Home Again Home Again

I've been back from my San Francisco trip for a few days now, and most of the catch-up has been finished.  My husband and niece did a great job keeping up with the household chores, and kept my fledgling tomato plants alive and my outdoor birds fed.  Seymour the cat has been exceptionally snuggly since I've been home, and I've enjoyed every minute of it!
  So the trip itself... well I'm glad to report that I had no issues fitting into the seats on the airplane.  They were a bit snug, but not too tight or uncomfortable.  I still needed an extender, but the gap is closing, and I'd like to work on not needing one by the time I fly out to Vegas after Thanksgiving. 
  We were VERY active - the hills in the city are a good workout.  Walking anywhere included hills, and a brisk pace.  And when we weren't in the city we walked all over the place.  We went to the touristy areas like Pier 39, the Castro, Union Square and Alcatraz.  Then we went up north to spend 2 days in the Redwoods National Park areas and Muir Woods, and south to Monterey for whale watching and an aquarium visit.  On our last day we attended the Pride parade and walked around the many blocks of surrounding vendors.  I got great sleep at night, let me tell you.
   My food choices were varied - not entirely on or off plan.  I tried to be careful and make good choices where I could.  We went to the grocery store on our first day so I could stock up on healthful breakfast and snack options for the hotel room, which really helped.  I ate quite a  bit of seafood (although occasionally in the fish and chips form), and the produce out there was lovely.  I ate some of the best strawberries I ever tasted, and the overall emphasis on organic and healthy eating (especially up north) were a good influence. 
   I'll be weighing in tomorrow to see what the net result is.  I am expecting some gain, because 12 days is a long time to be out of my food "comfort zone", but hoping it will be small due to the large increase in activity.  Now July 1 is upon me, and it's time to set my mid to end year goals.  But that's another post!

California here I come!

So tomorrow I get on a plane and head to San Fran!  I am very excited, although still having a little anxiety about the flight.  But I have magazines and puzzle books and am flying with my sister, so hopefully the time will fly (haha - get it?).

   I have a plan for vacation, and have had several conversations with my sister about what I need to do in order to succeed.  She says she is on board, but that remains to be seen.  She's sometimes better and more supportive in theory, but I'm hoping for the best.  There's a pool at the hotel, and we have lots of walking planned, so activity should be covered!  I have a solid plan for breakfasts in the hotel room, and I'm counting on lots of seafood being available for lunches and dinners.

   So I'll be offline for a while, since I'm going to use this vacation as a little bit of a tech break (except for my smartphone of course).  But I'll be back in massive posting mode once I get back.  Miss you all!

Making adjustments

   I've come to the realization that I have to make some adjustments to my activity.  I've been primarily using walking (either outside or on the treadmill) as my cardio.  But every time I've tried to step it up to boost my weight loss efforts, it's resulted in some injury.  First it was an arthritis flare up that took 8 weeks of physical therapy to fix.  Most recently it's caused a particularly vicious episode of tendonitis in my left foot, which has made it hard to get sleep and to just do simple things like grocery shop. It's also made going to Tai Chi and Line Dancing a very bad idea over this last week or so.  I saw a doctor, and have some medication for it, so hopefully I'll be right as rain very soon.
 
   I went through a few days of moping about this latest setback, worrying about my upcoming trip - there will be LOTS of walking, not to mention those famous San Francisco hills.  But then my sister reminded me that there's a pool at the hotel, and that got my brain thinking!  I just need to change my cardio routine up to focus on non-impact, non-weight bearing activities.  Like swimming, and water aerobics, and bike riding. 

   So I went last week and got my bike all tuned up, and I've signed up for some water aerobics at the Y for the upcoming summer session.  I can also use the stationery/recumbent bike, and once the foot is healed, maybe add is some elliptical.  I believe that changing over to these activities will help me get in more cardio activity, build up strength and range of motion in my knees, and free me up to kick start my summer without fear of further injury.  And that's my plan!

Just a quickie!

Feeling good because I finally got off my lazy butt and put the bike rack back on the car, loaded up the bikes and took them to the bike shop to get tuned up.  And the best part is I can pick them up tomorrow evening, so I can use my bike this weekend... it seems like the next few days are going to continue the streak of good weather, and I can't wait to take my bike to the park for a whirl.  I think I'm going to buy an odometer when I pick them up, so I can measure my distance, even though I usually think about my activity in terms of time spent rather than miles logged.

  The last couple of days have been very good - back on track and in a more positive frame of mind. I've been tackling the to-do list again, and making better decisions.  I'm anticipating that this week's weigh in may still show the last remnants of damage done over last weekend, but what's more important is that I'm headed once again in the right direction.

  Have a great weekend all - I know I plan to!