It's on!

I took the infamous home pregnancy test and it was negative. I was kinda sad, but it does let me get back on my weight loss program. And focus again on my goals. :)

It looks like I gained a little over the last few weeks while I was waiting to find out how things would go. But I will deal with that in the next week or two. I've got plans! The first is to start tracking everything again! That is so important. Track track track. I'll meet my goals soon enough. I can't wait!

I might need some more motivational tools, but I'll find them as needed. There's not a whole lot thats new down here. Except the bugs are once again making me crazy. I'd have to say it's a love hate relationship. They love me, and I hate them!

On another note I am seriously considering shaving Jabber Jane, she is shedding at an insane rate these days. I have to vacuum constantly it seems.

All is now right in this little world of mine, back to normal.

On Hold

So, I'm not sure exactly how this all got past my Birth control, if it did. But I've got a whole host of early pregnancy symptoms. YAY...maybe. Still too early to take a HPT, at least I think it is. So my weight loss journey is on hold until the mystery is solved. Chances are my body just hates me and is up to its old tricks. I'm not sure how, since the BC was supposed to control that and give me hormonal regularity. But the body is an amazingly complex thing and who knows how and why it does all the things it does.

At this point in time I don't pretend to know one way or the other. I'm not one of those women that just "knows". So it's in God's hands, and if I get a positive HPT then I'll have some announcing to do, and hopefully not too much weight to gain. For now though I will play it safe and eat a regular calorie diet.

And if I can get beyond the fatigue that makes me want to sleep no matter where I am, then I'll keep up my exercise. I appreciate any prayers, I'm definitely nervous about this situation. It's complicated, but last year I lost a pregnancy and I don't think I'm quite over that yet.

Take care all!

Desires Vs. Expectations

Life has been so busy since we got Jabber Jane! It seems like I've just been running off my feet most of the time. I have to admit that I have had some difficulty hanging on to my goals, finding my motivation. I found myself "cheating" a little here and there. Saying to myself that I have just been having a bad day and I'm going to have an extra piece of pizza, or a glass of coke, or 3 or 4 cheesy bread stick. WHOA, hold on! What am I doing to myself????

I found a site called Peertrainer.com and started reading articles about how to get started and the pitfalls, and why a lot of people don't succeed with weightloss. Or why it's not permanent.
One of them talked about desires vs. expectations. And that no matter what we desire, we will make our expectations a reality. WOW! So if I expect to fail in 10 or 20 more pounds I WILL! But if what I expect is that, yes I will have some not so good days, but I will start each day new and always give my best effort to follow my plan. I will exercise discipline when I need to (more often than not). And I WILL meet my goal!

Then I read about setting our goal to begin with, finding what we really want. I've toyed with the idea of adjusting my goal a little for quite some time. I haven't because I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of it being possible...That is ridiculous. I pulled 145 out of thin air, and at first all I did was have that number in huge letters sit on my fridge where I could see it. I got used to it. So the question became, what do I really want? And what do I believe I can do? Do I believe in myself, and my drive and discipline enough to really go for it? Or am I going to stop at the point of too scared to go any further? NO WAY! My new goal is 130, that is adding an extra 15 lbs of loss to my goal. Instead of 68.2 lbs to lose from my starting point, it's 83.2! And I got this! 14.2 lbs lost in 12 weeks, I have 69 lbs to go! I am excited, a little nervous, and definitely recommitted to myself. It's not about being committed to losing weight, the heart of the matter is how committed I am to me! What do I believe I deserve? I don't think so little of myself, that I am going to keep myself obese and unhealthy. And I'm not going to sit right on the edge between overweight, and healthy either. Nope, I am going to sit right there in the middle of wonderful! Where I belong! I owe it to myself.
What do you owe to yourself?

Busy, Busty and Beat!

So I haven't written in a while. There is a reason for that, well many small reasons, that add up to a big one...CRAZINESS! We've been so busy with so many things lately, I just haven't had the time. I did have blog written and then my internet explorer spazed out on me and wiped out the whole thing...it irritated me so I left it. So I guess there is another reason.
In the last two weeks we helped husbands boss/family move, they are also friends of ours. And since they moved out of their house into an apartment, we adopted their Rotty, Jabber Jane. She is keeping me moving, there's one big thing I've had on my plate for the last 2 weeks. 100 pounds of hyper dog. LOL

I also got to go shopping with my Mother in law, sister in law, and family friend Tracy. It was great, we had a lot of fun, and I got a lot of really cute clothes. (this was for my birthday) here's where I need a drum roll *banging bongos* I LOST 1-2 SIZES! Even up to three, because I bought a dress sized medium! And I love it! So that's 11.2 pounds as of last weigh-in, and I'm no longer needing XL tops, or size 18/20 jeans anymore. My 16s are back baby! And down to a large top! Very proud of that! As you can tell with all my exclamation points I am pretty excited.
So excited in fact, that I posted all my bigger clothes on Craigslist and Kijiji, I sold them on thursday for 55 buckaroos! I am quite pleased, it means I won't be tempted to wear any of them when I feel lazy, and I won't have to wash them anymore. Oh it also means my 16 jeans are comfy enough that I no longer have days where I "feel" like just wearing the comfy pants sized 22, because I don't want the pressure on my tummy. It's just awesome all around.

