Walden Pond

Walden Pond

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Some Pain, but No Gain

The good news is that I haven't gained any weight in the last week. On the other hand, I haven't lost any, either. I'm still at 290. It's really frustrating. I have been tracking my food, and I have been exercising every day. This is the point where I would usually say, "Forget this. If I'm not losing weight, I might as well have Coke and pizza." But I'm not going to do that this time. Instead, I'm just going to continue what I've been doing. If I haven't lost anything by the end of the month, then I'll readjust what I'm doing. For now, this still feels right.

As I said, I have not missed a single Daily Burn workout. I'm really enjoying these. I can feel myself getting stronger. My balance has improved, and my endurance is improving, too. For the first two weeks I'm doing the same three routines, and I can tell that I'm able to push myself harder than I was at the beginning. I have had consistently sore muscles, not so sore that I don't want to move, but sore enough that I can tell I'm doing something.

I've been doing great with lunches this week. I always have a salad in the fridge at work in case I forget to bring mine. If I don't forget, I can still have the salad with my lunch. Today I'm having a salad and a winter soup with rutabaga and carrots. Yum!

I've also managed to eat something for breakfast every day. This is a huge issue for me. I hate eating in the morning. But I've been forcing myself to at least have a piece of fruit or a Fiber One bar. Some days, I've even managed to have a "fried" (non-stick pan with a spritz of oil) egg on a whole wheat English muffin.

I haven't made it to the gym yet to get some miles in. I need to do some mending on my workout clothes before I go, but I should have that done tonight. I've been doing my DB workouts in my pajamas. I just throw a sports bra on under them. Not how I want to appear at the gym, haha! If I can get the pants mended tonight, I can get some miles in tomorrow after work.

The one downside to my week so far: I saw a video of myself. I'm playing a part in a tutorial for work. Last week they filmed a rehearsal, and I was able to see the footage yesterday. UGH!! I know I'm big. I've seen pictures; I have a mirror. But I look so much bigger on that video! I couldn't believe it.
On the other hand, I have a much prettier face than I thought I did, and I think those workouts are improving my posture. I usually have a little bit of a hunch (I'm 5'9" and wear an I cup bra, so...). But in the video, I'm shot from the side for part of it. No hunch! Hooray! I have noticed I have way less back pain since starting these workouts.

And bonus! I have only had one headache this week! It was just a regular headache, too, not a migraine. That's a huge deal. I don't know if it's because of the exercising or because my salt intake is way down or what, but I'm happy about it.

So that's my week so far. I'm still hoping for a woosh on the scale to bring me into the 280s by the end of the week, but if it doesn't happen, I'm going to try to focus on the other positive changes happening in my body.

1307.51 / 0 / 1281.3

Friday, January 16, 2015

Feeling the Burn

Well, this has been a week of good news/bad news. As per my resolution, I found something good to go along with every bad thing that happened.

The bad news is that my eating has been totally chaotic. I've been working late, skipping breakfast (and sometimes lunch), and running errands in my down time. This has led to fast food runs and crazy snacking.

The good news is that next week should be so very much better. I've already planned my food out, I'm going to spend part of Monday packing my lunches ahead, and dinners should be a snap.

The bad news is that my water aerobics class was cancelled. They didn't have enough people sign up for it. I was really looking forward to it.

The good news is that I'm a week into my Daily Burn program, and I am loving it! I have exercised EVERY SINGLE DAY this week. That is a record for me. I'm really feeling it, too. I'm not bored, and I am really looking forward to advancing to the next level. That is still several weeks away, though.

The bad news is that I have not done any walking. I haven't really even been walking my dogs. It's been so cold out that even my furbabies don't want to be out longer than they have to, so our potty walks aren't even hitting a quarter mile. Not worth counting.

The good news is that I plan on getting back on the treadmill. Since I do my workouts in the morning, I can still go to the gym in the evenings. I'm not going to do that for a couple more weeks, though. I want to get my eating back in line first, so don't look for update on my miles yet.

That's my week. I have been feeling really great lately. I know part of it is that Xmas is over (worst holiday of the year for me--tons of stress and really no benefits), and part of it is the days getting brighter. But I think there's more to it than that. I really feel like things are going to be better this year: my weight, my fitness, my finances, my job, and my relationships.


1307.51 / 0 / 1281.3

Friday, January 9, 2015

New Year, Old Me

 Well, I meant to get back to the blog long before now. I've had a rough couple of weeks. My whole family took turns with a stomach bug, my little dog Valentine had an eye infection, my son had girlfriend drama, and a million other things were going on. Everything seems to have run it's course now, though.

I'm late on this, but my New Year's resolution is to be more optimistic in my life. I am going to try to find one good thing for every bad thing that happens.

As far as my health goes, I'm still at 290, and I haven't been exercising much. I've been doing yoga, but that doesn't really get my heart rate up. It does make me feel so much better and stronger, though.

I have signed up for a water aerobics class that starts on Monday. I'm really excited about that. Also, my gym has added a new cardio class that works better with my schedule than the others did. Now I just have to get over how much I hate my gym. I'm also signing up for the Daily Burn. I'm hoping that the different workouts will keep me motivated.

I have started getting up earlier in the mornings. This has helped me feel much less rushed. I have time to warm up to the day. This should also give me enough time to eat breakfast (always a problem) and even to fit a short workout in.

I'm still going to be logging my miles and logging my food. And my family is going back to a more plant-based diet. While my son was home, we ended up eating a lot of chicken, plus we had turkey from Christmas. On top of that my husband and I received summer sausage as a gift, so I had some of that. So we will be eating lots more greens and legumes.

