fortuneinthefollowup.com

Where the heck has time gone?  Geez! 

I look up one day and several weeks have passed.  So not really sure where to begin with this update.  Obviously I can’t go over my daily meals and that kinda boring anyway no?  I have been trying to continue with walking and have been able  to do a few exercises.  I bought a bunch of the fresh vegies and then didn’t do so well.  Sad to say most went to waste.  Now I try real hard NOT to do that but for whatever reason, I was having some resistance coming up.  That is one of te reason I haven’t updated here either. 

One thing I have learned about myself and that is when I don’t do something, you can believe there is some sort of resistance attached.  Either that or some stuck energy of some sort.  I get locked into a pattern of NOT doing and it ends up perpetuating itself. The trick is fguring out how to get beyond that and move forward easily.  :) 

I have been doing some walking but not nearly as much as in the past,  I think that was tied up in the resistance too.  I have been on overwhelm and overload at work and lost myself to the illusion that it was all consuming.  This process is continually causing me to examine and re-examine what I am doing and thinking.  My walk numbers (though I can’t remember exacts because I didn’t write them down) have been pretty consitant to immediate reading in te mid to high 20’s. the heart rate at the 2 minute mark a couple of point below that and the 5 minute mark a couple of point lower still.  I have tried to get that first number up but for watever reason, I haven’t been able to. 

I don’t remember if I recorded the fact that I measured around my waiste to determine how much I have or haven’t lost in that very critical area.  My first measurement was at 38″  and then here recently I was down to 37 1/2″ .  That was probably mid February (?)  I may have already blogged that and if that is the case then it is all good.  If not it’s here now. 

I measured myself again on Wednesday night (03/05/08) and weighed myslef.  I weighed 140 lbs and my waiste was 36″  I am down 10-15 lbs and 2″ off the waiste!  This is HUGE!!  I have been monitoring my eating these past 2ish weeks and I am NOT dieting by any stretc of the imagination.  I haven’t been eating nearly as much processed food, no sugary foods or candy (chocolate etc…) and I am still losing.  I am really loving te baby step method.  My body is still continuing to tell me when I have eaten something it doesn’t like.  I am still starting my day with coffee and yes I do put sugar in it.  For whatever reason, my body is still good with that.  Perhaps it’s the amount…  Perhaps it is the lack of the high fructose corn syrup.  It’s all a learning and experimenting process.

This weekend I am in Arizona experiencing some awesome stuff.  None of it related to weight loss specifically.  …or is it??? :)  *winks as I smile mysteriously*

Friday- I had a bagel with cream cheese, a rare treat…  someone at work bought them in :)  I brought squares of cheddar cheese  and an apple to snack on.  It was a delightful treat.  I talked to Virginia at lunch.  Talking with her is always so enlightening and clarifying. 

For dinner I had the chicken pieces from Carl’s Jt.  Not the healthiest but certainly not the worst.  I skip the french fries at the fast food places. 

We went walking again tonight :)  My end ofthe walk numbers were:
Immediate:25X4= 100

2min: 24X4= 96

5 min: 21X4 = 84

I m guessing that for whatever reason, Ted and I are not walking fast enough so we will have to work on that.
Ron asked me to stop and get him donuts.  Sheesh!  Guess he isn’t worried about not having the proper nutrition…

Yep it is totally my own judgement of the situation

Saturday-  Today I spent the day helping Carol move again. It is how I spent last weekend as well :)  I was drinking coffee when she came and picked me up.  She insisted on buying me something to eat- so here we are faced with fast food… again.  This time I had chicken pieces… again I guess it’s a good thing I like them :p

We spent a long time hanging and sorting clothes.  Carol ran to the old house to grab something.  While she was gone I did my exercises.  I think I am good to go with mostly no problems with the inflamation.  I did:

3 sets of the plank, holding for 20 seconds for each one

3 sets of Squats 20 each

3 sets of wall push ups 20 each- I am still place quite far from the wall. 

