Slow & Steady Wins the Race

Lately with everything that I do, I don't feel like I get as much accomplished as I had either planned or thought that I could.  We moved into our house on the 4th of July last year, and as we start to near the 1 year mark of living here, I can't help but feel like there is still so much that I want to do.  Sometimes I feel like what I have accomplished pales in comparison with what I WANT to accomplish.  Then I remind myself that I lived in my last house 6 years and the one before that for 8 years, so of course they were how I wanted them (or close to it).

I've been feeling that way about my weight loss too!  I lost another 1.2 lbs for a total of 24.8, and as much as that makes me happy, I feel like it's also going so slow.  I'm trying to give myself a reality check today by repeating to myself, "slow and steady wins the race"!  I'm not as young as I use to be when I could shed the weight quickly, but then again I never kept it off either.  It's taken me quite some time to gain this much and as much as it makes me want to puke a little in my mouth to hear the good 'ol bit of wisdom...you can't lose it over night...I will accept it!  Why?  Because this time I want to WIN the race.

Hooray for Friday and Food

Why is it that short weeks are always the longest?(My hubby was home on Monday.)  I am so glad that it is Friday!!  I always feel like I've made it if I can just get through Friday.  And if I am lucky I can sleep in tomorrow.

This week I've been paying a lot of attention to my hunger (or lack of) and I am completely amazed at how it can change from day to day.  I eat basically the same sort of things everyday (calories wise for sure) and some days I can't get enough.  Yesterday I was not hungry, no struggles, no problems...now today was a different story!  I had to pop popcorn this afternoon just to try to curb the feelings.

Popcorn is one of my go to foods when I am hungry...one of those things that you get a lot of for the calories.  I turn to it on days where I struggle with feeling like I need more.  I'm interested in finding more "go to" foods, because sometimes I get tired of popcorn.  I welcome any suggestions you might have!

Tired & Cranky

Yesterday I was really tired and I am not sure why, I slept ok. It wasn't a need more sleep tired either, it felt like I was absolutely exhausted. Maybe all the hard work is catching up to me after having a couple of more relaxing days. All I know is that it made me want to eat and say oh well. I didn't, but I really wanted to. Instead I made myself go do something...I went to visit my grandpa.

Now today I am a little cranky, although I am trying not to be. We will see if cranky affects the eating mind too. So far no, but I just had breakfast. There is a lot to do around here if I need to keep busy, but maybe that's what is making me cranky...

What I Want

Tonight I attended an awards ceremony for my niece who is graduating from high school and I was reminded in a not so fun sort of way why I am doing this blog and taking this journey.  The seats in the auditorium!!  It made me start thinking of things that I want, so I am going to start a list.

I want:

To be able to sit in a chair without worrying about it's size or having to perch on the edge of it.  This is what my nemesis looked like tonight.

To wear a bra that doesn't ride up and underwear that don't roll down under the "belly hang".

To take my kids to an amusement park AND ride the rides with them.

To shop in a "regular" sized store.

To be able to mow the lawn or do yard work without it feeling like I need to rest or die.  Here's a work in progress of my flowerbeds.

To sit in a booth at a restaurant and not worry about fitting.

To ride in the passenger seat of someones car and not feel ginormous.  Or lock the darn seat belt because I pull it out too far when I have to put it on.

To water ski again and take my kids to Bogus (local ski resort).

To be a healthy example for my kids and be here for them as long as I possibly can.
To finish painting my house and not worry about having to be on a ladder.  This is a picture of the wall I did recently and I had to use a 12' ladder. (My husband assured me that it would hold me.)

To polish my toenails without thinking they are soooo far down there and having to hold my breath when I bend in half to reach them.

To have energy.

To not avoid social gatherings, like my husband's Christmas party, because I feel embarrassed.

To value myself for who I am and care enough to take care of me. (This one can be particularly tough, especially when you like taking care of the other people you love.)


I am sure that this is not all....I expect that I will be forever adding to and revising this list, but it's a start to where I want to go on my journey.

Weigh Day, Goals, & Hard Work

This is going to be a quick post because man am I tired! I'm also sunburned, sore, and proud of what we've accomplished. The flowerbeds are not done, but they're getting very close. Just a little more brick work and clean up. I'm going to sneak out tomorrow and try to get a good picture to share with you.

I had a clean eating week and of course I worked hard. I also met my goal of getting in my water every day. In fact over the weekend I drank WAY more, but I truly think it helped the headaches I normally get when working in the sun and heat. I got a headache everyday, but they were controllable and went away once I rested a little.

My weight loss for this last week was .6 of a pound and I will take every little bit of it. Especially since I had such a huge loss last week. It also helps to know that I followed my plan all week. Of course we always want more, but it's okay!

