Road Trip Review (7/21 - 7/27)

Well, another week has gone by, and another set of mileage has happened.

It's been two full weeks since we started this trip, how far from home have I been?

Sunday: 3.5 miles
Monday: 3.5 miles
Tuesday: 4.5 miles
Wednesday: 1.5 miles
Thursday: 3.5 miles
Friday: 1.75 miles
Saturday: 1.75 miles

Total: 20 miles
Goal: 24.5 miles
Deficit: -4.50 miles

Sunday was a Zumba day. 1 hour = 1 mile, then the rest from actual fitness walking.

On Monday I spent a good two and a half hours tuning up this bicycle my Father had given me a few years back. I thought it was a bad bike, as in had two blown tires, but it turned out I had just never inflated them to the correct pressure..... you know.... to keep my ass afloat!

Tuesday I came home from work and biked another 3.25 miles and walked the other 1.25 (not even counting the 2.6miles my FitBit says I did at work). My knees were killing me after, but what hurt more was what I affectionately call my vagina-bones. They are the bottom of my pelvic bones that sit on the seat when I ride, and even though I have a fat-girl seat, I'm used to sitting back on the fat of my butt and not leaning forward on those bones, so they are sore. Ouchies.

Wednesday I had a few errands to run, including what I thought was going to be a simple cleaning/post root canal dental appointment. I had actually planned to ride my bike the 2 miles to the dental office, but my knees were still bothering me that morning so I drove instead. The appointment went fine and was given a clean bill of health, except the cavities I still had. Well, as my luck would have it, I still had some insurance money leftover and still had a few fillings that needed to be filled (4, I think. I know.. bad Julie.) So, I was given the choice to have 2 of them filled today. Stupid me said yes... I really just needed to get it over with. So, I strolled out of there about an hour and a half later and had two fillings and a stroke-face as I finished the rest of my errands. I came home and made home-made cinnamon toast crunch, except that it's not very crunchy.... it's kinda poofy. But, as a first trial goes, I will just have to roll the dough WAY thinner next time!

Thursday: Walked. Simple as that. :-)    Also- on a side note, I'm down to 208lbs! Woohoo! Dropped 7 of the excess I'd gained last month! Woooootttt!!

Friday & Saturday: This weekend was a rough weekend to not only my goal but my sanity and family as well. My mother went into the hospital with severe abdominal pain, and ended up having an emergency gallbladder removal on Saturday night. It had perforated and was leaking bile into her stomach and rest of her abdomen and had begun to show signs of necrosis. She's okay now, still in the ICU but alert and giving the nurses a run for their money, which is a good sign. We're hoping she'll be moved from the ICU to a regular room either tomorrow or Tuesday.

The big green dot is where I ended up from Week 1, and the

red stop blip is where I ended up. Looking closer, I have stopped

between Port Charlotte and Arcadia, which I'm sure is mostly

swamp land and vagrant camps. Lovely! ...... :-\

So anyway, it's been a rough week, and if you've caught up with Amy you'll know that it's okay to slip off the wagon, because you will always have the opportunity to jump back on and right yourself.

Enjoy your week!

Side Mission: The Bicycle

So, I had this thought that's been nagging me in the back of my mind for quite some time.

I live in a city where things are spread out, but not so spread out that public transportation is a big part of our city. I live close to a Wal-Mart, a CVS, a gas station, Michael's Craft Store, Target, Publix, my dentist, my doctor, and my gym. As in... of all those places, Target is the farthest away from me at a whopping 4.0 miles. Most are within 2 miles of my house.

Once I realized how much gas I'm probably wasting driving to these, I started to look for options. Walking is always the number one choice, but it is time consuming especially if I have to get cold groceries which can quickly turn nasty in the Florida sun. That would probably be a more suitable mode of transportation in the winter time, when it gets down to 60 degrees in the middle of the day.

So, back to my side mission. The bicycle. I've had this bike for a few years now, going on 3 or 4 I would say. It's a FreeSpirit AT1800, which is fancy for "Wal-Mart bike". It's nothing super fancy, it does have gears and hand brakes, but the gears are a little worn and the brakes a little slower... but it works.

I spent around 2 hours this morning getting my bike back to riding shape. It had flat tires, which I thought was due to holes in the tubes. After watching a VERY informative YouTube video on how to remove the tubes, I checked both tubes and made sure they were just flat and not holey.

So, I pumped those babies up to the right pressure and brushed the cobwebs from the seat, and she cleaned up quite nicely!

Look at her! I installed that kickstand this morning.... did a pretty fine job if I say so!

