Find your mojo!

My birthday is 4 weeks from tomorrow and while I hadn't set a goal for that event, I'm going to set one now.  I'm going to aim for losing another 2 lbs between now and then.  I think 2lbs in 4 weeks is perfectly reasonable.  When I weighed in this morning, I was down 1.2 to 206lbs.  So for my birthday, I want to be at 204. 

The most important thing for me is to work out.  Last week, I took that first kickboxing class and I'll be going again tonight.  There was a lot of stuff that I couldn't do.  I could hit and kick the bag just fine, but the strength exercises in between almost did me in.  I know that I'll get better over time.  And everyone was so supportive, so that was a big help. 

On Friday, my foot was a bit sore.  That was the foot where I'd torn the ligaments in December 2011.  On Saturday, everything was sore.  Every joint and muscle ached.  But it felt good knowing that I'd done the work and that if I just kept at it, the pain would disappear and I'd get better, stronger, leaner.  I did buy an ankle brace over the weekend too, so I intend to wear that tonight and I'm hoping that will help with the ligament issue. 

I read something recently that said that you need to change up your workout routine because that is one of the top reasons we hit a plateau.  So while I'll still walk/jog, I think adding the kickboxing will be a big help.  And who knows what that might lead me to try in the future.  There are so many things out there, fun things, that are more than just exercise. 

I think that's a big key to success.  Find an exercise, workout, activity that you enjoy, and then find something else too.  If you don't enjoy it, you won't want to do it.  But you also can't quit after the first try.  Give it a couple of tries and then decide.  If you really don't like it, find something else.  And just keep searching for things you enjoy.  But try to find more than one thing that will keep you interested, keep you motivated, keep you moving.  One thing could probably lead to boredom and most definitely will lead you to a plateau, but having more than one activity will keep you interested and that can only lead to good things.

Find your mojo! 

Opinions needed!

I've been thinking about creating a blog about all the books I read.  I'd be posting my opinions and reviews on books I'm reading.  I'd also be campaigning, stumping, pimping for my favorite authors...just like I did in yesterday's post. 

So what do you think?  Is this something you'd be interested in reading/following? 

I wish there was a way I could do it right from my Kindle, but so far I haven't found the right app and I don't think blogger has one for the Kindle.  If anyone knows of one, please let me know!

I sorted tried Wordpress last week on the Kindle, but I can't seem to figure out how to design it and make it personal to my style.  Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but it just wasn't as user friendly as this one is.  Only problem is that I can't seem to publish to this one from the Kindle.  I think I can type to it, but I just can't publish it.  I need to get onto a computer in order to publish it.

Anyway...is that enough rambling for you?  Seriously...please let me know what you think about me creating a Book Blog! 

Hit the comment button and leave your opinion please!!

Completely Off Topic! But it's my blog so I can do what I want! :-)

This would be considered shameless self promotion except for the fact that I'm not promoting myself.  I'm promoting my friend  Lacey Weatherford and her new book, Smitten, which was just released this weekend. 

Here is the link to the book on Amazon:  Smitten

So why am I promoting this book?  Well, because I can.  It's my blog and I can do what I want.  Hehe!  But really, I'm a huge fan of Lacey.  I first read her Of Witches and Warlocks series and instantly fell in love.  I had to read her other books, which include Chasing Nikki and Finding Chase in the Chase series, and Crush, to which Smitten is the followup.

Each series she writes has one basic premise, they are all about true love.  And who doesn't love LOVE?  But each series is also uniquely it's own.  Of Witches and Warlocks is about, well, I think the title says it all, witches and warlocks.  The main characters are Portia and Vance.  The Chase series and the Crush series don't involve any supernatural beings, but they are still great stories that will make you want to read the next in the series.  I have enjoyed all of them and can not wait to read more of Lacey's books. 

I'm so glad that I discovered Lacey's books and I now consider her a friend, even though so far we've only met through Facebook, and sometimes I do wonder if she might be afraid that I could be a stalker.  Honest, I'm not!  Really!  I'm just a rabid fan.  Ok, rabid might not be a good word to use.  I do call her my obsession, but I mean that only in the most loving way possible.  Ok, even that sounds creepy.  I should just quit now.

Bottom line...if you love to read, go look for Lacey Weatherford!!  And if you have a Kindle, click that link above and buy Crush and Smitten now while they are still 99 cents!!! 

I'll even make it easy for you, so you don't have to search for Crush...here's the link:  Crush
So click this one for Crush and the one all the way up there at the top of this post to get Smitten.  Hurry up?  What are you waiting for?  Why are you still reading?  I'm done.  Over and out!  Sayonara! 

