Count Down 100

Starting over well almost...

2011-02-20T19:37:00.000-08:00

After quitting Weight Watchers I gained back about 30 of the 40 lbs I lost. So I'm back to WW and 4 weeks in am down about 10 lbs. Only 20lbs to go to my lowest point since the last WW plan..

The new WW Points Plus system is very different. A lot of the low points go to foods aren't really Low on the pointsPlus plan. Now instead of calories, fat and fiber they count fat, carbohydrates, fiber and protein. You really need some one of their calculators to follow the plan well. This plan is a lower carb plan. They no longer say a calorie is a calorie. All fruits and most veggies (not potatoes grains etc really veggies!) are zero points. To encourage you to eat more fresh fruits and veggies. The exceptions are dried fruits and fruits canned in syrup etc. If you use a piece of fruit in a cooked dish the fruit is still free you just add the pointsPlus for the stuff added. You can't easily take out the calories for fruits and veggies on things like frozen food ( Lean Cuisines etc) so this makes home cooked easier to figure out than packaged stuff this is a big switch. And really what WW wants you to do. Fresh is better especially fruits and veggies.

I'm struggling a bit this time. Especially with emotional over eating. ( though over eating less but still not eating the things I should be in reasonable quantities.) I think working on the emotional aspect will be key. this time. I knows some wonderful ladies on the Internet that care and are willing to listen to me and support me. I do so wish they were all closer so we could band together and take care of each other physically as well as emotionally. My friends ROCK! It's hard to believe most of us have been together nearly 13 years.

It's also hard to believe that this week was the first time I've admitted how out of control my emotional eating is. Why did I admit it now? Someone posted about the opposite eating disorder anorexia. She exercises, I over eat. If we split the difference we could both be healthy. Maybe we should live next door and she could drag me to the gym and I could drag her to the ice cream shop!

Working on recipes, portion control and skipping the junk food.

2010-09-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

Recipes... I am so used to "Iron Cheffing" it every night that I'm having to work really hard at figuring out exactly what and how much goes into the food I cook. I am also having to work on NOT cooking extra because if I make extra we eat it. Not for lunch the next day but either at dinner or soon after. This is taking time, organization, and effort. None of which seems to come naturally to me. I seem only able to do this with copious amounts of paper,ink and time.

Portion control... I seem not to have a big issue eating a reasonable portion. I stop when I'm not hungry any more. Not when I'm full, just when I'm not hungry. Added bonus is that it helps with y reflux issues too.

Junk Food.... OK here's my big problem. I don't see to be able to "Just say No". It doesn't seem to matter if it's sugar fat or salt. I crave it. Controlling my cravings can cause me to sit in front of the pantry door depressed because EVERYTHING I want is either high in fat, sugar or salt. This is my biggest struggle.

Up and Down...

2010-09-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

UGH! I gained back about 20 lbs. I"m back down 3 lbs and working on getting back on track. The whole family is trying to eat healthier. I'm cooking less at meals and making sure it's less calories per serving and still good nutrition. There have been few or no leftovers. The Down side is someties DH ends up eating a bowl of cereal as part of dinner. I still have trouble making the *Right* amount of food,as his needs change depending if he's been doing any heavy bike riding/exercise.

Life has been busy. I'm behind in just about everything. So I guess I really need to get busy. Summer is over so the camping gear will finally get put away in it's garage spot. That should free up quite a bit of the mess and make it a bit easier to work on the rest.

Once I get a grip on that I need to figure out how to stay dry and still get back to using the Trike for the grocery shopping and other errands. I have been going to the Pool and doing the water arobics Monday Wednesday and Friday, but I had some minor surgery last week and can't go in the pool yet. So Wet and Sweat is out for one more week. But we will soon be back in the pool for an hour 3 times a week. Maybe we can start riding to the pool. Only problem is that adds even more time, time that I need to be working on getting other stuff done.

Speaking of getting other stuff done...

weigh in day again...

2010-01-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

down 1.4 lbs form last week. Not great but OK. This week we are suposed to focus on filling foods. Veggies fruit low fat protien, high fiber etc. As this is what my DH is currently interested in we will see how it works.

Wish me luck!

Been quite a while and I wish I had good things to report but...

2010-01-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

not horrid but I have gained a few lbs. Last report was 197lbs. Now up to 201.2 lbs. Not a horrid gain over the holidays, say Halloween through New Years, but up none the less. So time to get back to what WAS working. So what have I let slide, this blog for one. I will try to update at least 3 times a week. Next sliding issue, Tracking. I need to write down what I eat or I forget I ate it and eat it again! Sliding issue #3, Bike riding. Yep it's cold out there, and wet, but not currently snowy or icy so I need to start riding again. Bring on the more layers. I don't have any rain gear but I will dry out I'm not talking about riding several hours at a time, just getting off my rear and on my bike.

This by the way is NOT a New Years resolution. I've not been working at this for quite a year yet though it's close! This is a get back to it and stick to it. I lost 40 lbs in Year one. (and gained back about 5 of it.) So my goal for year 2 is to lose the 5 I've gained back and another 40 this year. It can be done. That would put me in the Overweight category instead of the Morbidly Obese category. Hey not perfect but improved anyway.

Another event this year would be in Feburary I'll be 50. One would think that at 1/2 a century in age I could control my eating and exercising.

Also I have an update on the trike shopping... I was thinking TerraTrike Tour and DH was looking at CatTrike Speed for him. We recently did a very short test ride They didn't have Tour set up in my size and we didn't have time to have them swap one around so I tried the CatTrike Villager, and my Husband tried it and the Terra TrikeTour. He left liking the Terra Trike and I left having really liked the CatTrike.

The CatTrike Villager was adjustable down to my size even though the specs say that only the pocket would fit me. The adjustment was simple and it could easily adjust from my leg length to DH's with a self adjusting chain that didn't requite any tools to adjust or any parts changed out. I'm thinking this would be good for my still growing daughter! The sales person wants us to come back and spend several hours riding several models before deciding. He thinks I will like the Pocket even better than the Villager. I'm wondering if the Villager wasn't quite set up for DH size and best fit. Though honestly his riding needs are different than mine so the TerraTrike may well be better for him. It appears that really there are a Lot of subtle differences in these trikes and until you actually test ride them under the conditions you ride in you may not be able to choose the best one for your application, body,or needs. So while I'm still open to a change, CatTrike is looking like it is in the lead for me right now.

Down a bit more...

2009-10-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-10-06T13:44:00.001-07:00

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?

2009-09-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-08-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-08-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-07-28T18:21:00.001-07:00

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.

2009-07-24T23:07:00.001-07:00

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 ...

2009-07-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-07-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-06-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-06-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-06-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-06-13T21:42:00.001-07:00

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)

2009-06-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-06-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-06-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-30T23:30:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-19T14:00:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-05-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-05-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-07T07:05:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-05-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

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

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...

2009-04-22T11:59:00.001-07:00

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..

2009-04-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-04-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-04-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

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 ...

2009-04-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-04-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

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,

2009-03-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

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,

2009-03-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

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,

2009-03-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Extra Short!

