Wednesday Weigh-In (holding) the camera adds how much?!?

When I got up this morning I hopped right on the scale, realized I hadn't peed yet & hopped right back off. After using the bathroom (and washing my hands, I'm very hygienic) I had "forgotten" about weighing myself & started my day. I went to the gym, arriving 10 minutes late for the 30 minute class I've been taking and afterward I decided to get in those 10 minutes on the elliptical. When I got the girls and headed for home I was mentally making myself a "to-do" list to get us ready to leave town. I started right on that after getting lunch for the girls and here it is, 4 hours later, and I have just weighed myself. I was in the bathroom, decided I'd take my trash out but first, I gotta step on that scale. And what do you think it said? 178.4! WooHoo! I was psyched! So I take the trash can, dump it out, re-line it, grab my camera & head BACK to the scale to document my number. And this is what I saw:

 

I'm not sure what exactly happened in the less than 2 minutes it took for me to retrieve my camera but there it is...I even got off, let my scale completely clear & then got back on. Oh well. I'm happy with this I'm feeling more & more confident that I'll be getting my pedi on the 7th! I'm also feeling confident that I'll SMOKE Rachel in our jeans wager. Our official start date is still coming but, since I have permission, I am not above getting a healthy head start! I'll be out of town until late next Wednesday night so I'll weigh in when I get home. I'm bringing workout clothes (I'm planning on wearing them on the plane so I can go for a run as soon as we get settled!) and my sister & I are going to work out together so I'm excited to see where I'm at when I get home. Have a great week everyone!

Maintaining Weight

I've been thinking about this some as I've been working on my overall fitness but I got thinking about it more yesterday. How do I maintain my weight once I reach my goal?
Well, I know that it is suggested to continue working out 45-60 minutes a day to maintain a steady weight. But how do I stay motivated to continue working out 45-60 minutes a day. Right now I can easily see the merit in regularly hitting the gym & staying for an hour or more. But once I'm a super skinny hot mama what's going to keep me going back?
The thought I had was that I get to find a physically demanding activity, that I enjoy, that I will be required to participate in regularly; say once or twice a week. If I have a team sport, that would be even better because I would know that my teammates were counting on me to stay in shape so that I could play to the best of my ability. I've been contemplating what sports appeal to me, and let me tell you, there are few. I played basketball a tiny bit when I was in 5th grade. I was pretty decent at volleyball too, once upon a time. I sort of like the idea of being an ice hockey player but...I live in Arizona! Baseball & softball are okay but not what I'm looking for. The one thing that has come back to me time & time again is how much I would LOVE to join a Roller Derby team. Can you imagine that? I've seen bits of matches and, from what I've seen, a person couldn't play if they aren't in at least decent shape. And besides...ROLLER SKATES!

I'm pretty sure that I am going to look into it. I know I get to find something & this feels like it might work. 

Enough with all that though, have you seen their slogan?

Wednesday Weigh-In (For my Momma)

I'm so much happier to weigh-in today than I have been in a couple weeks. I had a great talk with my mom yesterday & she encouraged me to look at things differently. She encouraged me to remember my success & to continue changing things up & do new things. She even suggested doing things I've done before & dismissed as "not working"! I know I've been given the advice from LOTS of people to keep changing it up but for some reason I heard it best when my momma told me. I love all my friends and family who are supporting me & I posted a little bit ago about my motivation being my beautiful children but my mom is & always has been so special to me. So I am dedicating this weigh-in to her. Love you Mom! Thanks for everything you've done and everything you've been for me throughout my life. You rock!

 

P.S. I think I rock a little bit too! Only 6 pounds away from my next pedicure!

Pure Torture-the scale is my enemy...

I haven't been wanting to update because I'm disgusted with myself. Last Wednesday on my weigh in day I was UP over 4 pounds. So I "cheated" and didn't take a picture of the scale OR post on here (or anywhere else for that matter). On Thursday I was gratified to see that I was back down to:

 

I was down again this morning to 183.0 so I AM progressing in the direction I want to at least. I'm just getting annoyed with myself. I have such wonderful intentions for a day or two & then something happens to throw me off (after the sore neck episode I got a cold that lasted almost a whole week) and I just go with it. I even use it as an excuse to eat like crap & not work out. I keep telling myself it won't happen again & then it does. Did I mention that my sister Rachel (from the famous "wager") had her baby last week? I should be feeling more motivated than ever. Just a few short weeks and she'll be back working out & doing everything she can to win those jeans! And she's already assured me that she isn't going to hold back or take it easy on me AT ALL.

