Approaching the Holiday Feast

Okay... not me, but the majority of you are going to have multiple opportunities to enjoy your favorite foods over the next few days. Ham, turkey, prime rib or maybe even a tradurken. Not sure if that's spelled correctly, but it's a duck stuffed in a chicken then a chicken stuffed in a turkey... meat-lover's dream! Then you add potatoes, gravy, stuffing green bean casserole (not as healthy as it sounds), breads, pies, cookies... well, you know what's ahead.

Since beginning the road to a healthier way of eating, I'm not even in the mood to do my holiday baking this year. In past years I've spent one entire day baking upwards of 70-100 dozen cookies to share with friends and businesses. So far this year I've made one batch of chocolate chip that although edible, are not as good as they should be. I also made snowballs (my granddaughter's favorite), gingerbread men (made with splenda and my daughter's favorite) and no-bake cookies (my future SIL's favorite). Those all got shipped to TN. I have my shortbread sandwich cookie and the uber-rich sugar cookie doughs chilling in the fridge. And I've even bought the box of rice krispies for 1-cup cookies. And I just can't get in the mood to bake any of them. I'm thinking of making one sheet of each of the sugar cookies then freezing the rest of the dough for this spring when the granddaughter comes to visit. They'll make just as adorable Easter Egg shaped cookies as they will stars and bells.

Now, I can't say I've been a good little girl all the time. More aware? Yes. But I'm also human and know I've eaten things here and there not on my plan. I've also not been on the Wii in almost two weeks. Not because I didn't want to. I LOVE it! But we brought all the Christmas decorations tubs back from storage and they've been taking up the work-out space in the living room. Hopefully I can finish getting them emptied tomorrow and they can get out of the way.

Oh yeah.. and I've not done well on our local BL group. I lost a total of 1.4 pounds over 7 weeks. I yoyo'd. To add to that, hubby offered up a challenge. Whichever one of us loses the most weight in the 3 weeks he's gone, gets a $100 shopping trip. Hmmm I still have a week to go. Wonder how well I'll do. I know he's been doing the Slim Fast 1-2-3 plan. So I'm thinking that $100 is his. I hope so... because after all his hard work this trip out, if he doesn't lose any weight, I fear he'll just give up and he needs to lose the weight or further damage the hip he already has issues with. I'd sacrifice the $100 for that.

I'm taking the next week off. But I'll be back to wish you a Happy New year and maybe stay on track.

Merry Christmas! and Enjoy the Journey

Catching up and a New toy!

Yep... Santa came early to our house.

While we were in TN at our daughter's, my husband got the Xbox bug. He didn't actually try it out, but he liked the option of playing games while NOT being parked on the couch. Unlike the PS or Direct TV game channel, you actually have to get off your duff and get ::: gasp ::: exercise while playing a game.

So Thursday night we hit the pre-Black Friday sale at our local Walmart for an XBox bundle - only to find out the 'tickets' for them were handed out long before the sale was to start. The next day we went to a SuperCenter in a nearby town. We didn't anticipate any systems left but thought we'd look anyway.

What we came home with was the Wii and Wii Fit Plus, along with Wii Sports pack, Jillean Michaels (Me), Tiger Woods golf and Dangerous Hunts 2011 (Bob). I'm really enjoying the Fit and Sports. I do the Wii Fit plus for an hour in the morning and then play some of the sports games in the evening. My fav on the Fit Plus is the Step workout. But I use some of the balance games as my warm-up, then do the Step workout for aerobics, the some of the other aerobics as a cool down. I'm also enjoying the boxing.. something I didn't think I'd like at all. However, this morning I managed to pop my left knew - the one I'd injured summer of 2010. So my legs are cramping a lot right now. It will be a 'take it easy' kind of day and no tennis/ bowling tonight, I'm sure.

I am down to 179 according to my scales. I managed to gain 2 pounds while we were in Nashville. Ate what I should most of the time, just not regular. I really need to focus on that end more when I travel, which I hope to do more of in 2012.

What's your favorite way to exercise?

BL Week 2

Wow! I just don't know where the time goes. Remember being a kid and thinking an event would never come? Things like Birthday's and Christmas? Well, that's kind of where I am right now.

We have company coming in on Friday. I've been trying desperately to get the house presentable and beyond so I can get Christmas decorations up after Thanksgiving. Company leaves on Sunday and we leave for three days in Nashville. Our oldest grandtoddler turns 4 on Tuesday. She's called me every 3rd day for the past month wanting to know 2 things - Can she come to my house and is grandpa going to bring her baby doll (what she asked for her birthday). I can't believe it's almost that time and I still have so much I want to do in the house.

Add that I'm trying to write 50,000 words of a new novel in 30 days that just doesn't want to come together. Yeah... just a little stress.

Thankfully I'm not a 'stress' eater. Just the opposite. I get busy and forget to eat. Not eating regularly can be just as damaging to a weight loss plan. But I'm trying.

As of last Friday's weigh-in I'd lost 1 pound. I'd be happy with being down 1 pound a week. I managed to gain back that pound last weekend while I was in Springfield. I think it was the soda thing in the hotel because I didn't have my iced tea. But I've since lost it. So only 1 pound to go in the next 2 days. Hmmm

Are you a stress eater? What triggers your over eating/ or lack of eating? Let's chat!

