The Final Week

By this time next week, Around the World will be OVER! Can you believe it?

I finished up with core sets today; so now I've completed core sets, circuit sets & the bike. Here's what I have left:

• 211 sets of free weights
• 12.7 mi on elliptical
• 23.8 mi on treadmill
• 795 floors on StairMaster

Doesn't look too impossible does it?

I ran the numbers - based on my typical pace - and it looks like I need about 13 hours of gym time for the cardio portion & maybe a couple extra hours for the free weights... so 15 hours total in seven days. It seems doable...

But I have a "secret" goal to finish early... I just think it would be really cool to finish early AFTER missing the whole week of spring break. Have I lost my mind? Quite possibly, lol.

Two days of "relaxing" at the gym has helped my body immensly. I have almost no pain or achiness for the first time in DAYS. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so energetic, but I've planned to work out twice a day every day except for Wednesday (and maybe Thursday) til its done.

Time for my cheerleaders to get their pom-poms ready for a busy week! :-)

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After I was done at the gym, we drove off the island to go see the tulips. We are so lucky to have these beautiful tulip fields about 30 minutes from our house. I took a bunch of pictures, so I'll share some after I get a chance to upload them. It was nice to go do something as a family - shocking that we had good weather & the Navy accommodated by giving him a day off at the same time. Unfortunately it was totally unplanned and spur of the moment things such as this lead me to...

Food confessional time AGAIN! This week has been TERRIBLE from a food perspective. Today for example; The Husband wanted to go to breakfast (something we rarely have the opportunity to do) so of course we did. I ordered a prime rib skillet... which was really nothing more than a beef fajita mix with hashbrowns. Plus it came with a side of toast, which I should have had them leave off... but no I ate one piece - which I guess is better than two. This might not have been so bad on its own... but we ended up eating out a second time. Round two I ordered a chicken fajita wrap... which I think was the healthiest thing they had (the other stuff was corn dogs, hot dogs, deluxe cheeseburgers), but still. If all of that isn't bad enough, we bought a small bag of kettle corn, which The Husband and I consumed before we even made it home; I could say he ate way more than I did, but I'd be lying. Small victories, I resisted the fudge & the milkshakes at the tulip fields. I'm thinking maybe I need to start doing a nightly post with my food log for more accountability or something.

Its been a good weekend... but I'm eager to get the new week started. What's going on in your world this week?

No Foolin Here...

Ladies & gentlemen (wait, do I have any guy readers??? lol), I have no time for the pranks of April Fools today... so I swear everything you are about to read is the honest to goodness truth... fortunate or unfortunate as it may be.

Remember the dinner I was going to try not to eat too much of last night? Here's my plate...

Let's just say that my plan to eat a small meal went a bit awry. I had one small spoonful of the casserole after this. Hopefully the fact that I substituted a banana for the bread & butter that everyone else ate with their meal counts for something.

And about that chicken I was looking so forward to at the casino... I ordered it, they cooked it fresh and I was excited to sit down with it - 7 "flamin' wings" - at the only remaining table in the cafe area. *Insert here that I attempted to take a pic of them, but the 300+ pound security guy that came to yell at me for using a camera in the casino was less than helpful.* The first bite, of the first wing, was luscious - spicy with just the right amount of heat - and juicy. The first three were fairly tasty. On wing #4 the trouble began. There was such a thick layer of fat between the skin & the meat that I could NOT force myself to take a second bite. Wings #5 & #6 same story! Gross, disgusting, wretched nastiness! By wing #7 I gave up & was literally picking the flavored coating off the last piece - being careful not to get any of the nasty skin. And if that wasn't bad enough, when I got up and started walking around the casino, I had the WORST stomach ache I've had in ages. Lesson learned - NO MORE WINGS AT THE CASINO!!!

And while we're on the subject of the casino. I FAILED to make my regular donation! That's right, I actually left the building with more money than I took. Not a lot more - but a little - plus I bought food there. This is one time when it felt pretty darn good to fail, lol.

As I type, I am waiting for the rest of the family to assemble themselves so we can head off to dinner - at the freakin BUFFET! Honestly, I swear I will be lucky not to undo all of last weeks progress & then some at this rate. The good news is I knew what was going on for dinner ahead of time, so I had this for breakfast...

One grapefruit with 1/2 whole wheat bagel & a scant 1 tablespoon of reduced-fat peanut butter. 310 calories... and way satisfying. Plus, I've eaten a small portion of the leftover casserole from last night, which is actually pretty low calorie other than the rice since she used 96% lean ground beef, so I won't be famished when we get to the buffet (that's if we get to go sometime before now & next year).

We spent the afternoon visiting some local antique stores... and I've got to tell ya I never knew before today that its possible to pile on the calories while shopping for things older than dirt. Every store we went to had out trays of cookies and/or candy - free for their "valued" customers. Its embarrassing to report - but I had four huge malted milk balls (they were the best I've ever tasted) and five freakin cookies (not even homemade yummy cookies, but store bought sandwich cookies). Even more embarrassing that was pretty much what ended up being for lunch too! Ugh, I can't remember when the last time was I had that much sugar in a single day, much less an afternoon.

