Slimming down

I've moved.....

2010-01-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

My new blog location is here and not only have I moved but I combined this blog with my main blog because really it was too fricking had to keep up with that one let alone this one too!

2009-07-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

weight today is 261.0 lbs. typed that backwards to read 216.0 at first - man i wish it was that! anyone watch the biggest loser this past season? i did - mainly because there were a ton of people who were local. you see i live in michigan and not only that but i live just outside the town that ron and mike live in. my kids go to school in that town. ron is actually a sub bus driver and has driven some of the kids to our school. which of course sends us moms and kids who watch the show flocking to the bus stop when we see him. :) we recently went to better health on a trip for food and it just so happened tobe a day that they were there talking to people. my girls were so excited. my youngest B even thinks she spotted mike at a local grocery store after that day......but we weren't certain it was him so we left him alone.

over the course of watching this season i picked up the biggest loser family cookbook. we love it! being a family of 5 we need recipes that are budget friendly and that is what this cookbook is filled with. no to metion most of the things my girls will eat.....and me too. and it seems that by using these meals i am maintaining my weight so the flux isn't so much as it was before. i also am reading master your metabolism by jillian michaels - holy crap the things that your hormones control and make your body do when out of whack! i've been motivated to make sure i eat breakfast and am snacking at least twice a day on healthy food items and not something overly processed. now does this mean that all the sweets and cookies are gone from my house..... no but i am eating them in moderation instead of inhaling half the package in one sitting.

exercise - is still my enemy. i haven't found a good time to be consistent with to actually go to jazzercise. plus with the time changes in the school schedule this year i need to find out how my work hours will be affected to see if i can make a morning session or not. so its down to the wii fit and the numerous exercise videos/dvds around my house. but i'm working on it and cleaning the living room so there is space for me to work out in. darn tiny house!

Bleh

2009-05-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

ugh weigh in this morning was 258.2 lbs. it keeps bouncing up and under the 260 mark and driving me nuts of course. i am mad at myself for letting it get back up this high again. and i know that i am the one who needs to change and do the work to get it off. the stress level on this and other things right now it through the roof and no end in sight. trying to figure out how involved i will be next year with the kids school. if i will continue to work there or get a full time job - if i can find a full time job. then what to do with the kids? j will be going into 5th grade next year but not really old enough (or so i think) to be staying home with her younger sisters until i come home. then that means extra bill of childcare. ugh see the stress?!?!

i have been buying weight watchers meals and snacks to eat, keeping track of my food and water intake in a journal, and just trying to think about what i am doing. i need to find the right time to exercise and probably should just get off my butt in the morning and do one of the many exercise videos i have sitting around here. or hell even get out of the house and walk some.

Weigh in

2009-02-22T04:55:00.000-08:00

252.something lbs. on Friday. I can't remember exactly what it was. I had a night out with the girls that night and couldn't be bothered (read drank more than I wanted to thanks to friends) to weigh myself on Saturday morning again. It was a fun night out of course and more details are on my main blog (link on the side). But highlights - cute waiter at dinner, a friend who kept putting her foot in her mouth - not literally, a live band and superman. ;)

Have a great week!

Weigh in

2009-02-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

A week ago weigh in was 252.0 lbs. - lost of fast food and eating out that week. Too much running around and not enough exercise and not to mention TOM and stress.

This past Friday (well Saturday really) weigh in was 249.6 lbs. And I got to a Jazzercise class - I went to a Lite one like I wanted to and it kicked my butt. And then I didn't have a chance to get back yet. This week the kids are off school so I can go anytime during the day that there is the clubhouse open and I think I am going to try to make it to the other Lite classes offered. Because even though it kicked my butt and I got lost a few times it was fun and I enjoyed it. The butt kicking was a good thing - really!

Weigh in

2009-02-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Because I forgot (silly me!) I weighed in on 1/24 at 249.6 lbs. Or maybe it was 249.4 lbs - can't remember exactly for sure right now but it was one of those two! :)

On Friday (1/30) I weighed in at 249.0 lbs. YAY! Slowly going down but it's moving. I started working at Jazzercise but not yet working out there. I wanted to try the Lite class first but I missed getting out on time that day. The only time that calss is offered during the week I am working at my other job and can't make it there. :( So I can either try a regular class and most likely keel over afterwards or wait until next Saturday and try to get to the Lite class on time.

Bleh

2009-01-23T20:49:00.001-08:00

I slept in super long this morning (almost to noon!) and of course just about an hour ago remembered that it was my weigh in day. >.< *sigh* I will weigh in tomorrow....I promise as long as I remember to do so before grocery shopping. My brain is on vacation because it Girl Scout cookie time and I am of course cookie mom for one of my girls troops.

Weigh in....

2009-01-16T17:19:00.001-08:00

I had a dr appt this morning and since this was the day I started weighing in on a while ago I thought I'd post the 'official' weight. It was 251.4 lbs - with shoes on. But I have a plan. One of the ladies that I work with at our church owns a local Jazzercise and has invited me out many times to try a class. Well she was in need of a daycare worker for one class and called me. This give me a discount on my membership and with turnaround being what it is there is the potential that I can get another class time. Having another class time will get me a free membership. So of course I jumped on the opportunity. The only problem is the time she needs me is the same time I would be working at the school. However it is the day we don't have the kndergarten classes so we usually have an extra person and get done early. I still have to talk to the principal about it to see what she would like me to do and if I'd need to have my shift covered that say or not. But of course today we had no school! I seriously thought we'd be there sicne we have in the past but I guess with it being -25 F they must have thought it was better to keep the kids home. I just hope that no one walked to our bus stop this morning because they didn't know school was canceled.

But I am looking forward to working with the kids and getting into Jazzercise. one of my daughter's friends mom is a instructor there as well and the friend said I should join her class. :) Well I just might now. I also bought 10 minute solutions - dance it off & tone it up from my local Sam's club a week ago. I like dancing so why not use it as my way to lose weight right? i figure that and jazzercise and I should be good.

Weigh in

2009-01-13T06:15:00.000-08:00

I know its a few days late but I was thrown off over break as to what day was what by the end of last week. I thought Friday was Saturday.....

So weighed in yesterday at 250.3 lbs. I don't know if I am up because of TOM or from eating. Most likely both. *sigh* I am getting back into exercising I have to. I was actually doing worship team for the kids this past Sunday and ended up doing both services like I used to - it KILLED me after I was all done I just wanted to sleep. Not to mention I was out of breath and wanted to die of thirst. I would love to get back on my Wii Fit but my living room has no room in here right now. I have to clean which I hate and today is my oldest girls birthday so I am baking. ARGH! Frustration and stress are good friends of mine right now. Ok not friends so much but they are living with me. ;)

Gotta get back to getting stuff ready for the b-day girl. Have a great day!

New Year and same stuff

2009-01-03T08:13:00.000-08:00

Well it's the 3rd of 2009 already and I am way off the 2008 wagon. *SIGH* I weighed in yesterday at 246.7 lbs. Can't remember right now where I started last year at but I think this is less. As far as I am concerned that is an accomplishment - even if it's not too much.

Will be working on this goal as I am totally unhealthy and right now it sucks. So eating better and exercising in my future.

Hope everyone is having a great year so far!

Not that I'm neglecting this........

2008-12-15T17:14:00.000-08:00

But it seems that I am.......and not on purpose either really I'm not......I just don't seem to be able to maintain two blogs constantly like I had been before. And for some reason this silly thing wants to put everything into bold for me even though I keep shutting it off. Oh well I'll edit at the end now.

Um lets see well the holidays are not my friend right now. Neither are cookies. And of course I had a cookie exchange I was invited to and then made cookies for that and the one we do for the teachers. Well since I had a hair emergency (not me but my daughter) I didn't get them all frosted and only took in 5 of the umpteen dozen cookies my sil made for the teacher party. UGH and of course hubby insisted on frosting them the other day.

Bottom line - weigh in the other morning was 254.2 lbs. Yup its all back and brough some friends. Oh and whats this New Years resolution time is coming around yet again. Don't think mine will change except the amount to lose but hey nothing new there at all. Right?

So whats been going on to get me back up there other than the food being here? Nothing really - quite literally nothing other than Guitar Hero III (see here for why). The hubster has gotten me addicted to this darn game. But also at this time there really is no room in my living room to try to get on the Wii Fit and do any exercising. I'm not really sure how it happened other than Hubby's grandma has been getting clothes for the girls from where she works (a caring center - kinda like salvations army/goodwill type of store) and we have gotten about 20 bags and boxes of clothing that have to be washed and stored somewhere in our little house. Which has displaced some of my stuff that was in other areas. Which means that my computer desk is surrounded and I only have a small path out. Why not clean? Well I am not a celaner but I did straighten up some today because I needed to find my sub list for work. Had a kid home sick today and tomorrow as well since she can't seem to keep much down for longer than about 5 hours at a time. Plus there has been Christmas knitting and other knitting and shopping......and these are excuses. I was lazy and depressed and didn't want to do anything other than knit or read and eat cookies so that was what I was doing. As well as GH3 with the hubby. I just don't know what to do anymore. I can't afford to buy my own products from Herbalife and I am not selling to any one to up my dicsount. Which seems to be my lot with home based businesses - I go strong for a few years and then end up slowing down before quitting. I have the materials to do Weight Watchers thanks to my mom making copies of hers. But again no money to go to the meetings.

So this is what I am going to do because I need to get it done. I am going to set up menus according to the WW's stuff I have and buy groceries based on that. The kids will hate me because they hate trying new stuff but I am not making 4 seperate meals because they want to be picky, etc. I will get up in the morning and get the kids moving. Then instead of sitting on my butt at the computer I will get on the Wii then and get 20 - 30 minutes done on the Wii Fit. I will only play GH3 IF I have done my Wii Fit for that day. I will only buy more yarn, books, whatever WHEN I have lost 10 lbs.

We'll see how well tha goes for the next few weeks before New Years and I'll set that all as my resolution right now to continue it next year. Hope everyone has a Happy Holidays and may your journeys not be a pothole ridden as mine is at the moment. :)

Meh

2008-11-16T14:20:00.000-08:00

Most recent weight was 248.2 lbs this morning. I was 247.2 lbs the day after I came back from Amy's wedding. Which was a blast btw! Oh and the dress - remember how I tried on the 20 in the store and it was lose and the 18 was just right. And how the sales girl said to remember that most likely it would be snugger than the in store ones? Yeah nope. The 20 fit like it did in store. Which in a way is good because then Amy can keep it to wear for a function that she needed a dress for as that one fit her just right. Hehe funny story there! I had to ship the dress to her store and order over the phone because my store said it would be in the day before. It got there about beginning of October roughly. Since Amy and I are the same size she tried it on and it fit her and was a little snug. So I thought ok it should be fine on me right. Well she put it on but needed help getting zipped up nad asked her now hubby. His response "uh why are you wearing Jenni's dress?" We all LOL'd at that. So anyways if I had gotten the smaller size she wouldn't be able to wear it and I'd have had to try and get it home. And I only had to watch out so I wasn't showing off the top of my bra just a little during the wedding. :)

Drive by weight

2008-10-23T04:45:00.001-07:00

249.8 lbs this morning. I've been walking some more than normal because of the fundraiser and needing someone out on the back corner of the track. We trade off and on and send those new people out as often as we can. Cuz we are evil like that and I can't fit into any long johns to keep me as warm as some. Ok gotta get the kids ready or they will be late AGAIN just like yesterday.

Meh

2008-10-16T16:42:00.001-07:00

Diet and diet related blogging is down due to mental strain at the moment. I will return......hopefully with some sanity left shortly after the kids school fundraiser is over. Why is this mental strain on me you ask? Oh because 3 years ago I was stupid enough to volunteer myself to be the PTO fundraising chairperson. >.< Yeah and I've done such a great job (up until now I think.....) that no one has wanted to take the position from me.

We do a lap-a-thon at the school because we have a half mile track that goes around the playground. No I will not be walking except maybe with 4 classes total. We get to stand at the door and punch the kids cards to keep track of laps. So my biggest brain fart on this whole thing is that I now work during lunch time at the school as well.........when the HECK am I going to eat lunch next week???? Because of course I am there everyday to cover all the shifts except those that I am working in the lunch room during.

Now back to curling up with my mind numbing book because I can't think to do anything else right now.....

Hmmmmm

2008-10-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

The oreo's are calling my name......but I've been good so far today. I have the apple that I should eat sitting right next to me but it doesn't appeal to me right now. My brain is rationalizing "if I clean out the litter boxes then a few cookies won't hurt but would be a reward......" But would they really or would I do what I think will happen and just keep eating them? I don't seem to have much willpower today. I just want to lay around and enjoy this lovely fall weather we are having. But to truely enjoy it that means I have to wait until the hubby is "comfprtable" enough to turn the air - yes the air - back off to open the windows. Evidently getting up to 77 F today was too much for him. UGH! Or I could go sit on the deck with my knitting and the lawn chair. But since I am knitting socks right now I run the risk of losing a needle through the deck boards.......decisions! Meh, if I wait another hour I can open the windows and knit on the couch. Maybe I can convince him to suffer an hour earlier. :)

Lunch today was a Smart One's Salsbury Steak with mac & cheese - YUM. Truthfully it could be worse - darn McDonald's monoply game! It really makes it even worse that if I large size my normal meal (chix club sandwich) that I get 4 more game pieces than I would normally. That is if I were to eat there......which I did about 4 times within the first few days of the game opening. But the bad thing about that is my weight goes up. And we have ordered the dress for Amy's wedding - so I gotta fit into it since we had it sent to where she lives and it arrives the day BEFORE her wedding! >.< No more eating for me.....well not really just no more junk food. Man it's tough.

On that note I decided to try and get my stomach to be less of a big pooch thing that it is right now. So I did some sit-ups this morning. Nothing too big just 15 as that was what I could do before it started hurting. I figure tomorrow I'll try to do one more and the same the following day. I also want to work on my arms to have less of that upper arm jiggle. So I guess I better get started lifting the weights I have. If I start right off with the 5 lb. ones I have then I have to start lower but if I follow the same thing as the sit-ups - increasing 1 a day.......I think it will work. I know it won't all be gone in time - I mean the wedding is 11/8, but hopefully it will be better than it looks now. Here's me crossing my fingers. Ok back to the cat litter boxes - guess I better get those done. Cuz they need it.

