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Wishing and Wanting Weightloss While planning a Wedding  .. NOT WORKING! Will power Went out the Window With any Wealth We had.   -Whatever!!  Wishing you Well ... We'll talk Weightloss next year

Weigh In...

Well I am the exact same weight as last week (said with a tinge of saddness, but just a tinge) At least I haven't gained anything. Smiles. I am still avoiding all things carb, but I do believe I have fallen short in the sleep department. I have been getting 3 to 4 hours of sleep instead of the healthy 7 hours required for actual weightloss. It's not my fault, with my daughters up coming wedding, it's just way too hard to sleep. I will start walking in the morning with the bride to be.. tomorrow, so that we can both look our best for her big day. Hopefully the exercise will tire me out! My goal for this week is 2 lbs... we'll see.

You knew I wasn't dead, but I bet you thought this blog was...

  I survived my summer!!! I could just leave it at that, it would take much less time to type. I won't however, because the last couple months deserve at least a highlight reel. Let's see... this summer had lots of fun, and a little bit of stress. My stress came in the form of work, and no, my work is NOT stressful, but I have never worked while my kids are home, and for half of each day this summer that's is exactly what happened. There was a time in my life that summers were not my favorite because the kids were all home from school and it was just too much work, but my kids are older now and the last couple (until this one) have been amazing. I am happy to say that we did survive and happy day , they are back in school.
  Here are some other things worth mentioning to catch you up to date ... I finished my ninety days doing P90x with only missing seven workouts total( bummer is that four of the workouts were in the last week... crooked smiles), missed workouts were due to visitors, my bff visited twice with her family, my mom also twice, once with my brother and sister, once with my dad. We had two birthdays in August and one baptism, three kids started college. We had two day trips to raging waters, I had gained fifteen pounds by the beginning of September, and my first daughter got engaged! How's that for  highlights! I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
  My intention was to blog when September started, but that is when I stepped on the scale. Since the is a weightloss blog I figured it was not very motivating to start posting with so much weight gain. I do however, want to keep my blog real, and when you eat whatever you want for two months and stop exercising all together... you gain alot of flipping weight!! I set a goal to start blogging again at the beginning of October and pulled out my low carbing big guns. I am happy to report that as this morning the scale read 167.5 lbs., that ties my lowest weight for the year, and even beats my last post by a couple of pounds. I have not had ANY sugar, flour, potatoes, or corn in the last month. It has not been easy, but totally wort it! I think one of my downfalls of the summer was not posting to this blog, without the constant accountability I really start sliding... but I'm back baby!! I would like to lose another ten to fifteen pounds before the wedding which is December 28th, guess who's dieting clear through the holidays? Do you want to join me? If you lose weight during the holidays when everyone else is gaining ten pounds you look twice as skinny... smiles!

Update

My only update is... that there is no update. I've been feeling really cruddy with a couple different sicknesses. Since I last posted I have missed two workouts due to the cruddiness that I just mentioned. I have not stood on the scale because I don't want to know what it says. I have not been amazing on my food intake but I have not pigged out either so when I get on the scale next week we will see where everything ends up. I kind of wish it were the type of sickness to help with weightloss...only kinda...ok, nevermind, I don't want that kind of sickness, just the weightloss.. smiles

Weigh In...

Sorry that I didn't post my weigh in on Monday, it's been a really busy week. The scale read 173lbs, which is down 4 lbs. Smiles, plus extra smiles because I still ate whatever I wanted on the weekend. I can't wait until I eat right clear through an entire weekend, it will be interesting to see how nice the scale is to me then.
I have been working my boo-hind off during my workouts and my body is feeling stronger all time. I've had lots of compliments lately, so hopefully I'm looking trimmer even though I'm not losing a ton of weight. Life is good and I feel good. What more could I want?

Holy Push-Ups Batman!

55 minutes of Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps then 16 minutes of Ab Ripper X.  I pushed as hard as I could and by the end I was sobbing! I don't know if I'll be able to hold a pencil tomorrow, but tonight I did my best. That's all . . . Goodnight.

Weigh in ... or NOT !

So this was my first week on the P90X diet and I'm sure some of you are interested to know what the scale read. Alas, this cannot be, for I was a weak soldier in the weightloss war this week.  My week started great, I was writing down everything I ate, tracking my calories and portions of protein, carbs, veggies, ect. Wednessday I treated myself to a little frozen yogurt, very little, and I had a dairy portion to use so it was all good. Then came Thursday... and again, I did well for most of the day. Then the evening came, and so did the rationalizing. I wanted frozen yogurt again, but I had not bought any for my poor carb filled freezer, so sad." Well", thought my well rounded, perfectly will powered mind, " ice cream is EXACTLY like frozen yogurt! Smiles!!" - yes, my brain thought the smiles- wicked brain. I crossed off a dairy and a fat and ate exactly a 1/2 cup (right out of the measuring cup to be sure), and wrote down the 120 calories that were contained fortwith ( ya, I don't knbow if that is a word, or if it's spelled that way, or if it would even be used that way, it just sounded cool). Anyway, at this point I figured I was still good and when I woke up on Friday I was down 2 lbs, woo hoo, so excited. That is when I got a little too sure of myself (I blame it on my brain, remember it had all ready convinced me that yogurt and ice cream were the same thing), and gleefully reminded myself that it was my anniversary. I proceeded to persuade myself that I had been doing so good on my diet and exercise that I could eat whatever I wanted for the rest of the weekend. I know what your thinking, " Sherri, that is a pretty big leap, yogurt, to ice cream, to WHATEVER YOU WANT!" Well what can I say? Why couldn't you have spoken up before? Why couldn't I have one of your rational brains instead of this one that has continually tempted me until I had doubled my wedding weight + 20 something pounds?
Without dragging this out any longer, those of you who have followed me for a while, you know that I can gain abnormally large amounts of weight in a very minimal amount of time. Weigh in at 177lbs, ya, I know, stupid brain. Unfortunately I"ve grown attatched... crooked smiles. Yesterday I started again and did well till after dinner, then my friend who I've told you of before, "left over Father's Day cake" called my name and I ran to it. I knew that this was the wrong choice, I'm not that dilusional, and I and ate a piece as quitely and as quickly as I could, hoping beyond all hope that one of my precious children wouldn't find me and ask me "You're not on your diet right now?"  I hate that question!!! 
I thought long and hard about not posting this week because I'm not real proud of this side myself, but you know what, This is me... This is real!! This is Not an easy journey, but it is a journey I'm going to finish! I've decided, that for a while, I'll have to start posting everything I'm eating again since my own "good sence" hasn't been kicking in. Next week  hopefully, I can post exactly how this new diet is working for me. Thanks for listening... have a great day!

"Just my Thoughts"

Being overweight has it's benefits ... every time I do jumping jacks I have my own cheering section. Unfortunately it is my upper thighs clapping for me, but I take encouragement where I can get it.

Weigh in .....REALLY?

Once again I think I am going to make changes to my diet. I got on the scale this morning and it read 171 lbs. That is totally the WRONG direction... up 2 lbs .. so sad. Am I depressed? Heck no! Should I be? I have busted butt for three weeks and I know, weight up or down, that my body has benifitted from the hard work I've put in. Having said that , something has got to be changed, cause' you better believe I'm not going to do all this work and gain weight. I know myself way to well, and all it will take is waking one morning in a delightfully hormonal mood and my cupboards and refrigerator will shake in fear of the monster released on them. Today, however, I am in control (for the moment) and I think a small change in diet is needed. Ok, maybe not that small, but I tell myself that so I that I know I can do it. I am switching to the P90X diet plan with a few revisions that I might have to adapt as I go along. Biggest difference between what I'll be doing and the actual plan is calories. The plan wants me to eat 1800 calories a day, but I really think they are catering to fit people who want to become super human, not 40lbs overweight. I know that you have to burn 3,000 more cal. than you eat to lose l lb, so right now I will be aiming for 11 to 1300 cal. a day. I will be following the recommended structure of the diet though. A rough explaination would be split up into units of about 100 calories.   5 of protein, 1 fruit, 2 veggie( only 50 cal. each), 2 dairy,1 fat,1 carb,1 snack and 1 condiment. I think this will provide me with some energy I have been missing out on and yet hold me accountable so that not all 1300 cal. come from carbs like they have in the past. This is going to be harder to follow because when you are eating few enough carbs your amounts of food and fats are not limited, as you can see, they are now. Wish me luck... I would really like to NOT gain this next week.
This is the start of week 4 of this excersize program, it is a rest week...but I don't get to rest! Rest week just means that I don't lift weights this week, I still have 6  hour to an hour and a half workouts, we'll see how it goes. Oh, forgot to mention instead 8  8oz glasses of water a day , I need to drink 8  12oz glasses.  The bathroom will quickly become my best friend ... yuck.

Weigh in....

So Monday the scale read 169 lbs.... so I'm headed in the right direction. Some things I've already avoided this week; baked ziti, homemade donuts, fruit pizzas ( the ones you make with sugar cookies, smiles), and homemade bread sticks and pizza. The weight is not coming off super fast with P90X, but everything is firming up rather quickly. I have not missed any workouts yet, and I'm in my third week. I'm still very impressed with the workouts. I have found that I'm not real fond of working out on Saturdays, but I plan on keeping it up. When I started the workouts all of my push ups were done on my knees, I can now do about a third of them the good oldfashioned way. I still think it will be a miracle if I can ever do a pull up, but my goal is to do one before my 40th birthday, so I've got three years... we'll see.
My boys (Anthony & Nathan) have found a new passtime during church. They sit to my sides and play with the extra "soft fat" that hangs from my arms. Some of you might find that gross or depressing, but not me, I have to bring less pens and paper now...... SMILES

"Just my Thoughts"

I've heard that bigger muscles will get hungry and eat your fat so.... I'm all about pumping iron. Lucky muscles...a feast awaits you!

Weigh In...

Ok, here it goes.... the scale read 170 lbs, yes that is up 3 lbs since my last posted, but I will survive. smiles The only thing I'm really bummed about is being knocked out of the 160's when it seems it was so hard to get there in the first place. Well if there is a program that will help me get there, P90X is it. I do think I need to maybe up the amount of carbs I'm eating because I don't want to go into starvation mode and have my body start eating up muscle instead of fat. I'm going to do more snacking on nuts this week and see if I feel a little better. Just in case if haven't stated it enough, I love the P90X program, results or not ( I can't imagine there not being results), this is something I see sticking to.

My butt has been kicked!

So I just finished my sixth day in a row of P90X... wow, every last part of me is sore! I started with the lean program, and I'm so glad I did. They have been great workouts, but nothing so hard that it is discouraging. To me they have been extremely enjoyable in a sweaty, kick butt sort of a way. The hardest thing for me so far was how busy my week was, sometimes I was starting my workouts at 10pm, but I pleased to say I didn't skip a day. My favorite workout was the yoga, it totally was not easy, but in a weird way, calming and exhausting at the same time. I could not do all the moves but I found myself getting excited for the possibility of being able to do all the moves in the future. I'm not a big fan of lifting weights, hopefully these workouts will change my mind, maybe when I start seeing my body change. By the way, I don't think my body will have a choice, if I keep up the program, my body WILL change. For my fist review.... two thumbs way up.
Stayed below 20 carbs a day, vacation weight not coming off as fast as I would like, not quitting anytime soon. smiles

I'm Back

For all those who thought I might've been out of the blogging world for good... I'm back. Note to self... blog when taking a break from dieting 'cause maybe then I exercise a little bit. I don't want this post to sound overly negative at all, because I'm not upset that I took the last two weeks off. I do wish, however, that my body did not rebel like it does. I feel a bit like the staypuff marshmellow man with a sinus infection. I always feel so terrible when I'm not eating what I should, ok, not when I'm eating german chocolate cake balls (I made three different batches in the last two weeks), but soon after I feel yucky. In my over all health, weightloss plan of two years, I might have set myself back a month, but that's OK.
I asked my husband for a workout program called P90X for my birthday and I started it yesterday. Six days a week there are different hour to hour and a half workouts. There are three basic 90 day programs: lean, classic, and doubles. I am planning to do them all in this order. The lean program seems to be easier on the joints, and till I lose another 20 to 25 lbs. I think it's the smartest choice. I did my first workout yesterday and I actually really enjoyed it. There were some things that were a little too difficult, but I'm looking forward to the day that I'll be able to do it all. This might sound funny, but I'm really excited to get right back into my workouts. My short term goal is to lose what I gained in the past two weeks and to feel good in my skin again. I won't post my weight until next week so at least the water gain portion of my weight gain will be gone. I figure it will probably take about three weeks to get back to where I was. (Don't worry, the cake balls were worth it!) Smiles

Stand By.....

Ha Ha ... don't worry haven't forgotten my goals, just taking a mini vacation. I put my pedometer back on today, but Scotty is taking me away at the end of the week so not back to my diet yet. I'll be back with a vengance next week. Enjoy Life!! I'll check in soon.

Change of Plans

I made a decision on Saturday, I decided to take Mother's Day and my Birthday off from my diet. I do realize that this might not speed up my weightloss but it may do a lot for my sanity. With this choice I have also decided not to weigh in until the week after my Birthday. I figured I could probably enjoiy myself a little more if I wasn't worried at what the scale would scream at me the day after. My goal at the end of these two weeks is to have maintained. I weighed myself Saturday morning and I had not gained or lost throughout the week. I know that this will put behind in some of my goals, but I also need to prove to myself that I can take these little breaks and still be OK. I will still report in on my exercise because I know that will be key to maintaining. I hope all had a wonderful Mother's Day.smiles

Gramma Jeans

So I needed to run to walmart last night for allergy meds, for some reason my allergies are crazy awful right now, and I decided it wasn't in a hurry to get home because I still had lots of steps to get in. I was looking around and saw some jeans that said they had a slimming panel and I thought what the heck? and I tried them on. Well I've described my adventures in changing rooms before so I thought I new what I was in for, but to my happiness they totally did not fit...they were too big. I quickly got dressed, went over to where all the jeans were and pcked up 6 different styles of size 10's. Back into the dressing room I went to start trying on all the jeans. Every single one of them fit!!! OK , two of them gave me a muffin top so they weren't very attractive, but still ...SMILES. I might not make my weight goal for my birthday, but check this goal off baby!
 So did I buy any new jeans.... eww no, even when they try to be stylish, walmart jeans look like gramma jeans!! Anyway, besides the point... Happy Day

Weigh In...

I can't believe how busy I've been ! I will try harder  to keep you up to date on what's going on with me, because it is way harder to stay on track when I'm not checking in. I got on the scale yesterday morning with huge hopes of maintaining my 4 lb weightloss from last week. I am very happy to report that the scale said 167lbs. That's right, down another 1/2 lb. This is the first time in 16 years that I have stayed in the 160's for longer than a day. Yipee for me!!
I know some of you are checking up on me, and are happy for me, and would like to into shape, but ... you haven't started yet. I know how hard it is, I've known how hard it is for the past 18yrs but, it is worth it!! Does it get easier? Somedays, but most days, .. no. So don't wait around until a time you think it will be easier, it might not come. I'm hoping to lose all my weight within a two to two and a half year period,  to many of you that may seem like a long time. Heck, to me that seems like a long time, until I look behind me and see that time flies so quickly. It's almost summer, then the hollidays, and then the new year. Is there going to be a new you? Or just more of you to love?? smiles.  If  you think it's easier for me than for you, I don't think that's true. When the alarm went off at 4:40 this morning I struggled, I wanted to go back to sleep, but I didn't. Everyday, all day long, those decisions have to be made. Do I eat this? Do I skip exercise? Am I going to be Happy or Crappy today? At the end of the day you're only accountable to yourself an the Man upstairs. You probably have no idea how nice you can be to yourself when you start reaching your goals, and yes, I'm even talking to those that have low self esteem like me. OK, done preaching for now, just want other people to start feeling better about themselves.... it's nice. Smiles
As a report , I still have not cheated on my diet, not once. I did not exercise all weekend due to a migraine(first one in months, benefits of being healthier, used to get two or three a month), this one was delinately hormonal. Yesterday morning I was back up for my hour walk, and I did a 20 min Jullian workout last night. My steps for yesterday were 15,754, wearing my pedometer has been a good reminder to get up and moving. I want to lose 2lbs this week, don't know if I can, but I'm going to try.

Weigh In..

Big Smiles!!! So totally worth skipping the chocolate covered strawberries(although it did take 3 days to come to that conclusion). I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 167.5lbs, that means I'm down 4 lbs this week!!!! This is big for me, this is the lowest I've weighed since delivering my first son. It has been over 16 years since I've even seen the scale say 168lbs, and I've beat that by a half pound ... YaY! Another thing to be excited about, I think I'm less than 10lbs away from not being considered obese anymore. That will be another happy day.
As a way of reporting, I still have not cheated on my diet, and I have been walking at least 15,000 steps a day. My pedometer is not working, but I'm fairly certain I've been doing enough steps each day. My new pedometer should come in the next day or two, then my count will be more accurate. My goal this week is to maintain my weight, sometimes that's hard to do after a 4lb loss, but that's what I'm going for.
I made cheese stuffed tomatoes yesterday, I think they would have been yummy if I had remembered to prep the tomatoes the right way as shown on the Pioneer Women's blog. I forgot to salt the inside of tomatoes and flip them over to render out some of their juice, so thet turned out kind of mushy. The biggest bummer is that they were supposed to be a special treat for me because I made a bum load of yummy french toast for my kids and hubby. Oh well, let's not forget that I  am down 4lbs!!! Well I'ts a new week, no time to be a slacker, I'm planning on being healthier next Monday than I am today...you??

AAAAHHHGG!!

I JUST TURNED DOWN CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES FROM THE BERRY FACTORY!!!!That was way,way harder than anything I've turned down lately. Low carb cheesecake, low carb cheesecake, low carb cheesecake(see proceeding post). Somebody tell me it is worth it.

Lunch

I'm going out to lunch today at the cheesecake factory, and I'm totally excited. I already went online and picked out my menu items so I don't have to sift through other yummy food when I get there. I am going to have a BLT salad, a yummy steak, and I'll follow it up with a slice of low carb cheesecake. Smiles, Smiles,and more Smiles!

I Cried a Little

For more pictures of my beautiful daughter and her junior prom check out my family blog, Cofessions of Chaos. This blog is all about me and my weightloss journey....  When I saw these pictures I cried a little. For the first time in many, many, MANY years I liked how I looked in a picture ( or 4 pictures). To me I finally look just like any other normal size mom, not perfect, but not enormous. Yeah!! Thanks Ruth, I'm sure some of it has to do with your amazing picture taking abilities. I might not be losing as fast as I want, but eventually I will reach my goals.

"Just my thoughts"

I choose to live by choice, not by chance;

to make changes, not excuses;

to be motivated, not manipulated;

to be useful, not used;

to excel, not compete.

I choose self-esteem, not self-pity.

I choose to listen to the inner voice, not random opinions.

- Unknown

Weigh in

Well it was one those slow weeks, I lost exaclty NOTHING. I weighed in at 171.5 lbs. I lost nothing and gained nothing(good thing). Normally I would be a little more bummed but my church outfit yesterday did wonders for my figure and I got tons of compliments, who cares what the scale said this morning.SMILES. Once again I show that it really doesn't take very much to make myself happy. I forgot my pedometer on Saturday so I don't know how many steps I did but I know it wasn't enough because I spent at least three hours of the day doing hair for the prom. Pictures to be posted as soon as I get them on my Confessions of Chaos blog.
As a way of checking in I should record that I have not cheated, even once, on my low carb diet since beginning it again last month. As an example of a typical Sunday afternoon, and the temptations that just about kill me, I made the family lasagna, garlic bread, corn , and a salad. I made myself, fish (not my favorite, but it is supposed to be good for me), and salad. For those of you who adore fish, this probably doesn't seem too bad, but for me ... I ADORE CARBS!!! ok, ok I got that out of my system, and I did live through yesterday, and I will live through today. My only question is will it EVER get easier???   I'm having fun with the words in CAPS today, is it bugging you yet? My steps for today are up to 9,000 and it's 10am, I have realized that I'm going to have to add back in some of the cardio that was hurting my knee and shoulder because I'm just not seeing the progress I want to with walking only. I'll try not to come up with excuses and do a little extra today,  but then again I am the QUEEN of excuses. Have a good day and make it a good week.... get up and do something .

"Tip of the Day"

Enjoy compliments about your appearence, do not disregard, sometimes we are too critical of ourselves and cannot see or really appreciate the progress we are making. Use the compliments to build yourself up and work yourself harder. This one is a hard one for me, but I'm getting better.

Follow my Family

For those of you who have wanted to know more about what is going on with my family you can follow my family at   http://carlsonconfessionsofchaos.blogspot.com/  Please remember to check in on me here at Sherri's Sharings, you and your comments motivate me daily and I don't want to lose that

Pilates tomorrow instead

I skipped pilates yesterday because I got enough activity in. I almost doubled my step goal, I ended up with over  27,000 steps. I went for my walk and then played eighteen holes of golf. This morning I was up at 5am for my walk, my body rebelled from the time I took my first step. It was one of the harder workouts I have done in a while. My body is so sore, I was able to get a two hr massage this afternoon, but after that I did absolutely nothing. I ended up with only 11,230 steps, but my body is still hurting. Wouldn't it be cool if the whole time your body was sore it was burning more fat and calories. I would be able to get away with exercising hard once or twice a week, oooooo dreamy. Time to get to sleep, I'm supposed to get at least 7 hrs of sleep a night and it's already too late for tonight.

Weigh in...

Finally some progress ...yay! When I got on the scale this morning I was 171.5lbs, that means I'm down 2.5lbs. My pedometer has motivated me to get up and get moving. Friday I did over 20,000 steps, Saturday over 17,000. Today I struggled a little but I did not get into bed until I had reached 15,000. Tomorrow I want to get at least 15,000 and  do 40 minutes of Pilates. Who's with me, I want to work hard this week and see what results I can get. I tried on a bathing suit yesterday and let's just say it's going to take A LOT of hard work. Bring it On!!

"Just my thoughts"

You know those puzzles that have three different pieces.  A head, middle, and bottom that can be miss matched with other heads, middles, and bottoms? Well  I feel like I've got the right head and at least my middle is human, but how the heck did I get stuck with this hippo butt?

More motivation needed

I don't know what my problem is but my lack of motivation is not motivating me. Really? you ask. Sorry but that is the only way I can explain it. This week my only motivation to exercise has come from this blog. I'm so thankful to those who keep checking in on me, you've made a difference. That being said I need more of an inner desire to accomplish my goals, over all I know I've done pretty good, but all it takes are a couple of weeks of not losing weight to get me down. I've stated it before, my mind is a rollercoaster, it changes from day to day, and right now I just need some covincing to throw my hands up in the air, scream, and enjoy the ride. I've decided to join a couple of my sisters and put my pedometer back on. I haven't worn it in more than a year because at one time I didn't need the extra push, I was way self-motivated. My week has played out a little like this... wake up at 6am, skpping morning exercise, instead of 5am like I should, go to work, come home, go to various track meets and golf tournaments to watch my kids, come home and veg, around 9:30pm I think to myself ...CRAP, I didn't exercise yet and I'm going to have to blog that. That thought at least produces a little work out, last night it was 30 minutes, pathetic!!smiles. So my starting goal  will be 15,000 steps. When I was really doing well I was walking 23 to 24,000 steps a day. I don't know if I can do that with a job that requires me to literally sit on my butt for 5 hours, but I can always make higher goals later. So let the games begin...  ya, I totally agree, that was stupid.... how 'bout... here's to new motivation. smiles

My favorites

Thought I'd share my favorite workouts. These three do a really good job of combining strength trainig and cardio. The 30 day shred has three 20 min workouts, the other two are 50 min workouts. Jillian will kick your butt!

Mari Winsor Pilates is my absolute favorite for firming and strengthening my tummy.

This new system comes with at least 4 dvds, a weight bar and bands. Love it!

I got 40 min of exercise in on Monday, 3hrs of golf on Tuesday,and 40 minutes of strength training today. I will try to do more than 40 min tomorrow, I really need to start getting closer to 2hrs a day if I want to meet my goals

Weigh in...

Well I was really hoping for big loss this week but, no, I weighed 174lbs this morning, that means I'm only down .5lbs. I guess I still need to look for the positive, I didn't gain, and there is less of me this week than last, unfortunatley, it is from my chest because I'm no longer hormonal. I could have sworn I dropped more than a half pound of boobbage. After Wednessday I only worked out once and that was Sat. morning and only a two mile walk. As I stated in my last post my kids have been on spring break and I felt really bad about coming home after  being gone half the day at work and then taking more 'me' time to exercise. So, right or wrong, I played lots of board games instead. I know what your thinking, dah, you didn't lose weight, you didn't exercise!  I know this, really I do, but in the past my low carb weight loss isn't totally dependant on exercise, maybe that has changed, and I was so good on the food side of things. I think instead of writing down the things I ate, which are boring and under 20 carbs per day, I'll write down some of the things I didn't eat this Easter weekend. Things I avoided completely... all candy, my yummy peanut butter chocolate butterscotch krispy treats, blueberry scones, waffles, cheesy potatoes, rolls, three different kinds of pie, and sparkling cider. Those are things I skipped just yesterday, so in my mind somehow that computed to be about 5 lbs weight loss. What the heck, that's not how it works, really?  I'm not bitter or anything, I really didn't want any of it anyway, says the fat chick who has made a career out of eating lots of really yummy food. smiles (really I'm smiling). Here's to baby steps, may I not be completely old and ugly by the time I can fit into super cute clothes. Have a great day and.... I'm not giving up!

"Tip of the day"

Do you ever get the munchies? Way stupid question, ofcourse you do. So how do you eat right & eat right away? Answer: prepare and portion in advance. Pick healthy and yummy food and divide and package it in snack size portions, some salty and some sweet so you're ready for whatever craving hits. If healthy snacks are just as easy to grab as chips or a Ho Ho there is a greater chance that with a little effort the munchies can be guilt free.

Time flies

I can't believe it is already Wednessday night, the days are flying by. This week has been spring break for my kids and it has kinda messed up my schedule, from changing the time I get up, to moving things around after work. Monday I did a 50min workout, Tuesday a 4 mile walk - 60min, and today I got a two hr massage instead of exercise. I know, tough life. I'll only mention the food I ate that wasn't basic meat and veggies, but I have stayed under 20 carbs a day. On Monday I made a yummy crustless quiche that consisted of eggs and lots of different cheeses, green onions, and fried salt pork. I made a 9 x 13 then cut up portions and put them in baggies so that I could grab a portion easy whenever I was hungry. I also made myself a crustless low carb cheesecake with 2 eggs 1 egg yolk, 1 cup splenda, 3 cream cheese bricks, 1/4 mixed cup of cream and water and, some vanilla and lemon juice. The only items that even had carbs were the cream cheese and lemon juice. The way I made it , it was less than 3 carbs per slice, but oh so good.

forgot to mention

Saturday night I had to make a last minute run to super walmart for stuff needed for my Sunday lesson. I can't seem to go to the store and not look around, I think part of it is just the quiet time. Anyway, I saw a pair of cute black capris and I thought I should try some on. I don't really have extra money so I knew I could not buy them unless I could buy them in a smaller size, oops, should not have gone there. I grabbed a pair of 8 - 10's, I totally should've known better. There I was, at walmart, at 11:30pm(not my skinniest time of day) standing in the dressing room with a positive attitude ..Ha Ha. So I stepped into them one foot at a time, you know, the usual way, and started pulling them up. I made it past my ankles and knees with hardly any effort, searching for the positive can't you tell? My thighs presented a much Bigger problem (literally). There is nothing more hilariously gross then shimmying way too much flesh into something smaller than itself. I was determined so onward I went, bouncing, shoving, shaking, and tucking as much of myself into these capris as I could. Wonders of wonders, they went up. It was not comfortable, infact I couldn't move, but they were up. I used newly aquired arm muscles to button up, I was scared that the button was going to go flying so I sucked in as much as I could. Last project, zipping the zipper. It is harder than one would think to push your belly in with hand because at this point my blubbery belly had only one escape route( the zipper hole), and then use the other hand to pull the zipper up, very ...slowly. Success!!! You think I would be really depressed at the way I looked, but no, I had accomplished the impossible. Did I buy the pants, ofcourse not!, they hurt and looked ridiculous!! But I left walmart happy, go figure. I make myself happy way too easy. New goal ... fit a size 10 by my birthday ... that's 6 weeks. Yay!!

Weigh in...

So I called it... got on the scale this morning and my loss was... 0.0lbs, absolutely no change. That does mean however that I didn't gain anything either, so I guess I'll take it. I was really bad about writing what I ate the last couple days so I won't be posting my food for the weekend. I did stay below 20 carbs a day, I know this 'cause I wasn't creative at all in what I ate. We bbq'd on Sat. and I've just been eating left over meat and salad ever since. Yesterday was hard though because I made the family lasagna and garlic bread and it looked and smelled so good. Starting this week I am going to try to make my menu a little more interesting so I don't mind posting it. I did try a new trick with my bbq. I didn't have any low carb bbq sauce on hand and I was wanting sweet meat. I was way to lazy to make sauce from scratch so I did a variation of fry sauce and combined 1 part of my regular bbq sauce with two parts mayo. It was totally sweet enough for me and only 1/3rd the carbs.
For exercise this weekend it went like this: Friday - 20min Pilates. Sat. 8 miles of  walking with intermittant joging. 1hr 45min. Sunday - Day of rest, smiles.