Even after all of that, I'm looking forward to the buffet tonight. I will follow my rules & it will be fine. They have awesome food & I know in advance what is worth using calories for. And the best part, I can steer clear of anything known as "beef." I swear its like I've had a "cow relapse" or something - going from eating beef maybe once a week to having had it (omg, wait while I try to count here) four times in a 48 hour period. The Husband has been "dying" for a good steak... I think his wait just got extended by a nice long period of time. Maybe that will be his farewell dinner before he goes on deployment, lol.

One "yay me" event of this trip: I have not had a single chip the whole time! Normally not a big achievement because I don't eat chips that often. But, they are everwhere here. The Husband ate them on the way here, they have bags sitting on top of the fridge beckoning, they pull them out at lunch or for snacks in the afternoon... and though they are right there mere inches from my fingers (and my nose) I do not reach for them. I am strong. I will not bend on this... small & insignificant as it may be. Now those addictively tasty pepper jack cheese sticks in the fridge are an entirely different ball of wax - or should I say artery hardening dairy product?!?

I'm gonna try to catch up on some blogs while these SLOW people are finishing getting ready, lol. I'll be back later with my April lifestyle goals & to take care of an award I received... hopefully tonight.

What surprising places have you found mounds of goodies free for the purpose of widening your arse? I must know so I can avoid them in the future, lol!

Where's the "Do Over" Button???

Can this be Saturday afternoon? Could yesterday have been some sort of sick, really long, dream? Please??? Hmm... no chance of that happening... so I guess its time to fess up here. I slept in just a little bit, but the husband was anxious to get going for the day. For some reason, he wanted us to go shopping together... wondering what the heck is wrong with him. He rarely wants to go shopping with me, pretty sure he'd rather go to the dentist & have them forget the Novocaine.

In an effort to take advantage of this rare opportunity, I made some regrettable mistakes. I decided that I could skip the gym & failed to pack along snacks for the day. As if that's not all bad enough, when we were off on our shopping trip, I ended up eating Chinese food, ice cream and regular soda. And then when we got home, I ate a freakin hot dog. Seriously, what the heck happened to me???? I really don't know...

On the bright side, I found some awesome deals. Old Navy had the cutest little t-shirts on sale for $5 & an extra half off all of their clearance. It was nice to be able to get some clothes for my constantly growing child & a few t-shirts that will actually fit me well. At Ross, I found some Fit & Fresh containers for really cheap; hoping they will help with packing along quick foods for my busy days (and ones like yesterday). Last find of the day was The Biggest Loser for the Wii on sale for about half price. I hear mixed things about it, but thought for the price it's worth forming my own opinion.

Looking Forward

Today is pretty much my day to prepare for the week ahead - meal planning, gym schedule, family obligations, kids group stuff, a little "me" time - prep day needs to be preloaded with extra hours. :-)

Tomorrow, I get to go shopping at Trader Joes. I love shopping there, but since the nearest one is over an hour away from our house - off the island & north - I don't get to go very often. I have my basic list for there, but if anyone knows of something particularly yummy I'd love to hear about it.

Thank you everyone for the quick & easy food ideas. I'm looking forward to trying them & kicking this Around the World Challenge in the tush!

The Light was ON!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Krispy Kreme donuts, especially when they're hot & fresh. Before I started trying to eat healthier, I would bring them home and stick them in the microwave if they weren't warm. Now, my "rule of the Kreme" is I will only stop there if the light is ON. The light has NOT been on when I was near there in well over a year, but tonight it was ON!!!! Yes, I stopped; yes, I only ordered one for myself; yes, it was warmish; yes, it was tasty (though not as tasty as I remembered in my mind) and yes, limiting myself to one is a HUGE improvement... I used to eat them three at a time if they were hot. But seriously, this could not have happened on a worse day... grrrrr.

The day started well enough. Breakfast was steel cut oats with strawberries, topped with sliced almonds & some fat free milk to drink. If only it continued on so well... but today was a classic example of "failing to plan equals planning to fail." I had a fast food lunch (chicken biscuit, mashed potatoes & gravy) and a slice of grocery store pizza for dinner (it was nasty, I don't know what I was thinking). Then of course followed by the donut.... ugh.

Possible causes for this meltdown of planning: a) I slept-in too long this morning & was in a rush to get to my mom's (it was grocery shopping day for her, which is a story all its own), b) grocery shopping took soooo long, I wanted immediate nourishment when we were done (not that I'm saying the pizza qualifies, especially considering how nasty it tasted) and c) "my friend George" (aka TOM) is trying to come visit early and I feel like curling up in a ball on the sofa.

