I'm so excited!!

It's so awesome to see more and more people joining the comp. Last time I joined this comp committed to changing my life but only really knowing one or two of the 26 women. This time it's so exciting to have a lot of my friends and family joining in! If you think maybe I'm being too harsh on someone... assume they are related. I am known for my honesty especially with my friends. It's so fun to know so many of you... it's certainly different this time around. Last time my goal was to make everyone regret letting me register late. I was determined to kick some booty!! I didn't really know anyone so I really wasn't cheering for anyone but myself, when it all began. I had no idea how life changing this really would be!! This time, I'm so excited to see this change others lives!! HOORAY for weight loss!!! It's almost time!! READY SET GO!!!

Here we go again!!

Okay... another competition is about to start and this one is going to be fantastic. I am so excited to be competing against these wonderful women and really thrilled that you gals will be holding me accountable during the holidays. My goal is to get down to my goal weight of 120-115! (I am almost 5'3" with a pretty small structure!) If at any time I get at 115 and start to say I can lose more or if I drop below 115... you are all obligated to kick me out of the competition!!! REALLY!! KICK ME OUT!

Here's to being a big ol' bunch of losers!! :o) I see smaller jeans in the very near future! ;o)

ReMeMbEr THESE PaNtS??

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I will never forget the day I took these pictures.... these pants seemed INCREDIBLY daunting.... well... here are THESE pants NOW!!

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CRAZY!!!

NEW COMPETITION!!!

Okay... so to all my family and friends AND blog stalkers reading this blog... the gals I did my first comp with are starting another one. The goal is to get us motivated to NOT gain over the holidays. It will be monthly cash prizes and a big prize at the end! Anyone interested can check it out at http://www.biggestloser2009.blogspot.com/ ! COME ON GIRLS!! These competitions are SO much fun and can really be just the kick in the butt you need to stick to it this time!

What a week!

Okay.. so I spent the weekend splurging like MAD and I paid for it on the scale. I seriously was seeing some UGLY numbers at the beginning of the week and it has caused me to refocus and get ready to take on the 120's!! I've become a devoted fan of http://www.livestrong.com/ . My older/smaller sister used this website as a fantastic tool in a competition she was in. I tried to use it a while ago but never took the time to "figure it out". It's actually VERY user friendly and I think I am now OFFICIALLY addicted! Basically, you say how much you want to lose per week and it tells you how many calories to consume. You can track VIRTUALLY anything in this program.... I.E. this morning I ate Kashi Honey Sunshine for breakfast... I type in Kashi Honey Sunshine and it has ALL the nutritional facts for it... SO COOL!!!

The other awesome thing is the motivation. I sit down at the end of the day to enter my final totals and think OH DEAR!!! I have eaten 50 extra calories, or I'm only 50 calories shy... what if I forgot something? THEN... I say to my husband... MUST GO RUNNING!!! MUST BURN CALORIES!!!

I've discovered that I can avoid traffic by running switch backs up and down the streets in my area. I end up about 12 blocks west of my house but have managed to get a few miles out of the switch backs.... this is also only going one block north and one block south of my street! NOT TOO SHABBY!! I've also noticed that I run a WHOLE LOT FASTER when I am on the streets. The treadmill seems to slow me down. One more thing... I run at dusk... which encourages me to "run faster to get home before dark!"

I've got to the gym twice this week and worked on my arms. I need to be better at going... it's frustrating to get there and not really know what to do as far as weight training goes. Wish I had a trainer... just can't afford it! Maybe I can get my BFF's hubby to come and give me a list again! HE IS AWESOME! (And a personal trainer... if only he weren't an hour away!)

This week I had the opportunity to go out with a couple of gals from the Biggest Loser comp AND my 2 sisters. We took some pics....

This picture brings me to my newest issue. It seems that my mid section is getting bigger somehow. I continue to lose weight BUT I swear my tummy looks bigger. I'd like to think that it is just shrinking at a different rate than the rest of me and this is why I have this lovely muffin top but honestly... I just don't know how to deal with it. ANY SUGGESTIONS??

Knee Boarding

Last summer I made my first attempt at knee boarding. I was a miserable failure and couldn't even manage to flex my tummy enough to get my legs anywhere near the board. It was a horrible time and I was incredibly disappointed with myself. Luckily I was still in my excuses faze and was able to blame everything on the fact that I had had a baby within the last 3 months. The truth, I'm sure.. is that I was WAY too big and my stomach was week because I was WAY out of shape.
Yesterday I made my second attempt at knee boarding. I was thrilled to find that I could get my legs up on the board with ease and even get into an upright position. The BUMMER was that I was too weak in my arms to hold on to the rope with one hand without being pulled over the front of the knee board. I was able to get up several times but never managed to stay in that position long enough to say I was actually knee boarding. My arms and chest muscles feel like they got a good workout... but I'm still bummed that I am nowhere near being a pro yet.
Must get to the lake soon... if only I had a boat! ;o)

School Days/GOAL Days!!

Well... this summer has been unique in that an entire month was swallowed whole by an unexpected move which required more than your normal moving effort. (We had to move stuff out of the house [we were moving into] in order to move into the house! Throughout the summer of baseball, taekwondo, moving, camping, mini-vacaying and boys FiGhtInG (AHHH!!!!) I have managed to continue to shed a few lbs by limiting my carb/calorie intake but have not had a whole lot of time to exercise.

SOOO... today is the first day of school. I'm way nervous for my boys but umm... SOOOO EXCITED for the return of such marvelous endeavors as NAP TIME!!! And AFTERNOON WALKS!!

I've still got my treadmill (which I intend to use during nap time) and have picked back up a 1/2 marathon. I had planned to run one THIS Saturday but got way sidetracked with moving so now I am starting my training all over again and planning to run a 1/2 marathon in Loveland Colorado on November 7th! My GOAL for the 1/2 is 2:24. This would be an 11 minute mile average, which I KNOW is way do-able. My 5k average is closer to 8:30 per mile so 11 should be a breeze RIGHT? Either way... I'm excited to start finding new running routes in my new little town. This poses a challenge because there is so much traffic here and avoiding busy streets will be near impossible. I am excited that we live on the edge of the city and there are lots of country roads around so I KNOW I can come up with routes that avoid stop lights but nothing else is a guarantee. SO MANY CARS EVERYWHERE. I don't know if I am more nervous than I ought to be about it... but I actually had a friend from high school who was killed while running on a road in the evening, by a 15 year old drunk driver who actually drove off after the incident (and had to be tracked down by the police)... so I worry about cars running me over.

I am getting to the last 4 weeks of a competition that I am in and as long as I get 3rd place, I'll double the money I spent to enter. There are some great competitors in the competition and they help push me along. I've decided that if i don't win it won't be because I didn't work hard enough.. it will just come down to not having enough to lose!! So.. in the next 4 weeks I plan to get very near to my goal.. within 5 lbs of it!! So wish me luck and watch for more frequent posting as I edge toward my size 3 jeans! ;o)

Here are some current pics for anyone interested!

This one is after a great (short) game of mud volleyball.. so bummed I washed my legs BEFORE the picture. I look like a dork BUT... you can totally see how my shape is doing! ;o)

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Did I mention I'm in the 130's now? ;) Or that I went shopping with my hubby last week and bought a bunch of shirts SIZE Small and X-Small? How about that I wear a size 6 pants?? Oh and my husbands least favorite... I am officially an "A" cup. That's right... 60 lbs lost and I've gone from a "D" to an "A"!
LOVE ALL THESE EXCITING NEW ADVENTURES!