Friday update

What a week it was! I weighed in for the first time in ages last Friday and saw I gained about 6 pounds in a month. Yea. Ugh. So, I realized it was time to take some action, accountability, and stop making excuses. I wasn't 100%, but I made some progress this week.

I laced up the ole sneakers for the first time in about 2 months and hit the roads!

I went out for a short 2 miler just to do something since I have a 5k Sunday night and I didn't want that to be my first run. I ran at 3:00 p.m. in 85* weather. Not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. Seriously, don't do it. My time was 27:36. Not great by most peoples standards, but about average for me, so I didn't lose too much in my 2 months off from running and my month off from the gym.

Speaking of the gym, I went back Wednesday night. Did a simple walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes (1.5 miles, yes that equals to a 3.0 mph pace), then hit the stationary bike for 35 minutes and got 6.49 miles (which is a tad bit above average). While biking my TRX instructor came over and asked if I didn't love him anymore since I missed 4 out of 6 weeks of classes. So, I had to explain my lovely 5 week illness, to which he completely understood. I was a tad bit surprised, but apparently he had something similar last year. Phew! Told him I was easing back into things and he said that was a good idea. He also told me my job on Thursday and Friday is a workout and it's ok to skip the gym on those days. Heehee! Sweet!

I didn't log in my food the way I should have this week and I didn't eat 100% on track, but it was much better than it's been. Honest. This week I want to get back at tracking. Baby steps...baby steps.

What does this mean? It means about a 2.5 pound loss from last week. Yea! I don't remember exactly my weight, but I know the whole number, just not the oz. I'm happy with this. It's a step in the right direction and with a few more tweaks to the diet and exercise, I should be back on track.

How did you do this week? What were your goals? Did you meet them? Do you have a plan for next week?


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First Week of Half Marathon Training

Well, today marked the completion of Week 1 of Philadelphia Half Marathon training.  My schedule is a Tuesday/Thursday 30 minute run, with Saturdays being long run days.  Week 1 had me run 3 miles for my long run.  It still boggles my mind that I can start a half marathon training at 3 miles.  There was a time when 3 miles seemed like a joke.  Who could start out at 3 miles?  Why isn't it 1 mile or even half a mile?  But, I am now one of those people who look at three miles and say "only" three miles or "only" a 5k.  Wow.  When did that happen?

This is my path today for my long run.  Tuesday's photo is the same intersection, just going the opposite direction (same side of the street).  I decided I was going to run the hill (you can see it in the distance) so I wanted to do it when I was fresh and not at the end when I would be tired.  I also wanted to push myself a bit today.  I feel like I could go faster if I pushed, so today was a move your ass faster day.

Started out at 79 degrees, which was not pleasant.  LOL!  And since I was pushing myself and going up a big hill, it seemed even less so.  But, I got my butt moving and got up the hill.  I did use the run half a mile, walk 1 minute like I've been doing.  I felt like I was running faster than Garmin was saying, but for the first mile and a half it didn't seem to reflect on my times.  Then, at the 2 mile mark, it showed.  I was at 27:38 for 2 miles.  Wow.  I know that's not much to most runners, but Tuesday I hit 2 miles at 28:35 and Thursday I was at 2 miles at 29:15.  What an improvement!  In 30 minutes (which is the T/TH schedule), I ran 2.17 miles, .08 miles better than Tuesday and .12 miles better than Thursday!  Nice!

The rest of the run went well.  I had high hopes I could do the 3 miles in under 40 minutes, but it was not to be - 41:30.  It's ok.  I stopped 4 times for water and walk breaks.  When I finished I still felt good.  Which I think is the point of the walking breaks, to not feel depleted at the end.  So, not a bad first week.  :-)

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For those interested in the weight loss component of my little blog, I gained .4 pounds this week. Bah!  I knew it was coming.  I ate crap Friday/Saturday/Sunday, which is a no-no for me when trying to lose.  I just need to get back on track Sunday to have a good week and I didn't.  Ah well, I'll survive.  It's less than half a pound.  I can lose that and more this coming week.


Total Down Since May: 12.2
Total Loss for Dec. 23 (21 weeks): 37.4
To Go: 25.2

Exercise: 30 Activity Points/4,142 Calories burned

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If interested in the Archives part of my life, I am almost finished my 1918 Influenza Epidemic research.  I have a couple more things to look up, then I can start organizing it for publication on the website.  I'm sad to see it come to a close because it is so fascinating.  I got to look through cadaver receiving books this week, which are so neat.  I know, a bit morbid, but really interesting.  Especially the patients that come from mental institutions.  Once I finish off the last few places to look at (which I have a feeling won't have much, but I still want to check them out), I will then start writing up a finding aid that will be published on the Archives website.  Kinda cool.  :-)

I also cleaned some Muster Rolls this week.  We didn't clean last week, so it was great to get back to it.  It also looks like I'll be able to continue cleaning them once the official interns have left.  I was asked if I would be interested in continuing and of course I said yes.  :-)  Looks like I will be able to go and clean them without oversight come late August and into the fall.  Woohoo!

Friday!

It's Friday!  Woohoo!  I've always liked Fridays, even when I wasn't doing anything (like the last 2 years) because even if it meant nothing to me, at least hubby wasn't working.  But, now with the archives, Fridays are great again! 

It was a busy week at the archives.  Monday, I learned how to mend historic documents.  Which was awesome!  Tuesday, I spent my day doing research into documents written by or to George Washington.  Yup, that George Washington.  Wednesday, I spent the morning researching some more, but also learning to page in the research room.  This means, when people come into the archives to research, I head up into the Tower to grab the box or carton they want to look at.  So, looks like I'll be adding that to my duties as well this summer.  Thursday, I continued working on the Washington papers, then spent the afternoon cleaning Civil War muster out rolls.  What a fun week!  There's always something new and fun going on.  :-)

We had a bit of a scare this week with Elizabeth.  She's our little kitty, who is generally pretty unadventuresome.  The other evening, hubby couldn't find her.  Which isn't that unusual.  She tends to sleep alot and sometimes hides when she does so.  But, he was in the kitchen and started hearing noises in the ceiling.  So, he asks if I've seen her and since I hadn't, we started wondering where she could be.  He heads upstairs to the bathroom and sees the cabinet door open and Pooka staring into it...straight into a hole in the wall.  Turns out our unadventuresome kitten had crawled into the hole and was wondering around inside the walls!  I grabbed the treat bag, called her name, and shaked the bag.  She came out.  Phew!  Silly little cat!  We are now being more careful with that cabinet.

Elizabeth the Kitten, who crawled into the walls of the house this week.

On the never-ending battle to lose weight, I am down another pound this week.  Finally!  I am in the next 10 pound range!  I haven't seen numbers like these since May 2010, before we headed to Europe.  Shesh!  I'm very happy to be here and am hoping to keep going.  I have 27.6 pounds to go by the end of the year.  It's totally doable!

Thought I would update the goals for June (because I tend to forget I set goals).  Not too shabby!

1. Lose 2.5 pounds. - down 1 this week, 1.5 to go
2. Run 20 miles (I'm already at 13 for the month.) - up to 16 miles, with a 5k this Sunday
3. Bike 50 miles (I'm already at 38 for the month) - up to 47.5 miles 

So, not too shabby with those goals.  I see hitting goals 2 & 3.  We shall see about goal 1.  I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but weight loss seems to be coming in 1 pound increments lately.  If I miss my goal by .5 pounds, eh.  No biggie.  It's still a loss and that's what matters in the long run.  But, I'm going to try hard to hit that 1.5 pound mark by Thursday!

Weekly Round Up

What a week!  I knew I should have taken shop in high school, it would have made making that ark so much easier!  The rain has been cra-zy this week.  It seems every day we have storms.  I read that we are already above 19" of rain for my neck of the woods, which is 3 and some inches above normal.  I better not hear of any drought conditions this summer!  And apparently Accuweather is calling for more rain next week - that is if we're all still here.  You know, with the Rapture and all coming this weekend.

Anywho...This was a great week in some aspects, not so great in others.  I finally started volunteering at the State Archives.  I started inquiring about volunteering up with the State Museum/Archives on Feb. 4th and I started with the Archives on May 16th.  Can we say slow?  Ugh.  Anyway, the positive thing is I'm there and it's AWESOME!  I've spent my week researching what the state of PA did for the 1918 Influenza Epidemic and I learned how to clean an historic document.  Two exciting and fun things for me.  :-)  What's even better is every Thursday afternoon I get to work on cleaning the documents.  Eeeeee!  Yes, I'm a dork.  What's it to ya?

Diet went ok, exercise not so much.  This week was supposed to be the first week of bricks (run/bike or bike run workouts).  I was going to do three days of 1 mile run/5 mile ride, but with the rain the way it's been I did none of them.  Zilch.  Nada.  Nothing.  Bah!  I did a couple indoor bike rides at home, but not what I was hoping to do.  And as stated above Accuweather is not helping me out next week with better weather.  I will be trying a brick tomorrow morning for my Sat. morning exercise (normally I run) to try and get one in.  It'll be a simple 1 mile run with a 5 mile bike.  Wish me luck!  Oh!  I am down .4 (decimal point 4) pounds this week.  Apparently, I wasn't completely insane without my exercise this week.  Hoping for a better week next.

One year ago this week, hubby and I were in Italy.  So bittersweet thinking back on it.  It really was the trip of a lifetime.  It was such an amazing trip that we actually realized how fantastic a trip it was while we were on it.  It wasn't just one of those trips when you get home and thing, wow!  That was a fun vacation.  Nope, throughout the trip we kept saying how lucky we were to be there and tried to soak in as much as possible.  We did our best, but I know I could find more to do if we went back.  ;-)  The good thing is we're planning two trips this year - one to Montreal with our friend and one to Jamaica to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  That's what's getting me through my pining for Europe, these two trips.  Montreal needs to hurry up and get here!  :-)

Some photo eye candy for you.  Enjoy!

 The Colosseum in Rome, truly one of the most amazing sites in the world.

 The ceiling of the alter at St. Peter's Basilica

 Carousel in the Piazza de Republica in Florence.  I swore day 1 in Florence I would ride it.  This was as close as I got.  LOL!

 Grape fields in Tuscany at the winery we did a tasting at.  The wine was delicious.  So wish we brought a bottle or two home.

 The Leaning Tower of Pisa.  How leaning could one tower be?  It really does lean.  If we had more time we would have gone to the top, but alas we did not. 

A canal in Venice.  It was incredible to ride on the canals and see Venice from the water.

Slightly Disappointing

Well, after last week, when I kicked butt on exercise and lost 2 whole pounds (the best one week loss in MONTHS!), I totally lost motivation.  With the knee not being at it's best, I decided not to aggrevate it by exercising...at all.  Did nothing.  Then I had a rough day where I just couldn't not eat crap all day.  Bah!

But, I got on the scale this morning.  Normally, I would have skipped it thinking I gained a ton and not wanting to see it.  When I got on this morning, I saw a .2 (yes, there's a decimal point in front of that two) gain from last week.  WHAT?!?  That's nothing!  .2 pounds is not drinking enough water.  .2 pounds is having an extra Hershey Kiss.  2. pounds is having too much salt on my corn on the cob last night. 

Basically, what I'm saying is .2 pounds is nothing.  I can get past this.  I can still lose the 6 pounds I want this month.  I have 2.5 weeks to lose 4.2 pounds.  That's totally doable.

And now I have the motivation I've been lacking this week.  Tomorrow is the Preakness 5k (yea!) and next week starts bricks for my duathlon training (a running/biking or biking/running training workout to get used to transitions).  We're hitting the grocery store this weekend, which is good since we need some veggies and fruit.  I have a good feeling about next Friday!

Still moving forward

Second week in the field this week.  Lots of reading, webinars, meetings, and cleaning.  It was a busy week and next week I'll be back at the training facility for the last week.  Then I "graduate" and am set free to do my job.  It's been an interesting three weeks so far. 

The next couple of weeks are going to be busy!  Next week, the last week of training will involve staying late.  How late?  I don't know.  Neither do they.  It's kinda frustrating because I'm a planner.  I want to know.  I need to know.  Even if I'm not happy about it, at least I can plan around it.  But, I'm in the dark...

Then Sunday, I have a training for participants of one of my events.  It's a three hour training on Sunday.  Then a meeting Monday night, Tuesday night, and Thursday night.  Saturday, there is another training for work that goes from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.  The next two weeks are going to be crazy. 

It's been slow going in the half marathon training.  Working all day is taking more out of me than I thought it would.  I don't remember work being this taxing before.  It's kinda freaking me out as I need to be training more and I'm not.  I did my long run last Sat. and did a 30 minute treadmill run on Monday.  Then cue the crickets... I really need to get moving on running more during the week...or maybe just doing something during the week...

While Operation 20 is basically off the table (which is sad since I made a logo and everything!), I'm still working on loosing.  This week sadly showed a lovely 0 on the scale - no loss, no gain.  The no gain I'm happy with.  The no loss?  Not so much.  I could have used a loss this week, but not gaining is good.  This is a new week.  Hopefully, next Friday will show a downward movement on the scale.

Another week...

The first full week in my office is over.  It went well.  Lots of meetings, appointments, and events.  I have lots of homework for when I'm in the office, plus trying to get to know my co-workers and volunteers.  It's a crazy two weeks before heading back to the training center to go over my homework.  It's the first time I've been employed where I've had homework assignments.  It's kinda strange...

I have noticed I'm tired at the end of the day.  Like really tired.  Like falling asleep at 10:00 p.m. tired.  Which is totally unlike me.  I'm a night person and can't usually fall asleep until close to midnight, if not later.  Guess this whole being out all day and meeting new people takes a lot out of you! 

The bigger issue to the sleep thing is the lack of running thing.  I'm having a hard time getting motivated to come home and run.  I get home and want to crash.  Last Monday was fine because I had off for President's Day, so I got my 4 mile run in during the day.  The issue I had the rest of the week was being tired and oh..the snow.  I get nervous running at night after it snows around here.  People have a tendency not to clean their sidewalks and I'm not keen on the idea of running on sidewalks with 1"-2" of snow and ice.  Ugh.  I really need to push myself to run on the treadmill for a little while at least.  It's better than nothing.  This week's goal is to run twice...whether it be outside or on the treadmill.

And for some reason, this week was foodapoluzza.  I don't know why, but I kept eating crap all week.  I ate more than I should have and exercised less than I should have.  I was this close to not bothering.  Why would I want to see a gain at the end of a trying week?  Well, I weighed-in anyway and low and behold, a .6 pound loss.  WHAT?!?  Crazy!  I was very, very happy.

Which brings us to Saturday morning and my long run.  The training plan stated 7 miles and off I went!  And still, 2 full days after the 2" of snow we received, people still hadn't shoveled their walks.  Ugh.  Makes running much more difficult.  But, I got my run in...not as fast as I would have liked, but eh.  I think I started off a tad bit too slow.  Must try to start a bit faster next time.  My next long run is 10 miles.  Eep!

Operation 20: Week 1

When I signed up to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon that I needed to jump start my weight loss.  While I can't imagine loosing weight will magically make me a faster runner, it should take some stress off the joints while I run.  If I get a little faster because of it, that's a nice added bonus.

So, today was the first weigh-in for Operation 20 - 20 pounds lost by Friday, February 25th, the day I leave for the half marathon.  Got up this morning and weighed in.  Results?

Operation 20 Goal (February 25th): 20 pounds
Operation 20 Half-Goal (December 31st): 10 pounds
Today's Result: -1.6 pounds.

