Too Much Coffee

I had five cups of coffee today. Five.

I always start my day with a cup and then have my second cup somewhere around 2:00 in the afternoon. Rarely do I have any more than that. I have a little 4-cup pot, so those two cups a day are it. Lately I've really gotten to ordering hot tea if I stop at Starbucks at Target, but not today.

Today I was cold, so I had extra coffee at home. Then a friend stopped by for a cup and number four made it's way down my throat. In the evening I had a cup - after 8:00 pm - while at a practice at our church. I think that was the final straw.

And five cups is why at midnight my mind is wired, but my body wants rest. This is not good. Not only have I had TONS of caffeine, but I am not going to get a full night's rest.

Also, I've noticed that as my mind is racing it's reminding me of how awful I feel during TOM and how I've munched again this week, and how I really, really need to get back on track to eating better. It's been an off two weeks for me health wise, and a mind that has nothing better to do than think a lot late into the evening can come up with some scary thoughts that have to be put into submission.

Thus my blogging at midnight to remind myself...

Note to self: Get back to drinking the green tea after the morning coffee. Too much coffee is not good for you - physically or emotionally.

G'nite all!

Visit With Mom

Before I share a little of my visit with my mom, here's an updated comparison of her.

My mom in March 2009 and then November 2010.

She began her journey a little over a year ago and hasn't let the challenges of being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and Breast Cancer last spring stop her from losing weight. She is truly inspirational!

Not only is she inspirational, but she continues to be helpful to me in my weight loss journey. My visit to see her a few weeks ago was proof of this.

My last visit to her house was very emotional for me. I was not careful about how I ate and it showed on the scale. This time I decided that I would ask her to help me eat like she does. She's lost about 70 pounds over the last 15 months, and this time I wanted to glean from her.

I didn't even have to ask for her help. She saw the challenge I was taking part in on my blog and emailed me before my arrival that she would help me stay on my challenge while visiting. She sure did. First, there was a fresh case of water...

Then she cooked for me, weight loss portions and healthy. We enjoyed a few treats, but in moderation. I was reminded of lessons about portions and balancing out a special treat with healthy eating in the day.

We even baked and decided to make weight-loss portion sizes of one of our favorite treats - Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. The "bigger" of the two shown below is still about a third of what we used to make and eat. wowsa! We took some of the cookies used for these sandwiches, cut them in half, spread a smaller amount of cream on them and then made ourselves even smaller treats. They were perfect for our healthier lifestyles!

I had a very nice time visiting my mom and even more, I enjoyed being on this weight loss journey with her. There was a time we used to eat and eat and eat, but not this time. We were able to enjoy a good visit and not have the focus be entirely on food. I even managed to lose 1.5 pounds that week. Glory!

Thankful Days - Hope

This morning I woke up and decided I had to carry on my thankful theme one more day to say I am thankful for hope.

hope (verb) : to expect with confidence

At my highest weight of 231 I felt hopeless. I had learned to love myself as I was, but was still gaining weight. My luck with dieting always lead to failure, so I had decided I was meant to be fat.

It wasn't long after this picture that I realized I needed to love myself enough to take care of my health. There was a little something deep inside me that knew I had to be able to do something to stop the consistent weight gain in my life.

A few conversations with my husband and a dear friend later I decided to take the small steps necessary to lose weight and take care of my health. I read a few blogs, watched a few episodes of The Biggest Loser and small sparks of hope began to ignite the smallest chance of change in my life. Just maybe I would be able to conquer this demon of overeating.

As I began making small changes to my eating and began exercising regularly I saw weight begin coming off.

By Christmas 2009 I was down about twenty pounds and the spark of hope that I could lose weight had turned into a steadily flickering flame in my life. Exercise had become a regular habit and my eating habits were changing for the better.

It's been another year and another twenty three pounds. With forty three pounds lost I'm almost halfway to my goal and I'm so thankful that hope prevails in my life. As we enter into the holiday season I am no longer hopeless about my weight and health. The thought of cooking and eating Thanksgiving dinner and baking for Christmas doesn't scare me.

• I know I will not eat everything I make.
• I know that I will exercise.
• I know that I can lose weight during the holidays.

