Weigh In!

Hey everyone, don't forget to weigh-in today. Also, I just realized I completely forgot to post last week's standings, so I'll just add it to tomorrow's.

Have a great night!

Fit and Fabulous Fall Challenge Week Seven (and a lot of catching up)

I can't believe there are only two weeks of the challenge. It has gone by so fast! That also means there are only about two weeks left before I go back to school (sad face).

Don't forget to weigh in. I weighed in today, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Here is the pic:

That's 3.6 pounds down from last week, though it's only 1.8 pounds down from two weeks ago. But, at least it's DOWN this time! 

I went to yoga tonight. It felt great. I'm very glad that I went, especially because I have been really in the need of stretching. It seems the more I run the tighter my muscles feel. Speaking of running, I've been back at it lately. Actually, I've been doing really well with keeping up with exercising. I have not, on the other hand, been doing very well with eating. I haven't been tracking with Weight Watchers like I should be. I really need to step it up if I plan on being at 180 by the time I go back to school. Really, I still have a lot left to lose. Even though I'm down about 25 pounds since I started, I still have quite a ways to go if I want to be in a healthy weight range. For my height about 150 pounds is the top weight. That's still 20ish pounds from my goal, but at least it's a healthy BMI.

Pretty consistent pace, huh?!

 

This ride was longer and slower than normal. I went with my dad, and he was still pretty sick. My hubby went, too, and we ended up leaving my dad for a little bit, going ahead and turning around, and meeting up with him again on the way back.

The run yesterday is my favorite so far. I changed up the direction a little bit and ended up making a triangle. I jogged most of it, which you can see by all the green and yellow in the map. The red is where I walked. The first time I stopped to walk was not due to needing a rest, though, it was because I was on a pretty steep incline. I was able to pick up speed on the downhill, and kept the momentum a little of the way back up, but I just couldn't make the whole hill. It'll be a good goal to strive for - jogging the entire four miles, even if it has to be a slow jog.

Anyways, it's been a while since I went to the Y. When I walked in to the fitness room tonight for yoga I was surprised to see the walls painted and this quote stenciled on the back wall:

I'm pretty into inspirational quotes, so I enjoyed seeing it. The instructor said some people have been complaining about the new look, but I think it's great.

Then, upon arrival back home, I see this in the front window:

My men waiting for me to get home! Too cute.

 

Speaking of cute, I got the new iPhone 5 on Sunday and have been playing around with new apps (don't even get me started on how obsessed I am with Pinterest now!). I downloaded Color Splash and made this picture. I really like how it turned out - the color of Mikey's hat against the black and white background is really nifty.

Well, I leave you with this. It's Jim and Pam from my favorite show The Office. I am really going to miss it, since this is the last season. Even though it's not real, I feel like I know the characters personally with how many years I've been following them and all. Especially Jim and Pam. I'm so jealous of their relationship and love, I wish a guy would love me as much as Jim loves Pam. I mean, I know my husband loves me, but nothing beats a fictional relationship, ya know? *wink wink* Besides, John Krasinski (Jim) is HOT!!

As a matter of fact, in one of my older posts from forever ago I posted this picture. Hopefully he never stumbles across my blog, he'd think I'm a total creep! Photoshop, oh how I love thee.

LOL!

Ten things...

Yeah, I still haven't caught up on blogging. Shame on me.

Anyways, here's my attempt at this week's challenge. Right about now I'm not in the mood to write about what I like about myself, but oh well.

1. I like my feet. They are skinny and my toes are cute. My hubby hates them, but I don't care. I have five tattoos and four of them are on my feet.

2. I love my eyes (thus my profile picture). I like that they are blue, and I'm so happy that my baby ended up with blue eyes too.

3. I like that I'm stubborn. It's not always a good thing and can get me in trouble, but I still like it.

4. I'm smart. I always joke that I'm a genius, but I'm probably right. I never studied in high school or in college for either my bachelors or my masters. Things just come really easy to me.

5. I have a creative side. I like to take pictures and paint and draw. I'm not the best, but I don't suck either. I did all my own centerpieces, invitations and flower arrangements for my wedding.

6. I'm a decent mom. I try hard and am proud at how good I've done since I'm pretty much on my own.

7. I'm loyal. Sometimes over the top loyal, because I've been known to get in trouble for sticking up for people, but if you're my friend - there's no escaping me (lol).

