The verdict is still out

The weightloss challenge ended tonight. We had a good week I lost 3.4 pounds my husband lost 3.8. My totals were 22.6 pounds in 10 weeks and 19.25 inches. I am happy with my outcome however I am a little sad about not losing enough to win. I am disappointed because I really wanted to win I know they say anyone taht lost a pound is a winner but that is B.S. You are a winner if you walk away with MONEY. But my plan is still on to lose another 2.4 by next week and then 10 more by Florida. That is the plan. We will continue Monday weigh ins just the 2 of us. I will be working out a running plan soon, but for now I will just aim for 12 miles this week. 2 down on Sunday 10 to go....

Boy is this a long week

What a week. Have you ever noticed that life gets in the way a lot? This was one of those crazy weeks. We traded both our cars in this week and spent 3 nights this week running backand forth to the dealership. We had to do 2 trips to the town hall, a trip to the garage for inspections, and I had a hair appointment one night. Baby got sick mid week and had to go to the doctor and then she ended up up all night Thursday with a double ear infection. That was a night I would like to forget soon. We were all up from 1 A.M. on that sucked. I miseed work Friday to take her to the Doctor again. Poor thing was in so much pain. I have managed to eat pretty well this week maybe a couple little slipups. But I think I still stayed within my calories everyday. I also managed to run 3 miles on Tuesday in 38:38 which was 4 minutes faster than I had before. I also ran on Thursday 3 miles in 37:30 which cut another minute off my time. Yesterday I ran 3 miles in 38:30 again. I was there with my girlfriend so it was harder to run and chat with her so I went a little slower. I also walked another mile and a half while we talked. My knee was a little sore last night and my calf muscle hurts but I am going to get a few miles in today. I didn't get the 15 miles in last week but I will try again this week. New day New week. Goal is 15 miles starting today....We will see how the weigh in goes tomorrow night. Fingers crossed...

One week to go

We have 1 week until the last weigh in. I lost 3.4 pounds this week. But I am way out of the running to win. I fell off the healthy wagon too many times in the last 2 weeks. But this week I am buckling down and running again goal will be 15 miles by Saturday. I ran 3 today in 39:39 which is my best time yet. It was really hard towards the end the last 5 minutes were excruciating. I am down now a total of 19 pounds in 10 weeks. My goal was 25 in 12 weeks. I didn't realize that the weightloss challenge final weigh in would be 11 weeks not 12. I still hope to lose the 25 or 30 (that would be awesome) so that I could maybe come in 2nd or 3rd place. I really want to win money. I can't believe I slacked. Goal 15 miles within sight rock on....

what a hell of a weekend

This post should have posted Thursday and said WooHoo I just finished 10 miles for a weekly running total, but I had a virus and the computer wouldn't let me post. Then, oh this is good. We lost power Thursday night and didn't get it back until this morning. Five days of no power sucked for many many reasons. The first being that I was so excited Friday I was going to run 2 miles to hit the realistic 12 mile goal and Saturday I was going to do 2 or 3 to hit my crazy goal. But not only did we lose power but so did the gyma and also 330,000 other people. You know just a few. So here we are this week. My hubby was the amazing computer fixer guy and made (so far) all my programs work. But I am having horrible pains in my abdomin so I can barely move and my amazing hubby had to pick me up from work yesterday because they made me dizzy. So this week my goal was going to be the same as last week but now I am going to the Dr. tomorrow to see about this pain. So I can't run today I will have to see tomorrow no matter what though as soon as I can I will be running like a crazy person.

the count is up to wait for it.....

8 Miles. I ran another 3 today in 41:28. I also walked a mile. It was great to accomplish it but it felt grueling while I was doing it. I really wasn't feeling it in my lungs. My legs actually weren't what slowed me down. I was just feeling yucky in my breathing. Tomorrow I will aim for 2 miles. I hated going to the gym by myself just a few weeks ago and now I love it. Weird isn't it? I think what I am liking is listening to my music and concentrating on what I am doing instead of trying to chat with someone while trying to breath and not fall of the treadmill. My husband downloaded The Black Eyed Peas album for me last night and then this morning before I went to the gym I figured it out myself and downloaded a bunch of songs I love to workout to. I was sooo proud of myself. If diet and exercise don't work this week I think I might.....well I don't know....

