Weekly Update

SO Holiday week not so good.

Pounds Lost - ZERO

Pounds gained---- TWO :(

That is all I have to say about that right now.....

Wednesday Weigh-In and Weekly Wrap-Up

Pounds Lost: ZERO  :(
Pounds gained: ALSO ZERO (thank goodness)
Push-up challenge: 25 push-ups! I am totally amazed by that.

So this week was not what you might call successful, but it wasn't a total failure. I participated in annual baking day with the women in my family and the fact that I walked away from that day without gaining 5 pounds is a miracle in and of itself.

My downfall... holiday goodies are EVERYWHERE and I have NO WILL POWER! Although, that isn't entirely true... while I have been partaking in the goodies, I have been MUCH more restrained than in the past.  and I totally STUNK at my 100% food tracking goal. I totally missed one day entirely. I waited too long to get a couple of the days in so it was too late to "make-up" for mistakes and I didn't remember everything I ate, because if my calculations are correct and I had tracked everything I should have lost a pound. so.... better luck next time....

Positives are that I did eat holiday goodies, but I didn't gain. I exercised and I continued with the challenge. Knitia and I went to ZUMBA again last night, we were short a "cloud dancing's heartsong" though. It was my "last chance workout," and I definitely worked up a sweat. I had a good time. I think it goes by fast. Poor Knitia HATES IT! In fact, her direct comment was "I hate it with a fiery passion." There was some more about hating it to the depths of her soul or something, but I don't remember that part well enough to quote it.  despite her fiery hatred she is still going to support me, (already paying for them may have something to do with it...., but I am going with its for me! LOL! ) Even though I like it, the class still kicks my butt.

From Knitia: "Death by Zumba"

So that is all for now. Honestly with the holidays smack dab in the middle of this week, I am going to be glad if i don't gain, and ECSTATIC if I lose. I know i should set higher goals for myself...but its Christmas and I am eating cookies...... so there!

Wednesday Weigh-In and Weekly Wrap-Up (a day late)

Pounds Lost: 0.2

December Challenge: Successfully completed 18 push-ups at one time! (I should be at 19 but I forgot last night but I'll still aim for 20 tonight) 

December Adventures: One Zumba Class down!  But I haven't been Ice Skating, going to change this Adventure)

I haven't posted in a bit, December has been speeding away from me. I went on a trip for work and was not very good at the dessert table. However, I did do a lot of walking AND I took advantage of the hotel gym. So not a terrible showing. In thinking through what went wrong this week and why that "pounds lost" isn't a little higher, I think it was my eating. I actually have been rocking the exercise. I have hit the gym, been doing my push-ups and went to a Zumba Class (with Cloud Dancing's Heartsong and Knitia). According to sparkpeople I burned around 500 calories in my Zumba class, (they don't actually have zumba, but they do have exercise dancing class)

What I have not been doing is keeping track of my food.  I know i have preached it time and time again.. but that is really the key. If I don't hit my calorie mark, around 1800 calories a day, I will never drop this weight. There are many days that I don't track my eating. and I let myself off the hook for that all the time. I have to stop it. I think a new rule should be that even if I don't track that day, I have to go back and retroactively check within a day or two, that way I know what potential damage i have done, I can exercise more, or cut back the rest of the week, either way I can take corrective action. So often I feel like, well that is over and done nothing i can do now...and that is NOT TRUE! knowledge is power.

A pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. That is how many calories I have to burn through exercise or not eat in the first place in order to lose a pound in one week.  This means that if I don't track and i royally over eat, it is still important to go back and calculate it, I still have time to repair the damage. For some reason this little bit of information is incredibly comforting to me, but in the moment I tell myself the exact opposite and I am not sure why. Sometime I think I am letting myself of the hook, giving myself the freedom to "be bad" which will never get me to my goal, other times I think I just don't want to feel bad about myself.

Anyway, I am instituting 100% food tracking goal... even if the day passes and I don't do it, I am going to make a conscious effort to go back and figure it out.

Today, Cloud Dancing's Heartsong, my cousin, and I are going to our second Step Aerobics class... it is so hard, but burns a TON of calories!  I also plan to do a weight training session tomorrow.

