Cindy

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:

I’m so tired of rain. I know we need it but it comes at the worst times. It’s dry as a bone all day when I can’t go out to exercise and then as soon as hubby gets home, it starts pouring. Ugghh! Oh well, guess I’ll be back on the Gazelle again tonight.

I can’t wait to get in our new house so that I can use the Gazelle anytime I want. Right now, it’s in the basement and with 2 little ones, I can’t just run down there for an hour and hop on. When we get to the new house, the basement is the family room so I’ll have it in there and can watch the kids playing. Eight more weeks. Until then, I’ll have to settle for using it after they go to bed. And before you ask, NO WAY am I getting up early and doing it. I don’t do mornings.

On a brighter note. I finally got my MP3 player to work. I bought one 2 days ago and couldn’t install it on my computer. So, took it back yesterday and got a more expensive one. Same thing. After searching the company’s website, emailing them, and making 3 phone calls to tech support, it finally works!!! So, at least I’ll be able to use it tonight on the Gazelle.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot. I was complaining about my shorts falling off of me all the time and the fact that I’m too cheap to go buy more. I remembered that I bought a pair of exercise shorts a few years ago but never wore them ’cause they didn’t fit. Went and tried them on, fit great!!

Woohoo!! I just wanted to hop back on here and say I did it!! I ironed my husband’s clothes for work tomorrow!!! Woohoo!! Aren’t you all proud of me??

Okay, I really came back on to say that I got in my cardio workout. I discovered that I can actually read while on my Gazelle. And Wonder Woman thinks I’m not coordinated. I have to admit, I did get a little dizzy a couple of times and had to put the book down. But, the point is, I got in my cardio and as expected, I feel great!! I did 68 minutes on the Gazelle which ended up being 5.1 miles and over 600 calories burned.

Maybe now that annoying little voice will shut up and let me sleep.   I think it may be part Wonder Woman, but don’t tell her!

Good night buddies!

I have no rhyme or reason for this blog. I’ve been sitting here reading blogs and just felt like typing for a while. I miss my buddy. She’s usually on at this time and we chat but alas, she is enjoying life. I should be doing something productive right now as the house is quiet with everyone asleep. Instead, I’m sitting here staring at this screen wondering what I could do to fill it up.

Tomorrow starts a new week. Time to renew my pledge to myself. I fully intend to get my cardio in this week if I have to strap my kids to my back and do it that way. I get my strength training in with no problem. My kids watch TV or play while I do that. But, this has been a horrible week for trying to get in my cardio. Hubby has been working later than usual and then we’ve been house hunting in the evenings. I’m hoping that’s over now though. We made an offer on a house and are waiting for a response.

Back to my excuses. House hunting, TOM, no hubby to watch the kids, quick overnight trip out of town, funerals. Good grief. Enough already. I’m sitting here with total silence in the house. What’s stopping me from heading down to the basement to hop on the Gazelle? The last remains of TOM I suppose. Yeah yeah yeah. I know. Lame excuse. So, what’s the real reason? I’m lazy that’s what. There is absolutely NO REASON for me not getting off my rear and getting on the Gazelle. I could go downstairs and hop on it for an hour and burn over 500 calories.

The voice in my head is saying:

So, GET UP AND DO IT ALREADY!!! Good grief! Nobody wants to hear your whining and bogus excuses. Aside from injury, which you don’t have by the way, or a family emergency, which again, you don’t have, there is no excuse for not doing something to right now to improve your health. You’ve been complaining for the past week that you feel awful because you haven’t been able to get your cardio workout in every day. Quit complaining and do something about it! Those pounds aren’t just going to drop off all by themselves! You have to work it to lose it and you DO want to lose it don’t you? Didn’t you just recently tell someone how great you’ve been feeling, how much more energy you have since working out regularly?? Well, you’re feeling down right now. What’s the best way to get that natural high you were on for so long? CARDIO!!! Do I have to draw you a picture?? MOVE!!! NOW!!!!

I’m not really sure who that voice belongs to. I think it’s a mixture of people. But I will say that I also heard some growling and hissing in the background. I suppose if I’m going to call myself a leader that I’d better be setting a good example. Okay, I’m off to listen to this annoying voice kick me in the rear. I’ve gotta iron some clothes for hubby and then I’m headed to the dungeon. I mean the basement to exercise. I’ll jump back on with a very short blog to let you know if I make it down there or not. A little accountability to give me an extra push.

Okay, on a totally different subject. Do any of your kids have those disgusting rubber animals (snakes, alligators, lizards, etc)? Well, my kids have about 5 or 6 of them. I make my daughter clean up her toys before she goes to bed each night (not to mention before we leave the house and before we sit down for dinner). So, I just KNOW that they’re all put away nice and neat like they are supposed to be right?! I mean she’s 3 years old, she wouldn’t possibly forget one. Well, I just glanced to the other side of the room ’cause I heard a noise and there sits a huge lizard. I ’bout dropped my keyboard! I HATE those stupid toys!! They look so freakin’ real!

Okay, I’m off. I’ll let ya know how I do.

That seems to be the constant chant on my mind.  What happened to me that I got trapped in this huge marshmallow body??  I used to be thin, not fit, but thin.  Well, let’s see.  Marriage.  Going from working 2 jobs to 1 job to NO job!  Two small kids.  Hhmmmm.  What else can I blame it on?  Aaahh, yes.  Getting lazy and eating too much.  That is where the real problem is!!  Because, in reality, I started getting heavy before I had my kids and while I was still working.

So, what am I going to do about it?  Well, I’m working on that now.  Cutting back on the calories was an obvious starting point.  That might eventually get me back to thin.  Okay, I started there and it helped.  I lost a few pounds before joining buddy slim.  But, it was going so s-l-o-w !!  And, what about getting fit?  Eating less sure wasn’t going to help with that too much.

Let’s think.  What could I do to get fit?  Okay, I’ll exercise a couple of days a week.  Did that for a while.  Helped a little.   Alright, this can’t be that hard to figure out.  I’m a nurse for goodness sake.  I should know what I need to do.  Reality check.  I do know what to do.  Cutting back on calories is great, but gotta watch those fat grams (a very wise woman reminded me of this…WW).  Exercising is good but just a couple of days a week?  And at a low intensity?  Come on…..I know better than that.

So, I’ve cut back on calories and fat grams.  And I actually have a plan to follow.  Notice, I said “plan” not diet.  I know me well enough to know that I won’t follow a diet.  If I can’t do it for life, I won’t do it for long!  So, calories to 1200-1400 per day and fat grams to 30-45 per day (I’m still working on this one but I’m getting there!).  Good, now for exercise.   Increased cardiovascular workouts from occasional to  at least 5 times per week but preferably 6 times per week.  Good, good.  Now, throw in some strength training.  I have to do it every day or I’ll forget.  So, upper body one day, lower body the next day with a rest day on Sundays.  And my low level of intensity took a climb up a steep hill!!   If you ain’t sweating and “feeling the burn” then it ain’t worth doing!  I can go for a leisurely walk any day and enjoy it.   But, my workout has got to be intense!!  And increasing in intensity as I go along.

What has all this gotten me?  25 Pounds lighter and SEVERAL inches smaller!  I’m still a work in progress but the little voice in my head that continues to scream “Let me out of this body!!”  is getting a little calmer and louder as the fat falls away.  Calmer because she sees the light at the end of the tunnel.  Louder  because she knows she has to keep me motivated.  Will I ever reach my goal of 150?  You better believe it!!  I’m smaller now than I’ve been in over 4 years but that just isn’t good enough for me.  I plan to get down to my goal weight as soon as possible.  I have less than 50 lbs to go and while it might be coming off slowly, it’s still coming off!!  My plan is to have it gone for good by the end of January 2008.  I realize that seems like a long time, but I have to be realistic.  With an average of  2lbs per week, and an occasional bad week (TOM), I figure the end of January is reasonable.

Why am I telling you this?  I’m not really.  I’m reminding myself of where I’ve been and where I’m going.  If it helps you out too, then wonderful.  I’m in this first and foremost for myself!!  Aren’t we all?  And second, for my family (hubby and kids).  Sorry to tell you that you all run third.  But that’s okay.  I’m sure you’ll all agree that you and your family come first.  I want to motivate others and show them that it CAN be done.  I’m living proof.  Still working, but getting smaller all the time!  And once I reach my goal, I’m still going to workout.  You have to or you end up right back where you started and I don’t ever want to go back there.

Thank you to all my buddies with a special thanks to Wonder Woman, Kama, Tasha, Molly, Mark, Barry and all the WildCats for keeping me motivated and encouraged.  Thank you Dr. Marc for setting up this wonderful website.  Could I have done it without this site?  Of course.  But, would I have been as inspired and motivated?  Maybe not.  Would it have been as much fun?  Definitely not.   And, yes I did say fun.  I am enjoying this journey to a smaller, more fit and active me and a large part of that is because of the people I’ve met and become friends with on this site.

Now, I have to go get some water.  That little voice in there is demanding that now too!!  She wants at least 64 oz a day and sometimes she wants even more than that!  She’s awfully greedy!

We have a wonderful fitness challenge going on right now and have several openings. We would love to fill these spots with people who are ready to change their lives for the better. We are a relatively small group looking to grow. We have weekly fitness challenges and a group of people who are very motivating and encouraging! Come check us out on the forums. You’ll find us under the “Fitness Challenge” tab. Just look for Apples and Oranges. If you are interested in joining, please contact me via email or feel free to leave a message on the support forum. You can also leave a comment here and I’ll contact you.

I made it!  I’m under 200 for the first time in about 4 years or more!!  I’m so happy!  I love this site and all my buddies.  You are all wonderful!  You keep me motivated and encouraged.  A few of you out there (you know who you are) are even willing to give me a big kick in the pants when I need it.  I would say that I could use one today but it’s my day off so I’m not counting calories or exercising today.

Anyway, I’m thrilled that I’ve made it out of the 200’s and have absolutely no intentions of ever going back.  I’m ready to kick butt now and get under 190.  It’s been so long since I’ve felt this good.  I just can’t even put into words how great I feel.  Hahaha, I’m so happy that I forgot to change my weight ticker.  I’m gonna go do that right now!

Keep up the hard work.  Stick to your plans.   The payoff may be slow in coming but it will come and it’s well worth all the hard work!!  I actually saw muscles in my arms for the first time too!   :grin: