**Day 90**

I had a crappy day of being mad at myself for not doing as good as I wanted to do in March.   I didn't meet my goals - I wanted to lose 10 pounds in March, but I only lost 6, I wanted to workout 26 days out of the 31 days, but I only worked out 21 days, I wanted to see progress in my monthly pictures, but there's no improvement.  So, all day, I was really upset, and feeling like a failure, and feeling like I wanted to give up, but then I started looking at the positives, which are:

1.)  I lost 6 pounds, which is an average of 1.2 pounds a week for the month of March - that's good!!!  And it's better than not losing anything at all!
2.)  I exercised 21 days in March - that's huge!!  It's way more than I did in Jan. and Feb., and I'm running now, too, which is great!
3.)  I'm eating better than I ever have in my life!  Sure, I had some struggles at the end of the month, but, for the most part, I have, completely, changed my eating habits, and that's something to be proud of!

I still have tons of work to do - I'm still learning what works for me and what doesn't, but it's crazy for me to be mad at myself for "only" losing 6 pounds, and for "only" working out 21 days.  I'm 90 days into my journey, and I've lost 18.5 pounds.  Was I hoping to be further along at this point?  Of course!  But 18.5 is not something to be sad about it!

I weighed-in on my scale today since I didn't weigh-in with WW yesterday.  I weigh 230, so that's up a pound since I last weighed in on my scale.  From here on out, I will be going by the WW scale, so we'll see what next Wed. brings!

Exercise today was my C25K training - 16 min. of running, and 14 min. of walking for a total of 30 minutes!

**Day 89**

After being gone for about seven days we are home sweet home, and I am exhausted!!  Why is it that I always feel, completely, drained after being on vacation??  Shouldn't I feel rested?!  Jeez, I haven't felt this tired in a long time!  So, I decided to skip my 5K training until tomorrow morning, and I didn't go to the WW weigh-in and meeting tonight either.  Once we got home from St. Louis the only thing I wanted to do was sit down and chill, so I decided to allow myself a night of relaxation, but it's only 8:15pm, and I can barely stay awake, so I'm heading to bed right after I finish this post, and I'm hoping I will wake up in the morning feeling nice and refreshed!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my weigh-in for this week since I didn't weigh in with WW.  I may just weigh-in on my own scale tomorrow for the final day in March, and tally up my weight loss for the month, and then for April (and as long as I'm on WW) my weigh-ins will, officially, be on Wednesdays when I have my meetings.

I've got nothing else!  I got, barely, form a coherent thought.  Good night!

**Day 88**

I felt better today - more in control, and not so down on myself for not being perfect.  I'm too hard on myself - I need to remember how great I've been doing for almost three months, and not get so mad at myself when I slip every once in awhile.

We've had a wonderful trip, but I'm glad we're heading home tomorrow - I'm ready to see my husband, and my dogs, and to just get back to the usual day to day stuff.  And, I think, my new treadmill is arriving on Friday - I can't wait!!!

I worked out in the hotel gym again tonight!  I did 30 min. on the treadmill, and my girls worked out w/ me, too! At one point, my youngest was on the treadmill next to me running at 5.0 mph!  She puts me to shame - I am such a slow runner!  We had fun working out together! :)

**Day 87**

We're enjoying our trip in St. Louis - we made a visit to the Arch today, and to the City Museum.  The City Museum is AWESOME, so if you get a chance to take your kids there....do it!!!

Anyway, we got quite a bit of exercising walking around today, but I did go to the hotel gym to work out, too.  I started out on the elliptical, but I got off after 5 min. because it wasn't a very good one, and it didn't seem to work right.  So, I jumped on the treadmill for a little over 25 min., so I worked out for about 30 min, and I worked up a good sweat.

I haven't done all that great with my food the last couple days, not horrible, but not great either.  I just feel myself slipping, mentally, on the food front, but I haven't, totally, crashed and burned - I'm not eating any crap between meals or anything like that.  I'm just not choosing the foods I know I should be choosing for my main meals, and I have no excuse for it.  So, I'm not ending the month of March the way I had hoped - I'm struggling a bit, but I know I'll be okay.  There's going to be hard times for me, from time to time, on this journey, but I know there's no stopping allowed - I'm in this for the long haul, and I won't give up!!

**Day 86**

Sunday morning:

I've done my Couch-to-5K training for the day!  (No knee or back pain - yay!)
I've had a healthy breakfast!
And now, we're off for St. Louis!

Have a great Sunday! :)

**Day 85**

It was just a few days ago that I was saying how I'm, finally, willing and able to make good food choices, but, I think, I was a little too sure of myself, a little too soon, because I, totally, strayed away from my new healthy ways while we were away from home this weekend.  I knew I wouldn't be perfect this weekend, but I was worse than I thought I would be.  I felt that old urge to devour all things bad, and I gave in to that urge alot!  We got home this afternoon, and I feel more secure here at home, but we're leaving again, first thing in the morning, for our four day trip to St. Louis, and I can't continue my junk food eating frenzy for the next four days, so I need to boost my willpower back up!  I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!  It's just food, it's just food, it's just food!!

I attended my first Weight Watchers last Wednesday, but with leaving for the homeschool conference Thursday, and just getting back today, I haven't had time to really go through the program to figure out the point values for foods, and with leaving tomorrow again....well, I'm just not going to be able to, completely, start the program until I'm home from St. Louis, but I'll do the best I can while I'm gone.  I know what healthy foods I should be eating, in general, so I'm going to stick with that, and that should keep me in my points range.

It's almost time for me to post progress pictures....well, I hope there will be noticeable progress!  I'll be posting the pics on Friday, so we'll see!

I finished Week 3 of my 5K training tonight.  I am so exhausted from the conference, so I thought it was going to be a brutal 28 min. workout, but it wasn't bad, and that was a relief!!  I'm going to start Week 4 of my 5K training tomorrow morning, before I leave for St. Louis.  I, normally, don't do two days in a row, but with going on my trip I'm having to do things a little different this week.  So, Week 4 training will be Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The training for tomorrow is a total of 30 min., which will include running for 3 straight minutes - twice!, AND running for 5 straight minutes - twice!!  So, 16 minutes total of running!  I'm a little worried about getting through it, but I WILL do it!  And this will be the workout for Wednesday and Friday, too.  Wish me luck!

**Day 84**

Well, I started off my day good w/ a protein bar, an orange, and a glass of milk, and for lunch I had half of a deli turkey sandwich (took off the top piece of bread), and an apple.  Then things started going downhill a bit....okay, alot!!:(  My daughter had a cake decorating class, and, dang, that caked looked good when she was done, so I took a bite, and then I took another bite, and then another....and then, well, maybe, about three more bites.  Dinner was a Caprese sandwich w/ fries.  Dessert was a Cafe Mocha from Caribou.  Then, I had a couple cups of riesling wine, and then a glass of Bailey's.  I was bad....very, very bad.  And I'm already paying for it - my fingers and toes are swollen, and I feel like crap.  My body is not used to me eating like this anymore, and it's not liking it.  Not much else to say.  I WILL do better tomorrow.

**Day 83**

We're already at the homeschool conference, so just a quick, short post today!  I brought along lots of healthy snacks to try to keep myself from eating out too much - protein bars, wheat thin crisps, fruit and veggies.  So, when I get hungry I'm going to snack on that stuff instead of buying something that's not so good for me.  I'm not going to lie though - I do plan on having a couple drinks w/ friends while at dinner tonight, so I'll be going off my plan a little bit. :)

My back starting bothering me last night, and is still hurting today, so I decided not to do my 5K training today.  I'm going to get my last day in on Saturday night when I get home from the conference.

For now, I'm heading out to enjoy the next couple days w/ my family and my friends!  Have a great weekend!

**Day 82**

I joined Weight Watchers today with my mom!  I've been thinking about it for about a week, and, finally, decided yesterday that I was going to give it a try - actually, I'm going to give it three months.  I've been doing this weight loss thing on my own for three months, and I'm happy with how I've been doing - 20 pounds lost is great!!  However, I think, I could be doing a little better, and, I think, I could use some more support, as far as my food goes, so I'm going to see how well I do with WW for the next three months.  I enjoyed the first meeting, and it seems like it's going to be a, fairly, easy program to follow.

So, I'm kind of torn about how to go about my weigh ins now.  I usually do my weigh ins on Fridays, but my weigh ins for WW will be on Wednesdays, and their scale is weighing me about 3 pounds more than my scale here at home.  I really don't want to worry about doing two weigh ins a week (my own and WW), and worrying about two different scales, so I'm going to adjust my weight tracker here, and start my new weight at the WW scale reading which was 232.4 today.  So, for now, I'm above 230 again, but that's okay.  I'm confident I'll be below 230 on the WW scale next week - even after being out of town, and on vacation for 7 days!!

My mom is treating me to that pedicure today!  And my girls are going along, too, to get their cute little toes done!  Can't wait!  We're going to have a great time!

Exercise today was WATP's 2 mile dvd.

