Odds and Ends: I May be Odd, but it's Not the End

First things first, I wanted to say thank you so much for all the encouraging and kind comments left on my last post. They really meant a lot. This is the beauty of going public about your weight loss. When you get discouraged--as you most certainly will--there are people standing outside of the situation who can remind you just why you are doing this. So, thank you people standing out there! I really needed to hear what you said. Thank you.

It's weigh in day. I lost less than a pound. My fear is that loss is actually loss of muscle since I haven't been consistently doing P90X for the past week and a half. But whatever. A loss is a loss. And today I'll take it with a smile on my face. I'm now at 82.6 pounds lost total since May 2011 and 27.9 pounds lost in 2012.

I really have tried to ease up on myself. I'm giving myself a bit of time off. I'm still running this week, but no P90X workouts. There just isn't a lot of time for both as I get ready for Memorial Day weekend. Healthy eating is hit and miss. We'll hit it again after the holiday. I promise. It's not the end.

I bought the Zumba Exhilarate DVD set off of Amazon yesterday. I can't wait to try it! I have two more weeks of P90X left. I'm so done with it already, but my goal is to "complete" it and I will do it. Another goal is to try Zumba. I've never done it before, but I'm fairly certain I'm going to love it. I can't resist shaking my booty to some good music; it sounds like it's right up my alley. And thank you to my dear husband who gave me the green light to buy it as my Mothers' Day gift!

Speaking of music, this is my favorite running song today. I ran this morning just so I could run to this song. It pushed me right up the steep hill near my house at a sprint. WOO!



Lastly, make sure to check out my main blog, Hanging by a Silver Lining. I'm posting one of my favorite healthy recipes today: BBQ Chicken Salad. Easy, healthy, gluten and dairy free. Can't beat that!

Happy Wednesday to you all!

Slow and Steady Loses the Weight

Only 1.1 pounds lost this week, but that's 1.1 pounds in the right direction. I can deal with that.

This last week was a bit of a struggle eating wise. My son turned 7 on Friday and I just couldn't resist that piece of cake...or two...over the weekend. Ugh.

The thing is...even though I'm on a weight loss journey and I truly want to be successful I don't want to become such a Nazi about it that I can't relax and enjoy a little cake at a birthday party. Noshing on cucumber slices while everyone else eats cake sounds pretty ugly to me. There has to be a balance somewhere and I'm hoping to find that balance as I continue on.

In my defense, I didn't drink any pop or go crazy on all the other treats sitting around. And I made sure to get my workouts done as well as recording all my calories on myfitnesspal.com. That way I could eat cake and still stay under my daily calorie allowance. So...maybe that balance isn't as elusive as I think it is sometimes.

I'm still struggling with not eating sugar. And thanks to myfitnesspal.com I didn't realize how much salt I was eating everyday. I don't usually sprinkle salt on my food, but just the salt in the foods I eat is too much. Time to start buying all that reduced sodium, reduced fat, and no sugar added kind of stuff at the store. *sigh*

One thing I did really well this week: When I workout on the treadmill I put Pandora.com on my computer. After warming I walk to one song then run to one song. This week towards the end of the running songs I cranked up the treadmill and did sprints for about 10 to 30 seconds. I'm hoping this will push my performance out of my comfort zone.

One thing to improve on: Diet. I need to make better choices. Less sugar. Less salt. More veggies.

What I'm listening to this week: "Love You Like a Love Song" channel on Pandora.com.

How Many Calories Does the Happy Dance Burn?

First week of 2012=AWESOME!

I lost 7.2 pounds!

*happy dance*

I know not every week is or should be like that. But that first week of dedicated weight loss is always the funnest, isn't it?

Ahhh! 7.2 pounds! That's like a newborn baby. That's like almost a gallon of milk. That's like a strange movie from Will Smith.

For those of you who are going to ask--and I know you're going to--"How did you do it?", my answer is... The good old fashioned healthy way. Exercise and watching what I eat.

I worked out every day of the week except Sunday. Some days I walked/jogged/hiked on the treadmill. Some days I played Just Dance 3 on the Wii. One day I did Pilates. The workouts lasted anywhere from 30 minutes to almost an hour.

Food wise...I'm now using myfitnesspal.com to log my daily calories (and exercise). At first I was afraid it would be tedious, but now I feel it's kind of liberating. I know exactly what I can eat and how effective my exercise is. There's no guessing or second guessing. It's right there on my computer screen. I love it! (I'm "eveperks" by the way if you want to buddy up.)

That's it. No pills. No juice diets. No low carb program. Just counting calories and wiping sweat.

How was your first week of 2012?

What I'm listening to lately: Daft Punk and "Barbra Streisand" by Duck Sauce.