down one and May mini goal

I'm down a pound today. Yeah. Too tired to get excited. My head is killing me, AGAIN. *sigh*

Got up at 7:15 this morning. Ran to the store, came home and did 50 mins on the treadmill. I might have overdone it a little, my hips are killing me again. Oh well, the throbbing of my hips is in tempo with the pounding of my head.

Trying to preplan, but it's so darn hard to do when your head hurts.

Saturday ~

~ 45 mins treadmill
~ scrambled eggs (with egg beaters), bacon, hashbrowns, and wheat toast
~ bowl of lf chili

MINI GOAL:

I've done a lot of thinking on this, and while it may be unrealistic, I want to be down 15 lbs by May 31st. That would put me at 183. 15 may be too much for 31 days, but I've got to get this weight off and if I don't push myself I'm not going to get it done. So 15 it is.

Saturday

Pretty lazy day today. I've been fighting headaches and migraines all week, and today is no different. I got up early and did 45 mins on the treadmill this morning. Still at 199. When Stephen got up we made a quick run to the dump to get rid of a ton of leaves and brush from the yard. Came home, got cleaned up and made a nice breakfast even if I do say so myself. We've been watching the draft all day. I've got my headache down to a dull roar, so I'm trying to preplan some pages. It's been dreary, windy and drizzling off and on all day. Supposed to storm over night and tomorrow. Maybe I can preplan some more.

Friday ~

~ 35 mins treadmill
~ roast beef sandwich, half an order of fries
~ two sips of a yogart smoothie (just didn't care for it, tasted like cherry pepto - gag!)
~ bowl of low fat chili
~ plain popcorn

It's Friday!

And thank heavens! The first week back to work after a vacation is SOOOO hard! I'm so glad this week is almost finally over.

I was able to register for the crop. I'm very excited about it. But also a little nervous. I don't like crowds and suffer ever so mildly from claustrophobia in large crowds. I need to get started planning tho. It's from 8 to 8! Thank goodness I don't live far from the store - if I have to run home to get something I can. I'm trying to decide how much to pack and take with me. I'm not sure how much space we'll be allowed, so I don't know if I could take my Navigator or not. 22 days and counting!

It was litterally all I could do to drag myself out of bed this morning. I still can't seem to get enough sleep. And I went to bed at 10 last night. I finally convinced myself to get up and did 35 mins on the treadmill. My knee and hip were hurting a little. I'm hoping it doesn't start getting worse.

Thursday ~

~ 37 mins treadmill
~ spaghetti
~ grilled chicken breast, mashed potatoes & green beans, and a wheat roll
~ 11 glasses of water (I'm so glad I've finally been able to get this up over 8!)

TGIF!!

I made it!!!

I did it, I made my mini goal. This morning the scales read 199. I didn't think I was going to do it, esp after my pity party the other night and near binge. So I'll do some thinking and see what my goal for May will be. I don't want to be unrealistic, but I also want to challenge myself. If I don't get this weight off, it's going to kill me. I have to say, I'm not thrilled to only lose 11 lbs in 31 days. That's just not going to get it done. But at least I am losing instead of gaining. So here's a review of the last 31 days:

~ walked 22 days (Have to get this up higher than that!)
~ gave up sugar drinks (just water or diet soda all month)
~ lost 11 lbs
~ walked every day for the last 10 days

Yesterday was Secretary's Day. No PC title for it from me. Because my bosses do think of us as just that - secretaries. And that was even more evident than usual yesterday because they forgot Secretary's Day. They've forgotten 4 out of the last 6 years. How pathetic is that? So I'm telling the girls tomorrow afternoon, we are forgetting boss's day in October!

Oh, did 37 mins on the treadmill this morning.

Wednesday ~

~ 33 mins on treadmill
~ small salad (about half of what I'd been eating)
~ cheeseburger and lf Healthy Choice hotdog

survival

I survived the night without a binge. I was in a really bad place. And it hurt even worse because Stephen blew me off. He said I just thought I was hungry and that the carbs in the spaghetti caused me to feel hungry. He really hurt my feelings. Instead of being supportive, giving me words of encouragement, he made me feel worthless and unimportant. So after a good cry, I went to bed and suffered alone.

Today isn't much better. I'm feeling really down, really blue. Like I haven't a friend in the world. Must be the hormones.

Another gray, nasty day. I did get 33 mins in on the treadmill this morning and a load of laundry done before work. AND I went to Wal-Mart to buy my ungrateful husband a case of bottled water because he's too impatient to wait for his glass to fill in the fridge. Yeah, yeah, I know. I can't live without him. But after days like last night, I sometimes wonder why I think that. LOL!

Tuesday ~

~ 40 mins on treadmill
~ Oatmeal breakfast thing
~ 1 lf chicken bean roll
~ spaghetti

struggling

I'm struggling. I'm really having issues tonight. I'm craving sweets, carbs, anything I shouldn't have. I think part of it is I had a migraine this afternoon. It's gone now, and I'm ravenous. I had a big supper, more than I should have, but I'm still hungry. "hungry" Ha! I'm not really hungry, I'm just feeling depressed and deprived. I'm so tired and frustrated. Maybe a good cry would do the trick. :(

Why is it?

~ that some people just don't get it? I work with a girl who is sweet as can be, but she's got to be either one of the laziest people I've ever known or one of the most absent minded. She'll take a message, not get the person's name who called OR the phone number. Why can't she get this?

~ that some people think the rules don't apply to them? I work with another girl who breaks the company rules left and right and flaunts that she does. Brags about it. And then replies with "they'll let you if you tell them what you want to do." ah, no, they don't. I've asked and was told that they can't break the rules for me because then why even bother having rules.

~ that no matter how much we give, someone always wants more?

~ that my inlaws wait until the last possible minute to spring things on us, and then act put out if we already have plans?

Sure as heck didn't feel like it (I can't seem to get enough sleep lately, no matter how early I get to bed) but I did 40 mins on the treadmill this morning. Still waiting and hoping for that last lb for the mini goal to disappear. 5 more days. *sigh*

I'm waiting anxiously for Thursday. I found out last week the local scrapbook store is having an all day crop on May 20th. I've never been to one, and would really love to go to this one. Stephen has to work, so the timing would be perfect. Plus the gal told me the goodie bag is simply awesome, lots of stuff, new stuff, and way more than our crop fee. They won't take sign ups until Thursday. I have to work. I'm going to try to call as soon as they open and see if they'll take my debit card to register me via phone. I really would love to go. *sigh*

Monday ~

~ 30 mins on the treadmill
~ salad for lunch (I'm really getting burned out on salads)
~ spaghetti
~ ONE hershey's kiss

blah!

Back at work, and man, do I wish I was home. I hate coming back to work after time off. My desk is always covered and everyone has a hundred different questions they want answered. I don't know how I'm supposed to get caught up by the end of the week. I hope I don't have to come in and work after hours, but it may come down to that. It all has to be done before the end of the week because of month end next Monday. *ugh*

I did manage to drag myself out of bed this morning and do 30 mins on the treadmill. I didn't feel like it, not at all. I was hurting and so tired I could barely put one foot in front of the other. But I did it. I am proud to say that makes seven days in a row I've walked. Now to get that scale moving.

Sunday ~

~ 30 (or was it 32?) mins on the treadmill
~ nasty gross cup of yogart
~ veggie fajitas
~ 2 lf chicken bean roll, handful of wheat chips

Sunday

We had more rain today. I know we need it, desperately, but rain is so depressing. I did manage to drag myself out of bed by 7:30 and do 30 mins on the treadmill. I should have done 40, but I'm still a little out of sorts from giving blood. Still down to 200 tho. :)

Stephen has been playing video games most of the weekend. I haven't done much myself either. Been a pretty lazy weekend. Dreading getting back in to the work week tomorrow. We did go for a stroll around the park with Belle last night after supper. The weather was just too nice after all the rain.

Saturday ~

~ 32 mins on treadmill
~ egg beater scrambled eggs with toast and hashbrowns
~ cheeseburger and fries
~ ONE, yes ONE hershey's kiss

Happy Saturday! down 2 lbs!

