caverlady's Journal

Half a Century...Can You Believe It?
Aug 19 2009 11:32

Today I'm half a century old.  Is that old?  I always thought 50 was pretty darned old, but now I'm not so sure.  They say 50 is the new 40, but I don't know about that.  What I do know is that I'm probably in better health then when I was 40.  I was a pack a day smoker then and couldn't run a block.  I can run 5k now.  My body is a lot more toned then it was although there's a great deal of room for improvement there.  My husband and I enjoy a lot more activities now that we don't need to worry about kids and child care.  I guess things aren't too bad all things considered.  It's certainly not the disaster that turning 30 was.  I have to laugh now at how upset I was on my 30th birthday thinking that I was sooo old and life had passed me by.  Here I am 20 years later looking forward to the next chapter in my life.  Anyway, here I am 50 and having fun, so if nobody minds, I'd like to say, "Happy Birthday to Me."

P.S. Happy Birthday to Bill Clinton too

I know I should journal more...
Jul 27 2009 19:28

but sometimes I'm such a dork.  I get so busy that it's about all I can do to keep track of my calories.  Anyway, here I am, stuck in the low 150's for about a hundred years now.  Did I mention my propensity for exageration?  Anyway, I started Pat's Debit Diet thingy last week so we'll see how it works for me.  I also started doing HIIT today because I think my body has gotten used to the running 3 days a week.  After I finished the Couch to 5k program, I was basically running for 1/2 hour Mon, Wed, and Fri.  I never quite got to 5K but I got to 3 miles, which is close enough, so now I need to try something new.  I found this site that has an 8-week HIIT program so I'm going to try that now.  Here's my new plan:  Sun--Gym (Circuit Training), Mon--HIIT, Tues--Gym, Wed--brief jog with HIIT later after a rest, Thurs--Gym, Fri--3 Mile run, Sat--HIIT.  It looks pretty ambitious so I'll probably adjust as I go along.  I just don't want to lose my momentum for extended runs because that's basically what I'll have for vacation.  Anyway, I'm rambling.  If anyone has a better idea of how I can get out of the endless 150's, please let me know!

Couch to 5K Redo....Day 1
May 11 2009 18:20

Well I decided to do the Couch to 5K program again, this time running outside.  I did it last year on the treadmill and it went fine, but I found that I couldn't do much outdoor running.  I figured that it was because of all the help you get on the treadmill keeping pace.  I really want to be able to run outside for when we are on trips or when the weather is just too nice to work out indoors. So today I started with Week One, Day One. I'm using a podcast that I found to help me know when to walk and when to run.  This first day went pretty good, and it was about 2 miles over a 30 minute period.  I'm not logging this workout but if I were to log it, I'd probably log it as a 4 mph jog since that seems to be the average. Hopefully this will shock my body into dropping weight in a much more consistent manner as it has slowed down to a crawl now that I'm down to the last 20 pounds.  I might add some calistentics for good measure if this old body can find the energy!  Wish me luck!

New Measurements
Mar 29 2009 18:02

Haven't journaled in a while, so I figured it was a good time to post the latest measurements:

 SW:  200          CW:  186.5      8/23 177     3/29:  154.5

Chest:            43"

Waist :           39"       

  08/23/08     38"  (N=42 1/4)   

  03/29/09     33" (N=39")

 Hips:            45" 

  08/23/08     43" (8/23)

  03/29/09     41"

Rt Thigh:       23"  (6" above knee)      

     08/23/08  22" (8/23)        24" (11" above knee) 

     03/29/09  20"         &nb sp;         23"

Lt Thigh:        23.5"    

     08/23/08   22.5         &n bsp;       25" (11" above knee

     03/29/09   20.5 "           ;      23.5"

Well it's obvious that there has been progress.  Not enough for Instant Gratification Girl, but she's just going to have to deal.  Anyway, the best news is that I bought a pair of jeans and two pairs of shorts today and they were drum roll please...SIZE 10!!!  This time last year I bought size 16.   Not bad for the old girl, eh?  Also I've started looking a bikinis in light of Valerie Bertinelli's People Magazine cover!  If she can do it, so can I (at some point anyway)!

BMI - Edited 03/04/09
Sep 18 2008 08:35

BMI stats so far:

6/18/08  35.4

7/14/08  33.8

7/18/08  32.9

7/31/08  31.9

9/09/08  30.9 (down almost 5 points!!!)

9/18/08  30.5 (getting there!!!!)

10/28/08   29.7  (It's great to be overweight...as opposed to obese)

11/21/08 29 (Down more than 6 points now!)

03/04/09 28 (Getting there slowly but surely)

Things are doing good!

Countdown to the Beach!
Sep 15 2008 09:19

Well haven't done a journal entry in a while so I thought I'd just jot down a few notes.  We're getting ready to hit the beach in just a few days.  The plan is that we leave right after work on Friday and drive to Virginia Beach.  We stay there for the night and after a leisurely breakfast hit the road for the Outer Banks.  It is actually only a couple of hours from Virginia Beach to the Outer Banks but it's further down south where we go in Rodanthe.  There's a new move out with Richard Gere (swoon) that's set and was actually filmed in Rodanthe.  As usual I'll probably wait till it comes out in video or HBO to see it.  Unless there's really great special effects or some kind of epic film I just can't justify spending all that money on tickets and then having to be tempted by all the junk food that was a huge part of movie going in the heavier days.  At home I can enjoy a bag of the 100-calorie popcorn and not feel like I'm missing something.  Anyway, enough of that.

