The Treadmill Diaries - Day One: It's all fun and games until someone falls off the treadmill!

Okay so for you long-time readers of this blog, you probably remember the Disney Diet and how I was rockin' the treadmill everyday in preparation for my trip to Disney. Back then, I remember having that treadmill sit in the corner of my room, mocking me because I could walk no longer than 13 minutes. I when I say I could walk no more, I mean I was gasping for air and praying for death.

Welcome to today.

I was all kinds of confident about getting back on the treadmill. It's been 8 months but if we're being honest, I have been doing the Walk Away the Pounds system and can do a three-mile walk in less than an hour, WHILE TALKING, and not feel all that bad. Sweaty, yes. Bad? No.

So I climbed on to the treadmill this afternoon, put on my headphones and one of my 80's disco-laden CD's and was set to do my sassy walking thing. After three starts and one trip OFF of the treadmill, I finally got my groove on. I'm not proud of it, people, but if I'm going to keep a diary of it, then I might as well be honest about it. I lasted 20 minutes and barely made the mile. I feel like a complete loser. And not a "biggest loser" where you lose all the weight and win the prize, but a real LOSER where I should be pointed and laughed at!

It can only get better from here, right?

Sunday Musings....

You know what's even better than taking Codeine? Waking up at 4 a.m and taking some Advil PM. I was in a coma until around noon. It was nice.

Once I got mobile, I've sort of been on the go getting things done. I took care of things around the house, made lunch, made my Sunday phone calls, etc. Then we headed in to Raleigh where I hit Archivers and Frank and Michael hit the music stores. Frank is getting a new drum for Father's Day and he had to go and order it. But lo and behold, no one seemed to know WHAT he was talking about in TWO SEPARATE STORES!!! What in the world? Michael has decided that he wants to be a drummer too and he hung around trying out the electronic drum kits. Fun for him.

Once home, I started dinner, started a new scrapbook, we ate and then the men went to go and see "Star Trek". SO....not my thing. They were excited and I was excited to have everyone out of the house for a few hours. I'm scrapping, I'm cleaning, I'm blogging...I'm a little ADD, I think.

I want to give a HUGE thank you to my friend Dot who has graciously stepped forward and is lending me her treadmill. YIPPEE!!!! We are going to pick it up tomorrow and I cannot wait for my first walk. Actually, I am just as excited about getting out my rockin' walking CD's that I had made last year filled with all kinds of 80's disco.

Oh, I WILL survive....

Updates and blah, blah....

Okay, so I am starting to feel better finally. Not great, but better. I was sitting on the couch watching TV with Frank this afternoon when suddenly it felt like my head weighed like 1000 lbs and I just sort of fell over. I took a lovely two hour nap and revived myself. It was wonderful. I did not have to use the inhaler today and just a few minutes ago took my first dose of codeine for the day. Yeah, me!

I have NOT gotten any offers on the treadmill thing. I wasn't really expecting to, but it would have been nice. I have six weeks to drop ten pounds and I know I can do it with the treadmill. The Walk Away the Pounds is good - when I do it. Which I have not. Often. Really.

For those of you who are local, I had a great deal happen for me today. I shopped at the new Lowes Foods here in town. I had a $20 off any order of $60 or more coupon PLUS if you spend $100 and use your rewards card, you get five cents per gallon off of gas at the new gas station! SO.....I did my food shopping and spend OVER $100 (that added on to the $80 I spent last week) and got TEN CENTS per gallon off PLUS saved $20 on my food bill. I was feeling all kinds of thrifty after that one.

We are going to Florida in July. Yes, that is why I have to lose the ten pounds. I'm just being cautious, people. I have been conversing with dad's wife and she assures me that dad is going to behave but I don't need to hand him any ammunition! So think thin, again, everyone!

As for the wedding dress pictures that caused the cardiac moment yesterday...
Well, Nick assures me that while yes, it was all in good fun, the truth is that the pictures were taken so that they can be posted on Craigslist to try and SELL the wedding gown. We'll see...

I have been cruising the world wide web looking at different blogs and there are a lot out there that are written by stay at home moms. You know, this is the last week of the bookstore and then I am going to be unemployed. I no longer can look at myself as a stay-at-home mom because well...I don't know. The title just doesn't seem to fit me. Maybe I can say that I am an unemployed, stay at home mom? Maybe? I don't know, it's quite a mouthful. We'll see.

Okay, sleepy medicine is kicking in. Night-night!

