Going in circles

On and off through out my life I have read a great many self-help books. That doesn't however mean that I have always taken their advise though in some cases I have tried.

One of the things I am wanting to do as I journey though this weight loss challenge is to get control of my life. De-clutter the house, the closet and in general my life.

What I am finding to be the hardest thing is to let go of items that have memories tied to them. I can't possibly keep everything, but how do you choose? Just sorting through the closet and trying to get rid of clothes is an emotional roller coaster in it self. I'm finding it difficult to define my style. I like such a variety of things that there doesn't seem to be any one set pattern to my style. Eclectic. Yeah, that makes it fun to try to match up a wardrobe, let alone the rest of your house.

The good news is as I lose the weight I am able to disperse of more of the clothes. The bad news is I'm constantly finding something to replace it. Since I do a majority of my clothing shopping at a local thrift store that has some pretty cool stuff, this isn't quite as costly as it would be if I was hitting the department stores.

I need to work on gaining control of my emotions and compulsions and I need more hours in the day to do all this.

So, how do you do it? How do you choose? How do you get it all done?

Doing a lot of thinking

There has just been so much going on the last few weeks. As you can see by the previous post one of my cousins has been abducted by his father and we have been and still are frantically searching for him.

I've been working full time the last couple of weeks and trying hard to get them to bring me on permanently full time, but so far no luck.

Dealing with the typical family issues along with continuing on my quest to lose the weight.

Admittedly I have failed to exercise for the last two? three? weeks. I've climbed the stairs I can't begin to count how many times at work, have done some lawn work and we did some walking on the beach the other day (oh Lord my calves ache from that). To my credit I have managed to continue to lose weight and I'm down a total of 8.2 pounds. So many more to go.

I've also recently discovered "Pinterest", this may not have been one of my better ideas. Any way, while looking around I got to thinking about my bucket list. So I started checking around some of the other peoples bucket list and find that many of the things that I have already done and considered relatively minor in my life, seem to be great aspirations for others. In case you are lacking for ideas yourself, here's a site I found that has some pretty good ones and lots of choices to get you started. http://www.squidoo.com/100things

First step accomplished

Woo Hoo! *tosses confetti in the air*

I stepped on the scales this morning and I have finally met my first w.w. challenge goal. I have finally officially lost 5 pounds! Each goal accomplished should be met with enthusiasm and you know what. I can feel it in some of my clothes already. Some of my jeans are looser and I don't have to do that jumpy dance to get them up where they belong (my husband finds this dance extremely amusing) or lie on the bed to get them zipped up (hey, we've all done one or the other or even both)! *does happy dance*

I've still got a long way to go, but seeing some little accomplishment is encouraging.

The only down side to all of this is I have now noticed how much cellulite is/has been building up in my thighs, butt and now I find arms. (I got stuck in a short sleeved jacket the other day and had to have my husband help me pull it off my arms. Not a pretty sight.) I'm going to have to be more dilligant about working on these areas as well.

All in all it has been a good week and at the moment, I am pleased with my progress.

Another week another weigh in

Well, the good news is that the scale went down another couple 10ths of a pound and most of my measurements went down about 1/2".

I was lamenting the other day about how slowly the weight seems to be coming off when I'm eating better than I have in my life and exercising. One of my friends reminded me that since I am exercising, I am also building muscle while loosing and muscle will out weigh the fat. Therefore the loss of weight isn't going to show up as rapidly, but it will appear more in my measurements.

That's what friends are for. To pick us up when we are down and remind us of the stupid stuff we know but have overlooked. I love my friends, they are the best!

On the salad front, I am getting better at making my mother-in-laws secret salad recipe dressing. (Just a couple of points on my salad) and I find that I am not nearly as hungry doing the w.w. this time as I was the last time.

Well, it's time to get off the computer and tackle some of the household chores and do my exercises for the day. I can feel my energy level increasing slowly.

Getting back into the swing

What a week last week was and now we face Valentine's Day tomorrow. That week off from my routine wasn't very conducive to my program with going to jury duty each day and when dismissed for the day heading to the office so I could get some things done and have a semblance of a paycheck this week.

The good news is I didn't add any weight last week, the bad news is even with walking a 1/2 mile round trip twice a day (in heals) from the parking lot to the courthouse. I barely lost any weight to speak of. Over the weekend we attended the George Strait and Martina McBride concert. We were parked several blocks from the venue so it was a brisk walk each direction to stay warm. The concert was great and it took a few hours for my hearing to return to normal.

I've got dinner planned out for tomorrow night. We are having steaks, he can have a potato and I will fill up on my salad. No candy is being brought in by me. So now I need to get off the computer, sign the cards and do something with my husbands gifts so they are ready for tomorrow, then I have to get in today's exercises and finish prepping dinner.

Today I am so stoked!

There was great news when I stepped on the scales this morning for my weekly weigh in. I am down 3.8 pounds from last week. I am so stoked! Also when I took my measurements, I'm down 1/4" in the waist. *does happy dance and wonders how many points that can account for*

I know this isn't going to happen every single week, though it would be nice and it is definitely great for one's motivation. It is so much easier to continue working towards your goal when you see some sort of progress being made.

Hope your day is going well.

Walking up hill

I hope today finds you doing well. My exercising seems to be coming easier to me. I have stepped the sit ups to 100 and the crunches are back down to 20 from 30 however, my son showed me this way to do them that seems to get more impact. At least I feel it more and it's more difficult to do them.

I have also upped the water in-take and have started walking on the tread mill again. At the moment it is on a level surface. College Boy decided to use it a while back and put it when I had it on a 12% incline. Now it doesn't seem to want to go back. I'm gonna have to work on that today. Just another prime reason children shouldn't be playing with their parents toys.

I was checking out some things on the w.w. site yesterday and dismayed to find the following:
I can walk at 3 mph for 10 mins and get 1 activity point... OR I can ride a motorcycle for 10 minutes and get 1 point, or shoot pool 10 minutes and get 1 point, miniature golf 10 minutes and get 1 point, hunt 10 minutes and get 1 point. What the heck?! Something is not right with this picture. One of my friends asked what happened if you were hunting from a motorcycle for 10 minutes? lol.

Mooch did find that I had put the magnet key back and attached it to the handle of the treadmill. I heard it fall last night and her batting it around and hitting the sides. Glad to know she is still amused with it. We have a set of box springs stored next to the treadmill and between the two of them, they seem to be her personal jungle-gym.

Time to grab a book and hop on the tread mill for a walk. Catch you later.

I thought today would never end!

I work in a manufacturing plant and my office is now on the 2nd floor, my bosses office is on the first floor so I can count going up and down the stairs a certain amount of times towards my exercise points. Well, the guys out on the manufacturing floor sure made sure I got my points in today. I must have gone up and down the stairs to my bosses office 30 times today. I felt more like a yo-yo than any thing. (Before you ask why, the boss has to review and sign off on all PO's written and of course the guys can't bring in several at once, the bring them periodically through the day to interrupt the other projects being worked on.)

I must admit I seem to be having a much easier time with the w.w. diet this time than I did last year. When all is said and done, maybe this won't be as bad as I had thought it would be.

Oh, I did look for and find the magnet key to the treadmill. Mooch was kind enough to leave one of them next to her food dish so I attached it to the treadmill so she can't take off with it. She's not gonna be to happy about that when she tries to run off with it, but she may find herself amused more when it is dangling from the handle so she can bat and bite at it. Believe me she can use a little more exercise too.

Time to go do the exercises. Have a great evening.

Am I skinny yet?

Okay, whether you are a kid or a parent you have heard this phrase in the car "Are we there yet?" that is how I'm feeling today only it's "Am I skinny yet?"

