Stellar Path

Archive for the ‘Walking the US’ Category

A pretty exciting thing happened for me last week, and I didn’t even realize it until recently.

On May 7th, I finished walking across Nebraska!

Okay, I’m not sure that I actually deserve confetti, but I’m pretty excited about it anyway. I am now TWO states down!

I had a little trouble deciding where to walk next. Based on the map above, I decided that I am going to walk through Mississippi. I live in the South; let’s add a little color there. Mississippi is 340 miles long. At my rate of 1,900 steps per mile, it will take me 646,000 steps to cover the state. As of right now, I am 110,317 miles into Mississippi. That’s 58 miles in less than two weeks.

The above picture is of Gulf Shores in Mississippi. I’ve been to Gulf Shores in Alabama but not Mississippi. After seeing that photo, I REALLY wish I was there!

In other health and fitness news, clearly, my exercise is going great. In fact, Tina and I have TORN the gym up the last two nights. We have been on fire in the weight room. We’re lifting hard and heavy, following that up with ab work and cardio, and we’re slowly seeing results. One “sort of” side effect of lifting is that it engorges your muscles with blood and you’ll show temporary gains on the scale. However, it’s kind of nice to flex a muscle and actually feel a hard lump there instead of saggy fat, so we’re definitely going to keep working this hard for a long while. The number on the scale does not define me; it is only a general measure of my progress.

We both have wedding related goals. I want to get below 280 by October. I don’t know if that’s possible or realistic, but that’s what I’m shooting for. My most recent weight loss past would tell me that is flat out not possible. However, my first trip through weight loss land makes that extremely possible. All I can say is that I’m going to give it my very best.

I suspect I’ll be able to post my 341 weigh-in here in about two days. The weight loss is slow but steady.

My diet is always my sticking point. I love food. I even love healthy food. I haven’t yet found a way to stop mindless eating. I’ve curtailed it, yes, but eliminated… not quite there yet. Any suggestions?

This is my current night time snack. Edamame. Virtually no taste but so much fun to eat!

Video coming VERY soon, I promise. We have our tie-dyed aprons ready to go, and we are set to make Almond Joy Larabars!

What do you do to help with mindless snacking?

Bad day at work today. That’s not what this blog post is about, but since my entire blog is about my attempts at living a healthy life and losing weight, I feel like I should address it.

I’ve been purposefully pretty vague about what I do for a living, and I’ll continue to do so. It isn’t that I’m ashamed of what I do or anything; I have just heard of people getting in MAJOR trouble for venting about their workplace on the internet, and I do not intend to be one of those people.

However, today was a stressful day at work, and when I came home, I found myself immediately heading for the kitchen to eat.

Not to fuel my body.

Not because I hadn’t eaten in a while.

Because I was upset, and food was going to be my comfort.

I stopped myself before too much damage was done. I only ate 80 extra calories before I realized what I was doing and took control.

Why do we stress eat? I have a wonderful life, and I know this. I have a job that I truly do love, 95% of the time, with wonderful people who work for and with me, and I know that I’m performing a good service. The 5% that is stressful exists EVERYWHERE, and really, in the grand scheme of things, I know this 5% that bit me in the butt today is so unbelievably tiny.

As far as my wonderful life goes, it truly couldn’t be better. I’m engaged to the love of my life. She’s there for me through thick and thin.

An Engagement Photo

I have amazing, wonderful friends.

Me & My Two Best Friends, Annie & Patti

I have some really cool pets. I have a cat who acts like a dog. How cool is that?

Guinness

And I say this seriously, I have you all. I truly feel like I’ve forged some friendships from the blogging world, both people who comment here and people who I have met by commenting on their blogs, et cetera.

Yet still, despite all the good things going on for me, I turned to a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup when I got home from work rather than celebrate in my wonderful existence.

Oh well. It is what it is, and I caught myself before it turned into a binge. In fact, I was going back for another one when I realized that I needed to stop. Food wasn’t going to help.

The situation at work still stings a little, and it will for a while. Don’t worry about me; it’s nothing I can’t handle, and it truly changes nothing about my day-to-day job, let alone my life.

The original point of this post was to share the new Train 2 Lose video, but it hasn’t been posted to WBKO yet. I’m not sure why, but I’ll be sure to post it as soon as it is.

And in other news, Erin, our resident Nebraskan, said I should put up a different picture to represent Nebraska, so here is Chimney Rock.

Chimney Rock, Nebraska

I meant to do this early on, and then I thought, nah, I’ll wait a while.

For those of you who are knew to this blog, you may not know that I am “walking across the US.” I’m doing it a little differently than you might think, though. I wear a pedometer daily to measure my steps. I enjoy doing this, because it gives me a visual record of how active I’ve been. I’m a big fan of simply being active for activity’s sake. Yes, an hour on the elliptical is great, but so is getting 12,000 steps over the course of a regular day. It isn’t the same, but it’s something extra.

