Slow and Steady

That's me in the weight loss and running progress departments. Wednesday weigh in. Another 1+ pound loss. This scale is a funny thing. All week it looked like I wasn’t going to lose anything, even though I’d exercised every day including doing the Maunawili Falls hike again. Then presto chango, this morning it read 164.8. A few of my blogger friends are experiencing scale weirdnesses too. I think we all agree that as long as we keep on eating right and exercising regularly in whatever manner we choose, we’ll keep getting healthier and the weight will eventually come off.

I want to add a big congratulations to Shosh for reaching her WeightWatcher final goal weight this week. Yeah Shosh!!! I haven’t been following her journey that long, but I do know she’s been on this path for a while and has turned into quite the runner. And writes some excellent inspirational posts.

Here’s a pic of the top of the mountains from where I parked near the beginning of the trail to Maunawili Falls.


And here is a pic of the same mountains at the top of the climb. It looks a lot closer, don't you think? After that the trail levels out for a bit, then goes down, down, down till it reaches the stream again.

This time Ann went with me and she needed to rest often. Sound like someone else we know not too long ago? I don’t know if it was the going slower with her, or just that I’m getting in better shape, but this time the hike was so much easier for me. Like no problem at all. That was a wonderful feeling. On the way back we decided to follow the stream instead of tackling that sharp uphill. I’m glad we did because we could keep a steadier pace that way, even though we had to make like Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea at times. Speaking of running, I went to Week 4 of my C25K running plan on Monday, which was 3 min jog/90 sec walk, then 5 min jog/2 ½ min walk, repeated twice. Now to any runners reading this it might not seem like a lot, but to me it was huge. I jogged for 5 minutes! Twice!!!! It wasn’t super easy, but it was certainly doable. I think it helped that I’ve been setting the incline up a bit on the tread each time. For this first Wk4 workout I set it back to zero. Still watching the heart rate. And this time it never went above 140. That is so excellent! Oh! And last week when I went to the doctor for some odd rash and little infection that showed up the day after the Maunawili hike, my blood pressure was 120/60! That is down from 142/90 on May 21 and 136/80 on June 9th. I should have gone for a jog/walk this morning, but I was beat. Woke up at 5:30 a.m. (two mornings in a row now), didn’t get home from my daughter’s until 11:30 last night, and didn’t go to bed until almost 1 a.m. So, I went back to bed, read some, and woke back up at 11. I might go after work, but not sure. If not, I’ll probably go tomorrow before I leave for AZ.


Yeah, AZ! I’m so excited to see my sons and of course, the one and only Carlos Santana. I am so inspired by his and his family's spiritual and life journies, and his music makes me feel so great. You know there will be pictures when I get back. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to fit some exercise in between shopping and cooking. The worst that will happen is that the only exercise I’ll get is walking around stores and dancing at the concert. I’ll be back in time for Happy Hour with Dallas on Tuesday, though. I remembered my camera yesterday, but the battery was dead! Next week I WILL get a pic.

A New Wardrobe

This is going to be a quick entry. After last week’s screeching halt to the downward scale movement I did a lot of positive self talk, reminding myself that even if the scale didn’t show it, I continued to live a healthy lifestyle and felt great because of it. So, I just continued on that path for the week and voila! Another 3 pounds are gone.

I didn’t have any super calorie-burning experiences this past week either, so I guess that’s not what the factor was the week before. I’m not going to waste any more of my thoughts on it. As long as I continue to eat healthy and remain active I’ll continue to get in better shape, feel great, and most likely lose weight. I just want to say that I’ve only got 22 pounds left to my goal weight though, and I would like to be there by the end of the year. If I don’t make it, oh well. But, it’s something to shoot for.

I’ve continued on Week Three of my C25K running plan, and most days my heart rate has stayed where it should. I’ve also done it on a 1.0 incline, so I guess my heart is getting healthier. Sometimes I finish off with a 2.5 or 3.0 incline walk for a bit, just to mix it up a little.

I went to Kona last weekend to visit Bonnie and Dawn. Had a fun time, although no snorkeling this time. What with all the weird shark action we all decided to stay out of the water. We did go to a beautiful beach, Anaeho’omalu at sunset time one evening. Here’s a sign we ran into. We also drove up to Waimea where they were having a ho’olaulea. We got there in time to hear a good reggae band, so we danced a little.

The day I got there Bonnie’s car was leaking oil, so while her friend fixed it I went shopping at Bonnie’s “garage sale”. She has containers full of clothes, so I got a whole new wardrobe. Lots and lots of tops and bottoms and a few cute dresses. It was great, because I’d gotten rid of all my current size clothes when I lost weight before. Thank you, Bonnie! Now I’m ready for Arizona and Carlos!

Sharks and Turtles

Well, for some reason I didn't lose any weight this week. I ate really well (in calorie range) and was active. The only thing I didn’t do was have one BIG calorie-burning day. Like a 1500+ calories hike or bike ride. Oh well. I’m comfortably down three pants sizes, and even those are kind of loosish. I am NOT going to get all upset about no weight loss. I’m NOT! I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and hope more comes off next week. And I'm posting this pic of me to remind myself that all this dedication to getting healthy is paying off by being able to have fun doing cool stuff (even if I do still have pockets of fat all over my body). But, I’d love to be down another size by the time I go see my son and Carlos at the end of the month.

I’ve been going to strength training classes twice a week. Dallas teaches the one on Tuesday mornings and she really pushes us. I’ll try to remember to take a pic of her. She makes me laugh, calls it “Happy Hour” while she is having us add “pulses” just when we think we’re done with a set.

Also moved on to week three of my C25K plan. Well, actually I took it a little farther the first day, jogging 3, walking 3 the whole time. But then yesterday I did what was recommended. 90/90, then 3/3 and then repeat. It wasn’t really too hard, and my heart rate stayed where it was supposed to for the most part. Progress. This getting old thing sucks. Everything takes longer. But, I’m really thankful for all the progress I’ve made so far. And how happy and healthy I feel.

I didn’t go on any bike rides yet. I’ve got this cold sore on my lip from the sun. I know, Ewwwww! So except for my one fun adventure last Thursday, I’ve been trying to stay out of the sun. Good thing, too, since there was a shark sighted at Kalama’s on Saturday, who was described as “acting aggressively.” No details, so not sure what it was doing. Nobody got attacked, and they can’t growl, so maybe it was baring it’s teeth? Or teasing swimmers by swimming up really fast, then turning away at the last moment? Just kidding. I don’t think sharks have much of a sense of humor. In fact, I know they don’t. I started writing this post yesterday, and before I finished it, there’s been an actual attack. Not at “my” beach, but up the coast aways, at K’a’a’awa. But in the general oceanic neighborhood. Sheesh. Now I don’t know what to do. As many of you know, bodyboarding is my “go to” exercise, the one I love the most. Have to do some thinking about this.

Okay, on to the adventure. My friend Ann (there she is getting ready, with my bodyboard and bag next to her) and I went out to Goat Island last Thursday. I lived on that bay almost 30 years ago, but had never gone out there. I guess because there was such good bodyboarding right in front of our house and we had an acre and a half. Anyways…we swam ourselves and our stuff out there, had a picnic, swam in this little bay, walked around the island, and just felt grateful for living where we do. We found a bunch of beautiful shells, more than either of us had seen in years. We had the island to ourselves except for this poor turtle we came across who was really sick. Lots of our sea turtles have these tumors, and this guy had a necklace of them. His shell was dry and when Ann touched it, he retracted his head a bit. At least we knew he was alive. When we got back home I tried to get someone in the animal rescue business to go get the turtle, but still don’t know if anyone did. Now I’m thinking about how that turtle = sharks in the area. Actually, I did think about sharks as we were paddling out there, but since sharks are always present somewhere in the ocean, if I let that stop me from going in the water, I’d never go. But, given the most recent shark happenings, I’m definitely going to be more cautious. I can’t promise I’ll stay out of the water, but I will make sure I’m extra aware of what’s going on around me. Anyway, we had a good time, except for the turtle thing.

Hiking Along

Okay, so I’ve done many things since my last posting. Including losing weight. Yee haha! 2.6 pounds last week, and another 2 pounds this week. As long as I stick to my eating plan and keep active it seems like I'm going to keep losing. And I've lost a total of 24.5 inches overall. Amazing!

Here’s what I’ve been doing. Gina, one of my new tenants (here’s all three new tenants; Gina, Pam, and Kerstie-so cute!), and I, hiked the Makiki Loop Trail, as I said we were planning. Unfortunately we both forgot our cameras. At the beginning of the hike I pointed up to the top of the ridge on the other side of the valley, and said, "We're going up there." We both laughed. I was kidding! Little did I know we were going up there. We did make it, with a few breathing stops on the 700 ft elevation climb within .70 miles (16% slope!). Suffice it to say it kicked our collective butts, and we both decided, on the way down, that we needed to add to our hiking supplies, in the way of ankle/knee wraps/braces. I definitely learned from that hike.


So, two days later I decided to hike to Maunawili Falls. And I did. This time I packed a knee brace, an ace bandage, an energy bar, and of course, water. Oh! And my camera. It was a fun hike, with three water crossings, not too many stairs, and a waterfall at the end as a reward. Oh! I’d been considering titling this (my next) post “I Hate Stairs!,” but I guess it’s like childbirth…I’ve forgotten how painful they are. Believe me, I’ve spent a LOT of time lately imagining a post about how much I hate stairs on hikes. But, I found a long piece of bamboo right at the beginning of my return from Maunawili Falls, broke it in two, and now I have walking sticks to help me up and down the paths, so while I still think about how much I hate stairs, I’m okay with them…..for now. And I'll tell you, it felt like I was flying going down the trail that day.

Anywaaaays…been hiking. Had a few down days this past weekend, but have still managed to go to the gym, do strengthtraining and some C25K (been jogging 90/walking 90 seconds for the entire 30 minutes. Think I'm going to move on to the real week 3 this week), and of course, do some bodyboarding at Kalama’s.



Also did a short hike to Likeke Falls. Got a little lost on the way, but from what I’ve read and what I heard that day, it’s par for the course. Along the way I ran into three Marines who were as lost as me. They had a map someone had given them. I considered backtracking and following them, but decided to continue on as I’d planned. That afforded me an opportunity to climb a humongous hill and back down, and then backtrack. (Note the bamboo stick in my hand. That Marine wanted them, but I wasn't giving em up, no siree Bob!) But I also found the falls before the marines, so that was a sweet reward. I love having these adventures. A good life. Not perfect, but good enough.

Oh! And I got a bike. Not sure if I mentioned that. I think I'm going to give it a try this weekend - either riding to Kalama's or trying a bike path I've heard about. First I have to get a helmet though. I'll keep ya posted on that. Hey all you friends (and you know who you are), how about leaving me a comment?