Fun With Food!

I got some veggie cutters from Amazon and tried out the star one tonight on our potatoes. I also made some hard boiled eggs with faces on them. Both of these things made Luci eat a LOT more than usual today so I will be making another trip to the intarwebs for more cute food stuffs :)

 

It's Time To Say Goodbye

To the weight, that is!

Goodbye 300s! - I was 319lbs when I was pregnant

Goodbye 290s! - I said goodbye to you in February

Goodbye 280s! - I said goodbye to you in June

Goodbye 270s! - I said goodbye to you in September

Goodbye 260s! - I said goodbye to you in October

250s, look out! I WILL say goodbye to you this year!

I will be glad to never see you again! 

Choose Your Hard

Losing weight is hard.
Being overweight is hard.

Choose your hard.

I choose losing weight! ^_^

Halloween Tree

I got a tree at Goodwill for fifty cents so I asked Grei to put it up to make sure all the pieces were still there. He put it up, saw that they were and decided he wasn't going to take it down. Since it's a bit early for Christmas, Luci and I made it into a Halloween tree with stuff we found at the dollar store. There are also a few things she's made at storytimes at the library and I'll probably add some more paper craft type things as part of her school this week  :)

More Cleaning

I practically attacked the kitchen today and got it 90% finished. It looks like grown ups live here now instead of a couple of crazy college kids. Grei was home for the last two days and we put a big dent in the living room reorganization as well so weeee for that!  I think I can manage to get a handle on the rest of this mess during the week so hopefully he can come back home to a nice clean home for once in the last 2 years.

Weigh In

258.6 brings me down another 1.4lbs this week which is super awesome because I totally blew through all my points this week *laughs*

My goal this week is to hit all my good health guidelines every day. Starting tomorrow because I totally did not get them in today.  I am also going to try to walk at least 1 mile at least 3x a week from here on out.

Angry = Cleaning

I won't get into why, but I have been angry all day. This has made for a clean and organized kitchen counter. Tomorrow will be the finishing of the kitchen assuming my splitting headache goes away and I can stand up without being dizzy. Being angry gets my blood pumping in a bad way so I haven't been able to do as much as I wanted, but I am happy I accomplished SOMETHING.  I also got in about 10 activity points. I am hoping I can get some rest tonight... stop thinking and worrying about everything and sleep. Also, I need to eat more vegetables since I have only gotten in like 2 servings a day at most the last 3 days. Totally not reaching this week's goal, but there's always next week, right?

We're Back!

Just a quick post to say we're back! The trip was great and I went waaaaaaaaay over my points. I have already used all my activity points and only have 4 left for weeklies, but I'm not TOO worried as I've got 3 days to make it up to myself in exercise! Tomorrow we will be doing a lot of walking and/or cleaning as well as eating properly!  I will upload some photos and family information later tonight or tomorrow.

Road Trip!

We're taking a road trip today to Marietta, OH and visiting Jackson County West Virginia tomorrow. We're going for half vacation half family research trip. Ancestry.com points me to Kenna, WV as my roots in this country on my dad's paternal side. There is also a small mountain hill aka "knob" named after my family and I'd like to see that as well as possibly find some graves of my ancestors. If we can't find anything, at least I will be able to say that I went South of the Ohio river :)   I've bought some rice cake crisps, apples, grapes and carrots to snack on while we're there as well as bottled water, so hopefully I won't succumb too badly to the perils of gas station food! I probably won't be tracking over the next 2 days either. Hopefully we'll do lots of walking to make up for any extra points I go over.

Greater authenticity

If you fall short of the goal, make another effort. If the efforts continue to fall short, find another strategy.

If the updated strategy doesn’t work, reconnect with your essential purpose. In that purpose is a driving energy that will never fail you.

You cannot fail at living and expressing who you truly are. The only real failure is to hold that back.

If some particular endeavor fails to bring the desired results, it’s probably because there’s not enough of you in it. Failure can in fact be a powerful force that will push you and compel you toward greater authenticity.

If it’s not working for you, it’s not coming from the truth of who you are. To be more effective, be more honest, more authentic, more willing to follow your deepest desires.

Be who you are, say what you mean, and work on what’s truly important to you. The more authentic you are, the more successful you’ll be.

— Ralph Marston

Read more: http://greatday.com/index.html#ixzz1arhmWHKo

Fooood

Grei wanted to go out to dinner when he got home, so we went to Bob Evans since that was the only place that wasn't packed with a half hour waiting time and Luci LOOOOVES "Bab Ebbans!" I had some apple chicken thing and it put me over my points by 10 but it was tasty. Then I came home and continued to eat. A Hershey bar, 2 Reese cups and some more rice cakes with peanut butter. Woo for menstrual binging! To be fair here, I did ask Grei to bring me home chocolate *laughs*  I have 28 weekly points left and I blew through all 8 of my activity points I earned yesterday and today. Trying not to feel too guilty about that, but I guess that's what they're there for! On the plus side, I managed to hit all my good health guidelines and even though I didn't do my work out this morning, I did get in an hour walk around the store while I was there shopping.

Sleepy

All day today I am tired. Not just a normal tired either, a sort of weird fog. I nearly ran a few red lights, almost backed into someone at the store and wrote my shopping list all out of order so I had to keep going back and forth in the store. I've also somehow managed to eat all my points but 3 even though I hardly ate at all today. It was the small frosty at lunch that did me in. Ah well, that's why the extras are there I suppose :)   Grei is coming home tonight. He's been gone for about 2 weeks and we miss him a lot. I am looking forward to some warm cuddles and having someone else read to/play with/care for Luci while I take a nap *laughs*

On Planets And Temperatures

Well, I must be doing something right here. Luci knows most of the planets in order and that Mercury is the hottest and Pluto is the coldest (and she even knows it's not a "real" planet) without my even having told her. Go logical reasoning! Also, she knows that Jupiter is the biggest and Saturn is the "most coolest" because it has the nicest rings. Who needs preschool anyway?

Weigh In

Colour Me Surprised! I am down 1.4lbs this week! 260.0 exactly. I think my goal for this week will be to eat at least 1 serving of whole grains, 1 serving of protein and one fruit a day. I have been so focused on vegetables I have been lacking in tracking my other foods.  I will also keep up the 2 points minimum of activity per day. That is a 15 minute workout OR a 30 minute slow walk.

Activity Points

I did the 20 minute resistance band workout again just now. I really do love that. It's quick, easy, doesn't take much space, makes me sweat and gives me 2 points. I feel still nasty but at least I got 2 activity points in. I doubt I'll be doing much walking until this blister heals a bit. I'll be leaving for this weeks weigh in and meeting in about an hour. I have also eaten more protein and fiber today than I did yesterday or the day before so I have 11 points left before dinner. Yesterday and the day before I ate mostly veggies and fruits so I had 11 points left over at the end of both days. I need to figure out what seems to work best for me food-wise and activity-wise and come up with the optimal balance for weekly success.

Feeling Icky

Well, it's that time of the month again. I feel icky today. I think maybe I will take the day off from exercising and maybe do that every weigh in day. I'll be surprised if I haven't gained this week and I'd be happy with a maintain. I haven't been eating all my points this week and the scale at home hasn't budged. In fact, I've gained from last week and I've been exercising and NOT eating as much. I'm guessing this is either a) bloating/water weight from my period or b) gaining muscle mass.   Either is okay and hopefully next week will be better.

My Goal For The Year

My goal for the year was to be 250lbs by Christmas. Since I'm at 258-260 now, I am changing that to 240lbs by the end of the year. That is 2lbs a week. If I can accomplish this, or come VERY close, I will buy myself this Nikon D5100 Camera or something very similar to it. I've been saying for years that I want a new camera and this is the perfect goal for me to reach. I have been saving money back for one and I also figure the Christmas season is the best time to get a new camera thanks to all the sales, so I'll be looking out for deals/coupons pertaining to Nikon cameras.

I Just Have To Say...

I LOVE YOU MRS. DASH!!!  I dunno why I hadn't thought of this already, but I sprinkled my steamed veggies with Mrs. Dash Mediterranean Blend and olive oil (getting in my 2tsps a day for my good health guidelines!) and scarfed down 4 servings of veggies... including carrots... YUM.

