Weigh-In ... Doing Something Right

Today's Weight: 185.0

Loss/Gain: -1.0 lb

Total Loss So Far: -46.0 lbs

After a week of PMS chocolate eating and TOM arriving yesterday I'm very pleased with a one-pound loss. I can't remember the last time I had a lost when TOM arrived. I must be doing something right. :)

It's been another busy week, and another good busy. Eating was so-so with the beginning of the week having a huge PMS indulgence.

Exercise has been good.

• Sat - 40 mins of Jillian Michael's intervals DVDs.
• Sun - Rest
• Mon - 30 Day Shred DVD before work
• Tues - Leslie Sansone 2-mile walk before work
• Wed - Rest
• Thurs - Sansone 2-mile Faith Walk
• Fri (today) - 30 mins on elliptical finishing just over 3 miles at levels 12-14 and 30 mins on bike completing just over 6 miles at levels 10-12.

I've had some emotional days, but things are getting worked out and it's all for good. I'm learning sometimes we have to face the fight and hard times to rejoice in the victorious outcome.

I don't know if the emotional issues I've been dealing with will impact my weight loss journey, but we'll see. In the meantime I'm continuing on in my weight loss journey.

Here's a question or two for everyone:

1. If you had an accountability partner what would you want to be accountable to each other for? Calories eaten daily? Exercise commitment met daily? Either of these weekly? Something totally different?
2. If you've had a friend you were accountable to, what did you do? Was it helpful?

Thanks for the comments. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Have a nice weekend everyone! I'm going to try and get back to some more regular blogging...as soon as I remember my husband is home in the evenings now and not out studying till all hours any more. (we share a computer...) LOL

Thanks for checking in! :)

Full-time Days

It's Wednesday and I've been working every day this week so far. When working my days are full and then my evenings are full of taking care of household chores and relaxing for a few minutes with the family. Blogging is not the highest on my list of things to get done, so it takes a backseat when I'm this busy. The good thing is my weight loss journey doesn't. :)

I've still been tracking my food and I've gotten up to exercise in the mornings. Today is my rest day in the week, so I was able to sleep an extra 30 minutes.

I told my friend on Monday night that I'm a little amazed at the energy I've had each evening to get dinner and take care of what needs to be done (to keep the house from getting a mess while I'm working). I told her when I worked full-time before I used to be so tired in the evenings. I attribute this energy to eating better and getting regular exercise. Of course rest is good too and I've done pretty well at getting to bed at a decent hour...something about knowing I'm getting up at 5:45 helps me. :)

Anyway, I have a post brewing regarding a sermon my pastor preached last Sunday. He and his wife have been exercising and watching what they eat for the past few months and in his sermon on striving for excellence he paralleled his weight loss journey to his walk with God. It was a very timely sermon for me in all areas of my life, especially with my word being FOCUS this year. :) I took many notes and will be back to share with you what I learned as soon as I have a bit more time.

In the meantime, I'm off to get dressed for work. I hope you're all having a good week. Thanks for checking in! :)

Weigh-In ... Chocolate & A New Love

Today's Weight: 186.0

Loss/Gain: -1.0 lb

Total Loss So Far: -45 lbs

What a good, busy week I've had.

I'm glad to be down after a week of chocolate indulgences. I have journaled every one, but there were more than usual this week. Amazingly I didn't do too shabby with my calorie intake daily, even with chocolate, and that is a step forward. I can do better, so I plan to this coming week.

I've stepped up my exercise to 45 minutes or more. Here's what I accomplished since my last weigh-in:

Sat - 30 mins on bike and 30 mins on elliptical

Sun - None

Mon - 30 minutes jogging and 20 mins on bike

Tues - 50 minute 4-Mile Fast Walk DVD by Leslie Sansone

Wed - none

Thurs - 45 min 3 Fast Miles DVD by Leslie Sansone (at 5:45 am because I had to work - GO ME!!!!)

Today - This morning hubby and I went to gym after dropping off son and I have already doen 30 mins jogging on treadmill and 30 mins walking random hills routine on treadmill at 3.8/4.0 mph intervals. I was one sweaty girl after that.

So, I'm pleased with my exercise for the week. I'm shooting to hit 45-60 minutes of exercise daily. I know it's vital to my success and it helped this week - especially with chocolate in my blood all week. LOL

Oh, and I have to share something new I've fallen in love with (can you tell I have time to blog today?? I've been wanting to tell you for a few days now....) BLUEBERRIES!!!!

I see Lori eat them all the time and thought I should give them a try. I LOVE THEM. I even had my son try them and he liked them as well. mmm....they've been added to my fruit with lunch or snacks now.