On my birthday we went out to dinner with friends (husbands boss, wife, and daughter), amazing little italian place called Tony's Little Italy New York Eatery. Oh my Gosh! It was amazing, I did stick to my portions, and only ate half of my Lobster Ravioli, most of my salad (too much dressing), a roll, and half my Tiramisu. So Good, I'm pretty sure Tiramisu tastes like Heaven. I took some of everything home, except the salad. They gave me gift cards to Target (more clothes) and to Hobby Lobby, I can't wait to buy some more craft/art supplies.

So I am averaging around 5-8 miles a week walking Jabber Jane. Which means my Wii Ea active has been on hold until I'm used to that. Also, I got a cold this week. Blah, but I found a wonder herb! It's amazing, it's called Olive Leaf Extract, I've taken like 4 a day since I started feeling iffy. And I haven't got much sicker than just irritating, and sleepy. Which is amazing, because I'm always the person whose cold turns into something much more sinister, and last for about a month. And the cough lasts for months. It's been 4 days, and I am almost normal again. I walked 2.15 miles in the heat with the dog this afternoon. It has to be doing something right. I really think everyone should google it, it also saved my father's life. When I was about 10, he had a toxic yeast build up in his body. He was very sick, throwing up repeatedly on a daily basis, his hair fell out in huge chunks, he vomitted what appeared to bits of flesh (likely masses of accumulated yeast). The doctors said if he didn't do something he would die, but couldn't tell him what to do. The he found Dr. Kockus, an amazing yet eccentric man. Who specialized in natural remedies, he spoke with my dad and told him to take Olive Leaf extract, he gave him a list of a few other things, but said above all don't miss a single dose of the Olive leaf. He had my dad make an appointment for 2 weeks later. When my dad showed up for the appointment Dr.Kockus said, "well it's good to see you're still alive. I really didn't think you'd be making it to this appointment. Maybe there is hope for you yet." Scary, but true. I'm 24 now and my Dad is still around. We'll just say it's good stuff.
But I always no matter what recommend you do your own research! You know your body and your needs better than anyone. And if in doubt take it to your doctor.

Well Husband got really sick last night and slept most of the evening, but he's one of those people that gets better FAST. So around midnight/1am he was up and about. I had been concerned, so I got up and stayed with him. We talked until 5:30 am before he was sleepy. Oi! I am tired, and he is now asleep on the couch. I am gonna get me a nap while I can. LOL
It's been a great few weeks, so much has changed, and I am having the time of my life. Funny, just here at home with husband and dog, doing day to day things. But I also feel the best I have in 13 years, sleep better than I can remember sleeping in...well a long time. And my chronic pain is nearly all gone. I hardly notice it anymore!

Oh I did find out I have a reaction to Ant bites, and I managed to step on another Wasp in the lawn. The Olive Leaf and benadryl helped with that. The toe is still driving me crazy, and I had to throw out my beloved flip flops so I'm not tempted. But it didn't swell to the size of my ankle, like it normally would have, and it no longer hurts to put my shoes on. It was swollen pretty bad still, but hey I can walk! In all, not so bad. Mostly I'm disappointed about having to wear shoes and socks all the time.

Well off to nap time for this tired lady.

p.s. I forgot the busty part! When we went shopping of course we just had to go to Victoria secret, even though I bought bras at Marshall's and Ross for less than 20.00 for both. But we get there and my sis in law is trying on bikini's (not somewhere I go), and the attendant randomly decides to invade my very personal space and measure me! It was kinda funny. And she tells me I need a larger cup size...I'm like like heck I do! I actually do know how to fit a bra, and I am quite comfy in my 38D, which is the same cup as a 36DD, there is no way I am going up to a 38DD or 40 D as she so politely suggested. HOW I ask you all, can I have lost more than 10 pounds and need smaller in everything else, but my bra needs to be bigger? This does not make sense to me. I have always been rather large in the bust, and any time I have lost weight it has not gotten smaller, but I'm 24 and haven't had any babies yet, it could really stop getting bigger, thanks. I do not need those back aches. I'm pretty sure it's genetics, and I know lots of women who lose weight and wish they could have transfered a bit of the weight to their cup size. But there is such a thing as too big, I mean they get in the way! I guess it's a moot issue, since I can't control it, and I don't think I would want to be in the boat of most women who lose 10 pounds and it's all from their boobs. But when I've lost 68.2 pounds, and none of it came from my bust line...that could be interesting when it comes to buying shirts. Alas, I will still never wear a cute button up.

