abajeb

I am sooooo excited to be heading back to the gym tonight.  They finally got electricity back on there yesterday, so they’re open today.  My hubby said he’ll feed baby supper so I can go as soon as he gets home.  I am such a dork, I know, but I have really missed my workouts.  I never want to go a week without working out again!  I know, I know, I could’ve worked out here at home.  But with no electricity and ice everywhere, it wasn’t exactly high on my priority list, if ya know what I mean.  I’m worried about falling behind on my Couch to 5K program.  I’m going to stay at week 2 of the program this week (I had only attempted 1 day of the week 3 workouts before my unfortunate hiatus from working out started).  That means intervals of 90 seconds jogging and  2 min. walking.  I’m going to do that for 30 min. and then jump on the elliptical for 30 min., if I can.  If I’m not feeling up to it, I will just come home and do my strength training here (free weights/squats) instead.  Either way, I am very glad to have birthdays, Super Bowl parties, and power outages (hopefully) behind me for awhile.  Some normalcy and getting back to my routine is what I need! 

Sheesh, what a week!  I was so happy to have a snow day (I’m a teacher) on Tuesday for my 30th birthday … but then things got very ugly due to heavy ice/snowfall - over 2,000 utility poles snapped, 85% of the city (including me) with no electricity, no phone lines or even cell phones that worked, and 15 degree temperatures.  I hate to sound dramatic, but the last few days, I was just focused on survival and not on my diet/exercise plan.  LOL  With having a 13-month old at home, my husband and I were doing all we could to conserve heat and just make do.  We put blankets over all of the windows/doors, closed off any rooms we weren’t using, took advantage of our cold garage to keep our food from spoiling, boiled pots of water on the gas stove to create more heat, dressed in lots of layers, and used our wood-burning fireplace at night.  The entire state of Kentucky has been declared a disaster area, with over 607,000 homes/businesses without power.  There were 5 shelters set up in my city by the Red Cross, but all were maxed out yesterday.  Thank goodness our power came back on yesterday.  We were down to our last fire log and not sure of what to do next.  The only friend/relative we had with power up until last night was my grandmother.  It was crazy, with me, my daughter, my parents, and a bunch of cousins all crammed into her little 1-bedroom apartment.  LOL  We’ve survived, though, and even though the utility company says some people may be without power for 3 weeks, we are some of the lucky ones.  Our phone lines are still down and there is no cell phone service, but somehow our internet is working (right now, at least).  The power has flickered on and off a few times, but it’s holding steady now.  I just signed on to check in so my buddies would know I didn’t fall off the face of the earth.  :)  We’re expecting warmer temps this weekend, which will hopefully thaw things out a bit and get things back to normal.  We lost tons of branches/trees around our house but have thankfully only found one small leak in our roof (so far).  Our roof was damaged in a wind storm in September, but we weren’t able to get it repaired before winter.  We are thankful now that the roof money has just been sitting in savings until this spring, because we are REALLY going to need a new roof now.  LOL

My diet has been very bad this week, and I haven’t worked out since Monday (the ice storm hit Tuesday and got much worse Tuesday night/Wed.).  Now that our power is on, I am busy getting caught up on laundry, loading/unloading dishwasher, vacumming, and all of that other stuff you can’t do when the power is out.  I am so looking forward to some normalcy!  LOL

Today is my b-day, and it’s the big 3-0.  I got the best gift a teacher can get - a snow day!  :D  I’m enjoying my day off, but this whole turning 30 thing is freaking me out a bit.  I just saw that under my picture on the Buddy Slim post I just wrote, it says, “Age:  30.”  Yikes!!!  Hard to believe my 20’s are gone.  I don’t feel sad, really, just kinda freaked out about the whole thing.