We got the truck mostly packed on Sunday because with work and household stuff it's just too hard to do that stuff on weekdays.  I think we take way too much stuff with us but what the heck, we have fun.  The dog's stuff alone takes up it's own little corner of the truck, but what can we do?  We have to have his toys and treats as well as his food.  We have to have his foot bowl and two or three water bowls so he has own to take to the beach and a couple at the house.  Then we need a couple of leashes and his head light so we can find him at night on the beach.  Ok, you're right, we really spoil this dog, but what can I say?  Our kids are grown and he's our baby.

I gotta get water shoes down there because mine have a hole in them and you can't find them around here this time of year.  Hopefully we'll find that whem we stop at Wal-Mart on the way into the Outer Banks.  It's the only big store we'll see from there on out so we always stop there.  We have kind of our traditional stops on the way down like Wal-Mart and Brew Through.  Brew Through is kind of cool because it's a drive through beer store that is truly drive though!  You actually pull inside the store, tell them what you want, pay for it and they load it on for you, give your dog a treat, and then off you go!  They have their own brand of beer and it's pretty good so we always get a case of it to take along.

Got a bit of a point to ponder.  Hubby's birthday is Oct 7th and I got him a pair of Ray Bans sunglasses as a gift.  I have to decide whether to give them to him now or wait for his birthday.  If I give them to him now he can use them on the trip, but I'm not really sure it's a that good an idea to wear $65 sunglasses on the beach when $7 sunglass will do just as good.  Well I have a little time to think about it.

Well this is longer than I expected it to be and I've probably bored any readers to tears so I'll close for now.  I'm going to take my measurements before we go for a couple of reasons.  First, I haven't posted them in a while and I hope to see a change, and second I plan to eat and drink whatever I want to which probably won't be a good think for my weight loss but maybe it will trick my metabolism into getting back into high gear when we come back.  Hope springs eternal!  Until next time!

Still Fluctuating
Aug 27 2008 10:25

Thought I had this plateau beaten with the all-protein day but I am still riding the fluctuation train.  I was hoping to be in the low 170's by the end of this week because this week-end we're going on a big camping party in W Virginia and I know I'll gain since there will be a lot of eating and drinking.  I can keep the eating under control by bringing healthy foods but I know I'm gonna want to drink beer...a lot of it.  I wanted to be in the low 170's so I wouldn't have to worry about going back into the 180's afterward, but alas it wasn't to be.  I'm just going to go and have a good time and not worry about it.  Let the chips fall where they may and deal with it when I get back.  Yesterday I upped calories in the hope of confusing my metabolism.  I also went to the gym and did strength training.  I'm afraid I'm lacking in that area because I absolutely HATE it.  That's probably part of my problem.  I'm also moving calories around and have started eating breakfast to see if that does anything.  I've never been much of a breakfast eater so I don't know what, if anything, that will do.  We'll just have to see.  That's all from this end! 

Down Two Pounds
Aug 15 2008 11:14

It may be coincidence, but when I woke up this morning, I was down two pounds.  My boss swears it was the day of protein and that the weight loss will continue for a while now.  I have to admit that it was difficult to get that last bit of protein down last night because I was tired of meat, eggs and peanuts and I was craving veggies like mad!  I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who has a cholesterol problem, which I never have even at my heaviest, or as a long-term thing, but for one day it seems to have gotten me off the plateau.  Now time will tell if it keeps me off there for a while, and if it will help me on the next one, but for now, I'm back on the losing streak and loving it!

Still no change in weight
Aug 13 2008 22:52

Well I have to weigh in for the Biggest Loser tomorrow and I know what it's gonna say...180 lbs just as it has basically for the last 11 days.  In desperation I'm going to do something that might be stupid.  My boss, also a dieter, told me that if I go a whole day eating only protein that my weight loss will start again and I can go back to my program the next day with the weight going down. I'm trying it tomorrow.  I bought frozen chicken strips and peanuts and hard boiled some eggs and that's what I'm eating tomorrow.  I know it's probably not the healthiest thing to do, but if it works it will be worth it and it can't hurt me to do this for just one day.  Wish me luck!

FRUSTRATION!!!!!
Aug 11 2008 15:01

This is just driving me nutso!  I've been good about eating right and tracking my calories and exercise but it'.  I've managed to step up my workouts and have really been blowing it out!  I can tolerate more running now than I could when I started.  I can run for at least 5 minutes and probably could go longer but I don't want to injure myself.  I've increased my workouts from 40 minutes to an hour but it's not helping!  Ever since the wedding I've been fluctuating between 178 and 180.  Every time I think I'm firmly esconsed in the 170-something zone I step on the scale and see 180 again.  It may be that it's TTOM but I'm not sure about that anymore.  It's due any day now, but that doesn't matter anymore, so I don't know if that's what it is.  All I know is that I want to be a 170-something and not a 180-something and it's really bugging me that it keep fluctuating like this!  ARGH!