I was so happy to see the scales down to 200 this morning. I can actually only take credit for ONE of those two tho. We went to donate blood last night and the lady who drew my blood told me to be sure to weight this morning because giving a pint of blood makes you lose one lb. Makes sense to me, but I'm still counting it! :)

I did something really boneheaded this week, and it really pissed me off. I sent a dvd back to Netflix that we hadn't even watched yet! What the heck was I thinking? I went to get it last night to watch and I had the one we'd already seen. Idiot. So now I have to wait about a week for the one I should have sent back to get to them and a replacement to get back to me. Ugh!

I guess it's going to be a lazy Saturday. Stephen is still asleep. It's too wet to mow. He did promise that he'd get the riding lawn mower ready to go today. I think I'm going to go hop on the treadmill. Maybe scrap a little later on.

Friday ~

~ 40 mins on treadmill
~ Quaker Oatmeal breakfast bar
~ roast beef sandwich, half an order of fries
~ cheeseburger and hotdog (from Stephen grilling Thursday night)

the Friday I didn't want to see get here

It's the last day of my vacation, and that's always a sad day to see arrive. But, it's also a good day, because I am down one more lb.

Last night, I was craving chocolate. Or at least I thought I was. I had some Hershey's hugs stashed away. I got 5 out of the jar. Had two and you know what, while they smelled heavenly, they didn't even really taste that good to me. Yahoo!!!

I'm going to get my hair cut today. I'm going to ask him if he could recommend another hair color. I'm not so sure I want to stay my natural red anymore. Red kind of has a nasty taste to me now.

Did 40 mins again this morning. I hope I can keep that up once I get back to work next week.

Thursday ~

~ 40 mins treadmill
~ salad
~ grilled chicken breast, bite of rib and turkey, baked potato
~ TWO Hershey's kisses (I know it's silly, but I'm so proud of myself for resisting!) :)

Thursday review

I'm hoping I've gotten back on track. For two days now the scale has been back down those two lbs I had gained back. So I'm still needing 4 lbs by the 30th to make my mini goal. Not looking good.

I did 40 mins on the treadmill this morning. Did 33 yesterday and 32 Tuesday. We worked in the yard some more yesterday, put out a microscopic garden. I hope we have at least a few tomatoes after all that work. Stephen is back at work so I've had a really lazy day.

This is a very plain layout. But I'm proud of it because I made the paper and tag for this one. I used a brush I had downloaded and altered it to make the embossed paw print. I wish I had more talent when it comes to design.

Tuesday -

~ 32 mins on treadmill
~ 2 pancakes & 2 hashbrowns
~ serving of chili rubbed chicken (frozen meal - and it was delish!)

Wednesday -

~ 33 mins on treadmill
~ breakfast (I made scrambled eggs with egg beaters, bacon and hashbrowns. Shame!)
~ veggie fajitas
~ small blizzard

Catch up

Been busy this weekend. Saturday we got up and worked in the yard for four hours. I was totally and completely beat. Sunday we went out to eat with the inlaws and it was just as bad as I feared. Stephen's nephew was a brat, as usual. And my sister in law showed up with dyed red hair. I don't know why, but it really ticked me off - I'm a natural red head and I'm now thinking of bleaching my hair blonde! Monday we painted the living room - chocolate - and painted the trim to be put up. I didn't walk any of those three days. Shame on me. But after yard work and standing and painting all day, I was too sore to move. I've tried to be good on food but Saturday wasn't so good. Today is Stephen's last day off, so we're going to put the trim up and then just take it easy. Assuming he gets up at some point today.

This layout was a BOM challenge. The papers, ribbon and button are from Amy -http://digitallydesigned.blogspot.com/ -and the tag is from Lauren Bavin.

Friday -

~ 33 mins on treadmill
~ SMALL plate of Chinese food
~ lf chicken bean roll

Saturday -

~ cheeseburger and tots
~ spaghetti
~ small turtlette blizzard :(

Sunday -

~ Dimitri's chicken (lunch out with inlaws)
~ homemade pizza
~ oatmeal bar

Monday -

~ oatmeal bar
~ lf chicken bean roll
~ mini frozen pizza with chips

Gotta get back on track. No way I'm going to make my mini goal if I keep this up. :(

PLUS two pounds :(

Imagine my horror and dismay when I discovered I had gained two pounds this morning. I'm crushed. I've been doing so good, watching what I eat, trying to increase my water, and I gain back two lbs. And it can't be muscle, I haven't been at it long enough. So I guess I'm going to have to cut back even further on my food. I'm so not looking forward to being hungry all the time. *sigh* Words cannot express how demoralized and disheartened I am.