I know I can accomplish these goals, because I am able to hope, or have the expectation with confidence, that I will reach my weight loss goals and gain control over my overeating instead of gaining more weight.

Thankful Days & Hot 100 Update #9

This week hasn't been the best for a challenge. As I posted yesterday, I am up half a pound. It's been that week where as I reach to munch on something I think "I don't care." Some of the time I felt like I was watching myself from the outside and commenting, "This is so strange how you have control all the other weeks of the month, but this one week you don't care and you aren't even bothered by it...until bedtime."

Yes, a few nights I was miserable at bedtime when I thought about what I'd eaten. The overeating always hit in the evenings, but I seriously didn't care until later in the night. This is obviously going to be an issues I must deal with. And I will.

In the meantime, today I am thankful that for a PMS week my gain was only 0.5 and not any more. I'm thankful I was able to get a grip on my eating early enough so as to not see a huge gain.

Now on to my Hot 100 goals:

WEIGHT GOAL: Lose 0.5 - 1.5 lbs a week (Beginning weight 194.0). I am up 0.5 a pound this week, but I know I'm still within my range of where I should be for the challenge. So, yellow it is. I look forward to seeing a loss again next week. Have I mentioned that I can't believe I'm in the 180's??? It's amazing to me. I

ACTIVITY GOALS:Exercise four days a week, no skimping down to three during the holidays. No. I have exercised only two days this week. Having company in from out of town has kept me busy. I'm okay with that choice.

Be able to jog at 4.8 mph for 25 minutes. This gives metime for slight warm up and cool down on the treadmill that has a 30-minute limit at the gym. I believe I'll get there.

FOOD GOALS: Drink at least 64 oz of water daily.YES! I've been drinking anywhere from 64 - 96 oz. of water daily. It's just been so easy. The only cold drinks I've had have been a few sips of my husband's "real" Coke and one of my own...another sign of TOM coming, although it was not enjoyable beyond the first gulp or two. LOTS of water though, and coffee ( 1-2) cups a day and hot tea. :) Journal all my eats and drinks and stay within my calorie goals daily, with the exception of one high-calorie day that I allow to throw things off a bit. No. I think I journaled one day. Honestly, I am going to get my book journal back out, and I didn't journal some things because I was munching and knew I couldn't keep track of how much. Sad, but true.

EMOTIONAL GOAL: **I've decided to make my emotional goal the goal of visiting one new blog each week. Connecting with others on this journey is the emotional support I need at this time. No.

HOLIDAY GOAL: Only one or two "foo-foo" coffee drinks from Starbucks the week I am visiting my mom in November. I will stick to regular coffee and cream the rest of the weeks. Done. Not even a skinny anything this week. :)

I hope you all have a nice weekend! My grandparents are in town until Monday and we are going to do some baking, maybe some crafting, some game playing and definitely some Christmas tree decorating. :) It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Thankful Days - Throwdown Challenge

It is the end of Thanksgiving Day for us here in the United States. I've had a wonderful day of cooking, visiting, cleaning up and then relaxing with my family and visiting grandparents. It's been quiet and cozy.

Since it is Thursday it is also my weigh-in day and I did indeed weigh myself. My munching, M&M crunching week resulted in a 0.5 pound gain. Being that I've been pretty PMS'y lately, I'm not surprised and I'm thankful I reigned in the craziness before it ended up being much, much more. I have been drinking TONS of water and I'm sure that helped.

Now on to my Thankful Thoughts for Thursday. (nice, huh .. LOL )

I want to take a minute to share my thankfulness for Barb for inviting me to be in this challenge with her. I was shocked she would ask me, and touched that she considered me a friend enough to ask me. I tend to freeze up during weight-loss challenges, but I figured I'd agree and, if nothing else, be a cheerleader for her to reach her goals. Now, three weeks into the month, I find myself actually losing weight and being in the lead. A small miracle considering my track record.

Joining Barb in this challenge has proven to be greatly motivating for me. Even this week of mindless eating was curbed in because I knew I had to weigh-in today. I'm grateful she asked, and I'm even more grateful that she hasn't given up herself, even if her weeks haven't been what she may have wanted.

We have one more week to go and I will not get lazy. She could still come from behind. :)

Thankful Days - My Savior

Today I would like to keep my post simple with this one undeniable truth. I am a born again Christian and I'm so very grateful for my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. That he would give his life for mine is awesome, in the truest sense of the word. That he would continue to work in my life after all these years is amazing to me.

When I gave my life to Jesus he not only forgave me of my sins, but he offered me joy and peace no matter what life throws my way. This includes struggles with weight.

Many times in this weight loss journey I have struggled with fears of failure, inadequacy and more, but He always sees me through. Sometimes it's a sermon at church or a scripture in my daily Bible reading. Other times it's words of wisdom and encouragement spoken in person or written on a blog.

No matter the venue God has ministered to me so many times in my weight loss journey that it wouldn't be right to not give Him proper praise. The bondages I've had to food could not be broken without his help.

As I write I'm reminded of a favorite scripture of mine. ...
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.". Psalm 37:4

One of my desires is to have control over food in my life. With God's help I'm blessed to say I'm in the process of seeing that come to pass, and I'm so very, very thankful for that.

Happy

Thanksgiving!

Thankful Days - Family & Friends

Today I'm thankful for my family and friends who have loved me through thick and thin. Today I literally mean, whether I was physically "thick" or "thin".

Growing up I have rare memories of being made fun of due to my weight, but I often noticed the difference between me and other girls and would be sad because of it. One place I never felt out of place due to my size was my home. It was made clear at home that I was loved for who I was, not what I looked like.

My mother also loved me enough not to let me eat anything and everything I wanted. Due to the fact that she would limit the amount of cookies I ate I was only a chubby child, never did I reach the obese range in my health. If I shared feelings about wanting to not be the chubby girl my mom would offer solutions to help me, but she never pushed the issue to the extent that made me feel like I wasn't good enough. It was a good balance.

As I grew up I used to wonder if any guys would ever like me. Hello, I knew they always liked my thin friends. I also knew that when I lost about 20 pounds doing Weight Watchers with my mom I suddenly got more attention. Thankfully, I wasn't so boy crazy as to solely base my life on whether someone liked me, but I was a teenager with my own hopes and dreams of getting married some day.

When I met my husband and he finally told me he liked me I was in awe. I told him I was awed that he would like me when there were other thin and pretty girls at the conference we'd met at. Again, I fell in love with someone who didn't base their approval or love of me on my weight. On our wedding day I was 5' 4" and about 170 pounds, and he made me feel like the queen.

Sadly enough, over the first year of our marriage I let my eating go out of control and gained the first 30 pounds that would take me away from 170 for years. I knew 170 was overweight, and I cried when I realized, somewhere near 200, I needed the "huge" size 20w jeans. Only one other time in all these years of being married have I reached 170 and had some control over my health. It was a glorious two years where I felt so much more alive, but you know what? My husband didn't love me any more for getting thin. When I gained it all back, and more, he still loved me and told me how beautiful I was.

Through all of this I've also had good friends who have loved me no matter what my size. My friend, Stephanie, whom you all met a few months back, has been my friend the longest now and she's always struggled with weight like I have. Though she kept much better reins on her health than I did as we became adults. Yet, though I got bigger in my 20's and she slimmed up she never commented on it.

I have other friends who when shopping together they were kind enough to not say anything when I had to look in the larger sizes. When I was losing weight, they cheered me on. If I was gaining back the 10-20 I lost they kept their mouths shut. I was never treated any different based on my size. My friends have been amazingly supportive in my weight loss journey now as well.

Another amazingly supportive group of friends in my life is my blog friends. I want to take this minute to thank Diane at Fit to the Finish and Lori at Finding Radiance for their support. These two ladies have been kind enough to answer some questions in email for me. They've shared wisdom and offered support over the past year when I might've already given up on someone like me.

Along with Diane and Lori I'm also thankful for my blog "friends" and readers. I started to write this blog to journal my weight loss journey. I know that seeing into the hearts and minds of those dealing with weight issues is very helpful to me, so I when I started my own journey I decided I would use my love of writing to share my own struggles and victories. The fact that people comment and are so supportive has been the proverbial icing on the cake. I'm always so thankful for the support that comes through comments left on my posts.

