Let's Do This!

Alright, so it's Memorial Day.. which means it Monday.. which means it's the start of me and my BFF's weight loss challenge.. which means 8 have to step on a scale to see what my weight is.. ugh!  So here's the number:

244.6 lbs

I'm relieved that I didn't hit the 250 mark, which was where I'd started last year.. but I'm disgusted that I let my eating get THIS out of control.. :(

But it all stops today.. for now, I plan to count everything that goes into my mouth.. I don't care if it's a diet coke, I'm still tracking it.. I'm going to join WW online (hopefully) next Friday.. I'm not doing WW meetings, as I don't have time to go to meetings that are around me.. I realize that's an excuse, but I can't take off work for them, and I'd rather go to the gym than a meeting I'm not comfortable in..

So, here's to losing 64 lbs! May you go away somewhat quickly and permanently! Lol

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are..

Okay, so i'm back.. Officially, I'll be back on Tuesday... but I'm weighing in on Monday with my BFF Amanda to start our challenge.. :-)

Now it's your turn!  Come back to me! I miss reading comments.. they are really awesome when you have a crappy day.. So please come back..

Alrighty, I got a question for you all that will actually answer.. what are you doing to lose weight and keep it off? My way didn't work too well, so i'm thinking of possibly going back to WW (but doing it online) or just trying harder with the calories.. but I need some outside input.. PRETTY PLEASE?!

It's Official!!

I'M MOVING!

On the 1st of June, I will officially be starting my journey over again.. So this blog will still be here, but won't be used.. Until the 1st, I will continue to post on this blog.. So I have 8 days to get this new site up and running.. oh, and of course, here's the new address.. :)

http://www.findingmyfabself.com

This new blog will not only be about my weight loss journey, but my journey to find myself.. financially, physically, emotionally.. so I hope that you make the hop over to my new blog..

I Say Good-bye, and I'm Saying Hello..

I am saying good-bye today..

Good-bye to McDonald's..
Good-bye to eating bags of marshmallows (in one day)..
Good-bye to no activity what-so-ever..
Good-bye to letting myself eat whatever I want..
Good-bye to not caring about myself enough to fight for my skinny body..
Good-bye to wearing yoga pants 24/7..

I am saying hello tomorrow morning..

Hello to doing as much activity as I can daily..
Hello to my gym again..
Hello to my size 14 (then size 12 and 10) jeans..
Hello to my new fitness apps that haven't been used..
Hello to my ShakeWeight..
Hello to my iPod (that hasn't been used since I stopped going to the gym)..
Hello to Subway for on-the-go lunch or dinner..

While I'm not going to weigh in until the 1st of June, I plan to use the days between now and then to make sure I start with all the right tools under my belt, so to speak..  I don't think I'm just gonna wake up on the 1st and say "Gee, I'm gonna eat 100% healthy daily, go to the gym everyday, and lose this weight so easily".. I know this is gonna be a struggle, so I'm giving myself these days to 'ween' myself off the junk I've been allowing myself the past month or two..

Sadly, the gym thing will be a little slow going, as I've allowed myself to get behind on paying it, and thanks to my shopping addiction (and new car bills), I've been slacking on getting that paid up.. I can say I will have it fixed by the 2nd week of June, if my plans go the way they should.. :)

OH! Did I mention that I somehow LOST (and have recently found) the envelopes to send out the gift cards for my giveaway winners?! Seriously, I don't know how I function some days.. I'm so sorry to the two ladies that have these coming to them.. My intention is to get them on Tuesday and throw them in the mail that day..

Now, I've decided to start answering some comments at the end of my entries.. so please keep them coming.. :)

Kristi: of course I will let you know the address.. lol.. I plan to buy it tomorrow, so hopefully i'll post it tomorrow night..  i'm hoping I can find someone to make it kinda cutesy soon.. :)

Amy: I hope you have a great time in Minneapolis.. I will be there in spirit.. :)

Kelly, SJB and Lyndsay: I'm very happy to have the competition.. and i'm definitely jealous of her ability to lose weight, but i'm happy she's doing it.. and SJB you can so 'borrow' my idea.. ;)

My Name Is Sarah...

and I'm a failure..

Let me explain, before you try to tell me why I might not be a failure.. Because I'm pretty sure most of you would agree with me.. Even if you won't say it outloud.. lol.. Just a warning, this post bounces around a bit, so bear with me, k?! :)

I have officially been on this journey for almost 11 months now.. and I've only lost 20 lbs. And while that is great in itself, I am not proud that I've ONLY lost that much.. I have made excuses so often that I am not sure when I stopped really trying.. I haven't blogged in 6 days, and I haven't weighed in this week because I know it's going to show a gain..

After much diliberation, and silent crying, I have decided that I can not go on my trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul like I had originally planned.. and I was already half packed.. :( Thanks to my denial of the stress fracture in my foot, and my monetary issues that have recently been screwed up thanks to other people, I am having to stay in Indiana and work.. Honestly, I am so pissed at the "other people" that have basically forced my hand in this.. If it had just been my foot, I'd have hobbled with the other ladies that have ailments too..

Another thing that I've decided to do is to start a new blog.. I'm planning to get my own domain name, so please keep an eye out around the end of May as I plan to start my new blog on the 1st of June.. I hope you follow me over there, and if not, I totally understand.. :) The Memorial Day weekend was supposed to be my fresh start.. I planned to take my surroundings (a healthy meeting of health-conscious people) and use it as a jumping off point, so to speak.. Guess I'll have to push myself..

My BFF, Amanda, has been losing weight recently.. I'm so proud of her.. However, a small part of me is jealous of her.. because she is getting close to my size.. SO, she talked to me today about doing a little competition.. :) We would weigh in on the 1st of June, and whoever loses the most weight each month has to buy the other one a piece of clothing (within a certain amount of money, of course).. We both agreed, so this means I have physical support/motivation around me.. yay!

The kicker in all these things?! I have been so stressed out that my body decided I needed to deal with it by getting Shingles.. AGAIN!! UGH! If anyone knows anything about Shingles, you'd know that they are the painful version of Chicken Pox.. :( My first outbreak was at 15, and I've had two now since then.. They basically tell me that I've been pushing WAY too hard for WAY too long.. yay me.. So I'm sleeping more (or trying to), keeping away from anyone that's not been inoculated for chicken pox (or had them already), and loading up on calamine lotion..

So how've you all been?

Takin Some Time..

to work my ass off.. and not at the gym, but for the money.. I am exhausted bc I've been running around for the past 5 days in some way.. and while I'm not meaning to imply complaint (as I love the money and did this to myself), I'm still writing about it to let you know that I am still here, just sitting back and reading more than writing right now.. but I plan to be back tomorrow.. :)

Until I get back, I am going to leave you with a guest blogging post that was written for this blog (yes, it's 1000% better than the last one).. Lydia is a recent college graduate that is on her own healthy journey.. While she doesn't have a blog, she reads mine which makes this even more flattering.. Sadly, it took me a lot longer than I thought to publish this (as she sent this to me before I went into jail), but I finally got to read it and it hit home for me.. So I knew I had to share it with you all.. :) Enjoy!

There are some days when, inexplicably, I feel sad. Every little task seems impossible; I have to wait at every corner, the coffee pot is always empty, and I (over)analyze each of my interactions in a self deprecating manner. When I get in these moods, I get more upset at myself for being upset. I always try to rationalize and figure out the reasons for depression. However, sometimes we all just get in funks. 

