Summer 2013 – Finding My Glow

Hello. I last posted last July. Where have I been?

Oh, I’ve been crazy busy. Have you heard that one before?

Since I haven’t posted in a year, you might think I’ve fallen out of the healthy journey. You might be right if we talked anywhere after last September.

I let the busy times chip away at my workout schedule. For a long time, I kept to my good food choices and my water schedule. By Christmas, I’d gained 4-pounds. Not bad, I thought. I can lose those 4-pounds. The real problem: instead of losing the last 5-pounds, I’d now gained several. I was going in the wrong direction.

After Christmas it got worse. I let some bad food choices sneak back in and started drinking a class or two less a day. Over the next few months, I started to feel like crap. I was officially out of the healthy journey.

By the end of May, I’d gained another 6-pounds. Ugh. Combine that with bad food and not enough water. I felt like shit.

I wanted my glow back. I wanted my healthy journey back.

I came back here to this blog actually. I read through this page: https://simplysidney.wordpress.com/creating-your-own-healthy-journey/

I read my own journey and it helped me to find my way again. In early June, I started with one step and then another. I’m still struggling a bit.

This isn’t easy 🙂 but it’s worth it.

Each day I workout, choose the right foods, and drink enough water, I feel fabulous.

I’m getting my glow back.

My body is starting to change. I see muscles coming back. The scale isn’t moving a lot yet, but it will. I will stay on this journey. I have 10-pounds to lose before I get back to where I was LAST year.

I’ll do it. I will.

Scale Day v43.0

I have not posted in several months, but I have not gotten off the healthy journey. I’m posting today to give you an update and let you know where life is taking me.

My weight loss journey has had its hiccups since early March, it was easy to see in my posts around that time. Each week I tried to find the same gusto I started this journey with and I just could not get there. I let go of the crazy exercise pace and things started to fall apart. It’s been hard to get back on track as life finds its way to over take the journey.

Working out every day has its benefits. Your energy level stays high, making it easier to get everything done. But sometimes we need a break, maybe not a physical break, but a mental one. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves and it’s exhausting. Problem is without the daily exercise your energy stores get depleted and then other things start to slip.

Pull back, full stop.

Decision time: give up OR get back on the journey.

What do you think I chose? It took 27-weeks but I finally lost another 5-pounds for a total loss so far of 34.9 pounds. Today I weigh 129.7 and my BMI is 23.7.

So what now? It’s time to lose the last 5-pounds. Oh boy 🙂 I’m going to try to do it in far less than 27-weeks, lol

What else have I been up to? I’ve been writing, a lot. I finished drafting a novella, currently in edits, and have started another. I’ve been writing flash fiction with a group of published authors (fun to be surrounded by folks doing what I want to do!!) and lining up beta readers. I’ve been working on my query and synopsis for that first novella and hope to start shopping it by the end of the summer. eek.

There has also been the evil day job. My youngest starts preschool this fall and I was somehow convinced to be the Treasurer again there. yeah. Summer activities, family reunions…

How are you doing in your life journey? Are your eyes facing forward or do you need to tweak it a little?

Scale Day v42.0

Forty-Two weeks on the healthy journey has led to many ups and downs. Some have been harder than others and some have answered the famous question. What does it take to get healthy? The answer is simple, right? Eat less and exercise more. But it’s really not that simple, is it? Nope. It’s a journey of endurance, persistence, passion, change…acceptance. What ever your reasons for starting the journey may not be the reasons that drive you to continue or keep you going on dark days, and it may not be the reason you keep going 42-weeks later.

I started because I was sick and tired. Sick of being over weight and tired by the weight of it. Today, one-pound away from my 1st goal weight, I’m sick of the weight of the journey. It’s hard, sure, but it at times has pushed my self-acceptance further away. When you know for certain you’ve come along way, but that the last bend may take double the endurance of the first four, I begin to falter.

Then the questions begin to rise.

What if getting started and getting this far is all I can do. I’m famous for starting a project and not finishing. Should I just add the healthy journey to my long list of incompletes.

Asking these questions is a test, one I’m sure to fail if I do not push through. There has got to be other questions I can ask, right?