My own advice

This morning has started in away that I think I should start this post by following my own advice from yesterday's " Tip of the Day." Here it goes ... I am thankful for the chance to start over each new day with the opportunity to be better than the day before, and the knowledge that if I don't reach perfection that day, there is always tomorrow. I am thankful for children who drive me crazy, so that in the moments when they don't, I can see what good kids I have and feel an overwhelming love for these little (getting bigger) people in my life. I am so very thankful for a husband who loves me, always, when I'm grumpy and crying or happy and laughing, when I'm 230 lbs or leaving him with the kids so I can go on a 4 mile walk to get myself to a more reasonable weight. I'm thankful for those of you who leave comments and help motivate me on my "quest."  smiles. One last thing for today, I'm thankful for the knowledge that there is a reason for all of this. That I am not making myself a better person just to be put in the ground someday but to go on after this life and to love those I love now and to see those I haven't seen in a while. My brother Mark has been in my thoughts latley, can you tell? There are so many other things that I'm thankful for, but for now remembering these things has put me in a much better mood.

Wednessday, here is what I ate... Breakfast - Steak and 2 eggs(0 carbs) You wouldn't really think of those as a free food on any other diet. Snack - Atkins shake(1 carb)  Lunch - Big salad .. lettuce, cucuber, cheese, eggs, bacon, and ranch dressing.(4 carbs) Round Table pizza .. topping only, 3 slices chicken bacon(1 carb), 3 slices pepperoni(3 carbs). Dinner - 3 sausage patties(3 carbs), glass of Postom with cinnamon (3 carbs). Dessert - 1 cream cheese mini mixed with splenda and lemon juice (2 carbs), yummy. Total for the day 17 grams of carbs. Exercise ( don't judge) only 20min Pilates.

Thursday. Breakfast - Atkins shake(1carb) Lunch - Half of a chicken(0 carbs), and a ceasar salad minus the croutons(2 carbs) Snack - Chicken Jerky(6 carbs), kinda weird but OK, and some honey roasted peanuts(2 carbs). Dinner - Steak taco salad with out the tortilla(4 carbs), 1 glass Postom(3 carbs). Dessert - 1 mini cream cheese with splenda and lime juice(2 carbs). Exercise ( a little better) 4 mile walk, total of 1hr.

" T ip of the day"

If you've hit a slump and you just don't feel like being healthy or exercising, start a gratitude journal. If you start writing down all the things you are thankful for the"blehs" will go away and the happier you is more likely to want to be a healthier you. In return ofcourse, the healthier you will even be happier.

Requested

Being on a low carb diet now I had decided not to post what food I was eating. Low carb is just so different than counting calories or following a low fat diet, the food I eat now is NOT diet food. However, I have been  asked to start posting what I am eating again and I've decided that I will. That being said, I would like to share something I have learned in my 18yrs of dieting, Every Body is Different! What works for me might not work for you and visa versa. I have tried many, many diets and have stuck to many, many diets and have seen real results from very few. If  I had my choice of which one one my body would react best to I would pick a well rounded balanced diet and exercise program, not cutting anything completely out. Someday that is how I am going to maintain a "healthy weight", but for now, low carb is my body's choice. For those following a low carb diet like me, I hope this can be a place we share favorite recipes and tips, but I would also like to here the favorites of those following other eating plans. I have seven other people to feed in my family who are not eating the way I am, and I love having them try new healthy things.

When I figure the carb content of a certain food the formula is grams of carbs minus grams of fiber. The reasoning is ... the fiber carbs do not effect blood sugars like other carbs do. When I can't find the nutitional info on the food I'm eating, because I prefer food I have to prepare instead of pre-packaged,  I find the the information on sites like www.elook.org/nutrition . If the information doesn't seem quite right, I gather from more than one source and compare.

I started writing my meals down on Tuesday so here it goes: Breakfast - half of a three egg, spinach and provalone omlett(2carbs) I used egglands best, cage free eggs. They are 0 carbs, compared to the usual 1 carb per egg. Snack - Chocolate Atkins shake(1carb) Lunch - Salad. Green leaf lettuce, cucumber, tomatoe, green onions, red onions, and half an avocado with El Torito cilantro ceasar dressing(6 carbs) I need to cut back on the onions, high carbs with hardly any fiber. Avocado - great source of fiber. Dinner - 2 chilli cheese
bratwurst(6 carbs) Snack - Glass of Postom with heavy whipping cream and splenda(3 carbs) Toatl for the day 18 carbs. Exercise - 20 min Jillian dvd and 4 mile walk on Monday (total 1hr 20min) and nothing on Tuesday, yikes, hit the snooze in the morning and worked later than usual, threw my whole schedule off. I know, not a real good excuse, but it is what it is. Here is to making Wednessday better.

"Just my thoughts"

What the heck? Are boobs 99% fat, is that why they are almost gone? and why is the fat in my boobs so much easier to lose than the fat in my butt? I know there is more to choose from on my backside, so give me a break. Wasn't it bad enough that when I used to lie down they'd disapear because they hiding under my armpitts, pointing at the walls? Now I can't find them at all.

Weigh in ...

It is always scary to get on the scale when this week has been a hormonal rollercoaster, and you have finished off more than half of a low carb cheesecake. Scared or not, I got on the scale and was pleasantly surprised. My weight this morning was 174.5lbs, that's -2lbs this week, YES! I will gladly take the loss and hope it continues. In the past, when doing low carb, I would usually loose weight every other week so I it will not shock me if  that starts happening again. It's all about the consistancy. I kept my carb count below 20g on Friday and Saturday, on Sunday I went up to about 25g, too much low carb cheesecake. I've been doing well in getting at least 3 servings of veggies in a day, but not so good on exercise,  only 30 to 60min. Always room for improvement. Ok, your turn, comment and tell me how you are doing.

The Joys of being a girl !

First of all, I obviously need to catch up on the last couple of days, so here it goes. I have been doing a really good job, when you start a low carb diet it needs to be all or nothing ( I've learned that over the last 6 years). I've stayed under 20g of carbs per day and exercised at least 1 1/2hrs per day.  Having said that... I am a Girl !! This fact (unfortunate at times) means that at least one week  during the month my weight climbs higher and higher and higher for no apparent reason other than to make me feel 30lbs heavier and make me want to give up on dieting, exercise,  oh,and day to day life. Am I not the most positive person you know? Smiles. So what do I do when all I want is a big fatty brownie and a pair of baggy sweats? I have no feakin idea. What I do know is, that this is the time I can not give up, I have to have faith that diet and exercise will do it's job even when the stupid scale is trying to lie to me ( not in a good way like my mirror). So as I said before, I'm sticking to it.

As you can probably tell, I haven't been in the best frame of mind the last couple of days. I didn't post because I figure I want to motivate more than bring people down. This is real life though, and I am not Mrs. Brady, raising six kids with a constant smile on my face. Wednessday was a tough day for me, although I can already look back and see the humor in it...kind of. The morning was very funny to me because I was not present for the pudding fight between my youngest two. My husband was not laughing when he called me at work, but when he described what he was cleaning up as looking like, "poop flung on the walls" I lost it. That coversation kept me in a good mood for most of the work day but by the time I got home the "blehs" were back. I was not motivated to exercise so I decided to be creative and have my oldest drop me off almost four miles away so I would have no choice but to get myself home. I felt a little bad because I was not going to be home when Nathan and Emily got home, but I knew Nate could take care of her for about an hour,so I went. Soon after being dropped off Nate called and said he had scouts and he did not want to leave Emily by herself ...good boy. I had to have another parent (thanks Ruth) take Stephi home so she could watch Em. Stephi was now ticked, but I was determined. Half way through my walk Stephanie called me and said Timmy had called 20 min ago needing a ride home golf practice but at that point there was nothing I could do, I was still about 40 min from home, he was going to have to wait. Around this time Hormonal Harry or "Scary Sherri" showed up, so I continued to walk down the street with my face all red and now tears streaming down my face because I felt like such a bad mom. I called my husband and he calmed me down a little bit saying every one will survive and it was no big deal. That held me over until I got home and went and picked up Timmy. By this time Steph and Tim are both ticked, Nathan is at scouts, Anthony had just got home from track, Kimberly is at work and Emily stepped through the front door wearing....  a shirt and tights.. Nothing Else !! My little girl went to school that way! The shirt was at least long enough to cover her bum, but Really? That was it!  All I could do is lock myself in my room, turn on the food channel (a sad substitute for brownies), and cry. How is that for a peak into my head. I know, I know, all of you who know Scott have a new found respect for him staying married to me for the last almost 19yrs. Well heres to the next 3 to 7 days,  may the food channel be enough.

