I did it!

I don't have much time today, but just wanted to blog that I completed my C25K, week 4 training today! I had to slow down a bit during the last couple of runs, but I did it. Thanks to everyone who offered me advice on this post about not having much energy on Wednesday. I decided to eat some protein with my fruit this morning about an hour before I hopped on the treadmill. I ate 1/2 c. of cottage cheese and 1/2 c. of blueberries. I also drank plenty of water. Week 5 looks a bit daunting and I did struggle with week 4, but I will be moving on. Day one of Week 5 doesn't look too bad actually. They are all 5 minute runs, but with a 3 minute walk in between. It's days 2 and three I worry about. We shall see.

Today I also registered for this:


The Race for the Cure!
Saturday, May 8th


And tomorrow I am going to a running store to be fitted for some proper running shoes. I think registering for the race and purchasing new running shoes are signs to myself that I am committed to carry through with my goals. What are you doing to convince yourself :) that you are committed to your goals?

Have a great weekend everybody!

I went shopping and I think I was hungry because.....

I really wanted some of these:


But, instead I had one of these:

I wish I could write a post about how I really wanted the cadbury mini eggs and even had them in my shopping cart, but ended up putting them back and went for the Fiber One 90 calorie bars instead. But I can't. The truth is, the fiber one bars were already in my shopping cart. I still wanted the cadbury eggs. I have not had any this year. It was probably the first time I have walked down the "seasonal" aisle since Valentine's. But thanks to wal-mart's poor selection, I could not find any mini-bags of the eggs, in fact I'm not sure I even saw the big bags. I avoided that disaster, didn't I? Even after that, I decided getting a bag of peanut m&m's at the checkout would be just as good as the cadbury eggs. Well, someone must be watching over me because I chose a checkout line that just happened to have no individual sized candy. So when I got out to my car I settled for a fiber one bar. They aren't too shabby! Not quite as good as the aforementioned candy, but pretty darn good.

On my way out to the car I saw a van advertising a weight loss program. In big letters on the back window it read, "Cheat and still lose pounds". What the !?!?! Cheat on what, cheat on who? I know it meant cheat on your diet. Well, if that is part of the diet plan they are advertising doesn't that mean it's not cheating?

I have thought about this concept of cheating. Rather, I like to think of it as lying. I am not on some restricted diet. I count calories, nothing is off limits. So I don't ever really consider myself cheating. If I had eaten the cadbury mini eggs, I would have had to adjust the rest of the day's calorie intake. Of course, I am not always perfect. I have gone over on my calories. That is when the guilt sets in.

However, I have thought about the times I have lied. Lied to myself. I said I would stick to my goals and sometimes I don't. I told myself I would eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day and sometimes I don't. Sometimes, while on the treadmill I make promises to myself like how much further I will run before slowing to a walk. Sometimes (but not very often) I walk sooner than I said I would. I told myself I would only have one helping of pasta last night and I had 1 1/2. And so on.

Would we lie to our spouses, our children, our friends, etc? I sure hope not! So why do we lie to ourselves? We deserve to be honest with ourselves. This may start with re-evaluating goals. Are our goals realistic expectations of ourselves? Once we have realistic goals set , we need to be true to ourselves. We are worth the same respect we give others.

Of course, we are not perfect. Sometimes we mess up. It is in those times, we have to offer ourselves the same kindness and mercy we offer others. Hopefully, we forgive others when they mess up. Hopefully, we can forgive ourselves, too. So I will forgive myself for considering having a bag of mini-cadbury eggs today because I told myself that I would wait until April to have one.

Have a great day and remember to be true to yourselves!

Weigh-In-Wednesday and my excuses

Today is weigh-in-Wednesday and the scale is smiling on me. I weighed in at 187 for a 2 lb. loss last week and a grand total of 18.5 pounds lost! I don't want to get my hopes up, but I am hoping to reach the 20 pound mark next week. Over the past couple of weeks, I have found myself thinking that my total weight loss isn't really that much. It may have something to do with the fact that I still have so far to go or maybe it is the fact that I have not been looking at the big number for what it is and have just been seeing my 1-2 lb. loss each week. But today, I am celebrating 18.5 pounds. That sounds like a lot to me! I don't think I have been giving myself enough credit. :) I hope you all will celebrate every pound you lose, too!

Now on to the not-so-good news. I did week 4 of C25K training again today and failed miserably. I didn't even attempt the final 5 minute run! The final 3 minute one seemed extra hard today. Here are possible reasons (my excuses):

- I woke up late (once again) and could not get on the treadmill until after the kids were off to school. I had to talk myself into even getting on the treadmill. I think I set myself up to fail. My hubby has been sick and I'm not sure if he isn't setting the alarm or is just turning it off too fast before I hear it. I need to do better and listen for it.
-I only ate an orange before my workout. I usually only eat a piece of fruit before, but I wonder if since I had been up longer I should have eaten breakfast before.
-Once again, I let my mind talk me out of it.

