Promises--Kept and unkept

Last year I made myself a promise that if I had lost enough weight by softball season that I would play this year. Our church has a ladies softball team and has for years amd for about the past 5 or 6 years Phil has coached the team.  Last year when they started playing I would go walk at the park. I had just enough time to walk the long path at the park and get back to the ball fields before they finished the game. Raeanna kept asking me why I didn't play with them and I always wished that I could. I LOVED to play when I was younger but it had been 24 years since I had played any kind of sport. So I kept working on losing the weight and kept on walking as much as I could and I am very very very excited to say that I am actually playing softball this year with the ladies from Belden Baptist Church. I 'm not very good but at least I am out there trying. I have either been playing right field or catcher and if I could learn to run I might even be called a half way good player. I'm having fun, spending time with some wonderful ladies and getting to hang out with my husband. AND as of this moment we are undefeated! I may not have lost any more weight but I can tell that my body is changing shapes and I owe it all to walking and softball. I actually kept this promise.

Now to the unkept promise. I have talked and talked and talked about wanting to do the GumTree walk/run this year but seeing how it is next weekend it's justwww.beldenbaptistchurch.com not gonna happen. I honestly don't  think that there is anyway possible that I could walk/run 6.2 miles. I took to much of a break between Dec and March in walking and no more weight has come off. Plus it just scares me to think about having to run/walk that much. I have several friends that will be doing it and I am very proud of them and I wish them all the luck in the world. Hopefully next year I will be out there with you.

2 Pounds

2 pounds might not sound like a lot of weight to lose but after an almost 2 month stall I was EXTREMELY happy to see the numbers on the scale go down by 2 pounds.  I am convinced that walking this what is helping me lose. When it started getting colder here I started walking indoors at the outlet mall. It's really close to work and never busy so its a great place to walk. Then things started getting busy at work and in life so the walking totally stopped in December. I would ride my excerise bike at the house but its just not the same.  You tend to not work so hard on the bike when you are watching tv. But the last week or so we have had some really nice weather so I have been hitting the park and walking outside. Its one of the things that I have really started enjoying on the weight lose journey, especially when Brady or Rae walks with me. We always have a really good time.   But needless to say I am VERY VERY happy with this 2 pound lose. 

Can you tell a difference?

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2012

64 pounds gone!!!! Can you tell a difference?

Dieting sucks!!!

How do you like that title! It has been almost a year since I started this journey and I am down 65 lbs.  For that I am very proud and thankful.  And maybe today is just been one of those days but today I am not likeing the fact that I am doing this. 

I am stuck in my progress. I have not lost any weight in about a month BUT I have not gained any either. I'm still keeping up with my calories on My Fitness Pal and I am still exercising at least three times a week, mostly riding my indoor bike. The wonderful Mississippi weather is making it hard to walk outside like I like to do. Plus since the time has changed it is dark by the time that I get off work and there is just really not a good place to go walk after dark except for the mall and that is not where I like to walk. I have been going over to the VF Factory outlet some at lunch and walking and that's ok but I would much rather walk outside. Plus I have got to get some new shoes! I hoping I can find some after Christmas. I can honestly say that my legs, knees nor feet hurt after I walk so I am hoping that new shoes won't change that but the fact that the bottoms of my shoes have worn out reminds me that I do need new ones.

My plan for the remainder of the year is just to stick to my plan and to not go over board with eating. I feel like that that is completly doable for me and I am actually enjoying exercising. It's my "me time". Whether it is walking at lunch or riding my bike that is time that I am "alone". I may just be in the next room riding but with my music going or listening to the bible I am in my own world for at least 30 minutes. When January rolls around I will start hard and heavy trying to get things going again. I've got to do some tweaking to my eating and I just don't know what to do. A co-worker has lost a lot of weight doing the "slow carb" diet, bascially just eating alot of meat and no foods that are white or could be white. I am thinking about doing away with breadsof every kind and uping my water intake. That is just one of the many ideas that I have rolling around in my head.

