfast sandwich on a flat out flat bread. (scrambled eggs, lean ham maybe a sprinkle of Low fat cheese, Salsa if I'm in the mood for a bit of spice in the morning)

I will keep my points distributed as I usually do about 5 points for Breakfast, 7 points for Lunch and about 10 for Dinner. That leaves me 3 points for snacks or if I go a bit over at a meal. Of course I also have my Weekly Points Allowance of 35 per week if I really need them but I rarely use them and save them for special occasions. Now that I think about it why are all my special occasions falling on the day before weigh in? My birthday was on a Monday, my Anniversary was on a Monday, Easter was Sunday but that's close enough that I didn't want to eat a bunch of WPA. Can't we have a special occasion on Wednesday??? That would give me a week to work it off.

It's been a few days since posting and Its weigh in day again and "walking" challange.

I need to post a bit more regularly, because I need to think about the diet and exercise to actually do the diet and exercise! Last week I forgot to buy my new 3 month food journal, so over all I didn't journal much. I did try to keep track mentally and did OK but not great.

This week I was down 0.6 lbs. That is I lost the 0.4 I gained last week plus 0.2 more. So I'm STILL 0.2 lbs away from losing 25 lbs. I guess at least I wasn't up yet again this week.

Weight Watchers has a new 8 week walking challenge. train for 8 weeks them walk a 5K at the end of it.

I'm in NO way interested in a walking challenge. But I am going to follow their time line and do a riding challenge. This week I'm going to set a baseline on how much I ride then I'm going to increase each week. I'm not sure how much yet DH suggested 10% per week, but I'm still thinking about it. The replacement end even may be to ride to a state park stay in a cabin over night them ride back the next day. This will depend on how far to the state park and cabin availability.

Last week we had a couple of good weather days and I took the bike to the store etc. I will continue that this week by doing errands by bike on dry days, and riding on the trainer on wet days. I will get some exercise everyday.

I'm also going to do better meal planning, more veggies, salads, and whole grains. I may also do more vegetarian meals this week. We all enjoy them and they tend to be lower calorie and high fiber. Tonight I need to work on a meal plan for the week then tomorrow I can post it.

And the solution is ...

Must exercise MORE. Duh! I broke the plateau and lost 4.4 lbs the week My goal was 5 activity points a day. I lost 0.4 lbs the week I though I should cut back a bit. I gained 0.4 the week next week for a back at plateau kind of effect. So day before yesterday I rode my bike to the grocery store a couple of miles away. Yesterday I repeated. (Yeah I forgot the milk) Still only about 2 activity points. ( 11.5 min each way) So Yesterday we added going to the library (3.9 miles each way) and I got a good 8 activity points for the day. I was also wiped out and went to bed early. I guess I'll get used to it eventually. Today and tomorrow look like the weather will mean time on the trainer instead of running errands. One additional point less gas/car usage if I'm running errands on the bike.

Here's hoping it's not too little too late for this week. I want to lose something, anything this week after last weeks gain!

It's looking like the weather is going to have me working in the garden to get things planted soon. That will be a bit more activity but I wonder how you would count pulling weeds and planting?

Church, Groceries, bike bags, the Trainer and thinking about a mascot...

Last Sunday I was surprised to find the ride to church (4.4 miles) was easier than before. I wonder how much is weight loss and how much is working out on the trainer. I cut my last years time for the same ride by almost 40%.

Today I went to the grocery store on the bike. I'm guessing it's about 2 miles away. It took about 11.5 minutes each way. Not bad since it has one hill that takes a bit of work to get up. Oddly it was a lot less work than in pre-trainer times. I'm also getting the feel of a general slope over the ride. (before it was just I hate these hills) On the way to the store it was a bit harder more uphill, on the way back was much easier with only one hill to climb and most of the ride slightly down hill. I was surprised that it was easier because I was carrying groceries in my bike bags. I was also worried that they weren't very well balanced as I bought a few heavy things that had to go in one bag to keep them from crushing the eggs and bread in the other bag. Both bags were only about half full but one was much heavier. I can't say I really noticed it except when I stopped for a minute to check something and nearly tipped the bike over because I let go with out bracing it well enough. I considered taking the trailer out today even though I didn't really have enough stuff I needed to justify it. It just wasn't worth the time to stop and figure out how to attach it. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and Friday so It will probably be the weekend before I get a chance to try it out. Maybe Sunday if we ride to church again.

