Missing Loved Ones

Today was a busy day. As I came on here to add my foods and check messages on facebook, My best friends brother posted something, that set me back to think. You see my best friend died almost 2 years ago. I think about her every single day. We were friends for over 20 years. 2 months later, my mom's fiance, my stepfather passed away after a very short 5 month battle with Cancer, a day short of their wedding day. I sit here thinking about them all day everyday. Wondering why? And what life would be like if they were still here. I know Jen would be holding my hand through all of this and Les would be making my mom smile everyday with his silliness and humor. So today, this blog has nothing to do with me, or my weight loss, but everything to do with Jen, who left behind 3 beautiful children, and one goddaughter (my daughter)not to mention countless friends and family, She has a piece of my heart everyday. And to Les, who was a father to me and my mom's best friend. It hurts me so much that my children will only remember him in pictures, as they were too young to remember him in life. He had the best spirit about him. God always takes the best, and he didn't fail in this case. So, in memory of Les and Jen ~

Thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday, and days before that too. I think of you in silence, I often speak your name. All I have are memories and a picture in a frame. Your memory is a keepsake, with which I'll never part. God has you in His keeping, I have you in my heart. Repost if you have a loved one in Heaven~I Love you and miss you Jen! 4/4/08 & Les 06/12/08

Week 4 ~ DONE!!!

*Whew* I haven't looked ahead yet to see what week 5 hold for me, and I'am not yet sure that I will. I'd rather be told when it comes, then have to stress over it for days! Today's wasn't to bad, but still rough. That 5 min. kills me, so does that 2nd 3 min. ugh. My feet have been sore which doesn't help much either. Oh well. I am so glad that I am starting week 5 - that means that I've made it over the 1/2 way mark and my odds of quitting in my head are less then 50%!! I KNOW I will do this thing. After all i didn't throw $20 away for a 5K for nothing!!

Tomorrow is my weigh in morning. Looking VERY forward to it. Really hoping to lose that 1.5 lbs that I said I would in the MaryMack challenge!! Fingers are crossed. I think I might head to bed and sleep over some more fat LOL

Hey - anyone ever go into a sauna?? I've never. Please tell me what the exact purpose/benefits of one is. What do you wear? How long do you stay in?? Help??!!

Night my friends!

MaryMacker ~ We ain't slackers Challenge

So - I've joined a challenge created by a couple of girls on Sparkpeople. Mary and Mack (Mackenzie) have each lost a ton of weight (between 60-90 lbs each)and have found an amazing friendship via sparkpeople. They actually ended up living in the same town and have become very great friends. they work out together and coach/ support each other etc. Mack is getting married on June 12th and Mary is obviously standing up in the wedding. They each would like to lose an additional 18 lbs before that time (15 weeks) which averages 1.2 lbs per week. They then opened up the challenge up to everyone! So today I joined. Since i have alot more weight to lose then most people, I upped my weekly loss to 1.5, which is a push, since some weeks I tend to lose nothing, but other weeks it's 2-3 lbs. So we'll see and hope that in the end it evens itself out! So in the end of this challenge, my total loss would be a whopping 22.5 lbs! Bring it on!

SO here are numbers - and I will update this post as I weigh in weekly as well as my regular weigh in on the right sidebar. I really want to do it here because I can compare it to the weight I SHOULD be during the challenge weeks. Here we go!

SW – 254.6 GW 232.1 - I am using my starting weight from my 02/27 weigh in

03/05 GW = 253.1 WI:252.8
03/12 GW = 251.6 WI:252.4
03/19 GW = 250.1 WI:250.2
03/26 GW = 248.6 WI:
04/02 GW = 247.1 WI:
04/09 GW = 245.6 WI:
04/16 GW = 244.1 WI:
04/23 GW = 242.6 WI:
04/30 GW = 241.1 WI:
05/07 GW = 239.6 WI: (this would be 10% less then my original starting weight!!)
05/14 GW = 238.1 WI:
05/21 GW = 236.6 WI:
05/28 GW = 235.1 WI:
06/04 GW = 233.6 WI:
06/11 GW = 232.1 WI:

Finally did Measurements!

