I broke a killer sweat this morning with the extreme shed and shred. My t-shirt is soaked. I am extra motivated because my SIL at http://alitheincrementalist.blogspot.com/ came up with the idea to have a weight loss competition between her, my BIL, husband’s cousin, his wife, J, and I. First challenge winner gets a drink bought for them by everyone else. Free drinks +competition=yes! On the agenda for the weekend are going to look at this adorable house, seeing my best friend who is home from pharmacy school, a grad party for another bestie, going to see one of the kids I babysit play a little league game, live music on Saturday night, and church on Sunday. Plus, some workouts squeezed in there! A busy weekend to say the least!

About the house. It is really small, but it is just my style and an excellent price. J and I talked, and it would be perfect for about 3-5 years. At the price it is at, we could possibly buy it, the plot of land we would like to eventually build on, and have both payed off in about 5 years. If this worked out this way, we could sell the house for our down payment on a big house, or use it as a rental property. It would be perfect! It has a beautiful front porch, nice backyard, hardwood floors and has the cute, cottage charm that I absolutely love. Why I am saying it is a starter home, is it only has 2 bedrooms and one bathroom. Definitely no room to grow but it has a large living room, spacious kitchen, beautiful sun-room, big dining room, and an unfinished basement and attic storage. I am already a little bit in love with this house and want to start adding my touches to it asap. It has tons of character and charm.

Finally, just because I am a proud big sister, you should definitely check out the Daughtry cover my brother did because I think he is pretty awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uiIPpxb9h8

“Mother’s Day is a day of appreciation and respect. I can think of no mothers who deserve it more than those who had to give a child back.”

-Erma Bombeck

While I don’t know about the “who deserve it more” part (tons of mothers out there who work hard, deal with difficulties, are the rocks of their families and they deserve all the praise, respect, and honor in the world), but Mother’s Day didn’t pass by without it being on my mind, without me wondering how different things would have been.

Disclosure, this is a little TMI.  If you are still reading, you know how lots of people say that you don’t lose weight while you are on your period, well mine is about the week before and the week of.  I started yesterday, and about five days before I start, I get so hungry.  Like, eat everything in sight, give me a cookie, some ice cream, fried everything, leave me the hell alone, and LET ME HAVE THAT COOKIE, DAMMIT!  (Did I mention I turn into a raging slight bitch during that time?)  Anyways, this starts about five days or six days before I start my period and tapers off a little through the first couple of days of the actual Aunt Flo, and then resolves completely by about mid-way.  This week I have (mostly) conquered the worst days to try to eat healthy for me of the month.  I only gave into the GIVE ME THE COOKIE, DAMMIT really once, and while I still didn’t lose any weight, the fact that I have not found any means that I should expect to see a couple pound drop by the end of the week since my body hangs on to every drop of water like I will never drink another drop during these seven or eight days.

Anyways, I know that was a little TMI, and I just wrote a whole paragraph on my period, but this is a weight loss/healthy living blog, and I think part of that is including all the things that make an impact on weight loss.  I also realize that the last sentence was quadruple compounded (not really a term I am sure) and probably a terrible sentence.  I off to make an egg sandwich, do a little laundry, 30 day Extreme Shred, and go to a meeting for my teaching job!  Husband has a HUGE interview today at a really awesome school!  This school would be absolutely wonderful to teach at, so wish him luck and say a prayer for him today.

I only work Thursday and Friday this week, and I don’t work at all the next couple of weeks so it is time to get sir-us (weird, I know, but it’s how I say it in my head).  I have been working hard at it, but I am going to really kick it up for the rest of the summer, especially the next two weeks.  How fortunate am I that my job I will be starting in the fall is one that allows the whole summer off?  I currently do not have any kids, any real daytime responsibilities or commitments, so I am going to take full advantage.  I am not going to set unreasonable, no way I can accomplish goals, but they are going to be challenging.  On days where I am not working at the pharmacy, I am going to get at least 2 hours of exercise in.  Two hours is nothing out of a whole day when I literally have not much else to do.  If I can get in more, I am going to do it!  There is also going to be a lot of fruit eating and water drinking.  I really want to take off as many pounds as possible before vacation. 

This weekend, we had a relaxing night at home on Saturday night with some chocolate covered strawberries and movies.  Sunday after church we went to the park down by the ferry and had a cookout complete with cornhole, throwing the softball around and a little pick-up football.  It was a great weekend filled with lots of good family time.

I am going to be writing about some new opportunities that I have just learned about today for my teaching job.  I will learn more details tomorrow and can’t wait to share them!

Things I Love About Today:
it’s Friday, getting off work at 2, sunshine, fro-yo with strawberries, being excited about the long workout I am going to have this afternoon, quality time with the husband and family

Did anyone ever watch the school house rock multiplication videos? 3, is the magic number.  I am down another 3 pounds! I was honestly dreading getting on the scale this morning.  I hadn’t lost any weight in a while and when I woke up, my hands were really swollen and puffy.  I was expecting to see weight gain.  I was so shocked/surprised/freaking ecstatic to see that another 3 pounds had came off, and while retaining water this morning.  This got me excited enough to go for a jog/walk before work this morning, which I am going to have to wrap this up to go do.  Start the day off right and have a great one!

