I Am Back!!

Well, I am gearing to get this blog back up and rolling.  This is my lengthy explanation of where I have been and what I have been up to!

A couple months back I had to stop. Stop all of it.  Initially it was all of my internet time consuming task, but mostly this blog and my “health” goals.  What I was neglecting was my mental health.  I needed to walk away from my blog for a while to re-gain sanity. 

I had made hefty weight loss goals at the beginning of this year and I even joined two challenges that cost me big bucks to enter.  I stopped all of those things too, weighing myself, counting calories, obsessing over whether or not my body was weighing less.  I found I was getting angry with my body and I was feeling crazy with my load as a wife and a mother.  Not a healthy place to be if you ask me!!!

For my sanities sake, I had to stop it all.  I had to re-prioritize my life.  I have visited with my doctors and I am healthy in all physical aspects, other than I am overweight.  Since my mental health was going to pot, I just had to stop it all.  For one whole month I didn’t go to the gym and I didn’t fret over the food I ate.

I maintained my weight for the most part, up until the past week or so where I have seen a gain.  Sigh…

During my time “off” I mostly just took a step back and began breathing again.  I was struggling with anxiety and it was getting worst with my weight loss efforts.  I would stress over things I did not have control over like sickness, and the moods of my children.  I would cry and feel stressed if I couldn’t get to the gym.  It was at a point of I needed to make a change, and I really didn’t want to let go of my goals I had set, but something big had to budge or I was not going to “get better” mentally.

I worried that my anxiety was beyond my control.  I was to the point I had made an appointment with my doctor to talk about options and possible medications.  But due to my doctor being out of town and a job change with insurance not starting up right away,  my appointment was a month out.  I decided before I got into see my doctor I would do every thing I could to get mentally healthy before I went to see her. 

Normally I think most of us would benefit from exercise mentally.  But it was not working for me, it was bringing more stress, especially because all of my efforts felt in vain because I was not losing any weight.  I was feeling more stress about trying to get to the gym, than was good for my soul and my body!

Along with my break from the diet world, I saw a counselor to see if I could sort some things out. My hopes were that I could gain some tools to help me deal with my anxiety so I wouldn’t have to turn to a medication route.

The other change that took place was birth control, I ran out of my prescription for the pill and I wouldn’t be able to re-fill until I had my doctor appointment.  So I went off.  I suspected that the hormones in the pill were partial factor in my anxiety (which has been a struggle for me the whole year I was on the pill).  I started feeling better and better with each day without the pill.  The hormones were messing me up!

Here are some of the things I learned from my:

“break from weight loss”

-Yes, the birth control pill makes me more moody and anxious.  Not a good way to live!

-Going to therapy was helpful and I was able to gain a better perspective and helpful tools for coping.

-Not working out, was a blessing for this time being.  I needed it! Backwards I know!

-You have to put what is most important first, even if it means you have to give up something you want really bad (I had big dreams of being down 60 lbs by June! Not gunna happen!!)

-When I eat lots of sugar I am more moody and it also brings on the anxiety.  Dang, I wish sugar wasn’t a factor cause for some crazy reason I like the stuff!

-When I am not exercising and eating healthy I have a hard time getting to sleep, and a  harder time getting up in the morning.  I missed my deep sleep and the ability to fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow!

-But most importantly I have once again learned how important it is to Trust in the Lord!

So here I am, ready to start making healthy choices once again. I didn’t think my break was going to be as long as it was, but I am grateful to say that I am a healthier person today, even if I still am fat! :)  I can think clearly again, and I am not emotionally volatile, like I was becoming a few months back.  I have gained back a great sense of sanity and I don’t live in an anxious hole of worry.  I am very grateful.

I hope all of you are hanging in there!  Please do not forget to take care of your mental health as well as your physical health.  They go hand in hand and if one is lacking greatly, you can not win!

 Have a beautiful week!

Amber

SCC Week Seven Update

Spring Chick Challenge (SCC) Week Seven Challenge Update:

1.       Commit to a NSV (non scale victory) to be assessed at the start and the conclusion of the challenge.   My size 14 jeans I currently wear will be loose and falling off!  I will be wearing a size 12!!

