Good News and Bad

Actually started riding bike with my son a week and a half ago. He wanted to get some exercise and so we decided to ride everyday together. It's been great. When I get off the bike, my legs feel like rubber but it feels great. Then I got sick last week and was on my butt for almost 4 days so haven't rode since but as soon as the rain stops, I'll be out there again. So the good news is that I lost weight, the bad news is that I was sick and didn't have much of an appetite for 4 days. It was great when I went to the doctors at the beginning of last week and when I stepped on the scale the nurse said "hey, you lost weight since last time you were in". I can't remember when that was but she said I lost 10 lbs on their scale. Yea!!!! If I wasn't feeling so bad I would have went home and rode bike, what motivation. I hope to start writing regularly and keeping a journal of what I eat, it supposed to keep you more aware. I did that with weight watchers and it did work so who knows. Anyway, look for an official weigh-in for me this week.

I'm Baaaaack

Sorry for the long break. Personal stuff going on which knocked me off track but I am back.

So, Shalana challenged me to exercise 3 x a week. I did good with the first two times last week but was at the beach for the weekend and while I was much more active, I didn't specifically do a workout. CandiO said if I put the boat in and out of the water myself (without the use of a vehicle) that would count as a workout. Didn't do that though, my back couldn't take it. And while I thought I got a pretty good workout Saturday night, after reading Shalana's post, I realized it doesn't count : )

Back to eating right, exercising and weighing. I'm going to start weighing myself in the middle of the week. There are so many Friday's or Monday's that I am not at home so I thought Wednesday would be a good day. I'm a little nervous about this week, so keep your fingers crossed and hope that I have at least maintained and not gained.

See you all soon.

Trip to Arlington

Today was a challenge and I failed. My sister Judy and I took my dad to Arlington National Cemetary for my brothers inurnment. It was a moving ceremony on a beautiful day, Larry would have been pleased. We left early in the morning to make the drive down and didn't have time to stop for coffee or breakfast. We did take healthy snacks along which was good because my dad took his insulin and didn't eat breakfast so we were forcing food on him. We arrived about 15 minutes before we were to meet with the Chaplain and 45 minutes later the ceremony started. After the ceremony we chatted with my sister Patty who drove in from Indiana and then decided to visit JFK's burial site. We left Arlington and wanted to stop at a restaurant near Mount St Mary's that my dad liked. We didn't get there until close to 2:00 and by that time we were very hungry. Should have known that my dad would pick a buffet. Yep . . . all you can eat! Well, Judy and I who are both watching our weight didn't do to bad first go around. Yes, there was a second visit to the buffet and I had a piece of fried chicken, some mashed potatoes and a red beet egg. Judy didn't do much better with chicken and mac-n-cheese. The worst was yet to come. Our visit to the desert bar was awful. We skipped the jello and fruit and went straight for the good (or should I say bad) stuff. I had a very small piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing, a slice of lemon meringue pie and apple crisp. And of course the unsweetened ice tea with splenda to drink.

I'm hoping that pushing my dad in the wheelchair up and down the hills at the cemetary burned off the thousands of calories I later consumed. Guess we'll see on Friday.

TGIF

I'm ready for the weekend which is the reason for the title of my post. Certainly not because Friday is weigh day : )

I lost 1/2 lb this week. Not great but moving in the right direction. I take full ownership for the small loss and I have a boat load of excuses, I won't bore you with them.

Message for CandiO . . . The exercise ball is still not blown up but I do have the pump. I'll post right after my first exercise session with the ball.

Back on Track

Thought I'd jazz up the blog a little with some spring colors. Hope you like it.

It's been a tough couple of days. I haven't been able to control my appetite. Yesterday my doctor took me off the prednisone. It was only a small dose but I felt like it was making me want to eat everything in sight. When he examined my hands and feet and I told him I was virtually pain-free, he said we can do an experiment and stop the prednisone. I'm sure it is all in my head but nonetheless, I am off and already I can tell a difference : ). I'm still taking the anti-malarial but the side effects of that aren't bad and actually diminish with time.