Those of you reading this that know me well will be thinking  "You? Carrots? Wow!" But yes.. carrots too!

Today's Walk Photos

Convincing Luci to take a walk was pretty easy. I just had to tell her she gets to use her Tinkerbell umbrella and she was set to go! I got a VERY nasty blister though, so those shoes will definitely be going back. I'm probably not going to be doing any non-necessary walking for a few days. However, I did get a total of 7 activity points in today, so weeee!   I brought the camera along and snapped a few photos on our walk:

Morning Workout

Whew! Burny, sweaty and a bit shaky. I guess those are all good things? In any case, I got my 2 activity points in for the day.  Hopefully we can sneak in a walk sometime today as well, but I'm not sure I can convince Luci to go outside in the rain :)

Feeling Slightly Accomplished

The dishes are ALL done! Tomorrow will bring kitchen rearranging and food purging/organizing. I may even take before/after photos *laughs*

In other news, I still have 7 of my points left for the day and I met all my good health guidelines except the vitamin. I got in 3 activity points, I'm not hungry and I feel great!

WIC Appointment

Luci is 40" tall and 35lbs. She has grown 2" and 2lbs since her last visit in April.  The nutritionist says she is eating enough food but she could be eating more fruits and vegetables. Good luck getting a four year old to eat six servings of fruits and veggies daily. In all honesty, for a 4 year old that is only 1 1/2 cups and really, she eats a cup of fruit and veggies a day on most days so I'd say we're doing well in that department. She also said Luci should be eating more meats/proteins. I guess I'll have to start cooking more eggs and letting her eat peanut butter out of the jar like she loves to do more often *laughs*

Dishes...

All the dishes are done except the cooking stuff. That's all soaking in the sink and will be done before I go to bed tonight. I realize how gross it is to have a sink full of dishes, but at least they're done now! Yay for cleaning! The more I clean the more I want to clean so that's something. I also unboxed the knife block that's been sitting on the kitchen table for ... I don't even know how long, and I am considering rearranging the counters for optimal food preparation space. I did not manage to get anything else done in there today though, as I sort of fell asleep on the couch after the WIC appointment .. oops.   But SOMETHING got accomplished today and I feel good about that!

Cleaning The Kitchen

Half the dishes are done. The dish rack is full and my hands are pruny and kinda hurt a little. I hate how that happens. The lines/cracks in my hands almost burn when I do the dishes. I should probably find some gloves...

Anyway, my back is absolutely killing me right now, so I've decided to take a break for a few minutes to rest and let the dishes dry a bit before I go back for round two. I also have to clean out the cupboards, refrigerator, table, and get rid of all the plastic bags taking over the corner of my kitchen. We have a WIC appointment around 3pm and then we're going to go for a walk, but I think I can get that all done today if I set my mind to it!

Morning Exercise, Check!

I did the resistance band workout first thing this morning. It made me all burny but less sweaty than yesterday (but still sweaty), and my legs were a bit wobbly but I managed at least 10 reps of each action! It feels nice to have today's part of my weekly goal accomplished before breakfast.

This Week's Goal

I've decided to set mini goals for myself to help me on my weight loss journey. This week's goal is to work out at least 20 minutes a day aside from just walking. I am counting a "week" as Thurs-Thurs since that is my weigh in day. I just started this goal thing today and I worked out today, so I only have to do it 3 more days to accomplish my goal!

Just Because She Is Adorable

We were a bit early to dance class today so I took these while we were waiting for the teacher to get there.

Resistance Band Workout Video

I just did the 20 minute resistance band workout and I am all sweaty and burny. Boy am I out of shape! I could hardly do most of the exercises, let alone the 15 reps they ask for. The girl in the video makes it look so easy *laughs* However, I did manage to do at least 5 reps of every section and I already dread to think what I will feel like in the morning. I am definitely going to do this every day along with a walk lasting at least 30 minutes and at least 30 minutes of cleaning. That will give me 8 activity points a day, a healthier body and a cleaner house!

Food For Thought

They say bananas and potatoes fill you up fast and hold hunger off, but I've found the opposite is true for me. Every time I eat a banana I am immediately hungry afterwards. And potatoes? I could eat a bowl full of tater tots, fried potatoes, hashbrows, homefries, french fries, baked potato... and want more more more more MORE!

