Totally not weightloss related...

You'd have to be living under a rock in the middle of nowhere to have not heard about global warming these days. Since it's such a "hot" topic, I figured I'd "weigh in" with my view. :-D

People keep arguing about whether or not the threat is real. I'm kind of on the fence and leaning towards this being a real threat. However, shouldn't we be treating our planet better regardless?

Do we need the threat of global warming to drive less and use less gasoline? Maybe we should be using less to save ourselves money? Or how about to keep our air cleaner? In the late 70's I lived in Jacksonville, Florida where the skies were always a grayish shade of blue. To this day I remember my amazement that day in 1981 when we moved to western Massachusetts and I saw a really blue sky. Shouldn't we be driving less and creating less emissions so our kids can have clean air to breathe and beautiful blue skies?

Do we need to be told to create less waste and recycle because it's better for our planet? Why not do this so that we can have fewer landfills? On a hot summer day if the wind is just right, I can smell the city landfill. It's not good. Why don't we just use less stuff and recycle what we do so our quality of life is better and we're not all living next to mountains of trash?

How about water? Again I bring up the wallet. Why waste water? Here in the city water is pretty expensive so I try to use less whenever I can. Would it kill us to make sure our dishwashers and washing machines are full when we run them? How about turning the water off while brushing teeth? Taking shorter showers? Turning the water level down in our toilets? In my opinion, using sprinklers to water your lawn (and half the freakin' street!) is a huge waste and this is something I see far too often. If you're going to water any vegetation, just plant a garden. Then you'll be saving gas by not driving to the store and there won't be any packaging to dispose of since vegetables grown in your garden have no packaging!

Whether or not global warming truly is a real threat remains to be seen, but why don't we just treat our planet better regardless? It just makes "cents". :-D

Week 61 Review

Current weight - 225.2 lbs.
This week's loss - 1.6 lbs.
Total loss - 92.4 lbs.
Average Daily Calories - 2,269
Exercise - None. :-(


Weeks like this are kind of a double edged sword. I did so poorly on my food this week. My choices were good, but the quantity was just insane. Regardless, I still lost a decent amount of weight. The problem? Next week when I actually exercise and eat better, I may lose nothing. Weeks with no loss (or even a gain) really mess with my head. So am I happy about my loss today? I don't know.

Later today I hope to get back on the treadmill. Although I'm still a bit congested, I feel I'm ready to start walking again. I may wait a few more days to get back to running.

Big Brother Australia 2007

It's that time of year again! Big Brother Australia kicked off it's seventh season yesterday, and it looks to be another great year! I've always enjoyed the US version, but the Aussie version is even better. Right now the live feeds are free so anyone can watch what's going on in the house. Once their site is fixed (it got totally f'd up on the first night), that will change.

Above is a pic of my favorite housemate, Jamie. How adorable is he? He's a sweet, chubby, nerdy guy. If you knew me IRL, you'd know that he's totally my type. :-D

Week 60 Review

Current weight - 226.8 lbs.
This week's loss - 1.6 lbs.
Total loss - 90.8 lbs.
Average Daily Calories - 2,121
Treadmill - Walked/Jogged 7.07 miles in 2 hours over 3 days burning 1,126 calories (calories burned calculated by Polar F11 HRM).

Well at least I took care of that gain from last week. :-/ Just when I got back in my groove and had losses for several weeks in a row, I find myself stumbling again these past couple of weeks. It never ends!!!

I wish I could say that my calories are better this week (Wed. - today), but they're even worse! Help! In addition to my husband working 5 days a week, he's been going to school 3 nights plus 1 day and with him gone so much, these kids are really wearing me down. You moms out there know exactly what I mean. Oh, and I'm sick again. :-(

Sorry for the rant, it's just been one of those days. Calgon, take me away!!!

Week 59 Review

Current weight - 228.4 lbs.
This week's gain - 1.0 lbs.
Total loss - 89.2 lbs.
Average Daily Calories - 2,271
Treadmill - Walked/Jogged 13.27 miles in 3 hours 55 minutes over 4 days burning 2,132 calories (calories burned calculated by Polar F11 HRM).

PMS + Easter Candy = Weight Gain. As a result, I'm back to only eighty-something pounds lost. :-( Hey, the gain could have been worse!

I'll be back in a few days with my next update. Sorry this was so late, but between school, ballet, soccer practice, soccer games, and the odd birthday party, time just keeps getting away from me. I'm actually looking forward to summer vacation! :-)

Easter Candy

OMG I've been so bad since yesterday! I swear I'm a sugar addict. I'm PMS-ing and cannot control myself around candy right now. I'm sure I'll be gaining a few pounds this week. :-( The bright side? The candy is almost completely gone.

Next week's goal: No sugar.

10K

Recently jwbrown1969 on YouTube's Gut2Cut group lost 100 lbs. and decided he'd celebrate it by swimming 10K. He asked if anyone wanted to join him by doing a 10K with him and several people responded. Some walked while another biked. I committed to walking at least a 5K, but ended up doing the full 10K (6.2 miles!!). See my video and watch my face become red as a beet by the time it's done! LOL

It's snowing!!!

