Day 56 Week 8

Wow week 8. Who knew?

Being sick this week and all meant I didn't get to the gym. So, no walking or swimming but I did some hard slave labor week that was pretty intense, at which point I ended up straight in bed for hours, aching and freezing. I spent a huge amount of time sleeping this last week. I'm feeling a little better energy-wise now.

This week I ate 21 bananas and 65 oranges. I had a few days where I ate very little. That's bad but I'm back now. To date I've walked 31.15 miles, swam 7.5 miles and have eaten 213 bananas and 262 oranges. I think Sunkist would be proud.

8 weeks down, 44 to go!

Day 49 Week 7

photo credit lusitania.etsy.com

For week 7 I walked 4 miles and 1.5 swam miles. Actually, that surprised me because I thought it was less. More would have been nice. The snow didn't help. I had other exercise in terms of physical work that is really taking a toll on my very stiff and sore arthritic spine. I actually burned more calories today (over 900) than I did even when I walked 2.5 miles and swam a mile all on the same day (600). If it didn't debilitate me so much I'd do more physical work but it really is hard on me. I crashed for 3 hours this evening. I couldn't help it - I was freezing and hurting and I just fell asleep where I was sitting.

This week I ate 27 bananas and 76 oranges. Wow. Just like trombones! To date I've walked 31.15 miles, swam 7.5 miles and have eaten 192 bananas and 197 oranges. Looks like the oranges are winning. I ♥ oranges.

I noticed in my weekly reports I have difficult weeks every week. I don't mean with food but with stress and things in my life. As I said, I'm working on it. Depression is starting to loom due to the longevity of it with not many rays of light ahead. I don't ♥ winter right now.

It doesn't feel I've made many body changes this week, or month for that matter. Not weighing leaves me feeling rather ungrounded. I'm not fond of it. Maybe it's part of my old anorexia days where it's one of the few stabilizing factors my little brain thinks I have. I think it's not a good idea for me and I probably won't do that next month.


7 weeks down, 45 to go!

Day 45 That Bright Shiny Object? Closer Than It Appears

photo credit ♥.·•Lovely Haru!•·.♥@flickr (seriously...)

You may not realize it, this just being Valentine's Day and all, but there are only 157 days left til the first day of summer. You've rolled your eyes at me, but I did detect your split second heart rate increase. Yes, I did.

If you do absolutely nothing different between now and then you'll spend another summer wishing you were fit and trim at the beach in your new orange bikini. Or whatever rings your bell. Speaking of which, I guess the only logical choice was to put the pink bikini on the doll with pink hair but I oh so wanted to see it the other way around *shrug*

Seriously, if you're one of the 17.2 billion of us who suddenly have that gigantic bright shiny object in the sky come out of no where, leaving a wake of frumpy sweat clad wearers behind, maybe now would be the time to make some inroads...

Today I ate 2,567 raw calories, banged out 2.5 miles at a 4.0 average pace and swam 1 mile - which was 60 straight minutes. I kinda love what's going on with this. I walk around in impossibly baggy sweats, sometimes two pair at a time because it's freakin' cold here. I wear plain, non-descript shirts and over-sized jackets. I toss my hair into a pony tail and forget the make up. I look 'like crap' most of the time. No one sees me. I'm completely invisible. I walk through the market and no one notices me. I go to the gym and though I have less clothes on, I don't have fancy work out stuff. My racing suits are ratty and I'm glad. I'm the invisible woman. I could have gone dancing on both Friday and Saturday nights - the two best days of the entire year thanks to Valentine's Day but I stayed home. On purpose. I washed oranges. I did laundry. I was happy.

Why? Because this is time for me. Just me. I don't care what anyone thinks. In an hour I could dress up and look 'hot' by some standards but that's not what this time is for. This is time for me to finally take care of me, work on my diet, my body and my life. I've never consciously devoted any amount of time, much less a year to the care and feeding of myself. Oh, yes to quite a few others - boyfriends, daughter, my elderly mother, former ungrateful spouse, squirrels, birds, dogs, cats, fish, hamsters, neighbor pets - but never myself.

When would be a good time to start taking care of you? What will you do with your next 157 days? What will you do for yourself over the next year?

Day 42 Week 6

photo credit Jennifer Chait

For week 6 I walked 1 mile, did not get any swim time in, which is not to say I had no exercise at all. I did. It just involved the clean up of an enormous mess which pretty much ate up 16 hours of my life in the last week rather than the preferred walking and swimming I usually do.

