OMG! You mean hard work does pay off?

It's been an excellent week. I worked really hard at the gym, did not go out to a restaurant for food this week, limited soda intake, drank a large amount of water (I'm a big fan of the stuff) and it all paid off people! I am down! A lot!



-3.8

How awesome is that? My goal for next week is 2 lbs. 2 lbs will take me into the last 10 lbs of the 200's. I have about 5 lbs to go before I finally start losing "new weight". That will be all kinds of awesome! Here's to another week of hard work and fantastic successes!

The Weight Watchers meeting this week was all about motivation. I'm so glad I still have mine and even if I didn't I'm in that mindset where I do just have to do it. Thank you A cake for a wife for your post on motivation this week as well.

Thursday Exercise Recap

I did go to the gym again and I did do the elliptical but about 30 minutes in I felt awful. A little dizzy and a whole lot tired. It was a little weird, so I got off the elliptical and finished my water and then got on the treadmill so I could keep watching Oprah (it was The Biggest Loser repeat) For the first 10 minutes I could not walk faster than 2.1. I felt better after that so I was able to speed up a bit and before I knew it Oprah was over and I could go home. BTW, I liked the show Susie was funny. I hope she lost her baby weight!

I think I got that way because I have exercised everyday since Sunday and I don't usually do that. I usually take Thursdays off and my body as all WTF? I'm supposed to be napping right now! Hello? What are you doing to me? So I'm going to have to re-evaluate how much work I'm doing during the week so I don't feel like that again.

To Weigh or Not to Weigh

I am a daily weigher. It’s the first thing I do in the morning and usually the last thing I do at night. I don’t always like what I see on the scale, but I do try to keep myself from overreacting to what number I am shown each day. I know that possible overreaction is the reason why many people disagree with this habit, but for me it works.

When I weighed in the 150’s I weighed myself everyday and then one day I hit the 160's and I decided I didn’t want to see what the number on the scale said, so I stopped weighing and 6 months later when I braved the scales I was almost 200 lbs, which kept me from the scale for quite sometime and well. Lather, rinse, repeat until I found myself weighing in at over 250 lbs! I wonder if I’d kept up the habit of weighing everyday, if I’d have let myself get so heavy. I can’t change the past, but I can do something about today and about tomorrow. So, I weigh daily to keep myself in check and I always know if I’m on the right track or if I need to do something different to get the scale moving in the downward direction.

With all that being said, I saw a number on the scale today that I am liking very much. I might actually get a loss this week. Woo-Hoo!

What kind of weigher are you and why?

Wednesday's Exercise

I am on a roll. I did 60 mintes on the elliptical yesterday and burned a little over 600 calories according to my HRM. My daughter for the first time in the 9 months I've been going to the Y decided she wanted to go with me so she could swim. Honestly, I think she just wanted to show off her bathing suit more than anything else, it's very cute and perfect for a teenager. I took her and my niece and my niece's neighbor there and of course, there was nothing but thunder, lightening and pouring rain, so the pool was closed! So the kids played basketball while they waited for me to be done with my workout. They are cool kids, to be so patient. Of course the b-ball helped, I'm sure.

I went to dinner at my parents house again. It is so nice not to have to cook! It was spaghetti though. One of my favs! I limited myself to a small plate of it... probably a serving and half. Which, believe me, for me? That is awesome, because I could tear spaghetti up!

The plan for tonight, includes the elliptical again while watching Oprah. They are running the Biggest Loser episode again. I missed 90% of it last time, so I'm looking forward to it. And then I am cooking dinner. I'm making BLT's. I have some bacon that needs to be used. I'll probably do a salad too, because I love my veggies!

Oh, I have a lunch date on Saturday. Yikes, it's been so long since I've been on a date, I hope I don't make an ass out of myself. ;)

Tuesday's Recap!

Yesterday was crazy busy. I had to go and visit my Aunt Mary at the nursing home. I usually go on Mondays but didn’t have to because it was Memorial Day so she spent much of the weekend at home with the family. Anyway, back to visiting her on Tuesday, my sister usually takes Tuesdays but started a class last night and knew she had to do school stuff so she ask me to cover her shift. I said no problem… really what was I going to say, I love my Aunt Mary. I was at work when I realized that my daughter had an ortho appointment at the same time I was supposed to be at my Aunt’s. She could not miss the appointment because I had already rescheduled it once before because I had Aunt Mary duty and forgot about the ortho appointment. Thank goodness, my lil bro is a good guy who has not left for Virginia yet for his summer job, because he picked her up and took her to the appointment and then took her to Jack in The Box for a milk shake, truly the best milkshakes evah! I’m sure I would have caved if I’d gone there, so I am so glad I did not have to deal with that temptation!

After spending some time with my Aunt, I drove home, cooked dinner. Awesome turkey kielbasa with peppers and tomatoes. Honestly, I don’t even need the kielbasa, I love the veggies over rice… I usually only eat a few pieces of the kielbasa so it’s a pretty low point meal, I think it’s 6 points per serving (not at home to verify).

After I finished cooking dinner, I turned it all off and ran off to my Abs and Zumba class. After doing Zumba on Monday, Tuesday’s class kicked my butt! My abs are sore, especially my oblique’s (is that how it’s spelled??? Too lazy to look it up!) and my arms. Tracy, our instructor was telling before class started that we’d be doing some new moves that Janine the other instructor uses because they worked muscles that Tracy does not normally work during her routines. She warned me I’d be saying ouch before the night was over… and I was, but in a good way. Oh and I burned 591 calories in Zumba. I think we had a few more breaks in between songs than usual.

Today, my shoulders are so very tired. Tonight, when I head to the gym, I will not be working my arms. Two days in a row of working the arms is one day too many! And we didn’t even use weights! Just keeping them up and out and above the heart… well and Monday we used a body bar. Both of the Zumba instructors have incredible arms. Well defined and toned arms. I want that, so whatever they tell me to do, I’m doing. I’ve already lost almost 2 inches on my upper arms, so I’m heading in the right direction.

Oh and one more thing, one of the ladies who takes the class with me hasn’t been in for about 6 weeks and when she came in last night, she looked at me and was like WOW, you look awesome! You’re getting all kinds of skinny (which was hysterically funny because she’s like 70 so it was funny hearing her talk like a teenager). And here is the NSV… I said Thank you, I’ve lost almost 40 lbs. And that was it. I didn’t add anything about having a long way to go or anything that would diminish my accomplishment. I’m learning!

I did not get home from Zumba until almost 8 PM. I ate a small bowl of my dinner… which is also an accomplishment because when I make this dinner I always want to eat like 3 bowls of this stuff! I talked to my kid for a little while and then I went to bed. It was a long day. Hopefully today will be much calmer.

Monday Workout

Ahhh, it's been wonderful not having to work today. I was thrilled when my gym was actually open for half a day and that a Zumba class on the schedule. So Awesome! It was a Zumba class that had interval training incorporated into it, so we did two arm routines and one routine for the thighs. Can I get an ouch. I can barely lift my arms, I'm pretty sure it's going to be worse tomorrow. I wore my HRM and it said that I burned 661 calories!

Fo food today, I started out with a slim fast shake with a banana blended in. So yummy (I know that's crazy to say! but it totally was) I was full until about 1 PM when I made a ham and cheese sandwich (I toasted it and added no condiments) and had 3 reduced fat chips ahoy (it was the last 3 cookies, so not buying htem ever again, they are way too tempting) and a glass of 1% milk. For dinner, I'm eating over at my Mom's house. There will probably be salad and some kind of BBQ. My Mom knows that I'm doing WW so there should be chicken. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm feeeling really good about being back on track. I really want to get this weight off. I have 15 lbs until I reach my next mini goal and I want to reach it before I hit my one year lose-aversary in mid-July.

Reckoning

I did go to weigh in yesterday. The results were up and I have no one to blame but myself. I have let tracking slip, my fruits and vegetable intake has been low and my exercise has been okay. And yesterday, I had fast food for the first time in 6 months! I did not eat a cheesburger though. I had a turkey blt, which was horrible and greasy and I'm pretty sure I won't have a desire to hit fast food for a long while. I'm up +1.4 lbs, so this week I have to do something different. I'm thinking all the BLT's need to go away this week.

I'm about to head to the grocery store to pick up tons of fresh fruit and veggies. I'm planning on making smoothies today and tomorrow for sure (yay for no work!) I'll try for the rest of the week as well, but no gaurantees because I'm pretty busy during the week, with my workouts... because I am totally upping htem this week. I'm realy happy that I'm goign to get Zumba twice this week. My Y will be open tomorrow and will be offereing a Zumba class at 10:45 and then I get my regular Tuesday night class.

This week will be different. I am not going to backslide. I have worked too damn hard to get this weight off of me. I can't stop now, when I am finally starting to see a difference in my body from last year. I want a new wardrobe, I want to be fit, I want to be able to go to an amusement park and not be out of breath from walking around, or be bright red and sweaty when it's only 70 degrees while there! And I really want to be able to go back home and have my friends say wow you look good... and not what the hell happened to you? as happened last year when I visited (I was at my all time high and look and felt horrible!) So yeah, this week will be different.