I finally have a pump to blow up my exercise ball so no excuses there anymore. Mike is trying to lose weight also and we will be on the same shift for the next 2 weeks so the support is nice. Last night at the grocery store, I stopped at the bakery and was eyeing up the blueberry scones. Mike said, "you don't want to look at them." "You would feel bad after you ate them". I said "Oh no, I would feel really good after I ate them". We laughed, my battle with sugar is constant but I do recognize it. We bought some really good stuff. Stonyfield Farms Organic Yogurt is awesome. I add a little granola, sunflower seeds and cinnamon and it is yummy. That is my breakfast most mornings. Lunch is usually a salad of some sort which gets a little boring and supper is usually a protein like chicken or fish or steak, a salad and a small potato or wild rice. I also eat a lot of hardboiled eggs. My cholesterol has never been a problem so this is a good snack for me. I love raw veggies so carrots or celery or red and green peppers are usually my crunchy fix.

The more I stress over what I eat, the more I eat. I'm just trying to make better choices.

It's nice to have friends out there that are on the same path as me, helps to keep me strong.

Wrong Way on a One Way Street

Well, not surprising but a little disappointing, I gained this week. 1.5 lbs, so it looks like I will not make my goal of 10 lbs by Amanda's wedding tomorrow.

Missing my weigh in last week didn't help plus anniversary overload. Even though I ate pretty good, I felt like I ate too much. So back on track today. Gotta get my exercise ball blown up, to eliminate an excuse for no exercise. I did walk Sadie this week, one time, big deal. Maybe 10 lbs by the end of the month??? I'm not giving up. I know I can do this. Keep checking back!

No, I haven't given up

Sorry, it's been a while since I last posted. Mike and I left on Thursday for a long weekend in Chincoteague, Virginia to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. I wanted to weigh in on Thursday morning but in the rush to get things done, it completely slipped my mind. I was not well behaved over the weekend either although I didn't plan on it either. We had a lot of seafood so that wasn't too bad and I never got dessert at any meal so I consider that an accomplishment. I had oyster stew and Mike and I split fried flounder for lunch on Friday. We ate pretty late so didn't even eat supper. Saturday, continental breakfast which was a no-no. I had a muffin and a small donut and coffee. For lunch we stopped at AJ's on the Creek to see what it was like, a scouting expedition for dinner that night. I had a cup of cream of crab soup and a grilled cheeseburger for lunch. Took the top off it. Everything was good so we decided to make reservations for dinner. Dinner was at 7:30 and we arrived a little early to be seated right away. Our waiter was Carl, a very nice young man. We started with a bottle of Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Dry Riesling which was excellent. I had Oysters Rockefeller for an appetizer and Mike had a 1/2 dozen Oysters on the half shell. We both had a garden salad with an artichoke vinagrette dressing and Mike had seared tuna and rosemary potatoes, his tuna was very rare and delicious. I had seared scallops and rosemary potatoes. We ordered another bottle of wine and drank some but ended up taking the remainder back to our hotel and I finished it off. We were very pleasantly surprised at the caliber of the food at AJ's. I will be giving them a good rating on Travel Advisor. So now we are back at home and the seriousness begins again. I'm going to blow up my exercise ball today so I can start exercising and I'll also start walking Sadie every night. I'm not going to weigh in until this Friday so hopefully any damage that I've done can be undone before then. We'll see.

Thin Mints can't stop me

Great News, I lost another 2 lbs this week, despite the Thin Mints. Okay, maybe it would have been 3 again but I don't care, I'm moving in the right direction. Gotta get ready for work so I'll write more tonight.

Betcha can't eat just one!

For those of you who grew up in the 60's, you'll recognize the title of my blog. It was a commercial referring to Lay's potato chips. Well, in my case, it was Thin Mints and no, I couldn't eat just one. I ate half a sleeve of them. I'm not going to let it totally derail me. I went to the grocery store last night and bought celery and peppers and cucumbers and all good for you snacking stuff. Hopefully I didn't do too much damage but we will see tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to post a picture of my very handsome personal trainer tonight. Stay tuned . . . .

Where was I???

Sorry about the lack of postings and the pic of my personal trainer that I promised. I was at work unexpectedly on Sunday evening until late and sick yesterday. I'll try and get the pic of my personal trainer posted tonight. I've been doing really good although Girl Scout cookies came today so that will be a challenge. I have to eat at least one Thin Mint. If anything this new eating lifestyle has taught me it is "moderation". If I can make a sleeve of Thin Mints last for a month, then that will be a huge win for me. I'll keep you posted.

Welcome March!

