Disjointed Catch up

Really the things I have to say don't really flow into one easy blog post so I'm going to write random paragraphs.  Some may build upon each other, other will be totally random!

******I went to the gym yesterday morning.  I ran for 2 miles on the treadmill (25 minutes or thereabouts) then I moved to the exercise bike and biked for 25 minutes (10 plus miles) and then I worked on my upper body.  While I was doing the cardio I was pushing it and working it.  My heart rate was high in my zone and I felt GREAT!   Even when my heart rate is really high in my zone (both based on the generic age zone and the zone based upon my resting heart rate) I can still talk and converse like normal....which is the unofficial litmus test.  So I'm not worried about maxing myself out.  When I get to that point, I back off  :-)    I'm not in this to hurt myself or damage any components of my body!

******We don't have a lot of extra money, but I've been slowly saving my 'allowance' for ages.  I've been slowly watching my stash of money grow.  I also occasionally totally deplete that stash and have to start again.  The saving has been for a road bike.  I have had a Trek Nav and I have LOVED it.  It was just what I needed when I bought it.  It is still an awesome bike to ride on the canal.  It has been a reliable and wonderful bike.  But, I want to branch out and ride on the roads and while I can on my Trek, it just isn't as feasible.  I've in essence outgrown the Trek. (that said I'm NOT getting rid of my Trek!) So I saved.  Recently I started to watch for used bikes on Craigslist and other used outlets.   I didn't want to go bottom of the barrel with an entry level bike (I knew that I would quickly outgrow the bike..and the limitations of the bike).  But good road bikes are expensive!   I have contacted bike ad after bike ad.  I've either gotten there too late and the bike is gone already or the bike is built for a giant (ok ok ok, 60cm frames are not for giants...they are just too big for me!).  FINALLY on Monday I saw  bike on Craigslist that would work for me size wise!  It is a Lightspeed Vela.   Lightspeed is a high end bike manufacturer that for a while made some entry level bikes (retailing for about $1500-2000). It didn't last long becuase they were just not making a profit on the bike.  Anyway, I contacted her within an hour of her placing the ad.  It looked good.  I had my brother researching it.  I went and looked at the bike last night and it looked good  and I purchased it.  So I now have a road bike.  I have to either swap out the pedals or buy a pair of clip shoes so I can ride it.  I also have to figure out how the shifting mechanism works.  I rode the bike around the neighborhood and got it to shift once or twice but admittedly, I'm sure it is user error.  (My brother laughed when I told him over the phone my shifting issues and also agreed that it was most likely user error).  The bike took me to the limit of what I had saved.  I have 75 bucks (and that is only leaving 3 dollars in my savings account) left after buying the bike...and that will probably be sucked into the few things I need to actually ride the bike.   (I either need to swap to flat top pedals or buy clipped shoes and learn to actually use them)   I always hate hate hate depleting my savings. I hate parting with my moldy money, but oh well.....   I only hope that this purchase turns out to be money well spent!  Meaning that I love the bike and that I USE the bike a LOT!  (My brother thinks that since this is my first road bike and I have nothing to compare it with, that I will automatically love it.....he said it's like how we all remember our first car with love and fond memories!)

*****   Photoshoots of people..while not my favorite thing to do (I prefer architecture, nature, scenery, inanimate objects) helps build the savings account...so hopefully soon I can pick up  few small shoots!  I do have a wedding that I'm supposed to shoot in about a month...so whew I can start rebuilding the funds that I just depleted to buy my bike!  That and my 'allowance'. Allowance at age 40?  Yes, Todd and I each payday get a set amount of money to put into our pockets.  This is OUR money.  If we want to skip packing a lunch for work, we can use our allowance to eat out.  Or we can pack our lunch and save our money and use it for hobbies (Todd just purchased a bunch of stuff for his beermaking hobby AND a bunch of stuff for his painting hobby).   It's our money to do with what we want.  It keeps our random spending for our own purposes (hobbies and fun) in check.  NO, when we do something together like dinner out last night it comes from the 'general' fund.

