Smaller pants, water and downsizing

Okay, I will start with good stuff... I lost 3 more pounds this week! Grand total of 9 pounds lost! Yay!! I successfully completed week three and have been working on week 4 of the Couch to 5K program this week! I had no idea I could run that much. I am super psyched about that. But, like all previous weeks, I am certain next week's assignment will have me on the floor of the guest bedroom (i.e. treadmill room, Jacob's room, etc.) having a stroke right in front of my Taylor Lautner posters (don't judge...) :) 

Food has gone pretty well this week. I had a couple of days where I ventured back to normal food like pizza, but tried really hard to not let the pizza win. I ate two tiny slices with a whole lot of salad (fat-free dressing, of course). :)  Overall, not too bad, but I am skeptical of what the scales will say tomorrow on weigh-in day. In preparation for disappointment, I am telling myself that all of this exercising has surely been building muscle, which weighs more than fat, so it makes perfect sense if I lose nothing. My size-smaller pants were worn successfully Saturday night and that couldn't have made me happier. I am one size away from my Goal #1 pair of jeans that are hanging as inspiration beside my treadmill.

I am still taking my thyroid medicine as instructed... yay me! I could definitely up my water-drinking though. I've slacked on that a little this week. I will make that my goal for this week. (Pop just tastes so delicious!)

Now for some less than stellar news... I am downsizing my words. I wanted to have two theme words for this year, rather than just one. I chose "health" and "others." I have decided that "others" is no longer an official word. At least not one I am going to blog about.

I did much better at thinking of others and helping them before I made it an official goal. After setting a goal with it, I started thinking of it in an entirely different way, wondering what people reading this blog would think of whatever it is I am announcing I have done. Would it be good enough, too show-offy, etc. All things that got in the way of me being helpful.

Another reason is it was uncomfortable to talk about things I did for other people. I felt very braggy and it took away from the real reason of why I wanted to do it to start with - to focus on others. Instead I was shifting the focus onto myself.

Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't given up my desire to help people. I think I will have a renewed commitment to do this now. I just won't be tooting my own horn about it :)

Thanks a million for reading!! I will post again soon...

Jen

Progress, confession and fat free cheese...

I'll start positively... : )  Progress- I weighed in on Monday (after two full weeks of eating healthier and exercising) and have lost a total of 6 pounds!! The total for week #2 was 4 1/2 pounds. Yay!! It is getting a little easer too. I am not wanting food as often as I have in the past. I have used food to solve a lot of my problems over the years (wow... It's like I jumped right into the confession portion of the blog... I'll go with it) If I'm happy, I like to eat. If I am sad, I need to eat. If I am bored, eating gets my attention. I have tried to be more alert when it comes to why I want food. Big step for me!

I'm not sure if this is a progress or a confession, but I have continued to take my thyroid medication daily, except for one day that I forgot it. Either way, much better.

I sucessfully began week #3 of the Couch to 5k program! Wednesday was Day 1 of Week 3 and it was rough. I had to run and walk, at times in 3-minute increments... I survived. Yay!

Oh, and I have, so far, successfully avoided a fabulous-looking box of chocolate-covered Krispy Kreme donuts. I ordered them at work from a fundraiser, with the intent of Shawn and Noah eating them, but there are still some left. I will admit I cut one-fourth of one off and gobbled it up, but it could have been so much worse. Way to go on self-control, right? :)

As for my other word... "others." I am still doing terribly at that. I haven't focused on that nearly as much as I need to and I need to do better. Finally, Noah and I decided we could buy a jump rope for Johnny, a kid we sponsor from World Vision, and send it to him. Some progress there, but I haven't written him yet or mailed the jump rope, so there is still work to do :) 

However, here is a big confession. We have sponsored Johnny for 3 years. We picked a kid with Noah's exact birthday, who also likes soccer and is an only child. Noah says he is his brother from Columbia. I had such grand plans of corresponding with Johnny every month, sending him little gifts and pictures and words of love. In three years, I am sad to say we have only done this about three times : (  We have prayed for Johnny twice a day since we got his name... once in the morning before school and once in the evening before bed. I must vow to do better... I feel bad.

On a completely different note... Fat-free cheese is terrible. Yuck.

Thanks for reading and I will update soon :)
Jen

Snack cakes, jogging and one little card...

Week 2 and I am moving right along with one of my 2011 theme words! Yay :)

I would be lying if I said losing weight had nothing to do with choosing "health" as one of my words. My health is one of the reasons, knowing my cholesterol is at a ridiculous level and that I have zero energy, not to mention my lack of consistency in taking my thyroid medication. But seriously, I need to shed some pounds.

So... I am pleased to say week 1 has made me 1 1/2 pounds closer to where I want to be, and for that I am happy. I instinctively feel like I need to follow that with something like, "Only 58 1/2 more to go!" But something like that belittles my progress and makes the task insurmountable. I intend to keep trucking along on this road to a healthier (and hopefully thinner) me.

