I Lose

I beat Thanksgiving but Christmas got the better of me.  I can't even attempt to log my calories over the weekend but I drank a lot of wine.  We had family here and Friday after work I tidied up the house and made sloppy joes for everyone, then cleaned the kitchen.  Saturday morning I had a cereal bar and some coffee for breakfast, a turkey pastrami sandwich for lunch, and then we made pork loin and potatoes for dinner and I cleaned the kitchen again.  We also did some last minute stocking stuffer shopping and took a walk to the park with the kids.  Sunday morning I found sugar free chocolate in my stocking and had a few pieces of that, for lunch everyone just had small snacks because we were planning on going to a buffet for Christmas dinner.  I had some cheese and crackers for my snack and at the buffet I had mostly Asian food (egg rolls, rice noodles, and tofu).  We came home and later Sunday night served up some pie for everyone.  Monday morning I skipped breakfast, had a fish burrito for lunch and then we made hash with the leftover pork loin and potatoes for supper with eggs.  I had one egg over medium with my hash.

Tuesday morning I was back with the program.  I'd spent the weekend running around cleaning mostly but not doing any real quantifiable exercise.  We had taken the dogs for a short walk to the park on Sunday, I'd single handedly taken down the christmas tree and put everything away on Monday so I was up and doing things but not traditional exercise.  Tuesday my intake was 1072.  I had the usual cereal bar for breakfast, healthy choice lunch, and 8 oz grilled skirt steak for dinner.  I did 7 sets of 30 reps each dumbbell side lateral raises, dumbbell tricep extensions, dumbbell curls, and dumbbell shoulder presses @ 10 lbs each plus 30 minutes of yoga.

Yesterday intake was 1318.  I had the usual breakfast and lunch but I had an early lunch so Snackers made grilled swiss sandwiches for a snack and then we grabbed some chicken burritos on the way home.  I had two fresco style.  I did yoga but that was it for exercise.  My bad, I know.

Today I've already started a 7x30 set of body weight squats and if work is slow as it has been all week so far I'll be doing some weighted leg lifts to work my abs also.  Two steps forward, one step back. 

Dropping In

Monday:
Intake: 1,227
Activity: 7 reps of 30 dumbbell tricep extensions @ 10 lbs (per arm)

Tuesday:
Intake: 1,273
Activity: 7 reps of 30 body weight squats and 30 minutes of yoga

Wednesday:
Intake: 1,307
Activity: 7 sets of 30 dumbbell curls @ 10 lbs (per arm), 1 hour of restorative yoga, 3 sets of 10 jump squats, and 2 sets of 30 dumbbell shoulder presses @ 10 lbs (per arm)

Thursday:
Intake: 1,096
Activity: 7 sets of 30 jump squats and 30 minutes of yoga

Snackers said something that made me feel better last night.  I bent over to put the dog's food dish down for him and he said "I hardly recognize you from the back".  I thought maybe he was referring to the fact that I've cut and darkened my hair recently so I said something like "Is that a good thing?" (thinking maybe he didn't like it) and he said "Yeah.  You're a very sexy woman.  Even more than before."  So of course I was all melty "awwww", and all that and then he added "I can't believe how much weight you're losing."  Then later I was laying on the bed on my stomach playing on my iPad and he came into the room and said "Hi sexy butt" and gave it a smack.  Maybe TMI but c'mon ... every woman likes it when she knows her man thinks her butt looks good.  Hell, even Mike Rowe likes for his butt to look good (Lee Jeans Commercials).

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  To hell with the scale for now.  I feel stronger, leaner, clothes fit better, it's easier to just pick something off the rack than it has ever been and my hunny thinks my butt looks good.  Good enough for me.  Onward and downward! :)

Ribs

One thing that Snackers looooves to cook his BBQ baby back ribs.  Traditionally he bakes them for awhile and then smothers them in Sweet Baby Ray's and grills them.  I'm not a big fan of BBQ and I'm also not a big fan of Sweet Baby Ray's so it's never been hard for me to say thanks but no thanks to their rabid unhealthiness.

We recently picked up the newest "Cook This Not That" by Zinczenco and, lo and behold, there was a recipe for Dr. Pepper Ribs.  Similar recipe but you marinade the ribs before baking them and then it has it's own BBQ sauce recipe from scratch and, in true Zinczenco fashion, they're only 400 calories per serving.

OMG they were so good.  It felt like cheating.  I could have eaten the BBQ sauce with a spoon!!!  I didn't ... but I could have.  Highly recommend them.

