Women 200lb+, Let's Be Extra Awesome This August!!!

@pliskit I always plan the food the night before (about to go do it now). I can change things, but it's always nice to have a baseline. It works well for me. I like to plan things so it fits my personality.

Haven't checked in for several days. I am doing fine, tracking and managing to exercise. Missed my strength training class on Monday, but I strength trained tonight independently, so that felt better.

SW: 233.6
CW: 226.2
# of days on mfp: 18

I'm trying to catch up here, it's been quite a month! I do want to tag people and give a better update. But I've had quite a bit on my plate the last few weeks.

I’ve had more of a busy/rough month than I planned. Two weeks ago I went to the shore, and just before I started back to my place, my car stalled. I spent the whole 70-mile trip back home choking back vomit from my nerves, and hoping that I would not stall again. I have had a long history of car trouble with this car, chief being that it needed a brand-new transmission prior to 70,000 miles, and could have used it about 5,000 miles before that. My car manufacturer had a class-action lawsuit outstanding for the issue, which I did not join the lawsuit because I had an extended warranty that covered the cost of the repair.

Well, all the shops around here are backed up with the work they have, so it took a week to get my car looked at and repaired by my regular mechanic. I didn’t use my car at all that week, so I didn’t go to the gym or the store. My car barely made to the shop on that Friday, and the problem did not seem to be with the transmission and that wasn’t the code generated with this check engine light. When I picked up my car, I drove it for a bit to make sure it was running OK, and stopped at the store to pick up groceries. All seemed well.

I didn’t have too much to do outside my house last weekend, other than my long run on Saturday. I went out Sunday night to do a small errand, later than I wanted to, but the weather was bad earlier in the day. Got to the store OK, and when I went to leave, the car had major issues – think lurching with my foot firmly on the brake, while in any gear including neutral. I had my car towed to the dealer the next day, and they still haven’t even looked at it.

So two weeks without the gym, my adrenaline scrambling my insides because most of the time I have no idea what I’m going to do. I’m in no position to buy a new vehicle, at least not by my financial standards. The service director called me with the idea he was going to convert my troubles into a sale for his dealership and I told him in no uncertain terms that I did not consider three transmissions in 80,000 miles a great recommendation for one of their new cars. I also told them I expected them to pay for the new transmission, if one was needed, because I expected this car to last for another 3-5 years. He made a noise at that statement, to which I replied that the car I owned prior to this one had over 120,000 miles on it after nearly 13 years of ownership. And only one transmission repair in that time.

So here’s what I’m thinking…how much do I need a car right now? We were just told to anticipate that we will be working from home full-time until early February 2021. I live in a very convenient place – I’ve walked to the Trader Joe’s twice in the last two weeks and gotten a reasonable amount of groceries in each trip. The bigger grocery store is a little less than 2 miles away, and I could at least walk there and plan for a ride back if I bought a lot of groceries. The gym is right near that grocery store, too. I live less than 3 miles from the biggest mall on the East Coast. Anything else I need I can get delivered to my door.

Even better, I’ve got a recreational trail right outside my door that has the places I go most of the time right off the trail. And I’ve got that not-in-so-good-shape coaster bike. This bike is not the greatest, but I do think it might be worth cleaning it up, putting a basket on it to use it for commuting to the gym and doing regular errands. Uber/Lyft makes it easy to get a ride when the bike won’t do. And if I want to go further afield, I can rent a car. Once we need to go back in the office, we’ve been told that it will only be 2-3 days a week, though I can say that’s not how our department works and we may be back full time. Still, I take the train into work and I live 2.5 miles from the train station. A good uphill walk to the station, and a long downhill walk back.

I’m really thinking of it, even if it is only leverage to make a great deal on a car. Because that a great, show-stopping, we'll take a loss because the car needs to be off the lot kind of deal is the only one I can afford to make right now. I think the dealers are used to dealing with people who are looking for a car, not people who would just walk and say, “I think I’m good here, thanks for your time.” Plus it might be that level up of NEAT that finally gets me to my goal!