Week 5, Day 1

I've been at this a full month, and today my weight sits at 249. Ten pounds gone -- not as much as I was hoping for by this date, but I'm okay with it. Not only are 10 pounds gone, but I'm also able to walk more than I could, and I've changed my dumbbells from 5 pounds to 8 pounds. I call that a month of success!

I walked again tonight, the fourth night in a row. I couldn't do as much tonight because I'm really sore. But according to my pedometer, I did a third of a mile, this time with no brief breaks. Add to that the roughly three miles in the three previous nights combined -- not too bad for a previously-sedentary person with a bad back and asthma. :) Adam suggested that I take a rest from walking tomorrow since I'm so sore tonight. We'll see. I'm leaning toward going ahead and heading out to walk anyway since there will be plenty of days in the coming months of winter when I won't be able to go out.

Food...I wasn't such a good girl about that today. I had pasta and chicken with a cheese sauce for dinner. Not a lot of it. My stomach has shrunken, and I can't hold as much as I used to. But still... What happened was that I baked a family-sized package of chicken breasts, and with some of it I made soup, and with the rest of it Adam made dinner. He knows I like pasta, chicken, and cheese and he wasn't thinking about the diet I'm on. He's a really good cook, so it tasted wonderful. He tried something while cooking the pasta that he had learned in a book about the Culinary Institute of America. Not a big deal, but it added some subtle but wonderful flavor to the overall meal -- he put the seasonings in the pasta water so the pasta picked up the flavors of the spices. He wants to much to go to the culinary institute here in Omaha. I wish we were financially set enough that he could do that. Someday... In the meantime, if he makes me something for dinner that isn't diet-friendly, I'm NOT going to refuse to eat it or even mention the diet. He's such a sensitive, caring son -- I'm so fortunate -- and I would never want him to feel bad about something he created for me.

Of course, tonight was another episode of the Biggest Loser. I'm kind of disappointed this season. Most of the contestants seem rather petty. I have yet to see any focus on Daniel, the young guy they brought back from another season to finish his rather daunting journey, or on Abby as she struggles through this (she's the lady who lost her husband and two children in a car accident). Like Abby said earlier, if she can get up every morning and work on her weight loss, anybody can! Instead they focus on the soap-opera-esque squabbles and machinations by all too many of this seasons contestants. I want to be educated and inspired like I was in previous seasons! I used to feel like these were people just like me. This time I'm glad they and I have nothing in common.

Still, for all my disappointment with this season, I did get a good tip tonight. Bob Harper, one of the trainers, suggested a different type of push-ups for those of us who can't do regular push-ups yet. He called them wall push-ups. Stand a bit away from the wall, put your arms straight out in front of you so your hands are on the wall, and push away. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's less stressful because you're not pushing up against gravity. He said you could also lean onto a desk or table and push away. I'm going to give it a try! If I can do that kind of push-up for now, then sooner or later I'll be able to do the regular kind. And in the meantime, I'll have a little more variety in my routine -- something to do when my legs are too tired from walking. :)

And so it goes... another week of work ahead. Miles to walk, calories to count, and a slimmer, healthier me to pursue.