I return!

Well, there has been no walking since last I posted because The Moms have been here since Wednesday. It was actually great having them here, because they bought us a few pieces of little furniture and the kind of decorating stuff that I theoretically think is horrible, but secretly LOVE! And they helped rearrange the furniture and pack up the unpackables. Now our place looks more like a grown-up house (in other words, more like our parents') and less like two students with no design eye live here.

On the plus side, they "made" me shop most of one day and that was simply exhausting. I figure that walking around in stores and rearranging furniture counts for some kind of exercise.

Update.

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 345.85

Today I did not want to walk. Why? Well, because I didn't like what I had to wear. I'm glad that I saw this for the pathetic excuse that it is, and just went ahead and got outside. Because I was hungry and a little grumpy, I allowed myself to just walk 1.2 miles. Of course, when I got to the place where I could turnaround, I thought--well, just walk to the end of the street. And when I got there, I thought--well, just do the rest of it. So I did! Bwhaha.

This is the last week of only walking. After this, Dr. MM and I will start run/walking some!

Upupdate

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 347.85

Fascinating. Also, I bought a large load of junk food and ate most of it yesterday. Bored and lonely, despite having a pretty active day. Junk food, however, is not actually a friend or interesting companion. It does not do anything but make me feel bad. If I had a friend that made me feel as bad as junk food does, I would end that relationship or we would have a serious talk and set some boundaries. Sigh. I think I'm going to have to throw some ice cream away.

Update

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 349.85

Arg!

I went to the park near our house to walk, like I said I would. Did I walk at the park? No. Usually, it is hard to find parking at the park at busy times like weekends, but this afternoon there was a wedding! Arg! It was very frustrating to have driven somewhere especially to walk, and then have no where to park. Really, it just made me annoyed with myself because I can walk out the door of my house and walk, but instead I chose to burn some more gas to go somewhere to walk.

Anyway, I decided that I was just going to park at the place I wanted to get dinner from and walk around there for 30 minutes. Which I did! I was very proud of myself, because sometimes it is hard to go exploring by yourself--or at least it is for me. I walked up the street a little ways and crossed onto campus. It was great! Really, stepping onto campus was almost like walking through a park because the trees basically sealed me off from the busy street and it's summer so about the only people there are kids at various camps. Looks like basketball camp this week. I had a nice time, strolling through campus, and I walked for just over 30 minutes, roundtrip. It was a nice time of day for walking, and I liked seeing things from a different perspective. Walking gives you a better perspective of how places fit together, I think, and connects you more strongly with a location.

I'll have to estimate how far I walked, but I think about 1.2 will do it. Technically, I could have walked 2 miles in 30 minutes, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't up to that speed!

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 351.85

Slow Learner

Well, although I said "I should never let the promise of later exercise override the exercise I should do now" I have happily ignored that advice yesterday and today. Today I did have to get up very early and drive Dr. MM somewhere, but I could have walked when I came home instead of going back to bed. Ha!

I still have one more errand to run and so I am going to go to the park and then run my errand. Sigh. Anywho, on the eating front, I am tending towards some ridiculously high calorie days--I think I ate about 3000 calories two days last week. Why? One day I was very hungry, so that's fine. I'm also very bored and I am procrastinating. Really, I shouldn't be bored because I have a boatload of fun, interesting books to read, but once I sit down at the computer it is as if I cannot move from here, and all fun must come through this screen. There is also unpacking left to do, and I am being productive in those areas. Good for me! I am also being a flybaby, which is helping somewhat with my personal adjustments. Way to go! I am procrastinating studying, but I will work on that this week some more.

There are some things that I can do to get away from this computer and do something else. I can set the timer for 15 minutes, and then go read a book, watch a recorded tv show, watch one of my Netflixers, declutter some adventure boxes, or work on unpacking things, or go for a walk/ride my bike. I enjoy doing all of those things, but I somehow forget about them and get sucked into the computer. Sigh.

W: 151
M: 40-33.5-40

Sigh.

No walk today. My excuse for not walking first thing, as usual, is that I was going to ride my bike to the park. I didn't. I also did not go to the park at all. From this, I learn that I should never let the promise of later exercise override the exercise I should do now. It wouldn't have hurt me to walk and later ride my bike, after all.

In any event, I have discovered cottage cheese. It is like a wonder food, because it has so much protein and so little fat. I've been eating it with canteloupe or with a little bit of sugar sprinkled on top. Delish! Really, it was on sale and I dropped a large carton of it in my cart, even though I don't usually eat it. Discovering it is like a pleasant surprise in the fridge when I want something to eat. I've been on a home food budget of $250 this month, and we have done quite well. It's not everything we eat, because Dr. MM eats lunches out and we had pizza the other night, but it is some kind of structure. Structure is something I enjoy, but can rarely impose upon myself unless it involves money.