Happy St.Patty's day!

A big thank you to my sister Michelle who designed my blog for me, doesn't it look fantastic? I stayed below my 20 g of carbs yesterday but only got in about 40 min of exercise. I didn't sleep well the night before so I reset my alarm and went back to bed. Way big no no, if I don't force myself up in the morning I very rarely can motivate myself later. Fortunately there is always a next day, all you have to do is get your butt up and NEVER waste two days in a row. I got up this morning and did my Pilates and I've been smiling ever since. Sometimes I think I please myself way to easy, but somehow I'm totally OK with that. Speaking of being pleased, this morning I thought to myself, " Wow Sherri, you look pretty good today." I should have let that be the end of it, but nooo. I then thought," This would be a great picture day."  Have I not learned? there is no such thing as planning a great picture. Great pictures, at least of me, only happen when the sun is at a precise point in the sky, and when my skin is the perfect shade of tan brown, and  only when am WEARING BLACK! Oh, another thing, I can't plan for it to be good, I just have to be going through pics someone has taken and be completely surprised that all the elements previously mentioned were present. Well those things weren't rolling around in my brain this morning when I pulled my 12 year old outside to take a picture of me. I thought that if I took a picture on St Patricks day, wearing green no less, I would at least remember when it was taken and I could post it. So when will I be posting my next picture? I don't know, it will be a surprise to me too, but I will probably be tan, and wearing black. After seeing the pictures this morning I am covinced that someone loves me enough to have installed the mirror from "Snow White" in my vanity. Think about it , the mirror had no problem telling that ugly queen she was the fairest of them all!! Lucky for me , I am easily pleased and I choose to believe the mirror. Smiles

"Just my Thoughts"

Something I'm grateful for.... I'm grateful for being short! Not always, but every morning when I look in the vanity mirror I'm glad I can not see the bottom half of my body, especially the backside. I stood tippy toe and peeked once ..yuck ...I will not  make that mistake again! I have also made a conscious effort to never use my kids bathroom. Who's bright idea was it to put a low mirror right behind toilet? Just Wrong.

Weigh in ..

Why did I switch back to low carb?  Oh that's right, the scale read 176.5lbs, that's -5lbs baby! Will it be that big of a loss every week? Ofcourse not, but this week I'm thrilled!! I kept my carb intake to under 20 carbs a day, and did 1hour of exercise on Friday. I did not exercise Sat. or Sun. but my knee is feeling much better, so I'll shoot for my 2 hours today. I'm really excited this morning because I'm only 10lbs away from weighing less than I have in 16yrs. It's funny, everyone always talks about wanting their 20 something body back but I was pregnant for my 20s so I'm actually looking foward to a trim 40yr old body.( Or sooner, a trim 37 would be nice too!)
It's the beginning of a whole new week, say your prayers and work really hard so that next Monday you don't feel like you've wasted a week. Accomplish something you've been putting off, there is nothing more motivating than seeing some progress.

Something new...something old

So to finish reporting on yesterday .... I took the day completely OFF. I can't tell you how many calories
I ate because I didn't count them at all. Now usually this would be a bad thing and it would lead to taking more days off, but not now, and not anytime soon. I really do want to keep going and I don't see stopping ever. This is something that I believe will be a little bit of a battle for the rest of my life, and that's ok. There will be days I take off and then there will be the next day when I start again.


Yesterday I did a lot of thinking about the type of diet I've been following, I like that it has seemed more balanced, but my immediate goal is to get more weight off. It is just going way too slow. I do realize that the slower it comes off the slower it should come back, but I think I would like to be about 20lbs lighter before I start taking my own sweet time. I think exercising will be easier and some of my pain might go away if there is less weight on my joints. I have lost the majority of my weight so far by following a low carb diet but I was afraid I would have to follow it for the rest of my life or gain the weight back. At the beginning of the year I added healthier carbs and wonder of wonders I haven't gained it back in fact I've lost a little. I'm glad I've experimented , I now know that if I low carb it for a while longer eventually I can add things back in and not blow up like a balloon.


Today I started with the idea that I might be able to count carbs and calories at the same time, it doesn't look like it  is going to work, so for now I'm going back to counting carbs.  My plan for now is to report my carb count and how many servings of veggies I eat during the day, because I struggle with veggies. I will also still report my exercise. I hope that changing things up might jumpstart things and then maybe the scale will start moving. Today I stayed under 20 carbs but I only ate one serving of veggies, I need to eat at LEAST three servings a day. Oh well there's always tomorrow. I did 30min of pilates this morning and walked 14 holes of golf in the afternoon for a total of 4 hrs of exercise.

Too much or too old

On Monday and Tuesday I ended up with 1220 and 1350 calories and I made sure to get two hours of exercise in on both days. By the end of Tuesday (yesterday) my shoulder and my knee were killing me. I fell asleep way too early, like I have lots lately, and woke up too early. When I got up this mornig my body screamed at me to go back to bed and I listened for about an hour.  I don't know if I've hurt myself bad enough to get to the doctor, but for sure I hurt bad enough to skip my exercise for today. Don't worry it is just for the day I'll be back tomorrow. I just don't know if I'll be doing much more than pilates for a couple of days.

"Tip of the day"

Don't know where to start? Pick up a five dollar pedometer and take 10,000 steps a day. You won't need to wear it forever, probably only a month, just until you get in the habbit of moving. The more you move, the more energy you have. The more energy you have, the more you want to move!  Here's to being healthier... skinnier is just a bonus.

Weigh in...

The scale read 181.5 lbs this morning, that is 1 lb down from last week. This morning I was a little bummed, I really wished I had lost more, but I quickly reminded myself that 1 lb is better than nothing!! I've thought about my week and the things I can improve on, and I've decided to write down some new goals for the week in hopes that I will follow through if it is written for all to see. Number one goal, try to exercise at least 2 hrs a day, five days this week. I know that I can do this if I manage my time a little better and I don't let myself get lazy in the evening. I'm wearing a knee brace now when I work out and it seems to be helping the pain in my knee. Goal number two, this one is much harder for me, I will try not to eat carbs after lunch time. I know for myself that my body does well with less carbs. I have enjoyed adding the healthier carbs back into my diet, but in the evening I tend to lean towards the unhealthy, I then try to make the better choice and end up eating another bowl of oatmeal. The choice is better than cake, but I'm not getting all my veggies in. Let's see what these changes do to the scale, I'm hoping for a bit more of a drop. I want to break into the 150's by my birthday in May and at my current rate of weight loss I won't quite make it. No matter what, by summer time I'm going to be looking and feeling great!!! Who's with me? Do you really want me to look way better than you? smiles J/K ... well kind of.

