August

My post from my fitness group. 

Goals~

Weekly: 

1. Journal everything that goes into my mouth! I've been a slacker lately and it makes a difference to do it. 

2. Count points and work to stay within the points. 

3. Walk everyday minimum 4 miles. 

Monthly: 

1. Complete my weekly goals!

2. Incorporate my new riding workout schedule.

My overall goal is to loose 30 lbs by next summer. I've got the first 50 off and now I need the next round. I think it is going to be much harder unless I get in a better mind frame. 

My other goal is to keep eating healthy. I've eliminated some bad food out of my life and I want to keep up with it. 

My exercise is walking- I do two miles with my dog and 2-3 at a faster pace. It's habit and I don't plan on stopping- it's my mental medicine. The bike riding is my cardio. Let me tell you I'm out of shape! 

This is me with my new bike. I have a mountain bike that I ride on the city paved trails and mountain bike ( dirt) trails. I can't ride the mountain bike though on long road rides with husband and son- and I really hate being left out! So finally I decided to get one! I tried it out last Thursday- My son, Parker and I rode 26 miles. OMG It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Those hills!!!! The main hill you have to ride up is a bit intimidating. But I was confident I could do it. I couldn't..bout 20 yards from the top I just couldn't make the bike go...so I walked it. I was sweating profusely ( HUMIDITY and HEAT) and I had just killed my thighs...Parker waited for me and when I got to him he asked why I was in the high ( hard) gear.... hahhahahh no wonder....we got all that straightened out (I made it coming back ) and I did OK- I was wearing clip on shoes for the first time, I had eaten cereal - got nauseated- wore a CamelBack- too heavy- so  I learned a few things to do and not to do for the next ride. In September we are signed up to do a 68 mile ride in Corpus Christi along the Texas coast- That is what I'm training for. I love doing something athletic with my son and husband and I've always liked riding bikes so it's a good fit. 

As far as my whining about gaining two lbs. I'm not sure I have gained or not. My scale is all over the place. It varies depending on what I eat--- water retention and heat. We have set records this July for the hottest month on record in TEXAS...oh boy...The morning I rode it was in the upper 90's. It is getting old, but instead of using it as a crutch, I'm trying to work though it!!! 

Update

Well I wanted to have a good week last week with exercising and staying within my points. I did great until the weekend! Boy did I blow it eating wise. Holiday weekends are hard. Heck summer is hard. I did walk a bunch last week. In fact on Saturday I was so weary- legs were tired. I took the day off. I try and listen to my body. I just wish I knew why I am so hungry lately. It must have to do with my hormones. I'm in headache mode. About 1 PM the head hurts and Imatrex isn't making a dent on it. That scares me for when school starts. I'll deal with it...not fun, but I get through.

The big news for me is on Monday hubby and I got up and sent Parker off with a friend on a sailing expedition on the lake and we took our bikes to the trails. Our mission was to ride from end to end...We did! 24 miles total. It was awesome. Hubby admitted it was harder on a mountain bike than a road bike. If it's hard for him, then I know it being hard for me is ok!!!!
YEY..I'm becoming an athlete again.
Reclaiming life...what a concept!
Healthy life is a happy life.

The Weekend and a Monday

I did pretty well walking this week. I did pretty crappy staying within my points! But today I'm ok and back on track.

Saturday we took the boat out, so I decided to get up and walk at 6 am...it wasn't pleasant. I prefer dry hot heat over cool humidity! I only did 3.2 miles before I called it quits. Last night I put n 5.5 miles! My husband offered to walk Jack and boy did I let him! It was awesome to go my own route and not stop!

Scale was up a bit..but I never panic too much after a long walk...I will just keep my eye on it the next few days. Today I made the decision to go back to the Points +   program on WW instead of the old way. I read over the material again. I think it's really all the same. I don't eat white flour hardly at all and stay away from bad carbs on either plan. I'm just going to be more vigilant counting points and reading my "full"  factor.

Today I made tuna salad. I used my " NINJA" ...it was more like baby food tuna salad. LOL It didn't chop, it pureed. I figured out how to barley press it and it worked. I put in tuna, cucumber, pickles, onion, and mayo. I had it with cottage cheese and some crackers. Not bad. I had fruit for my snack.

