-0

No change. While I would of liked to lost I am very happy by not gaining.

_____________

I added 30 crunches to my workout today!!!
And my 10 minutes on the elliptical has increased from 1.2 miles to 1.4 miles!!!
I'm starting to run faster. Next week I plan on upping my running time to 12 minutes.

I still hate exercising, A LOT. I am hoping it will one day become second nature or something. How about anyone else, How long have you been working out consistently? When you started did you hate it? If you did how do you feel about it now? The same?

_________________

New Addition!!

I forgot to tell everyone about our new kitty! Before we left for vacation my brother in laws friends cat had a litter and we decided to take one. By the time we got back he was ready to come home. We have two dogs and for the first 2 weeks we were getting the pets used to each other. The dogs have both been around cats before, but they were cats that didn't like dogs. The animals are already best friends. They are so cute together. I love catching them all hanging out together by the food and water dishes. Here is a working slide show of all our pets.



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Ok so last night I made the Eating right Beef and Broccoli for me and my daughter and some low fat egg rolls I bought at the Grocery Outlet. The beef and Broccoli was disgusting. The beef was really weird like soggy and chewy. The rice was hard and the sauce left a lot to be desired. I won't be buying that again. Yuck.

I do like the eating right brand though. There is a great selection of products and I do like a lot of them but every time I have tried an Asian type dish (Eating Right or Safeway Brand) it ends up being horrible.

________________

!Freebies!

Simply Nutrilite Nutritious Food Bar Sample
You get to choose between chocolate and cherry, I picked chocolate of course!

&

Just Like Sugar Sample

_________

11/6 - 11/13

Walking the long way - 2/3
Elliptical - 4/3
Stick To Diet Plan - 4/7
Fell Off Diet Plan - 3/7
Water Intake 64ozs Per Day - 4/7

So I'm getting there. I'm going to do this again this week and see how I do.

______________________

I found some great recipes

One for low fat Honey Banana Bread
&
One for low fat pumpkin spice muffins

Me and my daughter made the banana bread and it went fast! It was filling to. Next time I make it I am going to use 2 cups of banana instead of one to get more of a stronger banana flavor.

Low Fat Honey Banana Bread Recipe

1 Gram Fat Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I haven't made the pumpkin muffins yet I probably will this weekend.

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Yesterday was Veterans day and my husband is a Veteran. This is the fist time he has had Veterans night (he works nights) off in over 6 years. I'm glad he had the night off.

I think it should be mandatory -
IF YOU ARE A VETERAN YOU SHOULD GET THE DAY OFF, PAID, PERIOD!

We got to watch 2 movies! We hardly ever get to watch movies or do much because of our conflicting schedules. So we watched 28 weeks later and Hostel II.
Both we great movies, it was nice to have some alone time!

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Not to much going on here I'm just working on getting things back together right before Thanksgiving.
I plan on eating whatever that day but I don't think it will be as hard to recover. Turkey isn't that bad for you and I don't like skin so I'll just be eating the meat. I do not like gravy at all so I wont have to worry about that. The mash potatoes, pies, breads with real butter, and yams with marshmallows is what I am going to have to watch out for. Am I making you hungry?

I love Thanksgiving!

I might be in charge of doing the mashed potatoes this year.
Last year I made them with real butter and whipping cream instead of milk.
Talk about turning something good for you into something that can cause a heart attack.
This year I am adding cheese and garlic to that concoction.

I think I am not going to make a huge King Kong sized bowl this time though, that way everyone will get a serving and there won't be any left for me to go for seconds.

_____________________

!Freebie!

Free sample of Arm and Hammer Toothpaste

&

Metamucil Berry Burst Sample

__________

+ 6

Since I came back from vacation

I gained 6 pounds from October 15th - November 7th

Geez

Well at least it wasn't my whole 10 pounds that I lost and I am determined to get back to my ten pound loss and continue to lose more weight!

I didn't walk yesterday so I ran on my elliptical for 10 minutes instead. I'm so happy to have found the motivation to do something instead of telling myself I'll skip it and do it tomorrow.

