2/1/08--Goals for February

Friday, February 01, 2008

Ok, here are my goals for February.

1. Exercise at least 5 times a week for 30 min.
2. Lose 8 pounds.
3. Stay within my calorie range.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

XHASTEDMOMOF2 2/7/2008 8:12PM

A while ago you left me some happy vibes on my blog about scanning slides and pictures and I have been meaning to get back to you and say Hi!! I’m glad I chose today because it gave me a chance to check out your goals for the month!! I love them!!! You go girl!!! You sound like you have a great plan to and you also have a great attitude. Such a winning combination can only lead to success!! Report Inappropriate Comment

GHFAN396 2/3/2008 8:11AM

I am so glad you posted your goals for Feb. I am here to cheer you on and you strive to reach your goals...by the way, feel free to kick my butt if I don't reach mine..LOL Hugs, kisses, and God's Blessings.. Laurie Report Inappropriate Comment

TRYINGHARD1948 2/3/2008 12:02AM

We're all on your side Wildcard, go for it. Report Inappropriate Comment

FROGSTYR 2/2/2008 1:23PM

I am so proud of you, buddy. You encourage and motivate me every single day. Report Inappropriate Comment

STARTSPARKING 2/2/2008 6:26AM

You've done so well so far, and I know you will continue to make wonderful progress. Keep up the great work! Report Inappropriate Comment

HANYSDIANA 2/2/2008 5:53AM

Your goals are very realistic and doable. Good luck on them! May you achieve them and more! Report Inappropriate Comment

I did it!!!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

I made it to 50 pounds lost!!! Where did it go??? I don't care, just as long as it is gone!!! WooHoo!!! I am so excited! I know that I have a long way to go yet, but I am going to let my ticker rest for 1 week. I want to see that I was successful, so that it will continue to motivate me to get to the next goal. During that time, I am going to continue to do what I have been doing to make progress, and I will change my ticker next week to my next goal of 173.

I am going to go out today and buy myself a new outfit that fits correctly to celebrate this milestone.

I also want to thank everybody who has touched my experience during this time, who has encouraged me to get to where I am. I appreciate all the help, laughs and encouragement that I have gotten. I think that the next 25 is going to be even harder, so I will need a lot of encouragement to keep it going!

Good luck to everyone who is trying to reach a goal! You can do it, all it takes is some time and determination to get to your goals!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

GHFAN396 2/3/2008 8:08AM

WTG! That is amazing! Keep up the great work~ I am so proud and inspired by you to reach my goals. Hugs ,kisses, and GOd's blessings.. Laurie Report Inappropriate Comment

STARTSPARKING 1/30/2008 8:01PM

How does it feel to be in "One-derland"? Oh, I am so excited for you! Losing 50 pounds is truly an amazing feat. I know it takes a lot of determination, diligence, and hard work. You are such an inspiration! I know you have what it takes to get to your final goal weight. You can definitely count on me for encouragement, just as all my SP friends have been so supportive of me! Report Inappropriate Comment

AMYIS200 1/30/2008 7:13PM

WOOHOO!!!!!!! 50 pounds gone FOREVER!!!! I hope you get a slinky cute outfit that makes your hubby drool!!! I'm SO proud of you!! And don't worry about the next 25 being hard....it'll be a piece of cake as long as we all stick together. I'll make sure you laugh off at least 5 pounds!! Report Inappropriate Comment

FROMLARD2HARD 1/30/2008 5:02PM

Holy cow!! 50 lbs!! That is tremendous. You have done an outstanding job. What an inspiration you are! :) Report Inappropriate Comment

M-SHELL 1/30/2008 1:13PM

Congrats!!!! 50lbs WOO HOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Incredible!!!!I'm so excited for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Report Inappropriate Comment

HANYSDIANA 1/30/2008 10:41AM

Congratulations!!!! I am so excited for you. This is amazing news! Go celebrate, girl! You owe it to yourself. I wish you all the best with your next goal. We will be here with you every step of the way. Way to go, princes!! Report Inappropriate Comment

Cooking Day

Monday, January 21, 2008

My friend and I were talking on night in December, looking at the ads in the newspaper, saw chicken breasts on sale for 69 cents a pound and decided that we were going to get together and do a day of cooking. I went to the grocery store and bought 40 pounds of chicken breast and 30 pounds of hamburger. My friend bought the rest of the ingredients for our day of cooking. I also had some pork left over from the yearly pig roast we do, so we used some of the pork from that as well.

Since we decided to do this right before the holidays, we picked Jan 19 to do the actual cooking. OMG what fun we had! It was so incredible! We enjoyed it so much that we have already decided to do it again. It took us 13.5 hours to make everything that we planned to make, and some things that we didn't plan on making, but had the ingredients, so we made them..

My day started at 9:30 am. I got up, put some of the chicken on to cook, and then started to do some cleaning. I had to clean up the kitchen, since my hubby didn't do his dishes from the night before, and the kids had the living room a mess. I also got some of the laundry done before my friend came down.

When my friend arrived, we put on some more chicken to cook, and started the hamburger. We made 2 of each of the following--taco pie, lasgna, chicken enchiladas, chicken packets, pork hash brown bake and birds nest pie. We also made chicken corn noodle soup, chicken pot pie, home made bbq sauce and 100 meatballs. We also pre-browned some of the hamburger, so that in a hurry, all we have to do it thaw and heat the hamburger for a quick meal. We also bagged some of the cooked chicken for a quick meal starter. We were able to make all of this for about $165. And we will be able to have quick meals for the next couple of weeks. All we have to do is thaw the dishes and bake them.

It was a lot of work, and a lot of fun too! Since this was the first time either of us had attempted anything on this scale, we did run short on a couple of items, so we improvised. But it was a learning experience, and we will be better prepared the next time we do this.

The only time that we sat down that day was when we stopped for dinner. We made nachos for dinner, they were yummy, but since we were both cooking all day (and not sampling) we really were not that hungry. Which we figured would happen, which is why we chose the dinner we did.

We kept up with the dishes all day, and when we were finished it only took about another .5 hour to clean the rest of the kitchen up. We finished about 2 am in the morning, then had a couple of drinks, and went to bed. It was a good day!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

STARTSPARKING 1/22/2008 6:22AM

Wow! What a fun and productive day with a friend! That was some cooking marathon you had with your friend! All those dishes you made sound absolutely divine. Now you and your friend don't have to worry about cooking for a couple of weeks. No need for fast food runs for the two of you! I hope you and your friend will share another special cooking marathon day soon. Your families are so lucky to benefit from so many yummy meals! :-) Report Inappropriate Comment

2007 What a Year!

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Looking back over 2007, here are some of the highlights of my year.

In January, we said goodbye to my hubby's grandmother. She had not been doing well for a couple of weeks, but she made it through the holidays, and we had enough time to be with her on the day that she passed away. It was a really sad day!

Our house was finished, and we moved back into it in May. What a great mother's day present!

In June, my car turned 10 years old, with 250,000 miles on it, and it is still running great! We took a vacation down to Rehobeth Beach.

In July, I found and joined SP!

In August, we took a trip, (in my car) out to Minn to visit friends of my husbands that he had not seen in over 10 years. On the way there and back, we were able to stop at a lot of different National Parks, and see some of the beautiful areas the United States have to offer.

In December, Christmas was great, the kids were so excited! It was a great day! I had dinner at my house for 14 people, and we just has a nice relaxing day.

For New Year's Eve, we went to downtown Hershey to watch them raise a Hershey Kiss. It was me, my daughter and my neighbor's son, my hubby stayed home with our son. The kids were a little bored, but the music was great, and the fireworks display was awesome.

