Busy Work

So, in finding things to do to keep myself busy, so I won't eat I am posting a pic of me in my new jacket. Whoo hooo! I also wanted to go over my long term goals again.

Goal: 221 before December 18th
199 pounds (no deadline yet! Maybe my birthday?)

Eww

Ok, so I'm going to just put it out there and then let you be shocked and then explain it.

168.8.

Yes, you read that right.

Ok, now that you're over the "HOLY CRAP" let me say that yesterday I was in the ER for some weird abdominal pain. They don't really know what it was. My blood work, urine analysis, and Xray were good. It could be kidney stones. It could have been a muscle spams in my intestines. I could be the beginning of an appendicitis. Basically unless it comes back, we may never know... which is ok with me. HOWEVER they did have me on IV fluids yesterday which is basically salt water, so I have no idea what my sodium was yesterday. Coupling that with the holiday, I have no idea what is actual weight gain and what is from the IV fluids. I hope that in the next few days I'll shed them pretty quickly no matter where they're from. But yes, that's 10 lbs in less than a week. I think I might cry.

While I was complaining about it this morning though, Aaron did tell me that my bodybugg (I confirmed it earlier in the week) will be here maybe Tue or Wed.... so I'm pretty sure he'll be ok if I open it and start using it, even before he's home. So, that's good. I'm really excited about it and to see how many calories I normally burn in a day. I also think that it'll motivate me to track my calories more b/c I'll have an exact number for calories in, calories out. And as Mallory put it this morning, I'm an exact number person, so hopefully it'll really help. lol

My goals:
work out (already did, so *check*)
track my food
3 bottles of water (12 glasses)
talk to my mom about all the sweets in her house. I go over thinking "I just won't eat them" but then I always do.... so if they want me and the girls to come over, then they have to get rid of them... or at least hide them, lol!

Monday Post-Thanksgiving Weigh-In

It's not good, but it could be worse: 175.0, up 3.8 from a week ago. I now have 10 pounds to lose to reach my Jan. 1st goal of 165.

Like Mallory, my sodium intake has been really high. Unlike Mallory, so have my calories. So, those are what I'm really going to focus on this week.

Goals for today:
track calories, stay within limit
watch sodium
drink 3 Nalgenes of water (I haven't done very well with this for the past week, either)

Monday Morning Official Post-Turkey Day Weigh In

So my weight has not gotten better yet, I am pretty sure it is because of the sodium. I have been in the 4000 mg range every day. Although I have been having better calorie days my weigh in this morning was 231.0 Which is up 6.2 pounds from my pre thanksgiving weigh in. It also means I have 10 pounds to lose to reach my target goal so I can have Christmas!

Goals:

Control Sodium
Track
Work out

Excited!

So after reading everyone's posts I am excited to be on the same page at the same time. It is so much easier if more people doing it, because there is always someone logging on to comment on your posts!

Lori - I have been thinking about your body bugg (hopefully that's what it is because I am excited now too!) and I think it will be a great resource, especially coupled with a calorie tracking software (which it comes with, right?)

Carrie - It's good to have you back! And with the support of your husband, it's gonna be great!

Molly - Thanks for being there, to chat or lend support!

You ladies are awesome and I am so thankful to have you all in my life!

It's Another New Day

Yesterday turned into an eating disaster. I ate all the pumpkin bread (at least the stuff without nuts and raisins) and had reached my calorie limit by 1 in the afternoon. So of course I had a GIANT helping of turkey enchiladas for dinner and a glass of wine. And some cheese. And a piece of pie. Ok. So.

I'm actually going to try. The relatives are gone, my stress level is down, and I've come up with a couple of projects for Christmas presents for my dad and Gram. I'll have things to do and can't sit around and eat all day. Plus, I kind of feel gross. After eating well for several weeks and then binging for the last few days, I feel just sort of icky. Not sick, just icky, if ya know what I mean.

Goals for today:
Drink 3 water bottles of water
Track Calories
Stay with the limit

I'm Flakey, Now it's Time to Commit!

I don't know what's been going on with me lately, but I have been on a constant binge for the past three weeks. Depressing I know. I hate to start out with being negative since I haven't posted in so long, but I got on the scale today and weighed in at 266.2, and I have officially gained 22 pounds since June. Thanksgiving was painful for me. I went to Dustin's family on Thursday and got to hang out with all of my adorable nieces and nephews, and then got super depressed because I still don't have any children of my own. Then you get your family asking you if you're still trying to have kids, and it just adds to the pressure to lose weight since I know that's what's holding me back. I sat down last night and ate an entire pint of Hagen Daz Ice Cream, and now I have a major sugar headache, because I'm pretty sure that I have type 2 diabetes.

And that is all the negativity that I will let myself speak, because it's time to quit feeling sorry for myself and just do what I need to do. You guys have been so inspiring these past few weeks,(Mallory you're doing awesome!) and its time to get back in the swing of things. I was stoked when my husband came to me and told me that he needs to start working out on his off weeks because he has no energy and he needs to lose weight. I am so excited because we are finally on the same page. It makes it so much easier when you're partner has the same goals as you. Here are my goals for this upcoming week:

Exercise 5 times with at least 30 minutes of cardio.
Drink half my weight in ounces of water everyday, 133 oz.'s. that's about 4 1/2 Nalgene's.
Track my calories on Livestrong.
Daily positive affirmations.
Support Dustin in making changes and losing weight and no enabling!

