Writing everything down

I've been back and forth on whether or not I wanted to blog about my current weight adventures, mostly because in the past, it has been my goal to just lose weight and be done with it. Around this time last year, I was mildly successful; I lost like 15 pounds on a strict no carb diet. Soon thereafter, I lost my motivation, and then I started losing my hair. And then the weight came back... and to this day, the shower drain reveals that I'm still short a lot of hair!
Gone are the days where I can eat whatever I want and not worry about the health consequences. Add to that being tired of carrying around extra weight, memories of my father's heart related problems, and my current nutrition class, and I've got the perfect motivation to not just lose weight, but most importantly, to be healthy. You know, stick around here for a while.


A week ago, I began keeping track of everything that I eat. Everything. That, in itself, has been the best teacher of all... having the numbers right in front of me really helps me make better food choices. The sad truth is, almost anything that I don't personally prepare is either high in calories, fat or sodium. I cringe at the thought of the things that I ate before without even consulting the nutrition label, or paying attention to serving sizes!
I've been tracking my meals on livestrong.com (for freeeee!) and I've managed to convince Mark to do the same.
So here's the difference: I am not paying attention to my weight. Maybe in a month or so I'll report my weight loss, but for now, my priority is to get my cholesterol and triglycerides down.
I had blood drawn about 2 weeks ago, and I got my results back today. It's a wake up call, for sure. I'm not even into fried foods and I always avoid things that are blatantly terrible, and yet my was cholesterol was 227, and my triglycerides were 363... both on the high side. I'm posting these things here because it makes me more accountable to take control of these numbers and bring them down.
So in the ultimate disregard of my own privacy for the sake of motivation (ha!), you can view what I'm eating and how my little journey is coming along here: Food Diary

And that's the latest in the life of Michelle!
And now... what to eat?

Tour of California

We woke up this morning to crazy gusts of wind, rain and cold. It's the worst day to take a bike ride, for sure... but the Tour Of California started anyway. We skipped the idea of going downtown and simply walked down the street to cheer the riders on.
(You can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Marky

People kept darting across the street when the cop had his back turned, much to his disdain.

Cold... but still excited!

Don't forget extra tires...

Here they come! aaaagh!

Is that Lance? eh? eh? I think it is.
*edit* That's totally him. Yellow and black helmet.

No mercy on stray toes... they were SO CLOSE!

Extra Bikes

And that was it!

It was all of like, 20 seconds, but still really neat. I felt like a little kid.


I LOVE DAVIS OMG OMG

:)

You can follow the race here

All over the place

My house finally sold.

It's a bizarre feeling; mostly relief, with a touch of nostalgia, and a tiny voice that echoes, "Now what will you call home?" But the lack of responsibility overrides this. How nice it is to finally not have to worry about a mortgage and all the lovely added expenses of being a homeowner. I'd love to own a home again someday, but next time, by choice.
So... I don't know. I don't have a sense of home anymore, at least not the way my peers do. My home is here in Davis now, but I still don't know where everything is, and I miss the mastery that only growing up in a town can bring. Visiting the desert will probably expose my true feelings about all this -- I mean, 500 miles is a very convenient buffer and I'm very much removed from it all.

Except I still miss my father these days. Every time someone says,"He'd be so proud!", it makes me happy for second, then I realize that yeah, he would be... but he's not here. As much as I'd like to use that as my motivation, he's not here, and there is no substitute for that deep bellied laugh and bear hug that I once relied on.
It doesn't bother me on a daily basis; in fact, it is a rare evening that I find myself with tears in my eyes. For the most part, I feel like just another student on campus... until I hear others referring to their parents. And because I am a freshman, I am surrounded by 18 year olds -- so there's a lot of college adjustment and parental involvement issues. Students that are legally independent yet so very very very dependent on their parents, whether they'd like to admit it or not. It's almost reassuring to know that I don't have to answer to anyone, and that my motivations to be in school are solely my own, without any external pressures or expectations. Then again, my father was not one to parent that way anyway, so with him dead or alive, I'd still have the freedom to find my own way in life.

Wait a minute... am I actually glad to be an orphan? God no. I'm just all the more appreciative of the dad I had. Some parents are friggin' crazy. And some of their kids are.. well, oblivious to life outside of school. It's kind of nice to be among them, to feel like a carefree student... with a smirk on my face. Anytime I feel like I've gotten a slow start, I remember that I'm already done with some of the most difficult parts of life.

On a much lighter note... The Tour of California starts tomorrow right here in Davis. Mark wants to go check out the crowd in the AM... then we'll probably come home and camp out on the corner, because the race route passes right by our neighborhood. Should be fun!

If I want to get up before 10 am, I'd better go to bed.