Starting over well almost...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

Hi! Weigh in day today...

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

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

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

Better late than NEVER right?

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

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

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

It's a record!

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

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

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

Which trike to buy...

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

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

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

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

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

Update only 2 days late!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

my 100th post here...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grrrrrrrrr. So ticked at me...

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

BMI

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

etc is all trivial...

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

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

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

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

ONe week later...

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

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

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

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

Yesterday's Weigh in and What did I do?

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

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

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