Stressful days being a grown-up.

So I weighed in early this week, because I am working on Saturday.  I lost 1.4 pounds this week so my new numbers is........159.8!  I'm in the 50's!  Not by much, but I'll take it, probably would have been about two pounds if I went in on my usual day.  We didn't talk about much this week, just what worked and what didn't.  There was one day (working day) that I only got in 950 calories for the day and of course was told that wasn't enough for the amount of exercise I do.  What can I say, I work, I work out and I don't always find time to eat and this being the month of Ramadan, it's even harder to get the calories in.  We also discussed Ahtesham's birthday coming up, it's next Tuesday and I'm not sure what we will be doing but I know food will be involved.  I've been craving a candy bar lately, a Snickers candy bar to be exact.  I wonder if there is some way I can work that into my daily calories???  I'm just kidding everyone, I know I can't fall off the wagon now.  But every once in a while I like to day dream.  Everything else we left the same on the plan, same calories, same amount of days, still on two days off a week.  The stressful part of my day didn't start until I left my weigh in and went to tag my car and my husband's car.  Wow, I hate being a grown up sometimes.  The state of Texas thinks I'm rich!  That's all I'm going to say about that!  So why the picture of the stream?  Well, because right now I'm really wanting to get away and go hiking somewhere quiet, cool, and green.   I just feel like I need a mini vacation so somewhere that is beautiful and relaxing.  I like hiking, it gives me the same feeling of peace and accomplishment that my running does.  Wish that I could afford to go places to hike more often.  I guess I'm just saying I need a break.                                                                                               

On the exercise front I started my first week of my half marathon training.  I always like the first week, it starts off so nice and easy.  I have accomplished all the miles for this week's training and I also did my two days of abs, arms and core work.  I still am not taking a day off yet, I think mostly because I'm still not at my goal weight.  I just still feel like I should be doing at least 30 minutes every day.  I won't lie, I'm glad the first week is easy because I'm still not "feeling" the run this week, but it is better than last week.  I'm not sitting in the chair for 30 or so minutes telling myself to get up.   So that's my week in a nutshell.  I really don't want to be a grown-up sometimes, especially when it comes to paying bills!   I have to admit this here, because I'm kind of ashamed of myself, but on the way back from tagging the cars I exploded.  I was ranting about not having enough money to buy new clothes that fit after paying all the bills.  Here I am doing all this work, trying so hard to lose weight and look better, but I can't afford to buy a new outfit!  Just made me kinda mad.  Okay, done pouting.  Putting my big girl panties on now.  Until next week, keep moving everyone~ Darcy

CoExist

So back from this weeks weigh in, it's a better story than last week, but my husband also lost this week (darn that man)!  So I'm not really less than he is right now, I weigh about 0.5 pounds more than he does.  I see extra butter on his food tonight!  I had a 4.2 pound loss for this week, that makes my number for this week 161.2.  I'm not sure where Chris stands this week, but I bet we are pretty close.  During my consultion we talked about my less than perfect staying on plan this past week.  I'm not sure what happened, but I just didn't want the foods on the plan this week.  I didn't stray off that bad, but I really wanted other things this week.  I managed to pull the week together and only left the path for one meal.  My proteins were down again this week, don't know what happened there, but my sodium intake was finally under the daily recommended!  We decided to let me plan my own week this time, which just means that I picked all the foods on my menu and I do mean all the foods.  I still am taking two days off, but this coming month is going to be a rough one.  Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, so this will be the first full week of Ramadan and we will see how I do.  I may end up cutting more meals out or may split the lunch meal up, not really sure.  It will be an experimental week that is for sure.                

Exercise this week was not really great either.  I know that everyone goes through these stages and I personally have done this before, but this week was rough.  I really didn't want to get off the couch, I really didn't want to run and basically forced myself to do at least 30 minutes everyday.  This morning was the first day I felt like running and even then when I was doing my run I didn't push myself that hard.  Next week I will start my training for the Prairie Fire 1/2 Marathon.  That will be the gauge point and then the following week I will register if things are going well.  We will have to see how it's going.  So not as many miles this week, but I'll look at it as a vacation of sorts. 

I will weigh in early next week because I work next Friday, so I hope to just keep where I'm at.  Fingers crossed.  Til next time, keep moving everyone! ~ Darcy 

Have a blessed month of Ramadan to my fellow brothers and sisters!

Mile Markers, they come and they go.....

