Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Temptation

I know my friends at work are not purposefully being sadistic. However, I seem to be offered junk food/snacks soo much more now. So far I've been able to refrain from joining them. I instead enjoy my grapes/apple for my nightly snack. I'm back down to 240 pounds today. Woo hooo...that makes 90 more to go!

I read the book by Jillian Michaels the other day and walked away with a better purpose in what I really need to do to get this weight off, and keep it off. I did some real figuring to find out exactly what I can have to attain my goal. At this weight, with three work outs a week (30 cardio and 30 weight) I can eat 1250 calories a day and lose 2 pounds a week. SOOO, in typical MF fashion, I decided that I would like to throw some more cardio into the mix.....that way I can eat more...or lose more...depending on the day! :-)

I was also kinda worried about what I'll be allowed to have when I reach my goal. With a sedentary lifestyle (no exercise) at 150 pounds to maintain I would need roughly 1600 calories. That's not too bad....expecially when you add the exercise in to the mix! So there is hope for a long term plan.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Scale Addiction

Ok, I'm addicted! To the scales that is. I woke up this morning and didn't want to get out of that nice warm bed. SOO I laid there thinking about getting on the scales to see where I was/am. I have noticed that my scales, even though they are a pretty good set of scales, are flucuating a lot. Not just from day to day (that is probably me) But I can weigh myself, get off and get back on and get a different weight. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that the bathroom floor isn't that great...it's a bouncy floor and a bit uneven. (gotta love old houses) PLUS, we drag them out from under the ironing board with our feet, weigh ourselves and then push them right back under there. That can't be good on them. SOOOO I drug the scales to the bedroom and they now reside in there. We'll see how that goes!

Meanwhile, I sent my weight to my own weight loss club group. I want to lose 100 pounds. I set a goal of my birthday...just to have something in mind. So that would be actually about 70 pounds by the end of our weight loss thing. However, my REALISTIC goal is 50 by the end of October. That is only a little over 5 pounds a month. :-)

I guess for a closer goal.....I want to be down to 225, or lower by my trip to Indiana in April. That is 20 pounds..in roughly two months. :-) I would love to definitely be in one size lower jeans by then!



Saturday, January 28, 2006

Baking day!

Well, I've been doing pretty good. I haven't been able to stay off the scales. And I'm appalled when I have an up day...but equally happy when I have a down day. (Today is an up day......yesterday was a down day) I'm interested to see if it is DIRECT correlation to my workout days. Hmmmmm....I'm not talking about a pound here. I'm talking about 5 pounds difference!

My dearest husband volunteered me to bring dessert to a party we are going to tonight. THANKS (note the sarcasm). As if being there and seeing it isn't tempting enough.....BAKING it is worse! I made brownies and cookies. I had a 1 inch square of brownie and two soft sugar cookies. I never realized how many cookies I probably popped in my mouth when I was baking! I was really fighting the urge! I'm ok with the amount that I had though. I'm not in this to deprive myself of ever having the fun stuff! I mean, yes, I wish I wouldn't have succumbed to the temptation. But I'm happy with the control I ultimately displayed over the situation. (Course the stuff is still in the house....lol)

My arms are still really sore from working on on Wednesday and then again on Friday. It's a good sore though...because it means I'm doing something good. On the other hand, my foot is really giving me problems. I was wondering how long it would take the 'old bone' to kick into action. Well, it happened. Yesterday I decided to move the furniture around in the house. I started at around 8 AM and worked until we left the house (about noon). We ran errends all day and worked out at the gym and got home at about 8. I picked right back up and worked at the house non-stop until about 11PM. Round about 9 or 10 it started. The foot pounded and ached. ARRGGHHH.....but hey, I've lived with this since I was in elementary school. I can tough it out. It can only get better the less weight it has to support! :-) My only concession is that I may try to do some cardio that is not so high impact. I've been doing a lot of treadmill....I may switch to the bike or elliptical for a time being!

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Our own challenge

Well, it is official. A group of my friends from college years (and a couple other people) have started our own Biggest Loser challenge. We weigh in this Friday....and take a picture this Friday! Hopefully it will work to motivate us all! Worked out at the gym today with the trainer (my second of three free hours). She worked me harder today.....my muscles were sore sore sore when I left there!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Trying not to dwell!

Ok...stepped on the scales today and I'm up a pound. Eating the same....and working my guts out at the gym. I have to keep telling myself.....it's muscle, it's muscle, it's muscle! I am lifting weights at the gym so I know that I will probably gain a little bit here and there as I gain muscle. BUT...it is still hard to see the weight gain on the scales. Maybe I shouldn't weigh myself for two weeks or so...then just be shocked at either how much I gain...or how much I lose! :-)

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Trying new things!

Well, I am trying to cook differently and change the way we eat. Last night I made poached chicken with a mandarin orange and water chesnut sauce. I thought it was pretty good. (Todd said the chicken was bland.....it was poached in chicken broth and garlic). Tonight I roasted a spaghetti squash and had it with sauce. Todd said it wasn't too bad. (His words were, "It was palatable") I didn't like it at all! SOOOO....even though spaghetti squash is better for us, it's back to whole grain pastas for us. :-)

I'm trying to eat more throughout the day. So about midway between my meals, I'm getting some fruit to eat.

I'm going to try to get to the gym tomorrow morning before work!

Friday, January 20, 2006

First hour with a fitness trainer

Today both Todd and I had an hour with a fitness trainer. They went over our general health and then walked us through some of the weights. We came out of there with some good information...and made sure that we actually were using the weight machines properly. (So as to get the most from them). They talked a lot about diet and how that is such an integral part of this process. I just smiled and nodded, because that has been a goal of mine for the last few weeks! They gave us some tips like, when we eat our salad, get the dressing on the side. Then either dip your fork in the dressing then get the food to eat. Or actually get the food on your fork and then dip the food a bit. I have to say, it actually worked. We both got salads for lunch....and we used probably 1/4 of the salad dressing that we would have normally used. Todd said he prefers the fork method...I think I prefer the dipping method. :-) But the result was almost the same....we each had one and a half things of dressing left! :-) AND since the dressing is the bad part...this is actually a really good lesson/idea. Both of our trainers told us to be eating smaller meals.......and both of them expounded on peanut butter! Sounds good to me because I am a peanut butter and jelly fanatic! :-) Homemade jelly! :-)

Feel very good after the workout...not sore...but every once in a while I move and realize that yes, I did work out. This is a very good feeling! I can't wait until I see the pounds start to drop! :-)

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Disappointment

Last night, about an hour before Todd got off work I was busily putting our stuff in our bags to take to the gym. We were going to go to the gym and then go to my parents to see them as Dad just got back from the Phillipines and then they are both heading to Flordia on Friday. Todd came up and I could tell that he was exhausted. He insisted that we still go to the gym...however I know that he would have probably passed out he was that far gone. So I told him we didn't have to go. I think he was relieved, and I honestly want what is the best for him. However, I wish he would have told me how he was feeling much earlier because I would have gone to the gym on my own earlier in the day. (His car is in the garage so we have to coordinate our travels to town as we live 25 minutes out of town). We saw my parents and came home. He played around on his computer all evening. I actually DID get on the exercise bike and ride...and I also did my crunches. I can't let him not going....no matter what his reason......cause my stride to falter. I was disappointed enough that I was a little teary!

So, I got up this morning and went to the gym by myself (Todd is working a long day today).

Well, I think I have some divine intervention with my eating. Today, Todd wanted a pizza. I made it and watched what kind and how much cheese I put on......basically I was careful with the whole thing...but knew that I would be going overboard even with 2 pieces. Well, the pizza came out of the oven...it smelled sooo good. I cut it up and couldn't resist...I put half of the pizza on my plate (who wants to walk back into the kitchen to get more). Half way out of there, I bumped the plate and the BIG piece (1/4 of a pizza) fell off the plate and went kersplat on the floor...UPSIDE DOWN. Well, after that first moment of ....awww great on the carpet...I realized that it was good...NO temptation to eat that piece now! :-) Now, the funny thing about this is....this is not the first time something like this has happened in the last few weeks! I went to make toast the other morning (I LOVE BREAD and could eat piece after piece YUM YUM YUM) and popped my toast into the toaster.......I knew something was wrong when I heard something MOVE inside my toaster....right before I heard is squeak! I electrocuted a mouse in my toaster. YES, I threw the toaster away...NO I didn't eat the toast. And even though I have already replaced the toaster, I have like NO desire to eat toast right now!