I do think that the trainer has a lot to do with the speed increase as DH also has significantly increased speed since he's been using it this winter. Of course he's also been doing Spinnervals DVD's while on the trainer. I'm so not ready for that.

Over all it does give me hope that I really can do this.

DD has offered me the choice of quite a few of her stuffed toys as a mascot for my bike. I'm not sure if I will chose one of those or find something else. Maybe I should have both my girls choose something. Or many be I can find something that reminds me of each of them. I'm currently thinking perhaps Eeyore(DD#1), Piglet (DD#2), Roo (Grand Daughter), and Tigger (grandson) might work well for this if I can find them all in extra small size. Kind of McDonald's prize size. Then I can take my kids (and grand Kids) with me when I ride. I've got 3 of them... I would just need Tigger to complete the set. I could just use Piglet but That wouldn't be fair to her big sister!

Ugh.

Up 0.4 lbs. So a total of 24 lbs lost. Time to rethink and figure out what I'm going to change this week.

Night before the Weekly Weight Watrchers Weigh -in...

Nope no predictions tonight on if I will make 25 lbs tomorrow (I only need to lose 0.4 lbs to do it) or will gain... I truly have no idea, I haven't weighed much this week.

How ever I won't go into depression if I don't because yesterday (and today!) the weather was lovely and the family all rode bikes to church. We've done it before and it takes about 45 minutes to get there and I usually end up swearing all the way up at least 4 hills. Not really great on the way to Church but hey I"m being honest here. Well Yesterday was special! Not only did we do the ride in 28 minutes 22.43 seconds. (yes I did time it!) But I didn't even swear on the way up those hills! The return trip took 27.45 minutes. OK there was some minor swearing on the way back, there is one hill that I really do not like just before we get home. This was after 2 weeks of riding the trainer. Now that said that darn trainer is evil. It is much harder to ride it for 28 minutes on level ground than to ride the bike outside on slightly hilly ground. Go figure.

I'm hoping for continued good weather this week as I have a LOT of garden work that needs to be done. Those darn weeds are a pain, and isn't grass supposed to grow slow? Oh well, I did Get the peas planted finally. DH installed the Bees in the Behive today.

Back tomorrow wiht end of week 12 weigh-in. Fingers crossed.

The day after april fools day...

Yesterday I rode the trainer for 23 minutes... in spurts of about 5 to 10 minutes over the course of a couple of hours. Not perfect, but better than not doing it at all. Then just as I was settling for a long winters (um spring) nap, DD asks if it's alright that her fish Cassie is hiding head down in the fish tank.... No unfortunately not an April fools joke. Poor Cassie and Poor DD. Her first pet death. It hit hard, so we stayed up very late cuddling on the couch till calmness set in and DD slept. Then I stayed up later planning for today's school assignments. Then I couldn't sleep so I stayed up even later trying to unwind. I ate some cereal and milk... breakfast at 2 am, it's going to be a while till lunch. Then I woke at 7:30 and after a struggle to really wake I finished School assignments for today. Not really conductive to being functional or on track diet wise today. Oh well I can get back on track if I have a slightly early lunch and a late snack before dinner.

Today is DD's swimming again. So we need to be ready to leave for that by 12:30. And we have quite a bit of school to get through today so I better get DD up and at it.

I predict today will be a long and stressful day.

UPDATED**** 6 points swimming today during DD's lesson.

And the weekly weight in says...

Down 0.6lbs, for a total of 24.6 lbs down. I officially set my final goal as 135. So even though I could shoot for another 10%, (21 lbs) I chose a slightly closer goal of 199 lbs. (13.6 lbs) I haven't seen under 200 lbs in over 25 years, and I think that is a goal worth celebrating.

I'll also be looking for a non WW goal of wearing a size 18... also a LONG time since I've seen clothes in that size! Shoot you can even find that size in many NON fat women shops! Now shopping in a regular clothes store is something I'm really looking forward to, that will be a reward all on it's own!

Swam for an hour today for 4 activity points. ( laps + play time) Yesterday was a day off.

Rain Rain go away...

It's spring in Oregon. That means it's raining. Our 10 day forecast says in the next 10 days we should get maybe 3 days of no rain. Today being one of them. Then again that's what they said yesterday ... before the rain and hail hit. Looking out side I'm not so sure today will be an improvement. The clouds aren't quite as black as yesterday. The ground is currently dry. So maybe there is some home of getting outside. Though seeing DH come home covered in mud to the eyebrows after the 200K he did Saturday... I'm not sure I want to risk it. I hear a mud bath is supposed to be good for the skin... Na, I guess I'm going to get back on the trainer today.

After last weeks big loss It's looking a bit flat this week but that's not a huge surprise I guess. I did take some measurements about a month ago and yesterday I remeasured. My waist is 2 inches smaller my ribs below the breast are about 4 inches smaller hips are 2 inches smaller my thigh is 1.5 inches smaller and my calf is 1 inch smaller. So in the last month I've done quite well over all. Tomorrow is weigh in so we will see if there was any actual weight progress this week. I'm afraid that after all the exercise I might have added a bit of muscle making it harder to tell weight wise if I've actually lost fat. Clothes wise I'm down form a snug size 24 to a normal fitting size 20. So over all progress. Yeah!

This week I'm going to go to a bit of a modified exercise pattern. I'll get my 5 points 4 days a week and the other 3 cut back. I'll try to up my exercise on the 4 days a few minutes every couple of days on the Trainer. The other days I'll work more on stretching and flexibility.

As for the diet...I'm having trouble wanting to eat. Or maybe it's more that I'm much pickier about what to eat. It needs to have a LOT of flavor or I'm just not to interested. I think I need a menu shake up. Maybe BBQ something(yes I BBQ in the rain, I live in Oregon, I even BBQ in the snow occasionally!) or something spicier than normal. Any suggestions?

One day early and the challenge prize is...

Tonight DH took me to REI to pick up my prize as he was pleased with how hard I've worked on the activity points challenge. (though I still have to do 6 points tomorrow.) What was the prize you ask?


http://www.burley.com/products/adventure/nomad.cfm

A Burley Nomad Trailer the first item purchased specifically for our bike tour. How cool is that? It was way more than anything I would have picked out for a prize for this challenge. He said I deserved it for all the hard work I did. He thought I needed a real piece of the trip as a reward. Now if the weather will cooperate maybe we can take it for a test trip to the grocery store. The weather report says maybe Sunday or Monday but heavy rain tomorrow. That's OK I don't need anything at the store tomorrow any way.

Today we did go to the pool but didn't get a lot of heavy swimming in. It's spring break here and the pool was so full that there was no way to do laps. I did get an hour of constant motion (part of it in the hot tub. LOL!) then I came home and rode the bike this evening. So I got in 6 points in but will need to do an extra point tomorrow to catch up. DH says no that I just need my 5 tomorrow but I want to do it any way. Actually I'm think I'm going to do Sunday and Monday too for 14 in a row. After that I think I will go to 5 days a week and have a couple of days of lower activity point days a week, Maybe the legs will forgive me and let me sleep for a change. they've not been horribly sore, just achy enough at night to wake me up now and then. Tuesday we will see if the exercise is still doing it's job.

My name is Kathy, I'm fat and it sucks.

Some days I don't feel fat at all. Some days I'm overwhelmed by being fat. It's not the appearance of being fat that bothers me, or the people that judge you because you are fat. It's the struggle to do day to day things. The struggle to not be obsessed with food, either the eating or the NOT eating food. The daily aches and pains of going up and down stairs. The not wanting to do something because I'm hauling around this whole extra person and that makes it so much harder to do things. The feeling sorry for my self because I'm not one of those naturally thin people.

Today I'm taking DD and her friend to the pool. I used to take them and just hang out in the corner of the pool. In the last few weeks I've started swimming laps and playing with the kids when I'm in the pool. Instead of half an hour we stay a couple of hours. It's an improvement. I've also started riding my bike on the trainer inside. When I started I was dripping sweat, in pain and couldn't go on after 18 minutes. Now I am dripping sweat, in pain and can't go on after 28 minutes. It's an improvement. (OK not huge, but huge for me!)

