No more running

Well. Well, well, well. Should this morning's scale number be divided between two weeks, or did all of it happen this past week? It's an easy number to divide, and I've been consistent for two weeks, so it should probably be split, doncha think?

That means I lost three pounds for each of the last two weeks. SIX pounds total. Excuse me, I mean
SIX!!!!!! I'm going to do everything I can to stay on track while I'm gone this week. There's little more I can promise. I'm really motivated to keep it up. The dumbbells are packed (and my luggage weighs a ton!), I'm taking a thermos of water in the car and I know where are the rest stops are between here and Nashville. I think I'll walk a bit at each of them, then walk again when I arrive at my destination. Hope to get a total of 80 minutes done by the end of the day. SIX!!!!!!

Yay! This is the last day you have to suffer through every bite that passed my lips. Good thing, too, because I'm going to be out of town beginning tomorrow and will have less time to log it twice. Logging it once at FatSecret is enough!

Today was a rough one. Our little town has a railroad festival two weekends in October every year. This was the first weekend of the event, and I volunteered my time at the Democratic women's booth selling bumper stickers. My husband's childhood friend grew up to be a jazz drummer and he came home to entertain at the festival. (He also was inducted into West Virginia's Music Hall of Fame this weekend, one of those hometown boys makes good things that makes the whole town proud.)

I walked from 7:20 to 8:30, and if you're one of my Facebook friends you got to see the sunrise with me. It really was lovely. By 10 a.m. we were downtown and the rest of the day was not my own. You'd think with festival food that I'd be reporting a…

The boring stuff first.

Walked five miles in 98 minutes
Drank a gallon of water and then some more
Upper-body strength training, plus 12 wall push-ups
No snacks. Today's food consisted of:

The usual yogurt/fruit/granola combo for breakfast.
Leftover lasagna, salad and pumpkin pie for lunch. (I didn't know which bite to eat last. Do any of you save the best flavor for last? Especially when there won't be any more of it until you make it again?)
Chicken sausage, white bean and kale soup, with one slice of whole-wheat bread for dinner. (This soup is one of our favorites, let me know if you'd like the recipe.)

And the "duh" is that I've been using the same dumbbells for upper-body work for 13 days and only today did I notice they were EIGHT-pound weights, not five-pounders, as I've been reporting.

Maybe I'm a badass after all. Heh.

Here we go ...

Walked 4 miles in 80 minutes, no jogging at all. Fought the wind the whole way, no matter which direction I was going.
Lower-body strength-training, plus 12 wall push-ups
64+ ounces of water
No snacks. I have a bowl of candy corn on an end table, so I had some with my lunch. Here's what I ate today:

9:00 a.m.
1/2 cup yogurt
1 medium banana
1/4 cup granola

1:30 p.m.
3.5 oz. boneless roast chicken
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup edamame
1 oz. candy corn

6:30 p.m.
1 4-inch square lasagna with meat and zucchini
Mixed green salad with onions, orange, walnuts, olive oil/red wine vinegar dressing
1 small slice garlic bread
1/8 of a pumpkin pie

We had company for dinner. I don't usually eat so much at the evening meal. But … today's total was still less than 1700 calories. I'm averaging about 1250 calories per day this week, thanks to a light day Tuesday.

Your life does not get better by chance,
it gets better by change.
~ Jim Rohn


Gonna change my way of thinking Make myself a different set of rules Gonna change my way of thinking Make myself a different set of rules Gonna put my good foot forward And stop being influenced by fools ~ Bob Dylan
(This ended up being kind of long. Apologies in advance.)

A Friday Quote twofer this week! Because the first quote is the essence of what I want to say, but how could I miss the perfect opportunity to throw in a Dylan lyric while I'm at it? Heh.

Years ago, I blamed my bad luck on everything that was wrong in my life: a husband who was, shall we say, nipping at the heels of insanity; my girth, of course; my children's distance from me, both physically and emotionally; my lack of money, lack of opportunity, lack of hope.

The common denominator in all the unfortunate circumstances of my sad little life was … me. Until I could accept the fact that I was the one who made those choices, pushed people aw…

I rocked the walk today.

4 miles in 61 minutes. Want proof?


Also …
Water: 64 ounces (and then some)
Strength-training: 12 each of the upper-body stuff, plus 12 wall push-ups
Snacks? Nada. Nil. Zip. Zilch.

Here's what I ate today.

8:00 a.m.
2 oz granola

2 Tblsp Peach Preserves
4 oz yogurt

Noonish
1 large apple
2 oz. colby jack cheese
4 dill pickle spears (pickles count as a vegetable, right?)
10 saltines

5:30 p.m.
5 oz chicken breast
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup edamame
1/2 large potato
2 Tblsp. salsa

Thanks for your comment, Mindy, it was just what I needed to read to stay on track yesterday. I was beginning to hit the slippery slope of habit-making, so getting an attagirl – and knowing that what I'm doing is inspiring you – kept me on the beam.

I wrote a fairly long, somewhat coherent post on August 1, that was sort of a manifesto for doing what I need to do to lose some of this weight. I then proceeded to blow August and September off like a bad date.

My apologies to the late summer months.

My five missions (the link takes you to the post where I declared the original four, I've since added journaling), which I committed to last week, are working well. Okay, maybe not well, since I haven't technically lost any weight, but I'm noticing changes in my attitude, if not my waistline. (And, weirdly, my wedding ring is so loose it keeps twisting around so the blingy part is on the palm side of my hand. Progress? Who knows?)

I make time for a walk every day. It's impo…

Forward lunges, chair squats, plié squats, wall push-ups - 12 of each
64+ ounces of water
4 miles in 76 minutes.


Three meals (total 1223 calories): 
8 a.m. 1/2 cup yogurt, plain, full-fat1 Tblsp. apple jelly1/4 cup granola12:30 p.m.
4 ounces cooked spaghetti squash2 ounces smoked Gouda1 Asian pear5:30 p.m. 
1 pork chop with basil sauce1/2 cup mashed potatoes1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (cauli, broc, carrots)1 peanut butter brownieI can't believe I'm married to someone who is 68 today. He loves the peanut butter-and-chocolate combination, and I'm not going to refuse it today. Ask me again tomorrow. Yesterday's calories were waaaaay low, and today's – even with the brownie – come in at right around 1200.

But nothing like yesterday. It's raining today, so I might have to use the elliptical instead of walking outdoors. Everything else is manageable, just as it was yesterday. Amazing how things work when you have both priorities and accountability. Thanks to both of you for being my conscience!

Ta da! Here's the bridal gown. The photo, of course, doesn't do it justice. You can barely see the layers of tulle overskirt. But I had to get it to the post office by 2 p.m. in order for it to begin its trip south yesterday, and I wanted to walk to the post office. Thus, the crappy photo.

Can you believe I wanted to walk?

I started sewing at about 6:15 a.m. and took this photo at 1:23 p.m. I then carefully wrapped it stuffed it in a Priority box, changed shoes, grabbed the Garmin and started walking. Fast. The post office is eight-tenths of a mile from our house. I made it with plenty of time to spare.

The veil was supposed to be a couple layers of gathered tulle glued to a purchased,…

Wasn't sure I could pull this off today. Upper body weight-training, 12 reps with 5-lb. dumbbells: bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, front raises, lateral raises, side bends, plus 12 wall push-ups64 ounces water5.5 miles in 107 minutesI've journaled all my food. Didn't eat nearly enough today, but I was busy ... and will be busy tonight, as well.Two meals, one snack                9:30 a.m.: Yogurt, apple jelly, granola
               3:30 p.m.: Apple, 1 Tblsp peanut butter                5:00 p.m.: Curried lentil and black-bean soup, oyster crackers 
That is all ...

I'm walking to the post office with a miniature bridal gown and veil boxed and ready to mail. Has to be there by 2. Just under the wire. Had to skip lunch, though. I think an apple and peanut butter will be sufficient once I get back home.

I can't believe I pulled this off. Heh.


Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

No, not the four five daily missions (water, weights, walk, no snacks, food journal). I thought I had at least another week to make and ship my younger granddaughter's Halloween costume. She's going to be a bride. The pieces are all cut out and ready to go, but I haven't started sewing yet.

The phone rang last night. It was my son, the father of the bride. Their neighborhood Halloween parade is this Saturday. That's more than two weeks before Trick or Treat! The local crafty mamas already knew that, of course, but Grandma in the Middle of Nowhere didn't have a clue.

So. As soon as I hit 'publish' on this post, I'm headed to the sewing machine.

I will take breaks for breakfast and lunch and walk the package to the post office when I'm done. I might be hoisting dumbbells after dinner today. And I hope I don't have Alzheimer's, because the food journaling will also be an end-of-the-day activity. Fortunately it doesn't take any extra time or…

Forward lunges, chair squats, plié squats, wall push-ups - 12 of each
          I'm bumping these up by two this week, and will also be bumping up 
          the upper body reps.
64+ ounces of water
4 miles in 71 minutes.


Three meals (total 1223 calories): 
8 a.m. 1/2 cup yogurt, plain, full-fat1 Tblsp. apple jelly1/4 cup granola12:30 p.m.
2 oz. whole wheat bread1 Tblsp. almond butter1 Tblsp. apple jelly2 dill pickle spears1 apple5:30 p.m. 
1 cup spaghetti1 cup marinara sauce with meat1 cup green beans1/2 cup light vanilla ice creamI'm going to list everything I eat this week, so this Stats report is going to get really boring. For you and for me, because I'm logging everything over at FatSecret, as well. But I'm only going to bore us to tears for one week. If you see anything that looks cra-zee, please jump right in and say so!

As I look at this list of food, the ice cream, apple, almonds (for the almond butter and granola), raisins+oats (for the granola) and pasta were purchas…

I don't watch Dr. Phil (is he even on television any more?), but I used to catch the program occasionally, and it didn't take long to figure out that his five most important words were these:

How's that working for you?
This week I have: Downed more than 7 gallons of water. A gallon a day is my minimum and I've been managing it really well. I find room-temperature water goes down more easily than cold, so I keep the pitcher on the counter or just drink tap water. I start early in the morning and, in fact, have a tall glass (16 oz.) before I have my first cup of coffee. Drinking so much water so early in the day was, um, problematic earlier in the week, because I also like to walk early in the day. You figure it out. Heh. But my system has adapted already. So. Water? Check. Eaten 19 healthful, home-cooked meals – 5 breakfasts, 2 brunches, 5 lunches, 7 dinners – and one snack. There were a couple days where breakfast turned into brunch, and on one of those days I really nee…

One week down. I'll do a more thorough wrap-up in the morning. Upper body weight-training with 5-lb. dumbbells, plus 10 tricep dips and 10 wall push-ups64 ounces waterThree meals, no snacksFour miles in 73 minutes I had such a fun walk this morning. My granddaughter was messaging me on Facebook while I was walking, and the time seemed to fly by!

Forward lunges, chair squats, plié squats, wall push-ups - 10 of each64+ ounces of waterThree meals, no snacks5 miles in 93 minutes.
The first 2.5 miles I walked carrying an empty shopping bag. I bought two dozen eggs at the Amish market, so was carrying about three extra pounds as I headed back home. A little more than a mile from home I stopped to chat with a neighbor who was cleaning up his garden. I added another sevenpounds of tomatoes to my bag, making that last mile just a teensy bit harder!

Football and knitting (almost done with the first half of Jujuba) the rest of the day. And no snacks!

I know it's not officially election season, but apparently Shape magazine doesn't. They want you to vote for your favorite weight-loss blogger, and one of my faves has been nominated. Click here to vote. Thanks! And congratulations on your nomination, Shauna!

10 of each, with 5-lb dumbbells:
Bicep curlsFront raisesSide bendsOverheads 5 tricep kickbacks, 5 tricep dips
10 wall push-ups

5 miles in 95 minutes.

Three meals, no snacks (breakfast at 8 works much better than brunch at 11)

64+ ounces water

PLUS: I loaded and unloaded a 17 cu. ft. trailer with horse manure. Twice. The south end of the garden should be in pretty good shape next spring.

Denise, thanks for your comment earlier today. I read it out loud to my husband when we were walking. You made my day! And Kitten, you're the best. Thanks for all the attagirls you've given me all week. Don't feel obligated to keep it up, but do know that I appreciate it!

The impossible can always be broken down into possibilities. ~ Author Unknown
What a week. I'm busy all day long, every day, and it seems like something needs attention every time I turn around. I don't even have a written-out to-do list, I just know that when one thing gets done, something else is right behind it.

I didn't used to feel like this. There was a time when I would plop down on the couch with a book or a magazine and read – guilt-free – all afternoon. I'm not sure when things changed, or why. I still read, but now it's only a couple pages right before I go to sleep. I have three months' worth of magazines to go through and quite a collection of books on the Nook, all waiting for their fifteen minutes at the end of the day.

My plan to drink more water, cut out snacks, start a strength-training program and take a daily four-mile walk has worked out well so far, and the accountability part of it – the daily Stats post – has been very helpful. I'm sur…

Forward lunges, chair squats, plié squats (my fav), wall push-ups - 10 of each
64+ ounces of water
Two meals - late breakfast, early dinner (not a good idea, I do much better with three meals)
4 miles in 84 minutes. Waaaaaay slow today.


I wrestled with the garden tiller today, which is a workout in itself, and planted two kinds of garlic, one to braid and a hardneck variety (German Extra Hardy) which does very well in my neck of the woods, but you have to store it in bags. After that I trimmed some bushes and then I went for my walk. It was about 2 p.m. and pretty warm when I left, and I was so tired from all the gardening. I just decided to plod along and get it done and not think about how hot and tired and grumpy I was.


This accountability thing is working. I don't mind reporting that I was really slow, but I didn't want to report that I wimped out completely.

Sooooo many good things to share about Steve Jobs. I guess I'll put up what I find as I find it, because I don't want to forget it.

I moved from Wilmington, Ohio, to Columbus, Ohio, in the late '70s or very early '80s, and never went back to Wilmington to live after that. I moved around central Ohio several times, divorcing the husband I moved there with, marrying someone else and then, eventually, divorcing him. At the time that marriage ended I was working for a newly formed subsidiary of the Columbus Dispatch called ThisWeek Newspapers. I was an advertising designer and we were launching a new product, a series of suburban tabloids. Delaware ThisWeek was the first.

We could profitably create these newspapers because of desktop publishing and Apple Macintosh computers. Prior to these machines coming on the market, type was set on a huge, clunky machine that spit words out on long, narrow pieces of special paper that could be waxed and pasted down onto a flat. If you needed a form of any kind, you drew the lines with a pen and ink. Ads were framed by hand-drawn boxes.

Desktop publishing changed the way we…

A bonus post, in the form of an illustrated story …


A while back, at the entrance to a gym, there was a picture of a very thin and beautiful woman.

The caption read: "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"


The story goes, a woman (of clothing size unknown) answered the following way:

"Dear people, whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, seals, curious humans), they are sexually active and raise their children with great tenderness.


They entertain like crazy with dolphins and eat lots of prawns. They swim all day and travel to fantastic places like Patagonia, the Barents Sea or the coral reefs of Polynesia.


They sing incredibly well and sometimes even are on cds. They are impressive and dearly loved animals, which everyone defend and admires.

Mermaids do not exist.



But if they existed, they would line up to see a psychologist because of a problem of split personality: woman or fish?

They would have no sex life and could not bear children.
…

10 of each, with 5-lb dumbbells:
Bicep curlsFront raisesSide bendsOverheads 10 tricep dips (killer, and I'm not telling you how much the dumbbell weighs, heh)
10 wall push-ups

4 miles in 71 minutes. Did the 4th mile in 16:59 ... all walking. Very warm today.

Two meals, one snack (brunch at 11 - breakfast kinda got away from me today, snack at 3, dinner at 6)

64+ ounces water

I live in West Virginia, a state which is regularly stereotyped as home to rednecks, shanties, moonshine and coalfields. Even the West Virginia University mascot – the Mountaineer – fits the image: dressed in head-to-toe leather, sporting a coonskin cap and toting a rifle. Or a shotgun. I don't know the difference.

The image is certainly accurate, otherwise it wouldn't be so popular. (What's your first thought when you hear about West Virginia?) And never are they more accurate than now, during the hunting silly season.

Squirrel season began last month. Bow season for deer started a few days ago. Hunting is such a popular activity in West Virginia that schools are closed, many of them for the entire first week of the season, but some for just a couple of days. This is so bus drivers can go hunting, of course. <snort>

As both of you know, I walk on my road almost every day. (A shout-out to the Kitten for being my best cheerleader!) As you probably don't know, it …

3 meals, no snacks
64+ ounces of water (already! at 2 p.m.!)
Forward lunges, plié squats, chair pose squat, wall push-ups (10 of each)
4 miles in 71 minutes. Boo-yah!

I'm using parts of two workouts from Women'sHealth for lower-body moves. They're not difficult (and, perhaps, not very effective), but while I'm easing my way into a regular routine, it's a good place to start. I'm not even doing every suggested move, obviously.

Baby steps.

I live in the Middle of Nowhere, so when I shop, I have to drive a ways to get to a store. And when I really shop, I drive farther and take care of several errands at once. This saves gas, time, and wear and tear on the car.

It does not, however, save wear and tear on me.

Yesterday was one of those big shopping days. I walked four miles early in the morning, played with the dumbbells, drank a lot of water (bad idea when you're traveling, but hey, I managed), got organized and left the house around 11:30 a.m. Which was an hour later than I'd hoped to leave. With all the chores on my list yesterday I didn't think I'd make it home until dark.

Here's what the day looked like:

Lowe's for a roll of fencing for the blackberriesLocal mall to see if my black Clark clogs could be repaired. The couldn't. Had to buy new black Clark clogs. Grrr.K-Mart to check the price on sheer curtains, which I would buy if they were less expensive per yard than tulle.JoAnn's for f…

4 miles in 73 minutes
64 oz. water
Biceps, triceps, overhead lifts, front lifts, side bends, pushups – 10 of each. Curls and lifts were 5 lbs.
Three meals, no snacks

In my mind, I see a photograph of me with my daughter, my granddaughter and an imaginary great-grandchild. I'm lucky to have a four-generation photo of my dad, myself, my son and his daughter, but to repeat that with me at the top, I'm going to need to keep up with those four to-dos at the top of this post.

I hope you don't mind if I use this space to record this. At various times I've used FatSecret, SparkPeople, Weight Watchers Online and Calorie King to keep track of intentional activity. In order to do something different and to be accountable to someone other than myself (that would be both of you), I'm going to try this for the next four weeks.

But I'll always call the post "Stats," so if you're not interested you can skip it.

Wow, my true-confessions post last Friday sure elicited a lot of comments. (We bloggers love comments, so thank you, thank you, thank you!)

I love that I'm not alone. I know I'm not alone, I've been reading blogs long enough to know that lots of us have food issues. But it's nice to hear what trips you up, too, and it's wonderful to not feel judged.

Of the four actions I listed – continue the almost-daily walking, drink more water, stop snacking, lift weights – you can probably guess the one I haven't started doing yet. Not only am I too lazy to lift a dumbbell, I'm too lazy to go outside to the garage and up the stairs to fetch the dumbbells and put them in the house, where they'll be in sight and available.

This weight-training mental block is bigger than my pants size. The last time I lost a significant amount of lard, dumbbells and barbells and push-ups helped me break through a plateau. It was dramatic, and very noticeable.

If I know it makes a pos…