Day 8: Celebration Time – Come On!

As I reported yesterday –  I reached a 5 pound milestone.  That’s 20 sticks of butter.  A sack of flour.  A full grown chihuahua.

It’s huge when you put it into something visual instead of just those tiny little marks on the bathroom scale!  I am so happy about reaching this milestone!  I’m 1/4 of the way to my goal!

So what’s the first thing you do when you reach a mile stone?

Celebrate with a chocolate brownie!

I savored it, and enjoyed every bit.  I chose to do it and I’m happy I did!  In fact I think I will celebrate this way after I reach each milestone.

I completed my 30 day Shred workout today by 9:00 am.  Love getting it done in the morning.  Now I can take my shower and be ready for anything that comes along with the proud feeling that I’ve accomplished my workout goal for the day.

I pushed hard to do every bit of the workout today.  I can do the whole thing if I do the modified (girls) push ups.  I did do some of the boys push ups too but I still haven’t been able to complete the level 1 workout doing all boys push ups yet.  But, I’m feeling good and strong and am looking forward to making progress each day.

I feel good about my ability to stick to the Weight Watchers plan too.

I feel the key to reaching my milestone this week was the 30 Day Shred Workout.  I’ve stuck to Weight Watchers for a week before and haven’t shred more than 2 pounds so adding this workout is really doing it for me!

I LOVE TO SEE RESULTS – it feeds my motivation and drives me on!  It’s worth the hard work when it’s working for you.  In the past I feel like I’ve deprived myself on certain diets and I struggled through only to end up disappointed in the results, tired and cranky.  I don’t feel that way with this combination of Weight Watchers, the 30 Day Shred and writing this blog.  I feel strong, happy, satisfied and excited to continue on.

Talk soon!

Day 7: 7 Down 23 To Go

I woke up this morning to some awesome news.  The bathroom scale said I have shred another 3 pounds.  That’s a total of 5 pounds in one week.  I honestly don’t think I have ever shred 5 pounds in one week.  The best part is that I don’t feel like I really did anything too hard.

I still don’t like to exercise or sweat and I still love my food and wine but I feel like I was able to do it.  I was really motivated to stick to it.  I have always had a problem with not being motivated to exercise or change my eating habits.  I’m pretty sure that my motivation this time – is this blog.  I have committed to doing it and reporting my results – good, bad or ugly to you!

It has been interesting to see that I really am able to stick with something and find ways around challenges that arise.  Again today I wasn’t able to exercise in the morning and I felt a little uneasy because what if something was to come up later and I miss all together.  Once again I worried for nothing.  I made sure that as soon as I had  a minute, around 3:30 pm, I jumped into my workout clothes and got busy on the 30 Day Shred workout.  I love that I’m learning to adapt and accept that my schedule isn’t always going to be perfect but I CAN still stick to something if I set my heart and mind to it.

Today I used the 1 pound weights and finished the entire workout.  I’m still struggling with the push ups.  I did about 14 of the boys push ups and then had to switch to the girl ones.  The next set I did about 7 boys ones before switching to the girl ones.  The other thing that is still hard for me to do is the jumping jacks and jumping rope moves.  I find about half way through I need to start bouncing from one foot to the next instead of straight up and down.  I hope this isn’t “phoning it in” as Jillian calls it.  I still feel like I’m working hard and giving all that I can.

I can tell that I have improved so much from the first time I did the workout and I’ll keep working at it until it gets easier for me.

I’m eating good and am finding it much easier to stay within my weight watchers points.  I’m really loving grilled vegetables with Mrs. Dash (salt free) seasoning on them.  The other night at our hotel restaurant I ordered a second serving of their grilled vegetables.  They are so good.  I also love salmon, lean venison and turkey.

I’m still trying to fit more water into my day.  In fact I’m going to have some with Crystal Lite in it right now!

Cheers!

Day 5: Where Did Sunday Go?

It’s the morning after the wedding and the drapes managed to keep every trace of sunlight out of our suite.  We planned to get  up and get home early to get some things done that we put off due to the wedding.  We are getting ready to put our home on the market and are  working at getting everything sale ready around the house. So, I’ve become an HGTV junkie, watching or taping everything that pertains to getting a home ready for the market or staging and selling a home!  I’ve been able to implement some really great ideas.

I didn’t have time to exercise before checkout today so I kept it at the forefront of my mind to buy out the time for it some how, some way today.

I was so happy to see that my sister, Tiffany, and her girls Darla and Keely, were at our house when we returned home.  They stayed to visit and we made and ordered some new karaoke CDG’s that we’ve been meaning to order from karaokeorder.com. They are great charging only $1.00 per song.

We made dinner and ate together.

Have you seen the ad for the Nuwave oven on TV?  We just got one about a week ago and love it!  We’ve used it twice so far, making a roast first and then tonight – salmon.  Both were unbelievably moist and delicious- just as they promised on the infomercial.   We had salmon, green beans and mashed potatoes, but I just had the salmon and green beans.  I will be well within my weight watcher points again today! YaY!

My sister and girls left around 8:00 pm.  I hadn’t done my 30 Day Shred workout yet.  While my husband ran to the store for a few things I put on my workout clothes, put in the DVD and  got busy!

I worked hard but didn’t use my 1 lb. weights as they were still packed away from our trip.  I was able to do the whole workout without a rest, I did it all (but without the weights!)  Interesting!  I’m sure by day 7 or 8 I will be able to do the whole level 1 workout – using the weights with no problem – just as Jillian promised!

Wow, where did Sunday go, it”s almost time for bed!

Tomorrow is my weigh in day for Weight Watchers and I am so excited to see what I’ve shred so far!

I’ll share my results with you tomorrow!

See you then!

Day 3: This Will Not Be Freak Out Friday!

It started out like any day.  I got up, made coffee and caught a little GMA.

Then a knock at the door… it was my nephew, Coyan.  The first words out of his mouth were “ what happened to Fletcher?” (Fletcher is my 7 year old golden lab.)

“What do you mean?” I said.  “He’s got a big gash under his eye!” said Coyan.

I rushed out to look at him and sure enough – although he acted fine and didn’t understand what all of the hub bub was about – he clearly needed to see the vet and get some stitches.

I have learned that I really need to get my exercise out of the way pretty early in the morning or things come up or I don’t feel like it or it’s inconvenient to get all sweaty and have to take a shower and get re-ready in the middle of the day.

Obviously taking care of Fletcher was my priority.  My Shred workout would have to wait.  This made me a little nervous….was I going to mess up already?

I thought of how my schedule was supposed to go:

Do my workout, straighten the house, shower and get ready, do some office work, plan my outfit for the wedding we are going to tomorrow, pack because we have to be there for rehearsal tonight, manicure/pedicure appointment at noon,do my list of errands and leave town by 3:00 pm.  Oh, heaven help me!

I slipped on some clothes, brushed my teeth and loaded Fletcher into the back of my Expedition and off we went to see Dr. Goza – 30 minutes away.  After a 2 hour Dr. visit we were on our way back home – Fletcher all stitched up and tail wagging.

With 3 unexpected hours carved out of my day how would I get everything done?  I made it home just in time to let the dog into the yard and rush to my manicure appointment.  After my appointment I did only the “absolutely need to” errands.  The rest will wait until Monday.

At 2:00 guess what I did?  Yep, my Shred Workout!  I KNOW!!!  This is a first – to make exercise a priority over choosing outfits and packing.

I have to admit … my energy level was down and I probably didn’t work it as hard as I could have but I did it and I was sweating!

In the shower I realized another hurdle approaching.  I was going to be in a hotel tomorrow – how will I do the Shred?  Will I be able to stick to my Weight Watchers plan at a wedding rehearsal dinner and a reception?  Oh Oh!

