______________ Thursday Week 6

Well, I'm not thicker thankfully and despite my use of a thesaurus I could not find a "th" word that was suitable. Anyway, I didn't lose anything this week...but on the upside thankfully I didn't gain anything either.  Obviously eating out every meal for a week in addition to working out on my own for 7 days without Kyle there pushing me resulted in no weight loss.  I was down 1.5 inches so not a total lack of progress but of course the scale going down is ideal! 

Now that I'm home, we're working out Wednesday, Thursday & Friday this week to get back on my 3 day schedule and needless to say I'm a little tired tonight...& sore!  Starting week 7 of training with Kyle this week and excited about the coming weeks! To add to that I have committed to run the Dam Night Run at Lake DeGray Saturday night and the last time I ran it...which was about 6 years ago when mom and I were training for a half marathon...I swore I would never do it again because it was reallllyyyy hot!  Looks like Saturday night may be the same so say a prayer for me! LOL!  

Actually while I was in Branson and I had that scoop of ice cream and a piece of french toast...well, I found that I felt bad after I ate it and regretted eating the sugar the whole day.  Matter of fact, though both of the "cheat" foods I ate were good....and both are on my list of favorite foods for that matter...after I ate both I thought about it later and realized that neither one was worth how much I regretted eating them.  As the saying goes...nothing tastes as good as looking good feels.  Trying on and being able to buy 2 sizes smaller after the last 6 weeks of hard work really did feel better than eating that sugar.  Hope I can remember that the next time the choice comes up...because I know it will. 

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

Weight Wednesday Week 6...coming soon!

Well, I won't be posting my latest progress until tomorrow this week...so I guess I'll have to call it Thankful Thursday if I am down & if I'm not....well maybe we'll call it Thicker Thursday...but I sure hope not!

It has been a crazy last seven days.  I went to Dallas on Wed morn and arrived home at 11:30 on Thursday night.  Friday morning I woke up early so I could get in a workout on my own & then packed and headed to Searcy for Carson's Big State All-Star Tnmt.  We played Friday night & lost big to Nashville, won over Hope on Saturday morning and then lost Saturday night to Searcy.  We actually played well and winning a single game in Big State is usually doing well for our small town team.

After getting beat Saturday night we spent the night in Searcy and had a great night of fellowship with the other parents and kids.  On Sunday morning we decided to go on to Branson for a couple days of family vacation and we had a blast!  We did a little shopping, played lazer tag...which is one of my favorite things now and quite the workout actually...and 2 trips to the Water Chute which is always fun.  We counted about 90-100 steps to the top and the kids insist on running back to the top so Carson pretended to be Kyle and kept me going to get in my workout for the day since I didn't have treadmill time that morning.  I did get my hour in while I was gone though I did have some ice cream one day and I had my favorite French Toast at the Belgian Waffle on Tuesday morning before the water slide.  Hopefully I burned off the piece I had...and I know I saved a ton of calories since I usually have the adult order and this time I had the kids order and split it with Marty!

Tuesday was mine and Marty's 15th Anniversary and we had a great family day to celebrate! I have been blessed beyond measure for the last 15 years.  Marty & I went on our first date on December 31, 1995 after we were set up by my brother & his coach who was Marty's best friend.  A few months later he proposed over Spring Break and we set the date for our wedding on July 26, 1996.  After a couple of years of infertility treatments & while I was in graduate school we decided to go forward with IVF and were so blessed & shocked to find out we were having twins!  We've barely had time to turn around and now they are turning 12 on August 10th.  It is hard to believe how fast time has passed.  I can't wait to see what the next 15 years have in store for us...though the thought of my kids being 27 freaks me out a little!

I'll post tomorrow on my weekly results....hope it's good!

Weight Wednesday-Week 5

I'm on the road today so I will make this short & sweet. I'm headed to Dallas with a group of my best friends that we take every year. Lots of talking, shopping...and more shopping!

I lost 1.6 pounds again this week to make 11.2 pounds so far. So far I'm averaging 2.25 pounds per week. I lost 2 1/4 inches this wk.

I'm going to be traveling for a couple days then home long enough to prepare for a weekend of baseball so getting all my exercise in is going to be a challenge so that makes me very nervous! I only was able to do 2 with Kyle this week so I am actually missing my workout this morn...never thought that would happen!

My biggest struggle this week has been focusing on 1 week at a time & not the big picture of how much I still have to lose. That's had me a little down this week but I'm trying to redirect that energy into working even harder, but it's a daily challenge I have to admit.

"Ideals may tell us something important about what we would like to be. But compromises tell us who we are." -Avishai Margalit
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

SMART goal

I love all the weight loss shows...I've watched them for years on my couch while I attempted another diet plan...and sometimes while eating ice cream.  A new show this year that I've been watching is Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition.  It's different from Biggest Loser because the person goes from 400 plus pounds to whatever they can get to in 365 days which is usually losing half their body weight and it's all in one episode.  