Back on Track

Ok, so yesterday was MUCH better than the past two days. I still had 4000 mg of sodium. Holy Cow! I know it's so wrong, but I bit into my first bite of pizza and it tasted like heaven. Seriously like bliss in my mouth. So, today is a day for getting back on track with the program. I plan to eat some egg whites for breakfast and then hopefully that will get me going. My kitchen is still sort of a disaster from the baking extravaganza from yesterday so I plan to clean dishes, go to the store and buy printable buisness cards. Yay!

Today's goals:
sodium 1500 mg
drink 4 bottles of water
exercise

An Early Present!

So I'm pretty sure that Aaron ordered me a bodybugg for Christmas! WAHOO! It's definitely something that I wouldn't have spent that kind of money on, but that's what hubbies are for, right!? I'm SO excited. How I know - - last night Aaron goes "so, while I'm gone, a package will arrive. You *cannot* open it!" So, of course I barrage him with an onslaught of questions... and I'm 95% sure it's a bodybugg. NOW, I just have to convince him to let me open it and use it before Christmas :)

And NO, I didn't weigh myself either. It'll be bad I'm sure. So I'm putting it off for a bit. I have already drank my quota of water for today and went to the gym this morning :) Now just to stay away from sweets and keep at it!

Molly's Saturday Goals

It's gloomy today, I'm going to try not to just sit around and eat. My goals for today are:

track calories
stay within calorie goal
drink 3 bottles of water
exercise

Friday No Way In

See what I did there?? He he, so clever. Right. So, I could not bring myself to get on the scale this morning. I thought about it, but just really couldn't do it. I did figure out that I was trying to eat away the tension I feel around my family regarding my grandma and how frustrated and sad the whole situation makes me. I started on Wednesday with the pumpkin bread and it wasn't until I was sitting out in the garage by myself crying yesterday afternoon that I realized what was going on. Ugh. I had myself convinced that I was eating so much because it's a holiday all about food and that it was ok! But, now I'm aware and when these feelings come up I will try to do things such as exercising and writing instead of stuffing my face with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Goals for today:

Drink lots of water
track calories
stay within calorie goal
go to work
exercise

The day after

So I weighed myself and it was not so great 230.0 which is up 4.2 pounds from yesterday. Ha ha ha.

Today's goals:

Drink tons of water
stay within calories
get some exercise

Thanksgiving Day!

Today started out great, I lost some more so I was down to 224.8! Which wasn't quite 224.2, but I gave my jacket to myself anyway! Then we started the day with a 700 calorie breakfast. And now, after thanksgiving dinner I am up to 2052 calories (it could be worse) and 2600 mg of sodium.

I have had 3 bottles of water so far today though! Yay me!

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have very happy and fun Thanksgiving!!

Goals for today:

Eat, Drink and Be Merry
Drink Water
Track calories

Cheers!

Wednesday Weigh In

Um, so, who's idea was this? My weight was up exactly 2 pounds this morning to 173.2. Not awesome. On the other hand, it's not that hard to figure out: I've eaten a lot of not particularly healthy stuff in the last few days. So, while this is somewhat discouraging, it's also a good reminder for me to not go completely crazy with the potatoes and rolls and pie over the next few days.

Are you ladies planning to track your Thanksgiving dinner calories? I'm tempted to, but I kinda don't want to know.

To Weigh in or not to weigh in?

So what's the plan ladies?

Are we weighing in after Thanksgiving or no? So we usually weigh on Friday, which I can totally see the merits of me weighing, however, at the same time I don't want to be depressed. I will go along with whatever you guys want to do. I was thinking we could weigh in on Saturday but Lori is doing her Thanksgiving on Friday so that wouldn't be fair to have her weigh the day after she ate Thanksgiving meal when we all have a day to flush the salt out of our systems. So then there is Sunday but then we might as well wait until normal weigh in day. So at this point I am leaning toward weighing on Friday because then I will know the damage and be motivated to keep it going.

I hate trying to lose weight...

... especially around all the holidays. I really love to bake. And eat. The eating is the problem. I bake and bake and bake. And then I give some away, eat, bake some more, eat, give more away. It's bad. I think that later today I'm going to make pumpkin bread too to bring to some of my friends at church... let's hope I'm able to get it out of the house before I eat it.

Anyway, Mon I was up - back to 160.4. What's up with me? Well, I started my period again on Sun, so I'm chalking it up to that... although that's just trying to fool myself. I AM however hoping that it accounts for a pound or so. The other is all me.... and my hubby who loves desserts too much.

Because of watching kids, and then going to work (crazy to say that) and watching more kids, I haven't been to the gym since like last Tue or Wed. Man I suck. BUT it'll get better. Training is over, so I'll just be working on Fridays (Thanks Molly!) and should be able to go whenever I want to the gym (for FREE now) except on Thur or Fridays.

I too am not going to feel guilt over Thanksgiving. I typically don't like most Thanksgiving/Christmas meal fixin's - but I do love dessert and rolls, so I will try to keep that in check.

Ok, I've been rambling and also started this like an hour or two ago, so I will just hit publish before I start talking anymore! lol

Molly's Tuesday

Today has started with a bang! With Lori's help I got a job working in the nursery at her gym, so, along with minimum wage, I will be getting a free pass! I'm so excited!! :)

Up next, some serious cleaning and then heading back to Crossroads for training on how to close.

Goals for today:
drink 3 bottles of water
Clean/exercise
track calories, stay under goal

Mallory's Tuesday Goals

And countdown to Thanksgiving two days. Poo, I weighed myself again this morning and I was down .4 pound. But I drank tons of water, got good sleep, was under on my calories, I drank my water. I was expecting to be back where I was two days ago. So looking at my livestrong I got way too much sodium. I ate two hotdogs which were so terrible.

Today's goals:
Be under on sodium I'm thinking 1500 mg.
Drink 4 bottles of water
Look at my tracking and see what has been different in the last week.

Monday Pre-Thanksgiving Weigh-In

Weight today: 171.2, down .4 from Friday. I'm happy with that!

Thanksgiving is looming on the horizon. I want to do really well for the next 3 days because I plan to enjoy Thanksgiving! I'm not talking about stuffing myself silly, but I'm going to have wine and mashed potatoes and gravy and pie. And I'm not going to feel bad about that. However, I will feel a lot better about it if I do really well for the next three days.

So, goals for today:
Drink at least 3 bottles of water
Track Calories, stay at or under livestrong goal
Exercise at least 15 minutes
Mail a letter

Uh oh! Monday weigh in

So my weight today was 228.o that's up 1.6 pounds. I am pretty sure it's just because I ate some pretty salty stuff and didn't drink enough water. I am going to weigh myself again on Wednesday. I also am going to try really hard to do well today and tomorrow. I am so sad about not having my jacket yet! Seriously, we went to city park and were meeting will and Nicole there and I wanted to wear my new jacket so bad, but I didn't. *sigh*

Today's goals:
EAT NO SUGAR and drink no soda, it seems that I crave sweets more when I am drinking soda.
Drink 4 bottles of water
at least 15 minutes of exercise
Yesterday I was also sloppy about measuring so today's goal is to measure measure measure!

Molly's Sunday Goals

Drink 3 bottles of water
Get at least 15 minutes of exercise
Track calories

It's going to be a good day!

Sunday Goals

1. Get at least 15 min of exercise
2. Grocery shopping
3. Work on laundry
4. Drink 4 bottles of water
5. Track on livestrong


I hope everyone has a great day!

An Exercise Challenge

I am challenging myself to track at least 15 minutes of exercise on livestrong everyday for the next 5 days. Thanksgiving is only 5 days away and I want to burn some calories before the big day! I have yet to manage to track exercise for more than 2 days in a row, but I think I can do better.

So who's with me?

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday

Last night I could not go to sleep. There's a few reasons: 1) I started playing stupid cafe world on facebook and couldn't stop. Sometimes I really hate facebook. 2) I finally turned the computer off after realizing it was 12:48 a.m. and I decided I really should shower before bed. In the shower I started thinking about something that makes me angry and I got all fired up. 3) I decided to read my book to take my mind off the thing that angers me. Fortunately and unfortunately, I find the book I'm reading facsinating and have a hard time putting it down. 4) So, at 3:08 this morning my stomach was growling because it had been 8 hours since dinner. So, I had two clementines. It was the healthiest, easiest and most delicious thing I could think of that I wouldn't be mad at myself for eating. I think I really need some vigorous exercise.

Goals for today:

Drink 3 bottles of water
track calories
EXERCISE

I found a recipe in a cookbook called The Everyday Gourmet Diabetic Cookbook for barbeque chicken pizza that it claims tastes like the bbq chicken pizza at California Pizza Kitchen. We'll see. I'm going to make it for dinner, but make it with a super thin crust to reduce the amount of carbs.

Rough Days/Possible Break Through

So I have been doing yoga with this book that I have right? And for the last couple of days my muscles have been sore and my back hurts. I thought I was getting sick because I just was feeling generally crappy. Then JoyAnn (the lady whose kids I watch) sent me an email saying that she can't afford to pay me. So now (yesterday) I am worried about money and I feel like crap, and I am worried about Justin and the kids are screaming. And I found a weekend job that I would like to apply for but I can't cause I have three kids hanging on me. And man, I was just like F-it. I am eating something. So I am wandering around my house trying to justfy eating something I know I shouldn't and the front door opens and it's Justin. Early. Thank god. I said will you go with me to apply for this job and just generally get me out of the house. So we pack the kids up and we are driving. And it's better because I know he isn't going to let me eat something I would regret later.

But we start talking about it and about how I need to stick with it and just work through the times I am not into it as much because what it is going to take is long term commitment to eating a sensible diet. And that it's not going to happen overnight and if I get frustrated and quit, it's only going to make me 1)Rebound 2)Feel bad about myself. And I felt better.

Then we came home and we were late so Osina's dad had to wait (well he was a little early but sometimes he is) and we had a fabulous dinner and I was a little bit overly full. But then I started looking at the house which was a mess, and I didn't get to take a nap, and all the other stuff from earlier. And there were pizza commercials on T.V. and while I was not hungry I kinda wanted to suggest we order some. So we got the kids in bed and I was thinking and thinking and I was tired. Finally after everyone was away, I sat down to think about what was really wrong and I realized that I was so unhappy because I was not allowing myself to stress eat. I wasn't hungry, but I wanted to shove food in my mouth left and right because I was stressed.

So I went and talked to Justin about what I was thinking, and we talked about JoyAnn and I cried about all that was going on. And I felt better. Talking about it helped me put it in perspective and acknowledge what was going on. And this morning I feel great!!!!

Today's Goals:

Track food
Exercize
Drink 4 bottles of water

Molly's Friday Weigh-In

Today's weight: 171.6, which is a 1.4 pound loss from Monday, a 2.4 pound loss from last Friday and a 6.2 loss over all. I have 6.6 more pounds to lose to reach my goal by Jan. 1.

So, I was shooting for a 2 pound loss this week, but I'm pretty happy with what I did. I had a lot of sodium - I was over my sodium 4 days this week, one day was really high. But I'm just glad it was a loss. I was a little worried that it wouldn't be. And I found myself sucking in my stomach this morning when I got on the scale - cuz that's going to help.

All righty, goals for today:

drink 3 bottles of water
track calories
don't go over my livestrong calories
I think we're cleaning the garage out today (at least the part that isn't all my stuff), so I'm counting that as exercise if it happens. And if it doesn't, I'll try to get a walk in there.

And I'm going to change my weight to 172 on the recommended caloric intake thing to more accurately determine what I should be eating for the next week.

Lori's Friday

158.2 this morning, which is about 2 lbs since Sat/Sun (I can't remember). However, I was telling Mallory that I don't feel great about it since the last couple days I haven't been great. Well, let me rephrase that. I have worked out the last two days. I also have had dessert both days. And not drank as much water as I normally try to. So it's odd to see a loss when I'm not doing it all but not see a loss when I'm working really hard at it. It's odd.

Anyway, I'm happy that at least I'm down - that's good. And I plan to try to get to the gym tomorrow (today I can't, tonight is the movie, and I'm a realist... it's not happening after the movie). And I'm really going to just focus on eating good, and good portions. Right now, I'm going to focus on taking a shower! lol

Have a great weekend girls!

BTW Molly, I have a free 30 day pass to the gym if you want it. ACTUALLY - I just came up with a brillant idea - I'm going to call you.... or you call me if you see this first and I haven't talked to you yet.

Mallory's Friday Weigh In and Goals

Today's weight was 226.4 which is a 2.8 pound loss from Monday, a 5.6 pound loss from last friday and a 22.8 pound loss overall. Yay!

Today's goals are:

exercise
stay under my new calorie goal on livestrong
drink water

So hopefully I should be able to get to my next goal (halfway to 200) in this upcoming week, which will be awesome because the jacket is so cute! I am super excited to wear it! Then to reach my ammended Christmas goal I will need to lose an average of 2.5 pounds a week so it will be tough, but I know I can make it if I try!

Chicken and Vegetable Tostadas

I tried this recipe the other night and really liked it! So, I'm sharing:

1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons canola oil
12 ounces chicken breast tenders (I used chicken breasts that I chopped into approx. 1" cubes)
1 cup chopped red onion (about 1)
1 cup fresh corn kernels - I used canned corn, but if you use fresh it's about 2 ears
1 cup chopped zuchini - I hate zuchini, so I substitued yellow and red bell pepper
1/2 cup green salsa - I substitued one 7 ounce can of diced green chilies
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
4 (8 inch) fat-free flour tortillas
cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Optional: black beans - I added 1 14.5 ounce can, rinsed. It was delicious!

Preheat Broiler.

Combine first three ingredients, stirring well. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the spice mixture evenly over chicken. Add chicken to pan; saute for 3 minutes. Add onion, corn, and zuchini to pan (and black beans); saute for 2 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in salsa and 2 tablespoons cilantro. Cook 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring frequently.

Working with 2 tortillas at a time, arrange tortillas in a single layer on a baking sheet; lightly coat tortillas with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Spoon about 3/4 cup chicken mixture in the center fo each tortilla; sprinkle each serving with 1/4 cup cheese. Broil an additional 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture, an dcheese. Sprinkle each serving with about 3/4 teaspoon of remaining cilantro. Serve immediately

yield: 4 servings

Calories: 393 (30% from fat)
Fat: 13.1g
Carbs: 36.7g
Calcium:236mg
Sodium: 799mg
Protien: 32.5g
Fiber:3.1g

The above nutrition info is if you follow the recipe. The beans add a bit more fat and protein and calories.

I found this recipe on http://www.CookingLight.com

Slow Start Thursday

So last night I thought it would be a good idea to drink some tea before bed. Instead of drinking chamomile or sleep time or something without caffine I drank some actual green tea. Could not keep my eyes closed. So, now I'm freaking tired and my eyes hurt and all I want to do is lay around and eat things and watch movies. But, I am going to resist these things and find productive things to do. And also, I thought today was Saturday. And I was really worried I missed the Friday weigh in. I think maybe I was having some crazy dreams.