Well, I must go. I'm writing on an endorphin high, so I'm feeling very happy right now, but my housework does call. So, I'm off to make my house look all fresh and clean again so I can enjoy my weekend.

Have a great Friday everyone!! :)

Doing Well

Just thought I'd pop in to say that it's been a busy week, but I'm doing well. I hope you are all having a nice week.

Talk to you tomorrow for weekly weigh-in. :o)

My Valentines

Heart healthy things I've done in the last 48-72 hours.

• Ran a 5K on Friday.
• Got a babysitter and went out of town Friday with my Luv for an overnight trip.
• Ate chocolate covered strawberries.
• Finished 24-hour getaway with a trip to the gym with said Luv.
• Biked for 30 minutes and then did 30 minutes on elliptical during that gym visit.
• Enjoyed dinner at Chipotle with husband and kids (and seriously aching thighs from workout).
• Remembered Sunday morning that the greatest valentine of all is the love God showed to us when he gave his son to die for our sins. John 3:16
• Had friends over for lunch on Sunday for nice visit.
• Exchanged valentines with ladies in church (something new that we all enjoyed).
• Sent my kids off this morning with little valentine's treats and lots of hugs and kisses.

It's just been a wonderful, loving couple of days! I forgot my camera at church yesterday, so I have to leave you with this digital scrapbook page I made recently.

I'm a blessed woman with a happy heart! I hope you all enjoy some kind of activity that will bring joy to your heart today!

My Healthy Heart Weekend Run

This morning I did my 5K for the Healthy Heart Weekend sponsored by Lori over at Finding Radiance. My husband went to the gym with me, but refused to take pictures. So... I did it myself. LOL I felt silly, but who cares?! Gotta have some fun sometimes. :)

(dialogue: "Halfway there.")

Do you know how hard it is to video yourself jogging?!?! If I made someone laugh at the gym today I'm glad..we all need to laugh at ourselves sometimes. Back to the story....

I decided to take it a bit slower so I could finish the whole thing jogging. So, I maintained a 4.7 mph pace for the whole run.

Had to do it in two bits because the treadmills at the gym only allow for a 30-minute workout and then they automatically shut down to a cool down mode. So, I did my 30, snapped a photo and then got back on for the completion of a 5K or 3.1 miles. :)

Those last few minutes were so rough. I even tried running at 5.0 mph (12-min mile) just to finish faster, but I thought my legs were going to quit, so I slowed up again. I did do the last minute that fast just to be done with it. I knew I'd be happy to finish it up right, and I was.

Have a great weekend everyone! I've got more heart healthy plans for this weekend and I'll update about how they go on Monday. :)

Weigh-In ... Wise Words

Today's Weight: 187.0

Loss/Gain: +2.5 lbs

Total Loss So Far: -44 lbs.

With all the love and compassion she has, a wise woman told me last night something like this,

"Your problem is that you like to cook and you like to eat. It's that simple."

It's true, it's true! Oh what am I to do....

Yes, I do love to cook. I laughed when she said it because it's so true. The proof is when I get more excited reading Where Women Cook than Where Women Create. Or how I love watching cooking shows to learn new tricks of the trade. It's a dream of my husband and I to have a big kitchen with lots of room to cook and entertain - it's one hobby we have in common.

In fact, I had even told my husband a bit ago that I'm going to have to get used to working out an hour a day, at least four to five days a week, if not more, because I love to cook and that's the only way I'm going to be able to cook certain rich, tasty foods I like and maintain a healthy weight.

So, as I pondered those wise words I thought about what I can do to help me stay within my calorie budget. I realized fruits and vegetables need to be my best friend.

Yes, I am learning to cook some healthier meals, but there are some things that just aren't the same when remade in a healthy manner. So, I think I'm going to have to be conscious of filling up on vegetables and fruit (which I don't do much of so far) so that I can enjoy small portions of higher calorie meals.

And I'm going to have to exercise. Faithfully. Dr. Beck has a chapter on this in her book The Beck Diet Solution. Exercise is a must and, especially for someone like me who loves to cook, it will be the only way to maintain a healthy weight. Exercise is also something my husband and I have in common, we both would like to do more. So, I know he'll be helpful in that area as well.

Thanks for sticking with me on this journey. For anyone still reading I truly appreciate your patience with me.

Wish me luck as I continue on my quest for my new ending...and try to desire losing weight more than eating everything I cook over the next year (oh, and working out faithfully too).

Balanced Focus

What a week it's been. Good in general life, not the best in weight loss life. Today I find myself praying to find the balance between staying focused on my weight loss journey and life.

