Wed Weigh in #3

What a week it has been and it's only Wednesday!  I'm exhausted so I'll keep it short and as simple as possible!

Here's my daily goals sheet from last week!

I am pretty happy with my overall performance!  I could have written more posts, but I got 2 in and that's more than the 1 I'm shooting for!  I also slacked on my water on Saturday... BUUUUUUT I still got in at least 64oz!

My last post was about walking for Meg Menzies and since then, they've come up with a virtual 5k as well as the I *stickman figure* 4 meg shirts!  **click on the Megs Miles link**  If anyone's interested please check out the links!!!  

Last week's mini challenge was to keep a food menu and stick to it.  Here's the results!  Some recipes can be found on my recipe blog (link on the right hand side!) and if there isn't one, feel free to ask and I'll type it up for you!

On to tooting my own horn!  Because I honestly don't participate in that one often!

• Toot #1 - I honestly don't miss fast food.
• Toot #2 - I've hit a 5% weight loss!!!  (maybe I SHOULD have signed up for that dietbet!)

 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND the moment you're all waiting for (and some/most have already seen) *drumroll*

My weigh in!  I'm now down 9.8lbs!  Somehow my crazy MyFitnessPal acct has the wrong starting weight and it thinks I've lost 10.5 but that's ok!  I know in my heart that I've lost 10 pounds and that's HALF of my lose 10% goal!!!

I could have never made it this far without the love and support of family and friends!  I'm so blessed to have people in my life that are willing to recognize I'm trying to make a change and they understand.

Last but not least, I want to share my "fridge" picture from the #sisterhoodshots challenge!

I've been asked to think about sharing my prep ideas as well as possible menu planning ideas so you might see stuff like this in the future in Scary's Kitchen!!! :)

As always, thanks for the support and thanks for visiting!  Finish out the week strong and take some time for yourself this weekend!

Walking for Meg

Rolling out of bed this morning was a real challenge after going to bed pretty late.  I slowly drug myself to the coffee waiting for me and I checked my Facebook.  As I'm catching up on all my notifications, I start putting together all the stuff I'll need for my walk today.  I chose to join in the event that was made for Meg Menzies.  I had originally said that I would for sure walk 3 miles for her but might stretch it to 4.

One coffee, and a Jimmy Dean Breakfast sandwich later, I've laced up my shoes, printed my race bib, filled my water, plugged in my headphones, and grabbed my sunglasses.  I'm ready to go.

I must now tell you that today's walk was a very moving and personal experience for me.

I have blisters on top of blisters on the backs of my ankles that I've been trying to work around for almost a week.  I did my best to deal with them as I started off.  Well my moleskin doesn't really do wonders and since they're still open wounds, I can't just cover them up.  I also put a touch of neosporin on them so they weren't dry and cracking during the walk.

One foot in front of the other.  I headed down the trail toward the track that's about a mile and a half from our apartment.  I have to say *on a side note* that today's #sisterhoodshots was PERFECT for this event.  Today's picture is of a smile.  I have to share that when I first heard about running for Meg, I saw the hashtag and misread it.  I thought that it said "Meg Smiles" not "Megs Miles" so I think that both apply today!

Once at the track, I take pleasure in watching all the other active people around as I make my rounds, still unsure of how far I wanted to go.  There were a bunch of soccer teams out practicing across the wash, there were some guys doing calisthenics and sprints, and a trainer and trainee among other people.  I was passed by several older people that were jogging and rocking it!  The thing I love about the track is, I have a knack for not counting my laps.  I just go.  With music or talking to whoever I might be with, I lose myself in that circle.  After about 5 or 6 laps (me thinks?) I made a solid decision on a distance.  I set my goal to go higher in miles than I've ever purposely walked in a day for exercise.  I decided I would give Meg a 10k.  That's right! 6.2 miles!  I have never gone over 5ish in one day and most of those are split between 2 separate walks.

 about 2 miles in

Still going strong but leaving the track at about 4.5 miles in

Here's where things got personal and made my whole walk meaningful.  I knew that I could do the 10k if I put my mind to it.  I knew my body would scream and protest.  I did not come out prepared for that many miles.  I was low on water, no protein to boost me in between the almost 2 hours I was out.  Every ache, every pain, every sore, every stretch or time I wanted to pause for breath, I didn't.  I put one foot in front of the other and pushed everything else from my head.  I am so grateful to be here, to have legs that allow me to workout and be healthy.  I pushed myself and forgot about myself all in one moment for Meg and for the loss of her friends and family.

5.5 miles in

One of the very last songs that came on about 5.75 miles in was my favorite Jordin Sparks song.  One Step at a Time.  Those words have never had so much meaning than they did at the end of a very emotional walk.

I finished just over 6.2 miles and I'm now feeling and focusing on each and every pain.  How grateful I am to have those!  The biggest cliche but oh so true is "my body is letting me know it's still alive."  I will cherish this day for a very very long time.  My heart goes out to her friends and family for this tragedy.  I am so proud that I finished this!

 End of the Line!  Time to STRETCH.... But I'm still SMILING!

Farthest I've ever gone and a much better pace than I could have hoped for

Better Late Than Never

Well, here it is, already Friday.  While I'm absolutely grateful this horrid week is over, I am reflecting on my ups and downs.  The major down being I slacked on my blog posts!  I have intentions of posting at least every Sunday and Wednesday but it's been a reaaaaaaaaaaaal funky week for me.  So here it is!  Better late than never :)

I'll start with my recap of week 1 for my accountability chart!  This little gem has really made a huge difference in the way I see my progress.  It's a lot more meaningful to me when I can check something off or color a block in because I met certain goals!  It's a rewarding feeling to look back at the week and say "man, I did great."

So first off let me explain.  I had a water snafu round about Tuesday afternoon.  I had just finished the Bootcamp week 1 day 1, and I was running late to a vet appt for my dog.  I was THIRSTY so I grabbed my blender bottle and shoved it in my purse.  Fun fact.  The top was not closed. Sigh.  So the ink is a little hard to see but it's all still there!  I met my blogging goal (at least once a week) by doing two Scary Journey posts and a new recipe post *BBQ Chicken Bites with Slaw*.  I did an amazing job of keeping up with my calorie counting.  I was under my calories for all 7 days!!  My goal of walking 5 days out of the week was met with flying colors.  And I took full advantage of my 2 days of eating out and cooked at home the other 5 nights. :)  My water consumption and pushups were a success as well!  I'm really proud of my first chart week and can't wait to share this weeks!

I'd also like to share my absolute craziness with Dance Central on my Kinect.  Last Friday night, my cousin and friend came over to play Dance Central with me because c'mon, really, who doesn't love a dance partner!  Keep in mind, I danced after doing my walking at work AND Bootcamp week 1 day 3!!!  Well we had a blast but man was I exhausted Saturday morning!  This is what my fitbit showed me...

 

Over 20,000 steps in ONE day!!!  I was so proud of myself that I managed to stay THAT active well into the night!  (Think we called it quits around 1am)  Saturday morning we worked out the sore muscles by taking a stroll (3.5 miles) to Jamba Juice and back for a yummy healthy breakfast! :)

 I was able to play a bit with my new pasta attachments on my Kitchenaid as well!  Turns out pasta made with Semolina flour is really good for people losing weight. (in moderation of course)  So I made my famous Chicken Alfredo but with homemade noodles this time around!  Was a ton of fun and can't wait to play with it more!

Now on to what my Wednesday post should have looked like!  And boy am I glad I didn't write it on Wednesday!  So as any Hood lady (or gent) knows, Wed is weigh in day.  I actually stick to this rule even when I'm not participating in challenges.  It's a good neutral day right in the middle of the week when I know my diet hasn't gone haywire. :)  Well I weighed in.  And I lost 0 pounds.  That's right 0. After losing 7lbs the first week, I literally felt like I was living an episode of Biggest Loser.  All I could hear is Jillian saying, "It's week 2, no one loses during week 2."  Which is for the most part true and I get why.  I'm at the point where my body is no longer shocked.  It's going "ooooOOOOOOoooo muscles" and they're developing.  Muscles and fat weigh the same but as you drop the fat, you're toning those muscles so for a few weeks, it can feel stagnant but THAT'S OK!  It's a journey, not a race.  Get there slowly so that you have it down pat by the time you get to the maintenance stage!