Hugs~Jen

New blog.....

2008-10-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

Yet again of course. >.< See what happens when you get antsy and don't wait for directions?!?!? LOL So hopefully you have followed me again or are just new to my journey. Either way welcome. :) Well I must get back to my other life that doesn't involve the computer......yeah I know it's a small life outside the computer. ;)

Hugs~Jen

reposted from blogger

2008-10-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

My blog has moved and I would love you to join me in keeping track of my weight loss journey. http://slimmingdown-myjourney.blogspot.com

Well i copied and pasted all the entries i had for this year from aolto here. most likely i will continue with the previous years and putthe comments received at the bottom of the posts here. hopefully iwon't lose anything. if you are migrating with me from aol to bloggeror to any other blog site please let me know as i'd love to continue tofollow your journies.

I'm moving.......

2008-09-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well I just got the email from AOL.com saying that they are closing down their blog feature perminately. So I decided to jump the gun and move to blogger where I have another blog already. My new blog address is http://slimmingdown-myjourney.blogspot.com/

I am going to try to figure out how to transport all my old posts from here to there is there is a way. Oh the frustration! Well bedtime for me now. Higs~Jen

PS - I posted my weigh-in for today on the new blog to try to get into the swing of things. :)

Plateau.....I think.....

2008-09-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Last week weigh in - 248.8 lbs. approx. I say approx. because I weighed and forgot what it was but I know it was't under 247 or over 250. LOL I am off the Herbalife wagon. As much as I love their stuff and as much as I know it works and is cheap. To actually plunk down at least $40 for the shake mix alone then to add more for supplements and such, when the shake mix will last me 2 weeks doing 2 shakes a week........It's just not possible right now. So what am I doing instead? Well by dumb luck the other day I stumbled onto the Smart Ones Weight Watchers meals - YUM! They are 6/$11 this week at Meijer so I stocked up the other night when I went and will get more Friday when I do the official shopping.

So plateau I say.......well i know what I need to do it's just actually doing it. Eat breakfast. When I eat breakfast I am less grouchy and I lose weight and sleep better. When I don't - I just don't. And truthfully it's not just eating breakfast but eating it within the frist 45 minutes of the morning after waking up that is the most important. That is when your body is setting your metabolism for the day. So to eat your breakfast in that window sets your body to burn more energy that day. And make you less likely to kill someone......Oh that's just me. Ok then never mind. ;)

Well it's time to set the DVR and then I think I am going to go curl up with my knitting or a good book (OMG Twilight is addicting but that's another day!) and try to get to bed early because I could use the sleep. Hugs~Jen

PS - New blog link to the left, it's my knitting blog which is more of my daily life stuff sometimes than is here. :)

Thanks :)

2008-09-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick entry to say thanks for all the congrats and well wishes. I'm trying out different over the counter meds, currently on the generic of Claritin. I've taken this before and forgotten about how my nose gets so its not runny......because everything is draining down my throat so I cough more. But other than that it worked well. I'm having good days and bad. The other day was bad because I'd been outside when someone was mowing a lawn. I guess by now I've gotten used to this because I've had this kind of reaction ever since I was in elementary school. But we didn't quite figure out it was allergies until High school. At least now I know what to do for my kids who are having the same problems as me. :)

Now for walking........somehow my pedometer rest itself after I programmed it. UGH! Of course I have no clue where the instructions are but it's taking me a lot fewer steps to reach my goal. Then the other thing is that it keeps restarting the count on me. I don't know if it's because of my seatbelt when driving or just the placement of the reset button on it. I have another one that I need to put back together and get the new batteries into. That one has a cover so I won't have this problem. But I'd have to say that I have been getting at least 3 miles in a day plus the lunch lady work out (mopping, sweeping, lifting tables, walking around on the playground, etc.). So I am getting my exercise regularly. :)

Bleh

2008-09-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

My allergies are killing me this week. I am coughing up a lung as I attempt to type this. And when I'm not doing that I am competing for the world record of the most sneezes in 1 hour.

Wednesday weigh-in was 247.8 lbs. Woot back down a little. :) And now it's bed time before I really get that lung up. ~Hugs~Jen

Walking

2008-09-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

My stomach is still upset and of course I had a dr. appt today......but not that kind. :) My latest recheck and then I go back in December. Joy oh joy I love paying $50 a visit. Darn ins!

So anyways I got on here again to log my actual mileage from yesterday and today so far as well. I set my goal at 5 miles a day. Today I forgot about putting the pedometer on until I had to go to work. So my morning steps are missing. Not that there were very many this morning at all being that I slacked off because I felt crappy.

9/10 steps: 11,003 miles: 2.94
9/11 steps: 12,262 miles: 3.28

Well bedtime now for me because I have been super sleepy lately.....darn this whole waking up early to get the kids on the bus thing. ~Hugs~

Ugh

2008-09-11T05:18:00.000-07:00

Weighed in yesterday at 248.4 lbs. Heh that's a 0.2 lb gain for TOM week - I'm not thinking about it. But I also started walking the kids to the bus stop and home from it too. About a 1/4 a mile one way. I walked a little over 2 miles yesterday before my body rebelled and made me sick. Of course it would happen the night we had the lady coming over to finalize our refinance on the house. UGH! So there I was either in bed under MANY blankets to keep warm or dashing to the bathroom. I won't go into further details than that but man sometimes I hate when something makes me sick. However I am resisting the urge to jump on the scale and see if being sick made a difference in my weight. LOL

Now just to get enough motivation to attempt to eat breakfast and hope that my stomach doesn't rebel against me again. ~Hugs~

Morning

2008-09-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I think I told you guys that my position was eliminated at the school and I found out before school started. But the good thing is that I am now a full-time lunch lady (yeah I know how glamorous!) and ft is only 10 hrs a week. But that is a good chunk of change for me and will more than help me pay my way to my friends wedding - woot! But it is right in the middle of the day of course so I have been sweating my butt off. I think I drank twice my normal amount of water the past two days. Ugh my allergies are kicking in right now and I am having a sneezing fit. I really hate this. I love the weather but hate my reaction to this time of year.

So weight wise since this is a weight loss blog. :) I am holding at 248.2 lbs as of Wednesday weigh-in. Which isn't so bad considering TOM is soon. And exercise - well back to the lunch lady routine and I walked to the bus stop yesterday afternoon so that was a 1/4 a mile.

Well time to clean and then work and then shopping. Man my day is full. :)

Duh....

2008-09-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

Got the kids on the bus and off to school this morning. Had an email yesterday saying that the reason I was hired last year at the school - the half mile club - would not be continuing this year. However they will still offer the kids the option to walk if there is enough supervision. Ok great I'm out a job I get to thinking. Then I continue to read the email and we will need extra lunch people because of our numbers increasing this year. And would I be interested in this. Yay of course - duh. I need to make money to pay for my flight and other stuff for my best friend's wedding (good movie too ;) ). So more days each week working is fine with me now to just figure everything else out. lol

After dropping the kids at the bus I came home and got to feeling crappy. Then I realized that I had basically been awake since 5:30 am (not by choice stinkin dog) and still had not eaten breakfast. Another duh! moment for me because I know better and had to make them eat but did I - nope. I was too busy trying to make sure their pencil boxes were ready to go because I was slacking on getting their stuff together.

I fell off the face of the earth......

2008-08-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

I'd say I've been busy but truthfully unless it was knitting I haven't been doing much of anything else lately. The kids are going back to school on Tuesday and I have fallen off the Herbalife wagon. Simply because I cannot afford to buy shake mix in addition to our weekly food intake at this time. The only upside is that for the past two weeks I have maintained at 248.0 lbs. I am holding at my 10% goal I've been watching what we eat and what I buy and that has helped. Also upping the amount of fiber in my diet has helped as well.

I went to get an accurate size on the bridesmaids dress for my friends wedding in November. I tried on - yes I am going to ACTUALLY tell you my size. ;) I tried on a size 20 & an 18 today. The flow of the dress made both fit - it was fitted in the boobs so I can wear a smaller size. hehe The 20 gapped under my armpits a little and the 18 fit awesomely. I am taking into consideration that the dresses they provide for you to try on are tried on by a lot of people which can lead to stretching. So I am planning to loose 15 lbs in the next 2 months. Then hopefully I won't need any alterations done if I order the size 18. Or maybe just some tucking in on the sides under the armpits. We shall see, we shall see. :)

Slowly going.....

2008-07-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Weighed in last night after dinner (past my normal weigh in time) and it was 249 lbs. I'd been 240.6 lbs that morning in my pjs. hehe Weighed in again this morning at 246.0 lbs with normal clothes on. If I use the weigh in from this morning I am down 1.4 lbs to make it a total of 12.6 lbs lost. Or I can use last nights weight and be up 2 lbs.....

Either way not exactly where I wanted to be at when I got to my 10 year reunion time. That is in September but I am not going to mine because of a schedule conflict. However this weekend we are heading to Mike's 10 year reunion. Not by his choice either. hehe I would have graduated with him had my parents not split up then gotten back together and moved in 7th grade. So a lot of my friends from elementary school (and some I still see today) who are my best friends will be there. Plus others that I met after elementary school and became fast friends with. I am looking forward to this more than Mike is but he is willing to go if it will make me happy. Who knows maybe some of his friends will actually be there.....maybe. They aren't exactly the reunion type though.

The other exciting part of my weekend would be seeing my new niece for the first time. Well back to finishing her blanket or it will never be done in time! ~Hugs~Jen~

It's always nice.....

2008-07-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

When someone asks you if you have been losing weight and you can say yes. I have this one lady at church in my home town who every time we are visiting asks me this even if I have gained back weight and only lost a little. LOL But this past week it was the lady, Lori, at my new church who thought I was only 19 years old who asked me this time. She had gone on the trip to Chicago with or church group as well so she was there in my room the night I was talking to Angela about Herbalife. So she asked me this Sunday if I had lost weight adn I said yes 11 lbs. and she asked me what I was doing - Herbalfe. So then evidently she and Angela were supposed to get together and trade - Lori used to be a Mary Kay lady. So Angela was to Herbalife Lori and Lori would get to play with Angela's make-up. :) But it felt good to be able to answer yes and to not have it be something as small as "oh I've lost 2 lbs" like it seems to be when I am in Lansing and my friend Robin asks. Well I hav to get back to the blanket I am knitting if I want it to be done in time for this weekend when we get to see Madelyn. :) Thanks to all of you who offered congratulations. I'll post pics of her once I have some. Later Jland! ~Hugs~Jen~

It's a girl!!

2008-07-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

I know -it's not mine - just my niece. My brother had his second kid this morning at 2:36 am. A girl which he didn't know what it was to be. Madelyn Kate was 8 lbs. 12 oz and 20 inches long and I can't wait to spoil her! We now have 7 girl grandchildren on my dad's side. My 3, Matt's 2 now, my stepbrother's 2 (plus they are having another any day now but don't know the sex and won't).

Off to practice. Later Jland! ~Hugs~Jen~

Weigh In day

2008-07-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

Weigh in day today. :) 247.4 lbs. That means I am down 2 lbs since last weigh in. Ok so not much seeing as that was 2 weeks ago but woot for me! Which means I am a quarter of the way to my goal for my friend Amy's wedding in November. Only 30 more lbs to go. :)

Off to spend time with the hubby. ~Hugs~Jen~

Hmmmmm

2008-07-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well and ineresting week it has been. The hubby had the whoel week off which meant a lot of time spent online playing Eve.com and me being forced to help him with my account. That I only have because he wanted us to play something together. lol So I skipped my exercise at the end of the week with the exception of praise practice - yes this is exerise because we have dance oves to get the kids moving too. :) But my weight lss coach Angela sent me a text Thursday afternoon before practice asking me if I'd be there. She would because over the summer her section joins ours. So I get there and she hands me an envelope that has the big pot in it from the challenge. She'd talked to her upline and bcause I gained but lost it all again and would have been there on Wednesday if we had met I got the big pot. Wahoo!!!! I already spent some of it because I had reached my 10% goal and wanted to celebrate that so I bought yarn and needles (yes I knit). Then I put the other half of it away to go towards my bridesmaids dress for my friend Amy's wedding in November. So I'm setting aside money for that, my shoes and travel expenses because I'll be gone roughly 3 days total - all that I'm allowed by the hubby. lol

With the challenge being over does this mean I am quitting - NOPE. I want to be down 2 dress sizes for the wedding. That's 20 lbs per dress size accourding to the ladies at David's Bridal and 40 lbs total to lose. A good goal and hey it's actually my half-way weight loss wise. Besides the dresses I tried on would look much better on my in a smaller size. hehe Plus maybe I'll need less alterations.....HAHAHAHA can you lose you hips????? I used to have this really great hourglass figure....well I still have it but it's not as great any more. My hips are bigger than my boobs and the boobs are bigger than my waist so I have to go with the biggest size in dresses to fit over my hip and then major alterations to get the rest to fit. Luckily the one she wants me to wear isone of those empire waist ones - mor fitted at the boobs and then loose the rest of the way down. Now to actually find a strapless bra that fits.....the one I wore in the dress to the side for my brother's wedding - so not the right size which is why there are the plastic straps in the pic. lol

Off to do the shopping we haveno food in the house and the kids are hungry. I keep asking why I have to feed them and they tell me cuz I'm supposed to. Ok fine. lol Later Jland. ~Hugs~Jen~

Huh....

