Penguin993's cycling on the Beach...

[penguin993]

Hi everyone!

I've decided to start this journal in an effort to keep myself motivated to stay on track, both with South Beach and with my fitness goals. I've done South Beach before, when I was working to lose weight before my wedding, and I lost 14 lbs... only to put it back on in the year after the wedding. This time, I know that I have to make this a true lifestyle change, and I'm ready.

I've also taken up cycling recently, which is a change from the last time I did SB (and focused on the elliptical machine and weights). I've found that I really enjoy riding my bike, and I plan to do that, yoga, and weight training to get (and keep) in shape.

So far, I'm down about 4.5 lbs from my starting weight (after one month on SB). I weigh once a week, on Mondays, so I'm hoping that number will increase a bit by next Monday. From my starting weight, I would like to lose about 30-35 lbs. This would put me in a healthy BMI category, and would be a good weight for my height without making me look too thin.

Yesterday was the longest bike ride I've done to date - 8.5 miles, took me about an hour. Today I only rode for 30 minutes but I plan to do some yoga later to work on my flexibility. Dinner tonight will be lean steaks with sweet potatoes and other roasted veggies, and sauteed spinach with garlic and lemon. YUM!

Height: 5 ft 4 1/2 (I never know whether to round up or round down! lol)
SW: 169.8
CW (as of Monday 6/1): 165.4
GW: 140 (for now)

[penguin993]

Yesterday I took the day off from exercise. Now that I'm up to 2 fruits and 2 grains per day, I'm finding it difficult to eat enough veggies and protein. I encountered this before, the last time I did South Beach, and I will have to make more of an effort to have veggies readily available so they're as easy to eat and snack on as fruit and grains. I'm thinking baby carrots and celery sticks I pre-cut and store, so I can just grab them + some LCL. I also cooked up some edamame and it's ready to go in the fridge whenever I need it.

Saturday:
B: 3 eggs, scrambled, with chopped lean ham, and a small bowl of Warm Bean Salad with Goat Cheese (I put the recipe in the bean recipe thread)
S: skipped
L: 15 Thin Triscuits (30 grams) with about 3/4 wedge of LCL, 15 cherries, big bowl of Warm Bean Salad
S: skipped - wasn't hungry! must get better about this.
D: seared salmon filet, 1/2 cup cooked brown basmati rice, SB creamed spinach (two large helpings)
S1: NSA fudgesicle
S2: 6 bites of frozen custard (DH and I went out and stopped at a frozen custard place we'd been hearing about. It was AMAZING! I know to avoid this place now until I am in maintenance mode. I did eat as many pecans as I could with my custard.)
(I know, I didn't get my 2nd fruit in. Argh!)

Today so far (Sunday):
B: 1/2 cup rolled oats with 1% milk, 1 small sliced banana, small handful of pecans, a few chocolate chips, and 1 packet Splenda

DH and I are about to leave for a bike ride, and I will be grocery shopping later for more veggies. I used to rely on string cheese for snacks, but now that I'm having trouble eating the 4.5 cups of veggies a day, I figure I should make veggies more the focus of my snacks - when I can eat them! This WOE sure allows a lot of food.

[penguin993]

Woohoo! Down 0.8 lbs.

SW: 169.8
CW (as of Monday 6/8): 164.6
GW: 140 (for now)

Yesterday DH and I rode around the neighborhood for about an hour, and I posted my best average speed to this point - 9.2 mph. Also got my best max speed time due to a fantastic downhill - 18.1 mph! I won't take any credit for that speed just because the road sloped so nicely, it required practically no effort on my part to go fast, but it sure was fun!

[penguin993]

Well, yesterday I did all right on SB until dessert....

B: 1/2 cup rolled oats with 1% milk, a banana, pecans, and a few chocolate chips (no Splenda because the banana was very ripe and sweet)
S: 1 cashew cookie Larabar (ingredients: dates and cashews. so good!)
L: egg salad with alfalfa sprouts
S: none
D: Cheesecake factory stuffed mushrooms (had some breadcrumbs but I only ate a couple of them), side dish of steamed broccoli, White Chicken Chili with no rice
S: a slice of the Lemon-Raspberry cheesecake

I had intended to stay home and make a huge stir-fry with crispy tofu and brown rice, but we had severe storms on the way and our garage is full so neither my husband nor I could park our cars under cover to avoid any possible hail. So, we went to the local mall and parked in their covered parking structure in an effort to protect our cars, and decided to eat at CF. I will say though that I resisted eating their bread. I joked with my husband about it (me: "the bread is cold and hard and disgusting, RIGHT?" him, with his mouth full: "Right, sweetie"). DH got a white pizza, which is one of my favorites, but I resisted asking for a piece (even though he would have given me one). I brought back a trick I used to use, which is waiting until I've finished my entire entree before allowing myself to have bread/pizza/whatever was tempting me. Usually I'll either be so full I can't finish my entree, or the bread/etc. will be cold so it doesn't look so appetizing by the time I do finish my meal.

