It's My Year!

NEW Blog!!

2009-04-19T08:07:00.002-06:00

Wow.. been a long time since I've updated here! Lots of changes have gone on in my world but I'm happy to say that I'm finally back on the weight loss wagon. But this blog just didn't seem to "fit" anymore so I've started a new one. I hope you'll come join me over there!

Mommy Shrinks

Healthy You Check In, Weigh In and a bunch of blathering

2008-11-18T15:29:00.003-07:00

I'm getting to be a bad blogger... sorry. There is just SO much going on in life lately that I'm finding it hard to have the chance to just sit down and reflect enough to come up with a semi-decent post.

First things first: I'm only down 0.6 lbs today. Not surprised. There was a bit too much apple crisp and lasagna in my diet as of lately.

So much is going on.. school is getting busy as I have two finals this week and a major project due. I'm very excited at the prospect of only having 5 weeks of classes left! Woohoo! I'm doing my best to maintain my 4.0 average so that does add a little extra pressure too.

My fiancee was just here visiting for the last four days. He just left about half an hour ago *sniff*. We had a great time, as always but I find it a bit harder to stay OP when he's around. We finally told my mom that we are moving in together when I'm done my practicum. She's less than thrilled (for religious reasons, not because she doesn't love him) but handled it much better than she did when I tried to talk to her about it on my own. The thing is, I'm 29 years old!!!!! But yes, I'm still scared of my mom at times. Sad eh? Regarding the wedding, we are 95% certain that the plan will be a wedding on the beach in either Mexico or the Dominican Republic in December 2009. Now it's just a matter of finding the right resort for the right price range, then preparing "save the date" packages and info to send out to our friends and families.

I also saw my lawyer this morning regarding my divorce and custody/child support issues. It was very encouraging as my lawyer is very optimistic that I will be awarded sole custody!!!!! I can't celebrate until it's a done deal of course, and it's a very long process but I can't help but feel a bit of relief already.

And my job... *sigh*. I'm been the admin assistant for my small church for the last year or so. Lets just say that I don't love it. I've decided to give my notice.. and lots of it because I know it will take them quite a while to find someone else. But the end of January I am done! I'm also going to be taking on some transcription work. This is through my mom's office and apparently there is tons of it if I find that I like it and can do it easily enough. Not that I really have the time for this right now but it would sure be great for down the road!

Anyways.. wow.. didn't plan on writing that much here but it helped me sort my thoughts at the same time. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything lately. Just so much going on. That's probably why I haven't done as much cooking as I should have to be a little more successful with Core. Being OP takes so much energy! Am I the only one that feels this? I am always constantly thinking of what I will eat next and planning meals and recipes... I need to try and simplify it somehow so that I can fit it in. Any suggestions? Making a weekly meal plan would help I'm sure but that seems so impossible. Well, I'll work on it this week..

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

2008-11-11T13:34:00.002-07:00

This is just going to be a quickie as I'm not much in the mood for writing today.

After my first week on Core, I'm down 1.8lbs. I'm ok with that but know I could have done much better.. I only half heartedly stuck to plan. Not sure what is wrong with me... but today marks a new week and a new effort once again. Gee, haven't we heard this song before?

Core and lovin' it! And recipes..

2008-11-06T20:47:00.002-07:00

Today was day 3 of core and so far, I'm really liking it a lot. I'm finding that it's really not restrictive at all and there are tons of core recipes, close to core recipes and recipes that can easily be made core out there if you look a little. I have cooked good stuff every day so far (which is amazing for me LOL) so I know I'm getting a much healthier range of foods by not reaching for the easy, prepacked crap that can sometimes be appealing at the end of a long day. Bottom line is that I'll be much healthier in the end, not just skinnier.

On to some recipes.. I am awful about actually following recipes. I never do! I always tweak and change things around somewhat so sometimes it is truly a miracle that things end up tasting good! I thought I'd post the ones that work out so I can keep better track of them.

Corn and Potato Chowder

2 tbsp oil
1 onion chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1/2 red pepper chopped
about 5 med. potatoes
3 bay leaves
dill (I added lots cuz I love it!)
pepper (same!)
5 cups water
5 packages Chicken bovril (the original recipe called for chicken broth but I had none but if that's what you used, 1L would do + 1 cup water instead of the 5 cups water)
3 cups skim milk
1 1/2 cup corn (I used frozen)

Heat oil in dutch oven. Add onions and saute 5-10 min. Add celery, bay leaves, potatoes, red pepper and stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer until potatoes are tender. Add milk and corn. Continue to simmer 5 minutes until corn is tender. Discard bay leaves and puree in blender.