As far as a goal for this week, I haven't really come up with one yet. I was thinking about making sure that I get some sort of physical movement in everyday, but I really haven't been struggling with that. I think that maybe I need to come up with something else. Any ideas?

Warm Weather

Today was such a beautiful day! Perfect for working on our flower beds. We had to totally redo the whole thing; leveling, brick pavers, weed barrier, stump removal, perma bark, etc. My husband got way too much sun and now I am sporting a nice farmer's tan.

I made sure to stop and eat and I definitely made sure to drink a ton of water. After all the hard work, we dined at Subway. I am hoping that the hard work, along with the clean eating, will make for a nice weigh-in come Monday.

Hopefully tomorrow we finish and then maybe I can share a picture!

Sleep

Last night before I went to bed I noticed that my baby was coughing a lot (she's had a bit of a cold or something) and I started to get all worried about sleep. I am NOT a sound sleeper, nor do I fall asleep easily. Also, the night before, for some reason, miss baby had me up from 2 - 3:30. This really doesn't work for me because I like sleep! Yesterday I was a bit cranky.

Back to the coughing baby part now. My SUPER AWESOME hubby (who also snores) said that he would sleep on the couch with the baby monitor, so that I could get some sleep! Yay me! I slept soooooo good. And my attitude today about everything is great.

Biggest Loser...Really!!

I have watched The Biggest Loser since season one and I can honestly say that I have almost stopped watching it several times this year. Tonight was definitely NO exception. What a SUPER LUCKY bunch of whiners! Yes I said whiners. Don't get me wrong, I know that they have worked for where they are, but they did it set up with some amazing opportunities. None of them did it on their own before and to bitch (and leave the show) about something they signed up for takes the cake (maybe they should go eat some). I often wonder if they think they look as stupid, when it airs, as the rest of us do. I'll bet Jeremy & Conda don't think it's such a bad idea now!!!

Ok enough of that....but really!

So on a lighter note, I've had two great days and continue to plug along on my journey. The water goal is going good. I have been feeling a lot more satisfied and full...the water maybe? I know, I know that's what they say. It could also be from the delicious homemade BBQ chicken & veggie flat out pizza I made. Super yum!

Sleep Deprived Successful Weigh Day (And Goal)

Want to know how to make 4 hrs of sleep ok? Have a great weigh-in! I was down 4.6 pounds this morning, making my total 23! I feel like I earned every pound this week. For the past several weeks I have been working my butt off and not seeing much change on the scale. This weekend was no exception, I started re-doing my flowerbeds. My soreness has subsided quite a bit and I have been really trying to get more water in.

That brings me to my goal from last week. I succeeded and did not weigh one single time since last Monday! I'm not sure how I feel about it though, the jury is still out. I was very excited & surprised by the number this morning, but was plagued by the desire to have a visit with my scale all week. I even considered weighing while I was at my mom's (it wasn't MY scale), but I was detoured by the jeans I was wearing. I wonder if it is just the idea of being told NO or whether it really is that big of a deal. I am going to set another goal this week and see what sort of feelings I have about it.

This week I am going to try to make sure that I get in at LEAST six 8oz glasses of water a day. This does not include other beverages like coffee or such. In the past this would have been an easy goal, but lately no!

Now if we can just get the silly baby to sleep!

Such a Busy Day

Today my oldest daughter had a party for her 11th birthday, complete with 14 friends! I must be crazy! I did put a limit on the slumberers, only 3. After a few of the party goers left, my hubby wanted to know if I had taken one of my "crazy pills" and surprisingly I said no or not yet anyway! There was, however, a glass of wine calling my name.

The day started with a hair cut for both my daughter and me, she got her nails painted too. Then we had to take my Grandfather some crackers. He recently moved into an assisted living and is really struggling with his loss of "freedom". Then off to get the rest of the party supplies and a new outfit for her. That's when the fun began!

I did get to partake in the "cake" because she decided to go with angel food cake & fresh fruit. It was delicious! I had to have extra strawberries. Because I was so busy today I really didn't eat enough. I got in the correct amount of calories, but not healthy enough food. This makes me ponder two things...

-Am I going to be hungry tomorrow and pay for it then?

-I really can control quantity when quality is not the best.

Now for some sleep!!

I Eat

I eat because:

• I'm bored
• I'm tired
• I'm hungry
• I'm thirsty
• I don't feel well
• I'm happy
• It's a holiday
• It's morning, lunchtime, night...
• I'm hanging out with friends
• I'm in the car
• I like food
• I've been watching the food network too much
• Someone else is
• They're giving out free samples
• My kids left it on their plate
• There's not enough leftover to save

Mostly though, I've been unconscious! If you don't pay attention it doesn't count, right? I don't want to be unconscious anymore.

Who Is That?

Every time I go into the bathroom I hear this voice...it's calling my name. Wendie! Wendie, where are you?

No worries, it's just my scale, and it misses me! Two days down, working on the third. I will see you Monday dear frienemy!!

Weekly Weigh-In & The Scale

Let's start with the good! My weigh-in this morning showed a 1.8 pound loss, putting my total at 18.4!! I also have to report, I chose wisely yesterday at the Easter pot luck. Let me tell you there was not much "healthy" to choose from. Luckily my mom, who is also losing weight, brought a veggie tray and I brought quinoa chili.

I realize that there will be times in my life where there is a "celebration" and it will be ok to splurge a little...after all this is REAL life. I told myself at the beginning to keep my journey real, nothing is off limits. It's ALL just about choices. I just wasn't ready yesterday to take that chance. I wasn't positive that I could take that detour and get back on the right road today. The weigh-in this morning made my decision all worth while.

Now the bad, well not so much bad as hard. I am making it a goal this week to NOT weigh myself! My scale and I have a very close relationship, we meet-up every morning. It's not, however, a healthy relationship. It can really dictate the way my mood shapes up for the day and that is just silly. All last week I would get on the scale and think to myself..."oh I wish it were showing a bit more." Then this morning for my actual weigh-in, everything was as it should be. And to think, I could have done without the daily "shouldn't it be more's"!

Easter

Tomorrow is one of the days that I am going to have to watch it, and not because of the candy. I am really not that much of a sweets person. Definitely more so than in my past, but I really only splurge on peanut butter Twix or ice cream (only the good stuff).

I will have to watch it because I am going to my Grandma's for an Easter pot luck. I've been sitting here hoping that there will be some decent things I'm willing to cough up the calories for when it hit me...I'm suppose to bring something too! I guess that means that there will be at least one dish for me. I've been having a really good week and want NO excuses to ruin that!

Happy Easter!

Quinoa

Quinoa....say what? We ate a dinner tonight that we couldn't even pronounce. I have since looked it up and the pronunciation is keenwa.

I can proudly report that it was delicious and everyone (all the kids too) liked it! I cooked a little ground turkey with spinach & herbs and then mixed it with the quinoa. Yum! After reading about it this evening I am very excited about the nutritional aspect too.

Now, off to look up recipes for our next quinoa adventure.

Water

I use to be quite a water drinker, but in the past year or so I've definitely decreased the amount I drink. One reason, as silly as it may sound, is that I stay at home with my baby and getting to the bathroom could sometimes be hard. Less water meant less trips to the bathroom. Dumb, but effective.

Lately I have been trying to make sure I get my water in. We all know how important water is, but I recently read that it actually helps metabolize fat. No wonder my rear grew! Ha!

Here are some other reasons water is so important:

-Naturally suppresses the appetite

-Kidneys cannot function properly without it

-It's the best way to overcome water retention

-Helps rid the body of waste

-Helps with constipation

-It's calorie FREE!

There are many many more benefits, so drink your water!

Getting On With It!

I know that have talked a lot about painting recently and I think I know why. We moved into our current house last July and I bought most of the paint for it before we moved in, but only painted my youngest daughter's room until recently. I blamed a lot of it on my baby girl and her non-accommodating personality, which is true for the most part, but it was also a good excuse. In the past few weeks I have gotten my sons room two toned and I've started on the rest of the house. I've even run out of paint!

I think that I have been putting it off because I was scared of how much work it was going to be and how hard it was going to be on me. I didn't want to see just how out of shape I was and I'm often scared to push myself into the unknown. It has been very physically hard on me! I think that anyone who is over weight and grossly out of shape can understand what I'm talking about. I sweat, breath hard, have trouble squatting then standing, and hurt all over. But you know what? I feel good!

Painting, Painting, Painting, & My Weigh-In

I volunteered at my kids' school over the weekend to help paint the elementary building. Wow what a lot of work! I painted like a fool and even had to make myself stop to eat & drink water. On Saturday I was down there until about 9:30 pm and back at it again for a few hours on Sunday. I can definitely say that I ate within my calories and I think that I got enough exercise too! I am so sore! And as if I didn't get enough painting this weekend, I decided that I would start painting my house too. I figured that I am already sore I might as well keep at it.

Today of course is also Monday, which is weigh day. I was hoping for a TON, who doesn't, but I was praying that it wasn't a gain. I know that with a lot of hard work and sore muscles can come water retention. I am happy to log another .8 pounds! Not as much as I wanted, but still a move in the right direction.