Not Quite Dead Yet ;)

It's been awhile since I last posted, mostly because I've been seriously backsliding. I'm currently within 4 pounds of my starting weight. Heavy, FAT, sigh .... I haven't been watching what I eat, and I haven't been exercising. Spring has given me that spark I need to get myself back on track. I hope I can keep it up this time. 

I'm not doing Weight Watcher's anymore. I'm focusing on cutting out the junk food and sugar in my diet (and second helpings!), and getting in lots of exercise.  Since I lose the most weight when I exercise (just a pound or two if I don't and three-to-seven pounds if I do), I'm going to put most of my energy and focus on exercising every day. 

TTYL ...

Thursday Thrills

I wasn't feeling up to a workout today, but I got on the bike and talked myself into doing at least one 20-minute program, when I finished I was doing good so I pushed on to program 2. I finished 2 without a problem and was feeling so stoked I went back to program 1 and did an additional 10 minutes. So I started out not wanting to do anything and ended up doing 50 minutes! LOL ... not shabby. ;)

Now I'm all sweaty and need to hit the shower. 

Btw ... is there anyone else who has a blog with blogger and uses firefox as their browser having problems editing their blog? I encountered a problem for the first time yesterday. I tried for 10 minutes or so to edit my blog, then tried searching blogger for any current problems with firefox and found at least one other person having similar problems, so I tried using google's chrome browser and was able to edit without a problem. Now I'm wondering if the problem is with blogger or firefox. It's possible a new update of firefox is causing issues with blogger, but I'm also suspicious that Google/Blogger aren't supporting firefox like they used to ... I'll have to keep trying to find the answer. Firefox is my primary browser and I really don't like using another browser because I have to; I keep other browsers because occasionally I like to check them out, but so far none of the others feel as comfortable or are as useful to me as firefox. 

Achieved 5% Goal!!!

That bike was the best investment I ever made! Weigh-in this morning was awesome! I lost 8.4 pounds this week!! WOO HOO!!!

To date, I've lost 16.2 pounds. Today I got another 5-lb star and my 5% goal star. I'm 8.8 pounds away from my 10% goal. 5% goal = 12.5 pounds and 10% goal = 25 pounds. Yesterday I decided to see if I could fit in my jeans again, and I could! I can't wait to buy a smaller size. ;)

On Saturday I started preset program 1 on my recumbent bike, which is a 20-minute program that takes me from resistance level 1 through 5 and back down again. I did one 20-minute segment in the morning, and a second 20-minute segment in the afternoon. Sunday I was feeling a bit "off", so I only did one 20-minute segment. On Monday (yesterday) I did two 20-minute segments in a row. Today I'm going to start preset program 2, which is also a 20-minute program, but will take me through resistance level 6. It's my plan to do 40 minutes each day this week.

Here's a pic of my bike:

I have my freezer filled with Weight Watcher treats (points are listed on the box, which is helpful), such as ice cream cups (which help with portion control) and ice cream bars. I've tried the toffee ice cream bars, chocolate mousse ice cream bars, sherbet ice cream bars, and now I'm trying the new Latte ice cream bars. The Latte is the best, hands down (if you're a coffee-lover like me)! At meeting today I picked up a box of Mint Cookie Crisp bars. We got a freebie at last week's meeting and they were really good. I'm going to take them to work with me to help keep me out of the vending machines. ;)

Well that's my news today ... catch ya later!

Still Working It Out

Today was my 3rd workout. I'm doing 35 minutes now; still on resistance level 1. Tomorrow when I don't have to worry about crippling myself for work I'll try out one of the workout programs. ;)

Wednesday I was going between 13-15 mph, yesterday I was feeling some sore muscles and was only able to maintain 12-13 mph. Today I really wasn't up to working out, but did it anyway and was able to maintain 13-17; mostly 13-15 but I pumped it up for a bit to get one more mile squeezed in.

Wednesday I did 7 miles in 31 minutes, yesterday it took me 35 minutes to get that 7 miles. Today I went 8 miles in 35 minutes. I'll try to push myself more tomorrow. The exercise has helped me lose all but 1 pound of the weight I gained last week. I'm hoping to lose that last pound and a little more before Tuesday morning's weigh-in.

The cool thing was I burned off my lunch (cottage cheese and apple slices) according to the bike's monitor. :)

Workout

Well, I had a relapse these past two weeks. I didn't attend meeting last week because I was sick. A touch of flu and my sinuses were acting up. Then my fibro kicked in. I wasn't tracking. I wasn't exercising. I wasn't really dieting at all. I'm sure I had a gain last week, but I definitely had one this week. I went to meeting yesterday, prepared to face the music after my two-week rebellion, and discovered I had regained 4.2 lbs. I knew it was going to be bad, and I was prepared to get it over with and wipe the slate clean. Still, I felt very ashamed seeing that number on the scale.

Last night I went to Wal-Mart and bought a recumbent bike. My husband put it together when we got home and I tried it out for a couple minutes. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to pedal than my old regular stationary bike (which bit the dust a couple years ago). This afternoon I got on it and pedaled for 31 minutes, 7 miles, and burned 135 calories. I'm so surprised I was able to pedal that long. On my regular stationary bike I could only manage 10 minutes at a time at the most (my hips are bad with arthritis), but my first 20 minutes on the recumbent bike went really easy. The last 11 minutes were tougher and I was sweating pretty good. I was going to stop at 30 minutes, but I was so close to 7 miles I went another minute to reach it. I'm only on resistance level 1, but plan to increase the level as I go along.

My new bike also has 8 programs on it that I plan to play with this weekend. I accidentally hit one of those program buttons last night and it switched resistance levels as I pedaled, slowly increasing as I went along. I don't know how long these programs are; I'll have to read the manual more carefully. ;)

Well DH is nagging me about supper, and I need to go to work in a couple hours. I'll write more tomorrow. One thing I want to mention though, I'm actually feeling more limber after my bike ride this afternoon. My hips actually seemed to like it. And my blood sugar has come down too. I'm really happy I finally decided to get that bike. I've been talking about it for the last year.

Close to reaching first small goal

I lost 4.8 lbs this week! WOO HOO!! I thought I'd be lucky to lose close to 3 lbs, but I nearly lost 5. I'm so relieved to be back on track and losing again.

My first small goal is losing 5% of my body weight, which would be 12.5 lbs. As of today I've lost 12 lbs. I'm hoping to lose that half-pound (and then some) next week. Then I'll focus on my 10% goal.

I bought a box of Fiber One cereal yesterday. I was looking to add more fiber in my diet. I was delighted to find out that 1/2 cup of Fiber One is zero points! 1/2 cup of skim milk is 1 point, so it turned out to be a really good choice for breakfast. And it tastes better than I thought it would. ;)

Back On Track

Tomorrow is weigh-in day and I'm happy to say I'm back on track this week. My home scale is showing loss, so I'm hopeful I'll have a really good morning at meeting tomorrow. If I can squeeze another 1/2 lb off me by tomorrow morning I'll reach my 5% goal, if not, then I'll reach it next week. ;)