This weight loss journey of mine has truly been the start of a new me. It's not been easy, but the changes being made are deep. Ultimately, it's been up to me to make it all work and to see the weight come off. Yet, through it all this kind of undertaking does require some love and support.

So, again, I'm very thankful today for all the love and support I've received from my family and friends. Yes, support and love even back when I was heavy, because had I not felt love and acceptance back then, who knows if I would've ever felt confident enough to start this journey at all.

Thankful Days - Womanhood

Short Story: I'm going to write each day this week about something I'm thankful for. Today's choice is my monthly, but you'll have to read below to find out why. Scan about one-third or halfway down... or even the ending if you're really short on time. I understand. :)

Long Story:
Although Thanksgiving isn't until Thursday I'm usually beginning to prepare for it today. The house is getting cleaned up for company, laundry gets caught up so we don't have to be bothered when company is visiting and I'm making sure I've purchased everything for the Thanksgiving meal. Tuesday I'll enjoy the arrival of company and begin some baking. Wednesday there'll be a few more early cooking preparation, kids home and enjoying our company. Finally, Thursday will be the big day of cooking, visiting with family and enjoying some special foods that I only eat this one day a year.

This is one of my favorite holidays. First off, because I love to cook and set out that huge meal and watch others enjoy it. I've even learned how to enjoy it in moderation myself. I also love being reminded of all the things I'm blessed with in my life.

So, this week I will post each day about something I'm thankful for. I was beginning to get vexed the other day, but decided instead of stewing about things I can, or can not, control I will find the blessing in them.

My vexation began when I found myself mindlessly eating a few evenings. Each day I said I wouldn't do it and then even just last night I did it again. I felt rather out of control, and while I know my "binges" now are nothing like what I used to eat before they are still not healthy or necessary.

Suddenly it dawned on me that this urge for sweets, then salty, then sweet again was the habit of PMS in my life. When I began getting upset over a few things that weren't as big a deal as they seemed I took a look at the calendar.

Yep, I've a feeling I'm getting close to what we ladies delicately call "TOM" on our blogs - Time Of the Month. Joy. I envy those who have small, hardly noticeable monthlies, because mine comes in like a storm every month. I get very emotional, painful and lose most of my eating discipline (or so it seems) most every single time. [sigh]

But...today I've chosen to be thankful for this regular occurrence in my life.

I remember the arrival of my first "TOM". One of the first thoughts that went through my head was "Now I can have babies!!!". Yes, you can laugh, I'm laughing myself as I type. [giggle] I knew this necessary evil was required to fulfill my dreams of motherhood someday, so I was beyond thrilled when it finally arrived.

Well, my friends, God blessed me with three healthy, beautiful children within the first five years of my marriage.

My first pregnancy brought identical twin girls that were born completely healthy at 36 weeks. They were so healthy the pediatrician stood in the regular baby nursery while the nurse prepared beds for them. She was sure the preemies were going to the special care nursery that she had nothing ready and even argued with the doctor about where they needed to be. When he stood firm that there was no reason for them to go to special care we knew we'd been blessed with healthy babies.

Just under three years later a little boy joined our family. Again, perfectly healthy, and to my joy and surprise he nursed like a pro (this hadn't gone so smoothly with the girls). I was also able to have a VBAC with him, which was a blessing to me.

All my babies were happy and healthy babies, and so far we've enjoyed almost 13 years with the girls and 10 with our son. God has been so good to us, and it all started with TOM.

So, today I'm grateful for womanhood, more specifically TOM. It's not fun, and can be downright evil at times. I think it's actually one of the biggest demons we women fight in the midst of a weight loss journey. Yet, had it never arrived in the first place, or if it didn't work properly, I might not have been able to conceive and give birth to my three children. And they are a blessing I will never regret having in my life.

p.s. If you'd like to share something you're thankful for, feel free. If you'd like the little button I made for these posts, leave me a comment with your email address and I'll email it to you. I created it with a digital kit from Shabby Miss Jenn.

Hot 100 Update #8

Well, here is my update that I've put off posting all day. Why? Because I have only worked out one day this week and I showed a loss of 3.5 pounds yesterday. Something in me is having a hard time accepting this loss, because I feel like I didn't earn it.

