ShrinkYoSelf 2012 - Week 4

I saw this picture this morning on Facebook and it seemed to fit perfectly so I borrowed it for today's Weigh in post with the Sisterhood.

For the first 2 weeks in January I was on track and doing great with my goals for health and fitness. The last week and a half I have seriously been slacking. I could give you a laundry list of excuses but instead I choose to just suck it up and say I haven't had my head in the game. I have been going through the motions but haven't been doing what is necessary to apply the knowledge I have to lose the weight I want to lose.

So...here are the facts based on the numbers:

Starting challenge weigh in: 1/1/12 - 205.0

Last week's weigh in: 1/18/12 - 199.6

This week's weigh in: 1/25/12 - 201.0

Like I said I could give you tons of excuses for why I gained more than 1 pound this week but bottom line is I have been eating more calories than I should and at least 1 day this week I ate more than double the calories I should have eaten in 1 day. I HAVE been tracking my food and calories and workouts in MyFitnessPal app so I knew things on the scale were NOT going to make me a happy momma. I got off my "eating ONLY low glycemic index" foods and it is hurting me.

I HAVE been VERY consistent with working out. As of this morning I have worked out 25 days in a row, doing the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and an additional 10 minutes of Ab work, since that is the area of my body I am most unhappy with. I'm looking at options of different kinds of workouts for the month of February and feel like it is a good idea for me to commit to doing a couple of different kinds of workouts. I think my body gets too used to doing the same things too quickly and then doesn't change. My Marine bought me The Biggest Loser for Kinect game for Christmas so I want to use that at least 3 days a week and then do something else the other days of the week that I work out. I am most content and happy with myself if I am working out most of the week so I will probably commit to doing a workout 5 days a week but most of the time I will workout every day.

As for my discipline issues with the eating right??? I just need to do what I know is right. I need to decide I want this weight loss badly enough. I need to accept that there are some things in life that aren't easy or fun and this is one of them. I know I can lose weight. I know I can do it! Every time I have decided I'm going to do something and pour myself into it 100% I have done it!

Now, the question is "how bad do I want to lose the weight?"
I guess next week's scale and My Fitness Pal chart will be able to answer that pretty clearly!



Speaking of pouring myself into something I am once again pouring myself into the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure Walk. This past weekend we had a team meeting to go over details for this year's walk. I am getting excited to start raising my $2300 and doing my part in finding a cure to breast cancer. You can help me by going to my fundraising page and making a donation! No donation is too small or too big! Please help by donating HERE!

Thankfulness Day 23

Today I am thankful for all my wonderful friends and family that made this Komen 3 Day thermometer full! Not only is it full but it is Overflowing! My goal was $2300 - my total was $2722.61!! Whoohooooo!

Thanks so much for all your donations, prayers and support to make this possible!

I will be signing up for next years 3 Day walk this weekend and I would love to have your support again for next year - or if you are so inclined walk with me! Hint, hint Christy!

Thankful for Friends!!

6 months ago I didn't know a single one of these wonderful Angels! Today I call them my friends and I am truly thankful that I can! Without these wonderful men and women (some of which have fought the breast cancer fight) I would never have had the opportunity to say, "I just finished walking 60 miles in 3 Days!"

I will never forget them and I can hardly wait to start training walks again for next year's 3 Day!

Doing the Impossible...

This past weekend I walked the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure. I can honestly say it ranks as one of best 5 things I have ever done! This was truly an experience that made me feel like I was more than a wife and mother. It gave me a purpose other than preparing meals, doing laundry and teaching That Other Kid (all worthwhile for our family but very mundane!)

This is Glenna...the reason I decided this was the year to "put your words into action" and walk the 3 Day for the Cure that I have been wanting to do for years! My grandmother died of breast cancer more than 10 years ago and I had always thought I wanted to do something grand like the 3 Day but once Glenna got breast cancer I knew it had to happen now!! She came down to join me for lunch on Saturday - the roughest day of the weekend for me! I'm so blessed to have her in my life and I'm so glad she didn't let cancer beat her!

As a wife and mother I usually devote my attention to caring for my family. Rarely do I do something just because I want to make a difference in someone else's life, but this weekend that's what I did. Rarely do I do something purely for me. This weekend I did. Rarely do I do something that I have such a strong commitment to that I feel good about when I'm done. This weekend I did.

Like most Americans I usually don't follow through on things that I start doing. This weekend I followed through on the commitment that I made in July to walk the Komen 3 Day. Not only did I train for this event, but I raised more than $2300 to help find a cure for breast cancer. Then I followed up by walking 60 miles in 3 days!

Now that the Komen 3 Day is over for the year, I'm experiencing many emotions that I wasn't prepared for. I was so exhilarated while I was walking. I felt on top of the world; like I could do anything I set my mind (and feet to). I felt as if I couldn't be stopped.

I saw so many people this weekend with the same goal in mind - finding a cure for breast cancer. I walked with a woman on my team who was diagnosed with breast cancer last October and has gone through chemo, radiation, surgery, etc ALL while training TO WALK THE 3 DAY! She walked all 60 miles and was smiling, laughing and SERVING several other women on my team along the way!

