It's been a week

Finished the first seven days of the No Soda Experiment.  I admit I gave in and picked up a can or a bottle on three of the seven days...eh.  Going from 21 cans in a week to 3 isn't too shabby, I think! 

However...looking back on this week, I realized I hadn't really accomplished much because I immediately started substituting DONUTS for Dew.  Every morning, like clockwork - drop DD off, drop DS off, swing thru the gas station and grab a pair of glazed Old Fashioneds. No wonder my net loss for the week is zero.

An experiment

Wow, has it really been two months since I posted?  Where does the time go? 

Anyway, I've decided I'm going to try something - an experiment of sorts.  I'm going to cut out all soda (pop) for 30 days.  That's the only change I'm consciously going to make.  I'm curious to see how much, if any, weight I lose, AND I'm curious to see what, if any, other lifestyle changes naturally evolve out of it.  Will I crave less junk food?  Will I gravitate toward bed earlier?  Will I sleep better without all the caffeine in my system? (Although I have a pretty high caffeine tolerance, I still think it's probably affecting me in ways I don't realize). Most importantly, will I jump off the wagon as soon as the 30 days are up, or will I be motivated to keep it up?

I've weighed myself this morning (230 on the nose) and I'll be doing measurements tonight, which I'll also post.  But I really don't expect to be checking in here much in the next 30 days...I'm just going to be living my life, minus one carbonated, caffeinated, sugar-laden crutch.  But I WILL be back in 30 to let you know how it went!

Fiona

attack of the PMS ninja

Pizza.  Cheetos.  Cheesecake.  And that was just lunch. 

I do believe I've lost my marbles.

If you find them, please return them to vibrant_echo@WTH-was-I-thinking.com.

Thank you.

Busy busy busy busy...

My Top 10 To Do list this week (in no particular order):

1. Work with my horse 3-4 times
2. Complete 6 homework assignments in two classes (that's right, first week back at school!)
3. Complete 11 credits of online continuing ed for my real estate license (that has to be done by WEDNESDAY!)
4. Real estate sales meeting on Tuesday morning; turn in continuing ed paperwork on Thursday (since I know I'm not going to get it all done in time to turn in on Tuesday)
5. Finish assembling my other job's company website and upload ASAP
6. Complete all my other regular work duties
7. Be home by 3 everyday to meet DD's bus
8. Pick up DS from daycare everyday by 5
9. Prepare and eat 30-36 healthy meals (if I get in 5 a day I'll consider that good)
10. Exercise 6 times (3 cardio, 3 weights)

And this is my life for the next....forever. 

LOL of the day

For my WW girlfriends....

check!

new 12-week Victory Calendar printed out...check!

four blank weekly meal plan sheets printed out...check!

Week 1 meal plan prepped...almost....started....

I WILL get it done before the end of the day, though, so that I can go grocery shopping before Monday. 

UPDATE: 

Week 1 meal plan prepped...check!

Week 1 grocery shopping done...check!

Week 1 workouts...will do on Sunday, and post Sunday night. 

Back in the game

So this is 2008 Challenge 2, Take...3? 5? 10? Does it matter?  Not really. What matters is that I'm ready and rarin' to go.  Again. 

Where did this sudden burst of motivation come from?  Shopping, of course!  Or rather, attempting to shop.  Last weekend I needed to get out of the house (long week!) and I had some leftover birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, so I headed for Target.  I tried on a jacket.  Too small.  Tried on some pants.  Too small.  Sighed hugely, meandered through the maternity section (cuuute top!  Adorable dress!  Too bad I'm NOT PREGNANT) to the "Women's" racks...Lord how I hate that term.  Who came up with that, anyway?...all three of them. Woo!  And all draped in hideous muumuu-circus tent-bag lady numbers that no self respecting female of ANY size would be caught dead in.  That tears it, I said to myself.  And instead of leaving with my planned purchase of a cute spring/fall jacket off the clearance rack, I brought home a pair of weight lifting gloves, an insulated lunch cooler and a new resolve to be shopping in ANY store I please by the end of summer.  And here I am. Again.

