Back On The Bandwagon!!

I've been pretty much off of the health and fitness track for the last three weeks.  I got thrown off that first week and didn't have the inclination to get back on the horse.  Yes, I continued to work out several days a week but not nearly as often as I had been.  And no, I absolutely did not watch what I ate.... at all.  I completely forgot to weigh myself two weeks ago and I refuse to weigh myself until next week Monday when I am off of all my steriods.  I got bit by something while hiking last week and I can feel the water gain; my rings are tight and my socks make marks.  So I will weigh myself on Monday and that will be the true weight gain.  Yes, I know I gained a few pounds but I want the true gain and not the steroid induced water that goes with the meds.

In the meantime, I have jumped back into my workout routine today and plan on getting back to working out 4-5 days per week instead of 2-3.  I also plan on revamping my workouts to include weight bearing exercises (Kim, aren't you proud of me?) as well as at least one yoga a week if I can make the yoga schedule work.  I won't be doing hard core yoga but the restorative yoga that helps flexibility and heals my back after my other work outs.  I've been finding that regular yoga has been playing havoc on my back so am switching it.  Then I still plan on doing 3 cardios per week as well.

My eating program is currently in transition to back to healthy.  I have alot of leftovers from last week that needs to go so am mixing the not so great foods from last week with the healthy stuff for this week.  Then next grocery shopping, the health and fitness foods come back into the house!  Woo Hoo!!

5 days and counting

I have worked out 5 days in a row!!!  (ok, minus the weekend)  I am working out during my lunch.  I think I mentioned that already to you.  Its working great schedule wise.  I still have energy and I get to leave on time and spend my full evening with my babies!!!  This also allows me to come home and cook dinner.  I'm walking the treadmill right now, at a very brisk pace and have even ran for a minute or two each time.  This is a HUGE accomplishment for me!

YAY healthy!!!

A family affair

Ok, so my son informed he is completely set on playing football come spring.  And I'm not talking flag football.  Nope he wants tackle football.  What happen to baseball??????  There's hardly any contact there.  But ok, I've always told him that he can play whatever sport he wants.  So now is the time to start getting him in shape ~ running that is.  And he's ALL for it.  We went to our fitness center and he was on the treadmill and the bike for 30 minutes.  He even asked me if I go in the mornings because he would be willing to go to bed 15 minutes earlier so he can get up earlier to hit the treadmill.  I'm going to take advantage of this interest he has for as long as I can.  I've got a workout partner and he's helping to keep me going.  Not bad for a 9, almost 10 year old.   Love my little guy.

Oh and he's completely forgotten about his Halloween candy.  What's left will go to the trash later this week.

Quickly

Just a quick pop in to let you know I am still here!!!  It seems I just cannot find the time to sit at the computer and keep you all up to date.  with my 17 month and 6 month old children, by the time I get them to bed, clean the house and get it ready for the nanny and get myself ready for work, I'm ready for bed! 

I have been cooking way more at home so less fast food and its been GREAT!  Trying to make more than enough so we have leftovers for lunches or those nights that I just don't have time to cook, we can heat them up. This has been lifesaver!

Keep up the good work ladies!

Talk about a rough week

Is anyone familiar with the b.r.a.t. diet?  It stands for banana, rice, applesauce and toast and is given to kids when they have digestive issues or people who have Crohn's disease or IBS or IBD when they are having flare ups.  It is the most boring food regime one can on and I've been living it since last Thursday.  The upside is I dropped a pound.  :-)

So I have come to realize that certain foods are just never meant to cross my lips again.  Bye bye oatmeal, diary and sadly most grains.  I WILL get back to eating fun foods again it's just going to take some time and patience.  

Up again but I'm OK with it (for today). :)

I am up again this week.  I gained 1.2 pounds but at this point, I am just beyond caring.  I'm trying to eat healthy, I work out regularly and I still can't lose weight.  Oh well.  I'm just going to continue to focus on doing the right things and hope that eventually the weight will come off.

I am feeling pretty good this morning.  While I didn't run the whole 5k like I wanted to, I finished strong and did run the majority of it (darn that hill).  There is another 5k here in Gilbert in a few weeks that we are going to run and I will again try to run the whole way.  I had a great week last week, had great family time this weekend, and will be having a very busy but fun week at work.  I'm having a 2 day onsite meeting with all my team and I am very excited about finally getting my team together from all across the country!

