This will be a very short post. I've been working late this week and have not been bringing my computer home, which explains why I have not been putting up posts in the morning. I'm at work now, so this needs to be quick.
This morning I weighed 152.2. I continue to be very disciplined about my good and I am making progress. I am one pound above my line, but I am gaining ground and am confident I will cross back over it and be under my line in the next week or so.
I feel so much better than I did just 3 or 4 pounds ago. My pants all fit better and I feel like I look better in my clothes. The fact of the matter is I feel better as I get closer to 150 pounds than I do when I am hanging around 155 - 157. It is certainly worth the effort.
I am now tracking my runs and bike rides on Strava. It is a GPS app on my iPhone that records my actual route run and the time for my run. It also records segments by mile and lets you know when you have beat your personal best. I like using the app. It is causing me to pay more attention to how far and how fast I am running. I'll feel in more details in another post when I have more time, but the app is helping me be more focused and work harder.
That's it for now. Have a wonderful day!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
10/12/13: Been a Little Busy and House Guests!
I haven't put up a post for a few days. My dad and Kay came to visit for a couple of days and for the few days before their visit I was using my evenings and mornings to get chores does around the house. My plan was to get my chores done last weekend, but I let my weekend get consumed by my kitchen reorganization project and there was no time left for cleaning. It all worked out well, though. Now I have a much more functional kitchen and the house is clean. It's all good.
We had a very nice visit with Dad and Kay. They didn't stay long, but it was nice to have a chance to visit, share a few meals, play a game, have them visit my work, and just in general get caught up. They are both looking great and seem to be feeling good. Probably the best news is that Kay came across a set of exercises that is relieving some of her chronic back pain. Kay also had a great idea for improving the little shower in our guest bathroom for a not very large investment. I am going to have to start working on that! All in all it was a great visit. Now they are off to Topeka for my dad's 60th high school reunion.
I am happy to report that I have finally broken through the 154 barrier. Yesterday I weighed 152.6 pounds!! I have been more strict with my diet for the last several days and it has made a big difference. It's good to see the scale moving again. It's funny how much difference this last 5 pounds has made. I bought most of my pants when I weighed 152 - 153 pounds and they fit perfectly. They were comfortable, but not loose. They looked good and felt good. Then I let my weight creep up to the 155 - 156 pound range and stay there for a while. My pants then felt a little too snug, even though I tried not to admit it, I knew it was true. Now that I am back around 152, my pants fit perfectly again. Yes, a few pounds makes a big difference. I know I've said it before, but buying clothes that fit is a huge motivator for not gaining weight back. The only elastic I own is in my pajamas and workout clothes. It is the way to go.
That's it for now. It's 11:30 on Saturday morning and it is a gorgeous day out. I just wanted to take a second and put up a quick post since I haven't written anything in a while. Perhaps I will have a chance to write more tomorrow.
We had a very nice visit with Dad and Kay. They didn't stay long, but it was nice to have a chance to visit, share a few meals, play a game, have them visit my work, and just in general get caught up. They are both looking great and seem to be feeling good. Probably the best news is that Kay came across a set of exercises that is relieving some of her chronic back pain. Kay also had a great idea for improving the little shower in our guest bathroom for a not very large investment. I am going to have to start working on that! All in all it was a great visit. Now they are off to Topeka for my dad's 60th high school reunion.
I am happy to report that I have finally broken through the 154 barrier. Yesterday I weighed 152.6 pounds!! I have been more strict with my diet for the last several days and it has made a big difference. It's good to see the scale moving again. It's funny how much difference this last 5 pounds has made. I bought most of my pants when I weighed 152 - 153 pounds and they fit perfectly. They were comfortable, but not loose. They looked good and felt good. Then I let my weight creep up to the 155 - 156 pound range and stay there for a while. My pants then felt a little too snug, even though I tried not to admit it, I knew it was true. Now that I am back around 152, my pants fit perfectly again. Yes, a few pounds makes a big difference. I know I've said it before, but buying clothes that fit is a huge motivator for not gaining weight back. The only elastic I own is in my pajamas and workout clothes. It is the way to go.