I am also going back to Zumba next Tuesday.   I am hoping to show much better results next week.

Is it humanly possible to be this bad at push-ups?

Apparently yes....


So when I said I could do 3 or 4 "real" push-ups, like the kind on your toes.... I lied.
Yep, I could only do one of those.... two max. so... I am changing the challenge to the girlie knee push-ups. It is still challenging, I could barely do more than four, I have been doing a good job so far. Slam-Slam is doing them with me, except he is doing the real kind. As of last night we are up to 8. Go Team! 


In other news I found two REALLY helpful calorie calculators. The first (http://nutrition.about.com/library/bl_nutrition_guide.htm), is really helpful because it tells you how many calories you should have each day if you want to MAINTAIN your current weight (without exercise). I feel like this is a really good thing for every person who is trying to lose weight to know. It gives you a really good baseline and a realistic mindset when you are trying to choose what your daily calorie goal is going to be. The website also gives you a daily calorie in-take that will help you lose a pound a week, also without exercise. It will be a good idea to go back recalculate the calorie needs for whatever my new current weight is.


The second calculator is also pretty good. http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-goal.php
It doesn't calculate the calories it takes to maintain your weight, but it gives you the amount of calories needed to lose 1.5 pounds per week, which is a little quicker pace than the other. I will be aiming for this calorie amount. It also tells you when you will reach your goal if you do in fact lose 1.5 pounds per week. This is very helpful.


I find these calculations very helpful in my weight loss. for example, now that I know my daily calorie goal number is like 600 calories less than the calories needed to maintain my weight, I will not feel like such a huge failure if i go over my calories by 30 or even 50. I think this will do a lot for my confidence going forward.


My last word for the day is that I highly recommend taking a step aerobics class for anyone trying to lose weight. It is INTENSE (I went with Cloud Dancing's Heartsong and my cousin...we all thought we were going to pass out, and our calves STILL hurt, that was Thursday Night). According to sparkpeople I burned 650 calories in my 1 hour class! That is AWESOME!

Wednesday Weigh-In and Weekly Wrap-Up

Pounds Lost = THREE!!!!!
Net loss from last week's gain = 2

Goals from last week: 

1. Stretch once a day: DID IT
2. Gym Twice a Week: - DID IT
3. Home workout once.... did not do it :( 

Two out of three is not bad.

I am so impressed with myself that I lost over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I am not exactly sure how I pulled that off to be honest. I am about to cross a big milestone for me.  You may remember that when I started this blog it was over desperation that I had yo-yoed yet again. I had lost 20 lbs some months before and had managed to gain 14 of it back! I am happy to report that if I lose one more pound I will have RE-LOST those 20 lbs. ... this time for good.  This process has been frustrating so far, because I haven't really felt like I was losing, I just felt like I was backtracking. Once I get back to that amount, I will really feel like I am making progress. I would like to be at or under it by next weeks weigh-in and hit my 25 lb milestone before Christmas.

Today is the first day of December and with snow falling this morning it is really feeling like winter. It is also the first day of my Monthly Challenge and my Monthly Adventures. My adventures are going to be ZUMBA and Ice Skating. Over the month of December I will go to ZUMBA at least 3 times, and will go ice skating at least twice.  I am planning my first Zumba trip with Knitia and Cloud Dancing's Heartsong this weekend, so far so good.

My Monthly Challenge took a lot of thought, but I think I have come up with something. A long time ago i did a fitness test and one of the items was how many proper well formed push-ups can you do (on your toes not your knees) I could only do 3..... don't laugh. So i found this push-up a day challenge on line and thought... wow that is a good idea. So today I am going to do....FOUR push-ups. and I'll add one everyday. By the end of the month, I should be much better at push-ups.

25 lb prizes are still tied! if you haven't voted, please do so!

