Tuesday morning at the Aerie, February 8, 2011

NWS wins, they forecast 2-4 inches of snow overnight and that's what we got. (Accu-hunch was saying only 1.5 but they underestimated this time.)

I'm starting to run out of places to put the snow along parts of the driveway. Luckily the long stretch of the drive has a steep embankment on the downhill (northwest) side. It would take a glacier to fill that sucker up!

Guess I'll be getting my exercise on the driveway this morning. With the temperatures at less than 20 degrees, I'll still work up a sweat. We're supposed to have nearly a week ofmostly sunny but very cold (20-25 high, single digit lows). Only a slight chance of either snow flurries or icy mix anywhere in the Accu-Hunch forecast for the week. I sincerely hope they've got it right this time.

******

Stepped on the scale this morning and was happy to see it read 224.2 pounds. That's a total of 8 pounds lost in five weeks. That may not sound like much but last week I had gained some 2 pounds, while this week I lost over three.

Rising and Falling

Weight and snow/ice/sleet, aka weather.

Despite shoveling the drive three times last week (that's a two hour workout each time) and trying to be careful, I gained 2.1 pounds.

I find it difficult to lose when Terry gets the urge to cook. Chicken paprikash, chicken with fettucini primavera, homemade pizza, halibut with orzzo, breakfast at the fire hall, and biscuits and gravy. And Jess brought a tray of homemade chocolate fudge. Trust me, they were all good, but not exactly low cal.

Oh well. I'm still down a little under five pounds since January 4th.

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Snow was falling heavily at 7:00 this morning but has temporarily stopped. We've go about three inches on the ground. Radar shows that the bulk of the precipitation is currently sliding to the south of us. It can stay there for all I care, but the forecasters seem to agree that it won't. We'll get more. Lots more. Late this evening and through the night. Hopefully it will be more snow but some are saying ice is on the way in at least two periods--one today and another tomorrow afternoon. At least one forecast says that sh*t will stay down around I-80.

Tuesday Weigh In

Currently 29 degrees outside...up from 6 degrees yesterday. The ice/snow/rain remains--for the most part--to our east with only a teensy bit of snow having fallen overnight. Just a dusting on the deck but, with the high humidity and warmer temperatures, is great packing snow if you wanted to make a snowman or have a snowball fight. There is considerable fog down in the valley and the occasional fog cloud rolls in over the ridge to our south enveloping the Aerie in cotton candy whiteness.

******

Week two of the weight loss program saw my numbers bouncing all over again so I was prepared for Mr. Scale to render bad news when I stepped on it this morning. Instead, I got the second lowest reading in two weeks: 229.1 pounds. That's down from a starting weight of 232.2 for a loss of 3.1 pounds in two weeks. Not much, but at least it is heading in the right direction while I've not been particularly careful about my exercise or food intake. Well, they do say that slow and steady is the best way to win this particular race.

Weigh in Saturday

The proper way to weigh yourself:



You gotta admit the results would be more pleasurable.

Nope. Not gonna get on the scale yet. After the 15th of January...maybe.

Weigh in Saturday (Not!)

It's Saturday and I'm supposed to get on the scale and make a report.

Not today. And probably not for a couple of weeks.

We've got company and the food has been too plentiful and too good to pass.

Suffice to say that, were I to step on the scale today it might very well protest thus, "One at a time, damn it!"

And the weather stinks. If it's not raining, it's icing over. If it's not icing over, it's thawing and muddy as hell.

Christmas Eve it was fist icy, then rainy then windy--40 mph worth of wind--first from the south then the north. Christmas morning the wind continued and the temperature plummeted from the 40s into the 20s and stayed there all day. The morning had snow flurries but the driveway was a sheet of ice (from packed and partially melted snow). The day after (Friday, the 26th) it was cloudy, misty and clammy all day. The only good thing about Friday was the lack of wind. But that was rectified over night. The winds returned this morning and the ceiling has settled at around 2000 feet. I may have mentioned that the Aerie is at 2100 feet. Those who are good at math will see that we are sitting in the midst (mist?) of the cloud cover. At least the temperatures have moved up close to 40 again so the ice in the drive is swiftly breaking up.

I could do with a couple of days where it's "mostly sunny" instead of "mostly cloudy."

Weigh in Sunday

Now that wasn't as bad as I expected. In fact, it was pretty good.

I stepped on the scale this morning and it didn't scream at me. The reading was 219 pounds which is down one from last week. Any decrease is a good decrease.

Weigh in Saturday (NOT)

Got sidetracked with snow shoveling and then going out to bird watch.(Christmas Count)

Maybe tomorrow morning I'll step on the scale. Until then...


more animals

Weigh in Saturday

Here we are again.