I feel like I am getting no where, but I am determined to keep moving along and attempting to move forward.  I did however have a NSV, My 14’s I wear most often are loose, and due to my body shape they fall off my rear when they are worn below my belly.  But due to the size of my belly right now they won’t stay on top of my tummy at all.  I really have needed to find a belt.  Last time I tried on my belts from my closet (which I have not been able to wear since having kids) I was disappointed that I couldn’t wear them.  Me and my stubbornness refused to go out and buy a larger size. 

Valentines I was going out on a date with the hubster and I decided to try on one of my belts.  I was able to wear it at the largest size.  It was a little tight, but it kept my pants in place while we were dancing.  I tried on a second belt and it fits even better!  So I am happy for this small step of progress!  It has helped lift my spirits a bit.

2.       Commit to a set of nutrition parameters and track via MyFitnessPal

o        I will aim for 1200/day and adjust according to my exercise  tracking via MyFitnessPal (add me as your friend—ambreee)

o        I will drink at least 64 oz of water a day.

Eating this week was not so great.  I didn’t track as often as I should have and I ate way too many goodies.  Today I am back on track with logging my food. I did great on water.  I figure if it is one small thing I can do for myself, I can chug my water!

3.       Commit to a set of exercise parameters. These can be as loose or as flexible as you feel work for your personality, schedule, etc.

o        I will exercise 4 times a week at least 45 minutes a session

My moodiness is improving, and this morning I was able to go the gym while my husband stayed home with the kids.  It was nice to get in a solid work out with cardio and weights.

4.       Commit to blogging at least twice weekly and 1 of those times must be you check in with a complete up date on your progress. All other blogs could include new insights, results of weekly challenges, or just letting others know how you are doing.

Check..

5.       Commit to support... both giving and receiving. Check others blogs and comment as you feel motivated to do. 

Check..

Week 7 Review

·                     How was the 7th week...?  Over all, week 7, was well… ho hum….  But I am slipping out of my slump, so that is good news.

·                     Did you remain sweets free...?  No!  I thought this weeks challenge was to eat with smaller plates and utincels??? I normally eat on small plates, I didn’t change this up, but could have ate on my kids plates.

·                     How were your workouts? The ones that I actually got in were great! Would have loved to work out more though!

·                     How was your water consumption?  Great

·                     What do you think of the mini challenges?   They are good to have. Thanks!

·                     What did you do for yourself that was fun? Dancing on Valentines Day with the hubs!!I

I finally got around to changing my profile picture!! Yeah for changing out my half- grin photo.  I hope you all have a great week.  I can already tell this week is going to be much better than the previous three!!!

Mommy Blues

Okay, vent session coming on…. Just trying to gain a better perspective of how I can accomplish my weight loss goals.

Right now my number one priority is to be a mom to my kids.  Each Sunday night as I lie in bed I get out a pad of paper and write down my goals for the next week.  Some times my list is full of “To Do’s”  other times it has great aspirations about calorie counting and future work outs.  It feels good to map out my week and slip into restful slumber.

Sometimes the restful slumber is awakened in the middle of the night by my children crying out, for one reason or another.  The most recent weeks have brought my teething 15 month old son, sad in painful tears throughout all hours.  My 2 ½ year old daughter has even contributed to the all night mommy parties.  Late last week she woke up at 2:30am, we brought her to our bed in hopes she would go back to sleep and we could get some rest.  3:15am it was apparent that she was not going to go back to sleep, so we trudged out to the living room so dad could get some rest.  She wanted to talk my ear off.  It is like her brain was processing so much and she was trying to process all she had taken in the previous day.  Sleep didn’t come until 5:30am, after her chatter, moving around getting into trouble I had had enough, I insisted she lie down and go to sleep.  After some fussing, she finally did fall asleep, and so did I.

So here I am exhausted day after day, just from my duties of being a mom/dealing with my children.  I did really well for many months at getting to the gym 4-5 times a week, the losing weight has been slow even on my best weeks with exercise and eating well, which is incredibly frustrating!!

I guess I am calling out to all moms who have been where I am at.  My intentions and goals are all well meaning in my weight loss, but honestly after getting sick two weeks ago I have really been struggling.  My daughter (who is behaviorally challenging) and my son (who is incredibly curious) take every ounce of energy I seem to have most days.  I aim high when I set my weekly goals and recently I am not able to follow through.  I am trying hard to not let it get to my head and get me even more discouraged.  What has worked for you?  How do you do the balancing act with young children?

