The first week was a doozy

Today marks the first weigh-in for the new challenge over at ShrinkingJeans. It's called Burst Into Summer. Summer is my absolute favorite time of the year. I am not the one you'll hear complaining about heat. Trust me. I love the higher temperatures, and only if the humidity hits an all time high, I am in my own little piece of heaven! I lived in S. Florida for a time, and only because of family and a job did I move back up North.

That being said, I am really excited for this challenge and hopefully reducing the waistline. However, this was not the week that was happening. I think I did everything right as far as workout and diet, only a few tiny hiccups with a fun girls night happy hour and one weak moment where M&M's were involved. I am sticking to the water hydration mini-challenge and even kept my vice, coffee, out of the diet!!! YIKES, I have been yawning though!!!

I will make this challenge work for me, and the Fierce Five team I am doing this challenge with. I do not want this summer to have come and gone without losing some inches and gaining some muscle!!!

Even though today's weigh-in had me at a slightly higher weight than the start - I feel good about it!

Let's go Fierce Five!!!!

Not going to let it get me down!

It is final weigh in for the May Your Way challenge over at Shrinking Jeans. It was not a good day for me. Not weigh-in wise anyway! It's just that way!

I am up again. I know I made bad choices over the holiday weekend, so I know that is why. And I am okay with it.

It's the same dreaded two pounds I go and lose one day, and the next they are back. Grrr!!!

Again, I am okay with it, but only because I know I am going to overcome it. It may not have happened this month, and I may not be ready for the Zooma 10K this weekend, but one day soon, things are going to turn around.

I just need to keep hanging out with the Sisterhood and the fabulous support system there to keep me going!

Thanks for another fabulous challenge, I'm ready for the next one!

On Track

Today's weigh-in went well. I feel I met all my goals set for the week - food wise. It's a great feeling to know I met those goals. The goals I didn't meet were the race training goals. I trained, just not as much as I need to be.

Here's where things are lacking:

Measuring - I could be better at measuring the veggies for servings but my favorite thing to snack on is actually snap peas. Totally raw and nakid! Another fav is Red bell peppers. I often wonder how weird it would be if I just bit into one like an apple. Where veggies are concerned I do well.

Sweets - It's the 2 o'clock hour that is bad for me. That's when the chocolate craving hits. The soda craving is still there, but I've more or less kicked that. I don't feel the NEED for it like I do chocolate. How is it that our bodies are so tied to routine? I am fairly certain it's routine more than the taste, or the sugar fix, but we all can agree, chocolate is pretty tasty and well, the sugar fix helps too. I just can't figure how to get past it for long. I made it two days in a row. That is amazing the way things have been going, but really, I need to stretch it further. I think I will try that. I think I will try for three days in a row starting tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Training - I do well, and then life just does what it does, it gets completely in my way! I'll workout as planned for about 3-4 days and then I have an off day. I run completely out of time and some times I just do not have the energy to get the workout in. Then the weekend rolls around and things get crazy. I really need to get to bed earlier and get up earlier in the day. I just do not know how to get back on track and move bedtime back up to a normal hour. I need me some time management solutions! Anyone know a way to get mentors or life coaches for free? I really need help!

It's time to work on making more changes - I am going to start with the chocolate goal for now.

Running is…

… hard work

… hard to stay committed to

… good for my brain

… good for my health

I know it's hard work, and I know it's good for me, but I really wish running and I got along better than we do, cause it is most definitely

        … a great way to spend time with me, myself and I! Oh, and my thoughts.


Today it is check-in day at Shrinking Jeans, and I'm okay with this week's numbers, because I know I didn't stay focused this weekend and it hurt me. I had all kinds of ideas, and talked myself out of them ALL! There were lots of reasons, I didn't want to, too tired, the wind and allergies were kicking my butt, then the rain came. I could not overcome any of them, and so, I just walked around and took photos all day. I could not force myself to get out on the hills of WV and run. Honestly, it's probably best that I didn't, I ran tonight, and it was hard, but it was definitely a good run. Better than I had expected and I needed it. I'm a far cry from making it 6 miles, but I will manage to run/walk it again in a few weeks, I know I will. Even if it's a longer race time than the last two. I'm going to push it as hard as I can.

I did stick to water intake goals. I even managed to skip one day of my morning coffee. Maybe next week I'll try skipping two, that's a hesitant "maybe" though.

I know this is a quick check-in and post, but I am sitting in the bathroom hurrying to get this up while my son is in the shower. It's a decent enough trade off. I'm multi-tasking! Have a great May Your Way Week!

Goal = Run | No Bad Ju-Ju Allowed!

Today is Wednesday weigh-in for the first "week" of May Your Way over at Shrinkingjeans. I say "week" with quotations, because the challenge started on Sunday so it's been only a few days vs a full week. Regardless, I feel like I am off to a strong start to the challenge, and only hope to be able to stay focused. There's always some work project or family crisis to come into play and throw me off track.

The next 5 weeks are very important for me to keep focused, so all that bad Ju-Ju needs to stay away. There's no room for you here!

I have a big goal of running the Zooma 10K on June 5th. YIKES! Months ago when I signed up it didn't seem as mountainous of a goal as it does right now. I'm trying to not look at it as that big of a goal, but it's been kind of tough.

I have trained off and on the last 4 months, but I've not been able to stay focused long enough to really say I'm gonna be able to do it. This year marks the 3rd year of signing up for this race with the hopes to run it. The past two I have managed to run about half, which obviously is the equivalent to a 5K, a far cry from the 10K. I know that in itself is a major victory since I didn't start running at all until I was 39. I really really really want to run it all this year. I think I might be able to get to the point I run just a bit over half of it at the rate I seem to be going right now.

The ways I have tried to stay true to my goals:

• Monday — Running with a podcast called Freeway to 10K. I ran Week 1 and I'd say all in all, not bad. I also did a quick workout with the Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 DVD. 

• Tuesday — Ripped in 30 and hanging out with the #tworkout crew on twitter with @shrinkingjeans.

• Tonight, Wednesday — Another Freeway to 10K run and I think it will be smart to stick to Week 1 again. 

The weather is rainy here today, so it's treadmill time and I am going to keep the treadmill at a low incline vs hills to see if that helps a bit. I'm already quite sore from trying to bust the fat, so, I think I'll skip JM Rin30 tonight and just go with the 40 min run to let the upper body recover a day.

This weeks mission on SJ is to drink at least 64oz of water - time to keep track! Honestly, this is the one place I think I usually stick to, it's the coffee addiction I need to try to curb. That may be a little harder to do though unless I can get my sleep habits under control. I will work towards adding those goals to my last later in the challenge, I'm not quite ready for that hurdle too!

Happy Mother's Day (in advance) to everyone who has the pleasure of being a mother! See ya'll next week!

It's time for another challenge

And it's time to refocus - again!

I haven't completely lost perspective, but the past couple of months have not been very easy. A household of sickness for almost two months, and just when that was clearing up, it was time for pollen season to roll in. I think we're starting to see a bit more clearly now. We're less itchy, and not such red eyes anymore, but I've got more weight than ever expected to worry about losing. I've also got a race coming up quickly (5 weeks) that I need to gear up for. I am not even close to being ready for it.

I started Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 DVD about a week and a half ago, before heading out of town for Easter. I like it, and could feel all the muscles working hard. I need all those muscles to find some definition
before the weather around here sticks for the summer season! YIKES!!

I'd like to start that again, and I have to get my run training in line. I need to do those 3 - 4 X a week. The meal planning is also another area I need to work on. Like right now, I made a healthy dinner, and there's a little bit leftover. Other than that, nothing else is ready to pack for lunches. That makes for a bad start to the day tomorrow.

I signed up for the next Shrinking Jeans challenge. May Your Way. I've done well in the past with the challenges they've had. The support and virtual friends are just what I needed. I love a good #Tworkout or two on Tuesdays too. Now, it's all about Me and making this a very successful May!

I had better get to sleep so I can get up early and get this week rolling. I've got a lot of training to do and some serious May My Way to get working on!

Sore Loser

This week over at I Heart Faces it's People's Choice Best Face in Feburary. I had quite a few shots I loved this month after doing the Joy of LOVE with Willette. I love the emotion in this shot. The boys played wii and guess who lost?!

I Heart these Faces!