I woke up at 6:30 this morning to the sound of kids screaming, "It's snowing! It's snowing!" Sure enough, we've got a bit of the white stuff. This is pretty exciting because we live in the southeast right off the coast and it doesn't snow here very much. You want to know the best part? This time I was able to get out with the kids and build a snowman. The last time we had any significant snow I was too big for my coat to fit properly so I couldn't do much. Woohoo!!!

Motivation

Fatmom asked me a few questions, and I think the answers deserve their own post. First, she asked what finally "clicked" inside of me and made the diet stick this time.

Initially, there were a couple of things. A few months before I starting dieting, my oldest daughter was in preschool. When I looked at all of the other moms, I realized that at 317 lbs. I far outweighed even the heaviest moms. I guess I felt as though people were staring at me, although I'm sure it was mostly in my head. When I would go to a school function and have to sit on the church pew, I could feel it bending a bit when sitting down. I couldn't help but think how embarrassing it would be if I broke it!

The final straw was when I came down with pneumonia and I seriously thought I was going to die. OMG I was soooooo sick. Then the one constant thing in my head was if I needed an ambulance, how would they get me out of my room? Our house is fairly small and our bedroom door is off to the side at the end of a somewhat narrow hallway. How would they get me out? What if they couldn't lift me due to my size? Terrifying.

Fatmom also asked how I stay motivated. This one is a little more difficult to answer. Staying motivated has been very difficult. The fact that I've only lost like 12 lbs. since before Christmas shows that my determination has been waning.

I guess in my head I think every day is a new day and each morning I wake up and try to make it a good day. Some days are awesome, some are not. The past two days I had some "undocumented food". I had a little cake my daughter made for me in her Easy Bake Oven and then I had a few cookies. Since I realistically couldn't count these calories, I just let it slide.

Maybe this is what helps to keep me from totally derailing? These little "secret treats"? Of course they will show up when I weigh-in on Wednesday, but I've learned to not take little gains too seriously. Tomorrow is a new day and next week is a whole new opportunity to move the scales in the right direction.

I guess I've learned to look at the "big" picture. -) If I think back I can still hear the barely audible groan from the church pew. I look at my "before" pics and I find them scary to look at. How could I breathe with all the fat around my neck? My mother died from a stroke at age 53 when I was 18, and I do not want to put my girls through that. I'm not sure how much my mother weighed at the time (16 years ago), but I'm sure she was over 270 lbs. I was headed down that road and I saw it early enough to put on the brakes.

Oh...one more thing...I'll be the first to admit that when I kill my diet for a day, I make it count. I eat whatever I crave. :-) Maybe this helps me? The occasional nighttime diet vacation?

Week 58 Weigh-In

Current weight - 227.4 lbs.
This week's loss- 2.0 lbs.
Total loss - 90.2 lbs.
Average Daily Calories - 2,021
Treadmill - Walked/Jogged 12.82 miles in 3 hours 45 minutes over 5 days burning 1,977 calories (calories burned calculated by Polar F11 HRM).

Ahhh...finally!!! Over 90 lbs. lost! :-) Let's see if I can hang on to it next week. I'm going to try!

Last week I did over 20 miles on the treadmill and it really kicked my butt. I had to take a couple of days off this week to make up for it. From now on I'll stick to 5-6 days a week so I can get a bit of a break now and then. On a related note, I can't seem to improve my running. I've been stuck on "Week 5" of the C25K forever and if anything, it's getting harder. Sometimes I think maybe I should give that up and just walk instead. I dunno.

Another thing has been on my mind a lot lately. I really need to find a new hobby or just something to fill my time during the day. I'm home all day and it seems like food is constantly on my mind and it's getting harder and harder to resist. I can't get a job since summer vacation is right around the corner and both kids will be home all day. Maybe I need to make a trip to the craft store this week? Just something to keep my mind and hands busy is all I need and maybe a new craft project would help with that.

Week 57 Weigh-In

Current weight - 229.4 lbs. (3/28/07)
This week's gain - 0.8 lbs.
Total loss - 88.2 lbs.
Average Daily Calories - 2,106
Treadmill - Walked/Jogged 20.16 miles in 6 hours over 7 days burning 3,449 calories (calories burned calculated by Polar F11 HRM).

Sorry this update is late. I had my dad come down for a visit and both kids have been sick. Company is gone and the kids are getting better, so things are looking up!

First off I'd like to bitch about the keyboard on this freakin' laptop. At random times the cursor will jump to random places and it's driving me up the wall! I swear I'm not touching the touchpad! I've only used laptops for the past 5 years so it's not a "user error". LOL Okay...just had to get that off my chest! :-)

Yes, that's a little gain up there. I can't complain too much since I've posted a loss every week for the past 5 weeks. My food was a bit out of control this past week, and I'm still trying to fix that. It's a constant struggle. I did, however, do over 20 miles on the treadmill! Woohoo! That's a record for me! :-)

So there you have it! I'll be back in a few days to post "Week 58". Hope everyone is having a good week!