Most of the time I try not to get down or dwell on being fat. Right now with all this work on losing weight and getting in shape I'm kind of smacked upside the head with is all day long. The challenges seem unending. The fat seems to cling and my image of me is slow to change. I don't see myself as fat, I wasn't as a teen. But then I don't often look in the mirror. I looked for a picture of me to put on the blog... and didn't find one. Nothing more recent than several years ago.

I guess I need to bite the bullet and take some pictures. I'll hate them. I always do. But how will I see me change, How will I see progress, if I don't. I did take some measurements but not till I'd lost almost 20 lbs, before that I couldn't face it. Maybe soon you'll get to see the real me. Maybe someday I'll get back to the real me.

For today, I need to catch up. I only got 3 points yesterday so I need to get an extra 2 points today to make my goal of a 5 points a day average. I think can pick them up at the pool depending on how long we stay and how many laps I can do. If I can do laps for an hour and play with the girls for an hour that should get all 7 points. If not I'll need to ride on the trainer for for awhile to pick up another point. They should be able to keep themselves busy at the pool for an hour or so while I do laps. Maybe DH will go with us and spend some time in the gym and some in the pool.

If I knew someone with a magic wand that could grant my every wish I'd wish to be tall skinny and beautiful. Since I don't know anyone with a magic wand, I guess I'll just have to keep working on it. Maybe some day I'll get my wish to be if not skinny at least not fat. The tall and beautiful part I can't do much about but I wasn't tall, skinny and beautiful when DH married me so I guess thinner, healthier, and more energy will at least be a major improvement.

2010 bike tour thoughts and plans...

1 step closer. We've been talking about possible Bike tours for the family 2010 vacation. It's in California. It would start with an Amtrak ride from Portland Oregon to Davis California. Next from Davis to Napa, a lovely tour up the Napa Valley and over to the coast just short of Fort Bragg. Then down the coast to San Francisco north to Vallejo and a day at Marine world before heading back to Davis for the Amtrak Ride home. Expected time about 2 weeks. There is a map below and DH has wonderfully done a post for me at the family web site. http://www.napolitano.it/?p=270#more-270 an here is a map of the plan as it stands today.


http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Napa-Valley-and-Coast-Tour (interactive map at Bikely)

Sites to see on the tour... the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield CA (day 1)http://www.jellybelly.com/visit_jelly_belly/california_factory_index.aspx . Napa Valley (Day2)http://www.napavalley.com/ Probably a good night stop distance wise would be St Helena (day 3). http://www.napavalley.com/lodging/st_helena.html Then to Cloverdale. (Day 4)http://www.sonomacounty.worldweb.com/CloverdaleCA/WheretoStay/ The next leg would be a bit longer and tougher, but would either go up to Mendocino or down to Point Arena, unless we could find lodging in a smaller town between the two. (Day 5) The rest depends on what we find for day 5 and if we decide to go up to FT Bragg or go directly south toward San Francisco. about another 4-5 days with a reward day at Marine World in Vallejo ca, http://www.sixflags.com/discoveryKingdom/index.aspx (maybe we would do a quick stop by Manteca to visit the family)Then back to Davis and Home on Amtrak. Obviously this is still in the thinking stages, not in the finished plan stages, but a rough idea of what I'm thinking about.

End of week 10 weigh in...

And I'm down 4.4 lbs! 7 days with an average of 5 activity points per day did indeed break the plateau I was on. So I'm down a total of 24 lbs. 79.2 lbs left to lose. If you think 4.4 is a lot to lose in 1 week don't worry if you average it over the last 4 weeks I'm down just a bit over 1 lb a week.

So on with the 5 activity points a day challenge. I don't expect to lose 4.4 lbs next week. Just keeping going in the right direction will be fine.

My next interim goal will be 199 lbs. I haven't been under 200 lbs in over 25 years. So even though this is a relatively "close" goal, (only only 14.2 lbs out) it is a BIG goal for me. My next 10% goal is 194 lbs. Wow Just saying that is so strange. Anything under 200 has been so far away for so long it just sounds very strange to say it.

OK teacher...

I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute. I will not leave my homework until the last minute.

There 10 times. Ugh. I waited until after dinner to even consider doing my 5 points of exercise. OK not quite true. I started earlier but DH called me to come upstairs and check out something he needed to get done ASAP. Then we had to run errands to finish the urgent thing. Then it was time to cook dinner. Yeah.