Today I was determined to get to the gym. Our day started about 6:45am.  The gym childcare opens at 8:45am, closes between the hours of 1-4pm, then opens back up from 4-8pm.  My goal is to get there usually around 9:15.  My son was having a really rough morning, which halted all plans of leaving the house.  My sister-in-law called and asked if I could watch her youngest two kids while she took the older two to the dentist.  So that delayed any gym plans.  My son was still crabby and had I gone to they gym they would have called me out anyhow.  My sister-in-law offered to take my daughter to her house to play when she came to get her kids.  I was happy I would be getting a little break and she was happy to get to play with cousins.

I decided when I went to pick her up this afternoon I would hit the gym on my way back home when the childcare opened back up.  Since my daughter is used to going in the morning, the mix of changing things up and her being tired was the perfect recipe for disaster.  She cried and started throwing a fit before we even got out of the car.  My hopes were she would warm up and be happier once we got inside.  I should have just stopped there at the car door.  The trek across the parking lot and just getting into the door of the gym were filled with crying and screaming.  I had the attention of all the people working out, I even had two people get off their work out machine trying to come to the aid of my daughter when she threw herself in front of the door as it was swinging shut and she fell to the ground.  She tantrumed on the ground yelling, “Candy! Candy!”  I am sure the people were thinking, “Yes, and now we know how your mommy got fat!”

One of the gym workers who knows my children came over and helped us back to the kid room, the crying continued, now my son decided to join in.  I kneeled on the floor trying to compromise with my daughter to get happy and play.  It wasn’t working, not one bit.  My daughter just wasn’t going to calm down.  I decided we would get out of there before my son started back up.

As we were leaving the gym a man who I have never seen before ( I am normally a morning gym rat) said, “Time for her candy?”  I replied, “Oh no, no candy for her.  We were not here long enough for that.”  My daughter actually walked out the door as I held her brother.  Once we got outside the tantrum heated back up.  She wasn’t going to move a muscle.  I swooped her up with my other arm, trying to balance her brother and my two bags, I must have looked atrocious. This is my work out, every day.  Carrying children.  Some days that is all I can get.

So here I sit utterly exhausted reflecting, “How can I make goals that are reachable for this stage my children are in.” I know this time is only a season, but sometimes I want to have and do it all.  Realistically speaking, I can not. I am educated and should know how to deal with some of my situations with my daughter, for goodness sake I have degrees in special education and early childhood development!  Why can’t I balance it all??

I have a wonderful husband who is very helpful, but he can only do so much and recently he has had to work overtime so he has even more on his plate.

So here is the good news… (and possibly the bad news)

Tomorrow is a new day and I get to start fresh again!!

So mommas out there in blog land, how do you balance the juggling act?

SCC Week Four

Spring Chick Challenge (SCC) Week Four Challenge Update:

1.       Commit to a NSV (non scale victory) to be assessed at the start and the conclusion of the challenge.   My size 14 jeans I currently wear will be loose and falling off!  I will be wearing a size 12!!

I did some measurements over the weekend to see how I have done over the month of January.  I lost an inch on my waist, belly and hips.  I was happy there was a decrease, I had a rough week and was a bit discouraged.  I have to look at the positive side of things and keep trekking along.  Over the month I lost a total of 5 lbs.  I am now finally to my pre-holiday weight.  So it took the month of January to work off the months of November and December!

2.       Commit to a set of nutrition parameters and track via MyFitnessPal

o        I will aim for 1200/day and adjust according to my exercise  tracking via MyFitnessPal (add me as your friend—ambreee)

o        I will drink at least 64 oz of water a day.

o        For the month of January I am giving up sugary sweets!

They say that it takes 21 days to form a habit.  I made it 22 days with out candy, cookies and sweet baked goodies.  And I can honestly say I have not formed a new habit.  It is going to take more than 21 days for me.  Last week I was weak!!  Really weak, I folded and gave into cookie dough and candy.  I had a little bit nearly every day.

Giving up goodies cold turkey isn’t the best solution for me.  I think I do better if I allow myself to have goodies here and there and just make sure I track it to stay with in my allotted calories.

I was a bit disappointed that I haven’t lost more with my efforts.

