Picnic Double Header

Yesterday was a fun day as I had two picnic scheduled.  

The first was a work-related picnic.  I belong to a great organization at the company I work for; all great people to work and party with.  We get together at picnic or other social gatherings several times a year, and this is our annual summer picnic.   We had a good time grilling chicken, ribs, and salmon and after eating all that great food, we headed up to the ball-field and played a fun and competitive game of softball.  

I hadn't played softball since my knee and elbow replacement, but the workout must be helping cause I was able to hit, throw and even run the bases with some degree of confidence and very little, if any,pain in the joints.  Granted, today, the day after, I am a bit sore in places, but overall I was happy with being able to participate in a sport I used to enjoy.  BTW, our team won with a clutch  pitching save by yours truly.   

After the fun of that picnic, I headed to a great park on the western shores of the Puget Sound to meet up with some old friends for a birthday bash picnic.  These are friends I had in Seattle before moving to NYC and it was nice to catch up with them and their lives (and their kids!).  Three of the folks ll have birthdays in close proximity, so we had a big cake for them and celebrated with more good food, great conversation, and a beautiful view of the sun setting behind the Olympic Mountains.  

I was tuckered when I got home, but it was a fun way to spend a beautiful sunny summer day here in Seattle.  Plus I managed to do both picnics without gaining any weight.... YAY!

Loosing Weight

When I last updated y'all on the diet at the end of May, I had lost roughly 34 pounds.  I got back on track in June, but progress has been slow.

It is now early July and I have been at the weight loss thing for 6 months now.  Per the scale this morning, I have now lost 38 pounds and over 2 full sizes of clothes.  I am not complaining at all cause that is a great achievement for me.  I went clothes shopping the other day for some summer shorts and it was so nice to go down 2 whole sizes in pants.  I only bought 2 pair of shorts cause I still want to loose more weight and drop a few more sizes before I go out and pretty much have to get a new wardrobe.  But, it is a great feeling to be able to take your jeans on and off without having to unbutton the waistband or unzip the zipper.  

Then I read this article this morning and realized that when I started this diet, I kept a food journal for the first 3+ months.  I stopped after getting back from Japan and that's when the diet stalled and the progress slowed down.  I have only lost 8 pounds since returning from Japan in early April.... I should have lost more and I think the main reason the progress slowed is because I was no longer keeping the food journal and counting my calories daily. 

So, today, I am back to keeping the food journal.  Based on a recommendation from a friend, I use SparkPeople.  Weird name, but it is a great website where you can keep track of your daily calories and food intake and keep account of your workout routine and weight loss.  Plus there are recipes, forums, and a whole bunch more.  

My goal is to loose 80 pounds total by the end of the year, so I got to kick it in gear and get busy loosing the weight.  42 pounds to go!

Hot Hot Hot

Well, I made it to Atlanta and it is HOT here. Ugh! I forgot how hot is got down south here in the summer. Way to hot for me.

Brother and nieces arrived after noon and we headed for a late lunch and then went to the pool. I am keeping mom and me honest with our workouts. I had sweet tea for the first time in months, but I was good and only had one glass then switched to water.

We spent the afternoon doign origami, which was quite fun and quite challenging following the instructions.

We are off to dinner. Other bro and nephews arrive tommorrow.

Hot Lanta

As this posts, I should be hurling through the air headed towards Georgia. That is assuming Delta can make an on time departure. It is family reunion weekend at momma's house. This is something that ends up happening every year around spring or summer as everyone kinda decides to head to momma's house. The past few years it was due to the Tour deGeorgia bike race coming through my mom's town and this year its due to the Scottish Festival. Since I don't get much opportunity to see my brothers or nieces or nephews, I buy the expensive airplane ticket to ATL. I am packing light to avoid all the new checked baggage charges and I am bringing along a muffin for food.

In other news... the diet is back on track. I finally broke the 35 pounds lost barrier yesterday after being stalled between 30-35 pounds lost for about 2 months. Lets hope the abundance of sweet tea and good southern cookin' this weekend doesn't ruin the progress I made this week.

Wish me luck and talk to you when I get back.

Weekend Travels

This past weekend I decided that I needed a break from the world. Yes, I know I just got back from vacation, but when you travel with 55 other people on a small boat it is not very conducive to getting some time alone to think and refresh.