I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Stacey

Its tough

I know its tough to find the time to be healthy.  Its easier to eat the fast food, skip the run on the treadmill and slam the extra cup of coffee instead of water.  I'm the queen of trying to make my life easier.  With a 16 month and 5 month at home along with a new job and new job on top of the new job and I also sing in a chorus on Monday nights and a Quartet on Wednesdays...yeah, I'm looking for easy.  BUT then I think, is this what I would feed my children?  NO...why?  Because I want them to be healthy and learn healthy habits and live long healthy lives.  SO...WHY am I not practicing what I preach?  Don't I want to be around to see my babies grow into wonderful beautiful human beings, don't I want to grow old with my husband and see our grandchild play???  Of course - so I need to start at home.  I need to make changes in my every day life.  I need to find a way to eat healthy but quickly sometimes.  We have decided that those days, instead of fast food days, will be salad days! 

One step closer to healthy :-)

Down again

Down again with another pound or so and down again with insomnia.  Grrrr  but this week has been better ~ sleeping through the night a few nights.

Looking forward to running my 5k this week on the treadmill.  Started a new meal plan; going back to my clean eat ways.  

Also, just so everyone knows, I've tried responding to some posts here andNOTHING  happens.  I'm not trying to ignore ya'll, my comments just won't stick.  ;-(

I'm out !

Hey ladies, I hate to do this but I am out. I just can't get back to tracking. Since before Disney I've been working 4 or more nights a week plus at least 1 day or night each weekend. Filling out another spreadsheet or tracking what I eat for the day is the last thing I want to add, I just can't bring myself to do it. Add to it a bout of what I think was food poisoning last week and that is when I had to make this decision.

I've slipped a bit but not much. In a general sense I'm eating well but not checking the scale. I'm going by how I feel and how my clothing fits which - isn't where I want to be - but I don't feel gross at the moment so I'm pretty happy. Just need more water in my diet and I'm good for now.

So sorry ! I will be back when I can to cheer you all on - keep going ! Eventually it really does become habit, your brain will remember without looking what is good for you and what was not and I really believe your body will start to prefer it too. YOU CAN DO IT LADIES! I'm your biggest fan !!

Another pound bites the dust

And another one gone and another one gone...another pound bites the dust!!!

Yep - I lost another pound this week.  I really believe that eating home more helped!  I didn't have the time to cook all my meals on Sunday, but I did shop and buy smart meals that wont take up too much time to make during the week.  Tonight - Fish, greenbeans and noodles.  Much better than a double quarter pounder, fry and tea!

Hope everyone is doing well...slow and steady wins the race!

It's Aggravating!

I can't believe we are just starting our week 6 already!  I have been playing with the same 2 pounds for the last 6 months and it is just making me angry.  For instance, this past Thursday showed that I had lost 1 and a smidge pounds this week (which would have broken that 2 pound barrier) but then when I got on the scale on Saturday morning (my official weigh in day), I was up 2 pounds from Thursday.  Really??  It is just so freakin' aggravating and frustrating for me.  I'm at the point where I'm just going to screw worrying about the weight loss and just continue to focus on being and living healthy.  I workout regularly and am healthy even though I'm overweight.  I have low cholesterol, low blood pressure, strong heart, normal sugar levels, good blood numbers, etc, etc.  I'm just going to keep focusing on continuing to eat healthy, eat "bad" stuff minimally, and continue to workout.  Looking at the silver lining of not losing weight, at least it my face won't get wrinkles from the weight loss. :):)

Remember to get me your numbers today and to blog.  There are three of you that I need your numbers still for the last three weeks.  I will need those so I can do a tally after this week to send out the mid challenge standings.

 Good luck in week 6 ladies!
Stacey

I did better in week 3

Well, I at least stayed the same.  I managed to meet with our on site wellness coach and he will be tracking my weight and blood pressure for me once a week.  I only worked out 2 times last week.  On Thursday, my new work friend Angela, took me out for a drink to celebrate my new promotion.  I have only been at my job for 5 weeks and was promoted.  This is the reason why I have not been able to keep track of to much.  I have been going crazy trying to learn a new job on top of a new job :-) 

I DID cook a weeks worth of meals on Sunday (Thanks for the idea Jilly) so I have not had fast food in a few days.  Sad to say, but thats GREAT for me.  With the busy life style of 2 kids, singing in a chorus and quartet along with the job, fast food is a weekly staple.  BUT, I'm trying to cut it out.  I'll let you know next week how I did.  I know I will probably eat it once - but thats better than 4 times...(yes, so sad to say that is a very real number)

Stay strong ladies. 

One step forward and

well not quite 2 steps backwards, but I did gain 1/2 a pound.  Partly because I didn't get as many workouts in as I wanted, partly because I didn't eat quite as well as I should have, and it's the glorious time of the month.  Oh and I'm just not the sleep I need ~ gotta love insomnia.  NOT!!!!  

Rant over.

On to positives...Anthony is on his final week of Fall Break and life goes back to the way it should be on the 16th.  Leo, the cat has discovered the patio and all the surrounding buildings and most importantly the way back home. :)  I'm trying new recipes.  Yesterday I made Chicken and Veggie Lo Mein with no grains. It turned out pretty good and will be making it again.  Last week I made a REAL yummy salmon that will definitely be on the meal plan again.  And I can still eat peanut butter ~ just not the everyday and only about 1 tablespoon. 

I'm going to try to go to sleep now.  I hope everyone has a great week. 

Week 4 - It was OK

Well, week 4 was a decent week for me in that I lost 2 of the pounds I gained.  However, I have been playing with those same two pounds (up 2, down 2, up 2, down 2) for the last 4 months.  I also didn't follow the challenge very well last week and only really earned points for one workout yesterday and my water.  I was in such a funk last week (thanks Aunt Flo) that I just didn't care to deal with it.  Anyway, back to the weight. I think my nightly "happy drink" (a glass of wine for most folks) is stopping me from losing anymore than the 2 pounds.  Alcohol impacts people differently.  Some people, it doesn't stop them at all and others, the sugar in the alcohol stops the weight loss.  So this week, next week, and the week after I am going to experiment.  This week, I'm cutting my happy drink in 1/2 to see if that impacts my weight-loss.  Then next week, I'll stop it all together and see how that impacts my weight-loss.  The third week, I'll go back to the regular amount and see if I gain (or stop losing).  That is the one thing I really like about these 12 week challenges is that we all learn so much about ourselves. :)

On a happy note, I finally was able to come out of the gym and hit the pavement outside.  I can run 3.5 miles on the treadmill without stopping at the gym but knew is it so much harder outside.  I have three weeks to be able to run 5k outside without stopping. Yesterday, my goal was to at least make it halfway, which I did (YAY).  Then for the second half, I would walk a song and then run a song, walk a song, run a song.  It worked out OK.  I finished the 5k (little more than 5k), in the same amount of time as it takes at the gym (45 minutes) so I know that I'm running faster outside.  I tried to slow my pace down a bit so I can go longer, but it was just really awkward and my gate wasn't normal.  So I went back to the normal pace.  I'll run outside again tomorrow and will try to run a little longer without stopping.  I am going to slowly increase for the next 3 weeks so I can make run that 5k on November 2nd without stopping.

Kim - how did it go with the peanut butter?  I so hope you're not allergic to PB.  I would totally cry if I were.  Terry, how is the beach?  Jill and Jenny - how did your week go?  Audra, how are you recovering from your cataract surgery?  All better?

Good luck in week 5 team!

Week 3 down

And so is the weight.  Not perfect on working out and definitely need work on portion sizes, but making progress.  

Saturday my son, my dog,and some friends and I walked a 5k.  We finished second to last, but we helped to reunite a lost little boy with his family.  So coming in at the end of the pack was worth it.

Yesterday was Family Breakfast AND dinner.  Old Country Buffet was breakfast ~ 5 egg whites with chopped tomatoes, fried seasoned potatoes and a bit of bacon.  Then later was dinner at Macaroni Grill to celebrate my nephew's 17th birthday, my niece's 15th birthday and their cousin's 19th birthday.  I had the grilled shrimp skiendi (?).   

On a sad note, I may be allergic to peanut butter or balsamic vinegar!  Both are staples in my food.  So I'm off both for another week and then will bring one in at a time.  If I start scratching then I'll know which one is the culprit. Either one ill be upset.  :-(

