Its a Good Life.

(Our wedding day)

Today is my Anniversary. I have been married to the man of my dreams for 6 short years now. We were both talking last night and saying how fast the years have gone by. I guess when your busy with two kids, work, animals and life... well, it does fly!


Part of my anniversary present from Hubby was a girls night out last night! I went to the salon and got my nails done and then off to the local hot spot and watched my friend compete in the local Country Showdown. She is an awesome singer, but ended up in second place after an older gentleman that came with his guitar and sang his heart out.


I was good and stuck to drinking cranberry and club soda.. (2 of them come to about 280 cal.) and danced a lot! There were so many people that it must have been 100 degrees in there. I only stayed until 9 pm (yes, I'm getting too old to stay out past bedtime) and was home and in bed by 9:45. It was nice to get out and have fun with friends. I had a ton of compliments in my 'new' old skinny jeans!

Today I am going to do a massive clean house and make Hubby's favorite dinner of salmon, shrimp and rice. :)

Proof of Pain

My 4 yr old got a camera for her birthday... *she rocks *... and got a pic of her Mommy after a hellish workout. So there, I have proof!!

Show me your proof!!

Reward Yourself

Nothing feels better then working towards, and obtaining, a certain goal. Really, what else could we ask for but finishing what we started out doing in the first place. I wish I was closer to finishing my journey... and in time I will be... but for now I can enjoy the here and now.

Anyway, Hubby reminded me of one of my goals that I was working towards and had somehow forgotten about. I am working towards having an amazing body, but mostly so I can put THIS on it!!

That's right.... Tiger Lily's!!! I love this tattoo and dream about it looking that good on me. Obviously this woman is in great shape and probably weighs 110 lbs... but here is my goal :

I have a half marathon coming up in January that I am super excited to run. It is 6 months away, which gives me time to drop at least 20 more lbs. IF I lose the weight and finish the half marathon I will reward myself with this tattoo! Talk about an awesome prize.

In other news... I wore a pair of my 'skinny jeans' all day yesterday with no pain, no numb legs and no red marks across my belly!! They are a size 14 in Juniors that I used to wear when I was 21... 10 years ago! Yes, that is how long I have stuffed these bad boys in the cold, dark corner of my closet. Now they are seeing the sunshine!!

Monday Weigh In...

182.2

That is a total of -2.2 lbs this week!!! YES!!

I will confess that I did not stay off the scale this weekend. Not only because I am madly in love with it and just can't keep my feet off of it, but because , with Hubby being home, I was eating a little differently and wanted to make sure it was still working for me. I actually saw a huge spike on Saturday morning (184) but my fingers were so bloated that my rings were way too tight. So I drank more then enough water and was back down to 182.4 by Sunday morning.

I think I am finally getting the hang of this whole thing. Jillian describes it best when she said "all pistons have to be firing at the same time".

I am finally eating the perfect number of calories, working out 4 days a week, drinking tons of water and , most importantly, staying away from temptation. I think the biggest thing is that I have not eaten ANY dairy products (including cheese, yogurt, ice cream... etc) or sugar products for two weeks. You don't know how much better I am feeling. My stomach is so happy with me. I guess I have finally made peace with being lactose intolerant.

I have to get off the computer and get my run in before life gets too hectic today.

A BIG shout out to Michelle who just finished her first triathlon!!!!!!!! You amaze me girl, what an inspiration.

I was a huge Micheal Jackson fan back in the 80's and 90's... I think this was the best memorial anyone could have done!

There's a glitch in my head....

182.6

I keep expecting this to stop. I climb on the scale every morning thinking "I doubt it"... but then it happens. I lose a little bit more weight. The numbers keep getting lower and lower and it amazes me.

I think this is the longest period of time in which I've lost weight every single day. I'm a little amazed..... and a little scared. I think I may be having a little bit of an anxiety attack about weighing in under 180.

This isn't new. Usually when I am doing this well I end up feeling like this and then immediately do something to ruin it. It took me almost a year to get out of the 190's. I don't know if this time I am feeling anxiety about actually succeeding or if its more for the fear of self sabotage. All I know is that whatever I'm doing right now is working and I don't want it to stop. I WANT to reach my goal...

So, to keep the anxiety at bay... I'm only going to weigh myself on Monday's. I know this is working, I don't need to check my weight everyday. Maybe then I can sneak into the 170's without my mind freaking out.

Be Proud of It

182.8

One of the things I have noticed the past couple of weeks is how good my food is looking on the plate. Even Hubby is 'wow'ing it every time I serve him. That isn't something that would happen when the food came out of a box... or from a To-Go bag. Now I'm using fresh veggies, fish, shrimp, chicken and beef. Each meal, to me, is a masterpiece.

Some of my goals in the kitchen:

Make it colorful! I put in a ton of veggies... and each one is a different color!!

Spice it up! Seasoning doesn't have calories.. get brave and start playing around with them. You'll be surprised.

Balance it out! Whatever your making... make sure its well balanced. Add some brown rice or whole grain noodles to give you your carbs!

Be proud of the food you put on your plate. Even if your the only one that is going to enjoy it.

I was AMAZED to see 182 this morning. I am so close to saying goodbye to the 180's forever... and hello to a whole new me!!

God's Pharmacy

183.4

Thanks for all the wonderful compliments yesterday. I don't know why I still hate myself in pictures. I guess I still see all the work that needs to be done. I can say that I look a h#** of a lot better then my before pic at 220 lbs!!

I got this in an email yesterday that I thought was a fantastic way of looking at food:

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... All before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We're such slow learners...God left us great clues as to what foods help what part of our body!
God's Pharmacy! Amazing!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... And YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All o f the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts..

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Today I am officially at my lowest weight since all of this started. I hope to proclaim that everyday from now on!

The much awaited... picture day.

One of my faithful readers (**ahem, MAC'N CHANGES**) thought it was time for me to have a picture day. I hate pics.. but the last time I updated my pics was a long time ago and it would be nice to start seeing the changes again. So I guess the 7th of every month will be my lucky picture day!! Here is a pic of me today after my workout and shower...

184.2 lbs ( 29.7 BMI)

July workout goals...

184.2

Sometimes its the little things I get excited about. Like being able to write down my exercise for the day. I came across a great blog yesterday where I was able to copy off this calender. It has a place to write in your goals for the month at the top... and then the rest is up to you! It comes in beautiful designs too (I just didn't have any color ink so had to use Plain Jane) This is hanging right next to my computer so I can see it every morning and get motivated! I want to make sure something is written in every day!

(in case you cant read my handwriting... this months goals are to do 31 miles (or a mile a day), 2600 crunches (100 a day), 135 perfect push ups (5 'manly' push ups a day) and 260 knee push ups ( 10 knee p/u's a day) and I just added 500 pull ups (20 pull ups a day). This is just what I want to accomplish every day on its own. It does not include extra workouts like P90X and Tae Bo!! )

This will be very handy next month when I start my training! I'll be able to keep track of how many miles I need to do every day!

My weight is consistently going down .2 lbs a day. Slow and steady is definitely the way to go.