Another week another pound

Will I make goal by Christmas? Twelve weeks to go 145-12 = 133 Crap, at this rate I’ll still have a couple pounds to go.

 What to do? Add more exercise of course. But what will I add?

 I visited a friend last week. She suggested I try out her Wii fitness program. She and her kids have been using it and really enjoy it. Nothing like having others watch you exercise to keep you honest on track. I figured, why not. I played the Wii bowling game last winter and really enjoyed it, and I was very curious how one would do yoga on that fitness platform. My first impression, wii hates me. I know, it’s an inanimate object, it has no feelings, it can’t possibly hate me, BUT IT DOES.

I did what it asked. I stood still and let it scan me. It told me my BMI was high, which I expected (I don’t remember the actual result), it told me my optimal weight would be 124 (six pounds lower than my goal), but then it went on to tell me my Wii fit age = 75, I nearly fainted. I went through the body test, hula hoop, ski jump, soccer heading and the tree (yoga pose). We all laughed at my inexperience, my poor eye hand coordination, my lack of balance. In a word, I had fun. I admit, it was a little strange holding on to the controller while doing yoga, but I think I could get use to it. I left that night promising to return and try again.

 Today I went on line to look up some information about Wii fit for this posting, and to my surprise . . . . Coming October 4, 2009 Wii Fit™ Plus

 Wii Fit™ Plus builds upon the original Wii Fit™ software, works directly with your Wii™ console to bring you a fun and exciting way to experience fitness. Get fit with over 60 activities and exercises, including over 20 new strength training, aerobics, and yoga activities.

Oh Yeah, I want this, unfortunately I can’t rush out and get it. You see, Karen reminded me, it’s October. My family has a rule that we can not buy any “fun” stuff for ourselves after the first of October because someone may have already purchased said item as a Christmas gift, and if we buy it for ourselves we will spoil their surprise. Of course today I think this rule really sucks. If I got a Wii fit now, I could ask for the “Plus” upgrade for Christmas. That way I could increase my activity level and make my goal by Christmas. Sounds rational right? But I won’t break the gift rule because, 1) I’m still unemployed and 2) my daughter would yell at me. I hate it when she yells at me, so to avoid that I will not make this purchase, instead I’ll bug my family regularly with hints of what I want for Christmas. I think I’ll start by e-mailing them this entry.

If you have not experienced Wii Fit for yourself, you can check out videos that give you an idea what to expect at youtube and/or http://www.wiifit.org/category/wii-fit-videos

Celebrate the little victories

I feel Good! My favorite around the house denim shorts fit again! It’s been a couple months since I could snap them. Being able to get into them makes me so happy. Now I’m sure the scale isn’t lying.

The past week has been interesting. I had my birthday. As a result I had to change my information in my body fat analysis scale. I received a bunch of birthday wishes from friends on Facebook, my AARP card, and lovely gifts from my daughter. She took me out for wine and pizza. We had a lovely time and I only ate 500 calories more than I exercised that day.

 I scheduled surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma growth from my face. On my surgeon’s web site I found information indicating I am to abstain from taking aspirin for a week before the surgery, and I am not to drink alcohol for 24 hours before surgery, but I’m going to discontinue alcohol now. That way I should not need any aspirin for a while. Besides, eliminating beer and wine from my diet will left me eat more.

I have to go now; it’s almost time for the season premier of “Dancing with the Stars!” I want to see who will be dancing this season, and pick the couples I will be voting for!

Another week – little up – little down: all the same at the end

This past week was so unusual for me. I was out of the house every day. It all started the Wednesday before (August 28) when I visited my family doctor for my yearly check-up. She noticed there was no mammography report in my chart and asked when I had my last mammogram, and I sheepishly replied 3 years ago (before I moved here and became her patient). She wrote up a mammography request. I pointed out a growth (mole?) on my face that I was a bit concerned about. She agreed, it needed a biopsy, but since it is on my face she suggested I have a dermatologist (specialist) take the sample. Lastly, I asked when we should check my cholesterol level again and turns out I needed that done too. So my week went like this:

• Monday– Cholesterol lab drawn – Sushi and Kirin Lite with friends for dinner – I ate more then I exercised
• Tuesday – Dermatology Clinic, I had the nurse practitioner check me over. She found 2 spots that needed biopsy.
• Wednesday– Mammography – I found the Habitate for Humanity resale store in the same strip mall as the imaging center, so I did a little browsing after having my “pictures” taken.
• Thursday – No more health stuff, thank goodness. Instead I accompanied a friend while she made a mystery shopper visit to Cartier in the Scottsdale Fashion mall. My first trip to Scottsdale. The mall is huge. By the time we were done our feet were sore (we wore heels and “nice” clothes so we would look like we belonged there), so a quick stop for refreshment before returning to the HOT car.
• Friday – Lunch with Elaine and Karen at Euro Cafe. It was heavenly. I went way over my calorie limit, and I did feel a little guilty, but what a way to over indulge. Needless to say – I ate more then I exercised
• Saturday – Stayed home, worked on my writing project, spent an hour exercising in the pool.

End result: my weight this morning (September 6) is the same as Wednesday’s low 148.2. Amazingly things are slowly headed the right way.

I only have one outings scheduled for this coming week; A quick trip to the library. The hurricane pushed through here this weekend and gave us a little rain, humidity and lower temps. I’m hoping the lower temps will stick around so I can increase my out door activity; maybe even bike to the library. I have not done that since May. I have a number of writing projects for this week, so I will have my hands busy on the keyboard and not feeding my face.

Here’s the numbers:

Statistics through Sept 5

Ten days of record keeping

Thank you to all who have told me how brave I am for writing this blog and putting my numbers up for the entire world to see. Your comments have been very helpful. I’ve had days where I have not stayed the course as well as I would like to; but I know I’ve done better because people are watching.

This has been a very good week.

• Landed a freelance gig
• Reconnected with a friend
• Had positive interaction with 3 recruiters at a Job Fair
• Wore holes in my swim shoes and had to buy new ones

I’ve been asked to write a project vision statement.  I’ll be working on it once I get this update done. Before I even start writing I’ll be doing some research to find examples of vision statements to help me start my outline.  I’m very excited about this opportunity. It’s been too long since I’ve had a complex writing project, and this one will be complex! I’m also a bit concerned; I know that once I start researching, time flies by and I don’t even notice it passing. Suddenly I realize I’ve been sitting in my chair, staring at my monitor for much too long. My eyes burn, my tush aches and I’m starving. I think I have a solution to keep me from sitting too long. I moved my nice oscillating fan into the hallway right outside my den. There is a timer on this fan. I set it for 30 minutes, and then the fan shuts off. My office gets very hot when the fan turns off and the heat should remind me to get up and stretch and get a glass of water. I’ll let you know if this strategy works or not.

I reconnected with a friend from Kenosha. She moved out here a few months after I did. We e-mailed each other but never found the time to “get together”. Yesterday we attended a Career Fair together and went out to lunch. We had a lovely time. I ordered the lunch size Southwest Cobb Salad (it was wonderful) I didn’t eat too much; however, I probably consumed a few too many calories in beverages; oh, but it was worth it. We picked up our friendship as though very little time had passed, and I think we’ll be seeing each other frequently in the future.

While at the Job Fair I spoke with recruiters from Pearson, Green tree and Modis. All three found my skills a match for positions at their companies. They were not sure if they had any current openings, but Pearson and Green tree are growing, so they could have something later this year. Modis is an IT staffing, recruiting and consulting firm. They have new opportunities arriving daily and she thought they might have a tech writing position that I would be a good match for. If so, I’ll get a call next week. Although I didn’t get a job at the fair; I did get to practice talking to HR professionals, I got to dress up in one of my new White House / Black Market outfits, and my sagging spirits were lifted simply being out of the house.

I suppose it sounds strange my listing holes in my shoes as a highlight for the week. I look at those holes and think, wow am I glad I was wearing shoes, if not I’d have bloody feet. I’m sure I burned a lot of calories wearing the rubber off the bottom of those shoes. Plus, the replacement shoes were on sale at Dick’s Sporting Goods. I saved $5. If you check out the link you will see that these are NOT stylish, but they are functional!

Well, I’ve rattled on enough. Here’s my numbers for this week. I’m so happy to see the downward trend. 

 

Record of the first ten days

I have to burn how many calories?

According to the Diet and Fitness section of Your Total Health  ”To lose one pound of fat you have to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. For example, if you burned 500 more calories per day than you ate, in seven days you would have burned enough extra fat to lose one pound. For the best results, that 500-calorie daily deficit should be split between exercise and food: burn about 250 calories during your workout and eat about 250 calories less than you usually do.”

Now that I am tracking my exercise and my fuel (food) intake I think I have a better chance at moving the numbers on the scale in the downward direction. While it’s tempting to aim for a deficit that is higher than 500, I believe that would be counter productive. That said, if I lose a pound a week I will be at my target weight for New Years Eve!

Latest stats:

2009	Calories Total	Exercise Total	Weight
19-Aug	1925	1990	151.8
20-Aug	1836	2120	151.8
21-Aug	1626	1691	152.8
22-Aug	1575	1804	151.8
23-Aug	2000	1815	150

As it has become increasingly apparent that I am incapable of writing daily, I’m going to try doing summaries every few days.

Now I must bike to the store and buy some “Shock” for the pool. I will want to exercise in it latter today.