The Pity Party is over. Time to get going

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....

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?

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.

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

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.

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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

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

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

Dinner tonight...

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...

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....

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!

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

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!

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...

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?

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...

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

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.

I enjoy salad????

I've eaten a green salad 3 times in the last 2 days. I've added several different things to it to make it tasty. Dried cranberries are 1/2 point for a tablespoon and give you a nice chewy texture randomly in your salad. The dressing I like isn't a low fat dressing but is only 1 pt /tbsp and has enough flavor to not need a lot. A couple of croutons or a tbsp of chopped nuts are good for a bit of crunch. I had a HUGE salad for about 5 points. It was very filling. That is not to say I haven't had my share of "other" foods.



Tonight DD and I tried our hands at making sushi. It was fun and Sushi is fairly low points as long as you don't do any thing tempura. We made a couple of rolls and ran out of rice so we made more rice to play with it. We ended up with tons of sushi and called our friends across the street to come over and get it so we didn't eat it. it worked out well as they like sushi and hadn't had dinner yet. We learned a lot and had quite a lot of fun.

Rambling on....

The brain is a bit foggy today so I may not make much sense. I took my DH to the airport early this morning to go to Italy. On the way home DD wanted a Bagel for breakfast so we stopped at Noah's. The were closed till 7am on Sunday it was only 6:15 so we ended up going to the grocery store and got a bagel. (hot and fresh at 6:20am) Not as good but OK. 6 points for the bagel and another 1.5 for the cream cheese. (we went very light on the cream cheese!) After a nap (big mistake) we headed for church. I forgot we were supposed to be there early for bells. Then unknown to me we had a pot luck at church. (Pot Luck's are evil!) I decided to go with one or two bites of 8 different things. I still came up with about 9 points worth of stuff. (NOTHING was healthy) After the Pot luck was Prayer Shawl meeting. It was also wear your Scout uniform to church Sunday which we also didn't know but the leader said if she wears ti next week she'll give DD the badge anyway. DD's friend R came over after church but will be going home about 4:00 so that we can be at the church again by 4:45 because tonight I'm serving food at the homeless shelter. I will wait till after dinner there to grab some salad stuff for dinner tonight. I think we will aim for an early night tonight.



I told DD that she has done really well with watching what she ate for the last 4 weeks so for today she doesn't have to worry about points. Just eat what she feels like is a reasonable meal. tomorrow she will be back to logging and counting points. I on the other hand am still counting and logging points today. I really need to keep focused.



DD has been on her bicycle today. It's on the exercise stand the the living room. I had to adjust the tension on the wheel as her wheels are smaller than Dad's and her tire wasn't touching the resistance wheel. She seems to really like it. So we will work on riding inside this week. We are expecting rain so inside is better.

The homeless shelter was simple tonight as we did soup and bread. I had to stay till the night shift arrived though.

Better

I'm feeling better today. I'm not sure why I'm feeling better. I got up cooked breakfast and have a lot going on today. We are going on a bike ride today to give DD a chance to practice riding. We will have to go to the library today and they have a bike path around a small lake. DD's not ready to ride on the streets yet so we needed to find a good place for her to practice. Maybe I'll take some stale bread to feed the ducks when we are done. Before that though we need to go to the bike shop to get her some bike gloves and new tape on her handle bars and run a few errands.

DH is pretty much packed and ready to go to Italy. He leaves early in the morning. DD and I will have to try to practice bike riding as much as possible till he gets back so we can surprise him with a real bike ride when he gets home.

I've decided to quit worrying about doing WW "right" and just keep doing the best I can. if it doesn't fit our life style we will make it fit or find a different way. No fail, just modify till we get results. Stressing about it just isn't worth it.

Nerves

For some reason I seem to be agitated and unable to settle and focus today. DD had archery today. This afternoon we both have a cooking class Cooking with Caprial and John at Caprial's Westmoreland Kitchen. I'm not sure what we will be cooking but hopefully I will be busy enough to settle down and not fidget the whole class.

It will be interesting to see how I count points for tasting stuff while there. I still have all 35 weekly points so that isn't a problem. But how do you estimate points for something you don't have a recipe for? Well I guess that it's you estimate. Since this is a home school class I'm wondering if they will do kid friendly stuff.

I seem to be calming down a bit. I hope to relax enough to enjoy the class.

continued......

The class was pretty basic. It was a "kid friendly "menu.
Yogurt and granola parfaits - they showed us how to make yogurt.
Bacon and Onion Fritatta's - very basic
Chocolate Orange Pull apart's - the glaze on the bottom was too sweet even for DD and the top was hard I'd say crunchy rather than crispy.

Over all I'd give them a C+. If I counted how many points blown on so so food I'd definitely have to lower it a bit. I figured that the parfait's were about 5 points the fritata with all the butter and bacon and cheese was about 7 and the pull aparts well they don't count as we didn't eat much of them but the thoughts scares me. Now remember I set my days menu yesterday. So here's what I ended up with.