2009-03-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we stopped at Coventry Cycle Works in Portland Oregon. http://www.coventrycycle.com/ They have Terra trikes, Cat trikes and Greenspeeds. (and Lots of other stuff too!) It was really nice talking to the person there about all the different trikes and the positives and negatives of them all. I also got to try out the direct vs linkage steering. Sit in them and get suggestions on set ups for touring etc. It was very exciting and cool. If you are in the Portland area and Want to check out recumbent or recumbent trikes Coventry is the place to go. It was raining and very muddy so I didn't go for a test ride but I think I would like to take DH,DD and I back for a test ride soon.

I also found out that my ex-seam is small enough that anything except an extra short is not a good choice for me. The short is adjustable but if you move to it's shortest position your steering is limited by the handle bars hitting the seat. So short just won't do.

My DH's concern is that he doesn't really want a trike and he's afraid that mixing the cycles in a group between a trike and a bicycle will make it harder to stay together on tours. If anyone has any input on that or a site that talks bout that let me know. My concern is that DD and I won't be able to keep up with him. His is that one will be faster on up hill and one faster on down hill and it won't even out and we will be spread out all over and someone will always be waiting for someone else. He keeps telling me we should be a triplet so we can all stay together. I'm not sure if he's joking or not. My problem with a triplet is that like a sled dog only the leader gets a view. (or any control over what's going on) I know from our Tandem that if you take the time to look around on the tandem you know even less whats going on and can get some very nasty surprises. I've nearly been bounced off a time or two. I don't know maybe our tandem just isn't set up well for me or I don't ride it enough to predict what's going on. Usually DD is on the back of the tandem. I also am more interested in the easier to balance, climbing, more comfortable aspects of the trike. Besides they are cool. Also the bike is my reward for losing 100 lbs. I don't think I should get a reward that I can only ride if 2 other people happen to have the same schedule and desire to ride that I do.

I don't know, I guess he has a year or so to convince me. Right now I'm not even close to convinced. I am however seeing a nice drop on the scales this week though, but we won't talk about that till Tuesday's weigh in!

Flat Out flatbread,,,

2009-03-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.flatoutbread.com/

I was pretty sure this couldn't be good. It's only one point for a flat bread it had 8 grams of fiber only 2.5 gm of fat. I was betting it would have the texture of saw dust. Nope. Sure it does have texture to it but it's not dry at all. I'd say the texture is between a corn and a flour tortilla.

Here's what I do with it that is really great.

Lay out one flat bread. Spread with 1 point of WW cream cheese spread or one (0.5 pts) laughing cow wedge make sure you get it all the way to the edges. Less in the middle is OK. Layer 2/3's of the bottom (short side) with a healthy portion of lettuce leaves a few cherry tomatoes or tomato slices and 1 point of you favorite lunch meat. Drizzle with a tiny bit of your favorite salad dressing maybe a teaspoon or 2 max. Roll it up from the filled end and seal the edges and sides using the cheese as glue to hold it together and keep the tomatoes from falling out. You have a good sized roll up sandwich that tastes great.

My other favorite things to do with them is a snack pizza. Now this is actually more like a flavored cracker but has a great pizza taste.

Lay a flat bread out flat on a baking pan. Pop it in the oven to warm it a bit. Put a very thin layer of tomato sauce spread evenly over the flat bread. I use my home made, but any good quality tomato sauce or pizza sauce would work. (1-2 tablespoons) Sprinkle on some dried oregano. Use a sprinkle of reduced fat Mozzarella ( maybe 1/4 cup or so) and a light dusting of Parmesan cheese to top. Put back in the over till the cheese melts and the flat bread is slightly crispy. 3 to 4 points depending on how much cheese/what kind of cheese you use. Over all I decided It was well worth buying the big multi pack at Costco and DD loves it too.

http://www.flatoutbread.com/products/health_multi.html

Last Night...

2009-03-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

I spent the night as an over night host at our church. We host an emergency weather shelter to get homeless people in out of the cold. We were open due to it being well below freezing. This winter has been below freezing much longer than it was last year. We were open about 3 times the number of nights as last year. After being up most of the night I got up at 5am to cook biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I came home and passed out for a few hours. Then I did some history with DD, and took her to swimming. (no I didn't swim this time, due to lack of organizational skills, I didn't have a clean swimsuit) Finaally I cooked for the homeless teen dinner we have every week. After serving about 20 homeless teens dinner I'm finally home and ready for bed. Well I'm ready for bed,but I have too much to do tonight, so I'll be up for a while yet.

Tomorrows plans are still up in the ai,r depending on how much I can get done tonight. We may go up to Mount Hood to check on hotels for a Randonnee route DH s planning for August 29th. http://www.orrandonneurs.org/brevets/2009_brevets.html If we do go, we may have enough time to play in the snow before coming home. If that doesn't work out I'll be home catching up on all the stuff I've not gotten done due to illness and/or working at or cooking for the homeless shelters at church. Some where along the way this weekend I'm hoping to get a bit of sleep and some riding done.

We went for a short ride yesterday, while it was sunny, it was very cold. We didn't ride nearly as far as I expected to. I'm not sure if DH was taking pity on me, or if everyone was just too cold to enjoy the ride. I didn't have a big problem with the ride except for that one hill... It is one I always struggle with. That said, I did manage the evil last hill just before home without having to get off and push. I as usual fell behind by about 2 blocks due to that hill, though I suspect that DH slowed way down ,because I pulled in at home not too far behind him. The last couple of blocks are down hill so I caught up a bit there.

Riding today.... weigh in yesterday

2009-03-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining not a cloud in the sky but it's cold. I'm going for a ride today. I would like DH and DD to come on the tandem if possible. We will see.

Yesterday DD and I spent 2 hours at the pool swimming so I got some exercise yesterday. I borrowed some swim fins and did laps for a good portion of the 2 hours. We will do that again tomorrow.

But for the next couple of hours I need to get some work done around here so I can go on that bike ride.

Bad weigh in yesterday. Up .4 lbs. Oh well more exercise this week. It's gotta help. I wish I had a good guess why I'm up. I thought I was logging and doing well with the eating. So more exercise and keep food journaling.

I'm hoping that we can get 2 hours of swim in on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a good long ride at least 2 -3 times a week. though the ride might be harder as I'm so far behind on everything house related.

Very low point Vegetarian Chilli

2009-03-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

This is a chili I started making when DH was vegetarian. Little did I know it was actually a good WW food.

Veggie Chili
1 package Yves veggie ground round
2 cups dried pinto beans ( though canned work fine and save lots of time)
1 large chopped onion
1/2 cup tomato sauce (or a can of Rotel if you like the taste)
1 large zucchini (you can add pretty much any 0 point or low calorie veggie that you like the more the better)

All seasonings to taste...
Ancho chili powder
Salt to taste
Oregano
Coriander

Cook the dried beans till tender with salt and onions.
(or cook onions till soft then add canned beans)
Add the veggie ground round, tomato and seasonings.
simmer for 15 to 20 minutes adjust seasonings.

This makes about 10 -12 cups (or more depending on how many 0 point veggies you add.)
it is about 1 point per cup. 2 cups makes a very filling meal, with loads of fiber and low fat protien. We top with about a point of shredded cheese. And add either a low point tortilla ( 1-2 points depending on the tortilla) or a "flat out" flat bread. (1 point) 2 hours later I'm both stuffed and satisfied.

Weather,spring, bike riding, and stuff to do...

