Second Chances

Well, here I am. I had goals, I was working out, eating right and soon I gave it all up. again. I am tired of feeling like a failure. I am tired of letting myself BE a failure. I am worth so much more than I am giving myself!

I do not want a fat, lazy, unhealthy body that will end up giving out on me earlier than I want.

Recently, we took a family trip to visit my parents and extended family. My mother is severely overweight. In fact, she is very obese. She has so many health problems, I can't even list them all. She is at a point where she can barely function and she is only 58 years old. I keep thinking that maybe if she had gotten healthy when she was my age, all of these health problems would not have become so horrifying. One thing has led to another and now she can barely walk.

This will not be me! I will not lie around waiting to become my mother. We all need second chances. Here I go with mine!

beaten up

So, yesterday, I decided to go, with a friend, to a Power Sculpt class at my local gym. I have been to this class once before and liked it (meaning that I survived!). It is cardio combined with weights.

Anyway, I took my 4 yr old with me for the first time. He was so excited to go play. He was in the child care for about 1 hour. When I went to pick him up, he was in tears. A couple of other boys were kicking and punching him, because he wanted to play with them! He was ok. He, mostly, just got his feelings hurt. I was so sad for him. It broke my heart. He is the baby of the family and his older brother and sisters were so upset to hear about this. Needless to say, I won't be taking him back. So, unless my husband is working from home, I won't be going back to Power Sculpt. :(

It was a great class, though! I am totally feeling it today! I am heading to the gym later on tonight to do my 3rd day of running this week. Hopefully, my sore muscles will not give me any trouble...

what to eat

Just over 2 years ago, I did a Biggest Loser Competition with some people at church. We started on October 1st and ended the first week of January. I did very well in this competition. I lost 25.6 lbs! But, sadly, I came in 2nd place. I lost by 1 1/2lbs. I was upset. I felt like a failure. So, I stopped doing what was working and gradually gained it all back plus 10lbs. What a disaster!

I think that I really had the wrong attitude about all of this. How could I feel like a failure when I lost 25 lbs?? It seems crazy to me, now. I really did myself a disservice by not realizing what I had achieved and just kept going. I can see this now, but I couldn't back then.

2 years ago, I felt like I was on a diet. Now, I know that I am making a complete lifestyle change! This is not ever going to end. If I want to be healthy and strong and live a full and complete life, I have to change things for good. I can never go back to the old me with the bad attitude.

Anyway, I wanted to record how I ate back then when I was doing so well losing weight. I never really counted calories. I just didn't have the time or desire. I pretty much ate the same thing every day. This helped a lot! Giving me choices was not a good thing. I would end up eating so much more.

Breakfast
a container of light yogurt with 1/4 cup granola
or
1 serving oatmeal with splenda

Morning Snack
apple or banana

Lunch
turkey sandwich on low calorie bread with mustard and as many veggies as available (lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, etc.)
single serving bag of baked chips
diet dr. pepper

Afternoon Snack
pria bar (my chocolate for the day)

Dinner
green salad with low calorie salad dressing
meat (baked chicken, pork roast, fish, etc)
steamed veggies or 1/2 sweet potato
*I never had any carbs with dinner.

Night Snack
low-calorie kettle corn, single serving package
sugar free chocolate pudding with fat free cool whip
*If I was still hungry after having one snack, I would just go to bed.
Also, if I was ever hungry during the day, I would just eat another apple.

How do you eat to lose weight? What works for you?

Weigh In Week #2

Well, after 1 week, I am only down .5 lb. My weight this morning was 207.8.

In my head, I know that a slow and steady weight loss is the way to go, but I would love it if I lost it all quickly. :) I'm sure I could have lost more, if I had done better with my eating. I had way too many treats this week. I did great with my exercise, though.

In looking towards this next week, I think my goal will be to not have any carbs with dinner (this is a weight loss hinder for me) and to go to bed earlier. The later I stay up, the more I want to snack!

Giveaway

No, I am not doing a giveaway (I don't think that anyone reads this blog!), but Pudget is!

Go HERE to enter.

last night

Last night, I came home from the gym on a total high.

"I am a runner! I totally rock!"

Yes, that is what I texted (is that a word? I am so old.) to my friend, D. I actually did it! I ran - a lot! Well, a lot for me. I headed out with the hope that I could do a little bit of day 1 from this program. I really surprised myself by being able to do the entire first workout!

I was so proud of myself. I really have had to stretch myself to even try and believe that I could run. 7 1/2 years ago, I broke my ankle. It was really bad. I had to have large screws and a metal plate put in to hold it together. I had a long recovery and, since then, have been worried to run, thinking that my ankle couldn't handle it. Well, it did great last night. In fact, I had some pain in my right calf, but my ankle was fine.

I gained some more confidence last night. If I push myself, I know that I can accomplish great things. What a good lesson to learn, especially since it applies to much more than running.

me, a runner?

I have always thought it would be great to be a runner. Are you a runner? My husband is. But I, most definitely, am not. That is about to change, though.

As one of my fitness goals this year, I have decided to run a 5k with my family on February 27th. Time is slowly ticking away. Last week, I went to the gym every day. I typically walk on the treadmill at 3.5mph for 25 minutes. I warm up and cool down for 5 minutes each. During minutes 10-20, I raise the incline to 5.0. This is what has worked for my weight loss in the past.

Now that I have decided to run, I figured that I had better start trying. The first couple of days, I was able to run 1 minute. At the end of the week, I was running for 2 minutes. Not the kind of progress I was hoping for. Truthfully, I wasn't really trying that hard.

Today, I found a program called Couch-to-5K Running Plan! (Thanks to Pudget! If you aren't already reading her blog, you should be!)

Anyway, I hoping to start week 1 day 1 tonight at the gym. I'll let you know how it goes!