One Year Later

Well...

I did my yearly "weigh myself after Thanksgiving" expecting to get annoyed with myself once again. Not this year! 

Over the past year, my lowest weight was 146. My sustainable weight where I felt the best was 155. This is where I've been for a while. On the day after Thanksgiving, I was at 162. Sure, it's not ideal. I had to force myself to look at the big picture. Last year, on the day after Thanksgiving, I was at a mind boggling 196. Even though I've put on a few pounds and went over my usual 155, I still weigh 34 pounds less than last Thanksgiving. And that's a win in my book!

I ovulated yesterday. Bring on the two week wait! This is the second month we've tried to get pregnant, and it's seriously made me realize how terrible I am at waiting for things. I am a "please me now, give me what I want" kind of person. When I want something, I get it. I am not one who enjoys waiting around for things. So what I'm trying to say is that this is kind of like human torture. I know there's really no reason to get all crazy about it, but it's just so darn exciting!

I've decided I'm going to start making fruit smoothies for breakfast and vegetable soup for my lunches. I have a butternut squash in the oven right now that smells delicious! 

That's all for now. Fingers crossed that in 9-10ish months, Josh and I will have our own little bundle of joy! :)

Here Goes Nothin'

It's been a great year for me health wise. I've lost a significant amount of weight, and I just celebrated one full year without smoking! I was really into this regular exercise and healthy eating lifestyle, and unfortunately over the past two months I've kinda fallen off the bandwagon.

My current weight is in the mid 150s, and I know exactly why. I've quit exercising daily, and I haven't been planning meals. I've been eating out a lot, and I've been consuming more calories. I really, really want to make it to my goal of 140, so starting tomorrow I'm getting back into it.

My mom is getting ready to start the Military Diet, and I thought...hmmmm! Why not give it a shot? My brother's girlfriend Janelle mentioned that it gave her energy, made her feel good, and helped her lose a few pounds. I found the food plan here: http://themilitarydiet.com/military-diet-plan/.

I want to be in the best shape possible when I get pregnant, which will hopefully be soon! :)

Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Everyone who said "it's not that bad" is a freakin' liar! This is terrible, terrible...and I wouldn't wish this kind of pain on my worst enemy. Let me give you a little recap of my past 52 hours.

Tuesday @ 1:00:
The surgeon tells me that unfortunately my bottom two wisdom teeth are going to cause me quite a bit of a problem. Apparently if I had taken care of them sooner, I would have been fine. The bottom two teeth grew in and got too big. The root grew down, and it wrapped around the nerves below my gums. He said the top ones would quit hurting in about two days, but the bottom ones would cause me quite a bit of pain until about Sunday. 

He wasn't lying.

Fast forward to Tuesday @ 1:25:
I wake up in tears even though I was knocked out. How does that even happen? I was still out of it, but I was in horrible pain from the second I woke up. My grandma wanted to drop me off at home before she got my prescription, but I wasn't having it. I needed painkillers.

I know almost everyone goes through this in their life, and you might even think I'm being a baby. Let me clarify. My top two teeth haven't hurt me one bit. It's those bottom two that were a problem from the start. 

Tuesday around 2:00:
I got home and took my pain killers. That was an ordeal. I was bleeding a lot and I couldn't take a pill without swallowing a lot of blood, which instantly made me nauseous. I slept the rest of the day and only woke up to take medicine, which made me sick every time. 

I've been alternating Vicodin and Ibuprofen every two hours, and taking Amoxicillin three times per day. Every time I get close to medicine time, the pain becomes almost unbearable in my bottom teeth. The first day I would just lay there and cry. 

I thought I would be taking less and less Vicodin by now, but I can't or my mouth starts throbbing and makes me feel funny. Not to mention the terrible pain and my swollen cheeks. Here's a picture of my cheeks today:

You can tell they are slightly swollen, but the real swelling is on the inside of my mouth. My inner cheeks have swollen over my teeth, causing cuts and bleeding inside of my mouth. I'll spare you a nasty picture of the inside of my mouth.

