BL Check In

I know I skipped last week. It's just been crazy with deadlines around here and I've not spent a lot of time on the computer.

Weigh-in last week went really well. I was down 3.2 pounds! If I can just do a min of 1-2 pounds a week, I'll be ecstatic and have a shot at that $130 for my working vacation in October.

I was surprised by the drop in pounds on Friday morning because Bob and I went out to dinner for our 27th wedding anniversary the night before. I tried to be very good. We ate at Ruby Tuesday's. I chose the full rack of ribs with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegies. I didn't eat the potatoes, only 1/2 the ribs and the steamed veggies. I preempted the meal with a large salad. The remaining 1/2 rack of ribs was my lunch on Friday.

Friday night we ate out at a place called A La Carte in West Plains. A good friend of mine, Michael 'Blindcat' McIntire and his wife, Sandy aka Mamacat were the scheduled entertainment. You can check out his blog at Blindcat . They are talented blues artists, doing a mix of cover tunes and ones they've written.

A La Carte is a trendy restaurant with amazing food - most of it grown locally and made fresh daily. Reservations are strongly recommended. When you make your dinner reservation you also place your entree order from a pre-set list (usually 3 options). Friday night we had the option of Country Pork Ribs, Sesame encrusted Shashimi-grade Tuna filet or a Vegan dish. Bob and I both chose the pork ribs. They were so moist and flavorful. They didn't require any sauce or a knife to eat. The saute'd yellow and zucchini squash were the perfect accompaniment. I also ate both of Bob and I's dinner salads of locally grown greens with Balsamic Vinegar and EVOO.

Aside from great blues music to entertain us, I discovered I LOVE the lighter dressing. I've never eaten anything but creamy ranch on a salad. I was amazed to find salad doesn't need to be covered up. It's better to let the true flavors of great vegies come through.

So my tip for this week...

If you've never tried a lighter version of your favorite food, I encourage you to do so. You may find out you've been missing out on something AWESOME!

To a great week...

Joining a Team

Though I haven't been here, the weight has been doing okay. By 'okay' I mean not down but at least not up! I just want to get over this hurdle. I know once I finally dip below 180, it will be easier.

So this past week I joined a local Biggest Loser group at of all place, our local mini-mart. For a $10 entry fee, we check in every Friday for 6 weeks. There will be weekly prizes and at the end of September, someone is a few pounds lighter except for the extra cash in their pocket. With all the traveling I'm doing in October, I could sure use the money. I won't have to go clothes shopping, as I have favorites in my closet I'd love to be able to wear again. But I might need at least one new outfit. :-)

So although my home scales show 181, the store shows 186.8. So that is the weight I'll be showcasing for the duration of the challenge. At the end of the competition, I'll revert back to my home-scale weight. I know I'm going to like that number so much better. But loss is a loss, regardless of what scales I use.

In an earlier post I talked about sugar. Over the last two weeks I've been trying really hard to eliminate as much sugar and processed foods from my diet as possible. I've read Suzanne Somers' Sexy Forever and what an eye-opener. If you've not read it, I encourage everyone to do so... especially women from pre- to post-menopause. Wow! The stuff that is in our foods to supposedly 'enhance flavor' or add shelf life is killing us. So my focus has been whole grains, lean meats and more vegies. Gee, where have we heard this before?

One thing I've experienced in my education as a writer is that I can hear the same thing over and over, but it's all in how it's presented as to whether or not the information really 'sticks'. The same is true of this. I don't think it was so much about WHAT I NEEDED to be eating, as to hearing WHAT I HAVE BEEN eating. It is quite a scary list. So I guess you can consider me - Scared Straight.

Will I give up all my favorite foods? No. Will I try to learn new ways of making them healthier and less poisonous? YES I hope to share what I learn and create over the next 6 weeks and beyond.

Our weigh-ins are on Friday. This week I should go down as I'm having a tooth pulled tomorrow. Yeah, there's one day I won't be eating. LOL Followed by two days of soft foods while the gum heals, yep.. Friday is looking pretty good.

How's your week shaping up?

Back on Track

Okay, so I've never really been 'off-track' just off the grid.

Right after that last post we got hit with thunderstorms and rain. Lots of rain! Rain every day for 17 days straight, with very few breaks. I couldn't get out in the garden to put anything in the ground, while some people who planted early had all their hard work washed away.

When the rain finally stopped, it turned incredibly HOT and HUMID. Man, I've haven't known such humidity in June and July since I moved out of Baton Rouge years ago. It was horrid! You didn't want to be away from an air conditioner for more than five minutes.

Okay, you're thinking - 'What does humidity and heat have to do with being on-line? I wondered the same thing. But I could not stay on-line for more than ten minutes. Mind you, my HughesNet modem and my NetGear Wireless router are in the office downstairs. My dehumidifier runs 24/7 and we have central air. Heat SHOULDN'T have been an issue. And at the on-set, I didn't know it was. Multiple calls to HughesNet tech support were driving me crazy. I couldn't make them understand that I didn't want a temporary fix. I wanted to get to the root of the problem so it would STOP!

