Biking indoors

My first love is walking and my second is biking. A sunrise ride in the summer is one of my greatest pleasures but the weather has turned so I brought my bike indoors.

When I started my weight loss mission I tried to do it on a budget. I didn’t take up a sport that cost too much. I bought this bike 14 years ago and it collected dust for years until I started riding 3 years ago. It only cost me about $130 dollars to make it stationary and it was money well spent. It is my first choice of a cardio workout in the cold winter months. I put a TV downstairs to help with the boredom. Not only do I get a good workout and I watch the news on the Today Show while I am riding.

The bike is a street hybrid, which makes it a chore to get the heavy bike down the steps so I wait until I can no longer ride outside to bring it to it’s winter perch. I set a cooking timer by it so that I can time my workouts. I wish I had the odometer installed on the back wheel and not the front but I didn’t think of it at the time. The setup I bought at the local bike shop has the front wheel stationary and therefore I have no way of knowing how fast I am going. I also got a cushioned seat, which makes for a more pleasant workout.

Home, sweet home gym

Exercise is a very important in a successful weight loss program, if I didn’t know that before I started my transformation I sure know it now.

You can’t keep me in the house in the summer. I love to bike, swim and walk the streets of my lovely lakeside community. The warm weather and the breeze off the water make for the perfect conditions to stay active all day. The draw back to living so close to the lake is that those summer breezes turn into blast of frigid air come this time of year. In short, I am forced underground to do my workouts.

I have told you that I am not nuts about the gym that I signed a three-year contract with so I came up with my own. It’s not anything fancy but I love it. It’s open 24-7, the cold weather isn’t a factor and I save the 20 minutes driving back and forth.

My dog knows the morning routine by heart. We get up, I get dressed and then he goes downstairs and waits by the basement door waiting for me to start my workout. He loves it when I get out the workout matt because it means I will be doing sit-ups. Jerry is a wise dog and figured out that he can get petted while I am doing side crunches. I like the fact that I can workout 20 minutes longer when I am at home and that I get to spend more time with my furry friend.

The next several days I will be sharing with you my home gym. Stay tuned and if you have any tips I would love to hear them.

Who me a food cop?

My friends and family all know that I have been watching what I eat for the last 5 years but since I have come back from my appearance on the Today Show they have been calling me, “The food police.” I guess in their minds it takes policing to eat healthy these days.

My father and grandfather were men in blue. They served the public for many years in my small hometown of Tiffin, Ohio. I know what policing is and I am not sure that passing up the cookies and cakes qualifies me as a cop.

The one good thing about them knowing that I am carefully watching my food intake is that they do a mad dash by me when they are passing around the goodies. Fine by me, especially with the holidays coming up.

I will say that my family misses the pumpkin maple walnut cheesecake I used to make for Thanksgiving. Instead, I take a fabulous salad in part so that I have something to eat besides the calorie heavy side dishes. OK, maybe I am food cop. Better that than putting on those pesky holiday pounds.

Old friends are never too far away

I have worked for newspapers and magazines for over 30 years, and one of my favorite parts has been designing the food sections for many publications. Food is always a popular topic among readers and I took great joy in making it fun and appealing.

My favorite food editor is my friend and fellow “foodie” Jan Norris, formerly of the Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, FL. Jan and I worked closely for 7 years making her section a weekly masterpiece. She taught me about tropical cooking, and how to improve my everyday recipes. We both love to do crafts and she makes fabulous quilts. In short, she is my down-home Martha Stewart.

Like most of my friends in newspapers Jan has left the business. Over 12,000 journalists have been silenced this year because the business is doing so poorly. She may have left the Palm Beach Post but her wisdom can be found at her new website, www.jannorris.com

For me it is like stopping by her office and getting the latest food tips and news. Her recipes are tempting and always accurate. She and I will be swapping guest blogs from time to time — just like we did recipes. I adore my fellow foodie and I am sure you will like her site.

NBG: No Butt Girl

I never intended to mention my backside again but when I went to work on Friday it became the butt of too many jokes.

My recent efforts are showing more and more every day and my pants are showing my downsizing to the world. It was the end of a long week and and my friend Barb got it into her head that my pants should be the topic of the day.  That is when she started calling me, NBG: No butt girl.

Yes, I know my pants are getting too big. Yes, I know I should have worn a belt but I don’t really like to wear them, a habit established when I was heavier and they would lodge in my rolls of fat and stay there all day.  And yes, my backside looks like my teenage nephew’s droopy drawers. I am always yelling at him to pull up his pants. I simple don’t get the trend of having your underwear on display.

I guess I will have to go through my pants and donate the worst offenders and only wear the pants that sort of fit for now.  Better yet, I might put a few aside so I can wear several layers of long johns underneath them when I go cross-country skiing.

Hopefully my co-workers will find another topic to chat about besides by backside.

Skinny. Are you talking to me?

In the past I was more accustomed to turning my head if someone yelled “Fatso” or “Lard Ass.” Several times this week my co-workers have said “Hey Skinny” when I passed by them. At first, I walked by them and didn’t acknowledge the compliment. Then one of them stopped me and said that they were proud of me for what I was doing.

