The Good & The Bad.

Well, I have good news & I have bad news. The bad news is that I haven't had any real exercise since Tuesday. I let myself get too busy with preps for the holiday on Wednesday & Thursday just didn't seem to leave any time either. This morning we woke up to our living room tv being dead, which only leaves the small one in the sunroom & the tiny one in the girls' playroom. I could do my workout in the sunroom if I moved the furniture around, but I guess I feel a little guilty taking the only area that you can sit & watch tv for an entire hour from my husband - who, by the way, still has his kidney stone. Oh well, enough excuses - I will do my best to make time to get some exercise in this weekend & make up for lost time. We were supposed to go out of town this weekend, but it looks like we won't make it now (unless by some miracle my hubby passes this stone by early tomorrow morning), but it will allow us to get the outside holiday decor put up & hopefully I'll be able to pull some make-up time on the exercise.

Now, on to the good news. I did NOT eat until I was sick yesterday. I ate an ample plate, more than I should have, but not as much as I could have. I also stuck to the plan & only had one piece of dessert. I had a standard slice of chess pie. Yes, it was way more calories than I should have eaten, but way less than I typically indulge in during Thanksgiving. Well, I'm off to bed - hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Time To Face the Music

Well, I've been off track for the last few days. We had made smores at our fire pit in the back yard on Saturday night & that probably wouldn't have been a big deal except that Brock woke up at 4am Sunday morning needing to go to the ER with kidney stones - AGAIN. He spent 2 days in the hospital & I sat there beside him sitting, drinking diet soda & eating whatever crap they might have at the hospital. Needless to say, I'm up 1.5lbs this week. That being said, all is not lost, I'm still down a lot of weight overall & today, I got back on track with Zumba class. I hope I can hold my own with class not meeting anymore this week & Thanksgiving get togethers. I will be trying - HARD. Well, I wish you all a very happy & healthy Thanksgiving.

Nothing New.

Nothing new to report. I went to Zumba last night & this morning. Lisa did add some "new" dances to the routine. Well, new to me - apparently she reintroduced some dances they used to do on a regular basis. I enjoyed the change up, but I like the usual stuff too. This Saturday & next Tuesday morning are the last opportunities for Zumba before Thanksgiving. Guess I will have to break out my Zumba dvd quite a bit over the holiday week. The rec center closes early Wed & is closed all day Thursday. Since I will be out of pocket Saturday & Sunday I guess that means lots of dvd time. The key is to make sure that I keep the exercise up.

I do have a game plan concerning Thanksgiving & the get together we'll be attending on Saturday. My plan is to eat whatever I want, just not to the point that I'm physically uncomfortable (like usual). The other part of the game plan is concerning dessert - my weakness. Ok, I'll be the first to admit it, I normally eat a plate of dessert that is nearly as big (if not bigger) than my dinner plate. I always get a "taste" (translates to portion) of everything I want to try (translates to all the stuff I got last year + any new ones that look good). Of course, I'm always going to "share" (translates to give them one bite of each item) with the kids. This year, I know skipping dessert is probably not going to happen, but I will choose what I like best & have one portion (normal size) & that's it. Of course, I'll be doing that dvd when my Zumba class isn't meeting. Wish me luck!!

WOO HOO!!!

So today is my weigh-in day for the challenge & I had forgotten that this week also included measurements (they take them, week 1, 5, & 8). I'm so excited. I've lost 3.5 inches from my hips, 1.5 inches from my chest, & 1 inch from my thighs. I lost 1/4 inch from my neck, just under my chest & waist at my belly button. I did gain 1/2 inch in my calf, but I KNOW that is muscle from the Zumba. I also gained 1/2 inch in my arm, but when we measured during week 1, I had on a short sleeve shirt & my arm was by my side, this time I had on a long sleeve shirt & my arm was kinda out because of the extra material from the shirt. I'm so happy with my results so far. All of this & 9.5 of the pounds I've lost in 4 weeks - YIPEE!!

Steadily Moving

Hooray!! I'm down another 2lbs! I looked back today to see when I started all of this business & the journey began for me around Sept. 22 - this means that I've lost 17.5lbs in just under 2 months. I'm really excited & I know if I could just get my eating under control, who knows what kind of results I might see. So far, what is driving the loss is exercise. I think that's why it's working for me. When I have tried to lose weight in the past, I have focused on food. The problem with that for me is that I'm a little obsessive/compulsive when it comes to food (& probably a few other things - lol). When I go on some plan that outlaws specific foods, I'm just not very successful for more than about 2 weeks. Based on what all of you are telling me, good old fashioned calorie counting seems to work pretty well. I'm not much on researching all the foods that I'm wanting to eat - so I'm going to consider doing the WW thing, since the points seem like they'd be easier to keep up with, but I haven't made up my mind yet, so don't flog me if next week I decide to try something else - lol. I did purchase (from ebay) a beginner & advanced Zumba dvd for the days that our class doesn't meet at the rec. I have only tried the beginner tape so far. It's not nearly as hard of a work out as what we do in class, but it's a good option for me when we don't have the class. Brock even did it with me Friday night, which shows the great amount of support he is giving me because he doesn't really like to dance. Well, I've got tons of errands to get done today, so I'm out. Have a great week everyone!!

Just Thursday.

I don't have much to say today, no amazing news or anything. I did go to Zumba class both last night & today. I will say that last night was the toughest the class has ever been. I don't know if it was because it was hot due to so many people or what. I guess I also hung in there a little more instead of modifying when I needed to because there were people I knew, but don't necessarily hang out with, so I was more self concious, especially since once again, I was the biggest in class. Hey, that's ok - these people will be amazed at my transformation before their eyes if they will just keep coming.