Intake yesterday was 1,227 with 100 oz of water and a 7x30 tricep extension routine.  No yoga, carpets weren't dry before bed.

#53: 13 Miles to Nowhere

One simple thing to say:  232 lbs today.

EAT ME YOU STUPID SCALE, I HATE YOU!!!

MARATHON DAY - Kinda

Well I've been saying ALL year that I was going to do the darned Rock n' Roll marathon here in Vegas.  Then I realized I couldn't justify the entrance fee and swore I would do my own, free version instead.  Well the Rock n' Roll marathon came and went two weeks ago so yesterday I did my damndest to keep my promise.

I got up, fed Vladdy an egg on his breakfast because I wanted him to have lots of calories and protein for the walk (of course, he had to go with me).  I told myself I needed to do the same as well but my motivation to eat was very low, causing me to get out of here later in the morning than I would have liked.  Eventually I had a fiber one bar, a scrambled egg with feta cheese, and a cup of coffee.  I also downed some water, filled up my water belt, stuffed a fruit bar in my pocket and off we went.  The community I live in is in a loop that is 1.2 miles long and the distance from my front door to the start of the loop is 0.3 miles.  I sent text messages to my mom with each lap and she kept me motivated and offered support as I walked.  I wanted to get pictures for you but I didn't have anyone to take them (Snackers was at work) ... sorry.



10:53 a.m. - Left the house and started out.
11:21 a.m. - I had done 1.5 miles (one lap plus distance to the loop)
11:49 a.m. - Another 1.5 miles (had to go home to use the potty)
11:53 a.m. - Left the house and started out again
12:22 p.m. - Another 1.5 miles (up to 4.5 total)
12:45 p.m. - Another lap around the loop, 5.7 miles total
  1:09 p.m. - Another lap around the loop, 6.9 miles total
Inhaled my fruit bar and watered both myself and Vladdy while walking.
  1:41 p.m. - Another 1.5 miles (up to 8.4 total)
Had to head home to drop Vladdy off because he was literally dragging his feet.  I was also very hungry so I took a minute to eat some carrots and peanut butter, as well as a snack bar, fill up my water, and gave Vladdy a scoop of food also.  Then headed out again.
  2:05 p.m. - Left the house and started out again.
  2:23 p.m. - Moving a lot slower, calves started cramping.  I kept telling myself if I kept moving they would loosen back up again.
  2:28 p.m. - 13 miles is now out of the question.  Cramps have turned into full blown charlie horses in both legs and, at this point, I'm just trying to get myself back home.
  2:36 p.m. - Made it to the end of the loop (9.9 miles), now just have to make it home from the loop ... this is around the time where I started crying from the pain.  I couldn't help it.
  2:43 p.m. - Finally made it home.

I took off my water belt and jacket, leaving them in the middle of the dining room floor, as I headed for the fridge to grab the tonic water and then straight for the tub.  After about 3 chugs of tonic, and a 30 minute soak in the hottest water I could endure, while massaging my legs, and three ibuprofin, I started to feel better.  Around 4:45 p.m. I went for another half-mile walk around Rodeo Park, just to keep the legs loose.  About half-way through the walk I heard a woman shouting, turned around just in time to see a big boxer dog breeze past me at a dead run with the shouting woman behind him.  I took off running after him and after about a half-block he turned around and did a play bow.  Whenever Vladdy gets off leash we can turn and actually run away from him and he'll chase us - which is how we catch him.  The play bow was a dead giveaway that the dog thought he was having fun, so I turned and ran in the opposite direction and sure as shit it worked.  He ran right up to me.

Then Snackers came home and offered to take me out to celebrate the walk.  We went to dinner (meatball sandwich) and then ended up Christmas shopping at the mall, Big 5, CVS, and Kohl's.  Chalk up another few miles ... wish I'd been wearing my pedometer.  We got home around 11:00 and I did 30 minutes of yoga before bed.

Total intake was 1,560.  Water intake was high but I lost exact count.

I didn't exactly make it to the finish line in time but I did do the distance - it just took me all day.  I'm feeling pretty good about it, even if it was hard to get out of bed this morning.

Checkin' In

STUPID EFFING BLOGGER!

I totally just wrote a nice little post about how awesome doing yoga is and then I hit ctrl z out of habit to undo a mistake, it erased the whole damn post and then auto saved.  I hate when it does that!!!!

Nutshell version because I don't feel like re-writing it:

Intake was low yesterday.  I ended up glued to my computer unable to tear myself away from a java assignment for most of the day and forgot to eat.  Today has been about the same but I think I've got the assignment ready for submission pending one formatting question to my instructor so if I can knock out my C++ quick and easy as I have been, I should have a free night to get up and moving.

Did 210 knee push-ups yesterday, took in just over 900 calories and 60 oz of water.  Also 30 minutes of yoga during lunch.

I skipped my 10 minute breaks today but made up for it at lunch so I've done 150 bicep curls per arm so far today at 10lbs each.  I plan on doing the other 60 after work and before bed respectively.  Intake is under 300 and it's after 3:30 p.m.  I suck, I know.  You'd be amazed how easy it is for me to get obsessed with something and just forget about everything, including food.  Water intake today is worse, only about 30 oz so far.  I'll try to make up for the water tonight but no way I'm eating an 1,100 calorie dinner.  bleh.

I had this huge awesome poo-bah typed up about how I used to be an avid yoga hater/skeptic and I thought it was lame too but I gave it a shot and I'm shocked by the results but it's gone now so I'll just say this.  If you've never done it, try it for 3 days in a row and if you don't notice improvements in how you feel you can come to my house and short-sheet my bed.  I'm including a link for the "Crunch" series "Candlelight Yoga" DVD because it's the one I started out on and it's just challenging enough to feel like you're actually doing something but not impossible for even a little chunky-butt like me to do.  It's actually quite fun.  Once I memorized the routine I started just doing it while watching TV because the soft music and tinkling bells irritate me but it's worth a shot, really.  Let me know what you think.

Quick Shout

Learning graphical user interfaces at school this week and grasping it pretty easily so I have a few spare minutes to drop a line.

Monday my intake was coffee, yogurt, healthy choice lunch, a snack bar, grilled steak, red potatoes, and a 5 oz glass of dry red wine: 1,280.  I did 210 body-weight squats: 7 sets of 30 (when I woke up, one set per 10 minute break at work, one set at start of lunch and one right before it ended, one when I got off work, and one before bed).  I also cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed the grout lines on the counters, cooked dinner, and then cleaned the kitchen again.  Water intake was 80 oz.

I actually woke up yesterday with some pretty sore thighs.  Weeee.

Yesterday my intake was coffee, yogurt, healthy choice lunch, a snack bar w/some peanut butter, and 11 pieces of nigiri sushi (balls of white rice with slices of raw tuna, yellow tail, and octopus on top): 1309.  I did 210 front leg-lifts: again 7 sets of 30 in the same intervals.  By the last set before bed my lower abs were screaming.  I also helped Snackers bathe Vladdy and then I spent 45 minutes training him to lay on his new pillow in the bedroom and 15 minutes playing and rough-housing with him as a reward (I know, 45 minutes seems like a lot for "sit/stay" training but he's an extremely hyperactive dog with an exceptionally short attention span.  Every time a cat walked by or Piper shifted in her bed, or Snackers got up to do something Vladdy would jump up and it was back to square one).  Water intake was 110 oz.

I woke up this morning sore in both my thighs and lower abs ... upper abs are moderately tired but not overly sore.

It's funny because they say that muscle pain from working out is always the worst on day 3.  So today I'm doing kneeling push-ups, 7 sets of 30 which means tomorrow my thighs will hurt more than they do today, my abs will hurt more than they do today, and my arms/chest will be sore.  I guess that means I'll have to be creative with what I do tomorrow - something restorative and cardio would be ideal.  I've asked Snackers for a treadmill for Christmas because it's been windy, rainy, and cold here lately but I really want to get back to walking.  Plus I can put Vladdy on the treaddy during winter because he's a bigger wuss about the cold than Piper.  No surprise really, he has zero fat, extremely thin fur, and only one jacket that I could find in his size that's not very thick/warm.  If I had more time I'd crochet him a better one...then again he'd probably just destroy it.

I found a whole slew of new quests that I can do on Fitocracy so that's highly motivational!!!  I had gotten to the part where I'd done everything that I was physically capable of doing so I was just muddling through doing whatever.  Now there are new quests (because I've leveled up I guess) that I am physically capable of doing (though I'll have to get creative on my access to weights for some of them) and I'm all stoked about it.

However, to those of you who think I am just making excuses or giving up.  I guess if you've never studied computer programming you probably can't understand how hard it can be which is why my brother, a computer programmer, is one of the few people who did understand and support my need for a break from blogging.  The simple programs you use on your computers and ipads every day that do silly, stupid, simple things are extremely complex and took a team of people weeks or even months to create.  Just writing a program that prints a single, simple line of text to the screen and does nothing else requires a half-dozen lines of code to create.  I've been trying to push myself in too many different directions and it's showing.  Last week I completed an assignment on time and submitted it on time, and wrote it correctly but submitted it to the wrong class.  I've never, in 77 weeks of class, done that before - and it's the third stupid mistake I've made in this one class.  I'm usually a very methodical, careful, precise person.  Mistakes like this can only mean that I'm trying to go too fast and I'm not taking my time or paying close enough attention to what I'm doing.  That's unusual for me - highly unusual.  Those of you who know me / went to school with me can attest to that.  Ki, for example: we were students together at George Wythe University in 2000 where we both had a 4.0 GPA because we were both extremely, obsessively, diligent in our studies.


Walk a mile folks ... that's all I'm sayin'.


p.s. 266 continued posting for almost a year after she stopped weighing.  Her posts consistently reported two scoops of ice cream every single day for months before she finally stopped posting altogether because people were saying mean, horrible things to her.  I guess I can understand why she stopped posting under those circumstances but it's harsh to start talking about "rejecting 400" considering that I haven't been eating or posting bad food and I'm not quitting on the intake/logging or the activity - just writing daily stupid posts about random shit that most of you don't really care to read anyway.  This blog spikes on Mondays and on the 14th of each month.  Weigh-in days and picture days respectively.  Which means the majority of you just pop in to see how I'm doing and don't really care about my idle prattle anyway.  I didn't post my weight this week because it didn't change (up or down) from last week so it seemed like wasted space.  I didn't post a picture last month because I hadn't made progress so it seemed like wasted space.  It doesn't mean I'm quitting, it means I'm limiting my prattle to when I actually have something worth saying instead of sitting here day-after-day trying to think of something to write about when very few people really care to read it anyway. 

Today is the 14th so I will leave it up to all of you.  I've gone nowhere in my weight efforts BUT, I'd be more than happy to have Snackers take a picture when he gets home from work (I even have a brand new camera that I picked up dirt-cheap on black Friday) and post it if you want me to ... or I can wait until I've lost enough more weight that a new picture to the collection would actually matter.  Your call.  Cast your votes.

Join Me

I am going to take a bit of a break from blogging.  I'm still logging my intake on CalorieCount.com and I am still logging my daily activity on Fitocracy.com.  I will also be logging my weight both places as well as updating it here.

If any of you would like to join me in either of these locations, my profile on CalorieCount.com is lady_muse and my profile on Fitocracy.com is LadyMuse82.  CalorieCount.com is free and anyone can sign-up/use it.  You can add friends to watch, join conversations on public message boards, log your own journal entries, browse recipes w/nutritional info etc.  I pretty much only use it to log my caloric intake and weight though.  Occasionally I'll reply to something or post something on the message boards but it's rare (like 3 posts in the last year, rare).

Fitocracy is still by-invite only but I have an invite link that should work for the first 9 people who use it.  Fitocracy, for those of you who haven't seen my previous mentions of it, is a type of live action game where you complete physical activities like walking, squats, lifts, sports, stairs, etc. and then log the activity in Fitocracy and you earn points for everything you log.  There are activity quests that you can complete and achievement badges that you can earn for completing certain tasks or cumulative goals.  There are groups that you can join/start based on your personal interests (for example I am a member of my family's group, a group for computer programmers, and I started a group for StarTrek fans).  Some groups have their own challenges too where you try to earn the most activity points out of the group in a certain period of time.

It's fun, easy to use, and motivational.  And my favorite thing about it is that it doesn't require a lot of time to use.  You pop in, log your activity and you're done.  If you want to you can socialize and post comments or update your own comments but you don't have to do those things in order to keep earning points.  You can follow people so that what they do is posted on your main page (just like with Facebook) and they can follow you etc.  It's a really neat little community so far with a wide range of people using it and I've found that almost everyone I've come across is very warm, inviting, encouraging, and motivational.  It's not a place where the super-athletics typically pick-on or put down those of us that are struggling.  Some of the people there have accomplished some amazing things and they, especially, are extremely uplifting, inspirational, and supportive.

So if you're interested visit the link below to sign up and follow me.  Post comments to this thread to let me know if you have trouble signing up because I may actually have to send you the invite via email, I'm not sure how it works exactly.  I'll remove the link when my 9 invites have been used so if it's still here, chances are good you can get in.

http://ftcy.co/udMnRl

Not Working

Oish.  Something just isn't working.  I haven't stepped on the scale since Monday but intuition tells me it won't be good when I do.  For the first time in a long time I am consistently sleeping until the alarm goes off every morning and waking up feeling like I could still use another hour or two.  I spend my lunch breaks studying and then spend the whole night studying again too.  200 Jumping Jacks is pathetic but I can't justify taking time out to exercise when I have so much to learn.  Graduation is only four months away now (less actually!).  I'm nearing the end of my current classes and I will only have two more classes after these before it's over.  I'm starting to stress about coming up with the extra money to start paying off my loans - I'd like to get my unsubsidized loans paid off before my subsidized loans start earning interest in ten months.  I plan on getting a second job after I graduate, and I have been making payments to my loans for awhile now, but this is becoming crunch time at school and I just can't afford to blow it now.  I have to look at my priorities and, right now, the top priority after work is school.  I even feel like the time I spend writing these posts every morning and updating them every night is time I could be doing something more productive.  I haven't pleasure read a book since September.  *sigh*

This is just so frustrating.

Note: The above post was written on Thursday or Friday - I honestly can't remember which.  Aside from school this is the first time I've opened a web browser since I got off work on Friday.  I managed another 100% assignment so my grade for both classes is back up to an A+ but it's just going to keep getting harder.  I get a two-week break for Christmas, hopefully I'll be able to use that well.

I'm burned out on blogging - I'll be honest about it.  It's becoming repetitive and starting to feel more like a daily chore than the fun, motivational experience that it used to be.  I think I'm just over-stressed.

Losing Balance

I'm starting to remember why I wanted to be a runner.  I've gotten to a point where a good, solid work out takes more than an hour to accomplish now with the resources that I have available to me.  With school getting progressively harder as I near graduation I'm finding it hard to balance my time for exercise.  The jumping jacks are nice because I can pop sets of 50 in throughout my day.  I've converted my breaks at work into exercise opportunities to compensate for my lack of evening activity.  But I'm having a really hard time finding and justifying the time that I need to do, for example, a 5 mile walk.  Last night on the three week challenge (which I haven't even really started since I've not had one successful week of following it yet) I was supposed to do a 5 mile walk with sprints but after supper I thought "I'll study for awhile and then go after Snackers leaves for his concert".  He left and I continued to study - rereading my previous chapters of java, writing every sample program in the book and then trying to modify them to do different things so that I could practice my own code writing instead of just copying something out of a book that someone else wrote, and started on a program of my own (a dumb and simple one) to challenge myself.  Before I knew it Snackers was pulling in the drive-way and I thought to myself 'gee that was a short concert'.  Then I looked at the clock on my computer and realized it was midnight and I'd been at my computer for almost six straight hours and had totally spaced on exercising.

I'm so tempted to take a break.  Not give up, but put aside the blog and the weighing etc.  I stopped weighing for awhile and it didn't do me any good, I know, but I was still logging and blogging and I'm starting to just get exhausted with how much time it's taking out of my day.  On the other hand I'm afraid that if I do that I'll start gaining again, which I don't want to do.  But then there's this relatively expensive education that I'm going to have to be paying for here soon, which likely means I'll be getting a second job (or paid internship if possible) which will take even MORE time out of my day.  *sigh*.  I am so exhausted and it sucks because I've not done anything really exhausting or substantial in almost a week.




Food:
100 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 yogurt
1 fruit bar
1 healthy choice lunch
1 tbsp peanut butter
5 oz turkey kielbasa
1 serving rice
-----------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1,218





Activity:
Jumping Jacks: 200
Another super busy day.

A Fun Post

I'm borrowing today's post idea from SpunkySuzi because I am tired of whining about how I feel after being sick or how obnoxious it is that it's taking me so long to get rid of this 10 lbs that I gained back last month, or how busy I've been trying to juggle work, school, exercise, and a social life so I wanted to do something fun.  Please join in the fun and post your answers, I am looking forward to reading them.

1. Do you have a pet(s)?  If so what is the name of your favorite pet and what kind of animal/breed is it?
2. What is the strangest thing you've said today (intentionally or accidentally)?
3. What color socks are you wearing right now?
4. Close your eyes, move your head around a bit, then stop and open your eyes.  What is the first thing you see (besides your computer screen)?
5. What is your favorite book ever?  Do you own a copy?
6. Name a movie you thought you'd hate but you ended up actually liking.
7. Name a movie you thought you'd like but you ended up actually hating.
8. What is something you buy that you always save the receipt for?
9. Is the weight on your Driver's License / ID card accurate?  If not, how far is it off and is it high or low?
10. Nuclear war breaks out and you've been invited to stay in someone's bomb shelter.  You can bring only one electronic item.  What is it?  (You can bring other, non-electronic stuff too).

My Answers:

1. Piper, the Miniature Pinscher is my first born and, I dare say, my favorite.
2. "Vladdy leave the ice outside."
3. I'm barefoot, as usual.
4. Four AA batteries (back-ups for my wireless mouse and desk phone).
5. Single favorite book is Watership Down by Richard Adams.  I do own a copy and it was quite expensive to boot.
6. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Dumbledore ... well, ya know.  But it was still a great movie.
7. Twilight ... great book series but the movies were mostly a let-down.
8. Stamps (I get reimbursed for them from work).
9. Nope!  It says 250, 24 lbs high.  Used to be waaaaay low.
10. My iPad.  Silly question.  I know, I asked it but really ... I'm sure someone else will bring a radio or something useful.

Food:
100 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 yogurt
1 fruit bar
1 healthy choice lunch
1 fish burrito
--------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1,011




Activity:
Jumping Jacks: 250
Yoga: 45 minutes
I meant to do more but Snackers went to a free concert so I took the opportunity to study all night and write practice programs in Java.  Before I knew it he was home and it was midnight.  Woops.

Improving

I thought I was feeling a lot better yesterday until I tried to do my first set of 50 jumping jacks first thing in the morning.  I made it to 25 but I was feeling weak and crappy by that time so I stopped.  I would rather give my immune system a chance to heal than worry about boosting my metabolism right now.  I managed to do three more sets of 25 here and there throughout the day, always feeling a little bit bad after finishing them but everything else is feeling more normal so at least that's good.

I'm looking forward to doing yoga today because my muscles are all sore and achy all over from being sick.  When I had a fever I was curled up in a perpetual ball and I couldn't seem to pry myself out of it so my hips had started to ache especially bad as a result.  Today they feel very tight and I even felt uncomfortable trying to soak in a hot bath last night as a result so I am hoping that yoga will help to loosen them up.

I lost some more weight, which is good.  Though I suspect that the majority of it was from being sick.  I actually gained back 1.5 lbs between Saturday and Monday morning but I am 100% certain it was hydration.  I was so bad off on Saturday that I couldn't hardly drink any water but, being sick, I was losing fluid like crazy.  Sunday I was able to keep down a bit more water and yesterday as well - though I had a very hard time even drinking my 60 oz yesterday.  I think that's probably why I'm still feeling a little bit off and I know that I need to replenish my hydration which will result in a bit of gain but it's a good, necessary type of gain.  Snackers got me a sports drink to help me with electrolytes but those things are just so sugary and gross that I can't bring myself to drink one.  I'm going to try to increase my activity today if I can do it without feeling like I did yesterday.  It doesn't help that I'm so sore everywhere though.  It makes motivation a considerable challenge.




Food:
60 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 yogurt
1 healthy choice lunch
10 baby carrots
2 tbsps peanut butter
2 sushi rolls
------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1,272






Activity:
Jumping Jacks: 250
Walking: 3 miles

Weigh-in #52

What a weekend.  It all started last weekend on the Sunday immediately following Thanksgiving.  Snackers and I had just gotten home from visiting my family at my mom's house when we got a text from her reporting that my dad was very ill with what she thought was food poisoning and because he and Snackers were the only ones to have eaten cheeseburgers on Friday night, she was wondering how he (Snackers) was feeling.  At the time he was feeling ok, with a little bit of tummy trouble to speak of but nothing extreme.  At midnight that night, however, he and I both realized we were in for a very long and sleepless night.  He was down right sick and I was up taking care of him ... and the assumption that it was food poisoning lived on.  By Wednesday morning they were both feeling better but by Thursday night my mom was sick with the same trouble, destroying the food poisoning theory and making it clear that it was most likely only a matter of time for me - chances were I'd already caught the offending bug.

Friday night Snackers came home with free tickets to a local hockey game.  I don't like hockey, particularly, but free is free so we went.  I ran three flights of stairs in lieu of the escalator to get to the stadium and, as our seats were about half-way down into the arena, I counted a fourth flight for the multiple times I was up to go to the restroom or get drinks.  After the game the friends we were with invited us to join them at the heart attack grill.  It's a gimmick restaurant where the host is dressed as a Dr. in a white lab coat, the male employees are dressed as surgeons in blue scrubs, and the female employees are dressed as naughty nurses.  Some of you may have seen something about it on the food network where it was highlighted in a show called "Most Extreme Pig-Outs" or something like that.  Well it's pretty extreme.  They put a hospital gown on you when you arrive which you must wear the entire time you're there and they call entering the restaurant "going in for surgery".  They only have six items on their menu.  A single bypass burger, a double bypass, a triple bypass, and a quadruple bypass, along with fries and milk shakes.  The shakes are made with pure butter fat and the fries and burgers are cooked in lard.  If you weigh over 350 lbs you eat for free (and there is a huge scale in the middle of the restaurant for proof) and if you finish an 8,000 calorie quadruple bypass burger they will wheel you out of the restaurant in a wheel chair.  So naturally, I ordered a water.

As I am sitting there sipping my water watching everyone enjoy their burgers I started feeling nauseated.  I thought it was from the smell of the lard emanating from the burgers so a polite "no thank you" was easy when Snackers offered me a bite of his double bypass with 10 strips of bacon.  The crisp, cold air outside made me feel a bit better and I'd only done 1.5 of my 3 mile goal for the day (plus a few sprints to cross the street at cross-walks) so Snackers and I bid our friends adieu and opted to walk Freemont street for a bit.  We saw Trace Atkins in an unplanned guest appearance concert, all four members of Kiss, Bumblebee from the Transformers, and a slue of other street performers in various disguises.  However, when we reached the end of Freemont street Snackers found something that's been on his bucket list for awhile - deep fried twinkies.  So after eating a 4,000 calorie burger he stepped into this seedy little hotel/casino for a Twinkie and, for me, that's when all hell broke loose.  I barely made it back to the car and home where I downed a teaspoon of MSM (an additive that the military puts in water to kill bacteria and it tastes FOUL!), a mouth full of pepto and went straight to bed, thankful I'd gotten my exercise in before the bug hit me.  3 a.m. I woke up with it in full force and the rest of the night was pure hell.

Saturday I got out of bed only four times (not counting bathroom runs) - twice to let the dogs out, once to take a hot bath, and once in the evening to attempt to finally eat something.  I ran a fever between 100.3 and 100.8 the entire day and even fell asleep on the bathroom floor because the cold tile felt too good to pass up.  My intake Saturday consisted of 3 sips of tonic water (for the stomach cramps) less than 30 oz of regular water, about 10 bites of vegetable soup, 6 saltine crackers, and two apples sliced.  I weighed myself on Friday and was still 229.5, I weighed again on Saturday around 1 p.m. and was 225.  That's a 4.5 lb loss in about 24 hours.

I woke up feeling significantly better Sunday but experience with Snackers and my dad taught me that if I wasn't careful I'd be sick again just as they both had been so my intake yesterday consisted of 2 poached eggs and a fruit cup in the morning, about 45-50 oz of water, a dry tuna sandwich, and four or five bites of tomato soup.  I tried to walk the mall a bit because I thought some fresh air and light exercise would be good for me but after only a short distance I started feeling weak and clammy and had to sit down to rest before making my way back to the car.  I'm feeling better this morning and I'm going to try to eat a bit more normally but I am going to maintain light-duty exercise, at least for the first part of the day, just to be safe because I can't afford for this to come back on me like it did Snackers and Dad.

I can tell you one thing though: I was laying in bed Saturday truly afraid, at times, of falling asleep because I wasn't entirely sure that, if I did, I would ever wake up.  It was that bad.  By far the worst virus I've ever had in my life...words can't even describe.

Weigh-in: 226.5




Food:
60 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 fruit bar
1 healthy choice lunch
1 snack bar
1 serving skirt steak
3/4 cup long grain rice
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Daily Caloric Intake: 1,007





Activity:
Jumping Jacks: 100

Recovery

Last night Snackers and I went to a free hockey game, followed by the heart attack grill where I ordered water and nothing else. Then we walked freemont street and saw Trace Atkins in concert for free. Then I got sick. Last night was hell. This morning has been hell. Can't even sip water, let alone eat. Tummy hurts too bad to sleep. Tried to fall asleep on the bathroom tile last night to bring down my fever. I'm signing out. I'll be back when I can walk again.

Weekend Plans

Well I had been hoping to either go hiking at Red Rock or kayaking at Lake Mead this Sunday but, looking out the window, I may even have to do my walking inside for the rest of the week.  It is cold, windy, and raining out.  Boooo.  I tossed Snackers a few hints on some Christmas gifts that he might be able to find affordably on craigs list for me.  A treadmill, a stationary bike (with a wide seat for my wide cheeks), and/or a punching bag.  Last year a friend of ours gave us a stationary bike that he didn't want anymore and we passed it along to my parents because we were in an apartment and didn't have room for it (and it's really good for my dad with his diabetes) but this year we have quite a bit of room in the garage for at least one or two pieces of equipment so I'm kinda thinking it would be nice to have a back-up plan for bad weather with winter here.

But for now, the question is what to do this weekend.  Snackers wants to go paint more ceramics, which I am all for but I would also like to do something physical as well.  I'm thinking bowling ... or I could always go do my walking in the mall.  Hell I should just walk to the mall and then do my walking there too ... wait then I'd still be walking in the rain which defeats the whole purpose of mall walking.  lol  Oy, I have no idea.  I CAN tell you this, and if you don't believe me go back and see for yourself.  WALKING has been the best exercise for me to lose weight with in the last year.  Go back and check my posts for the date-blocks where I've lost the most weight in a week.  Almost all of those weeks were weeks that my primary source of physical activity was walking.  I can't believe I stopped doing it for so long.





Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 yogurt
1 healthy choice lunch
1 snack bar
1 panini sandwich
1 serving popcorn
1 glass of wine
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Daily Caloric Intake: 1,307





Activity:
Jumping Jacks: 300
Yoga: 45 minutes
Walking: 3.25 miles
Sprints: 5
Running Stairs: 4 flights

Setting Things in Order

When Snackers and I first moved in to the new house in July we unpacked and put away almost everything, but there were a few little places where we had kind of slacked a bit because we didn't know what to do with or where to put certain things.  The coat closet in the living room, and the closet in the guest room became dumping grounds for those items.  My office also had two boxes of unpacked books because I couldn't figure out where to put my second book shelf and my first shelf was already full.  But we've got family coming for Christmas so last night after my walk he and I went on a cleaning binge together (I should have been studying but he was being insistent that I assist, so I did).

First we tackled rearranging my office to accommodate the second book shelf so that I could fully unpack all boxes and finally put my office in a finished order.  Next we tackled a couple of rubbermaid tubs fulls of misc. items that were hanging out by the front door because they wouldn't fit in the coat closet and made boxes to donate to good will and to the animal shelters (Vladdy's old collars that he's grown out of over the past six months mostly).  After that was done we attacked the closet, got rid of a few jackets, hung up the rest, organized the DVD and CD collections, as well as our board games and finally put the vacuum in the closet where it belongs.  After that we cleaned up some misc. stacks of papers that had accumulated on the coffee table, dining room table, and fireplace mantel.  I must say ... I'm quite proud of us.

We still have to do the closet in the guest room and a second sweep of the shelves in the garage probably wouldn't hurt but progress is progress!  Wouldn't you know it though, Snackers got me started on the project but then at 10:30 he sat down to play video games and left me to finish the rest of the mess by myself.  Figures.
P.s.: half of last night's walk was outside but the weather turned violently ugly on us and Vladdy kept spazzing out at every dry leaf that blew past or tree that gusted so I finished the rest by walking in place in my kitchen.  For some reason I always sweat more when I walk indoors than I do when I walk outside - regardless of whether it's hot or cold outside.  I think I pick my feet up higher when I walk in place and I also think I go a lot faster - probably more like a canter type pace.





Food:
100 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 yogurt
1 fruit bar
1 healthy choice lunch
10 baby carrots, raw
2 tbsps peanut butter (w/the carrots)
2 homemade chicken tacos
1 chocolate chip cookie
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Daily Caloric Intake: 1,230





Activity:
Jumping Jacks: 300
Barbell Squats: 90 @ 20 lbs
Barbell Shoulder Press: 60 @ 20 lbs
Barbell Curls: 90 @ 20 lbs
Barbell Bench Press: 90 @ 20 lbs
Butterfly Press: 90 @ 20 lbs
Crunches: 200
Knee Push-ups: 100
Leg Lifts: 90 per leg
Yoga: 45 minutes