Ok, confessional over. Tomorrow will be a better day! I will be home, with my planned meals & a trip to the gym (even if I have to ply myself with painkillers to kick the cramps to the curb lol). Plus, tomorrow is meal planning day for the coming week and that always motivates me. :)

Here I Sit, How I Got Here & Where I'm Headed

Here I Sit...

A little more than 43 pounds lighter than the morning I woke up driven to live a healthy life. After a year of steady loss, I got off track for several months - pretty much quit going to the gym & relaxed my food standards WAY too much. Eating whatever looks good in a restaurant is fine when you only eat out a couple times a month... NOT so much when you eat out almost daily... lol. As a result, I sadly must admit that I gained back over 10 pounds of what was lost. In the last month, I've gotten my act together... back to a normal gym routine (though way out of shape again after the "break")... making wise food choices... keeping a food & exercise log and being accountable. Six pounds and six inches eliminated in the past 30 days... pretty happy with those numbers. Now if I could just make it through more than 40 floors on the stairmaster without feeling like I'm dying! :)

How I Got Here...

Looking back - way back - 5th grade was probably the last time I was a "normal" weight (more on that in the future). In the Spring of 2008, I weighed in at the doctor at nearly 250... I told myself it was just because it was afternoon, I'd eaten a big lunch and was wearing heavy clothes. WRONG! The next morning on my scale at home - sans clothing and food - the scale read 241. For some seeing the biggest number ever might have been an immediate wakeup call - not in my case - seems I was too busy with life and taking care of everyone else.

My husband left on deployment #4, 5, or 6 - I've lost count throughout the years. My son & I settled into a routine of home during the week & visiting my mom on some weekends. It was after one of those visits that I woke up soooooo sick to death of being fat I couldn't take it another minute (which is a little strange considering how unbothered I'd always been by my weight... more on that to come too). Its weird to say and probably hard to believe, but after that day my desire for unhealthy foods greatly diminished & my desire to be active greatly increased.

During the first few weeks after that, I was eating way less food than I had been eating - not necessarily any healthier though to be honest - and started to use some of the exercise videos that had been collecting dust in my cabinet. Early in the summer, I finally caved & bought my son a Wii. Of course I had to get myself something for it too... so I bought the Wii Fit. By the end of summer 2008, I was alternating between the videos, the Wii Fit & walks on the beach and had started making healthy food choices on a regular basis. That was my basic method for the next six months.

In February last year - at 209 pounds - I finally got up the courage to go join a gym in town. This was a HUGE step... afterall, I am the girl that did everything in her power to get out of PE in school - from 6th grade on. The thought of exercising in public has always had the ability to make me go from fabulous to nauseous in the blink of an eye. Knowing that I needed to kick things up a notch if I were to keep losing... I put on a nice outfit, grabbed one of my favorite handbags, swallowed the "I wanna hurl" feeling in the pit of my stomach and marched into the newest gym in town. The staff was wonderfully welcoming & right away I felt comfortable there. Shortly after joining the gym, I competed in their "Around the World" Fitness Challenge and completed the entire Challenge. I was one of about a dozen people out of 150 to complete the entire Challenge. This was a MAJOR accomplishment for me - remember gym class escape artist here - I had NEVER done any sort of physical competition in my life. From there I was hooked... at least until I got totally sidetracked by that pesky little thing called life.

On the food front, I choose not to follow a specific "diet" or eating plan... in fact I really detest the "d" word. I firmly believe its all about making healthy food choices for life and not something you can go on or off of. At home, I make a conscience effort to make healthy choices - utilizing recipes and meal ideas from a variety of sources. When I eat in a restaurant, I generally let myself enjoy a meal without worrying too much about the calories/fat in it. As stated, this works out okay when restaurants are the occasional treat - otherwise, I don't recommend it.

I have used the Myfooddidary.com website to track my activity since the beginning. It has proven helpful in many ways, such as seeing not just the calories I'm eating, but the nutritional value of the foods I'm putting in my body. I LOVE it and think its so worth the $9 a month.

Where I'm Headed...

Looking toward life as a Deliberate Skinny Chick - aka reformed Accidental Fat Chick. I don't know what that means as far as a number on the scale or a jeans size. My current size is the smallest I've been in my adult life - I have no clue what 180, 170, 160, or150lbs will look like or what size those numbers will equal in the jeans department. Can't wait to find out!

The current game plan: Stick with the 2-4-8-10 Challenge & be prepared when the new "Around the World" Challegen kicks off. Increase the intensity of my gym workouts & find ways to add more active motion to my daily routines. Possibly do The Big Climb in Seattle... if I have a friend or two to do it with me. Fine tune my meal plans - especially to reduce the number of calories I drink.

My husband leaves for yet another deployment in May... my ultimate goal would be to finish what I started when he was gone the last time and be at an ideal healthy weight when he comes home in December. 50 pounds in 10 months... I know I can do it!

What is your ultimate goal?