Welcome Back

Well, here I am again.

A lot has happened since I last posted...here's a quick recap:
-My father-in-law passed away in late May from his lung cancer.  Probably the saddest time I've ever been through.  My husband has been extraordinarily strong dealing with his grief as well as some bad habits his mom has now begun as a part of her grieving process.  Even through this loss, I think it brought my husband and me even closer together.
-I was hired as an assistant elementary principal this summer after a marathon hiring process.  It literally took me almost two months to get hired from when I applied.  While it was sad leaving the teaching profession, I can now impact many more lives on a daily basis and while it is very challenging, I enjoy what I'm doing.
-My weight has slowly crept up.  I now weigh 248.

Tonight, I worked out for the first time in probably 2-3 months.  I did the 30 Day Shred, a 30-minute video that literally almost killed me.  I'm serious.  I don't remember working out hurting so badly.  My knees hurt.  My back hurts.  I'm out of breath.  My arms hurt.

This makes me sad.  I've taken 100 steps backwards.  It's my own fault, no one else's.

I can whine and moan and complain that I don't have any time and it's just easier to pick up take-out food than cook.  But I'm not going to.

I'm very sad that this is where I've let myself go.  I'm uncomfortable in my clothes...in my skin.  My energy sucks.

So, now I'm working to change it.  Slowly.  I tend to want to do drastic, fast changes.  That never works.  So, first up is reintroducing myself to exercise.  I've told myself if I can do the 30 Day Shred for 30 days in a row, I can look at joining a new Title Boxing Club here in town (cost pending).

I burned 340 calories in 30 minutes.  While that's fabulous, that shows how out of shape I am in.

Time to get to work.

Weekend Recap

How is it Monday night already?

Saturday, I went out to an elementary school a few blocks away and did 5 laps (equals 2 miles).  I actually jogged 1.5 laps which is great since I haven't really run in a couple of years.  Eating was good.

Sunday, I had big plans to do laundry, workout and enjoy the day...that is until the washer started making a very loud noise (it had been making random noises but did the job so I let it be).  I went down, opened the lid and smoke came out.  So, needless to say, we have a new washer coming....$400 I didn't want to spend right now.  I spent the afternoon doing laundry at my sister's house as our new washer isn't coming until Saturday.  My hubby and I did get a short evening walk in.

Tonight, my hubby and I went out for an hour long walk which burned 461 calories.  An interesting observation I made when looking at my Polar F6 HRM watch was that by keeping my heart rate in the 130s-150s, I burn a higher percentage of fat than if my heart right is much higher like the 170s-180s.  Yes, calories are calories, but I'd love to look more into this fat percentage deal...

Hope your Monday treated you well!

Friday, May 4th

So, I exercised today.

I mowed lawn and burned over 500 calories.

Then, hubby and I went on a walk and burned about 300 calories.  I may or may not have had a little ice cream on said walk, but it didn't cancel out the walk completely.

It feels good moving.  My goal is to do it again tomorrow.

While my challenge isn't what I planned, what really is?  The important part is I'm trying.

May 1st

Weight: 246.4 pounds
 Didn't get body fat or measurements.

 Also, didn't really get to exercise.

 My father-in-law, who is dealing with the effects of lung cancer right now, was admitted to the hospital again tonight for dehydration and slight malnutrition. He has ulcers on the lining of his esophagus that make swallowing extremely painful. He's been given different pain meds and through IV they're fine, but once he goes home and takes the pill form, he gets itchy and breaks out in hives. Actually, we almost lost him last week because he was in so much pain he hardly ate or drank and was so extremely malnourished and dehydrated that he was probably days if not hours away from his organs starting to shut down.

 So, while some say this is an excuse, my place was there with my husband and mother-in-law. My husband even said no to me staying home to exercise because he wanted me there.

 Tomorrow, I'll try again. I did count my calories though today and have them recorded in MyFitnessPal, so I wouldn't call this a complete fail.

Welcome Back

So, here it is, April 30th.

