Spring Chick Challenge (SCC) Introduction Post

I was asked to write an introduction blog for the Spring Chick Challenge (SCC) so here goes.

Name: Denise

Twitter: denisedoeslife – I never really tweet though.  I just lurk to see what others have to say.

Age: 34

Location: Southern California (San Bernardino County)

My Challenge Goals:

Non Scale Victory 

1.       Improve my 5k time.  Current 5k time is 42:11.

2.       Fit into my size 16 jeans comfortably. Currently wear size 18.

Nutrition:

1.       Cut out diet soda.

2.       Drink at least 64oz of water a day.

3.       Reduce the amount of processed foods.

4.       Eat more veggies

 

Exercise:

1.       Run/walk 2-3 times per week.

2.       Strength train 2 times per week with weights or an exercise video.

 

These are the goals as they stand now.  They might change or refine, but it’s a starting point.  I’m looking forward to losing some more weight and getting into “ONEderland”.  I will be back with an initial post including my weight in a couple of days.

2 Challenges

I have decided to join two challenges after all.  After re-reading the requirements of one of the challenges it seems a lot more lenient than I had first thought.  I think it is manageable and so I am joining the Spring Chick Challenge that is being hosted by Stormy at Big Butt Theory. 

It will be running from January 2^nd to March 19^th which happens to be the last day of winter.  See the correlation there?  We are going to start spring a new “chick” hopefully smaller or more tone, or healthier, or whatever the goal is.  I really decided to do the challenge because somewhere in my head I think I need to be accountable to someone each week.  Part of me knows that if I don’t have to “report” my weight each week it will be too easy to slack off.  I lost 15 pounds in the last challenge it’s probably because I knew I had to report my weight each week. 

The second challenge just came out today from the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.  It’s called 52 small changes – One Year to a Happier, Healthier You.  There will be one thing to change each week of the year.  If you change one small thing at a time it won’t be so overwhelming.  I think it will be interesting to see what kinds of things are on the list to change.  

I will going to my mom’s house again on Saturday to ring in the new year with the family.  We all play games, watch movies, or do puzzles, etc.  We all yell Happy New Year out the front door at midnight, drink some cider and then go to bed and hang out the next day.  It’s a family tradition.

I will write up a separate intro post for the Spring Chick Challenge.  I hope you have a happy and safe New Years. 

The three C's: Christmas, Coughing, and Challenges

Hello you wonderful people.  I hope you all had a lovely Christmas filled with love, laughter and great memories being made.  I have been missing for a little bit haven’t I?  I was enjoying life instead of writing here I guess.  I had a great Christmas with my family.  We spent the night at my parents’ house on Christmas Eve and opened presents together on Christmas morning.  We had yummy breakfast foods, went to Church, and had the big Christmas dinner and more present opening with extended family.  I couldn’t have asked for a better day. 

Unfortunately, Sunday night my son was up 5 times with coughing fits.  He has had a cough for about a month now.  It started after he got a cold and would come and go, but nothing major.  Well Sunday night he was having uncontrolled coughing and crying and whining and just an all around bad night.  A little background on my son…He was in the hospital twice at the beginning of the year due to croup that turned into pneumonia (12-day stay) and then a 9-day stay due to a respiratory infection a month later.  He couldn’t keep his oxygen levels up on his own.  So this time I wasn’t going to wait to take him in.  I went to urgent care on Monday and spent 4.5 hours there getting two breathing treatments, a round of steroids and a chest x-ray.  They didn’t see pneumonia yet, but we got antibiotics and oral steroid prescriptions anyway because of his past history.  He didn’t cough near as much yesterday so I think the drugs are helping.  My son is only 3 ½ so seeing him cough so much is really hard.  I don’t think he knows how to cough effectively yet.  He just coughs and coughs and they aren’t productive.  The more worked up with crying and such the longer the fit lasts.  It’s no fun at all.  Anyway, I am really glad he seems to be on the mend especially since tonight we are going to Toy Story 3’s Disney on Ice. We bought these tickets about a month ago and today is the day.  I’m excited.  My son doesn’t really get it when we tell him what we are going to see.  I think he will have a great time seeing his favorite characters on ice though.  I’ll try to get a few pictures to share.

There are 4 challenges that I know of starting in the new year, but I don’t know if I’ll officially join any of them.  I like the accountability of them, but I don’t really care for the “must do this” type of thing to be in the challenge that 2 of the 4 require.  I just finished one of those with the CDCC and I think I can be accountable and not be forced to read a book or count calories/food.  I know that works for some, but I didn't care for it and I still lost 15 pounds during the challenge. The other 2 I’m not sure what they involve.  They are keeping them a mystery which makes it hard to want to sign up especially since one of them requires a $10 fee to join.  Decisions to be made in a short window of time.  They all start January 1^st I think. 

Okay that is all I have for today, but just so I’m not a boring blogger with no pictures and just words all the time I leave you with a couple of recent pictures of my kids in hats.  I have no idea why my daughter made this face, but she’s 1 ½  and my son just got this hat for Christmas from his daycare person. 

CDCC Final update

Well the 14 weeks have come to an end.  I think it's been a great challenge and has kept me working towards my goals.  Just knowing I had to weigh in each week stopped me from eating things a couple times.

The book I read was called 100 days of weight loss and was okay.  I learned more from the the first half, but the second half was stuff I already knew and was more common sense to me.  BUT, that is my opinion.  I know we all have different mental states when it comes to food and how we deal with food.  What I may already know, maybe be new to someone else who never thought of it like that.  It's really easy to read though.  I think the biggest thing I took from the book was eating more after I'm full is wasting  the food because my body doesn't need the extra food.  I might as well waste the food by leaving it on the plate instead of ingesting extra calories.

I still struggle with getting in enough water, but I'm trying.  My food intake has been overall good throughout this challenge.  I still have a long ways to go to get to my goal weight so I have to continue to eat well and make good choices.

Now for the pictures:

Before

After

Before

After

Start Weight: 235.8
End Weight: 220
Loss: 15.8 pounds

End CDCC weight

I feel like the skirt fits much better.  When I started the challenge I was afraid if I sat down in the skirt that the zipper would pop.  I no longer feel that way.  I would sit down no problem now.  My stomach is not as prominent as it was in the beginning either.  I think this challenge was definitely a success.  I don't know that I would wear it out just yet.  I would be holding in my stomach all night.  I had to consciously not hold my stomach in when the picture was being taken.  I really would have liked to suck it in so the stomach wouldn't show up in the shirt, but then I wouldn't have been honest with myself or you.  

Congrats to all those who stuck with this challenge whether you struggled, lost, or maintained.  I hope you gained insight into your journey and will continue on.  I thank each and every one of you for your comments and support and I hope I was a support, at times, to you. 

Merry Christmas, stay safe and remember to be good to yourself and your waistline these coming weeks.

Dress pictures

Thanks for all the comments about my NSV with my wedding dress.  The pictures below are from my husbands cell phone so they aren’t the best quality, but it was a spur of the moment thing to try on my dress.  This is the size I must have been on my wedding day (220ish).  When I was pregnant with my 2^nd child I was up to 270ish.  It’s so nice to be back to pre-kids weight and moving even further down. 

I’m excited to see what I’ll look like at a lower weight.  I don’t remember being smaller than I am now.  Ok, I remember my lowest weight about 2 years ago was 216.  But I’ve been well above that most of my life.  2012 is going to be the year I find out what being smaller feels like.  I’ll be back in a couple of days with my final CDCC weigh in and show off my before and after pictures of my outfit. 

Oh, about my last post, I will most certainly enjoy my children at the age they are now.  I know all too well how fast they have grown in their short little life. It goes by so quickly.

Where is my workout motivation?

I have been horrible about updating the blog.  I guess I just feel like there hasn’t been much to report.  My running is not what it used to be.  I have slacked off.  I think it’s because it’s so cold out in the morning and I don’t want to leave my warm bed.  Or perhaps, maybe it’s because the 5k I was training for is over and I have completed Brad Gansbergs 5k in 100 days program.  I can tell you that I can’t run for as long as I could at the end of his program.  The lack of running has taken its toll.  I think I got up to 5 minutes on my last run (which happen to be on Sunday).  I think I might need to set a new goal to strive for.  Something to make me get back out there.  The only problem I have is finding a good 5k that is on a Sunday.  I can’t do the Saturday ones unless I find someone to watch my kids.  The husband works on Saturday mornings.  We shall see.

I was going to run this morning, but my daughter was up last night with a fever.  She had one during the day and took some fever reducer medicine and then was better.  I gave her some more medicine about 7pm and she fell asleep about 7:30pm, but once she was in bed she kept waking up moaning.  She wasn’t fully awake, but she would go through sleep, moan cycles until about 11pm (when I was able to give her more medicine) when my husband got home from work and went and slept in her room with her.  He took her to the doctor this morning and got some antibiotics for a possible ear infection.  She is only 19 months so she isn’t able to tell us what’s wrong.  I hate when they are so young and you don’t know how to help them.    To top my night off my son woke up crying and wouldn’t tell me why.  I kept asking him to tell me where it hurt and he finally said his head.  He is 3 ½ so he is old enough to tell me where it hurts.  The whole time he was crying I just kept hoping he wouldn’t wake my daughter.  So frustrating!  Needless to say, I didn’t have the best night last night.  I hope tonight is better.

I do plan to get up tomorrow morning and run.  I need to work in some weight training though.   I have a set of 10lb weights, now I just need to use them.  I need to fit it in with the kids, which is hard.  They like to join in and really they just get in the way or want me to pick them up. It’s so hard to get in a work out with them under my feet.   Getting up early isn’t the best option either since my son seems to be a morning person no matter what time he goes to bed.  His internal clock seems to be set at 5:30am.  Oh, the joys of motherhood.  I’m jealous of the hours my husband has to himself on Monday and Friday.  

I guess this post has just been me complaining, but it’s a little therapeutic to get it out there and be a reminder to myself about this time of my life.  I need to find my workout motivation again.  I want to be at least 20 pounds lighter before my trip to Thailand next year (probably happening end of February/beginning of March).  I have about 2 1/2months to accomplish this.  I CAN DO THIS!

CDCC Update Week 13

I managed to get up and run on Thursday and today.  It was about 38-40 degrees. Brrr  I really didn't want to do it, but like always I was glad I did it.  I was making excuses last night as to why I wouldn't run this morning and my husband convinced me to do it.  He was right.  Skipping the running is just a slippery slope into a more sedentary lifestyle which I don't want.

I haven't made the best food choices this week.  I gave in to some cravings. I don't regret it though because I would have just kept craving those foods.  But because of those choices the scale didn't move this week.

Last week: 220.2
This week: 220.2

But I have an awesome NSV for the week.  I have been wanting to try on my wedding dress since I have been losing weight.  I don't remember my size or what I weighed when I got married.  BUT, I tried it on yesterday and IT FIT!  It fit like a glove. I haven't put it on since I got married in 2006. I definitely couldn't have zipped it up at the beginning of this challenge.  I say that means this challenge is a huge success.  Next week I will try on my CDCC outfit and put up the before and after pictures.

I still need to finish up my CDCC book and work on getting more water in.  I hope you all had a great week and make this one even better to finish off this challenge.

CDCC Update Week 12

It's been an uneventful week with exercise.  I had planned to run today, but yesterday I woke up with the beginnings of  a cold.  I don't think it's such a good idea to go out in 48 degrees to run so I'm going to try to get some indoor exercise done today.  Lift some weights, etc. It's times like this that I wish I had a treadmill or gym membership so I could do my run indoors, but I'm not that lucky.  Even with my lack of exercise this week I managed to hold on to my 3.6 pound loss from being sick last weekend.  I even added to it.

Last Week: 220.6
This Week: 220.2
Loss: .4 pounds.

I'm happy with this considering I thought I might gain some back this week.  In fact I was higher during the week, but it's back down today.  I think I've figured out that I weigh the least on the weekend.  My weight goes up middle of the week and back down on the weekend.  It's good to know.

I hope this cold I have is mild and short.  It's starting off mild so hopefully it will stay that way.   My husband came home from work yesterday with body aches and feeling exhausted.  Just walking down the street to the neighbors and back got him winded (this is not a normal thing for him)  It's the perfect time of year for all this and I don't like it.

I didn't get around to decorating the Christmas tree yesterday since the hubby came home sick.  He's not up yet so I don't know how he is today.  Hopefully we will get to the tree this week.

I hope you all have a great week and stay on track through all the holiday craziness that sometimes ensues. 

It's December!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Last weekend my husband put up the Christmas lights outside and this week he brought the Christmas tree inside.  We still have to decorate the tree, but I’m planning that for Saturday evening.  Take a look:

You can even see the tree in the window.

The Christmas songs are coming on the radio and more and more houses are being lit up around the neighborhood.  I can’t believe the year is almost over.  Time has just flown by this year.  I have managed to lose about 25 pounds in the last few months and become more active too.  I’m really looking forward to 2012 and reaching more fitness and health related goals.

We took Christmas pictures recently.  Here is the picture we used for our Christmas card:

I love the look on my Son's face.

 We had to wait around to get our pictures done. They always seem to be behind.  So by the time it was our turn to take pictures, my daughter was not in a good mood.  This was one of the only times she was happy.  It was my husbands idea to turn her upside down and I told the lady to take the picture.

Here is another one we took.  I just love my daughters face.  Like, what is your problem?

I have been slacking with my running in the last week.  My last run was last Tuesday.  Thursday (Thanksgiving) we all took a walk to the park so that counts as exercise, but then I got sick Friday night which means I didn’t run on Sunday.  I was still feeling off on Tuesday when I would have normally run again.  Then there was some crazy wind here on Thursday and I thought it was still going to be going on this morning only to wake up and no wind.  I could have run this morning. Oops.  I can’t tomorrow morning because my husband won’t be home to watch the kids. Maybe I’ll try to get in a walk to the park with the kids.   It’s getting colder in the morning which also makes it hard to get out of my cozy warm bed.  Anyway, it’s not the end of the world, but I’ll get back on Track this coming week.  

I read quite a bit in my CDCC book.  Unfortunately, I’m not really getting much from it.  It seems like a lot of things I already know.  The beginning of the book seemed to have some pretty good insight and then it got boring.  I’m going to finish it off for the challenge though.