The best-laid plans...

Remember how I was talking about stepping up my workouts? Like a week ago? Well, it hasn't happened. Between several days of rain and Sawyer and me both being sick, it's been the worst workout week ever. Yesterday morning I was determined to get my five miles in, come hell or high water, and I did it. I felt like I was going to die after two miles and just about had to crawl the last mile (OK, I'm exaggerating, but it was a lot harder than normal.) So today I'm home and resting on the couch. Am I being smart to listen to my body, or should I just power through? I don't know. But I do know it feels really, really good to lie down.

I've been bumped down to #6 on Fitify, and the #5 person is 12 miles ahead of me. Crap. (The #1 person has 214 miles! That's 7 miles a day, 7 days a week! How cool is that?) Here's hoping next week will be better...

Walking

This week I started a new exercise routine: walking on a nearby bike trail. I've been doing three miles a day, which for me is a lot (all you serious runners, please don't laugh at me!) It takes me about an hour, so I'm not going super fast either - but since prior to this week I was doing almost nothing, I feel good about it. I'm footsore and muscle sore, and it feels great. Today I went the extra mile - literally - and did four. It hasn't been hard to get up and go because the weather this whole week has been fantastic. Cool in the mornings and evenings, breezy, and never too hot. Virginia in August is usually so hot and humid that you get drenched in sweat just cracking open the front door, so this is unseasonably temperate. Nature must approve of my attempts at exercising.

I brought the camera along today so I could capture some of the beauty of the trail. For some reason everything came out a bit overexposed (I'm the epitome of "amateur enthusiast" when it comes to photography and generally have no idea what I'm doing) but I got some good shots of some flowers and critters along the way. And one near miss that could have been a great photo, but isn't.

The trail.


Ready to hit the road in my new shoes.


The underbrush is so dense this time of year. It's no wonder Sawyer always says "It's a rainforest!"


Part of the trail goes past a quarry. Sawyer loves to stop and see the huge trucks.


Goose Creek. Sorry about the chain link. For some reason they want to make sure the bikers don't fall off the bridge. By the way, you should know that it was a personal triumph for me to actually stop in the middle of the bridge to take this picture because of my crippling fear of heights. I was white-knuckling the camera the whole time.


Virginia countryside. I love the color of the grass at the end of summer, all bleached out by the sun.


Sawyer squinting into the sun and showing me his flower. He held onto it until it wilted away completely.


I wish I could tell you the names of all these flowers, but I have no idea what most of them are. Maybe a Virginian naturalist could step in and enlighten me (Katy??)



With Sawyer's help, I saw a lot of animals today.

A little groundhog that ran off as soon as we got too close and dived into his hole.



A moth that was fluttering around the wildflowers.






A large bird (how's that for descriptive?)



A heron and some Canada geese (I know what those are!)



Circling birds.


And the worst, which could have been the best:


Can you see it? Me either. I had stopped to photograph a bird that was perched on a branch, was just zooming in and focusing when I heard a crash in the brush close by. I jumped about a mile and looked up to see a male whitetail deer with a huge rack of antlers about 10 feet away from me. I was so startled that it took me a few seconds to get the camera pointed at him, and by that time he was completely covered by the bushes. Too bad I'm not Dwight Schrute.

BL3 Update

I've been doing the Biggest Loser 3 competition for 3 weeks now. So far I've lost 8.5 lbs (3.5 the first week, 4 the second, and 1 the third.) I'm ahead of my goal so far, which is encouraging. Last week was rough because I had a nasty stomach bug for 2 days. I didn't eat at all that whole time, and didn't really get my appetite back for the rest of the week, but strangely I only lost a pound. I don't know what that's about. The challenge this week is going to be to get moving again - I still don't feel like my energy's back yet. Right now I'm in 8th place in the competition overall (out of 26) so not too bad. I'd love to be 1st, but needless to say the competitors are giving me a run for my money. All I can do is keep going! If I accomplish my personal goal, beating everyone else doesn't matter that much to me...although winning that money would feel pretty good.

Day of Reckoning

This morning was weigh-in number two for Biggest Loser III. This week was horrendous for me. The first week I had no cravings and didn't feel hungry at all, but this past week I felt like I was STARVING, even though I was eating the same things in the same amounts. I think my body is figuring out what I'm trying to do to it. It was all I could do not to run to Foster's and get a double order of fries...pretty much every night this week. But I resisted, and thank heavens it paid off! If I hadn't seen a loss this week I would have been seriously discouraged. This morning I was down 4 more pounds! That's the most I've ever lost in a week. I'm sure my losses will slow down in the next few weeks (they always do, and it's probably healthier that way) but for now I feel like I'm off to a good start. Ten more weeks to go!

BL3

So it's a couple weeks into January, the point where I've usually broken my resolutions many times over. I can happily report that this year, that isn't the case. And I owe it all to Biggest Loser 3!

Tiburon, my wonderful friend with a kick-butt blog, has once again organized the weight loss competition. Having lost 15 lbs last year, I am determined to reach my goal weight this time. This one started January 7th and goes until March 28th (12 weeks). This time there are more competitors than the previous times (which I'm sure is due to the start date!) and the jackpot is $650. A big enough chunk of change for a totally groovy new skinny wardrobe. Even for non-materialistic me, that is pretty motivating!

On our first weigh-in, we collectively lost 122 pounds. In one week! 3 1/2 of those were mine. I thought I did really well but I only ranked 16th. It's going to be a fierce competition this time!

Not the Biggest Loser (But a Loser Nonetheless)

I just realized I never posted the results to the Biggest Loser competition I took part in. That's probably because I didn't win. I came in 6th out of 14, so not too bad. I lost 14 lbs in 13 weeks. Altogether, the whole group lost 150 lbs - a whole person! The Biggest Loser was Tiburon (who has a kickin' blog, by the way.)

So now we are three weeks into Biggest Loser 2 (tagline: "This time, they'll end up even LESS flabby!") The first week I was at the beach, so I did not get off to a great start. Between Uncle Billy's fried shrimp, Aunt Carrie's chocolate chip cookie pie, and the fact that the freezer was always stocked with at least a dozen different types of Klondike bars (that's not an exaggeration!) I pretty much threw all my restrictions out the window. So now I'm trying to make up for it and not doing too well. I really want to lose 15 more pounds - if I do that I'll be at the weight I was when I got married, which is just about right for me. Not too skinny, but definitely skinnier than I am now.

Biggest Loser Update

I haven't updated on my weight loss in a while, but it's still going on! The contest officially ends a week from this Friday (although I plan to continue to lose more after it's over). I'm not likely to win at this point - I usually come in around 5th or 6th, right in the middle - but I'm fine with that. I've lost 11 pounds so far and I'm down a size. The best part though is how I feel - I have so much more energy than before and just about every part of me is tighter. I should be able to reach my goal by the end of the summer, and I should be in fairly good shape by the time we go to the beach at the end of July.

Weigh-In Number Two

Today was weigh-in number two in the Biggest Loser challenge. I'm down another two pounds. I was hoping for more, but I guess it's not too bad considering that this week included Easter, and my lady's time is fast approaching. I'm going to step my exercise up a notch and see if I can catch up next week.

I am loving the diet I'm on. I'm following the plan from Dr. Oz's book You On A Diet. There's so much about it that's perfect for me. There's no counting calories, and no real deprivation. I eat whole wheat breads and cereals, lots of fruits and veggies, and fish or lean meats. All foods I love! I've also adopted a strategy from Body for Life where you are allowed to take one day a week off of the diet. Knowing that in a week or less I can eat whatever I want makes it so much easier to eat right the rest of the week, as opposed to feeling like I will NEVER have a hamburger again.

Something else that's made it easier to stick to is that I am working my butt off to get my handmade soap business up and running. I'm aiming for an opening date of June 1st, so I am making one or two batches of soap a day so that it will have time to cure and be ready to sell before then. I'm tweaking my recipes and trying new techniques that are really fun. With so much going on that I find interesting and stimulating, boredom eating isn't a problem anymore. Watch out skinny jeans, here I come!

Look More Closelier

My first Big Loser weigh-in was yesterday. I stepped on the scale with complete and utter trepidation, because I worked really hard all week and if I had nothing to show for it I would have been so discouraged. Luckily, I did have results! Down 4 lbs. Yay! I am even more motivated now to keep going.

On a different topic, I saw the funniest South Park the other day about the "true" origins of the Easter Bunny. If you've read/seen The DaVinci Code you'll love it. Here's a clip - so funny!

Why there's an Easter Bunny

Happy Easter!

I Want to be a Big Loser!

One of the ladies from my online fertility/moms group had a great idea. Since so many of us are trying to lose weight, she set up a Biggest Loser competition. We all put in $20 and at the end of the competition whoever has lost the highest percentage of weight gets the pot. It starts today. I am really excited to finally get the rest of this baby weight off of me (can I really still call it "baby weight" when my baby is almost two?) and be ready for bathing suit season. I'm following the You On a Diet plan - whole grains, nuts, fruits and veggies, and lean meats - and walking, rowing and doing yoga. I'll post my results when it's over at the end of the 12 weeks. NO before pictures though - no good can come from sending those out into the world!