New Year ~ New Look!!

HAPPY 2008!!!

I've given my blog a face lift in hopes that it will encourage me to blog regularly! I feel compelled to share with you my GOALS for 2008! Yes, I'm calling them GOALS, not resolutions!

1. To be a better child of God.

2. Start a budget plan and eliminate debt! The first step to this will begin on 1/16, I'll be attending a Christian Financial Class that is provided by Crown Financial which is offered at my church on Wednesday nights.

3. Start a Family!! This is something that Jay and I have prayed about and considered for 2 years and we've decided it's time. So, please continue to pray that we will follow God's plan and take his path in this journey.

4. To continue with my Weekly Bible Study and also to continue to be faithful in my daily quiet time.

I'll keep you updated on how I'm maintaining each of my GOALS!!

I wish each of you a blessed 2008!!!

Fit4Life Friday - Week 2

It's Friday and you know what that means, time to weigh in and set new goals!!


I'm really pumped, I got on the scales this morning and they reported 166.6, Woo Hoo!! That's a loss of 3.6 pounds in one week!! I'm so motivated now.



Week 2 Stats:

Starting weight: 175 lbs.
Current Weight: 166.6lbs.
Weekly change: -3.6lbs.
Total loss: 8.4lbs.
Goal weight: 145 lbs.



Let's review week 1's Weight Loss Goals:
Drink at least 48 ounces of water a day - this still needs some work


Stick to my weekly menu plan - we get a gold star this week, the only night that was changed was last night and instead of breakfast we had BLT's with home-grown tomatoes


Write down everything that I eat with its point value / only eat my 22 points a day - this went well until Wednesday...


Get to the gym 3 times per week - yeah, not so much, haven't darkened the doors this week


Now, let's review week 1's Better Me Goals: (these are some things that I’ve been struggling with and could use some encouragement with)


Being faithful with my daily quiet time. (not letting other things take this time away from me) - this went well for several days straight then fell off for a few days, but I'm back on it strong


Using my “at home” time more wisely: doing a few things each evening after work, rather than cramming ever thing into Saturday and Sunday and never feeling like I have a day off. - not so much, dirty laundry is piled up to be washed, clean laundry is waiting patiently to be put away, floors haven't been swept. I totally failed on this goal this week.


Being a better steward of the money and talents that God has blessed me with: setting and following a monthly budget, volunteering at church, etc. I started teaching the 1 and 2 year old Sunday School class last Sunday. What an experience. I'm really enjoying this and can't wait for more. Money and budgeting hasn't been bad this week.





On to Week 2's goals:


Weight Loss Goals:

• Keep drinking at least 48 oz. of water a day


• Stick to my menu plan and 22 points a day


• GYM (go there and workout)

Better Me Goals:

• Continue with quiet time


• Work on nightly chores


• Continue with budgeting

Hope you all have a great weekend. And I can't wait to see every one's progress with their Fit4Life Friday goals!!!

As always a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to DEEDRA for hosting Fit4Life Friday!!!

Fit4Life Friday - Week 1

Today begins Fit4Life Friday!! Deedra at Nspired by Faith is hosting Fit4Life Friday as a way for us to encourage each other, not only in weight loss, but more importantly in healthy life style changes and in becoming a better “you”.

I’ve been posting my weekly goals and started posting my weekly menu this week and today I’m going to do something that I’m a little uncomfortable with, I’m going to post my weight “stats”. (I think this will be a HUGE accountability point.) I’ll post these each Friday in conjunction with my new weeks goals. Those of you who have been with me for the last few weeks know that I’d been doing my official weigh in on Sunday, but after 3 weeks with no change, I think Friday will be a better day for me. I tend to do really well with my goals during the week and slip a little on the weekends, and then I would weigh on Sunday, only to be disappointed. So here goes my first Fit4Life Friday set of goals.

Week 1 Stats:
Starting weight: 175 lbs.
Current Weight: 170.2 lbs.
Weekly change: 0
Total lose: 4.8 lbs.
Goal weight: 145 lbs.

