Weigh-In ... Hot 100 Update #1 & Pictures

Today's Weight: 194.5

Loss/Gain: +0.5 lb.

Total Loss So Far: 36.5 lbs.

Things went pretty well this week considering TOM showed up a couple of days ago. I had moments of chocolate snacking, but overall my eating wasn't as bad as some months and I'm grateful for that. I was a little bummed with the gain, but I know it will come off this next week. It figures this would happen on the first week of the challenge. :)

I made a change to my emotional goal for the Hot 100 Challenge and I think it will work better with my busy schedule.

Speaking of the challenge, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this challenge at first because it seemed like one more thing to have to think about. Now that I've spent a little time visiting some new blogs and still working on my own goals I am glad I joined. The challenge itself and seeing others who are following along with their own goals will give me something to help me stay focused during the holidays.

So now for my results...

WEIGHT GOAL: Lose 0.5 - 1.5 lbs a week. No. Gained 0.5 this week, but not too upset considering the mother nature reasons for it.

ACTIVITY GOALS:

• Exercise four days a week, no skimping down to three during the holidays. Only 3 days so far, because I took Wednesday off due to severe cramps. However, my husband and I are going to a fair tomorrow which will most likely entail lots of walking. That will bring me to four.
• Be able to jog at 4.8 mph for 25 minutes. This gives me time for slight warm up and cool down on the treadmill that has a 30-minute limit at the gym. Working towards this. I jogged all three days I exercised this week so far. :)

FOOD GOALS:

• Drink at least 64 oz of water daily. Done.
• 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. I'm giving this a yellow, because I think I had two days that I was way over. TOM showed up two days ago and the munchies preceded it over the weekend.

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. Done. This week I visited Less of Me - More of Him.

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 went to Starbucks twice this week and only had regular coffee both times. Was kind of like, "Oh, wait I'm not having that until I go visit my mom." on one visit, but it wasn't a major struggle to just get coffee. YAY!

So, overall it wasn't too bad and I'm content with how the week went.

Lastly, I've updated my progress pictures since it's the end of September and I finally showed a loss since the last time I took pictures. For new visitors to my blog. I maintained from April to August, and finally started going down in September. :)

Weight Loss Progression Pics

I hope you all have a great weekend. I have some fun plans ahead and will catch up with everyone on Monday.

Thursday Thought - Just Do It

Here's a little thought for Thursday that I heard on the radio while on my way to jogging this morning. K-Love was having a morning interview with Dr. Kevin Leman and he finished up what appeared to be a conversation about finding the new you by saying, and I paraphrase...

"What would the old you do in this situation? Now, what would the new you do in the same situation? You need to do it, whether you feel like it or not."

I know I'll be working on keeping this in mind throughout my day. Have a great day everyone! :)

First Steps

I was catching up on Diane's blog this evening and this post on Exercise and Fear really caught my attention, especially the last paragraph:

Diane speaking on fear of exercise when she started her weight loss journey at 305 pounds.

Leaving the comfort of the house took some courage. I walked in the early morning, just before daybreak, so my neighbors couldn’t see me. That morning, thighs rubbing together like sandpaper, I walked 10 minutes away from the house turned around and walked 10 minutes home. Slow were my steps but they would prove to be some of the most important first steps I would take for the rest of my life. Day after day I put aside my feelings of insecurity and walked out the front door. Every day I exercised I put a check mark on my calendar and watched as the calendar filled up and my body shrunk. Overcoming the emotional fears of exercise took courage and perseverance, but the results were worth every hard moment.

It brings me to a recent exercise fear of sorts I had.

Yesterday I met my friend to jog at the park. This was the first time for us to jog together. She kept telling me how slow she was, but I knew I was slower still. I gave her the go ahead to leave if she needed to speed up. She didn't think she would, but it was only a minute or two before she realized she would have to. I was fine with that because I know that I jog really slow.

Yet, while I'm very aware that my personal best jogging rate of 4.5 mph is slow watching her slowly get farther and farther away from me was a brutal realization of just how slow I am. I felt like a turtle-whale ..... huge and jogging so slow.

It was the first time in a long while that I was embarrassed of my attempt at running. I saw her going on at her easy pace, not fast by any runner's standards, but still faster than me. I was proud of her, because I knew she just started running last spring.

At the same time I was a bit miserable. I missed my treadmill at the gym, where I could feel strong and fit jogging along next to people running at a "normal" pace. Instead I felt every heavy, slow step. Every heavy breath seemed to be as loud as if I was breathing into a megaphone. I didn't like it at all.

Then I realized something.

As I watched my friend shrinking out of my sight I remembered that she is 50 pounds lighter than me, and only five pounds over my goal weight. Suddenly she became my hope on that tortuous jog. If I kept going with this plan of exercise and my weight keeps going down, then someday I'll be jogging along like her.

I'd like to say that it made the rest of my jog a breeze but it didn't. I still struggled and felt like a turtle-whale. I was glad I went, but it wasn't only until tonight after reading Diane's post that I realized I can overcome the fear of getting back out there on that trail to run. I may be slow, but these are my "important first steps" that will lead me to success in my health for the rest of my life.

In fact, before ever reading Diane's post tonight, I had already made a date to jog with her again. We're going to the same trail tomorrow, and I will do my best. One. jogging. step. at. a. time.

New Socks!!

Early in the summer I bought these nice, thin, low cut socks to wear with my tennis. They seem so fresh and light and I loved them. Then I started jogging again and began having a problem. My foot was seeming to slide in my tennis shoe. Hhhmm....weird. I would tighten the laces, but then my shoes felt too tight.

So, I asked my new running friend if she had a sock preference and she said she's found that Academy actually has some good socks to offer, for a general sports store. Now, I know Tricia has the best information I've come across on running wear, but for now I need to settle for something that isn't $10-$15 a pair.

I went to Academy, bought a 3-pack and jogged with them last week for the first time. They are so comfortable! I love how they are just thick enough to keep my foot fit snug in my shoe, but thin enough to be light and airy. I've loved them so much for all of my workouts last week (there were 3 pairs a pack) that I went back and bought more yesterday.

Someday when/if I'm jogging miles and miles regularly I may invest in "real" running socks, but for now I'm very, happy with these. Goodness.. the the fact that I bought special socks, "real" or not, makes me feel like a real runner already. [grin]

Hot 100 Challenge 2010

****My apologies for posting this late, but my computer was being used over the weekend.**

I decided to join the Hot 100 Challenge over at Log My Loss. I did this last year and it was pretty successful. Having just finished my commitment to reading The Beck Diet Solution this is good timing.

The purpose of the Hot 100 Challenge is to set goals that will help you stay strong and even achieve some excellence in your health the last 100 days of the year. Below are my goals and I will be updating how I did on them each week with my weigh-in on Fridays.

WEIGHT GOAL: Lose 0.5 - 1.5 lbs a week. I will only weigh on Fridays.

ACTIVITY GOALS:

• Exercise four days a week, no skimping down to three during the holidays. :)
• Be able to jog at 4.8 mph for 25 minutes. This gives me time for slight warm up and cool down on the treadmill that has a 30-minute limit at the gym.

FOOD GOALS:

• Drink at least 64 oz of water daily. This is hard for me to do as the weather cools.
• 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. (Think flex points if you've ever done Weight Watchers.)

EMOTIONAL GOAL: Focus on one or two thoughts from the book The Beck Diet Solution each week. I will focus on concepts that were harder for me to grasp in one day, and even repeat concepts over the weeks if I need to.

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 will also commit to visiting one new blog from the Hot 100 challenge each week to encourage them. (Thanks to Lori for this idea, I thought it was great and copied her. [grin] )

So, though I was late in getting this post out, I will tell you that I have already been following my goals since Saturday.

To those that stopped by my blog on Friday and Saturday to check on my goals, thank you so much! You're already an inspiration and great encouragement.

Have a great week everyone!