Just wanted to check in with a couple of things:

1) Did the Extreme Shed and Shred= I am dying.  Especially since I jogged/walked before hand.

2) Our outing to Margaritaville was a diet success.  Got the 95 calorie margartia, but I just didn’t like the taste for some reason.  I thought it might be cause it was low-cal, but I took a sip of J’s and didn’t like it either?  Both J and Chad thought it tasted delicious, so it was just me for whatever reason.  Anyways, I ordered the grilled tilapia on a whole wheat bun with two pickle spears and green beans.  It was even more delicious than J’s nachos (I had one bite of them).  I don’t know why I don’t order healthy all the time?  There has never been an instance where I have ordered something healthy from a restaurant and regretted it.  Tonight was particulary devine.  The fish was seasoned perfect and the green beans had an excellent flavor!  So good.

I’m going to have to make sure to find time to fit in my exercise tomorrow.  I will probably just get in the 20 minute Shred, but I will really have to push myself to do it after a long day at work.

Goodnight followers!  Sad to see this off day end, it’s off to work I go tomorrow.

I struggled at the end of last week.  I ate out several times in the last week.  While I think people can eat out and lose weight, I really believe that you can’t very much.  Therefore, I am going to try to limit it to once during the week (not including weekends).  Last week, I had Mexican food twice, outback, chick-fil-a, sushi and at a local (I think it’s local anyways) wing joint.  I made good choices twice out of all those meals.  I did well with all the meals I had at home or packed for lunch and didn’t have any extra snacks or treats.  The key to me making good choices when I eat out is having a firm decision on what I am going to order before I even get there, and I don’t even open the menu when I get there.  I also order first so I don’t listen to what other people are getting and change my mind.  When I do that, I make good choices and stay on track.

I also struggled with exercising last week.  I was tired a lot and these dizzy spells are really killing me.  No excuse though for not cranking out the exercise.  I did well yesterday eating a salad for lunch and for dinner!  This morning, I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and Iplan onWILL try to go for a run as long as a possibly can followed by a little walking (this will probably last about 10-15 minutes) and do Jillian Michaels Extreme Shed for the first time—this one lasts 45 minutes.  If I haven’t collapsed by then, I might go to Y and do the eliptical. 

Speaking of eating out, I feel the need to put in a lot of exercise today because we are going to Margaritaville tonight.  I’m going to have the cheese burger n paradise and sub the fries with some veggies and one of their low cal margs.  Just one though!  Since this will be higher calorie than my usual dinner, I am going to make sure to get this exercise in.

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Keep on keepin’ on!

Yesterday, I was grumpy as all get out. Taking this from Miranda Lambert, if I were the 8th dwarf, I would be named Pissy. I was leaving for work and could not, COULD NOT, find my keys anywhere. I threw myself into a sweaty oblivion searching for them and remembered exactly where they were…in J’s car, which was with him at work. I was stranded. Luckily, one of my best friends had no class yesterday, and he was kind enough to drive about 45 minutes round trip to come get me and take me to work. Best friend ever! This extravaganza led to a grumpiness that lasted until about 1:00. Then I was good to go!

I haven’t exercised in a couple of days. I have been having a ton of trouble with my feet and have been trying to let them have a break. I will be back on it tonight with the shred though. My eating has still been great, and I have still been logging everything I eat. A follower recommended that I try to not let a ton of time go between eating meals to help with my headaches, and I really think that has worked! I am having fewer of the headaches now, though I still have 1 or 2.

This weekend, we are going to look at some HOUSES! I am so stinking excited. One of them has a pool. How cool is that? Thinking about the fun of doing that should help push me through this dreary Thursday, combined with my Crystal Light “energy” packet in grape. Have you tried this stuff? It is amazing! Really helps propel me through the day!

I went to the doctor today.  I have been having these really weird headaches that only seem to last about 10-30 seconds and make me dizzy while blurring my vision.  Really weird, anyone out there ever had this happen?  Anyways, they didn’t really know what was up with me, so I need to return if it keeps up.  Could be sinuses, migraines, they dont really know.  While I was there, I talked about the anxiety issues that I have and was given a prescription for buspar.  I’m hoping that this helps me with that.

On a positive note, my blood pressure was normal! It had been a little high the last time I was at a doctor, so I am so glad that my hard work has paid off some and it has gone down.  While I was there, I talked to her about leaving medical school and how I felt going through that.  She told me she wished she had become a teacher.  Don’t know if she meant it or was trying to make me feel better. ;)

I’m getting ready to enjoy a nice tuna sandwich, then do Jillian’s extreme shred, which is a 45 minute workout.  I’m sure she is going to kick my butt all over the place, but it will be worth it.