 Time flies when you're... Oh, who am I kidding? I haven't posted since February. I've made excuses. I really haven't worked out. I just now started tracking calories again.

 So, a smart girl named Erin over at  http://musingsofmrsmount.blogspot.com/  came up with the lovely idea of a 30 day May challenge. I can pick any behavior I want and have to do it for 30 straight days. 30 days. I can do that.

 Except May has 31 days. So my challenge is a 31-day challenge.

 What's my challenge, you ask? I'm stealing Erin's in that I must work out every day for 31 days for a minimum of 10 minutes. And if I miss a day, it starts over again. No slacking on Fridays because I'm tired or Monday because I don't want to.

 I'm also adding a second part of the challenge. I must track ALL of my calories for 31 days. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I will weigh in tomorrow morning with my weight and body fat and update every 10 days. I'm really going to try hard not to weigh every day. If I get a chance, I also may do measurements.

 My goal of working out? I have the Insanity workouts that I would like to attempt. I say attempt because I broke a sweat by just watching these videos! Holy cow, they're hardcore.

 What do I have to lose? Oh yeah....WEIGHT!!!! HA!!!

Here's the scoop.

So, my father-in-law has lung cancer. It's a stage 3 squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. It has spread to his lymph nodes and his neck. He begins a 7-week intense combination of chemo and radiation (chemo for the lymph nodes, radiation for the mass in his lung) and then they'll reevaluate how he's responding to treatment. The doctors seem to think they can shrink this down far enough that they can possibly go in and remove parts of the mass.

He has developed pneumonia in the same lung the mass is located in and because the fluid is filled up behind the mass, he is literally only using his right lung to breathe. I was very concerned about this, but the doctors don't seem to be. I guess since I'm not a medical doctor, I should let the professionals do their job. I am worried that they're not really doing anything about the pneumonia. I guess time will tell.

As for me, I'm doing fine. I haven't been tracking my calories, but I'm still going to the gym 3-4 nights a week and getting a good 500-700 calorie burn. I'm not gorging, but I'm not cutting way back. I'm trying to live my life.

I was trying the calorie count thing on myfitnesspal, but I wasn't seeing any changes when I was tracking. This last week, I haven't tracked and tried to just be mindful and I'm down almost two pounds.

I don't seem to fit what works for other people. So I'm trying to just live my life without so many numbers (except weight) attached to it. I was almost getting anxiety with calculating calories I've eaten. I do still wear my HRM to track how many calories I burn. I always like to know what kind of a workout I get.

So, that's where I am. I'd still like to lose 30 by my 30th birthday. With my husband's dad, I don't know if the Vegas trip is in the cards. We have a new roof to be looking at as well as some possible car repairs to be made. That bums me out, but what can I do? I'm still crossing my fingers that we might be able to eek this trip out.

Things I love...

Back in college, I hated this day. In fact, a few of my friends and I tagged it as "V" Day (think "D" day) because we were single and miserable on this day.

Now that I'm married and have been for five years, I still don't get overly excited about today. Why for one day out of the year must you proclaim your love?!?! It should be EVERY day!

I digress...

Since I've been a crappy poster of late (more on that later), I thought I'd try to be a little light-hearted and make a list of things I just plain love...

-My husband, of course. He pushes me to always be healthier and more active. He loves me unconditionally and I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for him.

-My parents. I can't say enough about the support they've given me through my life. They've helped me through some very hard times and helped me celebrate during the great times. I'm biased, but they are the best parents ever.

-My brother and sister. While we had our riffs growing up (who doesn't?!), I admit they're pretty cool. They've blessed me with nephews (and a step-niece) and as adults, I appreciate our relationships.

-My nieces and nephews. I love them all....Derek, Andrew, Jordan, Whitney, Anabella, and Zander. Since having kids of our own isn't going to happen in the near future, I get my baby/infant/toddler/child fixes on a regular basis!!!