I ended up losing 43.5 lbs for the year! Not quite what I thought that I would do, but I am extremely happy with what I did lose. I will continue going and I will get down to my goal weight in 2008!

All in all, it was a great year. There were of course some sad times, as we had several friends lose loved ones.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

STARTSPARKING 1/1/2008 3:45PM

Despite some sad moments, you did indeed have a terrific, successful year. Your house is finished, took a wonderful family trip, enjoyed memorable holidays, and made amazing progress toward your goal weight! I'm excited about the possibilites and potentials in 2008. Together we will continue to work hard and reach our goal weight this year! Report Inappropriate Comment

TURTLEKISSER71 1/1/2008 12:05PM

Sounds like a good year to me! I kept waiting for you to say your car died somewhere along the way. Your weight loss is awesome! Especially since it was less than 1/2 the year that you were on SP. Soon you'll be changing that ticker and moving into the home stretch! I'm so glad we're frinds! Love ya! Shannon Report Inappropriate Comment

11/17/07

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Tackling big challenges with small actions

This is a perfect illustration of tackling big challenges with small actions. It also shows the power of focus. There's a growing tendency for people to want to have it all. Not wanting to sacrifice anything, they run themselves straight into the ground--sometimes literally--only to end up frustrated, unhealthy, and tired, with nothing to show for it. What they don't realize is that you can have it all (or close to it). You just can't have it all right now. Does it feel like you're always busy, but you never seem to get anywhere? That's because when you try to do everything, you don't do anything well. Your child may force you to learn this lesson anyway. Instead of living your life all at once, try doing one thing at a time. Choose one goal and, through some small "things" every day, focus in on it until you've succeeded. During the day, put your full mind and efforts on one task at a time. You'll be much more productive (and calm) in the long run.

I liked this reflection as well. It is amazing at the amount of weight that I have lost in such a short amount of time by just making small changes over the last 4 months. And by making the small changes, it has been a lot easier to keep up and stick with this lifestyle change then it would have been trying to make all the changes at once.

I am a multitasker and always have been. So I know the days that I am focused on one activity, like cleaning, I get a lot more done, then when I am trying to do many things at one time. Every day I try to take 15 min and just concentrate on decluttering some part of my house. Depending on the task that I am working on, many times that 15 min turn into 30 min or more, but I get the job done a lot quicker then if I don't make myself take that initial 15 min.

So making smaller changes is a whole lot easier then trying to do it all at once! I need to take what I am learning in my quest for a healthier lifestyle, and program it into the way that I am living the rest of my life.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

AMYIS200 11/18/2007 3:24AM

I see you've met Flylady! Her philosophy that, "you can do anything for 15 minutes" has helped me crawl out of clutter, and gotten me through all sorts of unpleasant tasks! And now, I use the same philosophy for exercise, when I'm having an "unmotivated" moment! Your post reminded me of the best way to complete any task...just one step at a time. Thank you! Report Inappropriate Comment

STARTSPARKING 11/17/2007 2:47PM

That is such wise and practical advice! When we try to make major changes all at once, we end up getting overwhelmed. In the end, nothing gets accomplished. As a 50-pound overweight woman, it would have been too much for me to try increase my exercise from one exercise class per week to running 6 miles a day, replace nightly junk food binges to rice cakes snacks, and 4 glasses of water intake to 10 per day on the very first day that I decided to make healthier changes in my life. I had to slowly add the frequency and variety of exercise, wean off junk food, and increase water intake one cup at a time over the course of a few weeks. Now I am exercising everyday, budget in small calculated indulgences of chips, and drink 8 to 10 cups of water everyday. I did not make all the changes overnight. It took months to work up to my current status. Congratulations on your amazing progress in the last four months. Your small changes have added up to good permanent healthy habits! You are doing so well. I also need to apply the same philosophy to other areas of my life. I should also try it on housekeeping as well! :-) Thank you for a great post! Report Inappropriate Comment