I have been very busy this week, like on my feet a lot most days. Some days I chatted with friends long enough to miss time to workout and others I seriously didn't have the time to do it without getting little sleep I need my sleep, so I didn't exercise.

I know I was trying to be careful in some ways foodwise, because of the lack of workouts, so maybe that was good. I'm just really nervous that next week I'll maintain. However, I know that Thanksgiving is in a week, so I'm determined to stay within calories every day this week because I'll probably go a little over on Thursday.

Another reason I'm having a hard time with the weight loss is I can hardly believe that I'm in the 180's again. It's been so long and I have days where I can still hardly believe that I'm still losing weight. It's a miracle, folks. I still can't really think beyond the current day or I get really nervous I'll never make my goal....yet....

Here I am. I'm now half a pound away from the halfway point to my goal!!!

So, with all that jibber jabber done, on to my goals...be warned they are as colorful as the autumn leaves outside. :)

WEIGHT GOAL: Lose 0.5 - 1.5 lbs a week (Beginning weight 194.0). I am down another 3.5 pounds this week and it's the high point of my week. :) I looked over my weigh-ins from last month and from October 15th to now, approximately one month, I've lost 9.5 pounds. This is the most I've lost in a month in a LONG time. :) I think getting my rest, bumping up the water again and being careful with calories (because I knew I wasn't exercising) must've helped, because I wasn't expecting a loss like this with so little exercise. This puts me at 7.5 pounds lost so far this challenge. I should be anywhere from 4-12 pounds lost, so I guess I'm doing fine. :)

ACTIVITY GOALS:Exercise four days a week, no skimping down to three during the holidays. No. I might get a second one in tomorrow, but so far I've only exercised one day this week. It's been CRAZY busy and I just didn't have or didn't make time this week. I know I could've gotten a workout in earlier today, but I was in a creating mood and have been making digital scrapped stuff on the computer and then relaxing with a sick daughter all day. This WILL get back to normal next week.

Be able to jog at 4.8 mph for 25 minutes. This gives metime for slight warm up and cool down on the treadmill that has a 30-minute limit at the gym. I believe I'll get there, and I know I'm well on the way.

FOOD GOALS: Drink at least 64 oz of water daily. Only about 4 out of 7 days. Finally got good on Wednesday and have done well since then. Journal all my eats and drinks and stay within my calorie goals daily, with the exception of one high-calorie day that I allow to throw things off a bit. No. I only journaled maybe two days this week. I did keep a decent running tally in my head daily, but that's not good. I just didn't take time to get things written/typed down.

EMOTIONAL GOAL: **I've decided to make my emotional goal the goal of visiting one new blog each week. Connecting with others on this journey is the emotional support I need at this time. No, but I re-visted a blog I've started following since the challenge started. This is good. :)

HOLIDAY GOAL: Only one or two "foo-foo" coffee drinks from Starbucks the week I am visiting my mom in November. I will stick to regular coffee and cream the rest of the weeks. I had one "foo-foo" drink this week, but it was a tall skinny vanilla latte, equaling 90 calories. I'm putting this at yellow since, yes, I had one, but no it wasn't the high-calorie one I used to buy in years past.

Hopefully this doesn't sound like an update full of lame excuses, it's just what my life has been like right now.

Thanks for checking in and I wish you all a wonderful weekend. I'll be busy getting that exercise in and preparing for out-of-town guests next week. :D

Throwdown Challenge ... Week #2

Hello...well, I came home from work early with a sick child so I am able to post earlier than I planned today.

**update**Barb's Total % was lost and I know I wouldn't want to have any more of a gain than necessary, so I updated our scorecard.**

By some miracle I am down a bunch this week and it puts me in the lead for our Throwdown Challenge.

This is a first for me, and I'm pleased. I'm also pleased that Barb is not giving up! If you've followed my journey for any length of time you know that not giving up is the only way I've made it this far in my weight loss journey.

So, I wish her the best this next week leading up to Thanksgiving. I'm keeping a little luck myself, because she said she's competitive and now she's more encourage than ever to do well. I wouldn't doubt it.

Having a larger loss this week makes me think it could even out next, but who knows?!? I've surprised myself so far in this challenge, so I might just keep dropping the pounds. LOL

Happy Thursday everyone! :)

p.s. Yes, I'm a digital scrapping geek and just had to make a scorecard..I couldn't resist. *giggle*

Home Again

Well, I had a post on here talking about how I'm home and it's been busy, etc.