It's March 1st. Such a great month in my opinion. Even though it is still cold, March always makes me feel like we've finally turned the corner and are headed out of the long dreary winter. Some interesting things about March:

• 7 days until we turn the clocks ahead, Yea!
• 13 days until Mike and I head to Chincoteague, VA for our 5th annual honeymoon (we've had a honeymoon every year since we've been married).
• 15 days until the Ides of March (watch your back).
• 17 days until St. Patricks Day, beware of the DUI checkpoints, one of the biggest days for this.
• 18 days until my 4th wedding anniversary and my nephew Ben's birthday.
• 20 days until spring, big YEA!
• 21 days until my niece Amanda's wedding

Once the days are longer and hopefully warmer, I can start walking everyday. That will help Sadie and I get our hour glass figures back.

Make sure that you check my blog tonight because I will be posting a picture of my personal trainer!!!!!!

Weigh Day

I'm so psyched. Another 3 lbs gone! I know I won't continue to lose at this rate but it sure is a nice start.

What a week

What a week it's been. From 1st shift to a mid shift to a 2nd shift back to a 1st shift and it's almost Friday . . . weigh day. Today we had a pot luck lunch for Lois' retirement. Plenty of stuff that I could eat and once again, I didn't touch the cakes, brownies, etc. I filled up on vegetables and red beet eggs. I did exercise again tonight, can't wait until the nice weather comes then Sadie and I will get our hour glass figures back. Hope I have good news from the scale tomorrow. C-ya

Check out this cool graphic

I saw this on someone's blog today and just had to laugh. Thought I'd share.


Today was a good day although I don't think I ate enough. Had a great salad for supper and I'm still satisfied. That doesn't happen often. Back to some sort of daywork tomorrow, don't know what I'll pack for lunch, not much in the house. Might have to do a Wendy's salad run. Then groceries tomorrow night. I did exercise today, even got winded : ) Not doing as much as I should in that department but hey, it's better than what I was doing.

That's all for now, gotta get to bed.

Tell me why . . . I don't like Mondays

There are days when you want to just shoot the whole day down. Today happens to be one of them for me. I won't bore you with the details, just suffice it to say that typically I would have wanted to down a bag of jelly beans or something as insidious as that, but I didn't. Someone brought doughnuts to work and they sat right in front of me and I didn't touch them. While it might make me feel good right now, I would regret it tomorrow, it just isn't worth it.

Hopefully you have all had a better day than I. I will talk to you soon.

Celebrating at Iron Hill

Yesterday we went to Iron Hill Brewery for their Mug Club Membership Renewal Party. Mike is a Mug Club member. We picked up Mike's best friend Sonny and took him along to celebrate his birthday which was last Thursday. We were back in the area where they brew the beer, drinking some of their latest brews and talking to other Mug Club members. We then went out and got a table and ordered something to eat. I had one beer, a Pig Iron Porter, and then drank water for the rest of the night. I had the Chicken Teriyaki Salad which was delicious. Later in the evening my sister Barb and her "fiance" Gary stopped by to announce their engagement. So we toasted to Sonny's birthday and to Barb and Gary's engagement. A great night and so easy to stay on track.

Thanks to all of you who commented here or on Facebook. I appreciate your support and your enthusiasm!

Eggs, red pepper, mushrooms and feta cheese

What a great breakfast this was. Filling and delicious. I can't eat eggs every day, I'm more of a cereal person. I've been eating steel cut oats for my breakfast. The nurse at my diabetic nutrition class recommended them and they are great. I make them ahead of time because they take longer to cook and add some splenda, cinnamon and a little milk. Great breakfast, satisfies the sweet tooth and sticks to the ribs. Never knew what sticks to the ribs meant other than it stays with you for a while. Anyway, it's Saturday, I have a busy day and I'm feeling great about my weight loss. I bought a nice pair of navy blue dress pants yesterday. I cannot get them zippered. I bought them smaller on purpose as a goal to work towards. Hopefully in two weeks I will be able to wear them. I need to exercise more and today looks like a great day to do that. According to the vet, Sadie could stand to lose about 5 lbs so I'll exercise the both of us.

Thanks to all for your support and I'm happy that this is inspiring some of you. I'm trying to figure out how to make it more of a forum than just about me but until I do that, please leave your comments and let all of my followers know how you're doing.

What am I doing . . . I can't eat that

Today before leaving work, I saw Josh in the hall and we stopped to talk briefly. He had a bag of Twizzlers licorice in his hand. Without thinking, I reached over and pulled one out and took a bite while carrying on a conversation. Suddenly I realized what I was doing and the title to this posting was my reaction. With that revelation, I shoved the rest of the piece of licorice in his hand and just laughed.

I have become so accustomed to just putting food in my mouth without thinking about calories or fat or sugar. It may take a while to get out of that habit. I'm still doing good on day 4. Remainder of the birthday party food was put out and I stuck to my healthy eating. Friday morning I'll weigh in and give you my first weight loss report (hopefully). Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday Jeane!

Well, we had a great food celebration for Jeane's 39th :) I did really well. I had vegetable soup that Jeane made. Everything from her garden. It was delicious and very satisfying. I also had some cheese and pickles and olives stuffed with jalepenos and Diet Coke. I stayed away from the end of the table with the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies (Cindy's specialty and my weakness). I did great and it wasn't hard. Helped that I was busy most of the day.

I was talking to my son tonight and he said that I always do good at first on a diet but then I get off track and can't get back on. I told him that this isn't a diet. I am making better food choices, cutting down on my carbs and exercising. It has to be something I am comfortable doing for life.

I'll have my first week weight loss chart up next week. Still trying to find some interesting things to put up here.

I appreciate everyone's support and look forward to reading your comments. CandiO has volunteered to be my sponsor at work. Great idea, I could use one. Judy my sister has given me some excellent advice. Even if she has gained a little of her weight back, she still looks awesome. Those of you that are traveling the same journey as I am, please post your comments regularly and let us know how you're doing. We can all inspire each other.

These are the times that try men's souls.

Truer words could not have described my day at work today. Busy I can handle, today was ludicrous. So, how did this affect my new way of eating? At one point I had to take some work into another area and almost forgot myself and grabbed candy out of their dish. It was totally unconscious. Then I remembered and walked away empty handed. Made me feel pretty good to walk away from that little piece of candy.

Tomorrow is a birthday celebration at work. This will be a true test. For all of you that work with me, keep me honest : )

There was a time when . . .

I would look at a picture of myself and every once in a while I would say, "Oh, what an awful picture". The once in a while's became more frequent and I have now come to accept the fact that it isn't the photographer, or the pose, or the lighting. It's just me! Don't think for a moment that my concern for my weight is purely aesthetic, although I think that is what brought me to this point. No, my real concern is my health and my knees and my desire to be walking on my own when I am 70 and not be reliant on a wheelchair.

I'm happy to report that I've posted pictures for your viewing pleasure : ) How can I be so happy about posting such awful pictures? Mike said it is because I am doing something about my health. I think he's right.

Can you believe that Josh asked me to go to Auntie Anne's for him because he didn't pack a lunch for work. For God's sake Josh, this is day one! You can't ask me to go to Auntie Anne's on day one!

I had a good day. Ate healthy, feel satisfied, even worked in a little exercise after an 11 hour day. I'm not dieting. Diets don't work for me. I need to change my eating habits, it needs to be something I can do for the rest of my life.

That's it for now, thanks for checking in with me.

Day 1

Well, it's Monday, February, 16th. The day I vowed to start my weight loss program. I'll admit I should have started before this but I wanted to enjoy Valentines day, which was wonderful. Mike and I went to FINS in Rehoboth Beach for dinner with our friends Keith (Captain) and Gail. FINS makes the best Bloody Mary's I've ever had. They infuse their vodka with vegetables. Peppers of all kinds, asparagus, celery, carrots, cauliflower, if it's a vegetable, it's in there. Our dinner was great as usual. We had raw oysters, oyster stew, scallop salad, seared scallops with spinach ravioli and fried oysters. We were so full, you could have rolled us out of there. Captain was a little tipsy and commented "If I wasn't so blowed up, I'd eat some more". Classic Captain!

So, enough about food. I'm starting off the week just trying to get into the habit of eating better. Only complex carbs, no simple sugars like jelly beans or chocolate! I'll have raisin bran for breakfast, a nice salad for lunch and I don't know what supper will be but it will be good. My doctor said I should eat 4 small meals a day since my sugar is a little on the high side. I think I can do that. The key is "small meals".

Alex, my son, wants to be my personal trainer. He said if I listen to him, he'll whip me into shape in no time (not so sure that is a good thing). I'll probably just walk this week, get my dog Sadie in shape as well and then think seriously about what my personal trainer said.

This blog is still pretty boring. I plan on putting a really horrible picture of me on here as my before picture and then post pictures as I start to lose. I'll also post a graph to chart my weight loss. I can't bring myself to reveal my weight just yet. Maybe as I start to lose, I'll have the nerve to tell you where I started.

If you have any ideas or want to see anything up here, let me know. Oh yeah, I'll post a picture of my personal trainer too . . . he's pretty good looking : )