Operation 20 To-Go: 18.4 pounds
Operation 20 Half-Goal to Go: 8.4 pounds

So, not too bad.  I would have liked 2 pounds this week, but a loss is a loss, right?  It's better than gaining.  I have high hopes for next week as I am going to work on getting in some exercise.  While I'm not allowed to run just yet (doctor's orders!), I can walk and use my Wii.  So, I am going to add those into the mix and hope to see a little bigger number next week.

So, 8.4 to go until December 31st and 18.4 to go until February 25th.  Still doable.

Loss

It's been awhile since I've bothered to get on the scale.  I don't know what's going on, but I just haven't felt like dealing with the ups and downs it shows.  But, this morning, I got up and decided to face the music.  I had all this time to lose 8 pounds before my birthday in two weeks (how did THAT happen?!?!?) and nothing.  I GAINED weight actually and you know, I just didn't want to deal with seeing the number go up again.  The thing is, you can't stop something if you don't know what you need to stop.  So, I got on the scale this morning to see how much MORE damage I had done over the last week.  And low and behold, I was down .8 pounds.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  Did NOT see that coming. 

So, while I won't be hitting that 8 pound loss I had been aiming for, I can still see a loss in the future.  I can possibly get CLOSE to what I wanted for my birthday if I hunker down and do this thing.  I have lots of running to do between then and now (about 30 miles actually) and if I keep my food under control, there's a good shot of me getting close to that 8 pound loss.  So, here we go - Operation 2 Weeks is in effect!  How much can I lose between today and Oct. 8th?

Eh

is about all I got to say with how things went with this week's weigh-in.  Up more than I would like to admit.  I got a little disheartened after last week's slight gain and it just went down hill quickly.  So, those 8 pounds I wanted gone by Oct. 9?  Yea, I have a feeling most of them will still be around.  Darn it.

Yesterday was my first photo gig.  Non-paying, but it was for the local fire company's 1st Annual Firefighter 5k.  I did their photos for the event - 4.5 hours.  Long morning, but I'm excited I did it.  It was my first real photo gig.  I will spend the week editing photos!  Which is fine with me!

Tomorrow is my interview with the library.  Still have a few things to do for that - iron suit, print resumes, print references, print directions...guess I had more than I thought left to do!  LOL!  It's ok.  It will get done.  Wish me luck though!  I sure could use it.

Friday

I love Fridays.  Always have.  Guess it's the last day of school for the week, then the last day of work for the week and at times the last day of BOTH school and work for the week.  :-)  Even without having a job, I love Fridays.

This Friday was ok.  Yesterday, I officially canceled my WW membership.  I still haven't found a job, so I'm basically at the end of what I had saved up.  So, I canceled my membership.  Sucks.  I've been working hard to stay on plan and exercise.  This week, I stayed the same as last.  This isn't horrible considering I lost 5.4 last week.  Hopefully, that means things have evened out and I can get back to loosing this week.  My birthday is in 6 weeks.  I would LOVE to be down 10 pounds by then.  It's feasible....

I did really well exercising this week.  Exercised every day except Sunday.  Not bad at all.  I think the exercising (as much as I hate to admit this) makes a big difference on the scale.  So, I'm going to keep exercising and hopefully that will make the numbers go down.  Hubby and I decided on our 5ks for Sept. - The Fort McHenry Tunnel Run and possibly the Springettesbury 5k.  Those should help keep me moving.

In professional news, I determined my pricing for my photography.  This is something I've been avoiding for weeks and I finally figured it out.  Phew!  I have to get some info on the blog about it and do my pricing sheets.  I'm feeling a lot more confident about being ready to go next week!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!  Mine will be!

+1

Yea.  After going on and on about how I was thrilled that I was taught my lesson on tracking and staying on plan last week with a big fat 0 in the pounds lost/gained column, this week I go up a pound.  WTF?  I am NOT happy about this folks.  I'm not kidding.  I tracked EVERYTHING.  I earned 12 activity points.  I only had TWO beers.  Seriously, this is a tragedy and I'm not happy.

On my way to WI this morning, I popped in my new Love and Theft CD since I'm going to see them tonight (Friday) with Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw.  Was looking forward to hearing how they sound.  Yes, don't like them.  They are very generic, minus the ONE song they had on country radio.  Waste of $10.95 right there.  Ugh.

Then on the way home, my car started revving, but not driving.  At first I thought the tires just kinda skidded and all would be fine.  Then the car wouldn't go above 40 mph.  UGH!  I got home and turns out there's red liquid leaking from my engine.  We think it's coolent.  The problem is, we can't really drive it to the dealership to have it looked at.  So, we're going to have to TOW it to the dealership.  We're calling AAA on this one.  Not paying for that.  No way!

So, that's how my Friday has started out.  Heading off to Philly/Camden to see the above concert and have dinner.  Let's hope the day gets better.

Aught

It's been a few days, but Friday was weigh-in day.  This week was one of those weeks where I really had no idea if I would be up or down.  I've been trying not to weigh myself everyday, just on Fridays before I go to WI.  My theory is I don't get all crazy during the week with ups and downs and at least I should have a feeling going in if I'm up or down.  The numbers aren't always the same, but at least I'll be prepared.

With that being said, the scale at home was finicky.  It said I was up and down.  Ugh.  So, I had no idea what to expect.  Got to the center and weighed in.  And I stayed the same.  And I'm ok with that.  I did expect to see a gain, so I'm really thrilled that I stayed the same this week. 

Why did I expect to see a gain?  It's a really stupid reason.  I exercised more this week.  No, I am not blaming new muscles for my "weight-gain" theory.  But I am blaming my "oh, I exercised today.  I can eat a little more." attitude.  I did run more this week than I have in ages.  12 miles to be precise.  For many people that's nothing, but to me, 12 miles in one week is crazy!  Especially in this heat.  And so, I ate more than I should have.  :-( 

The good thing is I knew exactly what I did.  I used exercise as an excuse to eat.  It's not.  And I know that.  So, I have committed myself to tracking this week.  I have been really slack in that department, which is partly why I ate more than I should have last week, I wasn't keeping track.  Well, I am tracking now.  I have tracked all weekend, even with it being a holiday.  I had funnel cake and tracked it!  And would you believe I still have flex points?  I do.  I also plan on having ice cream tonight.  And will track that.  So, here's to a good weigh-in this Friday!

2.2 and 3.1

What a couple days it's been! Friday means weigh-in and I had NO idea what to expect. I have a hard time eating in the summer. I get hot and don't want to eat anything. And this week it hit me...like a load of bricks. It was in the 90s almost all week and I just had no desire to eat anything. But, when I did eat, I wasn't making the best decisions. Not horrible ones, but just not the beat. So, it was a big surprise when I weighed in and was down 2.2 pounds this week. :-)

This makes the three week grand total 5.8 pounds and just 4.4 pounds to go to be back where I was before my three month WW hiatus. That's not too shabby. I'm feeling really good about that actually. I know I am not doing the program 100% right now, so, I'm thrilled that even the small things are making a difference. I just have to keep on the water and EAT. And eat healthy.

And now it's Saturday. I made a small goal for myself months ago to run two 5ks back to back, meaning consecutive days. Well, that weekend is this weekend. I ran the Spirit of Gettysburg 5k this morning at 8:00 a.m. It was a crazy day! Up at 5:30 a.m., which is about 3.5 hours later than I normally get up. Drive an hour to Gettysburg, then FIND the race. The race started promptly at 8:00 a.m. (about an 1.5 hours earlier than I normally wake up) and it was a challenge! The temperature at first wasn't bad. I was thinking it might not be too hot, but oh, I didn't realize we went THROUGH the battlefield. If you have been to Gettysburg, you know that the battlefield is basically one large field with nothing on it - no trees, no bushes, nothing. No shade. And crap. It was hilly! I honestly believe the first 1.5 miles were all uphill. There was a tad of leveling off in places, but overall, the first half of the race was uphill. It was a challenge!

