Relief

So, I weighed in this morning and was down 1.5 pounds! What a relief! I am always so pissy when they write off my lack of weightloss as "water weight" but apparently they were right this time because I am back on track. I now have 11.5 to loose in 5.5 weeks, meaning I still have just over 2 pounds per week to loose. The good thing is, that this weekend is Labor Day weekend and if I manage to loose 1/2 a pound (which I don't know if I will since Mom and Dad will be here) I earn another 2 free weeks. This will make me feel much better! If I earn those two weeks, I will be finishing my "Balance" phase right before Italy. That would make me nervous seeing as though I would be on my own with no counselor or guidance for the first 12 days of my maintenance phase, but we are getting ahead of ourselves as I have to earn those two free weeks first...

Weekly review of goals

1.) Sticking to my diet religiously in order to loose the 14.25 pounds that I want to loose and reach my goal! Well, I did stick to my diet religiously (despite my intense desire to eat the Thin Mint cookies). If anything I overate on green veggies (but those are free). Unfortunately, I weighed in this morning and was at the same weight I was Friday (13pounds to go...). It is so frustrating! I try and try and try and NOTHING!  I seriously almost had another break down in the office this morning, but I sucked it up, said I would be perfect today, drink extra water, and use extra lemon and weigh in again tomorrow...{sigh}


2.) Work out three times a week at the gym. Tuesdays I will do a 30 minute Ab Blast. Wednesday morning I will do an hour of Power Yoga. Thursday afternoon I will do an hour of Zumba. Work out classes don't start until September 12 so I haven't been able to do this goal yet, but I did do an hour of power yoga on Wednesday. I always feel SO good afterwards!


3.) Walk Remy (my dog) for fifteen minutes down the Highline Canal at least 4 times a week (hopefully on those days that I don't work out). Remy and I went for a stroll once, but I did not hold up my three times a week :-( (it was only a half week though right?) This weekend though, I did get an amazing sale on some ShapeUp! tennis shoes. Now, when I walk Remy I will be getting double the exercise! I have heard nothing but good things about these shoes so for less than $30 I could not turn them down.


4.) Work Trinity (my horse) four mornings a week and ride three evenings a week. As I said in a previous post, Trinity lost a shoe so I wasn't able to keep up her workout routine. I did work her 3 mornings, but I don't like riding her without a shoe. 


5.) Wash my face, exfoliate, and moisturize twice a day. SUCCESS!

6.) Take the time to put on my make-up correctly every weekday morning. SUCCESS!


Wow, I thought that I have been doing really well this week, but as I look over this post I realize that I have not been as good as I though. Today starts a new week and I vow to complete each and every thing on this task list! My parents will be in town on Friday and I will even keep it up while they are here! I am so confidant that I am going to add two more goals:


7.) Take out my contacts every night SUCCESS!
8.) Wear my mouth guard every night SUCCESS!


So there you go...My first full week has begun...

Ripples Out!

So this post has a backstory...and is kind of long...so stick with me!

During one of my classes this past summer quarter I was discussing my obsession with grades with a fellow classmate (a PhD student). She told me not to worry about grades and not to let it have such an effect on me. I responded that it did have an effect on me because it was judgement of my quality as a student. She sort of half laughed and said "I was just like you until this exact point in my Master's program". I looked at her in, I guess, an odd manner and she proceeded to tell me about her adviser. She had always worried about grades and other matters and really let them bother her. One day her adviser say her down and told her to imagine that life was like a lake and she was a rock thrown in to the middle of that lake. The ripples that are created represent each event that happens in life. "Look at those ripples" he told her. "Do any of them push the rock? Do any of them affect the rock? No, the ripples radiate out from the rock, but none of the ripples can change where the rock stands in the lake and what the rock is" She told me to think about this. No life event can rock who I am at the core or what I stand for. Interesting...

Last night I got a call that my parents are coming to visit next weekend for Labor Day. My mom has a remote office based in Denver and has to come up to do some training and stuff so my dad bought a ticket and they are going to stay the long weekend with me. I am SO excited. Yes, I saw them in Texas last weekend, but they haven't seen my new house, met my friends, seen the horse or dog, or really seen Denver so I am really excited that they are coming. Mom mentioned that they would get a hotel and I said No they could stay in my bed and I would stay on the couch! I have two evaporative coolers in my house (one doesn't evaporate...so is really just a high powered fan) and the Colorado nights are cool so it would be fine! I was back inside from talking to Mom no longer than 15 minutes and the fan motor on my cooler went out. I was SO upset. This cooler is a replacement the company sent when they evaporation mechanism on the first cooler went out! I have had it exactly a month...ONE MONTH! I went online to get the number and, you guessed it, they are only open Monday-Friday 5am-6pm PACIFIC time. So, I am without a cooler for the weekend. I can handle that, but I want my parents to stay with me and therefore I need a replacement ASAP.

I was extremely upset and moping around. I wanted to EAT! Luckily, I forcasted that this would eventually happen and I have nothing "snacky" in my house, the joys of living alone...This did not stop me from wondering around the kitchen and staring at the fridge and pantry. You see, I have this box of Thin Mints that my boyfriend bought when he was visiting in March (yay Girl Scout Cookies). Well, he forgot to take them home so I froze them for him as a sort of surprise for the next time he visits. I HATE Thin Mint Cookies (Yes, Crucify me now), but last night I was about ready to rip in to that box of disgusting minty cookies and eat myself in to a better mood. Instead, I put on my PJs and laid down on the couch to watch reruns of Greys Anatomy. I said f*** my nightly routine, I want to go to bed. Not 10 minutes later I found myself pacing the kitchen again. Finally, I remembered my friends story (see you knew it would come full circle eventually...). I thought, okay so my cooler broke for the second time in 3 months, am I really letting this throw me so out of whack?

So, I bucked up, I grabbed some green bell peppers for a snack, I washed my face, I exfoliated, I moisturized, I brushed my teeth, I put my mouth guard in, and I took my contacts out. Laying in bed last night I felt so good about myself! I slept great knowing that I did not let my routine suffer and I did not trash my diet for some cookies that I would not enjoy and did not need.

The morale of the story folks, is to always remember that your ripples go out, not in!

Healthy, but OVERLY decadent!

So, the other day I made a dessert to die for. It was extremely healthy, on plan, and felt sinful! Therefore, I thought I would share the recipe with you today! I hope you enjoy it!

1 peach

2 packet no calorie sweetener 

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 Vanilla Thermosnack (or just low fat vanilla pudding for those of you non-Slimgenic folk!)

I started by cutting the peach into 8 wedges. I placed these on a greesed baking sheet and sprinkled the sugar and cinnamon over the top. I then placed the peaches under the broiler for approximately 10 minutes. While these were broiling I made the vanilla thermosnack as directed and placed it in the fridge to set. When the peaches were done I put them in a bowl and then covered them with the pudding, letting the pudding "melt" around the peaches. Enjoy!

Day 1

My homepage is iGoogle and I have a inspirational quote/success tip that pops up each day. Todays quote was:

" It's never too late to become the 

person you might have been"

-George Elliot

I thought that this was extremely appropriate in regards to my new adventure that I am embarking upon!

So yesterday and half of today has gone off without a hitch. Yesterday, after my mini meltdown in the Slimgenics office, they challenged me to do a few things:

• Eat a whole grapefruit each morning
• Eat more meat (I will miss my eggs and Greek yogurt)
• DO NOT weigh-in on my own scale in between weigh-in days

As most of you know I am a serious rule follower. If there is a rule then I have an inherent NEED to follow it. In the past they have suggested that I put my scale away; however, this time they said I have to put it away. So, last night I packed it away at the top of my closet so that I would not be tempted to weigh-in every time I went into the bathroom. This created a bit of anxiety this morning as I missed stepping on that scale and recording the number; however, it was also extremely liberating. I made it through eating the grapefruit (even though I am not a huge fan of grapefruit) and ate chicken for lunch and plan to eat chicken for dinner. Apparently, chicken has 54grams of protein while eggs only have 9...that is a SIGNIFICANT difference! I weigh-in tomorrow so we will see if there has been a change. Oh please let there have been a change!

Last night and this morning I did well on all of my other goals as well. I even took out my contacts and wore my mouth guard (I clench my jaw at night, resulting in headaches in the mornings). I haven't been doing either of these short tasks at night. I have been continuously waking up with headaches in the mornings, known why had the headaches, and yet did I take out my contacts or put in my mouth guard. Of course not, why would i do that? Unfortunately, Trinity threw a shoe last night, so my goal of working her won't get accomplished until next week. She is doing so great though. I will post pictures soon! 

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Background

So why do I need a new life direction?
This past weekend I spent an amazing 60 hours in Texas with my family. This trip really helped to open my eyes to a number of things. Since moving away from home (who am I kidding...since I was born) I have been letting not only my health, self-respect, and self-confidence slide, but I have also recessed in to a shell of privacy that I have had difficulty letting people in to. So far, since May, with the help of Slimgenics, I have lost 23 pounds in 12 weeks. Now, originally I was supposed to be a full 27.25 pounds down by this point. This realization really began to upset and depress me. I have worked so hard to get to where I am; however, it was not hard enough. Luckily, due to my diligence, I have earned an extra 7 weeks and lowered my goal another 10 pounds. This means that I have 7 weeks (including this week...and it is Wednesday) to loose 14.25 pounds. Now this seems harmless enough, but I have been stuck hovering, bouncing, yo-yoing around the 22-23lb lost mark for almost three weeks. I am tired, I am cranky, and I am ready to reach my goal!
When I got to work today I had several meetings and then a significant amount of down time. I began thinking of all the things that I did, or pledged to do this past weekend and decided that this time I would follow through. So far my list includes:

1.) Sticking to my diet religiously in order to loose the 14.25 pounds that I want to loose and reach my goal!
2.) Work out three times a week at the gym. Tuesdays I will do a 30 minute Ab Blast. Wednesday morning I will do an hour of Power Yoga. Thursday afternoon I will do an hour of Zumba.
3.) Walk Remy (my dog) for fifteen minutes down the Highline Canal at least 4 times a week (hopefully on those days that I don't work out).
4.) Work Trinity (my horse) four mornings a week and ride three evenings a week.
5.) Wash my face, exfoliate, and moisturize twice a day.
6.) Take the time to put on my make-up correctly every weekday morning.

I will come back to this list every Sunday night  to assess the completion of each goal as well add new goals. I think that taking this step to make a commitment to myself is important. My family is traveling to Italy in November and I want to look awesome, feel awesome, and be confident as I embark on the first test of my new life! This gives me 85 days to develop these new habits and become the person that I know I can be!


So why did I decide to start a blog? 
This is a question I have been asking myself as I have begun this process. I think that there are several reasons that I think a blog will be effective as I embark on the path to a new an improved life:

1.) My family and most of my close friends live far away and are my biggest support system. By blogging on a daily (or semi-daily) basis I will have a means to communicate to them about my process!
2.) Blogging will help me to stay accountable to myself and others. As sad as it is, I need someone to stay accountable to, and in the past I know that listing myself as the "accountability queen" is not only hilarious, it is down right ridiculous.
3.) Lately I have been following several people's blogs and they have inspired me. If I could be an inspiration to other people then I would consider that a success!