Week 19 summary

Whewww, I'm super late posting about last week. We went to the beach this weekend and I've been playing catch-up all week. I'll just use my weigh-in for today since I'm already so late into this week.

Our favorite place in the world. Only pics I took on my phone. Other pics were on my real camera.
 

162.4 - ahhhh, my new stalled number I think. Although I think in my last post I was in the upper 163s, so technically I am losing. I, of course, gained a couple of pounds at the beach. I had some great meals and some not-so-great junk food. But between the trudging on the beach and walking up and down stairs outside and inside the condo - I'm going to give myself a high-five.

Also I'm proud that when I got back I eased right back into the diet. I'm still probably having too much rice and bread, but I have not resorted back to night snacking and my Starbucks coffees. Man, I'm really proud about that. I'm back to where I was on Friday when I went to the beach and back to eating for food, not eating for cravings or emotions.

Rich's grandmother passed away while we were at the beach. She was a fantastic, amazing woman who was spunky and a real dish right up till she died. If only we could all live to be 92 with a wonderful life to look back on.

Other than a few jellyfish stings (looking at you long-tentacled beings) we had a great time in the ocean.

BUT, I'm out of shape. Maybe I am skinny fat. HAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm not skinny, but I like to joke that I'm skinny fat because I've lost a decent amount of weight, but I'm terribly out of shape.

So, I think next week I'm going to head out to the road and run. I'm scared! I am hoping my 17-pound loss from my last run will help my feet and knees. I'm excited to see what I can build up to.

Week 18 summary

Before I give my summary, I just wanted to say I'm praying for the city I work - Baton Rouge. The city is going through hell right now with the officers' deaths. My dad knew one of the officers killed. I grew up in church with their family. I know a lot of people do not believe thoughts and prayers work, but I'm a believer. I'm also a believer in the officers. I will always be on their side. Period. I know I'm in the minority these days, but I believe in these people. They run TO the danger, while the rest of us take cover.

It's been a tough two weeks in my area. My opinion on anything political doesn't matter to anybody, so let's move on. :)

Surprisingly I'm down to 163.4. It's almost two pounds and you better believe I'll take it. I'm finally finding my rhythm with the diet and my new job. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with both. So now it's time to get into a rhythm with workouts. I have been doing abs and weights several times a week, but I need to add in cardio.

One mistake I've realized, remember that Clif bar? Yeah that nice little nugget had a TON of carbs and "additional carbs." What are additional carbs? Bueller? Bueller? It amounted to the amount of carbs in a Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha. So all those days of Clif bar breakfasts - yeah, what a disservice to myself that was.

Peanut Butter Crunch

Source: Clif Bar website

So now I'm researching other breakfasts. I'll probably go back to eggs and oatmeal. The great thing about the bar was I could eat it at my desk. I'm a big label reader and for some reason - I never actually read the Clif bar label. However, I think if you are maintaining weight while training - the bars would be A great choice post run.

That about does it for my summary. We are heading to the beach this weekend and I'm nervous about the diet. I'm definitely going to allow for splurges, like the ice cream shop called SHAKES. Probably a Lambert's roll or two. My brother is going to barbecue, sooooo yeah. Unfortunately I won't be drinking my usual multiple real Dr. Peppers, breakfasts of pancakes, junk food, junk food, gas station food, did I mention no junk food? Gahhhh!

I hope your week goes well and you are happy and healthy!

Week 17 summary

Apparently 165 is my body's happy weight. It's not the weight I want for running, but this is where it just luvvvvvvvvvs to climb back to and stay. I had actually reached 164 last week and joy! But I gained back two pounds this weekend.

Last week was a tad difficult what with the July 4 holiday. Then my daughter became sick with a virus and 103 fever on Friday. I stayed home from work with her. Sat by my own personal portable/walking/breathing heater all day. I handled Friday at home pretty good with my eating.

Don't mind the creepy eyes from the cat. She was a very nice nurse all weekend to the sickly.

Saturday was a different story. My husband went to Houston for the day for an Astros game. So I had Jimmy Johns. I also had custard ice cream. I was just tired, functioning on little sleep and boom.

Sunday I went out to lunch with my friend. We went to Applebees for a "healthy salad." I knew that salad wasn't truly healthy, although the chicken was grilled. But it was a quesadilla salad. hahahah! Little quesadillas were in the salad. It was delicious, but we probably could have had a burger and fries for the amount of calories in the salad. muahahahaha!

My daughter is better today, but I'm just hoping she doesn't relapse.

So my goals for the next three weeks are to get as low as I can with pounds. I plan on starting back running in three weeks and I'm hoping for a good 20 pounds or more lost since the LAST time I ran. This should be considerable less poundage on my knees.

Ultimately my goal is 9-minute miles. I'm dying to do a full marathon, but there's no way I can get out there at 3 a.m., run for three hours only to have run a nice 9 miles or so. I need to be fast to put in the work for daily training before going to my job. This is going to take a lot of work.

Based on my history with pace, weight and injuries, I may not meet that goal till next year. That's ok! I'm not giving up. :)

In other news, I'm gearing up to go to the beach in a couple of weeks! So excited!!!! Yes, I plan on watching what I eat. Another :)

Week 16 summary

I ended the week at 165. Darn holiday weekends are the knife in the weight-loss life, right? I had actually dropped to 164 on Friday and boom, it was the weekend. In all fairness to myself, my eating was not all that terrible! I feel like I have about two pounds of bloat on me, that's for sure.

Also last week I upped my workouts to five days. Each of those days I did my weight workouts and a couple of the days I did the ab challenge.

So not really sure the workouts did all that much to help with weight loss, but I was pretty darn proud of myself for squeezing them in.

We had a nice, relaxing July 4. We finally made our way to see Independence Day. So good! It was pretty crazy because the theater only had 45 seats. It was actually SMALLER than the theater I went to with my friend to see Me Before You. Sequels usually don't fare well, but I still really enjoyed the movie.

I meant to work on my wreaths for the benefit, but I ended up reading three books. So I know what I'll be doing this week.

This week I'm going to really watch my sugar. I felt like crap this weekend and I know it's because I had too much sugar and those bad (not the good!!!) carbs. I was very sluggish and I'm not normally like that during the week, so looks like food really can affect my energy levels.

This week, much of the same of the last 16 weeks. What can I say? At least I've made a blog post for 16 weeks right? LOL!

Couple of food pics:

Salad from home with roasted chicken. Coincidentally I'm having the same thing tonight!

More of Amy's Vegetable Soup. 

Just a fun pic of my dad playing basketball at my house. And no, I did not play and I'm TERRIBLE playing as an adult.

Hope you have a great week in this FOUR-day work week. 

Week 15 summary

Woo hoo! This past week I went from 168 to 165.5. Finally I hit 165. FINALLY! My body was hanging onto 167 and 166 for a good month I think. I've broke through the plateau.

But I still have a lot of work to do.

My diet slipped somewhat this week with my starting a new position at work, while keeping up with my old position. I still ate healthy foods, but I did have some rice, a taco, etc...Nothing too crazy, but I wish I had cooked more. I do love cooking, but some days it's tough squeezing it in. It's going to be like this for a couple of months. But I love my new position, and of course I still love my old position, so it's a win-win.

However, I do have to work extra hard to stay on course. I've been doing the ab challenge, but I need to add more weight workouts and get in some cardio in preparation for running.

This weekend I ended up drinking a lot of my calories and that's probably not too healthy. I had a REAL Mr. Pibb which was fantastic. Saturday night I went to see Me Before You with my friend. We had been planning on seeing this for weeks and finally found time to see it. So good, but alas so sad. I had prepared myself for it and didn't cry too much. My poor friend. I texted her Sunday telling her I'm sorry it was so sad!

I also had real movie popcorn, but I didn't go overboard with it.

I also had jambalaya from a benefit for my daughter's friend who has leukemia. And surprise, surprise, her friend was there. Ohhhh those two hugged each other so tight and it was my favorite part to the weekend. She's been at St. Jude for treatments. She looks good, but she's fighting a tough battle.

Yesterday I had a REAL Dr. Pepper because I was dying of thirst and it sounded good. And it was. Luckily I am not a drinker. I literally have one or two daiquiris a year and that's it. Even the "skinny" margaritas and drinks still have over 500 calories. Ahhhh, I'd rather eat my calories than drink them.

This week, going to drink more water, workout daily and eat loads and loads of vegetables.

Hope you had a great weekend and a happy week!

Week 14 summary

I was just looking through my phone and I have no food pictures for this post. I'm sorry! I've now reached Defcom 5 emergency situation with the memory on my phone. I need to download the literally 700 pictures that are on my phone.

Today I started my new job, which I'm still at my same company, but am transitioning into a new department. So basically I'm working 20 hours in my old department and 20 hours in my new department. I love it! It's more challenging and a tad scary because I've done the same thing for a decade now. Gotta say, kind of weird this morning to walk into a new department and not go to my old desk and sit with my coffee. Life is good right now.

However, I've slacked on my workouts - still doing that ab challenge but it's, well, challenging! I'm also BACK to where I was at the beginning of last week - 168. That is frustrating, but not at all surprising. My eating has been OK, but not as clean as what it needs to be to run. But, I'm not giving up.

It seems like my downfall has been restaurant food. A girl can have only so many salads, right? But, I feel good going into this week and am ready for the umpteen challenges I will have. Primarily being tired from work.

I hope everybody had a good Father's Day. We visited all fathers in the family yesterday and had a relaxing day overall. Here are my two favorite people arm wrestling. Her Daddy always lets her win!

Have a great Monday!

 

Happy Thursday and ab challenge!

I hope your week is going well. Mine couldn't be better! I lost the pound that I keep fluctuating with. It's almost the weekend! It's a friend's birthday. I'm about to start my new job. Did I say it's almost the weekend?

This post is to tell you about the 30-day ab challenge I'm joining. It's free, so feel free to join too.

Amanda at Run To The Finish has started yet another great challenge. Hers are free, fun and filled with prizes.

Here is the link to the challenge.

These are the goals:

CHALLENGE GOALS
What should you expect of yourself for the next 30 days??

• 3 full core workouts per week (1 new workout per week provided, plus more ideas)
• Making 1 small food change each week (1 new nutrition topic covered weekly)
• Focusing on the benefits of a stronger core
• Reminding yourself you have 5-10 minutes for key cross training

So there we go. I think it will be a lot of fun. I had my twitter set to private because I get loads of spam, but I've opened it up public now. Look for me: wendylikesbooks - I'll be tweeting about the challenge and I'd love for you to join me.

Hopefully this will get my weight loss continuing since I've seemed to hit a plateau. This week I stubbed my toe, but the problem was I stubbed my toeNAIL on my pinky toe. I will spare you the gory pics. I hate those pics people post on social media of their swollen ankles, stitches, gory bloody noses. Yeah, TMI people!!

The good news is today is much, much better. So I'll rev back up the workouts. Hope you have a great weekend.