Cindy

Weight loss challenge team needs more members.  The Wild Cats are looking for new members!!  We are competing against the Hot Rods.  We weigh in every Sunday with a 10 am cutoff time in your own time zone.   We then declare a winning team (whichever loses the most weight) and start all over again!

We have an awesome group of people on our team who are always ready to offer encouragement and motivation.  We have a lot of fun but are also very serious about our goals and have a separate forum just for serious talk.  Our team also offers optional exercise challenges. You do not have to do them but we have a lot of fun with them.  If you complete one or more of the challenges, you can email me and I brag about you. But, it is not required.

You can find us by looking at the Buddy Slim menu bar and clicking Forum and then click Weight Loss Challenges and then click Wild Cat Serious Talk or Cheer section.

We’re looking for people who are serious about weight loss. You need to be willing to workout at least 5 days per week (trying for 6) and eating healthy on a regular basis.  If you’re interested, email me your current weight and we’ll introduce you to the team.

Weight loss challenge team needs more members.  The Wild Cats are looking for new members!!  We are competing against the Hot Rods.  We weigh in every Sunday with a 10 am cutoff time in your own time zone.   We then declare a winning team (whichever loses the most weight) and start all over again!

We have an awesome group of people on our team who are always ready to offer encouragement and motivation.  We have a lot of fun but are also very serious about our goals and have a separate forum just for serious talk.  Our team also offers optional exercise challenges. You do not have to do them but we have a lot of fun with them.  If you complete one or more of the challenges, you can email me and I brag about you. But, it is not required.

You can find us by looking at the Buddy Slim menu bar and clicking Forum and then click Weight Loss Challenges and then click Wild Cat Serious Talk or Cheer section.

We’re looking for people who are serious about weight loss. You need to be willing to workout at least 5 days per week (trying for 6) and eating healthy on a regular basis.  If you’re interested, email me your current weight and we’ll introduce you to the team.

Okay, I determined today that I need to practice what I preach.  I hate that too!  I’ve been leading the Wildcats for a few months now and I’m always doling out advice to those people who are feeling bad or just not “in the mood” to exercise.  Well, this week, that person needing the advice has been me.

We’ve all been there so don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.  We get in those moods when we just don’t feel like doing anything at all.  I don’t want to workout.  I’m tired of this battle.  Who cares if I gain a pound or two (or three or four).  The very idea of exercise is just beyond me.   Heck, I even avoided the forums because I didn’t WANT to be motivated!  That’s how pathetic it’s been in my feeble little mind this week.

Well, I do have a responsibility to my team so I knew that I needed to do something.  I figured, I’ll just check in on the forums and then head to bed.  Who’s gonna know if I work out or not anyway?  Besides that, who really cares?

I didn’t even get the computer turned on before that little voice in my head was telling me to practice what I preach.  How could I, in good conscience, go online and talk to people about staying motivated and working through their blahs if I didn’t do it myself.  I’m constantly telling people to take responsibility for their choices.  I don’t buy into the whole, “don’t beat yourself up” way of thinking.  I mean, really, who the heck are ya gonna beat up for your own lack of exercise and poor food choices?

So, I DID get my workout in today.  It was 1:00 in the morning and I was dragging out the Gazelle to get in a quick workout.  Afterall, just 30 minutes is all I really need right?  Well, I got my 3 miles in and feel SOOOO much better about myself.  I feel so dern good that I’m gonna get in some ab work before going off to bed and it’s after 2 am right now.

Just one last word of advice, when you’re working through the blahs, don’t look at the clock.  Watch some TV or something while you workout but try not to pay any attention to the time spent working out.  I’ve learned that when I’m in blah mode, watching the clock just makes it worse.  I still feel better when I finish but it seems to drag on forever.  So, today, I didn’t pay attention to the clock and before I knew it, my 3 miles was complete!

So, yes, I still say, work through the blahs!  You’ll feel much better about yourself if you do!!!!!!!!

If you’re looking for an upbeat blog, you’ve found it. I can’t describe my joy any other way than ecstatic! But, first, I need to say ahead of time that this blog will not even come close to expressing the joy and excitement I am experiencing because of some annoying cold. Thankfully, it has only stolen my voice and some of my energy but not my attitude.

If you’ve already read this one, I’ve had to repost it because it got lost in cyberspace.  I really liked this particular post and was disappointed to find that the link to it was “broken” so here it is again. 

I was talking to a buddy (WonderWoman) the other day and telling her about my latest shopping escapade. When I finished, she said, “you need to blog about that.” I wish that I had had the time to do it that day but I have some things to add to it today so all is well.

