One More Week

That's what I keep telling myself. One more week and my life gets back to a routine. I really love this time of year. I don't like seeing the summer end, but I love the autumn season. The Indian Summer days, the changing coloring of the leaves. All of the things that come with the fall. And I love getting back to a rhythm. The rhythm that comes from getting up at the same time every day, getting to bed a little earlier at night. Mornings that are centered around heading to the gym or the walking trail or the skating rink.

Oh by the way-- the ice goes back in at the rink this week and I can't WAIT to get in there and skate. Did I mention that I broke down and bought some hockey skates this summer? Getting around in those is going to be a hoot! I got them second-hand, for a great price, and they are in very good condition. In fact, I wish my body was in as good of a condition. Haha. Soon. Very soon!

I saw quite a few pictures of myself over the course of the summer. I'm not looking as awful as I did when I was 225, but I still look pretty chunk-a-dunky. I need to shave off about 50 more pounds. Of course I'm afraid I'll quit. I will get to 150, remember my age, and just try to maintain from then on. It's depressing from time to time to know that 150 satisfies me when it would have horrified my 10 years ago. So for now I will just stand firm in my goals and plow ahead.

My weight is steady as she goes at 186. I need to keep walking and counting, walking and counting. I'm way too lax right now. But again, next week kicks off the school year, and I am ready to roll. I just have to go through my cupboards and fridge and toss all the good stuff. Er, I mean the UNHEALTHY stuff. Yea. The unhealthy stuff.

I'll let you know how my week goes. Just wanted to touch base. You all have a wonderful week! And gear up. We're in this together!

Maintaining

I gave up drinking coffee over the course of the winter. I love the taste. I love it even more when you mix in those ever-so-tasty flavored creams. My favorite is one of the seasonal flavors - Pumpkin Pie Spice. I know, I know. That seems a little much to be drinking. It's actually pretty good though, as are all of the newest flavors.

I started drinking coffee again during my trip to Denver this summer. I quickly learned that I needed artificial assistance in the form of coffee if I wanted to keep up with the teenagers on this trip. There used to be a time I could burn the oil at both ends -- staying up late, getting up early-- and still managing to maintain enough mental stamina that I made sense when I talked. NOT SO when you're in your 40's. So my option was to drag all day or perk up immediately. Ok. Coffee it is.

I have gone from energy tea and a protein bar each morning to coffee with flavored cream. I tell myself that it's just fine, but I'd like to get rid of this little addiction when school starts here in God's country. And while I'm at it, I will get better control of my diet. I won't be tempted with coconut m&m's and cheetos and hot tamales candy. I have another 2 weeks before school starts. I have two rounds of company in between that time, and one back-to-hockey season picnic. The first round of company wants to watch their calories but loves a great meal -- so we'll see how that goes. Since there are 16 of them, it's almost unavoidable that there's going to be extra little treats around. The second group is family for Labor Day Weekend. I can easily work around that. And the picnik, well that's a pot-luck. Unless I eat before hand I am in trouble that day.

The good news is that I am back into a pretty solid walking routine. That doesn't mean every day, it means three days or four days in a row, then off two. I don't have any intention of beating myself up over this. My summer has exceeded temptation in a way that not many people have to experience. I have done OK. Not great, but I have done ok. I am maintaining at about 186. And I know once my normal routine comes back around I will be well on my way to losing again.

Until then, just so you know, the new limited edition coconut m&m's are out of this world! They taste like tiny little Mounds candy bars. Stay away from them if you know what's good for you! :) And I'll be back again soon. Take care and enjoy life this week! Maybe add a little cream to your coffee! :)

Sick & Tired

Greetings friends! I write to you this evening after a long, long day! A long, long summer, for that matter. I have spent the better part of this week getting back on track. Counting calories, out walking. It's been SIX WEEKS of fun and games. Six weeks. And I'm tired. I'm sick. And I'm sick and tired. I'm sick of junky eating. I'm sick of being sedentary. And I'm sick of watching my weight creep, creep, creep back up. And today I was literally sick to my stomach. My mother thinks I'm having withdrawals from sugary, fatty foods. I think she may be right.

Today I was 186.6 pounds. I have gained NINE pounds since the beginning of July. Not good. Not horrible either -- but it would be nice to have kept it off. Not possible this month. Seriously. Not possible. Think I'm exaggerating? Uhh . . . NOT.

Following my trip to the youth conference I was a leader at a camp for cousins that my mother hosts every summer. One morning in the middle of the week I was sitting at the kitchen table. I looked down at my plate of french toast smothered in butter and syrup. I looked up at the platters of bacon and sausage. I glanced to my left at the 5 dozen fried and glazed donuts. I looked to my right and saw a counter top covered with peanut butter, chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies, cream cheese brownies, rice krispie bars, little debbie snacks and 10 different varieties of chips. In the fridge was the leftover chinese wontons, rice and chow mein, as well as the refried beans and enchiladas from the day before. I turned to the other counselors and simply said: "This is a food nightmare!!!" I understood in the flash of an eye what 'gluttony' was about, and I was up to my eyeballs in it. This after a day of circus food that included everything and anything fried. Blahhhhhh!!!!!! And did I mention I started drinking coffee again over the course of the summer? Booooo!