Here's a weight loss layout. The quote is from Rhonda Ferra's 21 day challenge - http://rhonnafarrer.typepad.com/dreamy/ and the papers are from Atomic Cupcake - http://atomiccupcake.com/.


I did 33 mins on the treadmill this morning. I would have walked longer but I had to run some errands before work.

Thursday

~ 35 mins on the treadmill
~ tuna sandwhich and Wheat Sun Chips
~ two lf chicken bean rolls

another one bites the dust!

At the risk of jinxing myself, I stepped on the scales this morning. I know I shouldn't weigh myself more than once a week. But if I start gaining weight, I want to know immediately so I can start cutting back on my food. So I was thrilled to see I was down another pound this morning. That leaves three to my mini goal. Wait, I just reread my mini goal, and it's conflicted. It says UNDER 200, yet lists the wrong number of lbs to GET to under 200. So three lbs will get me TO 200, so I hope to lose four lbs before the end of the month.

Stephen is really dedicated to working out. He's gone every afternoon after work to the gym for 4 1/2 weeks now. I'm very proud of him. He doesn't go on the weekends, but he's up to an hour of cardio work each day now. I feel like a slouch with my lousy 35 mins this morning. But until I can start getting up when he gets up, that's about all I have time for.

I found a yogart I can tolerate. I don't love it, but it's okay. It's called Orange Cream, and is supposed to taste like an Orange Cream ice cream. It doesn't, but I can choke it down. The label said "aids in weight loss". How's that? Just another gimic to sell yogart?

Wednesday ~

~ 32 mins on the treadmill
~ cup of yogart
~ cheeseburger and tater tots for lunch
~ grilled chicken breast, two bites of turkey and a baked potato
~ 3 mini cadbury eggs (these are gone now too, yeah!)

gray Wednesday

Another dreary day here. I can't wait for summer and nice weather. All these clouds are depressing.

About a week ago, we were in line in Wal-Mart. A lady was in front of us with what I assume was her daughter and the daughter's two boys. (The boys called the younger woman mom) I was appalled by what the younger woman was wearing. Her jeans were so low on her hips that you could see too much. And while she was skinny, she had horrible stretchmarks all across her hips and stomach. Her shirt barely covered her bra. Now tell me, why does someone think that ANYONE wants to see her scarred skin?! Heck, why does she think anyone would want to see that much skin at Wal-Mart?! She was clearly dressed to be going out to a bar or a club, which our small town doesn't have. Stephen was embarrassed and took his glasses off so he wouldn't have to see her flaunt herself like that. Heaven help me if we ever have a child because there is NO WAY I will allow them to dress like that as long as I'm paying the bills.

I went home early yesterday with my migraine. I finally called it quits and gave up. My head finally quit hurting and I was able to get some sleep last night. I got up and did 32 mins on the treadmill. I think I was half asleep while I was walking.

Tuesday ~

~ 33 mins on the treadmill
~ lf bagel
~ salad for lunch
~ spaghetti for supper
~ handful of sweet tarts (which are gone! Yeah! No more temptation!)

Another pound gone!

Imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scales this morning and had lost another pound. After the lack of walking and poor food choices, I was stunned to see I'm now down a total of 6 lbs. This leaves me 4 to lose for my mini goal.

I walked for 33 mins this morning, even tho I didn't feel like it. I woke up with a headache and now, I'm sorry to say, it's looking more and more like a migraine. Ugh!

Busy day today at work. I have a ton of regular stuff to do plus a mass mailing that has to be finished before I leave for vacation. Hard to concentrate on work when your head is pounding like a drum.

Monday ~

~ no treadmill :(
~ Quaker oats breakfast bar
~ salad for lunch
~ grilled chicken breast and two bites of grilled turkey, baked potato
~ handful of those sweet tarts again. :(

sunny Monday

It's Monday, again. *sigh*

I had a pretty busy weekend. Friday night was stormy. Again. The worst of it missed us. Stephen got called in to work Friday night. They had a lightning strike and the computers were down. The guy whose job it is to be on call when the boss is out of town wouldn't do squat to fix the problem. Big surprise there.

Stephen had to work Saturday. I got up, did 33 mins on the treadmill. I did a very slow "jog" for 2 mins three times during that 33 mins. Then I cleaned the house. I got cleaned up, rented a movie and enjoyed the rest of my afternoon.

Sunday I didn't walk. I should have. Stephen put his second curio together in the game room and I finished a stupid book that someone had recommended to me. It was terrible. I cleaned up the grill, and once Stephen was done with the curio, he grilled for us. We have enough leftovers for the whole week. I love that.

Didn't walk this morning either. The weather is changing, again, and my sinuses were full and hurting. I'm never going to lose the weight this way. *double sigh*

Saturday ~

~ 33 mins on the treadmill
~ lf bagle
~ chicken fajitas

Sunday ~

~ veggie fajitas
~ small chicken breast, small rib, two bites of turkey and a small baked potato
~ no treadmill :(

TGIF!

Thank goodness it's Friday! It's sad, but I live for Fridays. Wishing my life away, a week at a time.

I was bad this morning. I didn't get up and walk. Even tho I went to bed early, I was so darn tired. My head was hurting (I think it's the nasty, stormy weather) so I didn't force myself to get up. I should have, really, esp since I was so bad on the food yesterday. But I did go ahead and step on the scales, largely to see if I was still down my original 4 lbs, and I'm down one more lb to 5 total. So now I only have 5 to go to reach my mini goal. I'm going to try my best to walk when I get home tonight, but no promises.

No real plans for the weekend. I hope to clean the house and maybe work on my scrapping a little. It's supposed to clear off some time tomorrow, but I think it will still be too wet to mow the yard. It's looking really nasty and needs a good clip.

Thursday ~

~ lf bagel
~ small heath blizzard (bad Sussann!!)
~ bowl of soup
~ handful of sweet tart bunnies and chickens and ducks (double bad!!)

mini goal #1

Okay, so I've thought about this for a while this morning. I think I've settled on a first mini goal. So here goes:

By April 30th - get under 200 lbs. This will give me 24 days to lose 6 lbs. That's a little less than 2 lbs a week. I'd like to think I can do it quicker than this, but I don't want to be unrealistic.

I also need to increase my water consumption. So by April 30th, I need to be up to 10 glasses of water a day. 80 oz. I can do that, right?

April Showers....

I woke up to a gentle sprinkle hitting the window this morning. It's so hard for me to get up when it's raining like that. I laid there, kept thinking just five more minutes. It's been raining off and on all morning - the good kind of rain, the nurishing rain that makes everything so lush and green this time of year.

I was thinking last night, I totally love the way we rearranged the furniture upstairs this weekend. What was once a cramped living room is open and inviting. I think a lot of it has to do with taking down the curtains in that room. We have a huge picture window in addition to a regular window in that room. I loved the curtains and rods that were in there - Stephen hated them, naturally. So I took them down to wash this weekend and the next thing I knew, he had taken the rods and hardware down off the walls! So I couldn't put the curtains back up if I wanted to. But shhhh, don't tell, I don't want to! I love how light the room is now, how open. It's amazing how subtracting from a room can make things look so much better. Now to get some fresh paint on those walls. We painted Tender Taupe in that room in 2000. I thought I was being so bold with that color. I've since discovered color on walls is a good thing, and that it won't run off potential buyers. So we're going to go with a brown in that room. Something rich and inviting. While I hate painting with a passion, I can't wait to get it done.

I did 30 mins on the treadmill this morning. A friend sent me some exercises to try for my hip. Thank you Cindy! I'm hoping they will help and I can increase my time walking soon. Such a long road ahead of me. Sometimes it seems impossible. I think I need to set mini goals to keep from losing perspective. I'll need to do some thinking on that.

Wednesday ~

~ lf bagel
~ salad for lunch
~ two lf chicken bean rolls

HHD!

Wendesday. Halfway thru the week. Only 7 1/2 more work days until I'm on vacation. I'm SOOOO ready for a vacation. Seems like forever since I was off in November last year.

I managed 30 mins on the treadmill this morning. My hips were feeling better for the most part. I have no idea what's up with that. Makes zero sense to me.

I wasn't sure if I should post this, I'm half afraid of jinxing myself, but I have to tell someone. And since Stephen has already lost TEN pounds, I can't tell him. I weighed yesterday and again this morning, to be sure. I've lost four pounds. I know it's not even a drop in the bucket, but after being so disheartened at not losing any at all, this is a huge boost for me. I just did the math. It's 5% of what I want to lose. *sigh* At least those stupid scales moved, right?

Tuesday ~
~ 24 mins on the treadmill
~ lf bagel
~ a cheese ravioli lean cuisine meal
~ wheat spaghetti for supper
~ and as a treat, 3 mini cadbury eggs.

Tuesday

Well, I got back on the treadmill this morning. I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I finally dragged myself out of bed (15 mins later than I SHOULD have gotten up) and did 24 mins on the treadmill. I don’t know if I could have done more even if I had gotten up earlier. My GOOD hip is now hurting worse than my bad hip. I HAVE to get this weight off some way, some how before it kills me.

Last night was pretty lazy. I was too tired to walk when I got home, so I made burgers on the Foreman grill and we watched a dvd. I had hoped to work on a layout, either digital or traditional, but I just didn’t get to it. *sigh*

Monday ~

~ no treadmill :(

~ salad for lunch

~ cheeseburger and tater tots for supper

just another Monday

I am depressed. Couldn't get up this morning. The time change and waking up at 4:30 Sunday really has hurt me. I should have walked this morning, but I just couldn't get out of bed. And I REALLY should have walked because I stepped on the stupid scales. I haven't lost an ounce! I'm so sad. I was afraid I was going to have to starve myself to make this work, but I'm just not there yet. *sigh*

We had some really high winds and thunderstorms yesterday and last night. Thankfully we didn't have any damage.

Sunday -

~ no treadmill. :(
~ cold pizza for lunch
~ wheat chips for a snack
~ two LF chicken bean rolls :(

Man, just even writing that is depressing. I swear some days life just sucks.

worn out & time change

That's it. I'm frazzled. Worn out. Tee-totally. I got up about 8 yesterday and as soon as Stephen got up, we started working. Had a super quick breakfast and took the old couch to the dump. Thankfully we'd loaded it the night before - I say we, but it was actually Stephen and a friend from work. Stephen and I were struggling to get the thing in the truck (it was so heavy - it was 8 feet long with a recliner in each end) when one of his friends from work drove by. Thank heaven's he did, or we'd still be struggling with it. So we dumped that, came home, loaded up some junk, an empty box, some brush, an old computer case and ran back to the dump. Came home, moved the love seat from upstairs to down. Moved the couch and loveseat (BOTH with recliners!) upstairs. Moved the recliners. Started rearranging the furniture in the upstairs living room. Got it mostly the way we want it. Put a video cabinet together. Just waiting for Stephen to wire everything back up. We want to paint in that room, but it will have to wait til I'm off on vacation. We also went to Lowe's and priced those window shutter treatments. About $800 for the two windows in that room. Ouch!! For some reason I will never understand Stephen hates the curtains and rods that are in that room. Oh well. Finally called it quits about 8pm last night. Was bad, we had pizza for supper. But at we didn't eat lunch, so at least it was better than it could have been. I didn't have the energy to walk. Not sure if I will today or not. I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. So I'm up and at it, with only 4 1/2 hrs of sleep. LOVE that it will be daylight still once I get home from work. HATE getting up in the dark tho. Oh well.

Happy Sunday!

Friday -
~32 mins on the treadmill
~bagel for breakfast
~cup of Mexican veggie soup and half a pimento cheese sandwich, 4 or 5 potato chips
~two low fat chicken bean rolls (I know, shame on me!!)


Saturday -
~Breakfast burrito from Sonic
~one french toast stick
~pizza for supper, no lunch.
~no treadmill :( {BUT I was on my feet moving for about 12 hrs straight}