Enjoy the journey!

Inspiration

Everyone gets their inspiration for things from different sources. The same applies to our push to finally shed the pounds.

Aside from the fact I know that it is the healthy thing to do. I want to be around a long time to enjoy my two young granddaughters. Adrian will turn four in a few days and Abigail was born on October 13th. By the grace of the God and Goddess, they have a long life ahead of them and I want to be around to enjoy every step of the way.

As I've talked about in an earlier post, there's a bit of vanity involved. Whether she'll admit it or not, there is a part of every woman that wants to know she can still catch a guy's attention. Happily married to my best friend of 28 years, I still wouldn't mind a honk, wolf whistle or 'decent' comment when I walk buy.

While enjoying an Artists Day in Paducah KY last month, I started my day with an early morning walk through the art district, just enjoying the quiet of the morning and getting a plan of what I wanted to see once stores and galleries opened up. As I walked down Artists Alley, I walked by a guy sitting on a bench reading the morning paper and enjoying a cup of coffee. Nearly half a block past him, I heard a comment float on the crisp air behind me... 'nice butt'. I turned to see who had spoken. We were the only two on the street. He raised his cup of coffee in a salute and smiled. I returned the smile then continued on my way. I spent the rest of the day with a lighter step and a new confidence. I knew my battle with weight loss was starting to pay off. Let me tell you, nothing can motivate you more than a POSITIVE comment.

With the Main Street Grocery Biggest Loser, the cash prize doesn't hurt the motivation either. I mean, seriously, who can't use a little extra cash right now?

Then there's Jay Wornick. Jay began losing weight on a New Years Resolution bet from his wife January 2011. As you'll see in the story, he's lost almost 200 pounds in 10 months. The prize was the loser would have the winner's name tatooted on their stomach. Okay, not exactly my inspiration but as I said, everyone has something different that motivates them.

So my question for today... What will motivate you to finally make the move to be a healthier you?

Whatever it is, remember to...

Enjoy the Journey!

Week 1 begins!

I weighed in last Friday to begin the next seven weeks of our local BL group. So far there are only eight of us participating... half of what we had last time. I don't know if the prospect of trying to lose weight right here at the holidays is scaring them off or not. I figure if I can lose some weight, I have a bit of wiggle room to enjoy samplings of favorites I only get this time of year without doing too much damage.

This time I'm going to give both weights... the official and (home). So here we go.

Starting: 184.6 (180)

I'm also starting Slim in 6 tomorrow. I'd intended to start today but I've had to be away from the house most of the day and no time to finish clearing the living room to give me space. I'm hoping to at least use the bedroom floor for pilate stretches tonight.

Enjoying the Journey!

Monday Musings

And blessed Halloween.

Hard to believe we are at the end of another month. October was such a busy time for me, I can understand how it seemed to fly by.

After only two days home from Eureka Springs, I headed to Nashville (Okay, Antioch but close enough) for the birth of my second granddaughter. Abigail Jasmine made her appearance on Oct. 13th. She is such a beautiful baby and so alert. And man can that girl eat!

I walked nearly every day while I was there. Adrian would get on her big wheel and we'd travel around the complex area. She kept grandma on the go for seven fun-filled days. Can't wait till I see her again for her 4th birthday in a couple weeks.

My weight is bobbling in around 177. Main Street Grocery is starting another 7-week round of The Biggest Loser on Friday the 4th. I'm really going to push hard. Since I'll be sitting a lot for National Novel Writing Month, it's even more important that I MAKE time to work out. I'm going to start the Slim in 6 work out video next week. This week it's just stretching and dancing. My goal is to drop at least 6 pounds this time. That's less than 1 pound per week and one I could be happy with right here going into the holidays.

How is your weight loss going? Or is it? Stop and tell us how you're doing and let's cheer one another on!

Enjoy the journey!

Monday Musings

I got in late last night from the Ozark Creative Writers conference. I couldn't resist spending time in Eureka Springs. After checking out of the hotel at 11, I walked up to the Crescent Hotel (yes the same hotel seen on Ghost Hunters with the TAPS team) and back. I took time to chat with a realtor, shower Repo the little bull dog with some love and interview a B & B owner. Yep, always working the writing angle.

Then I drove through the historic district, parking on the far end of Main street in free parking (most lots run $5 for the day - and are jam packed on the weekend). I walked back up through town, again stopping to visit with locals enjoying the day on their porch, shop owners I know and lunch at my favorite spot, The Rowdy Beaver. I wish I'd thought to take a picture of my lunch so you could see what a bad girl I was. But in my defense I only get to the Rowdy Beaver once or twice a year and I didn't eat the french fries. When you go to the homepage, you'll see a counter on the left side of the picture of the den's interior. This is a great place to sit and people watch while you enjoy your meal. Though I did spend part of my time checking out the flat screen for the Bronco game :-)

I got on the scales this morning at 179... neither up nor down a pound. I'm seeing the loss more in my face and in my thighs (all that walking).

How are you doing on your journey?

Living the journey

Kelly