Surprisingly, my arms are fine given the amount of raking that I did. Since this is the first raking after a long winter, you really have to put some muscle into the rake to get up all of the leaves that have been pushed to the ground. I think those push ups have been working!

When it comes to exercising, I do prefer doing something like yard work versus spending some time on the elliptical. I like working on projects. There’s a bit of pride that I like to feel when I look back at a raked section of lawn and see how much better it looks. I like that satisfaction.

Don’t get me wrong, I do feel a sense of pride when I finish exercising on my elliptical. It’s a little different, though. Perhaps because there isn’t something immediate to show for it. Although, there would be something to show for it if I kept at it every day!

I didn’t do any more yard work today since I couldn’t bend over. Tomorrow, I will work through the pain and work on another section of our yard. I get some fresh air and get some exercise. It’s a good thing.

I didn’t exercise much at all last week. In fact, I was stuck in front of the computer most of the week. I have been eating well, though, so I have a feeling this week’s weight gain is due to some water retention.

Already this week, I’ve had at least one day of some activity. More on that in a little bit.

Ugh.

Things are going to slow down here shortly, and I need to get back into a routine again. For a while there, I was hitting the elliptical in the morning and then after work I was doing some exercises on my exercise ball. I felt great.

Then overtime at work hit and I couldn’t keep it together. Hours sitting at the desk left me with pain in my knees so leg exercises were out of the question. I also didn’t have much energy left.

I think that is the biggest thing holding me back. It’s the excuse of not having enough time and having pain. I used to work through the pain when I was younger. I just give up now, and that has to change.

While it’s good that my weight is not increasing, I’d like to come on here and say that I lost some weight! LOL!

One thing that always seems to derail me are periods of stress. Last week was a very stressful week. My body starts craving sweet things and I give in to those cravings. I went to the store on Wednesday and bought a nice big bag of Reeses. When I grabbed the bag, I knew I shouldn’t even bring something like that into our house, but I did.

I also didn’t exercise much at all. Related to the stress, I was working more than normal. Instead of waking up and hopping on my elliptical, I was heading to work early.

I really need to figure out how to handle these times of stress in order to be successful with my weight loss journey. They are a way of life and I need to figure out how to work through them.

As I exercise and work to increase my strength, I will be replacing that lumpy fat with some nice, lean muscle. I will become fit and healthy, regardless of what the scale says. I am working hard to keep that in mind during my weekly weigh ins.

For this week, I am going to do the same thing as this week. However, I am replacing my desk chair with my exercise ball. More on that later.

Along my internet travels, I came across a site that will compute your weight on other planets and the moon. I bookmarked the calculator for later, but unfortunately I forgot which blog had the initial link that lead me to the calculator (sorry!).

Here’s how must I would weigh using my current weight of 218 lbs:

• Pluto: 14.6
• Moon: 36.1
• Mars: 82.1
• Mercury: 82.4
• Uranus: 193.8
• Venus: 197.7
• Saturn: 199.6
• Neptune: 245.2
• Jupiter: 515.3

I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to be on Pluto or the Moon. I mean, with the weight my bones and muscles have been carrying…they would be rocking it! I could hop all over the place in a single bound.

If you want to calculate your weight, here’s the link: 3 Fat Chicks

“What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity,” Fowler tells WebMD. “What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.”

In fact, when the researchers took a closer look at their data, they found that nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks came from diet sodas.

[Via Webmd.com]

Researchers theorized why the obesity risk increased and their theory makes sense with me. When you drink something sweet like a diet soda, you are not getting any calories from that drink. Your body thinks that it should be getting something from it. That creates cravings for more food and could lead to overindulgence.

In February 2008, another study came out. This time, it links saccharin to weight gain. Like the 2005 study, they concluded that there was something about diet soda that made people eat more but this study narrowed the reason down to artificial sweeteners.

As with many things, there is a warning about applying the findings of a study too broadly:

He [Adam Drewnowski] added: “We now have studies showing that sugar calories are associated with obesity and the absence of sugar is associated with obesity. Pity those people trying to do something about obesity.”

[Via LA Times]

For my soda consumption, I used to drink regular Mountain Dew. Then I switched to Diet Mountain Dew. Then I quit the soda, then started drinking it again, then quit again, and now I’m back drinking Diet Dew again. I’m a roller coaster pop drinker. The caffeine and the sweetness lure me back to it every time.

After reading these studies, I was reminded of a few things:

1. Diet sodas, while calorie free for the most part, add artificial stuff to my body that it probably doesn’t need.
2. I could drink regular soda but I’d be drinking calories that are not nutritious.
3. Water is healthy for you, satisfies thirst and has zero calories.

In my mind, I know the benefits of drinking water. I’ve written about water before on here because it is a great thing to drink while dieting. But my addiction to sweet, caffeinated drinks is strong.

Starting tomorrow, I will work towards weaning myself off of the Diet Mountain Dew again. It will be healthier for me, and I’ll save some money too!

Fast forward to today. It was time to see how many push ups I could do. It didn’t take long for that dread I felt back in middle school to rear its ugly head. I wanted to give it a shot because it turns out that push ups are a good indication of your overall fitness:

The push-up is the ultimate barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank with toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and lowering one’s entire weight is taxing even for the very fit.

[Via the New York Times]

I lack a lot when it comes to the exercising department. I know of exercises, but I don’t know how to do them correctly. If I am going to test and train my body to do push ups, I need to be able to do them the correct way. I found a neat little animated graphic that shows the push up form:

Animated Push Up

With a push up, you want your hands positioned below you directly under your shoulders. Your back, legs and head should form a plank. I like to think of it as being as straight as a board and you are using your arms and chest muscles to push that board up and down.

So simple when you write it down. Not so simple if you are me and are a muscular pile of mush (seriously). How many could I do? When doing a standard push up (which is on your feet), I couldn’t even do one.

Sad. Very sad.

There is a variation of the standard push up where you are on your knees. That results in less body weight being used with the push up. I fared a little better here and was able to complete three push ups.

According to the New York Times article I posted above, a 40 year old woman should be able to do 16 push ups (men should be able to do 27). These numbers are for the standard push up position with being on your feet.

Because I am a bit mushy and lack strength, I need to work my way up to being able to complete push ups. If I keep with doing them (even on my knees) I know I will get frustrated because I can only do a few. I found this little gem that shows how to do a wall push up. I can use these wall push ups to get me started with building some strength in my arms and chest.

The thing I love about wall push ups is that I can do these practically anywhere. Walking in the hallway? Take a few seconds and do a few wall push ups. Out walking in the park? Find a pavillion or gazebo and do a few “wall” push ups. You don’t have to get down on the ground.

Once I get comfortable with wall push ups and can do many of them, I will do the knee push ups and then the full blown, on your feet, push ups. It may take some time, but I want to be able to meet (and exceed) the numbers the New York Times article gave.

With some hard work, I know I can.

I still have to figure out where I am going to put my weight info, so that will be up shortly. In the meantime, I can tell you that I am still at 218.5 pounds. There has been no change from last week. EDIT: I stand corrected. I was at 219.5 last week, so I did lose one pound!

That doesn’t surprise me too much. Even though I’ve been hitting the elliptical almost every day and I’m now doing some other exercises for strength, my weight seems to lag one week behind. Next week I do expect to see a change. We’ll see.