Weigh-In-Wednesday

Good morning, bloggers! I thought I'd better check in for those who actually still care and follow me. I weighed in at 168.6 this morning. That is a 1.9 lb loss from my last weigh-in post. I actually lost 1/2 of it last week (just never posted) and 1/2 of it this week. I am pleased with the loss, obviously. This past week I attended two Christmas parties and exercise was somewhat limited due to business and feeling crummy on Monday. So a loss is great!

I am cautiously optimistic about my chances of seeing a net loss in December, a month that I have wondered about it even being possible to lose in. I am cautiously optimistic because the next 10 days or so will be challenging. We will be celebrating our 14 year anniversary (at a fancy restaurant), my husband's birthday (with his favorite pasta dish for dinner and pie for dessert) and hosting Christmas Eve dinner (honey baked ham, yummy rolls, Christmas jello, etc) all in the next week. Not to mention Christmas day and then New Year's after that. I am happy with my loss so far and don't want to ruin it. Actually, I came into this month just hoping I can stay in the 160's and then hit it hard again in January, after the holiday craziness. I think that is a doable goal.

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season and enjoying family and friends....and not too much chocolate. I hope to catch up on reading some blogs in the next couple of days.

Throwdown Results!

Well, as you can see Leah clearly won our challenge! She had a great loss and I had a gain in the four weeks we tracked. To say I am disappointed would be truthful. I really wanted to do better. I started off so well and then things went downhill from there.

My glass half-full approach is to celebrate that I only gained .1 last week, with Thanksgiving and all. Actually, I hoped to see a loss. I felt like my eating (besides Thanksgiving) was better and my exercise was still on track. But the truth is, I wasn't tracking so my eating may not have been as good as I thought.

I don't have the energy for a long, reflective post right now. Hopefully, I can make up for it the next couple of days. I just wanted to let you all know the results of the challenge and give Leah a big shoutout for doing so well! Congrats, Leah!

Throw-Down-Challenge- Week 3

Well, I'm a little late on this but I need to post Week 3 results of our throwdown challenge. I weighed in at 170.4 for another gain. Leah also had a gain, but it was small and she is still way ahead of me. She has now lost 2.35% and I have gained .83%. So my goal for this week is to have a loss and get back to atleast even.
I am proud of Leah, as she has obviously practiced a lot more discipline in her eating than I have. I am proud of my exercising and figure the gain could be a lot more if I had not been so disciplined and exercised most days.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed mine. My husband had the whole week off and we were able to spend some much needed time together. He has been working 60-70 hour weeks the last few months so it was good to have him around. He will be taking a couple of weeks off in December, too. Woo hoo! This may mean my blogging in December may be sporadic, as it has been of late.

I'm hoping to get back on track with blogging in the New Year. I figure I made it a resolution last year and it worked out pretty well for me, so why not start anew with it in 2011.

Have a healthy week! I'll post the final Throwdown results on Thursday!

Throw-Down-Challenge- Week 2 (It's not good)

Leah created this lovely scorecard for our Throwdown Challenge. As you can see, I have fallen behind. I had a 1.5 gain this last week. Not good!

Leah, however had a 3.5 pound loss. I am so proud of Leah, who is continuing to work hard and make good decisions. She had a busy week and wasn't able to track really well, but still came out ahead in the challenge.

I was also busy and didn't track very well, but obviously didn't do as well with it.
Here is an update on my goals:

1.)I will walk/run a minimum of 3.25 miles, 5 days a week.

Well, it doesn't seem to be happening for me five days a week. I am really good about doing it four days a week and I'm actually okay with that. I think I will change this goal to walk/run 3.5 miles on four days of the week.

2.) I will ride the exercise bike for 50 miles a week (I usually do 10 miles in 40 minutes)

Again, I haven't quite met this goal because I seem to be only exercising 4 days a week. However, I'm not going to change this goal because I need to motivate myself to get on the bike at the end of the day if I missed my morning exercise session. I can just as easily watch TV and ride the bike as I can watch TV and sit on the couch. :)

3.) I will track my calories on sparkpeople and aim for no more than 1450 a day. I have decided that I will not track on Saturdays (hopefully it won't be my downfall).

Fail,fail, fail! No excuses here. I just have to do it!

Well, I sound like a broken record the last couple of months, but it's time to get back on track! Being the competitive person I am, I do not want to creamed in the challenge! In fact, I don't want to lose at all. :) That means I have a lot of work to do. If I do lose, I want to go down fighting.

I hope you all have a healthy, happy weekend!

Novemeber Throw-Down Challenge Update

Good Friday everybody! I hope you are all looking forward to a great weekend.
I should have posted yesterday, but my day got away from me. So here are the results from week one of my challenge with Leah:

Leah's current weight/ weight loss/percentage: 190, -1.5 lbs, .78%
Barb's current weight/weight loss/percentage: 167.5, -1.5 lbs, .89%

Notice these result may be different than what is on Leah's blog. She used the Fit Watch calculator, found here. I had not used that calculator and my initial results were a higher percentage loss. But I want to use the same calculator to measure as Leah so I calculated using the Fit Watch calculator, which seems to calculate lower than my own calculator and a couple of other sites. Hmmmm... not sure why. But it doesn't really matter, as long as we use the same calculator so it is fair.

It looks as if I won this week, by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I have to say I am sooooo proud of Leah. She is on vacation and still kicking the scale's behind! I think this means I better step it up myself, because Leah won't be on vacation for much longer.

I am very happy with my loss this week, though. I have been posting my weight on here every Wednesday for most of this journey. My last Wednesday weigh-in was 170.5, so since then I have lost 3 pounds. Not so shabby! Thursdays will be my official weigh-ins for the time being.

Well, I have to go now. I am giving two talks on Sunday for church and really should finish preparing them so I am not totally nervous because of I don't feel prepared. Who am I kidding? I'll be totally nervous anyway! But if I'm prepared, I may not come across quite so nervous.

Have a great weekend everybody! I'll post an update on my goals on Monday.

Changing our Mind-Set

Good morning, everybody. Today is Wednesday, which usually means a weigh-in for me. But since Leah and I are using Thursdays as our official weigh-ins for our November Throw Down Challenge, my official weigh-in days will be Thursdays for the time being. I'll just let you all in on a secret, had today been an official weigh-in day I would have ROCKED this week. I did lose 1.5 lbs between last Wed. and Thurs. and since Thurs. was my official starting weight my loss may not be as great tomorrow. However, up until this morning I was pretty worried about my weigh in. Let's just say it usually always evens out. I guess that would be an argument against weighing yourself every day. The ups and downs can really get to you.

My thoughts today center around our mind-set. Have you been on a healthier living journey for awhile now, but still consider yourself an over-weight, over-eater and out-0f-shape person? Have you forgot to look at your progress along the way? Have you increased your exercise and still consider yourself the out-of-shape Sophomore in High School who came in last in the mile run in PE? (Oh, wait is that just me? I wasn't even really overweight, but still came in last. I did kick butt in the speed walking event, though).

Last week I laid out my exercising and eating goals for the month on here. One reader, Christina, warned against not taking in enough calories if I was upping my exercise. I read it and thought, "ppppphhh, I definitely take in plenty of calories!". Well, after feeling like I wasn't seeing the results on the scale that I would like for a couple of days. I went back to Christina's comment. I pulled out a book I own called, "Losing It!". I love this book, it is a no non-sense book about living healthily. No gimmicks, just good sound advice about eating more healthily and moving more. In the book, she has a chart to look up how many calories you should be consuming per day. It takes in account age, exercise habits and goals. I found my age (31-50) and my goal (weight loss of 1-2 lbs. per week) and then looked at the exercise options. The first being sedentary, the next moderately active and finally Active. I have been basing my calorie budget on being sedentary-moderately active during this journey, which would mean 1400-1500 calories a day. Yesterday, I decided to read the author's definition of "Active".

