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.