Christmas is over. I ate too much and exercised too little. I lost the step meter, but even then I wasn't walking enough. So here we go, start over. I made some vegetable soup last week with lentils an acorn squash very tasty. Today I made vegetable soup out of the following

Cabbage, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, lemon juice, beef broth, and worchestershire sauce.

I am going to start making much smaller batches of my soup. What happens is i make a big pot and then get sick of it, but there is still stuff left and I don't go on to make a different batch of soup. Now, I will use a sauce pan instead of a stock pot. I am asking for a Wii and a Wii fit for my birthday, maybe that will get me off my rump.

Sunday stuff

six hours of housework and gardening burned 1410 calories. Seems like it should have been a billion. My feet hurt.

The Nottingham family reunion kind of got me off track. I am back on it today though and ready to get my walk on.

Day 2

yesterday I clocked 4.10 miles. Not to good, but better than the test day. Today I had lunch with Rhonda. We split a meal. Now I need to go out in the garden or go for a walk or both.

Day 1

Okay, I'm back. Scary pictures made me start walking again. Well I was planning on walking again anyway. I bought a new, nicer pedometer. I did the daily activity test and found out that I don't move very much. I went for a 30 minute walk earlier today and will do it again later this afternoon. Really out of shape. My goal is six miles a day. At this time, I am 37% of the way to that goal. Need to get moving. They say it takes three weeks to develope a new habit. So for the next three weeks the goal is to walk every day. I would also like to do about 50 crunches. This should be doable. I don't want to worry about my diet right now, although during the time I spend walking I cannot help but daydream about bigger and better plans. I need to remember not to overwhelm myself. One thing at a time. This month walk. Next month maybe diet changes or maybe add weights. Anyway, til Christmas, I focus on walking.

I did make a yummy lunch. Shredded cabbage, finely chopped carrot, celery and garlic sauted and then finished with some soy sauce. Tastes just like an eggroll without the deep frying and startch. Yummy

Evil three day diet

The three day diet didn't work and I think it might have hurt. I feel bad and I have fever blisters. I won't be doing that again.

Some Good Numbers

A few good things to post about. I have now lost 10 lbs. The ticker shows 27 pounds to go. I take off more than that, but we will stick with that goal for now. Even better, my blood pressure was down in the normal normal range this morning. The wanted me to keep it at 130/90. This morning it was 108/77. Very nice number for me. My heart rate has been running mostly in the 90's to 100's. This morning-77. That is in the normal resting heart rate range. I am showing improvement in my health not just my weight. I think I can bring the numbers down more. I would like my systolic bp to be under 100 and my heart rate to drop into the 60's.

I did two works outs yesterday. My regular aerobics class and a 1 hour walk in the evening. I was hoping to walk this morning, but when I woke it was too hot. We will go to the track again tonight.

Today is the last day of the three day diet. Thank goodness, I don't like it, but I needed a jumpstart.

Saturday August 2

Started one of those three day diets. I just need something to kick start this thing. Just a tool not a lifestyle. Walked for an hour last night. Missed Thursdays aerobics class to go to a play. The walk sort of made up for it. Better than nothing. Lost another pound. Aerobics this morning. Maybe this will get more interesting soon.

July 30, 2008

Don't get to this blog enough. The other is taking up all my free time. Have not missed a day of aerobics since starting. I am going to a play tomorrow night and will have to miss it then. Feeling a little stronger. Weight is holding steady.

Something is still messing with my appitite. I just wish I could tell what it is. There are several half eaten bowls of good for me stuff in the fridge. I just could not finish them. Lost one more pound. Aerobics did not kill me but it felt awful. Didn't have the after workout feel goods. I probably spent too much time in the sun yesterday.

Resolve

My work out partner missed the class saturday and is not going tonight either. I could use this as an excuse to stay home, but I am not. I am going and I will feel better.

one more pound. Aerobics appears to be messing with my appitite.

Rought week but still lost weight

Okay, I have lost four pounds. I don't know how because my schedule was crazy and I did not eat right all the time. I don't care I will take it and take care of it now. The RWH specialist class is over, so life should return to my version of normal. As soon as #1 sil gets here we are going to aerobics. I vow to only put good for me things in my mouth today.

aerobics

My neighbor/aerobics teacher did not kill me. More later.

Tuesday morning.

Scale showed one pound down this morning. The goal is two a week for the next nine weeks. I start aerobics tonight. The instructor is my next door neighbor. I hope she doesn't kill me.

