Okay

I did go running this morning so that counts for something right? My diet was okay but I felt like I was all over the place today. BLAH! I'm with Meliss and Kristi... I'll take a pass! Saturdays are SO HARD cause my whole fam is home messing up my plans! ;o)

The "Y"

Today I hiked up to the "y" with my dad, all 4 boys, and my Uncle Mike. I've never done it before and I'm sure that had it not been SCORCHING hot, and had they not been bringing up new dirt, it would have been a fantastic hike. As it was.... there was so much loose dirt that I spent a lot of time trying not to slip and fall on my butt, while sweating profusely from the heat of the day and the heat of carrying my baby in a wrap against my body. LOL! I actually thought I might throw up at one point!

I survived. I didn't fall on my butt, and my boys did an amazing job! Thank goodness my Dad and Uncle were there. They helped a ton by switching off carrying the 3 year old and my dad also took turns with the wrap and the baby!!

Here's a pic of us at the top. Don't mind the white legs. Seriously.. they don't burn or tan... just GLOW!!! AHH!!!

10 days left....

Okay.. so I decided yesterday to follow Melissa's lead and blog everyday. That being said.... I didn't blog yesterday. So this one is for yesterday.

Life seems so chaotic lately. I am very worried about how I'm going to survive this summer and praying that everyone comes out alive.

I am getting very eager for this competition to end. I just feel like I'm pretty psycho about it. I can't wait to lose weight and feel good about it, and not stress about days when things don't seem to be working. In the same breath, I am afraid that I might lose motivation which is why I have decided to run a 1/2 marathon on August 29th. This will require me to run AT LEAST 4 days a week. I also am going to start doing weight training again and try to start toning this much smaller body of mine.

I'm counting points and getting my workouts in. Here's to dropping 5 lbs in the next 10 days! ;o)

The 10k

So yesterday I ran my first "official" 10K! Melissa came out to cheer me on and brought her camera along! THANKS SO MUCH MELISSA FOR TAKING THESE PICS!!

My hubby says I look like I'm walking in this pic (I'm the short one). Promise I wasn't walking! :o) Crossing the finish line.
A few minutes after the run. Still not really comfortable with the whole "smiling for pictures" thing! The 10k was an adventure in itself. I did meet my goal and finished just under 68 minutes. It was fun to read the mile marker signs that said things like: YES, THIS IS ONLY MILE ONE! Mile 3, IF YOU WOULD HAVE SIGNED UP FOR THE 5K YOU'D ALMOST BE DONE! Or Mile 4, I'm on cruise control now! It felt great to be out there running and even though I'm still VERY slow... I'm definitely going to be running a half marathon or 2 this season. (Like September/October!) Anyone want to join me? It would be fantastic to have a running/training partner!! ;o)

Holy Toledo Batman!

These are my 2 youngest boys!

Dominic (3)

Colton (1)

They are sweet and cute and WILD!! On Tuesday we had pack meeting for cub scouts and went on a hike. My hubby was working late so I ended up hiking about 2 miles with my 3 year old Dom on my back in a hiking backpack and my 1 year old Cole on my front in a baby wrap thing. I had a lot of weight on me and that's when I had my Biggest Loser moment. As I carried the two of them up the side of the hill and someone asked me if I wanted help with them, I realized that the weight I was carrying, those 2 boys combined is LESS than what I've lost in the last 4.5 months. It was just a fantastic feeling to know that I have come this far, but in the back of my mind I couldn't help but think about all the time I've wasted. HONESTLY, losing weight has been an amazing journey. It hasn't been easy, but it hasn't been hard either. It is like a gift. I am not just "losing weight" but I'm TAKING BACK CONTROL of my life! I wonder what made this time different. (For all of us out there who have "tried" over and over.) The only thing I can come up with is that I decided not to "try" this time. This time.... I decided to DO IT!

Practice!!