Kick it!

Yesterday's weigh-in was decent.  I was down again, but didn't lose as much as I'd gained the previous week.  But no complaints, at least it's going in the right direction.

Last night was my first kickboxing class!  That's right folks, I'm now allowed to punch and kick things.  Ok, only in a controlled environment and it's only the punching bags.  I can't actually hit people or I will still get arrested.  But at least now, if someone really irritates me, I can just picture their face on that bag and start hitting.  It's a great release!  (Have no fear, I'm not really a violent person and have never actually hit anyone.)

I am a little sore this morning, but not too bad.  I will tell you that I slept really well last night too, so that is another definite plus to taking this class. 

I saw this yesterday and I thought it was very appropriate.  And it's something I want to always remember.  As much as we'd love for it to happen, the weight is not going to just fall off.  I am not going to wake up one day with a glorious body, unless I work at it.  So while walking is good exercise, I know that if I really want to have a fit, toned and healthy body, I'm going to have to work harder and not just settle for mediocre!  Kickboxing is definitely not mediocre. 

The Candy Dish!

How many of us have a candy dish in our office?  Show of hands?  Ok, I can't really see you raising your hand, but I will tell you that we have one.  Actually, there are several.  Our office is a nightmare for anyone trying to watch their weight.  We have cake & ice cream once a month; bagels, pastries and fruit every Friday and then there are all the other parties throughout the year.  But let's get back to the candy dish.

There are a couple of secretaries who have them, but the one with the most enticing array of candy and chocolate is the one at the reception desk.  Did you catch that word chocolate?  Oh yes, this candy dish isn't just some hard candies.  Oh no, it contains mini Reese's peanut butter cups, fun size Mounds and Almond Joy, mini Snickers...you name it, it has probably been in that candy dish at one time or another. 

Have you ever seen any stats on the office candy jar and what it can do to your weight?  Let me share a bit with you:

Sweating It Off

Eating just two pieces of candy each workday adds about 480 calories to the bottom line over a work week. To burn that off, a 160-pound person would have to:

• Walk (2 mph): 157 minutes
• Ballroom dance: 132 minutes
• Golf (carrying clubs): 88 minutes
• Backpack: 56 minutes
• Run (8 mph): 29 minutes

A 2006 study shows that office employees ate nearly8 pieces of candy each day when there was a candy dish available. 

Three tiny peanut butter cups dent your diet to the tune of 120 calories plus 3 grams of saturated fat. 

I remember an article I'd read a few years ago about how much weight the average person gains when they have an office candy dish and eat candy from it daily.  I wish I could find the actual article and the stats, but it was astounding. 

So, when 2013 started, I decided that I was not going to touch the office candy dish anymore.  And I haven't.  Honesty, I have not eaten a single piece of candy from that candy dish.  I also haven't taken anything from the not-so-hidden stash that is used to refill the candy dish, with the exception of one hard candy when I had a cold/sore throat a few months ago and couldn't find a cough drop.  I have taken gum from the drawer, sugarless.  I am very proud of myself and my friend, who is the receptionist and the one responsible for filling the dish, is pretty amazed and tells everyone how I don't eat it. 

I was eating at least 5 pieces a day.  And those 3 mini peanut butter cups, yeah, that was more like 6 or 8.  I love chocolate and peanut butter together, so those were my weakness.  Along with the Almond Joy.  And then at Easter, it's the malted milk Robin's Eggs. 

But I'm not doing that anymore.  I won't say I never eat candy, but I don't eat any from the office candy dish anymore.  That was the epitome of mindless eating.  Now I look at it every time I walk by, which so far today has probably been about 20 times, but I don't touch it and honestly, it rarely "calls to me" anymore. 

(if I find that article and those stats about how much people gain, I will update this post.)

And the Streak Comes to an End!

I gained this week.  After thirteen straight weeks of weight loss, the scale tipped the other way and I put up a 1.4lb gain. 

I could say that I have no idea how that happened.  Or I could do like I've done in the past where I just get upset and frustrated and pretend like I don't know how I could have possibly gained, but let's be honest.  I know what I did and didn't do. 

So let's look at what is going on in my life.  First...I'm a woman!  (Ok, hopefully that wasn't really a revelation to any of you.)  As a woman, my body is constantly changing.  Our monthly cycle can wreak havoc our weight loss efforts.  We all know that.  And every month is different.  So while some months you won't see it have much effect as we try to lose weight, other months, it is an evil monster adding weight to our obdies when we're not looking.  So sometimes, no matter what we do, we will just not lose weight.

