by Rian on March 4, 2009
in Updates
It’s such a beautiful morning here! I woke up with a terrible case of indigestion – one of the worst cases I’ve ever had, but I suppose that was caused by the enchiladas last night. Allergies are bad today as well – sneezing, coughing and blowing my nose every 5 minutes so I’m contemplating taking a Claritin.
I’m planning on taking a power walk when it warms up just a bit more. (It’s in the 50’s now, supposed to get to almost 70 degrees later. Yay!) I love sunny days. This morning I got up around 7am and stood on my balcony, where the sun now shines for about 20 minutes while rising. It was so beautiful… a light breeze was blowing, the air was cool and smelled like burning wood. I swear, mornings like this really set a good tone for the day.
So far today I’ve had about 400 calories. I had some blueberries, a couple of slices of an apple (was mushy so I threw the rest away), 2 eggs, and some yogurt, plus a teaspoon of honey & some half and half in my coffee. Total carb count is around 40, unfortunately. However, the only other carbs I’ll be eating today will be from veggies, nuts and seeds. I will be having a oven-baked chicken breast and cooked spinach & chard today for lunch. I am going to try and have salmon and a raw veggie salad for dinner… but that can change. I need to psyche myself up to eat salmon, as I just haven’t been in the mood to eat it lately.
Not much else to update right now… I have no real plans for the day. I might call my Aunt and see if she’s free to take a walk with me. I feel like taking a nice long drive but unfortunately there is nowhere really good to go around here that isn’t at least 4 hours away. I am going to call my friend S in Branson, MO and make plans to go visit him in the next few weeks. My car seems to be running well, although I’m supposed to get a new timing belt installed soon.
I will update my calorie and carb total later tonight!
Tagged as:
alergies,
exercise,
indigestion
Scale was down another 1.2 pounds today… body fat % stayed the same, oddly enough, although I walked for 3 hours yesterday and ate lightly. I’ve been sticking mostly to 2 meals with a couple of small snacks. It seems to suit me better than 3 meals, especially since I tend to eat breakfast around 10 or so. I don’t usually eat my next meal until 5pm or so, which is too late to be considered lunch.
I don’t know how the foot body fat % thing can be accurate… if I lose a pound of fat around my stomach, how can it measure it in my foot? Hmm…
Yesterday I felt wonderful all day/night and today I woke up with a lot of energy. I worked out on my elliptical for 30 minutes earlier today and am planning to go shopping with my sister later, which will be at least 3 extra hours on my feet.
I’m still staying on my eating plan (veggies, a little fruit, protein, seeds, nuts) although I’ve cut back on the cheese and peanuts a bit. It seems like the detox has slowed down for the time being.
I officially have 1.2 pounds to lose until I am at my “15 pounds lost” milestone… hopefully after today’s exercise – plus tomorrow’s planned hour-long walk around the river (since it’s supposed to be in the 70’s here again!) I’ll get down to it by Monday!
Someone commented on my last post that detox diets don’t work, then linked to a news article about it, then followed up by saying that googling doesn’t make me an expert on nutrition. I think we have another case of someone not reading my blog and making a comment… Claire, I’m not doing a detox “diet”. I’m eating very nutritiously and consuming large amounts of raw & cooked organic veggies, a little fruit and organic proteins, plus a little bit of cheese, nuts and seeds. There is extensive documentation, books, research and scientific data proving that this way of eating naturally detoxes the body of toxins.
Tagged as:
exercise,
weight loss
I am so excited right now… I was at a pharmacy earlier this evening and decided to take my blood pressure. Keep in mind that the last time I took it, it was 143/89. (I think it was 143 but can’t recall for sure). The time before THAT, it was somewhere around 160/89.
Well tonight I took two readings… the first was 129/83. And the second was 135/79!!! OMG! Apparently just being off the booze for almost 2 months and losing 12+ pounds is enough to lower my blood pressure quite a bit! Granted, it’s still in the “prehypertension” category, but that is a HUGE improvement!! As I mentioned before, there were times in the past couple years where it was recorded as high as 181/104 and similar. On a normal day it would range between 145/85 and 160/95.