Goals for Next Week:

1. One Zumba Class
2. Three Gym visits
3. Journal food everyday
4. Stretch once a day. 

Catch-up Weigh-in and Plan for December

Wednesday Weigh-In

LOST: ZERO...... GAINED: ONE  :(


So yes, I knew last week had not gone well.  But it was worse than I thought. I am so disappointed that I gained a pound.  But this is a marathon not a sprint. So I just have to do better next time.  I don't think that I did too bad on Thanksgiving, but I haven't exercised as much as I should have. Exercise is key.  Today I did do my hike, this time I took a lovely walk through Fishers Heritage Park with the Dude Monkey. It was pretty nice. I think I'd like to go again and explore some of the nature trails.  My monthly challenge of Parking in the Boonies really didn't go very well. I did always park farther away, well most of the time, but there were a lot of times when it just wasn't practical because I have the Dude Monkey, and the FURTHEST spot was really really far away.  So I need help coming up with a good challenge for December, something that I may want to make part of my every day routine. Your thoughts on this are very appreciated!

My December Adventures are going to be ZUMBA and ICE SKATING!  I have 6 Zumba sessions that I bought through Groupon, and I plan to Ice Skate at least twice!

Other than that I need to stay motivated on the exercise front. I just took a quiz on Discovery Health's National Body Challenge. I was very honest and I think the results are pretty accurate.
Here are my results:

You Are Somewhat Likely To Stick With It.

• You tend to believe that physical activity has health benefits, yet you find it difficult to make exercise a priority. Although you have probably participated in sports and exercise in the past, your commitment may have been for less than a six-month period.
  
• It's conceivable that you see yourself as self-motivated, ambitious, achievement-oriented and a Type A personality. Therefore, you may have a difficult time attending to non-urgent needs such as physical and spiritual development. Finding time to squeeze exercise into your busy schedule is challenging which leads you to say, "I'd like to exercise but I just don't have the time."

How To Get motivated:

• Try changing your perspective by deciding what purpose exercise will serve in your life. Are you exercising to create more balance in your life, lose weight, spend time with friends, increase your strength, prevent osteoporosis or decrease your chances of getting breast cancer?
  
• Choose one life benefit per month and adjust your workout accordingly. For example, if you decide to use exercise to create balance in your life, you don't need to exercise everyday or at a high intensity. Instead, you may choose to take a Saturday morning yoga class at a gym near home.
  
• Remember exercise doesn't have to be all or nothing. Even a little activity will provide you life-long health benefits both physically and emotionally.

You can take the quiz yourself at: http://health.discovery.com/national-body-challenge/interactives/tools/motivation/motivation.html

My exercise goals for the rest of the week are:

1. Stretch at least once a day

2. Go to Gym Twice 

3. Home Workout once

We will see if this will be enough to make up for my gain this week. I'll continue to park in the boonies until December 1, then hopefully i'll be starting a new challenge. 

The vote is tied for my 25 lb Prize! Someone needs to vote and be a tie breaker! 

Fishers Heritage Park Hiking Pictures

Hiking, Confessions and my Thanksgiving Plan

So I haven't really posted in a while, I have a lot to catch up on.

I have fulfilled my Hiking Challenges for the month, so far at least. The weekend before last I was planning to go to Mounds with Queen Bee and Princess Bee, but the weather did not cooperate on Saturday. So Sunday Cloud Dancing's Heartsong, Slam-Slam, Dude Monkey and I went to Ritchey Woods. I had not wanted to do the same hiking location twice in the month, but I did different trails then what I did the first time. I carried the little Dude Monkey for part of the time and it was a good workout.

This last weekend Knitia, Cloud Dancing's Heartsong, the Dude Monkey and I went to Mounds State Park and did a really good hike, a little over a mile long. I did the whole thing with the Dude Monkey strapped to my back. According to SparkPeople. I burned 469 calories. We spent the rest of the day in Zionsville at the Toy Museum and walking around, so there was a little more bonus exercise besides the hike.  I'll post my hike pictures at the bottom of this post.

