Friday, August 27, 2010

Holding Steady

Well, in spite of this week's earlier lunacy I'm holding steady at 149.999999999999999999. I'll take it.

Physical activity has been off. The good news is that on Tuesday I managed 20 minutes straight on the elliptical for the first time. The bad news is that my right knee is now giving me fits -- not from the workout but from some repetitive motion stuff at the office -- so I've had to give it a rest since. So because my ability to do cardio is compromised, I've actually been even more careful with my food than I would be. In light of the Steak & Shake and Denny's events earlier, this is likely a very good thing.

Other than all that, I've been a bit distracted of late. Choreboy's job has been... erm, well I think the technical term is "ooky", so we've both been stressing over that. Fortunately he's got two good leads on alternate employment and we're hopeful one of those will pan out in short order. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't on edge, though. I'm about ready to chew a hole through my cheek. I'd love to self-medicate on a dozen or so cookies (or alternately, a vat of wine) but have thus far restrained myself to a judicious intake of dark chocolate.

Oh, but on the good news front both boys seem to be doing well so far this school year. Hooray! The Elder is settling into sixth grade well, and the Gum Zombie (outside of already being noted as "talkative"... there's a shocker) is enjoying his year so far as well.

Let's hope all this continues.

I'm hanging in there. We'll see what the next week brings. Have a good one, y'all!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Ponderings and Plans

It's unbelievably dark outside. Practically twilight-dark. The air is too heavy to move... too wet. It's the kind of day when I'd like to be at home, curled up on the couch.

Instead I'm sitting here at my desk at work. But I've got a window. That can't be discounted. And it's a spectacular showcase for the incoming storm.

Bring it on.

-------------------------

I need to get back on track with my weight loss. I have essentially twenty pounds left to lose before I hit goal. It's the same fifteen-twenty I've had to lose since the fall of 2007, after I'd lost my initial fifty-five pounds (from August 2006 through November of 2007) bringing me down from a high of 200 to a low of 145. Now it's fall of 2010, three years later, and I'm at 150 pounds (149.999999 actually... but give me a break). I still haven't even breathed on the 130's, let alone 130 itself. There is a reason for this.

Saturday I did well with my food.

Sunday I did well for breakfast and lunch. Then we went to see Nanny McPhee Returns and I ate:

1/3 bag of popcorn
1 box Reese's Pieces
1 box Sour Jacks

The movie was followed by a trip to Steak & Shake (because obviously I hadn't eaten enough):

1 southwestern chicken grilled sandwich with guacamole (hey, it's chicken? Sigh... I know)
1 serving fries with cheese sauce (adding insult to injury)
1 peach milkshake

We got home, and I finished the day's debauchery off with one Reese's mini peanut butter cup. Over 3000 calories consumed.

Oopsie.

Then, because I clearly hadn't hosed things enough over the weekend, I broke 2000 calories yesterday. Again I was fine with breakfast and lunch and my snack. But dinner was at Denny's and because I'm a dolt I ordered the Heartland Scramble, which for the uninitiated includes two pancakes, butter, syrup, eggs scrambled with potato chunks, green peppers, bacon, and cheddar cheese, along with a side of hash browns (because the potatoes in the eggs aren't sufficient), bacon (ditto), and two links of sausage.

Cleared 1100 calories with that meal alone.

And did I get on my treadmill or elliptical either day? Nope. Too overstuffed. It would have been uncomfortable.

If I sound aggravated with myself, it's because I am. Yes I'm human and I'm going to make mistakes. I can live with that. I can live with the occasional off-plan meal. But when I sit and bitch and moan about how I can't get below 150 consistently to save my life, blah blah blah...

Yes. I. Can. But I haven't wanted it badly enough. That ends today.

Again: Bring it on.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

New Record!