Here it is: "physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles (or 30-90 minutes) at 3-4 miles per hour on most days of the week"

I thought, "Ha, that's me! I am physically ACTIVE!" Now, why had I not realized this before? I think we think of people who run 7 miles a day and train for marathons or triathlons to be the really active ones. I am not that active. How could somebody who is still considered overweight on the BMI chart be considered an Active exerciser? That was my mindset. So I have adjusted my calorie goals to be 1700/day. Now, because I have been too much in the "diet mindset" it scares me to death to think I should be upping my calorie intake. It really does. But I will trust it for this month and see what happens. Of course, this means I cannot let up on my exercise routine. Also, I realize that I should make those extra calories good ones. I think I'll add more nuts and peanut butter. Love those!

Have you noticed ways that you need to change your mindset? Take a look at yourself wherever you are at in your journey. You may still have a long way to go to meet all your big goals, but take the time to see how far you have come. Today I celebrate the fact that I walk/run 3.25 miles on most days and in the beginning just getting to 2.25 miles was cause to rejoice. And then after I do that, I ride the exercise bike for another 10 miles . AND on T/TH I add 45 minutes of strength training into the mix. Yes, I am physically ACTIVE! What will you celebrate?

Weekend Update

Well, hello out there. I hope everybody is having a good Monday today. I know most people hate Mondays, in fact today my husband woke up with an upset stomach that he called "the case of the Mondays". Poor guy. Work is not so great lately and a new work week is not something he looks forward to. I am so grateful for how hard he works to support our family, while I stay home and take care of the kiddos and things around here. I digress.
Anyway, I hate to say it(and I sure didn't to my hubby), but I actually really like Mondays. And the first Monday my kids go back to school after their three week break is always wonderful. Today is one of those Mondays. So while it is pouring rain outside, I am sitting inside my warm house enjoying the quiet.
I have already done my 3.25 miles on the treadmill and rode the exercise bike 15 miles. I vacuumed and folded laundry as well. No interruptions, slowing me down. :) And now it is time to check in with you all and be accountable for the weekend and let you know how things are going in this first week of my "Throw down Challenge" with Leah.
The weekend actually wasn't very pretty. I did not exercise at all. Not Friday, not Saturday and never on Sunday. I ate really bad on Saturday. And did not track food at all. I'm glad I don't have to officially weigh-in for the challenge untill Thursday.
Why no exercise? I had committments to do other things in the early morning on Friday and Saturday and then the rest of those days were busy, so exercise was not really an option. The truth is, if I don't exercise first thing it doesn't happen the rest of the day.
Why the terrible eating? Well, one of my poor habits or family traditions that really should go away is how much I associate food, junk food, with big time sporting events. This past Saturday was a HUGE football game for my alma mater and so we just had to celebrate it! My husband said, "What is this the Super Bowl?". Anyway, my mom made her yummy taco dip and I bought the licorice and m & m's, plus my mom brought other stuff. She did bring veggies, but veggies dipped into the taco dip just aren't the same as tortilla chips.
So not only did I eat way too much, my team stunk it up! They got slaughtered. So sad. The game was over in the first quarter. :( Oh well, I still love my Utes!
So this week, I look to rebound from my poor choices. Weekends are always the hardest for me, which is why I never wanted Monday to be my weigh-in day. I feel like I've already started the week off great today. So watch out, Leah!
What about you all? Are weekends your hardest, too?

It's On!

So, today officially begins mine and Leah's November throw-down challenge to see who can lose the most % of weight this month. Leah made the cute badge above. I'm glad she is so talented, because I am not! Our weigh-in days will be Thursdays and we will end 4 weeks from today on December 2nd.

My weight today is: 169

Leah's weight today is: 191.5

I think this is just what we both need to help us start the holiday season off right. Who doesn't love a good competition? I really want Leah to do well this month, but not quite as well as I do. :) Here's how I plan to win the throw-down and start the holiday season off right:

• I will walk/run a minimum of 3.25 miles, 5 days a week.
• I will ride the exercise bike for 50 miles a week (I usually do 10 miles in 40 minutes)
• I will track my calories on sparkpeople and aim for no more than 1450 a day. I tracked for the first time in a very long time yesterday. I have decided that I will not track on Saturdays (hopefully it won't be my downfall).

Leah has some great goals herself, you can check out her blog here.

On the good news/bad news front. The good news is, I don't think my son has anymore chocolate left in his trick-r-treat bag. The bad news is I probably ate most of it (and I'm obviously a thief)! Sigh.

Have a good day everybody!

Weigh-In-Wednesday

Hello everybody! I'm not sure any of you are even following me anymore since I have been such a sporadic blogger lately. I appreciate anyone who is still checking in on me. I promise to do better. This time I mean it.

My kids go back to school (after this latest three week break) on Monday. I should have more time to commit to blogging then.

Now for the numbers. Let me just say that the numbers are not great. This morning the scale read 170.5. That is up 3 pounds from the last time I recorded my weight. That means I GAINED 3.5 pounds in October. My first monthly gain of the year. :(

Well, I don't have much to say about it except that the reason for the gain is that I have totally been eating off plan. I have ate and ate a lot of Halloween candy. The self-discipline has not been there. Had I not been exercising the whole time, I can only imagine what the gain would be.

I was all prepared to post about how over the next two months my goal would be just to maintain where I am at right now and then start anew in January, after the holidays. Well, I think that may have been a bit of a cop out. I also saw on a couple of blogs that some people are doing a November throw-down challenge between themselves and one other blogger. I thought that is just what I would need to stay motivated! So I asked (challenged) the beautiful Leah over at My New Ending to do the throw down challenge with me. She has accepted! Leah is making us a badge now. Stay tuned for all the details.

The truth is, I am not at maintenance weight and should not be happy with maintaining. I need to learn to develop better eating habits over the holidays and now is as good as a time than any. I'm pretty sure I gained at least 5 pounds last year over the holidays, so something has to change.

I would love for you all to share your favorite "holiday eating tips" with me. I sure could use them.

Weigh-In-Wednesday

Here I am actually posting my weigh-in results on weigh-in day. Wow. Maybe I can get back into the blogging groove again after all. This morning the scale read 167.5 for a loss of 3.5 pounds. I must say I am happy about this. I still haven't lost the whole 4 pounds I gained while on vacation, but I know that will come off (and more I hope) for next week's weigh-in. I am still a bitt bummed that I gained the 5 1/2 pounds since my last loss on the scale, but got afford to get down about things I can't change.

I think looking back on where we were or what prompted us to start this journey can be an important process. It helps us to see how far we've come and reminds us of why we don't want to go back. However, sometimes looking back can do us harm. If we look back and think how hard it was to get where we are now and how much further we have to go, we can get discouraged. If we get down on ourselves for ever letting our weight get so high in the first place that is not productive.

The truth is, I wish I never would have been in the situation that I needed to lose 50 pounds. I really wish that once 40 pounds were lost, I hadn't gained 5 1/2 of it back. To put it bluntly, it sucks to have to re-lose weight you worked so hard to lose.

However, I am a positive minded kind of gal. I prefer to acknowledge why I weighed so much in the first place and love that I can put the responsibility on myself. Because, if I (and my poor eating/exercise habits) am the reason I weighed so much, then I am in control of what happens now. My decisions will control my destiny. I can do this! It is true, I am not alone in this journey as I have really great friends (you all) to help me along the way and I have faith in God, as well. But the truth is, it falls on me to make good decisions. I have mostly made great decisions this year and I have the smaller pants and the bigger muscles to show for it. I plan on sticking this goal out and will lose these last pounds!

Have a great day, everybody!

I went MIA again!

Wow, this post is hard to even start. I think when one leaves blogland for three weeks, one gets overwhelmed thinking about all she has to catch up on and what a long post she needs to write. Thus, putting it off even longer. So I will not update you on everything I've done over the past three weeks, of every bite I've had or every run I've ran, I'll just give you the important details.


First up, my weigh-in updates. On 9/29- 166 (+.5), 10/6 - 167 (+1), 10/13- 171 (+4!). I know, not good! Let me tell you what happened the week going into 10/13. This happened:









That's right a vacation to San Diego, for just my hubby and me. This meant eating out and I did not always make the best choices. Worst choice #1 was going to Trader Joe's and buying guormet chocolate covered almonds and then eating them all in one day. Then going back and buying more. I was out of control!
I did run on the beach 3 out of the 4 mornings we were there. And it was beautiful! I could do that every morning, now if only I had a beach and ocean nearby.

