Week 50 HYC Check In

Weight: 223

Healthy You Challenge Goals for Week 50:
1. Journal all my food
2. Stay on plan
3. 64+ ounces water per day
4. Earn 20 APs
5. Walk minimum of 25 minutes, 7 days
6. Run minimum of 20 minutes, 3 days
7. Minimum 50 ab crunches, 7 days
8. Eat 5 fruit/veg servings per day, 7 days

I'll be posting something longer hopefully today, but I'm trying very hard to get back on track. I think I know what my problem has been and I'll share that with you guys in that post.

I'm going to try 1 old thing - posting all my food, and 1 new thing - taking food pics. I love looking at Angie's blog and seeing all that beautiful food. It looks so wholesome. I think taking pics and posting them will also force me to eat healthier as I won't want you guys to see me eating crap will I?

I'll be in a class for work Wed-Fri this week, so I'm not sure how much I will be able to photo without being a weirdo, but I'll see what I can do.

I set goals that I should be able to attain this week, and that should net me a couple pound loss. Wish me luck!

Week 34 HYC Check In

Checking in after about 2 months away...

As you may have noticed, I've been gone for a while. I'll go more into this later (tomorrow hopefully), but basically I traveled for business for most of a month during which I worked insane hours in a town where the food choices are very limited. I did ok for that month, up and down about 6 pounds.

When I got back home, the hurricanes (Gustav and Ike) resulted in 2 of my projects getting jammed up with 2 others. I just thought the hours were crazy until October! I ended up working hours like 5 am to 7:30 pm and then 6 to 8 hours on both Saturday and Sundays. Again, more bad eating and worse, no exercise. Seriously, I haven't been able to go running in well over a month. I think I went once. There were only a few days when I got home before dark, and all but 2 of them I was so tired that I just went to bed.

Anyway, long and short of it is - I've been eating poorly, not drinking enough water, and getting virtually no exercise for way too long. I've gained some weight back, but not all of it. I'm not going to weigh myself this week because I think I need to be completely positive for a while. I may not weigh next week either. I will commit to blogging my food so that you guys can keep me on track. It worked for me in the past, I know it will work this time as well. As for the exercise, I'm still working some long hours (10-12 hours a day) until Thanksgiving anyway. I think I finally can get away long enough at lunch to walk for 30 minutes - I brought my shoes today, but I couldn't get away. I am really upset about the running. I was up to almost 3 miles in August and was planning on running a 5K on Thanksgiving. I probably couldn't run 5 blocks right now. Total bummer to have lost all that fitness. Anyway, I am hoping to get my treadmill in on Saturday so keep your fingers crossed. I hate that I have to start all over, but what can I do about it?

So guys, I'm calling on you all for support. I really need it to get back on track here. Once I've made it 2 weeks without going off plan, I know that I will be steady again. Until then, I need your help.

Well, lunch is over - gotta get to a meeting. Here's my food for today:

Breakfast:

4 pts 1c Kashi Go Lean w/Kroger Lite Vanilla yogurt

Snack:

1 Banana

Lunch:

13 Brown rice pilaf w/red beans
1 Salad with 1 t. Ranch

That's 19 pts . I'm having an orange for an afternoon snack, and then I have 6 points for dinner. I'll update all that tomorrow. I'm doing 26 points and trying to not use any flex in this week 1.

I won't earn any APs today - Does exercising my right to vote count for points? lol

I have had 2 veg and 1 fruit so far. Will have 1 more with the orange later, and 2+ in a salad tonight. So I'm doing good there.

I'm behind on water, so I'm going to fill up my glass now.

Wish me luck guys! It's good to be back.

HYC Week 30 Check In & Goals

Weight: 203 Check out the new trophy in my case!

Hello all!

I am back after a long, and much needed, break. More about that in another post. Suffice it to say that I am refocused and ready to get back to work and get serious about knocking off my remaining 60 pounds.

