Let's Try This Again!

I can't believe it's been over a year since I posted last. My life has been rather hectic, but I think that MAYBE I can get into a writing routine again. I do have one routine that I've almost nailed. At the beginning of 2012 I started going to the gym again. This time I'm taking classes. On a good week, I go to Zumba on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. I LOVE Zumba! I've always liked dancing and Zumba is a great way to get a good cardio workout. Here are a couple of pics of me ready to go to Zumba on March 27.

I'm liking the results I'm getting, too. I've lost a little over 10 pounds since the beginning of the year. I'm also noticing that my clothes are fitting better. (You gotta love it when body parts start getting back into the right shape!)

In a couple of weeks I'm going to start seeing a personal trainer at the gym. I had a "test drive" on Wednesday and I liked the trainer I visited with. He was telling me what we could do to help me reach my goal of losing 60 more pounds. It will be good for me to have a pro guiding me in the right direction.

Weekly weigh-ins at work are still on Wednesdays. We are also doing a "Biggest Loser" type deal at work as part of our wellness program. Our final weigh-in for that is on April 16. I've lost 10.3 pounds since January 16. That's almost 5%. I'm hoping to lose at least 3 or 4 more pounds by the final weigh-in. I've been in a "friendly" competition with our benefits specialist during this time. He's an evil, evil man. We have monthly luncheons for our company's charitable organization and he LOVES to bring decadent desserts. He does it on purpose! The other competitors in our "Biggest Loser" group and I got together to get back at him. His favorite candy is Heath. We got together and bought a couple of bags of the fun size ones and hid them all over his office. We also sent them to him through the inter-office mail. He found most of them right away and distributed them amongst us. Every now and then he still finds them in some little nook he didn't check before. I wonder how many he actually ate.... LOL

Surprising Weight Loss

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I LOST weight during my recovery!  When I got on the scales at the doctor's office I couldn't believe my eyes... they read 201.0!  Wow!  I was amazed!  I was sure I was going to be disappointed about my weight.  After thinking about it, I'm guessing the best thing that happened to my waist was that I was away from the stresses of my job and all the goodies that everyone brings!  Christmas is the absolute worst time of year for anyone who is trying to lose weight!  Especially when you work where I do. During the entire month of December, people bring in cookies, candy, pies and cakes to share with everyone.  I usually eat whatever everyone brings.  No self control!  I know being at home and away from all the junk really saved my this year.  I'm glad I was home during most of the holiday season.  I had a few baked goodies from my mom, but not as much as I usually have.  I'm glad that the holidays are over and there won't be so many temptations to lure me away from my goals when I go back to work on Monday.  :-)

I think I did pretty well on my grocery shopping yesterday.  I spent a total of $82.11.  The best part about that is I got enough meat to last us nearly 2 weeks and still bought dishwasher detergent and aluminum foil.  I was even able to buy enough salad fixings to get me through my first week back to work.  Not bad for only spending $82!  I'm learning that buying everything at Wal-Mart isn't always the cheapest way to go.  Albertson's had a really good sale this week.  Pork chops and ground turkey for $1/lb!  That's how I was able to get 2 weeks worth of meat for so little money.

The doctor released me yesterday, but told me not to do any strenuous abdominal exercises for another month.  He told me I could jog, though.  Hubby and I are supposed to start either walking/running or going to the gym in the mornings before work starting Monday.  The weather will determine whether we go to the gym or walk/run.  Bring it on!  I'm ready to get into shape and start feeling good about myself.



Photo courtesy of Otis Historical Archives National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Let's Get This Party Started!

Tomorrow I go back to the doctor for my final check up from my surgery.  Since things have been going well and I haven't had any complications, I expect a full release from the doctor.  Of course that means going back to work, but more importantly, that means getting busy with my exercising and weight loss.  It's been kind of fun not having to go to work for the last six weeks, but I miss my buds!  I have such an awesome support group in the girls (and guys) I work with.  I don't look forward to the work, but I look forward to being amongst my friends again.  :-)

That being said, someone PLEASE kick me in the @$$ for not watching what I was eating while I was sitting on the couch recovering from my surgery!  I'm afraid to step on the scales at the doctor's office tomorrow.  I know I'm not going to like what they say.  I just hope it's not, "One person at a time, please!"  That is not cool!  I'll be getting back to the gym for sure after my release.

I'm also going to the grocery store tomorrow to get some food!  I've been on a really tight budget for the last two weeks.  Tomorrow I'll be able to buy what I need to eat right and take my lunch to work to stay on track.  Hopefully I'll save a lot of money while I'm at it.  I've been clipping coupons and checking the sales to see where I need to go to get what I need at the best price.  I'm so glad that I have 3 grocery stores and a Wal-Mart within 2 miles of my house.  It makes it so much easier to do my shopping.  Especially if I have to go to more than 1 store to do it.

Speaking of grocery shopping, I need to get my plan together for tomorrow.  I've got to find my relevant coupons and plan my trip.  I'll try to post tomorrow to let you know how I did and what the scales at the doctor's office said.  So.... let's get this party started!

My New Year's Resolutions

I've been racking my brains trying to figure out what my New Year's Resolution should be. (Yes, I realize it's the 6th!  I'm slow! :-P)  I know I need to lose weight.  What I need is a plan to make that happen.  My husband and I are going to start running once the doctor releases me.  We'll also be hitting the gym to build some strength. My goal is to get down to 140 lbs or a size 10 by the end of the year.  Since I won't know how much I weigh until I go back to the doctor on the 21st, I don't know how many pounds I'll need to lose to get there, but it should be somewhere around 60 to 70 pounds. I'll definitely have to get back to eating healthier... since my surgery, I've been a terrible slacker.  :-(   I'm actually a bit afraid of what the scale will say.  I think I'll go back to the way I was eating before my surgery.  I lost about 7 lbs in a month.  That's not bad.  If I lose 7 lbs. every month, that's 84 lbs... that would be awesome!  That's it!  That's the plan!  Eat like I was eating before my surgery (OLD Weight Watchers plan from the 90's), walk/run with hubby, and hit the gym a few times a week.  I'll also join the January Go The Distance over on Robby's site.  I'm already doing some walking.  Hubby and I walked 8/10 of a mile this afternoon.  Not very far, but I have to start somewhere.  :-)

Another goal I've been thinking about is saving money.  That's a little tougher than losing weight, I'm afraid.  I've been researching "couponing".  I saw the show "Extreme Couponers" earlier this week and thought, "I'd like to buy $600.00 worth of groceries and personal care products for $2.00!"  I bought my 2 Sunday papers and have been diligently clipping the coupons... we'll see if I can get the savings I'm looking for.  No matter how much I save, it'll be better than not saving anything... every penny counts!

My last goal for this year is to blog more.  In addition to this blog, I have a genealogy blog that has been terribly neglected.  This is as good a time as any to get back into my family history and blogging.

Happy New Year everyone!  I'm off to clip some more coupons and then go to bed.

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.