Color Me Rad

Well bad news is that I can't do the Color Run in Winston because I have festival of tables the night before and that is just too much but Nicole and I are going to do the Color Me Rad race in Greensboro March 30th!  It is very similar and I am excited!  I haven't been running like I should have been at all!  My goal is to run at least 2 miles of the 3.1 but I will train for more and if I get more then GO ME!  If you want to know more the link is below!

Color Me Rad

A 4 mile hike!

My friend Kara and I had our January Exercise Date scheduled for Yesterday but due to the weather we moved it to today.  She invited her friend Mandy to join us on our hike.  We did the red and while trail which is really long and ended up doing a 4 mile hike!  It was great!  We were freezing but we had a good time and got in a great workout!  I am looking forward to our next one on Feb 23rd.

Tomorrow is my weigh in for my weight watchers meetings.  Normally I weigh in 1st thing in the morning in just my undies because hey I am at home and I can.  So I am going to weigh in 1st thing tomorrow morning as well to see where I am in relation to last week and then I will weigh in again at the meeting and we will see where I am by 5 PM that day.  I am going to try to be very good so that I can not see too much gain from morning to evening but we will see.  Since I lost 4 pounds last week I am not sure what the scales will show for this week.  I have been really good with my food and I have worked out quite a bit.  Not as much as I wanted but I have been exercising. I am hoping for 2 pounds but as long as the numbers are going down then I will be happy!

Testing out my 5k abilities

Since I am doing the Color Run which is a 5k on March 16th I decided to see what my 5k time is at right now.  So I jumped on my treadmill tonight and I busted my tail and did a 5k.  I started out with a 5 minute warm up walk at 3.0 mph and then I started running (well jogging) at 4.0 mph for 1 minute and then walking for 1 minute at 3.0 mph.  I did this until I reached 20 minutes.  Then I started running at 5.0 mph for 1 minute and then walking for 1 minute at 3.0 mph and I did this until reached 35 minutes.  I was at roughly 2.25 miles at this point.  Then I started running for 2 mins at 4.5 mph and walking 1 minute at 3.0 mph and I did this until I reached 50 minutes and 3.1 miles.  After that I did a 5 minute cool down at 2.7 mph. I am happy because I have cut about 6 minutes off my 5k time since December 3, 2012.  I would love to be at 40 mins by the color run and I have just under 2 months so we will see!

Total Distance, Time and Cals! Go ME!

Yes that is Chad working out!  He's supporting me on my journey and trying to get more buff himself! 

Super Red Faced as usual! :) Happens after every work out!

Make that 4 Blogs and a Goal Update

So I decided to do a Weight Watchers Blog with my Friend Nicole.  So that makes a total of 4 blogs that I am an author on this year.  I have been good at participating in each blog so far and I am inspired by each one in its own way.  I had a great week as far as weight loss losing 4 lbs for a total of 6.2 down.  That leaves me only 1.8 and I will be at my 1st goal which was to lost 8 lbs by my Bday on Feb 7th.  I seem to be on track to meet that goal!

Disappointed

I am doing weight watchers via my work and I have to get a packet from them before I can go to my community meeting.  Well I didn't get my packet from work so I can't start my weight watchers until next week but I am still going to weigh in and keep on trucking.  I have worked hard this week to make good choices and I hope to keep making more next week.  I need to drink more water and exercise more. So that is my goal for next week.  I also need to get more sleep but I suffer from boughts with insomnia and it makes it hard on me to get the amount that I need.  Here is to a good number tomorrow and to making good choices!  **Drinks Water**

Banana Ice Cream - Another reason to love Bananas

Looking for a healthy ice cream alternative then try this!  It was very good!

Ice Cream

4 bananas, just slightly overripe (brown spots good, completely black not so good)
2 tbsps creamy peanut butter (optional – thus 2 ingredient ice cream)
2 tsps cocoa powder (Dutch process), (optional – thus 2 or 3 ingredient ice cream depending on peanut butter)

DO NOT FREEZE THE WHOLE BANANA, you’ll have a heck of a time blending that beast.

Peel the bananas and slice them up into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick disks. Place the banana slices in the freezer for about an hour or until they are frozen solid. Put the frozen slices in a food processor and pulse. First they will start to resemble gravel, but keep going. The bananas will soon turn into a frozen mush – at this point, start scraping the sides down (you will do this a lot). Or you could add a dash of milk since the liquid will help the blending. I’m lactose-intolerant, so after a few minutes of stopping to scrape the sides down, the banana begins to blend into a creamy texture. When the bananas look like whipped ice cream, you can add your mix-ins like peanut butter and/or cocoa powder, chocolate chips, toffee, raspberries, anything goes! Straight out of the food processor, the ice cream is like soft serve. You can also freeze it for a firmer texture. I find it’s pretty hard (and therefore, brittle) when I scoop it immediately after removing it from the freezer. Just give it a minute or two to soften up. Makes a pint.

January Challege

A Push Up Challenge and A Squat Challenge for January ... I know they say December but January has 31 days too so it will work!  I am a few days late in starting so I am going to have to make them up and maybe go into the 1st few days of February!

Cool website

http://www.modelmydiet.com/

This website is great it will show you what you look like now and what you will look like when you reach your goal weight! I highly recommend trying it!  It is great motivation to see what you could look like at your goal weight!

2013 Resolutions! Lots to do this year!

Yes I have been gone a while but Now I am back ... Starting New in 2013

I am really excited about 2013!  I have a lot of great resolutions for 2013 that are for each part of my life!

My 1st resolution is to reach my weight goal by the end of the year. That is totally do able!

I like to set goals and time frames based on Holidays so here goes!

Goal 1 is to lose 8 pounds by my birthday Feb 7th!
Goal 2 is to lose 12 pounds by Easter March 31st (total 20 pounds)
Goal 3 is to lose 10 pounds by Nisee's 4th Birthday May 15th (total 30 pounds)
Goal 4 is to lose 12 pounds by July 4th (total 42 pounds)
Goal 5 is to lose 10 pounds by August 23rd Vacation Starts (total 52 pounds)
Goal 6 is to lose 10 pounds by Lacee's 2nd Birthday Oct. 6th (total 62 pounds)
Goal 7 is to lose 8 pounds by Halloween 2013 (total 70 pounds)


My 2nd resolution is one that I will help me with my 1st resolution but has its own intent.  My goal for 2013 is to really stick to a budget! One of the main parts of this is to avoid eating out as much as possible.  This has 2 benefits with the 1st being it is easier to control my calorie intake and stay on track and 2nd the cost savings.  If 2012 taught us anything it is that we have to be better stewards of our money.  We make enough money to not be living paycheck to paycheck and budgeting will be a great way for us to make sure we start to have a savings built up!

My 3rd resolution is read at least a book a month!  I love reading but 2 small children have really derailed my reading time.  I have a long list of books I want to read.  Chad and I got a Kindle Fire to share for Christmas and our birthdays so hopefully I can use it for some of my reading!

My 4th resolution is one that has to do with my photography and one that Kara is going to help me with!  I am excited to be a part of a photography club in 2013!  We are going to work on expanding our over all knowledge.

My 5th and final resolution is that I will complete at least 4 craft projects this year!  One each quarter!  I am saying 4 for 2 reasons.  The 1st being because my craft projects tend to be large and time consuming and since I am going to be focusing on my weight loss, cooking more, photography and reading so 4 is probably going to be the most I can get done!


Well there you have it!  My resolutions for 2013!

Weight Loss Update 3 Month Weigh In

Sorry for delay but things have been really busy around here!  I was supposed to go weigh in on my birthday Feb 7th but I had to change my appointment to February 15th.  I am happy to say that I lost 8 more pounds for a total of 29 pounds gone.  I was very happy with my loss.  I had done really well the rest of the month but over my birthday I did celebrate quite a bit!  I am now only 15 lbs away from what I weighed at my 8 week check at the doctor and then another 15 to get back to the lowest I reached in December 2010.

My goal by my birthday was to have lost 14lbs and I have only lost 12 as of the weigh in.  So I am a little behind and my next goal is St. Patrick's Day which is 18 days away and my goal was to lose 12 more pounds by then but I am thinking that isn't going to happen.  I might have to restructure my goals a little.  I haven't been able to exercise like I was because work is really crazy.  Things for year end are wrapping up this week and next so I am hoping that things will calm down a little more and I can get back into an exercise routine.  We will see where I am come 3/17 and see if I need to adjust.  I have only lost 2 more pounds since I last weighed in so I am a little worried but I have been extra stressed and not eating well.  Its just been a rough few weeks with Nisee's surgery and having to miss work right in the middle of the busiest time of the year for us.  However I am not giving up!  I am determined like I was year before last and I will get there even if it takes a little longer!  Well I will update again next month!

Weight Loss Update Month 2 weigh in

So I went for my weight in Friday the 13th! Yea I know a great day to go weigh in!  I am happy to report that I lost 6 pounds!  It was 1 pound less than my home scales but oh well I guess that's clothes for ya! LOL  I was hoping for 8 pounds but I ended up a little below but a loss still gets me closer to my goal and now I only have 66 more to go!
This also puts me closer to my 2nd goal.  Of the 6 pounds that I lost 2 of those were my Christmas goal but the other 4 are towards my Birthday goal!  I also am happy to report that since my weigh in (per my home scale) I am showing down 5 more pounds!  This means I only have 5 more to go to get to my Birthday goal and I have 17 days until the big 3-0, which should be plenty of time to lose the other 5!  Maybe I will be able to surpass it!  

Exercise 1/9/2012

I enjoyed my weekend off from exercise.  The plan was not to exercise Friday but I ended up running around so much I ended up meeting my target anyways.  Then Saturday it was just me and the girls and then a birthday party so I ended up going over that day too!  So Sunday ended up being my lazy day!  Today it was back to the grind! I did 45 minutes on the treadmill.  It was a mix of running and walking.  I probably ran for about 10 mins and walked the other 35.  I wasn't tracking it.  I just start running and stop when I can't go no more and then I walk until I feel like running again.  My feet hurt today though.  I think it was my shoes though! 

Workout 1/5/12

Only treadmill but a lot of it!
70 + mins!

Workout 1/3/12

Treadmill 30
Elliptical 15 (last pic)

My mini gym!

Workout Pics!

Taking a cue from a friend I am going to be posting my work out pics on here.  I will be taking pics of the screens of the machines when I work out.  I have enabled my blog to show these posts and of course they will go under my weight loss journey!  I will be post my photos from this past weeks Tuesday and Thursday work outs!  I didn't get everything together at my mini gym until Tuesday so that is when I started.  I also worked out for 25 minutes on the treadmill Wednesday but then I had to go the store for diapers because I accidentally took all ours to the daycare!  My screen was cleared when I got back thanks to our little explorer princess: Nisee! 

Goal 1 update Christmas

My 1st goal was to lose 2 more pounds by Christmas day and I am happy to say that I weighed in and I did lose those 2 pounds.  Now after the wonderful foods that everyone made including myself I probably have to lose that 2 pounds all over again. I did my best to try to just have small amounts of the foods that weren't the best and eat a lot of the veggies that were available but I know I still had more than I should.  I love desserts and there were some of my favorites laying around this weekend!  Also I did not weigh in today because well I just weighed in Saturday morning.  So next weekly weigh in is next Monday!  Wish me luck!  I start back to work tomorrow! 