One thing I have learned from experience is that my success is dependent upon setting achievable goals that I know will get me where I want to go. Otherwise, I'm just wandering aimlessly, getting nowhere really.

Here are my HYC Goals for Week 30:

Goal	Status
Water 64+ oz 7/7	0/7
Journal food 7/7	0/7
Stay on plan 7/7	0/7
Run 30 min per day 4/4	0/4
Earn 25 AP's 25/25	0/25
Take vitamins 7/7	0/7
5 fruits/veg 4/4	0/4
Pushup Challenge 3/3	0/3
200 Crunches 200/200	0/200

This sounds like a lot, but it should be achievable. I often find that I do better when I have more to do than when I have less to do. Is that strange?

Anyway, my real focus is to stick to these goals with the hope of hitting 199 over the next 2 weeks. I think that's realistic. I guess we'll see.

I may be posting daily achievements to keep me on track and accountable. That's helped me in the past.

Can't wait to catch up on all of your blogs.

Week 25 HYC Check In

As you may, or may not, have noticed I've been away for a few days. I don't have to tell any fellow blogger that rarely means that it's because we're just working the program so hard we didn't have time to write. I got a little off track for a few days. Not sure why, although it's TOM and I have had the emotional symptoms of that pretty bad for a few days - all antsy, hungry, and mean - really, ask DH if you don't believe me ;)

Anyway, I really didn't do anything bad or eat a bunch of junk, I just didn't do most of the things I normally do. I was fine up until Friday afternoon. Since then I didn't drink all of my water some days, didn't get my 5 fruits/veg every day, didn't journal, didn't 'officially' count points, etc... I did keep rough track in my head, just didn't feel like writing it down. I also did NOT weigh myself today as TOM has my guts feeling all heavy and swollen. After being off track for a few days, I did not need any mental crap to deal with. I am back today counting, writing, fruiting/vegging, hydrating, etc... so I have already moved on.

Things did go pretty well on the exercise front at least. On Friday I met one of my BIG personal mini goals. Are you ready........

I RAN 30 MINUTES WITHOUT STOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It wasn't even that hard!

I was so excited I just couldn't believe I had really done that. I remember when we first started exercising and we would huff and puff up this one really big hill. More often than not, runner-guy (that's what we call him) would run past us up the hill and then once or twice more before we'd made the big park loop. I remember saying, "That's ok. One day I will run the entire park loop, including the hills." When I said it, I only kind of believed it, but I kept saying it just the same. It was so cool to actually achieve that goal. Saturday I just walked because neither of us felt well, and I wanted to give my legs a well-deserved rest. Sunday we didn't do anything but chores. Now you know how obsessive my personality is, so you can guess what I did last night. I had told myself that I wasn't going to do the 30 again for a week, and instead go back to interval runs - upping the time. Well, last night I got to worrying that it was all some kind of fluke and that I couldn't REALLY run 30 minutes straight. So I did it again - 32 minutes actually, just for good measure - just to prove I can really do it. I am still in shock. I think I will only do the 30 once a week and do the intervals the other days. I don't want to risk injury, and I think the interval training is helping. I have actually chilled and am only running M/W/F/Sa now, and walking or doing some other exercise the other days. I think I've proven to my stupid brain that I actually do better when I don't run every day.

Not so good news on the 100 Pushup Challenge. I actually forgot to do them on Wednesday and Friday. Seriously. Is that not sad? I guess I need to write it in my journal. I was going to start over yesterday, but we moved a sectional sofa on Sunday and I hurt my left bicep. The right one is just sore - like I moved a couch - but the left feels like I actually HURT it. It hurts just to touch it. My elbow on that arm hurts also. So pushups, even girly ones, are out until it heals. I am planning to re-start that program on Monday.

So, that's it. Sorry it's so long. Hope you all had a good week.