5 points for Breakfast
Fruit salad, fresh, 2pts,
WW Toast 1 pt,
Milk 2 pts.
OK that stays the same...

7 points for Lunch
Salad 2 cups 0 pts
BBQ Ranch Dressing 3pts
Boiled egg 2 pts
Imitation bacon bits 1 tsp 0 pts
Veggie Soup(2 cups) 2pts
Water

I forgot about DDs' archery so quickly through together the salad but skipped the soup so 2 less points and 2 less veggies.

9.5 points for Dinner
Chicken thigh boneless skinless Oven Fried 4 pts
Baked Potato 6 oz 3 pts
Broccoli 1 cup 0 pts
Cheese sauce 3 tbsp 1pts
Sweet chili sauce 2 tbsp 1.5 points
water

Replace that with the fritata and a few bites of the pull apart for about 8
points losing the veggies. That killed my well balanced dinner plan. So that's not enough veggies and close to right on points.

Oh well I'll try again tomorrow. That's one of the good things about WW. If you don't have a good day you just scratch it and start over the next day.

I really am having trouble figuring out the food thing.

I'm not stupid. But balancing the tight rope that is balanced nutrition vs controlled calories vs hunger, I'm not doing very well. I know WW is supposed to help you with this. Check off so many Veggies/Fruits, Whole grains, Milk, Oil, Water etc. They keep telling me to check my hunger level. Sorry I'm not hungry. I wasn't hungry for breakfast till nearly noon. I had only a low point snack for lunch and a regular dinner. I had 10 points left at the end of dinner. I was full. That said my food choices for the day weren't the best. So what did I do with the extra 10 points? I ate chocolate. 8.5 points of chocolate! I didn't even enjoy it. Well the first couple of bites I enjoyed after that I just felt guilty for eating it.

I need to plan better. I need to take the time and figure out the weeks menu for all meals. I need to sort it all out and just do it. But darn it I've got a life to deal with, and it's not easy to drop everything , change a whole mindset and figure out how to make this work.

That said I will do it. It's going to take some time to get it right. So I'll start now and plan tomorrow out today.

5 points for Breakfast
Fruit salad, fresh, 2pts,
WW Toast 1 pt,
Milk 2 pts.

7 points for Lunch
Salad 2 cups 0 pts
BBQ Ranch Dressing 3 pts
Boiled egg 2 pts
Imitation bacon bits 1 tsp 0 pts
Veggie Soup(2 cups) 2pts
Water

9.5 points for Dinner
Chicken thigh boneless skinless Oven Fried 4 pts
Baked Potato 6 oz 3 pts
Broccoli 1 cup 0 pts
Cheese sauce 3 tblsp 1pts
Sweet chili sauce 2 tlbsp 1.5 points
water

I need still needed
8 fruits and veggies
2 milks
2 healthy oils
2 lean meats

I have
7 fruits and veggies
1 milk
2 healthy oils
2 lean meats

Points used
21.5

Still needed
1 fruits and veggies
1 milk

So I need to add a snack of 2 fruits/veggies and one milk must total 5.5 points or less.

Snack
5 prunes 1 pts
Milk 2 pts

OK that got me everything required with in my points. I'm wondering, How do people do it if their target points are 18? Add a lot of activity points? Or use all their weekly extra points maybe.

That is one day and it only took me... 45 minutes. I gotta get faster at this meal balancing/planning thing.

Feeling fat

Today I feel fat. My positive energy is just not there today. I need to fix that. I need a plan for these times. I think I need to look at where I want to be. (Full of positive energy, Thinner, not so tired) And what I'm going to do with more energy. So I'm going to think about the 2010 trip for a bit. Where to go? What do I want to see? What do I want to do?

Where to go...There are several places I'd like to go.

• I really think that a bicycle tour of Napa Valley would be a fun. I've been there before but never where I could just go at my own pace and enjoy the scenery.
• My friend Susan from Australia suggested Australia and that is interesting thought. I need to look at bike tours in Australia for ideas. It is a long way to go though. But definitely something I've never done before. One issue is that we talked about doing it in the summer of 2010, that would be winter 2010 there! Something to think about.
• I've also thought Ireland would be a great place to see by bicycle. No real reason other than books I've read and the rich lore of Ireland.
• I'd love to do New England too, though I've lived there and prime bicycle time would also be prime mosquito time too and Anna doesn't do well with Mosquitoes at all.
• Southern in US is probably hotter than I would enjoy for Bicycling in the summer, I wonder if spring would be better if we wanted to go south. But we need some serious training time and that's not easy till spring here.
• Of course there is always Italy, I have my own personal translator. France, Holland, any where in Europe actually, though Euro verses dollar might make an expensive trip even more expensive. I hesitate to do that as outfitting everyone with Bike gear is going to be expensive already. And transporting Bikes is expensive and can be a real chore. Damage a real hazard. The same would be true of Australia too.
• There is Northwest coast. Near Home and very beautiful but the cliffs kind of scare me. Ditto Northern CA coast. Anna and I would have to do a lot of training on coastal mountains and near cliffs to feel comfy with that trip. I guess we'd have to train on the Oregon coast which rules out Oregon coast as a destination as we would have done it during training. So maybe Northern Ca.
• Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier would be beautiful by Bike. Again we need lots of Mountain training for that. But the sites would be worth it! Places to stay might be a bit harder to find in our biking range.
• I don't seem to have included any large cities type tours. I'm not sure where to go with that thought.

