Let It Snow

I have to say. When we rescheduled our trip to Cabo to October, I was a little disappointed. We were originally supposed to go the week between Christmas and New Year's--a perfect time for a tropical climate. I imagined October as perhaps a little chilly, but it also could be Indian summer--a perfect time for long bike rides of the weekend.

And then Roger at work, our favorite local weatherman, started talking about snow for this week. I didn't really believe that that was true. But look at what our front yard looks like tonight:




Ok, it's not the best picture I've ever taken, but look at the snow! It's actually sticking. This is the kind of weather we want to have when we're leaving on a tropical vacation. The snow is supposed to continue on the weekend, which is fine with me, as long as it doesn't cause our flight to be cancelled. To have that happen twice be really be a drag. That cannot happen. Hear that weather gods? We are going to Cabo on Saturday.

Why are we so excited about going on vacation? Here is where we're going:




Does that look gorgeous or what? Sunshine, sand, margaritas, here we come!



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That Explains It

Savanah told Liz today that she thinks the guide we're using for the number of calories to eat overestimates the calories we should eat to lost weight. So I did a search and discovered that the number of calories we're eating is what we need to keep our weight stable--and shockingly, we both are keeping our weight stable. I've been wondering why I haven't lost weight--I thought that maybe I was underestimating how much I was eating or getting the calories wrong. It turns out I have been doing it perfectly--why do I always start by thinking I'm doing something wrong?

So now we know what to do--we're going to try to stay stable during vacation and then go for it when we get back.


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At Long Last

It's been awhile. I'm having trouble getting motivated to blog. I feel like I've said everything many times and am at a plateau. But I have an assessment on Friday, so I'll see if I've made any progress. Then we head to Cabo on Saturday. My goal is to keep my weight stable while we're gone, mainly by working out and swimming enough to be able to not worry about what I'm eating or drinking. I'm thinking margaritas on the beach and dessert. Yes!!!


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Memory

I had a great bike ride today. I thought I was going 20 miles, using a route that Gina and I rode last spring, before we realized that they only way home was on the detour caused by the Whately bridge being out. Well, it reopened this week. Here's a picture of it--it's about a basic as it can be, but it's beautiful to me because we have a lot of new routes open to us:





Anyway, my memory was that it was a 20 mile route, but about halfway through it, I realized there was no way it could be 20 miles because it starts by going into the middle of Conway, which is a 10 mile ride in and of itself. Here's the route I took:





My next memory issue was when I took a right in the middle of Conway, heading east toward Interstate 91. My memory was that once I made that turn, I had a long, steep downhill until I turned off of 116. I completely forgot that it started with a long uphill for probably 1/2 a mile. I had only biked it that one time before, and the downhill section is so sweet--nearly 5 miles long--that I forgot about what came before it.

I wasn't looking forward to the section of the route when I headed west again in Whately--my memory was that it was all uphill until I rejoined the section that I headed out on. Wrong again! It started with a long uphill, followed by an equally long downhill to the new bridge, and then another long uphill. I was thinking about why I forgot that downhill section. I know it was because I was completely focused on having to take the detour. I was already tired, and I had taken the detour the prior week so I knew it was long and uphill. I was in that place in my mind where I was thinking about how much easier it would have been if the bridge wasn't out--it would have been about 4 miles shorter and we wouldn't have had the climb on the detour on the dirt road.

I was so busy thinking about about I wished was going on that I wasn't paying any attention to what was actually going on--not a good way to live. I'm sure that ride would have been much more fun if I had just stayed present to the ride I was on. After all, even though I was tired, we made it. It was just much less pleasant because I spent so much time thinking about what I wished was happening, rather than enjoying what was actually happening. The detour is hard, but it's also beautiful, through the woods with a fast running creek next to the road.

I want to spend less time in my head when I bike, and more time enjoying climbing hills, flying downhills, and enjoying the beautiful world I get to bike in.

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Oh What A Beautiful Day

Wow--today was a perfect fall day--blue skies, no clouds, temperature in the 70's. I started the day with a workout at Fitness Together and then went cycling with Liz and Gina. We planned on going via the bike path to Easthampton, stopping for brunch, and then taking the back roads home. 20 miles we figured.

I was a little concerned about going on a long bike ride after a workout, but I felt incredibly strong on the ride to Easthampton. I felt so good, I considered going for another ride by myself after we finished--it was such a beautiful day and who knows how many more like this we'll have before it gets cold.

We found a diner in Easthampton using Yelp (the Internet is fabulous). Here's a picture of Liz at the front door:




Well, that doesn't look like Liz at all. I took a picture of her, and now she's no where to be seen in the picture. Weird. Anyway, we had a big breakfast--bacon, eggs, toast, hash browns.

We headed out to do the rest of the bike path. It starts about two miles from our house, and goes about 10 miles--it's really a cool path. At the end we got onto the road for the trip back. We took a tour of all the Hamptons--Northampton, Easthampton, Southampton, and Westhampton. Unfortunately, we missed a turn and our 20 mile ride turned into a 30 mile ride. I was really tired for the last 10 miles. I could feel the exercise from the morning, and we hadn't biked more than 11 miles since before I got my appendix out. We saw some great views on the trip back--beautiful autumn leaves, meadows leading to mountains, waterfalls, and a flotilla of Canadian geese hanging out in a pond, resting up for the next stage of their journey. Here's a waterfall:




Well, the picture really flattens the scene, which removes all the drama from a waterfall. And here's the goose-filled pond:




The little white specks are the geese. Boy my photography is leaving something to be desired today.

Once we realized we'd missed the turn, Gina suggested we bike to her house (no steep hill to get to our house, and she'd drive us home). The closer we got to the turn to our house, the better that idea sounded, so that's what we did. Here's the map of our route:



The line heading north to the green pin is the road to our house. We overlapped the bike path to get to Gina's house at the red pin. She lives about 3 houses from the bike path. A fun day!

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Too Much Popcorn?!?

Well, I started sending my food diary to Mark this week. He pointed out that one-fourth of my calories for the week came from popcorn, and that it has very little nutritional value. Both of those facts came as a big surprise to me. I knew that I was eating a lot of popcorn--I would have dinner, see that I had a lot of calories left, and make popcorn. By that time, I had already prepared three meals and really wasn't in the mood for more cooking. What's faster and easier than popcorn if you're not going to eat junk food or prepared foods? Besides, I love popcorn and the fact that I had figured out how to limit myself to 6 cups was a major miracle (1 teaspoon oil + 1/3 cup popcorn seeds). I would normally eat double that. I really can eat a tremendous amount of popcorn.

Any way, I had no idea that popcorn was taking up so much of my diet. And I always thought that popcorn had nutritional value, so I looked it up. The website I checked rated foods on a scale from 0 to 100 in terms of nutritional value. popcorn got a 17. Definitely not the score you want for a food that makes up that proportion of my diet. So they say the truth will set you free. I'm not sure I feel free, but it has been easier to resist popcorn and I cooked 4 meals today.


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Baby It's Cold Outside

Wow--I'm really having trouble getting out in the cold. I put on my sweats to cycle today, but it started raining just as I started out. Cold and rain was more than I could bear, so I headed to the basement and the elliptical. Thank god ABC has an app that let's me watch any of their programs at any point. I have already watched all of the Modern Family's so I was reduced to the results program from Dancing With the Stars. Not overwhelmingly engaging, but enough to carry me through a half-hour. I ant wait until we can afford a trainer for our bikes.

I had Bennett to myself today, because Liz is visiting her brother, et al in Indiana. We went to GoBerry which sells frozen yogurt. Bennett ate about 2 bites of hers. It was really hard not to finish it for her, but I've been great about counting my calories, so into the trash it went.

Not that I ate great today, nutritionally. Once I dropped Bennett off, it has been an all football, all the time, day, which of course, called for drinking beer. The Patriots won after a terrible start, and now I'm hoping that Baltimore beats the Jets, because I hate Rex Ryan and the Jets. The Jets just fumbled, and the Ravens picked it up and scored a touchdown. Yay!!! But the game has just started. Let the fun continue.


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One Minute, Please

I had a great workout with Savannah yesterday. I'm nice and sore today. We, meaning I, did a series of exercises, spending one minute on each and going thru the series twice. It'll be a good set of exercises to do at home next Friday. We have to work out at home next Friday or our plan to cut down one day at Fitness Together every other week will fail. Here is the series:




I started with my left foot on the Bosu, did a squat and then jumped to move my right foot to the Bosu and my left foot to the floor on the other side. Back and forth for a minute. The goal was to elevate my heart rate, and believe me, it worked.

Then came squat-presses:





I started with the dumbbells at shoulder-level, did a squat and then lifter them overhead.

Then step-ups:


I started with my left foot on the bench, stepped up with both feet on the bench, stepped back down with both feet, and then repeated starting with the right foot.

Then came moving the giant mambo rope:







I'm moving it so very fast, you can barely see how fat and heavy it is. For this one, I did 20 seconds of slinging the rope up with one hand and then the other, 20 seconds of slinging it faster with less upward movement, followed by 20 seconds of slinging it with both arms at the same time. Very good for the core and deltoids.

Then came the tricep press. We forgot to take a picture of it, but it't pretty boring, anyway. Then the medicine ball toss:



Wow--I'm impressed, you can't see the ball at all. I lifted it overhead and slammed it to the ground as hard and fast as I could.

Then we rounded it off with elevated lunges:



That's what has me so sore today. Good for the gluteus Maximus.

That was a great workout. If you workout, you should try it. If you don't have a giant rope but have someone you work out with, you can substitute medicine ball chest passes.

Yesterday I passed a big challenge. I'm home alone because Liz is visiting her family in Indiana, and I had eaten all of my calories for the day by 7pm. Alexandra called to see if I wanted to watch a movie with her and Bob (Diana is in Hawaii, poor thing). I'd had a beer, so my suggestibility was high, but I turned down another beer, brownies, and burritos, even though I had a lot of rationalizations of why I could eat.

I've decided I need to eat more calories during the day. I frequently get to dinner only having eaten half my calories. I'll be starving, and dinner won't use anywhere near all of my calories, so then I'm looking for after dinner snacks. So I'm eating a lot of my daily calories at a time that I won't be using them. So I'm going to try to at so that I'll be done eating when I finish my dinner.

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