State of my backside

Oh how I wish my daughters and their spouses were slugs! Instead they are driven, determined young people.

I have be fiddle faddling around with the same 10 lbs for a year now. It is annoying and I've been looking for inspiration....ANYWHERE!! S0, we all made goals for the month of June. This was all my stupid idea. I said that I wanted to lose 10 lbs for the umpteenth time. Serena and Chris-A made goals too. Aviva and Chris-S didn't. Serena held to hers and about 10 days ago asked us how we were doing. WHOOPS! I had forgotten about it!!

After discussion, Chris-A and I made a deal for our goals....little did I know he planned on sticking to it!! LOL!! He is giving me a run for my money! But....if all goes well over the next two days, I will have attained my goal!! WHOOHOO! (don't get too excited as I had gained that 10 lbs).

For July it seems we all have goals, DH not included as he is healing! My goal is 4 days a week at the gym.....Chris-A dittoed my goal.....my muscles already hurt! Aviva has a gym goal, Serena and Chris-S have the same goal.

The way I see it the month of June goes to Serena for inspiring us...uhm and making us feel bad that we weren't working towards our goals. I am hoping that the month of July will go to me and that Chris-A will poop out with the gym! It's not easy for me to go toe to toe with him...he's almost half my age!

The unknowns here though are the rest of the family....they may just surprise us and be the winners! Any way you look at it we will (hopefully) all be winners by the end of July.

State of my backside

It is a never ending cycle. Yes the weight is coming off BUT I have been sooooo busy that I haven't had time for the gym. The weight loss is great but the muscle loss is awful! Toned is so much more important than a number on a scale and shows just as equally. No, I'm not complaining. I'm thrilled the pounds are coming off again, just annoyed with myself for not making the time necessary to work out.

The truth of the matter is I only have less than 30 pounds to lose to BE AT GOAL! Maybe by fall...........

State of my backside

Is improving! I nearly have off the 5 7...9 lbs I gained!

I am interviewing a new trainer...read working out with him for a while. He is the owner of a Crossfit gym and I learned one thing....I haven't wasted my money thus far and I am waaaay more in shape then I thought. I think I surprised the guy!

THe downside is that I feel awful that I am not using the trainer I've been using. I feel like I'm having an affair on him!!! I go to the gym and have a hard time looking him in the eye! I think it's safe to say I'll never really do anything bad or I'd explode in a burst of guilt!!!! I may or may not go back to him but I'm giving the Crossfit guy a month first.

State of my backside

One reason I've been short on time is I've been working out many days a week. I have a personal trainer 1X/week. I have to go in between because otherwise I won't be strong enough for the next week's workout! It is time consuming to workout but I really do like it.

My trainer Gabe is, as he puts it, a bootie man! I just tell him he's obsessed with my backside. As a result, I've toned quite a bit in the lower half. I think I've done a million lunges, squats, step ups and run a million stairs. I highly recommend the expense of a trainer. I am using him for the short term to learn, shape up, motivate and then move on on my own. In the process, I've lost a bit of weight and toned up alot!

I think the blog neglection has been worth it because here I am last December (w/ 2 of my cousins)...

and here I am this December.



I purposely found a before photo with straight as opposed to curly hair since last December I had my hair straight, !

Yes, I am bragging a bit but mostly I need to be accountable. I am so tired of losing and gaining and want to really really keep it off this time. I am at high school weight and really want to get to a weight I've never been before! (yeah right!) I haven't been this thin since high school.

I didn't plan it, I always post my weight issues on Weds., but after last night's biggest loser, I think this post is rather apropos!

State of my backside

Some time ago, I did the "State of my backside" reports. (the beginning coincided with the state of the union from the president). I then re-gained all the weight I had lost and stopped the SOMBS reports. Well, I've now re-re-lost the same 60 lbs. BUT have 30 more to go. I have been futzing around with this 30 lbs for months now.....haven't lost an ounce. In fact, I've gained 5 lbs. (SIGH). On the other hand, I have been struggling mightily with my RA this entire year. I am on my 3rd round of oral prednisone + a couple of shots for this year . The fact that I've managed to keep this weight off, continue to exercise regularly, meet with my trainer, AND take prednisone and massive amounts of ibuprofen, gives me some measure of accomplishment....but not enough! 10 lbs. gone would certainly help! So, I've decided to reinstate the State of my backside reports. Not feeling well is not a good enough excuse to allow either the weight to come back on or to become complacent in my efforts. Perhaps being accountable to WRITING down my accomplishments, and to my 3 readers left after my extended neglect of this blog, will spur me on to better eating habits and additional exercise. We'll see, we'll see....

If I could weigh what is on the scale in the picture........