I just spent about 20 minutes writing a lovely post, only to find out it wasn't being saved and the connection to blogger was lost. Grrrrr! I don't think I have the energy to re-write it.

Let me just say, I am committed to getting back on track with my eating and exercising. Eating is the real challenge. The last couple of weeks have opened my eyes up to how I ever got to where I was at the start of this journey. Knowledge is everything.

I want to thank Corletta for checking in on me while I was away. Also, I received two emails at just the right time. Thank you to Leah and Mel for those! They actually used inspiring in the same sentence as me. They also referred to my running achievments. These two emails really reminded me of how far I've come and inspired me to not go back.

Have a great day, everybody. It's great to be back!

Happy Monday!

Hello, my friends. I hope everyone is enjoying their Monday, thus far. Mine is going great. That's right, a great Monday. Why so great? You see, after a VERY hectic week last week, in which everyday seemed to be filled with committments I actually have no where I have to be today. I have dedicated this day to cleaning (and a little blogging). I don't think I have ever been so excited to have a day of cleaning. I have vacuumed, mopped my floors, deep cleaned my kitchen and washed and dried 4 loads of laundry (folding will come after blogging).

I think last week was the first week since I started this journey way back in January that my exercise was really off track. When I turned my Garmin on today, Leo showed that the last routine was TEN days ago! I did run on the treadmill last Monday and with the kids for their jog-a-thon at school on Friday, but that was the extent of my running or walking. I think I hopped on the exercise bike a couple of times, but that was it.

Factor the little exercise in with some poor food choices (involving drive- thrus) and the scale is up. Last Wednesday I was celebrating 40 pounds lost, this Wednesday I will be happy with a small gain if that is all. Today the scale was up 2 1/2 pounds. I have a couple of days to get it down before my official weigh-in. I got back on track this morning by meeting my friends for our interval training of 3.5 miles and I did the exercise bike for 40 minutes. Exercise should not be a problem this week. Hallelujah!

On a happy note...I am still getting a ton of compliments! I think it helps that I have bought new church clothes that are my correct size. So people, please stop wearing the too big, baggy clothes when you have shrunk a bit. Go out and get something new, you are totally worth it! Maybe I'll post pics of my new outfits another day.

I hope you are all well and staying on track.

40 Feels Great!

Good morning, my blogging friends. You may notice something unusual about my title since it is Wednesday and I didn't use my normal Weigh-In-Wednesday title. Well, today I am celebrating a new milestone. This morning I weighed in at 165.5, for a one pound loss. And I have now officially lost 40 pounds! Woo hoo! I must say I am quite pleased with myself :) ! Now, to not get too cocky.
I still have 10 pounds to lose this year. And I plan on doing that. I must admit 9 months ago, losing 50 pounds seemed daunting. Even after I had lost 25 pounds, I thought "how am I going to lose the rest?". But now I am confident that it can be done. It has taken diligence and hard work up to this point and that is what it will take the rest of the way. Actually, that is what it will take from here on out, forever. I'm in this thing for the long haul.
Besides, looking better and wearing smaller sizes I feel great. I feel great physically and mentally. It is nice to know I can set my mind to something, come up with a plan, be patient and see it through the end (well, I will see it through the end). It is a great life lesson I will try to apply to aspects of my life.

What lessons have you learned through your own weight loss journey that you are applying to other areas of your life?

Too Close for Comfort

This is a picture my backyard neighbor took on Sunday evening. Pretty scary to see the mountain just up from our neighborhood on fire. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep on Sunday. Although, we were never evacuated we knew there was a possibility that we would be. Over a thousand people were evacuated and some have yet to be cleared to return home. It was a great reality check. Were we prepared? Did we know where our important papers were? Did we have our 72 hr. kits ready and accessible? I never felt that our home was in danger because we live just below the mountain and there are a few neighborhoods between us and where the fire was. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured and far fewer homes were lost than expected. On Sunday night, they estimated they would lose 100+ homes. Once daylight broke on Monday, the count was just 3. My heart aches for the 3 families that lost their homes. I am grateful for the brave firefighters who saved so many others. They are working on containing the fire,which has moved back over the other side of the mountain where it started at. There is a possibility of stronger winds today, which were the huge problem on Sunday, but I think our area has seen the worst of it.

So today is a day to be grateful for a home to live in, for a bed to sleep in, for all the "things" I have, for memories captured on photos, for firefighters, for a community that works together and for the sun shining on us today.

Due to the pollutants in the air, I have chosen not to run outside. I did the treadmill today. Boy, I sure do love running outside!

I hope everybody is having a really grateful, happy day. Remember to count your blessings, because you never know....

Weigh-In-Wednesday

Good morning, everybody! This is my second post in two days, wow! Maybe I will get back to regular blogging afterall. Today the scale read, 166.5 for a loss of 2 pounds. Woo hoo! My total loss is 39 pounds. Double woo hoo! It has all come off slowly over the past 9 months and so it doesn't seem like that much, untill I actually think about how much 39 pounds is. 11 more to go to reach my goal for the year. Let's hope I keep losing and don't follow this good week with a gain as I have been accustomed to over the last couple of months. There's nothing more aggravating than having to lose the same pounds over and over.

Yesterday I alluded to some problems with cookies I have been having lately. I now have three kids and a husband that I pack lunches for a few times a week so I hit Costco for some lunch items. Yes, I bought boxes of chips and cookies. Not good, I know. I do throw in a sandwich and fruit, I promise. Well, for some reason the cookies have been a weakness for me. I have been eating at least a bag (250 cals) a day. If anyone knows any good tricks to help me get back my self-discipline I had going on so well in the beginning of this journey, clue me in please.

Thank goodness, for exercise. Yesterday, after my strength class I did a 5K on my own. My time was 35:00 flat. Really, no more no less! Leo doesn't lie. It wasn't a personal best, but it was close and I was happy with it. I am suppose to run a 5K this weekend. But now it is looking like that may not work out. Bummer. I would really like to finally participate in an official 5K.

Have a happy day!

J at For Real, This Time gave me this award a few weeks ago. Thanks so much for the award! Sorry it has taken me so long to post it. I will now tell you 10 things that make me happy:

1-Being on vacation with my family

2-Knowing my kids are growing into such beautiful, kind human beings

3-Lunch dates with friends

4-Comments on my blog :). Doesn't this make us all happy?

5-Hearing a Lady Antebellum or Zac Brown Band song on the radio.

6-My faith in God.

7-Reading and discussing a good book.

8-Watching my U of U Utes win football games!

9-A good piece of chocolate.

10-Going to bed after a long day.

I am suppose to pass this along to 10 other bloggers. I will just refer you all to my blog list at the right of my blog. These are all blogs that make me happy! If your blog is on there, consider yourself awarded the Happy blogger award!

I hope you all are well. I will post my weigh-in results tomorrow as well as blog about some struggles I have been having. I'll give you hint: It has to do with trying to stay on plan and all the cookies in my pantry!

Have a happy day!

Choices....choices...decisions...decisions

Well, hello everybody. Yes, it is me, your sporadic blogging friend. Didn't I promise to do better once my kids were back in school? Who would have known that life only seems crazier now that I have all this time to myself?! By the time I get it all figured out, my kids will have their first track break! I just don't see life slowing down anytime soon. So, I have been debating about the whole blogging thing. To blog or not to blog? This morning I decided I would post my weigh-in from Wed. and at least try to be diligent in that and take time at least one day a week to catch up on other blogs. I logged on to the computer to do my entry and what did I find, but a comment from sweet Leah checking in to see if I had weighed in. Now, that my friends is the reason for blogging! I love my blogging friends and I am grateful for Leah for caring at all and wanting to keep me accountable. It's a good thing, too. Because although I had logged on to the computer to post, I am easily distracted and it may not have happened. :)

Anyway, my weigh-in for Wednesday was 168.5 for a gain of .5. You know it wasn't a stellar eating week, when you rejoice that the gain wasn't as large as you had anticipated. So , yes, I am actually happy with the minor gain. Over the holiday weekend, we spent time with family boating and such. Food is always involved. It could have been worse, but it also could have been better. I've decided that holidays are no longer allowed to fall on Mondays (or Tuesdays) since the beginning of the week is usually my time to get back on track with exercise and diet from the weekend. That's not to say that I always do horribly on weekends, I just do better on Mondays.