I no sooner ended camp and I was off to my reunion. Wine. An automatic 3 pounds every time I drink it. So I jumped from 184 to 187. Of course the Carbone's pizza, one of my personal faves, didn't help either. And I battled that scale number over the next two weeks, topping off at 189 on Sunday of this week. No, no, no, no, no! I refuse to allow that number to get to the 190's. I was there last April! No, no, no! Not happening.

Sooo, I got back to work. Counting calories. And I need to keep at it. I promised you I wouldn't let you down, and I won't. I promise. I have forty+ pounds left to go and I have every intention of losing it. It's gotta go. And I have to keep exercising. I did plenty of walking, but not as part of a regular exercise time that I set aside each day. That little element dropped off and needs to be added back in. But I'm tired and winded and a fatty again. I'm thinking its going to be a couple of weeks before I'm comfortable with long distances. That's true even when I had between 10,000 and 18,000 steps on my pedometer each day. So for right now it's 40 minutes, or about 3 miles. I'll work back up to 6 miles before too long here.

And tonight I lay down my head - tired and sick. Literally. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better and easier. I'll keep you posted. But please pray for me. I need it big time! Peace and blessings to you all.

190

JUST KIDDING!!! Greetings my dear blogger friends. I am sorry, sorry, sorry for this long delay! It has been a decidedly crazy month thus far, and I have about 10 more days of "unusual events" to go. My weight this morning was really 184.3 . Sad, but wonderful too. I sincerely expected a much higher number.

After three days in Orange County with some relatives, I did two days of damage control. I came home happy but water-puffed. I must have looked like a marshmallow. And two days didn't put my weight anywhere that I wanted it! Then I was off again. This time by bus.

I arrived home at 6:30 this morning from a seven day trip on a motor coach bus. I was one of 20 adults who took 70 teenagers to the Rocky Mountains for Steubenville Rockies Catholic Youth Conference. And might I just add here: I LOATHE the bus! Give me just about any other form of travel. Existing on a bus for a one-way, 20 hour trip is not pleasant. Living on the food available from any given gas station is even worse. Having absolutely NO control of the restaurants where you eat is . . . well it's torture.

And we aren't even going to visit the issue of liquids. Okay well maybe just long enough to say that at my age, you can't wait too long to go potty. Every three hours? Holy guacamole! I think you can figure out that if I drank water, I suffered. It's simply NOT a good idea to open up the bathroom on a bus that's carrying teenagers. There's already some unfamiliar teenage smells on the journey. No need to complicate the air even more! So water on the way out and on the way back was out of the question. Puff, puff, cocoa puff!

The UPSIDE of course, is that I gained about 7 pounds. Seven. I'll share what I ate over these past two weeks on another blog, but I can tell you with ease that these teenagers are offered more carbohydrates in one day than I eat in a week. It's cereal and muffins and donuts, buns with hamburgers and hot dogs, pizza crust, taco shells. . . it's insane. Seriously insane. Fresh veggies and fruit were a delicacy on this trip.

Soooooo, I am very pleased that I am not fatter than that little scale reflected today. I mean, we had Chipotle at midnight one night --closing out an amazing day of prayer with 1500 little calories. Can you say SCARY? Yea, I thought so too.

Anyway, I am going to check in later. I just want to let you know I'm alive and well and starting a fresh, new day. I hope yours is a blessed one. Peace.

Falling Off the Fatty-Wagon

What a fantastic 4th of July it was! I'm not sure about the weather elsewhere, but here in God's Country it was a picture-perfect day. Beautiful. And we are blessed to have been able to spend it on the lake. Amazing.

So how's my weight, you ask? It's okay. I am back up to 180. And I deserve to be. I indulged in all sorts of extravagances this weekend. Ones that I wouldn't have touched even a few weeks ago. But when you're in up to your elbows, its hard to walk away.

Every year on the 4th my big family (and I mean numbers of people, not scale numbers - haha) gets together. We rent a canopy. Set up tables. I get up very early and with a little help from some elves grill breakfast on the beach. Huge griddles. Pancakes and french toast. Bacon and sausage. Caramel rolls and orange juice. Chocolate milk and fresh coffee. A family tradition. And the pancake batter is prepared from scratch with eggs, sugar, flour, milk . . . the good stuff. The french toast mix gets a splash of cinnamon and sugar. And it's all outdoors, which seems to make it smell and taste 100 times better than normal. So I had some. I considered making some pancakes from the Fiber One mix I just purchased, but managed to persuade myself that it was WAY too much extra work!

