It’s all up to me

Current weight: 227.5 (-.5)

After the popcorn debacle yesterday I fully expected to be up a pound or two this morning. Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw a loss of 1/2 pound! Yippeeeeeee!!!!!!!! I decided to roll w/that momentum and have an awesome day. So far things have been going to plan and it’s about 3 hours until bedtime so I should be able to hold on until then.

I did my final Chalean Extreme workout today and it’s one of my favorites. Hard to believe that it has been 12 weeks already. On paper I haven’t made much progress; only down about 5 pounds and a couple of percent of body fat but I can definitely tell that I have lost inches. I was walking into the grocery store yesterday and caught my reflection in the window and realized I was the same width as another person walking in and I would consider that person to be of normal size. Could I be normal sized??? Considering the fact that most of America is overweight it’s not really something to celebrate but at least I’m now normal-fat instead of holy-crap-she’s-huge-fat.

After my workout I got a ton of work done around the house. There has been a storage room that I have been avoiding and I decided to just jump in and see what needs to stay and what needs to go. I LOVE throwing stuff away and already I have boxes and boxes of things to get rid of. At the end of the afternoon I went to the gym and hit the treadclimber for an hour. Next week my goal is to get there 4x, it seems that cardio is what works the best to slim my hips and get rid of the body fat.

I was also excited when I got home from the gym to see that my next workout plan had arrived. I ordered “New Weight Lifting Rules for Women” which is a 6 month program focusing on heavy weight lifting. It should give me enough time to read the book over the weekend and get started Sunday or Monday.

Tomorrow we close on the construction loan and then our builder can start building our house. They’re actually going to break ground tomorrow if it’s not raining. Finally I’m going to ask our builder if it will be possible to pick out all of the major things (flooring, cabinets, countertops, etc.) before school starts. We just have so much more time available in the summer and since my hubby’s starting a new job and I’m teaching a new class we’re going to be busy once the school year returns. Sadly, it’s only about 5-6 weeks away; hubby’s first day is August 12th

Progress toward workout goal: 58/300

Current weight: 228 (-2)

A million things to do so this will be short. Had a great workout today and then screwed things up at the movies w/popcorn. I made myself stop about halfway into the movie and have eaten lighter for supper so even though I lost my star I feel good about the fact that I stopped. Weight might be up a bit more tomorrow due to the salt but it will go away quickly.

More drama. I don’t know if I wrote about this yesterday but I ran over a nail and we had to replace the tires on the car. Then this morning I noticed that the washing machine wasn’t getting enough of the water out during the spin cycle. It’s an older washer and we were planning to leave it w/the house but now we have to buy a new one so it’s probably coming to the new house. I don’t know what we’ll do when our house is done and things quit breaking. I’m quite honestly expecting our credit card company to call us to make sure that nobody stole our credit card.

Progress toward workout goal: 57/300

Current weight: 230 (-1.5)

I finally had the chance to get back to the gym today and it about killed me. I didn’t expect it to be so hard since I have worked out every day but there’s definitely something different from doing TJ to being on the treadclimber for an hour. Plus, my brother called while I was on there and I had to carry on a conversation for a couple of minutes.

What a day. Woke up to an email from my dad telling me my mom fell off a ladder and broke her ankle. They did surgery late last night and she’ll be in a cast for the next 8 weeks at least. Last year about this time my dad fell off a ladder; we have decided to hide all of their ladders

Then, on the way home from the gym tonight I ran over a nail and when I got home I heard the “hiss”ing sound. Fortunately we needed new tires anyway so it just sped up the appointment. We hurried up and drove it to the tire shop before it went flat so we didn’t have to put on the spare and it we’ll have new tires first thing in the morning. Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful.

Food has been pretty good considering. Most of the day was spent packing and moving heavy, heavy items to the storage garage so cooking was not on the agenda. We got back from the tire place later than our normal suppertime so my hubby just wanted takeout. He likes the Chinese at our grocery store and I considered eating it w/him and then realized how stupid that would be. I was still sweaty from being at the gym so I got a rotisserie chicken instead. I did have about 2 bites of his Chinese but I missed my afternoon snack so I feel ok about it.

Hope all of your guys’ days were less chaotic than mine.

Progress toward workout goal: 56/300

Current weight: 231.5 (+4.5)

Yup, that’s a 4.5 pound gain in 1 day. Gotta love sodium. Sunday is my cheat-day and we decided to order pizza. I really didn’t do to badly, only 3 pieces, but I also had a few beef sticks and 2 chocolate chip cookies. It will come off quickly and a few more so I’m not going to panic but I will stick to less salty choices in the future.

