Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Week 13: -3, Total 20



Yay, going back down again.

It was tough to get through today at work with the Halloween candy all around me. Especially the Almond Joys! How many times in years past did I eat a few bags of Almond Joy, Snickers and Reeses. Empty wrappers all over. It's ugly to remember and to think of the harm it has done. When one trick-or-treating teenager asked me where my candy was, I just said "It's so bad for you!". The commercialism and greed or hoarding of candy turns me off. Just like Easter when instead of hunting eggs, the kids just greedily run around getting as many as they can. The size of Easter baskets is extreme and now includes gifts. It's just too much, I think.

I did get to the gym Monday. I bumped up the wave machine, like elliptical only an inline skating motion. I was even swinging my arms, pretending I was skating out on the boardwalk by a California beach! I had my heart rate going at around 155 for about 8 minutes and then a cool down. Then I did some upper body and abs on the ball to round out the hour.

I *will* get to the gym tomorrow night for mostly cardio, which I usually hate to do by myself and I talk myself out of going. When I look back on my journal, exercise makes a big difference!

Have to remember my goal of improving my hiking time. Everybody is faster than me and I don't like to make my friends slow down and wait for me. I would like to do more group hikes, but I gotta lose more weight so I can walk faster.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Hike to Poo Poo



We hiked to Poo Poo point from the high school. This was a tough hike. I was huffing, puffing and sweating the whole way up -- total time was about 2.5 hours. But look at the results! I lost the 3 pounds I had gained over the last couple weeks, so now I'm back at my lowest in 3 months. And my blood sugar was 84 today! Whoo hoo.

In 3 months, I've lost a total of 2 inches off my waist and hips.

This time of year, you can't help but think of pumpkin pie. I made this custard as practice yesterday. It tastes so good and sweet! I will take this to my brother's house for Thanksgiving since there will be some borderline diabetics as well as sugar-sensitive kids there.

1 29-ounce can pumpkin puree
sweetner to taste - I used 20 packets or so of Splenda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 eggs
1 - 13oz can Coconut milk

Mix and pour into 6 large muffin tins greased with butter. Preheat oven to 425 then turn to 350 and bake for 45 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean. I froze the individual portions.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Week 12: -0, Total 17



Well, doggone it. I did well eating-wise, but the scale hasn't quite gone down yet. Just barely. It probably will tomorrow! I have been hungry and maybe I ate larger portion sizes or an extra piece of cheese. Geez, constant struggle and thinking about food.

Hey, wait a minute! I just remembered I take my waist and hip measurement each month.

>>>>>>>I lost a half inch off both waist and hips. <<<<<<<<

So the ratio is still 97% :(

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Hike on Snoqualmie Winery Road

This hike connects to the Rattlesnake Ledge Hike, but we didn't quite make it far enough to connect. I liked this hike because there was plenty of clearing which gave us a spectacular view of Tiger and Taylor mountains. We heard that familiar screech and looked up to see a bald eagle gliding above. This mountain had been logged many years ago, and seeing all the new growth and variety of plants is fun. There are some we couldn't identify so I have to look the up (didn't have my camera with me -- that needs to be standard equipment from now on!) The vine maples are flaming red and glowing amber.

The scale was down a pound this morning and my blood sugar is back down to around 100 after last week's cold and eating a few too many carbs. So I'm working hard to eat less and get some more weight off! Oh yah, and exercise more. I have to stop telling myself I hate the elliptical.

I love the elliptical. I love the stair master. I love the skating machine. I love the stationary bike.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Week 11: +2, Total 17

I ate out last week and just had a little of this and that. Hopefully things will go back down again.

I've missed my hikes a couple weeks in a row now too. So I need to bump up the workouts. At least do 4 good high intensity workouts a week.

My blood sugar was 124 one day. I had a good workout that night. The next day, fbs was down to 111. So I know exercise is very effective for getting that down for me. I was looking at my journal and when I hit 85, I had done a nice long bike ride the previous day.

I've had some carb creep and nuts so I'm going to keep an eye on that. Things are heating up at work so I have to make sure make time to get to the gym after work. It's good to work out the stress (not bad stress, just good stress). I would so love to get back to playing tennis because I'm not that crazy about just doing an elliptical by myself. I quit tennis because of heel pain. I suspect that high blood sugar was partly to blame. I'll have a little surgery for a meniscus tear and then I hope to be ready to play next spring.

So that's how I can make it through elliptical: it's bringing blood sugars down, weight down and good training to get back into tennis!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Week 10: -4, Total 19



Woohoo! I'm back in action. After my potato chip incident, last Sunday, I was kind of hungry for the next few days. But I stuck with it and am much less hungry now.

I've had a bad cold, so that probably helped me not eat. I haven't had many colds in the last several years. Maybe it was punishment for eating the potato chips.

Some of the things I ate last week: fajita skillets (just the chicken, peppers and onions with some cheese), tuna salad with cucumber and mache (lambs lettuce), grass-fed rib steak, cod and bok choy soup. I also made some low carb cheese cake, but just had small amounts.

My blood sugar was 127 this morning and was 116 yesterday. Maybe my cold or lack of exercise is why it is so high?

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Voila! down a pound



I buckled down and watched my portion sizes and voila! I lost the pound I gained last week plus one more.

No hike this week since my hiking buddy is in Hawaii. So I will get in a bike ride on Sunday.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Week 9: Gained 1!

Uh oh. Now how can I wriggle out of this one? I have to face it. I had a bag of potato chips and a candy bar on Sunday. I don't know why. I had actually gone down a pound earlier in the week. A couple of people have noticed that I look better. So why would I slip back to old habits? I don't know.

Other than that cheat, I'm eating how I was eating for the first couple of months for the challenge when I lost about 2 pounds each week. About 30g carbs daily, 6 oz meat for lunch and dinner and 3 eggs for breakfast. Plus the supplements including fish oil. Ok, I probably exceeded the portion amounts sometimes in the last couple of weeks. So I will pay closer attention to measurements.

There is no way I'm giving up on this. I will do it. I CAN and I WILL.