4:30 am is too early!

So yes, I did hit the snooze button twice.  But I started working out at 4:55, did some calisthenics until 5:05, and jumped on my mini-tramp until 5:30.  One shower later, here I am, just logging in before I get dressed, do my hair, eat breakfast, fix a lunch to go, get the baby up, bathed, dressed and out the door so she can go to daycare and I can go to a student-teaching seminar all the livelong day.

Great day yesterday, I expect a great day today, and tomorrow, and the next...

Smoothies are delicious!

My blender, which was about 5 years old when I got it in 1992, finally died.  I was in the middle of a BIG batch of butternut-squash soup.  I tossed the blender in the trash, and finished up blending about 6 small batches in my mini-food-processor.   This weekend, I bought a new blender.  This blender has been a life-changer.  I was inspired to make smoothies - and my kids actually said they would give up soda for the rest of their lives if I would make them banana-mango smoothies on the weekends. 

That's what I'm having with lunch, by the way - a banana-mango smoothie.  1/2 banana, 1/2 cup frozen mango chunks, and 1/2 cup fat-free milk.  I'm also having 1/2 turkey sandwich on whole wheat with lettuce, tomato, and avocado slices, and 1/2 cup cashew nuts on the side for crunch.

I did my calisthenics on the floor, I jumped on my trampoline, and I walked a mile and a half! 

You think I'm doing really great?  It's only because I feel like I have to be extra good to make up for my crappy weekend.  I didn't exercise, and I had pizza on Friday night, and barbecue sandwiches on Saturday (2 of them at one sitting!) and over the course of three days I put away 4 beers and 2 glasses of wine.  Bad me.  No more weekends like that!  I had an epiphany: I'm treating EVERY weekend like it is a holiday, and that has GOT to stop!

This next weekend should be SUPER!  We have a membership to the zoo, and there is a brand new exhibit opening this weekend and members get a sneak peak - you can't get into the new exhibit until the weekend after next unless you have a membership card.  So Saturday, we are taking the kids to walk around the zoo for a couple of hours.  Ought to be fun!  Hope the weather stays nice.

Boing, boing, boing...

I jumped on my mini-tramp for 45 minutes.  HA!  And I had oatmeal for breakfast, I did my crunches, lunges, and pushups, and NOW I'm out the door to ride my bike.  I REALLY want to lose those other five pounds before I start student-teaching.  I've got a specific dress in mind that I want to wear on the first day, and 5 more pounds off would make it fit really nice. 

Then after I accomplish that, I need to set a goal for myself for Valentine's Day. 

Back to 180

I'm so glad I didn't cave last night.  My kids wouldn't SETTLE DOWN, the baby was fussy for no reason whatsoever, and my husband was whining over the phone about how insecure he is (because apparently it is my job to take care of EVERYTHING at home while he's gone, and make him feel alright, too) and I was just getting more and more frustrated and I wanted to EAT.

I didn't eat.

I'm down to 180.  I have a short term goal of being 175 before I start student teaching (so I can button my pants and not have to buy new ones) and I'm halfway there!

YAY ME!

Doing good!

Twice, now, I have gotten my lazy butt out of bed and exercised at 4:45 am.  YAY ME!  And yesterday my husband cleaned out the barn so I can get my bike in and out easily, so I went bike riding, too. 

I've quit soda entirely - don't even want one anymore.  I've quit fast-food burgers, too - I never want another one.  I've learned to drink low-sodium V-8 juice in those little cans; I down them in one so I don't really have to taste them.  I'm eating oatmeal for breakfast, whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, and I've cut out desserts and chips.  I just don't want them.  Of course, my tune will probably change in 3 weeks when I'm PMS'ing again, but I've started a mulit- vitamin again, and the last time I was taking them, I quit having all PMS symptoms (so I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

Happy New Year

So here I am with a New Year's Resolution.  I haven't made a resolution in YEARS because I was content and didn't feel like changing anything.  Well, now I do.  I feel like getting in shape, that's what.

Great Start

I had oatmeal for breakfast, a peanut-butter and banana open-faced sandwich for lunch, and tuna salad on wheat (with low-fat mayo) and baked chips for dinner.

I jumped on my mini-tramp for 20 minutes, did crunches, leg-lifts AND the dreaded push-ups!

My english final went so well that I almost want to go talk my prof into giving me a "B" rather than an "A" just on principle, because I made absolutely no effort in that class.  I didn't even SHOW UP half the time and I feel like the "A" I'm getting for my grades on exams, on-line quizzes, and one little four-page essay is just being handed to me on a silver platter.  I'm used to working much harder for my grades, and I just skated right through this class.

Oh well, I have two more finals next week that should take the wind out of my sails a bit.

well crap.

My daughter's band practice was over at SEVEN instead of at SIX, so since my 2 year old couldn't be made to wait until EIGHT for dinner (after sitting in the car for an hour waiting for her big sister already) we grabbed the most horrifying fattening stuff on the planet and ate McDonald's while watching The Biggest Loser (oh, the irony is soooooo painful.)

delete, delete, delete...

Could have titled it "Day one... yet again."

I didn't even want to read about the progress I made, so I just deleted three pages of blog and I'm starting fresh.

It is now December, I'm a college senior (didn't I just say that 7 months ago?) and my kids are now 15, 13, 11, and 2.  I still weigh 183 pounds.

Crap.

Finals start tomorrow.  Diet starts tonight.  Exercise starts NOW.

Day One

I've been "getting serious" for a month now, and no changes.  So I'm joining here for some online accountability to myself.  Goal for today:  Work out while the baby is napping, and don't eat anything after dinner when I'm not really hungry.

About me: 32 years old, married for 14 years, and we have 4 kids.  The oldest is 14, a freshman in highschool, wearing all my old "skinny jeans" so I get to watch her be-bop around in them and think to myself, 'My ass actually used to be that size."  My next girl is 13, she's in junior high.  My next is my boy, he's 10 and in the fifth grade.  The smallest Who in Who-ville is my baby girl, she's 17 months old.

My husband is the hardest-working man on the planet, and he loves his family more than any man I've ever met.  He's a great husband, a great daddy, a strong provider, a Christian... He deserves a wonderful wife like me .

If that's not enough on my plate, I'm also a college senior, majoring in math with secondary teacher certification.  Because of transferring between colleges and the extra classes involved in the teacher certification (and minoring in English which requires 24 credit hours and quite a few of them writing-intensive - why didn't I minor in something easy that only takes 15 hours?) I still have one more year before I graduate.  I get to be a senior for two years, oh yippee hooray.