Trader

It's starting to get cold here in Northern Michigan. We have seen snow several times but nothing sticking; which is a good thing. I am not looking forward to snow gear.. It takes mom 15 mins to get kids into snow gear, for them to play outside for 5 minutes; then another 10 minutes getting gear off, hung up to dry and the hot chocolate made. I really hate winter...

Over the weekend a good family friend competed in the Iceman Race. The Bell's Beer Iceman trail consists of paved roads, dirt roads, two tracks (majority of course, abandoned railroad beds and the world famous Vasa Nordic Ski Trail. It's 30 miles long. Race is done no matter the temperature or winter conditions. Friday night we got a sitter and stayed overnight in Traverse City so that Saturday morning we could attending the opening event and see Greg off. Even though he is crazy it was so cool to see him start and finish. He completed the race in 2:48. It still amazes me. That is just crazy to think of riding a bike in the cold 32' temp through the mud, snow, rough wooded terrain 30 miles.

It got me thinking one that I am pretty out of shape but two how much I enjoy competing in my small 5K races. I am not a runner and not sure I want to be but I really enjoy the feeling you get from finishing. Maybe I will consider running/walking another one this spring.

I have started working out again. I started back up a couple weeks ago. I decided to challenge myself to lose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving. This wasn't going to be that hard until I hit a plateau or what felt like one. I did a two pound gain that I held onto for 3 weeks and really discouraged me.I am 5.6 pounds away still and have less then 3 weeks to drop and unless I have a wonderful week this week not going to happen. I am trying not to get discouraged and have been trying to mix up the workout and increase the time and speed. I switched over to the elliptical a week ago and hoping that will help my Saturday weigh in. I would love to see 2 down this week. I feel like a trader though - I have always believed in walking to lose weight and have had success but.... I need to mix it up.

We are planning to take the girls to Chicago over Valentines Day weekend and I would love to be down in the lower 160's or even see the 150's by then but I am 16 pounds away from 159 so we will see. There is time; 15 weeks but three food holidays to get through. Baby steps.

Depression

Millions of Americans suffer from clinical depression each year. Most depressed patients first seek treatment from their primary care providers. Generally, depressed patients treated in primary care settings receive pharmacologic therapy alone. There is evidence to suggest that the addition of cognitive-behavioral therapies, specifically exercise, can improve treatment outcomes for many patients. Exercise is a behavioral intervention that has shown great promise in alleviating symptoms of depression. Some researchers believe that the rise in the core body temperature following the workout is what does it. Some believe that the release of endorphins. What ever the reason it is clearly worth the effort. 

For years I have struggled with depression. Relationships, family, school, weight all contributed to my self-doubt and depressed state of mind. I think the key is finding balance. I try to find a way to manage my daily life but there are days. I really hope that now that I am taking sometime for myself and working out that there will be less of the bad days and more good. 

Birthday's and Weight Loss

How do you stick to your diet when you tempted with birthday treats? Today is my birthday and as tradition at work we had danish brought in.. I did it; I ate...

Small "BIG" Town

Holy Cow our town is falling apart. I live in a smaller town.. Population last year of 10,349, so were not talking hole-in-the-wall small just small.Today news headlines were:

Citizens Bank was broken into this morning at 10am.
All schools on lock-down due to robbery.
Water main breaks at junior high forcing students to drink bottled water and use high school's bathrooms.
Sketch has been released of man who attempted to abduct woman in TC.
Father convicted of sexually abusing and killing his daughter last year.

Really crazy stuff.. Normally our news is of silly stuff like... City council fighting over rights to a corn field or vacant lot. Or who won citizen of the year.

As parents we wanted to raise our children in a small town for multiple reasons:

1. Slower pace of life.. a calm place to live. Where people walk to work, or shops. 
2. Low cost of living.. housing is much cheaper in a small town then a high rise in the cities.
3. Better schools.. (not always) but that is why we picked a good school district.
4. A sense of security.. you don't have to lock your doors when you run to store down the road.
5. Less traffic.. Here a 10 mile commute takes 10 minutes where in the cities a 10 mile commute could turn into an hour fast.
6. Easy access to the great outdoors.. fresh, clean, wonderful air.. trees, birds, oh how about stars.. Can you lay in your yard in the city and see stars?
7. A sense of community.. local shops close up early for the "big game". Run into someone you know anywhere you go. People helping people.. 

Is this "American Dream" becoming a thing of the past? When did we need to start worrying about letting our kids play outside alone? 

Frog Pee

It's been a long crazy busy weekend.. My life is an on the go circus always. With three children as unique as they come and all three super active we are always running. After a busy Friday and Saturday we decided to veg out Sunday. I vowed to do just that. After successfully doing that most of the day my Mother-in-law stopped by so I had to get dressed.

So Sunday night I notice that there is pee all over the toilet seat. Confused I ask around and find out that my Jasmine (6 years old) has decided that she likes to "Frog Pee". Okay new term for me also - but here is the definition for you.. Frog peeing is when you get naked, facing out, place your feet up on the either side of the toilet seat and pee. Oddly when doing this pee sprays everywhere... That girl..... or at least I think she's a girl. Some days she comes up with the oddest "boy" ideas.

That is how I spent my weekend..

Discouraged Weigh In

This weeks weigh in isn't anything to brag about. I stayed the same. Now if I was at goal already this would be great but being that I have a long way to go this is pretty discouraging.

Here is my condensed walking schedule this week:

Thursday 5 miles
Friday (rest)
Saturday 4 miles
Sunday 5 miles
Monday (injury off)
Tuesday 2.56 miles
Wednesday 3 miles

As for my diet I watched my carb intact and fat. Not sure if portions are still my problem, if it's not getting my breakfast in every day or what the deal is. I am so discouraged.

Flash Back

I was going through some pictures on my computer when I came across two very interesting pictures. The first is of me as a teenager. I was my thinnest those years.

The second photo I found was from our friends wedding a few years ago when I was my heaviest at 212 pounds. 

My face is so round and the turtleneck does not help. WOW - I am 35 pounds lighter but still have a long ways to go. 

Here I am in June at 181 pounds. 

Monday, Monday, Monday

Sadly it's Monday again. I had a nice weekend with the family but could really use a day in my house cleaning it - instead I will have to find time tonight to clean it. What I really need is a maid or a cleaning fairy to come while I am at work and do the dusting, mopping, and bathroom.

I started back on the diet and exercise two weeks ago and have done pretty good. But, I know here is the but... I am not happy with my weight lose. I am pleased that I lost 3 pounds last week but worried about this week. I have done fairly well but I am not seeing positive on my daily weigh in's. I know that over the weekend I ate some pretty high sodium foods and feel pretty bloated. Hoping that wont have any affect on my weight lose this week.

I have been doing my indoor cardio walking dvd's rather then walking outside. I have 6 dvd's; ranging from a 1 mile to a fast 5 mile. Last night while doing my workout my ankle started to bother me. It felt weak and sore. I am not sure what was going on with it, this morning it feels better. My ankle might be feeling better but now my knee on the opposite leg is bothering me. I feel old and broken. I think I might need to take tonight off and see how I feel tomorrow.

Weigh In

Hello everyone,

I decided that I need to first weigh in and blog again and second switch my weigh in date. The reason for the switch is that I feel like Monday doesn't reflect my week's hard work honestly. I feel like I have weekend bloat and I don't want to feel that way anymore; so I am switching to Wednesday. 

With all that said; it is Wednesday!!! I had a very long night last night. When I woke up this morning I thought for sure I would have a gain since all I did yesterday was snack; but I was wrong. The scale read 177.9.. I am so excited!!! This means that I lost 3 pounds this week. 

It sucks that I am losing the gain I had a couple months ago, but something I have to do. 8 more to go before I am back to were I was in March when I went on vacation.  

Lazy Day

It's my Friday so I am feeling pretty lazy. Not only is it my Friday but it's also day one of my period and that drains me mentally and physically. Work seemed to drag and drag and drag. It rained today so that didn't help. I decided not to walk tonight and use this as my day of rest but I hate that I didn't workout. I feel really lazy now. I had a good dinner but ate too much as always.

I have tomorrow off but need to run around and get a few things done. Saturday I am hosting my nieces 10th birthday party so I need to clean my house for that. I am also taking MiKayla to see Sugarland Sunday night so I need to get a good walk in tomorrow. Maybe then I wont feel as bad about unhealthy eating Saturday and Sunday night.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.. Night all...

Just a Blogger or Good Friend

Good Afternoon,

Today has been an okay day. I am on day number 4 of my starting fresh, starting over diet "life style change" if you buy into that. It's a diet - plain and simple. Monday was a good day; but the first day back always is. You are feeling talk, proud and confidant that this time - the diet is going to work. Tuesday is a little harder - still feeling good but tired, hungry, moody, and life is getting busy and excuses start... By Wednesday you are tired, moody, hungry, and deciding if your going to workout or not and if this diet is worth missing out on the good things your family is still eating. I walked Sunday night and Tuesday night. I walked Wednesday night. I decided back in January that I was going to drop weight by eating right and walking. I normally walk at a good 15-17 mph pace and I am happy with that. This woman I know and envy just posted today that she is going to do a half marathon in October - running....I would love to be a runner - it just isn't in me to run. The only way I am going to run is if something is chasing me. Remind me of this post later if I get in shape and start running. :) Speaking of running I follow this amazing woman Holly's blog. She posted a blog yesterday about the fear of being kidnapped while out running alone. I can so relate. Last night after a really long day at work and really just wanting to go home and crash not head out walking; I decided to walk after dinner. I wanted to try to push myself to walk 4 miles. So I laced up my sneakers and out I went. We have this path that is about 0.80 miles from my house. I normally walk to the path, down a ways and back home. It comes out to 2.5 if I don't get creative. I decided last night to walk to the path, turn left on the path and walk about 0.5 meet back at entrance and walk right my normal way and complete a "normal" walk. When I got back to the entrance I was at 2.67 on the GPS which didn't seem right but I went with it and though okay I need to get to 3.2 and see if I can reach 4 miles; so I walked the left side of the path again. When I got to the entrance it read 5.8 miles which clearly isn't right. By the time I got home last night it read something like 6.74 miles in like an 1.13 hours. I am bummed that my GPS went crazy last night because I really do not have an accurate account of what I did. I think it was 4.5 miles but it could really only be 4. I thought about Holly though during my walk because the path is really woody and shaded and there are times when you can't see anyone nor around the next corner. It is a beautiful path but a little freaky if your walking alone. Last night there was a man walking his dog - I passed him when I turned left onto the path and I saw him coming at me when I turned right onto the path. I looked up and saw him up ahead glanced away and when I looked up again he was gone. One of those moments like is he hiding in the bushes, am I losing my mind, is there another path off into the woods? Walking carefully up to where I saw him last, expecting to get kidnapped I see a path that leads to another road and he is walking on the road. By the end of my walk I thought about Holly's final words of her post "burned some calories, didn't get kidnapped." All in all a good workout. Glad I pushed through the mood and did the time.  I am thankful to have Holly. She is such an amazing woman and motivates me to want to push through my moods and keep on walkin'. She is more than just a blogger to me she is my good friend and we have coffee together every morning.