A Month of Good Intentions

I had every intention of making August the month of losing my fat! Well, we all know what the road to hell is paved with right?

Actually, it's not all my fault, well maybe it is. Last week on Thursday, I injured my foot. I was walking and I knew I was pushing myself and that dang stroller to hard. I felt the pain at the half way mark, but I kept going. It didn't help either that I know I've needed new shoes for a while now too.

Anyway, my arches pronated a bit too much, and my foot was pulled out of whack. It's nothing that a few days of rest, ice and advil won't take care of, but still, I see these last days of summer as an opportunity to be out and about. I will need the memories of these days during the long winter. And for some reason I feel that this winter will be a snowy one, which will see us home bound more often than not.

Also there is the small issue of me just going barefoot more often than not too. A person with protaning arches and really bad plantar facitis should always wear shoes, always. I've got to give up my dream of seeing cutely painted toes popping out of a sprightly sandal. I just can't do that to myself anymore.

All that said, I did buy some new walking shoes on Friday. Sadly, my favorite shoe, the Reebox Fast Step, is no longer made. :( I've been wearing that shoe for walking for almost 3 years. Sad to say good bye to a trusted friend. I did manage to find a reasonably priced pair of New Balance. I've only heard great things about New Balance shoes, so we'll give them a try.

In a strange twist of fate too, I'm down to 210#s. I don't know how that happened with out exercising, but I'm not going to complain. Perhaps it was my sheer will and determination to by pass the treat isle at the store. Although I did hear the Butterfinger Crisps calling me last night, and oh their siren song was sweet to the ears.

New shoes today, hopefully we can take an easy walk tomorrow. I know it would help me and the baby to get out and about once again.

Pressing on with all possible dispatch, Chicken Fat out.

Shoes and a Yogi

The shoes did not work, so I had to send them back and re-order my old shoes, which is fine, except they come with pink accents. Gag! But, they will work and I use them.

As for hot and steamy yoga mentioned a few posts ago, I went yesterday. The studio is new so they have a great introductory rate for an unlimited week of classes for $20. I chose this option, just to see if I like it.

Well I did. I have to admit though, I have no balance whatsoever and I felt big and very clunky. Heck I can't even put my feet together and not fall down. All those years of singing training have taught me to stand differently and breath differently, it wasn't wrong, but different. I have also mention that there was a lady in the class who I am going to call "Noodle Lady" because she could do all the positions, like standing on one leg with the other leg kicked out and squating on on foot in tip toe with the other leg folded up around her lap. Ya, she's Noodle Lady, because she was that flexable!

As for the hot and steamy, it was warm, but it felt so good to work out in a room that was that warm. Of course I sweated like a little piggy, but it was ok. And when I came out of the room, I felt relaxed, limber and for the first time in a long time my plantar facitis foot and leg, the right, did not hurt! YAY!

Now, the trick is this convincing my DH to pay for the 5 week card next week. He thinks yoga is for hippies and that I should just rent a DVD, but I really like this....and I lost a pound doing it.

Grounded today.

Holy SHIN-SPLINTS Batman!

No really, it's funny how I notice my shoes failing and do nothing till it really starts to hurt. Saturday after my walk, my legs let me know they were unhappy about the state of my footwear. Shin-splints are no fun people! I tell you, no fun!

So Saturday I hopped on Zappos and ordered a new pair of shoes. Unfortunately, the only color the shoes came in was white with pink accents. The day I can find a pair of shoes with out pink accents will be a GREAT day! Not that I don't like pink, but I would like a nice green or blue once in a while. :)

So we wait for the UPS man, hopefully he'll come today so I can get out and walk.

The Bikram Yoga studio is open, they opened on Saturday, and they have a deal where you get your first week of unliminted classes for $20. I'm going to go and check it out and see if Bikram is somehting I want to invest in.

Hot and Steamy Yoga is not a Cheap Porno

I don't get it....

The day I eat ice cream, and Haagen-Daz, no less and almonds and a couple of bites of sweeted condensed milk (I know it's weird, but I like to eat this plain, but it's really good, creamy and sweet!) I loose weight! I don't get it people, I just don't get it. I obviously went waaaaay over on my points yesterday, but I lost.

Confused I am.

But in good news, a Bikram Yoga studio is opening up in the very small town in which I live. If you don't know Bikram Yoga is Yoga done in temps above 95 degrees F. It's supposed to be really good and good for you. When I explained this to my husband I said, "It's like hot and steamy yoga." To which he quipped, "It sounds like a cheap porno when you put it like that." (I know that's going to net some weirdo googles....be gone ye perverts, this here is a PG rated blog!)

I think spring is on it's way, the snow is almost melted from our yard and I've been puttering in the yard this week. I'm just waiting for it all to melt so I can get back to my garden, which is the best way to relax, ever!

