Fight of My Life

...to walk this morning!

Well, I don't know why this is so, but every time I "track" myself, it turns out to be a disaster! So NO more tracking!

The tracking leaves me with trying to "fill in all the boxes" which is sort of a scarcity mentality. But when I simply do my day, it is like I'm "collecting" activities, which for some reason, is better.

So...I'm eager to start walking and dancing again! I did one mile this morning. :)

Two Week Tracking Day 6

I'm so off!

Two Week Tracking Day 5

I'm just so mad at myself for staying up all night. It throws me off for a couple days. I didn't have a great day.

Two Week Tracking Day 4

Uh, today was really a bust. I visited my Mom all day, helping her with gardening tasks, and the day just wasn't my own. I didn't take my walk or dance because we had to leave early, but I did get lots of exercise, it was much easier to help her since I've been moving more! She made a salad for lunch along with a piece of pizza, but later on I got hungry. We had an ice cream "drumstick" around 5pm and then for dinner I had leftovers at home. There were TWO iced caramel mochas involved in the evening as well and some binging...I seem to have trouble with that when I become hungry...hmmmm.

Two Week Tracking Day 3

I did my walk and dancing again today-what a workout! It feels REALLY good to move!

We were out all afternoon running errands and ended up eating out, which was pretty much a disaster.

The foods I have the least control with are taco salad, cheesy chicken casserole and pizza. We had taco salad on Friday night and chicken casserole is scheduled for tomorrow night. Hmmmm.

On this morning's walk, I got thinking about the beef burritos coming tomorrow...honestly, I usually eat two burritos and heaps of rice. If I ate one burrito and one heap of rice, that would be good. I could take that amount and split it onto two plates, then I could feel like I had seconds. I might try that...

Two Week Tracking Day 2

Day 2 success! Almost all my water (it is difficult to drink and keep track of water while visiting friends), I ate three homemade cookies before I realized I should have had one or none, had my salad for dinner and ate a reasonable amount for lunch at friend's (cheese tortilla and broccoli salad) and DANCED!

This morning (Friday), I'm dragging. I trudged through a one mile walk in the rain with my earbuds popping out of my ears periodically. I'll my dance routine, though, because I'm really curious to see how it helps me and it is DOABLE cardio!

I'm also ready to get on the scale and start tracking that again since I'm expecting some weight loss. I can tell I feel better, any day without sugar is a good day and I've had several. Looking forward to a cozy, gray and rainy day with my kids.

Two Week Tracking Day 1

Yay, Day 1. Drank all my water, kept calories in check, walked and danced (!) for exercise AND I ate pizza for dinner!

This morning I'm tired, but looking forward to dancing soon.

WHOAH I Think I'm Onto Something!

After I wrote my last post about an hour ago, I posted this:

I've been searching online for exercises that I can do...I don't want to spend any money because after DDP Yoga that I'm not doing, I don't want to spend more money. I also recently bought a Praise Moves DVD, so I'm down about $90 so far. What can I do for free?

So the other day I found a site where the woman lost over 150lbs and she was able to do Les Mills Pump Workout at over 250lbs! So I've been looking at it, but I'm going to hold off for now because it is about $180 and comes with a barbell (more stuff).

I've been playing with the idea of dancing...I love dancing. So I've been looking at YouTube (as you know) but it just doesn't grip me. This morning I thought, "Oh, I better do five minutes of that dance video".

I didn't want to be bored, so I went off on my own, and what a trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!

I put together a playlist of some of my favorite "bouncy" tunes the other day. This morning I let it roll. I AM SWEATING and breathing and MOVING!

Here's what I did:
4:08 50 Ways to Say Goodbye by Train
2:53 Let's Dance by Vanessa Hudgens
2:43 Something That I Want by Grace Potter
3:35 Sexy Vampire by Fright Ranger
2:46 The Middle by Jimmy Eat World
3:00 Little Beggarman by Great Big Sea
4:21 Ashes by Embrace
7:35 Let's Go Crazy (Special Dance Mix) by Prince
3:01 I Want Candy (featuring Cody Simpson) by Hop
2:05 Dance With Me Tonight from "That Thing You Do" soundtrack
3:38 I Refuse by Josh Wilson

That's 40 minutes of exercise! WHAT?! I didn't want to stop! What is THAT all about! Did I say I'm sweating and moving and breathing-that means I'm BURNING CALORIES people!!!! At over 200lbs, just moving is a workout.

AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to do it again...maybe I'll do it tonight! What? Wanting to sweat and move and breathe and exercise twice a day for 40 minutes!??! HUH?

I took a video of myself because I want to remember my limited range of motion because I won't remember any of this when I get healthy...so here's a doozy, including big fat tummy! Lovely.

Stay tuned to see if this dancing thing sticks!

Right Where I Am

I didn't want to get up this morning, but that's nothing new. Once on the path, I was soooo glad I got up. It was about 52, cool and sunny with beautiful cloud patterns. On Friday, this lilac was near the end, I didn't have my camera when it was in full glory, the color and scent are fading. This morning the blossoms were 30% brown and shriveled, sigh.

I haven't been eating salads, haven't been doing the things I need to do. I've noticed the past two days, I've felt like I needed a nap in the afternoon. I've wandered from what the Lord is telling me to do.

Lord, I repent! I want your ways, not my ways. I want to give attention to my health and I know You want to work here.

For the next two weeks, I'm going to evaluate where I'm at...am I really walking most days? Am I drinking water? So I'll post today's info on tomorrow's post. I'm going to label the posts from May 16 to May 30: "Two Week Tracking".

I really want to do be done with this fat. The only way to do that is actually stay in my process and take it one thing at a time. I've been consumed with "getting back to my life" since we moved, but the Lord spoke to me recently that I wasn't "getting BACK", I needed to start again and move FORWARD from here. So this is a good place to start again, right where I am.

Daily Calorie Sheet Updated

I updated my daily calorie tracking sheet to include fiber and sugars. I think it is helpful to know both.

Here’s the Excel spreadsheet and PDF if you want one. I designed it to go into a 3-ring binder.
pdf: daily_calorie_tracking_sheet
excel spreadsheet: daily_calorie_tracking_sheet

links pdf:
http://spiritledweightloss.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/daily_calorie_tracking_sheet_may2013.pdf
links spreadsheet: http://spiritledweightloss.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/daily_calorie_tracking_sheet_may2013.xlsx

It Was a Dark and...

I got up again this morning! I'm walking consistently again! YAY!

A little after 7 o'clock this morning, the street lights were still on...it felt dark compared to yesterday's sun! I'm walked about .75 miles this morning, which is about half of what I'd like to be doing, but I'm thrilled to be getting out of bed again!

The Path

My son accompanied me this morning! That's my favorite! He hasn't ventured out with me since we moved and I had to do a lot of inviting, but he finally succumbed! Next time I ask, I'm hoping he'll come without too much persuasion since now he knows it is harmless.

I start my walk in an established neighborhood. Along the way, I transition into a newer neighborhood. This path is where the two meet. I've been wanting to walk down to the end and today was the day! It was OK, I don't know that I'd do it alone, it feels kinda isolated and I don't like that feeling, but it was nice to explore nonetheless.

Can You Swing It?

I did the salsa again today, but it is just too fast.

So, in search of beginner zumba moves, I found Donna Griffen. I LOVE the way she breaks it down. My body just doesn't move like this! BUT...I can totally follow her at half tempo. I'm shocked at what a nice little workout it is for me! I'm going to stick with it, even though I'm a complete dodo bird at the moves. Maybe in a month, I'll be a little more fluid.

As embarrassing as this is, one of my favorite movies is "Along Came Polly", not to mention "Meet The Parents"...I love Ben Stiller! Anyways, in Along Came Polly, there's some serious salsa dancing. When Javier is teaching Reuben how to dance, Reuben is so rigid and awkward. That's how I feel!

I'll just keep going...it would be SO fun to be able to move fast enough to actually dance like this! Just doing the moves slowly gives my core a little action-yay!

Had another great walk this morning!

25 Minute Mile

What a glorious morning! Saturday was 47° and today was 57° at 7am. I love this walk! Lots of pretty flowers (I need to find the camera battery!) and lots of sniffing the lilacs! This route took 25 minutes. I'm not going for speed (obviously), but I am going for consistency and this morning was fantastic because I awoke and got myself out the door again!

Last week, I experimented with doing some beginner salsa dance moves. I can do them!