This week I ate 23 bananas and 54 oranges. To date I've walked 27.15 miles, swam 6 miles and have eaten 165 bananas and 121 oranges. Since my orange consumption is so high I thought it'd be fun to track it. Thank heavens no one is asking me to track baby spinach leaves! In other news, yes, Lori's bananas did come from the same farm as mine. I bought both batches but on different days. Hey, it was fun for me!

Well another difficult beyond belief week. Not having food on Monday just kicked my butt and I continued to live the after effects the rest of the week. I'm trying to get a grip on my food and exercise and sanity. I'm determined to win despite most days being pretty tired and needing a nap. My sleep is really messed up at night. I'll sleep 3-4 hours and BING! I'm done - up all night! Then I crash at 5pm for 2 hours. Yes, it's perpetuating it but honestly, that 5pm sleep is like the BEST sleep ever. I am so warm and happy and I sleep SO well. I decided to go with it today and hopefully things will sort themselves out over time. Maybe I just need to start counting sheep.

My goal is to start to get to the gym first thing in the morning, after my daughter gets on the bus. I'm usually so messed up from not sleeping all night that I just come home and go back to bed, then the day gets away from me and my daughter gets home and that's all she wrote. I'm told I 'have' chronic fatigue syndrome but I don't really like that label. I'd like to think I can FIX it, despite the medical profession being useless other than to assign labels to people. I am not doing that great with it right now but I've not lost hope. I have to wonder if a better label would be 'chronic bullshit' instead of chronic fatigue. Yes, I think that's a better title. The crap that goes on in my life wears me out. Like I said last week, I need some changes. I'm working on them. Maybe God will smile upon me soon.

6 weeks down, 46 to go!

Day 41 Making Up For Lost Time?

photo credit Rocketeer@flickr

Imagine my surprise when I realized I'd logged over 2700 calories for today - and I'm still hungry! What's up with that? I made sure I drank enough water (sometimes we confused hunger with thirst...) and I took a nap and took it easy today. Am I making up for Monday, still? I dunno but that's a new record for me. I'm not worried about it. I don't expect to 'gain weight' at all. Isn't that wild? In the past that'd be considered a banana split day for sure and I'd be beating myself up.

I'm getting a lot more used to eating what I want and not worrying about it. I don't feel like I've lost anymore weight this month but I did a quick waist measurement and lost another inch off my waist. That was pretty exciting. My hair seems to be oddly a lot longer all of a sudden, too. I won't measure til the end of the month but it's very noticeable. Ah - the power of oranges!

I've not been at the pool due to the weather and icy roads. Which is not to say I couldn't hop on my treadmill but I just haven't. Monday killed me, burning something like 3300 calories for the day on no food. I just want to get over this week and get on with it. It's the best I can do.

Day 36 Week 5

YES I'm a day late and a banana short on this one. I don't know what I was thinking last night but I'd had the longest day that never ended and to add insult to injury, I was up all night. Which then made me sleep half the damn day today. I hate that.

For week 5 I walked 9.25 miles, swam 1.5 miles and ate 37 bananas. To date I've walked 26.15 miles, swam 6 miles and have eaten 142 bananas. Is that a bushel? Who knows. But while you're here, go visit the farm that my bananas came from today. Pretty wild! This farm has really big bananas compared to some other farms I've gotten bananas from. I'm wondering if Lori's bananas came from farm 633 as well. Though she did report that the bananas I gave her were definitely better than other bananas she's had. Can't wait to find out which farm she had. Keep those stickers woman!

Again I've had a stressful week and I'm pretty unhappy with parts of my life and I don't mean my diet. Things need to change. I can't keep doing things like this to myself, I'm destroying my body. I also need support from other people who eat like I do and I think I'm going to get that now, which will help.

If you're following this and serious, it will help you to connect with others on the same path. I did discover there is ONE other person in my city (that we know of...) who ascribes to 80/10/10, also called LFRV - Low Fat Raw Vegan. Maybe I can meet him. There is a girl another city away and I hope to get together with her as well.

5 weeks down, 47 to go!

Day 35 Swim More. Quack Less.

Back in the pool this week I finally hit the mile mark. Of course, I pick the worst possible night to do it. I'm late getting to the swim center. I have to run first to get warmed up and that takes time and I have to allow time afterward to shower. Plus I need a big chunk of time to swim. Ugh.

