Week 2

I lost 2.6lbs this past week and again updated the other blog and not this one. Ooops. I also did really good eating and controlling my emotional urge to snack but I never did get off my butt and exercise. Ooops? I know I need to get moving and eventually I will.

On Wednesday I had an appointment with a general practioning doctor. I've seen no one but my Ob/Gyn for years and years and felt it was time for me to go in and get a routine examination so as not to continue to walk around oblivious to possible problems. I have been blessed with good health - no major illness', no injuries, no surgeries, not even many sick days - low resting heart rate, low end of normal blood pressures - heck, I even still have 20/20 vision. I do not feel that I take these for granted. I thank God that myself and my entire family are healthy but I know that my weight could be the primary factor in future health problems if I don't get a handle on them now and put the obesity behind me. Overall the visit was good. My dr sees no reason for concern but I will go in tomorrow morning for a fasting blood draw to verify other things - cholesterol etc.

I know I have a long road ahead of me but am, at this point, determined to see it through to maintenance. I want my good health to include a healthy weight.

I am at but the beginning of a long road but look forward to journey. :)

Week 1 ~ aka: The Final Wk 1

I'm still here!! I haven't given up ...again... already. I am also doing a group weightloss blog with some good friends and managed only to update that blog on Wednesday which is my normal weigh in day.

I have decided to put it all out there this time. A friend of mine outside of the other blog also just happened to decide to try again on the same Satruday a week ago and she did something a little different, she told anyone and everyone that she was trying to lose weight. She says it helps keep her on track and accountable. While I hadnt kept it a secret last year that I was trying to lose weight I also hadn't purposely put it out there so publicly. I wonder if it would truely help? The downside that immediately comes to mind is the "can you eat that?" I think I can handle that and am considering going public. Not only with the weightloss journey but another journey that I decided to tackle sometime last year.

I want to run a half marathon.

Wow, never thought I'd say those words. I do not consider mysef a runner, have never wanted to be a runner, swore I would only run when chased and my life depended on it. Something started changing in me last year and it was almost like a calling. Our city hosted a marathon that also had a half marathon element and I thought to myself that I could do that. I could run a half marathon. I can do anything I put my mind to. I kept getting little signs about running and the thought lingered in my mind for a few weeks and the clencher was the episode of The Biggest Loser when Rebecca closed with her running of a half. She was in tears knowing that if she could do this anyone could. She never imagined that she could have done something like that but now her life was changed.

I plan to begin the Couch to 5k training program and contineu beyond the 5k to run the half marathon here in my city in the fall.

Now I'm off to enjoy my Saturday, get a stopwatch, good sports bra and get going on the road to my half marathon!

Oh, I almost forgot. I lost 2.2lbs as of Wednesday. I have been 100% on program since last Saturday and intend to stay that way. Here's the scale shot of last Wednesday:

No Longer M. I. A.

This blog began in January of last year when I vowed to start what was to be be my final weight loss journey. I was certain this time I would have the determination to see myself to goal..whatever that may end up being and stay there. I would get the weight off and keep it off permanently.

The year started off really well and by mid July I had lost 43lbs! I was very near half-way to goal. Then, I lost steam, willpower, determination etc. I soon started skipping weigh ins and all but abandoned this blog which I had also been adamant would not end up being one of those blogs/websites that starts off with loads of enthusiasm and progress only to lose steam and wind up being one of those found in searches that hasn’t been updated in eons. Poor little orphaned weight loss sites. I didn’t/don’t want mine to be like that! I also don’t want to be afraid of saying what I weigh or what I’ve lost. I had every intention of using the picture of my starting weight as the header picture for this blog last year and then post each scale picture as proof of my success, or lack thereof, each and every week. I was diligent about taking the pictures but never posted them and when success eluded me for more and more weeks in a row I stopped taking the weekly scale pictures. I need to begin that again.

This time will be different. I resolve to weigh every week no matter the results and post them here. I have to be accountable when the times are tough not just when I have success.

I have to take my before pics this week. I really appreciated being able to visualize the success before and have considered a slightly more drastic approach this time. More on that later.

Here’s to 2010.

S.O.S. …. I’m OOS!!

Where I work OOS stands for Out of Service and while I’m not exactly Out of Service, I am definitely Out of Shape!

I truly started this journey more to be at a healthy weight and to set a healthier example for my children than to be “hot”. I was tired of being winded from something as simple as climbing one set of stairs. Today I was reminded that, while I am 30lbs lighter than when I started this journey I am not necessarily in any better cardio health. I mean, I don’t workout with any regularity and it shows. You see, I decided to go for a bike ride with my son and intended to be out for an hour. Ok perhaps, just perhaps, if the chains had allowed me to adjust them as they were intended I might have stayed out longer but the truth of it is my legs were burning within the first few minutes and I returned to the house short of breath and heart racing after just 25min.

Deep down yes, I’d love to be a hot mama but more importantly I’d like to be able to ride with my child until he is ready to return home and not when his mother is in need of a rest. I’d love to look good naked but truth be told I’d be happy to be at a normal BMI and not have a closet full of clothes with only a few that “fit right now”.

I must get back into the habit of moving and doing so with regularity. I may just have to go against my nature and make a plan. Map out my workouts and stick to them until they become second nature as they were for a brief period earlier in the year. I have got to turn this around and get to my healthy goal. I think that for this challenge, the GAG one, I would like to make it to Onederland...I haven't wanted to say that out loud because that was the same goal I'd had for end of Summer...and that failed in big bold neon fashion. This time I will do it. I will start the new year in Onederland and make a solemn vow to myself and all of Blogland that I will NEVER allow myself into the 200s again!!

I think I may have just answered my own distress signal...