Holy Moley!

Wow this week has been nuts! But so fun and exciting! Although I have been a little lazy with my Wii workouts, and only lost 0.4 pounds. I still feel great!

On Thursday my husband brought home a whole bunch of stuff his boss gave him because they are moving. A bigger better Tv, stereo and surround system, some small kitchen appliances and dishes, and this computer which is on loan for a few months. Yippee!
Then I'm putting things away and working on dinner, and husband tells me that his boss was talking and said he thought he might have us take his dog! I was like, seriously that would be awesome. Then husband said, he wasn't sure if boss was serious, but I could text him and see. So I did, he told me that if he couldn't find anyone to adopt her out to, he would love for us to take her. Wow! I thought it would be a couple three weeks before we found out for sure. Guess what? they are moving today! Husband is helping with moving stuff, and I get to play with the doggie! I'm so excited, if all goes well and we like each other (I've never met a dog that didn't like me, and vice versa) then she will come home with us. To our tiny one bedroom apartment. Oh, one tiny detail...She's a Rottweiler, about 7 or 8 years old, so no puppy, but still has lots of exercise and playing needs. It'll be great! Talk about motivation to get me out and active. I'm going to get her a frizbee, and some things we can throw around, and there is plenty of open space near and around our apartment, so no worries there.
Let's see, I'm also excited because next Sunday is my 24th birthday, and there is so much going on this week. Tomorrow my good friend is coming to visit, we try to get together every week. Tuesday I am spending the day with another friend helping her get ready for her Pampered chef party. And then sometime during the week my mother-in-law and her friend are taking my shopping (my mother-in-law is the best, she's awesome, i love her!). Saturday is my bro-in-laws 13th bday, so we're having a huge party, and Sunday will be a nice quiet fun day with husband. I have no idea what he is planning for us to do, it will probably involve a dinner I don't have to cook!
I am planning to be much more active this week, and I think I'm going to buy bottled water, that might help me drink more.
57 pounds out of 68.2 to go! That's 11.2 pounds lost in 9 weeks!

Oi

Last night was a long night, husband was not feeling well and decided he needed more space so he moved to the couch. Don't really get it, but oh well. So I could not sleep with him gone. I tried, believe me I tried. Finally around 4 am he came back and he asked me why I wasn't sleeping. I said I couldn't and he tried to explain. I think he felt a little bad about leaving me alone. Now he's done some extra work on the weekends, and I'm thinking we should look into buying a King sized bed, he's such a sprawler, and when his allergies are acting up his sprawling expands, as if that was even possible.
This morning though, he was really sweet when he got up and said I should rest some more. But of course he was up, and I was wide awake. So I got up for a few minutes and realized I was so tired there was no way I was staying up. He came back to bed and cuddled with me for awhile, now guess who is asleep? Not I!
A friend was going to pick me up for church today, which I was really looking forward to. But she just called and said she was having issues with her husband and wouldn't be able to make it. I said I understood, which of course I do. We've got a rain check for next week, hope it works out this time.
So I've discovered that I really do have to weigh In at exactly the same time every sunday. Usually I get out of bed around 10 am. This week I got up early and weighed, I was only down 0.6 pounds, I was kinda miffed because I worked so hard this week. After my nap I weighed again at the usual time and went down another 0.6, so I'm down 1.2 pounds and that's what I'm sticking with! thats 10.8 pounds in 8 weeks, with 57.4 pounds left to go! Wow that feels good, I can't wait for the next few weeks to see things get even better.

Oh, one other disappointment, the 90 day weightloss challenge has been cancelled. SAD, but I understand why. The woman who organized it started getting a bunch of emails from people backing out, and it hasn't even started. She decided that it would be more stress than it was worth if people were going to be half committed. And I completely agree, so I'm going to do my own, by myself. Which isn't nearly as exciting, but thats okay. Over the next couple of weeks I'll figure out my parameters, and what I want to achieve. And who knows maybe I can get some people to join in with me. Feel free!

