Weekends are Killer

If I could get through the weekends without eating/drinking like a horse, I would probably lose 5 lbs a week. Another typical week has gone by. Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday and (even though I'm not Catholic or religious) I decided that it might be a good idea to eliminate pop from my life for 40 days. First few days went okay. Definitely did suffer from caffeine headaches (which SUCK) on Thursday but made it to Friday without pop.... then came Friday night.

Typical Friday night in good ole Byron. Headed over to the neighbors for a night of drinks, board games and cards. Wasn't really feeling the beer or vodka/juice drink so ended up drinking Rum/Diets all evening. I rationalized this by saying to myself "only when drinking". Saturday night rolls around . . . same story. Kenny and I drove down to Mankato to hang out with our college friends and had an awesome night! Of course, drank the rum/diets! Man, do I love rum/diets! Another night of pop drinking.

Then on Sunday (after NO sleep), ran the SMJTT in the morning (hugely successful by the way) and then went back to the cities to bowl in the MN Women's State Tournament. By the time I got to actually bowling, I was EXHAUSTED! So who did I look to for relief . . . yep that's right . . . Good ole Mr. Diet Pepsi. After the excruciatingly painful three games were done, headed to Chili's with the family to enjoy a birthday dinner with the little bro . . . again had to hit the pop cause I was sleepy! So this whole giving up pop idea was NOT successful this weekend. Trying to get back with it today.

Now, let's talk about food . . . I love food and it SUCKS! Definitely ate out a LOT this weekend which was not so good. Gary's Pizza on Saturday night in Mankato (delicious) and Jimmy John's after the bars (can't break the Mankato/Jimmy Johns tradition). After the tournament on Sunday morning, it was a quick stop at McDonalds, followed by dinner at Chili's (and of course at Chili's, I had the 1500 calorie salad and a birthday brownie dessert). So now, it's Monday. I'm feeling bloated, dehydrated and sleepy. I think I need to work on this weekend thing!

Want to send a shout-out though to everyone that I saw this weekend! Got to spend time with two of my best girls in Mankato, future groomsman and his bride, some of my favorite gals from the Linds Northern Stars bowling team and spend time with both sets of parents!

Because I have been failing on my blogging skills, I would like to inform you reader that I did in fact weigh myself last Thursday AM and I came in at 197.8 lbs. Trying not to be too upset about gaining a bit of weight because I started strength training last week. My bestie sent me an early birthday present: Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and so far I am LOVING it! It is only a 20 minute quick circuit workout that kicks your @$$! I did it four days last week and took the weekend off. I also have been trying to mix the elliptical in with the new video but I need to find the right combination so that I can get both the cardio and strength! Thanks so much Kris for the awesome gift!

If you have made it this far, you are probably sick of reading about my crazy, hectic life so I think I'm just going to leave it at that!

Thought for the day (since my weekend was not the healthiest):



Talk to you soon readers!

Not My Greatest Week

So I decided to wait until this morning to weigh myself because I was feeling extra full yesterday morning still from Valentine's Day. I weighed in at 197.8 which is 0.8 up from last week. I can't really complain too much because it was a tough week for eating for me. My parents and best friend Kris were in Rochester to enjoy the weekend and to go skiing. If you know my mother, you know that she always brings WAY too much food so it definitely was an eating weekend. Then on Valentine's Day, Kenny and I got two pizzas from Papa Murphys and also ice cream from Flapdoodles. Definitely delicious but also a set back. Luckily, I did work out a good chunk of the days last week.

Happy Friday! I am very excited to get out of work today. Kenny put a roast in the crockpot this morning so we will be able to enjoy that when we get home! Then I plan to work out before we head to Oakdale for the weekend. Tomorrow, we are heading over to St Cloud with Kenny's parents to hopefully pick out a venue for the groom's dinner.

