Aaaack!
Monday weigh-in.... I only lost ONE pound.
So now I must rationalize... of course! I believe this one measley little pound is due to the fact that the first 2-3 days my exercise wasn't really "much" exercise. I believe if I pedal for 35-45 minutes every day THIS week I will lose 2 pounds next week! I hope...
Finding the "comfort zone"...
It's becoming apparent, since passing my stress test... that I am cardiovascularly able to do a lot more than what I thought I would be able. Amanda is positively AMAZED at how long I am able to pedal without getting winded. She says other women she has trained who were my size would probably only be riding about 15-20 minutes at this point - and they would be panting! Today I rode my bike for 45 minutes on level 2 -- and I stepped up the speed for the last 10 minutes, and I still was not panting. I keep my breathing very steady and my body very relaxed while I pedal and it's not torturous at all. However... my butt muscles (glutious maximus!) and my hamstrings (porkin' thighs) started screaming at me at 25 minutes. At that time I promised myself I would quit at 35 minutes. But when I got there, I was still breathing okay... and the muscles hadn't given out completely... so I kept going! And I completed my 45 minutes - which was my goal for today! I think my "comfort zone" is 35 minutes.... but that's all relative... right?
Tomorrow I get a day off! Whoooo hoo! I have pedalled every day this week!
A Rose By Any Other Name.....
I was asked to play along with one of these the other day and then decided to do it too! I sent some friends and family a request to describe me in just
ONE WORD.
Here is the list I've gotten thus far...
Loved
Joyous
FUNNY!!!!!!!!!
Warmhearted
Bubbly
Charming
Affable
Genial
WONDERFUL!
Entertaining
I must say "charming" surprised me!
Thus far, my list comes from friends and two family members. I think this is a much more difficult task for family members because we know each other on sO many different levels, it makes it very hard to choose just one. I know I've been trying to think of words to describe all my friends and family members now... and I have a much harder time with the family! But this was a fun little activity, and a nice collection of words! Perhaps you would like to collect some words!
*sing it* It's My Happy Heart You Hear....
Sooooooo... Today was my stress test.... and it went just fine! My heart truly is a happy heart and I am okay to do anything I feel like I can do! I was a little bit disappointed because I couldn't "go the distance" and get my heart rate up to 150.... what the cardiologist called the
"red zone" ... but it got up to 140 and he said that was still very good and everything looked completely normal. My heart will NOT explode. He suggested (jokingly) that it may however IMPLODE! (apparently I was not the only wise-ass in the room!)
It's good to be a joiner....
TODAY we joined the gym! YAY!!! Of course, for me, the gym and home is the same thing... pedal, pedal, pedal! But we added some stretches and a few exercises to do without weights today.... and we will add more bits at a time! But TODAY I rode the bike on level 1 for 15 minutes and level 2 for the last ten minutes. (total 25 minutes) And then I walked around for a few minutes. Then I got bored because Amanda was still pedalling, and so I got BACK on the bike and pedalled for 15 MORE minutes all on level 2! Total: 40 minutes on the bike today! YAY ME! Amanda says I'm amazing! :) Yes I am! (she's actually amazed that I'm not in as bad of shape as she THOUGHT I was ... for being so fat!) Don't get us wrong -- I'm in BAD shape! But just not AS bad as SHE thought! ROFL!!! (honestly... she's had me one foot in the grave! Does she forget who was out jet skiing and parasailing this summer?)
A wee sweaty after the pedalling...
Baby Steps...
Today I rode for 20 minutes and went 5.4 miles. :) My machine says I burned 99 calories... whooo hoo!
(and PJ... I didn't even find
one penny!)
I'm a Pepper... He's a Pepper... She's a Pepper...
WE are Peppers! Not really... but I guess I'm going to BE a Pepper now! I am a PEPSI person. Make no mistake about it. I've been all PEPSI all the way for as far back as I can remember! BUT... I do not LIKE diet Pepsi. NO IT's NOT the SAME! Don't even go there! (people keep wanna be telling me what my taste buds "should" be tasting... but my taste buds knOw what they DO be tasting!) And the Pepsi manufacturers should be taking notes here! Because... now I'm a Pepper! Because I DO like diet Dr. Pepper! And since I'm not about to give up soda all together... I guess I'd rather be a Pepper too! *hums* ... be a pepper... drink doctor pepper...