Okay, I can work with this.  I’ll just take my laptop and my Shred DVD and do the workout in my suite.  Oh, I’m getting good!  AND I will do my best to make good choices at meal times.

20 minutes later:  I’ve been blogging as my husband drives us to the wedding rehearsal (1 1/2 hours)  Guess what?  I just realized that I forgot my Shred DVD at home!   : (

Aaaaaah!

This is exactly why I wanted to blog about this journey!  Unexpected things happen, life throws you curve balls!   But this time, instead of letting myself off the hook at the first little bit of discouragement, I have resolved to accept the challenge!  I will find ways over or around the hurdles and I will find a way to hit those curve balls – sometimes it may only be a bunt but sometimes I will hit it out of the park!

Yesterday I did stay within my Weight Watcher points – even though we went to some friends house for karaoke with all the wine and chips making eyes at me all evening!  Don’t get me wrong, I did have some wine but I had saved enough points for it.  That’s why I love Weight Watchers – you can have real food –  I don’t get along with deprivation!

Goals for today:  Drink water (I didn’t drink as much as I’d hoped yesterday) make good food choices, get a good nights sleep and figure out what to do about the DVD dilemma.

I’ll let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

PS:  I wasn’t going to weigh myself until Monday but I snuck a peek today.

I’ve lost 2 pounds!  Yaaay!

Day 2: Did Anyone Get The License Plate Number Of The Truck That Hit Me?

Okay, maybe it wasn’t a truck.  More like a Prius or a VW Bug.  I’m definitely aware of muscles I hadn’t noticed in a long time and I did utter a Grandpa-ish groan when I rolled out of bed this morning.  I was excited to tell my husband about my sore ab, arm and leg muscles.  I’m eager to do it again today.

As we all know exercise is only half of a successful weight shred program.  The other half is what we eat or don’t eat.  I am following the Weight Watchers plan along with this workout program.  Calories in and Calories out!  I feel really good about these two plans together.  I can do this, it’s real!

I want to share something that happened last night that put me “gratefully” over my Weight Watcher points for the day.  I didn’t have to do it – I chose to do it.  I was all ready in bed, watching HGTV with my glass of red wine (that used up every last point I had) when my 12 year old son, Hayden, quietly entered the room and surprised me with my favorite snack of wheat thins and really, really thinly sliced cheddar cheese .  Knowing I’m following Weight Watchers, he thoughtfully figured the right size portion, prepared it as quiet as a mouse and then surprised me with it.  Looking at his proud little face – it was a no brainer, I appreciatively enjoyed every last bit!  I love him so much!

This made me realize that I can’t always stick to the letter of the law or plan – nor do I want to.  Some things, some moments, some people are much more important and there will be times when I choose to participate outside of the plan.  No excuses or regrets – I want to, I choose to, I’m happy with my decision, end of story.

20 Minutes Later:  I just finished my workout.  I wish you could see how dripping with sweat I am right now.  I really don’t like to sweat but I’m so proud that I pushed myself enough to sweat this much!  I came downstairs after my workout and my legs felt like rubber.

I did level one again.  I did about half girl and half boy push ups.  I did more of the jumping jacks and jump roping moves and when I wasn’t doing them I marched in place lifting my knees high or did kicking motions to keep my heart rate up.  Jumping is really strenuous work.  I can’t believe that  I used to play jump rope all recess … for fun!

I’m going to try to drink more water today and maybe add some greens to it.  I’ve read really good things about green drinks.  I got Tony Robbins Pure Energy Greens with MSM.  It doesn’t taste really great in just water alone but I found that if I put a little mint flavored liquid chlorophyll, the greens and about 3-4 oz of water in a cup with a lid, shake it up really good and then drink it down like a shot or drink it through a straw it’s a lot better.

Okay then, my goals for today are:  Drink more water, add some greens, stay within my weight watcher points and most of all be grateful for everything big and small.