May Your Way Check In 1

Have I stuck to my goals in the 4 days of this challenge? Well, the scale is down, and I'm still surviving so I guess so.  It's been wonderful to get outside for an afternoon break walk at work, it's finally not too cold, or too snowy, too rainy, too windy.  And today's walk rocked, I was surprised to hear the My Tracks Lady Voice say I was walking at 4.5 mph.

Stats...
Beginning: 159.6
Current:  157.2
Change: Down 2.4 pounds :)

Scale pics are up today thru today  (links on the left side).

Bass Ackwards

I did so well, and then everything went bass ackwards.  I really thought that after my spouse left for work training (he'll be gone thru July) that I could just quit eating.  Silly, I know.  I should know myself after cough35cough years that when I'm stressed I eat. And what didn't help is the food was almost shoved before me.  I ate out more in one week than I had in 3 months I think.

But, it's May now.  I want to be all "WOOHOO I'm diving in!" but I'll be totally honest--I probably won't be.  But I am joining the May Your Way challenge. (See that button over there? ---> Click it to join too!) My goals for this challenge are very simple:

1) At the very least maintain my weight and try not to let the scale go over 160, and if I control the emotional eating I hope to even lose the 5+ pounds I've gained back.

2) Survive May.

Let me explain 2.  I'm at least done running the kids on Tuesdays, and don't have the worry of having to take off work for that.  Being the last month of school there's the end of school projects, field trips, parties.  What I'm really holding out for is June.  Between basketball camp and vacations the children will be with grandparents more than home. My husband joked I was going to use the free time to go find a better spouse, I said "hell yeah!" Of course I didn't say that, I told him "you know what I'll be doing - going to the gym." I can't wait!

So anyway, starting weight:

Spring Into Action check in

Figured I better check in, even if briefly.  Life has been very busy, and when I'm not working I've been glued to the whole Japan tragedy.  Today's check in logged me a weight of 154.8.  I was happy with that, mostly because last night the family went out for chinese buffet and I figured I'd have more of a sodium/water weight gain than just .4 (was 154.4 for the last couple days).  The hundredpushups.com challenge? I just finished week 2 with a total of 60 pushups, 15 in the last set.  Next up is an exhaustion test that I'll do on Friday or Saturday.  I can already tell a difference in my strength and my spouse noticed my arms being more toned just in 2 weeks. :)

Spring into Action beginning

A new challenge with the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans :) I'm excited to be starting this challenge at my lowest weight since, well, about the time I got married (and that's a long time ago).  I will admit my goal for this challenge is very low - only 3 pounds.  If I can lose just three more stubborn pounds, I will officially be in the HEALTHY BMI range and out of the overweight range.  By no means is that my final destination though, but I thought it realistic for a 6 week challenge. If I lose more that's great, but I'm not going to disappoint myself with a goal I know I won't reach right now.  My weight loss has been slow and steady, and I know as the scale goes down it's harder to lose. 

My starting weight for this challenge: 

I'll also be participating in the 100 Pushups Challenge.  My initial test tonight was a huge number of 8, I have far to go.  

Oh for petes sake... my partner in crime is my bff Jenn (aka DarkDevotion), we're the "Gut Bustin Bishes" LOL

Power of One Final Checkin

This will have to be a short and sweet entry, busy daily life is around the corner but I wanted to get something written down. Here was my beginning stats for this challenge:

Starting Weight: 164.5
Waist Measurement: 32”
Hips Measurement: 41”

So how have I done over these weeks? Pretty good in my opinion.  I didn't quite make the 10 pound loss I wanted but I did more than 5!  Here's my current stats:

Ending Weight: 157.2

Waist Measurement: 31.5

Hips Measurement: 40.5

Power of One Checkin

The last couple weeks have been busy, or I just havn't had the desire to post anything online.  We had the flu, then a subsequent cold, then out of town. I had one child's birthday, I have the spouse and other child to go yet in February.  February is "eat lots of cake month" in our house.

What I've been happy with is the scale.  Considering a weekend out of town that included eating out a lot, I knew there would be a gain. So while it is up, it's not as bad as I feared it could have been.  And I'm actually so tickled I've been able to keep under 160.

What I find frustrating is my current activity level and my aspiration--or lack thereof.  The most exercise I get lately is a 20 minute walk break at work.  That's so far off from where I was, someone who exercised 2 hrs 5 times a week.  Work has slowly taken that away little by little every month that goes by, coupled with a heel spur causing significant pain in my foot, I just don't get the cardio in that I was able to.  But, that doesn't excuse me from strength training--I have no excuse for that other than laziness.  *suck*

Power of One Weigh-in Feb 2

Well this last week has been sort of eventful. The school called Wednesday afternoon, my son was sick. And that was the beginning of THE FLU. (Did ya hear it? That deep ominous announcer voice boldly stating THE FLU.) By Friday my daughter and I had it. Now thankfully, IMO, it was respiratory influenza rather than stomach flu. I just hate stomach flu, the puking, the shits, the cramping, etc. Anyway, we spent the weekend on the sofa. By Sunday night my husband had it.

