Another Successful Weigh-In!

I'm stoked that I lost another 1.2 lbs!  I now weigh 211.2.  Eating a healthier diet is helping a lot.  I had another pretty good day food wise today.  Here's what I ate.  Breakfast:  2 slices of wheat toast, 1 medium apple, and 1 large banana.  Lunch was a large salad of Romaine lettuce, baby carrots, and a tomato topped with fat free Italian dressing.  (I did have a few pieces of candy corn and a 16oz Dr. Pepper for a snack... bad me!)  Dinner:  1 medium pork chop simmered in cream of mushroom soup, and 2 cups of rice.  I went overboard on the rice, but I have learned from past experience not to leave myself hungry when I eat a meal.  Eating filling foods helps curb cravings and snacking on junk food.

Gary and I went to the gym last night.  It was our third visit.  We used the exercise bikes for the cardio portion of our work out.  It was much more enjoyable than the treadmill.  We were on the bikes for a little over 15 minutes, and I got my heart rate up to the 150's pretty quickly.  My average heart rate was 146.  Monday, when we walked on the treadmill, I only got my heart rate up in the 140's and my average heart rate was 136.  We also used some of the weight machines.  We did leg extensions, leg curls, and the lat pull down.  All-in-all we worked out pretty hard.  I was surprised that I could do leg extensions with 60 lbs.  I don't think I've ever gone that heavy with the weights before.  On the leg curls I got up to 90 lbs and could still do about 15 reps.  I'm going to try to do 100 lbs. when we go back tomorrow.  My upper body needs a lot of work.  I think I did 40 lbs on the lat pull down.  I was pretty proud of myself for what I did.  Tomorrow I plan to do more weight machines.  I'm working myself up to doing all of them eventually.

I'm sure it seems like I'm taking very small steps, but I know that a person as out of shape as I am has to work his/her way up the fitness ladder.  I will continue to progress and get in better shape as I go.  I can't wait to start taking yoga classes, but I want to lose about 20 lbs. first.  I think it would be hard for me to get myself into the poses at my weight.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Weigh In Day

I had my first official weigh in day of 2010 on Wednesday.  I weighed 212.4!!!!!  I lost 3.8 lbs in a week!  It's been a long time since I lost that much in one week.  I was very happy with myself.  :-)  Now I have to keep going.  I don't want to get back into the cycle of losing and gaining the same 10 lbs.

I've been pretty good at not eating too much that's fattening this week.  I've been having fruit and toast for breakfast, and salad for lunch.  Dinner has been a little more substantial.  We had baked chicken 2 nights this week, Subway one night, and sandwiches last night and tonight.  Our biggest problem is we haven't made menus or planned out our meals before we went to the grocery store.  I don't know about y'all, but I HATE going grocery shopping.  It's annoying to me to have to go back to the store to get something in order to finish cooking a meal.  We didn't plan really well for the entire week, so we ended up running out of the things we needed to cook proper meals.  The first goal for this week is to plan our meals and make a shopping list.

Gary and I have only been to the gym once this week.  :-(  We still haven't figured out a routine to get us on the right track.  I know, that's a lame excuse.  We're just going to have to put on our big kid britches and go!  We'll get that worked out.  I'm looking forward to getting into better shape.  The second goal for this week is to get to the gym more than once.

Over all I think my first week on my journey has gone well.  I'll keep working on those goals and get better habits as I go.  I know I can do it this time.  I'm determined.

Our First Trip to the Gym

Gary and I went to the gym last night.  We didn't want to push it too hard, so we just did some cardio.  I did about 2 minutes on the elliptical machine and 30 minutes on the treadmill.  I can't believe how out of shape I am! I felt really light headed and out of breath when I was finished.  I gulped down some water to try to recover.  My legs felt like Jell-O.  That tells me I have to keep going and get into shape.

I weighed myself at the gym.  According to their scale, I weigh 213.7 lbs.  That's less than the 216.2 I weighed on Wednesday at work.  My official weigh-in will be on Wednesdays.  We weigh at the same time every Wednesday and that is a better indicator of my weight loss than weighing at different times of day at the gym.

I had a pretty good day as far as what I ate.  For breakfast I had an apple and a banana.  I had a salad for lunch with fat free Italian dressing.  I had a turtle and a couple of cookies at break time for a snack. (Oops!) Dinner was a turkey and ham on honey oat bread from Subway.  I actually got 48 oz. water in through the day also.  :-)  That's a lot better than my typical 2 or 3 20 oz. Dr. Peppers.  I still need to get some milk in my diet somewhere.  Yesterday I had a smoothie for breakfast.  I got up too late this morning to do that.

The Journey Begins... Again

I know it's cliche to start a health and fitness program on the New Year, but there's no better time than now to get busy getting healthy.  My husband Gary and I are both overweight and out of shape.  I'm on my way to a heart attack or diabetes if I don't do something about my weight and sedentary lifestyle.  I've been losing and gaining the same 10 lbs. for the last three years.  Some of us at work weigh every Wednesday.  We each pay $4 a month and whoever loses the largest percentage of their weight wins the money.  I've never won the money.  We've been doing this since September 2006!  I weigh virtually the same as I did when we first started!  I've got to get serious!  I don't want to weigh 216 lbs. any more.  I've got 2 beautiful grandbabies I want to see grow up!

This is me.  Gary and I took pictures of each other yesterday to document our appearance.  I not only need to work on my weight and shape, but my rosacea is horrible, too.  A healthier diet will take care of some of it.  I have to totally cut out the caffeine, too.  That's my biggest weakness.  I LOVE Dr. Pepper!  No more!  I know I should be drinking water, I just don't.

We also took our measurements yesterday.  Boy that was an eye-opener!  Here are mine:  Neck: 15", Chest: 45", Waist: 41", Hips: 50", Thighs: 28 1/2".  The only good thing about these measurements is that my waist is smaller than my hips!  No more!  I have a picture of me when I was in college.  I want to look like that again.

My first step toward my goal was to join 24HR Fitness.  Gary and I went there yesterday and took a tour.  It was better than other gyms we've used.  I liked the pool area.  It looked cleaner than others I've seen.  Tomorrow, Gary and I are going to the gym to work out for the first time in quite a while.  I'm looking forward to getting started.  There are yoga classes I want to take on Tuesdays.

I better get some sleep now.  Got to get my rest.