Leida

Okay, that was not long, strenous, or major calorie-burning run… and my foot is still hurting a bit.

But my story (and I am darn sticking to it!) is that I was late for my precious first bus downtown. So, seeing it was 20 after 5 in the morning, stars out and nobody to witness, and I had my walk&run shoes on, I just went ahead and ran.

15 min instead of 22 min walking, both uphill and downhill, and yes, wearing a short red dress & a huge backpack with all the stuff I lag to and fro work (hey, I did that backpack bit before, running home). As I said - nobody to see me and appreciate any unintended comic side-effects.

For those result-oriented: I caught my bus! In fact I beat the sucker by 2 minutes (yeah, I did all sort of stretching at that bus-stop before, so I did it again).

And I got my runner’s high even from this short of a run.

I am thinking if I don’t get any noticeable aggravation to the annoying bunion, I will just leave my dress at work, put on a spare excersise gear for my going home, and repeat the run tomorrow morning. Too good to miss, before winter comes, and we have ice and snow… it’s unfortunately very close now.

Anyway, looking forward to my upper body workout at lunch Life’s good today!

And that FitDay journalling and logging site works out BEAUTIFULLY for me. I am not going back to the BS’s journal.

Folks, since the food database is down, I went looking for an alternative. I tried SparkPeople before, and I really didn’t like their DB, but this one looks relatively easy, and has a lot of extras to the food journal here, such as plotting long-term trends:

http://www.fitday.com/fitness/Home.html?_a_Date=1251676800.

I will try it for a few days and see if I’ll stick with it, particulary of the DB here will get lost.

Other than that, things are not working out well for me. I doubt that I can reach my goal of 114 lbs safely. The dizziness returned, so I went back to above 117, and will be experimenting in 116 lbs-117 lbs range. I also couldn’t run. Foot’s hurting and no time.

 But a lot of work done in the new house and the yard. The closests are all unpacked, i found the box that we thought we’d lost with my hubby’s suits, and I finally pulled the second of the two ugly bushes from the flower beds (tough buggers!).  I just have one flower bed to de-weed, and the yard can be left like that till next spring when I’ll get the landscapers on it! And all the unpacking that is now left is the office stuff, which I have to wait on my hubby for to move the furnuture around the way he wants to in the walk-out. Then I can finally have my excersise space freed up and kick up the intensity a notch!

So, yeah, that’s news. 

Saturday, I will go for a run on Staurday morning. My foot seems to be getting better and better, and I will make it a very light jog, with walking periods, if needed. Doth not harm principle still applies of course, so if I feel uncomfortable I will go back to walking. It should be an awsome way to explore my new neigborhood beyond the two tracks I have done so far. I know just the hilltop I want to make a circle around. My neighbor told me it is about 45 minutes walking. I’d like to limit myself to 30 min run… aww, three more days.

It seems that low intensity and eating very close to BMR worked for me in these 2 weeks. I am however surprised that I’ve lost that much in a week; I was thinking it would come off much slower. Must be all the gardening and unpacking! Lol, keeping busy, the first and foremost condition for the weight loss!

Weigh in Results: 115.8 lbs.

Measurements:

Chest: 33″

Waist: 26″

Hips: 35″

Thighs: 33.5″

So, 2 lbs in one week… that’s a lot for me. So far so good, no dizziness, no side-effects, so my long maintaining period (4 months) after losing the first 28 or so pounds helped. During my first leg, I couldn’t go under 117 lbs without feeling sick! Now I feel great. 

The inches are coming off the ‘right’ places, my waist and my thighs (I was 27″ in the waist and 34.5″ in the hips at ~118-120 lbs). So, I dearly hope that 2 more lbs is all I need to sculpt myself to size 2, which is 33-25-36.

I will apply myself to maintaining around 116 lbs for one or two weeks, since I do not think I will be able to sustain loss.

On e-diets someone asked in a comment on the blog how to do a non-sweet lemonade. Not being big on very sweet drinks myself, here are a few recipes with Eastern Europenian theme that I use:

Apple Tea:

One thing I did since chindhood for a quick pleasently refreshing drink is to chop half of a tart apple (Granny S. will do fine!) into either tea or boiled water (~2 cups of water). Let it stand for a few minutes, and enjoy! It’s fine when cool too.)

Mors:

You can also take berries of your choice (cranberry, blueberry, red or black currents, sour cherry, nanking cherry, strawberries, blackberry, mixed berries), about 6 cups of it and boil it until the berries pop with 2 or 3 cloves and a bit of lemon rind, throw a straining cloth over a colander, drain what drains off, then wrap the rest of berries in the cloth, hang it over that very pot and let the juice drain over night. Then chill and enjoy!

Kisel’:

Or you can thicken it a bit with cornstarch to obtain Russian drink called kisel’ (dissolve cornstarch, reheat juice, mix in, wait till thickens, take off the heat immediately, chill & enjoy!) or add sweetener to taste (~1/2 cup of sugar per 1 litre of liquid for sour berries, less for sweeter ones). The amount of cornstarch you are using depends on how thick you want the kisel’ to be. A couple of tablespoons per 1 litre will give you a medium consistency.

 And, since my last weekend’s experiment with Nanking Cherry Jelly turned out well, here is my low sugar recipe for it!

9 cups of Nanking Cherry –> 1 litre of bery juice

1/2 cup of sugar

3 cloves

A length of lemon rind peel

No-sugar to set Pectin (IMPORTANT! not the regular kind!)

1/2 teaspoon margarin

Wash and sort the berries. Place in a big pot, with ~1 cup of water. Throw in 3 cloves and a slice of rind. Bring to boil, and boil until berries pop and release juice, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Place a straining cloth over a colander, drain what drains off, then wrap the rest of the berries in the cloth, hang over the pot or a bowl and let strain overnight. Do not press or wring the cloth.

After you’ve got the juice, follow the manufacturer’s instructions to set the jam with pectin and canning instructions to preserve (I only did 2 litres so I just streilized my jars and put them in the fridge.)  I used 1/2 cup of sugar per litre of juice, and the spread was just right for the tart cherry for my taste. Margarin is needed to reduce foaming

For me it was that I am not and will never be one of those ‘effortlessly thin’ lucky folks. I had to accept that if I want to be slender I will have to work for it every hour of every day of my life, never lowering my guard. I know that there are people who have it harder than me, whose medical conditions make it even more difficult to lose and keep the weight off. But still.

It took me three cycles of weight control, and slow weight gain to come to terms with that conclusion.

First, after I lost off my ‘puberty weight’ and stayed trim through the first University. I did itthe wrong way, fasting and eating little, since that was the only way my mom knew at the time.

 I gained a lot during my first job, leaving my country & living alone for the first time and all that.

I lost off that weight after marriage and while doing my graduate degree - did it the right way that time, finally getting access to the modern information off the Internet and the budding E-diets (that was late ninties).

I gained weight deliberately - and very, very, very easily - when I tried to concieve. Of course, I gained even more during my pregnancy. And never lost much after, because I just thought it will go away ‘naturally’. Like hell it did.

So, now, after the third cycle, after losing the pregnancy-related gain I faced up the truth: yes, I am not naturally thin. I am naturally inclined to plumpiness. Just like the majority of people, I am sure. And I don’t have any natural controls that prevent me from over-eating.

Which means that very thing I typed in first: I will have to plan and execute my eating every day of my life for as long as I want to stay fit and slender. There is no other way.

If I encountered that magic being or item today, my top three wishes would be:

My foot stop hurting so I could RUN!

I could eat 1800-2000 cals a day and not gain weight!

When I come home dishes & counters and stove are all miraculously clean & put away as appropriate (I’ll do the cooking!)

Yeah, this last one is probably my being too lenient on my husband, but well, things are how they are….

I am not a big one on relaxation thing. And I want to turn this Friday on the total relaxation day for my hubby and I, since we deserve it after our move. I prefer not to spend money on anything out of the house (we’ve just bought that new house, so you can guess our money situation….); we also can’t go far out of town since we must pick our toddler up at daycare.

So far my creativity landed me with renting a bunch of Battlestar Galactica out of the library & making a healthy home-made pizza + buying a platter of fruits and veggies (to save on all the chopping).

Any ideas on lazy&healthy foods and laid back entertainment for two will be greatly appreciated!

From time to time I succumb to checking those calculators out… like your “Ideal Weight” and “Caloric Needs” on the numerous websites.

Do you know what’s my ideal weight is? 140-158 lbs if I go with the large build and 130-148 lbs. My before photo on my profile page is taken at 148-150 lbs. Does THAT look like an “ideal’ weight to you?

And my caloric intake? 2000 calories? Ha! The moment I go over 1,400 I gain 2 lbs overnight.  I guess it coordinates with their idea of ideal me… at 150 148 lbs!

I am sorry, but I personally think that my ‘ideal’ weight is 115-125 lbs. And my ideal caloric intake = my BMR at ~1350 calories a day.

Heh, it almost if the authors of those tools are working for the food industry or something…. :)

Okay, I broke down and re-set my goals. I really want to look great in a 2-piece bathing suit if we go to the tropics this January, so I will need a couple of months to stabilize the loss.

 I was planning to do it IN October, now I want to see if I can do it BY October. So, 5 lbs to lose and 3 months. I know the goal is a little bit low for someone my height, so my actual, main goal is actually NOT weight, but 25″ in my waist and ANYTHING in my thighs!!! My waist lags two sizes behind my chest and hips/thighs, I don’t know why.  I think 5 lbs is what I need to lose to get my proportions more even, but if less does that, I’ll take it.

 I still can’t run (bummer!) but I will walk and do my curcuits and strength and pilates and… whatever else I can think of.