Jumping on the TTT Bandwagon!

I don't know why I haven't partaken of the Ten Things Thursday phenomenon yet. Time to change that!

1. The hubster went fishing with his pals this weekend. They are having a 4 day bro-fest. Fun for them! Meanwhile, I am fending for myself with the kidlets. I'll survive. If they sleep.

2. One of my good friends at work is retiring. I got her a couple charms for her Pandora bracelet, and of course, now I am totally wanting one. Seeing as how my hubs is crap for buying jewelry, this will probably remain a pipedream.

3. I had to get all the garbage and recycling out to the curb tonight, so I got the kids set up with some Berestain Bears action on TV, thinking that would hold their attention for at least ten minutes. Mistake #1. I poked my head in the door to see if all was well and little guy had an entire bag of that Smartfood popcorn dumped all over the kitchen floor. Awesome! Especially since my cleaning ladies were here just yesterday. So, I figure I might as well finish what I'm doing outside because how much worse can it get? Ha. Mistake #2. When I came back in, little guy and tater tot were jumping around on it and smashing it into my floor. So now, not only did I have to sweep/vacuum, I also had to steam mop to get all the sticky grease up. It's a good thing they didn't need a bath tonight, because cleaning that mess up took forever.

4. I need to do more cardio. I love lifting weights, so that's what I do all the time, but I need some endurance training too. Must be versatile!

5. I just had a glass of flat Coke. It was super good.

6. It's hard to come up with ten things!

7. I have a haircut appointment tomorrow, but I'm tempted to reschedule. I feel like I want to grow it out an inch or two for better summer ponytail action. Just an inch. My hairstylist will loath the idea. If I let him have this way, he would chop it all off. Plus, hubs and I finally made a financial plan for getting out of our house, so I hate the thought of paying for color (I need it at this point though).

8. It's finally raining here. It's about time. My mom gave me some Asiatic lilies that she split, and none of them survived the transplant. I think we just had bad timing.

9. My mom is in Arizona for ten days visiting my uncle and his crew. I'm so jealous. Every time I talk to her she tells me about how it's 105 degrees and she spent the afternoon in the pool.

10. Tomorrow I go see my new GI guy. It will interesting to see what he makes of my random GI issues. Wish me luck!

Never a dull moment...

It's been an interesting couple weeks here. Starting last Saturday, I managed to gain 6lbs over the course of 5 days. I don't know what the hell was going on, but I knew I had to put the brakes on. Luckily it slowed down on it's own, and I manged to diet two of those pounds off this weekend. Seriously though, I was up to 212.4! It's been over a year since I weighed that much and I was really feeling it! Still not sure what caused it. I was still exercising, not eating like a hog, period was over. Who knows?

Anyway, I happened to have my annual gyno appointment on Friday, so I told her all about it. And about my stupid heavy periods which are cramping my style (get it? cramping? ha.). Blood work so far shows my thyroid is a tad on the low side (maybe that will explain my ever thinning hair and crappy sleep?), and I'm still waiting for ultrasound results. On the 4th, I go in for a mini-D&C and more bloodwork to check my hormone levels. If all is well with that, this chica is getting ablation done PRONTO.

On a more positive note, I've still been keeping up with my exercise: three days of lifting and two or three of cardio. I'm logging with MFP, just trying to keep myself honest.

Speaking of exercise, I've been thinking about running again. My hubby and my sister and a bunch of our friends started this group they call Run Fatty Run (not that any of them are really fat), and they do 5Ks together all year long. I'll admit, I'm kinda jealous. I may have talked about it before, but I have this thing about running. I want to do it. I have this totally romantic notion of it. I don't know why. I tried C25K before, but didn't get very far with it. Maybe that's just not the program for me? I do want to try again. Plus, my sister lost about 25lbs with Weight Watchers and all this running, and she looks amazing. We have the exact same body, so it's always interesting to look at her and sort of know what I'll look like at a lower weight. Anyway, I told her to save all her size 14s for me, because I'm hoping to need them soon.

Well, now I'm just blathering. It's been a long hot day in the sun here, so I'm off to get my beauty sleep.

Hi

Hi banded bloggers! How are you? How's things?

I am here. I am recovering after a crazy weekend of fun. I am ready to get back in the saddle tomorrow, that is Fo. Sho.

Friday was my cousin's wedding -- it was a crazy good time. We even went out after, which is practically unheard of for me these days. Saturday we went to see Hunger Games and then had an amazing mexican dinner at a place we've never been to before. Brisket tacos! Yum. We will be going back! Today I went to a dear friend's bridal shower, and that was a fun time too. Now I have my kidlets back from my in-laws and hubs and I are getting back into the grind. I have my meals all planned for tomorrow, and I have my workouts planned for the week too. Cuz... failing to plan is planning to fail! Dontcha know.

So, I've been in a serious contemplation phase these last few weeks. It's May, you know. And that means that, sitting at 207, I've been officially maintaining this weight for a WHOLE YEAR. I will be honest with you. It's been fairly easy to maintain here. Like, I'm pretty sure I could hang here for a looooong time without too much effort.

But.

BUT.