That's it for now. It's 11:30 on Saturday morning and it is a gorgeous day out. I just wanted to take a second and put up a quick post since I haven't written anything in a while. Perhaps I will have a chance to write more tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
10/8/2013: Kitchen Reorganization
I spent the weekend reorganizing my kitchen. Now I wish I had taken before photos, but I didn't, so I will just tell you about the before. Before, my cupboards were so packed that I had everything stacked up and wedged together. Whenever I wanted something out of the cupboard I had to move at least two other things to get to it. My pots and pans were all shoved into a lower cupboard. There were two bad things about that. First, when I wanted to cook I had to dig around in the cupboard to find the right pan. Second, my pans were stacked on top of each other which was causing them to get beat up. My blender and mixer were on the counters on either side of my stove because they were the only counters with enough head room to accommodate them. Unfortunately, these counters are very small and these large appliances took up most of the available space. I also had a my stove top utensils in a crock sitting next to the stove.
Ever since we moved into the house I have been frustrated by the lack of room for my pot rack. There is no place in my kitchen to hang it. I have spent many an hour staring at the ceiling and contemplating where I could possibly hang my pots. I don't like having my pots under the counter. It is so much more convenient if you do not have to open a cupboard door when you are cooking.
Finally, after years of puzzling about it, inspiration struck. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond a couple of weekends ago and I saw a pot rack that was mounted to the wall. It didn't curve out, but ran straight along the wall, a few inches away from it. As soon as I saw it, I knew I could make something that would be custom to my kitchen that would solve my problem. The store-bought solution would not work for me, it was too short. I would not be able to fit enough pans on it, it was too expensive for what it was, and it would not hit my studs just right, but it gave me just enough of a hint to help me solve my problem. I just had to figure out the details. I had about a six foot section of wall space, under a shelf, that was not being used. I had a little room close to my stove where I could hang the pans I use every day. I had cabinets on either side of my stove that I could hang things from. Ah, the wheels started turning.
At first, I thought I would use steel rods. I bought a 4 foot section (the longest one available) and a 3 foot section. But how to get it on the wall? I was thinking brackets. But as Jack and I wandered around Home Depot I didn't see anything I liked. Then, what caught my eye? Well, eye screws, of course! The rod would thread right through them. So we bought rods, eye screws, and hooks and headed home. Unfortunately, I knew as soon as I started that the solution would not work. I wanted my rod to be mounted on the 4 studs under my shelf, and I wanted it centered under the shelf. The rod was too short, it would only reach three studs, so it would be off center. Jack volunteered to go to a new store while I kept working on another aspect of my project. He was persistent when he couldn't find a 5' or longer section of rod and started to wander around True Value. Finally he called me and said, "How about pipe?" Eureka! Of course, pipe. Copper pipe would be so cool. And it is so much easier to cut than steel rod. Yes, I said, 1/2 inch copper pipe would be perfect.
Jack came home with the copper pipe, which was beautiful, but it would not fit through my eye screws. I guess 1/2" copper pipe is measured by the inside circumference and 1/2 inch steel rod is measured by the outside circumference. So this time, I headed back to the hardware store. What did I find? Brass eye screws and hooks that fit perfectly with my copper pipe. OK...now I was getting excited. This project was starting to shape up.
This what I ended up with:
I think this is an elegant solution. The brass eye screws are drilled into studs. The copper pipe threads through them. There are no extra screws so it looks very clean. Here is a close up photo.
The longer S hooks came from my old pot rack. We found the shorter, brass S hooks at True Value Hardware. I like the way the different lengths of hooks help stagger the pans on the wall. I created an end cap for the pipe by sliding an expander over the end of the pipe, then putting a cap over the extender. I did not want the caps to be permanent, or I would never be able to get the pipe out to polish it, so I held them on with tacky bonding material that we purchased from the craft store. I love the result, practical and beautiful. And look at all the room I have for pans. This rail is about 10 feet from my stove, and on an opposite wall, so I wanted a few pans closer to home. Check this out:
I can stand at my stove and reach these pans. As you can see, I had previously created a solution for some of my spices and my knives. This completes the wall. The rack is this short because the pantry door opens to the left and hits just shy of where the pipe ends.
Then I needed a solution to get my utensils off the counter. I had purchased thin steel rod for that purpose, but the copper looked so cool. Jack suggested I try to find 1/4" copper pipe but I didn't think I would be able to find something that small. He told me to go check out the feed to the humidifier for the furnace, so I did. Hmm...1/4" copper tube...of course! All I had to do was figure out a way to keep it from bending. So back to the hardware store I went and sure enough, I found 2 foot long sections of copper tube, but it was flexible, too flexible. I headed to the steel rod section and found a thin steel rod that slid into the copper tubing perfectly, making it straight as a rod...get it? Straight as a rod? Ha, ha. OK, that was silly.
Anyway, the hacksaw we just bought and the work bench I bought many, many months ago came in handy for cutting the steel rod to length. I found the perfect size brass eye screws, and...voila! Check it out:
My utensils are off the counter. Unfortunately, there was not such a neat cap solution for the copper tubing, so I had to get a little more creative to cap the ends of the tubes. At the hobby store we picked up a couple of packages of unpainted game pieces. I drilled the ends out, painted them the same color as the kitchen trim work, and slid them over the ends of the pipe. I love the result:
Now isn't that just too cool? I think it is!!
But, I was just getting started on this organization project. I was bent on freeing up as much cupboard space as possible. First, I took stuff out of my kitchen that I have not used in years and put it in a box headed for the basement. Then I bought I few ready made cupboard organizing solutions and put them to use. For the lids:
And for the spices:
And finally, my plates:
Look at all the space in that cupboard. Before, you could not get to a bowl or a baking dish without unstacking the 10 things on top of it. I am thrilled with all the space!!
Now my mixing bowls, serving bowls, and plastic containers are easy to get to:
And for my last photo; I was able to free up room in my decorative corner cupboard for my pretty mixing bowls, which I do use often, and a few other things. I like the way this turned out:
All of this resulted in freed-up lower counter space. My mixer and blender came off the counter top and went directly under the counter where I use them into a wide open cabinet. The colanders moved away from the cabinet next to the stove and now live in a cabinet right by the sink. Now that makes sense!! All in all, my kitchen is now much better organized, everything is more accessible, and I have more counter space. It's still not my dream kitchen, but it is functional. It'll do, it'll do...
The flip side of having all this fun in my kitchen is that this took time, a lot of time. I was working hard at it until about 11:00pm on Saturday and then I started right back to work at 7:30am on Sunday. I worked on the project until about 4:30pm Sunday afternoon, at which time I went right into preparing our meals for the week. I wasn't done cooking until after 9:00pm. Did you catch the word exercise in there anywhere? No? I didn't either. And I was exhausted! I went to bed late, after chilling out for a little bit, and did not set my alarm. Therefore, there was no exercise Monday morning either, and by the time I got to work on Monday I was in a bad mood. I mean, a really foul mood. I couldn't tell if it was stress, if I was getting sick, or if it was because I had not exercised for three days. Perhaps it was a combination of the three, but I was leaning heavily on the lack of exercise as an explanation. I had to find out, so when I got home from work yesterday I went for a 4 mile run. Did I feel better afterwards? Well, yes, I felt a little better, but I still did not feel great. I had some house cleaning to do to get ready for my dad's and Kay's visit, so I got through that, but it was not with any bounce in my step. I just felt blah. This morning I woke up still feeling under the weather, though I will admit, the exercise seemed to help some. There has been a bug going around work and I felt just bad enough that I knew staying home was the right thing to do. My guess is a day of rest will be enough for me to bounce back quickly, rather than dragging myself to work, wearing myself out, and letting myself get really sick. So today, I am taking the day off to get rested and well. As bonus I had time to get this blog post up!! Now, to get busy resting...
Ever since we moved into the house I have been frustrated by the lack of room for my pot rack. There is no place in my kitchen to hang it. I have spent many an hour staring at the ceiling and contemplating where I could possibly hang my pots. I don't like having my pots under the counter. It is so much more convenient if you do not have to open a cupboard door when you are cooking.
Finally, after years of puzzling about it, inspiration struck. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond a couple of weekends ago and I saw a pot rack that was mounted to the wall. It didn't curve out, but ran straight along the wall, a few inches away from it. As soon as I saw it, I knew I could make something that would be custom to my kitchen that would solve my problem. The store-bought solution would not work for me, it was too short. I would not be able to fit enough pans on it, it was too expensive for what it was, and it would not hit my studs just right, but it gave me just enough of a hint to help me solve my problem. I just had to figure out the details. I had about a six foot section of wall space, under a shelf, that was not being used. I had a little room close to my stove where I could hang the pans I use every day. I had cabinets on either side of my stove that I could hang things from. Ah, the wheels started turning.
At first, I thought I would use steel rods. I bought a 4 foot section (the longest one available) and a 3 foot section. But how to get it on the wall? I was thinking brackets. But as Jack and I wandered around Home Depot I didn't see anything I liked. Then, what caught my eye? Well, eye screws, of course! The rod would thread right through them. So we bought rods, eye screws, and hooks and headed home. Unfortunately, I knew as soon as I started that the solution would not work. I wanted my rod to be mounted on the 4 studs under my shelf, and I wanted it centered under the shelf. The rod was too short, it would only reach three studs, so it would be off center. Jack volunteered to go to a new store while I kept working on another aspect of my project. He was persistent when he couldn't find a 5' or longer section of rod and started to wander around True Value. Finally he called me and said, "How about pipe?" Eureka! Of course, pipe. Copper pipe would be so cool. And it is so much easier to cut than steel rod. Yes, I said, 1/2 inch copper pipe would be perfect.
Jack came home with the copper pipe, which was beautiful, but it would not fit through my eye screws. I guess 1/2" copper pipe is measured by the inside circumference and 1/2 inch steel rod is measured by the outside circumference. So this time, I headed back to the hardware store. What did I find? Brass eye screws and hooks that fit perfectly with my copper pipe. OK...now I was getting excited. This project was starting to shape up.
This what I ended up with:
Then I needed a solution to get my utensils off the counter. I had purchased thin steel rod for that purpose, but the copper looked so cool. Jack suggested I try to find 1/4" copper pipe but I didn't think I would be able to find something that small. He told me to go check out the feed to the humidifier for the furnace, so I did. Hmm...1/4" copper tube...of course! All I had to do was figure out a way to keep it from bending. So back to the hardware store I went and sure enough, I found 2 foot long sections of copper tube, but it was flexible, too flexible. I headed to the steel rod section and found a thin steel rod that slid into the copper tubing perfectly, making it straight as a rod...get it? Straight as a rod? Ha, ha. OK, that was silly.
Anyway, the hacksaw we just bought and the work bench I bought many, many months ago came in handy for cutting the steel rod to length. I found the perfect size brass eye screws, and...voila! Check it out:
But, I was just getting started on this organization project. I was bent on freeing up as much cupboard space as possible. First, I took stuff out of my kitchen that I have not used in years and put it in a box headed for the basement. Then I bought I few ready made cupboard organizing solutions and put them to use. For the lids:
And for the spices:
Now my mixing bowls, serving bowls, and plastic containers are easy to get to:
The flip side of having all this fun in my kitchen is that this took time, a lot of time. I was working hard at it until about 11:00pm on Saturday and then I started right back to work at 7:30am on Sunday. I worked on the project until about 4:30pm Sunday afternoon, at which time I went right into preparing our meals for the week. I wasn't done cooking until after 9:00pm. Did you catch the word exercise in there anywhere? No? I didn't either. And I was exhausted! I went to bed late, after chilling out for a little bit, and did not set my alarm. Therefore, there was no exercise Monday morning either, and by the time I got to work on Monday I was in a bad mood. I mean, a really foul mood. I couldn't tell if it was stress, if I was getting sick, or if it was because I had not exercised for three days. Perhaps it was a combination of the three, but I was leaning heavily on the lack of exercise as an explanation. I had to find out, so when I got home from work yesterday I went for a 4 mile run. Did I feel better afterwards? Well, yes, I felt a little better, but I still did not feel great. I had some house cleaning to do to get ready for my dad's and Kay's visit, so I got through that, but it was not with any bounce in my step. I just felt blah. This morning I woke up still feeling under the weather, though I will admit, the exercise seemed to help some. There has been a bug going around work and I felt just bad enough that I knew staying home was the right thing to do. My guess is a day of rest will be enough for me to bounce back quickly, rather than dragging myself to work, wearing myself out, and letting myself get really sick. So today, I am taking the day off to get rested and well. As bonus I had time to get this blog post up!! Now, to get busy resting...
Thursday, October 3, 2013
10/3/13: A Little Progress
This morning I weighed 153.6 pounds. I've been ready to drop below 154.0 for a while now. This feels like a little progress. I'm still about a pound above my goal line. I think it will take me a couple of weeks to drop below it, but at least I am on the right trajectory, now.
I've had to be very disciplined about my food to lose weight after getting to 155. This next 13.6 pounds is not going to be easy, but losing it before the end of the year is an achievable goal. I'm setting my target weight to get to do some clothes shopping at 145.0. That's only 8.6 pounds!! I figure that will take 6 weeks or so. Perhaps I can get some new clothes before we head to Sonoma for Thanksgiving.
Bowling was uneventful last night, when it came to food and drink. I didn't eat anything and I drank water. Can't get less eventful than that, can you? I bowled pretty well, above my average all three games, and our team did OK, bowling above our team average two out of three games; but we didn't win any points. The team we bowled against was bowling lights out!! We bowl with 5 person teams and the second game their team score was 1002 and their third game it was 1013. Pretty impressive scores!!! Their team average is something like 800. It's hard to beat a team that is bowling 200+ pins above their average, even with a handicap. Ah well, we had a good time, anyway.
No exercise this morning, I like Thursdays to be my normal rest days because of bowling on Wednesday night. I think I will take a walk or do some other light exercise this evening though. It is my goal to add a little light exercise to each evening. It could be a walk, a swim, a short jog, push-ups and sit-ups, or something like that. I'm talking about 30 minutes of something to get myself moving. I think it will help.
Food was not much of an issue yesterday. It is helping a lot that I did so much cooking over the weekend. I have plenty of food to take to work and I don't have to worry about making choices once I get there. Once I get home I am pretty much done eating for the day. My schedule has worked out so that I eat breakfast at about 6:45, I eat my Greek yogurt with berries at about 11:00, I eat lunch around 1:00, and then I eat "dinner" between 4:00 and 5:00. I will have a light snack when I get home from work, but I am done eating meals. This helps me a lot, because right after work has traditionally been my worst time of day for food cravings. When I eat before I come home, I am not at all hungry and I don't immediately start looking for food.
Yesterday I ate 1658 calories and 110 grams of protein. That's right around where I want to be.
Here's to another good day!!
I've had to be very disciplined about my food to lose weight after getting to 155. This next 13.6 pounds is not going to be easy, but losing it before the end of the year is an achievable goal. I'm setting my target weight to get to do some clothes shopping at 145.0. That's only 8.6 pounds!! I figure that will take 6 weeks or so. Perhaps I can get some new clothes before we head to Sonoma for Thanksgiving.
Bowling was uneventful last night, when it came to food and drink. I didn't eat anything and I drank water. Can't get less eventful than that, can you? I bowled pretty well, above my average all three games, and our team did OK, bowling above our team average two out of three games; but we didn't win any points. The team we bowled against was bowling lights out!! We bowl with 5 person teams and the second game their team score was 1002 and their third game it was 1013. Pretty impressive scores!!! Their team average is something like 800. It's hard to beat a team that is bowling 200+ pins above their average, even with a handicap. Ah well, we had a good time, anyway.
No exercise this morning, I like Thursdays to be my normal rest days because of bowling on Wednesday night. I think I will take a walk or do some other light exercise this evening though. It is my goal to add a little light exercise to each evening. It could be a walk, a swim, a short jog, push-ups and sit-ups, or something like that. I'm talking about 30 minutes of something to get myself moving. I think it will help.
Food was not much of an issue yesterday. It is helping a lot that I did so much cooking over the weekend. I have plenty of food to take to work and I don't have to worry about making choices once I get there. Once I get home I am pretty much done eating for the day. My schedule has worked out so that I eat breakfast at about 6:45, I eat my Greek yogurt with berries at about 11:00, I eat lunch around 1:00, and then I eat "dinner" between 4:00 and 5:00. I will have a light snack when I get home from work, but I am done eating meals. This helps me a lot, because right after work has traditionally been my worst time of day for food cravings. When I eat before I come home, I am not at all hungry and I don't immediately start looking for food.
Yesterday I ate 1658 calories and 110 grams of protein. That's right around where I want to be.
Here's to another good day!!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
10/2/2013: Yes I Did!
Yes, I did go swimming last night! I knew it would help to put it in my blog and sure enough, when I got home from work I knew I had to go swimming, so I did. My new suit helped, it's not too big and it felt good to wear a suit that fit. I swam 30 laps. After about 10 laps I decided to do flips turns instead of stopping at the wall. One of the things that freaked me out about the open water swimming was the fact that I was used to touching a wall, if even for just a moment, every 25 meters. By doing flip turns instead of stopping at the wall and turning around, I am not allowing myself the mini break of touching the wall. I think this will help me condition better to open water swimming. I am not great at flip turns, but I imagine I will get a whole lot better at them in the months to come. You can't do flip turns every time you swim and not get better at them, can you?
Yesterday I ate 1,792 calories and 110 grams of protein. On Monday, I actually ate 1,632 calories and 80 grams of protein. I had one of the portions wrong on Monday's food diary. I ran five miles this morning and weighed 154.4 pounds.
No new struggles or insights this morning, so I guess I don't have a lot to write about. I didn't really want to get out of bed and run this morning, but I did, anyway. I suppose that's what it is all about, getting out there and doing it, even when you really don't feel like it.
I didn't have any struggles with food yesterday. I ate what I packed and wasn't craving anything else. I had to tell myself to eat a little dinner when I got home from work in order to get the rest of my protein in for the day. I usually like to eat at work and had packed a dinner, but I was so focused on my project that I didn't eat before I left for home. It all worked out, OK. I do like to eat a little earlier in the evening, though.
We bowl tonight, which has its pluses and minuses, when it comes to food. First, it forces me to eat dinner early - that's a plus. Also, I drink a lot of water when we bowl - another plus. I usually bring popcorn for the team and usually I don't have any trouble not eating it, but last week I did eat too much popcorn - minus. Also, a few of the team members drink beer, usually I don't, but last week I sipped on a beer - another minus. It really isn't hard not to eat anything and not to drink beer, I just have to decide before I go that that is what I am going to do. It helps if I brush my teeth before we leave, then I don't eat anything for the rest of the night. I'll make sure I brush my teeth before we leave for bowling tonight.
I'm getting anxious to drop below 154.0 and to get below my goal line again. This week! It will happen this week!!
Yesterday I ate 1,792 calories and 110 grams of protein. On Monday, I actually ate 1,632 calories and 80 grams of protein. I had one of the portions wrong on Monday's food diary. I ran five miles this morning and weighed 154.4 pounds.
No new struggles or insights this morning, so I guess I don't have a lot to write about. I didn't really want to get out of bed and run this morning, but I did, anyway. I suppose that's what it is all about, getting out there and doing it, even when you really don't feel like it.
I didn't have any struggles with food yesterday. I ate what I packed and wasn't craving anything else. I had to tell myself to eat a little dinner when I got home from work in order to get the rest of my protein in for the day. I usually like to eat at work and had packed a dinner, but I was so focused on my project that I didn't eat before I left for home. It all worked out, OK. I do like to eat a little earlier in the evening, though.
We bowl tonight, which has its pluses and minuses, when it comes to food. First, it forces me to eat dinner early - that's a plus. Also, I drink a lot of water when we bowl - another plus. I usually bring popcorn for the team and usually I don't have any trouble not eating it, but last week I did eat too much popcorn - minus. Also, a few of the team members drink beer, usually I don't, but last week I sipped on a beer - another minus. It really isn't hard not to eat anything and not to drink beer, I just have to decide before I go that that is what I am going to do. It helps if I brush my teeth before we leave, then I don't eat anything for the rest of the night. I'll make sure I brush my teeth before we leave for bowling tonight.
I'm getting anxious to drop below 154.0 and to get below my goal line again. This week! It will happen this week!!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
10/1/2013: Rambling Thoughts
Yesterday morning I ran 4 miles and this morning I did upper body strength training. Both were easier after my two rest days last weekend. Every now and then a girl just needs to take a couple days off. Yesterday's calories were 1,492 and grams of protein were 68. Oops! I didn't meant to eat that little protein yesterday, I will do better today. Reminder: I want to eat at least 100 grams of protein a day. In fact, I read an article yesterday ( http://blog.womenshealthmag.com/scoop/should-you-double-up-on-protein-to-lose-weight/ ) that sited a study sited in the FASEB Journal (I had to look that one up, too). Study participants all wanted to lose weight. They ate the same number of calories, but 1/3 ate the recommended daily amount of protein (around 55-60 grams for a woman my size), 1/3 ate twice the RDA of protein, and 1/3 ate three times the RDA of protein. Interestingly, all study participants lost about the same amount of weight, 2.7 to 3.5 pounds during the 31 day study period, but those that ate twice the RDA of protein lost the most fat. Those that ate the RDA of protein lost 41.8% of their weight from fat (less than half!!! That means the rest came from muscle!!!), those that ate 3 times the RDA of protein lost 63.6% of their weight from fat, and those that ate twice the RDA lost 70% of their weight from fat! Based on the conclusion of that article, I am just about on track by trying to eat at least 100 grams of protein a day. Yesterday's 68 grams was pretty lame. I'll do better.
My weight has been hovering at or just below 155 for about two weeks. This morning I weighed 154.8. I am more than ready to start losing weight again!! I have decided that I am not buying any more clothes until I get to at least 145 pounds. That will actually be difficult because I don't have a lot of fall and winter clothes. Last winter I just bought what I needed to get through the season, because by the time I was done losing weight spring was not that far off. I need to pull my box of cool weather clothes out of the basement, but I find myself looking through catalogs as they come in the mail. Not allowing myself to shop for clothes until I lose this next 9 or 10 pounds is good motivation!!
I am struggling a bit with my decision regarding EnduraCamps. I like the idea of working with a small group of people focused on training for triathletes. The gym is just a little neighborhood store front converted into a small gym, it kind of reminds me of the gym in the movie Rocky. Nothing fancy, just a place for athletes to train together. I like that. The biggest problem is that it is not in my neighborhood and the classes aren't at times that work particularly well for me. The earliest class in the morning is at 5:45am a couple days a week. With the 15 - 20 minute drive, that doesn't get me home until after 7:00. I really prefer to start my workout at 5:00 and be done and in the shower by 6:30. In the evening classes are at 6:30. I was sort of half-way planning on going to tonight's class, but I started to get stressed out just thinking about what time I needed to leave work to make sure I got there on time. Unfortunately, work is a half hour south of home (45 minutes in evening traffic) and the gym is 20 minutes north of home. One of the reasons I work out in the mornings is so I don't have to worry about a late day at work interfering with my work schedule. I have just about decided not to try to make this evening's class, but the same class is taught by the owner Thursday morning. I will probably go to that one and see how that impacts my morning routine. My guess is that the combination of inconvenient class times and a less than convenient location may cause me to decide that EnduraCamps is not my solution to finding a place to train.
Tonight I am going to swim. I haven't been swimming in over a month!! I bought a new suit last weekend, so that's good. I have my swim clinic in a couple of weeks. I need to get in the pool. Now!! I also need to add some light evening exercise so that I can start losing weight again. No excuses. Go swimming, Roberta!!
Food, food, food! Food is such a funny thing. Sometimes I don't think about it at all, sometimes I think about it all the time. Alcohol is easier, I don't really care if I drink or not. I don't miss it at all. For some reason a glass of wine at dinner sounded good on Saturday evening, but in retrospect, I don't think it made it any more enjoyable. Of course, one can't just stop eating. Meals have to happen on a fairly regular basis. For the most part, my eating is rather formulaic, and I am OK with that. It's easier that way. But when I get super stressed at work or when I get home in the evening and I'm bored, I start looking for food. It's almost like a programmed response to a feeling of unease or boredom; eat. Funny thing is, eating doesn't make it any better, it just occupies me for a few seconds. It doesn't make the problem go away. It's not entertaining. It's just momentarily distracting. I'm getting better and better at shutting down that desire to grab something to eat when it pops up, unbidden, but it still pops up. I imagine it will take a while longer to undue the conditioning of using food as a way to calm myself. It's getting easier, but I still get frustrated with it from time to time.
The food problem is bigger than that, though. As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, it is really dawning on me that my life has changed irrevocably and forever. Food and alcohol is no longer part of my entertainment. It is not how I relax and it is not how I socialize. When we are looking for something to do in the evenings or on the weekends, going out to eat or drink is not on the list of possible options. I'm not saying that Jack and I will never eat out, but 9 times out of 10, or more like 49 times out of 50, when we eat out it is because we are out doing something else at a meal time and we need to eat. Our goal is to find a place to have a meal that fits within our food plan, a lean source of protein, some sort of veggie, perhaps some other carb like a baked sweet potato or brown rice, no wheat, no sweets, no fried foods. A meal out isn't about having fun, a meal out is about feeding ourselves, on plan, away from home. This doesn't mean Roberta and Jackie are not any fun, it just means we don't have our fun by eating and drinking. Fun must come in different ways. But how? With who? Those are the big questions. I sense that somehow my training and my socializing are going to dovetail together, but I have not figured out how that is going to happen, yet. Ideally, I would like to be part of a fun-loving group of middle aged people that make being healthy one of their number one priorities. Where do I find that group? Do I start that group? This is what I need to figure out. This is what I am struggling with.
I meet people that I think are interesting and we have some common interests. I suggest that we should get together sometime and they say, "That sounds great! Let's meet in Brookside for a drink after work." Yeah, I don't think so. Hanging out in bars, even if I am just going to drink water in eat carrot sticks, is not what I want to do. Yes, I have some figuring out to do.
Enough for today. I need to get ready for the dentist...
My weight has been hovering at or just below 155 for about two weeks. This morning I weighed 154.8. I am more than ready to start losing weight again!! I have decided that I am not buying any more clothes until I get to at least 145 pounds. That will actually be difficult because I don't have a lot of fall and winter clothes. Last winter I just bought what I needed to get through the season, because by the time I was done losing weight spring was not that far off. I need to pull my box of cool weather clothes out of the basement, but I find myself looking through catalogs as they come in the mail. Not allowing myself to shop for clothes until I lose this next 9 or 10 pounds is good motivation!!
I am struggling a bit with my decision regarding EnduraCamps. I like the idea of working with a small group of people focused on training for triathletes. The gym is just a little neighborhood store front converted into a small gym, it kind of reminds me of the gym in the movie Rocky. Nothing fancy, just a place for athletes to train together. I like that. The biggest problem is that it is not in my neighborhood and the classes aren't at times that work particularly well for me. The earliest class in the morning is at 5:45am a couple days a week. With the 15 - 20 minute drive, that doesn't get me home until after 7:00. I really prefer to start my workout at 5:00 and be done and in the shower by 6:30. In the evening classes are at 6:30. I was sort of half-way planning on going to tonight's class, but I started to get stressed out just thinking about what time I needed to leave work to make sure I got there on time. Unfortunately, work is a half hour south of home (45 minutes in evening traffic) and the gym is 20 minutes north of home. One of the reasons I work out in the mornings is so I don't have to worry about a late day at work interfering with my work schedule. I have just about decided not to try to make this evening's class, but the same class is taught by the owner Thursday morning. I will probably go to that one and see how that impacts my morning routine. My guess is that the combination of inconvenient class times and a less than convenient location may cause me to decide that EnduraCamps is not my solution to finding a place to train.
Tonight I am going to swim. I haven't been swimming in over a month!! I bought a new suit last weekend, so that's good. I have my swim clinic in a couple of weeks. I need to get in the pool. Now!! I also need to add some light evening exercise so that I can start losing weight again. No excuses. Go swimming, Roberta!!
Food, food, food! Food is such a funny thing. Sometimes I don't think about it at all, sometimes I think about it all the time. Alcohol is easier, I don't really care if I drink or not. I don't miss it at all. For some reason a glass of wine at dinner sounded good on Saturday evening, but in retrospect, I don't think it made it any more enjoyable. Of course, one can't just stop eating. Meals have to happen on a fairly regular basis. For the most part, my eating is rather formulaic, and I am OK with that. It's easier that way. But when I get super stressed at work or when I get home in the evening and I'm bored, I start looking for food. It's almost like a programmed response to a feeling of unease or boredom; eat. Funny thing is, eating doesn't make it any better, it just occupies me for a few seconds. It doesn't make the problem go away. It's not entertaining. It's just momentarily distracting. I'm getting better and better at shutting down that desire to grab something to eat when it pops up, unbidden, but it still pops up. I imagine it will take a while longer to undue the conditioning of using food as a way to calm myself. It's getting easier, but I still get frustrated with it from time to time.
The food problem is bigger than that, though. As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, it is really dawning on me that my life has changed irrevocably and forever. Food and alcohol is no longer part of my entertainment. It is not how I relax and it is not how I socialize. When we are looking for something to do in the evenings or on the weekends, going out to eat or drink is not on the list of possible options. I'm not saying that Jack and I will never eat out, but 9 times out of 10, or more like 49 times out of 50, when we eat out it is because we are out doing something else at a meal time and we need to eat. Our goal is to find a place to have a meal that fits within our food plan, a lean source of protein, some sort of veggie, perhaps some other carb like a baked sweet potato or brown rice, no wheat, no sweets, no fried foods. A meal out isn't about having fun, a meal out is about feeding ourselves, on plan, away from home. This doesn't mean Roberta and Jackie are not any fun, it just means we don't have our fun by eating and drinking. Fun must come in different ways. But how? With who? Those are the big questions. I sense that somehow my training and my socializing are going to dovetail together, but I have not figured out how that is going to happen, yet. Ideally, I would like to be part of a fun-loving group of middle aged people that make being healthy one of their number one priorities. Where do I find that group? Do I start that group? This is what I need to figure out. This is what I am struggling with.
I meet people that I think are interesting and we have some common interests. I suggest that we should get together sometime and they say, "That sounds great! Let's meet in Brookside for a drink after work." Yeah, I don't think so. Hanging out in bars, even if I am just going to drink water in eat carrot sticks, is not what I want to do. Yes, I have some figuring out to do.
Enough for today. I need to get ready for the dentist...
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