Other than my hike I have not exercised very much at all, I have not been doing my stretching, and I have missed several opportunities to "park in the boonies." Overall this week has not been very successful at all. I have also not been food journaling as much as I should, and I have been making food choices that I knew would take me over my calories for the day. Many of those choices made for emotional reasons. One of the biggest reason I think is stress. A big stress release for me is knitting and I have not been able to do that in the evenings lately. I think that is an important emotional outlet for me and instead of cookies or sending Slam-Slam to the gas station to hostess cupcakes (yes I did that... TONIGHT... BOO) I need to take 10 minutes from my busy schedule and pick up the needles.

I am also coming down with something, I have a sore throat, so I am really worried about my weigh-in tomorrow and what the coming week as in store with the holidays. I do have a plan for Thanksgiving though. I am really going to try to take just little bits of the stuff I love and load up and healthy veggies and lean turkey. Also, Princess E is making some weight watchers recipes I think, so that is going to help.

I was going to write about an awesome recipe that I got from Knitia, but I think I'll write about it tomorrow when I post my weigh-in. I am not expecting good things from this weigh-in. I am going to think through what my goals and changes need to be for next week. I think I am going to do some ice skating adventures in December, but I need a challenge for the month, something that I can do daily or a couple times a week to make me more active. If anyone has any ideas please post them.

Breaking Even (Wednesday Weigh-In)

Pounds lost this week: Zero  :( 


So this past week was not overly successful. The important thing is that I didn't gain! I'll post again soon with pictures from my hike, but I am going to call it a night... I know I need to catalog what went wrong and think through how to do better. But... I don't feel like it.  The truth is I knew I was being bad.. I was stressed and I turned to food...  I still found a replacement tactic to overcome the whole emotional eating thing. That is something I am going to think about and write about some more when I am not tired and cranky!

Feel free to share your thoughts on the matter in the comments. I welcome suggestions!

Wednesday Weigh-In and Weekly Wrap-Up Week 3

Weight Loss This Week- THREE POUNDS

% body fat lost - .4 (again...every little bit counts, this just shows that some of my weight loss is actual fat) 

Visits to the gym- ZERO AGAIN!!!! NOT GOOD!

Other Exercise: Hiking... and that is about it. 

Food Tracked:  not sure... sparkpeople is down for maintenance....and I can't remember... 

Sodas consumed: ONE.... :( 

* Park in the Boonies Challenge: Pretty well, except I am giving myself an exemption for daycare, it is a really big pain to park far  away, and last night I did not parking in the boonies when I went to Target late at night. I was a scaredy-cat

*Stretching: worked on it a little, lots of room for improvement! 

I have got to get my exercise routine down! I am staying at or under 1600 calories a day and I think that is a big part of why I am still losing, but eventually that is going to level out. I declared today my free day and I took FULL advantage...I'll be paying for it next Wednesday if I don't get myself in gear. I plan to go to the gym tomorrow, and friday, and I'm going to Anderson to hike at Mounds State Park on Saturday! 

I want to thank Queen Bee also for her unwavering support! She posts on here all the time and it really gives me the drive to keep going and to stay on track... Thank you so much my friend! 

One last thing.. .I am getting closer and closer to my closest milestone: Losing 25 pounds... only 8 more pounds to go! When that happens, Slam-Slam is going to give me a prize. I am giving you lovely readers the opportunity to decide what that prize will be... only two folks have voted so far....

 PLEASE VOTE FOR MY 25 Pound Prize!!! 

(poll is in the upper right) 

Goals for next week: 

More Stretching, 

More Exercise, and a 

More challenging hike! 

The Hike at Ritchey Woods Nature Preserve

I LOVE RITCHEY WOODS NATURE PRESERVE!

I had a lovely hike there this morning. I'll definitely be back. There are several trails. I only did two of them. I could see renting the shelter out for a party too. It was really lovely. According to spark people I burned 125 calories. Not a ton, but definitely better than zero...and what a LOVELY, RELAXING way to spend the morning. First hiking trip down, three to go. I am pumped though.

I think next weekend I want to go up to Mounds State Park in Anderson... Who is with me!!?!?

At the very beginning

Looking out on the prairie from the shelter

On Prairie/ Swamp Trail

I think this bridge is pretty

still on Prairie trail

this looks funny! 

on the the orchard trail

Standing on the observation deck at the end of orchard trail

So.... I sort of fell apart this weekend.