Today exercise was lawn mowing. It’s hot here and pushing that mower up those hills is a definite workout. I had wanted to go to the gym but ended up needing to run a few errands for my hubby. I was going to save lawn mowing for tomorrow so it all works out.

Got to go, hubby is angrily cleaning the kitchen so I guess that’s my cue to help. I’m so lucky, he does all of the traditional guy things and he cooks and cleans.

Progress toward workout goal: 55/300

Current weight: 227 (-1)

I sat here for a while trying to come up w/a witty title and nothing came, hence the title “Sunday”. Oh well, they can’t all be winners

I was pleased to see 227 this morning, that’s down 4.5 pounds since Wednesday when I started my quest to lose 10 pounds (at least) during July. I know the next 5.5 won’t come as quickly, but I should be able to lose at least 2-3 more next week b/c our nursing will resume full-time and I plan to add cardio at the gym at least 3 days next week.

Thanks for all the feedback on my 10 pounds at-a-time plan, I’m going to go for it. But this month I think I’m going to shoot for losing as much weight as I can in July, even if I lose 10 pounds in 3 weeks or something like that. My mom volunteered to watch Kyle for a couple of days so we can take Justin on a mini-vacation in late-July or early-August and I want to have lost enough weight that it makes it necessary to buy smaller back-to-school clothes. I have made myself promise that I’m not going to buy new clothes until I have to, partly to save money and partly for incentive. I have been stocking up on size 14 clothes, I happened to stumble upon some beautiful dresspants clearanced for $4.99 and I couldn’t pass them up. I know they probably won’t fit right when school starts, but I wear mostly skirts and dresses during the first month or so of school due to the heat so it’s not a big deal.

Today we have gotten a lot accomplished and it’s barely after noon. I painted the door to our patio which doesn’t sound like a huge accomplishment but each side of the door has 15 small windows which made taping a nightmare. My hubby is working like a madman on our baseboards and they are beautiful. Seriously, whoever buys our house is going to be getting the deal of a lifetime. And I started my last week of Chalean Extreme and did the 20 minute TJ workout for a total of an hour. I’m stinky and sweaty but I feel great

Hope you all are having a great day.

Progress toward workout goal: 54/300

Current weight: 228 (holding steady)

Happy 4th to my fellow Americans. We are staying home today to relax. There was a cookout we were going to attend but hubby is so wiped from all of the work that I think he’d toss me into the Mississippi if I told him I wanted to go But I’m not too upset, it will make it easier to stick to a healthy food plan.

And it has finally clicked w/me that clean eating is what’s going to win this battle. Last year on the 4th I declared that I was going to workout at least 250 times in the next year. I met that goal by Mother’s Day and I’m actually 53 days into my next goal of exercising 300 times in the year. But even w/all of that exercise I haven’t even lost 30 pounds since then. Now granted, losing 30 pounds and keeping it off is an achievement, and in total I have lost 60 pounds, but I can’t help but think “if only”. “If only” I had paired clean eating w/all of that exercise I know I would be at goal. Last year at this time I had a little over 100 pounds to lose which is doable over the course of a year. Now I have approximately 75-80 pounds. I can do this. I WILL do this.

I know that it won’t be a perfect journey. I know that tempting foods will cross my path and that I won’t always make the healthy choice. If I start heading down that path, will someone chew me out and kick my butt? During the times that I’m not holding myself accountable I need someone else to step in and do it for me. I know it’s asking a lot but if a few of you are willing to do it I will make some serious progress.

Today I got up and did my pilates/yoga DVD and was able to do it in complete quiet. Nobody else was up yet and it was so peaceful. What a great start to the day

Progress toward workout goal: 53/300

Current weight: 228 (-1.5)

I have the opportunity to watch a lot of tv when I’m taking care of Kyle and this morning I stumbled upon the most fabulous new show. It’s a complete train wreck, you can’t look away, but you don’t want to. It’s called “Dance Your Ass Off” and I think it’s on WEtv. It’s a weight-loss show and dance competition rolled into one. It’s hosted by the girl who was in the movie “Hairspray” and what I like about it is it’s their combined dancing skill and weight loss that keeps you until the next week. Maybe you can’t dance as well but you lost a lot of weight…you’re safe. Or maybe you didn’t lose as much but you rock it on the dance floor…you’re safe. I am definitely not a dancer so I’m amazed at these women and men who can shake it and look pretty good. If you like TBL or Dancing w/the Stars (I have never actually watched the dancing show but I’m guessing it’s similar) then you’ll probably like this.

