WTF Weigh-In

I normally weigh-in first thing Monday morning after I go to the bathroom and before I eat anything, butt naked of course. Every 4th week I have to weigh-in in the afternoon though when I wake up because I have to work on Sunday night, and I don't like weighing in after I've been up all night eating and drinking at work. I really hate these weeks because I feel like it skews my results and I usually don't end up losing much when I weigh in the afternoon, then the next week I'll drop 3 or 4 pounds.

Anyway ... I got up this afternooon and stepped on the scale and I lost 6.6 pounds this week! WTF! Other than the afternoon weigh-in I didn't do anything differently this week. I even gorged on that cake and icecream this past weekend. I'm not complaining though, I'll definitely take it.

In other news, I met my August goal of earning 130 APs. I just added them all up and I'm at 135.5 for the month and that doesn't include what I'm going to do today. So, yay!

Family Visit

Daily Activity: Ran 4.4 miles (5 APs)

As I mentioned earlier, we went down to my parent's farm for my niece's 5th birthday party this weekend. We drove down last night after Tim got off work and arrived about 9:00 pm. When we got there my niece, nephew, and Dad were all already in bed. Only my sister was awake.

I walked into the house first and my sister looked at me like I was an intruder. When my mom walked in behind me, my sister said "is that Amanda?" When she realized it was indeed me, she started bawling like a baby. I don't know exactly why she reacted so strongly, but she definitely did. At first she kept saying that she was so proud of me, and that I looked gorgeous, etc. But after a few minutes she kinda started interrogating me. She asked me: how much I weigh, how did I lose weight, how fast did I lose weight, how much I exercise, what exercises I do, what I eat, etc. It was almost like she was berating me. I'm not sure what that was all about.

We ended up having a pretty decent time though. Tim and I got up early this morning and went for a run around the dirt roads near my parent's house. We intended to come back home and put the kids in my bike trailer and take them for a loop around the 3 mile circle after we ran, but we had bike issues. At first my tire was flat, so we went to Walmart to get the stuff to fix it. Then when we came back Tim tried to fix the gears on my bike and ended up messing them up to where I could barely move the pedals. Then we noticed that his tire had a huge hole in it. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. It pretty much sucks that we made the effort to get a bike rack and haul our stuff all the way down there and then couldn't even ride.

For lunch my family planned on grilling out hamburgers and hotdogs. I was worried about what I would eat because I knew they didn't buy lean beef or lean hotdogs. I went to the store and bought all kinds of vegetables to marinate and make skewers to grill. I ate one hotdog, alot of vegetables, a small salad and a couple spoonfuls of baked beans. I felt like I did pretty good .... and then came the cake. I ate waaay more cake (and ice cream) than I needed to. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Although my family is probably wondering why the hell I made such a big deal about making sure I had healthy options to eat for lunch if I was gonna chow down on cake and ice cream for dessert.

Loving my Bike Rack!

I bought a bike rack this week from Amazon, and it came in yesterday. Tim set it up for us this morning. I love it! It seems really sturdy and stable. It will actually hold 4 bikes even though we only have 2 right now. He drove around for a few minutes with our bikes attached and said that the rack didn't move or sway at all.

We are going out of town this weekend to visit my family in south Alabama. It will be my niece's 5th birthday, so we are going to celebrate. My family lives way out in the country on a dirt road and there are great places to hike, bike and run. I'm really excited! Usually when we go to visit I get bored very quickly because I've always been an indoorsy person. I don't know too many fat people that like to get outside and do much. But now I'm really looking forward to exploring new things to do on our trip.

We are also planning on taking our bikes when we go to Gatlinburg in 61 days, 19 hours, and 8 minutes ... give or take. I think we are really going to get alot of use out of the bike rack and the bike trailer that we bought for Lincoln.

I'll post some pictures of our trip when we get home tomorrow night. I'm planning on doing some fishing, grilling out, spending time with my niece and nephew, and of course biking and running.

Book Review of Half-Assed: A Weightloss Memoir

Daily Activity: Ran 5 miles (5.5 APs)

So, I read Half-Assed: A Weightloss Memoir by Jennette Fulda a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share my thoughts on it.

Basically the book is exactly what it describes itself to be, the story of a woman who literally lost half of her body weight through diet and exercise. At first I didn't really think I was going to like the book. In the beginning Jennette focuses on the ridiculously large amounts of hideously disgusting foods she ate. I don't know about you, but for me that was never my problem. Yes, of course I ate too much food also, but I couldn't identify at all with the things she literally gorged herself on. Actually, I didn't identify with the author much at all. Other than the fact that we are (were ... whatever) both fat asses, we are absolutely nothing alike.

I also didn't find her nearly as funny as I thought that she was going to be from the reviews I read of the book on GoodReads. She had some witty remarks, and some sarcastic humor, but I was expecting some ROFLMAO material and in my opinion that's not what was delivered.

Once I got into the book and stopped trying to identify with the author and realized that she wrote the book to tell her story and not mine, I actually started enjoying it.

If you read this book to get diet, exercise and weightloss tips you will be sorely disappointed. The author speaks very little about her "regimen", she refused to even mention which diet plan she followed. Once she explained why she made that choice I completely understood and agreed with her for it.

What I loved about the book was that it helped me to realize that more important than what the scale reads is how your life has changed. Jennette set out to lose a specific number of pounds but before she ever made it to her self-appointed goal weight, she found happiness in not only the way that she looked but more importantly from her new active lifestyle. That really hit home with me for some reason because I have recently been feeling that same way, that maybe there is something out there more important than the number on the scale.

I read alot of the book while I was working out in the gym on the elliptical and it really helped the time pass, and also helped put things into perspective about why I am doing these things and what I hope to accomplish beyond a goal weight.

If you want to read Jennette's blog, it can be found here.

Weigh-In Day

I had a dream last night that I gained 2 pounds this week. But I was ok with it in my dream because I knew I had done everything I could do as far as being active and eating sensibly.

In actuality, I lost 0.8 pounds, and I'm ok with that too. Of course I would have liked to lose more, but I think I'm getting to the point where my weightloss is really going to slow down and become much more gradual. I'm also to the point in my mind where its not as much about the weightloss anymore for me as it is about the lifestyle changes.

Being able to go out and run, take my son to the park to ride bikes, walk around the zoo, enjoy an active lifestyle with my husband and cook healthy and delicious recipes for my family has become my main focus. Now I'm not dissing my scale, please don't tell her I'm talking shit about her or she might seek revenge. I think I just have new priorities.

I'm a Former Fat Girl!

Daily Activity: Ran 4.4 miles (5 APs)

I'm very happy to annouce that I have been featured as a "Former Fat Girl of The Week". Please take a look at Michelle's website. It is very inspirational!

I'm headed to the zoo with Tim and Lincoln this afternoon for some family fun time, before Tim has to leave us again to go out of town for work. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Getting Ready for That 5K

Daily Activity: Ran 4.4 miles outside (6 APs)

Tim and I got up early this morning to meet my friend Nicole at Fort Toulouse for a run. Fort Toulouse Rd is 4.4 miles down and back. The weather was perfect! Bright and sunny, but low humidity and a slight breeze. We strapped on our Camelbaks and our iPods and went at it.

My goal was to run atleast one direction (2.2 miles). I wasn't sure what running outside was going to feel like since I haven't done it in oh .... say ... 10 years or so. It was really great though! It help that Ft Toulouse Rd is nice and flat and it has a bike lane on the side so we didn't have to worry about traffic.

I made it one direction fairly easily. My iPod started acting up halfway through the first part of the run, so all I had to listen to was the sloshing water and ice in my Camelbak, which was pretty annoying. Once I got to the end, I stopped for a couple minutes to fix my iPod and let everyone get back together again. Then we headed off running the other direction.

I ran to about the 1 1/2 mile marker on the way back and I got a terrible stitch in my side. I tried to keep going, but I knew I needed to stop until it went away. I walked for about 1 minute and once the pain let up I started running again and was able to make it the rest of the way back.

Not a bad run at all for my first "real run"! Of course it would have been much more enjoyable if I didn't have to smell the stench of roadkill every quarter-mile or so, but who cares.






After the run, we came home and I made a huge brunch: eggs, turkey sausage, turkey bacon, hashbrowns, and fresh fruit. I ate a big 10 point serving. It was wonderful!

Jillian is Hardcore!

Daily Activity: 36 mins of Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones (2.5 APs)

So today was a strength training day for me. I bought Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones DVD so that I could do it at home instead of going to the gym to do Body Pump. I only made it through 36 minutes of the DVD. I don't know if it was because it was really that hard, or if its because I suck. We all know how I hate doing weights. But when we get into pushups and planks, I just literally give up. And thats what happened today.

I'm not gonna let this get me down though. I'll just have to do better. Really the problem isn't that I couldn't or didn't finish the workout, the problem is that I gave up on myself. So my goal is to do that DVD from start to finish on Monday.

Tomorrow I'm not going to exercise, I'm going to take the day off and sleep after I get off work tomorrow morning at 7:00. Then tomorrow night I'm gonna go out to dinner with my hubby and son. Maybe to Bonefish Grill. I realized I've worked out almost every single day this month in one form or another and I need a break!

Saturday I will be back at it though. I'm going to take my running outside and see how I do. I need to get ready for that 5K in September. I'm excited but nervous. I haven't run outside since I started working out. I'm curious to see how its going to be compared to the treadmill. The good news is though that I'm gonna have a super cute Camelbak to wear. I'll definitely post pictures!

I Run Because ...

I read a blog post yesterday where a runner asked people to respond with the reasons why they run. It made me think about why I like to run. So I made my own list:

1. It burns more calories than almost any other cardio activity.
2. It gives me time alone with my thoughts.
3. I love the way I feel after I run.
4. I love to sweat!
5. I can listen to really loud fast music.
6. Its impossible to be angry after a good run.
7. It makes me feel strong and accomplished.
8. Because I can!
9. Because so many others can't/don't.
10. It takes me away from the frustration, stress and responsibility of the day.
11. I like to see how far/fast I can push myself.
12. I like seeing how far I've come.
13. I like the way it makes my thighs look.
14. To be a role model for my friends and family, but most importantly for my son.

I felt so motivated to run after I made my list that I signed up for my first 5K. It will be on September 19th and will benefit the Big Brother/Big Sister organization. I'm so excited!

Note to Self.

I really want to remember this next week when I have a few days off of work, so I'm writing a reminder to myself, but feel free to take advantage of it as well.

Don't forget to make Melissa d'Arabians North African Meatballs, Couscous with Dried Dates, and Glazed Carrots.

It looked super yummy and I think it could possibly be fairly low in points too. And if its worse than I think it is, I could probably adjust some things.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out!

Weigh-In

Daily Activity: Get Chiseled Firm DVD and Ran 2 Miles (5.5 APs)

I wrote last week about how I had a feeling that I was about to hit a plateau. Well, I guess I was wrong. I lost 3.6 pounds this week and am at 172.4 pounds now.

I debated on going to Body Pump class tonight, but I ultimately decided not to. First of all I couldn't find anyone that could go with me. I'm such a wimp. I wish I was a more independent person, but so far I haven't found that inside myself. And second of all, I was so sore for so long last time that I really don't think I'm ready to go through that again just yet.

A fellow blogger that I read has been raving for days about Jillian Michaels DVD called No More Trouble Zones. So I decided I'd give it a try. It was only a little over $11 on Amazon and I have free shipping with our Amazon Prime account. So there you go, I should get it on Wednesday. It looks like it might be a good strength training option for me. And I'll definitely feel more comfortable working out in my own home rather than infront of a class of experienced Body Pumpers. Atleast for now.

Since I don't have the DVD yet I decided today to pull out one of my Firm DVDs. I went a little crazy a while back buying up every Firm DVD that I could get cheaply from eBay. Most of them I haven't done even once. But today I did one called "Get Chiseled". It was pretty good. It was definitely no Body Pump class by any means, but I don't think I'll be as sore tomorrow for it either.

After the 40 minute DVD, I decided I wasn't satisfied and 245 calories wasn't nearly enough for me today so I ran 2 miles on the treadmill. I had on the wrong shoes and I wasn't wearing my normal spandex so my fat thighs were rubbing together in a very uncomfortable way, but after I finished I had the feeling of satisfaction I was looking for.

Speaking of Jillian Michaels, I found out the other day that The Biggest Loser premiere is coming up in just over a month (September 15th). I can't wait! That show has been so inspirational for me and I'm sure millions of other people.

Non-Scale Victory!

Daily Activity: 45 Mins on Elliptical (4 APs)

Today we went out shopping because I desperately needed some new pants. All the ones I have are literally hanging off of me. I remember buying them not too long ago and they were very snug. I've been trying to shop at cheap places for clothes because I am going through them so quickly. Some I haven't even gotten to wear more than once before they are too baggy.

Anyway, we went to TJ Maxx and Ross today and I bought a couple pairs of size 12 jeans. 12! I haven't worn size 12's in over 10 years! Its hard to believe that I've gone from a size 22 to a size 12 in 6 months. I literally did a happy dance in the dressing room.

Tonight we went over to a friends house and had a cookout. They were so thoughtful and called me several times to ask what kind of meat I wanted, vegetables, etc. I ended up having grilled chicken breast with spinach and mushrooms on top, with stir fryed veggies and some mashed potatoes (with butter and sour cream). I couldn't be completely boring!

I'm a little worried that the sodium from the soy sauce in the stir fry my effect my weigh-in in the morning, but it'll be ok. I just thought it was thoughtful of them to do something so healthy for me.

Here are a couple pictures of me in my new size 12's:

Just Overweight!

Daily Activity: Ran 5 miles (6.5 APs)

I have always hated exercising. My entire life I can remember doing this diet, or that diet, counting fat grams, counting calories, counting carbs, etc. Of all the times in my life I've tried to lose weight the large majority of those times I focused strictly on controlling what I ate (or didn't eat is more like it). I rarely exercised. There was one point when I was in high school that I ran a little bit, but I hated every second of it. I have always had the outlook that I would "rather starve myself than workout".

When I started Weight Watchers (this time around) I originally started only paying attention to what I ate, as usual. I wasn't working out, or even being active in any way other than the walking I do up and down the hallways at work. For some reason I got really interested in Wii Fit though. I thought maybe it would be a way that I could get in some exercise that might actually be fun. So my husband bought it for me and I "played" so much the first day that I was actually sore. I kept that up for about 2 months, and between that and Weight Watchers I started really losing some weight.

Once I realized that exercising can actually be fun, I decided I needed to step it up a notch. So we joined the YMCA and started doing the elliptical and eventually spinning and running on the treadmill. But the point is that I would have never made that step without the thing that originally sparked my interest in exercise. Which was the Wii Fit.

It seems silly now because I doubt anything I could do on Wii Fit would bring my heart rate above 100 these days. But I loved getting up and weighing in everyday and doing my 30 minutes of boxing, hula hoop, or the step aerobics (my personal fave). When you step on the scale it tells you your weight and BMI and then tells you if you are underweight, normal, overweight or obese. Mine of course always said "That's OBESE!"

I stopped using the Wii Fit a long time ago, but occasionally I still like to get on and weigh and see how my weight and my BMI have changed over time. Today I got on just for the heck of it and I got a nice suprise, instead of obese it said "Thats Overweight!" As a matter of fact my BMI has dropped from 40 to 29.

I never thought I'd be happy to be overweight, but atleast its just overweight and not obese.

Is a Plateau Coming?

Daily Activity: None (too freakin sore)

So as you can see I didn't work out today. I can barely walk. I thought doing the spin classes last night would help stretch my muscles out and decrease the soreness from the Body Pump class I did on Monday. WRONG! All it did was make me much much worse. So, lesson learned.

Its not that I feel like I have to workout every single day. I realize that isn't necessary. I just like to do it whenever I feel up to it. If I feel like working out 12 days in a row, then thats what I'm going to do. But I'm not gonna beat myself up when I need to take a day or 2 off either.

I think from now on when I do strength training to the point where I'm sore the next day I'll definitely take that day off and not even consider working out. Hopefully though if I keep up with the strength training it will get to the point where I don't get sore doing it.

For some reason I've had this feeling lately that I'm about to hit a weightloss plateau. I don't really know what makes me think that. Perhaps its because I only lost .6 lbs this past week, or that today when I peeked at the scale I was actually .6 above what I was on Monday or what. But I feel it coming.

So today I researched what to do when you hit a plateau and I found the Wendie Plan. Which I've actually known about before, but had forgotten. Its no magic regimine or anything, its basically just alternating high, low and medium point days to trick your body by shaking things up.

I've found 2 ways of thinking on the topic. One thought is that you should follow this strict points schedule ... eat this many this day, that many that day, etc. And the other train of thought is that you should make your high days the days you are hungrier, and low days the days you aren't as hungry and let your body guide how much you eat that day within your point range. Ultimately, you should end up eating the same amount of points per week either way.

I'm not sure which school of thought I'm a fan of just yet. I like the idea of letting your body naturally control which days are your higher days based on your hunger level, but on the other hand I'm a very structuralized (is that a word?) individual and I like having a plan and sticking to it.

I'm saving the Wendie plan as my secret weapon when I confirm that I've definitely hit a plateau. From everything I've read everyone has had great success with it, even after many weeks of no losses.

A Message From an Old Friend

Daily Activity: 2 Spin Classes (8 APs)

I got this message on Facebook today. I was taking a nap when she messaged me so I didn't get a chance to respond, but it made me happy none the less.

You know, it hit me a while back that when I saw you at the gym and you said who you were and I looked at you all funny....later I realized who you were. It wasn't that I didn't remember you... I just didn't recognize you because you'd lost so much weight since I'd seen you last. You look awesome, and I know it's been a lot of hard work and dedication! Congratulations!

Going to do back to back spinning tonight if my legs will hold up after Body Pump yesterday. I'm super sore, but I think I can do it.

Making another delicious Crockpot Recipe tonight: Chicken Thighs with Corn and Green Chiles. (4 points/serving)

Moo Shu Chicken Recipe Review & Another Goal Met

Daily Activity: Body Pump (3.5 APs)

Well, I did it. I went to the Body Pump class that I promised myself that I would do. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I wrote in a previous blog about how I've been stuck in a rut with my exercise routines. I've done nothing but cardio, cardio, cardio because I absolutely HATE strength training and weights. But I made a goal for myself to go to atleast 1 Body Pump class during the month of August.

I went to the Y planning on doing my normal elliptical routine tonight. When I got there a girl that I made friends with in our spinning class asked me about coming to Body Pump. I initially said no, because I wanted to go to my first Body Pump class when Tim was there to go with me. But she told me how good the instructor was that was teaching and I remembered my vow to myself, so I agreed to go. She was so nice to help me get all of my weights together and everything that I would need for the class.

I was in the front row of the class, which I would have never done if I had made the choice myself. It was really hard and I felt really out of place most of the time. My form SUCKED! I was really trying to concentrate on just making it through without looking like a complete douche. Everything was going ok, until we started doing lunges. I don't know what the problem was but my legs were shaking so bad it was obvious and I kept losing my balance. You'd think I'd have more thigh strength considering how much I run, do the elliptical, and spin.

All in all, I'm glad I went. I know I need to keep going so that I can gain strength. I'm going to seriously make an effort to continue working on my strength on a semi-regular basis. And eventually maybe even a real regular basis.

Tonight for dinner I made Hungry Girl Moo Shu Chicken. If you have never heard of Hungry Girl, be sure to check out the website. There are also 2 Hungry Girl cookbooks availabe. I find the recipes to be really good for individuals who are cooking for themselves or for one other person. They aren't usually very "family friendly" recipes. Some of the ingredients are quite strange, some of the recipes are quite strange, but there are some real jewels also.

I won't go into all the details of how to make this recipe since I provided the link, but here are the ingredients you will need:

Chicken breast, Broccoli Slaw, Bean Sprouts, Pepper, Corn Starch, Straw Mushrooms, Garlic, Rice Vinegar, Soy Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, and tortillas (not pictured).

Follow the directions in the recipe and you will have something that looks like this:

Cut a couple tortillas in half and microwave them for about 15 seconds, then spread a little Hoisin sauce on them and top with 1/3 cup of the Moo Shu mixture. Don't skip the Hoisin sauce, it really makes the dish.

One thing I love about this recipe besides the fact that its just good is that it tastes really fresh and not heavy at all. It would be a great lunch if you have time to make it mid-day, or make the mixture ahead and just wrap up the tortillas when you are ready. It is also a great recipe to get your veggies in!

That is all for tonight.

Its Monday again ... you know what that means.

Its weigh-in day! I'm not so excited this morning though. I knew from the times that I peeked at the scale this week that today wasn't going to be great. I am down 0.6 lbs to 176.0, and an official 84 lbs lost. I'm thrilled that I lost weight at all of course, and I realize that more than half a pound is fine, but I don't feel like it reflects my effort this week. I ran 5 miles yesterday for God's sake! LOL

The only time I can think of this week that I strayed was the night we went out for sushi. Too much sodium perhaps? Or maybe there is an inconsistancy in the time of day I weighed. Last Monday I had to weigh in the afternoon because I had worked Sunday night, and today I weighed in the morning.

Oh well ... whatever. Its over now. And the scale is still moving in the right direction, which is the most important thing of all. On to the next week!

Chicken Cacciatore Recipe, A Challenge and a VICTORY!

Daily Activity: Ran 5 Miles!!! (6 APs)

I'll start with the recipe I made for dinner tonight. It was Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore, which is a complete bitch to spell by the way. I'm still not even sure I got it right, but you get the point. Tim bought me this Slow Cooker book from Books-a-Million a while back that was in the super -super -extra clearance- like we might just give it to you for free -area. It has produced some really great recipes though and one of them is this Chicken Cacciatore.

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this dish:

A pile of chicken drumsticks, skin removed.

Diced tomatoes, Red wine, Tomato paste, Minced garlic, 2 onions, parsley, and thyme (last 3 not shown).

1. Heat 2 Tbsp Olive oil in a large skillet. Brown chicken on all sides for about 7-8 minutes total. Remove chicken to crockpot.

2. Slice 2 onions. Cook in remaining oil until onions become slightly golden brown.






3. Add minced garlic (I didn't measure, maybe about 1 1/2 Tbsp), 2/3 cup red wine, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, thyme (fresh or dried, again I didn't measure), and fresh parsley to skillet.

4. Bring all ingredients to a boil and add to crockpot with drumsticks. It should look something like that pile of delicousness to the left.

5. Cook in crockpot on low for 5 hours. I think this dish is traditionally served with pasta but I just served the chicken with the sauce and a side salad to reduce the points.

I didn't take any pictures of the finished product because honestly it didn't look very picturesque, but it tasted pretty damn good. Well ... I thought it was pretty good, but Tim made obscene noises while he ate so I'll round that out to .. pretty damn good. I also made some homemade potato bread in the bread maker to serve along side.

The Chicken Cacciatore is 4 points/serving. Each serving is one drumstick. Pretty decent!

On to other news:

We cleaned out our deep freezer today, and we have a ridiculous amount of food we didn't even realize we had. I didn't count but I would say that we had about 40 or so Lean Cuisines, Lean Pockets, etc. We had countless packs of frozen chicken breast, thighs, tenders, porkchops ... and on and on. We decided we are going to try to make it to the end of the month without shopping for meat or frozen vegetables. At first I was going to try to not go grocery shopping at all, but obviously having a child in the house we are going to need certain things, and we'll definitely need fresh fruit and fresh vegetables from time to time. But I'm really going to make an effort to plan our meals around the things we have in our freezer.

I tried to make an inventory on this program that I downloaded called Living Cookbook, but it turned out to be way too time consuming and frustrating, so I gave up. Does anyone have any good programs they can recommend for compiling all my recipes into one program? I'd love something that tells you the nutrition info, makes grocery list, and keeps an inventory of items on hand. Is that asking too much?

I also ran 5 miles tonight!! I mentioned in a previous blog how I never could quite make it to that point. Well tonight I decided I was going to run 5 miles or die trying! Its amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day. So far things aren't looking so good for this week as far as the scale goes. But I'll let you know the official results in the morning.

Daily Activity: Bike riding in the park (4.5 APs)

Today was a very busy but wonderful day. I got up at 7:30 this morning (on Saturday!) to get everything packed and ready for our picnic/biking day at the park. Last night before bed I made turkey and ham wraps for our picnic with fresh vegetables and ranch dip, salsa and baked Tostitos, and fresh fruit.

Lincoln had Gymboree class this morning, so I rushed to get everything in the car and packed for that, plus a change of clothes and everything we needed to spend the day in the park.

Nothing every goes as smoothly for me as I feel like it should with all my planning and preparation. We were 15 minutes late to Gymboree (as usual), then after class I realized I didn't pack sunscreen so we whipped over to Target to get some, and I hit a car in the parking lot when I was pulling in to the parking space. Of course the woman would happen to be sitting in the car when I hit it. So we exchanged information and I set off to get my sunscreen. Lincoln screamed just about the entire time we were in the store. I've definitely learned to ignore all the stares from the childless people who are no doubt thinking, "can't you control your child?". Well no, I can't ... and good luck to you when its your turn!

Finally we make it to the park, and Lincoln is asleep in the carseat. We spend 15 or 20 minutes getting all the bikes out and setting everything up while Lincoln sleeps with the car running so he wouldn't get too hot. We test out our new bike trailer and as Tim is riding around I notice his tire is completely flat. Of course we forgot the tire pump at home, so Tim had to take everything apart, load the bikes back in his truck and go to the gas station to fill everything.

Eventually Lincoln woke up and we did get to ride our bikes. It was so much fun! We rode around for about 30 minutes, and then stopped for our picnic and rode about 30 minutes more afterwards. I burned 484 calories just riding around the park! I'm so happy that we did this. I know it seems like an incredibly simple thing, but I would have never done it in my "past life". I love my new active lifestyle!

Lincoln really enjoyed feeding the ducks. He laughed so hard at them while they attempted to choke down the bread we fed them.

After our day at the park we dropped Lincoln off at his grandma's and decided to go see the movie Julie & Julia. It was awesome! It was almost perfect except that I had to pee so bad I could barely take in a deep breath.

Tim and I were the youngest people in the theater by atleast 30 years. I guess that was to be expected though. I definitely recommend seeing this movie if you are a "foodie" like me. But a word of advice ... don't go hungry!

Sushi Splurge!

Daily Activity: Elliptical 5APs

Tonight Tim, Lincoln, and I went out for sushi. I've been craving it and I'm almost to weigh-in day and I still had 13 daily points and 21 weekly points left. Sushi can be really healthy and low in points if you know what to order. My problem is that I love sushi way too much. I could literally eat my weight in sushi, and the ones I choose generally aren't the most point friendly options. Tonight I did try to be fairly conscious of what I was ordering and kept a running tab of my points as I ate. I also ordered water with lemon instead of my normal Long Island Iced Tea.

So I had a small salad with ginger dressing, broth soup, 3 pieces of shrimp tempura (didn't plan on that one, Tim ordered it!), 8 pieces of Albacore nigiri, 4 pieces of California roll, and Hibachi scallops, shrimp and vegetables. It sounds like ALOT of food, and trust me ... it was. But like I said I had the points to burn before Monday anyway. I was proud of myself for ordering my dinner without fried rice. They actually ended up bringing it anyway, but I gave it to Lincoln to eat and I didn't touch it.

That huge meal ended up costing me 29 points. I realize that is alot, but it definitely could have been worse. And I still have 6 weekly points left over after all of that.

After dinner we went to the sporting goods store and bought a trailer thingy that Lincoln can ride in behind our bikes. Tomorrow we are planning on going out to the park for a picnic and some bike riding. I'm really excited. We haven't gotten to ride our bikes but once so far since I bought mine. I also bought a Nike t-shirt that I thought was cute. It says: Suffer now, Strut later. I might wear it tomorrow if it fits. I bought a size large and didn't try it on, so we'll see. Large is really exciting when you are used to seeing 2 X's infront of it normally!

Vacation!

Daily Activity: Spinning (x2) 7.5 APs

Its official! Tim and I booked our fall vacation today. We are going to Gatlinburg, TN in October for 5 days and 4 nights. I'm very excited to be going on vacation for the second time this year. When I was a kid my family always went on two vacations a year: the beach in the summer for a week and the mountains in the fall or winter. I really want to start similar traditions for our son, Lincoln.

Tim and I have been married for 7 1/2 years and we haven't been on any real vacations at all since our Puerto Rico honeymoon. One of the main reasons for this is because I never wanted to go anywhere because I was so embarassed about my weight and the way I looked. I definitely never wanted to go to the beach and be seen in a swimsuit. We went to Six Flags once and Tim at that time weighed about 350 pounds and couldn't fit on most of the rides, so I rode everything by myself. He was embarassed and I was lonely. It wasn't a good time for either of us.

Now that we have lost a significant amount of weight, I'm feeling alot more energy and desire to go out and live life to the fullest.

I normally don't like to say "I want to lose x amount of weight in y amount of time" because I don't like setting time limits on my weightloss, but I think I might make an exception for our mountain trip to help keep me motivated. I'd like to lose 1.5 pounds per week between now and when we leave for our vacation on October 29th. That would put me at 158 lbs by that date. That seems so small! That would also put me just over 100 pounds of weight lost. I'm going for it!

Its Weigh-In Day Again

Down 3.6 lbs this week! I'm at 176, and have lost 84 pounds. I haven't had much time to write in the last couple of days because I've been working. I'm a Labor and Delivery nurse and I work 12 hour night shifts from 7pm to 7am. All I do on the days I have to work is sleep, run on the treadmill and get ready to go right back to work. I'll write soon though. Off to run on the treadmill now. I'm going to try to knock out 4 miles before work.