Christy

Howdy y’all! Sorry I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday, but we’re on a family ski vacation, and I was busy with new challenge stuff yesterday!

ANYWAY, first things first. I want to give a HUGE shout out to our very own Christie O. for putting together the most amazing challenge the Sisterhood has ever seen. Yes, our past challenges have been fabulous, but this one takes the cake. Okay, maybe cake isn’t the best thing to talk about (or think about) right now. But you get my point. CHRISTIE, I LOVE YOU!!!!

Since I’m out of town, and unable to weigh in (yeah, imagine that! I, the OCD weigher, left my scale at HOME!), I’m just going to go with last week’s weigh in of:

140.4

Although in my heart of hearts, I know that is way off. You see, this past week hasn’t been pretty at all. Yes, I’ve been taking ski lessons, which surely counts for something, but I’ve also thrown caution to the wind when it comes to my eating. I’m not going to go into details, because honestly, I really don’t want to remember all the crap I’ve consumed.

I’m ready to start fresh with this challenge. I’m ready to Rethink MY Shrink!

So, according to Christie, I need to:

1. Figure out my eating plan. Well, since I’ve always used Weight Watchers, with great success in the past, I am going to get back on that bandwagon. I have fallen off of counting points, and honestly I’ve gotten a little overconfident in my ability to guesstimate how many Points I’ve consumed. Time to Rethink it all and get back to the basics of counting and eating my daily Points allotment. Another thing I’m thinking of doing, since I saw it on another blog (which I can’t remember right now, but when I do I’ll share it with you), is taking pictures of all my food (before I eat) and posting it here every day. I mean think about it, if I have to show you pictures of what I’m eating, don’t you think it will make me think TWICE about eating something I shouldn’t or too much of something I should. Anyway, it’s just a thought, so let me know if you’d be interested in seeing what I’m eating!
2. Get your workouts in order. Since I’m still participating in the EA SPORTS Active More Workouts 6-Week Challenge, I’m going to continue on with it, and probably start up another 6-week challenge when I’m done. I also plan to run, run, and run some more. I am training for a 1/2 marathon, you know!
3. Since the Sisterhood of the Shrinking jeans has already infiltrated my life (it’s my baby!), I don’t have a problem joining, taking part, and offering as much support as I can! I’m here for you, (wo)man!!!!

So there it is. The beginning of my plan to Rethink MY Shrink. I know I will be adding to it, honing it, and making it more doable for me, but I think I’m off to a good start!

OH! My goal for the next 7 weeks? *big sigh* Since I never seem to meet my weight-loss goals, I’m not going to set one this time around. I’m a little over 10 pounds from my GOAL weight, and sure I’d love to be there in 7 weeks! I think my goals are going to be:

1. GET ON WW ONLINE AND DO IT! No excuses. NONE.
2. EXERCISE! Strength training, running, cardio.
3. WATER! OMG, I have fallen off on my water intake, and that’s one thing I know helps me lose weight! WATER has got to be a priority!
4. FRESH! I need to start consuming fresh, fresh, fresh food.

LET’S DO IT! It’s time to Join the Revolution AND Rethink Your Shrink!

Lord have mercy. Seriously. The business of busy-ness is really taking a toll on me. Running here and there and everywhere has my routine all fouled up. I need to take some deep breathes and get back on track.

When December first started, I smugly proclaimed that *I* would not let the holiday season get the best of me. Not me. No way in hell. While the month started off pretty well, now that we’ve reached the midway point, I feel myself sliding a little. Maybe it was:

• The out of town wedding this past weekend, where I ate every meal out, and didn’t make the wisest choices. Oh, I also had 2 slices of cake, because it was a WEDDING and there was an amazing wedding cake AND a chocolate grooms cake. Killer.
• While I did my EA SPORTS Active More Workouts every day last week, I didn’t get a chance to run because the rain, which led to lots of mud, and when you live on a dirt road, mud is no fun (unless you’re mud wrestling in a bikini, which means you need to RUN in order to look good in said bikini). I haven’t run in over a week, needless to say I’m not in bikini condition. SUCK.
• My water intake is SUCKING. I completely blame this on the fact that I lost my 32 ounce water bottle. I totally need a new water bottle STAT.
• I haven’t registered for the Sisterhood 1/2 marathon with Team in Training yet. I fully intend to soon, but I just haven’t had time!

Instead of sitting here feeling sorry for myself like a lazy slob on the couch, I’m going to fire up More Workouts to see if I can’t turn this slide around. Seriously. I’m not going down without a fight and I fully intend on finishing out the Shrink-a-Versary Extravaganza Challenge with a loss and not a gain!!

WHOOOOOOOOOOO-WEEEEEEEE. What.a.week. Seriously. Thanksgiving is a tough, tough week. Especially when you are trying to shrink. I set out with big plans. BIG PLANS, y’all. I had my menu planned, and it was traditional. I cannot mess with old family recipes. There is no lightening them up. It was all going to be about self-control and being active.

On Thanksgiving morning, I got up, got dressed, and hit the road for a 5 mile run. I ran the entire thing, and it was amazing! I felt like my day and week were starting off great. I came home and cooked, we ate, I went for a walk, and I did my EA SPORTS Active workout. I was proud as pie.

The weekend was a blur of Christmas tree shopping, decorating, eating out, snacking, and leftovers. I didn’t have time to run, and Saturday and Sunday were my off days from EA SPORTS Active. When I stepped on the scales Sunday morning, I was devastated. I was up several pounds, and it was a huge slap in the face. I buckled down, started guzzling water and fired up More Workouts on my day off. I knew if I was going to undo the damage I’d have to be serious.

Flash forward to this morning. After a long and sleepless night (thanks to my son falling out of the bed, and my daughter removing her diaper and peeing all over her bed), I groggily stepped on the scale. Totally forgot to turn on the light, so I couldn’t see the number! Light on, scale read, and happy dance!

KA-POW (that’s me sucker punching the turkey)!!! I managed to LOSE weight over Thanksgiving week. I think this could be a historical moment for me. I should have prepared a speech.

Where would I be without the Sisterhood? Probably back in the 150s, out of shape, tired all the time, and unhappy. But now I’m just about to say BUH-BYE to the 140s forEVER.

Last week: 141.6
This week: 140.8
Change: -0.8 HOLLA!

Miles this week: 7
Total miles for the challenge: 31

Since the challenge started, I am down 1.2. My goal was to lose 5 pounds, so we’ll see if I can make it. Only 2 more weeks to go!

Be sure to check out my EA SPORTS Active for Life entries over here! Give me some love while you’re there, k?
You can also check out my Daily Mile page, where I keep track of my miles!!

Considering I’ve had a week of celebrating birthdays (mine and my son’s), I don’t really think I have much to confess, but here goes!

1. I made 3 cakes and only had 2 small pieces.
2. I may or may not have licked one of the beaters, and the icing off the spatula when I was baking.
3. I have not been drinking enough water. I’m not sure what’s up with that, honestly. I should get off my ass and get some right now, huh?
4. I haven’t been keeping up with the EAS 30-Day challenge. As a matter of fact, I haven’t worked out with it since last Thursday. I blame it on family being in town and birthday parties. Well, that and I’ve just been lazy. I will complete the 30 days, just not on time. Boo. Hissssssss.
5. On a positive note, I bought a snazzy pair of running shoes. They aren’t even ugly. Actually, they are quite snazzy.
6. I got new tubes put in my jogging stroller tires. Also something called goo or goop, or something like that. It’s supposed to keep them from going flat if I run over a burr.
7. I also got a cute, red iPod Nano for my birthday, and the Nike + stuffs. So very cool. Now I just need to download some tunes!!
8. I think I’m done. And yes, I’m going to drink some water. RIGHT NOW.

So many people, who are taking part in this challenge, have mentioned what a wonderful thing it is. And yes, it is. I feel a renewed sense of determination each and every day because I know I’m not only doing this for myself. I’m doing it to benefit people who are hungry. I’m cutting back so I can lose weight and reach my goal, and as I do it, I keep in mind that the food I’m not eating is going to go people who really, really need it!

So here is my weight loss for the week:

Last week: 146
Sunday (start of Shrink for Good): 146
Today: 144.8

LOSS: 1.2# WOOT!

I think I’m off to a pretty good start on my 10# goal for this challenge

What worked for me this week:

• Weight Watchers really does work if you do it!
• EA Sport Active 30-Day Challenge is off to a good start. I can really feel the burn, and see the burned calories as I go along. Serious motivation, folks!
• I’ve been really determined to get in 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. I made my goal almost everyday!
• WATER! I’m drinking as much as I can. Why stop at 64 ounces?
• Good attitude. I CAN do this!

It takes 21 days to form new habits. Goodness knows I need to work on creating some new habits that I’ll stick with. I’m just as good as anyone else at declaring that I’m going to do something, then doing it for a little while, and then slowly petering out.

As we all know, this journey is about making changes that we’ll live with for the rest of our lives. There is no quick fix. We must make changes and stick with them. We must form new habits.

So here are the habits I want to make permanent parts of my lifestyle:

1. Working out. I was never a fitness enthusiast, but after taking part in the Shred with the Sisterhood challenge, I saw the results you can get from working out regularly. I liked the results. I felt strong and fit and so good about myself. So why haven’t I continued to workout? Life has gotten in the way. Summer and vacations and non-schedules have tripped me up in a major way. Right now, I am committing to getting in at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. It might be a workout DVD, it might be a walk or hike, all I know, is I’m going to do something every.single.day.
2. Water. I’ve always been good at getting in my daily water. I usually get in over 100 ounces a day. Traveling has really thrown a wrench in that for me. It’s hard to drink that much water when you’re flying and driving everywhere, and sadly, that’s when you probably need it the most! So I’m committing to reforming my habit of drinking a ton of water each day.
3. Fruits and vegetables. Five a day is what’s recommended. I can do it, and I will. Enough said!

I don’t want to overwhelm myself with new habits (even though these are things I’ve done before!), so I’m going to limit it to these 3 items this time around. I will do these three things for the next 21 days in order to form new habits, and then I won’t stop there. I will make sure that these 3 habits stick with me forever and ever, because afterall, it’s about making changes, not quick fixes.