The first thing I have done this week ahead of time

I have been such a procrastinator this week! Signing in is the first thing I have done this week before it became crunch time!! I have worked out and didn't allow the unpredictability of life get in the way until Monday. I couldn't shake the overwhelming depression:( It didn't help that I stayed up until 4 am each reading because I couldn't sleep. So instead of exercising I laid on the couch! However, I did eventually get up to help a friend reupholster her chair. What a workout...my body hurts! We've been working on it for the past two afternoons and have barely made a dent. I was sweating and breathing hard as we pulled out staples. So I'm going to count both days as one work out. So I'll deposit $8 again this week.

New Milestone

This isn't the kind of milestone I get paid for. It isn't a milestone I listed on the side of the blog. But I feel it's a milestone worth noting anyway.
I have a good friend who's a competitive cyclist and works out 6 days a week. I can't remember exactly how he put it, but essentially he said that he can't go two days without working out because he feels yucky. I'd heard other people make similar statements and I didn't get it. I just couldn't understand that. I mean, that's crazy, right?
This past week, with my dad being in the hospital - the emotional toll his failing health and scary upcoming surgery has taken on me; my mom staying with me - the time and energy necessary to take care of her and get her where she needs to go; the Q4 sales meeting - the stress associated with making arrangements for that and making sure everything went smoothly; having all my sales guys in town - and the stress associated with that (some of you know EXACTLY what I mean here); all the company dinners - the lost sleep due to late nights out with the guys (and I'm not complaining about this - I could have gotten out of them if I'd wanted to). But you get my point. It has been a difficult week.
I slacked off with my work outs. And oh, boy! did I feel it! That's right! I felt yucky for not having worked out like usual.
In addition to that, Tuesday morning I got about 5 hours of sleep and as tempting as it would have been to sleep in, I didn't really want to skip my work out to do it! I had an excellent and plausible excuse and I wouldn't use it.
On Wednesday I had a work event where I got to sit in a beautiful aspen grove waiting for my co-workers to find me. I took my book to read while I waited for each team to find me and get their next clue. (Those of you who know me well know how much I LOVE to read.) After reading for about 2 minutes I thought - hey, I could be doing push-ups and crunches right now while I wait for these guys. So in between arriving teams I did 30 mins of crunches and push-ups. To sacrifice a reading opportunity to workout is a huge turning point for me.
And finally, by Sunday afternoon I was exhausted. I was so exhausted that I could have cried if I'd stopped to think about it long enough. I had a moment when I thought - if I had 30 minutes right now to myself would I sleep or workout? The answer was easy as pie - I'd work out. WOW! Did I really just say that? Yes! I would work out! And that's when I realized that I had truly hit a new milestone.

Maria Week 5

I'm a bit late - sorry, this week has been hectic. Well, I'm at my lowest weight in about 5 years. (Although just barely). I'm down from last week by nearly 2 lbs. Which means I am 0.4 lbs from another milestone.
I haven't been able to workout as hard as usual. I was busy on Saturday and skipped the entire day. I was pretty upset with myself about it and I was really feeling the lost workout that day. I was just so antsy all day.
I am taking a new supplement with essential oils that is also supposed to help with energy and I am sure feeling it. I am hungry all the time. And it would seem I might be able to increase my caloric and carbohydrate intake and still lose weight. Wahoo! (Fingers crossed)
I didn't measure this week. But I can say that I am wearing the smaller of the three pair of jeans I bought about 2 months ago when nothing else fit anymore and I noticed today that they fit a bit big in the waist. YAY!
I am depositing $7.50 today.

Ode to a New Scale . . by Jj

So this morning I ran down to the basement after my shower to weigh in (on my roommates scale which is why it's in the basement) and weighed myself but then remembered that I hadn't gone to the bathroom yet so I ran back up to my bathroom and then back down and by running up those two flights of stairs, peeing and then running back down those two flights of stairs - I somehow gained a pound. And with that, I think it's time for my own scale. I'll be hitting Target on payday to invest in one of my own that I can trust because there is obviously something wrong with that one. So when I get my new scale I'm going to start the weight loss milestone over and go from there.

I got to thinking earlier this week about something Maria said about gaining a pound on her free day so I thought I'd check it out for myself. I didn't quite understand how that could really happen when normally it takes weeks to put on weight and it's usually so gradual that you don't even notice until eventually you just can't button your pants anymore. So I put it to the test. I weighed myself Saturday morning and then went to town (I was feeling deprived so I really kinda gorged myself on the Halloween candy which really may have been my downfall). I then weighed myself again Sunday morning and I'd gained not one, but two and a half pounds! Luckily, I was able to take if off again before this mornings weigh in but it made me think. If I'd been more careful on my free day rather than just letting all hell break loose on my diet, would I be two pounds lighter now? I guess I need to learn some discipline when it comes to free days and still be a little more careful than I was . . and then I need to get a new scale. ;-)

And now for the actual report . . while I didn't lose any weight this week (I totally blame the scale), I did lose an inch around my waist (milestone #1), an inch around my thighs (milestone #2) and an inch around my muffin top (milestone #3) which is the one that I've really been waiting for. I can handle having to squish myself into my pants as long as I'm not spilling out over the top once I get there so I guess I'm on my way. Whoohoo!

