Happy New Year!

*sigh*

Right after Christmas my dad was diagnosed with Diabetes, which startled all of us. He's doing well, taking it in stride and doing all the work required. He's changed his diet and he's started exercising.

Him exercising has been a great motivator for me. This last week we've been out for 1/2 mile to 1 mile walks and today we went on a 2.5 mile hike around a local park that has nature trails running through it. The more he walks the better his energy is so each day we're able to walk a little further than the day before and on Friday he went up his first set of hills. I'm hopeful that he sticks with it and in a few weeks he'll be up to my speed of about 2 to 2 1/2 miles a day.

I've also decided to sell my bike *sad face* and use the money I get from it to save up for a more comfortable bike. I love riding bikes, but now that I'm older overweight, it's hard for me to ride a standard mountain bike. It hurts my wrists to lean forward on the handle bars and the pressure from pushing down on the pedals really bothers my ankle that I broke...so I'm thinking a new bike, like this is in store for me.

The holidays were tricky, I'm impressed that I didn't gain 10 lbs, but my weight went up and down every week like a teeter-totter. I didn't overeat and I didn't overload on sugar and sweets, but there wasn't a lot of exercising and I didn't exactly stay on plan. I'm forcing myself to get back on track this last week, and with the exercising and eating better I'm starting to feel better.

Refocusing

I was down almost 20 lbs! I got so excited I gained back 6 of them. Yuck. And yikes!

I was only half-assing my weight loss program, still weighing in, still exercising, but not tracking foods and not exercising to my fullest ability. I'd walk a half mile and call it good ... for a week.

When I started this program I posted all the time on here about how I wanted to hold myself accountable, be responsible and take this seriously. That worked for about 6 months and then in September I went on vacation for two weeks and when I got back completely let myself go.

It wasn't until I got on the scale last Friday and I realized my weight was creeping back up that it occurred to me that I've let it slip away again.

I don't want to go back to weighing over 330 lbs.

I don't want to go back to being winded walking up one flight of stairs at work.

What I do want is to be under 300 lbs so I can use my Wii Fit board that my amazing husband got me for Christmas a year ago (My original goal? To be there by October...which was totally reachable until I started slacking.)

What I do want is to take my daughter for bike rides, and fit in an airplane seat without being self-conscious of the person sitting next to me.

What I do want is to be healthy.

Finding creative ways to exercise

It seems like I've written about this before? But I looked back through my archives and couldn't find it.  Could be that it's on one of my previous blogs that I've deleted or something.  Either way, now that winter is here and the rain and wind is back it's harder for me to get out in the weather and exercise.

One thing I hate, but I do anyway because I know it's good for me, is stair climb.  My office is on the 3rd floor of an office bldg and whenever I come in or go out, I take the stairs (Unless I'm with my pregnant friend and co-worker who gets a little topsy-turvy on stairs!).  If I stop taking them for a day or two and then take them again, I can definitely feel the burn!  I'm still too overweight and when I get to the top, I'm usually out of breath, but the more I do it, the easier and less painful it gets.

Another thing I do is take the long way! There are several routes around my office, I can cut through a conference room to get to my bosses office or I can go around it and I usually go around it to get in the extra steps.   I also make as many trips as possible.  While trying to maintain efficiency in my job, I try and walk the office as much as possible.

I also am a believer in the little desk exercises people recommend (Lunges, back stretches, desk pushups...etc.).  Not only for the exercise but also because I read an article once where a news journalist died in Iraq from a blood clot he got from sitting too long without moving around.  I'm TERRIFIED now that it's going to happen to me so I'm and moving as much as possible!

Anyway, that's how I exercise at work and how I sort of make-up for maybe not walking as much at home when it's pouring rain outside.

Do you exercise at the office?  If so, how do you do it?  Do you skip the elevator and take the stairs?