Weigh-In ... Beck Diet Solution Week 6

Today's Weight: 194.0

Loss/Gain: -1.5

Total Loss So Far: -37.0 lbs

First off, you know I'm beyond thrilled with a loss again. This is the lowest I've been on my weight loss journey to date, and I think it's been about 4-5 years since I've been this close to 190. Woo Hoo!!

This week instead of weighing myself every day I only weighed myself two or three times. I wanted to see if not weighing myself daily would make me pay more attention to what I was eating and writing down instead of seeing if a mess up made the scale go up the next day. I think it helped a little, so I'm going to continue that this next week.

Now, on to the deeper thought I wanted to share today.

On Saturday, August 14th, I recommitted myself to my weight loss journey. If you're new to my blog you can read about it by clicking here. Below is the list of tools I committed to using to commit to my weight loss journey once again.

1. I have decided to follow the six-week program from this book "The Beck Diet Solution". CHECK
2. I will journal all of my food, drinks, supplements and exercise in the DietMinder food planner. CHECK
3. I will use my iPod touch to help me find calorie counts, calculate things, etc. CHECK
4. And I "had" to have a cool, new pink (breast cancer supporting) lead pencil to write in the book and food planner. :) CHECK and I think it really made it more fun to journal, well maybe. I'm into cute pens and such. (giggle)

On August 14th I was 200.0 pounds.

Today, six weeks later, I am 194.0 pounds.

I have lost 6.0 pounds since my recommitment. That is an average of 1.0 pound a week and I am very pleased.

Over the course of the past six weeks I have learned a lot of cognitive therapy, or thinking, tools to help me in my weight loss journey. I've learned so much that I think I am not going to stop with it here. I am going to continue reading it each week, but sticking to reviewing one or two concepts per week as I continue on my weight loss journey.

To sum it up:

• I will focus on the concepts that were a little harder to grasp in one day and give myself a week to work on them.
• I will continue to journal all of my food.
• I will continue to use my iPod touch to find calorie information, etc.
• I will continue to use cool, pink lead pencil!

And last, but definitely not least......

• I WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE WEIGHT!

Have a great weekend everyone! I will. :)

Make It A Priority

Yesterday, as I was running some errands during my lunch break from school I realized that though I'd been on the go a lot lately I wasn't exhausted. I know this is mainly due to my change in health - eating better and getting regular exercise - and I'm so grateful.

It's another one of those benefits that makes all the effort worth it.

I have to add that getting my rest is vitally important as well, though it's something I struggle to get enough of. Each person requires different amounts of sleep and I am an 7-8-hours-a-night girl. When I take the time to get to bed, or am willing to put off some things to get to bed on time, I feel so much better in the days that follow. When I don't get my rest I feel like I'm dragging and not like the healthy, vibrant person I want to be.

So, today I'd like to encourage you to make your health a priority by following some basic rules that are becoming more and more cemented in my life:

• Taking care of what and how much you are eating. Track your calories or food choices for a while if you aren't sure where you're going wrong. It will help, I promise.
• Get some exercise in each week. I don't workout six days a week, but I do try and get a good, solid, 30 minute, sweaty workout in at least 3-4 days a week, more if possible.
• Drink that water. Yes, I added this one for free. :) It will help you be in top shape for your workouts...trust me. (I'll write about my dehydrated workout later.)
• And get that rest. Your health is important. Getting an appropriate amount of rest is vital to your health. If you only need six hours to make it through a day, then that's fine. We are all different, but that doesn't mean we don't all need rest.

Believe me, I understand the duties of wife, mother, working woman and the fun of hobbies too, but something I've really come to learn is that when I take care of the few basic guidelines I've outlined above I'm in better shape to handle all my duties and even my "play" time.

I'm not at all into the whole "me time" mentality that many people have. You know, that attitude that gets abused so that everything and everyone has to cater to the person lacking their "me time". However, if life takes all my time and I no longer have time to worry about my health, then everything I apply myself to will suffer the consequences.

I have to make my health a priority in my life. By doing so I will be able to continue enjoying full days that do not zap me of my energy. How about you?