sensing a trend????

Ok so last week I got this Body Media Go Wear Fit armband thingy….  WE ARE BORG RESISTANCE is FUTILE… (we yeah with the darn thing on I look rather BORG LIKE…. since it rests on my arm (I’d show you but my PHONE died today and it’s the only camera I have)….

well i set it to make sure I did 7500 steps per day… simple right… NOT on lazy weekend days…  so last night at 8 pm I was not going to make target for calories OR steps without some EFFORT… so I fired up the Wii…   and unwrapped the Wii Fit Plus… OMG I did it for 45 minutes.    the dogs watched me… I liked it.  Now let me point out that I would NOT have gotten on the WII FIT without the Go Wear FIT and that because of both of them I’m getting fit… but of course I get obsessive so my husband is having a fit..

Now I’ve been wearing the GoWear Fit since Friday.   I got my regular day on friday:

I walked over 8,000 steps and burned over 2300 calories and ate under 1600 calories

it alleges 1 hour and 17 minutes of moderate activity (it was a yoga and cardio day so shouldn’t’ it be more?)

I manged just over 6 hours of sleep and had 91% efficiency… that is the coolest thing to me… that it can tell me how efficient my sleep was.

oh and I had over 700 calories deficit  (If I am reporting my calories right)

Saturday was even better as my friend NIK trekked me all over downtown Baltimore… I burned nearly 3000 calories on Saturday and ingested under 1000 I should have a HUGE deficit…  over 2000 and I do

AND i took OVER 16,000 steps and had moderate activity for over 3 hours on Saturday… WOO-HOO right?

I really am enjoying it and I forget the arm bad is on.. the display is a bit much for a watch and I’m thinking of going to a clip on for it instead…

so why is the scale up nearly 4 pounds since Friday???  Corn Chips?  Al Pacinos (a great local place for Middle Eastern Food) and Chip0lte…  oy SALT… and potty issues…

Yep Yep Yep it’s time for one of THOSE posts… not all about WLS or health or what you normally have come to expect…

no todays topics will be  Skin, clothing, knee pain (again), arms and shoulders and GARMINS.

So first let’s talk about my GARMIN…   Why in the world do I want to talk about a GPS.  Because mine is more than a GPS and it’s a smart cookie too..

We now have two Garmins.   Brian went to Bristol TN for a NASCAR race and took the Garmin with him.  This made sense… the only problem was that Andrea and Beth were visiting Baltimore that weekend and Nik and I were going downtown to see them..  I DO NOT go downtown without  my Garmin so I had to go and buy a new one.

Well this new one is very interesting.  It has bluetooth so I talk on the phone through it… which is really quite helpful especially since Maryland is going Hands Free in October by law.   It has 3-d photos of the intersections to show me which way to go, it speaks the street names, it has traffic so it tells me how delayed I am.  AND yesterday it figured out ALL by itself that going to work my normal way would take me longer than the back way.  So it automatically adjusted.  Now I don’t NEED the garmin to get to work but it does the bluetooth and  now that I know it tells me if the beltway is too backed up to use  it will be part of the morning routine…

Let me tell you about Baltimore Traffic…  We are some of the WORST traffic in the COUNTRY…  I live NINE miles from work.  NINE MILES… this is 3 beltway exits (actually 2.5 since one is right as soon as I get on and I could take instead of the one I take before it)   NON-RUSH on the beltway I can be there in under 15 minutes…  RUSH hour… well depending on the traffic I’m 15 minutes to FORTY FIVE minutes.  to go NINE MILES…  yesterday would have been an HOUR on the beltway to go THREE exits.   The back way takes about 25 minutes but I’m MOVING the whole time… on the beltway we are SITTING A LOT…. and you have to be hyper vigilant.   There are lots of TRUCKS (18 wheelers) and tons of morons…..   I am very thankful that i have so many OPTIONS to get to work.  I can get off at the exit before if it’s really bad….or tough it out…  UGH..   I HATE driving to work.

