Wordless Wednesday, WI

Still working on the laundry . . .

WI Today:  ZERO Sticks o' Butter  -0

Maintenance Week

Watch out Next Week!

191.0

a word from our Embedded Reporter

Help, I'm stuck in the laundry room.  It's incredible how much laundry one man can generate (because DH outproduces the other two of us by about 3 loads to 1--really).  We're leaving for a 10 day trip to the west coast at the end of the week.  Between watching the little ones, cleaning & sorting clothes in my closet, getting ready for my sister's arrival tomorrow, and doing the day-to-day things, I'm in way over my head.

Mini Spring Focus Update:

Water--yes
Exercise--yes (3 weeks straight,  planned exercise every day)
Eating dinner slowly--yes.  It was a close call last night, but I dawdled like crazy and stretched it to 15 min.
Weight loss--yes  Lost an additional 1.2 at last weeks WI for a grand total of -17 since May 4th.

WI tomorrow--the last WI during the Spring Focus.  I've got my fingers crossed to dip down into the 180s . . . we'll see.

Just found out that our vacay house does have wifi!  Yay.  I thought I'd be totally out of touch.  We'll be in Canada on the west coast of Vancouver Island--just north of Pacific Rim NP.  Avg temps this week never break 60 degrees!  Packing jeans and jackets and warm things.  I'm going to take advantage of the weather and get in some nice long runs.  My daughter's family (the other 3 grandchildren) will be with us and all of DH's sibs, kids and grands plus my sister and FIL.

My bin of too small clothes has changed function this week. It's now a bin of too BIG clothes!  The ones that don't quite fit are on a shelf where they entice me to stay true to my plan.   I feel like I have a brand new wardrobe for my trip.  14s fit well and a couple of the 12s fit, as well.  And, if you're wondering, my bin of too big clothes will go to the thrift shop when it gets full.  I'm not leaving the door open for going back.

? Do you save your bigger clothes or give them away?

[Insert Snappy Title Here]

God's in His heaven and all's right with the world.

It's a hot, muggy Saturday, but I did get out and do a run this morning.  It was supposed to be a long run, but when I hit the trail, I knew I wouldn't last with these weather conditions, so I decided to set my Nike+ for 10k (long, for me) and gave myself permission to walk as much as I needed to.  I walked a lot, especially the sunny parts of the trail and the up hills, but I went 6.3 miles!   It feels good.  I use the Nike+ with my ipod and keep track of my runs that way.  Here's today's view of my recent runs.  You can see I'm starting to run a bit farther these days. I also have a group of friends from Blog To Lose (BTL, started by Roni) that join me in a Nike+ challenge every month.  I'm the oldest by a long shot, but am currently 3rd for total distance of the 13 participants running this month.  I don't have a race picked out, but I'd like to be able to easily run 4-5 miles, three or four times a week.

Mr. Munch has left the area (thank goodness) and I feel on an even keel with my eating program.  I ran yesterday morning and went for a 14 mile bike ride after dinner.  My weight dropped down to right where it should be this morning.  Tonight's menu includes chicken picatta,  brown rice, and some lovely small zucchini courgettes.  I think I'll grill the zucchini.

Happy news in the closet this morning.  I noticed the plastic bin in the corner of my closet.  I'd started putting too-small things in there when my clothes started not fitting last fall.  I  dragged it out and did a little "closet shopping."  Things are starting to fit me again.  I found two great pair of capris that fit me a lot better than the one's I've been wearing since it got hot.  I was able to resurrect a couple of my running shirts, too.  This is good as the plain T's I've been wearing don't help a lot with running in hot weather.  I take my body measurements every once in a while, and this prompted me to check them today.  Since May 1st, bust down 1, waist down 2, hips down 2, and (best of all) upper arm down 1!  DH says my face is thinner, too.

DH asked, bless his heart, if I was down to my recent historic low of Dec '08.   That's still 23 pounds away, but it's coming.  Is your weight a secret from your near and dear??  I've never openly told DH what I weigh.  I keep a daily journal where he could see it easily, but I don't think he looks at it.  He doesn't read this blog either, and I post it here.  My first goal ever, from my highest weight, was to weigh less than DH.  My second goal was to weigh the weight I put on my Driver's License.  I'm working on that one, now.

Happy Weekend!

Funk Recovery

Yesterday I had a funky day, diet wise.  It was Thursday, and one of the days I watch my grand babies.  It was also a record-breaking hot, muggy day.  The babies arrive early and are here for 10+ hours.  I love 'em to pieces and we have fun together, but, somehow, yesterday I was feeling frustrated.  J still takes short-ish morning and afternoon naps, E takes a long afternoon nap.  The awful weather outside, the fact that the double stroller ended up at their house this week,  and their scheduled naps and bottles, made me decide not to try any outings yesterday.  My scheduled exercise on Thursdays is a gym date with DH, after supper.  But I was feeling antsy and cooped up in the house.  I think the kids felt it too, because mild-tempered J used his brand new teeth to bite E's little leg when she wouldn't let him touch one of her toys.

The cooped up feeling led to my old enemy Mr. Munch making his presence known.  I ate my good breakfast and my good lunch, but was sorely tempted by the kids' pretzel sticks and E's peanut m&ms (a potty training reward).  Fortunately my pantry is swept pretty clean of some of the big players in the bad snack department, but I remembered that there is a stash of York peppermint patties (reader beware, don't fall for the Costco size box, like I did).  I started remembering how much I enjoy popcorn, too.   By the end of the afternoon, the score was Mr. Munch -1,  Me- 0.   DH got home, I fixed our nice OP dinner and we went to the gym.

I felt disheartened by my succumbing to emotional eating, but was able to climb back onto the high road and it's yesterday's news, not today's.   I totaled up the points of all my  munching and was somewhat consoled to find that I ate only about 7 points worth.  Not everything I ate was a bad food (popcorn's okay, and the piece of whole wheat toast  is okay, too), but I want to be more in control of what I'm eating.  I get to choose and plan, not Mr. Munch.   Do you hear me, MM??  Hit the road.

My weight this morning had a little blip up, but I'm sure it will go back down.   I did a 3 mile run first thing and DH and I plan a long bike ride after dinner tonight.  I drew strength from reading your blogs (thank you, thank you) and I did a little reading in Refuse to Regain while I was getting my hair colored.  I didn't enjoy the off-plan eating yesterday, but I am feeling good about turning from that behavior and reclaiming my life.  I'm off to visit my Dad in the nursing home.

What do you do to recover from off-plan eating?

I Don't Wanna, WI

(Diane, at Fit to the Finish, wrote a great post on motivation yesterday that got me to thinking about what I do when my motivation lags.)

I have a willful child living inside my head. You'd never know it unless you we're privy to my internal dialog. Yes, I talk to myself a lot. Usually it's a silent conversation, thank goodness. Like this morning. DH popped up to the alarm CD with his usually cheery morning routine. My own alarm was set for 30 minutes later. I mumbled my "goodbye, I love you, have a good day," and turned my pillow to the cool side and dove back under the covers.  When my alarm went off I was strongly tempted to push "pause."  I didn't, but only because I remembered how fast the temperature was supposed to get hot and awful this morning.  Wednesday morning is a running morning for me.  I have my WI at noon, and the Wednesday morning run has been my "last chance workout" for over a year and a half.  But I looked at the temperature outside and saw how hot it was already. "I don't wanna run when it's this hot," I whined to myself.  I weighed myself and saw that it was less than last week's weight.  Well and good.  Maybe I could get by and still lose this week without running.  I put on my running outfit, but only because I had laid out my clothes last night.  I had breakfast.  I stuck my nose out the back door and confirmed that it was hot and awful, as predicted.  Well, I was dressed, and it was still early, and, if I got out the door right then, I'd have time to watch some of the USA/Algeria game when I got back.  I had a good run, and ran an extra mile, just because.   Yes, it was hot, but I felt good and proud of myself.

Routine won again.  It's good to have established routines.   It worked with raising willful kids, too.

And my WI, today?   I lost 5 sticks o' butter (1.2 pounds).

What routines do you have that get you through the "I don't wannas" in your day?

[my normal signature is giving me fits, sometimes it's there and sometimes you get the blue box with the question mark.  If you can tell me why, you'll be my friend forever!]

191.0

Spring Focus Update

Sarah started this timely challenge at the beginning of May.  Her timing was perfect.  I challenged myself to lose 12 pounds in two months and have set myself several behavioral challenges as well.

Weight Challenge:  I have lost 15.8 pounds (at my Weight Watcher weigh-ins on Wednesdays) since May 4th.  This is an astonishing rate of weight loss for me.  I attribute it to, surprise, surprise, diet and exercise.  Things are looking good to lose a bit more before the end of the challenge.

Eating:  Believe me, I AM eating.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I'm using the WW CORE (Simply Filling) plan which I understand is quite similar to the South Beach plan.  This is the way I plan to eat--forever.  It makes a lot of sense and DH likes it too.  We have eaten this way for two years.  It's very "doable." Each meal, for almost two months has been basically on plan.  I have vacationed away from home and celebrated family occasions and eaten out occasionally during that time.  It took planning, but I feel like I ate like I wanted to eat.  A very "clean" diet.  There have been a few 'off-plan' things during that time--like a shared dessert on our anniversary and a handful of almonds on a cross country plane ride, but by and large, I have stayed OP (on plan).   I have deliberately eaten more fish than I used to (cutting down to 1 or fewer red-meat meals/week).  I also stopped having dinner left-overs for lunch the next day.  Instead, I plan a lighter lunch, without a starchy food.   I normally eat 6-7 fruits & vegetables/day and I eat plenty of fiber (from the fruits & vegetables, whole grain cereal in the morning, and whole grain pasta or brown rice with dinner).

Portion Control:  I spent a couple weeks checking on my portions by weighing and measuring.  I found that I was (surprise, surprise) over-estimating.  I think this was a good exercise, but I'm back to estimating--I hope more realistically.   I'll repeat the portion checks occasionally in the future to keep myself on track.

Drinking Water:  I started this at the beginning of the challenge.  I regularly drink 8+ cups of water a day now and will continue this.   I benefit from feeling full.  I especially need this in the summer as I need to rehydrate after exercise.

Exercise:  For the past two weeks I've challenged myself to exercise every day.   DONE!  I run four or more miles 3-4 times a week (if it's very hot, like today, there are some walking  bits interspersed).  I bike 13+ miles two or three times a week.  If I've run very early (like today) I may bike after dinner.  I also lift weights (resistance) at my gym two or three times a week.  If I haven't done any of these things (it's happened once in the past two weeks), I will exercise with my Wii (tennis or yoga). 

     This Week:

     Mon--Run--4 mi

     Tues--Gym--20K lbs

     Wed--Run--4 mi

     Thu--Gym--21K lbs

     Fri--Run--6.2 mi

     Sat--Bike--14 mi

     Sun--Gym-22K lbs,  Walk--2 mi

     Mon--Run--5 mi

Eating Slowly: A little over a week ago, I decided to try to eat more slowly.  I'd heard the suggestion before and was quite aware that I was a speed-eater, but I'd never really tried.  I limited my challenge to eating dinner.   This has been a real eye-opener.  It was hard, at first, but I have been able to increase my average eating time (10 minutes is a generous guess of how long I took to eat dinner).  For more than a week, I've taken 15 or more minutes to eat dinner.  The benefits are 1) I feel more "normal" eating more slowly, 2) I enjoy the food more--savoring flavor, texture, mouth-feel, and taste,  and 3) I have more of a chance to hear my own signals that I am "full."

Last Place

We were having dinner tonight and I happened to glance over at my son and I noticed that he was finished with his dinner. DH was taking his last bite. I still had about 1/3 of my meal on my plate. YES! Score. I came in last in the race to eat slowly. And it really did take me by surprise. You might remember that I set a goal this week to slow down my eating at dinner. I've been doing that. At first I kept watching the clock and intentionally setting down my fork for long spells. The first day, I stretched things out for 15 minutes; then 17; tonight I took a pokey 20 minutes to eat my spaghetti and salad. Yay me! I don't claim to have conquered this bad habit of mine, but I now know that I can eat more slowly if I try.

The benefits of eating slowly are manifold. I have actually had a time or two when I didn't want to finish my dinner in the past few days--that's unheard of. Last night, when we ate out at a fancy restaurant, I was a bit alarmed when my order of grilled scallops came and I found there were only 4 scallops! [you know that feeling you get when the other person's order comes and his/her plate is overflowing and you get one of those tiny 'artistic' plates with a bit of food in the center and lots of colorful dribbles of sauce filling in all the white space on the plate?] First I was disappointed because there wasn't very much food and I was hungry. Then I worried about how in the world I would drag out eating 4 scallops, 3 red potatoes, and 4 leaves of spinach [yes, I counted] for 15 minutes. But you know what? The food was wonderful. I cut my scallop into several pieces and savored the flavors. It was perfectly cooked. I probably gave DH at least half a scallop to taste. I cut pieces of the spinach leaves and tasted the fresh bitter flavor. I noticed the herb (tarragon?) on the potatoes. DH and I had a good time remembering our first married dinner 37 years earlier. Before I knew it, the waitress was refilling my water glass for the 4th or 5th time and it was an hour later. I was perfectly satisfied with my meal and enjoyed every bite--slowly. I had a skim cappuccino and a few bites of DH's creme brule for dessert. I have a friend who is a proponent of the "slow food movement." I'm going to borrow a page from her book and declare myself a member of the "slow eater movement." Next, maybe, I'll tackle eating slowly at breakfast and lunch. Maybe.

The answer to the question in my last post. The photo was taken at The Cloisters, overlooking the Hudson River in NY. The pink buttons are from the Metropolitan Museum in NY to show that we had paid for our admission. If you've never been to the Cloisters, I highly recommend it. They built a medieval cloister/monastery in NY city from the remains of several French and Italian monasteries. It's incredible. They have authentic gardens in each of the five cloisters. Here are a couple more pix: