another knitting blog

shocked

I knew I shouldn’t have posted that update on my weight loss progress. As soon as I hit ‘Save’ the number on the scale started to creep up. And so, I was horrified, but not completely shocked, when I pulled on my pants this morning and noticed they were fitting a bit tight. Then I checked the size. I was wearing a pair from the ‘pants too small to fit me’ pile.

two down

Seeing as things are not going poorly, I will give an update on the fitness and weight loss situation.

It has now been nine weeks—just over two months—since I started going to the gym. For those nine weeks, I’ve managed four workouts per week and have progressed from an hour on the treadmill to an hour on the elliptical trainer.

I’ve lost 13 pounds, which is an average of 1.44 pounds per week; so, if I continue at this pace, I will have lost 37 pounds by my birthday. I assume that I won’t be able to keep up this pace, especially as I approach my goal, but my original target still looks reasonable.

I have yet not dropped a pant size, but I have more room (and no muffin top) in my current size. The cruel and familiar irony of my fitness pursuit is that although I am almost exclusively training my lower body, at this point, I appear to be losing weight primarily from my upper body. I have yet to formulate a personally meaningful way to add strength training to my routine.

Someday, perhaps, I’ll say something about the alteration in my eating habits that has gone along with all of this. I will not say that I am dieting because I believe that to maintain any weight loss a fundamental change in my relationship with food has to occur.

No matter where I end up weight wise, I feel the best outcomes of this effort will be the regular exercise and dietary changes. I cannot deny that I have more energy and my mood is a little lighter.

Four months to go.

unfinished

I don't seem to be able to complete anything lat

a different madness

I have previously written about The Morning News Tournament of Books. The 2008 tournament begins today.

As I've said before, every year I consider reading all the competitors; however, a review of the match-ups since the tournament inception reveals that I have yet to read a single book from five years of brackets. Lately, I allow my choice of reading material to be almost completely dictated by which books are supplied to me by others. No one I know has read any of these books either.

If you wish to check out the combatants, Powell's has discounted all this year's tournament books by 30%, and perhaps, books from previous tournaments as well.

I will faithfully follow the action from the sidelines.

wtf: peahens?

I was taking the garbage out last Sunday morning when I looked up and saw this walking down my street.

Further research confirmed that they were peahens.

There was no peacock with them. They seemed completely unconcerned and were moving up the street at a leisurely pace. I had time to go in a get the camera and even change the battery. I didn't follow them; I don't know where they were headed.

I spent the rest of the day waiting for a circus to go by.