Plus-Sized Pin Up

Started doing my food and exercise diary. I found that once I start writing, it won't stop flowing. It has allowed me to explore my thoughts about this process, and I feel as though I am kept accountable because I am writing everything down. For awhile, I thought I was more of an emotional eater, but I found that eating doesn't really revolve around that. The most common reason for eating is shear boredom. If I am not doing something, I feel the need to snack. And snacking is a big part of my life. I realized that I need to add in healthy snacks like apples and almond butter, almonds, carrots, etc. I also found that my overeating -- at some level anyway -- is caused by a lack of defined dinner/lunch time. My hubby varies daily on when he comes home. I need to talk to him about this.

Did pilates focused on buns and thighs this morning. Wow, wow, wow! My legs are really rubbery! It kicked my ass, and I am super excited to continue with it! We are going by the rec center tomorrow to renew my membership. Hopefully on Monday I'll get back into the swing of it.

Giving it some thought, it would be better to make mini-goals and reward myself. However, these mini-goals will be heading to one main goal: HEALTHY LIVING!

My Mini-Goals:

• Keep up with 4 week running program - daily
  
• Add in pilates twice a week
• Try to drink more water
• Keep an exercise and food diary
• (If I decide to try weight watchers, keep it up for a month to determine whether I can succeed on it)
• Cut down soda pop intake.
  

After that, shopping at Sephora!! w00t, w00t!!

I toyed with the idea of fully transposing my diary into this format, but I think it would be a HUGE undertaking. Suffice to say, I'm going to try and put the main things up here. Here's hoping and praying that I can make this lifestyle change and grab a hold of health with both hands!

I hate myself.

After maintaining since February, I realized that I put on an extra 20lbs . . . I feel so shamed. For the longest time, I had been excited that I finally got back down to a size 22. Now my size 24 pants are a little snug. On top of that, my energy level has gone down, I'm doing a lot of huffing and puffing just walking around the house, etc. It is all due to going back to couch potato status. And overeating/snacking all the time. Whenever I eat, I find myself loving the flavor of the food and justify eating long after I'm full because it "tastes good." And I find myself craving snacks when I'm NOT hungry!

This has got to stop!

Yesterday, I did pilates, did a 18 min. run/walk, and came home to a relaxing session of yoga. During the run/walk about my left hip started cramping up. The yoga helped stretch it out. Even though I felt good when I was done, my left ankle was hurting when I put pressure on it. My husband things it is a combo of bad shoes and running on pavement. Treadmill running has less stress impact than pavement.


When we get paid tomorrow, I am renewing my gym membership. After letting it lapse in August, I have been telling myself to renew it. Stepping on the scale yesterday and the huffing and puffing previously, I realized that I need to do it NOW.

My only problem is the food I eat. Yes, I love cheese, pop, crackers, etc. I have never been good at following a diet. In fact, it makes me feel depressed because I can never follow one. I guess I need to limit myself. For example, instead of two cans of pop, I'll have one. Instead of snacking on crackers, I get some apples and almond butter or carrots with a low fat dip. I think I just need to replace and moderate the bad stuff. Luckily, Mio has been helping me drink more water. My biggest issue with pop is the taste. I get bored of water really easily. Having Mio to put into a glass really helps me push the water. Any of you have the same issues with food?

Last night, I started to get excited about going back to the gym! I was listening to music samples on my phone and finding more music to put on my treadmill playlist! w00t for the small things ^_^ In addition, instead of taking my birthday and Christmas money over to Sephora, I've decided to put it toward running shoes. I talked to hubby and he is willing to save up money to blow at Sephora if I keep up with my running for a month or more! That gives me an awesome reward and incentive to keep up with it. Plus, I miss running. At first, I only started because it would help lose weight faster, but I found my body and legs really enjoying it.

I found some awesome running books on Amazon yesterday afternoon. After some searching, I was able to ILL it from a library. It is a book about a guy going from overweight couch potato to running marathons. It looked really encouraging and had a lot of good advice for beginning runners. I'm really excited and can't wait for it to come in.

I've thought about a food diary. A former co-worker used running and a food diary to lose massive amounts of weight. I've been thinking about contacting her via Facebook and asking for pointers. Has anyone had success with that? Also, have you guys kept an exercise diary? How did that work?

For curiosity's sake, I've decided to buy a couple of exercise DVDs. One of them I saw on ExerciseTV. It's the Crunch Erotocise (sp) and includes burlesque, stiletto strength, etc. The other is the Pussy Cat Dolls second video. Hey, if I don't like them, I can give them away or sell them to our local Hastings. But I thought it could be fun! Since the Crunch DVDs need a hard surface, I figured I'd set my laptop up in the kitchen and use that surface.

Anyways, I'm rambling. However, I find that I'm starting to get giddy about jumping back on the treadmill!

After a failed attempt of getting together on Wednesday after the gym, my friend has yet again failed to be anywhere near her phone. She made a point of wanting to get together this afternoon, so much so that I forewent the gym to make time for her. After calling her to confirm a time and to see if she could pick me up, she has yet to call me! It is now nearly an hour after we originally planned on getting together. Needless to say, I am upset. I was really looking forward to finishing out a full week at the gym, but . . . *sigh*

On top of that, my brother is coming up from Greeley with plans to role play all weekend long! He also fails to realize that one of our role playing buddies is 4 hrs (!!!) out of town, so he has to leave early to get here by noon. And, of course, bro want so start playing at 10am tomorrow after hubs has to work tonight. Arg!

And, if that isn't enough, I have two book review requests coming in the mail this weekend! At first, I was excited about it, but it is starting to feel like college all over again.