The white chicken chili was really quite good! DH liked my chili even more than his pizza. I ordered it without the white rice, but the kitchen forgot so I had to send it back and wait a while for dinner. The menu says it has a "touch of cream" so maybe it's not strictly beachy, but I occasionally use a little bit of butter or heavy cream in my cooking and it hasn't seemed to affect me negatively - my cholestrol is low and my weight's dropping, so I'm not going to worry about the occasional "touch of cream."

I probably would have been fine leaving the restaurant at this point, but the storm was still going on, so we stayed and had dessert. The power actually went out briefly while we were there, but no major damage in our part of town (thank goodness). I had three bites of the Lemon Raspberry cheesecake and really should have sent it away with the first passing waiter at that point... but I didn't. I ate it all (minus DH's portion). I have to stop thinking of it as wasting food, and more as doing something good for myself. DH gave me a bite of his (Pineapple Upside-Down cheesecake) and it was good, but WAY too sweet. Part of the reason I think I like the Lemon Raspberry cheesecake best is because it's not too sweet - the tartness of the lemon and raspberry make the cheesecake taste less rich and cloyingly sweet. Anyway, hopefully eating that has gotten the dessert craving out of my system for a while. I knew I couldn't handle it if I took any home as leftovers.

The biggest boggle was this morning, when I weighed in at half a pound LESS than yesterday. I only record my Monday weigh-ins, so this will not be going on my loss graph, but I weighed in this morning at 163.8 (Monday I was at 164.6, and Wednesday I was at 164.2). What gives? I've noticed before that I seem to drop weight when I cheat. It's very strange Don't worry, I am not using this as an excuse to cheat! Back on the beach this morning for me.

Planned menu for today:
B: 3/4 cup Kashi Autumn Wheat Shredded Wheat cereal with 15 cherries
S: cheese stick
L: 1/2 ww bagel with egg salad, spinach, and alfalfa sprouts
S: baby carrots and ranch
D: stir-fry with ginger-oyster sauce and crispy tofu, with 1/2 cup brown basmati rice
S: banana with natural PB

[penguin993]

The bad weather finally let up, so I went out this morning for my first bike ride since Sunday, and I managed to have a small fall. I was only out for about 20 minutes, and was going about 16mph down a downhill slope when I lost control of my bike and just didn't brake aggressively enough. Scraped my knees up a bit, have a nice sized patch of road rash on my right elbow, and I also managed to faceplant directly into the ground (after I had stopped moving forward) so now my front teeth are sore (but not loose, thank goodness). Luckily, I have no abrasions on my face. But I imagine this is what getting punched in the face feels like!

Always wear your helmet and cycling gloves, kids! The gloves certainly saved my palms from some nice road rash, and while the helmet didn't make a difference today, it's still a good idea.

Today's menu:
B: rolled oats with milk, splenda and cinnamon, 1 cut up small fuji apple
S: string cheese
L: Gardenburger patty with salad and dressing, bean salad
S: baby carrots, probably a little bowl of bean salad
D: either last night's leftover stir-fry and brown basmati rice, or leftover ww pasta with meat sauce
S: banana and PB

[penguin993]

So I had a major fail today. I had been wanting to make an arroz con pollo recipe since before I had gotten back on SB, and I thought now that I was on Phase 2, I would try it out. However, brown rice takes comparatively long to cook (long enough that the chicken would be overcooked and dry), so I thought it would be a good idea to throw in already-cooked brown rice at the end. Well, once I thought about it (and was already in the prep process for the chicken and veggies) I realized that using cooked rice wouldn't work at all because then there wouldn't be anything to absorb the broth/wine/juices, so it really was necessary to use white long-grain rice unless I wanted to try and cut the broth down and experiment with the recipe proportions... which usually leads to bad results, for me. So, I caved and made the dish with jasmine rice (what we had at home). My husband enjoyed the dish, and I did too - until about 90 minutes later when I felt like I was starving!!! The only non SB legal ingredient was the rice... and I had no idea it would affect me that strongly after more than a month off of the white carbs. I am sad to admit that I went on a bit of an eating rampage this afternoon had two scoops of Graeter's vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, and a huge mango lassi (that I made with Splenda and a bit of agave nectar instead of sugar, but there was sugar in the mango puree). It was odd that after all that, there was still a gnawing empty feeling in the pit of my stomach; I felt like I hadn't eaten in 24 hours most of the afternoon (until after the mango lassi - I think the plain FF yogurt in it helped a bit).

