I survived the week!

Sorry about not writing all week... it has been beyond busy!

Monday-Wednesday of last week I worked major overtime so that I could take some time off to visit with my parents. I picked them up from the airport on Thursday afternoon. If I had really tried, I probably could have made it to my WW meeting... but, I would have felt super guilty dropping them off at my house, without a vehicle, and leaving for an hour and a half. So, I skipped it. I did really well (all things considered) with eating during the visit. The first night we went to the best Italian place ever - Carrabba's. And boy was it yummy! I ate pretty well all during the day, and with all of the walking I did earlier in the week (and that morning) I had earned a massive number of activity points (basically, extra food points), so I think was well within my allotment, even though it was not even close to healthy. Friday I worked until about 2:00, then hung out with the family. Friday night we BBQ'd buffalo burgers... and they were yummy! I only had one, with low-fat cheese and a whole-grain bun. Saturday morning we went to IHOP and I had the famous 600-calorie breakfast. That night we went out and had steaks... you should have seen the surprise on my parents' faces when I told them a serving was about 3 ounces! hahaha I got the smallest portion (7 oz) and probably ate about 5oz of it. I got green beans and some french fries as sides... Not the worst meal in the world. And then Sunday was our engagement party. It was a ton of fun! My parents got to meet Matt's parents and his whole family, which was great. I opted to eat the grilled chicken and salad instead of the burgers and baked beans. And, I had to splurge and have a piece of cake! (They got us a delicious cake that had a picture of Matt and I on it! SO cute!) Overall, I think I handled it all pretty darn well. It was great to visit with family... and now it's time to get back to normal! :)

Whew! That was sure one big paragraph all about food. Luckily, it was about my good choices, as opposed to a depressing account of my screw-ups! :) The scale hasn't gone down a whole lot... but, I'm hoping for a decent drop tomorrow or the next day. That would be nice!

Anyhow, I hope you all had/have a great week!

Averages are good...

Since we all started the August challenge, I've been weighing myself on my home scale (about 1.5 lbs heavier than the weight watchers scale) every morning and doing the 5-day average thing. I think this is helping a lot. I haven't lost a ton (about 1.4 lbs so far this week) but it seems to keep me on track a lot more. Doing the once-a-week WW weigh in left a lot of wiggle room. If I wanted something bad to eat on Friday, I'd eat it because I had 6 days left before my next weigh in to make up for it. And rarely did I end up making up for it! But, weighing every day doesn't give that option, which has been keeping me on track.

This weekend I did one of my workout videos and it kicked my butt. I couldn't even finish the whole thing! It probably wasn't smart for me to jump in and do it without watching the whole video first, because I didn't pace myself very well. Hopefully next time will be easier.

Tomorrow and Wednesday I am going to get quite the workout... I am doing a parking study for Denver Union Station. That means that in the next two days, I have to walk all four sides of 57 blocks downtown (including the Coors Field lots) to count the number of parking spots available/occupied. That's a lot of walking! As long as the weather cooperates it should be good.

That's all of the good news. The bad news is that my parents are flying in on Thursday. On Sunday, Matt's family is throwing us an engagement party so our families can meet. My parents go home on Monday and Matt's parents stay until Tuesday or Wednesday. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited about everything I just mentioned... but it also means I have 6 full days of company and a party to throw a major wrench into my eating habits. I know I will make decent choices... it's just going to be tough! Wish me luck! :)

*EDIT: Previously, I said my scale read lighter than WW... I had it backwards... it is actually heavier.

Holy Monkeys!

I had no idea it had been so long since my last post! Last night Matt said "You know, you haven't posted a blog in like 2 weeks"... and I said, "No... I posted one last Tuesday!". Well, he was right! It was the Tuesday before! Whoops.

Most of the reason I haven't been keeping up is because I used to do it at work, and at my new job, I can't (well, I really really shouldn't... even though I am right now!).

I've been eating fairly well, I just haven't been exercising, and I have no real excuse. But, last night I bought some workout DVDs so that I can do it at home, and can't use the weather as an excuse! We will see if that helps.

Last week I got some big-time-bummer news. Apparently I have high blood pressure. Yay for me. Did I mention I'm only 24? Yeah. Double Yay for me. I found this out at the gynecologist, and she wants me to go to a general practitioner to see about getting on some medication. I also had to go buy a home monitor to check my blood pressure every day. I feel like I'm 70 years old! It sucks. And I'm not a happy camper. But, that's what I get for letting myself get this way, right? Now it's time to turn it around and make it go away!

