Get Smart Get Strong

The Project Manager's Guide to Life

26 Oct 2011
6 Comments

Falling into Fall Again

Charles Muench Enveloped in Aspens

Charles Muench Enveloped in Aspens

I have been having the blahs for the last few weeks. Odd, because the weather is stunning – bright blue skies and lots of sunshine during the day. Blazing orange and yellow and red leaves. Getting to wear my sweaters and jackets and boots. All good stuff – really my favorite time of year. Yet here I am again, slowing down and eating too much and sleeping oddly.

I went back over my posts from the fall last year and some scribbles from the year before that. It happens every year and every year it’s a big dang surprise. Obviously, even those of us who learn our history, are doomed to repeat it.

Fall is a great time of year for me. I make plans and get started on things that during the spring and summer I actually have the energy to finish. But October is the time of year that I make myself start thinking and planning and getting started because otherwise, months pass and I find myself in March looking at about a 30 pound weight gain, an empty bank account and the whole winter is just a blur.

Started up my light therapy treatments again yesterday.  Probably should have started in September as I normally do, but I was kind of hoping that all this sunshine and being outside would do the trick for me. And it would, but apparently I’m not getting outside enough. S0….I’m doing a challenge!

It’s a work health thing called Falling into Shape or something like that. I’ve been invited to be on a very competitive team and for six weeks we are going to log our steps. The team with most steps wins prizes, fame and fortune. Well, maybe an iPod or an xBox – that works, too.

One of my new team mates walked almost 3/4 of a million steps last year in the challenge. Another one was on the winning team where everyone walked more than 10k steps a day on average. Wow.

This is right up my alley! 10,000 steps is about 5 miles (@ 2000 steps per mile on average of 2.5 feet per step) and takes me about 75 minutes to walk. I can probably walk a little faster than that, but that’s the goal. Of course, since we are all super competitive, we’ve decided we’re going to try and walk 15k steps a day – or more! Wow. We could potentially hit 1,000,000 steps in 6 weeks.

That’s a lot of sunshine. Or treadmill. Either way, it will be really good for me to get my lazy butt off the sofa and my nose out of the books and get MOVING.

So – what’s up with everyone else?

Posted by getsmartgetstrong in 1. Planning, 2. Exercise, 5. Struggles
13 Oct 2011

Fighting the Good Fight against…Procrastination!

From kevinmcnealphotography.com

Full Moon over the sierras by kevinmcnealphotography.com

It’s almost 7am and the sky is just starting to get light. The moon is still up. We’ve had the most amazing moonsets over the Sierra’s lately. I’ve enjoyed them as I have struggled to get my taxes done. Just sent off the final numbers. Now I just have to wait for the draft copy, review and sign and file! (And figure out how to pay what I owe….) And just under the wire before my extension expires- again!

I am all too familiar with these thoughts and phrases: I’ll get to it tomorrow. I’m too busy. I’ve got other stuff to do. Can’t it wait? Invariably this is followed at some predictable point by OH CRAP! I’m LATE! I missed my deadline! I’m sunk! Why was I so stupid???

Why do I do this to myself? I mean, lets face it, for at least 32 years I have done taxes. I’m aware that they are due on April 15th. EVERY YEAR. Why can’t I just wrap up my paperwork at the end of the year, type up the numbers and be done?

This year I came close. I did all my paper work in October last year and did an estimate with my accountant. (This was after I caught up on the three years that that I was behind. But hey.)

Then what did I do? April 15th rolled around and I filed ANOTHER extension.

This is fairly typical of my personal life. For some reason I don’t do it at work. I like to do a task as soon as I’m asked because I hate being late.

But personal tasks? Birthday cards are late. Christmas and Hannukah cards never get sent. (I have BOXES of them that I’ve bought over the years. Never sent.) Birthday presents never materialize. Right now I’m broke and I realized that it was actually a relief not to think about birthday gifts at all.

What else? Oh right. Eating right. Exercising. Practicing good health. Right now? Nah! How about tomorrow? Or when I feel more rested? Or as soon as I finish this next big thing.

You know what I’ve been learning about myself? I let things pile up and back up so that I have an excuse, whenever I want it, of something that really needs to be done. I can’t bike to work today because I need to work on the taxes. I can’t cook a healthy dinner tonight because I need to get these bills paid. I can’t go to the gym because I need to clean the kitchen before I go to work.

Sad. So sad.

I’ve been there. I’ve been 321 pounds and dying every single day with pain, disease and embarrassing physical limitations. Why would I ever go back to that life when I can move and live and do anything I want with my body now?

