Wednesday Weigh In

...a day late. The last week has been nuts! I haven't had any time to myself! It's not always a bad thing to be that way for short periods of time because there is less time to goof off and eat terribly. At the same time though, it can be a terrible thing to not have much free time because the planning and everything else seems to go by the wayside. This past week ended up with a 1 pound gain. Surprisingly though, I am not feeling too bad about it. Every time I have a "bad week", I tend to beat myself up over it. Not this week though. With limited use of my foot last week, and all the outside things I had to do - I will take a 1 pound gain as a success.

One thing I've realized the last few days is that blogging seems to help me. Helps me keep honest and keeps me in check. The next few weeks are going to be a challenge to find time to get online to write even a little something, but I am going to try my hardest to do so.

Update on my foot: Seems the wrapping and the cortisone shot has done the trick! I'm 100% better and am cleared to start exercising! I need to put an insert into my shoe as well as this heal thingy -if I need it and will need to ice it nightly. I am just so happy to finally be able to walk without feeling like I'm a 90 year old woman.

That being said, when I took my son to track and field tonight, I decided to walk the track. I walked one mile. I could have done more - walking a mile on the track is so much easier than walking on the treadmill with the incline and all that going! I thought it best to start out slow though, so I stopped at one mile. Walking on said track though, brings back memories. Not fond ones. I live in the town I grew up in; the track is at the high school I attended. When I was in HS, I couldn't run the darn thing, never mind walk one mile. I remember huffing and puffing all the way around it; fighting back tears with each step and turn I made. I was always the last to finish - feeling deflated and humiliated. Tonight, I decided that I am going run that mile. I will! I'm going to start by walking it...then I will work in a jog here and there...getting up to a 1/4 mile jog and working up from there. When I run that full mile, MAN! That will be one hell of a victory for me! And I WILL do it! Until then, I will keep on walking.

Wednesday Weigh In

Down 2.4 pounds this week for a total of 6 pounds! Not too shabby, if I don't say so myself. I keep wondering what the numbers are going to look like when I can start exercising for real!

This morning was fun trying to get into the shower with my foot all bandaged up. I had to wrap it in shopping bags and had my hubs duct tape them to me so I wouldn't get my bandages all wet. This is going to be one long week! But I am on my way to healing the heel, so that's good. Today I actually woke up and was able to walk without hobbling in pain. Yeah Me!

Activity and Foot Fail

I decided that we need to do something active as a family. We thought we'd give geocaching a try. So, Sunday morning we packed our water bottles, a light snack, and the kiddies into the car to go seek some caches.

The first one we found was in a local parking lot. There was a hint saying something about "you light up my life" or something to that affect. We though "this should be easy - it's clearly on a light post...how hard could this be?" Away we walk looking at every light post - some more than once...then suddenly we notice this tiny little object that we've looked at a bunch of times and passed off as part of the pole; was actually the cache! My son had a great laugh about that and then begged to do more.

The next cache had us "hiking" into the woods a bit. I use the word hike lightly here. Yes, it was a trek into the woods - with kids - so it was more of a hike than a stroll through the park. There were hills to climb and rocks to climb on. This time though, my son found the cache all on his own. Again, we had looked in this one section that we thought it was in but we couldn't find it and all of a sudden we hear this excited little voice yell "HERE IT IS!" Oh was he elated to find the box all on his own!

The point here is that we were out as a family - enjoying each others company all while being active. We've made memories and burned calories all at once - can't get much better than that!

The "bad" part to all of this is that my foot is acting up again. Yes! Still have that issue from my working out at the BL Taping. I called the Podiatrist and got in right away. Apparently, I not only have a flat foot, but also have two bone spurs and planter factitious. I had a cortisone shot today - that was fun...still easier than child birth though ;-). Will have a follow up next week. I'm supposed to keep my activity very light - no real exercise this week until the bandages come off.

As far as my weigh in tomorrow. I may skip it...I know I am holding water, I am all puffed up from being out in the heat today. We'll see how swollen I am in the morning. I'd hate to get on the scale and show a gain - just to be depressed about it.

Artificial Sweeteners

Here I go again with no postings! Some days are just easier to get on here and write than others. That's life, I guess.

So one of the things I did last week was to swear off artificial sweeteners. My goodness it's been rough - just because I am so addicted to diet soda. No more! It's been 7 days with NO artificial sweeteners and I am feeling a difference. I'm not grazing through the cabinets looking for something to munch on. The water; pure, plain, good old-fashioned water has been helping and is making me feel so much better!