Anyway, I have calculated the maximum width or length across each US state, and one by one, I am “walking” across them. I don’t know what I’ll do when I’ve completed all fifty states. I know it will take me a LONG time, because of frickin’ Alaska and Texas. Alaska is 2,261 miles wide! If I figure an average of six miles a day (some days are better, some are worse), then it will take me 376 days. I fully realize that this could take me years. It might take me the better part of a decade to do this.

However, it isn’t like I’m going to someday get to goal weight, and the sky will open up with sunshine and puppies and everything is great. I will struggle with healthy living my entire life. I’m okay with that; frankly, I’m looking forward to experiencing the challenge of maintenance, which I have heard MANY people say is even tougher than losing weight.

So whether I get done in five years or twenty, it doesn’t matter. I’m walking the US, and in 2030, if that’s when I finish, then I’ll decide then what I’m going to do.

But for now, I’m just taking it one state at a time. And per Erin‘s suggestion, my current state is her home state of Nebraska! Nebraska is 430 miles wide, and with my typical stride of 1900 steps per mile, it will take me 817,000 steps.

At present, I am 218,907 steps into Nebraska. I have 598,093 steps to go. That’s a long way. Which state should I do next?

I’m still walking across Nebraska. Join me?

Saddle Rock in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska

In other news, don’t forget about my giveaway!

Also, check out the $50 shopping spree giveaway on Mary’s Weight Loss Blog! I can win an $50 Shopping Spree Giveaway from iHerb.com and so can you! Click here for contest details!

I thought about naming this post “And then there were three…” as that is what my trainer said to me as I left tonight.

The guys lost. Again.

I lost a grand total of 0.2 pounds. There have been MANY, MANY, MANY times that I have seen a small loss, or even a gain, and while I was upset, I would have to say, “I know exactly why this happened,” even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself. This week, I have no idea why I had such a small loss. I have worked my tail off. I have measured every bite of every morsel of food that has gone in my mouth. I have drank tons of water. I honestly don’t know why.

Maybe it’s just one of those things. I can accept that. The human body is weird, and sometimes, weight gain or loss just doesn’t always make sense. It is what it is. Tomorrow is the start of another week.

As far as tonight goes, as previously mentioned, the Blue Team kicked our butts. Well, the beat us by 0.2%, but it was still enough. I don’t remember exactly how much everyone lost, but I know that Jeanette lost over four pounds, Chris lost over six pounds, I lost 0.2 pounds to come out at 337.2, and Angie and Kayvan neither one lost or gained. Dead zero. I’m pretty sure Deanna and Patrina had small losses. Kayvan was the lowest member on the guy’s team, and he is the Red Team member who was sent packing. Bye Kayvan.

What does this mean for me? If we don’t win again next week, I am probably going home. I am currently in dead last on the men’s team and in 6th place overall. The ranking from last week hasn’t changed at all. I’ve gotta figure out something to boost my loss. I’m also wondering if I should just stay the course or try something new? I had someone suggest that I try eating my carbs early in the day and only do protein and healthy fats in the afternoon and evening. I may give it a shot. We’ll see.

Let me also give you a rundown of my $5 Weekly Goals!

Last week’s goals

1. Reach 333 – Fail! I only lost 0.2 pounds this week. I currently weigh 337.2. Not quite 333.
2. Finish walking Rhode Island – Success! I completed Rhode Island early this morning, and I’m already 13,000 steps into my new state of Nebraska! (I’ll post more about walking Nebraska later this weekend.)
3. Write 2,500 words on my novel – Utter fail. I think I wrote… uhm, zero words. I really thought I would make this one. Oh well.
4. Finish 4 complete workouts in the weight room – Little fail, but still a fail. I did three workouts in the weight room. An act of God intervened on this one, as on one of the nights Tina and I were going to lift, a snowstorm came and the gym closed at 8 p.m. We didn’t have time. Oh well. It’s still a fail.
5. Begin the 100 Push Ups Challenge – Success! I utterly suck at push ups, but I have both done my initial assessment and done the first day’s work.

Thus far, I have earned $2 toward Super Mario Brothers Wii and you all have earned $3 toward your first giveaway. Still not sure what it’s going to be yet, but when I have about $10 or so saved up, I’ll figure it out then.

This Week’s Goals

1. Reach 333
2. Write 3,000 words on my novel
3. Drink at least one gallon of water a day
4. Do at least 2 extra at-home workouts
5. Finish 4 complete workouts in the weight room

These are my goals for the week. Hopefully, I’ll do them all.

This idea is completely stolen from Steve. Maybe it was his, maybe he stole it from somewhere else, I dunno. But I take no credit for it, but I plan to start using it. Basically, he posts his goals that he wants to accomplish that week, and every weigh-in day, he tells us if he succeeded or failed.

I’m going to include goals that are really easy to accomplish, and I’m going to include goals that will require a decent amount of work.

I’m going to play mine a little bit differently. I’m going to give myself five goals, every week. Each goal is worth $1. If I meet that goal, that $1 will go into a pot to “buy myself something pretty.” [At the moment, I have my eye on Super Mario Brothers Wii. I want my own copy!] If I do not meet that goal, that $1 will go into a pot to buy something to give away to the readers of my blog. When I’ve collected enough money to buy something decent, around $10 or so to buy a water bottle or something fitness related (or just cool), I’ll hold a giveaway here.

Incidentally, I was going to give the money to charity, but then it occurred to me, that’s kind of like saying, “I’m trading my health and mental well-being for starving kids! Yay for my success! Sorry kids.” So while I’ll continue giving to charity on my own, this $5 will only be going to me or you all. (And some of you are poor, right? I know I am.)

My Goals for This Week (to be accomplished by February 12th)

1. Reach 333
2. Finish walking Rhode Island
3. Write 2,500 words on my novel
4. Finish 4 complete workouts in the weight room
5. Begin the 100 Push Ups Challenge

I know for sure I can do two of these, maybe three. Number one may prove elusive, but I’m going to give it my best. I’m doing variable calories every day, so hopefully, that will help me lose this weight! Today is a lower calorie day for me, but I’ve planned out my food for the day, and so far, it seems very do-able.

On other news, I’m going to have to give up one of my favorite snacks. Quaker Oats Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bars.

Quaker Granola Bars

They only have 90 calories, so they can’t be bad for you, right? They’re sweet and gooey and if you haven’t had a candy bar in months, they’re like a candy bar! And it’s not just oatmeal raisin! I also enjoy the chocolate chunk, or the peanut butter and chocolate… God help me, I even like the S’more. (Fake S’mores usually taste like crap, and not fake crap, but real crap. [Not that I know what that tastes like… just sayin…] But these S’mores actually taste pretty good.)

Alas, they are full of crap I shouldn’t be eating. The box said it was made with whole grains.

What the box DID NOT say (well, it did, but you had to investigate it and study like you were reading a murder mystery) was that in addition to a tiny serving of whole grains, it also has partially hydrogenated oils. Those are a big no-no.

So while I love them, they are not the great find I once thought they were. I thought they were a 90 calorie serving of goodness and whole grains, not 90 calories of pure, unadulterated evil.

We have a new video!  (For reason I still do not understand, the video will only show when you look at this post on its own page and not on the main page.  So to see it, please click the title of this post, and the video should be embedded on that page.)

In other diet news, I’ve decided to up my calories. I was eating around 1500 to 2200. Now, I’m eating around 3000 to 3500, and so far, it seems to be making a difference.

I have heard from various sources that eating a different amount of calories per day can help keep your metabolism a little higher than it might otherwise. So, in my variable calorie diet, I may have 3700 one day, 3000 the next, 3500, 2400, etc… I just want to keep my metabolism humming along. My trainer told me that I wasn’t eating nearly enough for as active as I’ve been, so I’ve definitely upped how much I’m eating. I must admit that I feel a LOT better, and because I’m eating healthier foods, I feel like, for the first time in months, that I’m actually satisfied.

Yesterday, I ate around 3800 calories. Today, I plan to eat around 2500. I want to keep it low for a day and see if I can get a weight loss spike. Tomorrow, I’ll up it to 3500ish again.

I also found an amazing resource in Fitday.com. I had been using SparkPeople, but it’s become more of a social networking site, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I want something that is simpler and easier to use. I stumbled across FitDay, and so far, I love it. I just enter every bite of food that goes in my mouth, and it gives me a running total of my calories, percentage from carbs, fat, and protein, and some other cool facts.

Nutrition for 2-2-10

As you can see, I am off low carb. I felt too run down, and while I’m sticking to the spirit of low carb by avoiding everything white, I had to incorporate fruits and vegetables back into my diet. I also added some whole grains. I feel 100% better, and I’m going to stick with this. This is a diet I can live with, because low carb isn’t. I realized I was in a very bad place mentally about it because I kept saying to myself, “As soon as the contest is over, I can have a banana again.” That’s not a good mindset, and frankly, that won’t help me.

Back on track – FitDay will even keep track of your calories burned, and you can actually enter every activity you do for a solid 24 hours and know (relatively speaking) exactly how many calories you’ve burned. I don’t take it to that extreme; I tend to enter how much I slept, along with my cardio or weight lifting exercise, and I use that to roughly estimate how many calories I burned for the day.

Activity for 2-2-10

So far, I am keeping under how many calories I’ve burned. I’m pretty pleased. Funny thing is, according to FitDay, I burned about 700 calories more than I took in yesterday. That’s 1/5th of a pound. My scale this morning showed that I have lost 1/5th of a pound. I realize it won’t work out that perfectly every time, but it’s kind of neat that it did today.

I’m about two pounds lower than I was last Friday. I’d love to lose two more. I don’t even know if that is possible in the next two days, but I’m going to try. I was hoping to drop double digits this Friday.

Damn the Biggest Loser for skewing my perception of possible weight loss!

And also, did anyone else find themselves actually liking Miggy last night for the first time ever? I thought she was the problem; maybe it was Migdalia?

We were also hoping the Blue Team would come back instead of the Yellow team, but I really respected what O’Neal said about wishing the Victoria, the blue team daughter, could take his place. Frankly, I wish they had made that work out. It would have been a nice twist, if the parents of each team had gotten together somehow before and said, “Let’s approach the producers about our kids teaming up and us going home.” But I digress. But not too much, because I’m still talking about the Biggest Loser.

I’m rooting for Stephanie, who I think is adorable, and Tina and I both love her, and the Grey Team, who just have such a great attitude. I also like the Black Team. So far, this season has quite a few people that I like on it. Much better than last season’s, where I really wasn’t that fond of that many people. (Still not as good as season seven. Tara was awesome. I wish she had won.)

In other news, I am still walking across Rhode Island. Nebraska is my next state. Anyone with me? What’s your progress?

I’m walking across Rhode Island.

Castle Lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island

Okay, not really. I’ve only been once, and that was several years ago. And I was in a car for almost the entire time. I think I have spent a grand total of forty minutes of my life in Rhode Island.

However, starting today, February 1st, I am going to walk across Rhode Island. Virtually. Sort of. In a symbolic, kind of way.

I wear a pedometer everyday. I’m not overly anal about getting my steps in, but I like to see how I’m doing. One day, it occurred to me – if I added up all of the steps I’ve taken this month, how far could I have walked?

Well, I’m a bit of an obsessive thinker, so that got me thinking a lot of different things, and before I knew it, I had come up with the idea to keep track of my steps and see how far I could walk over the course of my weight loss journey. And that then led to the thought of, “Wouldn’t it be cooler to know I had walked across this many states instead of just, I’ve walked this many miles?”

So I spent some time over the weekend going through Wikipedia and Google, calculating how wide or long each state is. (In the case of Hawaii, I decided to use the width or length of its major islands.) I decided to go with the longest measurement for my count. In other words, for a state like my home state of Kentucky, it’s length is much different than it’s width, so I’m going to walk it’s width. It’ll take longer.

I decided to start with Rhode Island, because it is the smallest state and therefore can be completed the quickest. It’ll be a nice little boost to complete a state right off the bat. I’m not sure what the next state I’m going to trek across will be, but I will post here that I’ve completed Rhode Island and announce the next state I am walking across.

For the record, Rhode Island is 48 miles across. I can walk a mile in about 1900 steps, so for me, I’ll complete Rhode Island in 91,200 steps.

I’d love it if some people wanted to take this journey with me! I’m not sure how do to this except for the honor system, but if you’d like to walk across the US with me, please let me know!

For those interested in the distance across each state, I’ve made a nice little list. Remember, the miles given is the maximum of width or length, not the shortest way across. (And I realize diagonal would be the longest way across in some states, but that involved way more work than I was willing to put into this.)

Rhode Island, 48
Delaware, 96
Connecticut, 110
New Jersey, 150
Vermont, 160
Massachusetts, 183
New Hampshire, 190
Ohio, 220
West Virginia, 240
Maryland, 249
South Carolina, 260
Arkansas, 261
Indiana, 270
Pennsylvania, 280
Georgia, 298
Oklahoma, 298
Hawaii, 299
Missouri, 300
Iowa, 310
Wisconsin, 310
Maine, 320
Alabama, 330
New York, 330
Mississippi, 340
North Dakota, 340
Utah, 350
Oregon, 360
Washington, 360
Wyoming, 360
New Mexico, 370
Kentucky, 379
Louisiana, 379
Colorado, 380
South Dakota, 380
Illinois, 395
Arizona, 400
Minnesota, 400
Kansas, 417
Nebraska, 430
Virginia, 430
Tennessee, 440
Florida, 447
Michigan, 456
Idaho, 479
Nevada, 490
North Carolina, 560
Montana, 630
California, 770
Texas, 790
Alaska, 2261

I have currently walked across zero states. I’ll post an update with the state colored in as soon as I’ve completed one!

No States Walked Across Yet