Happy New Year!

Hello friends...

I will not be posting this week. I'm visiting my family in VA. I'm having a great time but am terrified to get on the scale. Hopefully I haven't totally killed my success. In the words of Miss Scarlet, " Tomorrow is another day!" Love to all!

Weigh In #3

Starting a change in eating habits during the holidays is either the most intelligent thing or the most stupid thing to do! I don't want to call it a diet because as the cliche goes "diets don't work!" I'm really trying to change my eating habits... not devouring my food when I sit down, eating three meals a day and yes, snacking in between, being deliberate with my food choices.

Once again I stepped on the scale with trepidation but was pleasantly surprised! The scale said, 199.5! Woohoo! I am under the 200 mark! I am so excited. I didn't do that great this past week. What could I accomplish if I exercised and watched what I ate! My goal might just be attainable!

Merry Christmas!

Food Journal

The Food Journal is still in the store waiting to be purchased along with the pretty pen that my dear friend Jules suggested that I purchase. I realized last night that I hadn't purchased my journal and just couldn't bring myself to hash over all the wrong things that I ate yesterday and I forgot today! So, procrastination has become my best friend and I will purchase next week.

Food Journal-Why?

I absolutely hate taking the time to write down what I have eaten. I could look you in the face and honestly tell you that I think that food journals are stupid and that they did not help me. Well, that would be partially true... they didn't help me, why? because-I DIDN'T WRITE ANYTHING DOWN!

So, after this weekend, because I have a crazy weekend, I'm going to buy a pretty journal to write down what I've eaten and see where I can make some changes. Why does it have to be a pretty journal? Hello... if it's ugly, I'll never want to open the pages. But if it's pretty, then I will want to pick it up look at it and definitely write in it! It's all about senses people!

Well, off to bed... nitie nite!

Weigh In #2

Did not, did not want to get on the scale. Did some baking, pig out all weekend. Couldn't talk so what else was I supposed to do? Had to eat chocolate and drink A LOT of Coke. I just knew that when I got on the scale, it was going to ugly. What do I do? Now, I hadn't weighed at this point. I was trying to go over the scenarios in my head about what would I write if I gained weight or if I just stayed the same. Would I lie, surely not... Don't put it past me! I wanted everyone to be proud of me. I was not going to put ALL of my struggles on the blog. That would be TOO personal and transparent. Don't we all have a little Super Girl in us that we want everyone to see? So here I was standing in front of the scale. Okay, calibrate the scale (little toe tap). Left foot on, then right foot. DON'T move! Scale will show an error if you make the slightest move. Zeros are going back and forth trying to get the weight. Slows down, goes blank and then..here it is... 200.5. I just stared at the numbers, what? I actually lost weight? This can't be right... Re-calibrated...left foot on, then right, stood completely still, zeros flash back and forth, slow down, then blank and there it was again-200.5. I am so excited! I know that it is only through the Lord that I accomplished this and that maybe just maybe I didn't eat as much as I thought.
Happy rest of the week! Thanks for checking up on me!

The Weekend...

What a weekend! I have severe laryngitis. Lost my voice Friday night, believe it or not it was from talking too much. I know you are completely shocked that I was sociable and talked everyone's head off. It's such a big step for me! Anyway, Saturday morning, couldn't talk above or below a whisper. Took a vow of silence for the next three days. Tuesday, voice came back a little, today even more and now I am back to square one. Did it again! Talked too much! I'm thinking that maybe I have some control or lack there of issues.... Hmm... need to ponder on that one.

Day of Reckoning, Weigh-in 12/8/09

Well, here it is... I was not just a little nervous but shuddering as I stepped on the scale Tuesday morning. I ate things this weekend that I haven't eaten in years! I knew for sure that I had packed on the pounds.

Drum roll please... The Weigh-In at 8:00am on Tuesday, December 8 was... 201.5. I lost 2 lbs for the week of Nov 30 thru Dec 7! How completely cool is that!

I walked about 3 miles while I was there and I did really try to watch what I ate. I am so excited! I have this vision of losing a bunch of weight really quickly, but then I'll probably put it back on. Steady wins the race...

I'm baaack!

Good morning! I have been so encouraged by everyone that has read my blog! I still can't believe that I'm doing this. I'm more of a talker not a writer. And now we see where that has gotten me! I have now COMPLETELY lost my voice. This is very frustrating! I have so much to say but need to rest it or it will never come back. Side note... please pray that I will have the patience to rest my voice and to let my body heal!

Pittsburgh... I left for Pittsburgh with my nephew, his friend, V and her friend Thursday, December 3 at 8:00pm. God is so good! We arrived in PA around 4:30 am. I was never tired the entire trip up. For those who have traveled with me, that is short of a miracle! I'm usually asleep by the time we reach I-85! We had a great time and great food! My nephew's Grandma on his dad's side is Polish and can she cook! We had homemade pierogies, fried chicken, stuffed pork chops, Italian roast beef sandwhiches... Mmm, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! We went to Pittsburgh for the day/evening. It's such a beautiful city at night. We rode the incline which was a blast, got to go to the wholesale market, "The Strip District." We got home
Monday evening. Thank you Lord for such a wonderful time!

It's raining, it's pouring...

Yuck, it's raining! I was so looking forward to taking my walk! Off to the treadmill...So far, I've had little trouble controlling my appetite. I've been eating when I'm only truly hungry and in moderation, at least what I think is moderation! :) We'll see what the scale says on Monday. I need to be drinking more water. I haven't had a Coke since Saturday. That is my biggest downfall. It is my drug of choice! There's nothing like an ice cold Coke to quench the thirst...Okay, I think that I might have crossed line to lusting!

Adendum to Exercise post

Under the advice of my sweet hubby, I'm going to only add a loop this week. He's right...I'm a little too ambitious! I'll work up to the 5 miles instead of trying to do it all in one week... He's so smart!

Exercise Log

I'm happy to say that I just walked 1.422 miles with my precious V and our doggy Molly. It felt great! We're going to do the loop in our neighborhood twice tomorrow. I'm hoping to had a loop every day until we're up to 5 miles a day.

What was I thinking?

Wow! What was I thinking! I just realized that I have opened up a can o' worms! Now, I'm actually going to have to do this... I mean really try to lose the weight. I've just put my life on the web, or at least my weight life on the web. All my ups and downs...I clearly must be going through an early mid-life crisis!

V is such a great encourager! She really wants me to be healthy and succeed. I'm wanting to make these changes not only myself, but for C and for V. I would like to be around for a long time to grow old with C and to see V grow up, married-Lord willing and all that good stuff. I know that if I continue down the path of obesity, my life will be shortened significantly. I have heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol and other fun health problems in my family. I want to be healthy now, not when I have been diagnosed with these diseases.

By the way, thank you so much for all the encouraging messages that you have sent! I know that I am completely loved and prayed for. I am so excited to see what the Lord is going to do with my life through this blog!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life

So, I'm not much of a writer, let alone diligent enough to write everyday. But then, it dawned on me, maybe my musings will touch someone struggling the way I am. So here it goes...

Tomorrow is my 39th birthday! Wow, I can't believe that I am one year from 40. I'm not bemusing it, I'm just in awe that I am this old. I certainly can feel it when I get up in the morning and when I realize that I can't stay up as late as I used to. I've been overweight for the last 15 years. When I got married, I was a healthy 140-145. I worked out 4 times a week, tried to eat healthy, etc. But I made a big mistake when I got married... I married a SKINNY man. Not just thin, but SKINNY! C has weighed the same since highschool. He hasn't really lost any weight and really hasn't gained any either. He's not a bird eater, he just has an incredible amount of energy! I thought that I could eat as much as he could...NOT!

The first 15 lbs crept up on me... On our 1st anniversary, I weighed 160, then the next year it was 170, keep going and then by our 6th anniversary, I was 187 lbs! How did this happen? In 1998 I had two huge events, I had a miscarriage in April of '98 and then became pregnant in September of '98. Did this have something to do with the huge weight gain? Not sure... In May of 1999, I gave birth to our beautiful daughter V. But I weighed a wopping 210! Yes, I did have H.E.L.P.S./Toxemia, but that doesnt' account for the fact that I kept on the weight! I fluxuated with weight gain from there on out. I even tried to teach a weight loss class thinking that maybe
if I was with other women that were trying to lose weight and I was the leader, that I would be inspired to lose and be an example. WRONG! I lost a little, got down to 194, but gained it all back!

Jump to 2006, my brother-in-law got married. Thankfully, I wasn't in the wedding, but I was a prominent member, being family. Got front row seats! Anyway, I wore a beautiful sage green silk dress that I made. However, it looked really nice on the pattern, not on me. I looked like a blown up green bean! Tip, if you are overweight and short, DO NOT wear a long skirt and all of one color. It's not pretty on and it's not pretty for others to see! After seeing pictures of me, I realized, Wow I am fat. I'm not self-deprecating, I'm speaking the truth!

So, in tears, I went to J.C., because if it helped Kristy what's her name, it will certainly help me. Well, after several hundred dollars in membership dues and food, I lost about 10lbs, but only went back periodically. So, that was a bust. Even before this, I tried other "membership" weight loss programs , but found that I was just wasting my money. So, I tried losing weight at home. It worked for a little bit but something happened... I BALLOONED! I got up to my highest weight ever... 218. 218 on a 5'3" body ain't pretty. And it hurt! My knees and feet were killing me.

In 2008, I went to my parent's house for our annual summer visit. My brother and family were coming too. What we weren't expecting was that my sister-in-law who was also overweight had lost a whopping 75lbs. She looked incredible! Through the Lord, diligence, exercising, and eating right, she did it over 9 months. Way to go W! So, now I was inspired... I even walked almost everyday at my parent's park behind their house. I was serious now... Bought the book that she used,etc. I was going to be healthy when I saw her again. Well, like most people trying to lose weight I stayed with it for about a week and then stopped. Too hard... Later on that year, a dear friend's husband, K-licious, challenged me to bet. Who could lose the most weight by the end of 2008. I took his challenge and by some miracle, I won. I lost 23 lbs. I was down to 195. I hadn't been that weight in 9 years. Very excited! Even bought some new clothes...

Fast forward to November 30, 2009. As I sit here... I just weighed myself, 203.5. I've gained some of the lost weight back. And T-day had nothing to do with it! So, it brings me to my blog. I've decided that I want to chronicle my daily struggle with weight loss, eating right, and exercising in hopes that maybe I will finally get victory over this stronghold in my life and perhaps I might just help someone in the process.

Goals for my blog...
1. Weekly entry of weigh in
2. Daily entry of exercise
3. My musings
4. Whatever comes into my little mind

I hope that you find this funny, enjoyable, and maybe even helpful! Have a super week!