Organized Randomness

Hope all the dad's out there had a fantastic Father's Day! We had an early celebration last weekend (as I believe I mentioned) and then another, smaller celebration yesterday. John is one celebrated Dad! The picture is from the first celebration with everyone here. I'd post a picture of the second go 'round (Mexican food! Margaritas! Lots of laughter!) but my camera battery died before the fun could be memorialized. I got a chance to talk to my dad on the phone. He's not much of a chatter box, so if you call for no reason he totally doesn't understand it. Thanks Hallmark for making up a holiday so I can talk to my dad!! (I have a post started about my dad. Hope you get to see it someday. My dad rocks. Even though he doesn't like to talk on the phone.)

We are practically kid-less. Only two left at home for now. On July 1st we'll be down to one. The quiet one, at that! You would think that would mean I had more time to blog, wouldn't you? Not so much. John is working from home and Donna (hallelujah) is done teaching and home for the summer. Turns out they are fun people out with whom I like to hang.

Independence Weight Loss Challenge: woo hoo! I lost just enough to be back down to my starting weight. Two weeks (half of the one month challenge!) and I'm breaking even. :-S I truly had to force myself to email that I'd gained weight the first week. I was hoping to lose enough to be down - even if it was only two-tenths of a pound! - below my starting weight, but nope. I had to force myself to email that in too. But I realized something positive. The person I used to be would be so embarrassed that she wouldn't have emailed "bad" results. The person I used to be wouldn't continue with the second half of the challenge if she'd messed up the first bit. That horrid streak of perfectionism would have made her wait until she could start "fresh" on some other challenge. I decided that the challenge was a good start but I needed to get some tools in place to get me going - even two weeks late! I had been thinking about joining Weight Watchers. I know lots of people have had success with the online WW. I kept putting it off waiting for things to settle down with the kids, waiting to have the "extra" money - and it just wasn't happening. I decided that I needed to do something free. Food is an issue for me (5 years of anorexia/bulimia and 20 years recovering from it will do that to you) so I haven't counted calories in a looooooonnnnng time. I used to be so punitive with myself that it was an emotionally dangerous thing to do to focus on restrictive numbers. I thought about how changed I am now (e.g. being able to send the "Hey did you say weight "loss" 'cause I think my body heard weight "gain" email).

So guess what I did? I went and signed up for The Daily Plate. For anyone who doesn't know - it's a free (love that word so I'll say it again - free!) calorie counter/tracker/networking online gizmo (<--the highly technical term). It is EASY PEASY to input the foods you ate. You can create your own "meals" of foods that you eat often so it's even easier. You can get calorie "credit" for your workouts by logging them too. I LOVE it. It's exactly the right mix of clear tracking, good information, and fun (like the slider to fill the glass as you track your water or the reward sticker "badges" you earn)! It is sooo working for me. It feels like it suits me for food the way Workout Log suits me for training. I did flounder around looking at lots of online programs like Extra Pounds and PeerTrainer. I think TDP is for me, but I'd welcome any feedback or ideas! I'm looking forward to next Sunday's weigh in!

Slipping in the training info at the very end (so as not to have to put the NTR warning in the title - slick!) I swam Saturday, ran (HILLS) yesterday, did a BRICK today. In the heat. Good., yes. Strong, yes. Fun, no. For fun, you'll have to check out two of my bloggy peeps. If you haven't already seen - both RBR and Stef have amazing posts up about their race weekends. Before this becomes a nominee in the "Epic Length Post" category, I'll end on that note with the promise (or threat) to tell you more of my run stuff tomorrow. Peace my friends!