So, with workouts, diet and milestones, I'm depositing $15 this week. Ya know, I think I may have to rewrite my milestones or I'm going to be broke before we're half way through the year! But that's good right?

Another note . . Marion and I were talking the other day and she suggested we pick a destination for our trip now so that we can get a basic idea of what it's going to cost us to get there. She thinks it might be a motivator to work harder. Originally, I'd set it up so that the amount of money we had would determine where we were going. Which I guess is still the case, right? If we don't have enough in the end to go where ever we'd originally planned then we can have a backup plan or maybe extend the challenge until we have the money. So now it's your turn to chime in . . what do you guys think?

Rachel signing in

Hey ladies! Overall I had a great week! I went hiking several days with my family over the fall break and did some pretty tough workouts and toning. I need to figure out how to do water when I'm on the go so I'm working on that.

On top of the great week I have found that I am craving all sorts of foods and just want to eat! I don't know if it because I'm a little more active or if it is a depression thing. It's driving me crazy. I need to do the food journal to see what's up!

So for this week I'll be depositing $8 for good exercising but I won't get my extra for fruits and veggies because I ate too much!

MJ

This has been an interesting week for me. First of all, I have to confess that I didn't even think about the food journal.


In the beginning of this challenge, I found the food journal to be really useful as a jumping off point. It helped me to see what my daily diet is like. I was surprised to find that I wasn't eating as much as I needed to during the day. I also realized that I drink soda when I have forgotten to eat and so if I eat on a regular basis, I don't crave soda. These things have been helpful. But it has become tedious for me to keep track of every little thing I eat.


I don't know if this is a lack of discipline on my part or just the fact that I have figured out what I need to work on to make my body more healthy. Weight loss is not a big motivator for me. I don't mind my size 6 jeans. I need to focus on taking the time to sit down and eat during the day. The starch exchange diet that I learned with my gestational diabetes still plays a big part in my life. I am also a social eater and will eat more if I'm out with people. But overall, I eat pretty well. So while I want to follow some guidelines with my diet, I don't feel like I need to record everything I eat. As far as dieting goes, I will do the following:


Eat breakfast every day
Eat 5 small meals daily
Focus on foods that are high in fiber and low if fat.
Drink water with every meal and after every workout
Stop eating after 7pm
Take my multivitamin daily

A little while ago, I stopped eating after 7pm. The exeption to this is if I work out at night. I have to eat something small afterwards or my blood sugar drops in the middle of the night. I have learned that if I eat during the day, I'm really not hungry at night anyway and I just eat because Brady does.


Now for the good news!!! I hit my lose 5 inches milestone this week!!! I also met my H2O milestone again!! I'm getting pretty close to just making that one a habit rather than a milestone! One more should do it.

I'll be depositing $14 this week!!!

My Wall

I have this wall - Maybe we all have our walls. I've hit my wall twice in my life. The first time was when I was 27 and I stepped on the scale one morning and saw ZZZ lbs. For my height and body type - ZZZ lbs is 5 lbs from clinically overweight. I made the decision right then and there to make some changes in my life. And for the first time EVER I seriously dieted and I lost 25 lbs. I worked out a little, but not really hard, my main focus was on my diet. The weight came off in about 6 months and once it was off - I went back to my same lifestyle. I was very fortunate in that I didn't put it all back on, at least not immediately. The second time I hit my wall was this past March. I had gone from a size X to a size Y and I needed to move up to size Z. I stepped on the scale one morning and I saw ZZZ lbs AGAIN! ZZZ lbs is evidently my wall. My do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to unhappy. I had two choices - go out a buy a new wardrobe or lose weight. I had two choices - given in and accept that this was me or get to work. I didn't want to spend money on a new wardrobe of even bigger clothes. But I also wasn't ready to just give in and be completely unhappy with myself, my health, and my body. The difference between this wall and the last one? I didn't want to simply lose weight – I wanted to get healthy, I wanted to get active. I’ve never been athletic and I asked myself why not? Because I never wanted to work for it. (My cross country experience being a perfect example of this.) Now I want to work for it. Now I’m willing to work for it. I didn’t want to just lose weight – I wanted to make a major transformation.
Not only am I down more than 15 lbs and 2 sizes, but just as important - I'm in the best shape of my life. And I'm not even finished yet.
Somewhere along the line I skipped a size. In my closet I had my "fat" clothes which were my clothes that fit me at ZZZ lbs. And then I had my clothes that fit me at YYY lbs. And my clothes that fit at XXX lbs. Well, in my weightloss journey I seem to have skipped over my YYY clothes. I find myself at a new crossroads. I'm up against a different wall. I don't really fit into my size X's anymore either. So do I go out a buy a new wardrobe of size W's? Clothes that will fit me at WWW lbs? Or do I take a break, lay off a bit so I can fit in my size X's. Well, what do you think?
I am so happy to have my Ya-Ya Sisters (can I say my Butterfly Girls?) making this transformation with me. I am excited that you guys have caught the fever with me and that we're all going to be much healthier and in much better shape soon. And maybe we'll all be buying new wardrobes soon. For our trip at the end of the year - maybe we'll NEED to go to a shopping hot spot!