A milestone

Today, I got on the scale for my weekly weigh-in. I wasn't really sure what to expect... last week I'd been dissapointed because while I lost a little, it wasn't much... but this week, I hit (and actually surpassed) a major milestone... As of today, I have lost 21.1 lbs!! It's been two months almost to the day since I started tracking my weight and counting calories, and now I've hit a major (for me, anyway) milestone.

While this may not seem like much to some people, it means a lot to me... I've had a really hard time loosing weight for the past several years. It took keeping a food diary (on Loseit! for iphone) and counting calories to realize several things:

1. I have a really disfunctional relationship with food. I can start eating and not be able to quit.

2. My idea of portion size has been totally warped by years of eating out, and massive restaurant portions.

3. Even some really healthy things can be very, very calorie dense... and overeating those things (hello guacamole!) will lead to weight gain.

4. The little things really do count. Coffee creamer, for example. I love my coffee, and I love, love the flavored creamers... mmmmmmm french vanilla. But that stuff really adds up calorie wise. Even the fat-free vanilla creamer has 30 calories per tablespoon. And who, who uses just one tablespoon? Not me!!! of course, I also use mugs that are about twice the size of the average coffee cup... but this could also be symption of #2...

So, I've made some changes. I've switched from the flavored creamer, to unflavored, fat free creamer, which has 10 calories per tablespoon... while the difference in one serving may seem small, let's go back to what I said above... who uses just one tablespoon? Not this coffee drinker. In all honestly, I probably use two or three tablespoons of creamer in each cup. Compare the two, and for one average cup of coffee, for me, it's a savings of 60 calories to use the unflavored, fat free!!! Figure that I don't stop at just one cup, and you can see where the calories can quickly spriral out of control for me if I use the flavored creamer.

Although, I admit I miss the sweetness (did I mention that I love french vanilla... like a whole, whole lot?)... but Splenda to the rescue! Splenda makes "flavors for coffee" sweetner packets! With zero, Yes, I said ZERO calories. And they are pretty good... I've only been able to locate the hazelnut flavor so far, but am on the lookout for vanilla. (one caveat though... they are really sweet... they work fine in my big mugs... but for smaller coffee cups this may be overwhelmingly sweet). I've even added a few packets to a bottle of the fat free plain creamer... eliminating the need to add sweetner as a second step.

So, I'll toast this milestone with a mug of coffee, with fat free creamer and splenda... here's to the first twnety... and high hopes for the next!

Do you exercise?

I hope so... it makes you feel good, keeps you fit, strengthens your bones, improves mental acquity, and helps you live longer

I don't know about you, but my long term goals include being able to chase not just my grandchildren, but my great grand children.

I first started seriously exercising in college. At that point in my life I was already very slender, and so when I started to hit the gym, I slimmed down and toned up very, very quickly. In six weeks or less, I was in the best shape of my life. Of course, that didn't last. For several years I found myself in yo-yo cycle of exercise and laziness... and each time I'd attempt to get back in shape after a prolonged period of inactivity, it got harder and harder to get fit, and weight loss was elusive at best.

Finally, after gaining an astronomical amount of weight during pregnancy (and having gestational diabetes as a result) I made a committment to exercise and eating right. For two years I exercised, doing a combination of running and cross-fit workouts. I did lose some weight, but did not see the results I wanted. I did, however, feel better, stronger and fitter... I just didn't look the part. And I knew that if I lost weight, I'd feel better, and that exercise would be easier and more enjoyable in a lighter body.

In April of 2009, I finally realized that I was going to have to change my exercise routine to get the results I wanted, and that I was going to also have to pay much greater attention to not just what I ate, but to the amounts I was eating. A trainer told me that his recomendation was, "Do something you like." He works at the gym I belong to, and had seen me struggle through cross fit work outs for a year. It was obvious that not only was I not getting the results I wanted, but that I was not enjoying my work outs.

I took his advice. I went back to something that I love doing. That something is running. While I know that there are conflicting schools of thought on what exercise is best, how often to do cardio vascular exercise, how much running is too much, etc., I've found something that, for right now, is working for me.

As of today, I run five miles per day, five days a week. On the weekends I try to do some other form of exercise. Some times I go to the gym and use the eliptical machine, some times I do calisthenics or yoga, sometimes I take a rest day.

Since May 1st, 2009, I've lost almost 20 lbs. My goal is to lose 20, maybe 30 more. But the way I feel is becoming even more important than the way I look. The weightloss is more than welcome, and I do look better... and it's certainly wonderful to pull something out of the closet that's been too tight for years, only to find that it now fits again. But I've also noticed that I sleep better, and that running seems to get easier, even though I've gradually been upping my milage. I know that the more I lose, the easier it will get to run, and more my perfomance will improve. Which brings me to my final goal... to run a full marathon in February, 2010.

This weekend included a major mile stone... we installed flooring in our game room!

And not a moment too soon. The game room floor has been a long standing bone of contention for over three years. It was over three years ago that hubby scraped up all of the old linoleum and carpet that had covered the slab. On and off for three years we have cleaned and scrubbed the slab, attempting to remove the old adhesive, trying to decide what kind of flooring or flooring treatment to apply. Initially, we wanted pergo to match the existing pergo already on the first floor of our house. But that idea came to halt when we discovered two things:

First, the pergo color we have has been discontinued.
Second, the concrete slab is not smooth... there are bumps and raised areas that preclude the application of pergo or tile to the floor, unless we decided to have the slab re poured and leveled (not likely... too expensive!

We next found an Armstrong linoleum that was an extremely close match for our existing pergo. We were already to go the linoleum route, when we discovered that this flooring color had also bee discontinued by Armstrong. A local search uncovered only about half of the linoleum needed for the job to be available in our city. Scratch that option.

We next flirted with the idea of either acid etching, or painting the existing slab. However, this option would require that the slab be cleaned of all old adhesive... otherwise, the acid etching wouldn't work, or, if we choose to paint, the paint would not adhere properly. Months of scrubbing the floor with horrible chemicals commenced. After months of back breaking work, we had managed to scrub only about 10% of the floor.

The header picture on this post, while it only showing a small portion of the floor, should give you some idea of what we were up against when it came to cleaning.

Hubby was ready for wall to wall carpet, which I hate. I resisted. I wheedled. I begged him, no, please, no carpet. But finally, I was beginning to accept that the floor may have defeated us.

At home depot last week, Hubby approached a sales associate in flooring area, asking, "What kind of carpet can you recommend to someone who hates carpet?"

And that's when the Sales associate led us to it... the answer to our prayers.
Traffic master vinyl plank flooring, in oak, which... wait for it... matches our pergo!!!!

I can't believe it. And 18 cases of it later, I have laid all of the planks and now have a lovely floor to walk on. Pictures to come.

welcome to the edge!

Welcome to my life... at the edge of sanity. While this blog promises to be as random as my previous blog, as the title suggests, there's a lot going on in my life... kids, work, husband, house... you name it, all the stressful accoutrements of modern life. In this blog I hope to focus on health, exercise and feeling good... and what that means, to me, is loosing weight, getting and staying healthy, good and good for you food, and doing things to feel good about yourself.

So expect recipes, exercise discussions, taking care of oneself and having fun with family and friends, along with random posts about the state of my home renovations (ongoing) and the occasional nonsensical rant.