FMM 09/16/13

I really do mean to get back here and write, and talk about my weight loss and all that good stuff. Life just keeps getting in the way. For now - still status quo. I'm still down the 16+ lbs, but I haven't lost any more weight in the past month. I'm still calling it a win. For now, I've decided that I'm just going to worry about maintaining it until I get back from vacation in mid-October, and then buckle down again. 

"If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!"

This week's topic is very timely, since I've been dating a great guy for the past two months!  I've never been so happy, as I've been with him. And dating him has made me realize a lot of things. 

Relationships and Dating

1.  List five characteristics that you think are important in a significant other.  Until meeting P, I don't think I would have thought of some of these. Being with him is so great - so EASY - that it's made me realize what was missing in my other relationships. My five are now: 1) Great communicator - we talk about everything, both little and small. We have no secrets (he knows the one thing that I have never ever told anyone before), and we discuss everything important.  2) Someone that makes me a priority.  I don't need to be the #1 priority in his life, but I need to be up there in the top 5. 3) Someone who takes care of me. Now, I'm fully independent, and I don't need someone to support me financially. But I do need someone that worries and cares about my well-being, same as I would do for them. 4) Someone who makes me laugh - this has always been on the list, but P just makes me laugh at everything. He calms me down, he makes me see the silly things in life. Heck, he had my laughing hysterically while we were having sex yesterday. THAT has never happened before, lol! 5) Someone who accepts me for who I am - both physically and mentally. I'm overweight, duh. P doesn't see it that way, at all. He does like a bigger girl, but he doesn't think that I am one. He loves me for who I am and how I'm shaped, but he's also willing to work with me on my goals to make me happier. He used to be a body builder, and he would love to get me to the gym to work out together - as a couple's activity, if that makes sense.  He's 100% supportive of me. 

2.  If you had to choose between staying single for the next two years (as in, no dating at all,) or receiving $10,000, which would you choose?  Huh? Should this be - stay single and get 10k or not get the money and date? I'm going with "screw the money, I want to date". I can make that money in a couple of months at my job.

3.  What is your relationship status?  Are you satisfied with it?  Well, facebook now officially states "In a relationship with P", at his request. So, I'm happily taken. I can see P being "the one".  

4.  Would you date someone who has children? Yes, I would. I don't actually want to give birth to any kids myself, I never have.  I have too many medical phobias to survive that ordeal. P doesn't have any kids, and I think he would like one or two, though he's told me he's okay with us not having any. We've even discussed adopting, if we end up beting long-term. That I would like.  

5.  Would you date someone who’s shorter than you?  I would, though I'm pretty short. Even most "short" men are taller than me. I'm 5'3" and P is 5'8".  

6.  Would you date someone who has different political views?  I would as long as 1) they weren't obnoxious about it, 2) accepted that we have differing philosophies, and 3) could have rational discussions about it. Otherwise - no.

7.  If you were going on vacation together, would you choose the beach or the mountains?I'd take either, depending on our mood, and there was no camping involved with the mountains. I don't camp. I would probably prefer the beach vacation though.  

8.  How do you show someone that you’re interested in them?  After our first date, P couldn't figure out if I actually liked him or not. And honestly, I wasn't sure if I did. So when he asked if he should stop texting me, because he thought he was bothering me, I said "well why don't you ask me out again, so we can see if we like each other?" So he did, and we went out that night, and that's when the "click" happened. 

9.  Do you prefer to date people who are older than you or younger?  I would say same age or older. But I've never actually dated someone younger.  P is a whopping  months older than me, but I've dated people 7+ years older than me.  

10.  Share some details of your dream date.  Funny, because P always asks me what I feel like doing, and I don't really care.  I just like spending time with him, and I don't care what we do.  I'm a complete introvert, and a homebody, so I usually just go for whatever he suggests.  I think it may drive him batty, but he always thinks of something fun to do. I'm honestly pretty low-maintenance. Going to a movie, or going to hear a band play, and I'm content. Or staying in and lounging on the couch watching tv  (movie or football or just junk tv) and taking afternoon naps are also equally appealing.  