So, I grabbed my camera gear and headed down to Seaside, Oregon. I had never been to this part of Oregon and was looking forward to some alone time to photograph and just generally relax. They have this wonderful Ecola State Park nearby where there were hikes and viewpoints overlooking fantastic sea stacks and beaches. In nearby Canon Beach, they have the giant Haystack Rock quite close to the beach and at low tide you can walk among the rocks and view starfish and other sea critters exposed in the low tide. The weather wasn't the best, but it did lead to some nice "moody" photos.

The weekend definitely had the desired effect cause I was so calm and relaxed on the drive home and that usual feeling of having to drive at breakneck speed to get home just wasn't there. It was a nice leisurely drive back to Seattle and I got home feeling so great!

Of course, I will have photos sometime in the future.....

Holiday Weekend Ramblings

Why is it the older I get, the longer I need to recover from vacations? Ugh! A week after returning from Alaska and I am finally starting to feel normal and have caught up on my sleep. Thank goodness this is a long holiday weekend.

Of course, it is a shiny sunny weekend here and I am locked indoors with the blinds drawn. Not necessarily to catch up on sleep (which I did do), but on Thursday, I scratched my eye during the night (dummy me left my contacts in) and now bright lights and sun are actually causing my eye pain and to water up significantly. Brilliant! I've done this stupid move before and it usually takes a few days for the eye to heal up and then all is fine, but I would have to do this prior to a beautiful holiday weekend. Oh well, it does give me chance to catch up on photos.

Speaking of photos, I should have the first set from Alaska soon... hopefully tomorrow. As you know I had to rent a Canon lens cause mine is still in the shop. I rented a Canon 100-400 zoom lens and I was thrilled with it while on the cruise. It made a significant difference in trying to get all those wonderful animals along the shore. I am now saving my pennies to buy one of these lenses.

Finally, wanted to fill you all in on the diet. I haven't mentioned it in a while, but I am still working on eating healthier and working out. The past vacations and returning from Japan kinda screwed with my routine & habits, so things were a little slow going for about 6 weeks. However, I am now back on the wagon and back to the good routine & habits. Overall, I have lost 34 pounds since the beginning of the year and dropped about 2 clothes sizes. YAY! I still got a long way to go, but I am very happy with how well I have done so far and how much better I feel overall.

I'm With Stupid!

I seem to be losing my mind. I've pulled to boneheaded moves this past week. First, while getting dressed after swimming the other evening, I managed to put my underwear on wrong. Not inside out or backwards... we are talking the legs in the wrong holes. I was trying to get dressed in a postage stamp sized stall while not dropping any of my clean clothes on the wet & dirty floor. Basically, trying to be a human pretzel. But still, one leg opening of my undies was around my waist. How did I screw up so badly on that.

Then last night. As I was combing through my closet trying to pick out clothes to pack for my Japan trip, I somehow managed to hit myself with a wooden hanger right between the eyes. And we are not talking a little tap; it was hard enough to bruise and leave a bump this morning.

Now, I know I am extremely distracted and stressed with this upcoming month-long trip to Japan, but still....

Key Largo

Business trips to Miami in February are so rough.....

We have the weekend free here in Miami, so yesterday, I headed to Key Largo along with a fellow co-worker. One of our other co-workers had headed down there Friday night and got a room at a nice Marriott resort on Key Largo and we joined him on Saturday morning. The two gents wanted to go scuba diving in the John Pennencamp Marine Sanctuary, so I tagged along. I don't have a diving certification, so I snorkeled instead.

We climbed in the boat and headed out to the Atlantic and the shallow reefs south of Key Largo. First stop was a sunken World War 2 U-boat. It was used as target practice after it sunk so the boat was pretty blown apart, but I could still see the wreckage even from floating along the water's surface about 30-40 feet above the sunken shipwreck.

Loved snorkeling through the bubbles from the divers below; it was like a mini massage. The seas were a bit rough however, and my weak little stomach didn't like the constant tossing and motion either in the boat or floating in the sea. Let's just say I don't have to count those calories from lunch and I fed the fish well that day. Yuck, I know!

