Week 51 & 52

Soo....  I WROTE a blog for week 51, but never actually published it.  I'll just post it here, and then get on with the final post.

Week 51:

PJ Weight : 161.4
Week Gain +1.2
Cumulative Loss -30.2


Seth Weight: 181.4
Week Gain:  +2.8
Cumulative Loss:  -17.9

So.  Another stellar week.

*Shrug*

I did experiment with quinoa this week, which was tasty.  Seth wasn't really a fan of the black bean and quinoa mix we went with, so we'll try a different recipe next time, but we've found a new and interesting side dish.

Also, we found the world's best diet food.  Weight Watchers blueberry muffins.  One taste of these and you won't want food again for at least an hour.  The overpowering medicine-like fake-blueberry taste will linger on your tongue despite the ingestion of any liquid or solid ingested with the purpose of dislodging it.

I considered cutting out my own tongue to get rid of it.  It was that good.  Imagine how much weight I'd probably have lost if I cut out my taste buds.  Right?

Diet superfood.

(For the slow kids: DO NOT BUY WEIGHT WATCHERS BLUEBERRY MUFFINS.)

The truly disappointing thing is that their blueberry muffins used to be a little bigger and vastly better.  They evidently found the need to reduce the Point value of the muffins, and at the same time make them wholly inedible.

I shudder just thinking about them.

In any event, this is the second to last blog.  At this point, I'm pretty much done, though as ever, I'm frustrated with how quickly weight piles back on even when I'm not being BAD.  It's not like I've gone out and had cookies and ice cream every day for the past 3 weeks, yet I've brought home 5 of my lost pounds.

______________________
And now:
______________________

Week 52: The Final Blog

PJ Weight:  161.6
Week Gain:  +0.2
Final Cumulative Loss: 30.0


Seth Weight 181.4
Week Loss: 0.0
Cumulative Loss: 17.9

And so the blog experiment ends.

I'm kind of relieved.  A year is a long time to stay focused, and we really lost our focus over the last quarter. It's sort of fun to blog when you're on track and feeling motivated.  It's a lot harder when you're sick of the word 'diet' and all you want in the world is a bucket full of cannolis.

In any case, I not going to post any final before-and-after photos since the ones I posted way back whenever it was (January? maybe?) are likely better than any result I'd take now.  I'm plus a handful of pounds since then, and I'm not feeling motivated to find the camera.  You'll have to content yourself with this pretty graph:

(click to embiggen)

It's an interesting graph, and I'm kind of proud of it as it shows that we lost a whole bunch of weight.  So, yay.  It also shows that Seth regained about 10 pounds from his lightest, while I regained 5 from mine.  Even so, not so bad, really.  I'm proud of us.

Thus concludes the experiment.  I hope you've found our struggles interesting, entertaining, or better, both.  I may log back on at some point in the future and try another blog experiment.  Perhaps one day we'll try another exercise program, or something to that effect.  Until then, though, I'm officially done with diet blogging.

Where'd I put that bucket of cannolis?

(Just kidding.  Sort of.)

Week 50

PJ Weight:  160.6
Week Gain: +2.0
Cumulative Loss: 31.0

Seth Weight: 178.6
Week Loss: 0
Cumulative Loss: -20.7

Aargh.

Not a happy scale week for me, but good for Seth in that he managed not to gain anything.

Some people would become more motivated as the end of their proclaimed year of dieting drew nearer.  I am evidently not one of them.

In happy but unrelated news, I just created a sewing nook in the corner of my bedroom where the dog bed used to be.  Sorry dogs, but it's not like you used it anyway.  You guys just spend all night sleeping on my torso.  This just formalizes the arrangement.

And as for new & interesting food-related things:  I picked up a southwestern-style quinoa and black bean mix to try, and some tofu-filled ravioli.  So I'm still experimenting with healthier choices, and still trying.  I'm just not quite as passionate about it as I was 50 weeks ago.