Ok. Goals for today:

Drink at least 3 bottles of water
track calories
1350 calories or less
Clean bathroom
continue doing laundry
Go for walk

Sluggish Thursday

Ug, so I have been getting out of bed before my alarm clock goes off and today I reset it. Blah. I have banana bread in the oven, yum! It's so bad for you. It's my grandma's recipe and it's fabulous but it is made with shortening, white flour and sugar. I should try recipes that are more healthy. At least it has bananas in it right?

LOL, so here are todays goals:

Wash Ryan and Samantha's blankets and sheets.
work on laundry
track calories
no banana bread today (it's better after it sits overnight in the fridge so I plan to have A piece tomorrow.)
Drink 4 bottles of water.

Like I said I am feeling fairly sluggish so I feel that if I accomplish those things without letting the house be destroyed, it will be a successful day!

An Official Proclamation (and Wednesday Goals)

So, I am amending my goal - officially - from losing 10 pounds by Jan. 1, to having my weight be 165 by Jan. 1. That adds 2.8 pounds of loss to my goals. As of Monday I weighed 173.0, so I have 8 pounds to go for a total of 12.8 pounds shed from my rotund form. By Jan. 1. It's gonna be awesome!

Goals for today:
Drink 3 bottles of water
Track calories, Stay under 1350
Exercise - I'm thinking dance party
And I really need to do laundry. Seriously!!

Really!?!?

Ok, so this morning I was 160.2. WTH. So I think that I'm going to post my menu for the previous day on here. I'm just frustrated. I really expected it to be down.

Bkfst - 2 eggs, 2 pieces of toast, 1/3 of a banana, a sm serving of cheerios.
I've read that if you eat a large bkfst, that you consume less calories over the entire day. I definitely was less snacky.

Lunch - Taco bake - which is hamburger, beans, green chilies, low carb tortillas, a little bit of low fat sour cream.

Pre-work out snack - banana

Dinner - spaghetti squash lasgana - a small to med portion and no seconds.

snack - (ok, I realize I should have had a snack after dinner... it's such a weakness) apple and a little bit of pb

I drank FOUR waterbottles of water yesterday - which is 128 oz. Plus I have worked out Sat, Mon, and yesterday. I'm frustrated. And now have children vying (is that how you spell it? Eh, I don't know have time to figure it out, lol) for my lap and wanting to "help" me type... so I'm getting off the computer.

What's today? Oh yeah, Wednesday

Wednesday goals:

Mop my freaking kitchen
Drink water 4 bottles
track and have under 1300 calories
exercise of some type

Molly's Tuesday

Goals for today:

Drink 3 bottles of water
Track calories
1350 or less
Go for walk

Mallory Tuesday Goals and Ammended Big Goal

Ok, I am officially changing my big goals to:

224.2 - "Halfway to 200 Goal" - reward, jacket
215 - "Christmas Goal" - reward, Christmas presents instead of weight loss membership.
200 - "200 Pound goal" - reward, maybe a massage? we will see when it gets closer!

So today's goals are:

Take kids to zoo
Drink 4 bottles of water
Track my food eaten.
1300 cal

I have been MIA

But I'm still around. I check the blog when I get a minute, and sometimes comment, but it seems I don't have the time to sit and type out a new post. Why can Mallory do it with 4 kids and me with just 2? Idk.

Anyway, I started again on Sat... well, half way through Sat really - when Aaron got home. My parents' house is just too filled with yummy candy and cookies ALL THE STINKING TIME. How my mom is not 400 lbs is a mystery to me. B/c I would be.

Anyway, I started at 160 point something on Sunday. Yesterday I was at 159.0. Today I'm at 160 point something. WTH. I've been trying to be good. There are probably some things that I need to take out I suppose - I had a few Craisins to stop my candy/cookie craving that I spent the last week building up. And also, it seems that I'm always a little heavier after kickboxing the day before. Idk why. Maybe your muscles hold onto water or something or the lactic acid? hmmmm, idk. I just hope tomorrow is better.

And btw, I am super proud of you girls, Mallory and Molly, for how much you guys are losing and whatnot.

KUDOS to Mallory for getting to her first goal! YAY!

Molly's Monday

I some how lost 1 whole pound over the weekend. Not sure what happened there, but I'll take it! So, my weight today is 173.0, down 4.8 from my starting weight of 177.8. I'm 5.2 pounds from my ten pound loss goal, which is 167.8. I think I may modify that to 165. I like round numbers. To reach 165 I will need to lose 8 more pounds by Jan 1. That is doable. This week my goal is to lose 2 pounds.

Goals for today:

Drink 3 bottles of water
track calories: keep it under 1400
clean tile floors, vacuum, dust, do laundry

Mallory's Monday

This morning I weighed myself and my weight was 229.2. Yay! This is exactly 20 pounds overall and a 5.2 pound loss in the last week. And I reached my first goal of 230. I said that when I reached that goal I was going to get myself a present. So yesterday (in hopes that I would reach my goal today) I went shopping and bought a really cute shirt! AND it wasn't in the "women's" section. And I also found a CUTE jacket that I bought that will be my halfway to 200. So, I wrapped it and it will be my present when I am 224.6 or less!

Ok so goals for today:

Drink 4 bottles of water
Clean floors in my house
Track and stay within my calories

Unmotivated Saturday/Sunday is a New Day

Yesterday I just couldn't bring myself to really care about much of anything, let alone my calorie intake. However, I did track my calories and I managed to stay under 2,000, which I didn't think was going to happen. It was a gray and gloomy day once it stopped snowing and I just wanted to be cozy and warm and eat cozy and warm things. I made chili and cornbread for dinner. The chili wasn't too bad for me (lots of protein), the cornbread wasn't great for me, but it's one of my favorite things ever, so whatever. It's the weekend, I let myself have it. And I didn't drink much water yesterday. It's so much harder when it's cold.

Today is Sunday and it is a new day. The sun is shining and I have things to do. I am setting some goals:

Drink 3 bottles of water
track calories - keep it under 1400
Paint the laundry room cabinet doors

Snowy Sunday

I love the snow! It's been snowing here quite a bit already this year. It's been snowing since yesterday morning so we have a lot! Today's goals are:

Don't order pizza from Pudge Brother's Pizza (I already am looking at the flier they sent us yesterday.
Stay within my calories.
Drink 3 bottles of water.

It's a Saturday and I am posting my Goals!!

Today's goals are as follows:

Drink Water
Make good food choices
Track
Get some exercize (walk etc.)

Tomorrow we are having an after birthday party for Ryan and Samantha, so my dad and Kelly and Rio can sing them happy birthday! Yay it should be fun, but I am making a carrot cake and am really looking forward to it!

Reunion Weight

So I thought at the reunion I weighed way less than I do right now, but I logged into my-calorie-counter.com to get the measurements of the first time I measured myself and my weight pre reunion was 234! That was about a week before reunion, so I might have lost a few more pounds but mostly I am back there! Whoo hooo!

Friday Weigh-In

So, my weight today is 174.0, the same as it was on Tuesday. So, it's not a loss, but it's not a gain. And considering all the factors I have decided it's a victory. I've been really trying to stick to the healthy lifestyle this week and feel like it went pretty well. However, I did start my period this week and kind of went off the deep end at the beginning of the week. And there was Texas Roadhouse, which, while I didn't go crazy, it's still not the healthiest thing ever. So anyway, I'm ok with my weight today (not a permanent thing, but just for today). I feel good today.

Goals for today:

drink water
track calories, keep it around 1200 for the day (pre- girls night)
Have fun and eat delicious stuff but don't go totally crazy at girls night
chew gum while I make cheesecake for girls night (Mallory - feel like a road trip? 7:00 at Lori's. Be there! Just kidding. Kind of.)

Friday Weigh In and Adjusted Goal

This morning my weight was 232.0 That's down 3.6 pounds from last Friday and 17.2 pounds over all. Whoo hooo!

So apparantly I am retarded. When I set my goal of 2 pounds per week by December 18th I mis-counted the weeks, it's not 7 weeks like I thought it's 6 so that means I added two extra pounds in there. I am still setting 221 as my goal but if I only make it to 223.whatever I am still letting myself have Christmas. LOL!

Today's goals:
Drink Water
work out
Count Calories & Track

Success

“Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”
~ Mark Victor Hansen

I came across this quote this morning and I really liked it, it fits right in with what I have been thinking about success. So this is my thought: I think that success is doing your personal best and having the drive to stick to your goals long enough to make a difference.

I have struggled since I quit working with feelings of inadequacy, fear, and anxiety for various reasons. We don't always manage our money the best. I spend too much time on the phone or computer. I don't keep my house as clean as I would like. I don't do "projects" with the kids. I don't work with them on their letters as much as I would like.

When I was working, I was successful. I mean you know, not like business woman on wall street successful, but GOOD at my job. Then when I quit working it was totally the opposite. At first I felt like I wasn't contributing (which I wasn't monetarily) and I felt guilty if I wanted to spend money on me. I am pretty much over that part of it, however I feel like I am not very good at staying at home my house is never clean enough, I am fat, the laundry is never done, the kids watch too much tv, blah blah blah. When you are working in a job, you have a set of tasks and expectations when those expectations are met, you have success. Not so with being a stay at home mom. The tasks are a work in progress not a finish line to be reached.

So, we are thinking about sucess. What would success look like to me? Is it a perfectly clean house? Because I could have that I am sure. For me that would come at too high of a cost. For me I would have to spend most of my time cleaning. Cleaning and cooking, cleaning and cooking. The kids wouldn't get read to as much, they would watch more tv, they wouldn't do as many fun projects or outings. Is it losing weight? Not strictly. I want to enjoy eating, be able to enjoy friends and family, love the flavors of the food I eat. I don't want to eat dry chicken and protein bars alone in the quest to lose weight.

So, I think that for me, in this stage of my life this is the definintion of sucess:

Working toward my goals, balancing my priorities, being concious of myself, while doing my personal best each day and sticking with my plan long enough to attain my goals.