**Day 81**

We went out to lunch today to Applebee's, and I was pleased to find out that they have 550 calories or below meals!  So, I decided to get the Grilled Dijon Chicken & Portobellos which is Marinated grilled chicken breast topped with toasted red peppers, Portobello mushrooms, Dijon sauce and aged cheddar cheese served with steamed herb potatoes and seasonal vegetables for approximately 450 calories and Total Fat - 15g.  It was so good!!!  And alot more healthy than some of the other things on the menu that I was dying to get, but didn't!  In the past when I went there I would always get the Chicken Quesadilla Grande for my meal - every time!  It was my favorite!!!  Well, I looked up the calories and fat on that sucker....ready for this??  1270 calories, and Total Fat - 92g.  OMG!!!  No wonder I have so much FAT in my body!!!  Wow!  Anyway, it's good to know that I can go out to eat, and have healthier choices available to me. Okay, well, that was always the case - there were always good food choices available.  So, I guess, I should say that it's good that I'm now able, and willing to make good food choices for myself - I just didn't do that before, but now I am, and it feels good.


Some not so great news - I will not be fitting into my goal outfit....at least, not as soon as I was hoping to!  I was giving myself six weeks to get into it, and this Thursday will be six weeks, but those jeans just aren't going to fit me by then!  They're closer to fitting now than they were six weeks ago, but not quite there!  And, truly, I think, it was a little too ambitious of a goal.  I know I'm on the right track, and I know the outfit will fit me eventually, so I'm not going to let this get me down!  


Exercise today was my 5K training.  It was easier today than it was Sunday (mentally and physically), and I'm hoping Thursday will feel even better!

**Day 80**

Reason #21 to lose weight - my neck!  I'd like to have a neck again!  Another blogger posted that she can't wait to see her collar bones again, and I look forward to seeing those, too, but even more than that I want to see my neck!!!  Right now, I have no neck - my head just sits on my shoulders!  Oh, and another thing I have is that buffalo hump on my neck - do any of you have that?  It's like an accumulation of fat on the back of my neck - very sexy.....NOT!  I hate wearing my hair up because it's so noticeable if I'm not wearing a collared shirt.  So, yea, with almost 20 pounds gone I was hoping to have more of a neck by now, but, nope, nothing yet, but, hopefully, soon!!! :)

Exercise for today was a 2 mile walk with WATP dvd.  My knee is still bothering me, but not so much that I can't exercise, so that's a good thing, but I'm wondering what's going on with it.  I'm continuing to ice it after I work out, and, hopefully, it won't get any worse.

**Day 79**

I have a couple trips coming up, so I'm trying to plan out my workouts and food because I don't want to get off track too much.  We're leaving for a homeschool conference on Thursday afternoon, and we won't be home until Saturday night, and then Sunday morning the girls and I are leaving again to take a trip to St. Louis with my parents, and we'll be gone for three nights, so I'll pretty much be away from home for a total of seven days.

I'm not too worried about my food - I'm going to stock up on lots of healthy snacks, and take my protein bars along, and when we eat out I'm going to try to make good food choices.  Wait, did I say "try"?  I mean, I will make good food choices - I will, I will, I will!!!  Eating out for almost every meal for those seven days is going to be a huge test for me, but I'm confident I can make the right choices!

I'm a little more worried about trying to get my workouts in, but, I think, I have my 5K training all worked out.  I have to train three days a week for that, so I started week 3 of training today.  And I'll do the other two days of training on Tuesday, and Thursday.  And then for week 4 of training I will do Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday the following week, and I can do all of the 5K training here at home.

I want to get some workouts in while I'm alway from home, too. I'll be in hotels for seven days, and I'm going to force myself to use the hotel gyms on, at least,  four of those days.  So, I do have a plan!!

I almost talked myself out of doing my 5K training today because I had to run for three minutes straight two different times, and I was really worried I wasn't going to be able to do it, and I didn't want to feel defeated!  But not trying to do it would have been the old Shannon, and I'm new and improved now (well, getting there) - ha! - and I don't want to fall back into bad habits, so I made myself do it, and, well, yea, it kind of sucked.  It was hard....just like I thought it would be, but I got through the whole thing - yea!!  So, day one of training is already over for this week, and I only have two more to go!

**Day 78**

My hubby and I had a wellness checkup through his work today, and it's not exactly the most fun way to spend a morning.  They do the checkups right in the lobby of a building, so you're with a huge group of people, and you get weighed, have the size of your waist measured, your blood pressure taken, and your blood drawn, right in front of everyone - what's that about?!  I mean, come on, can't they just throw up a little curtain for a bit of privacy?!

So, obviously, my waist measurement was not optimal so they had to give me a big piece of paper that stated my waist measures "out of range", and then my blood pressure was a little high (124/90), so they had to spend an extra five minutes talking with me to tell me what I can do to help lower my blood pressure.  And weighing as much as I do, it was humiliating having to step on a scale in front of strangers to be weighed.  However, I'm glad I went because I know it's going to be a totally different experience when I go back in a year.  It won't be such a hard thing to face because I know I won't be obese anymore, and, hopefully, my blood pressure won't be high anymore.  Plus, I'm looking forward to getting my blood work results back to see where I'm at with my cholesterol, glucose levels, etc. - hopefully, everything will come back normal!

I didn't exercise today. :(  I woke up with a slightly swollen, and painful knee, so I wanted to give it a rest today.  I'm icing it right now, and, hopefully, it will feel better in the morning because I'd really like to get a workout in over the weekend.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! :)

**Still Day 77**

I just finished my 5K training workout for today.  I bought new running shoes - Mizunos.  My friend, Julie, does alot of running, and she recommended the Mizuno brand, so I found a good deal on Amazon, ordered them, and they arrived today!  They fit great, and they felt really good during my walk/run.  Check them out!

**Day 77**

I did it!  I'm below 230!!  I weighed in at 229 this morning, so I lost 2.5 pounds this week!  Yahoo!!!  I'm very happy, and relieved - I really wanted to see a good loss.  All my hard work this week paid off.  Now, I'm going to run out, and reward myself with a Big Mac!  Only kidding!!!!  Ha!  But that's what I would have done in the past - I'd lose a little weight, and then reward myself with junk food, and then gain the weight right back - DUH!!  Anyway, I'm posting a picture I took of my 229 reading on the scale.  It's a little blurry because I had to crop out my ugly toes that are in desperate need of a pedicure!  Maybe that will be my reward for getting below 230 - a pedicure!!!

**Day 76**

I'm thinking tomorrow is going to be a good weigh in - it better be!  I worked really hard this week on everything - getting more sleep, drinking more water, my eating, and exercising.  I didn't have one slip - not one! So, I'm hopeful.  I'm so hopeful that I'm hoping I'll be below 230.  I don't care if it's 229.5 - that's below 230, and I haven't been there in years.  Maybe the numbers shouldn't be such a big deal to me.  Maybe I should focus more on how I'm feeling, and how much better my clothes are fitting, but, for now, the numbers matter to me.  I don't want to be 230 or 220 or 210 or even 201 - I want to be in ONEderland!

I haven't been in the 100's since after my first daughter was born in Sept. 2000.  When I got pregnant with her I weighed about 220, and throughout my pregnancy I LOST 16 pounds - crazy, I know (the doctor said it was a PCOS thing)!  And then right after Brenna was born I weighed 198, but by December of 2000, I had gained 25 pounds!!!  So, the 198 didn't last long, and I will be so happy to see 198 again....and then I'll want to see an even lower number!  Ha.

I worked out twice today - in the morning I did the 2 mile WATP, and this evening I did my 1 mile WATP dvd. Tomorrow is day six of my 5K training - I'm already two weeks into it, and only have seven weeks left to go.  Will I really be running a 5K in seven short weeks??!!

Reason #20 to lose weight - to be able to sit on my hubby's lap once in awhile!  I weigh about 75 pounds  more than my hubby (at one time, it was 125 pounds more!), so there's no way I can sit on his lap - I'd hurt him!  And it's not like I would spend alot of time sitting on his lap, but there have been times when we've been at friend's houses, and there wasn't enough seating so we'd share a seat, BUT he would have to sit on my lap....yea, embarrassing!!  So, it will feel good when we can switch up that little scenario!

**Day 75**

My girls and I took advantage of the nice weather today, and spent a couple hours at the park - it was a great day!  In the past, after an outing at the park, we would have head to Dairy Queen or McDonald's for snacks, but today we planned ahead.  We brought oranges, and string cheese to snack on, and the girls didn't even ask for ice cream!

When the new year started our whole family, basically, went cold turkey on junk food snacking.  We have always been huge junk food snackers!!  We'd get candy bars when checking out at Walmart (I mean, like every single time we were there!), and almost every night we would go to McDonald's to get apple pies, or a McFlurry - stuff like that.  So, I thought the girls would throw more of fit about not having candy, ice cream, and hot apple pies on a regular basis, but it really hasn't been an issue for them.  They are learning to snack on more healthful foods, like air popped popcorn (no butter!), celery sticks w/ a little peanut butter, and fruit w/ little cool whip.  I'm very proud of them!

Exercise today: 30 min. on the treadmill for the 5K training, and the girls and I took a 30 min. walk outside.

Here's some pics from our day at the park.  Click on the collage to enlarge.

**Day 74**

I was planning on doing the 3 mile Walk Away the Pounds dvd this morning, but I ended up only doing the 2 mile one, and I was exhausted after those 2 miles, so, I think, it would have been really tough to get through the 3 mile one!  I was in the mood for a little more exercise tonight, so I did 15 min. of strength training for my arms with my 10 pound dumbbells.  Plus, I did a new workout that I found on Netflix through the instant tv streaming. It's called: 10 Minute Solution - Carb and Calorie Burner

It has five different workout segments, each 10 min. in length.  I decided to workout for 20 min., so I did the first two segments - Slow and Steady Burn, and  Carb Killer.  I enjoyed it, and it was a good workout.  I love my WATP dvd's, but it was nice to do something a little different.

I'm proud of myself for all the exercising I've been doing.  I haven't done this much exercising in years, and it's actually starting to feel like it's just becoming a part of my normal routine, and that's a good feeling. Don't get me wrong - there are times when I still dread working out, but I know skipping workouts is not an option, and I like that I'm, finally, in the right mindset.

**Day 73**

Today started week two for my 5K training! The workout was total of 30 min., and starting at 5 min. I had to run for 90 seconds every two minutes, for 21 minutes, so I ran a total of 9 minutes.  The 30 min. goes really fast which surprises me since I'm doing the whole thing while staring at a wall!  When I was done I had that weird tingling sensation you get in your thighs after a workout? Do you know what I'm talking about it?  It's feels like tiny bubbles of air popping up, down, and all around my thighs.  I love when it happens because, I think, it means I had a really good workout, and hopefully, it's my fat and cellulite dissolving away!!!!! And, of course, when I was done with my workout I was dripping sweat, and, completely, red faced, too.  I don't mind the sweat, I guess, because, again, that means I had a good workout, but I really hate how red my face gets!  I don't just mean a little red, I mean, really, really red!  And it's stinks because it usually stays red for well over an hour - even after I've had a shower to cool off!  Which brings me to this: 


Reason #19 to lose weight - to not turn tomato red after moderate exertion!  It doesn't take much for me my face to turn red - vacuuming, going up a flight of stairs, taking a walk.  Yup, even these, seemingly, easy things will make my face turn red!  So, I'm hoping once I lose more weight, every little movement won't turn me into a tomato face because it really is embarrassing.

**Day 72**

I did the 2 mile WATP's dvd today, and I'm, definitely, ready for the 3 mile, so I'll be trying that one out this week, in addition, to do my 5K training.

We bought a treadmill!  Well, we ordered it, and it will arrive in 6-10 business days.  I can't wait for it to arrive!  And my dad gave me a great motivator today.  He said that if I lose fifteen pounds by May 1st he will pay for half my treadmill!  May 1st is 7 weeks away, so I'll need to lose about 2 pounds a week to lose the 15 pounds by then - I can do it!  It's just my dad's way of helping to keep me motivated, and I appreciate it.

My goal for this week is to get more sleep!  Since I homeschool my kids, I'm, pretty much, with them all the time - which I love, I really do, but it, also, means not much alone time, and not alot of time with other adults.  So, after they go to bed at night, I spend a little alone time w/ my hubby before he goes to bed, and after he turns in for the night, I do a little picking up around the house, and then, FINALLY, my alone, free, just for me, quiet time starts - which is usually around 11pm!  And I tend to enjoy that time until about 2am most nights, but I pay for it in the morning because I'm so tired from not getting enough sleep.  I really think my body needs, at least, 7 hours a sleep a night, so I'm going to try to get to bed by midnight every night this week.  Hopefully, it will make a difference, and I'll feel more rested and refreshed when I wake up every morning!

**Day 71**

We had a crazy busy day!  Our furnace broke down, so we woke up to no heat - that's always fun.  My hubby fixed it, temporarily, until he can get a part for it on Monday.  Then, we took the girls to see a play - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - it was so good!  And then we went out tonight w/ friends.  So, other than the furnace problem, we had a great day.

My eating was good for breakfast and lunch today, but we went to a Thai restaurant for dinner - I had appetizers, and basil fried rice with chicken.  And I had a few drinks at our friends' house after dinner, so not a good day calorie wise, but I'm not worried about it.  I made a choice to go out and enjoy myself, and I'm fine with that.

I forgot to post about my exercise yesterday!  I did get my training in for my 5K, and I did some strength training w/ my 10 pound weights.  Today, I did not exercise, but I will, definitely, get in 30 min. on Sunday.

**Day 70**

Weigh In #10 - 231.5....I'm down another 1.5 pounds.  It could have been more, but I know why is wasn't....another Thursday night out.:(  And that was the problem in February, too.  My daughter was taking a two and half hour theater class almost an hour from our home on Thursday nights for the last six weeks.  So, my husband and I would drop her off and then we'd go out to dinner - we'd get an appetizer, and share a meal consisting of a meat (ribs or chicken) w/ a some kind of veggies.  We weren't eating horribly, but not great either, AND it was always the night right before my weigh ins, so I know that didn't help.  My daughter's class is finished, and we won't be having Thursday nights out anymore, so I'm hoping my weigh ins will be a little better with the night before dinner splurges out of the way.  I know, I know!  I could have made better choices - like skipping the appetizers, but I didn't, and I paid the price a little over the six weeks, but I'm still happy with how I'm doing.  For the majority of my meals, my food choices have been really good over the last 70 days.  Yes, I've had some slips, but I've lost 17 pounds over the last 10 weeks - which is an average of 1.7 pounds per week, and that' really good.  If I keep that up for the whole year I will be down 88 pounds by the end of this year, and that would be awesome!

**Day 69**

My monthly visitor decided to show up a day early - RUDE!  So, I don't know how that will affect my weigh in tomorrow, but I had a good week - I worked out every day, and I ate really good....except for the pizza on Wed., and tonight we went out to dinner after my daughter's play, and I didn't eat the greatest, but I had a low cal. breakfast and lunch, so I don't think my calorie count was blown all that bad for the day.

I did the 2 mile WATP dvd for my workout today.  I really love those dvd's, and, I think, next week I'm going to move up to the 3 mile WATP.  Tomorrow will be day three for my 5K training, and, again, I'm really looking forward to doing it.  The running part is hard, but not so hard that I can't get through it, and I'm proud of myself for even attempting running!!  I really believe that I'm going to get through the nine week program.  I can do this!!

**Day 68**

My treadmill walk/run went good, and I felt great when I was done!!

As I mentioned in a previous post, my treadmill is old, and not in the greatest shape - the belt slips while I'm using it, and it's very annoying.  I'm thinking about talking to my hubby about getting a new one.  I found one at Walmart for $380 - not cheap, but not terribly expensive, and it has great reviews.  Still, I don't know if it's something we should really put our money towards, at this time.  I do have the option of using the clubhouse gym which has great treadmills, but I am more comfortable, right now, running at home, but do I really want to spend almost $400 just because I'm a big baby, and don't want to run in front of people?  Seems pretty silly, right?

We went out to lunch today w/ friends to Pizza Hut, and I ate three slices of thin crust pepperoni pizza - so that was 600 calories, and way too much fat!  We had the buffet which has a salad bar, so I could have made better choices, but I didn't, and I have no excuse.  I should have had a salad, and one piece of pizza.  Yup, coulda, woulda, shoulda, but didn't.  Moving on....again.

My not so likeable visitor of the month is due on Friday which I'm sure is going to mess with my weigh in a little, but, oh well, not much I can do about it.  We'll see what happens!

**Day 67**

I, totally, stole the above idea of using the number of the day I'm on in my weight loss journey for my title post (hope you don't mind, Chubby McGhee! http://chubzilla.blogspot.com/ ), but I'm tired of trying to come up w/ a title every time I post something.  So, using the number just makes it easier!

Anyway, I did get my workout in today - actually two workouts.  I did the 2 mile Walk Away the Pounds dvd this morning, and tonight I felt like doing a little more, so I did the 1 mile WATP, just a little while ago.

I was good w/ my food today - though I could have done better on my fruits and veggies.  I don't get enough of those, especially fruits, but I'm working on it.

Tomorrow is day two of my 5K training, and I'm actually looking forward to it!

**Thigh Rub**

Reason #18 to lose weight - holes in the jeans because of thigh rub!  Oh, yea, my jeans always end up tearing open at the thighs because of the friction caused by my inner thighs rubbing together.  One time it happened and I didn't even notice!  We were at Wisconsin Dells w/ another family last September, and on the last day we spent half the day walking around the downtown area and doing some other stuff.  Well, when I sat down in the car to leave a big piece of thigh fat was hanging out of a hole in the thigh of my jeans!  I hadn't even felt it, and I have no idea how long it had been like that!  And it was a HUGE hole!  So, embarrassing!  I'll be happy when the inner thigh blow out on jeans is a thing of the past!!

Update:  I had to come back and fix the "hole" word in this post - I have no idea why I used "whole", instead of "hole"...TWICE!  I hate that!  

**5k Program**

I, officially, started the Couch-To-5K program today.  I decided to start out by doing it at home, and using my old treadmill in the basement because, well, I look like this when I'm done running:

Yup, that's me, all sweaty and gross, and, nearly, ready to pass out after getting off the treadmill!  Purty, ain't I?!  Ha.  So, until I feel a little more comfortable w/ my running I'm going to do the program at home.  It really wasn't that bad, physically, but, oh my gosh, I was sweating my butt off!  I only have to do the program three days a week, so I'm going to do it M-W-F, and then go the gym, or do a workout dvd  T-Th, and sometimes on Saturdays.