“Skinny” seems Greek to me and I really didn’t think that they were talking to me.

Joy’s LIFE diet is paying off. I know that people say the last 20 pounds are the hardest to get off but I am learning that it is the comment that most people lack. Heck, bitching about not being to get off those last pesky pounds has been my mantra for the last two years. I had learned to maintain and still have my treats. In short, I was giving into my chocolate cravings and then working it off to keep the scale in neutral.

I feel like a food nun right now with the conviction that I am finding in myself to stay dedicated to my mission. It is paying off this time and I know now that I can reach my goal of losing 200 pounds. I never thought it was possible when I started 5 years ago weighing 340 pounds. But it can be done and I did have the power within myself to make it happen.

There is a draw back to losing the last 20 pounds; it is going to change my clothing size at least 2 dress sizes. This week every pair of pants I wore looked like I was carrying a fully-loaded diaper underneath. Not really the look I am ultimately going for but I want to save my money for the size 8 jeans that I dare only dream about just a short time ago.

This morning I am at the halfway point. I have lost 12 pounds in 5 weeks. I can see the brass ring and I am going for it.

I would love to hear your stories about losing your last 20 pounds.

Dining Dilemmas

You want to go out with friends but you know that it is harder to control your calorie intake when you dine out. Restaurants were a major stumbling block for me when I was losing my first 100 pounds. It still is difficult for me to control the situation even now. Add alcohol and I have written off many a night which has derailed my weight loss mission.

There is too much salt added to the food even at nice places that a bowl of soup can taste like a salt lick. There is too much oil added to food just because the cook never learned the tricks to cooking without it. Special orders might be the way to go but how many of us have ordered salads with dressing on the side and when the plate comes they have dowsed it with hundreds of calories of dressing.

And don’t get me started on how large the portions are at most eating establishments. I know that you can ask for a doggy bag but when you are chatting it up with friends it is hard to keep track of a normal portion and you just keep eating. In order to offset this some of my friends will ask for a container to come with the meal and put half of it way before they start eating.

Eating out and having fun with friends has changed for me over the last several years. I have learned to speak up when we are choosing a place to dine. I haven’t ordered a full-sized dinner in quite some time, instead I allow myself two items from either the salad, appetizer or soup menus.

Ah dessert, I don’t order one unless I know that several of my friends will help me finish it. On more than one occasion I have left my small portion if it isn’t worth the calories.

And as far as alcohol, well I try not to have any especially if I want a dessert. If I throw caution to the wind and go out and set no limits on how many calories I take in, I know that my next day will have to involve a hearty workout.

I would love to hear some of your tips for eating out.

For the love of dieters!

You have got to be kidding! Apparently, the conference room wasn’t big enough for the election night feeding frenzy so they set up the food in several empty cubicles. Of course, the barren space was on the other side of my desk.  Nothing like smelling pizza, fried chicken and watching your co-workers gobble it all down. Better on their hips than mine.

I brought a bowl of homemade chicken soup and just listened to them one by one comment on the food, like it was going to say anything back to them. Today I got out my skinny jeans (that have never been worn) and they were too big. That is better than any cookie. I know I was going to tell you about my home gym this week but the weather has been so delightful that I have been walking outside in a t-shirt in November. I will share with you the pictures of my workout area next week.

Make your voice count

It’s Election Day and for most that means going to the polls and casting their vote for the candidates of their choice. For me it also means working long hours waiting for results so that we can put them in the newspaper for our readers.

It also means that there will be an Election night buffet of pizza, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and of course those damn cookies that are really hard to resist.

I will be sitting on my butt most of the day and night, so I will pass on all the goodies and bring my dinner that way I can avoid the foods I know I should be avoiding.

I have learned one thing in my 30 years of being a newspaper journalist is that the people I work with have hearty appetites. I am hoping there might be a quite few minutes so I can take a few lapse around the block. I keep a spare pair of tennis shoes in my desk for just that occasion.

As news reports have said the turnout is going to be historic, so I was in line at 6:15 am to make sure that the most important item on my daily to-do list was checked off. Now I can do my workout and know that I made my voice count.

Thanks for tuning in to my website.

Yippy!

Drum role please: Since being inducted into the Joy Fit Club one month ago I have lost 10 pounds! That is 6% of my body!

I finally kicked my cold! I am really proud of the fact that I didn’t comfort myself with carbs like I have done in the past. When you feel really crappy it is hard not to reach for something that you think will make you feel better. Like mashed potatoes can cure a cold.

I did still workout while I was sick but I didn’t burn many calories but I figured that moving was moving even if it was slower than normal.

I did a great 2-hour workout on Sunday, so I know that I am feeling better.

The longer I am on Joy’s LIFE diet the more I am breaking the last of my bad food habits, like salt, sugar and overeating. It is time for me to get the 200-pound gorilla finally off my back. I am nearing the peak of my mountain of fat and I can’t wait to stick a fork in the top of it.

I will never go back to the way I ate and how it defined my life.  I am sure of that now.

P.S. I will be blogging Monday-Friday. On the weekends I am working on my book about my midlife transformation. Stay tuned.

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