I plan on doing another 5K next weekend. I'm not sure if I'll be able to run the whole thing, but I am hoping for a new PR. I have been running most mornings with my friends. I call it my "speed training" because I can't go as long, due to their speedy pace. The last time I ran on my own, my pace was a bit quicker, so I think my speed training is working. However, at this point I think it is more important for me to work my way up to being able to run 3 miles than to have a quicker pace. What about you all? Do you have distance goals or speed goals? What is more important to work on?

I better not take too much longer or I won't have as much time to read your blogs. I received an award a couple of weeks ago that I never posted. I think I will use that as incentive to post on Monday. So stay tuned.....

Weigh-In-Wednesday

Happy September! I can't believe that it is already here. I am actually happy to welcome September in. I love Fall. I love the cooler weather. I love the leaves changing. And I especially love college football! All things associated with fall.

Of course, it means the end of the year is right around the corner and I still have some weight to lose to reach my 50 lb. goal, but that's okay. I am happy with my progress for the most part. A few weeks ago, I blogged about wanting to reach my goal by the middle of November because, "Who really loses weight over holidays?". Well, I have thought a lot about that statement of mine and think it was probably fairly realistic, but that I may have been underestimating my ability to stick to my basic plan. So if I still have weight to lose and December arrives, I am not going to panic. I will stick to my plan and continue to work towards my goal.

This morning the scale read 168, for a .5 loss. That brings my total weight loss to 37.5 lbs. Not too shabby. I would have liked to have seen a greater loss this week, but am happy for any loss. That means I only lost 1.5 lbs. in August. Hopefully, September will be better.

I hope you are all having a great day. Be happy!

Guess What I'm Wearing?

Good Monday, bloggers! At least I hope you are all having a good Monday. I am.
What am I wearing, you ask? I am wearing a new outfit I bought for the fall since fall is just around the corner. It seems like fall decided to make an early appearance today and it is a bit chillier here than is normal. Anyway, I am wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt today. Guess what size the pants are? Guess! If you guessed a size 12, you are correct! That is right I am wearing my first size 12's in a few years. It feels great. I have been trying on the 12's in my closet and I can get them on, but they are just a bit too tight for me to feel comfortable wearing out. When I went to buy some new clothes, I decided to buy 12's since I knew I would be there soon. This particular pair just happens to fit right now! Hopefully, I can say the same once I wash them the first time.

I had a great weekend. I can now say my birthday (Aug. 16th) is officially over. On Saturday, we celebrated one last time. This is how we celebrated:



My hubby and I took our girls to see "The Lion King" Broadway show. No, not in New York. We went to the travelling show in our capitol city. When I found out it was coming here, I said that is what I wanted to do for my birthday. I have long wanted to go to this particular show and it did not disappoint. The costumes were amazing! I'm grateful for a generous husband, who bought us great seats. We have had the tickets since February, so it was long anticipated. Now, it is kind of a bummer that it is over. It is always nice to have things to look forward to.

Today I worked out on the dreadmill....I mean the treadmill. The weather was lightening and raining this morning so we didn't go on our early morning walk. I put on my workout clothes then anyway, but didn't actually work out until 11:00 a.m. And believe me, my friends, it was a close call. I almost didn't do it.

But I talked myself into getting on the treadmill. I tried to run on the treadmill at the same pace as I do outside, but couldn't sustain it for very long. But I did run for 27 minutes and two miles straight, which is a treadmill distance record for me. I ended up doing a 5K at an okay time. Then I hopped on the exercise bike for 30 minutes. I must say, I felt much better after than I would have had I not done it.

I figure, I better get used to the treadmill again since winter is approaching. Today was a practice run. Hopefully, I still have a good 2-3 months left before I have to make a daily date with Mr. Dred.

I hope you are all well. I promise to catch up on some blogs tonight and tomorrow.

Well, I hope you are all well out there. I promise to read some blogs later tonight and tomorrow.

Weigh-In-Wednesday (a day late)

Well hello, everybody. I just can't seem to get back into the blogging groove. The kiddos have been back at school now for 10 days and I am enjoying my alone time very much. It just seems that I haven't gotten the blogging bug back. It may have something to do with the fact that I am being very conscious about how much time I am spending on the computer during my alone time. I could spend A LOT of time on here, so I am watching it closely. :)



I just wanted to check in and account for yesterday's weigh-in. I weighed in at 168.5 for a loss of 2.5 pounds. Woo hoo! This brings my August net loss to 1 pound. Not very good, but I feel good about having kept off the great losses of July. And there still about another week of August left so I just may have lost a little more by then. :) Yeah, I survived my birthday week/month without too much damage!



I hope to catch up on some blogs today. I hope all of you are well out there!

Maintenance-mode 15 pounds too soon

Hello, everybody. As you can tell by my post title, things could be better around here. Let me just tell you that I seem to be in maintenance mode the past couple of weeks (all of August actually). My exercise is what is keeping me in this game, folks. Hooray for exercise! Did I really just say "hooray for exercise"!? My eating is what is keeping me from losing the last 15 pounds I need to lose to reach my 2010 goal.

The other day I was talking to a friend. She shared with me a story about another friends of hers who had lost a lot of weight by running and such, but then gained it all back because she got tired of running all the time. Do you hear the sirens going off in my head?

I have been thinking about this since she told me it. What if I injured myself running and couldn't run for awhile or what will happen when the snow comes and the weather is crummy and I am banished to treadmill workouts?

So this is me saying that I really need to get back on the "stick to the eating plan" train! For me that means, no more than 1500 calories a day and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. It also means that I will/can go over my calories one day per week. Just not 3 or 4, as has probably been the case this month. I've said this before and not followed through, but the best way for me to stick to my eating plan is by tracking my calories. Sparkpeople here I come, for real this time! I used sparkpeople in the beginning, but have gotten cocky a bit and figure I know it all now and can just kind of keep track of my calories mentally.

On the good news front, I had another 5K PR today. This morning I ran a 5K in 34:24. And I had my longest straight run of 2.6 miles. Hooray for exercise!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Weigh-In-Wednesday

Good morning, bloggers! Thank you for all the birthday wishes. It was a great day, even though I binged on German Chocolate cake with my mom's homemade frosting. Actually, that probably made it a better day! I felt a little guilty and a bit disappointed that I chose to eat at a Mexican restaurant for my birthday dinner out. I just couldn't help myself. It was my birthday after all! We all know that there are no healthy choices at a traditional Mexican restaurant. But it was my birthday and it only comes one day a year so I enjoyed it all for the most part.

Despite all that, my scale results this morning were okay. I weighed in at 171 for a loss of .5. I still need to get back the 1.5 pounds I gained two weeks ago, but am glad to erase last week's gain! And I'm very glad that I can enjoy my birthday one day a year without disastrous scale results. :)

Yesterday, was my first day in 10 years of having the whole day to myself here at home. Dropping my 1st grader off at school was harder than I thought it would be. I thought I would be doing a little dance of joy, but instead I had to hold back tears. 1st grade with my girls was hard for me, but I thought it would be different with him because he really can be challenging sometimes.

So here I am a stay at home mom without any kids to stay home with during the day. What to do? With my kid's year-round school schedule, getting a job is a bit difficult. It would have to be VERY flexible. Yesterday, I was able to go to my strength class in the morning and then after the kids went to school I was able to go on a walk outside and do the exercise bike, too. Then I showered and I still had a lot of the day left! That was weird. But very nice, too! I plan on reading more (without feeling guilty about ignoring my kids), exercising a little more, offering up more church service, refining my housekeeping and cooking skills and having real grown-up lunches with friends. I think I can get used to this new life! And I'm sure just as soon as I do, it will be time for my kids to go on their first three week break from school and we'll have to find a whole new routine.

So what do you all choose to do when you have free time? And I would love to hear input from any of you more seasoned moms about how you adjusted to having all your kids in school all day.

Race Results

Hello, everybody out there! Thank you for all who are still checking in on me even though I have been pretty sporadic with my posting and commenting lately. I promise things are about to get back to normal. My girls started school today and my son starts tomorrow.