Also, although I have not commuted anywhere this week by bike, I have not gone anywhere except my class. That's almost as good, since I'm not running half a dozen errand every day.

Update

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 353.05

Urg.

Well, I did walk today--first thing! The only problem was that first thing meant after 9 am, because I slept in. So it was much warmer than my usual morning walks, and I toyed with the idea of just letting myself walk a mile. Then I thought about the fact that it does not hurt me to sweat, and that I would have done the most strenuous parts already if I walked only a mile, so why not walk another flat mile anyway.

So I did.

Things are going well here.

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 355.05

A little bit more

Well, yesterday was weird. I didn't walk in the morning because I had some weird idea that it would make me late for church. . .at 11, of course. An excuse. Then, Dr. MM didn't want to go somewhere and walk in a park--so I could blame it on him, but really, I almost always walk by myself. I just didn't walk yesterday, and there is no reason for it.

What I did do, though, was eat like it was the last day on earth. Why? No idea. Well, I was probably tired and bored--I should have just gone upstairs, read a book, and gone to bed early. Next time.

But, that's the past! Today, I got up and walked longer than usual, probably fueled by the enormous amounts of calories I consumed the day before. It felt good to be outside, in the cool morning air, wandering around. Not very many people out this morning, so I had the whole world to myself.

ETA: As it is about halfway through the year, I went back and checked on the mileage I started out with for the 1000 mile challenge to see where I was. I am only 43.5 miles away from halfway for the bike miles remaining, but over 157 miles for the foot miles remaining! Good thing I'm walking regularly!

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 357.05

Bike Commute 1

I went to Target on my errand! Woohoo! It was an 8 mile round-trip ride, and the worst part was the first mile because it was uphill with no warmup. Otherwise, it was great and I tried not to think too hard about the fact that I had sweaty hair and a red face while I shopped.

BMR: 343.5
FMR: 359.05

Weight and Measures

W: 151
M: 40.5-32.5-40

Hmm. My waist measurement is much lower than last time, which is interesting, and I might be remembering it wrong. Sometimes when I don't write the numbers down immediately, they run all around in my head. So it might be 33.5, which would be a more likely number.

The weight, however, is correct (same number 3x in a row--that's my scale habit) and is my lowest weight recorded on this blog, as far as I can remember. Not bad. I think I'll keep walking--and I'm about to go ride my bike. This coming week is bike commuting week for me--except for my evening classes and big weekly grocery trip, I am going to try to ride my bike everywhere I need to go. We'll see how this works out.

Whee!

Today was a fun day. I gave myself permission to do what I wanted after I went to my appointment, so I ate lunch out, went to the bookstore, and walked at the park. Then, I came home and read one of the books I bought. Fun times!

The weather here is still nice and cool, although sometimes a little overcast. I'm going to focus on getting my chores out of the way, and then giving myself permission to enjoy myself in the remaining time.

BMR: 351.5
FMR: 359.05

My Excuse Today

It was overcast and might rain. I was tired. Those were my excuses this morning. It didn't rain, but I refused to go outside. Finally, because I was bored out of my mind, I decided that I would just go walk for a little bit before I had to leave for class tonight. So I did, because I realized that I would be extremely annoyed with myself if I came back here and wrote that I didn't walk again today.

The weather is perfect for exercising today. It is nice and cool and cloudy. I didn't walk as far as usual, but when I turned around to come home the sky was blue and beautiful. There were some clouds, but they don't look like rain. It is probably sunnier than it has been all day, right now, which is pretty nice.


BMR: 351.5
FMR: 360.55

Woohoo!

I got up and walked today, albeit later than I wanted to. You know how I said yesterday that I can always get up early? Hmm. Today was a hard test of that rule, because I snoozed way too long. Maybe my brain knew I didn't have anything very pressing to do today, so it let me off the hook. Who knows.

I also measured my walk the other day in the car, and it is .2 longer than I thought.

BMR: 351.5
FMR: 361.75

Ok, ok.

So I didn't get up and walk first thing this morning. I also didn't walk in the heat of the day, and when I came home it was 10pm. No walking. WHY NOT? Well, because I was lazy and didn't think I could get up early enough to walk and still get the cat to the vet at 8am. This is not true. Plain and simple, I do not have a problem with getting up too early. Ever. (Or close enough.)

