I've so far stuck to my New Year's resolution to try one new thing a week.
Last week I attended a book club meeting that I found on meetup.com. They were discussing Orphan Train and since I just finished it, it was a great opportunity to get out there and meet new people.
There were about 10 people who showed up, which was good considered it snowed earlier in the day. Pretty good discussion. And most everyone seemed nice. So I think I'll go back next month.
This week I signed up for a Networking After Work event. It was last night at The Gryphon (which is a restaurant close to work that I have been wanting to try). There was probably 150 people there, from every type of job. I had asked my friend, Craig, to join me so I would know at least one person there. I ended up talking with a woman who knows a guy I went on a few dates with last year. Kind of awkward.
Next week I think I might try a country line dancing class...
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
Back in the Saddle Again
I've decided to start up the ole blog again. Not just for weight loss, which I am working on again, but just in general. I am determined that 2015 will be my year.
How will 2015 be my year, you ask? That is still unclear. I have a few goals for myself though:
1. Read more
2. Do one new thing a week
3. No dating until I've lost 20 lbs
4. Pay off debt
5. No cutting hair this year (other than a trim)
Yes, those are random, but what do you expect from me?
This week's something new is going to a book club meeting from meetup.com. That will be Weds night.
How will 2015 be my year, you ask? That is still unclear. I have a few goals for myself though:
1. Read more
2. Do one new thing a week
3. No dating until I've lost 20 lbs
4. Pay off debt
5. No cutting hair this year (other than a trim)
Yes, those are random, but what do you expect from me?
This week's something new is going to a book club meeting from meetup.com. That will be Weds night.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
SeptMEber
I have obviously slacked off recently on the blog. And to make up for it, I'm going to try and post every day for the rest of the month. Why? Because it's SeptMEber. What is SeptMEber? I've decided to make this month about me. Concentrate on doing things that make myself happier and eliminating things that don't.
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To start, I have decided that I HAVE to work out more. One of the get healthy groups I'm a part of decided to start this today:
So I decided to join them, but add some things of my own. I will admit that I wasn't good today with the food. I volunteered this morning and I was bored and exhausted, so when I got to work at 9, I broke down and got a Diet Dr. Pepper. Just one and I admit that I didn't even drink the whole thing. But as for food, I also didn't do very well: bagel slim with low fat peanut butter (not horrible), Apple Cinnamon Nutra Grain bar (also not horrible), Vocelli bread sticks (VERY BAD), a small fudge pop (forgot about the no chocolate thing), 3 frozen fruit bars. I wasn't feeling good today - when I am sick I tend to eat a lot of frozen stuff. On a good note, other than the one DDP, the only other thing I drank today was water.
I did some light exercising tonight as well. I walked the trail behind my house (it's about 1.5 miles) and stopped 4 times at each of the benches along the way to do a set of 25 squats and 10 pushups on the bench. So 100 squats and 40 pushups and a 1.5 mile walk. Not too bad for not feeling well.
Now for the somewhat embarrassing part... I weighed myself when I got back from the walk and weighed 194.8. Why is that embarrassing? Many reasons... That is not the weight I want to weigh. Who knows who might read this... I do know that it's probably higher b/c of the breadsticks and that I weighed myself at 8 pm, but still... Here's a picture of me after the walk.
Please ignore the messy bedroom. :)
Other than working out, I'm also not going to drink (other than for the WVU vs. UMD game) this month. I'm going to work harder to organize my life. I need to get rid of/sell a bunch of crap that I have, but don't need/use. It's also time to surround myself with people who make a positive impact on my life. I've met some amazing people this summer. No reason to keep people around who bring me down.
Until tomorrow...
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Hot In Here
Actually it was Hot Out Here, on Sunday.
I participated in the Biggest Loser 10k walk with two of my girlfriends Sunday morning and man was it H-O-T. Overall the walk was disappointing (took place on a parking lot, not a lot of water stations, etc), but we did it. We thought about stopping when we got to the 5k point due to the heat and boring layout of the race, but we continued on. And I gained two more blisters (both next to the balls of my feet). I'm seriously glad that I am allowed to wear flip flops to work, or I'd be in trouble. I sent a note to the shoe store where I bought my shoes from - I feel like if I paid $150 for shoes and wore the synthetic socks, I should not be getting blisters from a 10K.
I took a walk last night. Again it was hot. Guess I should expect this since it is July. Luckily I enjoy being outside, even if it is hot. Blisters didn't hurt super bad, so I did 3 miles.
Tonight is softball with a new team. Only know one person on the team, so hopefully they are a fun group. :)
In regard to weight loss, I've officially stayed below the 10 pound mark all week! Next goal will be 15, which hopefully I will get to soon. I went to the grocery store over the weekend and bought a bunch of healthy foods and premade a lot of things so it would be easier during the week. I have to say I'm excited about my lunch today - a bunch of raw veggies with hummus and fat free ranch dip. Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with food like me? I love food, but hate cooking. I don't like eating the same thing over and over again, which is a hard challenge when you live alone since you often have left overs.
I participated in the Biggest Loser 10k walk with two of my girlfriends Sunday morning and man was it H-O-T. Overall the walk was disappointing (took place on a parking lot, not a lot of water stations, etc), but we did it. We thought about stopping when we got to the 5k point due to the heat and boring layout of the race, but we continued on. And I gained two more blisters (both next to the balls of my feet). I'm seriously glad that I am allowed to wear flip flops to work, or I'd be in trouble. I sent a note to the shoe store where I bought my shoes from - I feel like if I paid $150 for shoes and wore the synthetic socks, I should not be getting blisters from a 10K.
I took a walk last night. Again it was hot. Guess I should expect this since it is July. Luckily I enjoy being outside, even if it is hot. Blisters didn't hurt super bad, so I did 3 miles.
Tonight is softball with a new team. Only know one person on the team, so hopefully they are a fun group. :)
In regard to weight loss, I've officially stayed below the 10 pound mark all week! Next goal will be 15, which hopefully I will get to soon. I went to the grocery store over the weekend and bought a bunch of healthy foods and premade a lot of things so it would be easier during the week. I have to say I'm excited about my lunch today - a bunch of raw veggies with hummus and fat free ranch dip. Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with food like me? I love food, but hate cooking. I don't like eating the same thing over and over again, which is a hard challenge when you live alone since you often have left overs.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Walkin' On Sunshine
Rather I was walking in sunshine over the weekend. :)
My friend, Dave, and I had big plans for the long 4th of July weekend. Drop one car off in PA at the end point of our 47 mile Appalachian Trail hike Weds night after work and start the hike Thursday morning in WV. Aah DC metro traffic... Seemed to take forever to get to the drop off point in PA. When we did, it was too late to find the site in WV and set up camp for the night. We ended up opting to sleep in actual beds for one more night and start out for WV in the morning. We got to the starting point in WV around 11 Thursday morning. Threw on our packs, took some pictures and started walking.
You can't really tell, but my backpack in the picture above is black. Why do I point this out? Because about a half mile into the hike it broke. It was an adjustable pack and had broke through some of the straps. So we turned back and went to Harper's Ferry to try and find a replacement pack (where is REI when you need one?). A lot of money later, I got a pack that seemed like it would work (and not break).
At this point, we are three hours later in the day. So we opted to restart the hike a little farther along the trail (we already walked in WV and VA, so why not). Found the parking lot, strapped the packs back on and headed for the trail. Little did I know, this section was ALL uphill. Let's reflect back on the main purpose of this blog - weight loss. I'm overweight. I'm out of shape. And it was hot.
It didn't take me long to start to wonder why I had agreed to do this... And to have serious doubts about finishing. But I will give it to Dave, he was awesome. Encouraged me and waited for my slow ass to catch up. I'm sure it didn't help that my pack was a good 40 lbs and his had to be 60 lbs. After what seemed like an endless amount of switchbacks, we got to the top. And here was the view...