Nine Weeks

Okay, I am setting another goal. It is nine weeks until my nieces wedding. I would like to lose 2 pounds a week for a total of 18 lbs. That should put me in a size 12. I am starting aerobics tomorrow night and started following the DASH diet again today. Here I go again. I will try to post everyday I am home for the next nine weeks.

DASH Diet
8 servings fruits and veggies per day
6 servings whole grain per day
3 servings nonfat dairy per day
1 serving lean protein per day
3 servings seeds per week
1 serving or less of white stuff per day (sugar/white flour/etc)

Got my weight loss ticker working again. Love the flutterby

Monday

I am going to have to get more creative with these blog titles. But it was just Monday. Ate right swam for thirty minutes and walked two miles. BP still not perfect. Started a food diary. Might as well since I am having to keep a bp log. Be back tomorrow.

Start Day

Went back to the Dr. BP still up. Started meds. Used today as my start day for trying to get this situation under conrtol. Ate reasonably. Walked two miles this evening. Hopefully, this will be the real start and not just another false start. I did buy a BP monitor and I am checking my BP twice a day. That is a pretty strong reminder of what I need to do to take care of myself.

Lost the pin to the weight loss ticker, so I have to start over. Not really a problem as I have really not lost any weight.

Exercise

I started doing water exercise today. I made our mom do it with me. She likes to quit and wants to know when the music is going to end. Still, she was a good sport and we had a good time. Two of the boys were in the pool with us and it worked out okay.

I did have one of those "I am the child and she is the mother moments" We were kicking around the pool in circles and she was gaining on me. She got that look, the look she used to get when I was four and she was really going to pull me under or over or just be the boss. Guess what, she is still the boss and I bet she dunks me the next time we "exercise." I deserve it.

A Little More

Woke up this morning feeling light. Weighed and had lost 3 lbs. This is after working for a week on managing stress.

Something That is Working

Seeing my butt on TV got me motivated. A few days ago, I started a new eating strategy. I know I will never be able to follow a very restrictive diet. I just don't have the will power. Instead I am eating what I normally eat, say a turkey sandwich. The next time I eat it has to be a very large serving of raw vegetables or fruit. The first couple of days of this were scary. Tummy did not like it one little bit. I stuck with it and my body adjusted to the dietary change. I weighed myself this morning and was rewarded with a couple of pounds of weight loss. I still have a long way to go, but I think this is something I can do.

My Butt on TV

Four hours of gardening today including compost turning and mowing. Great work out. Ate right again. Trying to think of something interesting or inspirational to write, but I am too tired. Maybe that is what I should be working towards, being very very tired at night so I sleep well.

Oh, I've got it. I found a way to keep myself from eating at night. L installed cameras to video or just live feed the stuff that is going on outside our house. We have a criminal in our neighborhood and someone stole gas from my truck over the weekend. Anyway, there were two cameras left over. He put one in the kitchen facing toward the living room and one in the living room facing down the hall. At 8:30 pm I turn it on and show the live feed of the hallway on the living room TV. This keeps the boys in their beds, bonus. Second bonus. The camera is sitting on the floor point slightly up. Just at butt level for me as I walk across the room. Have you ever seen you butt on a large screen tv when you are 30 pounds overweight? Not pretty. It will really make you lose your appetite.

Fresh Start

I got back from Conroe yesterday. Several times a day during the trip I declared to my friends that I would start exercising and eating right on Monday. Today is Monday and I did it. I walked for thirty minutes and I ate like I should have. Somehow over the three day trip I managed to lose 3 lbs. This has to have something to do with hormones. We did not exercise and we certainly didn't eat right. Well here I am starting again.

The veggies are coming along nicely in the garden. I ate swiss chard for lunch. It was great.

Backslide Big Time

Went to the Doctor today with bronchitis. They weight me at 160, yikes. Now this is too much information, but I weigh myself first thing in the morning in my birthday suit. Anyway, that is still way too much and must show some gain. I adjusted my scale and I am starting from there.

My blood pressure was also up. Now this is about not having to get on a lot of medications to keep me from having a heart attack or stroke.

As soon as I can breath, I am going to start walking/jog = wog. I need to get my cardiovascular system back in shape. I already have all the veggies and stuff to get back on track with the food. As soon as summer gets here I am going to collect a bunch of sisters and start a water work out in our mom's pool. Stay tuned.

New Achievement.

I managed to fit into my husbands pants. This may sound like a disaster, but before my butt was too big.

I gardened for three hours today. I am bone tired.

Healthy Lunch

I had a piece of whole wheat toast with humus, asparagus, and a V8 for lunch. If I eat any healthier, I may die from it.