Some perks to this health thing, in addition to the weight loss... I have wasted less money each day by eating breakfast at home and taking my lunch to work. I feel good about my food choices. Somehow, exercising has actually given me a little more energy.

I did eat out a couple of times this weekend, but I made good choices when I did. (And it wasn't a huge discussion in my head about how it wouldn't hurt just this one time to have something bad...I just went in with a plan to order something tasty that is also low in fat... Yay for things getting easier!)

Oh, and one day this week, I was at work, when Little Debbie snack cakes were being passed out all around me. I tried not to look, but I am pretty sure they were the delicious Valentine's Day cakes. I avoided it and stuck to my yogurt and banana. I have to say I was pretty proud of myself, but am also sure it was only with God's help :)

I started week 2 today in the Couch to 5K program and can officially jog in 90-second increments without passing out :)  Progress!

Now... moving on to week 2 in theme-word number 2 - "Others." I am doing terrible!! I haven't done a single thing on purpose this week for other people, until tonight. I decided to send a card, a note, to some people who I really appreciate, but don't get to talk to often. I guess I picked a bad time to try this, because, as I picked up my pen and my first card, my mind went blank. I wrote one card and that's as far as I got, and even it was a lot less inspiring than I had hoped. Blah.

But... I still have many weeks left this year to improve, right?

More updates soon... :)

Salads, treadmills, and a football :)

Four days later and I'm still doing it!! Yay!

I am (mostly) successfully still sticking to my resolution/theme words for 2011 - "health" and "others."

Day one, I started off simple, trading my usual Coke for water during the morning at work. I ate oatmeal for breakfast and traded chips for pretzels during lunch.

Since then I have had a lot of salads and fruit and skipped the drive thrus. I am ashamed to admit it, but just about every day that I worked, I have had fast food, not once, but twice. Breakfast and lunch, not only filling my body with cholesterol and calories, but wasting a chunk of money too. This week - so far anyway - no fast food!!

Oh... and I almost forgot! Yesterday I even exercised! I started the Couch to 5k Program and did a
combination of walking and jogging on the treadmill. I was exhausted, and a little concerned that I could have a stroke, but I survived!! Yay :)

I have also successfully taken my thyroid medication 4 days in a row! 24 more days and it's a habit, right? :)

As for the "helping others" thing - I'm kinda stinking at that. I don't understand it. As a general rule, I think and pray about how to help other people often, and now that it is a focus of mine, it is harder and harder :(

Day one - I bought a kid a football. Sounds good, right? Except that I had ran over his football to start with   : (   So I guess that one could be looked at as a little selfish becuase I was feeling so bad about it. Thursday, on my way home from work, a football practically fell from the sky, and I tried to dodge it, I really did, but my reaction time stinks and I ran over it... twice :(

Day two, I took the football to the boy's house ( I know there is no way that should count...)

Day three, I gave a friend some flowers to cheer her up, but I don't think that should count either, because I would have done that anyway.

Today I cut it close. I had gone all day without doing anything nice, or even thinking about doing anything nice, and my time was running out. Late this evening I got a text from a friend who needed a little financial help for someone else, so  I got it in just in time :)

So, now you are officially updated.

It hasn't been super easy. Even today, I went to the grocery store after work for dinner stuff, and Noah wanted cheese for dinner, so I went to the deli and picked up some provolone and colby for him. Everything in me wanted to rip open those bags and eat every last morsel of cheese myself before I even got to the register, but I controlled myself. :) I picked up some frozen cheese ravioli with marinara sauce with a modest 3 grams of fat per serving :)

More updates to come... :)

New Year's Resolutions

Ok... On this 2nd of January, 2011, I am thinking of New Year's resolutions. Maybe number one should be something about not procrastinating =) 

My sister-in-law told me something she heard on the radio about having a theme word for the year, rather than a specific resolution. I kind of like the idea, so I am starting out with that. The only problem is deciding which word... There are a million things I am sure that could use changing or improving, a little tweaking, so trying to narrow it down to a single word sounds difficult.

Do I try to improve my organizational skills... or develop some, or maybe try to stop complaining and look at things a little more positively? Writing more? Spending less? Where in the world would I begin?

I decided to focus in on two words, because one was just too hard. First word... Health. I could list a million things in this category, like eating less, eating healthier, exercising more (or at all :), taking my medicine, drinking water, cutting out caffeine, limiting cheese (that's crazy talk).. But ultimately, with this one-word business, it seems a little easier to just think of that one word when I am making a decision during my day. If I am trying to think about what to have for lunch, maybe my one-word theme will help me to choose better.

My second word... Others. While focusing on other people isn't something completely foreign to me, it is definitely something I could stand to do more of. Doing something kind for someone else isn't entirely selfless, as it almost always leaves me feeling better. Kind of a win-win. It may not be something big everyday, but even a tiny thing, done with the right attitude and on purpose, can make it a better day.

So... Here I go. Starting tomorrow (better late than never, right?) I am going to try to focus more on my health and on other people. And, I am going to write about it more often, giving an update on how it is going. Kind of a way to make sure I keep it up.

Wish me luck :)