Weigh in Report for July 5th

Well, I'd love to tell you I had a great loss this week, but I actually gained 1.8 pounds this week. I totally fell down on the job. I "thought" I had been eating well, but honestly did not track or write down much. I also didn't go to kettle bell or do any other form of exercise at all this week. Plus I know I hit the trail mix pretty hard at the minor league baseball game I went to on Thursday night.

So I have no one to blame for this gain but myself. I took the week off from my healthy life and you know what, I am paying for it. I paid for it on the scale today but I also paid for it because I feel totally run down from this cold and I wonder if I would have improved quicker if I had been eating right and exercising.

Live and learn and get back up on the horse and continue to ride into the health sunset.

Grande Sugar Free Skim Mocha No Whip

This is my drink of choice from Biggby coffee that just opened up near where I work. This is the first “real” coffee shop in this town. They had their grand opening last week and I am ashamed to admit this……but …….I went every single day last week for a coffee! I am ashamed because I know that this stuff is crap for your body plus a $4 a day coffee habit does not fit into my meager budget. All the staff and management know me by name already. (It’s like Cheer’s….everyone knows your name). This town was thrilled to have a chain coffee shop. On last Monday, (the official grand opening) the line was 25 people deep at 6am!

I did better this week, I met a friend for a lunch time coffee on Monday and then I stopped this morning for one. Next week I will allow myself to stop once per week and that’s it. Their website gives you all the nutritional information so I can count the calories.

Other than my budding coffee habit, my eating has been good despite being extra tired this week and catching a mother of a cold.

Is it easier when you have more to lose?

I called my dear friend Diana today and she told me that she was officially made a Weight Watchers lifetime member this week. I am so proud of her. I think she lost just under 40 pounds total. She and her husband joined WW the same week that I did.

I just think it must be harder to lose 30 or 40 pounds than the 130 than I needed to lose. I say this because if I were only about 30 pounds over weight, I don’t think I would have even thought I needed to lose weight at all. I just wouldn’t have thought it was such a big deal and just continued on with my life. I’d have bought a bigger size and waddled on. This makes total sense because I was 130 pounds over weight before I decided to do anything. I just kept buying a bigger size each season. It took a huge mountain of a weight problem to get myself motivated.

I am proud of her and everyone else that realizes that just losing any amount of excess weight (even as small as 10% of their body weight) will make a difference in their health.

End of Quarter Inventory

Not feeling very talkative today as yesterday I stayed until after 10 pm and helped with end of quarter inventory and ended up working a 14 hour day. Pretty tired today considering I got less than 6 hours sleep last night before I need to turn around and get back into work.

Friends and Coworkers

I had a big fender bender on my way to work this yesterday morning. What a way to start a Monday. The end result is that the sheriff deputy found us both at fault which since I have PLPD insurance means that none of my damages will be covered. Minimum I need a new wheel and tire to the tune of about $250. The entire drivers side of the car actually needs replaced, but I will just have the front fender bumped out and call it good. I can think of a lot better places to put my money than just making my car look normal again.

What strikes me is how great some of the people I work with are. My coworker and friend were right on the scene helping me to change the wheel and put on the temporary tire so I could get the rest of the way in to work. Our truck driver is taking care of getting me a deal on the new wheel and tire and one of the tool room guys is all over bumping out the fender and doors.

So, as rotten as my Monday began, I was okay, the other person was fine and my friends and coworkers were right there to help me get things back to normal. I have to feel pretty lucky to have all these people I can turn to for help.

Birthday!

“Don’t just count your years, make your years count” –Ernest Meyers

Today is my 36th birthday. I cannot even begin to tell you how different my life is this year from last. This year, I actually feel 36 (or a bit younger) instead of 65. I can’t even remember my birthday last year it was such a non significant day. I was miserable and so depressed; I remember I was really hurting from the dog show event a few weeks prior. I didn’t feel like I had any value. I ate to suffocate my feelings (not that that was a new thing, I’d always done it, it just got worse last year). I was on a railcar to the bottom of a coal mine. I actually didn’t hit bottom until a month later (I started WW on July 23rd).

This year, I have learned what real friends are. I had them; I just didn’t see and appreciate them like I do now. Three people have already called and sung happy birthday to me this morning. Last night I actually played with my friends kids on their trampoline. I have never been on one before! These kids are teaching me its okay to be silly. I like that. You should have heard them chanting “Go Brenda, Go Brenda”. How cute is that?

So starting with this past year, I am making my years count. I am actually living my life, not just letting the days slip by. And to think that this is only one year into my “new life”, imagine how I’ll have the world by the tail this time next year.

What do I want for myself next year on my birthday? I want ore of what I have right now. More of being happy, more of loving my husband, family and dogs, more of being physically and mentally fit, more of trying new things, and more of enjoying every day.

Happy Birthday to me!

Weekend High lights and Low lights.

Low lights first. I went to an auction looking for a new bike. I found a decent one, and decided I would go as high as $40 for it. I wandered around following the auctioneer watching the other items go when I looked behind me and there was a second auctioneer and he had just finished auctioning off the bikes. The bike I wanted went for $5! No, I didn’t forget to put a zero on the end of that number. This was a nice bike too. It had big shocks on the front, and on the rear wheels, as well as some kind of a suspension thing on the center bar. (Can you tell I know nothing about bikes?) It’s not that I really “need” a new bike, but would have been happy to pick something up. I guess it was not meant to be. I had to keep telling myself that so I didn't spit nails I was so mad when I realized what happened.

Another low light is that my big upright freezer went kaput this weekend. I think the seal went bad. I ate more meat this weekend than I have in months. I managed to fit most of the meat into our freezer in the house, and anything that was remotely looking freezer burned I cooked up for the dogs. The rest was freezer burned veggies and bread so we really didn’t lose much money. I am going to look for something smaller and more energy efficient to replace it.

One of my high lights of course includes my .4 pound loss on Saturday. I also picked strawberries on Saturday and that was quite enjoyable even if it was back breaking. The berries were only $1.40 per pound if you picked them yourself otherwise they are $3.50 per quart this season. Kind of pricey I think. I made John and I some healthy, low sugar strawberry shortcake.

Another high light is that I made my first ever compost bin. I took a 55 gallon plastic barrel (which I already had) and drilled a bazillion holes in it, then put it outside to start composting some of our food waste. I have so many fruit and vegetables peels and scraps that just go into the landfill where they can’t break down because they are trapped in a plastic bag. I need to make a list for John so he knows what can and cannot go into the compost pile. I am still foggy on a few things. I know meat, bones and processed foods are generally a no no. My main purpose is to reduce the amount of garbage we put out to the road. The nice soil it will eventually create will be a bonus, but that is not my primary reason for doing it. I am sick of paying $300 per year for garbage pick up. Between our recycling efforts and now our composting, I think we will reduce our garbage to at most one bag per week. I am terribly ashamed to admit we would put out five bags per week easily before we started recycling. So this is just one more layer to “greening” up our habits.