Week Three - Ye Old Weigh-In Sucketh

Well, I did some really good things in Week 3.  I ran for an hour, 3 times and ran 3.5 miles each time. Plus I walked the dog one of those days.  I logged my food and followed my diet Monday through Thursday.  Then Friday and the weekend happened. Friday, we had my seester and her hubby Kevin over for Friday Night Decompress. This is basically our version of happy hour.  At home, it is cheaper than going to a bar for happy hour.  Quieter too so we can actually hear each other speak.  It is not that I ate poorly on Friday.  In fact, I ate quite well.  BUT, I completely forgot to log my dinner!  I pre-logged my drinks knowing I usually only have 2, maybe 3.  But, I had a few more than that and forgot to log those as well.  So I lost those points.  Then Saturday we went up to Flagstaff to Northern Arizona University to see my girl!  She's been up there for a month and it was parents weekend.  We didn't participate in any of the parents weekend activities (though there were alot, including a football game) because we just wanted to see our girl.  We would have loved to hit the football game but she was so homesick and missed Soccer (our dog) so we brought the dog as well.  Can't go to a football game with the dog.  Just as well because the poor sweetheart (Dakota not Soccer) had strep throat.  I'm glad we were there.  We got her to urgent care, they gave her a great shot in the butt of Penicillian and some steroids to reduce the swelling in her throat (it was bad) and she is good as new.  While we were there, I didn't log anything.  I didn't eat too, too badly portion or calorie wise (well, except that most excellent French dip from Altitudes restaurant and bar) but I did eat food that had a lot of salt over the weekend. Then on the day of weigh in for last week (today), good ole' Aunt Flo rared her ugly, unwelcome head so you know there is even more water retention there.  Anyway, I normally weigh in on Saturdays but I completely forgot.  Had I weighed in on Saturday instead of today, I bet the stupid scale wouldn't have reflected a 2 pound weight GAIN!  UGH!!  But I did weigh in today so I did gain 2 pounds this week.  Damn that salt and Aunt Flo.  So long story short, did some good behaviors and had some bad behaviors and ended up 2 pounds heavier.  BUT, I got to see my baby and that really is what matters! :)  Good luck in week 4!!!

week 3

Week 3 and I'm still not with the program - any program - since returning from vacation. Work blows and isn't getting any better any time soon. And I have a head cold. Eating OK (stopped on the way home from work for rotisserie chicken today, made chicken breast with onions and peppers for tacos Saturday, Subway yesterday and pizza (eh, can't win em all)) but ... not recording so not getting my points. I just need a big old restart button and it might be a few days before I get there. Weighed myself this morning and I'm even, so I'll take it. Just keep swimming! :)

Week 3 was a great start!

SO...I lost 2 pounds this week.  I went to the gym 2 times.  I was scheduled for 3 but my husband was running late so I had to run home to relieve the nanny.  :-(  BUT, I did work out 2 times which is 2 more than I have since the beginning of this.  I am on the schedule for 2 times this week here at the gym, but I am also going to try to get in a good walk with the kids on the weekend for 3.  Thats my goal...3 times a week. 

My eating is getting better.  I have been watching my portions and trying to make smarter choices.  I must admit, this is the hardest part about my dieting.  My husband and I both need to start watching ourselves with this.  Having 2 very small babies in the house, our night gets away from us and we realize that we have yet to eat by the time we get them to bed...so 9:30 at night, were making a McDonalds run.  :-(  Thats why I need to get recipes for the crockpot.  This will be a lifesaver for me.  I do like what Jill does, and when my weekends free up, in November, I am going to make 3-4 meals on Sunday and freeze them! 

On to week 4 ladies - I'm feeling good about this week...good luck to you all!

Week 2...not so hot

Well, up 3 pounds this week. :-(

I definitely veered off the elimination diet last week and in quite a big way.  I did get some exercise in, but not what I needed.  This week is going to be different.  Restarting the elimination diet, got all the sugary crud out of the house (9 yr old not real thrilled), will be exercising daily AND getting more sleep than I have been getting.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

3 pounds and counting...

UP!!!  :-(  The good thing is, all my out of town trips are done so I can concentrate on eating at home more AND...I joined the gym here at work with a girl here.  We said we will both hold each other accountable for going.  I'm pretty excited about this! 

I LOVED the recipes Jilly - I will find some time later this week to post one myself. 

They have Health Week going on here at work all week and each day is designated to a certain thing.  For instance, I'm sure we would all love Tuesday.  Tuesday is Hand Paraffin, Massage and Aromatherapy day.  Oh YEAH!  Thursday is cooking demo and recipes.  Friday is dental, vision and hearing screenings.  Today was blood pressure, weight and health score.  They plug in your birthday, height and then you get weighed...then this disgusting number comes up that tells you how old your body due to how healthy you are.  Mine was 72 years old.  WHAT?!?  Time to get my butt in gear! That's just crazy and really shows me how I have let myself go.  No More!!!

Week 3 - watch out...you're mine!