It has been quite some time since I checked in. I have been so super busy. I have had a lot of overtime the past few weeks. Last week I had over 80 hours and I am doing it again this week. I am so exhausted. We just got a new shop 3 weeks ago and I have been trying to set it up and that caused me to get behind on other things. That means I am playing catch up right now.
Because of all this, I have had no time for exercise. That has me bummed. I have been doing a lot of heavy lifting, but nothing official. I am going to make a big effort to include exercise everyday again starting Monday. This week has been pretty bad too because my eating habits have been messed up. It was my hubby's birthday and there has been some sort of celebration for it everyday... Birthday on Friday, Concert on Saturday, Dinner with my folks Sunday, Dinner with his folks Monday, Dinner & a Movie with friends on Tuesday, had friend over last night... It has been crazy.
Despite all of this, I am down 51 lbs though. It seems like it has taken forever, but I am glad it finally happened. I finally dropped a pant size and they fit nicely. I can't wait for the next one. When I hit my next size, I am throwing out the last one. I think it is best to keep the one right above my size, just in case I have a bad couple of weeks, but I want to see them gone. I do not ever want to get back to my current size again!
As you may have read, we have another dog now. That has been keeping me busy. He is a handful, but he seems to love us already. To top that off, we started dog sitting two others for the next week last night. We have a full house and I am already tired. We are not going to get anymore dogs. 3 is bordering on too many I think.
So, how is everyone else doing? I hope you are all keeping motivated. Remember that is IS possible to reach your goal! You CAN do it this time! Just Keep Moving Forward!
This is Banks.He is the latest addition to our loving home.He is a Rottweiler that we found at the Nevada Humane Society.He seems to get along ok with Bandit and Holly and we anticipate them becoming close.He is a sweet dog and loves affection.He also likes to play.
For those of you that don't know... this is our 3rd dog. It seems that the beagles cling to me and Banks clings to my hubby.
1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. 2. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine. 3. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't. 4. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool. 5. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong. 6. If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them, five or six at a time, on a hill, in the fog. 7. The things that come to those who wait will be the scraggly junk left by those who got there first. 8. The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.
9. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well. 10. When you go into court, you are putting yourself into the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.
So... I thought I had everything under control, but I guess not. I am not gaining, but I am not losing either. I do have to admit though, my exercise this week has been less than optimal. I have been having some difficulty with the stepper situation. The one I had bee using was so old. It finally gave in. I found a new one though. I have to get back on track. I know I could do other things, but I like the stepper, because it burns a lot of calories in less time for me and it does really well with my legs. I also think that TOM may be affecting things, but I don't know. Should have been here Sunday for a visit, but it seems the flight was delayed. I don't know. I have also been feeling super tired. Go figure. Anyway, I am hoping that the scale starts moving again.
As for the good new, bad news thing... I went to Lane Bryant last Tuesday just to look around. I really haven't been able to buy anything there for sometime because the shirts are too short, to form fitting, too snug in the waist or hips, or whatever. I was looking around and I found 5 things that I though would be nice. Four of them were clearance priced. I asked to try them on because I don't like to buy things that don't fit. Three of the shirts fit well around my chest and shoulders, but were too snug around my waist and hips. The bad news is they didn't fit. the good news is they fit better than the ones I tried on when I started this weight loss journey. Before it was useless... I don't even know why I would go in that store. The other two both fit, but I wasn't sure if I liked the way one of them looked. So I took a leap and decided to walk out of the dressing room with the shirt I tried on and ask the gal up front. This is something I have never done. I lack the confidence. She said that it fit well and did look good on me. When I did the same with the other shirt, she said she didn't like it as well. Since I agreed with both of her assessments, I put the three shirts that didn't fit and the one that didn't look as good back, but I bought the one that we liked. Yay! I didn't walk out empty handed. I was so happy to see that those clothes were starting to fit better and as I said, Yay! I walked out with something that I liked. I just need to keep this up. With any luck, shopping at Lane Bryant will be a choice rather than something that is forced upon me when I have reached my goal.
Today will be a calm day for me. Hubby works and we will not be attending any BBQs. I am a little bummed. This is one of my favorite holidays. I wish I had something going on. Oh well. I hope everyone else is enjoying their day.
I think I finally figured out how to balance my exercise and calorie intake for the day. I hope I did anyway. After going though a few things, I decided that I was starving my body.
