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 about 2 weeks since I have actually posted.  Yeah, not sure what’s up with that. :)  I have been working to avoid sweets.  It has been a bit of a struggle, resisting temptation and all.  On Thursday January 31st someone here had a birthday.  Yes, there was birthday cake.  I politely declined and was informed that I *had* to have some.  She put it on my desk and walked away.  There was some fruit on the cake so I ate that, intending to toss the rest.  The I made a decision to actually eat the cake.  As an experiment I told myself. :p   It wasn’t a really heavy cake; just white cake with a whipped frosting.  It tasted pretty good…  I think it was home-made by someone else in the office.  Needless to say, I enjoyed every bite.

That is until about 30 minutes later.  All of a sudden, I had this awful taste in my mouth and I began to feel nauseous.  By the time I headed home, I was feeling bloated, sick and just awful.  All from one small piece of cake.  I would say I am done with sweets!  This experimen teither went horribly wrong or horribly right. 

In the ensuing days, I have been offered cake, candy, chocolate and ice cream and have happily declined all.  When I think about eating any of that stuff my body shudders and a huge NO!!!  appears in my minds eye.  Interesting, I still have sugar in my coffee with no problem but all other incidences of sugar or sugar products are a huge no.

I have also learned that if I forget or don’t take something with me to eat, i get snack cravings.  I have not mastered the temptation of salty, cheesy, crunchy goodness.  I have upon occasion raided the vending machines when I haven’t brought some sort of food.  These days I am mostly bringing carrotts or apples or yougurt with fruit (that would be the plain yogurt) The other thing I am doing is still making salad in a bottle. It tastes fairly green but adding lemon juice or some fruit help make it more palatable. 

I have also found that my cravings are ruled by my emotions (yeah I know most people’s are) and how my day is going.  Now that i know this, what to do about it…  Apparently I am a victim of comfort food :p 

 I am trying to make better dinner decisions and when I give in to something that is really not good for me, my body tells me.  I am coming to understand that my body seems to be controlling my diet much more than my mouth and tasts buds.  I had Taco Bell the other night and felt bloated and ill most of the night.  Guess what food I am no longer eating. 

My husband bought me a Valentines treat; a bear that says I love you (very cute- what illusion is he suffering under) and a small box of chocolates.  I said thank you for the bear but offered him the candy.  He said 1 or 2 pieces aren’t going to hurt anything.  I responded “yeah, if I want to be ill”  (Has he NOT been listening to me?!)  I put the bear on my desk at home and gave the candy away at work. 

We went out for a Valentines day dinner and I had broiled icelandic cod (yummmmmy) and baked potatoe ok I had butter and sour cream :p However I didn’t finish the potatoe.  i have been eating ONLY until I am full.  I have found if I push the envelope there, that i feel yucky for hours.  As i said my body seems to be much more in control of what I eat. 

Onward Ho!!!!

Oh and I am back to walking.  Ted and I went walking on Wednesday night.  My end of the walk numbers are as follows:

Here are my end of the walk numbers:

Immediate:28X4= 112

2min: 24X4= 96

5 min: 24X4 = 96

Thursday nights end of the walk numbers were a little weird.  They are as follows:

Here are my end of the walk numbers:

Immediate:24X4= 96

2min: 25X4= 100

5 min: 21X4 = 84

All for now

 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*

Not a lot to talk about today. :)  Tuesday is the day i go to photography class so I needed something I could truly eat on the go!  Had my usual coffee first thing this morning. Somewhere later in the morning, I had a cup of hot tea.  I haven’t had that for months. It hit the spot too :)  I was so busy today, i flat out forgot to eat.  Silly me!

I had my beet soup concotion from a few days ago.  I have a 20 oz bottle that I put it in and I literally drank my dinner.  Yummmm.  I had most of it before class. The rest I had after, on the way home.  I intended to have some salad befor bed but here I am and I am flat too tired to bother.  I know I need to do push ups but am gonna skip em tonight- we’ll get there tomorrow. 

Ron fixed fish and chips for dinner here at the house, so thats what I missed out on :)  Anyway- I am off to slumberland

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

I have been given more extensive information regarding why I am being asked to keep track of the heart rate. I found this all very interesting. below is an email I received regarding Exercising and heart rate.

Some Physiology behind Exercise and keeping track of the heart rate

The more exercise you can do at the highest HR possible, the more fat you will burn. Not so much during the exercise

but because for some reason the metabolic rate of the body stays elevated long after you quit exercising.
That said, I don’t want you (yet) going all out and doing max HR workouts for long times.

It is great you feel comfortable going higher and higher.

But your body might not be quite ready just yet.

So i want you to do around 80% for 2 weeks in as many walks as possible

If you can double the distance then test yourself at this level. Here is what you do…

Take the HR a couple of times during the brisk walk and see if you are on target. At the end of the walk immediately you stop, test HR again (number of beats /min). After 2 minutes test HR again.

After 5 minutes test HR again.

Write these numbers down every time you go for a walk.

You should find that over time, the 2 minute and 5 minute numbers will decrease as your fitness levels and heart fitness get better.

Once we see a decrease of say 5 bpm in those two numbers, THEN up the HR during the workout. Say by 10 or 15.

Note the numbers again. As the resting HR numbers go down, we up the exercise again rate again…

See the point?

You are safely upping the rate of work in line with your hearts capabilities to recover…

Now for the strength training.

Do the squats twice a week. 3 sets of 15 should be a good start. if they get too easy lift it to 4 sets. Remember good form and to take a deep breath

before you start the squat and tighten all your tummy muscles. HOLD your breath as you go down and bounce off the bottom of the squat. About halfway up and as you get to the top “whoosh ” the air out as fast as you can. Rinse and repeat.

Do the plank 2 times a week until your muscles don’t hurt very much. Then do it 3 times a week, for longer and longer.

Remember this is progressive. As your muscles get used to the work, and stronger, you have to work them harder and harder. But please be patient with yourself. Rmember the muscles actually get stronger and rebuild during the resting period. This is why trades like bricklayer and carpenter get injuries and wear and tear. they are physical all day, but because it is 5 days a week, they don’t have enough recovery time.

Do the wall pushups daily though. Once they are way easy, progress to the bench LOL.

and throttle back to 3 times a week until they get easy

For pushups build up to 3 sets of 10.

Then go onto the floor.

Eat your veggies and fresh fruit.

That’s all for this post. I will add a seperate post for my day Thanks for the great infor Rick

The mixture I had from last night thickened up but tasted pretty darn good. My son said last night it tasted of freshly mowed grass. LOL I woke up to some sore muscles. Legs: thighs. back of the legs and buttocks. (I know that is a result of the squats) The Wall Pushup have the chest sore and of course the Plank has the abdominals sore. In addition to that the lower bacl muscles are sore. I think that is because my basic core strength is so weak.

For dinner tonight we went to Jack’s (Cafe Bixby and Pizza) I consideredwhat I should eat for a very long time. I bounced back and forth between baked chicken, a charbroiled chicken breast (boneless and skinless) and fried chicken. In the end the fried chicken won out.
My son said “Mom, take of the skin and that chicken will be ok”
I answered, “I’ll take it off all right”
My husband returned, “It’s like having dinner with Jenny Craig”
My son said, “That’s right if she want’s to lose weight”

He has his heart in the right place.

With the fried chicken, instead of the baked potato with butter and sour cream, I opted for Cole Slaw and veggies, so not great, but not as bad as I would usually do. A little back slide this evening. I haven’t had fried chicken in months and the temptation was too much. *sighs*

We came home and I hopped on the computer for a bit. We went walking around 11:00pm and it was chilly! Yeah, I am a weather wimp so I bundled up and off we went. My heart rate at the end of the walk was 39 beats in 15 secs) x4= 156. Quite a nice raise from my last walk which was 132. Since I got home, I have had some sunflower seeds and some water.

I got a new form to keep track of my walking and such… today, so I will be keeping track of heart rate. I will need to maintain at about 80% of my Max Heart Rate so tonights walk was a little faxt. I should be maintaining at about 141 and Rick advises to walk farther- perhaps doubling my walk.