2 miles

As planned I ran 2 miles today. 27 minutes 30 seconds. Not great but okay. I wanted to take it a little easy because I want to go for a run tomorrow as well. I want to try working out everyday this week even if it is just a short workout. Maybe that will help with the fact that I haven't lost a fricken pound in 3 weeks. I need my hubby to load faster music on my MP3 player. I don't believe in learning how to do electronic things. I know how to hit on, play, and go back and go forward. What else would I need to know? I am thinking Black eyed peas newest album Boom Boom Pow would be great running music. I read somewhere that the beats per minute are insane. Everything on my MP3 player is slow. I worked out with Karen tonight which was nice because we haven't worked out at all together lately. The downfall was that I had to wait to go until 6. My knee and ankle are a little sore my knee actually hurt a little on the run but hopefully the ice will help and I will be a okay tomorrow I am thinking 3 miles tomorrow. I am curious how many miles I can get in this week. Sunday was 3 (only counting the running miles not walking ones) and today was 2. I would like to get 12 (realistically) to 15 (hopeful but a little crazy) in so we are at 5 now we will see what the grand total will be by Saturday night. 5 and counting....

Icing on the cake

I have realized that I have been depressed lately. I have been like this for a couple weeks and thought it was from not working out, but I have realized I am lonely and depressed. And to top it off I had to pay at the weigh in. I gained for the first time. 1.2 pounds. ANd there is only 3 weeks to go and it looks like I won't be able to reach my goal. I had wanted to lose 25 pounds in the 12 weeks. But I would have to lose almost 10 more pounds in 3 weeks. I think it is impossible. This is why I always stop dieting. I had 7 weeks of losing and then BAM!!! I gain weight or just stop losing altogether and quit. I am not sure what I can do to get back on track. I have been counting calories and exercised more than I did last week so it really makes me mad. I am fuming at myself. I just wish I could lose the weight and win the challenge. I had such pizaz when this started and now I suck. My husband had a great weigh in (Yeah) he lost 3 pounds. Which was a total of 23 pounds. He has done great I am so proud of him. Me though I suck. I will run a few miles tomorrow though. I am going to aim for a run everyday. Whether it is just a mile for a rest day or a real work out day I will do at least 3 miles. I will no matter what get back on track. And hopefully this will help with my depression. Anyone have a friend I could borrow. Mine seem to have fallen off the face of the earth.....

3 more miles feeling good

I ran 3 miles today in just over 40 minutes. That is super good for me. I was coughing a lot but it felt so good to accomplish it. I probably won't lose weight tomorrow night because I have PMS and I am sure I am bloated but at least I will go into it knowing that I ran and am getting back on track now that I am feeling better. I think I am going to try tomorrow if I can get someone to watch little one after work but I think I am going to only do 1 or 2 miles so to take it a little easier. Then I want to increase my mileage to 3.5 miles doing a slower but steady pace. I want to increase a little at a time and maybe by running farther I will be able to run a 3 mile race faster in the long run. It is worth a try. My goal is to be under 40 minutes in a 5K. I think the last one I raced in I think I ran 37 minutes. I think. I think I want to run that same race this June and see if I can match or better the time. But as for today, I feel good, really good. I am going to ice my knee just in case though.

3 miles strong

Okay....So I haven't fallen off the face of the earth just been sick and lazy. Two weeks of no weightloss to speak of and no exercise because I was super sick. I got the midget's cold. I have such a cough. I sound like I am on my death bed. But I got up off my tushy yesterday and ran 3 miles. It actually felt really good. I am doing the day of rest today and my plan is to do it again tomorrow. I thought I was going to cough up a lung after the run for a couple hours but it did feel good. The first mile was tough but then it got better. I just hope the scale goes down this week. We'll see.

