Week In Review

Happy Halloween! I'm a day late with my week in review, but that's because I couldn't wait to share my news, so I really didn't have much else to report! In keeping with the Halloween spirit, I'm happy to report that I didn't buy my candy until yesterday, so there was nothing in the house to tempt me! As of right now, the bags are still sealed and I've got lots to do to keep me busy and away from the candy. I'm hoping it goes well once it's all opened this evening! As far as the candy that the kids bring home, there's a dentist in the area that will give money for every pound of candy you give them, so we might just have to do that again this year. The candy they receive is passed on to the troops over seas, so it's a win/win. Candy for the troops and less temptation for me! I'm feeling pretty confident as far as my relationship with Halloween candy this year. I wish you all luck too!

The Big 2-0

I did it. I don't even want to think about how long it took, but I finally did it! I stepped on the scale this morning and the elusive 20 pound mark finally came. It seriously feels like it took forever to get here. I don't know why that number was so important to me, but it was. Back in my Weight Watchers day, one of the first goals you shoot for is losing 10% of your body weight. Without sharing my actual weight, I will tell you that 20 pounds is a little more than 10% of my starting weight! I have to admit, I was honestly wondering if I'd ever get to 20 pounds! I thought for sure that once I started with the trainer and got more serious about my exercise that the weight would just melt off. But, that hasn't been the case. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled with the results I've seen since starting with the trainer. But, they weren't the results I expected. My body has been changing, tightening, and toning, but the weight wasn't doing much. Until now. I feel like the pieces are starting to fall into place. Now that I finally got here, a huge weight has been lifted and I can now focus on the next mark, which will be 25 pounds. Here we go...!

Skippin' It

This feels very strange. For the first time in I don't even know how long, I'm not going to the gym. Today is one of those days that I just don't feel well and the idea of huffing and puffing at the gym does nothing for me. In fact, with a sore throat and not a lot of sleep last night, it sounds down right miserable. It feels strange though. Hitting the gym has become such a habit for me that it seems "off" for me to not be there. Now, I have missed it for things like school functions with the kids or doctors appointments with my kids, but that's different. I had somewhere else I had to be, so it didn't really feel like I was skipping. Today, I have nothing else going on. The only place I might go today is back to bed. On the upside... as the old saying goes, "Feed a Fever, Starve a Cold". Pretty sure this is a cold, so if I starve it, I should end up with a good week!

Boxing

Look out world, I tried boxing this morning and loved it! I didn't actually box against anyone, just the punching bag. But still, got a great workout and loved every minute of it. It beat the Hell out of doing push-ups! However, I did do push-ups today as well, so the boxing was a bonus. Up until today, Tae Bo was as close as I'd ever gotten to boxing. And, I'll give credit where it's due, Tae Bo is a great workout as well and it did it for me for several years. But, actually putting on some boxing gloves and beating a bag was a lot different than punching the air in front of my television. And I actually experienced a first today. Sweat actually flew off of me! Now, I'm a sweater normally, so it's not uncommon to have some drip here and there. But today, it flew. I punched the bag and I saw it fly. Very cool and totally disgusting at the same time! I had to stop because I was laughing so hard. Just in case he didn't see it, I of course had to tell my trainer that it happened and I apologized because I was sure it hit him. Which grossed me out and made me laugh even harder! Once we found the spot on the floor and not on his shirt, I could go on. :-) Aside from the flying sweat, I totally loved it and can't wait to do it again!

The Week In Review

This post is brought to you courtesy of mixed messages. I stepped on the scale this morning to record my weight and I was thrilled! I had cleaned up the mess I made last week and then some. In fact, I had hit my 20 pound mark and a little more! I stood on the scale dumbfounded. I was so shocked to see that number that I thought it must be too good to be true. But, I looked at it again and it did indeed say what I thought it said. So, I hopped off the scale, happy as a clam. I should have left well enough alone, but I didn't. I just felt like it was too good to be true, so I stepped back on again. This time the number was different. It was different by 2 pounds. What? How do I weigh 2 pounds more in the course of 5 minutes? So, that being said, I don't exactly know what to report. Either number I go with will be a loss from last week, so I'm very happy with that. However, I'm stuck with a dilemma. Do I stick with the fact that I've hit my 20 pound mark and change my graphic accordingly? Or, do I go with the second number I saw which was still a loss? Or, do I split the difference? Mixed messages make me crazy!

