Weigh-In Wednesday: Bye Week Edition

Well, I was stepping into the shower this morning and remembered it was Wednesday, and remembered I gave my daughter my new scale last week. And it was alllllllllllll they way upstairs, and I was already nekked and stepping into the shower...

And I thought, "screw it." :)

That old scale, well, I told my daughter A that she didn't need to use it, either. I think it's dying. And she has been doing soooooooooooooooo well on her eating plan for, gosh, I don't know, two or three weeks now? I figured she deserved a scale that had screaming bright numbers and an implied accuracy to those numbers. I'll pick up a new scale at Costco this weekend. It's too far for me to go visit hers, haha, and I think G also benefits from having a scale handy. ;)

It wasn't a great eating week, anyway. G and I went out of town for the weekend, and while I largely kept my eating in check, there was too much snacking and too much food, in general. I confess I am not eager to face that bad ole scale at all.

Weigh-In Wednesday: Working Mama Triathlon Edition

What bright future lies ahead!! Spring is coming, spring is coming!! This week I was able to spend some quality time outdoors: walking several times to get my youngest from daycare, one day even diverting to a different bus that dropped me farther from home, so I could stretch a .8 mile walk into a 3.0 mile walk on my way to get him. (Only to be reminded by staff that his dad had picked him up earlier in the afternoon, hahaha, thus making my trip a WASTED WALK! Not really, it was wonderful to be outside and I felt stronger and healthier and I am increasingly believing (remembering) that the key to my sanity is exercise and some alone time.)

I rode my bike home from work twice: once I already posted about and then again yesterday. Such good timing, because this morning is junky and rainy. I was very proud that I pushed myself to take advantage of the weather window (I work in construction in Seattle, you have no idea how many times a day I hear the phrase "weather window" this time of year, haha, as my project managers all scramble to get their construction contracts in place in time to build this summer.)

Yesterday's ride was glorious, too, although it was 7 degrees cooler than my last ride (50 degrees versus 57) and I learned that seven degrees matters. I was chilled for the first maybe quarter of the ride before my body warmed up. And then I was just GREAT, even across the long Lake Washington bridge, which I had feared would be windy, but really wasn't.

Riding all the way home, I cracked myself up, thinking about what I called my "Working Mama Triathlon" that I would do that afternoon:

Biking (11 miles)

Chasing (split: 0.8 mile walk there followed by
0.8 mile very spirited game of "Rock Soccer" home.)
Rock Soccer is freaking exhausting. He kicks the rock, I chase it.

My favorite: Competitive Wine Soaking. 

The scale continues to be an enemy this week, but I am resigned to the fact that I need to make some unwanted changes in order to see the results I want. This week, I would say my eating was pretty good - I am getting lots of protein and not terribly many carbs. Not too many sweets, either.

The failing this week? Wine. Way too much wine! I have my reasons: G is home with an injured knee, awaiting *another* knee surgery (other knee this time). Maybe it's my shortcoming, maybe it's his, but I find house-not-quite-husbands stressful to have around. I have given a great deal of thought to this, and I am pretty sure it's my shortcoming, not his, haha. Maybe I'll delve into this later. :)

Also, G's mom stayed with us for a couple days last week. Again, my shortcoming, not hers. This was a great visit, just a couple nights in duration. I have never had house guests before, never had family that lived out of town (that I am close to) and for whatever reason, this is just stressful to me.

I think I'm a head case. :) I also continue to feel like I sometimes struggle with my first grown-up relationship, wherein I attempt to have everything my way all the time and...I am sometimes denied. WHA??

Anyway, I have never been much of a drinker but I feel myself falling into this "glass or two a night" trap that I think affected the scale this week. G has a drink or two in the evening, it is easy to join him, especially when I am feeling stressed.

Hell, I live in Washington, I may have to take up pot to relax. ;)

Chill, baby. Bike season is here.

