That damn piece of chocolate cake

I awoke this morning (4am - the usual for a work day in order to get in some exercise with the dogs) and that piece of cake was haunting me in my head. It is a square piece with white frosting and for some reason it had sprinkles.

Why the hell did I eat that? I do not even like chocolate cake with white frosting (at least not until I have taken a bite and it was made really well). What a dumb ass move on my part. After all I did all weekend to maintain my goal weight (and I know I did because I weighed in everyday). I weighed in at 174.8 for 4 consecutive days. So what the hell?

Then I realized that I was never even around chocolate cake. I never saw any white frosting. I didn't eat one bite of anything truly sinful. It was in my dream. This is the first time I remember dreaming about food. But it sure seemed real. But thank God it wasn't, so I hopped on the scale.

I gained 2.5 pounds???!! Say what? Eat healthy (maybe consumed 100-200 extra calories), exercise my ass off everyday, drink lots of water, only dream about cake and gain 2.5 pounds? This. is. not. fair.

Now the realist and statistician in me knows this cannot be an actual gain. I would have had to consume an extra 8,500 to 10,000 calories for this to occur. More than likely I am going to start my lovely 21 day cycle soon. Or perhaps it is the fact that I have been cooking and the foods may be higher in sodium and I may have some water retention going on.

Oh well! It will come back off eventually. Hope your scale days are better than mine!

For my favorite Wild Fluffy Sheep

Hideous Pictures Rise Again

These pictures were 115 pounds ago. Trust me when I say that I try to make sure the camera catches me in more flattering positions now. These are not pictures I have hanging in the house. In fact they are only saved on my computer as something to refer back to. This is something I never want to forget. Because I never want to go back.

Week of discoveries

1. Last Thanksgiving I had lost 30 pounds, this Thanksgiving 115 - 85 more pounds. No wonder I am cold this year.
2. When the kids hug me at school, their arms go all the way around now.
3. I have been without acne medicine for months (cannot seem to make it to their office on their schedule) and my skin looks the best it has my adult life. And I sweat alot when I workout. I know they say there are weird hormones in fat, I wonder if that was fueling the fire.
4. My wedding rings were so big I was wearing them on my middle finger so I got them resized (and just so you know, I gained 50 pounds after I got them so they were snug for a while too). One was larger than the other but it went from a size 8 to a 6 1/2.
5. Got my hair trimmed and noticed after she straightened it that I have some really shiny hairs.....no make those gray hairs....GRAY HAIR!!! I am 31 and have no kids yet, where did this crap come from? I never thought this could happen to me. I may or may not have thought the same thing about morbid obesity.
6. I have a ganglion cyst on top of my foot right where I tie my running shoes. It is gross and uncomfortable - not painful, just uncomfortable. If you have any suggestions on how to deal with this, please let me know. If you do not know what it is, look it up. Gross.
7. We started ripping up carpet in all the excitement of getting new stuff (in about a month) and in one room the pet stains were so bad it went all the way through the padding and to the cement. Again - GROSS!! No wonder that room had a smell no matter how much we cleaned the carpet.
8. I was able to maintain my goal weight for 24 hours!! And that is on Thanksgiving. And I ate well.
9. I wore my heart rate monitor for my 2 hours of turkey burner classes at the gym today and even though I do high impact I do not burn as many calories as I thought. **SIGH** But it is still a decent number of calories. **SMILE**
10. According to the Biggest Loser special from Wednesday night, formerly obese people have to exercise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, 5 to 6 days per week to maintain their loss. I suspected this but now I want to know if some of that can be weight training or is that straight cardio?
11. I may want to change careers. Not sure what that would like just yet. I do know the best way to master something is to teach it to someone else. I like being outside - like hiking. I have a BA in business and a Masters in teaching. I always wanted to run a camp. Maybe a weight loss camp for kids? Who knows? I want to work on something for all of us on weight maintenance. Hmmm....Not really a paved road out there for me to follow. I do know I do not want to be a personal trainer. Dietitian, possibly but not really thrilled at the thought of getting another degree.