So far I've only eaten mashed potatoes, pudding, blended veggie soup, and ice cream. I decided to try some macaroni and cheese for dinner, but it really hurt to try and chew (all my bottom teeth are sensitive). 

Looks like it's back to this delicious carrot soup tomorrow:

This turned out to be a really bad week to do this. Josh's uncle passed away and his wake was tonight. We went for a little bit and I was all loopy (thanks to the Vicodin) while we were there. The funeral is in the morning. Then tomorrow evening, I signed up for this painting class for my friend's birthdays, but I honestly am not feeling up to it at all. I feel like crap and I just want to lay here, sleep, watch Homeland, and do nothing. After the painting class, I'm supposed to go see my friend Katie for her going away party. She's moving to KC for a nursing job. Any other time, I would be way excited about tomorrow's festivities (funeral excluded), but I'm not sure how I'm gunna make it through the evening. I'm just hoping that tomorrow I'm feeling much better! 

So if you want some words of wisdom, here they are: Get your wisdom teeth removed before you're in your 20's or leave those suckers in your mouth for life. This it totally not worth it!

Running is Fun!

Running is fun.

Running is fun.

Running is fun...

If I keep saying it, maybe I'll believe it! While I certainly don't think running is fun, it is fun to see my time go down. Here's my time for my latest outdoor, hilly, 1 mile run:

This was Friday. We went camping and on a float trip this weekend, and we had a really great time. This was our third annual family float trip, and we got some family members to come who haven't in the past. This made me happy! I love hanging out with my family. 

I hate almost all mixed drinks because they are just way too sweet for me, but I made a great river drink this weekend. It was Skinny Girl Cucumber Vodka, club soda, and a splash of Diet 7-Up. Super refreshing and not too sweet! 

I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled on Tuesday, so it's not going to be a great week for working out. But hey, I'll probably only be eating Jello, pudding, and soup so hopefully I won't gain weight.

Have a good week!

Keep on keepin' on!

I went for another one mile run today. 

Yesterday, my time was 9:48. 
Today, my time was...

14 seconds faster, although I felt like I was going slower today. 

The two sided battle in my mind (stop or keep going, quit or push harder) started much quicker today than yesterday. 

When I told a good friend about how excited I was that I finished a whole mile without quitting in 9:48 yesterday, I got a response that went something like this:

Skeptical face over my excitement.
"Really? That's kind of slow I thought."
End conversation. 

What started off feeling like a huge accomplishment suddenly made me self conscious and embarrassed. 

Running

Today I've been thinking about something I've had a love/hate relationship with my entire life: Running. 

This morning I decided to go for a run, so I put on my running shoes and headed outside.

Some people are just born to run. I get it. The wind in your hair. The outdoor scenery. The Britney Spears workout music bumpin'. It's a time just for yourself. As I took off down my street this morning and looked up at the beautiful clouds, this is exactly how I was feeling, but then...

I started getting really hot. It's a humid day in St. Louis, but I continued on. I was stupid and took the wrong way for my mile run because I put the big hill towards the end. 

It started getting hard to breath. "In through your nose, out through your mouth," I repeated in my head like a mantra. I had to convince myself to continue every single step for the last 1/4 mile. Pure and unnecessary torture. 

But then, my friends, I was home. The whole mile without stopping to walk. I felt victorious, out of breath, and happy. So as I said before...it's a love/hate relationship. 

This picture I saw on Pinterest exactly describes the constant battle going on in my head during running:

I just came across this "how to run" information when I got home. Allow me to embarrass myself. When I used to play select soccer, my coach told me that my running form was incorrect (which is why I was so slow even when I was in good shape). They brought in a running coach to teach me the correct way to run. I felt like a real winner that day!

So here's to more running in the next few weeks!

Weak Core

I did a core workout today, and man am I sore already. I'll be seriously shocked if I can move in the morning. The funny thing is...it was only 20 minutes! Wtf mate?! I thought I was getting strong, but apparently not that strong...

That is all.

Sweet dreams!