Catching up

Thursday
Exercise: Pilates,(20min) walking 5 miles (75min) Total for the day, 1hr 35min
Food: Breakfast - Oatmeal(200cal) Snack - Apple and walnuts.(200) Lunch - El pollo loco chicken, leg and thigh and two tortillas.(530) Dinner - Oatmeal.(200) Total for the day 1130 calories
Friday
Exercise: Total for the day,(60min) walking.
Food: Breakfast - Three whole wheat banana nut pancakes covered in strawberries, bananas, and whipped cream.Yummmy!(400) Snack - 3oz snap peas and walnuts,(130) 1/3rd apple cinnamon pretzel from Jamba Juice(133) Lunch - Pair of BK burger shots,(220) BK fresh apsple fries(25) piece of cake.(250) Dinner - Oatmeal(200) Total for the day 1358 calories
Saturday
Exercise:  Total for the day,18 holes of golf, walking (4hrs)
Food:  Lunch - Sizzler, 6oz steak,(230) 1/2 of a cheese bread,(160) small chicken noodle soup,(60)lots of veggies/salad toppings,(100) and one small soft serve cone.(150) Snack - At the movies, 5 cups popcorn,(400)and 16 sour patch kids.(170) Dinner - Grilled chicken wrap(250) Total for the day 1520 calories. At least I did spend 4 hrs golfing, crooked smiles  : \
Sunday
No Exercise on Sundays
Food: Dinner - Three stuffed shells,(400) Garlic bread,(300) Lite Ceasar Salad. (125) Oh, and I forgot, taste testing while making dinner.(100) Total for the day, 925 calories. Ouch that's a lot for one meal!!

"Tip of the day"

Never say " I'll start my diet or exercise on Monday." If you can't start today you'll most likely fail anyway. There is always another Monday, and usually there are a couple days before, that all we do is binge because we are going to start a diet on Monday. Start today and by Monday feel better about yourself and more motivated because you made it through your first weekend, instead of  feeling gross, bloated and 2 lbs heavier because you ate like it had to get you through the winter.

Stop raining already...

Is it just me, or is hard for anybody else to snack on veggies and drink lots of water when it is raining outside. AAHHH!  Yesterday, not my best day, I only did 20 minutes of exercise total. I ended up eating lots of oatmeal, my (healthy) comfort food of choice lately. Calories are as follows: Breakfast - Oatmeal.(200) Sanck - Apple and walnuts.(200) Lunch - Chicken tamale,(300) 3/4th cup black beans(160) Dinner - Oatmeal, a full cup(400)Total for the day 1260 calories and not enough exercise.

I decided that today I was going to get my walk in no matter what, why did it have to rain?  I woke up with a headache and I didn't have a great night sleep, unlike yesterday however, I did not push the snooze and go back to bed. I got up and walked out to the living room and sat down in the middle of the floor. I then stayed there sitting staring at the tv screen for about fifteen minutes. I forgot to mention that the tv was not turned on, nope, I just sat there looking at the screen trying to convince myself that for some reason I didn't need to exercise today. After way to much time I got off my bum and up onto my knees, I said a prayer, then exercised.(30min)   When I got home from work I had a lot of running around to do and since the weather had cleared up, I went. After I got home and before I could walk, it started pouring. I did the only thing I could do, the treadmill was not an option with a headache, so I went outside in the rain and did my 4 miles.(75min) I am thankful for my son Anthony who was willing to go the 4 miles on his scooter and keep me company in the rain. Total exercise 1 hr 45 min. I added a little variety to my menu for the day. Breakfast - 2 eggs,(200) 1/2  of a grapefruit,(20) and a cup of milk.(90) Lunch ,I tried something new, 1/2 of a whole wheat bbq ranch wrap from Togos. Loved it!(320) Snack - carrots, cucumbers and walnuts.(150) Dinner - Oatmeal.(200) Dessert - 1 2inch lemon bar.(143) Total calories 1123.

"Just my thoughts"

Getting older is the only proof I need that God intended me to stay with one man. My body requires too much "stuffing," "sucking in," and "holstering" to have to find somebody new. My poor husband, I definitely got the better end of this "Eternal  Arrangement."

My weigh in...

So yesterday morning I got on the scale and it said 182.5lbs. Yay!, I lost 2.5lbs and kept it off through the weekend. Since the beginning of the year I've done pretty well losing weight during the week, but keeping it off for the weekend is a different story. So thank you, thank you, I know some of you have been checking up on me and that made me aware of of my food and activity. I haven't recorded yesterday yet so here it goes. Food: Breakfast - My normal, oatmeal and milk.(200) Snack - An apple and walnuts.(200) Lunch - Chicken breast,(110) and 1/2 cup black beans.(120) Dinner - Chicken breast,(110) and Broccoli salad. (150) Total for the day, 840 calories. I'm supposed to eat more than that, but I was full, go figure. Why can't I eat that way on the days I really want dessert? Why couldn't I have added calories early in the evening last night and forced (smiles) myself to have some dessert last night? Oh well, to lose  1 lb you have to burn 3,000 more calories than you consume, hopefully it will help me out. On to the burning the calories thing. Exercise: Cardio max.(30min) I had to drop the kids off for breakfast in the middle of it so I didn't get in the all the time I wanted. I got my hubby to go for a 4 mile run / walk/ jog with me,(he brought an ipod so it kind of defeated the purpose...Boys??) I'm glad he went talkative, or not. (1hr) Total for the day, 1 1/2 hrs.

Now

Santa Rosa 2009,  I'm on my way. 50lbs to go.

 

At my son's 5th grade graduation 2009

befor e

 Yosemite 2008

Cabo 2008

Hawaii 2007

This is what I always wanted to look like vacationing with my hubby. Whatever!

" T ip of the day"

Always ask for the nutritional information at restaurants and fast food places. Usually you won't give a second thought to the items with the highest calorie content. Beware of salads, with added dressing and toppings some salads are worse than burgers.

One weekend down!

I need to catch up and tell you tell you how my weekend went. Not to make too many excuses, but to make some all the same, it "was" the weekend!! I've taken my weekends off since the beginning of the year so overall I feel I did ok, but there is definite room for improvement. Friday's menu consisted of :  Breakfast - Oatmeal with milk.(200cal) Snack - Fruit and walnuts.(300) Lunch - Roastbeef 6 inch sub from Subway.(300) Dinner - Date Night at Outback! BBQ chicken and veggies,(500) half a cup of onion soup(not french onion,)( 150) bread and butter.(115) Dinner alone was 765 calories, overall a good choice, less calories than one small order of plain aussie frys.(over 1200 cal). We did do Dessert - small Gelato(200) Total calories for the day 1775. I'll try to do better next Friday. Exercise: Pilates,(40min) running ,walking, and jogging on the treadmill.(60) Total of 1hr 40min.
Saturday and Sunday I did not exercise, I should have on Saturday, try again next week. My food log for Sat.: Breakfast - Oatmeal with milk.(200) Lunch - 1/2 DiGiorno crispy flatbread pizza - Tuscan style chicken, really, really yummy!(420 that's less than half the cal. of regular pepperoni DiGiorno) Pringles, 16 chips.(140) Dinner - Chicken tortilla soup, two bowls(400) Salad, no dressing(40) Dessert, two nights in a row AAHH! One chocolate caramel pretzel and three dipped stawberries. (400) Oops! that is 1600 for the day. Sunday: Breakfast - Oatmeal(200) Lunch - 1/2 a 6 inch roastbeef sub.(150) 5 lil smokies in blankets,(240) sugarfree lemonade (10) slice of cantaloupe.(10)Dinner - 2 bbq chicken pizzas on whole wheat tortillas.(450) Total for the day 1060 calories. Back to an easier schedule tomorrow, weekends are hard. Weigh in tomorrow, we'll see how I did.

" T ip of the day"

You will make better choices all day long, even in diet and exercise, if you take the time to pray in the morning and ask for help. It works, really, I've tried it both ways.

Not too bad...

When I woke up yesterday morning my coversation with myself was a little different. I knew I was going to have to report in so there wasn't a question of whether or not I would exercise, it was more... what video was I going to put on? The 4 mile walk the day before was still being felt in my knee with every step, so it was going to have to be something low impact. I walked slowly down the hall until I found the light switch, and then made my way into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. When I reached the kitchen, there it was, glorious and completley awful. On any other day I would love running into "a friend" so early in the morning, but not today. Not when I had promised myself that I was going to share everything about this part of my life. Who is this friend you ask? Maybe the question you should ask is.. Is Sherri really as weird as I think she is right now? To answer the later, I'm way more weird than this.. way! My friend on this particular morning was nothing more than a half eaten chocolate cubscout cake that my nine year old had made and decorated the day before. Pathetic, you may think to yourself. To that I might suggest that you have never had chocolate cake with homade buttercreme frosting before 7am. It ranks pretty high on my all time favorites list. You would have thought that seeing all the funky colored sprinkles on top of it might have changed my mind, but no. I swear I could smell it through the air tight purple tupperware "cake taker." A decision was made, and I don't know if I'd make the same decision right this minute, I've never written down the calories I consume before the rest of my family awakes. I think it would be a scary number. So on this morning I made friends with my  yoga video instead.(40min) The rest of my day was uneventful and is recorded as follows: Breakfast - Whole grain blueberry oatmeal with milk(145cal)That's not counting at least 15 calories I fed the microwave when it boiled over. Smiles. Snack - 1 organic gala apple and 10 walnut pieces.(200). Lunch - 2 grilled chicken and pesto pizzas with lots of veggies on whole wheat tortillas. Very Yummy.(500) Dinner - I wasn't really hungry until later so I ate 1cup organic rolled oats cooked with 1 cup fat free milk, cinnamon, and splenda.(400) Total for the day 1245 calories. I exercised one more time, pilates.(20min) Total exercise, 1 hour.

Yesterday in review

El Torito was not a great place to start trying to be good. I ate too much, but the food was fabulous. I try to make lunch my biggest meal of my day, I suceeded, but had to make up for it with a tiny dinner.
Food log:Breakfast - weight control oatmeal and milk(200cal.) Snack - 10 raw almonds and a diet soda, I need to get rid of the soda.(100cal) Lunch - Small tortilla soup(220),chips and salsa(150),cheese enchilada(270),and a chicken tamale(300). I know, I know, I should have stopped afer the soup but my stomache was still stretched out from the free food the day before. Anyway..
Dinner - salad with light balsalmic dressing(60) making the grand total for the day 1300 Calories. I try to stay between 1200 and 1400 but this was a bad day because I did not eat my whole grains. On to exercise: In the morning I did the "Biggest Loser" Cardio Max(40min), after work I did a 4 mile walk(60min). Thankyou to Debbie who filled in and was my walking partner. Then in the evening I did Pilates(20min)for a total of 2 hours. Not too shabby. Side note...why when you are trying to be good do the cakes the cub scouts made even look good???

"Just my thoughts"

Reason #124 ( I just made that up) why it is important to drink at least 8 glasses of water everyday:  Someday (or today if your me) your chapstick may fall out of your pocket and into the toilet. It is not nearly as gross to retrieve it and throw it away if you can't see your pee!

The beginning..well not really...The middle, but kind of the beginning.

So obviously did not start posting when I said I would. I could blame it all on my incredibly crazy busy life, but unfortunately, that is not the only reason. You see, at times, and with certain things, I have found that I am a procrastinator. Well that is putting it kind of gentle like, sometimes I'm just too lazy.... but, I am busy too... smiles. I'm writing now so... let just see how it goes. This would be a little bit easier though, if I could type more than 10 words per minute. You think I'm lying, but I really just counted and it was 10, ok 11 but one of the words was "a" and I don't think that should count. What would be a good number anyway? 25, 40, 150, I have no clue and that is probably for the best, I don't need to know how bad I am at this. Wow, I talk a lot even when I'm not talking....smiles! (FYI, I say smiles whenever I, or anyone else makes me smile or giggle a little bit. I make myself giggle way too easily, but I guess there are worse things.) Ok, ok, ok, so why have I decided today of all days is the day I will sit at the computer and record my thoughts and doings? I will try to explain and in the process I hopefully will not confuse too many people. Wish me luck, I confuse myself all the time, at the very least I am an emotional, hormonal, and physical roller coaster. I have a love hate relationship with roller coasters.

This morning started the same as most of my mornings. The alarm went off at 4:56 a.m. and I hopped out bed in hopes that it would not wake my prince of a man who sleeps next to me. We have, unfortunately, been keeping different sleep schedules since I started work in January. Anyway, I "hopped" out of my bed and to the dresser where I clumsily turned off the alarm and then I kicked my red platform heels (very cute, by the way) that I should have put away two days ago. I then hobbled to the bathroom. It was on the way back from the bathroom, in front of the vanity mirror, that I started having the conversation with myself. You know the conversation;
Do I really want to work out? Lost was on last night, and I stayed up for it! Don't I deserve an extra hour of sleep? Oh, and I'm sure you've all used this one... Why does it even matter after what I ate last night? It totally wasn't my fault that Jack in the Box was giving out free sandwiches, I mean FREE, all I had to do was buy a really BIG soda. Nobody can blame me if It wasn't diet, the sandwich wasn't low calorie, why pair it with a watered down soda? Ok so I didn't "need" a shake but it had been a "chocolate" day, and when the little girl behind the speaker thingy told me that if I made it a large I could have another FREE sandwich well........
You get the picture, I had made my case, I was going back to bed and leaving exercise in the fate of the rest of my day. Then it happened, the voice, the voice of reason, or what I believe, help from a Heavenly Father who loves me, either way I heard it. I was reminded that going back to bed was not going to help me get rid of those two free sandwiches, large soda, and half of a very big chocolate shake. I then did what any well adjusted grown adult, mature mother of six would do... I stood there looking at my not so perfect body, and I cried, and cried, and then I worked out.

I decided that I need to to something a little different, I need to be accountable to someone or many someones that aren't me....I'm way to unstable... smiles. I want to start posting my daily exercise and food intake along with daily experiences that make me, me. Eventually I also want to add pictures of my family and so on, but for now this is for me. I need the motvation and at some point I would like to motivate others. I hope that this can become a place where friends and family share their motivation, tips , and maybe even some healthy recipes. I figure I'll never know who's checking in on me, so I'll have to "try" a little harder.

As for the title of this section, I refer to this as "The Middle" because I have not just started dieting and exercising. No, this last attempt has been going on for a little over a year. Don't worry, I have made some progress. I started 2009 at a short and round (can't believe I'm putting it out there) 230lbs. FYI, at 5'1 that is very short and very round!! This morning I weighed in at 185lbs. Before you are too excited for me, I did visit the 160's for about a week in October, but that was before the Hollidays and, oh ya, FREE food! I went from a very tight size 18 to a tight size 12, and I am a work in progress ... in more ways than one. I want to lose about 60 more pounds but, despite what I wrote about crying in front of the mirror, I'm actually Ok with myself and my body right now, but there is always room for improvement. Well, there you are, hopefully it will be worth your time to check in with me every once in a while.... I'll pretend people are checking in everyday. First challenge in a half hour...meeting a friend at El Torito. Is there anything low calorie at El Torito?