Summer Sizzle- Week 4 Update; Week 5 Deets

It's time for the Summer Sizzle update for the end of Week 3 and the beginning of Week 4-

It's been a crazy week! Stripping and painting furniture, the garden and then there's the OPPRESSIVE HEAT that made it's appearance on Friday and has failed to leave. UGH.


The bad news (besides the OPPRESSIVE HEAT) is that I only checked in on myfitnesspal.com a couple of times.


The good news is- I lost another pound.


The bad news is---there is OPPRESSIVE HEAT and my running self is not acclimating to it.


The good news is- my speed walking self has acclimated to it.


The bottom line is:

• I felt quite liberated not checking in to myfitnesspal.com every single day.
• I ate only healthy foods with the exception of those dang dark chocolate covered edamame they sell at Trader Joe's.
• I'm not running right now but my walking is SPEEDY QUICK and  I get at least 3 to 5 miles in every single day!
• I did drink the weekly challenge water.
• I did lose another pound.

I did track my exercise via my GPS on my phone----

• Monday: forgot to track but I'm thinking it was about 50 minutes
• Tuesday: walked 56 minutes; burned 624 calories
• Wednesday: Walked 54; burned 591 calories
• Thursday: walked 69 minutes; burned 755 calories
• Friday: walked 39; burned 427 calories
• Saturday: walked 31 minutes; burned 339 calories
• Sunday: walked 31 minutes; burned 339 calories

The weekends are not about exercise around here- they are my recovery days. And I plan to keep them that way.

My focus now is NOT on tracking. While it works well for many (and it did for me about 2 years ago) it has now become a tool for making me obsess about my weight. This is not healthy. I've decided to obsess on the things that make life grand instead of that which holds me back and makes me feel bad about myself and my life. That is not what this journey is supposed to be about. At all.

One thing that this journey is about is learning more and more about myself and so I count this lesson learned as a blessing. Sometimes we just have to change things up to keep it fresh and keep it from being a downer.

I do enjoy tracking my walking (and running when the OPPRESSIVE HEAT lets up AND when I lose another 50 pounds or so) because I like trying to beat my time.

I'm not really disappointed that I'm not running right now. It's all good. For those who are not 130 pounds overweight I'm sure running is not that big a deal. For a 54 year old who is 130 pounds overweight, it's frustrating as hell when you factor in the OPPRESSIVE HEAT. I'm not quitting. I'm postponing. I still plan on being able to run that 5k. It's not until November. 

I'm not suggesting that anyone else stop tracking- I'm saying that I have to keep finding what works for me and implement it which sometimes mean stopping something else. The main thing is that I keep going!

Week 5 - (begin July 1) - LOSE 2 lbs THIS WEEK (and post pics/measurements if doing so)
Yep, holiday and all - this is the goal.
Don't question it - just do it. The reason this is the goal this week is to help us remember that the 4th of July doesn't give us free license to abandon all our diet and fitness goals. Yes, it's a holiday - but it's not a holiday meant to celebrate how many hot dogs and hamburgers our bodies can consume. This week will hopefully redirect us a bit - knowing the goal is a 2 pound loss, maybe we can steer clear of old habits of overindulgence during the holiday and make good on our promise to ourselves for better health ALL 365 days of the year!

I'm not as concerned about the 4th as I would be if this was Christmas...or Thanksgiving- because the food I have planned for the 4th is on my Gerson/RAW daily plan for July! Of course, time will tell, eh? :)

Thanks, y'all, for putting up with my constantly changing attempts at losing this weight and getting healthyhealthyhealthy. I am feeling fitter- I can do so much more than I could last year. It's all working, in it's own time. But I do so appreciate all of y'all sticking around with me! Your support and encouragement means more than you will ever know!

Also, I won a book from Cindy at For One Another and it arrived last week. AMAZING. WONDERUL. THOUGHT PROVOKING. LIFE CHANGING. All of those words describe this book. I definitely recommend reading the book whether you have weight to lose or not. And no, I'm not getting anything for mentioning this. It's just a really good read-- My Big Bottom Blessing by Teasi Cannon. Get it. Read it. It's great!

OH! I almost forgot- you can see my healthy recipe HERE!

OH AGAIN! Don't forget to check out my giveaway! Just click the button at the top of my sidebar!

Have a fantastic week y'all! Happy 4th!

