**Day 273**

I'm ending the month of September at 217.5:

So, I lost a total of 5.5 pounds in September.  I hope to do much better in October.  I WILL do much better in October.

October Goals:
*Lose 8 pounds
*Drink 120 oz. of water daily
*30 min. on treadmill or elliptical 5 days a week
*5K training 3 days a week - Sun, Tues, & Thurs.
*30 Day Shred 5 days a week

Have a great weekend!

**Days 271 & 272**

Yesterday we were gone most of the day celebrating my daughter's 11th birthday - we left at 9am, and didn't get home until almost 6pm, and I was wiped out, so I skipped exercising.  Yes, I should have forced myself to do it, but I didn't.  However, I did keep my eating under control throughout the day, so I was happy about that!  Today, I did not fail, at all!!  I drank 96 ounces of water, I consumed just over 1200 calories, I did a 30 min. walk/run on my treadmill, and I did Level 1 of the 30 DS.  I've, basically, sucked at the 30 DS challenge this month, but I'm not giving up.  I'm going to start back up with it - something is better than nothing, right?

Yesterday was a reminder that I have to keep going, and not give up, because I'm still not able to do all the things I want to do with my family.  We took our daughters ice skating, but I didn't feel comfortable trying to skate at almost 220 pounds.  I felt like I would snap an ankle or something, so, like I've done so many times, I sat on the sidelines, and watched my family have fun without me.  It sucked, but only I can make outings like that a better experience.  I will go ice skating with my family before this year is over - yes, I will!

**Day 270**

I asked yesterday (under the picture I posted of me and my mom) if my extra chin was ever going to go away, which was a really stupid question because there's a reason it's not going away!!  I've been losing, and gaining, the same 8 pounds since, like, June!  I'm not making progress, so, of course, I still have the extra chin, the extra tummy rolls, the chubby legs, etc.  I do good for a few days, and then I don't do good for four days, and then I do good, and then bad, and then good, and then bad, and so on, and so forth.  I was so determined the first five months of this year, but the I lost my motivation, and I haven't been able to get that fire back, completely.  Sure, I've been doing 5k races every month for the last three months, but that doesn't mean crap if I'm not making progress with my health, and I'm not.  I'm failing.  I hate that I'm failing.  I hate having to post about my lack of progress again, and again, and again.  Yes, I've lost weight over the last couple weeks, but, like I said, it's not really a new loss - it's just losing what I had gained back.  And since the race on Sunday I've been eating like crap again, and not exercising - I always do this after a race.  I have no explanation.  Self-sabotage?  Laziness?  I don't know, but I'm done.  I'm done failing.  It was this picture from last Christmas that got me started on my weight loss journey:

Christmas is only about three months away, and I will not look this way this holiday season.  I've lost about 30 pounds, but I have much more to lose, and I need to get back in the game!

I'm surprised anyone reads my blog, but I appreciate you all for sticking with me.  I will be posting less about failing, and more about succeeding, from here on out!

**Days 268 & 269**

I completed my third official 5k yesterday!  I was hoping to finish it in under 45 min., but I came in at 45:54 -

97 142 F Shannon 39 45:54

However, I did improve time from my last race, which was 48:21, so I'm happy with my time.  And, to be honest, I hadn't been training, nearly enough, so I'm surprised I was able to better my time, at all!  I had to walk quite a few times, but that's okay.  I did the race, and that's what matters.

Oh, and I didn't have to run in a torrential downpour!  It was only drizzling a bit, so it WAS, kind of, a refreshing run!  My mom decided to do the race with me at the last minute, and she did really good, considering she didn't train, at all.  Her time was 50:23 - impressive!  Here's a pic of us before the race:

                                                   Will my extra chin ever go away?!  Seriously!!


My dad and my girls came along to offer support!

I want to send out a big congrats to Colleen!!  She did her first ever 5k on Saturday, and she ran it in 39:45!  Awesome!! (I can't get the link to work right, so when you get to Colleen's site, click on her Home tab, and you'll be able to read about her race!)

**Day 267**

I picked up my race packet for the 5k I'm running tomorrow!  Here's my shirt and bib:

It's suppose to rain, and, right now, running in the rain doesn't sound that fun.   I like running, but I don't know if I'm hardcore enough about it (yet) to run in the rain, so I'm going to wait and see what tomorrow morning brings - if it's only raining a little bit, I'll do the race, but if it's a torrential downpour, well, I don't know about that!!

**Days 265 & 266**

Weight today - 215:

2 pounds lost this week - yay!  Jeez, I can't wait to be out of the 200's.  I should have been out of the 200's a long time ago!  I'm 266 days into my journey, and I know that I could have done better.  Yes, losing 33.5 pounds is great, but that number could have been much higher if I hadn't allowed myself to get off track so many times, so I'm not happy about that, but I am proud of myself for not throwing in the towel, and giving up.  I will not give up - it's not an option.  I WILL succeed, and I will reach my goal!

I'm doing my third official 5K on Sunday - wish me luck!

Have a great weekend!

**Days 263 & 264**

I didn't do any exercising yesterday because I was so sore from the burst workout I attended on Monday!  I'm still sore, but I did get on my treadmill today.  Unfortunately, I was struggling from the start, and I only made it 1.5 miles, and it took me forever!  I ran all but 5 min. of it, and, as you can see, I'm still very slow!
 
I will get faster...someday!  I will not give up!

I'm really slacking on the Shred challenge!  I didn't get 10 days of Level 1 in, but, hey, Rochelle, I saw your post about moving onto Level 2 - I'll move on with you!  I'll do it tomorrow (Thursday) - I'll let you know how I do!

**Day 262**

I had to share this post by Tara - she's amazing!  Check out her blog!

I just got back from the burst workout that my dad's chiropractor is hosting - I really loved the workout.  It was similar to the Shred workouts, but it was an hour long.  I was sweating my butt of through the whole thing, and I can already tell I'm going to be sore tomorrow.  We did each exercise for 15 or 20 seconds, quickly moving onto the next one.  It was a great workout, and I can't wait to go back on Thursday!

**Days 260 & 261**

We had a nice, relaxing weekend at our cabin - so relaxing that I didn't do the Shred yesterday or today, but I'll get back to it tomorrow!

I, finally, bought some new running shoes:

I'm hoping they will work out much better than the Asics did!  It's raining here so I can't do an outside run, but I'm going to try them out on the treadmill, in a minute, to see how they feel.

My dad just started going to a new chiropractor who is offering burst training classes two times a week for one month, and it's FREE!  I can't beat free, so I'm going to try it out.  I'm not sure what it's all about, but I start tomorrow night- I'll let you know how it goes!

**Still Day 259**

I received a blog award from Taryn - thank you so much!!!  I love her blog!  Anyway, this is the award:



"Liebster" means "favorite" or "beloved" in German.  And the award is given to bloggers with under 200 followers, and, yup, that's me!  I have way under 200 followers - I have 32!!  And I love and appreciate them all!  And now I'm supposed to send the award out to 5 other bloggers that have under 200 followers.  A few bloggers I was going to pick already received the award, so I won't reward you, but you gals are awesome.  So, here's my picks:

Jacqui
Deb (I'm not sure how many followers Deb has - I can't see her blog right now because of the Malware virus thing, but, I think, she has below 200)
Finding a Path
Hope
Chubby (I'm cheating on this one because she has 226 followers, but I can't skip Chubby because I love her blog, and I would give her an award every day, if I could!)

So, there's my list.  A few of the blogs have been around for awhile, and a couple are just starting out, but I enjoy reading all of them!

**Days 258 & 259**

Weigh-In day:

YAY!!!!  I killed it this week!  I worked my butt off, and it's great to see that number on the scale.  I've lost 5.5 since my last weigh-in two weeks ago, but I know this loss is from what I've done over just this last week.  So, it's probably alot of water weight that I lost, but that's okay - I'll take it!  I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, and, hopefully, I'll keep seeing great results!

Enjoy your weekend!!

**Days 256 & 257**

I'm doing SO much better!  Doing the 30 Day Shred challenge is helping, so I'm glad I decided to join the challenge.  Jillian is once again kicking my butt - I hate her and love her, simultaneously!  I'm hoping to lose weight AND tone up a little while doing the Shred.  Here's a picture of my very UNtoned arm:

Oh, how I dream of having beautifully toned arms, and shoulders!  I don't think it's in the cards for me because I'm pretty sure I'm going to have too much excess skin, BUT we'll see.  I'll take pics at the end of the challenge, hopefully, I'll notice a bit of a difference.  

There's only 11 more sleeps before my next 5k.  My eldest daughter decided she didn't want to do this one with me, but my youngest daughter said that she would do it, which was a surprise because she, normally, doesn't like to exert herself! :)

I hope you are all doing well out there.  One life!!!

**Days 254 & 255**

I woke up today thinking: I've only got one life, and I need to make the best of it - physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I've been struggling over the last two months, but I have to do better because I don't want to waste anymore time.  So, I need to do better with this one life I have, and I need to live it better - physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I've decided "one life" is my new mantra.  When I woke up this morning I said it over and over again - one life, one life, one life.  Then, I got out of bed and drank one glass of water, ate a healthy breakfast, and completed day 1 of the Shred Challenge.  I started the day off great, and the rest of my day is going good, too (except for this nasty headache I'm dealing with!!!) - I had a healthy lunch, and a healthy snack, and a healthy dinner is planned.  I'm going to end my day with a 30 min. treadmill workout.  I feel really good about today, and I plan on having another good day tomorrow.  One life!!!!

I didn't weigh-in on Friday because I really didn't see the point.  I knew I wasn't going to see anything good facing back at me.  I don't need to worry about numbers on the scale.  I need to get back in a regular routine of eating well, and exercising, so that's where my focus is right now.  I'll do my next weigh-in this Friday.

I haven't been able to visit a few of my favorite blogs!  When I click on them I'm getting a Malware warning saying that I might get a virus if I proceed to the site.  I know zip, nada, nothing about computers, so I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm afraid to proceed to the sites because I don't want to get a virus!!  I'm going to try to remember to ask my husband about it tonight, so I can get back to your blogs to offer support!

**Days 251, 252 & 253**

Thank you, again, to everyone for your supportive words!  You all know how difficult this journey is, and I'm so glad we are all here to support one another.  I, of course, will never give up.  I guess, I just need to whine sometimes when it gets really tough.  So, I had my boo-hoo moment, but I'm feeling better.  I'm feeling more positive, and I feel ready to get back to doing all the good things I need to do to continue on this weight loss journey.  I know I will have many, many, many slips along the way, but I will accomplish my goals - I know it.

I'm loving the cooler weather!  Walking and running outside is so much nicer now, so I'm looking forward to getting back on a regular training schedule for my 5ks.  And I'm, also, looking forward to doing the 30 Day Shred Challenge started by this wonderful blogger.  I think, a challenge is just what I need!!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

**Days 249 & 250**

I'm in a downward spiral.  I feel like I'm starting to lose this battle.  I feel overwhelmed.  I'm trying to get in the right mindset again - I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying.  I'm just so off right now, but I'll find my way back.  I will.

**Days 246, 247 & 248**

Quickie post!  We enjoyed a nice, relaxing weekend at the cabin.  I didn't get any exercise in while we were at the cabin, but when we got home this afternoon I took a bike ride with my family.  It's so nice outside, so it was a great day for a bike ride.  My sister bought this bike for me a couple years ago:

I only used it a couple times.  Even with this big, cushy seat....

it was so painful to ride!  Today was the first time I've been on it since losing about 30 pounds, and, oh my, what a difference 30 pounds can make!  I had, almost, no pain in my tush while we were on the bike ride!  My legs got a great workout!  Best of all, my girls were so happy to go on a bike ride with their mama for the first time ever!  It was a wonderful feeling, and I can't wait to go on our next bike ride tomorrow!

Tonight, I'm going to do a 5k walk/run with my daughter.  We only have 20 days until our next race.  It will be here before we know it!!

**Day 245**

I know I just weighed in two days ago, but I decided to stick to my regular Friday weigh-in and I was happy to see that I'm down a half pound since Wednesday!  Hey, it might only be water weight I lost, but I don't care - the scale went down a bit, and I'll take anything!!

We're going to our cabin for the long weekend, so it will be a challenge for me to get my exercise in - not because I don't have an opportunity to exercise while I'm there - I, totally, do!  But I tend to get lazy when I'm there because I just want to relax, and I will relax, but I will, also, get two days of exercise in while we are there!  I will!!  And I went grocery shopping for the weekend today, and I bought lots of healthy foods, so I'm all set there!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

**Day 244**

I didn't want to come back to my blog yesterday after posting about my gain - I was afraid of what I would (or wouldn't) see in my comment section, but I didn't need to worry about anything because you were all there for me, and I am so grateful!  Thank you  to Chubby, Colleen, Hope, April, Deb, Jacqui, and my dad!  Your kind, encouraging words really help me!  It's hard to explain what the blog community means to me.  You all helped me to lose almost 30 pounds, and I have no doubt that you will all help me reach my goal.  Thank you for your constant support.  It helps knowing that I'm not on this journey alone.