Week 14 - A setback

I've resisted posting this week because I gained a pound this week. Dang it!

I just wrote a long and boring post about my week. Eating out (I tried to be good, honest!), flat tires, and today's super long bike ride - 16 miles in all.

Apparently I can't be interesting when I'm exhausted. Really though, I want to announce my intention to get my weights in. That's been the most difficult part, and I hear from people that it's the most important.

Oh, and I'm going to coach some friends on a similar program to mine. I'll call it a trial run - to see if I've learned enough to give real help to those in need. I'd venture to say I need to be following my own advice though.

I'll report on Tuesday. Hopefully I will have started with the Llama family (just a nickname, don't worry), and will have done at least 2 days of weights.

Thanks, everyone, for allowing me to be accountable to you. It means a lot to me.

Week 13 - Half way

I'm officially half-way done with this program. And I'm officially 40+ pounds down on the scale (almost 45 pounds of straight fat lost). Feels pretty good, except that I have another 60 pounds to go.

Happily, my metabolism is responding positively to this thing, and Dan says I could lose another 80 pounds in this time. I would be so freaking happy if that were true!

On Monday I labored. I went on a 13-mile bike ride with my sister's family. My husband tried to come with us, but he's not used to biking and by just a mile in was having trouble (as was my 9-month-old infant), so we traded kids (he had the toddler in the bike trailer and I had the baby in the bike seat) and sent him home.

Half of that bike ride was extremely difficult. The bike seat is missing a bolt, and it lists to one side. And it was uphill. Apparently, in all my bike riding, I only do flat or mostly flat surfaces. The hills kicked my butt! I finally gave up and traded bikes with my sis about a mile before the park up the canyon. And on the way home I had the kid ride with his cousin in their bike trailer.

Last night I took the kid to the grocery store. It was pretty late, but it was in honor of the husband putting the trailer on my bike. So we went and I loaded up the trailer with heavy stuff (a good 100 pounds of food). And it kicked my butt all the way home. I figured it was because the wind was against me and I was just tired. So this morning I loaded the bike trailer again with that toddler of mine and we headed off to see Dan. It took longer than normal because even though it was mostly downhill, the wind was against us. Dan pointed out that the bike trailer probably weighs a good 40+ pounds too. I hadn't thought about that. Instead of going straight home, we took a detour to visit my mom at her work. I finally got home, sweating greatly, and decided we needed to go to the store. So I added the baby to the trailer and off we went.

I loaded it down again, sweated my guts out, and got home, 11 miles and one sleeping baby later. Well, the 11 miles was the total for the day, not for the grocery trip at the end. Still.

I'm thinking I'll be able to take the kids around quite a bit with the trailer as long as I can pacify the baby. She doesn't like to be strapped in and isn't quite there yet with holding her own bottle. She can for a little while, but she drops it easily and doesn't pick it back up by herself.

Dan has added a meal to my day and upped my calories again. He thinks I'll still drop a few this next week. I got measured again and he actually apologized that I had lost inches off my chest. Oh, how I would LOVE to be able to buy a bra in a normal store!!! Lost a couple more off my waist too. I love wearing baggy pants. It's been a very long time since I was able to do that without just... um, I was going to say "going to the store and buying bigger" but that doesn't really work. I've been "tight" in 26/28s for a long time and that's the biggest size carried anywhere around here. I know you can get bigger on the internet, but honestly my thighs are massive and I'm afraid that even if something fits in the waist it won't in the thighs, so I don't buy pants over the net. So thank goodness my thighs are getting smaller too!

Other news, I'm hoping to reach 60 pounds down by the time I go to California. My generous (and likely bored) sister is flying me and the kidlets out to visit for a week in early October. I promise I'll eat right and exercise while I'm there. She's a great influence and example and maybe I can even teach her a thing or two. :)

Week 11 - Something witty here

Lost another pound. I've been so busy with helping a friend pack her house to move that I haven't gotten in a lot of "exercise". And Dan changed my workout again.