2008-07-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

Well weigh-in did not happen last night because the challenge was rescheduled for next week. Hmmm more time to lose 2 lbs to be down more - yay! :) But then I managed to not get on my sale at all yesterday evening to see where I really was. Then I ate a really fattening dinner - because it was my oldest daughter's request for FINALLY getting over her fear of her bike. We got her riding in te field yesterday. Not that she was really making it far....at all really but she was on it and not crying that is the BIG improvement on her part. But I had to bribe her with her choice of dinner and dessert to get her to do it. So cheesy enchiladas and ice cream was her choice. It was good but I should have only had one and not the two I did eat. Weight this morning was 249.8 lbs. Up about 0.4 lbs. from the last weigh in weight. But I'm ok with that because it could have been all 4 lbs plus that 0.4. LOL

I'm doing better and getting on my Wii and making it to the 30 minute mark in aerobic activities. Still haven't quite figured out how to do some of the strength training on there. I am pathetic when it comes to upper arm strength I have learned. I couldn't even do one push-up. Time to break out the dumbbells and start using them. Lunch time! Later Jland. ~Hugs~Jen~

Why?

2008-07-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

So 4th of July was spent out of town celebrating by Nana's 90th b-day (which was in March). We of course confused her when we set the cake in front of her and she asked what day it was......hehe She's a good sport. :) So we got together and had LOTS of really good food. Lasagna, spaghetti salad, cheesy broccoli & rice, hamburgers, fluff salad, banana bread, rotisserie chicken, eggplant parmesan.......did I mention that we are Italian? Anyway there was more than that but it's all I can remember and well........I at two plates of food and two helpings of the cheesy broccoli & rice cuz I love it and my mom made it. :) And then the next day I weighed and had gained about 4 lbs back - EEEK! It's all gone now but weigh in is tomorrow and I am only a little bit down from where I was. Frustrated with myself to say the least but it was good food and I enjoyed it. Even if this was the first time in a long time that I ate so much that my tummy actually hurt. And I wasn't the only one. On the car ride home that was all we heard from the kids. LOL Well the hubby is on vacation this week so I'm off to play video games and then knit night later. Later Jland! ~Hugs~Jen~

I'm alive......

2008-07-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

Good morning Jland! Sorry in a slightly silly and loopy mood this morning. :-D Weight Loss Challenge last week was postponed due to our coach being sick. But since we weigh in on my scale I weighed in just the same. I was down 0.8 lbs to 250.8 lbs from the week before. Not too bad seeing as how the last time TOM was here I went up about 2 lbs. We weighed in yesterday at out second to last meeting - 249.4 lbs. I'm out of the 250's WOOT! Not only that but I have also lost 10% of my goal weight loss and have lost 9.2 lbs total now since starting back on Herbalife.

For the challenge our coach totaled up our weight loss so far - I'm at 3.6 lbs lost during this challenge and my competition is at 3.4 lbs lost. What a way to head into a holiday weekend. Which ever one of us either continues to lose, maintains our loss, or gains less than the other gets the big pot of money. My dh said to me "so I get my steak dinner for father's day with that right?" I said nope sorry it's going into the dress/travel fund for my friend Amy's wedding in November. I am maid of honor as one of her oldest friends still around. Plus kinda gave her the advice to go for it with the guy she is marring and he asked me on how to propose to her. :)

Yesterday was also good because my Dr.'s office called me with the last results. I was told "it's not as severe as previously seen." So what's that mean - no colposcopy that my Dr. had talked about doing if it came back abnormal because it's finally not as bad and I go back again in 3 months. I know I know that was the last of my required 3 rechecks after the surgery. But we want to make sure it continues to be "not as severe" and not get bad again. So another appointment in September it is for me then.

Well off to eat breakfast and get some Wii Fit time in before lunch time. Later Jland friends. ~Hugs~Jen~

Weigh In...

2008-06-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

We had weight loss challenge yesterday and my partner in the challenge and competition was down 4 lbs since the last time she weighed in about 2 weeks ago. I am so proud of her. She said she had dropped all animal products from her diet with the exception of cheese. She is eating Boca burgers and Morning Fresh products instead for a week and says she feels much healthier because of it.

I know, I know you are wondering how I did. Well.....I maintained 251.6 lbs. Exactly to the .6 lbs. LOL I don't feel bad because it could have been a gain and wasn't and now that I think about it it is almost TOM time again. Oh Joy!

Well today is the last of my three rechecks after the last abnormal pap. I can't remember if i'd posted on the last two results or not - so nutshell version here! They have all come back abnormal since my LEEP but when the samples were sent back to the lab to be compaired to biopsies taken from the LEEP they were not as bad as the biopsy. So My doc said 'we'll give it 3 months and see you again' and same thing happened. Same results. So here we are at the last of the 3 required appointments adn we'll see how it goes. I should hopefully know at the latest my mid-July. Why the big window? Because I have learned that rushing them is not something you do when the lab has to compaire cultures. ;-D On a similiar note I have an online friend from my gaming world (yup I am a girl game geek) that was notified that she had a severe anbormality. So she is totally worried about what might happen and I was greatful that I had this experience to be able to help her better understand some of what will happen. I am hoping and praying that even though it is severe that it is not invasive yet and can be taken care of with a simple surgery like the LEEP. I'm totally praying that it isn't yet Cancer. She has a 8 month old little girl and was trying to figure out how they didn't catch this when she had her. Plus she is a little ticked about the way she was notified. She had gone in for a never ending period (sound familiar? sure did to me!) and they sent her a letter saying it was severely abnormal and to head to the hospital for a colposcomy. The doc never once contacte her about it outside the letter(s) she received. Mind you she lives in England but even here I've seen postcards saying "you had an abnormal pap please schedule an appt as soon as possible" sent to friends and family. Somehow I got a doc that decided calling me and letting me know was a better option. Go figure.

Well I should finish breakfast before I forget to do it at all. Later Jland. ~Hugs~Jen~

More details.....

2008-06-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well what I ate at the first party was this: Salad with croutons and Italian dressing, mashed potatoes with beef gravy, green bean casserole (I LOVE this stuff....), a roll, and some roast beef. My first plate was full. Yup first plate I went back for seconds. These plates were pretty big too. I use the smaller of the ones we have at home to limit how much I take and eat but I'm not quite down to kids plate sizes or anything like that yet. But ok so I ate everything on my plate and went back for a second bigger helping of the mashed potatoes and beef gravy and more green bean casserole. Then came dessert. I tried to have my hubby share a piece with me. I wanted cherry chip and he said ok. The man needs to lose weight with me too mind you. So what does he do? Brings back 2 pieces of chocolate cake. He said it all looked like vanilla to him except the chocolate. Who would have known him being color-blind would make him mistake cherry chip for vanilla. LOL So I went and got the cake I wanted, middle kiddo got the other chocolate after dad ate the frosting because she didn't want it. I ate the whole piece by myself because it was SOOOOOOOOO good. My fave outside of chocolate chocolate cake. Yum! I drank two cups of iced tea with splenda and one cup of punch to swallow my vitamins/supplements.

Then the next day was Father's day cookout at my in-laws. Western ribs, veggie tray with dip, humus and pitas. Same thing - full plate, but a smaller one this time. And seconds on ribs. Then our uncle broke out the rest of the cake. Again a cherry chip cake. Then my middle kiddo - same as day before - says 'Here mommy I don't want this I'm full' whole piece of cherry chip to me again. >.< DOH! I ate the whole thing again.

But this morning the scale says 248.8 lbs. mind you we weigh in after breakfast and lunch has passed at 4:45 PM EST. So I have until then to stay at or under 251 lbs. That is my goal. I know not eating will do it. However that is not good for me. And if I happen to go up to 252 lbs. It's just $1 to put in the pot and so far it looked like I was winning. Not to brag but it is hard when you are just doing something because you can get it easy. The other lady has lost weight and kept it off for years. Then had some problems and gained it back plus some. i won't go into details because it's not my story. But we are here to support each other and it helps that Angela - our weight loss coach is not only a Herbalife distributor like me but was also a nutritional consultant. So she knows what she is talking about when she says I need to be eating 1800 - 2000 calories a day. And i feel the difference when I don't. I also realized that by losing 1 more lb I will be at my 10% goal. Yeah I actually sat and figured those out this time. So I know when each goal is reached.

Thanks for the comments Christina and Sherry. I know I feel like I was over eating but I'm pretty sure it was close to total calories for the day. Just my choices were not the best - like 2 pieces of cake on Sunday. lol Well off to clean - house is a mess for people coming over this afternoon. Later Jland! ~Hugs~Jen~

Blah

2008-06-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I'd typed up this whole entry that AOL just ate So nutshell - 2 parties this past weekend - good food, ate more than I should, I think but didn't feel over stuffed. Just ate until satisfied. Both days. Will see how the scale likes me tomorrow on weigh in day.

Gotta feed monsters now. Later Jland. ~Hugs~Jen~

2008-06-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

Weigh in day was today. I got burned badly from being at the school so no measurements. Plus the other lady in our weight loss challenge had to be somewhere else for something and it was jsut me. So I got on the scale and it read 251.6 lbs. I'm down 1.5 lbs for a total of 7 lbs lost since the end of April. WOOT! And we got to chatting about my goals for the week. With the kdis being out of school no more lunch lady workouts so I'm going to work out on Wii Fit for 30 minutes daily. OMG my legs are killing me from being on there last night! But it was worth it because I sweat like a pig and lost weight this week. Then I asked how to figure out what my caloric intake should be. Because I am fealing so stinking hungry lately and then I snack and feel bad thinking I'm going over what I should be eating. LOL eveidently I have yet to touch what I should be eating. There is one night where I might have some close for my daily total of between 1800 - 2000 calories. So now I don't feel so bad and about how much I have been eating and now have to try and figure out what to do to eat more. Off to raid the fridge because I am hungry and it's dinner time. ~Hugs~Jen~

Yes, I'm still alive.....

2008-06-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

It has been forever I know. Update on weight - up two during TOM, back down 2 the week after that. Next weigh in is tomorrow. We kept the Wednesday date but moved the weight loss challenge to an earlier time. If my measurement were correct I ahve lost 11 inches overall since I started this weight loss challange.

I've been having one of those weeks where I want to strangle people. Could be that it is too hot and we lost power the other afternoon through night (ugh!). Could be that it is too close to summer and no extra income in for the next 3 months - nah I'm ok with that. Could be that it is too close to summer and the girls are already driving me batty and they aren't even out of school yet......DING DING DING we have a winner. I think it is this plus the 'I don't think I am eating enough during the day' headaches I have been getting. I've been keeping track of my foods this past week and I figured that even with my snacks I am sometimes only eating about 1200 to 1400 calories a day. I'm pretty sure that is less than it should be which would explain why I feel crappy some days. So I'm trying to figure out how to get that up higher without eating a bunch of crap that isn't good for me. I've been knitting a lot lately to get rid of stress. Hubby has been complaining that I don't spend time with him anymore and all I am doing is reading journals, reading books or knitting. Yup, I tried but the games he wants to play on the comp are ones we have to pay a monthly fee for and we don't have the money to spend for 2 of us to get on there like he wants at the moment. I give up........can I resign as mom/wife??????

So I've reverted to listening to music from the 80's/early 90's - yes the New kids on the block. *Sigh* I loved them and now they are back together. I know I am pathetic but I can't help it. I even have been looking into going to a concert when they hit the Detroit area. And dragging my friends that I went to a concert back in '92 at the Breslin Center in East Lansing with. Gotta love BFF's! Well I need to eat something and get ready for work - my last day until next school year. Tomorrow is my younger 2 girls parties in the afternoon. Both of which I am room mom for their classes and they are both at the same time. Do you see why my stress level is so high right now?? Too much stuff and notenough hands or time for me to think. Which is why I have been doing mindless things like knitting and reading - duh! 2.5 days left of school THANK GOD! Later my Jland friends. :) ~Hugs~Jen~

The deck......

2008-05-29T04:44:00.000-07:00

So here are the pics I promised a few days ago. My comp is finally cooperating with me to get them on here. :) Sorry about the bottom pic - no matter what I do on my comp or in photobucket it just won't stay up the right way. I appologize for the cricks in your necks when you have to tilt sideways to see it right. :) ~Hugs~Jen

Weekend......

2008-05-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

So this weekend we built a new deck for our house. When I say we I mean I organized the food and my hubby, his friend from work, dad-in-law and mom-in-law (once friend from work left) worked on getting deck built on Saturday. Sunday was hubby and dad-in-law and Monday was me and hubby. We had gone to Home Depot with hubby's drawings of what he would like the deck to look like. They gave us a plan with required materials. This was done a year ago. So we went back this year after getting the stimulus check and asked them to update it if needed. They said it was fine as is but prices were lower on some things. Well for starters hubby had to go back for the stair stringers that were left off the materials list and a few other pieces. About 5 extra trips were made to HD over the weekend. Some for missing parts, some for broken parts, some because estimated materials was less than what was actually needed. So the supposed final cost of roughly $450 was sooooooo off. I think it ended up costing around $600 total for the deck. About $100 more than anticipated on our end as I'd allowed $100 extra to begin with from the cost on the HD printout for stain that we are holding off a year of (and extras). So Monday I was helping and got a bad sunburn on my neck. I can't wear shirts with tags or regular t-shirts because they make it feel worse. I was wearing a scoop neck shirt outside that day....and didn't think of sunblock even with it being 80 degrees and about 9 to 1 that we were outside. OOPS!

I'll post the pics I took of the deck later when my comp is cooperating with me better.

Weigh in this week is on Thursday. Monday class was cancelled due to the holiday and Wednesday night had to be pushed back a day because it worked better for everyone's schedule. My oldest daughter is bridging up in Girl Scouts that night so I'd be late and since it's at my house (and they didn't feel comfy sitting with my hubby until I got here LOL) we postponed it to the next day. :)

Well I'm off to have dinner soon. ~Hugs~Jen

Tired and allergies......

2008-05-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. What time of year is that you ask? The time of year when I have coughing and sneezing fits, major headaches and feel like crap most days. Thats right it's allergy season. My oldest - poor kid - seems to have picked up on my allergies too. I guess that's better than having her dad's food allergies. So I have been coughing, she has been coughing, we both have been looking like we get no sleep. Although on Tuesday that really was because I didn't get enough sleep.

