GLOOMY

GLOOMY that is how I feel. I was doing well the 1st week following the "Your Inner Skinny" diet plan. Then my birthday happened. I had a great weekend, family, friends, beer, cake, chips. I had it all!! I had so much fun and was so relaxed.

On Monday it was back to reality!!! I am struggling to get back on track with the plan, why? Because I have not taken time "to plan". The weather is crappy, I don't want to go to the store to get "real food", it is cold and windy and I don't want to go to the gym when I get off work. I feel overwhelmed and stressed with decisions I need to make personally and professionally. What do I do to motivate myself?

Can this be REAL??

I am on my second week of the Your Inner Skinny diet plan. I am not following it to a T, for one reason I did not plan. I started last Monday and when I weighed on Monday I was down 1 pound!!! What do you know my scale does move, sometimes!!! I am happy with this! However I have no expectations for this week. Friday is my birthday and we are having a "happy hour" (or hours) at our house starting at 7. I know that I will have beer and chips. I could make a bunch of healthy stuff but honestly my friends and co-workers wouldn't enjoy that,nor would I, so why waste the money. Who wants carrot sticks and celery with beer? I am going to make some buffalo chili!!! Yummy. We are also going to have family in town for the weekend. My plan is to make the best choices I can through out the weekend. It feels really good to say that I am OK with this. I don't want to be all stressed and uptight thinking should I eat or drink this or that. I want to have fun!!!! I am defiantly ready for some!!!

I did 5 miles on the treadmill in 60 minutes on Monday, Tuesday I skipped the gym and tonight I did 40 minutes on the elliptical. I am ok with this!!!!

The end of last week and the beginning of the this week have been tough. My cousin had her baby, she was about a month early and weighed 4lbs(something), she is still in the hospital but doing well and getting stronger everyday. My sister in-law lost a co-worker unexpectedly she had worked with her for 21plus years. I found out today my uncle was taken to the ER and had a stint put in his heart today. These are just 3 examples of why there are way more important things in life than a number on a scale!!!! Little self reflection never hurts, I am learning to be more thankful for my health everyday!!!

Your Inner Skinny

What is that? A book written by Joy Bauer, a nutritionist and a contributor on the TODAY show. I found this book by stealing the Woman's day magazine (Sept issue) from my sister. She talks about how losing weight is a journey and how it is the best gift you will ever give yourself. She has a 4 step weight loss plan. The first step is outlined in the article and the rest can be found at womansday.com/slimdown. I am not good at reading menu plans off the computer so I bought the book.

I decided to change to her plan instead of following WW. I just wasn't good at journaling what I was eating and I could still use my points and eat junk. I started following her plan on Monday. It is very simple, you eat "regular foods", there are already menu's planned for you, which you can change up if you don't like a certain food, you do it in steps and the menu's are mostly for single servings, so you don't have to worry about having 2nds when it only makes one serving. Step one is 7 days. Step one does cut out processed foods, sugars, sugar substitutes and starches but only for a week. With that said that means no Dt Mountain Dew. I have had a headache for the last two days. It was really bad this morning at work so I got two Tylenol rapid release gels from a co-worker and she made me a cup of coffee with some spiced creamer. I should not have had the creamer but my headache did go away. I am not a huge hot coffee drinker so it was better for me to have that than a pop. For the most part I have stayed on track with her plan, however she does not give a snack at night other than veggies. I do have a 100 calorie pack of almonds or 15 pistachio nuts or a 50 calorie piece of sting cheese. I know how my body feels when I get restrictive on certain things. I HATE that feeling!! That's why I added something at night, however I stayed away from CARBS like popcorn or pretzels. We are going out of town on Friday so I will weigh myself before we go. I know that I will not be eating the best while we are gone, however I am committed to making better choices than I normally would. I do know that I will have a few beers, which are not on the plan until one of the next steps.
I am trying to get back into the habit of going to Body Pump 2x a week, I went Monday but today I just wasn't feeling it so I did 60 minutes on the elliptical. Now that I am feeling, for some reason I have a charlie horse like cramp in my calf! Just have to keep on keeping on!!!!!

Pump it up

I went to Body Pump tonight!! WOW it has been a long time. I felt really good. I had a flu shot yesterday and for some reason my arm is really sore, usually it doesn't get that way. Sore arm or not I did the class. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical before the class. The scale, what did it say this morning? Wait for it............ IT WAS THE SAME!!! I am starting to think that I am destined to stay at this weight!! A few years ago when I was going to WW I remember a meeting where the leader talked about a lady who came to meetings every week for a long period of time but never lost any weight, just stayed the same, finally something clicked for her and the weight started to come off. No, this was not me, but I am hoping for the same result, ONE DAY IT WILL CLICK!! I thought I knew what I was doing but it looks like I need to "tweak" something.

Friday will be a challenge I am going to Happy Hour with some friends. I could pass but this has been set up for over 2 months it is hard to coordinate our schedules. My plan will be to make good food choices during the day and not make Happy Hour turn into Happy Night!! I will keep you posted on how it goes!

Twin Cities Marathon

How in the world did I forget this in my last post, probably because it was so long already. HAHA Today my husband and I went to support our friend Melissa in her first Marathon race!!! She did awesome her time was 503.5. We cheered her on at mile 25, we were yelling her name and good job and all that good stuff. When she saw us she jumped in the air in a cheering motion all while going up hill. Did I mention Mile 25!!!! I am so proud of her and she was so full of energy!!!! I must say watching people run marathons brings new meaning to the word "running"!!!! What amazed me was there were people of all ages, shapes and injuries running. It was so amazing to watch!!!! I am not sure I was amazed enough to ever want to run one myself but you never know!!!!!

This sums up the Shred

Where have I been, well I was in the great state of ND for a week. I tired to update my blog but for some reason I couldn't log in. This is how it went. We had to go to ND to help take care of my father in-law who had a knee replacement, on the way there I find out my dad is in the hospital. They didn't know what was wrong with my dad, turns out he had a hernia that was attached to fat or covered by fat so they couldn't find it right way. They spent 3 days looking for the problem. They found it late Monday night and he had surgery. All went well. Both dads are doing great.

Now for me, we left on Sunday about 10am, it is about a 7 hour drive, I got up and did Shred before we left. I did it Mon, Wed and Thur while we were there. I only missed on Tuesday. I did not have a gym to go to while we were gone but I think I made up for some of it by doing some yard work. Taking down part of a very tall hedge is alot of work!!! I am very good at carrying branches.

All in all I am very proud of doing Shred for the whole month. I missed a total of 5 times that I didn't do it. I took measurements at the start of the 3rd week. I re-took them today and I have lost inches!!! 3.5inches, the breakdown one off each arm, one off the hips and .5 the chest. I am happy with inches, even if it is not from the places that I want it to be from. As far as the stupid scale I have had it with it. It still is the EXACT same as when I started on Sept 1st!!!

I am not sure what Oct holds for me as far as exercise challenges!! I really want to lose 5lbs by Oct 22nd, my 38 birthday!! I went to the gym yesterday and did some cardio and a few weights, today I did Shred before the gym then did 35 minutes of cardio. I really want to figure out a schedule that will work for me to take the Body Pump class at least 2 times a week. It is harder at this gym, they have really odd times for classes if you ask me. I will not let a schedule set me back I will figure something out. On the flip side of that I did take 3 unopened DVD's from my sister when I was back so I can always do them. They are from the Barry's Bootcamp set. I don't even know who he is!!! I am about to find out!!

My eating when we were back was not on a schedule at all, I didn't eat more food than I did before I just ate more crap food!!! I DID NOT have Chex mix!! That in and of it self is a huge accomplishment!!!!

We did not eat out once this weekend, which is really good. I have eaten fruit, lots of raw veggies, I have tried Hummus, which I actually like (roasted red pepper), I have drank lots of water, and have been very conscious of portions!!! I have had one DT Dew this weekend!!!

I was telling Gym Girl that for some reason my cravings are changing. I have not craved chips, I had a beer on Friday night and it did not taste good, I bought Peanut M&M's at 2 different gas stations when we were traveling and only ate 2 M&M's out of the one bag and the other bag is still unopened. Things might just be looking up for me!!!! Welcome October!!!!

The sick day

I did call in sick today like I was pretty sure I would, however because I was so frustrated with yesterday I did have a beer last night. Ok I had 4 beers, the 16oz ones so really that is like having 6. Not a GOOD CHOICE!! So much for the mental health sick day I thought I was taking, I actually was sick. I have had a headache and stomach-ache most of the day. It is my own fault. Did it make me feel better, not so much. Lesson learned- stop at one or two!! (I love beer, just not how it makes you feel when you have had to many). Now don't think I didn't' eat along with having the beers. I tried to get my husband to take me to Taco Bell or McDonald's but he didn't. That was ok I found many other things to eat. I had pretzels, crackers with cheese, chips, at one point my husband said "are you about done eating". I said "nope, I will finish off this crappy day with peanut butter toast and a glass of milk". So I did. For some reason when I have beer when I am done I crave peanut butter toast and milk. WEIRD. I had a crappy eating day today as well, my stomach hurt but I had to sample different things to find out if it was what I wanted or not. Enough of my self loathing I am ready for tomorrow and will put these 2 bad days behind me. On a positive note for today I have consumed a lot of water and I did Shred this morning.