I sometimes call these sad days, depressed days. I am aware that depression is real medical condition and I don’t mean to discuss it flippantly. However, I think there is a spectrum of feeling depressed, at some points I feel that way. When these sad days come one after another, and it is harder to find the motivation to eat well and exercise, it could be indicative of clinical depression. It is important to understand depression symptoms so you can distinguish between natural emotional cycles and a more serious problem that should be addressed with a health professional. 

Recently, instead of wallowing in my funk or trying to dissect why it is happening, I have been focusing on identifying ways to feel better.

Whenever I feel sad, my first reaction is to eat a cookie. Although this improves my mood for the thirty seconds I am ingesting it, I always feel worse afterwards. I start to think about how I didn’t go to the gym because I wasn’t feeling up to it, then I crash from the sugar and think about eating another cookie to improve my mood. 

Even though it is hard to find the motivation to work out when in a funk, exercising is the perfect antidote. The endorphins that are released can improve mood and provide sustained energy to attack other tasks the rest of the day. 

In addition to forcing myself to the gym, I have tried to ward off the blues by eating certain foods. I recognize that cookies are only a fake fix, so I read this article on depression dieting tips to see if there were foods that would help. I was surprised to learn that carbo loading might help prepare you for a big race not only because carbs are a good source of energy, but they can also reduce anxiety. Eating carbohydrates lowers stress by raising serotonin levels in the brain.

Selenium and vitamin D have also been recognized as mood elevators. Selenium is in foods, like beans, seafood, nuts and whole grains. By eating whole grain pasta and bread, you get the benefit of carbs and selenium. Seafood is also a good choice because it contains omega-3 fatty acids. Ingesting more of these “good fats” has been linked with reduced rates of depression. The fish with the highest concentrations omega-3 fatty acids are herring, trout, salmon and tuna.

I am lucky that one of my favorite foods, salmon, is full of this good fat. There is nothing tastier than a toasted everything bagel loaded with cream cheese, lox, cukes, tomatoes and onions. Although carbs can help reduce stress, that many refined carbs will negate any potential benefits. Instead of eating this decadent brunch, which leaves me feeling bloated the rest of the day, I make a few substitutions that are just as delicious. I replace the bagel with whole wheat toast and cream cheese with greek yogurt. In addition to being a healthier option, greek yogurt and lox on toast is easier to eat. You can pile veggies on this open face sandwich without the fearing that each bite will destroy the sandwich!

Unlike cookies, eating whole grain carbohydrates, fish, beans and nuts fit into the healthy diet I try to maintain. Knowing the additional benefits to my mood, motivates me to pass on junk food even when I feel I deserve a treat to get out of my funk.

OH!  Just a little PS.. I was given an award over the past week, and I guest blogged (FINALLY) over at F.A.B's blog.. so check it out if ya wanna know what it takes to do this journey with a mental disorder..

Randomness and Guilt

Okay, so I've been off working my booty off these past two weeks.. and while I had a wonderful guest blogger (which I was surprised to see no comments on..), i've missed blogging..  so, to bring my blog back, i'm making this a funny/random post.. enjoy!

** I haven't been using my Camelbak water bottle for over 2 months.. why?!  Bc my filter is gross and I don't think it works the same if I just take it out.. on the SUPER bright side, Target now sells the 3 pk of filters for $10.. WOOHOO!

** Since getting my Android phone 3 weeks ago, I am addicted.. I do everything from this thing.. track calories, find recipes, find coupons, read/write blogs (this just happening today unfortunately), etc..

** I have officially been away from my gym for 6 weeks now.. :(  I feel so lazy and sick of my excuses.. the only reason i've been away is bc my brain justifies spending my money on ANYTHING but my gym membership.. but no more!  I'm paying on it on Monday, and my gym bag is in my car..

** On the 27th of May, just 13 days from today, I will be setting out for my trip to Minnesota to do the Challenge Hearts & Minds 5k with the PriorFatPack peeps.. I'm getting more excited as the day gets closer.. while I haven't ran at all in the past few weeks, I believe I won't have a worse time than my last one..

** I have decided this past week (sorry mom) that I will start looking into seriously moving out of my parents home in September.. Hopefully I'll be able to move out by Spring 2012.. :)  Until then, I plan to buy, or save for, furniture.. Hello, layaway..

Well, I know I'm forgetting stuff, but I plan to be back tomorrow.. hopefully I'll remember by then.. lol

Weigh In and a Food Review

Well, it's been a pretty hectic week for me.. so hectic that I didn't have time to post my weigh in.. so to get it on here, here it is..

227.8

I'm pretty proud of my 1 lb loss.. especially since I was having problems tracking calories a few days.. but this loss is just watching my calories, no exercise (thanks to forgetting to update my debit card information at my gym).. but I'm hoping to get out tomorrow morning, either to the gym or running outside..

So this past week has been super busy, and super stressful as I said earlier.. had my great-great-aunt die a few days ago, her funeral was today.. I couldn't get myself to go, thanks to my anxiety.. why, you may ask?! My anxiety peaked about 4 years ago, when my 26 year old cousin died from kidney failure.. I could barely go up to the casket, then I almost ran outside hyperventilating.. haven't been to a funeral since.. and prolly won't for a while.. just thinking about it last night kept me up crying for a couple hours.. ugh!

On a more positive note, I found this new food packet in my Walmart a few days ago, and after trying it tonight, I had to share.. It's called Tortilla Stuffers from Old El Paso.. I got the mesquite chicken kind, but they have two other kinds too.. it's a low-calorie food (90 calories for 1/3 cup), and I put the serving on a medium tortilla.. I had two servings, and I am pleasantly full.. the only bad thing about it is more of a personal thing.. it needs some kind of sauce, like sour cream, next time.. lol

***** I have not been paid for this review.. This review is purely my opinion, and is to be taken as just that.. *****

Well, crap..

I had this wonderful post about being inspired by people and other stuff, and I just deleted it.. ugh! Well, I'll be sure to try to repost it tomorrow.. Today has been a pretty good day, despite it not starting like I'd hoped.. and tomorrow I won't be able to run in the morning either.. luckily that will be fixed once I get off work..

I was thinking back over the past few weeks, to when I found tracking calories to be too hard.. and after doing it today, I wonder how I got so lazy.. Honestly, it's not that hard.. I look at the calorie content of most things anyways.. now I just have to make sure to put it online.. The good thing about this time around is that, thanks to my new Droid phone, I truly have no reason to 'forget' to track.. the calorie counting app is on my home screen.. so I can't miss it.. :)

I found it hard to get 2000 calories today, believe it or not.. I was afraid if I ate anything else after dinner, I'd go crazy, so I'm just staying with the 1520 I'm at now.. I'm hungry, but that's the way it's supposed to be right?!

Reboot: Day 1

Today started out with the best of intentions.. I was going to wake up at 8am, go for a run around the neighborhood I'm working in, take a shower and be ready by 11.. which is when my shift starts again (it's weird but pretty nice).. HOWEVER, my plans got crapped on by the lovely rain that decided to come in this morning.. :(

As much as I wanted to go run, I'm not ready to run rain or shine.. so I went back to sleep.. lol.. I did wake up and eat a Fiber One bar and for breakfast I ate 1 packet of sugar free maple & brown sugar oatmeal and a large apple cut up.. and I'm having a hard time finishing my apple.. lol

Well, my day is starting off generally well.. hoping for the day to continue to go well.. :)

Reboot..

