Update: 101 in 1001

It has been 7 months since I started my Day Zero Project of 101 things in a 1001 days; so I thought I would update the status of my list: (I guess I should have done this at the end of last month, oops!)

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in 1001 days

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Starting Date: Friday January 1st, 2010 Ending Date: Friday September 28th, 2012

1 Spend a rainy day watching films in my PJ's
2 Try two new cookie recipes this Christmas
3 Attend the midnight premiere of a movie (Went to see the new Twilight movie with my stepmom!)
4 Get married
5 Go skydiving.
6 Learn to knit
7 Organize my closet
8 lose 15 pounds
9 Go on a cruise
10 Go whitewater rafting
11 buy a house
12 See a Broadway show
13 spend a day at the spa
14 Lose 5 pounds
15 Own an iPhone
16 Try a new (and possibly frightening) food
17 Watch two movies at a cinema in the same day.
18 Influence a person to make a day zero list (Go Nick and Tricia!)
19 go fly a kite
20 Pay off my credit cards
21 Have a housewarming party
22 Floss every night for a month
23 Tie a note to a balloon and let it go
24 Go sledding
25 Lose 10 Pounds
26 start a family
27 help a stranger
28 Have a sleepover party
29 Have a friend choose a complete outfit for me
30 Play a new board game
31 Travel by train (this is planned for this weekend; dinner cruise on the Conway Scenic Railway!)
32 Make homemade bread
33 Go to a casino
34 Take at least 5 photos a day for a month
35 Eliminate non-fitting clothing from my wardrobe
36 Save $5000
37 Read 100 books (0/100)
38 Compose a new list of 101 things to do in 1001 days
39 For every task I do not complete, donate $1 to charity
40 Put aside $5 for every completed task
41 Go to a Patriots game
42 Drink nothing but water for 2 weeks
43 Watch the sunrise at the beach
44 Host a giveaway on my blog
45 Organize photos and get and stay caught up with my scrapbooking
46 Climb Mount Washington
47 Attend a hot yoga class
48 Do 100 situps for a month (0/30)
49 Ask for someone else's advice and take it
50 Give a stranger a compliment
51 Write down something positive about myself for 30 days straight
52 Have “date night” one night of the week for 1 month (4/4)
53 Work out faithfully 3x a week for 2 months
54 Take a trip to Las Vegas
55 No swearing for a day x12 (0/12)
56 Play a game of 18-hole golf (North Hampton Professional Firefighter's annual golf tournament)
57 Put change in someone’s expired parking meter
58 Take the Cat ferry to Canada
59 Have a weekend getaway for SO and I
60 Start our own Christmas tradition
61 Get my HAM radio license
62 Participate in a 5K (run/walk) VERY excited that I completed this!
63 Make my own candles
64 Climb Cadillac Mountain
65 Learn at least 50 ASL signs
66 Go one weekend "Unplugged" no phone/Internet
67 Send/Give 100 cards “just because.” (9/100)
68 Leave SO a love note/note of encouragement/surprise email 1x a week for 2 months
69 Complete 3 – 1500 piece or more jigsaw puzzles (0/3)
70 Visit 5 new states not previously in (driving through doesn't count) (NJ in October for a wedding!)
71 Participate in a 10K (run/walk)
72 help a friend in need
73 take a class (work related)
74 Have one day off per week for 1 month
75 Make SO breakfast in bed
76 Bring coffee in for the boys at work
77 hang pictures/art on walls
78 Buy flowers/edible arraignments for someone.
79 Be able to buy clothing in the regular women's section
80 Invest my money better
81 borrow books from the library; instead of buying them (I signed up for a library card, just haven't caught up with the books I have to read yet!)
82 get a makeover to include makeup!
83 Try a new recipe once a week for 1 month
84 Call one cousin per week until all Bridle Cousins have been spoken to (Kenny / Bill)
85 Host a girls night at my house
86 Host a couple's night
87 Prepare my will
88 Take a pole dancing class
89 Travel to Nantucket / Martha's Vineyard
90 Visit my grandmother at least once a month for a year (4/12)
91 plan a couples camping trip
92 Play Bingo with friends
93 Host a transit party.
94 See an old friend once per month for one year (2/12) - Kaylynn / K-Dizzle
95 See Rocky Horror at midnight showing
96 Go and shoot a gun at a firing range
97 To get a physical each year (Scheduled for mid October this year)
98 To see a UNH/UMaine Hockey Game
99 To kiss the Cat at UNH
100 To go to a Red Sox / Yankees game
101 To complete this list in less than 1001 days

Well, I've completed another 5 items this time around, with progress on 4 of the longer term items. I'm still really excited with my progress here. For me, lists work, and I have this list printed out and I look at it every so often to see what I can check off next.

