Man am I tired today! Not exactly sleepy, though I am that too, but instead I feel more exhausted as opposed to tired, if that makes any sense. Oddly enough, I actually got to sleep before 11 last night, and that’s unusual for me. I’m just worn out. I think that may be due in part to ToM showing up this morning. Sometimes it just takes it out of me, you know? I’m so glad it’s almost the weekend and I can sleep in on Saturday morning (hopefully anyway).
But I did stick to my plan yesterday, for the most part. My food was just what I said it would be, with the small exception of about 5 pretzels with my yogurt (I couldn’t decide if I wanted salty or sweet, so I had both). No chocolate though, and that is a victory, albeit a small one, for me. Calories were a little over budget, but I’m not too concerned with it at this point. I only got in 88 oz. of water, but that’s still an improvement. I do fine during the day, but when I get home I want to drink soda, and I know that isn’t helping my sleeping problems either. Tonight, it’s water. The scale is down to 217.8 this morning. Hey, any downward movement is good, even if it’s only a little.
No exercise last night though. I was too busy doing stuff around the house. I painted one of my bookcases and shined ½ my sink (the whole soak, scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub again, and spray version). I’ll do the other halves of those projects tonight, along with a little laundry. But I’m not intending to cook tonight, I’ll just heat up something for dinner, so I’ll have more time available to exercise. I asked Steve if he would set up the bike today, or at least move it to somewhere I could use it (right now it’s in our catch-all room, along with about a zillion other things we have yet to unpack). Hopefully that will be done so I can just climb on when I get home. I’m not holding my breath though.
Today’s menu looks like this:
Breakfast:
2 c. coffee with creamer
Banana
2 sl. ww toast with peanut butter and apple butter (had to grab something on the way out the door)
Lunch:
Diet Vanilla Coke
Leftover salmon cake
Leftover mac & cheese
Apple
Snack:
Carrots, green peppers, and broccoli
Light ranch dressing
Dinner:
Taco salad
Possibly a few tortilla chips, but not more than 1 oz. (I will measure)
Whoever asked if I had tried the Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke—yes, and I love it! I couldn’t find it in cans though, hence the simply Vanilla with lunch.
Joy, I forgot to add it to my post yesterday, but I’m up for an exercise challenge. I’m aiming for 120 minutes by March 7. I’ll get started on that this evening!
Question of the Day How do you think losing weight will improve your life?
Primarily, I think I will be more comfortable with myself. I’ve always been kind of… not shy, exactly, more like… reserved around other people. I’m so incredibly self-conscious all the time. I have a hard time interacting with people sometimes. I know that is partially because of my personality and how I was raised, but I also know that my personality is at least partially a result of my being overweight all my life. I always think everyone is going to reject me because of my weight. I know that’s not going to magically go away just because I lose a few pounds, but I also know that losing weight makes me more confident in myself, and confidence shows.
And then there’s the physical quality of life stuff. I don’t want to groan when I pull myself out of bed in the morning (or at least not because my back hurts and my body is stiff). I don’t want to have problems bending over, or standing back up. I want to be able to walk up stairs and not get winded. I want to not feel like crying every time I come out of a dressing room. I want to easily find clothes that fit me and actually look good
And I don’t want to have to worry about it all the time. I recognize that I’m always going to have to watch what I eat, and I’m always going to have to stay active, even after I’ve gotten the weight off. I know that. But I don’t want to obsess about it the way I do now. I don’t want to feel guilty if I have a slice of pizza with my friends, or think they’re all thinking of how fat I am and that I should be eating salad instead (I know they don’t really think that, it’s just my overly self-conscious mind telling me that).
OK, enough of my ramblings for now. Have a lovely day, chicks.
~Elisha
Evening, chickies! Things were crazy at work today! I never even got to leave the desk except to pee. My "lunch" was spent on the phone dealing with changing over our cell phone plan, which really needed to be done. Got 2 new phones, free, with the family plan, and we'll have them within "3 business days" they say, so early next week.