3.       Commit to a set of exercise parameters. These can be as loose or as flexible as you feel work for your personality, schedule, etc.

o        I will exercise 4 times a week at least 45 minutes a session

This week I got in 4 workouts.  They probably averaged 45 minutes, some were longer, some were shorter.  I had great aspirations to make it to the gym.  It didn’t happen.  Both my kids are sick.  Started with coughs, then came the fevers, ear infections and now they are slowly on the mend.  Still sick though, I was really hoping to make it to the gym today!!! I guess I will be doing an at home work out once again!

With my kids being sick, I have had a terrible time keeping up with my personal wants and goals.  I am also struggling to feel well and am fighting off the germies!  I look forward to not giving up and continuing to move forward!!! 

This week for my new exercise I created a playlist on youtube of a beginning zumba work out.  I hope you guys all checked it out!

4.       Commit to blogging at least twice weekly and 1 of those times must be you check in with a complete up date on your progress. All other blogs could include new insights, results of weekly challenges, or just letting others know how you are doing.

Check!

5.       Commit to support... both giving and receiving. Check others blogs and comment as you feel motivated to do. 

Check!

Week 5’s Goals in addition to my goals above:

No Caffeine!!

This won't be a problem for me.  I don’t drink coffee, tea or soda.  I guess I need to come up with a mini goal for me this week that will actually be a challenge. 

How about take my vitamins every day this week!!!

I hope you are all doing well!!  Keep your heads held high and February will be a great month.  I am looking forward to winter winding down and spring right around the corner.

Have a great week!!

Size 12 Goal Pants...

Not the happiest looking picture of myself, but here are the size 12 pants I have chosen as goal pants to be able to fit into by March 19, the end of the Spring Chick Challenge.  As you can see I have many inches to loose around the middle.  Darn trouble spot!!!

Let’s Get Moving!

Weight Loss Goal Rewards..

I got in a little bit of a slump last year of not really caring about my weight loss anymore.  I am not sure what triggered it, but I decided to re-visit my rewards for weight loss.  I was rewarding myself every 10 pounds, and I decided I needed a little lift more often, so I have revised my list and changed my goal gifts to every 5 pounds now.

Here is my updated weight loss goal rewards:

Aspire…

Reach….

Work…..

209: Yesterday

199: hair trim

189: pedicure

184: Color Hair

179: Bedroom makeover

174: New piece of workout equip.

169: Weekend Road Trip

164: Hair Cut

159: Pedicure (down 50 lbs)

154: Family Pictures

149: New outfit

144: Energetic Body Wrap

139: New Book

134: Manicure

129: special vacation (down 80 lbs)

Happy 2012ing!

Brainstorming Goals for the New Year!

I am trying to figure out what to plan out for the next year.  I love making goals and planning ahead for the coming year.

So at the moment I am in brainstorm mode.  What do I want? Where would I like this year to go?  How do I want to pick up on my goals for the next year? 

I pretty much quit trying on the weight loss a month or so ago. I maintained my weight up until the week of Christmas.  I weighed myself on Christmas morning and then again the next morning, a five pound gain.  One day of gluttony out the window and five pounds more.  I will be able to work it off, I am down a couple today, but I have got some work to do!!!

As cliché as it is I am getting back in gear on Monday, when the New Year hits.  I took most of December off from logging food, exercising and being any sort of disciplined. The one good thing is I was a bit more aware how the food felt to my body as I ate it.  I was able to stop a little sooner than I might have previously. 

Did I over indulge a few days too much?  Yeah! Do I have a gray cloud of guilt and regret? No.  I choose to enjoy the holidays, there are some repercussions, but I am ready to make new goals and move forward.  Now if I can just decide if a challenge will be most helpful to me in my new journey for the next year!?!

What challenges are you going to be jumping into for the New Year??

Visual Motivation

I know many of you have things to keep you motivated.  Some of you have incentives, or visuals to remind you of your journey.  I decided that I would like to have a little reminder of where I am headed, and where I have been.

This is my little marble monitor. With each pound I lose I get to add a marble.  I have added lines for every 10 lbs.  I made this around a month ago and I haven’t been able to add any marbles.  I haven’t really lost any weight.  My efforts have slowed down and so has my loss.  I look forward to a full vase!

What are you doing to keep your motivation rolling?

Jeans: Picture Update

Picture Update:  Even though I haven’t lost much weight over the past two months (about 5 lbs), my clothes are fitting differently.  At the beginning of summer I found these jeans in a box of clothes (size 16).  I was thrilled mid-summer when I pulled them on and they fit.  They were a little snug at first but now they are super baggy, especially in the rear.