I also commented that I ate too much at dinner and it was vexing me.

I've just now read some blogs, and decided to come back here and delete my negative comments. So, this evening wasn't my best eating time in a while. Oh well. It's over and tomorrow is a new day. I'm not going to get on here and whine and cry over one evening.

I had a great trip last week. As time allows I'll post on some things I learned from my mom in regards to eating.

Today I'm back to my normal life as mommy and wife and I'm happy to be healthy and alive. Life is all about learning and this evening I learned something...I still have some detrimental habits that I need to be on the lookout for in my weight loss journey.

Oh, and I learned something else...the green tea I was drinking at my mom's was just as good at my house these last two evenings!! :)

G'nite all!

Hot 100 ... Update #7

The challenge is going pretty well this week, even with me being out of town. I'm writing this Thursday night because my mom has a procedure that I have to take her to tomorrow. It will be a while and I wanted to get the update done. Looking back it's been a good week!

WEIGHT GOAL: Lose 0.5 - 1.5 lbs a week. I am down another 1.5 pounds this week, bringing my Hot 100 lbs lost to 4.0. Technically, for my goal I am right on track again. Boy, was I smart to set that at .5 - 1.5 a week. That little 0.5 a week is saving my rear.

ACTIVITY GOALS:Exercise four days a week, no skimping down to three during the holidays. I'm writing this Thursday night with plans to walk Friday morning. If that changes I'll come back and change this portion of my post. My mom has a treadmill and I've been walking briskly at a good incline for a nice, hard indoor workout. It's a little small and makes me nervous to jog on it. I jogged Monday, but don't really want to after that.

Update Friday 9:00 am: I did get up and walk this morning!!! :) So, I get to leave it green. Yea!

Be able to jog at 4.8 mph for 25 minutes. This gives metime for slight warm up and cool down on the treadmill that has a 30-minute limit at the gym. I believe getting my exercise in, even on vacation, is helping me reach this goal. :)

FOOD GOALS: Drink at least 64 oz of water daily. Yes. I've also started drinking decaf green tea with splenda and really enjoying it instead of more coffee after I've had my morning cup. Journal all my eats and drinks and stay within my calorie goals daily, with the exception of one high-calorie day that I allow to throw things off a bit. Yes, I've been using the app "Tap n Track" on my iPod touch while I'm out of town. I've decided I prefer journaling by hand, but this is a handy tool for travel. I've been at 1500 or less 6/7 days this past week. Since we've spent a LOT of time sitting and chatting or watching movies I know this is what helped me see a loss this week.

EMOTIONAL GOAL: **I've decided to make my emotional goal the goal of visiting one new blog each week. Connecting with others on this journey is the emotional support I need at this time. Yes. I actually made time to visit a new blog and catch up with my favorites once this week at least. :)

HOLIDAY GOAL: Only one or two "foo-foo" coffee drinks from Starbucks the week I am visiting my mom in November. I will stick to regular coffee and cream the rest of the weeks. So far the only "foo-foo" drink I've had is the Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte I posted about on Monday. So, this is going well. Today I splurged on a small blizzard from Dairy Queen (we don't have them in OK), but I still haven't splurged on a special, high-calorie coffee. Still not sounding all that great...weird. :)

Do you notice all that green? Do you know this is the first week it's been all green? The only thing that could change is the exercise for tomorrow if I don't get up early enough, but even so...not bad at all, if I do humbly say so myself.

I hope you've all had a nice week and I'll be writing more later. If time allows I'll put a little post in tomorrow with a pic of me and my awesome, breast-cancer kicking, weight-loss success of a mom. Maybe my dad too, since he's the knight in shining armor for her that has been with her all these years. We'll see...

Until then. Thanks for checking in and have a nice day. :)

Throwdown Challenge...Week #1

Good morning! Here we are checking on week one of our Throwdown Challenge.
Barb: -1.5 lbs this week for total percentage of weight loss of .99%
Leah: -1.5 lbs this week for a total percentage of weight loss of .78%

Barb is in the lead and good for her!!!!!

