Day 1, week 8 --- I found it!

I didn't weigh in this morning, so there's no weight info to report. I'll go Saturday morning to the higher energy group.

The other day, I complained that I didn't like exercise and that I wished I could find one I liked. Some of you commiserated. Well, I found it. The Bon Jovi concert! I need to get out dancing. Is there a place where people can go hear music they like (80's rock in my case), dance their butts off (literally) without some of the...hmmm...sexual? grinding?...you see on YouTube? We need an 80's rock aerobic class! I'd pay for that.

Anyway, the long awaited Bon Jovi concert was amazing! They sounded as great as ever and looked pretty good too (some better than others). From the people watching perspective, this concert was much less exciting than Def Leppard. Middle class, well behaved, nicely dressed, up out of their seats, singing their lungs out, lots of families, glad to be there, not drunk...truly a nice night. Ted enjoyed himself and I was glad he was there with me. He knew so many songs, I was proud! The playlist was a mix of old and new and lots of rotating, elevation changing video screens that allowed everyone in the audience to get up close and personal. Here's the list:

Livin' on a Prayer, Shot Through the Heart, Bad Medicine, It's My Life, Dead or Alive, Bed of Roses, Born to Be My Baby, Hallelujah, Who Says You Can't Go Home, When We Were Beautiful, Work for the Working Man, Superman Tonight, Love's the Only Rule, Thorn in My Side, We Got It Going On, Homebound Train, We Weren't Born to Follow, probably a couple more. It's hard to know.

The opening act was Dashboard Confessional who were fine. They seemed surprised to be there and did lots of thank you's.

So, if you want to start an 80's aerobics class, let me know!

Less later,
Laurie

Day 6, week 7 I found the elliptical!

Ahhhhh, a little exercise and I didn't throw my back out again. What a relief. The elliptical still works and my exercise ball didn't pop from dry rot when I sat on it. I think I'll stick with the elliptical, as long as I can stay healthy. I'm working on core strength on the ball. That ought to help keep my back healthy.

The scale keeps going down and I can see it in the mirror. My clothes are getting baggier, but I'm not buying new yet. I'm still losing and a season change is coming, so I'm not spending money I'll just have to spend again in 8 weeks. I did buy a new swimsuit at Costco in a size smaller than last year! Costco is definitely a place where you have to jump on the bargains while they're there. Next week, that deal might be gone.

I still need to find some kind of exercise I really LOVE. I do exercise, but only because I have to. There's GOT to be something active that I can find that I will do because I WANT to. Is there a support group for people who hate to exercise? Like Kelly Osbourne in Dancing With the Stars said, "I hate to sweat". I really related to her in that moment.

OK, I'm just rambling now. I'll sign off and go to some aerobic housecleaning...maybe Olympic vacuuming.

Less later,
Laurie

Day 2, week 7

Oh yeah...another 1.6 pounds in 4 days! I've lost over 17 pounds and I couldn't be happier about how well this is working. I will be happier when I can get some exercise in. I'm hoping that will actually speed up the weight-loss and improve my overall fitness. Not that I'm not happy with the speed I'm losing weight. It's a reasonable pace that isn't crash dieting. You can't maintain easily what came off too quickly.

It's been a busy week and today is no different, so my post here is short. But when there's less of me, I'll be writing some more!

Less later,
Laurie

Day 3, week 6 - I ROCK!!!

I didn't get to weigh in on my regular day (orthodontist appointment and job eval), and that's actually a good thing. I like the leader on Saturday morning a lot better. I've had her before and she's much more....energetic? Friendly? I'm not sure what, but I relate better to her. She and another weight loss counselor have a great website with tons of great recipes. I used to use it a lot when I was doing WW previously. Anyway, my 2.6 pound loss may be a little exaggerated due to the extra two days. I don't care though, I'll take it! That brings the grand total in 5 weeks to 15.6 pounds! Not bad for a week with very little exercise due to injury.

My back is almost healed and I'm hoping to get some exercise in besides lifting Girl Scout cookies...perhaps if I add milk lifting, I'll be full AND have a well-rounded workout. :) Really though, I'm the Cookie Mom, and tomorrow is the cookie pick-up day from the warehouse. 172 cases, 3 adults, load into the truck and off of the truck, then into individual cars...whew. If that doesn't kill me, maybe even that nasty elliptical staring at me from the corner of the living room will get used. I'm trying to get inspired by the Olympics.