** I only pureed some of the soup and left some with little chunks.
** This recipe makes a lot as I have a lot of people in my house. You could easily half it.

Core Cornbread

2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup splenda (add more or less depending on how sweet you like your cornbread - this amount only gave a mild hint of sweetness in my opinion)
2/3 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 1/2 cups skim milk
2 tbsp canola oil

Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Add wet ingredients into dry mixture. Pour into greased muffin tin or dish. Bake 12-15 min at 350.

** In all honesty, this recipe needs a little more tweaking.. it was a little dry so I think next time I make it, I'll add some plain FF yogurt.

That's all for now.. more recipes to come soon!

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

2008-11-04T09:33:00.002-07:00

Bah. I'm pretty sure my 5lb loss last week was a fluke as I didn't see that number again after that. In fact, today I was back up those 5lbs. Although I do admit that I did get discouraged after seeing the number up last week after the weigh in and I gave myself full permission to eat stuff I shouldn't. That said, it also made me think... I absolutely suck at tracking my intake and counting points. I used to do awesome with the whole points system, hence my consistent losses last winter/spring. But I'm just not feeling it anymore... Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm saying adios to WW though. I've gone core! As of today. I honestly never thought I'd do core, thinking it was way too restrictive of what you can eat but don't really feel that way anymore. So that's a plus, right? That means that my eating habits have become healthier, right? I'm really looking forward to seeing how core works for me. I have no classes today and my car is in the shop so I got groceries yesterday and will spend part of day today cooking cauliflower soup, Core Cornbread and Carrot Cake Cookies. I'll come back with recipes and reviews later..

So menu for today:
B: skim milk, pineapple, FF yogurt
L: two hard boiled eggs, tiny bit of light miracle whip (for points as I can't stomach the ff stuff), half WW pita (1pt), orange
S: Cauliflower soup and cornbread

Healthy You Check In, Weigh in and BIG NEWS!!

2008-10-28T09:38:00.002-06:00

Okay, just can't contain it.. I'll get the big news out of the way first. Check this out!!

Yep, it's official! Mike has asked me to marry him at least 5 times in the last few months but yesterday he finally did it up right with a ring and all :) I'm so so so so happy!! Unfortunately, I still have no pics of us together as he gave it to me in the car leaving the West Edmonton Mall parking lot (real romantic, I know) and the only witness was my 2 year old daughter. But hey, at least he has good taste in rings!

Anyways, after being away all weekend (we just got home late last night), I wasn't sure how the weigh in would go as I was staying at Mike's parent's house and not in control of the food, etc. BUT I'm down 5 lbs so I must have made some good choices (and I think more importantly, had good portion control and very little snacking). Only two more pounds until I'm at virgin weight!! LOL

I had originally planned to get in a great workout today as I have no classes but the desire to trek all the way down to school just for a work out has sort of dwindled. I have to unpack, do laundry and just do some overall catch up after being away the last 4 days and having a busy week of exams last week. But tomorrow, I promise, will be a good workout day.

Hope you all have a great week!!

I'm afraid I've joined the dark side...

2008-10-23T11:58:00.003-06:00

I just bought my first pair of pants from Lulu Lemon. In get this: a size 10!! I normally wear a size 16 pant! I've been wanting to buy some forever but have always felt intimidated by that store. But, after reading discussions months ago on the WW boards that there are certain styles that run big, etc, I was pretty sure I could find some that would fit me. I originally set it as my goal to buy a pair after I reached the 200 lb mark... but I just couldn't wait any longer!! It's been a stresssssssssful week with all of the exams (3 down, 1 to go tomorrow) and at least I didn't eat a bunch of bad food, right?

Update: For those inquiring minds, these are the pants I bought in black. Can I tell you how much I LOVE the fact they have pockets?!?!

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

2008-10-21T12:32:00.002-06:00

Ahhhh it's Tuesday once again. I've been a day ahead of myself the last two days (thinking yesterday was Tuesday and that today is Wednesday). Maybe that just shows how badly I want this week over and how much I'm looking forward to the coming weekend? I have three finals and a midterm this week... well, one final is down already (had it this morning). It was done online so I already have my mark. I got 93% on the final, which makes my final mark for the class about a 96%. I think I can be happy with that :)

Anyhow.. on to this morning's weigh in. I was down 2.8 lbs so that's definitly in the right direction. Honestly though, I didn't do well with eating on the weekend at all so I'm glad I still had a loss but can't really feel super proud of myself or anything. Plus it's a portion of these same stupid 5lbs that I've lost about 5 times now in the last few months. But I am determined to make this be the final time. The day I reach "virgin" weight and weigh in under 220, I'll be thrilled! Then I'll feel like I'm making actual progress again. Seven pounds to go for that..