Crossing my fingers, called the mechanic and they are working on the car RIGHT now....so hopefully we will get that back soon...which will make it much easier for us to work out.....logistically speaking.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The dreaded scales

Well, yesterday I ate really healthy. My calories were low...my fat intake was low. I was actually fully satisfied. I actually didn't eat all of my food, I was so satisfied. So, I'm happy because my body is adjusting to a differnt syle of eating.

I've been getting on the scales everyday up to now. I know some people that say they weigh themselves everyday and some that say they only do it once a week. I guess I kinda like to know what I am doing....except for today. I've been kinda bummed because I was actually a bit heavier. However, I ate my cereal for breakfast and immediately felt ill, and have been in the bathroom a couple of times...so maybe that could have been attributing to why my weight was a bit up.

we are planning on going to the gym tonight when Todd gets off work. That should help! :-)

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

A loss!

Wooo hooo....10 pounds gone! I'm excited! I know it is small...but I've been working hard to get this done. I've cut my calories to 1500 from my previous 2500-3000 calories. AND I've been working out every day! This is my first day that I am taking a break. Wooo hooo!

Sunday, January 15, 2006

The Gym

Yesterday Todd and I went to the gym and did our first workouts there. I did 45 minutes on the treadmill and then did the circuit weights. I have come to a couple conclusions. Yes, my riding my exercise bike and hiking on my own have really helped. BUT, I worked myself much much harder at the gym. In a way, this may be good. I work myself hard at the gym...and then on my off days I still exercise...but not working so hard, giving my body a bit of a rest! The other conclusion I came to. My legs are strong (that would have been fairly obvious if I had thought of the fact that I bike and hike a lot!). On my legs, I was pushing upwards of 100 pounds....but on my upper body....30 about did me in! :-) Today...one day later....it's my arms that are a bit sore! :-) I did the machines for the abs...and when I did my crunches this morning, I could feel that twinge of soreness when I worked them...but otherwise they are ok.!

I'm excited! I'm looking forward to talking to the trainer to see what I need to do to accomplish my goals...and actually getting started on a real routine. :-)

Friday, January 13, 2006

Slow day

Yeah, thank God....Todd's colonoscopy went well! The only downside....we had to take it relatively easy today. SOOOOOO back on the bike for me. The thirty minute preprogrammed ride is still kickin' my butt....arrgghhh! We each go for our appointments with the trainer at the gym next Friday. Hmmm...my goals to tell the trainer.....lose weight, tone to try to keep from getting flabby skin hanging off my body, be healthy. If I lose 2.1 pounds a week..then I can be 150 by my next birthday. I'm gonna ask the trainer if this is a realistic goal....or what she would consider a realistic goal......assuming that I am willing to work. :-)

Doing pretty good with eating...cutting WAY back. After the colonoscopy, Todd wanted a sub sandwich. We stopped and I actually had a package of sweet rolls in my hand and was waiting in line to pay. I had to actually take a deep breath and put them back. It is a thing of totally conquering these bad habits!

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Signing Up!

Today my husband and I went to Golds Gym to see about getting a membership. We know that we need the variety that a gym provides. SOoo....we took our tour and plunked down our money. We would have started today...however, Todd is on a liquid diet in preparation for a colonoscopy that he is having performed tomorrow. Soooo...I came home and rode the exercise bike and did my crunches. I had been doing the 20 minute preprogrammed workout on the bike....the first day or two my legs felt jelly like when I got off. But quickly I was hot but not really pushing it.....soooo today, I pushed it up to the next level.....30 minutes. It is a harder bike program...and longer. The last 8 minutes KILLED....but I did it! :-)

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Exercise

OK....I've started. In the last five days, I have exercised four of those days. Three days I churned on the exercise bike and then today my husband and I hiked a couple of miles. I stuck to the 20 minute activity. The first day my legs felt a little like jelly. But, I know that I need to turn it up another level. I have also been working on my crunches. Yes, my worst area is my stomach......So, I feel like I am helping my achilles heel by doing the crunches.

Found a great site... www.fitday.com This site is so awesome. You can enter your foods eaten and it will give you the total calories, fat and nutrients for the day. Then you can go and enter your exercise for the day...including various daily activities. After all is entered, the report page breaks it down into how you are progressing...and not progressing. Where they problem areas may be...so on and so forth!

I need to lose 2.1 lbs a week to meet my goal by my birthday of this year!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Why is this so important now?