Big Ole Gardening Day

I gardened from 9:00 this morning to 4:00 this afternoon. I would say I took about 9o minutes of break time during the day. Gardening burns more calories than my walking does, but it's not as good aerobic exercise. So I am going to give myself five miles worth. Calories burned are about 272 an hour bringing today's total to 1361. If I kept my yard perfect I might be thin.

Yo-Yo Me

I forgot to post this yesterday and to change my ticker. I dropped back down to 145 without doing anything. It really is the hormones. I am paying more attention to this because of this blog. It really is happening, cycle gain five pounds, wait a week lose it without really trying. This should be a lesson in patience.

At Canton yesterday instead of eating a whole hamburger, I split one with Mamala and she shared her fried pie with me. We were full, but not sick. Much better way to enjoy a guilty pleasure. Half the food = Half the guilt.

Walking and shopping

I spent the day with Mamala and Baby Sister shopping at First Monday in Canton. We walked from noon until 5:00 pm. With about a 20 minute break for lunch. Now this was not a "break a sweat and pant" walking pace of course, unless you count a steep hill I had to go up three times. But I am tired and I counted it for two miles.

Doing a Little Better

Ate okay today. Not perfect, but did not over eat and had some veggies. I did garden this afternoon. The hard kind moving compost and such. I added up those calories and matched them to the calories burned walking. I added it to my walking ticker. My gardening counts.

Here I go again

Hormones and husband have caused a five pound weight gain. I thought him being off work would give me time to start to walk, not so. He feeds me thinks like Chick-Fil-A, corn fritters, and all kinds of good stuff off the grill. I know I don't have to eat it, but I also know I dont have the kind of will power not to eat it. Anyway, he goes back to work on Saturday and I will try to get back on track. I really need to get that ticker moving.

I actually did it.

I actually did it. I went for the walk. Even though none of the sisters would go with me and it was dark and scary, I did it. I walked 1.5 miles. Not much I know, but it's a start. I hope to walk every day that Manly Man is off. That will be ten days and should get me in the habit. Plus I am going to look for one of those virtual walk thingies. Where should I virtual walk to? Christy is walking to Rivendall.

Okay, I couldn't find a good virtual walking ticker thingy so I put together that turtle ticker. That's how I feel slow and steady wins the race:)

Getting going again.

Setting myself up to succeed again. Made vegitable soup, boiled eggs, and humus. Now I have good choices again. I will try to start walking tomorrow. Manly Man will be off for ten days so now is a good time to begin.

Claiming 145

Okay, 145 stuck. I am claiming it regardless of the flu.

I weighed 145 this morning, but I have a touch of the flu and I feel bad counting "I got sick" weight loss. Middle Monkey is really sick. I am just a little sick so far. Everybody else is fine.

Hormones have returned to normal. I reached a new low of 146 this morning. Well, it's a new low for this time around on the weightloss merry-go-r0und. Hopefully, this little blog will keep me on track. I am afraid to fail in public. The three of you who visit here were always my public, but you were polite enough not to ask how fat I had gotten. Now it's all out there.

Size fourteen jeans had booty room this morning.

Boing Boing

148 feels like 3 million. Still bloated, but coming back down. Gardened for about three hours yesterday want to do even more today. The weather is supposed to be pretty.

Bounce

Okay, it wasn't five pounds, it was three. This morning it feels like 340. I hate being swollen like this. I am going to Whole Foods today for indulgent, expensive, skinny food. Want to come?

Sometimes it Sucks to Be a Girl.

I woke up with a hot flash and cramps. I could not get my jeans buttoned. I think I gained five pounds over night. I am afraid to weigh myself. Thanksfully, I am not hungry. Manly man took me to lunch, and I brought most of it home in a to go container. Oh well. This to shall pass.

Did Some Actual Gardening Today.

Worked for a friend for about five hours today. Feeling it in my back and legs. This is my REAL exercise. This I will actually do. She fed me a great lunch and gave me cuttings and eggs. I love my job and my friends. Warning, I'm going to be whining about this tomorrow.

Look at my new ticker. I wonder if the butterfly came from a catterpitter?

Weather

The weather is keeping me inside. I had two jobs to do this week. I could not go because of the rain and now the howling wind. Seems like half of North Texas is on fire.

Still eating well. Tried to eat one of those wrap sandwiches for lunch. I couldn't do it. That thing was nasty. One more good thing that has come out of this little lifestyle makeover is that I no longer make myself eat something I don't like. I would eat French fries because they came with a meal. I don't like most French fries.

