can’t wait to get out of this apartment

I’m in my apartment right now and my neighbor is once again playing the music/TV way too loud for this place with its thin walls. I’m so ready to leave this stupid apartment. I can’t wait to get away from my noisy neighborhood. I’m so done with this place and my neighbors!!

Just another reason to hate Bellevue.

 

no lose no win weigh-in

Today’s weigh-in was ok. I was down 0.8 pounds so my current weight is 191.4. I am always ok with a week in which my weight goes down, even when it is less than my goal. My goal is to lose between one and two pounds a week. So i consider this week to be an OK week; not a failure and not really a success.

So what happened this week to keep me from succeeding? The short answer is that i ate too much. Three days in particular were problematic. Sunday was a celebratory dinner with my boyfriend. I ate a lot and failed to properly track the meal. Then came Wednesday when i had two meals that i couldn’t account for. We took a co-worker out for dim sum. I had no idea of the point values of the foods i was eating because i just don’t know anything about Chinese food. Then we went to dinner at a congregation in Longview. I didn’t know what the points were from the entrée and i had a dessert.  So i’m sure i over ate significantly that day. Then on Thursday i did some mindless eating and ended up downing a bunch of cheese. Again, way too many points consumed and i didn’t record them. I estimate that i not only ate up the 35 “anytime/any day” points but also a bunch of points beyond that.

What do i need to do to correct this? Two things: first track, no matter what i eat. I cannot allow myself to eat without putting down the points, even if that puts me over my point goal. Second plan my menu each day. I got caught this week often with no good food choices. I didn’t do the proper shopping and so i ended up with unhealthy options open to me. Gotta plan my meals.

So what saved the week? Why didn’t i gain weight? One word: Wii. I racked up a lot of activity points this week. In fact this was the most activity points in one week that i’ve ever had. That was the saving grace in the week. If i can keep doing that (which i think i can because it’s fun) and get back on program with my tracking and planning, i should have a good result next Saturday.

 

my wine limit

So last night i had a couple of glasses of wine. I was celebrating my procuring of a new place to live in Seattle and my up-coming departure from Bellevue. Let me be honest. I had three—three small glasses. In the past that would have been nothing. But this morning i woke up with a headache and i felt terrible. I was surprised by this. Something has changed. I’m not sure what it is. Is it the weight loss? Is is age? I don’t know what it is but apparently now two glasses of wine are my limit. I need to face that fact and not have more no matter how good the celebration gets and no matter who is pouring.

 

i have a new place to live

Tonight i got a call from the owner of the house that i applied to rent. My application has been accepted and i will sign the lease on Wednesday of next week. I hope to actually move on the Satruday after Thanksgiving. I am so ready for this because i am so done with Bellevue. I want out of here!

I am so over SR 520 and the floating bridges. There are a million things that i will not miss when i leave here. not the least of which is my noisy neighbor. They are always playing the TV or the stereo too loud. It is never quite over on the other side of the wall.

I also won’t miss having to walk outside with my laundry to the laundry room or the limited hours that the laundry room is open or the inconvience of lugging the laundry over in the rain only to find that the washers are all full.

I’m looking forward to having a second room in which i can have my office (i.e. The Creativity Factory). I need a place, not in the church building, where i can read and write and create.

I am pleased to have a house that will not be so far from where my boyfriend lives, a house that is not far from downtown Seattle, a house that is near places in Seattle that i like, a house near good local establishments for music and entertainment, a house in a community in which i see lots of Black folk.

I know there will be challenges to living in Seattle again but i’m ready for those challenges. Just get me out of Bellevue and back to a place that feels more like home.

 

…meanwhile back on the fat farm…

Our hero is still valiently struggling toward fitness. Day by day, hour by hour, choice by choice i’m getting there. The best move i’ve made recently in that department is the purchase of the Wii system. I’d rather be walking outside for my exercise but it’s late November in Seattle and so it’s cold and rainy. I ain’t walking in that weather. Coming up on the end of the first week with the Wii and so far so good.

The Fit Plus software is very helpful for me. I’ve put together a little routine that invloves some yoga, some muscle toning/strengthening, a good dose of areobic work. It’s only been a week but i can feel the challenge to my body and i can tell that i’m pushing myself but not too hard. I don’t feel that i’m over-reaching. I’ll come back to the details of my little workout later.

 

facebook account hacked

I didn’t pay attention while i was online the other day. My security software warned me of a program that was suspicious. It even warned me three times and, to my chagrin, i ignored the warning. As a result my facebook account got hacked…

…and i had to shut it down. The computer itself is not infected with any known virus. The security software was able to fix the problem once i wiped the hard drive, restored the system and reloaded the security software. I lost some data though not a lot. Still it was an annoying lesson to pay attention to my security software. After all that is what i pay them for.

 

and now it’s public

Yesterday it went public. I told the people of the congregation where i serve that i will be leaving. I can now reveal details that i had to keep confidential. I will be the next vicar at All Saints Episcopal Church in Seattle. I begin my new duties the first week in January 2010. Since i’ll be going home for a little bit around Christmas my last day at my current congregation will be December 20th.

I found myself much more emotional than i thought i would be when it came time to make the announcement. There were certain members who i knew i couldn’t look at during my announcement or i was going to lose it completely. It was hard to say i was leaving even though i’ve only been there a short while and have been part-time on top of that. Still i care deeply about the people of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection.

The members expressed a mix of emotion: surprise and sadness seemed to be the most common. There were some who were angry and didn’t think it fair that i would have to leave after being present for such a short time. Honestly a few people are probably relieved. There was a segment of the congregation that was not comfortable with me. My way of coming at you with high energy, creativity and an emphasis on multi-cultural ministry made some people nervous and uncomfortable. They would just as soon i leave so that church can “get back to normal.” However most of the congregation expressed the sentiment that i will be missed and that i’ve already contributed a lot to the life of this parish.

There are lots of things i will miss about Resurrection. I will also really miss being in a team situation where i shared preaching and presiding at Eucharist. At All Saints i’ll be it every week. I think i’ll move to change that somehow so that i get a break and the people of All Saints get a break too. I’ve come to value to opportunity to hear different voices in worship and preaching.

And so i begin to move away from the Church of the Resurrection. The separation process has begun.

 

to gym or not to gym?

My plan for the cold weather months was to join a gym. However there is a problem with this plan. The problem is that i hate gyms. The setting is not to my liking at all. First off i hate the music that is played in them and/or the fact that televisions are everywhere in them. I don’t like the way they smell. Being around all those skinny fit people always makes me feel inadequate and a more than a little self-conscience about being the fat girl at the gym. These things make me not want to go. Then there is the cost. They cost about $50/month which is too much for me since i would only be using the gym for about two things: the track and one aerobic machine.

So i have hesitated to join a gym and instead have looked at some alternatives. I have decided on an alternative exercise/activity strategy for the cold months: a video game system. yes i said video game system. It’s the Wii. I researched it and decided that the Wii along with its Fit Plus software would be great to get me up and moving for my Weight Watchers activity points.

So Friday i bought the system and the Fit Plus software and got it all set up in my living room. Then i tried it out. It was great. There are games/activities to work on posture, balance, flexibility, strength, and endurance. And i had a great time with the Wii. It was more like play than working out. But i knew it was working out because i could feel the parts of my body that were getting worked. And when i woke up this morning i knew that i had been in a workout.

My next Wii workout is today. I have an event this evening and then i will workout afterward. I’m actually looking forward to the workout even more than the event.

 

another surprise at weekly weight-in day

So i stepped on the scale today at my meeting fully expecting to see a gain and i was surprised to hear that i’d lost 3.6 pounds this week and am now at 192.2 lbs.

Although i like what happened this week i am a bit perplexed as to how to explain it. I didn’t do well this week. At least i didn’t think i did well this week. I track my food and i do a pretty good job at doing that. In the Weight Watchers plan i get 35 points of food that i can use anyway i want in addition to the regular daily points. Usually i don’t use anymore than 10 to 15 points of that 35 each week. This week i used pretty much all of them. Add to that the fact that i only had one day of exercise (Friday) and i figured that i should be looking at a gain. Maybe what happened was that i overestimated the points of some of the foods i ate this week. I ate some things that i don’t normally eat and i think i got the points wrong.

Also most of the hours at work this week i was standing. I usually sit at a desk when i’m at D-House but since i no longer have a desk at D-House i’ve been putting my laptop on the piano in the Great Hall and standing by it. I guess doing this for 8 hours a day has helped me burn more calories than i would in a normal week. That might have helped me.

I am now at the place in this process where i need to think about what my final goal weight should be. Today it seems reasonable to have 160 lbs as my goal. That would get me in the high-end of a normal weight. That would mean that i have to lose 32.2 pounds before i’d be there. And that is still a lot of weight. When i get to 160 i’ll re-assess and see if i need to adjust my goal downward.

 

opps, didn’t follow my food plan this week

Friday has snuck up on me and i realized that the week has flashed by and that i haven’t been very focused on my eating and my exercise. The week has been so eventful and so full that i’ve not done any exercise in it. I’ve eaten way too much food. I’ve done a terrible job tracking food and activity this week. I feel the difference. I expect that tomorrow the scale will tell a sad story. I will be shocked if i have gained less than 2 pounds this week. My actual prediction is that i have gained between 2 and 2.5 pounds this week.

It’s not going to fun to see this on my weight record but this will bring me back to reality. Today i am back “on program” and have returned to eating right. Because it is raining and cold i’ll go someplace indoors to walk this morning. And next week the scale will tell a better story.