Sick and Tired

No...really. I'm sick and tired! =D When we returned from Parris Island I was having back issues as a result of the hotel bed from hell which lasted about a week. The very day my back felt better I came down with the sickness crud that was plaguing the rest of my extended family. Between those two things I haven't graced the inside of either of my gyms in almost 2 weeks, though I did walk 5 miles last weekend before going straight back home and falling into bed for the rest of the weekend. The gym is on my "To Do" list for tomorrow but who knows if it will really and truly happen. Just being honest! While I do feel better today I also am simply exhausted. No big weekend plans so at this point my "plan" is to veg out, continue taking my meds, watch lots of sappy Lifetime movies, and throw in a little housework here and there since hubby has graciously done most everything during the last two week hurt/sick period. Lately I have been noticing that my body has kind of seemed to settled around the 137 area. I'm happy with that though prefer to be around 130ish. Now that the days are starting to get longer and I should be able to start walking more maybe I'll see that number again soon. If not, as long as I'm in the 130s then I'm okay with that. Lifestyle is good....I eat pretty healthy most of the time but do eat bad here and there, indulge in desserts in moderation, and I'm still maintaining. I think thats what its all about in the end.

Busy but Nice Weekend

The last week has been busy but enjoyable all around. Last week was my nephew's Marine boot camp graduation at Parris Island, SC. The day before we were to leave, my hubby called me at work to say his work had cancelled his vacation and he wouldn't be able to join us on the trip to SC. I was mad!!! The idea of cancelling it was bad enough, but to wait until the day before! Just made me want to beat someone! lol The girls and I instead joined my parents for the 7 hour drive. We arrived at 1am on Thu. morning and got very little sleep before getting up and heading to the base for Family Day. My "very little sleep" was probably only 30 minutes or so because my daughter had a horrible cough that no meds were quieting! Ugh! Nothing worse than being exhausted and confined to a hotel room with a coughing child who's had all the meds you can give her and they still aren't working. Well, actually, there really is "worse" but at the time it sure didn't feel like it. Family Day was wonderful. My nephew looked awesome!

We spent the whole day with him on base having lunch, shopping for all sorts of "my nephew/son/grandson/brother/cousin is a Marine" shirts at the Exchange, visiting the museum, checking out his barracks, and just enjoying finally being able to see him after 3 months apart. The hours passed liked minutes and before long it was time to say goodbye for the day, but not before we took more pics!

The next morning we were back at Parris Island bright and early for his official graduation! He had done awesome and was the high shooter for his platoon. They asked him if he wanted to go to sniper school but he turned down the offer. His heart is into working on vehicles and he didn't want to do something else. After the ceremony and a quick lunch, we headed back home. Long drive but I was so glad to be back with my hubby that night. We had a wonderful Valentines Day where he spoiled me as always, and a nice cookout for my nephew yesterday. I pretty much ate what I wanted to during the last week and the scales have reflected that, but thats okay. I know what to do now so its back to the grind! Hope each of you had a wonderful weekend too.

Michael I love you dearly and I am soooooo very proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Light Bulb Moment

A couple of months ago while blogging about having a day or two where I'd been constantly hungry and ready to eat anything in sight, I wondered if it might possibly have something to do with TOM. I had planned to notice the following month to see if there was a pattern I'd just never paid attention to before. Well, the following month when my visitor came, I was on vacation and pretty much not eating all that great anyway. No answer. Well, yesterday I was again having one of those days. I did pretty good all day (except for a piece of Bavarian Creme King Cake my co-worker brought back from her Louisiana trip over the weekend...BAD BAD Co-Worker!! lol), ate a nice healthy supper hubby had lovingly prepared. And then disaster struck. It started with the Dove chocolate bar he brought me from the store. Not bad in itself, 200 calories, so definitely do-able. But then, I was still hungry and had some Honey BBQ chicken bites, a granola bar, a peanut butter sandwich, and a few chips among other odds and ends. Finally he walked past me, saw me with the chips, said "NO WAY" and took them bye-bye. As he did it he said I'm doing what you told me to do. GO GARY!! With that little slap on the hand, my food-fest was over. Thank God! Too bad I didn't go get him earlier. lol Oh well, the damage was done, I felt pretty miserable, time to move on. All this is to say, this morning, TOM came and wah-lah...I have my answer. I now fully realize that these urges to eat, eat, eat are occuring during this time period. Next month I am going to try to not only recognize it for what it is (hormones and all that crap), but try to STOP it in its tracks. Eating just because of THAT is certainly NO real reason to eat. No clue how but the scales were not as merciless as I expected this morning. Today is a new day and I am back on target...I also got to start my new work hours today so I'll be getting off at 4:30 rather than 6pm each day. This will give me time to go home and walk like I used to which I'm really excited about!

Good Day

While I didn't go to the gym yesterday or do the Wii Fit, it was still a great day food-wise. I plan to go to the gym in the morning on my way to get groceries so while it isn't the 4 times each week I'd planed, it will be 3 and that is acceptable since this week I had to attend a seminar that prevented my going during lunch today. I've got to strive to be better on the Wii Fit next week as it's Thursday and I didn't get on it a single time so far this week. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow night at least. I will definitely meet my walking goal on Saturday when I meet a friend to go on the local Trail. Next week my work hours are going to change and I'll get off at 4:30 each day rather than 6pm. Wonderful news! This will mean I get home so much earlier and have time to start walking every day again! My last goal was to limit myself to only 2 days of dessert or junk in general during the week, and so far, my only day for that was last Sunday when I had a small ice cream cone with fat free ice cream. The scales showed 134.4 this morning so I am now back inside my weight maintenance range and thrilled about it. 130 is getting a little closer every day! I also had my yearly work review this morning and it was wonderful, so definitely something to be proud of on that front. Hope you had a good day too!

Goal Update

In short, my goals are:
1. Work out at Curves at least twice a week SO FAR ONCE THIS WEEK
2. Work out at Riviera at least twice a week SO FAR ONCE THIS WEEK
3. Walk at least 5 miles each week SO FAR 3 MILES
4. Work out on Wii Fit at least three times each week NONE
5. Limit myself to having desserts/evening snacks twice a week and then IN MODERATION!!
ONCE ON SUNDAY

The scale actually said 135.6 this morning which is up a little but I'm not concerned. I ate wonderfully yesterday and even had baby carrots instead of chips and dip as everyone else had with supper. No complaints just continuing on the course!

So far, so good & A Kick in the Butt too

Yesterday's meals were 100% on target. No bad food of any kind. Today the scale was down to 135.4 so "technically" I am 135 and back in my "range" I'd set for maintenance. However, that certainly isn't to say I can slack off. Nope, I want to be back around 130...the middle of my range. Enough of the splurging and enjoying too many of the things that SHOULD have been the occasional treat. I also know I need to focus my attention back to exercise which I can often be bad about not doing. Last year, until the days got shorter, I was walking ALOT (80 to 120 miles each month) on top of going to the gym at least 3 times a week. When the time changed that commitment also changed. I started out by continuing to walk on weekends and pretty soon, I wasn't doing it at all. I also wasn't being as faithful about the gym as I should have been. But I have recommitted to being better about my exercise! I am going back to Curves (my insurance started paying for it again) twice a week with my mother and I am also planning to go to my other gym (the one I actually pay for) twice a week. On top of that, yesterday I made plans with a friend to start meeting to walk every Saturday morning at 7:30am. Hubby and I had started doing the Wii Fit every night at home as well, but unfortunately that can be time consuming when I don't get off work until 6pm. I think a better plan would be to shoot for doing it at least 3 times a week as well. This is definitely do-able and is something I am going to push myself to complete. If I get more, great. If I don't do 3 times, I'll ask one of my kids for a swift kick in the butt. I am also going back to being more strict with myself. While I am at goal and CAN be more flexible and enjoy the sweets in moderation, I want to make a goal to limit myself to only a couple of days each week where I will partake of such things. With all of these things working together, I should find myself back at 130 in no time if I stay the course....
In short, my goals are:
1. Work out at Curves at least twice a week
2. Work out at Riviera at least twice a week
3. Walk at least 5 miles each week
4. Work out on Wii Fit at least three times each week
5. Limit myself to having desserts/evening snacks twice a week and then IN MODERATION!!

I plan to post every day to track my progress on meeting those goals so I can hold myself accountable. Just because I am in the weight maintenance part of my journey I don't want to get too lax and forget that my body STILL needs the exercise that got me here! Have you set any goals for yourself lately?

Trip, Weight, and Swimsuits

Our weekend trip to Panama City Beach was wonderful as it always is. The weather was reasonably nice considering it's January, and we had a lot of fun in the indoor pool area. Most of our meals were cooked in the room so I did great on that aspect. We took popcorn and fruit with us so most of my snacks consisted of those items. I did enjoy some chips and a candy bar, but I made sure to go for a long walk/run on the beach to work some of it off. The end result...the scale this morning said 135.6 so I am down 0.4 lbs from Thursday morning! I had a big smile when I saw that number. lol The biggest shock of the trip however occurred BEFORE we left. On Friday while the kiddies were in school and hubby was working, I did some errands. One of those errands was to find a new swimsuit as my old one was way too big and the family kept telling me it looked really bad. I found my usual one piece at the store to try on, and just for grins, grabbed a 2 piece as well. Figured I'd be able to tell my husband that at least I tried one on and it simply wasn't happening. lol I put the one piece on and liked it a lot. Then came the moment of truth...the first time I'd put on a 2 piece in YEARS! Well....I liked it!! Holy Cow! I even smiled at my reflection in the mirror! This prompted me to try on another one. I liked it too!!! I was just short of jumping up and down in the dressing room. Me...the woman who swore she'd never be back into a 2 piece suit...was wearing one and liking it. I couldn't decide on which I liked better so I bought both! Couldn't shake the stupid grin off my face the rest of the day. And let's just say, hubby was really appreciative too! lol It was such a feeling of freedom to walk around the resort in those new swimsuits feeling perfectly comfortable. It's a feeling I didn't expect to have when I started this journey, so it's something that shocked me. I know I've lost a lot of weight and in clothes, I've thought I looked good. But as most of you know, the skin doesn't always firm up as much as we'd like after having been so stretched out for years. THIS alone is the main reason I never expected I'd be able to wear a 2 piece suit. Now I attained another goal I'd wanted but never thought I'd reach, and again, the feeling I have gotten just strengthened my resolve to make sure I never again gain weight! I hope you all feel the same way as you continue to meet your own goals!