As most of you know, I ran a 5K on Saturday. It was a great event! It was put on by and for the Utah National Guard with all proceeds going to help families of National Guard members. The event started with a moment of silence for fallen soldiers and a flag ceremony. I loved this.




The race started with a cannon being fired. It was sooooo loud and startled most of us runners. I wasn't sure what kind of crowd to expect and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too big. I think I heard someone say there were about 500 runners. A far cry from the thousands at the Race for the Cure. I knew I should be able to get a good time with not much gridlock at the beginning of the race. And here is a picture of me running across the finish line, where my family was waiting for me:

Do you see that time!? It says 32:40. Now, that is a FABULOUS time for me! Too bad it is not a 5K time and only a 2.8 miles time. That's right, the route I ran was not 3.1 miles. At the mile 2 marker I noticed that Leo, my Garmin wasn't showing 2 miles and it was off. Hmmmm...I wondered. Then when I was finishing it only said 2.8 miles. Hmmmm...I wondered some more. Later on, I asked a man wearing a Garmin what his had recorded and he told me it was about 2.8. Then he told me that the timing truck had made a wrong turn somewhere and the runners in front had followed it and so went the pack. Bummer! I still feel good about the time. My pace was right on what I have been running my 5K in the neighborhood at just under 11 minutes. I know I ran for about 2.1 miles (according to Leo and not the race markers) before stopping to walk and then ran the last .11 miles and some in between as well. Overall, I am happy.

Yet, I am bummed I wasn't able to get a time for an official 5K race. I think I could have had a new PR. The next 5K I am doing in September is more of a fun/run fundraiser for a local school so I'm not sure how official it will be. I guess it will still be a race with other people and I will have Leo so I can time myself then.

Tomorrow I plan on adding 1-2 miles to my normal run/walk schedule. I hope doing this a couple of times a week will help condition me more and jump start my weight-loss again. The scale has been moving in the wrong direction this month!

And finally, today is my birthday! I am 37 years old. The 5K on Saturday was kind of a birthday present to myself. I feel like the way I have been living the past 8 months has been a gift to me and I will continue to get better and better (thanks Kyle) the older I get. I don't know how much

the number on the scale factors into one's overall fitness level, but if you take my number out of the equation I can honestly say I am the best shape of my life. I am exercising more and eating healthier than I ever have. The scale number may not be as low as at other times in my life, but
everything else is better. Now that is something this birthday girl can celebrate!

Weigh-In-Wednesday

This will be a short post. Just five more days left until the first day of school and we are definitely making the most of the five days.....so busy, busy! I really would have rather skipped this post but know I shouldn't skip on accountability. This morning the scale read 171.5 for a .5 pound gain. That is two pounds gained in two weeks. Obviously the scale is moving in the wrong way! I can only hope to maintain this without any further gains for my next weigh-in, with this week being my birthday week and all. I promise myself and you all that after the kids are back in school and my birthday is over that I WILL get back on track. And don't think that I am already throwing in the towel this week, I will eat sensibly this week as well.

I think I may need to kick/change up my exercise in order to see the results I want. Once the kiddos get back in school, I think I'll try adding a couple of miles to my run/walks a couple of days a week. Most days I do about 3 miles so this will bring me up to 5 miles.

On a more positive note, I reached a new 5K PR. I set out yesterday to do it in less than 36 minutes. My final time was 35:54. I actually ran the first two miles without walking, which is also a first for me. It felt great! I hope I can do at least as well on Saturday for the official 5K race. I am not sure how many people to expect. If there are a lot of people, the start could be slower than usual. But I am hoping adrenaline will kick in and make up for it.

Have a great day everybody!

I'm Still Alive!

Hello to all my fellow bloggers! I have really been MIA lately, haven't I? I just wanted to check in for a quick hello just in case you all are missing me. Mostly because I am missing the blogging and am afraid it may be effecting my eating. Ahhhh! I have not done so well in the eating department as of late. I think I need to post just to remind myself what my goals are.

This week will be a challenge in the eating department. It is my birthday next Monday. My hubby calls it birthday week because my family really likes to celebrate. Although, that has toned down quite a bit. Taking three kids to restaurants was not too fun when they were little. Anyway, tomorrow is the start of celebrating. I am to have lunch with my mom and Granny Auntie. We are going to the Corner Bakery. I will scout out their website beforehand and try to make a good decision.

Later this week we have family in town and will be getting together for dinner. I think we are going to go to a local Mexican restaurant. Eeeks! And then on Sunday I will be celebrating with my parents and my in-laws. I will be enjoying a piece of my mom's German Chocolate cake with homemade coconut-pecan frosting. Yummy! The truth is, I may even enjoy a piece of it for breakfast on my actual birthday the next day! I know, I know. No judging, please.

There you have it. A challenge certainly awaits me. But I am up for the challenge. I plan on making the best possible choices when I am out and sticking to my plan when I am eating at home.

As far as exercise goes I have done well in that department. I am preparing for my 5K on Saturday. So far my best 5K time in the neighborhood is 36.12. I will run one tomorrow. I would love to get under 36 minutes! We shall see.

The kiddos go back to school in one week so life should stabilize a little then. Ha ha! Does it ever calm down? School just brings more stuff, doesn't it?

I really hope to catch up on some blogs tonight when my kids go to bed. I have missed you all and I do think about you! I hope to get back in the blogging groove after next week. Take care!

I'm Still Alive!

Weigh-In-Wedndesday

Hello, everybody! I have been kind of MIA from the blogsphere the last few days. Sorry, for not commenting on your great blogs. I have read a few here and there, but never seem to have much time for reading and commenting. Let alone posting. The kiddos start school in 10 days so things are a bit crazy around here trying to enjoy the last days of summer. I may be pretty inconsistent until they get in school.

Today was a weigh-in day so let's get to all the gory details. This morning I weighed 171 for a gain of 1.5 pounds. :( Well, the 160's were nice for the day they lasted! I knew that the great losses in July were to good to last, but I was really hoping to be able to maintain. Deep breath. It's okay. I am hoping to get back into the 160's at next week's weigh-in and then maintain it.

Last week I really wanted to have a great eating week all week long and it started out better than past weeks, but in the end I still had a couple of not-so-great eating days. And the scale proves that. This week will be better.

My strength training class started up again yesterday. We worked on lower body and boy can I feel it this morning. Taking a few weeks off is never a good idea, apparently. Unfortunately, I was too sore to get out and run this morning. Hopefully, later I will be able to get on the bike or treadmill. This month's goal will be to find balance in my workouts. Or really, to find a way to still do cardio on the days I do strength training. That is something I slacked a bit on before. I'm sure more cardio in July is what helped me have good losses so I don't want to lose that.

My next 5K is just 10 days away. I'm really excited! I am working on a couple of friends to do it with me. My running partner will be out of town so I may be doing it solo. That may not be terrible because then I could go at my own pace. We shall see.

Well, I hope everybody has a great day. I will try to catch up on some blogs today and show my support. My google reader says I am not following any blogs! Does anyone know what may have happened there? If it stays that way, I am glad I recently updated my blog list with all of my faves! I guess I'll be checking out other people's lists now to find new (and old) blogs to follow.

A Running NSV

Good morning, bloggers! I am so excited this morning! Why? Well, let me tell you.

Michelle wasn't feeling well to do our morning walk so I was on my own. Leo and I headed out and I decided to do a 5K and time myself. I told Leo that I wanted to do a 5k and set a goal for 38 minutes. 38 minutes was my goal for my last 5K race, but as it turned out they didn't officially time that race and Leo wasn't in my life then so I never really knew.

So I set out running and just kept running until I couldn't anymore. And Leo was teasing me because he wasn't telling me the time, just how far I had gone and what my pace was. I know, I could figure it out by the pace but I'm not quite that coordinated with my brain when I am exerting myself so much physically. I knew that I had ran 1.25 miles straight a couple of weeks ago so I wanted to at least run that much. Then I also set a goal for a certain place I wanted to be able to run to on my route. Ironically, that place was a local bakery. No, I didn't stop at the bakery! In fact, I couldn't quite run that far and ended up picking up my run again at the bakery. That's right, run past the bakery as fast as you can!

Anyway, my first run was 1.6 miles! That is the most I've ran outside so I was really pleased with myself. I did run a little bit after that and ended up walking the last mile of my 5K. I'm just going to admit right now that even walking that last mile was hard. I really wanted to slow down, but I also really wanted a good time so I kept walking at a fast pace.

When the 5K distance was reached, do you know what Leo told me? He said, "You won!" , I just love that guy! My time was 36.58. Mile 1- 10.57, Mile 2-10.43, Mile 3-13.46., last .11-14.10. Pretty great for me! I feel very happy. I'm hoping to cut more time off of that before my official 5K race in two weeks.

The scale has been moving pretty great for me the last few weeks, but I know that may not always last so NSV's are very important to me. Hooray for this one! I hope you all have a great weekend.

Weigh-In-Wedndesday

Good morning! Today is weigh-in day. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. Well, okay I weigh myself everyday so I kind of knew what to expect :). What I mean to say is that after the great losses the last couple of weeks, I wasn't sure what to expect going into this week. Well, let's just say I am sad to see July ending because July has been very good to me! The scale read 169.5 today for a loss of 1 1/2 lbs. this week. That brings my total to 36 pounds lost! Woo hoo! Oh, and did I mention I am in the 160's ? Double woo hoo! The bottom half of the 170's seemed to fly by while the top half felt eternal. Let's hope the 160's go by in a more steady manner.

I have to admit my eating wasn't that great at the first of this weigh-in week. Last Wed-Fri wasn't pretty. I tried really hard over the weekend and especially hard on Mon & Tues. So my new goal for this week is to have good eating the WHOLE week. I probably ate less the last couple of days than I would have normally eaten just because I wanted a good number today ( In all honesty, I was just hoping to be able to maintain last week's loss so the number today is a big bonus). I don't want to feel like I have to eat less than I really should so I need to do a better overall job with eating throughout the week. Does that make sense?

I want to welcome my new followers. I've noticed that my number of followers has recently jumped up. Big Clyde is a new follower and he joins Kyle as my only two male followers. Clyde asked about my running/walking schedule. He asked if I do it each week and if so how long I've been doing that. Well, Clyde I can't really honestly answer that because before I got my Garmin I really had no way to keep track of it all. I will say that I have been walking with my friend in the mornings (March-October) for about 3 years now (although you never would have guessed it by looking at me). Over the years we have upped our walking a bit. The past year or so we have probably been averaging 12 miles a week. It wasn't until this summer that we have kicked it up a notch and are adding running. In January, I turned to the treadmill for exercise during the winter months and have added running little by little since February.

Once our early morning strength training classes start up again in August we will not have our morning walks on Tues/Thurs. I am going to try to still go after class and the kids are in school though once school starts up again. I think averaging a 5K each week will really be great! Eventually, I may even add a 4 mile walk in there each week.

I am planning on signing up for a 5K that takes place on August 14th. I am really excited about this. I know there will be a timer this time (unlike the Race for the Cure) because they are awarding medals. Not that it matters now that I have Leo to time me.

I also have plans to do a 5K in September. Many of you probably remember that one of my goals this year is to run an entire 5K. I'm thinking it better be in September because my window is closing the closer the winter months get. However, I guess it doesn't have to be an official 5K race. Now that I have Leo, I can keep track and run it on my own around the neighborhood.

I hope you all have a great day!

What Leo has taught me?

Well, it has been awhile since I posted. That is summer for you! The kids and I took another trip to the amusement park last week. It was so fun! I even found a new "happy place". It is on a certain ride with my kids. We all fit into one seat. It is the kind of ride that spins you around, depending on how you lean. If you all lean the same way at just the right time you spin around super fast. I loved being on this ride with my three kids and we were all laughing uncontrollably. I loved watching their smiles. It was a perfect moment. It may sound cheezy, but I'm glad for those moments with my kids. We all need moments we can remember when things aren't so great. Like when the kids are all fighting and you wish summer break would be over already. :) I've had a few of those this past week, too.

We went to the water park inside the amusement park this time and we also went swimming one other time last week. That means I had two opportunities to wear my new swimsuit. I really like how it fits and am glad I spent the extra money on a good well-fitting swimsuit. Of course, I think I'll like how I fit in my swimsuit next year even better, when I'm 20 pounds lighter!

I promised I would post about what I've learned from Leo, thus far. Leo is my Garmin, in case you didn't know.I've been analyzing the data using the software that came with Leo. Here's what I've learned:

*Michelle runs faster than me! No wonder, I always feel so pooped by the end of our runs even though they are shorter than when I run by myself.
*I run faster outside than on the treadmill. No wonder, I can't run quite as long outside than inside.
*I walk/ran about a 5K, 6 days last week. Hooray for me!
*I need to become more consistent with my pace because the graph of my runs are all over the chart.
*Leo is really cool and I'm glad I found him! He really is going to help me become a runner.

Here is my walk/running schedule from last week and my times:

Monday- 3.09 miles (38.49 min) I was alone for this one.
Tuesday- 3.0 miles (38.55 min)
Wednesday- 3.13 miles (44.59) No running.
Thursday- 3.36 miles (42.44) I was alone.
Friday- 3.26 miles (43.16)
Saturday- 3.11 (43.54) No running.

I feel really good about my running. I used to think that the treadmill was great and couldn't understand why people hated it. Well, now that I have been running outside, I really am dreading the winter months when I will have to go back to the treadmill. I love being outside and the challenges of the normal inclines and the relief of the descents.

On Saturday, I wanted to exercise but knew I shouldn't run. I had already ran 4 days, which is a lot for me. My body was telling me to take a rest from running. So I opted for a walk instead. It was sooo hard not to run. I really wanted to! I can't believe I actually WANTED to run. Wow! I really am changing on this journey. It feels good.

Weigh-In-Wednesday

This morning the scale read 171, for a 2.5 lb. loss! That brings my total to 34.5 pounds lost. I know I have blogged the last week about not letting myself get too emotional (positively or negatively) about the day to day scale readings, but I think it is okay on weigh-in days to celebrate a little since those are the scale results that matter. Right? So, let's hear a big Woo Hoo from everyone! That is two great losses in two weeks.

I'm pleased and excited but I'm trying not to get too excited since I know what my pattern of weight loss has been. These two good losses probably mean a month's worth of maintains or minimal losses is ahead of me. Sigh. But I have learned that remaining consistent and staying diligent will lead to results. The great losses every few weeks are the pay off for all my hard work. Just when I thought I was destined to be in the 170's forever, I am granted two good week's of loss and the 160's seem on the horizon.

I've been trying to pinpoint what the difference could be that accounted for the losses. I know that changing up your workout can always make a difference. Here is how mine has changed over the last couple of weeks. I have not been doing any strength training. The gym floor at the church we were holding class at is being redone so we can't have class until August. Also my Monday early morning class has been suspended until fall. I have missed these classes a lot.
I lent my Jillian Shred video to a friend so haven't been able to do that. So basically, I have not done any strength training. That could be the difference. We all know muscle adds weight. Maybe mine is just burning fat right now since I'm not building muscle.

I will definitely go back to the strength training next month since I want to be thinner and toned, not just thinner. Also, I would sure hate all the muscle I've worked hard to build up over the last few months to turn to fat!

I am hoping that once I go back to my classes it will be another good change in my workout routine and I will see good results. For now, I have been enjoying more cardio. Michelle and I walk/jog a 5K every morning and it feels great. I am also trying to do the exercise bike for 40 minutes at least every other day.

Stay tuned for my next post, in which I will share what I've learned from Leo (my Garmin) so far. It is very interesting. I just love Leo!

Have a great day everybody!

Happy 100th Post to Me!

Happy Monday everybody! I know it has been awhile since I posted. Summer has been crazy around here. Our summer break is only 6 weeks long, which is actually quite long for around here. Because we have so many kids and not enough schools around here we are on a year round school schedule. 3/4 of the kids are in school at one time and 1/4 is on break. The rest of the kids start next week and most only had a 3 week summer break. Anyway, we like to cram a lot in during our breaks. Good thing we have 6 weeks off this time!


I must admit my eating has not been very stellar this week. I need to learn to moderate myself better when life happens. What happened you say? Well, the amusement park happened, we had a pic-nic with friends and my hubby's company party happened. I will try to do better the rest of the summer. But I do know it could have been worse.


And because I am still weighing myself everyday (nope, I couldn't stay away from the scale) I know the scale could be worse (and it could be better). I've decided weighing myself everyday is the best way to keep myself in check and I feel fairly confident that I can manage how I react to the number on the scale. I do hope to get to the point one day that I don't feel it necessarily to weigh myself everyday to stay on track.

Another thing that I can use for motivation is the fact that I went swimsuit shopping on Saturday. Ugggh! Even 30 lbs. later, I still hate swimsuit shopping. I definitely know I really want to lose the last 20 pounds now , if I wasn't sure before. I know that even after I reach my goal swimsuit shopping won't be fun (I've had 3 kids after all) but it will be better. I did find a cute, flattering swimsuit though. I did spend a lot more than I ever have before, but it will be worth it when I take the kids swimming later this week.

As my title states, this is my 100th post! Hooray for me! For me, this blog is a symbol of my dedication to healthy living. And 100 posts just proves to me that I am doing well and keeping my New Year's Resolution, even 7 months after making it.

I have updated my blog a little in honor of the occasion. I also saved an award that was given to me by I Said So and Whitney for today! So thank you to J and Whitney for thinking of me! Here is the award:

Now I am suppose to tell you 7 things about myself. I feel like I have done this a few times before so I'll try to think of new things. Hmmmmm....here it goes.

1.) I'm pretty good at picking things up with my toes.

2.) I don't like to leave the house without lipstick on. It makes me feel pretty, oh so pretty!

3.) I once won a trip to the Academy of Country Music Awards from a radio station. It was 2 days straight of country music. I loved it! I had the opportunity to get Taylor Swift's autograph, but didn't see the point of standing in line to get some unknown 15-year-olds autograph. :)

4.) I go through reading spurts and read a ton and then find myself not picking up a book for a couple of months. I'm trying to get back to reading (and off the internet right now) so if you have any suggestions, let me know.

5.) I love to read celebrity gossip. I browse the magazines at the check stand, surf the internet and watch Entertainment Tonight when I can. It is my guilty pleasure.

6.) I dreamed of being a sport's announcer when I was a girl. Now I just play one from my couch or the sidelines of my kid's games.

7.) I recently found my old Steve Miller Band, Simon & Garfunkel, Eagles, Indigo Girls CD's and was so excited to put them on my Ipod. They bring back so many memories from my freshman year in college. And no, I'm not that old. The bands (with the exception of Indigo Girls) were classic bands when I first started listening to them! Isn't it crazy how music can make us recall so many memories just like that.

Now I'm suppose to pass this award on to some newly discovered bloggers. I feel like I just did that a few weeks ago with another award so I'm not going to do that part today. I will direct you to my newly updated blog list on my side bar. I just updated it and it has all my new (and old) favorites on it. If anyone wants to accept this award on their own blog, I award it to you. I always love reading new things about my favorite bloggers.

Have a great day!

Weigh-In-Wednesday

Good morning. This will be a quick post as today is another busy summer day. I just wanted to report my weigh-in results. This morning the scale read 173.5, for a loss of 2 pounds! That is a total of 32 pounds! 32 pounds sounds so much better than 30, doesn't it? After two weeks of maintains I am happy to see a loss. And I am happy to be on the downside of the 170's.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to not step on the scale for a whole week. I have until tomorrow morning to decide. I appreciate everyone's input on my post yesterday. I think the main thing I took away from all the comments is that it really doesn't matter if you weigh once (or twice) a day, once a week or once a month. What matters is your reaction to what the scale says. I think the important thing for me is not to let the scale dictate my attitude and mood so much, like it did last weekend. Maybe taking a week off will help me sever the emotional ties I have to the scale. Maybe. We shall see.

I hope everybody has a great day!

I'm Taking a Poll

Good morning! I hope you all are having a fabulous day so far. Today I'm conducting a short, unscientific poll.

This morning while my friend and I were on our jog/walk with Leo we had a discussion about the scale and how often one should weigh themselves. My friend goes to Weight Watchers every Monday and told me how last night her group leader emphasized only weighing once a week. I know many of you adhere to this routine and do it because the scale can fluctuate so much from day to day. This definitely happened to me last weekend after my PF Chang's dinner. As many of you mentioned yesterday, I'm sure it was due to the sodium. I just wish I would have thought about that on Sunday instead of eating a bunch of brownies because I was discouraged.

Up until now the scale has never fluctuated too much from day to day. I have not been one to get too frustrated if it was up a little one day and just used it as motivation to do better the next day. Well, that has changed over the last couple of weeks and I am beginning to wonder if I should stop weighing every day. Okay, I'll admit it. I actually weigh myself MORE than once a day. It has become a bit of an obsession.

It makes me a bit nervous not to do it. In the past, I never weighed myself. I can't even tell you how much I weighed in high school. I never considered myself overweight, but I certainly wasn't skinny either. In fact, when I came back from summer break my senior year I had people commenting on how good I looked and asking people (not to my face) if I had lost some weight. I wasn't sure there was a difference. The only thing that had changed was that I had gotten a job at a pizza place and was eating pizza everyday. Lol! I had also cut my long hair off so maybe that was really the difference in what people were seeing.

Anyway, I never weighed myself very regularly and we all know where that got me. It wasn't until I started noticing differences in my clothes and had to start buying bigger sizes that I knew I was gaining weight. Then I stepped on the scale more often and when the 190's turned to the 200's I decided I better do something about it.

So you can see why weighing myself everyday seems to be so important to me. However, I am leaning towards taking a week off from the scale. I will weigh-in tomorrow and then not look at the scale until the next Wednesday. Even writing that plan makes me laugh and have doubts that I can actually do it!

So as you can see, I am not totally committed to the idea. I have until Thursday morning to decide. I am taking a poll of all my fellow bloggers. How often do you weigh? Have you tried more than one method and why do you like your current way of doing it? I would love to hear all your thoughts on the matter. Thanks!

By the way, I'm still loving Leo. I love how he beeps at Michelle and me while we are running to let us know it is almost time to stop. Why do I love those beeps so much!? We are currently working on interval training. Michelle hasn't been running like I have so our intervals are a little spaced out now. We run 1/4 mile, walk 1/2 mile for three miles. Today we shaved a couple of seconds off our previous time.

If only weekends didn't count against you..

Happy Monday, everybody! I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was pretty low-key. I sure wish I could pretend like it didn't happen (calorie-wise) though.

It started off pretty well. The scale was down and I was happy. I went for a walk on Saturday morning with my new best friend, Leo. I'll tell you more about him in a minute. I ate a light and healthy breakfast and lunch.

Then, I made banana bread after lunch. I just hate to waste mushy bananas and my daughter had been asking me to make it for a couple of days. I ate a couple of small pieces and thought that was okay.

My hubby and I went out to dinner on Saturday night. We went to PF Chang's. I ordered brown rice and didn't eat it all. We got a dinner for two and I made sure one of our entrees was the lower calorie beef with broccoli. I actually felt okay with how I'd eaten on Saturday.

So when the scale was up 2 pounds on Sunday I was shocked and frustrated! I have always been a proponent of weighing myself every day because it keeps me in check. It didn't serve that purpose yesterday. Instead of wanting to eat great all day because I was up I had the mindset of I might as well eat what I want because it doesn't matter I'll still gain. Not good.

I was assigned to bring dessert to my mom's house for dinner. My Grandpa was going to be there and my mom had mentioned how much my grandpa likes chocolate, just like the rest of us. I planned on making chocolate peanut butter chip brownies. They are so yummy and way fattening! I had told myself I would only have one. Well, I lied to myself. I tasted the batter, I had to taste them when they came out of the oven and then had a few more "tastes".....errrr brownines. Did I mention they have cream cheese in them, too.

So anyway, if I maintain this week or am up on the scale come Wednesday I only have myself and my chocolate addiction to blame. I have done better today and will do good tomorrow so we shall see.

Can't we just pretend like weekends don't count?