I guess what it boils down to is that I want it to be easier than it has been & I want to reach my goals without making the changes that I KNOW will assist me in doing so. I did do something today...I went to a boot camp style class at my gym! It wasn't quite the same as Jeff's boot camp (how could it be? No Jeff or Robin!) and it is only 30 minutes but they do 2 30 minute classes back to back that you can do both if you want. I'm going to give that a shot tomorrow. We'll see how it works out!

Anyway, that is my whine for the day. I'm feeling more positive now that I put that out there & I'm confident that good changes are happening! I'll be back to weigh in on Wednesday.

Lame end to my week

As I mentioned in my last update I was experiencing some pain in my neck/shoulder/back area last week and, don't you worry, I milked it for all it was worth! I didn't do anything on Wednesday (I showered when I had SWORN I was going to swim) and a whole lot of the same on Thursday & Friday. My friend joined my gym on Friday night so I scrounged some motivation & we worked out together Saturday morning. It was a good workout. I felt really great after & the rest of the day went pretty good too. Then Sunday morning...UGH! I woke up a little after 7 a.m. with my throat burning and every bit of me aching. I had a cough (that is still lingering) but that was too bad. So I slept and slept and slept, finally getting out of bed at 2 p.m. There's nothing like being sick to make me want to just eat crap all day, so that's what I did. Since we really don't have that bad of food in the house it wasn't as bad as it could've been, I comfort myself with that. My the time I went to bed I felt quite a bit better & this morning I'm feeling almost like myself. I still have a little cough (SOOO ANNOYING!) but I'm in my workout clothes, getting psyched to head to the gym. They have a boot camp style class that I want to check out (if I do it today I'll update about that tomorrow) and I *think* today is the day I'm going to start training for the 10K I plan to run on Thanksgiving day. It's an 8 week training schedule so I can get through it twice before Thanksgiving if I start today. I just looked at the training schedule & I have a 2.5 mile run ahead of me. Better get to it!
P.S. On Saturday, I used one of the body fat calculators they have at my gym. (You know, that thing you put a bunch of stats in & then hold it out at arms length in front of you? Yeah, that thing.) It's not pretty, but when I consider that I was 44% body fat when I last had it checked (when Lizzie was 1 & I joined the gym), I'm not TOO upset that it is 32.9% now. Still, YIKES! My goal for that is 20% so I've got some work to do.

Weigh In

It's not terribly clear & I apologize for that but here it is; my weekly weigh in. In case it is too hard to read, it says; 182.2. I'm pretty happy with that. I weighed 188.8 lbs last Wednesday when I recommitted so 6.6 lbs is a good amount to me.
Now for some not-so-happy news. I don't know what happened (probably just slept wrong or something) but I woke up some time in the night & my neck hurt. As it got on towards morning I noticed the pain is also in my right shoulder & even down my arm & back just a bit. Super-annoying! This pain is enough that I am actually afraid that I would be unsafe if I drove anywhere so I'm not going to get to the gym today (unless it gets 100% better at some point today, then I WILL go this evening). I do think I could probably go in the pool & do a bit of swimming once the girls are napping (in an hour or so) so I'll get in some kind of work out. I'm taking Tylenol for the pain (it feels kind of like a pulled muscle, the Tylenol is working a little bit) and I can function but it is making me kind of sick to my stomach. So far today I've eaten a small bowl of cereal & a handful of microwave popcorn. I'm drinking lots of water though (weird things happen to me when I'm dehydrated so I'm avoiding THAT at all costs!) so I'm pretty confident I'll feel better tomorrow at the latest.
Anyway, I'm happy with the number on the scale & I know that next week I will be too. I'm 8 lbs away from being able to get my next pedicure (notice the totally cute pink on them currently? LOVE IT!) and I know I'll get there!

Motivation

Today, I am tired! I feel like I shouldn't be because I was in bed before 9 last night. I will admit to sitting up & reading for a bit but I KNOW I turned the light off before 10 p.m. and that is plenty early to get enough sleep. I didn't fall asleep very easily though & that is the issue. My mind raced & I could hear my baby playing (instead of sleeping the little monkey!) and I just couldn't fall asleep. Now I don't want to get myself together & off to the gym, even though I've been seeing some good results just since last Wednesday and I want to keep that up. So I'm thinking about motivation. For some reason, this morning, the jeans wager I have with my sister (see here) isn't getting me revved up like it did yesterday when I was feeling less than jazzed to hit the gym. Even seeing the AWESOME on the scale this morning isn't quite enough. (and it IS awesome, tomorrow is my "official" weigh-in and I'll take a picture to post so check back!) I haven't eaten breakfast yet though & I know that will assist in getting my more awake (read: alive) and ready for action. I am committed to getting to the gym today & I'll even put my gym clothes on as soon as I get finished eating breakfast. That will be just the committed action necessary to get me there because Lizzie (my lovely little daughter) will NOT let me rest until she knows "when we're going to the gym" (which she'll ask me 100 + times once she sees me in my gym clothes until we actually head out the door!). Maybe she's all the motivation I need?!?

 My REAL Motivation

As for yesterday, I will admit to taking it semi-easy at the gym. I didn't end up going until 2 in the afternoon (HOT) and so I wasn't really feeling it. I did about 20 minutes of cardio & upper body strength training. I had intended to do ab work too and decided not to since I still had a trip to the grocery store to complete before heading home. I worked HARD though and my arms are feeling it again this morning, nothing like last week (I was seriously concerned about having to carry/pick up the baby!) but a good ache in my muscles. I got pretty much right into the pool with the girls as soon as I got home so I had a little swim too. We have some friends coming over to swim this afternoon so my plan is to do some cardio & lower body strength training today & possibly some abs, if time permits. I'll update again tomorrow, there will be scale pictures--you don't want to miss that! (where's a sarcasm font when I really want one?!?)

Sunday, Sunday

I was a little bit afraid of today since it is a holiday but now that it is almost over & I haven't indulged in ANY naughty food I feel pretty victorious! It helps that instead of bbq-ing I went to lunch with my momma (who is AWESOME and eats healthy even in the face of MUCH temptation) and then dinner with my beautiful, THIN sisters (love you Erika & Marian!) who inspire me to keep working hard & making good choices. I DID go over my calories but not by much & only because I didn't workout today. But I never work out on Sundays so that's no thing.
Anyway, today was better than I thought it would be & I am SOOO excited to go to the gym tomorrow & work out. From talking with my sister Marian I am even MORE psyched to dive into this bet with my sister Rachel! She made some AWESOME points that are going to assist me in my strategy in this wager and I was able to make jokes about how I was going to send Rachel a "chocolate of the month" club membership by way of sabotage! I'm hilarious...
So, Happy Independence Day! I hope you all had a happy, healthy, SAFE holiday!

A day off

Or a half day off I guess would be more appropriate. Last night I took Lizzie (my 4 year old) to see Toy Story 3. It is such a rare occasion that I take her anywhere, just the 2 of us, that isn't just a quick errand or something that I decided we would "splurge". I was able to keep from getting a popcorn but I couldn't resist a big, soft pretzel with nacho cheese. I also feel pretty ridiculous ordering a diet soda when I know I'm going to eat junk so I got a cherry coke instead. Lizzie got a kid's pack that had a drink, popcorn & for a $1 more a candy (that of course I had to share with her!). The movie was cute, we both had a great time and as we left the theater Lizzie asked if we could eat dinner before going home. Of course, since it was 9 o'clock at night, I decided the best place to get dinner was Burger King. I know I could've gotten a salad or something but I got a BK Double Stacker meal. It was more food than I was even hungry for but I dutifully ate every single bite. I ended up staying up until 1 a.m. so I didn't feel ill when I went to bed but I DEFINITELY had a food hangover this morning & I thank my lucky stars that the scale was only part of a pound up from yesterday.
I feel like I have already partially redeemed myself today because I just came in from a 20 minute swim in our pool. Nothing strenuous but a little workout all the same. Plus I'm feeling like a run would be the best thing to stretch out my legs from the workouts I've done already this week. So a trip to the gym is on the agenda for this afternoon. I'm having some grilled chicken for lunch (probably with some cucumber slices & raspberry vinaigrette, yummy!) and while I don't have dinner plan just yet I have faith that I will make good choices for the rest of today.
I am feeling so much better already after all the off & on I've been doing so far this summer. Is it just me or does it seem like summer is the one time of year that a person REALLY wants to get thin & feel great but it is ALSO the one time a year where there's a bazillion reasons to eat like crap. play too much & exercise to little?!? I get to figure out how to keep up with my good habits instead of getting sidetracked or derailed every time something comes up. Anyone have a full proof, sure-fire method that works for them that you'd like to share?