Weigh in night

Well, I guess bitching and moaning about not seeing the scale budge is the thing to do. I lost 3 pounds this week. WOOOHOOO!!!! I have now lost 16.8 pounds that is 8.65% And they told me I (as of last week) was the biggest loser as of yet. Oh yeah I rock WOOOHOOO. Okay now that I did that. It is all out of my system now. That means I only have about 8 pounds to go for my 12 week goal. I thought 25 pounds was reasonable in 12 weeks for this contest but boy would it be nice to do even better. My husband is down 19.8 pounds in the 6 weeks. He is doing awesome too. I did so good for the super bowl party too. I really wanted a drink last night and I was good knowing we were going to weigh in tonight. Now I am glad I didn't give in. A beer would have been nice though.....yum.....until tomorrow.....

Scale isn't budging

I don't get it our scale isn't budging. I worked out 5 days this week. Yesterday I road 6 miles on the bike and worked on my abs (the ones hiding under a lot of flubbery flab). I don't get it though because I worked out really good this week and stayed in the calories and the scale hasn't budged all week. I wish I had someone to talk to that knew something. I went to a nutritionist 2 years ago when I hit a plateau and she didn't have any insight that I hadn't read already in a magazine. We got the email ths morning showing what the lead % lost is as of this week and it was still mine 7.113% lost. Yeah!!! But it also showed that only a couple pounds seperate 10th place and 1st place so I really need to lose good numbers so that I stay in the lead. I really want to win. That would pay for our rental car in FLorida. Not to mention I would look better in my bathing suit in Florida. I don't know, Jason said I should eat more. Maybe I will try that next week and see what happens. I guess we will see tomorrow night what the number is. Wish me luck....

4 days going strong

I ran Tuesday, Wednesday, took Thursday off and then I ran again tonight. I slowly worked up to the 2 miles as per my therapist. My knee did hurt though tonight after about a half mile and my ankle hurt the whole time except about a quarter mile of the run then it didn't hurt. The only problem is how boring it is to work out alone. No pal equals boredom. I really hate working out by myself it is all I can do to stay on the treadmill I really feel like I need someone to talk to or good music to listen to at least. I brought headphones tonight but all that was on the tvs were the news. BORING!!! Tomorrow is supposed to be a day of rest for my knee but my friend can go (at the ass crack of dawn mind you) and I couldn't say no so I am going. I will have to see how my knee feels in the A.M. before I decide what to do. I also promised the other workout buddy that I would go Sunday morning. Well we'll see what this does for my weight loss this week.

Back at it

I went to the gym. I ran a mile (just like my physical therapist said to do). It was the fastest I have done as of yet. Yeah!! I only improved by 25 or 30 seconds but hey I'll take it. I then walked a mile. I also came to the conclusion that going to the gym by yourself with sucky music on and crap on the tvs is BORING!!! I really don't know how people do it. I was so bored. Tomorrow morning I am going with Karen and will do an easy mile maybe mile and a half. He did say to increase slowly and rest in between but I think if I do it slow it can count as a restish. Also, I weighed in yesterday and was a little disappointed I only lost 1.4 pounds this last week. That is a total of 13.8. I was hoping to be closer to the 20 pound mark by now. Although that was only with diet no exercise so it was good. And they do say if you lose 1-2 pounds a week it is healthier and you could keep it off easier. I am still on my way to the 25 that I want to lose in the weight loss challenge. I think there is 7 weeks to go and that is 11.2 to go to my goal. YEAH!!! 'Til tomorrow...

still no movement

It has been more than a week since I klutzed my way down the stairs and my ankle is still swollen and bruised. I had a pain treatment on Weds. at physical therapy. If I didn't know better I would say it hurts worse now than it did that day. I am not limping as badly though. I have decided that Tuesday will be the day though. I have no time to do anything tomorrow. But Tuesday I am going to run whether my ankle hurts or not. Nothing a little Ibuprofen can't handle. Therapist said no more than a mile to start. So a mile it will be. I really find I miss running when I can't do it. I can't say I love running when I am doing it, but after my run is done or towards the end it feels so great. And after it feels exhilarating and I am so happy with myself for completing it. I can't wait to do my first 5k race since I am back running. Tuesday will be the day though. Until then.....

swollen and bruised

I woke up yesterday with lots of primimg and painting to do and boy was I in pain. I got through the painting but it wasn't until 8 o'clock last night. My ankle is so sore and swollen and turning a beautiful shade of purple. My knee luckily only hurts to the touch but is already purple and has an egg on it. They kept me up all night. Needless to say the gym didn't happen yesterday and I don't think today will be smart. Plus I have an electrical inspector coming this morning and the contractors. And the grocery store (yuck). This should be fun. We weigh in tonight as well and I don't think I have lost weight. We'll see.

I'm cursed

I had a crazy week of having to sit by the phone and a couple days that my wonderful brother-in-law stayed with us before he deployed for 4 months to Haiti to help with the earthquake relief effort. It was more important to see him with my 3 year old and enjoy those moments than it was to go to the gym. That may not sound like putting me first but I would never get those memories and adorable moments back.
But, I did do well eating. We splurged last night and got some pizza but neither of us went overboard and the website gave the nutritional info. Today I went to the gym this afternoon though and took it fairly easy since I hadn't been all week. I ran 2 miles and then for the most part walked 2 miles. Then I did a little abs, biceps, triceps, and shoulders. All in all a great workout. I felt good and didn't feel like I over did it. ANd then it happened.....wouldn't you know I only had my knee ailment I guess I needed more than just one. I fell down the last bit of the stairs when we were leaving. I hurt my ankle and banged my knee (yup the bad knee). We will see tomorrow what else hurts but bottom line down look at your missed calls on your cell while going down a flight of stairs....Hello concrete meet my body parts. I am going to hurt tomorrow!!!!

The numbers went down

Went to the weigh in Monday and lost another 3.4 pounds. That is down 11.2 total in two weeks. Yeah!!! That was 5.778 percent. I am beating my husband he is at 5.55 percent. HAHAHA. I haven't been able to get to the gym because of crazy work stuff and then catastrophies at the house this morning. I was going to go this morning but crap happens and I couldn't go while the little one was at school. Now it is just she and I for the day. SO there will be no escape. I have been doing squats and butt moves. My 3 year old was chearing me on. She is sooo cute (& helpful). This diet hasn't been hard really. I am surprised though how much the little things were adding up calorie wise. Just all the little things like oh I'll just have a pretzel while I give my daughter some and a couple chips here and a cookie or two there. Just little bites that did nothing for me no protein or anything. I really let myself go. How did I get here? I guess so long as I spend the time now bettering myself things can only be better down the road. I just hope whatever my husband and I do now to get thinner and healthier sticks. I am just scared we will just balloon back up. We are such yoyoers. We lose some weight and then slide back. This challenge was a good push for us though. Go team!!

Busy, Busy day

Got up early and hit the gym. Last night I checked out some training programs on Prevention.com and Runnersworld.com. I think I will follow one so I took today as a rest day and just walked an easy mile and then did abs and upper body. Both of them start on Mondays so I just went easy today. My knee was a little uncomfortable this morning but it feels okay for now. Maybe I will ice it tonight. I am looking forward to start some sort of program tomorrow. I like to have something to train for and I think for now I will train for the 6k in Bradford on Febuary 13th. I know I may not be able to run the whole 6k that is 3.7 miles but I think it is a good short term goal. Goals are always nice to have. You know besides losing 50-60 pounds (little things). Good day today over all. Went to the office and also got a great up call I even drew up an offer. You never know with Real Estate what will turn out though. Fingers Crossed!!! I will decide on a plan and start tomorrow...