SO.. since I signed up to run 10k I figured I should probably take on at least a 5 mile run. I didn't want to do it too close to race day which made today the day! I got on www.mapitnow.com and mapped out an additional loop to add 1.75 miles, (cause I have a run I do 4 times a week that is 3.25 miles). I live in Harvest Hills. The important word here, "HILLS" means something... nothing here is flat SO.. I generally run at least 2/3 of my stuff up hill. Anyway.... I headed out and after I finished my normal run I headed back up the hill. I had been dreading the additional loop because it involved running up the steepest part of the hill a second time. Once I get to the top, it's always easy to come down and as I headed back down, I decided that instead of running down a really steep hill (I avoid it at all costs for fear I will injure my knee) I would add an extra 3/4 of a mile and go a different way. I had ran about 5.5 miles when I remembered my neighbor had told me that a lap around my block is .34 miles. What the heck right? So I ran the next .25 miles to my block and then ran around the block, I figured... I might as well get 6 miles in at this point! I finished in 68 minutes!!! 6 miles in 68 minutes!! It felt awesome. Can't wait for the 10k on Saturday. If I can run up and down my hills, a flat 10k course should be cake! RIGHT?!!

10k?

HMMM.... so... I've never "technically" ran a 10k in my life, although when I was in high school I ran cross country and occasionally we would do like a 7 mile run. (FYI I graduated high school 11 years ago! And was a good 45 lbs less! ;o) ) WELL... I've been thinking a lot since I ran the 5k on Saturday and I really want to run a half marathon this fall. There is a 10k this weekend in Orem and I have pretty much convinced myself that I should go for it. Worse case scenario... I walk some... but I'm sure I could run it if I just take a slower pace. I figure it won't kill me which means... it will make me stronger RIGHT?

Update: I REGISTERED!! Come saturday morning I'll be running all over Orem, UT!

5k day

YAY!! The 5k was a lot of fun. It was VERY hilly and I wish I would have taken some time to look UP and see the beautiful gardens, instead I spent a lot of time staring at the ground and/or trying to figure out how to get around people. All in all... it was awesome! I finished in 30:24!! 5+ minutes faster than last time!

5k number 2!

On Saturday Melissa and I will be running our 2nd 5k since we started the comp! I've been running 4-5 times a week in my very hilly neighborhood to train for it! I got on www.mapitnow.com and actually mapped out what I am running to calculate the distance and so... I now have my very own 5k that I run frequently! I really enjoy the run and I time myself when I run it with my fancy new (generic) mp3 player that has a stopwatch on it. I usually try not to eat much before I run because I don't want to burp up yucky stuff but tonight my run got pushed back a couple hours and so I HAD to eat. I cannot believe what a difference eating a whole meal before I ran made. I cut 3 minutes off my time! HOLY GEEZE!! So I suppose that there really is something to that "carb load the night before a big run" theory. Hmm.. maybe tomorrow night I will have some lasagna! YUMM!!! With french bread! ;o)

Modeling healthy behavior

So Katie mentioned that she is trying to remember that she is modeling healthy behavior for her children. I think this is a great way to look at it. I can tell that I am modeling something... I am the only "girl" in my house. I have 4 sons and a hubby. My 3 year old likes to point out the difference between boys and girls and recently started saying things like, "girls don't eat candy huh mom? Girls don't eat ice cream! Girls don't eat cake!" LOL! Maybe I'm modeling self control or MAYBE... he's really confused as to exactly what my role is these days!

Hiding the scale

Okay.. so I have officially had to put my scale up somewhere very high that would take great effort to reach it. Why? Because my obsession with weighing myself has become incredibly unhealthy. I would weigh myself EVERY time I went into the bathroom. Before and after I went potty, every time I brushed my teeth, changed my clothes, or looked in the mirror. I started showering like twice a day just so I could weigh myself without any clothes on. Then when I didn't see a smaller number I would FREAK OUT and try to figure out what I'm doing wrong, and what I could change. I think that the scale will be my demise. The first month of this comp I did awesome and I didn't own a scale! So... because I am determined to go out with a bang, I decided that what I really need to do to reach my goal is to stick to what I'm doing and not be hard on myself. The result: the scale 7 feet up at the top of the closet. I actually couldn't fall asleep last night because I hadn't weighed myself and that's when I knew I had made the right decision.

