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.