FMM

Well, I fell off the radar for a few weeks.  I've been slacking on the diet, but I've been maintaining my weight loss so far, so that's good at least.  I get back on the diet this Friday.

"If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!"

Questions and Answers

1.  What is a typical weekday like for you?  I get up at 6:15 and need about 30-45 minutes to just sit there, drink coffee, and wake up. In the shower no later than 7, and out the door no later than 7:15. I have my morning "get ready" routine down pat, after all these years. Out of work typically by 4, and home by around 4:30 or so.  Wednesday and Friday nights are date nights with my boyfriend.  Mondays and Thursdays are workout nights and tidying up nights. Tuesday nights are typically my do nothing nights because I come home to a clean house (I have a cleaner). It's a workout night though.

2.  Name one song that never fails to make you happy and one song that you always listen to when you’re sad.  I have quite a few songs that perk me up. Lately it's been Starry Eyed Surprise by Oakenfold.  One of my sad songs is Look Away by Chicago.

3.  Did you watch the VMA’s last night?  I did not, but I heard all about Miley Cyrus, and I am going to go search for the clip of the N*Sync reunion. I honestly haven't been into the VMAs in at least 15 years.

4.  Share at least two that you possess. I'm assuming this has to do with skills based off the original answers?  I'm a fairly decent knitter and I rock at trivia games.

5.  Share one thing that you wish you had the confidence to do.  Lately I've been thinking of two things that I've always wanted to do, and wondering if I should just do them. One is to go skydiving, which is insane, since I'm afraid of heights, but one of those things I've always wanted to do. The second is that I want a tattoo. This one will more likely happen - I know what I want, and where, and I know when I hit a certain goal, I will get it.

6. Tell us about one insecurity that people might be surprised that you have.  I'm actually very shy in crowds, probably because of my introvert tendencies. People at work think that I'm insane when I say that, because part of my job is to hold presentations for large crowds of people. But - that's just a role I play in my job, and I know how to get through it. In a social situation though? Totally uncomfortable.

7.  If you could be the CEO of any company, which one would you choose to lead?  Oh man, I have no clue. Preferably one of my own creation. And I would totally have people whose job titles would be "minion". I love minions!

8. List at least three hobbies that make you happy. Knitting, reading, painting my nails.

9.  Is there someone in your life that you wish you could say “I love you” to?  Well, I say it when I mean it, though there are few people that have passed away that I could say it to again. I haven't hit the "I love you" phase with the boyfriend yet, that's still new. 

10.  Share one cool thing that happened over the weekend. I went for a ride on my boyfriend's motorcycle both days this weekend, and am slowly getting used to being on it (I used to be terrified of them)!

FMM!

Bad blogger, I missed my weekly results on Friday. Let's just say that there was a zero change from the week before, and we'll move on. I crack down again starting tomorrow!

And now for some fun stuff!

"If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!"

Have You Ever?

 1. Jumped out of an airplane?  No, but this is something that I've totally considered, even though I'm afraid of heights.

2. Lived alone?  Yup, I've lived solo in my condo for the past six years. That seems to be slowly changing with my current boyfriend. It's only a matter of time before he moves in, I think.

3. Met a celebrity? Yup, a few!  And of course,  I can't think of most of them off the top of my head. Mostly it's been musicians - Chris Isaak, Shawn Mullins, Jennifer Nettles. I know there's been more, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

4. Said something to someone that you immediately regret saying? Yes, though not as much as I used to. I've learned to think before I blurt things out now, especially if I'm angry.

5. Had a manicure/pedicure? Just had one a few weeks ago. It's flip-flop season!

6.  Gotten a hickey? Yes, a long time ago. It's on the no-no list, as in "do not do this to me, we are not teenagers".

7. Owned a pet that was not a dog or a cat?  I've only ever had non-cat and non-dog pets. My pet of choice is a rabbit. And right now I'm outnumbered 3-1.