I don’t know about you, but because of my weight, I have HATED shopping for years!!! Well, I was trying to find some warmer clothes to wear the other day and realized that none of them fit me anymore. So, I decided it was time to go for some smaller clothes. Most of my winter clothes were size 18, 20 or 22. I had already given those away and was having to wear short sleeves and shorts. I live in the mountains…it’s getting cold!

Anyway, I went shopping. I usually avoid the mall like the plague because the few places that have “plus” sizes are too expensive. I decided to go to a few shops around town and then hit the mall. I found a couple of shirts at the shops around town and bought them. Then, I went to the mall and well, let me tell you about this store. We have a store called Christopher and Banks (for “normal sizes”) and C.J. Banks for plus sizes. Of course, the first place I go is to CJ Banks. Isn’t it funny how they rarely have cute clothes in plus sizes? I figured, aww what the heck, I’ll look in Christopher and Banks. I found some cute things and took them to the dressing room to try on. I was almost to the room when I asked the attendant/sales clerk to wait so I could get a size larger in the skirt. I actually told her that I was dreaming if I thought I could wear the smaller one. Just on a whim, I decided to try the smaller one on first and get it out of the way. It fit!!!! I couldn’t believe it!! Well, at that point, I was on a roll.

Want to know what size it was? Just a sec, I’m getting there. Ladies, we all know that skirts and dresses are not an good indicator of true size, right? So, I went looking for jeans. Now, there’s how I can tell if I’ve really lost weight. Mind you, I’ve been wearing 18 and 20 for about 3 years now. I went to the dressing room, laughing at my audacity, with a size 14. I nearly jumped right out of them from excitement when I saw that they fit!

I got home with the shirts and wasn’t really comfortable with how they fit. I don’t have a female nearby to advise me so I took them back to the store and asked the sales clerk to help me. I went in and tried on the shirt that I’d taken home and when I came out she gave me an emphatic, “NO NO NO. That’s much too big!” If only you could have seen my face. The shirt was an extra large, I had stepped down from a double X. Unfortunately, the large was just a tad bit too small. Barely, but since I’m used to wearing my tops big, I wasn’t comfortable with it. I hope to go back in a month and try it again.

Okay, for part 2 of my blog…the healthy weight range. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I am not a big fan of the BMI charts because they don’t take into account muscle mass. But, I figure, that’s not my real problem. I’m not overweight because I have too much muscle mass. I mean really, let’s be honest here, it’s fat! Well, my mom was here this weekend for a visit and we were looking at some old pics. I showed her my “in progress” pics …the ones in the brown shirt…and she was shocked. She told me I need to update my pics because I’m not that big anymore. After that morale booster, I decided to check my BMI. I am THRILLED to report that I am now in the “healthy range”!!! I’ve worked so hard to get here and plan to keep working hard till I get to or pass my goal. Granted, I’m just inside the healthy range, I’m still in it! I want to get to the middle of the range because though I’m happy with my progress, I know that this is still not the ideal weight for me personally.

Okay, I know that it sounds as though I’ve been bragging but I don’t see it that way. Yes, I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I’ll post some new pics later this week just so you can see it too. But, it’s not been easy. I’ve worked hard at changing my view of food and eating. I still struggle with my food sometimes and sometimes I give in. But, when I give in, I make up for it by working out more or harder. I’ve posted this in hopes of motivating or encouraging someone else. I want you to know that IT CAN BE DONE!!! In the past 3 or 4 years, I never dreamed that I would see size 14 jeans on me again. At this point, I’m working toward size 12 and dreaming of size 10! Push yourself to reach your goals. If you want some help, ask!! But, if you want someone to say, “it’s okay, just start again tomorrow” or “don’t beat yourself up” , don’t look to me. You won’t hear that from me. It’s brutal honesty. I’ve beat myself up several times during this weight loss stuff because I needed it!! I don’t put myself down, don’t take it that way. But, if I needed a butt kicking, I’d give it to myself or look for someone who would kick me back into place. That’s what it took for me to do this. That’s how I view weight loss efforts. You have to kick yourself in the rear or you’ll just keep slacking off on the workouts or eating whatever you please. I can tell you from experience, you won’t lose much weight that way!!!

THE END (finally!! That was really long.) Thanks for reading.

Ever have one of those moments when everything and everyone starts to irritate you?  I’m guessing that I’m just getting tired because I’m not usually so uhh…what’s the word?… easily aggravated.   Oh well, enough of that.

