Life continues busy, and I've had an additional challenge in blogging. My mobile blogging app has been unusable since the last post I did. To the extent I was keeping up either this blog or my garden blog, it was almost entirely mobile from my phone or ipad, on the go or on the couch or in bed before going to sleep. The software developer says it will be fixed "soon", and I haven't bothered to research much less invest in a different solution. So just one more obstacle to keeping this up.
The running commentary continues in my head where several interesting topics have come up and been discussed in a witty and informative fashion. I do noodle these ideas quite a bit, but actually setting fingers to keyboard requires thinking things through in a more disciplined and articulate fashion. I miss comments and feedback and knowing someone is listening. I like the short form essay to think through a topic, and go back and polish it just bit before posting. I love comments and feedback and looking at the traffic stats - the thrill of knowing someone is out there. So here I am, actually sitting at an actual computer, checking in.
I am enjoying being the size and weight I am now, which is bouncing around fifteen pounds less (+/- 2 pounds) than I was January 1 of this year. (January 1 happened to be the absolute high point of my holiday weight gain last year - the first few pounds came off very rapidly, so I sort of feel like it's cheating to measure from there but what-the-heck, it is at least technically true.) I am continuing at the gym, but pretty much all other activities except the occasional walk or vigorous chores have disappeared. I'm eating well or not at all for breakfast, scoring 50% or less on where I'd like to be for lunches (trying to either bring lunch or take the time to walk to a good place to buy it, and if I buy it, make sure it is portion controlled). Dinner with the family is definitely getting healthier as the kids are more open to different foods than in past years - hooray! But my big achilles heel is my evenings when I return alone to my house. I'm tired, my ego is nearly depleted (remember this post?), no-one but my dog is watching, and if there are sweets in the house they tend to go in my mouth. I'm dealing with this by having fewer sweets in the house, (since the dog refuses to do anything but cheer me on whatever I do) but this area of weakness should be the subject of further focus next year, when I try to re-energize getting those next fifteen pounds off.
Right now, I know I need to get moving. I wrote about it in October, and it is still entirely true. My magic device continues to document how few calories I am expending. I have put new batteries in my Wii balance board and played around there a bit on slow moving days, but that is truly minimal exercise. I go to the gym, and that is really good. One day a week I am doing a small group session now, saving a bit of expense and also adding a social element that includes a friendly competitive element that makes me work faster.
I am very seriously contemplating buying a treadmill to be able to run at home. My trusty old Nordic Track just isn't entertaining me the way it used to. It is still fully functional at seventeen years old, but when I jog on the treadmill at the gym I am working harder than any other exercise I've ever done. And I'm enjoying it, too. Winter is upon us, so it is dark when I'm not at work and thus jogging outside is not much of an option. Jogging outside also requires a lot more attention to keep from falling or being run over, and what is working for me is getting lost in the ipod at the gym. It's a rotten time to focus on bike riding as well. Going to the gym on days when I don't have a personal appointment is too often just falling by the way-side, and requires more planning and time than something at home.
This will be a four-figure purchase, so not one to make on a whim without research and budgeting. But my original Big Loss was driven by six days a week on the NT. I've just read Half-Assed by Jeanette Fulda, (a quick and easy read about which I may write more later) and her transformation was fueled by the treadmill. Having an expensive item in my basement is likely to guilt me into using it. At least I do have the history of the NT to reassure myself it will not just become an expensive storage rack for things waiting to be donated.
Thanks for reading. I'll try to get here a bit more often.
2 comments:
I am VERY interested in hearing what you have to say about buying the treadmill. We've tossed around the idea here, too, as much for M. (who has put on a few pounds with her recent inactivity) and F. as for me. We don't even have a basement for its easy storage, so it would be a commitment to take up a 1/3 of any given room (Y.'s room would be the big candidate).
I know they can become an expensive clothes rack, but I also know folks who truly use home equipment, including my sister and her boyfriend (at his house), my cousins and others.
Do keep us posted.
I gave up space in my office to jam in a treadmill and have no regrets. It only supplements the swim but being able to safely and conveniently walk with headphones is hard to beat. Mine is a NordicTrack, and Peter found it on craigslist - I forget how much, but not four figures. I don't run, but I can adjust the incline so my heart is pumping withtheh walk.
Nice to have you back, Nan, and you look great - would not have guessed that your activity has dropped.
Liz
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