Yes, I really just put that as my title.. because I want to do this with my whole weight loss journey.. Just start from scratch.. and since it's my journey, I'm going to.. lol

I weighed myself tonight and it said 228.8 lbs.. I technically am not "rebooting" until May 1st, when I will weigh in OFFICIALLY, then continue with my Friday weigh ins.. I truly hope May is a great month for me, as April sure has been a doozy.. :(

I'm not sure when I gave myself the pass to eat like shit, but I'm revoking it.. My plan?  To go as basic as necessary, and "earn" the extras like Goldfish crackers and other stuff like it.. I'm thinking Cheerios with skim milk and equal, or oatmeal , with a banana for breakfast; protein and veggie or fruit for lunch; and protein, carb and veggie for dinner.. I'm thinking for right now, I will stick with packaged stuff or sandwiches.. This way I know how many calories I am eating EXACTLY.. 

My goals for April are hilarious.. they were possible in the beginning of April, but this was before I got arrested, before the mom of my kids I babysit decided to give me two weeks off (meaning -$400 income), before my stress overwhelmed me..

 

Original April Goals

** I want to see 20? on that scale by the end of April **

I will be happy if I end April below 230 lbs..  I plan to make it to this by 

the end of June.. I think that's doable, as long as I keep my eye on the ball..

** I will NOT allow myself to "forget" my Virginia plans for the end of the month **

While I didn't "forget" my trip to Virginia, I did have to reschedule it.. I shouldn't have 

tried to do it this month anyways.. paying for tags and insurance kept me 

from saving any money for it.. let alone bail, and the lack of funds..

** I will boost my savings back up **

HA!  While this is an evolving goal for me, we all know that this 

didn't have a small chance in hell to happen.. 

** I will start trying new workouts like I wanted to in the beginning of this journey **

Yeah, I wish I could say I at least accomplished this one.. But I can't.. :(

Well, life has certainly thrown me some whoppers this month, but Sunday starts a fresh month, and I plan to strive for greatness with it.. so here's to starting over, and making the new run better than the old.. Does that make sense?!  lol

 

Baby Steps..

That's my motto for right now.. every good thing that I do to put my in the right direction is just one more baby step closer to getting back to where I want to be..

Yesterday was a good day, all in all.. I went to court and the judge (who looked like Paul McCartney, I swear) honestly looked like this case was totally stupid.. but this court hearing was just the pre-pre-trial.. basically to make sure I understand what I'm being charged with (which I'm still confused as to why bouncing ONE check=check deception), and the min/max penalties for this charge.. and then we set a date for my pre-trial.. ugh! THANKFULLY my judge thought this was kinda stupid, bc he said he recommends that i represent myself (which I was leaning towards anyways) and that the judge would most likely use my bail to pay the check and fees and that'd be it.. I'll find out tomorrow at 9am.. I hope I can come here tomorrow and say I'm done with the FC/NA courts for good.. lol

All that took about 45 minutes, and my anxiety made it pretty much a sleepy day after that.. sobI let my client know I wasn't coming and took a nap.. then woke up refreshed and did some spring cleaning.. :) THEN my friend Laina text me that she was takin her puppy walking at the lake I live next to, and I usually decline (either bc of work or laziness).. well, yesterday I joined her.. and it rained on us.. but we still did 2 laps.. and now that I think about it, I have no idea how far that is.. lmao.. I'll have to use my new MapMyRun app for it next time..

Today, I have to go to work.. I am off from babysitting for the next TWO weeks! ugh.. so I can't afford to miss anymore work.. but with all the rain we've been having, I've let myself sit on the couch and "enjoy" it.. well, today I put on my workout gear and went out to try my newly downloaded MapMyRun in my neighborhood.. I ran .65 miles in almost 9 minutes.. kinda slow, but I'm happy bc I didn't stop running.. and that's great to me.. I'm hoping to do this at least everyday.. and get my mileage up there for the 5k I'm running on Memorial Day.. :)


**UPDATED** HS asked for more details of my court issues.. so here they are.. lol

This all goes back to Sept. 2007, when i got my fur baby Sammy fixed.. I've posted pics of him before I think.. I was living on my own (with my roomie, I mean) and barely working.. they have a program down here that gives yo vouchers to help with the costs of getting them fixed, so I'd only have to pay $6.. I went to go get him, with the $6 on hand, and they told me they'd done something extra, so it'd be $26 instead.. not knowing what to do, and not having the cash on hand, I wrote a check, figuring I could get the $20 into the bank before it cleared (this is an assumption, I'm not really sure what I thought).. it bounced.. well, somewhere in all this crap, I got seriously depressed and moved back to my parents place.. I moved back at the beginning of December.. no phone calls were made, but with all the changing of addresses, I aaume the notices got lost..

I honestly forgot about the check, until the beginning of Jan 2008, when I got a letter from the county prossecutor.. I couldn't get off work to go to the court date, so they issued a bench warrant.. 3 years later, i get pulled over by an ISP officer and that's why I went to jail.. I think that's all of it.. My main issue is why they didn't just send me to collections.. that's got to be cheaper than court.. ugh!

Up In The Air

Before i say anything, I want to wish you all a Happy Easter.. hope you all spent today with loved ones.. I had to work.. still on the fence on if I'm happy or disappointed by this, as I've made killer money today.. but I missed my neice's first Easter..

Well, as my title says, I'm a little up in the air right now.. life has thrown me all sorts of tests and curveballs.. pretty sure i'm failing some of the tests, and who in the world said I could juggle?! lol.. Tomorrow is my court date.. I'll be sure to let ya know what happens.. I can honestly say I'm terrified of it, but wanting to get it over with..

Part of me wants to put the weight loss thing "officially" on the back burner (bc we all know it's been there for a while already), and figure out my life before getting back into it.. THEN, there's the rational part of me that tells myself that my life is ALWAYS chaotic and if I did that, then I'm gonna be fat forever.. so I'm putting this back to my top 5 priority list.. bc there are too many things to make it #1.. lol.. but life isn't going to go away bc I'm trying to stop being fat.. I've got to learn to accomidate, I guess..

NOTE: I feel like I've been a bad blogging buddy.. I've not been commenting on your blogs, and I feel so bad about it.. I'm hoping to work on that during the week, as I'll be more able to read blogs on my coputer.. the text is too small on my phone..

Who Is This For?

Well, I'm starting to wonder where my life is going.. and it isn't a pretty picture, so to speak.. I'm reading this book, "A Slice of Heaven" by Sherryl Woods.. The part that is inspiring this entry is where she's just had sex with her ex husband and is worried that he finds her fat, bc she thinks she is.. and high-tails it to the gym and finds a personal trainer.. then she says that she's doing it bc of her ex.. the trainer says that he'd rather she did it for herself.. and here's where I'm "inspired": she says that if she did it for herself, she'd have never came to the gym that day..

My motivation for this SHOULD be me.. but at this point, honestly, I don't think I'm worth the effort.. wait, before you send the outpour of love, hear me out.. Most of this journey has been half-assed.. and I'm sure you all agree.. and I've gained 2 more lbs this past week.. I need to look at losing weight as a job, aka something that I can't afford to call in to or miss.. even if it's just for strength training at my house.. I need to lose weight for the guy who will come into my life someday.. and will love the packaging as much as i do (bc right now, I hate my packaging)..

We all have motivation.. and some of you aren't doing this primarily for yourself.. maybe for your health, your kids, whatever.. and I don't think this makes us any different than people doing it for themselves.. we may need more therapy, but who doesn't need it anyways.. lol

btw, i am writing this entry from my new Droid 2.. YAY! So I apologize for any issues with spelling/spacing.. lol

Well, well, well..

For those of you who are wondering about my court date, here's the scoop.. and for those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, here's the link.. lol

So I went to court, with a few detours, and was going to be a few minutes late.. I wanted to have the money to pay off the check IN MY HANDS before court.. so I called to see if I had a certain time, or if it was a general time and they'd get to ya when they got to ya.. Wellllllllllllllll, two transfers later (and multiple attempts to get the clerks phone number),  I was finally told that my court date wasn't until NEXT Monday.. WHAT?!

Yeah, after all that crap, and a 45 minute drive, I have to come back next week to do it again.. OH, and the bitchy lady I finally talked to told me that if it were today, I'd have already been 30 minutes late.. UGH!  Who peed in her Cheerios this morning, huh?!  Did I mention that I had to miss work to go to this damn thing?!  Now I have to inconvenience them again next Monday.. :(

Well before this call, I had called the Meds Department to see about getting my prescriptions back that were in my purse when I was brought in.. and then was told that I could have had them back on FRIDAY when I was released.. EXCUSE ME?!  Why does this have to be so difficult??  Isn't there some kind of manual they can give first timers??  Honestly, my mom incurred at least $50 worth of charges (for collect calls on a cell phone and bank fees) because they didn't tell either of us the correct way to do things..

So basically, while the trip wasn't a total waste of gas and energy.. in theory it was.. because if I'd been told all this in the beginning, I would have been working instead of driving all around Southern Indiana..

Weekly Goals

So I've decided to start making a weekly Monday post of my goals.. instead of putting them on my sidebar.. This way you all can see I posted them, and I can be held more accountable to them..  So here we go.. hopefully this will make it to next week.. ;)

Weekly Goals for April 18th- 24th

** Use online food journal for EVERY meal **

** Don't gain weight **

** Workout at least 3 times this week **

** Get giveaway items in the mail **

Well, here they are.. not too hard, really.. and I will hopefully remember these on Sunday, so I can recap on how I did with them.. :)   Oh, and I will fill you in later on how my court date DIDN'T go.. ugh!

Friend Makin Mondays

FMM: The Grocery Store

1. Do you make a list when you go grocery shopping? Do you stick to it?  Nope, I generally go with an idea with what I want, but there is no pen to paper.. hopefully once I get my Android phone, I'll be able to fix this, because I always end up forgetting SOMETHING.. lol

2. Do you buy more groceries when you're hungry?   Definitely.. But if I get to the point where I'm not hungry anymore, I actually don't buy anything I came to the store for, because the idea of eating is gross..

3. Coupons. Use 'em?  I try to use them, but most of them expire before I remember to use them.. But I have been working on getting/using them.. :)

4. Have you ever complained to the manager of your grocery store?  Oh yeah.. I've worked for Wal-Mart before, so I know how important it is to make yourself known.. as long as it's something fixable..

5. Do you like to buy groceries at huge chain stores like Wal-Mart and Target? Or do you shop exclusively at food stores?  I shop at Wal-Mart, mostly.. sometimes I comp shop.. but since I don't get the paper, it's gotten harder to do that.. I don't go to food stores most of the time because they are so much more expensive..

6. How much time do you spend reading labels in the grocery store?  I agree with Kenz.. I usually eat the same thing over and over again, so I know what things say on the labels.. but I do look at stuff when I buy different things..

7. Do you push your own grocery cart to the car and return it? I do push my own grocery cart.. will someone else do it for me????  lol.. that'd be nice.. bc sometimes the crowds in Wal-Mart are nuts!  But I do try to return it to the cart thing, unless I can't find one and it's raining..

8. What is the one food item you always buy at the grocery store that you must have in the kitchen?

Dannon Yogurt, cheese sticks, Goldfish crackers, bananas, Healthy Life 100% Whole Wheat bread

9. Do you enjoy grocery shopping? Yeah, I usually do..

10. How often do you shop for groceries? I tend to do my major shopping on Fridays.. and then prolly go twice during the other 6 days to get stuff that goes bad quickly, aka fruits and veggies, and stuff I forgot.. lol

On A Happier Note..

I have ordered myself a new phone.. thank goodness!  It's the new Droid 2.. and I'm so excited to get all the apps that I have seen on the Verizon Wireless website.. :)

I'm wondering which Calorie Counter app is the best for me.. so anyone that has an iPhone or a Droid (or any other kind of app-friendly phone), please let me know what you think of your apps.. and which ones you would recommend.. :)

This Past Week = MAJOR FAIL!!!

Well, hello, my lovely followers.. and welcome to all the ones that've recently started following..

As the title of this entry states, this past week has been summed up to be a MAJOR fail.. not just major, but with capital letters.. ugh!  And because I want to get it all out of my brain, here I am.. finally.. lol

I've already told you about Tuesday.. well, the rest of the week, Wednesday and Thursday, was just as crappy.. I ate anything I could get my hands on.. and McDonald's was a big issue for me.. sadly.. I'm not sure what happened, but this week just threw me for a loop..

Now Friday, well that day was a doozy.. I was running late for work, so me being me, I was a little speedy on the Interstate.. so my luck just wouldn't quit being bad, and I got pulled over.. my an Indiana State police officer.. Well, he was nice enough to give me a warning.. I was going 7 miles over the speed limit.. he gave me a warning bc he was arresting me for a 3 year old warrant from another county.. seriously?!  It was for "Failure To Appear" btw..

Even the cop was kinda sympathetic.. which was really great.. he handcuffed me, after I called my mom (to save me from impound fees), with my hands in front of me.. and I rode in the front seat.. I was in jail for almost 4 hours.. worst four hours of my life!!!  And I even had to call the dad of the kids I was babyistting for to let him know I was being arrested.. how embarrassing!  All I can think is that I'm thankful that my parents were so great to come get me out so quickly.. and that my bail was only $500, so they paid the 10% and got me out.. if they hadn't been able to, I'd have been stuck in there all weekend.. :(   So I have to go to court on Monday at 9:30.. and I plan to go with as much information as physically possible..

Oh, did I mention I weighed in on Friday morning before I left for work?!  Yeah, I'd gained 5lbs in ONE WEEK!!  WHAT?!  Yep, that's me.. I can gain weight like nobody else.. :(   This weekend hasn't been much better.. physically, it's been better.. eating, it's been just as bad.. ugh!  Which has led me to realize that I really haven't been taking this weight loss seriously for quite some time..  It's so easy to blame my life, or whatever else, on my inability to permanently lose weight.. but it's not the truth.. the truth is I honestly haven't cared about what I'm doing for a few months.. 

I was going to the gym at least 4 days a week for a while.. then I realized I was getting home later and later every day.. and that was an excuse for me.. now, I'm sitting here thinking "what the hell does it matter what time I get home at?! My DVR is recording all my shows, and I'm not gonna watch them until later anyways.. so why not go to the gym when I could?!"  It's so sad that I've wasted all this time when I should have realized all this earlier.. I've been just coasting by, living life at 50% (if that).. and that's not the kind of life I deserve.. I deserve to put in the effort now, to live a comfy life LATER.. I need to earn my comfy life.. 

So, as of tomorrow, I will be up 90 minutes before I have to leave for work everyday.. on days I don't work, I will get up by 9am.. I will eat breakfast everyday (even if it's just a banana).. I will pack a lunch to eat at work.. I will count calories like a madman.. I will try my hardest to stay away from drive-thru's.. and I will cook at least twice a week (this is not including my mom's cooking).. and I will stop eating throughout the night (big no-no)..

I know some of you are like "HALLELUJAH! SHE'S FINALLY SEEN THE LIGHT!!"  and then some of you are prolly thinking sympathetic thoughts.. but I don't blame anyone for thinking the first thing.. I am hoping this is finally the "light".. especially since in 3 months, I've been on this journey for a year.. and 25 lbs in a year isn't really something to be proud of.. at least not to me..

Stress + Lack of Time = Chocolate Binge

Ugh!  Today was a decent day.. it had it's ups and downs, but the downs got pretty bad when I went to my client's house to finish up last minute cleaning stuff (they are coming home tonight), and when I went to the basement to do some laundry, I noticed there was water all over the floor..  We've had some bad storms in the past few days, but this was enough water that I really thought a pipe had burst.. :(  I was FREAKING out!  Long story short, I had to leave with the water still pouring out of the wall.. But, I found out it wasn't a pipe, and my client knows what he's coming home too.. 

This leads me up to my title.. Being hungry before all this happened wasn't so bad.. I had planned to make some dinner as soon as I got home.. but stressing out about the water brought out the chocolate cravings.. REAL BAD.. :(  All I kept thinking when I bought it was "Chocolate with peanuts can't be THAT bad, can it?!"  Yeah, pretty sure it's that kind of thinking that's kept me from losing weight in the past.. grr!  But I succumbed to it, and I will move on..

Today I did two leg exercises today.. one from a magazine, and one bc I didn't want to do anymore kinds of squats.. lol.. I did calf raises on my stairs and this squat move called a Wide Sumo Squat.. you basically stand with your feet more than shoulder width apart (like a sumo wrestler, hence the name I figure) and squat.. on your way back up, you squeeze your butt muscles.. you do this for 3 sets of 15.. this actually was easier than the calf raises.. but that could be bc I did them BEFORE the calf raises.. lol

I'm off to read a book, and chill out for the night.. Tomorrow?!  Planning to catch up on what you all have been doing.. :)

At Home Challenge

So I tried on my new "goal" pants.. they are size 14 khakis from American Eagle.. I'll post pics of them later today.. but my point of talking about these?  My thighs aren't following the rest of my body so much.. so what am I gonna do?????  Well, I'm gonna read magazines, of course!

hehe, I'm sure some of you are like WTF?!  How's that gonna get your thighs SLIMMER.. well, like most of us I'm sure, I have subscribed to fitness/health magazines for YEARS.. honestly, I've prolly subscribed to Fitness and Shape magazine for longer than any other magazine (and I used to get all the teen ones, back in the day).. I save them all up for a year, after looking at them, then in January I go through them, pull out all the interesting stuff, and throw the other part away..  So this has left me with lots of exercises and stuff to try out on my own.. 

Where are all these papers?  In a box under my desk.. lol.. but I'm breaking them out and going to start doing some of these each day.. My challenge for myself is to do 3 different exercises (not sets, exercises) for my bottom half each day..  I will try to post pictures from the magazines to show you all what I'm doing, or what magazine/issue it's from in case you are like me and horde your magazines for a while.. :)

It starts today!  Well, I hope you all had a great weekend..  Here's my question to you:

Now that Spring has sprung, what are you planning to incorporate into your workout?  You going to start biking?  Running/Walking outside instead of on the treadmill?  Rollerblading?

Quick Update..

Thanks to all that have responded to my previous post.. even Trisha's hubby!  :)  I definitely agree it sounded a little desperate, and I guess I should have given a little back story to all of it, but hey, I was a little worried that I'd freak him out.. Well, I guess I didn't.. :)

sure....if im single again. right now im not, even tho it says single. 

thats just for a front, kinda. anyways i dont know y i 

just stopped talking to ya. u just gave me a vibe 

that u werent intesrested. sorry. 

Backstory: We've known eachother for years (he was my younger brother's friend back in middle school), and last June he found me on FB.. we started hanging out, and well, sparks flew.. we were both shocked at how much we liked eachother, and of course me being very unhappy with my body, I self-sabotaged it.. I had to know what we were doing, if we were dating, etc.. Can ya tell I'm not a big fan of the gray area?!?!?  lol..

But I figure I scared him off.. with good reason, but hey, we all make mistakes.. so, technically, we never made it to the bf/gf stage, so he's not really an ex.. more of a missed opportunity, so to speak.. AND this is not to say I will be waiting around for him to become single.. but seeing as I haven't had many options recently (or any at all.. lol), it's probably totally likely that I'll be single for a bit..

I'm really relieved that he answered the way he did.. I was worried that he'd be like NO WAY.. lol

Putting Yourself Out There..

So, on a subject not totally related to weight loss but kinda is, on my 30 under 30 page is to start dating again.. and while I started off with a bang.. I've somewhat fizzled now.. But I hope to fix that.. Not sure how, but I'm gonna figure it out.. :)

Why is it so hard for (some of) us to put ourselves out there WHILE we are losing weight?!  I want to just go outside and scream to the world that I'm HOT and I know it!  But I'm afraid to.. bc what if noone "agrees" with me.. what if someone laughs at me.. and more questions along that line.. Do you have those kinds of issues??  If you DON'T, how did you get to there??

In the back of my head, there is a certain person I want a second chance with.. but of course, my timing is CRAP!  But I took a leap of faith and FB messaged him (I deleted his number out of my phone, so this is what I'm left with).. so I need your HONEST opinion.. I promise not to bitch about the comments, well not too much.. hehe.. 

"Okay, so I'm just gonna put this out there.. If ya ever get single again 

(which just sounds bad), can I get a second chance?? lol :)"

So what do you think?????  Would you answer it????  And did I totally just throw myself under the proverbial bus????  PLEASE let me know.. Especially all those guys out there!!!!  JP, Tim, Alan, HS.. help a girl out here!!

Quick Weigh-In

Overslept this morning (I <3 my bed SO MUCH!!), so I don't really have time for more than a quick official weigh-in and a few words.. :)   So, I was even more excited to see the numbers on the scale this morning.. I'm officially out of the 220's now.. YAY!!!

219.6 lbs

- 3.6 

Woohoo!!  I mean, honestly, I was excited to see those numbers, let alone see that I lost my TOM weight AND a bit more!  YAY!!   I'm so happy!  Oh, and due to fabric issues (I picked the holes in my jeans to where they were splitting higher into the jeans), I had to throw away my size 16 jeans.. so there's more incentive to get out of the 16's and into my 14's that are waiting to be worn.. :)

JUST A REMINDER: If you won one of my giveaway's, you have until today to claim your prize.. If I don't hear from you by the end of today, I will be drawing again for that prize.. I hate to do that, but I don't want to wait too long to ship stuff out.. I'm too forgetful for that.. :(

Well, Holy Cow!!

Okay, so I couldn't resist.. I had to weigh myself tonight.. Even if my weigh in is tomorrow morning, I couldn't resist.. I've been feeling so much slimmer since Tuesday.. Honestly, I can't be any happier (well, I could be tomorrow morning if I see a bigger loss.. lol).. I'm officially at 30.0 lbs!  WOOHOO!  And I'm not going to see the 220's EVER AGAIN!!!!  NEVER!!

My eating has stopped being so salty THANK GOODNESS on Tuesday (well, Monday night, technically).. and thanks to my love of grapes (and finally having those stomach issues everyone's warned me about), I'm pretty sure I've lost 2 lbs of crap (pun TOTALLY intended).. lol.. 

Oh, and while I had every intention to do multiple entries on Tuesday, I got sidetracked.. by Nora Roberts, that is.. 

The Bride Quartet, Book 2

The Bride Quartet, Book 3

I started book 2 in this series with great excitement.. and then made it halfway through book 3 by 11pm.. lol.. I don't know why I've never read anything by Nora Roberts before, but I'm going to go find more books by her.. because the woman knows how to write her sex scenes.. and for a single girl, that's WAY important!!  hehe.. Well, I'm off to listen to the last book.. yep, my BFF let me borrow her Book on CD for the 4th book.. so I can listen to it while I drive.. yep, I do that.. lol

Buzz.. Buzz.. Buzz..