Exercising With A Resistance Band

I wanted to put these out there for anyone who is looking for a simple workout with resistance bands. Since I got one last night I thought I would try these out this afternoon/evening. I'll let you know how it goes!

Total Body Resistance Band Workout For Beginners


A 20 Minute Resistance Band Workout Video

Imagine differently

The way you are is the way you believe you are. Change what you believe about you, and you change your life.

It’s easy to assume that you’ll always be stuck with how you are right now. Your present perspective is powerful because you feel it with your whole being.

But your habits are your habits only because you keep choosing to maintain them. The limitations you assume yourself to have, are yours only because you continue to believe, support and defend those assumptions.

You can imagine differently. You can imagine a more fulfilled, effective and purposeful you.

Instead of spending all your thoughts and energy on your problems and frustrations, give some power and feeling to your dreams. Rather than conjuring up excuses for why you can’t live those dreams, visualize rich scenarios in which you are bringing them fully to life.

If you’re not completely satisfied with how you are, imagine differently. Intensely feel the beauty and joy of what you imagine, and steadily bring it to life.

— Ralph Marston

From The Daily Motivator

Shopping!

We had a nice time today :) Luci wanted to get a pumpking and "buy somethin' new" (she is so my kid) and I wanted to get some exercise in so we tromped around Lodi Station Outlet Mall for 3.5 hours then went to Kmart to walk around some more.

First we stopped for gas and and icee for Luci which gave her a blue tongue!



When we got to the mall we took the train ride and got a pumpkin. Baby Leopard was there to help! :)





I found her a headband at The Children's Place that should hold her hair back nicely for dance class along with a dress coat, a sweater dress and turtleneck and an owl hat that she fell in love with instantly. I then went to Lane Bryant and found myself a teal zip up hooded sweater (size 22/24) that is so snuggly cuddly warm and glittery black tank top (in a size 18/20!!!) that looks great underneath it.

I got some Dr. Scholl's heel grip thingies to see if maybe they will help my tennis shoes from slipping off my heel. I am getting tired of taking back the same pair of shoes. The first time I tried them on they were size 8s and fit fine. Then I took them for a test walk and they were slipping all over the place so I took them back and tried a 7 1/2... same problem. So I get a size 7. They fit nearly perfectly only they still slip! I really love the shoes otherwise, they just slip off my heel and cause near blisters. Hopefully these heelie things will work and I won't have to take them back again. I've also tied my laces in a different way to see if that will help. While we were at KMart I also bought a pedometer that doesn't seem to work well for me and I got Luci some leg warmers for dance class and a new hooded poncho. She looooves ponchos soooooo much. Again with being so my kid *laughs*


here she is being all cute and big girl looking in her ballet outfit :)


The mall has an Auntie Anne's pretzel shoppe *drools thinking about it* and I scarfed down 6 pretzel sticks and took a bite of Luci's pretzel dog. Later on we went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Luci picked out some sugar free mint oreo bark and I had half of that as well. However, after adding up the food I ate, I still have 6 points left! *pats self on back* so I can have some chicken and veggies or something like that. Also, the 3.5 hours of slow walking gave me 16 activity points! \o/

The Cake Is A Lie

Actually, it's really just TASTY! And it wasn't cake. It was that "free" doughnut this morning and it just set me off on a sweets and carbs binge! I knew it would too. I knew I shouldn't have eaten it. I had chicken salad on rye for lunch and then I had half an ice cream sandwich and some oreo mousse as well. Tomorrow must be a no treat day unless I do some major exercise too.  Now for a bowl of steamed veggies because I've already gone over my points by 3 today.

Pictures

I was just sitting here going through photos and I realized that I should put photos up to show myself that I am losing weight. I mean, of course I know I have lost weight, but I see myself every day, so I don't notice much. I thought maybe if I kept a photo diary of it, there might be some more motivation there.

Here's us Thanksgiving 2007. I was right around the 300lb mark then. 295lbs or so, but gosh my hair was long!

And November 2008 ... same clothes, but they fit a lot looser. I was 285lbs here. Isn't it amazing how fast kids grow?