Accountability

I've made several friends since I joined the gym a few years ago. But, there are 2 gals in particular that I seem to have the most in common with. We're all about the same age, we're all moms of younger children, and we're all working hard trying to lose weight. They have actually been working out together for quite some time, but I've been invited to join in. In fact, they're not only working out together, they're each weighing in, keeping a food journal and then sharing it with each other once a week for accountability. I've been invited to join that as well. While I'm interested, I'm also scared to death. Actually, scared to death doesn't even begin to cover how I'm feeling. It's one thing for me to confess my shortcomings here, but it's another thing all together to have someone read it, right in front of me. I get some comfort knowing that I have no idea who's reading right now. I know there are a few, but I don't know who you are. There's some safety in that. And, while I'll share the highs and lows of the weeks, I'm not sharing every single thing I might eat. I don't know. It would certainly be a great way to stay motivated and to be accountable. That's one thing I think that maybe I've been missing. Yes, I'm accountable here. However, I'm only giving "generals" and no specifics. I can't hide behind a computer screen when my readers are standing right in front of me. Something to think about for sure!

Blech...

My week in review can be summed up with one word. Blech! This week I've had the trifecta of yuck, to equal a 2 pound gain. Like I continue to say, this journey will not always be pretty (and believe me, this week was ugly!), but I will always be honest. As far as the trifecta, it started with the Wedding last weekend. As I've already shared, that turned into a drink fest like I hadn't had in 10 years! Then we go to the candy/fried food/alcohol enjoyment that I ended the day with yesterday. All we need to do is throw in a little Mother Nature and voila!, you've got a week of yuck ending with a gain. Here's to a new week to clean up this mess!

Candy, and Fried Food and Drinks, Oh My!

Each of these things by themselves isn't a horrible thing. However, when you put them all together in one day, it doesn't exactly aide in weight loss! Yesterday started off innocent enough. I had a decent breakfast, had lunch with my daughter, and enjoyed a field trip with her class. Then came Homecoming. We went to the Homecoming parade and the kids in the parade were super generous with the candy. And, they seemed to all know and like my kids, so they threw extra candy at them. The kids filled their pockets, then they filled my pockets, then we took it all home. I'm a sucker for Tootsie Rolls and Smarties, and there was plenty to go around. After the Homecoming game, some friends and I went out to get a drink. I only ordered one, which I suppose is good, but that still didn't help my already fragile calorie count for the day. It had been a little while since I had eaten, so naturally we thought that along with our drinks, we should order some appetizers. A variety of appetizers. And of course we shared them, so we all had a little of this and a little of that. Yesterday will clearly be chalked up to a day of good friends but poor choices.

Round of Applause

I want to give a big Thanks and round of applause to restaurants that put their nutritional information online. It makes it so much easier to plan for an evening out! I had dinner with some ladies last night and we decided ahead of time to go to TGIFridays. Because they have the balls to put it out there and let everyone know the stats on their food, I was able to plan my meal before I even left home, and stay under my calories for the day. Thank you TGIFridays!

