Pants

After almost a week of being snowed in, I was finally able to make it to the gym this morning. It was sooooo nice!!! I did work out at home last week, but for whatever reason aerobics just isn't effective enough for me to lose weight. I can maintain, but not lose, so I am very excited to be able to get out and to the gym again. Anyway, moving on to my title, to understand that little story though, I need to preface it with a little story from my early married life. We I met my husband, I weighed about 110 pounds and wore a size 2. Six weeks before we got married I went on birth control (I was not interested in ever having kids), so because I didn't want to worry about the pill daily I went on Depo. Now this was all before I discovered my love of food. I started to really gain weight and it didn't matter how much I exercised. I was pretty active, I was taking 3 gym classes in college plus my husband and I did a lot of hiking (we went backpacking for part of our honeymoon) and I didn't eat much back then. Apparently my body didn't get the message and I gained 50 pounds in 6 months. My husband didn't really know how to deal with me because I would stand in front of my full length mirror and just be in tears trying to put on my clothes that had fit not so long ago and now I couldn't zip (those that know me know that I don't cry, they call me heartless). So finally he decided he couldn't take it anymore and removed my mirror, broke it in half and threw it in our dumpster. He has since forbid me to ever own another full length mirror. He told me that he didn't care if I had gained weight that he still thought I looked good. So 12 years later, I still do not own a full length mirror. Now to my more recent story, over Christmas break I had a gift card to Aeropostle and decided that while we were in the area I would run into the store and use it. My husband, 5 kids and my dad were all waiting in the car, so I just found a few things and bought them without trying them on. One of them was a size 9/10 jeans. I was sure they weren't going to fit, but since my 12's were getting too big, I figured it wouldn't be too long. I was pleasantly surprised when I put them on and they did actually fit. So I absolutely love my trendy new jeans, but again I do not own a full length mirror, so in the past anytime I walk by a big mirror or see a picture of me, I am like, I didn't realize I looked that bad. So we were at the furniture store looking around and we walked past all of the standing mirrors, I really didn't want to look because I knew if I didn't like what I saw in the mirror, I would never wear my favorite new pants again, but of course I couldn't keep from taking a peak, and I was so surprised to see myself in a real mirror, and not be horrified at how I looked. I was sure it was just how they had the mirror angled, but they all showed the same thing. It was so nice to actually look in the mirror and not be embarrassed. So anyway how this all ties together was we brought home the pamphlet for the bedroom set we are looking at and one of the pieces is a full length mirror and my husband finally decided that I am happy enough with how I am starting to look, that he is OK with me having another mirror. Hopefully he doesn't read this because I must also tell another story about him, and this one will embarrass him. We were having a good time watching the Patriots lose yesterday and they of course showed the cheerleaders, and he says to me those cheerleaders are kind of chunky. And for some reason a few minutes later he told me, well some of them are the same size as you. I looked at him and was like you know you just complimented me and insulted me all in the same sentence? He totally didn't realize what he had just done, luckily for him it wasn't last week, and I found it funny rather than insulting. Anyway, I know this was a long post, but I decided to start being a little bit more personal and post the good things and not just the frustrating things.

New Compititon

Hello!!! So for everyone that doesn't know me (which is pretty much everyone but my mom and Sarah, and I did meet Karilynn once), I will tell you all a little about me. I am the mom of 5 kids, 2 girls and 3 boys ages ranging for 11 to 2. They keep me pretty busy, I was working on my bachelor's in Chemistry when I had my last kid, and than we moved 10 days later, so that has been put on hold for a little bit. My husband is active duty Air Force, so we get to move around quite a bit, which is nice. I absolutely love being a military family (minus the deployments of course). Right now we are stationed at Offutt, NE. Not the most exciting assignment, but certainly not the worst either. The best thing about the military is their emphasis on fitness. Not only do we have free fitness center access (to an amazing gym none the less) but we also have fitness classes, personal trainers, a heath and wellness center (it has healthy cooking classes plus access to nutritionists) and the gym here sponsors about one 5K a month. So one day I was thinking about all of these great tools that I have to aid me on my journey to weight loss, and I was wondering how I got to the point I am at all. If through out the 10 years that my husband has been in the military, I had bothered to really take advantage of all of these programs, I wouldn't even be in this situation. But alas due to my love of food and lovely genetics, I am here, but the good news with all of this is that I have started using most of the great tools that I have. I go to the gym at least 5 days a week(when it is too cold to run outside), I have gone to some healthy cooking classes and I have run every 5k that the base has put on lately with either my oldest 2 kids or my husband. It has really been a lot of fun having them go with me. About 2 years ago, I was really frustrated and talking (probably actually more like whining) to my husband about how I can never seem to reach the weight goals that I set for myself, and he said I don't care what your weight is, I think you look great now, if you want to set a goal, set a fitness goal instead. So he challenged me to beat him at his military fitness test. He has to run a mile and a half in less than 15 minutes (he does it in 12). He knows me so well, I never back down from a challenge. So I started running, and sadly I have yet to race him, but I have completed 2 half marathons, and I kept pace with him without any problem during the 5k we ran in the middle of December. So far I have lost 50 pounds since I started running, 35 of them from the last competition I did, so that has been amazing. My goal for this competition is to lose the last of my weigh which is 10 possibly 15 more pounds, I certainly won't weigh 110 again like I did in high school, but my doctor said any less isn't healthy for me, so I feel inclined to follow his advise. This year I would really like to run a full marathon, but I'm not sure I will be able to train for it. It will be very time consuming and with 5 kids, I just am not sure. Training for my half's I have had the kids with me, the older 3 on their bikes, and I push the younger 2, but I never had them go on my long runs. This year my husband will be deployed and I will have to take all of them on all of my runs, and they will be longer training for a full. I'm not sure about pushing 70 pounds worth of kids (plus the weight of a stroller) for 14 miles, or making my other kids bike quite that far, so we will see. Maybe I will run the half here in Omaha again this year, and pick a different full to run later on in the year. I would also like to run the slacker half marathon this year in Georgetown, CO. It is a half that is all downhill which just sounds like fun to me. Anyway, that is a lot about me and a lot for anyone to read, but I am really excited about this new competition, and wish everyone participating the best of luck!!!! Also, thank you sooooooo much Karilynn for organizing this and putting it together for us!!!!!!

Final Week

So I guess that this is the last week. I am excited that I managed to make it through the holiday's without any weight gain. I have been religious with my exercise and my calories. Good luck to us all.

week 16

So we got to Colorado this weekend. My husband was laughing at me because I wouldn't leave until I got a short run in. It was only 2 miles, but since I don't usually work out on the weekend, but I knew that I was going to be stuck in a car for 7 hours, I figured it was better than nothing. Of course when I weighed myself the next morning it didn't seem to help. I ate just fine on the drive and about the time I was starting to want munchies, my baby got sick all over the car. That sure ended any cravings (not to mention it was completely disgusting). I have been working really hard, and getting all of my workouts in, I have been fairly careful with my calories, but I must admit, that I have had a piece of fudge every day, I have stayed within my calorie limit, but it isn't exactly the best use of my calories. What can I say though, my husband makes amazing fudge. There are only a couple of weeks left of this competition, and I must admit, it has been much more effective than I ever anticipated. The money isn't really a motivating factor for me (don't get me wrong, it is nice to win it and it helps pay for some new jeans when I am needing them) but the blogging and the spirit of competition has helped more than i ever expected. More than anything though, it has made me re evaluate my goal and set smaller stepping stones along my path to my goal, which has made me more successful. I am very glad that I was introduced to this and am excited to try another one. Thanks to the girls who put on this competition and all the work they put into it. It has been great!!!!!

Week 15

Well this past week, I didn't get in near as much running as I like. I got to go once and that was it. We had a lovely little blizzard and the base was closed down for 3 days and when it did open, the gym was still snowed in, so I had to make do with P90X which is a nice change, but it is not anywhere near as good as running. I don't work nearly as hard doing that, plus I am just addicted to running now I think. But I was able to go again today, and I was so excited about it, that I bumped my workout up for 5 miles to 6, and it was great. Not so great was the snow that we were getting again this morning. I really hate snow!!!!!! Maybe someday, the Air Force will see fit to move us some where warm, like maybe Hawaii. Probably not though. Anyway hope everyone is having a fantastic week!!!!

Week 14

I guess I figured out what week it was again. So I have been trying to add some of the P90X workout in with my regular runs, with only limited success, probably only averaging two or three a week, which I guess isn't too bad considering I just started. I am finding it a little more difficult to add another hour of exercise into my schedule than I expected. I think that there is a specific work out schedule to those video, but I only have the video, and nothing else, so I am making it up as I go. That seems to be the way that I do everything though, so no surprise there. It has however seemed to get my losing streak back on which is what I was hoping for. I don't seem to be down a whole lot from last week, but Monday is always like that for me, since I don't exercise on the weekend (unless there happens to be a fun run), and I am OK with that. Anyway, don't have much to really say, except that I am so close to the 160's which may not sound like much to anyone else, but my doctor doesn't want me much lower than 160, so that means that my goal may soon be in sight. Hope everyone has a great week!!!!!

losing track

so I can't remember how many weeks it is anymore, but that is ok I guess. So just a quick entry so I don't forget this week, like I almost did last week. So I tried that P90X last night. I was interesting, so I think that I might start trying that out (in addition to my running of course). Can't hurt to get a bit of muscle tone on those areas that running doesn't hit. Well I reached my goal of losing 5 pounds for the month of November. Not quiet as good as the first 2 months, but realistically there becomes a point where it doesn't come off quite so quickly and that is ok. Anyway that is about it. Hope you all have a great weigh in and a great week!!!! I am excited to see what December brings, I am 12 pounds from my goal, I know I won't lose that much, but I will be closer!!!