Still Moving in the Right Direction, if Just in Baby Steps

Haven't had much to say here for the past week. Part of it is the frustration of not being able to use the features successfully to make this more interesting, with pics in the right places and right sizes, and links to cool other stuff looking like they should. I feel like a dork when I can't do this stuff. But I will keep trying. Like now, here is a pic of my usual morning smoothie


I think I've talked about these before, but I'm still excited about them. I keep changing them so they get healthier. Lately I've been adding AltaDena fat free yogurt to them and not so much milk. I'm still trying to finish my 2% milk so I can give soy milk a try. And, in the meantime, I have actually been measuring my morning milk. That is a very new thing for me. I have one cup total for my coffee and smoothie. Once I switch to soy milk for the smoothies I'm planning on getting fat free coffee creamer of some sort too. Okay, so this is why I haven't been writing here much either. I feel like reporting all the minutiae of my efforts is probably not that interesting to anyone except me.

But, I do want to say that the two other little changes that I hope will add up to some weight changes are my change to "light" mayo, which has 45 calories and 4g of fat per Tbsp, as opposed to the 90 cal and 10 g of fat of regular mayo, and the light stuff comes out in this cute ribbon, and I've measured, I am usually using only 1/2 Tbsp. So, that is a very very good change. As is my use of "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter spray.
Now, I have read some big brouhahas about the false claim that there is no fat and no calories, because that is true with just 1.25 sprays of the stuff. But for my money, any product I can use that tastes like butter and contains only 10 cals and 1 g of fat per 12.5 sprays (plenty for a baked potato or piece of toast) is a miracle in my book. Especially compared to regular butter which has 100 cal and 11 g of fat in 1/2 T, which is NOT enough for a baked potato for sure. Now, there might come a day when 10 cals and 1 g of fat will seem like a very big deal to me, but I don't think that will be any time soon. Probably right about the time I start rolling on those foam things for my lateral fasciati thing.

I'm also still gonna talk about how the "getting active" part of this journey is going. Now, I could just sum it up by saying, "Pretty darn good!", but for those of you who know me, that would be too too easy. I have to write a paragraph or two instead. I can't say I'm a ball of energy yet, or that I keep moving all day, but I have been doing something active for at least 45 minutes every day. A few days this past week it was moving furniture and cleaning, a few days it was walking for 30-60 minutes while my vehicles were getting serviced (note to self: always wear tennies when this is happening), a few days it was playing in the water, riding waves and keeping moving as I was waiting for waves for 60-90 minutes, and a few days it was the gym for cardio.

I hadn't been to the gym for I think almost a week, but made myself go tonight. I wanted to see if I could do the treadmill, because I'm getting interested in doing the C25K plan. And OMG! What an amazing surprise!!!!! I did 30 minutes-easily! I'm not kidding. I didn't even hold on to the handles most of the time. 20 minutes was at level 3, the last 10 at level 4. A very slow pace, but my heart rate was in the high teens, low 120s the entire time. Perfect! And 98.6 calories burned. Now, this accomplishment may seem like nothing, but a month ago there is no way I could have even done 10 minutes, maybe not even 5. Last time I was on the treadmill I was hanging on for dear life. So, for me this is major progress.

Then I switched over to the bike for 20 minutes. 15 minutes at level 7, and my hr stayed in the 120s, the last 5, with the biggest hills at level 9. Only once did my hr get up to 139, and no pausing at all! Another 116 calories burned. Not pleased with the calories burned, but I am very very pleased in the progress I'm making with my heart rate and perceived effort. I also tried an ab crunch machine before I left. I think I'll schedule an appt with a trainer soon to learn how to adjust the machines and set up a little training program. I guarantee it will not be with the TFH of fasciata fame.
Okay, all caught up. Not sure what I'm going to do for the rest of the weekend in terms of exercise, but it will be something. That I can guarantee.