My Odd Dilemma

 I have been struggling with what may or may not be a strange dilemma. I want to lose weight. I hate the way I look in pictures, and I am close to the largest I have ever been. I have a plan to once again start the 75 Medium challenge after I get back from my trip for graduation. (Chad will be starting the 75 Hard challenge again, but I don't think my body can take two 45 minutes workouts a day right now.) It would be wonderful to prove to myself that I can take control of my eating and exercise habits, and my hope is that it would be something I can keep up with for years to come. (The past has proven otherwise, but I would like to give this a try.)

So what is my dilemma? I just bought a few new dresses and stuff for the cruise I went on a week ago. I like these dresses and want to still be able to wear them. One of the dresses is already a bit too big and needs to be slightly altered on top. If I start losing weight, will I have to completely give up this dress that I just bought and like. The other dress is more like a t-shirt dress, so I will probably still be able to wear it if it is too big at least as a swimsuit cover up or pajamas. Some of the other clothes that I bought would have to be replaced. This has been a reason for me to sabotage my efforts to lose weight in the past. 

Even though these are the thoughts that are in my head as I think about doing this challenge, I will try it. I have about 4 weeks to try to rid myself of these self-sabotaging thoughts, and I will do my best to do so. 

BurpeeGirl Workouts

 

When looking for a low impact workout on YouTube, I found BurpeeGirl. After one workout, I liked it so much that I subscribed to her channel and now do one of her workouts at least once a week. Last night, I did a metabolic boost with her. It was the hardest workout I have done in a long time and felt great. I was grunting, sweating, and working hard. As I become more consistent in my workouts, I am hoping to workout with her videos more often and hoping to find more that make me sweat as much as I did last night. I will reach my goal weight this year. I am hoping she helps take me there. 

100 Day Challenge

I saw this video today of a lady who went to the gym for 100 days. I can't really pay the money to join a gym right now, but I do have some X-Box and Wii programs as well as a lot of videos I can do. I am going to try the 100 day challenge. I am going to work out for 100 days. It is a new year. I need a new start!

Time to Get Serious

I feel like I am not serious enough about reaching my running and weight loss goals. I am changing that. I am going to reach my goals. 

 

Hubby and I have officially signed up for the Color Me Rad 5K. We have been doing the Zombies Run! app, but I am not sure that I will actually be ready to run 5K by race day, August 17. I am going to finish the training app in the next 2 weeks, but I am also going to do more. I really want to be ready for this.

For my birthday, my brother-in-law gave me a Fitbit Flex. The Fitbit will help me track my steps, distance, sleep cycle, calories in, and calories out. I have been playing with it since I got it. It is so easy to use! This tool should help me with my goals of running a 5K and losing weight.

Great Morning

 

This morning I pushed myself harder than I ever have. I was stinkier and sweatier than I have been in a long time. I went 4.7 km during my 5K training this morning. That is the furthest distance that I have accomplished. I also achieved my fastest pace. It felt awesome! Now that I know I can do it, I want to do it again. I think I may be able to go back to running every other day again instead of waiting two or three days between runs. I can't even describe how happy that makes me.
After I got back from my 5K training, I decided to weigh myself. I lost more weight!

Getting Better

I have been icing my legs at least once a day. I slept with them elevated one night (I read that it may help on WebMd). I stretch my legs at random times throughout the day. I massage my aching muscles when I think about it. I am giving myself two days between runs instead of one. What do I get for all of this...I am finally starting to feel better! I can't even tell you how relieved I am that my legs are hurting less and less. I even lost about half a pound during this struggle. This has definitely been a lesson in patience and listening to my body that I don't want to have to learn again!

More Energy, Less Weight

I am doing better than I had expected. I have more energy, I am getting faster, and I weigh less. Who could ask for more?
I was really worried that when going without caffeine, I would struggle with having the energy to get though the work day. I did struggle for the first few days but once I got past the first 4 or 5 days, it got easier. Yesterday, I went to Villiage Inn with my husband, and I ordered lemonade instead of my favorite, Dr. Pepper. I was so proud of myself.
I have completed the first week of my Zombie runs. I was shocked to see that I was actually getting faster even though I felt like I was taking it a bit too easy. The work outs will be a little tougher this week. I actually and excited to find out my next adventure.
Weight has been a struggle for me for quite a while. I have gained almost as much weight in the last year than I did my last two pregnancies combined. I am happy to say, I am breaking that trend. I am down one more pound this week making my total for two weeks four pounds of weight loss. It feels great! I am out of the 190's, and I am excited to see how low I can go this week.

Slacking

                                         
Quite obviously I have been slacking on my goals. I have gained so much weight in the past few months that I now am less than 10 pounds from the weight I was at my last doctor visit before I had my youngest child (my biggest baby). I need to make some changes. I know that. It is just so hard to stay on track and not let something else slip in the process.
In the last few weeks I have been eating Adkins bars for lunch and drinking slim fast for breakfast. Last week it seemed to have helped. This week, not so much.
A few months ago, my husband and I got an exercise bike at a thrift store for 15.00. I have used it a few times, but not as much as I had planned. I am going to get better. I have to. I can't stand being this big. I am uncomfortable when I sit down. I have less energy. I have more heart burn. It just sucks. I need to learn balance so that I can do everything that I need to for my family as well as myself.

Just Wanna Cry

When I got on the scale yesterday morning, I had gained weight again. I evaluated how my week had gone and realized it was definitely my fault. Obviously I didn't do well at my goals this week.  I did get the fiber most days. That definitely helped where I needed it. I did horrible at the no soda thing, and I only got any kind of exercise with my Saturday and Sunday morning walks with Chad and the dogs. I have a bit better of a plan for this week, though.

As of yesterday, I am going caffeine/soda free. Yesterday was rough, again. Today was slightly better. Luckily, I was able to take naps both days. I will not be so lucky tomorrow, so we shall see how it goes.

As of today, I am not going out to eat. My goal is to make it though this pay period with only eating food made in someone's home. This one will be kind of hard too since I often forget to make my lunch, but I can do it. I know I can.

Since Chad starts his new job tomorrow, I am going to start getting up when he leaves to work out. Nothing huge. I have a Pilates video that I liked in the past. I am thinking and hoping that it will be a good start to my mornings.

I am also going to try to get more water in me. I will be drinking at least 4 cups a day of plain water. This will be a bit tricky for me because even during the week and a half that I was doing well at not drinking soda, I drank Tang most of the time. This will be another big change.

Good News/Bad News

This week was good and bad. On the good side, I have exercised 5 times this week. On the not so good side, I have gained 2 pounds. Now the question is, do I let the bad get me down or focus on the good and run with it?
Chad and I have been trying to implement one change at a time to our diet and routines. We have done some good things so far. I took me three weeks to get into a better routine that could include exercise, and I know it will be a continued struggle, but I am glad that surpassed my exercise goal this week. As far as the diet part goes, we have decided that we will have at least one fruit or veggie with dinner every night. Since he works a lot of nights, this will mean he has the left overs the next day. I may have left overs for lunch the next day too. That way I don't have to run around and throw random crap together and hope that it will work for lunch. I am hoping that it won't take me as long to implement this change as it has been taking to implement an exercise routine. I am also hoping that by filling up a bit on veggies, I will not be putting as many calories in my system.

Not What I Expected

So far, since I decided I would do this work out jar, I have done four work outs. I took the dogs for walks twice last week, and this week I have done a work out on the Xbox last night and tonight. I haven't even filled the bottom of my jar yet. This is going to be a lot harder than I expected.
The good news is that, for the most part, the exercise is rewarding. It was nice to go walking around the neighborhood and spend time with my husband so that we can pretend we know each other again (he has been working a lot of nights lately). He had an Xbox before we got married and showed me a game for working out he thought I would like. By golly, he was right (someone gets brownie points for knowing his wife)! The only complaint I have is that the darn thing thinks that I am actually fit already. When it told me I could squat lower tonight, I yelled at it. I told it that it knew I was fat and knew I chose the light beginner work outs. It didn't seem to care. It just kept telling me I could squat lower. Geez. I guess I better keep working on that. When I felt like giving up, I just reminded myself of the number I saw on the scale this morning and how disappointed I was that I had gained so much weight back in the last few months.
I know the workouts will start to get easier as I get stronger, and I will get slimmer as I do them. I need to get healthier so I can have a long life with my kids and husband. I have a goal weight in my head for the end of the week. I will get there if it kills me (it probably won't, but you never know)!

Trying it Again

I have been trying to change things a little bit at a time to lose weight. Most of the changes that I have made so far with my diet have been forced by my budget.( I have cut out fast food and most soda.) I lost one pound this week (I know that isn't much, but I will take it). I am hoping as I make more changes I will get more motivation and lose more weight.
Last year I starting a jar to motivate myself to exercise. I would put a macaroni noodle in the jar for every 5 minutes of exercise. The idea was that when the jar got full I would have a party. It was motivating until I accidentally knocked over the jar and spilled most of the macaroni. I was going to have to do all of that work again. I felt so discouraged that I just stopped working out and put up the jar.
I am going to start the jar back up again. I don't think I have the same jar anymore, but I have some empty jars. I am going to use a smaller jar. That way I can get motivation by seeing the jar actually fill up. When the jar is full, I am going to have a social gathering of some sort (most likely a healthy potluck dinner) at my house. I want to have at least 3 parties/dinners at my house by the time I get to my goal weight.

Need. Motivation. Today.

So the first half of the week is gone. I have not gotten any exercise in yet. I am trying to motivate myself. I went to bed last night determined to wake up a half hour early and walk the dogs. Of course that meant that my oldest child had a nightmare and the puppy needed water right after that. I was up for about an hour in the middle of the night. Needless to say, I needed that half hour. I reset my alarm and went back to sleep and was still dragging myself out of bed. Needless to say, it is Wednesday and I have yet to get any exercise in. I will have to get something in tomorrow. I will get 3 days in by Sunday. I now have a deal going on with a friend. If I don't get at least 3 days done this week, I will be doing an act of service for her. As much as she deserves it, I would rather it be the other way around (just because that makes me the winner).