6 weeks already?

I've been working out and eating better for six weeks now. I have lost 14 pounds and have had to purchase my first pair of "new" (to me) jeans. As far as the "diet" portion of this thing goes, I am eating lots of fruit and trying to eat more veggies. I discovered that I actually (somewhat)enjoy veggies. I buy the frozen ones, then heat them on the stove and serve with Cajun seasoning. They are actually pretty good :D When I'm super hungry, I can fill up on veggies, and most are less than 200 calories for an entire bag. It's great for those "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse" days. I also like tuna with a bit of fat free Italian dressing sprinkled over the top. This week, I've been eating a lot of spinach salads. I take spinach and sprinkle Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese over the top, then drizzle a little bit of Kraft Caesar Vinaigrette with Parmesan over the top- pure heaven on a plate, let me tell you. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

It has a strong taste, so a little bit goes a long way. Yum! (and no, this is not an ad for them. I just really like this dressing :D )

The best part of this lifestyle change is my kids are right there with me. In the morning, they ask me how my workout went, and how much weight I lifted. It's cool. They think I'm a superhero. We are all eating better and getting out and doing stuff together. It's great!

How about another weekly update?

I have a really bad case of "the blahs" this week. I didn't work out on Sunday, then missed Monday and Tuesday and only got in really short workouts on Wednesday and Thursday. I am absolutely CRAVING a good, old-fashioned run 'til you think you'll die, lift 'til your legs and arms are jell-o, leaves you sore for days type workout. Tonight at 9, that gym's all mine :D

Despite my "off" week, however, I somehow managed to lose another two pounds. This brings my grand total to 12 pounds. Woohoo! 12 down 78 more to go. Ugh...78...What the?!? Oh well, I'm 12 closer than I was a month ago, so that's gotta count for something. I just need to focus on the little milestones. You know, like going from Obese Type II to just plain Obese Type I. Gee...that makes me feel so much better. I'm no longer a big, fat frickin' cow, I'm now just a big fat cow. Whooptie do! In all serious, though, I am really proud of myself for losing this weight and finally choosing to be proactive about my weight and health. I've accomplished 13.3% of my goal in just this first month. Wow! That is amazing! If I am able to continually lose at this same rate, I should reach my goal in another 6.5 months, which means that by Thanksgiving I could possibly be at my goal weight. What the heck?! That would be amazing! I'm so excited to get back into the "normal-sized" world. Ahhh...single digit sized clothes, here I come!

This week's goals:
Lose 3+ pounds
Keep eating fruits and veggies w/lean meats
Run 4 minutes on the treadmill without dying.
Cardio 6 days/ Weights 3 days

Feeling Great and Looking Better...

...that pretty much sums up my life lately.

The workout is still going well. I have a pair of jeans that I want to fit into before summer is over. I'm excited. It's a pair of jeans I purchased after Caleigh was born that I was able to fit into, but outgrew when I started gaining weight. I'm pretty confident they will be back in the rotation sometime soon.

If you noticed my ticker at the bottom of my page, you'll see that I am trying to lose a grand total of 90 pounds. That's a ton of weight, but I know I can do it. It will probably take about a year or a year and a half, but that's fine. The year will go by anyway, so at least I'm trying to get control of this aspect of my life. I think the next 40-50 pounds will come off pretty easy, but the final 30-40 might take some hard work. Right now, though, I am only worried about my next 10 pound increment. I really want to lose 25 pounds before the family campout in June, but we will see how that goes. It is in about 9 weeks, so it will be fun to see if I can make this goal.

In other family news...it looks like the taxman passed this first part of training. I'm proud of him. He's working hard to learn all the in's and outs of the tax code, and it's fun to see him in a career that he enjoys. Plus, there's just something about seeing your husband dressed up in office attire... He's playing softball in the old man slow pitch softball league. His team is horrible, but he's having fun. It's fun to sit in the stands with the other wives and cheer them on, too.

Collin earned his first award in scouts. He is almost done with his Wolf, too. We are hoping he can finish it this month, then he can move on to all the arrows. He likes scouts. I am pretty nervous about my kids doing activities that I am not directly involved in (it's the cop's kid in me I guess...everyone has the potential to be a "bad guy"- the older boy at church, the creepy old man at the convenience store, so and so's step dad...yikes!) but I really like his scout leader. He's a police officer, so I just feel comfortable letting Collin participate. It's nice.

