joie

Gearing up

Yesterday, Dan and I took a little trip to the neighborhood bicycle shop and bought close to $300 worth of gear,all for me. Dan has been bike commuting for years and has it all down. I am the one they all were probably laughing about as soon as I left. I felt like a  complete idiot, with "one of these old-style bikes" as the very hip, very fit bike repair chick called my 21st birthday present, which still works great, thank you. As I sat my fat ass down on my new seat (oops!) saddle to see if it felt right, I was embarrassed because I don't know HOW its supposed to feel! And frankly, when you are as out of shape as I have become, there is no getting around the inevitable pain that will come from exercise.

The motivation for all these purchases, which include my new shorts, a combination of tourniquet and Depends undergarment (should help with the saddle pain), aerodynamic helmet that makes me look like a character from Star Trek, and saddle bags to carry my stuff, is so that I will not fall over dead when we go to the Bainbridge in Bloom garden tour next weekend. We have opted to "Bike the Bloom". It should be the perfect vacation for us, I get to drool over the amazing gardens and Dan gets his bike tour. An O'Henry kind of vacation. According to Sunset Magazine, we will be encountering "the most passionate gardeners in the world" And I feel so eco-friendly traveling only by train then ferry then bike. Not anywhere near a car for four whole days. Wish me luck.

Weighty Matters

Last week when I stepped on the scale, it showed the smallest number I've seen in almost a year. I'd lost 7.5 lbs since my ALL TIME high in early August, right after my final failed IUI. Of course, the great birthday week of 3 different birthday cakes and lots of margaritas and many many MANY olives brought about a little spike that we are trying to ignore....So, to focus on the positive...I went from a BMI of 25.5 to 24! Woo HOO!! That means I crossed over from "overweight" to the high end of "normal". I am hoping to continue this trend to the mid to low end of normal. Some of you may be asking, "Joie, how do you do it?"

Well, internets, because I love you so, here are my personal and apparently successful weight loss tips:

1. I kicked my drug habit. "Hello, my name is Joie..." (C'mon everyone: "hi, Joie!") "it has been two months since I have used gonadotropins.
2. I got a job. Well, or at least I stopped being on vacation. Its been at least one month since I sat on the couch flipping between "An Adoption Story" and "Special Delivery" and feeling sorry for myself all day long.
3. Walking the dog. This has added benefits, too. For instance, the dog can go to the bathroom now, which seems to really help his bladder. He paces a lot less now, too.
4. I try to ensure that I will always have at least one student staying back from recess during my lunch break. With virtually no time to eat, I have not had my whole lunch in weeks!
5. I have been spending more time lately observing the disgusting habits of young children. I was going to list them, but I think most of you can imagine. Just spending time around small people with a lot of unusual odors leaking out of them seems to be a natural and safe appetite suppressant.
6. I don't ever grocery shop or clean the kitchen. That way, preparing food won't seem worth the effort.

Dear internets, I know you all have a BMI of 21 and don't need any of these tips, but they sure helped me.

Daily Summary: Day 1

I signed up to try and shed my pre-baby weight gain with Susan, so I'm going to post a little daily summary a la Bridget Jones Diary. So here goes:
130.6 lbs
alcohol units: 2
calories: way too many
exercise: 30 min. walk with dog

The First Step.....

I am so proud of myself! This morning, I surprised Dexter and myself and got up early for a walk. It was lovely! And there were clouds! I hope it rains. I am not one of those people who says I would love it if it was always so sunny and nice. I love it here in the green, drippy, northwest. I wouldn't want it anyother way. The only reason this beautiful weather has seemed so amazing is that its like a rare and precious gift to us. Now, we need some rain before we start taking this for granted!

I think I am finally recovering from my annual Seasonal Sluggish Disorder. Maybe I will finally lose those 25 lbs I have gained since I hooked up with Dan. One of these days I might even start riding my bike to work again. It felt great to get my blood moving.

Unfortunately, I did have to cut my walk short due to mortification. Our house rests on the edge of a very small canyon. Today, I walked down the street and accross a bridge which crosses the canyon, then down another street full of houses that border the other side of the canyon. Turns out, Dan was right. All the neighbors on the other side DO have a full and perfect view right into our bedroom window. Apparently I have been giving them a peep show every night for the last 2 years. Okay, okay, I will start getting dressed in the corner. You were right, honey!