So many things buzzing in my head right now that I want to blog about.. but I don't wanna make your eyes cross from reading too much, so I'll prolly have a few entries today.. just a warning.. :)

Okay, random insert here.. Does it bug ANYONE else when someone starts consecutive sentences with the same word??  It bothers me, and I hate doing it on here, but then I realized how many words there are to start a sentence with.. Good gravy!  Where's a thesaurus when I need it.. lmao

----------------

So (see, this is really bothering me, but I'm going to ignore it.. lol), I just recently started following JP @ Prior Fat Guy.. sorry, JP, Sabrina just told me how to follow you on here.. lol.. but seriously, if you don't follow him, what the heck are you waiting for?!  He's a dude, he's pretty funny, and he's in the same boat as we are.. two thumbs up from me.. :)



Me and my momma.. I was prolly 3 or 4 here..



Me my senior year.. 2001.. I was so heavy that I had to wear men's shirts.. ugh!

But he posted a pic today of himself as a child eating fruit.. and that made me remember stuff from my childhood (and what my mom has told me over the years).. While I didn't start off small (I was a 10 lb baby), most pictures I have of me (and there are TONS!) are of me skinnier.. and when I got into Kindergarten or 1st grade, I started taking Ritalin.. yep, I have ADHD, and nope, I haven't "grown" out of it..  But what I remember of my childhood I ate pretty good food.. My mom packed our healthy lunches until I was prolly in 3rd grade (I'm not sure how accurate this is), but I have a memory in 5th grade of buying my lunch at school in VA.. and of course, you don't eat "healthy" at school.. you eat pizza, chocolate milk, chips, etc..

When I moved to Southern Indiana, I was still thin.. Honestly, thanks to JCPenneys, I never saw single digit juniors sizes.. I was in a 20 Plus in girls for a while I think.. but in 6th grade, my mom decided to take me off of Ritalin.. and my eating habits stayed the same.. the sad thing about this is that by this time, when I COULD eat, I ate junk.. the Ritalin upset my stomach (a side effect) and my mom worried about this.. with good reason, I'm sure now.. So as I got older, I gained weight.. I didn't care.. not sure why, but I just didn't.. and looking back at pictures, I wonder what the hell I was thinking.. and all I can answer is I probably wasn't thinking at all..

But now, at 27 years old, my habits have always fallen back to what's easy.. It's easy to eat stuff from a can, from a drive thru, or from a box.. Honestly, I'm back at that point now still at that point.. and I'm about to go look for some chicken recipes.. but seriously, when do we stop relying on the easy stuff to do what's worth it?!  I'm stopping NOW!  Life is never going to be easy 24/7.. I'd settle for easy sleep every day.. lol.. but I need to fight for what I want, and need, and I haven't been doing that for the past few months..

Well, I'm off to go look for recipes that are somewhat easy (yeah, that's easy I'll go with too) and not too complicated.. and to read some more blogs.. :)

Sorry To Keep You Waiting..

But I had to go to my house 30 minutes away and get clothes and get some cuddle time with my fur-baby Sammy.. I love him so much..



Ain't he cute?!  I <3 him so much.. :)

Alright, so on with what you really want to hear about, right?!  I went on Random.org and did the "drawing", and I decided to do this a little differently than originally planned.. Three drawings for the list of people that left comments, and two for the list of people that "liked" my Facebook page.. So here are the winners:

** Fat, Angry Blog-- a $10 Victoria's Secret gift card..

bc I think EVERY lady needs more than one pair of cute panties.. ;)

** Vegan Chick Pea-- a $10 Bed, Bath, Beyond gift card..

for you and your hubby to buy a little something for your new home together.. :)

** http://ajslevine.blogspot.com/-- 1 Year Subscription to Self Magazine..

to help you in your journey to feel good inside and out.. :)

** http://spoonfulofme.blogspot.com/-- 1 Year Subscription to Fitness Magazine..

to help inspire you with new workout ideas and yummy meals during the beginning of your journey.. :)

** http://wolfpackchick10.blogspot.com/-- New colorful earbuds (color of your choosing)..

bc listening to music on CUTE earbuds makes running SO much more tolerable.. ;)

I hope you all enjoy your gifts, and I will be notifying all of the winners as soon as this is posted.. so if you are a winner, please check your email you have listed on your blog/profile, as I will be needing a place to send this stuff.. HERE'S THE CATCH!  If I don't hear from you by Friday, I will be drawing again.. so please don't lose out on this free stuff.. :)

And congratulations again to Shari, my 100th follower.. :)

TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS: Thank you for following my blog.. You all are a great family and keep me coming back.. even if I've done crappy, I still look forward to coming on here and seeing your comments and blogs.. I cannot ever express the gratitude in which I feel towards all of you that keep coming back.. :)

Well, It's Official..

I have reached 100 followers!!  WOOHOO!!

Shari @ FindingAWeigh is my 100th follower!  I've just recently been following her blog, and she saw my comment on her blog and realized she wasn't following me.. what good timing! :)

So, Shari has won the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook.. and I will be using random.org to find the 5 lucky winners for the other prizes that I plan to give away..  BUT, it'll be on a later post, as I'm not running late for work.. lol.. Congrats, Shari!  and good luck to all you commenters and followers!!  :)

Almost There.. AND New Way To Enter..

Well, I'm at 99 followers, so I'm starting to go through comments and put down names of the people that have left comments.. For those who want to know how to enter, it's really simple..

Leave me a comment on ANY of my entries from the beginning of March 2011 to now.. and you can leave comments until I officially close the giveaway down (which won't be til I see I've hit 100 followers).. See?!  REALLY easy! 

For my Facebook friends who don't have a Google/Blogger Id, please leave me a comment under an entry on my page, and that'll count as an entry.. :)

I've added another way to get an entry.. Follow me on Facebook!  My blog has a page, and if you follow it, you'll get an additional entry.. :) 

But be sure to hurry, ya never know when I'll finally hit 100 followers!  Hopefully soon!  YAY!

You don't have to do anything with Twitter (I still don't know how to use it), but you can follow me if you want.. You don't have to blog about it in your blog (unless you want to, then it's TOTALLY okay with me.. hehe).. Just comment or follow me on Facebook.. so simple..

Better Late Than Never, Right?!

Alright, so I'm officially a chicken.. at least on here, bc I am a chicken in daily life all the time.. lol.. I was hoping to be able to come on here and say that my almost 2 lb gain that I saw on the scale on Friday morning was gone by the end of the weekend.. but that's not how I do this blog.. I will re-weigh myself Monday morning, as I'm hoping my TOM will be done by then, but until then I am still going to accept my almost 2 lb gain and move forward.. :(

Friday's weigh in was:

223.2 lbs
+1.8 lbs

I was hoping to have a maintain with it being my TOM, but I ate like crap Wednesday and Thursday (a whole freaking bag of mini marshmallows!!) so this is what I deserve..  My plan to rectify this?  Workout at least 4 days this week (I'm internally shooting for 6!).. and so far so good.. I didn't get to the gym yesterday (bad planning on my part), but I did go today.. :)   I didn't even have an internal monologue with myself trying to get out of it.. WOOHOO!  I actually can say I was looking forward to it, and I think I like working out on the weekends.. gym is SO not crowded..

