Lent, Day 34: How I Do It

OKay… so… I’m down nearly 60 pounds now, and believe it or not, people actually notice!  I’m sure this has to do with the fact that my clothes actually fit now, thanks to Michelle and Lisa, but regardless… Easily the most common reaction I get from people is, “What are you doing?” and, when I tell them, “Wow, how do DO that?”

So this will be the overview post.  It will be redundant, but it’s the sort of ’shop talk’ version of the ADF thing, so it might be interesting even if you’ve been reading awhile.

Here’s what I do:

Lent, Day 28: The Good, The Bad, the Ugly…

Actually, today was more good than bad or ugly, but right now I REALLY don’t feel like walking.  I’m not even sure why, to tell you the truth.  I got the kids to bed early and I came down to walk by 8:30, which is really early for me.   I don’t know why that would make much of a difference, honestly, but I find myself glancing at the timer a lot more tonight than I have recently.

Exercise+, Day 19: Looking Down the Barrel

Today was another good day, I’m happy to report.  When I got up this morning (which was around 7:30 am), I found that Zack had already been up for an hour and was through most of his lessons.  He actually finished everything by noon.   I was only TOO THRILLED to release him on his own recognissance for the rest of the day.   After all, being done with one’s schoolwork by by  noon is supposed to be one of the joys of homeschooling: you don’t have to wait for the rest of the class to finish their work before you can move onto the next thing.

And I, in turn, was equally industrious.  I did three loads of laundry, three loads of dishes (No, I’m not kidding… and the dishes weren’t even piled up to start with; we just go through a LOT of dishes around here.)  I got dinner made and in the oven on time, and I even made pudding for the kids for dessert.  As if to underscore our good day, the weather cheered up to a balmy 50 degrees, and promises to be even better tomorrow.  Mmmm!

Exercise, Day 16: Mom

Mom came over today to weigh herself.  Apparently she wasn’t too pleased with her scale at home.   For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, Mom only weighs herself once a month.  Now, I understand the Weight Watchers’ logic on not weighing every DAY, but somehow waiting an entire month to check seems cavalier in the other direction.  How can you accurately gauge what you’re doing if you don’t check in at least once in awhile?

And sadly, her scale was mean to her.  In the past month, though she’s been doing ADF faithfully — more faithfully than I am, even, as she doesn’t even take the weekends the way I do — she weighs the same as she did last month.   I think she weighs about 182 (she is 5′9″).

Apparently she stepped on and off the scale a number of times, let it reset itself, tried again.  She eventually persuaded it to tell her she weighed 180, but she was so annoyed that she decided to come over here and let my Wii Fit decide the matter once and for all.  The Wii fit puts her at 179.9, so she probably did lose at least 2 pounds.

Exercise, Day 9: New Books!

Yesterday was MUCH BETTER as fasting days go.  I was hungry enough to feel like I was accomplishing something, but I wasn’t ‘jonesing’ for food.  That’s probably a tacky way to describe it, but when I’m in that horrible compulsive mode, I can completely understand what it must be like to be a drug or cigarette addict.  At any rate, I was just glad to feel like I was doing well again.

The happy weigh-in probably helped.

Exercise, Day 2: Treadmill Woes

Today I came down here to find that my treadmill belt had somehow shifted all the way to the right on its running board.  This, in addition to the unpleasant odor the motor gives off once I’ve been walking awhile, does not bode well for this particular run.  Andy was able to sort out the belt, but he predicts that the motor will go out ‘pretty soon’.  The smell is definitely not a good sign.

ADF/WW: Day 10

It has come to pass, that which was foretold.

Kinda funny.

ADF/WW: Day 9

This was bound to come up eventually.  Warning: may be TMI.

ADF/WW: Day 7

Okay… just a bit of advice?  If you fast on Saturday, DO NOT skip breakfast on Sunday on the assumption that the Fellowship Hour at church will supply you with something to eat.  We stayed up late last night to watch a movie, and therefore woke up late this morning.  I had to play handbells at the 9:30 service, so we ran out in a rush, I didn’t eat anything, and when I was able to take a minute to run down and see what was available in the Church Basement, everything was gone.  By the end of the service, I was feeling downright wobbly.

Never again.  I know fasting is a spiritual experience for some people, but I need more of a run-up to a spiritual fast than that.

ADF/WW: Day 4

I have so much to say today that I barely know where to begin.  This is probably going to be one of those rambling, ruminating entries, so feel free to skip reading today.