But that’s what’s happening. I’ve put on some serious fat this past 6 months. The weight only tells part of the picture. The waist measurement tells a lot more. At one time my waist was 58 inches. Then I got down to 34. Now I’m back up to 37. 3 inches of fat I’ve added. And I never reached my goal. I think that is so sad. But hardly unexpected.

This week I got to the gym for the first time in months. I biked to work yesterday and I’ll do that again today and Friday, but I really am not eating well. Right now I’m finishing breakfast of a slice of cold pizza and a glass of milk. What am I doing? Too many useless carbs, too much fat. That not only goes straight to my belly, makes me tired and sluggish and kills my blood sugar. I haven’t taken any meds for diabetes in 2 years. Do I really want to go back to insulin and glucophage?  No. I don’t. So my very next meal is going to be cottage cheese and strawberries. Then a nice, low carb lunch. I’ll drink some protein drinks for my snacks and I’ll ask my husband to make something healthy for dinner. And please can we stop buying the ice cream and crackers and crap that are lying around right now? If its there, I’ll eat it, so it can’t be here, in my house. And I’ll stop ordering pizza for dinner when its just me and my son. Sure we enjoy it. But it isn’t good for either one of us.

I was thinking about my next challenge and how to get back on track and survive the the winter here. I’ll ski at least once a week, probably two or three times some weeks when there is fresh powder. But I need to do more. So I’m thinking about registering for the Lake Tahoe Iron Girl. Much harder than the one in Atlanta. That means I’ll have to do more intense training. Wait! Wasn’t I going to take some of the exercise classes at work? Oh well.  I’ll get to it.

Posted by getsmartgetstrong in 1. Planning | Leave a Comment
08 Oct 2011
1 Comment

Savor this moment

It’s Saturday morning. The sun is up and shining on fresh snow on the mountains. Down here in the valley it is clear and cold. I’ve got the fire burning and my dogs are sleeping after their early morning run. I’ve got a hot cup of coffee, a blanket and my laptop. Damn I’m lucky!

Hard to feel that way last night when I went to bed exhausted. That seems to be the norm now. Work until I can’t stand up anymore and then collapse. Sleep and recover, then get up and do it all over again. Not taking enough down time to just enjoy life. Rush, rush, rush.

I would like to go to the lake or up to enjoy the snow in the mountains but I have to do my taxes today so I can get them filed by the Oct 15 deadline. Guess it would be a good goal to finish by Sunday afternoon so we can do that.

In the meantime, I’m taking an hour to just enjoy the peace and quiet. That will shortly be shattered when my son’s friend arrives. I feel sure they will play video games most of the day, until I make them go out and ride their bikes or play ball or something for a little while.

I am going to make carrot and ginger soup today. That and a pan of the rye quick bread I’ve been making will be lunch. Dinner is grilled shrimp with some gluten-free pasta.

Did I mention that my husband has discovered he has celiac disease? Yup. He’s been suffering from horrible breakouts for the last couple of years and when we got out here, someone noticed and suggested he try gluten-free. Amazing response in only a few weeks so that’s our new lifestyle – Gluten-Free! Glad as hell it’s now and not 10 years ago. There are so many wonderful resources and products out there. We particularly like the Pamela’s baking mix, though it’s not great for me – too carby. But there are tons of great, healthy, non-gluten good carb things to eat and we’re going to find them all. Quinoa is still a staple and of course, meat, veggies and fruit are all gluten-free. For some people rye causes them to react, but my husband seems to be good with rye so I’ve learned to make this bread. It takes about 10 minutes to get everything out,  mix it up and then clean up the mess. That’s also about how long it takes to pre-heat my oven, so I’ve been making a batch every other day. The boys love it and so do I!

Quicker Rye Quick Bread (with my modifications!)

  • 2.5 cups Bob’s Red Mill dark rye flour 
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp natural grey seat salt
  • 1 cup greek yogurt
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk (or milk – I like the tang of the buttermilk)
  • 1/4 cup honey

Pre-heat oven to 400° f and spray a 9×9 baking dish with canola. Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together wet ingredients in another bowl, then stir quickly into the dry until combined. Don’t over mix! Spread into the baking dish and bake for 15 minutes at 400° f. Turn down the oven to 350° f and continue to bake for 15 minutes or until the bread has pulled away from the sides of the pan and a knife inserted comes clean. Allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes, and then turn out onto cooling racks. This bread will stay good for several days if wrapped in plastic.