Don't know what dinner will be. I think I will eat after I walk. So it will be cereal probably. Nothing sounds good. Fruit is the only thing that sounds good right now. That or something salty. I've got 9 points to use, so it's not much!

I'm BAAAAACCCCCKKKKK and Setting Goals

At the beginning 

Now- in the Middle! 

I'm back to using this blog as my fitness/ weightloss blog. I had combined this blog with my other blog, Consciously Living, but that's weird, so I'm back. I need to really catch up on what's been going on. First of all I love reading about my struggles when I started. It was hard. Funny thing is, right now exercising and eating right doesn't seem hard at all! That's because it's now a habit for me.


I am however at a plateau. It's very frustrating because at first the weight came off easier. Now I'm probably on four months of only loosing 10 lbs. I'm not too frustrated. I've upped my exercise and seem to be less concerned with the extra lbs I still carry and that is because I feel so darn good and look so much better!! Who wouldn't after loosing 50 lbs! 


I've been doing WW pretty faithfully. When the new plan came out I tried it and that is when I started to plateau. I didn't now I was plateauing and I thought that the plan wasn't working for me. So I went back to what I knew and that was the old version. However after being on it a while, I can't see much of a difference.


I'm eating too much. I'm eating extremely healthy, BUT I'm going over my points by not being vigilant. My problem stems from not cooking more. I rely on quick dinner because I don't like or do not have time to cook. I just have to be honest. Cooking isn't my gig. In fact this summer I've relied on cereal for dinner. I try and get my veggies in at lunch. Sometimes because it's so hot, I eat cereal for breakfast and dinner.


I know when school starts I'll be so busy, the eating thing will be easier for me. In the summer when I'm home and bored I snack. Late night snacking is a killer. Damn those Goldfish. But thats only happened a couple of times. I made myself little snack packs and that was good - controlled portions.


So, to kick this off...I need to set some goals.


Weight 
Lose 30 pounds in the next 12 months. The sooner the better, but in reality, I think slow is better- that's reality.  I plan on continuing with WW which for me is the only thing that works. It helps me keep my boundaries as I learn how to stop eating when I'm full. I'm getting there, but not quite. It takes more than a year to break addiction and bad habits.


Fitness 
I plan on upping my walking from 4 miles daily to 5...on most days. If I walk less...I'll walk faster - This is my mental heath workout!!


I want to incorporate biking-either mountain biking or road biking. I want to do 40 miles weekly and build from there-this is my cardio workout.
I need to do some sort of weight lift training starting after my hernia repair.


Nutrition and Eating Habits
I have cut out all fried food except occasional chips when I eat Mexican Food and I've cut out hamburgers, pizza, french fries, and full fat items. I already drink a lot of water. I'll continue these habits.
So as far as cutting out there isn't much for me to cut out.


I would like to eat more of a variety of food and not just cereal each night :)

Extra Baggage

Finally the weekend is here. It's been one crazy week. I don't think I left school before 5:30 on any day except Friday. I had a killer headache so I left when I could. Most nights I came home and did more school work. I'm still not caught up. Fall is the worse! However it's all in the name of the game and the good news is it's keeping me from eating all the time because I'm too tired to eat. haha

Food and exercise wise I'm going well. I think the walking every day is paying off even though it's getting boring. I tried the treadmill last night because of the rain. I went for 20 minutes and said forget this. It just isn't the same as being in the heat and humidity. LOL 

I've been following my WW points. Yesterday I really was HUNGRY..first time in a long time. We ate at Olive Garden. I got a lunch portion and the lightest thing that wasn't chicken-lasagna. I had two breadsticks. Meant to only have one. Haven't had bread in so long that wasn't my whole grain fiber bread. LOL It was yummy. But I can't do that very often. Anyway....I ate about 10 cheetos and some peanut butter for dinner....and guess what I still lost a pound this AM...So I'm down 19 lbs. ish....I know tomorrow after I walk today and hopfully ride my bike I'll gain a couple...-water...but for now I'm going to relish in my glory. My pants are almost too baggy to wear....but I figure I can hold out a bit longer before I have to buy more. My skinny jeans fit. :) One size down only 4 more....:) 

This is a before picture. I can see the difference in my face. 