Anyone else out there with me buying a Wii Fit at 12:01 am? The store closest to me (Meijer) was only getting 20 in stock. While WalMart had them for $0.27 cheaper - I'd most likely use more than that in driving there and back to get it. Glad I was there at 12:01 am because they sold 10 of their 20 right then. If I had waited until I woke up at 6:30 am I might have got one. But we don't know that for sure so I was out at midnight. Let me tell you something though - I'm pretty sure the scale on the darn thing is off. It weighed me at 248 - now as much as I'd like to think I lost that much already I know it's not true. What I find funny is I have two scales by the same company - both electronic and the older of the two weighs me at about 7 lbs. lighter than the newer one. How is this possible? I guess every scale is different even from the same maker. Go figure.

So this afternoon when I should be grocery shopping I am going to try out the Wii Fit. Shhhhh I'll go out later.....not sure when but later I'll get groceries. But whatever I do I have to stay away from the chocolates. TOM is coming soon and sweets are all I can think about these days. It's so annoying that we have this one (well 2 really if you count pms week) week were we are pissy and only sweets seem to "cure" it temporarily that is.

So I think weigh in day may be moving back to Monday. I know I know - pick a date. Well it moved to Wednesday because I was hosting a weight loss challenge at my house but we only had one lady show up last week. Another stopped by asked where to park and never came back. But the one who was here didn't show up this week. Possible reason could be that her sister who was with her had her baby or that she figured it wasn't for her. We'll see next week I guess. But I am down another 2 lbs. this past week for a total of 5.5 lbs lost roughly. I'm not sure of inches I'll have to find out from the Monday challenge. I'm still going in case the Wednesday one doesn't work out then I can still get involved and keep on track.

Well I should probably get working on the fitness challenge. It wasn't too bad - my fitness age or whatever they called it was only 29 - 1 year older than I am. Have a great day J-land! ~Hugs~Jen

Motivation

2008-05-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

I thought this was an interesting read on SparkPeople.com (well really an email I got from them) on not giving up.

LISAHAS2CATS wrote "If you forgot to brush your teeth last night, did you decide this morning to throw in the towel and never brush your teeth again? Since you're obviously a slob who doesn't have enough self- discipline to remember to brush your teeth, why bother brushing them at all if you forgot to last night?

Of course not.

So if you had ice cream for dinner last night, or didn't exercise yesterday, or gained a pound this week, don't throw in the towel! Make a healthier choice for dinner tonight by eating something lean. Go for a short walk. Weigh in again next week.

Just do NOT give up."

Ohhhhhhhhh now that is good - right? But not brushing.....the teeth fall out....they have to be worth a pound or two right? ;)

I have switched weigh in days - from Monday to Wednesday. Why? Because I swiched weight loss challenge nights. I sort of jumped into the middle of the one on Mondays because I (and Angela my fellow Herbalife friend who is running these things) knew I needed to get right on track or I never would. So I started week 7 of 12 on Monday. Well the Wednesday group is finally starting and its at my house. Not a problem right?!?! Well that meant I had to clean and keep it clean and if it is going to be at my house I better stay on the ball and lose. :D I've also taken to posting this picture on my fridge :

This would be me and my hubby waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1998 - Senior year fall homecoming. About 175 lbs. I still have this dress - I loved this dress - I want to wear it again and look this great someday. Well it is practice time for me so I have to dash........they are trying to fatten me back up with pizza and salad tonight >.< I will take my pills, I will take my pills, I will take my pills........ and be good and not eat a ton! ~Hugs~Jen

I'm still here.....

2008-05-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

So I have been in this weight loss challenge for two going on three weeks now. Eating my Herbalife shakes twice a day (most days) and taking my pills. I lost 2.2 lbs the first week and 1.3 lbs this week. For a total of 3.5 lbs lost in the past 2 weeks - yay me!

And now its my bed time. Nite J-land! ~Hugs~Jen

Intersting tidbit

2008-04-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

I learned last night that 1 bagel = 12 slices of bread. ACK!!!!!! I can't remember if it was in carbs or calories but man that has put me off bagels fro a long time now. Good thing too because at the volunteer appreciation breakfast at my kids school this morning they had the good ones.....the Einstien Bros. ones.......the ones I LOVE to eat whenever I can get them. But I was good and left them alone. Yay me! Back to cleaning :)

I'm back.......

2008-04-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

Chicago (actually Schaumburg, IL) was a blast. I went for a children's ministry conference at Willow Creek Church (which is huge!!!!) with the group of ladies who run our kids programs at my church. We stopped for dinner on Tuesday evening and then went to an outlet mall to walk off dinner in Michigan City, IN. The first day (Wednesday) was awesome listening to all the speakers that they brought in for us. The music was AWESOME too, can't forget about how it felt like I was at a big concert front row. :) The last set was Glen Keane, Rick Dempsey and Aaron Reynolds. Glen and Rick work for Disney - Rick is in charge of maintaining voice talent for animated movies and Glen is an animator (30 yrs. now) who drew Ariel, Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Tarzan. His dad draws "The Family Circus". Aaron Reynolds wrote a book on his creative approach to children's ministry and is hilarious. Needless to say the story behind Ariel and Beast were worth being there and shed a whole new light on the movies that are coming from Disney. Rick had a huge hand in bringing Narnia to Disney. Then on Thursday we had breakout where we sat in different sessions and learned different things relevant to our area in children’s ministry. I got a broad overview but had some music ones too. It was fun but seeing as how my first session of the day (music and motions) taught us 6 songs that were high motion/movement songs I was sore, tired and sweaty by the time I got to my second session. Where I got to be a third grader in a typical Sunday session at Willow. I was falling asleep by the end of it - not because it was boring but because I needed to eat something and we had been rushed out of the hotel that morning so I missed breakfast. :( I ate lunch and was fine but moving around and up and down the many stairs there and such made my legs hurt all the way to Sunday morning. Friday was that small day with only two main sessions the last being Phil Vischer - of VeggieTales fame. I was super excited to hear him talk and to start reading his book. But I got a ton of exercise as we walked all over that place and if I would have thought about it I would have put on my pedometer to see how far I was walking each day.

But the biggest thing to come out of the conference was the fact that I hooked up with another Herbalife distributor that is local! For me that is huge and she is running weight loss challenges so I joined one because I hate being this big. I went to my first meeting last night and the first thing I learned was that my scale is actually about 6 lbs. less than the Dr. scale and what the WLC scale is. T<spanclass=correction id="">he WLCscale and my Dr. scale are in agreement on my weight - 258.6 lbs. ugh! So Sunday I got back on the wagon fulltime with Herbalife products and will be held accountable with the WLC to any gains as 1 lb = $1 in the pot and the biggest loser wins the pot at the end. This is what I needed to get on track but I didn't know of anyone in my area, let alone the fact that I could have started one scared the crap out of me. Who would take weight loss advice from someone who is overweight herself and not working on losing it? See my dilemma? But the big thing is that by doing this and starting to exercise</spanclass=correction> (yes starting I suck at everything and keeping with it........) will get me into better shape and maybe I can jump around on stage and actually sing the songs without losing my breath halfway through like I do now. :)

So here I am with this wonderful opportunity to learn about kid's ministry things and it could be that God had me go on that whole trip to give me a big kick in the butt on my weight loss. LOL The way things work sometimes amaze me. So Monday night was my weigh in but I think I am switching to the Wednesday meeting next week. Well its back to unoacking, cleaning and reading for me plus my walking video before lunch. Hope everyone has a great day in J-land. ~Hugs~Jen

Quick One.....

2008-04-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

Morning everyone! Just wanted to pop on real quick after weighing in this morning to post.......that I've finally gone down! YAY!

Ok now I have to get back to packing, cleaning and getting kids ready for bus. Hope to post something Saturday before I have head out of town for my nieces b-day party (she's turning 1 Friday). Isn't she adorable!!!!

Later J-land friends!!!! Have a great week. ~Hugs~Jen

Hiatus....

2008-04-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

I will be leaving tomorrow to head to Chicago. I got a call on Thursday about an opening with the kids worship team at the training seminar they are attending. I get to go from Tuesday to Friday night. I am sooooo looking forward to it. Everyone keeps telling me that it is a wonderful experience. But the big thing about this is that I could possibly get a position with the church - paid or unpaid - yay! But needless to say I won't be posting anything unless have acess to a computer and internet at some point in time over the next few days. If only my laptop was working again.......

On to the weight loss front. I am still holding at 249.4 lbs. I have picked up my 100 cal snacks for my trip and am trying this drink called Mona Vie that I got from a friend. Its made from the acai berry and about 18 other fruits. You drink 2-4 ozs a day and it gives you 5 servings of fruit. Which is good for me. I have the best intentions where fruit comes in - I buy it and the kids eat it first or I forget about it and it goes bad. So I'm trying it and we'll see how well it works.

Have a good week everyone. I have to get back to cleaning and packing. Good night J-land! ~Hugs~Jen

Happy Weight

2008-04-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Self.com had an article in February issue about your Happy weight. They now have a calculator on their site to figure out your happy weight. http://www.self.com/fitness/nutrition/calculators/happyWeight

According to their site with my new height (grrrrr) I'd be happy at 157.5 lbs. I'm thinking that would take me back down to skinny with big butt/thighs again as I was all through middle and high school. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. I figure 165 lbs is my happy weight and that is what I am shooting for.

Ok really now i am cleaning and exercising. :) ~Hugs~Jen

Detour in blogging :)

2008-04-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

This morning weigh in was 249.4 >.< I thought what did I do different yesterday that would make me gain vs. staying put......made egg salad. And ate a big overflowing sandwich of it. Darn good foods and wanting to eat them when on a diet......

Has anyone heard about the man who lost weight eating baked beans? The article I found (original one) is here: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91251-1312594,00.html?f=rss This is the one I first read about the weight loss: http://www.thatsfit.com/2008/04/13/man-loses-140-pounds-on-baked-bean-diet/ Can you imagine eating 6 cans of baked beans a day and losing 140 lbs in 9 months? Interesting diet to say the least. The first article says that he isn't even breaking wind now that he stopped eating toast with his beans. What will they come up with next?

This morning is lovely. Its what I call a cabin morning. When I was growing up we always went up north to my grandparents cabin on Rice Lake in Lake Linden, MI for at least a week in the summer. My parents way of getting a break would be to send us up with my dad's parents and then come and get us and stay an extra week. Hmmmm maybe that's why I have no problem letting my in-laws take the girls for a week because we were sent away over the summer a lot. Interesting. Not that its a bad thing in either case - I love my girls but sometimes we just need a break from each other. Anyways, The weather would start out low in the 50s or 60s in the morning and would just smell great. How would it smell? I don't think I can describe it but I'll try......it would be crisp in the morning, a little on the cool side and you could smell the water even in the cabin with the windows open and little breeze. I guess its one of those things that gets burned into your brain. But later it would warm up and yes it does get hot up there - even in August. But the past two mornings have had that smell/feel to it that it was a cabin morning. Or at least for me it is. It's making me want to make the 13....well 14 from where I live now....hour drive up north to the trio of cabins (my aunt and uncle now have their own cabins up there too) and just relax for a week in the middle of nowhere and enjoy the weather, the lake, my family and being away from it all. Yes I just proved I am truely from Michigan by measuring distance in hours driven to get to your destination. :-D But convincing the hubby to make that trip again - prolly won't happen in this lifetime. It was too far up north for him - with nothing of interest around that is according to him. If I didn't need someone to drive over the bridge for me I'd prolly do it myself. I have this huge fear of open heights and the fact that one lane on the bridge is open grate freaks me out if I am driving. It also makes me no fun or a built in babysitter at amusement parks. I'll scan some cabin pics later to post so you all can see how beautiful it is up there.

Well I am going to attempt cleaning and then some exercise this morning. Hope everyone is well here in J-land. ~Hugs~Jen

Limbo

2008-04-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

So I have noticed that my scale isn't moving......I'm not sure if this is good or bad - it's not going up but it's also not going down. Grrrrr

I'm stuck at 248.8 lbs it seems. Getting back into walking with the lunch ladies from school. Two of them are doing weight watchers and the other is working out at a gym with a trainer. I really have to get a handle on my eating. I'm doing good with moderation and sticking to one plate of food. I even use the smaller of the plates we have here. We have two sets - the one I bought before we married and the one the hubby brought home from Bill Knapp's (anyone remember them - looooooooooved their chocolate cake and cinnamon ice cream............oh bad me!!!!) when they replaced the dishes. Well the BK ones are smaller in size. So I use them to help curb how much I eat. I'm actually thinking of switching to one of the kids plates - LOL - for this purpose as they are even smaller. :)

Time for my morning yogurt cup and tea then off to the bank for field trip money that is due in today. Love my kids but man are they expensive sometimes! Hugs ~ Jen

My weekend.......

2008-04-07T06:39:00.000-07:00

So Thursday was an adventure to say the least. Work went well and was totally fun looking forward to doing out together that night. I left work after finishing the cleaning and went to my friends house to make jewelry. I helped her take a $6 Walmart watch and bead new bands on it. I made myself two new bracelets. We talked and enjoyed each others company - it was just plain fun. Then I headed home because I needed to get there before the kids got off the bus. I took the most direct route which is of course all dirt. Well at some point I ran over a sharp enough rock or maybe the tires were just that worn but by the time I got home and got the kids off the bus 25 minutes later I had an almost flat tire. Drove home to get a closer look. AARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So I went in search of my electric air pump (not knowing at this point there was a leak) to get air in the tire and hit the store for some fix-a-flat stuff. It was of course dead - in the on position instead of recharge. >.< So I was left with the DIY bycicle pump. MAN my legs got a work out on that one! I got air in the tire and went back inside - well when I came out after the kids were finally ready to brave driving with me (finally choose their after school snack and picked out a book - LOL) it was almost flat again. So I got them in the car and started pumping again while talking to hubby on the phone and yelling at the kids to NOT bounce in the car while I was putting air in the tire (or after the air was in). I got 20psi in the 35psi tire - not bad considering hubby said I wouldn't get much in. :) Put the air pump in the front seat had hubby call Discount Tire to price tires (I'd looked on Walmart.com but they didn't answer phone when he called) and headed out. Stopped once about 1 minute away from home to check and put more air in. Drove to Walmart (DT was across road) parked and checked it again - it was good so I drove the rest of the way to DT. Got there, parked, went in and told hime tire model - looked out window and it was almost flat again. Talk about timing! I'm sure my little prayers were heard that we'd make it there WITHOUT ruining the rim and enough air in the tire to drive safely on it. :) This is my 4 flat tire in the past 3 years. And I have no spare because it fell out from under my van one day got some rock lodged into it on the dirt road and when I went to use it next was flat. First time was because my alignment was off and wore both front tires out until the both went flat on me one ngiht driving my boss home from work. Next time I backed into a stone porch (yeah I know - in my defense it was a house in the country and at night) and cut off the valve stem - then had to drive home on the tire - on the dirt road. LOL Then this time. So we got the tire replaced was told the smae thing about the alignment and that I'd need the other one replaced too but I could only do the one right now.