I am SO excited that I am seeing real health results from my weight loss and alcohol cessation.
Today I ended up walking up AND down a grand total of 225 stairs and doing the elliptical for 15 minutes. Not quite what I had planned, but it was a good start after a couple weeks of not doing much in that department.
OK, it’s 3:30am… time for bed!
Tagged as:
blood pressure,
exercise
Boy did I get off track over the holiday weekend. The scale is showing a 1-pound gain (from the 13 total lost) but I don’t know if it’s just water or actual fat. I’m leaning towards the former since I did have quite a bit of salt last night.
So to get back on track despite still having weird pressure in my ears and nasal/sinus problems, I have decided to challenge myself to lots of exercise today. So far I have walked up 9 flights of stairs (a total of 135 steps – I counted!) and back down them. I am also planning to work out on my elliptical throughout the duration of the new episode of Gossip Girl tonight, which will be an hour, give or take. I was talking on the phone to my boyfriend today and we were speculating on what would happen if I started working out 2 hours a day on the elliptical. He knows I want to lose a lot more weight and he is very supportive, but not in a way that makes me think he wants me to lose weight, if that makes sense. He doesn’t mind either way. I want to get back to doing my hour-long walks but it’s been so cold and windy lately.
Anyway, I am going to really push myself on getting back to working out 1 hour per day at least 5 days a week. It’s time to work on losing this next 10 pounds!
Today I’m back to doing my 4 or 5 small meals per day thing, but with a twist: my first 2 meals have healthy, fiber-filled carbs in them; my last 2 or 3 meals are only protein and veggies.
I bought lots of fresh sliced jicama at Whole Foods the other night, and that stuff not only tastes good (if a tiny bit bland), but is SUPER low calorie and packed with fiber! (Click the link to see the fiber/calorie/vitamin content of it). I also had some butternut squash today, which is low calorie and tastes just like potatoes when cubed and cooked for a few minutes on the stove.
I still have my goal of being down 20 pounds total by the end of 2008… let’s see if I can do it!
Tagged as:
calories,
exercise,
foods,
veggies
I’m heading over to my sister’s house for brunch in a while… her boyfriend (who coincidentally enough is the cousin of my ex-boyfriend from New Hampshire, J, who I may have mentioned in this blog like 18 months ago!) is making brunch and they have invited me over. He is supposedly an excellent cook, so I’m probably in for a treat! I have a feeling today is going to be as busy as yesterday, so I am going to have a nice-sized brunch and probably not eat again until dinnertime.
I’m actually excited for the upcoming holiday (Thanksgiving) this year. I am so blessed to be around family and friends and a growing relationship with an amazing guy… I actually have 3 sets of plans on Thanksgiving Day. I am not sure how I am going to fit all that food in! I do however plan to eat very lightly for the several days leading up to it.
T and I may take a walk later today if I am up for it. It’s high time I got back out there and restarted my exercise plan now that I’m feeling almost 100% better… (more like 85%).
Tagged as:
exercise,
Meals
by Rian on November 2, 2008
in Updates
I am literally becoming an exercise machine…… today I power-walked for 70 minutes although it was HOT outside and I had no water with me (which sucked, actually). Then I did 15 minutes on the elliptical just to give my gluteus maximus muscles an extra workout.
Today’s calories are going to fall at about 1255. It’s already 7:30pm and I don’t plan to eat anything else!
I really need to either find my old measuring tape or get a new one!
Tagged as:
exercise,
workouts
by Rian on October 20, 2008
in Updates
Later on today, I will be posting a never-before-seen photo of me from several years ago when I had my ideal figure…
So, my extensive exercise regimen has continued. Saturday, I did a 65-minute brisk walk that included more uphill terrain than usual. Yesterday, I went for a 80-minute brisk walk with a guy I just started seeing. When I invited him to go with me yesterday, I figured that the brisk walk would tire him out, but it turns out that he is in better shape then me!
Today I am going to mix it up a bit with: 40 minutes brisk/power walking; 20 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes of resistance arm exercises. The guy and I are planning to do a bike ride along the river sometime soon – I found out yesterday that we can rent bicycles for free and ride them along the river. Which is awesome!
