Brick in my stomach!....

I had a really messy day on Saturday. I ate so many carbs and fat. I don't think I can have another carb for the whole week.......not gonna happen but, I ate way too many! I felt so good after having a loss on vacation.....it was so motivating.....I was on a roll, then Saturday hit me like a brick in my stomach! I don't know what happened, I just did not control myself. I even gave in to chips for lunch, coffee cake in between meals and not just once. I had a bread bowl full of clam chowder for dinner with fried fish and tarter sauce.....what was I thinking??? Well, I recovered on Sunday with lots of water and not much to eat at all...my stomach felt like it had a brick in it all day and a bit of today. I exercised today and was so sluggish.......ugggggg! I'm back to eating healthy today and hoping to make good choices the rest of the week. Please pray for me to get back on a losing roll. Working on getting 5 pounds off at a time!
Hope everyone is doing better than me out there and if you aren't pick yourself up and start again! You can do this! It's never too late.

Thankful for well water....

Two things that came to my attention this last week .
1. I appreciate our well water! It tastes sooooo good and I have no problem drinking it all. It is even better than some bottled water I have tasted. I drank L.A. tap water all last week and it was terrible!!! I felt like I had to force myself to drink it. It was better with ice....I guess it froze my taste buds or something. I felt so bad thinking about people that have this to drink all the time.
2. I was so glad to be home and have fresh food to make and eat. Fast food and restaurant food just does not compare to the food that you make yourself and know what is in it. And you never have to remember to ask for food without all the dressings and mayo and cheese and all the extra fat stuff.
Happy to be able to fix my own salad with no dressing and toast a bagel and not worry that someone has smothered it in butter without me asking them to.
I'm off to work at church tonight I better get packing some food so I will be prepared and not have to stop at one of the fast food drive ups.

Weigh-in Day...

I can't believe it!!! I lost 3 pounds over vacation! I had to weigh myself several times just to get it to register in my head....how is this possible....I could never LOSE weight on vacation. I even had the kids weigh to see if the scale was working right...they all gained 6-8 pounds and were not happy with me then. I was hoping to at least stay the same but, a 3 pound loss is so exciting!!! Now I know it was over 2 weeks but still....3 pounds lost....I just can't believe it. Life is full of surprises!

I have really been down on myself for not losing more weight lately and feeling like a failure. Well, I took some clothes on vacation that I had not wore since last summer and they were tight on me then so I figured they would be just fine to take, maybe a little loser by now. One of the tops I took I could not wear because it was hanging off my shoulders and showing my bra strap and showing my bra in the arm pit area....it is a sleeveless top. And one of the capris I took were so lose I dare not wear them to the airport where I had to take off my belt. After seeing this it really made me rethink how I was feeling about the weight that I had lost and not worry about the weight that I haven't.

Vacation challenges......

We're home. We had a wonderful vacation. We went to Disneyland to celebrate our 23rd anniversary and have a second honeymoon with our family. When we got married 23 years ago my husband took me to Disneyland......I had always wanted to go there as a kid and he fulfilled a lot of my "childhood desires" over the 6 years of dating so this fit in so perfectly. I grew up in a family with very little money and our big outing was to go to McDonalds every few months after church for a hamburger. For vacations we pitched the tent and camped out for a couple days, when all the other families were going to Disneyland or other big resorts.

Anyway....we had a GREAT time and the kids loved it! It was their first time to go, as we don't have much money either since I stay at home with the kids and don't work outside the home. We have saved for several years to do this. We had hoped to go for our 20th anniversary but it didn't work out for various reasons till now.

I was really nervous about what I was going to eat. In the past I have always seen trips or vacations as a time to eat whatever I wanted and to go out to eat and not worry about anything. Now that I have been trying to get healthy I had a new challenge. I was going to try to eat healthy on vacation. I didn't know how I was going to do it but that was my goal.

We stayed in a hotel that served a full breakfast buffet and I thought "oh, no can I do this, can I limit myself?" all the food that I could have ever wanted was right there staring me in the face.....pancakes, bacon, sausage, toast of all kinds, muffins, doughnuts, cereals, chocolate milk, fresh made omelets of any kind, french toast and hot syrup, and fried potatoes. This was overwhelming to me and was not sure I could limit myself. The first day I told myself all the way down the elevator, "I can make healthy choices, I can do this, I can limit myself, I am worth it!" O.k......I got in line and ordered an omelet with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and then he put a spoonful of vegitarian mix on it too, I did have a small amount of cheese inside it but skipped the extra cheese on the outside. I put two big spoons of fresh salsa on the top instead. I was doing pretty good, then I got a small spoon of the fried potatoes, some sausage, two pieces of bacon, a couple of pancakes and french toast, then a doughnut, a couple of mini muffins...then I grabbed a couple of yogurts and a couple of bananas and.......oh, no I was not doing so good any more. So we got in the elevator to go back to our room to eat. I was not feeling so good about my choices anymore....I gave in and took the things I told myself I was not going to take. When I sat down to eat I decided that just because I took all these things didn't mean I had to eat them, so I got a plate and took all the things back off my plate that I wasn't going to eat in the first place and put them on the counter. I ended up eating 1/2 of my omelet....it was really good!, 2 links of sausage, one piece of bacon, and about 8 pieces of small potato cubes, one bite of french toast with syrup. I saved the bananas and yogurt and took them into the park with me along with some trail mix and an odwalla bar. I did eat more than I had planned but I didn't stuff myself with all the food I could. I felt good about it after all and was so glad to have the bananas and yogurt later that day for lunch.

We did not buy any food inside the park, we all took yogurt, fruit and trail mix, the kids took a few pancakes to munch too. We ended up going to Jack-in-the-box for dinner and I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich without mayo and some water. I did eat a few of the kids fries too. The next day had an egg white omelet with all the veggies and salsa, 2 sausages and 4 pieces of potatoes, yogurt and fruit for lunch and lots of water, for dinner a salad, 1/2 of a grilled chicken strip, and about 1/2 cup fettuccinie alfredo. I had the same for the next day breakfast and lunch but then had another grilled chicken sandwich and a side salad for dinner. We did make a mistake of ordering some onion rings from the hotel (because I forgot to order them of my husband at Carls Jr.) and I ate about 5 of them with bleu cheese dressing dip. I had a smoothie one night and icecream another night and drank lots of water everyday and walked a lot ( I took my pedometer to track the walking but it gave out on me on the first day after about 2.1 miles).

The last 2 days we drove to San Diego to visit family and she had made a full buffet of mexican food.....it was sooo good but the weather was so hot for me that I really didn't feel like eating too much, and she had a lot of fresh healthy choices so it wasn't too hard there. Over all I think I didn't do all that bad, of course I could have done better if I was really strict but felt pretty good about it in the end. One thing I forgot to do was ask for no butter on my bagel the last day for breakfast, I had a fruit plate with it. On thursday I will step on the scale and see what it says!!!

Weigh-in Day...

Yesterday was weigh -in day. I lost .6 of a pound.......well it's a loss and not a gain! I guess I will have to just keep at it and work harder. This next week is going to be tough.....I'm going on vacation for a week. I will not weigh-in next Thursday because I will not be home but as soon as I get back I will check to see the damage and then report in.
I waited too long to eat yesterday. I got up and did some exercise and then took a shower and got busy helping my daughter with school work and didn't eat till 1:00 pm!! I was so hungry.....I was shaking. I know better than to do that and it only leads to overeating for me because I feel like I am starving. Not fun...I don't want to do that again.
My hubby came home from work yesterday and took me to a movie. It just amazes me at the changes I have made going to the movies. I no longer have to load up on candy and eat it in the dark. Oh....don't get me wrong about the candy, I did have a few melt away mints (5) and a bit of mini malted easter eggs (10) but, only a small amount......before I would have eaten the whole bag or close to it. The best thing I have ever taken to the movies to eat is a small bag of cherries! That was the best treat ever!! A good habit I have picked up is trying to drink a full water bottle while I am in there......nothing else to do and I have it right by my side I can sip on it till it is gone and there you have it 32 oz. of water drank while watching a movie. It's a great way to get in some water.

Getting caught up....

I'm off to workout this morning and hoping my brain is intact today so I can remember what I need to. They talk about muscle memory kicking in but what about brain memory to remember the the first move ??? Besides my muscles are so sore they can't think about anything but the pain right now! They are mostly all very young and no kids, everyone is thin...and have no idea what it is like to be my age.....brain and body!! :) (There is one other mom my age with 2 kids but she is very thin and in GREAT shape...like...... she does triathalons all the time and is always in training for something) I'm praying for a great day in class today...God is my strength! (and memory) :)
I have been on track with my eating and exercise this week but, the scale is not showing it yet.......need to work on getting enough water too I think.
I have to say I felt so good after getting on hear and reading a few blogs and getting caught up, leaving a few comments yesterday. You are all my inspiration and encouragement....I miss getting on hear!
Hope everyone is having a great week and keep looking forward, never look back. We can do this!

HYC

Wow, I haven't checked in the HYC in a long time.....I haven't been taking the time to do things for me.
Not doing so good last month.....but, getting back to taking care of what is important......me!!!
Feeling discouraged and don't want to give up just want to move on outta this spot I'm stuck in!
I had a rotten day today. I did get to class today for a workout and actually did two classes back to back for 2 hours of workout, but had a melt down in the second one......I just could not remember how to do anything....even with the instructor right there helping me. Well, I guess I know what I have to practice on now!

Choices, choices ???...

Today I was faces with a couple of choices I wasn't prepared for. I had to go back into town this after noon to take my son to a meeting. He was going to be served dinner but, the rest of us that were hanging around till he was done were not getting dinner and I did not pack anything to take with us. So......as you may have guessed that leaves eating out! I was feeling really cheep and not wanting everyone to load up on fast food so we went to Taco Bell. They got two things each from the value menu ($.99 & under) and I got one thing and a side of lettuce. Well, I chose a small nacho that was new on the menu.......bad choice! it was loaded with calories, fat and sodium! I would have been better off just having a regular burrito or even better yet, calorie wise, a taco. I was not prepared and was not thinking when I ordered it.......and to top it off it wasn't even that good! As the evening went on we attended the missionary report meeting and when it was all over guess what.......all my kids are hungry again, of course! I did not want to go home and cook at 9:30pm so once again.......fast food! This time they wanted McDonalds and I said "O.k......one thing from the....you guessed it....value menu! " They all chose a chicken sandwich without mayo and I chose a yogurt fruit parfait. This turned out to be the better of the two things I was thinking of choosing, the other one was the grilled shicken snack wrap. I looked these up and was shocked at the sodium content of the snack wrap..... 800 mg!!!! in that little thing!!!
The yogurt parfait had only 160 calories and 85mg of sodium. :)


So, after all this I made a bad choice at Taco Bell and a good one at McDonalds. Calorie count was still within my days count but I think I could have made a better choice at Taco Bell.

Because I retain so much water I have been looking at the sodium content of foods a bit closer and not just the calories and fat.

It's a new Spring Day...

It is a rainy spring day but a good day! I have been really discouraged with myself. Since my birthday I have been having a gain every week. I got off track with all the "birthday celebrating" after my birthday. Everyone wanted to take me out to eat and I did it and I planned on eating healthy but ......one thing led to another and then a really huge cream puff took over my brain and I don't remember much after that!
Now it is a new month and I had a loss this week. One pound but, I think I am headed back in the right direction.

Wonderful Birthday....

I had a wonderful Birthday! I slept in for and hour or so in the morning. When I got out of the shower the kids were all doing their school work and the house was quiet and in order......wow....things always go a bit better when Dad is home and no one was expecting it. My hubby took me into town for lunch.....we went to Mucho Gusto's. This was a great little Mexican restaraunt and the food was sooooo good. I got a tostada and a strawberry mango smoothie. The smoothie wasn't much of a smoothie it was more like a slushy.......no fruit in it at all.....but it was good. We ate outside and both of us had a nice lunch......we hope to go back there sometime. After lunch he took me shopping....I got some much needed new makeup and some jeans that fit and aren't falling off of me.
The kids were all glad to see me when we got back they all had things for me. My oldest son(15) that is still home made me a nice card with a poem in it about how much he loves me. I cried. :) My youngest son(13) made me a card with a coupon for house work help next time I am too tired. And he made me a large coupon for a lunch date. My daughter(8) made me a necklace and earrings and gave me some dark chocolates and a beautiful card she made....she is very creative like me!
After all that we were off to the TEST! I was really nervous to start but it went really well....I had a great testing partner. It was very physically challenging as usual but I didn't get hurt and I think I did well. I will get official results on Monday. When we got home we had ice cream to celebrate my birthday....no cake just ice cream with a piece of waffle cone on it and whipped cream on top. Yummmmmmy! I had 2 big scoops!
I did great on my eating and felt really good yesterday, and drank lots of water! Today I did not do as good....it's never good when you get so busy you forget to eat and then you think you're starving. And I had ice cream again today!

