Early Morning Blogging

Although, I guess I could say that it's late night blogging since I have yet to go to sleep. I can't get comfortable. I haven't been feeling too great for the past few days and right now I think I'm running a bit of a fever. It's not horrible, but I feel like I'm just radiating heat. I have an ice pack on my neck and its helping a bit. Anyway, enough whining about my silly little illness.

So, I am pleased to announce that I am finally down over 25 pounds! I'm down 26 pounds in fact. I think that being at work, on my feet and running around for 4-6 hours a day has helped. I love my job. I especially love it if it's helping me continue with my weight loss! Saturday I worked stock from 6-11, so basically I spent 3 hours moving 20-40lb bags of pet food and cat litter, and the other 2 hours putting up overstock. It was quite a workout! I have to do it again next Saturday. At least I know I'll get one decent workout in next week!

My eating habits have not been what they should have been lately. I have been eating what's easy instead of what's healthy which I don't really like. Actually, that may be part of why I got sick. I don't remember the last time I had a decent serving of vegetables. Bad, diet blogger. Ok, now that I've admitted my problem, I need to work on it.

Alright... I think I'm starting to cool off a bit. Maybe I can get some sleep now. I hope so anyway. I promise I'll try to blog again, and better, soon.

Goodnight!

- Jen

hot hot hot!

I shaved my legs for this blog.

No really, I just hopped in the shower, shaved the necessary parts and came back to the computer to write my blog.

Ok, so this is how it really went down.
"Oh, It's Monday, I better blog before Jen kills me over the interwebs."
*sits down to blog*
"I should probably weigh myself, too."
*heads to the bathroom*
"Man, it's hot, I need to put on a dress; I should probably shave my legs so I don't look like a Sasquatch running around the house."
*hops in shower*......*weighs self*
"Much better, now it's time to blog"

And you have my thought process on why I felt it necessary to shave before I sat down to blog. Totally unnecessary. Totally worth it.
Why is it so hot, you may ask. Or you might not ask because you already know or just don't care. Our AC is broken. We're waiting on the repairman to come out this afternoon. It broke on Friday. It has been a sweltering 94 degrees in the house over the weekend. I spent one night here and that was enough so we hightailed it over to our friend's house for the last two days. We're back and I'm dying. Hence the need to put on less clothing which meant shaving. and I feel like I'm talking in circles. Blah!

On to the goods!
Hopped on the scale and I am down to 185.4. Woot woot! That brings me to a total of 26.4 lbs lost since the journey began!

Please ignore the horrible pedicure. It's pathetic, I know

Yay! And here's a picture of me, down 26.4 lbs!

185.4 lbs =D 

Oh, and I bought a real bike...not a stationary one, although I'd like one of those too! It's a really intense whole body workout!

Operation Lazarus

I know! It's been like 3 weeks since my last post! I promise, I did not leave you all hanging on purpose. I have been sans laptop for about a month, and sharing the desktop was not conducive to my blogging. But thanks to my awesome friend Brad my laptop is back from the dead. And it's even better than ever! :-D

Anyway, the past month or so has been... a struggle. My eating habits went to pot and my working out was eh to say the least. I have to say, it is very difficult to eat healthy when you're broke. The cheap stuff is soooooo unhealthy! Not that you didn't know that, but still. But, I'm happy to report that I'm down another 2 pounds! That brings my current loss to 24.2 lbs. Whoo hoo!

I'm also happy to report that I am now employed. I recently started working at a local PetSmart. I've only been there a week, but I like it so far. My co-workers are nice and my job is pretty fun. I primarily work with the small pets (fish, reptiles, gerbils, hamsters, etc.) which means lots of running around. Hello, skinny jeans! Also, I will pass the gym on my way to and from work, so hopefully that will encourage me to go work out before/after work. We'll see. I haven't done a decent strength training session in what feels like months.

Well, I guess that's enough updating for now. Hope you have a good week!

- Jen

Oh Hey, I Have a Blog?

.....that I haven't kept up with in what seems like forever (ok, it only seems like forever because it has been forever). Kudos to Jen for keeping up the good work and carrying this blog on her back.

I'm not even sure what to write about. I don't know how to not sound like a broken record. I've been pretty complacent in my ways. I've had to give up running (ok, it was more like jogging with long bits of walking) because I'm having problems with my heels so I've been trying to hop in the pool for cardio...that goes well for a little bit and then it ends as sunbathing, which is me floating around on a raft...not so heart racing. I will say that I have seen the scale over the past month go from 186 to 188 down to 183.4 and back up to 187.6 (wait, haven't I been this weight before?)

What could I do? I could try harder, I need to try harder but at this point I'm at a loss. I'm a little burnt out. I'm sick of planning meals, I'm sick of watching what I eat, I want to eat a cookie, I want to have that big mac, but I also want that skinny body, those size 8-10 jeans, that flatter stomach.

 I am at war with myself.

Blergh...

Ok, first things first. I'm still holding at my current weight. This weekend was not a healthy weekend, and I'm not super happy about it but whatever. Moving on.

Can someone PLEASE tell me how in the heck I have lost 20 pounds, but not a pants-size? I was an 18 when I started this little adventure. Today I found some cute pants that were a 16 and I figured 20 lbs down, that has to be at least 1 size, right?" WRONG! I couldn't even get the darn things over my hips. Grrrrr.

This was, of course, after I got stung by a wasp and a few other bummer things that I don't feel like going into. Basically, today was not a good day. I'm just going to try to chill out for the rest of the day and hope tomorrow is better.

- Jen

Busy Day

I have to say... I am pretty darn good at throwing a meal together. This morning I decided to break out the crock-pot so I wouldn't have to cook after spin class. I just looked in the fridge and threw some stuff in with frozen chicken and cooked it all day. So good. I'm glad I paid attention to what I did. I will post the recipe in a minute.

Today was a very athletic day. Diesel and I went for a walk this morning and then I went to spin class this afternoon. We walked for about 45 minutes. Since I knew I was going to class tonight and would NOT feel like an evening walk for D, I made our morning walk a little longer. Although, I'm not sure it worked. He keeps wandering to the front door and looking at his leash. Spin class was good though. I should sleep like a rock tonight lol.

[EDIT: No, it did not work. I ended up taking Diesel out for a 15-minute walk. Such a slave driver workout buddy!]

Ok! So here is the recipe, as promised.

Italian Tomato Chicken

Serves 4. Each serving is approximately 90 calories.

8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 15 oz can diced tomato

1 C frozen 3 pepper and onion (I used Kroger Recipe Beginnings)

2 T sun-dried tomato vinaigrette

1/4 C banana pepper rings

Put all ingredients in a crock-pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Use 2 forks to shred chicken. Enjoy!

I served mine over whole wheat rotini. Yum!

New Workout Partner

Yep, I officially have a new workout partner. Not on purpose, but sometimes these things fall into your lap and you have to make the most of it.

His name is Diesel Barksdale, and so far he's made me do more cardio than I have in the past I don't know how long. But How could you resist that face?
It was a roundabout way that he ended up my new workout buddy, but I think we're going to get along well. Yesterday he insisted on going for a walk around the neighborhood. Then Greg and I ended up taking him for about a 45 minute walk. He was exhausted when we got home last night. Then today I took him for a quick morning walk before I went to the gym for a class. Apparently Mr. D did not care that I had already done cycling and strength, he wanted to go for another walk. So we went for about 20 minutes. At that point I was worn out and in desperate need of a shower.

I did not meet my goal for this week. I maintained though. And consider the time of the month, I'm not surprised. I don't think Diesel's going to let that continue too long. Alright, well I'm going to go enjoy the rest of the holiday. I hope everyone has a safe and fun day!

- Jen