Post Bday Update

I've kinda been on strike from the internet for the past 10 days or so - I just needed a real break, and I'm not sure I'm done with it yet. During that time, I had a birthday (almost), a major relapse into spinal pain (on the morning of my bday - which is why I decided to postpone it till further notice, since I spent my bday flat on my back - or on my stomach, when I went to the chiro/accu), got honored by the American Cancer Society (last night), reconnected with a high school friend (Jody) and a few other things that escape my mind.

Still going strong on the diet front... Although, oddly, my exercise has slipped a bit since I started back with the trainer 2 weeks ago. Hm. Doesn't really make sense...

Yesterday was the 1st time I've worked out - and only 40 minutes on the arc trainer - since Saturday... because of the spine situation... really brutal on the pain front.

Today, I'm going to a Mat Pilates Class (in 50 minutes) for the first time... It's "contra-indicated" according to all the spine folks, but so is everything else that makes you fit - apart from walking, which actually causes wicked spasms and swimming which bores me to tears. So.. we'll see. I'll know tomorrow if Mat Pilates is a good idea or not.

I gotta try!

Still cycling, of course, but it's fallen off from summer levels due to rain in the past couple of weeks... I'm happy to report though, that I'm upgrading on Saturday - getting a 21 speed bike. :) Frankly, I have NO idea what I'll do with 21 speeds, but it's a gift in exchange for some internet help... so .. sweet... I'll figure out the details later. :)

ok, 45 minutes till class time.

I'll be doing a size drop check again on November 1st. Here's hopin'! And workin!

P.S. Loving this season of Biggest Loser...

While I wait for the Rain to Go Offshore

Woman with worlds most expensive (and worth it, cuz sunstroke sucks) backpack (camelbak) wins wet tshirt contest. SOAKED. Head to toe. Hehe. If you click on the pic, it'll enlarge and you can see the thoroughness of the drenching.

Happy as a clam. And waiting for the storm to head offshore so I can continue my Sunday ride. :)

Happy Sunday!

It's 10 past 9 in the morning, and I'm barely coherent.
One of P's idiot international fans was kind enough to give me a wake up call
about an hour ago... grumble... I can't believe those numbers are still circulating.

OK.. so the week in review:
Food: Perfect - no carbs week number 1 complete. Ironically, it was Mark that wanted to restart/kickstart with another induction phase, and I hopped on to be supportive, and he gave up a couple days in saying he just didn't have enough energy with lifting and no carbs... s'ok - he has less to lose than me - take your time, dear. ;)

Exercise: Very Good, but not excellent... or maybe I'm just being hard on myself, because I only went cycling twice, due to all the rain...

I rejoined the gym this week, and added gym cardio and weightlifting back into the equation. Did I actually take a day off this week? Umm.. yeah. Yesterday. I went to the spa next door and got a facial and soaked in the jacuzzi for hours... Ahhhh...

My skin looks great, but my spine is nowhere near as happy as I would have liked. I don't get it - how can I feel worse after a day of pampering than before it? Sigh... the esthetician must've hit a couple of my landmines.

I'm hopeful that a nice ride this morning will calm the beasties within.

Rain Rain Go Away!

3rd morning
in a row
I wake up and it's raining too hard to go ride!
and thunder
and lightening.

This sucks.

Definitely feeling the weight lifting from yesterday though,
so that's good...
means I did enough to make an impact.

OK.. to the gym I go for cardio and more lifting.
Since I didn't do biceps or triceps yesterday,
I'll figure out a way to do those today,
without troubling all the herniated disks...

C2-3, C3-4, C4-5, C5-6, C6-7

or the RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy) in T10-12...

Ahhh, all the little landmines of my spine...
lol...
and the challenge of not setting them off...

So far so good.

Back to the Gym

A little updating...

I went on the ride with Mosaic Sunday, and it was gorgeous... not in a traditional sense of the word, since it was overcast and a little rainy, but for a 24 mile ride (20 with them and another 4 on my own after), it couldn't have been more ideal.

I really enjoyed the pack riding experience. It was a first for me, and I found myself doing things, like riding on a very busy road and over bridges, that I wouldn't have normally done on my own.. very freeing. :) I also learned a little about how to maximize the pack riding experience... like making sure to be in the front of the pack when a bridge comes up - I got stuck in the back for one, and it was brutal being behind the slowest riders going up a bridge. Yucko.

Gonna upgrade the bike soon too.

Monday I did nothing but get a massage... also quite wonderful... and even better, I didn't need to recuperate after the massage - big bonus. The last time I got one, it released so much lactic acid into my system it actually knocked me out of the loop for 2 days.

Today, Tuesday, I re-upped at the gym at the community center. It was raining again this morning, so I couldn't ride, and it was just time. I've been wanting to start lifting weights again anyhow. So, I went to the gym, did my cardio there on the arc trainer for an hour, then set about to the machines... and I found myself totally lost & totally hating being inside a gym for a workout - instead of out on my bike... a very odd feeling for me since I used to be such a gym rat... With the spinal issues and not wanting to injure myself, I kept to the lat pull, chest press and the leg machines... and then abs, plenty of abs...

All the while I was hoping my trainer would walk through the door and put me out of my misery... I waited and worked out about 3.5 hours... no luck. SO I just called him a few minutes ago - he's on vacation in Puerto Rico, and he answered anyway - and we're gonna get going again next week. :)

I'm very psyched. I've dropped about 60-65 pounds since I was last working with him, so the workouts should be much more productive this go around... I can't wait to start lifting in earnest. And more Pilates...

Ahhhh...

I'm also back on induction phase... This should be a VERY productive next couple of weeks.

Random Thoughts

The Rabbi last night was really great...
I'll be going back for more shortly,
Just want to get a random thought out there first.

I am my job.

First and foremost.

Tomorrow, I'll begin to celebrate that with a 20 mile ride up in Hollywood.

Big Fat Reality Check

Sigh...

OK.. still thrilled with my progress, but I just had a big, fat reality check in the clothes trying on department. :( 12 capris fit, 14 shorts don't. I just tried em on, and I was hoping for an easy on, but not even by a long shot... I'd guess another 10-20 need to come off in the belly. The legs and tush were fine. Where the hell did this belly come from? Used to be the only thing that always stayed flat.

I'm making progress, but not as fast as I thought...

Forging ahead... as soon as the exhaustion from BB wears off.

And making a re-upping my gym membership to add on to all the cycling.

Holy Cow

I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since I wrote anything here. Unreal. Big Brother has taken over my writing life for the past little while, but it's about to be over, so... back to personal blogging I shall be. :)

OK.. here's the good news: while I haven't updated my big fat blog, I have been working out (cycling) and eating as if I had. Drumroll please...

When I started sometime in April, I was in 20s and 22s... Last week, I randomly picked something marked 12 off a hanger to try it on, and it fit!!!!!!!!! OK.. the word "fit" may be a bit of a stretch, cuz I wouldn't actually dream of sitting down in those pants just yet. But... (a big miami sized buttt) I was able to get them on, no shimmying, no sucking anything in, no lying down... ON.

So, there is definitely progress. :)

Yippeeee!

Still loving riding, and can't wait to get back to massive morning rides once it cools down just a little. It's brutal by like 9am now, so I've barely gotten like 90 minutes in in the mornings lately. I overdid it once a few weeks ago, and made myself pretty ill with sunstroke - damn near puked & passed out at the oasis while I was ordering my cortadito. So, no more hero rides for me till it cools down... Sunstroke is scary.

Also cool.. LOTs of people noticing the loss now.

Gonna re-start with my trainer October 1st. :) And gonna upgrade the bike for my bday present to myself...

Life is very good.

What a Week

Yesterday, I woke up at 5am, blogged the overnight report, and then took my mother out for brunch. On the way there, I was thinking, ok... this is good... first time she's felt well enough to get out in 2 weeks... everything's getting back to normal... all i ask for is a little less drama this week.

Talk about tempting fate!

We have brunch... At the end of my meal, I'm sitting there peacefully, I look down at my empty plate, and there are 3 maggots.

I'm just gonna let that soak in for a second.

Needless to say, I felt immediately nauseous. i got up from my table, brought my plate with me, signaled to the manager of the restaurant and said, "I'm about to be ill. I need you to look at this," and handed him the plate. He looked, said, "Oh my God. Oh my God," and I took off for the bathroom. (i'll spare you those details)

I come back out, and still shaken, spoke with the manager, the cook, etc... Honestly, they couldn't have handled it any better. We determined it did not come from the kitchen, but the A/C unit above my table... where more continued to fall once I'd left the table.

Anyhow, they completely stepped up to the plate vis-a-vis medical, etc, and they're good people, so I'm letting it go. I was grossed out, but unharmed.

OK.. so I go from there to the Paramedics, who tell me not to worry, and call poison control to confirm it.

Moving along... I go to my favorite coffee joint for an espresso, make a couple calls, then call my mom to tell her all's well, and she tells me:"I did something stupid. I lifted.... "

and my heart stops... she just had the procedure a couple days ago... no lifting...

She'd had a sharp pain at the site of the catheterization... ok, so I'm not going to the afternoon party... I'm staying with her, making sure she's alive.

Things calm down for a while, then I get a note from one of the commenters on the blog, asking if I wrote for another bb site. I said no, never heard of em... Long story short... since the beginning of the season, they've been copying every single post and every single cap i've done and posting them as their own.

To say I was livid doesn't even begin to describe it... I spent all night, from about 11pm till 4:30am getting screenshots of all my stuff on the site... and yes, I'm pursuing it.

So this morning, I wake up absolutely thrashed at about 11am... post a slap-ass overnight report.. and get ready to help my mother with a volunteer thing for some underprivileged kids... we're supposed to ride over together with this woman, who as it turns out has brought 3 children with her in a small car.

I take one look, then decide to ride my bike.

I'm riding over there, and about 2 miles away, I'm chilling out, and just thinking, "please, God, just a little less drama this week." As soon as I thought it, the chain popped off my bike.

I laughed my ass off.

What else was I supposed to do?

Sunday Morning 1-7

1. 5:30am wake, coffee, blog the overnight report.
2. 8:15am - 10am get out early enough to avoid the mainlanders and end up Power cycling through the rain while dodging poorly corralled triathletes in *my* oceanside park. grrrr.
   
3. 10-10:30 breathe, shower off all the sand from above, dress
4. 10:40 cycle to park on opposite end of island for breakfast on no name harbor.
5. 11:00 breakfast
6. 11:30am leave, too full, promise self to cycle at least another 30 minutes.
7. 12:30pm home from nice ride around the island... legs/spirit coulda gone longer, but the boss lady'd had enough. youch. and it's about to storm. didn't realize till i was done how good a ride part 2 was...
   

Cycling reminds me of those great moments when you were 9 or 10 that started with the words, "Race ya!" and didn't finish till everyone was out of breath with huge smiles on their faces from all the exertion.

Also, the sheer fun of intentionally riding through all the puddles you could find...


Gotta love it.