8. I stand up for what I believe in. Again, not always a good thing, but I don't back down easily and no one pushes me around.

9. I give 100% on anything I try and I don't accept failure.

10. I'm a good teacher. The kids generally like me and I can get subjects across to them easily. I was definitely meant to be in the education field whether I like it or not (I've thought about changing careers but I just end up realizing I wouldn't be happy with anything else).

So there it is. It wasn't easy, and I had a hard time coming up with all ten, but I did it.

Week Five Results

Week SIX already! Results are as follows for week five:

1st ~Ashley~ -5.1%
2nd Lovebug6100 -4.4%
3rd Me -3.5%
4th Bobbi -2.5%
5th Thin Lizzy -1%

(Treesa and Fat Girl's Closet did not weigh in this week)

The challenge for week six? Be kind to yourself: make a list of ten things you love about yourself. Sometimes this can be the hardest thing to do!

I know, I know, I've been a really bad blogger lately. I'll try to catch up tomorrow. I haven't been doing well with exercise or working out either. I really need to review what my ultimate goals are - eating a bunch of junk for short term pleasure, or losing weight and being healthy for long term pleasure. Eh. Where is my ambition and determination that I started with?????

Don't forget!

My stupid Internet isn't working so I'm posting from my iPhone. Hopefully it'll be up tomorrow so I can post my weigh in picture. Unfortunately I'm up 1.8 pounds to 190.4. NOT good!

Anyways don't forget to weigh in for the challenge. See you all tomorrow!

Week Four Results

I spent morning/afternoon scrubbing the floor yesterday, and then we had a volleyball game and grabbed dinner last night, so I didn't have a chance to post the standings. So, week four results are as follows:

1st ~Ashley~ -4.8%
2nd Me -4.4%
3rd Lovebug6100 -2.8%
4th Fat Girl's Closet -2.7%
5th Bobbi -2.4%

(Treesa and Thin Lizzy did not weigh in this week)

GREAT job everyone!! The percentages are high and we are only half way! We still have four weigh-ins left, so keep it up!

Fit and Fabulous Fall Challenge Week 5

 

Well here we are, the downward slide toward the end of the challenge. It's going by very fast! Don't forget to weigh in today!!

 

This past week's challenge was to reflect a little on the challenge so far and set three goals for the rest of the challenge. I've been sick for the past couple weeks. I pushed myself through working out and running a 5k and then got even more sick. As a matter of fact, I went on an antibiotic last Tuesday just to find out on Friday that I ended up with an ear infection (HOW that happened WHILE being on an antibiotic is beyond me), so I had to change medications to something stronger and basically start over. I'm really hoping this time off from running and biking doesn't make it harder to get back at it. Therefore, my goals are as follows:

1. Get back to running and biking. Start working out five days a week again, and take that darn kettlebell class at the Y I've been meaning to try forever.

2. Get as close to 180 as possible at the end. My goal is 180 by the time I go back to work on November 13th. This challenge ends on the 6th, so I'd be a week early, but it'd be really nice to hit goal earlier than expected!

 

3. Go back to logging points on Weight Watchers. Since I've been sick, I stopped keeping track of points because I was eating and drinking to help myself get better, rather than trying to focus on losing weight. I know orange juice is probably high in points and I've been drinking quite a bit in order to keep up the vitamin C. So rather than stressing if I went over points, I just stopped all together.

 

Anyways, on another high note, here's my weigh-in!





That's right, down another 3.2 pounds down!!

 

I'm pretty pumped about that weigh-in. It's amazing I've lost at all because I haven't been exercising or watching what I eat. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been going crazy with food or binging or anything, but I haven't been keeping track enough to lose 3 pounds in one week. Actually, most of it's probably from being dehydrated because of my cold, but hey, I'll take it!

Well this week's challenge is to write a post about at least one thing you appreciate in your life. Feel free to share pics!

I'll give you a hint as to what my post will be about:

(Then again, I'm sure you're not surprised)

 

 

Still Playing Catch-Up

Remember how two weeks ago, for the fitness challenge, we were supposed to do a new recipe or food? Well I did, I just didn't get around to posting about it. So, here it is. I went to get my hair colored and cut a while back and while there, I had a conversation with my hairdresser about losing weight and eating right. She has lost a ton of weight recently, and mentioned that her little secret was steaming food with a rice cooker.

 

Needless to say, the next time I made a trip to Walmart, I stopped in the appliance section and checked out what they had. There were a couple options, but I went with the middle-of-the-line Aroma rice cooker and food steamer. I figured if I really liked it I could ask for a nicer one for Christmas, and being that this one wasn't the cheap (and by cheap I mean shoddy) one, it'll last until I decide what I'd like to do. If I use it a lot, a more expensive one would be worth it.

 

Anyways, the first time I used it, I put the two cups of brown rice in the bottom and turkey breasts and broccoli on the top. I didn't put enough water in it, so the food on top didn't steam as fast as it should have. As a matter of fact, after the hour cooking time was up, the turkey was still completely raw. Now, I'm a relatively smart person, but I'm completely stupid brainless unwise when it comes to cooking (thus why I rarely cook anything at all, other than things out of boxes with specific instructions printed on the label). So, I had to get my hubby to figure out what I did wrong. He said I needed to add extra water. Finally, after what was supposed to only take an hour, two hours and fifteen minutes later we had a yummy steamed dinner.

 

I've used it a couple times since and now that I know to add the extra water, the cooking time is down to what it really should be - about an hour. It's extremely convenient - all you do is put the raw food in, add water, turn in on and VOILA - dinner is served. It's pretty much dummy proof (well, unless you don't add enough water... duh). Note, the picture of the food below is actually chicken, asparagus and rice because I forgot to take a pic of the turkey dinner I initially made. But, that's proof that I've actually used it more than once!

 

Well I'm still sick and taking time off from working out. It's really bothering me because I'm jonzing to get back at it. I just know that if I try too early I'll just make myself even more sick and it'll backfire. So, I'm scheduled for my usual Saturday ride with my father this weekend, and hopefully I'll feel up to it. Knowing him, he'd be fine with just a short slow ride if necessary (wimp).

 

So I leave you with this little quote I found. It really spoke to me and hopefully someone out there finds it inspiring as well! Happy Thursday (for all you who are working right now sucks to be you that means only one day left until the weekend)!



 

Fit and Fabulous Fall Challenge Week Four and Week Three Results

Everyone is doing great!!! Here are the standings as of yesterday (percentages are based on total for the first three weeks together):

1st - Lovebug6100 -4% (WOW)
2nd - Me -2.9%
3rd - Bobbi -1.9%
(~Ashley~, Thin Lizzy, Treesa and Fat Girl's Closet chose not to weigh-in this week)

Last week's challenge was to try a new activity or push yourself further in an activity you've been doing. I'm going to get to this soon, I've really been meaning to try the kettlebell class at the Y, but being that I've been sick I didn't get the chance to do it yet.

At the end of this week, we will be half way through the challenge! Wow, it's going by fast!! This week's challenge, though, is to blog about your progress so far and set three goals you'd like to achieve for the last 4 weeks of the challenge.

Good luck and keep at it!!

Bad Blogger

I've been a bad bad bad blogger lately. Where do I begin? My last good post was a day short of two weeks ago! So let's start there.

Friday 9/21
I walked/jogged 2.5 miles with my stepmom. She's been wanting to jog with me for some time now and we finally did it. I kept it slow for her sake and we did the 2.5 in 36:24, which is a 14'20" pace. Not too bad for the first time out.

 

Saturday 9/22

My father and I rode our usual Saturday ride. We planned to go much further, but 10 miles out it started downpouring. We got back to my house soaked and wet! I do believe this is the reason I got so sick (which I'll expain later).


Then that night was the Halloween costume party/dance at the campground. It was a great night!! Check out some pics:

Of course, that's me in the orange. To be honest, I don't even remember the picture on the left being taken. Darn Jose Cuervo.

 

Monday 9/24

After Saturday night's festivities I had to take a rest day on Sunday. But I was back at it for a bike ride on Monday morning.





 

Tuesday I had to work and Wednesday I started to get sick. It began with a slight cough and a sore throat. I took both days off to rest. I did receive the headband I ordered, though! I bought it from One More Mile because the weather is turning cold and I really need something to cover my ears. I plan to buy another one from a different website, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. This one will be a little thinner and I'm going to upload an image that says 'Just Call Me ThunderThighs' for a custom design. Anyways, it arrived in a totally cute package!

Notice the address "To The Wonderful" - um, duh! Of course I'm wonderful!! Just kidding. Anyways, the headband says "I thought they said "RUM" which, if you knew me personally, you'd know is SO fitting for me! There's a picture of it on me a little further down.

 

Thursday 9/27

I woke up early and ran 3.15 miles on my own and then ran 2.56 with my stepmom.



For me that was a total of 5.71 miles! Woot woot!!

 

Friday morning my throat was even more sore, so I thought I should take another day off. I knew I was going to take a long bike ride on Saturday and my first 5k was on Sunday, so I decided another rest would be ok.

 

Saturday 9/29

My dad, stepmom and I loaded up the bikes and the stroller and headed to a bike trail a little further away for a change of scenery. It was a lot of fun. My dad and I rode 21.3 miles total and my stepmom walked with the baby in the stroller. Then we had a nice little picnic afterward. The bike path was beautiful! There were a few covered bridges over roads or rivers and it was VERY hilly. I didn't have a hard time, but my dad definitely struggled and pulled our pace way down. Sometime I'm going to have to drive out there by myself and check out what I can do when I don't have anyone else to worry about. Here are the pictures from my app - I messed up and stopped the app when I thought we were done, but we decided to keep going for a little bit more, so the total miles and time has to be the addend of both.



 

Sunday 9/30

Run for the Grapes may mean nothing to you, but to me it names two huge moments in my life - one day after the 2 MONTH anniversary of my decision to start running and my first ever official 5k! It was awesome! I didn't really feel that 'runner's high' people talk about because I was too focused on keeping up with the old man in front of me (I mean come on, how could I let a 64 year old man beat me? well, he did beat me, but whatever). But, I DID finish and I DID NOT stop running the whole time. And I KILLED my best time. I mean DEMOLISHED! I was hoping for under 40 minutes. I was wishing for under 37, which was so far my best time for 3.1 miles. Instead, I ran a full 5k in... drum roll please... 32 minutes and 33 seconds!!!!! HOLY TOLEDO!!!! I did use my Nike running app to keep track, but it's not 100% accurate. Here's the pic of the app:

Here's the actual results according to the race's official website:

That's me! 27 year old female with a time of 32:33:00!! I finished 173 out of 213 total runners. (And notice that darn 64 year old man who finished just in front of me)

The left pic is me just before the race (notice my cute headband!) and the right is my t-shirt from the race (duh, the only reason why anyone would run a 5k, for the shirt!).

Monday 10/1
Monday was the day that my cough and sore throat turned for the worse. I spent the entire day watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. This pretty much sums it up:

Only I wasn't just exhausted, I was terribly sick. Which leads to...

Tuesday 10/2
I went to the doctor's. Luckily, I was able to get in right away. Come to find out I have a white spot on my tonsils and a wheezing in my lungs. The doc gave me an antibiotic and said he thinks I might have mono. Yay me. Perhaps I shouldn't have rode my bike in the rain that day? Or should I have not ran the 5k? I don't know, but either way I've spent the last three days in bed and taking care of my baby. Finally something must have clicked in my dense husband's head because he let me sleep most of today and took care of the baby himself. That man is so helpless sometimes, I can't believe he actually let me sleep without waking me every five minutes to ask questions, but he did and I'm extremely thankful. I'm feeling a little better, which has given me the chance to finally catch up on blogging. I know I missed yesterday's reminder to weigh-in for the fall challenge, so hopefully everyone did. As soon as I finish/publish this post I'm going to go through everyone's blogs to figure out this week's standings. Speaking of which, here's my weigh-in:

Yeah, that's right, down 3.8 pounds! Unbelievable considering I didn't log my points or work out as much since I was sick, but I'm not going to question it! And I DID weigh-in yesterday, note the date on my scale, I just didn't get to my laptop to post it.

Well that's pretty much it. Finally! I feel much better after getting this all logged. I've been taking pictures and writing a little here and there, just never had enough to actually post something. Speaking of which, I've been meaning to get a picture of my new bike on here.

There she is - Lexi. What a sexy babe!

 

I guess I leave you with a few pics of my real baby! He's getting more and more handsome everyday!! Have a great week everyone! Here's to getting well and back on my feet! (I'm craving a run sometime soon!!!)