DietBet & Lack of Schedule

Current Weights: 149.9 lbs.

Down 46.1 lbs. from the start

9.9 lbs. until my goal

So I weighed in today for the DietBet, and it looks like I am a winner! Hooray! On Sunday, I was weighing in at 149 (I needed to be at 150.9), and I had to weigh in my results the following day on Monday. I ate at a deficit and worked out, only to see that I was at 151.3 the following morning, and could therefore not weigh in as a winner. Annoying! I hate when my weight fluctuates for no apparent reason. Luckily, I was good to go this morning at 149.9 lbs. I don't know how much I won yet, but I can't wait to find out. I currently have about $95 I can cash in, plus we have about $50 on Josh's account as well. 

Enough rambling...the reason for this post is because I am proud of myself. I weighed in today and was absolutely starving. Luckily we have no food in our house right now because I literally wanted to eat any and everything. I considered ordering pizza, going to Subway, driving through Taco Bell...the possibilities were endless. Fortunately it was raining, and I decided to go for a bowl of cereal instead. 

Everytime I get into the 140s I always feel accomplished, take it easy, screw everything up, and then get mad at myself. Well not this time! I'm going to continue to work my butt off because in 9.9 more pounds, I'm getting a new tattoo! And I have a feeling that once I hit 140, know that I worked extremely hard and was able to lose 56 pounds in less than a year, and get an awesome new tattoo...it's going to be one of the best feelings in the entire world. 

Hello Abs, It's nice to meet you!

Current Weight: 149.0 lbs.

9 lbs. until my goal

47 lbs. down from the start

I can't put into words how intense Turbo Fire was today. I did the Fire 55 EZ class. Since it was my first time, I did the extended, "new to class," version. This means they stop and very slowly show you the moves before each part. Even with these four pauses between the workout sections, I still burned 857 calories! Amazing! 

In other new and very exciting news: I am starting to SEE my abs! I'm not talking about a ripped, six pack. I think those are gross on girls. But on the sides, my tummy is feeling hard and flat, and there is not a chunk of fat covering it! I can tell by how sore my tummy is after only four days that Turbo Fire is gunna give me the tummy I want. Of course this is not only the work of Turbo Fire, but of the last seven, crazy months. 

Today, I am completely 110% exhausted from my workout. I feel completely spent, yet happy and motivated. We're having people over tonight for a fire, since the weather is absolutely beautiful for a St. Louis day in June. I'm not going crazy tonight though. I'm too focused, and too anxious to continue down the right path to get the results I want. Yay for exercise!

(I almost was lazy and left this centered rather than to the left, but I just...couldn't....do it. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit.)

DietBet & Dental Health

I am about .3 pounds from making the DietBet that ends in a few days, so I totally think I'm going to make it! It's hosted by this chick who has a lot of great online workouts:

I went to the dentist this morning, and for the first time ever he had no bad news. I got my teeth cleaned, and I have zero (that's right...Z-E-R-O) cavities! Boom! 

In other news, I finally got my husband to love pistachios! Happy Thursday!

Paleo?

I've been reading more and more lately about a Paleo diet, and it just really freakin' makes sense. Our bodies were created to hunt and gather, i.e. eat meat, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. They weren't made to eat processed foods and all the other things that humans can make these days.

These graphics not only made me laugh, but were also helpful in understanding the importance of Paleo as well as how it works.

I don't know if you can even see that last one, but hopefully it will work. I'm going to make me Paleo shopping list. I think I'm going for a gradual change at first, so I'll slowly cut out processed foods. 

Blogworthy News

Current Weight: 153.1 lbs.

Total lost: 42.9 lbs.

Total to goal: 13.1 lbs.

(keeping my eye on the prize, which is a sweet new tattoo)

Josh and I got back yesterday from a wonderful and relaxing week in The Dominican Republic. Just look at us, love birds!

 Before we left, we each shared a goal with one another for when we got back.

My Goal: Start and complete the Turbo Fire program as outlined by the calendar. It's a three or five month program, depending on what you order. I ordered the three month version. Totally doable. Especially since there is one rest day each week, and the longest class is 60 minutes.