I'm not done. I'm not! I don't want to be done yet! And don't give me any BS about how the bulk of your weight loss happens the first 18 months after surgery because the bulk of mine didn't happen until 3 years out! So, yes, I know I can do this.

So. Time for Action phase. I've got a food plan, I've got a workout plan, I've got you guys, and, most of all, I have a hubby who is supportive of my current mania. It MUST happen. I will MAKE it happen.

First goal: my birthday is in three weeks. I will be 202 by then or there will be no birthday cake. You guys know this girl likes her cake. And especially my birthday cake! So that's it. 202 or no cake.

Go.

Breakthrough

I had an epiphany of sorts today. You know I've been flirting with 200 for over a year now, and you know I talk a good game half the time about how I'm going to get there this time. Blah de frikkin' blah. I get a little close and then, wham, I'm back up to 207. I had a really good week food-wise last week. The scale was moving down nicely, all was well, and then I went a little nutso over the weekend. Not horrid, but enough to undo all the good I had done earlier that week. So, I get on the scale this morning to see what is what. I've lost 1lb this week. Good, right? Well, on my little goal path I have carved out for myself, I should've been almost a whole pound lower. So my brain starts thinking, oh I've failed, I suck, it's never gonna happen. OMG, shut UP. My sane logical self finally kicks in and says, Hey, you lost a pound asshole! What is the matter with you? You have to realize that the 5lbs that took you from 202 back to 207 aren't magically gonna disappear over night! It's time to own them and count them and consider them as actual regain and not some pesky water retention that you can pee out after a low sodium day. Geez.

Anyway.

I realize that I keep beating myself up for not being back to my low right NOW. It's so dumb, isn't it?
Today I set some realistic goals based on where I'm at now, which is 206. In my wildest dreams, in one year, I'd lose 66lbs to be 140. Chop that in half, and it means I'd have to lose 33lbs by mid November. Chop it in half again and we're talking a mere 16 or so lbs by August. In the next four weeks, I'd only have to do about 5.5. WHICH, again, would get me ever so close to onederland. But really, doesn't the whole thing sound... do-able? Scary shit, isn't it? What am I so afraid of? I've already lost more than that, right? What am I afraid is going to be expected of me if I get below 200? Really though, what? No one is going to look at me any different from 206 to 199. And then, there won't be much difference between 199 and 195. Who or what am I so worried about? I wish I could tell you. Instead, I will just get on with it and see what happens when I get there. It's all you can do, right?

Hunting Time

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club"

- Jack London

It's like that for weight loss, don't you think? You can't wait for motivation. You can't wait for someone to push you off your sorry butt into the gym. You can't wait for someone to put a healthy meal in front of you (well, maybe sometimes. But you have to order it first!). You have to make it happen. You have to go get it. You have to search it out and claim it.

Grab your clubs, girls. Let's go catch us some!

Monday Fresh Start

Ah, Mondays. We love to hate them. Back to work, back to the grind, back to the same-old same-old. But maybe it doesn't have to be like that. I recently had the opportunity to take the Franklin Covey 7 Habits for Highly Effective People Signature Course, and there were a few points that really resonated with me. One in particular was how the language and word choices we use shapes our attitudes and creates our reality. For example, changing "I have" to do workout/work to "I get" or "I choose" to do those things makes it a completely different experience. So maybe I'm not going to think, "Ugh, it's Monday again," and dwell on the long week to come (with my husband out of town, chores, etc). Instead, I will think, "Hey, it's Monday again!" And today will instead be filled with possibilities and excitement. 

And, you know what? It is just that. I have my food logged for the day, lunch packed, I already went to the gym, and my work calendar is clear. I'm starting the kids in gymnastics this Thursday (the one for the little guy is parent-tot, so I get to get my tumbling on. Whee!), and I'm really close to meeting my fundraising goal for the Heart Walk this Saturday. Good stuff, right? I'll leave you with a quote:

"All significant breakthroughs are break-"withs" old ways of thinking." - Thomas Kuhn

Happy Monday everyone!

BYOC

1.  Do you have any Mother's Day traditions?
No. But my kids are still little, so there's time to build those.

2.  Do you take a daily vitamin?  Why or why not?
No.  I  stop and start. I would like to be a little more regular about it, but I always fall off the wagon.

3.  Do you wear perfume every day?  If yes, what kind?
No, it's not allowed at work. I wish I could though. I wear it every chance I get. Right now I'm working through Valentino's Rock 'n Rose, Stella McCartney's Peony In Two, and Vivienne Westwood's Boudouir.

 4.  When you walk or run or work out outside - what do you take with you?
Phone, iPod, a few dollars, and water. I try to travel light!

5.  Repeat Question.  Summarize your week.
Just finished a huge event at work, so things are getting back to normal there. Everything is status quo at home, kids are good. Nothing too cray cray.

NSV!

I've been so focused on the complete lack of movement on the scale, that I forgot there are other ways to be successful! Take my pants, for example... I bought these pants about two months ago. They were pretty tight across my hips -- I usually only wear them with a longer sweater. Today though, I noticed I kept having to hitch them up, and so I went to the bathroom to do "the test." Yes, these pants that were once too tight will not slide right off without unbuttoning or unzipping. Pretty cool! Dare I say all the strength training is paying off?