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monday morning will be here soon!

  • Posted on March 7, 2010 at 1:28 pm

I have another song to get me started for this Monday…

Fleetwood Mac: Monday Morning

Go ahead!! Click the link and listen to the song!! Ya know ya want to!!

A Change will do you good:

This past week was very interesting! I decided to quit Weight Watchers. I have loved my meetings and I have learned so much but I am starting to waver with why I am at those meetings!! I have also been having a lot of guilty feelings. I have been feeling guilty about what I am eating, guilty about counting & not counting all my points, guilty about spending the money on WW!

I hit the cancel button! I canceled my WW account. As of April 1 I will no longer be a WWer. I feel oddly relieved about this.

Wednesday will be my new weigh-in day! I chose Wednesdays so that I can be in sync with Shrinking Jeans since I LOVE their challenges!! I weighed in at 192.4 for a 2 pound loss this week. I am just recording  the number and moving on. My success is not and WILL NOT be determined solely based on the number on the scale.

I am still training to run a 5K! I have completed week 2 of the Couch to 5K training! I actually LOVE slogging!! I call it slogging ~~ Slow jogging/walking is totally the way for me!! Here comes week 3!! I love challenging myself and this is the way to go! The kid is super happy about my running ventures. She is going to slog with me on days we can hit the school track. I am going to sign up for a 5K at the end of the training and when I can run 3 miles + I have decided to sign up for the Warrior Dash in Maryland in October.  This race looks like so much fun!! I am in training!!

I also finished Week 2 of the Bob Greene 8 Week Total Body Makeover. I love these workouts! They are short but powerful! I feel like I am getting stronger. I have been trying to break into strength training. I want to strength train and I know how good it will be for me but I am so clueless! I love simple workouts at home and this one fits the bill!!

I am revamping my food plan this week. I am cutting out more processed food and concentrating on whole grains and lean proteins and LOTS of fruits and veg! I am aiming for Monday – Friday to be awesome food days (now white flour, no sugar and lots of the good stuff)! This gives me the weekend to let loose a little but still make good choices. This will also allow me to eat without feeling guilty. I can record what I eat without worrying about a certain # of points.

Slogger training has made me hungrier than usual and I want to feed my body so that I can continue to make progress.  I feel like this eating “plan” I am working on will be better for me! I will be eating all the right foods, or clean,  80-90% of the time and I think this will allow me to break my guilty feelings about food.  I will be posting about this more often! I have not blogged about my food feelings very much because I am just now realizing I have feelings about food! I will come back to this topic.

NON SCALE VICTORY:

Yesterday, I put on a thumb ring that I have not been able to wear in at least 6 years! It is not tight either!! It fits perfectly!!

This week, I am going to ROCK week 3 of the Couch to 5K and week 3 of Bob Greene!

This week, I am going to eat so many veggies I may turn green! LOL!

This week, I am going to plan and prep for each day the night before (just like I make my daughter do before bed)!

This week, I am going to enjoy my life!!

How will you enjoy your week?

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wordless wednesday:

  • Posted on March 3, 2010 at 6:41 pm

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teary trip to doctor

  • Posted on February 8, 2010 at 10:02 pm

I have been sick, as you may know. Nothing serious just a stupid cold! That would not go away! My ear started bugging me so I went to see the doctor. Doc prescribed an antibiotic for lingering respiratory infection (that stupid cold that wouldn’t go away was really a respiratory infection) and cream for my ear rash thing.

I paid special attention to my blood pressure and it was awesome, 126 over 72. I asked when my last blood work was done – September 2008. The Shrinking Jeans Sisters have me thinking about all these things and when doc came in I asked if we could schedule blood work just to have numbers and he thought it was a great idea. I even asked for a printout of my weight over the years. I wanted to see where I really started.

I looked at the numbers and the dates. I am going to list them here.

2.8.03: 202

8.20.03: 189: worked 2nd job as waitress all summer long.