Diet

Okay, so lately I've had lots of people asking me what I'm doing to lose weight. These people act genuinely interested in losing weight until I say, WELL, I'm not eating processed flour or sugar, switched everything to lean meats (pretty much everything is turkey) and I run or go to the gym 6 days a week. The response I continually get is: BUT I GO TO THE GYM EVERYDAY!!

It's amazing to me that people are totally willing to get to the gym every day but completely unwilling to change the way they eat. I promise you all...

YOU CAN BUST YOUR ASS EVERYDAY AT THE GYM AND NOT LOSE A POUND!! BUT YOU CAN NEVER STEP FOOT IN A GYM AND STICK TO A GOOD DIET AND LOSE WEIGHT!

It really irritates me when people blow off the value of diet. Like when they specifically ask me what I'm doing and then act like dieting is silly. I just want to say... "listen lady, I get it.. you are the queen of the gym, good for you.. but don't ask me how to be successful if you are going to throw it back in my face!"

I have this fire in me! I REALLY want to help other women be successful, but I wonder why we as women are so willing to dismiss things that simply aren't convenient for us. We swap gym stories almost as often as we swap horrible birth stories and that's okay but when someone "suggests" that maybe what we are eating is the problem, too many of us go on the defense. Maybe what you are eating isn't "bad" but it isn't until we put it all down on paper that we really realize what we are putting into our mouths on a daily basis.

SO for all you women out there who think enough exercise can change the world. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!! I will continue to pay attention to what goes in my mouth!

BOTTOM LINE:

IF YOU WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT LOSING WEIGHT, FIND A NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINE THAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU AND STICK TO IT.

I've never met ANYONE who lost a large amount of weight by exercising and eating whatever they wanted. HAVE YOU?

New pics

So here are some pics of this month. I skipped this outfit last month but decided I should come back to it because Melissa told me I would be glad I did. I really am!! (glad I did). It's fun to see the difference. Can't wait to see the final pics!

Fav Five fun!

So.. I haven't seen my little sister in a LONG time. I think it's been since the first month of the competition. Anyway... she came over last night and was freaking out about how I look and especially how thin my face is. I didn't really understand what she was talking about. I guess I don't really look that closely at my face. Well.. she insisted she take a new pic for her Fav Five caller ID on her cell phone. It wasn't until she showed me the pics side by side that I had to give myself a big wow! So here they are, the before caller ID pic and the now caller ID pic!

This was her caller ID for a long time. Once again.. I REFUSED to smile in pictures!

This was the pic she took last night! It was definitely shocking to see them together. I couldn't help but blog it! :o)

Done whinin!

Okay.. so I guess I sort of freaked out when I realized that there are women out there who have more options than I do. That being said... I admit that I was being a TOTAL WHINER!! I have lost more than 35 lbs!! HOW COOL IS THAT??? Today I went to Plato's Closet and picked up some pants because... my awesome sis-in-law sent me pants a week ago that were one size smaller than I started in and they were TOO BIG! ;o) I should mention that I started in a 16/18 and umm... they were FAR FROM FLATTERING! We are talking serious mushroom top! YUCK!

So today I was trying on 11/12's and they TOTALLY FIT!! I can't believe it! They are even cute on me! CRAZY! I just have been feeling so frumpy lately in my way too big clothes and so I finally took the advice of a couple of awesome women and purchased something smaller. I only got one pair of pants and 2 pairs of capris... but I didn't want to spend too much on an in between size. Not sure how long I will be able to wear them... but I really can't get away with my huge pants anymore.

Thanks Carrie, Melissa, Nicholette and Rochelle for reminding me that I have come a long way. 35 down, only 35 to go!