The Jig is Up

I'm a pretty tough chick. At least that's the image that I like to portray. As far as my training sessions go, I can be a machine. It's amazing what you can do when someone's watching you and you don't want them to think you're weak. I'll squat, lunge, dead lift, push up, dip, whatever, until he tells me to stop. And I don't complain. I might make a smart ass comment here and there to keep things light, but I will still do the work. This has worked well for the last 6 weeks. But, the jig is now up. This morning my trainer wanted me to try something that really made me nervous. Quite honestly, I was scared to death. (Let me back up and mention that I hurt my back when I was 20. I slipped a disc and was down for a few weeks. Most painful thing I've ever been through, including childbirth! Needless to say, I am now super careful about what I do because I have no intention of injuring my back again.) Back to this morning... He wanted me to use the kettle bells and swing one up over my head and then back down. Right away I told him that I was really nervous about this. I had horrible visions of me doing it wrong and my back getting out of whack. He showed me how to do it properly, started me on a small weight (10 pounds) and I tried on my own. It actually didn't go that terribly. It was difficult, but I had the hang of it and my back seemed to be fine. He was happy with my form, so he gave me the weight that he wanted me to have. I got it over my head once and freaked out on the way down. I told him that it was too heavy and I put the weight on the floor. He was fine with that and told me that I could work my way up to those and we moved on to something else. Maybe I should rephrase that, He moved on to something else. My head was still very much on that exercise. I'm doing my dead lifts, but was thinking about what had just happened. It wasn't so much the fact that I couldn't (or didn't want to) do them. In fact, I actually really wanted to try them again with the 10 pound weight, but he didn't think that was a good idea. My issue was the fact that I didn't look like a tough chick anymore. I let something get the best of me. Now, in my head I know that I made the right decision. I know that it was smart for me to stop before I hurt myself. I wouldn't be doing anyone any good if I were laid up for several weeks again. So, I really do believe I did the right thing. My ego on the other hand, that took a serious hit. For the last 6 weeks, I've had a nice wall up. I was tough, I was strong, and my trainer was still trying to figure me out. For what it was worth, I felt like I had the upper hand. But today forced me to let down the wall and I wasn't ready for that. I still wanted to portray the "Superwoman" image that I had been showing. Instead, a very different, vulnerable me came through and that's something that rarely happens. Very few people see that side of me, and that's exactly the way I wanted it. I show people exactly what I want them to see and nothing else. Today, some honest, true feelings came out and I'm not sure how I feel about it...

Week In Review

I'll be perfectly honest and tell you that I'm reporting on the weight that I logged on Friday morning. We left town Friday afternoon for the wedding and I didn't get home until this afternoon. I'm quite certain that with the amount of champagne I drank and the cake I allowed myself, my weight is probably up slightly. But, I hit a number on Friday and I'm going with it! I ended up losing 1.6 pounds this past week which thrills me to death! And just as exciting as that is the fact that I'm getting super close to the 20 pound loss mark. I'm only about a half pound away, so I'm expecting to hit it this week or next! That is big news for a couple reasons. First off, it's 20 pounds! Back in my Weight Watcher days I used to kind of "check" to see how much weight I had lost from week to week. After my first 5 pounds, I grabbed a bag of sugar and carried it around for a while. After 10 pounds I think I grabbed 2 bags. For 20 pounds, it was a large bag of dog food. It's really surprising just how much 20 pounds weighs. And after this last .4 pounds, I'm not carrying it around any longer! Secondly, I'm at a weight that I haven't been at since I left Weight Watchers. I am proving that I in fact CAN do it on my own! I'm also very happy to report that the bridesmaid dress was actually a little big on me! Not big enough to fall off, but big enough that I found myself adjusting it throughout the night. It was a problem that I was pretty happy to have. :-) I hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend!

Exciting News

We're getting ready to head off for the wedding! I've got several exciting things to share once I get back. Have a great weekend!

Crunch Time

We're in the final week before the wedding, so it's time to really step it up! I've scheduled 2 sessions with my trainer this week and I plan to really hit the cardio hard. I haven't tried the dress on lately, but I'm guessing it still fits. My ultimate goal is to not only have it fit, but for it to be comfortable. I've got 4 more days to get it done!

Week In Review

All in all it's been a good week. I am down .4 pounds :-) Not much else to really report. Actually, I take that back. Something kind of funny happened this afternoon. My family and I were at a local apple orchard. We had just finished picking apples and enjoying the outdoors and were standing in line to get our cider and donuts. I'm minding my business when my trainer walks up and says hi. Seriously? I run into my trainer when I'm in line for donuts? I guess I'm getting my butt kicked a little harder tomorrow morning!