So this also means that I will be depositing $25 into my Day Zero savings account.

I am so proud of myself for accomplishing a 5K that is huge! I've not found my runner's high yet, but it is a great way to get a quick cardio workout in. I do enjoy the competition of racing, but I think I will need to feel comfortable with my running before I will enter a race again. Although I do still have that 10K on my list here...

I golfed with my dad. At first, I kind of laughed it off as a joke, but when the date started to get closer and dad needed a firm answer, I agreed. I was scared that I would hold our foursome back, but turns out the other guys just were out to have a good time and didn't care about scores. Good thing, we came in dead last! However, we did get a prize for being the "most honest" with our record keeping. Good times. I enjoyed golfing so much that DBF and I are going again this coming weekend as well as at least one other tournament planned in September with dad.

My stepmother loves Twilight and had wanted to try out the local drive-in. Since I love going to the drive-in, I was more than happy to go, we found out that Twilight would be playing during the week, well once we got there, we realized it was opening night, so low and behold, we went to a midnight premiere. It was a fun time, although I don't understand what all the fuss is about Twilight, it was a good movie, but nothing worth swooning over. All in all, my stepmom and I had a blast!

We hung our pictures! We have lived in our apartment for nearly 2 years and never hung our wall art/photos. This bothered me since we have the standard white walls, we have tall ceilings and it was all white, I would sometimes feel like I lived in a mental hospital. So I was thrilled when DBF decided to help out and hang our stuff. Our apartment looks so much more lived in now.

In May, I hosted a girl's night, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo, not really celebrated, just decided that we should have fajitas and we went with a theme. My girlfriends are top notch and I love each and everyone one of them in their own special way. Very sex in the city-ish only New Hampshire country style!

My grandmother has enjoyed her monthly visits although now when I go see her, she asks when will DBF be visiting next? Seriously, why does everyone think this man walks on water ;-) j/k, I just think he's slipping her some grape nut ice cream every time he does visit.

Next month's old friend shouldn't be tough, DBF and I will be attending the wedding of an old friend of mine from my Transit days and then in October we will be attending the wedding of a college friend of mine. DBF and I have 4 weddings this season, that's a lot since we usually average 1-2 per year.

I am so happy with my progress! I can't wait to see what the next 2 months bring (got to get back on the quarterly track)

Why I do this here...

Jess from Half of Jess wrote a great piece this morning about Vulnerability and Failure and it got me thinking about my own little spot in bloggy world.

When I first started blogging here it wasn't about weight loss, it was my life in general, hence the name. I mostly blogged about work since at the time, that was pretty much all I was doing. Over the last 2 years or so, I've been slowly learning that it's okay not to be working all the time and that sometimes you have to say no. To this day, I am still having a hard time saying no, but I am getting better at it.

All along, I've wanted to loose weight, I've been heavy big-boned my whole life. However, I never actually considered blogging about it and putting it out here until this past October when I wanted to start keeping track of my weight loss. I'd always been so pessimistic and set myself up to fail, I didn't want to fail to the world. So I didn't consider blogging about it early on.

When I got serious about my weight and how necessary it is for me to lose it, I wanted to put it all out there. Because if I had to type it and post it for the world then I wanted to be successful. I wanted to have a record of my weight loss journey so I would have something to look back on.

Sure, are there going to be down times, yes, I am human after all. It's taken me over 20 years to get fat, it isn't going to come off overnight. There is a lot of un-learning that needs to happen, a re-wiring of my brain and habits.

I am currently experiencing a down trend, I am not as focused as I once was or could be. I still have a long way to go in my journey. But I am not letting my gains (pounds) hold me back from my overall goals. I won't be discouraged and continue on this journey. I've gone back and re-read some of my successful posts and remember what it was like, what I was feeling when I wrote those. How happy I was to report losses and how great I was feeling.

Do I feel vulnerable putting my life out there? Yes, kind of, at first it was easy, no one read my little blog, but as I gain readers, I am feeling more vulnerable than ever. But then again, if I can inspire just one person to make a change, then it's all worth it. Although this blog has basically become a sounding board for my weight loss journey, I do still talk about other things going on in my life, my family, friends, DBF and obviously work. They all impact my life and all play a role in my weight loss journey as well.

When it's all said and done (will it ever be over? No, healthy living has no end) I started this blog to keep track of my life and the comings and goings. It's evolved into a weight loss blog of sorts, right now more of a personal record than anything else, but as I become more successful, I am hoping that this blog (including my early works) will inspire someone to make a change within their own life.

Weigh In 7/27/10

Last Week's Weight: 292.8
This Week's Weight: 294.8
Gain: 2

Total Loss: -19
 
Ugh! This is pre-iPhone territory! We are talking like mid-February weight. NOT happy about this. I didn't work out like I wanted to, I am not tracking like I should. I am in a slump.
 
According to my Gruve there was only one day last week were I didn't achieve my green goal. Of course it was Monday, the day before my weigh in.
 
So what did I do about it? Well I went grocery shopping after the weight watchers meeting, since I was up at the scale I didn't purchase anything that would tempt me or derail my efforts. Not that I normally do, but I was more strict this time. I had plans to go to the gym, but I forgot my headphones for my iPod, I'm just the kind of gal who needs music to workout. It helps to keep my energy up.
 
So this afternoon, I decided it was way too nice outside not to go and get a walk in, once I got moving, I wanted to try a Couch to 5K training session from my iPhone. I restarted the program, but instead of going back to week 1 day 1, I jumped in where I left off, week 3 day 2! I was able to complete the session. I was so proud of myself, I haven't trained or really ran since my first 5k way back in early June, so this felt amazing to do.
 
I tracked my food today in my Weight Watchers app for the iPhone, I have the tools, I just need to use it! And hold myself accountable for the decisions I make.
 
The topic of today's Weight Watcher's meeting was Smart Snacking, we discussed:

• Planning snacks at hungry times
• Choosing filling foods
• Counting and tracking snacks
• Preparing snacks ahead of time
• Packing snacks to go

Challenge issued this week was to try and get the 5 servings of fruit and veggies every day and plan for snacks, create a list of easy packable snacks.

Next week's topic: Getting off the merry-go-round

I've never really tracked my hunger, I've just always ate when I felt like I was supposed to, standard meals, but I can see how snacking would help in maintaining levels within your own body to keep you feeling satisfied longer. I typically eat every 3-4 hours, but that's just me, I've never really tracked it. I am going to try to track my hunger and see if eating every 3-4 hours is helping or hurting my efforts.

One thing I love about my Weight Watcher's leader is every month she gives us a calender with a daily tidbit on it. I read it every day, it's part of my ritual. One thing that jumped out at me for next month is Monday August 2: "Where do you want to be on Labor Day? You have 5 weeks to get there." I want to be at my 10% by Labor Day, but that is nearly 12 pounds to loose in 5 weeks, roughly 2.4 pounds a week, it may not be in me, but I am certainly going to give it a go!

In other news, I don't know if Amber was serious, but last night she tweeted about needing a gym buddy (even if virtual) and I could always use a kick in the behind and someone else to help me along. So I offered my services. Since she's on the west coast and I live on the east coast, I highly doubt that we will ever be gym buddies in real life, but hey, blogging is sometimes real life too!

Have a great week everyone! I look forward to blogging about my August goals and recapping my July Goals and my quarterly 101 things in a 1001 days update!

I feel the need to blog

But I just don't know what about. So here comes some randomness!

I can't believe it's nearly the end of July. I will be doing recaps on my July goals and also a quarterly update on my 101 things in a 1001 days list. I will also be working on a August goals post, so I know I've got some blogging to do in the near future.

I am still thinking about if I should make the jump to wordpress and eventually host my own domain.. just not sure where to start. Suggestions?