DH already volunteered to eat the arroz con pollo leftovers as lunches for the next couple of days, so at least someone will get to enjoy it. As for me, it was so not worth it! Mondays are my official weigh-in day, but depending on how tomorrow morning looks on the scale, I'm tempted to sub today's weight of 164.0 (which is about a half-pound loss from last Monday). Not a good week - between getting rained in at the Cheesecake Factory on Wednesday and now this, I need to watch out!

ETA: Monday 6/15 weigh-in:
CW: 163.6 (loss of one pound!)

[penguin993]

I'm doing my best not to let last week's weight loss (despite cheesecake and arroz con pollo ) make me complacent. Getting back on track! It's not just about losing weight, it's about eating well. I don't want to be a "fat thin person" like I was in high school - I want to actually have muscle tone and be able to go on long hikes and bike rides, and lift more than 30 lbs comfortably over my head. Right now, I just feel like a fat person, but I know I'm doing something good for myself with the exercise and the SB eating, which makes me happy.

Today: 28 minutes on the bike, average speed 9.3 mph, max speed 15.2 mph.

Today's menu:
B: 1 cup cooked steel cut oats with a splash of milk and 1 packet Splenda, 1/4 of a cantaloupe, cut up
S: cheese stick and some baby carrots
L: chicken caesar salad
S: apple with almond butter
D: ww pita pizzas (still deciding on toppings, but they'll be veggie laden!), iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese dressing
S: I've been skipping dessert lately but I might have a NSA fudgesicle if I feel I need something

[dawnmarie]

I also recently took up cycling. Finally bought a decent bike from REI that isn't going to shake itself apart like my old Department store bikes used to when I was a kid. I've worked my way up to an hour ride finally though my tush still hurts, even with a gel seat cover. How long have you been cycling? Tell me about your experience.

[penguin993]

Hi Dawnmarie! Thanks for visiting my journal!

I haven't been cycling long at all. I only learned how to ride last fall (at the age of 28) thanks to the efforts of my husband, who has a passion for long-distance cycling. I then didn't ride regularly for quite a long time, due to tonsil surgery, the complications with buying a house, and just plain working hard. I started back actually making an attempt to ride my bike regularly about six weeks ago, which not coincidentally is when I started back on SB. So far, the longest I've been out riding is about an hour as well, and I've found that I actually enjoy it - moreso than any other exercise I've done. I kept today's ride short because my sit bones couldn't take it and also so that I could ensure that I didn't push myself too hard too fast after last week's minor fall.

My bike is an Electra Townie cruiser bike that has the "flat foot technology" that allows me to put my feet flat on the ground while in the saddle. This was a big selling point for me with the Townie, since while I was learning I really wanted the security of being able to put my feet on the ground if I was feeling unsteady. Now, I'm able to ride with the saddle up a little higher and my feet aren't quite flat on the ground when I put them down - but still comfortable. Maybe one day I'll get a road bike, but for now, the Townie's wide tires and stable feel suit me just fine. What I might lack in speed I'm getting back in security - important for a novice!

As for bike seats, the Townie's seat is quite wide and padded, and according to my husband, soft padded seats are actually harder for the body to take. But, perhaps he's got sit bones of steel?

[penguin993]

Well, I left the house with good intentions for getting a nice ride in, but it was windy enough that this novice rider was feeling REALLY nervous on my bike, so after about 12 minutes I turned around and came home. The last thing I need right now is another fall! I'm going to do my yoga DVD instead.

Last night I had a dream that I had come home after work with a large Papa John's cheese pizza and cheese sticks (not string cheese, but the cheesy bread thing...), and shared it with my husband. Then I felt so guilty and ashamed that I broke my diet for no good reason... and then I woke up! I was so relieved, but what does this say about my subconscious? lol

Tonight we're going over to my in-laws place to celebrate Father's Day a little early, since DH and I will be out of town this weekend. It sounds like my MIL is making something like tacos, since she mentioned something about tortillas. I'm hoping it will be possible for me to make a taco salad of sorts out of what's available, but if not, I'll just eat what I can and have a proper dinner when I get home. I'll need to make sure I have a snack beforehand as well so that I don't give up on SB because of hunger pangs.

Last night, DH and I tried a Buitoni 100% whole wheat tortellini that we found at our local grocery store. It was a three cheese flavor I think, so it probably had a little too much fat to be strictly beachy, but it was nice to have filled pasta again. The pasta was a little grainy in texture, but DH didn't complain about it. We served it with seared salmon and some leftover shrimp, in a tarragon-basil sauce with white wine and a splash of heavy cream and a small mountain of broccoli. Delicious, but I will go for a tomato sauce next time (though cream sauces are a weakness of mine).

Today's meals:
B: Kashi Autumn Wheat with 1% milk
S: banana, since I forgot it at breakfast!
L: leftover salmon with ww tortellini and broccoli, probably some sauteed onion and mushroom as well to up the veggie content
S: either a cheese stick or a Larabar
D: whatever I can eat at the in-laws' house
S: Warm Brownie recipe (I really, really love this recipe made with almond butter. I had made it with peanut butter in the past, and it's good, but with almond butter it's AMAZING!)

[dawnmarie]

I've been taking some classes and one of them touched on dream cycles. They said that the dreams you have in the 1st 1/3 of your night are when you process the things that happened in your day. The dreams in the 2nd 1/3 of your night are when you try to predict what may happen in the future from what you've learned. The dreams from the last 1/3 of your night are when you 'vent out' or process out ideas you reject. Granted this is a generality, but some insight may be gained by knowing what time of night your dream fell.

My bike is a Novara Metro. It's kind of a cross between a mountain bike and a city bike. Here's a picture - http://www.rei.com/product/775487 My best friend is an avid biker... actually a member of the bike patrol; he helped me pick it out. Was the only bike in the shop that was good for my height and the terrain I ride. Over all I am very pleased with it. I've been thinking about raising the seat a bit to get more thrust out of my pedals now that I'm used to the bike.

Sorry your weather wasn't nice enough to allow you to go out and enjoy it. At least you have a good back-up plan!

[penguin993]

My pizza dream was in the last 15 minutes before I woke up for the day, so it definitely fell in the final 1/3 of my night. Hmm... perhaps that's saying I'm rejecting the idea of cheating on the diet? I suppose that's encouraging!

Nice looking bike, dawnmarie Here's a picture of my Townie: http://www.intownbicycles.com/images/pr ... abyblu.jpg

[missabee]

Yo! It looks like we have the same stats at the moment, and my goal weight is the same as yours, 140 pounds! Woot, keep it up Beach Buddy!
I don't cycle, though I have a bike here...the tires I think are flat...I do however rollerblade. Last week, I rollerbladed for an hour every day. This week I stopped due to life being busy, plus, I had started the SBL this week and wanted to be sure that my body could handle it before I started to exercise again. Today I am taking a nice rollerblade uphill to my Great Canadian Superstore, where there is a Goodlife Fitness club. I am going to see how much a summer membership costs.
Maybe tomorrow I will rollerblade to my partner's house. It is an hour long ride there, so that will get me a good bit of exercise!
Well, I think that is about it! Good luck, and I hope your dream doesn't stray you off your path!

[penguin993]

So tomorrow DH and I leave for a week in Colorado with some friends. I visited the grocery store to stock up on snacks for the car ride (18 hours or so each way!) and I think I ended up with some ok stuff. I know that it's not likely that I can eat perfectly on the SB plan while I'm away from home and not in charge of my meals, but I'm going to do my dingdangityest to not sabotage myself. We're taking breakfast foods with us, so at least I know I'll have one meal a day that's beachy!

Stuff I bought in prep for the trip:
bottled water
cashews (already have almonds and pecans at home)
no sugar added fruit leather (think fruit roll-ups, but all natural and healthier)
Larabars
bananas
canned peaches in juice, nsa
100% WW bread
nsa strawberry jam
Oreos (for DH... thankfully I don't particularly care for oreos, otherwise this might be a temptation!)
Frosted Mini-Wheats (again, for DH)

Stuff we have at home that I'm taking with us:
natural peanut and almond butter
Splenda packets
Triscuit Thin Crisps
old-fashioned oatmeal
popcorn

It's going to be weird not having easy access to veggies, but I'm hopeful that it won't be too hard to eat healthfully once we're there.

Today's menu:
B: steel cut oats with a banana, a few chocolate chips, and a squirt of SF maple syrup
S: skipped, because breakfast was on the late side
L: ginormous salad with romaine lettuce, baby bella mushrooms, mini sweet peppers, and a cut-up tomato, with marinated chicken cutlets and blue cheese dressing
S: none - it's already 6:00 pm so I'm just going to start dinner
D: pita pizza with turkey pepperoni, big side salad
S: SB warm brownie

[penguin993]

Just rolled in from Colorado about an hour ago... 15 hour drive! DH and I are exhausted. I ate OK during the first part of the week, but had less and less willpower as the week went on... I just couldn't eat another chicken caesar salad! Almost all of my breakfasts were SB friendly because I made my own oatmeal with fruit, 1% milk and Splenda, and some of my lunches and dinners were ok... but many were not. Tonight after so many hours on the road DH and I caved and went to Chipotle for burritos. Tomorrow, I will need to go to the store and stock our fridge and pantry back up with SB friendly items, and I hope my weekly weigh-in on Monday morning won't be too discouraging... but if I've gone up a few pounds, it's not a big deal. I've lost them before, and I can do it again, especially now that I'm back home and can cook properly!

I will miss the lovely cool weather in the mountains. Dallas is HOT!