2009-03-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering if winter will ever end. OK I know it will and I know we don't have the worst of it. But SNOW in March in Hillsboro Oregon???? And the cold. We had hoped to close the emergency weather shelter in February. But here we are open again. The next 2 nights are supposed to be in the low 20's. Again not the worse weather around, but deadly if you are sleeping out side. The good news is that it's supposed to be in the 50's this weekend and mid 60's by the middle of next week. At least for the highs.

Spring is coming and that means I will get a chance to ride soon. We aren't even supposed to get much rain in the next 2 weeks. So riding should be really nice for the next week or 2. I talked with DH last night and he gave me a couple of good ideas for places to ride. I'm also planning to do some grocery shopping on the bike soon. Since DH works from home I should be able to set DD up with school work and leave them home alone and go riding during the week. Weekends are when DH does most of his rides so that is less likely to be a time when I'm doing any major riding because I will have DD with me. She's just not up to much road riding yet. I'm thinking she will be soon, just not yet.

The office is still a shambles. That is today's big chore. DD's room not quite as bad but still in need of significant work. Then we will have to switch closets too. That's going to be quite a chore. as the office loses storage space in the closet. So I will have to sort and figure out what to do with a lot of stuff.

DH is doing the Snooseville 100k this weekend. http://www.orrandonneurs.org/rba/2008/Snoozeville/2008_Snoozeville_Info.html It's his first official ride this year, and by his standards, a short one. Some day maybe I will think this is a "short" ride too.

Not satisfied...

2009-03-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

Dinner was not very satisfying. Not even right after eating. So I decided I needed something that would satisfy me tonight, even though weigh-in is coming on Tuesday. So I put some peaches in the oven with a granola type topping made of oatmeal fiber one cereal sliced almonds a little butter Bisquick mix and a little brown sugar. It's baking now I hope it will fill the need so I won't want anything else before bed time. 2 points per peach half with topping.

I need to find a bike route near me that is fairly flat. I want to try getting on the bike and riding to see how far I can get. This requires a few things. One a route that is fairly flat. ( not so easy to find around here. Two some decent weather. This cold rain/snow thing we have going on right now isn't really terrific. Three a weekend where DH isn't already doing a ride so he and DD can support/rescue me if/when needed. I'll see what we can figure out tonight.

Yesterdays lack of posting was due to switching DD's bedroom and the office and the attendant computer shut down, not to mention all the time spent disassembling and reassembling both bedroom and office furniture. not of which would fit through the doors with out removing the doors and taking apart the furniture. Then there was the 3 large book cases full of course. You get the idea. It is still total chaos. I'm sitting on a step stool to type. Yeah. Not optimal.

I'm leaning toward making my reward for losing weight a cool bike (or trike) and a tour somewhere along the California coast. Not sure how to make that work logistically driving to one point isn't a problem... getting back to the car may be more of an issue. Loads of time to work out the details so I'm not going to stress about it today.

Mental wandering

2009-03-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

I grew up in California in a small town in San Joaquin Valley. It is a very flat and dry place. It only rained in the winter and rarely very got cold, even in the winter. It was hot as the blazes in the summer time though. I remember blistering my feet on the pavement running bare foot across the street. This is where I called home for many years. I rarely left it. I saw mountains or the ocean maybe once a year. Even the foot hills were a rare treat. Snow was something you went to see. We might get a dusting every 5-7 years. My family pretty much stayed home, read books or watched TV. I rode my bicycle all over town, until my bicycle got stolen. Then I walked or stayed home till I was old enough to drive. There was no public transportation. As a teen and even older, big excitement was going to the mall and window shopping. We didn't have one where I lived and had to drive 20 - 30 minutes to get to a mall. I can remember going on 2 big vacations the whole time I was growing up. One to Yellowstone and one to Disneyland. There were a few camping trips. (in Grandpa's old trailer, Mom didn't do tents and sleeping bags.)

MY DH however grew up in Italy, Rome and Sicily and later Milan, were his to explore. Bicycles or public transportation were more common. His family traveled more and spent more time being active. (or hyperactive compared to the way I was raised.)

I guess that explains a lot about the differences in the way he and I see things. Especially physical activities, travel and vacations. His idea of a cool vacation is something that keeps you moving like going to France and doing the Paris-Brest-Paris ride. He's hoping to do that in 2011. My equivalent would be to go to Paris and visit Museums or drive around seeing the countryside. I've only been once, and with a 2 year old in toe, Museums were out of the question.

When we started talking about doing a bicycle tour as a reward for losing this extra 100 lbs I've been carrying around for more than 20 years, I was thinking something like a leisurely touring Ireland by bike. Seeing the old castles, meeting people and visiting a pub or two and taking a ton of pictures. Or maybe... I don't know there are loads of places where things like that are available to see and do. The thing is My DH isn't really interested in Ireland, castles or any place he's already seen. He's been there, he's seen that, so why not go some place else.

This leaves me kind of lost as to where I'd like to go. I want to go somewhere we will all enjoy. You have to remember, I've not been anywhere. I've never really expected to be able to go any where, so I've never really thought about where to go or what to do when I get there.

Someone commented about Switzerland being great for bike rides. They sure have tons of bike trails. Some countries don't have road systems as complete as Switzerland's bike trails, and it is beautiful there.

Then there's Italy, I have a built in translator in DH as he was raised there. I've heard that unless you are out of the more populated areas the drivers can be a big hazard, so that would restrict us to areas that had less services and would be harder to build our own tour so to speak. We would also have to spend extra time there beyond the tour as the relatives would never forgive us for traveling that far and not letting them spend time with DD. So the tour would have be more limited and to some extent more about what the relatives wanted us to do than what we wanted to do.

New Zealand is supposed to be beautiful as are many other places around the world. I just don't know enough about them to make a decision.

After considering a lot of places, I read a cool report about someone that lived in Germany that did the west coast tour from Alaska to Mexico. He mentioned that most US cyclists miss out on teh west coast ride because they travel out side the US for their longer rides. I've done the route but only in a car and it is indeed beautiful. I wonder if I woudl compare other locations against it and decide I would have rather ridden the west coast ride? We don't have the time to do a tour that long. (When you are self employed, if you don't work, you don't get paid. So paid vacations are not an option.) But we could train in Washington and Oregon and then tour for a week or so on the Northern California coast. Maybe the next year pick up where we left off and do the central to southern half of the state. My only concern is that I've driven highway 1. OK that doesn't really make sense unless you've driven highway 1 too. It's a narrow winding 2 lane road. It's awesomely beautiful. Today I can't see myself pedaling up those hills though. Maybe a year or so from now that will change. Hopefully in a year or so a lot of things will have changed.

Mostly I just want this to be a vacation that will be fun for the whole family, and I won't be dragging along behind, too fat and too tired, to keep up.

Swim time only today....

2009-03-05T15:45:00.002-08:00

I made the mistake of commenting on DD's age when I was getting ready to pay at the center. They told us she has to be 13 years old to be in the gym area Even wiht parent present. I am so bummed. That totally kills the being able to work out after swim class for another 2.5 years. Maybe next week there will be a different person at the desk and she won't ask Anna's age.

Well at least we both got a good 1 hour in the pool. Now I have to decide if it is worth paying extra for more pool time or if we just leave it at one hour, try to sneak her in or try to find something else to do in addition to the hour in the pool.