I have been overweight for years. I remember when I was young. I was not overweight. I was actually rather petite and small. My family moved from Pennyslvania to Florida when I was 12 years old. I wore a size 6...and I remember, I was so upset to go to that six. Suddenly; within the first year of moving, I gained weight. They said it was a combination of the 'culture shock' and me hitting those wonderful years that we all have to go through. However, my weight slowly crept up through high school. I went to college and it was probably one of the best times for my weight. I was always on the go.....for a while we exercised religiously at the "Y" (thanks Suzy and Rach....it was actually fun to go with ya'll) True, the Dairy Queen beckoned on the way back to the dorm...but I was so active that I was actually at one of my lowest weights in years. 214. I cringe when I see that......214 pounds was a good weight in my mind???

I left college and the weight started slowly creeping back on. I didn't work on it...I just let it happen. I had one time where I was close to my college weight...but it was due to a stressful job....NOT worth it. AND the downside.....when I left the job and the stress was alleviated....the weight returned with a vengence. When I say with a vengence, I not only returned me to my 'pre-stress job' weight...I added about 40 more pounds extra.

I turned thirty and panicked! I wanted to have a baby someday. I had always had one 'strike' against me. I was big...it would make a full term/healthy pregnancy/baby more difficult. BUt I always had 'youth' on my side. All of a sudden I had that "I'm in my thirties, I'm getting old" moment. I started working on my weight...and got myself back down to my 240. I plataued....and I have sat at 240-250 for the last 2-3 years.

During those last few years I've made half hearted attempts to kick start this process. However I just couldn't do it. Sadly enough, it is/was watching my mother struggle. She is a few years shy of 60 and she is struggling with her weight. It is terrible to see.....her health and her very life are contingent on her weight. I know that she has been lucky...it has only been in the last few years that these 'weight related' health issues have really surfaced. However, they are here and they are attacking! Typical mother, even as she struggles, she worries about my husband and I. She doesn't want us to go through what she is going through....and she knows it will most likely happen to us if we don't get this excess weight off.

Just recently it hit me. This weight is going to kill me. Not tomorrow...or the next day (hopefully). But eventually, it could very easily catch me in it's clutches. I can't let that happen. I have to fight!

For the last few years I have said..."well, if I get down to to 175 pounds I think that would be great". Just recently, I decided that was cutting myself short. Honestly, if I get there and just can't get it futher, I'm going to consider myself a sucess. However, I'm aiming more for what they "SAY" I should weigh....SO I am aiming for roughly 150... 100 pounds!

GREAT INSIPIRATION

I found this story on the internet while reading Blogs...couldn't help but post it on mine to reread whenever I need that little umf to help me stay movitaved and keep my willpower strong!

FOund on http://journals.aol.com/mmclem1112/marks ...just reading his blog is an inspiration in itself.....so far 172 pounds gone!

Posted by Kat on March 1st, 2005
Charles Laurence
The Sunday Telegraph

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Big Pete” Loiselle is a shadow of his former self. At 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds, he sits at his kitchen table and describes what it is like to be one of the most obese people in the United States.

The 40-year-old schoolteacher from Ellsworth, Me., told of being mocked at shopping centres, being unable to use public washrooms, suffering from severe body odour because of the sweat trapped in the folds of his skin and being scarcely able to lift himself from his living room chair to go to work. In the end, with his weight peaking at 763 pounds and a waist measuring 84 inches, his spine was being crushed by the pressure of his stomach whenever he stood up. It had come down to a decision between diet and death

“You get bigger a little bit at a time,” Mr. Loiselle says. “The bigger you get, the less activity you do. Even going to the bathroom is a problem.”

For 20 years, he could not go to a movie because he could no longer fit into the seats. He missed his sister’s wedding in Chicago because he could not afford to buy the two seats the airline was demanding before letting him on board. The mere act of staggering from his pick-up truck to his front door or into his classroom would leave him gasping for breath.

As he soared past the 700-pound mark in his early thirties, Mr. Loiselle worked out that he could get himself dressed more easily if he put his shoes on before hauling on his enormous, custom-made jeans. When he could no longer tie his shoelaces, he bought shoes with Velcro fasteners. “I could not go to my favourite restaurants because I could not fit into the chairs,” he says. “So I bought my own chair, tossed it into the back of the truck and hauled it into the restaurant.”

