Go the Distance

And the lack of cheating pays off! Today I am officially ten pounds lighter than I was three weeks ago. Yay! I'm not just losing pounds, either; I'm also losing inches. Seriously, why was I being so lazy before? Oh, yeah. Because it's incredibly easy to do.

I've still got some tough terrain ahead, and my 30-day-challenge is still a week away from being over, but I'm pretty excited about this. Even as I stared at the chocolate chip cookie in Glen's hand last night, very tempted to just swipe it out of his grasp, I knew that I'd regret it the instant I succumbed to temptation. Not because it would make me feel physically terrible later, but because I've already gone this long and done this well, and I don't want to beat myself up.

So here's to another week of willpower! I think the fact that I'm seeing results is helping to motivate me to look beyond the month of October and keep up my momentum until I'm back where I want to be. (and then to stay where i want to be.)

Of course, the next couple of months will be a challenge, considering the holidays, but I think if I keep on doing what I'm supposed to be doing every day, I won't feel guilty for splurging on special days. And denying myself the goodies now are sure helping me to look forward to and increase my appreciation for those special occasions.

Because I really want a cookie. :)

More Isaac pictures for your enjoyment. I love my silly boy.

Megan and Tyler came to visit for the day, and we went out to Bluebell. Isaac reaallllllly liked the cow train.

Got some hand-me-down costumes from my sis and couldn't resist squeezing Isaac into this one, considering how cute it looked and the fact that in two weeks I won't be able to fit him in it.

My next challenge begins on Saturday, only this is an intellectual challenge. I'm finally biting the bullet and participating in Nanowrimo. My thanks go out to my supportive hubby for reminding me of and encouraging me to do it. Life's sure fun when you actually make and keep goals!

-Me

"I believe that every human has a finite amount of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine by running around doing exercises." -Neil Armstrong

Can't Hardly Wait

And now I am at the end of Day 11 of my 30-day challenge. And how am I doing? I'm impatient.

I'm impatient because it's been a week and a half and I want to be 10 pounds lighter already! I did drop about 4 pounds the first week (wow!), but I have a feeling that won't be the case this week. Which makes me a tad irritated. My brain is thinking, "Come on! You've been so good and haven't cheated on food and have worked out every day! Your body should already look wildly different!" And then I remind myself that I've got plenty of years of bad habits to correct, and it's not as easy now that I've hit 30 and have had a baby.

To that reasonable side of myself, I say, "Grrrrrrr."

But, yes, miraculously enough, I have not cheated. At all. The closest I came to cheating was when we went to Provo on Monday and went out to lunch. Somehow I avoided the bread at the table, and I didn't touch the croutons in my salad! Don't get me wrong; this diet does not deride bread/grain/wheat/what-have-you -- but it sure doesn't allow me to eat as much of it as I used to. (insert sad face here.)

I even have deliberately made myself sweat twice in one day the past two days! That is totally unheard of. But when your husband leaves you alone every Tuesday night for his night classes, you need to come up with something to do. So I've played Just Dance the last two nights for fun. And believe me, Just Dance is a lot more fun for me than my work-outs so far. I'm counting on them eventually getting fun, but for now I'm just glad that I've moved past feeling sick when they're over.

It's been interesting being part of this challenge group on facebook. These are complete strangers to me, so it's weird to see them "like" a post I leave about how I'm doing (or the "sweat" pictures we're supposed to post after each work-out this week, blech). But I'm picked up by their success stories and am always glad to know I'm not alone. And to know that if/when I cheat/slip up, I won't be alone in that. I have been surprised by how many people are reporting their slip-ups. I'd prefer NOT to be put in that position, even though they'd all be perfectly nice about it. Yay, accountability! It keeps me from succumbing to temptation.

Because there's temptation. Every morning when my alarm goes off at 5, there's the temptation to stay put. There's the temptation to stop a work-out early when I feel like it's too much (and to be honest, it never is; i'm just a wimp). There's the temptation of the cookies I made the other day for my boys (and my boys only!). There's the temptation of the tortilla chips I want to snarf down with some mango salsa we bought at Costco. I am successful so far, but there's temptation. Darn it!

But I'm going to make it. I am going to make it. Eating less food is definitely a TON easier than it was last week, I'm learning about what works for me in what I want to eat, I'm getting a little more used to the various routines/exercises, I'm training myself to STOP looking at the clock when I work out, and I'm still really good at drinking my water. I will succeed. I will succeed.

To round out the post, here are some more pics of Isaac.

It almost looks like he knows what he's doing at the computer 

 I'm still amazed that he can fall asleep like this

Dad's shoes. He put them on himself. Correct foot and all!

-Me

"I'm not waiting until my hair turns white to become patient and wise. Nope, I'm dyeing my hair tonight." -Jarod Kintz

Let Them Be Little

Just wanted to document some of Silly's antics. And give you folks a break from having to read about me. :)

I don't always keep a close eye on this kid, especially while working, and this could have potentially been verrrrrry bad (him getting a hold of his dad's glasses), but fortunately he wanted to put them on instead of pull them apart. Phew!

Of course we've gotten spaghetti shots of him long before now, but when there's a big pile hanging down from his mouth, it's still entertaining.