Sweet Boy

Logan patted my belly and announce "you're getting skinny". He is 13 and newly appreciative of girlness. My girlness isn't gross in the OH MY GOD MY PARENTS HAD SEX way yet. He can still tell me "you're getting skinny " and it not be weird yet. I love this because I am so not getting skinny.

I'm going to type it three more times

"You're getting skinny"
"You're getting skinny"
"You're getting skinny"

Such a sweet boy. I wonder what he really wants?

Tough Weekend

I had a rough weekend and I feel pretty drained. The solution work I have done has helped immensely. I did not get a box of Triscuts and eat the whole damn thing with sharp cheddar cheese. I cried and I felt bad, but I ate right. Please DO NOT leave me comments about not letting people hurt my feelings or how what other people do and say should not matter. That is crap in my world and it does not make me feel better. It makes me feel like my emotions have no validity. I love you, but don't.

I lost another pound so I win!!!!!

Be nice or go away.

Sorry, sad has turned to mad and I am turning a little scary.

I posted an actually cycle earlier, but thought better of it and deleted it. If your reading this you are getting off easy.

100 foor diet

I am going to try this. The idea is to eat one homegrown, or mostly homegrown, meal per week. I want to eat more of my own veggies anyway. It is called The Hundred Foot Diet.

I just got it, no muffin top for this mom in those jeans.

It finally happened

I had to go to "Muffins for Mom" this morning, which means I had to actually get up and get dressed. I grabbed my jeans and they went on and zipped up and my gut did not hang over them. Yes, it finally happened. I was getting so discouraged because I didn't see or feel the weight loss. Well, I saw it and felt it this morning.

Hula Hoop

Okay, Jeanie, you made me do it. I busted out the hula hoop. I used to be able to make that thing spin around me for ever or at least until everybody else gave up. Well, it is a sad state of affairs now. The best I could do was three times around. So I guess I should do this every day and see if I can get my hula hooping skills back again. I really miss my waist.

This scary, honest, putting myself out there blog is working. I have not been perfect. In fact I have been pretty bad, especially this last week. I have not exercised like I am supposed to. I have set goals I have not kept. Still, on 12/16/07 I weighed 161 and at 5:45 this morning I weighed 149 again. For better or worse, the volunteer project deadline was midnight 1/22. I hope it was all submitted correctly. Anyway, that stress of that is gone. It is still freezing freaking cold here, so I don't suppose getting outside to exercise is going to happen in the next few days. My walking/jogging 100 miles this by 2/16 is pretty much a fantasy at this point. I hope to reset the goal and start over. At least I don't have to start over weighing 161 pounds or worse 189, like I was 3 years ago. I will end this rambling now.

Deb

Did you see it? There on the left. I weighed 149 this morning. Yeah, jump up and down, dance.

New soup recipe

I made the broccoli soup recipe with quinoa. It is so good. The quinoa cooks up kind of creamy. It has a higher protein level than a lot of grains.

Too much sleep.

I love to sleep. I like to stay up late and sleep in so I can actually sleep with my husband. Here's how I know I have had too much sleep; wake up, doze off and have a short dream that I've missed a kid's Christmas program, startle awake, doze off , hear an imaginary phone ring, wake up, doze off , dream youngest sister is not moving to another state and she has kidnapped me to get away from her nephews, startle awake. Now I know it's really time to get up and I really don't want baby sister to move to another state.

On the exercise front. It has been too cold to go outside and wog. Last weeks schedule prevented me from doing anything but volunteer work to meet a deadline. It is pretty outside today, but windy. I'm going to give it a shot. If my ears start to hurt, I'm quittin.

I still dont handle stress well.

The last week was a glaring example of how I ended up here to begin with. I am working on a really big project for a volunteer group. It is complicated, confusing, time consuming, bureaucratic, came with messed up instructions, and if I mess it up people are going to be pissed. Here is how I handled it: I ate a big greasy breakfast, I ate Chinese food, I ate fried chicken, I drank wine, and I had bad dreams. I did not cry or pick a fight with a sister. I am showing some improvement. I obviously feel a little toxic, so today I consume water, vitamins, and veggies.

Gotta eat the veggies

I've been lying. The last few days my weight has been 153 to 154. Finally, this morning it came back down to 150. I had the dreaded fluctuations and I didn't like it. The truth be told I have not been eating my veggies. I will be good, I promise.

gardening as exercise.

This is pretty much a duplicate post from my other blog only bitchier (did I spell that right). Don't bother reading it today if you read the other one. Unless you just want to read me whine.

