Happy Thanksgiving from Us to You!

Happy Thanksgiving to every one of you! Which, okay, is only like two people who read this...but Happy Thanksgiving to you anyway! We're thankful for so many things and are truly blessed. 

Now...let's have some FOOD!

Post 8 Months: Month 2

I decided that since I've reached my first goal, I really don't need to post every single week. I think it'll be much slower going from here on out, so I'll post every few weeks. I'm not going to do huge posts, just little recaps about my workouts and anything that I've either had a hard time with or something that has really motivated me. For example: watching The Amazing Race while working out on the tread climber is insanely good motivation and makes the time go very fast. Too bad it's only on once a week :-)

The last several weeks I've been getting back into 'tread climber mode'. It's been much easier and more fun than I thought it would be. Last time, I had to literally make myself do it, and a lot of times, even housework made a good excuse not to do it all the time. Well now, I have good headphones, it's right by our open window in the computer room, and I watch some show that I like. I've been doing the workout for the duration of the show: whether that's a 42 minute show on Netflix without commercials or a 45 minute show on The CW with commercials that seem to take forever. My workouts have been between 42 and 55 minutes. I start out at 1.5 mph and gradually increase it to 2ish mph by the time I hit the 5 minute mark. Then, I up it to 2.5 and gradually have been increasing it to 3.2mph around the 20 minute mark. Once I hit 35 or 40 minutes, I start decreasing it again. I've been burning about 400 calories and walking 2 - 2.5 miles in the time frame. It feels so good and I'm getting lots of energy. Not always good since now instead of wanting to go to bed at exactly 10:00, I'm finding myself staying up until 11 or 11:30.

A week ago when I stepped on the scale and it read 124 I literally screamed! I told Derek I had no idea what happened, so he reminded me that I'm drinking more water now and we hadn't been jogging for quite a few weeks so probably was water weight and new muscle weight. Today I was 119.5, whew! Working out along with getting my Camelbak water bottle back out have made a huge difference in my water intake. Instead of drinking around 16oz a day, I'm back up to 32-48 a day. I usually have a splash of Mio in my water once a day too and that really helps. Their new Thunderbolt flavor is pretty dang good.

This last weekend I helped put together a baby shower for my friend and it was about 90% sugary foods. I indulged on yogurt with chocolate chips and granola, white chocolate covered strawberries, cake pops, oreo balls, cake, punch, white chocolate dipped rice crispy treats...yeah...not good! And all were either made by those of us helping with the party or by the Crazy Cake Lady, so everything was incredible...and very very sinful in the calorie department haha! We also bought $40 worth of chocolate from Derek's cousin's little girl for her fundraiser. We sort of have a lot of chocolate around here. But, I try to only have a little.

Anyway, that's the update. Till next time.

Post 8 Months: First few weeks

It has been so hard to get back into tracking my food!! The last few days are the first I've been better at it. My water intake has also been really bad, so I bought some new Mio water flavoring and it's helping. I'll just do a quick update since there's not much recorded to report.

I did a 10:30 mile, my fastest time yet, so was very excited about that! It's starting to get really chilly here, so we haven't been going on walks lately or jogging. Hopefully we can start back up again once we get used to the cold. Of course today is gorgeous and I'm babysitting, so...maybe a jog tonight if Derek doesn't have to work late.

We went hunting/camping over the weekend and I ended up losing two pounds, so on Monday, I weighed in at 118!! Though I was very excited (and shocked) I really wish it wasn't from throwing up all Saturday night. Really greasy food did not agree with me. But the next morning I felt great and we continued our quest for elk, even if in vain. (I did annihilate a clay pigeon though. Talk about a huge adrenalin rush!! This girl is hunting for real next year!)

One of the hidden away spots we found

This week I really hope to do much better. Coffee hasn't been tasting nearly so good to me, so hoping to have that increase my actual liquid intake. Not sure if it's the new brand I got or if it's just because you can't beat a pumpkin spice latte. Good thing I have a recipe for that, so I'm going to try it at home in the next few days.

Anyway, there's my weeks in review.

Post 8 Months: 8 Months in Review

Week 1: 143.6 pounds (July 2011)

I gave myself about a week and a half off from tracking and caring about what I ate and exercising. I needed to just breathe and enjoy not caring. That was nice, but now I want to get back to work and start really toning and see if I can drop a few more pounds. My goal this year is 115 pounds, however, I'm not setting a date and am not overly concerned about getting there, I just really want to get my stomach toned up. Here is my promised full review...only 2 weeks late.