All Smiles and Sunshine

This week has been great, I've exercised and eaten well. We had company over wednesday night, and I had a nice relaxing day yesterday with a friend.
Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel so completely content and happy, nothing can get to you? It doesn't matter the things that you want to do and don't have the money for, or the time. You know that you are right where you should be.
That's how I feel, I have the most perfect husband for me. He's not perfect, but he is exactly right for me. He's so completely part of me that I can't think of us seperately anymore, and I can't remember how I managed through life without him. He makes everything better, music, food, laying in bed talking. Even when he's not home I'm still better for having him.
As a girl, imagining what it would be like to fall in love and get married, I never imagined that I could love someone so much, so completely. That I could be so happy, and safe. He's always so supportive of everything I want, and what matters to me. He never tells me I can't do something, or make something happen. And he thinks I'm just about as perfect a woman as God ever created. Funny I don't quite see me the way he does, but I feel the same about him, and I'm sure he's just as confused as to why.
Of course we have our bad days, but a bad day looks something like this: Cody isn't feeling well so he is a bit snippy, and he sleeps for a few hours while I watch tv. When he wakes up he is starving, and a bit demanding. He apologises for any thing he might have said, and I do what I can to make him feel better. And then we likely don't cuddle to much when we go to bed.
At least that is what most bad days look like. Occasionally it's me thats all emotional and then he's really sweet and understanding. Even when I'm emotional for absolutely no reason at all.

I don't have everything I want, but then who does? Life is pretty awesome! And there might be some bumps along the way, but it's only going to get better and sweeter with time.

My Weigh-in/Mother's day

This should be a short post. I lost 0.8 pounds this week, not my aim. But a whole lot better than gaining. My total is 9.6 pounds lost is 7 weeks, it's slow going, but it is worth it. Of that I am definitely sure.

I checked out BMI's last night and decided to also track my BMI going down as I lose weight each week. Just one more way to see my progress. But I am met with a bit of a problem, I charted BMI by percentage of my goal lost (5%, 10%,15% and so on)

5% 209.79 (3.41 loss) BMI= 37.2/36.1 (because I am taller than 5"3', but not quite 5"4')

I charted like that all the way to 100% of my goal, 145 pounds. But my BMI at 145 was still 25.7/24.9 . The range for healthy weight is 24.9-18.5 I'm not really sure if I should adjust my goal or not. Another 5 pounds would put me safely in the healthy range. And my healthy range goes all the way to 110 pounds. I cannot imagine myself at that weight. My brain has a spaz attack and shuts off. Any thoughts on what I should adjust or do? My main motivation is to be healthy, so I definitely want to be within all guidelines. Not neccessarily way down at the bottom like 18.5BMI, but with a bit of a cushion would be nice, I would think.

So on to more important topics!
It's Mother's day! And even if my Mom doesn't read this I wanted to write a tribute to her.
She is amazing, both as a person, woman and mother. She's always doing for others, working hard and giving of herself. My Mom is loving and kind and compassionate, and strong and brilliantly smart. I love her with all my heart, and Miss her like crazy. I really wish I could be with her today. 3000 miles feels like a lot more today. My Mom has always helped me out when I was having a hard time, and always been there to listen or give advice, sometimes whether I wanted it or not, but always when I needed it. And like all good Mom's she knows things, we're connected as only Mother's and their Children can be. Even now when I'm so far away she seems to call just when I need to hear her voice the most. I couldn't have asked God for a better Mom, in fact I'm pretty sure that before I was born I went to him and said, I want to go to her. I want her to be my Mom, there's no one better for me!
I love you Mom!

90 day challenge!

So I'm in a facebook group called Fat Chance: weight watchers tail. I don't do weight watchers, but it is great support, and I learn lots of new info. And the group does weigh in's every week, which I have failed to actually do. But it is still awesome. Now the woman running the group, who is amazing, lost 60+ pounds already!!!, is planning a Lose Big 90 day challenge starting in june! I'm so excited.

I might not lose weight any faster, but it is one more way to stay connected, focused and motivated! That I am excited about. I really want to keep my focus, and so far it is a challenge to keep my exercise goals. I've mastered my eating pretty much, and my water drinking even. But the exercise is much harder. Even though I enjoy it, and I'm feeling stronger and have more energy, sometimes I just don't want to go to the effort.

This week I felt kind of crappy, it sucks to be a girl sometimes. But next week I'll be feeling much better, I hope, and I'll get cracking again. I think I might give the EA sports Active 30 day challenge a go. I've only done custom workouts so far, and they are good, but I think its time for a kick in the pants. And I think the both my EA active challenge, and then my 90 day challenge will be just what I need to get back up to my 2 pounds a week of loss. Don't get me wrong, any loss is good, but 1 pound is not nearly as satisfying as 2 pounds...or 3. But my aim is for 2, I want to stay in the healthy range.

