*The End of 2011*

Today is the last day of 2011. I weighed this morning after the traveling and eating over the Christmas holiday. I weighed exactly one pound more than I did on December 17th. To say I was happy about this is an understatement. It felt so rough at the time. Once I was home I jumped right back into exercising and eating mostly right. It (the eating) certainly wasn't as good as before I left for MN but it was better than while we were gone. I am looking ahead to 2012 and kicking this weight in the butt!

I have to say, I am pretty happy with this picture though. I have on my new cowboy boots that Steve got me for Christmas. We went on Thursday night and picked them out. On Friday after work, I stopped at Target for a few things and found this dress. The perfect thing I was looking for to wear with my boots. I bought it from the JR department. Can you say, "One happy person!" Ha.

Happy New Year to me and looking ahead to positive changes. I have a new diet and exercise journal that I bought for the year to track all my progress. This picture has been printed and put in the book. I will use it to compare as time progresses.

Weight today: 200.6

Wow...Things Have Changed

I just opened my blog to see what my last entry was and boy some things have changed. And they are great things.

Success No. 1: I reached my first weight loss goal of 204 pounds.

Success No. 2: I reached the 199 mark on December 17, 2011!

The back story to all of this is I recommitted to Weight Watchers on my own. I don't go to meetings or anything, but I have been journaling all of my PointsPlus points and FlexPoints. I weigh in on a weekly basis. I have been exercising 5 days a week. When I weighed in and got going again on October 9, I weighed 215.0 pounds. On December 17, I weighed 199.6 and I was so very excited and happy. Since then Christmas has come and we traveled to MN. I did good on Friday(traveling day) and I did good on Saturday. After that it was a little on the rough side. I enjoyed my mom's holiday cooking and family favorite Christmas cookies. But that's okay.

Today, Wednesday, December 28, 2011, I am back on track. I journaled all my food. I got up early and worked out with Jillian. My body was so very happy to exercise again and put good foods in it. I am back on track and looking forward to going into the New Year on such a healthy jump start. With Matt's help, my new goal number is 180 pounds. That is the next thing I am pushing for at this point. Join me for the journey, it is going to be fun.

Just to document....this is how I looked on Saturday, December 17, 2011:

W1, D2...Journaling

Today is Week 1, Day 2 and I am on my way. I still am not exercising like I normally would. Sarah and I went for a 30 minute walk, which right now really makes me happy. I have tracked all of my food for today. Including the "extras" that I added on at the end of the day. First up being the two Club crackers I ate at the office (so I had to write them down when I got home) and then I am going to have a mini Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bar...yummy! Craving it and worth it because I am counting it. For the week I have used 4 FlexPoints , which is great. I get basically 7 FlexPoints a day (49 for the week), so I am pleased with only using a few. I don't ever "plan" on using them, just use them when I need them.

Success for the last couple of days...Monday night I was hungry after dinner. All I was thinking about was food, stupid right? The good part, I didn't cave into that food desire. By the time I went to bed at 10:30, I realized I wasn't thinking about food anymore and that hungry feeling had passed. I guess my body pulled some fat from somewhere to appease itself, which is fine by me! Today, I really wanted to go to Qdoba for lunch. I looked at their Points for their meals. Ouch!! I don't know if I can go there and do what I want to do. Everything was most of my points for the ENTIRE DAY! Like, I can eat a points total of 29 and some of the meals are 22, 28...um, yeah, I still need to eat breakfast and dinner and I enjoy my snacks during the day, too. I also don't plan on using all my FlexPoints because of one meal. It had better be pretty special for me to do something like that. And Qdoba for lunch does not fall in the special category. I am really going to be rethinking that food of choice.

I have a couple of short term goals. No. 1: is my 5% goal which is 204 lbs; No. 2: is pushing towards that 199 mark. I have the 199 goal hanging up in the pantry and on my fridge. I look forward to the day I can change them to a new number. I also have hanging up in my pantry and beside my food journal, "Don't trade what I want most for what I want at this moment." I am really trying to live by those words when it comes to my food consumption.

Six Week Challenge

I haven't posted since June, so here is a quick update. I haven't done much exercising. I have been very undisciplined about weighing and measuring my food on a REGULAR basis. Sarah and I have been walking about four days a week (one plus in all of this). I have been back up hoovering around 215 pounds, which doesn't make me happy, at all. I am still having troubles with my back (or nerves). I really am not sure what is causing this continued discomfort. I just know that I am not as flexible as I once was. Bending over to paint my toes or put on shoes and socks can be very uncomfortable at times. Obviously, this has been going on far too long but hopefully answers are near. I have a doctor's appointment on October 12th. It is for an all over physical and I will move forward from there.

On to the title...Six Week Challenge...my challenge, to weigh/measure and journal all of my food intake for the next six weeks...EVERY SINGLE DAY!! I'm going to try really hard to keep it honest. Today is day one. I know I did not get enough vegetables in but I did get lots of fruit (really not necessary because those natural sugars can sneak up on you). I am continuing with my WeightWatchers PointsPlus system because that seems to be the best for me. As I have admitted before, I just don't do well with the whole counting calories thing.

Wish me luck.....

Ouch....

I can't win for losing sometimes. I completely enjoyed working out yesterday, but since I hurt my back in March, each time I have tried to workout after that, I seem to cause myself pain again. I can't decide if I need to continue working out and get that area stronger again or what. So very frustrating. I really want to workout today. I think my best bet is going to be to go for a walk. The day is already starting to get hot, so I maybe should have done that earlier this morning. Something to consider though, I love to walk at LaFortune, what a great thing to do on Tues/Thurs mornings, when I don't have to work...hmmm...I am definitely seeing that in my future mornings.

Working out makes me feel so GOOD!

This morning I got up at 6 a.m. and worked out to my Turbo Jam DVD, doing the 45 min cardio party mix. It was fun. I always feel so good after a workout. Why do I not always pull on that great feel-good feeling when I don't want to get up to workout. Well, I am going to try and do that now. Remember how I feel AFTER I work out and also, it is so much easier to make good food choices after you have worked out because who wants to mess up all that hard work? Yeah, not me.

Today has been a good day. I had a yummy great breakfast. My computer went on the fritz at home yesterday. Lucky for me the computer guy was coming to the office, so I was able to bring my computer in with me. I got it fixed and it didn't cost me anything. Thank you to Wayne for that one!

Things got a little rough as the day progressed. I have had some ongoing back problems that seem to flare up everytime I workout. I am not pleased by this. Yesterday it was bad. It really feels like a nerve problem b/c it was going down my leg. I could feel it in my left hip and knee. It's very strange. For now, I will monitor. I finally found some comfort sometime after 9 p.m. Needless to say, the second workout of the day, yeah, that didn't happen. I will try for something again tomorrow.

It's a Slippery Slope....I want off!

I am so tired of this "diet" game. I have to get through this thick skull of mine that I am not embarking on a "diet". I am working on being healthy and strong, physically fit. Physically fit has never been something I have been but it is want I really want to be. I am setting some new (and old) goals to get me down this road.

Beginning today, June 5, 2011, and ending August 27, 2011 (that's 12 weeks) , my goal is to lose 30 pounds. That amounts to 2+ pounds per week. That's HUGE! OMgosh!! But I am going to do it. I am kicking up my workout time. Doing this in the summer is really smart. First of all, because I don't have to get up as early to workout and I have the time at the end of the day to do another workout. My afternoon workout won't be a huge lengthy one, but it will include some sort of movement.

My current short term goals for the next 30 days:

1. Eating properly/tracking all my food

2. Getting in two-a-day workouts

3. 199 pounds

4. Posting my food journal each day

5. August 27 -- 183 pounds!

Doing Weight Watchers, my total points for the day is 29. I am also alotted 49 FlexPoints for the week. I am going to try and stay out of the FlexPoints arena, as I will use that more for the creamer that goes in my coffee in the morning! Five fruits/veggies; two milk; two oil; six waters.

