Diminishing Returns

I've been thinking about this post for several months now. But I just kept putting it off (and putting it off and putting it off). Here's the gist of it: the liquid diet is great for losing the weight, but it's not good for keeping it off. Again. Yep, for the second time, we lost lots of weight on the liquid diet and then gained almost all of it back in less than a year. We had lots of excuses this time. There was the stress of moving last August and lots of travel, but they were all just excuses. The fact is that we weren't as religious about exercising and we ate just about whatever we wanted. Eat more and move less, you're going to gain the weight back.

Late November and into December, an idea began to hatch in my mind. I still enjoy the water fitness, but I felt like I needed to bump up my fitness plans. So... after talking it over with Tom and getting clearance from my nurse-practitioner... I started training at Bob Roncker's Running Spot to walk in the Flying Pig Half Marathon on May 3rd. Now, if you've known me a while, you know I have bad knees (chondromalacia of the patella to be specific). That's why I had to get clearance from my nurse-practitioner before starting this and she said "okay" as long as I kept doing the water fitness. That means 3 - 5 days in the pool on weekday mornings and 4 days a week walking. So far, my knees have been fine. They really only hurt now when a weather front is coming through.

My inspiration for this journey was Jonathan "The Voice" Dichter, one of the co-hosts of my favorite Disney podcast "All About the Mouse". Jonathan spent two years training to run in the 2009 Walt Disney World Half Marathon and he did it! Fittingly enough, I began my training on January 10th, the date of the WDW Marathon. As I walked my 3.5 miles in the 38 degree rain that day, I kept thinking about how Jonathan and the rest of AATM's Team Voice was doing.

So far, my longest walk has been 7 miles and included a good amount of hills. We're scheduled to do 8 miles this Saturday and... I'm actually looking forward to it! I knocked out 4.5 miles yesterday and it actually felt "normal"! I'm hoping to do 4.5 again today.

Now, my weight hasn't really dropped since I started walking so I signed up for SparkPeople again. It's a great resource that's free and based here in Cincinnati so I even know people who work there (Hi Stepfanie!). They even just added a mobile version and mentioned a possible Blackberry app in the future. (They already have a iPhone app.) I need to get better about keeping up my food diary and making better food choices. Tom and I are working on pre-planning our meals for the week and using our slow cooker more.

Thanks to all of you who supported us in the past. We couldn't have done it without you. Now, it's on to "real life" healthier living. It won't be as quick as it was on the liquid diet, but it truly will be life changing this time...

Carla

I'm going to start blogging over at my old place, so -- among other things -- the football picks are going over there from now on. Try to contain your excitement.

4 minutes to kickoff: nothing fancy.

New Orleans @ Chicago
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta
Washington @ Cincinnati
Tennessee @ Houston
Green Bay @ Jacksonville
San Francisco @ Miami
Seattle @ St. Louis
Buffalo @ NY Jets
San Diego @ Kansas City
Detroit @ Indianapolis
Minnesota @ Arizona
Pittsburgh @ Baltimore
Denver @ Carolina
New England @ Oakland
NY Giants @ Dallas

Monday Night
Cleveland @ Philadelphia
Total score: 57

OK, I'm not an idiot.

Despite all evidence to the contrary.

I make good solid picks. Reasonable picks. I pick against teams I root for because this isn't personal, this is Serious Business™.

Yet merely by the act of my picking against certain teams (cough..cough...Philadelphia...cough) I cause a rift in the space-time continuum and they play like Super Bowl™ (hey, it's the NFL, and they haz teh lawyers) champions instead of the mooks they've played like for the rest of the year.

When I was picking them.

Every frickin' week.

And they play the Giants this week. No drama there.

Let the games begin!

Oakland @ San Diego
Jacksonville @ Chicago
Minnesota @ Detroit
Cincinnati @ Indianapolis
Philadelphia @ NY Giants
Cleveland @ Tennessee
Atlanta @ New Orleans
Houston @ Green Bay
Miami @ Buffalo
NY Jets @ San Francisco
New England @ Seattle
Kansas City @ Denver
St. Louis @ Arizona
Dallas @ Pittsburgh
Washington @ Baltimore

Monday Night
Tampa Bay @ Carolina
Total score: 57

... but today is not that day.

Tennessee @ Detroit (but wouldn't it be funny if ...)
Seattle @ Dallas
Arizona @ Philadelphia
San Francisco @ Buffalo
Baltimore @ Cincinnati
Indianapolis @ Cleveland
Carolina @ Green Bay
Miami @ St. Louis
New Orleans @ Tampa Bay
NY Giants @ Washington
Atlanta @ San Diego
Denver @ NY Jets
Pittsburgh @ New England
Kansas City @ Oakland
Chicago @ Minnesota

Monday Night
Jacksonville @ Houston
Total points: 52

Well, the wheat is being separated from the chaff in the league, which really makes me wonder why we've all started going into agriculture all of the sudden. Everyone but Insta-Mom (AKA the Commish), that is. We were schooled. Which is appropriate, considering her profession.

With no further ado:

Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh

Chicago @ St. Louis
Houston @ Cleveland
NY Jets @ Tennessee
New England @ Miami
Buffalo @ Kansas City
Minnesota @ Jacksonville
Tampa Bay @ Detroit
San Francisco @ Dallas
Philadelphia @ Baltimore

Oakland @ Denver
Washington @ Seattle
NY Giants @ Arizona
Carolina @ Atlanta

Indianapolis @ San Diego

Green Bay @ New Orleans
Combined Score: 52

Labels: BFL, NFL