February

I lost a pound and a half. It is not much and it is much less than my January goal of four to five pounds, but . . . . . . I am feeling more energy and I think my stomach is smaller. I can tell I'm getting in shape. I just need to keep going.

I am doing mostly cardio with some circuit training. I want to start weight training again. I miss it and I miss the feeling of strength and balance that I get from it. I like to be able to lift groceries and heavy things and take giant steps up on high places and feel my legs just power right up on the high step without any strain at all. I used to be able to do that. There is a high wall at a local park and I used to be able to just step right up there. It was because I was weight training. Now I feel all wobbly. My strength is gone and (this surprises me) my balance is not as good. So, all that to say I need to get back into it. I always hated to weight train my legs because it is so HARD but I have to say, I think it does the most good on my body. Running eats muscle so leg training is good. I just feel more balanced when I train my legs. Plus, they look a little better. :)

So, that's the update.

January Start

I have started to try and lose this weight. I did ok with my eating this week. I am starting slow. I exercised three times this week. Hopefully it won't be too hard to lose this weight.

My plan is to lose 4 pounds in January. For most people, this is no problem, but history has shown that I practically have to starve myself to lose a pound a week. My body does not gain weight easy but it also doesn't lose weight easy. It strives to stay right where it is!

My eating was so bad that it should be easy at first to clean up my eating. It really was horrendous! Like just eating one dessert a day would be an improvement! :) So, at first it shouldn't be so hard to eat cleaner but I imagine it will get harder the cleaner that I get.

I started back to exercising about two months ago. I started with just cardio and I already notice an improvement in my energy levels, stress levels (lower), sleep (better), and endurance (better). I feel so much better when I exercise. I plan on adding circuits in a week or two to ease back into weight training.

I took "before" measurements and pictures. O . . . . My . . . . . . Nobody should see that!

Puff!

These past two years have been a strange blur. I don't feel like myself. I decided to go back to school to become a teacher and it has taken over my life. School pushed my fitness off my radar. I gained 17 pounds over the last two years. Now I weigh only about 6 pounds less then when I was 9 months pregnant, full term. . . . Yeah. . . .I'm out of breath a lot and can't climb steps without huffing and puffing. My hands also swell. In short, I'm a puff! A puff muffin.

Sick

I got pnumonia again and a sinus infection. It's been really tough. I've been sick for three weeks. Needless to say I am not exercising. But I am trying to eat lots of vegetable and fruits and take my vitamins. I was about 121.5 when I first got sick. Now I am about 117.5. The weight loss is from being sick. I am also a little depressed. I can't do much right now. Just surviving.

Update

I have been on such a emotional roller coaster with regards to my job. One day the economy looks good and my job is going well and the next day, things are looking bleak. I am getting tired of it.

I did get to run in a 1 mile race about a week ago. I had a really good time. It has been a long time since I did a race and it was so fun! My time was 8:57 which is not really good BUT I looked back at some old races that I have done in the past. 12 years ago I did a mile race in 8:56 when I was 12 YEARS younger. So I thought that was good that I haven't lost much in 12 years. But most importantly I had a blast! There is a 5k coming up in a couple of weeks that I would like to do.

My diet is not going super good right now. I haven't been focusing on that and my desire is not there. I just don't seem to care right now for some reason. It does feel good not too worry about it too much but then other times I feel like I'm "out of control" in some way. It is kind of weird, I don't know how to explain it.

Here's a pic from vacation.

Write Something would Ya!

Gah! I should write something. It's halfway through June. I did make it to 120.0. But only for a day. Gah! Then back up to 121.0 I need to shoot for 119.0 now.

I haven't exercised for a week. I became disorganized last week and busy with my family. Well I finally got to run tonight. And I was like the energizer bunny, wanting to keep going and going. It felt sooo good after being off for so long. I sooo needed it. Ahh.

I have a deadline at work that I am working on. THat always makes me lose focus a little on my clean eating. I am a stress eater. Blah.

I am sooo loving summer but I feel like I am trying to squeeze all my fun stuff that I want to do into 3 short months. I need to RELAX but I am too busy trying to have fun!

Well I have to go tuck my girls into bed!

Tuesday

Well I usually plan what I am going to write but I'm doing this on the fly. I am feeling very motivated and things are going well. My starting weight was 121.0. At the end of the first week it is still hovering between 121.0 and 121.5 so I am trying to kick it up a notch this week or should I say kick it down, meaning eating less this week. This morning I was down to 120.5. My goal is 120.0 by Saturday!

This week's new recipies are 1) rice and sweet potato and 2) califlower salad. Both are all carbs. What I am eating right now is three meals with a good amount of protein in them and then 2 snacks that are more carbs. I am not worrying about eating protein with every meal, just eating all clean. And drinking lots of water.

I thought since my rotating workout scheme was working out so well in that I am enjoying the variety, why can't I do that with my eating? So I did. I have three "menus", A, B and C. And I rotate, like this.

Week 1 Menu A
Week 2 Menu A
Week 3 Menu B
Week 4 Menu C
Repeat

I am only in week 2 right now. Week three should be pms week, so I plan to eat a few more carbs and week 4 should be non pms, feeling good so I will cut back on the carbs. Seemed like a good idea, I'll let you know how it works.