10.2.03: 198: no longer waiting tables, back in college. Started dating Big Man right around this time

11.20.03: 210:; 2 weeks later I will be engaged!

2.28.04: 228: Moved in with Big Man couple of weeks prior.

5.13.04: 227

10.5.04: 230

1.3.05: 234

4.9.05: 230

5.26.05: 233

6.23.05: 236

8.19.05: 237

12.5.05: 242

2.27.06: 243

3.13.06: 243

8.3.06: 231

12.29.06: 235

7.3.07: 235: got married and graduated college 2 months prior

8.22.07: 235

10.12.07: 239: prescribed Chantix to quit smoking!

12.11.07: 246

1.26.08: 250: I quit smoking but gained some weight!

3.15.08: 244

6.13.08: 244

11.14.08: 242: joined Weight Watchers one week prior.

6.17.09: 210

2.4.10: 197

Seeing the number saddened me! Somehow I forgot all about hitting 250. I mean, seriously! I was looking through the printouts and my jaw dropped when I read that spot. It was 3 months after quitting smoking. I smoked for 15 years. Please don’t lecture! I quit! October 23, 2007 was the last day I had a cigarette. I am super proud of myself for quitting. So, I am torn! Part of me is sad about 250 but on the same hand, I quit smoking! aaah! I will not dwell on that for too long.

The doctor’s scale says 197, which is up from my last WW meeting but I did go to doc right after eating lunch and I knew I was up a bit but not that much. Who the hell knows! Scales suck and I am not really stressing which one is right and what not. I will go by my WW meeting scale for the most part. And really, the scale is not the only tool I am using! I will take measurements this weekend.

But, according to the doctor’s scale I have dropped 53 pounds from my highest weight approximately 2 years ago.

Freaking amazing! I totally teared up sitting in the room reading my weight and reliving the whole up and down. Certain dates  I made notes on for significant ups or downs.

I feel a bit silly but I did get all teary. Certain dates are so important. The day I went to doc to ask about Chantix. The visit when I doc called me a non-smoker. I could go on!

Today is Monday and I have not worked out in over a week. I may have used being sick as an excuse, not at first but definitely during the snow storm. I feel better and I actually was super productive today. School was closed for a SNOW day and I cleaned my house and did laundry like a mad woman! I did not work out but seriously, I could not workout with the house as cluttered as it was. I will post about the de-cluttering mission later this week. I am totally an ADD case, not officially diagnosed but I swear I have the attention span of a gnat sometimes! I can live with some messes but sometimes it is too messy for me to do anything but straighten it all!

So, today I straightened the house instead of working out.

and that is ok!

90% of losing weight and changing my lifestyle is mental!! I keep reading that phrase this week! It is such a true phrase! I have to get past the mental bull shit! I did great until I got sick and I am not exactly sure how to get past this slump. Today helped! Organizing and de-cluttering had a very therapeutic effect.

It sounds cheesy but I am ready to tackle my workouts again! Not at this very moment, it is almost 10 at night. I am going to start up tomorrow. I am going to get in my Walk at Home workouts for next 4 days. Tomorrow night I will join @shrinkingjeans with a last chance tworkout. I will do another version of last chance tworkouts at least one more time this week and I will try a workout I have never tried before: either some sort of dance workout or a pilates class.

I have my best weeks when I work out consistently. I feel so awesome when I work out consistently. This week I will strive for consistency.

I think that is a good goal for this week! I am gonna have a great week!

Hope you all have a great week!

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The Monday Project: Motivation/Vision Board

  • Posted on February 6, 2010 at 11:41 pm

*As you can see it is not Monday, but I am getting caught up on some Sisterhood homework.

