kayakmom

I’m still kind of new at Buddyslim.  I wanted to send all my buddies a Happy Holiday motivational booster with a graphic.  But I screwed the first one up, so I didn’t try again, becasue it makes the booster section look bad on the page. What am I doing wrong?  Or better yet, what should I be doing to make it right?  Thanks!

I just realized I hadn’t posted since the night of my blunder.  But I wanted to assure my buddies or anyone else who cares that I did get immediately back on plan the next day and am moving right along.  I got a little scale stall from it, but no gain.  What I haven’t done the last two days is to get my exercise in.  Not for not really wanting to, just been too busy.  I have 3 kids I homeschool that will be starting lessons after Labor Day.  My younger  boys (12 & 14)  are at the ages that they can study pretty independantly, plus my hubby is home during the day to give direction when needed.  But my daughter is officially homeschooling K this year.  So I’ve been busy going over the Standards of Learning and setting up folders for each standard and putting material and books that match the standard in the folder, and creating a matrix and time line of what needs to be done for the entire year.  So far I have 15 folders just for Social Studies, and I’m nowhere near done.  It sounds a little anal, but if I give my hubby the matrix which tells him what he has to work with her on on a given day and he just has to pull the corresponding folder(s) than I’ll know for sure he’s not missing anything and there will be no learning gaps going into first grade.  It’s amazing some of the things they are expected to learn in K these days, but I do have to remind myself that alot of it is meant to be an introduction not a mastery. 

I got off work at 5 and was ready to do SOMETHING.  Not sure what I wanted to do, just something.  But hubby wouldn’t move his skinny assed 150 pound dammed arse off of the love seat.  So what did I do?????  I told my oldest son who was going to the convenience store to pick me up a 6 pack of Coors Light.  And yeap, I drank them.  But it only gets worse.  I got to my 5th beer and took one sip as I was cleaning the garage and f%#&*ed up and put my cigarette in the fresh beer I just opened (thought it was an empty bottle).  So you know what………….I needed another 6 pack in order to replace the ONE beer that I ruined.  So I am on beer number 7.  So now, I HAVE to drink the last 4 or they will be calling  me over the coming days and weeks.  So yeap, I blew it.  18 days with no beer, and 14 days with 20 or fewer carbs per day, gone in a few hours time.  BUT, and there is a BUT to this…….I’m gonna keep going tomorrow after giving myself a swift kick in the ass.  That’s been my problem in the past.  I blow it and my healthy lifestyle is over for another year or more.  Tomorrow I will get right back on plan and continue on my journey to health and happiness.  I have to learn that one or more stumbles isn’t the end of things.  And if I picked myself back up after every stumble in the past I wouldn’t be where I am today.  I know skinny people must sometimes have a binge, and if I do too, it’s not the end of the world, just a minor set back. 

Today I successfully completed the first phase of the Atkins program, a cheat free 2 week induction.  I’ll admit, I’d have liked to see the scale move a little more, as the first two weeks is generally the most rapid loss there will be.  But, I’ve also been more faithful about working out than in the past, so I’m just going to convince myself that I am gaining muscle mass in the process which is heavier than fat.  I need to take my measurments to confirm this assumption.  Nothing much going on the last few days, just work.  We had some really heavy rain storms a few days ago, and the water level is finally up at my favorite kayaking spot, problem is the first chance I’ll get to go out is Saturday, and its supposed to be 98 degrees with a heat index of 100-105.  I don’t think I can do that, the water is even so warm this time of year that it does nothing to cool you off.  And what makes it sadder is that in just a few short weeks the weather and water will start getting too cold.  Can’t seem to win on that one right now.  Maybe by this time next fall I’ll have lost enough weight that I can get a dry suit on and continue kayaking into the fall.  Right now I’d just be happy to comfortably wear my PFD. 

I’m now 11 days into the 14 day minimum Atkins induction period without a single slip up.  For those not familiar with Atkins that is the first phase of the plan that is the most strict, and then you slowly add more good carbs back in until you find what foods affect you negatively, and how many carbs you can take in and continue loosing weight.  Although you are allowed to move through the rungs in 2 week intervals, I’ve decided too much freedom is not a good idea for me so early.  So I plan to move up  a rung for every ten pounds I loose.  At the rate I’m going, I’m expecting to be on Rung 1 by next week hopefully.  But as expected, the weightloss is already starting to slow down, so it may be two weeks.  But I’m feeling great!  Did 20 minutes on the treadmill tonight, and just generally feel happier and more motivated.  I have to be in the office a few days this week and that will be a challenge since I’ve been eating at home every day since I started.  But the plan I came up with tonight I think will work as long as I stick to it.  I made a double portion of my dinner, split it in half and plan to take the other half to work for lunch. I’m sure my blog is one of the more boring ones, but I’m finding it theraputic to document both my mental and physical transition to health, if I start doubting why or if I can continue this, I want to be able to go back and read my thoughts and the comments left by the readers which means so much to me and helps keep me focused. 

Another cheat free weekend under my belt (well almost, just a few more hours to go, but there’s not a darn thing I’d want to cheat with in the house anyhow, so I might as well consider it a done deal).  