My eating hasn’t been as good as I’d like it to be, though. Since I’ve been going out on dates with this new guy, we’ve been going out to a lot of restaurants and stuff, and you KNOW how hard it is to eat healthy when you get served gigantic portions of delicious decadent food. But I haven’t done too badly, and as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m noticing new changes in my body nearly every day. Let’s not get into what I’m seeing on the scale though… it ain’t good.
Tagged as:
exercise
by Rian on October 17, 2008
in Updates
It’s Friday morning, about 6:15am and I feel fabulous!
Today’s plan is my hour-long brisk walk (probably around 7:30am) and lighter-than-usual eating. I got on the scale this morning and have gained back a couple of the 10 pounds I lost. I know it’s not fat gain, but possibly has to do with all the exercise I’m getting. Yesterday I did 60 minutes power walking and 20 minutes on the elliptical. So I’m not worried about it, although I really want the scale to start moving again. I now have 12 pounds to go to reach my next mini-goal.
I look and feel great these days, though, and my body is so much harder (muscle-wise) than it was even just a month ago.
Anyway, happy Friday to all of you out there! And make sure to hit “refresh” on your browser if things are displaying incorrectly on this site. I also added some new stuff in the left sidebar – a search form and some of my most important posts that any new person visiting this site should read (if they want to know my history).
Tagged as:
exercise,
update
by Rian on October 16, 2008
in Updates
I did my usual hour-long power walk today… it was a very brisk 49 degrees out and sunny. I love exercising in cooler temperatures because the cold makes me want to move faster.
On Monday – when it was really overcast – I took some photos of my walk. To summarize, I start on the East side of the river, cross the river, walk 1 mile on the West side of the river, cross back over, then walk the mile back home. Here is a picture of part of the first bridge I walk across, about .75 miles across:
Here is the other bridge going back to the East side:
After crossing this bridge, here is a picture of the last mile I need to walk to get home:
(I live in that circular building).
Altogether my regular walk is about 3.5 miles, give or take. (I’m thinking closer to 4 miles if anything).
Not bad!
Here’s a picture of the woodsy path I found last weekend:
So onto my new plan….. it’s nothing too new, but involves a LOT of exercise. I now exercise 60-90 minutes about 5 days a week. Right now it’s power-walking and elliptical, but I plan to add bike-riding into the mix as soon. Once I get used to my power-walk and it starts getting too easy, I’ll add 1.5 pound ankle or wrist weights for an additional muscle boost. In the past when I’ve done this, I see new results literally within a week – it’s very effective, although some say it’s bad on the back.
All of the additional exercise DOES make me hungrier, and it usually kicks in the day after.
Tagged as:
diet plan,
exercise,
photos
by Rian on October 12, 2008
in Updates
Just a quick update… I took a 73-minute power walk already this morning. I found yet another awesome jogging/biking/walking path. This one goes through a woodsy type area. I will explore it further the next time I go out – I couldn’t go too far into it today because it goes in the opposite direction that I was heading at the time, plus I was already about 50 minutes into my walk.
I am so grateful to live a 5-minute walk from 20+ miles of paths! There were a lot of people out today… I saw a little bit of everything – jogging, power walking, regular walking, biking, roller-blading. I saw super-fit people and one morbidly obese woman and regular people and older people (like over 60). Most people said “good morning”.
I’ve decided that I want to turn my body into a finely-muscled fitness machine. And I am willing to do the hard work that it will take. That is my goal and I will accomplish it! Tomorrow if the weather is nice, I will do a 90-minute power walk and possibly some stair-climbing.
The next thing I need to do is buy a bike and start riding again. I lost so many inches doing that a couple summers ago… When I do get a bike, I will start slowly and work my way up to 2-hour rides.
Well that’s it for now… time to make myself some veggies and fish, which will be my lunch. I’m not very hungry though. That’s the good thing about endorphins – they fill you with lots of good feelings and make you not hungry.
Tagged as:
exercise,
fitness,
goals,
Updates
