Scale Junkie

I'm an admitted scale junkie. So of course I hopped on this morning to give myself a preview of this upcoming Tuesday's weigh in to see if I'm on target...

FORTY-NINE POINT TWO POUNDS. Yes, I am thiiiiiiiiiissssss close to 50 pounds. I'm almost certain I can get there by Tuesday. 

In other random news yesterday I tried one of the Kraft Sizzling Salads kit, Southwestern flavor. It.was.so.yummy. My greens included Romaine, Baby Spinach, and Kale tossed in the Barbecue Ranch Dressing. Other veggies included three baby bell peppers, scallions and cucumber, and of course 4 ounces of chicken breast cooked in the yummy Zesty Fajita sauce. For the entire salad... 7 points plus! It kept me so full I had 16 points left for the day at 8pm. Oops! Don't worry, I was up till 1 am and used most of those points before midnight, after my late night run. ;)

And we finally were able to sneak into a new shop, well new to us. It's called Heavenly Olive Oils & Vinegar's. Oh my goodness. There are so many choices. We taste tested several combinations. I am so excited to go back there on pay day and pick out some new oils and vinegar's to cook with. The vanilla balsamic...yummy. The honey ginger, oh I could dig into some chicken with that on it. We combined it with toasted sesame oil, it was okay, I think a lighter ratio of sesame oil to ginger would have tasted better. I'm excited to throw some strawberry balsamic on a summer fruit salad. The pomegranate balsamic (which I already own) was mixed with chipotle olive oil...so sweet & a bit of spice. I tried the lemon balsamic with cilantro & roasted onion olive oil...the combinations are endless!!!! I can totally see a lot of these combo's working for our smoked turkey. Nom Nom Nom.

Of course once I get a few products in my hands I will be showing off some new foods. :)

Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend.

Weigh In Day

 

Weigh in Day!!!!

8.21 = 231.0

8.28 = 230.4

-0.6 pounds

Total Loss to Date: 29.6 pounds

Today's first-thing-wake-up-naked weight:

My friend Laura, God love her, said "Welcome to a new decade." LOL. It's true, I've dropped to a new decade, kind of a neat way to look at it. I'm also 2 pounds away from losing 50 pounds!!!!! I'm telling you, I don't know when my mental state changed, or how, but it's all been for the best. I honestly believe joining Weight Watchers has been one of the best decisions of my life!

What's even more cool than losing 50 pounds? Look at the ticker to the right... I'm nearly half way to my initial goal! I'm calling it my initial goal because I can't wait to be 180 again, but given my height of 5' 7", all the "charts" say I should be around 160. So I've set my goal at 180 and once I reach that I'll evaluate if 160 would look alright on me, or if I'd end up looking scrawny? Ha! What a statement. Never thought I'd be saying something like that. Me, scrawny, bwahahahaha.

I also have a super fun post planned for ya'll once I hit that 50 pound milestone! Stay tuned. :) Have a great week!

Call Me Crazy

So, a little back story; my neighbor, Liz, is one of my best friends. Love her to death, would do just about anything for her. She ventured into the world of Avon distributing. Through that venture she met our newest friend, Danni. Long story short Liz is on vacation and Danni is house sitting, so we can get into all sorts of fun together. LOL.

Another fun fact about Liz is that she has many "blonde" moments. One of which was ordering 400 Avon catalogs instead of 40. So while she is on vacation, Danni & I decided to help her out and distribute those catalogs in our neighborhood today. WOW. That was one heck of a work out. We walked over two miles, and put almost 120 catalogs out there before we succumbed to the heat. We had three kids in tow, one wagon, one jogging stroller, snack & supplies to keep the kids occupied and three heavy @$$ boxes of catalogs. We stopped at each house and climbed the stairs at each house.

Yes, I must be flipping crazy. Considering I can still barely walk from my fabulous work out the other day. I ran three miles yesterday and then I spent over an hour walking, climbing stairs and pushing the jogger around. Yes...crazy. Oh, and being the geniuses we are, we thought we'd hit the entire neighborhood with the boxes we had on us. I'm pretty sure we only hit 1/4-1/3 of it. :P

But I love these gals, so it was worth it.