You will never believe what I did today! *smacks head!* At some point, I leaned against something in the office- could have been the file cabinet, could have been the side of my chair to toss something out....I reset the pedometer and lost whatever steppage I had! Waaah! So I have a paltry 218 steps to log for tonight. Water could have been better- under 64oz while at work, so I need to pour a big glass now & get working on that.
Also have to pack for the weekend at the new house, and see what I can bring up this trip- looking for more comfort stuff, toiletries, etc, and start moving clothing we're not currently wearing. I'll check in later, or first thing in the AM. Have a great night, chickies!
Today I stuck my finger in some cool whip dessert and had 2 spoonfulls of chocolate frosting that the babysitter made and left out on the counter today! Grrrrr! She didn't make the cake (that I said she could make, but to take it home with her) because we didn't have any eggs (silly me!) but she must have made the frosting first! Anyway...there it was when I got home from work and I did my best to stay out of it. I put it in a container and then put it in the fridge, but while I was doing it...well it was hard to resist, let's just say that!
So, now I only have ONE on my signature (thanks Joy for that idea).
The rest of the food was good.
B-fast was a Latte (SF/FF)
Lunch: The other half of my sandwich from ARby's yesterdy, 1/2 cup yogurt, some grapes
AFternoon snack: 1 piece string cheese (and the aforementioned slips)
Supper: TAco Salad (consists of lettuce, onion, a serving of tortilla chips, 1/2 cup drained and rinsed taco meat, low fat sour cream, Catalina Free dressing and about 1 oz. shredded cheese.
HS snack: 1 serving popcorn and water!
Water has been good today. Drank around 70 oz which is ok for me!
Exercise has been only about 15 minutes. I sure will be glad when this foot doesn't hurt anymore! I'm still working on stretching it, etc. Got fitted for ortho's tonight and they should be ready in a couple of weeks. The pedorthist suggested I wear shoes even when I get up in the morning. I guess I need to invest in some "house shoes' because I wont' wear my shoes int he house after wearing them at work all day...I just can't do it! Yuck!
Question of the Day
How do you think losing weight will improve your life?
I think it will help me to realize that goals CAN be reached! I also won't have to be as worried about developing all of those horrible family diseases. I will be able to climb mountains whenever I want and feel good about the clothes I wear! I got a view at work today of my rear end! I was washing my hands in the therapy room and the standing mirror that they use was situated just so that when I looked up int he mirror, I saw that big butt staring back at me! I was shocked! I'm bigger in the rear than I thought! OMG!! So that has really inspired me! I have to keep that picture in my mind from here on...
Some prayers please...
My sister was hospitalized today with heart complications. She's 5 years younger than me (she's 40) and she has 3 little kids. She went for a stress test a few weeks ago and then followed up with a cardiologist yesterday who told her she needed to have an angioplasty. She's soooo young with soooo much stress. Their house burned down 2 years ago and she is having horrible financial and marriage difficulties (but she won't share anything with anyone) and she is suffering because of it. I know she can turn this around, but she needs lots of prayers if you beleive! Thanks!
What’s your biggest dieting vice? Night-time eating? Sugary morning lattes? Is there something you can’t get away from? What’s your strategy for dealing with this vice?
I am a bit off kilter today. I woke up without the alarm around 5.30, reset the alarm for 6.30 (instead of 6), but I guess I forgot to turn it on, because I woke up at 7.35. I usually leave around 7.45! So I washed my face, threw on some clothes, grabbed some food, and flew out the door. At first I felt better than normal because of the extra sleep, but that must have been from the adrenaline rush of running around like that, because about half way to work I was tired again. Now my head is stuffy, I’ve got a headache, and I’m tired as usual. *sigh* At least I get to sleep in some tomorrow, though I know I’ll most likely still be up before 8.
I was sorely tempted to stop a McD’s for breakfast this morning, since I was so pressed for time. But I talked myself out of it, so that’s good. Really though, with the typical line at our McD’s in the morning, it would have taken just as long anyway, and cost me money. I don’t need to pay for that!
