The one in which I get a little mushy…or may that’s just sweat in my eye

I should have written this post weeks ago.  No excuses.  It’s just belated.  But now it’s done. I owe a big thank you to my trainers and my friends at my gym.  This is my thank you note….with a tiny bit of marathon reflection.

I have lost over 100 pounds.  It has taken me around 18 months to finally hit that milestone, beginning at my highest weight in September 2012 and busting through to a 102 pound loss at the scales in March 2014.  My real journey began in January 2013 when I joined Fitness Protection Program and started a challenge with a bunch of friends from The Little Light House.  I had maintained a 10 pound loss since September, but I made real lifestyle changes that January.

Lots of people think that my weight loss came as a result of working out every day.  That helped, of course. But anyone who has lost any amount of weight knows that the real work happens outside of the gym.  It takes discipline to wake up early every morning to work hard…weights, cardio and crazy things like burpee challenges and becoming a runner. (I’m totally smiling here at the fact that I just openly admitted that I’m a runner.)  I read a quote that says anyone can go to the gym 1 hour a day.  It’s having self control the other 23 hours of the day that makes the difference.  True story.

Ok, but what I really want this post to be about is the fact that my gym played a MAJOR role in my weight loss success.  I know, I know, I just said it’s not the exercise, it’s the eating.  Well, actually it’s both.  But in fact, it’s more.  And so I want to get a little sappy and dedicate this post to my fabulous trainers, Julie & Kasey.  And the fabulous members of Fitness Protection Program.  No way can I name them all…and so I won’t even try.  But thank you…

thank you…
for seeing me as an individual, with specific goals and never even hinting at comparing me to someone else.
for allowing me to learn how to push myself, by not letting me get by with anything less.
for creating (as cliche as it sounds) a family-like atmosphere, at a gym, at 5:00 in the morning, where people sweat and get sore and come back the next day for more of the same.
for celebrating with me every step of the way.
for advising me when my steps were going in the wrong direction.
for making workouts fun.  I laugh & smile every day at FPP.

What I really want to say is this…thanks for making me feel welcome from the very first day.  Nobody ever talks about numbers, and that’s ok.  It’s great really.  But I decided when I lost 100 pounds I’d be okay with talking numbers.  So those thank you’s up there…they are a bit generic, but they are real.

And what I want people to know, is that when I walked in your gym on January 15, 2013 I weighed 314 pounds.

I don’t really know what to say after that.  I’ll just pause for effect.  : )

I think the reason why I feel compelled to share such a personal piece of information for all the world to see…is that I want you to know that you can do it, too.  See, I said I had maintained a 10 pound weight loss by the time I started FPP…which means my highest weight was 324.

Another pause.

It still seems a little surreal to me to type those numbers.  Or maybe it still seems surreal to me that my weight now starts with a 2 instead of a 3 and someday it will start with a 1.  Maybe you’re at your highest weight ever.  Maybe your weight doesn’t start with the right number anymore.  And maybe you see the things I post and you know I do boot camp type workouts and you think you can’t do it.  But I want you to know you can.  You can.  Maybe you have 100+ pounds to lose and it seems overwhelming.  I totally get that.  For YEARS I told myself…”If you’ll just think about losing 2 pounds a week for a year, you’ll get it done”.  But it took a long time for me to actually start trying. (and more on that another day, too) I’m not quite finished yet.  At some point I won’t have a weight goal, but instead a body fat % goal or a BMI goal.

I ran (and jogged and walked) a half marathon last weekend.  I can’t even remember the point I decided to register for the OKC Memorial Run.  Looking back it seems like a natural thing to do.  But really?! One year after I joined FPP, I just get online and sign up for a half marathon?  Something about that doesn’t seem natural at all.  In January 2013 I weighed over 300 pounds and I had a goal to run ONE mile. But by January 2014 I paid money to run 13.1 miles?!