Speaking of  things that are gone, the 3 pound loss I had this weekend is already back.  What’s up with that?  I was up 4 pounds this morning.  I hate that it’s humanly possible to gain 4 pounds in 4 days, but whatever … I know it’s because I’ve been over-indulging in birthday dinners, cake, etc.  I’m letting myself have pizza for supper tonight, but then it’s ON again starting tomorrow.  Those 4 pounds WILL be gone by Saturday, even if I don’t lose a darned thing extra.  I am SOOOOOOOOOO close (2 pounds!) from my first mini-goal … I need to maintain at 230 this week so that by the next weigh-in, I can those last 2 pesky pounds and reach my mini goal.

On a happy note, it’s nice to know that this will be my last birthday weighing 200+ pounds.  :D 

I had not one, but TWO people at two different times compliment me on my weight loss at work today.  :D  Admittedly, I had on my old jeans that are now so baggy I can take them off without unbuttoning them, but still!  I was pumped! 

I was down another 2 pounds this morning, puttng me at a total of 27 pounds lost (12 since joining BuddySlim).  I didn’t even track my calories this week.  I only worked out 4 days this week, too and actually feel a little guilty for not getting 5 days of workouts in.  Oh well … I may do a little strength training tonight so I can feel like I did something. 

My 30th birthday is Tuesday, and we already have plans to go out to eat Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday with different people - yikes!  I will really have to watch it this week.  I need to try and get in an extra workout - maybe 6 days this next week.  That should help make up for any over-indulging I do.  :)  I’m only 3 pounds from my first mini goal (my pre-pregnancy weight), and I really don’t want to have a gain from eating too much cake or whatever.

Okay, I may be crazy because there’s no way I can run even CLOSE to 3.1 miles right now, but I signed up for a 5K on May 1st of this year.  I’m on week 2 of the “Couch to 5K” program which is supposed to help you run a 5K in just 9 weeks.  I’m praying that it works and I can stick with it so that I’ll actually be able to make it through the whole 5K on May 1st.  My hubby is signing up with me (he’s been doing the Couch to 5K program, too).  I’ so excited!!!

I decided to tweak my goals a little bit on my weight tracker.  228 is my pre-pregnancy weight, so I decided to make that my first mini-goal (not to mention that I’m really close to it and thought it would motivate me more to set a very realistic mini-goal to start with!).  I also changed my ultimate goal to 160.  I’m 5′8″ and have a very athletic build (broad shoulders, long torso, etc.) when all of this fat is out of the way.  I weighed 161 at my lightest and was very comfortable with myself at that weight - I could wear a size 11 or 12 and a few size 10’s.  My goal all along (even back then) was to hit 150.  I have this idea in my head that I have to get to 150 for some reason, even though a healthy weight range for a woman my height is 124-164.  I was stuck at 165-ish for about a year and could not break into the 150s.  I got frustrated, and started gaining a little weight here and there.  I’m never going to be a size 5 … I’m just not built that way, so why should I shoot for an abstract number that may not be best for my body?  I’m going to make 160 my new goal.  Once I reach that, if I really feel like I need to lose another 10 pounds or so, I’ll worry about it then.  For now, I can concentrate on losing 5 more pounds to reach my new mini goal.  Baby steps. 

I have been kicking butt this week with the cardio.  If my calculations are right, I did 325 min. of cardio last week and 345 min. this week.  The only bad part is that I’ve been slacking on strength training this week.  I only worked out with weights 1 night and did some crunches, lunges, and push-ups off and on all week.  This week, I’m going to try and keep up the intense cardio, but also add in more strength training.  More toning = more muscle = more calories burned throughout the day even when I’m not exercising.

I started the “Couch to 5K” program this morning, thanks to a post I read in the forums.  I hadn’t ran in a LONG time, but I made it through the whole first 30 min. workout without a problem really, and then did another 30 min. on the elliptical after that.  I was really proud of myself for not only completing the whole workout, running 8 minutes, and burning a ton of calories, but for getting up at 6am on a Sunday so I could go work out before church.  It was so nice - the gym was practically deserted (I saw 3 people the whole time I was there, and one was just coming in as I was leaving), and I felt so great afterwards.  I really need to make time to exercise in the mornings more, even though it means getting up super early.

