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!