A year ago what did I think of my chances of working out each week, or eating less, or losing any weight at all, and keeping it off for even a couple of months. Did I think I’d ever get back into the normal BMI range? No, no, no and no. But, I did all those things. I did. Thinking back at how my mind worked a year ago I can see how far I’ve come and then the light bulb comes on. I’ve come a long way. The girl from a year ago could not push through dark days. BUT the girl from today CAN.

To date I’ve lost 34-pounds, I’ve lowered my BMI 6.2 points and I’ve lost 6.5 inches off my waist (another 1/2 inch in the last month! and another 1/2 off my bust, and 1/4 off my hips, thigh and calf). I may have been 5-pounds away from my goal weight for the last 15-weeks and I might have gained 0.2 pounds this week, but I’m still losing fat and GAINING muscle.

The healthy journey is a head game. We know a ton about our bodies, but there is also a ton we can’t see and it’s our job to insure our heads are screwed on right. Because of the unknown it is our job, our duty to be honest with ourselves. Am I drinking enough water, yes. Am I getting enough sleep, yes. Am I eating enough vegetables, NO! Am I getting enough exercise, YES!<—These last two have been my biggest problem in the last 15-weeks. Better food choices and more exercise. Veggies may always be a problem for me, but exercise has been my addiction since last July. I had not had a week of over 200-minutes of exercise since early March. I’m happy to say that in this last week I got 341 minutes. Oh yeah 😀 do you see that grin, that’s how my whole body feels about that turn around.

Of course I may be full of crap. Yes, probably, literally too. I may actually be under my weight goal right now, but will never know if I don’t get veggies in and the crap out. Sorry for the dirty talk, but this is nitty-gritty business.

Okay, to summarize: I choose to keep moving forward and this week I will keep moving and start eating more veggies.

What do you choose for this week?

Scale Day v41.0

Almost there, but not quite. Three weeks ago I was 130.5 and I’m almost back there. Now I’m 130.9. Geez louise! Since mid-January I have been less than 5-pounds away from goal (130.0). Why is it taking so long? Could it be that I have not averaged over 300-minutes of working out in a week since 2011 or that I have not averaged 200-minutes of working out in a week since FEBRUARY!

It could also mean that I’ve struggled a little bit with moderation, but I’m pulling that one back into place.

The NOT working out IS my biggest problem.

When I am active everything else seems to fall in place. I drink more water, I eat better and I get to sleep on time…so I get up on time and workout again…

Sure it’s possible that this is just a cycle that I needed to go through to test my limits, but I don’t have to like it.

Maybe by changing my path I’ll start a new path that will actually get me to my goals. I’ll start again with new knowledge and refreshed respect for the journey. Positive thinking at its finest.

I’m not sure how long it will take me to get to goal weight, but I also suspect I’ll make a new goal once I get there…this journey is not about to end, it’s about to transition and aren’t transitions the hardest!!??!!

Alright, so what are the facts from this past week? I averaged 100 calories over my limit, I made my water goal every day, got enough sleep everyday and got 170-minutes of exercise with 4-workouts. That’s really not bad, but it only gave me a 0.2 pound loss. 700 extra calories and missing workout isn’t going to get me to goal.

Okay, for this week I want to see 5-workouts, calorie and water limits and good sleep. I can do this.

Scale Day v40.0

Did I get back on the exercise horse or have I stayed down? Did I gain or did I lose? Did I do my best or something less? So many questions, but these three I will answer.

Since my vacation back in early March, I’ve had a hard time getting back into the daily routine of working out. I’ve been trying to do too much. Do you have that problem too? Over the last 9-months it has became very obvious, if I want to workout in the a.m. I need to get to sleep on time. No staying up late. No getting lost in my books for hours at a time. Get my butt to bed on time so I can read for a bit and then lights OUT. When I went on vacation my normal schedule went out the window and when I came home it stayed out the window. These last couple of weeks I’ve slowly talked myself back in line.

My weekly goal is 300 exercise minutes over 6-workouts. Last week I got 50-minutes and this week I got 170! 3-workouts is not 6 but it’s better than the week before. Slowly I’m getting my grove back and it feels great!!

