Ten Pound Tuesday- Do Over

How did your first week go?

I hope it was an awesome week and you saw some success on the scale. My friend, the "other" Becky in England, lost 2 pounds this week. Way to go Becky! Your blog comment showed up at just the time I needed some inspiration. I was already feeling ready to quit, and reading your email helped me refocus. Thank you!

Did you ever yell, "Do Over" as a kid? Whenever we dropped the dice on the floor during a game, or missed a shot during a game of "Pig" we always yelled, DO OVER!

Well, this week I'm declaring a do over for myself. I started Tuesday and Wednesday so motivated by this challenge. And then...

My daughter got sick, I got sick, my back went out again, hormones were raging....and I have many other excuses I won't bore you with. All week I kept saying, "All these people are paying attention now. I've got to get myself together!" But I didn't and I don't know why.

And then I weighted myself this morning. I do not have a great weight loss to report. Quite the opposite. I have a weight GAIN to report. 2 pounds. Ouch. This was anything but a stellar week.

But this morning as I'm thinking it all through, I'm thinking maybe it is a good thing for me to have a rough start. I'm hoping if any of you had a rough start, too, you won't give up and you'll just cry "do over" with me.

It's real life and losing weight is not easy. I want lasting change, so I need to look at my failures just as much as I do at my successes and ask, "Why?"

Here's what went wrong this week:

1. Thinking I've been doing this for so long now I can "keep track of it all in my head."

Yeah, that's what I thought about Natural Family planning after my first daughter was born. Ummm...we have two daughters who are only 13 months a part, so you can figure out how well I did with that! : )

2. Using food for comfort. I did not feel well this week hormonally and physically. I still don't. I have to find other ways to deal with that instead of comfort carbs.

3. No movement or exercise.

4. No water. I lived on coffee and Diet Pepsi this week. I'm not sure if this affected my weight loss, but I'm sure it isn't healthy.

Here are my goals for this week:

1. Detailed Food Journal. I cannot keep track of it in my head. It is too easy to cheat that way. I will be recording everything and planning ahead.

2. My back is hurt, but feeling slightly better today. I think some walking will do me good.

3. Water before caffeine

Here's to a better week for me! And a successful DO OVER. : )

Just because I had a rough week, doesn't mean you did. Any celebrations out there?

1. How did it go?

2. What challenges did you face? How did you handle them, good or bad?

3. Any goals for this week?

Feel free to answer any or none of these. I'm so thankful for all of your support. Don't forget to cheer each other on and visit the blogs of those who have them.

Here's me cheering you on:

Keep going! You can do it! : )

BTW- My prayer book isn't here yet. I'm hoping maybe today. I'll start blogging about that when it gets here.

Anyone watching Biggest Loser with me tonight? Go team Abby! : )

Biggest Loser Starts Tonight!

I love that show! : )

Hope my DVR didn't fail me so I can watch it tonight later.

Any other Biggest Loser fans out there?

Last P90X Workout of Week One

I just finished my last workout of the week. Tomorrow is a rest day and then I will have completed my first week of P90X.

I LOVE IT!!! It is fun, tough, and humbling, but I feel great.

I'm still not sure about how I'm doing with my eating. The exercise alone has been a huge time commitment for me, so I haven't had the time to focus on the food yet. I think I'm doing OK though.

I'll weigh in on Wednesday morning and share my progress report then.

If you are considering doing P90X, here are a few observations I've made so far:

-It's not easy. You need to be already working out and have a basic level of fitness before you start. You might want to work up to this instead of starting here, unless you are crazy like me. : )

- Don't rely on the resistance bands. I think it is important to have weights and a pull up bar. I have the Door Gym that I bought locally. It's nice because it is portable and didn't need any hardware or drilling into my door frame.

- Pray first everyday. I have been really focused on P90X this week, and I've felt myself drifting a little spiritually. I love it but don't want it to become an obsession.

I'm so excited for Day 30 so I can compare pictures and measurements.

I'll be back on Wednesday to let you know how I did this week. I feel like I moved to the Biggest Loser ranch. : )

Three Days into P90X

Wow! I'm loving my new P90X program! It is humbling though. It is a really intense workout, but I really like a challenge.

I'm still in the learning curve phase, especially about how I should be eating. I read the nutrition guide that they provided and it confused me. Because it is a more extreme workout, they want you to be eating a lot higher calories than I am comfortable doing.

Since September, I've been eating 1200 - 1500 calories, running, and doing an occasional workout video to lose the weight, but it has been really easy for me to slip into maintenance mode. With this program, it says I should be eating around 1800 -2600 calories. That is a scary thought and just doesn't sound right. When I was watching the Biggest Loser the other night, though, Bob kept harping (get it Bob Harper, ha ha- OK I know I'm a dork) on his players to eat more, not less. I guess I just need to do some more research and experiment a little. All I'm doing right now is asking myself at every meal, "What would be good fuel for my body?" and then eating the right serving size, and not allowing myself to get full. I stop eating 3 hours before bedtime and I'm drinking a lot of water and eating more protein then usual. I've been so focused on all of this working out these past three days, I haven't had a lot of time to count calories. We'll see how it goes.

I have been really happy without how much energy I'm feeling lately. This is new for me! I've always been somewhat of a slug, but I feel really good and I'm excited about the goals I'm working toward.

My before pictures were a little depressing especially since I've worked so hard all ready that these are more like half way pictures, but it was good for me to have a starting point. I'm not quite ready to share any of them yet. Let's wait until I've made some progress then I might be a little more eager to show you the "before" shots. : )

How are you doing? Any prayer requests? Thanks so much to those of you who read this and encourage me. It means so much to me and keeps me motivated! Don't forget to leave comments.....I'm a comment junkie. : )

I'll give you a progress report soon.

Brainwashing : )

I've been a fan of Biggest Loser for awhile, but I always laugh when they have that cheesy moment when you know it is a commercial. Jillian or Bob will suddenly start talking to the contestants about the benefits of Cheerios or how they can make a 10 calorie sugar free Jello snack. I often wondered how much Jello or Cheerios or Jenni-O Turkey have to pay for their little plug.

But this time, one of the commercials actually worked on me. They kept talking about how chewing Extra Sugar Free gum would help you get through the three o'clock snack time. The other day I was waiting in line at Wal-Mart and there staring me in the face was a display of Extra Sugar Free gum. My first thought was, "Jillian likes peppermint." : )

So in a trance, I bought myself a pack. The crazy thing is, it is working! I can't believe how much help it is for me to chew the gum when I want to eat. It's my new secret weapon. : )

So here's my progress report:

- 22 pounds so far, 28 to go. Almost 1/2 way there. : )

Travel Plans

The holiday season is proving to be tougher on my weight-loss goals than I expected. : ( I'm revising my plans from losing weight to making it through without gaining any weight.

I'm leaving Saturday to visit family for 10 days and I know the food that is waiting. Maintaining is going to be a real challenge without a plan.

Here's my plan:

1. As much movement as possible. There is a ton of snow where I'm headed, so getting outside with my kids for sledding, snowman building, etc. is on the agenda. I have been thinking a lot about how little time I spend outside.

2. Mom has a new treadmill set up in front of her big screen TV. I'm going to break it in for her. : )

3. Lots of water and veggies.

4. Enjoy treats in small serving sizes.

I'm going to focus on people and having a great time. I'll get back to the weight loss goals and blogging about my effort in January when I get home. My goal is to lose 35 more pounds by March 31, 2009. It's going to come quickly!

I was so excited about the Biggest Loser Finale. Way to go Michelle!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I'll be back on here in January ready to lose weight and get to the top of my mountain! : )

Tough Week and Biggest Loser

I'm having a really hard time staying on track this week. It's funny how my life circumstances keep lining up with whatever the current reading topic in the book is. This week while we are reading about choosing, I'm making terrible eating choices.

On Sunday, I let myself have a piece of birthday cake at a party. A normal, sane person would have been satisfied with that one piece, not felt guilty, and moved on. Not me. I felt guilty and less than "perfect" and allowed it to trigger more sugar eating. I've also been battling a cold and wanted comfort, so to food I've been a-going.

I think when I started this book, I hoped it would be six weeks of losing a whole bunch of weight and being fixed. Instead, I'm finding ah-ha moments where I'm doing things right and figuring stuff out, but there are also moments of making mistakes that I have to learn from also.

I'm hoping to take the opportunity to analyze my bad choices this week, see what's causing them, and work at stopping before I sabotage myself.

Here's some things I'm thinking:

- a choice to have some sugar does not allow me to then go on a sugar binge. It should be a once in a while treat and end there. I need to enjoy it, not feel guilty, and then move on. I want to remember how much better I feel without sugar. I love the feeling of being free from it. It surprises me how much havoc sugar can reek on my life. It really is addictive and makes you feel gross. You don't notice it until you get rid of it for awhile.

- perfectionism is definitely my enemy. I need to pray about this some more. Whenever I stop being perfect, I tend to quit altogether. Help me conquer this Lord and just live a healthy life.

On to other topics....

Any Biggest Loser fans out there?

I want to see Vicky go home so badly. Do you think it possible or does she still have too much power?

Wasn't it interesting and depressing to learn about how much our society has changed since 1980? Here were a few facts that stuck out to me:

- Obesity rates have nearly doubled
- Percentage of adults with diabetes has increased 300%
- The average size dress a women bought in 1985 was a size 8, today that average is a size 14.
- Women today eat an average of 385 extra calories a day as compared to the 1980's.

I found this all so disturbing. I know I'm right there with my culture. What has happened to us? What do you think is to blame for these dramatic changes?

Any predictions on who wins Biggest Loser?

My vote? Go Michelle!