She speaks!

Sorry for the delay, friends. Crazy time, and it seemed daunting to give a full update.

We had a great time at the B & B, truly a lovely weekend. If any of you are ever in that neighborhood, I'd heartily recommend this place -- charming, great hosts, relaxed, comfortable, fabulous food. The rooms are to die for, seriously. Eating was not as planned. That is to say, not On Plan. When I left I was 216 (didn't get around to updating the weight here, for those of you playing along at home.) When I returned, I was 221. Woopsie daisy! I'm back down to 218 now, and I'm sure I'll be able to get rid of the rest this week. I'm exercising my ass off, and eating so on plan I inspire awe in my own damn self. *insert James Brown grunt here*

Monday: Biked 8.25 miles mostly steady rate, but with a couple of intervals
Tuesday: Walked 3 miles (2-mile Shape and Firm ramping workout with squats and lunges, followed by 1-mile WATP with 3 lb each hand weights, followed by more squats, lunges and walking lunges -- all with heavy dumbbells
Wednesday: Walked one mile on the treadmill, then did weights - arms: bi's and tri's, followed by 5.75 miles on the bike in 20 minutes

Calories are low at around 1300 on average, and I'm going low carb (not no carb) and 12-15% low fat. 45 grams fiber. 1800 grams sodium. 160 oz. water per day. I'm hitting it hard so I can recoup and get back to 216, then I'll give myself some more calories and a little more fat, but I've told myself I'm in bootcamp for 2 weeks, and I am EXTREMELY focused! I am no joke, man. Serious.

Pulmonary function test results put me at 65% of normal breathing capacity. Fabulous. I'd already explained to the asshole doctor the timeframe for my weight loss, as well as the development of my breathing problems. So when I asked him how I was going to increase that percentage, I was more than a little surprised when he responded with, "Lose weight." He said a bunch of crap about "You look great, and you've already lost a lot of weight, but your BMI still puts you in the overweight category, and it's affecting your breathing." Ok, so I'm not yet in the "overweight" category, and won't be till I hit 176, but anyway.... My articulated response was, "68 pounds ago I breathed just fine. This problem developed AFTER I'd lost over 10% of my body weight, and it has worsened since then. He just looked at me like I hadn't said anything, and then mumbled something about still needing to see my chest x-rays. Gotta say, don't really love that guy. He kept trying to suggest that I have sleep apnea because I referred to my energy being low. I don't even snore!! (This, verified by the lovely light sleeper who shares my bed.) But he did say that said lovely light sleeper's smoking is a big problem for me and must stop, and he gave me a prescription to Allegra in lieu of getting rid of the 7 cats. Alrighty then. He also really felt a biopsy on my pet lymph node (I might name it) was in order. However, all of that stuff will be handled by my GP, whom I like. He's a little odd and kinda wacky, but that's A-OK by me. He actually told me to avoid the other asshole -- I made my appointment with the aforementioned asshole's brother, but somehow I ended up with Dr. Pencil. YOU know what I'm talkin' about. *serious, meaningful nod*

Sending you love, my faithful readers; I apologize for my silence these past days. You guys are simply the best.