HELP!!

I need somebody
Help
Not just anybody
Help
You know I need someone
Help....

Okay, so the codeine that I'm taking makes me loopy. We've established that already, right. But loopy or not, you gotta love the Beatles.

But I really do need help. Stop what you are thinking, Michelle and Cathleen!! I need a treadmill. Desperately. We are trying to train for this half marathon and I just can't get in to the groove that I had when I had the treadmill. I'm going crazy! You know how Frank's friend Rob had lent me his and then after the Disney trip I gave it back? Well...I would LOVE to borrow it from him again but he and Frank aren't talking. I'm so desperate that I have contemplated calling the man myself and trying to mend the relationship between the two of them but I just can't make myself interfere.

Stupid Rob.

So if anyone out there has a treadmill that is just sitting in storage (or sitting in your "office" mocking you) please consider lending it out to a poor, pathetic walker who needs to get her butt in gear so that she can do a half marathon and then convince her husband to let her do the Disney half-marathon in 2011.

When I was younger so much younger than today...Sorry, now you'll all have the Beatles on the brain for the rest of the day!

Some Pep in my Step

So I got up this morning and went about my usual routine of getting the boy ready for school, waking Frank up time and time again, all the while wishing that I was still asleep. It's Friday, it's my day off. I was thinking about putting off my treadmill time until later but then I took a detour to the bathroom where the scale stared me down.

"All right! I get it! I haven't gotten on you this week!" I scream in my head. So I strip and step on. And guess what? I lost another TWO pounds! That puts the official weight loss at 8 pounds and 5 inches total body. WOO-HOO! I cannot believe it. And that was WITH the McDonald's yesterday. So needless to say I threw on my walking clothes and my CD player and walked with a big smile because I feel motivated. Over the next 2 1/2 days I will need to walk off another 1100 calories in order to have walked off one pound this week and that's not including the cut in calories this week.

Oh, I'm so excited!

My Disney Diet - Day 31 (and a dilema)

Okay, I'm out of the funk that I was in on the last two Disney Diet posts. I've got my groove back and am feeling good. Eating less is becoming easier - I even had McDonald's for lunch today and was able to eat less of it and still be satisfied. I spoke on the phone TWICE while on the treadmill and was able to maintain a conversation without gasping for air. Yea, me! I didn't get on the scale this week yet; I don't know why.

So here's my dilema. The weight is coming off slowly, as I've mentioned before. I was feeling okay about that. But now with the possibility of going up to NY next month and seeing all of the people who have given me my poor body image complex, I want to push the numbers a bit and am unsure how. Maybe by not eating McDonald's - who knows! My ideal goal would be to lose 10 pounds in the next 36 days. Is that reasonable? I don't know. Is it doable? Sure, maybe in the bizzaro world. I am unwilling to do the starvation thing. I am not really doing all of this for THEM, I am doing this really for me and my own peace of mind. To know that I can be with these people and feel good about me. Somewhere there's a therapist just waiting to get me on the couch! I guess it can be viewed both ways. I'm doing this for them so that they will look at me different which, in essence, is also for me so that they will not look at me and tell me how fat I am! How strange is that that I even have to do all of this! It's madness, I tell you!

So I walked 70 minutes on the treadmill today. I bought little, tiny 2 pound weights that I used for a portion of the walk. I even added a small incline for a little while (and boy was THAT hard!). I'm mixing it up, trying to work the total body. Who knows, maybe it is not my destiny to be thin. I hope that's not the case. I'm seriously not looking to be a size 5 again, but to be and 8 or a 10 would be very nice.

My Disney Diet - Day 28

Day 28. Twenty-eight days. Four weeks. Sigh. In my fantasy diet life, I would be down 28 pounds by now and would have WON a trip to Disney for my efforts.

Stupid real life.

But seriously, I'm at day 28 and while the numbers are dropping slowly, I am noticing some changes in me and my eating habits. For example, two double-stuff oreo's equal a serving. By eating just these two cookies I A.) Do not get heartburn and B.) I am satisfied. In my old eating habits, it would have taken 6 or 8 cookies to satisfy me and they would have had to have been washed down with a tall glass of milk. In my cooking I have learned that not everything needs to be sauteed in butter. True, it is yummier that way, but I have gotten creative with my seasonings and I am still enjoying my meals. Huh. I have come to realize that drinking soda does not really quench my thirst. But oh, does it taste good going down. Mmm...

