Day 53 Fri My Frenemy The Exercycle

Yes, I did in fact do my other 200 calories last night, making my total calories (yesterday) burned by exercycling... ta da ... 302! It was 10:30 before I could get it finished, but ... I kept my committment.

On to today. Up early to pack Hubby's bfast and lunch, and after he left, went back to bed for 30 min. Up, got Kid up, he ate, we milked the goat, I strained and refrigerated. Then I cut up some molding cheese, taking off the mold and dicing the rest, and gave some to the adult chickens then putting the rest in the freezer. (Cheese.. calcium.. helps the chickens make stronger eggshells but never give it to a pullet who hasn't started laying eggs yet as it interferes with their growth.) Ok, enough animal science lesson!

Breakfast: 1/2 cup frozen fruit (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries), 1/2 cup goat milk, 3/4 cup Mesa Sunrise cereal

Read a few blogs as I ate, which is when I realized that lunch was only in 2 hours so I hurried through. As I tidied up my breakfast dishes, I realized that the frozen fruit and vanilla goat milk made a great combination, so I boiled last night's milking and added vanilla, then set it aside to cool. Once it's chilled, I'm gonna use my twist-up blender to mix the frozen fruit with the vanilla goat milk and pour into popsicle molds. I'll measure carefully so I can calculate my calories, etc.

While the milk heated up, I also put some eggs on to boil. Trying a new thing with vinegar in the water because fresh eggs are impossible to peel after boiling. We'll see. (Didn't help ... still hard to peel.) Then I exercised (just arm things because my arms have been messed up for years so it takes a long time and a lot of pain to do even the simplest stretches) and exercycled.

Exercycle: Burned 100 calories in 10 minutes.

I took Scuttle's challenge for exercising and committed to 300 calories-worth of cycling a day. It's hard to make myself do it; I really hate to sweat and even more, really hate to exercise. You have no idea. But this is a recumbant exercycle, which is the only one I felt comfortable putting my big fat butt on. (Remember I used to be 299 pounds!). It has a little electronic screen that shows distance, rpm's, calories, pulse and ... something else I can't remember right now. Oh, time. Duh. It's right beside my son's desk so when I cycle, I place my cell phone, the channel changer and a cup of ice water right beside me. If I don't, inevitably my phone will ring, or I'll get thirsty. Or I'll need to pee so I better go before I get on the bike. Then I turn the fan on and the ceiling fan on, then the TV on, find something good on, crank it up, and hop (yeah right) on the bike. Get my feet in the footholds, turn it on, get my butt in a comfy position, grab the lower handrails (which track my pulse) and start going. From time to time, I look at the LCD to see if I'm gonna get 100 calories done in 10 minutes (average 10 calories in 1 minute) and adjust my speed accordingly. I try not to think about the pain in my legs but when it gets too much, I just change the channel on the TV or take a drink of water or burst into song to get my past that hurdle. It really hurts. My whole body does. I have a lot of physical problems that I really haven't talked about, but in order to get healthy, I need to push behind the pain and just do it.

There are days I don't want to get out of bed. Not because of depression (although that does hit every now and then) but because I hurt so bad. Arms, legs, back, head, and especially my hands. But I have a Kid depending on me. And a goat that needs to be milked. So I make myself.

I probably won't get much better, even once the extra weight is gone. But perhaps it's all attitude towads the pain, right?

Enough of this. On to my day. I read a few more blogs. Got the Kid out doing his chores (watering the pool gardens and the fruit trees). Organized today's work, then it was lunchtime. What to have what to have what to have.

Lunch: 1 can tuna, 1 tbs pickle relish, 3 tablespoons mayo, 2 boiled eggs, onion powder, 14 rice crackers, 15 SMALL red cherries

Read a few more blogs and did some hard thinking about the why and how I got fat. My childhood. My mom's horrible cooking that we were forced to eat. The contradictions in the house: lots of fruit but fish sticks, KY-Fried chicken, hot dogs, totino's pizza, and on the rare occasion, krispy kreme donuts (the tarts were my favorite, which the don't make any more), and so on. The veggies were seldom raw and horribly served. I still can't think about french salad dressing without picturing it globbed all over cooked limp asparagus. Or canned spinach with lots of vinegar drowning it. Ugh. Yuck.

Ok... outside to take care of my chickens, goats and garden. Watered all! Then inside to post an ad on craigslist for our bunny (we just don't have time for her any more). Snack.

Snack: fiber one strawberry yogurt with 1 Tbsp dark chocolate chips

Today's heat drained me. Headache but worked on my Kid's schoolwork anyway. Exercycle.

Exercycle: Burned 200 calories in 19:14 minutes. Yahoo! I'm done with my 300 calorie workout for today. And just as Hubby walked in.

Watered the chickens and let them out to free-range for a while. Only got 2 eggs today! Come on girls! Milked, strained, refrigerated. Held the ladder while Hubby checked the roof. Put the chickens back in their pens when the mosquitos started attacking. Dinner (he brought home another fruit tray from Wally's because he knew I was craving so...)

Dinner: 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter, 3 chunks watermelon, 2 chunks cantaloupe, 1 chunk pineapple, 3 strawberries sliced into a bowl of Gorilla Munch (gf) cereal with 1/2 cup goat milk

I've been in such a fruit mood lately. I don't usually EVER have fruit after lunch because I want the sugar out of me before bed (I even taught my Kid to eat fruit before afternoon because of HIS health/energy problems), but it's such a craving lately. Could be because mentally I know fresh fruit season is almost over. I don't know. But I'm listening to my body and feeding it fresh fruit. Sure wish it was because I am pregnant!!! Oh well, maybe if I keep working on getting healthy... maybe just maybe it'll happen before I turn 50.

Today's Numbers:
Carbs: 129.9
Fat: 66.1
Calories: 1330.7

Total calories burned via exercycle: 300! Whoo-hoo!

Does anybody know of a link where I can see how many calories I expend just sitting, breathing, doing housework, etc.?