The Eve of Shopping

I am going shopping at the mall tomorrow. I don't typically like to do that. However, it is a necessary evil at this point. I have got to get a few more decent things to wear on my trip for New Years. I am not to stylish so I am counting on two of my chic sisters and my mother who is becoming more trendy these days. Here is my list:

- skinny jeans
- panty hoes
- Victoria's Secret Angels Secret Embrace Demi bra in beige
- black sweater or two

The exciting part about this is that all of these things will have to be in sizes I haven't worn in years. So as much as I hate to shop I will enjoy getting some family girl time and being thin while getting some family girl time. I really think they can help me pull it together. I'll let you know how it goes.

Rejoice!

Merry Christmas. What a wonderful day! Things are crazy here so I have been neglecting my blog. My husband is home, the holidays are here, family in town, etc. My workouts are going well. My eating is going well. I did go off program one day to have Mexican w/ my hubby.... but its all good. I am not writing anything down just as my counselor advised. It is difficult. I have stopped myself from logging and counting calories several times. But I think I am definitely less stressed b/c I am not logging. I can honestly say I have enjoyed the holidays w/o overindulging. And that feels great! (Now I just have to make it through New Years!)

I am weighing in early this week. My appointment is on Friday instead of Saturday b/c I am going out of town. I am nervous about losing that extra day but I'll have to get over it. I have been feeling really good the past few days. My hamstrings are sore but that's life. I am going to go drink some flavored water now and go to bed. Peace on Earth!

Merry Christmas from The Napier Family!

Weighed Down

Well my weigh in didn't go so well today. I am down .2 of a pound. This stinks. I had a long talk w/ my counselor and another counselor. They still think I am possibly not getting enough calories. I hate hearing this b/c it defies logic. They also think that I have put a lot of stress on myself mentally. At first I argued w/ this but after talking w/ them I believe they are right. My diet and calories are controlling me. I wish I would have seen it sooner. This has happened my whole life. I get really OCD about something and before I know it I am not in control anymore. Anyway, this may sound silly but it is just how my mind works and always has. Here is my latest example: Jenny Craig is designed w/ a menu of food for you to eat each week. The calories are not listed on the menu. They are pre-counted out for you to equal what your daily intake is supposed to be. I, however, feel I have to write down each calorie before I eat it. So even though I have a menu I keep a little notebook w/ a page for each day and log everything down. At the top of each page is the date and what I weighed at 8:50 am that morning. I write down everything I eat, how many calories it has, and at what time I ate it. At the end of each day I add the total calories up and circle it. Everyday I eat between 1450 and 1500 calories. There are a hundred other examples of how my food is controlling me. They include: what time I eat, how I prepare my meals, in what order I eat my food, who is w/ me when I eat, etc. I could go on. I've been like this before and I am really shocked that I didn't notice these behaviors slipping back in. My counselor thinks this is all putting stress on me w/o me realizing it. So my assignment this week is to not write anything down!! That is so hard for me but I think I can do it. Also, tonight I can have a piece of pizza at Lisa's birthday party in exchange for my dinner. Yay! The counselors are hoping that if I lighten up a little I will lose more easily. I don't know if that will work but I'll try anything at this point. I also need to have about 100 extra calories on days that I run. This all defies logic... but as you can see... I am not always logical! Peace out!

No pizza for me

I have been really MIA this week. Things have been crazy. However, I have not cheated on my diet or skipped my exercise this week. And it has not been easy. But nothing ever is. Tonight I went to a pizza-birthday party and had nothing there. And it was Pizza Hut pizza... which I love. I just ate my Jenny Craig Anytime Bar in the car and drank 34 ounces of water before I went in. Tomorrow is my weigh in and I am nervous as usual. But I've been doing the work so I hope it pays off. I'll be checking in tomorrow evening.... after I finish hosting my own pizza-birthday party for my daughter! I am a glutton for punishment.

A Happy Ending

Tonight was the finale of The Biggest Loser. It was awesome. I really got so much motivation and enjoyment from watching this program this season. I've never watched before but I can honestly say that now I am hooked! The winner is Bill. He started at 334 pounds. He lost a total of 164 pounds and now weighs 170!!! Isn't that amazing? He lost 49.10% of his total body weight. I was just amazed by this. I sat alone on my couch for 2 hours and cheered out loud for each person. They are all so inspiring. And I have watched every single episode so I feel like they are my friends. Below are Bill's before and after pictures. AWESOME!!! The best thing about this show is that everyone loses weight. So everyone is a winner.... or loser. You know what I mean. Congrats to Bill and all the rest!

A Big Birthday!

Today at my all strength class we celebrated Bettyann's 83rd birthday. Yes, you read that correctly. Bettyann is 83 years old. She is the strongest and most in shape person I know over 60. Bettyann takes all strength class 3 times a week. After our class she goes to play tennis w/ a friend. On her "off" days she takes a Pilates class. She is really amazing. Today we were doing wall seats. You know, where you put your back against the wall and scoot down like you are sitting in a chair, then hold it. Bettyann can hold them longer than anyone. And while we were all struggling to stay in the sitting position and complaining about our legs burning she said, "I just don't know why this doesn't hurt my legs." So funny! Happy birthday, Bettyann. May I be as fit as you are at 83, by the time I am 33!

Getting Somewhere

My weigh in today went MUCH better. I am down another 1.2 pounds for a total loss of 46.8 pounds. I feel much better this week. Perhaps my changes to my workout and food made a difference. I feel like a weight has been lifted. I was getting so sad. But when I see results I have hope. That is all I need... a little 1.2 pounds gives me some hope. I feel like I can do this now. My goal for this week is to lose another 1.2 pounds. I think that is reasonable and obtainable. Wish me luck! Ha! If only this was based on luck!

Groceries

I went to Kroger today to get a few things. It was a mad house!!! At first I couldn't figure out why. But then I heard two women talking about the coming "storm" and realized that all these people were here to stock up. The forecast is calling for some snow starting tomorrow afternoon and lasting until Sunday morning. Between 4 and 9 inches. And people around here are going crazy about this. Whole shelves in Kroger were bear. Everyone was rushing around. It was so packed. Anyway- I started cart watching. People really consume a lot of crap. I saw a man w/ a ton of beer in his cart. Another guy w/ 2 kids had several bags of marshmallows. There was a soup lady.... every kind of Campbell's imaginable. What are people doing w/ all this stuff? So much junk.... are they really going to eat it? I started to get cart envy. I couldn't even LOOK at the carts w/ pretzels or any kind of salt product. I really tried hard to make sure I was an obvious non-stocker. I don't let the weather change my grocery list. I had apples, bananas, fat free cottage cheese, lettuce, pickles, yogurt, teddy grahams, cheerios, formula, diet coke, and soy milk. Nothing fun. That is okay. I eat healty food now. You are what you eat. Right? That is what I keep telling myself.

A need for speed! (Part 2)

News Flash: I need to run faster!!! Oh, yeah. I totally forget about that sometimes. Today, in an effort to burn more calories, I really pumped up my speed. I started w/ intervals. But then on my second interval I realized that I could probably go a little faster. So I kept my pace at that speed. The higher interval speed. Hmmmm. So maybe I wasn't going so fast to begin w/. I ran this faster pace for the remainder of my 2.5 mile run.... I had about .75 of a mile left. It felt really good and not nearly as hard as I would have thought. And my leg didn't hurt at all. It seems like I need to pick up the pace a little more.

A need for speed

I feel a little better today. Not so depresso. I just finished a run on my treadmill. I did speed work again, like I did Sunday. I really enjoy doing this. It feels so good. I wear my heart rate monitor so I can see my rate go up and down. Heart rate intervals are key for faster weight loss. I am planning on getting 3 of these runs in this week. The only thing that bothers me is, of course, my right leg. When I speed up there is this little catch behind my knee at the base of my hamstring. Hmmm. When I asked my doctor about it he said my hamstring was "waking up". Well, good morning. He said that it is adjusting to functioning properly. Now that my hips are in the right place and my IT band is not strained my hamstring will be working the way it is supposed to. Anyway, this must all seem so tedious to others but it is all I think about these days. I have to get the rest of this ridiculous weight off!

No Mojo

I'll admit I am not so motivated these days. I took Saturday off exercising. My first day off in weeks.Today I did not go to my all strength class. I did Tae-Bo here at home. I am trying to change things up like my counselor suggested but I don't feel the same. As each weigh in shows little results my motivation just really slows down. I am not sure how many weeks I can go on like this. I need to see fruits of my hard work. My counselor will call me tomorrow to check in and I plan to discuss things w/ her then. Good night.

I am NOT the Biggest Loser!

Well, I was right to be nervous yesterday. I am only down .4 of a pound. I am pretty discouraged. My counselor is saying this looks like it could be a plateau. I have been hovering around the same 3 pounds for a month now. THAT is so upsetting to me. My counselor says I need to switch it up. I tend to agree. I probably need to change my workout routines somehow. My body is used to what I am doing now and needs a change. I don't know exactly how this works but I've heard other people say that their exercise needs to vary to burn maximum calories. So, I've been working out a plan. I think I am ready to do some running intervals again and plan to do them twice this week. That will be great for burning calories. Also, I am going to be doing Tae-Bo a few days as well. I have also switched around some of my snacks. We will see if these changes make a difference. UGH!

Nervous Nelly

I weigh in tomorrow morning. I am so nervous. I have ate exactly 1500 every day. We will see if I am down anything! I am so nervous and sick to my stomach about it. I don't know what else to do. I have worked out 7 days this week as usual. I guess if I don't lose anything I will have to change something about my workout. Maybe I'll add Billy Blanks to the days when I have all strength class..... I just don't know. As you can probably tell this is all I am thinking about. I will post tomorrow how things go. Geesh... I am so tense. I need to chill out and go chew some gum. Peace out.

Hungry, Hungry Hippo

Today has been especially difficult in the food area. Below is a picture of how hungry I feel. I just keep chewing gum and drinking water so I am not constantly eating. Don't worry about me... I am sure I'll make it.

Braving the Weather

I woke up this morning to a blanket of snow. I called the YMCA and my class was not cancelled. I checked the weather and traffic. There were accidents all over the interstate. I thought about it for a while and decided I needed to go. I am a safe and very cautious driver. And I only have to drive 8 miles to get there. So I bundled up the kids and headed out. The roads were yucky, but nothing I couldn't handle. And everyone else seemed to be driving carefully too. Only 3 people showed up for class.... but it was a great class. As always... I am glad I went.

I'm a 10!

I went shopping w/ my Mom today for my Christmas presents. I tried on a lot of clothes.... which I haven't done in a long time. Years probably. But trying on clothes isn't so bad when you look nice in them. I am definitely in a 10 and I am so glad. No, a ten isn't small and it is not where I ultimately want to be. But it is a hell of a lot better than an 18, which is where I started. I like being a 10 much better.

It's All Good

I don't have a ton to report today. I am feeling great. My all strength class is still good. My running is getting better and better. (Code for "my IT band is okay") I got to run outside at my parent's house yesterday. It was so refreshing. My Mom is going to watch the kids tomorrow so I can run outside again. I am really hoping to see some more results this week. I am over my discouragement from Saturday's weigh in. I am feeling so much better. Peace out!

Not so much...

I am my own worst enemy. Really. I know this. My weigh in today was terrible. I only lost .2 of a pound. I know, I know. It is still a loss. But I was hoping for a little more. This is totally my fault too. I thought I was being clever... cutting back calories on my own. Medical science says I need 1500 calories. For some reason I think I know more than medical researchers. Like I'm different than every other person they have ever studied. Ahhhhh! Duh, Sarah. My consultant made it very clear to me. As long as I am at this weight and exercising 5 to 7 days a week I need 1500 calories in order to lose weight. Period. I know this. In fact I have been telling my Dad this myself. Okay- This week I am committed to eating 1500 cals every single day. No funny business.