Fatness sucks: case in point

For two years, a friend of mine from school and I have been planning on arranging a hot air balloon ride to celebrate successfully completing our school program. Over the last couple of months we've been tossing dates back and forth and making a more specific plan. I finally called to make the reservation today, after including a couple more friends in the planned outing, volunteering to drive to the site, and encouraging everyone else to make their reservations soon too.

The hot air balloon company won't take me because of my weight. Their usual maximum limit is 240 pounds but they will allow up to 300 for an additional fee. I'm still over that.

Luckily, when I had to tell my friends I couldn't do it they were supportive, but the whole thing was awkward and embarrassing for me.

Maybe I can revisit the idea later. :-(

Cat's home safe but gained 2 pounds. (2011 Week 23 Update)

Here are my stats for the last week:

1295 calories over budget
3601 estimated calories of exercise done
10% protein consumed (oops)
+1.7 pounds

I have been doing a little better mood wise, and doing alright on exercise, but my diet has been crap. Have to get all the pieces working together again.

I was at the park with my niece last week and a little boy who was playing on the equipment asked what was in my belly, why it was so big. Argh. I know he's just an innocent kid and probably was curious if there was a baby in there or something but comments like that are so disheartening. And I think he said it loud enough that my parents, sitting over on a park bench nearby, could hear.

Speaking of parents, my mom has mentioned a couple times on the phone that she's just about to eat a salad, and it comes out that all she puts in that salad is iceberg lettuce and salad dressing. My dad was talking to her about it in front of me yesterday afternoon, pointing out that she wasn't eating the tomatoes she bought. "What do you put in your salad, M, he said? Just lettuce, cheese, croutons and dressing?"

When I was younger and still lived at home, and I would beg my mom to get some actually fresh produce at the store for me (a fledgling vegetarian) to eat, she'd go, get a head of iceberg lettuce, some tomatoes, croutons, and baco-bits, set aside a small amount for me, then make a huge, literally gallon sized salad for herself, drowned in thousand island dressing, and there would be no more vegetables of any sort left in the house. She felt virtuous when she ate those things; I could see it in her face. Ugh.

Anyway.

I just got a message on my phone this afternoon about an application I turned in *3* months ago. Ridiculous, but hopefully something will come of it. I think getting back on my feet with a stable job to support me would help my mood, and in turn, my weight loss efforts.

But I'm feeling optimistic. I'm going to do my physical therapy exercises tonight, and plan on doing some laps at the pool or maybe a cycling class tomorrow afternoon. It's going to be okay.

Feeling Stronger (2011 Week 21 Update)

In my last week, as summarized by Loseit, I was about 1200 calories over budget, and gained 2.8 pounds. So, all in all, not the best week.

However, I did go on a big hike on Sunday with my Dad. It was a trail that I'd been on before this past thanksgiving with my whole family and in laws, and it took us all over 2 hours to get around the loop. Last Sunday, it took my dad and I about 1 1/2 hours. I did it again today (I'm a couple days behind on this post) and it took me an hour and ten minutes.

The 2.8 pounds last week I feel like I can blame almost entirely on anxiety and responding to that anxiety by binging on ice cream. I'm really stressed out in the rest of my life right now.

But after the hike today I feel a lot better. I know theoretically that exercise helps with stress management and mood issues but I haven't been good in the past at putting that theory into practice. Today's hike was a good move.

Tomorrow I'm planning to get up at a reasonable hour, go apply for another job, and then spend the rest of the day with my niece. Maybe I'll even go to aqua-aerobics in the evening.

I'm feeling a little bit stronger and more capable, a little more like things are going to work out, one way or the other.

Another successful hike!

I went on a 2 hour hike today with two friends who are also trying to get in better shape. I consider myself very lucky to live in a place where you can go on a beautiful, sunny hike through the hills about 10 minutes from home in February.

I was definitely the straggler of the 3 of us -- to be expected as I'm about 80 pounds heavier than the larger of them. I was breathing hard, and I got an ache in my side for part of it, and I needed to take several short breaks to catch my breath again during the uphill portions. But I feel great afterward. We went out for a healthy lunch downtown (I had 6oz of baked mahi mahi and some wild rice, water to drink). My legs are definitely sore now but I feel energized and good.

Getting outside and being active (especially with fun friends) is such a good mood boost!

Keeping up on a Hike (2011 Week 4 Update)

My weight took an upswing at the beginning of last week, up to 341.2 again, but by the end of the week I am back down again and another pound lighter. That's not keeping up with my weekly goal but I am still ahead of my year goal by about 4 pounds, which is doing well for the end of January.

So I'm at 337.8 now. I'll update my loss graph below.

I did a hike on Friday with a group of people. I did pretty well keeping up with the crowd, but had some GI crampiness part way through that made it really uncomfortable. A couple of days ago I adjusted my daily calorie goal up to 2800, which is about what the fat2fit BMR calculator says I should be eating, and is on average about where I was eating during the week I lost over 5 pounds.

I've been having some issues with my mood in the last couple days taking a dip. I am hoping it's just a matter of my sleep schedule being off (I slept in until noon yesterday and today)..which could be either a cause or a symptom I guess. Last night I started feeling energetic again around 9:30 but was pretty low when I got up again today.

Today I bought a new workout dvd to try. It's the biggest loser one with Bob and Jillian. My walking buddy has been talking about doing the Wii fit version... and I have a wii but I think buying additional games for it is pretty expensive. Plus, thought I am getting closer, I'm still over the weight limit to use the balance board. So I just got the workout dvd version. I will probably give it a try tomorrow.

I still haven't been back to the gym. I keep putting it on my calendar. With my financial situation right now it might make better sense to just cancel the membership and try to do more at home or outside. I really haven't been using the gym enough to justify the monthly payment.

Next week my tutoring job starts back up again. I am going to try to use the breaks when students don't show up to either study and really get schoolwork done (rather than goofing online) or go for walks if it is nice out.