I had a party at my house on Friday night... blog regulars Giggles, Queen B, Cloud Dancing's Heartsong and Bombshell McGee were all in attendance. I tried to have some healthy food at the party. but I also had some mini corn dogs... and did I focus my eating on the veggie tray or the fruit... NO of course not.. I popped mini corn dog after mini corn dog down the hatch... I totally lost count of how many I had. but it was a lot. I also had one glass of soda and a glass and a half of wine... it was not my brightest moment. I had intended to have a little wine.... and I also was prepared for a couple of many corn dogs.. I think where I went wrong is that I didn't eat a healthy meal before the party. It is a lot easier to be good when you are full. In fact... I think I had a snickers on my way home that day too... I totally fell apart.

I was determined to do better yesterday (Saturday). I journaled my food all day. I was even able to go to Taco Bell and stay within my calories for the day. In fact after taco bell I still had 300 calories i could eat for the day... so i decided to have some grapes for dessert. Then Slam-Slam came home with a Butterfingers and I begged for a bite... and then he said he had two and I could have it, so I ate it on up... Why? I have not idea. there is no way I was hungry. and I had done so well.  I haven't done my hike yet either! I have to do that soon.

I am also really behind on my goals for this week. I have to look at those tonight and get back on track. I really want to have at least a little bit of weight loss each week. Even if it is only HALF of a pound. I don't want to go back up ever again! At the same time, it is when I have a little mess up that I usually just say... screw it.. i can't do this I'll be fat forever.. I can't do that again. All is not lost just because I went on a mini corn dog bender. I just need to get back on track and keep moving forward....

Time to get ready to hike!

Wednesday Weigh-In and Weekly Wrap-Up- Week 2

Weight Loss This Week- FIVE POUNDS

% body fat lost - .3 (every little bit counts) 

Visits to the gym-0 

Other Exercise: 3 mile Family Walk, Textercises

Food Tracked:  4 days out of 7

Sodas consumed: ZERO!!!!! :) 

This week has been quite successful. I am extremely pleased with the 5 pounds of weight loss. I think most of that can be attributed to the 3 mile walk that I participated in. Because, other than trying to be more active in general, I didn't do a lot of other exercise. 

I also haven't made as much improvement in my food tracking. That is something I want to work on for next week. 

Goals for next week

• Track food at least 5 days,
• Hike this weekend
• At least 2 visits to the gym 
• Begin Stretching regimen (do it at least twice a week)

October is gone... and November Challenges and Adventures are ready to begin!

October has come and gone already! My Adventure for October (The Pleasant Run Run) was a huge success and I participated in my October Challenges pretty well for the most part. I wasn't too terrible on Halloween. I bought candy I didn't like so that helped a lot. However, My neighbors had good candy though, so I did have a couple of pieces of that.

I'm resolving to do more physical activity in my everyday life! One way that I plan to do that , is by doing fun and active things with the dude monkey. I am going to try to enroll him in a baby swimming class and a baby tumbling class. That will help. I have also decided I am going to do a stretching routine everyday. I feel like I need to be more limber and that is something that I can easily do everyday. It seems like a good way to start the morning. And I am challenging myself to NO MORE DRIVE THROUGHS! This serves two purposes, one, it forces me not to be lazy, and two, it may prevent me from going to fast food entirely. Sometimes it is just so convenient to get a snack by going through the drive through, it seems almost like an automatic decision. but now if I have to get out and go in, I am making a conscious decision to eat that, and maybe while I am thinking about it, I'll pick a healthier option.

This brings me to my challenge and adventure for November: Introducing the Park in the Boonies Challenge. And I am not just talking about parking a little ways out or after the last car in the row. I am talking about parking in the absolutely furthest spot away. I am allowing for a few exceptions to the rule:
1. if i have a particularly surly dude monkey
2. if it is pouring the rain and I do not have an umbrella

My adventure for the month will be Hiking the local trails! I think spending the last little bit of Fall on wooded trails seems like a great way to get some exercise. I am definitely going to do Fort Benjamin Harrison, and I'd like to do Mounds State Park in Anderson. Other than that I am open to suggestions. I need two more hiking trails to go on for this month.

