I've been a bad girl...

Ok, get your mind out of the gutter! (Just kidding!) And no I didn't go on a binge or stop exercising. What I mean is that I have neglected my blog! Oh woe, woe, woe is me! And there are things to update so here it is, a fly by the seat of my pants, hope I get it right, not good enough but it'll do for now blog, lol!

First, had a doctor appointment a few days ago. I lost 7 pounds in the past 4 weeks for a grand total of 42 pounds lost since May. I only have 8 pounds to go till I reach my first goal! I'm so excited! To put it into perspective for me I thought about it in sticks of butter. If a stick of butter is 1/4 of a pound then, get this- I did the math, I've lost 164 sticks of butter... Wow. That's big. To put it even more in perspective- I can just about lift 50 pounds, for a very short amount of time... So, I've lost more than I can comfortably pick up. It's mind boggling. I was carrying it around already, and now I can't even pick it up.

Some things I have noticed: I can jog (very short distances) now without feeling like I am gonna fall apart. My back hurts a lot less (good bye girls, It's been fun, I'll miss you but my back sure as heck won't!). My feet no longer ache for days after I am done working. I can walk up my flight of stairs swiftly without getting out of breath. I actually ENJOY walking places. Etc... (On a different note, I am getting hit on at work too, not sure how to take that as I am quite happy with my hunny, but it IS flattering, lol!) I am happier and more confident too. Amazing things are happening for me.

Which leads me to the next part of my update- I got a car! This is a good thing in a lot of ways, but oh, the temptation to just drive everywhere instead of using my tootsies! I am going to try to be strong. The car is only supposed to be used for times that walking is not a good idea (grocery shopping, having to be somewhere quickly or after dark or in inclement weather, having to travel out of our little town, having to transport something too unwieldy to walk with etc...) I am going to try to stick to that because I KNOW that walking has been at least part of my transformative process. (I love getting to use big words, bear with me!) I just hope that my willpower will carry over to the transportation issue. Complete unrelated except that it happened in the same week- I got a kitty! Has nothing to do with anything, neither here nor there, but I wanted to share :D He's a sweet little stray that we've been feeding at work for a while that took to me so I took him home. Rufus is orange and SWEET as candy! Ok, done with that.

On to the next tidbit:
My hoop tape is on it's way!!! Whee!!! I've been needing to recover my hoops in the WORST possible way as some very mischievous children decided it would be a good idea to back spin my hoops on rough asphalt. Oh the horror! But, I get to recover them all pretty and sparkly, and I have enough tape to make more! Which means that miss Celeste is gonna be making some hoops and trying to get the community involved! Yay!


And finally, some concerns. Autumn is just around the corner and winter is at it's heels. I love these seasons but I am concerned. Most of my physical activity takes place outdoors, and while I can continue to walk on even some not so great days, layers and layers of bulky warm clothes are NOT conducive to hula hooping. So I have to figure out if there is anywhere indoors near by that I can hoop, or devise another form of activity. Any suggestions? I need your help people!! Also, I went through my clothes. I decided that I ABSOLUTELY refuse to wear anything that doesn't fit right any more, that makes me look dumpy or frumpy, or that gives me baggy butt syndrome. Refuse. Went through my clothes and proceeded to throw away about 85% of it... Yikes! All of my clothes now fit into one normal sized laundry basket, and there is not a stitch of it that is pants or shorts or even a skirt. Thank GOD that I wear the same size pants as my husband (for now) so that I have a little leeway on having to buy them! It's worth it to get all that out of my house, but it's kind of sad. Some of those clothes were sentimental to me. But it's in the past. Behind me. Over. Time to suck it up, take my licks and GO SHOPPING! The only problem with this scenario is lack of funding, but that's ok. I'm sure I'll figure something out. I think I know where to find a few thrift shops.

And with that I come to a close. It is of course way too late, as I put this off way too long, and I am way to tired. So I am off to bed. Tomorrow brings tire patching, auto insurance, car washing and perhaps clothes shopping. All followed by work! On the bright side, there are 2 days off behind that day of work, so I think I can survive!

Good night everybody!

Dusting off and getting back up!

Ah the joys of changing ones lifestyle for the better. There are highs and lows (endorphins and cravings anyone? lol!), but the thing to remember, no matter how bad of a day, week or even month that you have is that it's never too late to dust yourself off and get back up again. The sooner the better of course, but anything is better than staying down.

So, that's what I'm doing :D Had a bad couple of weeks which I now realize was at least partially due to the fact that I desperately needed to go shopping. When there's nothing in the house that looks good than all the bad stuff out there is irresistible. So, I stocked up on all my healthy eating faves and some shortcuts to help keep me on track. Fat free light yogurt? Check. Fat free cheese and sour cream? Check. Whole grain pasta? Check. Fresh salad veggies? Check. Low calorie snacks? Check. Better attitude? Big check! I even got myself a bar of 90% cocoa chocolate (heaven!!!) to treat myself throughout the week. Good thing about high cocoa content chocolate? LOTS less sugar and more of the antioxidants and such that are so good for you. It's also tasty as all get out, if you like dark chocolate and I do, so it's win-win!