This is my "fat ass" seat. It's wider and WAY more comfy then the standard butt-swallowing seat that is DEFINITELY not built for a woman of my size.... yeah.

Got my law-abiding rear red flasher, and I actually put 2 white lights, for safety! 

So... why is this being called a side mission? Well, I took her for a spin this morning. I only lasted 20 minutes. Twenty of the best, yet most painful minutes in awhile. My knees were absolutely killing me after ten minutes, so I had to turn around. It sucked. Now, my knees feel better, but I still don't think I can do much more than that at the moment.

My side mission is to slowly start building up time on the bike. Building up muscle for my knees to tolerate the constant stress of pedaling. I think by the end of August I can make it to 10 miles.

With that, have some Queen!

Road Trip Review (7/14-7/20)

Well, here it is, a full week since I've begun my journey to meet my bestie in Troutville, VA. Let's see if I've even made it out of the county!


Sunday: 1.43mi
Monday: 2.17mi
Tuesday: 3.50mi
Wednesday: 1.30mi
Thursday: 3.90mi
Friday: 2.43mi
Saturday: 3.5mi


Total: 18.23miles
Goal: 24.5miles
Deficit: -6.27


I feel pretty good! Yeah, I only hit my goal 3 out of 7 days, but I made solid effort, even though I was sore towards the tail end of the week. My back is feeling much better today, so I'm hoping to kick the week off with a good start!

So, I have 2 full days to make up this week, but I also have 2 days off, so I hope to get out and get some sunshine on my pale skin! I'd also like to get my bike checked out and tuned up, so I'm going to call our local Schwinn shop and see how much that will cost. If I have a bike then I can make local trips to the store without using the car and while also getting exercise.


So..... where does that 18.23 miles get me?

Yup... not even out of the county. I have made it to the highway. Yay!

So far, nothing exciting. I have actually been to the highway,

and it's a bunch of cows and industrial parks.

Go over and see Amy and cheer her on over at her blog. She did not quite go as far as I did, and she fears she'll be running on a treadmill instead of bringing in the new year, so go give her some encouragement!! :) :)

So, I'm on my way! Troutville, HERE I COME!

An Unexpected Journey.

So, I have decided to pack my bags and get to walking.... to a tiny town called Troutville, VA. It's population doesn't even break 1000, and I don't think it even has a traffic light! (The last part is unverified lol).

Why on earth would I WALK to Virginia?! Well, it's not a REAL walk, folks. My friend Amy and I needed some motivation. She came up with the idea, and I just helped expand on it and set some guidelines. So, from her tiny town in Ontario, and from my big town in Florida, we've decided to "walk" and "meet" each other halfway between our homes.... which happens to be a tiny town called Troutville, VA.

The purple icon is our halfway point.

We are walking the direct route, the red line.

There are a few guidelines to help us along the way, since this was such a spur of the moment thing.

To meet in the middle by December 31, 2013, we must walk at least  3.5mi/5.6km each day. This might seem outrageous, but we have some exceptions and substitutions to this rule, because after all this is just for fun and really it's to help us incorporate more exercise into our daily lives!

Exceptions and Substitutions:

• Our daily "normal" (non-exercise) walking can count, but only for UP TO HALF of the daily total
• Sweat-inducing exercise can be substituted, at 30 minutes for one half of a mile. (30min = 1/2mi), and can only count for UP TO TWO miles.

That really was it. So even on a day where I'm at the gym, I can only really count up to 2 hours of sweat time, which would make up 2 miles. Then, if I did no exercise walking, I can still hit my 3.5 miles for the day. The system is designed so we don't fail. It's not to see who can get there faster, or who does more exercise in the day, it's to help us move MORE and MORE but EVERY DAY!

So, it's Wednesday, only 3 days so far are counted in this challenge... how did I do?

Sunday: 1.43 miles

Monday: 2.17 miles

Tuesday: 3.5 miles

Total: 7.10 miles

Goal: 10.50 miles

Deficit: 3.40 miles

So, I'm already a full day behind. Today I have the day off, so I won't get much done as far as "normal" everyday walking, but I have housework to be done, and nothing makes me sweat more than cleaning and dancing my butt off around the house as I go. Plus, I am making a delicious dinner tonight so I have to stay under in calories today to make up for the not-so-healthy dinner I have planned! (ok, it's kinda nutritious... but there is one part I can't substitute a healthy option for... more on that later!)

As of today, I'm not even out of the city yet. So, daily updates will end up being boring. But, tune in to our Sunday "Roadtrip Review" and see where we've landed! Maybe we'll show up in some crazy places! :-D

By the way, if you haven't yet, go see Amy. She's over at Diary Of A Fat Girl. And also, share with your friends! Help us get some cheering going as we start this long trek!