Interestingly enough...

2009-03-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

In spite of the Carl's Jr diet disaster yesterday, the 2 hours of exercise made the scales shift down .4 lbs today. I guess I'll have to do that more often... The exercise part not the high points food part. I was also craving salt last night and ate pickle chips. That is usually good for adding a couple of lbs of extra water weight. Since I didn't see that I'm guessing I needed the electrolytes.

Over all I expected to be pretty sore today after 2 hours of constant motion both in and out of the water. Instead I had a few minor aches that went away when I got up and moved around a bit. maybe I've found a good exercise plan for me. An hour in the pool followed by an hour on exercise machines in the gym. We will try it again on Thursday when DD has swim lessons again.

Weigh-in end week 7, What not to eat and todays exercise

2009-03-03T16:41:00.000-08:00

Weigh-in... not as bad as expected. I lost 0.8 lbs this week. for a total loss of 19.6 lbs. I'm creeping in on my 10% loss goal of 23 lbs. Only 3.4 lbs to go to hit that goal. The next goal will be closer... after the 10% I only need to lose 15 more lbs to be at a 25+ year low of 199 lbs.

What not to eat... Anything from Carl's Jr. DD and I stopped for lunch today.I figured no brainer a Kid's meal should be reasonable.... NO IT ISN'T!!!! kids hamburger meal with small fries 23 points! I only get 25 for the day so that sucked. And of course I didn't check the nutrition facts till I got home on the computer. All of their burgers and such are very high cal/fat and low fiber. And it didn't even taste good. Not 23 points good for sure.

Exercise... while DD was at swim lessons, I spent an hour in the water in constant motion then another hour on the recumbent exercise bike and treadmill at the aquatic center. DD also did some time on both the bike and treadmill. though I think I spent more on the bike and she spent more time on the treadmill. She would have stayed longer but I was beat, so we came home.

So over all could have been worse, Could have been better with out the mental lapse that was the decision to go to Carl's Jr for lunch but over all a reasonable day.

Weigh-in, bike tour locations...

2009-03-02T18:15:00.000-08:00

Weigh -in is tomorrow and I will be happy to have not gained. It was a very low activity week for me because of the nasty virus that has kept me down all week. Finally today I'm feeling a bit better, though still congested and coughing. At least I'm feeling more human with a little energy. Just in time for DH to come down with it.

I did stay pretty much on Plan this week. And yes I logged everything. But with the reduced activity... well we'll see.

I asked some on-line friends a question today. I'm hoping for some input. Where do you live and why would it be a great place to do a bike tour. Not many answers yet.

Where would you go for a bike tour in the US? And why? I know there are cool places all over the world. But the US is big enough to have a lot of pretty cool places in it too. Ignoring all my previous posts what makes a place a great place for a bike tour? The challenge? The scenery? The history? The people you tour with? Something totally different? What time of year is best? Spring? Summer? Fall? Camping or Hotel? What kind of equipment to take?

Maybe a better question is where to start making decisions. I'm hoping that I get some idea of what others would like to do as a jumping off point to make some decisions of my own. No one ever accused me of being decisive.

Bicycle saddle, pedals and weather etc....

2009-03-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

DD needs a new bicycle saddle. Hers is a kids sized saddle and she just isn't a kid sized kid. At 10 years old is is 5 feet 1 inch. She's always been tall. 97% on all the charts from infant on up. So soon we will be going out to get her a new seat. She also needs pedals. She is still figuring out the whole riding, steering braking thing and when she gets near someone else she freaks out a bit and tends to lose control. when she does she ends up getting the bike pedal jammed into her leg. The pedals she has now have teeth on them for traction. good unless they are jammed into your leg... then a it's bit rough on the body.

Not that we've had much chance to ride lately. The rain is a bit of an issue. I guess I shouldn't complain though as it's been a pretty dry winter to date. Cold but dry. I'm hoping that this coming weekend we can work in a nice bike ride or two around some very necessary gardening. It's supposed to be sunny and nice, we can hope that the forecasters are right. I really need to get some time on the bike either outside or on the trainer but It's such a pain to switch bikes on and off the trainer and DH is training for the start of his bike season. I guess I could put the fenders on and ride in the rain but I don't have any rain gear so that's not real appealing either. It sounds like lots of excuses. Maybe when DD is at swimming lessons I can use the gym for a bit of exercise.

I must do something soon.

The flu seems not to want to leave our house. DD is feeling better I'm not quite as sick though I can't seem to get rid of the sinus headache from hell, but now DH has it too. I was hoping he'd skip it this year. Honestly, I was hoping we'd all skip it this year as we had our flu shots early in the year.

I'm having a serious attack of the munchies today. Not good. So far I'm staying on plan but I do believe I need to use a few weekly points today to stay sane. Maybe it's the grey yucky day. I'm not sure what I'm having for dinner tonight I'm making DH and DD pasta with butternut squash and kale for dinner but since I don't like squash or kale I'm not sure what I'm having. Maybe I'll nuke a lean cuisine for me.

The Pity Party is over. Time to get going

2009-02-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling a bit better today though still in need of all the symptom relief of NyQuil. You know sniffling, sneezing, stuffy head, fever .... Yeah not great but no where near as bad as yesterday.

DD spent the night with a friend and DH is downstairs Riding to a spinervals DVD. I thought I'd take a look at a few things today.

I found this link on training for a bike tour.
http://www.experienceplus.com/reading_room/training_fitness/bicycle_training_programs/bicycle_101_under_little.html It has a lot of info. I'll have to print the package and see if I can get started on it ON DH's trainer since the weather is still sucky.

Then I came across this site. Score!
http://www.adventurecycling.org/features/howto.cfm
Everything form how to train for a bike tour, choosing a bike, reading maps, shipping bikes etc.

Music for indoor cycling http://www.fitmoves.com/IndoorCycling/ListSongs.asp Can sort by flat, sprint, climb, interval and Relaxation songs.

As the link says these songs are good for climbing the hill. Love this post.
http://www.fatcyclist.com/2007/04/03/7-perfect-climbing-songs/

I'll have to check out these songs and see if I want any of them for my ipod.

These sites should keep me busy for a while.

Goals and the process of getting there....

2009-02-27T10:33:00.000-08:00

DH says I'm making things to sequential. that I shouldn't think of it as when I get to this point then I can... He wants me to think more about how I need to start riding more now and building up. OK I can see his point. I'm not ruling out riding more now. even doing some long weekend ride/camping stuff. The problem I have is that We live in OREGON. Flat isn't flat here. Hauling an extra 80+ lbs of me up a hill of any size isn't something I can do. Shoot there is one small grade on the way home from pretty much any, where that I often have to get off and push. It's not even a hill. When you stand on your pedal to push to go up a hill and the tire spins it doesn't work. You don't go. Gravity is not my friend. So where in Oregon am I going to go for a weekend bike trip? http://oregonstate.edu/~coltonc/page3.htm Do you see the green area? I live in that green sort of flat green area. It's not flat. Not flat enough for me to ride, be comfortable and enjoy the ride. Sure I'll try. I'll give anything a try. But I don't hold out a lot of hope at this point that I will be able to make it. That's why I want to lose at least 50 lbs before trying any really long rides. I'm afraid if I fail, if I really hate it, I will just give up. I want this to work. I want to do this.

