picture source

I guess I should be honest and tell you that I am not 100% ok. YES, I know what has to be done but this money stress has me…well…stressed. I am focusing on eating good for me foods. I am tracking my food using my new fitbook and while I am not the best tracker, I am working on it.

I am focusing on the early stages of my half marathon training.  As a total distraction and because my brain is moving in weird circles lately, typing half marathon made me thing of Ryan’s post today.  Should I even call it a half, Mr. NoMoreBacon says 13.1 miles should not be half anything~ but I am not sure what I want to call it. I am training for quite possibly the biggest challenge of my life…so far..so if it isn’t a half what is it!?! How do I refer to my training?I do not and will not call it a race. I am not a fast runner (not even close to being fast) and I still and probably always will use the run:walk method. I do not want to get caught up in trying to be fast. I just want to finish!

I am still fighting the funk. I am still exhausted. Little Miss Lucy has decided that 3am is a good time to play….for an hour! Ummm yeah! This is not conducive to getting up early for working out. I will figure this out. For now, I have only run once this week and I haven’t done any other real workouts. I have been working my butt off at work in the disgusting heat in a building with no air conditioning. I have been cleaning and moving furniture and boxes and books all around the school. Did I mention no air conditioning?!? I may not have logged any strength workout but I have been doing something. Not too impressive, huh?!?

BUT

I am making good-for-me food choices. I am moving and doing something. I am moving and running (ok, it was only once but that was just the beginning)! I have only worked out 1 of the first 3 days of my training. This upset me earlier but now I know I must keep moving forward. I cannot dwell on this “failure” but instead I must dwell on my amazing run yesterday (I will blog about my first run very soon).

My good friend, Jack tells me to just keep doing what I know is right. Day after day.  Day after day after day. I must keep on keepin’ on. Day after day.

Tonight, we finished dinner and I was just all the sudden tired. I was a bit thrown off by this tired because I actually slept in a bit this morning. While Lucy was up at 3am she slept until 7:20 which let me sleep until 7:20 which is a switch from our normal wake up call of 5:30-6ish. I was totally running late for work today but it was sooo worth it. I am tired so I will rest for tomorrow is another 3 mile training run. I did not get an official training workout completed today but I am going to be mindful of my body and right now it is saying it is tired and a tad uncoordinated.

I may not be perfect. My training may not be perfect. But I will keep on keepin’ on! I will keep fighting even at times when it is hard to keep fighting the invisible enemies. I will remain true to myself. It will not always be pretty and positive but it will always be real.

Tonight, while  I was looking for an image for this post,  I found this image: Keep Calm and Carry On.

That is all I got! All I can do!

I will embrace my  NOT-perfectness!!

Can you embrace your not-perfectness?!?

I have the privilege of being friends with  some AWESOME people!!

So Today, I give you my heroes!! These ladies and gentleman seriously, rock my socks!!

Shannon and Ryan ran a 5K to Fight Austism

Christie O of the Shrinking Jeans walked/ran 26 miles on a treadmill in the middle of her local mall. ChristieO is part of a Virtual Team in Training along with bunch of other Shrinking Jeans girls (and a boy I think) and she walked/ran on Saturday to raise money for LLS.  If you have not heard of the SJ team or VTNT go check it out here!

Rachel tweeted about being in her car in the parking lot scared to go in to the ice skating rink! Well, she did it!! Go give her some support!!

and while I have many, many heroes I will leave you with Trish. Trish has had many heartaches this year and she is staying strong and staying/learning to live healthy! Trish has recently put herself out there in a way I never could; on video!!

WHO MOTIVATES YOU?

How did I work my goals this week?!

1. Lose 5 pounds per month – I lost 14 pounds over the last 10 weeks. Success!! I have changed my whole outlook on the scale. Fuck it!! The scale is just one piece of the puzzle and I am not living my life according to the scale.  I want to be healthy and strong and that is not any particular number on the scale!

2. Walk 15 miles each week - since starting the Couch to 5K my mileage has decreased! At first, this bothered me! I set a goal and I wanted to keep to it!! On non-”running” days I was walking with Leslie Sansone at least 3 miles. I was so exhausted and my legs were not very happy with me. I have since scaled my mileage back and I am letting my body tell me what it can handle. I did walk with my girlfriends last Saturday and we hit almost 4 miles. I am still getting around 10 miles each week. I am calling this a work in progress! and a success!!