Currently, I am feeling the strain from the working out. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my elliptical and have been using it like crazy which has been great but I am starting to feel like I need to do other things in order to enhance my whole body. I feel like I am getting a good workout but I feel like there could be more to it than that. I have been trying really hard to find extra strength workouts that I can do from home. I also have been considering rejoining Workout World so that I can use the weight-lifting machines over my lunch break a few days a week. Decisions, decisions!

I feel like this is my place now to write something witty but I honestly am lacking the motivation today to come up with anything so perhaps instead, I will leave you with a funny picture for your weekend!

Twas the Night Before Weigh-In . . .

Happy belated Valentine's Day readers! I hope that everyone was able to enjoy the day. Kenny and I ordered a heart-shaped pizza and had Flapdoodles ice cream. It was delicious but not even close to being healthy. Typically, my weigh-in day is Wednesday (today) but because of my crappy eating yesterday, I decided to postpone until tomorrow AM. I still am nervous because I ate kinda crappy this week again. I did work out 5 out of 7 days last week which is AWESOME but I'm still struggling. I did go skiing with my family on Sunday which should provide a little bit of a buffer.

In other news, I dyed my hair today at Nova in Rochester. It turned out very nice. It is a brown violet color and there are two highlights that are light pink! Definitely something fun to have before I have to dye it for the wedding. The big day is coming up so fast! It is already mid-February. Only a few more weeks until my birthday!

That's all I have for now. I will report my weigh-in tomorrow! Good night!

If Not Now . . . When?

Today is a semi-lazy day at work so I decided to spend some time on Pinterest browsing for fun and new ideas! For those of you who haven't tried Pinterest, it is the most AMAZING site right now. In my mind, it comes pretty close to being better than Facebook. Recently, I have been perusing the Fitness Category on Pinterest to find motivation for getting in shape. There are TONS of blogs out there pertaining to weight loss and overall fitness. Also, I love all of the motivational quotes that are sprinkled in the threads.

As most of you know, I am getting married exactly 7 months from today. I am definitely starting to feel the crunch to start to get in shape for the "I do"s. Because I'm starting to feel the pressure, I have been reading other people's weight loss blogs and today I finally thought, "why can't I blog about my own journey?"

So this is the new direction that I am going to take my blog. It will be not only be an area for me to vent about my frustrations with my weight but also a place to talk about the other ups and downs of life as well! I want to keep everyone informed of my activities!

A little background about my journey so far:
I have always been kinda pudgy. Some thought I would grow out of baby fat but (and I blame this on my love of ice cream), I never did. On my birthday in 2011, I decided that it was finally time to make a change. Myself and one of my best friends joined Weight Watchers. I loved the program and I enjoyed being weighed weekly by the Weight Watchers staff. I kept with Weight Watchers for approximately 6 months and lost 20 lbs! After hitting this milestone, I decided that I didn't need to continue to pay for the program and that I would be able to continue on the path on my own . . . we all know how this story turns out. I gained approximately 10 of the lbs back in the next 5 months (stupid Christmas with your awesome food and treats!) Luckily, I have the most awesome and supportive man in my life and for Christmas, he purchased an elliptical for our home. I am very happy to say that I have gotten into a fairly steady routine with my new friend Chuck (that's what we named our elliptical, kinda fun to say "I'll be down riding Chuck! Corny, I know). Since I began tracking my weight again on December 29, 2011, I am down 7 lbs!

I want to use this blog to begin tracking my weight loss. I'm even willing to post my weight (not something I normally would do but I'm not ashamed and I want to be proud of what I accomplish).

Today, February 8, 2012, I weigh 197 lbs.

I am not going to set a long term goal because those really don't seem to work for me and I don't want to set goals that are unattainable so I am going to start my goal to lose at 10 lbs. I also am going to set the goal to continue to work out 5 days a week on Chuck. I also would like to begin mixing workout videos/strength training in with my elliptical training. The last goal I have is to run at least a good chunk of the Color Run on July 15, 2012 in the Twin Cities!

Hopefully these are some awesome goals that I can stick with and I look forward to tackling this journey.

Remember - The hardest step is the first one out the door!

Talk to you soon!