Posted in: Weight Loss

Introducing the Sensible Mastodon

Well, it finally happened. On December 3, the scale said 130 and I said, “Yes! New low!” It took me another ten minutes to realize I had actually hit the goal I set seven years prior: losing 100 pounds. Not gonna lie, I got a little teary-eyed because this is a big deal. After years […]

Posted in: Health, Life, Pets

Catching Up

Yeah, I’ve been gone for a while. Work had sucked my will to live and to sit in front of a computer for one second more than necessary, but we’ve addressed that situation. Now I have a new job that allows me to work from the patio while admiring my garden most days, so I’ll probably have more cranial impetus left for updates like this one. More verbings! Yay!

Posted in: Health, Home & Garden

Terror, the Warmup of Champions

I’ve been dabbling with jogging again as part of the guided workouts on my Microsoft Band, and I’ve been doing so around the house (yes, inside the house) because our neighbors got themselves yet another dog and I have well-documented dog issues. This one isn’t huge, but it’s big enough to cause major damage and is seriously unfriendly. I’d been giving it a wide berth. Until Tuesday.

My Idiot Brain: We have a ten-minute jog today. Let’s go run around the parking lot across the street. The dog won’t see us over there.

Me: Okay!

Posted in: Health, Technology, Weight Loss

The Name of My Next Band

When Microsoft unveiled its new Band activity tracker last year, I knew I wanted one. I had been ogling the Fitbit Surge for months because I wanted a tracker that could measure my heart rate. Also, I love watches. Brian pointed out that my Fitbit One was still functioning just fine, so I didn’t need a new gadget. He was absolutely right. I heaved a plaintive sigh and forgot about upgrading. (As a side note, I have the same problem with my phone. I desperately want a new Nokia Lumia, but my Moto X keeps chugging right along. Drat that reliable thing!)

The Band went out of sight, out of mind for the next couple of months as I concentrated on work and trying not to stress myself to death, which meant Brian was able to completely surprise me at Christmas. It was the last gift, and he said, “This one is just a silly little thing, no big deal.” You’d think I would know better by now, but nope. My squee of glee probably busted eardrums for eight square miles.

I’ve been wearing my Band religiously for two months now, and you know what? I’m still in love with it. Best. Gadget. Ever.

Posted in: Weight Loss

Progress and Setbacks

The past couple of months have been pretty rough. Circumstances have been less conducive to focusing on health and more conducive to crying on the couch with a bag of Fritos. This has led to backsliding, so I’ve had to stop and think about the things that help keep me going. Some of those things have fallen by the wayside, but now that I realize this, I can add them back into my routine.

Posted in: Health, Life, Weight Loss

Birthday Fitness and Other Updates

Birthday Fitness
As you guys know, this last year has been up and down for me in the fitness department. I’ve been maintaining my current weight range to get other things squared away before focusing on the final stretch of weight loss. Here’s a quick history for anyone who stumbles across this post and wants to catch up.

Posted in: Health, Life, Writing

Priorities

Getting Organized
I love to organize things. Books, files, documents, rooms, you name it. I can track huge projects and barf out complete status reports within ten minutes of any request. So why does prioritizing my own personal crap make my brain feel like a pretzel? Specifically, I’m referring to exercising and writing, and how to cram them back into a fairly full schedule while still getting enough sleep to avoid becoming the epicenter of mayhem. This goal has proven difficult to hit, but I’m happy to say I’m making decent progress.

Posted in: Health, Life

Harpy Unplugged

Photo Credit: Brian Landis

My cabin fever hit critical mass early last week. I told Brian I really needed to unplug, get out of town, and hear the wind through the trees for a couple of days. After recovering from his shock, he agreed wholeheartedly. Brian loves to camp. I do and I don’t. I do love laying in the tent, looking up at the sky through the screen and listening to the birds. I don’t love stinging insects that make me injure myself in my frantic attempts to run away from them. I’ve always had this intensely frustrating fear and it’s always screwed up my favorite outdoor activities, but the need to get out of my head outweighed the buzzing terror.

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