June 21, 2011

Hi Folks!

Holding steady, which means I am still up those 2 pounds from last week, darn it! I was not particularly focused this week, I must admit. Too many temptations . . . like the meal John cooked for Father's day! LOL  Just kidding. My lack of focus is all my fault. I need to get back on track.

Leaving Sunday for a getaway with my old friends at a cabin down on Lake Shelbyville. That will be challenging as well. Yes, there will be beer. LOL  So I won't be around Tuesday a.m. for my weekly weigh-in and blog post, be warned.

Back in two weeks, hopefully back on track!

Kay

June 14, 2011

Well the scale is up 2 pounds today. I'm not bummed, I think it was just a little too much birthday weekend. Maybe I should have worked Monday instead of taking a long weekend! LOL Oh well. I was really active, between doing some yard work, trimming along the fence, my ass got a good workout. It's still complaining. My arms got a good workout trimming some high bushes. My stomach got a good workout with the birthday pizza (yum) and ice cream sundae(s). And a birthday lunch with my friend yesterday. Sigh. Also got a good workout moonlighting for my caterer friend a couple of times recently. Lots of bustling about and some pretty heavy lifting. Unfortunately the workout is probably canceled out by eating her delicious food. Buffets are not good for me people! The good news is the pay from moonlighting is going into my Return to Fat Camp Fund. Woo hoo!

Still no diet soda, not even with birthday pizza. Kind of surprised myself there.

I have resumed my walks along the towpath. I feel that when I see wildlife on my walks, it is kind of a reward for my labors. I was somewhat shocked to see a coyote bolting from the lumberyard on the outskirts of town, but very pleased when a cardinal kind of trailed along with me for a good section of the tow path Sunday. I love it when that happens.

Keep up the fight people! Back next week.

Kay :)

June Garden

Here is my garden. John got me started on raised beds a couple of years ago. I’ve got radishes, beans, onions, lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, carrots, squash, basil, parsley, broccoli, strawberries,  taters, and sweet taters. There is also a bumper crop of wee maple trees coming up in there too, you probably can’t see them very well yet (dang those helicopters!), as well as a bountiful amount of grass (the legal kind!), clover and morning glories. The area between the two beds is planted with a butterfly/hummingbird/wildflower mix, and there is asparagus in there too---that tall business there is some asparagus going to seed. There is a bed along the fence that has a zucchini plant and some perennial flowers, thyme, oregano, catnip, asparagus fern, some lilies and other stuff, and some red poppies that are just getting started.  I have some daisies starting on the other side of the raised beds, right by the hollyhocks. One side of the double bed is veggies, the other is all flower seeds, including zinnias, marigolds, a few carrots because the tops are so pretty, with a sunflower coming in each corner. I’ve heard stories of some people planting their flowers in rows. Interesting. There is also a bumper crop of cat in there. That is Midgie’s favorite spot, it’s a wonder any of my flower seeds are coming at all! LOL

I call that grass off to the side in the middle picture my ornamental grass (haha), but it's just a patch of long grass for Midge and Finnegan to hide and play in. They love it and are in there all the time.

June 7, 2011

Down two more pounds. Woo hoo!

Have a rotten cold/sinus thing going on now. Not too peppy.

Still haven't gotten into an exercise routine, but am generally more active, especially in the yard and garden in the a.m. Looking forward to garden veggies. Already had radishes and onions, and I picked up some lettuce from an organic farm near here. Going to have a lovely salad tonight. Hopefully it will still sound lovely tonight! LOL

Running late now. Keep up the fight people!

Kay

May 31, 2011

Down 2 more pounds. Woo hoo.

I took a little walk every day for the past week. This week I'm going to lengthen things up. Man can I sweat! Wow. And it really just started warming up. Yikes! 

John helped me replace some indoor/outdoor carpeting on the back steps this weekend and good thing he did. My ass was complaining something fierce! I had already been out earlier, pulling some grass along the bottom of the fence.  I had to give up on pulling nails out of that bottom step, I thought it was going to seize up! The good news is that there must be some muscle in there somewhere for that to happen. I wasn't sure . . .

Still no diet soda. But I think I'm drinking more beer! LOL Just kidding.

74 more pounds to go by June 11, 2012, the big Five-Oh.  What a lovely thought! LOL

Take care people and keep up the fight! I guess I have to keep dieting even though the Biggest Loser is over!

Kay :)

May 24, 2011

Woo hoo, down 4 pounds. That is -23, starting from my afternoon Fat Camp, post Mexican lunch with beer weigh-in. But dang it!  Weight Watchers cut me down a point! LOL

Haven't been doing great with the old exercise routine, but I've certainly been more active, in house, lawn and garden. Would be great if I would combine it with some Kettlebell swinging . . .I need to start up with my "Smoke Breaks" at work again too. Those little walks on the towpath are good for me, both diet-wise and mood-wise.

Long  weekend, woo hoo! Except for the food battles. Of course the weekends aren't going to stop rolling around, so I'd best learn to deal. I've got a graduation party Sunday, and  I know I'll drink beer and generally pig out, so I need to plan accordingly.

I've found that repetition for breakfast and lunch works well for me. Figured out a few breakfasts/lunches that satisfy me, but don't stuff me, during the day, mostly simple cheap stuff (the cheap part is good too lol), like hard boiled eggs and peanut butter toast and fruit.  Then I'm good and hungry for supper. Which is good.  When I eat when I'm not hungry, well, there is no satisfaction for that. I've been doing better not eating after supper too.

I've been sleeping really well too, I think that helps my weight loss. I'm sure more peppy.