I'm staying on track with my eating, still doing the basic exercises, though I have been neglecting walking on the treadmill. Actually to be honest, my frisky one year old kitten likes to play with the magnetic key to turn it on and both of them seem to be M.I.A. *makes note to self on to do list- find key to treadmill*.

I know I'm only half way through my first week back on the official w.w. diet, but I sure don't feel anything in my clothes even beginning to loosen up. You would think that at least something would feel a little looser than normal. However, I am not giving up. I'm going to conquer this yet.

Keeping at it even with a bad mood

Well, I'm still keeping at it even in my bad mood state. Has nothing to do with my diet... well, maybe just a little to do with the diet, like 1% or so, the rest has to do with frustrations at work. We all have them and I know I'll get over it eventually.

Day 3 of the w.w. deal, still keeping on track with my eating. I do keep peeking in the mirror to see if any rabbit ears are peaking out from my hair yet. If I suddenly run screaming through the posts, you'll know they have made an appearance.

I still have to do my exercises for the day. I should do that before I make and eat dinner, it seems to go over so much better with my stomach. It does tend to protest doing sit ups and crunches after you have eaten.

Hope you're keeping up your good work too.

Getting back on track

I didn't wait for the husband to sign "us" up for the weight watchers. I went a head and signed myself up yesterday. Tracked my food and all and I had still managed to come in under the total amount of points I'm allotted in a day. :)

So far today I'm on track with my eating and I have dinner planned, though I haven't calculated out my points to know how large my portion will be. I have done my sit ups and crunches and also started off with my tabata exercise. I have to go rescue my son in a bit so I'll have to do my hula hooping later.

Here's to staying positive and getting fit.

Here we go hoop de hoop

So far I am having a blast with my hula hoop. The back of my hands are slightly bruised from being used in a way then haven't been used before, but I was assured to let them rest for a time when the bruising showed up and they would be fine.

I hooped for probably about 20 minutes today just trying to work on the flow move we learned in class and how to make a circle as I am hooping. Oh, and how to hoop in the opposite direction that I am accustom to going.

I went to the grocery store today and loaded up on fresh fruits and veggies. I about choked on the bill when I saw the total. Almost makes me wish I had paid attention to what my grandmother was trying to teach me in the garden instead of trying to figure ways to get out of pulling all the weeds. :p

The husband asked me today when the diet officially starts and I told him just as soon as he signed us up for weight watchers again. I surely can't remember how many points is what worth. Ok, I remember a Big Mac is 10 points and a medium fry is 14 points but a little slack here cause if that's what I had and I had 29 points for the day... I pretty much wiped the whole day out with that one meal.

At any rate, I'm still working on it and I'm not giving up.

This is not going well, is it?

To be honest, the exercising the past several days has been spotty and limited at best.

I did however go to my Dr. appointment yesterday and the first of the results for my blood testing is in, which was the A1C to test for diabetes. My Dr. says that 5.6 is normal and that 6.5 means you are diabetic. My result was 6.1 which puts me towards boarder line, especially since there is a family history of it now. She ordered me to get back onto weight watchers and to lose 20 lbs. :/
Well, that was the idea to start with. At least my husband is in support and he is willing to go back on the diet with me. Life style changes are coming very soon to our household.

Today was my first hooping class. What a blast. There were only two of us that showed up to take the class so it was very intensive and riotous as neither of us seemed to be as coordinated as we wished we were. We had fun laughing with each other and at ourselves as we'd try to learn to maneuver the hoop and pass it from one portion of our body to another and learning our first flow move. By the end of class we could do the move, but it was not nearly as graceful as our instructor. Needless to say we both vowed to go back home and work on our technique before the next class is offered.

So I am on my way with hooping and preparing to make a lifestyle change again in the eating habits. Hope things are going well for you.

When I fall off the wagon, I fall hard

I got my new hoop in yesterday. It's slightly larger than I anticipated and slower in moving, but I guess that is ok for a beginning hoop. I'll be getting a new one at my class on Saturday.