Another Saturday and I'm supposed to report that I've lost weight by studiously avoiding all snacks, fast food, calorie laden potatoes and fried foods while exercising religiously. Right!

I'm up another pound from last week. That's to 220, for those keeping track. I'm certainly considering not doing so for a bit.

I've had a sharp pain in my left hip all week. It made walking behind the snow thrower yesterday shear agony. As a result, I've stayed in the cabin almost the entire week. The most exercise I got (aside from the one day walking the thrower) was carrying logs in to the fireplace. I didn't go out to do any hunting and today marks the final day of the PA rifle season. No venison in the freezer this year...yet. There's still a late flintlock season and I may get the energy to go out for that. (Although I haven't fired my flintlock this year at all.)

Daylight hours and minutes are shrinking to their nadir. The temperatures are dropping too. Snow now covers the fields and woods making walking difficult and soggy. And like the bears, all I want to do is but on a layer of fat and hibernate. (Actually, the hibernate part might be good. Bears lose a lot of weight over their stints in the den. Now if I could only sleep until April...nah, Chester would never allow that.)

Well, I did get another set of snowshoes for around the Aerie and Tioga State Forest is near by and there are lots of rails-to-trails places in the county where I'm sure there are not going to be any bicyclists. Maybe I'll get the energy to get out after all. A couple of hours a week should prove beneficial to burning calories.

Weigh in Saturday

Up another pound this week to 219. (Terry claims it's due to evening/football snacks and ice cream and I'll not deny that diagnosis.)

I spent three days out in the cold attempting to tag a deer. I guess all the shivering didn't have an impact on weight loss. You would think the need to burn calories to keep the core temperature up would produce some loss. Or maybe the exposure to the cold has caused the body to lay on some insulation.

Well...next week, perhaps, I'll have more positive (or should that be negative?) news to report.

Weigh in Saturday...again.

Not too bad this morning considering the Thanksgiving feast (and pre-Thanksgiving feast) that we had this past week. I mean, really, we hardly fasted! Turkey, buffalo, venison, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, asparagus.... And desert: pecan pie, pumpkin pie....mmmm!

I was up a mere one (1) pound over last week which means 218. Considering that I started this challenge at 217 back on September 7th, I've neither lost nor gained any appreciable weight since. Going back a bit further, however, to June 1st when I was at 232 pounds, I've lost ... 14 pounds.

Weigh in Saturday...Bah!

Another week and another disappointment. back at the Aerie and the "honest" Weight Watchers' scale. I was muttering when I stepped on the scale and saw that it read 217 again. *sigh*

Weigh in Time

It's Saturday morning so that means it's time to deal with Mr. Digital Scale.

I stepped on the scale this morning and was a bit surprised to see that it recorded a loss of three or four pounds. It's the Bolt Hole scale so the accuracy is questionable. That brings me back down to 213 or 214. (Right now I don't care if it's lying like a politician seeking office, I like what it said...today.)

I'll give credit to the daily slow walks in the woods. I may not cover much ground on those walks, they average around a mile and a quarter, but the careful lifting and placement of every footfall and the slow transfer of my weight from one position to the next while constantly straining my ears and eyes outward, the deliberate choice of my path to avoid obvious as well as hidden obstacles, the climbing over and skirting around dead falls, all bring a toll on the muscles of the legs and back. And let's not forget that I'm lugging a rifle in the crook of my arm and a pack on my back while I'm doing this. It's almost like doing some form of martial art exercise in which you pit one group of muscles against another.

And getting out of the cabin in the morning calls for a very light breakfast and lunch. Typically a bowl of instant oatmeal that can be prepared while I have my cup of coffee with a glass of orange juice in the morning and a sandwich of turkey and cheese on rye with an apple and a couple of bite-sized Snickers bars similar to those given out as Halloween treats. Dinner is usually simple too. Baked potato and a small eye round steak or boneless, skinless chicken breast. When I have the time I might do up some spaghetti with marinara sauce out of a jar. Then, of course, there's a serving of ice cream as an evening snack. It's not Terry's cooking.

Weigh in Saturday (8)

Well, being back in the Bolt Hole means super slow dial-up connections and a questionable scale. This morning's reading was either 217 or 218 which means no loss at all from the beginning of this challenge.

Morning walks in the woods continue but they have had no affect upon the weight.

Weigh in Saturday (7...I think)

Damn! Back up to 217 this morning on the Weight Watchers' scale at the Aerie. I checked when I came home last Sunday and the correction factor I was using for the scale up north seemed relatively good. I must, therefore, blame Terry's cooking. (And a light activity schedule.)

Shoot, this has been like Groundhog Day.

But at least I'm not resorting to hospital stays and having parts removed in order to lose weight. Then again, I don't have three kids hauling in half a ton of Halloween candy as temptation either.

Weigh in Saturday (5?)

I admit it, I've lost track of the number of weeks the weight challenge has been going on. I am, however, happy with the report of the scale this morning. The thing said I weighed 214 at 6 AM, if it can be trusted. This is a digital scale but it's not the Weight Watchers' scale of the Aerie. I believe it came from a CVS store. It reads low (God bless it!) but I've made something of a conversion factor to bring it in line. The estimated difference is added to the actual reading for these reports when I'm here at the Aerie.

The last three readings (including today's) have been done on this scale. They were 219, 217, and 214. If they are accurate, I've dropped 3 pounds since last Saturday and the same from the beginning of the Challenge. And considering I was up to 237-240 back in May....

It's still a long way from where I would like to be by the end of the year (200 or less) but at least the last two weeks have been in the right direction. Of course, the tough part will be going back to Terry's cooking and Thanksgiving Dinner.

And so it starts. Plus a weight report

Opening day of muzzle loader in northern New York. It's 6:30 AM and in a half hour I'll be stepping out the door and heading for the woods. The current temperature is around 30 degrees outside but clear skies means it will get up to the 60s again. My plan is to park my butt on a slight rise to the west of the cabin and sit until sundown. I'll put out some scent bombs and hope there's a curious buck or two out there willing to come investigate or that other hunters from camps near by will stir the bucks from their daytime havens.

I stepped on the scale this morning and was disappointed to see I had gained some 2 pounds over last week to 219 pounds. That's also a gain from the start of this current regime. Not to surprising, I guess considering the lack of any real diet and exercise plan.

Yeah, sitting still all day won't elevate my exercise (except, perhaps as I shiver in the early morning hours), but it will cut back on the availability of snacking in front of the TV. There's no cable here in the Bolt Hole so my choice of football or baseball games would be limited anyway.

Weigh in Saturday (4)

Before I went out this morning to sit in my tree stand for 12 hours waiting for a deer that never showed up, I stepped on the scale and it said the same thing as the last two weeks. Three weeks in a row now my weight has been stuck on 217. Zero loss but also zero gain. I blame the ice cream jones I'm carrying.

Weigh in Saturday (3)

Still kinda blah.

I didn't lose and I didn't gain anything over last week. The scale still read 217 pounds.

I'm going to blame that on lack of exercise. Again. I really need to get off my butt and start a regular activity program to burn off the calories.

Weigh in Saturday...Bah!

Well, the more or less forced inactivity of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday due to the actions of Ike's remnant rains and wind, plus the celebratory birthday dinner out on Wednesday at a new restaurant in Mansfield (Lamb's Creek Food and Spirits is highly recommended!) has caused the yo-yo of my weight to climb the string again.

I was very disappointed to see that the scale reported 217 this morning. Despite the construction project that has me climbing the stairs from garage to attic multiple times each day while carrying half a sheet of 3/4" OSB each time. Despite the warm temperatures under the roof as I crawl around between the trusses. Despite the very, very sore and aching muscles from doing this and moving storage box after storage box from point A to point B (and often on to point C an hour later). Despite all that, the original 3 pounds I lost in Week 1 of this challenge have made their way home.

*sigh*

Weigh in Time

One of the perks of moving into the Bolt Hole is that I automatically lose 7 pounds. Not literally of course, that would require surgery. No, the loss is due to the difference in scales. The one up here is a morale boosting digital picked up in CVS. The scale at the Aerie is a stern taskmaster purchased from Weight Watchers. It matches the doctor’s scale quite accurately and even displays the tenths. Bastard!

Now, like all scales, there is a zeroing mechanism on the Bolt Hole scale and I could adjust it to read the same number as the Aerie scale but that would eliminate the feel good mind games. Just standing on that scale in the morning and seeing the “0” in the middle of the three digits is worth several people asking if I’ve lost weight. And anyone who has tried to lose weight knows how uplifting those kinds of questions can be. I will, therefore, leave it just as it is and do the arithmetic to add the 7 when it comes time to report to Excel and the world what my weight is.

Knowing the there was a difference, I weighed myself at the Aerie Friday morning and again at the Bolt Hole once I arrived to determine the difference so I could continue to gather semi –accurate data. That’s how I know the difference is 7 pounds, plus or minus a pound. This morning’s corrected reading is 214 pounds. That’s a loss of 3 pounds from last Sunday and reflects the work I did in moving soil about the new raised bed at the Aerie as well as a somewhat stricter adherence to my lower caloric intake (diet, if you will).