Turbo Sculpt and Weigh In Day

This morning I weighed 207.8. That is a loss for the week of 2.8 pounds. Hurray! I am happy. I think I will like weighing on Wednesdays. I feel like it gives me a better outlook for the weekends. Normally, once I hit the weekend, I let up on tracking my points and having cheats here and there. This is the week to take control of that. I have a birthday party on Saturday night and dinner out (Italian) on Sunday night. My plan is to be aware of what I am doing. Keeping in mind that fruits and veggies are free (but the sugars in fruits can get to be too much of a good thing!). Birthday cake/dessert, I am going to be particular about what I pick, follow the three bites rule. In order to stick with that, I am going to take off the three bites, but then eat those "three bites" in even smaller bites to savor every bite.

I have said it before and I will say it again to keep reminding myself (so I don't forget, ha!), I feel SOOOO good after exercising. And when I do it early in the morning like that it keeps me motivated to eat properly all day because I put in the work in the morning. Today I did the Turbo Body Sculpt, which was pretty good. I don't think I have done that one to completion before. I was definitely sweating which is always good.

Pushing on to another good week. There are 8.8 pounds to go to my first short term goal weight. It's so close and makes me very excited.

My week so far....

It has been a good week so far. It has been so great to get up and exercise and not have any lingering back pain afterwards. I believe it has literally been a whole month since I could do any sort of workout.

Monday I did TurboJam for 45 minutes. Today I did Yoga with Bob. I love his DVDs. He's so much fun to work out to. Tomorrow I am going to do a body sculpting workout.

Each evening I have been planning my meals for the next day. I have stuck to my points completely. My weigh-in day will be tomorrow (Wednesdays). These past days I have tried really hard to not use any FlexPoints because I used a whole lot of points on Easter Sunday. So beginning on Thursday, I will have my FlexPoints to use again and will be wise with them. I have two gatherings this weekend. Saturday we have a surprise birthday party to attend and Sunday we are going to dinner to celebrate Chrissy's birthday. So I will really need to be wise with everything I do.

I am ready to "get 'r done" though. My first goal right now (short term) is to get to 199 and be completely free of the 200s...FOREVER! I will see tomorrow how that journey is coming along. Join me for the weigh in.

By the Numbers....

Today I weighed in at 210.6 pounds. Not a happy number but a starting number. These pictures were taken yesterday afternoon. I am now going to document this process by pictures and numbers to show myself how I am really doing. I will weigh every week. My plan is to measure once a month.

These measurements were taken on April 4, 2011....

Chest: 40"
Arms: 14"
Stomach: 46.5"
Waist: 38"
Butt/Hips: 50"

Today's breakfast and lunch have been great. Along with my snacks and dinner, I have stuck to my 29 points with no FlexPoints used today. I will begin exercising next week, after I see Dr. Ryan again on Friday to make sure my back is doing okay.

Let's enjoy the journey, trust the process and watch the success.

Last Time to "Start Over"

My last post was October 31, 2010. I haven't accomplished anything I talked about previously on here. Today is a new beginning and time to "Start Over". I joined Weight Watchers at the beginning of the year. I was doing really well in the beginning, losing a pound or two a week. Then the Blizzard of February struck and oh, boy, the slippery slide began. Being locked in the house for two weeks I chose to eat improperly and not exercise, which lead to making things very hard to jump back into.

It seemed as if I had found my mojo again, but wasn't really feeling like going to meetings as much. I was doing good tracking during the week but on the weekends I would go free falling, so I wasn't seeing any consistent success. Then....I hurt my back and hurt it good, so exercise has been out of the picture since the end of March. I am feeling better and time to move forward.

I was going to delete this entire blog and start over. Then I read about that great day I had at Red Robin several months ago and thought, "Wow! I had forgotten about that." So it gave me some renewal and I decided to keep this intact.