I made a score card similar to our badge, but it's at my house in OK. So, I'll update that on Monday and use it later.

I have to say I'm so glad Barb asked me to do this challenge. She told me that it would be in fun, but also to challenge us to be accountable to each other and get that scale going in the right direction during this big-food holiday month.

It sure did keep me in line. While I'm on vacation I kept thinking that I better be careful if I wanted to see any loss this week. I was even nervous when one morning the scale didn't show anything positive, but it all worked out.

I'm visiting my mom, who is also working on losing weight, so that has been a big help. I'm going to post on that later, but I have to say had she not been worrying about it I might have been sharing a different story this morning.

Speaking of mom...she's making breakfast, so I need to get. Have a great day ladies! Great job, Barb! I will be back tomorrow with my Hot 100 update.

Updated Note: We are using the calculator on Fit Watch to confirm our % weight lost.

Time For the Foo-Foo Drink

Good morning from somewhere outside of Oklahoma. :) I'm visiting my parents this week and things are going well.

First off, I said I wouldn't have a "foo-foo" coffee drink at Starbucks except on this visit. Well, on Saturday my best friend picked me up at the airport and we spent most the day together before going to my parent's house. On the way to drive to my parent's we stopped at Starbucks for a coffe. Guess what I ordered?

Not the non-fat, no-whip, white chocolate mocha I had been planning on.

I ordered a skinny cinnamon dolce latte. I think "skinny" means non-fat milk and sugar-free syrup. It needed a little help, so I added some sweet-n-low to it and a couple teaspoons of half-n-half (which is what I drink in my coffee normally). Then it was perfect.

I just couldn't bring myself to drink something that was 300+ calories a cup, even with non-fat milk and no whip cream. Not yet anyway.

When I got home and looked up the calorie difference this is what I found on Starbucks.com:
Grande Non-fat, No-whip White Mocha: 350 calories
Grande Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte: 130 calories + about 20 calories for the half-n-half= 150 calories. Like I said, I enjoyed my drink very much when I was drinking it, but I enjoyed it even more when I got hom and realized I saved myself 200 calories. :)

Now, I'm not saying I won't still have that high-calorie foo-foo drink I was waiting for, but I just wasn't ready yet to spend my calories on it so early in the trip. This is a weird feeling for me, but it was like I just didn't need that and even more so when I knew how much it was going to "cost" me. I'm interested to see if I'll feel like having it at all this week. I'll keep you posted. :)

Meanwhile, have a good week and I'll be checking in once in a while with you. For sure on Thursday, because that will the first official weigh-in for the Throwdown Challenge between Barb and I. :)

Hot 100 Update #6

Since I've started my challenge for the month of November Fridays will now be solely devoted to my Hot 100 Challenge updates.

WEIGHT GOAL: Lose 0.5 - 1.5 lbs a week. I was down this week, back to 191.5. For six weeks I should be down at least 3.0 pounds, so now I'm behind. Since I did see a loss this week I couldn't put this all in red, just yellow, because I need to get back on track. But, OF COURSE I WILL, because I have to beat Barb this month in total % body weight. :)

ACTIVITY GOALS:

• Exercise four days a week, no skimping down to three during the holidays. Yes.
• Be able to jog at 4.8 mph for 25 minutes. This gives metime for slight warm up and cool down on the treadmill that has a 30-minute limit at the gym. Yes. I had another NSV Wednesday when I jogged two miles in 25 minutes. Woo Hoo! This is big for me. I did intervals between 4.8 mph and 5.0 mph. for about 20-23 minutes. I think I dropped to 4.7 at the end.