Weigh-in Day...

Weigh-in day today.......I didn't want to weigh today because I have been so depressed about retaining water. Well, I did it and I was very shocked! I lost .6 of a pound. Not a big loss by any means but, certainly not a gain!!!
I so appreciated the comment left by Connie. She has helped me to remember to rejoice in any amount of loss. She is right....I may not be down to what I wanted by my birthday but I am down 32 pounds since last year at this time. Last year at this time I wasn't even thinking that losing weight was ever going to be in my future...I was feeling like I was stuck at where I was and I was never going to make any progress. Then something happened in me around May and I decided I was worth giving it a try.....and here I am down 32 pound so far! Connie thank you for helping me to see the positive side of things!!
So about tomorrow....it's my birthday and I had planned on taking it easy till the evening when I have my test....maybe practicing a bit at home first, but not doing much. Well, my husband just told me he took the day off and was planning on taking me out to lunch (since we can't go to dinner because I will be testing at that time and don't want to eat much before it).....I wonder where to go??....where would be fun for me???.......where would be healthy for me???? I don't know....it makes me nervous.
Hoping to have fun tomorrow and not be too uptight. (I am a bit tonight)
Hope everyone is having a great week!!

HYC check in

I have been getting in more exercise this week. Everyday I have been trying to do something......mostly walking when I hurt so much but I did do 90 minutes at class on Monday, not my best but I was practicing. I have a test this Friday and need to be at my best for it. I am pretty nervous about it because it is at 8:30 pm and I am used to doing class at 10:00 am. There is a big difference in how I feel at these times of the day. I am praying to be in good physical condition at 8:30 Friday night. Oh....and I didn't mention.....it is also my birthday Friday.....what a fun birthday to be looking forward to. Well, I guess I won't be over eating on my birthday or I won't be able to move. I think I will drink some coffee though before I go. I survived the last one and it was at 7:30 p.m. and I really had a great time and it was the most challenging for me so far. This test is a significant one and very important to me. I was put on the spot Monday in class and I blew it! I have to be better on Friday.

I have been drinking a lot of water but I am still retaining fluids more than usual. I am drinking a half gallon of measured water...is that enough?? I'm not sure? What else makes you retain water? I never use table salt to salt things and I stay away from fast food most of the time and processed foods. Do carbs and sugar make you retain water? I have had a weakness to sweets lately. I had a fruit filled danish last night and a half of a truffle. I had planned on doing the hot tea thing when I was wanting something late at night but I forgot and messed up the plan. And speaking of last night...I really messed up on my food intake too. I did good all day and then when I got home my hubby had to work on the electricity to fix a switch. Well, I got really hungry and could not fix dinner yet so I got a couple of wheat thins....then a couple more and some cheese to go with them....and then some more cheese and a few more wheat thins and a small glass of mango juice. All in all I ate about 2 ounces of cheese and about 20 wheat thins and 4oz of mango juice over a couple of hours time. That in it's self could have been ok for dinner but it was just a snack and then we ended up eating pizza at 9:30 pm. I had 2 pieces of pizza and a hand full of baby carrots. Then after that is when I ended up eating the danish. I could have made better choices first of all with the snack and then I was not prepared for the electricity to be out most of the evening.

Things will be better today and I will move past my bad choices and not dwell on them but, I do need to work on being prepared or at least be able to improvise without blowing it. Think healthy...what will be a good choice for me??? Think, think, think before I eat!

I have been laking motivation and really pressuring myself.....which backfires everytime!!! I wanted to be down 40 lbs down by my birthday this week and that is not happening!

Hope everyone is doing good this week!