I need to stay focused on weight loss to lose the weight, but I don't want it to be the only thing I think about all day. My whole problem is having food consume me and I need to break that. Yet, I need to not let food consume my every moment without losing focus to the point that I gain weight.

I'm finding myself repeating the same mistakes and falling into the same habits that prevent me from going forward with my weight loss at a steady pace. I'm about the same weight I was at the beginning of December and not happy about that. Yes, I'm happy I haven't gained, but I need to continue losing.

hhmm... it's a thinking day today. I know what needs to be done to lose weight. As Syl mentioned in her blog post on Monday. It's real simple and I don't really need magic pills or plans or even cool accesories (dreaming of a Body Bugg here..).

I just need to get to it, and keep it in a balanced focus with the rest of my life. I'm working on that.

Feel free to comment.... experiences? Similar struggles? I'm open.... :)

Weekend... Good and Bad

Okay, so I didn't do so great at the weekend eating. Actually I did okay with the exception of some chocolate and a late night meal last night. Oh, and I also realized this morning that I didn't track my food all weekend. Not on purpose, just lazy... hhmmm...

As I was reminded after reading Diane's post today, it's a good wake-up call to see the scale go up or not move. Then you realize that you can't food yourself by making un-weight loss food choices/portions and see the weight fall.

I can say that Friday night I did fine with my chicken and dumplings. I enjoyed every bite of them and didn't overeat.

We had company for dinner and my friend said this would be a great shot...so, no worries, I did not eat nine bowls of it. *grin*

I broke my month of no desserts Friday night and had some interesting observations with eating sweets over the weekend. I'll write more about it tomorrow.

In the meantime, today is a new day. I've had my normal, weight loss portion breakfast and I will get back on track and to tracking today. :)

Have a great week everyone!

Weigh In ... :o)

Today's Weight: 184.5

Loss/Gain: -2.5 lbs.

Total Loss So Far: -46.5 lbs.

I couldn't think of a good way to title this weigh-in, because I just smiled when I saw that number. I have been trying to stay focused and it shows. :) It's not been easy, but then I know anything worth having isn't always easy to get.

This morning as I was getting my breakfast I found myself thinking about what I was going to to eat later (thinking more excessive than moderation), because it's Friday. Then I stopped and I reminded myself that I need to stay focused even over the weekend so I can see another loss next week, and the next week, and so on.

So, we'll see how I do. I am making chicken and dumplings for dinner, so that will be a treat. I will do my best to enjoy in moderation. :)

Well it's cleaning day for me, so I need to get focused on finishing that up now. Have a nice Friday and stay warm this weekend if you're having lots of snow...like us. :)

Survivor News!!

Yes, as the above card says my mom was declared officially cancer free on Tuesday. No more cancer!!! Her doctor said all the tests came back normal, so she is a breast cancer survivor now.

To go along with that, a couple of weeks ago she had another doctor visit to check her blood sugars. The doctor said something to the effect of , "It looks like you don't have it [Type II Diabetes] anymore." She's gone from being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes last spring to being told she doesn't have it anymore. Glory!!

I know people lose their parents at young ages, and many lose family members to breast cancer or diabetes-related issues. So, I'm especially grateful my mother has made it through this past year and is in much better health now.

God is good.

Snow Day Workout

Today was a snow day for, well everyone. We knew a storm was a'comin and we woke up to snow like they said we would. Okay, well not as much as Lori has been getting, but still enough to shut everything down because we're not used to roads covered in snow. :)

So, what did I do today? Well, I spent all morning working on a project at the computer. Washed bedding on and off all day. Made lunch for the kids - all four of them. Yep, my love was home today too. :)

Then we all settled in and watched Secretariat (very neat movie) and suddenly I was tired of sitting around...so I put on my tennis shoes, popped in the DVD and started a Leslie Sansone Walk At Home 3-mile workout.

I stepped higher than ever before, and pushed myself as hard as I could. Ms. Leslie even did a little bit of an arm workout with the hand weights. Boy it felt good!

I wore my Garmin with heart rate monitor (yes, I finally used it and will post about it tomorrow maybe) and tracked my heart rate throughout the workout. I was pleased to share with my husband that I kept my heart rate between 145-155 bpm's throughout the workout, and I even hit just over 160 bpm's at the most intense point. Woo Hoo! He's always doubted whether "walking DVDs", as I call them, do that much good for me.

Well, they sure did today. My old faithful 3-Mile Weight Loss Walk DVD gave me a way to get some good exercise in on a cold, cold day.

Have a nice evening! I'm off to make a late dinner for the family. Er, scratch that...while I've been posting my Luv has taken up my offer to free himself of boredom and make dinner. *insert sly smile* He's "getting creative in the kitchen" and I'm all for that this evening! :)