TigH's journal (comments welcome)

[TigH]

GREAT NEWS for Ross! He was 199 even today, so I think he is super thrilled! He is looking great. His chest is getting sooooooo nicely shaped. I just love getting a Ross hug these days. No more battle of the belly bulge for either of us, we just get to hug a nice lean healthy person! Woo-hoo!

Wish I could say I was lighter at my WI today, but I am not letting it get me TOO down. I can't get over how much muscle tone I can feel in my shoulders and back. And my bum appears to have shrunk. It no longer just curves to the top of my thighs, and there are some weird lines under it (at the top of my thigh). I am hoping this is not just some extra skin? Weird!

Kamy sent me her work out rewards chart. I printed it out and will start filling it in (from yesterday). She does WI on the same day of the week as me so all I had to do was modify the reward part a little bit. Woo-hoo! I know I journal here and keep up with my workouts, but this will be a nice new incentive, especially with the "weekly reward" and it's up on my cork board so I can glance up and see the empty days start to fill as I work out for the week! Woo-hoo!

In the middle of lunges now. Added some weight, so I am holding 20 pounds per hand as I lunge. Woo-hoo! When I first started lunges I was using no weight and I could really feel it after the first day or two. Then I moved up to 10 pounds each hand, I think? Or maybe 12? Anyway, with all the weights on each bar I know I have 20 in each hand. I am hoping tomorrow or Sunday I will be able to "feel" that I have worked my thighs/glutes!

Ah, that was a great workout! Going to rest a little and then do squats and plies (I don't know how to spell that!) then abs then rollerblade then mow the rest of the lawn.

We are going out for pizza tonight. I was looking forward to it until we went out for Mexican on Wed. The "abs" I had been starting to see earlier this week have hidden themselves again and I know pizza is not going to help uncover them, but c'est la vie, I told Jen and Ross ages ago that we would go to this place and I must keep my word!

Mental note to self ----- Looks like I took the MMM challenge starting May 13, so had two weeks "off" in England, and this Sunday is the 13th of July... That makes it about 6 weeks of routine weight training. It feels like much longer than that. So I have to BE PATIENT and know that in another 6 weeks I will be MUCH further along in the game than I am today. So that would be around Aug 25/26 or so for a full 12 weeks on a regular weight lifting program. Hmmmm.

 

[TigH]

Didn't do too bad last night. I am happy that I stuck to ice water with lemon, woo-hoo! Ross and I spilt some fried calamari. I had mostly the tentacles, and they were tiny! It wasn't very greasy or too heavily breaded. It was ok, and I don't think I had more than a loose cup (you can't really compact tentacles into a cup very well...) Then I had three slices of pizza from about a 14" pizza. Two Hawaiian and one green pepper and mushroom. I came home and put the data into fitday and it put me over my regular intake, but I was still in the "burned more than I ate" range for the day, so I am feeling really good about things.

Back on plan today. We just had lovely egg white omelettes made with sauteed mushrooms and red pepper and a little fat free shredded cheese. YUM! Ross is starting to really enjoy his hot multi grain cereal with raisins too! It is so filling! We are going to power walk with Jen later, then I have to do my shoulder/chest/tris and then we are going to shower and head out to get Jen's new kittens from the pound. WOO-HOO! Ross and I are going to the Whole Foods Grocery this afternoon in search of buffalo (bison) meat. Ground, steak, or burger form, we really want to try some. If we find it in burger patties, I will pick up some whole wheat buns and other yummy burger fixings and we'll have that for dinner. I have some "oven fried" onion rings and "french fries" in the fridge, so we can have those and a salad for a side.

Tomorrow we are considering going to the Disney Wildlife Refuge (they own it with the Nature Conservancy or something like that) to do some hiking. I'm not sure if I want to drive that far though, or just go to Wekiva Springs which is much closer.

So the plan is to stay on plan for the weekend and through next week. Next Sat. night we are meeting friends at the Kona Cafe for dinner. I will try to oder w/in my plan, although I am going to indulge in a sugar free dessert! Then next Sunday we are meeting Kabuli and Luvinit at EPCOT and I know some beers will be had and then we are going to the Flying Fish for dinner, so some yummy dinner will be had. That's why I need to stay on track all week so I can slide a little next weekend.

 

[TigH]

No hiking for today. Instead we are going to EPCOT to hike around there! ha ha! Have plans to pack lunch in the cooler so we are not tempted to eat any Disney food (might get a Disney coffee drink though, not sure about that yet!) Anyway, will work out with my weights this morning, then we'll head to WDW and get our "walking" in there for several hours, eat our healthy lunch there too, then come home and have a healthy dinner.

Went with Jen yesterday to adopt two kittens (she adopted two kittens). Jack and Cow, two brothers who are THE CUTEST KITTENS EVER and they are 12 weeks old. They have to stay at the shelter until Tuesday (snip snip day) and then they can come home with Jen. I can't wait! They are so adorable! Cow is white with dark grey/black spots and Jack is a striped tabby (I think) with a white spot on his face. They are both SOOO cute. I wanted to adopt all the cats there, but Ross was with us and he said NO!

Anyway, last night we had buffalo burgers and they were great! We spent $6.99 on a pound of ground buffalo, I put the data into fitday and we were able to each have a hearty 1/2 pound burger on a whole wheat bun. OH MY GOSH were they good! I cooked mushrooms in PAM and we added those to the burgers. I can't wait until next time, it totally felt like cheating but buffalo is so lean and high in protein, it was the perfect burger for us to have!!! Very tasty meat. My only complaint would be that it was a little dry, but it was our first time cooking it so next time Ross will just not cook mine so long!

I also was wishing we'd go out last night, but I didn't want to go to the movies an be tempted by popcorn and I REALLY didn't want to go to a bar and end up having one too many, so we stayed home and made cappuccino with skim milk. YUMMY! Only 40 calories since we each had 1/2 cup skimmed milk (frothed!) in our caffiene free coffee. What a treat!!! We don't use that machine enough! Anyway, I am so proud of us for sticking to our program on what could have been a very bad Saturday night and today I woke up feeling LESS stomach than I ever had before! I am soooo pumped up today! I feel like I am so much more closer to goal than I have been in a long time. And I snuck a weigh in today, was a hair under 140, but that doesn't matter. I am leaner now than I was at 138. WOW!!!!!!!!!!! And did I mention that I tried on a bikini yesterday that was very scary looking on me a few months ago?

It's a hand me down from Jen. It's blue with white tropical flowers on it, kind of Hawaiian looking. The top is a string bikini with itty bitty triangles to cover my itty bitty chest. The bottom is a small bottom, not string (Thank God) but tiny nonetheless. Anyway, it fit and I showed Ross and HE SAID it looked great. And he would not lie about something like this, because he wouldn't want me to go out in public in something unflattering. So I just need to apply more tan in a can and maybe one day over the next few weeks I'll be able to wear this sucker at my parents house or to the beach. We are going to the Keys for a long weekend later on this year and I needed a new bikini, so I think this will be it! Easy on the budget and a goal meeting thing too, as I had been hoping to wear a bikini at the pool in the Keys that I felt comfortable in. And this fits the bill.

Well all this tea has me typing up a storm this morning. Better go start my workout!

 

[TigH]

Yaaay!

Ross and I stuck with our healthy eating plan yesterday. Ran into temptation everywhere, but we did it! I'm so happy and so proud!!! We both felt great this morning when we got up too.

Yesterday I did my back/biceps and then we did about 2 hours of walking at Disney, but it was not power walking. We did try to check out Mission Space, but it was not open! RATS! I don't know how all these other people have gotten lucky enough to ride it!

Today is just an abs/rollerblading day (off from lifting). Need to catch up on cleaning and laundry anyway.

Still feeling really lean. Wore my new size 6 shorts to EPCOT yesterday, first time wearing them in public, and felt great! We went to the Polynesian to look around and the guard at check in made some comment about me not having a belly!! Thought that was kind of weird, but nice anyway. I wanted to shout "I've lost weight on Weight Watchers" but I didn't want him to rip the parking pass out of my hand...

 

[TigH]

Thursday already, how did that happen?