On my birthday (September 3) last year
around 280lbs still

October of this year
around 260lbs
These last two pictures of me were taken within minutes of each other but I look a lot more like the 2nd one than the 1st. It's truly amazing what the right angles and lighting can do for you!

I need to get some full length pictures of me wearing the same clothes every month or so so I can tell how much weight I'm losing by how big the clothes look on me *laughs*




I found a picture of me from September of this year with Luci that shows my body. I dunno if I see any weight loss there from last year but I'm sure I will start seeing it soon :)

Here Comes The Pain Again

I really need move more often. Standing around for an hour then lugging all the groceries up the steps really took a lot out of me. My back/neck hurts and when I took my blood pressure at Mom's house it was was 95/82. Normally I'm about 110/70 so that's unusual on both ends. I'll check it again tomorrow to see what's going on. However, I know the pain is there from lack of regular exercise. I also know that's where my weight loss plateau comes in. Now to stop "knowing" and start "doing".

Fooood

Still tracking Luci's food. We have a WIC appointment on Tuesday. I can talk to the nutritionist there and see what she thinks before I call the pediatrician on Wednesday. We got a bunch of free food from a ministry program today. They give out free food the 2nd Saturday of each month. We always end up getting a lot of vegetables that are going to go bad before I can eat them. I need to learn how to cook all this stuff. More importantly, I need to CLEAN MY KITCHEN! There... maybe now that I've typed it in CAPS I might pay attention to myself and get it done! Or not...

Cleaning Hurts

The great Autumnal cleanout has commenced! I figured even 30 minutes a day of cleaning is better than no cleaning at all. Even on my worst day I can accomplish 30 minutes. Maybe I can even count this as exercise since I'm working up a sweat! I've taken about an hour out of the day so far. The side table by my place on the couch has been cleaned off as well as a little corner where clean laundry has been piling up. The kitchen table has been cleared of all paper, trash, bags, etc. and is now covered in cans, boxes and bags of assorted food that will be put away when I get to the cupboards. So much needs to be done, it's a bit overwhelming, but I know all I have to do is roll my proverbial sleeves up, dig in and eventually it will get done. I just have a problem staying focused so I've been doing little things here or there instead of focusing on one room at a time. I guess that's okay as long as it all gets done in the end?

WW Meeting

The meeting went well. The leader seems like a really nice lady. She's been a leader for 20 some odd years and she's been a WW member for 30 some odd years. They weighed me in at 261.4 at 5:30pm. I weighed myself when I came home and got 258.8 so not too much of a difference there. The group seems to be mostly 40-50+ ladies, but that's okay I guess. We'll try it out for a month or two and see how it goes. I made crunchy onion chicken tonight for Luci at her request and I'm hoping she will ask for seconds like she always does. Getting her to eat is so difficult most of the time!

Daily Ramblings

I thought I would give daily blogging a try. Even though I haven't much to say, it'd be nice to get stuff out of my head. So far today has been a fairly ordinary day. I've been charting Luci's food and she really isn't eating much at all. I will chart her for a week then call the doctor up to see what they think. Maybe I can get a Rx for Pediasure or something. She had storytime today and she did well other than some of the kids sang the songs too loudly for her liking. She made a paper bag owl puppet and it was really cute. She said the black lines on his eyes were thunder. The Weight Watchers meeting is tonight in about an hour. I'm still a bit apprehensive about going, but I will probably talk myself into it and everything will be just fine. I really need to get some kind of schedule down to clean out the apartment. The stuff piled up everywhere is kind of starting to drive me nuts.

Weight Watchers

Gained nearly a pound back this week. So much for the coffee and Second Life diet *laughs*

I'm thinking of getting a monthly pass for Weight Watchers. I use the online site, but it's not quite enough. I'm thinking if I can get to meetings every week that maybe I will have more motivation and possibly even make some new friends or a walking buddy at least. It's $40 a month, but I think we can swing it. I can always cancel it and go back to the online only. If I go to a meeting every week, I'll have more accountability to lose every week since someone else will be looking at my weight too. That said, I'm going to try to add a photo of my weekly weigh ins here as well.