-------------------

Speaking of my trip to the gym today, I sometimes pack my gym bag without a shirt bc I'm wearing a shirt I can workout in.. Well, I guess my bag was packed for a different day of the week (and I didn't think to check this morning) and I didn't have a shirt to workout in.. So what did I do???  Nope, I didn't go home, I ran my 30 minutes (FREAKING YEAH!) in my scrub top and workout bottoms.. Did I look weird?  Prolly.. Did I care?  Not one damn bit!  lol

But I've noticed that my lack of enthusiasm for the gym is prolly bc I am not into Zumba anymore.. I don't know why (well, I know why), but I'm just not liking it too much anymore.. Sadly, I think it's bc it's SO much harder than the Zumba class I started with at the Y.. Honestly, the teachers at LAC are killer.. and that's great, but I'm not a person to do low impact.. I give 100% as much as possible.. and I find myself having to give 10% sometimes bc I'm having a hard time keeping my body going.. but that's not the point of the story, lol.. I've been running at the same 4.5 mph pace since I started running.. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this sooner, but I GET BORED really easy.. so I got bored with running on the treadmill, I think..

Moral of the story?  Today's gym trip I decided to do something a little different.. I decided to spice up my run.. while watching the last 35 minutes of Sherlock Holmes.. :)  I'm VERY proud of myself for running 31 WHOLE minutes.. I've been trying to do that for weeks.. lol..

5 minute Warm-Up

10 minutes at 4.5 mph, 0% incline

10 minutes at 4.5 mph, 1% incline

(I walked for 1 minute at 3.8 mph, 1% incline)

9 minutes at 5.0 mph, 0% incline

2 minutes at 5.5 mph, 0% incline

(I was trying to get to 3.1 miles under 40, but my dry mouth wouldn't have it)

3 minute Cool-Down

All in all, I finished 2.98 miles (I know, right?!) in 40 minutes and burned 516 calories according to the treadmill.. :)

------------------

Giveaway Update:

Still holding on at 97 followers.. so we'll see how long it takes for me to get 3 more followers.. lol.. Until I get to that point, I'm going to keep the other 3 prizes a mystery.. hehehe  

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Giveaway Update..

Well, as of 7pm, I am stuck at 97 followers.. Once I reach 100 followers, I will go to random.org to do the drawing for 5 lucky winners.. AND the 100 follower will win a prize too..  

Right now, I have three DEFINITE prizes to give away.. the other 3, I'm still up in the air on.. I'm thinking fun stuff, but as I'm on a budget, it can't be TOO expensive.. lol.. sorry, but it's true.. 

So, for three of the giveaways, I have:

No explanation needed, I think.. :)

A 1 Year Subscription to Fitness Magazine..

 

A 1 Year Subscription to Self Magazine..

The other three, I'm still working on.. I'm hoping to have them figured out by tomorrow night though, as I'll have time to go shopping.. :)

---------------------

Sabrina over at Sabrina is on the move! is doing a giveaway too!  Hers is for the Hungry Girl 300 under 300 cookbook!  I know I want to win that book, and you probably would too.. So check out her giveaway entry.. it's really simple to enter.. :)

---------------------

Tomorrow is my weigh in, and I came home to make sure I got it in on my own scale (well, that's one reason.. I also missed my momma).. I'm hoping that my munching and my TOM hasn't screwed up my progress.. I am really hoping I DON'T see a gain.. and since I had to work late today, I didn't get a chance to go to the gym.. But I plan to go tomorrow before I go to see my BFF up north for the day.. :)

Oh, but I did sign up for a Virtual 5k hosted by Running Mate and Race Ready.. I found it on Facebook.. you can find it here.. It's called The "Bunny Hop" Virtual 5k.. Cute, huh?!  It's on April 9th, which is a Saturday.. I'm planning to do mine later than the scheduled time (as I don't get off work til 6pm), but I think it doesn't really matter.. lol

---------------------

OH YEAH! CA over at Fat, Angry Blog gave me the Versatile Blogger award.. while I've gotten it before, it's still just as special because I know that I've kept my versatility.. :)  So thank you CA!  I appreciate it.. I will post tomorrow the things I'm supposed to do with the award..

Talk About A Roller Coaster..

Well, I'm back.. but not for a good update.. just an FYI, this post will have a few TMI moments.. lol.. had to put it like that.. ;)

It's that TOM for me, and this month is a doozy.. not only is it later in the month (it usually hits me around the 15th), I can't seem to get past the salt craving! grr!  honestly, if I could get something that was 0 calories, crunchy and salty, I'd be in heaven.. lol.. but that's not reality.. so I've eaten tortilla chips (and salsa), and pretzel sticks since my last entry.. I'm disgusted with myself.. ugh!

So I called my gym to find out what movie they are playing in the cardio theater, and they said Charlie St. Cloud!  WHAT?!  Who wants to run and cry???  Good Lord (sorry, there's no way around it for me), I don't know if it makes me want to go to the gym more or not at all now.. but I'm taking the first one.. and I'd consider that a good point of my day..

Oh, did I mention that when I went to try my clients Total Gym, I realized that he either doesn't have any of the attachments or I just have no idea where they are.. lol.. I drug it out of the corner it was in and went to look for the pully-thing and it's no where to be found.. so I pushed it back into the corner and ate some salty crap..

I'm off to shave my legs (bc I only brought capris with me) and go to the gym.. yay.. I will end this day on a good note.. :)

Where Did March Go?!

Seriously, I think everyone is probably asking themselves that right now.. Is it SERIOUSLY already March 30th?!  And where is the damn Spring weather?!  (this last one is asked by me every day, dag nab it! lol).. So as March ends and April begins, I am setting my goals for the month.. because I haven't been doing as much as I could be doing, so I need something to push me..

April Goals:

** I want to see 20? on that scale by the end of April **

** I will NOT allow myself to "forget" my Virginia plans for the end of the month **

** I will boost my savings back up **

** I will start trying new workouts like I wanted to in the beginning of this journey **

These aren't too hard sounding.. the first one the hardest, but it's not impossible.. technically, it would only take 12 lbs to get to 209..  and that's based on LAST weeks weigh-in.. hopefully I'll show some good numbers this week.. and as I write this, I'm thinking "Whatever.. you haven't lifted a finger in the past three days"..
-----------------

Well, I'm up to 97 followers.. 3 more and then we'll do a giveaway.. :)  I promise to post tomorrow about all I plan to giveaway.. I'm gonna stick with the 5 different things (that doesn't include the 100th follower's gift).. so comment away.. :) 

-----------------

Thanks to all the new followers that have posted their blog addresses on my comments.. I will be checking them all out later tonight.. I'm off to go try my clients Total Body Gym thingy.. let's hope I don't kill myself or pull my arm out of socket.. hehe

Holy Cow!! 95 Followers?! REALLY?! and Giveaways

Seriously, I'm surprised I haven't lost all of you over time.. Sometimes I wonder who I'm kidding (I think we all have a moment or two like this, I just have them a lot.. like when I can't seem to get this weight loss thing), and then I realize that I CAN DO THIS!  It's not supposed to be easy, and really, when has my life EVER been easy over the age of 15.. lol

This is an uphill battle right now.. and it will be for a while.. I'm so glad I have you all to leave me comments.. honestly, when I'm down, I come on here to read some of the uplifting stuff you all say.. :)

So thank you!  And to all the newer followers (aka if you started following within the past 3 months or so), please leave me a comment with your blog address in it, so I can return the favor.. As stalker-ish as this sounds, I love to follow my followers.. hehe.. plus, right now, I have nothing better to do than to catch up on new people..

--------------------

Like I said in an earlier post, I plan to do a giveaway when I reach 100 followers.. Right now, I'm thinking of how many things I can afford to giveaway (I'm thinking of 5 different things as of now..) and while I wish I had thought to do this for 50 followers, whoever the 100th follower is will win something too.. so 6 giveaways total.. and guess what?!  You only have to do one thing to win........

Post a comment on one of my entries this month.. that's it!  Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows I don't know what the hell I'm doing, so I really don't want anyone else to think the same thing.. lol.. and if you want to follow me on FB, more power to ya, but the ONLY requirement is to leave ONE comment on any of my March blog entries..