Weight Loss Goals:

• Drink at least 48 ounces of water a day (I know this is less than the suggested intake, but this is a huge undertaking for me)
• Stick to my weekly menu plan
• Write down everything that I eat with its point value / only eat my 22 points a day
• Get to the gym 3 times per week
  

Better Me Goals: (these are some things that I’ve been struggling with and could use some encouragement with)

• Being faithful with my daily quiet time. (not letting other things take this time away from me)
• Using my “at home” time more wisely: doing a few things each evening after work, rather than cramming ever thing into Saturday and Sunday and never feeling like I have a day off.
• Being a better steward of the money and talents that God has blessed me with: setting and following a monthly budget, volunteering at church, etc.
  

Wow, I’ve searched deep down today and look what I’ve come up with, some pretty high standards that I’m asking you to hold me accountable for, are you up for the challenge? I hope so; I’m looking forward to all of your words of encouragement and wisdom.

Happy Fit4Life Friday!! And thanks to Deedra for hosting!!!

Week 3's wrap up

This week was not a good one for dieting, with the aforementioned birthday lunch at work, Jay’s Birthday and Father’s Day celebrations with both my parents and Jay’s, the scale was not kind for my Sunday weigh in. I have 1.8 pounds to re-lose… I hate when I have a plan that is working and I stray from it, but as Michele commented on my previous weight loss post the great thing about WW is you can pick up right where you left off.

So for this week I’ve already planned our dinner menu for the entire week with enough leftovers that I can have lunch every day, (that was a huge part of my problem last week, no dinner planning. We ate junk for dinner and then I had to “find” something for lunch the next day.) I’ve made myself a chore list (to keep me active at home and cut down on the TV/snack time) and I’m just about to make a “workout” list of thing to achieve at the gym.

So there you have it: THIS WEEK THERE WILL BE NO EXCUSES.

Here are my Week 4 goals:

• Use my lists to stay on track
• Drink at least 48 ozs. of water per day
• 3 days at the gym
• Only eat the allowed amount of points
• Write down everything when it’s eaten with its point value
• Lose 2 pounds
  

I hope everyone has a successful weight loss week.

Week 2's Wrap Up!

WOW, what an exhausting weekend. I can't believe that tomorrow is already Monday. Jay and I left yesterday morning about 10:30 a.m. heading to his parents for the night. We arrived there about 1:00, we only stopped for a quick bite to eat. Lunch is where my struggle started... The only place to eat was McDonald's, I was very good, I had a Happy Meal with only 4 chicken nuggets, fries and diet coke. When we arrived at Nana and Papa's we attuned a small birthday party for one of the nephews, yeah, I know what your thinking, but stop, I was good, AGAIN!!! I only had a small piece of cake AND I forfeited the chocolate ice cream. So, birthday party winds down about 4:30p.m. and family reunion kicks up about 6:00 p.m. Thanks to Nana for baked chicken, green beans, corn on the cob and a small piece of bread. I did splurge and have some dessert, it was a chocolate chip, vanilla wafer, pudding - yummy, yummy, yummy dessert. And get this the label said "sugar free" - HA that was my ticket. I know that sugar free doesn't always mean low cal., but hey I was at a family reunion with IN-LAW distant relatives - give a girl a break!!!! (Sugar-free chocolate chip vanilla wafer, pudding - yummy was the strongest thing I could find - trust me, we looked) So, anyway, I've digressed again, that was that for meals on Saturday. I'm thinking Sunday is going to be a breeze, until I see Nana getting out the breakfast fixin's - powder-sugar covered donuts, cinnamon-sugar covered donuts, fried apple pies (from a local N. Ga. apple orchard) and sticky buns... GREAT I'm doomed. We leave the reunion location and go to the house where were to sleep - fast forward to Sunday AM. Jay and I decided that we'd skip Nana's version of breakfast and we went to Waffle House (I know, your thinking NOT MUCH BETTER, well give me a minute to explain) I opted for 1 single waffle with a little bit of butter and some syrup. I'm at the Waffle House and did not have bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs OR grits. Does a girl get a pat on the back??!?!? So we finish breakfast and head over to the reunion were lunch is served at 11:45 - Hello, do they not realize that I just ate breakfast at 10??? SO, I skipped lunch - fired chicken tenders - Nana had no sympathy on my diet today. Anyway, we visited for a while and then left there at 1:30 and headed home (ah, home sweet home). Came home took a little nap, grabbed Hubby and headed out for dinner, where I had "Hawaiian Chicken" and a baked potato with butter and 2 very small sliced of bread. I have enough left overs to have lunch tomorrow, woo hoo.

OK, now that I've bored you with my weekend let me get down to business - in spite of my weekend with Nana's menu and Waffle House I still lost 2 pounds this week. YAY!!!!!

I think I'll stick with the same goals this week (they need some perfecting):

• 48 ozs. of water a day;
• gym 3 times and
• 2 more pounds lost

Good Luck to all of you May Day Challenge girls for your Tuesday weigh in. I'll be checking up on you.

Mid-Week Check Up

I've had a really good week, so far. We finally made it to the gym today. I did 1 mile on the treadmill, 10 LONG minutes on the bike, 35 crunches (with 40 lbs. of weight) and 3 reps on "twisty" machine (with 40 lbs of weight).

see picture for explanation of "twisty machine"

(OK, so it's called a Rotary Torso machine, la te da)

My challenge this week has been drinking my water. I met my goal Monday, only got 32 ozs. Tuesday and just a little over 32 ozs. today. I'm really going to work on that Thursday and Friday, getting in 48 oz for 2 days may be my incentive for a treat this week. I know there will be NO Mexican this week because we are spending the weekend with Jay's parents, thus I'll need another "light at the end of the tunnel" or treat at the end of the week - in this case. I picked up some new cereal that came recommended by Jodi, so I'll try that tomorrow and give you a review.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Week 1's Wrap Up

My, here it is Sunday already. I have great news for week 1's ending. I'm down 2.5 pounds from the first time I posted which was Saturday, May 26th. I've had a great week with my points, my exercise, however, did not go so well. I only made it to the gym once this week, but this is a new week!! I met my water goal everyday this week with the exception of Saturday and today. (Weekends tend to be a "deal breaker" for me). We didn't go out tonight for Mexican, but I did get a treat this week!! We went out last night with another couple and stopped off at and I indulged in a Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cup Sundae, and oh my was it sinful...

Tomorrow starts a new week of flex points and goals.

My goals for Week 2 are:

• to bump up the water consumption to 48 oz. a day
• to get to the gym THREE times with activities to include: at least 1.5 miles on the treadmill, 7-10 minutes on the bike, 35 crunches and 3 reps of "twists" - OK, so I don't know what the "twisty" machine is called, but I DO know that it gets rid of the dreaded love handles - and that's all that matters) :)
• to drop another 2 pounds

I'll check in during the week to let you know how it's going. Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Goals - Week 1

Well, here we go...

My goals for week 1 are:

• to drink at least 32oz. of water a day (I know that is only 1/2 of what I should drink, but this will be a HUGE step)
• to only eat my allowed amount of points a day (24)
• to exercise 3 times this week (I'd like this to consist of: 1 mile on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the bike and a few weights - time permitting)
• to lose 1-2 pounds

Wish me luck!! I'll check in daily to update my progress and I think Sunday will be my "weigh in days", there is a reason. We always go out to dinner on Sunday nights with our Sunday School class and we usually eat Mexican (ever tried to refrain from cheese dip when everybody else is eating it?!?). So, as an incentive if I meet my weekly goals by Sunday, cheese dip will be my reward. For those of you who don't know I'm easily bribed and work better/more diligently when there is a reward! (Keep that in mind).