Anyway… yesterday was a good day for me.
Water: 108 oz.
Calories: 1743, and I stuck to my menu plan (except for one Lemon Cooler from the kitchen at work—they’re my favorite! Thank goodness they’re small!)
Exercise: 30 minutes on the bike
Weight this morning: 215.6
I also finished painting the bookshelves and the window sills. I didn’t shine the other half of my sink though. There was a point when I thought about it, but then I decided it was silly to not use my sink because I was too concerned with keeping it clean. I don’t have a dishwasher, so as long as I keep my dishes washed on a daily basis at the very least, that’s good enough for me. And if I want to leave them in the drainer overnight, well that’s fine too. So I washed my dishes and left them in the drainer. Then I wiped my sink out with my nice clean dishtowel.
Tonight Steve says he’s going to help me shampoo the carpets finally. We’re getting our dog tomorrow, and hopefully my bed and the rest of my furniture either tomorrow or Sunday, and the carpets need to be done before those things happen, so tonight’s our last chance.
This weekend will be move cleaning and moving. We did manage to get the exercise bike set up yesterday, though it didn’t happen until I got home and made Steve help me move it. We put it in the living room for now, so I can sit and pedal and watch CSI. Plus, after tomorrow I’m going to have to take the dog for a walk when I get home, so that will be a bit more exercise for me. But now that I’ve got almost everything painted I can put a lot more stuff away (we have boxes of books sitting in our living room just waiting for the shelves to dry—I’ll put them away tonight), and I will feel so much better.
I got on the bike last night and did 30 minutes. My legs felt like rubber, even though I wasn’t pushing myself very hard. I think I need to adjust the position of the seat, as I kept hitting my knees on the handlebar. I’ll fix that tonight. I’m aiming to exercise first thing in the morning tomorrow. Steve always sleeps longer than I do anyway, and it’ll be harder to find time to do once he’s up, so I figure that’s the best plan.
I have a feeling this weekend is going to be dietarily challenging though. Tomorrow we’re going out to dinner with some friends, but I am going to make a good choice, though I may share a dessert with Steve, depending on where we go and what I have for my meal. Weekends are always hardest for me though. Especially when I’m busy, and we’ll probably have people in and out helping us move stuff. I’ll see what I have to fix for a big group. And if no one else is there to eat with us, well, we’ll just have leftovers for next week.
So I did my taxes weeks ago, at the end of January. I still haven’t gotten my return. Thinking this was a bit weird, I went to the IRS site yesterday to check the status. The site said that they could not tell me anything about it and that I had to call them and reference such and such a case number. I figured I was probably getting audited or some crap like that. When I did my taxes, I didn’t have my printer hooked up, so I went back to the site where I prepared them to print out the forms to have on hand when I called, and as soon as I logged in there was a note telling me that I had not filed. I guess I forgot to hit all 17 finish buttons or something. *rolls her eyes* But now everything is filed and printed out and should be in the works. So as far as I know, no audit. That’s a relief! And now I have $21 than I though I had, because my state taxes won’t be taken out until the end of March, rather than the end of February. Hehe…
If we get stuff cleaned and set up tonight and tomorrow, I’ll take some pictures of my house and our new dog and post them on Sunday. I’ve been wanting to do that, but I wanted to wait until some of the boxes were out of the way.
Menu for today:
Breakfast:
1 c. coffee w/creamer
2 sl. ww toast
1 T. LF mayo
1 sl. FF American cheese
1 frozen sausage patty (110 cals, according to the package, and I napkined off the grease)
Lunch:
Frozen dinner, but I’m not sure what kind I grabbed. The only ones we’ve got are lighter fare, and I think the worst of them has about 350 calories.
Banana
Snack:
Raw veggies
2 T. LF ranch dressing
Dinner:
Don’t know yet. I’m thinking I might stop and get us a couple of decent steaks, and I’ve got some nice baking potatoes at home, and I’ll make a great big salad. Perhaps. That’s likely to change.
Question of the Day What’s your biggest dieting vice? Night-time eating? Sugary morning lattes? Is there something you can’t get away from? What’s your strategy for dealing with this vice?
This is a tough one, because there are so many. Mainly I think that it’s just because I like food so much, no matter what it is. I like the sensation of eating, of having food in my mouth. I like all the different flavors and textures and smells. And I hate being hungry. I don’t even like feeling like I’m about to get hungry. It’s like as soon as my stomach growls once I have to get some food.
I think a big part of it is carbs. I love carbs. Bread, potatoes, pasta, corn, chips, crackers, chocolate. Sugar, yeah, I like sugar, but I can deal without it. It’s mostly the starch that gets me. But either sugar or starch, once I have it, I just want more and more and more. And it doesn’t last very long in my stomach, so I get hungry again quickly and reach for more starch. I know that if I can just stay away for a few days it is so much easier to resist, especially with sugar. If I let myself have chocolate every day, I want more and more chocolate every day, but if I don’t have it for a week I don’t even think about it.
So my strategy is to limit my carbs particularly in the evening. I’m not going to worry about it at breakfast at all. Lunch will be a moderate portion of carbs. And at dinner I will try to keep carbs to a minimum. And if I want a snack in the evening, it’s veggies or cheese or something else not chock full of starch and sugar.
That’s part of the dietary approach I’m taking overall though. Breakfast is my favorite meal, and if I don’t get a good breakfast I feel peckish all day. So breakfast I’m not going to limit too much. Lunch will be sort of moderate, typically some leftover or a frozen dinner plus a fruit or some veggies. Then dinner will be fairly small. This is so much easier now that I’m usually eating dinner by myself! I think I’m going to lose weight for that reason alone. I’m no longer sitting there socializing with my family and eating mindlessly, and I’m making my own choices as to what food I can have. This is so much nicer than trying to work around everyone else.
Wow, I just realized how long this is. Sorry for the novel! I’m feeling chatty today, apparently. OK, coffee’s gone, time to wrap this up and go get some water. Have a beautiful day, chicks!
~Elisha
Ok, three days into this challenge and I have chalked up exercise minutes of 90/180! I have got to tell you though.......couple days ago, right after I posted here, I decided to do 30 minutes WATP. I didn't really feel good.....headache and achy back and shoulders.....but went ahead and exercised anyway. By the time I finished WATP, all my aches and pains were gone......even the headache! I could hardly believe it......it was like a reward to getting those 30 minutes in!
Jennifer.....Your new office is beautiful! Wow! You are really getting your stuff moved in .....pretty soon you will be there permanently! That will probalby seem nice.....no more running back and forth!
Julie.....You are doing great with the 'no sugar' part of your challenge. (The little slipups are minor ......compared to the amount of sugar you normally eat!) Prayers going up for your sister......keep us posted on her progress
Joy.....Wow! I am really impressed at your food plan and how successful you are! Sure, I will join you for WATP.....but why wait until Monday? Let's start tomorrow morning!
Elisha.....You get a gold star for driving by McD's and avoiding a not good for you breakfast!
I went to the doctor for my physical yesterday and found that my scale at home was incredibly accurate (darn). After I got past that part, everything went well.....no problems and all bloodwork was perfect! I was so happy! Not that I expected any problems.....but it had been a while since I got a good checkup, and you never know. So, my only problem is my weight.....and no physical reason why I shouldn't be able to diet and exercise myself out of that, right?
Morning chickies....
Just a quick report on yesterday.
I had one minor "slip up" as MsRD calls them! I was passing out Nilla Wafers to the residents and I just popped on into my mouth before I could realize what I had done. When I felt the sugar in my mouth, I had an "urge" to spit it out...but CHOSE to chew it and swallow it and chalk it off to a learning experience! I need to NOT put things in my mouth mindlessly!~ That is all part of this battle for me...(which answers the QOTD)!
B-fast was my usual SF/LF Vanilla Latte (which I make with my Cappicino Machine every morning), cottage cheese & pineapple
Lunch was a really yummy salad from a local Bagel Place (it's my favorite salad)
Afternoon snack was some cheese & crackers with the residents during their social!
Supper was Seafood Alfredo (I know...lots of calories but I only ate 1/2 of it) a small salad and a glass of wine.
Today, I am going to try to get in some exercise, even though I really don't want to! Still feeling a little sluggish from this head cold, but it's better! We are leaving on vacation in 4 weeks so I really need to get moving! I don't know why it's been so difficult for me to exercise lately. Maybe it's mind over matter and I just need to DO IT...but I think the pain in my foot I experience every day has got to have something to do with it. I'm going to take RD's philosophy and go with "maybe it will make the pain go away"! It certainly can't hurt! Ithink I'll go do that now before DH gets home from work in case he wants to exercise right away!
I have no food plans for today which could prove to be disastrous...guess I better get a plan at least in my mind. We need to do some grocery shopping, so that will help with my decisions!
Hugs to all....(even those of you who have not checked in for a while!!!!!)
Ahem...Lisa, TBJ, Rosie, Betani,...who'd I forget? Hope you all are doing ok...
Hi - newbie here. Does anyone mind if I jump in on this monthly thread/challenge? I'm off for the rest of the day now, but will most likely be online a good bit tomorrow, and will catch up with all the questions, my goals, a bit about me, etc.
This just looks like such a great thread to keep my motivation in check and get me going!!!!!!
Ok - never mind. Dh is napping, so I have a few minutes. LOL I'll break mine down into multiple posts so it's not one giant post. hehe
Goals for March:
Lose 5-10 lbs.
Exercise 6 days a week
Get in at least 64 oz. water daily
Stick to my Lenten sacrifice, which is no snacking after dinner (so far, so good)
OK, so you've all heard this question before, but it seemed a fitting way to kick off the month, a reminder of why we're all here.
Why do you want to lose weight? Is it something you're hoping to gain, or hoping to avoid? Is there something that happened in your past that spurred you to this journey? What sparked the decision?
I want to lose weight for so many reasons...
1. to be healthy!
2. so that my dh & I can TTC our next child!
3. To feel good about myself and not self-conscious because of my weight
Long story short, I wasn't always overweight. I used to be skinny, and more importantly, FIT. An athlete, a dancer (ballet - as a kid). I let myself go, and it is definitely the biggest regret I have in life right now. I need to be healthy for my son and any other children we might have, and also for my husband. I need to treat my body as the temple God says it is, and to not let food rule my life.
How do you think losing weight will improve your life?
I will be healthier, happier with myself, and I will feel as though I am able to do everything I want to do with my child! I think it will also give me a huge confidence boost!
What’s your biggest dieting vice? Night-time eating? Sugary morning lattes? Is there something you can’t get away from? What’s your strategy for dealing with this vice?
One of my worst habits is night time snacking. I am dealing with it by making no snacking after dinner my Lenten sacrifice. And hopefully, once Lent is over, NOT eating after dinner will be such a habit that I just won't do it anymore!
It was kind of a do nothing day......grocery shopping, house cleaning. I took the dog for a nice walk......don't think I should count it was exercise, as we just kinda strolled thru the woods and enjoyed the crisp winter day. I did do 30-minutes of WATP (Joy, did you join me?)....so my minutes are up to 120/180! I am making exercise my main focus for the next week or so....until exercise becomes automatic, no questions asked. Next, I will concentrate on the food ....babysteps!
Julie.....Mindless eating! That is me over and over again. I have to remind myself to stop and think......do I really need that snack? You are doing so well.....time to kick up the exercise minutes.....Join Joy & I tomorrow with WATP? Where are you going on vacation?
Jenn.....Welcome! You have got those goals set up and ready to succeed! Snacking after dinner is everyone's problem here......hope you can get that one conquered! (She says.....as she sits here at 10pm mindlessly eating another granola bar!)
later ...
Busy day today My co-worker has been sick for two days now....
on my signature (thanks Joy for that idea).
Question of the Day
Welcome Jenn
