Finally! I got enough stuff cleaned off of my hard drive to be able to record video again! Gotta love it when the camera program tells you there isn't enough space...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
OK, So the Other Day Caught Up With Me...
(Another handwritten journal entry that I'm posting late) VLCD Day 35. 231.2lbs this AM. It was a 1.4 lb weight gain from the splurge the other day...I did pretty good today though. No cheats except a Sugar-free Caramel Latte. I forgot about the milk in it until after I'd drank 3/4's of it though...no worries, it'll come off eventually...
Thursday, January 22, 2009
A "Blow Day"...
(I journaled this on 1/22/09 and just getting it online) Went to Washington, DC today for the March for Life Rally. Only had 4-1/2 hours sleep. On the way to meet the bus I stopped at Sheetz and got a Sugar-free Caramel Mocha Iced Coffee that tasted way too good to be even close to Phase-anything compatible.
I did good for meal 1. I had brought with me some strawberries and a Spinach Quiche that I made from EggBeaters and frozen spinach. (The Vegetarian Program allows eggs - 1 whole egg and the whites of 3 eggs- and EggBeaters has a product with yolk. Two servings of it is only 80 calories and is equivalent to a serving of meat.)
On the bus however I made one of those "command decisions" that said, "Oh, heck with it for the day!" They were passing around banana bread slices, so I had one. Then for meal 2 I had a 4-inch Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich and another piece of banana bread. Later on the trip home I had a half of a bagel with cream cheese. I know my body must have been in shock, because I hadn't had bread in a month!
I think the saving factor was that I was on my feet either standing or walking for almost 5 hours in the midst of the crowd of 400,000 marchers. So surely I burned part of the food off there, right?
I've made a decision that I will keep on plugging on until I lose all the weight, and that I'm not going to get so legalistic that I despise the very thing that's helping me. It can take a couple days for a cheat to show up, so I may have set myself back a little, but I don't regret it. I'm in this for the long haul.
I did good for meal 1. I had brought with me some strawberries and a Spinach Quiche that I made from EggBeaters and frozen spinach. (The Vegetarian Program allows eggs - 1 whole egg and the whites of 3 eggs- and EggBeaters has a product with yolk. Two servings of it is only 80 calories and is equivalent to a serving of meat.)
On the bus however I made one of those "command decisions" that said, "Oh, heck with it for the day!" They were passing around banana bread slices, so I had one. Then for meal 2 I had a 4-inch Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich and another piece of banana bread. Later on the trip home I had a half of a bagel with cream cheese. I know my body must have been in shock, because I hadn't had bread in a month!
I think the saving factor was that I was on my feet either standing or walking for almost 5 hours in the midst of the crowd of 400,000 marchers. So surely I burned part of the food off there, right?
I've made a decision that I will keep on plugging on until I lose all the weight, and that I'm not going to get so legalistic that I despise the very thing that's helping me. It can take a couple days for a cheat to show up, so I may have set myself back a little, but I don't regret it. I'm in this for the long haul.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
VLCD Day 25 Update
Just have a minute to write. I've lost a total of 31.6 pounds so far in the 25 days I've been on the VLCD. Down to 235.8#. I started an 18 minute per night DVD exercise program that I actually bought on my FEMA deployment in New Orleans this past fall. I'm on the beginner level right now, but after a week I'll switch to the intermediate program. It's actually been nice to add the exercise routine to what I'm doing. The fact that it's so short makes it do-able on nights like last night when I didn't get home until almost 4am and had to get up early. I've also started back on my Spanish self-study lessons before bed. Aside from that, I'm going to try to fit a hike in every week or so as well. I'm excited about life, and all I can do is praise God!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Down 30 Pounds and Out for Another Hike
Well, this morning I was down to 237.4 lbs! I was so excited! Today I haven't eaten everything that I could, but got a late start on my meals. I slept in for once, and when I got up and about I decided to do a hike up to Dragon's Tooth. It's a moderate to difficult hike with a lot of rock climbing/scampering involved. It's a great hike, but I haven't been up there in 5-6 years. When I started to plan the hike it was decently warm for this season, and it WASN'T raining. In the couple hours between planning and execution things changed! Thank God for raingear!
It got cold and wet pretty quickly. I ended up solo-hiking because none of the 15 people to whom I'd texted an invite responded. Their loss! ;-) My plan was to eat an orange before I left my car, and then cook my meal at the top. But as I was getting my raingear on and my pack ready another hiker came up and I started talking with him about the trail, my UFirst signs on the car, etc, and I forgot to eat the orange. I did, however, think it was in my pack...Wrong! About 45 minutes into the hike I stopped and was going to eat it. Much to my disappointment it wasn't there.
That meant no food until the top, because raw hamburger and cabbage just wasn't on my top 10 most wanted list! LOL! Since I'd left late and had slow going-due to wet rocks,picture taking, Twittering/Facebook posting, Texting, etc (Quit laughing at me! I'm a geek who likes to hike!) it took me an extra hour getting "almost" to the top. When I say almost, I mean to the "mountain goat ledges" before the "big metal staples" that they have in one spot due to the absolute steepness of the trail.
The ledges are approx 3-6 inches wide in most places, and you have to find toe/hand holds to climb up to them and maneuver along them to the top/right. On a dry day there're just a lot of fun (if you like to play on the rocks, which I do.)
Anyway, I didn't have a good feeling about being alone, in the rain and cold, that close to dark, trying to go any farther. If I was thru-hiking or even on an overnight hike with my resting spot on the other side of the climb it would have been different. But wisdom and the voice of the Holy Spirit telling me "no" caused me to turn around. (I'll be writing a post called "Faith, Foolishness, and Presumption" on my Faith-Bytes blog if you are interested in listening to what I have to say about the situation there.)