8. Been outside of your home country?  Yes! I love to travel. I hit Italy two years ago, and in less than 8 weeks, my BFF and I will be in Greece!

9. Kissed your best friend? Chaste kisses, yes. Who hasn't smooched their bff on the cheek or quick peck hi or by on the lip?  Or is it just me?  LOL.

10. Eaten food that fell on the floor?  Three second rule, people. Unless there's rabbit fur on it, then it goes in the trash or to the bunnies, if it's a veggie.

11. Met someone online? Yes. I have an online journal, and have several really good friends from that, that I've known for years. Also, I met my boyfriend online. 

12. Been on TV?  I got interviewed by a news station once, but I have no idea whether they aired it or not.

13. Had braces?  Thankfully, no. I have a small overbite, but nothing that's ever needed correcting.

14. Gone skinny dipping?  nope. I've gone swimming in my bra and panties, but not stark naked.

15. Been to the opera? Not sure, but I'll go with no. I used to go to a private school, and they used to take us to a lot of performances in Boston, so I might have been at one, but don't recall it.

16. Been caught making out by a policeman?  Nope.

17. Sung in public? Just in school musicals or performances, part of a chorus thing. I really don't have a voice that people are dying to hear, and I try not to subject people to it.

18. Handed out candy on Halloween? Yup, since I bought my place, I have.

19. Been snowed in? Of course - I live in MA. There are many a snow day up here. Thankfully I can work from home on snowy days, and slowly shovel my place out. And thankfully Neighbor Brian helped shovel me out when we got a huge 2+ foot snowstorm this past winter. That would've sucked without the help.

20. Fallen in front of other people? Oh yes, I'm clumsy. I fall a lot.

21. Cheated on a test? Probably. I pretty much cheated all through chemistry in HS, and I'm sure that included tests.

22. Regretted saying “I love you” to someone? I guess I don't regret ever saying it. I'm just more careful about saying it now. You live, you learn.

23. Finished a meal in a restaurant and realized that you didn’t have your wallet? Thank goodness, no!

24. Shot a gun? nope.

25. Heard a song that was written for (or about) you? Nope. Which is sad, since I dated a couple of musicians/writers, bah.

week 8 results

Another decent week, weight-loss wise!  I am down 2.6 lbs this week, which brings my weight loss to over 15 lbs!  I didn't get a single workout in this week, which was really bad, but I will work on that this coming week. I may have to alter my plans on how many workouts I get in, because I've suddenly developed a life, and am not home much right now. I met a wonderful guy, and we've been going out a lot these past couple of weeks. :D

Weekly Changes:

# of Workout Days: 1 - nothing on the exercise bike, but I got an hour and a half walk in on a date, as well as some bowling this week. Every little bit helps, right? I didn't track those on WW though.

Weight lost this week: 2.6
Total weight lost: 15.4 lbs  
Activity Points remaining: 0/0
Weekly Points remaining: 49/49

WW knocked another point off my daily points this week. 

Inches Lost (to-date, with the ones that changed this week in red): 3.5 (hips), 4.0 (thighs), 1.0 (calves), 1.5 (upper arms), 2.5 (waist), 1.5 (bust)

This was a pretty good week - I had several people comment on my weight loss, and I wore a dressy outfit this week that I thought that I looked really good in.  My go-to jeans, which were tight in January, are now really loose on me - I had to keep hiking them up yesterday. It may be time to invest in a belt, lol! 

I typically wear a size 14 jean from Old Navy and they're too big now. Granted, ON has vanity sizing, but I'm going to take it as a good sign that they're too big. In fact, I tried on some size 12 shorts from ON that my sister has, and they fit me really well!  I may have to swing through the store and try on a pair of jeans in a 12, to see how they fit.