Weigh-In Wednesday: Beautiful Spring Day Edition

Oh my goodness, it couldn't have been more beautiful in Seattle yesterday! (Unless maybe it's today!) It was just glorious outside, so much so that look who I loaded onto the bus bright and early in the morning to ride home for the first time yesterday afternoon:

Aw, baby, I've missed you soooooooooo much.

Well, I did get on that scale yesterday morning even though, again, it was the last thing in the world I wanted to do. I thought about skipping it, actually. Tuesday night had just SUCKED and I had fallen asleep feeling very sorry for myself, then I had lain awake from, oh, about 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., still feeling sorry for myself. So getting on the scale was not high on the list of ways I wanted to make myself feel good on Wednesday morning! But I did it anyway. My logic was, it wasn't going to be any more fun on Thursday morning, haha.

Whatever. Maybe this is just what I weigh.

Do you just hate love how BRIGHT those numbers are on the scale indication? Your weight, seared into your retinas at 5:00 a.m. Lovely. :)

But now I'm going to stop talking about my sucky week and my sucky weight and I'm going to say that yesterday I rode my bike home and it was heavenly. Beyond heavenly, it was just magical. How on earth can bike riding be SO FUN?? I just love it. I may not love it in a wow, it's 42 degrees outside and pouring down rain, I think I will go ride my bike home from work in the dark way, but I absolutely LOVE it in a WOW, IT'S FIFTY-SEVEN DEGREES AND GORGEOUS OUTSIDE AND I AM COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS UNTIL I CAN BLOW THIS POPSICLE STAND AND GET OUT ON MY BIKE way!

Sure, it's a bit of a hassle. I simply do not have time to ride my bike to work in the morning. I maybe rather prefer the ride to work over the ride home (not sure on this one as they both have their merits!). You gotta get your bike to the bus stop (wha, put on all the cycling shoes and helmet and such for a few block ride??) and then you gotta load the bike on the bus. Pause for a long dramatic moment as your forehead breaks out into a light sweat as mine does...will there be space on the bike racks? Will it be easy access front space, or oh ufck, it's the hard back space(s)? Will cars honk? (Ok, cars don't usually honk, but mightn't they, one day?

So much packing involved. Yesterday was a very last minute decision to ride my bike. G wasn't going to work, it was supposed to be a very sunny day, and I needed to lift my spirits. Why not? My bike was not prepared, though, and neither was I. Bike shoes needed to be located, helmet dug out from a moving box in the garage. Tire pressure added. Stuff. What to bring? What not to bring?

Well, I made it, anyway. I forgot a water bottle, and my lunch, but I survived. :) And I FLEW out of the office at the end of the day and did a complicated strip tease in the parking garage, changing shoes and out of pants and, and, and...

(See, last year, I would have have walked out the office in my bike shorts and shoes, etc. But this year, I was just really happy that my bike shorts still fit - a relative term, I'll admit - so those pants went back on over the shorts to get me out of the building without undue scrutiny by my peers, haha.)

The ride home was glorious. I would have stopped and taken a picture to illustrate, if I hadn't been so happy just enjoying myself. Sure, the hills were hard. My legs were weak and weary. I didn't feel as much of the POWER as I felt riding late last summer, but hopefully that will come back. :)

And hey, I was riding through the most perilous part of my commute, the International District near the bus tunnel, a street fraught with buses and train tracks and pedestrians and cars and turn lanes and taxis and bums and OH MY GOODNESS that one block stretch of road is just STRESSFUL. And at the height of it, I kid you not, a fan man yelled out, "Go, Julie, go!" as I passed by.

I know a lot of people downtown, I would say, having worked here for half my life. And I will probably not ever figure out who yelled out to me at that busy train station bus stop unless they mention it in passing. But on a perfect sunny day, when I was so super happy to be back on my bike...well, heck, that just made my day.

Go, Julie, go!!

Weigh-In Wednesday: What-EVER Edition

It was actually a good week. My eating, while not beyond reproach, has been good. And on Tuesday morning, I was feeling optimistic about what the scale would show today. But then I started my period.

What-EVER. :) I will just be glad that I can honestly say I am quite satisfied with my eating this week.