Then we had an afternoon of junk food. Chips. Bars. Salsa. I didn't eat much of that. No, no. I saved myself for dinner. Nevermind that I didn't have any calories left from my budget after the third bite of my french toast earlier. Dinner was going to be goooooooood!

After our annual family "Talent Show" my brother put marinated corn cobs, beef and chicken kabobs and barbequed ribs on the grill. I had a beef kabob and some ribs. I also had about 1/2 cup of au gratin potatoes. Keep in mind I haven't had a potatoe since last Christmas!!! Oh. Tasty doesn't describe them! And then of course there were the brownies. Brownies and cheesecake with fresh strawberries. And I ate both. I think I ate four brownies!!!! I felt so guilty it was ridiculous. I could EASILY have taken the whole pan of brownies with a big glass of milk and climbed under a picnic table and polished them off all alone. I think that makes me a brownie junkie or something. lol. I have always loved brownies, but these brownies seemed to have my name written on them or something. They called me by name, I swear!

So the day after the 4th I stayed off the wagon from which I had fallen. Believe it or not, I had KFC. Yes. Fried chicken. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Cole slaw. But let me just tell you something. I never, ever, ever eat the skin on a piece chicken. I don't care how original the recipe is or how many spices they use. It's the scalp of the chicken. The scalp. YUUUUUKKKKK!!!!! And we aren't even going to talk about the calories in it folks. It's just flat out disgusting. Follicle bumps and all. Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross.

So. So, so, soooo.... that was my weekend. And although I got back on the fatty-wagon on Monday, those 3 pounds joined me. I'm grateful it wasn't more. Like I said -- if I can maintain this month I'm going to be in great shape and I'll be ready to go like gangbusters in August.

Meanwhile . . . my long-legged walking buddy is back at it, and my sis is in town. They're gonna kick my a.s.s. this week exercising. Don't tell them, but I'm secretly looking forward to it! :) I'll try, try, try to keep you updated. Life is crazy here in the country right now.

I'm off to bed. May God Bless you and keep you and hear your prayers loud and clear. Peace.

177.2

Hey all! Another great day in dietville. :) I'm still working off the weekend, and heading into a new one. A busy, food-filled one. So I'm trying to get ahead of the game. And it looks like that's working for me, doesn't it??? Yea.

I've been exercising a ton this week. Walked, ran. Walked, ran. And I'm doing a great job on my eating too. So I'm pretty happy. I just wish it wasn't so hard to stay in check when I get to the social stuff. I have so many more coming up this month. and I'm very worried about it. I'm sincerely starting to believe that if I can make it to August 1st without gaining . . . without sliding back into the 80's, I'm going to be in great shape. And let me tell you this, it's gonna be SUPER tough. But I will keep you in the loop. What I know, you'll know. Promise.

And I will keep exercising. That's going to be key. Without it I'm not gonna make it. We ALL know that!

Another dull post today, sorry to say. Despite all my "social" gigs I really have no life. Which explains why this is dull. It's all about the food and exercise. Hah!

So I'm going to sign off here. I'm going to try and post again before or during the weekend. It'll keep me honest and accountable. So until then, God Bless!

Working It Out

Summer is crazy. The time gets away from me like no other season. I can' believe that it's the 4th of July next week. Can't believe it!

I've had a really great week, and my weekend wasn't too bad either. My weight stayed pretty steadily in the 170's last week, and I got in lots of exercise. Headed out to a couple of grad parties yesterday, but the food choices were super -- including subway sandwiches and lots of veggies. So I was able to keep the eating a minimum. But apparently, I still had a little too much. Plus, I couldn't get in a workout over the weekend.

Sooooo.... this morning when I woke up I had popped up to 180. I was down to 177.4 on Friday, so I accumulated a little water over the weekend. A little disappointing, to say the least. HOWEVER, I believe that this past 5 weeks, and the four weeks ahead of me, are unusually busy from a social perpective. I have a LOT going on this month too. Lots of company, lots of special events. And because of that, I have decided that I cannot beat myself up if I'm not losing 10 pounds a month. If I lose even 5 each month through this time, I'm still moving forward. Then I can kick it into high gear again in September.

I would love to say that I can keep on like crazy until then, but I know better. I know from these last two months. 5 pounds each. Not much. But together, its 10. And after July, it's 15. And after August, its 20. So HOPEFULLY from May to Labor Day I will have dropped 20 pounds. That's a big number in its own right. That's 175 by August 1 and 170 by September 1. Completely attainable. And I won't lose heart and pitch the whole program for feeling like a failure.

So that's the plan. The new plan. At least for today. lol. If it changes, you'll be the first to know. Hah!

Tomorrow I'm off and running again. I'll try to be better about blogging. I just get tired at the end of the day. Perhaps that means I will have to blog in the mornings. We'll see.

God bless you all. Thanks for hanging in there with me. It's what drives me.

xoxoxoxox