 Another list I’m on had a thread today about the need for a “rest” day from your workout routine.  I decided today would be my rest day, I was so soar all over from yesterday’s paddle, I think I needed it.  

Hubby cooked 2 beer butt chickens on the grill today, they were soooooo good, my family of 7 devoured both of them.  If you’ve never tried it, I highly suggest you do, I think they would be acceptable on almost any eating plan, just google beer butt chicken. 

My 5 year old daughter fell off my bed last night in the middle of the night and busted her chin wide open.  Hubby was able to tape it back together with some butterfly stitches, but poor thing isn’t going to be able to go swimming for atleast 7-10 days until it heals up quite a bit.  I’m going to have to switch up my exercise routine a bit.  I had planned to do the treadmill in the morning, and then when I get off work go swimming with my daughter as usual.  But I can’t bring myself to tell her “hey, I’m going swimming but you can’t go”.  So I think I’ll try and get out to the pool before I start working and she’s still sleeping , and save the treadmill for the evening.  Not sure I like the idea of starting the day wet, and its a bit cool in the morning, but swimming season is almost over and I don’t want to miss out on these last few weeks. 

And….. the scale moved .6 pounds today, putting me at 6.6 pounds lost in 10 days.  Today was the first day in a week that the buddyslim computer response hasn’t yelled at me when I post my weigh-in telling me I’m loosing weight too fast and to consult my Dr.(arghhhh).  I wanted to tell that stupid computer response to STFU! 

Been up since 6:30 this morning.  Got up and headed out for a paddle with my 19 year old son.  The water was looking a little better today then last Sunday, so the Outfitter put us in a few miles further up the river then last Sunday.  I’m not sure of the exact distance, but its the farthest paddle I’ve ever made, and I’m feeling it all over.  For some reason I end up with a gigantic bruise on my right thigh everytime I come off the river, can’t figure out what I’m doing to end up with it, its not on the left side.  I didn’t weigh this morning as promised, so I’m really hoping all of today’s hard work gives me a wonderful suprise in the morning.  I’m a little low on my water intake today, so I think I’ll take a big heaping glass of water to bed with me in a bit and curl up with the book I’ve been reading.  Oh, and Boots the kitty came home this evening.  He seemed very glad to be home, ran straight to the food bowl and then went and crashed on the couch. The kids are very happy tonight.  Today was a good day!

Nothing new today, still holding course.  Scale moved just enough this morning to put me at 6 pounds even in 8 days.  I’m not going to weigh tomorrow for the first time since I started.  I’m once again getting up at 0 dark thirty for a 7 mile paddle, and since I’ve been weighing myself consistently at 9:00 all week, I know if I do it too early I will be disappointed.  Only a scaleaholic would know that you can actually loose close to a pound between the early morning hours and your standard weigh in time, so I use the same time each day to report my daily progress.  We have a missing kitty, the youngest who has a birthday next week, he’s been gone for 2 days now.  The kids are quite upset, but I’m holding out that he may still return, we had one gone once for 3 months who finally found his way back.  If you have them to spare, could you all send Boots some find his way home vibes. 

I have to say I’m proud of myself.  Today was the day I had been expecting, the day that the scale didn’t move an ounce.  But that’s okay, I was actually quite pleased to see it move down for 6 straight days before today.  I have to prepare myself for these mini stalls or I know I’ll lose my motivation when a few days or maybe even weeks go by and it’s not moving or possibly even moves slightly up for a few days.  I haven’t gotten any exercise in yet today.  I finished up work and was planning on a swim, but when I stepped outside I heard the distant rumble of thunder and soon thereafter the wind started blowing.  We’re now in a full fledged severe thunderstorm so swimming is probably out for the remainder of today.  But I have been entertaining the thought of hopping on the treadmill that has been sitting in my garage plugged in and waiting patiently on me for over 2 years now.  I just can’t get any thrill out of walking and not getting anywhere.  But maybe if I visualize myself walking away the pounds I can motivate myself.  I also have a pilates video that I bought back in February in a moment of ambition that hasn’t even come out of the mail packaging yet, hmmm. 

I was pleasantly suprised this morning, when the scale actually read .6 of a pound down from the prior day.  I thought for sure the crab legs were going to stall me as far as water weight goes, guess all the extra water I drank flushed me out.  I worked too long today. Since I work at home and always have more work to do then can be done in a day, I have a bad habit of working 10-12 hour days, weekends and holidays.  That’s something I am really trying hard to get away from.  It absorbs my life and leaves me with little time, energy or motivation for the things that I love to do and are healthy.  But I did manage to fit in an hour long leisurely swimming session with my daughter and two youngest sons after working 10 hours.  I found today that working too late triggers me to want to go back to my old ways.  At 7:00 when I finally shut down my work computer, all I really felt like doing was geling with a nice cold Coors Light (of course I can’t have just one).  Luckily there was none in the fridge, I didn’t feel like going to the store, and didn’t feel like answering my hubby’s 20 questions like “I thought you were back on Atkins?” if I asked him to go for me.  So I went swimming instead and by the time I came back in the craving had passed.  I’m starting to get low on induction friendly food, so I think I should take a food inventory tonight, so I can get restocked tomorrow, as not having a variety of induction friendly foods around can be very dangerous to my continued success.