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.

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.

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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

It's That Time Again

It's that time of the month. As a friend of mine says, I'm on my moon. This is usually when any health plans go out the window. My cravings, my husband's cravings (he has a sympathetic cycle), the general feeling of malaise all conspire to make me want to eat Cheetos and pizza while wrapped in a blanket watching Netflix.

This time I have a plan though. Every time I am tempted to send Michael out for Cheetos (we don't keep them in the house; I'm not crazy), I'm going to take a bath instead. A hot bath eases the physical symptoms, and the candles and music comfort me instead of food. If the bath doesn't work, I'm going to paint my nails. You just can't eat Cheetos with wet nails.

I will modify my yoga the next few days to avoid any upside down poses. Normally, I would wimp out of yoga or walking entirely, but I'm not going to let myself do that this time.

I went to the gym yesterday after work, but all the treadmills were in use. I killed some time using the weight machines, but 30 minutes later they were still no free ones, so I went home. The time change means that it's dark when I get off work now, so no walking outside other than on the weekends.

I'm using the Endomondo 5k training program to learn how to jog. Today is one of the interval days. I was concerned with how to do this on the treadmill, since my walking speed and jogging (if you can call it that) speed are different. I didn't want to be constantly hitting buttons on the treadmill. Then I remembered that the local college has an indoor walking track. I will be heading there after work. It's just a concrete balcony around the basketball court, but it's dry (raining again), warm (cold rain), and there are security cameras in case someone tries to kill me (trust no one).

My husband has a part in our community theater's winter play, so he has been at rehearsals most evenings. This is giving me and Tori time to catch up on some Netflixing. We are working our way through Gilmore Girls. Tori believes she is most like Rory, and I am most like Miss Patty, the dance teacher. So I have some girl time to look forward to after my walk/jog tonight!

1307.51 / 0 / 1282.22

Heading in the Right Direction

I'm feeling great! I have done morning yoga three days in a row. I really helps me start the day off right. I've done a different routine each time, and I still have some poses I want to try. Eventually, I'll have built a short 10-minute routine that hits all the stretches and areas of my body that I want. Then I'll pick some yoga music for it!

Yesterday I walked almost two miles with some short bursts of slow jogging. And I did it outside. Me outside is a pretty big deal. I don't like outside. But I did it!

I've eaten breakfast two days in a row. My plan was to have some steel cut oats, yogurt & honey, and a piece of fruit every morning. When I bought groceries, I couldn't find any regular steel cut oats. All I could find is the Quaker 3 Minute Steel Cut Oats. So I gave them a try. Big mistake. It's like oatmeal flavored cream of wheat. I don't understand how it can be marketed as steel cut. Rolled oats have more bulk than this crap. "Hearty texture" my ass.

I'm still eating them because I have them. With my next paycheck I will order some regular steel cut oats from Amazon.

I did my Tuesday weigh-in for the Holiday Scale Accountability Club. I'm down a little. I'm not down to where I need to be for the challenge, but it's going in the right direction. So that's good.

I'm really feeling good with where things are headed right now. I think I'm going to be able to make it through the winter. At least until it starts icing over, LOL.

1307.51 / 1.95 / 1282.22

What Works for Me

First things first, my Holiday Scale Accountability Club weigh-in was not good news. I didn't expect it to be since I've not been good the last couple of days. I'm back up to 290. But next week's will be great. I know what I need to do.

After my experiment with Whole30, I've decided to give myself a kick in the rear and do what I already know works for me, adding in what I learned from the Whole30 experience. What works for me really comes down to one thing: exercise and quiet time.

The only time I'm ever been able to lose weight effectively is when I focus on exercise. I'm not saying that diet isn't important, or that I don't need to watch what I eat to lose weight. What I mean is that when I am exercising every day, I don't have to watch my food intake because I just naturally make good choices. I don't even have to think about it. After I've exercised about 10 days in a row, I just stop reaching for Cheetos, cheese, Cokes, and bowls of rice. Instead I start grabbing asparagus (yes I eat it raw), cauliflower, celery, apples, and clementines. When I get hungry I want a salad or a pita stuffed with greens. I want squash and lentils. I drink way more water. It just happens.

The other thing that really helps me is meditation. I used to do a 25-minute yoga session every morning. It helped me wake up and keep my focus throughout the day. It was better than the cappuccino I've been using instead. With two kids gone, more of the morning chores have fallen back to me, so I've let it go. I really don't want to get up 30 minutes earlier everyday, but maybe a 10 minute routine in the morning could be squeezed in.

I also used to meditate before I ate, every meal, for about 5 minutes. It caused me to make better choices about food, eat more slowly, and enjoy my food more. I stopped because I was eating lunch out a lot and didn't really want to shut everyone out for 5 minutes at lunch. Then I dropped the other mealtime meditations, too. I've changed jobs since then, and have a different lunch hour than my coworkers. I need to bring those meditations back.

So my own personal weight-loss program for Connie is as follows:

1. Do at least 10 minutes of yoga every morning.
2. Walk/run (I don't run but I want to) for at least 30 minutes every day.
3. Meditate 5-8 minutes before each meal.
4. Eat breakfast.

That's it. All the other changes come naturally with how exercise and meditation make me feel. I am ready to get this done!!

But not tonight. No, tonight is the best night of the year. Tonight is better than my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. Tonight I get to stay up late and howl at the moon! I get to go see Rocky Horror Picture Show with my friends and act crazy. Tonight I am able to make myself look however I want to. And tonight that means that I am a Zombie Masquerader!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

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What I Learned in the Last Week

So even though I was only on the Whole30 for four days, I do think I learned a lot about myself from it. First let me tell you why I didn't like it.

1. I felt obsessed with food. So much of my time was consumed with what I could have and what I couldn't have. Whether I was at home or at work, all I thought of was food. It really felt unhealthy to me to be so focused on food. I mean, the whole reason I started this blog was so I could STOP obsessing over my food, right?
2. I had to eat meat. As I mentioned in a previous post, the amount of meat really bothered me. I'm fine with eating meat when I go out to eat somewhere or on special occasions, but every day and sometimes twice a day was just too much for me.
3. I didn't want to exercise. Besides the fact that I was too busy thinking about food to think about exercise, the Whole30 requires special pre- and post-workout food. My life was already complicated enough.

 Clearly, this was never going to become a lifestyle change. But even with all that, I did learn some important things from it.

 First, I learned that I need to eat breakfast. Duh, right? I knew I was supposed to. I know it's the first thing every weight loss experts says to do. But I always resisted it. I've always said I don't have time. I'm too rushed in the morning. I don't like eating early because the food feels heavy in my stomach (yeah, if you're having donuts or pancakes or biscuits). But I found on the Whole30 that I did have time to make breakfast (with a little planning), and when I ate breakfast I had a clearer head and was more focused at work. My job is one that depends entirely on reading and listening. Without breakfast (I skipped it yesterday), I can see a definite difference in my work.

Second, I consume too much sugar. A lot of you probably think this is another "duh," but it was never obvious to me. I didn't think I had that much sugar, really. I don't eat sweets. I don't ever crave candy, cookies, cake (I actually don't like cake), donuts, or the like. I did drink Coke, but that was only one a day and was something I was already trying to decrease. But I hadn't noticed how my once-in-a-while gas station cappuccino had become a daily habit or how my new-found love of apples had led to caramel dipping sauce. I don't think sugar is a trigger food for me or that I need to avoid it in things like ketchup or mayo at all costs. I don't even think I need to give up my Christmas baklava or birthday lemon icebox pie. But I do need to be more aware of what I'm eating and especially what I'm drinking.

Third, I eat too much white rice. I eat a lot of foods with rice, and I don't think rice is bad. But even though we buy a lot of brown and wild rice, I turn to white rice the most. It's my comfort food. When I'm sick, all I want to eat is white rice with butter and salt. When I make a stir fry, I'll have twice as much white rice as veggies, and I'll have a bowl of just rice for seconds. I've made stir fry with wild rice, and it's delicious. My family loves it. I love it, too, and I eat a normal amount of rice then. I need to stay away from white rice.

Fourth, my family doesn't miss meat. My vegetarian daughter and meat-allergic son are both away at college. Michael and Tori have no issues with eating meat. Tori eats it as school, and Michael ate it anytime he was away from the house. They never exactly complained about being vegetarian at home, but I could tell they missed it. Turns out, not so much. They both liked all the meals I prepared on Whole30, but they also complained about all the meat. Turns out, meat for dinner once a week or so is more than enough for them. That made me happy.

Fifth, 90 percent of my aches, pains, and morning headaches have nothing to do with my diet and everything to do with Sebastian. Bash is my husband's supposed-to-be-a-Jack-Russell-but-SURPRISE!-is-actually-more-of-a-pitbull.

Sebastian is very sweet, but only a year old and much larger than we expected.

Bash sleeps in our bed, as does my Valentine. Both dogs usually sleep at the foot of the bed, but as it's gotten colder, Bash has taken to crawling under the covers in the middle of the night. He slides in between me and Michael. This starts out fine, but at some point he turns sideways. I spend the second half of the night somehow pinned between the two dogs and with my husbands arm slung over me trying to pull my upper body closer (Sorry hon, I can't snuggle. There's 30 pounds of dog in the way). I think once we figure that situation out, my life will greatly improve.

Sixth, I already know what my body needs. I really do. I know what makes me feel good (healthy good, not spoiled brat I want my Cheetos good). I know what makes me lose weight. I know what a long term healthy lifestyle looks like for me. I just don't do it.

So the obvious conclusion to this: Do it. Do what I know is right for me. Stop being a pansy-ass.

So I will.

1307.51 / 0 / 1284.17