“There are no safe paths in this part of the world.

Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now,

and in for all sorts of fun wherever you go.” 

-from The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Frustrations

I have back-peddled, and big time. My last recorded weight was I believe 207, and that was during the last week of June.

I stepped on the scale yesterday (or maybe it was the day before?) and I'm back to 215.

OUCH

I have no one to blame but myself. I have no excuses other than I just didn't try hard enough. I had one (or two) too many trips for fro-yo (topped with lots of candies of course).... I had one too many sodas... I didn't get to the gym except once a week. These are all valid REASONS for my weight gain.

I'm disappointed in myself but moreso I am now more DETERMINED to get under 200lbs.

I am going to start planning meals. It will help with the

1: "What do you want to do for dinner?" 

2: "I dunno.." 

1: "[Restaurant name?]" 

2: "Sounds good."

scenario, which has often played out as of late. I know that I can reward myself for good weeks, but this has got to stop. Even if we don't have a definite PLAN for a specific meal, there needs to be thawed meat in the fridge ready to be cooked. It will also help cut down on wasted food, which has been happening all-too-often as well.

A very inspirational woman I follow over at Fit and Healthy with Debbie has shared pictures almost every Sunday of her weekly prep. Mostly, it looks like breakfast/lunch meals and her snacks for the week (which include things like hummus, hard-boiled eggs, and other clean eating options)

I need to be her. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. I need to prep food, even if it's not as prepped as hers is, maybe start off with a list, but it seems to work for her! So, my plan for today/tomorrow is to plan out next week's food for myself. Breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner. I know my work schedule, I know John's and Brian's too, so there is NO reason why I can't know what my food schedule is!

So, my goal for this week, plan my meals! Oh- and to not drink another soda AT ALL. This one will be hard!!

Also, if you have not, please go see my friend Amy over at her blog, Diary of a Fat Girl, she is the sweetest girl EVER and a true bestie to me. Plus, she (like myself) are always looking for new readers and a few good cheers! ;-)

Julie and the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

Well, it is Monday. The evil-ist of days. Although, working in retail, there is no such thing as a "real weekend", as we retailers WORK most weekends.

I had this past weekend off. With Brian in MA until Tuesday, John & I took the time to run around the house butt-ass naked enjoying the married life go out and have some real time together doing couple-things!

Saturday we went to the White Sox @ Rays baseball game. Very enjoyable, since the Rays stadium is a DOME. Convenient for a pale sun-burn-prone mess like myself. On the way up we enjoyed a nice lunch together, and the drive was nice as we listened to a podcast and I read some of my book. Leisurely.

Sunday we went back to Tampa to visit the Dali Museum. It was fantastic, as always. I've only been one other time, and a few of Dali's works were lent out to other museums, while a few were brought in on lend from some, too. It was refreshing, and my eyes welled with tears when I stepped into the gallery, just like the did the first time I went. Dali is by far my favorite artist, although I'm no biographer of his; I do enjoy what people think of his works and how they interpret what they see in them.

John had a lot of fun, although Dali's more "religious" paintings were not his cup of tea, he loved Dali's earlier works of still life and of Dali's preferred "home": Cadaqués, Spain.

A new edition to the museum on loan was Santiago El Grande, on loan from a Spanish musuem... and it was breathtaking! It was just about 2 stories tall, and was just a splendor to stand in front of. Yup, I love me some Dali.

To stand before this painting, even someone who is not religious, is to awaken something deep within. A feeling that you are but a small grain of sand on this Earth and that no matter what anyone tells you, you will always have to follow your heart above all else.

When reality came a-knocking this morning, I wanted to slam the door in its face and go back to bed. But, responsible adult that I am, I went to work. I was "attacked" by a toddler (he drew blood), and threatened by his mother because I asked them to not let their child hit me again. It was a simple and nice request, and I was nice to the kid (not like I flicked him off the box like a bug, I was gentle and patient while he frustratedly tried to open the box again) and felt I was in the right to ask the grandmother to watch the kid more carefully (said in the most professional of ways, mind you.).

People just frustrate me. John still has no idea why I'm such a glutton for punishment by continuing to work there, and neither do I, really. I like working in retail, or at least I did. A few of my friends suggested I try out for a waitressing job... something part time to get the feel for it. They say my charisma will totally bank me in tips.

Maybe instead of a fitness goal I should make a weekly goal of applying for a new job. That sounds like a good idea. Done! :)

So, today was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. (Oh, I also got out an hour late from my shift because we have hardly any staff and got yelled at for it..... yay!) but my weekend was awesome. I guess it all balances out in the end????