Anyways, friend just called. She wants to try for Tuesday. Go figure, she was away from her phone all afternoon *grumble* At least we're getting a gym-off-day.

In non-bitchy news, I was thinking about getting a PT full-time when I get the job with dispatch. Granted, I only saw him once, but I know it will make a BIG difference. Plus, it will keep me accountable. He might also be able to work around me knee issue, so that's even better ^_^ Since I'm a member, it costs about $25/hr, so that's pretty good! When I get the job, that will be a small expense. w00t! I think that will be my reward for getting the job!

Not heading to the gym this afternoon Why is it that everybody wants to do something on gym-days and never have any time free on non-gym-days? Arg! Oh well, I'm hoping that getting it out of the way this week will free things up to finish out next week.

Even though I only went twice this week, I already feel a lot better! My energy level is starting to increase, I'm sleeping better, etc.!

At lot can be said for muscle memory. I was nervous heading into the gym. Being out of it for awhile made me feel a little more than intimidated. It took awhile to get up to the level I was at, and I felt pretty damn good about it. Now, I was going to head back into beginning territory, and I was feeling sorry for myself. However, other than a little shin splint on my left leg, once I got on the treadmill and warmed up my muscles, my body said, "Oh yeah, I remember this!" and I powered through! Granted, I was a little stupid and went to the gym too close to lunch, so my walk was only about 26min including cool down.

The weights felt like coming home! There was that nice burn, but I fell into sync just as easily as the treadmill. This goes a long way to boost my ego!

My knee is a little sore, but it doesn't hurt. Hopefully, a little more time spent walking will work me up to running again. Honestly, I miss it!

On my way home, I was bad and got myself a watermelon limeade at Sonic Now the drink, my book, and me are going to find our way to a nice bath. Nothing like a hot bath to soak away the soreness and a nap to get the muscles relaxed.

Heading back to the gym tomorrow. It's the first time in several months, and I'm nervous!

Here's the plan:

• 30 minutes on treadmill, walking
• Lifting, concentrating on the upper body
• Abs
• Stretching/cool-down

Here's the playlist:

• Tik Tik - Ke$ha
• Everytime We Touch - Cascada
• Trouble - Pink
• Get the Party Started - Pink
• Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
• California Gurls - Katy Perry
• Just Dance - Lady Gaga
• Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna
• Shut Up and Let Me Go - The Ting Tings
• September - Earth, Wind, & Fire
• Your Love Is My Drug - Ke$ha
• Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
• I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
• Genie in a Bottle - Christina Aguilera
• Poker Face - Lady Gaga
• U + Ur Hand - Pink
• Party In the U.S.A. - Miley Cyrus
• For Your Entertainment - Adam Lambert
• Who Knew - Pink
• Disturbia - Rihanna
• I Gotta Feeling- Black Eyed Peas
• Raise Your Glass - Pink
• Sing Ladies - Beyonce
• Dance, Dance - Fall Out Boys
• Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
• Only Girl (In the World) - Rihanna
• SOS - Rihanna
• Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
• Tonight (I'm F***kin' You) - Enrique Iglesias
• Hello - Martin Solveig and Dragonette
• I Get around - Dragonette
• Run the World (Girls) - Beyonce
• E.T. - Katy Perry feat. Kayne West
• Last Friday NIght (TGIF) - Katy Perry

That is 2hrs of music! w00t! Tomorrow afternoon might be spent recovering, but I plan to get back into the routine of going to the gym. It's been too long, and I've noticed the difference in my energy level. However, seeing my old PT at the front desk tomorrow makes me a little more than self conscious about not attending the gym in a long time. But, hey, I was gone for 3 weeks and had a pretty nasty injury on top of that. The point is that I'm trying to get back.

Anyways, off to a hot bath with my book and then bed! Need to rest up before hitting the gym tomorrow. Plus, after spending my mornings sleeping in, getting up to take hubby to work is gonna take some work ^_~

Wish me luck!

It's been since the end of January since I last did anything with this blog. After my hubby lost his job, we kind of hit a downward spiral and lost touch with just about everything. The only thing that kept me sane was concentrating on reading and book blogging. However, God was extremely gracious and stretched our money like the fish and bread. After a struggle getting unemployment, the addition of $400/wk was amazing! Just as we were getting to the very end of our funds, hubby got a job as contract-for-hire in town! He was making $65k/yr before and pitched the same amount; they countered with $77k/yr! We get paid weekly, so it is a little hard getting used to timing of bills and whatnot. But it was a blessing!

I'm still looking for work. Currently, I am going through a background check for a job with 911 dispatch. It has amazing benefits and approx. $40k/yr! That will definitely cover my student loan payments, which I need to defer again . . . Just had my polygraph on Tuesday, so I'm just waiting to hear back. It's been nearly 6+ weeks since this process started.

Exercise really went off the road. Shortly after hubs lost his job, we both came down sick. We were laid up for a few weeks. After not being able to eat much of anything, I was able to drop about 15lbs! (I haven't gained it back!!!) But that really got me out of the swing of the gym. After going back, I had to leave for Memphis for 3 weeks with the parents. While there, my mom and I drove up to IL to visit my grandparents. During our walk to the senior resource center, I fell in some mud, smacked knees on some torn up concrete, ripped them up, and just really messed myself up. My right knee is still bugging me after nearly 2 months! My doctor told me I might want to consider seeing an orthopedist sometime mid-month. Needless to say, I've really been taking it easy. However, next week I have plans to head back to the gym! Walking and weights on my upper body. Running might be way too much for my knee. I'll work up to it.

Anyways, I completely redesigned this blog in the hopes that I might get back to keeping it updated. I felt so much better when I was exercising, and I desperately need to get back to it. Here's hoping for the best!