Still overheated

There's only a couple of weeks (total) each year in Seattle where you need air conditioning. But those weeks SUCK.

This appears to be one of those weeks. So, by the end of the week, expect there to be a picture of a little puddle of goo and an arrow pointing to it saying "Abby." Do you think melting would mean weight loss?

Okay, but seriously, the one benefit to the heat: You're just not eager to eat. I got up and ate breakfast around 10 a.m. Then didn't eat again until 7 p.m. Just couldn't stomach it until then. The kicker is that the apartments here retain heat really well. So it's 62 degrees outside but it's still sweltering in our apartment, despite fans running all day and night.


Unfortunately, I have trouble sleeping in the heat. So bad sleep last night. And not enough, at that. Which is why I didn't take a walk today. Didn't want to set myself back. But tomorrow, I'm determined to get out and do at least a light walk. Even if it's supposed to still be sunny & hot. Thank goodness for sunscreen!


Calories tonight are under 1500. About 1465. It's too hot to cook and too hot to want to eat my microwave meals. Still, I ate relatively healthily: Cereal, Fiber One bar (if you can find these on sale, the apple streusel one is TASTY!), a PBJ, a banana, a cup of Jello Pudding, some grapes and a Luna Bar. Probably should cut down on the bars a bit -- they have a tad more sugar than I'd like them to. But they're good for quick noshes.


I know Green Panda said she does some meal replacements. They are amazingly quick & easy, which is a huge bonus for people. (When my fatigue was at its worst and I could barely leave the house, I lived on 2 slimfast shakes a day so that I only had to make one meal a day.) Have either of you tried the GNC whey protein replacements? Tim and I did, and I'm considering getting another bag. It's great because you don't even have to mix with milk. Just blend (or shake) with cold water. It tastes like slightly diluted chocolate milk. Not bad at all and lots of protein! You definitely want to wait for a sale or coupon if possible -- I think we did a Buy One, Get One Half Off -- since the 1 lb packets are $15.99. Of course, that's also 14 drinks so...

Anyway just an idea. What kind of tricks have you guys found to keep yourselves eating healthily? Other than frozen meals, I really don't eat veggies, so that's something I should focus on. I don't dislike them. I just don't actively like them either...

My Day 2

Well, I am finally cool again after going out for my walk. It wasn't particularly hot but it was MUGGY!


It probably didn't help that I kept choosing songs with fast beats. (I tend to moderate my pace along with the music.) But at least I know I got a good workout.


Okay, scratch that. Apparently, I was underestimating myself (I grew up in Anchorage, AK, so I tend to assume I'm just being a wimp.) It is 82 degrees right now at 6 p.m. with 30% humidity. Ick.

So, I burned:

4 min warm-up walk: 15
2 min stretch: 8
21.5 min walk: 161
5 min stretch: 19
3 min cool-down walk: 20

Total: 223


So far, my day has been crazy. I had to take a mid-morning nap, which ruined my eating schedule. (I still hadn't eaten breakfast, so I finally got that in at 4 p.m.!) So I may not be able to input my food eaten today. Not that it's scintillating stuff anyway.

Hope you all are having a fabulous second day (1/30th of the way through, already?! My, how time flies!) and I'm off to sit in front of my fan and try not think cool thoughts.


Update: Today's calories came in at just under 1800. I had my morning (this time, afternoon) cereal (approx 400 calories with milk), a Healthy Choice frozen meal (380 calories), Dryer's Slow Churned ice cream (3 servings, 360 calories), yogurt (170 calories), chips & salsa (250 calories) and another kind of Slow Churned ice cream -- hey, it was hot! -- (240 calories). 1790 calories in all.

June 1st

Well, today had its ups and downs. We ended up going to a movie preview at the last minute. Essentially, we went from my therapy straight downtown to wait in line. So I ate more calories than I normally would have by eating out.


Also, since I have therapy on Mondays at 4:15 p.m., it pretty much means that Mondays will rarely include a workout on my end. But my goal is 3-5 times a week a walk. I'm starting around 20 minutes and working up from there.


A few basic facts about me: I am shooting to lose 10 lbs in the 8 weeks provided. I'm on Alli, which helps keep me in line on the binging front. (I'm an emotional eater and a depressive, which go together annoyingly well.) It essentially means I can't eat more than 19 grams of fat at a meal without risking quite a bit of discomfort.


That's usually not a problem. My diet is relatively low-fat. I eat Kashi Go Lean Crunch every morning, because I'm boring like that. I stocked up on a bunch of Healthy Choice frozen meals when they were on sale for $1.88. And I usually have a sandwich for lunch and cram a bunch of veggies in there when possible. (I didn't grow up eating veggies, so that is something I'm trying to work into my new eating routine.)


One of the main problems I have is that I deal with chronic fatigue. There are days when I don't leave the house. If I get less than 8 hours sleep, I'm ditzy and unfocused all day. If I try and do too much at any given time, I can set myself back a day... or more. It's been awhile since I've pushed that hard, I'm happy to say. But when I get that exhausted, I'm actually so tired that it hurts to breathe.


I tell you about this so that a) you understand why my exercise is relatively low key and b) because we need to understand the challenges we are all facing. I work a few hours a day from home. My husband is unemployed at the moment so is also home all day. The biggest problem for me is just getting myself up and out of the house -- sometimes due to fatigue, other times depression's overwhelming inertia.


This is one reason I am happy to have people to be accountable to but also to have in my corner.


Anyway, I figure with some monitoring of calories and semi-regular walks, plus a small boost from the Alli, 10 lbs in 8 weeks is a pretty reasonable goal.


Overall, I should be shooting for about 1800 calories a day. Just keeping it to that amount would let me lose a pound a week. But I don't always follow things well. So I actually shoot for 1500 calories a day (but never to the point that I am actively hungry and don't eat) so that if I do go over, I'm still in an acceptable range. Sad to have to play these mind games, but such is life.


I'm losing weight because I don't comfortably fit in my clothes anymore, and I wasn't happy about my weight even when I did. My priority right now is getting comfortably back into a size 14. I figure losing 10 pounds should more than do it. I would like to extend the healthier habits to eventually get down to a size 10-12.


My scale's a little wonky, but seems relatively consistently wonky. So I weighed myself today and came out at 203.5 lbs. Which is actually closer to 206ish. But the point is to have a baseline, I suppose. So at the end of the two months, I want to be 193.5 or less.


And, I'm warning you, yes I actually do always write like this. So expect some long, rambling posts. My apologies ahead of time.