Rethink Your Shrink, The Monday Project

I went to college when the kid was 2: I worked full time, went to school full time, and was a single mom when I started! I graduated and earned 2 Bachelor degrees on May 6, 2007! I CAN DO ANYTHING!

on the left is the kid at age 2(ish)! she is still just as goofy now that she is 10 - going on 16! on the right is my favorite picture of my favorite two people - the kid was almost 5 here.

I CAN WALK! I CAN WORKOUT!

I WILL ALWAYS EAT STEAK & POTATOES!

not a great picture but these are tiny baby sea turtles hatching! These babies fight against all odd just to survive! they fight to take their first breath & their first swim. Tiny but strong!

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measured success

  • Posted on January 19, 2010 at 9:11 pm

I am not very good about taking my measurements.

I forget to take them.

I don’t know how often I should be taking them!

Well, after my horrible scale number on Saturday I got to thinking! And tweeting! and my twitter peeps said I should take measurements!

I looked in my fitbook and I had taken some measurements November 1 and I took measurements on Monday.

Chest: nov 1: 42.5 in,  jan 18: 41.0 in, change: -1.5 in

Right Arm: nov 1: 14.5, jan 18: 13.5, change: -1.0 in

Left Arm: nov 1: 13.5, jan 18: 13.5, change: 0

Waist: nov 1: 40.75, jan 18: 38.5, change: – 2.25

Hips: nov 1: 45.5, jan 18: 42, change: -3.5

Thighs (both right & left measured sep.): nov 1: 27, jan 18: 26, change: -1.0

Weight: nov 1: 198.8, jan 18: 198, change: -0.8

I think the measurements look better than the weight loss itself! When should I take measurements again?

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Perfect 10. week 2 update.

  • Posted on January 16, 2010 at 12:15 am

How did I work my goals this week?

1. Lose 5 pounds per month – my weigh in day is Saturday (tomorrow), last week I lost 8 pounds which put me at even from my holiday gain and a loss of 2 for January. I am working hard to hit my goal of 5 every month…on average.

2. Walk 15 miles each week - I logged 13 of 15 miles this week. I am making progress!!

3. Strength train 3x each week, every week - I am still struggling in this area. I do not belong to a gym – I just can’t afford to waste my money and I would be lost in the weight room. I do better when I can follow along with a workout dvd…I have been making sure I do my walking dvds since the incorporate some moderate strength training. I have also been adding in strength-type exercises here and there. but…I don’t really feel like I know what I am doing and I hate not knowing what I am doing. I keep trying new things and I am going to try another new this week. My good friend, Hilary, blogged the other day about baby-stepping into strength and she totally spoke to me. Hilary is going to be following a plan from one of Sparkpeople’s bootcamp challenges. I like the looks of this plan and I will be trying it out this week!


4. find and prepare one new healthy recipe (or food) - I am still figuring out my camera and I just fixed my internet issues  – so I am a bit behind in blogging about new foods/recipes. This week I tried a new brussel sprouts recipe that was super yummy and super easy!

WORKOUTS this WEEK

Friday: treadmill – 3.01 miles, 60 minutes. I started at 9:30 – a little late but better late than never! and it was pretty intense. I know a 20 minute mile may not be fast for a lot of you but for me and on the treadmill this was a fast walk! I loved it and damn did I sweat it out! I am kind of gross! sorry for the info, I know you wanted to know.

Gruve:  GREEN goal

Steps: 14,946

Thursday: treadmill – 3 miles, 66 minutes. I really enjoyed this walk! mixing in walking dvds makes the treadmill so much more fun. I upped the speed to 3.0 for most of the walk and I hit the incline – 1% for about 20 minutes total and 2% for about 20 minutes total.

Gruve:  GREEN goal (I aim for green every day)

Steps: 14, 911

Wednesday: 60 minutes, 4 mile Walk at Home Weight Loss Walk (walking, cardio, resistance, and core) ~~> I did the middle mile, or the Mary Kay mile, twice.