Well, I have to say, after all that, I didn't believe my weigh in.  So I did a retake on Thursday.  For a number of reasons.  Anywhoozle.  I got on the scale and I was down 1.8lbs.  I will TAKE IT!  My weekly loss goal on MyFitnessPal is 2lbs a week and that's all I could ask for. :)  So at this point in the game I've lost just under 9lbs in 16 days.

Today, I actually put on a shirt that I couldn't put on and wear in public for the last year.  That felt good.  (Plus it's just a really awesome Mario shirt!)  It's ALL about the little things.  The little victories!  Tightening the belt a little more, feeling smaller inside your shirts.  Each is a win and a lot bigger of a win than most people give credit!  So live it up and recognize the change!

Week 2's mini challenge through the Sisterhood was to list 3 nice things about yourself every day for a whole week.  They suggested creative mediums to showcase them if we so chose.  I decided to go for it!  How often do we compliment ourselves?  Recognize the good qualities?  Not often enough, I can tell you that!  So my completed artwork went on the back of my front door so that I see it every time I leave the house.  I am reminded of who I AM.

I've been going strong on the Jan calendar and the Sisterhood Shot pictures but had to take a week off from the Bootcamp because my workout buddy is really sick and going through some stuff.  We'll pick back up on Monday and I can't wait!!!  I'm also really excited about week 3's mini challenge!  It's all about menu planning and I will be taking pictures of dinner each night to showcase that I did it!

Here's the menu!

(wild card is whatever I feel like since I eat alone that day, and Thursday was dinner out at Native New Yorker)

I think that about sums it all up for now.  I want to thank my mom for listening to me ramble today about my journey so far this year.  She was the last straw to my crazy blog hiatus this week!  I'm glad I have her!

Hope everyone's week has been amazing and hope their weekend goes great as well!  Be safe, Workout in good form, Make healthy choices, and Change for you!

Wed Weigh In!

*insert dramatic theme music!*

It's here ladies and gents, the day we all dread until we see that number on the scale.  The day we take a peek to see how we're progressing with all the changes we're making each and every day.  Wednesday Weigh In!  I look forward to this day even when it's not during Shrinking Jeans challenges.  It's on a neutral day for me in my life and that makes it easier to jump on that scale.

I must say, I'm shocked at my progress.  To the point of asking myself if I'm really getting enough nutrition each day considering how much I'm burning.  These results are a product of calorie counting, walking at least 2 miles 5 days a week, the squat/pushup challenge, pushups every hour, as well as the boot camp.  I'm sore and exhausted every day but it's paying off!  That being said, *drumroll*

I couldn't have asked for a better result in a week!  I hope to keep up the hard work and continue to see the number shrink!

It's been a crazy week.  Taking care of blog posts, walking every day, starting the boot camp, taking sisterhood shots, and keeping up with the mini challenges!  I barely have time to get in some sleep!   *bless any of you with children...*  I love doing this, I love posting about all of my changes and things I learn.  I think it's awesome that I have the time and dedication to share on so many different social medias.  And I feel blessed to have so many of you reading this right now!  Thank you for your support!

The remainder of the week, I will be needing the above photo to stay on track!  It's been a rough but amazing 8 days and I'm looking forward to moving from "action" to "maintenance" in the future!  Working out isn't a chore, I've come to love and appreciate what it brings for me.  Lower stress, better strength, more dedication, perseverance, love for myself (I'm slowly learning to more and more), and much much more!

I hope each one of you can find something or some things that excite you and motivate you to get up and go every day!  Movement is the key, if you can get that down in some way, shape or form, you're golden.  :)

Time to Get Crackin'

Well it's day 5 and it's nearing that time where people get frustrated and start dabbling in the thought of giving up.  This is where we need to dig deep!!  There's no need to spend more time thinking about working out than actually working out!  Even if it's 5 mins a day, at least you're up, you're active!  Get moving!  Try something new, make mini challenges like the Boot Camp calendar, or just add something to it like crunches!  There are a million things we can do to be active.  It's about finding the right workout for you.  What will keep you going.

I'm looking forward to the first full week of the new year.  I will be starting the 6 week boot camp tomorrow with 2 friends.  I have been going strong on my calendar workouts.  And I have been logging my calories every day!  That's a lot more than I've put forth in a long time even when I do workout on a semi-regular basis. :)  To keep myself accountable, I made a checklist of daily things that need to happen.  I will save these so I can look back and see where my strengths are versus my weaknesses!  I will also write a little something on the back of each week talking about the ups and downs.

Thinking of adding this little gem to my squats for the calendar challenge too!  Just to make things a little harder!

I went against my "don't peek at the scale" rules and weighed myself this morning.  I know I know, it's not always about the number, but man it was good to see the change!  I'm down 5 pounds in 5 days!  I've been busting my butt with workouts, eating at home instead of eating out, and making sure my snacks are healthy and not useless junk food!

There's no quick or easy way to get through this journey.  Sticking with it is the number one best thing anyone can do for themselves.  Through thick and thin we can all do this!

I'm going to be looking for some yoga classes here pretty soon.  I really like my dvd's but I much rather have an instructor in person!  That will be what I do on the off days from the boot camp.  I'm really looking forward to working on that challenge to awaken some muscles that I didn't know existed. :)

Stay strong and remember you're doing this for you! 

Post Jan 1st High.

Admit it, you are all so excited to the point of being antsy about getting down and dirty with your new goals!  I know I am.  It's all I could think about all day at work!!!  I was so excited I knocked out my bootcamp calendar workout at 4am this morning!  All in all it's been a great start to the year!

I want to thank all you wonderful people for visiting first off!  I got over 150 hits on my blog JUST YESTERDAY!  That's sooooo amazing and I'm grateful for the encouragement and feedback!!  It just inspires me to write more and that will help fulfill one of my goals I've set for myself!

 My Day 2 Goals picture for the Sisterhood Shots! *entails the bootcamp calendar,

my memory jar, the workout jar, 5k training, learning yoga, my bikini body, losing 10% of my weight

and letting the world know that I will. I will do it.

Time to lay out my day!  3:45am comes around and that pesky alarm starts blaring ignore the fact that this is the 3rd alarm of my morning and it's time to get up.  I decide today is just not a makeup day so instead of wasting all that time on my face, I knocked out my bootcamp calendar squats *with 10lb weights again*.  Good start!  I slowly mosey toward my car.  My hip injury *apparently a normal upset to the hip joints and flexors for beginners* is flaring up after the 5k I ran yesterday....  But at that point I've stretched it out 4 times since the end of my race.

Work was normal as always.  Boring with just a dash of concentration.  I'm a pharmacy tech at a mail in pharmacy which means I sit at a desk working on a computer all day.  To break up the stagnant lifestyle, what do I do?!  Why my pushups goal of course!  5 pushups every hour as long as I'm at work.  I kicked that daily goal in the BUTT!

As for my walking, I managed to get in my normal average of 2 miles with my bestie.  Not really shooting to increase our distance.  I'd like to keep my hip pain to a minimum so just getting up and outside is enough for me!  Plus it goes toward my goal of walking 5 days a week!

After work, I went out with my besties and we didn't make the most amazing choices with food.  That being said, I learned last year that if you overly restrict your diet, you will be an unhappy miserable person.  It's a combo of baby steps and splurging on what you like every once in a while!  BUT because of our food and drink choices, I decided that my 2 mile walk wasn't enough to cover those calories.  So I plopped down in front of the boob tube!  That's right!  Tried out a new YOGA dvd!  Had you fooled didn't I?!  I was unable to finish the whole sequence due to a lack of muscle, the hip pain, and some wrist issues, but the point is I started.  And I loved this one!  The instructor really knows what it means to be a beginner.  I can already feel the burn in all the right places from what I was able to do.  I will be looking to join local yoga classes if I can find some near work.  I much rather a real person to a screen!  Also looking forward to sharing my Sisterhood Shot for tomorrow!!!!

I hope everyone had an amazing Thursday.  It's so inspiring to see so many people connect through the Facebook group!  I am really looking forward to the next 7.5 weeks with all of you!  I have finally got my Endomondo linked up to MyFitnessPal and will be soon sharing my user names along with my Twitter page on the right side of my blog for anyone interested in following/adding/commenting/supporting/looking for motivation!  Look forward to tomorrow and remember every day is a new one!

