Mid-week check

So far, so good. I have been eating fairly well over the past few days- still lots of fruit and veg. I have also been exercising more. To celebrate my new smaller size I went out and bought a few things that will still look good on me when I am smaller. I've even started doing crunches and push ups again. Hopefully we will see improvement next Sunday.

Hip-hip hooray!

My refocusing and venting my frustration worked! Today I weighed myself and I've lost 2 pounds this week for a grand total of seven pounds since the beginning of this challenge! This just proves if you stick to it and don't give up you will reach your goals. Even though 171 is still 20 pounds heavier than I want to be, it is under 173. Now, I have to explain that statement a bit. About nine years ago I joined Jenny Craig, which really did work for me but my starting weight was 173. So don't really feel I made any progress until I can reach a weight lower than that.
After telling you my frustration, I decided to focus on losing weight and not making life changes. In the beginning, I was trying to add fruit and veg to my diet but try not to deprive myself too much. Then I remembered we have a pool! If I wanted to be seen there everyday by friends and neighbors in a bathing suit I had to really start working. On my walk when I was tired of pushing myself to go faster I just keep repeating "bathing suit, dress, bathing suit dress". I also took Karen's advice about the picture with the shorts you want to fit into but this time I used a bathing suit. I have to say I screamed when I saw the picture. Well, I don't have to worry that will all change soon. Thanks again for this push to help me lose weight! Now I really believe I could reach my goals by the end of the challenge. How wonderful would that be!
I have not reached my exercise goal this week but food has been great. I 've been eating cereal in the morning and fruit and veg as snacks at work with one real meal a day. Sometime that meal is a salad with bread but it does fill me up. I have not exceeded 3 coffees a day and I have not decreased the amount of water a day.
Hooray for me! I can't wait to see what I weigh next week!

Losing steam

I have to say, thought my eating has gotten better I've really crapped out on the exercise. Partly I have a hard time when so many other projects are pulling at me but mostly I think it's just the sluggish way that my body loses weight. Brett and I both went on a diet the same day both weighing the same amount. He has lost 7 or 8 pounds while I've just barely squeezed off 2. Isn't that just so depressing! Arg! There, I've let out my frustration and now I just have to keep working past it. My body may take longer but it will get there in the end. I just have to remember for me exercise is the key ingredient for massive weight loss. My exercise may not be very good today but at least I will do something.

As promised

Here is the other post for you Jen. Sorry we've left you alone out there. You just have more stamina than the rest of us I guess. Or maybe I'm just the one who needs short breaks of laziness in between the hard work. Hopefully I'll get back on track soon. We have dresses to fit into! Hope tennis was fun.

Not doing to bad

I weighed myself yesterday (from 3/26/07) and I'm down one more pound! I have also reduced my body fat by 1%. Great! The last few days have been pretty good. Friday was a good food day. I had a fairly healthy lunch then topped it off with a chocolate cake dinner (sorry, that time of the month and it really helped my disposition). Then on Saturday I snacked on a bunch of things, mostly healthy and split a meal with everyone at work. Sunday I had cereal, bratwurst and mash with gravy and beer. Today so far I've had coffee but I haven't been awake that long. I ended up eating an orange, cheese and crackers (only 6), then a burger and fries for dinner (oops).
TUESDAY: I went to work in the morning, had a bowl of soup and a spinach salad, then I came home and made a taco salad for Brett and I. I also drank 1 1/2 margaritas, which kind of off sets the salads but we were celebrating summer. My exercise has been really bad recently but it's so hard to get into a routine when you work on your feet all the time. But, no more excuses. I'll just try again tomorrow.

Feeling Healthy for Spring!