******  The bike I purchased last night was in Germantown...which is about an hour away from me.  So after work Todd and I took a little trip.  Of course we planned to go to dinner after looking at the bike. (oh heck, that was a trip for ME and my bike...should I have purchased dinner out of my allowance?  ha ha ha  No, it came from the general fund....we hadn't eaten out in about 2 weeks so we were good!)  We ended up at Red Robin.  I had eaten accordingly all day.  How does one eat accordingly all day?  Well, I filled up my lunchbox with low calories/low fat items.  I ate just as much as any other day and actually didn't even eat everything in my lunchbox because it was a LOT of food, I just planned my food wisely to give myself the maximum calories to spend at dinner.  I walked into the restaurant with about 700 of my daily calories left from my base calories.  I started looking.  My normal sandwich was 900 calories (or thereabouts.  YIKES!  I don't know if they just changed their menus to add the calories of if I had just never noticed...we hadn't been at Red Robin since before I started watching my weight again.    I looked for  lessor sandwich and thought about settling for something else to save a few calories.  I finally decided to get the sandwich that I wanted but to swap out the fries (and they do have pretty decent fries) for the fruit salad.  Nice trade and only put me at about 1000 calories for the meal (and that is only 300 calories over!!!)  Todd (Mr. Sabotage   ha ha ha) really wanted the pretzel bites.  So I agreed.   I counted my calories and entered them in.  I'm about 500 calories over for the day (putting me at 1800 calories for the day give or take).    I panicked for a moment or two there after we ordered.  But then I calmed myself down and reminded myself of two things.  The first thing?   I exercised HARD in the morning so even though I was eating more, I had at least burnt those calories already in the morning..plus some.  And no, I don't subscribe to that attitude with my exercise.  But on occasion it actually works!   The second thing?   Our bodies get in ruts with what we are eating.  Jillian Michael's first book (I think it's the first one) was a great read and she actually encouraged the readers to change up their calorie counts.  She recommends to have four or five consecutive low days and then pop it up and have a high caloric day thrown in there.  She advocated that it would keep your metabolism from getting into a 'rut.'    I know that when I was losing my weight the first time I would watch carefully EVERY MEAL of the week except one.  On weigh in nights at weight watchers, I would leave my weigh in and I would have a TOTAL splurge meal.  Comfort foods....pizza.....whatever I wanted.   I consistently lost weight too!  (and eventually you also find that your splurges are not the 3000 calorie splurges that you once had....like me...I am only 500 over for the whole stinkin' day...on a splurge day!)   It worked for me.  So I had to remind myself of that last night.    So I stepped on the scale this morning....the verdict??????????   I stayed EXACTLY the same!   224.6!   So I know to buckle down today.  NO splurges....clean eating...and all will be well. Oh and that maintain (and Sundays loss of 1 pound) comes along with the monthly ick!

***** I'm solidly into a woman's size 16.  I found the first time I lost weight that there is a huge break between woman's size 16 and regular size 16.  So 16 is the "feels like forever" size.  It's almost as if there is an extra size in there.  16a and 16b.  Regardless...I'm into 16 women's.....my size 18's are getting loose....the 20's are off my shelves and in a storage tote/bin.  Moving right along!

*****  It's Wednesday.  The work week will soon be officially half over!  Can't wait for the weekend!  Todd and I can hopefully get on our bikes or do something active on Friday afternoon when I get off at 2.  (he mentioned a game of tennis, I mentioned a bike ride on the canal).  I also will be having my brother look at my new baby...my road bike and I'll be getting geared up for that.  Lets see, I'll get a run or two in there.....and a walk with Sherry.  But in the meantime...it's Wednesday...so work all day....zumba tonight.   Maybe I can even squeeze in a yoga workout or maybe a step aerobics workout this morning before work (it makes me feel so much better to workout in the morning....revs me up and makes me feel alive for my day!   I better skedaddle!