DietBet

So, I joined in on a diet bet.  Actually, I joined in on two of them.  This one starts on Friday, this one on Monday.  Am I crazy?  Yeah, probably.  But even if I don't win it, the motivational kick in the pants sure can't hurt.

I love Roni's Weigh (hosting the first one )

And I've recently started following the Anti-Jared on Facebook, who is hosting the second bet.

The idea is that you have 4 weeks to lose 4% of your body weight (which for me is gonna be a little over 6 pounds).  I figure I'm crazy because, this late in the game for me, that's a lot to lose.  Either way though, it's motivation and if I manage it then I will be ready to switch over to maintaining instead of losing as I will be between 150-155. 

I think the biggest challenge I face currently is trying to not eat everything the kids eat (like when they want those orange cinnamon rolls from a can) and this will motivate me to not touch it.  Late night craving for some left over Christmas candy that the kids STILL have not eaten?  Beaten.  Over doing the starchy-carby stuff?  Solved for a while.  So, yeah, even if I don't hit the target but I lose half of that then I'm going to be ecstatic anyway.

If you join in on either of them I'd love to hear about it!

Burpee

So I tried to do a burpee today (here's a how-to if you, like me, have never done it before).  As to how it went?...  Ha!  There should have been a video tape of that, it was that sad.  I can do a total of 6 (not well) in about 35 seconds at the moment which is pretty darn slow but once I can stop laughing I'll be able to make it a little quicker.  I'm taking the burpee on as my February challenge.  During January I have been doing situps (almost up to 100), pushups, and planks (still suck at those).  I plan to continue with them but I am going to add squats, burpees and wall sits in for Feb.  I can do about 20 squats right now so I'm aiming for 100 by the end of the month.

Are you challenging yourself on something for February?  What are you up to?

Non Scale Victories

Current Weight: 156.8
Lost so far: 53.2
Pounds to go: 1.8

I looked down at my arm today and there was actually a curve to it.  As in, there is a tiny bit of muscle showing.  Woo to the hoo! Today is all about the non-scale victories.

What are you proud of today?

Dinner

Tonight we made spaghetti for the kids and let green peppers stew in the sauce as it cooked. I used some of the extra beef and a little of the sauce and cooked it in red peppers in the oven for about 1/2 an hour. Dinner was delicious and under 400 calories. Yum!

Tried any good recipes lately?  What's your favorite go to?

Check In

Current Weight: 158.4
Lost so far: 51.6
Pounds to go: 3.4

I'm still going on The Sisterhood's Fab-Abs Challenge.  80 situps?  No problem!  30 pushups?  OMFSM I think I'm gonna die.  I'm rocking the situps like a boss but those damned pushups are going to be the death of me. 

Today is a Zumba day.  I've missed the last week and a half of Zumba for family stuff but today I will be there and I'm looking forward to sweating it up.  I could really use a good workout.

How's your week going?

100

I am just awful at push ups (still from the knees) BUT I can do 100 situps in less than 4 minutes and I can hold a plank for 40 seconds which is so much better than dying at 10 seconds just a few weeks ago.  I've still got a lot of work to do but I'm proud of the progress.

What progress are you proud of yourself for right now?

Daily

Today we recorded a temperature of 1, though it quickly was up to a sunny 15 degrees by about lunch time.  Luckily, in 2 or 3 days it's supposed to shoot up a full 20 degrees on the daily highs.  I never thought I could be so happy about the prospect of temperatures in the 40s but there it is.  The lower temperatures generally mean I'm exercising less as I hide in the warmth of the house so I have no changes in progress to report today, either up or down.

With it all being so cold outside I've been gravitating to my natural habitat, curled in my favorite chair with a book, a warm blanket, and my coffee.  In the last few months I've been through quite a few books actually, but my "to read" stack has also been quickly growing.  Recent reads include:
The Hunger Games trilogy
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Eat Pray Love
The Secret Confessions of a Call Girl
The Help

With the exception of Eat Pray Love, I devoured these books, hundreds of pages per day.  EPL, however, disappointed me and I've only gotten half way through.  It was awfully wordy and seemed to take a while to get where it was going.  I don't know, maybe my expectations were to high for that one but I'll keep going because the idea of not finishing a book kills me.  In fact, I've only not finished two books that I've started: Moby Dick and Fanny Hill, both of which I just could not get into and that made reading into a chore.

Read any good books lately?  Love one I hated, hate one I loved?

Progress

I took a picture last night of my new $15 jeans. I love putting the pictures side by side to see how much has changed.

Before 220 (highest was 240)

After 156

Small Reasons for Smiling

Current Weight: 155.8
Lost so far: 54.2
Pounds to go: 0.8

The daily numbers on the scale were teasing me.  166.0, 166.2, 166.0, 166.6.  Sigh. I know it will go up and down, absolute fact and there's no avoiding that.  But it was just so close, I kept hoping that a low would show a 155.x.  So today I have a little smile as I'm seeing that trendline looking down a bit.

I also have a big smile today because of clothes, though.  Yes, it's silly to get happy about clothes but there you have it all the same.  I wanted to go by the Levis store yesterday but it looks like they closed up and shipped out.  That's okay, I guess, because the 2-3 times I went in there the employees were a little snotty/rude anyway.  2 doors down, however, there was a Lucky Brand Jeans so I dropped in and asked the (very sweet) girl if they carry white jeans, as that was what I was going to look for at Levis anyway.  As Luck would have it, pun intended, they did indeed have white jeans and, even better, they had some that had been clearance priced from a regular price of $99 down to $15.  Why yes, I'll take two please, can't beat that price.  So today I'm wearing my "affordably priced" jeans and a shirt that hasn't fit/looked good on me in 15 years, revived just today from the back of the depths of the closet.  Clothing wise today is kind of awesome and feeling good tends to make the day better in general.  Here's hoping it continues.

How is your day going?  What has made you smile lately?

Check In

Current Weight: 156.2
Lost so far: 53.8
Pounds to go: 1.2

Today is day 5 of The Sisterhood's Fab-Abs Challenge.  My abs, serratus anterior (over the ribs), and whatever muscle is at the armpits are crying.   I love it!  Are you trying this one?  If so, how's it going for you?

8 weeks

Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans is challenging all of us to write our fitness/health goals out that we want to achieve in the next 8 weeks.  So here we go:

Weight Loss: 
4 pounds.  This will get me to my goal weight (over 55 pounds lost total!) and leave me in a comfortable maintenance zone.
Water. Water. Water.  Seriously, I know water is my friend so drink it up, at least 6 glasses a day.
Food Log for everything over at Calorie Count

Fitness:
Zumba twice a week
Elliptical for 20 minutes 3 times a week
Keep up with the Sisterhood's Fab-Abs Challenge for January

My reward for this will be a new pair of strappy sandals.  Somewhere around March/April I will be able to start wearing them again and my puppy ate them last year.  Boo.  So a new pair would be lovely!

Are you going to join their challenge?  Link up by January 11th so everyone knows where to find your blog!

I found this image on tumblr.  Anyone know the original source?

The Ups and Downs

Current Weight: 157.0
Lost so far: 53.0
Pounds to go: 2.0

The Up:
This morning I realized that I am exactly 2 pounds away from my goal weight, that if I am really good this week I can actually reach my weight goal as early as next week. No, that doesn't mean I'll hit the other goal necessarily of 21% body fat (pretty sure that will take more like a month) but 155 is a major goal I set out to achieve more than a year ago now.  It's so exciting!

The Down:
A guy friend asked me if my husband is "ok" with how much weight I've lost.  Later he asked the husband about it as well.  The way he asked it suggested that he would not be okay with it.  Husband just told him that as long as my goals were healthy and achieved in a healthy way then he didn't see any problem with it but I thought the whole thing was entirely odd.  Is he saying I look bad where I'm at now or that I've lost too much?  I am still entirely in a healthy weight range and my body fat is somewhere around 23-24% so I think I'm doing just fine.  Or am I over-analyzing this and he just likes girls to be a little chubby, which I'm not anymore?  I don't know, kind of bummed me out a little.

Oh well, either way I'm closing in on my goals and the only person who can decide if they are right for me is me.  Somewhere within the next 5 pounds I should be at my body fat goal and I'm really excited about that. 

Today Zumba starts up again after a holiday break.  I've been out for a month and I'm sure today will just kick my butt, but right now I'm thinking that's a good thing to look forward to.  To add to the "kicking of my own ass" effect I'm also doing the Fab-Abs challenge from ShrinkingJeans.net along with a co-worker this month.  Today is Day 3 and so far, so good.

A New Shiny Year

I once made a New Year's resolution to never make another New Year's resolution.  I think I was a sophomore in high school then?  Anyway, I'm gonna break that now.  I figure 18 years is long enough in that case.  So here are my resolutions for this year:

1.    Refinance house
2.    Make more effort to engage in full conversations and ask questions of others (talk less)
3.    Hit goal weight of 155 and maintain within 5 pounds
4.    Hit body fat percentage goal of 21%
5.    Engage the kids in more physical activity (swimming, hiking, walks, etc)

The ongoing saga of my home refinance has been kind of a nightmare, going on 11 months or 5 years depending on how you're counting.  Ugh.  But it's always so close that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just can't quite reach it.  So hopefully in this new year I can get control of that.

As for talking less, well, I'm awful at that.  I have been really trying to ask questions of others and shut my mouth and just listen to them.  I'm doing a little better already but I want to carry this throughout the new year to make it a long term habit. 

My goal weight/body fat goals are very close.  I was awful the last 2 weeks but all in all it really could have been so much worse.  So back on track I go, but I am up to 158.4 at the moment.

Some of our kids are really good at getting out and moving around.  Two of them, not so much.  My oldest two have zero interest in learning to ride a bike or do much of anything beyond a computer screen.  Luckily they are all pretty healthy kids but I'd like to instill a bit of love for getting out and moving around while they are still impressionable.  So this year there needs to be more hiking, swimming, bike riding lessons, etc.

Are you making resolutions this year?  What are your goals?

ps: I thought this article at CalorieCount was interesting