Mr. Loiselle did not, by his reckoning, “gorge constantly.” He did not eat breakfast and insists he was “never the kind of guy who ate all 12 eggs in the box” at one sitting. Rather, he regularly ate cheese crackers and peanut butter biscuits—“a packet or two at a time.”

There was plenty of food to be had, he discovered, if he volunteered for lunch duty at the Surry Elementary School, close to his home on the spectacular Bar Harbor coast of Maine. “The cooks always make too much for the kids, so I would eat all I liked from the leftovers. When I got home, I’d sit down and eat all that carbohydrate-sodium-sugar stuff that makes you feel good. Then I’d have an ordinary dinner—burgers, or something like that—only I’d have two or three portions. I ate all that I wanted and never counted the calories.”

If he had counted, according to the doctors who eventually helped save his life, the mathematics teacher would have arrived at a figure close to 10,000 for his daily calorie intake.

“I stopped going to the mall because of people pointing, staring and giggling,” he says.

Mr. Loiselle insists, however, that he was perfectly happy as one of the fattest men in the United States. At the age of 25, when he weighed about 650 lbs, he married Christine, now 45. “My love life? Well, I’ll say this: I’m still happy, and I’m still married. It’s another thing you learn to work your way around,” he says.

Christine laughs, and says: “There’s a lot less to love now, but a lot more loving. Pete was pretty big when I got to know him, and his weight was never an issue. He’s a really nice guy, and he has a wicked sense of humour. I always saw beyond what everyone else saw.”

At school, his pupils had never mocked him, even as he grew too big to get up from his chair below the blackboard. Mr. Loiselle had wanted to be a teacher since he was 13, and he has a knack for the job. He is known as a strict disciplinarian, but one whom the children love and respond to. When, in the end, he found himself in hospital, they made videotapes pleading for him to recover.

“The kids were my biggest defenders.”

By the time he was 36, however, Mr. Loiselle knew that his health was failing. He was developing cellulitis in his legs, an agonizing condition that causes inflammation of body tissue, which can lead to gangrene and amputation. While he was in hospital, he was told he would lose his legs within a year—and his life within three or four. It was considered remarkable that he had reached his mid-thirties at all.

Doctors called in surgeons and dietitians. They offered Mr. Loiselle a last chance plan: if he lost 100 lbs, they would offer gastric bypass surgery. After gastric bypass, however, a patient must stay on a strict diet for life.

Mr. Loiselle’s face still creases with horror at the thought. He decided he would forgo the gastric bypass and simply diet. “There was no big moment,” he says. “But I wanted to be with Christine, and I wanted to be big brother to my four siblings, all younger, and I wanted to see the 22 nephews and nieces they have grow up.”

With the dietitian, he worked out a daily regimen of 2,200 calories which enabled him to eat his favourite foods. He still enjoys peanut butter and burgers, drinks the odd beer and takeout from KFC. He just eats less.

For two-and-a-half years, he lost an average of 17 lbs a month—the total weight loss of almost 504 lbs is understood to be the largest achieved without surgery. After a year, he was able to exercise, and he now walks four miles a day and lifts weights daily. He has a body mass index of 30 and a body-fat ratio of 15.3%. “According to my doctor, I now officially have the body of an athlete,” he says, smiling.

Mr. Loiselle has, however, had one operation: his diet left him with folds of floppy skin. Surgeons removed eight pounds of skin from around his waist. “Yes, I’m happier like this,” he concedes. “I realized that my family had been keeping a little distance from me, because they were scared I was going to die.”

And not long ago, Mr. Loiselle was striding through Ellsworth when he encountered some pupils from his 700-pound days. “They were in shock,” he says. “And they were even in tears to see me like this because they were so pleased.”

Monday, January 09, 2006

A bad day turns out to be not too bad

I sat here tonight all down in the dumps because I thought I had done so badly. I ate my meals and afterwards I just HAD to go to the cafeteria at work and I ended up buying a piece of cake and three cookies. I thought I had ruined my daily totals. So, it was with fear and trepidation that I entered my food intake into the nutrition log. I was very shocked to see that even with those extra foods I was still in my target calories..... I don't think I should do that every day. But at least I moderated my food intake.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

My work week begins

I feel as if I can eat better when I work. I pack a nutritious lunch and pretty much stick to that. I can't go back for seconds....I can't add anything else. I eat what is packed and when it's gone...it's gone.

