Made it to the gym!

Well, I made it.

But, I'm reminding myself that it was so easy to do because I'm kid-free. One was at my sister's while the other was at my mom's all last night, today, tonight, and tomorrow morning.

Things just seem to be easier when you feel you have a lighter load to get out the door. I need to remember how good it feels when I'm done so I'll make the effort to go even when my load doesn't seem light.

Either way, I went and took my first TRX class and, oh yeah, I'm feeling it.

My buddy April taught the class, and 10 minutes into it, my gimpy leg was screaming. I feel it all over already. I ate a light dinner and I'm going to take some ibuprofen to hopefully help with the amount of soreness I'm positive I'll have tomorrow!

My thought throughout the class though? If I do this 3 times a week, how amazing will I feel come the end of March?

So, there's the goal people. I want to make it to the gym a minimum of 3 times a week. Greg said he'll go with me in the morning, so hopefully I'll at least get in 2 this week.

Hope you're feeling good about where you're at today, but if not, let this encourage you to do something worth feeling good about tomorrow.

I want to shrink...

That is what I told a Dr. a few years ago when I stepped on the scale weighing in at 213. I couldn't believe I had gained that much weight. I envisioned a snow(woman) outside, the sun hitting her rounded hips, melting away her mass...she went from needing an 18, to the 16s feeling baggy, excited about buying 14s, to the 12s looking frumpy, and hanging the 10s to dry so they wouldn't shrink in the dryer....That describes my shrinking journey. Only, it seems that there has been some extra packing on of the snow here lately.


So, after that 213 awakening, I worked at it, and I shrank. I got down to 190.

I blew my knee out. I blew back up to 213.

I worked on my nutrition, went back down to 200, and did what I swore I would never do...went to the fat Dr.



I went back 3 or 4 times all together. I lost 18 lbs with the help of the pill and vitamin B shot, but felt like I was cheating and worried it would come back on. I quit taking the pill and shot, and kept losing. I stayed disciplined, cut out processed foods, cut out pop on a regular basis, and continued to lose. I got down to 167.

I came back from vacation in April at 174...I started to panic, went to the gym a bit and thought summer would keep me busy and help me keep it off.



In November I was back up to 182. I got all pumped after the tri and the 5 mile walk and thought I would get back in the game.



But then with the holidays, schooling, sewing, singing, and just general lack of planning and preparation, I didn't stay on it.

I've now put on 18 lbs of the 46 I had lost. I'm not a very happy camper people.

I'm going to the gym this evening. We are going on vacation at the end of March. I do not want to go feeling sluggish and frustrated about my clothes size. It really is a daily mindset for me. When I lost that weight, I told myself every day that I had to work towards my goal, and I couldn't ignore the fact that this is a struggle that I have and I must face it.

In the spring, I guess I felt like I had faced it and I was good. I got lax about it.

I was wrong.

So, for those who are reading this. Know that we all have our struggles, no one is perfect, and this isn't just a New Year's resolution for some people...for some of us, the resolution comes every day. We need encouragement, not a, "Oh yeah right, what's different about this year? Are you really gonna do it?"

So, if someone tells you their New Year's resolution is to lose weight, support them! Encourage them! Don't make them feel like more of a failure for not having conquered it already!

We need to uplift each other girls!

I hope you're feeling healthy where you are, but if not, join me? Won't you? Become an author on here to blog about what you're doing to stay on track with your fitness/nutrition goals.

And may we grow our health while we shrink our mass! ha

Excuses

I don't like excuses. But I do like reasons. I don't like guilt. So, I am pretty sure I do my best to figure out if I'm making excuses, which will make me struggle with guilt, or if I have reasons, which typically let me off the guilt hook.

As far as the whole workout thing this Advent season, I'm stuck trying to decipher between my reasons and my excuses. I honestly don't feel all that guilty because my days have been pretty productive, enjoyable, meaningful, and fun. I have been sticking to my one pop, and even some days, no pop, plan. But, I have not made it to the gym near enough as I had hoped. And in conversation with my hubby last night, I was reminded that my workouts, or lack thereof, really have an effect on me.

I am getting ready to get my crew out the door today to run some errands before coming home for a day of sewing, school, and cleaning. I am getting to go sing tonight for a Recovery group uptown, which I'm pretty excited about. So, anyway, I think I'm going to attempt to stop in the Y for just a quick job, spin, or something. Attempt. That is my goal.

