Spring is a comin'

Here's the update.......I lost .4 lbs this week. That makes my grand total 9.2 I am not going at an ideal pace, but at least I am going in the right direction. I've still been doing my WATP dvds. The weather has been very nice and I have been able to get outdoors more. Rusty and I have been doing some work in the yard and we went fishing last weekend. I caught 4 bass over the course of the weekend. We brought them home from the lake and put them in our pond. We've been trying to work on the flower gardens around the cottage. I like to call it the cottage because that's what it is. I told him we should change our names to Fred and Wilma. For those who do not know us, we actually live in a round rock house that was built by my grandfather. It comes with its headaches, but at least we can boast that no one on the block (or even in the state, that I know of) has a house like ours. We have found various rocks around the property that we have used as the border to our future flower gardens. We do have some plants that were here when we started (hostas, the spider plants, and the red hot pokers) I want to add some colorful flowers in some of the beds and in some flower pots. We also brought out the tropical pants ( not sure of the name) I'll try to add some pictures later. So as far as my diet is going I am doing ok and I seem to be a lot more active lately. I really get into a funk during the winter. Also for those who know us, the "little house" will probably be coming down this summer. If it is possible, we may keep some of the boards to use for some other purpose. Since we are getting a ski boat for Rusty this summer, he said I could have my pool next summer. Hopefully by next summer, we can start entertaining some friends over. Its just too much of a mess right now for that.

The weather is soooooooo nice...........

When its so warm and sunny outside I just want to be outside all the time. Rusty and I went to Guntersville on Saturday. We might camp out there this summer. And when I say that, I mean in a tent. He doesn't want to do it until we have our boat. If I can stay away from shopping, we should have enough money saved by my birthday to buy one. It will be nice because we can use it at our lake here or the numerous state parks here in Alabama. Guntersville will be the best because its so big and beautiful. Another thing we came upon there was a "floating condo" It is essentially a series of houseboats that look like little log cabins floating along a pier. We stopped to check them out and to take a look inside. He says we will definitely do it but he will have to take something for motion sickness. We also went to Pell City to check out Lake Logan Martin. When his daughter graduates from high school this summer, some of his family will be coming down and we wanted to take them boating. Logan Martin is close although not as big as Guntersville. It is bigger than Sportsman's lake, although we might take them there one day too. I did weigh in this week. I lost 1.4. That brings my total to 8.8 although they messed up and wrote 9.2 in my book. I wish it were so. For anyone following the Weight Watchers program, I recommend buying the Comfort Foods cookbook. I tried two recipes out of it this weekend, one a meal and one a dessert, and they were excellent and easy to prepare. I also bought a new Walk Away the Pounds dvd. This one has 3 and 4 miles. I did the 4 mile one at the free aerobics class I go to in Springville and I did the three mile one here at home. I alternate the ones I choose. Today I did the 2 mile one from my other video. The three and four mile dvd has a little more stretchie band work, but if you dont have the stretchie, you can do the workout without it. I also realized that I will be able to take that dvd with me on a trip, because you can do it just about anywhere, even when we go camping. (I do intend to take the portable dvd player with me!) I can "rough it" to an extent, but I would like some comforts of home. So now is the time to kick it up a notch. My goal is to try to make my total weight loss at least 20 lbs by my birthday. Thats just over 11 lbs to go. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

The weather is soooooooo nice...........

When its so warm and sunny outside I just want to be outside all the time. Rusty and I went to Guntersville on Saturday. We might camp out there this summer. And when I say that, I mean in a tent. He doesn't want to do it until we have our boat. If I can stay away from shopping, we should have enough money saved by my birthday to buy one. It will be nice because we can use it at our lake here or the numerous state parks here in Alabama. Guntersville will be the best because its so big and beautiful. Another thing we came upon there was a "floating condo" It is essentially a series of houseboats that look like little log cabins floating along a pier. We stopped to check them out and to take a look inside. He says we will definitely do it but he will have to take something for motion sickness. We also went to Pell City to check out Lake Logan Martin. When his daughter graduates from high school this summer, some of his family will be coming down and we wanted to take them boating. Logan Martin is close although not as big as Guntersville. It is bigger than Sportsman's lake, although we might take them there one day too. I did weigh in this week. I lost 1.4. That brings my total to 8.8 although they messed up and wrote 9.2 in my book. I wish it were so. For anyone following the Weight Watchers program, I recommend buying the Comfort Foods cookbook. I tried two recipes out of it this weekend, one a meal and one a dessert, and they were excellent and easy to prepare. I also bought a new Walk Away the Pounds dvd. This one has 3 and 4 miles. I did the 4 mile one at the free aerobics class I go to in Springville and I did the three mile one here at home. I alternate the ones I choose. Today I did the 2 mile one from my other video. The three and four mile dvd has a little more stretchie band work, but if you dont have the stretchie, you can do the workout without it. I also realized that I will be able to take that dvd with me on a trip, because you can do it just about anywhere, even when we go camping. (I do intend to take the portable dvd player with me!) I can "rough it" to an extent, but I would like some comforts of home. So now is the time to kick it up a notch. My goal is to try to make my total weight loss at least 20 lbs by my birthday. Thats just over 11 lbs to go. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