Cameron is going through a bit of an ornery phase. He's sassy an obnoxious right now. It's so weird because he's always been my little angel child, but GEEZ he is totally trying my patience lately! I need to give him a little more one on one time. I really think that is what he needs.

Caitlyn is still loving school. She's such a tease. I don't know how she has survived these first 5 years...all she does is torture her brothers! She's fun though. She is looking forward to summer, especially to going to the swimming pool!

Caleigh has started talking!!!!!!! and a few more!!!!! She doesn't string words together yet, but she repeats and will say some words if she wants something. I am so excited for her :)

I guess that about wraps it all up. Have a great week :D

First 10 down....

....lots more 10s to go.

Today, I officially met my first 10 pound weight goal. Ahhhh!!! I'm so excited!!!

As far as the workout goes, I am focusing mainly on weights right now. Apparently, I developed a bit of a bum knee because I did too much, too soon. I've let it rest a couple days, and it already feels lots better. I am going to rest it the remainder of the week, the gradually work back into full cardio mode. I have to remember slow and steady wins the race! But it's hard because I want this weight gone...NOW! :)

The diet is still somewhat restricted, but with a "splurge" meal here and there too keep the ol' metabolism guessing. I should probably try to add in some veggies here and there, but honestly, I hate 'em, so I don't want to.

Saturday was my leg day, so I really felt like I killed it. I was feeling really proud of myself because I leg pressed 360 (4 plates on each side) 3x. Then I checked online to see if my form was correct and came across an article that said that Madeleine Albright leg presses 400.



Yup...I'm not feeling so tough now. Oh well, right?

I am really enjoying lifting weights again. My legs are really sore right now, but I like it- it's a nice change.

The kids enjoyed Easter, and John and I enjoyed General Conference. The Easter Bunny found us and left a little bit of chocolate and some jelly beans. Yum!

Have a great week everyone!

Another Week in Review

Wow! I can't believe I'm writing about my second week already! Time has definitely flown by. I feel like my exercise routine has really blessed my life. It gives me something to look forward to each day, and has made me more aware of poor habits I had slipped into over the past 8 or 9 years. As of today, I have not had a soda in 3 weeks. I have never been addicted to caffeine, but I have difficulty sleeping at night, and caffeine tends to exacerbate the problem. I used to hit happy hour at Sonic a couple times a week, but now I don't. I really don't miss it. Especially when I see that my clothes are feeling looser and I am able to sleep much better every night. I also have not had chocolate for about 10 days...and the last time I did, it was 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips from the freezer. I don't miss it nearly as much as I thought I would.

I have met some very interesting people at the gym. One couple comes in every morning at 6:00, and they are the sweetest people- always saying "hi" and "how ya' doing?" It's great. When I see them, I know it's almost time to go home, so I love seeing them Saturday and Sunday mornings. One lady I met told me her entire life story while I attempted to work in on "her" machine. It was quite lovely. She shared tales of a whiny husband and a crazy divorce and shared all the riveting details of her week-long colon cleanse (!). I was thrilled beyond belief, let me tell you! Luckily, she also shared her workout schedule, so now I know how to avoid her in the future. There is also a grunter at the gym. With every rep, I can hear him grunting through my headphones. It's so obnoxious. Especially because he's only got the pin on the third hole. Knucklehead.

I haven't lost much this week, only one pound, but after losing 7 last week, I am not disappointed. My jeans are fitting looser, so that is a nice feeling. They had gotten SO tight, but I refused to purchase the next size up. I'm glad they are fitting more comfortably, but I am also looking forward to the day when I am forced to take them to Goodwill and purchase new jeans in a smaller size :o)

On another note, the kids are doing well. Collin had a project due today for school. We stayed up way too late finishing it last night. When I returned from working out, he was still up working on it. He was so tired this morning, but I am glad he was able to finish it and get it turned in today. He is also working hard at scouts. He has completed several requirements for his Wolf badge, and is hoping to finish it up by the time school is out for the summer. John is an Eagle scout, so we want our boys to be Eagle scouts as well.

Cameron is doing well in school, too. He started the year a little behind, but has caught up beautifully. He is hoping to be moved up into the advanced reading group next year. His reading teacher told me she has several students who should be in the advanced group, but it is full. She said she is going to keep pushing them and helping them so they can start next year in the advanced group. When I told Cameron, he was really excited about it.

Caitlyn is still liking PreK. I can't believe how grown up she is getting. She was my baby for 3.5 years, and now she is a big girl! Wow! Last night, she was telling me that on her next birthday she will be six. When she told me, it really hit me *HARD* that she is growing up way too quickly! She is such a little spit-fire. She is just as tough as the boys, and can keep up with them in everything, but she's still a little princess and loves to play baby dolls. It's great watching her grow up :)

Caleigh is also growing and doing well. She is starting to vocalize a lot more. She attempts words now, and can sign a few. I think her verbal language skills will explode once she decides she wants to talk. She had pinkeye this week, so that was no fun. She is so helpful. In the morning she brings the kids their shoes while they are getting ready. She's a sweet heart.

The taxman is also doing well. He is doing field audits now, and seems to really enjoy them. He is 1/4 of the way through his 2 year training/probationary period. It seems like he is doing everything he should to successfully complete his training. He's getting the hang of all the paperwork, and is enjoying interacting with taxpayers. The other day he called me and we shared a laugh. He was conducting an initial contact with a POA (Power of Attorney- someone legally authorized to represent a taxpayer in an audit), and after he introduced himself, the POA answered, "Yo Dogg, What up? Nice to speak to you." He said it was really hard not to call the taxpayer to tell them their hired help sounded grossly incompetent. About a week ago, he was in an audit, and the couple's POA kept interrupting his questions to announce loudly that her client's numbers weren't adding up, and to point out errors in their return. He said at one point the POA announced that she felt the couple had sloppy records and that he should probably just disallow everything. Man...with a POA like that, who needs the agent? I'd be wanting my money back :)

Have a great week everyone!

One Week Update

Wow! I'm one week into this whole working out/ eating better thing, and I am loving it! I've gone to the gym every day since I signed up, and am trying to go twice a day if my schedule permits. I forgot how good it feels to move and sweat every day. Since I have so much weight to lose and am so out of shape, I am trying to do long, moderate intensity workouts, rather than 30-45 minutes of high intensity workouts. I am already feeling a difference in my endurance. I'm doing an hour on the treadmill at 3.0 mph at a 6% incline with 1 minute sprints every 5-7 minutes. After my first hour on the treadmill, I do a quick circuit (1 set of 12 on each machine, with weights set heavy enough that I'm a little wobbly by rep 8, hating life by rep 10, but can still manage to get number 12 up while using proper form.), then another 15-30 minutes on the treadmill. It's nice because the treadmills have individual tv's in them, so if there is a show I want to watch in the evening, I plan my hour on the treadmill around that program. Usually, my favorite shows are on around 9:00, so I do my hour, do my circuit, then do the rest of my treadmill time while watching The Tonight Show monologue. If Jay has a good lineup, I'll stay and work out for the entire show. After I leave the gym, I head to Wal-Mart to purchase groceries for the following day. When I get home, John and the kids are sound asleep. It's so nice :)

As far as the diet goes, I'm limiting my calories based on my BMR, which I found here. I am also logging my food intake and activity level on this worksheet. Just knowing I have to be accountable to my food diary is enough to help me curb my chocolate addiction. When it comes down to it, however, I know that for 70 calories I can "indulge" in a tablespoon of the chocolate chips in my freezer. Because I am limiting calories, I find that I am naturally choosing better quality foods. Since we have more fruit in the house, the kids and the hubs are also eating more fruit, so we are all benefiting from my increased consciousness. Now if I could only convince myself that vegetables taste good- you know, without battering and frying them first....

There is so much information out there about proper dieting. It is easy to get overwhelmed and caught up in the idea that if it's not gluten free, dye free, pesticide free, organic, free range, cage free, blah blah blah it is not good for you. While there is definitely some truth to that, as far as my diet is concerned, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. While I would like to be able to invest in great "quality" foods, I also know that every time I choose an apple rather than a candy bar, my body is healthier- regardless of whether said apple is conventionally grown or organic. At this point, I am obese with a BMI of about 35%(!). Worrying about pesticides, dyes, etc is sortof like calling the plastic surgeon for a consultation regarding gaping head wound before taking the time to stop the bleeding. Right now, my baby step is cutting out the processed junk and empty calories. When I master that, I can move on to bigger and better things :).

Have a great week everyone!