Chris Powell is the show's trainer and I follow his blog and he wrote an article a couple weeks ago about writing down your goal using a SMART acrostic: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time Sensitive.  I liked the idea of that and since I neglected to put my answers down on paper to the questions that Kyle gave me at my 1st session with him...and now I know I should have...sorry Kyle...I decided to do it now on here. 

My SMART goal is:

I will lose 54 pounds by exercising 6 days a week for one hour per day & following my diet plan.  I will start 2012 at my goal weight instead of making another resolution to lose weight. 

So there it is.  I started this journey on June 16th at my 1st workout which was 32 days ago.  And as Carson pointed out today...so far so good.  As I was making my chicken salad for lunch and cutting up fruit he said, "Mom, you know this is the longest you have ever stuck with a diet.  Usually it only lasts a few days or a week." He was being sincere and I realized he's right.  Longest diet I ever stuck with before was 30 days in recent memory.  Woohoo!  

"Thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, character becomes destiny." 

-- unknown author

Weight Wednesday Week 4

Been a long week already so this is going to be a little short.  I feel like summer is slipping away so quickly and that makes me super sad, but I can't stop time so school will start whether I'm ready or not!

The store my mom & I have opened, Lulu's Gifts & More, is doing great which means it is taking up lots of time I normally would have free.  Between making sure I get in my workouts and Carson still playing baseball...I have had very few, if any, days to just be lazy...and I love those kinds of days periodically!

This week I lost 1.8 pounds for a total of 9.6 pounds. I really wanted to be at 10 pounds this wk but it didn't happen.  I did lose 3 inches this week for a total of 10.25 inches total so far!  I was barely fitting into the size I wore...and not everything in that size actually...and now I'm wearing a size smaller so I'm super motivated by that!

This week I have really struggled with eating every 3 hours like I'm supposed to do.  It's been the hardest week so far with that and that leads to me craving things I can not have...but I've managed to avoid them all so far.  It has not been easy and being accountable for a Wednesday weigh-in...in addition to Kyle asking me...keeps me from giving in when everyone around me is eating all my favorite foods! :)  

So these are my inches lost so far:

Left arm   -0.75 

Right arm   -0.75 

Chest   -1.75

Waist   -3.5

Hips   -1.25

Thighs   -2.0

Calves   -0.25

So, now that this has been longer than I said it would be...I better end this. 

The scale can measure the weight of my body, but never my worth as a woman. 

Lysa TerKeurst from Made to Crave

Weight Wednesday Week 3

It seems like it's been a lot longer than three weeks since I started training with Kyle and really getting serious about losing some weight but it will be 3 weeks tomorrow since my first workout.  Tomorrow will be my 10th workout and I can already tell I am stronger, faster (although I'm still so super slow lol!) and have learned a new definition for working hard. I would never, ever, EVER push myself to work as hard as Kyle pushes me.  It has made me feel I am capable of much more than I ever thought possible.  I'm thinking if I feel this much better after 10 workouts...well, I wonder what I will feel like after 20! 

I lost one pound this week and though it doesn't seem like much, I started measuring last Wednesday and I was down 4 1/2 inches today...in one week!  Woohoo!  I've lost 1 inch off my waist just this week so I'm super excited about that.  I, of course, want to see the scale go down but I wore a dress to church Sunday that didn't fit a couple weeks ago...so I'm much encouraged! I've lost 8 pounds total in 21 days. I have a ways to go but I know I'm on the right track.

I got a devotional from my friend Robyn today (she blogs here ) and it talked about how we often neglect to take care of the bodies that God has given us.  You can read the entire devotional here but in it he talks about how we as Christians would be angered to hear that someone vandalized our church but yet is our body that God gave us any less sacred?  

We let our bodies be weighed down by fat, pollute our lungs, abuse our bodies with stress & exhaustion...and believe because it's our body that we have the "right" to do so.  A quote from the devotional says, He has fashioned these earthen vessels to serve Him and carry out the work He’s planned for us to accomplish. God created us with a mind, body, and spirit—of the three aspects, the body is the one that allows us to interact with our environment. People cannot reach their full potential while neglecting the proper care of their bodies. What good are education, talent, and gifts if we’re too tired or sick to complete tasks well?

It goes on to say, Here in the world, we can do nothing apart from our physical body. Since it is the only one we’ll have in this life, we should do our best to keep it in good condition. Believers should also recognize their responsibility to treat the earthly frame like the sacred and special dwelling place that it is.

Interesting way of looking at taking care of our bodies isn't it?  I've certainly never given it any thought in this way. Hmmm...another "aha" moment for me perhaps!

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

I Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV