July

Whoa, it has been a long while since I posted. Just distracted with summer happenings, I suppose. I’m up a couple of insignificant pounds, mostly because I’ve been on and off plan and not drinking as much water as I should – although there is new research out that should calm people the F down. I have to agree with this – I used to chug so much water years ago because I thought I just HAD to if I wanted to be healthy – to the point of feeling almost nauseated by filling my stomach like a balloon all day. Just drink when you’re thirsty, when you start thinking of drinking something that probably means you’re thirsty.

I’m still running regularly, which I’m sure has helped me from ballooning back up from my lack of food discipline. It is getting harder with the heat, however, so I haven’t progressed very far – I have improved my per mile pace a little bit.
Seems like every weekend, there has been something revolving around food, and it has been tough to be restrictive. I’m back on protein only today, and going for 3 days of ‘attack’, then going to veggies/alternating again.

Little man has been having swimming lessons 4 eves a week, so the work week has been hectic – get home, get some dinner going, and be ready to walk to the pool by 6:20. It’s nice if I can get dinner cleaned up by that time, but it does not always happen…so then we get back and there’s the kitchen mess to clean up, get the kid to bed, and then feel too tired to do much of anything else.

Last week I had some sort of crazy weird virus. I’m too lazy to detail it here. I’m better, I think.

My birthday is coming up. I got 2 early presents – an iPhone 4. Neato. An ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid. This I actually wanted, so that’s pretty cool. I’ll report back when I get to my first batch – it was supposed to be this weekend, but then my brother and his girlfriend came up for the weekend, and that wasn’t done. I’m looking forward to making ice cream sans corn syrup and other assorted chemical crap.

So, I hate this blog. I didn’t intend for it to become a weight-loss diary, but it was the easiest thing to chit-chat about, and sometimes I can be really, really lazy when it comes to writing. I need spurts of creativity.

I have many ideas for blogs, and yet none. None that I feel like would stay fun and interesting and on point. I was playing with the idea of a food ingredient blog where I basically play the corn syrup detective and bitch about products – or give them kudos. My goal is to get all corn syrup out of my home. I probably spend 3x as long in the grocery store than i need to because I read nearly every label.  The Syurp Agent.  What do you think?

Regrouping

Vacation started out easy, but, as vacations go, it became difficult to stay on point. When you are going out to eat a lot and not near your own kitchen, everything  gets more complicated, less convenient, and every food around becomes more tempting. So, by last Sunday, I had pretty much given up trying to stay on plan. 

While this went on, however, I did manage to get in a 3 mile run, as well as daily walks with lots of hills. When we got back last week, I some trouble getting back to protein only, and have had a number of bad days. But, I’m mostly back on track now. My weight was up a couple of pounds, but I’m also in that time of cycle, so, not overly concerned, and will weigh again next week. Probably, I’ve stayed about the same overall.

As I get over this blip on the radar, July will be all about getting past this number…

 

 

From the car

Yes, blogging from my iPhone in the car as we travel to NC. I love technology. Here are my feet om the dash.

Short vacation

All is well – I didn’t seem to lose any weight this past week, I stayed the same, which was weird and unexpected, but, sometimes that happens, so I’m not focusing on it, and will assess again in a few days. All is well on the eating routine, and my running is still on schedule.

We’ll be traveling for a few days, so I doubt I will post until sometime at the end of next week. I will be on ‘vacation’ but will generally try to avoid steering too far from plan…I will of course allow myself a few treats. But I’m also bringing my running shoes.

Finds!

This weekend I was browsing through our local free shopper paper and decided this morning might be a good day to check out some local yard sales with little man. I let him take out few dollars from his piggy bank and put them in his shorts pocket, so he would feel like part of the whole adventure.

I wasn’t looking for anything in particular. I wasn’t expecting much (as this area is not particularly affluent), and I find that most of the time, people put out a lot of nasty, broken, and worthless stuff that belongs in the trash. Like half-used Avon lotion from the 80s. Not even kidding, I’ve seen it. Not only that, but one of the most annoying things about the yard sale world is people who do not put any effort into merchandising their junk. I refuse to sort through moldy boxes of dirty, dusty, and unsorted crap. So, I really appreciate when people organize it, clean it up a bit, and lay it out on display. Those are my kind of yard sales. I’m even less likely to haggle. Even if I don’t buy a thing, it really makes me happy. That’s also the kind of yard sale I like to host…and guess what? It makes a difference. I’ve had three yard sales over the years. We carefully cleaned and laid things out, and made it as nice as possible with the space available. The least lucrative of the three yielded just under $400. In one day. So take note.

The first sale today was of the former variety – most of it was junk-tastic and unsorted and gross. Little man found an unopened package of Disney Cars pens, and an unopened little T-Rex skeleton toy (and yes, I guided him toward the unopened stuff). The little girl asked him for 50 cents for each, and he happily gave her the dollar.  I found, like little diamonds in the rough, 2 traditional wine carafes: a litre and a more obscure half-litre size. I love these kinds of carafes because they remind me of Italy and France (as these are what you pour the wine in directly from the barrel and bring to the table), and they are great for a small container of sangria, or other beverage, and will even make a quick, gorgeous vase that looks much more elegant than the flower shop cheapies.  Here they are, pictured below, along with another ocean-blue bottle I found at the last yard sale of the morning. I like interesting old bottles, but I don’t want to really collect too many of them. Then that’s dumb. I’m very choosy about which I buy. I once went to the bottle museum in Ballston Spa, NY. True story. It was quite by accident, but I actually had fun. And the guide had a wandering glass eye that was totally mesmerizing.

The first sale also yielded 2 sleds – a toboggan type, and one of those flexible mat ones. I was hesitant at first to buy snow stuff, but, they were so incredibly cheap, and our kid is only going to want to play in the snow more as he gets bigger…anyway, the 2 carafes and the 2 sleds totaled $6. Find!

The next one was very organized and clean. Very nice. There, little man found a little stuffed spider (Beanie Baby Ty, not that I care about the collection, but at least I knew it was a better quality toy), and I found a pretty and simple Mikasa rose bowl/votive holder, brand new, in its original box! Those 2 items totaled $7, and they had a box of free children’s books and placemats and maps near the door, so Sam made out again with a laminated map of the U.S. For free! Here’s the Mikasa piece:

 

The final sale was also organized, although it was mostly antiques and china and glassware. Nevertheless, the ocean blue bottle was a whopping 25 cents. A good find!

So on the way home, we talked about all of our Finds and what fun it was. We will definitely go on a few more Finds finding adventures in the coming months.

The bad and the good

Last night I had a dietary slip up – I think it was the exhaustion. Hubby also expressed being fatigued…I think the brief and intense heat wave (which is thankfully over) just got to us both. It started when we got home from work: I was ravenous…like food was the ONLY thing on my mind. I had some blue tortilla chips, and half of a Zone bar (hubby’s). Then,  I completely lamed out on dinner – we all had grilled cheese and green beans. It was on whole wheat bread (which is the only kind I buy) so I suppose that made it slightly healthier.  Maybe. I had brie in mine.  Very healthy, right?

Later, however, I had a leftover piece of ice cream cake. It wasn’t very big, and about halfway through it kind of lost its charm.  Of course I was feeling guilty afterwards, but at the same time, I had a good ‘ol sugar rush and burst of energy, and got a load of laundry done…besides that, however, I really don’t remember the rest of the evening at all…

So, even though today was not a running day, I made it one. I suppose as punishment? Or maybe because I knew the extra junk from the day before would help? Maybe both. I was up at 5:45 am, which is not typical of me. I had a terrible dream which I don’t even want to talk about. I couldn’t fall back asleep, so by 6:15, I hit the pavement. I ran 36 minutes and it was pretty easy. I walked another 10 or so, and came home to little man being all cute with his daddy and wanting breakfast. Perfect.

Feeling good so far today, and eating pattern is back to the norm. Looking forward to some fresh chicken sausage for dinner from the local butcher/market  – we’ll probably grill it.

I cut my own bangs earlier. I was thinking about doing this recently – usually it’s the precursor to my scheduling a haircut. They came out cute, but I do need a trim. I think I’ll have the bottom trimmed to collar bones, with some shaping/long layers starting from my ear lobes down. That should work well with the bangs, and maybe help with my summer months condition: Great American Bush Hair.  I also feel like my head is too flat in the back, and lifting the weight line should also balance that. I secretly think I’d be a good stylist, by the way – but unless you’re like THE hot one in the area, and run your own show, it’s gotta be one of the shittiest professions ever.

 

 

Where did it go?

My last 2 runs have been less than great. On Tuesday, it was very warm out, and I ran exactly 21 minutes before I stopped for fear of really collapsing and/or vomiting. It was very annoying. I walked to 40 minutes.

Today was even hotter, so I opted to get it over with during my lunch hour. Just the 5 minute walk up to the fitness center was exhausting (and very, very sweaty). It is almost entirely uphill though. But still. I ran 28 minutes on the treadmill, at a 1% incline, which I would have been thrilled with 2 weeks ago, but now I have a new minimum (30) which makes the ocd of it all almost unbearable. But I had to stop. Even the appearance of a fellow runner on the treadmill next to me did not give me the 2 minute showing-off boost I needed. My legs felt like lead. I walked to 35 minutes, then did a 1 minute sprint, then hit 40 minutes and called it a day.

I had to shower before heading back because I was dripping – they don’t AC the fitness center, cause really, there aren’t many students on campus, and there’s really only about a dozen staff that use it at least semi-regularly. I can name us all. Pitiful.

Even though it’s a newish facility, it’s one of those ancient one-big-room-group-shower situations, but at least today I was the only one (I hope…haha). I would say about half the time there is one other person showering.]. It doesn’t really bother me, as most people don’t make a spectacle of it – except for the occasional freak that decides it’s appropriate to shave her lady parts in this setting. Thoroughly. I mean seriously, girlfriend?

So my energy slump is major today – it’s just wildly different from how I felt this past weekend. Where did it go? I think I need to switch things up so that my running days coincide with the veggie/protein days – I think that would help. I may also need to eat a bit more, but this will be an effort, as I’m not really craving much of anything most of the time (I  can’t even believe I wrote that). Maybe, tonight, I will be WILD and have some whole grains.

I won’t weigh again till Monday of course, but I’m sure I will lose again. I was looking at myself in the full length mirror last night, and my body is really changing. I’ve dropped a full size, and that is even starting to feel a little loose. Some clothes are still a ways away, but, by Fall, I will enjoy them again. That’s one of the best things about losing weight – you get a whole ‘new’ wardrobe without having to shop much. But I’ll do some of that too.

 

Did I say it ends well?

I meant really well. OK, so since May 4 (today is June 6), I have lost a total of 14.0 lbs. Almost 7lbs in the past 3 weeks alone.  That’s like a man’s rate of loss. Never, ever, have I experienced this consistency of loss. I am a convert. Whoa.

I am about 2lbs lighter today than I was at this time last year, and I’m going for about another 15-20, depending on how I am feeling, how I am doing with the running, and what I am fitting into. I suspect things should slow down soon, but according to the plan, this cruise phase should consistently yield a 2lb weekly loss until I reach whatever I determine my goal weight to be. I have a range in mind, but again, I will follow some type of recommendation to settle on the final number.

I’m at work so I can’t type much more…just wanted to check in like I said I would…

 

Holy energy Batman!

He might be the oddest superhero ever. Rimshot! 
I had a fantastic run this morning – 40 minutes and I stopped – not because it was getting hard, but because I didn’t want to risk injury. I even ran a bit faster than my usual pace, and I’m estimating I covered about 3.6 miles. I just ran and ran and ran, fueled by coffee, and, I suspect, all the extra carbohydrates in my body from yesterday’s birthday party. Back on protein today, and I will weigh on my normal weigh-day tomorrow and report.

I did have the ice cream cake, and some wine, a few cookies, manicotti and meatballs, smoked ham and potato salad, grapes, cheeses, veggies and humus, pita chips, and it was all delicious. Actually, reverse the order of the food for a truer story. The party was a great success – we had lovely mild weather, we all hung out on the lawn and gazebo, the kids had a blast, and everyone seemed happy. We even received some very sweet and unexpected housewarming gifts including wine, a beautiful candle and holder, and a huge gorgeous hanging basket of flowers, pictured below.

I also finally met my friend I never met! She and her husband and freakin adorable kids joined us – I was so excited, and it seemed like I’ve known her forever…we should get together again (when I don’t have to play distracted party hostess) so we can dish together…’cause I can tell we will get along fabulously. And we both work in higher ed. And she wore the cutest dress ever. We missed our mutual friend very much, but, she had plans for another event involving yet another friend who is getting married next month, so, it’s all good in the hood. And we also missed our other mutual friend, who had plans as well. And wait, we all work in higher ed. Ha! Is that weird?

Love to all my girls – I’ve learned over the years that one of the  best things about old friends is that near or far, when you do connect, it’s like no time has passed at all. This is making me think of a couple more  friends I need to connect with, who I miss terribly….I think I may have a new summer goal…

May ends well

Today was a no-run and veggie-protein day. Except for returning to work after a long and productive weekend, it has been a good day. Yesterday I ran 30 minute straight again – this time it was later in the day, and it was a lot hotter, and a lot harder, than Saturday, but I pushed. I felt a little funny after I stopped, but whatever it was, it passed soon after I got inside and drank a big glass of water. I didn’t get a chance to weigh myself for this past week, so I will try to get on that one of these next few mornings and report.

I’m watching my declawed cat ‘claw’ at the couch. That is very, very rewarding. Claw away, little bitch. Next, I’ll have your fangs removed…ah, if only I could find an evil vet dentist. We have actually been getting along lately. She associates me with wet food. And I don’t let her forget it.

So this coming weekend will mark a month since I started this whole Dukan business. Minus a couple of minor slip-ups, I have to say that it has become, as the book describes, a rather easy routine. Some things I cannot live without: Chobani plain non-fat yogurt. Skim milk. Oat bran. Salmon (pan seared with balsamic glaze is my favorite prep). Surimi products. Powdered milk (non-fat…I add it to my coffee, to just about anything for extra protein and calcium). Hard-boiled eggs. Stevia.

So, this weekend is also the big birthday party we have planned for our little man. There will be good home made food. I will take the day ‘off’ and enjoy this and that. I may not have ice cream cake…we’ll see.