Today I came in early I was at work before 7  there was still traffic.   Oh well summer is coming and once schools are out it’s a bit easier…

On Clothing:

I have a closet full of clothes… lots of cute summer dresses… some stuff that’s too big.. NOTHING that’s too small.  FOR THE FIRST TIME IN I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG THERE IS NOTHING IN MY CLOSET THAT IS TOO SMALL.  Yes there is stuff that does not fit but that’s cause it’s TOO BIG!  OMG!  I am able to wear 14s.  they fit snug.  but  not TOO snug…  at least not according to everyone else… according to me they feel TIGHT… but they look as ok as a chick with skin is going to look…

I can’t figure out sizes.  I wore 14s on Friday I wore 18s yesterday I am wearing 16s today…   all jeans… granted these  are a teeny tiny bit baggy in the thigh (and maybe the butt I don’t know I never look at the butt I’m all tummy and if I can get it to fit there I”m happy.

This morning I was a good girl and I put one pair of jeans and 2 tops in the donate pile…I tried on a purple top and in my heart i knew it was big.. but not too big… so I kept it…  the two tops I put in the pile are fairly new and not TOO big but big enough.  the hard part’s going to be doing the sweaters from this past winter… Jeans are easy…  tops are hard…

today I have my shirt tucked in.  but i felt weird so i put a cardigan over it..  at least as I get less fat I get better style.

Of course one of the reasons clothes are fitting better is I’m working out…. sadly that leads to pain along with the glory

My knee is bothering me.  It started Saturday after working out…   It’s NOT the meniscus which had a cortisone shot a week ago it’s the Baker’s Cyst…  I’m going to have to have that sucker removed… it really is limiting me.  it ACHES… I can do all the yoga poses and all the weights and stuff but the constant ACHE is wearing on me….

I guess this is a good transition to my arms and shoulders (which ill then be a good transition to our FINAL topic of the day SKIN…)

I noticed on Sunday that my SHOULDERS are very defined.   my biceps are large but not bulging.  the batwings stink but what can I do?  My quads are like rocks… I’ve got some serious definition showing up.  and I LIKE IT… I really LIKE IT….  I like working out…  I don’t like the knee pain.  I recorded my workout with Tammie and that might help me.  I’m going to do a few more… get an idea of what I want to do… write it all down then record all the machines and settings on the itouch and it will be most helpful!

Too bad exercise is not going to fix the skin….  it’s getting bad….

ON SKIN:

(just posted this on OH)

IMO EXERCISE has NOTHING to do with skin….  only muscle.

let me tell you I am lifting weights twice a week with a trainer and doing yoga three times a week (along with 3-5 30 minute bouts of cardio weekly) and I have SKIN like you would not believe….  and I’m not even done losing.

I look like a sharpei puppy….

my arms have wings which looks weird because i have large biceps and great shoulders….
my boobs… well there is no hope for them… NONE….
my belly when I sit looks like a tushie because it creases in the center…  the panni hangs so low you can’t even see if i’m a boy or a girl….
my back folds onto itself like a puzzle
my inner thighs I can’t even begin to describe them….  but suffice it to say it’s so bad you can see it below the pannus…

my husband bless his heart loves me no matter what but his refrain when he sees me now is  “you’re going to need plastics”…..

Thankfully right now my rashes are pretty much under control… god bless Nystatin powder.  But it involves daily wash and dry and powder… and sometimes twice a day and as the warmer weather comes it will be even worse.  I wonder if the constant ache in my neck is the weight of the boobs pulling down on my shoulders…  I wish I was brave enough to post pictures of this skin….

the inner thighs are so ugly and horrible empty sacks of skin….almost two inches can be pulled out of each upper thigh…   I can see a mons lift in my future as well…

I am not looking forward to plastics it’s a horrible recovery and if I didn’t have the rashes I’d not think about it….

because today I FEEL skinny… I thought I LOOKED Skinny but I’m not so sure what do you guys think:

the top is from Old Navy size XL.  The Jeans from Dress Barn… size FOURTEEN… yes 14 and NOT so tight that I can’t breathe in them… or move.   A bit snug on the leg but I think they are supposed to be that way.  So here I am feeling all skinny today and yet the camera adds weight and I feel like i look fat in the pictures… but I don’t.

I mean I don’t look like THIS:

October 2005 I think...

WOW….   so today I feel skinny…. I feel good.  I went out with Angie and we had lunch… I got to see my hubby and give him a kiss… he liked the pants… GOOD…  It’s a beautiful day here…

Today is a momentous day.