I did some stir-fry on the outdoor "wok" and it tasted good, but it wasn't a great wok. It's too high above the heat, so Chip's going to see what he can figure out to lower it. Another cooking experiment.

Valentine's Day will not include chocolate, but will have great Greek food. My Big Fat Greek Restaurant is calling to me and I know I can find food there that fits my needs. Staying away from the pita and tzatziki will be a challenge. Maybe I can have a little tzat on some gyro meat. We'll see how it goes.

No new excitement, just keeping on keeping it off!

Less later,
Laurie

Week 5, day 4 ---Super Sunday!

We went up to Flagstaff for the night. Left early Saturday morning and spent the day at the Wing Mountain Snow Play Area just NW of Flagstaff, AZ. It's a great deal really and we COULD have done up and back in one day, but we didn't want to feel rushed. We played all day, checked into the hotel, got the kids into warm baths, then went out to dinner. We figured, "What could go wrong?"

The weather had said that the high would get to 40 and there might be some scattered snow showers but no accumulation. There was plenty of snow already on the ground and all of the roads were great and cleared. Claire thought the snow showers were great because she finally got to catch a snowflake on her tongue. We have played in the snow every year, but this is the first falling snow she's seen that she remembers.






THEN, the snow showers didn't look like showers anymore. As we left for dinner, it started to really snow. The visibility dropped to next to nothing and it started to accumulate right away. When we woke up Sunday, there was a blanket of 10 inches (or so). No plows had been out yet on the surface streets. The continental breakfast at the motel was exactly what I thought it would be at an Econo-Lodge, so we went to Denny's and took our time. I figured that would give the road crews as much time as we could to make I-17 safer.

That was a pretty good plan. The roads weren't totally cleared, but they had been treated. There was one good lane for most of the time. The snow was so beautiful on the trees.






Ted was having a great time taking some very artistic photos along the way and I love taking pictures of him.






As far as weight loss goes, it was a pretty good weekend. It was the first vacation on the plan. I packed a great lunch for all of us to eat at the snow play area and was pretty good at dinner. I planned the snacks and packed a lot of healthy choices. I stayed within the prescribed points, and got a lot of exercise just playing in the snow. When we got home, it was time to get ready for Super Bowl Sunday! I picked some good, healthy snack recipes (some from WW) and got them all made in time for the game to start. The points were good on these too. Only the scale will tell for sure on Thursday. Stay tuned!

day 1, week 5- another success

I passed my 5% loss goal. I'm now at 13 lbs lost. What is the challenge this week? I honestly can't remember. Oh yeah, the challenge is to forgive yourself. Not give yourself permission to go off the reservation and into the Dairy Queen, but when lapses happen in tracking, eating, exercising, give yourself a pass 10 times. I think the way they worded this was dangerous for me. I will be ignoring the challenge. Guess that's why I forgot what it was, I already discounted it's value to me.

I'm a pretty realistic person when it comes to goal setting and I'm also over the whole beating myself up thing. We all make mistakes, but I'm not going to set out with "pre-forgiveness" which undermines my determination. I know I like ice cream and would love to have it almost daily, but I also know that I can't do that and still meet the goals that I have set for myself. If I slip and eat the ice cream, I'll be honest about it, track it, and try to figure out why I made that choice so I don't make it the next time. Or, I'll figure out the way I can budget the ice cream into my plan. I won't call myself a bad person, or judge myself harshly for the mistake. My goodness, I'd be in bad shape if I judged myself by every mistake I've made in my life.

I've been sick for the whole last week, so my entire exercise plan went out the window. I think I was blessed to lose 2 pounds considering I didn't exercise AT ALL. I feel like I'm on the mend, but I'm still not 100% yet. I think I'm about 80%...sinus pressure, post nasal drip, hoarseness, general yuckiness. I stayed on track and I didn't miss any work or school, but I didn't do anything extra. This weekend will change all of that. We're heading north to visit the snow in Flagstaff and play. We borrowed some sleds, rented a hotel room, got out the winter gear, bought boots that fit the kids and long underwear. I think there will be some real calorie burning going on.

I'll keep on keeping on. Next week will bring its own challenges, I'm sure. I've been talking to God, tracking my meals, staying positive, planning and cooking up a storm, and generally having a good time. My family is happy (well, they're doing a good job of faking it if they're not), and I am too.

Less later,
Laurie