May 23, 2009

I had a really good trip. I posted pictures on Facebook. :) Too many to post here! :D


I'm still suffering jet lag. I keep trying to stay up later, but I end up waking up at 5 am anyways!!! So I am going to try going to bed at 9pm instead of 10/11. I need my sleep. :) I was up until 945 last night.


The Dr. at the NEDC would like me to lose weight before we try again. It's really weird. Not that he wants me to lose weight, but what I'm about to say. I weigh the same as I did 1 year ago. I have proof. I have my weight logs. But I look way heavier in pictures than I did. It's just bizarre!


Anyway, we're joining a gym today. It's less than a mile from our house. I'm excited. I have a routine too. It's from "Get Stronger Feel Younger". It puts you through everything, but tells you how to use the machines. In fact, it tells you 3 different ways:

1. in the gym with those machines

2. at home with a bowflex type machine

3. at home with free weights


And then it gives you the complete routine and how to breath and use the equipment properly. And it's easy to read!!! :D So I'm excited. I have used it before, when we were members at another gym that was more expensive and a lot further away. I gave up on it last year thinking too much money. But now I'm like, I should have kept it up! I'm excited there's this gym so near to us and they have all the machines we need, and a pool! :D So hopefully I can turn this fat blob around and get back to fit.


So that's kinda what I'm up to.


In Germany we basically went around visiting the relatives. We went to an aunt and uncle. And then we also went to a cousin reunion. And went to another aunt and uncle. And we went to a lake and walked around there too.


We did a LOT of walking. Lemmie see if I can copy it over from FB:
Just how much walking do you get done if you're on vacation visiting relatives in Germany?

I took my pedometer. didn't have it on every day but here goes:
4/29-4/30 was flight.
5/1 didn't wear ped.
5/2 13,247
5/3 car trip to relatives, didn't wear.... Read More
5/4 11,384
5/5 10,360
5/6 5,451
5/7 18,859 (that's not a typo)
5/8 7,218
5/9 11,090
5/10 2,986
5/11 7,611
5/12 6,704
5/13 6,205
5/14 7,881
5/15 8,196
5/16 11,694
5/17 7,989 (just in case you wondered how many steps you'd take if you were on 2 different planes, 3 airports, crossing the ocean from Germany to Atlanta and back to MPLS).



5/7 was our 15th anniversary. We took my parents-in-law and drove to Hannover. And we parked by the train station and walked all over. My IL's are older. So we didn't walk fast, or very far with them either. Nothing more than they could handle. A few times they went to sit down and had us run through stores. We went to some stores they wanted to see. We had a nice time dining out over lunch. Then we drove back home. And when we were home, Joerg & I went across the bridge over the Weser river to the Fair and walked a couple times around. So that's why we had sooooooo many steps!!! Boy did my feet ever hurt. I had to take it easy for a bit (as you'll note the difference in the steps for a while).


This week with the jet lag and everything I haven't been getting my walking in. So I gave up on my ped for this week. Now that we're joining the gym I'll start wearing it again. Goal is of course at least 10,000 steps a day, from the time you get out of bed, until you go back into it again.


I have been productive though! Getting up early in the morning, I actually feel like working on the house, and then the jet lag hits about mid morning and it's just blah. I had Caribou Coffee one day. And then yesterday I made 2 cups at home. I have been trying to avoid the caffeine though.


Let's see . . .


* completely emptied and washed (literally pulled drawers out and hand washed et al) the fridge as I left veggies in there and they spoiled, and well, let's just say there wasn't a whole lot left as I went through condiments and tossed a lot of them too.

* shopped for basic necessities to restock fridge

* briefly went through pantry (had gone through before we left)

* shampooed spots of the carpet (pretreating)

* laundry of course! Although my MIL did all the laundry before we left. So I just had to hang it all back up. It was just laundry we had some left before we left, and then of course what we were wearing and towels. I have more to do today too . . .

* called several gyms trying to compare prices and facilities and contracts and month to month etc. I'm really excited about the one we're joining today. Well, sounds like we're joining that one. I'll have to let you know for sure later.

* vacuumed several times


I don't know. regular stuff we're supposed to do everyday like dishes. But I would get everything done before like 9am because I just felt tired after that. Last couple days I've been forcing myself to do stuff in the afternoon trying to adjust my time frame. We'll see how it goes.


Paid my bills and balanced the checkbook too. :)


I have a specific weight I'm supposed to be below before August 1. Typically in the past, like at WW, I would never lose more than 1.6 pounds a week, as my average. But I didn't work out like this. But WW never let me get very far and I'd stop losing and platau for like months bouncing around the same weight.


Anyway, I am diagnosed Insulin Resistant. I am going to use the Insulin Resistance Diet, and the gym and see what happens. But honestly, I need to lose more than 3 pounds a week to make the goal. Scary for me. But I'm determined. I know that on Biggest Loser they work out 6 to 8 hours a day. No way do I need to kill myself that much. But I figure if I can get my weights in 3 days a week, and try aerobics (bike/treadmill) for an hour and day, and join the aqua fit classes (I think they're 4 or 5 days a week) that it might really kick my body into gear. Hopefully . . . I don't want to overdo it either. So we'll see how my body responds. If it rebells too much I'll slow down back to 30 minutes of aerobics a day. But I was able to do all that walking, other than my feet hurting, without problem. And my primary Dr. told me that I would do very well with the recumbant bikes. So we'll see how it goes. :) I have some friends who want to go walking with me at least once a week too. So this will really get me out there, motivation to keep it up. And if I can get myself really going strong before August, maybe I can really make it a habit to keep up. I know they said that after they lose the weight from those 6-8 insane hours a day, they back it down to 1 to 2 hours a day for maintenance. We'll see what needs to be done as I go. I might find I like a class or something to switch things up as we go too. Gotta keep it fun and interesting right? :D


So I have a few goals this weekend.

*clean/organize/unpack garage
*clean/organize/unpack basement
*shampoo carpets
*join gym

We'll see how much I can get done!


Love,

Julie