Left DT and went to my church for worship team practice and made it there only 6 minutes late!!! Awesome for me - LOL. finished that up found out what I needed to be doing Sunday. I have more responsibility as one of the over 18 members of the team and get to look after the under 18 crowd because they know I can be depended on. Got home, cleaned up fast, changed and ran out the door to meet at my friends house to head out for the night.

We went to a place called O'Callaghan's in Brighton. Nice place - it was live music night. The guy who was singing that night looked like Riff Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show - Seriously he looked like this --> As long as we didn't look at him while he sung we were ok. LOL We had fun singing along and drinking. One of the ladies bought a round of shots - they tasted like kool-aid - you know its never good when you can't taste the alcohol because its gonna sneak up on you. Well with all my drama I'd never eaten dinner. There was another round of shots bought and I'd been working on my first beer. So I asked for a menu - otherwise I was done. All in all it was a great day/night and we now have things to laugh at that no one will understand.....well more now I should say. :)

Friday was work and then shopping. I picked up some 6 oz. cups of Light & Fit yogurt at Sam's nad the sample lady suggested freezing them for a summer treat. YUMMMM! Saturday was Ladies Luncheon at the church and then shopping. Sunday was church, keep the under 18ers in line, lunch, small group then home.

Before I forget again.......

2008-04-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

I have added a link on the lefthand side bottom of my links section. It is for the President's challenge. You can log your activity over the 8 week period - March 20 to May 15, 2008. Basically it's is a way to encourage you to to be active at least 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week. You get points for different activities that you enter and for the length you did the activities. This is a blurb from the site to give you more info on the program: "What began as a national youth fitness test has grown up. In a big way. Today, the President's Challenge takes staying active beyond the school gym, and into everyday life.

We've expanded the President's Challenge into a whole series of programs designed to help improve anyone's activity level. Young or old. It's about choosing to live healthier - and finding things you really like to do." I remember doing this challange back in 4th or 5th grade when it first started and I still have my certificate in with my school papers.

There are 2 levels - Active lifestyle (30 minutes a day, 5 days a week) or Presidential Champions - people who are already active at least 30 minutes a day and want to step it up. There are awards for completing the challenge. For Active Lifestyle you have to get 6 stars filled to get the award. For Presidential Champions its baised on points earned and then there are 3 award levels: Bronze, Silver & Gold.

You can join groups, which are set out by States. I thought it might be interesting to start a group for those of us in J-land who are doing the challenge. If you are interested let me know and I'll set it up and get you the info.

Back to knitting and then work. Later J-land. ~Hugs~Jen

Walking and memories

2008-04-03T04:40:00.000-07:00

So I didn't end up going on the walk yesterday. I got to cleaning and got a lot done and then remembered that I needed to go to the store. I was snack mom for my middle daughter's troop yesterday. So that meant that I needed to get to the store and then to the school before they went to their meeting. I just made it there in time for them to be dismissing the kids - go me. Then I had to rush back home and get my oldest and youngest from the bus, get them snack, get their chores/homework done and figure out dinner. Hubby suggested us walking once he got home. I okayed it because I didn't in the afternoon. But Hubby had to pick up stuff for dinner and by the time he was home after I picked up the middle girl it was almost 6. Made dinner (chilli dogs mmmmmmmm), ate and he forgot about the walk because he was in his comfy clothes. So I'm walking this morning once I get the kids on the bus I'll walk the my Walking the Walk video because it's kinda cold outside and my allergies are acting up enough right now for me to not want to risk totally losing my scratchy voice that I do have. LOL!

Plans changed for today. Its work (yay money but ugh sweaty), then beading, then practice, then possible drinks with other lunch ladies. :) I am looking forward to tomorrow morning though........the New Kids On The Block are reuniting on the Today show! :D I know I'm totally dating myself by saying that I drooled over Donny in grade school and that I am forever greatful to a friend for inviting me to go with her to the concert at the Breslin Center in 6th grade.

Breakfast time now....making an Herbalife pie for later so I'm having yogurt this morning with an apple. Later J-land. ~Hugs~Jen

Something to nibble on................

2008-04-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

So the diet is going S L O W L Y this morning. I'm not totally sure if this on the diet but I like to have vanilla yogurt and granola for breakfast. I love the Dannon Light & Fit. I get to eat a cup of it and mix in the raspberry and cream granola that I bought at the local Better Health store. But I am eating an apple with it. One of the perks of working in the school cafeteria.....we have a cart that if a child does not want their fruit, pudding/applesauce cup, milk, juice, etc. they can put it on the cart. Other kids can then take the items if they will eat them with their lunch that way nothing is going to waste. At the end of lunch if there is anything left we take it home, give the milks to the PE teacher or pitch it in the trash.

So I boiled some eggs earlier because I can eat them - whites only on this diet. Of course I forgot them. LOL good thing about that is that the water boils off before you burn anything! HAHA There is a reason I only boil eggs in my cheap pan - :D. So I'll have some eggs and salad for lunch here in a little while and then head out for my walk. Better remember to stretch first otherwise I'm going to get leg cramps.

Well I'm getting back to cleaning. I have my exercise playlist on Winamp right now so it will keep me motivated. Otherwise I'll sit here and play games online or head back to finishing the baby blanket that I am knitting for a friend. It needs to get done but I need a living room more than that needs to be done today. Besides tomorrow I will be running around doing other things so I won't really be able to work on it then. I am teaching a friend from church how to bead jewelry in the afternoon, then I have practice for worship team and possibly meeting with friends from work for $1 beers later. I know - I won't be drinking more than 2 because of all the calories I'll have to work off. But it's nice to get out with people every now and then. I've had the hardest time making friends since we moved here and sadly I finally started about 2 years ago. We've only lived in the area for 7 years now and in this house for almost 5! >.< Ok really now I'm off to clean the living room. Later my J-land friends. ~Hugs~Jen

Frustrated, fat & bored

2008-04-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Its been a while once again since I last blogged. Life just gets in the way sometimes. things are relatively good at the moment. holding at 249 lbs. for the last month or so. I was good over Easter and somehow managed to not gain a pound. :) I've been looking at what I eat and thinking "how the hell have I not hit 300 lbs yet??!?!?!!?!?" Its all about will power - I have none it seems. Kids Halloween candy (yeah I know its old now), Easter candy, anything chocolate within my reach or sweet - and I eat it. Its TOM this week and I have become uber-bitch it seems. I snap at the littlest things and wnat sweets like there is no tomorrow. I'm being good and mostly sticking with fruit, yogert, or my 100 calories candy bars. I just all out feel like crap today and its showing in everything I do.

As far as exercise goes its warmer here in Michigan and there is no longer any snow so I think I am going to get back to walking again. From my house to the kids bus stop its a quarter of a mile. I'm thinking of walking to there and then continuing on to the end of the walkway along the main road. It has to be at least 1.5 miles one way. I was walking 4 miles with a friend at the beginning of the school year. I'll have to see if she wants to start doing that again. I just have to fight the rain to get this done. Maybe I'll even break out my bike and ride some - yikes thats a scary thought.

Last my diet. HAHA thats a huge laugh right now. I have the gung-ho approach to everything I do and then once something causes a snag I stop dead in my tracks. I am an Independent Herbalife Distributor who never sells anything. I actually got into it for the discount on my own food items. Who knew sponsoring my MIL would cause her to be wonder sponsor, trainer, weight-loss person......she makes me sick sometimes but she has replaced her income from her full time job with the part time work she does. I on the other hand have had a total of 4 customers - one was my MIL, the other had such a bad detox period she was told by her Dr. that she should have never tried the stuff and the other two I think bought it because they wanted to help me but then ran out of money to continue. Me on the other hand I just plain can't afford it anymore. So I was looking at the Michael Thurmond 6-week body makeover diet. My boss/principal/friend has done this for the past year and she is looking HOTT. She gave us lunch ladies a copy of her diet so we can know what to eat as we all fall into the same category. I took the quiz thing online to be sure but I am. So I went out and bought some of the foods and now its back to willpower again. You basically end up eating 6 meals a day or every 2 or 2.5 hours. So I am starting this tomorrow and will walk in the afternoon and see how long the path really is.

We shall see how well I do this time. I want this weight gone. I can't stand looking at myself like this anymore. I hate buying clothes that fit only to grow out of them in a few months time because I have gained weight. If I'm going to buy new clothes it better be because i have lsot weight not gained it. I put a picture of me on my fridge from High School - back when I was about 170 lbs. My friend saw it and and said "thats you? wow you were pretty!" Notice the were in that sentance. The only upside I have had was my brother - the twig who finally weighs over 150 lbs. and prolly fits the size 36 pants that he has been wearing baggy forever. He said to me at Easter that I was fat - yeah I know not nice - but it was the "you can't weigh more than I do" comment that I really loved. Either he thinks I have always weighed less than him (HAHAHAHAHAHA never true) or he thinks that no matter what I look like that I am not almost 250 lbs.

Dinner time now. Nite everyone in Jland. ~Hugs~Jen

Quick dash.......

2008-01-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update as I need to run out the door in a few minutes. But I went down a few lbs - yea! Thanks to Sherry for the comment. :) I like how your blog is set up and your post/entry on how to get on track. I've done that its just staying on track that gets me. I've finally set up my stinkin' pedometer so that I know how many steps I have actually taken in a day. >.> I never realized that I had to do that and was quite happy with how many steps/miles I'd been walking before. Hopefully it being dropped in the toilet (it was clean! lol) a few months back won't effect it too much. :-D Ok out the door time and I'll get back on tonight and post the rest of the days activities and foods. ~Hugs~Jen

Here's my food for the rest of Monday, Tuesday and today so far:

Mon. - I'll be totally honest......3 cupcakes wiht frosting, 2 pieces of toast with 1 tbsp of p.b. each, 6 pieces of chocolate from the Whitman's sampler I had, and chicken alfredo with spaghetti noodles and parm. cheese. 1/8 mile (approx.) walk for work.

Tues. - >.< 2 cupcakes with frosting, 8 cups (give or take a cup I didn't measure it) air popped pocorn with parm. cheese, 2 8" beef tacos with cheese, mild taco sauce and sour cream. 1/2 mile (approx.) walk for work.

Wed. - 2 pieces of toast with 1 tbsp. p.b. each, 1/2 orange.

Blargh!!!

2008-01-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

So a new year and a new goal, right? Yup even more weight to lose. Last year I started out good but gained it all back and then some from the stress of everything. If you can't be happy - eat! That was my motto. SO this year is starting out great........stinkin' kids birthdays that want cupcakes made for parties......and I make homemade frosting that I HAVE to sample to make sure it tastes great. >.< Can you say sabotage?

So just as I am embracing my size 22 (stretch mind you) jeans they are beginning to get tight. I've decided that I am not buying new jeans unless they have to be a smaller size. Good goal right? I figure it would be nice to fit into the size 20s that I have - minus the crowbar that it would take to get me into them right now. This is my goal for the next 2 months - to lose enough weight (approx. 20 lbs.) to fit in the 20s and have them be lose (or as close to it as possible) once again. I can do this. I want to do this. I need support to do this. Because I know losing the weight will help with my sleeping problems, will get me in shape and make it so I don't feel like dying after being on stage for 10 minutes dancing. I'd like to not lose my breath and be able to sing the song all the way through while dancing. The whole reason I got into the worship team for the kids was someone thought my voice was good. But with the dancing and singing at the same time - there is no prayer of my being able to do both at the same time right now. So I have two goals - drop 20 in 2 months and to get into shape to be able to sing and dance at same time. Hmmm is that anything like walking and chewing gum at the same time....seeing as I have problems walking sometimes this might be hard. Oh wait thats only where stairs are involved. ;) Sorry a little humor at my own wxpense. I can trip up the stairs - they hate me. lol

Well I am off to exercise now and see hwo that goes. As you can see from my ticker - no weight lost. I'm starting over and its 80 lbs not 50 lbs that I'm losing this year. Hope all is well for those of you still reading this and Happy New Year.... a little late. :)

~Hugs~Jen

Breakfast - Herbalife Dutch Chocolate Shake

Exercise - Walk the Walk with Leslie Sansone - 30 min. mile

UGH >.<

2007-09-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

My mind just goes 'bleh?!?!?!?!' as I look at this ticker compared to the last time. I've gone up 1 lb. (I know for a fact it was more but >.> shhhhhhh don't tell!) or rather come back down almost to that last weigh in weight. Back on the diet wagon with a purpose. I have become a worship leader in my oldest's Sunday school class. You may be asking - 'why would you need to be in shape for that?' Well its not your ordinary Sunday school class - worship leaders sing and dance and jump around and be crazy. So in order to do that and live....I, er mean breathe afterwards I need to lose some weight and get into better shape. There are other reasons related to a potential job offer but I'll get into that at another time. So we started to get up early and jog/walk the park where we live. My mornings look like this after as I get to have coffee........

Hehehehe I love Garfield! That one cracked me up for days so I kept it around. My downfall for the week - hubby buying and making 5 dozen cookies and pop to do something "special" - SABOTAGE!!!!!!!! But my highlight of the last week has been that the girls are back in school. All 3 ALL DAY LONG!!!!!! If you can't tell I'm doing a happy dance and have been since Wednesday. LOL All in all its been a good week and here is why.....

The PTO board had our first meeting on Thursday at which I was asked if I was still interested in working the Half mile club on Mon./Fri. during lunch. Of course I said yes as I still have no job prospects (havent heard back from the library about that position yet....). Plus there might be an opening as a lunchroom supervisor (read lunch lady hehe) at my kids school which would go well with the 1/2 mile club job. Just had to wait for the go-ahead from the principal and the school board. I'm half way there and if I'm okay'd I already have a subbing position - well potential in the lunchroom. <--- Me jumping for joy. hehehe Then I went for my training on Friday to be one of the worship leaders in my oldests class. Read - creative outlet that does not require storing extra things (ie. albums, paper, beads, etc.)! So thats my week in a nutshell.

Hope you all are well and having a great week. ~Hugs~Jen

Bleh

2007-07-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

No change in weight this past week much. Not gone up or down but sticking at 243.4 lbs. I've been doing pretty good with the snacking and eating what I should not what I want. Even though there is a chocolate brownie in the cupboard calling my name. One of those individual make in a bowl ones. As well as having two kinds of brownie mix in there too. But I've been really good seeing as we have had those for a month now and I haven't broke down and made them to eat them. I just have to remember to cut back on my breads and to only have one hamburger at dinner and not the two that were made for me........even though they are so yummy! All in all - I'm good because its not going up. I was very mad at myself for letting it get back up to 246 lbs so fast. But I back to working on it and we shall see where it takes me. Now if only I liked my stair stepper or bike enough to use them. >.> haha

Take care and have a great weekend. Thanks Julie for reading and commenting! :) ~Hugs~Jen

Life goes on....

2007-07-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

So weighed in at 243.4 lbs this morning. Not bad considering it had been up to 246 lbs last week. Part of it was anxiety about the surgery and just saying 'screw this' and eating whatever was put in front of me. Not the best diet or way to lose weight! LOL

So the surgery for bigger biopsies was on the 13th, went well and no complications as of yet. Told it would take 3.5 hrs from start to waking up in recovery - procedure itself was 15 minutes. I was out of there in 3 hrs and thats with the registration nurse yelling at me for having half my chart say just my married name and the other half having my hyphenated name. Technically both are my legal name depending on which document you look at, but anyways. I woke at 8:30 am after the surgery and they released me by 9. Went for breakfast - pancakes, bacon and hash browns with coffee and orange juice - comfort food. Yum! Took my pain pills got home at 10 and was out until 1:30 pm. Was off the meds by Sunday and mostly back to normal. I go in August 1 to get the results. Will be the first time that we actually sit and discuss them in the office vs. over the phone. Results will be back tomorrow but my Dr. is still on vacation which is why I have to wait another week.

But after seeing 246 lbs on my scale I got back on my diet wagon. Also realized I wasn't drinking as much water as I should be. So now its a matter of making sure I drink enough water and watching what I am eating. Which I am doing again and trying to make sure that I am not sabotaging myself - ie. no more chocolate unless its my diet food. Gotta love chocolate flavored shakes! :-D

When it rains it pours.....

2007-07-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

Back to the on again off again journaling. Weighing in at 241 lbs last time I weighed myself. Having some medical problems and having surgery this Friday in the morning. So I'm frustrated and not eating right and generally making things worse. But its making me happy at the time. Which is a good and bad thing. I know I shouldn't eat what I want - the chocolate, smores, cocoa puffs cereal....but I get the happy endorphins from it and it makes me forget for a while. But I get frustrated with myself because the weight is coming back - thats the bad part of eating all that stuff.

I have some abnormal - read precancerous cells that need to be removed. I already had one surgery to remove them and had my recheck and there were more. Go figure. So its another surgery thats more invasive and has me a little worried. Which is why I think God had me volunteer in my kids Sunday School 2 weeks ago. The verse was 1 Peter 5:7 Give all your anxieties to God for he cares for you. Can you say hello hammer? And I always remember that somewhere in the Bible is the verse about God not giving you more than he knows you can handle. Just once I'd like to not be able to handle as much as I do, ya know? lol But I worry because this is a surgery that is to be done in an OR not the Doctor's office liek the last one, money is tight with all the testing and having to meet my deductible so my insurance will pay thier 80%, etc., etc., etc.

The girls are playing at a friends at the moment so it gave me some time to check mail and post in my journal. Thanks to those of you who find me and comment that it takes one step at a time. I know this all to well - but it never hurts to be reminded of it. :) Hope you all are having a great summer and I will try to blog more. It might not be about weight loss everytime as I need a place to vent stuff. But then so does everyone. Its usually here or my myspace page. www.myspace.com/butterflichix5 feel free to add me if you have a page there too. Well off to make some lunch for me before I forget. ~Hugs~Jen

2007-04-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

So its been a while since I was here. Bad me I know. Things are good. Diet's not so good but I'm making sure I make healthy choices. I've been working more on my spiritual than my physical lately. I know that both go hand in hand and I need to be balanced to achieve my goal. Last time I weighed in was roughly a week ago at 231.4 lbs. I've been sticking to the 230 range lately.

But the nice thing was I went to buy an Easter outfit to wear and I pulled out the size 22 pants thinking "ok the last pair of jeans I bought were 22 stretch jeans.....". Guess what! They didn't fit I had to get a size 20, which i suppose is what I truly wear unless its Lane Bryant stretch jeans. lol Needless to say I was a little happy about that. Also I'd gone into David's Bridal a while back to try on the bridesmaids dress for my friends wedding. I knew what size I'd need to get over my hips and it was the same thing - the 22 was a little bigger than it needed to be and the 20 fit better. I also found out from the sales lady if you are planning to lose weight its 20 lbs to a dress size. I'd never heard this before and went "does that apply to my very child bearing hips that I have been blessed with???"

Those and my thighs are my big problem. I'm actually about 3 different sizes like many women and I believe as I'm typing this I've talked about it before. But we'll continue. :) My top half is barely in the plus sizes but I have to buy bigger clothing - like that made for plus sizes to make sure it will fit around my hips. It frustrating when I find something that I like in a size that I should be able to wear but my hips/butt prevent that from happening. Its always been this way and it sucks.

Well I hope all is well with everyone of you. I wish you a great Easter weekend and hope that if you have kids you have either enjoyed or will be enjoying your Spring Break together. ~Hugs~Jen

Ugh >.<

2007-01-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

Ok first things first -

Finally moved off 233 lbs today. Weighed in at 231.8 lbs. Third day back on the Herbalife wagon. I have been doing my meal replacements and drinking our Herbal Green Tea (or drink and shrink as we call it). And the weight is starting to come off again. You'd think I'd learn that when I know something works to continue to stick with it and use it. Nope of course not. But thats only part of my ugh.

My test results came back and I have to go in for further treatment in order to get it cleared up. The procedure does not sound fun nor does dealing with it afterwards. And then I still will have to come back in 2 -3 months to make sure it is all cleared up or end up with another treatment that is for the most severe form of this crap. If you'd like further details just email me and I'm willing to talk more about it. But I just don't quite feel like putting all the details on here for anyone to read.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying their winter season. We finally have some snow here in Michigan. Kids had two ice/snow days last week. The second one was really a power outage in the school but they didn't care either way. ~Hugs~Jen

2007-01-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

Not much in the way of weight change other than I've been feeling like crap. You'd think I'd have learned not to kiss the sick kids. >.< Evidently not! lol So I'm fighting it off once again. Not to mention that I had a Dr appt. yesterday - one of the girl Dr ones - that is messing with me. It was a callback from my prior one. Those of you girls/women out there know that a callback from a typical appt. is not usually good news. Well had some testing done and find out the results end of next week if I remember right. Yippee!!

Ok but in other news I have been using the SparkPeople website everyday and I really like it. It gives me exercise ideas, food recipies, a food journal and a place to vent to myself about anything and everything. As well as a page that people can connect with you on and forums or communities that you can discuss anything. Like a Bookworm one - which of course I am a member of. :D I got the idea for books on tape to read/listen to while exercising using my mp3 player. And then found a bunch of older books online that were free to download and loaded up my mp3 player. I am currently rereading the Anne of Green Gables series.

My weight has stayed the same over the past week. Not gone up or down. I'm thinking its because I have been using the food journal and tracking what I have been eating. It calculates your daily caloric intake needs and tells you in carbs, calories, fats, protein and I added sodium to track. Which really helps me to know when I have overdone it in a day or that what I am eating really isn't as good for me as I thought it is.And you can add foods that you eat on their so the info comes right up when selecting a food item for your meals.

Hope everyone is well this week. Thanks for the comments from those of you who have been checking up on me and those of you who are new - welcome! :) ~Hugs~Jen

A new year, a new beginning

2007-01-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

So this morning weighs at 233 lbs according to my scale (technically 233.4 lbs). After having a healthy bowl of mac and cheese for lunch with my girls I'm typing on here again. :) Not the best meal but I didn't feel like making a seperate one for me too today. Waiting on an Herbalife delivery to get back on the wagon. But that doesn't mean that I wasn't smart when I went shopping last friday. I bought fruit and yogurt for my breakfast, to alternate with the raisin bran that I bought the last time I went shopping. And I made sure to pick up the ingredients I'd need to make the shake bars that usually get me thru the day.

So I'll make some bars for tomorrow and get the ball rolling. I now have a reflective carrying case for my mp3 player if/when we do get out to run/jog/walk in the mornings. Always helps to concentrate on music for me when exercising. I guess it would be rude to do that if my hubby goes along with me in the morning too tho......>.> But it will come in handy when I decide to try to make it to 300 steps on my lateral thigh trainer by the end of this week. I'm talking 300 a day not per week. Eventually I'll work my way up to 1,000. Not all at one time tho - aghh that would kill me. But I think between the thigh trainer and doing the walking video and any other walking outside will get me to 1,000 steps a day quite quickly.

I've also found a site that I like using so far. Food journal, exercise tips, and message boards. All found on www.sparkpeople.com If any of you decide to check it out and join will you use my name as a referral - butterflychix5 please? :) It just gets me extra points which evidently aren't worth anything but still fun to see who has joined. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve and are enjoying 2007 so far. I know I'm enjoying the 50+ degrees weather here in Michigan. :D ~Hugs~Jen

Goal not in sight.....

2006-12-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

As I sit here feeling yucky this morning, I know there is now way toreach my goal of 210 lbs. by Sunday. So I'm looking at what I have doneso far this year. A little over 3 years ago I was at 235 lbs. roughlyAt the end of this year I am at 235.6 lbs this morning, mind you thatis with a few extra heavier layers of clothing on so I'm thinking itsmore like 233 or 234 lbs. Then 2 years ago for my brothers wedding I was roughly at 249 lbs. and then started this year at 242 lbs.

So even at 235.6 lbs. thats 14 lbs. lighter than I was at my heaviest, thats the weight I was a little over 3 years ago, and thats an accomplishment in itself right there. I can't remember exactly but its either 10 or 15 lbs. you pack on each year just by doing the same things and not doing any exercise and such. If its 10 lbs. I've taken off a year and a half worths of weight gain. If its 15 lbs. I took off all but one lb. of the weight gain - still an improvement.

Either way I got tired of not being able to fit into my jeans...its getting to that point again. They have gotten tight again. So I gotta get back on the bandwagon here and start the year off right. Now you may be thinking 'what set this girl off on this line of thinking?' Well this is the third time that my mother-in-law has decided that I am three times bigger than I actually am when buying me clothing. Mind you I have always had the childbearing hips and thunder thighs to go with them. Which made my lower portion of my body a size 16 before having kids. Lowest I ever got was a size 12 very briefly. So after having one kid she bought me a dress for my birthday - a size 3x dress. Ok I had gained some weight - but NOT that much. I'd gone from the size 16 on the lower half only to a size 18/20. My top half has always been smaller. I wore Mediums in High School. Well actually I wore Larges because I liked the extra room to fit them over my damn hips. But the upper half is now at 14/16, sometimes 18 depending on who makes it. So last year and again this year, my mother-in-law bought me a shirt as my xmas gift. A size 22/24 shirt both years. After telling her last year it was way too big and asking for the receipt to exchange it. Never got it and ended up giving the shirt away because it was too big. This year she asked me to try it on and see if it would fit - I didn't have to. I told her it was big and she gave me the gift receipt (which in my opinion should have just been in the box in the first place) so that I could exchange it.

My frustration is that I gave her my old size 16 pants once I couldn't fit them anymore. So now she assumes that I have become this blimp simply because I have always had a big butt. What the hell?!?!?!

How was your Holiday? Other than that mine was great. Wishing everyone safe travels and good times with their loved ones. Now I'm off to brave the returns line at the store to get something else that will fit. ~Hugs~Jen

>.< grrrrrrrr

2006-12-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

Weighed in yesterday morning at 230.0 lbs. I do know why. Silly sugar cookies that appeared in my house thanks to my sister in law trying to be cute and spend time with my kids......and then she took maybe one dozen of the 12 dozen she made back home. Most of them went to a teacher appreciation day at the school form the kids. The rest that were left have made their way into my tummy until today when my hubby was smart enough to take them to work and get them away from me. lol Very good thing since I was getting mad at myself for the weight gain and of course eating because I was mad. Damn viscious cycle that is.

On the plus side I've had a flat tire since last friday night and this past week I've walked roughly 5 miles getting my kids on and off the bus. Quarter of a mile there and a quarter of a mile back. So I have been exercising and the weight gain could have been worse. :) Always look on the brightside. Oh oh - not to mention that I only have to watch the stress makers another two days and then I'm done. :)

Well off for another 1/2 mile walk now. Hope everyone is haveing a great Holiday season so far. Safe travels to those of us who are driving, flying, or however you are traveling to get to your family.

~Hugs~Jen

ugh

2006-12-06T05:34:00.000-08:00

So this morning's weigh in is 229.2 lbs.....its gone up again. :( But this is also another TOM weigh in. Health issues are still the same but I have a Dr. appt this Friday to hopefully get things regulated - YAY. I can't stand the twice a month TOM anymore.....its gotta be fixed. I have only a little over a week until I am no longer watching the extra monsters that have been causing all the stress in my life. That's another YAY.