I hope everyone enjoys the Memorial Day. We are expecting rain, so I'm not sure if my plans are going to happene or not, but I'm sure I'll spend the day with family.

Tuesday Zumba!

I had an abs class and Zumba tonight. Once again I used my HRM. I had a goal to burn an extra 1000 calories a day, but only got in 850 calories today. I'm going to take that and be happy about it. I'll try to make up that 250 calories tomorrow. I really like my HRM it keeps me motivated at the gym.

As for food, I've been much better this week than the previous two weeks. Making my lunch is really helpful, and keeps me from overeating in the cafeteria because it's not about the choices of food I'm making but rather the amounts that I'm consuming. When I bring my food I have much more control about the amounts of food. I'm really hoping for a good number on the scale this week. Some of you may have noticed that I failed to report a weigh in on Saturday... mainly because I did not go to my Weight Watchers meeting to weigh in because I had too much sodium and too many cookies throughout the week. This week, is totally different.

True Blood

Look what is being released today!!! I'm so stopping on my way home from work today to pick this up. So Awesome! I have weatched most of this season, but ended up missing the last few because I do not pay for HBO and my free subscription ended. But what I watched was awesome and stuck as true to book 1 as anyone fan could have expected. It will be a vampire weekend for me for sure.

Shred + Gym =

lots of calories burned! I used my new handy dandy HRM today. I did Shred first and burned over 250 calories during the 20 minute Level 1 workout. I felt pretty good about that. I did make a goal for myself to burned at least 1000 calories a day doing exercise, so I still had a lot of work to do. I got myself to the Y and did 65 minutes on the elliptical and worked hard. I was sweaty and tired by the time that 65 minutes was over and when I looked at my calories burned count total I had burned 1005 calories. And the best thing... I didn't then ruin all that hard work by over-eating anything. I hada salad and a lean cuisine (I know! but I was too lazy to actually cook dinner tonight) and then for dessert I had 3 reduced fast Chips Ahoy with 1% milk. So yummy. So how has everyone elses day gone?

New Toy!

Polar F4 HRM

I can't wait to try this out. I feel like I've been flaking on everything... even though that is probably an exaggeration. I've been really curious lately as to how many calories I burn when I exercise. So I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow when I try it out.

Before and After

A while ago... like in March I took some picture to show to go with a before and after pic. I'm just now getting around to it after I've lost at least another 5 lbs, but I'm too lazy to go put something cute on to take another picture... besides I'm feeling fat today and that's never good for picture taking. The exception being my workout picture below. The goal of that picture was to show me in all my glistening glory. lol So here is the picture from July 08 and then another of the me from March 09.

July 08

March 2009

Shred Again

It really becomes easy to not do exercise. I didn't do Shred on Friday and had to really work to convince myself to do Shred today. I'm don't know what is wrong with me! Anyway, I did accomplish Level 1 today and even took a picture of what I look like right after completing Shred. It does not matter what level I do, I always feel totally worn out... and really good because Shred is an accomplishment. I'm sticking to Level 1 for a while, it seems to be the easiest on my knees.

So here I am in all my Shredded glory.

The Return of The Shred

I went back to Shred today. I did however, drop back down to Level 1 as I did not think I would survive Level 3. I barely survived Level 1! I foloowed natalie for the most part though. The only thing I could not was push ups. I did 3 regular push ups before I had to drop to my knees. When I first started Shred I could not even do 1 regular push up so I call that progress. lol

I went to dinner with my family tonight and had pasta. I ate a little less than 1/2 which was probably 1/4 too much, but since I do not do it that often I felt it was well worth it. I even gave the leftovers to my brother to take home so I would not be tempted to snack. I'm currently hungry, so I'd say it's a good thing I didn't let the leftovers come into my home!

Tuesday Zumba!

My regular instructor was not there tonight, which was a bummer, but meant that I got to see the other Zumba instructor that I really like. I hadn't seen her sonce December and she was amazed at how much my body had changed. So, I was feeling really good about that. I even said Thank You very much... it's hard to accept compliments but I'm trying to acknowledge how far I've come and appreciate that others notice.

Back to Zumba class. OMG, I hope I'll be abl to walk tomorrow. Tonight's instructor is more fitnessy than the regular girl (who is very dancey and awesome). Anyway, she kicked my ass, in the Jillian way. squats, lunges, plyometrics (Oh my!) I'm toast.

When I got home from Zumba, I watched The Biggest Loser. I was really surprised at who won. I never would have expected that person, EVAH!

Tomorrow... I'm going back to Shred.

Well, I'm here...

