May 22nd-tired muscles, but feeling strong.

So, it is Saturday night. It was supposed to be an at home date night, but my hubby is worn out and so I am on my own. I think the first day of real heat made us both a little tired tonight. But, I feel good overall. I managed to do Jillian Michaels "No More Trouble Zones" last night after work and going for a 5K run this morning. My muscles are tired, but not that sore. I am pretty proud of myself. I wanted to work out 4 days this week and I have done it! I am hoping to get something in tomorrow too, but we will see how the day plays out. My sister had her baby this morning and my parents left for Richmond, VA to see her today. That leaves me and my brother in charge of their dog, Maggie. I will have to get her to the kennel in the afternoon, which may be the only time I have to work out. Not an excuse, just need to figure out the logistics.

I did not get to the blog yesterday. It was a LONG day. I had a one hour drive home and did not get home until after 6. I was not prepared to get home so late, so I ended up eating on the run, which was not the plan.

Here is the diet:
Breakfast: Turkey bacon, egg and cheese sandwich
Lunch: Delicious smoothie made by one of my families (blueberries, strawberries, flax seed, protein powder, soy milk and ice).
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Sandwich, a few fries.

Today:
Breakfast: Egg McMuffin sandwich. Took the kids to McD's to give Clay a break this morning.
Lunch: Turkey sandwich, strawberries, pretzel sticks
Snack: Oatmeal Choc Chip cookie-a real treat!
Dinner: Barilla rotini with tomato sauce.

So far, so good. I continue this journey. Weigh in on Monday morning to see how the first week of the renewed journey has gone. Bring on 2010, the year of trimming the fat because I have determined that YOU CAN'T TUCK THE FAT IN!

May 20th-power of the journal

Well, I can safely say that without a doubt, this journaling thing works. I have been pretty good about what I have been eating, but just having to write it down has helped me avoid a few bites that I would have taken in the past. And, I have to journal publicly. Just being able to write it in a notebook that only I see will not work for me. So, I think as long as I have to journal, I will have to blog. Even if no one is reading it!

I am really sore today from hanging with Jillian on Tuesday night. I can't sneeze or laugh without my abs hurting and I could not get on and off the floor with my kids without my hamstrings screaming. I guess that is the sign of a good workout. :) I have managed to walk the past few days to stretch out, but will need to get back to the official workouts tomorrow. The new goal is to workout at least 4 days a week. 2 down this week.

Here is the journal for yesterday and today:
Breakfast: Greek yogurt, berries, slice of lemon bread
Lunch: Mediterranean Salad, hummus, pita
Dinner: Filet. We made veggies, I just was not interested.
Dessert: Banana

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, chai
Lunch: Turkey sandwich, Fiber One bar
Snack: Apple chips
Dinner: 2 Tacos with lean ground beef, tomato, sprinkling of cheese, lettuce, taco sauce. Spanish rice and a few beans.
Dessert: Dark Chocolate Almond Cluster.

Things I avoided: My kid's leftover grilled cheese, a frappucino, more slices of bread from Great Harvest and a DQ Blizzard. Yep, I went to DQ for my hubby and did not get anything. WOW for me!

So, the journey continues. I really thank all of you that even look at this and can understand my struggles. Bring on 2010-the year of trimming the fat because I have determined that YOU CAN'T TUCK THE FAT IN!

May 19th-refocused and back on track

So, I won't say that the train derailed, but I will say that I lost my focus just a little. I have not gained any weight back, but also just have stayed stagnant for a month. So, a month after my last post, I am back and re-energized and ready to go. Well, really, I was ready to go on Monday and it has just taken a few days to get back to the blog. I decided on Monday that it was time to really focus on me again. I had some of my grad school friends in this past weekend and we spent Saturday night cleaning my closet. Seriously! I offered to go out to a bar, but they wanted to play "What Not to Wear" and drink wine. So, we did. And my closet looks amazing. I think I have 3 bags of clothes for Goodwill and two bags of shoes to donate to the shoeman to help buy water filtration systems for Haiti.

As I walk in my closet, I see all of these really cute clothes that would look so much better on me if I got to my goal. This serves as great motivation. So, Monday morning came and I decided it was time to start writing it all down again and getting the exercise in that I need to to feel good about myself.

So, here we go:
Monday-
Breakfast: Greek yogurt, blackberries
Lunch: 1/2 Fuji Apple Chicken Salad, cup of veggie soup from Panera
Dinner: 3 chicken tenderloins with Rogan Josh sauce, 1/2 cup brown rice
Dessert: 1 dark chocolate almond cluster

Tuesday-
Breakfast: Honey Nut Cheerios
Snack: Chai
Lunch: Turkey sandwich, Fiber One bar
Dinner: Pork Chop, carrots

I went running on Monday and took 4 painful seconds off my 5K. It was not easy to run-maybe all of the wine over the weekend was the problem? :) Last night, I did Jillian's "No More Trouble Zones". That workout DVD is a killer, but I can safely say that my trouble zones are all sore today, so it did what it said it would do.

I am feeling good and healthy this Wednesday morning. I am committing to getting back to the blog. So, for those of you that are still out there, bring on 2010, the year of trimming the fat (my closet is done!) because I have determined that YOU CAN'T TUCK FAT IN!

April 19th-what a weekend.

So, you know that my new goal is to eat 17 of my weekly meals with good choices that are healthy and satisfying. Well, I ate meal #16 as breakfast on Saturday and then had my freebie meals as Saturday lunch, dinner and Sunday breakfast and lunch. It was my hubby's birthday and we went away for the weekend and I just decided to enjoy myself and not worry about the intake. Whew! Way too much food and wine later that Sunday afternoon and I decided that a smoothie was in order for Sunday night. That was meal #17-satisfying and healthy.

Sooooo, I did it! I probably should not have made all of my not so great meals as meals that occurred in a row, but I did it! Week 1 of 12 done! I have not stepped on the scale yet since we got back-figure I need to let my body detox a day or two before I do that. :)

Now, it is the end of Day 2 of week 2. 3 more healthy meals down. I even survived the grocery store when I was hungry and did not buy any crap. That took a bit of effort because I was really ready to eat. Luckily, I had my 2 year old with me, which does not lend itself to lingering.

I am planning on waking up a little early tomorrow to work out. I think that is the only way I will get it in. I did manage a short walk today, but the day just gets away from me. I think I will also take some new pics this week. I am down a little over 10 pounds-25% of my goal. Feels like I should mark this step on the journey. Don't worry, I will post all of the pics when I am done and at my goal. Not quite ready to do that yet!

Alright, off to get some water, finish up some paperwork and call it a night. Bring it on 2010. I am going to finish this journey. I am going to trim the fat because I have determined that YOU CAN'T TUCK THE FAT IN!

April 17th-refocused this week

So, I admit it. Last month pretty much sucked as far as my journey goes. Some of it was not my fault-lots of sick people in my house, but some of it was. So, this week I recommitted to the journey full force. I set a new goal for myself to make 17 of my 21 meals in a week healthy and satisfying. I need to talk about the satisfaction part of it. Sometimes, I will eat the most healthy meal out there, but it does nothing to satisfy me. I am still looking for something to eat at the end of it, not because I am hungry, but because the meal had no joy in it. I really thought about that this week as I made my choices. Granted, that meant that I spent 20 minutes one day looking around for something to eat. Ended up with a Subway sandwich. Not too exciting, but it was satisfying because I parked my car, rolled down the windows and took time to eat, not just inhale. I know that my choices have to have protein in them, so I am always looking for those choices-not easy when you are sick and tired of the Grilled Chicken sandwich.

But, the plan worked. I am 16 meals in now-it is Saturday morning. I made good choices all week, slept better and weighed in at a loss! Yeah for me.

I have also recommitted to exercise. Did not get in as much as I wanted to, but got it in when I could. I have a love/hate relationship with Jillian Michaels-her workouts are TOUGH, but man, do you feel good when it is over! I know that I am working out what I need to with her. I need to get back to my running this week.

So, do you want to join me? Think about what you want your goal to be. Let me know how I can support you. Let's all be satisfied!

Bring on 2010-the year of trimming the fat, because I have determined that YOU CAN'T TUCK THE FAT IN!

April 3rd-Easter Eve

I promised a review of the goals and here it is:

Goals for March:

1. Cardio exercise at least 20 days of the month. NOPE. Too many sick people in my house.
2. Finish up Jillian's 30 day Shred. NOPE. See #1.
3. Journal consistently and keep track of calories. NOPE. I did keep track, but did not journal as much as I should have.
4. Continue with the closet clean out. Purge, purge, purge. MAKING PROGRESS!
5. Pick out a color to paint the playroom. NOPE. See #1.
6. Decrease work stress by doing less work at night. GETTING THERE.
7. 2 dates with hubby (atleast!) ONE DATE DONE. THEN SEE #1.
8. Continue to work on making time with my kids just be about time with my kids and not the "to do" list in my house. ONGOING.

I really did not do well, but I just can not dwell on it. Tomorrow is Easter. It is the anniversary of when my husband proposed to me. He told me it was the day of new life and new beginnings and seemed like the perfect day for us to declare our life together. I loved that! I think I will take Easter as the day of new life in the journey also-time to renew the focus, renew the goals, remember why I am doing this and get back on track.

I have really struggled with the actual weight loss, even though my body is changing slowly. I would really like to see the numbers change just a little though-I think it would help with the momentum. Might have to shake things up a little bit.

I am decreasing my frequency of posting, but I can not decrease my journaling. I think that was part of my failure in March. Back to it...

So, bring on 2010-the year of trimming the fat because I have determined that YOU CAN'T TUCK THE FAT IN!

March 30th-I'm baaaaaccccckkkk!

Oh, what a month this has been! I have been working so hard to get my work life caught up so that I can focus more on me when I should be. I am not where I want to be with the work stuff, but so much further ahead than I was a few weeks ago. I have also had to deal with everyone else in my family being sick for about two weeks-making the need for my mommy hat and wife hat to be on even more than usual. As a result, I did not meet my goal of exercising like I wanted to, but I did stay on track with my diet. I am only down one more pound, but my clothes are definitely fitting better.

So, my accomplishments for the month so far:
1. I can wear a belt I could not wear in January.

2. I ran, yes, ran an entire 5K. Well, most people may not call it running, but I did it nonetheless.

3. I have really cut down on my sugar and fake sugar intake. This is a big deal for me.

4. I am drinking more water.

Here is my journal for the day:
Breakfast: Bowl of cereal shared with Luke. Not really sure of the portion.

Lunch: Ak-Mak crackers, hummus, laughing cow cheese, strawberries, yogurt, 2 point WW bar

Snack: Almonds

Dinner: 2 pieces homemade pizza with Weight Watchers cheese.

Dessert: Mint Choc Truffle. Gift from the hubby. Can not resist.

So, tomorrow, I will review the goals that I set at the beginning of the month. I am fairly confident I failed miserably, but I have to just move on. There will be new goals for April. And, it will go better!

So, keep bringing on 2010-the year of trimming the fat because I have determined that YOU CAN'T TUCK THE FAT IN!