On the Plus side... While using the trainer for exercise still hurts in new and different places, it is getting easier in that it is less stressful mentally. Physically I"m hoping not to have last nights calf muscle cramps. BUT 3 minutes no longer seems like forever, and I can think enough to play the game of if I been riding x amount of time I'm a certain percentage there and if I did that I can do x more.... etc. While I'm not really into math, anything that makes me not think about my thigh, calf and butt muscles is a good thing.

I went to K-mart today and bought some new pants and underwear in a size smaller because almost all of my pants are hard to keep up these days. K-mart because a) they carry "plus" sized clothes, b) They were clearing out the winter stuff at ridiculously cheap prices... $3.99 for a pair of pants that I only need to last a few months at the longest? You bet I'll buy them. I got 2 pair for $3.99 and 2 others a bit nicer for more "dressy" times for $16.99. They're not even ugly, not high fashion, but not ugly. Tan, black, and denim. They will do.

Here's hoping tomorrow's weigh-in will reflect all the exercise I've been doing this week. As of today 7 days in a row. (The challenge started 2 days later so for that I still have 5 to go.) Who knows maybe by next week I can up it to 6 points with out thinking I'm going to kill myself. (or wanting to!)

Day 4 of challenge, Exercise DVD,

I tried the WW get moving DVD for exercise. Blech. Not my style. The 10 min AB workout wasn't horrid. But then it was 10 minutes and not worth much points wise. The 20 minute Yoga/Pilate's segment was at best annoying, and also worth very few points. The annoying part is that woman never shuts up! Also my living room is small. While she's telling you to elegantly move around your chair I'm stopping and moving my chair so I can get on the correct side to do the next exercise. I finished and had trouble assigning points at all. I had to get on the trainer and ride for 12 minutes before I felt like I could declare myself 5 points and done. 42 minutes to earn what I can earn in 28 min. on the trainer. No thanks. While it may be good for toning It's not what I need for burning. Maybe I'll try one of the others on an odd day when I'm not trying to earn points.

I'm also going to vow to not leave exercise till 8PM again. Trying to get 5 points all at once when you are already tired. Yeah kind of like a kid leaving homework till 9 at night the night before it's due. Not the best choice.

10 day challenge, Bike trainer,

I finished day 2 of the 10 day challenge I had to split the bike ride into 2 sections to get it done though. Currently I can only survive 18 minutes on the darn thing. So this morning I did 18 minutes and after dinner I did another 11 minutes. I might have been able to do 18 this evening... but I didn't. Tomorrow I'll see if I can go a bit longer both morning and evening. I have to be able to do 28 minutes to get 5 points for my daily challenge.

I'm going to need to rethink /set up somethings for the bike trainer to work well for me. One I need a place I can reach to set my water bottle as I can't get the darn bottle out to drink without stopping. Yeah this wouldn't be a good bike for a tour. I also need to do something about my seat post. It is supposed to absorb shocks but it's started squeaking/clanking every time I shift my rear. Very annoying. I have trouble getting on and off as I'm short, I got hung up in the darn things this morning when I was trying to get off and fell. Thank goodness the carpeted floor isn't as bad as asphalt. I merely bounced a bit, but it wasn't fun. My shoulder is a bit sore tonight and I'm not sure if it's from riding, falling, just getting old or some combination of all three.

Any way you look at it the challenge has to be good. Either I get fitter,build muscle mass,get a little closer to my goal fo a bike tour, lose weight, win a prize or all the above. And I know I can do it, even if I don't enjoy it, I can do it. All it really will take is working at it.

Last night was rough

My left leg hurt off and on (mostly on) all night. It seems to be better after getting up today.

This is the muscle that hurts, but only on the left leg. The right leg is fine.
http://www.beginrunning.com/image/vastus-medialis.jpg The rest of my legs were not sore but felt like they had a bit of a work out. And that was after only 18 minutes hard riding on the trainer. To make it a work out worth 5 points I'm going to have to do 28 minutes a day. Boy does that sounds painful. But I can do it!

I am also trying to decide what to do about an upper body/back work out. I don't need to be able to lift major weight, but I will be lifting my bike/trike, trailer(?) bags, camping gear etc. from time to time. I'd guess the heaviest items would be about 40 lbs, and I'd like to do it without risk of hurting myself. Pain now to save pain later.

