Motivation & Looking forward

I found a great motivation on Pinterest last week when I was looking through the website.  I shared this with a couple of friends and I have officially decided I need to do this for myself for the 15 pds I want to get to for my first weight loss goal.  It's a daily visual and I just think the idea is awesome!


It's called Motivation Marbles and here is a picture of them:

Now, this is just an example from a web blog (credit to HotMessPrincess for her pic) and this is what she wrote on her blog: 

There is a marble for every pound I have to lose from my top weight of 381 pounds. That’s 219 marbles, folks.  Here’s the Hot Mess twist:

In addition to the regular marbles, there are 11 little pink jewels…one for every set of 10 pounds I lose, since I’m doing this “by the tens”.

And the final stroke of Hot Mess genius:  look at the bottom center of the “Pounds to Go” jar.  Do you see the large pink jewel?  Goal weight.  I get happy feet just looking at it.

Of course, I love pink…so hubby’s going to have to deal with these babies in our bathroom.  He thought this was pretty cool, though, so I don’t see him objecting.  I’m keeping them on the bathroom counter so I can see them every time I step on the scale.  And every time I lose a pound…or two…I’ll be able to reach out and play with my marbles.  :-)

Again, as I stated I think this idea is awesome and doesn't have to cost much at all.  I have seen these marble/rocks in bags at the local Dollar Tree along with glass vases like this.  Then all you have to do is by some decals for the words at the local craft store and this is an easy project under $10!  I have shared this with a lot of people and I hope it inspires some and they get to do it!  

As for other news, I gained a small amount back (@2pds) this week since I have been back on my feet.  I think I am probably right now at the weight I should be at this moment in time and that is perfectly fine.  I am still at my lowest weight in 6+ years and this is a life changing thing and I am not worried what so ever.  I will still eat right, run, do my exercises, etc and my body will adapt and start losing again.  It's only been 1 week since I have worked out fully and I have a whole lot of time to lose the weight :)   I do want to share a great motivational picture my photographer friend put together for me. 

The picture on the left is me prior to starting this journey and and the picture on the right was taken of me last week.

This is something I keep looking at to realize how far I have come and how great I am doing. 

Changing the subject, I am proud to say I am training in running and looking forward to doing a 5k with my friend Courtney on May 26th 2012.  It will be awesome and something that will be different and a challenge.  I am VERY excited!!  I have been at the gym working/training on my running this week again since I am back on my feet after being sick for 3 weeks and the highest distance I have so far is 1.83 miles.   The marathon will be 3 miles, I am confident I will do well when the time is here. 

                               Ending Motivational picture for today:

Childhood and Last nights workout

It's been day 2 since I have been feeling better and for that, I am thankful.  Very thankful.  I was taking for granted what it was like to be well and feeling good.  I was starting to think that the past 3 weeks were going to be with me for quite a long time and that was starting to depress me. However, not the case, the sickness, cold, allergies, whatever it was is now gone and I can focus on my health and well-being again... YAY! 


I had some random thoughts in my head as I was driving home from work last night.  I was starting to think of snacks and what we feed our kids and what we teach them about food.  I  think it came from the last conversation at work that I had with a co-worker about what we give our kids and how we teach them what is good to eat.  I remember when I was little my mom would give me a snack bag of cheetos or a snack pack size of M&M's when she picked me up, however, I ALSO remember how my mom always had fresh apple slices or orange slices for me for an after school snack.  My mom did a really good job of keeping me on point with snacks and trying to eat right.  She did good with me on moderation for things, I wasn't allowed to pig out and I was a very active child...I danced, played tennis, ran outside, and was always riding a bike up and down the street and around the neighborhood. Also I was skinny growing up, I wasn't an overweight child.  I didn't have issues with that till my underactive thyroid which started in my 20s and all the weight I am trying to lose now came on.  I was just thinking how processed my meals were though growing up, tacos, spaghetti, pizza, etc.  Sometimes we had chicken, beef, etc...but I remember more the eating out or "quick" meals. Again, it didn't affect me so much I love my parents very much, just was thinking about the food we ate growing up and how times have changed and how my mindset has changed so much now.  I can't even think about fast food now without thinking of the consequences, amazing how my mind has gone there since starting this journey.  Now I enjoy fresh food, natural products, and an occasional treat of eating/dining out and again, it's all in moderation.  
Marty and I have talked about if and when we have a kid how we would make sure they are educated properly on food, nutrition, and exercise.  We want our child to grow up healthy and strong.  In this regard, I have to give some great credit to my sister, she is doing a great job changing their eating habits, educating my niece, and her and my brother in law are cooking and starting to think healthy too.  


Now onto last night.....first things first, on May 26th I will be running a 3k with Courtney.  She told me about this run her camp that she works at every summer does and I thought that was great, it's something to work for, a goal and non scale achievement in my life.  I was never really a runner growing up as a kid  (blame the asthma and the military doctors for not listening to my mom that I always had it) even though somehow I got by with playing tennis all four years of high school with no problem and that required running, so I guess somehow I was a runner in a different way.  Anyway, I hadn't been to the gym in 3 weeks or done any kind of workout since being sick....well, even before getting there I was nervous...wondering how would my body react, would I get winded, would I be okay??  Well low and behold, I was just fine!  I was SHOCKED!  I got on the treadmill with Marty on my left on a treadmill to run with me and Courtney on the other treadmill on my right....I started the warm up and walked for 5 mins, then started running, it felt great, I had no desire to slow down and walk till about 9 mins in....I took a min break, slowed down, got some water then ran again and I only took one more minute break and basically ran 98% of the time for 20 mins!! I was so proud of myself. I was going to try the C25K program day 1 week 1, however, I think I need to try week 3 of the program since I have been running before being sick.  I ran a distance of 1.83 miles so 2/3rds of the way to the 3k I have to run in May.....very excited!  Today, my calf muscles are killing me though, LOL.


Weight and Measurement update: I weighed in last week however, I am going to try very hard to just weighing in one day a week (Saturday mornings). I am down 29.4 pds as of last week. I haven't been at this weight I am at now (in the 160s) in over 6+ years...last time I weighed this was back in 2006...I am very proud of my accomplishment and these last 12 pds to my 1st goal will be a struggle, but I am willing to do what needs to be done.  I also need to get back to measuring myself and will do that at the end of this month, going to try and do that on the 15th and 30th of the month going forward.

New Year new challenge!

I have neglected my blog for a while now....wow, it's been since October of last year that I wrote anything!  I need to get back on this.

First thing, I made a new years resolution and it's something I think I can stick to because, well it's fun and easy! First of all I plan each of our meals for the week....lunches and dinners....well in the dinner department its getting to be alot of the same things.  So, my new years resolution is at least once a week or two times a month, find a new healthy recipe and make it!  Tonight, we tried Turkey Chili for the first time making it ourselves and it was fun!  We like to cook together in the kitchen and it turned out great!  We are now going to be eating some leftover chili for a while, ha ha.  I know what I am going to have for lunch tomorrow, tee hee.

The first picture was us prepping the meat (turkey) and onions cooking them till done...then all you do is all the beans, seasoning (we made from scratch), and the diced tomatoes...stir it all in and let it cook on the stovetop for 1 hour.  I made some cornbread to go with this tonight.

My next adventure for next week is going to be Chicken and Artichoke Lasanga!   Here is the picture.  I can't wait to see how this turns out so STAY tuned :)

On another note, been sick with a cold/allergies/asthma issues so this new year hasn't yet allowed me to get to my exercise routines as much as I would like...actually not at all these past 3 weeks. I haven't worked out since before New Years Eve....it's bothersome, however, I am just currently trying to still eat right and keep my food journal going on Lose it and just trying to maintain and not gain anything...if I gain 1 or 2 here or there, that will be fine, I know in time it will come off...I have the whole rest of the year to get back on track...I have 13 more pds till my first goal of 150 pds...then I will try for my last 10 pds to get to 140 pds.  That's my goal for 2012 and I should be able to hit that by summer....at least I hope!

Everything else is going well, also another goal for 2012...save money the best we can, get bargains where we can, plan ahead on things and we are doing good 3 weeks into the year...we are back to getting food at the wholesale store (BJs) where we can get the everyday things we need in bulk and spend less over time.  It is really helping us out...plus they have a great organic fruit section for the winter time where other grocery stores seems to be dwindling out on their produce.

So, once I get this cold/allergy issue done, watch out world....2012 is my year!  :)