I still am not following any food plan & would like any suggestions from you guys out there in blogland. I'm not a real fan or extremely rigid plans, but I need something to follow & just haven't really seen anything (nor have a looked very hard yet) that I love. Since most of you have probably had some experience with a plan I haven't tried before - I'd love to hear from you. Thanks in advance for your help!!

Date With Zumba.

I've got a date with Zumba class tonight. My wonderful husband is watching the girls so that I don't have to drag them to the rec center & take up spots in childcare that others might need. This will be the first time I've taken the class on a week night, so a little out of my comfort zone in terms of not knowing who else will be in the class. I know that's silly to worry about stuff like that, but I do. Hopefully here in a few months it won't bother me so much. Well, I've got to try to get the house cleaned back up before Brock gets home - that burns calories, right?

Slow But Sure.

Slowly but surely, the weight keeps coming off. I down another 2lbs this morning. I realize that this is all exercise, because my eating hasn't been great. I think I need to try to kick the eating into high gear now. I have 5 more weeks in the local challenge & I really need to turn up the heat if I want to be in the top 10 or so people. Well, we've got a lot of little jobs to get done today - so I'm out. Have a great Monday!!

I LOVE ZUMBA!!

It just gets to be more & more fun every time. Maybe because I am finally not totally lost on what we are going to do for several songs. I still get a killer workout - I sweat like you wouldn't believe. I'm also feeling soreness in my legs, so I know I'm working those muscles too. I got my mom, & two other friends to go this morning. Our class was pretty full. I already take the class on Tues/Thurs morning, but found that they have a Wednesday night class in addition to the 2nd/4th Saturday schedule. I'm going to try going to the night class this week. Maybe if we keep having such great attendence, they will add more to the schedule - I hope so. So I think my new schedule this week will be: Mon-some sort of weight training or do the Power 90 tapes, Tues/Wed/Thurs-Zumba, Fri-some sort of weight training or Power 90 again. Saturday this week won't offer Zumba, but I will try to get a walk or something in & take Sunday for rest. I didn't work out Mon or Fri this week, so I really need to make a point to do something tomorrow. That way I can max my points for my team in the local challenge. Well, I've got to take Alyssa to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese today, so I gotta run. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Happy Thursday!

I don't have a lot to say today, but I did make class both yesterday & this morning. Yesterday, Joyce absolutely killed my legs in class. I've never done so many squats & during Zumba this morning, I could tell. I'm walking around the house like a little old lady - lol. Well, as they say, no pain, no gain. Hope everyone is having a great day. It's a warm beautiful day here in Tennessee. I have my windows open enjoying the fresh air. Well, I gotta run & pick up my big girl from school.

Coming Out of the Fog

I feel so much better today. I made it to Zumba today - it is sooooo much better than trying to do a tape. I just don't feel motivated or work nearly as hard when I'm trying to do a tape all on my own. My eating still wasn't great yesterday - I told Brock to take the Halloween candy out of the house. It is a trigger for me & I just can't have it in the house. We tried putting it on the top shelf of the pantry, so I would have to get a stool to get to it, but it didn't stop me from grabbing a couple of pieces every few hours. Halloween candy is so bad for me because the pieces are small & don't seem like much, but reality is that if you eat 3-5 then you just had a full size candy bar.

I don't know that I've addressed this on the blog any so far, but I might as well come clean & tell it like it is. After all, that's why I started this blog - to be honest in my journey to becoming healthy. I have an addiction - to food. For those who have never suffered from this, you will not understand what I'm telling you. My husband, bless his heart, tries to understand - but will admit to me that he just can't imagine what it must be like. He does, however, agree totally that it is something that is chemical with me & I cannot control the addiction. What I can control is, putting myself in situations that I know trigger binges. This is something that I've struggled with since high school. I actually went through a really bad time with it around my junior year & bought & hid food & when my parents, who were into country-western dancing at the time, would leave to go out on a Friday night - I would choose to stay home rather than going out with friends & binge. After the binge, I always felt ashamed & proceeded out to the big outside garbage can with any "evidence" of it & disposed of it carefully so that no one would notice when they took out other trash. There are certain foods that are considered "bad" that I can have around me & have no problem, but others are just off limits. Halloween or small individually wrapped candies are one of my triggers, along with mini powdered donuts, brownies, & cheese bread. These are just a few of the major problem-causers for me. Well anyway, the candy is out of the house & I'm starting to come out of the fog.

On a good note, I was down 1.5 lbs on the local challenge today (my weight was up a little when I weighed last week due to water). I am down 1/2 lb today compared to yesterday's steady hold - I won't officially count anything till next week since I'm such a fluctuater. Thanks to all of you who read this & support me daily. I truly appreciate you!! Have a great day!!

Climbing Back On the Horse

I have been terrible all weekend long. Between the rushing around to trick or treat on Friday, the 2 birthday parties on Saturday, & all the stinking Halloween candy in the house - I've eaten nothing but crap for the last 3 days. I think my kids must have gotten 5lbs of candy Friday night, but they sure looked cute & had a good time. I skipped out on working out on Friday because my knee was so swollen & hurting. Ok, now that I've fessed up to all the bad stuff I've done it's time to yell, "do over" and start again. On a good note, I didn't gain when I weighed this morning. I'm holding steady where I was last week & I'm happy with that because I've not eaten very well. The plan today is to do the Dancing with the Stars workout dvd that my mom got - I didn't think my knee would be ready for Joyce's step class today. I will also get to Zumba tomorrow & plan to do my usual workouts Tues-Fri this week. Well, guess I better go & get motivated to do some aerobic dancing.