Okay, I had a goal to get to a certain weight before we closed on our house.  I didn’t make it I’m ashamed to say.  I am 5 lbs away from it.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining!  I’m happy that I am where I am and I know I’ll go further.  The point of this is to say, I know why I didn’t reach my goal, or at least some of the reason.  I can blame it on TOM or the stress of moving or whatever but those are excuses and I quit with the excuses long ago.  I’m all about honesty now.  Yes, TOM brought with it about 3 lbs but I quickly lost that.  Yes, it’s stressful to move as we all know.  BUT, the real reason I haven’t made it to goal is because I didn’t work hard enough for it.  I had a couple of days when I wasn’t OP but I was with food for the most part.  My problem was with working out.  There, I said it.

I made a commitment at the beginning of September to improve my workouts.  I was doing pretty well and then got sick.  I missed 3 days of workouts because of it and I allowed that to get me off track.  I don’t fault myself for not working out when I was sick.  I think people who do are just asking for a longer illness.  I do fault myself for letting it spill over to the next week (this week).

I had a friend/buddy tell me something that kind of hit me where it hurts.  I could blog about “tomorrow’s another day” or I can do something about it.  I’m no longer the type of person who uses the “fresh start” or “tomorrow’s another day” phrases.  I don’t like them because I think they are a cop out.  (If you use them, well, that’s your choice.  I don’t like them for me).  My point is, why wait till tomorrow?  Why are you sitting here blogging instead of working out?

One final paragraph.  I don’t want you finishing this blog with negative thoughts.  I am pleased with the amount of weight I’ve lost so far.  Heck, 39 lbs is nothing to sneeze at.  I’m happy with it!  Could it have been more by this point?  Yes.  Is that my fault?  Yes.  Am I going to beat myself up over it?  Already have.  I read a lot of posts where people say they’re not going to beat themselves up over it or comments of others telling them not to do that.  I’m not like that.  I’m a firm believer in tough love.  I NEED to beat myself up a bit so that I’ll stay on track!  So, yes, I’ve had a stern talk with myself about my slacking off and it’s working.  I know I can be better so I should expect better from myself.  I grew up in a family where not giving everything you best was simply not acceptable and I am still of that mentality.  Am I still in good spirits?  Absolutely!!  Because, I know that I messed up by slacking and I’m ready to fix it.  I also know that I can and WILL get to goal!  And soon!

The moral of the story:  If you aren’t progressing at the rate you hoped for, or if you’ve “slipped”, FIX IT!!   Admit your faults (to yourself or publicly) and do what it takes to get you where you want to be.  That’s what I’m off to do now.  Don’t put it off till tomorrow.  Start working on the solution now!

Lecture over.  I’m going to the Gazelle.

I know we’ve all been there.  Day after day of feeling “ho hum” as I like to call it.  I hate those episodes, especially when they last over a week.  So, I’m snapping out of it as of today!!

I’m recommitting myself to losing weight but not just for me anymore.  My husband and I went to a marriage enrichment conference last night and it opened my eyes to a couple of important facts.  Yes, I need to lose weight for myself, to improve my health and my self esteem.  But, I also need to be doing what I can to make myself attractive to my husband.  I used to be a die hard feminist (thanks in part to my two very stubborn grandmothers) but my views of certain things are changing.  I do believe that in order to do our part in keeping our marriage happy, we must make ourselves attractive to our husbands.  What am I getting at?  I need to lose weight and get fit for my hubby and  I love him enough to do that.  We’ve been through a great deal together over our 10 years of marriage.  He’s been my rock.  Of course we have our difficult times, but the good far outweigh the bad.  He deserves to have a wife who wants to look nice for him.

Okay, so, I’m going to 2 CARDIO sessions per day at least 4 days per week.  The longer session in the morning and a shorter in the evening.  There’s no reason why I can’t do this.  I’m a stay at home Mom of 2 little ones (3 y/o and nearly 2 y/o).  My oldest likes to exercise with me in the mornings.  The evening workout is the one I really struggle with.  By the time we get the kids to bed and spend a little time together, my husband is exhausted and heads to bed.  That leaves me with the house to myself.  BUT, this is also the only time I can get some of my “chores” done, like ironing and mopping.  It’s just impossible to do those during the day with the kids underfoot.  Still, I’m going to try for an evening workout at least 4 days per week.  We’ll see how it goes.  I may be back on here in a week saying, “forget it, it can’t be done!”  but I hope not.