At around 4pm her washer over flowed allover her kitchen.  She called her husband to bring a mop.  It took us about 10 minutes to realize he wasn’t dropping everything to bring that mop so I spent the best part of the next hour using towels to sop up a lake of water. Sopping and squeezing the towels out was rough on the hands and the stooping etc…  on the back. Now I need a good masseuse :p

With the exercise, working and the towels, I am really sore and tired tonight. Oh and for dinner tonight, i had spghetti and meatballs - here at the house not eating out tonight.  I was too tired to walk, much to Ted’s chagrine.  I have no walk numbers.  and I am fading so I better call it a night (erm, morning) I will be up and at it again on Sunday….

 It has been way too long since i have blogged an entry.  I have allowed everything to become a distraction and not done a whole lot.  I will record what I remember from this week.

Monday- I went off to work and flat forgot to take some food.  i did have my coffee though :p LOL  Having money and no food isn’t the best way to start things off.  generally Mondays are not the day in which I eat the most healthy food anyway :)  I had a bag of Doritos from the vending machine (ok so yeah, it starts)  I then had some wheat crackers and cheese.  Way too processed and not necessarily good.  Yeah, I know friends who wouldn’t be all that happy that I went the entire day basically without food.

I was sitting at my desk and the pain in my chest was really annoying and beginning to hurt quite a lot.  I would describe it as more than moderate but less than severe.  i called my Dr and made an appointment as soon as the Doc could see me.  i want to resolve whatever this is so i can get back to exercising.If I know what manner of error it is I can go about figuring out what needs to be healed in order to make it go away.

Dr Hugh was able to see me tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:30  Much sooner than I expected so major yay.  Things at home are quiet… REAL quiet. 

Dinner on the way to Bible study was my really great tasting Taco with Sour cream and a cup of coffee.  I went to bible study and had snacks while watching Miyah :)  100 calorie pack of Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips.  I also had some teryaki chicken jerky.  I got home and decided not exercise. best wait to hear what the Dr says.

Tuesday- I had coffee of course…  Today I brought some of the plain yogurt/fruit mix that I made.  I think I am beginning to develope a taste for it.  I headed to the Dr’s at 12:30 as I wanted to make sure I had enpough time to get there.  After asking me a few questions and probing and pressing… OW!  he said i have Costochondritis.  In english that means that one of the ligaments that attach my ribs to my breastbone is inflamed. The doctor could only say that a lifting or stretching motion most likely caused it.  He has written me a script for some anti-inflamatories.  I scooted back to work and only managed to lose an hour so thats not too bad.

After work, i had Photography class.  I brought some carrots and Brocoli to eat on the way.  Both were raw and tasted good :)  I ended up parking some distance from class so a walking i did go. I got some really great feedback on the photos I took.  However, I didn’t have time to stop at the pharmacy on the way to school so I’ll have to get my pills after dinner tomorrow night.

I got home and as I was trying to shimmy out of my jacket, it was very painful :/ Ron happened to see me grimmace and asked what was wrong.  *rolls eyes*  After I told him everything he started acting like he needed to DO something.  He about freaked trying to figure out how to get me my meds tonight.  I know he is thinking of me but he just spent that last how many days not talking to me and talking about leabving.  I see this as his way of finding a reason to stay.  *rolls eyes… again*

I decided to do both days at the same time. 

Saturday- Today seemed like a good day to start off with…    yeah, yeah, yeah  Coffee :)  I needed a camera card so I could have a dedicated card to my homework.  I went to three different stores all to no avail.  All the XD cards it seems are now the “M” ones which are not compatible with my camera.  As time was getting short, I headed home.  I had plans to go out dancing at 6:00

I had dinner at the club Chicken breast with Vegetables and Iced tea.  There was birthday cake as well. i didnt have any and it wasnt all that difficult to say no.  I did have some sugar free Jello :)  I am thinking dancing is at least as good as walking in the exercise department :)  I had an excellent time until I got home.  Now that’s another blog.  Went to bed stressed and not too happy

 Sunday- Woke up and didn’t go anywhere, even to have coffee.  I had a cup of coffee here at the house… later.  Ted and I went and shot my homework, we got some great shots too :) 

For dinner we had Chicken Pot Pies and Mac & Cheese.  Not the greatest meal.  Neither ted nor i really wanted it but we ate it mainly to keep the peace.  Too much turmoil lately…

Went walking tonight but I do seem to be in the process of manifesting some sort of error in my body.  I have this pain in my upper chest on the right side.  While walking, I needed to cough and that made the pain way worse so mmm. Not fun.  I worked on moderating my walk so that I didn’t breath too hard because apparently that makes the pain worse as well.