I need to have a goal that I can make. All my life I've been told "you can't do that", "you won't finish that", "You'll never... " All failure does is re enforce the people that told me those things. I need to succeed away from those people. I can't fail. If I fail they are right. It's lovely that my DH thinks I can do this. I'd love him for that even if I didn't have many other reasons to love him. But I need to be able to take steps. Small steps. Because this is important to me and to my family, I can't afford to fail this time.

Yuck. No whining. I need to get over this virus, feel better and get back to my more positive "can do" mind set. I can do this. I will do this. Just because it's hard doesn't mean I can't do it. Sorry Mythbusters Failure is not an option.

Am I Going about this the wrong way?

2009-02-26T08:18:00.000-08:00

I do believe I'm going about this the wrong way. Yes the dieting is going well so far. I'm OK there. But the new bike/trike reward trip thing... Not so good.

First of all I don't have a clue where I want to go. Tons of places sound great. Many of the ones I've found that I would like are probably not what DH and DD would enjoy. That part is important to me too. That we all have fun. That's the whole idea, a vacation we all enjoy and no one gets left behind. So for now I'm going to concentrate less on where and more on getting there.

Second DH could well do any bike tour and rarely break a sweat. DD and I however just don't have bikers legs. And that is going to take some serious work. More than could be done during a few spring training rides. I don't think that summer 2010 sounds possible.

Third I still have almost 85 lbs to go. I theoretically could lose 85 lbs by then but it could also take me till winter 2010 too, or even longer. So if I don't get my bike/trike (still leaning towards trike but still not decided which I will get) till I lose the weight, and it takes me one riding season (or more) to get bike legs that would make it possible to ride and enjoy a tour. It could possibly take me till some time in 2012 before I was ready to take a tour. DD has to be ready too. So maybe sometimes 2011-2012 for a bike tour. The tour is sounding farther and farther away the more I think about it.

So lets forget about the tour for a while and just concentrate on the bike/trike aspect as a reward for losing the weight. The tour can be a reward for getting in shape for a tour. That would break the goals down to 2 distinct goals /rewards. Maybe that will make it easier to think about and not sound so far away, or quite so expensive.

So now to figure out just what I really want from a bike/trike... Lots to learn about there.

Being sick...It's getting old fast.

2009-02-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

Bleck, What ever this virus is, it is not fun. I went to bed cranky and short tempered at about 6:30 last night and got up this morning around 8:00 or so. I'm not really feeling like eating or doing much else for that matter. I did unload the dishwasher and reload it this morning.

I must get more functional to face the day, even though it's nearly 1/2 over already. Thank Goodness we don't have a lot to do outside the house today.

I'm even too yucky feeling to think overly much about bikes, touring etc. Maybe tomorrow.

WW weigh-in end week 6 begining week 7

2009-02-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

Week 6 ends with a 3.8 lb weight loss. Less impressive if averaged over 2 weeks as last week I only lost 0.2 lbs. Over all I've lost 18.8 lbs since 1/13/09. that drops me down to 219.4 lbs. which also means I lose 1 WW point this week. So I get 25 points per day and 35 "anytime" points for the week.

I'm also getting a nasty little virus that DD has had for a bout a week now. Her's seems to be improving a bit so I'm not looking forward to a week or more of sore throat coughing and sinus yuck. I've also been a bit dizzy (that woudlbe dizzier than normal) and a bit queasy for the last couple of days. Not fun.

What did I learn this week... Fiber and water are my friend. If you eat less things don't move as well. So yeah fiber and water, I've have to pay more attention to that.

Bike/Trike thoughts... Lots of thoughts.

2009-02-22T17:29:00.000-08:00

It's been brought to my attention that most people tour on Bikes not Trikes. Why? Is there a reason Bikes are better? What are the pros and cons of Regular bike vs Recumbent bike vs Recumbent Trike for touring.

I like the idea of a recumbent Trike for several reasons, one I hate most bike saddles. At my current weight most are painful to sit on and painful for days afterward. I can see that that could change after losing a significant amount of weight. Another is balance and fear I count this as one thing because the one leads to the other. I have a constant low level of vertigo with occasional increased levels that range from discomfort to need to touch something to walk upright due to visual issues. Normally I can ignore it and just keep going, when it's worse the thought of trying to balance on a bike is scary, especially if riding near traffic. Sometimes just going up or down stairs is scary. You would rarely see me climbing stairs without touching a hand rail or the Wall. The vertigo is believed to be allergy/ear related. That is NOT something that is likely to go away with losing weight, though clearly I would not be upset if I was proven wrong.

Now if there is a good reason why touring on a Bike is better than a Trike I'm open to suggestions. It does have to be enough better that it would out weigh the balance/fear and I hate saddles issues. I do a lot of things in a less than steady state, so I could do a tour on a bike unless the vertigo got really bad. I'm not saying I'd be able to enjoy it as much but I could do it. (It's hard to enjoy the scenery if it won't hold still and if it starts jumping around or spinning all bets are off.) DH says he's not sure you could set up a Trike to carry the things we might need on a bike tour as we are looking at not using a touring company that would carry our stuff in a van. Instead we would like to plot our own route and carry what we need, clothing etc.

Also there are recumbent bikes... That might take care of the saddle issue. (not sure as I've not tried one) but I am concerned that leaning back without that extra wheel for stability might be worse than riding a regular bike. Oh well. Lots of time to figure it all out I guess.

More trike thoughts...

2009-02-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

I wonder if Greenspeed is worth the higher price? What do they have that say Terra Trikes don't' have? http://www.greenspeed.com.au/trikes.html . Or what about this one http://www.jmrecumbents.com/indexenglish.htm? It folds down pretty small, but is a bit less expensive. Would it hold up to touring?

A Girl Can Dream...

2009-02-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

It was pretty much same as yesterday. Except that I didn't resist as well, the boss brought donuts. I ate one. I need to figure out how to handle that as the boss always brings donuts, and usually chocolate ones. I guess I could just say Oh well one day a month I will eat a donut. Bringing my own food didn't stop me today. I'll have to think about it. Maybe we can talk about it at my WW meeting someone is likely to have figured out what works when faced with a box of Krispy Kremes.

I think I like this trike... I've not tried it though and would need a chance to try it and others out to see. http://www.terratrike.com/tour.php I wish I knew more about trikes. My dad and brother have trikes, I'm sure they have an opinion but I'd like to see, talk to others and make my own choice. Another possibility http://www.catrike.com/road.htm . The Terra trike Tour is 3 lbs heavier than the Catrike Road but it comes in extra short (34-39 inch x-seam) and short ( 36-41") and the Catrike is 39-46 x seam and darn it I've got short legs. If I measured correctly I'm about 37" x-seam. So the short Terra trike would be fine for me and probably allow my DD ( only an inch shorter at 10 y/o) to borrow it occasionally, though she wants one of her own...

Of course I'm a long way away from being ready to get one I'm guessing 50 lbs. or so before I'll be ready to assume that I can do this and actually choose a bike, but a girl can dream... (if she stays away form those darn Krispy Kremes!) Maybe a goal... get to 180 lbs then pick the bike. that would be down a total of 58 lbs from starting weight and 43 lbs down from my last weigh-in. At 1 lb a week that would be about a week before Christmas 2009. Like I said, A girl cna dream....