Another instance of me not paying close attention (which is usually when he's able to do these camera-worthy things, anyway). He got into the hamper and pulled out Daddy's shirt. It's even on right-side-up!

Hubby was trying to document him hugging me while watching conference, but of course the camera came out and Silly wanted to get down. Guess he didn't want to stay still while listening to Pres. Uchtdorf. Tsk. tsk. So much to teach him.

Very stylish walking around with his diaper bag. Yet another instance when I wasn't paying attention.

So even though I'm annoyed he shared his cold with me, he still finds ways to make us laugh.

-Me

"You can learn many things about children. How much patience you have, for instance." -Franklin P. Jones

Gonna Make You Sweat

If anybody's curious about my progress at the close of the fourth day of this challenge, here's an update for you: boy, am I hungry!

Even at the points of my life when I have eaten mostly healthy food, my portion size has still been on the large side of things. I guess you could say I'm a true American in that respect. So keeping my portion sizes down the last four days has been tough. When talking to my parents on Monday evening (the end of the first day), Dad asked me how I was doing, and my immediate response was, "Miserable." I said it partly as a joke, but of course there is a modicum of truth in every joke. I was eating enough to sustain me, but not as much as my stomach was used to; therefore, it was making me cranky. Fortunately, Dad took a positive spin on my response and replied, "Oh, so that means you've been successful today."

So, yes. No cheating so far. But we're only a tenth of the way through, so who knows what may happen next week, which is usually about the time I get lazy again. Good thoughts, though. Maybe I'll NEVER cheat! Wouldn't that be great? I'll hope that the hardest day, eating-wise, is the first day. So far that's true; let's keep it that way.

Mercifully, there is an easy part of this for me, and that is drinking lots and lots of water. Ever since my pregnancy, I've been really good at doing just that, so I'm glad that there's something in all this that I already did right. Yay!

As for exercise, today was the first day I had a more intense work-out. I'm following a suggested schedule in one of the many brochures I received, and the first couple of days were shorter and lighter work-outs to learn the moves and technique. So I'm guessing that tomorrow will be when I start to feel REALLY sore. There has been some soreness from the last couple of days, but now that I've upped the ante, my body is definitely going to make itself heard. Goody.

Which makes it wonderful timing for Silly to give me a cold. Thanks, kid.

-Me

"I really don't think I need buns of steel. I'd be happier with buns of cinnamon." -Ellen DeGeneres

I Will Survive

When I was in school, I took an Environmental Biology class. What did I do the first day of the semester when I walked into that basement classroom in the MARB? I walked straight to the front row and sat down.

Now you may think I did so because I either a) love science or b) am a phenomenal student who craves sitting in the front row. To both assertions, I say, "HA!!" I'll tell you the real purpose of my sitting in the front row. I took this class the semester I came back to BYU after a little sabbatical from school. For multiple reasons, I had made some foolish decisions the year before that affected my dedication to school and I wasn't in the best place personally. After eight months of living at home and screwing my head back on, I was HIGHLY motivated to get back in the groove and put myself on the right track again. (and not just because i didn't want to go back to my parents' home; love you, mom and dad, but living at home after the age of 19 was not my favorite. i'm sure it wasn't yours, either.) It was not only this enthusiasm that prompted me to sit in the front row and soak up all the knowledge my professor had to share; I sat there because it made me accountable. Even if this professor didn't ever learn my name, maybe he would remember my face. Of course, it's likely he didn't even do THAT, but to my brain, it helped me to think that he would and therefore it would be noticed if I didn't show up to class. Hence, accountability.

Which brings me to why I am writing today. Beginning tomorrow, I am beginning a weight loss/healthy eating/exercise challenge. The challenge itself is 30 days, and I won't really get into specifics of what exactly I'll be doing, but I may post about how I'm feeling and other related things at various points throughout the month. So, for anybody who pays attention to this blog, please send good vibrations my way, because I'm pretty nervous.

I'm nervous because I have a tendency to fall off the wagon after a mere week of doing things better. I'm nervous because I don't want to have a bad attitude for a month, and I'm really afraid that my desire for potato chips might make me do just that. I'm nervous that I won't do very well, and that I'll spend 30 days beating myself up for the times I may inevitably slip.

But I know I need to do it. When I'm not nervous, I'm mainly glad that my facebook friend invited me to the challenge, because I have let myself get into bad habits for too long. I have been lazy too much. And I need to fix it. I know I'll feel better about myself if I stick to this and let it change my lifestyle. Because, really, I need an overhaul, no matter how much I love cookies.

So here it is. My 30-year-old equivalent of sitting in the front row in Environmental Biology. (let's just hope that it surprises me like that class did and i really enjoy it.) I'm putting this out into the universe to make myself accountable to anyone and everyone. Not only for support (although heaven knows i need that), but so that I know others are watching me. Not that I think anybody will scrutinize or criticize (nor do i want that), but it's important to me that others know what I'm doing. And others who actually know me. I'm part of a challenge group, and I'm grateful for the support and advice I'll be getting there, but I also want people I know to be aware. Because it forces me to do and be better for longer than three days.

Wish me luck!

-Me

"Whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away." -Paul Terry