Category Archives: scale

The scale can be so annoying

Hope you all had a great 4th of July! We had a nice relaxing day. I actually ended up not having to work, which was a bonus, so we had a nice rest day.  We watched another stage of the Tour de France last night!  I was saying to John, what is it about men in lycra riding a bike that is so exciting?  Not sure what, but it is.  We didn’t watch any fireworks.  I hate the crowds and we actually can see fireworks every week in the summer if we want.  They go off in several places each week – for the tourists in Lake George, mostly, but some for us locals :D.

It was off for the gym this morning with my preworkout shake.

Exercise Set/rep/weight
1. Crunches on stability ball 2 sets of 15
2. Complex: High Pull, Front Squat/Push Press, Back Squat, Good Morning 4 sets of 8 each exercise with 20# bar
3A.  Deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar
3B. Dumbbell Overhead Press with rotation 3 sets of 10 with 10# DB
3C. Single Leg Squat 3 sets of 10
3D. Bent Over Row 3 sets of 10 with 50# bar

The gym was really empty today. Post holiday, maybe? I was glad to have the free weights side to myself today. That doesn’t happen too often.

I came home and made a breakfast pudding.

Then we had the Tour on live.  There are a few times a year when I really watch a lot of TV.  Football Sundays and the Tour de France.  It does get in the way a bit with my productivity, though!

So, regarding the post title – I was feeling rather, how shall I say it, lumpy at the gym today.  Part of it was heat and part of it was just how it goes sometimes.

There are times when the scale really annoys me.  I know it doesn’t define me and the number doesn’t mean anything, blah, blah, blah, but boy it can be bothersome.  Last December I gained 8 pounds during that month.  That freaked me out because I wasn’t really all that bad eating wise to deserve that much weight gain.  Then that led to all the testing with my red eyes and the thought of thyroid issues that happened in January.  Remember that?

Well, it took me 6 flipping months to lose that 8 pounds that went on in 30 days.  6 months.  A couple days before I left for BOW, I had finally gotten off that 8 pounds.  (We just won’t talk about the other 10 that are my nemesis.).

Just out of curiosity, I got on the scale on Monday morning and had put on 6 of those 8 in 3 days.  Yes, most of that was water weight, but it still is actually “I have to carry it around and try to button my pants” weight.  It doesn’t matter whether that weight is water, muscle, fat, stomach contents – whatever. That is what annoyed me.  I actually am someone who does need to weigh myself – I don’t do well with no scale.  I have tried that a few times and it just doesn’t work for me.  Interesting that it affects my mindset more not to weigh myself than to step on the scale a couple times a week. Now, I dropped 4 of those pounds right away, but a couple stuck around, which I attribute to M&Ms and PB cups.  I ate a lot of those – and by a lot, I really mean a lot. I don’t mess around when I eat that stuff, and that is the main reason those things really don’t come into my house.

Anyway, normally I am not bothered by the scale, but I just had to get that off my chest.   :mrgreen:

Lunch time! A nice summer lunch of Fage, blueberry topping and Perky flax cereal.

I might buy that cereal again because I just like the name.  This box has lasted me months, I have to say, which is good.

Work was fairly busy today, surprisingly so considering the holiday yesterday and the fact that it is the last day of the pay period and everybody works.

I was really tired, though.  Like can’t keep my eyes open kind of tired.  Maybe the heat?  I made up a latte to wake myself up.

It’s not horribly hot today like it will be the next few days, so I had a hot latte.  Or not too hot.  I can control the drink temperature at home.

I was glad when dinner rolled around.  Pixie finally decided to wake up for a bit after sleeping next to me all day.  Oh the life of a cat.

She would like to be out there.

Dinner:

Standard and quick.  I have literacy tutoring tonight and lots of stuff to do before that.

I have this packed in my bag to eat while tutoring.

😀

We have hot and humid weather rolling in tomorrow.  I hope to get in an early bike ride before it gets too hot.

Biking butt and scale manifesto

Woke up and wiggled the legs, which felt pretty good.  We decided to bike to breakfast!  I had a protein drink for some fuel.

Then we hit the path.  The bike path is a little bit longer and a little slower than the roads (due to rough surface), but so beautiful and quiet on Sunday mornings.  We got to Panera Bread and had an interesting exchange with someone while locking up the bikes. This man was sitting on the patio.  He was quite a large man, as well.

Man:  How far did you guys bike today?

Me:  It will be 17 miles total, 8.5 here, then home after breakfast.

Man:  Wow. That’s great.  Then you can eat whatever you want.

That is such a common misconception.  Burning an extra  few hundred calories does not give one license to eat whatever.  Too many people think this. I actually mentioned that this ride would not do that, but said how we had done 45 yesterday and could eat more because of that, but you can’t go crazy.  He was then saying how he did some walking and was trying to do more, which we encouraged.  I kind of wanted to tell him that I had lost 100 pounds and was now able to ride a lot, but sometimes it feels like bragging or being preachy, you know?

I was hungry by this time!  That protein drink lasted me about 2 miles.  Holdover from yesterday’s ride, I think.  My delicious bagel.

Nom, nom!  I really have kind of backslid on the types of bagels I eat.  I am eating less of the whole grain ones and more regular ones.  Part of that is that I dislike Panera’s whole grain bagel.  It has a strange fishy aftertaste to me (blargh).  Not sure what that is, but me no likey.

Then it was biking home and getting to what little work there was to do.

Couple of bike things.  Tish asked:

How did you learn about how to repair your bike? Did you take a class?

No. I actually can’t really do a lot of repairs on my bike, but I can do the basics. There is a good book out there by Susan Weaver called “A Woman’s Guide to Cycling.” I found it at my library. It helps to get to know your bike. Understand how the chain works. Most problems with bikes are either flat tires or chain problems. Anybody can learn to fix those. Other stuff can go to the bike shop. You really should have working knowledge of how to change a flat tire, cause it is going to happen.  Or at the very least, make sure you have your phone with you to call for a pick up.  😀

Ish also commented:

You must either have an amazingly plush bike seat or buns (literally) of steel.

It’s really the 2nd part of that. It just takes time. When I first got this bike about 5 years ago, I could only ride a few miles and man did my fanny hurt! It hurt just sitting in a normal chair after biking. Then I started getting used to it. I don’t have a gel seat or anything special; it is just the seat that came with the bike. In fact, I need to replace it soon and I am afraid to because it is so comfie. You need to ride consistently to get rid of the soreness. That means going out every other day. Yes, it will hurt at first, but that does go away. I promise. After the first summer biking I was fine, and then the next spring my butt hurt again, but not as bad. This year it didn’t hurt at all getting back on the bike. I have really built up whatever bone strength/callus I needed by consistent training. I now own padded bike shorts this year and can go even longer comfortably.   I did find my threshold for soreness, though, and that was at 95 miles.   Then I started to hurt.  Just like with anything in life, your body adjusts the more you do. You just need to be patient and consistent. (How many times can I use the word ‘consistent’ in a paragraph??)

Lunch break! Tried a new cereal with yogurt and strawberries. It’s Total Omega 3. Had a coupon, so gave it a shot.

Tasty! A little sweet, but very good.

Slow work day, so I got more work done on the cookbook and some outside stuff.  I am trying to patch our driveway, but it is really more crack and hole than asphalt left, so it might be a lost cause.

I was ready for snack time!

Then an hour later I was still hungry, so I had the last of the picked blueberries.  Wahhh!

Sometimes I really like what I write.   Things every once in a while come out sounding just like I think them.  For those that didn’t read yesterday’s post (gasp!) , I said this:

The scale is just a box with a number on it.  It does not tell me that I am strong and beautiful.  It does not know that I can bike 100 miles in a day.  It does not know that I can squat and deadlift in the weight room with the guys.  And I don’t care what it doesn’t know about me – because *I* know it.

Shelley called it my scale manifesto, and I fell in love with that term! (Thanks, Shelley!).  I need to put it on a t-shirt or a coffee mug or something.  Definitely going to put in the sidebar at some point when I have time to fiddle with the blog (I also note I need to change my age to *ahem* 42…).

Smokehouse run today, so we finally have meat!  John grilled up some awesome boneless pork chops.  Side of brussels and a mango tango pluot.

I really like the pluots.  So juicy and a mix of sweet and tart.  Yum!

I am also so excited – the drought is over because tonight is some football!!! Are you ready??  I  am!  I don’t care if it is preseason, I’ll take whatever 😀

Running and missing the scale…

Seems a lot of people like the tuna/cottage cheese combo.  I am so not sure about that one…..

Woke up early today, thanks to Ms. Pixie.  I forgot to feed her dry food last night, so she was pushing on the door at about 5 am this morning 🙄  I got up and gave her some food, then tried to get back to sleep, but no dice.  I figured I would get up and run, then.  I had a protein drink and headed out to the track today.  I noticed these nice gladioli blooming in someone’s yard!

Purty.

I’m a flower stalker, what can I say?

Here is the lovely track I run at when school is out.

It was a good morning to run, as there was a foggy mist and it was in the 60s.  I don’t like running in the sun unless it is winter time.

I did 3.25 miles.  That’s an extra 1/4 mile just because I felt like it.  I think I might be ready to get my mileage back up now that I am running regularly again.  I do have a race on Saturday, though – so nothing heavy duty this week.

Even though it was not sunny, I still sweated a lot! LOL

Bags under the eyes courtesy of Pixie….

Came home to some protein waffles.

Yummers.

Workity workity today.  Both jobs very busy.  Whew!  I was ready for a lunch break pretty soon.

Greek yogurt, Bear Naked Banana cereal (very good), and blues.

Plus 1/2 of this just to get a few more calories because I felt like I really wanted more to eat.

For some reason, running makes me really hungry.

I have to tell you all that I really, really want to weigh myself.  It’s been about 3 weeks now and I am dying to know if the scale is up or down (or the same).  I have this strange fear that it will be up 5 pounds.  After looking at all the videos of myself I did yesterday, I am feeling mildly down about my lower body.  Not too much, and it will pass, but not weighing makes me have to sit and deal with that feeling without any reassurance.  Is there a lesson to be learned there?  I don’t know.

John made me a latte and I had one of the blueberry cornbread muffins with it.  Toasted it up and sprayed some ICBINB on it.

For a more positive note on this month – I have been doing great with the no nibbling while preparing meals!  I have been going through some Altoids, though LOL.  I guess I would rather have 15 extra calories of those than 150 extra calories of nibbles, know what I mean?  It’s still really hard, though, I will admit.

Dinner time was a stirfry of broccoli and shrimp with ginger sauce on a sweet potato.


John said my dinner looked weird.  I liked it, and that is all that matters.  He doesn’t do savory sweet potatoes, so maybe that is why he thought it looked funny.

I finished up both jobs and have a free night!  I think I am going to drag out the beads and make some jewelry, maybe.  Thank goodness the ice cream shop down the street is closed on Tuesdays 😀

Tour de bagel and 7 steps of mindful eating.

Off to the Tour de Bagel this morning!  I had a protein drink and we biked it out on the roads to Panera instead of the path.  Really set a nice pace today, too.

I was ready for that bagel today!  Asiago cheese.  Num.

We chatted for quite a long time.  It was nice not having to grocery shop  afterwards like we normally do on Sunday.  Then we pushed it again on the way home.

Ride distance: 16 miles

Avg speed:  13.5 mph.  Nice pace.  On the rough path, we are usually about 1 mph slower.

Had the Tour on while I got settled in to work today (job #1 very busy today).  Poor Lance.  Not the way to end his comeback for the Tour.  My thighs were burning in sympathy for those guys at the end on the climbs.  I don’t know how they do it.

Guess the heat relief was short lived.  Hot again today, but maybe not as humid.

Lunch break!

Made some egg salad on a Tomaxico wheat wrap.  These are good and have a better texture than the Smart Carb wraps.

I haven’t weighed myself since July 1.  I go through periods where I weighed every day and then periods where I would weigh once a week.  I did it to note the number, but the fluctuations stopped bothering me a while ago.  It has now been 10 days since I stepped on the scale.  I actually don’t really think about it that much as of yet, although I was a little curious after the 100-mile ride as to what the scale said.  It’s funny how yesterday morning I was feeling thin and fit and I thought that maybe because I was only relying on my eye and not a scale number?  Then last night I was feeling chubby, so maybe not LOL!  My brain is so weird.

My barista is back, so he made me a latte today and I had some blues with it.

I just love the color of these berries.  I am smitten.  They are almost gone now.  Might have to pick again on Friday 😀

More review of Savor includes the 7 practices of a mindful eater:

  1. Honor the food. Meaning to think about where it came from. I am taking time to think about this before each meal
  2. Engage all senses.  Notice the visual appeal, the textures, the smell, etc., not just taste.
  3. Serve in modest portions.  You can always go back for more.
  4. Savor small bites and chew thoroughly.  I could do better with smaller bites.
  5. Eat slowly.  Really need to work on this one.
  6. Don’t skip meals.  Never, ever a problem here.
  7. Eat a plant-based diet.  Vegetarianism is not for me.  I do have days where I don’t eat meat, but not going to happen all together.  Eating locally produced meat is important to me.  I want to be an ethical eater.

That is one thing that is bugging me about this book.  The pushing of vegetarian and vegan way of life.  There seems to be no distinction of purchasing local farm meat products and factory farming.  Otherwise, I am learning some good things from this book.

In keeping with being mindful, remember how I mentioned my habit of snacking while preparing meals?  I decided to really try to not do that today.  Lunch is always easier than dinner, and I had no problem there.  With dinner, I had Altoids come to my rescue:

I put one of these in my mouth while I was in the kitchen to keep from nibbling.  I don’t even want to nibble on what will be on my plate because I want to get rid of that habit all together.  The ginger mint (I really love these, btw) really helped me with that.  Then it was gone and I almost reached for something on John’s plate and had to catch myself.  A lot of habit energy to divert, that is for sure.

What I did eat:

BBQ shrimp!  3 oz of shrimp looks a little dinky on the plate.  My eyes don’t like that portion size.  Really tasty, though!

I am done with job #1 today – yay!  Going to relax and enjoy a couple mindful pieces of this:

Question:  Are you a fast or slow eater?