I did get off the computer and exercise last night. I also got on the stationary bike first thing out of bed this morning. It is amazing how tired the simplest program makes me right now. It is a testament about what lack of exercise can do!

For me, this is probably the hardest part....not the getting started. I can start and go a day or two just fine. The hardest part is getting past the first 2-3 weeks. Once I get in a routine, I feel as if I do pretty good. ARRGGGHHHHHH unfortunatly, I am in that, 'first couple week' window!

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Getting on a Roll

OK, I'm at least cutting my calories. I've started using the slim-fast website. I signed up for my free membership and found they have some of the greatest tools to help track and manage this journey that I am undertaking. They have daily food logs that you can simply write down what you ate...I chose to follow the Nutrition Diary. It is a bit time consuming to log my food as I have found no easy way to enter a salad. I end up having to enter each individual item one by one. However, the end result is fabulous. It calculates your calories, breaks it down by meals, averages the week, etc. I think it is also really neat because it has a little section for journaling. I found journaling really helped when I was losing the last time. I discovered patterens that I perpetuted...sometimes unhealthy habits. It's easier to correct the problem if you know what the problem is!

I'm sitting here......and the exercise bike is calling my name. Ok, that's the guilt. I really am dreading starting. However, I KNOW that I need to do this! I can change my eating patterns all I want, but without the exercise it just wont work. (Or will work so slowly that I'll be discouraged)

Friday, January 06, 2006

The Master Plan

The other year when I lost the weight, I refused to call what I was doing at diet. I know that whatever I do to lose the weight, it needs to be a lifelong processes. I can't slack off when the weight is gone, or it will come back. So my first process was to get the word diet from my vocabulary. I was changing my eating habits. The other thing that was revolutionary (in today's day and age at least) was not following any of the diets out there. I truely believe that to be healthy we need all types of foods....just in moderate amounts. And right there is the key to my plan. I need to really pay attention to my portion sizes! Which means no double helpings....or 'big' spoon fulls. To do this the last time, I actually measured my food for a while. It is quite difficult to drop...because my body is used to eating that amount of food....and it seems unsatisfied when I don't get it. However, I found that eating till I am full is a totally different feel than eating until I am satisfied. And the feeling of being satisfied is a much better over all feeling.

The other portion of that magical sentence was 'all types of foods'. I don't limit my foods and say I can't have anything. I tried to make my base meals very healthy...plenty of vegetables and fruits. I ate lots of salads. I tried to eat very well rounded meals.

In this way, I feel as if I curbed some of the cravings that would naturally come. I believe that cravings or that feeling of being hungry for 'something' is actually our body telling us that we 'need' something. We may not know what it is...but our bodies need some nutrient. So by eating healthy well balanced meals....I suffered MUCH less of the cravings that I normally suffer. THere was no need...my body was being satisfied.

I also didn't deny myself. I ate the Pizza...I had a piece of cake....I had a cookie. I didn't deny myself when I saw something that really struck my fancy or when it was there. The operative attitude was that instead of eating THREE pieces of cake....I only ate one small piece. Instead of eatinc a half of pizza, I ate 1 or 2 slices. MODERATION. In this way, I never felt deprived.

Yes, I was exercising regularly.......which I plan on doing. I rode the exercise bike...walked with my husband....walked on my breaks at work......and did sit-ups (on the balance ball once I purchased it). I know that my plan was contingent on the exercise....but however it wouldn't have worked with both aspects!

So there you have it...my plan to get myself into shape!

Thursday, January 05, 2006

This is the time!!

A few years ago, I decided that I needed to get some weight off. I was the hightest I have ever been. I worked hard for about 6 months and lost about 50 lbs. However, I plateaued and got discouraged. Miraculously, I have been able to retain most of what I lost (within roughly 5 pounds). It is now the time to kick myself into high gear and finish this off. I was going to start the first day of the new year...however, the best laid intentions sometimes don't work. Just tonight, I went to the kitchen and literally threw away the last of my temptation foods that were in the freezer staring me in the face. (Cookie dough....yumm) I've got to do this....for my health!

Meanwhile, we are tying to eat more at home to reduce the spending.....this should help with the budget.....but also with the weight as it is much easier to eat the healthier foods at home.

Oct 2005 day trip to Staunton, VA Posted by Picasa