Weekly Weigh-In

Weigh-In: 321.4 lbs

Change from last week: -1.0 lbs

If you've been a follower of my blog for more than a minute, (and if you're still here) you'll know that over the summer my weight loss stalled for several long agonizing whine-filled weeks. I went on vacation in September and lost 5 lbs and then proceeded to lose another 6 lbs the next few weeks after that.

Now, it would appear that I've gained a few of those pounds back and stalled again. Granted, I haven't gotten much in terms of exercise this last week because of the back problems, but I've been eating right, and before my back had issues I was getting exercise.

To say I'm frustrated again is a severe understatement. I have been working incredibly hard to not let this kill my motivation and so far I'm holding up OK. I went out lastnight and bought some new much-needed workout clothes and this morning went for a walk with The Kid and The Dog in the freezing cold morning weather (Still no snow. COME ON! Just a little bit???). I feel better, my back is improving more and more everyday and I feel good about what I'm eating.

This next week is a short work-week and Hubs and Kid leave Friday morning for a short trip which will give me time to myself for some hiking time, and while I always miss them when they go on these short trips to visit his family, I do enjoy the time alone because the guilt factor for doing what I want goes down drastically.

Next week is a new week, right? Keep your chin up! (Or in my case...chins. Har har har)

Ohhhhh hello Mr. Back Problems

I'm getting old.

There's no other way to say it that will make the hit any softer.

I'm getting old. And I'm fat.

And with those two ailments comes problems. Back problems to be exact.

Sunday night I was sitting in my recliner and when I got up, I must've gotten up kind of awkward or something because all of a sudden I was paralyzed. Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't even talk to tell The Family that I was paralyzed. It was the worst, most shocking pain I've ever experienced. It truly felt like I'd cracked a rib or something. There was a muscle so deep in my back and I pulled it good.

By Monday morning I was in bed and still half-paralyzed, and by now it was spasming like nuts. Today I was feeling a teeny bit better and ended up going in to work. I haven't been able to walk more than a few feet without it spasming, I can't lift my hands over my head, and I was supersuperthisclose to letting The Hubs spoon feed me lastnight because I couldn't move my arms.

Here's hoping I recover quickly! Not only do I want to start exercising again, but breathing without sharp pains shooting through your body is a good thing I hear!

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. And I love food. Especially holiday food. My mom makes the best stuffing, and I usually make home made macaroni and cheese for my husband who isn't a big fan of most of the traditional sides. We made cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, rolls, and pie. Lots of pies. I love all pie, I'm not discriminatory.

However, since I'm on this weight loss kick this year, I have had to make some adjustments to my menu. I'll be making several of my dishes from the Cooking Light recipe index.

I'll be making one of their recipes for Macaroni and Cheese although I haven't picked one specific recipe yet.

The Kid and I want to make an apple pie together.

And.....if she can be persuaded to give up her delicious recipe, I might try and make my own stuffing this year.

We'll also have to make some of the usual desserts too, I always make The Hubs a chocolate pudding cream pie and this year The Kid wants to make chocolate chip cookies.

What's on your menu this year?

11.11.11

I thought that 11.11.11 was supposed to be some magical day where all the good luck fairies fall out of the sky and make all your dreams come true?

That's not how my day went!

First, I wake up to find that I've gained a pound (*sssobbbb*) and then I go to Starbucks for my Skinny Vanilla Latte and a breakfast bar (Their triple berry coffee cake = to.die.for) and my total comes to $6.66. Not too much of a big deal since I'm not super superstitious, right?

I go to my car and plug in my iPhone so I can listen to it on my drive to work. I put it on my favorites playlist and song number 66 of 666 comes on. OK, now I'm getting worried.

I get to work and try to text my husband this: "Remind me to..." and my big fat fingers misspell "Remind" and my lovely auto correct "fixes" it by putting in "Demon"...

OK. Time to go home, yes? Yikes.

I made it through the day and we ended up having a really nice day that ended with dinner at one of my favorite Italian places, where I treated myself to chicken marsala.

Tomorrow if it's nice out we'll be going to the lake where I hope to go hiking through the woods and enjoy the beautiful fall colors this amazing city seems to have every year!