I Will Try Again Tomorrow

How fitting. I weighed myself this morning and am back up 3.6 pounds. *sigh* All day I've been beating myself up over it. See, I know what happened. After a little over 2 weeks, I stopped my morning exercise routine. I got into a mildly depressed state and that was it. No exercise. No logging food. No more water. No more healthy eating.

I realize now (again!) I simply must stick with a program of some sort. Nutrisystem is out since I quit my job. Well, it was never really "in" to begin with, but the ease of that program really appeals to me. I think that something like Once-a-Month cooking will be good as long as I have time to do it. And therein lies part of the problem. I like to cook, but I like to have time for it. I don't like to be rushed when I get home from work, ya know? Spending my weekend cooking is not appealing, either. I like grab and go, quick and easy. And I hate cleaning the kitchen!! I am actually perfectly fine with Slim-Fast bars for lunch daily...the monotony does not get to me for some reason. And my oatmeal with chocolate chips & a bit of sugar and ground flaxseed is also good. So it's really a matter of figuring out fruits and veggies in addition to those, as well as proteins. I just need to spend time one day and do up a menu.

AND I have to get to working out. I loved doing the WATP videos. I even bought a 3 & 4 mile walk so I could get the stretch for the 1 & 2 mile express walks. lol So no excuses there. None. At all. And the boot camp? The challenge may have only been for January, but I will pick it back up again. I enjoyed the exercises, which is unusual for me! haha

Well, time has gotten away from me....I will pick this up tomorrow after a dentist appointment, job service stop and some MT work....

~~Heather

Brrrrrr

I am so glad that, in theory, it is going to start warming up! Who would have thought that ZERO would feel good?? Thankfully it's going to warm up tomorrow so I can drive again. Apparently I have some moisture in my brakelines and it froze...locking the brakes so the back tires don't move. Not good!!

Our house is heated by baseboards on the first floor only. The upstairs is only heated by what rises. (Very efficient...not!) The thermostat is set at 68 and it is at 58 right now. Brrrrr. I must be going into "hibernation mode" as all I want to do is sleep. I ruined my streak by not exercising yesterday, not even for 10 minutes. No excuse, other than being too cold. Of course, exercise would have warmed me up, go figure.

I lost 0.8 pounds and 2" overall (had 2 measurements go up). I won't complain. Especially after watching "The Biggest Loser" and realizing that it is apparently (and unfortunately) a common occurrence. I feel better, I can see a difference, and that is what I will go with to keep me motivated this week.

Today's ToDo list consists of the office and my room. My husband and I sleep in separate rooms and mine is rather cluttered. My husband and son were nice enough last weekend to bring my dressers downstairs for me, so now I need to get stuff organized and put away. And move the little freezer to the laundry room. Then I will attack my office. Seriously declutter that place. I have 2 boxes which have things in them I haven't looked at in a year. I am thinking I am NOT needing that stuff and so OUT it will go. I don't know how much I will get done in my office, but I plan to get a good dent in it.

I finished my first knitting project this week! It's a cute little purse, will probably be used to hold a paperback book. Now I'm working on a scarf for my sister in law. A hooded scarf, actually. It will be knit (unless I keep making mistakes in which case it will be crocheted! lol) with a crocheted edging.

And so, in jeans, turtleneck, tshirt, and even gloves on! I am off to work on my room. My hope is to clean it up enough I can do my workouts in there instead of the living room. Wish me luck! lol

~~Heather

I am fed up with this stuff!!

Yes...they are so prettiful...but NOT when they are blowing around and I can't see where I am going!! lol So I left work today at 330 and I will make that up Saturday and take advantage of the liberal leave that was granted yesterday to take it off unpaid. Then I only need to make up 5 hours Saturday.

My cube-mate is in the process of having her baby...her water broke this morning, yay!! We started training together Sept. 2 and really clicked. I missed having her next to me today but I am so happy for her!!

I got a nice new floor mat that I tested tonight and it is really comfy on the carpet. Which is good, since tomorrow's challenge is a 15-minute ab workout!! Yikes!! I am going to give it my "abs"olute best shot! (Sorry...I didn't catch it until after I typed it, and that pun was just begging to be left...so there it is! lol) I gave up on that portable pilates studio for now. I am sure later on I will find another one (NOT from Danskin!!) that I will like and the DVD will work. It did come with a poster with diagrams, but I need to see how it is used in action. In time.