Speaking of dancing, I did the Hip Hop Abs workout from YBB today after TJ and I think I got more exercise from laughing at myself then actually working out. I think once I do it a couple of times and know the steps better that I’ll get more out of it but they don’t explain the moves very well, they just do them. It was a blast, though, and the time went by so quickly. All in all I got in 90 minutes today but I’ll be glad when our nursing is back next week and I can go to the gym. I just feel like I have gotten more of a workout when I leave there.

Off to do some chores on the to-do list to sell the house. I think in the next 2 weeks that we’ll be done and then the “For Sale” sign goes in the yard. Then my stress of getting the house ready can switch to the stress of keeping the house clean and hoping that it sells quickly and for a crapload of money. Bear w/me ladies, there might be a lot of griping ahead.

Progress toward workout goal: 52/300

Current weight: 229.5 (-2)

Yesterday I vowed that I would lose 10 pounds during the month of July and I’m happy to say that I have already lost 2. So if my calculations are correct, I should lose the 10 pounds by Sunday, right?? If only it were that easy.

Depending on how this works, I might break my weight loss down into 10 pound increments. Work like a dog to lose the 10 pounds, then spend 1-2 weeks simply maintaining, and move on to the next 10 pounds. It will help me to not get bored w/the dieting routine as well as help to train me for when I’m at my goal and living in maintenance mode. I’m thinking that it might also keep my body from getting too accustomed to an eating/exercise plan and hitting a plateau. Has anyone else tried this?

I did end up eating some cake at my hubby’s grandma’s b-day party last night but it wasn’t even a whole piece and I stopped when I had had enough. Wednesday is a higher calorie day on my cycle and I hadn’t eaten my evening snack so I felt ok about it. The old bag had to get her digs in, though. And before you gasp at me calling an 88-year old woman an old bag, you have to know her. The party was supposed to start at 6 but of course several people didn’t arrive until after 7:00. My hubby’s cousin, the golden grandson, left w/his son to go buy football shoes so they were waiting to cut the cake until they returned. Meanwhile, it’s after 8:00 which is when Kyle needs his meds. Football shoes…anti-seizure medication…any rational person would think the medicine was more important but not Granny. My hubby said they could either cut the cake now or cut it later but that we were leaving. Several snide comments later (from her, not me) we were out the door w/2 pieces of cake.

This morning I was able to sleep until 7:00 which was heavenly. Oh, I remember the days of sleeping until 10:30 or 11:00 but I guess I need to remember that I didn’t go to bed until 1 or 2 am at the time. Got up, did my Chalean Extreme workout and YBB for a total of 90 minutes. I love feeling strong and calm.

Got to go, Kyle needs to eat. Catch up w/you all later.

Progress toward workout goal: 51/300

Current weight: 231.5 (-1.5)

Generally I don’t set goals about losing a certain amount of weight b/c the scale can be so fickle; instead I focus on behavior like exercise, eating plans, etc. But sometimes you just have to buckle down and kick it into high gear. This morning I decided that I would lose 10+ pounds during the month of July. Not unrealistic, just a lot more weight than I normally lose. But I wanted to do something to get a jump start to being focused again. The plan is to be very strict and focused on my eating plan, at least for the short-term and go back to working out twice a day.

What happened? Got a phone call today that we’re having a birthday party for my hubby’s grandma. That means cake/ice cream and major food pushers. OK, I can overcome that. Then, the phone rang telling us that our nursing service won’t be available for the rest of the week which means that two-a-day workouts aren’t going to happen. With as hard as my hubby has been working on the house I don’t feel right leaving him w/the kids 2 times a day. I’ll still workout once a day and maybe do it for 90 minutes instead of 2-60 minute workouts but it won’t be exactly what I had planned. Oh well, roll w/the punches. I’m still going to lose 10 or more pounds this month, you just watch!

Did my regular Chalean Extreme workout today and food is on-track. Even though our nurse isn’t here I’m trying to work on the house by going through cabinets, cupboards and closets and getting rid of the junk. If I can stay busy like this I’ll probably forget to eat!

Progress toward workout goal: 50/300