Yesterday was my birthday!  I really didn't want to do anything special for the day, but sit home and enjoy the quiet of my little world.  I really don't like my birthdays much, to tell you the truth, I don't like that I'm getting older.  I don't feel any older, I still feel like I'm in my late 20's or early 30's.  I know I can't stop time and I really don't think I'd want to, but I just don't feel old.  Anyway, I did go out for dinner to Red Lobster with my husband.  With all the changes in our lives the past three months, we really can't afford much and with my JC program, it's hard sometimes to think about eat at a restaurant.  But Ahtesham wanted to do something to make the day special so we went and enjoyed each other's company.  That said, my weigh in to day was not good, my new number is 165.4, that is a 2 ounce gain from last week.  No, my consultant is not worried, I'm not really worried, but I would be happier if it was 2 ounces less instead of 2 ounces more.  Just means next week will be a really good week, right?  So I'm calling this week a push.  I do wonder why though that restaurants feel the need to put a layer of rock salt on the outside of the baked potatoes?  Do they not know we as a country are over weight?  That we have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and that we really don't need any more salt in our diets?  I also have a confession to make......the food didn't taste as good as I thought it would or as I remembered it tasting.  Is that sad?  Does that mean I've learned something?  What does that mean?  I did enjoy the meal, don't get me wrong, but it didn't taste as good as I remembered.  I can only hope that this means I've turned a corner with food and my addiction.  My consultant talked about the fact that over all for the week I hadn't even made my 1200 calorie mark.  On average for the week I was at 1000 a day, what happened this week?  Like I just said, food just wasn't "all that" anymore this week.  I guess we'll have to wait and see if this is just a phase or if I've really changed.  So I'm still four pounds from my next mini goal, my husband's weight and 25 pounds from my JC goal.  I had two people this week tell me that they think I look good now and I don't think I should lose another 25 pounds.  That made me smile.  But you know I will keep going until I reach my goal and if I look awful at 140 then I can always put on a few pounds.   I know I know how to do that!  So this week the plan is to continue with my 1200 daily calories and to try to get them all in.                                    

Workouts this week were tough, I added time and miles to everything this week and I believe I paid for it today.  Yesterday I did 8 miles and for the rest of the day my back hurt.  Yes, I need to work on my core, I've added two core workouts to my week, but now I'm thinking I might have to add one more day.  This morning's run did not go well because of the back pain, I could only force the body to suffer through 30 minutes of running and then I walked the rest of my workout.  So this coming week will be an easy week, to give the body a break.  I also need to change the battery in my foot pod, I can't believe it died today during my run.   Really things need to be replaced????  So that was my week, so looking forward to getting out of the 160 range now and into the 50's!  Until next time, keep moving everyone ~ Darcy

Yo-Yo's

I've been up, I've been down.  I've been up again and now I'm down again!  I feel like I've been battling the weight forever.  I can only hope that this time I have learned enough to keep it off.  But today I want to celebrate and pat myself on the back just a little.  Today was weigh in day.  My new number?  165.2, why is this a great number?  It's only a one pound drop from last week and we all know I don't like just losing one pound.  But this week 165.2 gets me to a total weight loss of 100 pounds since May of 2010!  Not all of it has been done on Jenny Craig, not all of it was done running, or counting every calorie.  I am not going to stop here either.  Yesterday my boss asked how much more I want to lose, my answer was another 40 pounds.  She replied "There won't be anything left of you!"  My husband asked the question of me last week, "When are you going to start eating again?"  I never want to eat the way I did in the past.  I never want to be over 200 on the scale again.  So this week's weigh in made me smile and wonder what it would feel like to have that amount hanging on my body again.  Only time can tell if I've learned lessons and will make better choices.  My consultant and I talked about the fact that she still doesn't think I'm getting enough protein in my diet.  So, we took some foods off the menu for this week added some that have more protein in them.  When asked if there were any challenges this week, for the first time I had to say "Yes."  What is the challenge?  My birthday is coming this week.  I can be honest here (because no one really reads this anyway, right?) and say, I'm terrified of eating out.  I did eat out when I went home last month for my run and I know I floundered that week.  I believe I had a two pound gain.  I don't think I ate all that bad when I went home.  I didn't eat LARGE portions and I ran a 10K while I was there.  But still it took me two weeks to get back on track.  So yes, eating out terrifies me!  Can I trust myself?  As I sit here I'm not sure and I don't want to take that chance.  I will have to post on Thursday to let you know how I did.  We didn't change anything in the way of my plan for the week other than adding more protein.  I'm still eating 1200 calories more or less, meaning if I go over a little I don't fret too much and definitely keep it under 1500 daily.  So I've lost 42 pounds and ten inches total with JC to date.  My new goal is now to make it under 161, which is my husband's current weight.  I'd love to be under it next week, but I don't think I can reach that goal especially when I have my birthday in this week too!                              

Exercise wise this week I made small increases in time for work days and running days, not anything that is really noticeable but I'm thinking if I do it slowly, maybe my body and my mind won't notice.   I wasn't really happy with today's run, my electronic toys did work the way they should have and I stopped my run short today.  The run itself was going great, I wasn't tired and I was doing almost 3 minutes running and one minute walking.  I'll try again tomorrow to get a long run in.  I'm also seriously considering doing two half marathons this year.  Yes I said two, I must be nuts.  I am looking at how much money and time off of work, plus the pounding my body will take.  I know I will need to make a decisions by the end of August, because that's when the entry fees go up and if I'm going to do them I'm not paying a larger entry fee!  Will keep you posted on this as well.

Okay, so why is this post entitled Yo-Yo?  Because I wanted to post some photos to remind myself of how much work I've done.....

These first four were taken between September 2000 and November 2002.

You'll have to forgive the quality of the photos, I'm not sure where the original are any more.

These last were taken between May 2010 and July 2012.  Just like my Yo-Yo at the beginning, I've gone up and down.  Let's hope I remember the trips and all the work this time!

7 July 2012