Let's face it, some days my personal best is laying on the floor watching the kids play and eating m&m's. And I think that's OK. What makes the difference is what the next day looks like. Does it spiral into, "Oh well, I already screwed my diet so I am going to eat fast food and chips and regular soda" Or do you say, "Yesterday I took a day for myself because that was the best I could do yesterday. But today is a whole new day and I can make better choices." If you make better choices and don't spiral into depression and eating it's success.

I started thinking about this because I wanted to come up with a magic number that would mean I had succeeded in weight loss. The thing is that I don't know. My first goal is to be under 200 pounds and that will be SUCCESS! But I won't be done. Weight loss will be a lifelong journey for me. Even if I feel happy at 175 pounds or 160 or 150, I will have to be conscious of it forever. It's just the way I am. I have to balance my love of food with my health. And that will be success.

So, for today for now, I am succeeding. I would love to hear what the rest of you think about this!

Thursday Goals

Things will be great today, I can just tell!

Goals:
track calories
Drink 4 bottles of water
stay under 2000 mg of sodium
try to take a nap (for reasons unknown Samantha was up several times in the night plus we are trying to night time potty train Ryan) ug, soooo tired.

Darn Being A Woman

So this morning brought the arrival of my period and with it came bloaty feeling and a cloud of darkness. Picture Grumpy Bear from the Care Bears with his lightning cloud over him. Yep, that's me today. Fat, bad mood and cloud of crabby following me wherever I go. Awesome. I did weigh myself this morning (I don't know why, obviously if I had been thinking clearly I would not have done that) and all I could think was, "being a woman sucks, men suck". Here is the plan for today:

Pity party for 1 (done)
Drink water - 4 bottles
I set out 100 calories of chocolate to eat today, I will eat it and no more
Do Laundry
Track food and stay under goal

Go for a walk with the kids (no matter how long it is I know I will feel better if I do it but I am already justifying not so we will see.

Tuesday Re-Weigh

Since I ate approximately a zillion rice cakes Sunday night, I decided to re-weigh myself today after drinking 3.5 32 ounce bottles of water yesterday. I am down .8 from yesterday to 174.0, only .2 above where I was on Friday. And I feel less bloaty and icky. Yay!

Goals for the day:

Drink at 3 bottles of water
Track calories
Keep it under 1400

My family is going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner tonight to celebrate my brother's birthday. So, I am going to limit myself to 2 rolls and make other healthy choices.

Tuesday Goals

I know these are pretty much my goals from yesterday, however, it helps me to have a better day if I organize my thoughts and re-affirm my goals in the morning. So, I am 4.4 pounds away from my first goal and 12.8 pounds away from my goal for before Christmas.

I am going for a walk today with the kids
I am going to drink 4 bottles of water
I am going to track everything I eat.

I am having breakfast with Justin because he is working a late night tonight so I am having a little bit bigger breakfast and then a smaller dinner and lunch.

I can do this, I will meet my goals!

Little Weekend Slip

My current weight is 174.8 up exactly one pound. That one pound I spent all of last week losing. And because this can't possibly be my fault, I would like to blame City Market for putting Dove Dark Chocolate bars on sale for 2 for $.88. I went in there to get some wrapping paper and came out with a ton of dark chocolate (it's good for you - it has anti-oxidants!). Turns out it's also got a ridiculous amount of calories and fat and sugar (duh!). And then there was the package of white cheddar rice cakes I ate last night. That's right, the entire package gone in about an hour and a half. Good times. Who doesn't love retaining water???

Here's the cup-half-full stuff: I'm still down 3 pounds from my start weight of 177.8. I ate all the chocolate bars, so there's none left to tempt me. This is going to be a busy week, so I won't have time to sit around and think about what I would like to be munching on. In theory.

Goals for the week:

Drink 3 bottles of water every day.
Track my calories - for real, not just what I want to acknowledge having eaten.
Eat between 1250 and 1400 calories each day
Control myself at Texas Roadhouse when we go out for my brother's birthday

Monday Morning!

I ate BBQ ribs last night, between the pork and the salt I was sure I would not be in a good place. However this morning's weigh in was 234.4 which is a 1.2 pound loss from Friday and a 14.8 pound loss overall. I plan to kill it this week. My next weight goal is 230, so I am only 4.4 pounds away!

My goals this week are as follows:
Lose at least 2 pounds this week, hopefully more to set me up to be at my mini goal next week.
Work out 3 times this week (I went yesterday so I need 2 more)
Track every food every day.
Stay within my calorie goal of 1338
Watch my condiment use
Bake chicken to snack on and use for salads etc.
Drink 4 bottles of water

I have had more thoughts on what success is to me but I need to organize my thoughts. Stay tuned!

"Diet Starts Monday!"

I hope you all got the title reference to a Saturday Night Live Skit with the gap girls. If not watch it and bask in the 90's top memories!

