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| Oh Yeah! We are ready to WORK IT! |
Sunday, August 30, 2015
DIY Workout-A Project For Health and Home
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Healthy Living Through Home Improvement
Jeff and I have been meaning to get back to our 10,000 steps-a-day walking goal, but we haven't actually managed to get back on track with it. Jeff has become busier than ever this month. He completed his Bachelor's degree in computer animation and is now onto a new course program. He is still working at Sabelhaus West Inc., and FOOTBALL SEASON has begun!!! Well, pre-season is here, but the regular season is upon us and Jeff must prepare his Fantasy Football Team, as well as devote his energy to ensuring his beloved Seattle Seahawks have a stellar season! I'm not exactly sure what part Jeff plays in the success or failure of the Seahawks, it's a spiritual thing that I don't have a complete grasp of yet. I think it involves victorious imagery, speaking in tongues loudly to the players on the screen and a complex system of Numerology. Regardless, I support him whole-heartedly. GO HAWKS!!!
Jeff is also trying to launch his new career (putting that degree to good use). Fuchs Media will have it's humble beginnings in our basement. Which means a lot of physical labor on our part. If you have met Jeff or any of the Bremerton-born Fuchs men, you know that they do not do anything halfway. Jeff, his brother Jason and his dad Denny are all very talented craftsmen in some form or another. Woodworking, mechanics, electronics, technology, flooring, and countless other skills and manly kind of stuff. And if your project is going to have the Fuchs name on it, it is going to be done well. So we can't just shuffle some couches around, set up the computer and be ready to go. No way! We are going to put in countless hours of exhausting manual labor (womanual labor?) so that Fuchs Media is housed in the BEST basement possible.
Jeff did not ask me to help him. He very excitedly detailed his plans for all the work that he plans to get done and what he wants to get accomplished within his (ambitious but unrealistic) timeline. I could've left him to his work and gone shoe shopping or had my nails done. But I did not. I offered my services, such as they are. We spent a good five hours yesterday cleaning up the shop side of the basement. Jeff moved all manner of heavy items while I donned my oh-so-fashionable rubber gloves and scrubbed the walls, swept, vacuumed and sucked up at least 100 spiders of no less than 10 different species and all of their webs and egg sacs with the shop-vac. If there are any interested arachnologists out there, I have a shop-vac FULL of your little buddies, a little spider-utopia, just waiting for you to collect and study them. Please. Before they figure out how to escape.
We had to stop working at about 4:00 so that we could watch the Seahawks in their second pre-season game. Side note-if you are someone who is not a HUGE football fan, but you live with one DO NOT EVER say "It's only pre-season. It doesn't really count". Apparently, that is a false statement and will NOT result in a sigh of relief on your Super-Fan's part. You will, however, be the recipient of a Gaze of Confusion or possibly the Glare of Horror. Just don't go there.
Last night I agreed to get up early and get right to work with my sweetheart. How could I say no? He was so happy to have my help. He looked at me with so much love in his eyes and told me how much he appreciated our partnership. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. This morning, I was awakened to breakfast in bed at 7:00 a.m. and the handsomest smile. And then, far too soon, the clock struck 8 and it was time to get to WORK!!! I finished scrubbing the walls, swept and vacuumed the floor again. Jeff's dad arrived with his truck. I helped them load up the trash to take to the dump and got to work on painting the walls with primer. To be clear, I am not a Fuchs (right now I'm just in the pledge program. I'm hoping my application gets processed in the next couple of years. Fingers crossed!). I do not have the skills of a Fuchs, nor do I possess the attention to detail of their people. I wish I was that meticulous, but alas, I am more of the school of "good-enough". And I work at a fairly slow pace, as I am unsure of my skills. And rightly so! I do try, but I get frustrated easily and after my first smudgey mistake, I give in to my desire to just Get It Done Already. But my rates are very reasonable (breakfast in bed) and you only get what you pay for...
Jeff and Denny returned from the dump and got to work on installing 18 "can" lights and taking out the existing shop lights and nest of various electrical wires while I continued to do a remarkably sloppy job of applying two coats of primer to the cement walls. I was trying to fill in all the little holes with paint and becoming really frustrated. And sore. And cranky. By about 5:30, I could do no more. Jeff was somewhat distressed with the fact that I was giving up and the job was unfinished. How un-Fuchs-like of me. Uh-oh! I may have blown my shot at joining the tribe! But I had reached the point of becoming resentful, which is not healthy for our relationship. I was so sore and tired. Jeff and Denny completed the entire re-lighting project. And it looks amazing and works perfectly. I don't know when we will have time to get the painting finished. Tomorrow is Jeff's Fantasy Football League Summit and Draft Picks. The earth will stop spinning until that is all taken care of. Serious business folks!
So Jeff and I haven't been for a walk, but I think we have been getting in a good amount of physical activity and we have a lot more work to do. I need to get my Jawbone Up charged and on my wrist again so I can get credit for all the moving around. And I hope on weigh-in day that this hard work pays off!
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| You BET I'm a fan of the Legion of BOOM!!! |
Jeff is also trying to launch his new career (putting that degree to good use). Fuchs Media will have it's humble beginnings in our basement. Which means a lot of physical labor on our part. If you have met Jeff or any of the Bremerton-born Fuchs men, you know that they do not do anything halfway. Jeff, his brother Jason and his dad Denny are all very talented craftsmen in some form or another. Woodworking, mechanics, electronics, technology, flooring, and countless other skills and manly kind of stuff. And if your project is going to have the Fuchs name on it, it is going to be done well. So we can't just shuffle some couches around, set up the computer and be ready to go. No way! We are going to put in countless hours of exhausting manual labor (womanual labor?) so that Fuchs Media is housed in the BEST basement possible.
 |
| Uncle Gary, Denny, Jason and Jeff. A skulk of foxes! ( I googled it) |
Jeff did not ask me to help him. He very excitedly detailed his plans for all the work that he plans to get done and what he wants to get accomplished within his (ambitious but unrealistic) timeline. I could've left him to his work and gone shoe shopping or had my nails done. But I did not. I offered my services, such as they are. We spent a good five hours yesterday cleaning up the shop side of the basement. Jeff moved all manner of heavy items while I donned my oh-so-fashionable rubber gloves and scrubbed the walls, swept, vacuumed and sucked up at least 100 spiders of no less than 10 different species and all of their webs and egg sacs with the shop-vac. If there are any interested arachnologists out there, I have a shop-vac FULL of your little buddies, a little spider-utopia, just waiting for you to collect and study them. Please. Before they figure out how to escape.
 |
| Good Heavens, that's terrifying!!! |
We had to stop working at about 4:00 so that we could watch the Seahawks in their second pre-season game. Side note-if you are someone who is not a HUGE football fan, but you live with one DO NOT EVER say "It's only pre-season. It doesn't really count". Apparently, that is a false statement and will NOT result in a sigh of relief on your Super-Fan's part. You will, however, be the recipient of a Gaze of Confusion or possibly the Glare of Horror. Just don't go there.
 |
| The look you get when someone says "It's only Pre-Season. It doesn't Count" |
Last night I agreed to get up early and get right to work with my sweetheart. How could I say no? He was so happy to have my help. He looked at me with so much love in his eyes and told me how much he appreciated our partnership. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. This morning, I was awakened to breakfast in bed at 7:00 a.m. and the handsomest smile. And then, far too soon, the clock struck 8 and it was time to get to WORK!!! I finished scrubbing the walls, swept and vacuumed the floor again. Jeff's dad arrived with his truck. I helped them load up the trash to take to the dump and got to work on painting the walls with primer. To be clear, I am not a Fuchs (right now I'm just in the pledge program. I'm hoping my application gets processed in the next couple of years. Fingers crossed!). I do not have the skills of a Fuchs, nor do I possess the attention to detail of their people. I wish I was that meticulous, but alas, I am more of the school of "good-enough". And I work at a fairly slow pace, as I am unsure of my skills. And rightly so! I do try, but I get frustrated easily and after my first smudgey mistake, I give in to my desire to just Get It Done Already. But my rates are very reasonable (breakfast in bed) and you only get what you pay for...