The one thing that I CAN feel proud about doing is getting back into the whole routine of working out. I ventured down to the gym on campus last Tuesday and have been there 4 times since then. My friend also twisted my arm into going swimming and I found that I love it! I think part of the reason that I'd been dragging my butt about going back to the gym was that I was bored with it. After accomplishing running a 5K and a 10K this summer, I was sick of running too. So, swimming may just be the new thing for me, or at least a combination of gym and swim.

Anyways, gotta keep it on the short side for now.. got a ton of homework to do. Just keeping my eye on the prize (so to speak) - I'm going up to Edmonton Friday after school to spend the weekend with my man! Hurray!

I had good intentions..

2008-10-15T14:19:00.002-06:00

And just to clarify, I'm not talking about my workout today. I did go to the gym and worked up a decent sweat. No, I'm referring to the yummy salad dinner I had planned last night. I'd been thinking of it all day... chicken breast cooked in terryaki sauce with onion, on top of lettuce with toasted almonds and feta cheese. Okay, this may sound like an odd combination to some but it really is yummy. So, I'm cooking the chicken and onions... all goes well. I put the sliced almonds under the broiler to be toasted. Children start demanding things... K needs a diaper change... T wants to listen to "princess" music... all of a sudden, what's that awful smell? Oh no! It's the almonds! I run up to the kitchen and see what was once to be my delicious, nicely toasted almonds in flames. My oven was literally on fire! Holy crap. Seriously! Children are now screaming and freaking out. I'm frozen.. what do I do? DAAAAAAAD! Yep, my dad was upstairs watching TV. He came down to the rescue and threw the flaming dish out into the grass, which fortunately was still wet from the frost we had yesterday. The house is pretty much blue with smoke which I can still smell today. But no one was hurt, nothing was terrible damaged.. except my almonds and the poor pie plate I had used. So, we continue on with dinner, sans almonds, with every window and door open, trying to air the place out. I just didn't have the heart to try and toast some more. All is well though.. I put the chicken on the lettuce, get out the feta cheese, weigh it and crumble it over top. I sneak a little pinch, as I usually do.. I love that stuff! OMG! GROSSSSS! It had gone bad and had this awful bitter, icky, gross taste. And it's now all over my otherwise yummy food. *sigh* I recover the chicken and toss the rest. So much for my planned healthy salad meal...

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

2008-10-14T17:19:00.002-06:00

Well, there's good news and bad news this week....

Bad first: I'm up 5lbs in the last two weeks. It's no surprise. I've been drastically off track, especially the last week or so with Thanksgiving in there. No excuses, it's been a conscious decision.

Good news: I'm on track today AND (drum roll please) I actually found the gym at school today! It's pathetic but it was my first gym workout in nearly two months. I did 40 min on the elliptical and 25 on the treadmill (ran 15, walked 10). I'm thinking of going back to good ol' Couch to 5K, not starting at the beginning but part way through.

Things to help me stay on track this time:
- I have a friend lined up to work out with me tomorrow and Friday
- I have a container full of yummy, filling, healthy soup in the fridge
- I have a bunch of fresh fruit and veggies to munch on

I'm trying to use up the food we have this week, instead of blowing a bunch of money when there is still plenty here. I'm trying to make a deal with myself of no eating out (including no coffee) and no new groceries other than the stuff we go through more quickly like milk, fruit, etc. With Christmas coming soon, I need to keep myself in check a little more and not spend when I don't need to. Don't we all know that story... LOL

Anyways, here's to a good week!

Yummy Yummy Soup

2008-10-02T19:27:00.003-06:00

In my attempt to keep food interesting, I'm always on the look out for appealing and healthy recipes. When reading the blog of Sara (Trisaratops) from the Healthy You Challenge, she mentioned a delicious black bean soup that I just had to try. And I'm glad I did! I've never tried anything with black beans before, but I'm a huge fan of cilantro so that sealed it for me. And it was sooooo good. Here's the recipe. I soaked my beans overnight, didn't use or sweet potato but followed everything else pretty exactly. Oh, I also added smoked paprika as suggested in some of the great comments. Anyways, it was a hit as everyone in my house loved it (which meant no leftovers, unfortunately!). I forgot to calculate the points for my version, but I think it is roughly around 4-5 per serving. Not bad at all as it is quite filling. I served it with a warmed pita bread on the side.

What's your fave soup recipe?

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

2008-09-30T14:23:00.003-06:00

Pretty please can I just fall over yet? I'm sooo tired and dragging my butt around today. Diet has sort of fallen to the wayside the last few days as I have two sick kids and have made several trips to the ER at Children's and the walk in clinic. Unfortunately my older daughter does not seem to be responding to her meds for tonsillitis and a UTI so back to the doctor we'll go tomorrow. It's never ending it seems!

So, for my weigh in today, I'm only down 0.4, which means that I'm 0.6 away from reaching my goal of losing 6 lbs since I recommitted a few weeks ago. Not happy about that as I know I could have done it. The only good thing is that it is enough of a loss to take me back over the 40 lbs lost mark, thank goodness. My next goal is to lose 6 lbs (now 6.6lbs) by Thanksgiving. Yikes.. that's gonna be cutting it close I think, though I know it is do-able if I completely stay OP. Then again, if I manage to catch my girls germs, I'm bound to lose a few extra lbs. LOL. I should not be wishing for that though!! I have a very busy next couple of weeks at school and cannot fall behind now.

Blah.. sorry, just feeling all whiny and complain-y today. I hope ya'll are doing better out there!

BLAH Apparently I can't add either! Still 0.8 to go until I'm back at 40 lbs lost. Ack..

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

2008-09-23T15:04:00.003-06:00

I had to cross my fingers as I stepped on the scale today and fortunately, everything turned out okay. After my big loss last week (5lbs), I knew it would be harder to have a good loss this week, plus the fact that I was at a wedding all weekend and totally not in control of what I was able to eat as we were out in the middle of no where. I managed to stay the same so I am happy with that.

The wedding was awesome fun though, after all, I was there with my boyfriend and child-free (for the first time ever!!) so how could it not be fun?? LOL. Tons of driving though - I think it was about 17 hours on the road between Friday afternoon and Sunday night UGH. My lower back is still sore from sitting so much. But all in all, not one complaint. And the kids faired just fine without me, though Grandma is still a little tired.

And what is it about weddings that make you start planning your own? LOL Mike has asked me about 5 times now to marry him but not "officially" - meaning, no ring yet. But, we did decide that planning a wedding looks like way too much work (not to mention money) so we're thinking that heading down to somewhere tropical and getting married barefoot on the beach is much more our style. Anyone done that and have any tips? Apparently we're going ring shopping next weekend when he comes down to visit. And yes, that makes me feel very giddy :)

I'm trying really hard to get back on track food-wise today as I really want to meet my goal of losing 6 lbs by the end of the month, which means I need a loss of at least 1lb this week. I heard that the gym at school is totally state of the art and not all that crowded so I really need to find a way to check that out. My goal is to go at least once this week. Baby steps, right?

It's KEEN-wah!

2008-09-17T11:44:00.004-06:00

I felt like such a dork when I went into Planet Organic yesterday looking for Quinoa. I pronounced it exactly how it is spelled and the guy was like, "Oh, you mean Keen-wah?". Umm yah, okay.

Anyways, I've been wanting to try some quinoa for quite some time because it's so high in protein but never found a recipe, or maybe more accurately, the motivation to find an appealing recipe, to make some up. Well, last week I bought Company's Coming Low Fat Express Cookbook when they were 50% off at Superstore. By the way, these are my fave cookbooks.. I must have at least 10 around here. And this one is great! It has a ton of good recipes and includes all of the nutritional info. So, I tried making Apple Cinnamon Quinoa.

Apple Cinnamon Quinoa

1 cup skim evaporated milk
1/2 cup apple juice
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup sweetened applesauce (I used unsweetened)
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed (I used 1 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar blend)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Combine milk and apple juice in large saucepan. Heat on medium until hot, but not boiling. Add remaining 5 ingredients. Stir. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until quinoa is tender.

Makes 4 servings and the way that I made it, it was about 5 points per serving. Not too bad for a complete breakfast though, right?

I found it waaaaaaay too sweet, even though I used unsweetened applesauce and less brown sugar. I think it might have been the evaporated milk? The texture itself was okay though.. it sort of reminded me of Red River Cereal (which I love). I may try making it again and just using regular skim milk instead of the evaporated milk. Or, I may just stick with my Red River Cereal ;) In the meantime though, I have at least a cup of uncooked quinoa leftover. Any good suggestions of what to do with it? Preferably something more savory...

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

2008-09-16T10:42:00.004-06:00

It's been a while since I've checked in with the Healthy You Challenge but thought I'd jump back in this week. I also weighed in today since I forgot yesterday. I am actually thinking that Tuesday will be my new official WI day.. works better with my schedule right now since Mondays I get to sleep in a little and I like to weigh myself as soon as I get up and before I jump in the shower. Anyways, today's weigh in kicked butt!! I am down 5.0 lbs from last week!!!!!!!!! This leads me to think that last weeks WI (and rather large gain) was a big water gain, which would make sense seeing as it was also TOM. But anyhow, 5 lbs is 5 lbs and I'll take it!

Everything else is going good school (I got 100% on the test I was so stressed about last week!!) and relationship-wise (we had a huge talk Friday night and now things are sooooo good!!). The only thing I'm still haven't difficulty fitting in to my life so far this fall is exercise. I used to be so good about earning my APs but right now, it's either study or go work out and so far, studying is winning out. In all honesty, I think it has to right now. This program is only 5 months long and I need to make the most of it. Of course that doesn't mean I'm a total slouch.. I do try to do things like walk up the 5 flights of stairs to my classes, go for little evening walks with the kids, etc. It would be great if I could somehow fit more in though.

Anyhow, here's to another OP week!

TGIF!!

2008-09-12T21:06:00.002-06:00

I'm soooooo ready the weekend. It's not like it means I get to relax, because quite honestly, this weekend seems to be jam packed full of plans, but it means my poor brain gets to relax a wee bit. I feel absolutely overstuffed... and no, not my tummy for once - overstuffed with information. I am taking 8 classes right now!! Not sure how I am going to be able to remember everything... but I'll have to manage somehow. The majority of my classes are health/medical related but two are computer classes and even though I thought they'd be boring and a PITA, I'm loving them! I got to put a computer back together today. I got to learn how SIMPLE it actually is to replace memory, hard drives, etc. Seriously, those are life skills in today's day and age.

Anyways.. I've been a pretty good girl diet-wise the last couple days. Tonight I did have a few pieces of Domino's thin-crust pizza and one glass of regular coke but I have barely touched my flex points all week so I'm still well within my points for the week. I'm really proud of the fact that I've been really getting in my fruits/veggies and that I'm getting up early enough to make myself a decent breakfast to start my day. I have unfortunately discovered the location of the campus Starbucks and made a stop there the last two mornings. I've had serious cravings for my non-fat Chai Latte... only 3 points though for a tall (plus a serving of dairy) so not really too much damage done, other than to my wallet. I need to stop getting to school so early so I won't have time to go over there before class! LOL

On the relationship front, I did have a little talk with Mike yesterday afternoon. We've both just been so tired lately that by the time we talk at the end of the day, neither of us have a whole lot to say. I get that. I asked him if he really thought he was ready for the girls and I to move up there in February. He told me that basically he feels like he is living and breathing for February to come... that it's something he's been waiting for for such a long time and he can't wait to have us there every day. Then he asked me if that's what I wanted.... I said yes.. but I don't think I convinced him (I admit I didn't say it very convincingly). I said that it was what I wanted but that I was a little scared and that there was stuff I wanted to talk about so that we start out being all on the same page. He agreed that it was a good idea... so that's a start anyways. I'm really really really looking forward to seeing him next weekend. It should be a lot of fun and maybe even a little romantic seeing as it will be just the two of us with no kids around (for the first time ever!!).

Anyways.. guess that's it for now :)

Humph..

2008-09-10T21:01:00.002-06:00

To be honest, I'm a little grumpy tonight. I can't exactly pinpoint why but I think that perhaps it's just a little bit of everything.

I had my first quiz today at school. And quiz my butt! It was more of a full on test, marked out of 46 and worth 10% of my final grade. No easy multiple choice questions either.. full on written answers. Ugh. I thought I knew the material inside out but I completely spaced on a few of the questions. I'm hoping the results won't be too bad but I'm a little stressed about it.

And... men. *sigh* I've had a little bit of a not-super-connected feeling to him lately. It's hard.. we live over 500km apart and it's been 2.5 weeks since I've seen him. That's the longest we've gone without seeing eachother and I still won't see him until next Friday. We talk daily but the last few nights when he calls, he's dead tired from working 16 hour days and I'm dead tired from school, etc so the conversations have been filled with a lot of dead air. And that's for sure one of my top five most annoying things. No one's fault really... but for some reason I'm feeling annoyed with him tonight.