So it has been an interesting week. I am also working on a new goal. I think I will change my ticker now. I am thinking the next goal weight will be 170. Maybe I can do that by the New Year. Maybe not. I just need something to focus on to get me through all this food and schedule disruption. Sorry for the ramblings just typing out my thoughts! Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

Turkey. It's what for dinner....again!

I know it looks like a mess but it is good. I made up this recipe 9 years ago to eat leftover turkey. Here is the recipe.

Turkey Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped turkey breast meat
¼ of a purple onion chopped small
½ yellow bell pepper chopped
½ green bell pepper chopped
½ red bell pepper chopped
2/3 cup part skim shredded mozzarella cheese
6 Tablespoons Lite Caesar salad dressing
1 tube of reduced fat crescent rolls

Directions:
1. Combine meat, veggies, cheese and dressing a bowl
2. Unroll crescent rolls
3. Add about ¼ cup of mixture to the crescent roll and try to wrap it to the top
4. Bake at 375 degrees for about 12-16 minutes

****Each roll has about 157 calories****


I eat 2 of them with a side salad. Good and healthy. I never counted up the calories until today. Not too shabby my friends. I am working on another post of my discoveries. So stop by again tomorrow! Happy eating.

Trotting with turkeys

Actually turkeys are much faster than some of the folks doing the turkey trot. The 1st picture is me after the trot at my goal weight (which is normal, no longer overweight) wearing all medium sized clothing (I would have NEVER thought this possible). The 2nd pic is part of the crowd (12,000 people) I was trying to slog (slow jog) through because they were in no hurry. The 3rd pic was taken on the way back to the car. At first I thought it was a deer taking a crap on a building but then I realized it was the ever rare jack-a-lope. What a lucky day to see one of those gems.

The trot went well. I am so proud of my husband. He is not really into this kind of stuff but he did it. He even slogged it most of the way. We finished in 34 minutes. Not too shabby. I will probably have to listen to him complain about being sore for the rest of the weekend but he did it. Even let me buy him nice new running shoes last night (that he will probably never run in again). I did notice I could have talked the whole time and I ran by some peeps who were really wheezing (one of them may or may not have been my husband). Good for them for giving it their all. I just wished that would have moved to the side so I could get through. I am an ass like that. It makes me want to run a competitive 5K so I can be the slowest one and be in the way.

Used my new Polar F6 heart rate monitor. This thing seems pretty pimp. I burned 360 calories and I even got a little above my target heart rate zone. I cannot wait to wear it tomorrow to see how many calories I burn in turbo kick boxing and boot camp.

I am pretty good at guessing calories in food and calories burned now. I wore it just walking the dogs (no running) and I assumed I would burn 100 calories and it came back at 99. Not bad. I will run the intervals too to see the difference. The turkey is in the oven and many of the sides and dessert are done. Now I must go beat my husband at ladder golf (fun game - look it up).

I plan on posting tomorrow about some discoveries I have made this week. Until then, enjoy your day! Gobble, gobble.

The heavens opened and the angels sang....

Well, okay, not so much. However, I did step on the scale this morning to see 174.8. That means I have hit my goal weight. I am not stopping just yet (but I do plan on eating well today for sure!). Not sure what the ending weight will be but I am leaving my ticker the way it is for at least a day so I can enjoy the accomplishment of that task.

I am sure most of you will be busy today and not checking blogs. I do have a lot more to blab about so I may come back this afternoon after the Turkey Trot.

In the mean time, Happy Thanksgiving!! And for those of you outside of the U.S. I hope you have a super great day and I am thankful for you too!

Recpie Time

These are 123 calories per serving and 4.4 grams of fat so enjoy.

Layered Cookie Bars-Hello Dolly Bars

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Yield: 24 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham crackers crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350F.2. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper; cut off excess paper around top edge of pan.3. Place crumbs in a medium bowl. Drizzle with butter and 1 tablespoon water; toss with a fork until moist. Gently pat into an even layer (don't press too firmly). Sprinkle chocolate and butterscotch over crumb mixture. Top evenly with coconut and pecans. Drizzle condensed milk evenly over top. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly around the edges. Cool completely on a wire rack.