ahhh....much better

I broke down and paid for the membership. $149.99 for a year. It won't go to waste (hopefully) this time. Last year I hurt my knee and couldn't go for the last 1/3 of my membership. Today was lonely though with no one there with me. It figured though as soon as I got home and got in the shower my girlfriend called on her way to the gym. I ran a mile then did some fast paced running mixed with face paced walking for another 1.75 miles before I just cooled down. That place needs some A/C it was soooo hot I always hated that. I turn bright red like a tomato when I work out and that place just makes it worse. I left with no coat on (uh hello January in NH)I was roasting. I came home though and iced my knee and so far not bad. Tomorrow morning I said I would go to the gym with my friend at 8 before work at 10. I am hoping that my knee is okay to do that. With the weigh in coming up in 2 days I am nervous because of PMS mixed with the knee problem this week. I only was able to work out twice this week. Hopefully if this week doesn't go great it will make up next week. On the Biggest Loser week 2 is always tough some people even gain weight. I am actually amazed I really am not hungry on this diet. That was a pleasant surprise this time around. Tomorrow is another day.....

I give up

I give up I think when hubby comes home from the gym I will go rejoin. I couldn't work out Friday or today because my friend I have to go to the free place with is MIA. My other pal that "snuck" me in Monday night is also MIA. I really want to go for a run. It is almost nice enough out to go out there but I rather a treadmill that I can control my pace. I was just online looking at a road race for Valentine's Day. It is close by and looks like it would be fun to do as a couple. Like a just getting in shape thing. I'll have to convince teh big guy...

Motionless and hating it

Ugh...Still in some pain so I haven't ran since Monday. I feel restless and want to run. I never really thought I could be one of those people. I have now learned my lesson though. When my physical therapist said 1 day of rest between runs I think he may have been on to something. I ran that 3 miles and then the next day did 2+ and then could barely bend my knee. I now understand what they mean when they say too much too soon. My bad. But on a good note I am still eating super healthy and only eating 1350+/- calories a day. I think I have PMS though because I really want something sweet chocolate yumminess. Maybe I will have a tablespoon of craisins. Sounds weird but they really are very satisfying. Tomorrow will be a new day and I will go for a run, somehow since I don't have a gym to go to. I have awhile to figure this out though. To a new day....

Take out happened/we conquered it!

My knee was excruciatingly painful yesterday evening. I couldn't work out because of the pain and it worked out because we had company over from California. It was sort of last minute so I couldn't plan and prepare food that was healthy so we opted for take out. Our biggest downfall is takeout. We have never had the ability to order healthy food and skip the horrible for you stuff. We conquered it last night. I had a large salad with marinated steak tips on it and skipped the dressing. It wasn't half bad considering I hate salad. I used the pita bread it came with to eat little bite size sandwiches out of it. It was satisfying I have to say. We will see what the pain is like this evening as to whether or not I can run. To be continued....

AHHHH....Ice is my friend

Weighed in today and woohaaa I lost 7.8 pounds. It was great. Hubby did even better with 9+ pounds lost. Couldn't go to the gym with my buddy she is sick and bailed out. But my old gym buddy who rocks and goes like twice a day and has rock hard abs went and snuck me in our old gym that my membership expired to. Ran 2 miles and then walked and then ran another 1/4. I'll call it a off day or a rest day since I am not supposed to work out back to back. Went to the knee dr. today and got cleared to do whatever. Left and then my knee hurt. Although the strange thing is that it hurt less once I was running than it does just sitting here. Although now it feels frozen with the lovely ice pack on it. AHHHH. Right on with calories so far though. Another day down many more to go.

What a good weekend....

