Pants without an X!

Sorry no picture for this quick post - but I have to report I am wearing a pair of yoga pants that I got at the goodwill bins yesterday and the size tag doesn't have an "X" in it!  They are a size LARGE... :)

Smile - happy dance... Feels good... :)

Passed the 500 mile mark!

As of yesterday's end of workday - I had walked over 500 miles while at work in 2012!  This feels great to me & tells me I am on my way to shattering my amount of miles from 2011... I did 692 in 2011 over 12 months...  I don't think going another 192 miles will be any problem in the next 7.5 months!!!

It feels good that walking at work is a habit for me...  A way of life - I couldn't see working in any other way... A possible job opportunity crossed my mind for a few minutes (don't worry I am not going anywhere) but you know one of the things that went through my mind while thinking about it for a few minutes... I wouldn't be able to Trekdesk while I worked & that is something that I couldn't live without at this point... Mentally or physically... I would go nuts if I had to sit in a chair for the bulk of my day!

I feel blessed to be in a workplace with coworkers that just know that they will talk to me while I am walking, and a boss that has an open mind to my walking while working & having a treadmill in my office - not that it really takes up any more space than a traditional desk and chair would take up...  (that is the beauty of it)

I have been doing pretty good for the last few days - trying really hard to keep up with the no snacking in between my mealtimes... Doing pretty good - had a bit of a lapse last night, but I survived & won't beat myself up about it!

Until I am back to post again
~ Enjoy~

I could get into this...

While this picture wasn't taken on our walk tonight - it is representative of my feeling of getting to walk outside in the fresh air...  Two nights this week I have been able to go on a walk with the kids in the evening... The ride bikes while I walk... Monday I walked very quickly in race walking form - tonight I had our chocolate lab with us - and holding leash doesn't help with walking very quickly in good form... So it was a bit slower and a bit frustrating at times (when she doesn't remember where she should walk and such...)

Any way I look at it, I enjoy it...  It is spending time with the kids, not sitting in front of the TV, and not in reach of stuff that I shouldn't nibble on, getting fresh air, and exercising all at the same time...  Win, Win, Win!  :)

I was successful again today on curbing the sugary stuff throughout the day - I am just sticking with eating every 3 hours and my planned foods for that time...  :)  I feel good accomplishing this!

Looking forward to what the weather forecast predicts to be a nice weekend - perhaps some more walks will be in my future...  Along with cleaning up tree debris after the tree guy cuts down some trees for us on Saturday...

Day 2 was good as well

Yesterday was another day of behaving myself making better choices...

I ended up writing on my hand twice when I could eat again... Once was because I was out running errands and I have associated driving with munching on stuff - so 3:45pm got written on my hand for that running around time... And then once I did have my 3:45 snack, 6:45 was on there for a reminder for the drive home in the afternoon, that I didn't need to have anything else until it was dinner time...

I also figured out how to get the Dance Central game for Kinect (the xbox system that you don't have to use any controllers) to do a playlist where it will do one song after another instead of having to stop over and over again to pick another song... I like that a lot more...  :)

This morning the scale even was down a bit... That is the right direction for it to go!  :)  (I always remember that there are sooo many factors that play into daily weight fluctuations - hormonal changes, salt intake, water consumption, time of day, and so many more things... But checking daily is a little peek into where I am progress wise - and if I were to see a spike up in one day I could try to trace what the culprit was as well... or better than if I only checked once a week)

A good day curbing the snacking...

So yesterday I posted about being pretty sure that I know what is keeping the scale from saying any lower numbers at this point...  Snacking in the afternoon...

So yesterday, I left work and had my afternoon snack and wrote on my hand 7pm (for me it is a big deal to write on my hand - I generally don't even let the kids write on themselves)...  As in that was the time that I could eat again...  This was a real challenge, as I went to the grocery store and had to resist munching on something on the way home from there...  I would normally get a small amount of trail mix to much on on the way home. Or yesterday they had the left over bulk Easter candy for 50 cents a pound...  Yikes on that price...  Hubby was on the phone with me when I discovered this and told me to get a bunch of the Robin's eggs (basically colorful malted milk balls) and I did just that...  But instead of getting a bunch of jelly beans too - also known as sugar pellets, I only got the Robin's eggs...  Theory on this being that EVERYONE in the house likes the robin's eggs - so they could be in the house & I would not be the ONLY one eating them...  (well Jenna would help on the Jelly beans, but still we didn't need to be chomping on them while watching TV anyhow...)

So we may have a boatload of those candies - but EVERYONE knows we have them (as opposed to them being something I had an no one else knows about) and EVERYONE will work on having them as little treats here and there in MODERATION...

I did really well with the 7PM reminder on my hand - I knew it was there, and referenced it when I got home and was near the mini cupcakes in the fridge, or the cookies in the cookie jar...  I even stayed away while Mike cooked dinner, as there were evil waffle fries that I have been known to eat more than a serving of while we are waiting for the rest of them to cook...  (Think this should be the deal anytime we prepare these - that I am not involved in the cooking of them - as they are too much of a temptation to eat too many of)...

But at dinner time - 6:45 - close enough to my 7pm time on my hand - I had my normal salad with chicken breast on top and about 5 waffle fries...  Much better...

About this time I was feeling exhausted... I don't know if I was just worn down, or if I may have been feeling something like sugar withdrawal... As I had been having little sugary things throughout the day for at least the last 2-3 weeks...  Not sure what it was - I just listened to my body, resting while watching a bit of TV and nursing my water bottle instead of snacking on anything...

Then just before bed I had my "chunky milk" as we call it - protein powder mixed in with 1% milk and I had 1/2 a serving of the Robin's eggs... Felt good to have power over those eggs and to only have that many...

I laughed this morning when I stepped on the scale and didn't see INSTANT results from making changes yesterday - because I know how many of us think that we deserve instant results... But to me the fact that the scale is staying the same and not going UP is an accomplishment in itself!

I call it a good day - hoping to be able to tell you about another good day tomorrow...  :)

Willpower...

I have been about the same weight for over a month now...  I could scratch my head and wonder what is going on, but I know what it is...  snacking... in the afternoon and evening...  At least I am pretty sure that is the culprit...  I need to figure out how to keep myself in balance from 4pm to 9pm each day... Not grazing on one small piece of candy, and then a cookie, and then dinner, and then a bit later another piece of candy and then another little bite, and then my normal "before bedtime" protein drink and whatnot...  All of that has got to be throwing my blood sugar off in the evening...  And doing so keeps my body from being in "harmony" to be able to release stored fats to be burned up as energy...

The plus side of all of this is that I am maintaining... that is a big deal... I have lost over 40 lbs and am staying at that weight - but I am ready to make more progress...  So I guess it is about making the CHOICE to put my mind over my matter - have my normal afternoon snack, dinner, and later my evening snack - and not all the other things in between...

How do I plan to do this?

Keep busy - workout, visit with the kids, not have stuff at an arms reach to be able to have, plan out my snack for later and set a timer for when it will be time to have that snack and stick to it...

Lots of ideas, I just need to DO IT!

Guess what can happen when you wear a Wonder Woman shirt to work?  You can end up walking further than you have walked in a long time while working!  My feet are talking to me about it right now and probably will tomorrow as well - but it has felt good to log over 11 miles today!

March walking total

In March I logged just shy of 150 miles at my Trekdesk!  That gets me right next to Mt Shasta on my virtual walk towards Baja...  Feels great to be able to keep up with doing this and keep my body feeling better and healthier...

While this month didn't show much weight loss (no gain is a good thing!), I can directly attribute that to not following a weight loss eating regime for the whole month... I have chosen to add some sweets here and there and I have survived... I lost an inch off my waist and one off my hips as well & I sure can tell in my clothing... I have an ever-growing pile of clothes that are just too loose to wear anymore & I have been enjoying bargain hunting for new smaller things to wear.

I love finding new things to wear & I love people making comments on seeing how much better I am looking :) It is still surreal to see in the mirror & really an adjustment to make as I shop for clothes as well... No more 2 or 3x clothing - some XLs and even some plain old Larges are fitting!  :)  Love it...

Going to see if I can crack down again this month with some more exercise to see a few more pounds come off and get some toning going on... I have a friend's wedding to attend in June - nothing like a good goal point to look forward to right?

One day at a time making healthier choices to last a lifetime!