Without Pomp and Circumstance...
I guess I officially started my exercise program today. Nothing much. Amanda got my bike rearranged while I was out this afternoon, so after dinner I got on and had my first jaunt in about a year and a half. I did 15 minutes on level one. Level one is really too easy and I could have gone forever probably -- but the bike was already "set" to 15 minutes so I just did that for today. Tomorrow I will either go longer or bump it up to level 2. I'm pretty sure I used to ride on level 2 ... even when I first started. Honestly it's been SO long since I used the bike that I had to completely re-learn how to use the function keys and such. Better find that users manual I guess!
Words that begin with "D" ....
Amanda and I have been "Discussing" her 52 week plan - in terms of "Diet". See? I HATE that "D" word! I'm finding it "Disturbing".... she's finding ME disgusting! MY favorite foods are cheese, milk and butter... in that order. Amanda says my worst enemies are... BUTTER, Cheese and Milk... in that order! I'm holdin' on to my hat! I think it's going to be a loooooong 52 weeks!
So... the doctor called with the results of my CT scan and the news is GOOOOOOD! YAY! He said that the scarring in my lungs is actually quite "minimal" and that he doesn't really believe it's anything to worry about! He still wants to do a Pulminary Function test -- to get the baseline -- and then he will want to repeat all the tests in 3 months to see if anything changes. So... for right now my lungs (not to mention my brain) are a lot happier than they have been the last few days!
Guess What?
Forget Waldo.....
She and Mathew are ALMOST to St. Louis!
When they get there...
... they'll be ALMOST half way here!
Maybe we should work on Happy Lungs...
Boy! Yesterday's news sounded really good- huh? Too good to be true? Probably! Today has been the day from hell! I started taking Lamisil for my toenail fungus last night. This morning I woke up so dizzy I could hardly get out of bed! Once I was out of the bed I couldn't walk a straight line ... I kept lilting to the left. My head felt like my left and right brain were out of alignment! It was the most bizzarre feeling I've EVER had in my life! I went back to bed and ignored it for 3 more hours, hoping to talk to my doctor when his office opened. But my doctor is not "IN" on Fridays ... and the alternative doctor who has never seen me before in his life just said "don't take any more of that until you talk to Dr. W. on Monday".... well duh! I could have given me that advice -- and I didn't go to medical school for 8 years! But later in the day a miracle happend! MY doctor called ME! Yea.... wuz up wi' dat? It's NEVER good when your doctor calls you! So, it seems he got my lung Xrays back this morning and that Amanda is going to have a HUMONGOUS "I told you so" heading my way! My lung Xray shows some "scarring" and he wondered if I've ever done any kind of work that might have exposed me to "asbestos". I confirmed that I have. I was a sheetmetal worker for almost 9 years. I also worked with fiberglass insulation which is almost as bad as asbestos. Furthermore, I almost never wore a mask. So never mind that I smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years.... or that I quit 13 years ago... my lung damage comes NOT from cigarettes! Sheeeeeesh.... so now I have to have a CAT scan on monday, and then depending what IT shows, he "may have to do some further testing". Oh goodie. Amanda... MaMa's lungs need some "happy"!
For an extremely obese person...