Busy day out today...

2009-02-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy day today I tested my new resolve to eat better and have more control over junk food etc.

I went' for 8 hours of training for the Citizens Review Board today. I have 8 more hours tomorrow. I packed lunch and picked up a bagel with light cream cheese. I ate 1/2 the bagel for breakfast and saved the other half to go with my salad and fruit for lunch. I resisted the scones cookies and other munchies that they had available for people to snack on. Quite an achievement as they were sitting in the open a few feet from me all day. At one point I did close the box with cookies in it, just to be a bit less tempted.

Dinner was a pork roast with veggies and salad. After sorting and putting away some stuff and loading and unloading the dishwasher I finished my "homework" for my class tomorrow. I still have to pack my lunch for tomorrow and figure out what I'm having for breakfast.

I came across this site today, Cycling Escapes. It is for way more experienced riders than I am however, their tours look amazing. http://www.cyclingescapes.com/index.html I just don't think I could handle the climb. Probably not for the first time tour.

Here's another one that I think would be possible. Interesting rides, more camping than hotels, interesting business. The problem is that they need 4 people and if no one else was interested in the same dates we wanted It could be an issue as there are only 3 of us. http://www.wildheartcycling.com/, these rides sound fun though many are local to us and I'd like to go a bit farther. http://www.wildheartcycling.com/tours_or_cascade_mtn_rd_h.htm
http://www.wildheartcycling.com/tours_or_willamette_wine_i.htm

Note**** DH says these aren't actually as bad as I imagine... but then our definition of flat is a bit different.

A careful analysis of a few data points....

2009-02-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

Now if that hasn't sent any science minded person who stumbled onto this half over the edge, I don't know what will.

I've been looking at the first 6 weeks of "Diet Data" ie. how many points used vs weight lost and estimated calories/week or day. (now I've lost anyone not science minded too!) If I ignore the first 2 weeks where I always lose more, I do see some points/vs weight loss correlation. At about 24 points per day I lose about 2 lbs per week. At 27 points per day I lost only .2 lbs. So I need to stay somewhere between 24 points and 27 points. WW says I should be eating 26 points /day. So my target is good.

Some issues...

the week I ate 191 points (27 points/day) was valentines week and we ate way to much chocolate and not much else. Sure I stayed in my points range but mostly fast food and chocolate. Lesson learned stick with better nutrition for my points.
the 2 weeks I ate 171 points exactly I lost .4 more pounds on one week... That week I had activities points that I didn't use. I need more exercise.
the week I ate more and lost less ( I'll call it chocolate week) also started a nasty elimination issue. I need to have more fiber in my diet.

So no big surprises. I need more fiber more, exercise, better nutrition and about 25-26 points a day. O and I should avoid CHOCOLATE as a main food group. Bummer.

This Weeks goals:

Sticking with my basic points 25-26.

Drinking my milk. (this was my worse thing health guidelines failure and I need to get the calcium in.)

More fiber.

Avoiding the evil chocolate.

Adding 30 minutes exercise at least 3 x per week.

Ireland ride that sounds cool

2009-02-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.irondonkey.com/selfguidedtours-connemara.php

And an Italian one... (Tuscany)
http://bicyclingworld.com/templates/itinerary.aspx?rqTourID=1841#Day1

Dinner tonight...

2009-02-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

As a school lesson this morning DD is planning Dinner for tonight. She has been give parameters. The first is that she must make it nutritious and balanced. She doesn't have to use any recipe exactly but she must make a list of ingredients she needs and a shopping list. She will be cooking with supervision but she MUST do all the planning and shopping etc herself. (mom pays of course!) I'll still have to figure out points and such and how much I can eat.

DH is back and we are all very happy. We all ate brunch together. Asparagus frittata and salad it was very filling and low point too. I slept much better with him home last night.

The sky is clear and it is supposed to be mid 50's today so I think we may be able to talk Dad into going for a bike ride. I think we would still need go somewhere that is totally off road. DD just isn't that practiced of a rider yet. We do need to start getting our leg muscles in order. While it's early, we still need exercise and may as well make it riding. I guess we could take the tandem for DD and dad and get more exercise with less stops but then she wouldn't get the practice riding on her own. We will have to balance that issue until she gets good enough at riding for us all to get some exercise. Of course then we all have to get fast enough for DH to get a good workout too...

DD wants to ride her own bike so we will probably go to the lake near the library unless we can find a better place. It can be crowded at mid day with walkers and DD freaks out thinking she will hit someone. I think I will get her to ride to the store with me to buy her groceries, quiet street,not too crazy parking lot. It should be OK and I have bags on my bike for groceries.

I also need to get out back and get some garden clean up an prep done today. Green waste goes out tomorrow and I'm sure I can fill the bin. I also need to get a bed ready for Asparagus and that will require some serious digging. I also need to clear an area to start some plants indoors as planting season is around the corner. I'll have to check I think peas are suposed to go in the ground soon. All in all a busy day.

Weigh-in day...

2009-02-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

down 0.2 lbs. for a total of 15 lbs. I'd be kidding if Ididn't say I was dissapointed, I'd also be kidding if I said I was suprised.

Issue #1 - Eating out too often. While I can get information on nutritional values for fast food restraunts I'm betting that the production methods of these food makes the listed mutritional values inconsistant. I'm pretty sure the people at mickey D's and Sonic don't weigh and measure everything that goes in their food. And no matter how well trained it is going to vary.

Issue #2 - Quality of food. No matter how tastey I can't believe that Fast food places use the same quality of food I can at home. Most fast foods are not high in fiber or especially low in fat.

Issue #3 - Lack of ballance. I need to address the ballance of fruits and veggies, Dairy, protien and starches. I'm eating too much starch and protien and not enough Dairy, fruits and veggies. I've been using my daily points less wisely than I should.

One and two are easy. Eat at home more. Weigh measure and ballance. Number three is more work. Plan in advance. Stick to plan. Cook at home. Next week I want to see at least 1 lb weight loss.

Weigh in tomorrow....

2009-02-16T22:02:00.000-08:00

tomorrow is weigh in. I'm hoping for a loss. I've on plan all week, though I've used more weekly points than usual. So I'm hoping for a loss. My foods this week have been a bit less healthy over all and I'd like to get back to better nutritional choices. I did find a new breakfast cereal today that is a corn bran cereal. Quaker Corn Bran Squares It has a very nice flavor and isn't at all mealy in your mouth. (http://www.peertrainer.com/DFcaloriecounterB.aspx?id=6967) with only 90 cal for 3/4 cup, 5 grams of fiber and 1 gram of fat, it is very low point and high fiber. Add 1/2 cup 1% milk and it's only 2 points. ( but remember if you double it up the fiber from the second serving doesn't count, which ups the points to 3 points plus one for the milk, It is however a very filling 4 point breakfast!)

DH is coming home from Italy tomorrow evening! I really miss him. He should be on the plane in the next few minutes. Have a safe trip home Honey.

Today was a land mark day. I put on the jeans my mom bought me for Christmas this year. In December they fit perfectly. I put my cell phone in one pocket and keys in the other and they slipped down till they were nearly falling off! Now if I can just get down to the next size I have in the closet I'll be an even happier girl. I'll wash them in hot water to see if I can shrink them a little, if that doesn't work. I think I'll get out the sewing machine and see if I can take them in. I'd hate to get rid of perfectly good jeans.

I went to big lots a few days ago and bought some bra's in a size smaller. WOW does it make a difference in the way I look to have bras that fit right! And BONUS they were brand name bras and I only spent $5 each for 4 of them! I was so not wanting to spend the big money on bras that (I hope) I won't be able to wear long. The good news is that they fit perfect on the last hooks so I will have an inch or 2 to make them smaller before I have to buy new ones again. You can bet I'll check there again before buying bras next time. When I get to goal I won't mind spending more on some really good bras.

I found this Prince Edward island bike ride planned for June 2010 It has an Anne of green gables theme through part of the ride.
http://www.nbtda.com/EventInfo.php?id=728

Bike maps, giggling, sushi and house work!

2009-02-15T18:41:00.000-08:00

I started looking for Italian bike maps and while I found some I also found several sites saying the roads are too narrow and the drivers to wild to safely share the roads with bikes. Bummer especially as I was hoping to get a recumbent trike for the trip. Hazardous conditions and even less visibility doesn't sound like a great combination. Honestly in the city any way I've been a bit scared of the drivers even in a car. I don't know how they do out side the big cities. I did find some cool links.

http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/206593/italy_guide/cycling_passion_in_italy.html
http://www.italybikehotels.it/en/
http://bikehacks.com/55-free-bike-route-mapping-tools/
http://www.deerfootpublications.com/index.html

DD has a friend spending the weekend...so far I've heard a LOT of giggling and such so I'm kind of afraid to go down stairs... We made sushi for dinner. It was fun if not professional.

I am starting to enjoy wearing my too big t-shirts. I'm not used to them being baggy and it feels nice to not have then snug anywhere! Someone once told me she was loosing weight because she was "tired of her clothes hurting her." I can see her point. Though some clothes are a bit hard to keep on if a bit big!

Last night the girls slept down stairs... It wasn't tidy before they started their little slumber party It didn't get any better for sure! tonight they are sleeping in DD's room, they can't make it much worse. While they are hiding I'm going to be cleaning in there and doing laundry. I haven't been able to get to sleep before about 2am since DH is out of town. If I'm not sleeping I may as well be doing something useful.

That's OK, he will be back Tuesday evening. Of course his sleeping pattern and mine will probably be off by 24 hours or so as Italy is 10 hours earlier and I've been 5 or 4 hours later. We will be glad he's back even if on a different schedule.

Tonight I'm going to look for a good whole wheat bread recipe. Buying the good stuff at the store is expensive. The killer will be if I can make it for low points. Wish me luck.

Feeding the homeless

2009-02-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

Feeding the homeless sure does give you an appreciation for how much food you waste, and how nice it is to go home to a nice warm bed. It also makes you appreciate having a choice of food. In a shelter you get what you get. at home if you don't feel like eating something you can choose something else. You can shower when you like and clean close are usually available. Being homeless sucks. The homeless also tend to appreciate not only the warm place and the food but the people that volunteer to make it happen.

It also makes me aware of how much I used to eat. And how long I've been over eating. If 3,500 calories over what you need to gain you 1 lb. And I was 100 lbs over thats 350,000 calories more than I needed to maintain a normal weight. That's 350,000 calories below what I need to maintain to get back to a NORMAL weight. If I'm eating roughly 1200-1400 cal a day and loosing about 1-2 lbs a week. That means my needs to maintain are about 1700-2400 a day. I'm not sure what I was eating as I've been about this weight for a long time. +/-about 15 lbs. Most of the weight was gained with my first child and in the 5 years after. So somewhere between 1979 and 1985 I ate an extra 350,000 calories. Interestingly that breaks down to about 160 calories a day is all, or about 1112 a week. Of course that doesn't mean much since I've gained and lost 15- 20 lbs several times in that time frame, and more times than I want to think about since. The excess fat on my body could have fed some one for about 6 months.

Which is why it's going to take me a long time to get rid of it. I am determined to do this. I so want to get rid of it and be healthier and more able to enjoy life with my DH and DD. The bike ride is a great goal, and it is about enjoying doing things with my family. But the big thing is it's about me and being who I want to be.

Honestly, I'm not sure that I even care so much where we go on the bike tour. It's the being able to DO the bike tour.

I do think that training for doing a bike tour is all part of getting to the goal. It won't be easy for this couch potato to even get started. Face it my DH grumbles about how hard it is to do his big rides especially up hill with an extra 20 lbs. Multiply that by 5 and add not being as strong to start with and it's easy to see why I whine about anything vaguely not flat and OK the down hill is fun but coming back up that last hill on the way home really sucks. How do you loose weight w/o exercises, how do you exercise when you are over weight. The answer is... It's really hard but you have to just do it. So tomorrow I will start after church. I have a W.W. DVD with some beginning level exercises. 30 minutes even if I have so split it in to two 15 minute sessions. No excuses.

I found a site for Lewis and Clark bike trail maps... it sounds interesting. Though Oregon trail might be cool too. Either one would require breaking the whole trail into more manageable bites and doing them over the course of a few years. No way will we be able to take the time to ride most of the way across the country in one go. Life would totally interfere with that! Plus it's just a LONG ride!

http://www.bicycletouring101.com/PlanningFirstAdventure.htm
http://www.trails.com/stateactivity.aspx?area=10286 Lewis and Clark maps

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

I ate less points early yesterday and more in the evening and I think it helped a bit. I managed to stay with in my Daily points Range. I feel better.

Today I may use a few extra points and celebrate with DD and have some of the See's chocolate. DD made some fudge last night to take to the homeless shelter today and I hope that they will enjoy it.

I bought a new scale as both the old ones we had were not very reliable. This one is seems more repeatable. I'll see how accurate on Tuesday when I go for weigh in. I'll settle for repeatable with the knowledge that if it's off a bit it's OK as long as it's consistent. It seems to be pretty much 1/2 way between the other 2 in general.

I checked out bike rides in Switzerland after my commenter left a message about it. OH MY! It's beautiful. and I really think most of the country is paved bike trails! It looked more like a highway system than bike trails. Loads of great bike routes and beautiful scenery. they have every thing from flat to gentle rolling hills to extreme climbs. I'm betting the biggest problems we would have are choosing which of the many rides to do and not wanting to come home! We did go camping there one year when DH did some Orienteering there. It was near Lugano. Unbelievably beautiful, clean fresh and amazing. The people were quite nice though we weren't in town much.

Weekly Points Allowance...

2009-02-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

The last 2 days I dipped into my Weekly Points Allowance a bit more heavily than I normally do.Not bad but not my normal on plan +/- 1 or 2 points. Yes I know that's what they are there for I just don't like using them. maybe it's time for a bit of a break from trying to be exactly on target all the time. I just think that's a slippery slope. Am I going to gain this week because I used a few more WPA's than usual? Probably not. I do have a history of thinking Ok just a bit more... and then just a bit more... then I'm back in the bad habits I started with. I've been eating more at lunch then being hungry in the evening after a lighter dinner so I'm going to try going lighter mid day and more dinner and see if that keeps me out of the kitchen in the evening.