This will no longer be my excuse. I have realized that I have an excuse for everything--and they are decent for the most part, but what is wrong with my excuses is that they are lies. Basically, my decent excuses cover up for the part that I am lazy and procrastinate. True. When I was in school, the fact that I went to school full-time, worked part-time, interned part-time, organized a major speaking event, and commuted to see Dr. MM every month covered a multitude of problems. And I was busy, but RARELY did those things prevent me from doing the other things I needed to do. It's hard to argue with 60 hour weeks, though, and it covered me up. I can almost always do whatever it is I haven't done, I just haven't wanted to do it.

So, I am going to try to see the excuse that I have used to stop myself from doing the healthy thing, and take it apart. At least I should be honest with myself.

getting back on track

For the rest of the month, I am just going to get up and walk to the end of the road and back every morning. I've been reading about M@rl@'s walking, and it really energizes me to do it as well. Apparently, I'm rather impressionable.

Fitday is becoming a habit again, which is nice. I always like feeling more in control, and fitday certainly helps with that.

BMR: 351.5
FMR: 363.15

Out and about

Dr. MM and I had a nice little adventure today at a nearby park. We walked about a mile, so that was good for us--eating wasn't so hot today, but at least I put it into fitday.

BMR: 351.5
FMR: 364.35

Nutrition Report

Today wasn't such a bad day. There were veggies involved, even though it wasn't much. I'm lacking in the folate, niacin, vitamin e & k, magnesium, selenium, iron, and zinc categories (although only technically, because I'm taking a multivitamin now, but I still would like to get enough nutrition through my food). Sodium was 2529, which is just a tad over the 2300 that is recommended for a balanced diet. Fiber was at 18, and I try to get to 25. Saturated fat was at 10%, which is just right. All fat was less than 30%. Cholesterol was 140, and it should be under 300. 1967 on the calories front, and I think I am going to focus more on 1800 calories for now--but this is pretty low on the priority list, as usual. There is plenty of room for improvement, but it's not as bad as it could be!

I also went to MyPyramid site to help me think more about how I can balance my diet. It suggests for my height and weight and activity level (slothlike), with weight loss in mind, that I eat 1800 calories a day in the following breakdown:

Grains (6 oz total)
3 ounces of whole grains (oatmeal, X, X)
3 ounces of plain grains (1 slice of sandwich bread, 1 corn tortilla, tortilla chips) Extra tortilla chips.

Veggies (2.5 cups total)
.125 lettuce (other veggies)
.5 carrots (orange veggies)
.5 salsa (other veggies)
Total today: 1.125. Needed: 1.375 to meet goal.

Fruit (1.5 cups total)
.5 apricots
.5 orange juice
Total today: 1. Needed: .5 to meet goal.

Milk (3 cups total)
3.5 cups of 2% milk
Extra .5 cup.

Meat (5 oz total)
Ham (about 2 oz)
Nutella (about an oz)
Chicken (about 2 oz)

Extra Junk
Granola Bar
Nutella
Coke

So, cut out the extra junk, eat another couple of veggies for dinner and a whole grain and a piece of fruit. I can do that, and it would probably help in the nutrients part as well.

Weight and Measures

W: 153
M: 40-34-40

I'm surprised the scale is not up this week along with the measurements, because I have been eating nothing but junk. In fact, yesterday I felt the sick ickiness of a person who has not eaten a vegetable in multiple days and who has been living off of taquitos and moon pies. Because those two things were making up about 75% of my daily diet. Toast was the other 25%. Hmm, why would I feel anything other than stellar?

But, we are back to our oatmeal and apricots today. I have a list for grocery shopping already made up, and fitdayed my breakfast. The other day, I realized that I have less motivation to eat well because I don't know what I'm lacking. There is no awareness of the good things that I am missing, or the crap that is filling me up. So, I'm back to fitday, which is a really great tool for me. Maybe this will help me eat more of the good stuff.

Woohoo!

I went to the park to walk the loop around the lake--2 miles! Except that it is more like 2.75 miles. oops! But I did that too, because I had to get back to the car. I also scoped out how I could ride my bike there, and I hope I will soon have the courage to do that. Whee! Fun!

BMR: 351.5
FMR: 365.35

Bwhaha.

BMR: 351.5
FMR: 368.1

I have dragged another person into lap-walking around the building during breaks. I passed her once, and then said--Have you taken up walking, too? She said that when she saw me doing that, she thought it was a pretty good idea. Woohoo! I have healthy influence! Ha. Anyway, now I have actually met someone in class and have someone to chat with on breaks. Maybe more will join us, although I'm feeling the stirrings of the chatty, outgoing gal that I am on good days--so soon I will know everyone's name and where they went to school, where they are from, where they are planning on going after this. . . etc. The move is wearing off, apparently, and I am ready to get back in the game and build a wild and wooly gang of people for fun and adventures.

Weight

W: 153.

I am hoping to take a nice walking break today, apart from any laps I might make during breaks in class.