I am in amazing shape! I saw my doctor today. You know how they always say if you're going to start a new exercise program to check with your doctor first... well I take this pretty much to heart. Because of my HEART. The one we're planning to make "happy". Well, according to Dr. W. my heart is already rather happy! He said my blood pressure is 128/78 and that is excellent! And my cholesterol has never been high and that is excellent! He said "You don't smoke anymore, you don't have diabetes, and you have NO indications of heart disease." I told him what was going on, and that I am "somewhat" concerned because a couple of my siblings have had heart problems ... and I just wanted to make sure that MY heart isn't going to EXPLODE when I start introducing it to physical activity. So, he gave me an EKG and he said my little ticker is happily ticking! And then I told him that my daughter (Amanda) complains ALWAYS about my breathing. Seems I breath rather loudly... and somewhat shallowly... and a little to fast. I said Amanda doesn't think I'm very good at breathing... and if I'm exercising breathing
might be important. So he said he had never noticed this... but that he would do a Pulmonary Function test and so he did. And indeed, it did show that I don't take VERY deep breathes... but it also didn't show me to have asthma or emphesema. He sent me for a lung Xray, but said I should probably tell Amanda that SOME people just breath loudly. He didn't find anything to be out of "normal" range. I said "so your sure my heart is NOT going to explode when I start exercising?" .... and he asked if I would feel more comfortable if I had a "stress" test. So tomorrow ( because I don't have enough stress in my life) I have to call and make an appointment for my stress test ... and if I survive THAT, then I know I can survive whatever Amanda dishes up for me! Imagine me being THIS healthy - in spite of it all!
Gotta Love a Lady With a Plan...
Amanda HAS a plan. It's "
Amanda's (soon to be) Famous 52 Week Plan, Plus". It goes something like this. In HER head, to her way of thinking... I'm supposed to lose 100 pounds in 52 weeks. SHE says the average weight loss is 2 lbs. per week. And in the beginning I should actually lose
quite a bit more than 2 lbs. a week because I'm just starting out so gargantuan... so with that being the case, even if we allow for me to not lose ANY ... or maybe even gain ONE... over the holidays, I should still be able to reach a goal of 100 pounds off in 52 weeks! BUT... she promises me we're gonna start slow. And we're gonna be careful. And we're not going to EXPLODE my heart... we're going to give me a "HAPPY HEART". This is Amanda's plan.
I guess I should explain that when Amanda relayed this plan to me it was without the "plus". I put the "plus" there because I need a little more insurance than simply 100 pounds in 52 weeks. I might need an extra week ... or two... or ten.... to reach that 100 pounds. But I thought Amanda's plan might work really WELL for all the Great Procrastinators of the world. Because it allows so MANY next weeks!
( I'm gettin' scared! You guys will send out
a rescue mission for me . . . won't you? )
Oprah says....
Oprah says we should all take this REAL AGE test. I thought why not. So I was doing really well up until we got to the questions about exercise! I was only 4 years older than I really am. But once those exercise questions came I started aging real fast! Now it appears that I am almost 10 years older than the calendar says....
... but the GOOD news is, the test says that in just 3 short months (90 days) I can be 13 years YOUNGER! So... I'm going to take the test again in 3 months and one week and see if they told me the truth! If you would like to take the test just go here:
The REAL AGE Test
Use it... Or Lose it... (this isn't what I meant to lose.)
It's sad. It's really really sad. We don't appreciate when we are young how supple and pliable our bodies are. The last time I gave thought to this was on the morning of my 35th birthday. I remember it verrrrry well because I layed in bed that morning for quite some time thinking about the things that I could no longer DO with my body. I was particularly thinking back to my 16th birthday when I had a party and my friends and I were out running around in the grass doing back-bends and cart-wheels and hand-springs ... and I thought... "I know I can't do any of those anymore... but I BETCHA I can still do a sommersault!" For some reason I had enough sense to know that I should NOT try this sommersault on the hard surface of the floor though... that would just be silly... I'm 35. I MIGHT get hurt. So instead, I thought, I should do it on the nice cushy soft waterbed! So I stood up and bent over and I tucked my chin and as all of my bodily weight (which was considerably LESS at 35) was on my neck, my neck hit the hard surface of the platform holding the waterbelly, and I distinctly heard my neck CRACK! Oh it was quite painful and I found myself having to explaine to my chiropractor about how I had thought CERTAINLY I could still do a sommersault at 35! He, of course, nearly wet himself laughing at me. I was not a bit amused! I was feeling rather resentful that this "TIME"... the great healer of all wounds... had just cleaned my clock! When he was able to breathe again my doctor informed me that "TIME" had not let me have it -- I had let myself have it. He reminded me that if I was ABLE to sommersaults at 16, and I had continued to DO sommersaults every day of my life I WOULD have still been able to do them at 35!