I had to make my slide show private because I was getting friends requests (on Myspace) from some very weird people. (weird meaning, old men, and people in prison. WTF) For some reason I cannot edit my post with the slide show on it so now its going to be a blank black space. I am so annoyed and I don't know why I cannot edit my post. When I try to the edit thing opens up and then my post disappears and I can't do anything, it's like I didn't write anything at all. I can edit the rest of my post so it must be something with the Myspace slide show. Who knows? If anyone does I'd like to know the secret.

I am now considering taking down pictures of my daughter becuase I feel a little creeped out. Have any of you who post pictures of their family's and kids gotten any weird responses or followers?

I'm struggling and I am having such a hard time getting shit back together since I got back. I am having a real hard time getting back to reality, back to my eating habits, and back to moving my ass.

You know tomorrow I would have completed my 2 week challenge if I would of stuck with it. I probably would of also lost at least 3 pounds. Which is all I gained during my vacation. Now I feel like I am starting over. I have gained almost all of my 10 pounds back. I feel like I am failing. I don't want to fail myself again.

I quit curves, canceled my membership. (they said I can go back without the enrollment fee if I go back within one year) I canceled for several reasons

1) I was having a real hard time completing the circuit 2 times, I'm so out of shape that I feel ike I didn't let my body build up to 30 minutes of constant moving.

2) I really don't like socializing while I am working out and since I'm like the only one in there during the times when I can go the employees and owner feel the need to talk to me the whole time and it makes me really unconformable.

My eating habits have become disgusting again. the other day we went to Fresh Choice and I ate enough for 2 people. I felt like crap afterwards. I just wanted to lay down.

I keep giving myself challenges and I keep letting myself down.

I haven't been blogging becuase I am ashamed of myself, I am ashamed to let other people see that I am struggling.

This post is for me to come to grips with this hurdle and not be ashamed of struggling becuase I am sure a lot of you have been through this. I need to go back and catch up on all of your blogs. When I read about everyones success and hurdles it brings me motivation.

I am so angry with myself.

I looked in the mirror last night and told myself out loud that I wasn't going to give up. I kept repeating it over and over again.

"I'm not going to give up."

I'm not.

I can't.

2 week challenges are not working for me. I am going to start small. I am going to try for 1 week.
Since I am not going to curves anymore (for the time being) I will need to find another way to move my body and work on getting my stamina up.

Yesterday I walked to pick my daughter up from school. It is right across the street, but instead of walking back the way I came I went all the way down the road to the stop light, crossed, and then walked home.

I felt good afterwards!

Today I ran for 10 minutes on my elliptical which turned out to be 1.2 miles.

I feel good!

My new updated challenge will be -

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday -

walk the long way home

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday

10 minutes on the elliptical

Drink as much water as I can

Watch what I put in my mouth and stick to my previous plan


After this week I will do it gain next week.

Maybe a week at a time might be less pressure for me.

Any kinds words, tips, tricks, or ideas I would love to hear!

I am proud of myself for deciding not to give up.
I am proud of myself for moving my body the past two days.

______________________

I promised a slide show of my Vegas trip and here it is!



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Freebie information!

While on my hiatus from my blog I received -

1) Coromega - Omega-3 Dietary Supplement which was disgusting
2) Pantene Color Expression - very nice!
3) Beyond Bodi Heat - I am going to use tonight
4) Folgers Gourmet Selections (promotion ended) - I don't drink coffee but my husband does so I'll let you know what he thinks when he tries it.
5) Bausch & Lomb Wear and Care Program Kit - Which was 12 contact lens cases and a full size eye wetting drops!

I want to continue doing the freebies but I want to know if anyone has been signing up for them. Please let me know.

!Freebies!

L'Oreal Vive Nutri Gloss Shampoo, Conditioner, and Treatment

Nicorette Cinnamon Surge 20 Piece Gum Sample
You need to watch a short video about the gum first

Garnier Skin Care Sample

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Ok so I think I am back!

I am going to weigh myself weekly on Wednesday (tomorrow)

I am going to Blog, I feel better when I do

I am going to read your blogs, I feel better when I do that to

I am going to revive myself from the dead and start losing weight again

I am going to stick to this 1 week challenge that I started yesterday

I am going to stick with the look great in 2008 challenge

My first mini goal is to get that 10 pound weight loss headstone back on my blog
(I'll know how much I need to lose to get to that goal tomorrow moring)

___________________



Ok I am off to catch up on all of my favorite blogs, this should take awhile!