On the positive side, even with little sleep last night due to the leg, I feel more positive about the weight loss efforts. I have great hopes that we won't be repeating the last couple of weeks weigh-ins. I really want to pass that darn 20 lb mark this week!

Ouch...

Only 18 minutes on the trainer and all I can say is Ouch!

DH has offered a reward for 5 exercise points a day for the next 10 days, or total of 50 points in 10 days. it doesn't have to be exactly 5 a day. No results weight related results needed just the effort. Today's 18 minutes of high level riding was 4 points. Yesterday's 2 hours of swimming at low level 6 points. So my mark is set.

Swimming tomorrow. Maybe add some bike to it just to see if I survived today and can do it again tomorrow.

Hopefully my legs aren't as sore tomorrow as the cramps indicate they might be.

I've left the reward to him... Only thing is it can't be food related.

OK, So it could have been worse

or Why exercise is good for more than one thing.

After a couple of hours of swimming and playing in the water, and a few minutes in the hot tub I won't say all looks Rosy, but at least I'm not all teary about it. I have had some trouble eating today. I had about 1/3rd of my daily points left after dinner. I had a after dinner snack of salad followed by chocolate! I am also very tired for some reason. Maybe it's PMS week. At 49years old PMS week seems to be a bit less predictable than it used to be.

Any way I'm feeling better. I did some searching for BOB trailers vs Burley trailers. I have placed some links along side of the page. Most people on the discussions seemed to prefer Burley trailers for stability (2 wheels not one) and because they fold for shipping and storage. I saw another site from 2004 that said for trikes it matters less and that BOB's are less likely to be damaged by careless handling. (no nylon walls etc.) Other things that make some like them is one wheel follows better on a bike for missing potholes and glass. I guess you might be able to argue that it doesn't matter for trikes. Oddly most of the trip pictures I've seen using Trikes and trailers seem to have BOB trailers. I'm still wondering why discussions vs photos are so different. I'll keep looking for more info.

I brought my bike in and DH is going to put it on the trainer tonight. It looks like no rain for tomorrow so he's going on a ride. Length to be determined by the weather and weather the DayQuil does a good job of keeping his cough under control. I hope he gets a good ride in. He's had a hard time getting any good riding done between the virus and short rides that we could handle. he really needs some good training as his big ride (GRR) is in less than 4 months. You can see his mental prep for it on the family blog at http:www.napolitano.it I'm proud of all the thought and hard work he's putting into prepping for this ride.

Only so so news...

I lost the 0.4 lbs I gained last week. I'm still 0.4 lbs away form being 20 lbs down. This depresses me. Of course trying to find pants yesterday depressed me too. Target only have about 5 wracks of Women's clothes and 2 of those wracks were swimsuits, and 2 were tee shirt type blouses. The rest were baggy pedal pusher type jeans. Nothing I would wear. Certainly nothing that a short fat woman would look half way decent wearing. Oh well.

We are swimming today. Maybe a couple of hours of swimming will help both the weight and the depression. It can't hurt.

Reading about Touring, Looking for info on trailers,

I'm reading The Essential Touring Cyclist by Richard A Lovett.

He describes touring and the special needs of a bicycle tourist. He has a pretty good overview of things so far though there are some things I wish he'd covered in more detail. I'm only about half way through the book so maybe he'll answer things in more detail later.

Things I'm interested in finding more about are.... trailers. BOB vs Burley. Why would one be better than the other? The prices are close. Most of the trailers I see in pictures on touring reports seem to be BOB trailers. The recumbent store I've been too carries Burley but can order BOB's. They didn't give me any really good reason why one is better than another and are happy to order BOB's if you like. Burley says they will carry more weight (100 lbs vs 70 lbs) but I'm not too sure I want to carry a lot more weight! The guy at the store said he has a BOB but it's not stable if you put more than 40 lbs in it. Another site I saw said 50 lbs was the magic number for stability at his height ans weight. I haven't seen any reports on the Burley. Does it matter if you use a recumbent trike? More stable closer to the ground? Less? And what about a tandem does the combined weight of the tandem and riders make it more or less stable? Lots to figure out. I guess not a big deal as I have lots of time.

Weigh-in tomorrow. I'm hoping for good news.