But heck, I weigh a lot less now and I have no designs on supermodeldom.  (Is that a word?  It is now.) Why should I be very passionate about losing more?  :-)


PS - As a follow up from last week, our new twin cousins are Leo (Lionel) and Nico.  I just can't wait for the Thanksgiving gathering chaos!  I'll have tiny babies to cuddle!!  Yay!!

Week 49

PJ Weight: 158.6
Week Gain: +1.2
Cumulative Loss: 33.0

Seth Weight: 178.6
Week Gain: +0.4
Cumulative Loss: -20.7

So, there's that gain that I was expecting last week.

Yep.

Rather than write about the depressing numbers up there, I'll just chalk it up to the remaining girl scout cookies and a rather large portion of indifference.

Things that I'm definitely NOT indifferent about: Our cousins are expecting a set of twins* tomorrow afternoon (via c section - hence the specific arrival time) and we're super excited about it.  Jade and Raven will have some playmates at the Thanksgiving get-together, and two of the most amazing people I've ever been fortunate enough to meet will be parents two times over.  (Whether or not you're reading this, good luck guys!!)

At least SOMEONE will be losing weight this week!

And, on that happy note, I'll see you next week.


* An interesting factoid about my growing extended family:  While twins do not run in my or Seth's direct lineage, all of our cousins who have had kids have had twins.  That's 4 sets now.  My first cousins on both my mom's side and my dad's side, and then Seth's first cousins on his Mom's side, and now his ... kind of obscure-relationship'd cousin [mother's first cousin's daughter... Wikipedia failed me... we're going with "cousin"] also on his Mom's side.
(And we're also excited for Seth's cousin on his dad's side, even though she'll be breaking our cousin-twin-streak in a few months!)

Week 48

PJ Weight: 157.4
Week Loss: -1.0
Cumulative Loss: -34.2

Seth Weight:  178.2
Week Gain:  +2.4
Cumulative Loss:  -21.1

I managed to pull off a loss this week, which amazes me.  I had not been very diet-minded since we got our Girl Scout Cookies.  Those things are a plague and a curse.

A tasty, tasty curse.

So, given my long-standing policy of "An Open Box is an Empty Box", I'm surprised I managed to lose.  But in my defense, I only ate one* and shared the rest of them.

And while I'm talking about food that falls into the not-so-good-for-you category, I offer you this picture of my brunch from the other day:

Pancakes are yummy, but are not generally diet food.  Oh well.  At least they were entertaining.

'Til next week then.  (4 to go!)


*box.

Week 47

PJ Weight: 158.4
Week Loss: -0.4
Cumulative Loss: -33.2

Seth Weight:  175.8
Week -0.4
Cumulative Loss: -23.5

I weighed myself yesterday morning and was 157.0.  This morning for the official weigh in, I'm up a pound and a half.

My scale is laughing at me.  

Even so, I lost something this week, so I'll take it.

I managed to make several good choices this week, like eating some apples for a snack instead of donuts, and eating some strawberries or some yogurt for breakfast instead of donuts, and pretty much trying NOT to eat donuts.  I think I had one this week.  Possibly two.  Either way, that's not a bad number.

I cooked my first ever lasagna on Friday night, which came out pretty well, had some homemade gelato that a friend made on Sunday, and I had two nights where there was pizza for dinner, so the fact that I was down a pound and a half yesterday (and half a pound today - STUPID SCALE) should tell you just how good I was the rest of the time.

With any luck the scale will better reflect my efforts next week.

Until next time!

Week 46: Drat! Missed one!

PJ Weight:  158.8
2-week Gain:  +2.4
Cumulative Loss:  -32.8

Seth Weight:  176.2
2-week Loss:  -2.6
Cumulative Loss:  -23.1

So last week was the first week I missed in this 52-week experiment.  At least I have a good excuse.  I was flat on my back for the better part of last week with what the doctors say is benign positional vertigo.  I just call it bloody annoying dizziness.  I was immobilized and therefore getting absolutely no exercise.  I was also bored out of my mind, and couldn't have cared less what I was eating.  Therefore the gain, while not welcome, was not unexpected either.

Seth lost weight over the past two weeks, so Team Mintz actually is down a net 0.2 pounds.  Go us?  Yeah.  Go us!

I have no qualms whatsoever about basking in the glow of Seth's success if it means I can more or less ignore my less than stellar performance this week.  Go Team Go!

While I did have a significant gain, I've been making some healthier choices.  I've been drinking more water - more a product of just being really thirsty than a real desire to avoid soda, but it's a healthier choice nonetheless.  I've also been cutting back on the sweets the past several days.  I had let go while I was sick, but I've reined in again.

Hopefully I will see that gain reverse itself over the next couple weeks.  I'd like to end this whole experience on a happy note.

That's it for me for now.  Have a good week!

Week 44

PJ Weight: 156.4
Week Loss: -1.0
Cumulative Loss: -35.2

Seth Weight: 178.8
Week Gain: +4.0
Cumulative Loss: 20.5

Poor Seth.  He had a week where the only thing to ask is "WTF, Scale?"  He's committed himself to starting anew and really trying to watch himself this coming week, since he was way off the wagon this week past.  And I'm here to cheer him on.  You can do it!  I have faith in you!

I had a decent week despite a cooking a huge pasta and meat sauce dinner on Sunday night to celebrate the Game of Thrones premiere.  I also consumed a whole lot of garlic bread.  So... I'm kind of surprised I pulled out a loss this week.  I'll take it, though!

I also did 10 squats today.  Therefore, I get a gold star for doing something, even if it's only 10 squats.

Oh - and I get another gold star for not eating the piles of cake and hamburgers and hot dogs at the free BBQ buffet at work today.  I just had a half hamburger, and the rest was all veggies, grilled chicken, beans (just a few) and watermelon.  Yay!

Every time I get to a weight around 156.x, I start to think "Hey, maybe this is the week where I'll finally crack into the 155.x's....."

And maybe it is.  If I don't get ambushed by too many chocolate bunnies*.

*Vicious creatures, bunnies.  I'm not alone on this one.  
"Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer!"  -- Tim, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Week 43

PJ Weight:  157.4
Week Gain:  +0.6
Cumulative Loss:  -34.2

Seth Weight:
Week Gain: +0.2
Cumulative Loss: -24.5

9 weekly weigh-ins and blogs remain in my one-year diet experiment.

I haven't lost a pound in a couple months now, and really, I'm OK with that.

Would I *like* to lose a few more pounds?  Yeah, sure I would, if I could wish away the pounds rather than work them off.  But truth be told, I'm pretty much content at this weight.  I'm not skinny, but I'm not fat anymore.  I've got a little padding remaining, and I'm pretty much OK with that, too.

Losing more weight would mean I'd have to MAINTAIN the lower weight.  Which means either more exercise or less food - forever.  And I know from experience that maintaining a lower weight than this becomes *extremely* difficult and demanding for me.

I just don't want my weight to be that high-maintenance.

That's probably why my efforts over the last few months have slacked - I'm just not as motivated to lose weight, because I'm feeling good about my weight and content with my body.

So I'll do what I've been doing, and keep trying, but at this point I fear that my heart's just not going to be in it.  It's been several months since I've really felt 'fat', which is the biggest motivator for me.

I have to say, though, feeling content and comfortable is pretty nice.

Week 42

PJ Weight: 156.8
Week Gain:  +0.6
Cumulative Loss: -34.8

Seth Weight:  174.2
Week Gain: +1.2
Cumulative Loss: -24.7

Since I'm using my evenings to get an extra work project done, I don't have the time for a normal blog entry.  Instead, I'll just leave you with this tidbit I picked up somewhere.  It tickled me pink.

Week 41

PJ Weight:  156.2
Week Loss: -1.2
Cumulative Loss: -35.4

Seth Weight: 173.0
Week Loss:   -0.2
Cumulative Loss:  -25.9

The past few days have been so warm and lovely.  It's really starting to feel like the home stretch of this year-long diet.  With 70 degree days, May 31st (our end date) is surely right around the corner.

On Tuesday morning I saw the lowest number I've seen on a scale in years: 156.0.  Seeing a number that's lower than anything I've seen for so long is very encouraging.  It makes me think that perhaps I might even be able to lose another couple of pounds before my year wraps up.  I hope so.