Summer Sizzle- Week 2 Update; Week 3 Deets

It's time for the Summer Sizzle update for the end of Week 2 and the beginning of Week 3-

More like the summer fizzle stay the same.

I'm over it people. It's time for a drastic change. I think I've come up with it, but that's for tomorrow's post.

I'm staying under myfitnesspal's recommended daily calories. But I'm not staying at 1200. O, hell no. And I have no idea why it won't put 6/11 up there- the total that day was 1726. Today's is missing for obvious reasons.

I didn't have any trouble with the 7 hours of exercise- that was a cinch. Though, for the most part, it was just walking and/or running.

And except for today where I missed it by 15 minutes--- oh well...

Next week's weekly challenge is to try a new fitness activity or exercise equipment. I hope to do that via joining the senior center (you can read about that HERE) and/or a new DVD I just purchased- The Biggest Loser- cardio max.

I didn't stick to the menu that I planned last week for two reasons- a couple of those recipes were ridiculous with the prep time being all day long and part of the night AND, I didn't want to. Stubborn much? Oh yeah. Definitely.

Anyway, there's a big change coming soon. Stay tuned.

I'll leave you with this clip from The Cosby Show- love me some Bill Cosby! Now, you can watch the whole thing, but the best part begins at 6:45- where Cliff talks about his Father's Day gifts over the years and then about how mothers get better gifts because they are better at promoting themselves! Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

App Analysis

A little comparison today on a couple of health/fitness sites/apps...

First, for tracking food and exercise, it's myfitnesspal.com vs livestrong.com.

I've used livestrong.com for tracking my food intake and exercise for about three years--here and there (whenever I did track my food and exercise during those three years). I liked it fine. I mean, there's nothing exciting or glamorous about tracking one's food intake or exercise but, for what it is, livestrong.com was fine.

This time around, I've decided to give myfitnesspal.com a go and I really do like it so much better. It seems more user friendly than livestrong.com and I like the way it shows you what you've done. I also like how easy it is to find your friends on there and leave them messages- it's so nice to know we're not alone.

The only thing I like better about livestrong.com is that their data base is far better than the one on myfitnesspal.com. Regardless, I'm sticking with the latter.


Both sites offer apps for your phone which is great. I still like the myfitnesspal app better- it's free and user friendly--and that's that.

Next, the running trainer apps situation. These things are driving me nuts.

The first one I tried out was the Personal Running Trainer. I looked at the ones for 1 mile and 5k. It was ok although the guy talked my ear off before it was time to start the warm up. Seriously, I don't want to hear all that crap, let's just get started. You can use your own playlist on this one- which is ok but all my playlists are on my dead ZUNE and I haven't quite gotten all this worked out on my phone or my iPod. So, I use Pandora for running. Anyway, when it's time to switch from walking to running or running to walking,  I do like that the numbers and buttons are large enough to see without my glasses--HUGE plus. This app also keeps your schedule for you. BUT, if you want DAY 2, you must PAY for this FREE app. It's only like $2.00 but that's not the point. It's advertised as a free app but, to get past DAY 1, you must pay for it. Seriously guys, let's be honest up front for a change. Also, the dude just talks too much throughout- when it's time to change AND the voice volume is so low you might miss him telling you to stop or start something.

The second app I tried was Learn to Run.  There are two problems with this one that make it not the one for me- even though it really is free. 1. You can't hear the sound for stopping/starting your running or walking and 2. When you walk, the music doesn't play-and it has to be your own playlist. The music also doesn't play when your session is complete nor does the app let you know (ok, so that's really 3 problems). You just have to figure that out. No thanks.

I'm on my third app now and, after just the first day, I think this is the one I will stick with. It's the C25k app. This app lets you listen to your own playlists OR Pandora and it's user friendly. Really, the only thing I don't like about this app is that the volume on the signal to switch from walking to running is so low it's difficult to hear. This seems to be a problem with all three of the apps. Actually, if you read the user comments on the running trainer apps, it seems they all have this problem. Regardless, this one has nearly all I want in a running trainer app so I'm sticking with it.




Of course, they all offer a 'Pro' version which runs only about $1.99 but, so far, I see no need to upgrade. And the Learn to Run  and C25k apps don't try to trick you into upgrading like the Personal Running Trainer does. 

It just boils down to personal preference so give them a try and use the one that works best for you!

Anyone tried a different site/app that works well?