I turned around and headed back down the mountain. I thought about stopping to cook my meal along the trail, but the desire to get down off the steepest sections (almost 2 miles of the trail are steep and rocky) before it got too dark won out over a "cook-break". I made good time and got down the last of the really tough part by the time the light totally left me.
I should have only had a 30 minute night hike from there to the car, but...there's this little trail that intersects with the AT about 12 minutes from the road. I "so wisely" was NOT using my headlamp, because I could see the "glow" of the trail in the faint moonlight. I was actually looking for this trail as a landmark to know how far I had to go yet, but I missed the sign in the dark.
Unfortunately I didn't miss the trail! LOL! It was the more well trodden "glow" at the intersection, and I didn't pay attention to the blazes (yeah, remember, headlamp off). I hiked downhill a LONG way before I realized that something didn't "feel" right with the lay of the land/direction of the trail. I knew I was on a fairly well-used trail, but when I finally gave in and pulled out the headlamp and found a blaze...it was blue. Yeah, it was supposed to be white-if I'd been on the right trail. Well, a 20-minute all uphill hike brought me back to the AT. About 15 minutes later I was sitting in my car laughing at my extra "side-trip". No harm-no foul!
I drove to the little general store about 0.3 mile from where I'd parked, washed my hands and ATE MY ORANGE! LOL! It was soooooo good! I'd done the whole ~5 miles on only water and a cup of coffee. But the great part was, I still had lots of energy! And it wasn't that I was even really hungry, I'd just been thinking about that orange for a while!
I got done with my hike just in time to make it to church for prayer at 7pm on the dot. I was wet and cold, still in my rain gear, and I looked a mess! But I was on time! After prayer I cooked my <300 calorie cabbage-tomato-beef soup and headed to my (ministry) office to catch up on some work (which is where I'm at right now).
Despite the rain and cold, I had a great hike today and enjoyed the climbing. I just wish I had someone with whom I could share experiences like that...
It got cold and wet pretty quickly. I ended up solo-hiking because none of the 15 people to whom I'd texted an invite responded. Their loss! ;-) My plan was to eat an orange before I left my car, and then cook my meal at the top. But as I was getting my raingear on and my pack ready another hiker came up and I started talking with him about the trail, my UFirst signs on the car, etc, and I forgot to eat the orange. I did, however, think it was in my pack...Wrong! About 45 minutes into the hike I stopped and was going to eat it. Much to my disappointment it wasn't there.
That meant no food until the top, because raw hamburger and cabbage just wasn't on my top 10 most wanted list! LOL! Since I'd left late and had slow going-due to wet rocks,picture taking, Twittering/Facebook posting, Texting, etc (Quit laughing at me! I'm a geek who likes to hike!) it took me an extra hour getting "almost" to the top. When I say almost, I mean to the "mountain goat ledges" before the "big metal staples" that they have in one spot due to the absolute steepness of the trail.
The ledges are approx 3-6 inches wide in most places, and you have to find toe/hand holds to climb up to them and maneuver along them to the top/right. On a dry day there're just a lot of fun (if you like to play on the rocks, which I do.)
Anyway, I didn't have a good feeling about being alone, in the rain and cold, that close to dark, trying to go any farther. If I was thru-hiking or even on an overnight hike with my resting spot on the other side of the climb it would have been different. But wisdom and the voice of the Holy Spirit telling me "no" caused me to turn around. (I'll be writing a post called "Faith, Foolishness, and Presumption" on my Faith-Bytes blog if you are interested in listening to what I have to say about the situation there.)
I turned around and headed back down the mountain. I thought about stopping to cook my meal along the trail, but the desire to get down off the steepest sections (almost 2 miles of the trail are steep and rocky) before it got too dark won out over a "cook-break". I made good time and got down the last of the really tough part by the time the light totally left me.
I should have only had a 30 minute night hike from there to the car, but...there's this little trail that intersects with the AT about 12 minutes from the road. I "so wisely" was NOT using my headlamp, because I could see the "glow" of the trail in the faint moonlight. I was actually looking for this trail as a landmark to know how far I had to go yet, but I missed the sign in the dark.
Unfortunately I didn't miss the trail! LOL! It was the more well trodden "glow" at the intersection, and I didn't pay attention to the blazes (yeah, remember, headlamp off). I hiked downhill a LONG way before I realized that something didn't "feel" right with the lay of the land/direction of the trail. I knew I was on a fairly well-used trail, but when I finally gave in and pulled out the headlamp and found a blaze...it was blue. Yeah, it was supposed to be white-if I'd been on the right trail. Well, a 20-minute all uphill hike brought me back to the AT. About 15 minutes later I was sitting in my car laughing at my extra "side-trip". No harm-no foul!
I drove to the little general store about 0.3 mile from where I'd parked, washed my hands and ATE MY ORANGE! LOL! It was soooooo good! I'd done the whole ~5 miles on only water and a cup of coffee. But the great part was, I still had lots of energy! And it wasn't that I was even really hungry, I'd just been thinking about that orange for a while!
I got done with my hike just in time to make it to church for prayer at 7pm on the dot. I was wet and cold, still in my rain gear, and I looked a mess! But I was on time! After prayer I cooked my <300 calorie cabbage-tomato-beef soup and headed to my (ministry) office to catch up on some work (which is where I'm at right now).
Despite the rain and cold, I had a great hike today and enjoyed the climbing. I just wish I had someone with whom I could share experiences like that...
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Two Weeks Into Things...
Just a quick update. As of yesterday morning, after 13 full VLCD days, I've lost 24.6 pounds! I'm so excited. I just wanted to encourage all of you who are on this same journey!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