One night I finally bypassed the technician and requested a supervisor who spoke English. I don't have a problem with other nationalities, but I do believe they should be able to understand you and vice versa.

What we determined - mind you, I'd been battling this for most of two months - was that my Hughes Net modem needed to rest. Heck, no one told me to unplug everything at night! I was leaving everything running 24/7. So I started shutting down at night. For the first couple days I was good to go and tried getting everything caught up. Then it did it again! I finally determined the modem was good for about 10 minutes. Then it would overheat and shut down, kicking me off-line. So I made the trip into WM for a $10 desk fan. Voila! I've not had a problem since. Mind you, it took me to the middle of July to remedy this. From then, it's been a massive catch-up.

In the midst of it, I found a full-time writing gig as a columnist for our local paper. I love it being a reporter and a columnist. And a weekly by-line doesn't hurt the resume either.

So this brings me to finally being caught up enough to get back to regular blogging :: crossing fingers here :::

And because I want it to stand alone, I'm going to offer up today's post separately.

So here we go....

A Revelation!

Wow!

If I'm puzzled about something, I find the answer often comes to me like an epiphany when I first open my eyes in the morning. Today was no exception... though I really didn't need it at 6 a.m.

I've done so well with my weight-loss in the respect that even if it wasn't going down, it wasn't going up. Well... last week I gained 5 pounds! I was mortified that I'm a pound shy of where I began 3 years ago. Yikes! I kept going back over my week and couldn't imagine 3 small ice cream cones over the course of the week could do that much damage. I only had one 8 oz pepsi the whole week, though I did cave in to a taste for a piece of Chocolate cake... the first real chocolate cake I've had in over a year.

Well, those things didn't help because of all the sugar BUT that isn't where my excess sugar was coming from. But sugar IS the culprit.

I've been outlining a book in prep for a new area of discussion on one of my other blogs. I get a lot more done with my hand work when I get away from the house. So every morning I'd pack up my notebook and the book I'm reading and drove the 4 miles into the cafe for breakfast. I was keeping breakfast to a minimal.. usually a sausage/ egg/ cheese biscuit and the coffee... Multiple cups of coffee.

Okay, coffee alone isn't a bad thing but I can't drink it black. Just isn't going to happen. So 3-4 cups of coffee every morning .. and maybe again later for lunch... laden with sugar was adding up.

So for this week, I'm not leaving the house except for 1 day. And it WON'T be for breakfast/ coffee. I CAN NOT be like this the rest of my life. I REFUSE. And only I can make the CHANGES needed to fix it.

And the journey continues...

The Uphill Climb

Why does everything worth having/ doing have to be an uphill battle? I tell you, if I could get credit for that alone I'd be in the best shape of my life.

I had a great time with my friends last week... and gained 4 pounds. So I'm back to the drawing board. Good thing is, hubby is also gone for the next 2.5 weeks so I can stay on track and see if I can get it off. I've already lost 2 of the gained pounds in a week so I'm doing something right.

It's been cold and dreary for the past week. Downright miserable for May. Today is a bit more spring-like and I'me feeling like doing something again. Before it gets too hot - and we all know weather seems to go from one extreme to another - I'll be getting a lot done out in the garden. Hubby taught me how to run the tiller so I can get more of the spots tilled up that I want. It just wouldn't dry out soon enough for him to do it AND complete the living room remodel before our guests arrived for the long weekend.

The bonus to the living room remodel is I have room to work out again. I LOVE to dance. I keep looking at ZUMBA. It looks like a blast. But then I look at all the dance/ exercise videos I have on my shelf and think maybe I should give them a chance before I invest in any more. Don't laugh but I love Richard Simmons dance workouts and have 4 or 5 of them. I also have Latin, Country, Hip Hop... and the list goes on. I have a wide variety, to say the least. I'm just going to start trying them all until one hits me that I want to do routinely.

My goal is still 1 pound a week but if I could squeeze in 2 per week here and there, I'd be ecstatic.

In all the chaos I never got in here to post the results of that new Pumpkin Spice cake recipe. One word... YUM! okay.. maybe 2 ... HEALTHY! And I have Hungry Girl to thank for the inspiration! I promise to post the recipe on Wednesday.

Until next time...

Enjoy the Journey!

Off to a slow start

Did you get your pedometer? Did you check out the 10,000 Steps website? I hope you did both. I was so excited about getting out and walking. But as usual, when I set a course a wave will crash into my plans. The Monday after my last post we began getting rain... and rain... and more rain. It rained pretty much for seven days straight, leaving us 17" of rain. For three days we couldn't even get out our road. Needless to say, I wasn't walking anywhere.

Treadmill might have been an option. However, everything from the living room was stripped out and piled in front of the treadmill in preparation for a complete room remodel. LOL I told you it crashes!

I did walk a lot today. It was finally a beautifully sunny, dry day in the Ozarks. I have two writer friends visiting from central IL. I treated them to a surprise field trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and homestead in Mansfield MO. We walked through the gift shop, the museum and both of the houses Almonso and Laura lived in after they made the move from DeSmet S. Dakota to Mansfield MO.

After leaving there, we went in search of lunch. Not a lot of great options but we ate light in anticipation of our dinner later. Then we went back uptown to a used book store where we wondered and shopped.

Then we made the 2-hr drive back East to West Plains MO where we walked the entire Town Square going into shops that were still open (it was after 5) and just window peeking in others.

Dinner was at Kings Garden Buffet where I enjoyed Mongolian stir fry while my friends ate their fill of fresh-made Sushi. I don't care for sushi rice but doing the Mongolian stir fry was a healthy alternative to the normal buffet stuff drenched in sauces.

We then walked our dinner off in the WalMart SuperCenter while Cheri (one of my friends) shopped for the ingredients she needed for the Cuban dinner she is making for us tomorrow. I LOVE her black bean soup. YUM! And she drove down here special to make it for me. What a friend!

The only thing detrimental to my journey this weekend is the alcohol. I don't drink a bunch but I have had 1 Cowgirl Quencher each night they've been here. After they leave, I'll be lucky if I have more than one over the course of the next 3-4 months.

I guess the moral is here that everything in moderation and it's okay to treat yourself once in awhile as long as you keep that 'moderation' thing in mind.

Enjoy the Journey!

Stepping it Up!

So are you curious about today's topic? I suggested you go shopping for a pedometer. I know it was short notice, so I'm going to give you the rest of the week to purchase one. But come Monday morning I'd love to see all of you joining me on this challenge. It really is a lot of FUN!

One of the things about exercise is for the most part it's BORING! I mean, who wants to do the same routine over and over again? When we get the living room remodeled (within the next two weeks- Yeah!), I'll have a bit more floor space for putting my many work out tapes/ dvds to use. But one thing I really enjoy is WALKING! And it's the best exercise you can get.

Running and jogging are hard on your heels, knees and hips. Why anyone would promote them as healthy is beyond me. I think it's all in that 'he who runs the fastest wins' thing. I like competition but not at the expense of damaging my body.

Walking is a smooth, easy pace that gets your heart rate up as your walking speed increases without doing damage to the body you're trying so hard to make BETTER!

Almost three years ago, right after we moved down here to the Ozarks, I set the course to get in better shape. I loved the Jorge Cruise thought process of eating the right foods in specific portions. I'll talk more about Cruise later in the blog. As part of the program I joined a Yahoo group of ladies also using the Cruise program. Our big exercise push was to WALK. Not just walk but to strap on the pedometer and strive to walk 10,000 Steps in a day. 10,000 Steps is equivalent to 5 miles and is one of the best things you can do towards having a healthy heart when it comes to exercise.

Last week, the choke cable went out on my riding lawn mower. I discovered this when I went out to mow a BADLY needed lawn. I let it go another week and finally couldn't stand it anymore and decided to get out the push mower. How bad can it be to push mow, right? And it's good exercise. So out of curiosity I clipped on the pedometer and hit the turf.

2.5 hours and 5 miles later, the lawn looked good. Surprisingly I was not as sore the next day as I thought I'd be. Might have had something to do with the 2 analgesics I took before I went to bed. hehe But it got me to thinking. Why haven't I been wearing my pedometer and keeping track of my steps/ miles? It was motivating me when I did it before? Well, it all went back to my daughter/ granddaughter moving in and my routine falling apart.

At first I couldn't remember how many miles the 10,000 steps equaled so I went searching the net and found a terrific sight called. 10,000 steps.org It's a great site put together by a group from Australia who started the 10,000 steps phenomenon.

On this site you create an account (which requires your email and a password - super easy). This gives you access to log your daily step count PLUS you can enter the number of minutes you spent doing every day activities (either moderate or easy) and it will calculate it into steps for you! Next to each day there's a notepad. Clicking on it will give you a pop-up to enter any notes about your day. Maybe keep track of what location you walked that day (if you used a specific walking track) or what you did to gain that many steps (like my mowing the yard). It all helps to give you a visual! I'm a visual person so this really helps me a ton!

I recommend looking at their LIBRARY tab. Some Great information there! Don't try to absorb it all at once though. You don't want to get overwhelmed. You want to be MOTIVATED. So just click on the links that apply to you now and know the other information is always there when you need it.

You can even request a buddy or join a challenge to help motivate you. Right now I have my own personal challenge. As you'll see to the right, I want to walk the miles equivalent to walking the Ozark Hiking Trail. I figure if I do it a couple of times in bits and pieces, I'll be in the condition I need to make the journey for real.

Maybe you'd like to climb Mt. Everest. Or walk across America from coast to coast. What about walk across your state? Find out how many miles your destination requires and divide by 5. That will tell you how many 10,000 step increments you need to walk to meet your goal. Or you can cheat like I did and just go to tickerfactory.com and set up your own goal chart. hehe.

So as I look out the window at a cloudy sky and storms threaten, I'm clipping on the pedometer and heading into town to walk for a bit. I love walking out here in the country but don't do it so much when Bob's gone. Safety first and being out on back roads alone really isn't safe - even in broad daylight. And right now with people's yards starting to show signs of spring, It seems like a good way to spend the morning before the storms arrive.

So come on! Leave a COMMENT and let me know you'll join me on this quest. I CHALLENGE you!

Enjoy the Journey!