It's been about three weeks since my last fitness update and despite a four day Vegas binge, I'm pleased with my progress. 

More on Vegas...we decided to skip logging food and to eat whatever we wanted for our trip. We may have gone a little overboard. After over a month of relatively "clean" eating, my body freaked out when I had cheeseburger sliders and fries at Steak and Shake. I had eaten about a 1/4 of my meal, when I felt complete nauseated from the greasy food. This didn't stop me though. The weekend was filled with pizza, tortilla chips, guacamole, chocolate based desserts, chili-cheese dogs and loads of alcoholic beverages. In fact, the only healthy meal we ate was sushi. 

What was the damage?  

I gained about four pounds over the Vegas trip.

We have mostly eaten healthy since the trip, with a few desserts and some wine thrown in. My overall weight loss is at 10.3, which I'm pleased with considering the Vegas binge. In a few weeks, we have another mini vacation coming up, this time to Big Bear for Dan's birthday. I'm hoping to off-set the eating with a lot of planned physical activity. The great thing about Vegas is all of the walking, which I think kept the damage to a minimum. 

We have done really well with fitness. The big change has been getting into a routine of waking up at 5:50 every morning to go on a long walk together. It's not always easy and we seem to sleep in on the weekends. I've never been a morning person. However, we are trying to get our 10,000 steps in early to beat the heat.

10,000 steps has been a very easy goal and most days we far exceed it with minimal effort. 

I've also added in 20 or more minutes a day with a weighted Hula Hoop. I watch television on my Ipad while hooping in the garage. It feels like an easy workout, but I can see results in my abs. My abs are my weakest area and they seem to be getting tighter. Plus my shorts and jeans are falling off. I foresee a shopping trip in my future. The Hula Hoop is fun, but it has left massive bruises on my torso. It was painful the first week, but I've toughened up. 

We have varied our walks on the weekends by going to the beach and to Griffith Park.  

Griffith Park has been especially great because it gives us the tougher workout of walking on an incline. We go slower and can't go as far, but it's a better workout.  

We may not be going to Griffith Park again, because we had a bit of a scare last Friday night. We were in the park at dusk when all of the creatures start to stir. First, we saw a young coyote weaving in front of us and then we saw a fox darting into the bushes. We saw some cute rabbits, four of them. 

It was getting very dark, very fast... 

We heard lots of howling. 

And then, in the middle of the road we saw Dan's biggest fear...an enormous rattlesnake all curled up enjoying the hot asphalt. Admittedly, it didn't make a move or rattle, but it was huge and scary! I'm not even frightened of snakes, but encountering it on the path made me a little freaked out. 

I guess we will be sticking to the beaches for alternatives to our neighborhood walks. 

Last night, we went to Sports Chalet and bought a few things to add to my exercise routine. 

I'm starting with three pound weights. I did an bunch of free weight exercises this morning and am a little sore. I'm sure that I won't be at three pounds for long, but I wanted to build it up slowly. 

I also did 200 jumps ( not without a break) with the Go Fit Pro Cable Rope. It was not easy. How did I do so much jump roping as a kid? My heart was racing. It's a workout. Hopefully the stamina won't take too long to build.

I'm continuing to love the BodyMedia Fit. The band is getting a worn and the velcro needs replacing. However, I wear it all of the time and still find it to be a big motivating tool. I have a huge tan line from wearing it.

I'm still getting used to the website and I'm finding out the pros/cons of the system. For example, there is no section on the BodyMedia online site to make notations. I would have loved to note my progress on the Hula Hoop. They do list various exercises that are not walking or running, but Hula Hooping is not in the database. BodyMedia has partnered with apps from other site to make up for what they lack, but it's confusing. I don't want to use multiple sites, I want it all on one. I need to explore it more though, as I have not taken the time to really utilize all of the functionality of my BodyMedia Fit.