I have not done Shred since Thursday. Well that’s not exactly true I started Shred on Saturday but stopped at the 3rd circuit (Who does that? Me apparently) and I have not gone back to it since. My only excuse is that I am lazy. Except, not really because I still go to the gym, I just lost my motivation. I have Zumba tonight and then I’m going to attempt to get back into the Shred habit again.

There is nothing interesting going on in my life so I have not had the urge to blog. I’m still eating pretty well, so even though I have not been doing that extra 20 minutes of hard core exercise I’m sure I’ll continue to lose weight. If I go by history, this week will be a small loss because last week’s was a really good loss for me.

Anyway, I’m alive and kicking… not doing much except reading this:



And getting ready to read my Mother’s Day Gift:


My kid knows me well. And because I have been reading, I wonder if that might have anything to do with my inability to turn the DVD on at home? Hmmm, I started reading Turn Coat about the time I stopped doing Shred. I better hurry and read faster!

One of my favorite things

My favorite place to go after my Weight Watchers meetings. I go every Saturday after I weigh in. I love and adore their breakfast foods. For those who do not live in St. Louis, you might know this place as Panera. Today, I ordered my usual and they screwed the order up and gave me a sausage breakfast rather than the bacon. I am not a fan of sausage so I was pretty bummed. I look forward to my weekly indulgance... so I ate my daughter's chocolate pastry instead. Shhh, she won't know she's still asleep.

Does anyone else have a special place they go to after they weigh in?

Weekly Weigh In...

-1.8

I'm feeling really good about my results. I think I might actually have a comfortable summer in St. Louis this year. Last year was miserable and this year I'm well on my way to being almost 50 lbs lighter (which is where I want to be by the 4th of July) I'm pretty sure I'll get there or get pretty close to it at any rate. So Yay me! Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there!

Lazy days

I'm a lazy, lazy girl! I'll get back on track tomorrow. I've done really well this week with food (other than the chili dog incident) and I've kicked butt on exercise this week. Today has been the only day since last Friday that I haven't done some form of exercise. I think that's pretty darn successful. I'm hoping for a good loss on the scale tomorrow... or well any loss actually. I feel like I've earned a loss. I want to so badly to get under 200. I should get there by summer *fingers crossed* I haven't been under 200 in a very long time. I haven't been at a normal weight since Christmas of '99 and I just want to be normal like that again.

Anyway, I'll let you know how weigh in goes tomorrow!

Day 15 - 30 Day Shred

I did Level 3 today! I just could not bring myself to do level 2 again. Level 3 is hard, but totally awesome. I started out following Natalie, but did end up having to follow Anita a bit and then modify a few moves (all the jumping stuff) because of my knees. But Wow! Level 3 has left me feeling good, so much better than level 2. So I think I'm sticking with Level 3 for the rest of the way.

... I'm halfway done!


I also went to the gym today, I'm working hard people! Of course, I do have to make up for the chili cheese hot dog and french fries I ate today. Breakfast and dinner were totally normal healthy food, but lunch was... well a chili cheese dog on french fries. At least I didn't add a coke to it.

Day 14 - 30 Day Shred

I completed Level 2 today. Does it ever get easier? I really do not like Level 2. I followed Natalie for everything but the rock star jumps and the plank jacks (I think that's what they are called) because my knee can not handle them. I sweat a lot during Level 2 but because I feel so lost during it, I have yet to fell like I have accomplished anything. Level 1 was far more satisfying for me. There is really not much more to say about Level 2... except that I only have to do it 5 more times and I can move on to Level 3.

Dinner anyone???

I’ve been having a hard time lately thinking of new things to cook for dinner that are healthy and low calorie. My daughter and I are not big meat eaters, which is weird considering just how much the rest of my family loves all things meat, but we just aren’t. We eat chicken… but chicken does get boring after a while. I think we eat red meat about twice a month, at the most. I need help! Are there any suggestions out there for cheap, easy and healthy dinners for someone like me and the teen?

Oh... and we do not eat seafood. Ever! You see why dinner can be difficult around my house?

Does this post really need a title???

I’ve been feeling very down lately. I’ve thought a lot about why. Some of it is because I am going through so many changes. In the last year I graduated college, quit smoking, started exercising, rejoined weight watchers, watched my “baby” start high school, turned 35, lost over 30 lbs, restarted this blog, put myself on a budget that meant rethinking how I spend money, and truly started looking for a new job. I’ve accomplished a lot since last June, but I am alone. Which means I find myself lonely.

