Monday, December 31, 2007

Imagine What You Can Accomplish


So I just got back from a run/walk. I'm on Week 4 of C25k. I've done the workout 2-1/2 times since I've been in Vegas. I think I am going to do it one or two more times before I advance to Week 5. As you can tell, I am not doing this religiously. My move and road trip threw my exercise schedule out of whack - I just wasn't willing to make it a priority during that time (sleep, packing and driving were more important). Now that I am somewhat stable, I am more comfortable making the time for it. I'm scared of Week 5, even though I don't know what it is like. I haven't been killing myself during Week 4, but it has still been challenging. I can only imagine what Week 5 holds for me! But one thing that is lovely is that I was right about running in Vegas. It is so nice to be able to go out in a long-sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt and running tights and not be cold. (I also have a headband I put over my ears.) The sun is shining, the view of the mountains is breathtaking. Fabulous! In fact, my mom and I are going with her hiking group on a New Year's Day hike. It's longer than I've done before, but I think I can handle it. I'll bring lots of water.


I have been thinking about new year's resolutions after reading some of your blogs. I hadn't thought about making any this year, but after reading your's I am getting inspired. I've found it's hard to think about resolutions when the biggest thing on my mind is getting a job. But, I am reminded by the adage that is attributed to the late John Lennon, "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." I have found that to be true the whole time I've been looking for a job. I've reached my goal weight and I'm almost at lifetime, I've started running, I've done a cross-country road trip all by myself, and I'm sure there are other things that just aren't on top of my mind. So, while I am looking for a job I obviously have the time and energy to do other things. So, keep a look out for my resolutions. As usual, thanks for inspiring me :) !

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Viva Las Vegas


Okay, so I wrote this post 2 days ago and then had computer trouble and it didn't save and so I lost the whole thing. I'm going to try to remember everything I had to say, but I'm sure I'll forget something. First and foremost, I'm safely in Vegas. I arrived on Christmas Eve from Albuquerque, NM which was a lovely place that I've been to about once or twice before. Little city, but beautiful during the holidays.


I only exercised once during my 9 day trip - I jog/walked through my uncle's neighborhood in Mississippi one afternoon. It was nice and made me realize I was ready for Week 4 of Couch-to-5k training. I had done Week 3 training one week before I moved to my sister's in Virginia, but I kept doing it once in a while during my journey - like at my uncle's. I started Week 4 a few days ago in Vegas. It was great. I can't believe I actually ran for 6 minutes straight! (It was only supposed to be 5 minutes, but I forgot to look at the clock on my iPod.) I did the whole workout once and then did half of it a few days later. I am going to do it again on Monday. I might stay doing Week 4 for two full weeks since it is so tough. (It transitions from mostly walking to mostly running from Week 3.) But, I need to look at Week 5 to see if that gives a more gradual increase, or another shock :)


I enjoyed food immensely during my road trip. Everything from a frosty at Wendy's somewhere in the south to pistachio encrusted salmon and a local wine in Marfa, TX. I made a few disappointing choices - the shrimp creole in Mississippi just wasn't that great. But, all in all I enjoyed myself and tried to make smart choices. Now that I am at my parents' it is a whole new set of challenges. They eat differently and at different times than I do, so I am faced with a whole heck of a lot more temptation than I was when I had my own place. But, I'm managing. I haven't used all my flex points yet for this week. (Granted, my week started on Thursday :) I'm just taking it one day, one morning, one afternoon at a time and trying to have faith in myself that I'll make more healthy choices than bad ones. And I am trying to exercise more. I'm going to walk to Target this afternoon, which is about a mile each way.


I went to my first new WW meeting on Thursday morning. I am back under my goal weight and I have only one week left until Lifetime! :) But, I am staying with eTools on the WW site because I know I MUST continue to track points for foreseeable future. The meeting leader wasn't on my wavelength, but he obviously cares about the people in his meeting and tries to give them good information. (He has this thing he does every week where he shows packages of food from various grocery stores and gives their portion points values. Everyone was expecting this and there were a lot of pens and notepads being pulled out when he started this segment of the meeting.) But ... he isn't Melvin my meeting leader from Maryland. I don't think I will go back to that meeting, but I do think I will go to a meeting each week. It was good to feel grounded like that and not just get weighed and leave like I usually do when I visit my parents in Vegas. And the familiar process was nice since everything feels different right now. I'll let you all know what the meeting leader and meeting is like next week.


Okay, I think I covered everything. I hope you are all well. I'm still trying to get through the last couple of weeks on all your blogs, so expect comments from me in the next day or so :)

Friday, December 21, 2007

Don't Mess With Texas

Hey y'all. I'm in Abilene, TX today. I had a lovely dinner at Outback last night - seared ahi tuna (one of my favorites) on a bed of mixed greens and cucumbers with a side of broccoli and a little red wine. Love-ly. I had it all planned out to go to a WW meeting here last night, but I got in 2 hours late. There's one in about an hour, but I just don't want to get lost looking for it. I got lost last night and it isn't an experience I want to repeat! :) So, I guess this is one of the few weeks in the past 15-16 months that I won't go to WW. It feels weird and I miss it. I will definitely be going next week when I'm in Vegas. I think I am still on track. I weighed myself at my friend's and my uncle's places and I was 140 at both. Sounds good to me! Guess Lifetime will just have to wait a few more weeks.

I hope you are all well. I haven't had time to visit your blogs and I miss hearing what is going on with all of you. It's just tough when I've been driving for 7-12 hours each day. Oh, if you are interested in reading about my adventures, email me at trixiebelden2006 at yahoo dot com and I'll send you an invitation to my travel blog. (It's private for security reasons.)

Take care! Y'all come back now, ya hear!

Trixie

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

On the Road Again

I'm in Mississippi now. I've been doing pretty good on the eating, but not so good on the exercise. Zero exercise for about two weeks now. I've just been so tired when I get up in the morning I haven't had the energy. And I haven't had the energy to do it after a day of driving either. I drove about 12 hours yesterday from Tampa, FL to Jackson, MS. Good weather. Good tunes on the iPod. Last night's dinner was a salad with no dressing, tilapia and vegetables and copious amounts of Diet Coke. But I did have a small McDonald's shake with my pasta salad for lunch. It was disappointing. I wanted a frosty, but there wasn't a Wendy's around. I won't make that mistake again.

My grandmother, who I saw in Florida, was cute when she saw me. She hasn't seen me with all the weight off. Actually, she didn't know I was trying to lose weight - we just don't have that kind of relationship. She'd worry and bother me about it. It was better that it was a surprise. She did say "I was wondering where the other half of you went to." I ended up laughing instead of being offended. I mean, if that's the worst thing someone says to me, I'll take it. And she's 84. I mean, I gotta cut her some slack. And lastly, it is basically true. Ah ... relatives :)

Now I need to go on the WW site to find a meeting for the city I'll be in in Texas tomorrow. I want to stick to my Thursday weigh-ins, even though I'm on the road. I've been weighing myself on people's scales, but it isn't the same.

Off and truckin'

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Does Driving Earn You Activity Points?

I've just started my road trip. I had a lovely dinner in Savannah, GA. Salad with hearts of palm (which I had never had before and were surprisingly yummy) and roasted mushrooms and mussels in a wine sauce with red peppers for dinner. (Sorry, no food porn.) I did have three glasses of wine, so I wasn't an angel. But, it was better than getting the cappuccino since they said, and I quote, "we don't have skim milk in house" How crazy is that! I haven't been to WW online to see how many points it all was. I am going to try my damnedest to go for a run tomorrow before I get back in the car.

Time for bed. I'll check out all your blogs at my next stop. Take care!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

A New Road Trip Blog

So, I've decided to do a dedicated travel blog for my road trip. I'll post pictures and give daily updates of where I am, what I've seen (besides rest stop bathrooms), and who I am visiting - including pictures of all the dogs and cats I stay with during my trip and any good Christmas decorations I see.

The only reason why I'm not going to do it on this blog is because I want to invite some family and friends to read the travel blog who I don't want to read this blog. So, it is going to be invitation only ... but if you want to have access to it, just post your email address in the comments and I'll include you on the list. Sorry for the hassle. I'll still post here during the road trip, you just won't get the exciting details! :)

I'm excited for the trip, but I'm also nervous. I wish I could just go home and be in my old apartment surrounded by the familiar. I don't think I have been between homes in about 11 years.

