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!

Ups and Downs with some Fun in Between

I needed to get back on track before posting again. I had a great weekend in Kona with my friend Bonnie and her daughter, Dawn. We know each other since Dawn and my kids were in preschool together. Whenever I go there Bonnie plays tour guide. It's really fun to be driven all over, looking at places and things I haven't seen for so many years. Friday we drove up the Kohala coast and stopped here for a few minutes. Hmm...can't get the pics to post under this text and don't have time to keep messing around with it. Anyway, I wore my pedometer everywhere we went and managed to walk 1.5-2 miles every day. Not a lot, but something.

On Sunday before coming home we went down to The City of Refuge. It was so different than it was the last time I was there more than 20 years ago. Much more crowded, but still so beautiful. You just can't beat the blue Hawaiian ocean. I might go back this weekend and bring my snorkel stuff. The water was clear, the reef alive with fish. Bonnie said she's seen lots of turtles there. I would love to swim with dolphins, so maybe that will happen one of these times. Anyways, here's a pic of City of Refuge. That's lava in the foreground. The other thing i like about this "beach" is that there is shade. Gotta have shade. Oh shoots! That one posted at the top! Anyways.....

Yesterday I had planned to go to the gym..lol..almost said beach. You know that's on my mind. But, once again my sleep was all messed up. I woke up at 4 am and went back to sleep between 7 and 8, didn't get up until 11. All groggy. Couldn't get myself to go. I did do some office cleaning for about an hour, including moving furniture around, so that burned a few calories I am guessing.

Today, although I didn't want to, I made myself put those shoes on and get to the gym. BTW, my feet have totally gotten used to wearing shoes!!! Amazing!!! I thought it was going to be super hard because I hadn't gone since last week, but I did good. I added an extra minute on the elliptical (10/20 difficulty, the TFH should be happy about that, but she would probably just grin and move it up to 15). Up to 6 minutes now..lol...and burned 30 calories. Then on to the bike. I couldn't adjust the first one's difficulty level, so did 6 minutes on that one and burned 36 calories, then switched to another one. I set it for random hills and difficulty level 12/20. After a few minutes of what seemed like too easy, I increased it to 15. I was cruising right along at about 4-5 milesper hour when I hit the first hill. My pace kept slowing down until the machine would pause because my rpm's were going below 40. I kept thinking of Michelle's friend Kate's advice...just keep it slow and steady. After it paused 3-4 times, I set the difficulty level down to 12, then to 10. I was thinking that is kind of like shifting into lower gears..or higher ones..whichever makes it easier to go up hills. I managed to get through the whole rest of the course without it pausing. I rode for 17 minutes. 15 minutes then 2 minute cool down, burning another 107 calories. Grand total for the day = 173! I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's a big increase from last week. And, I'm happy I could do some hills. My heart rate varied from 120s to 150s.

I'm still waiting for the paperwork to come from my insurance company so I can get started on WeightWatchers. I'm hoping it will be in the mail today so I can go tomorrow morning.