Today I wore this outfit:  (it’s a horrible picture but folks requested so I tried at work with my cell)

and then I ate a Sandwich for lunch

arnold whole wheat sandwich thin

ham

swiss

guacamole

spinach leaves

ETA:  I ate HALF of the sandwich.

today I go see the ortho… wish me luck…

Hi OH HI….  Hello….  HI THERE!   (do you speak dog?  cause that’s how I talk to the pups…)

It’s THURSDAY…. a bright sun-shiny spring day in Baltimore… which is about as good as I can come up with.

Today is LUNCH WITH THE BFF…  that’s how the invite came…   love that girl. have for nearly 20 years…. long before she loved me I knew we would be buds… she’s saved my life a few times in every sense of the word…   I would travel almost anywhere for her…  oh wait, I have….  the ADD tour of the south 2 summers ago was one of my favorite vacations ever.   TEN days in a VAN with her… driving from city to city to get some furniture to her darling daughter in TEXAS….  this trip involved a pilgrimage to GRACELAND… oh and drunk dialing my darling husband from NOLA  but that’s another story for another time…

So there was a blow up at southbeachfriends yesterday.  My fault.  Truly.  I was snarky.   Yes I was.   BUT I really feel that I was snarky BACK.    The key is at least I ADMIT to being a bitch….  an evil SNARKY bitch while those that I snarked at think they did nothing wrong.  How sad for those that live in imaginary worlds where they are wanted.  NO ONE BELONGS WHERE THEY’RE NOT WANTED  (I’ve got that song on right now… What You Didn’t Say) I love Mary Chapin Carpenter and have for years and years and years.   She was my gateway to Country Music.

Who invented the word SNARKY???  it’s such a good word.   Ok I looked it up. It’s a 1906 british slang term from  1866 SNARK…  meaning irritable who knew?   I thought it was an internet thing…  as now it’s used to mean a cranky response… as in  NESSA was SNARKY to  <insert the name of whomever I was snarky to today> when she said <insert my most passive/aggressive mean spirited comment here>.

Sadly for folks  I’m always snarky when I OWN THE SITE and can do so.     What’s really sad is that I’m not even going to the site today.   Not cause I’m afraid to see what was said   who the hell cares what they think.  I’m not going because I’m waiting to calm down enough to just be able to say “WHATEVER” to them.

The truth is there are several people at  SBF that I don’t want there but since I can’t see a reason to remove them other than I don’t like their motives, I can’t justify it.  At least not in my mind.    Not that they don’t think I will remove them.  AND that is the KEY to why they are the way they are.  THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHO  I AM OR WHAT I’M ABOUT.  How sad for them.

I know there are webmasters that rule with an iron fist and it’s my way or the highway… and they seem to think that I’m censoring them.   ummm  NO!  Censoring them would mean I delete their posts and deactivate their accounts.      Some of them are even attempting to  set up ‘reading accounts’  in the fear that I will deactivate them.   I f that’s what they think they need to do, I can understand why I don’t want them there, because they don’t grasp that although I totally disagree with their thought patterns, their beliefs and their motives, I will allow them their delusions and freedom AT THAT SITE.  Yes I will.   Truth be told,  while I OWN it.  it’s not MINE… THIS IS MINE.   I delete users here daily.   I moderate EVERY SINGLE POST here.  and will continue to do so….  Aaron and I are the ONLY moderators here.  But the SBF site,  well  their belief that I censor is just ludicrous.

I know I’m going to have to go to the site soon.  I know i have to deal with this insanity.   Today I do not. Today is send the Critical Patch letter day at work.  Today is not a good day for me to play with whiners.

Today’s health report:

There was no dinner last night there was noshing… half a protein bar, have a protein tidbit, got home had some imitation crab and some bacon horseradish cheddar then ate  pudding, banana strawberries and chopped pecans with whipped cream… oy such a diet…   but there was serious exercise yesterday…half an hour on the arc trainer,  an hour of yoga that left my knee hurting so badly I have an appointment with  the ortho knee guy on Tuesday… probably to ask about a brace since today the knee is feeling much better… yesterday I thought for sure I was going to need surgery. I know i have a misplaced Baker’s Cyst and a partially torn meniscus which may or may not now be totally torn due to use…  SERIOUS use…  Yoga three times a week is really stressing the knee but I need the YOGA so I can walk the rest of the week…. and to keep my brain sane…  I do have some transfer addiction clearly…

I would do a yoga class every morning if they offered it at the gym…

oh the scale this morning:  185.4.   amazing.  it was 189 when i went to bed.  WHY I got on the scale last night I have no idea.   but i did and i expected 187 or so this morning… Yay me!

today:

commute:  click/designer whey/milk/coffee

breakfast:   none

lunch:  applebees with donna

snack:  cheese or protein bar or both half a banana

dinner:  no clue

snack:  dried fruit I”m sure no potty this morning.