I had a blast.
Some of the things I did -

Drink, Gamble, Walk
Visited M&M World
Checked out the MGM Grand and Lion Habitat
Drink, Gamble, Walk
Watched the Mirage Volcano
Played tons of arcade games
Drink, Gamble, Walk
Watched the Tournament of Kings show drunk (Kick Ass show)
Shopped
Drink, Gamble, Walk
Visited the wax museum and took the horror tour
Went on a gondola ride at dusk
Drink, Gamble, Walk
&&&&&
Me and my husband got our wedding anniversary tattoo



Jon Poulson did both of our tattoos. Check out his page and his portfolio here.
He does awesome work. Very professional, very clean, and down to earth. Next time you are in Vegas and want to get inked, Tattoo Heaven is the place to go and Jon is the person to see.

I have some pictures of Vegas and I am going to work on a slide show this weekend.

So now that I am back, and have been back since Friday night, I should be back on track right? Wrong. I have no motivation, none, zip, zero. It sucks. It's like I am still catching up on sleep. Sheesh. Oh and I haven't even tried weighing myself yet. I will tomorrow. It's not looking promising.

Guess it's time for another challenge. I am going to restart my 2 week challenge with the hopes that it will bring me back on track.

So here it is, I start tomorrow, Wednesday 10/24

Stick to my calories and fat intake plan
(1800 calories per day/15g fat per meal - 3 meals)
3 Times a week at curves
Walking twice a week (30 min.)
Walking to pick Althea up from school
4 days of 15 minute toning exercises every night
NO stuffing my face over the next 2 weekends (big one for me)
I am worried about Halloween (anniversary)
Water, water, and more water

I am pretty confident that I gained all my weight back, I'll know tomorrow. So I might just be starting all over. Grrrr. Hey I need to suck it up though and keep going otherwise instead of this being a 10 pound step backwards it will be a complete failure and I am tired of doing that.

No I just got back from Vegas! I'll be back by Monday! Thanks everyone for popping in to check on me!

I need to challenge myself again. I am slacking off and I think it's because I am going on vacation in less than 2 weeks and I know I am going to be a very bad eater. I do know the consequences I am going to have because of eating crappy while I am gone and I am ready to deal with a setback and maybe even a weight gain. I will lose it again though it won't be the end of my journey for sure. Anyway, just because I am ready for that doesn't mean I can start taking steps backwards now.

So my challenge for the next two weeks

Stick to my calories and fat intake plan
3 Times a week at curves
Walking twice a week (30 min.)
Walking to pick Althea up from school
4 days of 15 minute toning exercises every night
NO stuffing my face over the next 2 weekends (big one for me)
Water, water, and more water

I am going to track my progress on the side!
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Do you like to read?

I don't know where I saw this, so if I found it off of your blog let me know.
It's a free paperback swapping site.
You post the books you are willing to swap and when someone requests a book from you, you ship it at your expense (you earn one credit per book you send) But when you sign up and post 9 books to swap you get three credits (1 credit is good for 1 paperback book). When you choose a book to be sent to you the owner of that book sends it to you at their expense. Its cheaper than buying the books (way cheaper) and it is free to sign up (for now, they might start charging a small yearly fee in the future)



If you sign up through the banner I get 1 credit!
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Caramel Apples Anyone?

Yes Please!
I love these.
Pre-sliced apples with a little cup of caramel.

90 Calories
0g Fat
75mg Sodium
23g Carbohydrates
1g Protein

Such a great snack.


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!Freebies!

Coromega - Omega -3 Dietary Supplement

Coromega is a natural source of Omega-3 fatty acids from pharmaceutical grade fish oil.

&

Pantene Color Expressions

Shampoo and Conditioner for colored hair

Someone asked me if the freebies that I post require you to complete sponsor offers or pay for shipping. The answer is, no way! I have only posted stuff that is totally free! I have been getting free samples of tons of products for years. Most of the time when I fill out a sample request form I get the sample, sometimes I don't. I do have a separate email just for samples because you will get some junk mail for sure. I should of said that when I first started posting freebies.
____________________
_______________

So I decided to take some pictures. These will one day be my before pictures. Uggg when I look at these I don't see myself at all. I guess that might be a good thing. But lets get real I look like crap. I'm huge and and take up a lot of space. I don't look happy. I'm not smiling. I'm going to try to smile in my next ones. Oh Yuck. I do not want to look like this anymore.





So there I am. This was even after I have lost 10 pounds. Maybe I expected to see a little change in the mirror. But......

_____________________

New clothes

I really hate buying new clothes, especially when I am trying to lose weight. I feel like it will turn out to be a big waste of money. I have no clothes. I have maybe 3 t-shirts that I wear and 1 pair of jeans that only look good with flip flops since they are short in length. So I had to go out and get some jeans. I need some tops to but I'm going to go shopping one more time before I go on vacation. This shopping stuff is pretty much for vacation clothes. I went to Old Navy because they sell mid rise jeans which are the most comfortable for me. I bought a size 18! They are a little tight but I could button them. A 20 was too big this time. Yay! So even though I haven't visibly noticed weight loss it's happening. I also bought this cute t-shirt from Hot Topic, all black with three skulls across the top. XXL of course. But you know I have never been smaller than an XL because of my bust size.
_____________________________

Walking

I need to add some walking to my Curves. I'm such an exercise procrastinator. I hate that about me. I'm not gonna get anywhere near my goal if I don't do more. I love to walk to, but since I moved to this house a year ago I have started hating it. I live right off of a highway there is places to walk but sheesh there is so many cars I always feel like everyone is looking at the fat girl trying to lose weight. I need to get over this and quickly.
________________________

No freebie today :(

I'll have two again next time!

________________

I Scored a 93%!

The Princess from Once Upon A Diet Inspired me with her vision post to reflect on why I really want to lose weight. I read her post this morning and went to Curves and while I was doing my workout I compiled a list and went beyond the obvious reasons like, to look great and possible fit into a size 10.

My List

1) Be Healthy
2) Have the energy to keep up with my daughter
3) Have Confidence in who I am
4) Not have to be squished in a roller coaster like Teale said
5) Keep the grocery bill down (hehe)
6) Earn that cruise that I am going to reward myself with when I meet my ultimate goal
7) Be stronger emotional and strength wise
8) Learn self control
9) Have a better sex life
10) Show my family that I can reach a goal and not give up on myself

I have tons more!
I'm gonna look back on this list when I feel like giving up. While it is important to me to feel beautiful on the outside and I would love love love to fit into a size ten, there are so many more reasons why I want to lose this weight!
Thank you Princess.
_________________________________

My Chicken Taco Recipe

1 Tyson Oven Roasted Whole Chicken (with the skin taken off)
White Corn Tortillas (Mission Brand)
Ice Berg Lettuce
Tomatoes
Cheese (Kraft 2% Milk Mexican 4 Cheese Blend)
Fat free sour cream (Naturally Yours Brand)
1 Cup Salsa (Safeway Brand Peach Pineapple Salsa)


1) Pull the skin off the chicken and throw in the trash
2) Rip all of the meat off the chicken and place in a skillet
(The chicken is already cooked so you are just warming it)
3) Add Salsa to chicken and simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes
5) Cut up lettuce, tomatoes
6) Wrap tortillas in plastic wrap and place in microwave
(When you are ready warm the tortillas for about 10 seconds per tortilla)
7) Dress your taco
8) Enjoy!

1 Taco =
1 white corn tortilla
1 oz chicken
1 oz Salsa
1 tbsp. fat free sour Cream
1 tbsp. Cheese
2 tbs. tomatoes
1/4 cup lettuce

Calories - 162
Fat - 6
Carbohydrates - 16.5
Protein - 9
Sodium - 271.50


The carbohydrates can be lowered with a low carb tortilla.
You can omit the cheese and reduce the fat by 2 grams!
The salsa I used is sweet. Use different salsas for different flavors. I am going to try a garlic one next time.

Heres a picture of my taco from dinner tonight



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!Freebies!

Free sample of L.A.M.B Fragrance by Gwen Stefani

and

The Healing Garden Skin Organics Moisture Lotion with SPF 15

___________________________

- 0 and + 0

I broke even. I probably would of lost some if I worked out more and didn't overeat like I did over the weekend.
____________________________

I'm sick right now. Grrr. Rob was sick earlier this week and last weekend. He caught it from Althea. I got it from him. Hey better to get this over with now then be sick on vacation.