I was in my calorie range with 53 calories to spare...yikes!! I had NO IDEA my beloved Burger King cookies were 330 CALORIES!!! Time to find a much better alternative. They are yummy, but so not work almost the equivalent of a meals' worth of calories!! For lunch I had a Whopper Jr (I asked for no mayo, but they gave it to me anyway and I didn't realize it until I was at work since I was in the drive-thru), a side salad, the cookies, and diet coke. Not bad, and it will be better!!

So, since I have one heck of an ab workout tomorrow, I better get some sleep tonight!!

~~Heather

Streaks!!

I just love that sun streak...but I am also loving my streaks. Nine days in a row of drinking 8 glasses of water....9 days in a row of posting on the message boards...and 9 days in a row of at least 10 minutes of exercise!!

The New You Boot Camp Challenge has been kicking my backside!! And my frontside...and my arms....and my legs....LOL I can't fully do everything, but I come fairly close. (OK...that whole kickboxing thing? I'm marching in place for a lot of it! LOL) And tomorrow's challenge...a 15-minute ab workout? YIKES. I'm watching it now, so I have an idea how rough it will be!

I have done 30 minutes of structured aerobic exercise or 60 minutes of unstructured aerobic exercise for the past 9 days. Saturday and Sunday were the unstructured days with grocery shopping on Saturday (broke up across 3 stores) and serious housecleaning Sunday. I am proud of myself in that I did the WATP Express 2-mile walk twice in that time frame. I don't have a stretchy band, but that's okay. It might be a bit more than I can handle right now. One thing I have noticed, both with the 2-mile walk and the 1-mile walk, my left hip is sore. Not painful, just sore. I don't know why, but I will keep an eye on it as time goes by.

Yesterday's weather was a BEAR!! I stayed home from work, I will make up the time on Saturday. I still get a 3-day weekend, since next Monday is a floating holiday and Tuesday is my regular scheduled day off. I was a bit upset that the school didn't close until 1pm. By that time, I had sent my husband in to pick up my son, I did not want him coming home on the bus!! I really should not have even let him go to school. I did take advantage of it and start my first knitting project!! And then I got a very nice surprise when the mail arrived...a package from my best friend in Norway!! She made me a beautiful wool hat and an adorable felt angel, plus 2 books. How fun!!! I can't wait to wear the hat today!!

I did have one disappointment this week. I bought a "portable pilates studio" which is a bar and video. But the DVD didn't work. So I exchanged it. The SECOND dvd didn't work!! So I will exchange it for a better floor mat. My plan this next weekend is to tidy up my room so I can work out in there. I will need a really thick floor mat for on the hardwood floor!! Even on the carpet, a thicker mat will be nice.

So into town early I will go today...which means careful lunch planning. I need to pack a salad as today's Bonus Challenge is to add a salad to one of my meals. Well...as luck would have it, I now won't be having soup & salad at home as planned. So I will add a salad to my dinner (which I eat at work) instead.

I hope everyone has a great day!!

~~Heather

SparkPeople Boot Camp!!

Wowsers...Day 3 of the Boot Camp at SparkPeople...and I am feeling it!! Of course...it didn't help that I did 8 minutes of squats and lunges, working the thighs and glutes....and then proceeded to the recumbent bike for part of my cardio...using those same wore out muscles!! I did the last 2/3 of my cardio in 2 sessions on the treadmill, for a total of 30 minutes. 10 minute sessions are definitely easier to do. Had someone told me 10 years ago that I could work out in short bursts like that, I would have done it! But at that time, all you ever heard was that you had to workout 30-60 minutes 3-5 days a week. Yeesh. I know some people are able to do that, but at that time I sure wasn't one of them!! All excuses, I realize now.

I watched "The Biggest Loser" premiere tonight...and how dramatic and almost traumatic!! One of the contestants, I think he was 63, passed out and was taken to the ER!! But he came back with a 25-pound weight loss!! That right there just proves - ANYONE can do this!!! They weren't the biggest losers, but wow, what a close week. So now I've got the DVR set to record that since I am only off every other Tuesday. I'll watch it Wednesday morning, or on the weekend.

I went upstairs to the bedroom I used to share with my husband (we now sleep in separate rooms) to see if my handweights were in there. Oh gosh...the smell is awful. I cannot believe I could ignore it before. I know he washes the sheets once a week, since I usually pull them out of the dryer. So it's not that.