 "During" picture. :) 

Bye Bye Extra- Baggage

Shoot

Ok..last week every morning I got a surprise! I was down by .4 or .6...this week...Well a pound of it showed back up and now I am holding steady. What gives? My migraine medicine make me pee like a banchee...I guess that's it. It was water.
 This week in TX after Tropical Storm Hermine, it has been as humid as it gets. Talk about FLAT HAIR. WATER RETENTION. BLAH. Where the heck is fall-like weather? Oh yah, I'm in South Texas. LOL

So it goes. Going grocery shopping. Gonna fill up on fruit..been craving fruit....that's been my joy lately. Peaches and grapes. Yummy.
Since I've been not eating processed foods I like to get sweetness somehow. I guess my WW ice cream every night has sugar.....not giving that up..nope. After a hot sweaty walk, icecream and water is my savior.

Another Week

YEY..I had a good week!!! I don't know if it was the new scale or what...but even with 4 days of a headache that won't seem to quite go away I managed to drop three pounds. The new scale measures in increments of .2.....talk about motivation! I could see the progress each morning instead of it taking so long.

My brother from Arlington is visiting and that's always scary to me- will I cheat? Will I not care and blow it? But I didn't!!!! I am into this for the long haul and making good food choices eating out. I hope next week is just as good. I wanted to ride my bike-tires flat....Tomorrow I'll get it fixed. I'm not liking that I don't have much time at night to walk...it gets dark too soon. But Jack still has to be walked. Don't know how it's going to work. :)

Another Week

Not much to report on the diet scene. I am going to monitor my points. I've lost 12 lbs so far and I need to be eating more with in my points I think and not getting into the exercise or 35 or whatever....Walking is going well....I want to go a bit longer or do more hills...something....praying my knee holds out.....! Wanting to fit yoga in and more bike riding....soon the weather will get better...but it gets dark earlier too....we'll see.

Cooling

I love that we've had a cool front so to speak here in South Texas!! I've noticed that when I get back from walking 1) I'm not drowning in my own sweat and 2) my energy level is up. That heat really takes it from you!! I managed to walk 15 miles this week and bike 10 miles. I think for the first week of school w/ kids that is pretty good!  I've kept within my food....I had french fries from Chili's yesterday. I tried to order a light meal didn't know it came with fries......I ate them. I don't miss fries. They weren't that great....then all I had for dinner was peanut butter. LOL ...a few spoonfuls. I was needing protein what can I say. Bad eating day..oh well. I'm still so within my limits of WW points and the scale hardly budges.....but I'm getting thinner...so I'm building muscle. My feet are KILLING ME. I'm on my feet all day. I walk a lot too....but I'll get used to it.  I feel down the stairs-misjudged the last step- and landed on my sore knee which swole up....but it doesn't hurt. So besides being achy I'm hanging in there with this. I'm going to try and eat a lot of veggies at night. More veggies. Veggies/ turkey patties......walk walk walk.

Darn Head

Well tomorrow is the big day. First day for teachers in this area  to start with kids. I'm so excited. Can't wait to meet my new students. I hate meetings with a passion unless I'm actively involved, so having kids is nice.

I'm hoping the stress doesn't get me off track. On both Thursday and Friday I had a killer headache by time I got home. Both nights....I tried to calm down and knock it out, but both times ended up in bed sleeping it off. So neither night I walked. I felt so bad, but light, noise, sound, and movement was making me so nauseous-I had to escape. Bubby walked Jack for me..nice husband. But last night I walked again and this morning early I rode my 5 miles. I'm about to get out and walk Jack our three times. It's 96 in the shade right now...I should sweat off a few lbs.

I'm trying to decide if I want to journal this year with students and what goes on in the Academy. Can't decide if it will be doable. I doubt I can take their pictures but if I change names I can probably write about it....if it's even interesting. :) Well off to walk. Jack is patiently waiting for me!!!!!!!
Tomorrow is weigh in...unless something magical happens tonight I've lost only 1 lb this week. :)

Realization!

Well, I'm back at school...It's fast and furious. There hasn't been a minute so far the last two days that I wasn't working.