I've been sick on vacation before. 2 years ago we had season passes to Great America which included passes to Bonfante Gardens. Since its in Gilroy, CA, over 3 hours away, we decided to get a hotel for 2 nights. 3 days before we were set to go I got extremely sick. The doctor said it was just real bad congestion. She didn't want to be bothered with me. I asked for x-rays of my lungs and she said she didn't think I needed it and to take these congestion pills.

We went on vacation. I was sick with pneumonia the whole time. At a theme park in 100 degree weather. It was the worst time of my life. The whole time I couldn't breath. I was hacking non stop. I just didn't enjoy myself at all. On the drive back I had stopped breathing. Rob took me to the hospital. Turns out I had pneumonia and since it wasn't taken care of earlier it was really bad. I was bed ridden for over a week after that and was told that if I didn't some to the hospital there was a good chance of it being fatal.

I'm crossing my fingers that I am better by the time we go. I don't think i can handle that again.
______________________________
I went grocery shopping the other day and I bought some flavored water. It was on sale for $1. each. The had blueberry/blackberry and strawberry.

I am really not much for flavored water at all. Most of the time they are sickly sweet with a very nasty aftertaste. Well this water was so good. No sugar added. Just water and real natural fruit oil.

O Water
I am a big fan now! I can't wait to try all of the flavors. I had the Strawberry. All you taste is a hint of Strawberry, like if you were to squeeze the juice from one in your glass of water.
No sugar! It wasn't sweet at all!!!!


After I try all the flavors of O Water I am going to check out Metro Mint
If anyone has tried it let me know if you liked it or not.

____________________________

Time to go lay down. I feel like ehhhh crap.

No Freebie today : ( I just don't feel like searching around for something good. I'll have 2 next time!

I overate this weekend. My food choices were okay but my portion control....well lets just say I had none. The scale will not like me tomorrow.

Exercising

or lack of.
Lack Of Motivation
Lack Of Energy
Lack Of Willpower

I needed a solution. I quit my second job (cleaning, shopping, and helping an elderly couple)
I feel like shit about it to.

I'll go over my previous schedule and explain why I had to cut something.


I get anywhere from 4 to 6 hours of sleep a day - always broken up - never at once. On Tuesdays and Thursdays when I don't work my second job I am trying to catch up on lost sleep and I am really burnt out.

I would work out for 1 or 2 days and thats it. The rest of the time I had no energy.
I had to cut something out for myself.
For my Health
For my Weight Loss
For ME

Thats whats important
I need to work on me

I was hard to quit. I felt really bad. Horrible in fact. But I have no choice. I started feeling like I was going to quit my diet.

Lose all of my progress Give up that 10 pound victory

NO WAY

But now I feel proud.
Proud that I did something for myself.
Proud that I figured out that there was a problem and I fixed it to benefit myself and not someone else for a change.

_____________________________

A Salad with some flavor...Finally (and it's not bad for you either)



Oh I love this stuff! Tons of flavor! Crunchy and a little cheesy with some Salsa!

Nutrition Fact (whats important to me anyway)

1 serving is two cups
4 servings total

I mix everything together and then do my serving size

Per serving

Calories - 120
Fat - 8g
Sodium - 280mg (since I'm watching my Sodium now)
Carbohydrates - 10g
Fiber - 2g
Protein - 3g
_________________________________

!Freebie!(s)



Pick from 4 flavors (I picked Vanilla Biscotti)

Sunsilk
includes shampoo, conditioner and CREME
Pick from 5 different kinds (I picked Hydra TLC)

I love free samples!

___________________________

I got my Vegas tickets from AAA today!!!!!!!
WooHoo!
20 days and counting!

When I bought my tickets I also bought a romance package. It was $53 per person (for me and Rob) and it came with admission for 2 to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, a Gondola ride at the Venetian Hotel, and I can pick go eat lunch at the Valentino's or Dinner at Ziffirino's.

I am not going to expect myself to eat correctly the whole time in Vegas.

The excitement is building!

Thank you Lady Rose from The Diet Pulpit and Once Upon a Diet (I don't know your name) for recommending me to take probiotics. I ate Activia like you suggested instead of taking antibiotics. I feel much better and feel I made a better choice.

YaY!

I signed my daughter up for hip hop dance class today for an after school activity. She is very excited. I only wish I could join. It sounds like tons of fun and they will have an end of session performance. I can't wait. So on Thursdays she will do dance and on Tuesdays she has chorus. He chorus group sang in front of the whole school today! I'm such a proud Mama!

SODIUM

Tomorrow is my scale day and I am a little nervous. I am nervous because the amount of sodium I have eaten in the past couple of days. Grrr. I hope it doesn't affect me to much.

For those of you that read this can you give me some reasons (Sodium For Dummies) why Sodium affects your weight and why it is bad for you when you are trying to lose weight and just in general? I am just confused on the whole thing.

Exercising

Since I have been kinda home bound I have skipped out on working out for the past week. Crappy. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are my curves days. Today I ran on my elliptical for 15 minutes and used my Ab lounge (lol) just to get back in the swing of things. So maybe tomorrow I won't have such a hard time there.

Fall

Is the best season of all time. It's slowly cooling down and that means I will get to go on long walks. I love the wind and I love the cooler weather. My Discoid Lupus keeps me from being in the sun and walking in 90 degree weather is a big no no. I also love fall because of Halloween. It will be our 3 year anniversary on Halloween. I'll go over all the details of our wedding on my anniversary.

Lucerne Foods - Eating Right Brand

Their blueberry muffins are so yummy!
Today I had one for breakfast with a low fat/low calorie breakfast shake. It was so good and I really felt satisfied. The muffins are 9 g fat and 230 calories. It seems a little high, so if anyone has any suggestions on some other muffins let me know.

So far I have liked most of this brand. I have tried a lot of the frozen meals, the potato crisps (cheddar, yum), and I have some of the chili that I am saving for a real cold night for dinner.

DESTROY THE WEB
(thought this was cool and I should share, have fun!)

Click here to vandalize a webpage


!Freebie!

Free 7-day Group X pass to 24 Hour Fitness

From their Website -

Try our group exercise classes for 7 days at no charge. Experience a blend of Water, Cardio, Core and Mind/Body group exercise classes.Restrictions apply.

I must break up with you toilet. We are just going around in circles. You are draining me of all energy, and my stomach is in knots. This for sure is getting old.
Well I don't think my 100 calorie granola bars are doing it to me or the strawberry preserves. I think I may have the stomach flu or a bacteria. The weird thing is I don't have a fever and I am not completely lethargic.

I am not a big doctor person so I won't be going there. I do have some antibiotics that I got from the dentist 2 months ago. I think I'll start taking those. I'll probably just take one or two. I never ever take my complete dose of medication. I have even slacked on all the medication for my Lupus.

I just don't want to run to the toilet every 1/2 hour. It has totally interrupted my curves schedule. I went once and 5 minutes in, well you know.

Ok enough potty talk.
________________________

I am going to participate in the
Look Great In 2008 Challenge
from
Tales From The Scales
You should to
Go here
Do it

I am really good at challenges, or so I think. I'm excited I get to participate from the beginning.


______________________

Looks like the word about the Snack clip is getting around! I can't wait for mine to come.

__________________

I am shopping for new sneakers for my trip to Vegas in October. Since I am only 5' 0" I really like platform sneakers so I think I will be getting these



I am a real casual dresser. I might bring one nice outfit to wear for dinner at the Venetian, but thats it. I like to be comfortable, jeans, t-shirt, tennis shoes.
I am extremely excited about vacation, and a little nervous. Flying, eating.
Our 3 year wedding anniversary is on October 31. So we are celebrating by going to Vegas.
My mom and dad are both going (they have been divorced since I was 2), my aunt is going, and I am bringing my daughter. My daughter is going to share my moms room so we can have a room to ourselves. I like bringing parents with me on vacation for 2 reasons

1) I get to bring my daughter and share the fun with her
2) When I want to go out with my husband for a night or during the day they don't mind spending some time with her

We are staying at Circus Circus (for Althea, my daughter, and myself)!
Leaving Monday October 15th and coming home on Friday the 19th.

I am soooo excited!
I need a vacation soooo bad.