I had a good one mile time of 12:50 and a two mile time of 26:57, both of which were faster than last week! Then, mile three hit and again, it kicked my butt. I finished the race at 42:30, 28 seconds slower than last week. I am consoling myself with the idea that it was a really hill course and that 42:30 for this course is good.

After wards, they had a feast of a spread! There were apples, bananas, oranges, watermelon, cups of blueberries and raspberries, and pretzels. I grabbed a blueberry cup and wish I had grabbed two. They were amazing! On the way home, we stopped at Panera and I have the delicious Cinnamon Crunch bagel and an iced coffee. Yum!

And now it's off to Baltimore for the Baltimore Women's Classic 5k. This was the first race I ever ran last year and I'm excited to run it again. I have no thoughts that I'll have a good race time, but that's not the point. I'm excited to be racing in it again and to be doing back-to-back 5ks. Last year's BWC time was 45:25. Think I can top it? ;-)

One...

...is the loneliest number. No, I'm not sharing my favorite song or trying to start a karaoke number. It's what my result was at WW this week, one pound down. I had a feeling I would be between 1 and 1.5 pounds down this week. Had hoped closer to 1.5, but you know what, it's still down. I'm not going to complain. As I stated before, I gained a little over 3 pounds a month in the three months that I didn't go to WW regularly. So, as of today, I have lost one month of gainage. I'm pretty happy with that. I still have a tad to go, obviously, but it's coming off.

Tomorrow, I have a 5k on City Island. I'm not expecting good things, but I shall finish. I'm hoping to keep a steady pace the whole race. I will take the Garmin and see what happens. It's going to be hot, so I have to be careful, but it'll be good. It's my first since March and I have two more after this before July. It's good to have something to be responsible for. Keeps me accountable. :-)

2.6

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means.  It means weigh-in day.  It's such a fun day.  Whatever.  Down to the nitty gritty.  I headed to weigh in this morning in the hopes of having lost some weight.  The home scale said I was down, so I was hoping theirs would say the same.  I got on the scale and was down 2.6 pounds.  So, my horrific weekend did not kill me as badly as I thought.  I really did want 4-5 pounds this week, but you know what?  2.6 is good.  It's almost what I gained in a whole month, so I'm ok with that.

And I've decided I am not stressing this anymore.  I have been so caught up with loosing x amount of weight by this day that I get upset when I don't hit those markers, then I just kinda give up.  I feel like there's no point in doing what I know will work if I can't hit the goals I set for myself.  So, I have decided I'm not stressing about it.  I am going to do what I know works.  I am going to focus on eating healthy.  I am going to get back to exercising regularly.  I am going to drink my water (which I did a poor job of this week). And I am going to cut myself some slack.  I can loose this weight, I just have to stop beating myself up when I don't loose as much as I want.

My first goal is to loose what I gained.  So, I gained 10.2 and lost 2.6  in the first week back.  Now I have only 7.6 to go.  Not bad for week 1.

Somewhat good day

Got up this morning for weigh-in.  This will be my last Friday weigh-in for a bit as I have start the new temp job Tuesday.  My scale said I was up 2 pounds from last week, so I had NO idea what the WW scale would say.  Was hoping it wouldn't say up, but you never know.  Got there and there were two ladies weighing people, but one of them was basically ignoring the scale.  And the person ahead of me was taking forever.  Seriously.  Ugh.  Finally got on the scale and was down 1.4 pounds this week.  Not bad.  I'm .4 pounds away from 30.  Hoping to hit that next week. 

On the way home from WW, I decided to stop at ON to see if they had any blazers.  Nope.  But, I did pick up a couple of cute short cardigans and a nice button down shirt.  The cardigans were on sale for $10 and the button down was half off, so not bad. 