Midnight iPhoneography

To Kill or Not To Kill

That is the question...

I am missing my walking/running. Seriously, jonesing so bad it's annoying the poop out of me. My daughter has decided that she no longer needs naps. Fan-freakin-tastic. Our general routine is we feed the kids, I put the kids down and the hubs goes out for his run/walk. Then we he gets back I go while they're still asleep & he gets ready for bed. Needless to say with her not sleeping it's throwing one heck of a wrench in the routine. I can't, in good conscience, let a 3 year old roam the house while I'm out & the hubs is attempting to get to sleep. 

Let's rewind a few days ago. I brought up to the hubs that I keep tweaking this one muscle in my back and it's almost as annoying as not getting to go out for a walk. I told him I need some exercises to strengthen it and I wouldn't mind toning up the old body. I mean after all, what good is weight loss if you have excess skin and no muscle tone?

So he put together a workout for me. 7 exercises, 3 sets of 8 reps. Well, being that neither child would nap today and I had to do something, I went to the basement and busted through this new work out. I was eventually interrupted by the daughter who was kind enough to attempt to count, out of order, each rep. Well, I'm pleased to say I finished the work out in under 10 minutes. I was surprised how little time it took. BUT, and this is a big but during the second set I got to stationary lunges and BAM I was feeling it. I mean, holy cow it was near impossible to do the third set of lunges. It was hurting so bad, but in that good way.

I started back up the stairs and probably resembled some old granny trying to wobble her way up. I'm going to feel this tomorrow. So, it may have been a short work out, but it was better than sitting on my booty. Now, I may or may not kill my husband tomorrow. It just depends on the level of ouch I'm feeling.

And for the curious, here's what he's set me up with. All of which I'm using a 5 foot barbell, no additional weight added to it's already 14 pounds.

*Bent Over Row

*Upright Row

*Good Morning

*Military Press

*Stationary Lunges

*Thrusters

*Straight Leg Deadlift

Don't worry, I got more exercise than what I just listed. I swiffered, mopped, emptied the dishwasher, reloaded the dishwasher, prepped & cooked lunch for everyone and did 4 loads of laundry, all before noon. I'm still working on laundry and dinner is up next! No rest for a SAHM.

New Shoe Friday!!!!

I love rewards. I really should use a reward system more often, but in all honesty it tends to fall by the wayside. Anywho, this "reward" seems fitting. 

I bought my first pair of "fitness only" shoes for the first time in ages last August during tax free weekend {see my header picture}. Needless to say, they're a year old now and finished. They've reached 300 miles and have no tread left on them at all. I can literally feel the concrete beneath the balls of my feet with each step. Not to mention the lack of stability left in them for my poor arches. 

I'm very excited to strap on these pretty new shoes and hit the pavement! Excited enough to jump for joy. :)

Weigh In Day

 

Weigh in Day!!!!

8.14 = 233.0

8.21 = 231.0

-2.0 pounds

Total Loss to Date: 29.0 pounds

I'm on a roll...and I'm not talking about bread. ;) Today's first-thing-wake-up-naked weight:

I think I'm in a good place right now. Mentally I'm feeling better after C's pep talk about my last post. I'm just so happy right now. It's a good day!

Why am I ups so late?

I should be sleeping, 1:33am is not a great time to blog, but I have to put this down otherwise it will bug me to the point I cannot get to sleep. Right now I'm thinking about my upcoming race. In 20 days I will partake in my first ever race. I am.not.ready. Oh, and I'm waiting on some laundry to finish that I have to hang up, so hopefully I can get to sleep.

I am pretty much ready for a 5K. But running the 6K is looking like it will be a challenge. So I'm sort of at a crossroads. I do have 20 days until the race, so do I just stick to it and see how the adrenaline pushes me the day of the race, or do I move myself from the 10k to the 5K. I KNOW I can walk the 6K, that's no problem. The problem is running. I'm still heavy, but I'm obviously in a better place than when I started.  I can run/walk the 5K in around 45-48 minutes. But after that, my legs and especially my knee peter out.