My one year old is always tugging on my pants.  He isn’t quite walking and his way of getting around is holding onto my legs and walking.  He has pulled my too big pants down several times.  Most of my pre-mom clothing is in the 10-12 range and right now I am about a size 14.  So I have got to work harder to get back into those clothes!!

I headed to a thrift sale a couple of weeks ago in search for some new jeans.  The local children’s clothing consignment store also sells juniors clothes as well. They were having a rocking $.50 sale so my quest was to find a pair or two that fit.  I found two pair, both jr’s size 13.  I knew if they didn’t fit, I would like to work towards them working out soon!  The first pair, (pictured below) is a bit on the tight side, but with a long shirt to cover my muffin top they are tolerable.  The second pair which I didn’t take a picture of actually fit pretty good.  I am grateful to have some new pants that are not constantly falling off.  A bit on the tight side, but we will keep working on that.

When it comes to my Christmas goal dress, I am afraid to try it on.  My belly was a half inch bigger when I measured last week.  My legs and lower part of me is getting smaller and my belly and chest are getting bigger!! Yikes, for what ever reason my body wants to think it is pregnant or something.  I am 97% sure I am not, there is always that 3% uncertainty lingering, especially because my tummy still looks it!  Uggg!

How are your clothes feeling these days?

My goals:

-Journal my meals

-Be under 165g of Carbohydrates/day (with fiber adjustment)

-Exercise 5 times a week for 45-60 minutes

-10 glasses of water a day

-Run/walk a 5K in under 40 minutes GOAL MET!

-Build a support network

-lose an average of 2 lbs/week, 24lbs total

Beginning Weight: 201.3

Week 1: 198.6 (-2.7)

Week 2: 198.6 (0) No change

Week 3: 196.9 (-1.7) Total loss 4.4 lbs

Week 4: 193.9 (-3) Total loss 7.4

Week 5: 193.2 (-.5) Total loss 8.1   

Week 6: 193.3 (+.1) Total loss 8.0   

Week 7: 190.3 (-3) Total loss 11.0

Week 8: 191.7 (+1.4) Total loss 9.6

Week 9: 189.4 (-2.3) Total loss 11.9

Week 10: 188.3 (-1.1) Total loss 13

Week 11: 189.7 (+1.4) Total loss 11.6

(20.3 loss since I began my journey in January)

This week I have a gain, but I am grateful it is only 1.4lbs.  Could be worse.  I am pretty sure it is water weight anyway.  I feel bloated.

I started last week gung ho and excited to be moving!  On Monday I started Jillian’s 30 Day Shred.  It was easier than I anticipated.  I also went to the gym so I can meet my 45-60 minute goal.  I got to day four of the shred and my body was beginning to crash.  By Thursday I felt completely exhausted and I knew if I didn’t listen to my body and slow down I would be in trouble.

I only got in four workouts.  I was bummed to break my perfect exercise streak this summer of getting in my five+ workouts a week. Especially since there is only one week of the challenge left! Saturday I crashed for three hours not long after getting out of bed that morning.  My body has been fighting a bug for several weeks now and it has all caught up with me. So the rest was welcomed and needed.

I am feeling better today after taking four days off.  I decided to modify my goals a little bit starting next week.  I still want to get in 5 workouts a week, but I am modifying the time so on days that I just want to do the 30 day shred, I will limit my workout to just that if I am feeling too exhausted.

Food: carb count with fiber adjustment

Monday: 191

Tuesday: 170

Wednesday:214

Thursday:243

Friday: 138

Saturday: didn’t track, but slept most of the day, didn’t eat much.

Sunday: didn’t track ,but not a terrible day

Wow! After running the numbers I am lucky I didn’t gain more than a pound. I was in the red pretty much all week.  I had pasta on Monday and Tuesday and it is nearly impossible to not go over on carbs with pasta.  Then Wednesday and Thursday between the two days I ate a whole bag of peanut M&M’s.  They were Easter M&M’s I had tucked away.  I figured I had waited long enough to eat them.  I just could have used better judgment and not eaten them all!!!  That could have been what topped off my exhaustion, sending me whirling into a sugar coma!!

This week I am going to have a week with no sweets or goodies.  I am still allowing my protein shakes and fruit, but I have got to cut back on the goodies (my kids animal crackers, a jelly belly here and there, cookies, etc.) I am hoping it will get me back on track!