Gruve:  GREEN goal

Steps: 14,240

Tuesday: I had a bit of a meltdown today. I snapped at my husband over something really stupid and then broke down all blubbery. I cried my eyes out and I can’t really tell ya why. This took a lot out of me but I managed to eek out some exercises that the @shrinkingjeans through at me while they all watch Biggest Loser. Every Tuesday, the girls tweet last chance workouts to do during the commercial breaks. I did squats, pushups, planks, squat holds and a few jumping jack. I do not like jumping jacks at all!

Gruve:  BLUE goal (almost to green but not quite)

Steps: 6,509

Monday: unintentional rest day. Some days life just totally gets in the way.

Gruve:  BLUE goal

Steps: 7,800

Sunday: 45 minute, 3 mile Walk Away your Waistline with Walk Belt (walking, cardio, resistance, and core) 50 squats

Gruve:  Yellow goal (about 50% of the way to green…totally a lazy Sunday)

Steps: 7,809

Saturday: rest day. house cleaning day.

I HAD A GREAT WEEK!!

I started wearing a pedometer regularly again. I have tried a few different pedometers but I went back to the Weight Watchers model and I love it! It fits nice and tracks pretty accurately. (Just my experience, I bought my own WW pedometer.)  I have been making it a point to stand and walk around much more while I teach. I am working every extra calorie I can get ~ ;)

It was a long and exhausting week. There were days where I did not do what I should have. I completely broke down on Tuesday. I am not sure what brought it on but I was a mess. and I could not figure out how to come out of it and be productive. All I wanted was the couch, a blanket and a cup of coffee. I guess that is progress…I probably would have made and ate an entire batch of brownies.


What you don’t know about Jen…..

Speaking of brownies…I have not had a brownie in forever. I cannot be trusted around brownies. One is never enough!! If I make the brownies, I eat the batter and eat the baked brownies. I can and have eaten the entire tray of brownies before they ever cooled down all the way. At parties where brownies were set out, I have been know to walk by and grab then walk by again…and again…and again…you get the drift. I have a serious brownie problem…I like it in all forms…I cannot eat just one…I just stay away…it is easier and safer that way…

I love this part of the challenge…it is kind of goofy telling you silly little things about myself and I am going with things that I probably would not tell you otherwise.

Is there anything you want to know? Just ask!!

I love this challenge and I am so glad Steve is hosting such an awesome challenge. Thanks Steve!!

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Wednesdays with the Sisterhood

  • Posted on December 2, 2009 at 6:55 am

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans is an awesomely supportive group of women (and a man) all working on the common goal of losing weight and getting into our sexy jeans!I have followed their crazy challenges but never remembered to do the weigh-ins on Wednesdays.

Last week I was tweeting with @shrinkingjeans and some of my fave chicks and the weigh-in for the next day was a hot topic! I decided to join the girls just for more accountability. Since I have been weigh in at my Saturday WW meetings I have no idea if my home scale is accurate. Last Wednesday, I remembered to step on the scale. That was my Wednesday starting point = 193.6

I am not expecting a loss this Wednesday. I have been bloated, crampy and miserable. I have not tracked since Friday. I didn’t work out on Sunday or Monday but I have been hitting the treadmill (aka Johnny Walker) hard every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Tuesday.

The scale today = 192.6

I LOST  1LB THIS WEEK!!

Miles since last Wednesday: 11

I should be telling you I am jumping on the treadmill but at 5 when the alarm went off to wake me up another alarm went off – the kind in my head that just screams pain. This TOM has been horrible and today started off with my head wanting to explode! So, I am happy for a loss but not feeling so hot so I am gonna lounge on the couch with the kid before we get ready for school!

Since it is already a crappy kind of week, I am going to switch over to eating a light breakfast before my WW meeting and weigh-in on Saturday. I am also going to switch over to my winter sweats.

Make today fabulous!

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BFL Week

  • Posted on November 19, 2009 at 7:50 pm

BFL

Week 10: Quick Post tonight because Thursday night totally snuck up on me!!

Good Luck to all my footballers!!

Thursday Night
Miami @ Carolina

Pittsburgh @ Kansas City
Cleveland @ Detroit
New Orleans @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ NY Giants
Buffalo @ Jacksonville
Washington @ Dallas
Seattle @ Minnesota
San Francisco @ Green Bay
Indianapolis @ Baltimore
Arizona @ St. Louis
NY Jets @ New England
San Diego @ Denver
Cincinnati @ Oakland
Philadelphia @ Chicago

Monday Night
Tennessee @ Houston

Combined MNF Score =49

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BFL Week 9

  • Posted on November 12, 2009 at 5:30 pm

BFL

Thursday Night
Chicago @ San Francisco

Atlanta @ Carolina
Tampa Bay @ Miami
Detroit @ Minnesota
Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh
Buffalo @ Tennessee
Denver @ Washington
New Orleans @ St. Louis
Jacksonville @ NY Jets
Kansas City @ Oakland
Seattle @ Arizona
Dallas @ Green Bay
Philadelphia @ San Diego
New England @ Indianapolis

Monday Night
Baltimore @ Cleveland

Combined MNF Score = 32

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Today is MY day!

  • Posted on November 9, 2009 at 8:23 pm

Today’s (really tonight’s) post was inspired by a blogger I have only recently discovered! If you don’t know Jack, you should totally check him out! I have been lurking around Jack’s blog for a couple of weeks. This guy is frickin hilarious! and smart! and did I mention frickin hilarious?!?!

I have been a bad blogger friend! I have read but not commented! I AM SORRY!! I tend to do that to a lot of blogger friends! I love your blogs! I read tons but I don’t always have time to comment! I hope this post makes up for some of my rudeness!! My blogger (and weight loss) friends are a constant source of inspiration!

Back to Jack!

How could I not love this man….and his blog?!?! His blog tagline is “IF YOU THINK LOSING WEIGHT IS EASY YOU DON’T KNOW JACK SH*T”

So today, Jack wrote about Today. There are like 84000 seconds in a day and Jack encourages us to take a few thousand seconds to ensure weight loss success. Please go over and read Jack’s post! Yesterday is gone, tomorrow isn’t here yet so TODAY is all we got! (Of course I paraphrased!)

I NEEDED to read this post today!! Today is all we have! Today is the day that can make or break …well…anything, weight loss or mental sanity!

cowboys

TODAY, I woke up at 5:20 after staying up past midnight watching the Cowboys game! Thank you baby jesus the ‘Boys pulled out ahead of the Eagles! I live so close to Philly and it is definitely Eagles county around these parts so I love when the Cowboys win! For those not familiar with Eagles fans, let us just say that they are not the nicest people! Last week when I wore my jersey out and about I got barked at! YES, you read correctly!

Sorry, I let my mind and fingers wander for a sec…

Today I woke up at 5:20 and today I completed this workout:  BL

I was so tired this morning so this is all I wound up doing for a workout! It was hard! I have not been doing lunges and to be honest, I did modified lunges and I did not do any of the actual “jumping.” My knees have been doing so good lately that I am not about to screw them up ~ I don’t want my stupid knees to get in the way of my journey (or life in general)! I was happy that I worked out! and last night I was tweeting with my girls and all their tweets about Shredding with Jillian Michaels stirred me to try my BL Cardio DVD.

I am so proud of myself! Some of the moves are “hard” for me but I did the whole thing. I was sweating and breathing heavy but I finished!! I felt so great! After my shower, I felt “normal” and was wondering if I worked hard enough….

Well, as I sit here blogging my hiney is sore!! My hiney and the back of my legs are SORE! My neck muscles are sore, my back is a bit sore!

I wanted sore and I got sore!

And, I like it!!

As for the rest of today, I am going to make sure I plan so I am prepared for tomorrow!!

How was your today?

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