On Monday night I sat around a table with my trainers and friends from FPP as we celebrated our recent races.  I shared a table with someone who has run multiple marathons, ultra marathons and had just come back from her first Boston Marathon.  I shared a table with someone who ran the half marathon in less than half the time that I did.  We all shared our stories and we all toasted each other and everyone was celebrated.  And yep, I felt like a rockstar.

And I think that’s when I had some sort of real revelation about what makes FPP different than any other place I’ve worked out.  It is never about comparing ourselves to one another…although we do like a little friendly competition at times!…it is about supporting and celebrating individual accomplishments.  Nobody cared how much I weighed when I started this journey, but they ask me how it’s going and celebrate my success along the way.  Nobody cared that I couldn’t do some of the exercises when I started working out (plank jacks, side plank, maybe anything with a slider?!) or that there are still some exercises I have to modify (pull-ups!!!!!).  And Monday night, as we sat around…I got to excitedly talk about my experience running my first half marathon.  Nobody cared what my pace was or how much I walked vs. how much I ran.  They listened and applauded me because I accomplished what I set out to do.  They have seen a transformation in me and they celebrate personal success.  And then they bought my dinner and I was stupidly confused by it all.  Which brings me to another point…

The day I tipped past my 100 pound mark, I surprised my trainer (Julie) because I think it was almost 9 pounds less than my previous weight.  She and Kasey had been secretly planning a gift for me…and then waiting and waiting and waiting for me get my act together (ha!) so they could celebrate with me.  Of course the gift wasn’t at the gym on the day I finally hit it! : ) But that day I did get a fabulous card with so many sweet messages from friends.  My kids like to look at it and talk about “the notes from your friends because you did a good job exercising” and then the next day I almost fell over when Julie handed me a Visa gift card.  Members & friends had donated to my gift and then FPP matched it.  I was SHOCKED.  It was a total surprise to me that they had done all of that and I had no idea at all.  I had to promise to spend it on myself…a promise I was happy to make!  I’ve spent a decent chunk of the money, but I have a scheduled shopping trip with my mom & sisters next weekend.  After that, I’ll to a full post on all the goodies I got.  But really, what an amazing place with such generous people.  I still feel so undeserving of such a nice gift.

So thank you FPP family…for pushing me, loving me, celebrating me and being ridiculous and rewarding me.

I feel like I probably haven’t done an excellent job of putting my thoughts into words tonight.  But I’ve been wanting to say thank you for a while, and after dinner on Monday night, I felt I had an additional perspective on why I love FPP so much.  Excellent trainers in all the technical things that trainers need to be good at.  But also excellent people who really care about helping others reach their goals.  Daily accountability, scheduling meetings and giving advice when needed and somehow maintaining this amazing camaraderie that applauds individuals.

Oh, and if you’ve made it this far, you should also know that FPP is celebrating Women Owned Business Day by offering a fabulous deal on a 6 week membership.  A tiny sales pitch to say that for $26 you can workout at Fitness Protection Program for 6 consecutive weeks, as long as it’s activated by November.  Ahem, $26 people.  Give it a try.  If you’re ready to kick start a journey to better health, this is the way to do it.  Click here for the offer or call them at 918-622-3774 with questions.  Visit their website or Facebook for more info!  This special price is only available May 1-7.  Get on it!

PS. This is not a sponsored post.  I’m not that much of a big time blogger (yet). I just wanted to say thank you to my people for being so fantastic.  And I thought you should know about their fantastic deal.  I’ll be at the 5:00 am class if you wanna join me. And if you come in the summer, I could possibly force myself to come to a later class.  I would love to work out with you.  Come!

 

Sort of a boring post without pictures except…

I’ve lost 102 pounds!!! And so that is not boring at all.

And now I’ll apologize for the boring parts. Because while I had intended a post with before/after pictures and spilled out thoughts about my weight loss journey. But there are no pictures and minimal thoughts to be shared tonight. We’ve had a fun St. Patrick’s Day…with green eggs & ham for breakfast, leprechaun lunches and green play dough. I’d like to promise a better update tomorrow…but it looks busy, too. So…less than a promise that I’ll have a better update tomorrow, k?

