WEIGH IN DAY...

     For those of you who didn't know, over the course of the past year I have been working on losing weight and trying to get healthier. I have been using the Spark People (see link on this page) to track my weight, and food intake. The website provide a lot more than what I use it for, but it has helped me become more aware of the amount of food, and exactly how many calories, grams of carbs, proteins, and fats were in the foods I was eating.

    I weigh in every other Tuesday. I like to mark my progress over a two week period for a couple of reasons. #1, it allows for bigger weight loss numbers. OK, so maybe this is a mental game that I play with myself, but I feel better about the difference in weight being 6 pounds over a two week period than 3 pounds each week. #2 - I like to have 14 days to work on the next weigh in as opposed to only 7. Again, another mind game... but if there is a situation where I end up having a little more to eat than I should, I feel better knowing that 1 high calorie meal over the course of 14 days will affect my weight loss less than over the course of 7 days. It just makes it easier for me to stay "on the wagon" so to speak.

    These past two weeks have been pretty on track although there was some Halloween candy consumed. I am not sure WHAT I was thinking. I decided that because we do not get many little ghosts and goblins for halloween that we should be the "good" house on the street and pass out full size candy bars. I purchased the Mars variety box from Sam's club. That would be 30 full size candy bars (the good ones too, Twix, Milky Way, Snickers). Long story short we had one (1) trick or treater and she wasn't even a trick or treater, she was dropping off 2 chocolate bears that I bought for a fund raiser. We gave her a candy bar since she was going to be trick or treating at the mall. So now we have MORE chocolate than when we started the night with. Yes, I had some chocolate.

      Also this past weekend, Bev's Aunt and Uncle came up from Virginia Beach for a visit. I saw it as a perfect opportunity to make a Cranberry Cheesecake for them try. This was the first time I had ever made a cranberry cheesecake so I was not sure how it was going to look and how it was going to turn out. We did not eat the cheesecake until Saturday night, but I knew Friday night, while I was making it, that it was good. That's because I sampled the cranberry filling, the cheesecake filling, the topping and the crust while I was making it. I figured if all the parts were good separately, they would be REALLY good put together. I WAS RIGHT. Not only did I partake of the Cranberry Cheesecake (on Saturday and again on Sunday) but Bev's Mom made an Apple cake... and NO ONE makes an Apple Cake like Mom mom does!

     In conjunction with limiting the amount of food that I eat, I have also gotten reacquainted with my bicycle. I usually ride early Saturday and Sunday mornings. My favorite route takes me out past the Coast Guard Station, by way of Annapolis Mall and City Dock. There is almost ALWAYS a stop at The Hard Bean for a cup of coffee to refuel before riding on. This past week I did 124 miles over a 3 day period. One of the days I rode from home to the B&A trail to the John Overstreet Connector to the BWI trail and back for a total of 48 miles. On Staurday and Sunday I did the Coast Guard Station, City Dock, Annapolis Mall ride for totals of 43 and 33 miles respectively.

     So, now to the numbers... I lost 3 pounds over the past 2 weeks, which puts my total weight lost at 98 pounds since November 2008. I was hoping for a 5 pound loss to reach the 100 pound mark, but I am VERY HAPPY about the 3 pounds. I figure I can break the 100 pound barrier next weigh in, but that halloween candy and cranberry cheesecake demanded my immediate attention.

Thanks for reading... visit again soon.