Well, Here it is 8 months later and I am finally getting back to this crazy blog of mine! :) I will keep this post brief, however, I do want to check in and let everyone know that I am, finally, after a 7 month "break" from the weight loss train, I am finally back on and having great success. Unfortunately, during this "break" I gained back most of the weight I had lost. I really don't want to dwell on all of that, however, and I want to focus on what is finally going right.

My husband and I have started the HCG diet together. We have been on it for about 5 weeks. We have both lost about 25 lbs. I love this plan! I know, I know, you are probably like a lot of the people who I have come across who have a very negative opinion about the HCG diet to think it is too extreme and not healthy etc. That is what I thought too .. until I actually started doing some research and reading the medical information behind it. And found out why it works. It is not a starvation diet! In fact, I have not been hungry on it at all .. sure there are times that I get hungry, like everyone, but then I go and eat my meal and I am full as can be afterward. Anyhow, I don't want to sit here and spend my time defending the diet. I have just had many people have negative comments about the diet (most often that it is impossible to keep the weight off, after you are done with the diet) so, I am a bit defensive. But I am here to say that this diet works. I will prove that it is possible to keep the weight off also! We will be going into the the first 6 weeks where we will maintain our weight, before we start the second round of the diet. I will keep you all informed on here, how it goes! :)

I updated the weight loss number on here to reflect how far I am down from the first time I actually weighed in for this blog. So, I have lost 27 lbs on HCG, but I was still down a few pounds from my first efforts on here.

So, no promises how often I will update this. I am now a full time student as well as full time mom and everything else, so my time is limited. But here goes. If anyone has any questions about HCG, please feel free to ask. I am willing to share any information that I have!

Thanks! :)

I am still alive!

Well, it has been a long couple of months, and obviously I have not kept my commitment of keeping this blog updated, nor my commitment to exercise and lose weight. I won't go into a long sob story and list my excuses, because we all know that is all that they are .. excuses. But I will just say that it has a lot to do with the fact that we had an unexpected move to another town. We are all moved and mostly settled in, so I really have not excuses for myself at this point. Summer is almost over, the kids start back to school on Monday and life will be back to a more consistent schedule.

I am shocked and amazed to report that even though I have not exercised in over a month and I have been eating like a mad man .. I have managed to maintain my weight. However, I am guessing that I have lost muscle and gained fat .. which of course, is not what I want .. but it is time for me to recommit and get going again. In our new home we have access to 3 community pools. We go swimming a few times a week .. that means me in a swim suit .. not a pretty sight. However, it motivates me more to lose the weight so that by next summer I can feel a little bit more comfortable in a swim suit ... I think I am past the point in life of being able to feel great in a swim suit, but we will see :)

home at last

okay, so a quick update. I just got back into town after our 2 week road trip, so I have a million and one things to get done today and the next few days. But I just wanted to check in and be accountable! :)

First off, I have to say, the road trip was a huge success. I can see huge differences in my son's behavior already. But beyond that, we had a fabulous time! Thanks to all our family and friends who let us come visit/stay with them. We really had a fabulous time. I thought for sure I would come back from the trip ready to disown my children, but that was not the case at all. In fact, I had to take the oldest three to their dad's house as soon as we got back into town, for his two weeks summer visitation. I usually really enjoy the first few days at very least that they are at their dad's, it always seems like such a great break, but this time, I almost cried when I drove away and I have been missing them ever since. So, I guess you can say that we really bonded on this trip. It will for sure be one of those experiences that we will all remember for a lifetime. The only thing that could have made it better is if my husband was there with us. I missed him dearly and couldn't wait to get back to see him. The night we came into town he was working, so the two youngest girls and I went by his work to see him. On the drive there I had butterflies in my stomach and it felt like a first date of something... according to my mother-in-law that means that I really love him .. I know that she is right! :)

Well, onto the purpose of this post. While I was gone for the two weeks, I managed to exercise all but 4 of the days. I also managed to eat pretty well most of the time. Towards the end of the trip I got a little bit lazy and got tired of working so hard to eat right when everyone else was eating fast food etc. But I am happy to report that I lost 2 more lbs. while on my trip. I know it is not a huge amount, but I am still extremely proud of it. Sitting in the car for more than 41 hours (over 3000 miles) and eating fast food etc. I am impressed that I lost any weight at all.

I am ready to get back to it full force now that I am home and on my own schedule. I plan on hitting it hard this week and have already started today. So, we will see what this weeks efforts will bring!

early weigh in 6/4/2010

I am about to embark on a two week road trip with 5 kids and a dog! I am not sure if I will be able to maintain my sanity! But it should be fun and hopefully a huge blessing for us as well. The initial purpose of the trip is to take my 9 yr. old son who has ADHD to a homeopathic Dr. in my parents hometown. Other members of my family have had great results from seeing him. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will help him.

Anyhow, the fact that I will be traveling and using different scales (I will still have to weigh in for the fitness challenge that I will be participating in) I wanted to see what my weight is on the my scale. I have actually lost the 5 lbs. that I had gained back plus an additional 1 lb. So, I am down 6 lbs. from my last weigh in! Whoo Hoo! :)

I obviously need to keep doing what I am doing. I have not been able to work out for the past two days. Yesterday morning I was getting ready to work out (Yoga x) but remembered that the garbage can needed to be put on the curb. My husband was still in bed, so I decided to do it myself. (I usually make him do it because we have a huge, out of control dog in our backyard that attacks whoever enters the backyard ... except for Brian) Anyhow, I opened the gate and realized that the dog hadn't heard me, so I grabbed the can and started backing out of the gate as fast as I could so that I could close the gate before the dog got over to me. As I was backing up, I ran into the electric meter thing that is on the side of the house. I have a gigantic bruise my right calf, I was wearing flip flops, I twisted my ankle and ripped my foot open on the gravel (when I twisted my ankle, my flip flop came off leaving me with a barefoot) Anyhow, I have some fun injuries. Luckily my ankle is fine. My calf is fine, just really, really ugly (my hubby says it looks like I tried to get a tattoo of a wizards hat but it got smeared) The cut on my food is a large open wound. That is the injury that is keeping me from working out. I am pretty sure that if I put on a tennis shoe it would just rip open and bleed. I am anxious for it to heal so I can get back to my exercise schedule!

This diet really isn't working!

HAHA! Brian and I were having fun playing with Skype. We found ways to make our faces look pretty crazy! We were laughing so hard we were in tears! :)

Time to get re-motivated

Ok, Ok, it is time to get re-motivated! I have still been exercising consistently, but not eating the way I should. Seems to be the story of my life. Once I get in the habit of exercising it is easy to keep doing it, because I enjoy it so much. It is just the eating part of getting healthy that I have a hard time sticking to. As I think about it, I'm not sure exactly why. I have been able to eat very yummy healthy food, things that I really quite enjoy. It is just programmed somewhere in my head that I "need" the junk food, that I "need" to eat garbage when I am feeling stressed or sad or happy or any emotion outside of just neutral. I need to fix that. I need to figure out how to fix that so that I can lose this weight. I have gained 2 lbs. this week. So, overall I am up 5 lbs from my lowest a few weeks ago.

On a brighter note ... I will be starting a fitness challenge with some other women this next week. I believe this will really help me get back on track. Here are the rules of the challenge.
Each of the following will earn you ONE point per day, plus ONE bonus point
per week if you don't miss a day:

No Desserts (6 points possible, plus 1 point bonus = 7 possible per week)
No Soda (6, plus 1 = 7 possible per week)
No Eating after 7:30pm (6, plus 1 = 7 possible per week)
Exercising (30 minutes, elevated heart rate) (6, plus 1 = 7 possible per
week)
Scriptures (at least 1 chapter) (6, plus 1 = 7 possible per week)
Weekly Challenge (6, plus 1 = 7 possible per week)

There are SEVEN days in a week! That's the beauty
of it, you have Sundays off. Yippee! You can look forward to
that one dessert or that one soda one day a week - easier to stay on track
and get back into it on Monday!

Okay - there are THREE MORE possible points per week.

ONE point per week for Weight Loss - if you've lost at least one pound, or
maintained your ideal weight, you get a point.

ONE point per week for Family Home Evening - that's right - doesn't matter
which night you hold it on, just as long as you organize and carry it out!
One point if you do!

ONE point per week will be a Mystery Point - I will take suggestions from
all of you and then draw one per week.

THAT MAKES A TOTAL OF 45 POINTS POSSIBLE PER WEEK - WINNER AT THE END OF 12
WEEKS TAKES HOME 80% OF THE PRIZE MONEY, SECOND PLACE TAKES 20%!

I am excited for this challenge, but also a tiny bit hesitant just because right as the challenge starts I will be going on a 2 week road trip with my kids. I will still be able to exercise most of the time. I will be bringing my P90X DVD's and weights etc. so I can still do it while I am on the trip. But there will be a few days of traveling that will prevent me from working out. And I am not sure how I can do 14+ hrs. on the road without drinking some sort of caffeinated drink! But I will do my best and the challenge is for 12 weeks, so it is not worth not doing it, just for 2 weeks that might be difficult.

Will I Be Famous? :)

I didn't post last week's weigh in, mostly because I was bugged! I know the way I was eating did not deserve a weight loss, but it still stinks to see it on the scale. I actually gained 3 lbs. last week. This week I did better in the eating department, but still not 100% the way that I should be. I didn't lose weight again this week .. however, my body fat % has dropped by over 4%. I think that is quite significant, but I still need to lose lbs as well.

Yesterday I went to a taping of The Biggest Loser. For some strange reason they were here in Laveen, of all places! lol They were here "picking up" two of their contestants for this season. So, there were about 200 of us (give or take .. but a lot less people there than I had expected) that got to be there, meet a lot of the celebs from the show (ie, Ali, Betty Sue, Sione, Bob, Dr. H etc.) We also got free Biggest Loser t-shirts. They had 3 people who wanted to be contestants. They had their first weigh in there in front of us and then they had their first challenge to earn their way onto the show. They had to do a 1 mile run. The first two across the finish line got into a limo and headed for the Biggest Loser ranch. They had all of us (or those that wanted to) run with them. It was 90 degrees when we did the run. It was so stinkin hot! I don't do well running in the heat. I ran the mile faster than I usually do. (13 min.) but I ended up with a migraine later in the afternoon :)

I ended up in a bit of a predicament; they gave the contestants a head start and then we were not allowed to pass them until a certain point in the race (probably about 1/4 mile) I ended up passing all of them, but just barely passed the first contestant to finish (Jessica) a few hundred yards before the finish line. I wanted to get a good amount ahead of her so that I was not on camera running in with her. However, right at the end she got a spurt of adrenaline, I am assuming and sprinted into the finish line. I couldn't stay ahead of her, so I finished right at the same time as she did. I am not excited about seeing myself on TV running! :(

Overall, it was a fun day. I am glad that I went ... migraine and all! :)