Oh and I think I will also join the H2O challenge to help me stay motivated for my water drinking. Although I am now finding that instead of forcing myself to drink, I really want my water. I have to have it close at all times, I think thats a positive change!

Oh and in the Fat Chance group I have been made a FatChance support coach! That makes me excited. My being connected and reading posts and giving encouragement has been recognised. It definitely feels good.

And a big thanks to everyone that reads and comments, it means a lot to me!

Educating myself

Wow, so this week I did a ton of reading. I researched antioxidants, Dr. Oz's weightloss tips, unsaturated fats, and a few other things here and there. It felt so good to learn more, and find out that a lot of the choices I've been making food wise were really good for me. Oh and I love negative calorie foods, foods that are more difficult to digest so they burn more calories than they provide. They are fruits and vegetables. It's great, because those things you can really eat as much as you want of and not worry about it being bad or turning to fat.

So, I was...bad. I weighed this morning, I couldn't help myself. And so far I've got 0.8 pounds down this week. Not as much as I wanted, but considering I've been out of exercise with viscious cramps all week it's not so bad. But we'll see how Sunday turns out.

I've also been checking into Body wraps, apparently they help detoxify and process out fat cells. Sounds good to me but here's the catch, either really messy and slightly expensive, or easy and really expensive. That my friends, is a little depressing. But we'll see I just might go with the messy stuff and try it anyway.

See, I know by the scale that I am making progress, but I really don't feel like I look any different. That frustrates me to no end. But I'm sure that if I could see a picture of what I looked like a few weeks ago, or last summer when I was a whopping 222 pounds I would see a huge difference. But alas, it is difficult to take a full body picture of yourself. And Husband always forgets to take it for me, and I am tired of asking. I might just do the mirror, or wing it and get a bunch of bad pics until I get a decent one.

Some tips I did love though:
Visualise yourself at your goal, see yourself how you'll be and that you've already succeeded. Like pro athletes before a race.
Never eat dessert after dinner, eat it at lunch. Smaller meal means that all the calories won't be converted straight into fat. And enjoy a small amount of dark chocolate. Not too much sugar, and antioxidants! I am so doing that. About 1/4 the size of a regular chocolate bar as an afternoon snack.
Take progress pictures every week.
And eat as many brightly colored fruits and veggies as you want. (negative calorie foods mostly, and mostly antioxidants)
Oh and you can add sliced fruit to a pitcher of water in the fridge to make it more appetizing if the water thing is boring. I am trying it, starting with lemon and lime.

So I suppose I'm not all out of steam, even though it kind of feels like it right now. I think it's the holiday, missing my Mom on Mother's day weekend.

Wow, take a breath

Wow, this week was crazy. I walked to the post office 1.2 miles away, and mailed in the immigration forms so I can be a permanent resident, YAY! I'm so excited and relieved to have it done. Then I celebrated and walked to Cato and bought some cute sandals. Now I'll have to help Cody save money...meaning I'm going to have to budget our groceries and bills, and his video game buying. But I'm sure we can manage that, I'm just glad to have it done. The process is started now, and before I know it I'll be allowed to go find a job.

Also, it was Cody's 21st birthday this week, I did my best to make it special. We had dinner with his parents in a fairly southern way. Macaroni and cheese, chicken wings, chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, Shrimp I sauted, sweet rolls, and corn bread. And of course the infamous birthday cake...talk about bad for my weightloss goals. Oh I also gave Cody a new Wii game, and 4000 microsoft points for him to spend on his xbox live. Which he has done. His mom gave him a new cell phone, and his brother tossed in 20 dollars. Cody has spent his birthday money, not that I'm surprised.

Yesterday we got one of those dreaded phone calls. One of the apartments that Cody takes emergency calls from flooded. Turns out there were three apartments all sharing kitchen walls that are flooded. We called out Mr. Rooter to tell us what we needed to do, since Cody couldn't find the leak. They said...hmmm we can't find it either, call these other guys before we start tearing things out. In the process of their looking they pulled out the fridge to check an access panel. One tenants cat decided to explore inside the wall, then Cody put the access panel back, checked under the fridge for the cat and put it back too. The tenant was distraught about not being able to find her cat. We spent the next 40 minutes looking for cute little patches. Eventually Cody checked the access panel and coaxed a very scared patches out with some ham. The lady was very grateful.

This whole escapade made us an hour late for my 4 year old nephews birthday party. But we made it just in time for the food, watched them dig for dinosaur bones in some buckets of dirt, open presents, and eat cake. The big hit gift...Water guns. My husband and some of the little boys really got into it. The birthday boy was thrilled! Our gift was a soccer ball and soccer jersey.

After the festivities we had to rush back to Huntsville to get ready for Cody's party at the Mellow Mushroom. It's a very interesting pizza place. We were concerned because they don't take reservations and we figured we'd have 15 or so people coming. Like a responsible wife I called ahead and was told it would be an hour and a half wait from the time we arrived. Cody was a bit upset to say the least, and we nearly changed the restaurant. But since we'd told people 6pm and it was 5 already, we decided to stick it out. When we got there though the girl I had spoken to said she would see what she could do. We were seated in about 15 to 20 minutes. YAY! The meal was fantastic and we had a great turn out, we completely filled the tables, and Cody had a great time. I ordered a chicken caesar salad, amazing!

We came back to the apartment with Cody's younger brother, and a couple of friends and had a great time playing games on the wii and xbox. Cody did get a headache (no mountain dew yesterday) and went to bed around 11. I stayed up with his friend and brother playing games and talking until I decided to go to bed around 3am! Holy...Which of course made Cody wake up and go, wow I passed out. He went out to play, and rejoined me around 5 am. It was a great night, and a successful celebration of Cody's 21st. He thanked me for planning the whole thing, and I'm really excited it turned out so great.
My 24th birthday is this month...we'll see how that goes.

Okay so my update...I lost 1 pound! yay! Even with a small sampling of birthday cake twice this week I managed to lose. That brings me to a total of 8.8 pounds. Oh last week my 8.6 pounds was bad math, lol. Anyway that gives me 59.4 left to go. No more birthdays for 3 more weeks, should give me a head start. :) So far I'm feeling better, my clothes are starting to really look different, and I sleep better. I also did my EA active work out three times this week for around 40 each and burned around 240 calories each. Yay! Oh and I'm working on drinking enough water, thats a tough one, but I'll manage.

Overall, an eventful and good week.

Lovin Today!

Hello peoples!

First I have to talk about my pet peeve, Computers! Yesterday I was trying to fill out some forms and my numlock was on, which meant where certain letters were I was getting numbers in my typing. I could not figure out how to fix it, and I was not happy. I finally googled, which is my solve all for info I don't know. And I discovered it was my numlock on. Wow, I felt silly. But really? Does it have to be such a pain?

Okay so there's my rant on that. The other thing we did yesterday, Cody and I got the money order for my immigration papers! WHOO HOO! I'm excited, now everything is complete. All that work...it really was more difficult than I thought it would be. But it's done, and ready for me to walk it to the post office tomorrow and mail it. Then it will be up to the US department of homeland security...OI! Hopefully that is a good thing. It'll be nice, then I can go get a job!

UPDATE WEEK 5! This week I lost everything I gained by eating that blasted birthday cake! YAY, plus another half a pound. All together 1.2 pounds of weight lost this week. Thats a total of 8.6 pounds lost! Wow that feels good. And I feel good too, less and less aches and pains. I think I'm even sleeping better. I definitely have more energy, and I'm loving finding more foods to cook that are healthy and delicious. I googled (i love google) weight loss recipes. Guess where I found some of the best ones? The Mayo Clinic website, how cool is that. I think I will make one new recipe every week and see how I live them all. Some of them husband will even like, some definitely not. But that's okay, because I can freeze my extra portions.
...what else...Oh, my friend that is losing weight with me lost 6 pounds last week just by keeping her food journal. Props for her!

So here's the recipe I will try and make this week for my lunch with my friend.

Chicken and Spinach Calzones! Courtesy of the Mayo Clinic Staff
Serves 6

Note: to make vegetarian saute 1 pound of sliced mushrooms and 1/3 of a cup chopped onions in a tsp of olive oil and use in place of chicken.

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained.
8 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chopped parsley
4 tsp parmesan cheese
2 egg whites, divided
1 frozen whole-wheat bread dough loaf, thawed not risen.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large non-stick frying pan, heat olive oil over med-high heat. Add the chicken and saute, turning occasionally until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool. When cool to the tough cut the chicken breasts into cubes. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the spinach, ricotta cheese, garlic, parsley, parmesan and 1 of the egg whites. Mix until well blended. Set aside. In another bowl use a whisk to beat last egg white lightly.

Cut bread dough into 6 equal sized pieces. On a floured surface, press each piece into a circle. Using a rolling pin, roll each dough piece into an oval 8 inches long by 6 inches wide. Brush the edges of dough with lightly beaten egg white.

Place 1/6 of chicken cubes in center of each oval. Add 1/6 of spinach mixture to each. Fold dough over the filling, pressing the edges together. Crimp with fork and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake until browned and crispy, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Serving size: 1 calzone.
Calories 377
Total fat 9g
fiber 4 g

I think this will be a great recipe. From now on there will be a new recipe every post. And I'll put them on facebook too. In general life is pretty good, I'm almost to my first reward point (15 pounds lost) and then I will probably buy a new dress or something. I'm so looking forward to that!

German Chocolate Cake

oi, German Chocolate Cake is the DEVIL! LOL, I had two pieces this week, and now I understand why it is not on the menu for people losing weight. I gained 0.8 of a pound back! I had no idea there were that many calories in a single piece. It's like, sure I can eat that, if I don't eat anything else at all today.
Oh well, I've learned my lesson. The hard way, but I'll only need to learn it once. I'm definitely not going down the slippery slope of chocolate again. My goal is way too important to me. And not just so I can look cute or whatever. The real motivating factor for me is my health. I've been sick and tired for so long, sick and tired is all I know, and guess what? I'm sick and tired of it! Go figure. I don't want to have heart disease, or high blood pressure, or arthritis so bad I can't stand up straight or can't walk. I don't want to be at risk for stroke, and diabetes. And I just don't want to be plain old worn out long before I should be. I don't want my husband to have to watch me die through decades of ill health. Nope that life is not for me.

I want to feel good, and of course I want to look good too. But that desire isn't the one that will get me through another 61 pounds of exercise and food journaling.

I'm also very excited to be able to share my progress with my friends. And even more excited to help some of them do the same. They are amazing women who deserve the best. But this life doesn't just hand it over, we have to work for it.

Awesome week! So Sore! lol

Hey,
This week was great. I started my exercise goals this week in my weight loss program (self created). I'm using EA Active for Wii, it's challenging, and fun. I love it. I admit I am a bit sore after my first work out, my back muscles will be much stronger if the soreness is any indication.

Yesterday I got to hang out with my friend Leslie! It was a blast and exactly what I needed, men just don't understand the need for "girl time". We went to books-a-million and read parts of a couple of biographies. I read about a woman's quest to lose weight. It was hilarious. Leslie got a memoir about autism. We enjoyed fruit smoothies and lots of chatting. Then we went over to my new favorite clothing store, Cato, and looked at lots of gorgeous clothes. I told her all about the things I'm doing to lose weight, and the charts I made to break it down and track my progress. Then we ate mexican. Mexican is very different down here then it is back home.

When we got back to my place Cody was home from work and playing 360. So I left him be and we went to the bedroom to make her own weightloss plan. She is very excited, and I am really glad that I can help her out. Plus it's nice to have someone close by to share the journey with. It really is a journey.

Well, it's no longer insanely difficult for me to watch my food and count my calories. My mom always said it takes 21 days to form a habit, and I've done it. YAY. My next habit will be 5 workouts a week, hmmm, that could be tougher. Especially if I'm going to be this sore everytime I work out. But we'll see, my body can only protest my lack of couch potatoeness for so long before it gives up and I win!

Let's see, other things...I've started a new scripture study ritual which is awesome. Now I feel lighter in body and spirit!
I still miss my family, but I'm sure that will be the case forever. Love to all!

One of those weeks...

Overall this week was a good one. I spent most of the week out of the apartment, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately, I got to spend most of it painting. Which would have been okay, except for my sensitive artist eyes. The colors chosen by the renter for the house were...less that tasteful. Chocolate brown, which was okay. Dijon mustard yellow, or poo yellow, and tropicana yellow/orange. We weren't really sure. But all the living room needs now are a couple of beach chairs, paper umbrellas, and a palm tree. Glad thats over.

So the part of my week that was tough actually had nothing to do with painting or anything else. It was more the part where I had to eat fast food every day and I was very discouraged about my weight loss goals. I didn't think I could manage to make any progress this week if I ate Arby's and Taco bell for lunch every day. And I must admit that I'm still scale happy, so I stepped on it a couple of times during the week and saw some loss, and some gains. BAD IDEA! I vow, before all blog readers to only weigh once a week at my appointed time.

So how did I get my motivation back and not just eat the entire container of low fat ice cream in my freezer? I went to facebook and connected back in with my weight loss groups. Silly, I know, but it seems to keep me working. I read discussion boards and made a post here and there, and suddenly I was like,"Yeah I can do this. Fat here I come, Buh-Bye."

So the complete update of my progress...2.6 pounds lost this week, 60.8 to go! And after three weeks a grand total of 7.4 pounds lost! Maybe it doesn't seem like a lot, but in a couple more weeks my jeans will not only fit, but actually look good. It's been far too long since I could say that. And then I will swear of stretchy pants! So, just wait for the blog that says NO MORE STRETCH! lol

Easter!

