Weigh-in day...

I stayed the same this week. I think I have to say this is a good thing this week for me. I have not worked very hard to loose weight although I have kept count of my calories and have done pretty good but, I did not get in the exercise that I needed to go with it to loose any weight.

I did not eat well today. I started out the day bad by skipping breakfast and then eating lunch quickly on my way to visit my friend that has cancer. While I was there I didn't eat a thing, I did have 2 glasses of water though. I stayed for 5 hours visiting. I wasn't feeling hungry while I was there but, when I got home I was really hungry! I ate a banana hoping that would do the trick till I could fix dinner. Well, I was way over hungry so then I got out the hummus and baked wheat chip crackers and had a few and a few more and then just a few more. I was not feeling hungry anymore at this point but keep in mind I was also fixing dinner at this time. When dinner was finished cooking I ate a big dinner and felt stuffed and had a stomach ache afterward. Then I ate a small bit of ice cream with my husband....big mistake.....I feel miserable and sick. Why did I do this to myself? I deserve to be treated much better than this! I can't even go to bed I feel so bad.
I'm learning to take take of me and I did not take good care of me today.
Tomorrow I will treat myself better and make healthy choices.....I deserve it!

I hope everyone is doing good this week and remember....keep on moving in a forward motion!

Poise, do you have what it takes...

What does Poise mean to you? What do you think of when you hear the word Poise? Do you think of sophistication, nose in the air....finishing school. The first thing I thought of was how you hold yourself and how you conduct yourself. I had a bad morning at class when I was asked what I think of when I hear of the word Poise and the first thing that I thought of was how I kept on going without breaking down when I forgot most of what I was asked to do that morning. I could have crumbled and beat myself up for forgetting all the things I have been working on but, I didn't I just said "ok, I blew it big time but now I have to move on and try harder". The other woman in my class was huffing and grunting every time she messed up and throwing her hands down and being frustrated and everyone could tell. We both had forgotten a lot of what we had already learned but how we handled ourselves was what we were really being tested on. How we responded in a crisis....could we keep it together or would we fall apart and give up?? Did we have poise?

Poise can be defined as being true to oneself, not getting rattled, thrown off, or unbalanced regardless of the circumstance or situation. This may sound easy, but in challenging times Poise can be a most elusive quality. Those lacking Poise panic under pressure.

Poise means holding fast to your principles and acting in accordance with them regardless of how bad or good the situation may be. Poise means avoiding pose or pretense, avoid comparing yourself to others, or acting like someone or something you're not.
Poise means having a brave heart in all circumstances.

That's Poise: not being thrown off stride in how you behave or what you believe regardless of what is happening around you.

Where there is Poise, there is also confidence right by it's side.

Now, there are many things that can make up Poise... a graceful and elegant bearing in a person, composure and dignity of manner, balance of oneself

I struggled with Poise today. I had to show in class today and that is one of my least favorite things to do. I am not competitive at all nor do I enjoy being in front of a group of people watching me. I really lack confidence in this area. I have come along way but, I have so far to go! I also struggled with composure through out the day when things came up that were different from what I expected or had been changed.

Do you have Poise. Do you handle yourself in a graceful and elegant manner with composure at all times, or do you loose your temper and fall of the wagon everytime you mess up a bit or temptation takes over for a meal of two.Do you throw in the towel just because you don't loose any weight for the week or you have a gain. Do you compare yourself to others that are doing well and feel you never measure up.

Poise is a key to success!! You have to lift your head and keep on moving in a forward motion without being derailed.

Remember....keep on moving in a forward motion...you can do this!

Thank you for the blog award!...

I missed last weeks weigh-in because I was gone camping. I will weigh-in on this week.....I'm guessing I didn't loose but I don't think it will be a big gain, maybe stay the same?...I just haven't worked very hard at exercise this week. I did go on a lot of walks when we were camping but I have not gotten in a good work out every day this week. I have been watching my calories and most days I have been on target.... a few days I was over my budget.

Thank you goes to Shmologna @ http://thebigsister80.blogspot.com/for the great blog award!

Remember.... keep on moving in a forward motion!

Have a great week!

Feeling good about myself...

This week I lost 2.6 pounds which allowed me to mark off some of my goals. I got to check off "lost 40 pounds", "lost 15% of my weight", "feeling good about myself". I also got to add a new HYC badge to my blog and another healthy heart to my collection. This is a lot of things to feel good about but, most of all I think I feel the best about not giving up!! I have faced many challenges in the last year and a half and many of them could have made me throw in the towel but, I am not giving up on me. I deserve to be healthy and strong. I am worth it! Most of the time I feel like I am barely hanging in there and struggling with loosing weight but, loosing weight is not the only way to feel good about yourself. There are many weeks that I don't have a loss but I try to keep on looking forward and moving on in a healthy direction trying to be positive about myself in all areas. I am working on physical and mental goals as well in a class 2-3 times a week. It has been a major struggle for me but I am doing it and not giving up!! (another test coming up on Sept. 11) I was not sure I could do this next test last week but now I have decided I am moving forward and going to do my best!

Hope everyone is having a great week and looking forward! :)
What do you feel good about this week??

Weigh-in Day...

I weighed in yesterday. Ok...I have to say it.....I gained this week. I gained .8 of a pound. Ok now I said it and now I can move on. Yesterday I fretted about it and then overate....and it wasn't even a big gain! I usually give myself a day to eat whatever I want or have been craving through the week and that day is weigh-in day. I've noticed that if I loose any amount it motivates me to eat healthy even if I eat a bit more than I do during the week. But yesterday I didn't do well. I ate a big breakfast and then a big dinner and ice cream after that. I did have a healthy lunch though.
So, today is a new day and I am looking ahead and not back.....I can make it a healthy day today!
Off I go to take my daughter shopping today so she can spend her birthday money....and I already have a healthy plan for lunch!!
Hope everyone is doing good and can find their "Mo-Mo!"
This is going to be my goal for the week to focus on my Mo-Mo. Check it out!!

Every little bite counts...

The pot luck BBQ went well!! I made good healthy food choices and kept myself busy painting faces. The next day was my daughters birthday and I made some not so good choices for a few days last week. But over all I still had a loss of .2 pounds for the week. Not a good loss but never the less a loss and not a gain.
I have been trying to keep track of all the food I eat as recommended by Mama Bear June. This is so hard sometimes!!! How do you calculate a" bite" of something??? Anyway I am working on getting it down. I have been doing more activities too. Swimming feels so good on these hot days. I have to have the fan on in the house though when I try to do any kind of work out.....I get so hot!
One thing I really need to work on is getting enough SLEEP! I have read that lack of sleep is not good for loosing weight.
So off to bed I go.
Hope everyone is doing good this week!!

making good choices....

Today is looking good! Hot though! I need my water again.....the weather helps me remember.
Hope you are all doing good this week. I'm off to a potluck BBQ tonight.....planning on making good choices!
Have a great weekend!

Another week gone by....

The summer is going by so quick! Today is HOT! give me water!!!
I'm in shock today.....The scale said I lost 4.8 pounds this week!!! That is huge for me....I never loose that much!!
So how did this happen this week? Well, first of all, at least 2 of those pounds were the ones I gained last week.
Now for things I did different this week.....I did try to track my food a bit closer. I am using an application on my iPod touch to try to track everything. Sometimes it takes so much time though to get the calorie count looked up on each and every food. The other thing I did was I got in more exercise this week. And with the weather being so hot I am really trying to eat light so I don't get too sick with the heat. I did feel sick for a day and a half last weekend and barely ate but I figured that the weight that I might have lost then would come right back as soon as I started eating again the next day. Who knows it may have helped me loose this week but I can't get sick every weekend just to loose.
No matter what it was that worked......it feels good to have a big loss!

I have been thinking of doing a "give away" for all of you out there. Can anyone give me some tips on how to go about this. I have a few ideas but I've never entered one before. I have come across some interesting things and just want to share. Let me know if you have all the ins and outs of these "give aways"

Weigh-in Day...

Weighed in last thursday and was up 2 pounds this week. A bit disappointed but, I can think of various reasons why it would be up.......not going to focus on them though.......I just want to move on. What I really want to do is to move on down to the next lower set of numbers on the scale......I'm so tired of being here.....I feel stuck. Not sure what I need to do but reading a lot and getting a lot if inspiration from other blogs not to give up.
My eating, although not perfect, is not too bad most of the time but, I think I can improve on my activity. I worked out for 2 hours today and plan to go to class tomorrow and Wednesday too. I have been swimming on hot days with my kids that was my plan to beat the heat and still get in some exercise. Hoping for a better week. :)

Strange day....

Today was a strange day. My daughter was up sick last night most of the night so I didn't get much sleep and I was sooooo tired today. I laid on the couch with her most of the day watching movies and eating things I wouldn't normally be eating any more ......since I have started to live a healthier life that is.
By about 2:00pm I realized I had eaten all my calories for the day (plus some probably) and I still wanted something more to munch on. Ok....I had a bagel with sausage and an egg white on it for breakfast and 1/2 cup orange juice.....I did try to start out good this morning. Then I had the cream cheese danish with my coffee. I had a hotdog for lunch and I ate chips and mango salsa with it (and cream cheese under the salsa)....oh this is looking really bad!!!! Then I ate 2 cookie bars and I found myself going in the kitchen looking for that "just right something to munch on" that doesn't really exist, you know the snack that you just keep searching for by eating everything you can find to satisfy the craving that just never ends. I felt myself wanting something salty this time and realized that I was doing the sweet salty thing today as well as just not eating healthy at all. I also was munching on cherries every time I opened the fridge. I don't know why I just didn't get a cup of them and munch on those instead of cookie bars. !?! Ok....are you ready....here is the strange part......I grabbed my water bottle and filled it with ice water and started sucking on it. It felt good to be drinking water after all the junk I had eaten. Then I got off the couch and laid the floor. Weird huh??? And you will never believe what I did next.....I started to exercise. I was doing leg lifts and crunches then I saw my weights and started using them for my arms.........before I knew it an hour had passed!! I got up and filled my water bottle again and felt pretty good......a little sore but, good.
After all that I went in to take a shower and guess what I realized.....I did all that without forcing myself or giving it any thought...it was fun and just what I felt like doing. Strange, I know! I would have never done that in the past....you would have had to force me to have water instead if a snack!! And exercise when I'm watching a movie....are you crazy....I might miss something!!
Then I had a salad for dinner and it was really good. I did want to have a few pieces of chocolate but I resisted mostly, I did have one little bit of dark chocolate then I finished my water.
I started the day good.....got in a bad rut by the middle of the day and by the end I had gotten myself back out.....amazing!
After my shower I stared going though a pile of clothes trying them on and seeing that most of them are too big for me now. What a great feeling.
I learned a couple of things about myself today....lack of sleep, feeling blah, and tv/movies are bad food triggers for me. I hope to catch this next time before things get outta hand.
Speaking of lack of sleep....I'm up too late.....again!
I had a good 4th of July and hope you all did too!

Warning....

! Warning ! Do Not Go To COSTCO this week!!
I stopped by there this morning and they are having a huge "4th of July" sample extravaganza. They are offering over 15 different samples of yummy food! after going through that I decided that would be my lunch. I have no idea how many calories are in each sample but I was full by the end of it and then got a cup of coffee to go. They did have some healthy things like green salad with balsamic vinegar, veggie burgers, vitamin water, and some not so healthy ones like ice cream with chocolate sauce and trail mix on top, chicken wings in 3 different flavors, potato salad, chocolate covered almonds. Wow, there were so many things to try and yes, I tried them all.
I had a loss for the week.....it was only .4 of a pound but it was a loss. It may have been more if I hadn't have gone to Olive Garden last night......who knows?? I do need to bump up my activity level for the summer though, it is hard to work out in the heat!.....I will be working on this.

plan ahead...

I got up this morning thinking I was not going to work out this morning because I had about 4 hours of sleep last night. Well, I took my shower and had a cup of strong coffee and decided to go. I did get a workout in and learned some new things today but I was in a slow motion bubble this morning because of the antihistamine I took last night hoping it would help me to breath today. I could not focus all morning and now here I am up late again.....this is not a good cycle. I did breath easier today but I don't know if it was worth trading my brain in.
Today was my hubby's birthday. We took him out to eat at Olive garden. I tried to research their nutritional info ahead of time so I could make a wise choice for dinner. I chose the stuffed chicken marsala because I thought that I read that it was the lowest in calories and fat. It was high on the sodium though....it really tasted salty. I ate a good portion of salad with about 1 teaspoon of dressing it was good and I could not pass up the breadsticks, I ate 2. I had a plan to eat healthy and I think I did about half way....not as good as I had planned in my head. I did bring more that half home because I got filled with salad.
Oh boy........it is late and I have the munchies....just ate half of a cookie and some crackers with artichoke dip on them. yum, yum.....I better go to bed before this gets outta hand!