New this year: I'm already bringing my lunch to school. This is usually the week I go out and eat with teacher friends and kind of ease back into it. I knew if I did that though, I'd eat too much. So I brought my lunch and ate it alone in my room working.....(scale finally went down a pound-sheesh) I'm going to be eating a turkey sandwich, carrots, tomatoes, and fruit- I'm also planning on working durning lunch this year so I get more done!!

We didn't have air on Monday morning, so it was kind of a hellish morning, not a great way to start back to school. We were told it was 90 in there and with no air circulating.  They had a pep rally for teachers, but the gym was so hot, it was kind of not fun. LOL I felt sticky and yucky all day and spent all day in a meeting and planning. It was productive though.

I get up at 5:30 so I can have about 30 minutes or so on the computer in the morning....yesterday I had a church meeting in the evening so I walked Jack at 5:30AM. I was tired all day. I learned to keep my walks at night!!! Usually my legs/feet hurt so much I have a hard time sleeping. But oh well....I need my coffee in the morning- not exercise!!

Well here is what I've realized from two very stressful days: I stress over stupid stuff. I'm stressed because I have a list of things I want to get done and very little time. I will get it done. I always do. I just have to stress about it. I want to hurry and get it done and not wait until the last minute. I started my room two weeks early, (thankfully) and there are still things I need to do and can't yet. So I stress.

 Two BIG things have occurred to me. Finally. Two things I can deal with.

First thing I realized was my migraine reared it's head yesterday probably because of stress. My inner panic voice was screaming at me all day about all the stuff I needed to do. I have an inner voice that is constantly talking? Do you?  ( Don't they have drugs to stop that?) In response to this, my head roared back in the form of a migraine. I did take my pill and got involved in my meetings and it went away. So that is one thing I need to work on. Dealing with how I handle stress. The walking has helped, but I need more.
Next things that happened was on Monday and Tuesday on the way home from work I caught myself saying....what can I eat that's fast? Gotta stuff myself---- gotta fill myself......Ta Da !!!!

That's the main reason I over -eat...STRESS....Monday was the worse. I was almost in a panic about dinner...what will I eat, what will I eat???? I just went home and worked it out. Same thing happened yesterday, I found myself saying I need to eat. What should I eat? Eat. Eat. Eat. Honestly I wasn't even hungry. Sigh. So this is progress. I'm going to kick this stupid food problem once and for all.

So today will be better. I will get stuff done. I will be off campus and not worrying about my two rooms to get ready. :)

P-A-R-T-Y

I had a first time experience yesterday......have to share...I hosted the "English dept kick-off school is starting"  party at my house. We have a close knit dept and whenever someone has a party everyone pitches in and brings food, so really for the hostess it's not a big deal. My house is perfect for parties because of the pool and basketball court in the back......sooooooo

I told everyone I would have brisket (HEB FULLY COOKED/SLICED=YUM and I don't like meat that much. lol)  and drinks and then we divided up the appetizers/deserts/etc by levels.... I wanted it to be casual and have some good food....sooooooooo

Husband and son were gone for the day so I got the house ready by myself which was no big deal since I had started Friday and had it mostly done....soooooooooo

I stress a bit having a lot of people over and usually before a party I eat. That way I won't eat so much and look like a pig and I can drink and not get buzzed and be out of it. But I usually get a hamburger and fries - something really good. soooooooooooo

Yesterday I didn't. :)

I had a light breakfast and a light sandwich for lunch and that was it. I actually was able to control what and how much I ate in a stressful situation.  I drank a lot of water. When everyone was ready to eat....I had what I wanted with was 1/2 of what I usually eat and it was amazing...soooooooooo

I think food is my addiction....kicking the overeating habit is not easy, but certainly doable. I was more interesting in talking last night than eating. Usually I hover in the kitchen and sneak lots of bites...then fill my plate. I didn't even think of that last night.....sooooooooooooo

Today I will walk my three miles and ride my 5 miles and back to work full time tomorrow!!!

Quick Update

My back went out again. Thursday was a lazy day. I laid out in the pool....then went to my bed, got comfy and read. I read on and off until midnight. That must have done my back in!! I still walked my three miles that night...but Friday I could hardly even stand up straight, much less walk. Big bummer. So I got the heating pad and my "strong" meds...and I was able to go to a meeting. Anyway I could ride my bike although that is aggravating my very lower back. I'm such a mess. I will walk tonight. My back doctor warned me there would be days like this....so be prepared. It just seems to come when I'm on my back too much...gotta read some place else.

Good news is I'm down 2.5 lbs this week :) But I haven't walked in two days...might be a correlation. The other even better news is that for the month of July I think I've set a record of only 3 migraines. I think it's a combination of less stress and exercising. It feels nice though and is motivating to keep me moving.

I have to be at school for the next four days getting ready.  Today Parker has a consult to get his wisdom teeth removed which I'll let my husband handle, then Parker is supposed to come to school and be our muscle and move books :) Oh joy.

One of my good friends had a great party and her son took pictures all night. I realized once again I was the fattest one there. So it just fuels my resolve to loose weight and not give up!

That's me behind Patsy Torres!   I can't believe we danced with Patsy. LOL I'm the Fat Chick in BLACK behind her. LOL  We learned the Cumba.

Hot Summer Nights

Well, this week the nights are getting hotter and I'm still walking. Who would have thought. I took a break from biking. I sat all day Tuesday waiting to be called for a juror, but didn't. The sitting made my lower back...specifically my tail bone HURT. It from riding the bike. And the truth is after walking in this heat, I just don't have the energy. Ask Jack, he gets pooped too.

Lazy Days With Parker 

Eating is going well....Scale dropped on Tuesday, so I counted it....:)  Not much going on here...Lots of personal victories since I've been tempted to many times to be bad and I just don't give in...really no temptation. I only wish the weight would come off faster. I got to bed with a slight bit of hunger. In the past that is when I really lost weight...this time my body is fighting it. But my legs and knees feel good and strong and my shorts are a bit looser, so I'll take it. Not giving up!!! Nope, not for a long time.

Monday Weigh In

Weekly Totals

I'm up 1/2 lb.?????  Whatever....

Exercise Totals: 

Walked Jack: 16 miles

Biked: 26 miles 

My goal for this week is to do better than last week!!! 

I think the weight gain is water. It's been very hot here....so I'm not worried. One morning I weighed in I was a lb less...I can't eat all the WW points...why eat if I'm not hungry. 

Migraines...UGH

 Me when I get a headache. LOL 

Yeah. I get them and hate them. I've gotten them ever since I was little. I have a diary I kept when I was young. I think I was in the third or fourth grade when I started it. Every other page or so I complain about my head hurting.  In college is when I started getting sick with them.  I always thought they were hangovers...until I got them and I wasn't drinking. LOL 

Now they come on for two weeks and then I have two weeks off. I manage them with meds, but it really makes it difficult to keep focused on eating right and exercising which is why in the past I haven't been able to do it. Sometimes cold sugary DP is the soothing factor I use when I'm at work. 

I get sweaty, hot, and irritated with these headaches.

 They are totally hormone related. Can you imagine trying to be nice to a bunch of noisy, loud 14/15 year olds when your head is in a vice?  LOL Actually that is the easy part. They keep my mind off of my head and usually it will go away. If it's really bad I get irritated and tell them my head hurts. They are kind during those times. And they can see it in my face. Usually they guess before I have to tell them. 

This past  year I made a promise to myself that when I had a headache in the morning- I usually wake up with them, I was going to push through it and think positive thoughts. That helped a lot. I still drank my DP on those days. Funny thing is I never drink DP any other time.

 It just feels good and calms the nausea. 

Some headaches, like last night, come on in the evening and they are relentless. Meds don't help, but typically by then I'm home and can go to bed. It's not uncommon for me to go to bed at 5:30 and wake up at 10 feeling normal. :( HATE THOSE NIGHTS....I think those are from my "period." I don't even know if I get a period since I had a procedure done 5 years ago that ceased my periods. But I'm so regular with ovulating. I spent MANY years trying to get pregnant that I feel I know my cycle by heart! The ones associated with my ovulating last 5 days...

but can be knocked out with meds before they show up again. 

Last night I could feel it coming on....I have several stressful events happening in life right now, so I'm sure that part of these headaches are stress related.....I walked my three miles anyway.....I rode my bike. I noticed if I was riding, I couldn't feel the pounding in my head....so I rode and rode. I only did 6.35 miles, but I did flatter surfaces and it gave me a good workout. It got too dark, so I stopped, plus I wanted to walk today.

 My point is that I pushed through the headache and it wasn't that bad. It helped it some to exercise even. I still had it, but not like the night before when my head was in a vice or so it felt like it. For dinner I had ice cream.....WW of course. But often something cold is the only thing I can stomach...when I got back from riding I had my turkey patties and cauliflower. :) 

I woke up this am with a headache. I'm really stressing today. I have to present to PRINCIPALS from all over the district. OMG. scary.  I'm talking about the Academy program I'm in and so it will be fine. We also have interest in the other house we've been trying to sell for a year...awk.....I'm on edge. Sooooooo --- My doctor tells me that I'll probably have these headaches until I go through menopause. I can only pray they go away then, however my sister, who is 5 years older than I is just starting to get them..but I'm not even sure if she is quite in Menopause. I just don't worry about them ending. I am just trying to live with them and loose weight...which I've also researched will help them go away!!!!! If I can do it this year, I've got those headaches licked! I've always given in to them. (Nothing soothes them better than fatty food-hamburger or a McDonald's sausage biscuit). UGH

This is what I ate on Monday and Tuesday. 

 Turkey sandwich: 

lettuce, tomatoes, light(olive oil) mayonnaise, light cheese, carrots,  

and veggie soup = 7 points.

Turkey patties, corn, cauliflower with some provolone cheese= 7 points.  

Sooo another day.

 I need to eat a late/good breakfast since the presentation is at 12:30....weird time. 

Weigh In

Well I weighed in. At first I was shocked. I was down 10...yes 10 pounds from Friday when I got back from the trip....went back in...had gained 2.5 lbs......what the? Went back in and it seemed to settle on 232.5 which is a 1 lb LOSS....yee haw. LOL I'll take it. I thought I had gained.......I'm getting a new scale; this one is from my mom who swore it lied. hahah

I had a productive day yesterday. I walked Jack three miles. I rode 5 miles and then later rode 5 more miles.  It's kind of cheating because San Antonio is so hilly...so yeah, you bust your butt going up hills..but then you can coast for several minutes. My legs and bum are sore so something got a work out. 

I've noticed that some days I can't eat all my points and end up eating WW ice cream. Sooooo I'm going to try and plan better and eat more fruit. :) 

I was going to be so good on our trip and take pictures of everything I ate......but I only got one shot. I had a wrap with dolphin and parmesan fries. I'd heard so much about the fries. What a disappointment. They were awful and the wrap was a flour tortilla, nothing exotic. I also want you to know this meal was about $28 US dollars. Yeah. You can figure out from the next picture where we ate dinner. 

It was supposed to be a treat for Parker since he is so picky...again big disappointment. But our whole bill was about $40 US....crazy. The rest of our meals were much better. Not cheaper, better. :) 

Parker is an extremely picky eater. The only meat he eats is pork and chicken. That is sausage, pepperoni, bacon, and chicken strips. He eats lots of fruit and no veggies. He will eat anything resembling bread and he likes cheese. He's never sick and has only missed 2 days of school in his life from being sick ( flu/strep) So it's not like he doesn't get the nutrients. His doctor over the years says he will grow out of it....not yet...My husband, Bubby, is almost the same way. He has a bigger menu, but will not eat 70% of what I like. So it makes it hard to cook healthy things for me. But I'm going to work at it. I will just cook double. Last night for  instance I made pancakes and bacon for Parker, hamburgers for Bubby and turkey patties for me ( on my new Griddler). So I just have to figure out how to make it work. Thanks for reading and commenting. These blogs and reading everyones keeps me going. It's a Godsend. :) 

Maybe Not

Not sure combining the two blogs was a good idea. Think I'm going to concentrate on this one being the weight loss blog. I have trouble making decisions, no?

Well to recap what has happened so far. I started writing down my food and counting my WW points. I've "done" WW so much I seem to know it by heart, so it's not too bad doing this. I started on June 28th. I also have been trying to keep moving every day. Until I get 20 or so lbs off I don't think I can do much else but walk and ride my bike. I try to walk 3 miles daily and ride my bike 5 miles daily. I took the week of vacation off from writing everything down (HUGE MISTAKE). I'll never do that again. Not only did I gain 1.5 lbs that week, I got out of the habit of exercising. All good lessons learned. Never stop the walking!!! Never stop the journaling!! I'm still so new at this. I think as time goes on I will get better and better and doing better and better.