I found a treadmill version of the Couch-To-5K - you can check it out here if you're interested in giving it a try:
http://www.c25k.com/c25k_treadmill.html

**Bust**

Yesterday was a bust food wise, and I, completely, blame my husband because it was his birthday, and we went a little crazy!  No, I don't really blame him - only kidding about that part. :)  We ate a healthy breakfast and lunch, so everything was fine there.  In the afternoon, we attended a birthday party for our niece, and things started taking a turn for the worst, at that time.  They served pizza, lots of appetizers, and cake.  I resisted the pizza and cake, but I had my fair share of guacamole and homemade tortilla chips, and a few swipes of a spicy sausage dip.  After leaving there, my hubby and I headed out for a date night to celebrate his birthday.  Last month, we won a $75 gift certificate to Chicago's popular Rosebud restaurant, so we decided to go there, and that's where we, temporarily, lost our minds!

Of course, there was bread, oil, and cheese brought as soon as we sat down, and I had two and half pieces of bread.  Then we had stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer - omg, these were so good, and, oh, so fattening!  For my entree, I ordered Gnocchi w/ braised pork and spinach, but I was so full from the bread, and appetizer that I only could only eat about a quarter of it, so I had the rest wrapped up to bring home for my girls.  We decided NOT to get dessert because we were so full, so we asked for the check.  Instead of the check, the waiter brings a big, beautiful piece of Tiramisu!!  It was complimentary because we had waited for 30 min. past our reservation time to be seated!  Well, even though we were, completely, stuffed we ate almost all of it!  Yup, we had lost our minds!

I don't know how many calories I consumed yesterday, and I'm not even going to try to figure it out!   What's done, is done.  It's not something we do on a regular basis anymore, and it's not something we're going to repeat any time soon! :)

**Weekend Workouts**

I had every intention of going to the gym this morning, but I woke up and, immediately, knew....it's not happening, BUT not working out is not an option, so I did my Walk Away the Pounds dvd - 2 miles!  So, I'm okay with not going to the gym - I got a workout in, and that's what's important.

One of my goals for this month was to go the gym, at least, 26 days in March, but I need to modify that - my goal is to workout 26 days this month, and I don't need to go to the gym everyday to do that.  I have PLENTY of workout dvd's for the days when I don't make it to the gym for whatever reason - a sick kid, a busy day, or just needing a change of venue for my workout. :)

I have to admit, when the weekend rolls around I have a much harder time working out!  Fellow blogger Colleen brought this subject up on her FB page at the end of Feb.:
(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Goodbye-Fat-Girl/171444736235437?ref=ts
And I told her that I tell myself  I deserve a break on weekends, but, in truth, it's just me being lazy.  Like this morning, I did NOT want to workout!!  I thought -  I don't want to workout today.  And I really, really don't want to get up right now and get dressed, brush my hair, go out in the cold to get in my car to drive over to the gym to workout. I just don't want to go out!!  However, there's no reason I can't get up, walk straight downstairs, and do a workout dvd to get some kind of workout in today!  So, I did.  In the past, I would have talked myself out of working out altogether, so I'm making progress, right?

**My Hubby**

This is my hubby - he's pretty handsome, ain't he? :)

As you can see, he doesn't have a weight problem, at all.  BUT I'm always telling him that just because he looks healthy on the outside doesn't mean he's, completely, healthy on the inside.  For all these years, he has been eating bad foods right along with me - he just never gains weight.   Plus, he never exercises - well, until this week.  He has started going to the gym, too, which I'm so happy about it because, of course, I want him to be healthy, inside and out, too!  And tonight we went to the gym together for the first time, and it was really great working out together.  We did 25 min. on the treadmill, and 15 min. on the elliptical.

Have a great weekend!!

**Change of Plans**

The official "5K in 100 Days" site came out last night, and I've decided not to do that program for a few reasons, but the main two are this:

1)  I have to commit to three days per week of training for one hour each of those days, but the problem is - I work out at my clubhouse gym and the max. time on the treadmills is 20. min.  There are only four treadmills - well, three this week because one has been broken.  I've been able to grab 25 min. or 30 min. on them a couple times, but that's only if I go to the gym in the afternoon, but my usual schedule is in the morning, and there's no way I can hog a treadmill for an hour in the mornings because it's just too crowded at that time. I just don't want to start this program and then have to worry about not being able to do the training because I can't get the time I need on the treadmill. I know, at some point, I'll need to move outside for my workouts to be able to work up to a 5k, but for now I only plan on doing my training at the clubhouse gym, probably through April.

2)  A lot of the communication for the program is going to be through Twitter.  There will be a weekly Tweetchat for discussions and support.  Well, I don't have a Twitter account - nope, I'm not a "tweeter"!  I've never seen a tweet, and I have no idea how to tweet.  And while I've heard people love it - I have no desire to join Twitter.  It's just one more thing for me to get addicted to!  And I'm already pretty addicted to FB, and a whole bunch of great personal weight loss blogs, too!  So, with not being on Twitter, I feel like I'll kind of be out of the support loop with this program.

BUT this doesn't mean I'm giving up on my 5K!!!  A fellow blogger (you can see her awesome blog here: http://asmallloss.blogspot.com/ - she's lost 116 pounds so far, and is a runner!) mentioned the Couch-to-5K program the other day, so I looked it up last night, and I've decided to do that program.  Each session takes 20-30 minutes which will be doable for me at my gym, and I know I can push myself to do it!

AND I've signed up for my first 5K!  It's called the Sundowner 5K, and it will take place in July, so I have plenty of time to work my way up to running a 5K.  Wish me luck!

**Weigh In #9**

Today I weighed in at 233 pounds!!! Yea!!  I lost 3 pounds this week!  I'm on track for losing a total of 10 pounds in March. I'm very happy!  So, that's a total of 15.5 pounds lost since I started my weight loss journey at the beginning of this year. :)

**Sports Bras**

Can anyone out there recommend a good sports bra?  I have a rather large bosum, so I'm having a hard time finding a good one that offers really good support.  Dang boobs!  I hope they are one of the first things to decrease when I start really losing weight!!

**More Running**

I pushed myself at the gym today to do a little more running.  I did 30 min. total on the treadmill, and for the last 20 min, I ran every other minute.  After the treadmill, I did 15 min. on the elliptical.  I think, the elliptical is starting to bother my back.  Does anyone else have this problem with the elliptical?  My dad and my friend both told me that elliptical hurts their backs.  I really love the elliptical, so I hope it's not going to start being a problem for me.

Have a great day everyone!

**Procrastination**

I put off going to the gym all day - stalling, stalling, and stalling some more - telling myself I had other things to do, but really it was nothing that couldn't wait. Finally, at 9pm I made myself go, and I'm so glad I did because I would have been so mad at myself tomorrow if I had skipped it.

I did 20 min. on the elliptical, and 25 min. on the treadmill, AND I did a little running while on the treadmill!!  Just a little.  For the last 10 min., I ran every other minute for one minute each time....does that make sense?  So, only a total of 5 min. of running, and not 5 min. in a row, but it's something, and I felt really good.  I'm going to try to do a little more running tomorrow. :)

**5K**

I started thinking about trying to run a 5K after reading a post by this awesome and inspiring blogger:
http://chubzilla.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-55.html

And then I found out about a 5K training program at another inspiring gal's blog:
http://www.alltheweigh.com/

So, I made the decision to go for it!!  You can read a little about the program here - the official site will be ready soon! And he still has spots open:
http://bradgansberg.wordpress.com/run-5k-in-100-days/


At this point, I can't run...at all.  Well, I haven't actually tried, but I doubt I would get far, but after going through the program I'm really hoping I'll be able to do a 5K!  The program hasn't started yet, but soon I'll be on my way!

**Pictures**

I posted new pictures, but I can't really call them progress pics because there wasn't really any progress last month, but I posted the pictures anyway, AND I'm wearing shorts.  I stressed all day about posting a pic of myself in shorts.  I haven't worn shorts in years, and you will know why when you look at the photos.  I haven't looked at my legs in a mirror in years, so seeing them again was not a good thing for me.  I mean, seriously, my knees have disappeared - I have no knees!!  My legs look like tree stumps and putting a picture of them on the world wide web is very, very hard for me to do, BUT I posted the pics because I will be so happy when my knees start appearing again, and I want to be able to see the progress from month to month, and I want others to see the progress, too.  Also, I want to stop hiding how I look.  This is how I look, right now.  I'm not happy with it, and I'm doing something about it, but, for the timing being, this is me.

I'm really disappointed that I didn't have a very good February, but I'm not beating myself up.  I'm still learning what works, and what doesn't.  Clearly, I was doing something wrong, and I'm going to work on doing better.  I need to exercise more, I need to drink more water, and I need to start tracking my food.  I know I've been eating much better - much, much, much better!!  But I really need to start tracking my calories to make sure I'm not eating too much, so I need to follow through on the tracking this month.

I'm looking forward to this month - I'm going to kick ass!!

I had a great workout at the gym this morning:
25 min. on the treadmill
15 min. on the elliptical
10 min. on the bike