Here are my Week 25 goals - which I promise to work a little harder this time:

Goal	Status
Water 64+ oz 7/7	0/7
Journal food 7/7	0/7
5 fruits & veg 7/7	0/7
Stay on plan 7/7	0/7
Run 30 min per day 4/4	0/4
Earn 30 AP's 30/30	0/30

HYC Check In - Week 24

Weight: 207 (-3)

Well the 206 didn't stick, but I ate late again last night, so maybe it'll be back. I'll gladly take the 207 which puts me 8 pounds down from the fake weight that scale boy gave me last Wednesday, and 3 pounds down from what I'm pretty sure I really weighed which was 210. I had weighed 210 every day that week except WI day - and now that it's a week later and I'm 207 I'm even more convinced that I really weighed 210 because it's hard to believe I lost 8 pounds. Anyway 3 pounds sounds good and I'll take it.

I did good on my HYC goals for Week 23. Here's the final status report:

Goal	Status
Water 64+ oz 7/7	7/7
Journal food 7/7	7/7
5 fruits & veg 7/7	6/7
Stay on plan 7/7	7/7
Run 30 min per day 4/4	6/4
Earn 30 AP's 30/30	36/30

I actually hit every goal except for the 5 fruits/veg. I had one day where I was short by 3. But 6 out of 7 days for me is still most excellent.

So I am awarding myself the following:





Not too bad huh? Looking forward to checking in on all of you.

Weekend update...

Well, I've done pretty well this week. Scale boy seems to actually be reflecting that too. He's been giving me progressively smaller numbers over the last few days. This morning, he actually said 206! I don't know if that will stick or not, but I sure hope it does. That would put me only 7 pounds away from One-derland - where I so long to take up permanent residence.

I actually decided to take Saturday off from exercising. I decided early in the day, so I didn't feel like I just lazed out - it was a decision that I actively made. I know I sound a little obsessive - because I am - about the exercise thing. It's just that I'm so determined not to lose any ground on the progress I've made, or risk slipping into a non-exercising slump. So, decision made, I enjoyed giving my shrinking body a well-deserved rest.

I almost ended up missing running last night - that had miss obsessive freaked out let me tell you - because DH kept f*cking around and it got late. Then he got a phone call that he really did have to take, and that took about 40 minutes. It was 8pm then and he didn't want to go any more. I was going to take Turnip (my agressive little pride 'n joy) with me and go alone, but DH then decided he didn't want me going there alone so he came with and sat on the tailgate making sure no one got me while I was running. Since I took Saturday off, I was determined to do my 3 10/1's. My legs were not so sure. It was like running through molasses. 3 minutes into the 2nd 10 I was already making deals with myself about only running for 20 minutes, or maybe at least splitting it up into 5's or 6's. When it actually came time to the end of the 2nd 10, my obsessive voice overpowered my old fat voice and said, "Are you kidding me? You're not going backwards to running 20 minutes. Just for that, you'll do 35. Do you have anything to say about that, cause we can keep adding minutes if that's what you want?" So, fat-voice shut up and my legs somehow kept running for a 3rd 10 minutes. After 1 minute walking, I did another 5 minutes just to show me who was boss. Also, I had it in my head that I needed to get 6 APs...

I have done pretty well on the HYC challenge except that was one short of getting my 5 fruits/vegs in yesterday. Poop! Other than that, I've done well.

64+ oz water - CHECK
journal food - CHECK
5 fruits/veg - 4/5 days
stay on plan - CHECK
Run 30 min 4/7 days - CHECK (5/7 days so far)
Earn 30 APs - CHECK

Also today I am starting my 100 pushup challenge. I'll be starting with girl pushups because I can't do even 1 of the other kind. I'm ashamed to say that I can only do a couple of girl ones. I'm getting ready to run to the grocery at lunch to pick up some lunch stuff for the week. When I return I'll shut the door and get started on them. Hope no one walks in to see me on the floor in my skirt doing girly pushups and looking (I'm sure) like I'm gonna die. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm so exicted to see so many familiar names on the challenge list. This is going to be great!

Gotta go now - wish me luck on staying at 206 or lower for WI tomorrow!

So far so good...

Weight: 209

OMG, I accidentally typed that as 290 the first time! What would you think of me then if I actually gained 80 pounds since yesterday. Better question, what would you think of scale boy?

Anyway, I was happy to see the 209 this morning - so happy I'm not even upset to give up a point. I'm at 25 points as of today instead of 26. Woohoo!

Started out to do an 'easy' run (I swear I don't know who I am any more) last night. I've been trying to stick to the 3 10/1's on M/W/F/Sa and do 30 min of running, but in easier increments on Tu/Th/Su. Anyway, I was planning on doing 6 5/1's, then I started thinking how if I did 6/1's I'd only have to do 5 intervals instead of 6. So I decided on 6, but when I looked at my watch, I had already run almost 7 without realizing it (again - who am I?) so then I had one minute to make a decision. I decided to do 4 7/1's and a final 2 min run. The first 7 went really easy. I was relaxed and it was no biggie. The 2nd one was a little harder, and the last one passed being fun at about the 3 min mark. All that said, I completed it and that's what matters. The workout also included about 15 min of brisk walking for a total of 45 min exercise.

Ate late again last night, but it was pretty light. DH had bar-b-qued chicken breasts before I got home, so all I had to do was nuke it and pour some salad out of a bag - et Voila! It was really good. I looked it up and had plenty of points, so I ate the delicious crispy skin and all. YUMMY!

HYC Checkup

64+oz water - CHECK
journal food - CHECK
5 fruits/veg - CHECK
stay on plan - CHECK
Run 30 min 4/7 days - 3 days so far
Earn 30 AP's - 18/30 earned so far

In other news, I found this new challenge that I'm going to start next week. It's like the couch to 10K only for pushups. At the end, you should be able to do 100 pushups without stopping. For me, this will be like having a heavy sofa on top of me to a 10K, since when I did the test I could only muster one decent push up - and decent is probably being kind. Anyway, I've always hated not having any upper body strength, and I am planning on wearing a slinky dress to the Christmas party this year. It would be nice to get more fit and have a killer back and arms for the dress. I'm slightly skeptical of this one, but then again it's only been 2 months that I went from barely being able to run 1 minute to being able to run 10 with relative ease. For any of you who want to join me in this foolishness, here's the link: http://hundredpushups.com/index.html

Have a great weekend everyone!

My scale and I are trying to work things out...

Weight: 210

Ok, I know I said all those bad things about him, and it's true - he does frequently lie to me and make me feel bad, but this morning he said he was sorry and he seemed so sincere. He also told me I really do weigh 210, and also that I'm looking pretty good these days. What can I say, I'm taking him back - on a trial basis. I did tell him that if he did it again he is out and that I will replace him with a newer, sleeker, more high-tech model. I think he's going to be on his best behavior.

Sorry - feeling a little silly this morning. Must be the fasting. I had my annual exam this morning and it required that I fast and have blood drawn. So it was 9:30 AM before I got to eat breakfast and I'm used to eating between 5:30 and 7:00. I'm a little lightheaded.

As you can see from the above, my scale read 210 this morning. Curious to see how much it's off from the doctor's office scale, I put on my clothes and weighed again so that I could see how much I weigh at home in those clothes and compare it. 213 it said. Strangely, it's not far off. The doc's office scale told me 214. That's good to know. I've always been prepared to add another 2-4 pounds to what i think I weigh because most home scales read lighter than the fancy medical ones. Maybe scale-boy isn't so bad after all. Hmmm.

I changed docs last year when mine was unavailable, and I really like this one. She actually 'talked' to me about things. We talked for about 10 minutes after my exam - I've never had a doc do that. I was 20 lbs lighter this visit than last time, and she was so excited for me. She kept saying, "Way to go! Great job!" She was also really happy to hear about my 7 day a week exercising and had some really nice things to say, as well as recommending a book on nutrition called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Meals/dp/0143038583/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213286134&sr=1-1 which I don't really know too much about, but since I'm trying to eat more natural foods I'm going to check out. Another interesting thing, I found out today that I am shorter than I thought. The thing at the docs office said I am 5' 5", which is what I was in high school. Someone told me in the early 90's that I was 5' 7", but either I shrunk (not the way I want to shrink!) 1.5 ", or they were wrong. Anyway, that means I need to look at some calculations that I have that are partly based on height.

HYC checkup

64+oz water - CHECK
journal food - CHECK
5 fruits/veg - CHECK
Stay on plan - CHECK
Run 30 min 4/7 days - 2 days so far
Earn 30 AP's - 12 of 30 earned

Oh here's something else I'm proud of. I felt really bad when I got home yesterday. I was cranky and tired and just felt like poo in general. Also it was 95 degrees and humid. I did not feel like working out at all, especially since Wednesday is one of my regular run/walk days and I'm working on the 10 min intervals now. My husband even suggested that we take a day off. I have only missed 2 days exercise I think in about 3 months, so I just couldn't. I said that I would go, but I didn't think I was going to do my 3 10/1's. DH suggested I walk. Well, by the time I got out there, my obsessive personality had taken over and I ended up doing the 3 10/1's anyway. The first one was actually almost effortless even. The last 2 were a right b*tch, but I did them anyway. It may not have looked pretty, or been fast, but I maintained a jogging motion moving generally forward at all times just the same. It was ugly running, but it was still running. I was so proud of myself. In my old life, I was always the fat girl with all the excuses. Now my inner voice is pushing me forward instead of pushing me down. It's like the good voice and the bad voice have switched places - or the power they have shifted. Geez, reading that back I sound like a schizo or something with all the 'voices' talk. Oh well, if this is crazy, I'll take a second helping please :)

I am looking forward to getting my bloodwork results in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know if there's any improvement. In the mean time, I feel fit, well fed, and in control.

Life is good today ladies. I hope you all have wonderful days as well.

Week 23 HYC Check In - 215

215. Well crap!

I'm so mad at my scale. It had the nerve to tell me I gained 5 pounds last week. That little lying piece of s....

Anyway, I don't see how it could be true. I had that night I told you about, but I did not eat ten thousand extra calories over plan. That was Wednesday and I did pretty well with staying on plan Thursday through yesterday. Also, I ran 30 minutes a day, every day but Sunday. Yesterday I actually did 3 10/1 intervals at that hilly-ass park.

I did NOT gain 5 pounds. Did I? No, I really don't think I did. I did end up eating dinner late yesterday, and it was on the salty side (sausage - healthy turkey low fat sausage, but that's probably still salty), and I didn't do that well on water at all while I was in Dallas. They only let me out 3 times a day, and I cannot drink the amount of water I drink and make it with only 3 tinkle breaks in 9 hours. We were out of the good water at home, and I left my water cup at home on Monday. Sorry excuses I know, but it added up to me not getting all the water I should. I'm really hoping that has something to do with it.

I'm nothing if not honest though, so I did update my numbers - even my badge was exchanged for a 25 pound one (sniff sniff). Full disclosure. I have posted my Week 23 HYC goals, and I am gritting my teeth and trudging on. Even if it turns out I really did defy the laws of science and gain 5 pounds for real, I REFUSE to be knocked down. It's like yesterday, I was 3 min from completing my 3rd 10 min run and still had the biggest hill in the park to run up. It was so hot and humid and my legs were really tired. It was hard. That made me mad for some reason, so I started running faster. I ran up that hill as fast as I could. It really made me feel better.

I will do this. I may get pushed back, but I will not be pushed down. I will keep eating right, drinking my water, journaling, and running. I won't quit no matter what that *(@%ing scale says. I'm going to give it a talking to tonight, and it had better get it's sh*t together by tomorrow morning or I'm liable to take a hammer to it. Wonder how many APs that would burn?