7 weeks to go

And I finally get in the gym and run a mile.

Felt pretty good about it. I didn't time myself, but I still felt it wasn't horrible.

I'm hoping to swim one day this week, spin one day, and run one day. Those are my expectations. Still working at just one pop a day, and not saying yes to ice cream every night.

Hope anyone reading this is feeling good about their decisions!

Join me in sharing! I want your inspiration!

8 weeks and 4 days to go

That's how long until the next triathlon.

So, in preparation, I did a whopping 25 minutes in spin today!

I had a headache, an incredibly stiff neck, and was just too weak from hunger to go any longer. I'm lucky I went passed 8 minutes, cause I really wanted to quit then.

I did run Saturday morning. I'd say it was probably right at a mile. Up and down my street twice...yeah, that should be right at a mile.

I have still been doing just one pop a day, and have been paying attention to the size of my portions much better.

My plan for this week is to do a light jog outside every morning. That way if things do get crazy by the afternoon, I won't feel too bad if I can't make it into the gym. Hopefully, I'll still make it to the gym and get in some toning and abs, too.

I'll be in the water for a bit tomorrow thanks to Gym n Swim with the homeschoolers, so I'll probably try to get a few laps in.

I am not sure of the distances for the spin at the tri, but I think I just have to do 6 laps in the water and 3.5 miles on the treadmill. My goal is to just not take myself too seriously and to be feelin' pretty good in my Speedo the next time Greg has to see me in it.

Hope those who are actually following this are feeling better about the goals they have set for themselves, too.

Feel free to share! That is exactly what this is for!

Did it! And now I hurt :(

Beverly & Sheila ran 5 miles, they did great, and I'm super lucky to have such fun girls to encourage my goal of fitness!

Angela and I walked it. Angela beat me by 13 minutes, but I do have to admit, I got really laid back, startin' singing along with the new music on the Mp3 player, and pretty much just figured I'd finish whenever after I realized there was no way to legally catch up to her!

So, that's great for the exercise, but what about my nutrition today?

Well...I did do 2 pops. A cup of Pepsi with lunch, and half of a bottle of Dr Pepper with dinner...could have been much worse!

I really didn't eat all that much, though. Not that I didn't try. I wanted to eat more at my mom's at dinner, but I just couldn't. I was stuffed.

So, I'm heading to bed feeling really good about today.

I'm not discouraged by coming in barely before an over 60 year old woman. I'm encouraged that 2 years ago I had a blown ACL, and one month ago, I had no game plan at all.

Tomorrow I'm just hoping to get a good walk in first thing in the morning to get this soreness out...right now, I'm in for real pain!

Night all.

Plans for tomorrow

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. ~Irv Kupcinet

I have my registration form filled out., and some new music downloaded to Ethan's Mp3 player he's letting me borrow for the Thanksgiving Day walk/run.

I'm looking forward to walking, at a very past face, for 5 miles in the morning.

Today didn't bring forth any great physical exertion, however, I will say that I only had my 1 pop for the day and 2 bottles of water. I didn't eat TOO much, and didn't add TOO much sugar to my coffee.

Here's to enjoying a long walk with good friends tomorrow!

Of Some Value To Us

1 Timothy 4:8 bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

So, I'm just quickly putting this out there, and hoping to spark some interest.

I want to be able to enjoy this life God has blessed me with in a responsible, controlled, healthy way. That means not being obsessed with my image, my weight, or the size of my jeans. But it also means not being in denial about how my image, my weight, and the size of my jeans effect how I make it through the day.

I don't want to be a fitness buff.

I don't want to be a psycho about having to get my workout in.

I just want to be a good steward of the health God is blessing me with, and also be responsible for being attractive for my man.

So, for the reasons listed above, I am starting a blog that welcomes you to share the goals you have in the same area.

This isn't a place for excuses. This isn't a place for condemnation or judgment. This isn't a place for you skinny people to come in here and try to relate to us big girls either! Ha, just kiddin' on that last one, I won't discriminate against you blessed beauties!

Let's lift each other up and hold each other accountable. If you've had an awesome workout, I want to hear about it! I would love to even make a few of my girlfriends administrators so they can share here, too.

Let's do this thing!