I have 10 weeks before we head out on vacation and I decided if I can loose 1 pound a week between then and now, I will be half way to my goal weight.  While this is a really slow goal, I'm hoping it's doable.  I know I'll gain weight on vacation, but you know, I'm ok with that.  How many times do you go on a vacation of a life time?  We plan on walking a lot and hopefully running while we're away.  Do I think that will keep the weight gain at bay?  No.  But, I'll at least feel like I was active and will have some great stories for when we get back!

Frustration

So, since there was lots (heehee) of snow yesterday, I didn't go to weigh-in.  We shoveled the drive only to see the road was fine.  Ah well.  But, I shoveled the drive for 45 minutes, then later did a 30 minute Wii Fit workout.  I was pretty proud of myself.  I did a good job staying on track food-wise.

Since I missed weigh-in yesterday, I made up for it by going today.  I weighed myself this morning at home and saw a 5 pound loss.  I was stoked!  I knew I wouldn't see that at WW, but was expecting a 2-3 pounds.  No.  One pound.  ONE POUND!  WTH???!!!???  I really don't understand this.  I am starting to think there is something off at the WW site.  I know that sounds like the ravings of a mad woman who's ticked, but when you've done everything you're supposed to and only seeing a minuscule loss?  There's something wrong.

Came home from weigh-in and did my Walk Away the Pounds video.  I was waiting for hubby to come home from his run, so I figured I could do something productive.  Did the 45 minute video and felt a little better.  Not much, but some.  I really need a good week this week to feel like I am making progress.

It's FRIDAY!

If you know anything about the mid-Atlantic/Northeast this year, you know we've been hit with a TON of snow.  Today is no exception.  LOL!  Well, we lucked out this time and maybe got 3".  Thank heavens!  It's just been k-RAY-z with snow this year.  Unfortunately, the snow meant I did not go to weigh-in this morning.  I will go tomorrow morning and stand in the big line of Saturday morning peeps.  I am anticipating a loss.  Fingers crossed I'm right!

Did I mention I know NOTHING about web design?  It's become obvious the more I try and play with my web page.  This is going to be a long process.

Applied for another job this week.  A Grant Coordinator for the local YMCA.  See if I hear anything about it.  I also have a museum job I'm applying for.  Have to revamp the resume for that one though.  It would be AWESOME!!!

Have been good with the exercising this week.  Did the WATP DVD yesterday.  Then, we helped friends move, so I was lifting boxes and taking them to the basement.  Not hours of extra work, but probably 30-40 minutes of it.  Today, the shovel and I were friends for about 45 minutes.  While I can call it a day with that, I think I'll do a little Wii Fit tonight.  Can't hurt to add a little more in, right?

And time for education!  Another article at examiner.com!  More Black History Month Finds

Updates

It's Friday and we all know what that means - weigh in day.  I wasn't going to go after the weekend I had.  I mean when you have friends in from around the country are you really all that concerned with points?  I shouldn't say that.  One of the ladies who came out did very well sticking to her points this weekend.  Puts me to shame really...Anyway.  Got up this morning and headed out because I know my friend Nicole would hassle me if I didn't.  :-p  It's been two weeks and a couple horrible weekends since my last weigh in and I had NO idea what to expect.  Thankfully, I stayed the same.  I was a tad surprised since it had been two weeks, but happy.  I guess fasting one day will help knock some weight off you.  LOL!  I'm aiming for a loss next Friday.  I think between no meat, no sweets, and no snacking I should be good for one.

This afternoon I had an interview at a temp agency for a temporary part-time position.  Interview went well.  There are two positions with the organization hiring I qualify for, so she's sending my resume along today to the company.  The positions are temporary (4-6 weeks), but not part-time, which is fine.  Time-wise I kinda like it honestly.  So, we shall see what happens.  The lovely lady at the temp agency is emailing my resume over to the company hiring and I should hear next week if they want to bring me in for an interview. 

Tonight, we are headed out for some fun!  We belong to a Beer MeetUp and tonight's meet up is at a Belgium bar locally.  I love Belgium beer.  Soooo excited!  And we scoped out the menu ahead of time and they have a vegetarian burger and a cheese plate, so we are good to go on food!  Woohoo!