Okay, no run on Friday as a day of rest. Saturday, missed the morning opportunity, then the day went south. And I don't mean south of the border like with Margaritas. Priming, painting and drywall yeah. Then my gym partner couldn't go workout in the evening. That sucked. Tonight however after more drywall yuck I ran a solid 3 miles. Last weeks high wasn't as good as tonights. It felt great. I felt so strong. My knee feels like I should cut my leg off to feed to a rabid animal but I did it. I only stopped because I needed water sooooo bad too. Tomorrow I am going to try for 3.25 non stop. Came home and cooked an awesome dinner and still was able to enjoy a glass of wine. Finished the bottle thankfully. 5 oz. really aren't a lot. Tomorrow is the weigh in. I hope I am down a lot but I can't tell. At least I am getting stronger and building some endurance running. Maybe by FLorida I won't look as bad in a bathing suit. That makes me want to gag just thinking about it. Frightening thought. Tomorrow will tell....

Great healthy meal tonight

Tonight I made the best healthy quesidillas. I used fresh groung turkey breast mixed in fajita seasoning and used cheese, spinach, black olives, salsa, sour cream, mmmhhh they were so good. I used these oat bran flax tortillas that are super healthy and also so filling. Today is my day off from the gym because I am not supposed to overwork my knee too much. Since my friend can't do the gym on Friday nights I decided that this worked out to be the best day off. That way I can probably have a better workout tomorrow too by resting my muscles. Tomorrow will be a new day....

I'm Pumped

Tonight was awesome. 100% awesome. I was able to run 2 miles without stopping to walk at all. I then walked 1.5 minutes before I ran another 1/2 mile. Awesome. Way more than I have done as of yet in over a year and a half. Improvement feels great. I also worked on my wiggle and jiggle of the arm region. Oh and I did 1 more push up so that means I can do a total of 9. Woo Hoo. I am so excited. I just want to run more. i felt like I could do more after I worked on my upper wiggle area. It was so invigorating. To top it off I still had enough calories left to have a 5oz. glass of wine. That is super small but soooo enjoying it!!!!

Going strong

I am going strong. Yesterday I stayed within my calories and wasn't hungry. I am aiming for 1300-1400 daily. I even had enough calories leftover to eat 1 cup of Naturals Ice Cream. It was delish! I am working out everyday so far. Yesterday I didn't have as much time because I had to get to Physical Therapy and only have certain times that I don't have a 3 year old climbing on me to get a workout in. I still managed to do 35 minutes of jogging with a little walking mixed in (so that I wouldn't have a coronary while on the treadmill)and count 'em 8 pushups (everyone has to start somewhere) and I did my 8 pound weighted ball crunch/situps. I hadn't done those in a while. Tonight I will be there or be square....Although I guess at my current roundness I should come up with some other rhyme using some round fruit. I'll have to think on that one.

The Challenge

What really prompted this journey was a weightloss challenge in our area. It is a 12 week competition and the top three "biggest losers" (body percentage not pounds) win actual money. I figured I could do well in 12 weeks putting my mind to it and give me something to really work for. I have been overweight so long that a little incentive would be good...And we leave for a Florida vacation in 4 months so this weight loss would be at a great time. I want to be able to run and play with my child and not be selfconcious about my appearance all the time. I see photos and don't even want to keep them because I am so unhappy with my appearance. So I am hoping this challenge will jumpstart a year (365 days) of making healthier choices with food and exercise.
I weighed in at the initial weigh in and got measured...Brace yourself it wasn't good, but it leaves major room for improvement. 194. I have now had a day and a half to make changes and all is going well. Stayed within my calories and went to the gym. I am improving well after a knee injury. More later I must go paint with a cutie...

It is all about Accountability

I need to be held accountable for my actions. I start a new diet maybe 40 times a year. Either I do well and then fall off the wagon after shortlived success and gain my weight back or I go on a diet, don't succeed and quit. Even if no one ever reads this, although an audience would be appreciated, I need to jot my days down for accountability. I would love some advice or encouraging words along the way so feel free. I love reading in my magazines these great life overhaul articles where someone is followed for a year and helped along the way by nutritionists, personal trainers, psychologists, etc. But I am just a regular person with none of those resources at my fingertips. I am just a 31 year old woman with a husband, preschooler, and faithful family dog. Oh, and about 50-60 pounds that shouldn't be tagging along...