Donuts... bad

Met all goals today - woot!  I did A LOT of walking today at work and didn't have to do so much at home.  I'm very tired though and yet, can never seem to get to bed on time.  It's like I get this 2nd wind around 9pm - weird, huh?

I'd also like to announce that for the 5th week straight I've succeeded in resisting the temptation of donut Wednesday (donuts at work EVERY Wednesday - uggggh).  Another victory YEAH!!

I did some calculating today and so far I've averaged 1.9 pounds lost per week.  Not bad for mostly walking for exercise.  So, I've decided to set a short term goal of reaching 199 pounds by my birthday at the end of August.  It's very difficult to think that I was 10 pounds less than that last year at this time, but it is what it is.  I just need to be sure not to let that happen EVER again - as in NEVER!!

Let me just close with some research I did today on donuts... (I have to keep telling myself how unhealthy they are so that I don't cave!)

They are #2 on the list of foods we should NOT eat (French Fries made the #1 spot) as reported by diseaseaday.com.  I have no idea how reliable a source they are, but the list makes sense and I think I've heard it before but repetition is good:

1) They're FRIED - everyone knows Fried Food = Bad For You
2) They're full of SUGAR - causes weight gain, risk of diabetes, etc.
3) They're made of WHITE flour - least nutritious part of the grain
4) They contain TRANS FAT - raises your chances of heart attack
5) They contain a lot of CALORIES - at least 200 calories/donut (there are better calories to be had!)
6) You usually CAN'T STOP at just one - they taste good, so it's easy to go back for more.  Donuts are not breakfast food - it sends blood sugar up which soon after crashes and leaves us hungry for even more.

Got that Bike gear thing figured out!

YES!! I love the internet - anything you want to know can be found!  Check out Bicycle Network for a really cool intro to gears... and a lot of other awesome bike info.  But if you don't feel like clicking the link, check out the pic below (from a fellow blogger) and I'll summarize by saying

1) The big gear on the front, paired with the smaller gears on the back would be for downhills and fast paces (aka "high gear")

2) The middle gear on the front paired with middle gears on the back are your avg riding gears;

3) and the smallest gear on the front paired with the largest ones on the back is used for climbing hills (aka "low gear")

There is a lot of variance in all that, but you can probably picture the general idea, right?  I'm sure lots of folks out there just understand it right from the beginning, but I was not one of those people.  But now, I can't wait to put it all into practice!!

Meeting Goals:

Today was a fairly good day.  I ate according to my plan, drank more water than usual and will probably (hopefully) make around 8K steps today - it's 6pm now (Blogging early = Going to bed on time!).

On the training side lately, or at least since getting the Nike FuelBand, I've been going for fuel points instead of the 10,000 steps.  It seems I typically don't have time to get in that number of steps each day. Also, 8,000 steps seem more reasonable.  I don't want to set unattainable goals for myself, although I still try for 10,000 - I think I've only done it a couple of times.  Fuel points are easier - the band just measures my activity throughout my day.  Right now my goal is set for 2500 - I usually have to walk around a bit in the evenings to reach 2500.  As I get more active, I can raise the goal OR vice versa!

Now You See Me /Weigh in

Weigh-in results first........... lost half a pound (ok, actually it was .6 of a pound).  Yay?  Well, of course YAY!! It's a half pound in the right direction and with the crazy week I had last week, I am pleased.  PLUS TOM did show up and I figure that had something to do with the small loss as well.

This weekend was fun.  I did manage to stuff my face with popcorn (my weakness) at the movie theater - we saw "Now You See Me".  We thought about seeing "After Earth" but with all the bad reviews, I'll wait.  Also thought about "Man of Steel" but with it being Father's Day weekend, we figured the dads would go for that one.  I still want to see it though.  Anyway, "Now You See Me" was fantastic!!

Today, I fixed my daughter's bike - broken pedal - and aired up the tires on mine.  Then, this afternoon, we headed off (in the sprinkling rain) on a geocache search.  About a mile into our adventure, the rain started coming down much harder.  If only we had worn our  jackets, everything would've been fine to keep going, but we didn't even think to bring them.  We got cold, fast.  So, I lead us to a small park where we stood under a pavilion waiting for the rain to lighten up a bit.  We didn't have to wait long - maybe 5 minutes.  While we were waiting, I decided to check on how close we were to a cache site and I kept getting errors on the app - BOOOooo!  So, we changed our outing to a bike ride only instead of geocaching =D 

On this ride, we only did 2.26 miles and it took about a half hour including the rain delay.  I did have to get off and walk the bike up a fairly steep hill - that took about 10 minutes.  I used the free "Map My Ride" app and it reported 2.26 miles in 22 minutes for an average of 6 mph.  That includes the walking though.  I'm sure we were much faster peddling!  I'm going to look around for a relatively flat area to ride next time AND I'm going to figure out these gears!!!  Anyone else ever have a hard time learning gears?  What gear do you start in?  Which is for going uphill and which is for downhill?  I know I can keep playing with them to figure it out, but it's difficult to see the rear axle to tell on that one, not to mention kinda dangerous if you aren't watching where you're going!!  

I will post what I find in case anyone else is or has ever wondered about shifting gears on a bike.

Hope everyone has a great week!!  Talk to ya tomorrow...

Oh and in case you didn't notice, I added a couple new areas to the site.  Meal Plans and Easy Recipes links are now directly under the main picture.  I'll be adding to those as I have time, but this week's meal plan is posted - head's up, it's pretty much a duplicate of Week 1.  

I saw a donut in the sky today...

Ok, it wasn't a donut.  But it was a donut-shaped cloud - which in turn made me think of a donut.  What is it with the donuts people?!?  Seriously ughhhhh.

So we'll call that the lighter side of this post, now on to the heavy.

Weight loss, getting fit, getting healthy, getting in shape, etc. - whatever we label it, why do I do it?  I mean REALLY why?  I think if I figure out what is truly motivating the change, then I'll be able to not only achieve it, but ultimately maintain it.  This "thing" that motivates me, it has to be strong, something very powerful, something so vital that all the temptations in the world won't sway me from my goals.

What is it?  To live longer?  To feel better?  To be able to do things I can't right now?  Sure.  Yes, all those things.  But what about... To be attractive?  To be desirable?  I think getting closer...

You see, if someone, anyone, were to tell me that I'm attractive, or beautiful, or pretty right now - I wouldn't believe them.  I know I need to get past that, but there it is.

I want to lose all this weight so that someone might be attracted to me.  One might say that if that's all they care about then they don't deserve me in the first place.  Well, true.  But if they aren't attracted to me, why would they even talk to me in the first place?  It's like the chicken and the egg, right?

Here's the thing - if I were still in my 20s, I'd agree that a relationship doesn't have to start with attraction.  But now, in my 40s?  It's gotta start somewhere and the attraction thing sounds like just the place, ya know?  It may sound superficial, but again, there it is.  I feel like if I don't lose this weight, I'm going to end up a very alone, old, bitter woman and that just doesn't sound like a life I want for myself.  I. will. lose. this. weight.

Well folks, sorry for the downer - just keepin' it real.

Anyway, on to the actual fitness stuff.  While I didn't meet a few of my goals this week, I feel good about the progress.  I can only do so much with what I have to work with - I couldn't control being busy at work, but I did eat well.  I could have had more water, but I did walk quite a bit.  So, I don't know what the scale will say, especially with TOM stopping by soon, but whatever it is, I've made progress.

Have a great weekend and I'll share the Saturday weigh-in on Monday!

Got ice?

Not my actual knee, but you get the point

Not busy at work (I know right?) and got to take a couple walks during the day.  Ate well too.  Then when I got home, I iced my knees.  And promptly fell asleep for 3 hours.  THREE HOURS?!? Seriously?  Ok, so I have to figure out a way to ice the knees that doesn't involve laying down.  On the bright side though, my knees feel so much better.  I'm gonna take some motrin before bed and hopefully keep up the icing/motrin schedule for the next several days.

Breakfast and lunch are packed are ready to go to work.  Looking forward to another great day!

Please continue to keep all those affected by the Black Forest fire in your prayers.  We are close to an evac zone, but it appears the winds continue to push the fire away from us.  Unfortunately, that still affects so many others.  Pray for the firefighters who are working 16+ hour shifts to stop this thing. Pray for the victims. Pray for no wind.  Pray For Rain.

It must be the busy season...

Ever since I started this blog, or at least the last couple weeks, I haven't been able to meet my daily goals at work with the exception of a couple days here and there.  I don't get it.  Is this one of those life lessons where you plan something and Murphy steps in and derails your plans?  Well, I'm not going to beat myself up over something which I have no control.  If it's busy at work it's busy - nothing I can do but enjoy the day speeding by and get a good night sleep.  Today, I did meet my water goal and my food goal, so I don't know what I'm complaining about and I managed around 6,000 steps even without the treadmill.  (Note this semi-positive spin I'm trying to do here?)

Anyway, I'm not trying to meet all my goals while at work, but it'd be a lot easier to have most of my water intake done before I get home in the afternoons.  It's nice to eat according to a plan throughout my day.  And it's nice to get away from the desk and walk around a bit.  Guess I just need a contingency plan for busy days.  Thoughts?  Ideas?  Suggestions?

Ok, new topic/no transition - I'm thinking about icing my knees.  I don't know if it will help, but they're sooooo stiff and sore!!  Some anti-inflammatories would probably help as well.  I know the doc will just tell me I'm getting old, but this is ridiculous!!

Finally, let's end all this whining on a positive note!!! Tomorrow is a new day.  What are some ways to succeed in drinking more water at work and get more steps?

-Park further away from the door
-Walk faster
-Bring ice to work to crunch on (though my desk neighbors may not appreciate it)
-Drinking more water = going to the bathroom more = losing weight = getting more steps with more trips to the bathroom = losing even more weight (I LIKE THAT ONE!)
-What else?
-Anything?
-No really?
-ECHO, Echo, echo...
-HELLO, Hello, hello, ello, lo
-Yes, it's getting late 

P.S.  Today was donut day at work again - VICTORY!!!! I didn't have one - yessssssssssah.

Bountiful Baskets

Yesterday, I mentioned fruit and vegetable availability at CoOps.  I just recently learned of one in my area and I'm thinking about participating.  Problem is, you don't know what you're going to get before you order.  I can handle pretty much any fruit, but veggies?  I have a tough time with those.  How am I going to cook them?  How will I store them?  Will my family even eat them?  I guess we'll just figure it out.  Best case, I learn some new recipes - worst case, my friends have a few extra veggies on their plates.  Even that's not bad.  Good news is I don't have to shop for produce; bad news is I don't get to shop for produce.  Honestly, I'm thankful to even be able to participate in a CoOp.  If you're interested, check out Bountiful Baskets and see if they're in your area, or search for a "CoOp" in your area.  It's a great way to support our farmers.  They get more profit by participating and we get lower prices and an abundance of healthy foods - win-win!!

On to today... I'm starting to sound like a broken record with the whole "I was so busy at work" thing, but it's true!! I got to the bathroom once today and didn't get lunch until very late.  Needless to say, I didn't make 10,000 steps, nor did I get enough water and being hungry for an extended period isn't good for weight loss nor those around me when the hunger monster rears its ugly head!  I will make an effort to do better tomorrow.  Ah forget *effort* - I WILL do better tomorrow!!

Finally, praying for all those affected by the fire that started today in Black Forest, CO.