So if that was the weekend, what happened to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday?  Food poisoning, believe it or not.  I was all psyched up to get to the gym, eat good stuff, and then the wonderful healthy chicken I cooked for dinner on Monday ended up nearly killing me (okay, not that bad, but I DID call in sick to work on Tuesday).  So Tuesday sick, Wednesday recuperating, tonight is menu prep and tomorrow it's grocery shopping mania for a strong (re)start on Monday.  Why Monday, why not RIGHT NOW while the energy is high?  Cause Sunday is Mother's Day and...well...there's gonna be caramel rolls. 

ONWARD! 

tired

I am soooooo tired today!  It was an effort to drag myself out of bed this morning I don't even know why.  Yesterday was just a normal day, I ate well and got 7-8 hours of sleep both of the last two nights.  But my tush is just draggin' today!  Thankfully it's my day off so I don't have to "be" anywhere.  I will just have to make up this morning's missed workout...sometime.    If I fly out the door the second DH gets home from work, I should be able to fit in my 20 minutes of HIIT and still have time to clean up and make it to my 7:00 meeting. Maybe I'll take my new bike out and do a few laps around the neighborhood rather than taking the extra time to drive to and from the gym!

In other, non-fitness-related news....guess what??

I'm going back to school!!!    I flunked out of college almost 10 years ago, and I'm very much looking forward to going back and finishing what I started...sort of.

You see, I want to make it perfectly clear that I do NOT feel "incomplete" as a person without a college diploma under my belt.  I've long since made peace with the choices that I've made; I love my life (most days) and I love my chosen career path, especially the fact that my success is dependent entirely on me and how hard and smart I work, and not on some corporate organizational chart or pay matrix.

What it comes down to is that I'm not in this for the degree, the paper to hang on my wall (or more likely shove in a file somewhere), I'm in it for the learning.  Like I told DH just this morning, if the going back to school isn't going to teach me something that I want to learn and can use in my life, then what's the point?   

So effective May 5th or thereabouts, I'm going to become a virtual (aka online) student at the University of Phoenix.  First I'm going to complete my Associate of Arts in Business, then pursue a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Marketing emphasis.  (I'm doing it this way because the AA credits are cheaper than the BS credits for the same classes, go figure).  Should be interesting!!

Fiona

P.S...don't forget...I'm biking 150 miles for MS, June 6-8! 

Operation: H2O Update

48 oz down, 48 to go. 

I've lost track of how many trips to the bathroom I've made so far today. 

Ouch

221.8 this morning.    This is higher than my EP start weight from 4.5 months ago.  I know in my head and in my heart that it's just a number, and a fleeting one at that, but still!!  Anyway, I'm trying to put a positive spin on it - that it will make my transformation at the end of this 12 weeks that much more impressive. Or something.

But truly, I'm NOT going to dwell on the stupid scale.  Today is Day 1 of Challenge 2 (take 2, lol) and already it's going great.  I stuck with my self-imposed ban on logging onto the computer until after my workout was done, and it was a great workout indeed!  I reached a new high on my dumbbell bench press - 25 pounders on my 6-rep set.  And I didn't drop one on my face!   I've downed my breakfast shake and after I post this I'm going to prep the rest of my day's meals according to the PLAN I made out last night. I'm also going to overcome my perfectionistic tendencies and use white-out on the two or three filled-in pages of my old BFL Success Journal so that I can properly log my meals and workouts (and dreams, and GOALS - thanks, Alicia, for the motivation!).   And last but not least, today I'm going to focus on water intake, with a goal of 96 oz - that's TWELVE 8-oz glasses or four fills of my 24-oz sport bottle (so far 1 down, 3 to go).  Water is so, so important to weight loss and health in general and I know I don't get nearly enough and never have.  So being consistent in my water intake is going to be one of my big NSVs for this Challenge.

Make it a great day!