Better late than NEVER right?

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

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

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

It's a record!

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

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

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

Which trike to buy...

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

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

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

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

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

Update only 2 days late!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

my 100th post here...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grrrrrrrrr. So ticked at me...

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

BMI

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

etc is all trivial...

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

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

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

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

ONe week later...

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

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

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

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

Yesterday's Weigh in and What did I do?

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

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

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

Shopping for Bike shorts

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

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

This week in brief...

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

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

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

This weeks weigh in... ( Week 22)

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

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

It's been a busy week.

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

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

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

Down 2.4 lbs for a total of...

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

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

Yucky

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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