Hanging on!

I am doing ok! I have a couple days under my belt and am feeling pretty confident that i can do this. I did weigh myself for the first time since sept and It went down. I know I have changed two pant sizes but I needed to know where I was when I got back on track. It gave me motivation to keep going and get more weight off before bathing suit weather. I am using spark people to help me keep track and I like it. I am trying to do this as a life change and not a quick fix. It is hard to change 40 yrs of habits. Just taking it one day at a time.

GET BACK ON TRACK AND DON'T LOOK BACK!

That is my saying for right now. i have been off for over a month now and have not been able to get a grip again. I am getting that grip today the best I can. I am tempted by everything late;y and it has been a little stresful around here the past month but things are looking up and I need to regain cotrol of me and my eating. Any suggestions how you pick the pieces back up after you fall????

ouch!

Well it is now wed and i have been doing well til today. I did something to my back and it is killing me. I feel guilty not working out today but i think it might be for the best. I slept yesterday and today while the kids were at school which is telling me my body needs it. It is my lower back and my right shoulder blade into my right arm. I think my arm might have a pinched nerve causing that pain. My back is prob from TOM. I just hate not working out at all. If I felt better and it was nicer I could have walked but it is so crappy out. I do not like not feeling well. I would much rather feel good and be able to do my routine. Anyway, Hopefully this will go away soon, I do not want to get out of my routine. I am still considering going for a walk when my hubby gets home even if it is for pny 20 minutes. At least then I will feel like I did not do any exercise.

Mixing It Up!

I just got back from my kickboxing class and boy did she kick our butts. It was a great class and just what I needed to refocus a lil. I have been keeping up on exercising 6 times a week however, it is a struggle this week to find the motivation to want to. Some days are easier then others. I have at least done 30 minutes on the days that are harder of a jog/walk combo. Once I am doing it I am good but it is getting started that has been hard.

Any suggestions how you mix it up when you are just not feeling it? Any fun dvd's that give you a good workout but also are fun? I think I need to change it up a bit so that I do not lose my direction.

In the past I would do real well for a while and then get bored and I do not want that to happen. I have been doing this since sept 1st 09'. I am really trying to make a life change and be reasonable about how I handle my days. Life is not perfect and I realize that there will be days that I can only get 20 minutes in. Instead of beating myself up about it I am trying to get the best out of that 20 minutes and then go on with the rest of my day. Same thing with my eating. I am tying very hard to be realistic as to what I can live with for the rest of my life. A happy medium that gets me healthy but also does not make me stress about foods. As they say, "there are no bad foods, only bad choices!" I am trying to make the best choices that I can!

Riding The Waves

That is the way I feel this week, like I am riding the waves. I am up and then down, I am am under for a bit and then come up for a breath. But I am floating on top so I am not drowning, guess that is a good thing. The month has been very busy in our house and hubby has been working a lot. That is a great thing in this economy, I get that. However, in the menatime I feel a lil overwhelmed by the three kids, dogs and hose that I have to run and keep straight. The errrrand, the schedule, the needs. I have definitely made a completely conscious effort to keep my wprkouts going. I have been creative in how to get them in this week since we had many snow days and a sick child to boot. I still am not sure why I go to food for comfort but know that i do so I guess that is the first step in stopping it. i count my calories to the best of my ability without feeling crazwed by the process. I am trying to control this process this time instead of it controlling me. I have failed in the past becasue of that simple mistake. I am going to hold onto this lifepreserver a lil longer til the waters calm here and I am able to swim ashore and regroup. Hopefully that will be tuesday when the kids go back to school. In the meantime I will push myself to getting in at least two workouts this weekend.

Oh, on an excited note, I got my gymboss timer in the mail yesterday and am so excited to use it. For those of you who do not know what it is, it is an interval timer that you can set for your workouts. I am using to to try and kick my workouts up a notch and walk/jog for a set amount of time two to three days a week. I went to coolrunnings.com and am following their guidlines. I just started it and am looking forward to taking my journey outside now that I have my lil timer to go with me and help me keep track.

Hoep everyone has a good weekend! Happy Valentine's Day

Holding On As Tight As I Can

What a crazy weekend at our house. Besides all the snow which brings messes all over the house and, kids in and out, dogs constantly barking cause the kids are in and out, my 7 yr old got sick Saturday. I had three days of cleaning up vomit, and sleepless nights to finally find out from the dr it was strep. Oh, and my hubby has been working double time these past few months so it is almost like I am running the house alone. He is here but not here in his mind when it comes to things needeing to be done. I am not upset about it cause I am fortunate to be able to stay home with my kids and I know he works hard. It just makes it a lil more trying and challenging to stay focused on taking care of me when I have four other people who want me to take care of them.

Well, I shoveled snow for about a 1/2 hr on saturday and counted it as a small workout. I always work out 6 days a week and take one day off. I either walk, go to the gym(which has not been lately), do a leslie sansone dvd, a bollywood dvd, and go to kickboxing on mon/wed. So I took sunday off. The shoveling probably was not a very long workout but I was sweating.

I am still trying to do the couch to 5k week one butthe top of my right foot is killing me. It hurts when I touch it and when I move my foot a certain way. I have been icing it when it hurts and bought an arch support for that foot. I read it could be from shoes tied too tight. Anyway, tonight I needed to get out of the house after the sick days and took my 7 yr old to trampoline so he could get out too. While he was in there for 50 min I walked/jogged the parking lot for about 40 min of it. It felt good to get my heart rate up. I feel a little stuck weight wise and am trying to stay focused even though my cravings are coming out this week. I think I might just have a taste so I do not do off the deep end. Anyway, that is where I am at so far this week. I am doing my best to keep it together! Thanks for listening!!!!

Fighting the good fight

I am definitely fighting the food battle. I try as best i can to make the healthy choices and some days are easy and some days are not. Today I promised myself one thing and that was to change up my workouts and eat the best I could. Well I did change up my workout and started the couch to 5k program. I have never enjoyed running but feel it might kick my cardio up a notch if I try to add some running into my week. I was able to do 30 minutes, 1 min running to 1 minute walking. Actualy it was more like a jog but it was good for me. I was just glad i did it and did not give up. I did not even feel like working out at all today so it was a good accomplishmnet all around. The eating part was ok not good but ok. I definitely did not do a good job calculating my calories exactly but tried the best i could while being on the go all day to stay as close to range as i could. I did lose it a lil by dinner cause we did not eat til almost 8 and we had Mcdonalds.

I am really trying to get it through my head that even if my day is not perfect that I cannot give up or into the temptation of saying the heck with it and tanking the day. Even at Mcdonalds although I was not eating the healthiest meal i tried to pick the best choices and removed the roll, skipped the fries, and the cone at the end. I just need to convince myself that it was a good attempt for the day given my circumstances and i could have done a lot worse and would have if I was not conscious of what i was doing.

All in all, not too bad of a day if I learned something from it.

Struggling with winter dull drum.

"Kids Don not need martyrs they need mothers, so take care of yourself first so you can be there for them."Dr Phil

Well for so long I have put my kids first and have a hard time putting m into the equation which I think is a big part of my eating to sooth issue. I believe that instead of taking care of me in a healthy way I have relied on food to calm me and make me feel good.

I am trying so hard to put me first by getting healthy for me. It is very difficult in the winter thought to get out there and exercise so for me it is a daily push to do something every day. I am struggling with going to kick boxing tonight but am forcing myself to go because I know how good i feel after going. Going out at night to work out is just not my idea of a good night. I am a morning person or afternoon person and like getting my workout over with early.

I am finally seeing some of the results from my exercising and eating healthy but wish it was a lil more. I got rid of all the bigger clothes that were in my closet and it felt so good. I want the sizes to keep going down. If I could just get down one more size I would definitely feel like it is working. That would be the lowest I have been in about 12 years. I need to do this for me!!!!!

Another Day In Paradise

So another day is done and I tried my best to work out, eat healthy and not let stress of the day get to me or guide my eating habits. It was definitely a busy day with my husband being away with my one son for the weekend and me home alone with the othere two. My parents came to visit and I always stress about cleaning the house before they come. So btw worrying about my boys being on a road trip, my parents visiting, and just keeping up with life it was definitley a challenge at times not to grab food to soothe me. It is definitely odd how eating food can make you feel better for that moment. It just sends a sense of calm over me that is until I realize what I did and regret it. I am trying to curb that craving and replace it with something else but when I can't i will try and grab a snack that satisfies my sweet tooth but does not send my calories over the edge.

I really am in touch with when I am eating cause I am hungry and when I am eating because of my emotions. I found myself last night going to the market and grabbing a Entamens(sp) cake, a piece of cake with vanilla icing from the bakery and a pint of icecream which I pick out all the nuts and chocolate pieces and ditch the ice cream. Oh, then I went and got pizza next door for dinner. I got it all home and knew I was grabbing these things because I was alone for the night with everyone away and at sleepovers and I do not like being alone. I did not know how to soothe my lonliness. I ended up eating a slice and a half of the pizza, took two bites of the icing on the cake and just picked out a few nuts from the ice cream. Not too bad for my first bad night in a couple of months. I was glad I was able to minimize the damage but yet still not feel deprived. It was definitely a difficult night for me but today was another day. I got up, exercised and ate as clean as I could so I feel good. I am only human and there will be more days like yesterday.

As long as I stay focused and keep the goal of getting healthy in mind I will be okay. It is not a race it is a long distance run.

Just getting started on my blogging journey

Ok This is my very first blog post and I am excited to start this journey. I think it will be both mentally and physically good for me. Just a lil about me and my journey. I have three children and live in NJ. I have always struggled with my weight and have fought the good fight for a long time but the weight always won. I always focused on the numbers on the scale and let them control me. In August my friend lost her husband. It completely shock me up and made me realize what better time then now to get control of my health so that the next, hopefully 60 years of my life can be fruitful. I just turned 40 and look forward to the next chapter of my life with my husband and children.

In September I weighed myself and have not done so since. I began and exercise program of walking atleast 5 times a week and have kept with that to date. I walk,take kickboxing,go to the gym, do Bollywood, or Leslie Sansones tapes to keep my workouts from getting boring. I have been trying to count my calories and keep it to as close to 1600 calories a day. I planned on taking it slow and focusing on the healthy habits rather then losing weight. I know I have lost since I have gone down two sizes but refuse to weigh myself in fear that the scale will not say what I thin k it should. I do not want to mess with a good thing.

Anyway, I am very excited to start bloging and join the Helathy You Challenge so I can connect with and support others who are striving for the same goals.