Can't wait to read all of your blogs. I need some inspiration.

Me - 1, Hills - 0

First, my HYC Goals checkup:

• 64+ oz water 7 days 2/7
• Journal food 7 days 2/7
• Stay on plan 7 days 2/7
• 4/1 intervals 4 days 1/4
• Earn 29 APs 7/29
• Blog 4 days 2/4

Now, on to my big news....

So I told you that Monday I bumped up on my running plan from 3/1 intervals to 4/1 intervals. I did really well, but I did them at the bird sanctuary which is mostly flat. I kept thinking to myself, "yeah, but wait until I try it at the park" which is really hilly. Remember the awful time I had the first time I did the 3/1's and had to go back to doing 2/1's for another week? So I was kind of dreading the run last night at the hilly park, because I feared a repeat of that other incident where I huffed and puffed and suffered when I tried to increase my running time. Also, this is Houston. As Viv and Grumpy Chair can attest, it was hot and really humid yesterday afternoon.

Guess what? I did it! I did it good! There were only a few moments (running uphill for 4 min at a time) where I had to slow down in order to keep going. It wasn't that hard. I could not f'ing believe it. I still can't. I guess at some point I'm going to have to stop allowing those "this is going to suck" thoughts. I was out there doing it without looking like I might die any moment. AND I finished the 30 minutes way ahead (distance-wise) than I did with the 3/1's. I guess that means I must actually run faster than I walk - I walk fast, so that still surprises me. When I was a kid, I got paired with a boy to run the President's Challenge thing (that thing we did in the 60's/early 70's) and he kept complaining to the teacher that I ran too slow. I've always thought of myself as a slowpoke, so I just assumed my running would never be fast no matter how good I got. Now I am open to the possibility that I might not be that slow after all. We'll just see. That stupid little boy is probably fat and bald now. And that evil teacher who paired me up with a boy is probably long dead. I would be lying if I said I didn't snicker a little at that. ;)

So, I gotta run. I just had to tell you guys!

Week 21 HYC Goals

It worked so well last week, here I go again...

Water 64+ oz 7/7 days
Journal all food 7/7 days
Stay on plan 7/7 days
Run/walk 4/1 intervals 4/4 days
Blog enty days 4/4 days
Activity Points for Week 21 29 APs

I'm modifying the exercise goals because although I plan to exercise 45 min per day minimum 7/7 days, the weather may make that difficult on some days. I'm going to allow myself to 'make up' time if I need to on the weekends.

Wish me luck!

HYC Week 20 Goals - Results

Just a quick post (a day late) to update my results for Week 20 HYC goals:


Goal Checkup for Week 20
Drink 64+ oz water 7/7
Journal all meals and snacks 7/7
Stay on plan 7/7
Run/walk program 3/1 intervals - 4/4
Minimum 45 minutes moderate exercise 3/4 only 20 min on Sunday DH not well - did exercise every day though
Earn minimum 29 activity points by end of day Monday May 26 - 32/29 APs earned
Minimum 4 blog entries - 4/4

So, all in all, I did pretty well. I'll spare you all of the tiny details. I ate almost all of my APs. I think I had one or two I didn't eat. I went into my Flex Points by 20 - but that's not bad considering I did go out on Saturday and drink some beer.

I think this goal thing helped me a lot this past week, so I'm going to keep at it.

Sorry I didn't get to check in yesterday, I was off work and just didn't get to get online at home. I have dial up and I just hate to do it from there. Plus DH hasn't seen my blog yet, andI want to keep it to myself a little longer. I can't wait to catch up with everyone at lunch today.

Week 20 - Healthy You Challenge goals

My goals for this new week are:

• Drink 64+ oz water every day
• Journal all meals and snacks every day
• Stay on plan every day
• Run/walk program 3/1 intervals 4 days
• Minimum 45 minutes moderate exercise 3 days
• Earn minimum 29 activity points by end of day Monday May 26
• Minimum 4 blog entries