We never did get back on an exercise routine.  Now that it's warming up outside, I'd really like to take the dogs for walks in the mornings.  Unfortunately that's not an activity that Seth & I can do together, since the girls will still be asleep, and even if they were up it's quite a production getting the whole family out for a walk what with the stroller and the leashes, and keeping Jade in hand.  We'll see if that happens.

In any event, while I wish the 156.0 was the number I saw this morning "officially", 156.2 is tied for my lowest official weigh in so I'll take it.  Here's hoping next week is even lower.

Week 40

PJ Weight:  157.4
Week Gain: +0.4
Cumulative Loss:  -34.2

Seth Weight:  173.2
Week Gain:  0.8
Cumulative Loss:  -25.7

Well, this is another week where my Wednesday weigh in becomes a Thursday blog.  Evenings with the kids are so chaotic that I often forget what day it is.  Whoops.

The numbers tell us that it was another less-than-stellar week for Team Mintz.  Again, I'm surprised that the gain wasn't a bigger number given the fact that neither Seth nor I was all that interested in being careful about our food intake.

I feel motivated to do better this week, and have been doing so, since we have a sort of physical exam coming up on Sunday to qualify us for life insurance.  I'd like to have a decent weigh in when they put me on the scale.  Granted, they'll be using their scale, and I'll be wearing clothes, so I'm going to be penalized no matter what.  Plus, in order to be officially out of the "overweight" class I'd have to weigh in at less than 155, which isn't going to happen, but I'm motivated to have the best possible number on the scale come Sunday, anyway.

We'll see what our numbers are.  Chances are good that we'll be smacked with premium penalties because we're heavier than we should be, but at least we don't weigh anywhere near what we used to!

Week 39

PJ Weight: 157.0
Week Gain: +0.6
Cumulative Loss: -34.6

Seth Weight:  172.4
Week Loss: -1.8
Cumulative Loss: -26.5

To my gain and Seth's loss this week I say "Not Bad!"

Honestly I'm surprised my gain wasn't more, so I will take this and be delighted.

I had a bit of a phuggidall week.  We've all had them, and this was one for me.

Example: What are we having for dinner?  Chinese?  I'll have the eggroll, the beef with mushrooms and sauce, the wonton soup please, and, oh-yeah-by-the-way, I'm picking up some flying saucers from Carvel while I'm out to pick up the food.

See? Phuggidall.

I could blame a variety of factors individually or in combination, but I won't bother.  This week is done, and it was tasty, and I'll just buckle down and try to do better during the coming week.  One day at a time, one week at a time, one donut at a time.

Wait. One of those things, it was not like the others, eh?

Whatever. Phuggidall.

Week 38

PJ Weight: 156.4
Week Gain: +0.2
Cumulative Loss: -35.2

Seth Weight: 174.4
Week Gain: +2.8
Cumulative Loss: 24.7

The plateau continues.

Seth noted to me in desolate tones after this morning's weigh in  "I hate how hard it is to lose anything, and how easily it comes back!"

I couldn't agree more.

We remain frustrated.  We haven't started our new Monday-Wednesday-Friday exercise routine yet, but we've decided to just start next Monday.  I'd have a hard time trying to do anything requiring floor work or weights anyway, since I injured my wrist/thumb lifting babies.  I've been wearing a wrist brace for the past week and a half, so anything that puts stress on that area is out.

I do remember from the last time I lost weight that my body seems to consider 155 its ideal weight.  I get close to this weight, and I fight for every ounce.  To get below that threshhold, I practically need to starve myself and exercise constantly, and honestly, I'm not sure I'm really willing to do that.

That's not to say I'm giving up.  I'm not.  I just accept that it's going to be a struggle to lose anything from here, which I sort of knew already.

On the bright side, Seth's lost around 25 pounds.  I've lost around 35.  We're both in vastly better shape than we were at the start of the diet, so even if we don't lose another ounce for the next three months and change we've been successful.

As a career pessimist it's against my nature to look at bright sides (the glass is half full and what's left is probably poisoned, anyway), so I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to applaud my positive attitude.

Until next week, then, I'll be basking in your presumed adulation.
That, and trying to lose that damned pound a half.

Week 37

PJ Weight:  156.2
Week Loss: -1.2
Cumulative Loss:  -35.4

Seth Weight:  171.6
Week Loss: -2.0
Cumulative Loss:  -27.5

Weigh in and blog day was actually yesterday.  We remembered to weigh in, but I forgot to blog.  Instead, I watched a movie after the girls went to sleep. Shame on me.  (If you're interested, I watched "Charade", starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn and Walter Matthau.  It was a fun movie if you like classic movies - though I have problems believing Audrey Hepburn's character could repeatedly outrun Cary Grant's character while she was wearing heels... but I digress.)

This was a pretty good week for us, by the numbers.  We did have some days where we weren't as careful with our diet as we should have been, but I suppose the good days were more numerous than the bad.  Hooray.  I still have hopes & ambitions of making it to 155 soon.

We're smack in the middle of our week off of exercise, and doing nothing has been everything I dreamed it could be.  There's people who would say "doesn't your body CRAVE exercise now that you've been doing it for a while and all of a sudden stopped"?  To those people: I now give you a look filled with both profound skepticism and a healthy dose of pity.

}:-|

(Emoticons only go so far.  Use your imagination.)

We're both enjoying sleeping until a reasonable hour and not putting ourselves through what (for us) amounts to a little slice of hell every morning.  The little slices of hell will start up again next week.  It might be Wednesday that we start, since Wednesday's weigh in day, and Monday's a holiday and ... well ...who wants to ruin a holiday exercising?

As for what we'll do: We still have the P90X program on loan.  Perhaps we'll do some of those videos, though I'm not planning to do them in the sequence they recommend, nor am I planning to do them 6 days a week.  I'm also not necessarily planning to do any of them the whole way through, given their length.  I figure we'll do what we can get through in a half hour, do some cool-down exercises and stretches, and call it a day.

For the time being, I'm just going to enjoy sleeping in for the rest of the week.

Week 36

PJ Weight: 157.4
Week Gain: +0.6
Cumulative Loss: -34.2

Seth Weight:  173.6
Week Gain: +3.6
Cumulative Loss: -25.5

Well this was a sad weigh in for Team Mintz.  Seth was up a pound over last week as of yesterday morning.  This morning the scale decided to be a hateful little appliance, hitting him with a three and a half pound gain.  I'm convinced that it's water, since he ate a bunch of very spicy Indian food the night before. While I have no idea if that makes you retain water, nobody really gains 2.6 pounds in a day.  So, hopefully a lot of that comes off for next week's weigh in.

Seth gets extra credit for doing a great job with this morning's workout, though.  His channeled all his anger at the spiteful scale into working extra hard.  *Applause*

For my part, I ate his leftover Indian food for dinner this evening. :-/  (It was only 3 small lamb chunks and 2 small potato chunks, and about a half cup of rice, so it wasn't TOO diet-hostile.)

I was good for lunch though!  I had a lunch outing with some ladies who used to work with me, and they inspired me to eat healthy instead of going for the Chicken Francese that was calling my name.  I instead had a surprisingly delicious salad with various fruits and some truly fabulous walnuts, and a bowl of escarole & bean soup.  So thanks Reva and BJ (and Maria, though I know she won't read this) for helping to keep me on track!

As for my resolutions from last week: I stuck to them.  I ate less donuts, and less cheerios.  (YAY)  I also made a tray of cupcakes and had a few more than I should have.  (YAY... I mean... BOO)  And there might have been some Chinese takeout with eggrolls and General Tso's Chicken and fried rice.

There also might not have been.  You don't know!  Must you always assume the worst?

*guilty look*

*cough*

Moving on.

So the cupcakes and the alleged Chinese food conspired against me to bring me up another half a pound this week.  I'm irritated about it, but not as much as I was last week.  I feel more in control now than I did, despite the weigh-in number.  For that reason, I'm calling this week an improvement over last week and running with it (or 'walking quickly with it', given my whole no-running philosophy).

Coming up this week: the end of our Power 90 workout routine (Friday - last day!) and the beginning of a week with no exercise.

It's amazing the pure pleasure even typing the words inspires in me.  'A week with no exercise'

Ahhhhh.  One more time.

..a... week... with... NO... exercise...

Wow.  I feel like I just spent an hour on a Caribbean beach with a good book and tropical smoothie.  FROM TYPING THE WORDS.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm rather looking forward to this.

Week 35

PJ Weight: 156.8
Week Gain: +0.6
Cumulative Loss: -34.8

Seth Weight: 170.0
Week Loss: -1.0
Cumulative Loss:  -29.1

The plateau continues...
and continues...

We've both been at about the same weight now for about two months.  Perhaps we've put on some more muscle with the exercising, but the scale is frustrating.

I'm got to admit we've fallen off the diet wagon a lot more often lately, too.  Yesterday there was an Indian buffet lunch (ohgodyummyfood) and on Sunday there was a half of a tray of brownies.  (At least it wasn't a whole tray of brownies. Right?)  I will also say, though, that both of these things were so amazingly welcome and appreciated that I can't even begin to feel guilty about it.  So there.

But I have been more lax with the diet restrictions, and part of it is certainly out of a sense of frustration.  And I can clearly see it's the beginnings of the self-defeating, self-fulfilling prophecy that has been my bane in the past. "I might as well have that [fill in yummy food item here] because it's not like I'm going to lose weight this week anyway."

Noticing that is one thing.  Harder is to actually do something about it.

As to that, my first step toward "doing something" is to blog about it.  So here I am.  Aaaand what's next?

Well.

Erm.

Perhaps setting a goal?  OK.  My goal right now is to get down to averaging 155.  Yes, I'm only 1.8 pounds above that, but since I've been floating between 156 and 158 for a couple months, it's going to take some kind of new and different effort to get there.

Progress! I have a goal.  Now I need a plan to achieve it.

Specific things to try.

1.)  Eat less donuts.
    It's not every morning, but more often than not during the week I've been having a donut for breakfast.  It started with those holiday star donuts, but I loved having them in the mornings, and I was technically fitting them into my calorie intake / weight watchers points, so I haven't cut back on the habit as sharply as I should have once they disappeared.  Perhaps I'll say I can have two days with a donut for breakfast per week.  That doesn't sound impossible.

2.) Stop eating out of the Cheerios container.
   Raven has started on her first real solid foods - Cheerios.  So I feed her one. And me a couple.  And her one. And me a handful.  Continue until both of us are full of cheerios.  I'll try to cut back the unconscious Cheerio grazing.  It's a lot of calories that I'm not really keeping track of when I'm just eating out of the big container.  I'll set myself aside a little bowl if I feel I have to have them.

OK - That's enough of a plan for now I think.  It's a pair of points that I can work on, but nothing too crazy.  I could make all kinds of vows about healthy this, and at least five servings of veggies every day that, but I'm not going to.  At this point I'm so sick of dieting, the thought of trying for the whole gung-ho diet makes me cringe.

So we'll go back to baby steps and see how it goes.  One day at a time, right?

Thanks for sticking with me while I babble at you!

Week 34

PJ Weight:  156.2
Week Loss:  -2.4
Cumulative Loss:  -35.4

Seth Weight:  171.0
Week Loss: +1.2
Cumulative Loss:  -28.1

As of right now, we have 14 workouts and 2 rest days left before completing the 90 day cycle of the Power 90 program.  I could blog this week about how we've become so accustomed to getting up early every day to exercise that our day doesn't feel quite complete without it.  Or, I could blog about all the new routines we're eager to try once our remaining 2.5 weeks are done.

I would, of course, be lying like a starving used car salesman if I were to blog those things.

I'm pretty wiped out at this point.  I've never enjoyed exercise, and that hasn't changed.  I don't mind the Power 90 Phase 1 weight routine, since it's not that long.  The Fat Burning DVD that came as a bonus I similarly don't mind.  It has enough variety and isn't too in-your-face.  I wouldn't go so far as to say I enjoy either of them.  In theory, I like the idea of getting into better shape, but I'm tired.  We're taking at least a week off of exercise after we finish the 90 day program.  Then we'll see what we try.

My coworker (whose workout video collection rivals the library of congress for number of volumes, I swear) lent us the P90x dvd's and booklet to try, since we kind-of-liked Power 90.  After reading the accompanying booklet I'm ... profoundly skeptical.  The booklet has detailed descriptions of the moves contained in each DVD for the whole program.  I have a feeling some of the DVDs, if not most of them, will go back to her untried.

P90X just seems like too much.  All of the workouts are just TOO LONG.  Maybe someone with more free time wouldn't mind dedicating an hour and a half to a yoga workout, but seriously, I don't have that kind of time.  And I am not (REPEAT FOR THE SLOW KIDS: NOT!) going to be getting up at 5am to do an hour and a half workout before work.  This will not happen.  Not ever.

So we'll see whether we try any of the workouts from P90X.  But that's in another couple weeks.

For now I'll just celebrate my loss for the week.  And I'll celebrate going to the doctor for a physical and being applauded for losing weight since last she saw me.  Yay!  And I'll celebrate for Seth too, since he went to the doctor and didn't get yelled at (much).  So Yay for both of us.

And that concludes another week.  Can I have a pie now?

Week 33

PJ Weight: 158.6
Week Gain:  +1.8 (ouch)
Cumulative Loss: -33.0

Seth Weight: 169.8
Week Gain: +0.2
Cumulative Loss: -29.3

Well, my eldest daughter Jade caught some kind of bug this week that sent her temperature through the roof (105+) and I was NOT concentrating at ALL on what, when or how much I was eating.

It shows.

The best I can say is that I'll try to do better in the coming week, assuming Raven doesn't catch the same bug.  (She was showing signs this evening that she might have... which makes me nervous.)

Gold stars to Seth & me for sticking with the workouts though.  Still didn't miss any even with Jade being sick.

In any event, this is another "whoops it's 10pm Wednesday and I still haven't blogged" blog, so I'm going to call it a day and hope that when I wake up in the morning my tiny little girl doesn't still have a fever!

Week 32

PJ Weight:  156.8
Week Loss:  -1.4
Cumulative Loss: -34.8

Seth Weight: 169.6
Week Loss: 0.0
Cumulative Loss: -29.5

After the long entry last week, I don't have a whole lot to say this week by comparison.  And since it's now 10pm and I just remembered "Oh crap, it's Wednesday and I haven't done my entry yet!" this is unlikely to be a long one.

I did want to mention that this week a coworker loaned me Turbo Jam, another Beachbody exercise program  coached by Chalene Johnson.  My coworker is a connoisseur of workout videos and has a vast collection.  When I mentioned we were looking for more variety and liked the P90 bonus DVD, she said she thought we might like to try this one.  Well, Seth & I have tried the "learn the moves" workout, and the shorter of the cardio workouts (20 mins) on the first disc, and have decided we hate this woman with a holy passion.

Where the familiar Tony of P90 is pretty laid back, and his DVD's are pretty subdued, Chalene is like some kind of hyperkinetic meth addict cheerleader doing a cardio routine to a soundtrack that kind of makes me want to die.  Luckily you can play without music (I think...) but still her moves are all dance-ish in nature, which I hate, since I'm completely uncoordinated and unaccustomed to (and relatively (ok, extremely) hostile toward) dance of any kind.  The editing of the 20 minute workout also bothered me, since we couldn't follow the moves easily since they were always cutting between Chalene and one of the 40,000 aerobic automatons backing her up, and the moves were very complicated (for us, as dance/aerobic n00bs) and the moves changed with alarming frequency.

So yeah.  That about sums it up.  We might try to make it through the weight routine that's in the Turbo Jam 2-dvd set just to give it one last chance, but it's a longer one at 45 minutes, and I'm thinking that will be WAAAAY too much Chalene.  More likely I'll be returning this one to my coworker with a "Thanks... but this chick is DEFINITELY not for us".  Maybe she has something a little less psycho-happy-dancing-cheerleader in her collection that she can recommend.  We shall see.

Also - 1.4 pound loss this week!  YAY! :-)

OK. That's it for this week folks.

Week 31: Happy New Year

PJ Weight:  158.2
Week Gain:  +0.4
Cumulative Loss:  -33.4

Seth Weight:  169.6
Week Loss:  -1.0
Cumulative Loss:  -29.5

As it turns out I have a lot to say this week, so I'll break the entry up into sections.

1.) Regarding this week's weigh in

So this past week I gained back my Christmas miracle weight, leaving me precisely where I was before the holidays.  Given the number of dinners and celebrations from the past 2 weeks, I'll take it and be happy with it.

But Seth - Somehow he managed to lose a pound this week and break into the 160's.  Go Seth!  I know that I often complain about the fact that men have an easier time dieting than women do since they get to eat more for their height, and their weight doesn't fluctuate during the month due to wild hormonal imbalances.  Even though it may be somewhat easier for guys, he's working hard.  He's making good food choices and is putting more into his morning workouts than I am of late.  Seth is doing an absolutely fantastic job and I'm proud of him.

2.) Changing up the Workout

Last Friday we tried the bonus DVD that came with the Power 90 workout.  I think it's called Power 90 Fat Burning System.  It's a 35 minute cardio routine that they recorded in Hawaii during 2006, so there's random shots of the ocean here and there, and the wireless mic Tony has leaves much to be desired as far as sound quality goes (this from Seth), but as a workout it's far superior to the cardio in the standard Power 90 package.

Many of the moves are the same as in the standard routines, but the arrangement of them makes all the difference here.  In the standard workout, there's stretching then yoga for about 5 minutes, then low impact for 5, and high impact jumping for 5, then some low/high impact for 5, some kicking for 5 and punching for 5. (Times are very rough guesses.)

The 'Fat Burning'  workout  mashes it up, so that you have 5 minute blocks with a little bit of everything in each block.  So even though I can't jump for any period of time, I can do it for 30 seconds, and then we're on to something else.  My heart rate was higher for longer during this workout, but despite that I felt it was much more doable, as well as more enjoyable.

3.) Why ladies with bunions shouldn't run

And this would be the story behind why Seth is working out so much harder than I have been these past few days.  Sunday we took the girls and dogs out for a walk because it was a nice day.  Sunday's our workout rest day and I had lots of energy.  The dogs wanted to run, so I ran with them for a little while.  Very little.  Perhaps a minute of running total, during the 30 minute walk.  I'd only run for a few seconds at a time now and again when the pups would want to go fast.

For this minute of canine joy I've been treated to shin pain for the past 3 days.  Mr. Internet has all kinds of helpful  things to say about shin pain encountered by beginner runners and what you're doing wrong if you get shin pain.  As far as I can tell, it's because I have bunions, which makes me... under pronate? over pronate?  who the heck knows.  My gait is wrong, and that means I'm not running with proper form, and that leads to shin splints.  I've known i have some kind of pronation problem for years because my heels of my shoes wear *very* unevenly.

All this serves to tell me is that I'm not built for running, which I already knew.  I just hate to have the lesson reinforced in such an uncomfortable manner.  (Yes, yes...  I know there are all kinds of things you can try, or special exercises you can do, or special shoes... bah.  If I need to go fast I'll take a car.)  But in any event, I've had to take it even easier on the jumping  because I need to let the shins heal up, so I've not been going whole hog in the cardio workouts since Sunday.

This too will pass.

4.)  A picture? It's about time!

Another big reason I'm not upset with my weight gain this week relates to this picture.  The before shot (left) was taken October 31st.  The after (right) was taken January 1st.  Now, there's a 5 pound difference on the scale between those two pictures, but it looks to me like a lot more than 5 pounds.  So I'm not all that distraught over a 0.4 pound gain.  I'm packing on muscle.

5.) And while I'm sharing pictures:

The left was taken on May 31st, the night before we started.

The right is January 1st.  

Not much to say - it's worth a thousand words.