I had a good burn today, especially considering that I did the "new to class" option, where they stop and slow down the moves for you...

Josh's Goal: Quit smoking. There is almost nothing in this world that I wouldn't give for him to be able to successfully quit smoking. As an ex-smoker myself, I know how completely miserable and hard it is (particularly in the first few weeks). 

I want to do everything I can to help him quit, but wasn't sure how to go about this. I asked him tonight, and he said I would help him the most by not bringing it up or asking about it. I totally get it. For me, it was easier to put it out of my mind. Once I started talking about it, it made me want to light up.

In the past few years, I've really seen the devastating effects of smoking with people I know and love. My aunt had a heart attack, my dad had a stroke, Josh's mom has COPD and was just in the hospital while we were in the Dominican, and a friend's dad passed away after finding out he had emphysema. 

Addiction is such a strange and terrible thing. We want what we know is slowly killing us. When I finally got in the right mind set to quit, I was determined now to be "weak minded." I had to think of myself as strong willed and independent, as silly as that sounds. It really helped.

I love how cigarettes are labeled in the Dominican. I wish they did this here:

Anyway, I'm going to run out real quick and clean his car. This way, he won't smell cigarettes when he sits down tomorrow morning in his Jeep. All of us ex-smokers or current smokers now, it's the habits that are the hardest. It's the act of lighting up after you start you car, once you finish a meal, with your morning coffee, etc. I want to make it as easy for him as possible. Please send him all the prayers, hugs, and positive energy you can to help him get through the next few weeks. He's quit once before for a short time, but I'm praying he can stick with it this time. This time will be different :)

iHasta la vista, baby!

First and foremost, I'd like to say goodbye to my piece of junk heart rate monitor. After only six months, it totally sucks and quit working. Here's what it said after my cardio workout today:

So I just ordered my new one in hopes that it will come while we are in the Dominican. My brother is going to be watching our house so he can snatch it up off the porch when it comes. Time to shower and get some sleep! We are leaving at 4:00 a.m. to catch our early flight. Adios you crappy heart rate monitor, and adios St. Louis! Have a lovely week!

Emotions Running Wild

Furious. Happy. Angry. Appalled. Resentful. Jubilant. These are some of the feelings I had as I looked back at some old photo albums with Josh yesterday. When Josh took a break to go smoke, my eyes filled up with tears and it took everything in me not to cry. I was happy, but most of all I was downright pissed off. How did I ever let myself look like the photos in those albums? 

When I first met Josh, I weighed around 140 pounds. This is a guess, but I'm fairly certain it's accurate. Over the course of the past ten years and our relationship, I gained almost sixty pounds! As I was looking at the pictures, I wanted to tear them from the albums and rip them apart. I hate them. I'm so mad at myself for allowing that to happen, yet so happy with the improvements I've made over the past six or seven months. It's strange to feel so angry and joyful all at the same time. Here's two pictures to prove my point, and I have to say...I could not find many full body "before" shots online, or any for that matter that show how truly fat I was. In all these pictures, I noticed I'm holding my purse to the side or in front of me, or I'm standing behind someone or something. That's because I've deleted or simply not posted them because deep down I knew they were embarrassing. To really see some fat ones, you gotta look in my photo albums in our living room.

The past two days, I haven't eaten the best. I was a little mad at myself, and then we went to volleyball last night. I haven't had a single drop of alcohol at volleyball for the past two weeks. This is an accomplishment considering the fact that everyone drinks on sand volleyball night and they keep the pitchers coming. 

So anyway, I walked up to the bar to order my sugar free Red Bull when I ran into an old acquaintance that I haven't seen in several years. We exchanged hellos and then she just came right out and said "You look f***ing phenomenal, and I just thought that you really needed to know that." It's a great feeling to know that someone you haven't seen or talked to in a while notices you've been working your butt off. 

We got to talking (she used to be a DFM trainer at Club Fitness) about what I should do next, which leads me to my next ramble for the day: my plan of action. After vacation, I am going to start Turbo Fire, and I plan to follow the workout calendar as closely as possible. Of course things like float trips and other life events come up, and I'm sure I'll miss a day or two, but that's life. I also plan on sneaking in some Zumba and Cardio Dance when I'm feeling up to it, but I'm mostly planning to stick to the Turbo Fire program. 

After that, I'm seriously considering starting CrossFit. I've already been noticing that my workouts definitely need to be kicked up a notch. I can't burn nearly as many calories as I used to, which is one of the reasons why I got Turbo Fire. It uses high intensity interval training so it really brings up your heart rate, and that's exactly what I need. CrossFit brings about a whole new world of challenges. They are things you think you'll never be able to do, but apparently you will be amazed how strong you get and how quickly it can happen.

Enough rambling for now...only 4 days until vacation! I'm so excited to spend some time in a wonderful place with wonderful people!

Getting My Tan On

The scale is still right around that 150 mark! Darnit. I was at 149 for a brief moment, and now I've been between 150-151. Oh well! Just gotta work hard this week. Melissa and I have been working our butts off for the last seven months, so hopefully we can keep each other in check on vacation. I'm anticipating eating semi-healthy, taking nice walks on the beach, and not going too crazy! Darn vacations in paradise. Always ruining my hard work ;) I'm thinking back to when we went to Jamaica on our honeymoon. I did all this hard work and boot camp to lose about 20 pounds, only to drink sugary tropical beverages, eat loads of pasta and bread along with fried foods, and ruin all my progress.

What do I love about the summer? 

Swimming! Laying out! Sleeping in! Going to the lake! Camping! Lounging in my pajamas! Fishing! Walking my dog every morning! Having time to prepare delicious healthy meals! How clean my house stays! 

I could literally go on forever, but I won't. You're welcome :) One thing I am making myself do this summer is get in some type of exercise before I lay out or go to the pool. Sometimes it's just a 30 minute walk with Juno, sometimes it's more. But I am making sure I get in some kind of exercise before laying out. 

Time for a short workout. Then I'm heading to Ross' with Josh to get some clothes for vacation. I really don't have any casual, sundresses that fit me anymore, and I really need some tank tops! Hopefully we can find some good stuff tonight.

Hello 140s!

Well the scale is finally back into the 140s, and I am so darn excited! It said 149.7 this morning. I'm not going to log it yet though because I have a really bad habit of undoing my hard work when the weekends come around. That's why I usually only log my weight on Sundays. 

It's going to be a busy, but fun weekend! We are going to the Zac Brown Band concert tonight, over to Illinois to pick up race packets and have lunch at Top Shooters tomorrow, and to the Graffiti Run on Sunday!

I am annoyed. Seriously annoyed. I feel like I should be able to go have lunch with my friends without having to completely abandon my good eating, and at some places this is just really not possible. 

I went with some girls I used to teach with to Sybergs for lunch yesterday. I got on their website BEFORE I went so I could have a good choice already picked out. Pshhhh. First of all, MFP only had like 5 things from Sybergs on the app, so that wasn't at all helpful. Sybergs has nothing online that shows nutritional information, so that was a dead end. "That's okay," I thought. "I can just read the description and give a reasonably good guess as to the number of calories." There is nothing freaking healthy there! Yes, they have salads, but as I'm reading the descriptions and the dressing selections, the salads are likely just as high in calories as some of the other stuff. I ended up with a grilled chicken sandwich that had tomato, lettuce, and avocado with a side of fresh fruit. And let me tell you about the fresh fruit...it was soaked in sugary syrup out of a can. 

Why can't all restaurants be up front about the nutritional information of their foods. I *LOVE* going to Chili's, Applebees, Longhorn, and McDonalds...just because they have the nutrition info printed right in front of your face. It's not a guess, and I don't have to sit there eating my meal wondering if it's way worse for me than I am guessing. Josh and I love going to little cafes in the city, but I hate that I never know what it going into my body. *end rant*

I need to kick my butt into gear and get my house cleaned. Have a great weekend!

Love In The Wild Night

Have you seen that show Love in the Wild? Jenny McCarthy was the host last year, and it was the second season. Josh and I were I was obsessed! Josh liked it too, but probably not as much as I did. 

If you've never seen it, basically a bunch of guys and girls fly to Costa Rica looking for love. They have to team up with a person of the opposite sex for each challenge in the wild. 

I always want to do the challenges!! They are awesome. Swimming in the ocean, canoeing down the rivers, hiking with heavy stuff, and all kinds of cool things in the Costa Rican rainforest. It's absolutely beautiful.

Here is my favorite couple, Samantha and Mike, the first to win Love in the Wild!

Anyway, there has been no talk of this show coming back on for season three, but the website is still up and running. *fingers crossed* 

The reason I'm writing all about this show is because Josh and I would have "Love in the Wild Night" every Tuesday. Basically, we would make kebabs (somehow they seem junglish to us?) and watch this show. I have fond memories of this wonderful night each week. First of all because the kebabs we make are my definitely in my top three favorite things to eat. Secondly, because they are healthy. And last but not least, I could watch one of my favorite shows!!

This morning, I chopped up everything for our Love in the Wild Night kebabs, and boy do they look yummy! They are in a gallon sized ziplock bag marinating in Italian dressing right now. This is the most healthy and delicious meal I know how to make!

Basically, we cut up red onion, red pepper, yellow pepper, chicken, and put in whole mushrooms. We marinade all of this in Lite Italian Anything dressing for at least 10 hours. Then we sit at the kitchen table and skewer them (in a pattern so each kebab is alike, of course). We stick 'em on the grill, and voila! I have a delicious dinner for only 426 calories! Thanks to this awesome kitchen scale below....

I was able to figure out that these kebabs are even lower calories than I first thought. I was estimating the veggies to be much higher. So tonight, I'm having Love in the Wild Night, with or without the show!

I'm going to try and take Juno on a short walk, then I'm picking up Joe at 9:00 to go lift weights. At 11:00, my mom and I are heading to the pool to lay out. It should be a great day! 

Thank God For Workout Buddies

It's not a secret that having workout buddies helps you stay motivated. Well today that proved true when Melissa got my butt to the gym. I would have sat at home and cooked dinner. What happened instead was I went to Cardio Dance and my awesome husband made dinner for us. 

People I can work out with at Club Fitness:

1. Melissa

2. Joe

3. Casey

4. Krystal

5. Ashley

6. Angelina

7. Angel

Usually, I go with Angel, Melissa, and Joe...and that makes me happy! I love workout buddies! The more people that can keep me moving, the better.

Turbo Fire

Yesterday as I was logging on My Fitness Pal, this lady who friended me on there posted something about a Beach Body sale. I was completely excited because 1) I love all the Beach Body programs I've ever done, but 2) they are just too freakin' expensive! 

I bought Hip Hop Abs from Beach Body as well as Turbo Jam, which I love. I've also done parts of P90X, although I tried to do that when I was way out of shape, so that wasn't very successful. My brother's girlfriend just got Insanity as well, and she loves it so far. 

So I ordered Turbo Fire right away! It's usually around $100, but this week it was only $55! I've been thinking about ordering it anyway because it supposedly really helps you tone up, which I desperately need. I made the mistake of wearing Soffee shorts to Zumba the other day, and I couldn't stop looking at how my thighs jiggle in the mirror.

 All the Beach Body programs are designed in an awesome way with nutritionists and fitness experts, so if you actually follow the calendar and suggested eating, you are more than likely to get great results.

Anyway, I'm going to try and squeeze in a quick walk with this pup, and then it's going to be a busy day! I'm heading to my sister's house to hang out with her for a while. Then we are going to get our hair done! Woohooo! Perhaps the afternoon has some laying out involved. 

Have a happy Tuesday!

Blueberry Grilled Cheese - Take 1

Current Weight 153.4 lbs. 

