One year ago this week I started on this journey to get healthy. Had some big goals but didn't know if this time would end like all the other times I had tried to loose weight, but low and behold I have stuck with it and the reason I have stuck with it is my envolment in Spark People and in this site, at both sites I get so much good support, movitation and encouragement. The best thing night or day there is always someone around to lend a hand. I have made great strides and have made some life long life style changes. The major one being exercise, I love it and am finally relizing that without exercise it is harder to stay healthy. We need to move and as we get older it is very importatant that we keep moving. My biggest goal for starting this journey was because I want to be an active grandma someday. I wasn't that way for my daughter and at time I regret this, but it is never to late to start. The other thing that I have made a habit of is logging my food, if you don't log you have no idea how much you are eating, our brains play tricks on us, and we also will forget what we ate. By writing everything and I mean everything there is no excuses. My goal this year was to get to my goal weight of 170, I didn't make that but I have taken off 39 pounds. Am I going to beat myself up because I didn't make goal, no way I am going to pat myself on the back and be proud of myself my for loosing the 39 pounds. I will reach my goal, it may be next year or maybe the next year. If I can loose another 39 pounds by this time next year and keep off the 39 pounds I lost this year I will be happy happy happy.
We all can reach are goals, just don't give up, Keep on stepping forward.
Just about time for me to go to bed but before doing that I wanted to say that I have had a great week. I have stayed within my calories all week except yesterday, this is a major step for me as all summer I have had problems with staying in my calories. It feels so good to be on track, making good choices and taking pride in myself. I know I can and will take the weight off. It may take be longer then I thought but it will happen.
Today has been a good day, I am on track with all my goals for September. I have learned to do something different as far as tracking my food. I have been discouraged on to many occassions when dinner comes around and I have already ate all my calories then with dinner being the main meal of the day I end up going over my calories. So what I have done is start my daily calorie count at dinner time, this way the next day I have already counted dinner into my daily calories and I know that I have to be careful with what I eat during the day. This has really helped because for me I have more control over breakfast and lunch and it is easier to cut back at that time than at dinner time. So far this week I have not gone over my calories, this is a first in a long time. I feel so much better about staying with my program.
Here it is already September11th, life should be getting back to normal soon which means it is time for me to get back on track with my weight loss goals. Looking back over this last year I have come a long way. This has been a year of many changes in my weight loss journey. I have been dieting all my life it seems, one plan or another. This is the first time that I have stuck with it for a whole year. Now I did not reach the goal weight I wanted to be at but I have made many healthy changes in my life. I think the biggest thing I have done and stuck with is exercise. I love to excerise and I don't feel my day is complete without doing 30 minutes of cardio a day. Most days I do 60. My exercise of choice is walking, inside or out. I love Leslie Sansone, she is a real insiration. I have walked over 700 miles since last October. I feel much stronger, diffentently have more energy. What has really kept me focused on walking is doing virtual walks. I have walked the Orgon trail, the Alaska Ididorod, and now I am doing route 66 and the pacfic crest trail. This next year I am really going to focus on staying within my calories along with the exercise, so that I can get closer to my goal weight or reach my goal weight. On going goals for me are 1. loose 1 to 2 pounds weekly 2. stay within my calorie range 3. 30 to 60 mins of exercise daily 4. no eating after dinner 5. going to bed by 10pm on work nights 6. up my 5:45am during the work week to get in my exercise for the day 7. track my food daily 8. track my exercise daily 9 eat my fruits and veggies daily 10 drink 8 to 12 glasses of water daily.
My short term goal is to loose 10% or 25 pounds by Febuary.
Had a great weekend with my daughter, she has just moved into a house with a bedroom for Mom and Dad to stay. Usually when we go visit we stay at my husband's sister's house because Miranda was living in a very small apartment. I wasn't wonderfull with my calories or exercise but wasn't horrible either. My goals for this week are:
1: stay at the lower end of my calories 2: do 45 mins of cardio each morning
So far this morning I have did my 45 mins of cardio and have had a healthy breakfast. I have also planned for a healthy lunch.
Good morning, yesterday was a good day, work was very quiet and I was able to get a lot of paperwork done. I was over my calories yesterday, decided I had to have 3 100 calorie snacks, plus another 150 calories in a snack bar. If I hadn't over done in the snack department I would have been very good with my calories. But I did get in my 60 mins of cardio. Today I pledge to stay away from the snacks.
Good day today, just got home from TOPS and I stayed the same, I am happy with this because I had a number of days this week when I wasn't on program. Today I stayed on program, drank my water, exerised for 30 mins, and stayed in my calories. Now I am off to bed with determination to stay on track tomorrow.
I am finally on track and sticking to my program. Yesterday I and a group of friends went out for a three mile walk, it was a perfit day to walk, not to hot, not to cold, the rain held off. Hope today to make it out with another group of friends for a 3 mile walk. If not I will do one of my WATPs dvds so that I will get in my miles today. My goals for today are to drink 10 glasses of water, eat my fruits and veggies, stay below 1500 calories, and walk at least 3 miles.
Well it has been a long time since I have been here. Over the last few months I have really been doing great with my exercises. I am doing at least 60 mins of cardio every morning. I love Leslie Sansone's WATPs (walk away the pounds) this is a work out that you do in your own home, so no excuses why you can't get out and walk. I do between 3 and 5 miles every day. I get up 60 mins earlier every morning to get my cardio done before work, I feel great and it is a wonderful way to start the day. Now for the down side, I have been doing terrible with my calories and portion sizes. i have every good intention to make good choices all day long but usually before lunch I have blown it. Take today for example, someone brought in donunits, I had one, then at lunch since I hadn't brought anything I went to Jack in the Box and had a big old hamburger, curly fry and a shake. i am not beating myself up, I did it and will face the results on the scale come Monday. I think sometimes that my mind tells me it is ok to eat extra because I am doing so much exercise, but I know that this is false, I still have to watch what I am eating because in still comes down to eat to much and it doesn't matter how much exercises you do you won't be able to burn it all off. The only thing that this has accomplished is that I have only gained a few pounds. I want to loose all this weight and I know that I can do it, I will do it, I am worth it. I will not beat myself up and I will take one day at a time, starting today I promise myself to make better choices and not to give up on myself.
In November of 2003 my world fell apart, up until that time I had pretty much stayed the same weight, now mind you it wasn't a healthy weight but I stayed there for years. That November it started with my being laid off from I job that I trully loved and had planned on staying with until I retired, then a week later I was dianosed with Breast cancer, I went thru surgery and radiation treatments and was put on a medication to block hormone function, this medication had a side effect of weight gain. And I can confess now that I used that as an excuse to eat and of course I gained weight. Over the next two years I was so down on myself, by the time I stopped making excuses as to why I was gaining I had gained almost 70 pounds. What turned me around, I found spark people, and for the first time in a long time I started caring for myself, at that same time I took a good look at myself and realized I was on a road to poor health, no engery, and many medical problems as heart and diabetis runs in my family. Spark has given me the hope and movitation to win this battle, just knowing that if I am having a bad day I can check in and get the encourgement I need to continue on.
