261.9 lbs & a half-marathon

Starting Weight for TLC: 267.6
Last Week's Weight: 264
Current Weight: 261.9 (-2.1 lbs)
Total Loss Since Start of Challenge: -5.7 lbs

Woohoo! The scale moved!

So I had a very active week. I've joined an online Amazing Race Wii & Exercise Challenge. My team is currently in the lead and I earned the high score for the Ski Jump challenge . We are currently accumulating 30 hours as a team to reach Alaska (started in D.C. then went to Colorado then Nevada then North Dakota and now onto Alaska with a challenge in each state). So yesterday I just wanted to move. I did 30 minutes of flagging and 1 hour of Wii Fit + & Walk It Out combined in the afternoon. Then in the evening I hopped on my elliptical to watch Lost. Thinking I could clock 6 miles in 2 hours. Well, about an hour into the recap I checked the T.V. guide to realize that it was going to be 2 hours of recap followed by 2.5 hours of finale. So armed with that info I increased my goal from 6 miles to a half-marathon. I was able to complete it in 3 hours 50 minutes 57 seconds. And spent the remaining 40 minutes of the show stretching. I am happy to say that the stretching paid off because only my feet are sore this morning.

So hooray for an active week (especially yesterday) and hooray for a scale change in the right direction. I hope you all had a fabulous week!

4 miles

Got in 4 miles in 60 minutes on the elliptical this morning. Now it's time to go paint.

Costume

Saturday evening was spent working on my Tauntaun costume - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...9&l=b53d0ff052 to go with my Hoth Leia vest - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...9&l=f103f4c70a. Sunday night was spent cleaning and painting the living room. Today I walked for two hours. Weighed in, but the scale didn't budge. I'm guessing it is probably due to all of my latenighters.

My cold is almost gone. Sorry I've missed a few days. A lot has happened in the last week. Monday's weigh-in was 264. So I'm down another 0.3 pounds. I really need to kick it into gear. So on the 9th I found my dream home. Over the last few days we've realized that it might be just barely within our budget. I'll be talking with the financial gal tomorrow. If it does end up within reach we will make an offer and will hope to close on it as soon as possible. This would be so exciting (my husband and I are currently living with my parents and younger siblings - mom calls them her second set (ages 6, 3, & almost 2)). So it would be so fantastic to be back on our own again. It would also really help me out because I would be in control of all the food that comes into the house. No more random baked goods arriving and calling my name. It would be nice to not feel confined to one room. Plus, my cat will be so excited to roam a house again. (She currently only gets to be in our room and the attached bathroom because my dad is allergic.) This house really is perfect (despite the massive amount of work we will have to put into it to update it). It is a 1923 Victorian and nothing is up-to-date. The heating is done by oil in a gigantic furnace (this thing is easily 6 feet in diameter and right in the middle of the basement) - so that would need updated. There's an old water heater just sitting there that needs hauled away. All the electric is ungrounded two-prong and some of the lights also have outdated lighting, so that would need fixed right away. Really, there is a list, but cleaning it and getting the wiring fixed would make it livable without much worries. I don't want to bore you with more details, I just get so excited thinking about it! It would have tons of room for my elliptical and any other exercise equipment I would get. It also has a very good sized yard. I'm just so excited! I hope tomorrow's finance meeting goes well!

Blisters seem to be healing well. My cold, however, is zapping my energy. I slept the hours that I did not work. So no workout yesterday.

Yesterday's Food:
Breakfast:
Cheerios with 1% milk

Lunch:
Bean & Bacon Soup

Dinner:
Hamburger on wheat bread
Handful of cheddar sun chips

Dessert:
Apple pie

Completed 4 miles on the elliptical in 81 minutes (slow workout to be nice to my blistered feet). Totaled up my miles for the last two weeks to realize that I have completed 37 miles!!! That feels awesome!

Food:
Breakfast:
Kix, banana, 1% milk in a bowl

Lunch:
2 fried eggs
2 slices of wheat bread

Snack:
Half a pb sandwich

Dinner:
Chicken pot pie
Pear

Workout: G2 grape flavored

Week 1 - Weigh-in

TL Starting Weight: 267.6
Current Weight: 264.3

Total Loss: 3.3 lbs

Fighting blisters on my feet and a cold - so I took today as a rest day. My butt will be back in gear tomorrow.