I head upstairs and bang out a mile and a quarter on the treadmill and then head down to the pool. I always dress the same way everyday to save time. I put my racing suit on first, then my running shorts and a t-shirt on over that and then my street clothes and running shoes atop that. When I get to the gym I take off my street clothes and I'm ready to run. When I get done running I take off my shorts and t-shirt and I'm ready to swim. I've done it this way for my whole life. Works great.

A quick hop in the shower to lather up, rinse off and I'm ready. NO ONE should enter a pool without fully showering and that includes your hair because if you think about it, it's like getting in a bathtub with a bunch of strangers. Ew. Shower. Please shower. This is everyone's responsibility as it keeps the pool clean but it actually does something for you as well. If you let your skin, and more importantly your hair, absorb clean water first and then put a cap on, it won't readily absorb the pool water. Betcha didn't know that :) No green icky hair here. Of course I swim in a salt water pool which I'm so lucky to get to do but there is still some chlorine and chemicals. You don't want that attaching to your hair. I also put a silicon coating on the drier parts of my face and where my goggles will sit to reduce irritation and abrasion. Works great.

I hit the pool and it's nirvana: I have the entire pool to myself. Ahhhh! It's 8:35 pm and the pool will close at 9:45 pm, and the showers will be open til 10 pm. It takes me a half hour to swim a half mile and I want to swim a mile and still have time to ease the arthritis in my low back/tail bone in the jacuzzi before I hit the showers. Sounds like enough time but the 2nd half of the mile might take me longer due to fatigue.

So I feel pretty pressed the first half mile. I really want to get the first 33 lengths under my belt so I can work on the second 33. I use a special finger swim counter that you wear on your forefinger and click with your thumb after each lap. I would never be able to keep count without this. People are always asking what it is but it's a pretty common swim device. It looks like a little watch for your finger :)

My laps are slowed down as I cannot do the flip turn because for some reason since I had brain surgery it causes a massive equilibrium disturbance. I can't fix that, I just have to live with it but I'm out of breath at the end of each lap because I'm pushing it so much. I finally get through the first 33 laps which seems like an eternity and then I'm onto the second set.

It's a little after 9 pm when I start those but oddly they seemed to go by a lot faster than the first 33. I end at 9:30 - finally my first full mile in a very long time.

Swimming is amazing for trimming your waist, sides and hips. I make it a point to make each stroke count. I really reach for it, stretching out each side fully with each stroke and adding a little twist to work my sides a bit more. It's paying off. It's also tremendous for my arms and shoulders. Though I'm a bit sore today, it still feels good.

I am having a hard time imagining getting back up to 2 miles at a time. I used to swim 2 miles a day, almost daily. Energy levels aside, as a single mom I'd need to really carve that time out. We'll see. A mile right now is a lot for me.

Here's a pic of a guy with a swim lap counter thing for your finger. That's exactly what I have. They work great. You can use them for other sports, too. Hmmm I'd like to lap swim with this guy now that I think about it...:D

Day 17 My Non-Problem

Lori, BFF, informs me I am the proud owner of a non-problem. Anytime anyone loses weight and has a problem along these lines they're really sporting nothing more than a non-problem.

She's right. Nonetheless, I'm going to gripe about it anyway :)

I've become the Goldilocks of the bathing suit world. I realized a few days ago when my sleek form fitting Speedo racing suit was acting more like a thong bikini and riding up (and down) in all the wrong places that it had perhaps gotten a tad too big. After registering a 20 lb/20 inch loss it drove the point home to me even further. It's too big.

Never to fear. I've had a smaller suit waiting in the wings for about 4 years. Shut up. I gleefully popped it on this morning only to discover it's too small.

Great. My choice is to expose my derriere and breasts, or have the fat on my back poke out in a way that may qualify me for front page inclusion over at the PeopleofWalmart.com. By the way, the Bride of Chucky is my fav of the day.

At around $45 a pop, a new suit just isn't in the cards. I also realized I'm going to repeat this scene a few time over until I reach the promised land. Even if suits were $20, it's just not in the cards. Maybe I need a Speedo fund or something. Maybe Speedo will sponsor me. Anyone less than 6 degrees from someone important at Speedo? Let me know. Yeah, right. Speedo is gonna sponsor some fat chick who swims a half a mile 3 x a week.

I chose the latter and headed off to the pool. While there were children screaming and running away, I finally realized it wasn't at me. It was baby day at the pool. Whew. Now if I can stay out of Walmart I'll be home free.