The ex has been gone and out of my life since I was 24 and since then I have gone on dates but have never dated anyone. (Totally my fault, I let quite a few really great men go, I wasn’t ready then) I’ve been ready for someone in my life for a while now, but I have no idea how to meet people. I work for a big company, but my immediate co-workers are older women, and I look around at work and see really old men or babies just out of college. All the men my age seem to have rings on their fingers.

I recently tried an internet website and have had 2 men contact me, both of which are not for me. I’ve looked at the profiles of some of these men on this site and over and over again, I see the “women I’m looking for is fit/thin/small/tiny/athletic” etc. In other words not me, even if I lose the last 40 lbs I will never be their ideal. The best I can hope for is healthy. Please don’t get me wrong healthy is what I want for me… but seriously I wonder if there will ever be someone out there that wants me. And if there is… where the hell is he?

I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with this… I’m just trying to document how I feel because this blog is supposed to be more than just my weight loss journey because I am more than just my weight loss. Sometimes it hard to remember that.

In other news, there is no Day 13 of 30 Day Shred. It is Tuesday and that means Zumba! It’s my favorite day of the work week. It usually helps me get out of these funks that I go through periodically.

Day12 - 30 Day Shred

Can I just take a moment to tell you how much I do not love Level 2 of Shred? I feel completely out of my element with many of the moves, and it has been leaving my exhausted. All of which I know is a good thing, but I really really hate feeling incompetent, and that's where I am right now with level 2. About the only thing I can say right now about Shred is that I know I'm building muscle and burning fat because I feel lightger on my feet and my arms are sore and tired. I think I should be sleeping well tonight.

Currently watching Nathan Fillion in Castle. He is hot and funny. Yum!

Day 11 - 30 Day Shred

Just a quick note to say I did Level 2 today and it kicked my ass big time. Level 2 really is a lot harder than level 1. I am going to be sticking to level 2 though, no going back to level 1 now. I want to see what Level 2 does to my measurements after 10 days.

Shred is about the only thing I accomplished today. I have been lazy ever since. I get so much more done during the week...

Fellow Blogger Giveaway!

Ginny over at
Mom of 2 Dancer Reviews is haveing a giveaway. You can win a Flip Video. Check it out for your chance to win

Contest Winner!!!!!

And the winner of is: Just Me!

Congratulations! Please check your email.

Day 10 - 30 Day Shred

I may not have done Day 9, but I did not forget to do Day 10. My very last day for Level 1. I've decided tomorrow I'm going to brave Level 2 and keep working on it until I figure out how to do it wihtout knee pain. And since it is Day 10, I thought I would post my measurements from Day 1 and Day 10, so there is a written record of the changes that Shred has done for my body.

Day 1
Chest: 43 1/2 inch
Waist: 37 inch
Hips: 47 1/2 inch
Calf: 17 inch
Thigh: 26 inch

Day 10
Chest: 42 1/4 inch
Waist: 35 1/2 inch
Hips: 46 inch
Calf: 17 inch
Thigh: 24 inch

Loss:
Chest: 1 1/4 inch
Waist: 1 1/2 inch
Hips: 1 1/2 inch
Calf: No Change
Thigh: 2 inch


So that's pretty damn good. Only 20 more days to go. I wonder where I will end up when it's all over. I think these are pretty awesome results and speaks to just what 30 Day Shred does to your body.

Weigh in Results - 5/2/09 BLBE2 Last Weigh In

So this is my last weigh in for the Biggest Loser Blog Edition. I can't believe it's over. I am not the BLBE2's biggest loser but I feel like a winner because I stuck to the competition, posted my weight every week, even when there was a gain, and accomplished the goals I had set out at the beginning of the challenge. I wanted to lose at least 16 lbs and I wanted to reach my 10% WW goal. I even lost more than the 16 lbs, so yay me! So this week's results are:



.4

Not a huge loss, but a well earned loss. I figure because my muscles have been sore all week long thank to Jillian. I've been building lots of new muscle while eating within my points. I think next week I'll see a good loss.

I'm really sad that the BLBE2 challenge is over. I want to thank both Angie and Lynn for hosting this competition. I do not believe my results would have been as good as they are if I had not had this healthy competition in my life. If you ever do another of these challenges, I'm so in!

I started this challenge out at 234.4 and am ending this challenge at 215.8. That is a huge accomplishment and I am really looking forward to the next 16 lbs coming off so I can say good bye to the 200's forever. I hope I can get to my goal weight by my birthday, if I don't I think I'll be pretty close to it.

Day 9 - 30 Day Shred

Did not happen. But it may hapen later tonight. I'm being lazy. That is all.

P.S. Remember today is the last day to enter my contest for your chance to win your very own copy of 30 Day Shred. Winner will be announced tomorrow.