I think I can.  I think I can.   

I was reviewing my weight history again today after weighing in and realized a couple of things.  I’ve never been a big fan of BMI charts, maybe because I was “obese” for so long.  But, now, I’m looking at my BMI with nearly every pound I lose and loving the fact that it’s going down!  I’ve long since left the obese category and am closing in on the “normal weight” range.  I’m only 1.6 points away and I LOVE watching that number shrink.  It may be going slow but who cares?  It’s going down steadily and that’s what I care about!

Okay, so I got a little disappointed last week after weigh in.  I knew I hadn’t lost but I had also gained 2 lbs.  I know it was partially TOM related but it was also laziness related.  Well, I just wanted to let you know that after a swift kick in the rear by myself and a buddy or two (one in particular whom I think gets some sort of sick pleasure out of giving me a guilt trip  ), I came back full strength.  I lost that 2 lbs that I’d gained plus 2 more and am well on my way to the finish line for that little mini challenge I posed to myself.

In case you missed that post:  I have 1.6 points to drop on my BMI or 12 lbs to reach my “ideal weight” range.  I’m closing on my house in 5 weeks.  I want to drop that 12 lbs by then.  That’s two weeks of 3 lbs loss, and 3 weeks of 2 lbs loss.  I know I can do it if I stay focused on my goal!!  I’ve actually typed up a chart and printed it.  It’s now on my fridge and I get the pleasure of tracking and seeing my progress each time I go to the fridge.  I know it sounds a little “corny” but it is actually helping me.  All the other visual things I’ve put up have been useless but this, well, this seems to work.  It reminds me of my goals and keeps me true to them.

I know we’re all in this for the benefits of weight loss:  healthier bodies, more energy, looks, etc.  And, I know we all “want” it pretty badly.  But, what I’ve learned about myself and a few other buddyslimmers, there’s a difference in the levels of that want.  Like I said, we all want it but do we all want it bad enough to work for it?  If you’re not willing to work for it and work HARD, you may as well sign out and go on with your life ’cause you’re not gonna reach goal without the work!  I have to say I WANT IT BAD!!!!!!  So, I’ve committed to working my tail off this week and really sticking to my food plan.  Oh, and what’s my food plan??  I don’t do diets.  I can’t.  Not for any medical reasons but because I know me.  I won’t stick to it if I can’t do it for life.  So, I’ve been watching calories and fat grams.  I’m a numbers person.  I’ve done a lot of research and used a lot of formulas to determine how many calories and fat grams I should consume each day and how many I need to burn each day.  My “plan” allows for a little wiggle room so that I can indulge in a treat every now and then.  If I don’t have that freedom every once in a while, I’ll go hog wild one day and probably gain 10 lbs in one sitting.

Back to the reason for this blog.  I’ve looked at my weight vs. ideal range and my current BMI vs. ideal range.  I’m almost there!   Just 12 lbs or 1.6 points and I’ll be in the healthy range.  That has got me so PUMPED!  I’m ready to get there!  I’ve not been in the ideal weight range for over 5 years and it’s time I got my body back and my health!!  I have no plans of stopping once I lose that 12 lbs.  I want to be closer to the middle of the range, so, I’ll need to lose about 30 lbs total to hit the middle.  But, when I break it up into smaller bits, it looks so much more doable!  For now, I’m concentrating on just getting in the range.  I’ll worry about the rest when I get there!

Wow, do I feel great! I haven’t blogged in a while but I just had to this evening. My husband actually made it home in time for me to go to the park for my walk/run. I’ve not been in so long, I almost forgot what the park looked like!

Anyway, I figured since it had been a while that I would walk the first lap and then start my running on the second one. Well, that didn’t happen. I got to the point where I usually start running (I don’t run the whole lap as about 1/2 of it is uphill). So, I’m on my first lap and I get to that point and had to force myself to keep walking instead of running. That didn’t last more than a few seconds and I found myself breaking out into my run. It was awesome! I had to laugh at myself when I realized I was running though ’cause I’d been running for a couple of minutes before I even noticed.

I have to say that I didn’t go my usual 4 laps today though. And I walked most of the 3rd one. But, I’m back in the game and ready to increase! The only reason I didn’t go for 4 laps today was because of this stupid foot pain. I don’t know what I did to it but I’m not letting it stop me. It may slow me down till I get it checked out but it will NOT stop me! So, I pushed through the pain and kept it up for 3 laps which totals 3.5 miles including the walk up to the track and back down to the car.

Just so you don’t think I’m making excuses, I have an appointment to get myself checked out (my foot and another issue I have that’s slowing me down). But, I can’t get in until the end of September. So, until then, I’ll go till I can’t stand the pain anymore and then go a little more. I know it’s nothing serious, probably has to do with the way I run or something. But, I can’t wait to get it checked out and resolved so I can go longer and faster!

And another thing, I’m good at making excuses.  I am the queen of excuses.  I’ve come up with some real doozies in my time.  But now, in the words of a good buddy of mine, I’m learning to bust through the negative talk and just get it done!   Afterall, that’s all these excuses really are anyway.  My former lazy self fighting with the healthier me that’s been hiding amongst all the fat for so long.  Well, the healthier me is sick of hiding and wants to show off.

Okay, one last thing and I’ll hush.  To all my buddies, hold me accountable to the following.  I have made a new short term goal for myself.  I have a major life event coming up in just under 6 weeks.  I have 14 lbs to go before I’m in my “ideal healthy weight range.”  Granted it’s the highest weight in that range, that’s not the point.  My short term goal is to lose that 14 pounds by September 14th.  I’ll still have a ways to go to get to my big goal but this will push me a lot closer to it.  I know I can do it if I put my mind to it.  It’s just 2 lbs a week for 4 of those weeks and 3 lbs for the other 2 weeks.  I’ve been averaging about 2 lbs a week for a long time so I just need to bump it up a bit to get the extra pounds off.  So, help keep me accountable buddies!!

I’ll keep you posted!

Just changed my weight tracker again. I love changing it!! At least when it’s to a smaller number. Noticed a couple of things when I changed it. One, I should be getting another star this week (if all goes as planned) and two, I’m almost out of the 190’s!!

It’s funny. When I started trying to lose weight, I didn’t have much confidence in myself. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never really put much effort into it. Like I’ve told a few buddies of mine, until you get it in your mind that you really want to lose the weight, you’re not gonna try very hard. I’ve “tried to lose weight” before but it rarely lasted more than a few days. So, I figured it would probably be the same thing this time. But, something was different. Well, a lot of things were different.

I was tired of not being able to keep up with my kids and of not being able to play with them much because I was too tired. I was tired of being too uncomfortable to go out in public because of my weight and worrying what everybody else was thinking about me. Still, I didn’t have much confidence that I’d stick with it for long. (apparently, neither did anyone else in my family) I had been able to lose a few pounds before I joined this site (about but it was taking me a long time to do it and I was getting discouraged. I had no real “plan”.

I am a firm believer in God and I believe that He has a plan for our lives. I had prayed about my weight issues and asked God for help this time. Help to actually lose some weight and stick with it. I believe God led me to this site. Since I’ve been on Buddy Slim, I’ve lost 28 lbs and am still going. I’ve found the motivation that I need to keep me going. I’ve found people to share the struggles with as well as the triumphs. And believe it or not, I’m actually enjoying it all. I have goals and a plan to help me reach those goals. And for the first time, I believe I can actually get there!

I want to thank my buddies and fellow Wild Cats for inspiring, motivating and encouraging me. I want to thank my buddy Wonder Woman for challenging me and pushing me further. I want to thank Dr. Marc for creating this site so that we all have a place to go for help. But, most importantly, I want to thank God for leading me here and helping me stick with it this time. While I’m proud of my efforts, I know that without God, I’d be just as big (if not bigger) than I ever was.

Me and my big mouth.   I made the mistake of challenging Wonder Woman to do extra challenges.  I don’t know why I thought she would just accept and do them.  DUH!!  Of course, she had to put a challenge out for me as well.  Will I ever learn???

After all that complaining, I actually enjoyed trying to complete my challenge.  The deal was, she had to do all these crunches (regular, reverse, w/ a twist, and double) and I had to run a mile.  Mind you, I don’t run!  I walk about 3.5 to 4 miles with a tad of running thrown in here and there.   She challenged me to run a mile non-stop.  Yeah right!!  Well, I gave it my best effort.  And, I admit, even I was surprised!!

I wasn’t able to do a mile without stopping because where I go has some very long steep hills.   So, I ran when it was flat or down hill and attempted to go up a few times.  I’d have to slow to a brisk walk and then start running again at the top.  So, total, I’d say I ran about 1.5 miles and walked the other 2.  I’m pretty dern proud of that.

So, never let it be said that fat people can’t run.  ‘Cause I just did!!  And I can’t wait to do it again!!  Though, I doubt it’ll be tomorrow  :lol: