I'm Definitely back - I'm just not always on here...

So, my school has started a competition with our rival school in Manning - LMA - to see who can lose the most % body fat by May... that's right, I joined!

The only drawback is that the guy only comes to the school to weigh us once a month... I need a lot more accountability than all that - so I'll be doing my weekly weigh-ins, and once my life has slowed down to a moderate whir, I'll do my daily weigh-ins - but I won't report back in about those, because they'll fluctuate all over the place - but hopefully the trend will be downward.

I've got some great friends at the school and we are all working on this together to beat those LMA'ers !!

I'll have more later - I am staying up late tonight to finish work :(

I had gotten into the great habit of getting 8-9 hours of sleep per night - which was doing WONDERS - but I have too much to do today and there are not enough hours in the day today!!

I only have a 3-day work week, however - so that's a plus...

talk to you soon! though, there's a good chance i just wrote that to myself...

:)

Baby Steps

So, without much ado, I'm back? I know that didn't sound too confident but there have been SEVERAL changes that have happened in my life recently and my varied responses have included eating poorly and not exercising... though I'm back to better eating now...

It's been several months since I last wrote on here, and I'm fairly positive that no one is checking my blog anymore - which means I can be very honest. By knowing that most likely no one is reading this daily, I can be brutally honest because I'm writing this for my benefit in an effort to get back in shape for me and me only. These are baby steps....

Since blogging in July (I believe that's the last post - but we'll see when I post this...), I have a job in Summerton, SC - I have relocated and though I feel alone a lot, the extrovert in me is pleased to be alone - there's a good chance that there is more introvert in me than originally assumed.

I live alone - but I interact with friends daily - except on the weekends when I retreat into my shell... High school teacher of science by weekday - hermit by weekend :) I have the occasional weekend when I am home in Charleston, which is 1.5 hours away or out and about in S'ton - but for the most part, I'm holed up at home and I love it. I love the excessive knitting, movie watching, painting, drawing, etc. that I have not done for years!

Downsides to Summerton: no gym, cycling is not embraced by local drivers, and I live in a remote area with no sidewalks... There's a gym in Manning, but I have not had a penny to spare on additional bills - ahhh, the life of a school teacher... no money. I do not regret my life decision, however, because I LOVE TEACHING. And I LOVE TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL - high schoolers are a strange collection of lovable Punks - with a capital 'P.'

I do have a fellow teacher friend, Neathery, who wants to get in shape as I do - and another friend outside of the school, Lynn, who just joined Weight Watcher's and has been an inspiration to me food-wise and determination-wise.

Other recent changes: I had my gallbladder removed over Thanksgiving - the only limitations to my diet have been no greasy fried food or no pork - both of which are good to give up anyway! The crazy thing about the whole gallbladder attacks, etc. is that they mainly started up when I started HCC and my doctor speculates that the two go hand-in-hand since my diet completely changed all at once... oh well... glad to be gallbladder free? I don't know about that - but I am glad to be gallbladder attack free...

I don't know when I'll next post something on - but I feel good about taking the step to write anything at all... baby steps.

Catch Up

So - I've had a LOT going on in my life recently and blogging isn't the first thing that comes to mind - so I'm sorry about the lapse in posts, but I'm trying to find a job and that has taken all of my energy!!

In other news :), I bike A LOT - whenever I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack, I go on a ride... I've had trouble motivating myself to go the gym because I don't always feel like I have time and that stresses me out - so the bike rides from home have been a God send. I did go to Zumba last week and wasn't a fan of that class... though I think I would have liked it more if (1) I'd gone on Saturday morning for James' class or (2) if I'd taken friends with me because I felt ridiculous and it's always more fun to feel ridiculous with someone you know...

I did Spinning this week with Catherine (on Wednesday AM) - my neck and shoulders are REALLY sore - but I think I had the handlebars up higher than normal or something - because with the amount that I've been riding, that spinning class shouldn't have left my neck sore.

I'm babysitting tonight on Seabrook Island at Camp St. Christopher - I may go early, depending on the heat index and ride some on Seabrook = one of my fave places to ride!!

I weighed in last Friday and was the same - which I will take because that's better than gaining...

I JUST weighed in and I've LOST 3.5 pounds!! So the stress is really helping me out (??) j/k - the constant riding is what my body needs! :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll blog again when I can!!

Crazy girl spinning

I went to spinning yesterday - I've decided that the only way to keep myself interested in these tasks at hand are to speckle my work outs with LOTS of classes! So I went to spinning yesterday, hoping it would be Catherine teaching it - but unfortunately she had to get a sub... and that sub was a spin instructor I've had before - she's CRAZY! She was actually the teacher I had when I fell off the bike long time ago (that's right - for you who have not read the blog before, I fell off a stationary bike) - and though I don't attribute my fall to this teacher, I still think she's crazy and she's not my number one pick - but I did get my butt kicked - which I believe falls under the goals for this week...

Crazy girl spinning includes: hovering while pedaling, being in hand position 3, while sitting on the bike with the resistance so high that you stop/start a lot..., putting the resistance up really high while your hands are held behind you and you lean over to pedal... plus the normal jumps (though her jumps are weird), sprints, etc. I must say, for the sake of my back, I didn't do the hovering, the sitting and pedaling in hand position 3 or the one with no arms (talk about opportunities of falling off a stationary bike!!)

I also stayed and did some weights afterwards - which have my leg muscles screaming today!! I should have stayed and done more weights - aka arms! but I didn't have an extra pair of shoes with me and I don't like walking around in bike cleats.. slippin and slidin = the result - and for me, probably a fall or 2... ;)

This morning I'm finishing up a VERY important application that I MUST finish before noon! Then I have laundry and prep's for this weekend to complete - but I can assure you that a class at the gym will happen this afternoon... I'm choosing between: JoeDbands @ 4:30, Nia @ 5:15, water aerobics at 5:30, hip-hop @ 6:15, & zumba at 6:30 - or maybe some combo of those... maybe some joe D bands followed by some hip hop? I don't know - but I'll keep you posted on what I decide!

I'm back... again...

So I got a little discouraged with my weigh in two weeks ago when I gained 5 pounds. This past Friday I maintained - which is a heck of a lot better than gaining more - so now I need to focus on going back down and reaching those goals! I've decided to go back to logging my food (for real this time) and emailing them to Barbara daily - and including the good and the bad - not lying to myself - or Barbara for that matter.

Summer has brought with it a lot of obstacles: too hot to do activities outside (most of the time), having trouble motivating myself to take on the gym (and I'm REALLY sick of the machines in the cardio room), and lots of celebrations where there are a lot of food and drink temptations... so I'm going to take baby steps - and any tips anyone has are welcomed! I have 3 weddings coming up - back to back - starting this coming weekend. The first one is a party weekend and the wedding is going to be a blast - it's in Nashville :) But each night is going to be a drinking and eating Calorie NIGHTMARE. So once again - tips are welcomed!! I'm going to take work out clothes and try to get people to walk with me - I'll have a lot of supportive friends there who will hopefully want to be active with me... but I'm worried this is all going to have me going in the wrong direction, scale-wise... I do have self control - I promise - BUT I don't want to be the fuddy dud while everyone is having an awesome time! I've been looking forward to this wedding for quite a while!!

So I guess I need to bust my butt this week in preparation and then try to make the best food decisions possible - and then stick to wine and liquor? I don't know...

I'm back and trying to get the numbers to go down... so sorry for my tardiness in writing, but I guess it's just hard to take the bad news and keep on going - so thank you for your support and encouragement to keep on writing!

Oopsies.

Well, there's a distinct possibility that the amount of beer that I consumed last weekend - well really, from Friday THROUGH Monday evening may have a direct correlation to the poundage gained when I weighed in today. The amount of weight gained is both shocking and unbelievable (to me). So I will be starting that food journal back PRONTO. I will not be disclosing what I gained quite yet because I am still in disbelief. Looks like a slight glass of wine tonight will be it! I wouldn't have any at all except that I'm going to dinner with my sister who is in town and my parents - we're headed to Lana's = Italian food... I've never been drawn towards pasta - but if that arises, I certainly will not get any!

I'll write more later - it took me all day to put this on here - I weighed in this morning...
I just can't believe it :(

Weigh in last friday

I lost 1 pound last week for a total of 23 pounds!! Stay tuned for my progress when I weigh myself on Friday! :) And I'm 2 pounds away from my next goal!! :) :) :)