Anyway, after working out 4 times last week and watching what I ate I lost a big fat nothing. I think I'm not being accurate on my livestrong tracking. This week I vow to measure my food so that I am tracking accurately. Here are my goal for this next week:

1. Find different ways to make oatmeal enjoyable. (that's tough!)

2. No energy drinks, no matter how bad I want them, and no matter how tire I get!

3. Go to the gym 5 times this week! I was so close last week!

4. Use my brand new Vita-mixer to make different types of protein smoothies for lunch.

5. Come home for lunch everyday! No fast food, even if you think your making a good decision!

I know from the past just cutting out carbonation, I will automatically lose 3 pounds, and feel less bloaty. Also, I should probably watch my sodium intake, I feel it in my hands when I've had too much. I feel so much better now that I have written down my goals, and feel like I have a plan of attack. Hope everyone has a good week!

Serious Commitment

Ok, I am making a serious commitment here for all of you to witness. If by December 18th which is 7 weeks from now I haven't lost 14 pounds, which is a two pound a week loss, I am going to join a program that will help me to lose it. I am going to ask for the weight loss program as my gift from my family for Christmas. I really need to be serious and I think that two pounds per week is a reasonable goal. From today if I lose 14 pounds my weight will be 221.6.

Up and Down Week

My weight today is 173.8, down 1 exact pound! Yay! It's been a crazy week. I started out doing really well with the eating, calorie tracking, water drinking, etc. Then the last couple days I kinda gave up. Yesterday was particularly bad. I just stopped caring. I was feeling really sad about the whole grandma situation. And then I felt guilty for feeling sad because I feel like since I'm not super depressed anymore, then I'm not supposed to feel sad. And if I feel sad, obviously I'm letting everyone down. I know, it's doesn't make any sense and it's not true. And then of course I started thinking about other stuff that upsets me and it just turned into a giant one woman pity party. Lovely. But I got it out of my system through some major crying and eating of chocolate bars. Then I slept for 10 hours. That probably helped the most. Anyway, I wasn't sure what the scale was going to do today, but I was pleasantly surprised. So, onward and upward. Or whatever. My goals are the same as always.

Random things

I was reading our local newspaper and came across this quote that I really liked:

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other." Abraham Lincoln

It really made me think about all of my struggles and when I am not doing my best and a conversation that I had with Lori came to mind. We were talking about how much being skinny, thin, healthy matters and I told her that I didn't really ever think about being skinny just about not being fat. I think that the idea of even being normal (size 12 jeans or whatever) is so far out of the realm of my thoughts that I don't really want success. The idea is nice but it seems like it's so far away. So today's resolution is to imagine what success would mean to me. It would be a success to get to 200 but it wouldn't be done. I don't really even know what done would look like. 155 pounds would put me just inside "normal" for my bmi. Seriously what would I even look like at 155 pounds? I remember being in the 140's in early high school I don't know if I grew taller after that or not. How tall are you Molly?

The other thing I came across but now I cant find where I read it is that you should drink half of your weight of water a day so I weigh 235 so I should be drinking 117 ounces of water a day. Also that each glass of tea should be counted as 1/2 cup of water.

235.6 Whoo hooo!

Yay, I am so so so happy that I am down just a little more! I kinda think that there is a possibility that the scale is lying to me so I am just going to take it and run!
Todays goals:

eat well
drink water,
track food

Still sick... and now back up too.

So we've been sick FOREVER now. Seriously, this is over 2 wks now. I'm definitely feeling better than I was before, but not great. I have the cough from Hell and definitely a reduced lung capacity and I get tired pretty quickly. So, with the kids being sick, then going to Mallory's, then getting sick again, I haven't been to the gym in like a month. That's CRAZY! Anyway, b/c I was so sick for a week, I was back down to 157 (which isn't great, but it's a 2 lb loss or something like that). Well, this past week has not been good for me eating wise. With candy in the house, I've been eating it way too much. So this morning I was up to 159.4.

So here are my goals:
1. get feeling better
2. no candy
3. drink water (I've been terrible about this while I've been sick. If it wasn't tea, yes I know that's water, or pop, I haven't drank it)

When I get feeling better I'm GOING BACK TO THE GYM! I'm not sure if I'll take the girls back to the daycare there or not though. With the flu being so bad this year, I don't think I'll risk it. Aaron has said he'll help watch the girls so I can go every day, although I probably won't be able to go to my favorite classes and whatnot, but at least I'll be going.

Oh, and now our car is broken. Aaron replaced the starter yesterday, but that didn't fully fix it. Seriously, it's only a 2006. Anyway, hopefully we can get it fixed today or tomorrow so that I actually CAN go to the gym if I get feeling better.

It's a Dia de los Muertos Miracle!

174.8 - Down .2. I really thought I'd be up a couple pounds. I ate all my calories for the day on Saturday before I went to the halloween party next door. And yesterday I binge ate like crazy. My hormones will be taking the blame for that. I think my saving grace was the water. I drank 4 32 oz. bottles of water yesterday. I was so thirsty! I couldn't get enough.

Goals for today:

Drink 3 bottles of water
track calories
1400 calories
don't try eat my feelings away*

*We're moving my grandma into assisted living tomorrow. Today we're moving her furniture. This is hard for me and I'm really trying to not comfort myself with food.

Not even weighing myself

I ate candy, I drank very little water and I am totally not going to weigh myself!

My goals for today are:

Track the foods I eat
Drink water