I love my Gruve, I've been using it nearly 3 weeks now and it's like a mini competition for me to get to green! Even DBF will sometimes ask what color am I at. I really like seeing just how many calories I burn. I like that once you are in the green, it still will buzz you to move if you sit too long. This feature is great for my desk job.

I miss my brother. I got to see him in early July, but I am still not used to the fact that he lives in North Carolina. Granted it's been over a year and will be at least another 2.5 - 3 years before they move back north, but I still miss him. He's going to school and kicking ass, I am so proud of him.

I am enjoying my time off, I don't feel the need to be busy every second of every day, it's been nice having some kick back lazy days. My stress levels aren't nearly what they were at. If you know me at all, you know that I used to be on the go all the time. Still on the go, but only most of the time (not all).

My weight loss is a journey, that is bound to have ups and downs. but I remain focused overall. I have to keep telling myself that I am still human and I am overcoming a lot of obstacles. There will be setbacks. I will be okay.

I want a puppy... and I am lobbying hard with DBF to make this happen. Hey, it's better than a kid, right? (that will come later!)

ID Card Software (Sponsored Post)

If you follow my blog at all, you know that I work in public safety. I work for a Fire and EMS agency. I also have a second job working in a doctor’s office, helping with medical records. Both of my jobs fall under HIPAA regulations as I am dealing directly and indirectly with patients.

There are times that I need to be able to prove who I am and my job/reason for being someplace. Most commonly this is done in the form of an ID badge.

Although my company prints these cards in-house; I would suggest checking out the ID card software for more information about purchasing one of these systems.

Patient privacy is hugely important in today’s society with so many identify thefts happening. However, I believe it is the employer’s obligation to protect their employee’s too. One way they can ensure this is to provide ID’s to verify that the employee is who they say they are.

This company’s systems can also be customized to suite any business needs, including membership cards or gift cards for your business. The opportunities are endless.

This is a sponsored post. The views and opinions expressed in this post are mine. To view my disclosure policy, click here.

Weigh In

Last Week's Weight: 294.6
This Week's Weight: 292.8
Loss: -1.8
Total Loss: -21

Yippee! A loss! I am back! I am thrilled to be recording a loss this week. After 3 weeks straight of gaining I am finally losing again. I am nowhere near where I was in early June, however, it's progress, and I am willing to take it.

I am a little disappointed that I haven't fully recovered from hiking last Friday. In fact today was the first day I could put on sneakers, the blister on the back of my heel is killing me, and I am trying to fight my way through it. My thighs and calves were still very tight and I haven't been able to go to the gym to work out. But I did manage to walk to the post office and back this afternoon which I was quite pleased. A trip that usually takes me roughly an hour took me about 40 minutes today. I guess I was pushing myself!

I don't want to over do it, so I figured a walk would be a good way to ease back into my routine. I am hoping to walk again tomorrow and then hit the gym Thursday or Friday. I hope to be back into my routine by this weekend.

Don't get my wrong, I don't regret hiking, I just didn't prep myself as well as I could have. I am hoping for good weather and perhaps another day hike in the next week or two.

But I am thrilled with my weigh in results. This week's topic was about Pushing the Restart, which is what I've done. And the steps necessary:

1. Focus - the ability to focus on your mini goals that you set for yourself.
2. Overcome your major weakness - we all have weaknesses, you need to be able to identify them and acknowledge them.
3. Devise a plan - planning really helps you accomplish your goals you set, you could almost say it's a to do list for your healthy life.

Next weeks' topic is being snack savvy. Something that I could learn a few things about.

I won't be able to attend my typical meeting due to a conflict with work, so I'll be weighing in another day/time for the next two weeks.

Latest Fashion Accessory

So, DBF went and got the mail on Friday and when I saw him Friday night he said I had some mail. So me thinking it was mostly bills, I wasn't too excited to dig into it right away.

When I got home, I saw that in fact it was an envelope from Jen from Prior Fat Girl! And it was my bracelet I had ordered from her blog!

For me it's going to be a visual reminder of one bite, one decision. A journey begins with a single step and then another and then another. I hope it's going to remind me that it's the little changes, the re-commitments, all make a difference and matter in the long run. And each day is a new day to start. The past is in the past and the actions I took can't be undone. I can only move forward in this journey.

Thank you Jen for helping to remind and inspire me!