This is all disappointing seeing how on Monday I was able to complete week 4 at my normal speed (walk-3.8, run 4.8). Today, I did walk at a higher than usual speed (4.1) for 8.5 minutes in place of my 5 minute run. And after that I lowered the speed a bit at a time and continued walking until the workout was 45 minutes long. I will try week 4 again on Friday.

Maybe if I had one of the shirts Trisha @ Endurance isn't only physical is giving away it would be easier. :) Check out her giveaway here. Some of my favorite T-shirt slogans are: "Who moved the finish line?", "Slow is the new fast" , "I'm only doing this so I can post a picture on facebook" and "This seemed like a good idea 3 months ago". LOL!

Things-That I Love-Tuesday and the truth

Happy Tuesday, everybody! Well, it is time to come out with the truth from my list of 7 things yesterday. Here it goes:



1- My husband and I are such huge college football fans that we planned our wedding around our favorite team's schedules so we would not miss a game.
** My husband and I ARE huge college football fans but we did not plan our wedding around the season. We planned it around our school schedules. We DO plan our dates around football games during the fall, though.

2- I once won a trip to the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. While I was there, I was able to meet Kenny Chesney at an after show party. I love that man!
** I did win a trip to the ACM's and I did see Kenny perform at an after-show party, but I did not meet him. :( Sigh.

3-I spent 1 1/2 years in Argentina on a mission for my church.
**True! I spent 18 months in Argentina serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Next to being a mom, it was the hardest, most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. To find out more about the church, click here. And when you encounter a missionary from any church, please be nice. :)

4-I have never been to the ocean. :(
**I love the ocean! Sadly, I don't go enough....but I have been there.

5-I am the youngest of 5 girls in my family. Talk about drama!
**I'm actually an only child. Not too much drama there.

6-I have been playing the flute since I was 5 years old.
**I do not play any kind of instrument and don't seem to have any kind of musical talent whatsoever.

7-I spent my junior year of high school in Chile as a foreign exchange student.
**My cousin did this and I think it was way cool. Not sure I could have done it though. I'm one of those crazy people that actually enjoyed high school. I don't think I would have wanted to miss junior year at my high school.


Now on to my thing that I love this Tuesday. It actually has nothing to do with exercise, diet or anything usually related to this blog. It is just something I love, so indulge me. It is:

Have you seen this show? Do you love it, too? I LOVE this show! It is quirky, hilarious and makes me smile. I'm sure you have all heard about it. I can't get my husband to watch it. There is just something so "High School Musical" about a show that focuses on a high school glee club. But it is so much more than "HSM"! It is definitely meant for more mature audiences, I would not let my daughters watch it, and it has a lot of great adult characters and storylines, too. I actually downloaded quite a few songs from the soundtrack onto my ipod. I am writing about this today because after a couple of months of a break it is back on TV tonight. Okay, they are not going to show any new episodes until April 13th, but I will be able to get my "Glee" fix for now on after American Idol on Tuesdays. If you have not watched it, give it try.

Today I slept in and decided to forego the treadmill because I realized I had three lunches to make and three kids to make sure were bathed and ready for school. Next time I will plan ahead and prep the night before. So I did my Biggest Loser Wii game training. It was only a light 15 minute workout today. I thought it was my day to volunteer in my daughter's class today so I was planning on that being my exercise today. But then I looked at my calendar and realized it is next week I am scheduled to volunteer. So after the kids were off to school I did my "30 day shred" video, level 2. What a workout!

I forgot to mention yesterday that I was able to do day 3, week 4 of my C25K training at my normal running speed. Hooray! I will repeat week 4's workout tomorrow and Friday of this week before I move on next week.

I hope you all have a happy day!

Shhh......Do you hear that?

Do you hear it? I don't hear anything either! Isn't it great? The kids are all back in school this morning after a three week break. I love my kids and we had a great time together on the break, but the last couple of days were hard! They were errand days. I don't know what our kids think we do while they're at school. They must think I sit around all day, or am always out doing something fun. And somehow, the groceries just end up in our fridge. They really hate running errands with me. Plus, I decided since they were off school it would be a good time to take them to get their Easter outfits. So, yes I took all three of the kids to the mall with me! Duh! My 8-year-old daughter loves to go shopping and try on clothes. Her brother and sister were less than thrilled with her little fashion show, she must have tried on 8 different dresses! At least, we only had to hit two different stores to find what everyone needed. Anyway, I am enjoying my solitude right now.



Lisa @ One Mom's Eating Recovery awarded me this award. Thanks Lisa! It's nice to know she thinks I am a great liar. I don't feel really creative, but I hope I entertain sometimes.





Here are the rules to the award:

1. Thank the person who gave this to you.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you.

4. Tell up to 6 outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.

5. Nominate 7 "creative writers" who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

Here are my outrageous lies and truth:

1- My husband and I are such huge college football fans that we planned our wedding around our favorite team's schedules so we would not miss a game.

2- I once won a trip to the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. While I was there, I was able to meet Kenny Chesney at an after show party. I love that man!

3-I spent 1 1/2 years in Argentina on a mission for my church.

4-I have never been to the ocean. :(

5-I am the youngest of 5 girls in my family. Talk about drama!

6-I have been playing the flute since I was 5 years old.

7-I spent my junior year of high school in Chile as a foreign exchange student.

Can you guess which one is true? I'll tell you all tomorrow.

Now, here are the seven blogs I nominate:

Mary

Leanne

Kristin

Tiff

Alex

Ellen

Shelley

If you have already done this or do not find this kind of thing fun. No worries. I just wanted to recognize some of my fave bloggers.

Have a great Monday!

Time To Step it Up & Some Pics

Now that I am eight full weeks into my journey I want to reflect on my progress so far. In case you missed it, and I'm sure many of you did, here is a look back at my first post and goals I set. Here's a list of my victories so far:

• I have stayed true to my goal to exercise regularly. I think I have only had one week that I did not get on the treadmill five times and that week I did it four times. I have done strength training 2-3 times a week.
• I have been faithful about tracking my calories using sparkpeople and have stuck (pretty much) to my food plan.
• I have not ordered french fries at any fast food restaurants. I HAVE enjoyed a few out of my kid's happy meals, but really just a few.
• I started and am about half-way through the C25K training program.
• I have still been able to enjoy foods I always have and will enjoy, like ice cream and chocolate.
• I have not drank soda pop since I started this journey.
• I am feeling new muscles in my body. I like to put my hand on the top of my legs when I go up the stairs just to feel my muscles. I better have muscles there, considering all the lunges I have done over the last 8 weeks. And I'm pretty sure my husband is tired of me making him feel my biceps.
• I have walked/jogged 10+ miles a week, that makes for 80+ miles total!
• I have lost weight every week.
• I still have tortilla chips in my pantry from SuperBowl Sunday. :)

Shortly after I started this journey I had my daughter take a picture of me. I just had her take one and wished I would have done a side shot, too. Anyway, here is my beginning of the journey picture:

Here are a couple of pics I had her take today:

Can you see a difference? I think I can in the face. I also think this second outfit is much more flattering. I will take the next couple of progress pics in this same outfit for better comparison. After that, I'm hoping the pants will be falling off and I'll have to put on a smaller size.

Now that I've been at this for 8 weeks I think it is time to step it up a bit. So here's my plan:

• Continue to track calories on sparkpeople and aim for 1400-1500 a day.
• I have been doing the treadmill for about 30-35 minutes each workout day. This has included a 5 minute warm-up walk, my C25K training, followed by a brisk walk and cool down. My goal will now be 40 minutes. This will give me 5 min. warm-up, 30 min of a good workout and a 5 minute cool down. Today I actually did 45 minutes.
• Really aim to do strength training 3-4 days a week.
• Continue to do the 2nd level of "30 day Shred"
• I have not been taking measurements. I will start doing that as well.

Today I completed day 2 of week 4 of C25K. It was a bit easier today and I slowed the speed down for just 2 minutes of the last 5 minute jog. I'm feeling good about it.

Gwenny gave me a sunshine award. Thank you, thank you! This really brightened my not-so-sunny, snowy day! Since I also received this award a couple of weeks ago, I'll direct you all to that post to see links to some of my favorite bloggers. I just accidentally deleted the sunshine award picture......arrgh. You'll have to look at the other post for the pretty pic because I get frustrated trying to upload pics after I've written so much text.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Weigh-In-Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everybody! The sun is shining here, it is beautiful! Of course, by tomorrow it will be a different story as storminess is projected. For today, I will just enjoy the preview of spring.


Today was my weigh-in day and I just have to say I am very pleased with the numbers. I now weigh 189 lbs! That is a two pound loss this week, a total of 16.5 pounds lost and I am in the 180's. I really couldn't be much happier right now. I think I've said before that it has been a long time since I've been in the 180's.


I think my victory on the scale and my excitement about it propelled me to a non-scale victory. I was able to complete week 4, day 1 of my C25K training today. I was not able to do it on Monday, you may remember. Today I slowed down from 4.8 to 4.3 for the last 3 minutes of running. I don't know why I didn't think to do this on Monday. Duh! I have been concentrating on running time instead of distance for this training so slowing down was okay for me. I think I will repeat this week, though. I would like to complete it running at the speed I have been running for most of the time.

My girl scout cookies arrived yesterday. I'm happy to report that I only had two thin mints last night and was quite satisfied with them. I did want more, but realized that two was enough. I'm even happier to report that I had none for breakfast today!

Today I am taking the kids to one of their favorite indoor pools. I must say that the thought of getting into a swimsuit is not very exciting for me. Seeing pics of myself in my swimsuit last fall is one of the things that helped motivate me to start this journey. I haven't been in a swimsuit since. However, I told myself a long time ago that I would not let my weight issues effect my kids. I knew I needed to either "get over it or do something about it"! So here I am doing something about it and since I am still far away from feeling good about myself in a swimming suit I will have to "get over it" today and go swimming with my kids. It should be a good day. I hope you all have a great day, too!

Tomorrow I will be posting a progress report about my journey so far as well as some new goals for the next couple of months.