My new fun! @ Annadel State Park

I've been staying active with the gym, etc. The etc includes a 10 mile mountain bike ride on Saturday in Santa Rosa, Annadel State Park. What fun! But my tire died. I have to buy a new one, which will be about $50 I'm told. My bike is so old and, ...well, old, that I think I'm going to get a new one. I'm looking at several that are, of course, way beyond my needs, but cool. I'm looking seriously at a Marin brand bike, Hawk Hill. We'll see. I'll be doing research for a bit but I have a ride planned for 4/6 and it'd be nice to have it by then.

Anyway, I weigh in today so we'll see if my work equals a weight loss this week. My body fat % has been creeping down so even if I don't lose I have that to be thankful for.

I'm off to Tahoe this weekend for some snow time. I'm not a skier so I'll just be hanging out, going for a walk or two and sitting by the fire. I'm very excited to get away for a few days. Hope everyone here has been healthy and happy!

Cardiac, er, Cataract Falls @ Fairfax

Whew! That hike kicked my butt! My hiking book described it as beauty - that you pay for. "The hike is quite challenging-er, make that steep- um, make it a real heart thumper." It was a 700 feet elevation gain in the first mile. My heart was thumping alright. I wore my heart monitor and burned 600 calories on the hike up, which took just over an hour. On the hike down I burned another 325. That made room for some beer and lumpia at the Filipino potluck I went to afterward. Alright, enough text, here's some pics:



There were more steps like these than I can possibly describe. It was like every time I came around a corner, more steps!

I paused many times at beautiful spots like this one to catch my breath and slow my heart-rate down a bit. My heart-rate hovered in the 160's while climbing and when it hit 170 is usually when I had to take a break. Flat ground was a breeze, but there wasn't much of it.

None of the pictures I took did it justice, of course. But this gives you an idea. All in all it was a beautiful hike, wonderful and perfect weather, great company and a lot of gratitude that I was able to actually finish the hike. 3 out of our group of 8 had to throw in the towel half-way up. In the past that definitely would have been me.

Crisis Averted

I was disheartened at only losing .2 pounds this past week. For all my cheering about "A loss is a loss!" I wasn't able to see this when it came to myself. Thursday, weigh-in day, was not a gym day. Friday was. I said that I would go despite my negative energy, and normally that kind of blind determination gets me there, but this time it didn't. I sulked off from work a couple hours early and hit the couch. Miguel was in Tahoe skiing for the day and wouldn't be home until late. I hoped that something would kick in and I'd drag myself to the gym. This has happened on many an occasion so I had reason to hope.

I took a nap. For me, an after work nap (when I'm not sick) is a warning. It's old behavior. Granted I did feel tired and sort of dragging all day but I really believe it was psychological. I never made it to the gym. I felt grumpy and irritable and just wanted to be alone on my couch.

Saturday (today) came and I felt pretty much the same. I was snappy with Miguel and just really wanted to be alone. When I finally got some time alone it wasn't long before I was eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes (Miguel's cereal). Oh boy. Using that cereal to change my mood. Hmph.

So when Miguel came back from his errands I was still lazing on the couch. "Do you want to go to the gym?" he asked. "No, I don't want to go. But I need to go. If I don't go, I won't get out of this funk." Basically I was asking him to please push me, but gently or I might snap. He gave a little nudge and off we went. While getting ready to go I decided it might be more fun if we rode our bikes there. It's about 2.5 miles and the weather was nice enough. He was game. You can't put a price on a good man.

We rode there and I felt sort of, eh. We went in and I got going on my cardio. 10 minutes in I was feeling alive again. On my bike on the way back home I was definitely alive and by the time I got home I felt like a champion! This was the first time I've rode my bike home from the gym. I usually ride there and have Miguel meet me and pick me and the bike up to go home (as it's a little more uphill on the way home).

I did it and I felt great. This evening I've been thinking about how quickly my psyche can go south. I was in a definite slump. What if Miguel hadn't been there to gently nudge me out of it? What if I laid on the couch all day today? Felt more down, did the same thing tomorrow? I bet some fast food would've come into play and then who knows. Geez Louise, I've got to figure this out. One day? I sure hope so.

p.s. I'm going on a waterfall hike tomorrow so look for less text and more pictures in my next post.

Struggling for Momentum

Two weeks ago I weighed in and gained .4 pounds. I was sick and didn't exercise and had been eating more comfort foods. Fine. Last week I stayed the same. I was in the midst of my cycle and figured I was bloated. Fine. This week I lost .2 pounds. See the point in front of the 2? Not fine. I did all my workouts this week and stayed within my Weight Watchers points allotment. You all know I had a weekend in Southern California that included a calorie-laden meal at Ruth's Chris. But I ate clean the rest of the week and really didn't think it was going to be a factor.

There are many reasons I can drum up for why I didn't lose more. And I'm determined to just keep trudging along with the faith and knowledge that if I do that I will lose the weight, even if it is .2 pounds at a time. I just figured out it would take me nearly 4 years to get to goal at .2 pounds per week. And you know what? That's ok. The problem is momentum. I'm feeling a little stuck, stalled.

I do this every time I have a weigh-in that is vastly different from what I think I earned through exercise and diet. It's almost like a little rebellion. But I'm feeling like I need a good sized loss to get a little momentum going. How about over a pound? And it's so hard not to compare to others. I was talking with a woman on the WW message boards when I noticed she lost almost all the weight I need to lose (about 85 pounds total) in a year. Ugh. Ok, I'm definitely letting that one go.

Today is gym day. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I will go.

In reading over my post I just realized that by saying, "I did everything I was supposed to and didn't lose weight and that's not ok" I'm sort of blaming some unknown thing. This is my body, my choices, my exercise, my goals. If I didn't lose weight it's not unfair. By saying that I'm giving away my power to some outside source. I don't know why I didn't lose more but I know I will in the future. Through making better choices, exercising, keeping at this. I'm going to keep saying this until I believe it again

Life, Love and Longevity

I'm sitting on the plane in Long Beach, waiting to start our flight back to the Bay Area. Dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse was great! I had a Seared Ahi appetizer that was incredible. It rivaled a seared ahi I had in Florida once. Very tasty and probably pretty healthy. Miguel had a bowl of Lobster Bisque that was so creamy and tasty. It tasted like Lobster Butter/Cream Soup, just so rich. I had quite a few spoonfuls of that.

For my entrée I had a petit filet and grilled jumbo shrimp. Oh, and Onion Rings Plus lots of yummy foods being passed around - mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (which tasted like pie filling, so sweet), a few bites of salmon, etc. And desert. Miguel and I shared a banana cream pie desert. Very tasty and again, very rich. Lord knows how many calories I consumed but in the points tracker the meal added up to 28 points, which would be around 1400 calories. I wouldn't be surprised if it was quite a bit more in reality.

Here's a picture of my grandparents at dinner...


Aren't they just the cutest? 65 years together and still going strong. They had four children and 8 grandchildren and now a batch of great-grandchildren. My Nana was telling me how they had the smallest wedding cake due to sugar rationing when they got married. They've seen a lot these two.

So, it was worth a few (hundred) calories to help them celebrate the milestone. The good news is I went to the gym yesterday and earned 5 activity points. I don't usually eat APs but I did yesterday. I needed 'em. And, in general, I made better choices than in the past. I skipped alcohol, which would have been more calories and decreased my judgment. I know I ate less because I walked away without that stuffed feeling. I made healthier choices; in the past I would have ordered the Rib Eye instead of the Filet and the fried Calamari instead of the Seared Ahi. Better choices, plus exercise, plus a really nice meal out which I got to indulge in and enjoy - not a diet, a lifestyle.

Still deciding if I'm going to the gym today. Just depends on how I feel after being home for a while. Getting up at 4am has left me a little sleepy but we'll see.

UPDATE: I made it to the gym! I'm so glad it stays open until 7pm on Sundays. I closed the place down finishing up my stretching right at 7. I did hanging leg raises actually hanging from those arm things! I'm very excited about that. And my C25k Week 2 Day 4 was pretty much a cake walk (!!). I feel great. I'm so glad I went. Gym days again tomorrow and Wednesday and let's hope that means a loss on Thursday. I have to eat really clean too since I used all my extra points at dinner last night.