To view my food diary, visit myfitnesspal.com. 

Profile name: ambreee

Water Intake:

Did fine on water this week.

For all of those participating in Slimmer this Summer, Kudos!!  Hope you have a great final week!

Getting Specific...

When I created this blog I thought I would use if for reflection and as a tool for me to overcome my love of sugar.  I haven’t done much of that, but decided to do a little reflectingo today.  Please bear with me.

Since life is busy with two little ones at home I have blogged at a minimum this summer.  I was so happy to find the Slimmer this Summer Challenge.  So my blogging for the most part has just been my weekly check in for the challenge.

Some days I have little conversations with myself, like today for instance.  I saw a picture of me from the 4^th of July and I still cringe.  Even though I am losing weight, I still to me feel like I have such a long way to go.  My highest ever prior to children was 170lbs.  I worked really hard to stay down in the 150-160 range.  I always wanted to be around 130-140, no matter how hard I tried I have had difficulty return below 150.  Right now I am at 188 and it still feels so far away.  Enough of the pity party…. Moving on.

Like I have a dozen times (and probably will a few dozen more).  I have decided to buckle down even more.  I have goals and rewards for each ten pounds lost, but I decided I need to be even more specific. I was a special education teacher, prior to becoming a stay at home mom.  Something that I dealt with on a daily basis was goals.  It was drilled in my brain over and over how to write a “proper” goal.  It must be specific, measureable, attainable, action oriented, result oriented, and given a time frame.  Some people use the acronym SMAART.  But in the classroom our goals looked more like this:

IEP Goal/Objective Example:

From a baseline of  ___, the student will....

• perform a specific skill
• a specified number of times
• under specified conditions
• at a specified level of achievement
• for a specific length of time.

So how does that apply on my weigh loss journey today??? That is what I am trying to figure out.  I knew going into this summer challenge that losing 2lbs a week was attainable, but given my love of sweet things, and how I choose to conduct myself, it really isn’t happening.  An average of a pound a week is really more realistic with my sweet lifestyle.

So I turned to the numbers (Why does my brain have to be obsessed about numbers???).  I will be 34 years old in the first week of March.  That is 29 weeks from now.  Somewhere in my head I got the idea of getting down to 134lbs by my 34^th Birthday.  So as of today I would need to lose 54lbs in 29 weeks. 1.86lbs a week, so basically 2lbs a week.

Since the beginning of this challenge I have only lost 13lbs in 10 weeks.  So my average is running at 1.3lbs a week.  If I continue at this rate I will have lost 37.7lbs by my Birthday week.  Heck lets round it up to 38lbs, to make it a round 150lbs.  That would be great still, but not my 134 by 34.

I know I can lose an average of 2lbs a week, I just would have to give up sweets, or at least some sweets.  If any of you have ever glanced at my food diary at MFP, you will notice I have not given up all things sweet like many of you.  I eat something of a sweet nature every day. I know if I gave up even half of my sweets I would lose more rapidly.  For goodness sake.  I workout 5-6 times a week for 40-60 minutes.  I do this so I can eat sweets and still lose at a slow rate.  Hence my addiction to sugary goodness.

So here I am brainstorming at to how committed I am to getting down to 134 by 34.  Cutting back on all things sweet, is the key to kick things into gear.  I hesitate for two reasons.  1. I have done it before and I do lose more quickly.  When I go back to eating sweet things I gain so fast it isn’t even funny. Right now in my life I am not willing to give it up for good.  2.  I love sugary goodness!

My thoughts were to keep sweet things here and there and work hard on my workouts and lose at a slow pace.  I was hoping the slow pace would be closer to 2lbs a week.  So here I go again.  I am going to re-commit.  I am going to write a specific, measureable goal in hopes that I can pin this one!

Here we go:

By March 6^th 2012 I will weigh 134lbs.  This will be achieved by tracking my calories and carbs on MFP aiming for 1500 calories and under 165 grams of carbohydrates/day taking into account my fiber adjustments and eating my exercise calories if I choose to do so.  I will also work out 5 times a week for 40-60 minutes each session.  I will also be able to run a 10 minute mile with ease.

