On Tuesdays we do jumping jacks

Poorly

Fitbit

I got a fitbit through my insurance for under $20. So far, three days in, I rather like it. Still trying to work out how to log my sleep as I was trying to stop sleep mode every time I woke up, but that wasn't really working out. I'd get confused and sometimes forget to restart when I was dozing off. I might just leave it on sleep mode all night in bed and see if the restless periods correspond with when I'm awake.

Busy, busy

I feel like this is such a busy week at work that I can't really shut my door for a full Jack exercise. Yesterday I did one at home before coming in and then another half of when after I got back. Today I just completed 10 minutes of Episode 7 before feeling like I really needed to open my door again. It was enough to warm me up though, which was nice. If I can manage another chunck today, that will be great.

Didn't exercise last week

No excuse really. And I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday and everything. Plus a blood draw on Friday which I just got the results of. My cholesterol is high, which actually surprised me. My glucose was NORMAL! Not that surprising since I was testing it too, but it was nice to have that lab confirmation. Now I just need to get back into exercise!

Just can't exercise at work today

The reason is a bit stupid, but I took a lot of time getting my hair up, and while I have a shitton of hairspray in I think it will still get messed up. Will exercise with the sprog when I get home. We're on Day 6 this week.

Vacation was great!

I didn't exercise at all! I did run around the back garden, chasing and being chased by the child, plus did some painting and a bit of wallpapering, but no formal exercise. I probably ate healthier as I was focussing on making sure the kid had good meals and sure enough didn't gain any weight.

I've been back at work a week and a half now and this week back on the office exercise routine. I feel great! I feel like I'm starting to strengthen muscle and I have so much more energy. Trying to be more mindful about food (although as I type I'm eating chocolat Spouse brought back from England) but since we're a bit tight on money right now that helps me to cook healthier things from the pantry.

188

I weighed myself many, many times this morning as I really didn't believe it. But yes, I'm under 190. It may not stay, but I'm optimistic.

Managed one day of Jack over the weekend. Child played along for a couple of the exercises, but was mostly ignoring me. The weather looks like it will be quite clement while I'm on staycation, so I anticipate being able to keep up with the routine. I should be able to do five days a week as well, if not more.

Yesterday I sat down with a diet book and examined their sample menus. It looks like breakfast has a fruit (or juice), a meat, (sometimes eggs instead or in addition) and a bread, usually muffin. Lunch is what I would consider a sandwich filling - chicken salad, egg, meat - although not usually as a sandwich, plus fruit, bread and milk. Dinner is meat, potato, cooked veg and salad. All very sensible, although the breakfast does look like more than I usually eat (and the lunch a lot less.) I think I can manage those while we're home. And if I can get some chairs in, we may even start using the kitchen or dining room tables for meals! How civilized!

Two weeks in

So it's my "Friday" today and I've done Day 2 of Jack every weekday. This day seems to have more abdominal exercises than Day 1 and I feel my midsection tightening. Not enough that it's visible, but I am aware that there is muscle under there and it's gotten some work in.

Next week I will only be working on Monday and then I'm off for a two week staycation. The plan is to exercise at home as Spouse got my playlist in  our XBMC favourites. If possible, I'm going to actually try to do one more Day 2 tomorrow just to make sure it streams okay. Tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day of this already hot week and there's no AC in the living room, so  don't know how well it will work. I'll also need to make sure the floor is clean as there's a bunch of floor exercises.

Since I'll be home all day, I'm going to try to plan meals more (having three to worry about each day.) So this may be the time when I start some diet modification to go with the exercise.

Week 2 (or 500-and-something)

I didn't do any regimented exercises over the three-day weekend but my weight is still the same (a post-poo 190.5) and Spouse says my thighs seem smaller. So that's nice.

Started Day two of Jack as my Week 2 regime. It's got floor exercises in it, which might suck at home on the (toddler-encrusted) hardwood, but is only mildly gross on my office floor. At least I know my office is vacuumed daily! He's still pretty talky so I find myself marching, or even today jogging(!) in place while he prattles on just to make it real exercise for the full 20 minutes. As the weeks get harder, that might not be needed, but for now it works for me.

Four days in

I've managed exercise at work every day this week (yes, I'm only working four days. It's summer!) I hope to be able to get in a regular routine at least one day over my three day weekend as well. I know that I will at least be going housework or gardening , or just running after the wee one, so some exercise will happen, even if not formalized.

During this first week I have done nothing with my diet. I'm consuming vast quantities just as I have been. It's summer though so my appetite does change, but I haven't made any effort to improve my eating. Once the exercise has been going for a while (maybe three weeks?) I'll look into that. It may mean the dreaded menue planning though.

I really don't like menu planning, especially in the summer. Summer for me has been all about farmers' markets and eating what's fresh and picked that week. How can I plan when I don't know what the farmers will have? Even over the last winter I relied on a CSA supplemented by the wintermarket (where I picked up the CSA) and Farmers To You.  Just having that has improved my eating generally over the past couple of years. But planning? <shudder> I may have to give myself a range of meals to be finalized when I see what's available.

As for my exercise, it's time to reveal that yes, I've been back to Jack Lalanne. Something about the patronizing, but really caring manner and horrible (yes, I do hate it) mid-century moder decor that draws me in. Plus it's on YouTube and only takes 24 minutes of my day. Right now I'm on episode 1. Next week I will do episode 2 each day and work from there. Baby steps. That's the plan.

More incentive

I just made an appointment for an annual exam (the first "annual" I've had since having a child) on September 3rd. I would like to be able to tell my doctor that I was 10 pounds heavier when I made the appointment than when I see her. Even though that will still make me obese, it will show some initiative and should spur me on.

Today was Day 2 of the exercise regime. It's still a very modest amount, but it's more than I had been doing. Two days in a row does not seem that big a deal, but considering how little sleep I got last night (restless child syndrome) I thought it was really needed. the extra oxygen and bloodflow should be able to keep me awake for the rest of the work day.

I can't go on like this

Today my weight was 190.5 lbs. It's been in that area for almost two years now. It's just not healthy for me.

That said, I do NOT want my daughter to ever see me diet or fret about my weight. I would rather she see me make and eat real food and be generally active and have that be normal. She already gets to see her dad as an active bicyclist and we now have a vegetable garden (although that's more of a "proof of concept" this year) in addition to farmer's market and other fresh food coming in the house.

But I need to do something about my weight.

The short-term I'm trying, which I have tried before (but this time I mean it, I swear!) is to do some exercising at work during my lunch. I'm day one into a twelve-week regime. I hope I can keep it up. My goal is to be 180 lbs by daughter's 2nd birthday in October. A modest goal.

Day off

Work was closed today due to the storm, which unfortunately turned to rain early on. I did day 3 of Jack and then 30 minutes of Wii fir this morning, but no stairs. The only other real exercise was trudging out through the rain and deep puddles of slush to go buy milk and other provisions for a day in (eg cocktail ingredients).

Snowy Day

I trudged through the cold and beginning flakes of snow this morning, but not before doing my Jack LaLanne and nearly an hour of Wii Fit! Given that I was feeling a little ill again before lunch I opted to postpone the stairs until after, but then only managed the 6 flights.

Tomorrow is a snow day. While I can still do my LaLanne "Trimnastics" and Wii Fit, I'm stuck with our three flights of stairs in our apartment building. Given how hard it's been for me to do the stairs, this might not be a bad thing. If I can do the stairs twice I'll be happy.

Stairs: I am not the master

I got rather inspired by the recent stair climbing post by Bitch Cakes and thought it might be good to try some stair climbing here at work. Originally I was planning the north stairwell from basement to top, four flights, starting with one flight on Monday and working up to five on Friday. Today, the first day I was to attempt, it occurred to me to try the central stairwell which is six flights (yes, there are additional stories in the middle of the building.) Let's just say I'm happy I started with one. While I'm sure I can work my way up, I may resort to the shorter stairwell until I'm fitter.

In addition to the stairs today, I got my ass out of bed early so I could start week 1 of Jack LaLanne before work. He starts things off rather easy so it wasn't a real challenge to start my week. It even got me warmed up enough to do 30 minutes of Wii Fit after while listening to the news. So today I've not only managed to get all my exercise in before noon, I got in more than my typical goal.

Exercise Goal for the rest of the week:
Jack LaLanne every morning
Stairs (four or six flights) every late morning/early afternoon, increasing by one repetition each day (six flights today, twelve tomorrow, etc). If I have to rest on a landing, that's okay.
At least 10 minutes of Wii Fit either before or after work.

Wish me luck!

Exercise

Before Christmas, and after my last doctor's appointment, I told Spouse nag me to exercise five days a week. The run up to and after Christmas were dead losses, but we did manage to come up with something that would work for us where I exercise for 30 minutes and he practices piano for 30 minutes (he's exercising too, but since that's not part of the deal I don't nag.)

I am happy to report that I have exercised every day so far this week (beginning Sunday) for a minimum of 30 minutes. I've even bought a new sports bra that actually WORKS so can do some of the more aerobic Wii Fit exercises. In fact, I have mainly been doing aerobics (since I CAN), but last night went for yoga and strength so I can mix things up a bit. I will probably incorporate some pilaties and/or belly dancing for more variety.

I can't say I've been looking forward to exercise (it has, after all, not even been a week), but I do feel so much better after I do it! It's just the forcing me to do it I still need help with . When I get home from work, the first thing I've been doing is getting into my workout gear before having a chance to sit down or prep dinner. I know that if I do anything else first I will kill any possible motivation. The trick for me seems to be just get it out of the way first thing (well, first thing in the evening as there's just no way I could do this in the morning.)

On the food front, I've been baking bread, made some more butter (not a particularly good batch this time, unfortunately) but have been using lots of veggies in dinner. Plus I've brought my lunch to work every day this week. I'd like to get the exercise to start being a habit before I try doing much more though. That said, I put on a skirt this morning that's usually a bit tight even with a waist cincher. This morning, no cincher, it zipped right up with a heavy shirt TUCKED IN! Maybe this exercise thing ain't so bad after all.

190.5

I had an ultrasound a couple weeks ago that showed fatty liver (my fois is gras) so now that's one more thing saying LOSE WEIGHT!

I've asked Spouse to make me exercise 30 minutes 5 times per week and he's been quite god about it so far. We've even had negotiations about days I want off or how I can trade one activity for another. While I'm not thrilled about having to exercise, I do notice how much better I feel after I've done it. Eventually it may get to a point where I look forward to it, but I don't see that happening for a while.

Brunch
scrambled eggs with leeks and spinach
tea with 2% milk

Snack
Cider down the pub

Dinner
veggie pizza (whole wheat crust)
salad

189.5 - Weigh-in Day

Yeah, you read that right: 189.5. I lost four pounds in a week. I know the rate will slow down, but this does show that I had been consuming far too many calories and not exercising enough (or at all to be honest.)

BREAKFAST
scrambled egg with kale
three veggie bacon slices
orange juice
tea with skim milk

LUNCH
Stupid me didn't pack a lunch today. I had a very busy and stressful morning at work and our cafeteria had macaroni and cheese today. But I RESISTED! Instead I went to another food place on campus and got veggie sushi and a container of carrot and celery sticks with dip. Bad me ate the dip but I think that was my food reward for not eating mac and cheese.

DINNER
Post work beer
scalloped carrot, white and sweet potatoes
seitan and sprouts in mushroom sauce (low fat milk in both)
Walked for a bit over half an hour

190.5

I did end up going for a walk last night but cut it short when I got rained on.

BREAKFAST
granola and yogurt, 1/2 cup each
1/2 cup orange juice
water
black tea

LUNCH
Boca burger on bread (1 slice) with Branston pickle
vegetable soup
plum
tea with soy milk
water

DINNER
wine
toad-in-the-hole
gravy
beer

No walk

191.5

And hour's walk and a low calorie dinner kept me at the same weight. This is going to be a long, slow journey.

BREAKFAST
1 egg scrambled with mushroom
2 slices veggie bacon
1 slice toast with bitter
tea with soy milk

LUNCH
Boca burger on bread (1 slice) with Branston pickle
vegetable soup
plum
water

DINNER
Manhattans
"meat" loaf
roast corn with butter and garlic
steamed green beans
water

The weather was crap tonight so I didn't go out for a walk. Although I'm feeling guilty not (at 10 to 8) and might do 30 minutes before bed.