Exercise

Ms. Ruthie and I have been working out. Alot. She has been with a trainer for 6 weeks. I just had two sessions but had been doing cardio only for the previous 6 weeks. Last week we hit it hard. I don't know if I was trying to keep up with her, she was trying to keep up with me or we were both being stupid. Today the proverbial fan was hit!
Yesterday at school, I bent over. It shouldn't have caused too much stress on my body... it's something I do everyday. However, on Tuesday the trainer had me working my lower body. He thought I could do a million lunges, squats and stairs and even though I wasn't so sure, so I complied. Ugggg. Weds., I nearly cried each time I raised and lowered myself into the itty bitty child sized chairs in my room. Getting up and down off of the floor was agony. Walking up and down my loft stairs challenging. (A two year old ran into my room and immediately in the loft. He wasn't supposed to be there and wouldn't come down. I whined at him...do I HAVE to come up and GET you?) Weds. night I stupidly went and did cardio. I was instantly reminded that I'd worked my legs but kept on going. Thurs. was upper body. Easy Peasy. Oh yeah???? I felt fine yesterday. My legs seemed to be back to semi normal. My arms and back were sore but not unbearable. That is, until I bent over. It is a simple little movement, but my body revolted and I pulled a muscle. In my leg you ask? My arm? No......MY TUSH! It's actually the muscle that you feel when you sit crossed legged. Mine happens to be very stretchy but obviously not THAT stretchy cause it HURT!. As the day progressed my left arm began to get sore...then my shoulder and then....NO WAY...my ARMPIT!
Today Ms. Ruthie and I decided to limp to the gym. Ms. Ruthie's tricep hurt so bad that she wished she had a sling. She slogged her way through the bike. She usually pounds it out on the treadmill. I did my ab work..... I did squats....hmmm...a bit of tachycardia. Not bad, but enough to make me wait 20 mins. for it to stop before I began again. (this something I live with. don't worry about it. If it had been bad, I'd have stopped) Ok, Off to the stairs...I made it up, two at a time without the handrails. Yeah ME! Tush hurt a bit but not bad enough to quit. Go to lunges....AHHHH! I nearly fell over. The muscle wouldn't do it. Go back to find Ms. Ruthie, sweating, something she never does, on the bike. She is in agony with her arm. I am in agony with my leg. We decide to go to the track. Surely a simple walk wouldn't do anymore damage. We wondered if perhaps there was a lane marked especially for "exercise challenged preschool teachers trying to look like they were 20 again." There wasn't but we persevered. Perhaps we didn't get MUCH done today, but at least we weren't on the couch. Tomorrow, who knows. It may be as far as we get.

The case of the inaccurate quilter

I love my hobby. I'm just not very good at it. Oh, I produce nice things. They look good in photos, the recipients really like them and I generally enjoy creating. It's just that this hobby is all about math and accuracy. These are two very difficult concepts for a fly by the seat of your pants kinda girl. Math.....all I can say is thank G-d for calculators and those of you that figure things out for us numberly challenged.

Accuracy, this, THIS is my downfall. I used to think that equipment had alot to do with it. After all, using the correct tool for the job goes a long way to a better product. It's just that there are soooo mannnyyy tools out there to do the same thing.
I used to have a Kenmore machine. I loved it. It didn't hold the tension nicely for machine quilting and "it pulled to the left" when sewing a seam. I didn't get an accurate 1/4". Hmm....perhaps a new machine will help that. Enter the Janome 6600.

Half square triangles. I've tried making squares, sewing down either side of center, then trimming to get perfect 1/2 sq. triangles. Effective but time consuming to draw the line and then re- trim. Enter the Angler....Works well but a PITA as every bobbin change requires you to move it. Draw a line on the bed of the machine to achieve the same effect.....AHhh, so, so. Cut half square triangles...both to size and larger to trim down. Hmmm...time consuming to touch the same piece over and over and over. Buy corner trimmers so that those silly dog ears don't disappear in the machine.... All of this leads to frustration and quilts with squares & rectangles.....gets boring.

Now I want to work on Judy's quilt for an hour project. Yikes! 54-40 or fight, Peaky & Spike, whatever you want to call them, these little blocks are buggers to get accurate and they MUST be accurate. She suggest, to use the tri-recs tool...Hey, I have that. It's unopened but I have it. Let's pop that baby open and create perfect blocks. Everyone else raves about it. Surely I can do this too. After all, I have the tools, the machine, the fancy thread......I try one block. It's supposed to finish at 3 1/2". NOT! It's 3 1/4" This is not accuracy. Sigh, re-realize the first line of this story, "I'm not very good at this," and try again. Enter the Marti Michell templates.
Yeah, we had a demo at our guild meeting just at the right time and I bought them. Then I went to the LQS and bought more. Finally, I, yes I will have an accurate method of making half squares, Peaky & Spike, ect. All the corners are trimmed at the same time you cut the blocks. The possibilities are endless. Sounds good to me. My mind reels with the possibilities. Agonize over fabric choices. Buy more fabric. Agonize some more, and buy more fabric. It defeats the purpose of stashbusting but I am so excited because I am going to make perfect blocks. I have the perfect tool now and I deserve new fabric. (Hey, just so it's clear here, I'm not knocking or endorsing tools or the methods others use. I just want them to work as well for me!)

insert a very long, defeated sighing sound.................................................... My blocks are not perfect. I made one full sized block with the MM templates and one with the tri-recs. The MM is MOST accurate. The entire block is only off by a scant 1/4". and the center diagonal is very close to perfect. The tri-recs (second attempt I might add) is off by a full 1/4" and I didn't even bother to assemble the full block as my P & S blocks are off by that 1/4".

This is so absolutely frustrating. OBVIOUSLY, It's not about the perfect tools. OBVIOUSLY, I am the problem. I just want to find the method that works for me. Why is it so riffin' raffin' hard. I cannot figure out what it is that I do wrong...consistently I might add, that creates that lousy 1/4" discrepancy. I really think it's a bit from column A and a bit from column B....a bit my cutting, template/ruler placement, where I sit in relationship to the machine, a thread off here and a thread off there but.......It is so discouraging. I am tired of spending money and storing things that ....well, quite honestly don't seem to help me.

Where does this little rant lead me? Nowhere. I'm still going to go back in and slog my way through this quilt. (I'm going to use the templates and try moving my needle one notch or two) I'll try another project next week and the week after that. But when a new tool shows up promising to make me a better quilter.....well, who knows. Maybe I'll just sigh and keep my checkbook in my pocket.

State of our Backsides.....

Man! I really have to come clean here...The state of my backside is dismal! I've been exercising...Oh yeah I've been exercising. My family is having a 120 mile challenge. It runs from April 1 - June 21. My sister, sister-in-law and I are neck & neck. I've gone 49 miles since beginning. On that front, I'm very pleased. On the weight gain, keep my mouth shut, don't eat the junk.....well.....I've been lying and have to come clean. I changed my challenge ticker to reflect the weight I've gained. It has been a struggle since December in the food department. A terrible struggle.



If I'm not careful, I'll end up looking like tweedle dee and tweedle dum here! Send strong thoughts in my direction please....my "skinny pants" depend on it! (what I really want to know is how they found a bikini to fit!!!)

The State of our Backsides

AHHH! Did ya think I'd forgotten or given up on this??? Nah! I've just taken some time off to not exercise regularly, put on weight and feel crappy!! LOL!!! IT IS okay though because I've managed to nip it before it got out of control. Here is a big incentive for me. Mrs. S. looks great!!!! She now weighs 3 lbs. less than me and that is unacceptable! We are both determined to lose 20 lbs ( in my case re-lose some of that!) by the time we go to Las Vegas. I know we will do it because ....well, because she doesn't want me to weigh less then her and I don't want her to weigh less than me! (mixed up those pesky then and than's so that I will only annoy you with ONE mistake!!!!)

DH helped me to create this spreadsheet complete with formulas that add and subtract and do everything but exercise for me. My goal is to 1. exercise for a total of 300 minutes/week 2. burn 2000 calories/week 3. walk or exercise the equivalent of 10 miles/week (more on this in a minute). These are last weeks totals. I don't remember where I got the time and calories totals. I do believe it was some maniacal, muscle pumping site because it is killing me! I don't think that I have attained my goal even once in the past 4 weeks! Well, I was in Ohio for nearly two of those weeks but still! I'm not discouraged because anything is better than nothing.

My sisters' gym has a 120 mile challenge going. I told her that I thought it sounded like fun and I wanted to do it. Well we have a family blog and the idea snowballed. We have a family-120 mile challenge going. We are getting really competitive about it!! LOL!! Not only do actual miles count, but we gave equivalencies to exercise classes. Even my 10 yo. niece has joined in the fun. There are 7 family members trying to get in shape before summer. (I realize my total under the miles column doesn't add correctly. It's a continuation of the previous entry.) Because I'm being challenged on so many levels, you can count on, or dread, weekly "backside reports" at least until the end of June. Right now I'm ready to collapse because I walked "around the block." My block is 4 miles long! I haven't done this walk in quite a while and it was a push. My legs, back and toes, yes, toes, are very tired and groaning.

Soo00, jump on the bandwagon to get healthy! Join us in our effort to get off our duffs and move! Drop me a line about your progress! I need all the encouragement, support and commiseration I can get!

State of our Backsides....and stuff

I vow to keep this report going whether it's good or bad. I also vow to STOP whining. The state of my backside is miserable. There. I said it! I'll keep plugging away and hopefully next week.....I've finally learned that I cycle. I seem to be in a not so positive place right now....If I can just maintain my weight and exercise until I can force myself back into a positive place I will be very happy. I hope that makes sense. My exercise this week was non existent. We had to go to San Antonio Monday night and returned Tuesday. The only exercise there was eating the taboo homemade tortillas! I've been having some health issues (just something I live with and on occassiont keeps me out of the gym) and I've been afraid to go to the gym alone. No panics here....just something I deal with. We did dance on Thursday but that is definately not enough. So once again, boringly, I declare to "do better" next week.

Does anyone else look at there sitemeter stats? Blogline subscriptions? Curiosity makes me look at them. I lost a blogline reader.....sniff, sniff.......I'll just tell myself that they were purging their list and mine mistakenly was deleted....sniff, sniff....It couldn't be that I whine and kvetch my way through my blog could it.....sniff, sniff.....

Expect multiple posts today...I have alot to say!!