Weighty Matters

I did a courtesy weigh-in tonight -- doesn't count as my monthly weigh-in, just a way to keep me on track. And much to my delight, I'm far closer this time to where I need to be than I was last month at this time, or the month before. This gives me hope that next week, when I weigh in (Friday morning; I'll be at the PostSecret lecture Thursday night at the Peace Center --- WAHOO!) I won't be crossing my fingers and praying and exercising like a dog and getting up early Saturday to weigh in and not having that work either and then waiting until Tuesday night and stopping by ............. ah. I just want a good weigh-in next week. And I'm working hard to ensure that maintenance doesn't seem such a struggle. In good news, the weather is nice enough to go walking again on my lunch hour or after I get home from work. I just hope the rain that is being predicted for Saturday will hold off long enough for the Race for the Cure to be good!! The temperature is supposed...

I worked a WW meeting this morning, and planned a trip to a local orchard with my parents after the meeting. The orchard is not too far over the state line into North Carolina. After stopping for lunch, it was onto the orchard. It's called Sky Top Orchard and believe you me, it is . We got 3 half-peck bags of different varieties -- Mom loves Red Delicious (which is my very least favorite; too soft for me!). Dad & I picked out Jonagold (for eating) and Winesap (for cooking). They had plenty of others: Cortland, Ida Red, Golden Delicious, Mutsu (a green apple), and I think even a couple of others. The only kind of apple the orchard didn't have was Honeycrisp -- which is my 2nd favorite kind, and had already been fully harvested for the season. Luckily, my VERY favorite variety (Pink Lady) won't be ready until mid-October. You better believe that in 3 weeks, I'm going back for some! They will also have Arkansas Black, which also are good for cooking/baking. Now we jus...

Note: this isn't exactly about weight loss, but it's still important. In 38 days, I will hit the Big 4-0. I am actually very, very excited about this birthday. The x-5 and x-zero birthdays from 20 on were tough -- until I hit 35, which was fabulous by comparison! It was as if a light bulb came on in my head on a number of things, and that I was comfortable enough in my own skin to do some things I needed to do. I wasn't quite perfect at first, but I was making progress and getting there. The last five years (almost) since then have been amazing. There are the obvious changes, but there's so much more that people don't see. I'm not a new me, I'm not a different person -- I'm a BETTER version of the old me. So, with all that in mind, I visited my doctor this week. I think in my main blog, I've touched on family medical history before , so I won't rehash the details. Suffice to say that it isn't good on either side for cardiovascular stuff. I ha...

I made a very interesting discovery this week at my meeting. One of the other members and I were discussing our weight stalls and holding patterns. She's been stuck in one for nearly 6 months. Hey, it's been happening to a lot of folks I know, including myself. Even my leader remarked to some ladies from the earlier meeting (at some introductions) that I have actually been in maintenance for about 6 months. It gave me an idea -- I went back through my weight record in the Guide Book and realized that she was absolutely right. On March 26, I hit a certain weight point, and with a couple of exceptions (like the week I made goal, the week I hit lifetime, one really odd week where I had a massive unexplained gain), I have held right around that number since..... oddly enough, guess where it is? Yeah: My upper limit for "freedom" each month. It may be time to consider changing my final goal weight -- which I can do by sending a note to Corporate. At least changing it until...

I worked a meeting this morning -- which I really enjoyed doing! It's been a while, and I forgot how much fun it is! Hopefully, I'll get to do a few more in the upcoming weeks and months. I hate that for the time being, I can pretty much only work on weekend meetings. But such is life. Today, the moment of truth arrived: my monthly weigh-in --- not just my monthly weigh-in for Lifetime status, but Corporate weigh-in as well. If you aren't aware, WW employees are not only Lifetime members, we also have to turn in our weights to our territory management team each month. These last couple of months have been a real struggle for me. I've been within the acceptable range, but I hate being on that plus side of goal and having to cross my fingers and hope. It's almost as if my body has said, "You know, I really don't like that number, so I'm going to put you right here. I like you here. I know you don't like it but I don't care. Your wants are so cute,...

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 .....

I'm still trying to pull off all the "weight" it says I have put on since reaching Lifetime 2 weeks ago. My leader and I are truly quite stumped. Is it fluid retention? Possibly yet another hormonal issue? Could it be a little of both? One of the keys this week for me is being committed to consistency. It's something I've been doing all along --- part of that dogged determination that got me where I am. But I'm going to redouble my efforts. All I know is that I plan to watch my sodium closely this week, yet keep doing what I'm doing. I'm also going to be just as consistent with my exercise -- and shake it up a bit. There was a great suggestion at Prevention.com for interval training , and I am going to try the Workout #2 each day when I use the exercise bike. Hey, it can't hurt, right? So come next week, I will face my monthly Lifetime weigh-in with courage and confidence!! OOH RAH!!!! I also know this fluke carousel-horse situation has got to end ...

Forgive me, friends, for I did sin. Okay, actually, I "celebrated" with a girls weekend in Virginia. One of the girls brought lumpia (I guess the best way to describe it is "Filipino spring roll")..... oh my, was it good. I made some good choices and some bad ones. On two of the three mornings I was there, I walked on base. It was kind of funny -- on Monday, I got to see some of the units doing their PT and they looked at me as if to say, "Hey, how come SHE gets cool exercise clothes and an MP3 play.... oh. She's a civilian!" I put back on some poundage -- and so far, I've gotten about half of it back off. I don't weigh in again until the first week of August.... WHEW! So I'm going to bust my butt off to get back down. I know what to do and how to do it, and I'm well on my way! So what does this mean? It means I'm human. I still am tempted, and I do give in on occasion. Being a Lifetime member doesn't mean that I am suddenly bey...

LIFETIME!!!!!!!!!!! I did it. I lost 3.2 pounds this week, to not only get back to goal but under it -- WAHOO!!!!!!!!! I worked my butt off on the exercise bike and being extra-vigilant. So that's a total of 229.8 GONE. I have so many people who have helped me along the way: Debbie & Tisha, my leaders; Gail, Eldora, Bev and all the other receptionists who have been with me along the way; all the many fellow members -- especially those who have been part of the Thursday 7:00 PM meeting. I won't name you all because I'll leave someone out and I don't want to do that!!! I have enjoyed the help of so many people. They have inspired me to be better, stronger, wiser, smarter, and to always persevere. I could never, ever, ever, have made it to this point without them. Then there are my coworkers, who were just as vigilant with me to keep me going, and keep me on plan. I love you all and thank you!!! There are all my dear friends across the nation -- WAY too many to name, b...

Remember about a year or so ago, when New York City began requiring certain types of restaurants to post calorie/nutrition information on the menus so that people could make better choices? Why isn't this a national law yet, requiring all chains (e.g., those with a certain number of locations operating under that brand) to do the same? Right now, there is supposedly a law where restaurants are supposed to provide their nutrition facts to you, the consumer, upon demand. But best of luck, in most cases. In some cases.... well, they have it for the "lite style" menu items, but not for the rest of the menu listing. I'm not talking Mom & Pop restaurants; most of them do not have the financial resources to have their menus analyzed. And I can forgive that. But national or regional chains DO have a little more flexibility in their resources to be able to afford it. Even local chains or little Mom & Pops should be able at least to tell you the ingredients and rough es...

As is usually the case when I have an unexpected large loss, I had a gain this week. I detest when that happens. I am at the very upper limit for what WW considers maintaining goal weight (there's a little leeway available), but I want to be under that limit -- preferably at or under goal weight. So my happy butt is going to work extra hard this week to make sure that happens. At least my thyroid test was normal. My heart rate monitor came in and works great. And my new MP3 player arrived today. And my godchild turned 12 today. Good Lord, when did I ever get so old??

is a FIVE-pound loss. OOH RAH!!!!!! I am definitely sticking with the exercise bike for at least 2-3 times per week. I found that I enjoyed the workout, I know I got something out of it and it's something I can do in any weather. Did I sweat? Drenched within the first 5 minutes, most days. Did it feel good? Yeah. Really, it did. I absolutely hated getting sweaty as a child. I just didn't like the sensation. I don't know what it was, but it made me feel icky and yucky and ewwwwy. Now, I could care less. Bring it on. I will be out of town this weekend -- I figure I will end up mostly walking for exercise. I might see if my cousin or his wife will join me. I'm scared to ask him -- he's a career Navy guy and he may flat wipe the road up with me!!! I haven't seen my cousin in about 5 years, so I am thrilled to be visiting them. I'm also looking forward to the fresh fish from the lake.... Mmmm, broiled or grilled fish with a little lemon pepper..... SLURP! Hopefu...

So, last week, my leader and I agreed that I would do less all-walking this week and try the exercise bike 3-4 days this week. And I have done just that -- at least 25 minutes at a time, most of the time, 30 minutes. I can attest to a few things: 1. The bike makes me break out sweating much sooner and for much longer. 2. My stamina is getting better with the bike -- I'm not totally dying after the first few minutes. 3. It is helping take the weight back off! I did just a little self-check this morning, and I was back down very close to goal...... WHEW!!!! Let's just hope that holds out until the official weigh-in in about 21 hours. I did 30 minutes tonight to a good mix of tunes (started with "Humans Being" and ended about halfway through "Life Is a Rock") and really enjoyed myself. I can see me keeping this in the exercise rotation........... I'm still walking in the early mornings, but just a mile -- long enough for Maddox to get his time in, and just ...

You can (if you are supremely bored) go over to my Meanderings & Musings blog and read all about my travails today with my MP3 player. Trust me, I ought to print it up as the cure for insomnia. But I do have a new playlist worked up! I will comment only on the newer songs I have added -- I thought of a few others, and took out most of the undecideds. ABC (Jackson 5) -- oh, like you didn't see this one coming after this weekend. Ain't Wasting Time No More Alive & Kicking All Fired Up All Over the World (ELO) -- Well, I was going through my list and thought it would be good enough for both walking and for biking. Are You Ready? Batdance (Prince) -- yeah, it's a little long and shifting tempos, but I was listening to it a few times this weekend and thinking "Why not?" Born to Run Brand New Lover Break My Stride (Matthew Wilder) -- a song I had forgotten I even had in the ol' library. Well worth the addition. Cool the Engines Easy Lover (Philip Bailey w/P...