For now…I’ll say that I was pleasantly surprised to step on the scale this morning and discover that I had lost 9 pounds since I last officially weighed in (Friday, March 7). I had peeked at the scale last Wednesday because it had been one week since I began my Lenten fast from meat, dairy and sugar. I was curious to see how I was doing, although I typically do not weigh more than once a week. I was down about 5 pounds, putting me 2 pounds away from my 100 pound goal.

Unfortunately (fortunately?!) I was hit with a terrible stomach bug late Thursday night and I had to miss my official weigh in on Friday morning. And then…I had a crazy toothache/infected gum issue on Saturday/Sunday. Tummy bug plus toothache equals…major weight loss goal met!! Ha!!

And no, actually…2 pounds past my milestone. So I met my goal of 100 pounds lost and those other 2 pounds are just icing on the cake hummus on the carrot!

It is super fun to be able to say I’ve lost over ONE HUNDRED pounds. Of course that means I was overweight by more than one hundred pounds, too…which is not so fun. But I don’t tend to dwell on a negative past.

I’m proud of where I am today, how I’ve gotten here and where I’m headed. And I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow(ish)

Thanks for all the love & support you send to me…faithful family & friend blogreaders. And the internet strangers that happen upon my blog for one reason or another, I’m glad you’re here, too. Thanks for being my audience and cheering me on just by reading my words and liking my posts!

Pictures soon, pinky promise!!

7 posts in 7 days

I’ve been enjoying blogging more frequently lately and hope to keep the streak alive! I got a ton of new readers when I linked up to Kelly’s Korner on Friday and posted about infertility.  I used to write a lot about our adoption journey. Then the kids actually came into our lives and blogging while mothering and working full time was simply not in the cards.  I fell out of the habit but would like to keep this new found energy for documenting and sharing our lives via the written word.  Another favorite blog of mine is Conversion Diary.  She’s a hilarious writer, former atheist, Catholic mom of 6. She’s hosting 7 blog posts in 7 days and I’m joining in on the fun!

Back when our kids were in our home but before the adoption was finalized…I gave them code names for my blog and for facebook.  I was (still am?) a little cautious about sharing many details with the world and still like to keep a little privacy for the kids’ sake.  Some of you will remember my code names were days of the week…so, in honor of those Fab Five…I’ll be posting about them individually on their days this week.

Stay tuned for Monday (7 year old son) Tuesday (7 year old daughter) Wednesday (6 year old son) Thursday (6 year old daughter) and Friday (5 year old son)

I’ll mix it up a little on Saturday and Sunday…giving a weigh loss update, homeschooling update and/or how I think I should be spending my time on Sundays. Oooh…and maybe a little preview of what I think Lent will look like this year.

Come along for the ride…and join in with your blog!

Transformation Tuesday

I just posted this before/after picture on my facebook account.  It’s a pretty dramatic “Transformation Tuesday” I think.  You can tell that I am super happy in both pictures.  I don’t think I was ever really depressed about my weight, so I haven’t had that kind of a transformation.  Obviously there is a significant transformation in my physical appearance, but there are some other transformations, too.

I keep joking that I’m not a runner.  But I think I’m just holding on to the old me who hated running and never, ever would have chosen that particular exercise. A year ago I had a goal to run one mile without stopping. Now I’m training for a half marathon.  So, maybe there’s a bit of a transformation there.  Running is still not my favorite exercise.  That became evident this summer when I really needed to wake early to run.  I can somehow drag myself out of bed every morning at 4:15 to go to the gym for boot camp.  But I had great difficulty getting out of bed to RUN.  Ugh.  I know it’s good for me to run.  It helps me burn extra calories, I feel good when I accomplish a new goal, and I really think running builds confidence.  Ok, not the terrible 2 mile runs on a treadmill, those just make this snow-loving girl long for warm weather.  But the good 6 mile run on a surprisingly nice winter day, or the 7 mile run that makes me think I can do an 8 miler the next weekend, and the 15K that made me realize I can go ahead and do that half.  This summer my gym coordinated a running challenge that ended with a 5K run.  It was the first time I have ever run an entire 5K without stopping to walk.  That morning before the race I felt nervous and queasy.  So silly.  It rained, I was slow, but I finished and had a blast.  Now, I can go run a 5K in my neighborhood without much thought.  So yep, transformation.

