And Now For Something Different

Today's exercise is going to be way far out of the ordinary....for me. I am going mall walking. Not with a group, just by my little lonesome. It's kinda a big deal for me, cuz I detest malls. I'd do anything to avoid them. I'm fortunate that my Barnes and Noble has an outside entrance and I do not have to enter into the mall at all. However, today I'm goin' in!!

Sunday is Hubby Dearest's "kinda birthday". (He was born on Feb. 29th, and is a leap year baby.) So, in order to celebrate the day, I'm off to get one of his favorite gifts...a Barnes and Noble gift card. I know, it seems an odd thing to really like, but he does. Truthfully, we both do. Ordinarily, I'd zip in and zip out, but today, since the snow is still covering our walking path, I thought perhaps something a bit different would be interesting.....hence my plan to mall walk. I am going to stroll thru the B & N, then out to the mall itself, walk for 45 min. to an hour, then reward myself with a shopping spree in B & N. I'm thinking that ending up back inside the friendly confines of my favorite store will soothe my mall- jangled nerves. :)

Now, in all honesty, this is a perfectly lovely mall. It's new, it's full of wonderful stores (or so I've heard), and it is really close to home. While I don't plan to make mall walking a regular part of my exercise program, once or twice hither and yon, probably won't kill me. New scenery and all that, ya know. While I'm in the neighborhood, I'll zip over to Bed, Bath and Beyond and get him another gift card. He's been complaining about the absorbency of some of our bath towels, so I'm going to let him pick out the next set. I'm tired of his complaining. He would rather have a limb removed than shop, so this should be interesting. It'll teach him to complain!!! :)

Whew!!

Well!!! I must say, Weigh In Wednesday was not nearly the traumatic experience I was expecting. Having prepared myself for a possible gain, or at best, a very small loss, I was pleasantly surprised this morning with a .8# loss. Now, I realize that this isn't the #1 per week I had set as my goal, but after a "burger lust" I have to say, I'm quite pleased at the moment. I think I might even have achieved the full 1# loss had I not been up at 12:30 in the morning eating an orange and a piece of Laughing Cow cheese. :0 I am quite sure those two little night time nibbles pulled me under the 1# mark.

This nighttime nibble brings up another question. Since I have restless leg syndrome and experience many sleepless nights, I often go downstairs to read. Sometimes, not always, I will have a piece of fruit, a small bowl of oatmeal, or an energy bar as I read. (Used to be leftover pizza, a sandwich, Cheetos, etc.) My question has always been, "What day do I record these foods?" Do I put them on the previous day, or start with them on the upcoming day? I had plenty of room for these items on yesterday's food journal as I try to leave a few calories just for this purpose. I suppose then, that it wouldn't matter which day I record them on, would it? I have those few calories available whichever day I choose. Oh well, I ended up putting them on yesterday's list. I like the feeling of starting fresh each morning.

Speaking of starting fresh....I just received notification that our share of the CSA has been entered into the books and we'll be receiving our boxes of produce again this summer. We have decided to share our share with some friends, so perhaps this year I'll not be overrun with kohlrabi. :) We even went so far as to ask for the extended shares this year. That will give us 4 extra weeks of produce in the fall, and since butternut and acorn squash are two of my favorites, I am excited about that. Now, if we can avoid flooding after all of this snow, the farm will be in great shape, and the crops will do well. Two years ago, after the awful floods, our produce was pretty pitiful, but I guess such are the vagaries of farming. Still, I'm excited to get the season started.

Wo-"Man Up"

Might as well put it out there, just like Tiger did..."I cheated"!! No, not like that, but we did the Wendy's drive thru last night. I know I shouldn't have, and that it is going to have a negative impact on my weigh in tomorrow, but damn it all, I wanted a big old, juicy, bad for me burger. And of course, no splurge would be complete without those nasty French fries. So there you have it, I am a cheater. Now, I don't know which is worse, the actual cheating, or the fact that today I'm really not feeling all that guilty. I stayed on the plan all day long, but about 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon I got a splitting headache and decided I would not be cooking dinner. Yes, I am well aware that there are healthy options out there, and I DID consider them. But I simply could not get the image of that burger out of my mind. :( I mentioned this craving to Hubby Dearest, and in an instant he was off to Wendy's for our dining pleasure.