As for the rest, yesterday was not a great day. Snacked on chips, had a major craving for butterbeer and made some for my son and me-- I drank 2. Can we say major fat and sugar overload. I think I made up for every regular soda I've skipped since the 1st of January with that one.

So today it is back on the horse and back to work. Hope your day went better.

So far no good

Well, I haven't lost any more weight and I haven't lost any more inches. :/ However I am not giving up. I'm still doing my exercises. I guess I may have to bump up the water intake and start adding additional reps.

My new dance hoop should arrive sometime this week. I'm so excited, I can't wait to take my class.

In the words of Jimmy V. "Never, never, never give up."

Another long day...

Well today was another long day and I have yet to do any of my exercising. I'll work on that after I finish syncing my phone.

I did however after blogging yesterday manage to get in another set of 50 sit ups and 20 crunches. Personally... I feel pretty good about that.

I took the plunge today and enrolled in the hula hoop dance lessons. I can't seem to get anyone to go with me, so I guess I'll just have to learn it and have fun by myself. My first class is next Saturday so I'm really looking forward to it. Sure hope the weather is nice.

Happy exercising.

Losing track of the days

Things were a bit hectic yesterday. A long day at work, I was so wiped out by the time we got home that I did my exercises and was in bed before 10:00PM. *sighs*

I can remember when that was still considered being early in the night.

I am pleased to report that my stomach is most definitely laying flatter without a lot of effort to hold it in! Yeah! I don't know if I have lost any weight yet but will check this weekend.

I am definitely signing up for the hula hoop dance class I found. I have already ordered the other hoop for it. I've been trying to enlist some friends to go with me that I thought would also enjoy it.

I'm up to a consistent 50 sit ups and 30 crunches now with the ab roller. I did the 3 lb hula hoop for about 5 minutes today. It is a real challenge to keep that thing around my waist and not around my ankles.

Hope all is going well for you.

Day 8 Was offered a prescription not to do sit ups

I'm beginning to feel the sit ups more in my lower back now, which I understand and needs to be strengthened as well. This morning my chiropractor offered to write me a prescription not to do the sit ups. I bowed out of the offer as gracefully as possible. I mean gee whiz, I'm really working at making sure I do them each day here and trying to develop a good habit.

I ordered another hula hoop the other day, this one is more for hoop dancing and such; it should be here by the end of the week. I can't wait. I even found a hooping class in my area. Shocked me, but I am grateful that there is one. It looks like a lot of fun and a great way to burn calories. If I recall my reading correctly they said 30 minutes of hooping burns 600 calories. I can use that!

Day 7 and beginning to feel... it?

I'm not sure which "it" I am feeling, but I definitely feel something.

While I am trying not to over do but to also do enough to get some results and strengthen my muscles I am now feeling it in my back and stomach. I can see that my stomach is already flatter but my back muscles are letting me know that they exist now too.

I am finding it difficult to remember to drink so much more water here at home. While I do drink some, it is not nearly the quantity that I drink at work.

My son told me about Tabata and while I have no intention of even trying the burpee exercise I did find some for core training that I think I will try to incorporate into the daily routine.

Now, I'm off to search for some hoop dancing classes in my area. They look not only fun, but like they would be great all over exercise as well.

Day 6 Bad news Good News

Several short comings yesterday.

I didn't post, I ate chips quite a few chips, I ate m&m's and I didn't exercise at all. *hangs head in shame* I must work on my discipline.

On the plus side, this morning I weighed in and while I'm up 5/10's of a pound, when I measured I have lost a 1/2" in the waist, hips and on both thighs; so something is working.

Today I'm working on the laundry and household chores which will help burn up some calories and add to the exercise routine. Keeping positive and while I had a down fall it is still nice to see a little progress to help keep me motivated.

Hope your day goes well.