Pleasantly surprised

Saturday and Sunday were not my finest dining days.....

Saturday hubby and I went for lunch at Panera and even though its 1/2 a sandwich, boy are there calories packed in it....plus the brocoli soup; ate pretty good for dinner, had roasted chicken and veggies; but had caramel apple pie with ice cream for desert.....NO!!!!!

Sunday was my bday and I knew it would be a splurge day.....had steak, parsley potatoes, corn on cob, tuscan bread and red velvet cake .......WOWIE

plus I didnt have time to work out Fri, Sat, Sun

so I was pleasantly surprised to step on the scale Monday morning and see a loss of 2.5 lbs!!!

My saving grace was drinking a TON of water

Listened to my body

Yesterday I listened to my body. It screamed "I am TIRED!!" Not a little tired, not medium sized tired, but sleep all day to recharge my batteries tired.

See, I wear many hats, so to speak, I am a mother, a wife, and work f/t as a nurse. I work from 3-11:30PM. I can not come home and immediately fall asleep, much as I would LOVE to be able to do so. My body just can't do that. I have to unwind first. So I really don't fall asleep until about 1am.

My kids but comes at 7:40am, in order to ensure that 2 middle schoolers get on the bus in time, my alarm goes off at 6:15 am, ensuring that both kids get showered, dressed, breakfast, and any papers that need to get signed.

Then, I have my 6 yr old who has to be at school at 8:30. She doesn't get a bus, mommy is her limo driver. I have to make sure she is bathed, although luckily she usually does so at night, clothed, hair done and breakfast and drive her to school.

Of course, chores need to be done around the house, laundry, cooking dinner for the crew, grocery shopping, the list goes on and on and on.

And then, this week, I decided to throw working out into the mix. Worked out well for me Monday, Tues and Wed, but yday I crashed....I just didnt have the extra energy. I slept. I took much needed me time to rejuvinate my body and mind.

In the past I would beat myself up. "Quit being lazy" "Are you a quitter?" And then because I had already defeated myself, I would feel no need to continue on a healthy lifestyle quest.

But I had an aha moment yesterday as I was ready to beat myself up. I realized I did what my body needed. Rome wasn't built in a day. I needed that day off to renew myself, and guess what? It worked.

I think everything is FINALLY clicking with me!!! Its all about attitude

positive attitude + consistency = results

I have to have a positive attitude if I am going to succeed at weight loss. In the beginning, its easy, those lbs want to come off. Its when you hit that first plateau that things start to look bleak and staying positive is whats truly important.

I started on SparkPeople once again on Monday. I tried unsuccessfully to follow the plan in the past, but I wasn't giving it my all; thus I was cheating myself.

Monday I stumbled across the 28 day bootcamp challenge and thought that I would give it a whirl. It makes me accountable and builds consistency. Its no picnic, lemme tell you, but already I feel a sense of accomplishment. I have done the strength videos consistently ( I know its only 3 days, but to someone who hasn't faithfully worked out, thats a big deal!) and done my 30 + minutes of cardio daily.

I am a scale person. Its how I gauge my successes ( I know thats not the only measure, but I have to work on that issue as well!!). I know I shouldn't step on it daily but it beckons me to do so. Monday~~~171 (my highest weight yet....so not good!) ; Tuesday~~169.5 (ok this bootcamp thing is working) and today, Wednesday~~167.5.

I am not crazy enough to think that the weight will fall off like this all the time, but let me tell you it sure does feel good!!

Also, I am sure, a large part of my success is that I have switched to drinking water. In the past I would think nothing of drinking a 20 ounce Dr Pepper while at work, plus however many glasses I drank during the day....I easily was drinking ( YES DRINKING!!!) 500 calories a day!!!

I am also in love with the calorie tracker....I put in what I will eat for the day and I see where I need to make adjustments!!

Sorry for rambling, just so many thoughts flooding me right now

feeling good

Day 2 of bootcamp went well, I did my lower body strength training and went on a 40 minute walk with the hubby. Of course when I went to work and started pushing the med cart I was sore and *almost* wished I hadn't worked out, but hey, sore muscles are to be expected and that will dissipate as I get stronger.

Ate good yesterday, found healthy snacks to keep me satisfied and full. Drank my water also.

Now even though I know its not a great idea I couldn't resist stepping on the scale every day this week. Lemme give you the breakdown....Monday 171 (an all time high for me.....so not good), Tues 169.5 (not bad, not bad!!) and today Wednesday 167.5....so results are being seen. I know its from my switching exclusively to drinking water and I won't continue to drop a lb or so a day, but still I get that happy happy joy joy feeling, the little boost I need to keep on keeping on

september 6, take 2

I know, I'm a blogging fool today, but I just feel so darn good!

Watched my calories, worked out, did some cleaning and relaxing today. Back to the grind tomorrow. My fear is that with the hectic work life that I have all my good intentions will fall by the wayside.

I need to make sure that I have healthy foods for lunches and snacks and that I have plenty of H2O at work. I am on my feel walking up and down that darn hallway every night and never know whats gonna happen ( I run a lot!!! I'm a nurse!!!) but I can't depend on that as exercise.

I have to just set aside time every day for working out, I just have to do it. Like when I was in school I made the time to study, how much more so it working out important to my overall health and happiness, and in turn the health and happiness of my family.

starting anew.....with a vengeance!!!

I am starting back up with the healthy lifestyle I am trying to create with a vengeance!!! I bought a bunch of fresh fruit and veggies for snacks, lean meats and chicken, less processed foods. I filled a pitcher with water and cut up some lemons in the pitcher to flavor the water.

I will work out after dinner with my walk away the pounds dvd, but already I did crunches, squats and pushups, here in a bit will do some toning for my arms as well.

I have tracked my calories for the day on sparkpeople, trying to stay around 1200 per day.

My biggest obstacle I have to overcome is the scale, and the overwhelming urge to give up if it doesnt move (or heaven forbid, it moves in the wrong direction!!) I have to remind myself that I didnt gain it overnight, I wont lose it overnight either.

I will try to update daily!!