So how is this preparing me for my trip? Okay, we've established that I do not have to drink so much soda while roaming the parks. This saves me money and keeps me better hydrated. Yea! I am learning that I do not have to eat SO much to satisfy my appetite - this too, will help my wallet on the trip. We are on the dining plan but now appetizers are not included. This was causing me great distress because I am a huge fan of all-things-appetizers. Now I can look at the great selection of entrees that are offered and not be looking longingly for more. Go Stace! And finally, I will not have to massacre the chilled-butter Mickey that some of the restaurants are famous for. I can let him sit and watch us eat, slowly melting at his own pace without me carving in to him to slather on to my dinner roll. Ha!

I don't get on the scale again until Wednesday. I don't feel a whole lot of difference but I think that this is like I had said in an earlier post - this point in the diet is like that 13 minute hump I had to get over on the treadmill. It takes time. I am learning to eat better and make smarter choices. All in all, I'm okay.

Where? Nowhere

Week four on the treadmill. My pace is up, my time on the mill is up but according to some research, the treadmill is getting me nowhere. No kidding. I shared this information with friend (and co-dieter) and she thought it was hysterical. "Well, of course you're getting nowhere, you're on a treadmill!" Ha, ha, very funny. I get it. I'm in my room, not going anywhere. BUT...according to this research the treadmill is an okay workout but it will not help me achieve my long-term weight loss goals.

???

So you mean I am sweating my patooty off for nothing? And I have to be honest, I disagree with this so-called 'research'. While I am walking, I may physically BE in my room - which, by the by, I thank God every day that my husband finally painted the room before I started this endeavor - but in my mind, I am in different places throughout the workout.

I told you all about my disco-assortment, so when I'm 2.8ing it along to "I Say a Little Prayer", I can actually see myself singing it with my friends (and yes, we're in the restaurant scene from "My Best Friends Wedding"). At the 3.0 level of "Dancing on the Ceiling", I am back at SUNY Westbury in a kickline competition back in 1987. "New Attitude" at 3.2 also has me at SUNY but back in 1986 - and yes, I looked hot in my red and white uniform with pom-poms on my shoes. By the time I am up to 3.5 and "It's My Life" is rocking, no, I'm not making out with Jon Bon Jovi but I am in a gym practicing my boxing moves. A picture of whoever has annoyed me in the last day or so is usually on my invisible punching bag. This is a HUGE stress reliever. So, how can I be getting nowhere? It's just not possible!

Tomorrow morning when I throw on my sneakers and start up my treadmill, I will be celebrating the small victory of losing 6 pounds in 3 weeks and several inches total body. I will also applaud the fact that I am not sucking wind anymore until I am WAY into my workout. I may never leave the freshly-painted four walls of my bedroom, but luckily I have an active imagination and each morning finds me bee-bopping not only around the country but also time traveling.

Getting nowhere? I beg to differ.

* The above is my entry to the Scribbit June Write-Away Contest. For more information on this contest (or if you want to read a really good blog) go to http://scribbit.blogspot.com/search/label/contests.*

Numbers

I suck at math. Always have, always will. Dieting is nothing but one long math problem that never seems to end. I stared this diet at the awful number of 168. I had 125 days to lose 25 pounds. I have to burn or eliminate 3500 calories a week to lose 1 pound. I walk (now) for 45 minutes a day to burn around 400 calories, even at 7 days a week I am only burning 2800 calories through the walking. That leaves me to eliminate a minimum of 700 calories to lose that 1 stinking pound. I am awake an average of 17 hours a day where I am supposed to eat only 1800 calories in order to lose weight. My breakfast bar has 120 calories, my lunch (the frozen variety) tends to consist of around 230 calories. My fat-free pudding has 90 calories. Dinner has too many calories to figure out! I mean, I don't have a scale so I am unsure if I am eating 4 oz. of meat or not. I do measure my 1/2 cup of rice/pasta/side dish and I load up on the veggies. Does the fact that I no longer drink 300 calories a day in soda still count even though I cut that out more than 3 weeks ago?

Since the beginning of this adventure (some 24 days ago), I have lost 6 pounds (I'm now 163) and 4 inches off of my total body. I listen to an average of 10 songs on my CD player while walking. I now have 4 CD's to chose from - I'm incredibly fickle with my disco in the morning. I walk at 2.8 mph for the first song, increase to 3.0 mph for one sone, increase to 3.2 for one song, then do 3.4 for atleast 2 songs. Now I'm up to 3.5 for atleast 2 songs and then go down the scale again until my 10 songs are done. I then drink 2 glasses of water to make a dent in my 8 daily glasses of water. I curse atleat 5 times throughout the day as I run to the bathroom to pee!