Rae has started basketball this season. They had their first game this past Saturday and you could really tell that it. She was huffin and puffin after just a few minutes of running up and down the court. She was walking with me alot but once again since the time has changed she hasn't been going with me. That's another reason for me to find somewhere good at night to go. I don't want her to grow up and be embrassed by her weight. She's not really fat just thick but she is also about a foot taller than all of her friends. At 9 she is a 4" 11 1/2". I believe that she is going to be tall and if she is she will get it honestly. There are lots of tall people on both sides of our family. Brady is just about to pass me height wise. I still have him but just a tiny bit and I am hanging on to it for dear life. He just turned 13 (how can that be possbile) and has slimmed up so much. The pants that we bought him at the first of the school year are now to big! Which is a really good thing except they keep falling off of him.

Phil--I love that man but I truly wish that he would get on board of this weight loss journey with me. I know that part of his problem is that I keep buying things at the grocery store that I shouldn't and he keeps eating them. Normally when he sets his mind to doing something there is no stopping him. And I love that about him. I need to learn to be an encourager for him instead of a nagger to him. I love him just the way that he is but for his health I would love to see him lose some weight. It would be so much better for his back and his sleep. He has to sleep on a CPAP machine and recently his doctor order a oxygen meter for him to wear at night. When he wore it that  night his oxygen level was NOT GOOD AT ALL. It was really low like in the 70's. This really scares me. I know that I really have no room to fuss at someone about their weight but I really hope that he will join my on this journey. I might even have to change up this blog some and start posting on a regular basis if he does.

The Gum Tree--I am actually starting to think that I will not be ready for it by May. I have tried to start the C25K program a couple of times and I just physically can not do it yet. Maybe thing will change enough after the first of the year so that it will start being easier for me to do. I really hope so because as scary as running a 10K is to me it is something that I really would like to do.

Goals--I hit my first goal several months ago and I am only 8 lbs away from my next one. That goal is to weigh what I weighed when I got pregnant with Rae. I am close but not there yet. The next goal is to weigh what I did when I got pregnat with Brady. That's 30 lbs lower than the previous goal. Next will be what I weighed when we got married, 20 lbs lower that the previous goal and then another 30 lbs and I will be at what I weighed when we got married. WHEN I get to that weight, if I don't lose another ounce that will be ok. I will technically still be overweight by about 40 pounds based on what all the charts say but I can honestly say that when I met Phil I was happier with what I weighed and how I looked than when I graduated high school and that was 70lbs lighter! So I am 88 pounds away from my final goal. In my opinion that is in sight because I have already lost 64 so what's another 88 after this?

I CAN DO THIS!! And would love to do this with Phil.

Karen

1. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
   1 Corinthians 6:18-20 

Feeling Good

Yesterday was a great day! Phil has been sick so much in the last couple of weeks. He has had so many stomach problems and they just will not go away. He has had every test done that you could do or at least that we know about and they can't figure out what is going on. He and I both really feel like its his gallbladder but every test has come back normal. His mother and sister both had/have stomach problems so we feel like his is right in line with theirs. He goes and sees the dr on Sept 6th so I hope and PRAY that we can convince the dr to just go ahead and take the gallbladder out!! I think this would solve so many of his problems. A couple of years ago we found out that he was allergic to garlic so we try to stay away from anything that has garlic in it but that seems to not matter anymore. It doesn't matter what he eats he gets sick. I said all of this to say that he actually felt some better yesterday. The day started off rough for him but by the time I got home from work he was better. He grilled some wonderful chicken last night for supper and then he and Rae went fishing while I walked. Rae doesn't quite understand that fish don't always bite when you throw the hook in the water!

But I did get my walk/jog in last night. It was the perfect weather to do it  and I walked 1.56 in 30 minutes. I know thats not a very fast time but it is very comfortable for me. I started doing the C25K last night, well I did a modified version of it. I believe their were two times that it told me to run that I walked. But I was still very proud of myself. My goal is to do this at least three - four times a week and just progress the way that I can. But I have got to get some new tennis shoes! Mine are about 5 years old and are worn out. I've been doing some research on shoes and trying to find the right ones. So hopefully we can do that soon. But I will not let that stop my from the C25K. I believe that once I get used to jogging that it will be something that I enjoy. Great tunes, great weather, great feeling!

Slump

It was bound to happen and it finally did. I have come to my first "weight loss slump". Since starting this in Jan I have been really excited about changing my life and I don't know if I have ever been this excited before. The only other time that I have lost any amount of weight was in 1997 and I went on WW and lost 53 pounds. But something happened this week, I just didn't have it in me. I still kept up with my calories and logged them in everyday and I never went over my limit but that is about all I can say. I had been doing really good about exercising, doing something everyday. But last week all I did was mow the yard and I did't even mow all of it. So when I stepped on the scale Sunday morning I didn't see the drop in weight that I have seen every other time that I have weighed. It acually went up .5 a pound. But thats ok.  I stated fresh today! I am making sure that I am drinking my water all 64ozs, I have logged everything that has went into my mouth, and I will walk/jog tonight. Maybe that was what was wrong. School started back and my walking buddy hasn't been with me the last couple of times that I walked. Its just so hard to get home from work, get supper going, clean up and get out the door and still have time for homework and baths. Of course Phil is really good about having the kids do their homework when they get home and he does most of the cooking but my walking buddy is really good about not getting all of her homework done when she is supposed to.
I will take this past week and know that it is in the past. I am still 56 pounds lighter than I was this time last year and I am still looking toward the end goal. It is still a long way off but thats ok. The slower the better. I still plan on doing the GumTree in May and I know that I just need to keep that goal in mind and I can do it. I think that God has given me really great weather the last several days so that I would get back out their and start back doing something that I have truly learned to enjoy.

Happy Weight Loss!!

The post with no title!

I guess its pretty safe to say that I suck at blogging! I really don't know why I haven't blogged anything-maybe because we have a a really low key boring summer. And that has been ok with me. It has been so hot this summer, almost to hot to do anything.  I think that the most exciting thing that we did all summer was VBS at church.

I have a ton of stuff to catch up on, especially picture wise, but the usb cord to our camera seems to not won't to work. As soon as we fix it or buy another one I will have a ton of pictures to upload.

The great weight loss project of 2012 is going great. I am down 54 pounds so far and I could not be happier. Some of the pants that I had that I could not even dream about getting into are getting to BIG!!!! That is AWESOME! I still a long way to go but slow and steady will be just fine with me. We were able to get an exercise bike from a guy that I work with for a really good price so it has been really great to be able to keep up with exercising while it has been so hot. I love walking and I miss it but it has just been to hot. Rae and I have been a couple of times this summer after it has cooled down some and last night was one of those nights. We actually got a nice rain yesterday afternoon so it cooled things down quite a bit. She and I have started jogging some. I am trying to do a modified version of C25K. We walked for 22 mins and jogged for 3 last night. We were only short jogging by 3 mins so I am proud of us.  But I am sore today. I've got to get some new tennis shoes that will be good for jogging. Mine are about 4 years old and are just about wore out. I have this crazy goal of being able to run/jog the GumTree 10K next May. I have no problem walking 1.5 miles in 20-25 minutes but that is gonna have to change a whole bunch for me to be able to do the GumTree. 6 miles is a long way when you are on your feet the entire time. But I know that if I keep up the work, keep doing what I am doing and pray about it that God will help me do this. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that if I keep up the pace that I have been on since starting this in Jan that by GumTree time I could be down another 80 lbs by then.  I know that at some point my body is gonna refuse to work with me but I am going to try my best to not let that stop me. I have always thought about doing the GumTree but I've never been this close to actually doing it. We'll see. May is still a long way off!