So today is a new day. Yesterday isn't what I want to do, so today I will go back to what need to do! I need to buy more salad. I think with how much Anna and I are going through I should check out Costco! I need some good low fat, high flavor salad dressing too. I think maybe I'll do a big salad for lunch with some boiled egg( 2 points), dried cranberries( 1 point) and a few croutons(2 points) for Lunch. I need to get some more salad dressing though. Everything I have left is too much fat or old and needs to be tossed. I made stock so maybe a nice hearty soup for dinner. Something I can fill up on and it will last a while.

Chocolate Oh Chocolate! or How do you handle Valentines day?

2009-02-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

In an effort to help DD understand that it is OK to eat foods that are not WW friendly, just don't do it often, I gave in and we went to pick up a Valentines day treat for our selves at See's candy. Lets say they don't make moderation easy. So how do we work Chocolate into a WW diet?

Not so well actually. Just walking into the store they accost you with samples. 4 more times they offered samples. I ate 2 and turned down the rest. Then you wait in line with a flier that describes all the candies, supposedly to help you decide... mostly to talk you into ordering too much. So we got a 1 lb box of chocolates. I haven't been able to find good nutritional Information for each type if you calculate the average from a 1 lb assorted box it's 2 points per piece or about 150 to 175 calories per 2 pieces with about 10 grams of fat. a 1 lb box of chocolates has 20 - 24 pieces of chocolate in it. I don't know about DD's, but my 1/2 a box is going to have to last me a long time since it's an extra 20 or more points! Sure I could just use extra points but I'm thinking that doing that will bring my losses to a slow crawl or even an abrupt halt! One piece a day max. Oh but it will be a yummy 1 piece a day. Hum maybe instead of one a day I can do 2 or 3 once a week with a nice glass of milk. That may be a better idea.

DD said a friend was talking about giving chocolate up for lent. After thinking about it she proposed giving up TV for 6 weeks to be a better choice. After all she says "Girls gotta have chocolate." I wonder if she counts DVDs on the computer as watching TV?

Wedding rings, bike gloves, cooking, rewards...

2009-02-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

My wedding ring is loose. Ok more than loose. It used to be a bit too tight and now if I shake my hand too hard it will fly off! I do have a "place holder" wedding ring (plain gold band) and it is a bit smaller so I guess I'll have to switch. I'm not having this one sized till I'm at or very near goal. It's very interesting how losing only a few pounds can make a big difference. Even my bike gloves are loose now. Not loose as in replace them but loose enough.

I'm finding the belly fat is less like Jello Jigglers and more like regular Jello. Softer. Squishier. Oddly I'm losing weight in different places than on any previous diet. That sounds odd but if you've dieted as much has I have over the years you start expecting things Like the cups of your bras getting loose or the shape of your face changing. etc. You look for "signs" that the weight is coming off. Honestly I had *spots* that I expected to see change before others. There is some of that but mostly I see a little bit everywhere. I feel a little bit everywhere. Lets hope this is a sign that this time will be different. So far I'm not feeling like this is a hopeless journey or that I'm being forced to do this due to health or what ever. I really can do this. Having been seriously overweight for the last 29 of my 49 years many would have doubts. I guess I haven't hit any big snags yet. Or maybe I just am in the right place mentally this time.

I know it helps to see DD focusing on eating better and having DH also dieting along with me. Both are doing a wonderful job of supporting without pushing. Being farther away from people that say yeah sure then offer me a cookie helps too.

I love to cook. I've started cooking for the homeless shelter mostly desserts and that seems to have helped as I can cook but don't have keep it around or eat it! DD and I practiced making sushi the other day and ate some for our dinner then sent the rest to the neighbors for their dinner. It was fun but we didn't feel like we needed to over eat even though we made way more than we could eat without exploding. I have noticed that I'm feeling fuller sooner than before and that once full I don't sit and pick at the rest. If I overeat I feel bad. So it's easier to not over eat. Tonight I had a baked potato (3 points) and salad (2 points) for dinner and was quite full. Later I did eat an orange. I'm still on plan. I plan on staying with my current points level even though e-tools said I was loosing too fast. I'll give it a couple more weeks as I think things will naturally slow down a bit soon.

DH asked me tonight (via instant messenger) what my reward would be for hitting my first 10 % goal. Honestly I hadn't thought about it but he rightly said I might hit it sooner than I think. he may be right as it's 8 lbs away and at 1-2 lbs a week that could be as soon as 4-8 weeks from now. I can't figure out exact ally what I want. 10% is good but it's not really my final goal so I don't think It should be a big reward. I don't want it to be food related. I don't wear Jewelry much. I will most likely need some clothes. Maybe we can do something like a family day. What kind of family day I guess would depend on weather and such. I don't know nothing sounds quite right. I'll have to think about it for a while.

Maybe as a reward I can start collecting some Bike maps of different places around the world. Something we could use to research possible routes. I saw a cool ad today on TV for New Zealand. But many other places still sound interesting. Switzerland, Holland, France, and many locations in Italy would be nice. The trouble with going outside the US is that it would take a week for travel and jet lag issues and a week for a tour. I still like the idea of National parks in the US or Napa Valley in CA, I saw an advertised bike tour in the Adirondacks which is pretty nice too. That one would be cool in the fall when the leaves turn color, though the area is beautiful all year long. Even considering that there are some very beautiful places all over the world. How to choose from so many?

Weigh-in end of week 4

2009-02-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

I lost another 2.4 lbs. That brings my 4 week total up to 14.8 lbs. I was a bit surprised because at this point the last time I did WW in 2000 I actually gained and then slowed down quite a bit. it took me 7 weeks to lose what I've lost in the last 4 weeks. I'm hoping that means that I'm more focused on staying on plan than I was in 2000.

This week we talked about set points and eating out. I wasn't really impressed. Then again I don't really eat out a lot. basically a "set point" is a points value you assign to a particular Item ( always a filling food) 5 set points for meat, 6 set points for Grains and starches and 2 set points for fruits. The logic is if you eat a reasonable portion of meat it will average 5 points. You must listen to your body eat a bit stop eat a bit more etc then when you are satisfied, you count 5 points. it may or may not be exactly right but it should be close. This is an advanced skill. You need to be able to KNOW when you are satisfied not full. If you eat 2 kinds of meat at one meal you count the set point value 2 times. so surf and turf is 10 points. If you eat rice for your starch then have potatoes you get hit 2 times with the 6 points. If you eat unsweetened applesauce for a set point of 2 you can have all you want till you are satisfied but if you have bananas you have to add another set point. Set points ate only allowed on filling foods. everything else you eat you have to estimate the points on also.

Basically Set points are supposed to do a couple of things, one make eating out less stressful, two have you listen to your body while eating out. they say you can occasionally do it at home to if you don't want to whip out the measuring cups in front of friends etc. Over all I think I'd rather just count points for now. When I'm more comfortable with listening to my body I'll think about set points. I think it would be more helpful during maintenance.

I have found another side effect of WW. My reflux is pretty much GONE! I was on major expensive meds and the reflux just wouldn't go away. We were looking at having to go farther in treatment and I was not looking forward to it. A week after I started WW the reflux went away. I quit taking the meds and it hasn't come back. I can even eat some foods I couldn't before like acidic foods like lemons. I still have trouble with fried foods but since they aren't in my diet any more and I eat less at one time I just don't need the meds any more. The weight loss probably helps too but when the reflux went away, I was down less than 5 lbs, so that's not the main thing.