But my hubby is pushing to get an exercise routine started for both of us. He wanted to start running.....but its now winter here in the good ole state of Michigan. SO I squashed that idea. I can do exercise indoors and I can run when its warm but running in the cold always makes me sick and makes my asthma 10 times worse. Which only gets really bad if I overexert myself....catch twenty-two there. lol

So I'm looking at my walking DVD and using my weights some. Looked at Self.com's Reach Your Goal program and starting that this week. Which is nice in that it gives you four different levels of exercise to start with, so you set your own pace. And can change paces at any time.

Slowly realizing that my goal of 50 lbs. lost will not be achieved this year. But I'll be happy to get back to 20 lbs lost and then keep going from there. With the attack of TOM's lately my sweets cravings has like tripled >.< Which of course has caused the weight to come back. But dangit I have a wedding next year that I want to be smaller for and I'm gonna do it. SO I'm resetting my goals and reworking my plan to make it happen.

Off to walk a mile in my living room now. Thanks for listening. ~Hugs~Jenni

2006-11-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

Weighed in at 226.8 lbs this morning. So I've gone up a few lbs. since the last update here. And I've finally figured it out. I have too much stress in my life....not that I do much but the little I do is enough to be causing health issues. So this means that the one mom I was doing a favor for and watching her kids - will be looking for a new babysitter before the end of December. It is her kids that have caused the most stress in my life and are causing my children to do things that they that normally they would not have thought to do themselves. I had those kids here on Nov. 7th and I snapped at the end of the day. Then not only were they bad at my house they were bad at the next babysitters house. I have no problem watching kids and generally am a very kind and patient person. But I am at my wits end with these kids and the mom. What started out as "I'll watch them until you find a new babysitter" became I am your new babysitter. And not being paid for my stress - so they are done and I'll watch them right up until Christmas break for the kids but not during and not after.
Hopefully this will bring my stress level down and my body will go back to normal and I'll stop eating to get my frustration out. Which means the kids halloween candy is getting thrown out. >.< Not that they have eaten much of it......I've been doing that for them.
My husband is talking about making us wake up at 5:30 (ahhhhhhhhhhhh) to go out jogging in the morning before getting the kids up. We'll see how that goes. I've done it before but not in a few years.
Hope everyone has a fun and relaxing weekend planned. I'm just hanging out with the kids for the day and giving the hubby a night out wiht friends. Thanks for reading/listening to my small rant here. *Hugs* Jen

Not bad .... for a body that hates me :)

2006-10-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

So my body can't seem to make up it's mind lately. My TOM is erratic lately. A month ago it was a week late - no worries about it being for any reason other than stress. That problem was fixed a few years ago.....after I convinced him a weekend was all the recovery time it would take vs. him taking a week or two off to care for me and the kids. :) Anyways off track. So a month ago it was a week late. This time it's two freaking weeks EARLY!!!!! So setting up an appt with my Dr to get something worked out. Maybe that will help with my mood swings too.....

So as I decided for grins and giggles to get on my scale this morning to see how much I had again gone up, I got a surprise. I had gone DOWN. YAY!!!!!!!! Its only a little bit but being below 225 lbs. is one step closer to being below 200 lbs. So this mornings weight was 223.5 lbs. Which of course will go up tomorrow because my sis-in-law came over today with sugar cookies for the kids to frost. And of course left half of what she brought for them to eat. Yeah right like they will last that long around me. Sugar cookies are my weakness. My Aunt makes KILLER ones at Christmas time that I always eat a ton of. She even made me my own batch one year when I was pregnant.....starting to see why I gained so much weight now. LOL

Well I hope everyone had a great weekend and thanks for hanging in there with me. Being depressed doesn't encourage much blogging/journaling but I'm getting better nad getting out of that slump so look forward to hearing from me a once again soon. ~Hugs~Jenni

2006-10-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

Its been a weird month. Off the wagon and up 3 lbs! >.< Oh no! Kids back in school and I'm fundraising chair for PTO. Of course we kicked off the big event THIS weekend. So I have been busy getting everything ready and not thinking about what I am eating - hence the 3 extra lbs. that have come back to me. Not to mention that I volunteered to help out in another area to get things started until someone else can take over. Hello, Sucker party of one.....

So the kids school rules my life these days. And if you can't tell this blog/journal entry won't really be much about weight today. I need to vent a little....THANKS for listening/reading and putting up with me today. :) I spend so much time there that the librarian (sp?), who I had little interaction with last year, knows me on site and knows my name too! LOL I've eaten lunch with my kids at least 3 times in the last three weeks at the school. I live there during the school year.

Ok enough about the kids. Time to shamelessly plug a friend of mine. His name is Jeremy Dundas, a musician from New Zealand. He is currently in London working on recording an album. Or rather working on getting money to record an album. He is an acoustic artist. I highly recommed him to anyone. Just take a listen to his songs and tell me what you think. And yes I am quite partial to him. :) http://www.myspace.com/jeremydundas

Hope you are all well and having a great weekend. We are enjoying the lovely fall weather here in Michigan as we watch the leaves change color. ~Hugs~Jen

Plateau

2006-09-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

Well I've been off for a while now and just doing my own thing. The amazing thing is that I have gone up a little and seem to have hit a plateau at 225.2 lbs. So with 3 months left in the year I have roughly 30 lbs to go to hit my goal. But I am getting back on track and working hard. It makes it easier that all my kids are in school this year so i have a few days to myself to actually work out alone on. :)

So my downfall has been carbs. I know this and still I eat them. Who can resist french fries??? At leastthey were baked at home and not something from a fast food place. Not that that makes it any better to eat them. lol Gotta tell myself something. :)

Well its breakfast bar time now otherwise I will forget to eat something all together again. THANKS to all of you who posted comments to me evn when I hadn't blogged anythign in like a month. Makes me feel better to know that there are people out there who are reading what I type and who are encouraging me to keep going. Means so much to me. :)

~Hugs~Jen

Love My Scale

2006-08-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 220.8 lbs. :D <-- my face right now after doing a happy dance. lol I'm almost half way there and only 4 months left to go before the end of the year to hit a 50 lbs loss. Well I'll be happy if I hit 200 lbs by the end of the year. So I am making that my secondary goal for the year. That way I should, no I will reach one of my goals this year for weight loss.

Should I be happy that I have a hard time keeping my pj bottoms to stay up? lol Just means they are getting to big for me and I like knowing my clothes are getting to big for me - gets me closer to my shopping spree that I will eventually have to do. :) Have a good day everyone. :)

~Hugs~Jen

Exciting news :)

2006-08-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well I am no longer sick. My recheck was today and everything is back to normal. :) But that's not my exciting news - My only brother got his wife pregnant -I'm gonna be an AUNT!!!! I do have a few neices through my step-brother but this is my first flesh and blood neice or nephew. So I am really excited about it. :)

Weighed in this morning at 222.8 lbs. Still not bad considering the amount of water I have had to drink over the last few days. But I'll take it. Its still down from where I was before and that's all that counts for me. :) Well gotta get going to bed. More later hopefully if I am not too busy folding clothes tomorrow and this weekend.

~Hugs~Jen

So being sick has some advantages :P

2006-08-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Again I find myself sick and losing weight. Weighed in this morning at 221.6 lbs according to my scales. Still feel like crap and to top it all off I think I am allergic to the meds they gave me. Its just turning out to be a great week so far. LOL

Well my throbbing headache says my time at the comp is done for the day. More later in the week once i feel better enough to sit her longer.

~Hugs~Jen

Not a UTI

2006-08-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

well I have a bladder infection and possible kidney infection. ouch. lots of pain so i am resting a lot. and on meds now for it. hopefully it clears up in a week and doesn't get worse.

~hugs~Jen

2006-08-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well today I weighed in at 224.4 lbs. down some but not all the extra weight I had added by pigging out the other weekend. Of course this past weekend we had a family reunion - on my mom's side - the italian side. So of course there was pasta, pasta, pasta and really good cookies. But I didn't do too bad with eating. I had some spaghetti salad as it was the only pasta there at first. Then I went back and got some lasagna later because you never pass up the lasagna at the reunions! My biggest downfall was not drinking enough water and drinking too much pop all weekend.

Between not enough water all weekend and developing a UTI my week hasn't started out too great. But i am suffering through with cranberry juice - yuck.

~Hugs~Jen

Week update

2006-08-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well this past weekend my hubby decided to be nice and buy pizza. After not having carbs for so long ............ I pigged out. lol And went from being 222.0 to 226.6 lbs in two days. uggghhhhhh. So I haven't been back cuz if I don't write it, it didn't happen right??? A girl can dream. :) So this morning back down to 223.6 lbs. I am basically up 1.6 lbs from last friday. Not too bad, but then I think "you could be down 1.6 lbs..........." And I have to tell myself to shut-up then. lol

But I am getting back on track now and I liked seeing that scale going down too much to go back to old habits and stay there. I was wearing a pair of shorts earlier this week that normally would be tight on me. And have been that way since I bought them about 5 years ago. But here is the kicker - even with gaining the weight back they were still loose on me the day I wore them. :) So I guess maybe I should measure myself again to see how much of a difference there is that way too. I've been too lazy to do it yet. :P For those of you praying for my Dad - he is home now and seems to be doing good. Thanks again. :)

~Hugs~Jen

2006-07-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Everyone. My sacle this morning said I was at 222.0 lbs. Down 1.6 lbs since yesterday. :) 2 lbs left to go to hit post-Becca weight! Can you tell how excited I am!!! Its only taken me 5 years to get here but darn it I am getting this off now. I guess upping my Herbalife green tea intake does increase the amount that I lose. I had three cups of it yesterday.

Talked to my dad yesterday. He said the iv was gone, at 7 am was the last time he had pain meds, and he had been up and walking around about 6 times already. He also said he might be going home as he felt so much better and didn't think he was going to need another day in the hospital. They told him 1-3 days in recovery so he figured on being home by today. He is doing great. :)

Well I'm just trying to wake up here. Up too late last night. But my kids went and spent the night somewhere else so I'm allowed right? Now i have to wake up because they are coming home soon, but my brain says not gonna. lol ~Hugs~Jen

Scale still loves me & Dad is recovering

2006-07-28T03:41:00.000-07:00

Ok so I was a little distracted yesterday and forgot to get back on here and update about my dad. He was in recovery at 10:30 am and finally into a room at 3:30 pm. I found out he has MRSA and they roomed him with another MRSA patient - might be why it took so long for them to put him in a room. But he said when they went to move him to his room he got off the bed to get on the gurney without any problems. Something he hasn't been able to do for a long time he said. Thank you for your prayers and continue to pray as he recovers. :)

As you can see my weight went down again. Weighed in at 223.6 lbs this morning. :) That is down 0.8 lbs since yesterday. I am really liking this as I get closer to my post-Becca (last kid) weight which is 220 lbs. I really didn't gain much weight after Julia and Lily (1st and 2nd kids) I was at 210 lbs after each of them. So once I hit 220 lbs I'll have 50 lbs of baby weight to lose. I can't wait to get there!

Thanks for being there along the way. :) ~Hugs~Jen

My dad is having surgery today....

2006-07-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

Wll in one minute my dad will be going into surgery at 8 am here in Michigan. He is having back surgery for spinal stenosis. The doctor told him his case was so bad without the surgery he would most likely end up in a wheelchair. But I am worried as it is still surgery on his spine. So please keep him in your prayers and thought as the day progresses and I will come back to post an update aftering hearing from him or my stepmom. Thanks all!

On a less serious note, my weight this morning was at 224.4 lbs. Thats down 1.4 lbs from two days ago. Not exactly sure what happened to my body yesterday that it went up that much - who knows. But I'm not counting it. lol. We'll see if it stays this way.

~Hugs~Jen

2006-07-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well this morning it was at 227.0 lbs. Still below 230 lbs. But it is TOM so i know way it is up a little. As long as it stays down after I'll be happy. :) Just made this really great strawberry cheesecake with one of my Herbalife recipes. It was yummy!

Real brief today. No extra kids - mom was sick. So it has been quiet other than when the kids tried to crash a dresser in their room. My oldest daughter was lucky it caught on the other dresser or she would be squished.

~Hugs~Jen

I'm starting to fall in love with me scale........ :)

2006-07-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well I just seem to be on a roll here. This morning's weigh in was 225.8 lbs. Down, what about 0.6 lbs since yesterday? I can't remember exactly what I weighed yesterday morning. :) Starting to think if I drink more than one cup of my green tea a day it might be more of a loss. I'll have to try that and see.

Well yesterday was fun. The add boy was here and they cut his meds due to his lack of appetite and not sleeping. But now he is back to acting like he isn't on anything at all. And I am soooooo not going to put up with it much longer if we can't get something figured out as far as dosage goes. Then to top it all off his sister was being just as obnoxious yesterday. I was greatful for when they left for VBS, even if it was late due to car troubles - I got a little break.

I just keep thinking we have one more month until school starts and that seems to pacify me for the time being. Until I think "But Becca starts kindergarten this year." My baby is going into school and I'll be home alone on two and a half days. Not sure of what to do with myself other than try to run my business. :)

It's lunch time now so have a great day out there is journal land and keep up the battle and the good work. :) ~Hugs~Jen

2006-07-24T03:47:00.000-07:00

Good Morning. Weigh in this morning at 226.4 lbs. Down another 0.2 lbs! :) Not much but it keeps adding up. Yesterday was good foodwise. I made a nice chicken caesar salad for lunch. Broiled a peice of chicken with some onion powder and garlic salt on it. Put it on a bed of lettuce with bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, croutons, caesar salad dressing and topped it off with parmasean cheese. Yumm! For dinner we had steaks grilled outside (it was a nice cool 78 degrees yesterday) with some cheesy broccolli for me as a vegetable. And breakfast was as simple as a meal shake from Herbalife.

Well today is an extra kid day. But they are leaving halfway through to go to Vacation bible school for a few hours. That should help lessen the aggrivation - so I hope.. :)

Have a good one and try to stay cool for those of you out West! ~Hugs~Jen

2006-07-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Comment note: Thanks Julie! That dress is the one from my brother's wedding. The same darn one we had to alter to make it stay up! Its the dress that started it all. I actually wantedto lose weight before his wedding a year ago. That was when I joined Curves. I ended up losing inches up going up in weight in a month. Not sure what to think of that.

But anyways. :) Good morning fellow weight loss bloggers. I am currently holding at 227.0 lbs this morning. This is a good thing since we went to a birthday party yesterday. I had 3 beers, lots of good food - mostly healthy, and of course a peice of homemade (from scratch) cake - frosting and all. But I was really good with the cake. I was given a big peice and I ate about a third of it before giving it to my hubby. :) Enough to say I had a peice but not eat the whole big one I was given. So I figured I'd be up a lot more than 0.4 lbs from yesterday but I'm not. Of course I then think "well if I hadn't had all the stuff I did yesterday how much would I be down?" But I am not gonna dwell on that fact. You have to treat yourself sometimes as long as it is done in moderation. :) Which is what I am doing. That and remembering to drink my water during the day and I am all set.

Well I hope everyone is having a good weekend. :)

~Hugs~Jen

2006-07-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Morning. Weigh in this morning was 226.6 lbs. Down another 0.2 lbs. :) Still doing a happy dance in my chair even if it is a small loss. If I keep this up I just may hit bathing suit season next year no problem. My goal: to be able to fit into that darn two peice that I got a few months before I found out I was pregnant. This means I have to lose a lot of my butt and thighs. That's where most of my weight is right now. My body right now is literally three different sizes. I found this out last year when I got measured for the bridesmaids dress for my brother's wedding. Starting from the top it goes: 16 chest, 18 waist, and 20 hips. That was fun trying to alter that dress. :) But the lower half has always been bigger on my body.......darn Italian child breeding hips! I was always a size 16 in pants until I started working and walking everywhere, then I got down to a 14 and 12 somtimes. But being 5'10.5" I never considered myself to be in plus sizes. So if I can get back to that size I'd be happy. :)

~Hugs~Jen

Feeling good

2006-07-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

It is a Good Morning indeed. Weigh in this morning is at......drumroll please......... 226.8 lbs! :) Doing a Happy Dance in my chair as I type. I am at or around the weight I was before I got pregnant the last tme if I remember right. So one kids weight down, two to go!

Overall since I started dieting I have lost 22.2 lbs. The highest weight I ever got was 249 lbs and I so did not want to hit 250 lbs. So I started eating better and dieting. And it is working! I have some other news too. Yesterday I was interviewed regarding my online blog about my weight loss for an article. When it is published I will get a pdf copy of it and I can link it on here. :) So I just want to say Thank you to all of you who have made comments to me in the past and continue to keep me going. :) You really help me to keep on track and know that I am not alone, someone else has been there before me and that we are going through this together even if we have never met. You ladies are great!

~Hugs~Jen

Holding on

2006-07-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Weighed in again at 229.8 lbs this morning. Which is good - still below 230 lbs. :) But I have been snacking like there is no tomorrow the past few days. Not sure what is wrong with me other than I fell off the wagon over the weekend. I am starting to think I have to stick with it even over the weekend and when we go away somewhere. It makes sense but I am too stubborn to do it most days. Granted my snacks have been healthy - I try to avoid buying the junk food as much as possible. Not to say I don't have it in my house. I did have ice cream yesterday. But I was good and took two scoops and put them in a cup instead of sitting with the entire carton of ice cream like I wanted to do. And its not fat free ice cream either. Its the good stuff with carmel and heath bits in it. yumm! :)

But I better get off that subject before I go for some ice cream today too. On an off subject - why do kids have to fight all the time? Its not even my kids that are fighting with each other. My oldest is fighting with the oldest of the kids I watch. I am going bonkers today and the more they fight the more stressed I get and the more I snack. Never mind I figured out why I am snacking so much the past few days. Thank God they are not going to be here anymore this week. I'll get a break from the extras.

Well back to the daily grind of trying not to pull my hair out or strangel the kids.

~Hugs~Jen

Broke the cycle?

2006-07-17T03:40:00.000-07:00

Good morning bloggers! Well at least it is early morning as I am writing this entry. ;P I think I have broke the cycle of going back over 230 lbs! This weekend we went to visit my brother. Needless to say my diet food went with me......................and then sat on the counter the whole weekend. I ate pizza twice - carbs are something I have been staying away from and it seems to be helping when I do. I have them in moderation - meaning not a lot of bread in one day or pasta for every dinner. Coming from an Italian family this has been hard. Coming from a line of people who always have a BIG spread at every holiday or any get together it has been really hard. I even managed to try a new vegetable this weekend - asparagus (I have no clue if that is spelled right). It wasn't bad - different but not bad.

But somehow this weekend I managed to be good (alright I did have 4 slices the one night but it had lots of meat on it too). I drank lots of water and tried not to drink lots of pop. I even got in some exercise too. We went swimming at a friends and I made sure to do at least 10 laps in the pool. I stayed moving the whole time in the pool only floating for a few minutesto rest in between. And my reward this morning was to get on the scale and weigh in at.............229.8 lbs. I am thinking this is my new 231 lbs or place to be stuck when I fall off for a day or too. :) But I am back to the diet food this morning and we are off to a good start for the week. And I am even happy about the weight I am at right now.

Have a great day! ~Hugs~Jen

Going down...........

2006-07-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Down to 228.6 lbs this morning! Dropped 3.2 lbs since I got back on the wagon. So nice to be on this side of 231 lbs for a change. It feels good and I want to keep it up. I have set a goal of getting to 200 lbs by or before Christmas. Simple enough to do if I lose 5 lbs a month I will even hit my goal of losing 50 lbs this year. And if I do that I will be half way to my goal. I want to end up in my ideal weight range for my height. Which is between 149 and 179 depending on if I fix my posture or not. So I'd have between 30 - 50 lbs to go after this year. And I am GOING to get it done. Not waiting any longer to be back into my happy place again. :)

Gotta go break up the kids. Hugs ~ Jen

2006-07-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well over the strep now and back to 231 lbs. My kids were kidnapped by my in-laws last Wednesday to go to their cabin up north. Starting to miss them since I have no way to talk to them unless they go into town and visit the grandparents who live there. No cell phone reception there. My youngest two were crying the night before and saying they didn't want to be away from me. Well I take that back my middle one said that. The youngest said she wanted to stay and ride her bike............feel the love! LOL

Getting back on track and so is my Hubby. So I now have someone to help keep me accountable. We have an agreement He hits 220 lbs and I hit 200 lbs by Christmas. Roughly 30 lbs for both of us so it should be doable. We start later this week after the supplies get in.

Well hope everyone has safe travels for whatever you may be doing over the 4th. Enjoy the day and spend it with family and friends. And of course don't over do it too much. :)

~Hugs~Jen

One way to lose weight..........

2006-06-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well I have found one way to lose weight - get strep throat. LOL Not a good way to lose it. But it did go down on the two days I couldn't swallow anything solid, semi-solid or well generally anything not liquid - even that hurt. :( I got sick on Tuesday early morning and by Wednesday evening I weighed 228.4 lbs. Back up to 231 lbs now, but it was nice to see it below 229 for a change. Even if it was only because I was sick. :)

Things have been busy around here. Yard sale this weekend in my community. So I have been cleaning and washing and trying to get it set up for today - but failed. Prolly would have helped if I had started yesterday but I was still feeling crappy. But tomorrow should be a good day since people won't be working during the hours we are allowed to run the yard sale. Unfortunately I have no big clothes to sell just yet. Still have a few more lbs to lose to get outta the size I am now.

I just hope none of my kids catch the step since they are leaving next Tuesday to go up north with my in-laws for a week. YIPPEE!!!!! Now if only I can convince them to take the extra kid I am watching next week too..........Think they will???? lol I only have her two days next week as I will be gone on one of the days her mom needs me DARN.

Hope everyone is doing good. Have to catch up on my reading. ;) Hugs ~ Jen

2006-06-09T04:27:00.000-07:00

Well this morning my weight is 233.2 lbs. My darn allergies have kicked in MAJOR over this past week. Which means I have been trying to sleep more than anything else. :( I really hate having allergies this time of year sucks for me. The main problem with this is I go back to sleep after dropping the kids at the bus stop and end up missing breakfast. Bad on my part I know but I never feel like eating much with a scratchy throat.

I have gotten rid of some of the stress in my life temporarily. One of the moms whose kids I watch lost her job on the days I watched him. Of course it had to be the mom that was actually paying me to watch him. But she hopes to find another job soon and still intends for me to watch him over the summer. So provided I don't go into a rage and kill myself or the other monsters.....errrr kids I watch I'll be here all summer just typing away and hopefully - no wait - I WILL lose weight this summer. :) I may not make it in time for this bathing suit season. But darnit I will for next. :)

Have a great day everyone! :)

2006-05-31T04:11:00.000-07:00

Well this week the weight was 233.8 lbs. I have figured it out - I was drinking waaaaaaaaaaay too much pop. I went from not drinking any (maybe once every other moneth) to drinking at least on a day. Tends to not help you in the weight loss department. But at least I was only drinking the litle 8 oz. bottles - with the exception of a few days.

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. We went to visit my mom in Lansing and it was reaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllly hot there - no central air. :( But the kids had a blast in the small pool and running around in the yard. Or playing with her two little kittens - they are soooooooo cute and tiny. And of course I overate this past weekend - too much good food around.

Well back to the kids for the morning. :)

2006-05-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well I am at 231.6 lbs this morning. I have been comforting myself with food the past weekend. A really good friend of mine is shipping out soon to Iraq and I am very worried about him. Any of you out there dealing with a friend or family member out in the middle of this too? How do you deal with it?

But I have been having stomach cramps like I am not eating enough. Which doesn't make sense becasue I have been eating. I think I eat one more snack a day and see if that helps it clear up.

Well back to making lunch for the monsters........errrrrr.....I mean kids. Yeah the kids, right. :)

2006-05-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well I got my exercise in today by gardening. Had to yank weeds and then plant. Third year I have planted anything in our little bed out front of our house. I just end up buying stuff and never planning. So far has turned out good. lol Took three hours to weed and plant and I came in veeeeeeeeery muddy. But I feel better because it looks soooooooo much better than it did with all the weeds that I let grow last year. I was lazy last year and didn't plant.

Weight this morning was 231 lbs. Up again. Darn ping pong! :( But I am not falling off this time. I know it is a minor setback and that it WILL go down. Gonna put a sticky note on my mirror saying "It will go away!" Maybe if I see it enough I'll remember it more. haha

2006-05-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

I feel like a ping pong ball. My weight keeps bouncing above and below 230 lbs. Finally thought I had it down below. Then I had to go an eat again.....lol. What I mean by this was - I went shopping hungry. When I do this I have this HUGE tendency to buy junk food or food with a high caloric content. And then of course I eat it in the car.

Well my bed is calling but I will be back with updates from what the lbs read tomorrow morning. Hopefully less than I fear it may be.

Nite and hugs. :)

2006-05-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

Why is there no "tired" in the mood category?? Well that is what I am which makes me quiet be default. lol Missed exercising this morning. I went to bed around 11:30 and my neighbors oh so kindly woke me up from 1:30 to 3 am this morning with their on again off again arguments. What I get for sleeping with the windows open last night. grrrrrr.

Finally got back to sleep and the alarm went off at 5:30. I reset it for 6:30. I needed my sleep more than the exercise. Especially if I was going to have one extra kid besides my two. So then the kids gets dropped off only to get picked up an hour later because his mom is not feeling well. I say no problem he was only here for an hour. *yippee*

So why do I still feel like I am dragging butt even though I got to take a small nap after lunch time?? Needed to vent. It ticks me off that I missed my second day of exercise. But maybe it is a good thing because my leg is killing me right now. Well gotta go to the bus and pick up the monsters.......errrrrr......I mean my kids. :D

I did it....

2006-05-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well I woke up this morning at 5:30 am and got out of bed and actually exercised. I walked a mile in about 30 minutes. It is the Walk the Walk with Leslie Sansone. I love this workout and I figured if i am going to start somewhere it should be here. I love the fact that I can start out at one mile and then go to a two mile workout if I want to or have the time. I also have a few others (like 10 haha) that I have looked at over the past three years. I have a wide variety, from Sweatin' to the Oldies 1 & 2 to Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease to Masala Bhangra Bollywood verson. And I was fine until I crashed and fell asleep at about 9 this morning. Guess I need to get to bed earlier than 12 am if I am going to get up at 5:30 am. But I got right up - only hit snooze once so it wouldn't wake up my hubby. haha :)

I figure if I continue to get up in the morning and do the workout I will hit that 15 lbs lost mark in no time. I only have 2 more lbs to go. And it has only taken me half the year. :) I have actually been letting the kids outside more and going out with them. Where we live there are at least 5 registered sex offenders so my kids are never out of my sight. So if that meant we spent a lot of time indoors last year that is what we did. But now that they have made quite a few friends - I don't wnat themm all in my small house so we end up at the park a lot. Plus that cuts down on the arguments and on my stress.

Now that the weather is much nicer here (read upper 60s today and sunny) I think I am going to start walking up to the bus stop with the kids instead of driving them - save my gas and get exercise at the same time. I had walked it out atthe beginning of the year to walk to the bus stop it is 1/4 mile if I remember right. So I would end up walking about a mile in a day with the two trips a day. Then on Wednesdays it would be a mile and a half to get the kindergartners at noon. Which is good for another month and then school is out. Hrmmmmm - what to do then? Prolly switch back to using my stair stepper.

*Reply to comment. Christina - thank you! It is much easier to go by 15 lbs incriments I do have to agree. Which of course makes me happy because I only have 2 lbs to go like I saidbefore to hit my first 15 lbs lost mark. Hopefully it will be all downhill from there. :)

Well hope all of you are enjoying this lovely spring day. I think we might venture up to the park here in a little while to see if it is dried enough from all the rain for the kids to play there.