Food:
Breakfast:
French toast with light syrup
1% milk

Lunch:
Cheese Sandwich

Snack:
Banana

Dinner:
Baked Potato

I had a great weekend

Completed 12k today. Walked at least 8 miles (as they have the finisher t-shirt line a considerable distance from the finish line). I had a blast. I walked it with a Jedi in my Sith costume (had some fun with really funky hair.

Food:
Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs (mixed with ham and cheese)
2 slices of toast
Strawberry go-gurt
1% milk

Lunch:
Ham & cheese roll up
mozzarella cheese stick
Gatorade
Strawberry go-gurt X 2
Chex mix

Snack:
Low fat strawberry fruit and grain bar
Gatorade

Dinner:
Dad's homemade bacon burger
Baked fries

Dessert:
Chocolate pudding


Took an exercise break yesterday.

Yesterday's food:
Breakfast:
Bowl of Kix with 1% milk

Lunch:
Egg & cheese tortilla
1% milk

Dinner:
Spaghetti
Lemonade

Dessert:
Chocolate 90th Birthday Cake (small slice)
Yogurt (I'm pretty proud of this one as everyone else's late night snack was chips and dip)

Completed 12k today. Walked at least 8 miles (as they have the finisher t-shirt line a considerable distance from the finish line). I had a blast. I walked it with a Jedi in my Sith costume (had some fun with really funky hair.

Food:
Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs (mixed with ham and cheese)
2 slices of toast
Strawberry go-gurt
1% milk

Lunch:
Ham & cheese roll up
mozzarella cheese stick
Gatorade
Strawberry go-gurt X 2
Chex mix

Snack:
Low fat strawberry fruit and grain bar
Gatorade

Dinner:
Dad's homemade bacon burger
Baked fries

Dessert:
Chocolate pudding


Took an exercise break yesterday.

Yesterday's food:
Breakfast:
Bowl of Kix with 1% milk

Lunch:
Egg & cheese tortilla
1% milk

Dinner:
Spaghetti
Lemonade

Dessert:
Chocolate 90th Birthday Cake (small slice)
Yogurt (I'm pretty proud of this one as everyone else's late night snack was chips and dip)

I'll let you both in on a secret *whispers* it's easy to do when it's the last peanut butter cookie. I mean, I hope that I would have had the self-control, but I can't say that I was consciously thinking I'll only have one. Now the two of you have inspired me to think that of myself. So the next time I find myself reaching for cookies I hope my brain will echo your compliments and I will live up to them.

Today's Workout:

5 miles on the elliptical in 69 minutes.
Bonus exercise: 1.5 hours walking around the convention center booths at the number pick-up for Bloomsday (12k on Sunday). Some of which involved carrying my 4 year old sister and giving her shoulder rides.

Today's Food:

Breakfast:
Bowl of frosted mini-wheats and 1% milk

Post Workout Snack:
Gatorade
Cheese & Crackers

Lunch:
Fig-Balsamic Glazed Sirloin Kabob (one toothpick sized sample)
One dime-sized sphere of cookie dough flavored natural energy sample
Bottle of Safeway Pomegranate & Blueberry water
2 animal cookies
1 mini-powdered donut
1 cup brown Minute rice with cheese

Snack:
Handful of peanuts and part of my chocolate Easter bunny

Dinner:
Leftover pizza
3 vanilla wafers
1% milk

Thank you Debbie! I am striving to reach my goal.

I guess I lucked out Heather. I just love the elliptical machine (as long as you don't ask me how I feel about it when I am pushing myself to finish that last mile). My elliptical is in the living room. That way, when there is a show I like on, I can walk the elliptical during it. When I had a gym membership years ago, it was the only machine that I would consistently use. After I got married, my husband and I looked at joining the gym. We knew that it had to be the one closest to us if we had any hope of utilizing our membership. That gym was spendy. We realized that we could save money by buying a nice elliptical machine and that at the end of the year it would be ours instead of needing to once again renew a membership. I clocked 729 miles on my elliptical in 2008 (the year I got it), between 400 and 500 last year and this year I hope to clock over 800 miles. I like the elliptical, because unlike the treadmill, I have no fear of falling off it (I've fallen off a few treadmills and it has left me worried). I even have a few T.V. series on DVD that I refuse to watch unless I'm on the elliptical. Good music or a show that sucks you in can be great things to take your mind off the walking and still get the walking in.