Keep it up people!

I'm focused on moving forward, not backward! On the scale, and on the towpath! LOL


Kay

May 17, 2011

I was not surprised to see the scale go up two pounds after camping this weekend. I am actually surprised it isn’t more . . . maybe I lost some weight last week, before I went camping? LOL  I guess we’ll never know now.  My friend Musit says that we should really call it “amping” instead of camping, because we use so much electricity! LOL There was not a whole lot of physical activity, given that it was incredibly cold, wet, rainy and generally miserable.  Oh, and I almost forgot about the wind! Mostly we huddled around the rainy fire.  I did get some exercise dodging the smoke.

I did spring into action at meal times . . . go figure.  We like to sort of rough it at camping, so we suffered through meals like  thick-cut apple wood smoked bacon, fried taters, eggs and griddle toast; French toast, sausage and eggs; cheesy campers stew grilled to perfection by George (buttered foil POUCHES <more on this later lol> filled with taters, onions, peas, burger, cheese), with a lovely salad and home-made Amish oatmeal rolls, warmed by the fire and (mine at least) thickly topped with butter; fajitas with Chihuahua cheese,  marinated flank steak and chicken grilled by Grill master Mark, with red, yellow and orange peppers, red and yellow onions and baby bellas, with my friend Patti’s homemade salsa (heavenly), and rice and beans. Yep. Oh the suffering people.  We snacked on Donna’s cheese dip and bread sticks and Mar’s spinach artichoke dip and many other goodies. We had lemon bars and Mar’s “Soon to be Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies”.  I have a confession to make. My name is Kay and I am a foodie. Some of my friends are foodies too.

There was Camping Coffee (sugared coffee with Baileys and whipped cream on top-at least that is how I make mine!), and boy , did Mar’s Soon to be Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies taste good with that on the cold, wet, windy mornings! My coffee did not taste nearly as good this a.m. Maybe Camping Coffee doesn’t have to be just for camping . . . ? And could cinnamon chocolate chip cookies be breakfast appetizers every day? Oh and there was beer. Lots and lots of beer.

I spent much of the weekend thanking God that I took Mar and George up on their generous offer to sleep in their beautiful new camper. I can’t imagine tent/car amping in that weather! Yikes!  I’ve been camping down to Lake Shelbyville so many times, I can’t believe I was so ill-prepared for this trip. When I heard it was going to be in the 60’s  I decided my crop sweatpants would be suitable attire. Maybe a wicking shirt to go under my t-shirt, just take one, just in case Kay. Leave all the other long sleeved shirts hanging in your closet.  And I do not need to take my trusty, warm, lined Champion windbreaker, just leave it hanging in the closet Kay. And make sure you don't take anything with a hood! Gosh I’m dumb. Always ALWAYS take some long pants with you go camping people! That is my advice.

I toyed briefly with the idea of leaving early due to the inclement weather, but Mar told me she would get “very very mad” if I did.  Out of curiosity I asked her what might happen if she did get very very mad, and gosh, she was maybe going to kick me in the shins if I left early, so the terror of that happening totally knocked the idea of my leaving early right out of my head, and I opened a beer instead.  In actuality my shins were so numb from my questionable crop pant wardrobe choice, I possibly may not have felt anything. On a trip to Wal-mart I did pick up some crew socks to help cover the gap there, between my no-show socks and my crop pants. It was a good look for me, really. Very sharp. Sigh.

There were many laughs though, the best one during a game of catch phrase, during which I orchestrated a “Do Not Get Donna’s Clue No Matter How Hard She Tries Moment”, and the word she was trying to get us to say was “pouch” and wow, did we have fun. From her shock and dismay and frustration at being unable to get us to say pouch, to her questioning of her own vocabulary (I mean the look on her face when her husband told her that marsupials have beaks, and her brother telling her that the pouch animals carry their young in is called a “slit”, and then her putting her hands in her jacket packet and kind of pouching it out, doing a visual for us, I really did see a marsupial with its young in a pouch, I swear!!!) LOL LOL, then to confusion, then to righteous indignation, and even questioning another camper to verify that she did, in fact, know what a marsupial is, wow . . .  I was laughing so hard I thought I may have ruptured something. I could not talk. I could barely breathe. But don’t worry, another beer fixed me right up. LOL Sorry about that set-up Donna . . . NOT! It was priceless really. And a decent ab workout too.

And to watch an 11 week old golden retriever puppy frolic with Big Sis Sophie in the wet grass. It was like watching pure joy in action. Yesterday Sophie was flat on her back, and that pup was right on her chest, looking her in the eyes. Private dog talk, sister stuff I guess.  Or maybe Lily had enough of Sophie snitching her chew toys and just decided to take her down for the count? Nobody had a camera but I’ll never forget that picture. Perfect example of rain, wind, cold be damned! Let’s enjoy each other!

As far as the diet goes, back to it. I need to lose the all-or-nothing attitude. For example, if I eat way too much for breakfast, don’t figure the day is shot and pig out the rest of the day. And gosh it’s hard to stop the overeating cycle after a weekend eating binge. My body wants to know where her camping coffee and cookies are! I need to work on changing my thoughts and habits so they are not so destructive to my goals.  50 is coming, I can see it creeping down the towpath . . . where I should be walking more! LOL We did get a little dry weather Sunday afternoon, and played a bit of hacky sack. Thanks to Fat Camp I was definitely more mobile than I would have been pre-Fat Camp, and I am not sore at all, and even though I do say so myself, I still got it! I'm just not sure what it is.

Take care people and keep up the fight!

Kay