I'll really make more of an effort to blog. Then I have to come up with things to blog about! Sometimes that's the hardest part! :)

Thanks for yelling at me and telling me to come back. Although, I didn't get my normal yell from Rob... weird. :) I hope everyone has a great week!

I think I'm going crazy....

Have you ever thought about doing something, like in a lot of detail... and then later when it comes to mind again, you think you already did it, because you thought about it so much? I was positive I wrote a blog last week... with my updated weight and everything... but apparently I didn't. Too weird.

Anyhow, sorry about the big lag in blogs. Last week I started my new job. It is going really well so far... I think I've learned more in the last week than I learned in 6 months at my old job. I'm busy, which is nice - the days definitely go by faster!

And FYI... I am a new fan of IHOP. I know, how dare I mention light, fluffy pancakes for everyone to read about. BUT! They have a new healthy menu... I got a scramble (egg beaters, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers) and two huge pancakes with sugar free syrup and low-fat margarine. And the calorie count? *drumroll* Under 600 calories! And it was SO yummy! I know 600 calories is a lot in comparison to a bowl of shredded wheat... but when you are craving real breakfast food, I think it's fantastic! Anyhow, that's my pitch for IHOP.

I haven't been working out near as much as I should, which includes not running my miles. 90% of the reasoning is it's been too flipping hot outside. I want to run on the same course, so I haven't gone to the fitness center. But, I suppose any running will help improve my time, and I can just run the course at the end for comparison. The other 10% is that I'm being lazy... I'd much rather sit at the computer and look up wedding stuff! :) I'll snap out of it soon.

Anyhow, sorry again for not blogging for so long. And while I sensed some intense sarcasm, thanks to Kevin for telling me to get back on it. I hope everyone has an awesome week!

Week 1 Challenge Stats

Sorry I haven't posted in the last few days... things have been absolutely crazy with trying to finish one job and getting ready to start another. But, it looks like things have finally settled down a bit. Yay!

As for my stats for this week... I'm down 1.8lbs this week. Not as much as I was hoping for, but I think that has a little to do with TOM. Also, I think it's pretty decent considering last week included my engagement weekend, 3 family dinners and 4th of July! I'll take it. My mile-run time is still the same... it's been too flipping hot to run the last few days (I woke up at 9:45am yesterday, and it was already 83 degrees). I will try to run this evening once the sun goes down.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Happy 4th of July!

So, I just ran (well, more like walked/jogged) my second mile... my time? 15:12:24. That is a 40.28 second improvement from Saturday! I think I should contribute a fair amount of the improvement to the fact that it is about 8-10 degrees cooler this morning than last time. And, while I definitely pushed myself (I was seriously considering just walking the last 1/4 mile, but didn't), I'm not quite as wiped out as I was last time.

I'm also proud that I went out and did it at all. I kind of killed my back last night wrestling with a dog (long story) and it still hurt quite a bit this morning. That easily could have been an excuse (besides the fact that it's hot... and it's a holiday... and everything else) to not do it... but, instead, I stretched out, warmed up, and went out and did it. Along the way, there was a group of 5 older people walking along the sidewalk... this was near the 3/4 mark where I wanted to give up.... Anyhow, part of me said "Alright! A reason that I can't run anymore! I'll just walk behind them and not disturb them." (For those of you who don't know me, I'm very much one of those people who will inconvenience myself before I bother anyone else... like always taking the aisle seat on a plane so that I don't have to ask anyone to move, even though I have to move for them... weird). Sorry for the detour. In any event, I told myself that I was just making excuses, and I started jogging and just said "excuse me" as I passed them by. Yay me. :)

So, tonight I am going to a Rockies vs Mets game with Matt and his family. His mom mentioned eating dinner at the game... which is not a good thing for me. So, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I'm at home before the game and I can eat something before I go. I may still take a bite of whatever Matt gets, but I won't go overboard or lose sight of my next goal... 10 lbs here I come!

I'm Getting Married!!!!

Yup, it's official! Matt proposed to me this weekend while we were on our mini-vacation in Estes Park! It was wonderful and perfect and beautiful and SO exciting! :) We were sitting on this bench reading our books and listening to the river, when he randomly said "I have a rock in my shoe..." Well, I paid no attention and just kept reading. Eventually I looked over and he was on one knee holding the most beautiful ring in the world! It was his grandmother's ring, and it is gorgeous!

Anyhow, I know this has nothing to do with weight loss (except that now I have a deadline to lose all this weight! grr!)... but, I just had to share my good news! :) :) :) :)