I really dislike HTML editors....

Decided to change my weight loss tracker. Now, I will admit, I am on a learning curve re HTML. My first attempt was to try and shrink it. Hmmmm ... like my waist measurements, no change.
Then I decided that a set of scales instead of a fish might be different.
Removed page element. Changed pointer to set of scales. Cut and pasted. Hello, I now had a yellow ruler with a set of scales! So where had my beach scene gone and the damn thing still hadn't shrunk!
Okay, patience is a virtue and let's try that again and again and again. At this point, virtue be damned, patience went out the window, the air was turning a mild blue and my tracker went back to it's original state, this time with the addition of a BMI tracker, which had originally refused to appear.
Sometimes, as I often tell J, it's best to just not fiddle with things.


I've been rather amused by the blogger names that 40 Something Crises family have chosen for themselves. I asked J, if there was a blogger nickname that he would like to be known by. His 'I dunno' might have had something to do with the fact that he was taking a bath at the time. Oh well, I'll let him ruminate on it or I'll come up with something myself.


This week has been a little bit of a challenge re staying on track. Not sure why. Just been a bit blah. Exercising has been going well, though. Hopefully that will be the saving grace when it comes to the weigh in.

Cheers. :-)

Scale joke.....

My philosophy, these days, re weight loss and life in general, is to approach it with humour. I found this on a newsgroup I belong to. Rather tickled my funny bone :-)

************
Ed was in a lot of trouble.

He had forgotten his wedding anniversary and his wife was extremely angry. She told him "Tomorrow morning I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in less that 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!!"

The next morning, Ed got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box, gift-wrapped, in the middle of the driveway. Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway and brought the box back into the house.

She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Ed has been missing since Friday. Please pray for him.
************

Cheers :-)

Memo to myself ...

Don't eat food with a high sodium content, the night before a weekly weigh in. You will retain water!!!

Had about half a cup of broccoli from a Chinese meal and a homemade taco. Didn't think it would have any effect. I looked to be well on track as my scales had shown a 2.5 lb weight loss that morning. However, the next morning I couldn't get my rings off my fingers and the scales at Weight Watchers only recorded a .4 of a lb loss. Wouldn't you know it, by that evening I was back down to what I was the day before.:-) I take comfort, though, in the fact that the scales are still going the right way!

Shoes......

It's taken me awhile, but I finally gave into J and bought some decent running shoes.

A large percentage of my ancestry is Scottish and my shopping for shoes reflects this. With the amount of walking I do, my shoes do not last long, so I tend to look for *bargains* when I shop. Those US$15 joggers did the job, as far as I and my Scottish ancestors, were concerned!! Also, isn't it perfectly normal for your feet, ankles, knees, hips and everything else, to hurt after a 5 mile walk???

Last Saturday, while out shopping, J gently nudged me towards one of our local sports stores and even offered, without complaining, to sit out front with the shopping, while I went in to look.

I will admit, my face blanched a bit at some of the prices. However, I took a deep breath, put the lid firmly on the ancestors and allowed the associate (that's what they call shop assistants, these days) to fit me with a pair of runners. I hadn't realised that there was so much to consider in getting the correct shoes. What type of arches did I have? When I walked did my feet point inwards or outwards? What way did my feet roll? And so on and so on.

Eventually, surrounded by what seemed an acre of shoes, I found a pair that felt right .... including the price. Not feeling too much grave spinning from the ancestors, I went ahead and purchased them. J was surprisingly cheerful, despite being left babysitting the shopping for a good 40 minutes or so.

The upshot of all this, is that J was right all along and I should have listened to him ages ago!! My new shoes have made a huge difference to my comfort level, when out walking. I still get a little discomfort in my legs, but it's what I'd expect, considering the distances I walk. The discomfort also goes away very quickly. I'm not still aching the next day, which tended to limit my enthusiasm, and the amount of effort, for exercising.

So, gag your ancestors, save your pennies, adopt a stiff upper lip and get a decent pair of shoes for walking/running in. I thoroughly recommend it!! :-)

Cheers

And our other baby :-)

Meesha was feeling a little left out, after seeing the photo of Sparky. They share the same mother, however are from different litters. While we know who Sparky's dad was, we are not so sure about Meesha's. Mum got out one night, so it could have been any of the numerous dogs in the neighbourhood.

Good weight loss last weigh in, 3.6 lbs. Leaves me just .8 short of my first mini goal, a 10 lb weight loss !!

Cheers.

Pooped out puppy.....

It's not just me that gets tired on these walks!!!!

Cheers

Rediscovering your lost middle

Pregnancy, weight, middle age and menopause have all wrecked havoc on my middle section. Now I know I'm never going to sport a six-pack in that area, however, I'd like to at least see a little definition!!!

I'm eating right, the fat is beginning to melt away, so I guess the final ingredient is exercise. I've never really been a fan of sit ups or traditional crunches. I never seem to be able to get myself in the right position and usually end up hurting my neck or back, depending on which one I'm doing.

These fighting the flab exercises, from the Today Show, look as though they could be the answer. I like the idea of reverse crunches, they look easier to do correctly and certainly would not put any strain on your neck or back. The 'plank' and the 'twist' also look relatively easy to do.

As with any type of exercise, it's best to start off slowly and add repetitions as you get stronger. You want to feel some muscle fatigue/burn, but not that much that you make yourself that sore that you're put off. Drink some water beforehand and remember not to hold your breath while you're doing the crunches or other exercises.

Cheers

Sighhhhhh....

I'm currently having some issues with blogger. Not sure whether it's the weight loss ticker or the counter that I just put on. Or if it's blogger that is screwed up. Have to go a roundabout way to log in and post. Not to mention trying to figure out how other bloggers embed links in their posts. This is definitly a learning curve for me. :-)

Anyway, on to better things. Lost 1.2 pounds at my Saturday weigh in. Seems that my body has now decided that it's not in starvation mode, thanks to my bout with the flu, and has decided to start co-operating with the plan. My sense of smell has come back and everything has stopped tasting like cardboard. Still tire easily and haven't completely regained my appetite, but it's better than it was.

At my present weight, I'm supposed to be eating 28 points worth of food a day. By the end of the day, I've had about 7 - 10 points left over. Not worrying too much about that at the moment, as I've been making sure I've been eating healthy food ... plenty of fruits, veges, etc. Right now, I'm not going to force myself to eat, just so that I'll get the last of those food points used.

I'm also working on my exercise regime. The main obstacle in my way at the moment, is the fatigue left over from the flu. It's getting better though. Being slightly stubborn and also a bit impatient to get the show on the road and see results, I've over done it a couple of times. J is home on holiday at the moment, so we are taking T and the dogs to Virginia lake today. It's a mile to just over a mile around the lake, depending on what path you take, so I'll see how I go with a couple of circuits.

There was also an interesting segment on The Today Show, yesterday, on 7 ways to boost your metabolism . They talk about interval training, which I had heard about before. That's where you alternate jogging slowly then sprinting. Not really up to the jogging or sprinting thing as yet, but I wonder if alternating the speed you walk, would also have the same effect?

UPDATE.

Finally figured out how to embed a link in a post! Now, if I could only figure out the logging into blogger problem. Currently, I'm having to sign on through the dashboard, instead of from my blog page itself. Same goes for posting or any other change I want to make. Frustrating!

Cheers.

Sunday's brunch

First, a bit on the direction that my blog is currently taking. I've been a Weight Watcher's member, on and off, for many years. I think that the first meeting I ever went to, was back home in New Zealand in the late 70's. In between the WW attempts, I tried other diets . The Cabbage Diet, The Grapefruit Diet, The Nutritionist's Diet At My Local Hospital, Etc, Etc, Etc. They'd work for a little while, but then the weight would come back, along with a little bit more. It has taken me a long time to really get why this was happening, which is something I will go into in another post.

About 2 years ago, I rejoined Weight Watchers. here in Reno, NV. I lost 50 lbs. Unfortunately life got the best of me again and I gained about 40 lb of that back. Now I'm back at Weight Watchers, back on track and intent on succeeding this time. This blog is my way of chronicling this journey and also a tool to help keep me on track. I'm sure that there will be stumbles along the way, but intend to pick myself up, dust myself off and keep going. I WILL make it this time. :-) I invite you to come along with me on this journey. Feel free to leave a comment.


On to Sunday's brunch.

At least once a week, usually on Sunday, I treat myself to a home cooked Sunday brunch. One of my favourite sites to visit, is 'eggbaconchipsandbeans'. A link to this can be found in the blogs list on the left hand side of my blog. So this Sunday I decided to do my, WW friendly, version of beans, eggs, chips, bacon and toast. This is a meal, eaten any time of the day, that you can find in countries such as England, NZ, Australia, etc.

Two pieces of bacon, one egg, 3 oz cold cooked potato cut into chunky chips, 2 tsps olive oil, 1/2 cup of beans in tomato sauce, 1 tbsp butter & canola spread and two slices of lite wholewheat bread, came to 10 points. Sounds a lot, but this was a combined breakfast and lunch. You can lighten the points value by using 1/3 less fat bacon or turkey bacon, eggbeaters and cutting out the bread or potatoes. BTW, the potato chips are not served cold. Use the 2 tsps of olive oil to fry them.

Very tasty and just as I remembered :-)

Beans in tomato sauce or baked beans, as we call them in NZ, are different than the US version of baked beans. They're beans in a tomato sauce. Occasionally I've been able to find the Watties brand, which I bought back in NZ, in one of the International stores here. However, I can usually find the Heinz brand, which is a British brand.


World Market, here in Reno, carries a selection of the Heinz range. They are a little expensive, the can of beans is US$1.79. However 1/2 a cup is only 1 point and they don't contain that nasty high fructose corn syrup, which many US packaged foods are sweetened with.


The Heinz brand does contain glucose syrup. However glucose syrup is not as sweet as HFCS, and does not have the adverse effects that HFCS does. Both Heinz and Watties also have spaghetti in tomato sauce, which in IMO is a lot nicer than the US brands like Chef Boyardee, etc. Again they're not as sweet, don't contain as much additives, are lower in calorie and don't contain the dreaded HFCS ! If you can find either brand, try them, you might be pleasantly surprised. :-)