FOOD GOALS:

• Drink at least 64 oz of water daily. I think this was about 5/7 days, but I can't remember.
• Journal all my eats and drinks and stay within my calorie goals daily, with the exception of one high-calorie day that I allow to throw things off a bit. Yes, I journaled, but no I didn't stay within calories every day. To lose about 1.5 pounds a week my current calorie level is set at something like 1490 now. I'm determined to make it six days a week. I gotta....gotta beat Barb... LOL

EMOTIONAL GOAL: **I've decided to make my emotional goal the goal of visiting one new blog each week. Connecting with others on this journey is the emotional support I need at this time. I don't have time to visit blogs and focus on the Beck book, so I'm switching it up for the challenge. Yes. I've also accepted the challenge with Barb and this is big for me. I used to be afraid of challenges because I failed at them in the past. I'm excited now and already today the little voice in my head reminded me, "No sweets, because you've got to keep those calories down..it worked. :)

HOLIDAY GOAL: Only one or two "foo-foo" coffee drinks from Starbucks the week I am visiting my mom in November. I will stick to regular coffee and cream the rest of the weeks. Done.I have to say...lately a white chocolate mocha is not even sounding good because I know a Grande, non-fat, white chocolate mocha is 340 calories and that's about the size of a good meal for me. Is it really worth it? We'll see. .. I'm surprising myself with those thoughts that I may not even want one. I'm thinking I may have one, but I'm not sure now. An Americano with some cinnamon sprinkled on top sounds just fine too. :) I'll let you know.

Tomorrow I leave to go out of town for a week. I will be visiting my mom and I will have time to check in while I'm there. I'll see if I can talk her into letting me take a picture of her in her "pirate" outfit. She's finally lost most of her hair from the chemotherapy and so I found this card that said, "If people ask why you're wearing a scarf tell them you're a pirate!" LOL

Have a great weekend everyone and, as I often say, thank you for sticking with me so long in this journey. It means a lot!

Weigh-In ... New Day & New Challenge

Today's Weight: 191.5

Loss/Gain: -1.5

Total Loss So Far: -39.5 lbs

Today I am starting a new challenge. A few days ago Barb asked if I'd like to be her partner in the Throwdown Challenge. We will be working against each other this month to see who can lose the highest percentage of body weight.

So, we decided to make Thursdays our official weigh-in day and we will end it on Thursday, December 2nd.

I was nervous about accepting her challenge because I have week-long trip coming up and Thanksgiving this month, but then I decided it would be fun. Plus, it might be just what I need to stay focused through these events.

My goal for this challenge is...

To lose more weight than Barb, at least more body percentage of weight. :)

I will do this by strictly adhering to my Hot 100 goals AND I'm adding something I've been thinking about for a while now...designated dessert days. I will only have sweets/desserts on (1) my week out of town, in moderation and (2) Thanksgiving Day and possibly Friday. The only exception will be if my daughter bakes something I might try a bite to make sure it came out okay, but I will jot it down in my calories for sure if I do this.

Wish me luck. We are doing this in fun and to keep each other accountable. You can read more about it on her blog by clicking here.

Update:

Barb's beginning weight: 169.0

Leah's beginning weight: 191.5

Good Thing I Asked and NSV

Two things to share today...

First off, this evening my daughter and I stopped in for a warm drink at the Starbucks in our local Target store. I almost got a hot chocolate and figured it would be my dessert for today, but then I decided to ask how they make it.

I assumed it would be with milk and a shot of syrup added. Nope.

I was told the base was the white chocolate mix, not regular milk (which I could've asked for non-fat). ah ha! Good thing I asked...because that qualifies it as a "foo-foo" drink and would've ruined the one thing I've been able to do consistently on my Hot 100 challenge.

Of course, now as I write I'm thinking that anything outside of coffee would've gone against my challenge, correct? Oh well..I'm glad I settled for a decaf Americano and added my regular sweetener and cream. It was about 50 calories versus 200+ calories. I greatly enjoyed it and didn't have to feel guilty for not complying with my challenge goals. :)

Secondly, I had a HUGE non-scale victory today during my workout using Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred. For the first time ever I was able to do the jumping jacks and the "jump rope" move back to back. This is during a 2-minute interval of cardio wherein you do 30-seconds of each in two sets, and I've never been able to do the "jump rope" move (jumping in place basically) directly after doing jumping jacks.

Today it was still so hard, but I DID IT! My thighs were killing me afterwards.

I told my friend that I will not move on to Level 2 until I can do this one portion of the cardio consistently. Looks like I'm getting closer and closer to achieving this. Woo Hoo!

Alright, I have to get to bed now. My eyes are droopy and my back is tired. I've been working on a school yearbook all evening and it's wiping me out.

I hope you're all off to a pleasant fall week. Mine is off to a good start. G'nite!