What to see...

• Nature at it's finest
• Historical sites
• ?????????

What to Do...

• Ride
• Picnic
• Enjoy being together.
• Site Seeing
• Learning
• Photography... The real thing, not just point and shoot.
• ???????

OK, I am feeling a bit better. I still have tons of work to do to earn the ride, but lots of potential reasons to want to do the ride. And I think one place to start is it';s beautiful out side so today we will go out and maybe I Can get Anna to try to ride her bike today. Running after her might just be enough effort to get me moving! Noble woods has a big grassy area that might work since she is afraid of falling. It's softer than the sidewalk any way.

*************** afternoon update ****************

DD learned to Ride her bicycle today! She did much better than I expected her to. She did take a couple of tumbles only one that left marks. She fell and bruised the back of her leg on her bicycle pedal. Normally that would have been the end of bicycle riding lessons for who knows how long. Not today! I checked it out and she got back on and rode more. She also fell into the Rosemary bush and just got up and climbed back on! I guess it was just time to do it. I'm proud of my DD she did it!

WW week 4 weigh-in...

Well it's been a bit challenging this week but I lost 2 lbs. for a total of 12.4 lbs down. Looking back it is slightly better than I did in week 4 when I joined WW in Dec. 2000. My challenge is going to be not back sliding next week. I'm not saying I need to keep losing 2-6 lbs like I have in the first month, just lose something. I will be happy with 1 lb but overjoyed if I can lose more than 1. I will have to know it's OK if I only lose .1/2 of a pound. Though honestly It will be harder to be excited. But down is down.I know to do this after the first month to 6 weeks I will have to work hard at it, probably harder than I have been working already. But I really want to do this and keep going this time.

I got my 5% star this week. The leader wants to talk to me about my "next" goal but I couldn't stay as I left DD home with DH and he needs to go to work. I however will set my next goal as 10% down from original weight which is 215 lbs. last time I never got to 10% down (almost but not quite) so It's a big goal for me. The next big goal after that will be to be below 200 lbs. That's a huge goal as It's been at least 25 years since I've been under 200 lbs.

For some reason I seem to really have trouble with the number 200. I so want to be less than that so why does it get so hard when you get near a goal? Oh well keep working on it I'll get there!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep today is my 49th birthday. Tonight we will have Dinner at a nice restaurant here in town and that's pretty much it. I wish I could say if felt wiser or something but honestly I just feel one day older than yesterday. Next year I hope to have something to celebrate.

My Goal for this year is to lose 50 to 60 lbs and build up some muscle by my birthday next year. If I can get to 160 it should be way easier to do the training I need to do to go on my Bicycle Tour I want to do in the summer 2010.

We went to Dinner at Stanford's tonight. It was very nice. We do however have enough food left to feed us again tomorrow. I was pleased to have been able to NOT over eat even though the food was good. Here's hoping I didn't mess up too bad having a "big" dinner the night before weigh-in. If I did, Oh well you only turn 49 once. Here's hoping I did well enough this week to at least not gain. Either way next week I'll do better!

Interesting weekend...

Saturday our family had a bit of a family retreat. We went to LL stub Stewart Park and rented a cabin for Saturday night. We alternately discussed our family values and goals and played games,walked in the park etc. It was a nice trip.

One re-occurring thing that came up was Health and Diet. Not really odd since all 3 of us have wanted to lose weight and get in better shape. We redefined many things and asked for everyone to be co-operative and supportive of everyone elses goals. My goals are pretty straight forward. Home school DD#2, Lose weight,watch the budget, organize the house better and get more active. DH's #1 priority is of course Translation as that is our only source of income, His goal for the year is to complete a 1200K bike ride in CA this summer. DD is primarily Home school and helping more around the house along with eating a more healthy diet and getting more exercises.

My back did very well till about 4 am then I had to get up and take a muscle relaxer. it didn't really work very well. I also had to get up again about 7:30 and take another one. I can't figure out what the problem is that is is worse at night than in the day time. I've been fuzzy headed all day the interrupted nights are really getting to me.