Dazed and Confused

Having renewed my motto this past week, I spent much more time on my feet this week.  I was always moving at school as I was having all of our students sign into their school email accounts for the first time this week.  If you've never been frustrated before, may I suggest this as a place for setting a benchmark on your frustration scale.

After coming home a little stressed out each day some drivewaying was in order.   I was able to spend a few days on the driveway just enjoying some good conversation.  I maintained my calorie tracking all week and I think I went over my suggested calories only once during the week.

As for returning to the feet portion of  my motto, I wasn't really referring to walking around more at school.  I meant I needed to get back outside.  I needed to be more active in workouts.  I needed to actually exercise.  On Tuesday, I went out for my first run in a few weeks.  I stepped it up a little bit and went a little further.  I maintained a decent pace even though it doesn't look like it in the picture since it includes the walking times too.  I was proud of myself and felt pretty good when I was done.

The next event of the week consisted of partaking in a test at the place between heaven and hell. That's right, I spent Saturday at Purgatory.  A few college buddies and I decided to go play the golf course as a way to celebrate a birthday.  Let's say I must have done something right at the gates, since I had one of my better front nines of the season.  That's not saying I'm good by any means, but I did improve a little bit.  On the back nine we played best ball so it is hard to say what I really scored, but I was happy with my performance and we had a pretty good time hanging out together.  I would go back again if I could find a decent deal on the price.

On Sunday, after having hung out with my buddies over the weekend, I figured another workout was in order.  I laced up my shoes and headed out for another run.  I went almost the exact same distance as I did on Tuesday, but I managed to finish a little quicker.  I'll definitely take that considering it was about 10 degree warmer on Sunday than it was on Tuesday.  I need to work on increasing my mileage next to help burn off some more of these calories I have sitting around.  I'll get there.

Now, as for my weigh-in...here is where the Dazed and Confused title comes in to play.  After returning from Las Vegas, I have been on MyFitnessPal monitoring my calories for the past 33 days.  So as I got on the scale this morning I was a little surprised.  Apparently I gained 2.5 lbs this week with a weigh in of 269.3.  I tried 3 times to get it to change.  Didn't happen.  And it wasn't a gain of muscle either as my body fat percentage didn't change even a tenth of a percent.  I'm not going to get down on myself though because that won't help.  I going to get back out there and stay on my feet.  I'm going to increase my water intake to rid myself of toxins. I'm going to monitor my calories like always.  And, I'm going to do better.  Next week I will lose weight.  Until then... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat!!

What's a motto?

After my last post, it was brought to my attention that I left out a key phrase. In my haste to complete my last entry I forgot to end it with "Food. Feet. Water. Repeat". This may have been a simple error but it got me thinking...more on those thoughts later. 

Let's talk about how my week went first. The first full week of school with students gave me a dose of unending work. As I reflected back upon my week, I couldn't have told you a minute that I wasn't working with students, on work for the next week with students, or helping others in the building with a need they may have had.  I think my only real down time was lunch. I'll be honest, it was nice knowing how much I put into my week and the fact that I was busy enough around the building to never be sitting anywhere too long. 

I finished the week in Rossville at the Summers End Festival. The Frankfort Indiana Jaycees participated in this event by having a car smash to raise money to help fund future projects. We had a good time and raised around $300 for our efforts. It was a blast to watch kids take out a little aggression on that poor Cadillac. The adults got to have a little fun with it as well. Check out the kids in the pictures taking a good whack at it. 

After the long week of work, I stepped on the scale this morning and saw the number 266.8. Another loss but of just under a pound at 0.9. I'll take it. That gives me a total loss of 27.5 lbs.

Now, as for that thinking I was doing regarding the motto. I have been doing well regarding the food and water portions of the motto...but the steps have definitely been lacking. I need to get back to running. I need to get back to being outside. I need to be on my FEET!  I have a plan in the works for this. I will tell you more about it in the coming weeks. Be sure to check back in and see what I am up to. 