So now that I finally got that dreaded tape measure I had to get the measurements done. Not sure how accurate they were, since i did them by myself, but we'll see as we go along. keep in mind I've already lost 10.5 lbs and some inches I am sure. So here goes nothing!

Upper Arm - 16
Thigh 25
Chest (above breasts) 45.5
Abs 49
Waist (at belly button) 53 (ewwww!!)
Hips 56
neck 15.5
Breast- 53 SO there we go ladies.

The ugly of it all. *sigh* hope to never see those again. I am currently a size 24 - a comfortable size 24, some a bit big, but not big enough to go down to a 22 yet. those are WAYYYY tight LOL When I began I was A TIGHT 24, most pants I couldn't even button. so proof that SOME inches have been lost to date. I also finished Week 4 Day 2 of the C25k today. Of course it kicked my butt. But I wouldn't expect anything less. Tomorrow is Zumba - Friday is Day 3. Chugging along......

5K here I come!

Today I got the confidence to fill out, and mail my registratioin form to run my first ever race! I am SO proud of this accomplishment, I can't wait until I can really do it! The race is on Saturday April 17th at 11am, that gives me 6 more weeks to finsih the C25K program, and I really am supposed to only have 5 weeks left. So this gives me an extra week to play with if I either fall behind or start to struggle. Tonight is day 2 of week 4 - So I am hoping it's a bit easier then Monday. Time will tell. I also plan on running a second 5K on May 15th, but I have yet to resgister for that one. I want to make sure I can do this first!

So 6 week and counting, maybe I'll put a ticker up there for a countdown??!! Good idea!

Moving onto the next week

So here we are at week 4 Day 1 of the C25K which I did last night. I can't believe that I am 4 weeks into this already, man how time flies. 5 more weeks and I should be ready to run a 5K, I use that term loosely in case i am not ready, but we'll see! So week 4 entails 1 90 sec. run (2) 3 min. runs and (2) 5 minute runs. Whew! I burned 344 calories in this 32 minutes! I had the hardest time with the 2nd 3 min run actually, which was odd to me. And the last 5 min, I really had to push. I turned down the speed at one point, then ended up upping it again, since it's easier to run fast then too slow for me. those last 60 sec. I pushed HARD and ran a 4.9! I have some a-m-a-z-i-n-g support from my spark people buds and we really push each other. There are 3 of us in the same week and we are always checking on one another, so it's nice to know people do care!! All in all though, I really could NOT have done this 5 min. run if it wasn't for my new sneakers! What a HUGE difference they make in a workout, holy cow!

Here are a couple things I've accomplished since I began on Jan. 22nd. So this is my 6th week in this.

I haven't had ANY iced Cappuccino in 6 weeks - I used to stop daily Monday to Friday for over a year!
I haven't had ANY pop in 6 weeks
I now drink 9+ glasses of ONLY water per day! (to my benefit,I've always been a mostly water drinker anyway, with only 2 cans of pop/day)
I eat a TON of bananas, oranges, apples, pears, asparagus, broccoli, mixed veggies etc.
I am tracking ALL of my foods/nutrition on spark people.
I've lost 10.4 lbs in 6 weeks - and rewarded myself with new sneakers!
I work out faithfully 5-6 days per week
I took my first boxing class on Sunday and Liked it!
I started taking Zumba and LIKE it! I now take 2 classes of it per week!
I know I've lost inches, but never measured in the beginning, I know need to do some to track!
I started the C25K training program and have successfully completed Weeks 1, 2 & 3, currently on Week 4, doing day 2 tomorrow!

My new goal is lose 9.6 more lbs by April 1st, to have a total loss of 20 lbs in 10 weeks! I hope I can meet this goal!!

I also have to say how thankful I am to my hubby, who is very supportive to me during this. He stays home almost everyday with the kids so I can go to the gym. I typicality leave at 7 - 7:30pm and don't get home until around 9:30 or 10:00. He gets the kids ready for bed and in bed, so I can feel better about who I am. Last night, he not only took care and got the kids in bed, but painted the bathroom for me too! I can't express how lucky I am to have him. I am SURE I don't tell him enough or show him how much I appreciate his support, but I do. If not for him, I couldn't work my ass off every night to a new life! Thanks Mike, I LOVE YOU!

My new sneakers!

Worth every $110 that I paid for them!