Definitely applies here!

The lady on the far left is Yvette! She's one of my heros..the lady on my team I just mentioned!

All along the route people came out to cheer us on throughout our 60 miles. Many of these people spent the whole weekend following our route and setting up cheering stations and supporting us. Many of these people have a very personal reason for supporting us.

In case you can't tell the top of her head says thank you! This one brought me to instant tears!

Some just wanted to say thank you for making a difference.

There were times when I cried because there were so many people at a cheering station. There were times when we were walking that I was so physically and mentally exhausted I cried. There were times when I was in pain and wanted to cry, but I knew the discomfort I was in was NOTHING compared to the pain of breast cancer and all that goes with it. There were a few times I thought I could go on forever and there were times I didn't think I could take another step!

There were times when the signs I saw posted along the route kept me going - "It's kind of fun to do the impossible" really spoke to me!

I managed to walk all 60 miles and was encouraged to keep going by my wonderful friends who sent tweets, emails, letters and texts throughout the weekend.

Through this experience I have gained more than I could have ever imagined possible. I have gained lifetime friendships and a feeling of "I can do anything"! and I'm already planning to do it again next year!

The entire weekend was an experience I will never forget and I owe a huge thank you to many of my friends who donated money to help me raise the $2300 necessary to walk this event. Without your financial support and constant motivation I would not have been able to do this.

Now that the walk for this year is over I am going to apply what I have learned to my weight loss journey. If I can train in the heat of summer and get up at 4 a.m. on the weekends to do so, raise money, and walk 60 miles in 3 days I can do what most people consider the impossible - lose 40 or 50 more pounds! I have learned that I can do anything I set out to do! All I have to do is put my whole self into it! And I intend to do just that - the impossible really is possible when you want it bad enough!

Weigh in Wednesday with Thankfulness Wrapped In

Ok...so it's Wednesday and that means it's time to weigh in for the Sisterhood's Shrinkvivor challenge. I have to admit that I wasn't too shocked by the number on the scale although I'm not happy about it. I knew there would be a significant gain this week with the Komen 3 Day and all the carbs and junk I ate this weekend. I haven't really stopped with the food yet, either. I guess I'm still recovering.

So...today I am thankful that I am already in exile island! I did log in a whopping number of exercise minutes - 1560! All of this was during the time of Friday, Saturday and Sunday! I don't recommend trying to cram 26 hours of exercise into 3 days! It kind of hurts! lol But, I am ready to sign up to do it again next year! The experiences I encountered this weekend are difficult to express but I'm planning to give it my best shot! Hopefully I will have it written out in the next day or so...

I'm looking forward to seeing who gets to be in the Top 7 for Shrinkvivor! I was in the top 7 last year and it was so much fun creating a video and trying to win the Ultimate Shrinkvivor challenge! Hopefully next year I will have what it takes to get me to the place where I can train and walk the Komen 3 Day and still lose weight!

Thankfulness - Days 4, 5, 6, and 7!

Yes, I'm a bit behind....but at least I have a good excuse, right? In case you haven't figured it out I walked the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure this past weekend; that's 60 miles in 3 Days! Let me tell you that's a lot of freaking miles!

I walked from Plano, TX down to Farmers Branch, then all around north Dallas, Farmers Branch, and Addison and then I turned around and walked down to Fair Park in Dallas. If you are not from the Dallas area, you need to google map this and see just how far I traveled! If you are from the area then you already know this is a long way!!

So...here are the things I am thankful for from this weekend and today!

From Friday the 4th - I am thankful for the Angels for the Cure team that I joined back in July! Without this team I would never have been able to walk the 3 Days. From the very first training walk I joined in on with these wonderful people I felt that these women were special and really cared about me. They made getting up at 4 am on the weekends something I kind of looked forward to! They made fundraising not look so scary to me. They made me feel like I was a part of something bigger than myself! Because of this wonderful team I not only MET my goal of raising $2300 but I exceeded it! I am waiting for "matching funds" to come in so it doesn't look like I'm quite there yet, but I am! I owe a special thank you to our team leader Debby Rich! She is an inspiration and a wonderful leader! Out of this team I have gained another group of friends that I will treasure forever!

From Saturday the 5th - I am thankful for my legs and feet that carried me through a really rough day! Typically from what I was told Saturday is the hardest day of the weekend so I was prepared mentally for it and even wore the appropriate shirt for the day! I have often complained that my legs and calves are huge and that my feet are ugly but on this day, I was thankful that they were so muscular. They carried me over rough sidewalks for somewhere in the area of 25 miles over a time span of somewhere in the area of 9 hours. Most of those miles were done AFTER I had tripped over a crappy sidewalk and fallen early in the day. I wasn't hurt AT ALL for which I am thankful to God for...except as I was falling I tried to catch myself and tightened up my calf muscle. From that point on I had a charley horse that wouldn't go away! Do you realize how far 20 miles is when you are walking with a charley horse??? My feet carried me EVERY MILE on Saturday without a single problem! Yes, they were tired but they didn't hurt because of blisters or other issues! I owe most of that to the people that produced HikeGoo. I made it through Saturday without blisters whereas a lot of my team mates came out of Saturday with blisters and were in pain on their feet. Blisters make walking really hard, in case you didn't know that! lol

From Sunday the 6th - I am thankful for my family and friends that have supported me while I have been training and fundraising. They also came out to support me this weekend as I was walking. Hubby and That Other Kid came out several times to cheer me on while I was walking. I even had a couple of friends "walk with me" for a while. Glenna (my best friend who underwent breast cancer this year) came out and sat and watched me eat lunch Saturday and encouraged me to keep going!