Here are my end of the walk numbers:

Immediate:36X4= 144

2min: 25X4= 100

5 min: 22X4 = 88

Got home and rested for a bit, then thought I would try some wall pushups and um, no….  OW!  and Planks?  Yeah, ow on those too. ok, I will not let this keep me from my goal.  I will see how i feel tomorrow…

Sadly I didn’t do an update yesterday.  I got home and did a few things and fell asleep. So here I am with an update.

Thursday started as usual, you know the cup of coffee :)  I had the yogurt I prepared late morning.  It was pretty decent… A little on the sour side but all up, not bad at all.  I will definitely be having more.  Another experiment that was successful.  I am thinking perhaps some pineapple and or bananas.  We’ll see.  Was busy as usual and somehow lately more sweets are finding there way into the office.  I bought 2 chocolate bars to help someone with their kids benefit.  I gave them back to her and told her to gift them to whoever she chose.  I was quite proud of myself. 

For dinner we had steak and teriaki (sp?) vegetables.  Finally a meal at home without a lot of extra calories.  It tasted good too.  After dinner, I found sitting on my desk, my Caltrac.  I opened it to find that it needed batteries I didnt have.  *shoot*  I read the quick start guide and talked to Rick online about some of the features.  I also asked what exercise might be substituted for walking on those particularly nasty rainy days.  He suggested perhaps lunges and then when I can do them, lunges down the hall.  Of course he sent me a video link that showed the proper form.  It’s always about form with Rick.

I had intended to do some wall pushups but flat out fell asleep in my chair after listening to Armand Moran’s teleseminar.   *pouts*

Friday!  At last, it’s friday!  My coffee was extra good today.  Perhaps it is because it is friday.  I didn’t bring any food or snacks with me to work today.  I knew we were having a get together to bid farewell to a collegue who is moving forward on the next rung of making her dream of being a teacher come true.  I also knew that food was involved.  There were donuts being offered all over the office.  Sheesh!

At 9:30ish we all gathered in the conference room to a repast of lots of pastries, cookies, muffins, and donuts .  Thank goodness there was plenty of juice, some fruit and bagels with cream cheese.  I had lots of fruit and a bagel with some cream cheese.  I had Orange juice instead of the more popular Crystal Light lemonaid and Apple juice. 

I have noted something interesting in the last few days.  It has gotten easier and easier to pass up donuts.  I hardly notice them if i am passing by unless someone actually mentions them.  Now THAT is cool!  Temptation isn’t a fun thing.  I moved a lot of paperwork off my desk today, so i felt really accomplished at the end of the day.

For dinner we went out again…  Ron was planning on Taco Bell but changed his mind to Cafe Bixby. Friday means clam chowder and him being from Mass, well that’s all it took I had Liver and onions.  I haven’t had that in forever and it was extra good!  I’m not sure what they did when cooking it but the meat as so tender.  Instead of potatoes and gravy, I ordered Coleslaw. I figured less carbs and calories. 

After I got home, I did some email and relaxing.  I got up and danced for about 30 minutes just because the music was good. Since it is actually Saturday morning when I am typing this, Apparently I relaxed a little too much.  As I was sitting here last night, I got a couple of cramps in my calf muscles.  Not sure if that was just last night or if it is something of concern- I will keep an eye on it.  All for now

Started today off with a cup of coffee (what else is new?) I didn’t bring a snack, salad or anything to eat.  The sales team bought lunch.  We had Togo’s.  For me it was the turkey & cheddar along with some BBQ chips.  They also bought sodas but I didn’t have any.  Kinda sucks that we had a sales meeting and I didn’t get my usual hour to me. 

Driving home sucked!  Was horibbly rainy and wet.  I do not like to drive in the rain.  I have made myself promise to let the weather do as it wishes this year, so yeah I have stuck myself with driving in inclement weather. :/  We went out for dinner. (yes again) I had the oriental chicken salad and it was sooooo good.  I ate most of it but saved some of chicken for a salad at a later time.  :) 

We went to the store on the way home and I got some plain yogurt and frozen fruit.  Blending the two together was quite the adventure :p  To say I made a mess was putting it mildly.  My son came in and started laughing at me… how nice.   He even took a video on his phone LOL…  What a pain LOL.  I am going to take some to work tomorrow.  Should be really yummy

Did wall Pushups 3 sets of 30 eah standing a good way back from the wall.  Not much more to reportother than i really didn’t feel like doing the pushups- Did em anyway

I started today out with a nice cup of coffee, ok so what’s new! LOL  Didn’t get much sleep last night so i laiddown and tooka nap this afternoon.  I woke up in time to catch the Ellen show and finish my BSF homework.  Had hanburger patties with gravy on them, mashed potatoes and french cut green beans for dinner. 

Had a snack of turket teriyaki jerkey and some harvest cheddar sun chips after lecture while we were watching Miyah.  Tonight is an exercise night…

Squats: 3 sets of 20 each
The Plank: 3 sets of 15 secs each (arms are still shaking on every second that passes
Wall Pushups: 3 sets of 30 each standing as far from the wall as is comfortable

 I think next week I am going to go to counter push ups… we’ll see.  I didn’t go walking today because of my busy night.

I weighed myself tonight and I am at 148.  Now as I have said before, I am not sure where I started darn it!  I usually was 150-155 riding toward the high side.  I am definitely making progress though.  Some gains have deffinitely been made which is awesome! 

Rick, you are my hero

Started today with coffee at Cafe Bixby. I thought about ordering something but couldn’t think what I wanted so in the end I got nothing.  I spent most of the day chillin in front of the computer.  We were supposed to have Fish and chips (I had planned a salad instead of the chips) instead we went to Taco bell.  The best thing they had was the rice and steak bowl and nothing to drink.

Went for my walk late. Seems like the numbers are a little screwy tonight.

Immediately: 32X4=128
2Minute: 29X4= 116
5 Minute:28X4=112

I was going to do squats and planks today, but I just didn’t feel like it. :/  Am feeling lazy apparently… No Wall Pushups.  Tomorrow is another day.

I had a big salad when i got home. kale, spinach, romaine, tomatoes, and brocolli. I toipped the salad off with the beet, carrot and turnip mixture from the other night.  It tasted surprisingly good. 

I took the rest of the salad in the bowl today: The ingredients were the usual: Kale, cabbage, Romaine Lettuce, Bean Sprouts, and some gound flax seed thrown on top. Oil & lemon juice was my dressing of choice.  I took an apple as well.  At some point this morning someone brought donuts to share.  It seemed like there were boxes of Yum Yum donuts everywhere :/   God at a couple times they sounded sooooo good.  I was good and stuck with my apple and salad.  

Wasn’t too awful sore today but was horribly busy.  For somereason lately I have been feeling the desire for junk.  *sighs* I suppose it is a mind game I am playing with myself, though not a fun one.  At one point Miguel offered me candy.  I was this close *holds fingers together* to taking a piece.    Another co-worker asked if i was on a diet.  

This got me to thinking about the whole diet concept.  If you are “ON” a diet and you lose weight, doesn’t that then set you up for what happens when you go “OFF” the diet.  Equal and opposite reactions no?  I wonder if this might be why so many diets don’t work. 

For me it’s about changing my life and the way I live it by the choices I make.  That’s what is so great about Rick’s program.  It’s about incorporating small baby steps of changes into your life until you integrate them and make them part of you.  Then he moves on to the next step.  It’s like he is coaxing you out of a closet. he allows you to run back and hide for a time before he begins to coax again.  Once you become familiar and comfortable, he coaxes you a bit more.  before you know   it the closet has disappeared.

Foe dinner we went to cafe Bixby and I had a hap and asperigus omelet with a light holedaise sauce.  Instead of the potatoes I had ascoop of cottage cheese.  Was yummy

Went for a walk again tonight.  My heart rate immdeaitely after i stopped was 33 X4= 132 (slghtly low)
2 minutes after was 28X4=112
5 minutes after was 23X4= 92

Stopped at the store and bought a bunch of beats, some more Kale (was .50 a bunch!!) milk, oj and Ron wanted some Hostess cupcakes *rolls eyes*

I mixed beets with half a turnip and some carrots.  I think i added just a tad too much turnip.  I sliced the rest of it and added some salt. Now that is how to eat a raw turnip!  The taste reminds me of a raw potato.  I have beet soup or juice or whatever for tomorrow.  I did 3 sets of 20 WallPushes and npow I am off to bed. Am thinking Saturdays and Wednesdays for squats and planks.  Oh and I bought my Caltrac today!  Just waiting for it to arrive…                                                                                      

I took a salad to work today. The ingredients were the usual: Kale, cabbage, Romaine Lettuce, Bean Sprouts, and some gound flax seed thrown on top. Oil & lemon juice was my dressing of choice.

I was very busy today. It was probably good that I was :p I had a package of peanuts, which was quite the nice little treat. I received an email from Ron (my hubby) that Ted (my son) passed his high school equivalence test. This has what he has been waiting for. Now all he needs to do is complete his course work and then he is gone. I am glad for him but I am feeling quite exanimate over the whole ting. It’s a good thing there was no “comfort food” around. It would have been gone.

Got home and went out to dinner. I had Pot Roast which consisted of this super delicious beef covered in gravy (what did i say about comfort food? LOL) a baked potato with a teaspoon {appx} of sour cream and a teaspoon {appx} of butter (or other butter like substance :p) and mixed vegetables. The meal started with coffee with sugar (no cream) and a salad. I am guessing you can all guess what I topped it with LOL I couldn’t finishe the whole meal. I ate maybe 1/3 or perhaps 1/2 not sure. I only ate until I was ful. Go me!

When I got home from dinner i found an email from Rick answering the one question I had about his previous email. It is posted below. (My question is in red)

On 18/01/2008, at 10:52 AM, Becky Rhone-Nowlan wrote:

I only have 1 question which I have posted below.

If you can double the distance then test yourself at this level. Doubling my walk would put it at nearly 2 hours… Do you want me walking for that long at 80%?

Thanks.

If you have been walking briskly for an hour most nights for 3 years then you are already reasonably fit lol.

So lets test the HR for a week at 80% or so during your walk

and do the two minute 5 minute thing over say 2 weeks

if I see a falling heart rate over that time, then we can ramp it up…

Also if you feel you want to do a 2 hour walk every now and again to test yourself, be my guest but vary the pace 65% up to 80% back to 70% up to 90% etc.

Thanks for the feedback.

Don’t forget to write these HR numbers into the diary

On the comments line is ok.

Cheers

Rick

Yes, he has me filling out a goals form :p I am going to see if I can figure out a way that I can post it. maybe as a seperate page so anyone reading can see my progress.

I spent some time online, visiting with friends on Second life and checking email.
At 11:00pm I decided to go walking. I checked my HR 4 times along the route, trying to get it to the correct rate. Here are my results:
1st stop: 38 beats in a 15 sec period X 4 = 152

2nd stop: 38 beats in a 15 sec period X 4 = 152

So a little too fast on the first leg.

3rd stop: 35 beats in a 15 sec period X 4 = 140

4th stop: 35 beats in a 15 sec period X 4 = 140
80% of my max (177) is 141 so the second leg was right on target. I paid attention to how I felt as I walked so that i culd mimic it next time. It was kind of a rolling gait that seemed to work well.

At the end of the walk I immediately measured my heart rate, at 2 minutes after stopping and at 5 minutes after stopping. The reults are below:

Immediate: 36 (beats in a 15 sec time period) X 4= 144 {A little fast there at the end but not bad}
At the 2 minute mark: 34 (beats in a 15 sec time period) X 4= 136 {Not sure where I should be on this yet}

At the 5 minute mark: 28 (beats in a 15 sec time period) X 4= 112 {Not sure where I should be on this yet}

Oh and I am walking appx 2.30 miles each evening in about a 1 hour time period.

I did 3 sets of 20 Wall Pushups tonight and now I am heading for the hills… erm, the bed :p