Up to this point, I had actually done pretty well this week. We were out with friends Sat. night, and we might possibly have spent an extra moment or two in the bar, but I had planned for that eventuality. I was feeling fairly good about dodging that bullet. I'm back on track so far today, and I'm not stressing out about my evening of debauchery, I just thought that in the interest of full disclosure (mostly to myself) I should admit the error of my ways. I'm sure I can knock this burger and fries off fairly soon, but it most likely will affect my weigh in stats, and put me one week behind in my goal. That bothers me more than the actual ingestion of the burger and fries.

I'm ok with a small slip now and then, I've actually accounted for that in my 1# per week goal, I think. However, I don't think a burger and fries really amounts to a small slip. I'm going to dance and extra few minutes today, and do a few more minutes of weight training, then continue to do a bit more as the week progresses. I'll get the burger worked off, and I'll be back in the ballgame!!

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

I'm talking to you, Mr. Weatherman!!! "No snow for 5 days in a row" you said with great conviction. Bah, humbug. Gonna snow 2-4" today. "Sun's going to be around a while" you claimed. Not so....gone today. Three sunny days is all we got. You have ruined my perfectly delightful week.

Truthfully, my week is going just fine, and I'm quite pleased with myself at the moment. My exercise is not exactly what I would like, but there are no excuses for that. I am just plain, flat out, being lazy. As a matter of fact, in my Food Journal I am now making notes regarding my excuses for not exercising properly, not eating the right things, and not drinking enough water. I then look at those excuses the next day and realize how ridiculous they all sound. AND, since my exercise has been "off", I have adjusted my calories accordingly. Prior to this, I'd just keep on with my usual calories and figure I'd make up the difference later....and we know how well that always works. Like not at all.

I have also begun talking to myself. But worse than that, I'm answering!! I am trying to motivate myself with positive "self chat". I make myself laugh when I begin my discussions, but eventually I get down to the nitty gritty. I feel lots better about doing this now that I've seen one of the USA women's snowboarders singing to herself before each run. I'm thinking talking to myself is almost the same....right?right!! Right now I'm telling myself that I need to eat slower and enjoy my meals more. I know that when I eat fast, I can't tell when I'm actually full, so I continue eating until I feel full. Generally that feeling hits way, way after I've had too much of everything. That's kind this week's challenge. I'm thinking of giving myself a challenge of some sort each week to go along with the goal of a 1# loss. I have to be careful, tho'. I don't want to overdo and work too hard.....remember??? I'm lazy!!

Help!!

Can anyone help in identifying this large, mysterious object in the sky? I'm having difficulty placing the name of it.

Yes!!!! The SUN!! It has been a distant memory, but today it appeared again. I am quite certain it has shown itself with the sole purpose of making me feel better. (If that's not the case, don't burst my bubble, keep that thought to yourself.)

It is Wednesday Weigh In, and I stayed the same as yesterday's weigh in total. I am down 1.1#, so I did, in fact, meet my 1# per week goal. Now, with spirits buoyed by my loss, and the sun's appearance, I anticipate a wonderful day. I have not yet done my dancing or my biking, but I will now do so with a bit of an extra lilt in my step. I have it on good authority (albeit the TV weather guy) that this strange object in the sky may linger an extra day or two!!

Hallelujah!! The perfect beginning to Lent. I was all set to give up feeling perky until April, but now I'll alter those plans. :) Perhaps I'll do something a bit more meaningful.

Blah, Blah, Blah

I realize it isn't Weigh In Wednesday yet, and I'm a little early...but, I did manage to get my 1# loss. Even tossed in an extra .1# to boot. However, even sticking to the plan and accomplishing what I wanted to do has not alleviated the winter doldrums that have overtaken me. On last night's weather report the weather "person" mentioned that since Dec. 1 we have not had 5 straight days without some sort of snowfall. This week may be the first such week since then. We might just have 5 days without snow. There is also promise of continued sun this week. I'll believe that when I see it. It'll still be cold, but the sun would be a most welcome sight.

Yes, I realize that we've not had the huge amounts of snow that the Mid Atlantic and Eastern Seaboard have had....we had that over Christmas, but still having snow (as everyone can attest) on the ground constantly is a real bummer. This particular year, the snow has turned me into a big, fat chicken!!! With my knee difficulties I am overly cautious about when and where I walk. I even postpone grocery trips if I think the snow will be too packed down and therefor slick. I opted out of church on Sunday because the snow pack in the church parking lot is always slick. To clarify, I am NOT afraid to drive in this stuff, I'm leery about walking on top of it. I shuffle down the driveway to retrieve garbage cans, pick up mail, etc., but walking on the poorly shoveled sidewalks around the shopping areas kinda scare me. I absolutely HATE feeling this way. I can't get my cortisone shot (don't ask me why) until Mar. 25. That's when my knee will go back to feeling semi-normal, and I am anxious for that day. Perhaps that will give me some of my "oomph" back. I feel like I need a trip to OZ to get a dose of courage. I'd ask for a brain, too, but that would be just plain greedy. :)

Did Ya Ever??

Let me preface this all by saying I have always considered myself a coordinated person. I was an athlete in high school and college, and until I got married was not accident prone at all. I am not blaming Hubby Dearest for my new found clumsiness, I'm just pointing out that these strange things only began happening to me then. Of course, the case can be made that all of these things happened to me after I gained weight, too. Something to consider.

Did ya ever...go to the mailbox on an icy day, find it frozen shut, give it a "tug" and snap the muscle in your neck? Yep, I did.

Did ya ever...go skiing and make it all the way to the bottom of the run with your arm out straight ahead of you (like sliding into second base) sliding on your side all the way? Right, I did that.

Did ya ever...cough so hard you lost consciousness, fell on the tile floor and knocked a tooth out and bruised your entire face. Good guess, I've done that.

Did ya ever...do the Superman stretch in the gym and pull a hamstring? Guilty, your honor.

Did ya ever...jump up out of your chair during a football game to high five someone and snap your butt muscle? Yes, sirreeeee.

Did ya ever...knock yourself in the head with an 8# weight while dancing around the family room? We all know I did this just recently.

These little mishaps all bring me to yesterday's little "oops". Another dancing injury, I might add. While dancing around the house to Chubby Checker and doing the Twist, I had a Rice Krispies moment. My knee did the "Snap, Krackle, Pop" thing. Literally!! First I hear a snap, then the grinding crackle, then last of all the pop of a firecracker going off. Scared the living daylight out of me, I'll confess. Luckily, nothing horrible really happened, I was merely hobbled for a short time, and left with a more pronounced limp than usual. Today, the knee is stiff, but not swollen, thank the Good Lord for that. I was worried I might have done some lasting damage, and since I can't have surgery until the fall, I was a bit frightened. Whew!!

My dancing today was more subdued, and involved less leg action....that means no prancing around. I did a few more regular weights, and did stairs an extra time or two to make up for the lack of prancing. :)

It was Weigh In Wednesday, and I lost .6#. Not to make excuses, but my new Plan did not take effect on a Wed., so I'm not really a full week into it. However, since I've been at a standstill, I'll take the .6 and be happy. I am still planning on my 1# per week, and really think that next week, I'll be right on the button. Yea, ME!!!

Workin' On It

I'm workin' on "The Plan" this week. I kinda goofed up not actually beginning on Weigh In Wednesday, but I can't control when my brain is going to work and when it is going to sit in "Idle". However, in the portion of the week that has passed, I think I'm doing ok. Yes, ok....not great, just ok. For now, I'm going to work with that. Within this past week, I celebrated our granddaughter's 6th birthday and avoided the cake!! I also feel that I ate responsibly when we went to dinner with her, and also the next day at breakfast. I did notice that everything tasted salty to me over the weekend, and that was kinda strange. At first I thought it was just the dinner because everyone else said some parts of their dinners tasted salty, too. Then at breakfast, my entree tasted salty again. Later that day, while watching the Super Bowl, my Edamame & Tofu "hummus" was salty, too.....and I added NO salt to that at all. Odd.

Another random tidbit hit me yesterday. I was listening to the TV while I was sorting laundry, and I heard someone say that lack of sleep can cause carbohydrate cravings. Perhaps that partially explains why I am always foraging for bread products in the afternoon. I don't sleep more than 3 really good hrs. per night, so theoretically I should be craving loaves of bread and piles of pasta, right? Well, truth be told, I am looking for Cheetos by the truckload, but since I have stopped buying them, I have to settle for more mundane carbs. I found this info interesting, but also wondered if I tried really, really hard, could I find a justification for just about any bad craving I might have? I decided that I most certainly could.

My dancing program is going quite nicely. I'm having fun, and find myself laughing quite a lot as I prance dopily around the house. Then, this morning, while reading the paper, I see an ad for a local hospital....they are advertising a "Dance your way to heart health" program. I wonder if they got the idea from me. Should I sue for royalties? I have to admit, I kinda felt a bit of self righteousness when I saw the class advertised. I am just such a trend setter. They are advertising the fact that they will be including all sorts of dances....just like me. They will be playing music from all eras....just like me. They will not be teaching specific moves and dances, except for one session of Irish Step dancing....just like me (kinda). Yep, I think they stole my brilliant "Plan". But being the great humanitarian that I am, I will share this concept with the rest of the city because helping people get heart healthy is where it's at. I am such a giver.

Could This Be It?

Could this possibly be my "AH-HA" moment? I don't know, but it kinda feels like it might be. In the midst of another sleepless night, I had a thought that I could not get out of my brain. It rattled around endlessly in that big empty space until I finally kinda went "Ah-Ha". This might be IT!! I realized, as I lay in bed, that my children have never seen me anything but fat, fatter, and fattest. I was 106# when I married, 14 months later, I had The Primary Child, and had gained a great deal of weight inexplicably during the pregnancy. The Dr. could not figure out what was causing the weight gain as I stuck to a strict 1500 calorie diet. I did give up smoking the day I found out I was pregnant, so he thought perhaps my metabolism was out of whack. Whatever!!! After the delivery, I lost a bit of the weight I'd gained, but not lots and lots. Four years later I went through the same thing while pregnant with The Perfect Child. Again, I lost a little of the "baby fat" but not all. So, neither kid has seen me anything but fat! I have always been "The Fat, but very funny, Mom". And, quite frankly, it didn't bother me a great deal until just recently.

In between then and now (the kids are 37 & 33 now) I've smoked and quit 3 times. That means weight gains that I've only been able to partially get rid of. I've dieted, exercised and worked on my weight periodically since the 80's. It wasn't until Hubby Dearest and I approached our 60's that I decided that we needed to change our health habits. For me, that included losing weight. It's been almost a year since I had the first "Ah-ha" moment in Phoenix and decided to start both a new, healthy lifestyle and this blog. As I've chronicled before, I've lost weight, gained a little back, then lost again. Seems as tho' I'm dibbling and dabbling at this journey. I am hoping that last night's epiphany is just the impetus I need to jump start myself again. I told myself that if I could just lose 1 pound per week for 1 year, I'd have 52 pounds gone! Simple, isn't it? No lofty goals, just one lousy pound. Anyone should be able to do that, with or without a good knee, right?! I'll dance my way to success....if I don't knock myself out first. :)

So, with this being said, I think I might just have hit on the new plan. One lousy pound per week for one year. More per week would certainly be welcomed, but steady losses would be wonderful. I am hopeful that I'll not be shooting myself in the foot again any time soon, and that this modest plan is THE ONE that yields success.

By the by, Weigh In Wednesday brought no change. But that's no loss, no gain, so I'll be starting on my new journey with no new extra weight to get rid of. I guess that's a positive point.

Danger! Will Robinson!

Dancing is far more dangerous than I ever imagined! Last week, as I was dancing with my weights above my head to "Shout", a weight slipped out of my hand and hit me on the back of my head. Nothing serious, but certainly surprising. Lucky for me it was at the back of my head and fell to the floor behind me, or the darned thing probably would have landed on my foot and busted it. Clutzy, huh? I am not deterred, but I am certainly more cautious now. I'm using far fewer over head moves. I'm leaving those to the regular weight work routines.

We ditched the trip to Indiana over the weekend. The weather reports for about half of our route looked grim, so we decided to stay here, safe and sound. Slightly disappointing, but we are happy we weren't caught in any of the inclimate weather that was out there. Since we did one smart thing (staying here) I guess I gave myself permission to do one dumb thing. I did not track my calories or exercise all weekend. I wasn't really over the top on anything, I simply didn't pay attention. Then, of course, last night I sat down and did the calculations. Not nearly as horrible as it could have been, but I sure could have done better.

This coming weekend is our Granddaughter's 6th birthday party. It should present no significant eating difficulties, so I'm happy about that. It's been a while since we've seen the family in Omaha, so we're really looking forward to that. This week, (snow permitting) I have gifts to find and purchase. I'm armed with a list, so I should be ok. She likes to email, and can open, address, type and send all by herself, so I have an extensive list of items to chose from. :)
I often deviate from her list, but at least she gives me ideas. I, personally, think her father, The Primary Child, should get her an email address of her own so we can communicate privately. Ok, perhaps she's a trifle young for that. :)