I have been making pretty mediocre/bad food choices for about a week now and I haven't been exercising. Traveling leads to temptation for me. I am also stressed about the job situation. I think that's why I had ice cream last night (albeit light ice cream, and I ate it in a small bowl so maybe it only looked big). It was so good I wonder what real ice cream tastes like! :)

Friday, December 07, 2007

Home


So, now I'm sitting on my friend's couch with her cat Maddy in Manhattan. I have my favorite hazelnut coffee by my side as well. I got in last night and immediately it felt like I was coming home. The busy sidewalks, the traffic, the cold air, it just feels right.


I haven't mentioned this yet, but I got an invitation to move in with another old friend who lives in New York. He has a two bedroom with a cheap rent (under $1500 for the whole place) and I could move in in January/February 2008. (Yes, he's a guy, but we've been friends for 12 years and there's no sexual tension/interest there on either side.) He would be an awesome roommate, which is not the living situation I am looking for, but I don't have a lot of options right now. (The apartment/neighborhood is a little divey, so I have to check it out to make sure it is some place I'd really feel comfortable.) So, I need to run the numbers, but I think I could afford living there and paying rent/utilties if I got a good temp job even before I got a career-focused job. But, as you know, I am driving cross-country in a matter of 8 days to move in with my parents in Vegas. Moving to New York would be stressful because I would have more fixed expenses than in Vegas, but NYC has more job opportunities for someone in my field. But, to add another element to this story ... I got a second interview with a major casino/hotel/resort company in Vegas. I speak with the VP of Executive Recruitment next Wednesday and if that goes well I'll be invited to their offices to interview again around Christmas. (A stressful, but positive, way to celebrate the season if you ask me :) So, needless to say, things are very up in the air with me.


Well, I found a Weight Watchers meeting, no lie, 1 block from my friend's apartment. It starts in 40 minutes, so I have plenty o' time. I just ate a bagel the size of my head (ahhh, New York), but I am trying to tell myself that it was whole wheat so it wasn't that bad - ha ha ha :) Hopefully this third week of maintenance will have positive results. (Maybe I should add another ticker to my blog to track weeks on maintenance.) I feel like I have so much more to tell you all, but I will save it for other posts this weekend. Take care!

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

In Flux

So, here I sit on my sister's couch with the TV on mute (a re-run of Gilmore Girls is on) and two sweet little dogs curled up next to me. They'd be on my lap right now, but that's where my computer is. I am all moved into my sister's house. Granted, many of my boxes are still in her living room, but all I'm waiting for is the green light from my brother-in-law as to where in the basement to put them.

This is the first stop on the "downsizing my life" trip. If you remember, I gave up my apartment to save money. I am leaving for my cross-country roadtrip to Las Vegas in about a week and a half. I'm nervous about all the driving, but excited to see all the different places in the country decorated for the holidays. Living and cooking in another person's house is difficult. We made different things for dinner last night, but she was super understanding and didn't judge. I did have a glass of wine afterwards, but just one. I think maintenance is going to be very challenging while I live here for two weeks, travel cross country staying with relatives along the way and then move-in with my parents in Vegas. I don't think my parents are ready for me to cook something different for dinner than what they are having. Guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. They have been supportive all along my weight loss, I hope they will be understanding when I move in.

So, here's my route for my cross-country road trip:

Start: Northern Virginia (outside Washington D.C.)
Stop: Savannah, GA
Stop: Tampa, FL
Stop: Jackson, MS
Stop: Abilene, TX (or somewhere in Texas)
Stop: Marfa, TX
Stop: Albuquerque, NM
End: Las Vegas, NV (hopefully on December 24th or 25th!)

Any suggestions of places to stay, things to eat or places to (quickly) see while I am in one of these cities would be greatly appreciated. Oh! and suggestions about what to take in the car to eat and have on hand so I don't succumb to Wendy's frosties for all my nutrition would be greatly appreciated.