The Pleasant Run Run!

Today was the day for my October Adventure.  A 3 mile family walk through some scenic Irvington Neighborhoods and parks! Overall, it was awesome. But my feet are killing me.  I really am very out of shape. Cloud Dancing's Heartsong and several members of her family and some of her friends came along with us, we had quite the entourage. I was tired before we even got to the starting line, from where we parked. But I was still feeling pretty good. We got there early and I got a starbucks which really helped!

We started off enhusiastic and strong! Things started out really well. The neighborhoods over there are really beautiful! I started struggling a little after a mile I think. There weren't markers, but we figured out that  we did a 20/min mile and it was about 20 minutes or so that I started feeling it. Irvington is suprisingly hilly. Tiny Hills! but hilly nonetheless! I really started to fall behind. CDH's parents were way ahead of us! But I pulled through and made it across the finish line. (there was a moment when we passed by where we had parked that I thought to myself, "Lets go get in the car and hit the road" But we kept going and did the 3 miles in exactly an hour! Afterward we went to Jockamo's pizza (no clue if i spelled that right) and had big salads and a relatively healthy pizza. I know that sounds impossible, but we really did well. We got a pizza with avocado, red, yellow, and green peppers and smoked gouda cheese! not bad! 

After the walk, and lunch we did a little shopping and then went back to the car! It was a great way to spend the morning! CDH's family were wonderfully supportive and I think a good time was had by all! 

AND best of all! I burned 485 calories! WOOHOO!  Pictures below!

Here We Go!

What are we doing?

Cloud Dancing's Heartsong is REALLY excited!

At the Starting Line! 

My First -ever Walk Number Badge! 

WE MADE IT! 

Wednesday Weigh-In and Weekly Wrap-Up

So the first week of this journey is over and I am very happy to report that.....

I LOST THREE POUNDS!!!

I am so happy! As far as I am concerned, any loss is a big success! Here is the wrap up of the week:

Food Tracking: I completely tracked my food for 3 days of the week, partially tracked for 2 and did not track at all 2 days. This is not a perfect record, but it is definitely improvement over what I was doing! On the days that I have completely tracked, I have found that I am able to use that information to help me make better choices than I otherwise would. I am sure that the days that I did not track I went WAY off the wagon. I'd go back and fill in, but I have no clue what I ate! I did slip up once with a soda, a late night chili run and a snickers.

Exercise: So... I am not sure how to rate how I did on the exercise front this week. I did not go to the gym at all. But, as I wrote earlier, one big fitness/ active accomplishment was my 45 minute hike with Punchy Brewser at Clifty Falls. According to sparkpeople, I worked off 591 calories on that hike!  I also did a lot of walking with my mom and spent a good deal of time on the playground with the Dude Monkey. I also must confess that I completely forgot my Textercises last night. I left my cell in the car and didn't even check it all night. I have done last night's and tonight's textercises this evening to make up for it. (In other news, Giggles reported this morning that she did last nights textercises in the cookie aisle at walmart, with her son and a poor unsuspecting couple as witnesses!

Accomplishments: 3lbs lost!, only one soda all week (this is huge, I was such a soda junkie), also have been drinking a lot more water

Improvements to make: More food tracking and more exercise! 


I need more ideas for challenges and adventures! Please give me your input!!! In the coming week, I'll be accomplishing my first adventure (the Pleasant Run Run!)! Wish me luck! I will also be scheduling at least one of my 6 zumba classes with Knitia!

Trail One at Clifty Falls State Park!

Punchy Brewser is my friend from work who had the idea for me to start this blog. She was previously referred to as "code name undetemined"and I have been bugging her to pick one so that I can talk about her on here. She is an aspiring Roller Derby team member, so she decided to pick a Roller Derby name!  Anyway, Punchy Brewser and I decide to sneak out of our conference duties and take a walk in the beautiful park.  It was a killer, it was really hard, really steep and I thought I might die! but I did it! Of course I didn't really have a choice, once I got out into the middle of the woods, I had to come back! But I was still pretty proud of myself! And of Punchy Brewser! She was very entusiastic and really motivated me to keep going with lots of "you can do it" and high fives! I feel amazing!

Textercising, Playing and Generally Having a Good Time!

The last few days have been really busy but have given me a lot of good opportunities for exercise and making good choices. Friday night I went shopping and to dinner with Bombshell McGee! We had a great time, we did a fair bit of walking. We did go to a pizza, pasta, salad buffet, but I think I did OK, under the circumstances. I had a HUGE salad right off the bat and that really helped me with my portion control. In full disclosure, we did split a piece of smores pizza, it was delicious. I am not sure if I should feel guilty or not about that choice, but I think not. I think the key to maintaining all of this over the long haul is moderation and having small allowances. It was a small piece and then I split it in half, so I have decided to be OK with that.

Bombshell and I continued our evening at the Super Target, where of course I got a Textercise! Queen Bee sent me 10 squats, which I promptly decided to complete in the shoe department of Target! Bombshell (who was not caught up on her blog reading) did not know about the Textercise challenge and was very disturbed! "I don't know what is happening" were here exact words, it was pretty funny! I am glad I did those squats right there in the middle of target, I proved to Target and more importantly to myself that I am willing to do whatever it takes to lose this weight. I know I'll make mistakes and fall off the wagon, but I am taking this one day and one choice at a time.

Saturday I did some family history research with my mom which involved a lot of walking around (and chasing a toddler around) the cemetery! That was really good exercise. Then Sunday I took the Dude Monkey to a park and that was also very good exercise for both of us. Right now, I am at a conference! I am a little worried about my eating, so far I have been able to make good choices! I am not sure what lunch will be though. It is at a start park, so my friend... (who is still code named undetermined) and I are going to take a little walk around the park! I am really looking forward to weigh in on Wednesday! I think I have really made good progress!

Textercise Challenge

Today was the first day of the "iCarly Textercise Challenge!" Giggles, Queen Bee and I set up some ground rules.

1.  We will each send a textercise to the other two at least once a night, but not more than 3 times. 
2. During the week we can only send them after working hours. 
3. We can not send exercises that require equipment. 
4. No more than 20 reps per exercise. 

Tonight I sent the girls 10 lunges each, Queen Bee sent us 10 crunches and Giggles sent Jogging in place for 20 seconds. I did my textercises while watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman with Cloud Dancing's Heartsong. 

I have also chosen my adventure for the month! On October 30, I'll be participating in the Pleasant Run Run with Cloud Dancing's Heartsong, several members of her tribe and possibly Knitia, and Queen Bee.  The Pleasant Run Run is a 3 mile Family Walk through historic Irvington. I am so excited, it is going to be so much fun to do something active with so many supportive people around. I will definitely document the event with plenty of photos. 

Today was a pretty good day! I resisted temptation this morning! I stopped at the gas station and got a sugar free cappuccino and a banana. I thought I was doing really well. The cappuccino was way too hot so I didn't get around to drinking it. When I looked up my breakfast on SparkPeople, I discovered that the SUGAR FREE cappucino was still 300 Calories and 54 grams of carbs! I promptly dumped it out and jsut got some regular coffee from work! This taught me that sugar free doesn't mean it is good for you! I also went on a walk around the neighborhood with Cloud Dancing's Heartsong! Overall it was a pretty good day. 

so far so good.....

I feel like things are off to a good start already! I have the most wonderfully supportive friends in the whole world. They are already giving me all sorts of great ideas.

Food Journaling went fairly well today. I went to a catered dinner for work tonight, so I have no idea how to count the nutritional information for that meal. but aside from that...not bad. All the experts say it, and I think it is true, I really do think about whether or not I want to add something into my journal. Slam-Slam sent me out for a frosty this evening and I almost got a kid sized one, it sounded sooo good. But I thought to myself, I really don't want to put that in my nutrition tracker. So I didn't get it.

