Another weight loss post

This is not the first and will not be the last time I will whine about this topic.

I am not losing weight. I now own a fit bit, so I'm able to accurately track and challenge myself to move more every day (a fit bit is a high tech pedometer which helps measure intensity of work out, steps take, etc. It's a wonderful tool and only about $100 at Amazon.com) I have figured my calories based on activity level using a BMR calculator. After listening to the podcasts at fat 2 fit radio and how they say weight watchers and so many other weight loss plans don't give you enough calories, I have been basing my daily calories off of my BMR. This means I should never eat less than 1830 calories per day since that's the number of calories it takes for someone with my build to live if I were being tube fed, in a coma.  I have checked other calorie calculators and this is the response I always get. If I exercise, I'm to increase the number of calories so that my body doesn't feel like it's starving. All the dieting I have done through the years has damaged my metabolism.  I have read other research on the subject and believe this is the true, healthy way to diet.  To lose weight reasonably, you alter the calories it would take to maintain your body at the new, desirable weight and that's only about 300 calories per day different. 

I also know that when I eat 1800-2000 calories per day of good, healthy food, I'm not hungry. I don't get that starving feeling a person gets when they eat badly and have too much sugar.  I have been choosing better food, though the last couple days I have cut myself some slack and eaten some things I like, but don't eat often anymore. With maggie becoming a vegetarian, we're eating less meat and more veggies at home as well.

So, why this rant? 10 days ago I weighed in at 222.8.. Woohoo I thought, I'm finally going down...then this week I weighed in at 225 and this was with good nutrition, proper exercise and lots and lots of steps taken.  My calorie deficit has been 500 or more each day. My fitness pal keeps saying "if every day were like today you'd weight 214, or 207, or 200, or whatever" in 5 weeks. But it's not happening. I drink tons of water...over 100 oz per day (can you imagine how much time I spend in the bathroom?) I'm fitter than I have ever been. I can go through long work outs and stay strong. It's awesome! But I am still obese.  I have talked to the doctor and he says that my thyroid is in order (not sure if there are other hormones I should be looking at) I think that perhaps I need to find someplace that does actual basal metabolic testing because I don't know how I can be eating right, exercising and still gaining. If it truly is a calories in, calories out game, then why is my pounds not going down?

Anyway, I know that the only answer is to keep plugging away and that eventually my body should relent and give up the weight. But it's so frustrating that 5 years ago I lost 18 pounds in 2 months without trying or exercising (of course, it came back the same way) I would give anything to be hyperthyroid for awhile and speed along my metabolism. 

Eating veggies

Maggie has given up meat.  This change in lifestyle will be interesting to watch as she moves in with her dad, who is a serious carnivore. She says she'll still eat fish and seafood, so that is good and so far she's not too worried about whether or not her soup has a chicken brother or a veggie broth. I keep hoping she'll give it up, but I'm supporting her in the mean time. She's going to a sleep over and I bought her veggie dogs and garden burgers in case they are grilling.

This week at Trace Trails

I arrived at Trace on Thursday about 9:30 and was on trail by 10:30. I rode the red trail with Liberty and my dog Frankie. We went slow, pulled old, faded ribbons that had turned white, and put up new red ribbons and freshened paint. I have a couple places close to camp to improve a little, but overall, I was pleased with the work we got done.

What was most amazing about my ride was how amazing Liberty was.  He was perfect! He just did everything I asked him to do. He opened gates, he hung ribbon, he never spooked. He cantered, he trotted. I had the best time. It reminded me when I was younger, with Rebel and how I would take Jasper and Lacie and just ride for hours all alone. I had forgotten how nice it was. I also thought how cool it would be if Liberty would do all the things he did for me at a ride, with judges watching. Of course, my nerves screw us up. It was fun though, because Annette had me do stuff and she watched me, which was kind of like having a judge watch me.  I'm concerned about Liberty because he is thin this summer. He always gets a little thin, but this year it's worse than usual.  I have been adding oil to his strategy healthy edge and I have added ultium to his diet, but not only is he looking thin, he's being picky about his food. He's not wanting to eat the higher calorie food.  I need to give him a break and not ride him so much, but Fiera is just not ready to trust on trail. On one hand, riding her will help her be more trustworthy, but I can't get a lot done if she's making me nervous...so I have a bit of a dilemma. I have a friend who wants to ride Oly so Liberty will just have to keep working...at least when I'm camping, i can give him more feed.