So... here I am at 48. Now what I wonder is this... WHY didn't I take that knew found knowledge when I was 35 and CERTAINLY old enough to know better... and RUN with it!??? Back when I COULD still run... Cuz back then I could also touch my toes...
I'm pretty sure my arms have shrunk...
Lately I've been wine-ing...
Since giving up my anti-depressents I've developed a new taste for red wine. Mind you, I have not drank more than a glass of champagne on New Years Eve in the last 15 years! This is very new! But I have discovered that a glass or two of red wine after dinner is verrrrrrrry relaxing and I like it ... a lot. So now what I'm wondering is how this new wine thing is going to fit in with my new diet/exercise thing. I have heard that
red wine can actually be beneficial to a body! I can only hope it's beneficial to THIS body!
Size 10's
I really really DON'T watch television... and here's ONE more reason why. I sat down on the couch next to my darling hubby (who was watching tv - but he always is...) and in the 30 minutes that I sat and talked with him, Jenny Craig played a certain commercial TWICE. I know ... lotsa folks do that. That's okay. But THIS commercial irked me... no RILED me... enough to get me up on this here soap box! The first words spoken in this commercial were... " In just two months I went from a size 10 to a 4! " Now, I am an XXXtra large woman -- and I KNOW I'm XXXtra large.... nobody has to tippy toe around me and tell me that I'm not all that big - dammit YES - I AM that big! But ya know what? Size 10 is NOT big! Size 10 is little! As a matter of fact, when I was 12 I had dreams of being a size 10! Because by 12 I was already a 16. And so are MANY of America's teenagers today. And they're healthy -- as was I! Buxom is what I was called -- and I was. I was 5'3'' tall and I weighed in at 150 lbs. I THOUGHT I was grossly overweight -- but that was long BEFORE I was grossly overweight! That Jenny Craig would put out an advertisement on National Television AIMED at size 10's and telling them that they are FAT is absolutely inexcusable to me! I cannot believe it! This is nothing short of CREATING a generation of anorexic little girls! This disgusts me! Jenny Craig -- wherever your sick little peon of a mind is -- I will BOYCOTT you and I will encourage everyone I KNOW to boycott you! Jenny Craig should be ashamed! *steps down from soap box now*
Labels: Weight Loss
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
How the HELL did I allow this to happen?Sooooo.... as you can see the story is NOT a good one! I guess the "official" reading is 274 ... POUNDS? Awwww crap! Well, she's not home yet, but what the heck! I might as well get started and see if I can lose a pound or two before she gets here...
However... I don't think this cheap little scale is going to go the distance for this GIANT sized job.... look... I'm so fat my feet hang over the edges. :( I'm thinking I'm going to need a new and improved super size model! Like THIS one...
.... and so I ordered it today! If I can't super size my fries I might as well super size my scale!
Labels: Weight Loss
So... the doctor called with the results of my CT scan and the news is GOOOOOOD! YAY! He said that the scarring in my lungs is actually quite "minimal" and that he doesn't really believe it's anything to worry about! He still wants to do a Pulminary Function test -- to get the baseline -- and then he will want to repeat all the tests in 3 months to see if anything changes. So... for right now my lungs (not to mention my brain) are a lot happier than they have been the last few days!
... but the GOOD news is, the test says that in just 3 short months (90 days) I can be 13 years YOUNGER! So... I'm going to take the test again in 3 months and one week and see if they told me the truth! If you would like to take the test just go here: The REAL AGE Test
Since giving up my anti-depressents I've developed a new taste for red wine. Mind you, I have not drank more than a glass of champagne on New Years Eve in the last 15 years! This is very new! But I have discovered that a glass or two of red wine after dinner is verrrrrrrry relaxing and I like it ... a lot. So now what I'm wondering is how this new wine thing is going to fit in with my new diet/exercise thing. I have heard that red wine can actually be beneficial to a body! I can only hope it's beneficial to THIS body!
.... and so I ordered it today! If I can't super size my fries I might as well super size my scale!
