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?