Numbers, numbers, everywhere!

My Disney Diet - Day 21

Okay, so we're at day 21 and I'm like, eh - no big whoop. I'm still feeling icky from the whole period thing and I've got another 2-3 days of that to go. I was pretty good all day eating-wise but I'm lacking that little umph I need to motivate me today. I walked like a wild woman all weekend long. I walked for 60 minutes on the treadmill on Saturday and 50 minutes on Sunday - all in one shot, no breaks. I was feeling pretty good about me, but today, not so much. I wanted to share with somebody - anybody - over the weekend about how I was doing but all of my friends were unavailable and because I'm such a neurotic freak, I refuse to tell any family members because then they'll try to out-do me. And they'll probably succeed. See, I'm just not myself right now. Hormones suck. All I can think about is how I want to make chicken parmigian for dinner and eat a LOT of it. With spaghetti. And garlic bread! Okay, maybe, just maybe I'll make a salad on the side.

Will I? Won't I? Who knows.

But on a lighter note, it's 105 days until Disney! I watched a show on the Food Network last night where they were competing with baking Pixar movie character cakes. It was pretty interesting and lucky for me, cake is not my thing so I was not in the least bit tempted. Seriously, still thinking about the chicken. As I watched the show it just made me long to be there running around 'the world' with no one to drag me down. I think I could seriously vacation there by myself and not feel in the least bit cheated.

Hey, while I'm in this 'happy-place' mode, maybe I ought to go and get on the mill and think bathing suits, not deep fried chicken!

Think thin!

My Disney Diet - Day 18

Okay, so I am starting day 18 of my Disney diet with a personal victory. The treadmill that I am using is a loaner from a friend. I'm only supposed to have it for 8 weeks and that was going to end on Sunday. This coming Sunday. I have not heard yet if he's going to truly take it back. Anyway, when Frank first got this monstrosity home for me, we set it up and the first morning I got on it, I was only able to walk for about 13 minutes and I think I got up to 2.8 mph but only for a very brief time. I walked only 1/2 mile. That was the pattern that first week and I was very discouraged and didn't use it everyday because of that. So Frank got annoyed because he had gone through all the trouble of moving it all the way from Burlington and I think he just figured that I was going to quit. He was kind of right. I used it for maybe 2 weeks and then took 3 weeks off - I had my period, I hurt my back, I hurt my knee, Michael was on track out so I was sleeping in - I had my reasons.

So now I decide to start this diet and lo and behold, there's the treadmill. I got myself back on it and after looking back at that pitiful start I had with it, I can now say that this morning, at 8:01 am, I hit my personal record. I had walked for a total of 40 minutes, had gotten up to speeds of 3.4 mph, and burned 400 calories!!! YEA!!! Carol, if you are reading this, if I never have to give this treadmill back you and I are going to do the Walt Disney World Minnie Marathon in January 2010!

Now if only I could get the numbers on the scale to move with the same intensity as my numbers on the treadmill. Hmmm...

I will survive!

Okay, now that I am over the hissy-fit from earlier today, I can function again. Thanks for your patience.

After I wrote earlier, I had to do something with all of my pent up energy so I decided to do another turn on the treadmill. You know, I never would have believed it but MAN does that help. With the help of an out-dated portable CD player (my MP3 died), I am walking along with a lot of pep-in-my-step. With 80-minutes of music per CD, I have created several just for my walking times. I have 'Survived' with Gloria Gaynor, I've done the 'Last Dance' with Donna Summer. I have been an 'Animal' with Def Leppard, Madonna chants at me to 'Respect Myself', I've even hopped on board the 'Love Train' with the O'Jays. Irene Cara tries to convince me that I'm gonna live forever through 'Fame', while Lionel Richie keeps me thinking about 'Dancing on the Ceiling'. And finally, Diana King 'Says a Little Prayer' for me.

There is something in these old disco-era songs that just makes me smile. I actually smile as I'm sweating my tail off walking. Today I burned 720 calories in treadmill time while only eating 445 calories before dinner. I indulged in some much-needed Chinese after my mentally traumatic day. Thank you, Frank! So next time you need a little smile in your workout, put on some frivolous music that you haven't heard in years. I promise it will make your workout a lot less painful.