Sunday April 4, 2010

How did we get to Sunday already?  Oh because we went away this weekend… and it was GREAT…

Saturday morning, Norman, Amy and Lee (sans hubby John) made it to our house around ten and we headed up to Hershey PA.   One of the reasons we bought our van was just for trips like this… 5 adults in one van… worked great… we could have done 6 even if needed…  We were blessed with BEAUTIFUL WEATHER….

Arriving in Hershey we stopped at Applebees for lunch.  Oy… it was fun.

So we drove up to Hershey Gardens… and we walked through the gardens… and took some fun shots walked around for a few hours..

PINKS

A private moment captured by Norman

We hit the gift store and I got a ladybug necklace and a butterfly magnet.   Then we checked in at the hotel (an awesome choice for location as it was a mile from the  Hershey Theatre (a small about 1700 people) intimate location for our TSO Concert and close to Hershey Park and hit Dukes of Hershey for dinner.  It turned out to be an awesome choice and all had fun… and good food… the awesome TSO concert.   We had good seats… and Brian and I were both comfortable sitting in the seats, which was a total NSV for both of us…

The next morning we got up and discovered the toilet was stopped up.   Thankfully Lee went downstairs and we had a guy up to fix the toilet in like 5 minutes.  I was impressed.  We went down for breakfast and I was sad…. NO BACON.  I had a protein shake some juice cut with water and some coffee.  I survived.  I do admit to missing the ability to have an English muffin or a waffle but I survived.  Then we went to Chocolate World and we took the  Chocolate Tour all the while reminiscing about the days when we could walk through the Hershey factory… oy we’re old.  We got the tour picture and I think that I look like a tiny doll next to Brian…

Brian knew the picture was coming... I think I look so small next to him...

After the Tour we went to the store… we got some mugs… and I got them with chocolate so I can take it to work to share with my co-workers.   I had some really really good coffee… then we went to Indian Echo Caverns where we took a tour of the caverns.   I got a lovely bright blue hoodie… it says Hershey but the color is awesome. Also got some serious ladybug stuff…

Then we stopped at  The Soda Jerk Diner and the waitress was awesome, the food was awesome and the fun was awesome.    Sadly it appears the website has been hacked so I’m not going to link to it.  I did get a really cute shirt there too.

It was a GREAT weekend and it was so much fun to be with our friends.

Here are more pictures:   Hershey Photos

Good Morning!

up at 5 am and it’s SNOWING in Baltimore.   and BLOWING… oy the wind is really bad.  I don’t mind snowing but I HATE blowing.. I hate WIND… hate it hate it hate it.

Well anyway I was up, i folded a few items of clothing and helped brian get going this morning.  he’s frustrated he’s up two pounds. I told him it’s water weight and he’s stressed and retaining water from his injuries but  he doesn’t believe me.   I wish I could make Brian love Brian.  I wish there was a magic pill.  There is not, sadly.

Anyway, after Bri left for work, I grabbed a quick shower and hit the GYM.  I did 30 minutes on the Arc Trainer at Strength level 4 which is a tough workout for me… then I took Tammie’s 7 am yoga class.  I did not feel like I was doing so great in the class… I fell out of postures and needed to break 2 times during the class.  but I know I’m better than I was 6 months ago…

I managed to get to work by 8:30 which is great.  I will hopefully have lunch with Angie today.  NOT sure where we are going yet..

Did I mention that I signed us up for the STEAMPUNK WORLD’S FAIR in Piscataway NJ in May?  Brian and I are going for the weekend…  Steampunk is my new passion…   not sure what I am going to do with it yet as I’m just into the fashion and form part of it at this point.  Seems rather shallow of me.