Did a pilates exercise DVD with a balance ball today. I lack the flexibility to do all of the poses effectively, but working on them is only going to improve it! It was a lot less "work" as one might say than the one I did yesterday, but I'm still sore, so a change of pace isn't necessarily bad. And I still fit exercising in as a necessity to my day! I've had 3 cups of water thusfar, and 2 slim fast shakes. I'm getting better about eating only when I'm hungry, and I'm glad for that.
My show is on tonight! I might have to watch a later viewing of it, however, because I think his kids are going to leave right somewhere in the middle.
I was uncertain if I still wanted to go this weekend, but Jeremy made me change my mind. He made some comment about me talking about it for months, which is true. It looks like I'll be by myself, because no one I've talked to who is interested can go, and vice versa. I was hoping to have a table buddy, but I guess not this time around. Even if I can't go and show, I'd like to just go. I wanted to go last year and ended up having to work. I wish I just had friends who were into the same thing too. The only friend who lives around here that is into it to has some weird puppy crush on me and I think spending a weekend with him would end up being pretty awkward.
I found out my student loan for spring semester is unsubsidized, so I called them. I still don't understand. My college is more expensive than last semester, I'm taking more hours and have to commute 1 hr each way and therefore have to pay a few thousand dollars *more* than last semester but my interest on this loan isn't going to be covered by the government like it was last semester because?
Ugh. Well, I need to contemplate dinner, and what all I need to do for this weekend. Just wanted to check in and say hi =)
Breakfast & Lunch - Shakes: 360 cal
Afternoon Snack - Low-Fat Pringles: 70 cal
Dinner - Chicken, Veg & Pasta Soup: 240 cal; Turkey Sandwich: 200 cal
Dessert: Peanut-Caramel Bar: 120 Cal
Sugarfree gum: Less than 10 cal.
Just under 1000 calories! =)
J brought home some of the 10 oz water bottles from work. I've got a little more than one more of those to chug before I go to bed.
I did a 60 minute Sculpt & Abs video by The Firm late morning (I'm sore!)
The Papajohns & Pizzahut commercials looked so good ;x I don't know why, unless its just a psychological "I know I can't eat that today" sort of thing, because we started eating out only on the weekends more than a month ago, so pizza (or Chinese, as discussed) on a Tuesday would be out of the ordinary at the moment.
I think the great thing about this diet is going to be that I'm going to teach myself to start eating only when I'm hungry, and not just because I want to eat something! I know I'm guilty of eating when I'm not hungry, but now if I eat when I'm not hungry, I'll be hungry later and sorry for using up the calories! =) Haha! Getting in the habit of exercising everyday is always a good thing, as well. I'm not sure how exercising is going to fit in with my class schedule, however. I'll just have to shape my exercise & shower schedule accordingly after the first few weeks, I'm sure it'll take a few weeks to get a routine downpat!
I feel good =) I just finished one of my Firm videos (I picked up a set with the sculpting stick & 3 VHS tapes a while back for like $5 at a resale shop! Only 1 of the tapes had been watched (but unfortunately I think their VCR ate it...but I still have 2! I need to get a fanny lifter, but they don't sell them anymore...so I'll have to get one off of ebay, or steal my moms (if she doesn't use it anymore...)
Thinking about getting WWE tickets for Jeremy for Valentine's Day. Debating which ones...He's thinking about switching jobs at work, which would switch days off for him! But he'd get to be closer to home, no more 1 hr drives to work (he spent over $5k on gas this year, even with the carpooling!) We usually watch RAW, so I was thinking their Monday Night Match in Milwaukee, WI on the 10th! Its over my spring break, and he can take a vacation day =) Tickets go on sale on a day I'm off of work, too, so I can be sure to get good seats! (If you're going to drive 4 hrs for that kind of thing, you might as well be up front and personal about it!)
On Sunday Mar 2 they'll only be 3 hrs away, and we could crash at my parents place (less than an hour from there), but I have school at 8:00am the next day, and that just sounds like a bad idea!
The 10th Smackdown/ECW will be about an hour away, but I don't think I've ever sat through an entire Smackdown/ECW episode ;x But I figure, leave late morning, early afternoon, eat dinner, check into the hotel, go crazy =) If we wanted to, we could just go up for the whole weekend after I get out of class (if he still has weekends off then, we'd have to see)
I bet I can get at least a decent discount if I book it now through one of those travel sites... any suggestions?
I can get a Best Western hotelroom 4 blocks away for like $72 =) Ba ha ha! (Through BW, Expedia was more expensive *shakes fist*)
There's a Hyatt less than 2 blocks away, but their cheapest rate is like $160 (and after Anime Central, I'm not all that impressed with Hyatt Regencies!) There's other hotels, but I think the BW is my favorite for distance vs. price. And its across the street from a mall! I looked at some reviews: pissy customer service & old building, but super great location. Hotel rooms are only for sleeping, anyways =)
I exercised for 50 minutes this morning. A combination of stepdance, resistance weights & calesthenics. I started hurting, but kept telling myself "No pain, no gain!" =)
Breakfast: Milk Chocolate Slim Fast Optima shake. 190 cal
Late morning snack: Mini Delights Chocolatey Mint 90 cal
Lunch: French Vanilla Slim Fast Optima shake. 180 cal
Late afternoon snack: Act II 94 % Fat Free Butter Popcorn: 40 cal
Dinner: (Leftovers) Spaghetti'Os with Meatballs - 300 cal
Appetizer: Bread & Butter - 77 cal
Total: 877 calories! (Cool, I can still have a late evening snack!)
Drinks: 40 oz of water, I've got my last 8 oz in a glass, Coke Zero (20 oz)
I also got some stuff out of the basement, and moved the video game systems out from the middle of the living room floor. YAY! Now the kids can't fight over the TV in the living room (as much).
I'm worried about being prepared for the convention this weekend. I might have to skip on it. I mean, we have the kids this weekend, so it would probably be better for me to spend time with them anyways, but I was looking forward to showing. I found some more costumes I want to make - I'm sure I won't have time to finish any of them before this weekend, however - well...maybe. We'll see. Anyways, I'm going to eat something else, read a little and head to bed! G'night!
I looked at the little tracker in the corner of my blog today and decided that I really didn't like it there. I used EP in my diet in 2006 so it shows the weight loss I made there, but it also shows my ups and downs (mostly ups!) since I went off of the diet! So I went to delete the extra poundage from before this year, and decided that that was the coward's way out. Losing in '08 will just make it more of a victory for myself and I need that "rise and fall" (well, the other way around, really) to remind myself what will happen if I let myself go!
A few of us were talking about a WLC in the collegeliving support group, so if you're a member (or like college buddies) I encourage you to check it out! I suspect we'll be starting up sometime within the next few weeks.
My boyfriend is going to do the exercise & diet thing with me =)
He wants to lose 30-45 lbs.
Very cool =) He told me about a good bike route near the house that would be good for a "daily ride". We've moved the day up to tomorrow, I reweighed (2 lbs down from last Tuesday), and the fun starts tomorrow. I'm moving electronics around tomorrow, and I'll be able to do more videos in the living room now.
I'm also going shopping tomorrow for more supplies for next weekend. I'm planning on vending in the art section at a college anime convention Saturday & Sunday.
Got the shakes in the fridge, and the sweets in the trash! Bwa ha ha. It felt really good throwing out all of those holiday cookies =) *waves* Buh-bye evil snacks! I have a plan for the Christmas candy too - I'm going to save the sugar-free gum for myself & school & whatnot, but the candy is going to the kids at Valentine's Day! Kids like candy, they can just have a crapton of it ;x LOL - at least some of it anyways. I might look up the per piece nutrition information for an occasional sweet.
I think I'm going to skip the points and just go with the 1k calorie diet. I mean, hypothetically, if you ignore fiber & fat its the same as the base WW points anyways. And less to keep track of.
One of the support groups I joined is starting a Weight Loss challenge tomorrow, so I've moved up my diet a week! Tomorrow, here I come!
Tonight is my last night of junky foods, so I'd better enjoy it! LOL.
J picked up some more Slimfast when were were at Wal*Mart (they had 15 packs for like $10 in the food section!) and I got some of those new Quaker Mini-Delights. They're only 2 pts each =) I picked up some Quaker granola bars from Dollar General when I had to go to the UPS store (across the street) and they're only 2 pts each as well.
I finished my cataloging of our kitchen =) lol the worst item per serving I found was Velveeta Shells & Cheese. In 2nd place of fattening foods was Cream Cheese & Jalepeno Poppers. Goodness! The cheapest "per serving" snack in the house was the ACT II 94% Fat Free Butter. 0 pts per serving (1 pt for the entire bag).
I'm back up to 24 points per day *CRY!* Until I get down to 174, at which point I'll get to reduce to 22. We'll call it a 13.5 lb present to myself. And 20 its at 150. I'm going to make a copy of the webpage I found, in case Jeremy wants to join in! He made a comment about it, and bought some Slim Fast products, so we'll see. Before I tried to stay at 20 pts and forget about the flex points for the most part...now I think I'll try to stay at 20 and save flex points for weekends.
Less than 150 pounds = 20 Points
150 to 174 pounds = 22 Points
175 to 199 pounds = 24 Points
200 to 224 pounds = 26 Points
225 to 250 pounds = 28 Points
250 to 275 pounds = 30 Points
275 to 300 pounds = 31 Points
300 to 325 pounds = 32 Points
325 to 350 pounds = 33 Points
Over 350 pounds = 34 Points
I looked up meetings, but they don't fit in at all with my class/extra curricular/family schedule. The only one that might work would be the one in the town I'm taking classes in, but that would mean I would have to stay after at least an extra hour before the meeting.
We have a fitness center at our local hospital htt://www.advrehab.com, a Curves, and a Health Club (Northgate Racketball & Health Club Inc), and a YMCA. Our Health Club is $25/month for students. But WW is $10-12/week. Ugh. Why is being healthy so expensive? I think I'll pass. I'll just stay at home & use my bike, videos, running shoes & weights. I'll be fine without shelling out $70/month - I lost weight that way before, there's no reason why I can't now.
I thought I'd go ahead and retry that whole post from last night =)
About me: My name is Ashley. 21/f - Midwestern US. I'm in a Long-term relationship & just moved in with my boyfriend of two years. I just recieved my Associate in Arts degree and am transferring to a state university. My major is Fashion Merchandising (Family & Consumer Sciences) and my classes start January 14th.
Work: I had been working 2 jobs until November. I am currently self-employed as a commissioner of art, costuming, props, & accessories.
School: I am a commuter student and will be driving 1 hour each way 5 days a week (8 a.m. - EW). I sucks because they wouldn't allow us to register until nearly a month after the general student population, so we got the crap choices on class times. That being said, I get to go to class 5 days a week and spend $1000 on gas this semester. (It's cheaper than a dorm room!) Things will be better next semester!
Previous diets: In 2006 I did Weightwatchers from mid-July to mid-October and went from 183 to 167 lbs. In the 1.25 years since I went off of my diet, I have gained 20 lbs! That's all of the weight I lost PLUS another 4.5 lbs. I am very disappointed that I have let myself go so much. I know it was mostly due to eating so much fast foods and convenience fatty foods. That kind of stuff is good for the kids but NOT for me! They need the extra calories to grow! Its hard to avoid that type of thing if you're working 2.5 jobs, going to school full time (including summer semester), and trying to spend time with my family within his custody arrangement! Too much going on, not a lot of time to plan & prepare meals ;o No excuses! time to do something about it!
The Basics: Eat more nutritious foods and less junk food, drink more water, exercise for at least 20 minutes at least 3 times daily!
The Specifics: Wal*Mart sells SlimFast stuff for around the same (& cheaper!) than Amazon DirectShip. (I got 8 shakes for less than $5, thats like 3 shakes free XD ) The shakes are only 3-4 WWP ea. I picked up some meal bars & snack bars too. I hate to be a W*M sell-out, but unforunately they're the only place I can go to get everything on my list! At least they WERE, before they got rid of fabrics! *ANGRY FACE* I asked them about it too when the rumors started going around Cosplay.com and I got ensured "no" and looked at like I was crazy! SURE ENOUGH, they move to the new Superstore and NO FABRICS. Dirty liars. Okay, back on topic... Before the semester starts I'm going to pick up some more healthy snacks. I'm going to make some snack portions in zip lock bags to keep handy as well. Dinner will be "big meal" so to speak, but with my light snacks & "meal shakes"/"meal bars" I should be fine. I purchased a kitchen scale today to help with portions. I've finished cataloging the fridge & the freezer, I need to go through the cabinets now to determine WW points on common food visitors to the household =). I looked up Dotti's again as a great out-of-the-house resource for point values, and since we already decided that we're only going to eat out on the weekends (financial & health reasons) I can take a peak before we go out, and I'l planning on still having my flex points available then, just in case. But weightwatchers isn't really a "diet", its just a way of training yourself to eat better! You can eat *anything*, just in moderation! You can basically have as many fresh vegetables as you want, and fruits are low in point value as well. You can have steak, sweets, etc., just as long as you don't overdo it! I've started exercising every day. T & W 1:15, today :50 - but the difficulty level has gradually progressed. I've got a lot of options to keep things intersting. Videos: Pop Dance, Bellydance, Balance Ball, & 3x Firm videos. I have the firm bar, and a wide variety of free weights. There are 12 DDR games in the house as well! Bwa ha ha. The wii actually has good exercise options [can anybody say Wii Sports Tennis? My arm hurts so bad ;) but my skill level is above 1500 XD! (I wonder what happens at 2k?)] When the weather gets better I've got my bike, and the 4 wheeler is actually pretty good depending on your speed, terrain and surroundings - then again, being outside is better than being inside most days - except for when its hailing, freezing, lightning, or you're sick! lol Now I'm just being silly with 2 o'clock ramblings. G'night :)
Okay, so Im totally stressed about work and school. Not getting enough hours at work, tons of work to do for school in the next like, week. EEP. OMG!
So I need to get my schoolwork done and probably find a new job (the final decision on that likely to happen today, around 12:15 when I get to work (I have to be there at 12:30).
On the fitness side, I've gained some weight back, BUT I've lost a pant size. The one thing that has been so permanent for my body for the past 6 years is GONE. Goodbye Size 13, hello 11! I was totally excited. I put on some old pants and they were totally huge on me x.x; I LOVED it. I need to be good and start drinking more water. I was bad and started drinking Mt. Dew again, and that's officially gotta stop. That, and Jeremy bought (with my help) some sweets I totally love...so I was bad in that perspective too.
I picked up a copy of "The Firm" (3 tapes w/scupting stick) at a thrift store for like $5 bucks. One of the tapes is messed up, I'm not sure if its the tape or the VCR. I'll have to bring a different VCR over to try out.
That, and Anime Central is like 2 weeks away and I am nowhere near ready.
Lack of fundage hasn't helped in this respect at ALL. I ranted to dad last night and he is going to give me some cash. I didn't ask, but I wasn't going to say "No, I don't need it" because heck, that would be a lie.