Benchmarks:

Lose 18lbs by Halloween: 170lbs

Lose 33lbs by Christmas: 155lbs

Lose 54lbs by Birthday: 134lbs

I guess I already did this when I wrote my original goals on my sidebar.  I just needed to add dates to clarify my vision.

I feel like I need to add something about sugar, but I am not sure what I am willing to commit to at this point.  I am thinking about going strict no sugary sweets every other week.  Maybe that will trick my system and I will be able to enjoy sweets occasionally and boost my weight loss.  I think I will give it a try and reevaluate in a month or so.

So feedback time:

How have you given up your favorite things/habits/addictions?  What works for you?

Thanks for being so awesome and supportive!

Week 10: Slimmer This Summer

My goals:

-Journal my meals

-Be under 165g of Carbohydrates/day (with fiber adjustment)

-Exercise 5 times a week for 45-60 minutes

-10 glasses of water a day

-Run/walk a 5K in under 40 minutes GOAL MET!

-Build a support network

-lose an average of 2 lbs/week, 24lbs total

Beginning Weight: 201.3

Week 1: 198.6 (-2.7)

Week 2: 198.6 (0) No change

Week 3: 196.9 (-1.7) Total loss 4.4 lbs

Week 4: 193.9 (-3) Total loss 7.4

Week 5: 193.2 (-.5) Total loss 8.1   

Week 6: 193.3 (+.1) Total loss 8.0   

Week 7: 190.3 (-3) Total loss 11.0

Week 8: 191.7 (+1.4) Total loss 9.6

Week 9: 189.4 (-2.3) Total loss 11.9

Week 10: 188.3 (-1.1) Total loss 13

(21.7 loss since I began my journey in January)

Since I met my last mini-goal, I indulged in my reward of a pedicure.  It was wonderful.  I sat back and relaxed. A rare treat in my life.

My mother-in-law went with me, as my father-in-law and sister-in-law watched the kiddos.  The salon we went to was in a nearby town.  The town was once all farmland, now it has turned into yuppyville on the outskirts of Boise.  I guess I can’t talk it down too much, after all it is where my in-laws live.

It is not very often that I get out and pamper myself.  I know there are some people out there that are good about making time to give themselves a little bit of a boost.  Something I should do more often.  Even if it is soaking and painting my own toes at home.

I had to chuckle and raise my eyebrows when I overheard this woman come in.  She was loud and made sure every one knew about her chipped toe nail.  She had a design painted on her large toe nail and when she noticed her chipped toe nail, she made a special trip just to get the toe nail trimmed and the design fixed.  She was a little over the top, but offered me entertainment as I sat and observed her bizarre behavior.  Alas, I was in yuppy-ville.

Food:

Monday: 169 carbs -28 fiber adjustment 141

Tuesday:193 carbs -54 fiber adjustment 139

Wednesday:158carbs –45 fiber adjustment 113

Thursday: Didn’t Track but wasn’t a terrible day

Friday: 212 carbs –42 fiber adjustment 170

Saturday:208 carbs -35 fiber adjustment 173

Sunday:175 carbs -13 fiber adjustment 162

To view my food diary, visit myfitnesspal.com. 

Profile name: ambreee

Exercise:

Still 100% with exercise. Whew!!

Over the weekend I purchased Jillian’s 30 Day Shred.  Yes, I am joining the bandwagon.  I have seen so many out there giving this a try with great success.  I could use mixing up my routine a bit.  The workouts are only 20 minutes, so I most likely will still be going to the gym to meet my goal of working out 45-60 min. 5 days a week.  I am not sure if I will be doing it early before the kids are out of bed, or in the evening.  Somehow??? I don’t know how I am going to work it in. This morning the kids were up for the day at 6am.  I am not a morning person, and I am not getting up earlier than that!  I hope to get a schedule worked out and do this for 30 days straight (minus Sunday, I don’t work out on Sundays. So we will see how it goes 34 days from now.  Wish me luck! I am a bit scared to face Jillian on a daily basis!

Water Intake:

Did good on water this week.

Measurements:

Weight	201.3	188.3	13
Neck	13.5	13.25	.25
Chest	43.5	41.5	2
Ribs	39	36.5	2.5
Waist	41	40.5	.5
Belly	46	44.5	1.5
Hips	45.5	44	1.5
Calf	16	15.5	.5
Arm	15	14.25	.75
	6/6/11 Start Measurements	8/15/11 Current	Difference

Hope all of you have a great week!