I did pretty good on my calorie limit, except for Sunday. You should have seen the spread at my Aunt-in-laws and my moms, wow. It could have been so much worse. I was 1/2 expecting another gain this week, but to my surprise it was a loss. A 0.7 pound loss and I’ll take it very happily. I have 1.1 more pounds to lose before I hit my goal and that makes me very, very happy 😀

So I’m getting back on the horse, I lost weight, but I can do better. That’s my truth. Have you told yourself the truth today?

Scale Day v39.0

Oh boy am I in trouble.

This past week could have gone so many different ways. I was just 0.5 pounds away from my goal weight. I needed to simply follow what had been working for me in the previous 38 weeks: sleep, drink plenty of water, good food choices and exercise. This week was a reminder that half assing your way to you goal weight does NOT work.

I got plenty of sleep this week, did well with the water. Calorie limit was kept, but I could have made better food choices. Above all else this week had one MAJOR problem. Besides a couple of slow bike rides with the family I got zero minutes of exercise. You read that right. I did NOT get up one morning this week and workout and I was unable to get in any afternoon workouts. I typed pathetic, but I just erased it. Yes, not working out is NOT good and yes, we all need a break every now and then. So is that what I needed? A break. Didn’t I just have a vacation?

Do I still want to reach my goal weight?

Yes!

So, what am I going to do about it?

Did I workout this morning? Do you see my head hanging down all sad? No, I did not workout this morning. But I do want to reach my goal weight. The healthy journey IS important to me. It’s not past tense, it is present. Failure is only an option if I do not move forward and I WILL move forward. I have come too far not to see this through. I deserve to see it through.

It has been weeks since I worked on my Nia studies. Nia had become a passion for me and without it in my life I feel blah. Could that be what I need? A dose of passion? To move and feel free sounds real good right now, especially since I gained back almost everything I lost last week. Last week I lost 1.4 pounds and this week I gained 1.3 pounds. I am now 1.8 pounds away from my goal.

OK, so I’ve laid out what happened and an idea for kicking my butt back into gear. If not today, than tomorrow morning I WILL get up and do a Nia routine. In the mean time I’m going to continue with my water and GOOD food choices. Oh, and I need to put the books down a little earlier in the night and get a good nights sleep so I CAN get up earlier and workout. For the love of all things healthy, I want to workout!

Scale Day v38.0

Hello loves. Isn’t it a simply glorious day. The sun shines so bright in the sky and spring is here to stay. I am in a pretty good mood, but I’m also trying to shift my mind to all the bright things. You know, cup is 1/2 full, not 1/2 empty, which is my preferred state of mind. I see a new morning ritual forming. Do you have a morning routine that helps you get into a happy mood? Sometimes for me it’s the workout, seeing my kids happy morning smiles or that first cup of joe that gets me in a happy mood for the day. But what if the happy mood occurred regardless of what was to happen, wouldn’t that be nice!

How about the morning you wake up expecting the scale to be all cruel and give you a gain and you someone how you let that slip right off your shoulders, because regardless of what the scale has to say you are going to keep pushing forward.

I was expecting a gain this morning and for good reason. I was on average 200 calories over my daily limit and I got in 163 minutes of exercise, not the hoped for 300. I was preparing myself for the gain and convincing myself that it would be ok. Not because I have become complacent with my weight, quite the contrary. I am finally at a point in my journey where I feel confident that I CAN keep going, that I CAN move forward and that makes me happy. I am happy to believe.

So a gain was NOT going to spoil my mood this am. What am I supposed to do now that I didn’t gain, nope I lost 1.4 pounds!! Not only has a new zero entered my life (I now weigh 130.5) but I entered the 23s in the BMI (my BMI is now 23.9). I’m now only 0.5 pounds away from my goal weight!! Oh holy cow!! 34.6 pounds are gone!!

How am I going to celebrate? Well I don’t want to get ahead of myself, I do still have that 0.5 pounds to lose. But I see new goals in my future. I’m tempted to set a new goal weight, but I’m not sure. Maybe my next goal will be more activity related. hmmmm…

What goals are you setting for the spring?

Scale Day v37.0

Oh vacation how I miss you. You were good to me when I needed you, but now you’ve up and left me, boo hoo hoo 🙂 just kidding around. It is however a bit of a shock to the system getting in and out of vacation mode. Knowing spring (actually it’s mid-summer right now in Michigan, expected high today: 86!) is right around the corner is keeping my mood light.

It was about this time last year when I started my slow roll into my healthy journey. It took a few months to get a steady roll, but this is where I began. Seeing pictures of me during last years vacation was a sock to say the least and the final straw in my unhealthy coffin. 

Lots of changes in my routine, nutrition and activity level all together helped me to take this years vacation 32.6 pounds lighter. But would you see the changes in the photos? We all know pictures, when not touched up, are pretty blatant.

Is that the same girl? Yes, that’s me. If you look close in the first picture you’ll find another inter-library-loan book with the same blue paper down the front. I’m not sharing any beach pictures here, yuck, I’ve still gots some work to do!! But I think I look healthier and that makes me smile.

The other question was how crazy did I go with the eating during vacation? And did I get in any exercise?

The week started off like a shot, oh hells bells, it wasn’t looking good on the exercise front. Not until Thursday did I get a chance to take a walk/run on the beach. I planned my walk with the 1st week advice from couch to 5k. I was nervous to start my 60-seconds of running, I mean wouldn’t my back side bounce like crazy (like it used to) and would I be able to run for a whole minute?!? Surprise, surprise I did it and it was so much fun that I kept going and going and covered twice as much beach as I thought I would. In the end I spent 45-minutes on my walk/run, I little long I know and my calves paid for it the next day too, but I felt friggin fantastic!! Saturday I got another walk/run in, with a more respectable 25-minutes. Not sure how I’m going to fit running in at home, but I must find a way. I want the challenge. I’m craving the challenge.

On to some eating admissions. I got in my water on vacation, thank goodness too because on average I had 500 more calories a day than I normally do, holy cow. No, I didn’t eat a cow, but at some times I felt like it and that I did NOT enjoy. What I did enjoy was the coconut shrimp, yummy.

So what did I do the day after vacation ended?

I got up and worked out and stopped at my calorie limit and did the same yesterday, but today I had to face the scale.

Expecting a gain, I was shocked when I found a loss? What? I have no idea how, but in the last 2-weeks, with a 2-week total of 295 exercise minutes & the crazy vacation week eating I lost 0.6 pounds. I’ve hit a new low of 131.9 pounds, BMI 24.1!

I survived vacation with a loss, amazing, and a new challenge. First Priority: lose that 1.9 pounds and FINALLY get to my goal weight. I’m back to all my goals here, calorie limit, water, sleep, 300-minutes of exercise a week, I needs it all!! I must also fit in walk/run time, I’ll let you know next week if I find a way.

Vacations are good, re-charged I am.

Now, have you seen the teaser for Breaking Dawn part II?

v180748_the-twilight-saga-breaking-dawn-part-2-trailer.html

Scale Day v36.0

Vacation come take me away!! It’s been a year since I have been on a real vacation and I’m anxious for this one to start. Lots of packing and last-minute workouts going on, more about all that later and hopefully you can help me with a list. My birthday is officially over, so sad, but I had a great week and lots of great eats.

My parents came for a visit, a 24-hour visit, possibly the best kind for MY parents. She brought all kinds treats, peanut butter cookies, amaretto cookies, chocolate biscotti, fresh ricotta cheese, roasted red peppers, fresh italian green olives, and her homemade red gravy and meatballs. Oh, holy geesh!! Then, the day after my parents left we had a house full of friends and sinfully delicious food.

I didn’t go crazy on the calories, but I most certainly blew past my calorie limit by 300 calories at least twice last week. To counteract the calories I tried to step up the exercise, I beat last weeks total by almost 40-minutes, but that only brought my 268 minutes. I exploded the calories & I didn’t hit my 300-minute goal. Well it was my birthday week and I don’t regret it for a minute. When the scale reported I was up 0.04 pounds this morning I was not surprised. On a plus side my BMI is unchanged, still at 24.2. Disappointed to be going into vacation with the scale going up, but then I remember that there is 32.6 less pounds going on vacation this year and that frown turns upside down 🙂

While I’m on vacation I wont be doing my typical workouts and that is fine, everyone needs a break from routine once in a while. We’ll be staying right on the beach, Satellite beach actually, and I plan on daily walks on the beach. My goal will be 30-minute morning walks. Not first thing in the morning, because first thing in the morning I will be curled up with a book and cup of joe. Hearing the waves while you relax with a good book is simply the best. At least once I plan on practicing my Nia moves on the beach. Lastly, when ever it is convenient so probably not everyday, I want to spend about 20-minutes doing something and here is where I need your help. What exercises do you like to do that do not required any equipment? Here’s my list so far:

• crunches, reverse crunches, double crunches, side crunches, bicycle crunches & V-sit-ups
• Donkey kicks: straight back and knee lift to the side
• lunges backward, sideways (with my butt back) and forward
• push-ups
• planks
• Stretches

I might simply follow ShrinkJeans #6packMarch

Source: shrinkingjeans.net via shrinkingjeans on Pinterest

 

now for a real treat

How excited are you about Hunger Games? OMG!! Follow the link to see: Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Meet Lenny Kravitz’s Cinna

player.html#browseCarouselUI=hide&repeat=0&startScreenCarouselUI=hide&vid=28527069&shareUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fmovies.yahoo.com%2Fvideo%2Fymovies-6393699%2Fthe-hunger-games-clip-here-to-help-you-28527069.html

I’ll be back in two weeks for another scale day post vacation. Did you see that cring? Ouch!! I have one more thing to share, hopefully by Friday I’ll have that post out. Have a great couple of weeks and don’t forget to spring forward this Saturday night.

Scale Day v35.0

It has been eight weeks since I reached the normal BMI category, which for me is 136.4 pounds. It has been Eight long weeks. It has been a transition of sorts. I’m in search for a new motivation. Sure my health is still the motivation, but I’ll be honest, besides my health my motivation has also been to look thinner. So, now that I’m technically no longer over weight (as of this am my weight is 132.1/BMI 24.2- loss of 0.8 pounds this week, 230-exercise minutes, water goal/calorie limit met) I should be able to let the thinner motivation go, right? Oh boy, Houston we have a problem.

I started this journey for my health. I wanted to be able to do things, not just sit home because I was embarrassed of how I’d let myself go. I wanted to keep up with my kids. My health will be a life long journey, so that stays put. I no longer sit home. I’m no longer embarrassed of my weight and can keep up with my kids, really I can. But now a new ugly has entered my life. A couple of weeks ago I was at movie night at my oldest’s elementary school. I was surrounded by moms of different size. Of course there were moms with smaller thighs and I instantly felt less than. I reminded myself the feeling was natural, but unnecessary for I’m no longer over weight. Do you think I convinced myself? Nope, big fat goose egg.

I’m going to be on vacation soon, pictures will be taken…bad pictures will be taken. I’ll look at them and instead of seeing the joy of the day I’ll think: geesh, look at those thighs, good grief. I’m thinking of this now, because I know how my mind works and I need to work on my protective barrier. I need to be kinder to myself.

All my efforts over the last 35-weeks have certainly lifted my spirits and that is something I can cling to. This past year has brought a ton of change my way, change for the better. My birthday is in two-days and a new year will begin. More, that’s what I want for my birthday, more healthy journey, more goals, more action and a kinder self-critic.

I’ve now lost 33.0 pounds (there’s that number again, see I notice it every time it appears), and I’m now 2.1 pounds away from my goal weight. I had hoped to be here by my birthday, but -3.0 pounds in 4-weeks is not how you make that happen. Oh well, seriously, oh well, I’ve lost 33 pounds!!! I have one more scale day before my vacation and I will continue with all my goals, one day at a time. If it takes another month to lose the last 2.1 pounds that is fine. It’s time to stop all the ugly and start being ok with slower change or simple forward movement. That’s life, right, forward movement. On ward I march and hey, in 2-days I will still be in my thirty’s and that I’ll celebrate.

Happy Birthday everyone. It may be several days, weeks or months till your next birthday, but what are you doing to celebrate YOU this week? Take the time and thank your body and mind for all you have. Take a break from the critic and give yourself some love.

Happy Birthday.