So that's the plan! As always, advice and support is welcome!

1307.51 / 0 / 1281.3

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

I'm Back, Baby!

I'm back, baby! Because of my ankle, end of the year projects at work, Thanksgiving, and some teen drama with one of my kids (all sorted now), I have been MIA for the past few weeks. But I'm back, my ankle is better, and I didn't gain weight over Thanksgiving. I didn't lose any, either, but considering I was on total auto-pilot as far as food went, I think that's a win.

So I'm back to logging, trying to stay in calorie range (1570), and walking. I'd like to try running again, but I think I'm going to put that off for a bit. That fall freaked me out. I read somewhere once that fear of falling is common among obese people. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's definitely true for me. Besides that, it's the dark, dreary time of the year. Exercise is always a struggle for me this time of year. So I'm going to focus on exercise that I know I enjoy and that is indoors. If I make it too challenging, I'll just skip it and hole up in my bed with a cup of Mexican hot chocolate. If it's fun, I'll actually do it.

This is going to be a short post. I just wanted to do a quick check in to say I haven't given up.

I weighed in at 290 this morning. I want to lose 2 pounds by the end of the month. I also want to be 5 miles closer to Walden by the end of the month.



1307.51 / 0 / 1281.3

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Just a Quick Post

Hi everyone! I may not be posting much this week. I sprained my ankle Saturday, so I've not been doing any exercising. Went to the doc yesterday because it was still hurting so badly. I thought maybe I had torn something in there. Nope, just a sprain. He gave me pain meds, and I'm keeping off it as much as possible (one time I'm thankful for a sedentary job).

Anyway, so I'll have to start my 5k training over once I'm back on my feet.

I stepped on the scale today, and I think I'm back down to 289. I'm not entirely sure because about the time the scale finally decided to show a number was about the time I had to shift my weight off my left foot, so I only saw the number for a second.

Anyway, since this such a short post, here are some pics of my four-legged family.

This is the only photo I've been able to get with all three dogs in the same shot. So here is Sully, Sebastian (aka Bash), and Valentine.



And here are out cats. This is Mischief (front) and Mayhem (back).


They are both over 20 pounds and are both bigger than my Valentine. They are also mean to Sully.


Someday, I'll have to post a pic of my two-legged people.

Hope everyone has a great week. I'll check in on Friday if not before.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Back Up Plan for My Back Up Plan

This was one of those morning where I needed a back up plan for my back up plan. This is a short week money-wise, so I was planning to use the gift card I won for my Halloween costume to get groceries this weekend. I spent all morning looking for it, tearing my house apart, going through pants pockets and purses. I finally found it already in my wallet.

I did manage to eat breakfast before I started searching, but the search frazzled me enough that I left my gym bag on the table. That means I can't do my jog after work today. I can't afford the gas and time it would take to drive to my town, get my clothes, and drive back to the town my job, gym, and the college is. And it's dark by the time I get home, so there's no way I'm walking outside.

I'll have to make up the run tomorrow, and since I'm already scheduled for a run on Sunday and Monday, that means running three days straight. I'm not sure I'm up for it, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

I stepped on the scale this morning for the Holiday Scale Accountability Club. I'm still not back to my starting weight for the challenge, but I'm less than half a pound away now. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing, and I'm sure the scale will cooperate.

Tonight Michael, Tori, and I are going to see the high school drama club's play about Lizzie Borden. One of Tori's friends is playing Lizzie. It's a free play, and really, how could I pass up a play about Lizzie Borden?

Since this post doesn't have any pictures yet, I'm going to add one of Sully. He is the oldest of our three dogs (we got him second, though). So here he is trying to be Michael's lapdog. Sully can take up that whole couch by himself. Then again, so can Michael.


1307.51 / 0 / 1281.3

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Love Hurts

 I am in so much pain. Who know a little jogging would use so many muscles?

Yesterday after work I headed over to the indoor walking trail at the local college. The Endomondo training schedule wanted me to go 1.5 miles in 25 minutes. During that time, I had to jog for eight 1-minute intervals, with one minute of walking between each interval. I only got .92 miles in that time, so clearly I was slow. But I'm proud to say that I did jog through EVERY interval I was supposed to!
 

 Okay, I'll admit that by the eighth interval what I was doing only barely qualified as walking. More of a Frankenstein's creature shuffle. It was definitely more than walking though.

I'm also proud of myself because there was someone else at the walking track: a fit college student. She looked like a softball player. She was jogging around the trail, too, lapping me every 3 seconds. I was almost too embarrassed to try to jog. I didn't want her to see all my jiggle while I made what I knew would be a slow attempt. But then I realized that she was probably too focused on her own workout to really notice me. And even if she did notice me, why should I care? I don't know her. I'll probably never see her again. So I did it. I jogged in front of a stranger. 

And my little jogs finally put me into vigorous exercise for once!! Thirteen minutes of awesomeness!!!




I'm paying for it today, though. Everything hurts. My legs, my abs, my sides, my back--even my shoulders hurt. What's that about? But even with the pain, I feel good. I feel like I made some progress. I loved to run when I was a kid. I always planned on being on the track team in high school. But before high school, I got boobs. So...I stopped. I stopped doing anything that might make them move or call attention to them, and that included running. I've missed it.

 So I'm looking forward to doing it again on Friday, even though I am still so sore. I'm going to put my heart in it, even though right now my top speed is slug.




1307.51 / .92 / 1281.3