However, I'm not going to use that as an excuse.  I'm sure it's having some impact because I've been craving salt lately and we all know that salt causes water weight gain. 

But the other truths are that I have been slipping with my workouts and that I ate out a lot over the last week. 

The laziness in the workouts all started while we were on vacation.  You may remember that we walked a lot while we were in Chicago, but that was the end of it.  And then after we got back, the weather has not been the greatest (it is raining again now, so I'm inside during my lunch hour instead of out walking).  Even though the last couple of weeks still showed a loss on the scale, I figured it would catch up to me eventually, and it has.  I shouldn't use the weather as too much of an excuse though.  It does have an impact on my walking at lunch, but I still should be doing my at home workouts.  I have done some, but not nearly enough. 

My eating hasn't been the best either.  I made some good choices and on my workdays, I've stuck with my normal breakfast and lunch, but there was a lot of eating out before Monday.  We went out to dinner for our anniversary last week, but we went for sushi and when I weighed in the next day, that still looked ok.  But then I had my niece and nephew staying over this past weekend.  The husband and I went out for breakfast on Saturday on the way to pick them up.  Then I took them to Red Robin for lunch.  I didn't have a burger, but had a 1/2 order of wings and chips.  Then I took them out to dinner before we went to the New England Revolutions game.  I had a lobster roll, although I ate only 1/4 of the bun that it was on, and sweet potato fries.  Oh yes, and hubby brought Chinese food home for dinner on Friday night.

So I do know what I've been doing wrong.  And I know I can change it.  I refuse to give up on this quest.  I need to stay focused and remind myself that I want this and that I need to do the work if I'm going to make it work. 

I'm also about to sign up for that kickboxing class so I can kick this weight to the curb! 

Am I really going to do this?

Kickboxing!?!  I've said a few times that I thought I'd enjoy kickboxing and that it would be a great way to get in shape.  But I seem to keep dragging my feet and I've never signed up.

Well, I just took a baby step.  I sent a message to Personal Best Karate in Foxboro, where they have kickboxing and I guess they'll be contacting me. 

I am pretty nervous.  I've never really done anything super athletic.  Although, I have wanted to kick some butt before.  Ok, I probably want to kick some butt on a regular basis.  Not that I've ever really done it, but I've wanted to.  Somehow I think that I'll be the one getting my butt kicked in this class, for a while at least.  But hey, if it helps me drop some weight and feel more energized, it will be worth it.  Maybe I'll be in the best shape of my life in my mid 40's. 

So wish me luck!  I'll keep you posted on my progress of actually getting into the class. 

Recipe!! (I should do this more often!)

How about a recipe?  This just looks so good to me, I thought I had to share it.

One of the healthiest and yummiest breakfast/snacks ever!! High in protein and healthy fats. SO good for you! And delicious ;-)
Ingredients:
Whole avocado
Egg...s
Cayenne pepper (or any spice of your choice)
Cheese (optional)

Remove the stone from an avocado. Scoop out a little more avocado to increase the size of the stone's crater. Crack an egg into the crater. Sprinkle with Cayenne pepper (cheese too if you desire). Bake in the oven at 180 degrees until egg is cooked to the level you like.

What works for me may not work for you!

So it seems that my post yesterday created a bit of turmoil, so I want to make a statement about this blog in general. 

I decided to do this blog for me, to chronicle my success (and failures) as I work toward my goals with weight loss.  I am not a professional, a weight loss expert, or a nutritionist.  I am posting about what I'm doing and what is and is not working for me.  I am not trying to tell anyone that this is what they need to do to have success. 

Yesterday I mentioned that I weigh myself on my Wii Fit every day.  I have been doing this for years now.  I do not obsess about my weight.  I do not freak out when I step on the Wii balance board and it tells me I gained 0.2 or 0.4.  In fact, most of the time, within 5 minutes of when I step of the board, I forget what it said anyway.  I use it as an informational tool but it does not rule my life.  When it told me on Monday that I was up 2.5lbs, I thought about how that could be and I realized, I had consumed more sodium on Sunday than I normally do.  It gave me the chance to evaluate what I had eaten and then I was able to make adjustments to the rest of the week to swing that pendulum back in the right direction.  I have never and will never starve myself. 

I can tell you that had I not seen that 2.5lb gain on Monday, I would have eaten some things during the next couple of days that would have simply compounded the problem.  Instead, I was able to fix it.  Again, I didn't starve myself.  I still ate every meal plus some snacks.  I even had ice cream!  Yes, I did.  (I love ice cream and you can never make me give it up!!)