I learned something by being sick. I didn’t monitor my calories, I tried to eat healthy but ate more than I would on a normal day. On Sunday, I did some laundry & such, and my Bodymedia Fit told me I’d burned 2300 calories that day. I thought, I barely burn that when I’m walking at work, how did I burn that sitting at home most of the day? Turns out, being sick ups your metabolism a bit. Awesome, right? Except, I expect it will go back to normal now that I’m feeling better. Now, if I can just keep off the 2 pounds I lost. Since I didn’t blog last week about my weigh in…

Last week’s weigh in: 163.6

Today:

Power of One Check In

Why oh why couldn't yesterday be weigh in day for the Power of One? It was for my work challenge however, and I got a nice percertage drop.  I kept on track yesterday, and even got to go to the gym--which I think was my downfall today actually.  I'm guessing my body said 'hang on, here' in anticipation of increased activity. At least that's what I'm telling myself :-P  I do anticipate the the scale going back down to yesterday's weight and lower. 

So, here's my official weigh in for the Power of One challenge today:

Still officially down .2, but it could have been 1.2.  Oh well, progress!

Wednesday Check In: The Power of One!

Well, a whole week has gone by and I’ve blogged nothing. Guess I haven’t had much to say! Yesterday I was feeling a bit down. It was weigh-in/points logging day at work and I wasn’t impressed with my check in.

As for the Power of One check in?

Not as much as I hoped, but still a loss!

As for the January project? I didn’t do last weeks. I have a hard time imagining the goals I’d like to achieve this year much less realizing them as the year goes on. I could say “I ran my first half marathon” but honestly, I don’t see that happening. I tend to not plan further out than a week, I can’t plan 9 months from now. I could write “I lowered my cholesterol 50 points by losing weight”…but if I have a hereditary problem losing weight may not dent it even. I can’t say that this week’s project is much different. I’m like several others I’ve read—I hate seeing these goals I’ve written down, and I’ve accomplished nothing of them when I look back.
I have an appointment tomorrow morning to see my dr. and have my cholesterol levels checked. I’ve lost about 8 pounds since the end of July 2010. It’s not much, but we’ll see if it’s helped. I’ve printed out reports from the last 90 days from my tracking at My Fitness Pal (since that’s as far back as it goes) to show him that I’ve tried. I’m excited and nervous to see what happens.

Wednesday Check-In: The Power of One

Officially a half pound down. It’s not much, it’s not enough, but it’s better than a gain. Part of this is from eating too much a couple times, and much too little exercise. I really miss my gym time. I am so much better focused there, I don’t have the distraction of children or pets, the air movement better compared to my dungeon basement with a hot wood stove in the same room as my equipment.

Beginning The Power of One

I’m ready I’m ready I’m ready (can you hear the Spongebob tone?) …for this challenge. For the hoedown my goal was to lose 5.5 pounds, and I managed to lose 3.5, and then Christmas came and I gained it back. But! That’s ok, cuz I didn’t gain more! :P This challenge is 8 wonderful weeks long and I’d be just tickled if I could lose 10 pounds. There are several reasons for this, which serve as my resolutions “healthy living goals”:

1. Get my BMI into the "healthy" range. If I lose 10 pounds, that will drop me into the top of the healthy range. 10 pounds, so little yet so far.

2. Lower my cholesterol. Sometime in the next month I am due for a recheck. My dr’s recommendations in July were to “lose weight, continue exercising, and eat less than 200 mg of cholesterol/day”. For the most part I’ve done all of those, and I’m hoping it’s dropped some.

3. Become a better runner. This includes being able to run longer without walking or breaks, and even a little speed.

4. Utilize the equipment I have at home more often. Working out does not mean I need to go to the gym. I have some weights, a ball, an elliptical, a treadmill, a big clunky weight machine—heck it’s our own little mini gym! I just need to use all of it more.

5. To prove to myself that I CAN do it! (and becuz OCD wanted a 5th bullet).

I hope to get a new scale soon, I really want to start posting a pic of my weekly weigh ins cuz I think ya’ll are just cool to be brave enough to do that. EDIT: I will take a “before” pic when I get home from work tonight (see below now). Alas, here are my current stats:

Starting Weight: 164.5
Waist Measurement: 32”
Hips Measurement: 41”

Good lucky and healthy vibes to everyone!

EDITED TO ADD: Here's my bare-almost-all 'before' pics:

Wobbly Jelly Bowl

I gave myself this last week off.  I admit it, I knew my willpower to eat healthy & stay on track would be tempted beyond my control.  So I gave in.  I gave up.  I expect the scale to be back up tomorrow morning, between eating too much bad food, too much fat, too much sodium, overall too many calories in general and barely exercising.  I feel like a bloated wobbly jelly bowl.

And just as I gave myself permission to for time off from tracking eating, exercise, etc., I now am declaring the twinkie stops here.  Tomorrow morning I start anew.  Back to tracking food, eating healthy, getting exercise in.  Wednesday will start the new Power of One challenge at Shrinking Jeans. I've signed up. Have you?  Kick 2011 off on a healthy start!

Holiday Hoedown Check-in Week 4

Here's my official weekly Hoedown checkin. In some ways a success, in others #fail.  The success is that I finally got to 162.  Why must a half measly little pound be so hard to drop? Geesh. Beyond that victory, I got so-so exercise in.  I have my goals set for 45 minutes every day, and if I walk over my lunch break and then again at my afternoon break I can make it.  I made 245 minutes total this last week.  The #fail comes in at the trying something new.  I have a hard enough time focusing on getting anything in much less trying something new.  My brain just says "walk, now."

The challenges for this next week--increase exercise minutes.  Ack, I'll try, really.  Don't know where I'll get it in, but I spose if I can find five minutes, that's more lol.  The non-fitness challenge, wow this is one I think many of us deal with.  I know I'm great for bashing myself.  Just like finding five minutes... I'll strive for one nice comment.  lol, such high ambition.