A few friends and I had a contest back when we were in college (like 8 years ago - ouch!) to help us lose weight.  I was an exercise fanatic at the time, teaching aerobics classes part time and exercising like 90 min. a day, 6-7 days a week, so I kicked everyone’s butt and won the contest.  LOL  Anyway, one of the friends who was involved in the contest back then decided to organize a similar one now.  I agreed to join, because I figure every little extra incentive I can have right now to help jumpstart my weight loss is a good thing.  There are about 8 of us in the contest, and here’s how it works:

You pay $10 to start
For every day that you don’t drink at least 6 classes of water, you must pay 50-cents
For every day that you don’t exercise for at least 20 min., you must pay 50-cents

After 12 weeks, the money will be split between the person who loses the most pounds and the person who loses the most inches.  I’m not really expecting to win, but I think it’ll be good motivation to make sure I drink my water and get my exercise in every day - I’m just a cheap bastard and don’t want to have to pay a fine for not doing what I’m supposed to.  LOL

Well, Christmas break is over, and it was back to school today.  The kids were actually pretty good, mainly because they were half asleep all day.  LOL  That’s okay … I can handle sleepy students - it’s the rowdy ones that get on my nerves.

I was exhausted because I didn’t sleep well again last night.  I don’t know what my deal is.  I still went to the gym and did 60 min. of cardio right after school (15 min. on treadmill, 45 min. on elliptical).  I was really proud of myself for going to work out because the first day back after a break is always the toughest at work, and if I managed to work out today, I really have no excuse to skip on other days.  :)  My “rest days” this week will be Wednesday and possibly Thursday, due to obligations at work in the afternoon on those days.  We’ll see … I may be able to sneak to the gym in the evening after Savannah goes to bed or get up at 4:15 and go in the morning before getting ready for work if my 24-hour access card is ready.

I really pushed myself today and did 30 min. on the elliptical, followed by 30 min. of interval training on the treadmill.   I burned a TON of calories. Woo hoo!  I also ordered the mixed grill at Olive Garden tonight for my mom’s b-day dinner, and I only ate half of my meal.  I did eat 2 breadsticks, but I only had 1/2 piece of birthday cake and gave the rest to my hubby.  All in all, I would call that a success.  :) 

I REALLY am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.  I miss my students, but Christmas break is just so wonderful … I have really enjoyed myself.  My family totally spoiled me with my Christmas gifts this year, and I had such a great time spending extra time with my daughter.  Oh well … I get a 3 day weekend in 2 weeks, so I’ll just focus on that. 

Well, it wasn’t my first workout at a gym EVER, but my first workout in the gym in almost 2 years - yikes!  I only did 15 min. on the elliptical and 20 min. on the treadmill.  I realized I am REALLY out of shape … it’s hard to believe I used to be able to run 3 miles at a time.  LOL  Oh well … I’ll get back to that level eventually.

My eating was really weird today, do to lack of sleep and a busy day that included shopping and 4 hours of work at school to get things ready for next.  I didn’t really eat a full meal all day - just snacks and mini meals (most of them not all that healthy).  I’m being brutally honest, so here’s what I ate today.  Please don’t judge me.  LOL: 

Homemade cranberry scone
Bacon-egg-cheese bagel from McD’s
Milky Way candy bar
1 cup nutty sweet potato soup (SO good!!!!)
a few goldfish crackers and teddy grahams when my daughter was snacking
2 servings of this creamy chicken casserole thing my hubby made - it was awesome, but it had cheese, sour cream, mayo, and cream of mushroom soup in it, so I’m sure it was very bad for me.
100 calorie snack pack
2 pieces of divinity

Whew!  I am really hoping for a more structured eating plan tomorrow. 

That soup is soooo good … I should post the recipe.  It’s from Ellie Krueger on the Food Network.  It has sweet potatoes, carrots, cayenne pepper, honey, onions, garlic, peanut butter, and a few other things in it.  It has a great, nutty flavor with just a little kick from the cayenne pepper.  Yum-o!!!