This is probably the post I've been most excited about catching up with. The difference a month makes! Last Friday I weighed in at exactly 20 lbs down from where I started. This had gotten a little crazy during the month of July and I basically took the whole month off. But, August, I owned. I lost a little over 10 lbs in August and I was able to stick to the goals I'd set for myself. I've set new goals for myself for Sept, and I'll share those in a bit. As you read on Monday, I was able to finish my first ever 5k on Saturday. We had a great time and I look forward to doing it again next year. Although, I'll probably do it with my kids next year and walk it. It was almost impossible for us to run so that wouldn't be my plan. But, I had a friend approach me last week about doing another 5k on Sept 30th. She knew I wanted to do a timed race, and this one is. I agreed and now... off we go! Race #2 in a little over 3 weeks. WHAT?! But I'm actually really glad because it'll keep me on track with my training. Before I even did the 5k on Saturday, I'd decided that I wanted to do the 5k that's part of the Indianapolis Marathon on Oct 20th. Over the last few days, Aaron has decided that he wants to run with me then and for his sake, I think we'll register for the 5k that's part of the Monumental Marathon on Nov 3rd instead. That'll give him another 2 weeks to train. We have friends running in that race as well, just not the 5k. That hasn't been totally decided, so I'll keep you update on that. Ok, onto those Sept goals... I need to drink water. Lots more water! So, goal #1 is to make sure I'm getting at least 65oz of water every day. I want to run more than I walk for the 5k on Sept 30th. My goal right now is to finish in under 50 mins. I need to get my eating back on track. I've held stead at the 20 lbs down this last week so it's time to get into gear and get back to eating good stuff instead of just 1200 calories of bad stuff. My goal is to have fruit or veggies at every meal regardless of what or where I'm eating. My birthday is in 16 days. I'd like to be down 6 lbs in those 16 days. I kow that's a push, but I've done it before and I know I can do it again. Hoping for a good weigh in this week!
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The 2nd full week of September already! Man, this month is going just as fast as the last. And pretty much all the others before it! We've got lots going on this week, as usual! Or weeks have naturally picked up pace with school starting! I was able to use a lot of what we had in our fridge and freezer for meals this week, which is good as this was pantry week! I only had to pick up a few things from the store, and I had a gift card so I got away with spending nothing! Plus, I had some great coupons! Free eggs with a purchase of $10 or more and $1.50 off any cheese purchase. I got some sliced cheese from the deli, and it was $2.89 before the coupon. $1.39 isn't too bad for about 15 slices of cheese! I only planned through Friday for this week. Alright... Here's the menu: Monday: Eggs, Sausage, and Hashbrown. Breakfast is always one of our favorites and it's easy and cheap! Tuesday: French Onion Burgers. Hamburgers browned on the stove and simmered in french onion soup. Lay a slice of cheese on it right before serving. It basically needs no toppings or condiments! Wednesday: Sandwiches. We eat on the run on Wednesday because of youth group. Ham and Turkey sandwiches it is! Thursday: Pancakes! My girls love pancakes. I figured we could handle breakfast twice in one week! Friday: Pizza. Friday is almost the only day this week we've got nothing happening, so we'll order pizza and have a movie night with the girls. :-) All in all, I spent about $15 for the groceries we needed for this week. Oh man, how do I recap this weekend?! Some of you may not remember, but this last weekend was my first ever 5k race! My friend Sarah came in from Michigan and we ran (well, ran and walked) the Color Me Rad 5k. My goal was to complete it in around 40 mins. Well, there were so many people that it was almost impossible to run. And when we got to each color station where they throw the color on you, we had to stop and wait in line to get through. We completed it in around an hour. I knew it wasn't a timed race, but I didn't realize how congested it was going to be! When we did have a chance to run, it was really hard because our pace had to change constantly because we were weaving in and out of people. I'm looking forward to doing a pretty straight forward race where everyone is running and it's not as crowded. But, with that being said, we had a great time! It was a great first race. The atmosphere was electric and everyone was very excited. After it was over it was cool to look out over the crowd and see the formerly white sea of people that were all covered in color. Here are our before and after pictures.... I look a little bit like an oompa loompa because I had an orange color pack busted right over my head. And I still have a few traces of that tattoo on my arm. :-) We had a great time. I think that maybe next year we'll do it with the girls. There were a lot of kids and they all seemed to be enjoying it. Later that day, we had the opportunity to go downtown Indianapolis with Sarah and her husband. We ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (one of my favorites) and then we spent some time walking around and enjoying the city. Sarah and her husband and never been downtown Indy, and it was a beautiful night. We stopped at The Circle to take some pictures on the Monument. Here is Sarah and I in our matching Color Me Rad shirts... As you can see, the color washed off pretty well. There were still a few traces, but for the most part, we got squeaky clean. We were able to hang with them for another day, and they left after lunch yesterday. We had a great time with them and I hope we can do it again soon!
All in all, it was a great weekend! On Tuesday night, a friend of mine mentioned something that she decided to do for herself. She said it was 30 by 30. Basically, she made a list of 30 things she wanted to do/accomplish by the time she turned 31. I thought it was a great idea when she mentioned it but the rest of the night I didn't give it much thought. Then yesterday I couldn't really get it out of my head. I've never been much of a goal setter and I'm seeing now that part of maturing (at least for me) is setting a goal and holding myself accountable for the outcome. So, I decided I'm going to make my own 30 by 30 list. I'll turn 31 on Sept 28th of 2014. I figured that 26 months is a pretty good chunk of time and if I really set my mind to completing my list, I can do it.
As I come up with things to put on my list, I'll share them with you. Maybe not all of them, as I'm sure some of them will be personal, but there are some that won't be. Ok, so here are a few I've already come up with: Be at my goal weight by my 30th birthday. That gives me a little over 14 months to lose 130 lbs. Finish a 5k- hopefully I'll be doing that on Sept 8th. Get out of debt. Finish a sprint distance triathalon. Take the honeymoon cruise Aaron and I never went on. Pay cash for new furniture. Pay cash for a new (to us) van. Ok, so these are just a few of the ones that I came up with off the top of my head! As I come up with some more or complete some, I'll share posts about them. I'm excited about this and I hope that some of you will join me or at least make a list of your own! I wasn't absolutely dreading this AM's weigh in because I knew I'd lost so much water weight over the last few days. But, I was suprised when I stepped on the scale and it said -3. That's the lowest I've been since I started this whole process. And it's 10 lbs lost since Sunday. Obviously, a lot of that is water weight, but still. My run last night was pretty good. I started off really strong. I got new running shoes which made a huge difference. I was going pretty strong with the 1:30 run then 1:30 walk. I was able to do that until about the 22 min mark. Then I went to 1 min/1 min. I did one cycle like that and went back to the 1:30/1:30. I'm pretty pleased because that's almost exactly where I left off 3 weeks ago. Tomorrow I'll do all 1:30/1:30, and then hopefully on Sat and I can 1:30/1. Then next week I can start the 2min/1min. This is going to get deep for a min so hang with me... I've realized over the last few years that I'm a people pleaser. It's not that I haven't always known that, but until recently, I didn't realize the depth of it. I'm so concerned about letting people down that I normally quit half way or just don't do it (whatever IT is) to begin with. Prime example.... I've been so nervous about not being able to finish the 5k. And I know, in reality, even if I have to walk it all, I'll finish. BUT, I'm training to run it, not walk it. And I just feel like people would be so dissapointed if I didn't run it. And I started stressing about that, so I started making excuses and just stopped training all together. Then I got stressed out because I was behind and now it's crunch time and I really may not be ready. Last night as I was running I was thinking about all the people who would be proud to know I was at it again, but I had to stop myself and ask who I was doing this for. And the honest answer is, I don't really know. Yeah, I'll be happy when I'm skinny and healthy and can do things I haven't been able to do in a while and God calls us to be healthy and live physically in a Christlike way, but is that my true motivation or am I doing this because I want people to be proud of me and approve of me? Pinned Here.
Stepped on the scale today and I was somewhat nervous what the outcome would be. I have only been counting calories loosely the last 2 days and the weekend was somewhat of a total bust. So, I was thankful to see that there was no movement. I can be happy with not losing as long as I'm not gaining! I'll start up running for this week tonight. I kind of wish I wouldn't have waited so long to start this week, but I was going to do it last night and then I realized I'd run again on Thurs which is forcasted to be 103 degrees here. I know there are alot of people who run in that type of weather, but I don't want to if I don't have to! So, I'll start tonight so I skip tomorrow. I've really been battling emotional eating the last few days. I've been pretty stressed out and that leads me to either not eat or eat whenever I'm feeling frustrated. Crazy as this sounds, what has helped me is actually picturing Jesus sitting there in my kitchen asking me if I really need to eat that. Most of the time it's instantly obvious that I'm just eating to try and relieve stress (which never really happens). I mentioned in my post last week that I was somewhat concerned with our mission trip to Toronto. Now I'm pretty concerned. I called the hotel and they don't have any type of exercise room. I know nothing about the neighborhood, so I'm not sure if I can run there. So, if anything I'll be running around the parking lot. 2 of the girls in our youth group are doing summer gym for school, and they have to get 3 hours of exercise in during the week, so I figured that'll be good motivation for me too! Someone suggested we run the stairs at the hotel! That makes me cringe just thinking about it! The food is the part I'm worried about. We'll be eating breakfast at the hotel in the AM, so I can do oatmeal or something then. Lunch will be served by host families, so I'll be at the mercy of the families we're working with. Then dinner will be eaten out every night. I guess I need to do alot of studying up on what the best choices are for eating out! This Week: -3 It is AMAZING to me how much weight my body fluctuates. On Saturday, I stepped on the scale and I was FINALLY past those 5 lbs I couldn't lose. Infact, I beat them by 2 lbs. So I was down a total of 7 lbs from where I started. I did nothing different for the next few days and on Monday when I stepped on the scale I was up almost 10 lbs! This mornging when I weighed, I was down 6. So, still past my goal by a lb, but seriously! It's crazy. If I can't beat this water weight fluctuation, it's going to be a LOOOOOOONG road. With that being said, I know I'm not drinking enough water. Infact, I'm not really drinking any. I haven't been buying any pop (or soda) because the little money we have needs to be spent on other groceries. So I haven't really been drinking anything. So, I know I'm not helping the problem. So, my goal for this week (now until next Wed) will be to get all my water in! Since technically I hit my first goal, I'm setting my 2nd goal. Aaron's going to be recieving his district license at a service on July 29th. My goal is to be down at least 10 by then. Doesn't sound like a steep goal, but our mission trip to Toronto is thrown in there. I'm not sure how we'll be eating so I'm not positive how much control I'll have of my diet for 7 days. So, this might be a little tough. Also, the hotel we're staying at doesn't have an exercise room, so I won't have a indoor place to run. The neighborhood might be ok, but I won't know that till I get there. I might just end up running around our hotel. I can't afford to skip a week of training! I love that saying! It's truth. Even if you're not running marathon's at record breaking pace, you're still doing something! I try and remind myself of this while I'm training. (Image pinned here)
Well, today is the day. I've been weighing on and off through out the week so I have an idea of where I was heading for today's post. The good news is that I'm down 4 lbs. The bad news is that I did not break the 5 lbs I've been trying to break since January. But, this is as close as I've gotten. So, I know if I just stick to it, it will happen.
Last week I posted about decreasing my calories and seeing if that helped. I set my calorie trackers on Spark People to a lower calorie range and it's definitely made a difference. I'm eating between 1300-1500 calories a day. So, all in all I'm pleased. I'm not feeling super sucessful just yet because I want to beat these stupid 5 lbs. 1 more lbs to go, I know, but still. It's my first goal. I'm impatient (imagine that) and I'm ready to be able to see results now. I'm torn because I feel like I've been at this long enough that I should notice more results. But, I know that just cutting my calories changed things and this won't happen over night. There is a saying that I keep repeating to myself... "It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing. It takes 8 weeks for your friends, and 12 weeks for the rest of the world. Give it 12 weeks. Don't quit." I ran again last night and ended up only doing half of my run. I was supposed to run tonight, but I won't be home, so I decided to do it last night and not take a recovery day. I only ended up doing half my run. I walked the rest of the time then decided to sit by the lake and spend a little time with God. It was a BEAUTIFUL night and I'd really struggled with some things yesterday and I decided that it would be a great time to sit and just listen to God. It was the best part of my day. I'll pick up running again on Thursday and add Saturday that way I can make sure I get 3 full runs in this week. So, here's to hoping that next week I can bust that final lb and be done with these stubborn 5 lbs forever! It's almost the weekend! WOOP WOOP! 1. I'll start with the biggest thing that happened this week. (If you don't want to have part of my wilderness story ruined, stop reading now.) We found out Monday night that Aaron has been approved for a new District License and is on his way to being ordained in the Church of the Nazarene. A lot of this is denomination talk, but trust me this is a GREAT thing. A God thing big time! 2. I'm pumped about our plans for tomorrow! We're going downtown for Kids Day in the Park. It's a big event with meet and greets for some of Emmy's most favorite characters from PBS- Elmo, Super Why, Word Girl, Cat in the Hat, Curious George, and a bunch more. I made the mistake of telling Emmy about this on Tuesday and she's been beside herself with excitement ever since! Plus, it's free. Awesome! 3. This week has basically been a week of nothing. We didn't even leave the house until yesterday afternoon. Last week was very busy, so it was nice to have a week to just hang with my girls. I'm hoping we can make it to the pool sometime this weekend! Although, it was wierd not having youth group last night. Most of our kids were on vacation, so I haven't really seen them in like a week! Can't wait to catch up with them this Sunday! 4. My running has been going well. When I'm doing it, I hate it. When I'm not doing it, I want to. I finshed up week 1 of Couch 2 5k, but I think I may do another week in week 1, or at least another day or 2. Although, I found a motivation dress on Pinterest! I love it, even though I'd have no where to wear it! Pinned here. 5. Change is happening. I'm not one of those people who is resistent to change. Infact, majority of the time, I embrace it. There's so much happening right now and I'm excited about it. Once the ball starts rolling on some of it, I'll include it in some posts. Right now though you'll just have to take my word for it!
Have a great weekend! Well, I'm thinkin' Wednesday will be my least favorite of all the days I post. I've committed to making this blog real and true to life. And for me, that includes trying to lose weight. At this point I don't have big secrets or tips to share. I did Weight Watchers for a while and I was struggling more than I was having success. There are a few blogs that I follow who's writers have lost significant amounts of weight (You can see those here and here) and they give a lot of good advice. Plus, I have a few friends who've lost significant amounts of weight and they all seem to be invaluable resources. So here's the skinny, I've got about 130lbs to lose to get me to the top of my "healthy" weight range. I've already lost about 20 lbs from my highest non pregnancy weight. Although, honestly I didn't have to work hard for that to come off. It came off pretty quickly not long after Macie was born and I was nursing and got gingivostomatitis and I couldn't really eat or drink anything. I lived on coke and milkshakes for almost a week. Since then I've been couting calories (1800 a day) and I've started the Couch to 5k running program. BUT, I've lost zero weight. Infact I weighed myself in perperation for today's post and nothing. There was zero movement on the scale. So, I think maybe I need to decrease my calories a little bit. I'm thinking maybe 1600. The recommended daily amount of calories for me is actually 1500, but I wasn't qute ready for that just yet, but it may work out that's what I have to do. What is perfectly clear that is that I'm not doing something right. I've been couting calories for 2 weeks now and I've only had maybe 3 days where I've exceded my calories. So, something isn't working. I don't think I'll be posting my actual weight online. Not yet at least. Not quite ready for that, but I am going to be brave and post a before picture. This was taken this morning. So it's recent. So, here goes Weigh In Wednesdays. Hopefully, next week I'll have better news to report!
On Friday's I'll be doing what I'm calling "My Favorites Friday". It's a short list of some of the good things that have happened this week or things that I am enjoying. So, here goes! 1. Emmy's 3rd birthday party was on Tuesday! I can't believe she's already 3. We had a great time with a few of her friends. We ate lunch, enjoyed cupcakes and opened gifts. 2. This one I didn't necessarily enjoy, but on Wednesday I started my training for the Color Me Rad 5k run that a friend and I are doing. I don't particularly enjoy running or feeling like I'm dying but I did enjoy the feeling of accomplisment that I felt after I finished the first day of training. Today will be day 2. I'm actually dreading it because I'm not feeling well at all and have been coughing up a lung the last 2 days. 3. Skype date with the best friend this afternoon. YES! We've been friends as long as I can remember. Seriously. I don't remember her not being around. The hard part of growing up... not being in the same place to enjoy typical friend activies. (Our favorites happen to be eating and shopping) 4. I picked up the devotional book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young a few weeks ago. If you have a chance to go through this book, DO IT! It's awesome! 5. Rain! I'm so glad we've finally got rain. It just means my flowers will live to see a few more days. Don't mind the sad looking droopyness of my poor flowers. At least they're alive!
Everyone enjoy your weekend! |
HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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