The best part however came when waiting to get back on the boat. I had been the last person off the boat into the water cause i wanted to let all the divers with their heavy gear get into the water first. So, when it came to getting back on the boat, I again waited for all the divers to get on the rope line and head back in. As I was treading water nearby, one of the dive guides all ready on the boat shouted, "Sarah behind you.... Dolphins!". I turned around immediately and saw fins, but when I looked underwater, I could not see the dolphins. So, I swam towards them. I looked underwater again, and holy mackerel batman..... there were about 7-8 dolphins all swimming together right in front of me! My guess is that they were about 5-10 yards away; they felt so close I actually reached out as if I could touch them. I couldn't believe what I was seeing... a pod of wild dolphins swimming right in front of me. I really wish I had an underwater camera right about that time. Oh well, that image will be marked forever in the memories in my head. Very cool!

The second dive stop was called French Reef and was pretty cool from above, but the sun had hidden behind some clouds it seemed so much colder in the water without the sun. Plus no dolphins. Hee. Once we were back on shore, we got dried off and headed to dinner at a cute little Mexican place right on the water. Again, the temperature was perfect... not too cold and not too hot. I headed back to Miami after dinner and a little over an hour later I was in my hotel room.

I think I really like Key Largo.

I have a few more photos of my day in Key Largo at my Smugmug site.

Miami

I've been here almost a week and really haven't seen more than the immediate area around the Miami Airport. Fun, I know! The class I'm here for is located near the airport and so is my hotel, so I just haven't had much time to venture beyond the airport area. A few of us are headed out tonight to Coconut Grove, FL for dinner. The restaurant is on the waterfront, so hopefully, it will be nice. The weather is certainly very nice.

I finally got all my photos from Kennedy Space center off the camera, so I hope to have some of those for you soon.

The diet has been a challenge while here in Miami. Hotel rooms are just not conducive to eating healthy. I have been doing ok meal-wise, but certainly not as well as I was doing before I left. They do have a workout room here and a pool, so I have been trying to workout after the training class each day. The pool is not a lap pool, so I have had to create a lane to swim in... kinda angling along the longest length of the pool's dimensions. Fun! My goal in this two weeks is to, at a minimum, maintain the 15 pounds I had lost prior to heading to Miami.

Happy Valentines Day!

Pats vs. Giants

The Superbowl is almost here and even though I am not that into professional football, the Superbowl is always a good reason for a party. Bad food and funny commercials with good friends usually makes up for the non-exciting game on TV.

So I am hosting a Superbowl party at my place with friends from work. My only goal is to make it through the day without entirely blowing my diet. I am planning on working out the three days leading up to Sunday to make up for the extra food I will be eating during the party.

Not sure who to root for. I was rooting for the Giants to beat the Packers two weeks ago mainly cause I really like the Mannings. I adore Peyton and am glad to see Eli with this chance to step out of his big brother's shadow. But being a big Boston Red Sox, I, by default, like the Pats. I can't help it. Plus it was just be awesome for the Pats to finish their undefeated season with a Superbowl win. So, since I can't decide who to root for, I plan on just enjoying the game and hoping it won't be blowout.

Over the Hump

I've been at this "non-diet" eating healthy, getting fit thing for 25 days now and so far things are going really well. After loosing a quick 6 pounds, I found myself gaining 2 pounds early in the 2nd week. Ugh! But instead of getting upset and going on a binge of eating, I pushed through it, continued working out and eating well. Now that I am over that 2nd week dieting hump, I am now down 11 pounds. YAY!

I definitely feel better and have more energy, but haven't yet seen a reduction in size, although I have a long way to go, so an 11-pound loss may not show up this soon.

I've added swimming to the exercising routine to try and relieve some of the pressure off the joints. There is a pool nearby in my neighborhood and they have lap swims most nights. I've also been adjusting the diet to lower calorie foods. It's amazing what you discover when you start reading the nutrition panel on the back of the food products.

TGIF

This is one of those days I could easily skip the whole workout thing after work. Its the end of a long week and I am tired. Add to that, I feel a cold coming on (damn!) and I am a bit achy in the joints.

The old me would have gone home, changed into PJs, eaten an entire pizza, and then climbed under the comforters. That was the old me. The new me is determined to get healthy, so I am headed to the workout place for an hour of exercise despite just not feeling motivated to workout today.

I may still have a slice of pizza later tonight after working out, but it will only be a slice and it will be after the workout, not in lieu of the workout.

Off I go......

A Good Start

I am one week into my new health & fitness program (I'm not gonna use the word "diet") and I've lost 6 pounds. YAY!! I know that seems like a lot, but believe me, I started with a lot of poundage and I have a long way to go. But at least it is progress in the right direction.

Thoughts so far:

1) Why are bicycle seats so damn uncomfortable? My butt is the one really sore body part after 40 minutes of stationary bike riding the other day.

2) I don't think I can ween myself off the coke just yet. I am down to 1 coke a day which really is a accomplishment for me. However, the two days I went without coke at all, I severely struggled to get up the next morning. Like slept through my alarm struggled. Ugh!

3) Salad isn't half bad.

4) Still haven't developed that taste for water, but I am drinking a lot more of it than before.

5) I've found that I don't like being at home cause the fridge is just to tempting. I'd rather be at the gym after work than come home early to the temptation. I take that as a good thing.

6) Whoever invented that elliptical machine should be shot. That thing is torture (and I've only been able to survive 5 minutes on it).

7) Onward to the 2nd week......

So Far So Good

The new health program is going well so far. The first week was a tough transition, especially the one coke a day thing. Not that I was grumpy, but I found myself sooo tired during the week and struggling to get out of bed each day. But I got some good rest this weekend and Monday morning wasn't so bad.... only one snooze button.

I thought this weekend was gonna be difficult being at home with a tempting fridge full of food, but I did ok. I was able to cut the food calorie intake by roughly 500-1000 calories over the weekend. I did some grocery shopping and picked up a whole bunch of healthy foods with a lot of fruits and broccoli. There were a lot of tempting stuff I put back on the shelf after reading the nutrition panel on the item. Yikes, there are lots of calories out there in food. Even in so called "healthy" food, I found some very high calories. Like the Lean Cuisine pizza that had more calories than the Red Baron "regular" pizza. I was able to enjoy a Panera lunch and still stay relatively healthy with a 1/2 of Assagio Roastbeef sandwhich and some fat-free chicken noodle soup. Yum....

I overdid the Friday evening workout a bit (hips!), so I took it easy these past two days and will start back at the exercise today. I also haven't tried to pool thing out yet. I got the goggles and swim cap, but I need a new swim suit. I have swim gear, but they are the fancy, cute kind of suite that aren't really designed for swimming laps. Unfortunately, it is a little early in the season for the stores to stock the swim gear. I need to look around a bit more though.

I am also still looking for a good 30 minute aerobic workout that works your abs, back, and arms. Most of the machines are so geared towards you legs. I'll have to ask the fitness center staff about that.

But overall, things are going well. I am starting to feel better overall and even the pants had a bit of ease to them this morning.

Resolutions

To many, New Year Resolutions are dread. What am I gonna have to live without for the upcoming year... or month... or week for most folks.

I'm sure diets are the most popular resolution, and for me, this is my only resolution for 2008. Yes, I am headed for diet-land. After a lot of "I'm approaching my 40th birthday and I fell like crap everyday" soul-searching in December, I decided that this was gonna be the year I get into shape. I am not necessarily focused on "diet", but on just getting healthier and feeling better.

For me, this is a three-pronged approach.

1) Reducing the intake of Coke. Gasp! I know! I love coke and will readily admit I am addicted to the stuff. But there is no way that crap can be good for you. I don't think I can quite cold-turkey and I still need my morning does of caffeine (and I hate coffee), so I am limiting myself to 1 coke a day. Plus, I am not allowing myself to buy that case of coke for the home fridge.... just too tempting. I can get my one coke a day at the cafeteria at my work place.

2) Eating Healthier. Not necessarily a diet as in the traditional sense, but trying to cut the fatty, processed, & carbs food down. I started a food journal and now count calories. It is amazing to discover how many calories are in something as simple as 1 tablespoon of ranch dressing. By counting the calories of what I am eating, it certainly makes you re-think your food choices.

I am not putting myself on any kind of calorie limit per day, cause I just think that leads to a quick failure. Instead, I looked at my normal daily calorie intake back in December and am trying to work to cutting that down by 500 calories a day, especially in the fatty processed food department. My normal caloric intake was in the 2500-3500 range, so I think I can easily drop 500 calories a day without feeling deprived. It takes 3500 calories to equal one pound, so by cutting 500 calories per day, I could drop a pound a week.

3) The final step is to get in shape. I joined my companies activity center prior to the holidays and have also checked out the local indoor pool. I'm gonna start the exercising slow due to my arthritis, but I want to work up to working out 4-5 times a week for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. I started on Wednesday with about an hour of exercise; 30 minutes of treadmill and a 30 minute step class. I did pretty good and wasn't too sore the next day, so I will stick to an hour of exercise for a week or two before adding more.

I also found this website, which is a great resource for calorie-counting and calorie-burning. They have a nice large database on the calories in most foods and the calories you burn in exercising. I have found this site very helpful for my food journal.

So, three days into this, I am doing ok. First day was great, 2nd day was a struggle (due more to a bit of PMS than anything), and I am back on track today. I'll keep you posted as I progress.

I'm Back

I flew home yesterday and now I am back at work. Tired and struggling with the time change. I just hope I don't get caught napping at my desk today. :-)

Game 7

Here I am with my bestest buddy Joy sitting in a nice "villa" (their description... not mine) out on Cape Cod, MA. We had a nice drive down here today; the weather and colorful trees were beautiful. We did get here late so we went off to find dinner right after checking in to the "Villa".

I will fill in the details later on the adventures of the fuzzy lobster roll, that is. if I survive tonight. But I will definitely hold on long enough to see the Red Sox win tonight's ALCS Game 7 and head to the World Series.

GO RED SOX!!

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

The Good: I am getting more used to 2nd shift and even more used to all the walking I have been doing. My legs and feet no longer feel like they are gonna fall off at the end of the day, so that is indeed good news. I'm not as tired by 11pm and the nights are going quicker. I still like 2nd shift, mainly cause the office is so quiet after about 6pm, you can actually get some work done.

The Bad: My DVR is apprarently on the fritz as it failed to record the last two nights of prime-time TV. I've come home to nadda on my DVR. Not sure why, but after a few late night tests last night, I think it is working correctly again.... will know more late tonight when I get home from work. If it failes to record for a third night, it is going back to Comcast for a replacment tomorrow morning. Argh!

The Ugly: I work in an industry heavily dominated by males. I am used to it and rarely have problems with any percieved slights or bias. However, yesterday, male idiotness reared its ugly head again. Twice yesterday, the male co-worker who is training me and the two other young male co-workers I am training with went off to the training facility without bothering to notify me.

The idea is that we follow our trainer around to learn from him. So how am I supposed to learn if they don't even bother to tell me when they are headed out to the training facility? Needless to say I was pissed. One slight like this I can deal with, but twice in less than four hours took me over the edge. I vented to two supervisors, letting them know that this was unacceptable and disrespectful.

I don't think it was deliberate... more likely just very young fresh out of college guys who just haven't learned how to appropirately communicate in the workplace yet. But if management is going to have these young guys be trainers, then they need to have the interpersonal skills as well as the technical skills to do the job effectively.

We will see how tonight goes.....

Late Night with Janet

It's almost 9pm and here I am still at work. I thought I was doing ok on this 2nd shift thing, but boy am I tired tonight. I like waking up in the morning and not haveing to rush off to work; kind of ease into the day. Plus, in the morning, I am getting a lot more done around the house cause I am not exhausted like I usually am after a normal work shift. So I guess my exhausted-ness is still at the end of the day, however, now I am at work at the end of the day instead of being at home after work.

I am also walking A LOT! Its a good 1/2 mile round trip out to our test facility and back and we make that trip 3-4 times a night. Good for the fitness, but that probably adds to my exhausted feeling. Maybe I will loose some wieght this week while on 2nd. That would be an added benefit.

2 hours to go before I get to go home....

I LOVE Waiting

You make an appointment for a 9am travel shot and show up early at 8:45am. 9:45am comes around and all the other folks in the waiting room who didn't have appointments are all gone, there names gloriously called out by the nurse. And there I wait. UGH! When I inquired as to when my name would be called, they asked if I could reschedule. WTH? I drove 40 minutes in the opposite direction from my regular workplace to get this shot, I am not leaving without it. Grrr!

Thank goodness that was my last travel shot.