I'm on a hill!

If you follow me on twitter at all, you know that I was torn between zumba and hiking on Friday. Well I opted for the hike, for two reasons. First, I would get to spend the whole day with my extended family while they were visiting NH and secondly, it would be a cardio workout like none other.

I have done little day hikes before, but NOTHING could/would prepare me for the 4,200 foot climb into the sky that is Mt. Lafayette! (Although Mt. Lafayette is 5,260 feet in elevation, I only made it to the Greenleaf Hut at 4,200 feet.) It took me roughly 4 hours to get to the Greenleaf Hut.

This is about the halfway point. You can't see the summit in amongst the clouds unfortunately.

My extended family went on to make a dash for the summit. Although the weather was closing in, as they neared the top a quick rainstorm made for a soggy trip. They even said that it hailed on them, which didn't happen while I was at the hut recovering. (Goes to show you the difference 1,000 feet can make.) They said that they made it to the top, but then had to hussle back down since the weather was getting so bad.

My cousin was amazing, he offered to stay back and help push me. Trust me when I say there were times that I wanted to turn around and go back, but he wouldn't let me, he pushed me when I was at my weakest. And it made the biggest difference when we got above the treeline into the Alpine zone. The views were breathtaking.

He and I had talked before about preparing for the trip and taking it easy, you don't want to make frequent stops because your muscles will cramp up, but there were so many times that I had to stop, and then I wanted to stop, but would take little steps, so to keep moving.

The Greenleaf Hut is up in the clouds in this picture

While I was waiting for my family in the Greenleaf Hut I had an opportunity to speak with some of the AMC staff who work at the hut (they are called the Croo) and one lady informed me that of the majority of the mountains in the White Mountains in New Hampshire that Mt. Lafayette was one of the most challenging ones to climb. Apparently I picked a good one to start with! But in all honesty, it made my day when she said that!

Squinty McSquinterson here....

I cried at one point. My cousin told me there was no crying in hiking. I said, ok, but that there is crying when you hit a huge milestone in your life, like my weight loss journey. He was great, he kept telling me that it would all be worth it. And it was that and SO much more.

I've realized some things. I CAN do anything if I put my mind to it. I may have been the heaviest person I saw on the mountain that day, but I did it. I realized that I like hiking more than running, and that I may have a shift in my goal setting moving forward. I realized that I still have a long way to go, but that I am so proud of challenging myself and succeeding. I am already in the process of looking for some day hikes around the New England area. I've found New England's Fifty Finest list that looks particularly interesting. I think it has a great mix of smaller mountains and some larger ones. I've realized there is nothing like a fresh pair of dry socks to make your day a little bit better.

Coming back down was tricky. Not only were we having to climb over rocks but since it had rained, everything was wet and slick. Of course, Ms. Grace that I am, I fell and I have a nasty bruise on the side of my thigh to show for it. But it's just part of my battle scars!

We made it down in just shy of 3 hours. All of us tired and hungry. My aunt was more than happy to fill our bellies! She had been cooking for some time.

When I finally got back to my apartment I plugged my Gruve in. I couldn't wait to see how many calories I had burned, sure enough just a hair shy of 2,200 calories in one day! Wow, that was incredible. I was pounding water like you wouldn't believe, but sweating it out as quick as I could get it in. I took some medication and went to bed.

The next morning I got up and decided to step on the scale, just to see, I had dropped like 5 pounds! I was in shock, but then a goodbye dinner later on (my extended family heading home) and a full day of recovery, I was up a few pounds, but still down overall.

Today (Sunday), my muscles are tight still, my calves especially. The tops of my thighs ache when I use them, my abs hurt, but I'm happy that I accomplished something so fantastic. I am hoping that when they go next year, that we'll have better weather and can make it to the top of the mountain.  I am going to try to get a walk in either tonight or tomorrow just to try and stay limber.

I find that hiking is very symbolic of any journey, it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get to the top, but once you get there, you feel you can accomplish anything. And the view isn't all that bad from the top!

My first blogger award!

Whitney over at Getting Healthy was kind enough to bestow upon me my first blogger award, the Versatile Blogger award!

The rules for this award are as follows:


1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs.
4. Let your nominees know about the award

A big thank you to Whitney for sharing this award with me! She's been a big supporter of mine in the past and cheering me on in my weight loss journey!

