Week 7 on Profile by Sanford

Again, my Profile weeks run from Wednesday to Tuesday, since I started on a Wednesday. So this is from February 15 through 21, 2017.

So, last Friday we also ate out and not in a healthy way. We went to a restaurant that sells pizza puffs - and I had really been craving pizza. I got a 3-pack, Casey got a 6-pack. Turns out, these things are huge. Like baseball-sized. And not as good as I had hoped. They were good, but I doubt I'll have them again. More overtime at work means no extra time for exercise but I am walking around the building a bit more and building up my steps on my FitBit so that's small steps (pun intended!). The problem with going to the gym after work is I'm mentally exhausted and just plain don't want to do anything other than go home and rest. That's a block I'll need to learn to work around because I know, too, that exercising will kick the brain back into gear as well. And come spring, we'll have the bicycles ready to go and hopefully a hitch on the SUV so we can take them with.

We did have pizza Tuesday night from a popular take and bake place. I had a large salad and 1 piece - which we had gotten the thin crust and had them add zucchini and spinach. I was pleased with that and it gave him plenty of leftovers for Wednesday! We have been making use of the air fryer - chicken, tater tots for him and veggie tots for me, steak, and it's all turned out delicious so far! One of my goals is to find the spinach pizza crust recipe and try that in the mini baking pan that comes as an accessory.

So, without further ado:





I am pretty tickled with that, to say the least! And for some non-scale victories - the blue pair of jeans that I couldn't zip at the beginning of the year now require me nearly constantly hitching them up as I'm walking and the black pair that I couldn't even get on at the beginning of the year are now comfortable enough to not require changing out of them when I get home. The flannel shirt Casey gave me for Christmas that wouldn't button now buttons with the exception of around my hips (which, given it's a men's shirt, that's not at all surprising). Most of the time, stairs are not a problem anymore, too. Small things adding up to big things!!

On the Skoolie side - we got our tub this past weekend - a 40-gallon livestock tub:



Our plan is to frame around it so we can add insulation as well. At the Restore store we also got five 12-inch square vinyl tiles with a rose in the center and we'll frame those in for decoration. We're still on the lookout for countertop - it seems that all we can find in the Restore stores is precut for a sink, understandably. Unfortunately, it's for a double-sink and we've got a single-sink. But the right one will come along - even if we end up building one!

So, until next time,

Enjoy life!

Heather

Weeks 5 and 6 on Profile by Sanford

Again, my Profile weeks run from Wednesday to Tuesday, since I started on a Wednesday. So this is from February 1 through 7, 2017 and February 8 through 14, 2017.

So last weekend just flew by. Saturday the 11th we went in to town and met with my brother and nephews for lunch at Qdoba and then we walked around the Sport Show at the Civic Center. Fishing boats that cost more than either of my 2 houses I tried to buy several years ago!! And RV and campers, oh my! But the amazing thing was that for all their fluff and pomp and circumstance - not one of them felt as comfortable as our trusty Skoolie. Part of that was, of course, that they're very top-heavy and more prone to rollovers than a school bus - but a lot of it was the doors. I realize I'm not a small person - but here's the thing: I never will be. My nephews fit through the doors, but my brother and boyfriend, both over 6 feet tall with a solid build, couldn't walk through the interior doors easily. These things didn't feel very open and welcoming, even for all that they were emulating a home - some even had islands in the kitchens!! But it was an enjoyable day! We stopped at Celtic Connections downtown - super nice lady if you're ever in the Rapid City, SD area!

Sunday the 12th I had agreed to work 5 hours overtime - we are no longer able to be in the building without a manager present so this was scheduled from 10am-3pm by the supervisor coming in. Having only 1 vehicle, that meant I dropped Casey off at work at 6 (they open an hour later on Sundays), washed the car, sat in the parking lot, and at 7 when they opened went inside and got a hot tea and sat and read until 9:30. Slowly made my way over to work, arriving at 9:50 to an empty parking lot. And I waited. And waited. And waited. At 10:20 I left and ran errands. When I got in on Monday I sent an email to my supervisor just asking that this not reflect poorly on me - because it turns out no one else showed up until 10:30 - including the supervisor who said they'd be there at 10. The main frustration was I spent an entire day in town for nothing because the few things we needed Casey could have easily picked up after work and I could have been at home working on things for the Skoolie, and general household stuff, like filling the wood closet, and all the little things that, when piled up, become big things. So a minor frustration, but we made it work.

So, last week's numbers, then, from the 1st through the 7th:



Super pleased - especially since I had one less day due to the week before having to wait until Thursday to weigh in!

This past week was an even bigger challenge: Valentine's Day! I had taken the day off to spend a day with Casey, not realizing it was Valentine's Day until after the fact. We went to Sturgis to meet with a friend of mine for lunch and at at Jambonz. Holy moly was it good food! I had a shrimp salad with a tangy vinaigrette that made my face pucker! haha It was a nice visit with my friend, and definitely one we need to do more often. Then Casey & I went up to Deadwood - we wanted to check out an antique shop. We stopped at a different one first, and I happened to think it'd be neat for Casey to see my brother's office in Lead - it's in the old Homestake Gold Mine. I was able to reach him and we had a nice tour. He has some pretty fun coworkers, too. That still left us enough time to stop at the antique shop we originally planned on - and wow, is that one packed full of stuff too! We enjoyed browsing through both of them and will definitely go back! However, at this point it was 5:00. An hour drive home then generally an hour for supper to get thrown together. And poor Casey - he'd gotten a whiff of the peach cobbler at Jambonz as they were taking it out of the oven and it had been on his taste buds all day....so, after a stop at Chubby Chipmunk for truffles from the vending machine, we drove back to Sturgis and had supper at Jambonz. Where I was definitely not so well controlled. I ordered a fried catfish poor boy with sweet potato fries - he ordered a fried crawfish poor boy with sweet potato fries - and we swapped half our sandwiches. They were really good - very well done with almost no grease on the fish. I didn't eat all the bread, and only a few of the sweet potato fries - but we had gone back for the dessert and dessert we had. Their peach cobbler is a huge serving alongside ice cream - and I had a piece of chocolate fudge cake. It wasn't a very large piece, but it sure didn't need to be. It was quite decadent and overall the day was well worth going off plan for a day. The numbers showed it the next day, though:



Yep - that's right. I'm up nearly 2 pounds - but still down an inch overall. Now, I'm not a bit upset over this for several reasons. One, I had read a lot on the Facebook group and with Optifast users that week 5 generally shows a gain for no reason whatsoever. Plus, I knew as I was enjoying that wonderful food at Jambonz, that I was making a choice to have a treat and that there would be consequences for that. But my coach and I had discussed treating myself now and again (as we had been talking about Popeyes chicken - yum!!) and that I was at a point in the program where it would be okay if I was comfortable with it. Plus, there's still that inch of loss in there and - probably most telling - my jeans that I couldn't zip up at the 1st of the year are now having to be pulled up constantly. (Had I known we were planning a taco party as a farewell/birthday party for one of my favorite coworkers Friday....but that's for next week!!)

We do have a game plan for this week for getting me to the gym while still doing overtime during the week - we have weekend plans and so I have to do my 5 hours during the regular week. Casey - bless him - is willing to wait around yet another hour (mind you, he's scheduled off at 1-1:30 and I don't get there until close to 3:30!) so I can go to the gym after work. We'll have to figure up some quick and easy supper recipes but I'm pretty happy with this. So either I'll be at the gym after work or doing a workout at home - working up to 150 minutes a week.

Wednesday night my friend and I went to Canvas 2 Paint and did "Release the Krakken." It was a lot of fun and I anticipate doing several more!



I think the neatest part is how we all follow the same directions, using the same paints (mostly - some people changed up their colors) and came out with such unique and great paintings!!

We ordered a Power XL Air Fryer last week, too, and it arrived Friday. Last night we made meatballs in it that turned out great! I'm looking forward to sharing those experiences as well!

So, until next time -

Cheers!

Heather

Week 4 Profile by Sanford

Again, my Profile weeks run from Wednesday to Tuesday, since I started on a Wednesday. So this is from January 25-31, 2017.

Wow. One month gone already! 2017 is zooming by! I got the go ahead and start exercising and now that the overtime is done for a few weeks I'll be very happy to get back to the gym. My gym of choice is Planet Fitness. It's affordable, has what I need, and is quite handy right now. That may change down the road when we move, but we'll see. My intent is to do 20 minutes each weekday morning on the treadmill and then 3 evenings a week do a light circuit training DVD I have from a DK book, simply titled "15 Minute Total Body Workout (+DVD)." I was looking for something effective but didn't use a lot of tools/space since we'll be moving to the motorhome this year some time. This looks like it will fit the bill - especially with the layout we've got in mind right now.

This month was massively busy in our department and we knew we would not leave before they turned the systems off at 9. Well, still having to get up at 3:10 the next morning, that meant driving home and back again would only get us about 4-1/2 hours of sleep, not to mention either of us driving at that point would have been awake for 18 hours. Not a safe situation. So we opted to stay in town and, even with the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo in town, managed to get a room. We stayed at the Foothills Inn and will likely stay there again. Much nicer room than at the Sleep Inn - it even had 2 easy chairs!! However, that meant putting off my weigh in until Thursday instead of Wednesday. That plus the stress of end of month, I wasn't anticipating much loss on the scale this week. We still did my measurements Wednesday night since we were at home, though.



For fun:



I am quite tickled with the results I'm seeing! (Oops - the top one is to show I've lost as much as a sperm whale's brain! I'll have to work on that!)

My aunt and uncle were in town this week and she was intrigued by the program. I suspect she'll look into it a bit when they get home from their journeying with my father. Dad had asked when results would be seen a couple weeks ago and I said I'd lost 14 pounds at that point but because he sees my daily, he probably won't see a difference until he returns from Arizona. I did have a coworker say it looks like I'm melting away, which was nice.

Vegetables are a challenge - but with Dad gone for a few weeks we'll be able to experiment more and then when we know we have some good recipes, he can try them. I did try the broccoli tots last night - instead of turning on the oven for my few tots, we put a bit of olive oil in a pan, when it was heated, added the tots and some seasoning, then finished them off in the microwave (because everyone was waiting on me and Casey hadn't had a chance to grab more veggies yesterday) - not too bad!!

NSVs this week - the blue pair of jeans are comfy and the black pair fit!! They get a bit tight in the waist band by the end of the day but it's the first time in a long time I've had 2 pairs of pants to alternate during the work week! I think on this upcoming Wednesday, a TShirt day at work, I'll even be able to wear a Minion tshirt that was too snug when I bought it in December. So, on the cliffhanger of will she or won't she....

Until next week!