3. Strength train 3x each week, every week -I also completed week 3 of the Bob Green 8, week total Body Makeover dvd that I won from Shrinking Jeans. I actually did 5 Bob Greene workouts this week! I feel so weak when I finish these workouts and I have been so sore! But I feel AMAZING!! Who knew sore could feel so great!?!?!

4. find and prepare one new healthy recipe (or food) - I am not sure I really accomplished this task this week! I did change my eating up a bit. I am sort of following the Body for Life way of eating. This week was a transition into the “clean” way of eating. Last weekend I went to the produce store and came home with a buttload of greens! I swear, I ate some many vegetables this week that I feel green!

What you don’t know about Jen…..

I am a picky eater! I have major issues with texture so certain foods I just would not even try because of the way they looked! I only recently started eating peppers & tomatoes! I hate tapioca and rice pudding, oatmeal bothers me and fried onions make me cringe! I love the smell of fried onions but will not put them in my mouth! I now will eat peppers but they must have some crunch left and I haven’t quite figured out roasted red peppers!

A Reflection on the last 10 weeks:

I have learned so much in the last 10 weeks. I always set out to be better in the new year!! 2010 truly is the year of Jen!! I am kicking ass! I am changing and becoming the strong, healthy, fanfuckingtastic woman I have always wanted to be! I am gaining confidence with each new “thing” that comes my way! I am challenging my mind and body!

Stay tuned!! This challenge may be over but I am just getting started!!

Keep on keepin’ on!!

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?

Current Weight: 196.8 lbs
Previous Weight: 194.4
Weight loss: +2.4 lbs
Weight loss in Feb: +2.2
Starting Weight: 242.6 lbs
Weight loss total: -46.8 lbs

THE WEEK IN REVIEW:

I had such an awesome week!! I completed week 1 of Couch to 5K training program! I slogged in the rain, through puddles and in the snow and through the slush! I have picture proof!! I completed week 1 of Bob Greene’s 8 Week Total Body Makeover.  I am trying to get into a routine of strength training! Bob Greene is helping me get my feet wet! I worked out 6 days this past week! and I LOVED it!! I love to be outside – even though it was not the best situation for being outside! I feel like such a rockstar!! I actually want to keep training and I can’t wait to see how far I can go with this running stuff!

I feel strong!! This week was amazing and I feel strong!!

Wednesday was my birthday and I celebrated with my husband and daughter! I was blessed with gifts to help my journey. An awesome friend sent me a HRM and Big Man and kid ordered me a Wii (although I am sure they will enjoy it as much as I will) and a sports game.

**So all you Wii owners must tell me your picks for the must-have games, especially the active, get-in-shape kinds!

*image courtesy Google images*

Did you think I was just going to ignore the weigh in?

I kind of want to ignore the scale but it is part of the journey.

The scale was not kind to me but it is not the end of the world.  The scale WILL NOT be the voice that says if I had a good week or a bad week. I had a great week! I tracked everything I ate this week: the good, the bad & the ugly. I ate every single point I had coming to me: my daily points, weekly points allowance, and most of my activity points. I had ice cream cake and chinese food on my birthday. Maybe, I ate a bit too much food this week but I was constantly starving!! I don’t know what this all about but I figure it has something to do with changing up my workouts! I stayed within my points range (using allowable extras) but I was hungry a lot!

Also, Saturday morning or also known as Weigh-In day comes around and I wake up with my monthly friend! I knew I was close in time but I had no warning signs. Actually, the more I think about it the more I realize I probably had all the right signs but I missed them because of sore muscles from the new workouts. The sore muscles masked the PMS misery! Chalk another one up to workouts!!

I am not sure if using all my points, new workouts, or TOM is to blame for gain. I am not going to stress it because I had an awesome week. For the week coming up I am going to be moving on to week 2 of the C25K and Bob Greene workouts.  I will continue to track all my food but I will do it on Sparkpeople and WW etools [I will explain why in a later post].