And now for the seven things about me:

1. I grew up and live by the Atlantic Ocean; yet I hate swimming in it
2. I have a BS in Business Administration and a minor in Equine Sciences (that's right folks, I took horseback riding lessons for college credits!)
3. I have my CDL and in college I drove the campus buses
4. I spent my 21st birthday with about a dozen lesbians doing "slippery nipple" shots. (I was a camp counselor for a summer) = craziest time ever!
5. I have a serious addiction to my iPhone
6. I have one brother, who's 18 months younger than me.
7. I am an EMT

For some "newly discovered blogs" although these may not be newly discovered, they are some of my personal favorites:

1. Kat's Adventures in Dietland
2. 265 & falling - ah Steve...
3. No More Bacon
4. A Healthy Dad
5. The Next Chapter
6. Angie All the Way - my first weight loss blog that I followed!
7. Fit with a Purpose
8. Anonymous Fat Girl
9. Watch My Butt Shrink
10. Loser for Life
11. Shrinking Amber
12. Prior Fat Girl
13. Who Ate My Blog?
14. One Day at a Time - I love following Al on twitter; he's very motivational
15. It's a beautiful wreck - follow her on twitter; she's hilarious!

And then there is also A Merry Life, Fitarella, Jack Sh*t Gettin' Fit, The Anti-Jared and MizFit! I am sure there are so many I am forgetting, but I am limited by the parameters of the award! LOL

So there you have it :-D Thank you again to Whitney for the award!

Weigh in Results

Well I called it. I went to go weigh in and I was up from last week, but down from the start of the Awesome By August Challenge.

Last weight 293.4
Current weight 294.6
Gain of 1.2 pounds this week
Total Loss: 19.2

By the numbers, I am back to the weight I was in February. That has me really pissed off. I am disappointed in myself. Basically the last 5 months have been wasted, weight wise. I am learning more about myself and this journey so I do not feel that the last 5 months have been a complete waste of time, but I am just more disappointed that I didn't respect myself enough to keep the weight off or continue losing.

As if the Weight Watcher God's were speaking at me, the meeting topic was about identifying plateaus. I know I haven't hit a plateau, I just lost my focus (maybe I should post signs or something; check local lost and founds), but we talked about what we could do to focus on continuing to stay positive despite seeing smaller losses at the scales or plateaus. Although I've been gaining I'm still recognizing that I am making positive changes within me. Maybe I just have a hard time with all the changes, I need to slow down and focus on the good healthy habits I've already formed.

So I just might be going back to school, Weight Watchers 101. I think my July goal of tracking my food for a week straight will help me achieve this. I love the Weight Watchers iPhone app, another tool that I need to use more.

I'm looking forward to next week's topic of pushing past plateaus and how to stay focused on the long term goals, using short term goals (so that you don't loose focus). I'm going to try to focus on 5 pounds at a time, and just keep plugging away until I reach all of my goals.

Early Morning Randomness & New Tools!

I am up early today! Well in all fairness, I'm at work. So I am catching up on some blogs and I had some random thoughts that I thought I would write down.

I'll be posting later on today my weigh in results, even after gaining last week, I was up even more with my submission into the Awesome By August challenge. You can see my official weigh in for the challenge here. Since that picture, I am down, but I believe that I am still up from last week's official Weight Watchers weigh in.

(I love this picture, I don't know why, but it makes me laugh every time I see it!)

I am trying not to be discouraged, I've just got to take it one day at a time and wrap my head around it. This journey isn't easy, it would be easy just to give up. But I am determined not to give up. It's just going to take me longer to reach my goals. That will make the end result all the more worth it! I will have invested all of myself in time and energy, I want that end result.

I've already failed one of my July goals. I didn't work out 4 times last week. I made it to 3. Is that terrible, no. I still managed to workout 3 times that week. But did I miss my goal, yes. In my opinion that is the point to goals, that you have something you need to work on. Goal-setting will help you see progress, maybe a past goal for me would have been working out 3 times. I am going to continue to challenge myself with goal setting.

Even though I've failed one of my goals, I am not throwing away the rest of the month, I am making an action plan to succeed in my goals for the rest of the month. I took the time to print off a separate calender for the month of July so that I can keep track of my goals separately (my real life calender is a mess, chock full of everything) my goals would be lost in my regular calender. I also feel that my goals are important enough to me that they deserve their own separate calender. I am hoping that this will help me achieve my July goals. I've printed off this calender and plan on keeping it with me so I can have a reminder to be conscious of my efforts.

In other news, Jen from A Prior Fat Girl is selling bracelets that I hope will help me be more conscious about my eating. One bite, One decision. I am hoping that it keeps me focused on one bite at a time. I was so happy when I read that she was offering these for sale. What a great method to keep your focus, part of the proceeds will also go to YMCA Activate America program, which help support people trying to lead healthy lifestyles. I can't wait to get mine. I've already been in the mindset about thinking about how each bite of food affects me. I think the bracelet would be a great visual reminder.

I also received my Gruve in the mail the other day. I am currently on my assessment week where it monitors my activity. Next week will begin the buzzing, I am sure! I am excited about this device making me more aware of when I need to move more! And I'll be going for green! Now where have I heard that before.....

So that's about it for now, but I am excited about the steps I am taking to ensure that I am successful in my goals and my journey. Just more tools in my weight loss tool box.

What tools in your tool box do you go to for your weight loss success? What have you tried in the past that didn't work?

Awesome By August

I need a swift kick in the pants... for whatever reason my heart just really hasn't been in my weight loss journey, I know it's hard work and maybe this is my inner fat chick trying to come back out again, but I am fighting hard. I seem to always have an excuse. I'll exercise later, I can't be bothered to count points/calories, whatever.

I did manage to continue my soda free challenge, I went to my Weight Watchers meeting this week and I **will** achieve 3 visits to the gym this week (tonight and tomorrow) with a long walk thrown in for the total of 4, all in line with my July goals.

I just signed up to participate in the Awesome By August Challenge! You can join in too, check it out over at Kat Does Diets. (official rules also posted there) You can also follow the action all month on twitter with the hash tag #awesomebyaugust, I really want to do well. I just need focus.

If you want to enter the Awesome By August challenge you can! Though you must send your weigh in picture to katdoesdiets@gmail.com by Midnight CST.

Weigh In

Well this weigh in really sucked. 293.4, up 3.2 pounds from last week. Right now my total loss is at 20.4 pounds.


Ouch...

That really sucked. I really had a hard time with this one. I typically weigh myself on my home scale before heading to weigh in, and the home scale said 290 something.... So I was really in shock to see a larger gain.

When I think about what happened last week, it was very "weekend heavy" in that my work shift fell on the last few days before weigh in (Saturday and Sunday) and that I did have many cookouts that I was attending. Although I was behaving myself, given all the temptations, I still wasn't eating what I normally would eat. Whenever my work schedule falls before weigh in; my weight is always up. It really makes me believe that your sleep schedule affects your weight, at least your water weight. My night shifts really screw up with me. I'd be really interested to see what tomorrow or Thursday's weight says.

The meeting topic this week was about getting fruits and veggies in. According to the Weight Watchers Healthy Guidelines, you are supposed to get 5 servings every day. My leader challenged us to get 3 different colors of fruits and veggies in each day.  I achieved this today by having watermelon, salad and tomatoes. I am going to try to incorporate this mini goal for the week. It will help me to focus.

On the #amerryworkoutpledge, I've done about 15 hours in the past week. Since tomorrow is the one week mark, I am going to attempt a 2 hour workout tomorrow. Given that the weather in New Hampshire has been and is forecasted to continue to be Hazy Hot and Humid, I plan on hitting the gym (a/c) and possibly also go swimming at the lake. If I can achieve 17 hours of working out (or being active) in one week, I am really going to be pleased with myself, regardless of what the scale says.

My brother and my sister in-law will be leaving tomorrow. I am sad to see them go. It was a great visit and a fun time to have. It's weird to see my younger brother all grown up. I probably won't see them again until Thanksgiving. Right now we have tentative plans to drive down to North Carolina to have Thanksgiving at their house. We've gone out to dinner and I am still soda free! Going out to eat is really a tough time for me, it's when I crave soda the most, have I had weak moments, oh for sure! But I told my DBF about my challenge and he's holding me to it. I don't want to let him down (or myself!). The cookouts haven't helped either when soda is all that is in the coolers. But I've done so well, I don't want to jeopardize it now.

So we'll see how this week goes. The weather is really screwing with my desire to be outside. I wouldn't mind the heat, but it's really the humidity that is killing me! It really makes me crave ice cream. But I'm trying to be good. I don't think my a/c has shut off in 2 days at least and the forecast is looking like the same all week. Even though I have a wedding on Saturday. I hope it's not this terrible out! Ugh.

July Goals

Whitney over at Getting Healthy sets goals every month. I've set weekly goals in the past, or short term goals depending on what I am trying to accomplish. However, I think that I'd like it to become a more consistent thing. So I am going to try to set some reasonable and measurable goals for the month of July and then review them in August to see if I accomplished them. Hopefully moving forward, this will be a monthly occurrence for me.

My goals will be life related, the healthy aspect as well as my work life, personal life, basically whatever else I feel like throwing into the mix! Because, it's my blog, and that's Life by Cassie!

July Goals:

• Visit extended family at Bow Lake
• Continue to work on 101 things in a 1001 days list (update on list in another blog post)
• Start a new item on list
• Work out at least 4 days a week (gym, zumba, run, hike, whatever - just move your ass!)
• Go to Weight Watcher meetings all month; not just to weigh-in
• Track food for one week this month

I guess we'll start with that. I think that is a good well rounded list.


Do you have monthly goals that you set for your self? If so, do you find it helpful in keeping your focus?

Weigh In & #amerryworkoutpledge

Well I went to Weight Watchers and weighed in on Tuesday. After my 4 pound gain 2 weeks ago, I am happy to report that I've lose 3 of those pounds. My current weight is 290.2 and my total loss is 23.6.

I am excited that even after taking a week off, mind you my birthday week, that I've rebounded and I've got the scale going in the right direction. I am hoping to combat all the little gains I've had over the last month or so and really focus on hitting my 10% this month; which is 282.8. Which means I have a month to lose 7.8 pounds. If I can average 2 pounds per week, this will be easily accomplished.

I've made a decision to stick with Weight Watchers through the fall. I think that the meetings really help me, and the weigh-ins are good for me. I can't justify it away. The weight has to come off.

The reason I didn't post this sooner was that Tuesday night, I took my stepmother to the local drive in to see Eclipse. She is a "twihard", I on the other hand could care less, regardless, we both had a great time and she was so thrilled that I went. My dad was thrilled to as now he didn't have to go with her. I have to say, the movie is enjoyment, but I just don't get all the hype.

I also on Tuesday, I offered up my blog to host this month's installment of #amerryworkoutpledge. I first had said that it would be until 3pm, but at 3pm, I only had 3 comments, 2 of which were my own. So I extended until 8am the following morning and I posted on my facebook page for everyone to see. One of my friends picked right up and commented away, but still at the end of the day, only 17 comments! That would have translated to 7 minutes 30 seconds of cardio. Barely enough to get my heart rate in the zone. So I scrapped the whole thing and offered up that instead of it being 30 sec of cardio, that it will be 17 hours of working out this week.

Yesterday, I went horseback riding. Although I was only planning on being at the farm for an hour or two, I ended up being there the whole day, 9:30am to 5pm! My friend with the farm had many children over, so I helped out with barn chores. Basically, I got to play with animals all day. Included was chasing down the donkey who got out of his pen. I was running around all day, and today, I feel it. My legs and arms hurt. What a great feeling though! So I plan on counting that as 7 hours of cardio/working out. Only 10 more hours to go!

I do plan on hitting the gym tonight for another hour or so. And hopefully get some more time in throughout the weekend. It's the fourth of July and I'm scheduled to work this weekend. DBF is off to Rhode Island to visit with his best friend, I wish I could go with him, but sadly, someone has to work. Those phones don't answer themselves. I have a sneaky suspicion with how nice the forecast is, that the beaches will be packed this weekend. So while DBF is out of town and when (and if) I get some time off from work this weekend, I plan on putting some more hours in.

I hope if you are celebrating the fourth of July, that you celebrate responsibly! Wear sunscreen and stay hydrated!

How many hours a week do you commit to working out?