D2W1 down!

Okay, so I've finally exercised again. Day 2, week 1 of the Couch-to-5K, done! I took Lexie with me and man, she was not impressed. She was ready to quit halfway through. Looks like I will be "training" her at the same time! Lazy dog. Well, what do you expect from someone who lays around all day because there's no one to play with! And she'd be a better jogging pal if she didn't want to stop and sniff everything as we went by!

The past two days haven't been that great, food-wise, but I blame the fact that I've had a monster sinus headache. That's why I didn't do the exercise yesterday. In fact, I went to bed before 8 pm. No way I was even walking with my head pounding. I almost tried to put it off again today (I've got laundry threatening to eat my couch if I don't fold it), but if I put it off, there'd always be another excuse. So just do it already and shut up about it! I'm glad I did, although I think I prefer to exercise in the morning, not the evening. When I did this (not sure what to call it still) Saturday morning, I had a *lot* of energy all morning, more so than usual. If I can convince myself to get up at 5 in the morning during the week, maybe it'd be possile.

Okay, baby steps. Let's work our way up to that torture.

So stats. My scale was very nice to me yesterday.

SW: 260
CW: (2/22) 249
Total Loss: -11
1st goal: -26 lbs (10% of body weight)

I'm sure it is fluctuations, but, hey, it's better than nothing!

As for my other mini-goals, I've been averaging 3 DDPs a day. Could be better, but that also means I've been drinking a lot of water during the day. I think I'm pretty close to hitting my daily goal of 64 oz every day. I've also cut waaay down on coffee (I think I already mentioned that previously; what happened to re-reading previous posts, Becky?). I have two (big) mugs a day, and that's it.

Okay, now I need to be good and go fold laundry. It really is taking over my living room. And if I'm busy folding laundry while I watch TV, that means I don't have hands free to eat. :)

BTW - does anyone (besides my brother) have Just Dance or Just Dance Kids? Opinions?

I'm so sore :(

So I started the jogging thing (Couch-to-5K) on Saturday. It was not that hard. It was 25 minutes of exercise total, including the warm-up walk. The only irritating part about it was that I took my dog and she did not behave. Oh, well. She'll learn. :) Oh, I also found 6 bucks at the end of my street! Go me! Day 2 of week 1 (D2W1) is today. I think I'm going to have to do it tonight after the little one is in bed. I just can't get out of bed at 5am to exercise.

Edit: Okay, I looked back over previous posts. I should always do that before posting on here. A little update info:

SW: 260
CW: 257
Change: -3 lbs (not much, but I'll take it)

Mini-goal #!: 64 oz of water per day and no more than 3 DDP. Maybe I should change that to 2. I've been doing well on this last week, but that's also because I didn't have any in the house. Now that I have some, I'll use my will power. :)

***

I am so sore today though! Not only from the jogging/walking/unaccustomed exercise, but yesterday Patrick and I decided to work out in the yard. After I fixed the mower, he mowed the lawn and I messed around with the flowerbeds. I pulled up and reseated 30 0r 40 of the stones blocking out the beds (I've had a total brain fart and can't think of what they are called), which kinda sucks when they are buried so their tops are even with the ground. I pulled weeds and pruned and planted (in pots). My back and legs were getting shaky by the time I was finished with it. Granted, it was better that sitting inside on my butt doing nothing or taking a nap, or whatever. Gotta do whatever I can to stay as active as I can. When the weather gets better (as in, no more chance for freezes), I have another project that is going to help me exercise and tone. :) We have pitiful amounts of grass in our backyard, so we lose a lot of dirt to erosion. We are going to get some dirt to put in the backyard, as well as mixing in grass seed so that we can hopefully convince some grass to grow. I have to put temporary fencing up around the area that our dog will be able to stay in, because you can't walk on the seed until it sprouts. Yay exercise. Ugh. I'm already dreading it, but at the same time I want to get started. There's something very satisfactory about manual labor outdoors that accomplishes something.

So, I went to the Haagens' for a party on Saturday. It was great seeing everyone and hanging, and I spent most of my time outside talking. And smoking. And I was called on it, several times. I haven't totally given up on the no-smoking thing, but it seems to have put on hiatus for a moment. My husband is smoking again, too, and we are back up to where we were in November. We did well for a little bit, but now it's back like nothing's changed. And I'm back to where I was, where I cough when I take my first breath in the morning, I sometimes wheeze when i breath, and I stink again. I can point fingers and say, well, it was this person or that person or that situation, but ultimately I started up again because I'm a social smoker and I like to do it. And believe me, I'm kicking myself in the ass for it. It's true, I'm the only one who can beat me and make me give up. Grrr. This is not good. I'll talk to Patrick and see if we can't pick another day and try again. This is why I try not to bandy it about when I've decided to give up smoking - because so far it's always been temporary.

Hello? I'm back...

Wow, we haven't posted on this for a while. I wonder how the Biggest Loser competition is going for Lisa...

Well, motivation has reared it's head again. I have up weeks and down weeks. Right now, I seem to be in an up week. I stepped on the scale and it was 258. 258! Yikes. That's not good at all. So I've been very good about entering in my calorie information into my website each day and trying not to go over my allotment. I don't think I've hit it yet (1600 a day), but I've been under 2000 every day since Monday, so yay me! Baby steps. I still consider it a mostly good day when I don't go over 2000. My "usual" non-diet caloric intake seems to be about 2300-2500 on average. Sad, isn't it?

I also found a new website that I think I'm going to try. I've always been kinda envious of runners. I think it sounds like a great way to exercise, especially when you are out in the country and the weather's nice. Someone suggested this website: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml. It's for a couch-to-5K program. Now, I've just noticed there's an app, so it's possible that I'm the last one to know about it, but that's okay. For any who might be behind the times with me, this is a 5-6 week program, longer if you need it, with suggestions on how to work your way up to running/jogging a 5K (3 miles). It's three days a week, 30-40 minutes a day, and sounds imminently doable. So I'm going to start this weekend and we'll see how it goes. I just have to find... er, make the time to do it.

I'm still looking for a treadmill also. I want one of the space-saver ones that folds up, that way I can put it up when I'm not using it. Without fail, it seems, between 9 and 10 when I'm watching TV, I think that I could totally be exercising. Now, I don't know if that's merely the guilt talking, because I'm sitting on my butt watching TV/doing homework, or if I really am motivated. We'll have to see. Lisa, is the lady at your work still selling her treadmill?

I've also been cutting down on coffee, which is a big deal for me. I generally drink about a pot a day (it's half-caf), but now I'm down to 2-3 cups in the morning and then water. A benefit of being short on funds at the moment is that we've run out of cokes at my house, so I'm drinking unsweet ice tea and water all the time during the day and night. When I go to the store this weekend, I'll get more DDP, but will I be able to restrict myself to 2 a day? I'm just fine at restricting my daughter to 2 cokes a day.

So, faithful reader, I guess the only thing that I can say is that I'm trying and have been for the past three days. If I can do it, then I could lose 20 lbs by my birthday (April 29th). Now 20 lbs doesn't seem like that much, but it's more than I've lost for a long time. So we'll see. Does that sound defeatist and pessimistic?

:)
~Becky

Lazy ass Lisa

Yup.  I have been lazy and have not posted on here.  I am working on a lot of things and this just got lost in the shuffle.  But, here I am!

We are doing Biggest Loser at work so I need to get my ass in gear and work hard.  I have not been keeping track of things on Fitday but I have been watching what I eat.  The good news is I have not gained anything back – the bad news is I have not lost.  However, I have been up and down with what I have been eating.  I have good days; lose a little.  I have bad days; gain a little.  I also have been getting up later so not walking as much as I was.

This weekend all of that is changing. I will have more good days and will be working more on being more active. 

Guess what I ordered!!  Amazon.com is sending me a desk cycle thingie! Yay! This thingie goes under my desk and has pedals on it so I can work my legs, like on a bike, all day while at my desk! How exciting is that!?! (Ok, not very – for you – but very for me!)

What else I will do to get active has not come to me yet but I am sure it will :O)

Stupid pizza commercials

So, I've done fairly okay for the last two days. I was on track yesterday, had a healthy breakfast (like always), leftover chicken for lunch, and then locked myself out of my damn house with my kids. We went down to Farmer's Branch to hang out with family until I could go get the house key from Patrick. Anyone who has ever been in that situation with screaming, yelling, hungry kids and managed to keep from getting fast food? Well, kudos to you. It takes a stronger person than I.

Actually, the fast food wasn't the problem. It was what I ordered from Whataburger that was the problem. Instead of getting something like a kid's meal (which actually would have been a good amount of food), I got a bacon cheeseburger. Yummy. 800 cals for the sandwich, though (on a side note: the Sourdough Jack from Jack-in-the-Box, about 700 calories. It's about half the size of the burger I had yesterday. This means I can never, ever eat at Jack-in-the-Box again).

I'm going back to using my website I prefer, about.caloriecount.com (takes some getting used to, but pretty cool). I track all of my food intake, as well as all the calories I expend during the day. It's very important to keep track of what you eat because you don't realize how many calories you actually take in. My goal is right at 1600 (1599 to be precise). Yesterday, I was at 2350. The only good thing I can say about yesterday is that, because I was so tired and I was at someone else's house, I didn't snack at all last night. So yay. Go me.

Today was better, but I still had more than I needed. I've finished the day at about 1850, and I've been pretty healthy all day. I've had 2 apples and spinach and mushrooms and fish and all sorts of good things.

However. The whole point of this blog: stupid pizza commercials. I'm hungry. I don't have any calories left for today and i'm hungry. I want to eat something. It can be healthy, that's fine. I just want something. Now is the time that all the food commercials come on, as well, and kudos to the advertising guys - all the food looks fantastic. I need to find some meals that are more filling - or snacks, for that matter - without being heavy in fats or carbs. No empty calories, thank you very much.

So mostly, right now, I'm trying to keep my hands busy, because if not...


Okay, let's take this in a different direction instead of talking about food. I had a thought yesterday morning. I pride myself on being a stubborn person. I revel in my stubbornness. No one in my family can out-stubborn me (at least, that's what I tell myself). Apparently, I'm not stubborn, though. I'm just pig-headed. There's a difference. When you are pig-headed, you just refuse to do something just because (your parents told you it was for your own good, for example, so you dig in your heels). Stubbornness means that you fight through and don't let anything beat you. I am letting myself beat me. I have to self-control, I realize that. But if I want to be stubborn, not pig-headed, I have to stop letting myself lose to... myself. I have to be strong and make myself do things I don't want to do (take a walk, eat healthy, not snack). I can be stronger than this. I am a stubborn person, I can do this. I am woman, hear me roar!!

Okay, so that was maybe a little over the top. Maybe I need my own soundtrack constantly playing, with inspiring music (like Eye of the Tiger). That could be cool.

To be, or not to be… resolute.

A new year is hovering right at our fingertips.  This time of year always brings so many questions to my mind.  Does the new year mean the same thing to everyone?  Will many of us see it as a new start while the rest see it as a new chance for new problems?  Does anyone see it as just another day on the calendar? 

Why do we need a new year to start over; to make changes?  It seems most of us notice something is wrong and feel that it is ok to shilly-shally until January 1st to change our ways, thinking, “,that’s going to be my new year’s resolution”.  

The older I get and the more new years I see the more I think, it is just another day on the calendar.  There is nothing stopping any of us from changing ourselves, if we feel the need, at any time throughout the year.  Waiting until January 1st puts so much pressure on us to make an entire list of things to change.  About 10 years ago my resolution was to no longer make resolutions at New Year’s.  It has been the one that I have actually stuck to the longest.  This year, though, has been a crazy year for me so I feel that maybe it is time to change that about me as well.  Maybe, just maybe, there is something to this resolution thing.  I won’t know if I don’t try. 

After saying all of that, I do have a list of things I want to commit to in this upcoming year.; most of these changes have come into my head pretty recently.  Some are small, some are big, some are fun, some are serious.  They are all attempts.  If I don’t get it done it doesn’t mean I didn’t try; maybe it means it was not supposed to be done.  I don’t have a date in mind and maybe it won’t all be this year.  It is more of a lifetime timeframe for me.  

1. This will be my list of things to do in my life and will not need to be repeated each New Year’s. 

2. I will continue to change things as I feel they are needed throughout the year. 

3. I am seriously going to TRY to be less negative, impatient, complaining and bitchy...while remembering that trying to be less bitchy does not mean I will keep my opinions to myself or that I will let people walk all over me or others.  I will continue to speak up and stand up for what I think is right.  It just means I will try not to jump so quick on others.  I will try to think before I speak. 

4. I am going to eat less meat.  I honestly feel so much better, physically, when I don’t eat meat.  I completely understand I will not be cutting out all meat all the time.  When I go to someone’s house for dinner and they have meat, guess what I am eating for dinner? Meat!  I am not going to ask anyone to do anything different for me.  Also, if I have someone over to my house for dinner and they love chicken parmesan, then that may be what they get.  For some reason this always brings on debate.  Don’t throw your meat lovers opinion at me.  Eat all the meat you want.  I am not going to try to “convert” you so don’t give me crap about what I want or why I want it.  If you feel the need then please reread number 3 and notice the word TRY.

5.  My blogs have all been quiet lately.  I will keep up with all of them more often.  If it is important enough for you to read it (because you are my friends) then I will continue to write and attempt to entertain you. 

6. Chris deserves a better wife.  Rather than taking the time and energy in finding one for him, I will just make sure I make myself into a better one.  I will see how that goes first. 

7. My Xbox Gamerscore WILL surpass Chris’. Will.

8. My house will be cleaner. 

9. Money will get better.  If we want to even think about another kid we need to be able to afford daycare, so, we need to work on that.

10. I will figure out how to use my fantastic SLR camera.   I’m not sure if it will be a class, or a book, but I will learn it.

That should do for now.  I will add to this as I see fit.

Oh, yeah, Happy New Year everyone!

New Year's resolution

So, we seem to have stopped this for a little bit, but in two days, the new year will be here, so what better time to jump start this? I've been ignoring the no-smoking thing pretty bad, and I haven't actually been paying much attention to when or what I've been eating (besides shaking my head at all the chocolate).

After the New Year, Patrick and I go back on the no-smoking train. I've not sure if he will, actually, but i really hope so. We were doing so well before... we weren't...anymore. :)

I've also been looking on craigslist for an elliptical machine (my preference) or a treadmill for relatively cheap. I've decided (yet another excuse, I know) that I am most motivated to work out at night, but that is the time that I can't leave, since I am alone with the kids. If I have a work-out machine here, maybe I will actually use it while I am watching TV or something. I would hope so.

So I don't have much to talk about at the moment, since I am in kind of a holding pattern. I can only complain so much that I don't like the way I look before people stop listening, or start yelling at me to shut up and f-ing do something about it. Hopefully, that time is now.

BTW, any suggestions for quick, healthy, cheap meals that my kids will eat? I've regressed back to pizza, hamburger helper, and spaghetti during the week. I'm not quite sure if this is due to time constraints or money constraints, but there ya go. Suggestions?