So, aside from not eating very well I hadn't been as active. Not COMPLETELY my fault, but I didn't try very hard either. Basically the fair was in town so we had an INSANE weekend at work, followed by a tummy bug that kept me down and just being run down in general (gee, wonder why not eating right made me so tired, lol :P). So, today I got some new music off the internet and rocked out with my hoop for about 45 minutes. And I'll probably go to the park in a bit and do it some more. :D If you're interested in what I'm listening to at the moment for working out then I can recommend www.themixfiles.com as a source for long high tempo mixes that have definately had ME moving at least. It's techno/electronica/dance that is just too bouncy for words. Makes me wanna dance, and that's saying something!

Something that I've noticed? Even though I wasn't doing so hot, I didn't actually gain back an appreciable amount of weight. I just stopped loosing as fast. Not sure if it's because I am just working with a higher metabolism or if I am sticking to smaller portions than I was eating, even if it was the wrong choices? Either way, everything still fits, and I just bought some new bras and underwear cause the other stuff was getting saggy and baggy. So progress continues and I am encouraged! Gonna find a pair of skinny jeans and work towards getting into them. It's a very tangible way to see how I'm doing, and it's even more encouraging than the scale numbers when I can comfortably get into something that didn't fit before. It's even more encouraging when that something gets too big, lol!

So, how are some of you (possible but unknown) readers doing? Have you ever fallen off the health wagon and had to catch up and get back on again? How do you catch yourself and what are some tools that keep you going strong?

Another hooping video :D

Some progress I think, what about you?

I'm sorry!!!

Wow, it's been so long since I posted...

I'm sorry about that- life gets away with us sometimes! I'm still working towards bettering my health and life, I've just been so busy doing it that I forgot to write about it. So what's new?

Still hooping, and getting better if I do say so myself. Learning new tricks and getting ready to make some new hoops as I am trying to get others here in my tiny town interested and more fit! So I may be starting a hoop group in the near future. I should say trying to start a hoop group. A lot of the people I've mentioned it to have an attitude of "oh it's so great that you do that and you look awesome but I could never do it". Sigh. Time will tell. Also wanting to figure out a music solution. Namely- I use my mp3 player for music when I hoop- I want more external music, lol.

Ok, in other news- the "you've lost so much weight!" comments are starting to pour in, the clothes are falling off and I am worried about my finances as I need to get some that won't. There is a thrift store I can go to so hopefully that will help until I get where I want to be size wise and health wise. I've had a rough week or so as far as food is concerned, cravings and lower self control than usual. I am thinking it's one of 3 things, although I suspect it's a combination of all 3. I may just be pms-ing, I may be building more muscle and NEEDING more calories or I may be getting to the "I'm tired of trying so hard" phase and loosing sight of my goal. So I plan on starting a food journal again to get myself back on track, reassessing my goals, and focusing more on my body to determine if I am hungry or just being a greedy guts.

Some other plans in the near future are to step up to a walking plan (ok, that was bad, sorry!) and find other ways to be active. I still need some weight training to build upper body strength and muscle and I am considering something yoga-like for more flexibility, to help my back and to relax. Plus it'll give me something I can do on days that I just can't get out with my hoop. I also REALLY need to get back on the fruit wagon. (sorry again!) I've been lax in this department. Veggies too. Not that I've stopped eating them, I've just been making not so good choices...

Needless to say my weight loss has stalled momentarily, but I haven't gained so that's good at least. I am certain that I can get back on track now that I've realized what has been happening. I think a constant monitoring of self and reassessing is so important when one is working towards a goal. I am SO CLOSE to my first 50 pound goal- only 16 pounds to go! I can do it. I have a friend that has promised to take me horseback riding when I meet that goal and I am looking forward to it. I haven't been horseback riding in years, partially because I've been afraid to hurt the poor things... I am already looking ahead to my reward for my next goal. I am thinking perhaps a trip to an amusement park so I can ride roller coasters? I LOVE roller coasters, but the last time I went anywhere to ride them it was such a tight squeeze to get into the harness restraint thingies and I was worried that I might not be able to ride them again. I am being careful not to use food as rewards although I still have moments of "If I'm good all day I can have a cookie" or "If I'm good all week I can have a small order of chili cheese curly fries on Friday". I really need to stop that. Food is food, not a reward. I have to remind myself that if I want something I can have it, I just have to decide if it's worth the calories and plan on adjusting for them the rest of the day...

So that's the news. In a nutshell- still hooping, had bad week, not perfect, want to add different exercises, horseback riding, roller coasters and chili cheese fries. Doesn't sound all that much like a health blog does it? lol!