Without my family, friends and the constant encouragement from everyone I don't think I would have been able to keep going during the training and then the actual walk, so THANK YOU! I received numerous letters from family and friends this weekend also and I can't express how special it was to read letters and notes from all of my friends and from my parents who each sent me a card telling me how proud they were of me! A HUGE THANKS goes to all my Sisterhood friends! Without the financial support and continual encouragement of all of you I would not have met my goal.

From today, Monday the 7th - I am thankful that I didn't have to do much of anything! I sat around a lot, soaking my weary feet in epsom salt water and caught up on emails and facebook and snuggling with That Other Kid as much as he wanted! I did have a few things to do; like laundry, changing sandboxes, unloading and reloading the dishwasher and a quick run to Target. But..for the most part I sat and vegged out today! I didn't even have to cook...For that I am MOST thankful! Tomorrow morning I get to go get a massage, so I can assure you I will be thankful for that!

A Month of Giving Thanks (With a little confession mixed in)

This is the first day of November. The month that most Americans set aside a time to reflect on the things they are thankful for. I'm going to attempt to do this on the 'ol blog. I'm pretty sure I will miss some days but I will try to keep that to a minimum!

For the first day of November I am Thankful for my family and friends - both the IRL friends and the online friends that I have "met" over the past 4 years of blogging!
I would not be the person I am without all of you!

Now....for the confessions!

I've pretty much decided that the only thing I am concentrating on this week is preparing for the Komen 3 Day. I have packing to do, costumes to make, bags to pack and all kinds of "little" details in order to prepare for the weekend away from home. I need to prepare foods that are easy to heat and eat for the hubby and That Other Kid. I need to make sure the house is in order, laundry clean and folded and all manner of things like that. Since I still have so much to do to get ready the eating and exercising are kind of taking a back seat to everything else. I got my "short" walks done this weekend and I walked for about 15 minutes this afternoon but that's pretty much it. I feel like I need to do more but I'm pretty distracted and can't seem to focus on much else.

I had WAY more than the 2 "fun sized" pieces of candy yesterday that was the mini-challenge for the Sisterhood. I tried to not eat any candy last night but then they put some toostie rolls in That Other Kid's bucket. Being the good mom that I am I didn't want him to have them around so I helped him out by eating them! (He's allergic to dairy and can't have chocolate!) Then I saw some candy bars and I decided to keep those from him, too! Ain't I a good mom?? I'm looking out for his health, right?

I need to really bump up the water over the next couple of days. I usually drink 100 ounces a day but the past couple of days I have been under that and I really need to boost it OVER that. I don't want to have dehydration issues on the walk.

If you are in the Dallas area this weekend I would love to have you come out to a cheering station and cheer me on! 60 miles is gonna be a lot of walking...but I am prepared! You can check out the cheering stations here. Let me know if you will be out so I can look for you! I will be dressed in angel wings and a halo and tutu!

Chapter 1 is Complete

This morning my team and I finished our final official training walk before the Komen 3 Day in just 5 short days! It was "just 8 miles" so we got to the IHOP before the Sunday morning crowd got there, and we had our server take our picture. This group of women (and a bunch more that couldn't make it to breakfast for multiple reasons) have made training for the 3 Day very memorable. I can only imagine what next weekend will be like!

When I decided to sign up to walk this event I had a couple of concerns. The first being would I be able to find a team to train with and be a part of? The second (and even more daunting) would I be able to raise $2300? At the "Get Started Meeting" I was told if I found a team to train with I would be prepared both physically and financially. So I went home and found "Angels for the Cure" and started training and participating in fundraisers. I was gung-ho and ready to work my tail off to meet my goals of raising $2300 and walking 60 miles in 3 Days. The coach at the get started meeting was right!

I am ready! The training is complete. The fundraising is complete (as soon as I get some matching funds deposited in my account) and all I need to do is the finishing touches of my tutu and pack up!

I owe it all to my friends who have listened to me talk non-stop about the Komen 3 Day for the Cure for the past 5 months and my team mates and new friends who have helped me fundraise and pushed me to keep walking during the hottest, longest summer Dallas has ever had.

I am so blessed to have found them! 5 days till I embark on the weekend of a lifetime! I am so ready!

If you are in the Dallas area and can come out to a cheering station I would love to say hi for a few minutes! I will be wearing Angel wings, a halo and a tutu with all my donor's names on it! If you want to "walk" with me just donate here and I will add your name to my tutu!