Lets see...Over the past two days I haven't been exercising that much- shopping at LL Bean and house cleaning. Thought the shopping wasn't that vigorous the cleaning wasn't too bad. I could have brought it up a notch and will next time. I have been eating more soup, I think to off set the cheese because we have so much in the fridge and I can't bring myself to waste it. Yesturday, we ate at Pannera (soup and sand) at work I had cashew spinach and soup. Then I had a beer when I got home. So far today I've had coffee, soup, cheese and crackers. It's not really the best of diets but I have stopped eating when I'm not hungry (seems simple but always hard for me) and said no to sweets for the most part. At work I've been ordering veggies or salads instead of real meals with lots of carbs. I haven't been eating as much bread but this is partly due to not having it in the house. I have kept to two cups of coffee a day and water has been replacing it most of the time. I have made lots of little changes which are a step in the right direction but aren't helping me lose weight in the short term. I think it is time for me to renew and revise my goals. So here goes:

New Goals (3/23/07)
* Keep increasing the amout of fruit and veggie in my diet
* Drink at least 6 glasses of water a day
* Work out a minimum of 4 times a week (heart rate must be raised for at least 20 min)
* Stop having a beer after work (a fattening recent development after the party)
* Keep the fire high during the contest (I can always relax in June)

Keeping focused

Definately time to refocus. Yesturday I wasn't able to exercise because I worked all day but I did eat well. It makes it easy since I don't have to pay for my meals and I work at a veggie place, most every thing is pretty good for you. So my goal today is talking a long walk then working on my crunches and lunges. Must remember 72 days!!! Oh, by the way I found the shorts for the challange but there is no way your going to see a pic (maybe the after :}).

Missing again, but still working hard

Sorry again for not writting again. I have been eating pretty well but I haven't been exercising very much at all. The good new is I haven't gainned any weight but the bad news is I haven't lost any. (I weighed myself on Sun and was 177 [Ahhh!] but then again on Mon and was back to 174 [phew], I gues those St. Patty's day beers hold alot of water). So like Karen said it is a new week and I can regain my fire. I don't know if I'll be able to do the challange since I'm working a double but I'll do my best.

All is still good

Sunday. The day of reconing. All you fat losers, I have some news for you. I weighed myself for the first time in a week and I HAVE LOST 1 1/2 POUNDS!!!! [trumpets...fireworks...marching bands] Thanks for the push in the right direction. Sorry I've been MIA for a bit but work and house stuff was taking up a lot more time than usual. I've kept up with eating veggies and fruit, cutting back on coffee and I a haven't decreased my water intake. The exercise has dropped off a bit but I'm still with in my 3 times a week quota. (I would like to do 5 times a week but for now I need to have goal that I stick to). Today we went for a walk around Frederick. I've never been to downtown so we made a daytrip of it, taking the walking tours and walking along the river. I even brought fruit with me so if I became hungry I could eat that instead of french fries. I did have a down point these past few days where I eat a lot of doritos but it was less then what I normally would have eaten :). So on a whole I'm pleased with my progress. You're support has made all the difference!

Sore legs

Ouoowee! Jen I can't believe you. I struggled to do 50 lunges and I'm hurting today but 125 are you crazy (crazy competative, ha ha). Well, it's a good pain because I'm proud of myself, and I can feel that pride every time I walk up those 3 (or is it 6) flights of stair :). Just kidding. I loved the challenges so much they have become part of my regular workout (though I'm giving my legs a rest today;). I was going to have a healthy breakfast today but I woke up at 10:30 and I needed to be at work at 10:00 (oops). Thankfully the owner laught when I told her and the kitchen fed us today. The day went by quickly only doing manager stuff and a came home to a wonderful meal. Brett, who is an unofficial Fat Loser, made a fairly healthy small meal for the both of us. Before eating it I did 75 jumping jacks, 100 crunches, 80 butt clencher-thingies, and a random amount of backwards leg lifts. (Not really focused but at least I'm now doing something). Now, on to the food. It wasn't a great day but I feel like I still did well.
*Food: A bagette with roasted red peppers, lettuce, onion, garlic, balsamic, and olive paste
2 coffees (but with half the amount of cream and sugar than normal)
1/4 (or less) of a chocolate chip, oatmeal, coconut cookie (probably vegan but wonderful)
a small caesar salad
an 8oz bison steak with baked french fries and 1 slice of garlic bread
1/2 a smoothie (banana, pecans, milk, a dash of maple syrup, and ice)
-----So I wasn't great with the fruit and veg (I'll have to work on that tomorrow)
I'm still forgetting to switch to a glass of water instead of coffee but I am still getting a few a day. Overall, I'm fairly happy with today most of all because I can tell my mind set has changed to a real fat loser! I'll put my measurements up as soon as I buy a measuring tape:).