Body Mass Index

Body Mass Index, or BMI is a ratio that tells you your body's "fatness" based on height and weight. It's not a failsafe measure of your health, but can be used as a guide line in determining weigh loss and health and wellness goals.

By hand, calculate your BMI:
1-Multiply your weight in pounds by 703
2-Divide by your height in inches squared
3-This will give you your BMI.

The BMI is classified as:
Below 18.5 = underweight
18.5-24.9 = normal weight
25.0-29.9 = overweight
30.0 and over = obese

You can also find a very quick BMI calculator here.

My current BMI is 28.9 down from 33.8 a year ago when I started WW. I am still in the "overweight" range and I calculated that I would need to be at 164 lbs to be in the "normal range". That's what I weighed in high school and is a good 25 more pounds away. I don't know if I will get down that far, but it's a good goal to work toward. One thing that I have to keep in mind is that muscle weighs more than fat, and I am far more muscley now than I was a year ago, and I think that is good.

Back at last

I just got back from a week at my Mom's house, which is also known as comfort food central. The day before we left our scale broke and my husband had to get a new one. I don't know how these two scales match up as I was gone for a week. My side by side weigh in this morning told me that my old scale weighs me 5 pounds less than the new scale. My husband tells me that both scales weigh him the same, so I am having a bit of a quandry. I don't really want to admit to myself that I have gained 5 pounds. Arrrgggghhh!

While home I also was able to get some orthodics made for my shoes. My uncle is a podiotrist and was able to do it quickly. They have made my feet feel tons better, however I can only wear them for short periods of time otherwise my feet and legs will get very soar. Oddly enough the whole week I was home, my feet did not hurt. I don't know if it was the fact that I was at a lower elevation or that I was not climbing hills everyday.

So back to the plan, back on the wagon this week. I have a lot of work to do.

New scale

My trusty scale broke the other day. Husband is buying a new one today. I don't know how to reconcile my weight on my old scale to the weight on the new one--once I finally get home and get on it. Any ideas out there? I have a feeling I will be gaining a lot of weight again with this change.

Eulogy for a bike

Good bye excercise bike. You served us well as you took us to nowhere. You went and went and went, and yet you stayed in the same place. Saturday night when you fell apart, it was sad for us. But more than that, it was sad to have to clean up the mess your untimely demise left. Now you're going to a better place--the dump. Have a nice time there with the bugs, crows and garbage. We won't miss you too much, because we've already replaced you. No, we have no shame or loyalty, we're just that shallow. And in a million years when some archeologist digs you up and wonders what you were, we'll look down from heaven and laugh at you--because you were a bike that went nowhere.

Vay-cay twists of fate

I'm back home and so glad to be here!

I was able to go walking today...I LOVED IT! It felt so good to be out in my neighborhood, seeing my dog pals, the houses, the vacant lots and so on. It was a little bit warm, but it felt good.

I also have to say that I wore shorts. It's the first time my legs have seen the sun since, I don't know when, maybe 1991? I needed shorts instead of capri length pants so that they would tan up evenly. Right now I have tan between my sock line and my mid calf. It's silly looking. I can just have a sock tan, but not a half-calf tan.

And in an amazing twist of fate....I LOST 2 pounds on vay-cay! ?!!??!?!!. Ya, I'm stumped. I ate out more than I care to say, ate almost no fruit and veg and had more junkfood than I've eaten since before WW.

So, I'm going to continue on this good weight loss vibe. I am only 11 pounds from my goal weight. Now, once I get to my goal weight I want to try and loose 10 more additional pounds--just for the fun of it.

Chicken fat is back and is past the mental wasteland! I have focus once again, and I am ready to go again.

New shoes again.

My new shoes came yesterday! (Reebok, Versacomfort DMX Max)

My husband saw them on the floor and asked about them and where I got them. He then asked, "Didn't you just get new shoes?" Yes I did, about a month and a half ago, but they are dead. Why are they dead? Because they were not walking shoes and I walked them to death, and they were cheap and they died a cheap death.

So, I put on my new shoes today and did a very light walk around the park today. I could feel how they were correcting my gait and how I walked. It was different and weird, but I could tell it was the right way I needed to be walking.

I took my heart rate half way thru the walk, and it was about 110, which is 60% of my maximum heart rate. At this level I am getting aerobic benefit from my excercise. The thing was, I was not walking very fast, in fact I was walking a bit slower than I normally do. I figured if my heart rate was where it was supposed to be at a slower pace, I am no longer going to push myself to the edge with my pace of walking. I think this is how I hurt myself in the first place.

Today was also the first day in almost a week that my knee and right calf muscle did not screech in pain. I can't tell you how discouraged I've been the last few days as just walking around the house doing nothing has been uncomfortable.

So I'm getting back into the swing of things, slowly. Hopefully in the next few days I can add my strength training back into the routine.