And then there’s the mornings.  Since November 2012 I have consistently attended a boot camp at 5:00 am…with very few exceptions.  People, I used to have to be at work at 7:30 and that was torture.  That one fabulous year that I worked and parented five little people, we had to get them up at 5:45 so we could be out the door by 7:00. Seemed soooooo early!  I am not a morning person.  I am very much a late night person. And so for a year, I went to bed around 11:00 and got up around 4:00.  And now I’m working (still reluctantly, I’ll admit) on getting to bed earlier.  I honestly need to be in bed around 8:00, lights off at 8:45 and asleep by 9:00 to get 7 hours of sleep on nights that I’m going to work out at 5:00.  I think it’s tricky for me mostly because late night can be my alone time or time with my husband.  It’s hard to give that up.  I do enjoy the moments of quiet when I get home from the gym each morning.  I wouldn’t absolutely have to work out at 5:00 for my husband to get to work on time.  However, I enjoy being home by 6:00 and having coffee and some quiet time before our day gets started.

Let’s just pause and address the fact that my pre-transformation self would have thrown up in her mouth a little at the fact that I’m writing about the benefits of running AND the fact that I choose to wake at 4:15 every morning.  To work out.  Ahem.

Moving on…

While I wouldn’t say I was ever depressed about my weight, there were lots of things that weren’t very fun.  Shopping for clothes isn’t a whole lot of fun.  It’s harder to find clothes that are comfortable and flattering.  There are fewer selections, and contrary to what some stores may think…not every plus size woman is an old lady.  For real.  Trendy and flattering were not that available.  Also, I was (am?) not comfortable with certain styles.  Belt, no thanks. Above the knee, no way. Sleeveless? Strappy? Nope. (That might always be a thing for me because I have numerous scars on my shoulders and back.  But if my arm muscles keep on showing their stuff, I might have to show them off regardless of scarring.) 

However, in December my husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a kid-free weekend in Dallas and plenty of shopping. : ) I had been saving money to get a few new things for my wardrobe. It basically consists of workout clothes and a couple of church outfits.  I decided maybe I needed some new things…even though I’m sure they won’t fit for long! ; ) So this was the first time that I really ever went clothes shopping with my husband.  I’m still not small by any means, but at least I feel better in my clothes and it’s easier to find fun things to wear.  He suggested I try on a sweater dress (hits just above the knee and needs a wide belt at the waist!) and I went for it.  I would have NEVER done that on my own.  He liked it, I bought it (and some lovely leggings!) and I feel comfortable and pretty wearing the first outfit that my husband ever picked out for me.  Transformation, people.

Besides the “getting more sleep” transformation, the other major and constant transformation is about food.  I am so thankful that working out every day is a habit for me.  I do not dread going, I don’t make excuses…I just do it every day.  Food is a bigger deal, though. I gained about 10 pounds during the holidays (ya know, that holiday starts in November and doesn’t end until January..oh wait, maybe I took three one-day holidays and made them last 6 weeks!) anyway…I didn’t gain wait because I ate too much vegan food, that’s for sure.  I went back to a lot of my old habits, stopped journaling and counting calories, and hardly attempted portion control.  Oh how lovely it would be to have every day habits of eating healthy foods.  Every.  Single. Day.  Don’t get me wrong, I have made major progress here.  I mean just last night I used my last can of black beans to make bean burgers for the first time ever.  That right there is something.  But also…I was reluctant to use that can because we were on the eve of a snowstorm and what if I couldn’t get more beans for a few days?! Yeah, that’s weird, I know. I also eat things like quinoa and bread and tortillas made from sprouted grains.  I haven’t had artificial sweetener (no Diet Coke!) in a year and a half.  I drink black coffee.  I have not eaten a donut at church in more than a year. So not totally transformed here, but definitely on the right track.

It’s definitely a process, of course.  And my journey is not complete, but it is good and healthy to look back and see the progress.  And nice to write about the unseen transformation as well.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

 

Flat line Friday….

Oh…the moment we’ve all been waiting for….

I stepped on the scale at the gym this morning.

And…

I weigh exactly the same as I did last week.  Like exactly. To the tenth of a pound.  I’m not exactly sure what that’s about, and because this is all about honesty and accountability…it bummed me out a tiny bit.  Just a tiny bit, though.  As my husband said this morning, I’ve been at this long enough to know the right things to do, and the results will happen.  Technically I have maintained my usual average loss of 2 pounds per week…because I have lost 6 pounds in the last 3 weeks, it just happened all in the same week.  The plus side is that I’m not going to eat a bunch of junk this weekend.  Usually after a good week of healthy eating, I’ll have a day to eat whatever I want.  And then sometimes that spills into the next day. Instead of being terribly bummed out about the numbers this morning, I feel motivated to stay healthy and see different results next week.

I mentioned yesterday that we’re doing a bit of celebrating around here.  Today is my oldest twins’ birthday.  Their menu includes…cinnamon roll waffles with icing and sprinkles for breakfast.  (I also made them nutritious smoothies with strawberries, blueberries, banana, apple juice, almond milk & plain Greek yogurt).  I ate leftover oatmeal when I got home this morning.  I had some smoothie and one half of a cinnamon roll waffle…I wasn’t going to have any, but seriously? I’m human and this was our first attempt at this birthday treat.  I thought it would be fun to have a birthday lunch date with Daddy today and the birthday kids requested Happy Meals.  Easy enough for mama…and we haven’t had much (maybe two times?!) fast food this month.  I will probably eat something at home before we go so I can have a more peaceful lunch.  The kids will be super excited to be at Daddy’s work and they might need some help settling down.  I don’t need to try to do that and juggle a McDonald’s salad at the same time!  Tonight I’m making chicken spaghetti for dinner.  It’s a new recipe, too.  Not going to be healthy, so I’m not sure what I’ll have.  Of course they’ll be birthday cake and ice cream, too.  I think I’ll be able to resist those treats.  I have some healthy ice cream and could maybe have a protein bar if I want something sweet.  I’ll let you know how all that goes! : )

Still working on my menus and grocery list.  I really want to get the major shopping done on Saturday.  We are supposed to get some yucky weather throughout the week and I want to avoid the “bread and milk” crowd, but I do want to have plenty of healthy food available if we’re stuck at home at all.

Other goal news…I didn’t run last night, even though it should have been a planned run day. I can still get my 14 miles in this week if I do 6 on Saturday.  Busy day…Rob has to work Saturday morning and I need to fit grocery shopping and running at some point before we go to church at 5:00.  Too bad juggling a busy schedule doesn’t burn any calories!!

Focus for the next week…
Lights out by 8:45 Sunday (uh…superbowl?!) through Thursday..asleep by 9:00.  Of my weekly goals, I did the worst on this one this week.  Like I was never asleep before 10:00…maybe never before 11:00??  So yes, lights out (iphone off, ipad off, laptop off…unplugged!) by 8:45…for sure!!!!

Eat clean, track calories on My Fitness Pal, and stay under weekly calorie goal.  I did well with calories this week, so I’m not exactly sure why I didn’t lose weight.  So…I’m going to do well again!  For sure CLEAN eating on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday & Thursday.  Under calories every single day. Today I had a half cinnamon roll and I will likely have a few bites of birthday dinner and I just might lick the icing off the knife.  Maybe.  Tuesday is our last birthday of the season, so I’ll leave room for a few bites there, too.  Definitely will track every bite, every calorie..but will allow a few fun bites on these birthdays and eat only clean foods the rest of the week.

(I’m defining “clean” as whole foods, minimally processed, and if they come from a package they must have 5 (clean) ingredients or less.  That might mean I eat a lot of bananas and broccoli if I don’t prep well…but I think I can manage to try out some clean recipes!  I’ll blog about that in the coming week.)

I also want to be sure I am drinking plenty of water, so I will make it a goal to drink six 22 ounce bottles of water each day.

Oh yes, and get some running in, too!

So there you have it.  Refocusing for the coming week…counting calories, clean eating, plenty of sleep, plenty of water and plenty of sweat. And I will confidently step on that scale a week from today and see the results!

(I also realized if you don’t know me in real life (hello, strangers!) you might not know that I work out at least 5 days a week at the best gym in the world, Fitness Protection Program.  It’s a 40 minute boot camp type workout that is intense, every single day.  So my 14 miles of running is in addition to daily workouts. Plus, I’m in a contest with my family and I have to workout at least 30 minutes every day.  FPP, running, yoga or something…but I do at least 30 minutes of exercise every single day.)

Back to my birthday kids now…have a happy Friday everyone!  I hope you can celebrate goals met and/or get focused for the week ahead.  Every day is a new opportunity to do something great…give it all you’ve got!

Thirsty Thursday! (and other thoughts)

I always try to be sure I drink plenty of water throughout the day, but today I’m breaking in a new water bottle and going to be sure I get over 100 oz.  Besides smoothies (which are always packed with protein) I typically only drink water and black coffee.  I try very hard not to drink any calories, which becomes noticeable if I’m having a cheat day.  I seem to go right for the liquid calories! (Starbucks, Dr. Pepper, chocolate milk…shhhh!)  I have been wanting to try to make a chia juice drink, so I may work on that today.  I’ll report back if it’s a success!

Speaking of reporting back…remember my goals for yesterday? I did better about not munching on my kids’ food…but I did have two bites of pancakes and then a few bites of the leftover beef stew I gave them for lunch.  But I did not have a single bite of last night’s spaghetti dinner.  I do try to feed my kids food that is pretty healthy.  So having a bite or two is not a huge deal.  It becomes a problem when a taste becomes eating an entire portion…which may be in addition to my own dinner.  So it’s best for me to steer clear of any bites.  Chewing gum during meal prep and clean up certainly does help!

Today’s menu
Breakfast: H-Town breakfast from My Fit Foods…so yummy!
Morning snack: Strawberry chia juice (if I can make it happen)
Lunch: Sweet potato chili
Afternoon snack: apple with almond butter
Dinner: Pork chop, roasted red potatoes, steamed broccoli

I have mentioned that my kids & husband don’t always eat the same thing I do, so I wanted to give an example of their meals versus mine. Today my kids ate cinnamon raisin bagels (with cream cheese, peanut butter or butter) and a banana for breakfast.  I went to the grocery store after my workout this morning, so I picked up an easy breakfast for them.  I typically reward myself with something simple for them if I make an early morning (6:00 am) or late night (9:00 pm) grocery trip.  Plus, My Fit Foods & FPP took care of my breakfast today.  I was STARVING by the time I finally ate around 7:30 am.  I meant to grab some almonds to snack on during my grocery trip, but I forgot.  Thankfully, my breakfast was super tasty and packed with protein.  We’re eating leftovers for lunch today.  Kids can choose from beef stew, spaghetti, sweet potato chilli or a sandwich if they’re not into any of the leftovers.  I don’t typically give them a lot of choices, but when I’m trying to get rid of leftovers I’ll let them pick what they want.  For dinner tonight I’m making pork chops. I always fix them on my George Foreman grill with some seasoning, so they’re pretty healthy.  I’m also making roasted red potatoes…chopped and tossed in olive oil and seasoning, then roasted in the oven.  I’ll fix a big bowl of steamed broccoli, too.  If I feel ambitious (and free of temptation!), I am going to try and make macaroni & cheese using a copycat recipe from Panera Bread.  Definitely NOT healthy!  But, my husband loves it and I’m pretty sure my kids will, too. I thought it would be fun to try a new side dish for them.  Since Friday is my weigh in day, I have better willpower today.  Ha! I realize a couple of bites of mac & cheese aren’t going to make a huge difference on the scale in the morning…but knowing that I’m stepping on it will help me be good today!

Other meals we’ve had this week…I made blueberry muffins for the kids on Monday morning and I had banana protein muffins instead.  My youngest has some food allergies and can’t have oats, so no banana muffins for him.  My other kids would like them…and they are healthy and pretty clean. I think maybe I’m selfish and don’t share them!  Yesterday I tried out a recipe for pancakes made with Greek yogurt.  It was my second attempt and they turned out pretty good.  Ok, good enough that I meant to eat half and freeze the rest, but I ended up eating the other half for my afternoon snack!  I do want to find a health(ier) pancake recipe to try with my kids.  They LOVE pancakes and I typically use a mix for theirs.  Not terribly high in calories if I have portion control, however they are not particularly nutritious calories so I try to avoid them. My kids usually eat their pancakes with peanut butter, no syrup.  And I give them fruit & milk or a smoothie along with them.  So, like I said…not terribly unhealthy, but not packed with the goodness we all need.  We all eat overnight steel cut oats (except my guy with the allergies…he has Malt o Meal or a sausage biscuit instead).

Sometimes I just make a slight variation…they’ll eat taco potatoes, and I’ll lighten mine up by skipping butter & cheese and have a sweet potato instead.  Or when I knew I’d be gone one evening this week, I made Mexican lasagna and got the heck out of there before I started eating it!  I often fix spaghetti squash when I make spaghetti for everyone else.  When I cook something for myself, I almost always have leftovers so it makes it easy to eat something totally different than my family if I want to.

And now that I’ve typed all of that out…I’m thinking more about what I feed my family versus what I feed myself.  I know a few other moms have been discussing this, too.  If it’s not good enough for me to eat, why is it okay for my kids?  I’m pretty sure that’ll have to be answered in another post, but I’ll definitely be thinking about it!

Happy Thursday, folks! May your day be filled with goodness all around!

so much to say, so little time!

I hate starting a new post with an apology or excuse for the lack of posts.  So I’m gonna skip that part and just jump right in…

 

I miss blogging.  I think it’s good for me to get my thoughts into words and I like the feedback I receive from others.  I hope that I entertain and encourage and occasionally give you an opportunity to think deep thoughts (although that is clearly not the point of tonight’s post).  I also like giving myself a larger audience to keep me accountable to some of my goals.

 

Speaking of goals…I have 12 minutes to finish this blog.  My goal bedtime is 9:00…tonight I’m extending it until 9:15 and I’m setting my alarm for 4:15 instead of 4:00.  That’s 7 hours of lights out time and a tally mark on my goal box if I follow my rules

 

So, I have some major goals ahead of me…I’m super close to my first long term weight loss goal….100 pounds! (I’ll give you an official number tomorrow, and an explanation.) My next weight loss goal is to lose 131 pounds before I run 13.1 miles at the OKC Run to Remember on April 27.  That one is going to be tricky due to the little holiday food vacation I took.  I stalled my progress amidst some deliciousness…and now I’m paying for it.

 

However, I am still pressing on!  So I am also committing to blogging my journey as I train for a half marathon (yikes!) and strive to lose 131 pounds in the process (double yikes!). Discipline and routines and organization of my life are simply not my strengths.  It is nothing short of a work of God that I have been able to get myself out of bed nearly every single morning for more than a year in order to exercise at 5:00 am. However, I really hope to blog (at least a little) every day. I stay home with my kids and I have a messy house and I lose things and I am not perfect.  At all.  But, I do love my life and I am always, always trying to do better.  Feel free to follow along my journey as I blog about weight loss, fitness and healthy eating…as well as the usual stuff that is important to me.

(and now I have to set my alarm for 4:18…but I’m publishing this post…now!)