Down 42.6 lbs. from the start

13.4 lbs. until my goal

Well...my weight hasn't really changed in several weeks. I'm determined to change that this week! Now that it's summer vacation, there are no excuses. I have the time to make healthy meals, and I also have the time to meal plan, grocery shop, and make healthy dinners.

Starting with....181 CALORIE blueberry grilled cheese!!! 

I made this tasty breakfast this morning, but I think I'm going to make some changes tomorrow because I think with a few changes it will be incredible.

Here's how I made it this morning:

Ingredients:

• Healthy Lifestyle High Fiber Bread (35 calories per slice)
• .6 TBSP Country Crock Light (30 calories)
• 4 TBSP Philadelphia FF cream cheese (60 calories)
• 1/4 C blueberries
• Sweet N Low liquid sweetener 

Directions:

1. Mix cream cheese and sweet n low together in a tiny bowl.

2. Make exactly like a grilled cheese, except instead of putting cheese in the middle, put cream cheese mixture and blueberries.

3. Enjoy! :)

I think tomorrow I'm going to blend the blueberries into the cream cheese and add some kind of nut to give it a bit of a crunchy texture.

Happy Monday! :)

Can't Walk...

This is serious. I take off two weeks and my body hates me. Okay, maybe it was three (I took it really easy for a week & then completely off for two). Two weeks...three weeks....whatever!

Allow me to backtrack: So yesterday I walked Juno, did the Hip Hop Abs Hips, Buns, and Thighs video, and did a little jogging and weights. Today I walked Juno and did some lifting with Joe at the gym. Everything was business as usual. Then I went home and took a nap. Here's where the trouble comes in. I woke up, kicked my legs to the side of the bed, and when I went to stand up they almost collapsed beneath me. Everything is sore. Arms, shoulders, legs, abs, everything.

My body is pissed, and it's because I deprived it off exercise for three weeks. Don't worry body, it won't happen again! :)

The Life of a Kindergarten Teacher

Current Weight: 153 lbs.

Down 43 lbs. from the start

13 lbs. until my goal

Well, well. It's been a while! Of course these are all excuses, but...report cards, packing my classroom, kindergarten promotion ceremony, end of year reading tests, saving and rearranging/organizing all my files on my school computer, removing every. single. staple. from my walls and bulletin boa...oh wait, that's just me being completely OCD over nothing and making my life miserable. But hey! I'll be glad next school year when I don't have to sit there removing staples from the walls just to put up a piece of paper on my bulletin board. Oh, the life of a kindergarten teacher...

Anyway, I'm super excited that the last few busy weeks have passed. I'm even more excited to get back to working out because my body is craving it! I have felt so guilty, but here's the funny thing. I haven't really lost or gained weight after three weeks of not counting calories or exercising. Strange, right? I didn't eat completely terribly, but I have had fancy coffees and even some ice cream here and there. Whhhhaattt?! 

The Diet Bet ends on the 31st, and I think I might be able to make it. That 153 lbs. up there was post-breakfast since I forgot to weigh myself this morning. I think I have to be at 149, but I need to double check. Anyway, my weight seems to fluctuate a lot lately, and if I work out hard these next few days, I think I'll be able to win. Josh did this one with me also, and he is already winning plus some!

I had planned on heading to the gym tonight, but I have a flat tire. Looks like I'm going to be working out at home instead. I don't really have any exciting news to report, so have a great week everyone!

Sunday Weigh In

Current Weight: 153.3

Down 42.7 lbs. from the start

13.3 lbs. until my goal weight

Well I've gained since last Sunday, but I'm not terribly upset about it. I took one entire week off from logging and only exercised a little bit, so I knew it would happen. I feel like I really just needed a break though. I'm being a baby, I know, but I was tired of logging every single calorie I put in my mouth. I was busy at work, and I wanted some time to relax. I know these are excuses, but I needed a break. 

Now we have one week until the float trip, and I'm having anxiety about this bikini! Ughh. I want to try and wear it, but I'm just not happy with how I look in it yet. In two more weeks I will be off school, and I have a plan for being definite bikini ready by the Dominican...

My Plan

• cardio a minimum of three times per week
• strength training and tons of ab workouts at least 5 days per week
• lots of laying out, but only after I work out :)

We'll see if I end up wearing a bikini, but I think I'll probably end up in my black and white striped tankini from my honeymoon. I know I'll be much more comfortable in it, but I wish I could wear my bikini and be comfortable. Decisions, decisions...

Only 2.5 more weeks until the Diet Bet is over. I think I have about 3 pounds left to lose, but I don't remember for sure...

Have a super sparkly week!

Pure Joy

Current Weight: 146.8 lbs.

Down 49.2 lbs. from the start

6.8 lbs. until my goal!!!!

(Yes, I had to use my calculator...don't judge me!)

First and foremost, I have only 7ish pounds until I meet my goal weight. It's a very strange feeling, and it seems like it's not even reality. I put on a pair of size seven khakis this week when I went to school, not really expecting them to fit me, and they did! It's a strange thing to think back five months ago, when my BMI was close to falling in the obsese range. 

My body has been telling me I need to lose weight for years, but it wasn't any easy lifestyle change. After countless fad diets, "cleanses," and other quick fixes, I finally did it the right way. I think quitting smoking last September is what started getting me into the mindset of living more healthily. I considered the fact that we want to have a sweet little bundle of joy in the next few years, and that is what got me thinking. I need to be healthy in order to have a healthy baby. I need to take care of myself so that I can take care of my future child. I also wanted to get in better shape for my husband. I have to say, he's a stud muffin! He deserves a wife who looks good and takes care of herself. If you don't believe me, check out my favorite picture from our honeymoon ;)

Having a baby and looking good for Josh were both reasons to lose weight, but mostly I did it for myself. There's a million reasons I wanted to become more healthy, and here are some of the most important ones:

• to feel comfortable in social situations (I've avoided float trips and pool parties for years)
• to be able to wear anything I want and feel more confident
• to not swear my butt off all summer long!!!!

Anyway, I want to talk about this new scale I bought last night. Thanks to Angel finding it on sale yesterday, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and picked up this awesome new scale last night. I've been wanting a digital one for a while because the old school one we have doesn't always seem very accurate. After you align the thing to 0 lbs., step on, and step back off, it never goes back to the 0 mark. I'd have to weigh myself several times just to get a semi-accurate reading. 

So this scale is pretty amazing. It's the newest WW scale. It uses this method of sending low voltage electrodes (it swears it safe) through your body to measure your bone density, water weight, and body fat percentage. It currently says my body fat percentage is 23.8%. I don't really know if that's good or bad because I haven't read anything about it yet, but I'm going to. 

Technically, it seems like I've lost a lot of weight from last Sunday to this Sunday, but I think there are two reasons: 1) I'm pretty sure I had a "food baby" the last time I weighed myself. 2) New scale - the gym and my mom's scale always said I weighed slightly less than what mine did, but I always just went with my home scale.

I've decided to go back to once a week weighing. I used to only weigh myself on Sunday mornings. I noticed my friend Melissa doing it more often. It works for her, but it sort of makes me crazy! I get mad when I have a little extra water weight or when it fluctuates so much within a day, but I guess it has really kept my eating in check this week.

Whatever Josh and I have got going on in our bodies needs to get the heck out! We've both felt like crap for a week now, and when we start to think we're feeling better, we wake up feeling terrible again. For instance, we were both feeling pretty normal last night besides being snotty and slightly congested. Now we both wake up with sore throats and snotty noses! It's like it won't go away. Each time I've tried to work out this week, I've gotten shortness of breath and it hurts my lungs :( I'm going to try for a short cardio workout, then maybe some abs and weights.

We have a busy day head of us -- it's my baby brother's birthday today. We're celebrating his birthday and Josh's at my parents house this evening, which is always an internal battle for me. I'm sure there will be more calories in this one meal than I typically eat in two days. Happy birthday, little bro! I love you :)

Have a wonderful week!