In fitness news, my friend, Knitia and I just signed up for 6 Zumba classes. I have done them before and they are really a work out. If that doesn't help kick start things I don't know what will. Also, my pal,  Giggles, came up with an awesome exercise challenge for this month. She got the idea from an episode of I-Carly. I guess the brother in the show gets this text messages with random tasks and he has to drop whatever he is doing and do the task. So we are going to do something similar with each other after work hours and on the weekends. The tasks will be exercise related, for example 10 jumping jacks, or 15 sit-ups, etc. We haven't worked out all the details, but I think Giggles, Queen Bee and I are going to do this for the remainder of October and see how it goes.

I also would like to do some sort of "adventure" before the month is over, get in my one adventure/month rule. Any thoughts? I have some ideas on the rules and adventures page but I am hoping to get more ideas up there before I make a decision. I need a little more variety and your input is much appreciated.

I think that is all for now. I am working out in my head what my weight loss milestones will be. Also, I have decided that each Wednesday will be "Weigh -in Wednesday" so if you don't hear from me before then, I'll definitely be posting Wednesday with a progress report. In the meantime, I need ideas for the October Adventure!

To Blog or Not to Blog.....

That was the question I had been asking myself and everyone I know all day today. It all started after an ill-fated trip to the doctor's office. You see I am overweight, actually according to that EVIL chart called the Body Mass Index I am Morbidly Obese! I know.... I can't believe I said that out loud either... ! 

Anyway, my weight has been a struggle all of my adult life and a good part of my teen years. I have lost a little weight, and gained it back, lost a lot of weight and gained it back with some bonus pounds added in. I have read every book, tried many plans, and have just never been successful with this weight loss journey. This summer I began the journey again with renewed enthusiasm. I did well, I lost 20 lbs. Then I plateaued, then I forgot about the weight loss thing altogether, then today I went to the doctor, and found I had gained 14 of those 20 lbs back! I know I could have said to myself "its a different scale," or "i am wearing boots" but the bottom line is, I know I have put at least that much back on. The weight has been creeping back into my checks, my baggy clothes fit again. I have yo-yoed back up... again. 

This brings us to the start of this blog. I went to work thoroughly dejected and very emotional and my lovely friend "code-name yet to be determined" gave me the idea of starting a blog to document my weight loss journey. This friend is incredibly supportive, she always has a kind word about my weight loss struggles and tells me all the time that I can do it and that one day I'll be on the Joy Fit Club on the Today Show and she is going to nominate me! She also supplied the title of this little endeavor.  I talked it over with a friend who has her own awesome blog,my friends Kitten and Bombshell McGee and my hubby, Slam-Slam  and everyone agreed that this was a great idea and promised to offer their support. 

So I decided to go for it and here I am.  In order to be inducted into the Joy Fit Club you have to lose 100 lbs with diet and exercise. So that is the goal. I haven't really figured out much beyond that. I am hoping that this blog can be an outlet for me to write about this journey. I know it will help keep me motivated and keep me accountable. I plan to discuss the successes and pitfalls that will happen along the way, as well as tips, tricks, recipes or anything else I might stumble across that I find helpful. I am hoping that any of you out there who might read this will give us the benefit of your knowledge on these matters and maybe share your success stories as well. 

I plan on making some of this up as I go along but I have some rules to start out with: 

1. I will post AT LEAST once a week. 
2. I will keep a food journal on my SparkPeople account and blog about my eating habits
3. I will document my weight losses (and gains) in my posts on this blog and on my SparkPeople account 
4. I will post periodic pictures that I am in (I got this idea from the aforementioned friend's blog) so that you can physically see the progression. 
5. I will do some sort of "adventure" once a month that is active and fun. 

Other than that, I haven't figured it all out yet. I am going to have to set some goals and some deadlines. I'll have to decide on an eating and workout plan eventually, I have done all those things a million times before,and have not yet been successful. I think that means I need a new approach, and I am not sure what that is yet. So for now I am just committing to working on this weight loss journey and telling you all about it. I don’t know if this will be a success story or one that goes on forever with one stumbling block after another, but I am willing to see it through.

I hope you enjoy it!

Here is a picture of me and Slam-Slam's corn dog at the State Fair. It was taken a couple months ago, but I haven't really changed since then.