Rye Quick Bread (original recipe)

Compliments of: Bluebird Customer & Professional Baker Lynda Oosterhuis

This Swedish bread is traditionally made with cumin seeds but I find it covers up the lightly sweet rye and honey flavors.

  • 5 cups Rye Flour
  • 2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 2 cups Yogurt
  • ½ cup Milk
  • ¼ cup Honey

Pre-heat oven to 400° f and butter 2 8 X 4 inch loaf pans. Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together wet ingredients and stir into dry. Continue to beat with a wooden spoon for several minutes. Divide among the loaf pans and bake for 20 minutes at 400° f. Turn down the oven to 350° f and continue to bake for 30 minutes or until the bread has pulled away from the sides of the pan and a knife inserted comes clean. Allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes, and then turn out onto cooling racks.

This bread will stay good for several days if wrapped in plastic.

 

As I cook this morning, I’m going to keep reminding myself how fortunate I am to have a great job, in a beautiful location with my healthy family all around me.  Have a great day!

Posted by getsmartgetstrong in 5. Struggles, 7. Inspiration
27 Sep 2011
1 Comment

Is it October already?

Just looking at my calendar and realizing that September is almost over.  Where did the summer go?? Still a ton going on here. 90 days into the new job and still think it was the best decision we ever made though it isn’t getting any easier. The move was hard on all of us and there are days we look at each other and say “remind me why we did this?”

Those are the days we pack up a picnic and some towels and go to the lake. Something about seeing that lake, that huge expanse of water framed by gorgeous mountains soothes our souls and gets us back on track. This weekend I took my son camping and that was nice, though the park we went to was a bit too close to the highway and all the noise from the motorcycle rally going on in town.

But waking up to the sunrise, making hot chocolate for my son and scrambling eggs for the early risers was a great start to the day and the week.

I’m still struggling to get in enough exercise. Riding my bike to work a few times a week is not enough.

I’m also struggling with eating too much. I know that is a response to all the stress, but it’s not a good response. I thought I’d done the work I needed to do to change that.

I guess I can call it a success that at least I am aware of what I’m doing. Nothing mindless about it.

Heading to my 30 year high school reunion this weekend back in Atlanta. It will be fun to see my family and friends. I kept thinking it would motivate me to exercise more or eat better, but apparently not. Well, its not about my waistline, is it? (I’ll keep telling myself that as I climb into a girdle on Saturday night!)

Hope everyone is doing well and know that even if I don’t get around to calling anyone, I think about you all the time. Call me or email me so I remember to take time out of my crazy schedule for the important things.

Posted by The Project Manager in 5. Struggles, Life
26 Aug 2011
3 Comments

93%

Today is my two year surgiversary. So of course I have to start looking at where I’ve come in the last five years and my progress. Looking at strictly numbers, I’m doing great! From my all time high of 321, I had lost to 171 – a 150 pound loss or 87% of my excess weight. I’m currently at 181, so I’ve kept off 93% of the weight I lost.

<taking a moment to savor that> Okay, it isn’t exactly six sigma (99.999999) but it beats all hell out of the national average, which is that most people only keep about 50% of their weight loss after two years:

Weight loss usually reaches a maximum between 18 and 24 months after bariatric surgery. Average excess weight loss at five years is 48-74 percent after gastric bypass and 50-60 percent after vertical banded gastroplasty. In a statistical review of over 600 bariatric patients following gastric bypass, with 96 percent follow-up, mean excess weight loss still exceeds 50 percent at fourteen years. Another 10 year follow-up series from the University of Virginia reports weight loss of 60 percent of excess weight at 5 years and in the mid 50′s between years 6 and 10. Similar statistical surveys have shown similar weight loss results.

On the other hand, that 93% says I have done some backsliding and in fact, a few weeks ago, that backsliding had reached a scary 15 pounds. But now that my husband and son are out here, we are back to eating healthier (still some ways to go on that) and getting more exercise together (again – still need to figure out our routines and the whole move and unpacking thing is really pretty overwhelming). The result is that I’ve taken off 5 of those regain pounds.

Unpacking the scale last weekend just confirmed it for me, but I’ve been feeling flabby all summer.  I think that extra poundage is all in my jiggle areas – not pretty. Plus, I know that without the weight bearing exercise, I’ve lost muscle so that’s probably more like 25 pounds of new fat.