Forty followers -- yay! Welcome, everyone :)

Note: there's a little "TMI" in here relating to girlie issues, although it ends quickly (blessedly). Then again, my "About Me" clearly states that I can bleed for 22 days and not die, so I guess the whole
caveat emptor thing has already been satisfied.

Now that no one can say they weren't warned:

58 days this time around -- that's a new record for me (just from start-to-start -- the 22-day record still holds for the actual "active" part of the cycle). So today I am vaguely considering the elliptical and treadmill, and I'm also more solidly considering remaining planted right here in my seat. I know I'll probably feel better if I bond with the exercise machinery, so I'm working on making that the more firm option.

I'm just not there yet.

This whole peri-menopausal thing can move into full "pause" mode anytime, in part because the stabbed-through-the-gut-by-icepicks thing I've got going on is so last century. Oh well, probably less than a year to go (thanks Mom for the genetics -- you rock!)

Anywhoodle...

I started the day well, with one of those 160-calorie Subway egg white breakfast melts. They're really pretty good all things considered.

Then I hit up the Hershey's Special Dark Kisses, for obvious reasons. 5 down, and several more to go before I hit my max. At twenty calories apiece I can afford it, and believe me my family doesn't want me avoiding chocolate this week.

In other news, the Elder and I got up early-early this morning and headed out to Walmart to do as much of the back-to-school shopping as we could. I think we'll make this a regular event, because let me tell you, doing that shopping trip at 6:00 a.m. is MUCH more relaxing than at 3:00 PM or worse. The only thing we couldn't find outside of some specialized art supplies was wide-ruled loose leaf notebook paper. Fortunately a trip to Publix -- also early as we were in and out of there before 9:00 a.m. -- netted us the desired paper (along with the afore-mentioned Hershey's Special Dark Kisses).

I don't think I've ever had a less panic-stricken school supply shopping trip. And you won't see me saying this much about spending money, but it was in fact freaking awesome.

Now, because I'm pondering what I'm going to eat the rest of the day, let's see:

Breakfast
Subway Black Forest Ham Egg White Melt - 160
2 slices tomato - 8
Total: 168

Lunch
Spicy Moroccan-Style Chickpeas - 173
Cilantro Lime Quinoa - 172
1/2 Haas Avocado - 140
Total: 485

Dinner
4 oz 93% lean ground beef patty - 170
1 slice cheddar cheese - 80
1 sandwich thin - 100
1 cup broccoli florets - 30
Total: 380

Snack
10 Hershey's Special Dark Kisses - 200

Total All Meals: 1233 calories

Hmm... that's livable, and I have some nice flexibility if the chocolate monster howls more loudly than it's currently bellowing. I've got a couple of tomatoes I need to finish off before they croak, so that will up my veggie intake nicely... and some grapes.

Okay. Cool. And yes, this is how I usually end up working my food. I find I do better if I figure out what I'm eating at the beginning of the day, because if I wait until right before my meal I end up doing things like finishing off the Gum Zombie's leftover Cuban sandwich.

Not that I did that anytime recently (like last night) or anything...

Ooops. So yes, planning and pre-tracking = good. Sucking down the children's leftovers? Not so much (although really, it could have been worse).

Choreboy is blessedly off work tomorrow so we'll be heading off to see Nanny McPhee Returns for our last "hoorah" before school starts. It should be good -- the first one is now one of my all-time favorite movies. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

I Think I've Lost Count

This morning, scale survey says: 149.9...9999999999999999999999

Heh.

But YES! Under 150 again. Barely, but I'll take it. I wasn't even sure I'd make it this week, to be honest. I've been good with my food, but my exercising has been in the toilet the past several days and that combined with being on DAY FIFTY-FREAKING-SIX of my formerly-twenty-five day cycle has my hormones and body all freaked out (and yes I have an appointment to see my doctor, Mom).

Perimenopause is interesting. Or something. I'll leave it at that for the moment.