-My cat. Herky's my kid right now and he loves his mommy. My husband says our cat loves me more than him and that shows every night when Herky cuddles up with me on the couch and leaves my hubby out in the cold!!!!

-Music. It motivates me. It moves me. It makes me smile. It brings back memories. It rocks (pun intended).

-Pizza. Sorry. No way around it. I could eat this stuff every single day for the rest of my life.



I'm sure there are others...but this is what comes to mind now.

Take some time and show some love today....maybe even to a stranger. Random acts of kindness do amazing things.

When life throws you lemons....

...you eat them. At least that's what I've done.

I was doing so good last week. And then on Friday, we learned that my husband's dad has a golf ball-sized mass in his left lung. To make a long story short, we had him in the ER a few weeks ago. The initial X-Ray came back clear, but the doctor wanted him to do more testing. He has lost 30 pounds in 6 months, is weak, isn't eating well, and in the last month, his voice has become very hoarse. He also admitted he's been coughing up blood. It turns out the mass is putting pressure on the nerve that works his vocal chords and one of the vocal chords isn't moving. This is causing his hoarse voice and also, he has trouble eating chunks of things as that chord doesn't cooperate when swallowing.

Today, he has additional scans so that they've scanned from his head to his pelvis. On Wednesday, he will be put under and has a biopsy done. On Friday, we'll get the results. My husband and I have researched and prepared ourselves for the worst-case scenario in hopes that it's better news that we get. My husband and I are both taking off work in the afternoon to be with his parents.

So, if you have an extra minute and can put in an extra prayer, it would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, I've treated this pain with food. I missed my workouts Thursday and Friday last week (Thursday because my sister-in-law had her baby and Friday because of the news we've received). I haven't tracked my food in a week.

This week, I will workout Monday-Thursday. I'm saying maybe Friday because depending on the news, we may be with his family Friday night. And that's where I should be.

My goal this week is to get a grip on my food intake. Consoling yourself with food is not okay. I recognize that which is part of the battle, but I need to do something about it.

My New Challenge to Me

30 by 30.

What's that mean?

I will lose 30 pounds by my 30th birthday (July 7th).

There are multiple reasons:
1. It's nice to have a rounded number to aim for.
2. This will put me at my last lowest adult weight (from about 7 years ago).
3. I will be close to 200.
4. We're planning a trip to Vegas between July 7th and 14th to celebrate my 30th and our 5 year wedding anniversary (July 14th).

That's 158 days.

There are no more excuses.

That's 22.5 weeks.

There are no more excuses.

That's a little over a pound a week.

There are no more excuses.

I can do this.

There are no more excuses.

To put it in reality, today I weighed 244.0. I know, I know...don't start with me. So, by July 7th, I WILL weigh at most 214 pounds. This would match what I weighed in December 2005 when I was last at my lowest.

There are no more excuses.

Did you notice?

Did you notice I haven't updated in almost a week?

Did you notice I didn't weigh-in yesterday?

Forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned. I have been bad. I haven't tracked calories. I haven't been drinking the water I should. I've been eating fried foods, rich in calories, fat, cholesterol, and sodium. I drank beer. Two times. And a lot of it.

I did work out four days last week. So I give myself props for that.

But, that's in the past. I'm moving forward. Tracking. Drinking (water). Moving. Living.

I want out of the freaking 240s. This is ridiculous. But it is my fault. I take responsibility. I'm moving on.



Oh, and did I tell you that I burned 695 calories at kickboxing tonight? Kicking some ass and taking names.

Kickboxing rocks my socks off.

751 calories is 45 minutes tonight. Awesome. Sweat was just dripping off me. Some people don't like to sweat. I love it....because I know my body's burning off that jiggly crap I have mounted up on my arms, abs, hips, and legs.

I even stayed a couple minutes and kicked the sh*t out of the bag just for fun. That's the bomb.

Jillian Michaels, eat your heart out.

Let's kick it!

Okay, more like punching, but anyway...

Max10 bootcamp is back baby! Tonight was 50 minutes of sweaty hotness. We didn't get into kicks since it's the start of a new 10 week session, but I got plenty of a workout! It was just like old times....jab....cross....jab-cross....hooks...uppers...and a combination of all of the above. We even did ladders on the first night! For those of you who don't know what they are, it's a set of punches up to a number and back down. So for example, we did hooks. You're with a partner on her bag....you start with one hook and your partner does one....then two each...three each...all the way up to 10....and then, you get to work your way back down! Now, it sounds tiring but I'll tell you this...punches are way easier than kicks when doing ladders!

I tracked my food today and I'm happy with how it went. I actually had the day off due to school being canceled (gotta love Iowa in January....combo ice/snow) and I'm happy I didn't let myself snack like I could have. In fact, I even took a nap!!!

Cheers to Tuesday!

This is what happens when...

you only workout once and you don't track your calories.

Weight: 242.8

Gain: +2.0 pounds

Boot camp starts back up tomorrow. I expect to be sore. That's a good thing. Time to get my act back together.

Miracles do happen...

Weight this morning: 240.8.

About freaking time.

It's Friday and I'm still here!

Sorry I haven't updated...although I'm not sure I have many followers anymore...

I've been diligently counting calories and working out (with the exception of yesterday as it was my rest day). Thus far, I have lost exactly two pounds. Not exactly what I want, but I'll take what I can get.

I have an hour massage scheduled for tomorrow and I can't wait. I have a tightness just below my shoulder blades (I think it's from the gloves and bands I use doing tae bo), so I'll be glad (and sore) to have that worked out!

Exciting news for me is I'm signed up to do my Max10 bootcamp again starting January 23rd. This was a big time and financial decision and I decided I was willing to sacrifice both to go back. I'm glad I'm doing tae bo now so maybe I won't be "quite" as sore!!!

Monday's Recap

I'm a day late...and a dollar short!!! Story of my life!

Yesterday was good. I felt good. I ate good. I worked out well. I feel strong.

Here's my stats:
Totals: 1,799 calories (223g, 70g, 77g, 2,359g, 15g)
Your Daily Goal: 1,913 calories (262g, 63g, 71g, 2,500g, 22g)
Remaining 114 calories (39g, -7g, -6g, 141g, 7g)
Calories (Carbs, Fat, Protein, Sodium, Fiber)

You'll notice I'm now tracking sodium and fiber. I think part of the issue from last week was overconsumption of sodium. That means that I'm holding on to water. Another thing I'm tracking is fiber. I'm not consuming enough and that affects the digestive system which can affect the weight.

Now, I know weight's not everything, but I'm tracking that as well as inches.

I want out of the 240's bad. Real bad. I'd like to get out of there by next week if possible.

Whether you think you can...

or you think can't, you're probably right.

I said I was going to burn 1000 calories today. Let the picture speak for itself.

Saturday Recap

On Friday, I failed at eating. And because of it, I didn't work out.

That's so wrong.

So, on Saturday, I did my workout I missed Friday and did the one I needed to for Saturday. Almost 900 calories burned. Now don't get too excited. I ate pretty much all of them back when we went out to dinner with friends. One positive to eating out is that I didn't order fries with my chicken wrap. I asked for the ranch and BBQ sauce on the side and used dipped my fork in them and put it on the wrap. But I still ate everything. I should have only ate half. But what's done is done.

Today, I don't have a tae bo workout planned (following the PT 24/7 workout schedule), so I'm not quite sure what I'll do today. I have an hour workout in mind. I'd love to push the 1000 calorie burn mark today.

Why?

I stepped on the scale today and I'm exactly what I was last Monday. 245.0 pounds. With the exception of Friday, I have tracked my calories to a "T." I have worked out five out of the last six days. Most people who start watching what they eat and workout lose 5-10 pounds the first week. Why not me? :(

Friday=Fail

And that's all I have to say about that.

Tomorrow's a new day.

Thursday Recap

It's Thursday! Yahoo! This has been the longest/shortest week!!!! These first weeks back after a break tend to suck because most of my students forget that they have to listen and behave....I tend to forget that, too!!!

With that said, here's today's totals:
Totals: 1,663 cal. (199g, 58g, 76g)
Your Daily Goal: 1,858 cal. (255g, 61g, 69g)
Remaining: 195cal. (56g,3g, -7g)
Calories (Carbs, Fat, Protein)

I did Billy Blanks' PT 24/7 Tae Bo Ripped Core for 30 minutes tonight and burned 358 calories. Not the most strenuous burn, but I wasn't feeling it 100% tonight. But I still did something and this was actually the workout scheduled in Billy Blanks' plan calendar.

Tomorrow's Friday and I couldn't be happier. I will be working out tomorrow night and with any luck, grilling out for dinner. It's freaking 60 degrees in Iowa in January!!! Rock on!

I wasn't feeling it today, but I still got moving. Did you?

You can have your Chick-Fil-A...

...and eat it too!

Calorie counting goes to show that if you track, you can save up for special times. My husband begged me to go to Chick-Fil-A (Mr. Athlete has quite an obsession with the place...and their milkshakes!), so I said fine and I tracked my calories all day to make sure I had enough.

I was going to take a day off of working out to "rest," but after two days, I didn't want to fall into that trap of an excuse. So, after coming home from Chick-Fil-A, we watched "The Middle" on ABC (LOVE that show!) and then at 7:30, I said, "NO EXCUSES" and went to the basement and did me some Tae Bo Cardio Inferno. 45 minutes = 575 calories (may have been more as my HRM was having issues detecting the heart rate at first).

Totals for the day:
Totals: 1,560 calories (143g, 63g, 105g)
Your Daily Goal: 2,076 calories (285g, 69g, 77g)
Remaining: 516 calories (142g, 6g , -28g)
Calories (Carbs, Fat, Protein)

Tuesday Recap

Sorry this is late, but I wanted to keep up on my recaps...holding myself accountable.

Tuesday's Totals:
Totals 1,736 170 63 104
Your Daily Goal 2,200 302 73 82
Remaining 464 132 10 -22
Calories Carbs Fat Protein

I left the day with 464 calories left. That's fine with me.

I did a mile on the treadmill (combo walk/job) and Billy Blanks' PT 24/7 Tae Bo Cardio Sculpt to burn almost 700 calories.

My goal for Wednesday is to burn 700 calories.

Game on.

Monday Recap

Here's my info from MyFitnessPal.com:

Totals 1,751 194 60 97
Your Daily Goal 2,200 302 73 82
Remaining 449 108 13 -15
Calories Carbs Fat Protein
*You've earned 647 extra calories from exercise today

So, in other words, I ate 1,751 calories, burned 647 from treadmill and Billy Blanks PT 24/7 Cardio workout.

I have 449 calories left.

Too bad.

Not eating them today.

2012

So today's the day everyone vows to keep up their newly-formed (or annual) resolutions. Lose weight. Stop smoking. Save money. Exercise more. The list goes on.

Well, I'm one of them. Because if I don't start now, when am I going to start?

2012 will be a year of lots of happiness, I hope. I will be once again searching for my first elementary principal job. My husband is going to try to get a full-time elementary PE job (he's only half-time right now). I will turn 30 in July. We will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary in July.

Gosh...30. Why does that seem so much bigger than 29?

My resolution this year is to get below 200 pounds by the time I turn 30. I turn 30 in a little over six months. I currently weigh 245. That means, I need to lose 46 pounds in six months. That's about 7-8 pounds per month. Doable? Yes. Will I? We'll sure see.

I'm starting to track my calories on MyFitnessPal.com (they also have an app for my phone).

I'm going to begin exercising once again.

I'm going to really work on increasing my water intake again. I've gotten into the bad habit of drinking soda...diet and regular. Not cool.

I'm taking this slow and steady. The tortoise beat the hare, right?

Well, here goes 2012.