If you already have, then guess what?!  You are in!  One entry per person.. and of course, the winners will be chosen by random.. :)  So comment away.. I'll put up the prizes you can win by Thursday..

House Sitting..

Well, as I sit here in my clients house after a rough night's sleep, I really wish I could go back to sleep.. lol.. he has a tempurpedic bed, which I was excited to sleep on.. now, not so much.. I'm hoping it's just because my bed sucks in comparison.. but we'll see..

On a different note, a more TMI note, Aunt Flo has made an appearance.. ugh! and my face has decided that it wants to totally go crazy while "she" is here.. double ugh!  I'm hoping that is why I didn't show better numbers on Friday, but sadly I know this Friday is going to be worse.. so here's hoping that I can keep the water off.. :)

I'm off to work.. Hope you all have a TERRIFIC Tuesday.. ;)

Oops, I Forgot Something..

My earlier entry had in the title something about Friend Makin Monday.. and I totally got caught up in the other stuff and forgot to do it.. so here I am!  Let's do this.. :)

 FMM: A Few More Gender-Friendly Questions

1) What is your favorite physical feature?  I'd have to say my smile.. I don't have a perfect smile, but it's mine and it's real (90% of the time).. :)

2) List three adjectives that describe you. forgetful, smart, romantic

3) How old were you when you had your first kiss? I was like 6, I think.. I remember it was with this boy Kenny.. We were hiding behind a pine tree.. and yes, I really do remember this.. :)

4) Do you believe in God? Yes.. I sure do..

5) How often do you watch the news? I try to stay away from the news, actually.. I hate all the bad stuff that it shows me.. I do look at the news online sometimes, or listen to the radio news.. and I read the newspaper when I have the chance (mostly on weekends)..

--------------------

Well, I got home and checked my email.. and found that I was beaten in this weeks round of March Madness.. :(  Seeing as I somehow only lost .4 lbs last week, I wasn't surprised at all.. lol.. but it was fun while it lasted, right?!  :)

March Madness and Friend Makin Monday!

Yesterday I forgot to make another entry about what I'd gotten on Saturday while I was gone.. ugh!  My invitation to my 10 year reunion came in the mail that day.. I say ugh because I'm NO WHERE near where I thought I'd be by now.. not just weight wise, but that's the highest on the list.. I'm still going, but only because I want to see some friends that are coming in for it.. 

-------------------

Today is the end of Week 2 of Katie's March Madness tournament.. I can't wait to figure out if I made it to the "Final Four".. :)  I'll post an update as soon as I know, but here's my weigh in for it..

221.2 lbs

Sadly, I have no recollection of what my weigh in was for last monday.. I'm hoping that Katie has an idea of what it was (she's good like that).. 

-----------------------

Today is day 1 of my house sitting.. this should be fun.. I'll get to go to the gym during the day, instead of at night.. and since I'm not doing Zumba right now, I am definitely gonna go earlier.. :)

OH!  Did I mention that I've got 93 followers?!  93!  I'm shocked!  I figured once I reach 100 followers I'll have a giveaway.. I've been thinking of some things to give away.. so to get to those 100 followers, I'm gonna participate in Kenzie's Friend Making Mondays later today..

Well, I'm off to go eat breakfast.. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great Monday!

Race Day Recap..

Well, I know you all have been chomping at the bit waiting for this post.. and I apologize for keeping ya waiting.. but I was SO exhausted after the race yesterday (and the drive back) that I just stayed in bed the rest of the day.. lol

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?!

In case you have no idea what race I'm talking about, I'll fill ya in.. I had found a 5k race for the Indiana University Chapter of Habitat for Humanity.. and I figured it'd be something that Katie and Blubeari might be interested in doing with me.. So I let them know, and they were in.. :)  It was in Bloomington, Indiana, which is about 90 miles north of where I'm at.. Katie drove over to me, then I drove us up to Bloomington.. 

I packed most of my stuff the night before, got my "outfit" ready (don't wanna forget anything important.. aka my sports bra) and made sure my iPod was charging.. I even made a special playlist to listen to.. I decided to take only my wallet and inhaler(instead of my whole purse).. wanna guess what I forgot??  Yeah, my iPod stayed in the charging dock.. and my debit card and license were in my purse.. SHIT!

Honestly, I thought that the race was supposed to start at 9am.. So Katie got here a little before 6:30am, and we left.. We stopped for gas/food/bathrooms pretty early, because it was 20 cents/gallon cheaper in Seymour.. that's when I realized I'd left my debit card at home.. after finding out that I was basically screwed, Katie loaned me the money (she's so sweet!).. So we got to Bloomington a few minutes after 8am.. We were worried that something was up when we saw that they were JUST putting up the signs when we got there.. and then I looked at the tickets and saw that it started at 10am, not 9am.. ugh!!

So Katie said something about the playground, and we drove over there to play a little.. :)  There was this HUGE jungle gym that we walked around in, this huge rope thing that Katie went up.. I was too chicken to try.. lol.. and then we swung a little, among a few other things.. 

This thing HAD to be 20 feet high..

So we started the race, and I honestly can't believe I lasted through a whole 5k with NO music.. but I did.. and while it was touch and go for a bit (the whole second mile was uphill, damn it!), I finished under the 45 minute goal I had set for myself..  I finished at 40:12.. and for my first 5k, I'm okay with that.. I have tons of races to improve with.. :)

Katie, thankfully, got a pic of me crossing the finish line.. :)

Me before the race.. with my brother's
hoodie on, you can't tell I've lost
any weight at all.. lol

Right before they fired the starting gun..

My race bib.. I'm gonna make a scrapbook
collage thingy to commemerate it.. :)

I had a blast, all in all.. my thighs were killing me, and I had to use my inhaler twice afterwards, but I didn't keel over, and my ankle wasn't hurting after.. yay!! 

Weigh In..

I was anticipating a gain.. honestly, I've only been counting calories for two days (today is three of course), and before that, I was kinda going nuts with the gummy candies.. but I was pleasantly suprised..

221.4 lbs

-0.4 lbs

While it's not much, I'll definitely take it.. It's a step in the right direction.. AND I'm still under 225, which has been a struggle for me in the past.. Looks like me and Hannah (from Biggest Loser) both broke through that damn wall!  WOOHOO!!

Today is a test for me.. I'm going up to my BFF's house, and I always end up eating poorly when I'm up there.. so I'm eating breakfast now, and I'm bringing some snacky food.. Not to mention the fact that I somehow was up for almost two hours earlier.. ugh!  My body, for the past two days, has decided that around 3:30am (after between 4 and 5 hours of sleep) that I'm good to go for the day.. yeah, not cool.. lol

Good Night and Good-Bye..

No, I'm not going anywhere.. but my bra is.. hehe

Thanks to Sabrina @ Sabrina Is On The Move!, I have gotten two new bras.. I blogged about them here.. one I wear everyday (and found out that Christina Aguilera wears the exact same one in Burlesque!), and the other I have been wearing to the gym.. Well, I have an older version of the one I wear to the gym.. which has finally bugged me WAY too much, and is now going into the trash.. It's lasted me about 1 1/2 years.. honestly, I love Victoria's Secret bras.. :)

Did I mention that it's too big anyways?

see the stitching that I did to keep it together?
I loved it THAT much.. lol

Yeah, it's warped.. lol

Good-bye, wonderful bra..
You worked SO well.. :)

Well, now that that is done.. I'm off to bed before I give in to my hunger.. Good night!  Oh, and did I mention tomorrow is my WI day?!  :)