I bet everyone says they do but I don't know if they really want it as much as I do.
Here let me explain why

I am an independent contractor. I do this so I can be home when Althea gets out of school. Plus Me + Conformity = depression and anger

I am a Paper Girl. Yup, and proud.
I deliver the paper 365 days a year.
No days off unless I pay someone I find myself to fill in for me.
I also help an elderly couple keep their house clean and stocked full of food 3 days a week.

I have a lot of free time. I get paid very well for the small amount of time I work. But I don't get days off

I NEED A VACATION!
_____________________

!Freebie!

Has anyone grab any or all of the freebies I have been posting? I request mine when I post them, so I will let you know when and if they come in the mail.
Probably 6-8 weeks from now. HaHa

Free Sample of Ensure

I breezed through my weekend challenge and did not cheat at all. I am very proud. I even had to resist a very big temptation. Saturday night was Fight Night and my husband has a bunch of guys over. Well they brought buffalo wings from the buffalo wing restaurant, French fries, and coleslaw (which I go weak for). I didn't eat a bite, and it smelled so good.

My mini goal of going to Curves on Saturday was not reached. : (
Thats ok. I am going to make it a goal again for this weekend, as well as keeping myself challenged and not cheating on the weekends. I did get to wash my car on Sunday. YaY! I am really anal when I wash my car and do a really good job. I calculated calories burned for an hour of car washing I burnt an estimated 438 calories for my weight. So I don't feel to bad about not going to Curves on Saturday.

Over the weekend I watched Blades of Glory, it was pretty funny. Tonight I am watching Disturbia and tomorrow I am watching Unaccompanied Minors.

WEIGHT IN

Most people on diets weigh themselves once a week and they call it weigh in. I also weigh myself once a week on Tuesday, naked, but I don't like to call it a weigh in. I don't like it because it sounds like, to me anyway, that I am some kinda whale or elephant being weighed in before I am let into my cage. Don't as me why. So I am going to call it Scale Time or Check In from now on.

Food Tracking

Ok well I noticed that I did need to cut some carbs and watch my calories more, which I started doing right away after I noticed I was going over.

Oh, I found something real cool. I was looking for something to take with me when I go to work to keep a snack in. I needed something small because I only work for three hours on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I just need something to carry a small snack in like apples or grapes, sliced fruit. So I found this....

It's so cute, has a clip, and an ice pack. Ummm perfect. Cheap to it was only $5.50
Great deal. If you want one you can get it at Green Feet. I picked the Princess one and bought one for me and my daughter.

Website

I'm still working on my website and I am going to have a bunch of current pictures of me on there. One day those are going to be my before pictures.

!Freebie!

Free sample of Curves Cereal from Walmart

This one probably won't last too long.
Walmart always has free samples of something so I'm just going to post the link to their free sample area with my links for free stuff.

Grrrrrrrrr.

This is probably the most frustrating part of trying to lose weight. Being stuck. This is also probably one of the main reasons why I have quit so many diets.
I Googled weight loss plateau and there are some basic ways to get your weight loss going again.

1) Keep a food diary
Ok, this is got to be one of the most annoying things. I don't eat on the run and I don't eat out at all during the week. BUT I just despise writing down everything and adding the calories and fat. It just sucks. Well I am going to try it again. I might be adding extra calories without even knowing it. So starting tomorrow I am going to calculate everything I eat. I will see if this is where my problem is.

2) Break up your meals
If you're eating three times a day, eat five. If you're already eating five times a day then start eating six or seven. I'm not ready to try this yet. The reason being is I still need to feel full when I am hungry and eating small portions throughout the day just won't cut it for me yet. I am so used to eating three meals I guess. If after I try this food diary thing my weight loss hasn't started back up again then I will give this a fair try.

3) Eat More
HA! The reason why I am in this predicament is because I eat too much. But if it turns out that I am taking in too less calories well then I would be happy to give this a try. HaHa. I don't think that is the way it will be turning out though. We will see. I know I am not eating less than 1200 calories a day.

4) Have some support
Bullshit. This is not going to break my weight loss halt. Yeah it might keep me from thinking about giving up, but in my case that is not an option anyway.

5) Watch your carbohydrate intake
Ok Ok. I can see this. I will defiantly work on reducing my carbs. This could just be the problem right here. You know I tried a low carb diet once. I even lost a good 30 pounds before my wedding. I don't might eating less carbs, but I will never go on another low carb diet again. I sure felt like crap all the time and I was so hungry.