I am still on-target to hit my goal in October - 30 lbs. Right now, my current goal is to hit the 20 mark. I'm hoping that will happen in the next 2-3 weeks!

week 7 results

So, it was a pretty hectic week for me this past week.  I had a date with bachelor #1 on Friday, in which we went for ice cream, I had a friend up visiting on Saturday, which meant lots of alcohol (she's a bad bad influence, lol!). And THAT meant that I was hungover on Sunday and wanted to eat ALL THE THINGS. Then Monday night I had a date with bachelor #2, which was a dinner date.  

I only managed to get three workouts in this past week, because I had to be careful of my back - it's on the verge of going out on me - muscle spasms. This happens with my back every so often, so I know to be careful with it.

So.....color me stunned when I stepped on the scale this morning and managed to lost another 1.8 lbs! I would have been happy to break even this week, but I am absolutely thrilled!  

I even got my first "Have you lost weight" question today. :D

I have to go back and track a few things on WW from today, and check my measurements, so I don't have all my numbers this week.  I'll try and do those tomorrow. I have a date with bachelor #2 tonight, and a date with bachelor #1 tomorrow night. I feel so popular, lol!

Here's my abbreviated totals for the week. I'll try and come back tomorrow and update them.

Weekly Changes:
# of Workout Days: 3 (42.5 miles)
Weight lost this week: 1.8 lbs
Total weight lost: 12.8 lbs 

Happy weekend, All!  :)

week 6 results

It was a good week!  It was also a non-hungry week, which was good because it was a busy week, and I neglected to go food shopping.  I got two goals crossed off my list! 

I also did really well on the bike this week, mile-wise. It was a struggle this week and I didn't get my five workouts in. I did manage to get four in though, and I will absolutely take that, because finding the motivation to work out last night and tonight was really hard. But I did it.  I don't mind it once I've started, because I've accepted that I am going to spend 40+ minutes doing it once I've started. 

Weekly Changes:
# of Workout Days: 4 (50.67 miles)
Weight lost this week: 3.2 lbs!
Total weight lost: 11.0 lbs - put me 1 lb over on the 5% goal!
Activity Points remaining: 35/38
Weekly Points remaining: 49/49

Inches Lost (to-date, with the ones that changed this week in red): 2.0 (hips), 4.0 (thighs), 1.0 (calves), 1.0 (upper arms), 2.0 (waist) 

This week I wore a pair of work pants that I haven't worn in a long while because they were too tight. I think the last time I wore them was 2 years ago. I also retired a pair that were sort of loose to begin with, because they're completely unwearable now. I have some capris that I should pull out to see if they fit me better now. These are the fun perks, being able to wear some clothes that I haven't been able to in a while!

Goals

Lose 10 lbs (5%) "lbs to go" under 40

Lose another 10 lbs (10%) "lbs to go" under 30

Lose another 10 lbs (15%)

"lbs to go" under 20 170 for Greece in October

Lose another 10 lbs (20%)

"lbs to go" under 10Lose another  10 lbs (25%)

Weigh 150 lbs

Re-evaluate weight loss goal - am I happy or do I want to try to lose more?

Non-scale goals

Bike 25 miles - up to 13+ miles now. Halfway there!

Run 1 mile

Fit into a size 10

Run a 5k (this will be a 2014 goal, I think)

Sign up for gym membership

Buy a pair of expensive non-plus jeans

Buy an expensive pair of knee boots Guess that's about it for this week. How'd you do this week?

FMM!

"If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!"

Foodie Questions

1. Do you make grocery lists?  Only if I'm using peapod. Does that count? I hate hate hate food shopping.

2.  Do you have a routine when shopping in your favorite grocery store?  If I have to go to the store, because my order isn't worth using peapod, then I try and just hit the outer perimeter of the store. It basically has all the essentials- produce, meat/seafood, dairy, bread. I try and get in and out in under 20 minutes, usually.

3.  What is your favorite seasoning?  I don't use many seasonings when I cook, sometimes a little Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt. Otherwise, I usually flavor my food with garlic, vinegar, lemon/lime or things like that.

4.  What is the healthiest food in your fridge right now?  some spinach/arugula mix, yogurt and veggies.

5.  What is the most unhealthy food in your fridge now?  I have some Brigham's Hot Fudge sauce in there. I don't even need ice cream for it - a teaspoon of the stuff, even cold, is pretty good.

6. What is the most exotic produce you've ever had? Interesting question, and I'm completely blanking out on it, sadly!  Probably something I've eaten on one of my trips. So sad I'm drawing a blank here!

7. Tell us about your favorite local restaurant.  There's this great little takeout place that just opened about six months ago in my town, Mediterranean food. They have hummus, baba ghanoush, shish kabob, etc.  So yummy!

8.  What kind of pasta do you prefer (regular, whole wheat, etc.?)  I grew up eating a lot of pasta, so I'm not a big fan of it. I rarely ever cook it, but when I do, it's just regular.

9. If you could make one food calorie-free for an entire week, which food would you choose?  This week, it'd be butterscotch brownies. I have been craving them something fierce, but there's something like two sticks of butter in the recipe.  

10.  If you had to choose would you rather give up french fries or chocolate?  Neither would bother me overly much. I'm much more into snacking on popcorn. If you took away my coffee though, I'd fall over dead.

quick post

Just a quick drive-by post to say that I hit my first goal today! I know, I shouldn't weigh myself more than once a week, but it happens.

I'm down 10.4 lbs, which was my 5% goal.  Next mini-goal is to get that bottom counter, which is at "40 lbs to go" right now, down into the 30s. I'll hit that this coming week for sure. Next big goal is my 10% mark - another 9.6 lbs to go to make that.

I think I need to change my setting on WW so that weigh-in day is on Sunday. Friday's tend to let me down when I step on the scale, but apparently I do better at watching what I eat than I thought on the weekends.

It's the little things that motivate me right now. I didn't get my workout in yesterday like I'd hoped, but I'm definitely more motivated to workout today. And to go food shopping, which I hate doing.

How'd you do this week?

week 5 results

This week was pretty good! I did well picking out my meals and managed to work out five times. Though, I will say - Wednesday's workout was a struggle, and last night I was feeling some pain when I went to bed - just some aches and tired limbs, which went away overnight. Today's my day off from exercising, but I'll be back at it tomorrow. I am hoping that next week I hit my first goal, so that's some motivation to be good!

My next mini-goal is to get the tracker way down at the bottom of my blog to read "weight to go" that's less than in the 40s. There's something a lot easier about saying I want to lose 30ish pounds compared to 40ish pounds. Even if I only say it to myself and the anonymous interwebz, lol!

I had to travel for work today, and aside from my increased caffeine intake (must have an iced coffee for a road-trip ), I did well. I had a yogurt before I got on the road, and a peach when I got to my destination. Then for lunch they brought in sandwiches, and I went with half a nice healthy turkey wrap (lots of veggies, and just a little mustard added) instead of one of the big fat sandwiches. Skipped the chips, had a diet coke to drink. Had a grilled chicken sandwich for dinner.  I'm still within my points for the day, yay!

WW lowered my daily value a point this week. Nothing major, I sometimes have one or two left over, so it shouldn't be too bad. I didn't touch my weekly points this week, and a less than half of my activity points.

I'm proud of my activity points, actually. If I hadn't had a rough Wednesday, I would have hit 40 this week! I was a point short on Wednesday because I cut my workout time by a couple of minutes.  Right now, I'm up to 35 mins/workout on my bike. When I first started, 10 minutes was a struggle! This coming week I'm upping it a mile, so will add a few more minutes to my workout time.  

Weekly Changes:
# of Workout Days: 5
Weight lost this week: 2.0 lbs
Total weight lost: 8.0 lbs
Activity Points remaining: 21/39
Weekly Points remaining: 49/49

Inches Lost (to-date, with this week's changes in red): 1.5 (hips), 4.0 (thighs),0.75 (calves), 1.0 (upper arms),1.5 (waist)

I guess that's about all for now. I still need to work on sprucing up the blog. Happy weekend!

FMM

I stumbled across this website a couple weeks ago, and thought I'd join in on the fun!

"If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!"

1.  Are you a planner, or do you prefer to see where the moment takes you?  I'm a bit of both, though I lean towards spontaneous. I hate planning things too far out, because most times by the time the date arrives, it starts to feel like an obligation, instead of something fun!

2.  How often do you blog?  Just started blogging again after a break of many years. I've been updating once or twice a week - Still working on prettying up the place, need to see if my old html skillz are there.

3.  Do you color your hair?  Oh my yes. Must. Cover. The. Grey.  I'm not happy with the color right now, I need to dye it closer to my natural color - a dark brown.

4. If you had to choose between running or riding a bike, which one would you choose?  Bike, definitely.

5.  Have you ever traveled outside of your home country?  Yes, as often as possible! Heading to Greece in October. Two years ago I went to Italy. 

6.  Do you like weddings?  Yes, as a guest. I've been a maid-of-honor in a lot of weddings, and it's much more enjoyable to just be a guest. 

7.  What is your favorite guilty pleasure on TV?  Oh, Ancient Aliens, without a doubt!  I love sitting there and mocking the show, and the guy with the crazy hair is just amusing!  It's what I watch to wind-down on Friday nights, after a long work week.

8.  Are you good at math?  I'm okay with regular math, but get into that complicated alegebra or calculus stuff, and I'm lost. 

9.  What is the last movie you watched?  I re-watched Avengers last night, and last week I saw White House Down.

10.  Share five adjectives that your friends would use to describe you.  Friendly, smart, snarky, witty, and nice.

Bonus:  Did you celebrate Independence Day?  If so, what did you do? I had last week off, so I spent two days down the Cape, and on the 4th itself, I went to a cookout at my parents' house. It was a pretty laid back day, it was nice.

week 4: results

Well, this week's mini-vacation/holiday took a bit of a toll on my weight loss. I'm down .8 lbs from last Friday, which is nice. However, I had weighed myself on Sunday, and I had been down 2.2 lbs from Friday. So the net loss wasn't that great, but at least I still lost weight, right?   I did splurge on a couple of ice cream cones while I was away, and then I had some yummy, but not so healthy, cookout foods yesterday. 

On to this week's numbers:

Weekly Changes:
# of Workout Days: 4

Weight lost this week: 0.8 lbs

Total weight lost: 6.0 lbs

Inches Lost (to-date, with this week's changes in red): 2.5 (hips), 3.0 (thighs), .75 (calves), .5 (upper arms),1 (waist and abdomen, each)

Activity Points remaining: 0/28 

Weekly Points remaining: 9/49



I'm pretty happy with the changes in my hips and thighs. It totally shows that I'm biking it. I wish my arms would go down more - that upper arm thing on the bike - well, frankly, it kills me.  For the amount of burn I feel, I would think my arms would be down more by now. 

Though I only worked out 4 times this week, I managed to get three workouts of 30+ mins. The week before I'd worked out 5 times, but actually put less time in exercising. I upped it by almost 20 mins last week. 

I have switched my plans about exercising: I was planning on doing at least 5x week, but now I'm switching it to 4 days on, 1 day off. So, some weeks I may work out five times, other weeks I will only get four in. My body, right now, can't handle more than 4 days in a row. We'll see how this new method works out.

So far, these are the changes that I've seen in a non-weight-loss way:

• My shoulders and neck are where I hold all my tension. In February I was in a bunch of pain along my right shoulder (really stressful time at work). The past week or so, it's felt a lot looser, not so tight. That's the arm thing on the bike at work!
• I fell down a flight of stairs years ago and essentially wrecked my right knee. Every now and then it goes out, and I hobble around for a few days before it feels better. Right now it feels better than it's felt in a long time. Again, that's the bike at work!
• I'm sleeping better - I think it's the exhaustion! 

I haven't noticed a change in how my clothes fit yet, but I can't wait for that day. I know i'm only down 6 lbs so far, but I'm hoping to notice a change around the 10 lb mark, at least in my pants. In fact, to motivate myself, I bought some inspiration jeans - 2 sizes smaller than what I wear right now. My goal is to be in those this fall some time. I'd like to be wearing them in time for my trip in October, but time will tell.  Right now I can pull them on, but they are nowhere close to being able to button up at the waist.  I'm just going to keep trying them on every Friday, and see what happens.

My goal is still 30 lbs down by my trip to Greece in October. It's totally doable, if I keep exercising, and can manage to lose 2 lbs a week. Wish me luck!!!

this week's results

I ended the week down a total of 1.4 lbs. I had a hungry week, so I used all my activity points, and about half of my weekly points. It was a great week for inches lost though! Check out my numbers below. You can definitely tell that I'm biking it, look at that 2.75 inch loss (to-date) on my thighs!

Weekly Changes:
# of Workout Days: 5
Weight Lost: 1.4 lbs
Inches Lost (to-date): 2 (hips), 2.75 (thighs), .5 (calves), .5 (upper arms),1 (waist and torso, each)
Activity Points remaining: 0/24 
Weekly Points remaining: 27/49

I'm on vacation this coming week (yay!!!!), and going down the Cape for a couple of days, so I hope that doesn't derail me.  I do plan to work out 6 days this coming week, so I'm hoping that offsets whatever I end up eating while I"m gone. I already know there's an ice cream cone in my future, as well as at least one eat-out breakfast. Other than those two things, I'm totally going to try and behave. I also hope the extra walking around helps, and I have plans to do some clean-up out in my back patio (there are a LOT of weeds out there).

Feel free to note and let me know you're out there! I'd love to hear from you - are you challenging yourself too? How's it going for you?

the month mark

I have officially been working out for a month now!  I've logged 151 miles on my stationary bike and got a few walks in as well.  In the past 31 days I have worked out 21 days. Not too bad for my first month's effort!

I am going to aim for every day this coming month, minus the three days that I'm going away next week. I'm sure I'll get plenty of walking in around the Cape, but not anything that I can log. I need to get a pedometer, maybe I'll look this weekend. It'd be good to track just on a daily basis anyways.

My weekly weigh-in isn't until Friday, but I sneaked a peek this morning (I try not to step on the scale every day), and I'm down 1.8 lbs since last Friday morning. That makes me feel so much better, after only pulling a single pound the prior two weeks. I want to hit my 5% goal by the end of July, which is totally doable right now.  Fingers crossed!

this week's results

Today was weigh-in day, and I'm down a pound from last week. I was hoping for more, but I'll take any minus!

I lost two inches from around my hips since I last measured, which is a better inspiration for me - the weight loss may be slow, but I've got to remind myself that I'm working out and losing fat but gaining muscle.

I got four exercise days in this week, which is one less than I want per week, but I had to wait for my new bike to come in, and then I had to put it together. Now that I have a better bike that has tension adjustment on it, my miles are down per workout, but I'm definitely sweating more!  Time to start working on adding miles/time each week again.

WW went pretty well this week - I racked up 21 Activity points (used only 3) and didn't touch my weekly points at all.

Weekly Change:
# of Workout Days: 4
Weight Lost: 1 lb
Inches Lost: 2 (hips)
Activity Points: 3/21
Weekly Points: 0/49

Feel free to note and let me know you're out there! I'd love to hear from you - are you challenging yourself too? How's it going for you?