<taking a moment to be grossed out>

So I know what to do: keep cleaning up my diet and removing all the useless (but oh so tasty) carbs I’ve been eating all summer: bread and pastries and icecream and you name it, I’ve eaten it since leaving Atlanta at the end of May. My freezer is now stocked with chicken, fish, lean cuts of beef and pork and lots of frozen veggies and blueberries. My fridge has Fage 0%, eggs and more veggies. The pantry has chicken broth and beans and brown rice and we can cook healthy meals.

The big one is getting to the gym. I MUST get over the obstacle that I’ve created for myself that if I can’t exercise first thing in the morning, then I’m not going to exercise. My new job requires me to be on early conference calls a few days a week, and I’m still so concerned about doing a good job that I’m trying to get in early and check email and what not early as well. (Which means I’ve been skipping my blogging, too. Tch. Tch.)

I have to choose – either keep doing that and start exercising in the evenings, or get my flabby butt to the gym earlier. It’s open 24×7 – I can definitely make it there 5 days a week with no problem. So what’s the stumbling block?

Ah! It’s my old friend entitlement. After all the hard work I’ve done for the move and the new job I deserve a break and shouldn’t have to slave over the move and work and at the gym and deny myself a few treats and blah blah blah blah.<sad shake of head>

Sometimes my head is my worst enemy. After all the hard work I’ve done, I don’t deserve a break from exercising, I deserve to take care of my poor, abused body and make it as strong and healthy as possible. I don’t deserve a pastry, I deserve to eat healthy foods and drink more water and eat slowly and control my portions and get myself back on track. So that when August 26 rolls around NEXT YEAR, I can say “I’ve not only kept off the original 92%, but I have finally reached a healthy goal weight of 149 pounds.

Exercise goal: get to the gym and ride my bike the 9.2 miles to work and back a few times a week. Go running/walking/jogging. Go biking with my husband and son. Take my poor neglected dogs for a walk. Go swimming. Unpacking is hard work, but it isn’t exercise.

Food goal: a couple of days of protein drinks during the day, followed by a healthy, low/good carb dinner. Need to clear all those food cravings out again. It will be hard, but if it was easy, 100% of the people who lose weight would have kept it off, right?

My pants are a bit looser, but my waste is back up to 37 inches. Size goal? Fit into all those size 10 and eventually, size 8′s I have in storage!

It’s good to have a goal.  What’s your goal?

Posted by getsmartgetstrong in 1. Planning
18 Aug 2011
3 Comments

Getting Settled

We live in a house out West.  From our backyard you can sit and enjoy the Sierra’s and some very fine sunsets over those stunning mountains. From our front porch you can bundle up and enjoy some pretty impressive sunrises over the Pinenut mountain range in the cold mornings. There is a decent amount of space and tons of storage for all our junk – we were even able to close the garage doors when the last box went in! There’s a big garden tub with jacuzzi jets to soak away the aches from moving and unpacking. Decent size kitchen (though its sad that I only appreciated how huge my kitchen was when I left it!) and we’ve already started cooking and sitting down to healthy meals again.

We’ll probably be in this house for at least a year, maybe two or three depending on what kind of loss we take on the other house. So it’s good that it’s in a nice neighborhood with nice neighbors and a park and biking and walking paths. It’s close to shopping in Carson City and not too far from work in Minden – about 9 miles along the East valley Road or 12 miles along highway 395. We’re in an area called Johnson Lane and it’s more desert like than what I want to buy, but for now, it’s great. Big fenced backyard for the dogs to run in and it feels good.

What a summer, though! I thought things would start to settle down when we got into the house – even though we can’t buy anything until our house in Atlanta sells.  Then on Tuesday my husband and son were in a car accident. They are unhurt, but the big truck that rear ended them totaled our Honda Pilot. So now there’s the hassle of insurance and buying a new car. That was a great car – in wonderful shape for a 4 year old car. I can only imagine what they plan to offer us as compensation and it stresses me out. No sense thinking about that until it happens, though, right?

I’m going to focus on the fact that my family is safe, the other driver was insured and we have a rental car for now. I’m feeling very grateful overall.

I’ve been in class all week and that’s been hard – lots of math and physics which was never something I pursued. But I’m doing pretty well, I think and though I get a lot of wrong answers on the math, I do get the concepts and I can keep working on the rest.

I guess that’s why I started to feel so overwhelmed and tired and depressed last night. But I went outside and enjoyed the sunset with my husband, played with my son and the dogs and then had a nice hot soak before bed.

It’s important to remember that life is good. Very good.