Hey all,
I'm sure everyone knows this weekend was Easter weekend. Well, I did something I've never done before, and hopefully will never do again. I forgot. Until yesterday, thankfully though I had insisted that Husband and I go visit his folks today. And we did, it was great. The 5 of us visited with his parents and lil bro for several hours. They played wii games (I am too sore to really move much, my new exercise game did me in), got KFC, and watched Avatar the new movie. It was great. All of us together, just like the six months we lived with husband's parents...only better because at the end of the night we still have our own little home to go to. I'm sure everyone agrees that too many married couples sharing a household is not good in our society. In all it was kind of like going home, like a home away from home really. Part of me will always be back in Canada, in Stirling with my parents and sister's and brother. The open space, and the house I grew up in.

Anyway, at one point Husband (if you wonder why I call him that, it's because he isn't in on this...so it's best to let him be anonymous to anyone that might see it and not know us. And those that do, well, they know this wouldn't be his thing anyway) was messing with his lil brother, chasing him around the yard. Then he tells me that it helped get rid of some of the stiffness he has from our new exercise game. So I thought it might be a good idea for me to do some walking around too. Good news, I'm no worse for wear. But I don't feel much better either.
However, while we were out there my Mom did call, and that was the highlight of my weekend. I know I'll never miss my family any less, and I'll probably never really get used to it either. So it was really awesome to get to talk to all of them on the phone. I was maybe most excited about talking to my brother, he's the one I get to talk to the least. According to him (in his teasing) he can no longer call me "cracker", no he has to call me "hillbilly"...he's always good for a laugh!

In all it's been a great weekend, started out kinda rough, but things are looking up!

P.S. At this weekend's official weigh-in I lost 1 pound this week- total of 5, 63 to go!

My how you've changed...

Holy, things seem so different to me now. I'm mentally making grocery lists, and lists of things to fix and clean and make. And of course the infamous husband list...it's a list of things you really don't want on your list. That you figure eventually you'll get around to getting him to do them. The only thing is, it usually takes more effort to get husband to do the list you give him, then if you did it yourself. It never ceases to amaze me all the things that I want done, that I just don't want to take on myself. For example, there is this old, broken down entertainment center taking up valuable space in my bedroom. And considering that we live in a one bedroom apartment, space is...coveted. I told husband I wanted him to break it apart and take it to the dumpster, that was back in January, it is now April. I will admit that one day I decided to take it on myself, and I whacked at it with a hammer for about ten minutes. I only got one piece off, which did go to the dumpster. But then I realized that if I kept banging on it with the hammer, eventually it would collapse and probably on me. That's why it was a husband job. See, if I had gotten it apart and carted to the dumpster I'd hear,"Well I would have done it hunny, you didn't have to do all that." And if I had injured myself it would have gone something like this,"Why didn't you just wait for me to do it? All you had to do was ask." *chuckle* oh the irony. He forgets, I did ask, and I have waited, and yet...it's still taking up that space. So, there's my wife thought for the week.

So the change part! I remember the days, not so long ago when I was very different. I wouldn't say care free, just very different cares. My thoughts centered around where I wanted to go with which friend, and when I would have more money to spend on frivilous things like clothes. I spent most of my time just having fun really. And I'll admit I have fun now, but it's different. It's...responsible fun. Now I plan an afternoon with a friend a week or more in advance, which usually gets cancelled due to "husband needs this" or "got extra work" or "Whopper of a headache". And I suppose thats part of being a unit, a family. I don't know yet, how I feel about the title of house wife, when it doesn't include that of Mother. But this little family of mine is pretty wonderful.

All those things I do now, that I didn't even think about being involved in married life, I love. I'm very different from how I thought I'd be, but I'm more complete then I've ever been. Of course life isn't perfect. Like the fact that when I go to buy the groceries I have to push the shopping cart down several blocks to our apartment. The wheels screeching and bouncing the whole way, not my favorite thing ever. But it's a strange sort of little fulfillment, an accomplishment all my own.

I still have big dreams, and I know someday I'll be chasing them down just as determined and bullheaded as ever. I think now though, I'll be appreciating the little things along the way.

P.s. I am chasing one dream, and I'm sure all women have it at one point or another. To be thinner, or smaller, or skinny, how ever you want to put it. But bottom line, I'm a woman with a mission. I have a goal, a plan, and it's working! And I am so excited! My goal is to lose a grand total of at least 68.2 pounds, 5 down, 63.2 to go! I'm going to be healthy.........and wise. !