Still in the game :)

Just in the neck of time! I had to work all day so I wasn't able to complete my work out until late today but I'm pretty wide a wake so I thought it would be ok.
I had a pretty good day today. I ate a small slice of tofu quiche, 5 spoon fulls of oatmeal (family meal at work but customers started coming in so it went cold), broccoli, carrots, 1 coffee, herbal tea, 3 slices of quesadilla, and cereal. Don't worry, I'm not starving myself I had a lot of the veggies. I couldn't really work out so I thought I would do yesterdays challange as well as todays :). I was also able to squeeze in 4 glasses of water. Not to amazing but better then yesterday. Well, I must run. Good luck tomorrow everyone!

I did it!!! Thanks for the idea for more exercise. It's always fun to be rewarded for doing a good job. Good luck everyone!

Struggling through

Slowly but surely I'm learing how to use this site :). Now Jen can see the picture even in the place I wanted it!!! Thanks for the compliments and encouragement Karen, it's really helped.
Today is my day off and after a lazy start and a bit of house cleaning, Brett and I went for a hike in Gwyn Falls Park a beautiful park in the middle of Baltimore. We bought a hike book and are slowly trying to find all the wonderful locations. We will definately go back to this one. We even stumbled upon a nature center which rehabilitates animals. It was amazing. The animals range from injured natives to exotic pets that owners couldn't take care of properly. The most amazing were the baby screech owls (they made a rumbling call every time we moved, so cute) and the Kokaburo! WOW!!! I think the walk was an hour or an hour and a half, and moderate in exertion. I will have that patch by the end of the day though ;).
*Food: Today I've had two cups of coffee, 2 glasses of water, an apple, 4 pieces of cheese with 4 crackers, life cereal for breakfast, and we are about to have chicken with rice for dinner.

Love the encouragement!

Sorry I haven't been on in a while, though I still have been working hard. The scale hasn't shown any change yet but that can't discourage me! I have been eating more fruit and veg, as well as cutting back on coffee and increasing my exercise. I have completely failed with the water and late night eating. I just can't seem to find the time to have dinner until 10:30 or 11 when I'm working. Any tips?

Day one of the real crunch down

(Ya'll are so much better at this posting stuff than I am. I can't really figure out how to set up the writing the way you have, so you will just have to deal with my fumbling posings. )

So far so (pretty) good. I went out and bought a scale for this contest so I could really get serious. It remembers and shows your weight from your last use as well as measuring your body fat. Since buying it on Wednesday I have gone up 2lbs and lost one :). I'm coffee intake has been fairly low. I drank 2 and 1/2 cups of reg and one decaf (this only because I was getting a head ache). I did not reach my goal of water intake but I did switch from coffee to water many times, so it's a start. As for eating, during the early part of the day I did well. A sandwich and veggies for lunch, then a salad for dinner. This all fell apart an hour after getting home from work when I had chips and cheese [sigh]. Atleast we took an extra long walk yesterday.

Meg is a Fat Loser

My weight is (okay this is hard for me to tell all you skinny ones) 176...[pause] (phew, nothing exploded or anything)

My Goals

• lose 20 to 25lbs.
• drink more water
• drink only 2 to 3 cups of coffee a day
• eat 5 fruit and veg a day
• exercise a minimum of 3 times week
• stop eating a 11pm or later