A little history: On May 30th I started, full steam ahead, doing exercise. I had not exercised in, well ever... That is only a slight overstatement. Well, I was cutting calories doing to 1200 a day and I was doing enough exercise to burn off more than that. You would think that would be a good thing, but I started to notice something. I all of a sudden stopped losing weight and I was hungry all the time. I hadn't been hungry for about a week, but now it was very difficult to keep my calories down and still get the hunger pains to go away. I thought I was over doing it. So, I stopped my exercise.
Two days later, I lost another pound. My loss continued to drop 1 lb every couple of days. I then started my exercise again. This led to a repeat of the other story.
What I am doing now: So, this time, instead of stopping my exercise completely, I did some research. I gathered a lot of information and decided that I was probably right... I WAS starving myself. I realized that my body needs a lot of calories just to survive at a relatively sedentary state. I was already cutting those calories by more than half and I was adding enough activity to more than burn off what I was taking in. This meant that my body was NOT getting any calories to survive with. I did finish my week and decided I would change things on my next weigh in day. That day happens to be Monday. On Monday I reduced my exercise by half and added 300 calories to my day for a total of 1500 per day. This meant that I was actually giving my body calories to run on.
The result: Well, I have been doing my new routine for 1 week and have started losing weight again. I dropped 4 lbs this week. I have also noticed that I almost need to push myself to get all of my calories in everyday. I am just not as hungry. Its even easier to cut back so that I can have a treat sometimes. I hope this means that I have it figured out. I will take another look at it next Monday and hopefully the results will be similar.
I am very happy today. This gives me a lot of motivation. You can't help being in a good mood when you figure something out that actually works for you and gets you closer to where you want to be.
I hope that the rest of you have had a great weekend and are having a terrific week. Take care, keep up the good work, and be proud of yourselves. We CAN do this! We WILL make it this time! We DO deserve it!
So I guess it is time to check in again. I don't know how to feel today. The scale still hasn't budged. Argh! I made some changes yesterday though... to my exercise and eating habits. Maybe that will get it moving again. We will have to see. I hope it changes something.
Yesterday was a day. We had to go get new tires for our truck. Money, money, monay! Oh well, with the condition of the road we live on, we needed good ones and we needed them now. Parts of the old ones were literally falling off. We also went out with friends. Pizza and a movie. I think I did well, because I stayed very close to my calorie total for the day. I figured everything out before yesterday morning and I followed it pretty well. I even managed to work in half a box of Milk Duds. They aren't necessarily healthy but they were perfect for me. There are certain candies that just don't last and that makes it hard to stop sometimes. For example, I eat handfuls of M&Ms at a time. Milk Duds are nice because you can have one and it will last a bit in your mouth. They are sticky so I can't chew them easily either. 13 Milk Duds lasted me 2 hours.
Today is a rather lazy day. I had my exercise, but other than that, I lack motivation. It is kinda gloomy out because of all the smoke being blown over from California. A little depressing.
Anyway, I hope you all had a good weekend and your week is shaping up too. Keep up all your good work and I will check in with you later.
PS... Thank you for your support and kind words. It really does help.
Okay... so the scale hasn't budged. However, I started measuring myself on June 10 and I am seeing results there. I keep track on the body log here, but I have also kept track in my diet log that I started in December. That way I can measure both arms and legs and what not. My last weight change was on the 17th and I have lost 11" since then all over and I have lost a total of 17.5" since I started measuring.
I am still trying to get a handle on the balancing act between food intake and exercise. I think that is why I haven't lost anymore. I will figure it out though. I really want to exercise some everyday because I think that is why I am losing the inches and I have lowered my calorie intake. I just don't want to overdo it because I don't want to be in starvation mode.
I have finally reached the point where it is impossible to eat the amount of food that I used to. I don't eat when I am not hungry, when I do eat, I only eat until I am satisfied, and even if I do stuff myself, it takes less food than it used to. It is wonderful that my stomach has been shrinking!
I hope everyone had a good weekend. Take care and Keep on Keepin' on!
I hope I did anyway. After going though a few things, I decided that I was starving my body. 
I made some changes yesterday though... to my exercise and eating habits. Maybe that will get it moving again. We will have to see. I hope it changes something.
However, I started measuring myself on June 10 and I am seeing results there. I keep track on the body log here, but I have also kept track in my diet log that I started in December. That way I can measure both arms and legs and what not. My last weight change was on the 17th and I have lost 11" since then all over and I have lost a total of 17.5" since I started measuring. 