Good news is, it looks like I may not make it to day sixty. I'm retaining water in the... erm... chestal region, and other standard signs are there that we're about to set this particular counter back to zero again. No I am not pregnant. Choreboy is blessedly "fixed" and additionally I have a negative pregnancy test result confirming my non-gestational status because I trust nothing, not even a vasectomy that's got a good history of holding, so I double-checked to make sure there'd been no re-canalization flukes or anything else.

We're clear. And in another week, give or take six days (this is me we're talking about), the water retention should ease which should net me a few more el-bee-ess off the weight.

----------------------------

In other news, orientation for the 2010-2011 school year was today. The Elder is starting sixth grade which means he's off to middle school. I'm trying not to be traumatized. He made it into the accelerated program, which means more work for all of us, but it's worth it in academic gains. If he hadn't been accepted into the accelerated program I would have pitched a fit of epic proportions, because that child has had straight A's through most of elementary school, has always been in the highest reading and math groups, had an awesome recommendation from his fifth grade teacher, and rocked his FCAT scores (including maxing out in math).

Ahem. Sorry for the brief maternal brag there. On the other hand? Spider Farts. So it all evens out.

The Gum Zombie is entering second grade, and his teacher seems nice. We'll see how that goes. I'm not holding my breath as she's good friends with last year's disaster teacher, but just because two people are friends doesn't mean they have the same exact professional philosophies.

Anyway, it was a hectic day and my first handling two orientations at two separate campuses, but we survived.

Next goal (outside of making it through Monday and the start of school): 145 lbs.

Have a good one, y'all!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Mum's the Word

No, I don't really have much of an excuse for the radio silence I've been observing on my own blog, other than that when I weighed myself two Thursdays ago the stupid scale said 152.5.

Grrrrrr.

Then this past Thursday it was 150.5. Which is better, but is still not thrilling me to death.

It's all attributable to how I ate on vacation, and I'm totally aware of it. Although I managed to injure myself two days in and was unable to do any sort of significant hiking thereafter, I ate as if I had been hiking. For the record, cheesburgers and fries are equally good in Canada.

I don't feel guilty about it. I am aggravated because I'd meant to do better, but my commitment level wasn't where it needed to be to carry that through. Lesson learned.

Good news is, I've found an awesome new recipe thanks to one of my local friends who I also know through the SparkPeople website. Here is the recipe -- it's a spicy chickpea/tomato mixture (it's not my friend's, but she made it for a covered dish dinner we had), and it is made of awesome. Bear in mind, I hate every whole legume on the planet with the exception of those which mimic nuts, so the fact that I'm able to eat them whole in this recipe is HUGE!

I've been eating a 1/2 cup serving of these on a bed of cilantro-lime quinoa.

1 cup ROOM TEMPERATURE water or broth (veggie or chicken)
1/2 cup dry, rinsed quinoa

2 TBSP concentrated lime juice (or you can use 1/4 cup fresh and reduce broth by 2 TBSP)

1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro


Put ingredients into microwave-safe bowl and cover loosely. Microwave on high for 8-10 minutes (times vary according to microwave power). Let sit in microwave for
at least two minutes.

Fluff then serve. Makes 2 servings.

It's good stuff.

Today also happens to be Choreboy's and my first anniversary. We're dropping the kids with my folks in a few, and we're going to just spend the day together running to Harbor Freight, bookstores, places that serve food, etc... it'll be nice :)

One year ago today:


And just this past vacation, in the lounge at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park:

Here's to year 2!

Sunday, August 01, 2010

The Return

Back from vacation. Just out of Choreboy's mouth:

"If I put on six pounds during vacation, it doesn't bode well for you."

Thank you honey. Because that wasn't the first thought that flashed into my head or anything as soon as you shared your gain with me.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

More later (MUCH later on the weigh-in -- yipes). I am hopeful I can at least get up some vacation pictures along with a bit of commentary before Thursday.

For now, suffice it to say that it was a great vacation and I could sure use another day or ten to recover.