Anyway, Friday, Annette, Dana and I rode and adjusted blue. We found a pond we didn't know about before and that was welcome, but the trail was out in the open a lot and it was dry.  We were hoping to ride each of the trails and get a map to overlay, but I think that will have to happen next weekend.

Saturday morning we did half of pink before I had to call it a day and go home. Annette and other lady named Debbie finished marking pink again. So next week, we'll try to ride the trail and make maps. I'm getting a battery booster for my phone so I can use my iphone since I don't have that awesome garmin GPS I need/want ($35 for the booster, $179 for the GPS, easy choice)

I was happy to come home and hang out with Peter. Maggie came home from camp and we went out to dinner to the sushi/hibachi buffet Peter discovered.  Then I have had a nice, quiet day at home, surfing facebook...I feel like i have been busy, but I haven't really. I made breakfast...I'm getting ready to cook dinner.  It's been a good Sunday. And it might rain.

Ho Hum

Today has been a hard day, and I couldn't even tell you why.  I got up and went to work like any other day, but my mood has been poor all day. I went for a walk with the dogs. I ate a healthy breakfast. I saw my groups just like usual. I saw a couple of extra people because one client was on vacation. It might have been because I have a client who hits and pinches and he was in full form today.  I had such a hard time redirecting him. His mother says he gets cranky in the summer because there isn't enough to do. Today I had to set limits on his behavior. During his massage we watched a movie on my ipad, till he couldn't stop tapping and hitting the iPad and I had to turn it off (I set a limit and he crossed the line) So, then he was mad at me for taking away the movie, but it was the right choice. HE wasn't resting or relaxing and it was a distraction, so it had to go. We listened to relaxing music instead, which was pretty boring for him, I guess. Then we did Music Therapy and I couldn't play my guitar because each time I would start to play a song he would get up to push buttons on the a/c or try to stick his finger in the light socket. If I stopped him from doing that, then he tried to get out the door. If he wasn't trying to do one of those two things then he was opening and closing another door directly into the path of the ceiling fan. And each time it crashed he laughed. 

So when I left his house, I was not in a great mood. Then I left his house, I had a call from my last client who said they couldn't be home by 3, our appointment time, but could I come at 3:30 instead...I couldn't. Then she said "well, maybe I can make it home by 3, but I won't know till 2:45 so I'll call you...so I ran some errands, got grain for the horse, fed and waited for her to call. They weren't going to make it by 3:00, so I was done. 

Tonight I was to have left for Trace Trails to be there bright and early and ride at the crack of dawn. But my partners in crime can't make it till tomorrow, and the idea of camping all alone in 100 degree heat was unappealing, so I, instead, got everything ready to go and decided to stay home tonight. I will get up at 5am and leave. I warned Peter that I am in a bad mood. He is being kind and letting me just sort of chill out.

My week started wrong.  Maggie is at camp and I miss her. She had a friend with her, but her friend's mom picked her friend up from camp after the first day. I have found this turn of events unsettling.  The camp called me at 10:15pm telling me that her mom had come to get her. They didn't know her mom, only me, so they were making sure it was really her mom and to ask me why they would come get her when camp had only just started. I know the reasons given for why her friend went home, but I still feel unsettled.  I'm upset because her friend was given a scholarship to attend camp and leaving early means the gift was wasted and unappreciated.  I'm trying very hard not to be harsh, but I'm pretty upset that her friend's mom didn't talk to me before going to get her from camp. I think it's natural to feel nervous about your child going away the first time. (the first time I sent Maggie to camp, I went along and camped nearby and it was a good way to do that whole camp thing...of course, Maggie didn't need me one bit) It's a great camp and Maggie had a blast there last year. This was her friend's first opportunity to attend camp.  Camp is supposed to be a time for kids to be away from mom's and dad's. we're not supposed to talk to them for a week. If they need us, they will call us or the camp will find a way to reach us.  It's a time for kids to take care of themselves, rely on their peers for help and learn about themselves.   I have made an effort to apologize to the mom and grandma and make amends for my harsh attitude regarding her abrupt departure, but my apologies have been met with silence so far.  I would like for Maggie and her friend to continue being friends. I guess I wanted them to acknowledge that they had abused the gift and take responsibility for the actions that led them to pick up the child from camp 1 day in...but I also realize this is not going to happen.  I'm trying to be nice because I don't want to sever ties or make it hard for Maggie to be friends. I would like to think this can be smoothed over and we can move forward.  I don't want her friend to be concerned with any of this. I adore her and want everything to go well for her.  I'm just sorry she got caught in the middle of the situation. 

Fiera grows up

I had my first extended ride on Fiera last week and she gets mixed reviews. She is a lot more jumpy than I expected her to be on trail. So much work needs to be done before she is trust worthy. Right now everything is scaring her including assorted wild life like hogs and deer. She has a large, surprise spook which is unsettling. When desensitizing her to stimuli she is very easy so I was surprised to see this level of reaction. I have been given a few suggestions which I will try. I'm going to give her this week off to to think on it, I believe. I'm back at trace working on trails Wednesday night but I think I will just take Dixie and Liberty this time and leave her home alone. Barbie is bringing Oly back Friday. I will start putting him back in the riding rotation. I have missed him. I would still like to sell Fiera. I have had in nibbles. She is started now. Someone should buy her.

Random tidbits

I had good news from the podiatrist today. I didn't need injections. Instead I got slip in orthotics and I'm having custom ones made in July. My foot is tons better. I also got a new night splint because the other one broke. Peter and I have been watching a you tube show called The Guild. Each season s about 1:30 minutes and each separate episode only 5-6 minutes each. It's fun. Peter took me out for sushi buffet. I ate way too much. I'm still stuffed. Peter took some photos of this cool od timey gas station in Turkey, Tx in April. He sent the prints to the owner as a gift and They in turn asked what he would sell the photos for and Peter gave them a number. Today he got the photos back in the mail saying he could use them however he liked but they would not buy them. He did not ask them to buy them, on,y giving a number after they asked. I think he's going to resend them emphasizing they were a gift. It was weird.

Indian territory

>
> The first of the two rides that we did was Indian territory. It is a
> rather rocky ride, in Oklahoma, near Tulsa . I love this ride! I have
> won in novice with all three of my CTR horses. I had no real hopes of
> winning with Liberty, but I figured it was worth a try.
>
> Peter had been asked to be a judge's secretary. He was the secretary
> for that judge, Pat Reiger. This was a job he had not yet done, but I
> thought he would probably enjoy it. I believe that he did have a good
> time.
>
> Dr. Pat is an obstacle judge. He does very little to check
> metabolically or soundness but sets up many elaborate obstacles. His
> most popular obstacle is to set up sticks one logs in varying sizes
> shapes in widths for the horses to walk or trot over. He takes points
> for each log the horses touch. Peter said that one horse hit five logs
> seven times. My horse only had two hits which equaled one point off. I
> don't recall any of the other obstacles being particularly
> complicated, but I do know that I lost my ride on a mount. Liberty
> walked off two steps from his mouth, which cost me two points. So we
> went for potential first or second place, to fourth-place.
>
> I ran the trail barefoot behind on Saturday, and I noted that liberty
> seemed a little more tender footed than usual. So Sunday I booted all
> four feet. The back boots stayed on for about 4 miles. The front
> stayed on all day, With the exception of the plain easy boot that I
> used on Sunday and came off in the mud.
>
> The big, important thing about Indian territory, is that it's just a
> lot of fun. We get there on Thursday, we watch a movie. On Friday we
> ride, on Saturday we ride, I'm Sunday we ride,… And then we go to
> dinner. Answer is a fair amount of drinking. It's just a great big
> memorial day party. I love this ride. I love it for the trails that I
> can't write any other time of year. I love it for the party that we
> have. I love it because we all stay overnight on Monday since it's a
> holiday. I don't think I will ever miss another one of these if I can
> help it.
>
> The other thing that made this chip special, was our friends the
> lineback's, were parked right next to us. We have gotten to know
> Marcy, Tammy and now Gary since the beginning of the year. Tammy and
> Marcy have been coming to region 4 Rides from Georgia. We have really
> enjoyed getting to know them.
>
> The other thing that made this ride with a special, was going to see
> Corry Key, and her husband Justin. We enjoy riding with Corry's
> stallion Zahlil. Zahlil is one of the most well behaved stallions I
> have ever had the privilege to now. He never talks to the mares, he
> rides quietly beside my gelding and mare simultaneously. We just have
> a lot of fun.
>
> It was also wonderful to see Kim Reinhardt. Her horse GMo text Aharen
> the voice of four stout. Here's the funny goofy horse. He in Dixie are
> good friends, and he tolerated liberty and Zahlil quite well.
>
> This blog post was dictated using Dragon dictation. I didn't proofread
> to find most of the errors, but you may find a few. They may even be
> amusing. I apologize for any misunderstandings that occur as the
> results of my dictation.
>
>
> Alice Yovich MA, MT-BC, LMT