This week I am focusing on planning! Menu planning has helped me so much! Dinners are healthy and I never have that “what are we gonna have for dinner?” moments! Because dinner is so thought out I have leftovers for lunches.  This week I am going to plan my workouts and I am going to plan every day the night before (just like my daughter has to do every night).

My menu plan is posted. Go check it out!!

My workout plan is:

Sunday: REST/clean house

Monday: Couch to 5K ~ week 2, day 1

Tuesday: Bob Greene ~ week 2, day 1 ~ Last chance tworkout ~  Leslie Sansone walking

Wednesday: Couch to 5K ~ week 2, day 2

Thursday: Bob Greene ~ week 2, day 2 ~ planks, pushups ~ Leslie Sansone walking

Friday: Couch to 5K ~ week 2, day 3

Saturday: Bob Greene ~ week 1, day 3 ~ an outside walk with the family, maybe at the bird refuge.

**I want to challenge myself to get up at 6 am with the alarm!! I am a horrible morning person but I really want to get better! This week I have decided that the best way for me to do this is to challenge myself and blog about it!

]]> http://www.jeninreallife.com/2010/02/28/i-had-a-great-week-the-scale-just-sucks/feed/ 16 http://www.jeninreallife.com/2010/02/26/perfect-10-crazy-eights/ http://www.jeninreallife.com/2010/02/26/perfect-10-crazy-eights/#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:31:53 +0000 jen http://www.jeninreallife.com/?p=757

How did I work my goals this week?

1. Lose 5 pounds per month – I think I am only down .2 for the month of February but we will see what happens on the scale tomorrow. I have decided that I don’t really care what the scales says. Yes, I am curious but I will not let the number on the scale determine the success or failure of my week.  I am really embracing non-scale victories.  While I have finally set an ultimate weight loss goal of 100 pounds, I have decided to not set specific time sensitive weight loss goals. I will get to my goal weight! I am ok if it takes longer than I want it.

2. Walk 15 miles each week - I wound up with 10 of 15 miles this week. But I started and completed Week 1 of Couch to 5K yesterday! Go check it out if you haven’t!! There are pictures!! I am still grinning ear to ear knowing I finished week 1!!

3. Strength train 3x each week, every week -I also completed week 1 of the Bob Green 8 week total Body Makeover dvd that I won from Shrinking Jeans. I threw in 2 walking dvds and a yoga workout courtesy of exerciseTV.

4. find and prepare one new healthy recipe (or food) -Mission accomplished! I actually made 2 new recipes this week. A Pot Roast recipe I found on allrecipe.com and a Roasted Garlic Chicken recipe that was in this month’s Food Network magazine.

What you don’t know about Jen…..

I am camera shy! I prefer to be behind the camera. I love taking pictures and I hate my picture! I have always been like but it goes even deeper. I am a teacher so I should be fine standing in front of a group of people and talk like a normal person. I CAN’T!  I stand in front of rooms full of teenagers and i am not nervous at all. Change it to grown ups and I get all blabbers. I can’t remember what I am talking about or what I already have said. I am ok, if we are all sitting around chatting.  It’s not the talking to people that bothers me, I think it is being the center of attention that makes me nervous.  Those who know me in real life cannot understand this from me! It makes no sense! I am very outgoing and personable!

Random Thoughts

This was an awesome week! Setting my ultimate weight loss goal was actually quite freeing. I started and completed the first week of the Couch to 5K training program. I may not be setting any records but I kind of am!! A record for me!! I swore I wanted nothing to do with running! Now, I am looking forward to next week’s training!

I am feeling stronger (physically and mentally) than I have in a very long time!!

What did I do, you ask?!?!

I

SIGNED

UP

FOR

THE

NEW BALANCE 5k AT FITBLOGGIN

OMFG!!!

I will stop using caps now!!

I have not run a mile since high school and that was forever ago!

I tried running earlier in this journey and failed miserably!

What the heck was I thinking?!?

Who the heck knows what got into my crazy head but I did it and I sought out to train for this newest challenge of mine! I am such a challenge junkie!

So, Sunday I layered up and went out for Day 1 of the Couch to 5K training program!

‘Then Tuesday it rained all day!!

I went out in it anyway for Day 2!!

And today it snowed!!

I went out in it anyway for Day 3!!!

Please enjoy a photo journey of today’s SLOGGER event!!

This pike path runs one block from my road and runs through 4 towns.

Since my town’s school had school, that section was plowed!! Pretty, isnt it?!?!

I am not good at self-portraits but here is the before training pic!

Sorry about the glare but do you see those 3 green check marks?!?!

I complete the first week of the Couch to 5K!!

Do I look sweaty?!?

I certainly felt sweaty!!

and stinkin’ proud!!

How are my fellow Couch to 5Kers?!?!

and those of you awesome runners….can you suggest how I prevent or relieve shin soreness?

Thanks for all  the support, love and encouragement!!

Days left til Fitbloggin 10!!

Click the link!! You know you want to!! Click and watch the Bangles!! I promise it will make your Monday!!

WEEKLY WEIGH IN STATS

Current Weight: 194.4
Previous Weight: 196.8 lbs
Weight loss: -2.4 lbs
Weight loss in Feb: -0.2 lbs
Starting Weight: 242.6 lbs
Weight loss total: -48.2 lbs

THE WEEK IN REVIEW:

The week started off with such promise! After snow days and chest colds hampering me I was hopeful that I would get back to consistent working out.  Big Man and I went out of town on Monday to see an awesome concert. I was in the car for over two hours but I think I made up for it with a half hour in the hotel pool and 3 hours of hippie wigglin’ (I don’t know what else you call the dancing one does at a Dead show).  I did not have my Gruve (it is currently broken and I have been slacking on sending it to be fixed but tomorrow it will go to FedEx) but my pedometer racked up 11,000 + steps while I was at the show.

Tuesday morning I woke up to a text from my mother. The kid had been up 3 times to puke! Oh joy! We drove home in very limited visibility due to snow. I spent the day lounging with a very sick kid. I always know she is sick if she is super clingy and if she takes a nap willingly. I swear the kid thinks naps are evil!

Wednesday I woke up and got ready for work like normal. I left the kid sleeping with daddy on duty. I drive 3 miles to get to work! In the time it took me to drive to work, mind you it is 3 miles away, I was feeling nauseous and overheated! I got into school ans lasted about 20 minutes before I was sent home. As I was walking to my car, the bus arrived. Don’tcha know I slipped on damn ice and went down quick and hard! Did I mention I did this in front of a bus of my students?!?!

Thursday and Friday I was feeling better and made it to work. I wasn’t 100% but well enough to be in school. Fridays at my school are workplace readiness days. We don’t necessarily teach academics. One of new classes started this Friday and I am super super excited about this class. I am teaching a Girls Essential Skills/Self-Esteem Building/Fitness Class.  Our first day was awesome!! We started some self-esteem building exercises. I am looking forward to how this works.

I did have some exciting things happen during this otherwise bleh week of sickies:

• The class I mentioned above started and went extremely well. The girls are “into” the class! A few of the girls even asked me if I would stay with them after school to work out in the gym (our school is very small so we do not have the gym facilities of a traditional high school)
• I set my ultimate weight goal this week!! After reading @amerrylife ‘s blog this week where she set an awesome super big goal , I decided that I also wanted to lose a total of 100 pounds. I have been himming and hawing about what my ultimate goal will be! I think my vagueness has only hindered me. 100 is a nice even number and I am almost half way there!
• I decided to sign up for the FitBloggin’ New Balance 5K! TO RUN this 5K! I am not a runner but I want to challenge myself to try this!! My goal for this 5K is to just finish the dang thing and run half! I started the Couch to 5K training program today.
• I was named Teacher of the Year for my school

I am looking forward to the week ahead! I have new workout goals!

• couch to 5K training with @FitinmyHeart, @damanlovett, @JeepJenn, @priorfatgirl, and @amerrylife [IF you are training with me and I didn't list you please hit me up in comments ~ I want to make a list (with links) for all me fellow SLOGGERS in training!!
• Start Bob Greene training with @fitinmyheart [this is a dvd with an 8 week total body makeover plan] Monday (tomorrow) will be week 1, day 1.

I will also work on:

• drinking 8 glasses of water every day
• remembering to take vitamins every day
• stretching every night before bed!
• track! track! track!!

Oh life is good!! I am feeling better! The family seems to be over the sickies! I am ready to take on the world!! At least, for the next week!

much love, Jen

Last week’s weight: 198

This week’s weight: 193.6

This week’s change: -4.4

Total change:  -49.0

Before I tell you about my week, I have to reflect a bit about the number on the scale. I am not ruled by the number on the scale but it is a piece of the puzzle or game. Losing weight is just like putting a puzzle together – each person must create their own puzzle. I am working hard to find the pieces that best fit my puzzle. Part of the puzzle is the number on the scale and part of the puzzle is measurements. I finally took new measurements and there were actual changes between November and now. I have heard every option for how often to measure and I am not sure how often I will measure but probably not every week. Do you measure? How often?

Another piece of my puzzle has been setting reasonable goals. I admit I have not always been the best goal-setter.  I usually just kind of bulldoze my way through. No real planning just one day at a time. I joined two challenges this year (Perfect 10 and Rethink Your Shrink) that have been helping me set small reasonable and attainable goals.

My BIG goals are outlined in my week 3, Perfect 10 update. You can also find a list of last week’s workouts.

My smaller goals, I will discuss here:

1.  drink 80 oz of water daily I am great about this Monday – Friday. I don’t know why since I barely drink any water during the school day. 5/7

2. take multi vitamin and glucosamine every day I am horrible about this but I am getting better. 5/7

3. make time for workout As you can see if you check out my Perfect 10 update, I worked out a lot last week. I was a bit lazy the last two days but I am very happy with the progress I have made in the workout area. I look forward to working out even if I bitch about it before hand. I love that @ShrinkingJeans leads Biggest Loser commercial break workouts. I love how sweaty I get Walking at Home or on the treadmill. I love that my arms are starting to feel “tight” and I LOVE that I am getting stronger and tighter! I will continue to workout because I finally get it! I really LOVE that I found a workout I LOVE!!

Another piece of the puzzle is FOOD! Ya’ll know how much I love food. All food!! Good food, good-for-you food, healthy food, and just plain junk food. I have learned that some foods have no place in my healthy life plan and I know there are foods that if they were off limits I would rebel and binge on. No foods are off limit. Moderation. I have learned menu planning is essential to my weight & wallet management. I am planning healthy meals full of lean meats and yummy vegetables. I also allow treats and occasional “cheat” days but I don’t call them that. I have always managed to stay within my points and now that I am adding all the workouts in I am ok with some higher points splurge days.

Another piece of the puzzle is accountability! I NEED lots of accountability!! I tried ditching my meetings and just using WW online….I lost and gained the same 5 pounds the entire 4 months. I went back to my meetings and did a little better but then Christmas came and we went away and I did not track and I gained back a few pounds. I found a group of Moms on the same journey.  #Mamavation is an awesome motivational community of moms in various stages of the healthy journey.  The mamavation ladies are all just so sweet and supportive!

Now, on the other side of the coin I found the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans…how could I not check out a group of chicks with a blog titled that?!?! and they are a riot – super supportive & encouraging and not afraid to YELL at me to get my ass moving! I love how sarcastic, snarky and down right brutal their love can be – they are the best!

I join all kinds of challenges! Challenges keep the whole  journey new. I am not always the best challenge participant. Not  the challenge’s fault…but I lack follow through some times. I get all excited but don’t always finish what I start. I am currently involved in two challenges: Perfect 10 and Rething Your Shrink. I liked these two challenges and since the principals behind the challenges were so similar I felt (and still do) comfortable participating in both challenges.

Twitter is the best motivation!! I tweet to inspire and motivate as well as be inspired and be motivated! My twitter peeps are my friends. My twitter peeps know all the answers to all the questions I have!! My twitter peeps don’t let me get away with sulking or not working out! I may be addicted to Twitter but I swear it has huge benefits!

I rambled and rambled! This was a good week – mentally and on the scale. I am finding the perfect balance for me. I am finding what is right and works best for me. This has to be my journey, my way!! I have been traveling on this journey to health for over a year now and it really has been the last 3 weeks that I can honestly say, “I get it!!”

Did I tell you that Twenty Ten is the Year of JEN?!?!

Join me in making 2010 the best year!

How did I work my goals this week?

1. Lose 5 pounds per month – my weigh in day is Saturday (tomorrow), last week I gained 2 pounds. I handled it well! I have learned and I remind myself all the time, I will not let the scale determine my success!! I had a good week…the scale just didn’t agree. I am still plugging away!

2. Walk 15 miles each week - I logged 17 of 15 miles this week….so far! After dinner I will jump on the treadmill. I have been quite sedentary today. It was just that kind of day at school – I had a ton of paperwork stuff! I decided to put in a dvd . Wahoo!!

3. Strength train 3x each week, every week - I am getting the hang of strength. I think my biggest problem for me was letting my head get in the way. NOT LITERALLY!! I mean jeesh, my head ain’t that big! I don’t like not knowing what I am doing. I went back to my Walk at Home workout dvds and they give me miles plus mild strength training and core work! I have joined @shrinkingjeans on Tuesdays for some Biggest Loser commercial break tworkouts. I do not watch the show but I do all the exercises and those @shrinkingjeans girls can be bossy!! Anyway, I have just started adding those exercises into my day/workout every other day. I even did pushups (ok, I had to use the back of my couch but my knees do not like being locked and I have no cushion under the knee caps so even girl pushups kill my knees) twice this week.

4. find and prepare one new healthy recipe (or food) - Ok, I totally failed on this one! Unless you count the crockpot chicken I made the other night. I found a McCormick packet for “Italian Herb Slowcooker Chicken” and it was the easiest recipe!! I used Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts (2) and thighs (4), 2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 small can tomato paste and the herb packet. I had mine over spaghetti squash and husband and daughter had pasta. It was very yummy and super easy!

WORKOUTS this WEEK

Friday: 3.1 miles, 50 minutes Walk Slim: 3 Fast Miles

Gruve: To be updated

Steps: To be updated

Thursday: 45 minutes, 3 mile Walk at Home Weight Loss Walk (walking, cardio, resistance, and core) with 2 pound handweights.

Gruve: GREEN goal

Steps: 11,400

Wednesday: 45 minutes, 2 mile treadmill walk

Gruve: GREEN goal

Steps: 12,158

Tuesday: 45 minute, 3 mile Walk Away your Waistline with Walk Belt (walking, cardio, resistance, and core). BL Tworkout directed by @shrinkingjeans -

Gruve: GREEN goal

Steps: 12,012

Monday: 45 minutes, 3 mile Walk at Home Weight Loss Walk (walking, cardio, resistance, and core) with 2 pound handweights.

Gruve: Yellow goal

Steps: 7,800

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

Gruve:  Orange goal (it was a very lazy day – I barely left the couch)

Steps: 2,000

Saturday: housecleaning, 3 mile outside walk. Gave Blood at the Red Cross!

Gruve: GREEN goal

Steps: 12, 489

I HAD A GREAT WEEK!!

The week started off wonky. I woke up early enough on Saturday to go for a walk with my good friend before my WW meeting. After I gave blood and ran all my errands I came home and ate! I ate too much on Saturday and Sunday. I blew through all of my extra weekly points (for those on WW you understand) in a day and a half. This could have and in the past has set me up for a terrible week. Monday I worked out and ate better! It was still a slower day because it was a day off from school. I do not do well on days off! I need my routine! But, I kept going and I kept making each day a bit better. I am starting to really make working out a daily thing.

How are you doing with your goals?

What you don’t know about Jen…..

I LOVE to cook! I will try almost any recipe and most recently I have even started adjusting recipes to be healthier. I have even gotten so brave as to create my own healthy meals.

So, that part isn’t really a secret but…

I only started cooking after I met Big Man…about 5 years ago. After Q and I moved into Big Man’s house we remodeled the kitchen.  I had no kitchen for 6 weeks and since Big Man was going working on the kitchen I dealt with meals ~ thank goodness the local market has wonderful meals to heat and eat. When the kitchen was finally complete, I made the inaugural meal. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

I have been addicted to Food Network, online recipes, and cookbooks ever since.

Addicted I tell ya!

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!!