All of the "experts" say that you shouldn't weigh yourself every day.  And yesterday, I had several people telling me that I should follow what the experts say.  If you knew me, you'd know, I'm a rebel.  You can keep telling me "don't do it!", but I'm still going to do it.  Because this is about me and I know what works for me.

It may not be the right thing for you.  It may not be the right thing for 90-99% of the world.  But it is right for me.  I am not blogging to tell anyone what they should or should not do.  I am blogging about what I am doing.  If some of what I do works for you, that is great.  But if it doesn't, I am not offended by that and I'm not asking you to mirror my actions.  Find what works for you and do that.

I sincerely appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my blog, to send me comments, etc.  But please, do not take my words for gospel.  This is about me, my thoughts, my feelings, my progress.  It's about what I'm doing.  There are a million other ways I could go about losing weight and getting fit, but I know ME.  I know that there are some things that just won't work for me.  There are some things that only work for me.  And there are so many things that I have not tried yet that might work.  I just don't know. 

Again, thank you so much for reading!   

Struggles and Surprises!

Yesterday was my 9th wedding anniversary.  Do you know what that means?  That means that less than 1 year from today, I will be wearing my sexy red dress celebrating our 10th anniversary. 

I was about to say that this journey is a constant struggle, but that's not really true.  There are some days where it seems easy, because I'm focused and it just comes naturally.  But then there are the days when I just want to dive into a giant ice cream sundae and forget all about weight loss and working out.

This week, I was actually convinced that I was going to see a gain on the scale.  I weight myself on my Wii Fit every morning.  I never miss a day unless I'm away on vacation.  I know, they say you shouldn't weigh yourself every day.  In fact, in my WW meeting this morning, the leader even said that exact thing.  I wonder if it's because he heard me talking to others about the fact that I do exactly that. 

Well, I'm not going to stop!  It works for me.  If I didn't weigh every day, I am sure I would have had a gain this week.  See, on Monday morning, the Wii Fit said I had gained 2.5 pounds.  My heart dropped.  WHAT!?!  How is that possible?  Two and a half pounds is a lot to gain in 1 day.  But then I thought about what I'd eaten the day before and what I'd done (or not done since my workout was almost non-existent.)  I realized that I'd eaten more foods high in sodium on Sunday than I normally do. 

That realization made me feel a little better.  And then it was time for the hard work to begin.  I was extra cautious about what I ate on Monday and Tuesday.  But yesterday was my anniversary!  We were going out for dinner.  What was I going to do?  Well, I decided we were going out for sushi.  That would be a much better option than the sports bar that we'd considered going to.  I was still going to celebrate my anniversary, but I was going to be smart about it.

I still expected the scale to show a gain.  I figured there was no way I could make up that 2.5 pounds.  I checked the Wii this morning and I was down a nice chunk.  Ok, this is good.  So I looked at the graph to compare today to last Thursday and it said I was down 0.2 overall since last week.  Still good, but I know that the Wii is not the same as the WW scale, so I was thinking maybe it will show that I stayed the same or even a 0.2 gain (which is what hubby guessed I did this week.) 

I get to the WW center.  I take off my little sweater and my jewelry just like always.  I go to the bathroom, just like always.  And then I take a deep breath and head to the scale.  I step on and I'm just thinking "same!  same!  same!"  And she doesn't say anything.   It felt like an eternity before she finally said, "you're down 0.4."  OMG!  What!  Woohoo!!  So awesome. 

My current weight is 206.4.  That is 10.6 lbs from where I started at the begining of the year.  To remind you, my first goal was to be below 200 this year.  My second goal is to be 185 by May 1 of next year so I can go dress shopping. 

I'm very happy with the progress so far.  But I am determined that this week, I am going to get back on track with my workouts. 

Must get back on track!

I'm slipping.  I didn't even post last week after my weigh-in, but I was actually down 0.2 last week.  That was good, but I'm still struggling to get back into the swing of things from before my vacation and I'm fearful that the scale is going to show it this week.

The weather has not helped, but I'm using that as an excuse far too often.  I need to find other things to do when it's raining or when it's too hot.  I was very lazy over the weekend, and since I had Friday off, that was 3 days of laziness.  The good thing is that today, I can get out at lunch and walk because it's beautiful out there.  I am really looking forward to getting out. 

I've been eating ok, but have given myself a few extra treats and I really need to watch that.  We'll see what the scale says on Thursday, but I'm fearful because the Wii has not been good this week and now I'm not sure that I can undo the damage before Thursday morning.  I'm still going to try because if it doesn't help for this week, at least I'll be doing the right things to get myself back on the right track.