Note my footwear in the picture above. This will come in to play in a bit. We roll into our first camp around 6 or so - Ed Garvey Shelter. Set up the tent and then set out to get water. One of the other fellow campers showed us the path and said "it's hell". He wasn't kidding. Nice downhill trek to get the water at the spring. And a grueling uphill climb (with full water containers) on the way back. Dave took most of the water and I told him to go at his own pace. I was exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do at that point was walk up another damn hill. But I made it. Considered taking a nap, but I had my first freeze dried food experience to look forward to - and bed. I was a little concerned about how the freeze dried food would taste. We got a large variety of flavors and for the first night I opted for Chicken & Noodles and Dave had Beef Stroganoff. I was surprised that both were actually pretty good! And not super bad for you! Chatted with some other hikers (my favorite was Butterscotch Bob). I got my trail name - Broke Pack Ally.
After dinner, we were both exhausted and were in bed around 9. We thought we were geniuses when we decided to use pool floats as our air mattresses. However, when it's hot out, you stick to them. So neither one of us got a great nights sleep.
We got up the next morning, packed up camp and were very happy that we still had enough water left over from our trek down to the spring from the night before that we didn't have to go back down there again.
As we were starting out I felt as though I might be getting some blisters. I decided to ignore them and keep walking. Yeah, that wasn't a very smart idea. As the day wore on, the blisters got bigger and worse. About four miles into day #2, we made it to Gathland State Park and decided to break for lunch.
They had fresh water there and I decided to assess the damage on my feet. I had blisters on both pinkie toes, one on the inside of my left foot between my heel and ankle, and one on the bottom of both feet. But I put my shoes back on and kept on trucking. One foot in front of the other, the steps got slower and slower as the day went on.
I'm pretty sure that I collapsed and passed out in the picture above. My feet hurt and I was tired. I was frustrated with myself b/c I made such a poor decision on shoes and that I thought I was going to be this bad ass who could walk 47 miles with a 40 lb backpack without much training and being out of shape. Who was I kidding? Oh yeah, myself...
We finally made it to the camp site. Set up camp and had our next round of freeze dried meals. I had lasagna, Dave had chili mac. I swear that lasagna was delicious! The campground also had bathrooms with showers AND hot water! It felt good to take a shower, even though I was joined by various insects.
I opted to fore go the air mattress and just do the sleeping bag. After some entertaining sounds coming from another tent in the campground, I slept like a rock. I woke up thinking I was going to be able to continue on with the hike. Butterscotch Bob performed surgery on my feet. I made it about a half mile and despite the help from Mr. Bob, my blisters wouldn't allow me to go any further. A trek to Washington Monument State Park and a call to a FANTASTIC friend and we decided to stop there and pick up the trip later in the year.
A few things learned:
*GET HIKING SHOES
*Pack less... WAY less
*You don't need as much food as you think
*Leave the alcohol at home
*Wrap your feet in duct tape to help prevent blisters
What I'll take away from the trip other than the lessons learned - the trip was fun. Dave has the patience of a Saint. Work harder, buy new shoes and kick the second half of the trip's ass in October.
I weighed myself when I got back and had lost 3 lbs. I believe this was because I sweat like a waterfall. I'm back up to where I was when we left. Kind of disappointed, but the blisters have made it hard to work out this week. I do have the Biggest Loser 10K on Sunday. Hope the feet heal quickly!
My friend, Dave, and I had big plans for the long 4th of July weekend. Drop one car off in PA at the end point of our 47 mile Appalachian Trail hike Weds night after work and start the hike Thursday morning in WV. Aah DC metro traffic... Seemed to take forever to get to the drop off point in PA. When we did, it was too late to find the site in WV and set up camp for the night. We ended up opting to sleep in actual beds for one more night and start out for WV in the morning. We got to the starting point in WV around 11 Thursday morning. Threw on our packs, took some pictures and started walking.
You can't really tell, but my backpack in the picture above is black. Why do I point this out? Because about a half mile into the hike it broke. It was an adjustable pack and had broke through some of the straps. So we turned back and went to Harper's Ferry to try and find a replacement pack (where is REI when you need one?). A lot of money later, I got a pack that seemed like it would work (and not break).
At this point, we are three hours later in the day. So we opted to restart the hike a little farther along the trail (we already walked in WV and VA, so why not). Found the parking lot, strapped the packs back on and headed for the trail. Little did I know, this section was ALL uphill. Let's reflect back on the main purpose of this blog - weight loss. I'm overweight. I'm out of shape. And it was hot.
It didn't take me long to start to wonder why I had agreed to do this... And to have serious doubts about finishing. But I will give it to Dave, he was awesome. Encouraged me and waited for my slow ass to catch up. I'm sure it didn't help that my pack was a good 40 lbs and his had to be 60 lbs. After what seemed like an endless amount of switchbacks, we got to the top. And here was the view...
Note my footwear in the picture above. This will come in to play in a bit. We roll into our first camp around 6 or so - Ed Garvey Shelter. Set up the tent and then set out to get water. One of the other fellow campers showed us the path and said "it's hell". He wasn't kidding. Nice downhill trek to get the water at the spring. And a grueling uphill climb (with full water containers) on the way back. Dave took most of the water and I told him to go at his own pace. I was exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do at that point was walk up another damn hill. But I made it. Considered taking a nap, but I had my first freeze dried food experience to look forward to - and bed. I was a little concerned about how the freeze dried food would taste. We got a large variety of flavors and for the first night I opted for Chicken & Noodles and Dave had Beef Stroganoff. I was surprised that both were actually pretty good! And not super bad for you! Chatted with some other hikers (my favorite was Butterscotch Bob). I got my trail name - Broke Pack Ally.
After dinner, we were both exhausted and were in bed around 9. We thought we were geniuses when we decided to use pool floats as our air mattresses. However, when it's hot out, you stick to them. So neither one of us got a great nights sleep.
We got up the next morning, packed up camp and were very happy that we still had enough water left over from our trek down to the spring from the night before that we didn't have to go back down there again.
As we were starting out I felt as though I might be getting some blisters. I decided to ignore them and keep walking. Yeah, that wasn't a very smart idea. As the day wore on, the blisters got bigger and worse. About four miles into day #2, we made it to Gathland State Park and decided to break for lunch.
I'm pretty sure that I collapsed and passed out in the picture above. My feet hurt and I was tired. I was frustrated with myself b/c I made such a poor decision on shoes and that I thought I was going to be this bad ass who could walk 47 miles with a 40 lb backpack without much training and being out of shape. Who was I kidding? Oh yeah, myself...
We finally made it to the camp site. Set up camp and had our next round of freeze dried meals. I had lasagna, Dave had chili mac. I swear that lasagna was delicious! The campground also had bathrooms with showers AND hot water! It felt good to take a shower, even though I was joined by various insects.
I opted to fore go the air mattress and just do the sleeping bag. After some entertaining sounds coming from another tent in the campground, I slept like a rock. I woke up thinking I was going to be able to continue on with the hike. Butterscotch Bob performed surgery on my feet. I made it about a half mile and despite the help from Mr. Bob, my blisters wouldn't allow me to go any further. A trek to Washington Monument State Park and a call to a FANTASTIC friend and we decided to stop there and pick up the trip later in the year.
A few things learned:
*GET HIKING SHOES
*Pack less... WAY less
*You don't need as much food as you think
*Leave the alcohol at home
*Wrap your feet in duct tape to help prevent blisters
What I'll take away from the trip other than the lessons learned - the trip was fun. Dave has the patience of a Saint. Work harder, buy new shoes and kick the second half of the trip's ass in October.
I weighed myself when I got back and had lost 3 lbs. I believe this was because I sweat like a waterfall. I'm back up to where I was when we left. Kind of disappointed, but the blisters have made it hard to work out this week. I do have the Biggest Loser 10K on Sunday. Hope the feet heal quickly!
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Celebration!
Well, sort of. As I teased yesterday, something big happened last week - I officially lost my first 10 lbs! However, I weighed myself this morning and I was back up a half a pound. BOOO!!!! But I'm very close, so I'm going to do a little victory dance!
I was an exercise machine last week. I started out last Saturday on the high from accomplishing my last C25K day. I decided to keep going. Well, it was hot as hell last Saturday and smart me decided to run at 4pm. Needless to say I lost a few pounds in water weight from sweating, but ended up walking more than running. I was kinda pissed, so I tried again on Sunday. Headed out a little later in the day, but to the same avail. Sweat my ass off, but it was too hot to run. I still wanted to do some sort of activity, so I focused on just walking this past week. I am going to be walking 47 miles here in a few days, so why not? There is a great hilly trail (4 Mile Run) that runs parallel to the W&OD right near my house, so I have walked that every day (with the exception of Friday, Saturday and last night). It's a about 3.5 miles with a few really good hills and if I book it walking, I can do it in under an hour. I'm gonna do it again tonight. Taking tomorrow off and then...
It's AT hiking, baby! My friend, Dave, and I are heading out Weds after work. Gonna start the hike Thursday morning in the best state ever (WV!), walk through this state called Maryland (way less cool than WV) and end up in another cool state of PA. The way we have it mapped out it should be about 47ish miles of hiking. I put together my pack last night and I'm pretty sure I'm going to capsize at some point in the trip. Yes, imagine me on my back like a turtle who can't turn over... I'm pretty sure the pack is more than half my size. Guess that probably means I should downsize a little. :)
I'm going to weigh myself before and after the hike to see if I've lost any weight. Our main source of food is going to be MRE's (freeze dried food) and various snacks (nutrition bars, nuts, etc). Weather is looking to be pretty good, so I'm sure I'll be sweating out any water I drink. I'm excited and nervous - it's a pretty big challenge for me. But if i can do it, it's because of the work I've done up until this point and the support I've gotten from everyone along the way.
I was an exercise machine last week. I started out last Saturday on the high from accomplishing my last C25K day. I decided to keep going. Well, it was hot as hell last Saturday and smart me decided to run at 4pm. Needless to say I lost a few pounds in water weight from sweating, but ended up walking more than running. I was kinda pissed, so I tried again on Sunday. Headed out a little later in the day, but to the same avail. Sweat my ass off, but it was too hot to run. I still wanted to do some sort of activity, so I focused on just walking this past week. I am going to be walking 47 miles here in a few days, so why not? There is a great hilly trail (4 Mile Run) that runs parallel to the W&OD right near my house, so I have walked that every day (with the exception of Friday, Saturday and last night). It's a about 3.5 miles with a few really good hills and if I book it walking, I can do it in under an hour. I'm gonna do it again tonight. Taking tomorrow off and then...
It's AT hiking, baby! My friend, Dave, and I are heading out Weds after work. Gonna start the hike Thursday morning in the best state ever (WV!), walk through this state called Maryland (way less cool than WV) and end up in another cool state of PA. The way we have it mapped out it should be about 47ish miles of hiking. I put together my pack last night and I'm pretty sure I'm going to capsize at some point in the trip. Yes, imagine me on my back like a turtle who can't turn over... I'm pretty sure the pack is more than half my size. Guess that probably means I should downsize a little. :)
I'm going to weigh myself before and after the hike to see if I've lost any weight. Our main source of food is going to be MRE's (freeze dried food) and various snacks (nutrition bars, nuts, etc). Weather is looking to be pretty good, so I'm sure I'll be sweating out any water I drink. I'm excited and nervous - it's a pretty big challenge for me. But if i can do it, it's because of the work I've done up until this point and the support I've gotten from everyone along the way.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Push it
I try not to post more than once in a week, but I had to post today. I just got back from doing another day of C25K (no, I didn't do it this morning like I said I would). After not really exercising for the last 2 weeks, I considered going backwards and redoing a day that I had done before. When I saw what the workout consisted of (see picture below for details), I REALLY considered going backwards. But I figured I'm never going to get anywhere if I don't push myself.
I did it and here's proof!
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I did it and here's proof!
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