Weighty Matters

Well, it's almost time for my monthly weigh-in. I spoke with my leader and we think what may work for me is to still come to the Thursday meeting but weigh in on Friday mornings on the way to work -- changing it so that I bring breakfast with me instead. Big change for me but I can deal with that...... ANYTHING to keep me at goal! The protein experiment seemed to work exceedingly well!!! So I am going to keep that up. I'm also going to keep up the 24 points per day...... at least for now. I also signed onto the LiveSTRONG website for The Daily Plate to do some extra tracking -- primarily for sodium and protein (more on the sodium in a moment). According to that, I'm still not eating enough calories for my maintenance needs. Sorry, but really, I feel that I'm eating the right amount for where I need to be, so I'm not freaking just yet. If I ate their recommended calories per day, I would be 20 pounds heavier in no time. Another experiment that my leader suggested was...

The increased protein at night so far seems to help control some of the urge-eating. Last night, I stopped off at Walgreen's for some Orajel (dang these 'stacked teeth'!), and picked up a Pure Protein Hot-n-Healthy Oatmeal Squares in Cinnamon Roll ..... yeah, it was a 4-point protein bar. But it was a good four points and got me through a 30-minute bike ride with no trouble. I also had an idea about my exercise yesterday morning. I'm going to alternate bike days with a lower-intensity activity --- I'm thinking of walking, or an aerobics DVD, or a stretching DVD that I have. I love biking, but I also know that if I do it too often, my body will become too accustomed and quit giving me the same output that I'm currently getting. And I also think it will be good to keep my body "on edge" (so to speak). I'm also very glad that my body (at least for the time being) seems to appreciate this switch-up and has decided to cooperate with me. A little, anyway...

I was driving in when I had this thought & didn't want to lose it....... The last couple of weeks, I have had a couple of nights where I've had ..... I don't know that I'd call them binges or urges. They're not cravings, because it's not for a specific food or even type of food. I was mulling it over last night and thought, "Oh, it was a texture thing!" I was going for things that I could crunch or chew that were ..... I don't know how to describe it. Things that weren't pureed to extreme smoothness. Last night, it hit again. I went to Jason's Deli, as I usually do after meetings, and grabbed a couple of packs of their flatbreads. It's a point each, they're crunchy, they have texture, and they're tasty to boot. I had the points to spare, and even a few from activity & the weekly 35. NO biggie. Then I grabbed a pack of graham crackers. Worth the points. Stopped off for bananas, and had a sample of a cookie from the deli (...

Even though my weigh-in isn't official, I stepped on the scale ..... and I'm up. Naturally. OMG, I am screaming on the inside. I know it's normal to have fluctuations during Lifetime/maintenance. And I know given all the weird crap that has been happening with my body, it's no surprise. But it is no less frustrating. I think maybe it's worse because I'm not sure why things are crazy....... I'm still on program; I use a few weekly points but not over the 35. I'm exercising -- and very well, I might add! The only odd thing is that there have been times over the last few days when I simply could not get enough to eat. Not a craving for anything specific -- just the need to eat something. Anything. Usually after 10. And only a couple of times but it was like "GIMME" (said in extremely deep, gravelly, demonic-type voice). I can't do anything about the hormonal stuff. But there are some things I can do.......... On my leader's advice, I'm...

This past week was crazy -- visitors, eat-outs, etc. And Tuesday was just the craziest day of all. I could not stop eating!!! A bagel (a whole one, from Atlanta Bread), and 2 pieces of chocolate, and and and...... I think I figured up that I used 13 flex points just that day. SO out of character for me. But you know, it has turned out okay. I took a couple of days off from working out, also. As good as it feels for me to work out, I really did appreciate the time off. I don't intend to make it a habit, but the break has been restful and helpful. One of the things that my leader says is that it's okay to fall off the wagon but NOT to have the wagon roll over you. And so we begin the next week tomorrow -- not letting the wagon roll over me, but getting up, dusting myself off, and living one day at a time.

Leave it to the wonderful folks at Prevention to have a 30-minute interval routine in the September issue --- one I can live with for the bike, so that I don't have to figure it all up by myself. WHEW! Because I can tell you, I was about to drive myself completely bonkers with my Excel spreadsheet -- trying to figure up a workable interval routine and figuring out calories burned. And to top it off, all my calories-burned figures are massively wrong; as in, "the workout only burned 10 calories in 20 minutes" wrong. Yeah. SO........ I think I'll try this routine and fuhgeddaboutit. I did stop by Academy Sports on Friday evening to look for padded bike shorts. No go -- I know that REI sells them but the nearest one is in Asheville. Yeah, that's not far at all to drive but a little much for JUST a pair of shorts...... and God knows, these shorts are NOT exactly inexpensive to start. Instead, I picked up a more cost-friendly alternative -- a padded bike seat cover! WA...

I weighed in Saturday morning for Lifetime. Right at the upper threshold for staying within the free range. I am planning to weigh in once more on Friday morning to see how it's going, but I may just take it this month and RUN, RUN, RUN....... So I have been doing the interval training on the bike...... Oh. Em. Gee. Kicked my butt and left me for dead on the highway like roadkill. By the end of the 12 minutes, I was right at the threshold of "plumb worn out." The good news is that the 20-second, totally-flat-out interval took my heart rate into the mid-80s and back to the mid-70s during the 40-second "moderate" interval. WHEW!!!! I'm also trying to determine how I can adjust the intervals to stretch the workout into 15 minutes or even 20 minutes -- not increasing the number repetitions, but the time of the intervals. I am thinking of going from 20-40 to 30-90 intervals instead. Why is that? Well, I feel bad when I "only" work out for 12 minutes .....