After one week on the weight watcher plan, I have lost 4 pounds! I was shocked. So shocked, in fact, that I stepped on the scale twice because I thought surely I had misread it.  Yay!

One thing that has been really helpful is the food journal. It’s hard to argue with yourself about whether or not you ate healthy when it’s staring at you in black and white. I have learned two very helpful things through journaling: 1~I need a very  high protien snack in the afternoons. Yep; learned that one the hard way. 2~I am a grazer (graser?). I will constantly pick and eat while cooking or if there’s food laying around. We went to a family members house to cook out last weekend and they have candy dishes~full candy dishes~sitting around everywhere. I was constantly walking around with a handful of candy. So, I know to do better with that this coming week.

I was very pleased with the loss but there’s always room for improvement.

The best part of this week was participating in a fundraiser 5K walk. I walked it in 51 minutes. Not too shabby for someone who just started back on their exercise plan last week. My daughter has challenged me to run it with her next year and I have accepted. (Am I crazy or what? Running my first 5K at 44 years old next year? Yep, I’m crazy).

Another good part of this week was going out to eat with a dear friend and making healthy entree choices. That’s a lot of progress for me!

Exercise this past week went well. thirty minutes a day, 5 days a week plus the 5K walk. It felt really good.

Oh, can’t believe Moses is gone from Biggest Loser. I was hoping he’d take it all. If not Moses, then Austin. 

That’s it from my little corner of the world. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Good morning, my friends. I hope everyone had a great weekend. The title of this post came from a battle I’ve been having with myself this weekend. I received my new WW books and calculator and I’ve been going back and forth with myself about whether or not I’m really ready to finally do this thing. As you may guess from the title, I am READY! Time to make changes and break addictions that have been holding me down for way too long. There are so many reasons to get healthy and so few for staying overweight and unaware.  So, ding, ding, ding: let the match begin!

We had a great weekend. My DH’s brother came for a visit from Arizona and we really enjoyed our time with him, even though it was short. We took our 5th and 6th grade girls Sunday School class to McDonald’s for breakfast yesterday and had a blast. Oh, I also have a new niece: Kristina Elizabeth was born 04/06/11! I am so excited. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a little girl. She’s completely precious and healthy. When her three big brothers (yes, three) got to the hospital, the youngest one looked at her and said, where’s hers arms? We had to unbundle the baby completely so her brother could see all her fingers and toes. 

Started the new WW program yesterday; so far so good. It’s going to be an emotional week for us, though. MY DH’s daughter will probably be losing her parental rights to our grandbaby today. We’re trying to get custody of the grandbaby but it’s such a bag of mixed emotions. Of course, ideally, we’d want mom to overcome her addictions and raise her child. But if not, we will be there for the baby. As much joy as the grandbaby brings, I still see the pain in my DH eyes sometimes when we’re with the baby. She’s so much like her mom. I know it’s hard for my DH. Say a little prayer for us if you think about it. We need it! Hoping and praying all this emotional stuff will not trigger poor eating choices.

I’m certainly enjoying this spring weather! Everything is coming to life again and it’s absolutely amazing and beautiful; color everywhere! I love it. I’m thinking of doing a wildflower walk at a local park or something this week. I know my DD would enjoy it.

Gotta sign off for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful day! Take care of yourself and make the best choices possible!

This will probably be a long one so go grab a cup of joe or hot tea and get comfortable. If confession is good for the soul, then I should feel pretty darn good when I get done writing this one!!

First, I’m into my second week of “real” exercise. You know, actually doing it and pushing through the allergy issues and the aching muscles and the head games instead of using every excuse under the sun to avoid it. Now, I know this is about the time that my body realizes what’s going on and starts demanding more food. However, the more food I’ve been giving my body hasn’t been the best decisions in the world. For example, what my body got Tuesday was Snackwell dark chocolate cookies. Not a bad choice, you may say, and you would be right except for the fact that I ate the WHOLE BOX! In the words of Capt. Jack Sparrow; not good.

Again yesterday, my body was demanding more food. Did I go to the yogurt? Nope. To my reserve of good for you pistachios? Nope, again. Oh, I know: the apple that is in the fridge? Decidely nope. What did I put inside my body? A Little Debbie nutty buddy. (darn you, little Debbie-with all the great tasting snacks you make you should be huge Debbie-not little Debbie). And then, I added a serving of dark chocolate kisses on top of the buddies. Ugh! So, that wasn’t too bad, right? It’s just a day and tomorrow is a new one, right? Right. However, it could and did get worse.

I went home last night and baked chicken to top off my salad that was on the menu for dinner. Okay; that’s good. But the chicken that actually ended up in my mouth (on my hips, etc.) was from KFC. And not just chicken: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw and a butter slathered biscuit. I know! How could I have made such a bad choice, especially after cooking the chicken I needed for a healthy salad? answer: I have no idea!

My daughter and I watched the Biggest Loser on the computer last night. (If you haven’t watched it yet, you might want to skip this part). Anyway, Jen and Courtney lost the pop challenge and got sent off campus for a week. They had a budget of $1,000.00 and a “menu” to pick set up their week. They could have their trainer for $200.00 a day; chef for $700; $150.00 grocery money; $50.00 for massages; $100.00 for an hour phone call home, etc. Well, they choose NOT to have their trainer there. I’m looking at my daughter saying, they’re going to regret that; Courtney is on a plateau and she needs Bret. In the back of my head, I hear myself saying; yep-you’d have to spend the whole $1000.00 on Bret with the decisions you’re making. True enough!

At the weigh in, it showed that they didn’t have their trainer. Courtney only lost two pounds and Jen lost NO weight and ended up going home. Bob said, ”All of you guys have to realize that there are temptations around every single corner. you will be tempted by massages and other things but you’ve got to look through it. No matter how good it seems, it’s not going to pay off.” So true.  

So, I did some research and based on what my typical elliptical workout gets me and what the “no-no” foods are worth calorie wise, my workouts left me 265 calories short of burning off all that crap! Can you believe that? A week of exercise and it still wasn’t enough to out weigh my bad choices!

What, you may ask (go ahead: ask) does this mean for next week? It means a lot of prayer for starters! It means making the healthiest choices possible. It means focusing on today and realizing how much my choices today affect my future. It means setting a better example. It means that 30 minutes of exercise does not mean eating whatever I want. It means I’m still learning!

So, how’s your week? Anyone else need to ‘fess up? Hang in there. Today is a brand new day with unlimited possibilites. God bless.

We are having some wonderful sunshine here in the Commonwealth of KY! I am glad to see it, too. We had a great weekend with a very special five year old (more about that later; say sometime in May/June).  From 3:30 p.m. Friday to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, we spent a total of 5 1/2  hours in the pool. I was so shriveled I considered auditioning for the California raisins.  But it was excellent exercise and great fun.

I made pretty good choices this weekend. Not as good as if we’d been home and able to cook but no guilt. That’s progress.

I’ve officially survived my first week of 30 minutes of cardio five days in a row. I feel better already. I just have to keep  my momentum going and make it two weeks.

I’ve been trying to focus on the smaller picture instead of the bigger picture lately. The big picture has the possibility of being overwhelming. So, I’m focusing on today and making good choices today. I’ll take care of tomorrow’s choices tomorrow.

Is anyone watching the “biggest loser?” I’ve been watching it. I’ve gotten a lot of helpful hints and a LOT of encouragement.

Anyone using the new WW program? If so, opinions are appreciated as I’m researching it myself.

That’s it for now. Fight the good fight and take care of yourself. It’s the greatest gift you can give  your family and yourself. God bless!

Don’t you love it when you get those unexpected breakthroughs? That’s where I’ve been this week and it’s been great! Through many different means, I’ve come to realize a lot about myself and the reason I’m not breaking this weight issue. But, arming myself with my new breakthroughs, I will finally and completely have success. I have so many things I want to do in life. One thing I regret is passing along my bad habits to my children. They’re adults now and we only have one left at home but I can see how my poor lifestyle choices affected them. Fortunately, they see it too and are making changes now while they’re young. We’re in foster care classes and I’m bound and determined not to pass these habits to another generation. We’re grandparents and I’m bound and determined not to pass these habits on to another generation; NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

One of the things that helped me this week was actually mentioned in the foster care class. We were going through some needs, developmental stages and such and the last stage is self-actualization. This is the phase of your life where some dreams come true. I thought, hey-I’ve seen some dreams come true, baby, and I’m going to see some more come true: one of which will making healthy lifestyle choices. The image I had was of myself holding a pair of my “fat” jeans in front of me then dropping them to reveal the new tricked out skinny jeans me. 

Another thing that helped was a dream I had one night. I dreamed my two daughters and I were jogging around a lake somewhere. That in itself will be wonderful. To be physically fit enough to jog with my beautiful girls will be a dream come true. But to make it better, I was pushing one of the three wheeled jogging strollers and my grand daugter was “jogging” with us. What an image to keep in front of me as I begin my journey for the last time!

These things, coupled with letting go of some past failures, a lot of prayer and some good sermons at church, have given me a new hope; a new outlook. I can be successful. I can be healthy. I can help others do the same.  As the Bible says; If Christ be for me, who can be against me.

Look out world; it’s a whole new attitude. A can do attitude that is on a roll.

P. S. My new can do attitude is also taking on the art of knitting! My daughter is going to start teaching me next week. Yay! 

Have a great day everyone. Let me know how you’re doing. God bless.

Well, it’s a good start: down 7 pounds since I started on 01/04/2011. Yay! Got a long way to go but it’s a good start. That’s it for now; on our way to Bowling Green to shop for furniture. Have a great day.

Weighed in this morning; down 1.4 pounds. YAY. And that’s with only three days of exercise and-quite honestly-not much change in my eating habits. If I can do at least that every week for the next 11 weeks (the duration of our contest at work) I will lose 16.8 pounds/6.3% of my beginning weight! Being a loser in this case will be great! Have a great day and if you’ve got snow like we’ve got: be careful out there!

Today starts our biggest loser contest at work. I sent an email and wished everyone good luck. Of course, I hope my luck is better! For right now, my plan is to do 30 minutes of cardio, 5 days a week for the first four weeks. I’ll also use weight watchers (WW) points to get my portions/snacking under control. I hope to lose about 5-7% of my body weight in the next 12 weeks. That will be 13-18 lbs which is a healthy goal. Wish me luck! Or better yet; pray for me! Have a great day!

Oh, weighed in this morning: 266. I haven’t done measurements yet but will also use that to track my progress.

P. S. situation with daughter went well. Wedding is postponed-not cancelled-to allow more time for them to know each other and work through this issue. God is good; all the time!

My daughter is 19 years old and still lives with us. We have discovered something, a major deal, that she is doing that we need to confront her about. True, she’s 19 and technically can do whatever she wants. However, she is still living wih us and we are paying her insurance, auto and medical, and do not ask for any money for any necessities we provide. We have also promised to help her pay back her student loans when she graduates in three years. So, I know that we need to talk to her-I get that part. She is also engaged and what she did has to do with the engagement. We’re just as worried about the “why” of her actions as we are the action itself. It’s something that could be detrimental to her marriage in the long run. Anyway, my hubby and I have already decided that there will not be a wedding in 2011 with our blessing or our money. (her fiancee asked hubby’s permission and all that old fashioned stuff. It was really sweet). We will be paying for nearly everything for the wedding. His parents are unable to contribute. Anyway, I’m just struggling with how to handl this whole thing. I have cried myself to sleep for several nights about this b/c I know the confrontation has to happen but I also know it could push her away from us and out the door. Anyone else ever dealt with this kind of situation? Advice appreciated; prayers even more so. She comes home tonight so we’ll be talking about it then. Thanks.

Yep, it’s that time of year; new year’s resolution. Actually, my decision started before the new year but it’s close enough to count.

I have been absent from blogging here since 02/2010. I’ve decided to come back and start over. Starting over with a clean slate; no re-hashing of the yo-yo exericse and diet plan that has been my life these past months. I’m going to try to blog about once a week. Maybe through my struggles and trimphs, someone else can be encouraged. Plus, I think better sometimes if I put it in writing.

The first thing I’ve done towards getting healthy is starting a “biggest loser” contest at work. I really think it’s going to be fun and good motivation for me. Only two people have chosen not to participate so it could get interesting. We all chipped in some money which will be split between the top two losers. The thing is that my co-workers have never seen my competitive side and let me tell you, it’s strong! They have seen my calm, cool, problem solving office manager side. Boy are they in for a shock! The competition will last for 12 weeks and be based on percentages-like the show. I’ve already (jokingly) tried to sabotage one player. She said she didn’t know how to diet and ask for hints. I told her that eating two candy bars for breakfast, a 1/2 gallon of ice cream for lunch and a whole pack of Oreo’s with a gallon of milk does wonders for your weight! 

Well, that’s it for now; time to go enjoy some more down time with my hubby. Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year. I’ll be seeing you again real soon. God bless!

P. S. I’m thinking of updating my site a little. What do you think? Yes? No? It’s been this way a long time so it’s getting a little old but there’s something to be said for being dependable, isn’t there?