Tomorrow I am going to eat like I normally do on this diet. I am going to track everything I eat. Then I will see how many carbs (and calories) I will need to cut from my diet. Then I will track everything for the next week with my new intake amount and see where it takes me.

6) Exercise
For Sure! I have joined curves in the last week and have been going about 3 times a week. I am going to work on getting that to 4 times a week. BUT then there are 3-4 days a week that I am not active at all. I must need to make a change here. One site recommends walking on your off days. This is something I will be working on.

7) Change your workout routine
Since I have just started working out I will save this one for a later plateau. But I will start adding walking in there. For now I will stick to the 30 minutes at curves. I'd like to give myself a full month of this (adding walking in of course) before I add something else to my routine or even change it up completely, maybe do curves for 2 days a week and then 2 days a week do some classes, the rest of the days walk. We will see.

8) Drink Water
This is something I know I have a hard time with. I am sure this isn't anything new. I seriously am trying. I think this might be something I need to track along with my food intake.


Ok so I hit a plateau. I have been at 215 for the past 3 weeks. I have done some cheating on the weekends as well. My challenge is going well by the way. So here is my general plan to see if I can get over this motivation killer.

Track All food and Water
Cut Carbohydrates and calories if needed
Add a fourth day to my workout week
Add walking to the remaining 3 days
Drink more water

You know, I already feel better. Kinda like I calmed myself down, took a step back and looked at what else I needed to change. I am realizing that I am going to need to make changes on a regular basis. Instead of giving up I am going to need to really analyze what I am doing and make a change to something that might not be working anymore.

Every time I tried a new diet or weight loss program all I heard was this isn't a DIET it's a LIFESTYLE CHANGE. Maybe it finally stuck in my brain. This is something that I really need to work at.

Here is another snack freebie.
(I'll be doing this on a regular basis and I'll have all the links in the sidebar as well)

This is from the Fiber35 Diet and this bar
• 10 grams of fiber
• 10 grams of protein
• Natural ingredients
• No added refined sugars
• No soy, gluten or GMOs
• No trans fats or cholesterol
• Certified kosher

Get your FitSmart Bar

My curves is like one store down from a donut shop. I thought about walking around the back of the shopping center to get to the curves but then I was halfway there and decided to turn back. No not because I wanted to get a donut. This shop leaves their doors open, they cook donuts all day long, and it smells so yummy when I walk past. Anyway. I walked back so I could pass the donut shop. I feel happy when I pass it and walk straight into Curves. It's like I defeated the evil donut shop and their hypnotizing smells. Donuts are good and I can seriously eat about 6 of them (or more). Thats sad when I think about it.

Which brings me to the amount of food I was eating before. He is a sample of when I would eat at a fast food place. I'll pick Taco Bell.

2 Bean Burritos with no Onions add Sour Cream
3 Crunchy Taco Supremes
1 Regular Nachos with 2 extra cheeses (3 total)
1 Cinnamon Twists (which I would dip in the cheese)
1 Nacho Cheese Gordita
2 Carmel Apple Empanada
1 Large Coke

Calories = 3220
What I eat in 2 days on my diet
Fat = 167
What I eat for 8 days on my diet
Saturated Fat = 50
Trans Fat = 19
Carbohydrates = 344
Sodium = 7710

HOLY SHIT I can eat all that. I am actually ashamed. It's disgusting.
So passing by that donut shop and not going in....It's a big deal for me!

For the past couple of weekends I have been "cheating". I do great all week and then I destroy my weeks progress. (my week, not my whole diet. It's very important to keep that in mind whenever I have a set back.) I end up not losing any weight that week. I'm lucky that I don't gain it back by the extensive amount of food I eat when I do "cheat".

This weekend I have decided to challenge myself. Join in if you have the same problem I do. The challenge is to stay on track all weekend long. For me this involves eating at home for every meal all weekend long. I also set a mini goal for myself. The Curves I go to is open on Saturday, so my goal is to do a workout session over the weekend instead of being a lazy ass all weekend long. I also plan on cleaning out my car, which is a disaster.

Virtually trade in your bad snack for a free Kashi Snack.
Kashi is having a Snack Drive to rid the world of 1 million bad snacks.
Click HERE for your free snack!
(I traded in my cupcake for one of their cookies)