I haven't been able to get into an exercise routine as of yet. My foot has really been bothering me! Reminder that this is from an injury from working out with Jillian Michaels at the taping of Biggest Loser back in May. I've been wearing my nice new New Balance sneakers and they just don't seem to be helping me. I'm headed to the podiatrist tomorrow. I need to get this foot healed so I can get on with the workouts.

It's been a busy day, so I am calling it a night. I have a bunch of things that I would like to talk about...will have to wait until tomorrow.

Wednesday Weigh In

A good week! Down another 2.3 pounds making a total of 3.6.

I can't bring myself to call the gym for membership and personal trainer pricing. Every time I think about it, I well up in tears. It brings me back to the day I was at the one gym with people gathering to watch me. So, I decided to get me some new sneaks - desperatly needed! and I also bought Jillian's 30 day shred video along with a medicine ball. Just to keep things fresh.

Keep things fresh? Well darn! I haven't even done a thing yet. I have all the excuses in the world too. Mainly that it's just too darn hot out to even think about working out!

That brings me to my goals for the week:

Continue with meal planning
Say "NO" to artificial sweetners
And lastly, exercise at least 3 days this week.

Scrapbook Sunday

I'm working on my younger son's first year baby album. This page is of my eldest checking in and giving a quick hug to the baby. I love how much he adores his baby brother!

When I am scrapping, I don't think about anything other than remembering the story behind the pictures and getting that story down onto paper. I've never considered myself an "artsy" person or a very creative person for that matter. But scrapping is something that I fell in love with from the first time I tried it.

One of the things I've realized is when I am engrossed in my scrapping projects, it's really the only time I am not thinking about food. Not at all. When I get stressed and don't know what to do about a certain situation, I turn to food. When I am in the middle of picking papers to go with pictures and trying to figure out a creative layout to use, I'm able to stay 100% focused on the task at hand. Now that I have recognized this about myself, I need to work on being able to focus on everything else that's going on around me and not turn to food for comfort. Hrm...this is a topic I will need to explore deeper on another day.

Goal accomplishments for today:
Got all my water in
And I don't take any crap from anyone - that's my nice thing to say about myself for today.

Recipie Review

I made the Flank Steak with Chimichurri suce from Jillian's cookbook tonight. It was delicious!
Can't go wrong with grilled flank steak anyway...so tender and a nice healthy cut of meat...very little fat. Can't wait to try it again.

Keeping things short tonight. I've had this lingering headache all day. Getting all my water in today and had a soda but still can't shake the headache! The good news though is that I did meal plan for today and the rest of the weekend, got my water in, and cut down on the soda!

Now for something nice to say about me: I'm a great listener.

Not a good day...

"I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!": Daily Affirmations By Stuart Smalley

That's what I'm saying today because I am just grouchy, cranky and grouchy!
Other than that I didn't complete nor did I even come close to completing any of my goals for today! I haven't even had so much as a sip of water. What's up with that?

Tomorrow is a new day and it WILL be better!

Wednesday Weigh In

Can't be too disappointed this week. Down 1.3 pounds. I had a few rough days, so I am happy with the progress! Really hoping to kick things into high gear this week though! Even contemplating joining the gym again. Although every time I go to pick up the phone for pricing and such I start to tear up with thinking about my last experience when people were staring at me. I wasn't imagining it...it really did happen!

Goals for the week:
Meal Plan
Cut back the diet soda to no more than 1 a day
Get in 72 oz of water
Keep a better food log - not doing it daily now
Say something good about myself daily

Making Changes

I mentioned before that I won Jillian Michaels' "Master Your Metabolism Cookbook" from WellBella magazine. I've read the beginning of the book where she summarizes her "Master Your Metabolism" book and am now armed and ready to make some big changes in the pantry around here.

About the cookbook; Pick it up! It's great! I've made the Quinoa crunch as previously mentioned and it's yummmm! I also made the almond-crusted chicken.....so good! I'm not usually a fan of chicken. I really hate chicken. I hate when chicken tastes like chicken. I know, I am weird, but I'm being truthful. This recipe is a keeper! I am going to make it again this week! In fact, it's going to become a staple in our house. Very easy and everyone really enjoyed it!

I'm also absolutely hooked on Losing It! I don't know what it is about Jillian that gets me revved up and feeling all ready to go! Although I was "glad" I didn't make it onto The Biggest Loser after working out with her for the taping in Boston as I am STILL in pain from working out with her! Seriously, I have a foot injury. My own fault. I need to get some good shoes. I know, I know!

Anyway, I'm thinking that I may go back and re-watch previous episodes and talk about them here. Every episode leaves me with some heavy duty thinking. I'll start now with the episode I just watched on my DVR...I am a little behind - sorry.