Goals

So I know I weigh in weekly and monthly but I like to have goals based on holidays!  It makes it easier for me to keep up with!  So I went through and set my goals for the next year through Lacee's 1st Birthday!  I should be at my goal by then!

Goals:
Christmas 12/25/11 Lose 2 pounds
My Birthday 2/7/12 Lose 14 pounds (the BIG 3-0)
St. Patricks Day 3/17/12 Lose 12 pounds
Easter 4/8/12 Lose 6 pounds (all baby weight gone) 
Nisee's 4th Birthday 5/15/2012 Lose 10 pounds
Independence Day 7/4/2012 Lose 14 pounds
Labor Day 9/3/2012 Lose 16 pounds
Lacee's 1st Birthday 10/6/2012 Lose 8 pounds

 My goal is a range of weights and I will reach the high end of my weight goal by Labor day and I will reach where I would ideally like to be by Lacee's 1st Birthday!  Last time I did this I ended up meeting my goals but the numbers were all off.  I am hoping to meet it this time more consistently but I am well aware that I might lose more weight in the earlier months and less in the later months which is fine as I long as I reach my end goal of a healthy weight and healthy body!  PS if you note I have these listed as 2 pounds a week which is very healthy and very do-able!

The Only other goal I want to add to this is to get Chad to start working out too!  When we started dating he weighed 115 pounds and wore a size 26 but now he weighs 155 pounds and wears a size 32.  He has gained 40 pounds in the 7 years we have been together.  Now don't get me wrong he doesn't need to lose a bunch of weight because at 115 he was too small but what I want him to do is to build more lean muscle and lose some of the excess fat that he is collecting around his middle.  I just want him to be more healthy and for his height he could stand to drop 10 or 15 pounds.   However Chad has never really had to exercise and he works a job that is more than sitting at a desk so when he gets home he is tired and doesn't want to exercise and no matter how much I tell him if he does he will eventually have more energy it doesn't do too much but I am hopeful that I can convince him to do it! 

Month 1 progress/Week 6 check in

Well I had my weigh in Friday at the doctors office and I had lost another pound.  So my official weight there had me down 18 pounds but really I am only down 15 because of the difference in my beginning weight which I talked about in the last post.  So I am going with my weight at home! I know it is less but it seems like the more likely of the 2.  Either way I am super happy with that progress!  I also weighed in at that same weight this morning.  We went out last night to see the lights at Tanglewood and we had a not so great dinner at Chilis and I had a margarita which was great but not great for weight loss so I was just glad that I didn't see a gain today.  Today starts a new week and almost a new month!

Week 5 weight loss update!

I am happy to report that I am down another 4 lbs this week!  We weigh in on Mondays so this is from yesterday.  I added a weight loss tracker on the left side bar.  I am down 14 lbs so far.  When I went to the doctor I weighed heavier than I was at home but isn't that always the way it is?  Every time I go for my monthly weigh in I usually weigh anywhere from 2 to 4 lbs more.  My original weigh in was no different I weighed in 3 lbs heavier. So according to them I am down 17 lbs but I am going to go by my scale b/c it is digital and the one at the doctor is the old type slider scale.

I am still having issues with exercising but I am doing well with my food.  I am trying to make the best choices I can and to stick to my daily calorie goal.  There have been a few days where I have made bad choices but I didn't dwell on it and think that it meant I could just throw the entire day away, which is what I would have done a few years ago.  Since I keep making myself lofty goals for exercise that I am not keeping up with I have decided to make smaller goals and slowly increase them.  My goals for this week are as follows:

Week 5 exercise goals:
90 minutes of exercise total this week.

I want to say that I am not sitting at home all day.  I am cleaning and organizing and things like that but I don't consider this exercise even though some cleaning can really get you sweating!  I know I was really sweating Monday when I was cleaning the kitchen closet out and re-organizing it. So any minutes that count towards this goal will be movement specifically intended to burn calories for weight loss.  Just wanted to clear that up! LOL