Betting on weight loss

My sister, Rachel, has been a really awesome resource for support & motivation as I've been on this journey to physical fitness. She is one of the healthiest, happiest people I know. So when I was whining talking to her about my plateau and being stalled in my progress she had ideas & suggestions to get me moving again. One of them was an article she read in Good Housekeeping magazine (linked here) about wagering/betting on weight loss and how it can assist in success. While I haven't read the whole article yet I have read enough to tell me that I WANT IN!!! I feel like I have been "competing" against myself so far & it has gotten me this far. Now I get to call on my competitive side (however underdeveloped it may be) and use THAT to get me the rest of the way.

So here's what I'm doing. I'm having mini-wagers against myself. Every 6 weeks I will mark on the calendar a goal weight (example; on Aug 7th I wrote 174 in bold, RED numbers). If that (or something lower!) is the number on the scale that morning I will get to go to my favorite nail salon and get a pedicure.

It is something that I already budget for but feel a little bit guilty about getting. I get to have an hour, to myself; away from my kids--it is SO lovely! But it is not necessary and therein lies the guilt. So now I am taking the guilt away by turning it into a reward for my hard work & sacrifice in getting fit.

I'm also going to see if Mark wants to get on board & do some wagers with him. He works really hard at what he does professionally but it is not a physical job (AT ALL) and I fear for his overall health. So I want to motivate him to get more fit & I think this will be a fun, easy way to go about it.

I've also talked with Rachel (the above mentioned, AWESOME sister) about a BIG wager between the two of us. Like I said, I feel like she is almost effortlessly healthy & thin. She LIKES to chop up TONS of veggies & make big salads every couple of days. I like EATING tons of chopped up veggies in big salads, obviously not enough to make one myself! She has been a runner for as long as I can remember. I first ran 1 mile non stop (in my LIFE) in December '09. She has a husband who works out regularly & is possibly more into healthy eating than she is. My husband has my same "love" of junk food & immobility. With all these differences it is almost no wonder that she has spent her entire life at a healthy weight (she would argue that she is well ABOVE a healthy weight right now but she is pregnant, TOTALLY excused!) and I have not. She is having her baby soon and is expecting to be cleared for working out by mid August. At that time we will compare weights & measurements (probably pictures too, it really is the BEST way to see progress in my opinion!). Then our wager will begin. We will probably be starting at a similar weight and our goal is to see who can reach Rachel's pre-pregnancy weight (135 pounds) first. This has LONG been my goal weight & I've always been a bit incredulous that I'll ever actually reach it. But I've also never had so much at stake before. I thought of (and Rachel agreed) that a good prize for the winner is a new pair of jeans, ANY jeans--EXPENSIVE jeans. I am going to go on record and say that I have NEVER owned designer jeans, I've always been too fat. It will be SO nice to be able to go shopping in a regular store and buy a pair of designer jeans that RACHEL has paid for! 

That's the deal, whoever reaches 135 pounds first gets the jeans & the 'loser" foots the bill! 

That's my new plan for success. Would it work for you?

Evening Breakdown

I just got done tracking all of yesterday's food (okay, not ALL all, I forgot the marshmallows...ooops!) and I was doing SOOO good...until after dinner. I stayed up, folding laundry & watching a movie and you'd THINK that would keep me occupied enough that I WOULDN'T feel the need to stuff my dace but you'd be wrong. It started out innocently enough, just a couple mini laffy taffys (banana even-FRUIT!) and a tiny box of nerds (I <3 nerds in a MAJOR way-when I was pregnant with Kate I ate them ALL THE TIME, Mark complained about finding them in bed). Then I saw that a serving size of the laffy taffys was 5 and I'd only had 2, so why not 2 more?!? And then the chocolate ice cream I had bought last week when I was watching all the children in the universe began calling my name (the marshmallows too, CURSE YOU MARSHMALLOWS!!!). Well, one serving of THAT is 1/2 cup and it is 140 calories. Not TOO bad, considering. I knew I was WELL under my calories for the day because I put in a KILLER workout in the morning (my arms & upper back are reminding me how killer it was as I type) so I felt okay in that regard. The problem is the CARBS. WHY must I eat sooo many useless carbs late at night? (not really THAT late I guess, I was done eating around 9-ish, but still-too late I know) I don't want to beat myself up over this, it is just hard not to. It seems to be my biggest stumbling block. The one thing I continue slamming into over & over & over. I really want to figure out a way to get past this. I want to come up with & stick to a plan that will satisfy my evening cravings but not undo my whole day.
Any ideas, tips, tricks? What works for you? Anyone else in the same boat? How do YOU move forward after a late night eating frenzy?
I'm off to the gym now, here's to a no carb-craze night!
P.S. Stay tuned for the goals to be set. I'm working on them now!