Posted by getsmartgetstrong in Life
31 Jul 2011
1 Comment

Sunrises and Rainbows

I’ve seen a lot of sunrises since I came out here. My dogs still wake up at 5:00 or so and I end up outside walking them as the sun rises over the Pinenuts and starts to hit the Sierras. Pretty spectacular. Last couple of days we’ve had some wild storms with amazing rainbows afterwards. I managed to catch this one before it disappeared.

Life has been good. Busy, challenging and a tad lonely with the boys in Atlanta but good. They are heading out here next week end and I can’t wait! We’ve got a house to move into in a few weeks – a good rental while we try to sell our house in Atlanta and recover from how much we’re going to lose on that. I keep telling myself we’ll make it up out here, but it is hard to just see over $130k gone. I keep thinking “if only” we’d sold it four years ago; if only we’d priced it lower then, we’d still be making thousands more than we are going to make now. Oh well.

If I start down the if only path it just leads to crazy thoughts. If the boy I’d loved in high school had loved me, I probably never would have gone to Yale. If the man I loved after college had loved me, I’d never have moved back to Georgia. If  I hadn’t lost my job I wouldn’t have been looking for the job out here. If I hadn’t been fighting with my boyfriend, I’d never have met my husband. If I hadn’t had PCOS and been trying to find a cure, I’d never have had my son.

Life is tricky. Finding a path through it is even more so.

Today I rode my bike from the furnished townhouse I’m renting, out to my office about 3.2 miles away. Then I rode 9.1 miles to the new house we’re moving into next month. Then I rode around the neighborhood, found a park and a bike path and got familiar with the area. Then someone pointed out the storm clouds and lightning spears over the Pinenuts to the east and I made tracks for home. Got here before the storm which seems to have worked itself out over the mountains. But boy are my legs sore! I haven’t ridden 30+ miles ever and lately I’ve been slacking off on serious exercise, just walking the dogs a few miles a day. So I expect the evening to be full of cramps and walking around like an old lady, even after the hot bath, banana and potassium!

It was worth it though. I got that feeling of accomplishment that makes me feel really good. I get something similar with work, but that’s something I’ve always had. The feeling that I can do anything I try with my body, that’s new. And I like it. Aches and pains and cramps and all.

Have a beautiful evening, wherever you are. And next time it’s raining, go outside afterwards and look for some rainbows.

Posted by getsmartgetstrong in 2. Exercise, 4. Success
14 Jun 2011
1 Comment

Kismet

I’ve decided that it is an omen that my new place is precisely 3.2 miles from work. So I can do a 5k every day on the way to work. How cool is that?

Moved in (mostly) last night and this morning. I have to wait until later today to get the power turned on, but I was able to heat water on the gas stove and make myself a cup of tea and a bowl of oatmeal this morning.

It’s so nice to have a place to putter around and move the furniture! It’s a furnished three bedroom and the owner’s taste is beautiful, but a little more fussy than what I like. So I’m packing away a dozen throw pillows and some of the more ornate dust catchers until we leave.

I can’t wait for my husband son to join me out here. They will be here July 1st but I get to see them on Thursday morning THIS WEEK when I fly back to Atlanta. Got tons to do to sell the house, so will be slammed for the whole time, but I get to see my boys, so I’m happy.

If anyone is ever in the Minden, NV area  – drop me a line.! I have a spare bedroom and the kettle is hot for tea!

Posted by The Project Manager in 4. Success
12 Jun 2011
1 Comment

Up up in the air!

I am still floating about my balloon ride. It was so beautiful and it felt so good to do something that I thought I would be afraid to do. I’ve always been afraid of heights, but I didn’t have a single minute of fear yesterday. From the first minute to the last I was just excited and interested and so happy. I loved seeing my new town from on high. I loved seeing the mountains and we event went to 8400 feet so that we got a tiny glimpse of Lake Tahoe over the Kingsbury saddle.

I’ll post another video today – not sure if anyone wants to watch them – but it’s the only way I can share them with my husband and son. I can’t wait until we can afford to ALL go up – I want to share this spectacular experience with them.

If you are in the area and want a balloon ride, I can highly recommend Brenda Hungerford and the Hot Flash team. Beautiful balloon, fun and friendly Chase team and excellent champagne afterwards!

Who knows? I might try soaring next month!

Posted by getsmartgetstrong in 1. Planning
11 Jun 2011

Hot Air Ballooning – Filling the Balloons

Posted by getsmartgetstrong in 1. Planning | Leave a Comment

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