It may not be the lowest fat desert but they are super good. They are lower in fat and calories than other desserts that will be served on Thanksgiving. I will be making them after the Turkey Trot.

What a weekend!!

Well it has been a weekend full of adventure....sort of. Friday I went to a 5:30 body combat class, worked with the kids all day, did a P90x workout after school (and I took it to a new level) then went to best bud's house to play with the twins a bit and hang out. When I finally made it home about 11:30 hubby and I watched part of a movie. Around 12:30 when we went to bed we discovered an infestation. Our dogs had fleas. We have NEVER had this problem before. So I got to go to nasty Wal-Mart and buy lots of flea-be-gone crap. Came home and gave the two monsters baths and collected all bedding and blankets in the house. Went to bed after 2. That means I was up for almost 24 hours straight.

Was up by 7 on Saturday to start washing and cleaning and I had a double workout to do. Went to a friend's house for dinner and went to Home Depot to pick out new carpet (yahoo!!! 6 years I have been waiting for this moment).

But Sundays I have decided to be hiking days. I was bit disappointed last week with the flat, paved walk. I wanted adventure. I ordered a book called 60 hikes in 60 miles. I think they have them for every major city. There is a nature center at Lake Worth which is about a 40 minute drive but it is exactly what I was looking for. The trails are crazy! All of these pictures were taken from the trails. I walked for over two hours (and I am assuming a little over 7 miles) and still did not walk all the trails. They are also very empty. I only ever saw 2 people and they were not on the trails. At one point I realized I had dropped the map and had to back track to find it or I may have never made it back to the car.

The trails were narrow, muddy, steep - and fun! I felt just like a kid going exploring like when my folks used to have woodlands behind their house.

I will do this again for sure! Now I am procrastinating going to the store. I have school Monday and Tuesday but many districts around here don't. **JEALOUS**

P90X update - I have found a way (with the help of some ladies at the gym) to do actual modified pull-ups instead of using the band. Holy crap are they hard but I shall do them. I'm gonna bring it! (This is a gay saying from the videos). I am not even through the full 2nd week yet and I can see a difference in my arms. More definition. Wow this stuff works hard and fast. Tomorrow is legs and back (I like this one the least).

This post is forever long so I will post a hello dolly bar recipe tomorrow (yummy sweet treat). Hope you had a great weekend!

Decisions

Happy Friday all! Today was my Friday weigh-in. I saw 176.8 on the scale. Woohoo for this week. I hit it hard all the time but this week the number actually moved. Maybe changing things up a bit does help. So for 1 week with P90X and 3 other cardio changes it yielded a 3.6 pound loss. Very nice.

I am trying to make some decisions. I am now 1.8 pounds away from my goal on the ticker (and a normal weight for my height). I know that weight is possible. I am not sure if I can go lower. My body is very muscley (I like to make up my own words). One of my turbo instructors thinks another 10 pounds is possible. So I may change my goal. Don't know yet. I am thinking I will stick with this until the 90 days of P90X are finished and see what my weight is at and call that my goal weight. That would be about Valentines Day. I am not sure I will lose much because we still have Thanksgiving and Christmas to get through.

So I am thinking about all these things and how to switch over to weight maintenance. I have been trying to read up on it but there is not much out there. I am depending on the kindness of advice from those who went before me and the one book I was able to buy on the subject. I am not sure how many calories to add in (do you do it gradually?) or do I stay at this number of calories? How much weight training will I do when this is program is done?

I know I have a lot more questions than answers. It is very confusing and I do not want to screw up anything I have done so far. I mean, we are talking 113 pounds here. So if you have any advice or know of any more books I can read on the subject, please let me know!

Have a super, duper weekend!

Potluck

Today was my first potluck at my new school. I have never seen potlucks done up this way. Decorated super cute and I think everyone brought something. Including me. The theme was to bring your favorite dish. Seriously, there were like 15 crockpots on one table. I made a family recipe called pretzel salad. It is a delicious desert that is like a light, fluffy version of cheesecake. It is not too bad for you fat and calorie wise, however it still holds no nutritional value (as do most delicious foods).

I brought my 350 calorie lunch and sat in the middle of it all and did not eat one bite. Mostly because I could not stop at one bite. Especially since some made lots of delicious smelling egg rolls.

One of my co-worker's husband is doing P90X with me. I send her text messages challenging him to "bring it" which pushes him because he cannot be outdone by a girl (although I am one bad-ass girl sometimes). Anywho, she tried to get a picture of me pigging out to send him but was disappointed at my healthy eating.

I am on my sprint toward the finish here. I am not willing to screw it up for some eggrolls and store bought cookies. I work too hard for that. Speaking of, I did the spinning/cycling class tonight. Sweaty, sweaty girl. It is so much easier to do 100 pounds lighter than the first time I tried it. But it is still at the bottom of my list as far as exercise I enjoy.

I do not know how Lance Armstrong (or any man for that matter) does it. My tailbone hurts alot now that there is less fat on it. Certain ab exercises are awfully painful. The seat on this bike was too (and I had a padded one). So I discovered if I push my butt off the back a little, there is no pressure on my tailbone. But then my lady bits get to hurtin'. So I would stand up and pedal until I could get the feeling back. The good news is that I could stand and pedal for most of the class because my knees don't hurt anymore. Yeah for weight loss!

I think I burned a TON if calories so I may go back next week. We shall see. I wonder if taking 1 spin class per week will even make a difference. I am still gonna do my other stuff but this class is supposed to help me shape up my mid section. Time will tell I guess.

I think it is time to start sharing recipes. I will start. You go ahead and post some on your blog too. I will look for my weight watcher Thanksgiving ones because they were really good. TJ at TJ's test kitchen helped me with this one because she is so awesome. It is a trail mix recipe. Here it goes:

1. 1 cup multigrain cheerios
2. 1/4 cup almonds (chopped in half)
3. 1/3 cup craisins (sweetened dried cranberries)
4. 2 Tablespoons sweetened shaved coconut
5. 1 1/2 ounces of dried mango (cut into bite sized pieces)

This yields 3 servings at 2/3 cup each. It comes in at 220 calories, 5 grams of fat (only because of the almonds), 3.3 grams of fiber and 3.3 grams of protein. You could do 1/3 of a cup for less calories but then you get less protein (and you would not get to eat as much).

I have been eating this for my snack for the past two weeks and I love it! It replaced applesauce and rice cakes. This stays with me longer and actually has nutritional value.

What have you been cooking in your kitchen?

Exercise Update

Last night was cheat meal. I decided on breakfast for dinner. I love that. Pancakes, bacon and hash browns with a big glass of milk. Yum, yum. As a kid I would love when my mom would say "we're having breakfast for dinner!" It maybe due to my love of syrup.

Thank goodness for Cracker Barrel who serves breakfast whenever you want it (and skim milk). Best bud and I ordered breakfast and it turns out that is what the twins wanted too. So we all left full and happy.

But the day after cheat meal I must get up and get back to healthy eating and continued exercise. That used to be so hard for me. After a year, it is easy. I used to think of it as a punishment but now it is just part of the routine.

Today I walked the dogs 1.2 miles, did my 40 push-ups, ran for a few minutes on the treadmill at the gym for a warm up, completed the shoulders and arms workout from P90X (including the bonus round) and walked at a pretty good pace at the park for about 3 miles.

I went to a park that I thought would have some hiking trails. When I found some and went down them they were covered in brush and fallen trees. A little more dangerous than I was looking for. So my search for local hiking trails continues. I did wear a 10 pound backpack for added challenge and broke a decent sweat.

I have been a little sore from the P90X so I assume I am doing it correctly and working the right muscle groups. However, the shoulders and arms workout today was alot. I can see how these people get ripped. I have a feeling that I will be sore tomorrow. I like that good-sore feeling though.

My bruises from the mud run are still pretty dominant on my arms. They have turned to lovely shades of green and purple. It is not that they hurt but other people think I am in pain. I wonder how long that will take to heal. Oh well. As long as I am not green forever.

I must shower (at 4:15pm, there is no need to rush things) and head off to buy some groceries and new workout clothes (again). During body combat on Friday my pants were slipping down and my sports tank was riding up. I was scared my big white belly would blind someone. My clothes used to move like that because I was too big. Now it is because they are too loose. I know this because the size mediums I have do not give me this problem, just the larges and extra larges. I hate to spend money but I like to be comfortable and covered in my workout classes. Look out Target...here I come!

In the Beginning...

Okay so I am going to turn into one of "those people" who talks about their exercise on their blogs. I like to read them but others may not. I promise I will try not to bore you too much and I will not post every morsel of food I eat (mainly because I eat the same stuff most of the time and I would bore even myself).

Yesterday I did walk/run with the dogs, take body combat (this class is awesome, I am pissed it is only offered once a week - and at 5:30am) and began P90X.

The overview video tells you this program is not for beginners. I can see why. You do have to have some strength to do some of the moves. Day 1 is back and chest. Between everything I did yesterday, I did 324 push-ups (none on my knees either - holla!). All different ways and at different times but I never would have thought I could do so many in a day. This journey is amazing. I am a little sore in the right places today so I think I did everything correctly.

I am still working on my plan for myself but I am not going to use the TOTAL P90X system. I am not following their diet because according to the book I should consume 2400 calories a day. I am currently at 1600 and I like that number. Especially since I am not done losing yet. I am not using their cardio or yoga dvds either (at least not now). I like my cardio classes and I am changing them up a little. I will probably do more cardio then they have in their program because I already do. Cardio makes me feel so accomplished when I am finished.

You may be thinking - what the hell are you doing then? The answer is the strength/weight training and the ab ripper X dvd. According to their schedule I should do abs everytime I do strength training but I may move that to cardio days. I will try it today. It looks kind of awful (meaning hard - 16 minutes). We will see how sore I am from it.

I was talking to one of the turbo instructors this week about changing things up and my fear of loose skin. I told her where I thought it would be and she gave me a suggestion. Wait for it.......cycling/spinning class. Dude, if you read my blog over the summer you know I have an extreme dislike for this class. I know it is awesome and burns a TON of calories but it is hard for me. Mentally. That, and I hate feeling all squinched up over a bike. I like to be up and around and free. It may sound stupid but I feel too restricted on those things. She swears it will take the fat of my midsection (and she really knows her shit). I may (cough, cough) try a class this week but I will have to give up the only Zumba class I have left. But I may have gone as far as I can (as far as body shaping) with Zumba. Zumba is still fun and it tones and gives a good calorie burn.

So for P90X, I will do their strength training which is 3 days a week (I was doing 3 days a week before but for less time and less intensity) and the ab ripper 3 days per week. I am sticking with my 40 morning push-ups and walking/running the dogs 1.2 miles daily. I have turbo kickboxing 3 days per week (my favorite class), body combat 1 day and walking/hiking 1 day. And....possibly.....maybe.....cycling 1 day.

Best bud and I are curious as to how cycling shapes that particular part of your body. It does not seem like it would move that much to do that. But, what do we know?

So there it is. My tentative plan. Oh yeah....in the book for P90X it tells you to take your measurements and 6 different before pictures. I did measurements last week. I was not going to take the pictures but I will want to compare the end results (because I am like that). So this morning I made my husband take my pics. I even did it in a white sports bra and undies (I wanted undies because I will want to compare my thighs where I think loose skin maybe lurking). I didn't even feel bad looking at them. Even wearing white they do not look too bad (I say that now, in a few months when I look back I may change my mind). I kinda wish I had done them at my heaviest just to see how far I have come. I would have never posed for the pics though....not even for my husband.

I am off to try ab ripper X. May you all have a super successful weekend!

Friday the 13th Weigh-In

doesn't frighten me.....too much. Well this week I did it again. My weight went up 3.5 pounds this time. I was beginning to think I would have to give up my cheat meal. That would be super sad. However, it was the lady troubles (yes again, thank you 21 day cycle) and my mother (a nurse) said that after an athletic challenge (say a mud run) your muscles retain fluid. So today I stepped on the scale to see....180.4. Woohoo!!! Finally. I have been in the 180s forever it seems and maybe soon I will be out (and down).

That puts me down 5.5 pounds from Sunday but an actual net loss of 2 pounds. I will gladly take that. This last bit of weight is hard to get off friends. But I am keeping true to my word about changing it up some to see if that helps. In fact, I already ran with the dogs and am on my way out the door to the body combat class. All before school. I want to try to start P90X after school today. Chest and back. It looks like about 1000 push-ups. Oh well, they do help the core.

Good luck to you all with your weigh-ins this week. I will post about P90X if I get that far today!

Loose Skin?

Is this a topic you have wondered about? Me too. I use to read people's blogs and see how much weight they have lost and wondered.....do they have loose skin? If so, where is it? Especially people who have lost over 100 pounds. It occurs to me now that I am one of those people I used to wonder about.

Loose skin is not always obvious. The lady at my gym who had gastric bypass surgery and lost 200 pounds has lots of loose skin hanging from her arms (poor thing....she works her ass off). Some people have so much extra skin on their stomachs that they have to tuck it into their pants (you know you have seen it on TV). It seems to me the only cure for those is cosmetic surgery.

For those of you who do not know, I have lost my weight slowly with lots of exercise. I am down to my last 10 to 20 pounds (I think). I have lost enough weight that now I can really play with shaping my body (this is actually fun). Over the last four months I can really see toning in certain areas. I no longer have back fat or fat on the high side of my hips (it used to be part of my shelf butt). My face and neck have slimmed. My arms are looking almost normal now (a bit muscle-y but they still need more toning). My legs are athletic (but I will take that) for the most part.

As I have lost weight and thought - I want to lose another 30 pounds - I tried to think of where it would come from. That was always easy. Until now. There aren't many places left. Thighs and stomach. I thought for sure I had another 20 pounds I could shed from there. Until......I bent over the other day and saw my sagging stomach. It was wrinkled and waggily like an EXTREMELY elderly butt. This is when it occurred to me. This might not be just fat.....this maybe that loose skin people talk about. It is hard to know the difference. Also, my inner thigh has some swag to it.

I am not ready to say it is definitely loose skin (I can always have hope). So I have decided to try to work on toning those areas for a while to see if that helps. I workout daily with strength training 3 days per week. I am working on making a new routine for myself. I am going to take what I know...add in some new, harder crap.....give it a good stir.....pull it out of my ass....and hope for positive results. I am going to try some of the strength training and toning from P90X. I have heard nothing but amazing things about this program so maybe it can help me as well.

I am also going to be changing my cardio a little. I happened upon a class yesterday that was supposed to be turbo kick boxing (600 calorie/hour burn) but it was being substituted with body combat (900 calorie/hour burn). Not really what I was looking for since I am still recovering from the Mud Run but it was great! It was cardio but there was one song that had us doing 104 push-ups. Talk about dripping on the floor. I think it maybe what I need but I am may need to join another gym for it. Oh well. The results maybe worth it, right?

Do you have any loose skin? Any suggestions on how to fix it without surgery?

Also, I am looking for some good low-fat recipes for Thanksgiving sides. I have a few weight-watcher ones from the past that are great but I thought you all might have some super-tasty suggestions.

I know this post maybe TMI, however, I wondered about it so why not be honest? I will take the way I feel today with a side of loose skin over the way I felt before.

Dirty Picture

This was a picture taken after one obstacle. By the end, we were swimming through the mud. I am talking fully submerged. I am still cleaning dirt out of my ears! Ah, good times! Sorry I do not have any of the big obstacles. It was hard to take pics, especially by the end because my camera was stuck in my muddy pocket. By the end of the race, I felt so heavy, like I had put my weight back on. Glad it was only mud!

Mud Run

My muddy pictures are coming some day soon. These pictures were taken last night. I am not sure how well you can see. No, it is not after a domestic dispute. These are my marks from the mud run. Don't pity me. I think they are funny (best bud and my mother don't - husband has net seen them yet). These are earned. Hard earned. Pain is temporary, pride is permanent (at least for me).

My goals were to complete the course, try all the obstacles, not injure myself. Despite the looks of it, I did not injure myself. I completed the course and EVERY obstacle. Thank goodness I had two teammates. I had to do this cargo net thing twice before I got over. Hence the bruises. I got up to the top and was hanging from my arms because I had no upper body strength left. They felt like Jello and there was so much slack in the nets that I could not use my leg strength. Once they pulled the net tight I could do it.

I am amazed. Not only did we do it, but we made good time. I woke up yesterday with such awful lady trouble pains it was hard to stand up in the morning. Thank goodness for pain killers. However, those made me a bit sleepy before the race. I could have actually jogged the whole thing but one teammate was having some troubles so we walked it in spurts. I cannot put into words how fun it was. I LOVED IT!!! I am sore today and bruised but I still loved it. I want to do it again - after I work on getting some more upper body strength.

I could sing while I jogged. I ran in mud up to my knees and was cruising through groups of young, athletic men. I ran up and down really steep hills (quite a few times). I made it up and over pretty high (and scary) obstacles and each time I made it through something, I thought - this is the funnest thing I have ever done. I did this for over 6 miles. Now at 6 miles I finally thought - enough with the hills already and I am hungry. But for the most part I had the time of my life. I literally swam through mud that smelled like sewage and still had the best time.

When it was over, the fire department hosed us off and I tried changing in the parking lot. Let's just say I drove home in a towel and t-shirt (no shoes) and prayed I did not get pulled over. Then when my gas light came on, I just hoped I would make it home. Not really how I want to be seen at a gas station.

I think perhaps I found this experience more enjoyable than others because it lets me appreciate just how far I have come. There were times when I was heavy that it was hard to get up from the floor. I could have never done anything like this. I feel so accomplished. I feel so proud. I do not think I have ever felt so proud. I was not this proud of completing my masters degree. Maybe because this did not come as easy. I need to find more things like this to do. It is a feeling I cannot put into words and I wish everyone could feel this way at least once in their life.

I feel like a warrior. A health and fitness warrior. I can never go back. Things like this prove to me that I am changed forever. I am now looking for my next adventure!

Wiegh-In and Measurements

Oops, I did it again......182.4 - EXACTLY. Two weeks ago I had gained 2.5 pounds and then lost it landing me right back at 182.4. Now, this week (due to an unfortunate candy and binging incident) I gained 3 pounds and lost it landing right back here at 182.4.

I have to stop doing this to myself. It is too much work to stay the same (essentially). However, I will take it and be grateful I did not have a net gain. I just hope next week it moves down again.

In other news, I took measurements this morning. I did so because I have not since September 20th and I want to start P90X in the next week or so and I wanted a starting point. I say in the next week or so because it depends on how long it takes me to recover from the mud run. Dude, I was reading the obstacle list last night and it is crazy! The 2 that sound the easiest to most people of all the craziness worry me the most. One is jumping hurdles. I have never done that dry or in running shoes, let alone covered in mud and in hiking boots. The other is crossing 5 wooden logs....that are purposely wobbly. I have bad enough balance stretching my ham string standing up. That, and I am clumsy. I do have to say, I was laughing out loud thinking about me on this course.

Let us pray I come out with no injuries. And some funny pictures to post.

On to measurements:

Neck: 0 change
Chest: - 1.5 inches
Arms: - 0.5 inch
Forearm: - 0.5 inch
Waist: - 2 inches
Hips: - 2.5 inches
Thigh: - 1 inch
Calf: - 0.25 inch
Weight (since 9-20): - 8 pounds

Not too bad. At least the measurements are still going down. Well I am off to drag the dogs around the neighborhood to poop on everyone's lawn. Have a great day. I will post again sometime this weekend about my grand adventure. Hopefully I will not eat my way back up the scale so much.

Big NSV Today

Please do not fret. I have not been injured in anyway. I know this blog is all about me but I am getting sick of seeing my own face on this blog (that and the picture made it look like I had some weird growth in my neck and I did not want to frighten you). But the picture has significance.

As most of you know I teach 1st grade. Well the student council is selling a new shirt. So after school, I went to the teacher's room who is selling them and told her I would like to buy one. She looked me dead in the face and said "a size medium, right?"

Now I wanted to laugh outloud. I refrained. Sidenote - this is a new school for me this year and most of the people do not know how big I used to be, especially this teacher because she just got back from maternity leave.

I asked to see a medium. It looked a little small but I decided if I tried it on and it looked like a fat girl in a little shirt, I would exchange it for a large. She agreed.

Here is the wild-ass part....wait for it.....it fit! And it was not even skin tight. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I CAN WEAR A MEDIUM T-SHIRT!!! Now I am not totally delusional, I am convinced they run at least a little big. However, I have been a teacher for 6 years and buying these shirts for 6 years. The ones I just cleaned out of the closet were 2X (one was even a 3X but it was big on). Me. I went from a 2X to a medium. How whack is that?

Okay, I am over myself. So that is the picture. My new medium shirt. Giddy up! Kinda makes me want to wear it everyday.

In other news, I have a new obsession. Dried mango. I am a self-proclaimed fruit hater. I eat it once a day because it is "healthy" but that was before I tried the dried mango. Most delicious food on Earth. Holy crap is it good. Kinda high in calories but no fat and full of vitamin C. I gave up my Chex Mix bar that I eat after dinner for it. And those things are super good. What has become of me? This is how I know I am a changed person. A medium shirt and craving dried mango. Miracles do happen!

I falter....okay I fall flat on my face

Well friends, I am currently picking myself back up.



Friday night was going to be my cheat meal. And it was - mmmm, french fries. But since I never ate ice cream, I thought I would eat some candy on Saturday.



So after working out for hours and eating a healthy subway lunch, I ate a piece of Halloween candy from the bowl. And another, and another, and....well let's just say it tasted REALLY good and I had entire pile of wrappers in front of me after about 15 minutes. I consumed more candy in 15 minutes than I have in the past year (granted, I was not a big candy eater previously). And it doesn't end there.



Later on, I snacked on more candy at best bud's house and then went out and got us nachos for dinner (hello cheat meal #2 which is not in my plan). Which best bud offered to cook us a healthy dinner but I must have just been in binge mode. But wait, there's more. We later went out and got ice cream.


I am aware that I consumed far too many calories. Most of them empty and filled with sugar. I decided to step on the scale. Up 3 pounds. For that to be an actual gain I would have had to consume an additional 11,100 calories. I don't think the damage was quite that bad. However it was like a cold hand smacking me in the face.

So I bagged up what was left of the candy and threw it in the back of a cupboard (I think my husband would have freaked if I had thrown it in the trash). I ate some oatmeal and will be walking the dogs and heading to the gym shortly.

This is why I don't allow myself little bits of things I really like. It tastes so good, I cannot stop. Moderation is a word I need to learn. I also feel I maybe coming up on my lovely lady 21 day cycle because when it is, I can eat and eat and eat and never get full. Damn hormones!

Normally I can have candy in the house at any time. I am not someone tempted to eat these things. Food does not call my name from another room. I do not go looking through cabinets to see what "looks" good. If I did that, I could find a lot of stuff that looks good. But this weekend I really did a number on myself. Fell flat on my face.

Oh well. Lots of water. Healthy eating. Exercise. Back to my way of life. Next weekend is the Mud Run. I maybe in trouble. I do not a fatter ass to try and haul over a wall.

Hope you all did better than I did. May your scale be kind.