Looking back over the last week on my Kamgen chart, I can see that I did some form of exercise every day, woo-hoo! My 8s are fitting really loose, so I am wicked happy. Will be heading out to blade shortly (late start w/ exercise today because I went to visit some horses with my friends this morning! neato!!!)

Been a hectic week, I am looking forward to the weekend to let loose a little. Meeting friends for dinner Sat. night and will TRY to stay on plan. Meeting WISHers on Sunday and will just try to use common sense! ha ha!

Worked biceps/back today. Feel great. Been drinking alot of water, just very thirsty today. Hopefully I can blade and get home before any afternoon showers start.

 

[TigH]

Went blading earlier, need to do my ab workout today since I missed it yesterday. Had 1/2 bagel w/ low fat cream cheese and six egg white omelette w/ ff moz. cheese, 1/2 cup each of sauteed mushrooms and green pepper. YUM! That gave me plenty of energy for blading. Am going to cook some broccoli now for lunch and dinner.

Catching up on laundry and cleaning, so that is a little extra calorie burning too. Plus it just feels good to know the house is getting more organized.

No cheating this week until Friday. Feels great to be back on plan. I got really carried away over the weekend with eating off plan stuff, but that's ok, I know it will happen once in a while. Kept up with my workouts so that was just fine. Not sure what the weigh in will hold for me Friday but really that is not even a huge concern right now. Usually I am tempted to drag the scale out for a sneak weigh during the week but this week and last week I haven't wanted to. Just focusing on getting my workouts in and making sure I keep up with the balanced meals (love fitday!!!) Got some frozen strawberries so I can have some banana/skim milk/strawberry smoothies for a snack at night this week on the nights that I don't have my cherries for a snack.

Gotta go wash some sheets!

 

[TigH]

Taking Ross in for his cardiologist appt./stress test later on. I had a yummy breakfast (Ross can't eat until later, poor dear).

Feeling great, still exercising and devouring any information about weight training, cardio, carbs, protein and fats in my diet, etc. that I can. Back to feeling like I want to hurry up and get there this week, but I think it's only the end of week 7 of weight training, maybe the middle of week 8, and I know I still have a few more weeks of training left before I am at "goal" and then it's up to me to keep on training and watching my calories/carbs/protein/fat to maintain.

Butt seems to be a lot more firm, and getting smaller too! I think really my lower belly and my butt and my upper thighs are the last areas that will be carved out. My lower legs look great and my upper body looks great too, so it's the middle section where all the fat seems to be clinging on right now!

Gotta go get ready to head to the doctor's with Ross. They told him no food this morning (none since last night after dinner really), no coffee, no nothing except water. He can't even have hid medicine. They said to bring a PBJ sammich along to eat between tests, something that was high fat (could have been any high fat sandwich I guess, but maybe PBJ is the easiest to prepare?) Anyway, got some Publix brand natural PB yesterday that looks good, is high in fat but also lower in carbs/sugar than another brand and higher in protein! Yaaay! I might be having PB in the future too!

 

[TigH]

Had a great day yesterday, stayed on plan. Was tempted to have a spoonful of PB while making Ross' sandwich, but abstained!

Was able to do my workout when I got home from the Dr.'s office. Did 12 guy push ups, much to my surprise and delight! Also worked tris and shoulders. Didn't rollerblade as it was late in the afternoon, but did do the 3.5 mile power walk with Ross and Jen. Had an awesome banana/strawberry/skim milk smoothie last night, YUM!

Just got done with my abs/weight lifting for today. Off to rollerblade soon. TOM due next week, not feeling any PMS symptoms as of today. Maybe the evening primrose will work this month? I might start taking 2 a day until TOM arrives.

Weighed in same as last week, 138.5. Took measurements and have lost a total of 20 1/8 since joining WISH (I think that's my total!) Lost some on my chest and waist over the last month. Can't complain, I know my chest measurement ISN'T ALL about what is or isn't in the front, that includes back fat too!

Off for Mexican tonight. Really looking forward to queso fundido and a tamale and guacamole! YUM!

Ross will get his test results next Wed. afternoon, so I am looking forward to that. I have a really good feeling that everything is a-ok and that he might not have to take this medicine forever, or at least not the dose he is taking currently. He says it makes him feel funny, so hopefully the dr. will lowe the dose and give Ross permission to lift heavy weights again and workout more intense. He is down to 197 today and feeling great! I am really proud of him for sticking to his plan so much!!!

 

[TigH]

Well we enjoyed the heck out of our cheat night last night. Queso fundido split three ways. I had chips and guacamole, a small chili relleno, a small beef enchilada and half of this thing they called a chalupa (which is not like a Taco Bell chalupa) and one frozen margarita! JUST ONE!

Then we went nutso and Ross and I had a pint EACH of some gourmet ice cream. I had Chunky Monkey (Ben and Jerry's) and he had some blackberry mixed with chocolate chip by Edys, I think. Anyway, it was so tasty but we felt so gross after so we decided to just split a pint next time or get something lower octane! ha ha!

Will be power walking later this morning with Ross and Jen. No abs or weights today, it's an off day. Then moving some HEAVY stuff to my folks house (some concrete blocks that used to be a very ugly patio at Jen's house until we made her a new patio!) Mom and Dad's pool has been mostly screened in, it should be finished up today, so we will more than likely spend tomorrow afternoon there hanging around the pool!

This morning Ross said my tummy looked really flat and nice. He also said I was feeling pretty firm. I couldn't have asked for a nicer compliment!!! I am really amazed at how great he is looking. His belly is completely gone (the dunlop doesn't lop over anymore) It's not flat and firm, but it is well on the way to being there. His collar bones are staring to make an appearance and I found a knobby little bone at the top of each of his shoulders. I can even see his spine a little bit when he bends over, and his bum is looking GREAT! hee hee! It's funny because we both feel like we have a new spouse! It's hard to keep my eyes off him these days, but I don't really want to. I am just so happy that he decided to join me in losing weight and getting in shape. He is the BEST BEST BEST and I want him to be with me for a ver long time!

 

[TigH]

Great day today!

Happy to report stayed on plan yesterday and today. Yesterday was tempted to get BEER BEER BEER at the new gourmet food place we found, but resisted that temptation (will go back later though). Did buy a pound of buffalo meat and got 4 4 oz burgers out of it, so we had buffalo burgers last night and tonight for dinner, on Wonder Light hamburger buns. YUM! GREAT stuff and very worth the trip (but the place we got them at is closer than the other place we got them before and $2.00 cheaper per pound to boot!)

Went power walking this morning with Ross and Jen and also did my lunges/squats/plie thingies. Feeling great. Wore the hand me down from Jen bikini (ie: TEENY BIKINI) to my parents today as we spent the day there in their pool now that they have the new screen enclosure. WOW what a great day. I felt pretty self conscious in my hand me down bikini but thought it was better to break it in at their house than in the Keys! Just a month to go until I will be wearing it there, so I figure that is enough time to really get my tummy in shape. Doesn't seem to be as fluffy as it has been in the past, but it's no where near washboard territory!

Ross and I had steak and potato and broccoli for lunch, all measured out and weighed on the scale! Woo-hoo!!!! I'm so happy we stuck it out this weekend and didn't drink any extra adult beverages or anything (aside from Fri. night cheat night). And we are planning to see Pirates on Fri. night and I had been really looking forward to pigging out on popcorn, but now I am really thinking I will just go with some gum and be happy about seeing the movie. Popcorn with melted fat on it just isn't as appealing as something else I could cheat with! And we have plans to eat out at EPCOT next Sat. with Jen and then with Ross' family on Sunday, so that will be two cheats in one weekend, so I really don't need the movie popcorn (besides, I sat through the Matrix w/o popcorn and lived to tell the tale...)

Hoping for a great week on plan this week. I am WISHING like crazy for a loss on the scale, it's just very nutty thinking that I am losing fat but it's not something I can see in the scale numbers, but I am also logical enough to know it doesn't matter. BUT STILL...

 

[TigH]

Going to try tuna steaks for dinner tonight, with asparagus if it looks good in the store.

Got in my blading and bis/back workout today, have planned PW tonight but as usual depends on the weather.

Feeling rather decent considering should be in full blown PMS right now, maybe the evening primrose is working? Who knows!

Friday night we are going to see Pirates and I've already decided movie popcorn is NOT worth the calories/fat so will save that "cheat" for Saturay if we go to EPCOT! Woo-hoo!

So far been on plan since last cheat night (Fri) and feeling great! Ross is looking so awesome, I am wicked proud of him!

 

[jtbdas]

Karen, thank you for being supportive. I really appreciate the thoughts of encouragement among the WISH Family.

I opened my thread up for comments, something I probably need to keep my focus... thanks again.

 

[TigH]

Thanks, Jason! I wasn't sure if I should post in your thread or not! I just couldn't help myself though, ha ha! I promise not to be too much of a pest.

Today has been great. I decided to try jogging and skip rollerblading. My goal was to make it 1 mile and then keep going if I felt ok. Well, I ended up doing over 4 miles, not sure how much over 4 (probably .1, ha ha!) but you bet your bippy I will jump in my car later and drive the route to see what the real distance was. It was a slow jog, but enough to keep my heart rate up. The last leg was rough, if anyone had been listening they would have thought I was crazy. I kept talking to myself to stay psyched up enough to make it back to my driveway!

Anyway, off to do some ab work and then get ready to pick Ross up for his appt. with the cardiologist. I can't wait to hear about his test results, I am just so confident they will say he's in super shape and that his heart looks great and that they will either decrease his dosage or pull him off the medicine. He says it makes him feel weird, so I don't like that at all.

Hoping for a great weigh in on Friday for both of us. I am really hoping Ross will be 196 this week, or less, that would be great! If I could get to 137 one of these days I'd be happy with that too!

Oh and our tuna last night was pretty good. The propane tank ran out of fuel so the tuna didn't cook like I had wanted it to. Next time we are going to get the grill red hot and just sear the tuna on each side and leave the inside raw. The whole steak got cooked last night so it was tasty but not quite up to par with what I had at the Kona Cafe last week. Anyway you'd have thought it was a million dollar meal prepared by Emeril himself the way Ross was going on... ha ha!

 

[anniet]

Okay, I figured earlier on that reading your journal would just depress me and remind me of all the things I should be doing, but haven't been! I was right, BUT it's inspired me to work a little harder too!!!

Tig, my goal for Labor Day is 137......think a little competition challenge will push us both there? (Insert Molli's witch's laugh here, please!)

You'll hit it before I do, but the competition might be fun!

 

[TigH]

Annie, I would love to take your challenge. I am just trying to figure out what to do, keep eating my "new" way or go back on WW for a few weeks to lose some more pounds. Live by the scale or by how my body feels? I seem to have lost my discipline over the last two weeks and I need to get it back!

Well, today is a new day. THANK GOD because I have just been eating willy nilly for a little while now. Going to be totally on plan today through the 7ths (anniversary dinner for my parents) then again until the outlaws arrive (dinner at Boma and then they are spending one night here so I have to cook a regular dinner). THEN after that will be on plan until another friend comes into town and we have plans for Artist Point! WOW, lots of company, lots of eating!

I still want to have a flat stomach by the time we go to the Keys, so I need to stick with my cardio and weight routine and really stick to some clean eating. I'm going to do my best to go with the 15% fat this week instead of running closer to 20% fat. If that means not having my regular salad dressing, that's fine by me, I can figure out something else to do. I think!

Well, off to power walk and then do my lower body workout and then mow the lawn. Need to stay off the PC this week as I have to get ready for the outlaws and that means clean, clean, clean, and weed the garden! Yikes!

So from today until the Keys trip, NO unschedule cheats and NO going over 15% fat on the days I am totally on program! GOT IT!!!

 

[geetey]

Glad to see your post, Karen, but you didn't mention.... how were Ross's test results? I hope they are great and they were able to reduce or eliminate his meds.

Here's to a great week for you both!!!

 

[TigH]

Ooops, Terry! I knew I forgot something!

Ross's test results were great. Heart beat is great, blood flow is great, everything is great great great. He has to continue with the medicine he is on (but the Dr. told him to take it at night if it's making him feel weird) and one aspirin a day and his regular multivitamin. He CAN workout like normal but the Dr. told him he should probably stay away from racquetball. Naturally he is going to play racquetball. But oh well. We are going to ask our regular Dr. for a recommendation for a cardiologist because we just didn't click with this guy. Anyway, it's VERY comforting to know that Ross' heart is mostly ok, from the looks of it. The medicine SHOULD prevent the atrial fibrillation(sp?) from happening again, but if it does happen, he can take one of his pills to try to slow his heart beat down and if it doesn't slow it down in 30 minutes then he has to go to the ER. They still don't know WHAT causes it to happen, but at least it seems to be under control. I hope!

 

[TigH]

Whew, whodda thunk I'd be happy to see a Monday? I've about had it with PMS and hormones. Last week was just hideous and I don't want to look back on it at all!

Yesterday and today have been great on plan days! Didn't exercise full swing yesterday but today I have gotten so much done. Started out with abs and weights (did crunches between sets, stole that marvelous idea from Poly Pal, he is DA MAN even if he is trying to out push up me allllll the time!) and then went rollerblading. Have also cleaned both guest bathrooms, done about 50 jillion loads of laundry, finally put away a whole bunch of clean laundry, stripped the guest bed, washed those sheets and made the guest bed, cooked Ross' & my breakfast, washed all the breakfast dishes, unloaded the dishwasher, cooked a bunch of brown rice for the week, got Ross' lunch for tomorrow packed and prepared...I feel like a tazmanian devil!

Hopefully we'll be getting some power walking in tonight (depends on rain, story of my life this summer!) ha ha! Just the thought of the outlaws coming makes me wish I had a blender full of rum runners, but I know that won't solve anything and I will just feel rotten physically and mentally after anyway.

Well today brings us a day closer to going to the Keys and I felt really pumped about it when I was doing my workout. Nothing like having a vacation goal to work towards. Fit in the Jen bathing suit in public, that is a great goal. Thank goodness for tan in a can so I will look like a Floridian by the time we get to our resort...woo-hoo!!

 

[TigH]

Today I did 30 manly man push ups! Woo-hoo!!!!!!! Poly Pal is my push up motivator - he's DA KING of push ups, so I am just trying to keep up with him! (I only did 30 push ups by way of 3 sets of 10 with a nice rest in between sets, but I did 30!!!)

Did the bent knee push ups, worked my tris and shoulders with hand weights and went rollerblading. It's a beautiful day and I am getting alot accomplished around the house. Phew! Glad to be back on top of things and back in my groove. I have been pretty good since Sunday about keeping my fat consumption under 20% of my daily intake, so I'm happy about that. I just love fitday and wouldn't know what to do without it!

Less than a month till we go to the Keys, that is on my mind every day when I work out, so I'm feeling really motivated to stay on track as much as I can! Gonna do some splurging down there and I want to make sure I don't have a huge gain while I'm away.

 

[TigH]

I RAN TODAY, I RAN TODAY, I RAN TODAY!!!

Well, compared to a real runner I probably move at a sloth like pace! But it's a start! Didn't cover the same distance as last time. I did run (jog) 3.5 miles and with my warm up walk covered 3.9 miles, and did that in 46 minutes, so it's about a 11.5 minute mile which is pretty good for me!!! I was going for distance and I had to slow down for the last mile and a half. Gosh it was hot out today and I was so sweaty when I got home I felt like I had gotten out of the shower without toweling off! Felt like barfing a little, so I know I had a good run!

Prior to my "run" I worked my biceps and back and did crunches. Yaaay! My "bloat" from last week is gone, my stupid TOM is driving me crazy because I'm a week late (a week and 3 days). ARRRRGH! No, I am not pregnant because Ross has had an operation to take care of that, so my body is just driving me mad!!! I got the PMS bloat/mood swing last week and then no stupid TOM! ARRRRRGH!

That said, my arms look more cut to me today! I finally bagged the salad dressing at night and the pine nuts and olives and am having FF cottage cheese mixed with salsa as my "dressing" so my fat% per day is in a better range. Hopefully that will help my body burn more of this fat that seems so at home on my body!