Weigh in Wednesday Day 17 of 30

Hi Folks! It's weigh in Wednesday, again! I'm here with an update about the 30 day challenge that I'm doing with Adie.
Sunday's weigh in with her was this:

Which means I only lost .6# last week with the challenge.  I know that my workouts sucked due to the cold weather, but most of it was just because I was too damn lazy! I didn't do any flights of stairs at work, I didn't take any walks, I didn't do a stitch of yoga either.  I've had a lot going on, and while I know that isn't an excuse, my head just hasn't been in it.

Well, that all changed on Saturday.  After some morning shopping and a great lunch with my honey, I went home and worked in the yard for a couple of hours, then detailed out one of my cars for a couple of hours.  Even went and washed and vacuumed it! After, I may or may not have eaten a peep... or two.  But I earned it!

I also started party prep for my sons birthday.  Superman is his party theme this year and I've made the chocolate dipped pretzels and kryptonite krispies.  We're also going to do a black bean and corn salsa, and cheesecake stuffed chocolate dipped strawberries. MMMM...

I try to go all out for my kids birthdays.  Mostly because I remember what a bummer my birthdays were, and I don't want them to feel that way.  Then again, my birthday was always in the middle of the simmer, so kids were less likely to come. Oh well.  Until they say they don't want it, we'll just keep on partying! 

Sunday was SUPER nice (#seewhatididthere?) and I ended up taking the top off the front half of the jeep! 

 

It was so nice! I can't wait till I can leave if off all the time.  Right now, the mornings are chilly, and we're entering tornado season... so that means RAIN. All. The. Time. Speaking of chilly mornings... 

Monday morning, I forgot to put the top back on... so it was a very chilly ride to school! Oh well... I was def awake at work that morning! The top got put back on around noon since it was going to rain.  Still haven't taken it off since then. C'mon nice weather! I'm ready to go topless all the time! (HA!)

Monday night I came home and push mowed the back lawn. It was a workout that I swear lasted an hour... it was only 20 minutes. Blah... Oh well, I came home and moved. That's what's important. Right? 

Tuesday... SUCKED. Seriously.  I've had this kick ass attitude since Saturday and it all went to hell yesterday. I won't go into detail again, but know that it sucked all the way around. I ate so terribly. I felt terrible. I didn't workout. I just didn't.  But, I also DIDN'T have the big old greasy cheeseburger that I wanted either. I DID however eat tacos... with cheese, cheese sauce AND sour cream.  I also ate 15387654324 rice crispy treats.  Yup.  And they were so good.  I ain't even gonna lie. Unfortunately, neither does the scale.

This blows... and I don't even want to talk about it. Seriously. An unfortunately, this is my weigh in at the beginning of the month. Blah... 

Linking up with Heather and Ash over here...

And I also wanted to tell you about a Swag swap going on over with two of my favorite bloggers, Candra and Alicia!

These two ladies have put this group together for people that want to swap some swag that is for fitness or just plain old Diva-ness. All ya gotta do is send an email with your name, pick of category and your info for social medias.  They'll link you up, you swap info with the person you're paired with and then get to swapping! I can't wait to get this thing started!

Hope you all have a happy hump day and that you're doing MUCH better than I am on this whole thing! What do you do when you fall off the wagon? 

Hi there, hey there, ho there... Lots of links in this post!

I'm (obviously) a little behind on this weeks posts. Please forgive me.  I'm sure most of you will if you know whats been going on, but still, please.

So lets get down to it!
Monday started my 30 day challenge with Adie of Four Fit Sisters. So far, so good.  I'm loving the daily "homework" she posts to our facebook group, although, I'm not as impressed that I'm in a group of mostly repeaters... I feel like I'm asking stupid questions pretty often, and don't feel like other people are "participating" as much since they've already asked most of the questions they're going to.  Oh well.

Our first assignment was to figure out our average RMR (mines 1844). You can do that here... This number tells you how many calories your body should burn just sitting around. Not doing anything additional.  You should try to eat at or just under that number of calories per day.  Uh... hello! That's about 400 MORE calories than I've been eating for the past two months! So, I've adjusted my calorie intake on my LoseIt App around 1725. I just couldn't make the dive to over 1800... Just couldn't.

Our second assignment was to take pics and measurments of ourselves. Now, I had just done that on the fourth for the month, but I went ahead and did it on Sunday as well. Here they are:

 

 

Hey Look! I got new clothes to take pics in! Not really, I was just tired of those grey pants... they made my ass look terrible.  And that cheapo bra was driving me crazy!

Anyway, I posted mine on the facebook group page.  I'm pretty sure she said we were supposed to... but I'm the only one that did it. :-/ It's there... No take backs now!  Anyway, we're supposed to cut out wheat and dairy for the first two weeks.  So far, so good I think. I'll know more in two weeks! I don't feel any different as of yet, but I tried not to consume wheat anyway just because its usually in bread and so high in calories/carbs.  And the only dairy I really eat was shredded cheese on my eggs and salads... I do kinda miss that.

So... after two days of being in the group, this was my weight for weigh in Wednesday... I'm not sure if it's actually due to the group or he lack of wheat/dairy or just a better day for me.

And of course, since it's a weigh in, I've linked up with Heather and Ashlee

And Nina here...

(Sorry it's a day late guys!)

Back to the 30 day challenge group, Another assignment we had was to fill this out.  

This page was so emotional for me, given the circumstances I've been in the past couple of weeks.  After dropping my son off at the airport on Sunday, this hit home so much more than on just a weight loss level. Each one of these answers both pertain to me losing weight, as well as things I need to work on for myself emotionally. Ugh. Talk about a tough day.  And I'm super glad that it wasn't Monday's homework.  Cause I was a wreck that day.  I didn't make it to work, I laid in bed a cried.  I'm at work today, I'm trying my damdest to make sure each assignment is done and that I put on a (semi) happy face.

Two of the ladies that most inspired me to jump in to Adie's group challenge are hosting a linkup today for healthier foods.   Alicia at Brew Mama

 and Candra at Camo & Lipstick

.Since so many of us are on diets of "clean eating", "gluten free", "low carb" etc, I think this linkup will be SO beneficial to so many.  Even if not all of the recipes appeal to you, ONE of them will.  I'm so excited for this and have already been scouring the recipes for myself! Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe to add this week, but you can have a gander over here...

Anyway, that's all for now. Hopefully I can whip out another post tomorrow. Thanks for the understanding on the late posts, and hopefully, you'll stick around. Happy Thursday folks! 

Weigh in Wednesday

It's that time of the week again, and because it's also a new month, I've got measurements for you too.

This weeks weigh in?

Yup.  All four of those were taken within a couple minutes of each other. WTF? So, I'm going with 216.4 I suppose. Just average it out, right? It's a small loss, and small is better than nothing, right?

And here are this months measurements compared to last months.

 

that's bust, under bust, waist, tummy (at belly button), hips, thighs, biceps.

And this months photos? I can't tell a difference in, but here they are, I'll put January and March up:

I really have no idea what I'm doing, I just hope that something works... and soon! lol I think that the stair climbing I've added has done some good. I lost well over an inch in one thigh... although a little weird that its only in one. My arms have gotten bigger, even though I'm not doing anything to do that to them... so that's a little confusing. My hips dropped an inch... so much that I re-measured three times, just to be sure. Bu apparently my boobs got bigger? Ugh, I need those puppies to get just a tad smaller. Please.  And thank you.  Amen.

In Monday's post, I mentioned breaking down my gaols into monthly smaller goals. I need to lose about 8 pounds this month to get back on track for my 30 by 30 campaign. And in order to reach my 18# goal by the time we leave for Vegas.  Momma needs money to spend at Tiffany's. I also need to figure out how to get rid of that Shar Pei on my back... blech... 

I also set a goal to workout 30 mins a day, for at least 4 days a week. I've started back on my yoga videos (again, I know) and also am doing a couple of IG challenges. These are my photos from #MarchYogaWithJoJo up until today... 

Anywho- Congrats to one of my favorite bloggers and IGer's Valarie at Fab Chick Gets Fit... She hit 10K followers on IG overnight! WHOOT! Check her out and give her a follow!

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone that posted kind words on last weeks post.  I'll be able to elaborate soon, but each thought was felt and appreciated. THANK YOU!

Since it's Wednesday, it's linkup day... Heather and Ashlee here...

And hopefully Nina this afternoon.
Have a great week y'all and make it count... It's almost tank top season!

March Madness... in my world

Hey there and Happy March! I wanted to put in writing what my goals are fort his month. Maybe, just maybe, if I do that then I'll be more accountable?

I'm currently (as of weight in Wednesday on 2/26) down 9.6 pounds since January 2nd.  February has been terrible for me and I'm basically a month behind weight loss wise.  The scale literally hasn't moved. I still have so much further to go, but know that it's the little things I need to look forward to, rather than long term. So... Here it is.

March Goals:

Weight loss of 8 pounds. (that's averaging 2 pounds a week)

4 flights of stairs a day (currently doing a minimum of 3 each day)

Work out at least 30 mins a day, 4 times a week. (I'm setting a realistic number here)

Complete #MarchYogaWithJoJo (Challenge Yoga pose a day)

Meal prep and actually eat what you cook (this is the hardest for me at dinner time)

March includes birthday prep for my son's birthday on April 3rd and it also includes Spring break for my boys.  They'll be off for a week, and my oldest is going to his Dad's in Colorado. I'll be able to take a week off of cooking dinner since they probably won't be here, so that might save my diet.  HOWEVER, St. Patrick's day also falls during that week, and that may or may not mean that a Pub Crawl is in play... 

While discussing meal prep- Do any of you have any ideas about calories and what your bodies need? I know what my Loseit App suggests,  and what my FitBit app says, but I'm not so sure it's what I actually need. I've been trying to stay at or under for two months now. This week, I've gone over, but I did it on purpose. Not just because I had too many cheat meals. I decided to up my calories this week and see what kind of a difference it makes with my metabolism.

I know that there are several factors to take into consideration when figuring out how many calories you should consume.  And I have done the research, but I guess I just don't understand it?  I have an 8-5 job that basically consists of me sitting at a desk that whole time, so I know that I am not near as active as I should be.  However, I have recently made the conscience decision to climb the stairs at work (up to an apartment) any time I leave my desk to go to the bathroom (or kitchen). That ups my active time, and if  I stick with my March goals, I'll be able to add much more active time too.  What bothers me, is that the yoga video I do doesn't keep my FitBit active enough to count as very active minutes. (You can read my review of the FitBit Force here) I can input the activity, but again, I really have no exact way of knowing what I'm burning or how my heart rate is. Looks like I'll have to make a secondary investment into a heart rate monitor/calorie counter for that.

All of me...

Michael Buble is singing to me in my head as I make this post... Its a tough one to make.
Below, you'll find me.  All of me. I'm determined to make these pictures into "before" pictures of me that I (or any one that might actually read this) can refer back to and actually see the progress that I have made for myself. This is not who I want to be, or who I am going to stay. Here it is folks...

I'm shuddering as I let those look at me on the screen.  This is what I see daily, what I fight with in clothes, and what I want to fix. These are my motivation for making myself healthier and better.

I also took measurements as I said I would, They are as follows:
                                   Left            Right
Biceps                       14 1/4"        14"
Forearm                    10 1/2"        10 1/4"
Bust/Chest                       46 3/4"
Under Bust                       39"
Waist (smallest)               40"
Waist (bellybutton)         49"
Hips                                    52 1/4"
Thigh                       30 1/4"      30"

So there it is folks.  Me.  In pictures and numbers.  I posted my weight for today earlier.  Every Wednesday I'm going to weigh in. Once a month I'll take progress pics and measurements. From time to time I'll post Yoga pictures as I'm ready to start doing it again. I'm hoping that MissMunchy will get back with the challenge poses as well. It seemed to keep me motivated. And please, if you're reading this and I don't post, or don't do my weekly weigh in... PLEASE nudge me.  To know that I'm accountable to more than just myself seems to help too. Until then... Here goes nothing!