OK.......I brought myself back into WW after several weeks away. I only gained .2 Thats not so bad considering how I ate. That was Thursday and I went to the Harry concert last night so, of course, I had to eat out with my friends. The concert was wonderful and the food was good. Tomorrow I am back on track. I went to the Core plan one week and lost 4 lbs that week. What I learned is that I truly need to incorporate more proteins and fruits and veggies into the diet. The Core plan only lets you have carbs (whole wheat pasta or a potato) once a day. I dont think I could do that every day. So I will do the Points again this week but still try to limit my carbs to once a day, but the carbs of my choice, add in more vegetables and the protein shouldn't be a problem since I mainly eat chicken. Then if I get to a point where I am not losing I may try the Core plan again one week. The weather was wonderful this weekend. It is so nice to be outside. Rusty and I bought two fishing rods today and went to the lake, but it was getting dark and the fish weren't biteing. I think we'll try again tomorrow if the weather stays nice. I'm going to try to add a photo from the concert.....we'll see how it goes.

I think I got lost.......

I haven't posted in almost two weeks. I was sick with a cold and a pinched nerve. I was weak and felt those were good reasons to not follow my Weight Watchers. Back to the grindstone this week though. No matter what, I am weighing in on Thursday. I may try to start some walking again this week, but no hand weights for the upper body for a while. I will have to splurge this week though for the Harry Connick Jr concert. Thats Friday and my friends and I are eating out. I will still try to make a wise choice. The good thing about losing weight is when you go to try on clothes and you find something really cute that fits really well. I'm excited about the dress I bought for the concert. My friend Donna is looking awesome and is wearing a super cute dress too. My other friend April bought a cute outfit, so I think we will all be looking hot. Donna bought the Walk Away the Pounds video and said she lost 1.2 lbs this week. Awesome! I will try to post again this week and let you guys know how I do at weigh in and the concert!

CORE......POINTS........CORE......POINTS

This has been a rough week for staying on the plan. I was sick and I also changed plans. Doing the WW points can be tough. Because of its flexibility, I tend to eat things that aren't as good for me (i.e. weight watchers snack cakes=1 point, 100 calorie packs, etc) One of the main goals is to eat 5-6 veggies or fruit everyday. I was not doing this and I was only losing about a half a pound to one pound a week. Thats not awful, but I feel like I could do more so I decided to try the Core system this week. It focuses on fruits and veggies and lean proteins. You can have carbs in the form of whole wheat pastas (which are not that bad) and potatoes. You can only have these during one meal a day. You also still get your 35 points per week to use on extras. It must have worked because I lost 4 lbs this week. Yaaaaaah! So now I am at 178.6. Thats pretty big, but I looked back to when I started Weight Watchers several years ago (before I quit) and I had started at 189. The fact that I am still smaller than I was then is encouraging. That's less than 50 lbs to lose. Ultimate goal is 130. For my height the healthy weight range is 113-141. I started back on Jan 4, 2007 and my total weight-loss to date is 7.6. Last week I went backwards by 1.8, but I made up for it this week. For anyone who's interested I've been incorporating several different exercise videos into my weekly schedule. I find every opportunity to exercise. I've been taking my laptop to work and carrying a workout video which I do in one of the empty rooms in the back of our office. My workmate is also doing Weight Watchers and has been doing the exercises with me some. My favorite videos to do during lunchtime is the Walk Away the Pounds series lead by Leslie Sansome. I just think these videos are wonderful. She bases them on miles and she has videos that go anywhere from 1 mile to 4 miles. They are not overly strenuous and are great if it's too cold outside to walk. They are also easy to follow. Sometimes she incorporates hand weights and resistence bands but they are not required to do the exercises. I found these videos at Wal-Mart but also try looking on E-bay or half.com. On the weekends and sometimes during the week I switch around my routine with something incorporating strength training. Prevention puts out some nice videos which have cardio and toning. I also like Denise Austin's toning exercises. I am not as keen on her cardio workouts. You can view her workouts on either Lifetime or LRW, I can't remember which. She comes on about 6 AM Central time. Also for those of you who have DirecTV go to FitTV. You can find a workout there for anyone. For anyone who is interested in Weight Watchers but doesn't have the time to go to meeting, try Weight Watchers online. My friend Donna is doing that plan and looks awesome. I'm done with this rather long blog............ I'll try to update more and write less..... :)

Introduction to my blog world.......

This is my first blog experience. I figured now was as good a time as any to start one. I am beginning a journey to become more fit in my thirties. You will see that introduction on my blog site. I've posted some photos that I have stored on this computer. They are not my very first photos before I lost weight. They are photos after I had lost about 15 lbs. I will try to post some other photos that were taken prior to that. In the future I will try to ad links to websites that I feel will help anyone else who is doing what I am doing which is getting fit through Weight Watchers and exercising. I will also try to ad links of interest about traveling, the outdoors, and anything else which could be of interest to you. I'm also using this as a way to keep in touch with family and friends. I hope you all will find what I have here interesting. Please send your comments. Thanks!