I gardened for five hours today. That added up to 1370 calories. Walking the same amount of time would have added up to 1130 so I am counting my gardening as 15 miles of walking. I know I still have to walk for the cardio benefit, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I will still do the wog thing another day-after day after day... I just want to count the back wilting, hand blistering, grass picking yard work too.

Thanks for your support Meme queen of grass pickin.

I have to go take a shower now. I have bermuda in my shorts.

Bye

Goal for the next month

I'm going to start wogging. I have almost been at this a month and I have not exercised even a little bit like I should. So here is the deal. Beginning 1/16/08 I am going to attempt to walk/jog= wog 100 miles over next month. The reason I picked Wednesday is because it will officially be one month since I started this. I am going to need praise and encouragement. Lots and lots of encouragement. I have mapped out a 3.1 mile route from my house to the elementary school. If you see me please don't run over me. I have been encouraged to get a partner to do this with me. I bet I don't get any volunteers for that.

Fuzzy socks

Logan was afraid we would be seen this morning. Is my fuzzy pink and blue ensemble really that embarrassing?

Here's why it doesn't matter or it matters a lot

So to make up for it, I ate stuffing for breakfast. I'm never going to be skinny

Owwww

I am sore. Really really sore. My calves hurt and so do my ribs. But, hey, I lost another pound.

Another development. I could not eat a double helping of stuffing last night. I love stuffing. I put a bunch of chopped up veggies in it, but still it is really just warm wet bread. Still, I couldn't eat a double helping. After my veggies and meat, I was just too full. I suppose this is a good thing, but I think I truly enjoyed over indulgence.

My Shoes on the left Tristan's shoes on the right
Tristan is an 8-year-old boy

Here is the new picture. I can't tell the difference. I am still about six pounds too heavy to wear these jeans comfortably, but at least they are buttoned and I am not way muffin topped.

First ten

Okay, instead of feeling bad yesterday, I should have celebrated. I lost 10 pounds. Since I am not on a "diet" and I have not been exercising as I should, this doesn't feel real. Its real. I am grateful for being able to wear my jeans without feeling like I am going to explode out of them. I am happy that I have been able to get back into a couple of pairs of my paints. The down side, my favorite bra is too big around my ribcage. I really love that bra.

OPPs

It is 4:30 in the morning, and I am worried. About three years ago I started a program to help me deal with emotional overeating. It helped me so much. I went there to lose weight, and found out I am crazy. My problems were one thing, but what I will call OPPs (other peoples problems) were causing me to get really out of control. I found myself at a better place last fall. Things were normal, or normal enough, and I did not think I needed to do that work anymore. This week OPPs have reared their ugly heads again, and I want Triscuts and cheese. The whole box of Triscuts and a block of sharp cheedar cheese. I know that Triscuts and cheese will not fix my problems or OPPs. Now, how do I get back to sleep?

Ending the pitty party

Okay, I have been feeling pretty sorry for myself and need to get over it. I added a sitemeter to this so I will know that someone sees it. Thanks for letting me know you are out there sis.

so so day

I didn't weigh this morning. I got an email request for another picture. I will do it Saturday. I ate well today. We had broccoli out of the garden for dinner. Energy level is still not good. Again, hopefully tomorrow will be better

headache = food craving

I had a headache all day and craved carbs bad. Hopefully, I will feel better tomorrow.

I hate crunches

The only reason I did the crunches tonight is because I wrote earlier on this blog that I would. You people would never know if I didnt do it. In fact I have no idea if there are any you people. I feel like I have phantom obligations. I'm tired, bye

Back feels better.

I have noticed that my back has felt better over the last week or so. It has to be the minimal core exercise I have done. That is what I am going to concentrate on this week, my middle

Fresh start

Getting back on track today. Shopped for skinny bread, fish, and veggies I cant grow this time of year. Going to make broccoli soup again. Worked outside in the garden, it was a beautiful day.

The last day of the holidays.

Today is the last day of the holidays for us. We celebrate Christmas with L's family tonight. If I make it through tonight without gaining any weight back, I will have succeeded and can start counting down again.

B-Day

took today off for my b-day. Had mexican for lunch and steak for dinner. Life is good.

Eating the good stuff.

I have noticed that when I want to eat, because I have to be honest here, I am now choosing better stuff. Today it was mushrooms and asparagus. I still feel like I ate too much, but at least it was too much good stuff.

What?

Okay, New years eve. Pizza, chips, soda. I should have gained, but no, another pound down. Days and days of being good, nothing, be really really bad, lose a pound. I dont understand my body.