I know part of my knee problem is my shoes. They're nearing 300 miles on them. It's time for a new set. I just have to wait until we have enough extra cash to get a new pair. The arches are shot, it's allowing my foot to roll in and putting strain on my knee. I'm stretching, so don't worry that that is an issue. I'm icing and elevating as best I can, as well as taking inflammation meds. I just wish I could force myself to push through and entire 6 miles while running to see if I can do it. Right now it's not looking so good. Today I was going to try to see how I would do running 6 miles through. Ummmm... on a postitive note I ran 2 miles in 29 minutes. On the downside I then had to walk the remaining 4 miles. Thank you child bearing hips.

Changing the subject now... Here's how the last four weeks have looked. 88.29 miles in four weeks, 38 of those were this week alone, thanks to our bike ride. I LOVE seeing all of the blue on my graph. It makes me proud of where I've come from in a short amount of time.

And speaking of time, Saturday night, we spent some time in front of the ole fire pit. It was gorgeous outside. So much so that we, the girls, stayed up until after 2am. :) So imagine my surprise when I saw this on the scale yesterday morning.

WooHoo!!! Come on Tuesday! I'm praying for an even lower number by then.

Weigh In Day

 

Weigh in Day!!!!

8.07 = 233.8

8.14 = 233.0

-0.8 pounds

Total Loss to Date: 27.0 pounds

Hmmm, I lost more than WW scale showed. But that's alright a loss is a loss. For the record, my wake-up-first-thing-naked weight was 232.3. That's what happens when I get up too early before weigh in. So in reality I had a 1.5 pound loss. That I can live with. :D

Either way, it was still a loss. I worked my butt off, that much is certain. The last 10 days, I have worked out 9 days. The tenth day? I was "spring" cleaning for well over 4 hours, so I was still moving and on my feet. I'm very pleased with this last week. I worked hard, ate well and the scale shows it.

Today we did something I haven't done since we had the kids... a nice long bike ride. Okay, so it was long, but not too nice. It started out great and then 2/3rds of the way through the kids started fussing and fighting in the trailer. I'm pretty sure we stopped 6+ times before we made it to the half way point. I, at some point handed over my phone so they could watch cartoons which left me tune-less. Sigh, to no avail they still fought pretty much the entire right back. That's okay, we will persist.

On to the new week!

Bonus: My hubs snapped this while we were out yesterday for dinner at Corner Cafe. I did something I never thought I'd do... ordered a Fried Chicken Salad, cheese on the side, no croutons and subbed the fried chicken with grilled chicken. it was awesome!

How I'm training

So on the WW forum some one left me a comment regarding my short post where I announced I had signed up for my first race. At first I wasn't quite sure how to take it...

Hmmmm. Well I'm a little stumped on that. Am I brave for running a 10K? No. Am I crazy? Well given I've never even ran an official 5K, I'd say I'm more on the crazy side. As for how I prepared, I haven't. In essence I've been doing 5K's 5 days a week as my normal exercise routine. So I jumped at pushing myself to a 10K. 

I guess I figured if I registered for the race I would have to push myself to that next level. So I technically haven't trained for the 10K yet... I also only have one month to get there. Why did I do this to myself? Because I feel I am ready for it, because I have that nagging "need" inside that wants more than just "getting exercise." I'm pretty sure my athletic side is starting to show her face again and she can get rather competitive.

So, how will I train for the upcoming 10K? I'm going to stick with the Zen Labs 10K trainer. I loved their 5K app so why not stick with what works. I'm also slightly excited to see they've recently released both a half marathon & full marathon trainer app too... in time, in time.

Yesterday I completed day 1. Obviously I have less than 14 weeks to prepare, HOWEVER due to my continuous 5K exercising, I'm going to skip ahead to the more advanced weeks. After the 20 minute training session was over yesterday, I continued on and ran through the 3 miles I generally would. The trainer only allowed me to get a mile and a half before the "work out" was over.

I completed the three miles in 46 minutes!!!! It felt great and I've noticed that my distance between walking is increasing and my breathing has been going really well. Sometimes I have to remind myself how to breathe, but I'm seeing myself improve.