I mean, I am being extremely active, and I did bike to see Dan (6 1/2 miles with a 30 pound toddler on the bike), so it's not like I'm being lazy or anything. I still feel like I am though.

I moved things around in the sun for like 8 hours today (got nice and fried, too), so maybe I'll call that cardio for today. Maybe not. To tell the truth, I'm really enjoying my bike rides and walks with the kids. It's pleasant, even if it is insanely hot and uncomfortable. Today I caught sweat dripping down my nose. Disgusting! I'm going back tomorrow for another 8 hours. Yippee!?

Week 10 - Still going strong

Oh how I want this journey to be over.

This morning at my weigh-in, I had lost another 4 pounds. It seems so insignificant when you think about the overall goal of 100 (or 150 if we're talking eventual total goals). But when you take into consideration that my loss has been pretty steady, that's a very happy thing. It means I have lost about 31 pounds on the scale and almost 40 pounds of fat. Woo hoo!

To keep the loss going, we're dropping calories again this week. Dan says I might feel a little bit hungry, but I'm not too worried. We're still in veggie season so I can fill up on those. I think I eat at least one tomato a day (if not two or three), as well as a bunch of asparagus or broccoli or something. I do feel much healthier, despite some ongoing terrible back and neck pain. When I told Dan about the pain, he said not to do as much physically, but this is because of sleep, not exercise. I need someone who can trade massages for babysitting or something like that. Like on a regular basis. Maybe I'll ask at church...

Felix and I biked to the appointment this morning. If I go on State Street, it's exactly 3 miles from my house to his office. If I go on 8th East on the way back, that's 3.5 miles. I love having a cyclometer.

So this week, dropping calories, I'm cutting the yogurt and cottage cheese afternoon snack in favor of crackers and tuna. Dan says that will trick my body into thinking it's getting lots of calories when really it's super clean. Whatever that means. Maybe it's the lack of fat.

I've found that although at the beginning of this program I hated the idea of cutting out fat (I love butter!), it's getting easier as I go along. What once was really difficult to even contemplate has become super easy. I don't even have to think about it really. I think my tastes are changing because 1) it's gradual, and 2) results! I find myself a lot more willing to make concessions and be strict knowing that I'm making real and visible progress. I found my lost camera and on it is a picture of right before I started. I think it's a pretty good picture of me, but although my pictures this morning have me flushed (just in from my up-hill 3.5 mile bike ride with a 30-pound toddler on that back of my bike) and wearing grungies, I like the new ones better. What do you think?

Sometimes it works

My sister is visiting from California and today we biked to Costco. That's one way to keep the spending to a minimum - no place to haul it!

The two little ones (mine and hers) got pretty cranky to be tied down for the ride even though it was pleasant out. My toddler loves being on the back of my bike. Thankfully, my bike is super comfortable for me to ride too. I'm sure my sis got the short end of the stick having to ride my husband's heavy mountain bike. On the way home the babes fell asleep. Too cute. I like this exercising thing when it's not just for the sake of exercise. When it's a walk or a bike ride or whatever just to get in the exercise I get really bored. Going to a store or a park or for some other errand makes it a lot easier to do it.

This particular bike ride was pretty fun. Nice to have adult conversation even if we were yelling back and forth. Now that my husband's bike is fixed, though, I'll have to get him out on it with me. Good family activity, wouldn't you say?

Summer Bike Rides

You know what's great about exercising in the summer? You can do just about anything you want till really late at night (relatively).

You know what sucks about exercising in the summer? Sweating. Blech!

I'm sure there are some of you who might suggest I do some swimming. I have lusted after a good swimming pool of my own for a long time. Why my own? Because I don't like all the hassle of packing everything up to go to the gym, only to share dressing rooms with much better-looking naked people and athlete's foot. But that's only half the problem. See, I'm, well, buoyant. I don't have to work to keep afloat, so it's not much exercise. I do love biking though. You can bike in the summer and the breeze will keep you cool. In the late evening before it gets dark it's both safe and pleasant. Then you stop and there's no breeze good enough. No AC works fast enough.

Thank goodness for cool showers and clean cotton sheets.... mmmmm