I did set some long term goals and some short term goals. Long term goals are to try and reach my "goal" weight..aka the weight I was when I got married by time I turn 50. Wouldn't that just be fabulous? To look good when I enter the best years of my life? I think so. I plan to work hard for the next 1.5 years to make it there.

Short term goals is to: 1. Journal  2. Stay with in my points - continue w/ WW  3. Walk 18 miles per week. and 4. Bike 35 miles a week. I will do this for August which will be a busy month...getting back to work and all meetings etc.

So Today

I thought I would start this blog off with what I ate in a photo spread. I'm a teacher so my summers are wonderfully free for me. I spend the first part of every June no knowing what to do with myself and then I figure it out by July. Today I tackled cleaning my closet, dresser and night stand. I took a car load of stuff to Goodwill. It's my summer ritual. I think tomorrow I may tackle the study closet or Parker's room.

I always have the same thing for breakfast. If I get bored with it I'll switch. When I'm working I'll gobble down yogurt and sip on coffee all morning. I may or may not have time for my energy bar. In the summer however I get both in.
 Total Points - 9
(Yogurt=3 and energy bar=5 Coffee=1)
I'm sure I can find lower point substitutions for these. But these keep me filled up and I hate to let my blood sugar drop.

Lunch varies during the summer. Today I had a sand which and carrots and water. :)
Total of 5 points. Later on I ate the strawberries and blueberries. I think is 2 points.

Tonight dinner is a baby spinach/romaine lettuce salad. I added in
tomatoes: 0
cucumber:0
sweet chili chicken breast: 4
olive oil italian dressing:5
croutons: 1
egg whites (2): 0

I'm allowed 29 points and so far I've used 27. I'll have some ice-cream later  after I walk.
Wish everyday was this easy. :) I also have about 24 ounces of water to drink which I'm sure I will after the walk! UGH humidity!! 

And So, I Begin Again

This time is it. I swear. I'm going to give it my best effort. It being another stab at getting into the weight-loss mode. I've done it before. Now, it's becoming critical. So I plan on using this blog as a means of recording the journey. I know when school starts I'll be so busy, or when I have a headache, I'll feel like crap and will fall off the wagon and not do this. But I'm going to try. I will probably fail. I won't fail this time. I've got to find better coping mechanisms.

 I've been reading as many weight -loss blogs as I can find hoping to find some inspiration. I have. Some amazing people out there have done this. It makes me feel like I can too. I'm not alone in using food as my comforting factor. I've got to work on that along with making some better food choices.

So, my plans are to:
1. Write down my food. I figure I'll keep a notebook and try to get it on the computer. If I don't get it on the computer every day that is OK. I will always journal food in my planner.
2. I will no longer be eating at my computer. I will either eat outside or at the table or bar.
3. Up my water. I'm going to try and drink 64 ounces.
4. Walk every day. It's easy to do with my dog, Jack. I'm going to try for 3 miles daily, but will settle for 1.5 for now.
5. I've been debating whether to do WW and count points or to just listen to my hunger. I think initially I will do WW and see how that goes. I am also going to listen to my hunger level and try to get a better handle on that. I tend to know when I'm full and continue to stuff myself because of some strange feeling that I shouldn't leave it or waste it. Or since I know it's bad...I just do it.
6. Stay ACTIVE. Stay BUSY. One of the main reasons I overeat is out of boredom. I hate trying new things because I get anxious, but I love trying new things. Got to get over the hump and out of my comfort zone which isn't working!!
7. Forgive myself if I have a bad day or a migraine. Sometimes I can't walk, I just have to get in bed and take a break from the world until the headache goes away.
So that's it!!!

Here are my measurements in inches:

Arms: 13.5
Thighs: 29
Calf: 15
Boobs: 48
Waist: 29 ( thinnest part? can't be right.....)
Hip: 44
Currently wearing size 20 clothes
5'7 and 238 lbs.

Before Picture: