Journal: Starting Over

I have had a really rough year between my arthritis and other issues that I are affecting my blood pressure.  We haven't figured out what it is so for now I am on medication.  Between the two my exercise has really dwindled and as a result I have put on about 15 pounds so I am working on losing it again but with severe arthritis it's going to have to be a different routine than what I had before.

During my nuclear stress test I discovered that walking on a treadmill with an incline was actually easy on my knees.  For some reason I thought it would be worse, but it's not.  It is actually better.  So I have been starting by doing some walking.  I am using my journal again to track my exercise so I can keep track and be kept accountable. Here is what it looks like so far this month. 

I have also quit TOPS so I will be doing this on my own.  It wasn't the program that I had trouble with, it was the time.  I had to let one of my clubs go and that was it. So here I am, on my own.  Let the losing begin!

Journal: Happy New Year 2012

Well, I have maintained my weight loss for another year. I did, however, weigh in over my leeway 4 times, but I always got it back off by the next week. I have to admit my exercise really hit a low this year. It's hard to find ways to stay motivated when you don't have to exercise.

I started back on my Couch 2 5K regiment last week. I have tried it a couple of times and by the 4th week or so my knees start to kill me. I am going to move up slower this time. I am going to try to do one set of regiments for an entire month instead of just a week. Maybe my body just needs more time to adjust.

I also ate horribly over the holidays, but I am already back on that track too. I am back to making sure I have a "free" vegetable every day with my meal and am choosing the healthier snack options for my sweet tooth.

I also gave up eating chocolate. It's not even for health reasons. It's because I found out that chocolate tends to come from cocoa farms that use child slavery. I looked and looked for a good fair trade chocolate option and couldn't find one, so instead, I gave up my most beloved food! I haven't gone without it completely, I will have an occasional chocolate treat if a friend makes one or it's at a fellowship dinner or something, but I won't buy it and don't eat it on a what used to be a daily basis. I had to say goodbye to the chocolate fat free pudding cups I loved so much, but it's been fun (though somewhat hard) to find a good alternative.

For now I get my sweet fix with fig bars. They are fat free and only 60 calories. That's a pretty sweet deal and cures my craving. If only didn't have to have something sweet with every meal!

I also DO eat breakfast now. My entire schedule has changed and I get up very early in the morning so waiting to eat until lunch was not very practical. I am glad to have found that I have incorporated it in without putting on the weight. Again, it's making healthy choices and giving up some of the evening snacking I always looked forward to. I haven't really missed those though because I adjusted the time of my other meals which means I eat dinner later and having gotten up early I am off to bed sooner so I don't need as many snacks late at night.

Well, that is my year in summary and my plan for now is to keep on exercising and keep this weight off for yet another year. I hope your weight loss, exercise and healthy living goals were met last year as well, and if they weren't, may they be this year! You can do it!

Journal: Still There!

I really got busy and have had trouble keeping up with all my blogs. Still, I wanted to let you know how things are going. So far I have maintained my goal weight! It's been more than a year and I have not been out of my leeway for TOPS yet, which only allows me to go 3 pounds over my goal. Well, I take that back, I have been over it twice, by 1/4 of a pound each time, but all in all, never being more than 3 1/4 pounds over my goal isn't too shabby!

Recently I have been hanging at that upper end though, so I am really trying to get my exercise routine back on track. It's really not that I have been eating more than I was, it's simply that I am not as active. It's really hard to keep motivated when it's 110 degrees outside, let me tell you! But I have AC so I have been working out indoors.

Well, it's good to be see you, hopefully I can keep this blog hopping a little more! How are you all doing?!

I reached my weight loss goal!!

I am excited to announce that at my last weigh in, I reached my weight loss goal! I am now what TOPS refers to as a KOP which stands for Kept Off Pounds Sensibly, and I intend to do just that. At 159.75 pounds and a height of 5'7" at the age of 42 I think I look and feel great. I really haven't felt this good in a very long time, both physically and emotionally.
I am proud to say that having lost the weight I did not celebrate at all with food. I ate my usual grilled chicken sandwich when we ate out that evening, instead of going ahead and getting a fatty burger. I am also still enjoying the fresh fruits and veggies with each meal. I am not changing how I eat, I will just increase my portions slightly to maintain my weight, rather than lose it. I must confess I did have one slice of dessert on Mother's Day, but I truly have learned that the "sometimes" foods are much more enjoyable when you only eat them "sometimes!"
I just realized that my picture was not taken the day I reached my goal, so I will hopefully have an "after" photo taken this coming Thursday.
I am sorry I have not been blogging lately, this time of year is really hectic for us, and I just haven't had the chance to keep up with much of anything online. I will continue to share my tips and tricks on both losing weight and how to maintain it as things around here slow down.

Journal: Slow getting back on track

I am feeling better but it's still hard for me to get in a good workout. I seem to be so out of shape by just taking a few days off here and there. I can't seem to build the stamina back up as quickly but I am working on it.
It doesn't help that this is my cycle week again, so I could be looking at another bad weigh in. Tie that together with the lack of exercise and I don't know what to expect when I face the scale this week.
What I do know is that I am really working on trying to prioritize some things and it is harder to get my exercise in while doing that. However, when I haven't been "exercising" I have been moving furniture and doing some deep cleaning. My hope is to find that one day where I can really clean the house well, and still manage to get my exercise on other days. It's definitely a work in progress.
I'm looking at getting a hot air popcorn popper to replace my microwave popcorn. I have done that once in the past and the thing died after one month of use. I eat popcorn EVERY night for my TV munchies snack and whatever one I get, it needs to be able to work hard and work often.
Other than that I have just been busy with church work, schooling my daughter and the other usual wife and mother stuff. I still haven't had much time to read blogs, let alone write them. I am missing my encouragement from reading about others. I hope to get to that later this week. Until then, have a great week!

Journal: I'm sick

This is going to be an interesting week. I am fighting a cold and it is starting to drain me. I hopped on the treadmill yesterday and walked a much slower pace than normal but was still not able to make more than 20 minutes. Today I am feeling a little bit better but I don't think I have the strength to exercise.
I also have been craving food these last couple of days. I think it's that "starve a fever, feed a cold thing." My body seems to be craving nutrients. Because of that I did go over my 1400 calories yesterday, but at least it was with healthier foods like fruit and a protein bar. With all these things in mind, I am not expecting a loss this week, but I will be glad if I at least don't gain. I am not sure how today will pan out, for I still feel hungrier than normal.
Of course all of this is on top of the fact that I have a special mom's night where dinner is food brought in by each mom and those nights are HARD to stay in range. We also had a date night where we went to a restaraunt I had no information on. I went with the salmon, but the mashed potatoes were probably really fatty, but they were really good. I tried to eat the section that looked like a 1 cup portion, but it's hard to tell. Their portions were huge! They also didn't have any diet salad dressing! For that I took my dressing on the side and just dipped my fork in it with each bite.
I will just have to see what this week holds. What I do know is that I can't wait to feel better so I can get back to my regular exercise routine soon! I will not let this become the start of the end of a really good thing!

Journal: Hectic Week!

It really has been a hectic week. There have been some added stress and events that came up and therefore I struggled to get my exercise in, but did manage to do it. The problem is that other things seem to suffer, like housework. I am keeping the house picked up, but I sure could use some time to do some extra scrubbing! Trying to prioritize my other activities along with exercise is a goal of mine this next month. I won't give up my exercise time, but surely there is a more productive way to manage the time I have left!
I am a bit worried about my weigh in tonight. I did alright this week but I did eat out twice. While I made good, healthy choices, it is tough to figure out how many calories the products actually are. The restaurants around here are more family owned and not chains, so I can't just get the nutritional information to be sure. I guess we will see how it goes.
I also feel like my exercise has been slacking. While I have been doing it, I haven't been feeling the burn. I can't figure out if that's because I am just not giving it my all, or maybe it's just easier for me. The last couple of days I really hit it hard though, and I sure am feeling it!
I will post my weigh in results tomorrow, so we shall see how it goes. I hope you all are having a great week!