Week 10: 139 pounds (August 2011 - before gaining a few back)

I guess going back to right before having Lexi, I was 165. I gained exactly 35 pounds with her. Of course, I dropped 20 within two weeks of having her, but the rest didn't come off quite as fast. Thanksgiving last year, I was 142 pounds and had started doing the tread climber, but wasn't as dedicated and wasn't doing very well with eating habits, though I was tracking on and off. January 13 I started really tracking when the Beautiful Babes forum was created. Then, I was 138 pounds. A few days before or after Lexi turned 9 months old, I weighed 130 again. Then I really started working hard to get lower than that. It took 3.5 months, but I dropped those other 10 pounds to hit my goal of 120 pounds by September 15. I was very proud of myself for keeping it all up. I walked 2 miles nearly every day and jogged 1 mile a few times a week. I also limited my food intake and was very careful about bad drinks and sweets. I have a lot more energy and feel good. All in all, I lost 45 pounds! However, counting from November, I lost 22 and counting from doing really well in January, I lost 18 pounds in 8 months! That's pretty good!

126 Pounds: May 11, 2012

I'm ready to take it to the next level and get rid of the remaining stomach fat and really tone up. I was quite excited when the capris I've been wearing ended up not being size 7 like I've been thinking they were, but instead are size 5s!! That made me really happy.

Goal weight! September 11, 2012

On Monday, I weighed in at 120 pounds still. Very happy about that since I wasn't sure I had stayed there. Now on to 119 :-) Next week, I'll start back up with weekly recaps.

Goal Weight! Taken after the wedding on September 15, 2012

8 Months to a Better Me: The Final Week!

Look, I'm on time this week! So, even though I'll be doing my final update on Wednesday, I wanted to do a final weekly recap of what's been going on. This morning, I weighed in at...120!! I was so excited! I tried to take a picture, but it was super blurry and my toenails are all gross so I'll take one when I take the old polish off and they look a little nicer. I reached my goal 5 days before my goal date and I feel pretty good about that. I haven't been this weight in about three or four years. So, last week:

Monday: 2 mile walk
Tuesday: 2 mile walk
Wednesday: No exercise
Thursday: 2 mile walk
Friday: 1 mile jog (12 minutes - that's what I get for not jogging for three weeks!) and 1 mile walk
Saturday: 2 mile walk
Sunday: 2 mile walk
100 squats 2x during week
Drank average of 31.5oz liquid each day

From now until the wedding I fully plan on eating very light, trying to drink a lot more water and not nearly as much coffee, which hasn't been much of a problem since having the flu, so that I can maintain this weight and possibly even be down to 119.5 by the weekend too. I know we'll be eating quite a bit during all the wedding parties, dinners, and the reception, but hopefully I'll still be able to have a low calorie intake and not over eat on anything. Except maybe wedding cake :-)

"See" you in a few days.

8 Months to a Better Me: Week 35

Wish I could do that!

I know this is almost an entire week late, but I didn't want to combine two weeks again. I'll post this one, one tomorrow, and then do my final "official" weigh-in on Wednesday since we'll be out of town on the 15th, my goal date. This journey has gone so well for me and I'm happy and proud that I'm so close to my goal. Last Monday, I weighed in at 121. I was happy with that and am hoping it'll be 120 by the wedding. Here's the recap:

Monday: No exercise
Tuesday: Two 2 mile walks
Wednesday: No exercise
Thursday: No exercise
Friday: 2 mile walk
Saturday: 2 mile walk
Sunday: 2 mile walk
No squats, was trying to get over a cold at the beginning of the week and the flu at the middle.
Drank average of 30oz liquid each day

Finally got back into jogging this week and that's so rough after three weeks of nothing. We'll see what tomorrow brings and then I'll try to post a full 8-month recap on Wednesday about how much I've lost since starting to track my weight.

8 Months to a Better Me: Weeks 32-34

I've been slacking in this department lately! And, my 8 months will be up in 2 weeks and 5 days!! That, is a crazy thought. It's gone really fast and I can't believe I'm so close to my goal. I'm not going to report the full three weeks worth of stuff I did and didn't do because I don't feel like taking the time. The last few days I've been really bad about recording and we've been really busy so haven't jogged as often as we'd like. Week 32 I weighed 122, week 33 I weighed 124 (I was really mad about this since I'd been really good. Think it was my lack of water intake that week), and today I weighed 121. Hoping I can get this last pound off and kept off very soon.

I found my dress for the wedding along with amazing boots and some incredible jewelry and accessories for both me and Lexi. Awesome part is that I only spent $48 on ALL my stuff! I'm excited to wear them and get nice pictures done by Derek's dad, who just bought an incredibly amazing new Canon for this event. Family pictures here we come!

I feel like I was going to report more, but can't think of anything. Back to good recording, drinking and running this week.