New Years Weight Loss Boot Camp

Well for once I'm proud to say that this ISN'T day 1 or a new beginning.  For those of you that are just starting out, I'm super proud of you!  I've been fairly active over the last 3 months so I'm nearing the "maintenance" stage of fitness rather than action.  That being said, I'm really excited to join the Shrinking Jeans community again for yet another challenge to kick off the new year.  This year they're doing 2 Dietbets as well as a slew of mini challenges, goals, and a 6 week Bootcamp that is like a HIIT workout.

In this post, I'm going to be doing our first challenge for the week.  Outlining my goals as well as explaining how I'm going to achieve them.  They had the same challenge in Jan 2013 (link goes to my goal list from that challenge) and I really enjoyed laying it all out but in all honesty I didn't really stick to most of the stuff I talked about.  This year will be a tad different.  I'm choosing goals that are more refined and important in my journey now that I've dabbled in different things for a year.

Long Term Goals:

• I want to feel good enough about myself to wear a bathing suit again.
• I want to be comfortable in my own skin and with my image.

• I am pre-diabetic (and both of my parents have diabetes) and it is recommended that in order to maintain it and stay healthy, I need to lose 10% of my body weight.  This one is really important to me.  I will not put an actual number on a weight to achieve or how much to lose.  I want to get HEALTHY, so I don't need to get caught up in obsessing over numbers.
• I want to run a 5k from start to finish.  This is a long term goal because of the hip issues I developed in my C25K training.  It's going to be a long process but one I'm willing to reach for.
• I want to earn more money this year than I did last year in my workout jar.  I ended 2013 with $140.  Anything over that will be an improvement and any money in that jar from now til Dec 31st will be an accomplishment.  I also took the suggestion to make a Healthy Memories Jar that will hold my weigh ins along with the date it was taken.

• Last but not least, I will be picking yoga back up slowly.  I dabbled in it last year and ended up with a kitchen injury that took me out of the game for a couple of months.  So I'd like to take another stab at it.  I want it in my life for so many reasons.  It promotes health, it's great for flexibility, it's an amazing de-stressor.  I look forward to all I can learn from yoga this year.

Short Term for January:

•  By the end of Jan I want to be able to do real pushups.  I currently do girly ones on my knees due to the weak flabby arms I have.  I currently do 5 pushups every hour at work.  I will increase how many I do an hour each week!
• I want to walk 5 days a week if not more.  I don't care about distance as long as I'm up on my feet.  I again and currently walking at work with my bestie.  We walk for one 15 min break and through our whole 30 min lunch.  We are currently averaging 2 miles a day and I love having that time at work!  I have a desk job and it's really necessary to put in the extra time to offset the 8 hours of sitting.
• I will be my own motivation for the Weight Loss Bootcamp!  In encouraging my friends to do it, that will ensure that I complete this 6 week challenge!  It's important that I do it start to finish!  I will be starting it next Monday because I don't like picking up weekly stuff mid-week.
• Last but not least, eating.  Now that school is over, I have more time in the kitchen.  That means more meals at home, less eating out.  That also means picking back up on my Recipe Blog!!!  This goal is to eat at home at least 5 nights a week to not only eat healthy but to save some money!  I even made a menu calendar to keep me accountable :)

Resources to achieve all of this!

• I have MyFitnessPal.  This one will be difficult for me to maintain.  I find it too tedious to enter in my personal recipes.  But I'm going to try my best!
• My Fitbit Force will be here in the next couple of weeks.  This can be used to set goals and it tracks active time, steps taken, sleep cycles, etc.  I can't wait!
• For my walking, I use the app Endomondo.  I really like it because it has a slew of different activities you can track.  It also syncs with MyFitnessPal AND my Fitbit!  I highly recommend it if you don't already have loyalties to an app.
• And of course, last but NEVER least, I am a part of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans community.  I have been so grateful toward them and all the motivation they've given me over the last year.  I look forward to another year of success with them!

I started the year off by doing a virtual 5k for Multiple Sclerosis!  It was supposed to be done in December, but hey!  I got it done!  I walked it with my boyfriend and we had a really nice time. :)

 

I also knocked out the bootcamp calendar workout today.  I added 10lb weights to make it a little tougher on myself.  Plus if I've learned anything from Jillian Michaels, it's that working out is best done in pairs to work out several muscle groups at once. :)  

And last but not least, I posted my weight along with my first #sisterhoodshots photo first thing this morning.  

I wish everyone participating luck and I encourage those of you reading to look into it if you're not doing anything for motivation!