All quarter in the black. :)

Last night was the last weigh-in of the year. I lost half a pound. This whole quarter (Sept-Dec) I have been in the black--losing 12 weeks and staying the same 1 week. It resulted in a 17 pound loss. I am very happy with that. I will get an award at the next area fun day and as vain as it sounds, I love recognition. :)

It's not a gift.

For 12 solid weeks, I lost weight. I rocked it. It really wasn't hard. I had my mindset correct. I liked to feel the energy I received from exercise. My stomach turned at the thought of artificial ingredients, fake food, white bread, etc. It was easy. My weight loss felt like a gift. I just felt blessed and all pulled together. I wasn't struggling. at all.

IT IS NOT A GIFT.

A gift is something you get just because. Weight loss isn't just randomly handed to you with a Merry Christmas. Weight loss only comes because of something your are DOING. works.

I had this mentality of "oh yeah, I've got this. I'm losing weight and I can not fail.". That is a bad way to think! My weight loss mentor (whom I text every night) is in the midst of a long term family emergency and I'm not texting her (...there goes a big accountability thing...uh oh!). Then I got sick (again) with this sinus, cough, low energy stuff and I felt like NOT exercising so I haven't been. (yeah...so much for my "rule" of eating what I planned--- I threw that out way too easily). Throw in the fact that it is a few days before payday, we are broke and there's not a lot of choices in the kitchen. Bad choices are SO easy to justify!!!

JUSTIFYING BAD CHOICES is the exact same thing as MAKING EXCUSES.

Yes, I have been making them.

And so....after 12 weeks of losses, last night I had a turtle (stayed the same).

I need to pull myself together. NOW.


One good choice makes the next good choice easier.... Good choices, here I come.

Grandma doesn't love you just because you eat her cookies

WHY do we waste calories on foods we don't love? I just ate 4-5 coconut oatmeal cookies that weren't even good very good. But grandma made them and brought them to me saying "Merry Christmas" and the next thing you know, I'm eating them. For some reason, my brain said, "You HAVE to eat these! Your sweet grandma made them for you!" UGH! I'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed! Lesson learned: "If you don't love it and if you don't have the calories for it and if isn't good for you, get it OUT OF YOUR HOUSE!"

12 in a row

Just a short note to say that YES I did have another loss Monday night (half pound) so I've gone 12 in a row :)

21 things I bet you didn't know about me

1. I am 8 inches taller than my husband.

2. I want to just go to church and not have to serve in any manner and not feel guilty about that. (there is always a shortage of workers, be it Sunday School teachers, church cleaners, people willing to be the treasurer, etc)

3. I love ice cream, especially mocha.

4. I haven't cut my hair since 1993.

5. Facial hair is a constant battle. *sigh*

6. I stay on facebook way too much.

7. I dream of having everything clean and perfectly organized but I never have time to do it all (see #6 again).

8. I'd love to go to a fancy hotel, all by myself, work out in their gym, go to a spa and get a facial and get my facial hair taken care of (see #5 again LOL), then go back to my room and watch the Biggest Loser and get a lot of sleep. Not that I'd ever be able to do that without feeling like I'm neglecting my sleep, but I do daydream of that LOL

9. We go to the library EVERY Monday.

10. I check out 3 health magazines from the library every week.

11. We check out an average of 30 books PER WEEK. My kids read A LOT.

12. I think I will have a job doing public speaking of some sort one day way down the road.

13. I measure honey with a medicine cup.

14. I love tights.

15. I CRAVE pancakes with Griffin's syrup but since that syrup is 500 CALORIES for a half cup, I no longer buy it.

16. I quit school at age 15 (which is illegal).

17. I miscarried in 2004.

18. I drink my water from a 44 ounce Sonic cup.

19. I make lists. Every day. And I feel like a failure when I don't accomplish everything on my list. (can anyone say ocd?)

20. I have an emotional need for words of affirmation. (This is not always a good thing)

21. When I become the TOPS Queen, I plan to ride on the back of a convertible and wave at people in parades. :)


I was tagged by Jessica at "See How She Runs".

I don't know how to link people's pages, but I'm tagging:

Jane Cartelli at keepingthepoundsoff.com
Carb Tripper (Anne H)
Dawn (Lay down my idols)

flop

Guess what? December is busy! and NOT NORMAL! LOL

Even though I believed I had a rock solid determination, I had TWO flop days this past week. Flop day number one I didn't exercise because I was busy, busy, busy and by 10 p.m. I was too tired. I also ate a kashi mocha bar even when I had used all of my calories. Ok, that wasn't a HUGE flop but it wasn't on target either!

Flop day #2 was Saturday. I started my day with my kashi cereal and later had some fruit, so I didn't just wake up planning to fail. However, Saturday was crazy busy! (4 hours of shopping, cleaned the church, went to a parade, constant something!) When I stopped by my parent's, my dad gave me a donut. I ate it. (mistake!) I was hungry for junk from that point on. While cleaning the church, there were Christmas cookies in the kitchen. I ate one. Supper was a happy meal. *sigh* I ate candy from the parade and then went home and ate cereal and a pb&j sandwich at approx 10:30 p.m. and go NO exercise in! FAIL!

And so, I made new rules for myself and I hate them but they help! #1 I must get up at 6 a.m. and get my exercise DONE first. (I am SO not a morning person...waaa!) Rule #2 Each night before I go to bed, I must write down exactly what I will be eating the next day and then stick to it. If someone gives me something yummy, I can take it home and work it into the next day's food plan. NO IMPULSE EATING.

yep. December is not easy. But I refuse to fail.

rest vs. exercise

I normally only allow myself one day per week that I don't exercise-- Wednesdays--because Wednesdays are hectic for me with school, daughter's therapy and then church.

However, this week has been busy busy busy busy. I've been to the dentist twice this week. I've had more errands and paperwork to take care of than normal, along with my normal busyness.

I am so tired.

I know that being excessively tired is not healthy. I WANT to finish up what has to be done tonight and go to bed super early (I'm thinking 8).

But on the other hand............I don't want to be making excuses to miss my workout.

tired tired tired.

What to do?

Rocking it.

I'm still rocking it :) Last night was week number 11 of losses. 19 pounds gone in 11 weeks. I'm 44 pounds from my highest weight ever. Yes.

I have a super busy day today:
school, errands, dentist, Christmas shopping.

No time to blog or read other's blogs! I will catch up soon!

Thanks for reading!

banana

*Step away from the banana and no one gets hurt*

I eat a banana every morning in my kashi cereal, so I felt nervous when I realized we were down to my last banana. I'm not taking my chances on it being gone tomorrow--I claimed it LOL

Today I ate 100% healthy and on plan and had a very high energy day. I need to do that EVERY day. It is so much better than the junk food/feel bad days.

:) goodnight.

Thanks, guys :)

Thank you all for the comments you have left the me past couple of days. They really are encouraging and helpful!

Yesterday I wrote out exactly what I will eat today. It is healthy and balanced and I will stick to it. Today I will write out tomorrow's food. While I'm feeling kind of "wobbley" I think I will do this daily. It takes my emotions out of my eating.

I'm planning to have a rocking great day. I hope you do too!!!!!!

Thanks again!