Ah well. I can live with separate rooms for awhile. I have a workbook to finish to add a course to my credit reports, it shows that I am learning/have learned to manage my money and it will look better on my report. That is Sunday's plan. It shouldn't take me but a day or 2 to read the book and do the worksheets. Then I can mail that off. I also need to write my bankruptcy attorney and see if he can explain to me why my student loans were not discharged under my Chapter 13. A friend was doing research and she thinks they should have been. That would be a huge relief, since they are pushing $360 a month. That is very hard on the pocketbook, to say the least!!

Well, it is almost time to go to bed. Thank you for listening to my rambling...

~~Heather

New Year's Goals

I haven't done any New Year's Resolutions in years. And I am not starting this year. I am setting goals.

Goal 1 is drinking more water.

Goal 2 is exercising daily.

Goal 3 is logging what I eat daily. That is the hardest, because I don't really want to own up to it.

I have other things mentally that I want to work on, but those are 3 I can track fairly easily. The rest will come in time.

Today was a mostly successful day. We took all the Christmas stuff down, and I got most of the living room vacuumed. At that point I was a little upset as both rolls of duct tape had disappeared. Again. And no one seems to know where they are. Again. It really gets old, but for now it is something to contend with. I am, at this point, unable to apply for a mortgage until next January. That is because I have a foreclosure on my record from 2006 and the new regulations have a 4-year waiting period. However, it is interesting that an SDHA mortgage for first-time homebuyes only requires 3 years from the last time you owned a home. So I imagine I will be checking into that later this year. I also need to open a local account and that may mean paying off some of "his" bills. However, I need to clear up my credit and since some of this things occurred on joint accounts, they will need to be taken care of.

So I have health goals, emotional goals and financial goals. Not bad.

~~Heather

What do I title this? LOL

Today really flew by. My son and I went to town for lunch (I had a chicken flatbread sandwich at Subway...it was really good!) and then meandered around Wal-Mart. I kept it under $100 today. I bought 3 plastic totes: 1 for the van to keep things in like oil, antifreeze, a winter emergency kit, etc. and 2 for clothes that I will fit into. They are currently in cardboard boxes and I just don't care for that much. Something about mice and bugs.

I found that water drop picture today and thought it was a good way to make sure I drink my water - it's got to be good for my heart, right? I got my results back for the heart screening I did and all were good except my calcium. I had a score of 1 (out of 1,000) which is high for my age group. I will mention that to my doctor, but I already know all the things I need to do: lower my cholesterol, lose weight, drink less diet soda, drink more water. Uff da. The last 2 will be the hardest to wrap my head around, I think.

I created a little (by little, I mean little!) calendar/planner page on which I can track what I ate for the day, and my exercises for the day. My best friend (who lives in Norway) gave me a small dayplanner that is the perfect size for my purse. But it isn't very easy to find refills here, and certainly not what I was looking for. I had seen a quick article about a planner at daytimer.com/nutrition and I loved it. BUT it was $49.99 + $8.95 shipping!!!! So I am making my own using index cards and then my son and I will punch 6 holes in each one...yeesh. That will be easier to keep at my desk and help me be more accountable as far as what I am eating and doing each day.

Today's exercise consisted of shopping and cleaning house. I only did a little housecleaning, about 20 minutes, but I broke a sweat so it counts!

Tomorrow's goal is 30 minutes on the treadmill or doing a WATP video, and 15 minutes of strength training. That gives me 5 points to log at work, whereas today I think I will only get 2. Still, not a bad start! Better than a ZERO!

I weighed myself this morning and I am pretty much right back where I started. Ugh. But everyone has to start somewhere. My sister-in-law sent pictures from Christmas and I was just appalled at how I looked. No time like the present to prepare for the future!!

On that note, it's about time to get to printing and and transferring file from this computer to the external hard drive. Hard to believe that I have only 25% capacity left on this thing. Must be all those pictures!!

~~Heather

Let's Shine in 2009!!

2008 was a rough year. Here's hoping a wonderful 2009 to all my friends!!

My employer is offering a LifeTRACK program in which we can earn points for doing healthy things, like exercising, scheduling a dental exam, etc. How neat is that!! I need the motivation, that's for sure!!

I will work on posting more often...and more positively!! I am not working at McDonald's after all, due to some communication issues. That's okay...I can focus on my medical transcription work and on ME better that way!!

Thank you for sticking with me through the past year...here's hoping to a wonderful new year!!

~~Heather