Also on the back burner of my mind is that I know he wants me to move up there once I'm done school (in February) and I think I want that as well...... but at the same time, there's a big list of things I feel like we need to talk about still before I'll be totally ready to do that. Because if I pick myself and the girls up and move there, that's it. It means that this is the man I'm spending the rest of my life with. He says there'll be a ring on my finger by next month... we'll see. The thing I think that I'm annoyed with him about is that it feels like he thinks he has me now and so he doesn't have to try anymore. Maybe it's my own fault because at the beginning of our relationship I told him I wasn't into romance.. and I never used to be but I'm finding myself longing for a bit of it right now. Bottom line: we need to talk. He has no idea how I feel and I am one of the worst for communicating so that's something I need to work on NOW. I think I'm going to go to the library and get one of those books like "1001 Questions to Ask Before You Get Married" or something. This talk needs to happen soon... hopefully the weekend when I go see him, though we'll be at the wedding and busy with that.. but soon.

Blah.. okay, I think that's probably the biggest thing that's making me grumpy tonight. I'm also extremely tired today (didn't sleep well last night) so .. well, you know how it goes.

On the weight loss front, I was OP all day (3 days in a row woohoo!). Also haven't bought any fast food, even coffee, this week which is huge for me.

I'm off to bed now.. hopefully a good night's sleep awaits me.

I'm back! Weigh in #1

2008-09-09T11:44:00.005-06:00

After a summer long hiatus about not being serious about the weight loss, I'm back, effective yesterday. This fall is bringing with it several changes... me going to school being one of the biggest! I'm in my second week now at SAIT and I'm thinking it's going to be quite a busy semester. All in all though, I'm so glad that I decided to go back to school and just wishing that I did it sooner. I'm taking the Health Information Office Assistant program and it's nice and short - only 5 months - so I think I'll just lock myself away in my room studying until I'm done. I can do that, right? I don't think my kids will mind THAT much ;)

Anyways, summer was great this year... but I am glad to be back into routine. I just found it so difficult staying on track food and exercise wise when I was away from home so much. The only trip I have planned this fall is a quick weekend trip up north to attend a wedding with my boyfriend. And I'm going sans kids! So excited about that!!

Back to weight loss - I decided that I'm going to start fresh, hence the new look of my blog. This is week one (well, started yesterday). I gained back just about 10 of the pounds that I lost but I'm not going to dwell on it.. I'm starting again, all 229 lbs of me. I'm setting new goals for this fall and looking forward to achieving them.

First of all, the new stats. I'm not proud of them in any way, shape, or form but here they are..

Weight: 229.8
Waist: 40.5
Bust: 45
Hips: 47

I'm not going to go into how much they've increased since the last time.. I think that would only discourage me and like I said, this is a fresh start!

New goals:
lose 6 lbs by September 29
lose 12 lbs by Thanksgiving
be under 200 by New Years

I look forward to reading your blogs again.. not sure how much of that I'll be able to do with the studying that I need to accomplish but I've always been a good procrastinator ;) In the process of changing my blog though, I lost my list of blogs that I love to read! If you want to be on my blog list, please please please post a comment with your addy! Thank you!

WI #32 and the big 10K!

2008-08-19T07:12:00.003-06:00

Wow.. I hadn't realized how long it's been since I updated. While not completely back on track, I'm happy to say that things are moving in the right direction and I'm down 3.2 lbs in the last few weeks. That takes me back over the 40 lbs lost mark (41 to be exact!) so I'm happy about that. I'm really looking forward to September because I think with school starting, I'll get back into my regular routine and it'll be easier to get serious about this weight loss business again. It appears that I have some big breaks between my classes so my goal is to go and workout during those times.

On another note, I did my first 10K last Sunday! It was a blistering hot day, which was quite brutal as I don't tend to run outside on really hot days so I was not used to it at all. I ran with my cousin and to be perfectly honest, neither one of us had adequately trained. We made it through running the first 5K and then ran/walked the second 5K. Honestly, I am pleased with that. However, did I mention that I never run outside on really hot days? LOL At the last water station they gave us an entire bottle of water (prior to this it had just been little cups) and I chugged it down because I was soooo thirsty. Right at the finish line I chugged another bottle of water. Well, about 15 min later in the car, I started feeling incredibly nauseous. And of course my uncle was driving us across the city to pick up take out from his fave restaurant. Ugh.. so we are on the way back towards my house and I am feeling just awful and agonizing this entire hour long drive in the car, dripping in a cold sweat (I swear I sweat more after the run than during the run itself, despite that AC in the car!) and then UH OH! I stick my head out the window of my uncle's shiny BMW and empty the contents (luckily just water) of my stomach all down the side of his car and the road (yes, we were driving down a major roadway at the time). Immediate (temporary) relief! LOL It was awful... I think I ended up with a case of heat exhaustion/stroke and had to lay pretty low for the rest of the day due to nausea/dizziness, etc. By yesterday I was feeling pretty good though, just a little muscle soreness and it feels like I bruised the bottom of my foot.

But ya know, this race made me realize that I think I'm over my initial infatuation with running. I think I was so excited at first because it was like WOW, I can actually run! Now I hate to admit, but I kind of dread it. I hope this will change once I get back on track completely but right now, my body just feels so heavy.. which really makes no sense since I have been running for the last 30lbs of my weight loss.

Anyways, I'm off for now... leaving to go see M later today and I'll be back in a week :)

WI #29

2008-07-28T20:44:00.002-06:00

Well, it's a step in the right direction.. I'm down 1lb this week. For some reason, I'm really just not in a blogging mood lately... but I want to at least write when I WI and stuff, just to keep track of everything.

On another note, I signed up for a 10K today.. it's soon - August 17! I'm excited though as my cousin is joining me in the run. I've been keeping up with my workouts in training but the last week or so, I've had some serious psiatic (sp?) pain. Not fun :( So hopefully that clears up sooner than later.

Thanks to all who still read here.. I've been reading quite a few blogs lately but am afraid that I've not been a very good commenter. I'm sorry!! Not quite sure what is up with me... hopefully I'll get more involved again soon as I find that my success dramtically increases when I blogg/comment alot. Must mean I'm more focused when I'm doing that.

Anyways, I'm leaving town again tomorrow for a week so I'll check back when I get home!

Gross

2008-07-20T18:48:00.002-06:00

I'm sitting here tonight feeling incredibly pathetic. I just feel sluggish and .. just gross. My last round of motivation lasted less than a week, and though I wasn't THAT bad on vacation, since coming home last Tuesday, I've been even less stellar. Blame it on my birthday that included celebrations spread out over 3 days. Blame it on just about anything but there's no excuse that will take away the weight I've put back on. I don't know exact numbers yet as I've been too scared to face the scale. I'm saving that task for tomorrow morning.

I miss seeing losses every week.

I miss feeling "light" instead of bloated and full.

I miss feeling good about myself. And this just might be my biggest motivator right now. After years of feeling embarassed about my body, I was finally starting to feel good about it, even a little proud. And that is disapearing :(

So tomorrow I will be back at it. And there will be more excuses and going off track just because I'm going out of town. That's been one of my big problems the last month and a half because I've going away every couple weeks. I still have two more weekends away planned in the near future but that doesn't mean WW will go out the window. I just can't let it.

I nearly forgot

2008-07-02T22:36:00.002-06:00

to post today but I promised to post daily this week so here we go.

Today started well.. had a good 90 min cardio sweat session at the Y. Then the girls and I went to the mall for lunch (again, not too bad, had a small wrap at 6ish points). Things went a little downhill after that at dinner time but all in all, I shouldn't be over my points all that much. I'll do my best to make tomorrow a low point day to even it out.

I'm feeling soooooo good right now though. I just got off the phone with M and wow... I just love him :) He's planning a surprise for my birthday on the 15th and he was driving me crazy trying to make me guess at it. I just can't wait to see him next Tuesday.. he's joining my family on vacation, which will be nice but at the same time, wishing my parents weren't going to be there so the separate bedroom rule didn't have to apply ;)

Anyhow... hope ya'll are doing well!

Healthy You Check In

2008-07-01T12:10:00.002-06:00

It's a new month and I'm so glad. June was less than stellar so I'm looking at July as a fresh start. I've been thinking about my goals both for this month and for a little longer term and have decided that:

1- My goal to be down 50 lbs by July 15 is unrealistic. That is 11.2 lbs away. I'm going to change this to August 15. Instead, I want to be below 220 (lose 5lbs) by then.

2- My goal of reaching my 2nd 10% by the end of July is unrealistic. That is 14 lbs away. Bumping that back to August 31.

3- I want to be out of the 200s by Thanksgiving. That means 25 lbs to go by October 13th.

4- Run a 10K at the end of August. Train 3X a week to prepare for this.

5- Rack up 1000 min of cardio in July.

6- No more eating after 8pm.

To go along with this fresh start, I'm playing with the idea of re-designing my blog. I'd like to add in a box that scrolls along the side for my weigh ins because that's getting awfully long. Does anyone know how to do this?

I also have a goal for this week of blogging everyday and reading through all the blogs of those who check in in the HYC today. Looking forward to checking in and saying hi to you all! It may take me a few days but it's long overdue :)

WI #25 - Owning up and moving on

2008-06-30T14:22:00.002-06:00

Wow.. it's been two weeks since I've posted. And just like 99.9% of other people who stop posting for a while, it's because I've been off track and just busy in general. It's been easier to just avoid checking in here and then actually pick myself up and continue on my journey. But today I'm here and I'm going to update all my numbers, as much as it may hurt. But being honest with myself and just putting it all up here is going to be a huge motivator, I'm sure.

Today I weighed in at 224.8lbs. I think that's up nearly 4lbs since I last weighed in 2 weeks ago, and up about 6 or so lbs since my lowest weight a few weeks before that. Ouch.

I have done okay with the exercise the last week or so, getting 3 solid workouts last week but the eating... it's been WAY WAY out of control. I ate because I was bored, because there was bad foods in the house, because I was hot, because I was in the kitchen, because the kids didn't finish, because it was my dad's birthday.... all of those horrible reasons and excuses to over eat, I used them. And it makes me sad because I've been working so hard the past 6 months and I thought that I had managed to retrain myself (or at least partially) in the way I deal with food, but evidently not so much. I've managed to leave a month weighing more than I came into it with. I've also managed to make achieving my goals of losing 50lbs by the 15th of July (my bday) and losing my 2nd 10% by the end of July very very difficult, if not totally unobtainable. Which really sucks.

I was supposed to do my measurements last Monday but did them today instead. Thank goodness they at least remained steady!!

4 weeks ago:
223.2 lbs
39" waist
45" hips
43"bust

Today:
224.8 lbs
39" waist
45" hips
43" bust

Total difference this month: 0" and +1.6 lbs
Total difference since start: 22" and 38.8 lbs

Enough with this beating up on myself though. I may have been a bust in the weight loss department this month, but I worked on a few other goals this month that are just as important.

1- I was accepted into SAIT, I've completed my registration, paid my deposit, applied for funding, and received over $2,000 in bursaries and grants.

2- I have taken necessary steps to get my divorce started. July should see a bunch more progress in this area.

Plus I've been able to spend quite a bit of time with M, which makes me very happy. My kids are in love with him and I'm pretty sure my mom is too. I've had to reign her in a little bit because she's practically ready to start planning a wedding LOL. Right now emotionally, I feel happier and more content than I've felt in a long time.

So it's not been all bad! July is a new month and even though I go on vacation to Fernie for a week, starting next Monday, I'm determined that this will be a great month for weight loss. I'm going to spend some time thinking about my goals for the next few months and post those tomorrow.

Anyways, I'm back!

WI #23 and Healthy You Check In

2008-06-16T20:55:00.002-06:00

Blaaaaah. Not feeling very motivated this week. In fact, I feel gross, bloated and FULL from all the crap I've eaten the last few days. Gross. And the scale shows it - I'm up 2.2lbs. No surprise there. Not exactly sure where my motivation went but I'm pretty sure that it goes hand in hand with no working out. And the fact that I haven't gotten in a workout in 3 weeks is pretty pitiful.

That said, I'm trying very hard not to let myself get totally down about this... tomorrow is a new day and I'm more than ready to get back on the wagon. I've got an intense workout planned for tomorrow morning and good food stocked in the fridge. I have downloaded a bunch of new tunes and I'm looking forward to getting back into routine.... for a few days anyhow. Thursday the girls and I head back up north to visit M... I've got to find a way to stay on track (or at least relatively so) while I'm up there. And to get some exercise in as well. We can always do walks and M mentioned wanting to take me golfing... not that that is extremely strenuous cardio oranything but better than nothing. Any tips? How do you stay OP while away from home????

Now I'll do my pitiful update on my June goals..

As far as June's goals go...
1- Lose 8lbs by June 30 I'm at 2.2/8
2- Get 1000 cardio minutes I'm still at 0...
3- Try again for 3 runs a week HA! None last week...

Yah.. pretty sad. But I can turn it around. I was THISCLOSE to getting some new 45lb bling last week but I'm a little further away now.. I need to stay focused in order to reach my goal of 50 lbs gone by my birthday (July 15). Crap! That's under a month!! And 7.4 lbs to go... and a long weekend and weeklong vacation in there too. Ok.. breath.. I can do this! Please kick my butt and help me stay focused!! Any tips to stay OP while I'm away???