GAG Wk1 Gameplan and Recipe

I intended to log on this morning and share an NSV from my very first (ok, more like one hundredth 1st day) back on plan and then saw Shielas challenge and decided to combine my NSV with the challenge requirements.

What is my Non Scale Victory you ask? Well, after lunch yesterday I got a call that we were to go to Olive Garden for dinner to meet my brother in law. He was in town from out of state and would only be here a couple of days before returning hm and soon being deployed overseas. Typically this would have been a Woo Hoo Breadsticks moment - not this time. I immediately wished I could get out of dinner and have my already planned teriakyi pork chops, baked potato and green beans. What to do? You are faced with a challenge - a special event - what do you do? I used the tools sitting right of me and went to the website and sought out nutrional information (NI). I checked which entree would be my best option and even had an alternate incase they didnt have my first choice. I did the homework on what a breadstick would "put me back" and went into the meal with a plan! *gasp* Me? A Plan!? Who woulda ever thought it.

I ate minestrone while others ate the salad which deceptively has very high calorie/fat dressing and indulged in a single breadstick before my herb-grilled salmon arrived. Ahhh. The satisfaction of not allowing myself to derail was wonderful.

Now this isn't always the way we can make a plan...I mean, is there a NI website available for your close friends BBQ spread? NO..so what can you do to be better prepared to stay on your plan? Here are a few ideas: 1) eat before you go (I was going to say this before I read Lucrecia's blog I swear) if you are already full or close to full before you go you are less likely to over indulge. 2) know your weakness and bring a healthy alternative - if you love dips/appetizers bring a healthier version of a favorite and stick to it, if you are a dessert person bring something sweet that you know exactly what went into it so that you aren't guessing at what you are consuming. 3) Keep water in hand or gum in mouth. Sometimes the simpliest of things can keep us from mindless eating. I have successfully thwarted overdoing it at a party myself by keeping a fresh piece of gum in my mouth all night.

As for a healthy alternative recipe. Here is one I got from a fellow online Weight Watcher that I've seen since with various names as well as several recipe variations but every single time I've made it I've gotten rave reviews and it has dissappeared so here goes:

*forgive this, I now can't find a recipe w/ the ingredients I use and since I first made it I just throw it together to taste - no recipe
Texas Caviar

2 can black beans, 15oz size, drained
1 can kernel corn, also 15oz, drained
3-4 green onions/scallions, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4c chopped cilantro
zest & juice from one lime
1/2 - 1c italian dressing (I use Kraft Free Zesty Italian)

Now, I also actually use frozen corn, since I dont buy can corn, and just fill the empty black bean can to almost full and rinse it in cold water to "knock the frost off it" :)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and enjoy. I typically make this the night before or morning of a get together to let it sit in the fridge and give the flavors time to combine. I also serve it with baked scoops and have been known to use it at room temperature atop a grilled chicken breast.

I can't wait to see others recipes.

GAG Day 1 Body Shots

Ok, so I decided to use my workout pants and a snug T-shirt because I saw such great differences when I did this at the beginning of the year yet, to me, I look just as big now as I did 30lbs ago! Ugh. I know its different clothes and to go back to snug fitting makes a difference but its frustrating none the less.

Brush it off...I will look just as different in these same clothes in 16wks from now as I did from Jan 1st compared to 16wks into the year.

Here they are:

There is always Tomorrow....

Wow, has it really been almost an entire months since I last blogged? I kept meaning to do it....tomorrow. Why do we seem to put off everything, to justify our "cheats" by saying we can always start again tomorrow? I know that I am guilty of this. Heck, all of my diet days would be perfect diets days if only they stopped just after breakfast!

I really started thinking about this when I saw a recent episode of LA Ink (yes, the show about tattoos) I don't normally watch the show but found myself stopped on it when an overweight female comedian asked the star of the show to design a tatoo for her that was an oldtime pocketwatch set to 13 o'clock. It was her explanation of the meaning of this tatoo that struck me. She stated that so many times in her life she thought, "Oh, I'll do that when..." or "Someday/one day I will.." but those some days and one days never came. Kinda like 13 o'clock . . . it was the time that would never come. She felt it was time for her to start living her life, doing the things she has always wanted to do and stop waiting for 13 o'clock.

Maybe you had to see the episode to truly get it like I did ...but maybe not. Why do we wait for tomorrow to start stuff? To do things? I mean isn't there a country song that says "If tomorrow never comes?" Not only will we never lose the weight we will miss out on so many other things.

One flip side to my tomorrows is that today is always my LAST day of eating poorly so I seem to be in a perpetual binge of things I won't be able to have again for a long time when I start . . . you guessed it, Tomorrow!

Well, today is my tomorrow to find the strength and determination to get out of neutral and start driving (haha- that pun was not intentional) ... start driving that number on the scale down again.

Over the Summer I saw 212.6 on that all too truthful scale and sadly, today just 7 short weeks later, this is what I looked down at:

*feel free to tilt your head to the left to view my weight as I have tried a dozen times to get the picture to load correctly and it just won't . . . no, my pic isnt saved with this orientation. It views correctly on my drive and turning it then loading it only had it load w/ my turn...very bizzare.

I had truly hoped to be nearing ONEderland by the end of the Summer and instead I'm going to have to re-lose 13lbs before I start seeing new low numbers on that darned scale. But that's ok, because I have maintained a 30lbs loss. I have stopped putting off until tomorrow and I'm back on track! (I will post profile pics when I get home and take them in my workout clothes . . . sans the oversized shirt they typically hide under)

Thank you Shiela for starting the Give yourself A Gift challenge. I look forward to making new friendships and seeing just how hefty a gift we each can give ourselves in the next 16wks!

What have you been putting off until tomorrow that you will do today!?