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| Good enough! It's quitting time!!! |
Jeff and Denny returned from the dump and got to work on installing 18 "can" lights and taking out the existing shop lights and nest of various electrical wires while I continued to do a remarkably sloppy job of applying two coats of primer to the cement walls. I was trying to fill in all the little holes with paint and becoming really frustrated. And sore. And cranky. By about 5:30, I could do no more. Jeff was somewhat distressed with the fact that I was giving up and the job was unfinished. How un-Fuchs-like of me. Uh-oh! I may have blown my shot at joining the tribe! But I had reached the point of becoming resentful, which is not healthy for our relationship. I was so sore and tired. Jeff and Denny completed the entire re-lighting project. And it looks amazing and works perfectly. I don't know when we will have time to get the painting finished. Tomorrow is Jeff's Fantasy Football League Summit and Draft Picks. The earth will stop spinning until that is all taken care of. Serious business folks!
So Jeff and I haven't been for a walk, but I think we have been getting in a good amount of physical activity and we have a lot more work to do. I need to get my Jawbone Up charged and on my wrist again so I can get credit for all the moving around. And I hope on weigh-in day that this hard work pays off!
Monday, August 17, 2015
Week 29-Vacation Recovery
Summertime has completely thrown everything off track for us. Not only our diets, but nearly all of our routines. We took a vacation at the end of July that has completely derailed our efforts to be healthy. And almost brought an end to our relationship (No worries, my friends. All is well and Jeff and I are very much still a couple). Let me explain...
Every year for the past 15 or so, Jeff and his brother and a group of their friends have taken a trip to the Oregon Coast to ride quads in the sand dunes near Coos Bay. It is about a seven-hour drive from where we live (no, I don't know the distance. I am a girl. We know minutes, not miles!). This annual outing is Jeff's favorite thing in the whole world, along with his True Love-the Seattle Seahawks, and all things Hi-Tech and Sci-Fi. I suppose I might be lucky enough to make the top 5 of his list. But only when I wear the Sea-Gals uniform or the Princess Leia Gold Bikini. But I digress...
Last year I was unable to accompany Jeff on this trip and he sulked and pouted and made me promise to attend the festivities this year. He promised that it would be the MOST FUN I'VE EVER HAD. Jeff DID divulge certain circumstances that led me to believe that this may not be the truest statement he had ever uttered. I will not share those reasons here, because I fully intend to marry this man someday. I would like it on record that I did express to Jeff that MAYBE this was not the year for me to go with him. But he sulked and pouted some more and I promised I would go with him. And we brought Katie and her best friend Rilee, too.
The drive down was nice-we stopped and visited some of my relatives, the girls slept a lot. We blew a tire on the trailer on the highway (Was that a sign we should TURN BACK NOW?), but luckily we were near a Les Schwab ("Doing the right thing since 1952") and they fixed us up right there on the side of the road in less than 45 minutes. We got to the campsite around 8:00 that night, set up camp and settled in.
The next day, I was sick. Not deathly ill, just fatigued and nauseated. When I was a kid, I used to get car-sick all the time. Mom would dope me up with Dramamine ("The Perfect Travel Companion") before those long car rides. Not the pills, mind you, the liquid, which is wretched-tasting stuff that made me sleep on the ride but left me queasy and tired when we arrived at our destination. I haven't had the problem of motion-sickness in decades, but it seems to have reared it's ugly head once again. Super.
So on our first day, I tried to rest and Jeff took the girls out to teach them how to ride quads in the dunes. Both of the girls had a great time. They rode every day and they loved it. Jeff had borrowed a couple of quads from friends, so we had three quads for the four of us to share. The girls started out taking turns on the 400 with the push-button start, with one driving and one riding on the back. On their second day of riding, the girls took a spill and Katie decided she wanted to ride the bigger quad with the kick-start so she wouldn't have to ride doubles anymore. I'm so glad she did! When the three of them came back from that ride, Jeff told me he was glad I had not been there to see it. Watching the girls sail over this hill and tumble down the other side, all he could think was "How am I going to tell my girlfriend I killed her daughter?" Thankfully, nobody was injured and nobody had another fall after that.
My first ride happened on the second day (BEFORE the girls tried to "Thelma and Louise" it over the dunes). First of all, you should know that I am not mechanically inclined. My experience with vehicles that are not fully enclosed is minimal at best. I have ridden on the back of street motorcycles since I was a kid, which is a very different experience from riding through sand dunes on a quad. I took a motorcycle safety course 25 years ago where I drove a little 250 around a parking lot for a few weeks. I never owned my own bike. I have not driven a car with manual transmission since I was about 20. There is no chance that I could ever be mistaken for the late, great Evil Knievel. (Kids, if you're not old enough to know who that is, Google him for heaven's sake! You're on the Internet anyway. It's not like you have to walk to the library. Sheesh!)
The sand dunes in Oregon are beautiful. The hills are enormous and steep. You can look at photos or have it described to you, but you really cannot fully comprehend the awe-inspiring magnificence until you see it with your own eyes. For someone like me, with a healthy respect for Mother Nature and a desire to not injure myself, the prospect of careening over these mountains of golden sand was more than a little intimidating. In my younger days I was more adventurous, less fearful of heights and speed and the unknown. I am older now, well aware of my mortality and I have so much to live for-kids, granddaughter, Jeff. I prefer to keep all of my body parts connected and in good working order. Jeff has busted himself up pretty good on these trips in the past-separated his shoulder, broken his leg and hip. I have never broken any bones. That is not something that is on my "to-do" list. I'm good with keeping everything in it's proper place and good working order.
I wanted so much to enjoy this adventure and to be good at riding and to make Jeff happy. Listen, there are a lot of things I'm good at. I bake an excellent strawberry-rhubarb pie. I have a decent singing voice. I am really good at Trivial Pursuit. I am great at organizing things and I'm a spelling-bee champ. NONE of those things require me to be mechanical. None of those skills are particularly useful either, but I am what I am.
Jeff has been riding for a long time. He loves it. He was so excited to get out and have me ride with him that he didn't give me much of a chance to really get the hang of it, get comfortable with riding. I'm the kind of person who needs to read how to do something, maybe have someone show me how it works after that. I need diagrams to refer back to and steps laid out for me. "First you do this, then you do that." I'm not that kinetic kind of learner that can just go in and "play". One of the many helpful features on cars and street bikes is this super-cool gauge that tells you when you need to shift. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but you need to take it out of first gear. You are currently shredding your transmission and it is about to eject itself right out from under you". Quads are not equipped with this feature (at least not the ones we had) and you have to know when to shift by the sound the quad makes. Have I mentioned I also have nerve damage in my left ear and my hearing is not so great? Jeff would try to give me some instructions, but I couldn't understand what he was saying over the roar of the motors. I kept having to have him repeat what he was saying. More than once he would repeat something three or four times and I still couldn't hear him. So I gave up asking and pretended I had heard what he said. So, you can imagine that I was not getting the hang of this. He kept asking me what I wanted to do or try, as if I had ANY clue what he was talking about. I tried, but I just wasn't getting it.
Other factors were making this trip less than relaxing. Lots of little things and not so little things-stuff I'm not going to bore you with here. And I didn't want to complain. I didn't want to ruin anyone else's good time. So I bottled it all up. For 4 days. On Tuesday night I had a bad case of insomnia. By 2:00 in the morning I was an emotional disaster. I was convinced that Jeff and I would have to break up. I had nothing in common with my thrill-seeking boyfriend. This trip, that he loves so much, was the absolute worst vacation I've ever had. I couldn't wait to go home, and I certainly never wanted to do this again. My body ached, I was sun-burnt, I hadn't slept well, we had been eating junk food non-stop and we had not had any time to be alone together. So many things were stressing me out-too much to list here. And I hadn't told Jeff about any of it to spare him from my misery. It was really important to me that he have a good vacation and be able to relax and have fun.
I had a full-blown meltdown. Jeff woke up, we went for a walk and I told him about EVERYTHING I had been holding in. Which made me feel rotten for dumping on him like that. But he loves me and he made everything ok again. We finally got to sleep around 4:30 that morning.
The next couple of days were better. The four of us went for a ride and I started to get the hang of it (not really, but I had more fun trying). Then we went for a long ride with a larger group the next day. It was a good day, except that I ended up riding on the back of Jeff's quad with him. I had been doing more of that than driving one myself, because I wanted the girls to have a good vacation and I knew they preferred driving their own instead of having to share. And I didn't want to be the person everyone would have to slow down for. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Jeff's friends. I didn't want to embarrass him, either.
So along with the big hills, there are these sections of the dunes that are really bumpy. Riding doubles is against the rules (I'm a rebel!) and for the one on the back, riding through these parts can be very painful. Going over the "whups" is an exercise in spine-crushing bounces. I tried standing up, which, when I was riding on my own made all the difference. But that was impossible riding doubles, I had to keep my arms around Jeff because he is not equipped with handlebars for me to grab onto, and the waymy legs were positioned as I sat behind him made it difficult to keep my balance standing up while holding on. So I bounced along for miles. By the end of that ride, I could barely sit down anymore. I had whiplash, my thighs ached, my backside was bruised and my spine resembled a Jenga tower right before the fall. I am going to have to learn to ride better so I don't have to double up ever again!
At the end of our vacation, Jeff came down with a cold (which he passed on to me) and it took my body four days to recover from all the abuse I put it through.
The beach was beautiful, Jeff's friends are really fun people and Katie and her BFF had a terrific time. Maybe we'll do this again someday and plan things out a little better next time. But it's more likely that Jeff will take this trip without me in the future.
As far as our weight-loss plan, Jeff had assured me we would be riding and sweating so much that we would lose weight on this adventure, even though we completely abandoned our eating plan. Jeff is a liar and cannot be trusted. I gained SIX POUNDS in the 7 days we were in Oregon! I am quite certain this is due to the lack of physical activity and processed foods that were quick and easy. Katie and Jeff have not been weighing in, so I don't know where they are as far as losses or gains. We have had a difficult time getting back to our low-carb lifestyle since our return. Katie has been at her dad's house since August 5th for his portion of the summer with her. She tells me she has been playing a lot of Call of Duty: Black Ops on the XBox. That's ok, it's her summer vacation and swim team practice starts next week.
Wednesday is Jeff's 44th birthday. We are going to have one last splurge of pizza and peanut butter pie at his favorite pizza place and then we are getting back in the swing of this weight-loss plan. No more cheating, we will find a way to make time for walking and, when Katie comes home from her dad's on the 24th, we will resume regular weigh-ins again.
Every year for the past 15 or so, Jeff and his brother and a group of their friends have taken a trip to the Oregon Coast to ride quads in the sand dunes near Coos Bay. It is about a seven-hour drive from where we live (no, I don't know the distance. I am a girl. We know minutes, not miles!). This annual outing is Jeff's favorite thing in the whole world, along with his True Love-the Seattle Seahawks, and all things Hi-Tech and Sci-Fi. I suppose I might be lucky enough to make the top 5 of his list. But only when I wear the Sea-Gals uniform or the Princess Leia Gold Bikini. But I digress...
 |
| Pretty sure I could pull off the one on the far right... |
Last year I was unable to accompany Jeff on this trip and he sulked and pouted and made me promise to attend the festivities this year. He promised that it would be the MOST FUN I'VE EVER HAD. Jeff DID divulge certain circumstances that led me to believe that this may not be the truest statement he had ever uttered. I will not share those reasons here, because I fully intend to marry this man someday. I would like it on record that I did express to Jeff that MAYBE this was not the year for me to go with him. But he sulked and pouted some more and I promised I would go with him. And we brought Katie and her best friend Rilee, too.
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| Katie (in Jeff's old riding gear) and her best friend, Rilee. |
The drive down was nice-we stopped and visited some of my relatives, the girls slept a lot. We blew a tire on the trailer on the highway (Was that a sign we should TURN BACK NOW?), but luckily we were near a Les Schwab ("Doing the right thing since 1952") and they fixed us up right there on the side of the road in less than 45 minutes. We got to the campsite around 8:00 that night, set up camp and settled in.
The next day, I was sick. Not deathly ill, just fatigued and nauseated. When I was a kid, I used to get car-sick all the time. Mom would dope me up with Dramamine ("The Perfect Travel Companion") before those long car rides. Not the pills, mind you, the liquid, which is wretched-tasting stuff that made me sleep on the ride but left me queasy and tired when we arrived at our destination. I haven't had the problem of motion-sickness in decades, but it seems to have reared it's ugly head once again. Super.
So on our first day, I tried to rest and Jeff took the girls out to teach them how to ride quads in the dunes. Both of the girls had a great time. They rode every day and they loved it. Jeff had borrowed a couple of quads from friends, so we had three quads for the four of us to share. The girls started out taking turns on the 400 with the push-button start, with one driving and one riding on the back. On their second day of riding, the girls took a spill and Katie decided she wanted to ride the bigger quad with the kick-start so she wouldn't have to ride doubles anymore. I'm so glad she did! When the three of them came back from that ride, Jeff told me he was glad I had not been there to see it. Watching the girls sail over this hill and tumble down the other side, all he could think was "How am I going to tell my girlfriend I killed her daughter?" Thankfully, nobody was injured and nobody had another fall after that.
 |
| Katie and Rilee riding on the beach. |
My first ride happened on the second day (BEFORE the girls tried to "Thelma and Louise" it over the dunes). First of all, you should know that I am not mechanically inclined. My experience with vehicles that are not fully enclosed is minimal at best. I have ridden on the back of street motorcycles since I was a kid, which is a very different experience from riding through sand dunes on a quad. I took a motorcycle safety course 25 years ago where I drove a little 250 around a parking lot for a few weeks. I never owned my own bike. I have not driven a car with manual transmission since I was about 20. There is no chance that I could ever be mistaken for the late, great Evil Knievel. (Kids, if you're not old enough to know who that is, Google him for heaven's sake! You're on the Internet anyway. It's not like you have to walk to the library. Sheesh!)
 |
| Yeah, this is a little more my speed... |
The sand dunes in Oregon are beautiful. The hills are enormous and steep. You can look at photos or have it described to you, but you really cannot fully comprehend the awe-inspiring magnificence until you see it with your own eyes. For someone like me, with a healthy respect for Mother Nature and a desire to not injure myself, the prospect of careening over these mountains of golden sand was more than a little intimidating. In my younger days I was more adventurous, less fearful of heights and speed and the unknown. I am older now, well aware of my mortality and I have so much to live for-kids, granddaughter, Jeff. I prefer to keep all of my body parts connected and in good working order. Jeff has busted himself up pretty good on these trips in the past-separated his shoulder, broken his leg and hip. I have never broken any bones. That is not something that is on my "to-do" list. I'm good with keeping everything in it's proper place and good working order.
 |
| Jeff in his happy place. |
I wanted so much to enjoy this adventure and to be good at riding and to make Jeff happy. Listen, there are a lot of things I'm good at. I bake an excellent strawberry-rhubarb pie. I have a decent singing voice. I am really good at Trivial Pursuit. I am great at organizing things and I'm a spelling-bee champ. NONE of those things require me to be mechanical. None of those skills are particularly useful either, but I am what I am.
Jeff has been riding for a long time. He loves it. He was so excited to get out and have me ride with him that he didn't give me much of a chance to really get the hang of it, get comfortable with riding. I'm the kind of person who needs to read how to do something, maybe have someone show me how it works after that. I need diagrams to refer back to and steps laid out for me. "First you do this, then you do that." I'm not that kinetic kind of learner that can just go in and "play". One of the many helpful features on cars and street bikes is this super-cool gauge that tells you when you need to shift. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but you need to take it out of first gear. You are currently shredding your transmission and it is about to eject itself right out from under you". Quads are not equipped with this feature (at least not the ones we had) and you have to know when to shift by the sound the quad makes. Have I mentioned I also have nerve damage in my left ear and my hearing is not so great? Jeff would try to give me some instructions, but I couldn't understand what he was saying over the roar of the motors. I kept having to have him repeat what he was saying. More than once he would repeat something three or four times and I still couldn't hear him. So I gave up asking and pretended I had heard what he said. So, you can imagine that I was not getting the hang of this. He kept asking me what I wanted to do or try, as if I had ANY clue what he was talking about. I tried, but I just wasn't getting it.
 |
| Honey, I'm gonna need a little more than that... |
Other factors were making this trip less than relaxing. Lots of little things and not so little things-stuff I'm not going to bore you with here. And I didn't want to complain. I didn't want to ruin anyone else's good time. So I bottled it all up. For 4 days. On Tuesday night I had a bad case of insomnia. By 2:00 in the morning I was an emotional disaster. I was convinced that Jeff and I would have to break up. I had nothing in common with my thrill-seeking boyfriend. This trip, that he loves so much, was the absolute worst vacation I've ever had. I couldn't wait to go home, and I certainly never wanted to do this again. My body ached, I was sun-burnt, I hadn't slept well, we had been eating junk food non-stop and we had not had any time to be alone together. So many things were stressing me out-too much to list here. And I hadn't told Jeff about any of it to spare him from my misery. It was really important to me that he have a good vacation and be able to relax and have fun.
I had a full-blown meltdown. Jeff woke up, we went for a walk and I told him about EVERYTHING I had been holding in. Which made me feel rotten for dumping on him like that. But he loves me and he made everything ok again. We finally got to sleep around 4:30 that morning.
 |
| Day 6 and he still loves me. Lucky me! |
The next couple of days were better. The four of us went for a ride and I started to get the hang of it (not really, but I had more fun trying). Then we went for a long ride with a larger group the next day. It was a good day, except that I ended up riding on the back of Jeff's quad with him. I had been doing more of that than driving one myself, because I wanted the girls to have a good vacation and I knew they preferred driving their own instead of having to share. And I didn't want to be the person everyone would have to slow down for. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Jeff's friends. I didn't want to embarrass him, either.
 |
So along with the big hills, there are these sections of the dunes that are really bumpy. Riding doubles is against the rules (I'm a rebel!) and for the one on the back, riding through these parts can be very painful. Going over the "whups" is an exercise in spine-crushing bounces. I tried standing up, which, when I was riding on my own made all the difference. But that was impossible riding doubles, I had to keep my arms around Jeff because he is not equipped with handlebars for me to grab onto, and the waymy legs were positioned as I sat behind him made it difficult to keep my balance standing up while holding on. So I bounced along for miles. By the end of that ride, I could barely sit down anymore. I had whiplash, my thighs ached, my backside was bruised and my spine resembled a Jenga tower right before the fall. I am going to have to learn to ride better so I don't have to double up ever again!
At the end of our vacation, Jeff came down with a cold (which he passed on to me) and it took my body four days to recover from all the abuse I put it through.
The beach was beautiful, Jeff's friends are really fun people and Katie and her BFF had a terrific time. Maybe we'll do this again someday and plan things out a little better next time. But it's more likely that Jeff will take this trip without me in the future.
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| Me and my sweetie-right after he tried to throw me in the ocean! |
As far as our weight-loss plan, Jeff had assured me we would be riding and sweating so much that we would lose weight on this adventure, even though we completely abandoned our eating plan. Jeff is a liar and cannot be trusted. I gained SIX POUNDS in the 7 days we were in Oregon! I am quite certain this is due to the lack of physical activity and processed foods that were quick and easy. Katie and Jeff have not been weighing in, so I don't know where they are as far as losses or gains. We have had a difficult time getting back to our low-carb lifestyle since our return. Katie has been at her dad's house since August 5th for his portion of the summer with her. She tells me she has been playing a lot of Call of Duty: Black Ops on the XBox. That's ok, it's her summer vacation and swim team practice starts next week.
Wednesday is Jeff's 44th birthday. We are going to have one last splurge of pizza and peanut butter pie at his favorite pizza place and then we are getting back in the swing of this weight-loss plan. No more cheating, we will find a way to make time for walking and, when Katie comes home from her dad's on the 24th, we will resume regular weigh-ins again.
If you wish to send me a comment or question, email me at sprout624@gmail.com
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Week 24-Did You Miss Me?
Ok, Ok, I've been a bad little blogger and missed a few weeks. Summer makes the time go by so quickly, I lost track of the days (and the weeks). I'll bet you thought we had given up. No Way! We are not quitters! Slackers, maybe, but not quitters!
Last time I wrote to you was my 45th birthday-and it was wonderful! We had a barbecue at our house and it was so yummy! We made that incredible faux-potato salad (sans potatoes, add cauliflower), the BEST barbecue chicken (lovingly prepared by my Grill-Master boyfriend), macaroni salad, and yes, there was CAKE! Mom made me a yellow cake with chocolate frosting (my favorite! No angel food!) and it was SO GOOD! Two of our guests brought watermelons-they know we are eating healthier and figured there would be no cake. Fooled Them!!! But the watermelon was delicious!
And of course, my incredibly generous friends and family brought me NINE bottles of wine! They know me so well! It was a terrific birthday-the best one I have ever had! So I never have to have another one. Unless folks are in the mood to bring me wine and cake next year. Then, maybe.
With this wonderful summer weather and so much to celebrate, we have been allowing ourselves more treats and cheats. But for the most part, we are still sticking to the plan. Still eating lots of healthy veggies-summer salads taste so good! Everything is so fresh and flavorful this time of year. I would like to say we have been getting more exercise, but I hate to lie. Jeff's dad DID take the time to create a PickleBall court in our driveway, but we haven't used it much. Jeff got in some exercise on the 4th of July-swimming in the lake at his aunt Leslie's house and attempting to use a paddleboard. I didn't venture into the water due to my completely irrational fear of drowning. I think I may have been a cat in a former life. It's possible. You didn't know me then.
At any rate, we are still losing weight, so we're on the right track. We're just in the slow lane. Yeah, we are the sweet little old lady who can barely see over the dashboard doing 45 on the highway. With our turn signal on. Looking for the exit to the bakery.
Since my birthday I have lost .4 pounds. Not very impressive returns this time, but it's still moving in the right direction. I have no regrets! Axis of Evil, you will NOT bring me down!!! So my current weight is 128.4 pounds and my BMI is 23.5!
Jeff has been up and down these last few weeks. Yes, he got up on that paddleboard, but he downed a few sweet and sugary Mike's Hard lemonades first. Those things are so tasty, but they are carbohydrate BOMBS! So his current weight is 269.6, which is up .6 pounds from last weigh-in. He's still under 270, so we're gonna call this a win and keep at it for next week!
Katie and her super-teenage metabolism has beaten us again with a 3.6 pound loss! She's enjoying her summer like a champ-sleeping until noon, enjoying summer treats. But it's all going in the right direction. High school swim team practices will begin soon enough and I'm sure she will melt off the pounds quickly. She's gonna be such a svelte little mermaid!
So our team weight loss for this week (3 weeks?) is 3.4 pounds with a total weight loss of 105 pounds even! Next week should be even better because we have no holidays or birthdays to celebrate. Bring on the salads!!!
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| I just wish it could last another 6 months or so! |
Last time I wrote to you was my 45th birthday-and it was wonderful! We had a barbecue at our house and it was so yummy! We made that incredible faux-potato salad (sans potatoes, add cauliflower), the BEST barbecue chicken (lovingly prepared by my Grill-Master boyfriend), macaroni salad, and yes, there was CAKE! Mom made me a yellow cake with chocolate frosting (my favorite! No angel food!) and it was SO GOOD! Two of our guests brought watermelons-they know we are eating healthier and figured there would be no cake. Fooled Them!!! But the watermelon was delicious!
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| Happy Birthday to me with my favorite guy! |
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| Me and my very-slimmed-down Katie! |
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| Two of my best girlfriends! |
And of course, my incredibly generous friends and family brought me NINE bottles of wine! They know me so well! It was a terrific birthday-the best one I have ever had! So I never have to have another one. Unless folks are in the mood to bring me wine and cake next year. Then, maybe.
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| Now THAT'S my kind of birthday cake! |
With this wonderful summer weather and so much to celebrate, we have been allowing ourselves more treats and cheats. But for the most part, we are still sticking to the plan. Still eating lots of healthy veggies-summer salads taste so good! Everything is so fresh and flavorful this time of year. I would like to say we have been getting more exercise, but I hate to lie. Jeff's dad DID take the time to create a PickleBall court in our driveway, but we haven't used it much. Jeff got in some exercise on the 4th of July-swimming in the lake at his aunt Leslie's house and attempting to use a paddleboard. I didn't venture into the water due to my completely irrational fear of drowning. I think I may have been a cat in a former life. It's possible. You didn't know me then.
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| Gotta sit on a 4 pack of toilet paper because they don't print phone books anymore! |
Since my birthday I have lost .4 pounds. Not very impressive returns this time, but it's still moving in the right direction. I have no regrets! Axis of Evil, you will NOT bring me down!!! So my current weight is 128.4 pounds and my BMI is 23.5!
Jeff has been up and down these last few weeks. Yes, he got up on that paddleboard, but he downed a few sweet and sugary Mike's Hard lemonades first. Those things are so tasty, but they are carbohydrate BOMBS! So his current weight is 269.6, which is up .6 pounds from last weigh-in. He's still under 270, so we're gonna call this a win and keep at it for next week!
Katie and her super-teenage metabolism has beaten us again with a 3.6 pound loss! She's enjoying her summer like a champ-sleeping until noon, enjoying summer treats. But it's all going in the right direction. High school swim team practices will begin soon enough and I'm sure she will melt off the pounds quickly. She's gonna be such a svelte little mermaid!
So our team weight loss for this week (3 weeks?) is 3.4 pounds with a total weight loss of 105 pounds even! Next week should be even better because we have no holidays or birthdays to celebrate. Bring on the salads!!!
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| If only I could spend the rest of the summer like this and still lose weight! |
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Week 21-Birthday Blog!!!
Our weekly wrap-up is a wee bit late this week. This week has been kind of emotional for me and I haven't felt much like writing. Today is my 45th birthday. I have never liked my birthday. Not because I'm getting older. I don't feel 45. And I LOVE other people's birthdays. And birthday cake (who doesn't love cake???) and parties with good friends. My birthday has just always sucked.
My birthday is at the tail end of 6 days of celebration in my family. My brother (who is one year younger) was born on June 18th. Dad was out to sea when I was born. He came home and 9 months later I got a baby brother. Okay, maybe it didn't happen QUITE that way, but it's my story and I'll tell it any way I want to! For 6 days every year, Mom calls us her "twins" (which incidentally, we both dislike, but neither of us has the heart to tell Mom). My dad's birthday is June 23rd and then there's me on the 24th. Father's Day is always wedged in the middle of this birthday bonanza. So, by the time we got to my birthday, my family was broke, burnt out and sick of celebrating. When you're little, you hope your birthday will be a big deal, but mine felt more like an obligation. I didn't have parties, or much in the way of a celebration. Sometimes, my family would forget who they were singing "Happy Birthday" to. Seriously.
Every year my mom would make my dad an angel food cake for his birthday. For my 8th birthday, we still had half of Dad's cake left, so Mom turned it on it's side, frosted it with chocolate frosting, wrote "Happy Birthday Angie" on it and stuck two plastic hula dancers on it. Yep, I had a recycled birthday cake. Did I mention that I don't really like angel food cake?
I don't mean to sound ungrateful-Mom did the best she could with what we had. And, as an adult, I totally get it. I know why things were the way they were. We weren't rich by any means. And that's a lot for any family in 6 days. And to my mother's credit, she always made Christmas AMAZING!
When I was 22, my father died in a car accident. He was 45 years old, the age I am turning today. I spent yesterday, what would have been his 68th birthday, pondering the fact that I am the age he was when his life ended. This was it for him. It's all he got. I like to think I'm only about halfway through life, but we just never know. Dad and I were not close. He was an alcoholic, and the accident that ended his life was a result of his own drunk driving. With our birthdays right next to each other and Father's Day right before, it's so very difficult to enjoy my birthday and not think of him. My oldest daughter, Chelsea, is 22, the same age I was when Dad passed away. I look at Chelsea and think that I can't believe I was so young when I lost my father. She was only 5 months old when he died.
So this is why I'm not a fan of my birthday. As an adult, I have had a couple of small birthday get-togethers, nothing extravagant, and have preferred to ignore it whenever possible. I can count on one hand the number of birthday parties I've had. Jeff insists that we celebrate it and is throwing me a party with some good friends and family. He is the sweetest man and I am so lucky to have him. And maybe this is the beginning of learning to enjoy my birthday.
And speaking of celebrating-our weight loss numbers for the week are definitely something to celebrate!
Well, not mine. I actually gained .2 pounds. I'm not going to stew over that for too long. And yes, if there is a cake tonight I'm gonna eat it! Maybe the whole thing by myself! But I'll pass on the ice cream...that seems reasonable.
Katie dropped 1.2 pounds this week! She was concerned about possibly having gained weight, but the scale doesn't lie.
Jeff lost 3.6 pounds this week! He said that when he stepped on the scale the first time it registered a svelte 269.4 pounds! He ran to grab his phone to link the scale to the app and stepped on the scale 3 more times-each time it read an EVEN 269! He broke through the 270's! I am so incredibly proud of him!
So our team weight loss this week is 4.6 pounds with a total weight loss to date of (drumroll, please)...101.6 pounds! We have lost over 100 pounds!!! Yay for our team!!! Now pass that cake!
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| 45 is a perfectly good number, if you're made of vinyl. |
My birthday is at the tail end of 6 days of celebration in my family. My brother (who is one year younger) was born on June 18th. Dad was out to sea when I was born. He came home and 9 months later I got a baby brother. Okay, maybe it didn't happen QUITE that way, but it's my story and I'll tell it any way I want to! For 6 days every year, Mom calls us her "twins" (which incidentally, we both dislike, but neither of us has the heart to tell Mom). My dad's birthday is June 23rd and then there's me on the 24th. Father's Day is always wedged in the middle of this birthday bonanza. So, by the time we got to my birthday, my family was broke, burnt out and sick of celebrating. When you're little, you hope your birthday will be a big deal, but mine felt more like an obligation. I didn't have parties, or much in the way of a celebration. Sometimes, my family would forget who they were singing "Happy Birthday" to. Seriously.
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| It's nice being a decade baby. It makes the math easier. |
Every year my mom would make my dad an angel food cake for his birthday. For my 8th birthday, we still had half of Dad's cake left, so Mom turned it on it's side, frosted it with chocolate frosting, wrote "Happy Birthday Angie" on it and stuck two plastic hula dancers on it. Yep, I had a recycled birthday cake. Did I mention that I don't really like angel food cake?
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| Words cannot express how much I don't like Angel Food Cake. |
I don't mean to sound ungrateful-Mom did the best she could with what we had. And, as an adult, I totally get it. I know why things were the way they were. We weren't rich by any means. And that's a lot for any family in 6 days. And to my mother's credit, she always made Christmas AMAZING!
When I was 22, my father died in a car accident. He was 45 years old, the age I am turning today. I spent yesterday, what would have been his 68th birthday, pondering the fact that I am the age he was when his life ended. This was it for him. It's all he got. I like to think I'm only about halfway through life, but we just never know. Dad and I were not close. He was an alcoholic, and the accident that ended his life was a result of his own drunk driving. With our birthdays right next to each other and Father's Day right before, it's so very difficult to enjoy my birthday and not think of him. My oldest daughter, Chelsea, is 22, the same age I was when Dad passed away. I look at Chelsea and think that I can't believe I was so young when I lost my father. She was only 5 months old when he died.
So this is why I'm not a fan of my birthday. As an adult, I have had a couple of small birthday get-togethers, nothing extravagant, and have preferred to ignore it whenever possible. I can count on one hand the number of birthday parties I've had. Jeff insists that we celebrate it and is throwing me a party with some good friends and family. He is the sweetest man and I am so lucky to have him. And maybe this is the beginning of learning to enjoy my birthday.
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| My birthday last year-ah, to be 44 again! |
And speaking of celebrating-our weight loss numbers for the week are definitely something to celebrate!
Well, not mine. I actually gained .2 pounds. I'm not going to stew over that for too long. And yes, if there is a cake tonight I'm gonna eat it! Maybe the whole thing by myself! But I'll pass on the ice cream...that seems reasonable.
Katie dropped 1.2 pounds this week! She was concerned about possibly having gained weight, but the scale doesn't lie.
Jeff lost 3.6 pounds this week! He said that when he stepped on the scale the first time it registered a svelte 269.4 pounds! He ran to grab his phone to link the scale to the app and stepped on the scale 3 more times-each time it read an EVEN 269! He broke through the 270's! I am so incredibly proud of him!
So our team weight loss this week is 4.6 pounds with a total weight loss to date of (drumroll, please)...101.6 pounds! We have lost over 100 pounds!!! Yay for our team!!! Now pass that cake!
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| Ta-Da!!!!!!!!! We've lost 100 pounds!!!! |
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Week 20-Pie Oh My!
Week 20 has come and gone and we are inching toward our goals! As always, there are temptations around every corner. Sometimes, we are able to stay strong and stick with our plan to lose weight and eat healthy. Often we find the desire to succumb to our weaknesses for sweet, salty or fatty delicacies and the social aspect of sharing a meal, no matter what it may cost us later.
This past Sunday found Katie and I at the church's fellowship time following Sunday service, hosted by our Disciples Women's Ministry. These wonderful ladies were hosting their annual Pie and Ice Cream Social, a fundraiser to benefit the group's community outreach. I have known these women for a long time, some of them since I was a teenager, and see them as family. Here they were, offering up pies home-baked and prepared with love, asking for donations to support those in need in our neighborhood. How do you say "no" to that? Oh, sure, we could have just given them a few dollars and passed on the pie. But do you tell your favorite aunt or sweet little grandma "no thanks" when she is serving up baked goods she created herself? Of course you don't! I selected a delicious cheesecake with blueberry topping. That's healthy, right? Blueberries have antioxidants, after all, and there has to be calcium in cheesecake, right? And I did pass on the ice cream. Although we allowed temptation in, I feel it was a lesser sin than to not support the ministry of our church and break the hearts of these women who carry out God's work.
For the most part, we do a pretty good job of eating healthy and sticking to the eating plan. I think it's ok to occasionally let go and have a treat. As long as we don't get carried away and abandon our diet altogether, we'll still be healthy and lose weight.
Katie has been celebrating the end of school and friend's graduations for the last week or so, which contributed to a one pound weight gain. Summer is going to be a challenge for her, I think. A lot of tempting treats and fun with friends. We're going to have to find ways for her to stay active and I'll join her if she wants me to.
Jeff lost .2 pounds this week. I don't know where he slid off the plan. A few beers with friends maybe? He's still losing weight and he is determined to lose at least another 12 pounds between now and the end of July when we will be heading down the Oregon Coast to the dunes so he can ride his quad and feel the wind in his hair and the sand in his shorts. He's got 5 weeks, so Jeff really needs to get focused on his goals. He'll need to shed more than 2 pounds per week if he wants to hit 260 before our trip.
I managed to drop 1.6 pounds this week (could've been 2 pounds if I hadn't had that cheesecake I'll bet!). But I am not complaining! I am currently 128.6 pounds with a BMI of 23.5! I weigh a little less than I did when Jeff and I first started dating and it feels really good! I read somewhere that George Clooney's wife said she sees herself as an extension of him when they go out, and I like that analogy. I want Jeff to be proud to have me on his arm (not that he wasn't when I was plumper).
So our team weight loss for the week is .8 pounds and to date it's 97 pounds even. *sigh* We'll get there one of these days!
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| I can't believe you guys can't get it together for one whole week! |
This past Sunday found Katie and I at the church's fellowship time following Sunday service, hosted by our Disciples Women's Ministry. These wonderful ladies were hosting their annual Pie and Ice Cream Social, a fundraiser to benefit the group's community outreach. I have known these women for a long time, some of them since I was a teenager, and see them as family. Here they were, offering up pies home-baked and prepared with love, asking for donations to support those in need in our neighborhood. How do you say "no" to that? Oh, sure, we could have just given them a few dollars and passed on the pie. But do you tell your favorite aunt or sweet little grandma "no thanks" when she is serving up baked goods she created herself? Of course you don't! I selected a delicious cheesecake with blueberry topping. That's healthy, right? Blueberries have antioxidants, after all, and there has to be calcium in cheesecake, right? And I did pass on the ice cream. Although we allowed temptation in, I feel it was a lesser sin than to not support the ministry of our church and break the hearts of these women who carry out God's work.
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| Would YOU say no to this??? |
For the most part, we do a pretty good job of eating healthy and sticking to the eating plan. I think it's ok to occasionally let go and have a treat. As long as we don't get carried away and abandon our diet altogether, we'll still be healthy and lose weight.
Katie has been celebrating the end of school and friend's graduations for the last week or so, which contributed to a one pound weight gain. Summer is going to be a challenge for her, I think. A lot of tempting treats and fun with friends. We're going to have to find ways for her to stay active and I'll join her if she wants me to.
Jeff lost .2 pounds this week. I don't know where he slid off the plan. A few beers with friends maybe? He's still losing weight and he is determined to lose at least another 12 pounds between now and the end of July when we will be heading down the Oregon Coast to the dunes so he can ride his quad and feel the wind in his hair and the sand in his shorts. He's got 5 weeks, so Jeff really needs to get focused on his goals. He'll need to shed more than 2 pounds per week if he wants to hit 260 before our trip.
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| He's gonna get better jumps in this year! |
I managed to drop 1.6 pounds this week (could've been 2 pounds if I hadn't had that cheesecake I'll bet!). But I am not complaining! I am currently 128.6 pounds with a BMI of 23.5! I weigh a little less than I did when Jeff and I first started dating and it feels really good! I read somewhere that George Clooney's wife said she sees herself as an extension of him when they go out, and I like that analogy. I want Jeff to be proud to have me on his arm (not that he wasn't when I was plumper).
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| We look just about the same as these two, don't ya think? |
So our team weight loss for the week is .8 pounds and to date it's 97 pounds even. *sigh* We'll get there one of these days!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Week 19-Oh No! Plateau!
So our Monday weekly wrap-up post is a few days late. Sometimes life just gets crazy-busy and my writing time is limited to when I'm asleep. Although that could make for some interesting nocturnal musings, I haven't quite figured out exactly how to multi-task while I'm unconscious. But it's good to have goals, so I'll keep you updated on my progress in making that happen!
We did manage to actually weigh in on Monday morning and the outcome was not exactly numbers to brag about. We, as a team, have plateaued. It was bound to happen sooner or later. We have been working on this weight-loss for 19 weeks and although we have achieved great success, we have been stuck for some time now.
I have maintained my weight at 130.2 pounds-no gain, no loss for this week. So that could be a whole lot worse. But it could also be much better. I think this may be due to the fact that I've reached a healthy weight and I look and feel a lot better than I did in January when we started. So I've let the healthy eating slip a little. It hasn't helped that it is the end of the school year (I work for the school district) and there have been several "Here Comes Summer" celebrations. You all know what that means-FOOD! And nobody celebrates with salad! The teacher's lounge and classrooms have been overrun with treats and sweets and my willpower is only so strong. Cookies are my Kryptonite-they cause me incredible weakness and I don't have the fortitude to drag myself away. Thank goodness summer break is less than a week away!
Katie has had the same challenges as my own, lots of after-school activities with a bounty of buffets and temptations to celebrate freedom from learning. She actually gained two pounds this week. Thankfully, Katie has a super-positive attitude and isn't letting this minor setback get to her. She feels pretty proud of the weight she has lost, and she should! 54 pounds lighter, she looks and feels amazing! But, she is allowing herself a considerable amount of cheating and knows she needs to get herself back in the swing of this diet if she wants to reach her goal weight. Katie was also introduced to Starbucks S'Mores Frappuccino, a deadly concoction of sugar and fat that apparently is highly addictive. This frosty treat has practically replaced her first love, Nutella. Heaven help Katie if they put a Nutella Frappuccino on the menu!
Jeff lost .6 pounds this past week-yay for the big winner of the team! He is currently 272.8 pounds which amounts to a 24.2 pound total loss. Jeff is not immune to the temptations of the sweet-tooth twins that comprise his teammates. He led me astray for a date night indulgence of pizza and peanut-butter pie last weekend and has had a few carb-laden frosty cold beers this last week. Hey, man-it's been HOT here. Well, our kind of hot. Listen, we natives of the Great Northwest don't get introduced to the big ball of fire in the sky too often, so when it shines in all it's cloudless glory, our skin starts to sizzle. What better way to chill out than with an ice cold beer? Also, Jeff ran out of his ThermoFit this month, so it's time to place another order and see if that can nudge him off this plateau.
So our team has had another setback with a combined GAIN of 1.4 pounds this week and a total loss of 96.2 pounds to date. Last week we were sitting pretty at a total loss of 97.6 pounds. Somehow we got thrown in reverse.
Time to rally the troops, find better ways to beat the heat this summer and force our flab off the plateau!
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| Nap AND write at the same time! Genius! |
We did manage to actually weigh in on Monday morning and the outcome was not exactly numbers to brag about. We, as a team, have plateaued. It was bound to happen sooner or later. We have been working on this weight-loss for 19 weeks and although we have achieved great success, we have been stuck for some time now.
I have maintained my weight at 130.2 pounds-no gain, no loss for this week. So that could be a whole lot worse. But it could also be much better. I think this may be due to the fact that I've reached a healthy weight and I look and feel a lot better than I did in January when we started. So I've let the healthy eating slip a little. It hasn't helped that it is the end of the school year (I work for the school district) and there have been several "Here Comes Summer" celebrations. You all know what that means-FOOD! And nobody celebrates with salad! The teacher's lounge and classrooms have been overrun with treats and sweets and my willpower is only so strong. Cookies are my Kryptonite-they cause me incredible weakness and I don't have the fortitude to drag myself away. Thank goodness summer break is less than a week away!
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| Do you think the kids would riot if we replaced the party food with this? |
Katie has had the same challenges as my own, lots of after-school activities with a bounty of buffets and temptations to celebrate freedom from learning. She actually gained two pounds this week. Thankfully, Katie has a super-positive attitude and isn't letting this minor setback get to her. She feels pretty proud of the weight she has lost, and she should! 54 pounds lighter, she looks and feels amazing! But, she is allowing herself a considerable amount of cheating and knows she needs to get herself back in the swing of this diet if she wants to reach her goal weight. Katie was also introduced to Starbucks S'Mores Frappuccino, a deadly concoction of sugar and fat that apparently is highly addictive. This frosty treat has practically replaced her first love, Nutella. Heaven help Katie if they put a Nutella Frappuccino on the menu!
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| Gotta be honest-I tried one and I think it's pretty gross. Katie, I just don't get it! |
Jeff lost .6 pounds this past week-yay for the big winner of the team! He is currently 272.8 pounds which amounts to a 24.2 pound total loss. Jeff is not immune to the temptations of the sweet-tooth twins that comprise his teammates. He led me astray for a date night indulgence of pizza and peanut-butter pie last weekend and has had a few carb-laden frosty cold beers this last week. Hey, man-it's been HOT here. Well, our kind of hot. Listen, we natives of the Great Northwest don't get introduced to the big ball of fire in the sky too often, so when it shines in all it's cloudless glory, our skin starts to sizzle. What better way to chill out than with an ice cold beer? Also, Jeff ran out of his ThermoFit this month, so it's time to place another order and see if that can nudge him off this plateau.
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| I SAID, "Get back on the diet, slackers!!!" |
So our team has had another setback with a combined GAIN of 1.4 pounds this week and a total loss of 96.2 pounds to date. Last week we were sitting pretty at a total loss of 97.6 pounds. Somehow we got thrown in reverse.
Time to rally the troops, find better ways to beat the heat this summer and force our flab off the plateau!
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| Sounds reasonable to me... |
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Week 18
The past two weeks have gone by under a cloud of sorrow and loss. Jeff has been spending this time supporting his family, especially his father, through the passing of his step-mom, BJ. The end of her life came far too early and has left an incredible void in the hearts of her family and friends.
It is during these times that we naturally ponder our own mortality and appreciate the moments we share together. I was not fortunate enough to have the time to get to know BJ very well or to develop a close relationship with her. I do know that she was loved and admired by many, was a generous and supportive woman and her presence on this earth was a gift.
Throughout these past two weeks I have been witness to a most amazing testament to love and devotion through the labors of BJ's husband, Jeff's dad-Denny. He went to the greatest lengths to ensure her comfort in the final stages of life, to care for her and to fulfill her wishes for her final resting place. And I am immeasurably grateful to have a man like Jeff in my life, who takes after his father in so many ways.
I won't go into any great detail of our eating habits or lack of exercise over the last two weeks. Our meals and movement have not been at the top of our list of priorities. We are now beginning to get back on track and our progress will continue.
Jeff and Katie's weight remains exactly the same as where we left you on May 18th (the last time I posted here). This weigh-in was a small relief to Jeff, who feared that some of the meals he indulged in would have disasterous results to his waistline.
I also had feared that I had gained back some of the weight, but I actually managed a .2 pound loss.
We are still looking to meet that first 100 pounds lost goal. We are creeping toward it with a total of 97.6 pounds lost to date. If we can each lose 1 pound this week, we can finally reach that amazing milestone.
It is during these times that we naturally ponder our own mortality and appreciate the moments we share together. I was not fortunate enough to have the time to get to know BJ very well or to develop a close relationship with her. I do know that she was loved and admired by many, was a generous and supportive woman and her presence on this earth was a gift.
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| BJ and Denny |
Throughout these past two weeks I have been witness to a most amazing testament to love and devotion through the labors of BJ's husband, Jeff's dad-Denny. He went to the greatest lengths to ensure her comfort in the final stages of life, to care for her and to fulfill her wishes for her final resting place. And I am immeasurably grateful to have a man like Jeff in my life, who takes after his father in so many ways.
I won't go into any great detail of our eating habits or lack of exercise over the last two weeks. Our meals and movement have not been at the top of our list of priorities. We are now beginning to get back on track and our progress will continue.
Jeff and Katie's weight remains exactly the same as where we left you on May 18th (the last time I posted here). This weigh-in was a small relief to Jeff, who feared that some of the meals he indulged in would have disasterous results to his waistline.
I also had feared that I had gained back some of the weight, but I actually managed a .2 pound loss.
We are still looking to meet that first 100 pounds lost goal. We are creeping toward it with a total of 97.6 pounds lost to date. If we can each lose 1 pound this week, we can finally reach that amazing milestone.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
A Short Hiatus
Dear Readers,
It has been a long, difficult week. Jeff lost his step-mother BJ to cancer on Monday morning. I know you all will understand that we have not been focused on our weight-loss and have skipped weigh-in this week.
I will get back to writing next week and keeping you updated on our progress.
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| Denny and BJ |
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Week 16-Banning Holiday Celebrations
The end of week 16 has come and passed. I had that miraculous moment a few days ago when the scale showed me some love and I weighed in at 128.2 pounds. And then another celebration came along and my willpower wilted like a salad on a hot summer day. My beautiful granddaughter, Annie, turned 3 years old. I hosted her birthday party at my house-a princess tea party complete with tasty tea sandwiches which I made myself (and sampled. You know, for quality control. Can't poison our princesses by mistake with a tainted tea!). Cream cheese and strawberries, chicken salad sandwiches, and of course, Katie's personal diet demon-Nutella with banana slices. And don't forget the cake! A ridiculously huge confection of frosting and fudge that my mom brought over.
It all tasted really good, but after eating it, I felt kind-of crappy. Not guilty so much as bloated and all-over BLECH! All that white bread (oh yeah, I went ALL THE WAY bad!) and sugar attacking my fat cells and filling them to overflowing. Was it worth it? If I'm being honest, yes. Kind of. I enjoyed seeing those happy little girls enjoying their ever-so grown-up tea and then racing around the house with fairy wings on their backs. It was such a great day, and my little princess had so much joy in her sweet little face (until it was WAY past her naptime. Then, not so much). But did I HAVE to eat all that junk food? No. I could have just served it, drank my tea and called it good. But where is the fun in that? So I indulged, I sent all the leftover food home in doggie bags with all the guests that I could pawn it off on (or sneak it into their purses or cars when they weren't looking).
So, once again, I have allowed a celebration to sabotage my good intentions. I am weak and humbled in your presence. And I shall confess my sins and move forward. I am back up into the 130 pound range. Just barely, at 130.4 pounds I have still managed a .8 pound loss for the week. And a total weight loss of 18.4 pounds. My BMI is a normal, healthy 23.8 and I'm declaring a no-more-holiday-or-celebration-food ban until my birthday in 36 days. Anybody want to start a pool to take bets on how long it takes me to break that rule? Memorial Day is coming up. I'm really going to try to make it though. Really!
Jeff lost another .8 pounds this week. I know he is getting super-frustrated with not putting up bigger numbers, despite having had absolutely nothing to do with our princess party (he's a MAN for heaven's sake!) and having a lot more willpower than these weak-willed women-folk (my words, not his). But almost a full pound is still good. It's still a loss. And it's the same amount that I lost this week (I told you we do everything together). He's looking forward to a Quad-riding trip to the Oregon dunes in a couple of months and I think he just wants to look good in his riding gear. Plus, with fewer pounds on his frame he'll be able to go faster and get some air under those wheels. Boys and their toys! For today, Jeff weighs in at 273.4 and a BMI of 37.1, which is moving in the right direction. He's dropped 24 pounds so far, and I'm super-proud of him!
Katie once again is our winner-winner low-carb dinner with a 2 pound loss this week. She did attend the princess party, was our official photographer, helped assemble sandwiches and fell victim to her arch-nemesis (as well as her one true love. Kind of like Batman and Catwoman. But fudgier.), That Nefarious Nutella! The sight of the jar on the counter stopped her dead in her tracks and she was drawn to it like a chocolate tractor beam had gripped her by the tastebuds. I don't know what happened to the half-empty jar after we finished cleaning up. I suspect it has a special spot in her room, enshrined and idolized in a tasteful and yet somewhat creepy fashion. No, I can't tell you her weight yet. I can tell you that she has lost 56 pounds total and 9.7 points off her BMI! When we started this journey of wellness, Katie's BMI was almost 3 points higher than Jeff's. It is now nearly 4 points LOWER. AMAZING!!!!
So we lost a combined 3.6 pounds this week and our total combined weight loss since we started is 97.4 pounds. We just really love keeping all of you in suspense-"Is THIS the week they will reach 100 pounds lost?" Um, nope. But with only 2.6 pounds for the team to lose, I honestly think we can make it next week. If our goal for this week is to each lose ONE POUND, yeah, I'm pretty sure we can do this thing!
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| My little princess-one in a minion! |
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| A tea party fit for a princess, but not the waistband of my jeans. |
It all tasted really good, but after eating it, I felt kind-of crappy. Not guilty so much as bloated and all-over BLECH! All that white bread (oh yeah, I went ALL THE WAY bad!) and sugar attacking my fat cells and filling them to overflowing. Was it worth it? If I'm being honest, yes. Kind of. I enjoyed seeing those happy little girls enjoying their ever-so grown-up tea and then racing around the house with fairy wings on their backs. It was such a great day, and my little princess had so much joy in her sweet little face (until it was WAY past her naptime. Then, not so much). But did I HAVE to eat all that junk food? No. I could have just served it, drank my tea and called it good. But where is the fun in that? So I indulged, I sent all the leftover food home in doggie bags with all the guests that I could pawn it off on (or sneak it into their purses or cars when they weren't looking).
 |
| Do you think they'll notice ONE more slice of cake? |
So, once again, I have allowed a celebration to sabotage my good intentions. I am weak and humbled in your presence. And I shall confess my sins and move forward. I am back up into the 130 pound range. Just barely, at 130.4 pounds I have still managed a .8 pound loss for the week. And a total weight loss of 18.4 pounds. My BMI is a normal, healthy 23.8 and I'm declaring a no-more-holiday-or-celebration-food ban until my birthday in 36 days. Anybody want to start a pool to take bets on how long it takes me to break that rule? Memorial Day is coming up. I'm really going to try to make it though. Really!
 |
| I'll take Memorial Day BBQ for $50!!! |
Jeff lost another .8 pounds this week. I know he is getting super-frustrated with not putting up bigger numbers, despite having had absolutely nothing to do with our princess party (he's a MAN for heaven's sake!) and having a lot more willpower than these weak-willed women-folk (my words, not his). But almost a full pound is still good. It's still a loss. And it's the same amount that I lost this week (I told you we do everything together). He's looking forward to a Quad-riding trip to the Oregon dunes in a couple of months and I think he just wants to look good in his riding gear. Plus, with fewer pounds on his frame he'll be able to go faster and get some air under those wheels. Boys and their toys! For today, Jeff weighs in at 273.4 and a BMI of 37.1, which is moving in the right direction. He's dropped 24 pounds so far, and I'm super-proud of him!
 |
| I think Jeff would look pretty hot in silver riding gear. Like a speeding bullet! |
Katie once again is our winner-winner low-carb dinner with a 2 pound loss this week. She did attend the princess party, was our official photographer, helped assemble sandwiches and fell victim to her arch-nemesis (as well as her one true love. Kind of like Batman and Catwoman. But fudgier.), That Nefarious Nutella! The sight of the jar on the counter stopped her dead in her tracks and she was drawn to it like a chocolate tractor beam had gripped her by the tastebuds. I don't know what happened to the half-empty jar after we finished cleaning up. I suspect it has a special spot in her room, enshrined and idolized in a tasteful and yet somewhat creepy fashion. No, I can't tell you her weight yet. I can tell you that she has lost 56 pounds total and 9.7 points off her BMI! When we started this journey of wellness, Katie's BMI was almost 3 points higher than Jeff's. It is now nearly 4 points LOWER. AMAZING!!!!
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| KATIE! Resist the pull! Nutella has no power over you! |
So we lost a combined 3.6 pounds this week and our total combined weight loss since we started is 97.4 pounds. We just really love keeping all of you in suspense-"Is THIS the week they will reach 100 pounds lost?" Um, nope. But with only 2.6 pounds for the team to lose, I honestly think we can make it next week. If our goal for this week is to each lose ONE POUND, yeah, I'm pretty sure we can do this thing!
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Learning to Love the Axis of Evil
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that I weigh myself obsessively every single morning. Sometimes I step on the scale 2 or 3 times in a row and reposition my feet (slightly forward, slightly back) just to see if a lower number will magically appear. Sometimes that actually works. You know you've done it, too. I can't be alone in this.
I know that some weight-management "experts" (read as "Quacks" or "snake-oil salesman". Dr. Oz, I'm talking about you) say that you should only weigh yourself once a week. Ppppphhhhhhhhttttttt! Whatever! How can I keep on track without my morning ritual with the Axis of Evil? It's a smart scale, you know. If I didn't check in every day, she would worry what happened to me. I'll have to take her with us when we go on vacation. Wouldn't want her to figure out how to dial 911 or go all 2001:A Space Odyssey. I can just picture it-we arrive home from our little getaway and the Axis of Evil has plugged into Jeff's "nerd center" and taken over the world as we know it. "News Flash-the Hostess, Nabisco and FritoLay factories have self-imploded. Findings are inconclusive as to how these explosions occured simultaneously and without warning, but experts have tracked a link to a Lose It! scale in Bremerton, Washington."
It's still 2 days until our official weekly weigh-in day, but I got super-excited when I checked in with the old A of E this morning. I had REALLY wanted to be lazy and sleep in today, but no such luck. Mr. Early Morning Riser was up at his usual 5:00 a.m. He did let me sleep until 6:20, which is the time I usually wake up anyway. Jeff is a "get up and greet the day ready to go" kind of fella. I am a "play snooze tag for an hour, where the *bleep* is my coffee???, why does morning have to be so early???" kind of girl. So I was not thrilled to be wide awake at 6:20.
But I stumbled to the bathroom and stepped on the scale. The clouds parted and the angels sang as I read the number-128.2 pounds! I have not been in the 120's since I was in my 20's! I still have 18 pounds to go. But I'm over halfway to my goal now! I have lost 20.6 pounds so far. I hope I can keep the momentum going and not blow it today with my granddaughter's birthday party.
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| If I stand on just ONE foot... |
I know that some weight-management "experts" (read as "Quacks" or "snake-oil salesman". Dr. Oz, I'm talking about you) say that you should only weigh yourself once a week. Ppppphhhhhhhhttttttt! Whatever! How can I keep on track without my morning ritual with the Axis of Evil? It's a smart scale, you know. If I didn't check in every day, she would worry what happened to me. I'll have to take her with us when we go on vacation. Wouldn't want her to figure out how to dial 911 or go all 2001:A Space Odyssey. I can just picture it-we arrive home from our little getaway and the Axis of Evil has plugged into Jeff's "nerd center" and taken over the world as we know it. "News Flash-the Hostess, Nabisco and FritoLay factories have self-imploded. Findings are inconclusive as to how these explosions occured simultaneously and without warning, but experts have tracked a link to a Lose It! scale in Bremerton, Washington."
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| Yes, I do. Just let me live my life!!! |
It's still 2 days until our official weekly weigh-in day, but I got super-excited when I checked in with the old A of E this morning. I had REALLY wanted to be lazy and sleep in today, but no such luck. Mr. Early Morning Riser was up at his usual 5:00 a.m. He did let me sleep until 6:20, which is the time I usually wake up anyway. Jeff is a "get up and greet the day ready to go" kind of fella. I am a "play snooze tag for an hour, where the *bleep* is my coffee???, why does morning have to be so early???" kind of girl. So I was not thrilled to be wide awake at 6:20.
But I stumbled to the bathroom and stepped on the scale. The clouds parted and the angels sang as I read the number-128.2 pounds! I have not been in the 120's since I was in my 20's! I still have 18 pounds to go. But I'm over halfway to my goal now! I have lost 20.6 pounds so far. I hope I can keep the momentum going and not blow it today with my granddaughter's birthday party.
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| Me at the start-148 pounds |
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| Goal-110 pounds |
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| Me now-128 pounds |
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