So, there you have it... In less than 30 days I will try to be prepared for my first 10K.

What Have I Done???

I talked myself into it... I have officially registered for my first race. Eek! I will be running the the Broadway Bridge Run in the 10k group. Right now I'm sort of freaking out.

I have one month to be prepared... Holy.freakin.cow. What have I just done?!?!?!?!

I'm sort of excited, mostly nervous, and a little antsy... September 9th I will be prepared!

Weigh In & Goal Awards and Finding Myself

 

Weigh in Day!!!!

7.31 = 235.6

8.07 = 233.8

-1.8 pounds

Total Loss to Date: 26.2 pounds

This is sweet on so many levels. We had a family reunion this weekend and I was far from home and out of my comfort zone. My family LOVES food...and not the good for you food. I brought along bananas, carrots and jicama for snacking, as well as protein bars for breakfast. Most of the meals consisted of meat, carbs, carbs and more carbs. Very little fruit or produce was there. But I managed.

We ran to Subway about 20 minutes away so I could have dinner Friday night, AFTER the ice cream social. Can you say temptations? I hadn't eaten dinner and we had gallons upon gallons of homemade ice cream in front of me. I managed to take two small scoops of my Daddy's Andes Mint Ice Cream and left the rest alone. That was so hard.

Saturday we had sandwiches for lunch and I avoided the chips and snacked on my jicama as a side. Then I worked out...yes on "vacation" I squeezed in over 3 miles. Everyone thought I was crazy...but I knew if I didn't get it in, Tuesday would not have had such a great outcome. Then came dinner... smoked pulled pork butt and brisket, with home made BBQ sauce, cheesy potatoes, and carbs carbs carbs. I ate a bit of this and a bit of that and then... SOMEONE BROUGHT A SALAD. A spinach salad with a little cheese and mandarins in it; oh wait...what's that? They crumbled up bacon in it too...What the????? Sigh, so I scooped up the salad and managed to avoid all of the bacon. At least I got some green into my belly!

I really was freaking out what the scale would show come today, but my hubby suggested upping my water intake even more than what I was accustomed to, to help with the sodium content of the foods that entered my body. I guess it worked, it could also be the fact that I worked out on vacation, then after a four hour car ride home, I worked out again, and yet again yesterday...and for the record today as well.

I am an addict. There I said it. I'm addicted to working out now. I get that itchin' feeling when I'm sitting around and I just have to do something about it! It's great to feel this way.

It paid off...that and my new plan seems to be helping. So today I weighed in at 233.8. For WW that puts me 26.2 pounds down, meaning I reached my 25 loss award!!!! Even sweeter, I hit my 10% goal, which was 26 pounds. So I was received two awards in today's meeting. The next award available is for 50 pounds. I'm a ways away from that, but I've got my sights set on it.

Also, this puts me 43.9 pounds down from my heaviest...creeping up on 50 pounds. :)

For now, my next goal is 224lb. This puts me at 30 pounds down and the weight I was the day I was married my wonderful husband 5 years ago, this September.

25 Pound Washer

10% Weight Loss

All three of my Weight Watchers Awards

And believe it or not, I'm contemplating a couple of 5k and 10k races. Probably walking, but still...I'm actually considering it. :)

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week!

Photo's Anyone?

I've posted one or two head shots, but no full body shots in a while. I'm actually beginning to come out of my shell so to speak for pictures. I've always hidden behind the camera, but I'm enjoying being in more photographs with my babies, while they're still "babies". So, here I am four months after beginning this journey to a healthier me... 235.1 pounds

And for comparison (although not the best due to the weird angle in the first)....

I really wish that pretty tire around the waist would dissipate as the rest of the fat is melting off. :/ Time to work on the core. ;)

Now, I'm not only weighing. I have been taking measurements as well...

Arms: -0.5" (started measuring 5/12)
Hips: -5.75"
Bust: -6"
Waist: -5.5"
Thighs: -3"
Calves: -1" (started measuring 6/12)

I'm liking the changes ya'll...