Until next time... Food. FEET. Water. Repeat!!

Back to School

The past week has been pretty packed...but not with exercise.  This was the first week back to school for teachers and students.  Needless so say, I was a little busy.  Let's get into it.

From the beginning of the week, I knew working out, probably wasn't going to happen this week.  For this reason, I knew I needed to keep up my water intake and keep down my calorie count.  I started the week with a coffee and sitting in a meeting listening to our superintendent give a warm welcome to the teachers to a new year.  The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday were spent either sitting in meetings or getting my classroom ready to begin the year.

On Wednesday evening, we had our open house to visit with the students and allow them to meet their classroom teacher and drop off their supplies.  Let's just say I spent that time finalizing the things I needed to get done in my classroom before students showed up on Thursday.

Thursday morning came with an early wake up call and the beginning of what will soon become a normal morning routine.  After breakfast and making sure we were both ready to leave the house, Mrs. Re-Dan-imation made sure to take our "first day of school selfie."  Can you tell we were excited to get the year started.  I got a couple comments that said I was a little less excited than her, but we were also taking a selfie at 7:00 am.

The first two days back to school were a whirlwind.  The kids did a great job and I think the teachers did pretty good themselves.  Like I said earlier, the only exercise I got during the week was walking the hallways at school.  My wife has also signed up for a couple online classes so we spent the remaining hours of the week preparing her for her first Google Hangout session with her professor.  Sunday, we were finally able to relax and we took definite advantage of it.

But, how did I do with this first week of school and an extreme change in my normal schedule.  Well, I kept track of my calories diligently.  According to my progress report from FitBit in my e-mail today I ate roughly 2300 calories less than I burned the past week.  That means I should have lost some weight, but it would appear that it would be less than a pound.  When I stepped on the scale it came up to 267.7 lbs. for a week loss of 0.9 lbs.  I'd say I was pretty close on my calorie counts.

Back in the Saddle Again

After the past couple weeks, I was getting a little discouraged to be honest.  This week I refocused on counting my calories and staying active.  MyFitnessPal has made a resurgence in my life and I have realized where I was overeating the past couple weeks and how easy it was to fix. I also spent quite a bit of time outdoors doing a lot of different activities.

I had a flashback to high school this week.  We decided that tennis would be a good idea after we had so much fun playing pickle ball last week.  I attempted to play this sport in high school but let's just say I was less than good.  So, I pulled out the old racquet bag only to find that the grips on my racquets were shot.  I replaced one of the grips and we headed out.  Holy cow!  I was running all over the place, but it was not because I was in a heated rally.  Let's just say I can see as an adult why I only played JV in high school.

The second workout of the week was pickle ball again, but Mrs. Re-Dan-imation and I spent the time practicing on our own instead of participating in the large group.  We definitely got to work on hitting some good shots and figuring out the strategy to the game.  We also got to laugh at each other quite a bit.  Also, playing 1-on-1 allows for a lot more running during the game.  It was a blast and I look forward to doing it again.

Now, for those of you that have been reading my blog for some time I need you to think back to this earlier post about Mrs. Re-Dan-imation and her experience on the Monon Trail.  Well, I finally found a day that she was willing to fight back.  We talked her dad into going with us as well.  He rides his bike all around town and we thought he would enjoy a ride on the trail.  We packed up the car made sure we had plenty of water and started the trek toward the trail.  We picked the trail up in Broad Ripple again and headed south toward Indianapolis.

After heading out of Broad Ripple, south over Fall Creek, past the Indiana State Fairgrounds (if you ride your bike here from a distant parking lot they will watch your bike for free in a corral), through the industrialized areas around 22nd St. we finally turned around when the trail ended at 10th St. just under the North 65/70 split.  We saw some cool murals along the way.  Our ride was 6.5 miles each direction for a total ride of 13 miles.  Honestly, we have found ourselves to be in much better shape as we easily could have gone for even more distance.  I learn a lot about myself on these trips.  It was wonderful not to have any accidents on the trail, but was even better to enjoy the company and have fun conversations about things that didn't really matter.  I do have to admit that I was a little disgruntled about our relaxing pace when a woman on a cargo bike passed us with her two children in bike seats.

Our last healthy activity of the week was the visit the Lafayette Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.  We recently found a healthy recipe that we want to try out.  however, this recipe requires a couple of decent sized summer squash that we were not able to find at the local grocery store.  We had a great time looking through the market and managed to find the squash we needed along with some other treats to take home.  On the way home we saw a sign advertising Smith Farms Indiana.  Mrs. Re-Dan-imation looked them up on our way home and considering they had some u-pick produce we thought we would stop by.  When we arrived it turned out the only thing in season for u-pick were blackberries, but we were more than happy to support a local merchant and picked a quart of blackberries for just $3.  Go visit this farm and pick some fruit when you have a chance.

On Sunday, we were also able to visit some family friends that recently moved to Avon.  They have two little girls that we watch on occasion and we have spent many years watching their dad coach high school girls basketball.  After their recent move to Avon, we had yet to see their new house and wanted to hang out with them and discuss their move and new jobs.  We were able to spend a few hours with them and wound up having dinner at Charbonos.  My Maple-glazed pork chops were fantastic and the side of sweet potato andouille sausage hash is something I never would have thought to put together but tasted great.

So, with the amount of work I have put in this week, I was a little nervous getting on the scale this week.  I knew I had done everything right, but you never know what can happen.  The numbers showing on the screen were kind to me this week.  I tipped the scale at 268. 6 lbs.  for a total loss this week of 2.8 lbs.  OH YEAH!  Now, it has become apparent to me that falling off is something we all do at time, but that getting back on that horse and dedicating yourself to improvement can make a huge impact.  Until next week... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.

Not at a Loss!

It's been a fun and interesting week.  The past couple weeks I have either gained or basically maintained my weight.  It has been a little rough looking at the scale the past couple weeks, but I am doing my best to stay positive.

The first way I tried to improve the number on the scale was to get back out and run.  I went on my first run in at least a month, and I could definitely tell.  I managed to average just under 14 minutes a mile which I would consider pretty good for me.  I am planning to add more of these runs into my weekly routine.  I am still considering signing up for a 5K, but I will see what happens in the next couple weeks.

Taken with a Selfie Stick a friend won at a conference :)

With school getting ready to start back up, I have been in quite a few meetings and professional development sessions over the past few weeks.  However, there is still a little summer left, and we decided to celebrate that by having a few friends over to our house recently.  Many of these friends are teachers and hopefully had a great time celebrating a little of the time we have left to relax before the rush of paperwork and stress.

The rest of the week, I was able to spend a little time at the pool with a couple friends.  We got a little time to relax and spend some time in the sun.  Also, we watched our friends children on Sunday.  They were excited to see us as it had been a couple weeks.  We planned to play water balloons with them and after quite some time ended up doing just that.  I went ahead and threw on a swimsuit to play with them.  I hope they had fun.

Check out that guy in red.  Ow, Ow!

I was also able to experience a new sport this weekend.  Although we consider drivewaying a sport in Frankfort, this involved getting up and moving.  Our local town has created a PickleBall League.  PickleBall is played with a solid paddle on a tennis court with what looks similar to a whiffle ball.  The court is a little smaller that the tennis court and the rules are a little different, but we had fun nonetheless.  If you ever get a chance to play, i suggest you give it a try.

Now, I stepped on the scale this week and was a little sad with myself.  I picked up my workouts this week and still managed to weigh in at 271.4 lbs.  That's a 2.5 lbs. gain.  UGH!!!  I did get lost with managing calories on vacation and I guarantee this has something to do with it.  I am trying to do better about using MyFitnessPal.  We all have our rough weeks and this was one of them.  The key is identifying the problem and coming up with a solution for it.  My solution: Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.