My last post was all about my new Garmin and someone asked what kind it was. That would have been good information to give you all. Sorry. It is a Garmin Forerunner 305. Check it out here.

I asked everyone on advice for a fun name for my new running partner. I really like all the different suggestions. I really liked Cammy's suggestion. She asked if I was a Leo since I had mentioned my birthday was next month. She suggested I choose Leo since it is my astrological sign.

And that is just what I have done. Leo is now the name of my Garmin. I was doing some "research" into astrology. Some positive traits that a Leo supposedly has are: Dignity, will-power, generosity, loyalty, confidence, ambitious. I would say that I lack a bit in the will-power (re-read the paragraphs above if you wonder what I'm talking about). I can also use a bit more ambition and confidence when it comes to running so I will depend on my new running partner, Leo to help me to become the best Leo I can be. :)

As far as the negative traits of Leos, they are: Conceited, arrogant, laziness. Hmmmm.....I don't think these apply to me at all. I am perfect. :)

So there you have some Monday thoughts from me. I hope you all have had a great start to the week and that is a healthy one. That is what I'm wishing for!

I am so spoiled!

Good morning, everybody! First of all, I want to thank everyone who comments on my posts. I really love reading your comments and appreciate my faithful commentors. Yesterday two comments really made me smile.

The first was from the blogger, I Said So..., she wrote,

"Sounds like so much fun...who cares about weight loss when you're doing things like that with those you love!" I really loved this quote because it is definitely the mindset I want to have. I don't want to have to worry about my weight so much. I want to enjoy life without my weight being an issue. Once I get this whole healthy lifestyle mastered, I will be able to do just that!


The second comment was from http://www.myjourneytofit.com/... and she wrote:

"Sounds like you will be excellent at maintenance, once you truly want to be there, lol. I had several, many, ok - LOTS of weigh-ins where I "practiced maintenance." ;) "

I really respect Shelley. She has lost a lot of weight and has maintained her new weight and is working towards being even more fit each day. To know that she "practiced maintenance" as well makes me feel a lot better.

So thanks to all my commenters you guys spoil me with encouragement and support.

My hubby also spoils me. A few weeks ago I mentioned to him I would really like a Garmin watch and explained to him what it is. I even emailed him a link to the one I wanted. Well, a few days went by and we didn't talk much about it and then we got our new exercise bike. I figured the prudent thing to do would be to ask for money from my parents for my birthday (in August) and put it towards a Garmin.

A week or so ago, my husband said, "Guess what I did?". Now I know when he says that in the mornings before work and he has been on the computer that he has ordered something online. Sure enough, he had ordered my Garmin! First, I chastised him a little. Telling him, we don't need to buy everything we want right when we want it and how I was going to use birthday money to buy it. He told me I could wait until my birthday, if I wanted. I, of course, declined and told him "thank you, thank you!". It would probably be a good idea to still ask my parents for money for my birthday and just put it in the bank to cover the credit card bill for the Garmin....but.....I won't! :) I like presents too much.

Anyway, here is a picture of my new Garmin :



I love it! I am still learning how to use it and all it's features. I haven't even explored the software that goes with it. I am loving tracking my distance and calories burned when I am walking/running outside. And my friend and I are going to utilize the interval workouts on our morning walks.

I am hoping that this new gadget will help me become a true runner and not just a treadmill runner. I think I need that timer and distance alert to help me keep going and push myself. And now I have it!

Some people (like Shelley and Kyle) name theirs. I am not that creative. So....if you have any good ideas, send them my way. I think naming inanimate objects is fun!

Well, that is it for today! Today the kids and I are off to visit a Children's Museum. Apparently, the kids think I am suppose to entertain them all day, every day of summer break! They also think money grows on trees around here. Good thing we have a free coupon for today's activity.

Weigh-In-Wednesday and the Weekend in Pictures

Good morning, everybody! I hope you all have been well for the past few days. I've been too busy to post very often. Anyway on to the boring part of my post, my weigh-in. This morning the scale read 175.5, for a maintain once again. That's two weeks in a row. I really need to get out of maintain mode and back into losing mode. I have been having a couple of days a week of poor eating and that is not going to cut it. This past weekend did me in this week. Without all the sordid details let me just say that I enjoyed some lime flavored potatoe chips, licorice, swedish fish and cotton candy. I guess I can say I'm happy I didn't gain.

So what did you all do this weekend? For those of us in the USA, it was a long weekend for celebrating. Here is a brief synopsis through pics of what I did:

I started the weekend off with a girl's night out and this:


Need I say more...didn't think so!

Saturday was spent doing yard work and then the family and I went to see this:

We loved this movie! Can I just say....Jaden Smith is such a cutie and he is going to be a successful actor just like his dad. It did make me feel a little old though because I remember the first Karate Kid very well. I even had a scrapbook devoted to Ralph Macchio!

After church on Sunday we headed up to my in-laws cabin for:

a little hiking......

a little ATV'ing.... and lots of rest!



We spent Monday evening at a rodeo and fireworks show in a small town near the cabin.

All in all it was a great weekend. Yesterday was spent doing laundry and relaxing at home before my husband had to go to work today. I hope you all had a great weekend and are having a great week so far!

I had Oatmeal for Breakfast......

I had oatmeal for breakfast.........in the form of no-bake cookies. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. You know, the cookies made from oatmeal and chocolate and cooked over the stove. No, I did not make them for breakfast! I made them yesterday because I was having a craving and I gave into that craving. I ate some more for breakfast.

Well, there is the confession and the bad of this post. Now on to the good part. Despite eating cookies for breakfast and really not wanting to I got on the treadmill this morning and was able to complete Week 7, Day 2 of the C25K training. For those of you who may not know what C25K is click here. Week 7 is the same each day. It is running for 25 minutes at a time. I am nowhere near the distance goal. But I have been aiming for the time throughout the training so I will be happy with it. I ran for 1.8 miles. I have decided that once I complete the training by time, I will go back a few weeks and try for the distance. That will be a new challenge and provide me with new goals.

There was a great column in today's newspaper by a sportswriter, who also writes a column called "Losing It". His name is Jody Genessy. He talks about his triumphs and struggles on his own weight loss journey. Today's column focused on tracking what he eats as well as accountability. Here is an excerpt from the column:

"If I end up being obese, it's because I choose to be obese and do the things that make me that way. It's nobody else's fault. And if I end up being thinner, it's because I choose to be thinner and do the things that make me that way.
In a way, I'm pretty dang lucky. It's all up to me. I get to choose.
It's important for me to realize that I'm in control. That's scary because I know the damage that can happen when I let go of the wheel and allow my natural instincts to drive for me. (The fact my inflated body looks like a couple of air bags exploded inside my clothes is proof of that.)"

You can read the entire column here.

Reading the article got me thinking. It really is up to us. We have all the power in this journey. Of course, there are many of us that believe God has power too and I truly believe that. But that is a post for another day. I think once we allow ourselves to believe that we have the power to change ourselves and determine our own journey we will be successful.

Of course, this takes courage. It is a lot easier to blame other people or circumstances for our problems, be it health issues or other problems. It is easier to keep going a long the way we have been and chalk it up to how we were raised or how we've been treated. But once we do it we feel so empowered.

I determine where my journey will take me. Sometimes things have happened to us that are HARD and UNFAIR. Sometimes we turn to an unhealthy lifestyle to cope with these issues. I feel like I have had a pretty good life and know others have a lot more challenging personal trials than I have or will ever experience. However, there are some experiences or circumstances of my life that have left me feeling sad and wishing things could be different. I have no control over these circumstances and cannot change them. But I do have control over how I react to them and cope with it all. I feel like I learned this a long time ago and have been a pretty happy person because of it.

This applies to our weight loss journey. We are in control. It is up to us. We can choose how we react to stress in our life. Are we going to eat a donut or go run a mile? Are we going to go on a binge or have a good cry (this always helps me) and let it out at once so we can move on? We choose to get outside help if we need it. We choose what foods we make (ugggh...shouldn't have made those cookies). We choose what we order at a restaurant. We choose to exercise or not to. We choose whether or not to let God into our journey. We choose to live healthy or not. We have the power. We can do this!