The Northern Family
The biggest thing that Jillian had said to Patrick that hit me the hardest was "...you have this potential, you just don't see it, have you ever given yourself a chance at anything?..."
That stung me! This is SO ME! And no, I don't give myself a chance. Why? Afraid to fail. But as Jillian also pointed out that giving up is failure! Good food for thought there.

Jillian also talked about Patrick's apathy. Another moment where I was floored! I never really thought about it til then, but again it's me. I would rather sit on the couch and watch than really do anything. It's so hard to have interest in the fun in life when you are this heavy and this unhappy with yourself. Sure, I am good at faking it when I have to, but I am selling myself short and I know it. But how to fix it? That's the question I've been asking myself for a long time.

I guess it's all about taking one step at a time. So, today I made a step. I went and stocked the cupboards with non-processed foods. Even for the kids! No more of the go-to kids snacks! You know the ones I'm talking about! I made some healthy "quick" snacks for the kids (they always have to have a fruit or veggie as a snack and then get to have a more-processed choice as the second snack...so I made some brownies with veggies IN them), and am ready to get going with Mastering MY Metabolism!

Happy 4th of July

Cake

It's my husband's birthday today! And the poor guy had to go with a less than perfect cake - yet again! A few years ago he asked for a black forest cake - it's all he ever wanted and all he talked about. So off I went to the bakery to place the order for black forrest cake, mind you that this was a few weeks prior to his birthday. Guess what happened! The bakery didn't have the ingredients- specifically the cherries - and called me the day before his birthday to let me know they weren't making the cake. Have you ever heard such a thing? Actually, yes!

It reminded me of the time we went into a Boston Market (right around the time they changed their name from "Boston Chicken") and my husband asks for a meatloaf, "sorry, we're all out." He said "OK, I'll have chicken." "Sorry, we're all out of that too." I think the beads of sweat started to form on my husbands forehead when he asked "OK, then what DO you have?" "umm...just ham today." Are you kidding me? The place prides itself on the CHICKEN! Oh, and couldn't the kid have started with "I'm sorry, we are out of everything but pig today." Boy! We were in stitches!

OK, so back to the cake story. The next year I order the cake (black forest again) from a different bakery. Guess what happened that time? They FORGOT to make it!!! Priceless.

Last year I decided to make him one. Actually it was Gram and I that did the baking. It didn't look so good - it collapsed, but it tasted YUM!!!!

Now here we are. Another birthday and yet another cake disaster! This year hubs wanted a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Shouldn't be difficult, right? Apparently it is when it comes to HIS birthday cakes! I made the cake, popped it in the oven. A little while later the kids wanted to join their grandparents in the pool and out the door we went. We were in the pool for probably 10-15 minutes when I realized that I forgot to check on the cake. Thankfully it wasn't totally burned, but the edges were a little crispy. Sorry honey!!!! Maybe next year!

Turning to food for comfort

I did something today. I stood up to a Doctor. I was feeling a bit angry with my son's Doctor. He's someone that I feel speaks down to me a lot - but I like him as a Doctor. I love the office, and the reality is that our dealings with him are very minimal.

My son has chronic ear infections. Apparently they aren't chronic enough though to speak about having tubes put into his little ears. Although I didn't discuss that with him today because I was too upset with him from the beginning of the converstaion. Anyway, when I was leaving the office, he "caught" me telling his nurse that he's losing a patient (2 really). Because he "caught" me - I told him directly that I wasn't coming back that I didn't like the way he speaks to me.

The good thing out of it is that he followed me to my car. He apologized. I honestly don't think he means to speak to people the way he does but he caught me at a weak moment. I am over-tired from being so sleep deprived with this kid that SCREAMS bloody blue all night long. I was shaking and on the verge of tears the whole time we were speaking. I'm glad that he came out to talk to me. Showed that he really does care and that he doesn't mean the tone in which he says things...and I've always known that.

What's this have to do with anything? Well, I am feeling so badly what do I do? Turn to food? Why? It's not going to make me feel better. I know it, you know it. So why do it? It's not like I binged or anything like that - just made a poor lunch choice. I have to live with it, learn from it and move on.

The challenge now is to find other outlets to deal with stress and emotions. I've learned the best way to release ill feelings is through exercise. But that seems so hard sometimes and old habits die hard. Hrm, maybe next time I'm feeling like that I should come write a blog entry! Until then, I am brushing myself off and moving on for the day. The day isn't ruined, only bruised. I'll be fine.

Quiet Day

Nothing really to report today. Just need to keep in the habit of writing.

One small victory for today though is that we just went out for ice cream - my BIGGEST downfall! I ordered a frozen yogurt in a kiddie cup and didn't finish! You can't even imagine what an accomplishment that is for me! I could have ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner.